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Toyota Motorsports

Watkins Glen International – August 7, 2010

- Marcos Ambrose earned his third consecutive victory at Watkins Glen in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Nationwide Series
(NNS) race.

- Ambrose started on the pole and led twice for 60 (of 82) laps at the 2.45-mile upstate New York road course.
Joey Logano (second) and Kyle Busch (fifth) also earned top-five finishes for Toyota.

- Camry drivers led all 82 laps in 200.9-mile race — Busch (14 laps) and Logano (eight laps) also led laps for Toyota.
Jacques Villeneuve (eighth), Steve Wallace (ninth), Tayler Malsam (12th), Brian Scott (13th), Michael Annett (19th), Trevor Bayne (29th), Brendan Gaughan (30th) and Jason Leffler (35th) were also in the field for Toyota.

- Toyota drivers Busch (third), Wallace (seventh), Bayne (eighth), Gaughan (ninth), Leffler (10th), Annett (11th), Scott (12th), Logano (13th) and Reed Sorenson (15th) are in the top-15 in the unofficial NNS point standings after 22 of 35 races.

Marcos Ambrose raises three fingers in recognition of his third consecutive NASCAR Nationwide Series victory at Watkins Glen International Saturday in Watkins Glen, N.Y. - Photo Credit: Rusty Jarrett/Getty Images for NASCAR

Finishing Position: 1st

What does this win mean to you?

“It’s just a huge win for us. Frank Kerr (crew chief) has been so good to my career and I have to thank him so much for every opportunity he gets me to victory lane. Scott Zipadelli helped too this weekend, he’s had a tough chart but he’s awesome too. What a great day for our guys. I’m saying goodbye to JTG Daugherty Racing at the end of the year and it’s just nice to get some wins for them. I’m hoping I can do it in the Cup Series tomorrow but this feels really sweet.”

How did you pass Kyle Busch on lap 40?

“He’s hard to pass and whenever you’re going to do it you’ve got to do it in style. I couldn’t pass him (Kyle Busch) on straight-line speed. He just had too much top end on us so I just waited for some lapped traffic to try to get around him and get some momentum on him and just out-foxed him there coming across the top of the hill. If I had to try to do that 100 times again I probably wouldn’t do it because it was just one of those moments that just came together. He got boxed on the outside. The lapped car didn’t quite know where to go and baulked his run and I just took advantage. It was pretty awesome. I passed him last year and I’m sure he’s no more pleased this year.”

Why have you been so successful at Watkins Glen?

“I’ve got no idea — just growing up road racing, especially these heavy cars. I seem to feel comfortable with them sliding around on these road courses. Just got a great crew, a great setup and we managed to make the most of it. This win, this year was probably our most dominate and I’m just really proud. We’ve been through a tough patch here at JTG (Daugherty). It hasn’t been the year that we all wanted. I’m just glad to get into victory lane to make it feel right.”

How do you translate this win into another win in tomorrow’s Cup race?

“We have learned some definitely. We had a great handling race car today. We took on the very best teams and we dominated and we’ve got a good understanding of what we need to do. Converting that to a Cup car is a little more tricky with the way that the bump stops work and so forth. We’ll be thinking tonight about what we need for tomorrow. We didn’t quite qualify where we wanted to in the Cup Series car. Right now, I’m just going to enjoy the moment and enjoy today. It’s been a great rollercoaster ride for us. It’s the most satisfying win I’ve ever had. It’s just a great day for us.”

Why was this the most satisfying victory for you?

“We’ve been through so much together. The last few weeks have been really challenging for us. My future is not certain in NASCAR and just to come out like we did today with the passion, even though we’ve been through a lot of trials and tribulations this year. It just feels really satisfying. I feel good for everybody on this table and that I was able to get them back to victory lane.

We’ve got a job to do tomorrow to try and get them there in the Cup Series. It’s just really satisfying to think that we’ve come this far and we can leave as good friends at the end of this season and as winners. That’s what is so important. I’ve won championships and I felt good winning championships, but today for me just feels like it’s right. It’s the most perfect day I’ve ever had.”

FRANK KERR, crew chief, No. 47 Kwik Fill /Red Apple/ Zippo Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing

How special is this win for you?

“We really needed this. Like Marcos (Ambrose) said, we’ve had a tough year. We have a great team and we just come to the race track that’s probably his best race track and we had a good car and worked on it pretty hard and made some changes the other day to give him what he wanted. Now we’ll go out and do it tomorrow I hope.”

Did Marcos Ambrose make you nervous at all during today’s race?

“We had a little motor mount or something going wrong. The shifter was moving around there, I’m not sure what was going on there. We had a great car all weekend from when we unloaded and put a lot of effort in it. Marcos Ambrose did a heck of a job today.”

TAD GESCHICKTER, co-owner, JTG-Daugherty Racing

How special is this win for you?

“This one is special. Marcos (Ambrose) and Jodi and Brad (Daugherty) started this journey a few years ago and I guess everyone knows by now that the ride is going to end here in November. He’s (Marcos Ambrose) has become a great friend. I believe he’s one of the greatest race car drivers out there. It’s just fun to win together and go off on a good note. Thank you Marcos. Thank you Quik Fill and Zippo. Thank you TRD (Toyota Racing Development) — great power, great car. It was just a great day so it felt good.”

BRAD DAUGHERTY, co-owner, JTG-Daugherty Racing

How special is this win for you?

“It really is. This race team has really worked extremely hard this year. We haven’t had the results that we want, because we always want to be in victory lane every weekend. I’m really proud of Marcos (Ambrose) and Frankie (Kerr, crew chief) and our whole team. Guys have really put in a lot of effort and time and a lot of sweat, a little bit of blood and a little bit of tears to getting here and it makes it that much sweeter. We’re really thankful though to Zippo and TRD (Toyota Racing Development). Great race cars that they’ve been giving us — great power so we’re really blessed. Like Tad (Geschickter) says, the ride is going to come to an end and our relationship racing-wise is going to end here very soon. Marcos is a friend and we’re very, very proud to have him drive our race car.

He’s done a great job for us and we look forward to maybe getting another one tomorrow.”

Joey Logano - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood / Getty Images for NASCAR

Finishing Position: 2nd

What was the battle for second like with Kevin Harvick right on your rear bumper?

“I’m glad we ran each other clean, that was cool. I went over and thanked (Kevin Harvick). There was a couple times when he probably could have got me at the end when we caught that lap car and I lost a ton of momentum right there trying to get around it and he was there. Either way we had a good car, the GameStop Toyota was good. We had nothing for the 47 (Marcos Ambrose) — he’s the man.

He’s pretty good here. It seemed like we started to race good and then we put a bad set of tires on or something there on our second run and we really dropped off to fourth or fifth-place. We changed tires and had the speed again, I just had to get the track position back and we were able to do that. I’m happy with a second-place (finish). This is the first time I’ve been happy with a second-place but when I come to a road course like this, that’s definitely the first time I’ve been excited.”

What did you learn from Marcos Ambrose in today’s race?

“A lot. You follow someone like that and you can learn a lot. Any of these guys, when you come to a place like this you follow them and really learn a lot. I could see where I was getting beat. I get beat a lot in (turn) two in the beginning of the race and I felt like by the end I was maintaining — maybe still losing a little bit but I felt like I was closer. That was somewhere that I’m struggling a lot in the Cup car.

Marcos (Ambrose) was pretty good through the bus stop to start. Just watching the line, the curbs he hits, when he hits them, the speed he carries — I definitely learned a lot. I picked up the most through there and was able to be pretty good by the end of the race there. We were good about everywhere except for the Carousel. I got my butt handed to me every time I went through there by everybody. That’s our biggest problem that we have to work on.”

Kyle Busch No.18 Combos Toyota Camry - Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 5th

Did you think you had a race-winning car today?

“We had a really good car. The Combos Camry was fast. Marcos (Ambrose) got by me in traffic a little bit there and I tried keeping up with him and I was just getting too tight. We wanted to make an adjustment and we did that, but we overstepped it. We went too far. I just got so loose at the end of the race I couldn’t get into the corners or off the corners. I didn’t have the side bite to lean against through the corner. Overall, a good day. It was a good performance. It keeps us up there in the owner’s points and we’ll take it on to next week.

Did the adjustments on the final pit stop hurt your car?

“We made some adjustments there on the last stop, and unfortunately, we jumped it. We went too far. We just wanted to make it turn a little bit better. I felt like he (Marcos Ambrose) was beating me through the Carousel. We raised the track bar and just killed our side bite.

I just slid backward from there. Just way too loose at the end of the race. But the guys on this Combos Camry gave me a great racecar to probably win the race. I made a mistake in lapped traffic and he (Ambrose) got by us, but after that we still felt like we had a good car to try to race with him and beat him, but we overstepped the adjustment.”

Jacques Villeneuve (Photo Credit: Jason Smith / Getty Images for NASCAR)

Finishing Position: 8th

“Today was really fun. We tried a different pit strategy, and it didn’t quite work out which made our day challenging. We had a loose car during qualifying and we thought it would tighten up during the race, but unfortunately it did not. I feel we had a car that was better than eighth place, but due to some brake issues I had to be conservative during the race, and we lost a lot of time trying to overtake cars. I’d like to thank Braun Racing and Dollar General for giving me the opportunity to race at Watkins Glen. I’m looking forward to being back in the car at Montreal in just a few weeks.”

STEVE WALLACE, No. 66 5-hour Energy Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing

Finishing Position: 9th

Tayler Malsam

Finishing Position: 12th

How was your race today?

“Today went great for us. We were tight in the beginning, but Stewart loosened me up and we were good from there on. We stayed out of trouble and got a good finish for it. I was able to learn a lot at a track I had never been to, and bring home a good finish for Iron Horse Jeans. I’m really proud of all the guys, we had great stops all night, which really helped us a lot.”

BRIAN SCOTT, No. 11 AccuDoc Solutions Toyota Camry, Braun Racing

Finishing Position: 13th

MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 15 Germain.com Toyota Camry, Germain Racing

Finishing Position: 19th

Trevor Bayne

Finishing Position: 29th

What happened to take you out of the race?

“The track closed off. The 38 (Jason Leffler) bounced off the guardrail and got us. I saw the 16 (Colin Braun) spinning forever and I tried to check up and there cars all behind us so I veered to the left and as soon as I did the 38 bounced off the guardrail and caught us in the left rear, spun us around, put us in the guardrail.

No where for any body to go. I told somebody earlier that I could’ve let go of the steering wheel and had about the same chance of getting through the crash because there was no way you could do anything to get through it no matter what you did. I hate it for this Out! Pet Care Toyota, but we’ll see if we can get back out on the track.”

Brendan Gaughan - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood / Getty Images for NASCAR

Finishing Position: 30th

What happened to take you out of the race?

“We were back in the top-20, going to start going forward and got on the very bottom where I figured out Camry would be safe. I’m like, ‘Alright, on the bottom will be okay.’ I saw everybody spin and I saw the commotion happen. I got stopped and in this sport spotters are a big deal, man. I got just pounded from behind, pushed way into it and put Boris (Said) up on my hood.

I think somebody hit Tony Raines even harder and put him into me. The Toyota Camry was still running, but I guess we locked the oil line off of it. It’s a points thing. I see the 99 (Carl Edwards) here and the 38 (Jason Leffler). That’s all top-10 in points, man. I’ve got to
get out there and get some laps and stay there.”

Jason Leffler

Finishing Position: 35th

What happened to take you out of the race?

“I got wide off of turn one there and the 16 (Colin Braun) car just didn’t let me back in. I was almost out of pavement and eased over and he was still there and clipped me in the right-front and that sent me into the wall. You don’t do that because you’re going to take out a bunch of cars and he did.

It’s part of it, but I feel bad for everybody else involved. I’ll take the blame because I was off the track, but you’ve got to let somebody in especially 20 laps into the race. It’s a give and take, you know. It’s not the last lap so it’s a shame. I feel bad for everybody else and my team and everybody. I’m a little disappointed. I’ve been in a lot of wrecks it seems like with him this year. It gets a little disappointing after a while.”

- Toyota Motorsports Press Release