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Phoenix: Toyota teams race notes, quotes

Kyle Busch (second) was the highest-finishing Toyota in Friday night's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Phoenix International Raceway. Aric Almirola (fifth), Mike Skinner (sixth), David Starr (eighth) and Justin Lofton (ninth) ...

Kyle Busch (second) was the highest-finishing Toyota in Friday night's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Phoenix International Raceway.

Aric Almirola (fifth), Mike Skinner (sixth), David Starr (eighth) and Justin Lofton (ninth) also posted top-10 results for Toyota at the one-mile race track.

Tundra drivers Todd Bodine (12th), Timothy Peters (13th), Tayler Malsam (18th), Steve Park (19th), Tom Hessert (31st), Jason White (32nd) and Butch Miller (36th) were also in the field.

Bodine clinched the NCWTS driver championship at Phoenix. He holds a 202-point advantage over Almirola (second) with one race remaining this season -- and 195 points being the maximum available in next weekend's series season finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

This is Bodine's second NCWTS title with Germain Racing and Toyota. He also won the 2006 NCWTS championship.

Other Toyota drivers in the top-10 of the unofficial NCWTS point standings include Peters (sixth), Skinner (eighth), Starr (ninth) and White (10th) after 24 of 25 races.

Kyle Busch Motorsports increased their lead over Germain Racing in the unofficial NCWTS owner standings to 120 points with one race remaining in 2010.

***

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 2nd

How was your race? "I don't know what the difference was there but the guys gave me a great Z-Line Designs Tundra tonight. It wasn't the best in the first run. We made a huge swing at it there and got it a lot better in the middle part of the race, then there at the end we just didn't have enough. The 2 (Clint Bowyer) was the class of the field tonight. It's unfortunate because they beat us here last year with (Kevin) Harvick driving. We had a great points night tonight. Obviously, there are two winners here with (Todd) Bodine and Clint (Bowyer), but maybe next week will be ours."

Are you satisfied with a second-place finish? "We were racing for the win. There in the beginning part of the race we just didn't have the Tundra we were looking for. In the middle part of the race we got a lot of adjustment built into it. Eric (Phillips, crew chief) did a great job getting it to where we could run in the lead and have a shot probably at winning the race, I thought. The last stop we made some more changes and just missed a little bit. Clint (Bowyer) was the class of the field tonight. He had a great truck. It's tough to get beat by those guys two years in a row but there's two winners here tonight in Todd (Bodine) and Clint (Bowyer) and hopefully next week will be our night. I can't thank Z-Line Designs and all the guys at FlexCo, and everyone at M&M's, Mars an d NOS Energy Drink. It was a great night for us here. Coming up second is disappointing but we know what the big picture is for next week."

What do you feel knowing you increased the owner's championship lead with one race to go? "We would have liked to have won the race but you take a good truck like this and you run second with it and beat the guys you're here to beat and we'll look to next week and try for a win there."

Does having a 120 point lead in the owner's title make you feel a little bit better? "It is what it is, we knew that running well, the points would take care of themselves and it's good to have that little bit of cushion going into next week granted nothing happens. We'll be looking at the banquet on Monday."

What does the likelihood of winning the owner's truck title mean? "It means a lot. Where we started this year and actually not having anything a year ago at this point and coming as far as we've come -- it means quite a bit to myself and to Eric Phillips (crew chief) and Rick Ren (general manager) and all the families that we have that work for us. All the dedication that they give and the time that they've put in this year. When we started, I remember -- I think it was December 1st Rick came on, he didn't start until December 7th because he decided he wanted a vacation before he got involved in starting a race team. We had three guys working for us up until Christmas and then after Christmas, from December 27th or whatever it was until New Years, we had about seven guys . Then we had 14 guys on January 5th. We came from nothing. We came from redoing trucks from Xpress that we could just get to the race track. We bought some assets from Roush Racing to get to the race track for Daytona. We knew that they had good restrictor plate trucks and we built a lot of our own new stuff. It's come a long ways and it's been a lot of hard work but yet there's still a lot more work to do in order to get fully funded for next year."

***

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 51 Billy Ballew Motorsports Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finishing Position: 5th

How was your race? "It was a good night for us. We fought really loose all night. We couldn't find a good balance for our truck. To have the truck not handle the way we wanted it to and come home with a fifth, I'm proud of that. I wanted to be better than that tonight. We've run really good here before and I'm just disappointed we didn't run any better than that."

Does a string of 12 top-10 finishes mean anything to you? "Nah, I'd rather win races."

***

DAVID STARR, No. 81 Toyota Tundra, Green Light Racing
Finishing Position: 8th

JUSTIN LOFTON, No. 7 visitPIT.com Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 9th

***

TODD BODINE, No. 30 Germain.com Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing
Finishing Position: 12th

How does it feel to be the 2010 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion? "Actually, I wish it felt better. That was such a terrible performance tonight. But, one night doesn't make a team. And Germain Racing has done a hell of a job all year -- so consistent every week. Once in a while you're going to slip and have nights like this, but we never gave up we kept digging the whole night. And Jr. (Mike Hillman Jr., crew chief) made some adjustments. It just wasn't there. I'm proud to be part of a race team that can do what we do every week and year after year. We've never finished out of the top-four in points. That says a lot about Jr. and the way he operates his team and his guys and all the guys that we have. Just a tremendous effort for five years now and to get number two is validation for number one. So, it's pretty special.

How special is it to be back on top with this team? "That's the deal. I mean, we didn't have a sponsor, but the Germain brothers decided last winter that we were going to race this 30 truck no matter what. They were going to come out of their pockets to make this happen knowing that we have a team that can go out and win races, run up front and win championships. They knew that they had that kind of team . They put that commitment, that trust in Jr. (Mike Hillman Jr., crew chief) and Sr. (Mike Hillman, general manager) and myself and all these guys that we can go out and get it done. So, for them to have Germain.com and Germain Motor Company on this truck -- that makes us proud. We had Valvoline on here four times this year and we were really proud to represent them -- they have been so good to our sport and been a great partner for Germain and Germain Racing."

***

MIKE SKINNER, No. 5 International Trucks/Monaco RV Toyota Tundra, Randy Moss Motorsports
Finishing Position: 6th

TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 13th

TAYLER MALSAM, No. 25 Exide Toyota Tundra, Randy Moss Motorsports
Finishing Position: 18th

STEVE PARK, No. 46 VanDyk Boiler Corp Toyota Tundra, Eddie Sharp Racing
Finishing Position: 19th

TOM HESSERT, No. 9 Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing
Finishing Position: 31st

JASON WHITE, No. 23 GunBroker.com/RMEF Toyota Tundra, Gun Broker Racing
Finishing Position: 32nd

BUTCH MILLER, No. 07 ASI Limited Toyota Tundra, Green Light Racing
Finishing Position: 36th

-source: toyota motorsports

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