Catchfence

No. 11 Shore Lodge Toyota (Brian Scott) - Photo Credit: Chris Graythen / Getty Images for NASCAR

Bashas’ Supermarkets 200 at Phoenix International Raceway

No. 11 Shore Lodge Team Notes of Interest

- Brian Scott will be looking for redemption after a disappointing first race as a member of the Joe Gibbs Racing organization. Scott was spun on lap 15 at Daytona International Speedway in the NASCAR Nationwide Series last weekend and was forced into the garage for repairs. Scott started from the 11th position, drafted his way into seventh but finished 34th in his Shore Lodge Toyota after the early race incident.

- Scott will be making his fourth start at Phoenix International Raceway this weekend in the Nationwide Series. Scott has top-20 finishes in all of his three starts including an 11th-place run in November of 2010. In addition to his three starts in the Nationwide Series, he also has three starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series where his best finish of fourth came in 2008.

- Scott, the runner up for the 2010 Nationwide Series rookie of the year, joins JGR following his first full season in the series where the 23-year-old tallied five top-10 and one top-five finish. The addition of the No. 11 team gives the JGR organization an opportunity to run for the series championship with the rule change this season. Following Daytona, Scott sits 23rd in the Nationwide driver standings. He joins teammates Kyle Busch in the No. 18 Toyota and Joey Logano in the No. 20 Toyota this season.

- Scott’s No. 11 team is headed up by crew chief Kevin Kidd who led Logano to two wins, eight poles and 24 top-10 finishes in just 25 starts last season. Several member of the No. 20 moved to the No. 11 with Kidd and will support Scott’s efforts this season.

- Scott, along with several other NASCAR Nationwide Series drivers, will sign for fans at Phoenix International Raceway on Saturday from 10:30 – 11:15 a.m. in the fan midway area behind the Bobby Allison grandstand.

- Former NASCAR Nationwide stand-out Tim Fedewa will be Scott’s “eye in the sky” for the 2011 season. Fedewa will guide Scott and the No. 11 Shore Lodge Toyota as they look for victory lane for the first time this season. Fedewa has four Nationwide Series wins and 66 top-10 finishes on his resume.

Brian Scott

“I’ve traditionally run well at short tracks and flat tracks, so Phoenix fits my driving style. Joe Gibbs Racing has a really good track record at Phoenix and that adds to my confidence going into this weekend. The keys to Phoenix are track position and a decent pit stall. It’s going to be important to have a good practice and a solid qualifying run. There has never been a green-flag stop in the Nationwide race at Phoenix because there are so many cautions. That also means that you usually see some sort of wreck during one of the many restarts, so you want to get up toward the front and stay there to avoid those kinds of situations.

“This is the last race on this track configuration. I’m excited about the new track because it will really help from a spotter’s standpoint with the pit road issues and the restarts. That will make the race easier for them to call, better for the drivers and should result in better racing for the fans

“Obviously last week was disappointing. So we will need to adjust our goals and objectives heading into the next three races. We need to focus on finishing the race first of all, but getting solid finishes. What we can’t do is try to overcompensate for Daytona. We still need to race hard but we need to be smart about it. We can’t afford to get ourselves in a deeper hole. If we can get top-10 finishes at Phoenix, Las Vegas and Bristol we can readjust our goals again.”

- Joe Gibbs Racing Press Release