TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
February 24 – March 2, 2014
TOYOTA TIDBITS
MUCH NEEDED MOMENTUM: Camry driver Denny Hamlin started the 2014 season strong by winning the Sprint Unlimited and one of the Budweiser Duels qualifying races as well as finishing runner-up in Sunday’s Daytona 500 — his career-best result in the season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway. Hamlin finished the 2013 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) season by winning the Homestead race last November. He was sidelined four races last year (Martinsville, Texas, Kansas and Richmond) with a back injury and missed the Chase for the first time in his career after qualifying for the NSCS playoff his first seven seasons (2006-2012).
NEW QUALIFYING FORMAT: Phoenix will be the debut of NASCAR’s new qualifying format in NSCS competition after the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) used the new format at Daytona. Under the new procedure at tracks measuring less than 1.25 miles, there will be two rounds and all entries will have 30 minutes to post an official time in the first round. There will be a 10 minute break, and then the 12 fastest cars will advance to the final 10 minute round. During the break, teams will be able to make adjustments on pit road, but not allowed to move to the garage if they plan to continue. The No. 55 Camry sat on the pole with former Toyota driver Mark Martin in the last two spring races at the one-mile Arizona oval.
TOYOTA 120 RETURNS: The NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series returns to Phoenix International Raceway on Friday after a successful debut event in 2013. This is the second consecutive year hosting the race north of the border, and the race distance will increase from 75 to 120 laps/miles. This year’s Toyota 120 will take place at 7 PM (MT) and will be broadcast on MUN2.
PACING THE FIELD: The 2014 Toyota Highlander will serve as the pace vehicle for the Phoenix races this weekend. This year, Toyotas will serve as the official vehicles at 10 tracks — California (March), Charlotte (May and October), Chicagoland (July and September), Dover (June and September), Kansas (May and October), New Hampshire (July and September), Phoenix (March and November), Richmond (April and September), Sonoma (June) and Watkins Glen (August).
BUCKLE UP FOR LIFE: Toyota’s child passenger safety program, ‘Buckle up for Life,’ (buckleupforlife.org) will host a special event on Monday, March 3 at 10 AM (MT) at Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Toyota driver Hamlin, who became a father last January, will demonstrate how to properly install a child seat and visit with children in the hospital. ‘Buckle up for Life’ expands into Phoenix this year and has been implemented in 10 other cities since its inception in 2004.
TOYOTA 10 YEARS IN NASCAR: Toyota Camry driver Hamlin wins the second NSCS race of the 2012 season at Phoenix. The victory is the first for Joe Gibbs Racing with a TRD-built engine (March 4, 2012).
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Toyota drivers Denny Hamlin (second) and Matt Kenseth (sixth) are in the NSCS point standings following top-10 finishes in the season-opening Daytona 500 … Hamlin’s runner-up result is the best finish by a Toyota driver in the Daytona 500 (previous best was a pair of third-place results in 2008 and 2013) … In addition to Hamlin’s Sprint Unlimited victory, he and Kenseth each finished first in their respective qualifying races … Joe Gibbs Racing becomes the first team in modern NASCAR history to sweep both qualifying races and the Sprint Unlimited … Toyota drivers have two NSCS victories at Phoenix International Raceway — Hamlin (March 2012) and Kasey Kahne (Nov. 2011) … Kyle Busch has led the most laps at Phoenix among all NSCS drivers in the last 10 races (2009-2013) with 431 … Tucson-native Alex Bowman will make his second-career NSCS start this weekend at his hometown track.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Are you happy to earn to finish second to start the season?
“Any other year I probably would have been jumping up and down. We can hardly finish these races — much less have a shot at a victory. It puts us in a good spot. Obviously, you’re going to need to win to be in the Chase, or if you keep doing this unless there are 16 race-winners — it’s been a long time since that. I don’t mind keeping myself up top in a safe position. It’s definitely a good way to start the year, especially how we’ve run these last four races or so. It’s been pretty solid.”
Do you like the new qualifying format?
“I think the knockout qualifying is going to be a good thing. Definitely if you didn’t have that, you would see track records break all over the series all over again. The cars are at least a half-a-second faster than the cars were last year, and last year’s cars were record-breaking fast. I think there could possibly be some gamesmanship on making sure a guy doesn’t have a good lap if there are things like that going on. It’s going to be tough because you only have a certain amount of time to get one of those fast laps and everyone is going to be fighting to get on the race track as soon as they can because the race track is better cold. I think it’s going to be a game-changer, for sure, but it’s going to be exciting for the fans.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Are you looking forward to the new qualifying format?
“I’m good with it. I don’t know that a lot is going to change. I think it’s going to create a little bit more excitement, for sure. It’s kind of that knockout style qualifying, but it’s not like we’re going to go out there and run six laps. You’re still going to go out there and you’re going to tape up and you’re going to go as hard and fast as you can for a lap. I think it’s going to be very similar for us, but I think it’s going to create more excitement for the fans. That’s a win-win in my book.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Will the new qualifying format be beneficial?
“I think our Fridays were somewhat stale and I think it’s going to add a new element of excitement — who knows what’s going to happen. I really think that you’re going to see that. I think moving through those segments you’re going to see people make a quick adjustment and tune themselves right into the game or more importantly tune themselves right out of the game. There’s going to be a lot of moving parts and it’s going to be something that’s going to be interesting to follow on qualifying day. I don’t think you’ve ever really saw that before. It’s going to be cool.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS): Camry drivers Kyle Busch (fourth) and Elliott Sadler (fifth) earned top-five finishes in the NNS season-opener at Daytona … Busch led a race-high 44 (of 121) laps at the 2.5-mile superspeedway … Sadler (third), Joe Nemechek (seventh) and James Buescher (10th) rank in the top-10 in the NNS point standings … Camry drivers have six NNS victories at Phoenix, including the three most recent events … Busch has five Phoenix Camry NNS wins (April 2008, April 2010, Feb. 2011, March 2013 and Nov. 2013) and former Toyota driver Joey Logano visited victory lane in Nov. 2011.
JAMES BUESCHER, No. 99 Rheem Toyota Camry, RAB Racing
What is your goal for this season?
“Winning races — I think we have what it takes to win races in the Nationwide Series. Toyota has been a lot of fun to work with over the off-season and I think it will only get better and better. TRD (Toyota Racing Development) and everybody that helps out RAB Racing. I think we’re capable of winning races and we’ll have to go out there and prove it.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra driver Kyle Busch was victorious in the NCWTS Daytona race … His win also marks his first NCWTS victory at Daytona … Busch’s victory extended the streak by Tundra drivers to eight consecutive season-opening race wins at Daytona … Along with Busch, Jack Sprague (2007), Todd Bodine (2008, 2009), Timothy Peters (2010), Michael Waltrip (2011), John King (2012) and Johnny Sauter (2013) have all notched victories in a Tundra at Daytona … Busch’s crew chief Eric Philips is now tied (with Rick Ren) for most NCWTS wins by a crew chief with 28 victories … A runner-up result by Peters at Daytona puts him out front in the NCWTS point standings with fellow Tundra driver Sauter in second … Tundra driver and three-time NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series champion German Quiroga will attend the Toyota 120 and contribute to the national race broadcast of the Toyota 120.
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Phoenix International Raceway
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry
Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry
Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
Alex Bowman, No. 23 Camry
Cole Whitt, No. 26 Camry
Parker Kligerman, No. 30 Camry
Brian Vickers, No. 55 Camry
Joe Nemechek, No. 66 Camry
Ryan Truex, No. 83 Camry
Morgan Shepherd, No. 87 Camry
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Jeff Green, No. 10 Camry
Elliott Sadler, No. 11 Camry
Eric McClure, No. 14 Camry
Mike Bliss, No. 19 Camry
Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
Mike Wallace, No. 28 Camry
Blake Koch, No. 44 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 54 Camry
Daryl Harr, No. 87 Camry
James Buescher, No. 99 Camry
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