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Toyota NXS Las Vegas Post-Race Notes & Quotes

Brian Carroccio

Denny Hamlin finished fourth subbing for an injured Kyle Busch

HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Toyota driver Denny Hamlin (fourth) recorded the top-finish by a Camry in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, an event won by driver Austin Dillon.
  • Camry driver Daniel Suarez (10th) recorded his best-career NXS finish in the 300-mile race, marking the second-consecutive week Suarez posted a personal-best finish in the NXS. The native of Mexico finished 14th at Atlanta Motor Speedway last weekend.
  • Suarez led the field once for three laps and Hamlin held the lead position for one lap on the 1.5-mile track. Fellow Camry driver Erik Jones (29th) led the field twice for seven laps before being involved in an accident.
  • Camry drivers JJ Yeley (16th) and David Starr (17th) also finished in the top-20 overall in the season's third NXS race.

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

How would you describe your day?

"Mediocre at best. Proud of this whole Monster Energy team, but that's about what we had for a car. Just we didn't have any short run speed and that kills you on these restarts. We had a big hole in the nose that in hindsight we probably should have fixed, but other than that it was kind of a status quo day. It's kind of what we had. Didn't tear anything up and we'll build on it and try to run better next time."

Was your car handling well at the end of the race?

"It just got tight at the end of the day, but still proud of this Monster Energy team. Just didn't have the car or the speed to run with the 33 (Austin Dillon). We were quite a bit off on speed all day on the short run and it showed up there on those restarts."

DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 18 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 10th

How was your race?

"It was good. Overall, a difficult weekend. I was very sick yesterday, but to be honest everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing, ARRIS, Telcel, Toyota – they did an amazing job working hard even when I wasn't 100 percent yesterday in practice. In the race, the balance of the ARRIS Camry was pretty good. We made some mistakes – rookie mistakes like sliding once on pit road, with speeding once on pit road – rookie mistakes, but we never gave up. We were working hard and it resulted in a good top-10 for us."

Do you feel like you're improving?

"Definitely we're improving. We are learning about everything. We are getting more confident each race and that's good. I really think that we are going to be even stronger next week in Phoenix."

ERIK JONES, No. 20 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 29th

Were you unable to avoid the contact with Ryan Blaney?

"Yeah, unfortunately. The 22 (Ryan Blaney) just lost it and we were there to catch him and save his day, but it doesn't take away from how great our day was – awesome Interstate Batteries Camry and one that I thought had a shot to win the race. It's really a shame we couldn't be racing for it, but awesome job by everybody from the pit box to the pit crew. Just one of those days where it seemed like everything was clicking right, but just wasn't meant to be. It's a shame that it had to end like that, but we'll move on to the next one. We go back to Phoenix next week. That's another track that's one of my favorites, so hopefully we'll be able to go and grab a win there."