Joe Gibbs Racing secured
the NNS Owner's Championship
with the No. 20 Toyota
Camry. Four drivers combined
for nine wins, five poles,
16 top-five finishes and 25
top-10 finishes during the
2008 season. Kyle Busch
(second) and Jason Leffler
(fourth) earned top-five
finishes for Toyota in the
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS)
event Saturday evening at
Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Toyota drivers Denny Hamlin
(seventh) and Joey Logano
(10th) also recorded a
top-10 finishes at
Homestead. Since the start
of the 2008 season, the
Camry has earned 58 top-five
and 101 top-10 finishes in
NNS competition. Camry
drivers Josh Wise (12th),
David Reutimann (13th), Mike
Wallace (18th) and Michael
Annett (36th) also
participated in the 300-mile
race. Four Camry drivers
finished the 2008 NNS season
in the top-10 unofficially
including Busch (sixth),
Reutimann (seventh), Wallace
(eighth) and Leffler
(ninth). Joey Logano earned
the 14th pole of the season
for Toyota when he turned
the fastest qualifying lap
at Homestead in the NNS.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Z-Line
Designs Toyota Camry, Joe
Gibbs Racing Finished: 2nd
What has your success this
season meant in your career?
"It's been great. The guys
have done a phenomenal job
all year long. This is the
first place that we unloaded
a little behind, but we came
back after them a little bit
at the end. We had so many
crutches built into this car
to make it go fast -- it was
fast, but I don't know if
the damage there on the
front end was a culprit
there at the end of the race
because the car got tighter
than it had been all night."
Do you feel like you came
up short of the win tonight?
"This sounds a lot like our
year tonight -- coming up
short. We had a great race
car there and the guys did
an awesome job. We unloaded
behind and we fought behind
all weekend. The 60 (Carl
Edwards) was real fast and
real strong and we just came
up a little short. There's a
piece of damage on the front
end of the car and I don't
know if that was the culprit
or not, but I got so tight
at the end that I couldn't
even steer through the
corners."
What are your thoughts on
Joe Gibbs Racing winning the
NNS owner's championship? "I
wasn't a significant part of
it. I only won one race in
the thing. But, you know,
they had a great car all
year long, as well. You
know, for it to come down to
the final race like that, it
was pretty cool to see, and
for Joey (Logano) to run the
amount of races that he ran
in the car and to win the
races that he won, I
believe, at Kentucky, he did
his part of the deal. You
know, everybody that was in
that car, myself, Joey (Logano),
Denny (Hamlin) and Tony
(Stewart) all won, and we're
all a part of that deal. But
the big pat on the back and
the big support needs to go
back to the guys at the
shop, Dave Rogers and Jason
Ratcliff who weren't here
the rest of the year and for
the rest of the guys that
stepped up for the rest of
the year to make that thing
go fast and stay up front."
JASON LEFFLER, No. 38
Great Clips Toyota Camry,
Braun Racing Finished: 4th
How was your run out there
tonight? "Thanks a lot, the
boys here on the Great Clips
Toyota really did a good
job, and if we can do this
every week were gonna work
towards this on the off
season. It's a good way to
end the season this way, and
it gives a lot of momentum.
The boys Todd Lohse (crew
chief) and all the guys gave
us some track position and
car came alive you know, and
I said it was pretty good
out there just give me some
track position, and they did
that. Great pit stops and
everyone did a great job. To
run in the top -five with
these boys is something to
be proud of and something we
can work through the winter
on."
How was it racing Bowyer
knowing he was a contender
for the championship? "Well,
I don't want to be the jerk
that wipes him out you know,
costs him the championship.
So same token yea I don't
think he could have raced me
as hard as he wanted so he
gave me plenty of room out
there when I got on the
outside of him there. It was
over, we ran fourth , and it
was a good run and a good
way to end the season we'll
go onto next season with
high hopes and have more of
these top-fives and if you
do that you'll have more
wins."
JD GIBBS, President, Joe
Gibbs Racing What does it
mean to win the owner's
championship? "For JGR (Joe
Gibbs Racing) just a great
finish for the year. To have
all those guys -- Tony
(Stewart) win, Denny
(Hamlin) win, Kyle (Busch)
win and then for Joey (Logano)
finish it off I think this
means a lot to all the guys.
This is also a testament to
all the guys at Toyota and
the partnership that we've
put together in a short
time."
What did it mean to have
Joey Logano clinch the
owner's championship
tonight? "We didn't have our
car running the full year,
if we did I think we would
have had a pretty good shot
at the driver's
championship. We didn't so
we ran for the owner's
championship as hard as we
could. No pressure on Joey (Logano)
-- we told him that if he
wanted to do this then let's
do it because if not then
we're fine. He said, 'put it
on me, let's go run for this
thing.' It was exciting to
have all the guys and all
the drivers be a part of it
and to have all the guys
back at the shop. The
Nationwide guys work hard --
they are not as specialized
as the Cup guys are so they
are on call a lot. We'll
have a big party next week
with all the guys -- I know
that much."
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 DLP
HDTV Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs
Racing Finished: 10th How
was your race tonight and
how excited were you to win
the owner's championship for
Joe Gibbs Racing? "It was an
interesting one -- we didn't
have the car to beat for
sure. In the beginning we
took off and ran really
good. The car just tightened
up a lot and I couldn't get
a good read on the car. We
started off really loose and
got really tight. It would
just change so much through
the run and it was hard to
adjust it. It's good for
everyone here to win the
championship because they
worked really hard this
year. It's awesome because
all these guys work really
hard all year to get to this
point. To win it is so cool
for them. They just work
really hard."
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 32 Hass
Avocados from Mexico Toyota
Camry, Braun Racing
Finished: 7th
JOSH WISE, No. 00 NAPA
Toyota Camry, Michael
Waltrip Racing Finished:
12th
DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 99
Best Western Toyota Camry,
Michael Waltrip Racing
Finished: 13th
MIKE WALLACE, No. 7 GEICO
Toyota Camry, Germain Racing
Finished: 18th
MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 03
HYPE Toyota Camry, Germain
Racing Finished: 36th