Toyota Truck Race Recap - Charlotte

KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Cessna/Big Machine Hand Sanitizer Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports

Finishing Position: 2nd

Can you talk about the challenges with your Tundra in tonight’s race?

“It doesn’t help showing up to the race track with broke parts on your truck. That was a problem from the get-go. Didn’t have our right-front stopper right so we were all over the splitter. We came in and didn’t know it was broke so had to fix it with a make shift piece and it was way too high. Then we tried to fix it and just never was right. We were out in left field the whole night. Never really had a great feel for the truck or a great driving truck. Just salvaged what I could.”

Is losing this race tough because you feel it’s self-inflicted?

“Self-inflicted. Threw it away. Had six months to prepare and screwed it all up.”

Did you see Chase Elliott do the bow on the frontstretch after he won?

“No, it’s the first I’m hearing about it. Immitation is the strongest form of flattery or something, I don’t know what it is. That’s cute.”

Just to clarify, you’re not upset that Chase Elliott did the bow?

“I don’t know what he did, but he did it. It’s fine. Yeah, cool.”

What are your expectations for tomorrow night’s Cup race back at Charlotte?

“No telling. Our Cup cars haven’t been that strong this year. We have been somehow formulating some decent finishes out of them, but we haven’t been in position to win whatsoever. I think we’ve only led 14 laps this whole year. We’ve got to get stronger as a group as a whole and get ourselves where we need to be. Based off of the other night, I would assume we’re going to be fifth to 10th.”

Do you think lapped traffic impacted you chasing the lead in the closing laps?

“No, lapped traffic didn’t have anything to do with it. Our truck was just really bad and very poor handling. Should have been way better and way faster than it was to make up lost time, but also our pit strategy, we got off on that. We basically handed Chase (Elliott) I think 20 positions there on our final pit stop. That will seal in your own fate as well too.”

How are the tires in the Truck Series compared to Xfinity and Cup?

“The tires are probably a little bit hard for the trucks here just because the trucks aren’t going that fast so they can probably be a tick softer. If they were softer, you would just have more throttle on time. But it seemed like when you would slip one end, you could slip the front or the rears so there was a lack of grip at a couple moments of the race. We just didn’t have our truck adhered to the track near as well as we needed to and that was our main problem.”

Specifically what was wrong with your truck and what broke?

“We have some right-front travel limiters so the splitter won’t crash the ground that broke essentially at the start of the race because I never even felt it try to hold it off the race track. It just crashed the race track on the first lap. We had issues right from the get-go with that. It’s crazy because these trucks, the engineers and the crew chiefs the people back at the shop have the least amount of money and the least amount of resources, but yet have to work the hardest and have to be the smartest it seems of all the garages because we’re not allowed shock springs and bump stops essentially what those are and packers and that sort of stuff. We’re playing with really, really non-accustomed ways of being able to set these things up and ours broke.”

Did you experience a driveshaft issue or vibration halfway through the race?

“It didn’t factor in, but it was there the whole race. We’ve had driveshaft vibration problems or something in the drive train for five, six, seven, eight years. I don’t know what the problem is, but we can’t seem to fix it and tonight was really, really bad – worse than it’s been in awhile.”

What can you say about Zane Smith?

“He did good, he was fast. He made some bold moves and ran well and didn’t put himself in too bad of a spot. When he made the three-wide move down the backstretch and threw it into turn three, that was probably something I would do and he did a good job holding onto that spot, but I was able to still get by him and go on and drive away and try to chase down Chase (Elliott), but just didn’t have enough.”

What has been your favorite package at Charlotte between Cup, Xfinity and now the trucks?

“Probably the Xfnity cars I guess. That was the most fun and the cars were really equal and driving all over the place. Tires were bouncing a little bit so they definitely lacked some downforce, that’s for sure. But you had some recovery if you ran the top and was able to chase down the guy in front of you. The Cup car package, you just kind of get boxed into not being able to follow the guy at all. I exited turn two right up behind Ross Chastain last night and didn’t wash out and didn’t have a problem and was able to stay with him versus the Cup cars, you get that close to somebody and you’re going to crash the wall. Same with the trucks, the trucks are really, really bad with that aero wake and the frontends of the trucks blowing out from underneath you when you get too close to the car in front of you.”

AUSTIN HILL, No. 16 United Rentals Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing Enterprises

Finishing Position: 9th

Talk about what it felt like to get back to the racetrack and how was the race as a whole for you tonight?

“Running the Xfinity Series race last night, I got to see first hand how much different it is – being there with no fans, just your guys and the guys that come to the racetrack that make the racecars go are the really the only ones there. It was definitely really weird being inside the infield and seeing the stands and not seeing all the fans there. Hopefully, that can change pretty soon. Once I got strapped in, it was business as usual. I tried to keep all of that off my mind and just focus on what’s in front of me and that was to try to win the race. We really had a really good United Rentals Toyota Tundra tonight. We fired off there from the fifth position, and took the lead on lap one. We led for a little while. As the run went on, we got a little free there. The truck got looser and looser – me and Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief), we tried to keep up with adjustments. Ultimately, we got the truck a lot better. There at the end, we ended up pitting off sequence. We pitted with Kyle (Busch). Kyle was able to get up there and finish second, and I just could not get through lap traffic like he could. I was really loose in lap traffic. A lot looser then when I had the clean air. That was kind of the difference maker in trying to get back up there inside the top-five.”

Next up for the Truck Series is heading back to Atlanta – your hometrack. How excited are you to get back rolling with the season?

“We were really good at Atlanta last year. We ran inside the top-10 all day. I think we ran inside the top-five as well. I want to say we finished sixth or seventh there last year. I have a lot of confidence in Atlanta. It’s a rough race track. Tire wear is big. We were really good at Homestead. I feel like how we ran at Homestead is kind of, sort of similar to how Atlanta is with the race track falling off. You are wanting new tires at any chance you get. Throughout the year with Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) and everybody at HRE (Hattori Racing Enterprises), we just started jelling really good together. Scott really knows what I want in the truck. He knows how I like the truck to drive to be fast. I think it showed tonight. When I started in that fifth spot, and took the lead on lap one, I had all the confidence in the world in all my guys back at the shop. Lot of guys kind of tip-toed down into the corner. I was wide open. I knew it was going to stick, because everybody at HRE does a heck of a job. We are always really fast right off the truck. This no practice deal and no qualifying deal is fine with me. I’m fine with doing all the races like that if we have too just because I have that much confidence in my guys. Getting back to Atlanta, I’m more than happy to get there. I was bummed out that we couldn’t run there when we went last time, so it’s going to be really nice to get there and get that race in. I feel really confident that we have a really good shot at that race track.”

Ron Fleshman

RIS NASCAR Editor.  Has been with RIS since the middle 90's. Writes on each of the three main series of NASCAR.

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Volume 2020, Issue 5, Posted 11:41 PM, 05.26.2020