Toyota: NASCAR Notes & Quotes

Denny Hamlin celebrates his June 2010 win at The Tricky Triangle

TOYOTA TIDBITS

POCONO SUITS HAMLIN: Only one NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) driver has been more successful at Pocono Raceway than Camry driver Denny Hamlin, and Jeff Gordon has been racing at the 2.5-mile triangular track twice as long. Hamlin has four Pocono winner's trophies – including two in a Camry (August 2009 and June 2010) and two from the first year he visited the Pennsylvania race track in 2006. In 18 Pocono starts, the 34-year-old driver has won almost 25 percent of the races he has entered at the ‘Tricky Triangle,' and has recorded nine top-five and 12 top-10 finishes at the track, however he's looking for his first win since the track was repaved in 2012.

Carl Edwards celebrates victory at Charlotte two weeks ago

CAMRY CHASERS: Three Camry drivers have secured spots in this year's Chase for the Sprint Cup championship. With his victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Carl Edwards joined his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammates Matt Kenseth (Bristol) and Hamlin (Martinsville) as Chase eligible drivers with wins this season. Michael Waltrip Racing (MWR) drivers Clint Bowyer (17th) and David Ragan (23rd) are also within reach of obtaining one of the top-16 Chase spots with 13 races left until the Chase cut-off.

TEXAS TUNDRA HOME: The Tundra is built less than 300 miles away from Texas Motor Speedway in San Antonio where the NCWTS will compete on Friday night. The Toyota Motor Manufacturing of Texas (TMMTX) production facility, opened in November of 2006, produces both the Tacoma and Tundra pickup trucks. The facility has about 2,000 Toyota team members, with an additional 2,000 people employed at on-site suppliers located at the facility. Toyota Motor Sales recently announced plans to relocate their U.S. headquarters to Plano, Texas.

NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry drivers Matt Kenseth (11th), Denny Hamlin (14th), Carl Edwards (16th) and Clint Bowyer (17th) currently rank in the top-20 in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) point standings … Camry drivers have three wins at the 2.5-mile Pocono race track, including two victories by Hamlin (2009 and 2010) and another by former Toyota driver Joey Logano (June 2012).

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How difficult is it to find a good setup in Pocono?

"It's one of the most challenging and really the hardest race track on our schedule before they paved it because of how bumpy it was and the multi-groove there and every corner was different. Now it's just become one of those new asphalt, hard tire race tracks where track position is total key and you have to have the fastest car. Really once you get out front there you can really do some work. It's just been tougher to pass ever since they repaved and really just try to do your best and qualify as well there as you can because you know that your task will be pretty tough if you qualify bad to get a good finish on Sunday."

Pocono has historically not been one of Kyle Busch's better tracks

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What has changed in your performance at Pocono in recent years?

"Pocono used to be a place I didn't look forward to going to, but lately I've been looking forward to it more than I used to. Adam (Stevens) seems to be able to catch on to places pretty quickly, but we also have our teammates to lean on with Denny (Hamlin) being so good there. We've used some of the baseline stuff from the 11 car in the past and tweaked it more to my liking. I think the repave set us back a bit – even Denny – but we had two top-10s there a few years ago and would like to turn those into top-fives and maybe have a shot at a win there. So far since I've been back this year, Adam, along with everyone on the M&M's Crispy team and JGR have done a good job of giving me solid race cars and it has given me plenty of confidence, even though the finishes haven't been as good as how we've run. We've been a top-five race team the last two weeks and that says a lot about this team and how hard they've worked."

Like Busch, Matt Kenseth has never won at Pocono

MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What makes Pocono such a challenging race track for you?

"Pocono has always been one of the most challenging race tracks on the circuit for me. I'm not sure that I've ever really gotten a great handle on that track yet, but I have some teammates that have run really well there in the past since I believe that both Denny (Hamlin) and Carl (Edwards) have won races. Those guys have run well there, so I try to lean on my teammates as much as possible as we prepare for this weekend in order to constantly improve at Pocono."

NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS): Camry drivers Daniel Suarez (10th), David Starr (12th) and JJ Yeley (14th) currently rank in the top-15 in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) point standings … The XFINITY Series will take the weekend off before returning to action at Michigan International Speedway on Saturday, June 13.

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Tundra driver Matt Crafton leads the series point standings by 11 points after six races … Erik Jones (third), Johnny Sauter (fourth), Timothy Peters (sixth) and Cameron Hayley (seventh) also currently rank in the top-10 for Toyota in the NCWTS point standings … Tundra drivers have 13 NCWTS victories at Texas –
the most wins by the manufacturer at any track in any NASCAR national series … Tundra drivers swept both NCWTS races at the 1.5-mile speedway last season with Crafton winning the June race and Kyle Busch capturing the checkered flag in November.

ERIK JONES, No. 4 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
How much has your confidence level risen on the intermediate tracks since your first start here at Texas a year ago?
"We've been to a lot of places since then and actually have some mile-and-a-half wins now. It's pretty wild, a year ago I came into this race not really knowing what to expect and now a year later I'm coming back with a ton of confidence. We've been in contention to win at all of the mile-and-a-half races this year and we've had really fast Tundras. I'm definitely excited about getting back to Texas after winning the XFINIY Series race there earlier this year – that definitely helps my confidence. Our No. 4 carries the ‘Built in Texas' logo on the bed top and it would be really cool to get a win this weekend for all the employees at the Toyota plant down the road in San Antonio who build the production model Tundras."

MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Rip It Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
How much do you enjoy racing at Texas?
"I always love to come to Texas and I think the trucks put on an awesome show. Last year, I got to put on the cowboy hat in victory lane and that was really cool. The track just keeps getting better and better with age. It's widening out and there are multiple grooves. It's a really fast track where handling is very important and historically this team really excels there."

TOYOTA DRIVER ROSTER – Pocono Raceway (NSCS)& Texas Motor Speedway (NCWTS)

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Denny Hamlin, No. 11 Camry
Clint Bowyer, No. 15 Camry
Kyle Busch, No. 18 Camry
Carl Edwards, No. 19 Camry
Matt Kenseth, No. 20 Camry
JJ Yeley, No. 23 Camry
Jeb Burton, No. 26 Camry
David Ragan, No. 55 Camry
Matt DiBenedetto, No. 83 Camry

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Erik Jones, No. 4 Tundra
Ben Kennedy, No. 11 Tundra
Cameron Hayley, No. 13 Tundra
Timothy Peters, No. 17 Tundra
Daniel Suarez, No. 51 Tundra
Justin Boston, No. 54 Tundra
Matt Crafton, No. 88 Tundra
Johnny Sauter, No. 98 Tundra

Toyota Racing