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