Three Toyota drivers advanced to the Round of 8 with their results at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL on Sunday evening. Christopher Bell clinched his spot early in the final stage and finished second – his series-leading 20th top-10 finish of the season.
Toyota’s two other drivers in the Playoffs – Denny Hamlin and Tyler Reddick – both had to battle through adversity after a mid-race incident, as both spent time below the cutline. However, after work on pit road, both Hamlin and Reddick were able to earn top-15 finishes, which was enough to move them on in the Round of 8.
Going into the next round, Bell is the two seed, 13 points above the cutline, Tyler Reddick is third overall, 10 points to the good, while Hamlin is sixth, eight points out – with Las Vegas Motor Speedway next up.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL
Race 32 of 36 – 109 Laps, 252.88 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Kyle Larson*
2nd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
3rd, William Bryon*
4th, Austin Cindric*
5th, Chase Elliott*
9th, BUBBA WALLACE
11th, TYLER REDDICK
14th, DENNY HAMLIN
22nd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
34th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
35th, ERIK JONES
36th, TY GIBBS
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DEWALT Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
How does this result feel?
“It feels alright. It feels good – I’ll be honest. Happy for this DEWALT Toyota team. We had a goal today to win the race, and that’s what we came here to do, and it was close – me and the 5 (Kyle Larson) seemed like we were pretty evenly matched once we got out to our equal spacing. I would make a bad lap, and he would pull away, and he would make a bad lap, and I would close in. Hopefully, we get a redo in Phoenix.
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 Leidos Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
Strong qualifying effort led into a strong run today. Can you talk about your race?
“What a good day. What a good weekend really. Just a solid day. We showed up with a lot of speed. I look at the track record here, and we run pretty decent here. It is just execution, hard work put in. All-in-all good day for our Leidos Toyota Camry, just have to keep it going.”
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Monster Energy Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 11th
You won stage one and then had to recover from the incident early in stage two. I think you get the big air award for that.
“Yeah, I thought I was going to flip, but I think I was behind the 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) – trying to work the move to the inside. I got clear of him – I saw the 3 (Austin Dillon) spun and everyone on the binders coming to a stop, and of course, me and my boss (Denny Hamlin) get together. It was like I was going to do a front flip – this thing was absolutely destroyed. Huge props to everyone on this Monster Energy Toyota Camry. This thing couldn’t go within four seconds of what the pace was, and we just kept working on it. We were a lot better in stage three. This is how this place can be sometimes, but it is really nice to pull this off.”
What is it like for you watching your team work on the car under the clock?
“It is tough. You just have to stay calm. You just have to stay focused. In those moments, it is so easy to lose control. Either way, I was going to drive the car as fast as I could. It just worked out for us that this thing was able to get back through the field and get us to the good side of the cut line.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Sport Clips Haircuts Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 14th
Seven points to the good. Can you talk about your race?
“Seven is the same as 100 (laughter). It is such a tough spot to be in, when you are up like we were because the only thing that can hurt you is a really detrimental day, so you can’t be as aggressive as you really want to, but you can’t bleed a bunch of track position either. Great job by this whole Sport Clips Toyota team. Chris Gabehart (crew chief) and the team did an awesome job of keeping us in it, and luckily, we were able to come away with a top-15 there.”
What did you think of the start of stage two with the incident?
“Really, the biggest thing – it just messed up the alignment and bent the toe link or something in the rear. We lost some car speed there with that, but glad it didn’t lead to a detrimental day, and now these tracks coming up – now we race.”
Golin for Toyota Racing PR
