Manufacturer Quotes from Money Lion 300 at Talladega

FORD

FORD FINISHING RESULTS

(4th) Chase Briscoe

(5th) Austin Cindric

(32nd) Cole Custer

CHASE BRISCOE, NO. 98 Nutri Chomps Ford Mustang

Finished: 4th

“We were making a ton of moves. I don't usually have any fun on these superspeedways but that right there was a blast. There are so many things I wish I would have done different there at the end. Overall, we were up front the whole day and it felt like I was one of the only guys that could make moves and was trying. I haven’t been the greatest superspeedway racer but I feel like I made up a lot of ground today. I am looking forward to going to Daytona now and more importantly trying to win $100,000 next week.”

“For awhile I didn’t think anybody was going to make moves with me. I kept trying the bottom and nobody would go. Finally Allgaier pulled down there and we were able to go from 18th and 19th all the way to the lead. I think you could do that everywhere. Everyone gets in the rhythm of running the top and trying to be careful but we came here to race so that is what we tried to do.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 MoneyLion Ford Mustang

Finished: 5th

“Congrats to Tyle and those guys on winning the Dash 4 Cash. I am glad I was able to do my part and give him the push on the restart. The bottom lane fizzled out pretty hard there and I was side drafting for the life of me to try to do damage control at that point. To come away with a top-five is a good day in the MoneyLion 300. I wish I would have been able to win it for those guys. They have a lot of people here supporting me and rooting for Joey tomorrow in the Cup race.”

HOW ABOUT THE CONTACT WITH CUSTER EARLIER? “If you are referencing the contact with the 1 car on tbe backstretch, it was just a bump-draft gone wrong I guess. I was trying to push the 1 and got him a little sideways and sent him to the outside wall. Obviously not my intention but it is part of this racing. You can’t redo it or undo it. It wasn’t on purpose. We will move on.”

COLE CUSTER, No. 00 Jacob Companies Ford Mustang

Finished: 32nd (Accident on lap 94)

WHAT HAPPENED? “I don't even know. I was running on the top and the 1 got turned into me and we were just riding there. It sucks. We had a good run going. We were running third and you put yourself in a good spot at the end of a race and you still get wrecked. That is Talladega. It was a fun race. We were racing hard, it just sucks that we are coming back on the trailer.”

 

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TOYOTA

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

 

1st, Tyler Reddick*

2nd, Gray Gaulding*

3rd, CHRISTOPHER BELL

4th, Chase Brisco*

5th, Austin Cindric*

17th, MATT MILLS

18th, BRANDON JONES

19th, VINNIE MILLER

20th, MAX TULLMAN

21st, CODY WARE

26th, JEFFREY EARNHARDT

36th, CHAD FINCHUM

37th, JOEY GASE

*non-Toyota driver

 

 

   

• Supra driver Christopher Bell was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) event at Talladega Superspeedway as he finished third.
• Bell took his turn at the front of the field twice for 16 laps and will qualify for next week’s Dash-4-Cash at Dover International Speedway to compete for $100,000.
• Fellow Toyota teammates and Joe Gibbs Racing drivers Brandon Jones (18th) and Jeffrey Earnhardt (26th) both were near the front throughout the event, but circumstances shuffled Jones to the rear on the closing laps and an incident with four laps remaining ended the day early.

TOYOTA QUOTES

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 3rd

How difficult were the closing laps of the race with everyone jockeying for position?

“It’s a lot of blocking and listening to your spotter. Speedway racing and especially defensive racing whenever you’re up front at speedways is my weakness. To get out of there with a top-four and be in the Dash-4-Cash next week is something I’m really proud of and that was what we had circled. Obviously, we want to win, but to be able to get a top-four and know that we have a shot at $100,000 next week at Dover is something I’m smiling ear-to-ear about.”

How do you feel about your chances to win at Dover next weekend?

“Can we go tomorrow? Please.”

How intense was the racing?

“It definitely wasn’t the ride-around session we had at Daytona so that was a lot of fun. Very intense moments – I thought I was going to crash a couple times. I hope the fans got their money’s worth there.”

What was going through your head during the red flag?

“Just top-four, I just wanted to run top-four so bad. I know going to Dover that we were going to have an excellent shot at winning the race so really wanted to be in that Dash-4-Cash.”

How do you balance being aggressive to win versus taking it too far and risking a wreck?

“It’s all a delicate balance. You can keep making moves and trying to win the race or get crashed really easily. The 2 (Tyler Reddick) car was really fast. Obviously, RCR (Richard Childress Racing) has a really strong speedway package. They probably deserve to win, but we’re going to beat them next week.”

 

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 1st Foundation Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 18th

How were you able to come back from the spin on lap eight of the race?

“I told these guys, we’re never out of the fight. We had that spin, the way this tri-oval is, it has that transition in it and I was just right in that spot trying to make too many moves. I learned that lesson really quick and never got back on that transition. All in all, these guys did really good all week. They never lost composure and just had another unfortunate day at the end of it. That’s a lot of confidence for us that we can have a mishap like that where we can have something like that happen and come back to stay on track.”

Was the plan of the race to stick with your teammates as much as possible?

“I wanted to do that from the beginning and Jeffrey (Earnhardt) was up there as well with us the entire day. There were some points where I was trying to work with them pretty good too, but coming down to two or three to go, you try to start doing moves that will help you win the race. They did a great job all day long and we all ran up front. I think our superspeedway program with these Supras is really getting good.”

 

JEFFREY EARNHARDT, No. 18 iK9 Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 26th

How strong was your race car and what happened in the accident with four laps to go?

“We had a really fast Supra all weekend. I didn’t think we were the best in practice, but I knew we knew which direction we needed to be to be fast. Qualifying showed that – it wasn’t as strong as Daytona, but it still was a solid effort by the guys in qualifying there. We had a good car at the stop. We pitted and took two left sides and thought we might have been struggling a little bit there. Then we got shuffled towards the back, which I thought was a good thing because it gave us the opportunity to practice some stuff and really learn how to be able to execute a pass well. It showed there at the end, we had a really fast, strong car and we were playing our cards right. The 22 (Austin Cindric) got into the side of us and it went all to crap from there. Four-wide is doable here at Talladega, but it’s not ever any fun. We just got sucked around. We were a little loose all day long, which is good as long as it’s a manageable loose. Once you get four-wide and everyone is so tight on you, it’s hard to keep it under you. It’s unfortunate. I know we were going to have a good shot to win that thing. We were setting ourselves up good and that’s what it takes at these places is to be there at the end and be ready to execute when the opportunity comes. These guys made it possible for me to do that. Just unfortunate it played out the way it did and we’ll go get them in Charlotte. Just unfortunate.”