TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
October 29 – November 4, 2012
TOYOTA TIDBITS
HALF-MILE HAPPENINGS: Camry driver Kyle Busch registered a runner-up result in Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway. Busch started third in the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) No. 18 M&M’s Halloween Camry at the half-mile short track and ran among the top-10 much of the race. Busch battled eventual race-winner Jimmie Johnson for the final five laps after the last restart, but was unable to pass the current point leader and crossed the finish line second. It was Busch’s 10th top-five finish of the season and his 17th top-10 result in 2012. Camry drivers Clint Bowyer (fifth), Brian Vickers (eighth) and Bobby Labonte (ninth) also earned top-10 finishes at Martinsville.
CAMRY CHASERS: Heading into the eighth event of the 10-race ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup’ championship playoff this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway, Bowyer sits in third-place in the standings and trails point leader Jimmie Johnson by 26 points and second-place Brad Keselowski by 24 points. Denny Hamlin fell to fifth in the standings (-49 points) after the Martinsville race where he suffered an electrical issue and Martin Truex Jr. is in seventh-place (-63 points).
DENNY DELIVERED: Tundra driver Hamlin came from the rear of the field to capture the checkered flag in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Martinsville Speedway in his home state of Virginia. Hamlin was forced to start from the back of the pack after missing the driver’s meeting for the Martinsville race, but the Chesterfield, Va.-native steadily worked his way through traffic on the half-mile track. Hamlin took the lead with just six laps remaining and held on to record the victory. The victory was Hamlin’s first NCWTS triumph of 2012 in just two starts. The win also marked the first NCWTS victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports during the 2012 season.
TOYOTAS KNOW TEXAS: Texas Motor Speedway has become a high mark for the Toyota Racing program since joining the NCWTS in 2004. Toyota drivers have earned a total of 17 wins across all three NASCAR series at the 1.5-mile speedway – – the most combined wins at any active race track on the schedule. Camry drivers have been to victory lane twice in the Sprint Cup Series and five times in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS). Tundra drivers have been dominant in the ‘Lone Star’ state with a total of 10 wins in the Truck Series — the most of any track where the Tundras compete.
TEXAS TWO-STEP: Two years ago, Camry driver Hamlin swept both of the 2010 NSCS races at Texas Motor Speedway. In 13 career starts at the 1.5-mile oval, the Virginia-native has five top-five finishes, eight top-10 results and has run all but 13 laps — completing 99.7 percent of the laps (4,339 of 4,352 total race laps). Hamlin has driven a Camry NSCS race car in eight events at Texas and has finished 20th or better in each start.
PERFECT 10: Toyota drivers have 10 NCWTS victories at Texas Motor Speedway in 17 races since joining the series in 2004. Todd Bodine has six wins (Oct. 2004, Nov. 2005, June 2006, June 2007, June 2009 and June 2010) — the most wins by any driver at the track — while Busch has claimed two triumphs (Nov. 2009 and Nov. 2010). Ted Musgrave also has one victory (Nov. 2007) behind the wheel of a Tundra. Johnny Sauter is the most recent Tundra winner as he claimed the victory in June by leading 41 laps to finish ahead of his ThorSport teammate Matt Crafton.
TEXAS TUNDRA HOME: Tundra drivers have 10 wins at Texas Motor Speedway — the most wins by Tundra drivers at any track on the schedule — and it’s no surprise that Toyota drivers have figured out how to maneuver their Tundras into victory lane at Texas with the Tundra being built less than 300 miles away in San Antonio. Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Texas (TMMTX) is the production facility that opened in November of 2006, and produces both the Tacoma and Tundra pickup trucks. The facility has about 2,000 Toyota team members, with an additional 2,000 people employed at on-site suppliers located at the facility. Toyota NCWTS drivers and team owners, as well as off-road legend Ivan Stewart will visit – – and meet team members — at TMMTX in San Antonio on Wed., Oct. 31.
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 10 victories, 48 top- five results, 102 top-10 finishes and have led 3,498 laps … The next win for a Camry driver in the NSCS will be the 50th for Toyota in the series since the start of the 2007 season … Martin Truex Jr. earned the pole for the most recent NSCS race at Texas in April.
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Do you look forward to racing at Texas? “I am looking forward to it — the mile-and-a-half cars have been so good this year, all three of our cars. Chad’s (Johnston, crew chief) given me some really, really fast cars on mile-and-a-halves — obviously Atlanta a few weeks ago and even at Kansas. Definitely looking forward to Texas. We sat on the pole there in the spring race and led a few laps. We ran top-five most of the night — top-three or so. Look forward to going there and getting to victory lane — it’s been way too long and I know we’ve been knocking on that door and it’s time to open the thing up.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing How special would it be for Michael Waltrip Racing to win the championship? “It would be an awesome story if nonetheless — 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.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing How will you approach the final three races? “Just have fun — that’s all I can do. Just go out there and be relaxed and enjoy this championship battle that’s shaping up. It’s a shame we can’t be a part of it, but we’re going to try to work our way as far up in the points as we possibly can and just keep digging.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS): After 30 races, Mike Bliss ranks eighth in the series point standings … Brian Scott (ninth) also ranks in the top-10 in the standings … The No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Camry currently leads the NNS owner’s point standings by 21 points over second-place … Kyle Busch earned five consecutive NNS Texas race wins from April 2008 through April 2010 … Camry drivers have three NNS pole awards at Texas — Busch (April 2009), Joey Logano (April 2010) and David Reutimann (Nov. 2007) … GameStop, the sponsor of Logano’s No. 20 Camry, is based in nearby Grapevine.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): After 19 races, Timothy Peters ranks third in the series point standings — 25 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 … German Quiroga will make his second NCWTS start of 2012 at Texas driving the Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 Tundra … Quiroga finished a career-best eighth at Talladega Superspeedway just a few weeks ago.
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 13 Seal Master/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Why do you enjoy racing at Texas? “It’s just a great race track, great atmosphere, great fans especially. My grandma lives 20 miles down the road in Dallas and I get an opportunity to go there and have chicken and dumplings every year, homemade nonetheless. It’s cool. It’s like a relaxing feeling to be able to hang out and do those things. The race track has a lot of curveballs as far as grooves and bumps. It just has a lot of unique characteristics. It really puts an emphasis on handling and it doesn’t ever hurt to have a Triad motor under the hood.”
GERMAN QUIROGA, No. 51 NET10 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports What have you done to prepare for Texas? “I’ve been watching videos lately. I’m trying to do the same thing I did before Talladega, but to be totally honest, it seems different. It’s very hard to go wide open all the time. I know you can do it in qualifying and maybe for a couple of laps when you have new tires. Still, it’s going to be very important getting into the pits and not losing any time getting in or maintaining the speed limit on pit lane — then going off without making any mistakes. There are so many other things that I have to take care of and I will be learning. This is another learning weekend, which I have to take it like it is, but I also want to do well.”
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Do you enjoy racing at Texas? “I like Texas. We’re taking a brand new Tundra so that’s even more encouraging. We ran really well there in the fall last year so we’re going back just like that, except with a new chassis. It’s always cool when you take a new truck to the track and show off all the hard work the Red Horse Racing team has put into building these Tundras. We’ve got three races to go out and gather as many points as we can and try to pull this thing off.”
TOYOTA 2012 NASCAR STATISTICS
Series Races Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led (Drivers) NSCS 33 398 (24) 10 48 102 10 193 3,498 NNS 30 340 (42) 9 38 72 9 127 1,604 NCWTS 19 192 (27) 7 41 72 4 67 952
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Texas Motor Speedway NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Office Camry Bobby Labonte, No. 47 Wounded Warrior Project Camry Clint Bowyer, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Camry Mark Martin, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Camry Kyle Busch, No. 18 Snickers Camry Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Camry Mike Bliss, No. 19 Plinker Tactical 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
NASCAR Nationwide Series Blake Koch, No. 00 Toyota Camry Benny Gordon, No. 24 Toyota Camry Mike Bliss, No. 10 Bandit Chippers Camry John Blankenship, No. 44 Coal Save the Country Camry Brian Scott, No. 11 Dollar General Camry Kyle Busch, No. 54 Monster Energy Camry Eric McClure, No. 14 Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Camry Joe Nemechek, No. 87 SWM Camry Denny Hamlin, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Camry Jeff Green, No. 91 Radisson Camry Joey Logano, No. 20 GameStop Camry Kenny Wallace, No. 99 Toyota Camry
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Parker Kligerman, No. 7 Red Horse Racing Tundra Kyle Busch, No. 18 Dollar General Tundra Ross Chastain, No. 08 Wear Your Gear Tundra German Quiroga, No. 51 NET10 Wireless Tundra John Wes Townley, No. 09 Zaxby’s Tundra David Starr, No. 81 Zachry Tundra Todd Bodine, No. 11 Toyota Care Tundra Russ Dugger, No. 84 Glenden Enterprises Tundra Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Seal Master/Curb Records Tundra Matt Crafton, No. 88 Menards Tundra Timothy Peters, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Tundra
WEEKEND RACE SCHEDULE Fri., November 2 — NCWTS @ Texas Motor Speedway – 7:00 PM (CT), SPEED — Race 20 of 22 Sat., November 3 — NNS @ Texas Motor Speedway – 7:30 PM (CT), ESPN — Race 31 of 33 Sun., November 4 — NSCS @ Texas Motor Speedway — 2:00 PM (CT), ESPN — Race 34 of 36
