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Note: This press release may have been edited for formatting purposes only

Posted on May 10, 2008 PopUpScript Email   Print

 

TOYOTA NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) Race Notes & Quotes Darlington Raceway – May 9, 2008

 

Tony Stewart earned his fourth NNS win of the year after leading 90 of 149 laps in today’s race. Today’s win marked the sixth consecutive win by a Camry in the NNS. Denny Hamlin earned the win at Richmond last weekend, Tony Stewart earned the win at Talladega (4-26-08) and Kyle Busch visited ‘Victory Lane’ for three -- at Texas, Phoenix and Mexico City. Other Camrys in Saturday’s race included David Reutimann (third), Todd Bodine (fourth), Jason Leffler (ninth), Mike Wallace (25th) and Busch (31st). Since the start of this season, Camry drivers have earned 18 top-five and 32 top-10 finishes in NNS competition. Today’s win gives Camry drivers eight wins in Nationwide Series competition this season. Stewart started the 2008 season with wins at Daytona (2-16-08) and at California (2-25-08), in addition to his win at Talladega. Stewart’s win marks the 10th NNS win for a Camry since Toyota joined NNS competition at the beginning of 2007. Four Camry drivers are among the top-10 in the NNS point standings following the 12th race of the season at Darlington. Busch (second) leads the Toyota contingent, followed by Reutimann (fourth), Leffler (eighth) and Wallace (ninth).

TONY STEWART, No. 20 Old Spice Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finished: 1st What is it like driving a race car that is good enough to win four races in a row? “What an honor. Everybody from Old Spice and Farm Bureau Insurance and Armour All and all of the guys that have been on this car this year -- it's just been such an honor. Dave Rogers (crew chief) and these guys -- it's not the drivers, I’m telling you that. It’s been here with three different guys so it’s this team behind us and all of the guys at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing). They do such an awesome job. It’s just a real honor to drive this race car.” Everyone thought the No. 18 was going to win this race, but then they didn’t make it. How did you pull through for this win? “We were a bunch better today than we were yesterday. He may have still won the race if he was in it, but we would’ve been right there with him. And Kyle (Busch) would’ve been here, too. All three of us (Joe) Gibbs (Racing) guys were the cars to beat today. You got to be in the show to win it and you’ve got to be there at the end to win and that’s what we did. We finally won a race at Darlington.” How good is this No. 20 Nationwide car? “This team is so awesome. It’s not me. It’s not Denny (Hamlin). It’s not Kyle (Busch). It’s Dave Rogers (crew chief) and all these guys here. Everybody from Old Spice to Farm Bureau to Armour All – that’s been on this car this year. They’ve just done an awesome job with this thing and it is teams that win these things. We had an awesome race car today. Denny Hamlin was the fastest car in practice last night, but I’m telling you this thing was head and shoulders above what it was last night. We had something for them tonight.” How does it feel to win for the first time in your career at Darlington? “If you were at Talladega a couple weeks ago it’s exactly the same. At the start of this year there were still four tracks that I hadn’t won at. It was California, Las Vegas, Texas, Talladega and here. Thanks to Dave (Rogers) and the guys on the 20 car on the Nationwide side we’ve concurred three of those four and should’ve won the fifth one, but I’m not going to be greedy. You get four this year and three at tracks that I haven’t won at. With the rich heritage and history here at Darlington -- to win here and be the first guy to win after they resurfaced it. It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe. It’s just cool to win at Darlington. You think back at guys like David Pearson who were so good here. We’ve had David on our radio show a couple times and makes you be that much closer to the guy. It’s just fun. This series is just so deep in history in general and this is one of those tracks that history goes as deep as NASCAR does, for the most part. To finally win here is just a huge honor to me.”

TONY STEWART, No. 20 Old Spice Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing (continued) What is it about this No. 20 car that makes it unbeatable? I can’t speak for the team side, but there is one thing. You look at the wins. You look at who all has been in it. All three of us on the team have won in this car. So it’s not one driver winning all of the races. It’s the team. It’s been proof of that. All three of us wining in the same car, the same equipment and the same group of guys. It’s easy to point the finger at where the success lies and where it comes from, and it starts with Dave (Rogers). It starts with him and his guys. People kind of make fun of you when you say it is an honor. It is. It is an honor to drive for this team this year. When you walk in the garage area guys from other teams are looking at you like ‘man, this guy is in the car this week.’ You can tell that it doesn’t matter who it is that walks into the garage, it’s a force to be dealt with. This car has been capable of winning every race it’s been to this year.”

DAVE ROGERS, Crew Chief, No. 20 Old Spice Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing What did you see out of that 20 car today? “I saw Tony Stewart drive probably one of the smartest races I’ve ever seen here at Darlington. There were plenty of times where we weren’t the fastest car on the track but he kept gapping the competition just because he timed it right. He made the moves when he needed to make them. He stayed patient. Brilliant race I thought.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing Finished: 3rd Can you talk about your solid run tonight? “It didn’t start out like that. We killed one in practice, but my guys rolled out the backup and that is just the kind of team that I have. We can have a bad practice and have to go and get a backup car and go out there and be as fast as we were tonight. I got to thank Aaron’s, Toyota, Best Western and everybody involved. It was a good race. I enjoyed it tonight and hopefully tomorrow will be as much fun.” What happened at the end when you squeaked by Todd Bodine? “All and all it was a really solid effort. I got a run on Todd (Bodine) there right at the end and he didn’t crowd me or anything like that. He raced me clean and that was really cool. All and all, it started out not too good of a weekend, but it ended up pretty good.” Can you talk about having to go to your backup car tonight? “Our backup car was probably maybe even better than the one that I wrecked (yesterday). We’ll never know for sure. It was a good night for the Aaron’s Dream Machine. It’s not easy to pass out there. It never was easy to pass even with the old surface. It’s pretty tough and you’ve got a lot of good guys out there and the closer you get to the front the harder it gets. I’m proud of my guys. They thrashed and got us going and really had a good car all night we just kind of fought for some track position. It ended up being ok at the end. I’m happy with the way it turned out. The 20 car is getting a little old -- seeing that thing win. We need to do something to try to combat that.”

TODD BODINE, No. 03 Germain Motor Company Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finished: 4th Can you talk about your top-five finish in your first Nationwide start of 2008? “It was a great night for the Germain Racing Camry. We actually had a car to win and I goofed up and got up in the wall on three and four when I was behind Matt (Kenseth) and that really messed it up. It took the right front fender and pushed it in and then I pushed after that. We had a great night, great pit stops -- the guys doing a hell of a job and just proud to be here racing. It’s great to be able to finish a Nationwide race in the top-five with all of these Cup guys. It just shows this old truck team is pretty tough.”

MIKE WALLACE, No. 7 GEICO Toyota Camry, Germain Racing Finished: 25th How were you involved in this wreck? “I think Jason (Leffler) got in the back of Mark (Martin) so I really don’t know what happened. It was a green-white checkered it took so long to get the race track cleaned up everybody was trying to get what they could get and I guess something happened upfront and I went to the left to miss them and ran over them.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 32 Beringer Vineyards Toyota Camry, Braun Racing Finished: 31st What happened that that got you into the wall? “I’m just sorry for the whole No. 32 Beringer team because this is the second car I’ve wrecked of theirs in two races. I can say and take the blame, but I can’t on this one. We’ve got a lap car that’s out there that’s racing with us leaders showing disrespect. Next time I’m a lap down and I’ve got damage I’m going to race him like an SOB and wreck him, too.” Was it as difficult to make passes out there as what you had thought earlier? “Yeah, it was because you get aero-tight behind guys. You just can’t get a run off the corner. You can’t get by them. It’s hard, but (Tony) Stewart was being able to make some moves. I was being able to make some moves, but unfortunately there I got a good run off the corner and being smart I didn’t make it three-wide but then you’ve got lap car that still goes in on my outside and comes all the way down. I was all the way on the flat, I don’t know what else I could’ve done different.”

JASON LEFFLER, No. 38 Great Clips Toyota Camry, Braun Racing Finished: 9th

 

 

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