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[/media-credit]TOYOTA NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Post-Race Notes & Quotes Charlotte Motor Speedway – May 18, 2012
Tundra driver Todd Bodine (third) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
Jason Leffler (fourth) and Timothy Peters (ninth) also recorded a top-10 results for Toyota on the 1.5-mile track. Peters led the field once for 17 laps (of 134).
Other Tundra drivers in the field included Dakoda Armstrong (13th), Matt Crafton (15th), John Wes Townley (16th), David Starr (17th), Johnny Sauter (25th), John King (33rd) and Ross Chastain (35th).
Following Charlotte, eight Tundra drivers are in the top-20 in the unofficial NCWTS driver points standings — Peters (second), Bodine (ninth), Crafton (11th), King (13th), Starr (15th), Armstrong (16th), Leffler (17th) and Sauter (18th).
TODD BODINE, No. 11 Toyota Care Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 3rd How were the last two restarts? “The way these trucks are they punch such a big hole in the air that the guys leading the lines really are at a disadvantage. The guy on the outside is a little better than the guy on the inside, but the guy on the inside is really a sitting duck because the guy behind him has such a draft — and it’s really hard. It’s definitely exciting inside. I’m sure it’s exciting to watch. It’s pretty wild.”
How was your truck tonight? “We didn’t have the best truck. We started off really loose. Our Tundra was too loose and Rick (Gay, crew chief) made a bunch of adjustments, got it better and we went one more step and made it a little too tight. So, to come out of here with a third. We’ve had some good runs this year and we struggled. We’re getting our act together. This Toyota Care Tundra — it was okay.”
What did you say to Justin Lofton after the race? “Justin is my buddy. He was over the house yesterday. We had dinner. He’s a good kid. I’ve been preaching to him — he’s fast every week, he’s got a great truck and a great crew — he’s just got to settle down and use his head. I preached to him all day today. Every time I saw him I said ‘You got this, you got to just be cool.’ And he did. He drove a great race. Whenever I was around watching him, he never put himself in a bad position. That’s a sign he’s maturing.”
JASON LEFFLER, No. 18 Dollar General Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports Finishing Position: 4th How was your truck tonight? “The Dollar General Toyota was really good tonight — strategy didn’t work out for us. We had a botched pit stop there. I thought we had a chance to win tonight. I have to thank all the guys and everyone at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) — Kyle (Busch, team owner), Rick (Ren, competition director), Eric (Phillips, crew chief) and everybody as well as all our sponsors. I’m glad to be here and glad to be driving this thing. It was really nice to drive — they are fun to drive when they are good like this.”
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Tire Kingdom Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 9th How was your race? “It was a good points night. I wish we could have finished a little bit better, but hindsight is 20-20 I guess. The last couple of years here I’ve ran good and wrecked so at least we still ran good and I didn’t wreck. The Tire Kingdom Toyota was pretty good when we unloaded off the truck. I think we need to do a little bit better figuring out how to get it just a little bit better there in traffic — especially here. Got a good notebook. The main thing is that it’s in one piece and we can go work on it.”
Did your truck handle differently at night versus practice this morning? “It was about the same. I really wanted to keep a good eye on today when we practiced in the sun because I know this place frees up at night. We did a good job with that and we actually quit early because we cut a right-rear (tire) down in practice and we had a tire that was kind of out of sequence. All in all it was good. When we were leading there trying to keep the 6 (Justin Lofton) behind me, I was just going as hard as I could and I probably ran the right-front off of it and there towards the end I didn’t have anything. Good day.”
DAKODA ARMSTRONG, No. 98 EverFi.com Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 13th How was your race? “The restarts tonight were crazy. It was almost impossible to pass someone on the inside; even if you were faster than someone on the outside, you just can’t pass. Dan Stillman (crew chief) made great strategy calls all night long and the fresh tires we had at the end would have easily gotten us into the top-10 if it wasn’t for all those cautions and traffic at the end.”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 15th
JOHN WES TOWNLEY, No. 09 Toyota Save in May Sales Event Toyota Tundra, RAB Racing Finishing Position: 16th How did your truck handle tonight? “We’ve been tight the whole night, but we pulled off a pretty good run here and we’re pretty happy with it. The track tightened up a lot tonight. When we came in to pit, we did some wedge adjustments. I think we’re struggling a little bit aerodynamically, but I think everybody was. We’ve been slowly improving since the start of the year. Heading to Dover next, which is my favorite track so looking forward to that. We finished 16th and I think that’s pretty good for us today.”
DAVID STARR, No. 81 Zachry’s Tundra, Arrington Racing Finishing Position: 17th
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 13 Hot Honeys/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 25th
JOHN KING, No. 7 Consol Energy Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 33rd
ROSS CHASTAIN, No. 08 Florida Watermelon Association Toyota Tundra, Green Light Racing Finishing Position: 35th
