 |
PRESS RELEASE
Toyota, NASCAR Weekly Notes & Quotes - Lowe's Motor Speedway
Toyota Motorsports, Press Release
Upcoming Races:
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway:
• Friday, May 16, Qualifying for Sprint Showdown, 5:10 PM (ET) -- SPEED, PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128)
• Friday, May 16, Qualifying for Sprint All-Star Race, 6:15 PM (ET) -- SPEED, PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio
• Saturday, May 17, Sprint Showdown @ 7:30 PM (ET) -- SPEED, PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128)
• Saturday, May 17, Sprint All-Star Race @ 9:00 PM (ET) -- SPEED, PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128)
• Non-points Race
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) @ Lowe’s Motor Speedway:
• Friday, May 16, Qualifying, 3:35 PM (ET) -- SPEED, PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128)
• Friday, May 16, Race start @ 8:00 PM (ET) --SPEED, PRN and Sirius Satellite Radio (Ch. 128)
• Race 6 of 25
HISTORY HERE: This weekend’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star race for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) will be the
second time that Toyota Camrys have competed in the event at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in Charlotte. Last year two Camry
drivers competed in the race -- Dale Jarrett (12th) and Brian Vickers (13th). Five Camry drivers competed in the Sprint
Showdown attempting to finish in the top-two and transfer into the All-Star race -- Dave Blaney (fourth), Jeremy Mayfield
(eighth), AJ Allmendinger (15th), Michael Waltrip (20th) and David Reutimann (21st).
OUTLINING ELIGIBILITY: In order to be eligible to compete in the All-Star race, a NSCS driver must have won a race
in 2007 or 2008, finish in the top-two in the Sprint Showdown, or be voted in by the fans. Winners of the All-Star race from
the previous 10 years are also eligible, along with NSCS Champions from the past 10 years. Camry drivers eligible to
compete in this year’s All-Star race include Busch, Hamlin, Jarrett and Stewart. The NASCAR Sprint All-Star race is
divided into four segments of 25-laps with various requirements, before the final 25-lap segment where only green flag laps
are counted and the winner receives more than one million dollars.
ALL-STAR ATTACK: “You’d like to win every single one of them,” says Busch, about the NASCAR Sprint All-Star
race. “So far in the past couple years I’ve been running either first or second at the end of the third segment. Then they go
into the invert and you get back in traffic, and you get caught up in a wreck. That’s what happened to me two years in a
row. I think this year I’ll try to win the first two, and then I’ll sand bag in the third one and try to get myself positioned right
for the fourth one to try to win the thing.”
‘ALL-OUT’ ADVENTURE: “You definitely have to applaud NASCAR and those guys for doing such a good job of
promoting the All-Star race,” says Hamlin. “It seems like they do add a different element every year and that’s exciting for
us. It’s a lot of fun for the drivers -- kind of an ‘all-out’ deal. ”
TONY’S TAKE: “When I ran second to Terry Labonte (1999),” says Stewart, of his favorite All-Star race memory. “It
was my rookie season and we won the Showdown and that started us at the tail of the All-Star race. We battled Terry
Labonte for the win there and ended up finishing second. That’s definitely my highlight.”
DALE’S FINAL DELIVERY: Jarrett will make his final NSCS start in Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint All-Star race as he
pilots the No. 44 UPS Camry for one final time. “It’s just an opportunity to say goodbye to the fans,” says Jarrett. “The
fans that you see come to that All-Star event are the fans that really make up what this sport is about. This is really my
opportunity to get in front of a huge crowd in a place that means a lot to me.”
MORE HISTORY HERE: Friday night will be the fifth race for the Toyota Tundra at Lowe’s Motor Speedway in the
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS). In 2007, four Tundras earned top-10 finishes -- Allmendinger (second), Todd
Bodine (third), Ted Musgrave (fifth) and Mike Skinner (eighth). Skinner has also earned the NCTS pole at Lowe’s Motor
Speedway the past three seasons (2005 - 2007).
TUNDRA TRIUMPHS: Toyota Tundras have won three of five NCTS races this season. Bodine won the season-opener
at Daytona (2-15-08), followed by a pair of wins for Busch at California (2-23-08) and Atlanta (3-7-08). This season, 15
Tundra drivers have recorded 13 top-fives and 23 top-10 finishes in 49 starts, leading 270 laps.
TUNDRA TIME: Four Tundra drivers are currently in the top-10 in NCTS points after five of 25 races. Bodine is third,
71 points behind the current leader Ron Hornaday, Jr., Johnny Benson (fourth), Busch (sixth) and Ted Musgrave sits 10th in
the standings. Toyota Tundra drivers Skinner (11th), David Starr (12th), Terry Cook (14th) and Justin Marks (17th) are also
in the championship hunt.
TUNDRA TALK: Cook, Starr and Skinner spent last week speaking at the Southeast Toyota ‘Truck Champions’ business
meetings in the southeast. Cook (Charlotte), Starr (Atlanta) and Skinner (Orlando) spoke about their racing experiences, as
well as the importance of teamwork and overcoming adversity. The ‘Truck Champions’ are responsible for the marketing and
selling of the Toyota Tundra at dealerships throughout the southeast.
DARLINGTON DOMINANCE: Kyle Busch earned his third NSCS win of the 2008 season, and fourth for Toyota,
Saturday night at South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway. The 23-year-old Las Vegas-native became the youngest winner in
the history of the 58-year old track when he crossed the finish line first in his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) No. 18 M&M’s
Camry. Busch led a race-high 169 of 367 laps en route to his eighth NASCAR victory of the season -- three NSCS (Atlanta,
Talladega and Darlington), three NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) (Texas, Phoenix and Mexico City) and two NCTS
(California and Atlanta).
BLAZING BUSCH: “It’s pretty awesome,” said Busch about his Darlington win. “Darlington obviously showed again
that it is one of the hardest places to race-- always has been, and always will be. Even with the fresh asphalt this place is
tough. The Joe Gibbs Racing team did an awesome job. We’re going to go through a lot of tools this week fixing this
thing, but that’s okay. It’s an awesome win for us.”
TOP TOYOTAS: All 10 Toyota Camrys that started Saturday night’s NSCS race at Darlington were running at the race’s
finish. In addition to Busch’s win, other Camrys earning top-10 finishes included Denny Hamlin (seventh) and Blaney
(ninth), who made his way into the top-35 in owner points with his impressive run. Other Camrys in the field included
Reutimann (19th), Tony Stewart (21st), Waltrip (24th), Vickers (25th), J.J. Yeley (26th), Allmendinger (27th) and Michael
McDowell (28th).
BLANEY’S BACK: “It’s huge -- really huge,” said Blaney about getting back into the top-35 in NSCS owner points,
following the race. “You don’t want that struggle if you don’t have to. We put ourselves in that position. We just haven’t run
well. I’m just happy for the whole group. I have a really good, experienced group of guys and they deserve to run a lot better
than we’ve been running.”
POINTS PACE: Busch extended his lead in the NSCS point standings with his win at Darlington and is now 79 points
ahead of second-place, Jeff Burton. Other Camry drivers in the top-20 in the NSCS point standings include Hamlin
(fourth), Stewart (eighth) and Vickers (17th).
TESTING TALK: Last week (May 5 and 6), the NSCS Camry drivers were able to get a feel for Lowe’s Motor Speedway
during a two-day test session following the Richmond race weekend. All 10 Toyota Camrys participated in the session and
were able to learn about their cars in preparation for the two weeks of racing in Charlotte. Allmendinger posted the fastest
overall time in a Camry and was fourth among all the drivers participating, and Busch turned the eighth fastest lap among
the field and second-best among Toyota drivers.
SMOOTH SWITCH: “I’m really extremely happy with what Toyota has given us and the transition that we’ve had there,”
said Hamlin, about Joe Gibbs Racing switching to Toyota this season. “It’s been pretty seamless for us all year long.
They’ve (Toyota) been a huge factor in our performance and we feel like we’ve kind of worked hand-in-hand. I think
we’ve made Toyota better, as well as Toyota has made us better.”
TRIUMPHANT TONY: Stewart earned his fourth NNS win of the season and eighth for Toyota in Friday night’s NNS
race at Darlington Raceway. The win marked the first-ever for Stewart at Darlington -- just two weeks after his first career
triumph at Talladega Superspeedway (4-26-08). “At the start of this year there were still four tracks that I hadn’t won at,”
said Stewart, following the race. “It was California, Las Vegas, Talladega and here (Darlington). Thanks to Dave (Rogers,
crew chief) and the guys on the 20 car on the Nationwide side, we’ve conquered three of those four and should’ve won the
fifth one, but I’m not going to be greedy.”
FOUR SCORE IN TOP-10: Four Camrys earned top-10 finishes at Darlington. In addition to Stewart’s win, other
Camrys in the top-10 included Reutimann (third), Bodine (fourth) and Jason Leffler (ninth). Other Camrys in the field
included Mike Wallace (25th) and Busch (31st).
SERIES SUCCESS: Camry drivers have won eight of the first 12 NNS races this season, including the last six in a row.
In addition to Hamlin’s victory at Richmond and Busch’s three wins, Stewart also has four NNS checkered flags this
season: at Daytona (2-16-08), California (2-25-08), Talladega (4-26-08) and Darlington (5-9-08). Toyota now has 10
victories in 47 NNS races since joining the series at the beginning of the 2007 season.
STANDINGS SUCCESS: Busch moved to second in the current NNS point standings, now 112 points behind leader Clint
Bowyer. Camry drivers Reutimann (fourth), Leffler (eighth) and Mike Wallace (ninth) are also in the top-10 in points after
12 of 35 races. NNS drivers will enjoy a weekend off before running at Lowe’s Motor Speedway next Saturday (May 24).
MANUFACTURER’S MATH: Following Toyota’s fourth NSCS win of the 2008 season and eighth win of the NNS season,
Toyota has made it to the top spot in the 2008 manufacturers’ championship point standings in all three major NASCAR
series. Toyota is one-point ahead of Chevrolet in NSCS, a 10-point advantage over Chevrolet in NNS, and a four-point lead
over Chevrolet in NCTS.
This Press Release and any images that are used,
are used with permission. Do not duplicate or
redistribute in any form without permission or credit.
00097
|
|
