TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
June 30 – July 6, 2014
TOYOTA TIDBITS
KBM ONE-TWO FINISH: Toyota driver Kyle Busch earned his fifth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) victory of the season in just his fifth 2014 start last Thursday at Kentucky Speedway. Busch started from the pole and crossed the finish line first ahead of race runner-up and Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) teammate Darrell Wallace Jr. to give KBM the first ever one-two NCWTS finish. Wallace has recorded three consecutive top-10 finishes, including his second career NCWTS victory at Gateway Motorsports Park on June 14. KBM has now won nine of the last 12 NCWTS races — dating back to Martinsville last October. Tundra drivers have registered 120 total NCWTS wins since joining series competition at the start of the 2004 season.
TUNDRA STREAK CONTINUES: Busch’s NCWTS win Thursday at Kentucky extended the Tundra record-winning streak to 10 races, dating back to last year when Erik Jones won at Phoenix (Nov. 2013). Tundras have swept the first eight races of the 2014 season with Busch winning five times (Daytona, Kansas, Charlotte, Dover and Kentucky), Matt Crafton visiting victory lane twice (Martinsville and Texas) and Wallace’s win in St. Louis. The previous record for consecutive wins by one manufacturer was eight — set in 1995 (Chevrolet) and 2001 (Dodge).
RESTRICTOR-PLATE SUCCESS: Camry driver Denny Hamlin has enjoyed quite a bit of success in restrictor-plate races this season. Hamlin opened the season winning the Sprint Unlimited non-points event at Daytona in February, crossed the finish line first during one of two Daytona Duel races and finished second to Dale Earnhardt Jr. in the Daytona 500 – his career-best result at the ‘World Center of Racing.’ The 33-year-old Virginia native then notched his first victory of the year in early May in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Talladega Superspeedway — his first points win on a restrictor-plate track — and he will look to do the same in Saturday night’s NSCS race at Daytona.
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. Kyle Busch captures the checkered flag in the NSCS race at Daytona International Speedway to give Toyota its first NSCS points win at the ‘World Center of Racing’ (July 5, 2008).
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry driver Matt Kenseth is currently fifth in the NSCS standings — trailing Jeff Gordon by 63 points … Fellow Camry drivers Kyle Busch (10th), Clint Bowyer (14th), Denny Hamlin (17th) and Brian Vickers (19th) also rank in the top-20 in the point standings following 17 of 36 races this season … Vickers will carry a special Aaron’s garnet and gold paint scheme honoring Florida State University’s 2013 BCS National Championship in Saturday night’s race at Daytona.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What has been the key to your success this season at restrictor plate races?
“We have obviously had a lot of success in the restrictor plate races this year. It’s important that you have a fast car that can work out front and come from the back. Our FedEx team has had great superspeedway cars this year that have worked well in the draft and we have been in great positions to win those races. Secondly, I think I have learned a lot about that style of racing over the years. I was always the guy that tried to start a new line and make something happen, and it didn’t always work out for me. I think this year I have been a little more patient and let the race come to me a bit more. In the Daytona 500, we were just a little too far back on the last lap and made it up to second. I knew at Talladega that I wanted to be the one out front holding people off. I think that has been the preferred position in the last few plate races.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Home Depot Husky Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How does Daytona change from February to July?
“The heat — it’s a night race, but it’s a lot hotter so it kind of balances out. The track is starting to age a little bit and handling is still not a big concern yet. It’s probably getting closer to being a concern or something you have to work on. The plate stuff — we got wrecked at Talladega, but last year we ran really good at Daytona and all the plate races. Denny (Hamlin) was really dominant at Speedweeks, so I’m looking forward to getting back down there. We had really good cars there in February and hopefully we will again.”
CLINT BOWYER, No. 15 RK Motors Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
How does the summer weather impact the Daytona race surface in July?
“It does and that is the cool thing about any repave — it’s probably one of the oldest repaves that we’ve had since all this. The worst they are ever going to be is that first race and they just keep getting better and better with age. Certainly, Daytona is no exception. I can remember back in February people were staring to slip and slide around and you heard us complaining about handling issues again — that’s healthy.”
What did you learn from Talladega qualifying that you can use in Daytona?
“I learned to screw our game plan — we all tried to go out there and help each other. Nine times out of 10 when you over analyze that and try to over think it, you don’t get a good result. One of those single car teams or something like that can go out and capitalize on another team trying to do that is always going to prevail. For me, I’m just going to go out there and put a lap down and hang my helmet up and go to the beach and get ready for Saturday night.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS): Camry drivers Elliott Sadler leads the NNS point standings by four points over Chase Elliott … James Buescher (eighth) is also in the top-10 in the NNS point standings following 15 of 33 races this season … Sadler has recorded 11 top-10 finishes in 15 starts this year, including a win at Talladega Superspeedway in May … Buescher won the season-opening NNS race at Daytona in Feb. 2012 … Darrell Wallace Jr. will make his second NNS start of the season in the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) No. 20 Camry at Daytona.
ELLIOTT SADLER, No. 11 SportClips Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How much pressure is on the team in this 18 race stretch for the series?
“It’s a long stretch and it’s during the summer months, which is always hot and tough. You have to make sure you take care of your equipment as a driver. You don’t want to put too much pressure on your guys where their having to rebuild cars and do things like that during the summer months because 18 straight weeks is a lot of different styles of race tracks that we go to. We’re in a pretty good position right now. Usually this stretch separates the men from the boys as far as staying a contender in the Nationwide Series and hopefully we can be one of the guys that are standing at the end of it in October when we get ready for that last little stretch of races.”
DARRELL WALLACE JR., No. 20 Share a Coke Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Are you looking forward to running in the Nationwide Series at Daytona?
“It’s cool to be back in the Nationwide Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (at Daytona) — another speedway race I know that, but I’m being optimistic about it and we’ll be just fine. We had speed at Talladega and just have to stay out of harm’s way. That’s the biggest thing. With Coca-Cola and the new campaign of ‘Share a Coke,’ it’s cool to be able to kind of promote that program and they’re taking their iconic logos off the bottles and putting names like Chris and Bubba and Ben and everybody on there. It’s really neat to do that and huge shout out to Coca-Cola for giving me this opportunity to be back in the Nationwide Series again and also with Toyota — racing another Toyota Camry and hopefully get my streak of top-10s back alive in the Nationwide Series.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra driver Johnny Sauter leads the NCWTS standings by eight points over fellow Tundra driver and teammate Matt Crafton (second) … Timothy Peters (third), German Quiroga (sixth), Darrell Wallace Jr. (eighth) and John Wes Townley (ninth) also rank in the top-10 for Toyota after eight of 22 races this season … The series takes one week off before returning to action at Iowa Speedway for a night race on July 11.
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Daytona International Speedway (NSCS and NNS)
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
Joe Nemechek, No. 29 Camry
Brian Vickers, No. 55 Camry
Michael Waltrip, No. 66 Camry
Ryan Truex, No. 83 Camry
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Blake Koch, No. 10 Camry
Elliott Sadler, No. 11 Camry
Eric McClure, No. 14 Camry
Mike Bliss, No. 19 Camry
Darrell Wallace Jr., No. 20 Camry
John Wes Townley, No. 25 Camry
Scott Lagasse Jr., No. 29 Camry
David Starr, No. 44 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 54 Camry
Johnny Sauter, No. 80 Camry
Carlos Contreras, No. 87 Camry
Benny Gordon, No. 91 Camry
Joe Nemechek, No. 97 Camry
James Buescher, No. 99 Camry
