Toyota Texas NASCAR Advance
Week of April 3-9, 2017
New Camry, Same Winning Tradition: Toyota is currently racing the new 2018 Toyota Camry in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) that was introduced alongside the new 2018 production Camry at the North American International Auto Show in January. In an unprecedented move, the new on-track Camry took to the track months before the 2018 Camry hits showrooms later this year – and Martin Truex Jr. captured the new model’s first win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March. The introduction of the new Camry also coincides with Toyota’s 10th anniversary in the MENCS after Toyota and the Camry entered Cup Series competition in 2007. Since 2007, Camry drivers have won 96 races and are chasing their 100th MENCS victory in Toyota’s 10th anniversary year in the Cup Series.
Toyota’s Texas Home: Toyota is currently completing its move to Plano, Texas, and the relocation of its North American corporate headquarters and operations onto One Toyota campus. Toyota began its U.S. operations in California in 1957 and announced it was moving its national headquarters from Torrance, California to Plano, Texas in 2014. Toyota’s new Texas headquarters features an eco-friendly campus that spans 100 acres, will employ up to 4,000 team members, and is located about 300 miles from where the Toyota Tundra and Tacoma are produced in San Antonio. The new headquarters is expected to be completed in 2017 with move-ins starting from late April and continuing throughout the year.
Strength in Texas Numbers: With Plano set to be the new North American home for Toyota, it’s fitting the manufacturer’s most wins at any single facility have come at Texas – with a combined 30 victories across the MENCS, NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS). Toyota drivers won the two most-recent Cup races at Texas – victories by Kyle Busch and former Camry driver Carl Edwards in April and November 2016, respectively – and have five total MENCS triumphs at the 1.5-mile track. In the NXS, Camry drivers have nine wins at the facility, while Tundra drivers have amassed 16 victories in Texas. Toyota’s new home track is located less than an hour from its new headquarters.
Sweeper Service: Busch won at Texas in the MENCS and NXS in April 2016, marking his second-consecutive weekend sweep at the time following Cup and NCWTS wins at Martinsville Speedway the prior week. In the Texas Cup race, Busch led one lap near the race’s midpoint before pacing the final 33 circuits (of 334) to the checkered flag after he passed his Toyota teammate Truex in a late-race restart. A day earlier, Busch dominated the NXS contest by leading 150 laps (of 200). Busch will only compete in the MENCS event at Texas this weekend.
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 Texas – Notes & Numbers:
The three veteran Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Camry drivers have multiple MENCS wins at Texas Motor Speedway … Busch won at the track in April 2013 and again last spring, while Denny Hamlin has swept both Texas Cup races in 2010 and Matt Kenseth won twice at the track prior to joining JGR and Toyota (April 2002, April 2011) … The JGR veterans each rank in the top seven in average finish at the track among active drivers … Kenseth is third in average finish (9.4), followed by Busch (11.6) and Hamlin (12), who sits tied with Toyota rookie Erik Jones, who finished 12th in his only prior Cup start at the track in Nov. 2015 … Jones will pilot the No. 20 Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing in the XFINITY Series at Texas, while Daniel Suárez will pilot the No. 18 Camry for the event … Jones won his first-ever career NXS race at the 1.5-mile Texas track in April 2015 … Busch leads the MENCS with 413 laps led and the Camry driver has led the most circuits in two of the last three Cup races.
