Denny Hamlin was the highest finishing Toyota Camry driver as he crossed the finish line in the third position in a rain-postponed race at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway on Monday afternoon.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
Talladega Superspeedway
Race 31 of 36 – 500.08 miles, 188 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Ryan Blaney*
2nd, Ryan Newman*
3rd, DENNY HAMLIN
4th, Aric Almirola*
5th, Matt Tifft*
15th, PARKER KLIGERMAN
19th, KYLE BUSCH
26th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
30th, MATT DIBENEDETTO
34th, ERIK JONES
36th, JOEY GASE
*non-Toyota driver
• Denny Hamlin sustained damage during one of the muliple accidents in today’s rain-postponed race at Talladega, but was able to calculate his moves on the race track to be in position in the closing laps and score a third-place result.
• Toyota Playoff drivers Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch are all more than 40 points above the Playoff cutoff line as the MENCS moves to Kansas Speedway next weekend for the next cutoff race.
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How much patience did it take for you as a driver to get the finish you did here today.
“A lot. I was just trying to play chess out there. I knew my odds and percentages with the wrecks. I knew once my competitiors started to fall there, I knew that I had to be smart. I just knew the end of these races usually end up like a crashfest and I was just going to take all the crash positions I could get once I got back on the lead lap. Once I saw that the percentage was better for me to go race up front for the win versus just taking the end of the lead lap even if we were to crash, I knew it was in my best interest to try to go there at the end and we almost won it anyway.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Hazelnut Spread Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
What happened?
“I don’t know. Everybody starts getting more aggressive towards the end and some guys just started pushing and I got pushed. I don’t know if he was getting pushed from behind him or what, but just got turned sideways the wrong way on the straightaway and that was it.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 26th
Talk about your strategy for today’s race.
“Obviously we tried to find a safe place there and chill out and ride. That’s kind of what our plan was and we couldn’t even do that. Wrong place, wrong time, which seems like about every time I come here. I feel like I should just race as hard as I can race because I’m probably going to get wrecked anyway.”
MATT DiBENEDETTO, No. 95 One Bite Toyota Camry, Leavine Family Racing
Finishing Position: 30th
What was your vantage point out there?
“I saw a car go up in the air and over. It’s just crazy. I don’t know. The car was fast, pushed great obviously. I really wanted to get these guys, the One Bite Pizza car – I wanted to get this car to victory lane so bad for Toyota and LFR (Leavine Family Racing). It just stinks being that close. Man, that’s insane. I was pushing Kurt (Busch) earlier before that all happened and was just focused on pushing ahead of me because my car did it so well locking on the guys in front of me. I don’t know. Seems like a dang routine. We run a superspeedway race and then I meet you guys here for an interview after the care center. These races are crazy.”
How did you bide your time to get position relatively unscathed at that point?
“We did alright up until then. We were just racing smart and at the end of Stage 2, I was like man, they are getting racy and I felt like a wreck was going to happen and I backed off. Boom, big wreck and I’m like alright, we’re doing good. Then here we go. I. don’t know, man. Unless you just ride around in the back and take it easy, but that’s not what you’re here for. Everyone gets so aggressive at the end and it’s a game of survival. I’d love to be a fan watching if that counts for anything. It’s definitely entertaining, but man, that’s irritating.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 34th
What happened to take you out of the race?
“It looks like the 1 (Kurt Busch) turned the 24 (William Byron) and kind of caused that wreck, so it’s unfortunate. We had a really fast car today. It’s one of the best superspeedway cars we’ve brought as far as single car and pack speed. It’s disappointing. The DeWalt Camry was definitely a contender, I thought, for a win today. We battled back from a lap down and got right back to the front. It’s unfortunate. We’ve just been on a bad streak and we haven’t been able to shake it. Hopefully next week at Kansas – it’s been a good track to us – we can get things back going again.”
Toyota Racing PR
