Catchfence

Toyota Motorsports

Charlotte Motor Speedway – October 15, 2010

- Martin Truex Jr. (second) was the highest finishing Toyota in Friday night’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at
Charlotte Motor Speedway.

- Camry drivers Joey Logano (fourth), Kyle Busch (sixth) and Reed Sorenson (seventh) also earned top-10 finishes at the 1.5- mile oval.

- Four Toyota drivers led for a total of 120 (of 200) laps Friday night – Truex (20 laps), Logano (eight laps), Busch (84 laps) and James Buescher (eight laps).

- Other Toyota drivers in the field included Brendan Gaughan (11th), David Reutimann (12th), Jason Leffler (15th), Buescher (16th), Steve Wallace (29th), Michael Annett (36th), Ryan Truex (37th) and Kevin Lepage (38th).

- Seven Toyota drivers are in the top-15 in the unofficial NNS driver points following Charlotte — Busch (third), Logano
(seventh), Leffler (ninth), Wallace (10th), Gaughan (11th), Annett (12th) and Sorenson (13th).

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 00 Out! Pet Care Toyota Camry, Diamond-Waltrip Racing

Finished: 2nd

Did you have a car to beat Brad Keselowski toward the end of the race?

“He was a little bit better than us obviously there at the end on the long runs. Had a good race – had a lot of fun racing with him. I have to thank Out! Pet Care and everybody at DWR (Diamond-Waltrip Racing) for letting me run this Toyota. I have never been so disappointed to run second. It looked like if those last couple cautions hadn’t come out, we were going to be in good shape. Just a little too tight after that last run there. It’s a shame because on the green flag runs we were really fast and really just called off the adjustments and then we got too tight later. These guys did a great job – they’re a part time Camping World East team that won the championship so to run like this with them again for the second time is awesome and they do an awesome job. I can’t thank them enough. Just wish we could have done one stop better.”

Is this finish a confidence-booster for you?

“We come do this Nationwide deal for fun and running good is obviously a bonus. We’ve run good enough in the Cup car to run second a few times and it just didn’t work out for us. We ran second here in the All-Star Race here in the Cup car. I don’t know if it’s a confidence booster as much as it is about having fun and coming here to get a trophy. It’s been a while since I’ve won a race, to be honest. I feel like I’ve got a good opportunity to do that with this team this year in the 00 and the 99. I got two more races running it to do that and we’ll see what happens.”

What was your opinion of the new Nationwide Series car?

“I think the car is awesome. Honestly, I think they should adapt some of the rules to the Cup cars. I think the racing is great. Not having bump stops is a huge plus for the teams I think as far as saving a bit of money and making things a little less complicated and making the racing better. I think that’s something they could look at. Obviously our noses will be more towards that style next year in the Cup cars, which I think will be good. Overall I think the cars are awesome.

Obviously with looking at the qualifying times and how tight the field is, it definitely tightened the field up from what it was with the other cars when they would come here, which is a good thing. Obviously with all the Cup teams building new cars every two or three months, there’s a lot of cars and chassis’ out there for the smaller buck teams to be able to get and it really helps them be competitive with the body rules and the aero rules where everybody has to fit that template. It’s a big, big deal I think for the series and a big shot in the arm in a good way. I think it’s going to help the series coming down the road.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop / Guitar Hero Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finished: 4th

How did your final adjustments help your car toward the end of the race?

“We were hoping to make the car better and we just weren’t good enough. There were times we shined and times we got out front. I looked at us as a third-place car for most of the race. The two cars that weren’t leading the race the whole night ended up winning this thing. That’s crazy – they did a good job adjusting on the race car and got their stuff faster. We just kind of maintained all night and it was all about restarts. If you started on the bottom then you were pretty much screwed and it was hard to get back up there and have a decent run.

If you started on the top then you were able to get a couple spots. I figure if you started fourth then that was like starting second – that’s what I was figuring there. Either way, we’re better than what we were in Michigan with these new Nationwide cars and we got our GameStop Toyota a little bit better now. We’ll go back to work and we still have a little ways to go. We’re getting these things better and we’re getting closer now.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finished: 6th

JASON RATCLIFF, crew chief, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

What did you battle with the race car at the end of the race?

“We started good and led a lot of laps, but as the track changed and it started cooling off we were keeping up with it decent and then it just really got away from us in a hurry. We tried to make some adjustments and the adjustments didn’t react like we had hoped they would. It’s just part of learning this car. We made adjustments that we would have made with the other car that would have been the direction to go. With this car, it just wasn’t right. Either it wasn’t enough or it was the wrong adjustment – one or the other. We’re learning and I thought to start the race, it’s the best we had been with the new car. At the end of the race, we were back to where we were. It’s a building process and we’ll be better next time.”

REED SORENSON, No. 32 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Braun Racing

Finished: 7th

What is your assessment of the new Nationwide Series car?

“It was okay. It was about the same assessment as I had in Michigan, but they seem to be okay. They seem to be fun to race. We can run as much side-by-side racing as the old car, so it seems okay.”

How was your car tonight?

“We were loose. We were never tight. I think you can make it either way, just like the old car. You can make yourself where you’re tight and the other way around. It’s going to be a learning curve track to track, that’s the biggest thing. Trying to figure out what they’ll do. A lot of the places we will go next year are going to be new places with this car since we only ran four races with it this year. It will be interesting next year and we still have a lot to learn.”

BRENDAN GAUGHAN, No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing

Finished: 11th

How has your team adjusted to these new cars?

“We just need to get more time with the engineers with these cars and get the information. We are trying our best. The hard part is finding the time with the manpower. Every little bit we get shows and we’ve come since Daytona to Michigan to Richmond, we have come a long way. We had the chance at a top-10 tonight, but we ended up 11th. We just want to be better. For what we have at the moment, we’re pretty darn happy. We came from a lap down and green flag stops. It was a good night.”

How was your car tonight?

“It was pretty good. We were just a little too tight at some points with a little bit of a loose swing in it when you tried to pin to the bottom. Looking around, a lot of guys looked like that. Our Toyota is about the same as everybody else’s. We just need to get the front end to turn a little bit better without losing our rear grip.”

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 11 Rexall / Dollar General Toyota Camry, Braun Racing

Finished: 12th

JASON LEFFLER, No. 38 Great Clips Toyota Camry, Braun Racing

Finished: 15th

JAMES BUESCHER, No. 10 AccuDoc Solutions Toyota Camry, Braun Racing

Finished: 16th

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

Finished: 29th

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

Finished: 36th

RYAN TRUEX, No. 99 Out! Pet Care Toyota Camry, Diamond-Waltrip Racing

Finished: 37th

KEVIN LEPAGE, No. 56 RaceDaySponsor.com Toyota Camry, Mac Hill Motorsports

Finished: 38th

- Toyota Motorsports Press Release