Story By: SAM MAHONEY / TOYOTA RACING – NORTH WILKESBORO, NC – Denny Hamlin had an impressive run to a runner-up finish at the annual All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on Sunday evening to lead Toyota.
Bubba Wallace drove through the field as his runner-up finish in the All-Star Open qualified him for the All-Star Race. The 23XI Racing driver drove from 19th to sixth at the finish.
Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
North Wilkesboro Speedway
All-Star Race – 125 miles, 200 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Joey Logano*
2nd, DENNY HAMLIN
3rd, Chris Buescher*
4th, Kyle Larson*
5th, Ryan Blaney*
6th, BUBBA WALLACE
12th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
13th, TY GIBBS
14th, TYLER REDDICK
17th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 Mavis Tire Toyota Camry XSE, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
Could fresh tires have made a difference?
“I don’t know. I needed more of an advantage to pass for sure. I would run to him, and then you couldn’t pass. I would lose a little bit of air there, and I would try to give my car a break and then run to him again – just have to be so much faster to get around. Hats off to the track, NASCAR and Goodyear for giving it a try. Hopefully, we learned something here for future short tracks. I hate it for our whole Mavis Tire team, but at least we had an exciting fight in the end – something to talk about. (laughter).”
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 Alltroo Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
The battle you had to stay on the lead lap was epic. Can you tell us about it?
“That is what you have to do. You have to survive. We were just okay. It was a good rally for the team. Just didn’t have what it took to get up there. I thought we were pretty good. I was like here we go – the 5 (Kyle Larson) and the 23 charging through the field again, just kind of stalled out and our stuff got burnt up. It was a fun battle with the 12 (Ryan Blaney). I wanted to act like I was mad at him, but I wasn’t. It was fun.”