KANSAS CITY – Denny Hamlin led 57 laps at Kansas Speedway on Thursday evening and drove to his fifth victory of the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) season. It was the sixth NCS win of the year for Toyota. Martin Truex Jr. (third) and Erik Jones (fifth) also scored top-five finishes.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Kansas Speedway
Race 19 of 36 – 400.5 miles, 267 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, DENNY HAMLIN
2nd, Brad Keselowski*
3rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
4th, Kevin Harvick*
5th, ERIK JONES
11th, KYLE BUSCH
18th, DANIEL SUÁREZ
23rd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
38th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Freight Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 1st
What were the closing laps like and how did you hold off Brad Keselowski?
“I don’t know that we had the best car, we definitely had a top-three car all day. Just went and got it there at the end. I saw the 4 (Kevin Harvick) get loose and usually when you’re loose, you’re not able to run up high. That was a benefit for us to be able to get that momentum going. The pit crew did an amazing job getting us out there ahead of everyone else that had four tires. Proud of this whole FedEx team. We’ve had a rough three weeks. We were leading at Indy when we blew a tire and this team is really hitting on all cylinders right now.”
What is it like to show up week after week and have a shot to win?
“We can win any given week and that’s something that is really hard to come by. This team is good at short tracks, intermediates, superspeedways. Have to thank FedEx, Toyota and the Jordan Brand, Coca-Cola and all of our partners at JGR. They’ve done a great job at building us fast cars.”
What made the difference at the end of the race when you were able to chase down Kevin Harvick and then hold off Brad Keselowski?
“He (Kevin Harvick) got loose there and when you get in clean air, I think it was probably the first time he was in clean air all day. I saw him get loose and I saw kind of blood in the water there, so we just ran him down. Obviously, I thought the 2 (Brad Keselowski) had a really, really fast car and there were a couple others. We just did a great job of getting it right when it really, really mattered. This is how you win them.”
What was the evolution of your race day and the strategy calls on pit road?
“We just tried to keep track position at all costs. It was so hard to pass. It seems like this tire, for whatever reason, really has an aero-tightness. We were able to keep our car in clean air. We had to do lefts and then we had to rights. It just helped our cycle and we got an extra set of tires out of it as well for a late-race caution. Proud of this FedEx team. We’re really doing a lot of things well and look forward to getting into these Playoffs.”
How important is this win to bounce back from the recent disappointing finishes?
“We want to bounce back and it’s not like we ran bad by any means. Indy, we were leading the race and blew a tire with six (laps) to go and then Texas, we’re going to come out with the lead and had that late-race caution that trapped us a lap down. We’re really doing a lot of things well. Kentucky is kind of the only outlier where we really didn’t run that well. Looking forward to downloading this and figuring out what we can do to be better.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Auto Owners Insurance Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What more did you need in the closing laps?
“We were catching them; I just needed more time. I don’t know, every time we got the lead, the caution would come out and guys with two tires (in front of us) and we would be sixth or seventh and battle our way back. That was really the difference tonight. Every time we got the lead, we gave it up on strategy and then had to battle back. At the end, ultimately, we just ran out of time.”
Could you have passed the leaders with a few more laps?
“Oh yeah, it just depends on how much time I would have had and whether I could make the pass, I don’t know. It’s difficult. The 11 (Denny Hamlin) was running the top so it was going to be tough to pass him, but we were able to do it on the bottom earlier. Just ran out of time. The Auto Owners Camry was really strong all night. It’s like every time we would get the lead, we would have a short run and get guys with two tires ahead of us. It was a battle all night to get track position back. These things are so difficult in traffic, you lose a few more spots than you hope on a restart and you just have to dig. Proud of the effort. Our cars are fast, and the guys are doing a good job. That’s what we need to be doing. We’ll keep digging. We’ve got some wins coming.”
Do you feel you have speed every week right now and is it just circumstances?
“We got destroyed on the straightaway last week. We had a top-three car again there at Texas. Kentucky, I thought we had it won and a guy came out of nowhere. Bristol, I kind of write that one off with the All-Star race. We were way off and had to start in the back. I feel like our cars are fast and our guys are doing a good job and the pit crew is solid. Cautions didn’t fall the way we needed them to tonight. We needed everybody to be taking four (tires) and we could have controlled the race from there I think.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Reser’s “Thanks Employees” Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
How much of a boost is another solid finish for you and this team?
“This is what we needed; we needed a really good points day. It kind of seems like we’ve been in this spot the last couple of years unfortunately. It feels good to climb out of it. The Reser’s Camry was really good. We started really deep and just could never quite get up to the front and get some clean air. I kind of made a mistake on that last restart, I was trying to push too hard to get to the outside and gave up some ground there on those guys and had to make that back up. Good effort. Pit crew did good and the team gave me a good car. We just have to keep doing that and keep wracking these points up and hopefully get a win.”
How do you balance aggressiveness and patience with the restarts when points are so important?
“Me and Chris (Gayle, crew chief) had that talk this week and just saying you need to be more aggressive on restarts. It’s there and you can make those moves, but they’re risky. It comes with risks and getting in wrecks and we saw a few of those tonight, big wrecks. It’s aggressively patient I guess. You have to take them as they come. Definitely have to try to make the big moves and makeup the spots because they’re had to make up as the run goes and you get strung out. I thought we had a few good restarts and a few bad restarts, probably evened out. A good day.”
You rallied from a mid-pack starting spot to race your way up to the front. Talk about your fifth-place finish tonight.
“I wish I could have played it over a little bit differently. The last restart wasn’t very good. We restarted sixth and that’s a good spot to be in and I tried to jump to the top and it just didn’t go anywhere, and we lost some ground and we never really got it back. A good day. The Reser’s Camry was really fast. We needed a good day. We had a good day with speed enough to win. We just never got up front. We will take it. Good points day. I’m sure we moved up there a little bit so we will keep pushing with that.”
Does it feel good to start getting some of the results you feel like you have the speed for?
“Yes, it’s always frustrating when you go week-to-week and have things happen and go wrong and you can’t ever get the results. I feel like we can run top-five every week, if we don’t have any mistakes. We didn’t today. We just have to keep doing it. If you are in that spot, you are going to have the opportunity to win one. Any of those guys in the top-five, six even could have won the race. It just mattered how it was going to shake out. So, you just have to be in that mix.”
How was the race overall and how does it feel to be cutting into the points deficit for the Playoffs?
“It was good. We started pretty deep in the field and were able to get some good track position early and then finally, we got up towards the top-five there at the end, which is what we needed to do. I felt like we kind of had maxed out balance and handling, we just needed to get some better air on our car. Once we kind of got up there, I felt like our Reser’s Camry came around a little bit more and we had some speed that we could have contended for the win. We had the day we needed. We had some guys have some issues and we got some good stage points, and then obviously, got a good finish, and cut the deficit by quite a bit. That’s the kind of day we needed, and the kind of day we need for the next seven. But if we can keep running like that, I have a feeling we can knock out a win here, hopefully, pretty soon.”
You are headed to a place you ran really strong last season, Loudon, where you scored a top-five finish. Are you looking forward to a short off-weekend before heading up north?
“It’s going to be nice. We have had a really busy schedule these last three months. Obviously, going to Texas on Sunday and Kansas tonight is tough on everybody. It’s tough on the drivers. It’s tough on crew members, hauler drivers, everybody, so it’s nice for everyone to get a weekend off and kind of refresh and get away for a minute and get ready to go to New Hampshire. That’s been a good place for me. Yeah, we had a real solid run there last year. We finished third, and I think made a pretty good pit call at the end and got out front, so I feel good there. We ran really well. It’s going to be a little bit different this year with the low downforce package, but I think we will continue our momentum.”