Strategy Secured Kyle's Sonoma Victory
'Zippy' and Logano 'Ride-Along' at Infineon
NEWS, NOTES & NUMBERS: Toyota Camry drivers have combined for four
wins (Kyle Busch -- Las Vegas, Bristol and Richmond; David Reutimann
-- Charlotte), 15 top-fives and 29 top-10 finishes through 15 NASCAR
Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) races in 2009 ... Last year, Kyle Busch led
78 of 112 laps at Infineon Raceway en route to victory lane ... Joey
Logano recently tested a Late Model car at Infineon Raceway along with
crew chief Greg Zipadelli who has led the No. 20 team to two Sonoma
victories (2001 and 2005) ... Patrick Carpentier will drive Michael
Waltrip Racing's No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Camry this weekend ... Michael
Waltrip Racing team members and executives recently visited Toyota
Racing Development's (TRD) Costa Mesa, Calif., facilities to thank TRD
associates after David Reutimann's Charlotte win last month.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M's-Transformers Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How was your team able to win both road course races last year? "In
last year's Sonoma race the pit strategy fell perfect. We qualified
30th and were working our way up. We got to about 20th and stalled out
there. The caution came out while we were on pit road and we cycled out
as the leader -- it fell perfect and it got us all our track position.
Sonoma was really good for us, Watkins Glen was really good for us
and we just finally hit our stride and I felt like we had a good road
course set-up so hopefully this year it will be the same."
GREG ZIPADELLI, crew chief, No. 20 Home Depot Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs
Racing
What was your track time like at Sonoma with Joey Logano? "We went
out there and ran a Late Model ASA car for a couple days -- it was a
two-seater and I got to ride around the race track a lot and watch when
he was out there running. It gave us time to spend together and gave
us a lot of time for him to just learn the track. Obviously, the car
is nothing similar to what we're going out there with -- the weight,
the horsepower and things are considerably different. It did give him
two days of shifting, hard braking and just some of the things to work
on more of a rhythm. I think we learned a lot. We know now where his
strong points are and the weak points that we need to work on. We'll
hopefully be able to identify those earlier on Friday rather than on
Saturday after all the practice is done."
PATRICK CARPENTIER, No. 55 NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip
Racing
What is your goal for this weekend? "I need to get as many points as
possible. I want to run up front and battle with the leaders. We'll
just have to wait and see what happens. Once we get there, we'll
have to get to work since we did not have the time to test the NAPA
AUTO PARTS Toyota. Fortunately, Marcos (Ambrose) has been in the car
and I'll have a chance to exchange information with him so I think
we'll be fine. I've met with (Robert) Bootie (Barker, crew chief) and
he's been pretty straight forward with me. We seem to see eye to eye
so hopefully, we'll run well. I would really like to run well for
'Bootie', Michael (Waltrip) and NAPA. I feel like I have the most
support I have ever had so I think it is going to fun. And then there's
Toyota. What more can you ask for?"
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Do you enjoy road course racing at Infineon? "For sure, we run
really well on the road courses. It's a fun race, but it's sometimes
frustrating because of the fuel mileage game that you have to play
there and everyone plays it. You don't necessarily see very good racing
there, you just see more fuel conservation than you do anything."
-credit: toyota motorsports
