Toyota, Ford, and Chevrolet Driver Quotes from the Coke Zero Sugar 400

TOYOTA QUOTES:

Erik Jones, No. 20 Dewalt Toyota - 

Finishing Position: 1st

Erik, how do you feel buddy?

“Oh, boy. How about that race, boys and girls? That was something else. I thought that we were out of it and we were right back in it. Took the lead and ran away. Wow, what an awesome race. To have buyatoyota.com on here and my first win at Daytona. My first superspeedway win. What an awesome day. I am out of breath. Too much smoke in the car from that burnout. I can barely breathe. What an awesome finish.”

 

What do you want to say to the fans?

“Thank you. Thank you, so much. A lot of hard work to be here. I was thinking about my mom and dad after the checkered. My mom stayed home from this one. She missed my first Cup Series win. So, hi, mom. My dad would have been so proud of the work we did to get here. It’s just an awesome day for us.”

You’re locked into the Playoffs with this win, how does it feel to get your first at Daytona?

“What a day. I didn’t think we were going to have a shot to win this one about halfway. Got ourselves back into contention and our guys did a great job getting this thing fixed up and getting the buyatoyota.com into Victory Lane. I’ve never been that good on superspeedways and never thought this was our shot to win. But to get here tonight, that’s pretty awesome. It’s our first win and not much that has felt better than this one.”

 

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing

Finishing Position: 2nd

Did luck turn around for you here at Daytona?

“I think it had to have. Man, they destroyed some cars tonight. That was insane. Cool to get to the end. I wish I could have done a better job for my team. I had a really fast car. I have to get better at the blocking. It never has been my strong suite. Without a question, I struggled a bit seeing the runs coming. Me and my team are trying to figure that out together. It was a good run and we came up a little short. Congrats to Erik (Jones). His first win. I can’t imagine what it feels like. I remember mine vividly. Congrats to him and his team. It’s pretty cool to see. I wish it was us. But if you’re going to lose to someone, a first-time winner and Erik is a good one to lose to. Especially in your worst track and your worst race. Thanks to everyone at Toyota and 5-hour ENERGY, Bass Pro Shops and everyone who makes this possible. Wish I could have got it tonight.”

What could you have done different about the last restart?

“I think if I just blocked the 95, I control the race from there. We got two-wide and it got behind us. I just messed up there. Just sleeping I guess. I knew he was coming. I just didn’t block fast enough. Me and my spotters have to be better but this is the first time we had a car that strong. I feel like we have something we can build on.”

Kyle Busch - No. 18 M&M's Toyota

Finishing Position: 33rd

What was your take on that wreck?

“I don’t know. Disappointing to get crashed out by the same guy that caused the first crash. Our Interstate Batteries Camry showed some good speed and patience there in that first stage. We were able to come home second and grab some points there. You always come to Daytona waiting to crash and figure out when or where, and hope you can walk away from it. That’s really frustrating and disappointing to have to race these races like that on the fence or line of when are you going to wreck. But we’ll move on to next week.”

 

Take us through what happened.

“I got hit in the left rear. Same guy that caused the first one caused the second on there. That’s very disappointing. He is probably going to be fastest car left – he might win the race. It’s disheartening for all of our guys on our Interstate Batteries Camry. We try to come down here and have a positive outlook. We try to have a good race but in all reality, you come down here and figure out when you are going to crash and where, and then how hard. Hopefully you can walk away from it. It’s what restrictor-plate racing is all about these days.”

 

What was said to William Byron?

“I wanted to make sure he was okay because I hit him. I caused him to go spinning. I didn’t know if he hit the wall the same way I did. I know mine was a heck of a hit. I just wanted to check and make sure he was all right.”

 

DANIEL SUÁREZ, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 35th

Did you see everything happening on the track and hope that you could get through?

“I think that I didn’t get to race any. The first stage I had to start in the back to repair my car from qualifying and I was just riding in the back because we lost the draft and finally in the second stage we were able to get some track position back and I felt like we could pass enough race cars to drive to the front and that was exactly what I was doing. Just raced for two laps. Just a shame. Just not very smart for Lap 55 or so. Still a long ways to go. I don’t know. I mean half of the field is out so, it’s a real shame.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Cares Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 38th

What happened to take you out of the race?

“I’m not sure, but somebody probably wrecked somebody and usually whoever starts it, usually doesn’t get wrecked, but I don’t really know. The 2 (Brad Keselowski) was sideways in front. The 2 got wrecked and so did everybody else. It’s unfortunate. I mean this is -  the Coke Zero Sugar 400 usually is this type of race, but it usually happens much later in the night. Unfortunate for all the cars that got torn up. Now it’s a total crap shoot. It looks like most of the contenders that battle for these races are taken out, but you never know. It could be pretty exciting at the end, but unfortunate for our FedEx Cares / Team Rubicon Camry that we’re not going to be a part of it.”

What do you think happened?

“The 17 (Ricky Stenhouse Jr.) turned the 2 (Brad Keselowski) and then that was it. Once cars get sideways on the backstretch, everyone just battles to try to get through the wreck. You know most of the strong contenders in front, they got taken out in that one, so we’re going to have a crapshoot from here on out.”

 

 

CHEVROLET QUOTES:

TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 3rd

DESCRIBE YOUR RUN HERE TONIGHT: 
“I think it was a destruction derby out there instead of a Cup race, but first of all congrats to Erik (Jones) and that whole team.  I know what it’s like to get that first win, so he well deserves it, congrats to him.  Yeah, see it from the left side of the car here it’s like sometimes you try to figure out what the plan is.  We tried to run in the back and still got wrecked running in the back.  So, you know it was just about survival and I thought the Kroger Clicklist Chevy was pretty good.  Just had a lot of drag on it so I thought our chance to win was going to be tough, but I tried to make the right decision there.  I missed about seven wrecks it felt like.  Anytime you can walk out of here with a decent finish and to have a top five especially both cars in the top five, so great for our whole organization.  It’s one of those things you would like to go get the win, it was close, but top three it was a good day.”

ON HIS RACE: 
“I tried hanging back and I still got wrecked.  Sometimes it’s just Daytona, but first of all congrats to Erik Jones and that whole team.  I know what it’s like to get a first win, he well deserves it and that whole team.  So, cool for him.  Yeah, we were just trying to ride in the back early, still got hit and damaged the left-rear a lot.  My guys did a great job.  I thought our Kroger Clicklist Chevy was pretty fast.  Once it had that damage it had a lot of drag on it.  Then I think I missed about another 20 wrecks and at the end still had a shot to win the race and tried to make the move at the end there.  To get a top three at Daytona, both cars in the top five so I think that is both races we have had both cars in the top 10.  Solid night, when you are that close you would like to get a little bit more, but it could have been a lot worse.  A little bit of momentum after my mess up at Sonoma.  So, hopefully this kicks us off into the second half of the season.  Go to Kentucky, Kroger’s home race and have a good showing there.”

HOW ABOUT THE RACING TONIGHT? 
“Is it a full moon?  I don’t know.  Yeah, I mean the first stage went just like I thought it would.  Everybody just kind of got in a single-file line.  They tried to race at the end to get stage points and all of a sudden it was like all hell broke loose and from there it was just craziness.  Then once you start getting to the end track position is so critical here.  People start doing everything that they can.  It was a crazy race.  Hopefully, all the fans and everybody at home enjoyed it.  I think my heart stopped beating a couple of times might have to change my underwear as well.  It was insane out there.”

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 95 THORNE WELLNESS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th

JUST HOW GOOD WAS YOUR RACE CAR? 
“Our Thorne Chevrolet was awesome.  It was great.  I figured it out in the second stage I knew that we had a car capable of winning if I did the right things with it.  I had opportunities to get to the lead.  We stayed there at a time but just didn’t figure it all out at the end there.  Erik Jones congrats to him.  (Martin) Truex was super-fast.  I was just trying to hang with those guys and I thought we had a really good shot at it.”

WHAT WERE THE RIGHT THINGS THAT NEEDED TO BE DONE? 
“Well, get back to the lead from the time I lost the lead I needed to get back to the lead and I never got there.  I just about cleared Martin (Truex, Jr.) off of (Turn) 2.  But he just barely hung on my left-rear and pulled me back a bunch. From that point I needed to block the No. 20.  I tried to slow him up, but he was coming fast. The gap was pretty big and he was coming fast and I didn’t do a good enough job of stopping him.”

WALK US THROUGH THOSE FINAL FEW RESTARTS: 
“I was just kind of put in positions and I thought I could clear and get to the bottom when I was the leader.  That was my plan and the spotter said they were broken up on the bottom and the No. 88 was still fairly close, so I stayed there and then they went by on the bottom.  So, a little miscommunication there.  Later on, I got a run around the No. 78 off the corner and he just got me.  Just pulled me back enough and the No. 20 was coming and I just had to try to kind of block him the best I could but he got to my outside. But we had a great Thorne Chevrolet.  The guys did an awesome job.  Pit stops were strong, everything was good tonight.  Once we got up there we stayed there the rest of the race, the car was good.”

WERE THERE TIMES TONIGHT THAT YOU THOUGHT YOU WERE GOING TO WIN THIS THING? 
“I knew I had a shot.  I knew I had a car capable.  Once we got going in the second stage I knew my car was capable of winning it was just a matter of where I put it and the places I put it in and we ended up fourth, so not good enough.”

FOR A SMALLER TEAM LIKE THIS HOW IMPORTANT IS A TOP FIVE LIKE THIS? 
“Really important.  We ran, I think, fourth and fourth in the final two stages there, so that is great for our team.  We were great in Sonoma, good here, we keep fighting and the guys do their job we just need to keep getting more consistent, but we are getting there slowly, but surely.”  

CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 KLEENEX WET WIPES CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th

DESCRIBE THE WILD GREEN-WHITE-CHECKERED TO FINISH THIS THING: 
“Yeah, it was a wild night overall.  Just proud of everybody on our Kleenex Wet Wipes Camaro ZL1.  We fought hard today and stayed out of trouble and were there at the end with our teammate AJ (Allmendinger).  We got a good run on the outside, we were able to give (Erik) Jones a good shove down the back there and got him clear.  We just couldn’t quite clear with him.  So, congrats to him on his first win.  Proud of our operation and what we were able to accomplish today.  Wish we could have lined up and tried to get it, but that’s always easy to say after Daytona you go back and would love to replay it, but a good day for us.”

 

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 10th

EVEN WITH THE EARLY DAMAGE, YOU GUYS SEEMED TO STAY IN THE HUNT ALL NIGHT

“Yeah, that early damage definitely didn’t help things.   It kind of made the car a parachute out front, but we tried all night.   I made some bad calls and got put in the wrong spot a couple of times, but just kind of couldn’t put it together there at the end.  Little bit of a bummer, wish we would have ended up a little better, but not a terrible day.”

JEFFREY EARNHARDT, NO. 7 NINE LINE FOUNDATION CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th

“Just proud of all these guys.  Nine Line Foundation, Black Rifle Coffee, Extreme Concepts – they are the reason I am here with the cause that they are trying to push and its just an honor to get to be a part of it.  It’s an incredible company and they support our country, our military and all of our veterans.    I am so happy I got them a good run.  Everyone kept asking me what it means to come here with the Earnhardt name at Daytona, and it does mean a lot, don’t get me wrong.  But to show support to our veterans and be a part of what the foundation is doing…..that meant more to me than anything tonight.   Proud of all the guys at Premium in giving me a good car tonight and keeping the car in one piece.   Its my best career finish in the Cup series, so hopefully this will lead to some more sponsorship and get me back out here on the track more often.”

WHAT IS YOUR OUTLOOK THE REST OF THE SEASON?

“Right now this is all we had on paper.  So, it was really important to run good tonight, for that reason as well.  I am blessed to be out here and I am happy with the finish, happy with the outcome, and hopefully we can get some more races before the end of the season.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1  – Involved in an accident on lap 124. Finished 29th

WHAT HAPPENED? 
“I think I cut a tire.  It just spun out on me when I turned into (Turn) 3.  A little bit unlucky there for Ricky (Stenhouse, Jr.) for me to be… he had just blended on the track and then I drive around him and just unlucky timing on both of our parts I guess there.  I am not sure how much damage he has, but I hate that for him.  Just kind of a frustrating race for us.  I was just patient all race long and got caught up in that first wreck down the backstretch a little bit.  Got some damage and was just kind of riding around again there are a ton of torn up cars, so I was going to be able to salvage a pretty decent day, I thought.  Yeah, just had a random tire issue there.  When we made our green flag stop I didn’t wave off to the guys behind me because I just assumed everybody was pitting and whoever was behind me got my rear bumper and I guess it sounded like we had a little bit of right-rear damage there, so it must have gotten to the tire when we came back out and ultimately cut our tire.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in a multi-car accident on lap 66. Finished 32nd

WHAT HAPPENED? 
“Yeah, just the No. 17 car (Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.) just kind of I guess hooked the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) into me.  It seemed like he was being really aggressive and that is the second time we have kind of been on the wrong end of something with him.  Unfortunate for us, but we had a good race going.  We needed to really have a really good day because of the points position we are in, but that is just part of speedway racing I guess, but it stinks to be on that side of it.  But at least we led some laps so that was good.” 

WHAT HAPPENED FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE? 
“I think honestly the No. 17 (Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.) I think came up in third and hooked the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) which hooked me kind of facing head on into the wall.  So, I was able to get it turned and back to the bottom and then I got clipped again in the left front and hooked into the wall.  So, definitely not how we wanted it to end for us, but just really unfortunate.  Kind of was on the wrong end of the same guys thing for a second time.  Not how we wanted to end here, but we will go on to Kentucky.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS CAMARO ZL1 – Involved in a multi-car accident on lap 54. Finished 34th

YOU’VE HAD THE OPPORTUNITY TO WATCH THE REPLAY, WHAT HAPPENED? 
“Yeah, I don’t know. I was watching the most recent wreck, we are not going to have anybody left before it’s over with.  But, yeah, I don’t know, I think the best I can remember Brad (Keselowski) had a pretty big run on William (Byron) and I don’t think William was clear, but he didn’t know he wasn’t clear and then Brad tried to get on the brakes really hard to stop for him.  We were getting really close to the corner so he couldn’t enter on the apron and whoever was behind him hit him and turned him up the track.  Not really a whole lot you can do about that.”

FORD QUOTES:

KURT BUSCH, No. 41 Monster Energy/Haas Automation Ford Fusion –

Finishing Position: Involved in accident on Lap 54, Finished 37th

“I was running in the high lane and I just have to giggle, there’s no safe spot.  I thought being in the top two or three is pretty safe, but we just got clipped from behind.  Usually, there’s that danger zone that everybody knows about from third to 12th and we didn’t get strung out enough to get away from some of the action.  It’s a bummer night for Monster Energy Ford.  It was fast.  We put her on the bottom at the end of stage one to gain some points, but now we’ve got nothing.  We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time, but I do have to giggle.  There’s no safe spot out there.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 2 Miller Lite Ford Fusion –

Finishing Position: Involved in accident on Lap 54, Finished 36th

“Ricky was doing the best he could to give me a good push and had a great run to take the lead and the car in front of me just threw a late, bad block.  I made the mistake of lifting instead of just driving through him and that’s my fault.  I know better than that.  I’ve got to wreck more people and then they’ll stop blocking me late and behind like that.  That’s my fault.  I’ll take the credit for my team and we’ll go to Talladega and we’ll wreck everybody that throws a bad block like that.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Fusion –

Finishing Position: Involved in accident on Lap 54, Finished 39th

“It looks like they crashed a lot of cars.  I was in the middle of it and I got hit from every corner really quick and it just seemed like they kept coming.  I was like, ‘Stop, everyone.’  It was just so hard to stop when you’re going so fast out there, but it’s part of the game here.  Sometimes you’re in the half of the field that finishes and sometimes you’re in half of the field that doesn’t finish it and we were in the bad 50 percent this time.  That’s part of the game and we’ll come back to Talladega at the next superspeedway and hopefully do what we did there in the spring and get our Shell/Pennzoil Ford in Victory Lane.”

 

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 BODYARMOR Ford Fusion

Finishing Position: Involved in accident on Lap 54, Finished 40th

“I don’t know what happened.  By the time I looked up and started checking up I was already in it.  I haven’t seen the replay, so I can’t really talk about it.  It’s just one of those deals.  When you come here everyone is really close and racing hard and sometimes you’re the bug as opposed to the windshield.”

“That’s just the way it goes sometimes.  You hate it, but that’s just the way sometimes this race goes.  I thought our car was really fast.  We just had to kind of work our way back up through there, but we don’t get the chance now.  I hate it for BODYARMOR.  It’s their first primary race and we really wanted to show something for them and we’ll never get the chance to do that.”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Fusion –

Finishing Position: 17th

“I was really bummed.  The first one, the 24 blocked the 2 and from where I was sitting I thought we were gonna get to the inside of him, so I wasn’t really expecting him to check up that quick.  The second one with the 18, I was just too aggressive trying to get to his left-rear, trying to get back to the lead and back out front where our Fifth Third Ford was really dominant.  We definitely brought, I feel like, the best car here in the field.  Winning two stages was nice, but obviously we wanted to win at the end and it’s a bummer we basically crashed all of our teammates out of it.  It was kind of tough after that and it all came back to get me with the damage from the 42, which was probably a wreck I caused, cut a tire down in front of us.  A bummer of a night.  Congrats to Erik on his first win.  That’s pretty cool, but I felt like there for most of the race we had the best shot at it.”

WILL YOU HAVE TO SMOOTH THINGS OVER WITH ANYBODY?  “No, it’s aggressive speedway racing.  We needed to win to get in the Playoffs, so it is what it is.”

WAS THAT FUN OR FRUSTRATING?  “It was fun for a while.  I was frustrated with myself causing crashes like that.  You don’t ever really want to do that.  For us, my car was a lot of fun to drive.  Everybody else had a lot of handling issues and my car drove really good and had really good speed, so hat’s off to Jimmy Fennig and those guys and Doug Yates.  We just didn’t finish it off.”

KESELOWSKI FELT BYRON BLOCKED HIM.  “Yeah, I thought he blocked him, but I did that here in February and threw an aggressive block down the back straightaway that in turn caused a big crash like that too.  I can see it from Byron’s side and from my side I was a little frustrated he threw the block, but then again I can’t be too mad because I felt like I did that in February.”

WHY SO MANY WRECKS IN THE FRONT TONIGHT AND IN FEBRUARY?  “You try to be so aggressive to stay up front.  It’s hard to get your track position and keep the lead and to win these races you really need to be the leader to win the stages and really kind of control the field and I felt like when I was in the front I could kind of control the field and make them do what I wanted them to do.  That’s why everybody was so aggressive trying to get to the front.”

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Jimmy John’s Kickin’ Ranch Ford Fusion –

Finishing Position: Involved in an accident in Overtime, Finished 19th

 “The night was crazy.  The restart was really poorly executed and then teammates wound up side-by-side again trying to get everything situated and we crashed into each other.  I just hate it for all my Jimmy John’s guys.  I don’t really know what I could have done any different on the last restart.”

WAS IT ANY CRAZIER THAN NORMAL?  “No, these restrictor plate races when you get to this time of year they turn into a mess every time.”

MATT DIBENEDETTO, No. 32 Zynga Poker Ford Fusion –

Finishing Position: 7th

“I guess that was probably one of the craziest races I’ve ever taken part in.  I’m glad we survived and we seem to always position ourselves in a spot to be up front and competing for the win at the end of these speedway races at Daytona quite often.  We’ve got that down pat and I’m really, really glad we got a good run for Zynga Poker.  They’re a huge part of our team.  They’ve stepped up and helped us a ton this year, so I’m pretty proud of that.”

WHAT WAS YOUR PLAN ON THE LAST RESTART?  “I got a good restart and I shoved the heck out of the 95 in front of me and pushed the bottom lane big-time, so they could get a good run and we could get going.  And then after that I shoved the heck out of them I kind of stalled out a little bit just because every corner on the race car has some sort of damage.  We weren’t the most aerodynamic piece in the world, but we positioned ourselves right and on the superspeedways it’s kind of a time for me to be able to shine a little bit and run better than others, so I did all I could – position myself right, so we could have a good run.  This helps with our sponsor situation, but the last restart was interesting.”

WHAT CLICKS FOR YOU HERE AT RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACKS?  “It’s just an opportunity where it evens everybody out a little bit, so we can position ourselves right and then be there at the end and the big pack evens out a lot of things, so we can have a good run here.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 K-LOVE Ford Fusion –

Finishing Position: Involved in accident on lap 156; Finished 26th

“It’s just plate racing.  We lost a little bit of track position and that just put us in the back there and everybody is fighting hard for the same real estate at the end.  But I’m really proud of everyone at Front Row Motorsports because we had a really fast car.  I was able to push Ricky to both the first stage and second stage wins and finished second in the second stage.  We overcame a lot and got within a few laps of being in position and just didn’t execute.”

DAVID RAGAN, No. 38 Shriner’s Hospital For Children Ford Fusion –

Finishing Position: 15th

“I felt like we were involved in about all the wrecks out there.  It was a long night, but I can’t say enough about our pit crew.  They just never gave up and kept fighting and to come out of here with a top 15 is really like a win.  We very well could have been in the garage with a 35th-place finish, but they kept working on the car and patching it up.  We dodged the other wrecks, so I’m grateful for them and the Shriners for coming out and having some fun.”