Friday
TOYOTA NASCAR Camping World Truck Series ORP Post Race Notes & Quotes
Press Release
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
O’Reilly Raceway Park – July 24, 2009
- Mike Skinner (second) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Friday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
(NCWTS) race at O’Reilly Raceway Park near Indianapolis. Skinner led 61 of 200 laps.
- Aric Almirola (third), Tayler Malsam (seventh), Stacy Compton (eighth), David Starr (ninth) and Kyle Busch (10th) also
posted top-10 finishes for Toyota.
- Tundra drivers Brian Scott (12th), Terry Cook (13th), T.J. Bell (15th), Timothy Peters (17th), Todd Bodine (18th) and
Caitlin Shaw (24th) were also in the field.
Finishing Position:
2nd
“I could’ve hit him — I ain’t made like that. Ronnie (Hornaday) is a friend of mine. He might’ve done it to me but it’s all
right. When I shave in the morning I’ll like who I see. I had a great Tundra with EXIDE Batteries. Start positive, stay
positive. I don’t want to give a negative energy because we finished second. I don’t like to finish second any more than
anybody else does but it was a good night. It was a good points night. We led a couple laps and I just can’t thank EXIDE
Batteries, Toyota and all of my sponsors. We’ve just had a great relationship for many, many years with a lot of people. We
still have a lot of fire under our belly. We’re not throwing in the towel.”
Do you have a lot of momentum with back-to-back runner-up finishes?
“Eric Phillips (crew chief) is doing one heck of a job. This team is way underfunded for — we’re very grateful for the sponsors
that we have — but we’re running on six cylinders. When we get them other two cylinders and get up to eight cylinders like
everybody else we’re going to be okay.”
Were you experiencing any problems with your Tundra?
“We’ve had brake problems with this Tundra in every short track race and tonight was no exception. We just slowed down
and we got passed. When I broke my rhythm I burnt the right front off the truck and we just couldn’t get out of the way at that
point in time.
Eric Phillips (crew chief) once again did a fantastic job calling the race. Tim Fedewa (spotter) came and
spotted for us tonight and he did a great job. We just got beat — what can I say? Our Tundra was awesome. We had some
brake problems and right there at the end the caution kept coming out. If the thing stays green with those four fresh Goodyear
tires it wouldn’t even have been a contest but every time we’d catch them, the caution would come out and they’d cool their
tires back down.”
Did it affect you at all when the white flag came out a lap early?
“That was weird. I’d like to do it over. I’d like to have it over. I think what hurt us more than anything was all of the
cautions at the end because we had the four fresh tires and we were coming a half-a-second a lap and then the caution would
come out and then we were only two-tenths. Then when we caught Ron (Hornaday) I would’ve had to move him to beat him
and I just wasn’t going to do that. If that respect don’t come back somewhere then I’ll stretch somebody’s neck at another
time.”
Finishing Position:
3rdCan you talk about your race tonight?
“We had a great truck. We started the race 17th tonight and drove up to sixth and the first caution came out and we were,
‘Pit? Don’t Pit? Pit? Don’t Pit?’ So we stayed out and I thought we were fine. We rode around in sixth there for a while and
I don’t know if we had a right-front (tire) going down or what but all of a sudden we couldn’t go. We went from being right
with the leaders to not even being able to run in the same ballpark as them.
Once we put new tires on it, it was right back to
the same truck it was. I ran right there with the leaders and was fortunate enough to get a caution and get the ‘lucky dog’ and
we come back in and got four more tires and man, it was just like night and day difference. You could tell everybody who
didn’t have tires. That was fun. It was a lot of fun to race on. It’s a lot of fun when Goodyear brings a tire like that where the
tire really falls off and tires mean a lot.”
Are you happy with your finish after going a lap down early in the race?
“I think we had a right-front tire going down there at the beginning of the race. We got really, really tight and lost a lap and I
was so disappointed but I knew we had a good enough truck to not give up. We came in and got tires and I could keep up with
the leaders there when we were a lap down and we got the ‘lucky dog’ and we came in and got four tires and man, tires were
huge tonight. I’m really proud of Richie Wauters (crew chief) and everybody on this Billy Ballew Motorsports truck tonight.
They give me awesome trucks every week and it’s a lot of fun to race.”
Do you think your truck could’ve made it to the front if you had a few more laps?
“I think so. We were definitely fast enough to win. We just needed some more laps. That caution right there at the end really
hurt us. I was a little bit better than (Dennis) Setzer and he was on the same tires that we were and I was on better tires than
(Ron) Hornaday and (Mike) Skinner. Congrats to (Ron) Hornaday. Four in a row, that’s incredible.”
Finishing Position:
7th
“It was definitely tight out there. We were tight all day, but the Randy Moss Motorsports team did a great job. I had a lot
of fun, but it was tight, short track racing. Our truck switched through the night. Sometimes we were better through turns
one and two and sometimes we were better through (turns) three and four. It just depended on what tires we had or what
Doug (Wolcott, crew chief) changed on the truck.”
Did you try to change lines to find more speed?
“Yeah, we tried everything. I ran against the wall all the way around and then ran against the grass all the way around.
This is such a tight place and you always try to get the most of your truck. It was a good race, and we’re happy to get a top-
10 at ORP.”
Finishing Position:
8thWhat did your truck need tonight to contend with the race leaders?
“The team has done a great job and every week we come to these short tracks, we’re really fast. We just can’t get the truck
to stay under us long enough. We were one of the fastest trucks in practice and qualified third. We ran up front for a while,
but as soon as the tires get some heat in them, it starts giving up a little bit. This should be our strong suit and I think it is –
we just need to figure out how to make the trucks last a little bit longer. It was a pretty good weekend for us. All things
considered, every week this team keeps growing and getting better. We’re sitting there in the top-three and top-five in
practice and getting good qualifying runs. We’re getting there.”
Finishing Position:
9thCan you talk about your race tonight?
“I really have to hand it to all the guys on this Zachry Toyota and HT Motorsports. We had an awesome Toyota Tundra
tonight — we just got a little unlucky. We stayed out during one of the cautions, and the guys that came in for tires really
had the advantage once those cautions came late.
They were really able to drive up through there and we couldn’t hold
them off. I’m happy that we got another top-10 finish for this team, I just hate it that we didn’t finish where I think we
could’ve, but that’s how it goes here in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. We got beat fair and square, so we’ll
work hard this week and get them at Nashville.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Miccosukee Resort/Red Top AA Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finishing Position: 10th
BRIAN SCOTT, No. 16 Albertsons Toyota Tundra, Xpress Motorsports
Finishing Position: 12th
TERRY COOK, No. 25 Cajun Industries Toyota Tundra, HT Motorsports
Finishing Position: 13th
T.J. BELL, No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Strutmasters Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 17th
TODD BODINE, No. 30 Ventrilo Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing
Finishing Position:
18thWhat happened in the incident with Colin Braun?
“The deal with Colin (Braun), he was outside me. But, there’s a certain point where you have to know, ‘I’m not far enough
outside this guy to stay out here, because exactly what happened will happen. He doesn’t have a lot of experience and he’s
passing a guy for second and he was going for it. Unfortunately, you just have to know when you’re up far enough to take the
position and he wasn’t. All he had to do was keep working me and he probably would’ve passed me. It’s a racing deal. I’m
not going to be mad about it. I’m not going to take a swing at him. He’s a good kid. He’s a really good driver and I consider
him a friend. It’s just racing, don’t worry about it.”
CAITLIN SHAW, No. 1 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 24th
- TOYOTA Motorsports Press Release
Article Tags: Aric Almirola, Billy Ballew Motorsports, Brian Scott, Caitlin Shaw, Colin Braun, David Starr, Eric Phillips, Germain Racing, HT Motorsports, Kyle Busch, Mike Skinner, NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, NCWTS, No. 1 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, No. 15 Red Top AA Toyota Tundra, No. 16 Albertsons Toyota Tundra, No. 17 Strutmasters Toyota Tundra, No. 24 Zachry Toyota Tundra, No. 25 Cajun Industries Toyota Tundra, No. 30 Ventrilo Toyota Tundra, No. 5 Exide Toyota Tundra, No. 51 Miccosukee Resort/Red Top AA Toyota Tundra, No. 60 SafeAuto Insurance Toyota Tundra, No. 81 One-Eighty Toyota Tundra, O'Reilly Raceway Park, Randy Moss Motorsports, Red Horse Racing, Stacy Compton, T.J. Bell, Tayler Malsam, Terry Cook, Timothy Peters, Todd Bodine, Wyler Racing, Xpress Motorsports
