Toyota NASCAR Notes & Quotes Talladega May 2012

[media-credit name=”talladegasuperspeedway.com” align=”alignright” width=”300″][/media-credit]TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES April 30 – May 6, 2012

TOYOTA TIDBITS TOYOTA TRACKING 200:  As the talk in the NASCAR garage is about teams and car numbers nearing landmark accomplishments, Toyota is on the brink of a special milestone — one victory away capturing their 200th NASCAR national touring series triumph.  Following a successful race weekend in Richmond, Va., where Toyota Camry  drivers earned both NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) and NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) wins, Toyota has now earned 199 victories across NASCAR’s three national series.  Camry drivers have amassed 42 NSCS wins and 66 NNS victories since the start of the 2007 season, and Tundra drivers in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) have visited victory lane 91 times since Toyota joined the series in 2004.

RECORD-BREAKING BUSCH:  In Saturday evening’s NSCS race at Virginia’s Richmond International Raceway, Kyle Busch took the lead late in the race and went on to capture a record-setting fourth consecutive spring race at the Virginia short track.  The win by Busch enabled him to break the previous record of three consecutive wins in the Richmond spring race by Hall of Fame racer Richard Petty (1971-73).  It was the first NSCS win of the 2012 season for Busch and his 20th career victory driving a Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR).  By virtue of his win at Richmond, Busch is now the only active driver to average a top-five finish in the NSCS at any track (4.7 at Richmond).

KURT AND KYLE CLICK:  Kurt Busch held off a hard charging Denny Hamlin on the final lap to earn the victory in Friday night’s NNS race at Richmond International Raceway.  Busch crossed the finish line .062 seconds ahead of Hamlin to capture the checkered flag at the .75-mile oval.  It was the first win for the Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) NNS team — which made its series debut at the start of the season — and the first victory for Kurt Busch driving his brother’s Camry.

BOWYER BEAT ‘EM:  Clint Bowyer joined Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) in the No. 15 Camry for the 2012 season. The 33-year-old driver has recorded five wins, 32 top-five results and 99 top-10 finishes in 226 career NSCS starts.  Last season, Bowyer led 25 laps (of 188) and registered a win at Alabama’s Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 2011) – along with four top-five finishes and he ended the year 13th in the championship point standings.  The Kansas native won the 2008 NNS championship and has made the ‘Chase’ championship playoff field three times (2007, 2008 and 2010) in six NSCS seasons.

TOPS AT TALLADEGA:  Although he has yet to register a finish better than third at Talladega Superspeedway, fifth-year driver Joey Logano has the best average finish among active drivers at the 2.66-mile race track.  Logano has an average finish of 14.5 in six starts in Alabama.  He has recorded four top-10 finishes, including a pair of top-five finishes in the fall race — third in 2009 and fifth in 2010.

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NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS):  Through nine races, Denny Hamlin is third in the series point standings, trailing leader Greg Biffle by nine points … Martin Truex Jr. (fifth), Kyle Busch (11th) and Clint Bowyer (12th) also rank in the top-12 in the standings … At Talladega Superspeedway, Clint Bowyer will be behind the wheel of a University of Alabama-themed No. 15 Camry that will honor the Crimson Tide’s 2011 national championship football team … Hamlin, FedEx and The Salvation Army will deliver home goods to a family in Tuscaloosa, Ala., on May 3 … Mark Martin will host his eighth annual fan appreciation event on May 5 in his hometown of Batesville, Ark.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing How will the changes to the plate package raced at Daytona apply to Talladega? “I think we’re going to see somewhat of the same thing at Talladega as we saw at Daytona.  We’ll see how exactly it plays out.  You’ll see less tandem drafting — more pack drafting.  We’ll see how much pack there is, if we can go two-wide, three- wide, if the middle’s fast, if not.  At Daytona, I was disappointed. We saw the bottom lane be too good and you couldn’t make any ground up around the outside.  It was just too far around, so hopefully that’s not the same thing that happens at Talladega where normally there, since it’s wider , we typically run a middle lane and the middle seems to be fast sometimes.”

What does it take to be successful at Talladega? “It depends.  Sometimes you can be a great restrictor plate racer and up front all the time doing what you need to do, running first, second, third most the day and that’s aggressive.  Or, you can be a Carl Edwards and then ride in the back most of the time, or a Dale Jarrett wh o used to, and then be there at the end and finish in the top -five.  I’d love to come out of there with a top-five finish.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Do you expect to see pack racing or the tandem at Talladega? “You’re going to see Daytona all over again.  You’re going to see a little bit of both — you’ll see the pack racing, then you’ll see guys trying to go for it.  Two car tandems at the end, blowing water out of them, blowing motors up.   It will be fun.  It will be a lot fun and it was cool in Daytona.  It was a very interesting race, so I hope we see the same thing.”

Are you on edge at Talladega? “You’re a little bit more relaxed when you go to those places, because you practice and you’ve got what you’ve got.  What are you going to do differently?  There’s not much balance changes you can make, so you’re a little bit more relaxed in that way, but at the same time when the race starts it gets crazy.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Do you expect the rules to impact Talladega like they did at Daytona? “We hope so.  I think that we hope it has the same effect.  I think that the pack racing that we had at Daytona was amazing.  I thought it was great racing.  The two car tandem didn’t win the race — that’s a good thing.  Really, they got us to where we were running a fast enough speed that handling became somewhat of an issue.  So, all those things I think will equal good racing at Talladega if they keep everything the way that it was.”

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing What is the difference in Michael Waltrip Racing this year compared to previous seasons? “There are so many things that go into this.  Every area of our company is better.  I feel like across the board — the drivers are better, the crew chiefs are better, the communication, better race cars, TRD (Toyota Racing Development) is building better engines — really every piece of the puzzle is better this year than it has been in the past.  We have three cars that seem to run really well this year, whereas before we had one or two.  So, that’s another factor in there.  Just can’t say enough about the job everybody’s done at MWR (Michael Waltrip Racing) and the help we get from Toyota.  They were instrumental in really turning the program around — the middle part of last year and giving us a good direction to move forward.  Really got to thank those guys and give them a lot of the credit.”

RODNEY CHILDERS, crew chief, No. 55 Aaron’s Color Your Way Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Has it been challenging to prepare your car for three different drivers this year? “So far, it really hasn’t been a big issue.  The races that Brian (Vickers) has run, it’s been different type of cars and way different set ups than what you run everywhere else anyway.  It really hasn’t changed anything other than the guys at the shop fighting to put different seats in it and leg braces and the steering wheel in a different spot, but other than that the car part really hasn’t been — the setup part hasn’t been a big issue at all.  Going into Talladega, it’s pretty much setup the same no matter which driver is in it.  It’s just another issue of getting Michael’s (Waltrip) seat in it and getting him comfortable.”

NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS):  After seven races, Tayler Malsam ranks eighth in the series point standings … Mike Bliss (10th) also ranks among the top-10 in the standings … In 2011, Camry drivers Kyle Busch (first), Joey Logano (second) and Joe Nemechek (third) swept the top-three finishing positions at Talladega … Ryan Truex will make his second start of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing and second-career superspeedway start in the NNS … In seven NNS starts for JGR, Truex has earned one top-five result and five top-10 finishes … Charlie Brock, the car chief on the NNS JGR No. 18 Camry driven by Joey Logano, spent seven years in Hueytown, Ala., and is the grandson of legendary racer ‘Red’ Farmer — an original member of ‘The Alabama Gang,’ a group of famed NASCAR drivers … John Wes Townley will carry the colors of the Toyota ‘Save in May’ Sales Event at Talladega.

KYLE BUSCH, team owner, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Kyle Busch Motorsports What does it mean to earn your first NNS win as a team owner? “People don’t realize, but this level of racing is hard.  You think you can jump into the series and pull off a win, but it doesn’t happen as easily as you think.  It takes a lot of time, investment and people, which we always could use more of.   On the Cup side, you have large buildings with multiple staffs and engineers in every department.  I think in our shop we have one engineer — or one for the trucks and one for the NNS, so two total. KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) is building their own chassis and hanging their own bodies.  We don’t have the resources of a Cup team, so we operate with the assets we have and work hard to make it successful.  It really gives me an appreciation for those big teams competing in the top series, and how hard it is to pull off that win.”

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS):  After four races, Timothy Peters leads the series point standings … John King (eighth) and Matt Crafton (10th) also are in the top-10 in the standings … The NCWTS returns to action on May 18 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

TOYOTA 2012 NASCAR STATISTICS

Series Races Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led (Drivers) NSCS 9 107 (15) 3 12 26 4 40 790 NNS 7 76 (19) 2 7 13 3 38 486 NCWTS 4 43 (15) 1 9 14 0 9 67

TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Talladega Superspeedway NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Express Camry J.J. Yeley, No. 49 JPO Absorbents Camry Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Aaron’s/Alabama Camry Michael Waltrip, No. 55 Aaron’s Color Your Way Camry Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M’s Camry Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Camry Joey Logano, No. 20 Dollar General Camry Landon Cassill, No. 83 Burger King Camry Robert Richardson Jr., No. 23 North TX Pipe Camry Joe Nemechek, No. 87 AM/FM Energy Stoves Camry David Stremme, No. 30 Inception Motorsports Camry Travis Kvapil, No. 93 Burger King Camry Bobby Labonte, No. 47 Bush’s Beans Camry Bill Elliott, No. 97 NEMCO Camry

NASCAR Nationwide Series Jeff Green, No. 10 Camry John Wes Townley, No. 24 Save in May Camry Brian Scott, No. 11 Dollar General Camry Mike Bliss, No. 44 TriStar Motorsports Camry Eric McClure, No. 14 Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Camry Kyle Busch, No. 54 Monster Energy Camry Joey Logano, No. 18 GameStop Camry Jason Bowles, No. 81 American Majority Camry Tayler Malsam, No. 19 G-Oil Camry Joe Nemechek, No. 87 SWM International Camry Ryan Truex, No. 20 Grime Boss Camry Kenny Wallace, No. 99 American Ethanol Camry

WEEKEND RACE SCHEDULE Sat., May 5 — NNS @ Talladega Superspeedway — 3:15 PM (ET), ESPN2 — Race 8 of 33 Sun., May 6 — NSCS @ Talladega Superspeedway — 1:00 PM (ET), FOX — Race 10 of 36