TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
TOYOTA TIDBITS
KYLE’S COMEBACK CONTINUES: Camry driver Kyle Busch returns to the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) this weekend at the two-mile Michigan International Speedway (MIS). Busch, who was injured in the season-opening NXS race at Daytona International Speedway, made his return to the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) four weeks ago at Charlotte Motor Speedway. In seven career NXS starts at MIS, the 30-year old racer has claimed one victory (2004) and six top-five results. Busch’s schedule for additional NXS races is yet to be determined.
CRAFTON CHARGING: Tundra driver Matt Crafton is looking to continue his successful 2015 campaign and ultimately earn a history-making third consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) championship. After seven of 23 races this season, Crafton has taken his ThorSport Racing Tundra to victory lane three times, including Friday night’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. Crafton holds a 25-point lead over second-place Tyler Reddick in the NCWTS point standings as the series makes its way to Gateway Motorsports Park near St. Louis where Crafton has made 11 career starts with seven top-10 finishes.
MIS MANUFACTURER TROPHY: Toyota will compete for the ‘Manufacturer’s Trophy’ at Michigan this weekend. The three-foot trophy will be awarded to the winning car manufacturer of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race on Sunday. The trophy has created a fun ‘rivalry’ between the automakers. Since the program’s inception in 2013, Toyota, MIS, Chevrolet and Ford have each donated $10,000 to a youth-related charity in Michigan in conjunction with the launch of the new trophy. The winning manufacturer of each NSCS race at MIS gets to keep the perpetual trophy until the next NSCS race at the two-mile speedway.
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry drivers Matt Kenseth (ninth), Denny Hamlin (13th), Carl Edwards (16th) and Clint Bowyer (17th) currently rank in the top-20 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) point standings … Camry drivers have visited victory lane at the two-mile Michigan Speedway four times – Hamlin (June 2011 and June 2010), Kyle Busch (Aug. 2011) and Brian Vickers (Aug. 2009) … Starting with this weekend’s race at Michigan, Brian Pattie will crew chief the Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) No. 55 Camry of David Ragan and Billy Scott will crew chief the MWR No. 15 Camry for Clint Bowyer … Adam Stevens, crew chief on the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) No. 18 Camry, is from nearby Portsmouth, Ohio … The Toyota Technical Center (TTC) is headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan and for more than 35 years has been the driving force behind Toyota’s North American Engineering and Research and Development activities while overseeing the design and development of vehicles.
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
What is the key to Michigan?
“A fast hot rod – a lot of steam under the hood. It’s a big, big race track and fun race track. One of the most fun infield and rowdy crowds that we go to. Over the years, I’ve been in this sport for 10 years or more in the Cup Series, everyone always asks, ‘What is the wildest and most fun infield?’ I tell you what, Michigan can give them all a run for their money. Love going up there, love the enthusiasm and the fans. It should be that way. On restarts, you’re panning out four, five, six wide – who knows how wide there that it can get. Just a neat weekend and we all look forward to going there.”
What is the hardest thing to figure out about Michigan?
“It’s a repave and all of these repaved tracks, it seems like with the package that we have, if your car is fast then you’re going to be fast and you’re going to have fun and you’re probably going to be up front. If you’ve been struggling with grip issues and handling and things like that, you’re going to struggle even more there because it seems like she’s either stuck to the track like glue and easy to drive or it’s up on top of the track and slipping and sliding around and really can’t pinpoint one thing or the other. It seems like you get into a situation where when you’re down on grip like that, the front end takes off and about the time it lands the rear-end is out from underneath you and sliding around.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How is the surface aging at Michigan?
“Michigan has finally started to widen out a little bit since they paved it, because it was very difficult to pass there, but I really feel that the surface has improved. The keys to having a good weekend at Michigan is just being able to pass and being able to get into the corners fast as well. Both ends of the track are different and the banking changes from the bottom to the middle, so it can affect your handling a little bit, but the hardest part of Michigan lately has just been traffic. You of course want to be fast in clean air, but you need to be able to manage traffic and restarts.”
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS): Camry drivers Daniel Suarez (10th), David Starr (12th) and JJ Yeley (14th) currently rank in the top-15 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) point standings … Camry drivers have earned one win at Michigan International Speedway in the NXS when former Toyota driver Joey Logano took the checkered flag in 2012 … Denny Hamlin will be behind the wheel of the JGR No. 20 Camry at Michigan for Saturday’s NXS race.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How does it feel returning to the seat of your No. 54 Monster Energy Camry this weekend?
“I’m really looking forward to getting back behind the wheel of the 54 Monster Energy Toyota this weekend. I can’t say enough about how much Monster Energy, JGR, Toyota and all my guys have helped me and pulled for me to get back into the XFINITY car. This is a continuation of my recovery since Daytona and we hope to continue to add to my schedule going forward through the rest of the year. I’m looking forward to working with Chris Gayle (crew chief) again and I’m optimistic for a good run at Michigan. If I remember it right, my last run here in the No. 54 started off strong – we didn’t get the finish we wanted then, but I look to redeem that this week.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): In addition to Tundra driver Matt Crafton leading the NCWTS point standings, Erik Jones (third), Johnny Sauter (fourth), Cameron Hayley (sixth), Timothy Peters (ninth) and Justin Boston (10th) also currently rank in the top-10 for Toyota … Tundras have visited victory lane three times at Gateway Motorsports Park with drivers Mike Skinner (2009), Johnny Benson Jr. (2007) and Todd Bodine (2006) … Timothy Peters will make his 150th NCWTS start driving a Tundra this weekend at Gateway … Toyota’s first NASCAR national series victory came at MIS in 2004 when Travis Kvapil took the checkered flag in a NCWTS race.
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Rip It Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Are you pleased with your performance this season and excited to return to Gateway?
“We’re happy with our points lead for sure, but definitely not satisfied. There is still a lot of racing to do – we aren’t even halfway through the season yet. We’ll be satisfied when we get to Homestead. I’m looking forward to the series’ return to Gateway this weekend. I was excited when they added it to the schedule last year and glad it’s back this year. It’s a great short track with a lot of speed. We had a really, really strong Tundra there and had the tire problem which was unfortunate.”
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Michigan International Speedway (NSCS & NXS)& Gateway Motorsports Park (NCWTS)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
> Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry
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> Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Camry
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> Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry
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> Carl Edwards, No. 19 Camry
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> Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
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> JJ Yeley, No. 23 Camry
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> Jeb Burton, No. 26 Camry
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> David Ragan, No. 55 Camry
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> Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Camry
NASCAR XFINITY Series
> Blake Koch, No. 8 Camry
>
> Cale Conley, No. 14 Camry
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> Daniel Suarez, No. 18 Camry
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> Jeff Green, No. 19 Camry
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> Denny Hamlin, No. 20 Camry
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> Eric McClure, No. 24 Camry
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> CJ Faison, No. 26 Camry
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> JJ Yeley, No. 28 Camry
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> David Starr, No. 44 Camry
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> Kyle Busch, No. 54 Camry
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
> Erik Jones, No. 4 Tundra
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> Ben Kennedy, No. 11 Tundra
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> Cameron Hayley, No. 13 Tundra
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> Timothy Peters, No. 17 Tundra
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> Daniel Suarez, No. 51 Tundra
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> Justin Boston, No. 54 Tundra
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> Matt Crafton, No. 88 Tundra
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> Johnny Sauter, No. 98 Tundra
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