TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES QUOTES
TOYOTA TIDBITS
CAMRY SONOMA VICTORIES: Toyota drivers have won three NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) events at Sonoma Raceway, including the last two by Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) drivers. In 2008, Camry driver Kyle Busch swept both road course races of the season with victories at California’s Sonoma Raceway and New York’s Watkins Glen International. In 2012, Clint Bowyer drove his Camry to victory lane at the 12-turn, 1.99-mile road course while former MWR Camry driver Martin Truex Jr. was victorious last year.
TOYOTA AT SONOMA: This will be the eighth year Toyota is co-sponsoring the NSCS race at Sonoma Raceway with SaveMart Supermarkets. In addition to the race entitlement, a Toyota Camry will serve as the official pace car for Sunday’s race and Toyota Tundras will be used for driver introductions. Toyota PitPass, a fan interactive display, will be setup behind the main grandstand where the new 2015 Camry will be on display. The Toyota Fan Zone, featuring several games and interactive opportunities, will be setup inside turn 10 at Sonoma. Both the Toyota PitPass (Michael Waltrip) and Fan Zone (Brian Vickers) areas will feature special appearances on Sunday morning.
CAN HORNISH DO IT?: Last year’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) championship runner-up Sam Hornish Jr. returns to the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Camry this weekend at Road America. In three NNS races this season, the Defiance, Ohio-native has finished fifth (Talladega), first (Iowa) and second (Michigan), proving that he’s a force to be reckoned with when behind the wheel of a Camry race car. He’s finished fifth in the last two NNS races at Road America (2012 and 2013) and he has two runner-up road course results — Watkins Glen (2013) and Montreal (2012).
MORE TUNDRA MILESTONES: Darrell Wallace Jr. won his second-career NCWTS race at Gateway Motorsports Park last weekend. Tundra driver German Quiroga finished a career-best second in the 200 mile race. The Gateway results were the first-ever NASCAR one-two finish by multicultural drivers with Wallace (African-American) and Quiroga (Mexican). Tundra drivers have now won a record nine consecutive NCWTS races dating back to Phoenix in Nov. 2013.
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. Busch earns the first NSCS road course race win for the Camry after leading 78 laps (of 112) at Sonoma Raceway (June 22, 2008).
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry driver Matt Kenseth is currently fourth in the NSCS standings — trailing Jeff Gordon by 24 points … Fellow Camry drivers Kyle Busch (10th), Denny Hamlin (12th) and Clint Bowyer (14th) also rank in the top-15 in the point standings following 15 of 36 races this season … Brian Vickers’ career-best road course finish of fourth came at Sonoma in 2012 and he held the pole position in 2009 … Denny Hamlin has a runner-up result at Watkins Glen (2007) and his best Sonoma finish is fifth in 2009.
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 5-hour ENERGY Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Do you feel confident you can win again at Sonoma?
“I’m really looking forward to going back to Sonoma — we’ve been fast there the last few times. It’s such a fun race track. I used to be scared to death of it and now it’s one of the tracks I can’t wait to get to. It’s such a relief of pressure and I’ve got some confidence going in there that our cars will be good and I seem to be good there. Just a fun weekend — it’s wine country, it’s beautiful out there and everybody has fun. It’s almost like a vacation.”
How will the new form of qualifying work at a road course?
“The only thing that I see that could be a potential issue at Sonoma is running your lap and having so much track to get back and trying to keep your car from overheating and trying to stay out of the way of somebody. You could really screw somebody’s lap up trying to get back to the pit area after your lap. That’s going to be something after qualifying — I’m sure somebody is going to be mad because of that situation. There’s runoff areas and stuff where you can get out of the way, but we’re not very smart and sometimes we get in the way.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Does the new points format at road courses impact strategy as the Chase draws closer?
“It does, you still have to be in the top-30 in points. It’s not like anybody can just build a car and make the Chase. I think it does throw a dynamic into the Chase format where you’re going to have maybe one or two guys that you typically wouldn’t see in the Chase that are just really good at road courses, but not necessarily everywhere else. We’ll see. Only time will tell. You look at history and that would tell us that there’s not going to be 16 winners coming into the Chase after 26 races, but history changes right? There’s always a first time for everything. Our goal as a team is to stay as high in the points as we can and get a win. That’s kind of our goal. We’d love to have multiple wins, but we’re focused on both. I don’t think we can just throw the points out the window.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Is road racing something you look forward to during the season?
“I’m a big fan of Sonoma and the area, but I’m just not good there, unfortunately. I don’t feel like I’m particularly good at road course racing, and it’s probably not my favorite thing to do, but I definitely try to get better every year when we head out there. Sonoma has been very challenging for me and I just haven’t been able to put together a lot of great finishes there. On the other hand, I look forward to that challenge every year of trying to get better and trying to get a good finish out of our day — trying to qualify well and just trying to be better at it overall.”
What will be your qualifying strategy on a road course like Sonoma?
“I’ve had a lot of experience getting out of the way at Sears Point (Sonoma Raceway), so for me I don’t know if it will be as big a problem. On a serious note, when you get done with your lap and you’re trying to have tape on there and all that stuff and to get back around, that certainly is going to be interesting, for sure. There’s certainly a potential of somebody being in the way, or you being in the way more so than any other track, for sure.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS): Camry drivers Elliott Sadler (second) and James Buescher (ninth) rank in the top-10 in the NNS point standings … Toyota drivers have one runner-up result at Road America with Michael McDowell (2012) and four top-five finishes in four races … Camry drivers have three NNS road course victories — Mexico (Kyle Busch, 2008) and Watkins Glen (Marcos Ambrose, 2009 and 2010).
SAM HORNISH JR., No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How have you been able to be so strong with a part-time schedule?
“I feel like with the opportunities that I’ve been given this year, I’m really blessed to have those. I’m at the shop every week talking to — whether it’s Kevin (Kidd, No. 20 NNS crew chief) or Adam Stevens (No. 54 NNS crew chief) — whoever I happen to be racing for that week. I’m talking to them and I’m trying to figure out what we’re going to be doing or even the things that I saw that happened or asking questions about what they felt like needed to be better. I’ve gotten to do a little bit of testing and they’ve given me good cars. Everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing has really been super nice to me so far.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra driver Johnny Sauter leads the NCWTS standings by 10 points over fellow Tundra driver and teammate Matt Crafton (second) … Timothy Peters (fourth), German Quiroga (sixth), John Wes Townley (seventh), Darrell Wallace Jr. (ninth) and Jeb Burton (10th) also rank in the top-10 for Toyota … The NCWTS takes the week off before returning to action at Kentucky Speedway on June 26.
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Sonoma Raceway (NSCS) and Road America (NNS)
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
> Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry
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> Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Camry
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> Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry
>
> Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
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> Alex Bowman, No. 23 Camry
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> Cole Whitt, No. 26 Camry
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> Brian Vickers, No. 55 Camry
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> Joe Nemechek, No. 66 Camry
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> Ryan Truex, No. 83 Camry
NASCAR Nationwide Series
> Jeff Green, No. 10 Camry
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> Elliott Sadler, No. 11 Camry
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> Eric McClure, No. 14 Camry
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> Mike Bliss, No. 19 Camry
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> Kenny Habul, No. 20 Camry
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> Carlos Contreras, No. 44 Camry
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> Sam Hornish Jr., No. 54 Camry
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> James Buescher, No. 99 Camry
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