TOYOTA NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes Martinsville Speedway – March 31, 2012
Tundra driver Timothy Peters (fifth) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway.
Rookie driver John King claimed a ninth-place finish to maintain his points lead in the NCWTS. King leads his Red Horse Racing teammate, Peters, by one point in the series point standings. Ross Chastain (seventh) and Jason Leffler (eighth) also recorded top-10 results for Toyota on the half-mile track. Toyota drivers David Starr (14th), Dakoda Armstrong (21st), John Wes Townley (23rd), Matt Crafton (24th), Todd Bodine (25th), Johnny Sauter (29th), and Dusty Davis (33rd) were also in the field. Following Martinsville, five Tundra drivers are in the top-20 in the unofficial NCWTS driver points standings — King (first), Peters (second), Bodine (10th), Starr (12th) and Leffler (16th).
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 NTB Service Central Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 5th How was your race? “It was eventful. We did what we needed to do — we came here, we stayed up front all race long. The guys did a great job on this Service Central Toyota Tundra. What better way to come home and have a top-five and then go on to Rockingham? We’ve got a little bit of work to do, but we’re way ahead of the game from where we were last year. I’m really proud of Butch Hylton (crew chief) and the guys at the shop and all the guys here. Thanks to Thunder Road Harley Davidson and Nelson Toyota. We’ll take this momentum on to Rockingham.”
How much do you enjoy racing at your home track? “Thank the fans for sticking with us — hometown fans are just great here at Martinsville. Hats off to the crew on pit road, Butch Hylton (crew chief) — the whole Red Horse Racing team gave me a great NTB Service Central Toyota Tundra. I just love coming home and the great thing about coming home is that you have a lot of local people willing to help you. Great day to come home and now we’re looking forward to going to Rockingham.”
Did you have anything for Kevin Harvick today? “The 2 (Kevin Harvick) had a good truck all day. We got into second there at one point and we just kept eating the left-rear (tire) off. At that point we just had to deal with it and make adjustments and try to compensate for it.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, No. 08 Watermelon.org Toyota Tundra, Green Light Racing Finishing Position: 7th How was your finish? “This is my career best finish in my seventh start. To get to run with Jason (Leffler) –another fast Toyota — was pretty cool. He got kind of screwed by the 30 (Nelson Piquet) there, but he used up his mulligan on the Toyota boys. We are just looking for sponsorship to keep running — that’s the thing. We got a great seventh place finish and can’t thank everyone that helped out enough. Just looking for more businesses to come on board so we can keep racing.”
JASON LEFFLER, No. 18 Dollar General Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports Finishing Position: 8th How was your race? “Not a great run, but just got used up there at the end by (Nelson) Piquet. We were good on the long runs. It’s a long season so we’ll get better. I qualified bad, which got us behind. I just felt like I needed a little better throttle response. The truck handled great and all the guys on this Dollar General team gave me a good ride here. It’s been awhile since I’ve been here (Martinsville) and no matter how good you think you are, I was still a little rusty. All in all, we’ll go on to Rockingham — we had a good tire test there so we’ll go get them.”
JOHN KING, No. 7 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 9th What does it mean to finish in the top-10 at Martinsville? “Just to finish here is good enough. There’s a lot of torn up trucks at the end of this race. We were able to make it to the end. We didn’t have the best truck. We got behind when it rained. We were really good yesterday — it rained, washed the track off and for qualifying we ended up being too free. Had kind of a poor qualifying effort, but the guys worked really hard. This Toyota really turned around for us in the race and we worked hard on it. We were able to find ourselves in it at the end of the race and have a truck behind us that we could push with when the time came.”
JOHN KING, No. 7 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing (continued) What does it say about you to still be the points leader? “I have a lot to learn yet — I’m an extreme rookie. Just really, really happy to be hooked up with a team like Red Horse (Racing). It takes 10 years of a learning curve off of my career. I’m in great trucks every week — I think that shows now. I’m just really excited. I’m just ready for Rockingham and ready for Kansas — where’s the rest of them at?”
How much did Timothy Peters and Todd Bodine help you for this race? “A ton. I’ve worn them out (Todd Bodine and Timothy Peters) asking questions and they’ve worn me out telling me stuff and coming to me. That really shows what teammates they are. I’m beside myself and speechless at how happy I am with this organization.”
DAVID STARR, No. 81 Zachry Tundra, Arrington Racing Finishing Position: 14th
DAKODA ARMSTRONG, No. 98 EverFi.com Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 21st How was your truck in the race? “That last run we were the best we had been all weekend. Dan Stillman (crew chief) and the crew did a great job working hard all day to get it right. We just need to get a better qualifying effort next time and remember this setup. It’s too hard to make up track position, but I’m proud of how we stuck with it all day.”
JOHN WES TOWNLEY, No. 09 Toyota Tundra, RAB Racing Finishing Position: 23rd How was your race today? “I thought it was a good run getting back into the seat. The goal was at the end of the day to bring it in with all four tires and fenders on it and I think we accomplished that. We didn’t really have any really high expectations here. We’ll learn from this and we’ll go to Rockingham and we’ll have us a good showing for them there I think. The guys did a great job and I think we’ll bring this Toyota Tundra to the track next week and we’ll be good.”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 24th
TODD BODINE, No. 11, Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 25th How was your truck in the race? “We had a really good truck and we were just trying to bide our time a little bit. Everything was going according to plan. We were going to work our way up slowly — we got up to fifth and our right-front tire blew under green. Not much you can do about it. At least we didn’t hit the wall. We had a great Tundra and we’ll go get them at Rockingham.”
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 13 Hot Honeys Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 29th
DUSTY DAVIS, No. 15 thunderexhaust.com Toyota Tundra, Finishing Position: 33rd
