Kyle Busch (second) was the highest finishing Camry driver in Saturday’s 205-lap NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Texas Motor Speedway.
Busch led three times for a race-high 107 laps in the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) No. 18 Z-Line Designs Camry.
Joey Logano (fourth), Martin Truex Jr. (fifth), Jason Leffler (sixth), Reed Sorenson (seventh) and Steve Wallace (10th) also earned top-10 results for Toyota at the 1.5-mile track.
Other Toyota drivers in the field included David Reutimann (15th), Brendan Gaughan (17th), Michael Annett (18th), Brian Scott (32nd) and Ricky Carmichael (35th).
Eight Toyota drivers are in the top-15 in the unofficial NNS driver points following Texas — Busch (third), Leffler (eighth), Logano (ninth), Wallace (10th), Gaughan (11th), Sorenson (12th), Annett (12th) and Scott (14th).
JGR’s No. 18 Camry driven by Busch currently leads the unofficial NNS owner’s point standings, holding a n 81-point lead, with two races remaining in the 2010 season.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Z-Line Designs/Conn’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 2nd What happened to your car at the end of the race? “They (Carl Edwards) got better adjustments or something, but they got a lot of speed out of their car towards the middle and end of the race. That’s not what lost it. The restart there, Carl (Edwards) jumped the restart. NASCAR never wants to be the outcome of the race, but yet every other week they are. It doesn’t surprise me that they aren’t this week.” Did you feel like the leader took advantage on the final restart? “Oh yeah, he (Carl Edwards) went before the double red marks on the wall. My understanding in the rules, you’re not supposed to. You can’t make up two car lengths on a guy who already has two car lengths on you by the start finish line. It’s not going to happen. I got too far behind and couldn’t run up on him. The race was lost instantly.” How was your race today? “It was a good day. It started out really good. Our car was fast there in the beginning but we just didn’t quite have the speed it took there towards the end of the race with the way the 22 (Brad Keselowski) and the 60 (Carl Edwards) made adjustments and got going really, really good. We just didn’t have the speed quite like they did. I don’t know if it was under the hood or through the corners. Through the corners it seemed like I could make up a little ground, but I couldn’t maintain it down the next straightaway. Disappointing day finishing second.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 4th How was your race today? “When we started the race we weren’t very good at all and we were running about eighth or ninth I think there for a little bit. We did a good job to get the car good. The best we could make was a fourth-place car. We tried with everything we could do with the GameStop Toyota, we just really wanted to get GameStop in victory lane here since it’s kind of their hometown here. I wanted to do that for them, but we came up a little short. We kind of knew when the race started that we weren’t going to be great and was really going to try to have to work hard in this thing and try to get it close. This is as close as we got. We were a fourth-place car at best and that’s where we finished. It’s disappointing, but at the same time at least we didn’t do worse.” Did you think Carl Edwards jumped the final restart? “I have no idea. I just went when I did. I don’t know. I saw him (Carl Edwards) go and I went. I couldn’t see the marks because I was behind Kyle (Busch) there so I didn’t see the marks there on the restart. I didn’t see it and I went with all I had anyway.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 99 Out! Pet Care Toyota Camry, Diamond Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 5th How was your race? “Not bad. We’ve run about fourth or fifth it seems like every time we’ve run these old cars and we just don’t quite got it figured out like the (Joe) Gibbs Racing guys and the 22 (Brad Keselowski) and the 60 (Carl Edwards). Jerry Baxter (crew chief) and all of the guys on this Out! Pet Care Toyota did a great job today. The best we were was fourth or fifth all day and we ran fifth. We’re just missing a little bit with the old car, but excited about the new cars they’ve been building for next year and getting to run them some next year.”
JASON LEFFLER, No. 38 Great Clips/DIY Network Garage Mahal Toyota Camry, Braun Racing Finishing Position: 6th
REED SORENSON, No. 32 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Braun Racing Finishing Position: 7th How did your car handle during today’s race? “The Dollar General Toyota was pretty decent today. We started out tight in the center and snappy loose off. After our second pit stop the car’s handling was very tight. Trent (Owens, crew chief) and the guys did a good job with the adjustments and we got ourselves another solid finish. We lost track position with the speeding penalty, but I think we passed more cars than anyone today. A good seventh-place finish for this Dollar General team. Thanks to all of the guys for a great effort this weekend.”
STEVE WALLACE, No. 66 5-Hour Energy Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 10th
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 11 Rexall/Dollar General Toyota Camry, Braun Racing Finishing Position: 15th
BRENDAN GAUGHAN, No. 62 LoanStar Title Loans Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 17th
MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 15 Pilot Flying J Coffee Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 18th
BRIAN SCOTT, No. 09 Shore Lodge Toyota Camry, RAB Racing Finishing Position: 32nd
RICKY CARMICHAEL, No. 10 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Braun Racing Finishing Position: 35th
