NASCAR Nationwide Series

• Mike Bliss (second) was the highest-finishing Toyota driver in Saturday’s NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) race at Dover (Del.) International Speedway.


• Kyle Busch (fourth), Jason Leffler (sixth), Reed Sorenson (seventh), Scott Speed (eighth) and David Reutimann (ninth) also posted top-10 finishes for Toyota.


• Busch led twice for a race-high 109 (of 200) laps, and has now led 2,053 laps in 2009, becoming the second driver in series history to lead at least 2,000 laps in one season (Sam Ard led 2,151 laps in 1984).


• Camry drivers Michael Annett (13th), Denny Hamlin (27th) and Coleman Pressley (41st) were also in the field.


• Busch continues to lead the NNS point standings following Dover, now 211 points ahead of second-place Carl Edwards. Leffler (fourth) is also in the top-five in points after 28 of 25 races.

MIKE BLISS, No. 11 Ridemakerz.com Toyota Camry, CJM Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd

How was your car towards the end of the race?
“It tightened up a lot. On the long run there it got real tight and on that last restart it was pretty tight. It was a good run for this CJM Toyota Camry. I’m happy. I’m really glad that on Monday I got the call to drive this No. 11 car and the Ridemakerz.com car was good for second. I’ll take that.”

Would you have had anything for Clint Bowyer if the race was a little longer?
“You know, I thought on the restart I had him and I guess it ran out of fuel when we went back green. It got back though. So, I guess we were low on fuel. I don’t know. It was pretty tight there at the end.”

How quickly did you get used to this team?
“Paul Wolfe (crew chief) and the car chief and a couple guys I worked with at Armando Fitz’s -- and we ran a whole year together. So, I know all about how Paul (Wolfe) thinks and he knows what I think. It pretty well jelled pretty fast.”

Are you happy with the second-place finish?
“I am. I came in here not really knowing what to expect. I saw the 29 (Clint Bowyer) a couple times and you just had to hit your marks right and you could gain a couple cars on him. You just got to hit your marks right.”

What do you think happened to Kyle Busch’s car?
“I think his car looked pretty loose.  He took off and left us.  I don’t know if the race track freed up for him.  He was pretty loose.  I would say we were a little bit snugger where I could drive up off the corner a lot better.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 NOS Energy Drink Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th

How do you feel about your finish today?
“It’s very frustrating to come home just one spot ahead of our competition, but it is what it is. We’ll have to take it and go on to the next week and see if we can’t figure something out to get better. I don’t know what we’re doing.”

How did your car handle today?
“A great car in the beginning. The NOS Energy Drink Camry was fast, but we might have started off a little bit tighter than everybody else. The more the race went on, the looser we got for some reason. The guys made adjustments in order to tighten it up and I don’t know if it was just the tires, or what, but every time we put a set of tires on we just kept getting looser and looser. It’s not accustomed to what we are used to. We gave it all we had today. Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) did a good job with what he had for information. We ended up fourth, but we were only one spot ahead of Carl (Edwards). It’s very frustrating when you run that hard and run that good and you ended up only making only five points or four points, or whatever it is.”

Was not having radio communication a problem?
“Well, yeah it’s a problem when you can’t explain exactly what the car is doing. We didn’t make any changes, or if we did we made slight changes. Jason (Ratcliff, crew chief) could see what was going on with the car. The tires -- every time I went out there it was something different. Just frustrating.”

Could you have had a better finish if radio communication was not a problem?
“I don’t think so. I think it was just a mix-matched set of tires unfortunately there. We didn’t make a whole lot of changes and so when you don’t make a whole lot of changes the track doesn’t change -- it’s been the same since we started. The tires just threw us for a loop. Unfortunately, we didn’t adjust right to what we had with the tires. The guys did a great job. They were good on pit road. Unfortunately, all we had was a sixth-place car and we ended up fourth. I was so loose there throughout the race that I was barely hanging on.”

How do you feel being a race closer to the championship?
“It’s cool to be ahead, but we’d like to be gaining ground instead of just staying where we are at.”

JASON LEFFLER, No. 38 Great Clips Toyota Camry, Braun Racing
Finishing Position: 6th

Can you talk about your race today?
“The car was really good. This particular car, we’re never happy with it until the race starts, for whatever reason we always race good. It was a good day for us. It was good for us to get back on track. We’ve had three weeks of bad luck, not running good and haven’t been able to get to the finish and to get back into the top-10 feels really good. We’ll build some more momentum for the rest of the year.”

What are your goals for the rest of the season?
“Just work towards next year and try to win. Try to get into victory lane and try to build our fleet up for next year and be able to contend -- instead of top-10s and maybe top-fives -- for wins. We’re working towards that.”

REED SORENSON, No. 10 AccuDoc Solutions Toyota Camry, Braun Racing
Finishing Position: 7th

Was the back-up car as good as your primary?
“I think our first car was better. We got a little bit of practice in this car and we felt it was decent. It was pretty good in practice. We didn’t think it was as good as the other, but it was pretty good. We had a good day all day. Nothing spectacular. We stayed out there the last few times when some people pitted behind us and around us. We were just a little bit off. We just needed just a little bit of work on this car to get it better.”

Were you able to make changes during the race to make the car better?
“Once you get in the race, there’s only so many changes you can do. I don’t think it was the lack of practice in the car, we just felt like the other car was better. We’ll hopefully not have to deal with what we dealt with this weekend with all the unexpected things. I’m still pretty sore. Just get through tomorrow’s 400 laps and hopefully won’t be too many days to get this soreness out of my neck.”

SCOTT SPEED, No. 99 Red Bull Toyota Camry, Michael Waltrip Racing
Finishing Position: 8th

Can you talk about your race today?
“We were really great for the first half of the race. Unfortunately, in the last half of the race, we weren’t quite as strong. But nonetheless, it was a great day for us. We tried to gamble a little bit there coming into the pits. In hindsight, we probably could’ve done things a little bit different there. It was a top-10 finish, though, and we’ll take it. These Nationwide races help me a lot. There’s no question.

DAVID REUTIMANN, No. 32 Dollar General Stores Toyota Camry, Braun Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
 
MICHAEL ANNETT, No. 15 Pilot Travel Centers Toyota Camry, Germain Racing
Finishing Position: 13th

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 20 Doosan Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 27th

COLEMAN PRESSLEY, No. 47 JTG-Daugherty Racing Toyota Camry, JTG-Daugherty Racing
Finishing Position: 41st