Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., and Joe Gibbs Racing announced today that the three-time championship-winning race team will campaign Toyota Camrys for drivers Tony Stewart, Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch in the 2008 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series. Joe Gibbs Racing’s NASCAR Grand National Series program will also utilize Toyota Camrys next season.
Joe Gibbs Racing will be joining Bill Davis Racing, Michael Waltrip Racing and Team Red Bull as the teams that will be racing the ‘Most Popular Car in America’ when the 2008 season kicks-off next February at Daytona International Speedway.
“Joe Gibbs Racing is one of the most respected teams in NASCAR, a championship-caliber race team and a first-class organization,” said Jim Aust, vice president of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., and president and CEO of TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development). “We are confident that partnering with the Gibbs team will raise the level of our entire Toyota NASCAR program, and will be beneficial to all of the current teams racing the Toyota Camry.”
“Our motorsports heritage has taught us the value of working with experienced teams and partners,” Aust said. “We have built excellent relationships with the current teams as we have developed the Toyota Camry Cup program during our first year of NASCAR competition, and we look forward to developing a similar relationship with Joe Gibbs Racing.”
“Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota want to be competitive now and for generations to come,” said J.D. Gibbs, president of Joe Gibbs Racing. “We have the same mindset in terms of performance and technology. We want to be the team to beat. They want to be the manufacturer to beat. That’s a combination that works for us, for them, and our sponsors.”
The addition of Joe Gibbs Racing to Toyota’s NASCAR fold adds luster to a legacy 25 years in the making. Toyota began its full-scale American motorsports involvement 25 years ago in both IMSA sports cars, and off-road stadium and desert truck racing. Along the way, Toyota has won championships and races in Champ Car, IRL, sports car, and off-road.
Toyota began competing in NASCAR in the 2000 Goody’s Dash Series and became a participant in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2004. In addition to entering the Camry in Cup Series and Busch Series competition this season, Toyota has continued to participate in the Craftsman Truck Series with the Tundra.
Highlights from Toyota’s NASCAR activities include the 2003 Dash Series driver’s title (Robert Huffman) and the 2006 manufacturer’s and driver’s championships (Todd Bodine) in the Craftsman Truck Series, as well as a Busch Series victory (Jason Leffler) at O’Reilly Raceway Park at Indianapolis earlier this year. Brian Vickers fifth-place finish at Charlotte’s Lowe’s Motor Speedway has been the best finish by the Toyota Camry in the Nextel Cup Series this season.
The Toyota Camry has been the best-selling car in America for four straight years and eight of the past nine years. Assembled at Toyota’s Georgetown, Kentucky plant, more than six million Camry models have been sold in the United States since its debut 23 years ago.
In 1992, Joe Gibbs Racing made its NASCAR debut with driver Dale Jarrett and sponsor Interstate Batteries. Since their initial season in NASCAR Cup competition, the team has captured series titles with Tony Stewart (2002 and 2005) and Bobby Labonte (2000), and has won over 70 races (Cup and Busch).
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