Toyota Dover Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck SeriesDover International Speedway - June 2, 2006
THIS RACE: The AAA Insurance 200 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race at Dover International Speedway will be the seventh Craftsman Truck Series event at the track. There will be nine Toyota Tundras in the field at the Delaware 1.5-mile oval.
LAST RACE: In the most recent race of the 2006 NCTS season at Mansfield Motorsports Speedway (May 27), four Tundra drivers finished among the top-five. Toyota drivers Jack Sprague (second), David Starr (third), Johnny Benson (fourth) and Joey Miller (fifth) followed race-winner Ron Hornaday, Jr. to the checkered flag at the Ohio short-track.
JACK'S BEST: Jack Sprague's second-place finish at Mansfield in the No. 60 Con-Way Tundra was his best result of the year. "My truck was really good -- it was better than I thought it would be in the race," said Sprague, following the race. "It was hot and slippery -- which is what I needed -- but Ron (Hornaday) was just too good to catch."
IT'S MILLER TIME: Joey Miller, driver of the No. 12 Curb Records Tundra, earned a career-best fifth- place finish at Mansfield. " It feels really good to finish in the top-five," said Miller, who made only one early (lap 29) pit stop in the 250-lap event. "We started pretty far back because we didn't get a chance to qualify. We were playing catch up from the beginning and just trying to stay out of trouble." Miller made a smart move -- and avoided a penalty -- when he removed loose sheet metal from his truck by purposefully scraping the wall just before the halfway point in the race.
POINTS PACE: After the first seven races of the 2006 season, Toyota drivers hold down the top-six positions in the NCTS championship point standings. Todd Bodine sits atop the championship standings with 1,140 points. Trailing Bodine in the standings are second-place Ted Musgrave (1,120 points), third- place David Reutimann (1,034 points), fourth-place David Starr (948 points), fifth-place Johnny Benson (948 points) and sixth-place Jack Sprague (935 points).
LAST YEAR AT DOVER: A year ago at Dover, David Reutimann was the top finishing Toyota when he recorded a fifth-place result. Mike Skinner (10th) was the only other Tundra driver among the top -10.
ONE WIN AT DOVER: Ted Musgrave, who began driving the No. 9 Team ASE Tundra at the beginning of this season, captured the checkered flag in the 2002 Craftsman Truck Series race at Dover.
TED TALKS DOVER: "Dover is a really neat race track, but if you get in trouble you can hit awful hard there," says Musgrave, the 2005 Craftsman Truck Series champion. "People are racing each other, and you pretty much have to race the race track, too. If you get crossed up, it's hard to recover without getting in trouble. The track really tests your ability to either go 'brain dead' or be courageous -- I'm not sure which."
ANOTHER TED TAKE: "Dover is a 'flat-out' race track," adds Musgrave. "It's really hard on you as far as 'g-forces' and the speed. It's an awful fast place and a strenuous type of race, but I do like the track because you can run high in turns one and two and make a run on people."
ONE POLE AT DOVER: David Starr, who began driving the No. 11 Red Horse Racing Tundra at the beginning of this season, captured the pole position in last year's Craftsman Truck Series race at Dover.
TODD'S TAKE ON TRACK: "Dover is a pretty special place -- one that's close to my heart," says Todd Bodine, driver of the No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Tundra. "My first NASCAR speedway race was at Dover in the Busch Series in 1990. Then, my first NASCAR Busch win came at Dover in 1991. A couple of years after that (1993), I won both Busch races at the track. So, I have some pretty fond memories from Dover. It's a place where I have quite a bit of experience and where I've run well."
BODINE SAYS BE CAREFUL: "Dover is a place where I really enjoy racing," comments Bodine. "You have to be aggressive as a driver, but if you are too aggressive -- it will jump up and bite you in a heartbeat. There's a very fine line as a driver between going fast and being up front -- and going fast and getting into the wall."
STARR-ING ROLE: David Starr, who is in his first season driving the No. 11 Red Horse Racing Tundra, captured the checkered flag at Martinsville (April 9) earlier this season. "It's been awesome working with my new team and owners Tom DeLoach and Jeff Hammond," says Starr. "It's been everything I expected and more. The season has gone pretty good so far -- we're sitting fourth in the points -- and I'm excited about the long stretch of races coming up. And, everything I've ever seen and heard about the Tundra is true -- it's all that plus more."
BEEN HERE BEFORE: Even though this will only be Johnny Benson's second NCTS race at Dover, the Grand Rapids, MI-native has plenty of experience at the track. Benson has competed in 15 NASCAR Cup and 6 Busch Series events at the Delaware track. He has one Busch Series win at Dover.
TOYOTA HAS 21: Mike Skinner's pole position at Lowe's Motor Speedway was the 21st NCTS pole position for a Tundra since Toyota began competing in the Craftsman Truck Series at the beginning of the 2004 season. Along with Skinner (10), Tundra drivers who have recorded poles include David Reutimann (five), Bill Lester (two), Brandon Whitt (two), Todd Bodine (one) and Travis Kvapil (one).
TOYOTA HAS 16: Toyota has 16 NCTS wins since the Tundra began competing in the Craftsman Truck Series at the beginning of the 2004 season. Along with three wins this year, Tundras finished first nine times in 2005 and four times in 2004. Drivers who have recorded wins driving Tundras include Bodine (nine), Kvapil (two), Skinner (two), Reutimann (one), Starr (one) and Whitt (one).
2006 LINE-UP: The Toyota NCTS line-up at Dover International Speedway:
Driver Truck Team Johnny Benson No. 23 Toyota Certified Used Vehicles Tundra Bill Davis Racing Bill Lester No. 22 Toyota Tundra Bill Davis Racing Mike Skinner No. 5 Toyota Tundra Bill Davis Racing Joey Miller No. 12 Curb Records Tundra Darrell Waltrip Motorsports David Reutimann No. 17 Team Tundra Racing Toyota Darrell Waltrip Motorsports Todd Bodine No. 30 Lumber Liquidators Tundra Germain Racing Ted Musgrave No. 9 Team ASE/Germain Toyota Tundra Germain Racing David Starr No. 11 Red Horse Racing Tundra Red Horse Racing Jack Sprague No. 60 Con-Way Tundra Wyler Racing BROADCAST TIME: PEE Channel coverage of the NCTS race at Dover International Speedway will be a taped delay broadcast beginning at 8:00 PM (Eastern) on Friday, June 2. The race is tentatively scheduled to start at 4:45 PM (Eastern). 2006 TOYOTA TUNDRA NCTS DRIVER RESULTS -- Start/Finish (Laps Led) JOHNNY TODD BILL JOEY TED DAVID MIKE DAVID JACK DATE/SITE BENSON BODINE LESTER MILLER MUSGRAVE REUTIMANN SKINNER STARR SPRAGUE No. 23 No. 30 No. 22 No. 12 No. 9 No. 17 No. 5 No. 11 No. 60 2-17/Daytona 10/15 8/2 (6) 2/35 (3) 9/33 17/3 (6) 13/9 5/4 (34) 6/14 7/5 (1) 2-24/California 26/6 5/2 (11) 16/15 18/13 3/3 1/4 (3) 2/17 (7) 19/12 8/5 (8) 3-17/Atlanta 17/3 1/1 (38) 18/29 8/36 36/4 7/5 2/35 13/17 12/17 4-1/Martinsville 7/30 9/12 27/24 6/16 10/2 11/15 8/8 15/1 (121) 22/17 4-29/St. Louis ^ 11/5 3/1 (66) 27/30 24/29 2/2 (28) 4/3 (63) 14/35 5/8 7/4 5-19/Charlotte 6/12 26/3 DNQ 30/22 15/4 9/6 1/31 (38) 31/26 13/34 5-27/Mansfield ^ 6/4 1/15 (117) 35/24 29/5 2/16 (2) 4/9 19/29 7/3 9/2 6-2/Dover 6-9/Texas 6-17/Michigan 6-23/Milwaukee 7-1/Kansas 7-8/Kentucky 7-15/Memphis 8-4/Indianapolis 8-12/Nashville 8-23/Bristol 9-16/NH 9-23/Las Vegas 10-7/Talladega 10-21/Martinsville 10-28/Atlanta 11-3/Texas 11-10/Phoenix 11-17/Miami ( ) -- Number of laps led BOLD -- Wins, poles and most laps led ^ -- starting position determined by points