TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
May 12 – May 18, 2014
TOYOTA TIDBITS
SHINING STARS: Four Camry drivers are scheduled to compete in Saturday night’s Sprint All-Star Race at Charlotte Motor Speedway — Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Matt Kenseth and Brian Vickers. Busch finished third in last year’s All-Star event while his fellow Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) drivers — Hamlin (sixth) and Kenseth (ninth) also recorded top-10 finishes. Previously, Martin Truex Jr. (2010) and AJ Allmendinger (2008) advanced in a Camry to the All-Star race with wins in the Showdown qualification event. Camry driver Clint Bowyer will be among those looking to win the Showdown race on Friday evening or win the ‘fan vote’ and advance into this year’s All-Star competition Saturday night.
HAPPY TO BE HOME: For so many NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) teams, the race weekends at Charlotte Motor Speedway allow a ‘home field advantage,’ where team members and drivers are able to not only sleep in their own beds, but also enjoy extra time with their families at the race track. Two Toyota teams, Joe Gibbs Racing (Huntersville, N.C.) and Michael Waltrip Racing (Cornelius, N.C.), are both based northwest of the speedway.
TUNDRAS ARE TALLYING: With Busch’s victory last Friday night in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Kansas Speedway, Tundra drivers have earned five consecutive victories in the series dating back to Erik Jones’ win at Phoenix International Raceway last November. The most consecutive Tundra victories in the NCWTS since joining the series in 2004 is six, which took place in 2010. The feat of five straight wins also took place back in 2009. The streak of six races stands a good chance of being matched Friday night at Charlotte Motor Speedway as Tundra drivers have visited victory lane in three of the last four NCWTS races at the 1.5-mile speedway.
TOYOTA’S 10 YEARS IN NASCAR: Toyota is celebrating its 10th anniversary in NASCAR this year. Here is another highlight from Toyota’s first 10 years in the sport. Toyota unveils a new Camry race car for the 2013 NSCS season at a TRD open house in Salisbury, N.C. (5-22-13)
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Toyota drivers Matt Kenseth (second), Kyle Busch (third), Brian Vickers (10th) and Denny Hamlin (12th) rank in the top-15 in the NSCS point standings following 11 of 36 races this season … The last time Camry driver Vickers competed in the All-Star race was 2007 … He was scheduled to have competed in 2010, but medical issues kept him out of the race car … Kenseth qualified for this year’s All-Star race with his seven victories in 2013 and his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate Busch qualified with his four wins in 2013, along with his victory in March at California’s Auto Club Speedway while Hamlin won the season-ending race at Homestead-Miami Speedway last November.
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you race differently in the All-Star Race because it’s a non-points event?
“I race exactly the same to be totally honest with you. I think maybe that changes with other drivers. I think the only thing that’s a little different is you’re probably not going to cut somebody a break if they’re faster than you. You’re not going to do some of that stuff because it is a shorter race and you have to be in position for the end of the race. If you’re racing 600 miles, it’s not that you don’t race as hard, but if somebody is pressing you for position 100 miles into a 600 mile race, it’s not really smart for either one of you to really hold them up. You’ll usually get out of the way so you can both be making your very best time because you know you have another three hours to get back in front of him and get your car better. I think that changes. As far as being rough or wronging someone or something like that, I don’t change that. If I can’t beat somebody the right way, I probably won’t beat them. I think if you’re fast enough to get to somebody, I think you’re going to be fast enough to pass them.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Are you excited to run in the All-Star Race again this year?
“I’m really looking forward to it. The last time I was supposed to be in the All-Star Race, I couldn’t be in the All-Star Race because I was out sick, unfortunately. It’s pretty exciting to be in the race this year — well, not there yet, made that mistake once. Pretty exciting to plan to be in the race. I look forward to being a part of it.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you look forward to the All-Star race and racing at Charlotte?
“I’m looking forward to it. This is always a pretty cool race and has good atmosphere around it. The crowd gets jacked up, and of course there is nothing important on the line besides a million bucks. You just go out there and race as hard as you can. I think all in all, it’s a fun event. We always enjoy coming to Charlotte and getting these two weeks here with the All-Star race — one of the shortest and most fun events and then the Coca-Cola 600 with the longest event. Kind of the two spectrums at Charlotte.”
TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES – May 12 – May 18, 2014 — Page 2
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS): Camry drivers Elliott Sadler (second) and James Buescher (eighth) rank in the top-10 in the NNS point standings … Kyle Busch claimed the only Camry NNS win at Iowa back in 2010 … Sadler won the 2012 NNS race at Iowa Speedway and Buescher made his way to victory lane at Iowa in last season’s Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race … Sam Hornish Jr. will be making his second start of the season in the JGR No. 54 Camry … Michael McDowell will make his first NNS start of the season with JGR driving the No. 20 Camry.
Is Iowa a race track you feel more comfortable with all the laps in different racing series?
JAMES BUESCHER, No. 99 Rheem Toyota Camry, RAB Racing
“I won last year in the truck and I’ve been in position to win several truck races there in ARCA races and Hooters Pro Cup races. It’s a place that I felt like I had earned a win several times and had never gotten one and I finally got one last year. It was a hard one to capture, but we did it. We led the last couple laps and won there. I enjoy going to that race track — it’s a cool race track and I’ve been going since the year after it opened in multiple different series. I feel like I have a lot of laps around there and understand where you need to be and how you need to have your car setup. I seem to run well there.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra driver Matt Crafton leads the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) standings by eight points over fellow Tundra driver Timothy Peters (second) … German Quiroga (fourth), Johnny Sauter (fifth), Jeb Burton (seventh), Darrell Wallace Jr. (ninth) and John Wes Townley (10th) also rank in the top-10 for Toyota … Kyle Busch will carry the ‘Hiring Our Heroes/Toyota Care’ paint scheme on his No. 51 Tundra.
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
What were you able to learn at the Charlotte test session about the new trucks on intermediate tracks?
“We definitely learned a lot (at the Charlotte test session) of what this new nose wants. It’s not quite as forgiving on a few different things on the splitter and we have a lot bigger splitter than we used to have. Just trying to find the balance that the truck wanted was definitely a little different. It wasn’t like black and white different or anything like that — it’s a little different, but not that bad.”
TOYOTA 2014 NASCAR STATISTICS
Series
Races
Starts (Drivers)
Wins
Top-5s
Top-10s
Poles
Times Led
Laps Led
NSCS
11
105 (14)
2
11
23
3
68
577
NNS
9
95 (27)
3
16
25
3
44
736
NCWTS
3
35 (14)
3
7
18
1
32
341
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Charlotte Motor Speedway & Iowa Speedway
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series — Sprint All-Star Race
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry
Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
Brian Vickers, No. 55 Camry
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series — Sprint Showdown
Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Camry
Alex Bowman, No. 23 Camry
Cole Whitt, No. 26 Camry
Joe Nemechek, No. 66 Camry
Ryan Truex, No. 83 Camry
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Jeff Green, No. 10 Camry
Elliott Sadler, No. 11 Camry
Matthew Carter, No. 13 Camry
Eric McClure, No. 14 Camry
Mike Bliss, No. 19 Camry
Michael McDowell, No. 20 Camry
Hal Martin, No. 44 Camry
Sam Hornish Jr., No. 54 Camry
James Buescher, No. 99 Camry
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
John Wes Townley, No. 5 Tundra
Brian Ickler, No. 7 Tundra
Joe Nemechek, No. 8 Tundra
Jeb Burton, No. 13 Tundra
Timothy Peters, No. 17 Tundra
Mason Mingus, No. 35 Tundra
Kyle Busch, No. 51 Tundra
Darrell Wallace Jr., No. 54 Tundra
German Quiroga, No. 77 Tundra
Matt Crafton, No. 88 Tundra
Johnny Sauter, No. 98 Tundra
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