TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
October 8 – 14, 2012
TOYOTA TIDBITS DISECTING DEGA: Camry driver Kyle Busch escaped a race-changing, last-lap wreck at Talladega Superspeedway to claim a third-place result in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race in Alabama. Busch was riding in the middle of the pack on the last lap when the race leaders made contact and spun, resulting in an accident that involved more than half of the field. Busch dove to the bottom of the track and avoided the incident, allowing him to jettison to the front of the field and cross the finish line in third. In addition to Busch’s top-10 finish, fellow Camry driver Travis Kvapil recorded an eighth- place finish, his first top-10 in 2012.
CAMRY CHASERS: Heading into the fifth event of the 10-race ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup’ championship playoff this weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Denny Hamlin sits in third-place in the point standings, behind points -leader Brad Keselowski and second-place Jimmie Johnson. Hamlin is 23 points behind Keselowski and nine points behind Johnson. MWR teammates Bowyer (-40 points) and Truex (-48 points) are in fifth and eighth-place, respectively.
KLIGERMAN CLAIMED THE WIN: Tundra driver Parker Kligerman captured his first career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) win at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday by overcoming a late-race mechanical failure to claim the checkered flag. After running among the top-10 throughout the afternoon, Kligerman pulled onto pit road only 17 laps before the checkered flag to replace the battery and a failing alternator. The 22-year-old driver hooked up nose-to-tail with two different competitors to surge through the field on the 2.66-mile track. Kligerman’s win was special for Red Horse Racing (RHR) team owner Tom DeLoach — as the win came in the 300th start for DeLoach’s NCWTS team. Tundra drivers Johnny Sauter (second), Timothy Peters (fifth), Kurt Busch (seventh) and German Quiroga (eighth) joined Kligerman in the top-10 at Talladega.
CHALLENGES HAVE LED TO CHASE: When Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) began competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) in 2007, the team was faced with tremendous obstacles each and every weekend. Fast forward through five full seasons and into the team’s sixth year of competition and you will find not one, but two MWR Camrys competing in their first ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup.’ MWR drivers Bowyer and Truex earned the first-ever Chase spots for the still young race team. After the first 30 races of 2012, MWR drivers have earned a total of two wins, 20 top-five results, 47 top-10 finishes and five poles. This year, MWR has already recorded more top-five finishes than the organization had in the previous five seasons combined (16). Three more top-10 finishes this year and MWR will match the total number of top- 10s earned in the previous five seasons (50). MWR has had at least one of the team’s three Camrys finish among the top-10 in every race this season except two — the Charlotte race in May and this past weekend at Talladega.
CONSECUTIVE CHEMISTRY: To say that Kyle Busch has chemistry with Charlotte Motor Speedway when it comes to NNS racing might be an understatement. Busch has competed in a total of 18 NNS races at the 1.5-mile oval and has accumulated a total of six wins, 13 top-five results and 15 top-10 finishes. But, perhaps the most impressive of those statistics is that Busch has finished in the top-10 for the past 11 consecutive NNS races at Charlotte.
RACING FOR AWARENESS: Nine women affiliated with the Toyota Racing program are involved in ‘Racing For Awareness,’ a friendly competition that included driver wives, girlfriends, mothers and sisters creating a T-shirt design in support of breast cancer awareness. The winning design has been selected by fan votes and will be announced Saturday, October 13 at 4:00 PM (ET) at the Toyota PitPass display located on the midway in front of Charlotte Motor Speedway. The winning T-shirt will be made available for purchase with the proceeds from the contest being given to Charlotte-based charity, Carolina Breast Friends. Fans can visit www.toyotaracing.com/RacingForAwareness to see the designs.
SOCIAL MEDIA & WEBSITE: Background and images about the Toyota NASCAR program are available at www.toyotaracingmedia.com, @ToyotaRacing, www.facebook.com/toyotaracing and www.youtube.com/toyotaracingusa.
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Since the start of the 2012 season, Toyota drivers have combined for nine victories, 42 top-five results, 90 top-10 finishes and have led 3,171 laps … Mark Martin will make his 850th career NSCS start at Charlotte … Martin is fifth on the all-time NASCAR career starts list behind Richard Petty (1,185), Ricky Rudd (906), Dave Marcis (883) and Terry Labonte (880) … In his 849 starts, Martin has earned a total of 40 victories, 55 poles and 270 top-five finishes … Joe Gibbs Racing will host a FanFest at their race shop in Huntersville, N.C. on Friday, Oct. 12 from 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM … Although Tundra Camping World Truck Series drivers will be off this weekend, a Tundra will busy in Southern California this Saturday pulling the Space Shuttle Endeavour to it’s home at the California Science Center.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What does it mean that Charlotte is the only Saturday night race in the Chase? “We look forward to Charlotte. It’s a home race for us. Even though it’s not the All-Star race, it’s got an All-Star type feel to it. Obviously, a night race in the Chase is big for any race track, but especially big being in the backyard of everyone’s house. I just look forward to it. We run well there so I’m excited.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing How special would it be to win the championship this year? “It would be an awesome story — changing everything up, moving over to another family, another manufacturer, a new sponsor, everything that we’ve created this year that is new for us. It would be unbelievable to think about being champions together our first year together. I’m very proud of the job that Brian Pattie (crew chief) has done creating a great environment around me — assembled a great team. Certainly is a lot of fun week in and week out. .”
How do you feel about the Michael Waltrip Racing mile-and-a-half program? “We’re running pretty well. Obviously, my strong suit is the short tracks and I need to capitalize on the short tracks as much as I can. However, our cars are running good on the mile-and-a-halves and I’m looking forward to getting back to those.”
BRIAN PATTIE, crew chief, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing How do you feel about where you sit in points? “You’ve got the guys that have won races up front in the top-three. We’ve got the guys that are consistent in the middle and then some guys who have had bad luck on the back side. We’ll head into Charlotte knowing what we have to do for the next five weeks to try to be in the championship hunt come Homestead. We feel that we can win races. We just need to prove it. What people don’t remember is this team just started in December — it’s still a new team. You look around at the teams we’re racing against, they’ve been around a few years and a lot of them have won championships. So, we’re really proud of where our team is at, but we’ve definitely got to get better if we’re going to contend for this one.”
How do you manage your driver’s emotions during the Chase? “We’ve had some good races. We haven’t had great races. We’ve had good ones. He (Clint Bowyer) keeps it loose all the way up until race time, but when he puts the helmet on he gets intense and gets focused and that’s all we can ask for. We’re all in this together. We’re all here to succeed and win races and try to run for this championship and Clint knows that. Keeping the driving calm, at least I have some help now in the spotter’s stand to do so (Brett Griffin, spotter).”
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS): After 28 races, Mike Bliss ranks eighth in the series point standings … Brian Scott (ninth) and Joe Nemechek (10th) are also among the top-10 in the standings … The No. 18 JGR Camry currently leads the NNS owner’s point standings by 21 points over the second-place No. 2 entry … The No. 11 Dollar General Toyota driven by Brian Scott and the No. 18 Dollar General Toyota piloted by Denny Hamlin will be sporting special pink paint schemes … Dollar General and Charlotte Motor Speedway will also have a special recognition for breast cancer survivors during driver introductions for the race … The ‘Ring of Survivors’ will include over 300 breast cancer survivors from the Carolinas.
BRIAN SCOTT, No. 11 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What does it mean to drive a pink Camry to support breast cancer awareness? “We’re really excited to be a part of Dollar General’s breast cancer awareness efforts for the Dollar General 300. From the ring of survivors during driver introductions to our pink race cars and fire suits, Dollar General has put a lot of effort into making this a showcase event for their cause. Joe Gibbs Racing is fortunate to be partnered with Dollar General and we’re looking forward to competing on the track for them in Friday night’s Dollar General 300.”
Do you enjoy racing at Charlotte? “I really enjoy racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway. It’s a fast track and always makes for an exciting race. JGR’s mile-and- a-half program is strong and I think with all that we learned at Charlotte last year and earlier this year. We will have a good shot at bringing home a top-five finish this weekend. Charlotte is a big weekend for Dollar General and I’m looking forward to spending time with everyone from their corporate team while they’re in town.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): After 18 races, Timothy Peters ranks third in the series point standings — 26 points behind series point leader Ty Dillon … Parker Kligerman (fourth), Matt Crafton (sixth) and Johnny Sauter (ninth) are also in the top-10 in the standings … With Kligerman’s win at Talladega, four drivers have won races driving Red Horse Racing Tundras in 2012 — Peters (two), Todd Bodine (one), John King (one) and Kligerman (one) … The NCWTS will enjoy two weeks off before returning to action on Oct. 27 at Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway.
TOYOTA 2012 NASCAR STATISTICS
Series Races Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led (Drivers) NSCS 30 363 (24) 9 42 90 10 173 3,171 NNS 28 316 (39) 8 34 66 8 113 1,464 NCWTS 18 182 (27) 6 39 67 3 62 853
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Charlotte Motor Speedway NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Ground Camry Mark Martin, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Camry Clint Bowyer, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Camry Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Camry Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M’s Camry Landon Cassill, No. 83 Burger King Camry Joey Logano, No. 20 Home Depot 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 Scott Brand Camry
NASCAR Nationwide Series Angela Cope, No. 00 Toyota Camry Joey Logano, No. 20 GameStop Camry Charles Lewandoski, No. 10 Toyota Camry Benny Gordon, No. 24 Toyota Camry Brian Scott, No. 11 Dollar General Camry Jeff Green, No. 44 G-Oil Camry Eric McClure, No. 14 Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Camry Kyle Busch, No. 54 Monster Energy Camry Denny Hamlin, No. 18 Dollar General Camry Joe Nemechek, No. 87 AM/FM Energy Stoves Camry Mike Bliss, No. 19 Bandit Chippers Camry John Wes Townley, No. 99 Toyota Camry
WEEKEND RACE SCHEDULE Fri., October 12 — NNS @ Charlotte Motor Speedway – 7:30 PM (ET), ESPN — Race 29 of 33 Sat., October 13 — NSCS @ Charlotte Motor Speedway — 7:30 PM (ET), ABC — Race 31 of 36
