Tundra drivers Johnny Benson
(fourth) and Mike Skinner
(fifth) had top-five
finishes in the 250-mile
race at Kansas. Scott Speed
(eighth) and Ted Musgrave
(10th) also had top-10
finishes, placing four
Tundras in the top-10
Saturday. Other Tundra
drivers in the field
included Justin Marks
(11th), Shane Sieg (18th),
Terry Cook (19th), David
Starr (27th) and Marc
Mitchell (31st) Todd Bodine
(23rd) was running in the
second position with 10 laps
to go when he was in an
accident in turn 4. In 49
starts this season, the
Tundra contingent has
registered three wins (Kyle
Busch at California and
Atlanta and Bodine at
Daytona), 13 top-five
finishes, 23 top-10 finishes
and led 269 of 750 laps.
JOHNNY BENSON, No. 23
Toyota Certified Used
Vehicles Tundra, Bill Davis
Racing Finished: 4th Were
you facing a fuel mileage
finish today? “Obviously
here at the end the caution
was good for fuel aspect of
it. It was fine as I didn't
care if it went green or
not. We were about fourth
best and the Harvick boys
pretty much had stomped
today. I'm really happy with
our Toyota Tundra and we'll
move onto the next race.”
MIKE SKINNER, No. 5
Toyota Tundra, Bill Davis
Racing Finished: 5th Were
you rallying for a top-five
finish today? “Yeah our
Tundra was really, really
good and we had two things
happen in the pits. We had a
little mishap with the jack
and then the clutch went out
all by itself and got a mind
of its own. I had it in --
it's a hydraulic clutch and
something is wrong in the
hydraulics and the truck
just drove off the jack
there. That messed us up
there pretty bad. We didn't
have nearly as good of a
truck as the 33 (Ron
Hornaday Jr) or the 2 (Jack
Sprague). We were about
equal with the 6 (Colin
Braun). We'll take a
top-five from where we had
to come from. It was a good
day and we'll just keep
working trying to get
stronger. I just want to say
thanks to Toyota Tundra and
all the people that help us
with this truck.”
SCOTT SPEED, No. 22 Red
Bull Toyota Tundra, Bill
Davis Racing Finished: 8th
How was your race? “It was a
very huge learning
experience. We had a great
opportunity to learn. We
certainly had a top-10
truck, even with all the
penalties we still ended up
coming back in that same
spot. It was a lot of good
practice passing trucks out
there and running with the
guys at the top end of the
field. It was definitely
very informative.” What
happened when you were black
flagged twice? “One of them
was what I thought the rule
was for passing people is
not NASCAR's rule for
passing people. You're not
allowed to pass the back of
the car and I thought it was
the front end. That was what
the first black flag was
for. The second one was
because I was a bit confused
on how to let the cars by me
coming into the pits so I
tried to stay on the apron
and on the race track and I
was too busy trying not to
get in anyone's way on the
race track and missed my
braking mark and came too
hot into the pits.”
TED MUSGRAVE, No. 59 Team
ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota
Tundra, HT Motorsports
Finished: 10th Did you have
a different race strategy
here at Kansas? “We tried
the coil bind setup here for
the first time and we were
off a little bit. The thing
with that type of setup is
that when you’re on, you are
great. When you’re the
slightest bit off, you might
as well be a mile off. But
we never gave up and brought
it home in the top-10. We
need to get out and do some
testing, that’s what it’s
going to take to figure it
out. Once we get it figured
out we’ll be able to fight
for some top-fives instead
of working for a top-10.”
JUSTIN MARKS, No. 9 V
Foundation Toyota Tundra,
Germain Racing Finished:
11th
SHANE SIEG, No. 51
Miccosukee Resorts Toyota
Tundra, Billy Ballew
Motorsports Finished: 18th
TERRY COOK, No. 60
AustinSpeaks.org/Wyler
Racing Toyota Tundra, Wyler
Racing Finished: 19th What
happened to your Tundra? “We
broke a piston or something
in the engine. The guys did
a great job today, but it
was something outside of our
control. We had a small
problem on pit road and had
to go to the tail end of the
longest line, and John Quinn
(crew chief) changed our pit
strategy and it really paid
off. For the first time
racing with a new crew
chief, we were running in
the top- five with seven
laps to go, so I would say
there are definitely some
positives to take away from
today. I have a rule -- you
can complain about a bad day
until midnight and then you
have to move on and forget
about it. So, we’ll complain
about our bad luck until
midnight and then we’re
focused on getting to
Charlotte.”
TODD BODINE, No. 30
Lumber Liquidators Toyota
Tundra, Germain Racing
Finished: 23rd You were
running strong in the second
position, what happened? “I
guess I can take the blame
because I should have known
better than to try to race
with Bobby East like that.
He waved me by and he was
trying to let me by he just
turned in the corner too
soon. I don't know. I'd like
to call it a racing accident
but you can't. One of us
screwed up -- I don't know
which one. That's a shame
because we had second locked
up for sure and right there
we were gaining back on Ron
(Hornaday) a little bit. The
Lumber Liquidators Tundra
was running good.”
DAVID STARR, No. 11 Red
Horse Racing Toyota Tundra,
Red Horse Racing Finished:
27th What happened to your
Tundra out there? “I knew we
were a little bit on older
tires and (Ron) Hornaday was
the class of the field. He
got a run on the outside of
me and I got free. I had to
get out of the gas and it
just killed my momentum. I
think everybody behind me
had a full head of steam. I
guess the 30 (Todd Bodine)
got by me on the inside so I
kind of ran into the corner
on the outside. There was
another truck behind the 30
that got a run on me and I
tried to stay on the outside
to build my momentum back
up. I guess that third truck
got loose, came up into me
and ended our day. I'm proud
of my Red Horse Racing guys,
they did an awesome job
today. Our mile and a half
program is getting better
and I'm really excited about
that. It's just a shame
because I thought we would
have had a top-five or a
sixth or seventh with a good
finish today but it's not
going to be. We got a lot to
be thankful for because our
truck is running strong.
We'll keep our chins up and
keep digging.” What happened
earlier in the race between
you and the 15 truck? “I'm
not sure. They just said
inside because there were
some trucks on the inside of
me. I just stayed up on the
outside because they said
four wide so there was no
way I could turn. I don't
know. I stayed up real high
and somebody got into my
left rear and we almost
wrecked then the caution
came out and I guess the 15
(Marc Mitchell) wrecked. I
gave him all the room and
never turned down into
anybody. I guess it's one of
those racing things and
somebody didn't make it out
of that. It definitely
wasn't anybody's fault.
There's nothing I could do
about that -- we just stayed
up high and got a little bit
of it and were lucky we
didn't wreck.”
MARC MITCHELL, No. 15
Ergon, Inc. Toyota Tundra,
Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finished: 31st What took you
out of the race? “This Ergon
team worked their butts off
all weekend. We went from
23rd in practice to
qualifying fifth. It's
unreal how hard these guys
are working to make this
truck right. We had it
figured for the race and we
were running third at about
halfway through the race.
For a rookie, I'm on my
fourth race and I think
that's a pretty good job. I
can't thank Ergon enough and
Billy Ballew enough. It's
just a tough deal when
somebody wants to make it
four wide halfway through
the race. I know Tom DeLouch,
the owner of that truck (No.
11 of David Starr), and he
doesn't want to race like
that -- hopefully he'll give
his owner a talking to.”