Bubba Wallace (second) was the top-finishing Toyota driver in the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday. Kyle Busch (sixth) joined Wallace in the top-10, while Martin Truex Jr. won the first two stages before coming home in 13th.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Daytona International Speedway
Race 1 of 36 – 500 miles, 200 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Austin Cindric*
2nd, BUBBA WALLACE
3rd, Chase Briscoe*
4th, Ryan Blaney*
5th, Aric Almirola*
6th, KYLE BUSCH
13th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
19th, KURT BUSCH
34th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
37th, DENNY HAMLIN
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 McDonalds Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What are your emotions like after finishing second in tonight’s Daytona 500?
“Yeah, first of all, that’s pretty damn cool to win the 500 in I think the first attempt, maybe not — but (first) full season for him, so congrats to Austin (Cindric). What could have been, right? Man, need to talk about some happy stuff here. Just dejected, but the thing that keeps me up is just the hard work that we put into our speedway stuff and the hard work from everybody at 23XI, proud of them, can’t thank them enough. I knew this was a big move last year for me to go out and be competitive, and we’re showing that. It’s always the first race of the season and you’re getting through everything, but when you come out of the gates like that, it’s empowering, it’s encouraging. So thanks, everybody, back at the shop, McDonald’s, almost got them another one — back-to-back superspeedway wins. That would have been awesome, especially with it being the 500. But just short. I thought our Toyota teammates did good work until they got picked off one, two, three throughout the race, so we just had to survive.
Great Speedweeks, though. We’ll come home second. I’m going to be pissed off about this one for a while. I was happy on the first second place we got a couple years ago. This one sucks when you’re that close, but all-in-all, happy for our team, happy for our partners, and on to California.”
How did you almost do that with a car that wasn’t 100%?
“The tow got knocked out and I was worried about that, but I was also worried about a flat tire. Bootie (Barker, crew chief) came over and just wanted me to confirm that everything was okay and that it wasn’t going to rub with the tow knocked out. I was like okay, here we go, we have to go get it. I had a lot of confidence those last 10 laps. I thought we had it in the bag when we were like sixth-to-fifth. I thought it was our night, but maybe I jumped the gun too much. I’m just proud of everyone at 23XI Racing to just continue to work hard, continue to impress and show up ready to battle. Our speedway stuff has been so strong for years. It’s fun to be a part of. We will go on to California. It was just a good week here. McDonald’s on the car, I thought we were going to get them back-to-back speedway wins. That would have been sick. They’ve done a lot for me in my career. Toyota, DoorDash, Root, Dr. Pepper, Columbia, Draft Kings, Wheaties, everybody here. It’s just special. It’s special when you have the right people around you to help you succeed. It’s nights like this that you appreciate. We will go on and punch a pillow or something – hug my dog when I get back to the bus, but we will be ready for California.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
How was your race?
“Overall, a good day and a good effort. I’m pleased with how far we came from behind to get a decent finish there. We were tore up a lot most of the race so that was a good finish.”
How much did the damage you got earlier in the race affect your Camry?
“It definitely slowed us down a little bit. Any time you get damage it’s not optimum but otherwise we were able to hang in the draft well and race around some of the other guys that were fast, but there were definitely guys that were faster than us and they were noticeable.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 37th
What did you see happen that took you out of the race early?
“It looked like the two cars on top. The 6 (Brad Keselowski) was pushing the 21 (Harrison Burton) and you could see the 21 was kind of getting out of control there, so you know the mindset was that you’ve got to back off but I think the 6 was just insistent on pushing him at all costs and eventually turned the 21 around. Tough, you know, considering it was just for the stage. We were kind of boxed in there where I noticed that something was going to happen, but I was boxed in, I was behind a teammate and I wanted to try to help. Again, just too aggressive pushing right there when they weren’t lined up and in control.”
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