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Dover II: Toyota Motorsports preview

NEWS, NOTES & NUMBERS: This year, Toyota drivers have combined for 10 wins, 31 top-five results, 61 top-10 finishes and five poles after 27 of 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) races ... Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin will each make their 100th NSCS ...

NEWS, NOTES & NUMBERS: This year, Toyota drivers have combined for 10 wins, 31 top-five results, 61 top-10 finishes and five poles after 27 of 36 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) races ... Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin will each make their 100th NSCS starts in a Camry at Dover ... Hamlin and Busch are currently competing in the'Chase for the Sprint Cup Championship' playoff ... Hamlin is first and Busch is fourth in the Chase standings ... Camry driver Martin Truex Jr. is from Mayetta, N.J. ... Truex hosted the third-annual Martin Truex Jr. Foundation Golf Tournament presented by NAPA on Wednesday at Sea Oaks Country Club in Little Egg Harbor Township, N.J. ... Ty Norris, vice president and general manager at Michael Waltrip Racing, grew up in Smyrna, Del., and graduated from Delaware State University ... 'Sponsafier 2' voting runs through Sept. 23.

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Interstate Batteries Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Why do you enjoy racing at Dover? "I like Dover. It's a place where I really like to go. I run well there in the trucks, the Nationwide cars, the Cup cars. It's a hard place to get around. It's a little bit treacherous and kind of tricky sometimes, especially the way the rubber is there and the way Goodyear brings tires in. We won there in the spring. I feel like we can go back there and kind of repeat that performance. We ran top-five most of the day and then made some really good changes towards the end of the race and got there to try to compete for the win and we beat Jimmie (Johnson) on pit road. There again, you can have a mistake on pit road, on the last pit stop during a green flag stop or something. There's so many different ways to lose these races that you have to keep your head on."

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Does your second-place finish at New Hampshire give you confidence going to Dover? "It gives me somewhat of a buffer at Dover. We all know how Dover is for me. We've just got to minimize a bad day again at Dover. That's our goal. You've got to set a number that you're satisfied with, and try to reach that goal at Dover. The good news is we finished fourth there in the spring, which is a heck of a lot better than 22nd and two laps down last year in the Chase race (at Dover). Just if we can get past Dover, we've got a lot of really good tracks for us."

What makes this year the best year for you to win the championship? "I think the biggest thing is we're competitive everywhere -- competitive as in we can win races everywhere. We've shown we can win races and that means we've been up front a lot during the course of this season. For as many wins as we've had, we've had second and third-place finishes as well. That means we've been up front a lot during the season and that's what it's going to take to win the championship -- a low average finish and making sure you have everything in line and prepared in case something does happen. Even if you have a bad race or two, if you consistently run in the top two to three positions every week and put yourself out there to possibly win a lot of races, I think you'll be a contender."

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 00 Aaron's Dream Machine Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing

Do you like racing at Dover? "I like Bristol a lot and Dover is a stretched out Bristol. It's a cool race track. I enjoy going there. I wish there were more race tracks on the circuit like that. It's fun and it's fast and we usually get around pretty good there. I think we'll be decent heading there and hopefully have a good run."

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 56 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing

Do you enjoy racing at Dover with it being close to your hometown in New Jersey? "It's a track that has been very good to me and my family. I won races there in both the Nationwide and Cup Series events. Back in May, I won the pole with my NAPA team and that was pretty cool. Now we want to get our first win there as a new team. Since the first time I took a lap on it, I have loved the place. When you find a track like that, it usually makes it easier to be good there. I like the fact that the concrete is very unforgiving. The speeds are high and the banking makes it intimidating. It's pretty fast. I find it to be a track that you really have to attack, but at the same time, respect that it is very unforgiving. You have to be willing to put it right there on the edge and have the discipline not to cross over it."

-source: toyota motorsports

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