Saturday

Toyota NASCAR Nationwide Series Chicagoland Post Race Notes & Quotes

Toyota Motorsports

Chicagoland Speedway – July 9, 2010

- Kyle Busch won his seventh NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race of the season Friday night at Chicagoland
Speedway.

- Busch led the field four times for 110 (of 203) laps.

- Joey Logano (second), Brian Scott (career-best third), David Reutimann (fourth) and Jason Leffler (fifth) combined with
Busch to give Toyota a sweep of the top-five spots at the 1.5-mile oval.

- Camry driver Reed Sorenson finished eighth, placing all four Braun Racing cars in the top-10.

- Camry drivers Steve Wallace (12th), Michael Annett (14th), Brendan Gaughan (16th), Trevor Bayne (32nd) and Kevin
Lepage (37th) were also in the field.

- Camry drivers Busch (third), Logano (seventh), Wallace (eighth), Gaughan (ninth), Leffler (10th), Bayne (11th), Annett
(12th), Scott (14th) and Sorenson (15th) are in the top-15 in the unofficial NNS point standings after 18 of 35 races.

With this 37th win, Kyle Busch takes sole possession of second place on the all-time series wins list behind Mark Martin with 48. Here he celebrates in Victory Lane at Chicagoland Speedway. Photo Credit: Chris Trotman/Getty Images for NASCAR

Finishing Position: 1st

How difficult was tonight’s race?

“It wasn’t easy. We know we shouldn’t win. We had the track position when it mattered and the car got really, really tight on us. But, these guys never gave up. They knew I had it in me. I didn’t think I had it in me. It’s fun to race in the Nationwide Series. I love it. To win as many as we won and to be successful as JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) has been, it’s fun every week. It’s always cool to come out here and put on a good show.”

What were you thinking when you saw Brad Keselowski run out of fuel?

“I knew I couldn’t spin my tires and I knew I couldn’t let him force me too high because it was real dirty. That’s how I lost the lead to Joey (Logano) the first time, I thought I had a right rea r flat getting into (turn) one. And it was just marbles on the tires. So, I lost it there. I was able to keep it low enough to stay out of that, and stay in front — get to the front and get in front of Joey (Logano). Clean air and track position was a lot tonight. Got to thank the fans out there tonight. I don’t know if they didn’t appreciate the burn out or if there just ‘anybody but Busch’ fans — but they didn’t like it too much.”

What did you think when Brad Keselowski pulled off the race track?

“I was unsure of where I was supposed to start, first of all. They gave it to us and we restarted on the outside next to Joey (Logano). You know you just have to get a good restart at that point and be able to get up there next to him through (turns) one and two and try to hold him down a little bit and stay alongside him. We were able to do that and we were able to clear him through (turns) three and four. Our car was fast, man. It was fast when we unloaded it. It was one of the best cars here all weekend. I got up to0 high on that one restart when Joey (Logano) got by me. Thought I had a flat so I just wanted to be easy on it, but I could never catch him. I couldn’t get back to him. Clean air was really important, but it came to us right at the end and things sort of fell our way.”

Was it just clean air that allowed you to get past Joey Logano?

“I was just too tight behind him. When I’m out front I have all the air and can do whatever I want. I started running him down when I moved up. And then he moved up to get in front of me and blocked my air, so I had to try to go back to the bottom and see if I couldn’t get closer. I just kind of sold out five lengths behind him, I couldn’t get any closer than that, but our car was fast. It’s fun to come out here and race in the Nationwide Series. I love doing it, but it’s also fun when you have cars this good with JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and you can win.”

What does it mean to be second on the Nationwide Series career win list with 37 wins?

“It’s pretty awesome. It feels great to be able to be second right now to Mark Martin. I thought we were going to be second tonight to Joey (Logano), but we’ve got a lot ahead of us here. We can catch Mark (Martin) and hopefully we can do it next year. I don’t know. We’ll see.”

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

How was your team able to pull off tonight’s win?

“We were really pleased with the car right off the truck. It’s the same car we ran at Texas. It’s a great car every time we run it. We were just a little too free in qualifying. We started eighth but I think because we were free, it allowed us to move to the front really quick where most of those other guys were too tight at the start of the race. Out front you get in clean air and everything is beautiful. Once you lose clean air, then you realize that you didn’t keep up with the race track. That’s kind of what happened to us.

The track got away from us a little bit. You get such long green flag runs here that you don’t have a lot of opportunity to fix it so you’re kind of stuck once you make your adjustments. I felt like as many laps as we had on our tires, if the caution came out later, four tires was going to be the way to go. On a short run, three or four laps I don’t think it mattered but it worked out. It worked and we got the track position and once we got the position the four tires prevailed.”

Joey Logano - Photo Credit: Sam Greenwood / Getty Images for NASCAR

Finishing Position: 2nd

What happened on that final restart?

“Our run was okay. We were a second-place car most of the night. I felt like we got closer and closer, clean air was the biggest deal. Whoever had clean air was definitely going to be faster. We were able to get that clean air towards the end. It’s almost like a guarantee that a caution is going to come out. You know it’s going to happen with 10 (laps) to go if you have more than a five car length lead, you can almost promise that’s going to happen. Of course that happened and we took two tires, which worked for the first restart, and then a caution came out. I restarted on the bottom every time I was able to take the lead.

To me, I thought it was a no-brainer to start on the bottom again, except the 22 (Brad Keselowski) he ran out of gas or something on the outside. I’m not sure how that happened, how that lineup worked because third-place started third still and the whole line moved up. It was kind of a screwy situation that should have been the other way around. I was so committed to the bottom and Kyle (Busch) did a good job. He did what he was supposed to do. He drove into the turn and got me loose. He beat me. I’m embarrassed more than anything else.”

Would you have taken the inside lane if you knew you had to start alongside Kyle Busch?

“Most likely because I did it with him earlier in the race and I beat him and that’s how I got the lead there towards the end of the race. I probably would have done it. I’m sure his four tires probably helped him a little bit more than anything else. It’s a tough deal because last year I was kind of put in the same position in this race on the bottom. The bottom works so many times, you really want to keep trying it. Ran out, oh well.”

When did you realize that Kyle Busch was going to be restarting next to you on that final restart?

“I kind of had a plan either way. I didn’t know Kyle (Busch) was going to start next to me until into (turn) three when the 22 (Brad Keselowski) ran out of gas. The only thing that screwed me was I didn’t know how the lineup was supposed to work. I thought the 10 (David Reutimann) should have been second, I think it was the 10 that was third. I thought that would have, I thought everyone would have moved a spot if that didn’t happen. I had the same game plan either way.”

Brian Scott

Finishing Position: 3rd

How did tonight’s race go for you?

“We just had a really great AccuDoc Solution Toyota all night. What a great way to come back after a disappointing Daytona, making some changes in the team. How about the Braun (Racing) cars tonight. I think we had four cars in the top-eight. It was a lot of fun. Nationwide Insurance in this series is so awesome and it’s so much fun. We had a shot to win the race and that’s all you can ask for. This being a Dollar General race, which is a partner with Braun, just having a strong showing for the Braun cars and Dollar General, it was really fantastic to get my career best finish here. I just wish we could have won it.

In hindsight, I didn’t know there was going to be a caution there at the end and I was running the high side and we were fast enough. I started to fake to look at the outside with Kyle Busch making it three-wide at the white. I thought just get a good run off the corner and set him up in the next one because I was better in (turns) one and two. Unfortunately time ran out, but third-place is great. The Braun cars made up 50 percent of the top eight and that’s awesome. I have to thank Todd (Braun, owner) for giving me this opportunity. I hope that we made him happy this weekend.”

Are you satisfied with your race results tonight?

“The last couple weeks have been so disappointing because we knew we were capable of these top-fives. Making a shake up and having a first-time crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz calling the shots tonight, he did an awesome job. He got me track position when it counted and throughout the most part of the race when we were having a long green flag runs, we had a really good long green flag run car. We struggled a little bit right at the start of the run. We made adjustments when it looked like the race was going down to a shoot out. He made really good adjustments to our AccuDoc Solutions Toyota and away we went. We actually gained positions at the end where normally these Cup guys teach me something and I fall back a couple positions. I was able to get them and we actually had a shot at the win. What a way to come back from a disappointing Daytona.”

David Reutimann

Finishing Position: 4th

How was your race tonight?

“Everybody at Braun Racing did a tremendous job. This is the last race for Beringer tonight, we’re sure going to miss those
guys. I would have liked to get a win for them but it ended up being okay.”

Are you happy with your finish tonight?

“It ended up being pretty good. I have to find out on the rule. I’m a little disappointed with that. If you’re running third and the guy running second runs out of gas, I would think that you’d get a chance to line-up on the outside on the double-file restart. I may not understand the rule. I know when we get ready to go green on the initial start, if a car stalls out, everybody on the outside lane will move up. I don’t know. Either way we ended up running fourth. I had a car that should have ran the top-two or three. All in all it was a good night. Everybody at Braun Racing did a great job. It’s the last Nationwide race for me with these guys this year and that’s a bit of a disappointment. Thanks to Beringer for coming on board and giving me the opportunity. It ended up being a pretty decent race tonight.”

Jason Leffler

Finishing Position: 5th

How was your race tonight?

“It was pretty good to come from where we started. The car ran really good all night. To come home with fifth, I guess I’m happy about it. I wish I came home a little bit better but that’s the way it is. The guys did a great job all night and the Great Clips Camry was fast.”

What was your first race like with new crew chief Eddie Pardue on the pit box?

“Eddie (Pardue) does a great job. He has a great plan and keeps everything organized. He is pretty good with the wrenches, too. They tuned on this car. We had to really work hard all day to get this thing good in practice. Once the race started we never hardly touched it and it was good all night long. It was a good night for Braun Racing.”

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

Finishing Position: 8th

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

Finishing Position: 12th

MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 15 Pilot Travel Centers Toyota Camry, Germain Racing

Finishing Position: 14th

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

Finishing Position: 16th

TREVOR BAYNE, No. 99 Aaron’s Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Diamond-Waltrip Racing

Finishing Position: 32nd

KEVIN LEPAGE, No. 56 Race Day Sponsor Toyota Camry, Mac Hill Motorsports

Finishing Position: 37th

- Toyota Motorsports Press Release