Toyota weekly tidbits 2009-07-28

TOYOTA TIDBITS -- July 27 - August 2, 2009

Here Are the Headlines:
Reutimann Concentrates on 'Chase'
Kyle Continues Nationwide Consecutive Top-Two Finishes
Rookie Returns Home to Iowa
Tundras Look for Back-to-Back Wins at Nashville

RACE REWIND: Brian Vickers (fifth) and David Reutimann (eighth) earned top-10 finishes in Sunday's NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. With 10 races remaining before the 'Chase' for the Sprint Cup begins, Reutimann moved into the 13th position in driver points with his top-10 result and is just one spot and 68 points shy of the 12th and final qualifying position for 'Chase' contention. Denny Hamlin is currently sixth in the point standings while Kyle Busch sits in the 14th position.

HAMLIN HAS HANDLE: Hamlin has been comfortable at Pocono Raceway since competing in his first NSCS race around the 2.5 mile Pennsylvania track. In his 2006 rookie season, Hamlin earned the pole and the win in both Cup races held at Pocono -- including his first career Cup Series victory (June 2006). Hamlin has tallied a total of four top-five results and five top-10 finishes in his seven career NSCS starts at Pocono.

HISTORY MAKER: Busch has a chance to make history in the NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) this weekend at Iowa Speedway. Busch has had eight consecutive top-two finishes, which is one short of the series record (nine) set by Jack Ingram in 1983. In the past eight races, Busch has visited victory lane at Nashville, New Hampshire, Gateway and the 24-year-old has recorded runner-up results at Kentucky, Milwaukee, Daytona, Chicagoland and O'Reilly Raceway Park (ORP).

STRONG START: Eighteen-year-old Trevor Bayne earned his first career NNS pole position in just his seventh series start Saturday at ORP. Bayne started from the front of the field and led the first 34 laps in the Michael Waltrip Racing No. 99 Camry. The Knoxville, Tenn.-native registered a seventh-place result, his first top-10 in the series.

NOT KYLE'S FIRST: The NNS event at Iowa Speedway will mark the first trip for the series to the .875-mile oval located outside Des Moines. However, it will not be the first visit to the track for Busch. The Las Vegas-native won the NASCAR Camping World East/West Series event in May at the track. He started from the pole and led 168 of 200 laps en route to the checkered flag.

HOMEGROWN: Nationwide Series rookie Michael Annett is looking forward to the series first trip to Iowa Speedway this weekend. Annett, a Des Moines, Iowa-native, spent his youth playing ice hockey in Iowa and advanced through the ranks to play for the AAA Team Illinois. At the age of 16, Annett was part of the team's 2002 Calgary Mac's AAA hockey tournament championship. He later joined the Waterloo (Iowa) Black Hawks in the U.S. Hockey League where he played through the 2005 season. During his brief racing career, Annett has two ARCA victories at Talladega (2007) and Daytona (2008). This year, Annett currently sits 15th in the NNS driver point standings and earned his best finishes to date (seventh) at Gateway and Kentucky.

WINNING WAYS: Two former Toyota drivers have won three NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) Toyota Tundra 200 races at Nashville Superspeedway. In 2005, Reutimann led 41 of 150 laps en route to victory lane in a Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Tundra. The following year, Johnny Benson captured the win in a Bill Davis Racing Tundra. In 2008, Benson returned to victory lane in 'Music City.'

-credit: toyota mototsports