TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
September 17 – 23, 2012
TOYOTA TIDBITS COVERING CHIGAGO: Camry driver Kyle Busch claimed a fourth-place result in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Chicagoland Speedway, and his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate Joey Logano crossed the finish line seventh. ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup’ contenders Martin Truex Jr. (ninth) and Clint Bowyer (10th) also earned top-10 finishes, while Denny Hamlin posted a 16th-place showing on the 1.5-mile track. In Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race in Chicago, both Busch (second) and pole-winner Logano (10th) claimed top-10 results in the 200th NNS event for the Toyota Camry.
CAMRY CHASERS: Following the first event of the 10-race ‘Chase for the Sprint Cup’ championship playoff, Hamlin ranks fourth among the 12-driver field — 15 points behind leader Brad Keselowski. Bowyer and Truex, the first-ever Chase entries for Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR), sit sixth and ninth in the standings, respectively.
TRUCK SERIES TALLIES: In Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Iowa Speedway, Todd Bodine (third) was the top-finishing Tundra driver. Three additional Tundra drivers — Johnny Sauter (fourth), Drew Herring (seventh) and Matt Crafton (ninth) — claimed top-10 results on the 0.875-mile track. Parker Kligerman led a race- high 107 laps (of 200) after starting from the pole, but finished 23rd. His Red Horse Racing teammate, Timothy Peters, finished 19th in Iowa and now sits second in the NCWTS point standings — eight points out of first-place.
FAMILY MATTERS: Championship contender Truex captured a NNS win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway (NHMS) in 2005 and he isn’t the only member of his family to have success on the one-mile track. The patriarch of the racing family, Martin Truex Sr., won a NASCAR Busch North Series race at the track in 1994, and Martin’s little brother, Ryan, won two NASCAR K&N Pro Series (NKNPS) races at NHMS in 2010. Truex finished 11th in the most recent NSCS race in Loudon and he has posted five top-10 results in 13 starts at the speedway.
BRIAN BACK AGAIN: Brian Vickers will be back behind the wheel of the MWR No. 55 Camry for the NSCS race at NHMS. Vickers is running a limited NSCS schedule this season for MWR, sharing t he No. 55 seat with veteran driver Mark Martin. The 28-year-old has made six starts for MWR in 2012 and has recorded three top-five finishes and led 126 laps. Vickers started and finished 15th in the July NSCS race at New Hampshire.
KENTUCKY HOME: In addition to hosting this weekend’s NNS and NCWTS races at Kentucky Speedway, the ‘Bluegrass State’ is also the home of Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Kentucky (TMMK). The production facility in Georgetown, Ky., opened in 1986 and is Toyota’s largest production facility outside of Japan. TMMK features more than 6,500 Toyota team members that produce the Toyota Avalon, Camry, Camry Hybrid and Venza vehicles.
RACING FOR AWARENESS: Nine women affiliated with the Toyota Racing program are involved in ‘Racing For Awareness,’ a friendly competition that includes driver wives, girlfriends, mothers and sisters creating a T-shirt design in support of breast cancer awareness. The winning design will be selected by fan votes and will be announced during the Charlotte race weekend in October, with the winning T-shirt made available for purchase. Proceeds from the contest will be given to Charlotte-based charity, Carolina Breast Friends, and fans can visit www.toyotaracing.com/RacingForAwareness to see the designs, cast their vote and also enter to win weekly prizes through Oct. 4, 2012 at 12 PM (ET). Fans attending the New Hampshire Motor Speedway race weekend can vote for their favorite at the Toyota Pit Pass display at the track.
SOCIAL MEDIA & WEBSITE: Background and images about the Toyota NASCAR program are available at www.toyotaracingmedia.com, @ToyotaRacing, www.facebook.com/toyotaracing and www.youtube.com/toyotaracingusa.
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Since the start of the 2012 season, Toyota drivers have combined for eight victories, 38 top-five results, 78 top-10 finishes and have led 2,566 laps … Martin Truex Jr. will make his 100th NSCS start in a Camry at New Hampshire Motor Speedway … Dave Rogers, crew chief for Kyle Busch and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Camry, is a native of nearby Marshfield, Vt. … Two crew members from the No. 20 JGR Camry are from Connecticut … Jason Shapiro, the car chief for Joey Logano, is from Essex, while John Eicher, the gas man for the No. 20, is from London … Shaun Peet, the jackman for Clint Bowyer and the No. 15 MWR Camry, played hockey at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. … After his collegiate career at Dartmouth, Peet played minor league hockey prior to becoming a NASCAR crew member … Dave Blaney won Toyota’s first NSCS pole position at NHMS in June of 2008 … Toyota is giving fans a chance to win a Toyota Racing decaled, heavy-duty Radio Flyer wagon to help tow their gear on race weekends with the ‘Tag Your Wag’ contest … Fans can enter at www.toyotaracing.com/tagyourwag through Oct. 3 … Five winners will be randomly awarded brand new wagons filled with Toyota Racing merchandise.
MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing How long have you been preparing for the Chase? “We felt really good about our position for a while now. We’ve been working towards that and building some new stuff — setting some cars aside that we’ve had a lot of success with this year. We’ve been prepared for a while. The guys have done a good job of lining things up — wait and see if we made the right decisions.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What races are you looking forward to in the Chase? “Loudon, in particular, we’re really excited about going to. I think we’ll have a new car there and as strong as we were not too long ago, we obviously have high expectations when we go back. Dover is another one that my team has been working on quite a bit — even in the last two weeks we’ve been really studying that race track quite a bit. I will obviously lean on Kyle (Busch) a lot and ask a lot of questions leading up to Dover about what we need and what we can look forward to. The last five to six are very good tracks for us and so we’re just looking to stay in contention here early on.”
Do you think you’re a better competitor than you were two years ago? “I think I handle the tough days better. I don’t think that I let them bother me quite as much. I think that I handle adversity better on the race track during the race. I had a lot of confidence then, but I know exactly what I need out of my race car now. Darian (Grubb, crew chief) does a good job of asking me the right questions so it makes my job easier. I think that really we’re just experienced more all around — our whole race team is.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing What do you need to do to have a shot to win the Chase? “If you’re in that top-five running with three or four (races) to go, you have a shot at the championship and I believe we can do that. We have some good race tracks and I’ve always been able to go into the Chase full of enthusiasm, full of excitement, full of pride and never any worry in that sense. Never have I gone into the Chase concerned about anything. Everybody knows that everything has to line up perfectly to win the championship, but this could be the year. This is the best I’ve ever ran leading into the Chase. I’ve always been able to elevate my game in the Chase, keep it fun and keep it real for the guys and if we continue to do that, we’ll have a chance.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS): After 26 races, Mike Bliss ranks eighth in the series point standings … Joe Nemechek (ninth) and Brian Scott (10th) are also among the top-10 in the standings … Kurt Busch will compete in the No. 54 Toyota Camry for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) at Kentucky Speedway … Joey Logano captured three-straight wins at Kentucky Speedway for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) from 2008 through 2010 and won each race from the pole position … Adam Stevens, the crew chief for the No. 18 JGR Camry, is from nearby Portsmouth, Ohio. … Drew Herring will make his first NNS start of the season in the No. 18 JGR Camry at Kentucky … Herring claimed a seventh-place result in his first career NCWTS for KBM at Iowa last Saturday … The No. 18 JGR Camry currently leads the NNS owner’s point standings.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): After 15 races, Timothy Peters ranks second in the series point standings … Parker Kligerman (fourth) and Matt Crafton (fifth) are also in the top-10 in the standings … Tundra drivers have won four of the last seven races at Kentucky Speedway … Kyle Busch was the most recent Tundra winner at the track in July of 2011 … Four Tundra drivers earned top-10 finishes at Kentucky in June, including Matt Crafton (fourth), Timothy Peters (fifth), Johnny Sauter (sixth) and Jason Leffler (eighth) … Through Oct. 1, the Kyle Busch Foundation will be raffling a custom motorcycle in conjunction with Deadwood Choppers at www.KBFChopperRaffle.com.
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing How is your mile-and-a-half program entering Kentucky? “We came oh so close at Chicago last month and we had a great run earlier this year at Kentucky. Kentucky is challenging. We have four mile-and-a-half’s left on the schedule and that is, as a company, what Red Horse Racing needs no matter who gets it. I feel like I’ve focused on trying to make myself better (on those types of tracks). ”
PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 7 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Are you looking forward to racing at Kentucky? “Kentucky is one of the coolest mile-and-a-half’s we go to. It’s very unique. Kentucky being as big and flat, but then also as bumpy as it is, it just adds a whole new couple of elements that we don’t really run into at a lot of places, especially in the mile-and-a-half era. With that said, I think with Red Horse Racing’s lack of a win on a mile-and-a-half — I don’t think it’s by any means lack of effort from what I’ve seen being here for the last few weeks. I think the mile-and-half win is right around the corner because these trucks are excellent. The Joe Gibbs Racing motors are excellent. Toyota putting all of the resources that they have from the wind tunnel, the shaker rig and all of those things — I think there’s no reason we can’t go out there and get that mile-and-a-half win.”
TOYOTA 2012 NASCAR STATISTICS
Series Races Starts Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led (Drivers) NSCS 27 328 (23) 8 38 78 9 152 2,566 NNS 26 292 (36) 7 31 62 7 110 1,278 NCWTS 15 150 (23) 5 32 53 3 47 756
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – New Hampshire Motor Speedway & Kentucky Speedway NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Denny Hamlin, No. 11 FedEx Freight Camry Jason Leffler, No. 49 Toyota Camry Clint Bowyer, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Camry Brian Vickers, No. 55 Freightliner/Jet Edge Camry Kyle Busch, No. 18 M&M’s Camry Martin Truex Jr., No. 56 NAPA Auto Parts Camry Jeff Green, No. 19 Plinker Tactical Camry Landon Cassill, No. 83 Burger King Camry Joey Logano, No. 20 Home Depot Camry Joe Nemechek, No. 87 AM/FM Energy Stoves Camry David Stremme, No. 30 Inception Motorsports Camry Reed Sorenson, No. 91 Plinker Tactical Camry Bobby Labonte, No. 47 Bush’s Beans Camry Travis Kvapil, No. 93 Burger King Camry
NASCAR Nationwide Series Blake Koch, No. 00 Toyota Camry Benny Gordon, No. 24 Toyota Camry Charles Lewandoski, No. 10 Toyota Camry Mike Bliss, No. 44 BANDITchippers.com Camry Brian Scott, No. 11 Dollar General Camry Kurt Busch, No. 54 Monster Energy Camry Eric McClure, No. 14 Hefty/Reynolds Wrap Camry Joe Nemechek, No. 87 AM/FM Energy Stoves Camry Drew Herring, No. 18 Sport Clips Camry Kenny Wallace, No. 99 Toyota Camry Tayler Malsam, No. 19 G-Oil Camry
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Parker Kligerman, No. 7 Red Horse Racing Tundra Johnny Sauter, No. 13 Hot Honeys/Curb Records Tundra Ross Chastain, No. 08 Melon 1 Tundra Timothy Peters, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Tundra John Wes Townley, No. 09 Toyota Tundra Drew Herring, No. 18 Dollar General Tundra Todd Bodine, No. 11 Toyota Care Tundra Matt Crafton, No. 88 Menards Tundra
WEEKEND RACE SCHEDULE Fri., September 21 — NCWTS @ Kentucky Speedway — 8:00 PM (ET), SPEED — Race 16 of 22 Sat., September 22 — NNS @ Kentucky Speedway — 3:30 PM (ET), ESPN — Race 27 of 33 Sun., September 23 — NSCS @ New Hampshire Motor Speedway — 1:00 PM (ET), ESPN — Race 28 of 36
