Kyle Busch drove to his fourth victory in his seventh NASCAR Xfinity Series start of the season at the Indiana 250 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this afternoon.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Indianapolis Motor Speedway
Race 25 of 33 – 250 miles, 100 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, Justin Allgaier*
3rd, Noah Gragson*
4th, Jeb Burton*
5th, Justin Haley*
6th, BRANDON JONES
9th, AUSTIN HILL
18th, JOEY GASE
19th, STEFAN PARSONS
24th, TOMMY JOE MARTINS
29th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
33rd, CHAD FINCHUM
*non-Toyota driver
• Kyle Busch earned his fourth win of the season and 96th of his career this afternoon at the Indiana 250.
• It was Busch’s fourth Indiana 250 victory in eight events.
• It was Toyota’s series-leading 10th win of the season.
• Brandon Jones earned his third Playoff point of the season with his stage one win. He finished sixth for this 12th top-10 finish of the season.
• NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series regular Austin Hill finished ninth in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut
TOYOTA QUOTES
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Combos Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
How were you able to overcome both tight and loose conditions in the car to win?
“We just didn’t have the grip in traffic. Our car was really, really fast in a straight line and could pass some of those guys down the straightaways. Even if I botched the corner, it seemed like I could pass them back. Different situations with some of those guys. The 7 (Justin Allgaier) was really good. He was really smart and played a great race. We were just faster and fast enough there at the end in order to make sure that we stayed in front of those guys. Real proud of the effort and certainly want to thank Big Machine Vodka, Big Machine Label Group for being on my stuff there and partnering with the track here this weekend. Also want to thank the fans, appreciate their support. Of course this Combo’s Supra – these guys and everybody on this team did a great job. It’s pretty cool to win here in Indy any time. We’ll take it.”
How does it feel to have 96 wins in the Xfinity Series and possibly a shot at 100 wins next year?
“Hopefully we can go five-for-five and we can make it 101 and hang up our hat.”
What was going on with the race car during the race when you were concerned about the issues?
“We had short-pitted the first segment essentially with 10 (laps) to go or whatever. Then we long-ran the second stage so there was 40 laps on the tires and they were just smoked. The right-front was really bad and wasn’t feeling very good. Wasn’t sure if it would make it to the end. It was actually starting to vibrate a little bit as well too. Come to find out, I knew it had cords showing and it did. I was just trying to keep it together and keep it on the race track and not knock the wall down. Fortunately, that all happened and I was able to make it to the end of that stage break, get some more tires and go after them again.”
Did you feel the short run at the end would be beneficial to you?
“Absolutely. The short run there at the end, we were really fast on the straightaways, had good straightaway speed. Was still pretty good in three and four. The 7 (Justin Allgaier) behind me was definitely beating me in turns one and two, no question. Just having that straightaway speed as much as we did, the run that he would get from the tow from the package that we have just wasn’t enough. He couldn’t do anything with it. He never got close enough to make a move out to try to get by us. Overall, it played right into our hands there at the end. Two laps more and he probably would have got us. We weren’t very good in turn one all day.”
What was your view of the incident between the 20 and the 2 with eight laps to go?
“The 20 (Christopher Bell) car just snapped around. I don’t remember how close the 2 (Tyler Reddick) car was, it looked like the 20 did fine. It looked like he was trying to turn down to the bottom and I don’t know if he got tight with his car and then he had wheel in it so the 2 was kind of inching by and then that pulled him around. I would imagine that’s kind of what happened, but overall, just one of them deals. That’s happened to me before. It just happened a corner earlier. One year I had Sam Hornish Jr. on my outside and got sucked around. That can happen and I took the inside on the final restart. I was debating it the whole, entire time trying to figure out if I wanted top or bottom. I couldn’t really decide so then I went to the bottom. We’ll just see what happenes and if we can hold him off.”
How crucial was the push from Jeb Burton on the final restart?
“Anybody that was behind you, you had to rely on them. You can’t win these races by yourself anymore, you have to rely on those that are around you. Jeb (Burton) obviously did a really good job with the restart coming up through the gears. He actually timed the push really well and it helped us. It propelled us to where we were able to score the victory.”
How does it feel to be so close to 100 Xfinity Series wins?
“It’s cool. Maybe some people with discredit that and say that it’s not so cool. We’re doing it and fortunately Joe’s (Gibbs, team owner) given me the green light to run the five races I can run next year. We had another Kyle Busch rule come down a couple weeks ago so we’ll get our five and hopefully we can clean them out and I’ll be 101 when it’s all said and done.”
BRANDON JONES, No. 19 1st Foundation Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
Talk about the contact with the 22 (Austin Cindric).
“I held him tight for sure, but it’s my job to do that and it’s his job to control his car at the same time. All-in-all, we had a great day. The Toyotas were really fast all day long. Qualifying we were 1-2-3. I thought this was the car to win the race, but with the contact, it was very difficult to get back up there. Even with the damage, we past a couple at the end there, so I was really impressed there. I’m really proud of this team that is behind me. I would not want to be with anyone else going into this Playoff.”
You’ve never finished outside of the top-10 here at the Brickyard. What’s so good for you here at Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
“I don’t know, but I love it though. That’s a pretty good streak to keep alive. I love coming to this track; the history is awesome. It’s tough to race at. You have to time your runs right, and be smart about when you are going to pass guys. I learned a bunch. I watched a few guys with a lot of experience, so I have some stuff to build on for sure.”
AUSTIN HILL, No. 61 AISIN Group Toyota Supra, Motorsports Business Management
Finishing Position: 9th
First start in the Xfinity Series and you come home ninth. Talk about your day.
“This is a fun series; I had a blast today. Car was a little off. We were a little loose all day. We really had to fight through that. All the guys back at the shop did a heck of a job to bring a fast piece. We had a few things go our way. The last restart, the outside line got rolling really good. I was able to pick up a few spots. I can’t thank everyone enough, AISIN, Toyota and TRD. This Toyota Supra was pretty good today. Wasn’t expecting a top-10 for my first time out, but I will take it for sure.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem-Parker Hannifin Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 29th
Are you okay after that hard hit into the wall?
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m very thankful for the SAFER barriers, that’s for sure. Out of all my crashes, all my NASCAR crashes, that definitely takes the cake.”
What were you feeling in the race car when it wiggled?
“I don’t exactly know what happened, but I just know both of us had the throttles buried going off into two and I just slid up on the inside of him.”
Did you feel like you could see the checkered flag in the closing laps?
“Eight laps is a long time around this place so it was far from over. Proud of everyone on this Rheem team. They did a really good job, brought a really fast Supra. We’re going to Vegas next week, which has been pretty good to us and fast – hopefully we can win one there.”
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