Toyota teams race notes, quotes

Kyle Busch

Photo by: Action Sports Photography

* Camry driver Kyle Busch won Saturday's NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

* Busch led 268 (of 300) laps en route to victory lane.

* The victory was his second of the 2011 season, his 34th driving a Toyota, and his 45th overall win in the NNS.

* The Las Vegas-native also became the first driver in series history to lead more than 10,000 laps in NNS competition. Busch has now led 10,035 NNS laps.

* Camry drivers Joey Logano (fifth) also had a top-five finish in the race.

* Camry drivers Steve Wallace (11th), Brian Scott (12th), Kenny Wallace (17th), Ryan Truex (20th) and Michael Annett (24th) were also in the 300-lap race around the half-mile concrete oval.

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KYLE BUSCH, No.18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 1st

How does it feel to have led over 10,000 laps in the series? "It's big and anytime you're able to break any kind of series record with the likes of Sam Ard and all the guys that made this series what it is. Kevin Harvick in his heyday when he was really good -- just a couple years ago. Of course, Mark Martin in his time and all the guys -- (Larry) Pearson and (Tommy) Houston and all those boys. It's cool and I enjoy it. There's still plenty more time hopefully to make some more. You all keep making a big deal and Mark got one away from me, well I caught back up one today. There's still a few more before I get there, but I'm sure he's watching and we're hunting him down."

How was your race today? "It was all in the team. These guys gave me a great race car. We unloaded yesterday and played around a lot with different setups to see exactly what we wanted to put underneath this Z-Line Designs Camry and get it here to victory lane. It was a great effort by everybody and then when we put those tires on, it threw a new dynamic into the team or into the race actually and how you had to drive the cars and what you needed to do to get around here. I had to change a little bit and there were some guys there behind us that wanted to keep us honest. Kasey (Kahne) was coming there at the end a little bit. I just felt like those restarts were going to be pivotal there to get a jump out and get ahead."

Is the NNS win record something you are focused on earning? "No, it's not a big deal to me to be able to do that. I think it will be once it happens -- if it happens. Mark (Martin) and I, we have a little fun on the side egging each other on a little bit. I'm sure he's already sent me a text about it. I talked to him before the race in Vegas and I sent him a text after the race congratulating him on his win and said thanks for making it one more. He said, `Time is evident.' It's on my side, not his side. It's cool to have that, but I didn't think about it until there in victory lane I was talking about the pioneers of this sport with Sam Ard and (Tommy) Houston and those guys and then I mentioned Mark Martin's name and that reminded me of the win battle that we've got going on."

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JASON RATCLIFF, crew chief, No.18 Z-Line Designs Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Why is Kyle Busch so much better at Bristol? "He just does. I would like to think that we bring a good car here every time we show up and I would like to think that as the race goes on -- like we saw today, that even when we get off a little bit on our adjustments, we're able to rebound. I think we are. I'm surrounded by a great group of guys and that's a blessing and they just add -- I get the credit for it, but behind the scenes they just do a great job. I don't know what it is. It just fits his style and he adapts when things change. Like he mentioned, the new tire, he had to figure it out again -- had to hit the reset button and learn it all over. Then he's able to communicate that back to us so that we can make the right adjustments. I think a lot of guys just can't do that. They can be fast, but they can't adapt and communicate the way he does and you have to do that at a race track like this."

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JOEY LOGANO, No.20 GameStop Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 5th

Are you happy with your finish today? "This is the first race I ever finished here. So, after five years of trying I'm actually kind of excited about finishing one. We were too tight the whole time with the GameStop Toyota. We took off terrible and about 50 laps into a run it finally started going for me. We were just too late and would lose too much track position on restarts. Live and learn we'll come back next time."

Did changing tires after 25 laps have an impact? "It actually wasn't as big of a change as it was for the Cup tire when we changed in practice. I think we were so far off it didn't really matter anyway. We were just really tight and we weren't really able to get our car close enough. I'm happy with a fifth-place finish out of that. It's the first Bristol race I've ever finished."

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STEVE WALLACE, No.665-Hour Energy Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 11th

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BRIAN SCOTT, No.11 Shore Lodge Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing Finishing Position: 12th

Did changing tires after 25 laps have an impact? "It was a pretty big difference. It looked like a lot of teams calculated better for it than we did. A big portion of that is my fault, trying to decide what we need in the car and then what we were going to have when we put new tires on what's going to change. We just needed more opportunities to tune on it. That's the bottom line for our deal today. We needed chances to make it better. We needed to get that `lucky dog' at the end and the caution just didn't fall our way. All in all, we'll learn from today and come back here in the fall and I think we'll be a bit better."

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KENNY WALLACE, No.09 UNOH Toyota Camry, RAB Racing with Brack Maggard Finishing Position: 17th

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RYAN TRUEX, No.99 Pastrana-Waltrip Racing Toyota Camry, Pastrana-Waltrip Racing Finishing Position: 20th

What happened between yourself and Danica Patrick? "We were racing there for a while -- side-by-side. My car was really loose for about half the race. I just came off the corner dead sideways. I was either backing into the wall or going down the hill and hoping to save it. I came off and came up -- the right rear just almost hit the wall and came down to save it. She (Danica Patrick) was there and came down on her and pretty much ended her day. I feel bad about that. It wasn't on purpose and I'm sorry. I guess it's a racing deal -- it's Bristol, its tight and things like that happen. I definitely feel bad about it."

How was Camping World Truck Series driver Matt Crafton helping you in today's race? "He (Matt Crafton) was just hanging out in practice -- watching my line, watching the car. It's good to have somebody up there that knows what the car drives like and how they respond to different changes in setup. He can stand up there and watch it and see it go around the corner and say it looks like the right front, loose or anything whereas a crew chief or someone who doesn't race the cars all weekend can't exactly see -- they can see what it's doing, but they don't know what it drives like and they don't know how a car responds to different things it's doing. Somebody that knows what they're doing -- he's helped Travis Pastrana out this year so far and he's been a big help to him. He was a big help to me so I want to thank him for that. I also have my brother every weekend so that doesn't hurt either."

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MICHAEL ANNETT, No.62 Pilot Travel Centers/Flying J Toyota Camry, Rusty Wallace Racing Finishing Position: 24th

-source: toyota motorsports