Kyle Busch was victorious in Saturday's NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race at Talladega Superspeedway. Busch led 10 of 98 laps at the 2.66-mile Alabama oval en route to victory lane. The win enabled Toyota to clinch its fourth consecutive NCWTS manufacturer's title (2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009).
Aric Almirola (second), Todd Bodine (third), Terry Cook (fourth) and David Starr (fifth) also recorded top-five results in Tundras, the first time since April 2006 (St. Louis) that Toyota has swept the top-five positions in an NCWTS event.
Tundra drivers Stacy Compton (seventh), Timothy Peters (11th), Mike Skinner (19th), Max Papis (22nd), Brian Scott (23rd), Tayler Malsam (27th) and T.J. Bell (29th) were also in the field.
Five Tundra drivers are among the top-10 in the unofficial NCWTS point standings -- Skinner (third), Bodine (fourth), Scott (sixth), Peters (seventh) and Starr (ninth) - with three races remaining in the 2009 season.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Miccosukee Resorts Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports Finishing Position: 1st
How did the final lap of the race feel? "That just happened - unbelievable. I owe everything to Aric Almirola today. Sticking with me from that last pit stop to the end, I told him if he just stayed with me they wouldn't be able to beat the 15 (Almirola) and 51 (Busch). Awesome job to Aric (Almirola), he can take my half of the pay after today. I don't get paid anything. I don't know what Billy Ballew will work out with him. What an awesome truck - this Miccosukee Tundra was great today. The guys did an awesome job building it. You can only go as fast as what it's built from the shop so obviously a lot of work went into this thing. Toyota clinched the manufacturer's championship - that's awesome. Thank NOS Energy Drink, thank the fans - it was a lot of fun today. There was a few moments that maybe got a hairy and a little sketchy, but overall it worked out in the end for us so that's awesome."
What were you able to say to Aric Almirola in the closing laps of the race? "I need a more private channel so not everybody hears it. Basically, I had to tell him just the ways that I've been here in the past. Last year I got beat. The first year I was horrible. We won't go there, I think I was eighth or ninth, made a lot of mistakes. Last year I saved a lot of that till the end of the race and didn't quite get in the position that I needed to be in. Today, I had Aric (Almirola) behind me who really helped me and being able to just talk through him and telling him what to do - if we just stayed together. The biggest patience in this race, I know it was 94 laps today, but there was 93 laps of patience and a one lap free for all that wins this thing. Aric (Almirola) did an awesome job."
Were you worried that you were making your final move too late? "No because I wasn't yet to the 30 (Todd Bodine) - I wasn't sure of what direction I needed to go, I wasn't sure if he was going to block. I sort of started up high slow to see if he would. Aric (Almirola) was bumping me there so I didn't want to be too jerky on the wheel and spin myself out on his truck. I just pulled up nice and smooth and Todd (Bodine) held his line and we just went around the outside of him. I was kind of surprised by that, but I guess he learned from my own mistake at Daytona, when you try to move up in front of a train that's coming - you're going to wreck. We've seen that the last few times here, Carl (Edwards) tried to do the same thing with the 09 (Brad Keselowski) or whatever. I guess when you're the leader coming down towards the stretch you're better off to just hold your line and take what you're going to get."
How much did bump drafting play a role in today's race? "It definitely played a role because you never know how close you are to NASCAR's line of going over of being too aggressive. Earlier in the race the 30 (Todd Bodine) and the 25 (Terry Cook) were teamed up pushing each other down the backstretch and the 25 (Cook) got crossed up getting into turn three and they gave him a warning. Then five laps later, he's doing it again - all the way down the backstretch. You can bump draft is fine, apparently, but push drafting is what the problem is. I don't know if there needs to be a new term laid out there, but I think I just did it. The push draft is the problem and that happened a couple times today. I never did it - I was bump drafting the five (Mike Skinner) when we were getting up towards the front. I would always bump him, get off him, bump him, get off him - it would help the row along, but it wasn't like two trucks get teamed up together and just push draft all the way around the track. I don't know where that line is. I don't know - you warn a guy once and he does it again and you don't post him or don't do anything about it then what's the penalty. Apparently everybody was supposed to be warned in the driver's meeting, but I guess you can still get warnings out on the race track. It's a hard situation to understand, but Aric (Almirola) and I, we saved it for the last lap, from turn four on to the start-finish. I think we played it out nicely."
What would you like to see NASCAR do about 'push-drafting?' "What I would like to see is if NASCAR issues the warning in the driver's meeting tomorrow then that's your warning. If you do it and cross their line, their aggressive driving line they've got, if you go over that then I would like to see a drive through penalty - you get posted, black-flagged, drive through penalty. Then you have to come down and do your penalty. How long can you push a guy? On the Cup side, Denny (Hamlin) has actually been practicing that in practice the past few years here. His time is two laps - he can push a guy for two complete, full laps and then he starts to get about 250 degrees on water temp, which is about too high." What is the difference between a 'bump-draft' and a 'push-draft?' "You don't really want to push or bump draft through the corners, that's the thing. Here you can get away with doing it because there's so much grip. The push draft, when you get up on a guy and just start pushing him and you start picking his speed up, you actually start lifting him up off the race track and the back of the truck is just sort of sliding around. It's like a wheel barrel, you're just up on the front two tires like you're just steering it like that. The bump draft, if it's gentle enough, if you're not Juan Pablo Montoya and just plow a guy and if you just bump a guy, you can keep that row going. It's just little bumps, it doesn't lift your tires off the ground, it doesn't do anything and it gives that guy a sense. When you bump them straight on, he might have to move the wheel a little bit, but he's not chasing the back of his truck all around when he's getting a push draft. He just gets a bump, figures it out and he's back on the ground. It happens quick enough where everything settles out."
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 15 Graceway Pharmaceuticals/AKawareness.com Toyota Tundra, Billy Ballew Motorsports Finishing Position: 2nd
How was your race today? "It was a good race, it was fun. We had a good truck. I'm real proud of Doug George (crew chief) and all the guys on this team. Everybody at Billy Ballew Motorsports did a great job and worked really hard. We had two awesome speedway trucks and it showed today. There were not very many people that could hang with us (Kyle Busch) when we got together and we proved that a couple times throughout the race. We tried not to show our cards too much in the beginning. It paid off and it was a one-two finish for Billy Ballew - I just wanted to be one bad." What did it mean when Kyle Busch drove down pit road to thank you? "It meant the world. As hard as it is to win these races, he's won a lot of them and he knows that it was a team effort today. Congratulations to Billy Ballew in his 300th start in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and he got a one-two finish so that's pretty awesome for him."
Was bump drafting getting out of hand for a truck race? "In the beginning of the race, Todd (Bodine) was behind me and I was behind the six (Colin Braun) and I never touched the six, Todd (Bodine) never touched me and we were just cruising around, just riding. I was riding seriously half to three- quarters throttle just to make sure that I didn't run into the back of the six (Braun). 30 laps into the race, all of the sudden I was getting slammed from the back. It was for no reason really, we weren't going anywhere. The guy in front of me wasn't going to go any faster from me slamming into him. A couple times I actually burned the brakes up, the brakes went all the way to the floor board just to keep from running over the people in front of me. If we knocked our grill and our duct work in, then we had to come in to take tape off then we surely weren't going to have a shot to win. I think people were really aggressive and didn't need to be."
TODD BODINE, No. 30 Copart Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 3rd
Are you disappointed with a third-place finish? "We got used to winning for sure. We made the right move - we had a great truck and made the right move at the end and got the lead. We just didn't have a teammate. Kyle (Busch) had his teammate right behind him. I could have blocked him coming to the checkers, but I didn't want to be like Carl Edwards and end up in the catch fence. With Kyle (Busch), that's what would have happened - he's a racer and you can't blame him for that. It was a great day for Billy Ballew Motorsports with a one-two finish. Our Germain Copart Tundra was fast, it was again the best truck and it drove fantastic. We just ended up third. There's nothing you can do but be happy with it and we had a good day."
Was bump drafting getting out of hand for a truck race? "This is my one chance to speak so I'm going to speak a little bit here. They need to do something with the Cup cars, the Nationwide cars and the trucks with the bump drafting - everybody knows it, everybody said it. It's getting out of control with the Cup cars with guys hitting each other in the corners, spinning each other out. It's a simple solution - brace the back bumpers up as hard as you can brace them. You ought to see the back bumper in my truck - it's like a Mack Truck bumper. The next thing you do is you take the bumper out of the front so if you hit somebody, you hit them with fiberglass. I'm not going to hit somebody with fiberglass and mess my aerodynamics up so what's that do? It stops everybody from bump drafting, it's a simple solution."
TERRY COOK, No. 25 Cajun Industries Toyota Tundra, HT Motorsports Finishing Position: 4th
What happened to your truck early in the race? "We were losing horsepower so we had to come in and work on it and every we were taping the air box and got it double- nutted so then we were able to fix that. Then we blew up the transmission with about 14 laps to go and it was spitting rear end grease out, smoking inside the truck. We had just about everything go wrong that you could and still come out with a top-five finish. This is a big day for Harris Trucking -- to have two trucks in the top-five - that's a big weekend. I wish I wouldn't have had to come from the back because we had a horse."
DAVID STARR, No. 24 Zachry Toyota Tundra, HT Motorsports Finishing Position: 5th
What was your strategy in the closing laps? "We were trying to do the right thing, I was thinking of which way I should go and who I should go with. Going from second to fifth is a little disappointing, but a top-five for HT Motorsports and Terry Cook did a heck of a job. I should have jumped up to the high side, but you second-guess yourself and if I would have jumped up to the high side then they would have gone to the bottom. Then I would have finished a little further back. It was a great race - our Zachery Toyota Tundra was awesome. All the guys did a heck of a job and I can't thank them enough."
STACY COMPTON, No. 60 SafeAuto Insurance/Melling Engine Parts Toyota Tundra, Wyler Racing Finishing Position: 7th
TIMOTHY PETERS, No. 1 Strutmasters Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 11th
MIKE SKINNER, No. 5 PC Miler Navigator Toyota Tundra, Randy Moss Motorsports Finishing Position: 19th
MAX PAPIS, No. 13 GEICO Toyota Tundra, Germain Racing Finishing Position: 22nd
BRIAN SCOTT, No. 16 Albertsons Toyota Tundra, Xpress Motorsports Finishing Position: 23rd
TAYLER MALSAM, No. 81 One Eighty Toyota Tundra, Randy Moss Motorsports Finishing Position: 27th
T.J. BELL, No. 11 Red Horse Racing Toyota Tundra, Red Horse Racing Finishing Position: 29th
