Denny Hamlin drove through the field after a practice incident to lead Toyota with a fifth-place finish on Sunday evening at Martinsville Speedway. Despite the strong performance, Hamlin was unable to advance to the Championship 4.
Christopher Bell battled through a pit road issue and was close to advancing to the Championship 4, before being scored 22nd. He missed the Championship 4 by four points.
Toyota continues to be the only manufacturer represented in the Championship 4 every season, as Tyler Reddick will battle for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship for the first time in Phoenix.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Martinsville Speedway
Race 35 of 36 – 267 Laps, 400.5 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Ryan Blaney*
2nd, Chase Elliott*
3rd, Kyle Larson*
4th, Austin Cindric*
5th, DENNY HAMLIN
18th, BUBBA WALLACE
19th, ERIK JONES
22nd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
24th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
31st, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
32nd, TY GIBBS
34th, TYLER REDDICK
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Mobil 1 Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 22nd
How do you process NASCAR’s decision and just the end of this race?
“It was Martinsville, and it was a round of 8 cutoff race. Unfortunately, I was on the bad side of it. Made a lot of mistakes, ran a sloppy race. It is a shame that it comes down to a ball and strike call like that. You can look at both sides of the fence – the Chevy organization had a lot of blocking going on so that the 24 (William Bryon) didn’t lose positions. I slid into the wall and kept my foot into it. I guess that is a losing move.”
Can you take us to the driver’s seat in that last lap?
“Yeah, I just got loose. I was trying to get by the 23 (Bubba Wallace) and whenever I did, I was kind of pinned in between the 10 (Noah Gragson) and the 23 and slid into the wall. Whenever I slid into the wall, I knew that I had to have that position and just tried to get to the line. I didn’t intentionally floor it and go into the fence; I slipped into the wall and that’s all she wrote.”
Golin for Toyota Racing PR
