TOYOTA NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Watkins Glen International – August 11, 2012
Camry driver Kyle Busch (sixth) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Watkins Glen International.
Brian Scott (10th) also recorded a top-10 finish for Toyota on the 2.45-mile, 11-turn upstate New York road course. Other Toyota drivers in the field at Watkins Glen included Mike Bliss (14th), Ryan Truex (15th), Victor Gonzalez Jr. (16th), Jason Bowles (17th), Kenny Habul (20th), Joey Logano (22nd), Eric McClure (26th), Joe Nemechek (27th), Alex Kennedy (29th), Alex Popow (38th) and Jeff Green (40th).
Three Camry drivers currently rank in the top-10 of the unofficial NNS point standings — Bliss (eighth), Scott (ninth) and Nemechek (10th).
KYLE BUSCH, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Kyle Busch Motorsports Finishing Position: 6th
MIKE BEAM, crew chief, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Kyle Busch Motorsports What were the issues your team faced this weekend with the Kyle Busch Motorsports Camry? “We’ve had so many issues, it’s just crazy. The shifter ball broke off probably 20 laps ago and Kyle (Busch) did a great job sticking with it. The throttle is sticking – we’ve had so many issues. Just losing that engine yesterday and then having the problem there at qualifying and starting at the rear. Everybody has done a great job on this Monster Energy Toyota. I’m proud of everyone. Kyle (Busch) was hanging tough for us.”
BRIAN SCOTT, No. 11 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 10th How was your race? “It was just a solid day — nothing spectacular and nothing disastrous. We just kind of finished in the zone that we ran. If we could’ve had a couple better restarts we would’ve been up there. If we could’ve had the car a little better we would’ve been up there. All in all it was a solid day. To get a top-10 at Watkins Glen with all of these Cup guys and some of the road course ringers in it, that’s decent. We’re going to keep chipping away and get ready to go and do it again next week at Montreal.”
Does the top-10 finish give you confidence heading into Montreal? “I’ve had a lot of confidence in my road racing lately. I feel like it’s gotten a lot better. I feel like I’m definitely top-10 no matter who shows up. And, on a great day we could be top-five and just on a solid day we’ll still be top-10 like today. My confidence level is high. I love Montreal. We had a great run there last year, so I’m looking forward to getting north of the border and doing lefts and rights with our Dollar General Toyota again.”
MIKE BLISS, No. 44 TriStar Motorsports Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports Finishing Position: 14th
RYAN TRUEX, No. 20 Grime Boss Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 15th What happened on the first lap of the race? “I drove in the corner and got wheel-hopped and spun out back in front of everybody. Basically I wheel-hopped and it was either wheel-hop and hope I didn’t run into my teammate in front of me and take out the field, or turn in the grass and spin out and not hit anybody, and I chose the grass. I had no control after that.”
How much damage did you have from going in the grass? “Not much. I didn’t even look at the car. We were just a little off with the setup. We probably could’ve finished maybe 10th, but we just weren’t as good as those guys up there. We played catch up all day.”
How do you wheel-hop on a road course? “Just getting into the corners. If you don’t get through the gearbox right shifting down, you’ll hop the back wheels. That was the first time all weekend that I did it. Unfortunately, that was the first lap of the race and I spun out. I feel pretty stupid about it. I got lucky that nobody ran into me.”
VICTOR GONZALEZ JR., No. 99 Delta Commercial/IMCA Toyota Camry, RAB Racing w/Brack Maggard Finishing Position: 16th How was your race? “It was tough. I was trying to get a balance of the car. We first started with a little push tight and then going through the changes then we got loose. We were just working at that and the pace was pretty fast. When the Cup drivers are coming down here for racing everything changes. At the end we had a good Toyota Camry. It held up to the end. I had a lot of problems in the inner loop because of the grass. One time we got a lot of temperature on the engine, but we just cleaned it off and kept going. We put new tires on at the end and I thought we got a good strategy to go and try to get a top-10, but we didn’t this time. Still, we got a good car and the guys did a good job — RAB Racing. Scott Zipadelli (crew chief) did great calls, the guys on the pits worked awesome but this time the driver failed. We’ll get them next time.”
JASON BOWLES, No. 81 American Majority Toyota Camry, MacDonald Motorsports Finishing Position: 17th
KENNY HABUL, No. 75 SunEnergy 1 Racing Toyota Camry, SunEnergy 1 Racing, LLC Finishing Position: 20th
JOEY LOGANO, No. 18 GameStop/buymytronics.com Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 22nd
ERIC McCLURE, No. 14 Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports Finishing Position: 26th
JOE NEMECHEK, No. 97 AM/FM Energy Wood & Pellet Stoves Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position: 27th
ALEX KENNEDY, No. 87 Global Barter Corporation/Dream Factory Toyota Camry, NEMCO Motorsports Finishing Position: 29th
ALEX POPOW, No. 19 G-Oil/Noah’s Light Foundation Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports Finishing Position: 38th
JEFF GREEN, No. 10 TriStar Motorsports Toyota Camry, TriStar Motorsports Finishing Position: 40th
