TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
July 28 – August 3, 2014
TOYOTA TIDBITS
ON A ROLL: Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) drivers Kyle Busch (second), Denny Hamlin (third) and Matt Kenseth (fourth) all recorded top-five finishes last Sunday in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The last time three JGR Camrys finished together in the top-five was in September 2010 at Richmond International Raceway with Hamlin (first), Busch (second) and former Camry driver Joey Logano (fourth). Busch has registered second-place results in three of the last four NSCS races, Kenseth has recorded fourth-place results in three of the last four races and Hamlin has recorded top-10s in three consecutive starts.
WALLACE EXTENDS TUNDRA STREAK: Tundra driver Darrell Wallace Jr. captured his third career victory and second this year in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Eldora Speedway last Wednesday. The win marked the first time Toyota has won at the half-mile dirt track in just the second series event at the Rossburg, Ohio circuit. With Wallace’s win, Toyota extended its record-setting winning streak in the NCWTS. Dating back to last year when Erik Jones won at Phoenix (Nov. 2013), a Tundra driver has visited victory lane 12 consecutive times — including all 10 races this season. The previous record for consecutive wins by one manufacturer was eight — set in 1995 (Chevrolet) and 2001 (Dodge).
TUNDRA WINLESS AT POCONO: Tundra drivers are looking to keep the 12-win streak alive this Saturday at Pocono Raceway where Toyota has yet to notch a victory in the Truck Series in four series starts at the 2.5-mile triangular track. Tundra drivers have earned victories at 18 of the 20 current race tracks on the NCWTS schedule and Pocono Raceway is one of only two tracks where a Tundra has not visited victory lane. The other track is the Canadian Tire Motorsports Park, which the series began competing at last year.
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 Denny Hamlin earns Toyota’s first win at Pocono Raceway, leading 91 laps (of 200) at the 2.5-mile track (August 3, 2009).
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry driver Matt Kenseth is currently fourth in the NSCS standings — trailing Jeff Gordon by 56 points … Camry drivers Kyle Busch (sixth), Clint Bowyer (10th) and Brian Vickers (18th) also rank in the top-20 in the point standings following 20 of 36 races this season … Hamlin has earned four career victories at Pocono, including back-to-back wins in his first two Pocono starts in 2006 … Hamlin was victorious in a Camry at Pocono in 2009 and 2010 and won the pole in the June event at the 2.5-mile ‘Tricky Triangle’ … He has recorded 11 top-10 finishes in 17 starts at Pocono.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Has Joe Gibbs Racing turned a corner after the strong finishes at Indianapolis?
“Our focus all year has been to build the best race cars for September because that’s when it really, really counts. You can lead the regular season, you can have 10 wins before the Chase starts and if you have one bad race or you don’t run as well for those first three races of the Chase, you’re out. So, our biggest thing is trying to time this correctly and trying to get our cars to run well in the fall when it really, really counts. So, we’re starting to turn the corner, I feel like, for that reason. We’ve been working hard to try to run well all year. We really have. We’ve been off, but our cars are starting to turn that corner and become more competitive, obviously.”
How much has Pocono changed since you last visited victory lane at the track?
“The race track is just so different, you might as well just rename the race track — it’s just not the same as it used to be. Really the setups are completely different, the way you drive it, the technique is similar, it’s just you use so much more throttle than you used to.”
BRIAN VICKERS, No. 55 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Has Pocono changed since the repave?
“It’s changed a tremendous amount — the setups, the speeds — you kind of approach it as it’s different, but there’s certainly a lot of similarities. It’s still Pocono and it’s definitely different than the old Pocono and how you go about driving it.”
Is Pocono a difficult track to pass on and is track position important?
“It’s definitely challenging to pass, but it’s a competitive series. It’s challenging to pass everywhere. Racing is as tight as it’s ever been and as many cars on the lead lap as there’s ever been. There’s always that balance. I would always like to be able to pass everyone, but we can’t have all the cars equal handed or we’ll never pass anyone.”
MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How does this year compare to the season you had last year?
“Last year was such an incredible year. I know we came up short of the championship, we exceeded every other expectation I think we ever could have dreamt of putting the whole thing together. Obviously expectations are high and when you’re sitting here almost in August and don’t have win yet, you always get asked about that, especially with this new system. The year really hasn’t been a bad year, we had a bad month there where I wrecked it two or three times and had some other things happen. I feel like we’re gaining on that and feel like we’re getting closer. I think the rules changes and the things that happened over the winter just affected us differently than some other teams and it’s taken a while to get caught up to that. Overall, I feel like from a team perspective and execution and all that stuff, we’re probably better than what it was last year.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS): Camry drivers Elliott Sadler (third) and James Buescher (ninth) are currently in the top-10 in the NNS point standings following 19 of 33 races this season … Sadler was victorious at Iowa Speedway in August 2012 and has recorded three career pole positions at the .875-mile oval … Sam Hornish Jr. returns behind the wheel of the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) No. 54 Camry at Iowa after visiting victory lane there in May.
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra drivers Matt Crafton (second), Johnny Sauter (third), German Quiroga (fifth), Darrell Wallace Jr. (sixth), Timothy Peters (eighth) and John Wes Townley (10th) rank in the top-10 of the NCWTS point standings after 10 of 22 races this season … Crafton has registered top-10 finishes in all four NCWTS starts at Pocono with his best finish of third-place coming in the series first race at the ‘Tricky Triangle’ in 2010.
MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Ideal Doors/Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Do you enjoy racing at Pocono?
“Flat race tracks really suit my driving style, because you can move around and find speed. Even though Pocono has three distinctively different corners, and you have to compromise what you’re doing to the truck to suit it all the way around the racetrack, the flattest corner is the most critical. Turn one is really a typical oval-track corner, though you really have to have your truck working well because you carry so much speed off that long frontstretch. The ‘tunnel turn’ is important because you carry a lot of speed through there and it can get your attention in a hurry — especially running in traffic. But, turn three is the big one, because you can’t overdrive the corner, you can’t get the truck bound up or too loose because that will cost you too much momentum getting down that long frontstretch, and over a run that can really cost you.”
TOYOTA 2014 NASCAR STATISTICS
Series Races Starts (Drivers) Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led
NSCS 20 187 (18) 2 24 44 5 98 920
NNS 19 186 (36) 5 28 47 6 70 1,288
NCWTS 10 107 (16) 10 29 54 5 69 1,375
TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Pocono Raceway (NSCS and NCWTS) & Iowa Speedway (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
Brian Vickers, No. 55 Camry
Joe Nemechek, No. 66 Camry
Ryan Truex, No. 83 Camry
Mike Bliss, No. 93 Camry
NASCAR Nationwide Series
Blake Koch, No. 10 Camry
Elliott Sadler, No. 11 Camry
Eric McClure, No. 14 Camry
Mike Bliss, No. 19 Camry
Michael McDowell, No. 20 Camry
Kenny Wallace, No. 29 Camry
Hal Martin, No. 44 Camry
Sam Hornish Jr., No. 54 Camry
James Buescher, No. 99 Camry
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
John Wes Townley, No. 05 Tundra
Joe Nemechek, No. 8 Tundra
Jeb Burton, No. 13 Tundra
Timothy Peters, No. 17 Tundra
Mason Mingus, No. 35 Tundra
Erik Jones, No. 51 Tundra
Darrell Wallace Jr., No. 54 Tundra
German Quiroga, No. 77 Tundra
Matt Crafton, No. 88 Tundra
Johnny Sauter, No. 98 Tundra
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