TOYOTA NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Las Vegas Motor Speedway – September 29, 2012
Tundra driver Matt Crafton (second) was the top-finishing Toyota in Saturday night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
Todd Bodine (fifth), Timothy Peters (eighth) and David Mayhew (ninth) also earned top-10 finishes for Toyota at the 1.5-mile oval.
Other Tundra drivers in the field at Las Vegas included John Wes Townley (14th), Travis Pastrana (15th), Parker Kligerman (19th), Johnny Sauter (21st), Ross Chastain (25th) and Johnny Chapman (30th).
Tundra drivers led the race six times for 70 laps (of 146), including Kligerman (36 laps), Peters (18), Crafton (15) and Mayhew (one).
Peters is currently in third-place in the unofficial NCWTS points, trailing current point leader Ty Dillon by 24 points. Kligerman (fifth) and Crafton (sixth) also rank in the top-10 in the point standings for Toyota.
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 2nd How tough of a finish was that for you? “That sucks. Just plain and simple sucks. We had a great truck. We were really good on the second run and the third run we got really loose and the thing was really good right there at the end. They said the 30 (Nelson Piquet Jr.) was running on the top, so I moved to the top and was trying to keep up the momentum that he was and he got a real good run there off of (turn) 4. I can’t thank these guys enough. That is a tough — my god tough one to lose on the last lap, but I can’t thank these guys for working so hard on this Menards Toyota Tundra. I mean — god, that’s a very, very hard one to swallow. I can’t thank these guys enough and Duck and Rhonda Thorson (team owners).”
TODD BODINE, No. 11 Toyota Care Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 5th Are you happy with your finish tonight? “Yeah, I think my team was the hardest working team on pit road. We were so loose to start the race and we took some rubbers out and we did air pressure and as typical racers go we over adjusted it. Early, I had somebody on my butt there and it looked like Parker (Kligerman), but that’s the way it goes. It just got really loose and never even caught, but to come back after that and finish fifth and have a shot at the win we can’t complain. The Toyota Care Tundra was fast, just too tight at the end.”
Are you looking forward to Talladega next weekend? “Yeah, I can’t wait. We had a great Tundra at Daytona and taking the same one to Talladega. A couple little tweaks on it and I think we’ve got another shot at it.”
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 8th How was your race? “Our Strutmasters.com Toyota Tundra was so fast at the beginning of this race, but the track changed so much tonight — way different than I thought it would. Something happened with our tires on the first stop of the night and I was so loose I couldn’t hang on to it. We had to come in the pits and that cost us a lap. But, this Red Horse Racing team stayed calm as they always do and did a great job to put us back on the lead lap. I’m proud of the comeback we had tonight and after all we went through, we will gladly take a top-10. We gained a few points and now we head to the crapshoot next week at Talladega.”
DAVID MAYHEW, No. 18 Dollar General Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports Finishing Position: 9th
JOHN WES TOWNLEY, No. 09 Zaxby’s Toyota Tundra, RAB Racing Finishing Position: 14th
TRAVIS PASTRANA, No. 98 AM/PM Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 15th
PARKER KLIGERMAN, No. 7 Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 19th What happened tonight? “I just made a mistake and it cost us. The pit road speeding penalty really set us back in the pack and we had to spend so much time and work hard to get our lap back. Then when we finally did, I just drove it in to make something happen on the outside and ended up getting the right sides into the wall. I hate it for these Red Horse Racing guys because they give me fast Toyota Tundras every week and I really thought we were going to have something for them tonight. We will just put this in the past and move on because that’s what you have to do if you want to compete for this championship.”
JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 13 SealMaster Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing Finishing Position: 21st
ROSS CHASTAIN, No. 08 SC Watermelon Association Toyota Tundra, Green Light Racing Finishing Position: 25th
JOHNNY CHAPMAN, No. 07 Wear Your Gear/Bobber.info Toyota Tundra, SS Green Light Racing Finishing Position: 30th
