Toyota NASCAR Notes & Quotes Watkins Glen

TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
August 1 – 7, 2016

TOYOTA TIDBITS

ROOKIE RECORD: Tundra driver William Byron became the winningest rookie in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) history with his victory at Pocono Raceway on Saturday. Byron has won five races in his first full-time season in the NCWTS, breaking the record of four triumphs previously set by Kurt Busch in 2000. Along with Pocono, the 18-year-old has notched victories at Kansas Speedway (May 6), Texas Motor Speedway (June 10), Iowa Speedway (June 18) and Kentucky Speedway (July 7). Byron has won four-of-the-last-six races and registered seven top-10 finishes in 12 starts this season.

TOYOTA’S GLEN WINS: Toyota has four combined NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) and NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) victories at New York’s Watkins Glen International. Camry driver Kyle Busch has claimed two Cup Series trophies in New York and former Camry driver Marcos Ambrose won twice on the 2.45-mile road course in the NXS. Busch earned the first Watkins Glen victory for Toyota in 2008 at the upstate New York road course when he started from the pole and led 52 (of 90) laps in the event. Ambrose was victorious in the NXS in 2009 and 2010, and Busch again visited The Glen’s victory lane in 2013 with another NSCS win.

ONE OF THE BEST AT WATKINS GLEN: Along with his two NSCS victories at Watkins Glen International, Busch has registered nine top-10 finishes in 11 career starts and currently has the third-best average finish at Watkins Glen among drivers with more than 10 starts at the track (10.5). The Las Vegas native also has the third best average starting position at The Glen (8.3) among active drivers and he started from the front of the field in 2008 and 2011.

NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry drivers Kyle Busch (fourth), Carl Edwards (fifth), Martin Truex Jr. (eighth), Denny Hamlin (ninth) and Matt Kenseth (10th) currently rank in the top-10 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) point standings … Kenseth will make his 600th career NSCS start Sunday at Watkins Glen … Kenseth finished fourth at Watkins Glen last year, marking his best finish at the Upstate New York road course … Andy Graves, group vice president and technical director at TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development), is from Mexico, New York … Graves has been with Toyota since the manufacturer joined the NSCS prior to the 2007 season.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Snickers Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What does it take to be successful at Watkins Glen?

“At Watkins Glen, the biggest thing is pit strategy. Obviously, you’ve got to pick and choose when you’re going to pit and stick to your plan. Whether or not we can still do it on two stops, I’m unsure of because Sonoma turned into a three-stop race for us all because the new fuel mileage is a little bit off from where we were last year. At Watkins Glen though, you definitely have to be good at being able to carry speed through the esses and down the long backstretch – that seems to be the key part of the racetrack.”

What did you learn with your No. 18 Camry at the Watkins Glen test session?

“We learned a lot of things I feel like at the Watkins Glen test, – that the track isn’t quite as fast as we had expected it to be, it’s probably tire limited, you get a chance to slide around a little bit still. It seems like the slip of the cars is still the same as what it was last year, but speeds we’ll see if they increase more when we get back there with getting more rubber down on the race track having more cars, more series there and seeing what all of that lays out for all of us for the weekend.”

MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What makes the racing at Watkins Glen unique?

“You turn both ways. I think with it being a road course it makes it unique. We only race at two road courses a year with Sonoma and Watkins Glen, and they are greatly different.  It’s like comparing Martinsville to Michigan really. It’s really fast for a road course – it’s really flowy. It’s got quite a bit of room compared to Sonoma. They repaved it, so I’m really not sure, but typically on repaves it’s hard to pass and it’s already hard to pass there so you always work on getting balance and speed out of your car, but you also work on fuel mileage and strategy to try and be upfront after your last pit stop.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How can your success at Sonoma Raceway carry over to Watkins Glen this weekend?

“Obviously, the two road courses are very different. Sonoma is a technical track and Watkins Glen is very fast and sweeping. It’ll be interesting to get up there on the new surface to see the grip level in these cars, but certainly running up front at Sonoma gives us a boost of confidence heading into Watkins Glen this weekend. I’m still looking for that first road course win in the Cup Series and hopefully we can close the deal on Sunday.”

NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS): Camry drivers Daniel Suarez (second) and Erik Jones (fourth) currently rank in the top-10 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) point standings … Suarez has registered 15 top-10 finishes in 19 series starts this season … Suarez began his racing career karting on road courses in Mexico before moving to the NASCAR Mexico Series (2012-14) where he had nine wins.

DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Do you enjoy road course racing?

“I’m excited about getting back on the track this weekend at Watkins Glen. It’s a great part of the country to visit and I really enjoy racing there. It will be interesting to see how the new repave has changed the track, but we have some extra time on Thursday to try and get our ARRIS Camry dialed in for Saturday. Despite the setback last week, I feel really good about our team and I’m really looking forward to all the road course races we have coming up in the next few weeks.”

ERIK JONES, No. 20 GameStop Rock Band Rivals Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Are you looking forward to your first time competing at Watkins Glen?

“This will be my first time at Watkins Glen, and my first time at any of the XFINITY Series road courses. With the new track pavement and the extra practice time on Thursday, we’ll spend time figuring out the track and getting comfortable with another new track for me. The few starts I have at road courses in the Truck Series resulted in a win and a third-place finish, so hopefully we can have similar results this weekend when we take on Watkins Glen in the GameStop Rock Band Rivals Toyota Camry.”

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra drivers William Byron (first), Matt Crafton (second), Timothy Peters (fourth), Christopher Bell (sixth) and Cameron Hayley (eighth) currently rank in the top-10 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) point standings … The NCWTS enjoys two weeks off before returning to action at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday, August 17.

WILLIAM BYRON, No. 9 Liberty University Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports

What have you learned during the first 12 races that have helped you to be so successful?

“I think just keeping your head up. Keeping your head in the game. We’re always thinking. There’s always so many things going on inside the race car and on the pit box to make these races work. We never stop working at it and in that race we never stopped saving fuel even though we felt like we were good to go. Just always new challenges and I think we’re just doing a great job of adapting to those.”