TOYOTA DRIVER GRESHAM TAKES EAST SERIES TITLE Clinches Championship at Dover Season Finale
DOVER, Del. (September 30, 2011) — Max Gresham clinched his first career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKNPSE) driver’s championship after finishing third in Friday’s race at Delaware’s Dover International Speedway. Gresham, a Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) development driver, had two wins and 11 top-10 finishes in 12 races this season.
The 18-year-old Griffin, Ga.-native posted victories at Georgia’s Gresham Motorsports Park (June 11) and at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (July 15). Along with his two wins, Gresham finished second once and was third on three occasions.
Gresham’s title also marked the second owner’s championship for JGR in the series. “I can’t explain how I feel right now,” said Gresham, after the season finale.
“I can’t thank these Joe Gibbs Racing guys enough. They put an awesome car underneath me today and they’ve put an awesome car underneath me all year.” With Darrell Wallace Jr.’s win at Dover, Toyota drivers have visited victory lane in all 12 NKNPSE races this season.
Camry drivers recording those 11 wins include Brett Moffitt (three), Sergio Pena (three), Wallace (three), Gresham (two) and Matt DiBenedetto (one). It marks the fifth NASCAR regional series driver’s title for a Toyota driver.
Along with Gresham’s title, Ryan Truex earned two NKNPSE driver’s titles in 2009 and 2010, and Eric Holmes captured the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West (NKNPSW) championship in 2008 and 2010.
“We have always maintained that any of our success in NASCAR is a direct result of the hard work by our teams and drivers,” said Lee White, president of TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development). “This season of competition in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East has demonstrated that all our Toyota teams have worked very hard to earn so many wins in what has become a very competitive series. We’re very proud of Max Gresham’s championship and are proud to have him and Joe Gibbs Racing as part of the Toyota program.” Toyota drivers have previously captured four driver’s championships in two of NASCAR’s premier series — Todd Bodine (2006 and 2010) and Johnny Benson (2008) in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS), and Kyle Busch (2009) in the Nationwide Series.
This year, Busch and fellow Camry driver Denny Hamlin are currently competing in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Chase championship playoff, while Timothy Peters is currently fourth in the NCWTS standings — 25 points out of first-place with six races remaining.
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. is the marketing, sales, distribution and customer service arm of Toyota, Lexus and Scion. Established in 1957, TMS markets products and services through a network of nearly 1,500 Toyota, Lexus and Scion dealers which sold more than 1.76 million vehicles in 2010. Toyota directly employs nearly 30,000 people in the U.S. and its investment here is currently valued at more than $18 billion.
