TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
July 27 – August 2, 2015
TOYOTA TIDBITS
BUSCH BOWS AGAIN: Camry driver Kyle Busch has won four of the last five NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) races and is poised to qualify for the Chase for the Sprint Cup is he continues his recent ascent in the standings. With his victory in Sunday’s Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway – a win Busch called the “biggest of my career so far” – the Toyota driver has won three-consecutive NSCS races and is the first to do so since 2007. Busch is now just 23 points shy of 30th place in the NSCS point standings, where he must reach to compete in the Chase. Busch missed the first 11 events of the NSCS season while recovery from injuries sustained in an accident during the season-opening NASCAR XFINTY Series (NXS) race in February and returned to competition in May. Busch swept the weekend’s races at Indianapolis by winning the NXS race on Saturday.
TOYOTA WINS AT ALL TRACKS: By virtue of Busch’s Indianapolis victory, Toyota has now won at all 23 active NSCS tracks. Toyota entered Sprint Cup competition with the Camry in 2007 and has tallied 72 victories in nearly nine years of competition – with Busch tallying 29 of those wins across 17 NSCS tracks. Eleven Camry drivers have contributed to the 72 victories – Busch (29 wins), Denny Hamlin (22), Matt Kenseth (eight), Clint Bowyer (three), Joey Logano (two), David Reutimann (two), Brian Vickers (two), Carl Edwards, Kasey Kahne, Tony Stewart and Martin Truex Jr.
HAMLIN AT POCONO: When it comes to Pocono Raceway, Camry driver Denny Hamlin has among the best results at ‘The Tricky Triangle.’ Hamlin has four wins at Pocono (two in 2006, 2009, 2011) and the fourth-highest average finish among active drivers at the track (11.8). In 19 NSCS starts on the 2.5-mile track, Hamlin has 13 top-10 results – and he has finished 10th or better at the track in four of his last five races at the track.
ERIK DOING DOUBLE: Toyota driver Erik Jones will compete in both the NXS race at Iowa Speedway and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) event at Pocono Raceway on Saturday. Jones will first race his Tundra in Pennsylvania in the afternoon before he flies to Iowa to compete under the lights in a Camry on the 0.875-mile track. Earlier this season, Jones was successful pulling double duty at Chicagoland Speedway and Iowa, winning in the NXS and NCWTS, respectively in May. Busch, Jones’ NCWTS team owner and mentor, is the only driver to sweep NXS and NCWTS races in the same day when he did so at California’s Auto Club Speedway in 2009.
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry drivers Matt Kenseth (seventh), Denny Hamlin (10th), Clint Bowyer (15th) and Carl Edwards (16th) currently rank in the top-20 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) point standings … Busch has won on a road course (Sonoma), intermediate track (Kentucky), short track (New Hampshire) and with a high drag rules package (Indianapolis) in the last five races … Busch’s start at Pocono will be the 375th NSCS race of his career.
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 STANLEY Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How confident is Joe Gibbs Racing right now?
“We feel like our cars are getting faster and faster every week. If we have any doubt at all, I promise you we’re just going to put Kyle’s setup in and cross our fingers – those guys have been on an amazing roll and that’s motivation for all of us at Joe Gibbs Racing to step up our game, so we appreciate that. We’ve won the pole the last two weeks and we’d like to make it three in a row. Pocono is a big, fast racetrack. It’s a really technical track with three different corners. It’s a tough place to get the cars set up. I’ve heard they paved the bumps in the tunnel turn, so the setups are going to change a little bit and maybe a little bit of a different strategy because of that. We battled really hard last week with all the practices at Indy and my guys ended up giving me the fastest car for qualifying. I feel like a track like this really plays in our favor being able to work through the issues, especially with the new pavement there. I feel like I’ve got an advantage with my group and their problem solving abilities.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What have you learned from your teammates about Pocono?
“I’m always working to try and improve my runs at Pocono because it’s always been one of my most challenging race tracks we go to on the schedule. I really have leaned on my teammates here at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) over the last few years since Denny (Hamlin) and Carl (Edwards) are past winners there. I still feel like I have a lot to learn about Pocono, but we had a really fast DG Camry for the June race and I felt that we ran better than our finish showed. In June, I felt that I could run with anybody out on the track during the race which is a really positive sign for me.”
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS): Camry drivers Daniel Suarez (seventh) and David Starr (14th) currently rank in the top-15 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) point standings … Suarez has finished in the top-five in each of his last three starts in both the NXS and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series … Kenny Wallace will pilot the No. 20 Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing at Iowa … The entry will mark the final start of Wallace’s career that has spanned 26 seasons … The start will be the 547th of Wallace’s career to extend his NXS record for most starts.
ERIK JONES, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How will you approach the XFINITY Series race after flying in from Chicagoland?
“In Chicago (during the last double header), I talked to Drew (Herring, qualifying driver) after every practice and Chris (Gayle, crew chief) just to get an idea where things were at and what they thought. I put most of my trust in them that it’s going to be good. I don’t push them to do anything different. I just let them do there deal and obviously it’s worked out pretty well. Basically we sat down with Drew after Iowa – a couple of weeks before Chicago – and talked about what I look for in the race car. We do a few things a little bit different, so he kind of manipulated what he was doing to match a little better to what I would do and it worked out well. He’ll be able to do the same thing in Iowa and I’ll keep tabs on where they are in practice and check up to see what it looks like.”
KENNY WALLACE, No. 20 Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Will you be nervous before the final race of your career?
“It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to drive for a proven winning team like Joe Gibbs Racing. I told Mike Wheeler (crew chief) and the No. 20 team that I know the pressure is on me because they’re giving me winning car. I feel light, relaxed and ready to get going in practice on Friday. I’ll be focused on the race car – not that it’s the final race of my NASCAR career. I have nine XFINITY Series wins and it would mean a lot to get double digits and end my career with 10.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra driver Matt Crafton leads the NCWTS standings by 14 points over second-place Tyler Reddick … Erik Jones (third), Johnny Sauter (fourth), Cameron Hayley (sixth), Timothy Peters (eighth) and Ben Kennedy (10th) also currently rank in the top-10 for Toyota … With a ninth-place showing at Eldora, Crafton has finished in the top-10 in 10-of-11 races in 2015 …Crafton has four top-10 finishes in five appearances at Pocono … Crafton’s start at Pocono will mark the 350th NCWTS race of his career to extend his series record … Kyle Busch will pilot the No. 54 Tundra at Pocono … Busch finished second in his only prior NCWTS start at Pocono in 2011.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 54 Dollar General Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Are you excited to return to the Truck Series at Pocono?
“I’m looking forward to getting back to the series. I wished I could have made it back at Charlotte – that was a race I was supposed to run, but it didn’t quite work out. I wasn’t ready for that yet. Things have gone well and progressed well in my healing and everything. Pocono is a relatively easy place to get around in a truck. There’s a lot of throttle-on time, so not a lot of brake that needs to be used. Just looking forward to getting back to the series and seeing if I can’t score a victory and have another year where I’ve won across all three series.”
TOYOTA 2015 NASCAR STATISTICS
Series Races Starts (Drivers) Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led
NSCS 20 173 (16) 7 29 39 6 87 1,068
NXS 18 192 (30) 6 23 35 7 61 1,087
NCWTS 11 97 (16) 6 30 55 4 75 1,276
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Pocono Raceway (NSCS & NCWTS) & Iowa Speedway (NXS)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry
Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry
Carl Edwards, No. 19 Camry
Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
JJ Yeley, No. 23 Camry
Jeb Burton, No. 26 Camry
David Ragan, No. 55 Camry
Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Camry
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Blake Koch, No. 8 Camry
Cale Conley, No. 14 Camry
Daniel Suarez, No. 18 Camry
Jeff Green, No. 19 Camry
Kenny Wallace, No. 20 Camry
Eric McClure, No. 24 Camry
Matt Wallace, No. 26 Camry
JJ Yeley, No. 28 Camry
David Starr, No. 44 Camry
Erik Jones, No. 54 Camry
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Erik Jones, No. 4 Tundra
Ben Kennedy, No. 11 Tundra
Cameron Hayley, No. 13 Tundra
Timothy Peters, No. 17 Tundra
Kyle Busch, No. 51 Tundra
Matt Tifft, No. 54 Tundra
Matt Crafton, No. 88 Tundra
Johnny Sauter, No. 98 Tundra
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