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St. Louis: Toyota teams race quotes, notes

Mike Skinner won his second-consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race Saturday afternoon at Gateway International Raceway. Skinner led the final six (of 162) laps en route to victory lane. The win is Skinner's third of 2009, ...

Mike Skinner won his second-consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race Saturday afternoon at Gateway International Raceway. Skinner led the final six (of 162) laps en route to victory lane.

The win is Skinner's third of 2009, having won at Kansas (April 27) and last weekend at Iowa (Sept. 5).

Brian Scott (third), Aric Almirola (fourth) and Tayler Malsam (fifth) also posted top-five finishes for Toyota on Saturday at the 1.25-mile oval near St. Louis.

Tundra drivers Timothy Peters (seventh), Stacy Compton (eighth), Brian Ickler (15th), David Starr (16th), Todd Bodine (18th), Terry Cook (21st) and T.J. Bell (24th) were also in the field.

It is the fourth-straight NCWTS win for Toyota, the 10th victory of 2009 and 61st since joining series competition in 2004.

***

MIKE SKINNER, No. 5 PC Miler Navigator Toyota Tundra, Randy Moss Motorsports
Finishing Position: 1st

Can you talk about your race tonight? "I don't believe it. I'm usually end on the short side of that call with the 13 (Johnny Sauter) there. I was better than he was and he was doing his job. He did a good job. I guess we got by him on the wreck. I have to applaud NASCAR. Sometime we gotta stop being able to wreck the leader to win these races. Pretty soon, the last 20 laps, it's going to be the next guy wrecking the next guy. I chose not to wreck Ron (Hornaday) twice this year when I had the opportunity and I think today it came back and paid dividends."

***

BRIAN SCOTT, No. 16 Albertsons Toyota Tundra, Xpress Motorsports
Finishing Position: 3rd

Can you talk about your race today? "We had a wild race. We seemed to be in the middle of a lot of things. Unfortunately I did bring out that caution. I hate it for Stacy Compton. I just got loose. I was trying to do everything I could to save our truck and unfortunately he was on the receiving end. We just had an eventful day. We have just had an eventful weekend. We didn't unload well. We just tried everything we could to get the left-front coil binding to work. We just didn't pick up speed. With 30 minutes left in final practice, we just threw a conventional setup on but never got a chance to fine-tune it. We were lucky enough to have a good qualifying effort. We were just really tight off the corners the whole race. We made adjustments and got it better and pit strategy and other people wrecking got us up there. It was a sloppy third, but I'm really happy about it. It's about as good as we could've done."

***

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts/Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finishing Position: 4th

Can you talk about your race today? "We just weren't that good after the last pit stop. I wanted a track bar adjustment and it made is so loose. But, with all the wrecking in front of us, we didn't want to lose track position. All in all, it was a good top-five for this Billy Ballew Motorsports team. It was a good points day, so I'm happy for that and proud of these guys."

***

TAYLER MALSAM, No. 81 One Eighty Toyota Tundra, Randy Moss Motorsports
Finishing Position: 5th

Can you talk about your race today? "We just struggled all day getting this One Eighty Tundra up there. Doug (Wolcott, crew chief) and the guys did a good job putting me in position, and I just hung on as long as I could up there. I'm very proud of my guys. I'm very happy with how today went."

What were the late-race incidents like from your perspective? "We just kept avoiding them and got lucky. It seemed like nobody had patience today, and you have to have patience at a short track like this. It pays off with my teammate winning and us running fifth. We just hung in there all day and things paid off for both of us."

***

TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 17 Strutmasters Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 7th

Can you talk about your race today? "This is a great finish for our team this weekend. We struggled in practice but this team really came together and made some great changes overnight. We fought handling during the last race but were able to get another top-10 today. I'm proud of these guys for that."

***

STACY COMPTON, No. 60 SafeAuto Insurance Toyota Tundra, Wyler Racing
Finishing Position: 8th

Can you talk about the race today? "It was wild. It's like Martinsville all over again. A lot of trucks got torn up today. The fans definitely got their money worth. The SafeAuto Toyota was pretty good. It was awesome through (turns) one and two, but we just couldn't get through (turns) three and four. Then we got caught up in Ron's (Hornaday) deal right at the end. I knew we were just going to hold on after that. We came away okay. Not what we were hoping for, but any time you come away we with a top-10, we'll take it."

***

BRIAN ICKLER, No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports
Finishing Position: 15th

DAVID STARR, No. 24 Zachry Toyota Tundra, HT Motorsports
Finishing Position: 16th

***

TODD BODINE, No. 30 Ventrilo Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing
Finishing Position: 18th

Can you talk about the restart and incident with Matt Crafton? It's hard to get going when you have Chevrolets on each end of you and you're lacking 20 horsepower from what they got. That's right where it shows up -- on restarts. I tried to jump it a little bit. Held back from Ron (Hornaday) and jumped it. Matt (Crafton) got a good restart. I blocked him, no doubt about it. But how stupid do you have to be to turn somebody going in the corner with eight laps to go? There's no cure for stupid. This kid has done this crap his whole career. He's done it to Hornaday this year. He just did it to me. Hell, he wasn't up far enough to turn me. I can tell you, what goes around comes around. And this kid is gonna get turned. I'm telling you straight out. That's absolutely ridiculous right now."

Are you okay after the hard impact? "Yeah, I'm fine. I hate it for Colin (Braun) and Rick (Crawford). Colin had a good truck, he just got back a little on the pit stops. You know, there's no cure for stupid, and the kid's been that way his whole career and he's going to continue. The kid is second in points. What if he didn't clear me and turn me and he turned himself into the wall? Then he could be fourth in points. The kid doesn't think."

***

TERRY COOK, No. 25 Cajun Industries Toyota Tundra, HT Motorsports
Finishing Position: 21st

T.J. BELL, No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing
Finishing Position: 24th

-credit: toyota motorsports

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