Bubba Wallace (third), Denny Hamlin (fourth) and Christopher Bell (fifth) led Toyota with top-five finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday evening. For Wallace, it is his sixth top-five finish of the season, which is a new single season career-high with seven races remaining in the season.
In the Playoff battle, Hamlin overcame a six-point deficit coming into the evening to move on with Bell and Tyler Reddick to the Round of 12. Ty Gibbs, who came into the evening above the cutline, and Martin Truex Jr. both failed to move on. The Joe Gibbs Racing duo had strong Toyota Camrys as Gibbs and Truex earned stage points, but neither were able to recover from pit road speeding penalties during the event.
Heading into the Round of 12 next weekend, Christopher Bell sits second – 24 points to the good. Reddick is third, with a 20-point advantage while Hamlin is in sixth, seven points above the cutline.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Bristol Motor Speedway
Race 29 of 36 – 500 Laps, 266.5 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Kyle Larson*
2nd, Chase Elliott*
3rd, BUBBA WALLACE
4th, DENNY HAMLIN
5th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
15th, TY GIBBS
20th, TYLER REDDICK
24th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
30th, ERIK JONES
33rd, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 Toyota Genuine Parts/Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How good does this finish feel?
“Yeah, it’s good. The Mobil 1 Toyota Camry was okay – just trying to find the right balance. These guys are giving me all of the information, and I’m getting pissed off listening to it – but it is all vital. So, I appreciate them – I appreciate the effort to come up here. I told Bootie (Barker, crew chief) that we are a seventh-to-12th place car, coming in here – and we ended up third. It is still not good enough. We have to go to work to figure out how we can be two spots better, but all-in-all – best in class in multiple categories. Just appreciate the effort. It stings, running this well when you are not in the Playoffs, but it just makes you hungrier for next year.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
Can you take us through the emotions here as you advance?
“My aspirations were to win it – but it looked like the 5 (Kyle Larson) there was better than all of us. Solid car. I thought we were really good towards the middle of the stages, and then at the end, got too loose and couldn’t hang onto what we had. Overall, top-five day, good stage points – kind of in the mix, just not really as good as we’ve been here the last few times, but overall I want to thank this whole FedEx Toyota team for giving me something I can move on with.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Once you got word that you clinched, did that change anything for you?
“It really didn’t. The way that the yellows played out in stage two, we did jump the stage, but I think the race was pretty straight forward. I’m happy we got out of here with a top-five, but at the same breath, all of us got our butts kicked. The 5 (Kyle Larson) was the class of the field and everyone else was kind of racing to be best of the rest. Good day for our DeWalt Toyota team. Hopefully, we can go to Kansas and have a nice solid day and set us up good for the round of 12.”
TY GIBBS, No. 54 He Gets Us Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 15th
How do you come to terms with how this race played out for you and your team?
“That was just unfortunate there. I felt like we were really good in practice and qualifying. Just a little too loose tonight and fired off too tight. Unfortunate. Speeding penalty is on me. You run the lights so close – it’s my fault. Unfortunate. I’m proud of the He Gets Us Toyota guys and all of the effort they put in.”
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 20th
Can you tell us about your day?
“Well, I mean – we weren’t really going anywhere much tonight. Handling was kind of an issue for us all night long. Just couldn’t really get the balance right, and so we just kind of took a risk there. I was hopeful I could get second or third out of, but we ended up fourth. I think with how this race could have eventually played out – it is always good to take points you know that you are going to get, so it was nice to get some stage points with the McDonald’s Camry, but tough first three races of the Playoffs. Thankfully we have some good races ahead.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 24th
Do you think the speeding penalty kept you out of it?
“Possibly. We had a good Bass Pro Shops Camry. We did good in the first two stages – we got a lot of points. I guess we would have had to run second or third to make it through – who knows if we would have been able to. I wish we could have seen if we could have done that. I’m just gutted for my team. We worked so hard this week. We all put in a lot – all season long, and in the last three weeks, just snake bit. Can’t do anything right. .09 mph hurts really bad to take the chance away to know if we even could have done it. I don’t know if we could have run second – maybe. We were close to it – all day – but in the end, it doesn’t matter. I feel terrible for my guys.”
Golin for Toyota Racing PR
