TOYOTA NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS)
Post-Race Notes & Quotes
Iowa Speedway – August 1, 2009
- Kyle Busch (second) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver at the inaugural NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race
at Iowa Speedway on Saturday. He led three times for 84 of 250 laps
- Busch has had nine consecutive top-two finishes, which ties the series record set by Jack Ingram in 1983.
Camry drivers Jason Leffler (third), Kelly Bires (fifth) and Scott Lagasse, Jr. (ninth) also recorded top-10 finishes.
Des Moines-native Michael Annett finished 11th at his home track of Iowa Speedway.
- Toyota drivers Brad Coleman (13th), Trevor Bayne (26th), Brian Ickler (32nd) and Coleman Pressley (41st) were also
in the field.
- Busch maintains a 207 point lead in the unofficial NNS point standings over second-place Carl Edwards. Leffler
(fourth), Joey Logano (eighth), Lagasse, Jr. (12th) and Annett (15th) are also in the top-15 for Toyota.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Pizza Ranch Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
How would you describe that battle at the finish?
“It was a good battle, but the Pizza Ranch Toyota wasn’t good enough today, I guess or I wasn’t good enough , probably
me. We fought tight off all day and then there at the end we were loose off. I don’t know what to do to win these races.
Very, very disappointing, very, very frustrating and I guess I just come here to finish second in these deals.”
What do you think of the first Nationwide race at Iowa?
“It was a good race hopefully for the fans with (Brad) Keselowski and I battling it out there at the end. Unfortunately we
weren’t quite good enough there to beat him even though we came in and we took two tires. We thought we were going to
have what we needed in order to beat him but we were fighting tight all day, center off the corner and there at the last run I
was loose.
Apparently I don’t know what I need in my race cars in order to win these races at the end of them. It’s a
frustrating day. I really want to thank Pizza Ranch and Toyota, all the guys that worked on the car and worked awfully
hard to fix our problem all weekend but we were just never good enough really to keep up with the 88 (Brad Keselowski).
He passed us every run and took off and checked out. We knew we had a second-place car today but when you’re that
close and you have fresher tires than the other guy you should be able to beat him.”
What does it mean to tie the series record for most consecutive top-two finishes?
“I wish they were all first, that’d certainly be nice then we’d have broken another record – we’d have the most wins in a
single season. Man, I should be so grateful and so happy to finish second but I am not. When you finish second 12 times
in a year, I’m sorry guys, but when you finish second (this many) times it just gets to you and gets to you really, really bad
because there’s only one car in front of you that you needed to beat that day and you didn’t get the job done. Whether it’s
me, the car – I have no idea. I put all the pressure on myself to come out here and win these things, and when I don’t get
the job done I feel like I let my team down.”
Were you surprised Brad Keselowski was able to pass you at the end?
“Not really, I had been fighting tight center-off all day and we made an adjustment there on that final stop and we finally
got it loose. Then I was just loose, I was chattering the right rear of the last five, eight laps, whatever we had that last
restart. It was just a matter of time. He had such good drive off the corners and good turn-ability that he was just able to
have the best car out there today and I felt like the tires were going to be the right call to win the race and it looked like
they were.
If we could have went green the rest of the way I might have been able to hold him off. When you start on
fresh tires and go a whole run, (tires) are better than if you get a caution. When we got that caution it just brought his tires
back to my tires, so we were basically even after that. You go out there and you run eight laps, you come in and work on
your car, you go back out there and your car is fast for three or four laps. It’s the same if it was on new or old tires for the
first four laps. Tires were so hard today, I wasn’t a fan of them at all that I feel like that was a product of not better racing
than what we had here today, too was a hard tire.”
JASON LEFFLER, No. 38 Great Clips Toyota Camry, Braun Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd
What did you think about the number of cautions today?
“It’s just the way the rules package is. The way NASCAR has our motor package and all that, it’s just hard to pass because
no one has any horsepower. Until they fix that it’s going to be a lot of beating and banging of people running into each
other. We don’t have enough gear ratio or horsepower to get a pass done. You get underneath a guy and you get bound up
and you’re kind of just stuck alongside of him. So, really the only way to finish a pass is to drive it in harder than him and
that’s when you have the accidents.”
What do you think of think of Iowa Speedway?
“The track was awesome. It cleaned up, it got a lot wider than I thought it would. It was racy, if they do a few tweaks to
our cars we’re going to put on one whale of a show, even better than it was today. It’s really awesome, the atmosphere
with the fans and the people that run the track, it’s been a really great experience.”
How was your race?
“It was another solid finish for the Great Clips Camry. We started off really bad and Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) made a
couple big, huge adjustments and it paid off for us. We got up front with some help there and it just worked out. A top-
three, we’re happy with that. We’ll go on to Watkins Glen.”
What would you think if you could tie the series record for most consecutive top-twos in a season?
“If I was in (Kyle Busch’s) shoes, I’d probably be upset, really with as good as he is and as good as they run. They go out
there and win races. He’s right, you have one guy, all you have to do is beat one more guy so you’re really close. All in
all, I would take the season but I can understand where he’s coming from.”
KELLY BIRES, No. 10 Fraternal Order of Eagles Toyota Camry, Braun Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
How was your race?
“The Fraternal Order of Eagles Toyota Camry here was really good. We were good in practice, we worked on it and got a
good balance. We started off tight with the race, made good adjustments and the last run I actually got a little bit too loose
which kept us from running in the top-three. It was a solid top-five once we got our balance right and everything was
good. Everyone did a good job on pit road and I worked hard in the seat, they made great adjustments and all in all we
came home with a good top-five.”
How does it feel to be able to run this strong?
“It seems like every time we get to run the whole race we finish in the top five or top 10 this year. It’s only the third race
under my belt where we’ve done the full race this year so I guess we just have to get a couple more.”
SCOTT LAGASSE, JR., No. 11 America’s Incredible Pizza Company Toyota Camry, CJM Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 15 Northland Toyota Camry, Germain Racing
Finishing Position: 11th
What was it like racing near your hometown?
“It was great to pull off the finish we did after starting so far back in the field. I know a lot of family and friends were in
the stands supporting me, so I was excited to bring home the finish we did for my hardworking No. 15 team and Northland
Oil at my home track.”
BRAD COLEMAN, No. 20 BigSpot.com Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 13th
How was your race?
“I had a really good car all day. The BigSpot.com Toyota was really good. We were running in the top-five and
sometimes in the top-10, top-five all day. I went under the 32 (Brian Ickler) car and I got loose and I couldn’t save it and
wrecked us both. I feel bad because he didn’t deserve it but its racing. It’s happened to me before and I feel bad it
happened to him.”
Have you been able to learn a lot from racing in the JGR Nationwide program?
“I’m definitely learning some more patience. We haven’t had everything go our way this year. At Gateway we lost a
clutch and we finished fifth and that was the best race we’ve had with nothing going on. All the others we’ve either been
wrecked or something has happened. It’s been a good year, but it’s been a tough year at the same time.”
TREVOR BAYNE, No. 99 Michael Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 26th
BRIAN ICKLER, No. 32 Dollar General Stores Toyota Camry, Braun Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd
What happened to take you out of the race?
“We were alright. I thought we had a pretty good run there, we were cracking the top 10 and were pretty happy. I thought
we were going to get a good run for Dollar General here today. I got dumped by the 20 (Brad Coleman). I lost respect, or
never really had respect, so no big deal.”
COLEMAN PRESSLEY, No. 47 ConstructionJobs.com Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Finishing Position: 41st
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