Kyle Busch (second) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Nashville Superspeedway.
Camry driver Joey Logano earned a fourth-place result in the 300-mile race at the 1.33-mile Tennessee race track.
Logano, who started from the pole, led five times for 30 laps and Busch led three times for 39 laps in the 225 lap race.
Other Camry drivers in the 43 car field included Kenny Wallace (12th), David Reutimann (14th), Ryan Truex (16th), Steve Wallace (17th), Michael Annett (19th), Brian Scott (22nd) and Kevin Conway (24th).
Four Toyota drivers are currently in the top-15 in the unofficial NNS points after eight of 35 races — Scott (eighth), K. Wallace (ninth), Annett (10th) and S. Wallace (11th).
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 1st What did you need to catch Carl Edwards at the end of the race? “It was just a little bit of everything. We just missed a little bit of chassis, a little under the hood and a little aero probably, too. The guys have done a really nice job with this car and have gotten us to where we’ll be competitive each and every week. We’ve won a few and today we just weren’t the best car — the 60 (Carl Edwards) was definitely the best car. Congratulations to Carl. This Z-Line Designs Camry was good today, just not the best — we were pretty good.”
How was your race? “It was a good day. The Z-Line Designs Camry was a second-best car. We knew that yesterday through practice. We saw it on the track. We worked our guts out to try to make some changes to it and the guys did a great job, they just didn’t quite have enough today. We saw that all throughout the race. I got out there and led a little bit, but knew I was only biding my time out there. We had some fun, but all in all, if you look back on the season so far, it’s been pretty good for us. Every time we’ve had a good run, we’ve been able to be in the top-three. Sometimes you have a bad run and you end up with a blown engine or a loose wheel or get spun out at Talladega. Today was a good day.”
How was the battle with Carl Edwards at the end of the race? “It was a good race for us today. The Z-Line Designs Camry was fast, just not quite fast enough. We just kind of lacked a little bit in every area and could only muster a second-place today. We felt pretty good about where we were and how we ran. We could keep up with Carl (Edwards), but it seems like the old car to the new car — we’ve kind of flip-flopped a little bit. It seems like the 60 (Carl Edwards) is the car to beat every single week but all the Roush cars are pretty quick. We just need a little bit more with our Camrys and once we get that, we’ll be a force to be reckoned with once again.”
Did you think you had enough to challenge Carl Edwards for the win? “We put on a little bit of a race there. Brad (Keselowski) was right behind us and kind of lurking in the distance there. It was kind of cool to do that. Carl (Edwards) got a run on me, got to the bottom. I could keep the top lane momentum going a little bit, but I knew I couldn’t do it between turns three and four — I was just too tight down there. So, I let Carl go and him having the wrong trajectory into the corner, he kind of slipped up the track and I came back to his bottom — just a little crossover. I didn’t quite finish that pass. He had a really fast car and we could keep up with him momentarily, just not for the whole run that we needed to. It was a good show right there. It was a little bit or racing back and forth. It was cool to see that there was a second lane here. I thought Goodyear brought a really good tire for us that laid rubber right out of the gate — the first laps on the race track. We could move it and spread the lane out a little bit. I felt like it was pretty good racing there. Spent most of my time on the high side in turns one and two.”
Does the wind affect you during a race like today? “I think the biggest thing is blowing us into turn three a little bit. It kind of makes it a little more difficult to hit the bottom. Other than that, we’ve seen some really high winds at Texas at a place we go 190, close to 200 mph. That makes it a lot more interesting than here at Nashville.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 Harvest Investments Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 4th How was your race? “We were fourth, I felt like we were a third-place car — it just took us a while to get there. We just fought a lot of different things today. We gave my Cup guys a weekend off
