Toyota NASCAR Talladega Advance

Toyota NASCAR Talladega Advance
Week of May 1 – 7, 2017

Toyota Camry’s 10 Years at Dega: In 2017, Toyota is celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Toyota Camry in Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) and NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) competition. During the Camry’s second appearance at Talladega (2007 fall race) in Toyota’s first season, the manufacturer captured the top-three MENCS starting positions for the first time in the manufacturer’s history – a feat that has since been replicated 13 times – when former Camry drivers Michael Waltrip (first), Dave Blaney (second) and Brian Vickers (third) led the field to the green. Just one year later, Toyota swept both MENCS wins at the superspeedway with Kyle Busch and former Camry driver Tony Stewart. In total, Toyota has three Cup victories at the track including a win by Denny Hamlin in the 2014 spring event and four NXS victories which were earned by Busch and former Toyota drivers Stewart, Joey Logano and Elliott Sadler.

Veterans and Rookies Roll into Bama: Veteran driver Matt Kenseth heads to Talladega with the third-best driver rating (88.0) at the 2.66-mile track among drivers with more than two track starts and has the second-most laps led (513). Prior to his time with Toyota, Kenseth captured one win at Talladega in 2012. Kenseth’s track record along with Kyle Busch and Denny Hamlin’s success in Alabama may help Camry rookies Erik Jones and Daniel Suárez as they make their first MENCS appearance at Talladega. Suárez  and Jones have a combined seven starts at the track during their time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) and NXS and will both run in the NXS race on Saturdayalong with series regular Matt Tifft. Tifft made his debut at Talladega last year, capturing his first career-series pole at the track before finishing eighth.

Matt Tifft Takes Mississippi Detour: NXS rookie contender Matt Tifft will make a quick detour in Mississippi prior to competing in Saturday’s race at Talladega. Tifft will visit Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Mississippi, Inc. (TMMMS) on Thursday along with 2015 Formula Drift champion and Toyota teammate Frederic Aasbø. Both drivers will tour TMMMS and learn more about its production of the Toyota Corolla before visiting with facility team members and their families.  Aasbø gave the Toyota Corolla iM its first win in Formula D competition in Orlando this past weekend, and the Norwegian now has nine-career Formula D victories – all in a Toyota – to tie the series record for triumphs.

Staying Connected: You can follow Toyota Racing on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter by using #ToyotaNation and online at www.toyotaracing.com. For media images, please visit www.toyotaracingmedia.com.

Toyota at Talladega – Notes & Numbers:

Matt Kenseth leads all active MENCS drivers in starts at Talladega with 34 … Following Richmond, Martin Truex Jr. moved to second place in the MENCS point standings and continues to have the most stage wins (five) this season … In 2017, Busch and Truex Jr. rank second and third in MENCS laps led with 432 and 414, respectively.

Toyota 2017 Statistics: