Matt M. Myftiu
Matt Myftiu has been a journalist for two decades with a focus on technology, NASCAR and autos.
Toyota releases November sales numbers; Highlander sees big jump
Toyota has reported November 2016 sales of 197,645 units, an increase of 4.3 percent from November 2015 on a volume basis. With two more selling days in November 2016 compared than November 2015, sales were down 4.1 percent on a daily selling rate (DSR) basis.
Toyota Division posted November sales of 168,595 units, up 5.3 percent on a volume basis and down 3.2 on a DSR basis.
“We expect to see the industry set a new sales record for November,” said Bill Fay, group vice president and general manager of the Toyota Division. “All-time best-ever Highlander sales combined with November best-ever RAV4 volume extends the Toyota Division’s 2016 streak of consecutive light truck sales records to 11 months.”
2016 Nissan Altima isn’t flashy, but is kind on the wallet and at the gas pump
Sedans may not be the hippest kind of car you can buy, but boy do they sell.
Once you get past the pickup trucks and their dominant numbers, sedans make up most of the top selling cars out there, mainly due to their lower price point and the fact that, well, everyone’s gotta drive something and we don’t all need SUVs.
One of the models battling in the always busy midsize sedan segment is the Nissan Altima -- which has to find a way to compete against some of the biggest vehicle brands and models (think Toyota Camry, Honda Accord, Ford Fusion, Hyundai Sonata, etc.) and actually manages to do so quite well every year.
I recently spent a week in an Altima, and I’m back with a full report on how it fits into the sedan landscape.
Winner Jimmie Johnson, other Chevy drivers comment on their day at Martinsville
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – RACE WINNER
WHERE DID YOU COME FROM AT THE END?
“We really had great long run speed. We lost track position through a couple of different means there at the first half of the race. Honestly, that caution with the No. 19 car put us in the catbird seat. I wasn’t sure I could get by the No. 18 or the No. 11, but we got going and I got by both of those guys. I thought ‘man I hope this stays green’ because that really suits what our racecar was doing all day long.”
WHAT WAS IT LIKE COMING FROM THE BACK AFTER GETTING THAT PIT ROAD SPEEDING PENALTY?
“It was so tough for 20-30 laps; everybody was running the same speed. I would try to maintain my position and not burn off my tires and wait for guys to start slipping and sliding and then I could finally get going. Those long green flag runs towards the end were really what put us in position to win.”
THIS IS GOING TO BE THE FIRST TIME YOU GO TO MIAMI WITH A CHANCE FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP UNDER THIS FORMAT WHAT IS THE APPROACH THE NEXT COUPLE OF RACES TO LEARN FOR MIAMI?
“I mean at Texas it’s not the exact same track, but we can still learn at Texas and take that to Miami. Win races; try to put as much pressure as we can on ourselves, because we know come Homestead that pressure is going to be pretty intense.”
WHAT A CRAZY DAY FOR YOUR RACE TEAM… RUNNING OUT OF FUEL AT ONE POINT. WHAT WAS THE PANIC AT THAT MOMENT? DID YOU THINK THE DAY WAS DONE?
“Yeah, there were a lot of moments but anything in life you have to work for it. It’s not going to come easy and we knew that coming into this race. There are so many challenges with this track. I’m so thankful for this race team.
“To win on this weekend at this track with the tragedy we had in ’04, we’re thinking of all the loved ones that we lost in the plane crash. We want to thank our family and friends. It’s a great time to start winning races.”
IS THIS A MOMENT WHERE YOU HAVE TO PINCH YOURSELF THAT YOU’RE GOING TO BATTLE IT OUT AT HOMESTEAD-MIAMI FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP?
“I’ve been trying to ignore this conversation about seven (championships) but now I can’t! We’re locked in. I’m just honored to be in this position. I wouldn’t be in this position without the belief of Lowe’s and all their employees had in me back when I was running 10th or 15th in the Busch Series. Rick Hendrick, Jeff Gordon… all of the people who have believed in me to get this point. It’s crazy that we have a shot at seven now. We couldn’t do it without our partners at Chevrolet, Valvoline and the list goes on and on. Thanks to them all very much.”
ANYTIME YOU CAN JOIN RICHARD PETTY AND DALE EARNHARDT, THAT’S A BIG CONVERSATION. HOW MUCH WILL YOU THINK ABOUT THAT OVER THE NEXT FOUR WEEKS?
“I’ll probably lie to all of you guys and say I’m not going to think about it at all. But it’s inevitable. Fortunately, I don’t have to think about it for three weeks. But we’re going to enjoy this and savor it. We’re going to get our ducks in a row for Homestead.”
WHAT SORT OF MAGIC DID YOU GUYS FIND IN THIS 48 CAR TO GET TO VICTORY LANE?
“It was really those long runs. We didn’t get the black right-side rubber to lay down like I had hoped. But it was the closest we had had it for a long time. Having those long runs really suited my style and our setup of our racecar.”
HOW WILL YOU APPROACH THE NEXT COUPLE OF WEEKS?
“Obviously we want to win more races. If we can have success at Texas, that will only put us in Miami with more confidence and more speed in our car. That’s a mile-and-a-half. It will be nice to go into Phoenix not having to worry about much - really the next two! It puts us in a good position. The work is far from over. There’s one race that’s winner-take-all.”
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JEFF GORDON, INTERIM DRIVER, NO. 88 NATIONWIDE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 6TH
HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE WHAT IS LIKELY YOUR LAST RACE HERE AT MARTINSVILLE? AND LIKELY YOUR LAST TIME BEHIND THE WHEEL OF A NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES CAR?
“Well, I had a lot of fun out there. It is great to be here in front of all these awesome short track and Martinsville NASCAR fans. It’s just a special place to me and I had a lot of fun and had a great car. This No. 88 Nationwide Chevrolet was really good. I knew we didn’t have the short run speed for some of those Gibbs cars. I don’t know where Jimmie (Johnson) came from, wow; he is just so good here. You get him out front like that and he is just unbelievable. Congratulations to those guys stamping that victory and getting them to Homestead that is amazing just like we did last year. Had to overcome a lot of adversity, but that last run I don’t know if it was from running so many caution laps there trying to figure out the scoring, which was kind of a disaster, but that was a tough one for NASCAR to figure out. I don’t know if that had an effect on our tires or what, but the car just didn’t feel the same on that last run and had to settle for sixth.”
ON JIMMIE HAVING HIS SHOT AT A SEVENTH TITLE:
\"When things are on the line and things matter most, Jimmie and that team know how to step it up to another level. They showed that today. He\'ll be showing that again in Homestead. I was back there in sixth or seventh place just watching him go after the No. 11 car (Denny Hamlin). That was just phenomenal driving and racing. Then he just drove away.
\"Well seven is a number to a lot of people, but to me he is already one of the all-time great. That number might just solidify that in the history books and maybe for some others. Maybe it might be special to him personally.\"
IS THIS YOUR LAST RACE AND ARE YOU HAPPY WITH SIXTH PLACE FINISH?\"Well I would rather have won. I felt like we had a fourth or fifth place car the run
before that so I always wanted to get the most out of it. I was a little disappointed it didn\'t take off there at the last yellow, but very proud of this team proud of my performance. Best finish I\'ve had in this car. Good way to finish my run this year in the No. 88 Chevy.\"
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JAMIE MCMURRAY, NO. 1 CREDIT ONE CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 8TH
GOOD FINISH TODAY:
\"We had a good car. We got a little bit lucky with the caution there after we had a bad run and got a lap down there. It is nice to have a little bit of luck on our side. We had a really good car; we got a little bit of luck and got a good finish.\"
ON CLOSING SEASON STRONG:
\"I thought since we had a little bit newer tires than some of those guys, we would be in a good position with the No. 48 (Jimmie Johnson). We just didn\'t quite have it here when we needed it. But we\'ll keep moving on.\"
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AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER/CLOROX CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
“Just a good day. Just missed it a little bit, couldn’t quite get the car to turn kind of right through the exit of the center of the corner to get it pointed. Just kind of struggled with the same thing all day. Compared to the spring I thought we were just a little bit off, but we still had good speed, ran in the top 10 all day. The way that played out I thought we were actually going to be real fortunate and have a shot and unfortunately I just ran out of fuel and had to make the decision to try to go right to pit road there to make sure we didn’t get stuck on the racetrack. Never seen a race at Martinsville last 100 laps green, I thought if we could have got a caution there we could have maybe fought back up to sixth, seventh or eighth that is kind of where we could run, I thought on outright speed. Third top 10 in a row, I think it’s the first time I’ve ever had three top 10’s in a row. I think it’s the first time the team has ever had it. Martinsville has always been a good place, but it just shows we are getting more speed in the car. A lot of these places that we are going to it’s definitely helping. Looking forward to the last three races, brand new cars and Texas and Phoenix are places we have kind of struggled at, look forward to going there and trying to improve.”
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KEVIN HARVICK, NO. 4 BUSCH LIGHT CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 20TH
WHAT WERE YOUR ISSUES TODAY:
\"We were slow all weekend. We could just never get the handle on it.\"
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE CHALLENGE YOU NOW FACE REGARDING THE CHAMPIONSHIP:
\"I haven\'t really looked at it. We will see.\"
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KURT BUSCH, NO. 41 STATE WATER HEATERS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 22ND
WHAT WERE YOU STRUGGLING WITH MOST TODAY?
“We missed it. I don’t know where, how, why, we missed it. Even SHR (Stewart-Haas Racing) as a group we didn’t perform well. That was not the day we needed. Sorry to State Water Heaters, their only race of the year and we didn’t perform well for them. We just missed it.”
HOW DO YOU GUYS BOUNCE BACK NEXT WEEK?
“I have no idea, but we will figure something out. We came all this way we won’t give up now.”
CAN YOU PULL OUT OF THIS HOLE GOING FORWARD?
“Yeah, we picked a bad day to miss it.”
-- Transcripts courtesy of Team Chevy
NASCAR's rules change limiting Cup drivers in lower series was long overdue
It’s about time, and long overdue.
Of course, I’m referring to the big news this week, that in the wake of many years of domination by Cup drivers in lower series, NASCAR is finally taking strong action to limit the participation of experienced Cup series drivers in Xfinity and Truck series competition. This will allow those series to actually have the young drivers in those series battle more often for wins, and more importantly be left alone to battle with less Cup series driver involvement when it comes to Chase time and Dash for Cash races.
If you’re ever watched one of the rare Xfinity races that featured no top-series driver making an appearance, you know they’re some of the best shows in the sport.
Instead of Kyle Busch or another Cup star coming down to the lower series and dominating 90 percent of the race, you see tight racing between all the best young talent in the sport, often for the lead. It’s what the series was meant to be, and this move will ensure that’s the case going forward starting in 2017, at least for part of the year.
Here’s the breakdown of how the rules will work.
Starting in 2017, “premier series drivers with more than five years of full-time experience” can only compete in 10 races in XFINITY Series, seven races in the Truck series. This allows some younger racers to compete more often in the lower series if they want (think Chase Elliott, Austin Dillon), but prevents a Kyle Busch scenario where he hypothetically competes in 20 Xfinity races and wins 15 of them. Yes, I keep bringing up Kyle Busch, because he is basically the reason this rule now exists. He has essentially ruined the Xfinity Series over the past handful of years with his dominance whenever he competes, and I’m glad there will be limitations on him and others who would do the same. To put Busch’s accomplishments in perspective, 80 of his 85 Xfinity wins came while he was a full-time Cup driver, as did all 46 of his Truck series wins.
Drivers with more than five years of full-time premier series experience “will be ineligible to compete in the final eight races” in Xfinity or Truck series (aka the Chase races), and also can not compete in the Xfinity Series’ Dash 4 Cash races. This is just plain common sense, and I’m surprised it wasn’t put in place for 2016. How does it make sense to have a battle for Xfinity and Truck drivers to advance to next round by winning the race, and a bunch of ringers can come in and steal the show and go to Victory Lane. It makes no sense. Same with Dash 4 Cash, a great setup that only gets cluttered when Cup drivers are there.
Finally, “Drivers earning premier series points in 2017 also are not eligible to compete in the 2017 NASCAR XFINITY Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Championship Races at Homestead-Miami Speedway.”; This will exclude all Cup drivers – which again makes sense. NASCAR wants Xfinity and Truck drivers up front battling for the win and the Championship in the final Chase race, not somebody who can’t earn points and is just there for the paycheck and the checkered flag.
For years I have used the analogy that the way NASCAR has operated its lower series is equivalent to letting Major League Baseball players compete on their off days in the minor leagues. Of course they shouldn’t, as they’re much better players than the minor leaguers. Heck, in the past it was even crazier. Before 2011, a Cup driver didn’t have to declare for one series, and could simultaneously compete in the full Xfinity series schedule and compete for both titles – something that was changed a few years back after Cup guys took home some titles in the lower series.
NASCAR, I understand, is a bit different. Sponsors drive the sport, so if they want a bigger name in the car to put their money on it, they can get that. But how on Earth are young drivers supposed to come up in the series, if the rides designed for them in Xfinity (and to a lesser extent, in Trucks) are already taken most weeks by a guy who already has a Cup series ride? It’s a bit of a Catch-22, and I understand the business implications involved. But in the end, it really does defy logic.
One could argue this rule doesn’t go far enough, and that ALL Cup drivers should be banned from Xfinity and Truck races, or the number of races allowed should be smaller. Even with the rule, Kyle Busch and many other Cup guys will do the allowed number of Xfinity or Truck races, and will steal the show some weeks. And by allowing the guys will less experience to still race without limits, it’s allowing the “next Kyle Busch” to emerge and dominate like he has in the past.
But for now, as someone who wants NASCAR to grow and who wants to see great racing between the stars of tomorrow today (like I saw back in the late 1990s between Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth, for example), I will applaud this move as a good first step.
The fans have demanded this for years after being underwhelmed by the show at Xfinity and Truck races, and NASCAR finally listened.
Matt Myftiu can be reached on Twitter @Matt Myftiu.
2018 Volkswagen Atlas SUV makes debut
The 2018 Volkswagen Atlas, unveiled on the Santa Monica Pier at the end of historic Route 66, launches a new chapter in the company’s American history. Built in Tennessee, the seven-passenger Atlas offers class-competitive levels of technology and spaciousness combined with hallmark Volkswagen driving dynamics and attention to detail, all at a price designed to draw customers’ attention in the family SUV segment.
“This is the biggest and boldest Volkswagen we have ever built in the United States, delivering the distinctive design and craftsmanship we’re known for, now with room for seven, ” said Hinrich J. Woebcken, CEO of the North America Region, Volkswagen. “The Atlas marks a brand new journey for Volkswagen to enter into the heart of the American market.”
Cadillac hits the jackpot with new flagship CT6 sedan
The definition of the word flagship is: 1. the ship in a fleet that carries the commanding admiral. 2. The best or most important thing owned or produced by a particular organization.
As the brand undergoes a lineup transformation, Cadillac has unveiled its new flagship sedan, the Cadillac CT6 (not to be confused with the shorter CTS). After spending a week in the CT6, I must say the definition is fitting. If this was a fleet of ships, the CT6 would most definitely be the admiral, and it is the best and most important thing Cadillac currently produces.
The introduction of the CT6 comes as Cadillac works to firm up its position in the luxury car marketplace against the usual foreign brands that dominate the market, and it’s a bold and necessary move.
2016 Audi A8 L is once again a model of (near) perfection
There’s something about an Audi that’s hard to explain to someone who hasn’t driven one. Call it a combination of European styling and class, and a generally welcoming feeling when you get into the vehicle. And when you’re talking about Audi’s flagship sedan, the Audi A8 L, that feeling is even more special.
This vehicle is not just a means to get you where you need to go. It’s a means to truly enjoy the drive, whether it be from the comfiness of the seats, or the joy of the ride itself, a byproduct of that ever-famous German engineering.
I had previously driven the 2015 version of the A8, and was impressed nearly to the point of perfection. So getting into a 2016, I was curious to see how it help up in an era where the top luxury brands are constantly working to outdo each other.
2016 Dodge Durango is a family ride with some muscle
Despite the common perception, SUVs don’t have to be boring grocery getters.
Don’t believe me? See Exhibit A: The Dodge Durango.
I recently spent some time in a 2016 Dodge Durango Citadel, and the experience was far from pedestrian. Yes you can and will haul the family around in it, but it also shows a likeable character you don’t see in much of SUV world.
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles supports World Habitat Day
On October 3, 2016, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) hosted several Habitat for Humanity affiliates for World Habitat Day activities at the Walter P. Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills. More than 100 FCA employees volunteered their morning to build sheds for Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County, wheelchair ramps for Macomb County Habitat for Humanity and picnic tables for Habitat for Humanity Detroit to support future Habitat homebuyers throughout the tri-county area. FCA employees also donated household items to Habitat ReStores, which are non-profit home improvement stores and donation centers that sell new and gently used donated items to the general public at a fraction of the retail price to support the Habitat mission.This event provided an opportunity for all three affiliates to work together, and allowed them to collectively thank FCA for their long history of support. In addition to significant funding, FCA has engaged over 1,500 volunteers on Habitat projects in Oakland and Macomb Counties and the City of Detroit.
Habitat for Humanity of Oakland County is a non-profit organization that works with local families to achieve strength, stability and self-reliance through shelter. Since 1994, Habitat Oakland County has built and renovated homes in partnership with 200 families, with 62 more taking place this year. Donate, volunteer and learn more at www.HabitatOakland.org.
2017 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro earns honor from Texas group
The 2017 Toyota Tacoma TRD Pro showed off its off-road prowess at the 2016 Texas Auto Writers Association’s (TAWA) Texas Truck Rodeo, winning the Mid-size Pickup Truck of Texas award.
After two days of demanding on and off-road driving at Longhorn River Ranch in Dripping Springs, Texas, journalists voted for their favorite pickup trucks, SUVs and CUVs in multiple categories. This year, more than 70 media members attended the event to test drive 82 vehicles from the world’s top truck and SUV manufacturers.
“As America’s best-selling mid-size pickup for ten years running, the recognition as Mid-size Pickup Truck of Texas confirms our vision of producing a truck that can tackle any off-road challenge,” said Mike Sweers, Tacoma chief engineer. “Toyota’s commitment to the new Tacoma TRD Pro was focused on meeting the needs of adventure-seekers where roads fear to tread, and we have proven that today.”
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