Toyota's ringers

Six Toyota drivers qualified for the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series race at Infineon Raceway in Sonoma. Three of them are road racing specialists making their first starts of the season.
Marc Goosens, Butch Leitzinger and P.J. Jones qualified for the Cup race in Sonoma, one of two road courses on the Cup schedule.
Goosens was the top qualifier among the three. He will start the race 21st in the No. 91 Toyota for Riley-D'Hondt Motorsports.
“I’m pretty grateful for being given this opportunity here," Goosens said. "The team is new, the car is new and it’s the first time for me on this track, too. Being in the race is kind of a victory for us."
He said his team struggled with the car the morning before qualifying.
"I struggled trying to find my way around the track and then we had a big problem with the rear of the car sliding around too much," Goosens said. "You get such short track time here before you go into qualifying. We’ll work more on this Car of Tomorrow because I’m pretty sure that Toyota can further up front.”
Leitzinger, driving the No. 23 Toyota for Bill Davis Racing, will start 30th. He was a little disappointed with his effort.
“It definitely wasn’t what I was hoping for," Leitzinger said. "This is an excellent team. I was a little bit sloppy in a couple of places and that hurt us."
Jones was lucky to make the race. He had the 34th fastest qualifying lap, but will start the race 43rd, the last car in the field. Six spots were awarded to drivers in the top 35 in the owners standings. The 43rd and final spot is usually awared to a previous Cup champion. But Jones earned that spot when Terry Labonrte, driver of the No. 55 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing and a former Cup champion, qualified on time.
"We haven’t found our groove with this car yet," said Jones, driving the No. 00 Toyota for Michael Waltrip Racing. "In testing we were really good, the car was great. We probably could have been in the top third if we could have gotten the car to drive a little better. We tested on different tires, what can I say. There’s something not right with the car but we’ll work on it for the race on Sunday.”