Toyota Racing - NCS Dover Quotes - Martin Truex Jr. and Kyle Busch - 04.30.22

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing--With your previous success, can you take anything from that to this new car?--“I don’t know yet. I think probably not a whole lot. I think it’s going to come down to who can make their car work the best around here. I think it’s going to be a big challenge. Having experience around this track brings confidence to know what you might want is important, but we only have 20 minutes to figure that out – figure out how to get that in the car and not a lot of ability to change big things. I think most of our speed was found between Monday and yesterday.”

In a couple weeks, you will make your 600th career Cup start. Is that surreal to you?

“It’s a lot of races, but pretty cool though to be around as long as we have. My career has not been easy. We have had a lot of tough years – been through a lot of stuff and to still be here battling, fighting for wins is pretty cool.”

What criteria makes you a Hall of Famer and do you think you have achieved that?

“I don’t know. I can’t really answer that. I see guys in the Hall of Fame and what they have done, and stat-wise it’s there, but I don’t know. I’ve not really given it much thought.”

Have you enjoyed the challenge of the new car?

“I’ve enjoyed it. I love racing. I love working with my team. Working with my guys has always been the most satisfying part of this job. Working with a group to try to be successful together, that’s been a lot of fun. It’s not different now. I don’t think too much about what I like better or worse about the car. It is what it is, and you’ve got to deal with it. I just try to focus on working with the team and doing the best job I can do for them. So far it has been fine. Hopefully, we can win soon. It’s been a decent year so far. We’ve been okay. We’ve had a couple tough races, but that is to be expected with this. We’ve got some good tracks coming up, so if we can do our jobs well, hopefully we can put ourselves in a good position. I don’t know that we’re the fastest car out there right now, but maybe we can find some stuff.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crunchy Cookie Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

What expectations do you bring into this weekend at Dover?

“It’s hard to exactly decipher that. You try to think of the right setup and the things you’ve done here in the past with loads and simulation and put it towards what the new car is and how you can apply that. I think everybody does that every week, so I don’t know if that is any different, but trying to fill out those philosophies to what has made us successful here in the past.”

Is this the last race that doesn’t compare to a track you have been at this season?

“No, I don’t think so. I would say this sister place to this, being Nashville, is going to be another place where you haven’t had somewhere that you’ve run before. Then I look to Michigan as well too for some place that you haven’t run before. Even though California is a two-mile, I don’t think they are at all close. I think you’ve still got to play that some of these places are different than ones that we’ve been to.”

Was there any discussion with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota this week after your comments last weekend?

“Yeah, there were some discussions and such.”

Do you think you’re in a better place?

“There is nothing to elaborate on. It’s all good.”

What criteria makes you a Hall of Famer and do you think you have achieved that?

“We’re all drivers and when you get voted in the Hall of Fame, you are a Hall of Famer, right? That’s the way it happens. Am I one? How many years do you have to wait once you retire? Is it three or five? (Two). It’s two. Thank you. I guess I will know in about 12 years.”

Does it benefit John Hunter Nemechek and Chandler Smith to run races at Sam Hunt Racing when they return to your trucks?

“Thanks to Toyota that’s an opportunity that those guys have to be able to get more seat time. Whether or not there is seats available at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), I know that John Hunter (Nemechek) has been running some races at JGR as well too, but it’s just an opportunity to get in the series. With less Cup guys running over there, it kind of opens up the playing field more for guys of that and teams of Sam Hunt’s stature to go out there and compete. I think the team is getting better and that’s allowing the drivers to get that seat time in maybe not the best equipment to show their skill and get a good assessment of how good they are versus just being able to go jump in the best stuff and go contend for a win. I feel like it shines a light on what they have at my place, in my opinion, that it’s better than we think it is, hopefully.”

Do you think you are starting to make some gains?

“Yes, short answer. COTA, we were probably poised for a third or a fourth there and got crossed up with Christopher (Bell) there on the final lap, so that kind of ruined that and then somewhere else, we were running decent and thought we had a decent finish rolling and something happened. I can’t remember what it was. It’s not due to lack of effort. That is for sure. We’re still not the dominate force of being able to go out and lead laps and beat the competition into the ground, like we would like to do. It would be nice to get back to that footprint, but I don’t know that I’ve seen somebody that necessarily is doing that. There are a couple of guys that are running a little bit more consistent, little bit better average running position during a race than us, but we are able to claw our way to get finishes.”

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