SMITH CLAIMS VICTORY AT POCONO’S TRICKY TRIANGLE
Seven Tundras Poised for Truck Series Playoffs to Chase 2022 Championship
LONG POND, Pa. (July 23, 2022) – Chandler Smith claimed his second victory of the 2022 season in Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Pocono Raceway. Smith held off a hard-charging Ryan Preece in the closing laps to claim the win on the triangular Pennsylvania track. The race also marked the end of the regular season for the NCWTS and a total of seven Tundra drivers are poised amongst the 10 total drivers who will compete for this year’s championship – Smith, Ben Rhodes, John Hunter Nemechek, Stewart Friesen, Christian Eckes, Ty Majeski and Matt Crafton. The Tundra team of ThorSport Racing also positioned all four of their trucks within the Playoffs.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Pocono Raceway
Race 16 of 23 – 60 Laps, 150 Miles
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, CHANDLER SMITH
2nd, Ryan Preece*
3rd, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
4th, COREY HEIM
5th, Carson Hocevar*
7th, TY MAJESKI
8th, CHRISTIAN ECKES
11th, CHASE PURDY
14th, STEWART FRIESEN
15th, MATT CRAFTON
16th, TYLER ANKRUM
19th, BEN RHODES
25th, KADEN HONEYCUTT
28th, TIMMY HILL
30th, TYLER HILL
34th, JOSH REAUME
36th, TODD BODINE
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHANDLER SMITH, No. 18 ChargeMe Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 1st
How were you able to hold off Ryan Preece in the closing laps to get the victory?
“God is good. It’s God’s timing. We’ve been going through a bit of a struggle here recently, but just when we need to start shining, we start shining. I can’t thank everyone enough. This ChargeMe Toyota was fast today. It was really good. We were a little tight. Had some trouble getting through the gears. Sorry to the 51 (Corey Heim) team, but also thank you to the 51 team. This win is as much mine as it is yours. Just can’t thank the Good Lord enough. I’m about to have a baby boy soon and this is for you when you look back at this.”
How does this set you up for the postseason?
“Big because we didn’t have a lot of points going into the Playoffs and today we got one stage win and won the race so I think we’ll be looking pretty sharp going into IRP.”
What does this win mean to set your team up for the start of the Playoffs?
“This is awesome. I got Safelite a win earlier this year in Vegas and now I got ChargeMe a win. Now I have to get iBUYPOWER a win and I think they’re on the truck in Talladega. Really excited. We had a really fast ChargeMe Toyota Tundra today. Danny (Stockman, crew chief) did a phenomenal job. I knew we were going to be good today, I knew what we had coming here. Without practice, I did wish we would have had practice, but the Good Lord plays out in funny ways sometimes.”
What were the last few laps like having to play defense?
“It was really hard because I was losing fuel pressure down the straightaway and it would sputter and he (Ryan Preece) would get a huge run and I would have to block bottom, top, bottom, top every two seconds and every minute. I had my work cut out for me today to say the least.”
JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 4 Yahoo Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 3rd
How tough was the battle in the closing laps with your teammate Corey Heim and what did you tell him post-race?
“Just talked about our race and what went on with his truck and my truck and things like that. Overall, a solid day for our Yahoo Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. Thank you to Yahoo, thank you to Toyota, TRD, Kyle (Busch, team owner) and everybody at KBM. All my crew guys put a lot of work into it. We tried and we gave it a shot. Just didn’t have track position all day and it ended up hurting us at the end. Overall, solid third place after driving back through the field and there weren’t many who could do that so proud of the guys, proud of the truck and it’s time to peak and go win a championship.”
COREY HEIM, No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 4th
What was the conversation with John Hunter Nemechek post-race about the late-race battle for a podium position?
“I feel like we caught up to him (John Hunter Nemechek) so fast and Chandler (Smith) and Ryan (Preece) were racing their tails off. Our Tundra TRD Pro was so good today and all the guys back at the shop, at KBM, did such a great job. Just needed a little bit more there at the end. I feel like if we had track position, we were probably the best truck, but that’s part of it. We’re going to get them next time.”
TY MAJESKI, No. 66 Road Ranger Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 7th
How was your day and how are you positioned to race in the Playoffs?
“I’m ready. We just unloaded way too much on the ground and had to come in and put packers in it. Just balance was off. Just a good day. This is what I feel like is a Playoff caliber day. When you fight like that and you start off so bad and pit and get behind on track position, especially when you’re at Pocono. To come back and recover with a solid top-10, these need to be our bad days in the Playoffs. Hopefully we can clean some of this up and be better for IRP, Richmond and Kansas.”
CHRISTIAN ECKES, No. 98 Curb Records Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 8th
How much are you looking forward to getting the Playoffs started?
“I’m looking forward to it for sure. Everyone at ThorSport Racing is working really hard. We struggled today still and we’ve always struggled here as a company, but me and Ty (Majeski) ran okay and we got Matt (Crafton) in the Playoffs and that was the biggest thing. All four trucks into the Playoffs is huge. Can’t thank everybody enough, Curb Records, Duke and Rhonda (Thorson, team owners), Toyota Racing and now we get to go race for a championship so just really looking forward to it.”
STEWART FRIESEN, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Halmar Friesen Racing
Finishing Position: 14th
How will you approach the Playoffs?
“Just have to go out and try to win them, that’s all we can do. That’s what we tried to do today, but we had a pit road penalty. Just a bummer. Our Halmar Tundra TRD Pro was good, it wasn’t great. I feel like we could have ran top-five today pretty easily. After the penalty, we just got caught in the back and can’t really do much with dirty air. The race is pretty short, I feel like the ARCA race should be 60 laps and this race should be 80 with the way our day went. If we were leading, I would have been happy with 60. Proud of our guys, another fast truck. We ran in the top-five for the first two stages. Then I saw the tire roll out in front of the truck and I saw our guy dove to get it and corralled it and almost fell over the wall and his toe touched the ground. I hoped nobody saw it, but apparently not.”
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Ideal Door/Menards Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 15th
What needs to change with your team’s execution before the Playoffs start to ensure you have a shot at another championship?
“These guys did everything they were supposed to do, they work their tails off at TRD and at the simulator just trying to get things working on getting our setups better. We had a very good truck and we were good in the short run and we had a way better truck than where we finished. But you need to be aggressive on these restarts and I couldn’t put myself in any bad situations and you have to put yourself in bad situations on restarts to be able to get the spots so I would have to wait for everything to settle down and then pass people instead of just being a wild man on restarts. So we just had to keep the 19 (Derek Kraus) in grasp right there and hopefully not get a new winner. These guys worked really hard.”
What can you do different in the Playoff races?
“Take the gloves off and do whatever it takes. I bring all my friends in the yellow firesuits and don’t care about the rest.”
BEN RHODES, No. 99 Tenda Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 19th
How do you change how things have been going for your team as you enter the Playoffs?
“Just have to be faster. We were absolutely terrible today, I don’t know why. I think we were on the splitter all day and lack of practice just compounded some of the other issues we were fighting. Overall, my Toyota Tundra team just needs to regroup and refocus and know that everything resets and there is no reason to keep having any issues here. We just need speed. Maybe we can borrow some from our teammates, they were pretty fast today. For ThorSport Racing, all four trucks in the championship hunt is pretty special. Especially great with the competition in the Truck Series the last few years. The Truck Series is alive and well and strong. I don’t know about Pocono thought, I think I would rather do the championship or the regular season championship at a short track or something, maybe Martinsville. That would be more my style.”
TODD BODINE, No. 62 Camping World Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, Halmar Friesen Racing
Finishing Position: 36th
After being taken out of the race early due to an accident, how do you feel about your 800th and final NASCAR start?
“That’s definitely not how we wanted this to go. I’ve been so blessed to do what I love to do 800 times. Made so many good friends and have so many great people involved in my life, it’s a pretty blessed life to have. That’s racing. I’ve been here before, I’ve been wrecked before. It’s part of the game. Maybe I’ll have to make it 801. Thanks to Chris Larson and Stewart Friesen for letting me do this and having this much fun. Marcus Lemonis and Camping World – nobody thought he would step up and he did, thank you. Thank you to all the fans that have supported me all these years. It’s truly meant the world to me and I appreciate it. I’ll see you on TV and I’ll be having fun on TV.”
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