TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
April 20 – April 26, 2015
TOYOTA TIDBITS
BODACIOUS AT THE BULLRING: Camry driver Matt Kenseth was victorious in Sunday’s rain delayed NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway. Kenseth started from the pole and led 47 laps (of 511) en route to the checkered flag, which secured a berth for the Toyota driver into the 2015 Chase for the Sprint Cup. The victory was the seventh for Toyota at Bristol and the fourth for Kenseth at the half-mile bullring, his most at any NSCS race track. Toyota drivers Kenseth and Denny Hamlin (Martinsville) are both eligible for the Chase with NSCS wins in 2015.
TOYOTA TITLED RACE: This weekend’s NSCS race at Richmond will mark the third year Toyota has served as the title sponsor of the Toyota Owners 400. Toyota partnered with Richmond to create the Toyota Owners 400 to salute all the Toyota owners across the country for purchasing their Toyotas, and also to thank NASCAR fans for their support. In addition to serving as the title sponsor for the NSCS event, Toyota also sponsors the Richmond NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race, the Toyota Care 250. In addition to the Richmond race, Toyota serves as the co-sponsor of the Toyota/Save Mart 350 at California’s Sonoma Raceway in June and sponsors the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race, the Toyota Tundra 250, at Kansas Speedway in May.
HAMLIN AT HOME: Virginia-native Hamlin has had considerable success at Richmond International Raceway in his home state, including a pair of victories in both the NSCS and NXS. In the NSCS, Hamlin has the second-best average finish at Richmond among active drivers (10.4) and won at the track in both 2009 and 2010. In the NXS, Hamlin visited Richmond’s victory lane in 2008 and 2011. In addition to competing in the NSCS and NXS races in Richmond, Hamlin will also host the eighth-annual Denny Hamlin Short Track Showdown at Virginia’s South Boston Speedway on Thursday, April 23. Proceeds from the event, which features a number of NASCAR regulars, benefit the Denny Hamlin Foundation.
CAMRY TALLIES IN RICHMOND: Including Hamlin’s four victories at Richmond, Camry drivers have a combined 13 wins at the track in the NSCS and NXS. Toyota drivers Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Clint Bowyer won seven-of-eight NSCS events in Richmond from 2009 through 2012, including four-consecutive spring race victories for Busch. In the NXS, Busch and Hamlin have combined for six first-place trophies, including a Camry win by Busch in the most-recent NXS race at Richmond last September. The Toyota Tundra also has one victory in the NCWTS in Richmond (2005).
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry drivers Matt Kenseth (eighth), Denny Hamlin (11th) and Carl Edwards (15th) currently rank in the top-15 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) point standings … Virginia Tech graduate Darian Grubb, crew chief for the JGR No. 19 Camry, is a native of Floyd, Virginia … Brad Donaghy, the front tire carrier on the JGR No. 18 Camry, hails from Orange County, Virginia … TRD president David Wilson is a graduate of Virginia Tech.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How do you feel after Sunday’s injury?
“Obviously, getting out of the car on Sunday was a very tough decision, and Erik (Jones, replacement driver) did an admirable job under difficult circumstances. After treatment this week, I feel close to 100 percent and I’m confident that I’ll be good to go this weekend in Richmond. It’s a great track for our team and one that means a lot to me personally. Hopefully we can go out there and compete for the win on Saturday night.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do the drivers enjoy Richmond?
“It depends. When your car drives really good, you enjoy it a lot. When you struggle, you don’t enjoy it that much. It’s kind of the same as any other track, but it is a fun track especially when your car is driving good. It’s one of the biggest fall offs we have with tires from how it feels the first lap to the last lap and you have to sort of manage your tires, which you don’t have to do a lot anymore these days and that makes it challenging and fun, especially if you get some green flag runs.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you enjoy racing at Richmond?
“I really enjoy the short tracks – all of them, including Richmond. They are always some of my favorite races of the year. Richmond is such an important race for us. It’s the last race before the Chase in the fall and the spring event is always an important stop on the Sprint Cup schedule. Denny Hamlin was able to take part in the Goodyear tire test leading up to the Richmond weekend, so hopefully that will help the entire Joe Gibbs Racing team out a little bit. It’s a big weekend for the M&M’s/Mars folks and I know a lot of their associates and customers will be in attendance. It’s a fun weekend and a fun race for sure.
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS): Camry drivers Daniel Suarez (10th) and David Starr (11th) currently rank in the top-15 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) point standings … Suarez recorded a career- best NASCAR finish of second in last weekend’s NXS race at Bristol Motor Speedway … Suarez, a native of Mexico, made his first career NXS start at Richmond in 2014 and finished 19th … One week after making his first appearance in the NSCS as a mid-race substitute for Denny Hamlin, Erik Jones will pilot the No. 54 Monster Energy Camry in the NXS in his Richmond debut … Jones has one win (Texas) and three-consecutive pole positions in the NXS.
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 18 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How is your confidence coming off a career-best result?
“Last weekend was so great for our team. We were hoping for a top-10 and walked away with a second-place finish, so we’re excited and ready to race again this week. Richmond was one of the two NXS races I ran last year and it was a really good learning track to make my series debut. Short track racing is my favorite and JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) has an outstanding program. Hopefully, we can continue with more top-10 finishes.”
ERIK JONES, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How will you approach your first start at Richmond?
“JGR has had a lot of success at Richmond over the past few years. I think we have a pretty good program on the XFINITY side right now to try and go and grab another win. Tackling the new track, I’ll probably pick Kyle’s (Busch) brain for some information, but overall I feel like we’ll have a good enough race car that it will make it easier on me as a driver to figure it out.”
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 for the Toyota Tundra 250 on May 8.
TOYOTA 2015 NASCAR STATISTICS
Series Races Starts (Drivers) Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led
NSCS 7 69 (14) 2 7 11 1 36 385
NXS 7 74 (18) 1 7 11 3 19 173
NCWTS 3 29 (12) 1 7 16 1 15 232
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Richmond International Raceway (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
Timmy Hill, No. 13 Camry
Cale Conley, No. 14 Camry
Daniel Suarez, No. 18 Camry
Mike Bliss, No. 19 Camry
Denny Hamlin, No. 20 Camry
Eric McClure, No. 24 Camry
JJ Yeley, No. 28 Camry
David Starr, No. 44 Camry
Erik Jones, No. 54 Camry
