Story By: SAM MAHONEY / TOYOTA RACING – DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Christopher Bell earned his second consecutive third-place finish in the Daytona 500, which was rain-delayed until Monday. Bell, who won his Duel race on Thursday evening, led 22 laps around the 2.5-mile Daytona International Speedway.
Bubba Wallace continued his strong Daytona performance with a fifth-place run, while LEGACY MOTOR CLUB earned two top-10 finishes in their official race debut with Toyota with John Hunter Nemechek finishing in seventh and Erik Jones scored in eighth.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Daytona International Speedway
Race 1 of 36 – 500 miles, 200 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, William Bryon*
2nd, Alex Bowman*
3rd, CHRISTOPHER BELL
4th, Corey LaJoie*
5th, BUBBA WALLACE
7th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
8th, ERIK JONES
15th, MARTIN TRUEX, JR.
17th, TY GIBBS
19th, DENNY HAMLIN
28th, JIMMIE JOHNSON
29th, TYLER REDDICK
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DEWALT – Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
How were you able to pull out a top-five finish today?
“Honestly, we got really fortunate. With those two wrecks, you know. The race was not playing out our way at the end. And after the green flag stop, I was pretty much in the back. But being on the bottom lane, I was able to squeeze by that last wreck. I don’t know, we had an awesome Interstate Batteries DEWALT Camry. We showed a lot of pace between the Duel and the early part of the race. When we had track position, we were fast. But I don’t know, didn’t go our way and we need to study it.”
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
What more did you need for a potential win tonight?
“Got to give yourself a chance if you want more. We don’t give ourselves chances in the 500. We’re always trying to come from behind, whether that’s my doing or just not executing. Unfortunate, you know? We got lucky with that big caution as we were going to need to pit for an unscheduled stop. Luck was on our side, but that’s not something we needed because we lost all our track position there. Feel like you need to be in the top three rows to have a shot at this race. While we came from 14th, our McDonald’s Toyota Camry was fast enough to get to fifth, but you don’t know, right? What if we restarted fourth or in the lead? I don’t know, man. I’m so frustrated, but proud of this team. This was the cleanest 500 car I’ve ever had. That’s nice! Lot of positives. The team, 95% execution, but you got to have 100. I don’t know exactly what happened. Just didn’t need that, but proud of the race we ran. Have a full race under us to go debrief and come back stronger for the next race here.”
What happened to you on the backstretch?
“I locked up the brakes. We’ve got to figure that out. Usually, I feel like I’m pretty aware when wrecks happen especially we were out of the race at that point. As soon as I touched the brakes I locked up and slid into AJ (Allmendinger) pretty hard, but the Next Gen cars can take a hit, so we were able to make it through with a scrape and we were okay.”
Were there any surprises about the race?
“I think we scared the hell out of each other on that first wreck – lap two. But, yeah, just the fuel mileage stuff is a little crazy.”
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 42 Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
Finishing Position: 7th
How was your race?
“Solid Daytona 500, solid start to our year. P7. Ran up front for a little bit, rode around for a while and stayed out of the carnage. Overall, really proud of everyone at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB with this Dollar Tree Toyota Camry XSE.”
How did your Toyota Camry XSE feel during the race?
“It felt good. We’ve got some things to clean out on the pit road side, but overall, it felt really good in the draft. I felt like I could push, I could ride, I could be pushed. Overall, a solid day. I feel good about where we are at. Decent start to the year.”
ERIK JONES, No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
Finishing Position: 8th
How was your race?
“A top-10 it looks like, so a good day for the AdventHealth Camry. It went the way we needed it to. We had some issues on pit road. We had a fast car; it just didn’t work out. We were out front there and then got caught up in a wreck there, and then came back and finished top-10. Good solid start.”
How do you feel about the top-10?
“It’s good. It’s a good start to the season. I’ve not had good luck at the start of the season at Daytona, so we will take a top-10. I wish it was more. I think we had a car capable of more – I just struggled to make much happen throughout the day, getting in line and getting to the front. The AdventHealth Camry was good. Just didn’t play out at all throughout the night like we needed. We finally had something rolling there in the middle and it got choked up and we got caught up in that wreck, but we will take it. We will go to Atlanta and try again.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, No. 84 Carvana Toyota Camry XSE, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB
Finishing Position: 28th
How tough was it to get caught up in a wreck so early in the race?
“I’m very thankful to be in the race, but I hoped to race a little longer before we got in a wreck. It’s just a matter of time before you get caught up in something around here it seems like. It was pretty disappointing.”
What’s going through your head the rest of your race?
“There’s optimism in the beginning, hopeful we could straighten out the suspension and then at least run in the draft. Then, as time went on, we realized the severity of the damage and we just had too much damage to even really hang in the draft unless I had a unique situation. So then, at that point it was just wondering if there were going to be more cautions and if we would gain some positions through the cautions.”
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Nasty Beast Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 29th
Can you take us through what happened there in that crash?
“Well, it looks like (pause). You know, you get to the end there and no one’s really lifting, right? We’re pushing really aggressively, trying to be in the conversation, right? Trying to be one of the front cars in the top or bottom lane. Looks like the 24 (William Byron) and 48 (Alex Bowman) are pushing really hard and you know, at some point when you’re pushing that hard, you’re going to get out of shape a little bit. Unfortunately, I got into the 6 (Brad Keselowski). I saw everyone wrecking there in front of me, just got caught up in it.”
How was your day overall?
“Pretty solid day for us on the speedway, honestly. Our Nasty Beast Toyota Camry was fast. We didn’t do the best job in Stage 1 to get points, kind of let that one get away. We were right in the mix there, they just started wrecking at the end. Tried to get by them on the apron, just didn’t make it.”