Toyota Memphis Notes and Quotes
TOYOTA Notes & Quotes NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Memphis Motorsports Park - July 15, 2006
THIS RACE: The O'Reilly 200 will be the ninth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) race at Memphis Motorsports Park. There will be nine Toyota Tundras in the field at the 3/4-mile Memphis oval -- the 14th NCTS race of the 2005 season.
LAST RACE: In the most recent race of the 2006 NCTS season at Kentucky Speedway (July 8), four Toyotas finished among the top-10. Johnny Benson, who ended up fourth, was the first Tundra across the finish line. Following Benson to the checkered flag were Tundra drivers Ted Musgrave (sixth), David Starr (eighth) and Todd Bodine (10th). In addition, Benson led seven laps and Mike Skinner led 24 laps at Kentucky.
BENSON IS BEST: Johnny Benson, driver of the No. 23 Bill Davis Racing Tundra, salvaged a fourth-place finish at Kentucky despite damage to the front-end of his Tundra. "On one restart, someone running second or third brake-checked everybody -- and everyone ran into each other," said Benson, following the race. "It knocked our nose off and it really messed up our Tundra. I'm not going to complain though because we finished fourth -- although that damage ruined any chances we had of winning."
JB ROLLING: Johnny Benson's fourth-place finish at Kentucky was his seventh straight top-10 result. During the streak, Benson recorded back-to-back wins at Michigan (June 17) and Milwaukee (June 23), as well as finishing fourth (Mansfield), fifth (Texas), sixth (Dover) and ninth (Kansas).
POINTS PACE: After the first 13 races of the 2006 season, Toyota drivers hold down the top-four positions in the NCTS championship point standings. Todd Bodine sits atop the championship standings with 2,043 points. Trailing Bodine in the standings are second-place Johnny Benson (1,931 points), third-place David Reutimann (1,898 points) and fourth-place Ted Musgrave (1,807 points).
LAST YEAR HERE: A year ago at Memphis Motorsports Park, Brandon Whitt captured the checkered flag driving the No. 38 Red Horse Racing Tundra. Whitt started from the pole, ran among the race leaders the entire race and passed Ron Hornaday, Jr. on the final lap en route to the victory. Whitt crossed the finish line just ahead of second-place David Reutimann's Tundra.
TWO YEARS BACK: Two years ago, Hank Parker, Jr. was the top finishing Tundra at Memphis when he crossed the finish line in 12th-place.
FIRST NASCAR POLE = NCTS RIDE: David Reutimann earned his first NASCAR pole position at Memphis in 2003. "That year, I had an opportunity to qualify the No. 7 Busch car for Greg Biffle at Memphis," says Reutimann. "We were fast off the trailer and practice went really well. We ended up being in the top-five on the practice sheet, and then I went out and got the pole. After getting that pole, I h ad a chance to say on national television that I was looking for a ride. A couple of days after that I got a call from Darrell Waltrip."
TED TALKS ABOUT TWO: Ted Musgrave, the 2005 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series champion, is aiming to become the first driver to win back-to-back titles. "It's never been done before and I would like to do it," says Musgrave. "But, if I can't win it -- I sure would like to see Todd win the championship. I think we're still definitely in the championship hunt. Last year, with four or five races to go, I was more than 200 points out of the lead -- and we gobbled points up and won the championship. You just have to never give up and never say die, and this Germain team is like that. Whatever it takes to win races is what they're going to do."
TODD TALKS TITLE: Todd Bodine and his two NASCAR-racing brothers -- Geoff and Brett -- have won numerous NASCAR races and poles, but a Bodine has never won a NASCAR championship. "I think all three of us have finished second -- Geoff was second once in Cup, Brett was second a couple of times in Busch and I was second once in Busch," says Todd Bodine. "To win a championship would be more of a big deal for my family. For all the heartaches and struggles, and wins and crashes, and everything that goes along with this game -- for a Bodine not to have won a championship doesn't seem right. It would be a really big deal for me to win it for my family."
NEVER BEEN HERE BEFORE 2005: Veteran drivers Johnny Benson and Todd Bodine had never raced in the Craftsman Truck Series at Memphis before last year. Benson finished ninth and Bodine ended up 23rd a year ago.
TWO HAVE 63: David Reutimann and Mike Skinner are the only two Tundra drivers who have started every race Toyota has participated in since the manufacturer joined the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at the beginning of the 2004 season. Reutimann and Skinner have both made 63 starts in Toyotas -- 13 starts this season, along with 25 in 2005 and 25 in 2004.
TOYOTA NOW HAS 19: Toyota now has 19 NCTS wins since the Tundra began competing in the Craftsman Truck Series at the beginning of the 2004 season. Along with six wins this year -- two by Johnny Benson (Milwaukee and Michigan), three by Todd Bodine (Texas, St. Louis and Atlanta) and one by David Starr (Martinsville) -- Tundras finished first nine times in 2005 and four times in 2004. Drivers who have recorded wins driving Tundras include Bodine (10), Travis Kvapil (two), Benson (two), Mike Skinner (two), David Reutimann (one), Starr (one) and Brandon Whitt (one).
TOYOTA HAS 25: Mike Skinner's pole position at Kansas was the 25th 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 (13), Tundra drivers who have recorded poles include David Reutimann (six), Bill Lester (two), Brandon Whitt (two), Todd Bodine (one) and Travis Kvapil (one). 2006 LINE-UP: The Toyota NCTS line-up at Memphis Motorsports Park:
Driver Truck Team Johnny Benson No. 23 Exide Tundra Bill Davis Racing Bill Lester No. 22 Bill Davis Racing 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 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 Freight Tundra Wyler RacingBROADCAST TIME: PEE Channel coverage of the NCTS race at Memphis Motorsports Park will begin at 9:00 PM (Eastern) on Saturday, July 15. The race is tentatively scheduled to start at 9:15 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 10/6 7/3 8/30 29/32 26/18 1/5 (18) 11/22 14/11 23/9 6-9/Texas 4/5 (1) 6/1 (1) 26/22 33/30 23/7 9/4 1/2 (113) 17/18 19/11 6-17/Michigan 5/1 (31) 25/4 26/33 21/20 31/23 4/15 1/11 (25) 28/13 15/10 6-23/Milwaukee 4/1 (47) 7/20 (8) 15/15 20/23 13/24 14/5 6/11 21/8 2/4 (15) 7-1/Kansas 22/9 35/7 (13) 15/23 11/30 6/22 13/10 (13) 1/5 (59) 28/8 7/29 7-8/Kentucky 7/4 (7) 9/10 8/28 14/13 12/6 2/12 11/31 (24) 19/8 25/11 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