TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES Week of August 1 – 7, 2011
TOYOTA TIDBITS INDY OVERVIEW: Kyle Buschwas the highest finishing Toyota driver with a 10th-place result in last Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Camry drivers Brian Vickers (15th) and Kasey Kahne (17th) also earned top-20 results in the 400-mile race at the historic 2.5-mile race track. Kahne started on the outside of the front row and led a race-high 48 laps (of 160), however his Camry was damaged on lap 121 when he was forced to drive through the grass trying to avoid an accident in turn three.
RACE REWIND: Three Camry drivers earned top-10 results in Saturday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. Joe Nemechek earned a seventh-place finish while Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammates Drew Herring (eighth) and Michael McDowell (10th) recorded their second top-10 finishes in only three races behind the wheel of a JGR Camry. Both drivers are set to make their fourth starts for JGR this weekend at Iowa Speedway.
TIMOTHY’S TOYOTA TRIUMPH: Tundra driver Timothy Petersearned his third career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) victory in Friday night’s race at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. Peters started 16th in the Red Horse Racing No. 17 Tundra and led the final six laps (of 200) en route to his first win of the season and the eighth victory of the year for Toyota. The win was also the 88th overall for a Tundra driver since Toyota entered series competition in 2004. Tundra drivers David Starr (third) and Miguel Paludo (fourth) also earned top-five finishes at the .686-mile race track.
POCONO PERFORMANCE: The NSCS will return to Pocono Raceway this weekend for the second time this season. In June, Busch (third) and Martin Truex Jr. (10th) earned top-10 results for Toyota at the Pennsylvania track. Camry driver Denny Hamlin has more wins at Pocono than any other track on the series circuit. Hamlin has earned four victories at Pocono — in June 2006, Aug. 2006, Aug. 2009 and June 2010. Current Camry driver Bobby Labonte has won three times at the ‘tricky triangle,’ including twice in 1999 and in July 2001. TUNDRAS TO ‘TRICKY TRIANGLE’: This year will mark the second trip to Pocono Raceway for the NCWTS. Last August, Tundra drivers earned six top-10 finishes at the 2.5-mile triangular track. Kahne, driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports, led 17 laps (of 55) en route to a second-place result last year. Toyota drivers have won at 20 of the 21 venues on the current NCWTS schedule, with Pocono being the only track where a Tundra driver has not visited victory lane.
BODINE BACK BY HOME: The NCWTS race at Pocono Raceway is the closest the series gets to Todd Bodine’s hometown of Chemung, N.Y., approximately 115 miles northwest of Pocono. The two-time series champion, along with his wife Janet, will be hosting the second-annual ‘Todd Bodine Onion Slice Open’ on Thurs., Aug. 4, at the Blue Ridge Trail Golf Course in Mountaintop, Pa. The charity golf tournament will benefit pediatric patients with traumatic brain injuries and brain disease hospitalized at John Heinz Medical Center in Wilkes Barre, Pa.
BACK STORY: Follow Toyota Racing on Twitter (@toyotaracing) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/toyotaracing). Background and images about the Toyota NASCAR program are available at www.toyotamotorsportsmedia.com.
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS NASCARSprintCupSeries(NSCS): Since the start of the 2011 season, Toyota drivers have combined for four victories, 23 top-five results, 46 top-10 finishes and have led 1,797 laps … After 20 races, Kyle Busch is fourth in the series point standings, 16 points behind leader Carl Edwards … Denny Hamlin (11th), Kasey Kahne (15th) and Joey Logano (19th) are also in the top-20 in the standings … Brian Vickers earned the pole at Pocono in June 2009 … Kyle Busch started in front of the field in June 2010 at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania track.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Why have you been so successful at Pocono Raceway? “It’s just one of those race tracks I’ve got a really, really good feel for honestly. There’s not too many tracks where you feel like when you pull in, you just can’t do wrong, but that’s kind of one of the places. Honestly, we feel like we should’ve won twice as many races there as what we have even though we’ve won a lot. It’s just every time we go there we’re in position to win the race just about every time. Fuel or things like that don’t always help you complete the job, but we’ve had the fastest car there probably 80 percent of the time.” Did you like the new shifting rule at Pocono in June? “I don’t think it changed that much for me. There were times during the race that I was shifting and times when I wasn’t, just depending on what kind of mode I was in. It does add something. I think whether it adds different passing zones, I’m really not sure. So, it’s a lot different than I think what NASCAR set it out to be.” KYLE BUSCH,No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Do you think the current points system is keeping the drivers too close this season? “It seems like it’s a lot easier for someone to have a bad day. A bad day used to not knock you back as far as what it does now. I’ve had three bad days this year. The first bad day I had, I went from leading the points to 14th. The second bad day, I went from fourth in points to 10th. Then the last bad day I just had, I went from leading the points back to fifth after New Hampshire. It’s so hard to get yourself back up the ladder and it takes you so much more time than it used to, so it’s just really hard. Through the Chase it’s going to be important to not have a bad day.” JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What do you enjoy about racing at Pocono? “Pocono is really cool on restarts. You can gain 10 spots or lose 10 spots in one lap. It’s four- or five-wide and you have to funnel it down in the turns. With three different turns like that, it can get tricky. I enjoy racing there. Now that we’re shifting again, that adds a little bit extra to it. In my eyes, it makes it more fun. When you have those long green flag runs and we get spread out, you can keep yourself entertained by shifting or changing stuff up and trying to find different things.” BOBBY LABONTE, No. 47 Reese Towpower-Highland Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing What does it take to be successful at Pocono? “You have to really be good in all three corners there. Usually, turn three is the most important corner. Turn one is a forgiving corner and turn two is critical, but it’s not as critical as turn three. In turn three, you have to be able to gain some speed, but at the same time you have to have a car that will go through (turns) one and two and be able to pass or to be able to overtake somebody. I feel like you have to have a good engine package, which leads to better strategy for two tires, four tires, staying out on fuel a little bit longer and being able to go the rest of the way. You have to have a little bit of everything, but turn three is the key part of that race track to me.” NASCARNationwideSeries(NNS): During the 2011 season, Toyota drivers have combined for eight wins, 22 top-five results, 56 top-10 finishes and have led 1,201 laps … Kenny Wallace (seventh) is the top Toyota driver in the NNS point standings … Steve Wallace (eighth), Brian Scott (ninth) and Michael Annett (10th) are also in the top-10 in the standings … Des Moines, Iowa-native Annett will raffle off a helmet this weekend at Iowa Speedway for the third straight year to benefit the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society in support of family friend, Will Krueger … Toyota team owner Rusty Wallace was an integral part of the overall design and layout of Iowa Speedway and is a part owner of the track … Eric Groen, rear tire carrier on the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Camry, hails fr om Sioux Center, Iowa. MICHAEL McDOWELL, No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Are you looking forward to returning to Iowa Speedway in the No. 18 Camry? “It’s nice to be able to come back somewhere. We had a good run there the first time, too. This is going to be our last race with Pizza Ranch so we definitely want to have a good end to our run there. The biggest thing for me is to be able to go back-to-back with this team — two weeks in a row — because jumping in once a month is hard to do. It’ll definitely be fun to just go two weeks in a row. Going back to Iowa with a full race under our belts there is also going to be a big help.” MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 62 Pilot/Flying J Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing What does racing in front of a hometown crowd mean to you? “It’s a huge opportunity that I look forward to every time we go back to Iowa. Being the premier racing series that comes to the Iowa Speedway and the fact it’s 30 minutes from home and I get to be part of the race is just a dream come true for me. Now, we just need to go there and win the thing and we’re up for the $100,000 Nationwide ‘Dash 4 Cash’ — so there’s a lot on the line — but we’re looking forward to getting there.” NASCARCampingWorldTruckSeries(NCWTS): Since the start of the 2011 NCWTS season, Tundra drivers have registered eight wins, 21 top-five results, 40 top-10 finishes and have led 784 laps … Timothy Peters (fourth) is the top Toyota driver in the NCWTS points standings … Todd Bodine (10th), Brendan Gaughan (11th), David Starr (12th) and Max Papis (14th) are also in the top-15 in the point standings … Tundra driver Justin Lofton won the ARCA event at Pocono Raceway in Aug. 2009 and started from the pole in the June 2009 race … Germain Racing’s Hillman family, including general manager Mike Hillman Sr. and crew chief Mike Hillman Jr., are from Lockport, N.Y., approximately 300 miles northwest of Pocono Raceway … Red Horse Racing’s Rick Gay is from Rochester, N.Y., about 200 miles northwest of the race track. JUSTIN LOFTON, No. 6 Lofton Cattle – Shed TV Toyota Tundra, Eddie Sharp Racing What does it take to be successful at Pocono? “Pocono is a cool race track. I think I have more laps there than a lot of people in the garage. That’s actually one place where we go where I feel like I’m at least on par with a lot of the guys. A lot of the guys in front of us, they’ve been running places for years. When we go to Pocono, I feel like I’m on par and I know what we need. Basically, you need a good drafting truck, but it also needs to corner really, really well. I kind of know the characteristics of how the track goes. Really just being consistent and stay out of trouble.”
TOYOTA 2011 NASCAR STATISTICS Series Races Starts (Drivers) Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led NSCS 20 240 (18) 4 23 46 2 155 1,797 NNS 21 163 (21) 8 22 56 3 72 1,201 NCWTS 13 154 (27) 8 21 40 2 39 784
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Pocono Raceway (NSCS, NCWTS) & Iowa Speedway (NNS) NASCAR Sprint Cup Series David Reutimann, No. 00 Aaron’s Dream Machine Camry Kasey Kahne, No. 4 Red Bull Camry Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Office Camry Casey Mears, No. 13 GEICO Camry Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M’s Camry Joey Logano, No. 20 Home Depot Camry Bobby Labonte, No. 47 Reese Towpower-Highland Camry T.J. Bell, No. 50 Green Smoke Camry Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Camry Mike Skinner, No. 60 Big Red Camry Todd Bodine, No. 66 HP Racing Camry Brian Vickers, No. 83 Red Bull Camry Joe Nemechek, No. 87 NEMCO Motorsports Camry NASCAR Nationwide Series Kenny Wallace, No. 09 American Ethanol/Iowa Corn Camry Brian Scott, No. 11 Shore Lodge Camry Michael McDowell, No. 18 Pizza RanchCamry Drew Herring, No. 20 SportClips Camry Michael Annett, No. 62 Pilot/Flying J Camry Steve Wallace, No. 66 5-Hour Energy Camry Joe Nemechek, No. 87 NEMCO Camry NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Todd Bodine, No. 5 International Monaco RV’s Tundra Justin Lofton, No. 6 Lofton Cattle – Shred TV Tundra Miguel Paludo, No. 7 Stemco Duroline Tundra Max Papis, No. 9 GEICO Tundra Timothy Peters, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Tundra Kyle Busch, No. 18 CocoaVia.com Toyota Tundra Brendan Gaughan, No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Tundra David Starr, No. 81 ASI Limited/Zachry Tundra
WEEKEND RACE SCHEDULE Sat., Aug. 6 — NCWTS @ Pocono Raceway – 1:00 PM (ET), SPEED — Race 14 of 25 Sat., Aug. 6 — NNS @ Iowa Speedway – 7:30 PM (ET), ESPN2 – Race 22 of 34 Sun., Aug. 7 — NSCS @ Pocono Raceway – 1:00 PM (ET), ESPN — Race 21 of 36
