TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES Week of July 25 – 31, 2011
TOYOTA TIDBITS FIVE TENNESSEE TOP-10s: Five Toyota drivers earned top-10 finishes at Nashville Superspeedway in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) races this past weekend.
Drew Herring earned a career-best seventh-place result in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Camry in Saturday’s NNS race in only his sixth series start. Kenny Wallace (10th) also finished among the top-10. In Friday’s NCWTS event, Timothy Peters (third) was the first Tundra to the finish line, followed by Todd Bodine (sixth) and David Starr (eighth).
ONE MORE TRACK TO WIN ONE: Toyota drivers have won at 19 of the 23 venues on the current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) schedule since joining the circuit in 2007. Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) is one of four tracks where the manufacturer has not visited victory lane at stock car racing’s highest level. In four races at IMS, Toyota drivers have seven top-10 results, including top-10 finishes by current Camry drivers Denny Hamlin (third in 2008), Brian Vickers (fifth in 2009), David Reutimann (eighth in 2009), Kyle Busch (eighth in 2010) and Joey Logano (ninth in 2010). Auto Club Speedway, Kansas Speedway and Phoenix International Raceway are the other tracks on the current schedule where a Toyota driver has yet to win a Cup race.
ALL IN THE INDY FAMILY: Toyota driver Casey Mears is competing this season for Germain Racing behind the wheel of the No. 13 GEICO Camry. Mears is no stranger to success in his nine-year NASCAR career. The 33-year-old Bakersfield, Calif.-native has earned one NSCS win (Charlotte 2007), 12 top-five finishes and 46 top-10 results, along with three poles. His father, Roger Mears, earned countless off-road racing championships and began his career in stock cars in the 1960s. Rick Mears, Casey’s uncle, is a four -time Indianapolis 500 winner, a three-time Indy Car champion and holds the record for the most poles (five) at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
HOOSIER HANDLES THE CALLS: Camry crew chief Chad Johnston, who works on the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 56 Camry driven by Martin Truex Jr., is from Cayuga, Ind. Growing up in Indiana, he raced open-wheel midgets on paved ovals and dirt tracks around Northern Indiana. Johnston’s love of racing began at an early age when his father would take him to the drag races in and around Indiana.
PASTRANA TO PERFORM: X Games athlete Travis Pastrana is set to make his NNS debut at Lucas Oil Raceway this Saturday. The 27-year-old Annapolis, Md.-native will drive the Pastrana-Waltrip Racing No. 99 Boost Mobile Camry, while also competing in the X Games in Los Angeles. This season he’s competed in four NASCAR K&N Pro Series East and West races (Iowa, New Hampshire, Phoenix and Richmond), in addition to finishing sixth in his NASCAR debut in the Toyota All-Star Showdown in January at Toyota Speedway in Irwindale, Calif.
GOOD RUNS WITH REN: Kyle Busch Motorsports’ (KBM) Rick Renjoined the team as general manager at the beginning of 2010 and helped the team earn the NCWTS owner’s championship in their inaugural season in the series. Prior to joining KBM, Ren was a two-time NCWTS championship crew chief (2007 and 2009) with Ron Hornaday. Under Ren’s guidance, his drivers have finished first or second at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis every year since 2007 — including two wins (2007 and 2009) and a runner-up result (2008) by Hornaday, and a second-place finish for Busch (2010).
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS NASCARSprintCupSeries(NSCS): Since the start of the 2011 season, Toyota drivers have combined for four victories, 23 top-five results, 45 top-10 finishes and have led 1,749 laps … After 19 races, Kyle Busch is fifth in the series point standings, 20 points behind leader Carl Edwards … Denny Hamlin (10th), Kasey Kahne (14th) and Joey Logano (18th) are also in the top-20 in the standings … The first Toyota victory at Indianapolis Motor Speedway was earned by Gil de Ferran in the 2003 Indianapolis 500 … Casey Mears set the NSCS qualifying record in 2004 at Indianapolis (186.293 mph) … Jeff Koons, who provides pit support for the No. 18 Camry, for Joe Gibbs Racing is from Greenfield, Ind. …
