TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
July 18
TOYOTA TIDBITS
NEW HAMPSHIRE ADDS TO TOYOTA SWEEPS: Camry drivers Matt Kenseth and Kyle Busch won in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) and NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS), respectively, at New Hampshire Motor Speedway to tally the seventh weekend sweep for Toyota during the 2016 season. In the NSCS on Sunday, four Toyota drivers combined to lead 299 laps (of 301) – more than 99 percent of the race – as Kenseth tallied his second victory of the season. On Saturday, Busch led 190 laps (of 200) in New Hampshire to win his sixth NXS event of the season in 10 starts. With the victories, Toyota drivers have swept NASCAR race weekends at seven tracks during 2016, including Martinsville Speedway, Texas Motor Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Dover International Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway and New Hampshire.
BUSCH’S BRICKYARD VICTORY: Camry driver Busch captured his and Toyota’s first victory in the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July 2015 en route to winning the NSCS driver’s championship. The milestone victory was the third in a stretch of three-consecutive victories by Busch that helped propel the Toyota pilot to the 2015 championship. Busch led the field three times for 19 circuits (of 164) and held off former Toyota driver Joey Logano during a late-race restart to control the final two laps to the checkered flag for the win. The Brickyard victory came during a stretch in which Toyota won all four of NASCAR’s ‘majors’ – the Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, Coca-Cola 600 and Southern 500 – in a 10-month span. In May, Toyota defended its Coca-Cola 600 victory and has won five-straight ‘majors’ in the last 14 months.
DIRT DEVILS: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) will compete at Ohio’s Eldora Speedway for the series’ only dirt-track event on Wednesday night. The Truck Series has competed at the half-mile clay oval three times with Toyota drivers winning the last two races. Former Tundra driver Darrell Wallace Jr. was victorious at Eldora in 2014 and Christopher Bell claimed his first-career NCWTS win at the track in 2015. Tundra driver Matt Crafton is one of three active NCWTS racers to finish in the top-10 in each Eldora race, and Toyota drivers Rico Abreu and Bell both have experience racing on dirt at Eldora in other racing series.
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry drivers Carl Edwards (fourth), Kyle Busch (sixth), Martin Truex Jr. (seventh), Matt Kenseth (eighth) and Denny Hamlin (10th) currently rank in the top-10 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) point standings … Busch has the third-best average finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway among active drivers (9.7) … Kenseth has recorded three consecutive top-10 finishes at Indianapolis since joining Joe Gibbs Racing in 2013.
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How did the test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway benefit you and your team?
“We tested Indy last week and the good thing about testing is that it gives you time to try things that you typically wouldn’t have time to try out in a normal weekend at the track. Indy is very unique, but I felt that the cars definitely drive differently with the low-downforce package than they did last year with the high-drag package. Indy is a rectangle with four 90-degree corners, while the rest are oval-shaped, so that makes it different than any other race track that we go to obviously. Even though Indy looks pretty symmetrical, all four corners are somewhat different and it’s always changing. That track seems to change pretty fast with the wind or the sun when it comes to the track temperature. The main things that are a focus at Indy are qualifying and then being able to keep your track position because it is a very difficult track to pass on since it has such a narrow groove.”
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS): Camry drivers Daniel Suarez (first) and Erik Jones (fourth) currently rank in the top-10 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) point standings … Camry driver Kyle Busch has won two-of-four NXS races held at Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2013 and 2015) … Busch has led the most laps in NXS history at the track with 233 circuits paced … The next-closest competitors (Brad Keselowski and Kevin Harvick) have led 33 laps in NXS competition at the track … Suarez started second and finished third at Indianapolis in his first start at the track in 2015 … Joe Gibbs Racing Camrys have won the pole position for 14-of-17 NXS races in 2016.
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Hisense USA Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How will your approach the heat-race format for Indianapolis Motor Speedway?
“Indy is definitely unique compared to the other ones. We had 50 laps at Bristol and we had 50 laps at Dover as well. Fifteen laps at Indy is a long time still – longer than you think – but it’s still a short heat race. But we’ll be able to learn something for sure. That’s a long enough run at Indy to really feel out your car some and make some adjustments. We’ll go into it with the same mentality that we did the last three and work on our stuff and get it better and get it the best we can. I think every one of the ‘Dash 4 Cash’ races we’ve learned quite a bit about our car in the heat race and we’ve been able to make a fair amount of adjustments before the main to get it where it needs to be.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra drivers William Byron (first), Matt Crafton (second), Timothy Peters (fourth), Christopher Bell (eighth) and Ben Rhodes (10th) currently rank in the top-10 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) point standings … With four victories, Byron is tied with Kurt Busch for the most wins by a rookie in NCWTS history … Tundra drivers have won eight-straight NCWTS events …During that stretch, Byron (four victories), Crafton (two), Bell (one) and Kyle Busch (one) have each won races … The Toyota Tundra will compete in its 300th NCWTS event this weekend at Eldora … Toyota first entered the NCWTS with the Tundra in 2004 … Crafton will make his 100th start in a Toyota Tundra Wednesday night at Eldora … Seventeen-year-old Jake Griffin will pilot the No. 11 Toyota Tundra for Red Horse Racing at Eldora … Griffin, who has dirt racing experience, has made four prior NCWTS starts with a best result of 21st at Iowa Speedway in May.
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 4 JBL Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
How does it feel to return to Eldora Speedway as the defending race winner?
“Eldora is my favorite race track in the whole world. With winning there last year and now having a ton more experience in the trucks, I’ll come into this year’s race with a lot of confidence. Jerry (Baxter, crew chief) has also won there before, so I feel like we will be a really fast combination. Regardless of the outcome, I know this whole No. 4 JBL team is going to go there and have a lot of fun.”
What advantage do you have racing on dirt?
“Racing on dirt, I know exactly what feel I’m looking for and I’m going to be way more confident in the feedback that I’m providing Jerry (Baxter, crew chief). It’s a win-win situation for both of us because if I’m more confident in what I’m feeling, then he can be more confident in what adjustments he needs to make. That communication between driver and crew chief is one of the biggest things that we’ve been working on this year. On pavement, I’m still learning about the feel that I need from the truck and being able to relay just how loose or how tight my Tundra is. I feel like we are making strides with that communication and it has shown the last few races.”
RICO ABREU, No. 98 Safelite/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
How much experience do you have at Eldora?
“I’m really looking forward to Eldora. I’ve had some success there in the winged sprint cars and midgets, so it will be nice to get on familiar ground and have some fun. I’m racing in the Kings Royal the weekend before and I’ve just got a lot of laps there in a sprint car, so it will be a little easier for me to read a dirt track right now and hopefully get up to speed faster.”
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Indianapolis Motor Speedway (NSCS & NXS) and Eldora Speedway (NCWTS)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
> Denny Hamlin, No. 11 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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> David Ragan, No. 23 Camry
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> Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Camry
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> Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Camry
NASCAR XFINITY Series
> Matt DiBenedetto, No. 10 Camry
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> John Jackson, No. 13 Camry
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> Jeff Green, No. 14 Camry
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> Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry
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> Daniel Suarez, No. 19 Camry
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> Erik Jones, No. 20 Camry
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> Dakoda Armstrong, No. 28 Camry
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> JJ Yeley, No. 44 Camry
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
> Christopher Bell, No. 4 Tundra
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> Jake Griffin, 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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> Austin Wayne Self, No. 22 Tundra
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> Ben Rhodes, No. 41 Tundra
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> Cody Coughlin, No. 51 Tundra
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> Donnie Levister, No. 62 Tundra
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> Chris Fontaine, No. 78 Tundra
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> Matt Crafton, No. 88 Tundra
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> Rico Abreu, No. 98 Tundra
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