MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What happened to the engine?
“It broke in the middle of the straightaway – it had that hop and that noise that it makes when you know you dropped a valve. Unfortunate, but man these guys at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) have been doing such an awesome job, we’ve had so much power and everything has been really reliable here the last year and a half. Things like this happen every once in a while. It’s a short night. Felt like we were really competitive – we were one or two adjustments away from where we needed to be, but I thought our Dollar General Camry had good speed. Wish I was out there mixing it up.”
Is there anything the team can fix to get you back on the race track?
“It’s terminal, dropped a valve or something. It was smoking out the pipes so you know there was a hold in the piston somewhere so we’re done for the night unfortunately.”
What happened to take you out of the race early?
“Things just happen. We broke something in the engine – dropped a valve I think. The TRD (Toyota Racing Development) stuff has been awesome, making great power, been really reliable and things like this just happen sometimes. Overall we had a great car. Wish I was still out there. I thought we were an adjustment away from being able to run with the boys upfront so unfortunate I got cut short.”
What exactly broke to end your race early?
“Something in the valve train, we dropped a valve or something it felt like and sounded like. Things like that happen. Our stuff has been pretty reliable the last year and a half and we’ve been making a lot of power. Things like that happen and we’ll go back and get it fixed up. The encouraging part is that our cars are really fast and I thought we were an adjustment away from having what we really needed to run with everybody. Wish we were still out there.”
Was there any warning?
“They never warn you, it would be cool if they would send you a text or something. Just the middle of the straightaway it made that pop where you knew that was it.”
