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MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES: OVERTON'S 301July 16, 2017Kyle LarsonMartin Truex, Jr.Loudon, New Hampshire THE MODERATOR: We're going to go ahead and roll into our post‑race media availability for the 25th annual Overton's 301. We're joined by today's third‑place finisher Martin Truex Jr., driver of the No. 78 Wix Filters Toyota for Furniture Row Racing. Martin, unfortunate there with the tire and causing you to come down pit road. Walk us through the entire race from your perspective, please. MARTIN TRUEX JR.: Yeah, you know, we had a really good Wix Filters Toyota for most of the race, and led a bunch of laps and then got that flat tire, kind of got off sequence. You know, whatever happened there after lap 200 or so, I think the VHT was kind of wore off the track and we started to lose our edge a little bit there. We still had a shot, but on the last restart we got the inside lane there, restarted third. It wasn't the place to be, obviously. I think the 11 started fourth and that was really the place I would have liked to have been. And then we just didn't get a good restart on the bottom and lost a couple spots and had to battle back and then just didn't quite have the speed at the end of the race that we had the first 200 laps. All in all, it was a tough‑fought day. We had to come from 24th at one point in the field, and just a hard‑fought day, a good job by everybody, and a solid third‑place effort. Just didn't have enough there at the end. THE MODERATOR: We're going to continue on with our post‑race media availability, and we're joined by today's runner‑up Kyle Larson, driver of the No.42 Target Chevrolet for Chip Ganassi Racing. Kyle put on an incredible display out there today en route to his fourth top‑10 finish in seven races at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Kyle, you passed a lot of cars out there today. Did you feel like if this race went on for a few more laps you were going to get the 11? KYLE LARSON: I thought so. I was catching him a couple tenths of a lap there, and then it seemed like when I got kind of close there, I don't know, within four or five car lengths at the end, my lap times kind of evened off a little bit with him, I started getting too tight on exit, and I couldn't carry the speed on exit like I needed to. I'd gain a lot on him on entry, but I couldn't keep the power down and keep the front turning on exit there that last run. Finished second, but another hard‑fought race. You know, this is the third time we've had to start last and drove up to second. I wish we could have been a spot better again, but really proud of my team and proud of the cars that they're bringing for me to drive each and every week. It's been a tough couple weeks through the tech line, so if we make it through here and then have a good Tuesday at NASCAR, but we'll see. Q. Kyle, what exactly did happen Friday, and how frustrating is it that these issues have been happening and keeping you from better success than you've been having? KYLE LARSON: Yeah, we just got in trouble for the shark fin there on the rear deck lid. I think with how fast we've been running and all that, NASCAR has kept a closer eye on our team in particular. What was going on with the shark fin wasn't anything different really than the other teams tinker with, just trying to maximize their aero performance in their cars. We just got in trouble for it, so had to go to the back. Obviously I don't think it really affected us, which is a good thing, because the little stuff that we got in trouble for so far hasn't seemed to affect the performance. Just got to keep working hard on the areas of our race car that are legal and find some more speed that way. Q. It seems like you were able to pick off spots pretty quickly in the first stage and then in the third stage. What were the adjustments you had to make considering the track changes from yesterday's cool conditions to today, and do you sometimes feel like you guys have a target on your back literally with what's going on lately? KYLE LARSON: For sure. For sure. It seems like we have a target on our back. But that's a good thing, too. It means everybody is paying attention to us. This is my fourth year, and I've never been in the position to where NASCAR and other teams are paying so much attention to our race car. That's a compliment to everybody at our race shop. I don't remember the other question you asked. Oh, about passing lots of people? Yeah, in the beginning of the race when the VHT was down pretty heavy there, I thought I could get underneath people fairly easy and quickly, and at that point of the race there was a lot of give and take, so most everybody I got to just kind of let me by. Then towards the end, kind of moved down out of the VHT and was able to run like your normal Loudon line and find a lot of grip and speed there. Seemed like nobody else could really run there like I could. They were all pretty loose doing that, where I could roll the middle and have good drive on exit. But the middle of my corners definitely got tighter throughout the day, and I think we just got the adjustment on that. I'm not sure what adjustments they were making. Probably talk about air pressure and wedge and all that. I don't even know which direction they go in with that. But yeah, they made the car better all race, and I was surprised there that last run I was able to pull away from the 78 by a lot. I thought he was the dominant car all day long. Any time he was in front of me, he'd pull away a lot, and then he got to my back bumper there a couple times the last run, but once I moved down to my line that I liked, I started catching the 11 and pulling away from Martin pretty fast. Q. Kyle, I think a lot of fans, at least from what I saw on Twitter, were like kind of annoyed with all the PJ1‑VHT talk. After it wore out, they were like, oh, this was all a bunch of nothing. But do you think that NASCAR and the track should keep going in this direction, keep experimenting to see, or do you feel like it wears out so quickly that it's not worth trying? KYLE LARSON: No, I think it's awesome. I was surprised at how well it worked this weekend. I liked the element of it changing quickly and wearing out and then wearing out in different spots and stuff. You know, it just adds an element to us that we have to adapt to. In the past here at Loudon, you kind of just run the same line all race long, and today everybody I got around was running somewhat of a different line, and I thought that was a really cool thing. Restarts were way more exciting, I thought. I thought you could run three or four different lanes, and a lot of times I found myself in a three‑wide situation. It was fun. I normally don't‑‑ not necessarily enjoy coming here, but it hasn't been one of my favorite racetracks because it is so one lane, but today I thought there was a lot of different lanes you could run, and it was all because of the PJ1 that they put on the track. So for sure I think NASCAR should look at doing it at other racetracks. When we did it at Charlotte, I don't think it did‑‑ I don't think it was a good thing at Charlotte, so I almost think it's better for tracks that have a slower pace and slower mid‑corner speeds already because it's hard to get the courage up to enter in that stuff at those fast tracks because you don't really know how it's going to react. But here you're going so slow in the corners, it's not‑‑ you're not going to crash if you go in it. I think‑‑ I don't know, I can't think of tracks off the top of my head that you could run it at right now, but any track where I think the pace is slower, it would be a good thing. THE MODERATOR: Kyle, thanks again for the show today, and good luck next week in Indianapolis. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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