TOYOTA TALK:
Toyota Motorsports Logo
• Texas Double-Sided for Denny
• Crew Chief Swaps at Joe Gibbs Racing
• Skinner and Bodine Like Texas Track
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS)
NEWS, NOTES & NUMBERS: Toyota Camry drivers have combined for 10 wins (Kyle Busch — Las Vegas, Bristol-1, Richmond and Bristol-2; Denny Hamlin — Pocono-2, Richmond-2 and Martinsville-2; David Reutimann — Charlotte; Joey Logano — New Hampshire; and Brian Vickers — Michigan-2), 39 top-fives and 70 top-10 finishes through 33 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) races this season … With three Chase races remaining this season, Hamlin is 11th in the standings and Vickers is in 12th-place … Dave Rogers takes over as the crew chief for Kyle Busch and the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) No. 18 Toyota this weekend … JGR will field a fourth car this weekend for David Gilliland … This weekend, Toyota’s ‘Start Something’ off-road course and the Toyota ‘PitPass’ display will be on-site for race fans.
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Has Texas been a ‘hit or miss’ track for you?
“It definitely has. It was a good track early in my career and then we’ve had a few wrecks in the Chase that has kind of hurt our average finish. I love going to Texas — it’s probably my favorite mile-and-a-half race track that we go to. Love the area there and I’ve got some family there. We always go there with our FedEx team pretty excited about our chances at that race track. I’ve led laps at that place before and been in contention. Especially with how far we’ve progressed on our big track program, I go there this time expecting to win. Each one of these Chase races we have a bit of confidence that we haven’t had in a long time, especially this late in the season.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How do you feel about Dave Rogers replacing Steve Addington as your crew chief?
“I love Steve (Addington). He’s been a great guy and a great leader with this team the last couple of years. He brought a lot to the table last year with the car coming in for his first full season of competition. This year, it just seems in the beginning of the year we were good again, but we sort of fell off a little bit and couldn’t keep up with the rest of the competition. We’re looking for some new, fresh ideas. Dave Rogers can bring those in and get us going. Joe and J.D. (Gibbs) are always looking for opportunities to make their organization better. They felt like this was a necessary change to make in order to get ready for 2010, so the 18 car can be capable of competing for the Chase and, of course, competing for the championship at the end of the year.”
NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS)
NEWS, NOTES & NUMBERS: Toyota Camry drivers have recorded 13 wins (Busch — California, Texas, Richmond, Nashville- 2, New Hampshire, St. Louis and Charlotte; Logano — Nashville-1, Kentucky, Chicagoland, Kansas and California; and Ambrose — Watkins Glen), 62 top-fives and 115 top-10 finishes through 32 NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) races this season … Busch leads the NNS point standings by 215 points over second-place Carl Edwards … Busch has won the last three NNS events at Texas … The Camrys of JGR teammates Busch and Logano will feature ‘WWE Smackdown vs. Raw’ video game paint schemes on Saturday … Four WWE stars will be at Texas, including Jerry ‘The King’ Lawler, R-Truth, Nikki and Brie Bella … Doug Hewitt will take over crew chief duties for the No. 20 entry with Dave Rogers moving to the Cup side … Jason Leffler and Kasey Kahne will sport matching Great Clips Camry paint schemes at Texas.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What is your goal for Texas on Saturday?
“We’re going to Texas trying to get four in a row and looking forward to that, seeing if we can achieve that feat. We know it’s going to be tough. The 18 car is going to have the Raw® paint scheme on it for WWE and everybody so it’s going to be exciting. Joey’s (Logano) going to be in the SmackDown® car so, hopefully between the Raw® and SmackDown® car we can see who can beat each other out. Joey seems to be doing the beating up on me, lately. But, hopefully, we can go back the other way one more time like we did at Loudon earlier this year.”
JOEY LOGANO, No. 20 GameStop Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What are your expectations for Texas?
“Racing in Texas always means a little more to me because GameStop’s headquarters is just down the road (in Grapevine, Texas) from the race track. We’ve had two great years and I couldn’t ask for a better sponsor. This year alone has been awesome with five wins — now we just need to keep that momentum going this weekend. Doug Hewitt is on board with us this week as crew chief, so we should not miss a beat. Doug and I worked together at the end of last year, including this race. I have all the confidence in him to give me what I need to win. That’s what we are all here to do.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS)
NEWS, NOTES & NUMBERS: In 22 NCWTS races in 2009, Toyota Tundra drivers have combined for 13 wins (Bodine — Daytona and Texas; Busch — California, Atlanta, Bristol, Chicagoland, New Hampshire and Talladega; Mike Skinner — Kansas, Iowa and Gateway; Brian Scott — Dover; and Timothy Peters — Martinsville-2), 58 top-fives and 119 top-10 finishes … Toyota clinched its fourth straight NCWTS manufacturer’s championship last weekend at Talladega Superspeedway … Bodine has more wins at Texas than any other driver with five … Copart will be the primary sponsor for Bodine’s Tundra for the final three races of the season … Busch has been victorious the last four times he’s raced the Billy Ballew Motorsports’ No. 51 Miccosukee Resort Tundra (Bristol, Chicagoland, New Hampshire and Talladega) and will look to continue his streak this weekend … Texas-native David Starr currently lives in Flower Mound, about six miles from the speedway, and has 10 top-10s at the Texas track … Tundra drivers will take part in a autograph session at the Toyota ‘PitPass’ display on Friday, Nov. 6 at 4 PM.
MIKE SKINNER, No. 5 Exide Toyota Tundra, Randy Moss Motorsports
How would you feel to finally win at Texas?
“Texas is definitely one of my top-three favorite race tracks on the whole circuit. The fans have been very, very supportive. Justin
Boots is there and we’ve been with Justin Boots since 1995. It’s amazing because I’ve never had a race track where I’ve ran as competitive, led as many laps, sat on as many poles, and not won a race as Texas. We had the Nationwide race won there before, we’ve ran awfully strong there in the Cup car and we’ve left in a helicopter a couple of times with right front tires blowing out at Texas. I got hurt badly at Texas, but it’s definitely one of my top-three favorite race tracks. Winning a race there would be like winning a race at Bristol for me.”
TODD BODINE, No. 30 Copart/PurpleHeartCars.org Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing
Why have you been so successful at Texas?
“We have confidence going to Texas Motor Speedway because we’ve had success there. But, it doesn’t guarantee success for this week or this race. We still have to give it that 110 percent effort like we do every week. If we don’t, we’re going to end up finishing eighth instead of seeing the Copart/PurpleHeartCars.org Tundra in victory lane. We have good trucks at Texas and it’s one of those tracks where you can’t lack in any area. It’s almost wide open all the way around, every lap, so you’ve got to have the truck set up to where it’s good and free, but you can’t have it too loose. You’ve got to have good track position so you’ve got to have great pit stops — you have to have it all.”
- Toyota Motorsports, Press Release