In 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup races this season, Toyota has two wins, seven top-fives and 14 top-10s. Toyota entries have won one pole award and led 390 laps. If you’re a sports enthusiast and enjoy betting on motor racing, place your bets at betfair.com.
Clint Bowyer is probably looking forward to this weekend‘s race at Kansas Speedway more than most. The Emporia, Kan. native will spend the days leading up to Saturday’s SpongeBob SquarePants 400 visiting some favorite places in his home state.
He began the week visiting Emporia at his Toyota dealership and also made a stop at the Clint Bowyer Community Building, built with funds from his yearly golf tournament. On Wednesday, Bowyer took batting practice and threw out the first pitch at the Kansas City Royals game. A huge fan of the team, he watched them play Game 1 of the World Series last year at Kauffman Stadium.
As Bowyer prepares for the race at Kansas Speedway, he said that “fast cars” are the key to success at the track and he is hoping to grab his first win at his home track.
“You know any more on these mile and a halves, especially mile and halves that have been repaved, you’ve got to have good equipment. The guys have worked really hard at Michael Waltrip Racing to find some things and I think we’re headed in the right direction. I’m looking forward to getting out there and seeing all my family and friends of course, and putting on a good show.”
Carl Edwards has six top-five and 11 top-10 finishes at Kansas Speedway, giving him the second-best average finish at Kansas (10.1), but he will be searching for his first victory at the track in his first year driving the No. 19 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.
Matt Kenseth (sixth) and Denny Hamlin (seventh) are currently among the top ten on the Chase Grid. Both JGR drivers have one victory each at Kansas, Hamlin in 2012 and Kenseth in 2013.
Kenseth spoke about improving team performance while under a testing ban stating, “I think that rule is the same for everybody and I feel like I drive for one of the best teams in the sport and the best team should be able to figure it out more so than other guys. We have all the resources we need at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) to be able to figure it out without going to the race track, testing.”
Erik Jones will be making his first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start in the No. 18 M&M’s Red Nose Day Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing, subbing for the injured Kyle Busch.
“For me, it’s really all seat time and experience with our M&M’s Camry,” Jones said. “I think keeping our expectations realistic is a pretty big thing for us. If we can go run top-15, I’d feel like that would be a pretty big win for us. It’s a big step. We’ve talked a lot about it. I’ve talked with Adam Stevens (crew chief) a lot about it and kind of what the jump to Sprint Cup is like and I’ve talked to Kyle (Busch) about it. It’s not going to be an easy step for anybody, but I really believe we can go run top-15 and if we can do that, I think that would be a good day.”
David Ragan will pilot the No. 55 Camry for Michael Waltrip Racing the remainder of the season, beginning with this weekend’s race at Kansas Speedway. His goal is to win a race and put the team in championship contention.
“At the end of the day, Michael Waltrip Racing has all the tools and resources that Joe Gibbs Racing has or that Hendrick (Motorsports) or Stewart-Haas (Racing) has, and there’s no reason for us not to be able to win a race and have a shot at making the Chase,” he said. “Certainly, that is our goal going forward. We’ve got a lot of really good race tracks for me, a lot of good race tracks for the MWR bunch ; they’re working extremely hard trying to get those Toyotas as competitive and as fast as they can.”
