TOYOTA TIDBITS
WINNING WAYS: In Sunday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Iowa Speedway, Sam Hornish Jr. earned his first win behind the wheel of a Camry — leading a race-high 167 laps (of 250). He started second and stayed within the top-three consistently throughout the race at the 0.875-mile oval. This was the 34-year-old’s second NNS series start this season driving the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry. He previously earned the pole and finished fifth in the JGR Camry at Talladega two weeks ago. The Along with Hornish’s win, Kyle Busch has been victorious twice this season in the No. 54 Camry and the team holds a 43-point lead in the NNS owner’s championship point standings over the No. 22 owned by Penske Racing.
CAN KYLE CAPTURE CHARLOTTE CHECKERS?: Kyle Busch has 29 career NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race wins, but a Sprint Cup Series victory at Charlotte has eluded the 29-year-old racer. He has earned one pole (May 2008) at the speedway, along with eight top-five finishes and 11 top-10 results in 18 career starts. However, the 1.5-mile oval is one of only six facilities on the current 22 track NSCS schedule where Busch has yet to take a victory bow.
CONSECUTIVE CHEMISTRY: To say Busch has the right kind of chemistry at Charlotte Motor Speedway in NNS racing might be an understatement. In his 21 NNS races at the 1.5-mile oval, Busch has accumulated a total of eight wins, 16 top-five finishes and 18 top-10 results. But perhaps the most impressive of those statistics is that Busch has 14 consecutive top-10s in NNS races at Charlotte along with winning both events in 2013. The Las Vegas-native’s seven victories make him the winningest NNS driver at the speedway.
TUNDRAS ARE TALLYING: With Busch’s victory last Friday night in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Tundra drivers have earned six consecutive victories in the series dating back to Erik Jones’ win at Phoenix International Raceway last November. This streak ties the most consecutive Tundra victories in the NCWTS since joining the series in 2004, which also took place in 2010.
TOYOTA’S 10 YEARS IN NASCAR: Toyota is celebrating its 10th anniversary in NASCAR this year. Here is another highlight from Toyota’s first 10 years in the sport. Camry driver David Reutimann records the inaugural NSCS victory for Michael Waltrip Racing and a TRD-built engine with his first career NSCS victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (5-25-09).
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Toyota drivers Matt Kenseth (second), Kyle Busch (third), Brian Vickers (10th) and Denny Hamlin (12th) rank in the top-15 in the NSCS point standings following 11 of 36 races this season.
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Home Depot/Husky Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you notice the extra 100 miles of that comes with the Coca-Cola 600 race?
“It really depends on the race and it depends on how your car is handling. It also depends on how the race is going. A lot of it honestly depends on the weather and how you’re feeling. If you’re feeling good and like you always feel without a bug or something and the weather is decent, then it’s not bad. It’s a long time and they’ve come so far honestly with driver comfort and safety features, but along with that fortunately there are a lot of driver comfort features that went along with that with inserts, seats and cars are cooler than they used to be. It’s not as bad as it was 10 years ago.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Does the Coca-Cola 600 challenge drivers both physically and mentally?
“It does, the 600 is a long race for man and machine for sure. The technology has come so far from what it used to be — I notice that a lot more people finish it. I think it certainly tests your physical ability, but also your mental ability to stay focused and to not only be physically capable of running the full race, but to mentally stay with it too. It’s a long race. When you really think about it, it’s probably one of the longest professional racing stints for a single driver in the world. You have a lot of 24 hour races, which I have been fortunate to be able to run some of them, but nowhere in those 24 hour races do you see one driver in a car for four or more hours straight. Typically, they’re only in the car for one hour. To an extent, even though the race is not as long as say the 24 hour races, the time you are in the car continuously is longer.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Would it be a relief to finally get a Cup win at Charlotte?
“I’ve been so close here so many times. A few years ago, the fall race I led a ton of laps and then Matt Kenseth passed me with like eight (laps) to go. I certainly have had some devastating moments here at this race track, but also a lot of good ones, too. You have to go from practice to qualifying to the race and have the right adjustments ready to go. There is that extra element added in with the nighttime and being ready to go when the speeds are going to be the highest at night and having your car setup good.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS): Camry drivers Elliott Sadler (second) and James Buescher (eighth) rank in the top-10 in the NNS point standings … Camry drivers have won the last three consecutive NNS races at Charlotte Motor Speedway dating back to former Toyota driver Joey Logano winning in the fall of 2012 and Kyle Busch’s sweep of last year’s events…Sam Hornish Jr. became the only driver to ever win a NASCAR race driving a Toyota as well as an open-wheel race in a Toyota-powered race car.
JAMES BUESCHER, No. 99 Rheem Toyota Camry, RAB Racing
Is Charlotte becoming a trickier race track?
“Charlotte is becoming more and more challenging. The cool thing is you can move around and run top, bottom, middle — wherever you need to in order to get your handling right and run well. It’s a cool place — it’s one of my favorite mile-and-a-half tracks to go to. A little bit tighter corners than the other mile-and-a-halves and a little bit less racing room, but you can use all of it. You can go all the way up to the wall, you can run all the way down touching the apron. It’s a cool place and the middle of the afternoon it’s really slick in turns three and four with the way the sun is positioned. Night racing is a lot of fun. Everything picks up — grip level picks up and the track is really fast. Another thing is that all the crew can bring out their families and friends and it’s a local race for all the crews. Not for me, but it’s a local race for everybody else and it’s cool to see everybody get to bring out their family and friends and let them see what they do every week.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra driver Matt Crafton leads the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) standings by eight points over fellow Tundra driver Timothy Peters (second) … German Quiroga (fourth), Johnny Sauter (fifth), Jeb Burton (seventh), Darrell Wallace Jr. (ninth) and John Wes Townley (10th) also rank in the top-10 for Toyota … The NCWTS will take a weekend off before returning to action at Dover International Speedway on Friday, May 30.
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Charlotte Motor Speedway
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series:
Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry
Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry
Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
Alex Bowman, No. 23 Camry
Cole Whitt, No. 26 Camry
Brian Vickers, No. 55 Camry
Joe Nemechek, No. 66 Camry
Ryan Truex, No. 83 Camry
NASCAR Nationwide Series:
Jeff Green, No. 10 Camry
Elliott Sadler, No. 11 Camry
Eric McClure, No. 14 Camry
Mike Bliss, No. 19 Camry
Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
Hal Martin, No. 44 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 54 Camry
James Buescher, No. 99 Camry
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