TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
April 6 – April 12, 2015
TOYOTA TIDBITS
MARTINSVILLE FLASHBACK: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and Toyota driver Denny Hamlin enjoyed the fresh success with a victory at Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway two weeks ago. It was Hamlin’s fifth NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) triumph at the half-mile race track and his first of the 2015 season. His JGR teammates Matt Kenseth (fourth) and David Ragan (fifth) also earned top-five finishes in the race.
TEXAS TWO-STEP: Toyota has had more success at Texas Motor Speedway than any other track on the NASCAR circuit with a total of 23 NASCAR victories across all three national touring series. Three NSCS wins were earned by Hamlin, who picked up a pair of Texas trophies in 2010, and Kyle Busch finished first in April 2013. All seven of the Camry NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) victories at Texas were claimed by Busch (2008-10, 2013 and 2014). Tundra drivers have taken 13 checkered flags at Texas, including both events in 2014 with Matt Crafton (June) and Busch (Oct.). Camry drivers will look for two more events this week to increase the stat to 25 Texas trophies.
JGR DRIVERS KNOW TEXAS: Camry drivers Hamlin, Kenseth and Carl Edwards have combined to win seven Texas NSCS races. Including Hamlin’s 2010 victories that came behind the wheel of a Toyota, Kenseth previously won in 2002 and 2011 while Edwards finished first in 2005 and swept the 2008 events. In 25 Texas starts, Kenseth has the most top-five finishes (13), most top-10 results (17) and the best average finish (8.9) among all drivers. Factoring in injured driver Busch’s Texas victory and Joe Gibbs Racing drivers have more wins at Texas than any other team.
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry drivers Denny Hamlin (eighth), Matt Kenseth (12th), David Ragan (13th), Carl Edwards (18th) and Clint Bowyer (19th) currently rank in the top-20 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) point standings … This weekend marks the first Saturday night event of the season … A win by Edwards Saturday night would mean a $1 million donation by his sponsor, Stanley Tools, to the Children’s Miracle Network through the Ace Hardware Foundation … Last year, Toyota announced the relocation of its North American headquarters to Plano, Texas.
Do you enjoy racing at Texas Motor Speedway?”
“We’re headed to Texas, one of my favorite race tracks. We’ve had a lot of success there. It’s a really fun place to drive. We’ve got a lot of extra motivation at Texas. We’re going to visit Cook Children’s Hospital (Fort Worth) early in the week. We’re going to get to meet a lot of kids who are battling and we’re inspired by them. Our whole team is looking forward to getting to share a little bit of time with them. Then we move on to the race. Stanley and Ace Hardware Foundation have put up a million dollars if we win the race, a million dollars to Children’s Miracle Network. That’s huge motivation to go out there and perform well for them. Regardless of how we do, they are going to make a very large donation of $100,000 the Children’s Miracle Network. It’s a huge honor. It’s humbling for Stanley and Ace Hardware Foundation to put this much on the line and to do it at a track at which we feel like we can win, that is really cool. We’ll go to Texas, we’ll have a good time and build on the things we’ve learned. We’ve run really well. We’re coming off a JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) win at Martinsville and a really fun race, so hopefully it’s just a great time and a great result.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How does the Martinsville victory change your outlook for the rest of the regular season?
“The win obviously takes a lot of pressure off our FedEx team. Getting a victory so early in the season will allow us to work on our program, try some things and try to get better for the Chase. We are ahead of where we were at this point one year ago and each week we seem to get a little bit more speed. Now with a Chase berth pretty much locked up, we can take a few more chances to try to get more wins. We still have a lot of work to do, but hopefully Martinsville is a springboard for our team. We have a lot of good tracks coming up for us and I’m excited to get back out there.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What’s the key to getting around at Texas?
“Texas is a very abrasive surface – it’s worn out, similar to California and Atlanta, but it’s very unique. It’s real rough, real flat transitions from the straightaways into the corners and off the corners. It’s a tricky race track to get your car fast in the banking, but also to handle the transitions well.”
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS): Camry drivers David Starr (ninth), Daniel Suarez (11th) and JJ Yeley (14th) currently rank in the top-15 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) point standings … Denny Hamlin will make his third (of five) scheduled starts in the Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 54 Camry in Texas … In 11 NXS Texas starts, Hamlin has six top-five finishes, including three runner-up results (2007, 2011 and 2013) … Erik Jones, who earned his career-best NXS finish (third) at California, will race in the No. 20 Camry at Texas … David Starr lives in nearby Flower Mound, Texas.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How does it feel going into Texas where you’ll race the No. 54 Monster Energy Camry on Friday night?
“Texas is a really fast race track and for as old as the asphalt is, it still has a lot of speed. Although it’s fast, it has enough tire falls off that a good handling car makes up for it. It’s a real interesting place with flat corners getting in and getting out of them, but you can still carry a lot of speed through those areas of the racetrack. Just having your car secure enough in those areas and being able to have a lot of wide-open throttle time is key. I believe that we have all the tools necessary. Hopefully we can get this Monster Energy Camry into victory lane.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What is your impression of the Texas track?
“Texas is tough. That was my first mile-and-a-half race in the truck series last year and getting a feel for that place is kind of interesting. It’s not an easy mile-and-a-half to learn and it has gotten a few quirks along the way. I learned a lot in the trucks there last year and hopefully I can take some of that with me to be a little better there this time. It’s going to be fun. I get to go there with the No. 20 team with GameStop back on our Camry. It will be exciting for sure. It’s a cool race track. I’m looking forward to going back now having some more mile and a half experience and being able to take what I’ve learn and apply it to this race.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra driver Matt Crafton, the two-time defending NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) champion, leads the series point standings after three races … Erik Jones (third), Johnny Sauter (fourth), Cameron Hayley (ninth) and Ben Kennedy (10th) also currently rank in the top-10 in the NCWTS point standings … The NCWTS takes the month of April off before returning to action at Kansas Speedway on May 8 … The Tundra production truck is built in San Antonio where more than one million Tundras have been built in Texas.
TOYOTA 2015 NASCAR STATISTICS
Series Races Starts (Drivers) Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led
NSCS 6 52 (14) 1 6 9 0 28 252
NXS 5 53 (17) 0 4 7 1 13 94
NCWTS 3 29 (12) 1 7 16 1 15 232
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Texas Motor Speedway (NSCS and NXS)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry
Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Camry
David Ragan, No. 18 Camry
Carl Edwards, No. 19 Camry
Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
JJ Yeley, No. 23 Camry
Jeb Burton, No. 26 Camry
Brett Moffitt, No. 55 Camry
Matt Dibenedetto, No. 83 Camry
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Blake Koch, No. 8 Camry
Jeff Green, No. 10 Camry
Cale Conley, No. 14 Camry
Daniel Suarez, No. 18 Camry
Mike Bliss, No. 19 Camry
Erik Jones, No. 20 Camry
Eric McClure, No. 24 Camry
JJ Yeley, No. 28 Camry
Carl Long, No. 40 Camry
David Starr, No. 44 Camry
Denny Hamlin, No. 54 Camry
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