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PRESS RELEASE
TOYOTA Kansas NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Post Race Notes & Quotes
TOYOTA Motorsports Press Release
TOYOTA NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS)
Race Notes & Quotes
Kansas Speedway -- April 26, 2008
Tundra drivers Johnny Benson (fourth) and Mike Skinner (fifth) had top-five finishes in the 250-mile race at Kansas.
Scott Speed (eighth) and Ted Musgrave (10th) also had top-10 finishes, placing four Tundras in the top-10 Saturday.
Other Tundra drivers in the field included Justin Marks (11th), Shane Sieg (18th), Terry Cook (19th), David Starr
(27th) and Marc Mitchell (31st)
Todd Bodine (23rd) was running in the second position with 10 laps to go when he was in an accident in turn 4.
In 49 starts this season, the Tundra contingent has registered three wins (Kyle Busch at California and Atlanta and
Bodine at Daytona), 13 top-five finishes, 23 top-10 finishes and led 269 of 750 laps.
JOHNNY BENSON, No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra, Bill Davis Racing
Finished: 4th
Were you facing a fuel mileage finish today?
"Obviously here at the end the caution was good for fuel aspect of it. It was fine as I didn't care if it went green or not.
We were about fourth best and the Harvick boys pretty much had stomped today. I'm really happy with our Toyota
Tundra and we'll move onto the next race."
MIKE SKINNER, No. 5 Toyota Tundra, Bill Davis Racing
Finished: 5th
Were you rallying for a top-five finish today?
"Yeah our Tundra was really, really good and we had two things happen in the pits. We had a little mishap with the jack
and then the clutch went out all by itself and got a mind of its own. I had it in -- it's a hydraulic clutch and something is
wrong in the hydraulics and the truck just drove off the jack there.
That messed us up there pretty bad. We didn't have
nearly as good of a truck as the 33 (Ron Hornaday Jr) or the 2 (Jack Sprague). We were about equal with the 6 (Colin
Braun). We'll take a top-five from where we had to come from. It was a good day and we'll just keep working trying to
get stronger. I just want to say thanks to Toyota Tundra and all the people that help us with this truck."
SCOTT SPEED, No. 22 Red Bull Toyota Tundra, Bill Davis Racing
Finished: 8th
How was your race?
"It was a very huge learning experience. We had a great opportunity to learn. We certainly had a top-10 truck, even with
all the penalties we still ended up coming back in that same spot. It was a lot of good practice passing trucks out there and
running with the guys at the top end of the field. It was definitely very informative."
What happened when you were black flagged twice?
"One of them was what I thought the rule was for passing people is not NASCAR's rule for passing people. You're not
allowed to pass the back of the car and I thought it was the front end. That was what the first black flag was for. The
second one was because I was a bit confused on how to let the cars by me coming into the pits so I tried to stay on the
apron and on the race track and I was too busy trying not to get in anyone's way on the race track and missed my braking
mark and came too hot into the pits."
TED MUSGRAVE, No. 59 Team ASE/Harris Trucking Toyota Tundra, HT Motorsports
Finished: 10th
Did you have a different race strategy here at Kansas?
"We tried the coil bind setup here for the first time and we were off a little bit. The thing with that type of setup is that
when you're on, you are great. When you're the slightest bit off, you might as well be a mile off. But we never gave up
and brought it home in the top-10. We need to get out and do some testing, that's what it's going to take to figure it out.
Once we get it figured out we'll be able to fight for some top-fives instead of working for a top-10."
JUSTIN MARKS, No. 9 V Foundation Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing
Finished: 11th
SHANE SIEG, No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finished: 18th
TERRY COOK, No. 60 AustinSpeaks.org/Wyler Racing Toyota Tundra, Wyler Racing
Finished: 19th
What happened to your Tundra?
"We broke a piston or something in the engine. The guys did a great job today, but it was something outside of our
control. We had a small problem on pit road and had to go to the tail end of the longest line, and John Quinn (crew chief)
changed our pit strategy and it really paid off. For the first time racing with a new crew chief, we were running in the top-
five with seven laps to go, so I would say there are definitely some positives to take away from today. I have a rule -- you
can complain about a bad day until midnight and then you have to move on and forget about it. So, we'll complain about
our bad luck until midnight and then we're focused on getting to Charlotte."
TODD BODINE, No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing
Finished: 23rd
You were running strong in the second position, what happened?
"I guess I can take the blame because I should have known better than to try to race with Bobby East like that. He waved
me by and he was trying to let me by he just turned in the corner too soon. I don't know. I'd like to call it a racing accident
but you can't. One of us screwed up -- I don't know which one. That's a shame because we had second locked up for sure
and right there we were gaining back on Ron (Hornaday) a little bit. The Lumber Liquidators Tundra was running good."
DAVID STARR, No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finished: 27th
What happened to your Tundra out there?
"I knew we were a little bit on older tires and (Ron) Hornaday was the class of the field. He got a run on the outside of me
and I got free. I had to get out of the gas and it just killed my momentum. I think everybody behind me had a full head of
steam. I guess the 30 (Todd Bodine) got by me on the inside so I kind of ran into the corner on the outside. There was
another truck behind the 30 that got a run on me and I tried to stay on the outside to build my momentum back up. I guess
that third truck got loose, came up into me and ended our day.
I'm proud of my Red Horse Racing guys, they did an
awesome job today. Our mile and a half program is getting better and I'm really excited about that. It's just a shame
because I thought we would have had a top-five or a sixth or seventh with a good finish today but it's not going to be. We
got a lot to be thankful for because our truck is running strong. We'll keep our chins up and keep digging."
What happened earlier in the race between you and the 15 truck?
"I'm not sure. They just said inside because there were some trucks on the inside of me. I just stayed up on the outside
because they said four wide so there was no way I could turn. I don't know. I stayed up real high and somebody got into
my left rear and we almost wrecked then the caution came out and I guess the 15 (Marc Mitchell) wrecked. I gave him all
the room and never turned down into anybody. I guess it's one of those racing things and somebody didn't make it out of
that. It definitely wasn't anybody's fault. There's nothing I could do about that -- we just stayed up high and got a little bit
of it and were lucky we didn't wreck."
MARC MITCHELL, No. 15 Ergon, Inc. Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finished: 31st
What took you out of the race?
"This Ergon team worked their butts off all weekend. We went from 23rd in practice to qualifying fifth. It's unreal how
hard these guys are working to make this truck right. We had it figured for the race and we were running third at about
halfway through the race. For a rookie, I'm on my fourth race and I think that's a pretty good job. I can't thank Ergon
enough and Billy Ballew enough. It's just a tough deal when somebody wants to make it four wide halfway through the
race. I know Tom DeLouch, the owner of that truck (No. 11 of David Starr), and he doesn't want to race like that --
hopefully he'll give his owner a talking to."
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