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

Posted on December 4, 2008 PopUpScript Email   Print

 

TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES 2008 SEASON REVIEW

Toyota 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Statistics Starts Top- Top- Times Laps Races (Drivers) Wins 5s 10s Poles Led Led 36 353 (20) 10 44 72 5 218 3,472

10 FOR TOYOTA: Toyota Camry drivers earned 10 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) wins in 2008. Kyle Busch led the Camry contingent with eight victories in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Camry. Busch earned Toyota's initial Cup triumph at Atlanta (March 9), followed by victories at Talladega (April 27), Darlington (May 10), California's Infineon (June 22), Watkins Glen (Aug. 10), Dover (June 1), Daytona (July 5) and Chicagoland (July 12). Denny Hamlin visited victory lane at Virginia's Martinsville Speedway (March 30) and Tony Stewart crossed the finish line first at Talladega (Oct. 5).

MEMORABLE MOMENT: Busch earned Toyota's first-ever NSCS victory in the fourth race of the 2008 season at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The 23-year-old Las Vegas-native led 173 of 325 laps in the JGR No. 18 Snickers Camry en route to the checkered flag. Toyota's inaugural NSCS victory came in the 40th race for the Camry since joining the series in 2007. Busch's JGR teammate, Stewart, finished second to give Toyota a one-two sweep. "It was pretty special," said Busch, after his Atlanta win. "We are fortunate to have Toyota on our side, giving us the help that we need. To win the first race for Toyota was fun. I'm sure they wanted it sooner, but I'm glad I was able to do it for them."

UNBELIEVABLE BUSCH: Busch competed in a total of 81 NASCAR races across the three national series in 2008 -- NSCS, NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS). During the season he registered 21 wins, seven poles, 45 top-five finishes and 57 top-10 results. He now holds the NASCAR record for most wins by one driver in a single year across the top-three series. "It's been a great year and it means a lot to have a year like this and win as many races as we have," says Busch. "People discounted the Nationwide and the Truck wins because it's a lesser series than what the Cup series is, but there are Cup guys that are running in those series. There are ex-Cup guys in the Truck series and Cup guys now in the Nationwide Series and upcoming guys that are supposed to be the best of what there is today."

POKER PLAYING: Crew chief Steve Addington led the JGR No. 18 Camry team to its first 'Chase' appearance in 2008 after earning eight wins with Busch in the first 26 races of the season. The team entered the 'Chase' with on top of the standings, but bad luck early in the 10-race playoff ended any hopes of a title -- and the team finished 10th in the final NSCS point standings. "Don't show your hand too early in the season and let these other guys go to work and get better than you," says Addington. "The one thing that I learned is how to approach this stuff. We know we have a good package, so let's try some different things and not show our hand. We've got a good enough race team to be in the 'Chase.'"

PLACES IN THE 'CHASE': In 2008, the three JGR Camrys of Busch, Hamlin and Stewart gave Toyota its first drivers in the 'Chase'. Hamlin finished the year eighth in points as the highest Camry driver in the point standings. Stewart finished the season in ninth-place and Busch was 10th in the standings. Other Toyota drivers who finished in the top-35 in the 2008 NSCS point standings include Brian Vickers (19th), David Reutimann (22nd), Michael Waltrip (29th) and Dave Blaney (30th).

DENNY DELIVERS: Denny Hamlin recently visited Japan to participate in Toyota's annual Motor Sports Day at Fuji Speedway. The event featured Toyota drivers from a variety of different racing series, including NASCAR and Formula One, as well as Toyota race cars that participate in various racing series. "This was my first time traveling overseas," said Hamlin, who took a few demonstration laps in the JGR Camry. "It was an excellent experience. The Fuji Speedway was a good track and I was impressed with the Japanese fans and how excited they were to see a NASCAR race car. It was really enjoyable and I'm glad I was able to attend Toyota's Motorsports Day."

WALTRIP'S TEAM WORKING: Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) ended the season with Reutimann's No. 44 Camry on the pole in the season-finale at Homestead. "MWR made huge strides in 2008," says team owner Waltrip. "We led races, had chances to win and established ourselves as contenders this year. We went from missing races with no cars in the top-35, to having two cars in the top-30 and one right on the bubble. We know we must continue to improve, but, we also know we have our foundation built that will make us better than we were in 2008."

Toyota 2008 NASCAR Nationwide Series Statistics Races Starts (Drivers) Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led 35 214 (18) 20 58 102 14 147 3,439

TOYOTA TAKES TITLE: Toyota earned its first Nationwide Series manufacturer's championships in 2008. Toyota clinched the NNS manufacturer's title in its second year of series competition when Hamlin's JGR No. 18 Camry crossed the finish line first at Kansas (Sept. 27). "Toyota's accomplishments are the result of hard work and achievement by all of our race teams working in conjunction with TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development) and Triad," says Lee White, TRD's president and general manager. "All the tireless efforts during the off-season, pre-season testing and throughout the season, in combination with a talented driver line-up, have produced the exceptional results that yielded these championships."

OWNER'S CHAMP: Joey Logano's 10th-place finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway secured the NNS owner's championship for JGR and the No. 20 Toyota Camry. In 2008, four drivers (Busch, Hamlin, Logano and Stewart) combined for nine wins, six poles, 16 top-five finishes and 25 top-10 results in the No. 20 entry. "It was special to have all those guys - Kyle, Denny , Tony and Joey -- get in that car and run it," says J.D. Gibbs, president of JGR. "For the guys at the shop that have worked all year long, it would have been real frustrating to go the whole year and not have something to show for it. We're real excited and I think for our team, it meant more than most championships mean to other teams. This was a big deal for us and for the guys that worked so hard, because in the Nationwide Series you have guys that do a little bit of everything -- they really work their tails off."

RECORD RUNS: The Joe Gibbs Racing NNS Camrys -- No. 20 and No. 18 -- combined to win a series record 19 races in 2008. Busch's win at Texas (Nov. 2) equaled Sam Ard's 1983 record for the most wins (10) by one driver in the Nationwide Series in a single season. Busch (eight) and Hamlin (two) combined for the 10 triumphs by the No. 18 team - equaling another series record. In Indianapolis (July 26), Busch broke the previous record (13) for most victories by one NNS organization, and the additional wins by Busch and Hamlin further increased the mark.

EIGHT STRAIGHT: Camry drivers won eight consecutive NNS races from April to June -- Texas through Dover -- this season. The eight wins were achieved between two race teams (JGR and Braun Racing) and among three drivers (Busch, Stewart and Hamlin). The record for most consecutive NNS wins by one manufacturer is 11 established in 2000.

TWENTY TRUIMPHS: Camry drivers combined for 20 NNS victories in 2008. Busch led the Toyota brigade with 10 triumphs, including Texas (April 5), Phoenix (April 11), Mexico City (April 20), Charlotte (May 24), Chicagoland (July 11), Indianapolis (July 26), California (Aug. 30), Dover (Sept. 20), Charlotte (Oct. 10) and Texas (Nov. 1). Stewart earned five wins at Daytona (Feb. 16), California (Feb. 25), Talladega (April 26), Darlington (May 9) and New Hampshire (June 28). Hamlin visited victory lane at Richmond (May 2), Dover (May 31), Daytona (July 4) and Kansas (Sept. 27). Logano's victory at Kentucky (June 14) enabled him to became the youngest NNS race-winner (18 years and 21 days).

CONSISTENCY COUNTS: Mike Wallace, driver of the No. 7 Germain Racing Camry, completed 99.2 percent of all the laps in NNS competition during the season -- finishing 6,366 of 6,415 total laps. He had eight top-10 finishes and was eighth in the final series point standings. Wallace made his 330th career NNS start at the 2008 season finale, moving him into eighth-place in the NNS all-time career starts record book. "We can take our hat off to our race team because we don't break and I try not to tear the car up," says Wallace. "Our cars don't break, the Toyota motors don't have any failure, all the preparation of the cars is excellent and the crew itself is doing better."

POINTS POSITION: Four Camry drivers finished in the top-10 in the final 2008 NNS point standings. Busch (sixth) was the highest-ranking Toyota driver in the point standings. Reutimann (seventh), Wallace (eighth) and Jason Leffler (ninth) were also among the top-10 in the point standings. Other Camry drivers competing part-time in the series included Hamlin (19th), Logano (20th), Vickers (36th) and Stewart (39th). This year, 18 Camry drivers combined for 20 wins, 58 top-five results and 102 top-10 finishes, as well as 14 pole positions and led 3,439 laps -- more than half of all NNS laps.

Toyota 2008 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Statistics Races Starts (Drivers) Wins Top-5s Top-10s Poles Times Led Laps Led 25 266 (35) 13 62 116 11 110 1,929

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Toyota NASCAR Notes and Quotes - Week of December 1, 2008 - Page 3

BENSON THE BEST: Toyota Tundra driver Johnny Benson captured his first NCTS driver's championship with a thrilling finish at Homestead-Miami Speedway to edge Ron Hornaday, Jr., in the final standings by just seven points. It marked Benson's second-career NASCAR title -- having won the Nationwide Series championship in 1995. In addition, Toyota earned its third consecutive NCTS manufacturer's title in 2008.

WINNING WAYS: Benson won the NCTS title on the strength of five wins in the Bill Davis Racing (BDR) No. 23 Tundra during the 25-race season. Benson won four of five races over the summer -- at Milwaukee (June 20), Kentucky (July 19), Indianapolis (July 25) and Nashville (Aug. 9) -- to establish himself as a championship contender. A victory at Martinsville on Oct. 18, coupled with 18 top-10 finishes throughout the year, helped seal the title.

JOHNNY BE GOOD: "Even though it's been a fair amount of years since my last championship, this one means a tremendous amount to me," says Benson. "That's our first championship for Bill Davis Racing. They have won many races throughout their organization. They've been close on the championship before, and now to make that happen for them is something that our whole team is extremely proud of. To be able to get that done and get the championship for Bill and Gail (Davis, team owners) is something that means a tremendous amount to me."

TUNDRAS MOVE FORWARD: Tundra drivers combined for 13 wins in 25 races in 2008. In addition to Benson's five victories, 2006 NCTS champion Todd Bodine won three races -- Daytona (Feb. 15), Talladega (Oct. 4) and the season finale at Homestead (Nov. 14) -- as did Busch, who won at California (Feb. 23), Atlanta (March 7) and Bristol (Aug. 20). Rookie driver Scott Speed earned his first series win at Dover (May 30), while fellow BDR competitor Mike Skinner was victorious at Las Vegas (Sept. 20).

POINTS PACE: Five Toyota drivers finished in the top-10 in the point standings this past season. Benson's first-place finish in the championship standings led the way for the Tundra contingent, followed by Bodine (third), Skinner (sixth), Jack Sprague (ninth) and Terry Cook (10th) in the final standings. In total, 35 Tundra drivers combined for 13 wins, 62 top-five results and 116 top-10 finishes throughout the 2008 campaign, leading 1,929 laps in NCTS competition.

TEAMS AND FANS APPRECIATED: "Toyota is not immune to the challenges currently being faced by the automobile industry," said Ed Laukes, corporate manager of motorsports marketing at Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A., Inc. "The market this year has been more challenging than expected, and no automaker has been unaffected during these times. The current economic situation has impacted everyone, including our race teams, and we appreciate all their efforts that have led to race wins and championships, as well as all the NASCAR race fans that support the series."

 

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