TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
April 11 – 17, 2016
TOYOTA TIDBITS
SUPER SWEEPER: Toyota driver Kyle Busch brought his broom from Martinsville, Virginia to Texas Motor Speedway as he recorded back-to-back NASCAR race weekend sweeps. Busch won both the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) and NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) races in Texas, one week after winning the Cup Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) events at Martinsville Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota driver is just the second driver in NASCAR history to sweep consecutive race weekends after Harry Gant first accomplished the feat in 1991. With his Sprint Cup Series victory, Busch moved up to first in the NSCS point standings and Toyota now leads the NSCS manufacturer standings after seven of 36 races. Toyota drivers led 320 laps (of 334) at Texas with Martin Truex Jr. leading a race-high 141 circuits, Carl Edwards led 124 laps, while Busch (34 laps), Matt Kenseth (20) and David Ragan (one) also took turns in front of the field.
BUSCH AND TOYOTA T AT BRISTOL: Across NASCAR’s three national touring series, Toyota has amassed 22 victories at Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway – and 15 of those wins have come at the hands of Busch. In total, Toyota has seven NSCS victories at the 0.533-mile short track, eight wins in the XFINITY Series and seven triumphs in the Truck Series. Busch most recently won at ‘The World’s Fastest Half-Mile’ last August in the NXS and he now has 17-career wins at the track, including a Cup victory and XFINITY win before he began piloting a Toyota. Busch also swept all three NASCAR series at Bristol in August 2010, becoming the first driver to sweep all three national series races in a weekend.
HEATING UP AT THE HALF-MILE: When the NXS returns to Bristol this weekend, NASCAR will return to its roots with heat races setting the stage for a 200-lap main event on Saturday afternoon. A pair of non-point, 50-lap heat races will set the starting lineup for the main-event points race. A traditional qualifying session will be used to set the starting order for the heat races. In 2015, Camry driver Daniel Suarez and Erik Jones finished second and fifth, respectively, in the spring NXS race at Bristol, and Suarez recorded a fifth-place result in the fall.
10 YEARS OF CAMRYS: The 2016 season marks Toyota’s 10th year competing in NASCAR’s Sprint Cup and XFINTIY Series with the Toyota Camry and Bristol has proven to be one of the Camry’s most-successful stops on the NASCAR circuit. The Camry first won at Bristol in 2009 when Busch nabbed a NXS victory at the track where Camry drivers have gone on to total 15 wins in the NSCS and XFINITY Series – an average of more than two victories per season.
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry drivers Kyle Busch (first), Carl Edwards (fourth) and Denny Hamlin (eighth) currently rank in the top-10 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) point standings … TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development) president David Wilson is a graduate of nearby Virginia Tech, who is scheduled to compete in a college football game against the University of Tennessee at Bristol Motor Speedway in 2016 … Camry drivers have won 14 of the last 28 NSCS point races dating back to Busch’s victory at Sonoma Raceway last June.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s 75 Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Why have you been so successful at Bristol Motor Speedway?
“I’m not exactly sure what makes me so good at Bristol. I’ve just had a lot of success there, but I’ve also had some misfortune there too. Ever since I got through my rookie year, I’ve just taken a liking to the place, but when they changed the track to this current surface in 2007, I just really took to it even more. I really liked it and I’ve been fast there, but also I’ve had great race cars from Joe Gibbs Racing. It’s just a fun race track no matter what series I’m running there.”
Is there a skill set you need to race at Bristol?
“We grew up at the ‘Bullring’ (in Las Vegas) and stuff like that. They aren’t as banked as Bristol is, but I love going and racing at Winchester (Indiana) and at Slinger (Wisconsin), Salem (Indiana) – those are all really high-banked racetracks that are a half-mile in distance or a quarter. They’re really fun to race around and you kind of get a great feel for racing in a bowl. You go down the straightaway and you slam it into the corners and you mash the gas and you kind of sling right back out of the corners. It’s a lot of fun to do that. It’s kind of an art. Some guys are really good at it, and some find a knack that makes them really good at it and makes it seem easy.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 Comcast Business Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What do you enjoy about Bristol?
“It’s been a really great racetrack for me. It always takes a few laps to get in the groove just because it’s so different and so fast. I look forward to Bristol every time we go. We’ve got some wins there – we’ve got wins in all three series which I’m really proud of. I’ve had the opportunity to drive some really great race cars there and right now these JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) Toyotas are second to none. I’m excited to get there. I’m excited to get going.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing?
What’s the most difficult aspect of racing at Bristol?
“The toughest part about Bristol is being able to finish the pass. You can get enough speed to typically get underneath people, but it’s hard to finish and the top gets so much faster than the rest of the track – particularly from the middle of the race to the finish where passing can get difficult.”
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 78 Furniture Row Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
How do you feel coming off your finish at Texas Motor Speedway?
“Though Texas and Bristol are two completely different race tracks, we’re feeling good about our progression this season as newcomers to Toyota and a technical alliance with Joe Gibbs Racing. We feel we can be competitive at any track. You know that you’ve come a long way when you leave the track disappointed finishing sixth as we did in Texas. We had the car to beat, but the best car doesn’t always win.”
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS): Camry drivers Daniel Suarez (first) and Erik Jones (fifth) currently rank in the top-10 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) point standings … Kyle Busch will pilot the No. 18 Camry at Bristol … Busch has won four of his five NXS starts in 2016 and claimed a runner-up result (California) in his only non-victory … Matt DiBenedetto will drive the No. 10 Camry in Tennessee.
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 19 Juniper Networks Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What are your expectations for the heat races?
“Bristol is a really good race track for me. We finished second and fifth there last year, so hopefully we can repeat and continue the consistency we have going there. We’ve had good meetings this week and learned a lot more about the heat races. A lot of people are going to be on different strategies for the heat races.”
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Game Stop/Performance Designed Products Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you think the fans will enjoy the heat races?
“I think it’s exciting for the fans – it’s different. I’m not able to give a real opinion on it until I’ve raced it. I’m most curious about how people are going to race knowing that you can’t go to a backup car before the feature, so I’m interested to see how people handle that fact. I think it’s a good idea – something to change it up. I think we’re doing the right thing and taking the right steps to doing things that have been voiced by the fans that is something different than what’s been done in the past.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra drivers Timothy Peters (third), Cameron Hayley (fifth) and Ben Rhodes (10th) currently rank in the top-10 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) point standings … The NCWTS next races at Kansas Speedway on Friday, May 6 in the Toyota Tundra 250.
TOYOTA 2016 NASCAR STATISTICS
Series
Races
Starts (Drivers)
Wins
Top-5s
Top-10s
Poles
Times Led
Laps Led
NSCS
7
51 (9)
3
13
19
2
62
1,191
NXS
6
51 (16)
4
12
14
5
22
800
NCWTS
3
40 (18)
1
6
13
2
22
336
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Bristol Motor Speedway (NSCS and NXS)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry
Carl Edwards, No. 19 Camry
Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
David Ragan, No. 23 Camry
Martin Truex Jr., No. 78 Camry
Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Camry
NASCAR XFINITY Series
Matt DiBenedetto, No. 10 Camry
JJ Yeley, No. 14 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry
Daniel Suarez, No. 19 Camry
Erik Jones, No. 20 Camry
Matt Tifft, No. 24 Camry
Dakoda Armstrong, No. 28 Camry
David Starr, No. 44 Camry
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