Toyota NASCAR NSCS, NXS & NCWTS

March 1, 2015

HAMPTON, GA. (March 1, 2015) -- Camry driver Matt Kenseth claimed a fifth-place result at Atlanta Motor Speedway to finish as the highest-ranking Toyota in Sunday’s rain-delayed NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS), while Tundra driver Matt Crafton was victorious in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event to tally Toyota’s best finish on the weekend across three NASCAR national touring series races.

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series

Kenseth rallied to a fifth-place finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) contest at Atlanta Motor Speedway after starting among the rear of the field.

After Kenseth’s Camry team was unable to clear inspection in time for Friday’s qualifying session, the 2003 NSCS champion was relegated to the 36th starting position for Sunday’s event. However, Kenseth soon shot through the field and worked his way to the front where he led 10 laps over two stints. In the race’s waning laps, Kenseth and his Camry team opted to remain on the 1.54-mil circuit when others pitted to gain track position and he was able to race with the leaders for a fifth-place.

In addition to Kenseth’s laps led, Camry drivers Brett Moffitt and Clint Bowyer also led a lap in the event and finished eighth and 24th, respectively.

For Moffitt, who was filling in for Camry driver Brian Vickers, the eighth-place finish marked a career-best result for the 22-year-old driver in eight NSCS starts. Vickers is expected to return to his No. 55 Camry in next week’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

The NSCS returns to action next weekend in Las Vegas on Sunday, March 8.

Select Toyota NSCS Driver Quotes:

MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Dollar General Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Are you happy with your finish?
“Yeah, it’s good to finish fifth with the day we had. It was a massive struggle, so my whole Dollar General team did a great job on our Camry – some bad adjustments, some good adjustments. Nobody gave up and they kept working on it, did all kinds of stuff to it and then at the end there we just had to gamble and try to get some track position and hold on to what we could.”

Why did you struggle at times in today’s race?
“We were just off most the day – kind of on and off – and then there when we finally got our lap back to restart 12th or 13th with a few laps to go and we were trying to restart in the front and hold on to what we could and it turned out to be a good decision. We had that short run that kind of put a little bit of a cycle on their tires and evened us out a little bit, so it was a great finish for us today. It wasn’t necessarily a great run, but it was a great finish for us today.”

BRETT MOFFITT, No. 55 Aaron’s 60th Anniversary Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
How was your race?
“This is truly amazing. We showed good speed all weekend long. We just couldn’t bust off a quick lap on fresh tires and we kept adjusting on the car during the race. It wasn’t where we needed it to start and I kept learning how to be more aggressive on the restarts and use other people’s air to benefit me. I can’t thank Michael Waltrip Racing, Toyota and Aaron’s enough for this opportunity. Definitely learned a lot out there. Wish I could be in the car more often.”

What did you learn today?
“It’s a lot of little things. We can all go fast in a car by ourselves, but it’s racing around 42 other guys and keeping the car under control. Atlanta has a lot of tire fall off, so being able to run the majority of a run – 40, 50 laps – and still be good at the end paid off a lot. Our car had great speed and I can’t thank Aaron’s and Michael Waltrip Racing enough for this opportunity.”

CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Did your race go as planned?
“It didn’t, but we ran well. The guys are unbelievable on pit road. This is ARRIS’ home track. We had everybody here and we worked our way up towards the front and we had a cut tire there, so that set us back, but I’m really proud of the guys. They were super fast on pit road and nobody gave up, everybody stuck with it, we got the Lucky Dog. The car was just a little bit slow there at the end I think from my left rear damage.”

Was today’s race intense?
“It was a really intense race. Everybody was driving really hard. As tough as this package was to get close to cars, this track really responded well because you could run three or four wide, so it made it actually pretty fun. I had a good time and I just wish we could have got a better finish.”

Did you use the adjustable track bar?
“I was actually really pleased with the track bar adjustment stuff. I thought that was pretty fun and it worked for us – our Toyota responded to it. I didn’t think that would be much of a big deal, but it really was.”

DAVID RAGAN, No. 18 M&M’s Crispy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How was your first race in the No. 18 Camry?
“I was really thrilled. The first 100 laps of the race, our M&M’s Crispy Camry was fast, had speed and track position means a lot at any race and as we fell back a little bit and I think it was a snowball effect. We just really probably were a little behind on our adjustment and that’s probably just my inexperience with these guys and being a little timid on making a few adjustments. As the track rubbered up at the half way mark of the race, we were just way too loose, so we had to take some pretty big swings to get back, but I was happy at the end of the race. We had some good speed, but we had lost too much ground. All in all, a good weekend. We learned a lot, brought the car back in one piece, but we can run better than that. I felt like we had a good, solid top-10 car and things just didn’t shake out."

How do you feel moving forward?
“I’m very encouraged. Adam Stevens (crew chief) and these guys are great to work with. Our pit crew is outstanding and I think we made a bad selection on our pit box today – we couldn’t get out of our stall for anything. We’ve got some really good guys and so our first weekend – kind of knock the rust off all of us and I’ll be able to get back and debrief a little bit and hopefully have a little calmer week. These guys didn’t know who has going to drive the cars until Tuesday night. I think this week will go a lot smoother and looking forward to Las Vegas.”

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Ground Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What happened to cause your accident?
“I was right on the 19 (Carl Edwards) entering (turn) one and he checked up and if I didn’t move to the right, I was going to spin him out. I was going to run right in the back of him and when I moved to the right of him it put me right on the door of the 4 (Kevin Harvick) and I just sucked around and that was it. I apologize to all those cars involved, but it’s tough. I mean, we had a good FedEx Ground Toyota for most the day. Just lost the handle there on the last run and kind of put us in a spot where we hadn’t restarted all day and just got sucked around and got a little loose.”

Toyota NSCS Driver Finishing Positions -- at Atlanta Motor Speedway
1st, Jimmie Johnson
5th, MATT KENSETH
8th, BRETT MOFFIT
12th, CARL EDWARDS
18th, DAVID RAGAN
24th, CLINT BOWYER
34th, JJ YELEY
35th, JEB BURTON
38th, DENNY HAMLIN

Toyota Drivers in NSCS Point Standings -- following Atlanta Motor Speedway*
10th, CLINT BOWYER 37 points (30 points behind leader Joey Logano)
14th, CARL EDWARDS 54 points
15th, DAVID RAGAN 53 points
18th, MATT KENSETH 49 points
19th, DENNY HAMLIN 48 points
*unofficial point standings

2015 Toyota NSCS WINS: 0

Overall Toyota NSCS WINS (since 2007): 65

NASCAR XFINITY Series

Matt Kenseth (eighth) was the highest finishing Camry in Saturday afternoon’s NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Kenseth led three laps (of 163) during the event. As Kenseth came to pit road for a scheduled green flag stop in the closing segment of the race while running in a top-five, a caution flag few ultimately pinning him at the back of the field for the final laps. With passing at a premium, Kenseth was able to make it back to the eighth position when the checkered flag waved.

The NXS returns to action next weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 7.

Select Toyota NXS Driver Quotes:

MATT KENSETH, No. 20 Resers Main Street Bistro Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How difficult was it to pass?
“I don’t know why, this is the worst it’s ever been here since I’ve raced here to pass. Literally, there was a half a groove and if you missed that by a foot or two, there was just no other groove. The caution just fell after we pitted and had to do the lucky dog and started dead last. Just worked our way back to eighth or whatever. I just couldn’t really pass. I needed one more caution and one more shot at it.”

How strong was the car?
“I thought we had a top-three car most of the day with our Main Street Bistro Camry. Had to pit a little early and saw what Kevin (Harvick) did by pitting early – once he took the lead, nobody could catch him and pass him back. Just tried to make the call to make a few seconds up on those guys. The caution just came out at the wrong time. Once I got in the back, I don’t know why, but it was the hardest it’s ever been to pass here. We couldn’t get around anybody.”

Are the XFINITY cars closer to the Sprint Cup cars with the new rules package?
“I would say they’re more similar than they’ve been now that they took the horsepower out of the Sprint Cup car, but they’re still pretty different.”

ERIK JONES, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How was your race?
“It was just a long day overall with a lot of factors that went into it – really just started too tight. The Monster Energy Camry was good at the end. I just wish we could have been on the lead lap and in contention, so just unfortunate the way it worked out. I wish we could have been up there. I felt like we had a better car than that, but just a lot of things that weren’t going for us today. You can’t always have a great day at the race track, but we’ll come back and be better and be stronger next time.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 18 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How was today’s race?
“Man, like I said on the radio, the toughest race of my life so far. It’s just a difficult place. It’s a very, very difficult place. I’m really looking forward to the future because I take it as a challenge. It wasn’t bad – 14th place – but we have to keep learning and keep working. Every single time, we are getting more familiar with everyone on the team. I think it’s a decent finish.”

Toyota NXS Driver Finishing Positions -- at Atlanta Motor Speedway
1st, Kevin Harvick
8th, MATT KENSETH
13th, ERIK JONES
14th, DANIEL SUAREZ
19th, JJ YELEY
22nd, BLAKE KOCH
25th, MIKE BLISS
26th, DAVID STARR
28th, ERIC MCCLURE
35th, CALE CONLEY
39th, CARL LONG

Toyota Drivers in NXS Point Standings -- following Atlanta Motor Speedway*
6th, DAVID STARR 56 points (27 points behind leader Chris Buescher)
13th, BLAKE KOCH 46 points
15th, ERIC MCCLURE 43 points
20th, DANIEL SUAREZ 35 points
*unofficial point standings

2015 Toyota NXS WINS: 0

Overall Toyota NXS WINS (since 2007): 98

NASCAR Camping World Truck Series

Matt Crafton started 15th in the ThorSport Racing No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra and led 85 laps (of 130) en route to his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) win at the 1.5-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway. The back-to-back defending series champion took the checkered flag a dominating 8.752 seconds ahead of second-place Ty Dillon. The win marked the first for Toyota this season and the 25th in the last 31 NCWTS events.

Ben Kennedy tied his career-best finish of third after earning his first career pole for the 200-mile event. Tundra drivers Daniel Suarez (fourth), Johnny Sauter (sixth), Erik Jones (seventh) and Timothy Peters (ninth) also earned top-10 finishes in the race.

The NCWTS returns to action in three weeks at Virginia’s Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, March 28.

Select Toyota NCWTS Driver Quotes:

MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Fisher Nuts/Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
How strong was your Tundra?
“This Menards Toyota Tundra was fast, fast. I was really disappointed with qualifying, but it didn’t have a whole lot of single lap speed by itself. I knew once they dropped the green and this thing took off and ran three laps – I thought we had something for these boys and they were going to be in trouble.”

How special is it to win here in Atlanta?
“This is my favorite race track by far. You search and you move around so much – now that I have this win, it’s an amazing feeling. It’s all about these guys behind me. Everybody believing in me and never giving up. I have to thank Menards and Toyota.”

How were you able to stay ahead of the track changing with adjustments?
“We just tried to stay ahead of it. We knew when the sun started going down that the track was going to change quite a bit. I have had that race experience here before and got really, really free at night. We just kept tinkering away at it so whenever the sun did go down, we didn’t go away. We made all the right adjustments thanks to Junior (Joiner, crew chief) – I just feed it to him and he makes all the changes.”

Is it special to get a win this early in the season?
“It’s an awesome feeling to be able to come back here. We’ve been close a few different times here and finally got it. Our truck was very, very good. They kept trying to slow me down and I slowed down at some points, but right there at the end I just tried to make a statement and show them how fast this Menards Toyota Tundra was.”

What kind of momentum does this give you for the rest of the season?
“I’m super pumped. It’s all about these guys building fast trucks back in Sandusky, Ohio. I’m really looking forward to the rest of the season.”

CARL ‘JUNIOR’ JOINER, crew chief, No. 88 Fisher Nuts/Menards Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Did you expect the Tundra to be this strong when you unloaded on Friday?
“I felt pretty good about it. We made some really good adjustments and we had a couple different packages we brought. He (Matt Crafton) seemed to take to the second one better in the first practice. I was a little disappointed in qualifying, but just the way he drives this place and the hunger I see in his eyes when he showed up, it was a blessing and I’m just proud of all the guys back on our Scandinavian island up in Ohio. Our fleet of trucks is way better than we’ve ever had right now. I feel so good about everything going on up there. Duke and Rhonda (Thorson, team owners) give us everything we need. Just a good feeling. I remember watching the Atlanta Journal 500 when I was a kid and coming here – out of all the races that you want to win, you know Martinsville, here and Daytona is great, but this is it right here. This is where you showcase all your talents. There’s really no luck involved. Just straight raw skill, determination and just will – I’m proud of all my guys and Matt, he’s the real deal for sure.”

BEN KENNEDY, No. 11 Local Motors Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
How was the race tonight?
“We had a great run out there and we were really good on the long runs. The first couple laps around, it took us a little while to get going and ended up a little on the tight side there. I really learned a lot this weekend and a lot about Atlanta. I’ve never been here before and never seen the place. It was really cool coming here without any real past experience and being able to learn this race track. It has a lot of character to it and it’s a good time running around it. This is great, especially after last weekend at Daytona. We got in a couple incidents and to be able to come back and finish third – I couldn’t be any happier for everyone at Red Horse Racing. Scott Zipadelli (crew chief) worked his tail off coming in about a month or two ago and really got stuff going with us with Local Motors on board. Just really excited about it all around.”

How did you find out about getting the pole and are you looking forward to Martinsville?
“We were actually having a competition meeting and someone came in and told us that we got the pole. I thought we qualified second – I was more than happy with qualifying second. Someone just came in and pretty much notified us and we went out and took pictures and everything, which was really neat to get my first pole. A lot of people say it’s my second pole, but I didn’t officially get it at Daytona last year because it rained out qualifying and it went off practice speeds. It was really cool to get my first pole here at Atlanta and I’m looking forward to Martinsville. There is a little bit of a break, but that’s kind of grass roots racing – that’s what I grew up doing, short tracks, half-miles and such. I really like Martinsville, it’s a great track. It’s a lot of bumping and banging out there, but it’s fun. I’m ready to get back racing again.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 51 ARRIS Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Are you pleased with your finish?
“Yeah, I’m very happy. Everybody at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports), they put a great truck together – our ARRIS Toyota Tundra. It was a great day overall racing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series and racing in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series – a lot of seat time, so we were having a lot of fun. We had a pretty good battle with my friend Ben Kennedy. We had a lot of fun. Looking forward to keeping learning and keep working.”

What did you learn running two races today?
“A lot because, man, this thing – in the Tundra, there’s a lot aero going on. If you know how to play with the air, you can do a lot of things. When I was battling for the lead with the 88 (Matt Crafton), he was side drafting me and it was unbelievable. At one point, I thought I was clear and just because he did some side draft, he was already in front of me. There’s still a lot of things that I need to keep learning and keep working, but I really think that I’m with the right people – KBM, Joe Gibbs Racing, ARRIS, Toyota and Telcel – everyone is doing an awesome job working with me.”

JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 98 Nextant/Curb Records Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
How did you manage the significant adjustments to your Tundra?
Yeah, we just have always struggled here, so I don’t – this is as good a finish as I’ve ever had here. Man, wholesale changes during the race. I mean, we’re talking inches on the track bar and the pit stops were awesome all night long and we just raced the race track as best I could. I mean, it’s alright. It’s not what you want, but it’s a decent finish.”

ERIK JONES, No. 4 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
How was your race tonight?
“It seems like it was just not meant to be – we just didn’t have things go our way. We had a fast Tundra and one that I felt like definitely could have won the race. Just didn’t execute well and didn’t put ourselves in the right position. Unfortunately, we weren’t there. We had a great Tundra though – nothing to be ashamed of. We just weren’t in the right places at the right time.”

What did you learn from both races today?
“Obviously, Atlanta is kind of a different animal from a lot of mile-and-a-halves. I’m still trying to learn mile-and-a-halves myself. Just kind of figuring out what the truck wants over a run, what the transition is day to night – it’s so hard for me personally to dictate what’s going to change in the truck when it gets dark out. Just learned a lot today – a lot of laps, a lot of seat time. Learned a lot about racing in traffic on the XFINITY side and learned a lot on this side of just how to make the right adjustments and what we need from our Tundra. I tried to give as much info as I could back to Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) on the box and thought we were making the right calls, but unfortunately it just ended up being a little too tight at the end. I thought being snug was going to be the way to go and thinking it would free up, but just never seemed to.”

How difficult was the transition from asphalt to concrete on pit road?
“It wasn’t easy for sure – it was just kind of a rough position that we were in with being right in front of the 88 (Matt Crafton) as well as transitioning. First time was on me – I slipped through my pit box, but we raced back and made up from that. Then the second time, I don’t know what the 63 (Garrett Smithley) as doing. He wasn’t paying attention nor was his crew chief. Just pulled out in front of us and didn’t let us get in our box under a green flag stop, which really set us back. I feel like we could have been up in second at that point if we would have had a good stop and really got in our box well. That was pretty unfortunate, but definitely doesn’t take away from how fast our truck was.”

Toyota NCWTS Driver Finishing Positions -- at Atlanta Motor Speedway
1st, MATT CRAFTON
3rd, BEN KENNEDY
4th, DANIEL SUAREZ
6th, JOHNNY SAUTER
7th, ERIK JONES
9th, TIMOTHY PETERS
14th, CAMERON HAYLEY
16th, JUSTIN BOSTON

Toyota Drivers in NCWTS Point Standings -- following Atlanta Motor Speedway*
2nd, MATT CRAFTON 85 points (2 points behind leader Tyler Reddick)
3rd, ERIK JONES 80 points
4th, JOHNNY SAUTER 72 points
7th, BEN KENNEDY 58 points
11th, TIMOTHY PETERS 55 points
15th, CAMERON HAYLEY 51 points
18th, JUSTIN BOSTON 43 points
*unofficial point standings

2015 Toyota NCWTS WINS: 1 Crafton (1) – Atlanta (Feb. 28)

Overall Toyota NCWTS WINS (since 2007): 131