Toyota NASCAR Notes & Quotes Richmond Sept. 2015

TOYOTA NASCAR NOTES & QUOTES
September 7 – 13, 2015

TOYOTA TIDBITS

DARLINGTON SWEEP:  Camry drivers swept the NASCAR race weekend at Darlington Raceway with Carl Edwards earning the win in Sunday night’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race and Denny Hamlin claiming the victory in Saturday’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at the 1.366-mile South Carolina track. Edwards’ win marked his second of the season and the 75th victory for Toyota in NSCS competition. Hamlin (third) and Kyle Busch (seventh) also earned top-10 results for Toyota in the NSCS race at the ‘Lady in Black’. Hamlin led Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammates Busch (second) and Daniel Suarez (third) to the finish line on Saturday.

KYLE CLINCHES CHASE SPOT: Busch clinched a spot in this year’s Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship on Sunday night with his seventh-place result at Darlington. Busch missed the first 11 Cup Series races of the 2015 season with injuries sustained after an accident in the season-opening NXS race at Daytona International Speedway, but has since recovered and rallied to become Chase eligible. The 30-year-old Las Vegas native currently sits 27th in the point standings and 51 points ahead of 30th place – the cutoff he had to reach to make the Chase championship playoff. In just 14 NSCS starts this season, Busch has registered four wins, five top-five finishes and eight top-10 results. His four wins ties six-time NSCS champion Jimmie Johnson for most wins in the series in 2015.

RACE BEFORE THE CHASE: Four Camry drivers are currently locked in to compete in this year’s Chase as the series heads to Richmond International Raceway for the final event before the 10-race championship battle begins. JGR drivers Busch, Edwards, Hamlin and Matt Kenseth have all secured spots in the Chase by earning wins this season. Camry driver Clint Bowyer currently ranks 16th on the Chase grid, the final spot to qualify for the Chase. Bowyer sits 29 points over 17th-place and can clinch a berth by finishing 28th or better this weekend if there is a repeat 2015 winner at Richmond. He has recorded top-10 finishes in four-of-his-last-six NSCS starts, and has earned two consecutive top-10 finishes at Richmond. In 19 career starts on the Virginia short track, Bowyer has two wins (spring 2008 and fall 2012) and 11 top-10 results.

TOYOTA RICHMOND TALLY: Camry drivers have a combined 14 wins at Richmond in the NSCS and NXS. Busch, Hamlin and Bowyer won seven-of-eight NSCS events in Richmond from 2009 through 2012, including four-consecutive spring race victories for Busch. In the NXS at Richmond, Busch and Hamlin have combined for six NXS first-place trophies in a Toyota, including a 2015 spring race win by Hamlin, and Kurt Busch also registered a NXS victory in a Camry in 2012.

NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry drivers Matt Kenseth (seventh), Denny Hamlin (eighth), Carl Edwards (12th) and Clint Bowyer (15th) currently rank in the top-15 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) point standings … Kyle Busch (27th) is also in the top-30 in the driver point standings, making him Chase eligible after missing the first 11 races of 2015 … Joe Gibbs Racing drivers have won seven-of-the-last-10 NSCS races … JGR has 10 total wins this season, the most of any team in the Cup Series … Hamlin is from nearby Chesterfield, Virginia … Virginia Tech graduate Darian Grubb, crew chief for the JGR No. 19 Camry, is a native of Floyd, Virginia … TRD president David Wilson is also a graduate of Virginia Tech.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What does it mean to make the Chase after your injuries to start the season?

“Making the Chase was something we weren’t all sure was possible after my injuries. It’s a great opportunity to be with these guys on this M&M’S Crispy team. They’re working really hard at Joe Gibbs Racing. We’ve got a lot of speed and I think all four cars have a really good shot at this championship. I’m just proud of everyone who works on this program and has believed in me and the team. We’ll go out at Richmond this weekend and shoot for the win since we aren’t in a points situation for at least this weekend.”

Why is Joe Gibbs Racing so strong at Richmond?

“I think a lot of it comes from Denny (Hamlin), being that it’s his home track. I’ve been good there in Hendrick and JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) cars. But Denny and I really feed off each other an awful lot at Richmond. We use each other a ton there, just to be sure we can beat the rest of the competition, of course. We do like similar setups there, unlike some other places we run. Richmond is one of those places where we both know what it takes to get around and we’re both similar to one another in that we both run well. Matt (Kenseth) has only added to our information there and now, with Carl (Edwards) on board, he’s a guy who’s been very good over the years there, as well.”

JOE GIBBS, team owner, Joe Gibbs Racing

How great of an accomplishment is it for Kyle Busch to qualify for this year’s Chase?

“I think that’s a great sports story. Everything that happened to us there at Daytona and then for him (Kyle Busch) to bounce back in 11 weeks, I felt like the odds were against us. And for him to be able to pull this off and come back, win four times and get back in the Chase ‑‑ they had a great game plan, Adam (Stevens, crew chief) and Kyle. They talked all night about the game plan (at Darlington), what they wanted to do, and first up was to make sure that they had enough points that they didn’t have to worry Richmond. That was a big deal for them, and it was great for Kyle.”

MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What is the key to being successful at Richmond?

“Richmond is all about having balance in your race car, but you also want to be pretty good on a short run as well. You need to be fast enough to keep your position and even improve a few spots on a restart, but if we do get some long, green-flag runs like we’ve gotten there in the past, you need to be good on the long run as well because you can make up a ton of ground if you have a good enough car at the end. The most challenging part of racing at Richmond is just getting your car to turn well. We just approach each weekend trying to run the best we can with our DG Camry and that’s what we’ll do heading to Richmond with this last race before the Chase.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

How do you feel about your team’s performance as you get close to the Chase?

“We definitely would like to have a couple more wins, but I think our cars have been really fast lately and we’re peaking at the right time. We have shown speed these last few weeks and I think the Chase sets up well for our FedEx team. Hopefully we can go to Richmond and get a few more bonus points for the first segment of the playoffs. The organization has had a lot of success lately and everyone is feeding off of that. Now it’s up to us to put everything together and get to victory lane and there is no better place to do that than Richmond.”

NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS): Camry drivers Daniel Suarez (seventh) and JJ Yeley (12th) currently rank in the top-15 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) point standings … Suarez made his NXS debut at Richmond in April 2014 and also finished sixth there in the NXS race earlier this season.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS):  Tundra drivers Erik Jones (first), Matt Crafton (second), Johnny Sauter (fourth), Cameron Hayley (sixth), Timothy Peters (seventh) and Ben Kennedy (10th) currently rank in the top-10 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) point standings … Jones leads Crafton by just three points … The NCWTS will enjoy another weekend off before returning to the track at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday, Sept. 18.

TOYOTA 2015 NASCAR STATISTICS

Series

Races

Starts (Drivers)

Wins

Top-5s

Top-10s

Poles

Times Led

Laps Led

NSCS

25

217 (16)

10

29

56

8

125

1,654

NXS

24

254 (34)

8

30

45

11

77

1,420

NCWTS

15

131 (19)

9

39

77

7

98

1,509

TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Richmond International Raceway (NSCS & NXS)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry

Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry

Carl Edwards, No. 19 Camry

Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry

Jeb Burton, No. 23 Camry

JJ Yeley, No. 26 Camry

David Ragan, No. 55 Camry

Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Camry

NASCAR XFINITY Series

Blake Koch, No. 8 Camry

Josh Reaume, No. 13 Camry

Cale Conley, No. 14 Camry

Daniel Suarez, No. 18 Camry

Jeff Green, No. 19 Camry

Erik Jones, No. 20 Camry

Eric McClure, No. 24 Camry

Timmy Hill, No. 26 Camry

JJ Yeley, No. 28 Camry

David Starr, No. 44 Camry

Kyle Busch, No. 54 Camry

Benny Gordon, No. 66 Camry

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The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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