Toyota Racing NXS Post-Race Recap -- New Hampshire 7.17.21

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 54 DEWALT Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing--Finishing Position: 1st--What is it that you have figured out about New Hampshire?--“What I’ve got figured out is that I’ve got really, really fast race cars to drive. I just love being here with Joe Gibbs Racing. All these Supras that I’ve had the last three times I’ve been here have been amazing. Hopefully my Camry is just as good tomorrow, but if feels good to win, finally got DEWALT in victory lane. I know it’s been a long time coming.”

What made you seek out the fan to give the flag to after the win?

“I was looking and I don’t see a lot of Christopher Bell shirts up there, but there is another one up there. It’s really cool to see a kid wearing my t-shirt. That’s really special. Hopefully he has a lifelong memory. Man, I love this place.”

How much did you learn in today’s race for tomorrow’s Cup race with no PJ1 on the track?

“I think these weekends with no practice and qualifying, you’re not sitting in the car until they drop the green flag. This is a really big advantage, especially coming here, the Xfinity Series rules package is really similar to the Cup Series rules package. Hopefully, it will be pretty similar and I hope that we have a really fast Camry tomorrow. Just really proud to be at Joe Gibbs Racing. Everyone here does an amazing job.”

Have you ever won your first three races at a track before?

“I’m not sure, but New Hampshire Motor Speedway sure has been good to me. I love coming up here.”

How difficult was it to stay up front throughout this race?
“That last restart was really tough. I was just taking off really loose so Justin (Allgaier) was able to stay right on my left rear and made it tough to where I couldn’t get off the corners very good. Man, once this thing got some laps underneath of it, we were really, really fast. Can’t thank Chris Gayle (crew chief) and everyone on this No. 54 group to bring such a strong DEWAL  Supra to the race track. It’s just an honor to be able to drive really fast race cars.”

Are you campaigning for a piece of granite after your streak of success at this track?

“We’ll have to see. This place has been fun. Thank you to all the fans for coming out today and I’m sure we’re going to have another good race tomorrow.”

DANIEL HEMRIC, No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 3rd

How was your race today?

“Just a solid day. Really just good Poppy Bank Toyota Supra – not great, just good. We were a little off to the 54 (Christopher Bell) there the first 15 or 20 laps of the run and then my car would lock in and we would be a half-a-tenth or a tenth better catching him there in the last 20 laps, but then run out of laps and regroup and do it all over again. I was hoping we would make the right adjustments there on the last stop. Dave Rogers (crew chief) tried and my car came in faster, but still just never got the front turning like the next-to-last run to let us drive forward. Hard racing with the 7 (Justin Allgaier) there, it was fun and hopefully the fans enjoyed it. That’s one thing, if I was racing for the win I probably wouldn’t have been so nice, but we have a lot of races left this year so we’ll have our time.”

 HARRISON BURTON, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 5th

What did you need more of in today’s race to get the win?

“Early in the race we really struggled firing off. The first run, we were great firing off and the rest of the race, we were horrible. I don’t really know why that is. I don’t know if the track took a big swing on us, but I just couldn’t fire off good enough. The last stage, I thought we got it good to start and I just gave up too much on the end of the run and was getting tight. Just have to find a way in the middle of that I guess. It’s so hard. I put us behind the eight ball on the first pit stop and slid through my box a little bit and just barely didn’t have enough room to get out and had to backup and lost a lot of track position. Had a really fast Dex Imaging Supra to fire and just need to do a better job of staying with the race track and keeping ourselves in contention throughout the whole race.”

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, CHRISTOPHER BELL

2nd, Justin Allgaier*

3rd, DANIEL HEMRIC

4th, Austin Cindric*

5th, HARRISON BURTON

16th, BRANDON GDOVIC

20th, DAVID STARR

28th, JESSE LITTLE

37th, CJ MCLAUGHLIN

38th, BRANDON JONES

* Non Toyota Driver