TITLE DEFENSE STARTS AT DAYTONA: After winning their first NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) championship together in 2015, Camry driver Kyle Busch and Toyota enter Daytona International Speedway looking to begin a repeat campaign for 2016. Busch won the 2015 championship after missing the first 11 races of the season due to injuries sustained last February at Daytona, but went on to win five NSCS events and the title. Including Busch’s five victories, Toyota drivers won 14 NSCS races in 2015, tying the most by the manufacturer in a single Cup season. In addition to the NSCS title, Tundra driver Erik Jones captured the 2015 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) championship and Toyota won the NCWTS manufacturer’s title for the eighth time in 12 seasons.
TOYOTA INJECTOR RISES IN DAYTONA: The Toyota Injector is a four-level concourse filled with Toyota-themed content that is part of the new Daytona International Speedway. Built as part of Daytona Rising, a $400 million re-imagining of Daytona, the Toyota Injector is filled with exclusive Toyota displays and gives Toyota a new way to connect with consumers while telling its story – how Toyotas are built in America by members of their fans’ community. In addition to other activities, the Toyota Injector includes the Toyota Driving Experience where fans can test drive Toyotas over an off-road-styled course and a tilting Camry that simulates the banking of many NASCAR tracks, as well as a replica ofBusch’schampionship-winning Camry and Sprint Cup trophy. In addition to being featured in the Toyota Injector, the Toyota Camry will also serve as the official pace car for the Daytona 500 for the third time (previously in 2012 and 2015).
CALL IT THE DENNY HAMLIN INVITATIONAL: Camry driver Denny Hamlin was victorious in Saturday’s Sprint Unlimited at Daytona International Speedway, the season-opening exhibition race for the NSCS. Hamlin led a race-high 39 laps (of 79) before taking the checkered flag, marking his third-career Unlimited victory. Hamlin is one of just five drivers to win three or more Sprint Unlimited events, and the Camry driver has also won two Can-Am Duel races at Daytona. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has also recorded four-straight finishes of sixth or better at Daytona in points races, including results of second (2014) and fourth (2015) in the last two Daytona 500s.
STABLE OF CAMRY CONTENDERS: For 2016, Furniture Row Racing (FRR) begins fielding Camrys for championship-contenderMartin Truex Jr., giving Toyota a stable of five title-contending Camrys. FRR, a single-car team run out of Denver, Colorado, has joined with powerhouse Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) in a technical alliance for 2016 that will see Truex partner with championBusch, Carl Edwards, Hamlin and Matt Kenseth in the Toyota camp.
10 SEASONS OF TOYOTA CAMRY: The 2016 NSCS and NASCAR XFINTY Series (NXS) campaigns mark the 10th season of competition for the Toyota Camry in each series. The Camry began racing in 2007, three years after Toyota entered NASCAR national series competition with the Tundra in the NCWTS in 2004. The Camry has won 79 NSCS races and 109 NXS event entering 2016.
ROOKIE TITLE REPEAT: One season after winning the Truck Series championship and Rookie of the Year honors, Camry driverJones will compete full-time in the NXS in the No. 20 Camry – and will look to win both the rookie and championship titles in the XFINITY Series. In 23 starts in the NXS in 2014 and 2015, Jones has two wins – and finished in the top-10 in nearly every contest (20-of-23 NXS events) he entered.
18 RISING: Camry driver Busch’s championship comeback story will be highlighted by NBC in a one-hour television special, 18 RISING, that will air on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 2:00 p.m. EST. It will chronicle Busch’s 2015 season when he overcame injury to win the NSCS championship and also includes moments with Busch and his family, including his wife Samantha and son Brexton, as well as a trip with Joe Gibbs Racing team owner Joe Gibbs to Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky, Inc. (TMMK) to celebrate his Sprint Cup championship with Toyota team members in Georgetown, Kentucky.
NOTES, QUOTES & NUMBERS
NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS): Camry drivers Kyle Busch (first), Carl Edwards (fifth), Denny Hamlin (ninth) and Matt Kenseth (15th) finished the 2015 season ranked in the top-15 in the NSCS point standings … Michael Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 winner (2001 and 2003), will drive the No. 83 Camry for BK Racing in this year’s Daytona 500… Camry drivers have won all three exhibition races and the summer NSCS event in Daytona, but still look to win the manufacturer’s first Daytona 500 … Kenseth won the 2015 Sprint Unlimited and a 2014 Duel at Daytona … Kenseth is also a two-time Daytona 500 winner (2009 and 2012) … Busch captured a Camry NSCS win at Daytona in July 2008.
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&Ms 75 Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How does it feel to return to Daytona as the NSCS champion?
“I’m pretty pumped about getting to Daytona and being last year’s champion. It’s pretty exciting for me – it’s an accomplishment I’ve always dreamed of achieving and now that I have finally have that accolade on my resume, I’m pumped about being able to get back down there and be the reigning series champion, but also looking forward to competing again for this year’s championship and also being able to try to score that Daytona 500 victory I have not had yet.”
CARL EDWARDS, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
What would it mean for you to win the Daytona 500?
“For me, winning the Daytona 500 would be amazing. I’m a guy from Central Missouri that just watched this one TV – I’d tune in, there’d still be snow on the ground and I’d be watching guys in Daytona race for that win. And it would be really special because Toyota hasn’t won the Daytona 500, so to be the guy that delivered that to Toyota would mean a lot to me.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
Can only certain drivers win at Daytona, or is it anyone’s to win?
“I don’t believe it’s – I used to say it’s a crapshoot. I think that’s a cliché that a lot of drivers say that – it just isn’t. The same guys don’t win all the time if it’s a crapshoot. We’re not the luckiest guys in Vegas, so I think that guys like Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. that continually put themselves up at the front when it counts at these superspeedway races, it’s because he knows something that the rest of the field does not. Those are the guys that you need to look at and figure out how you can get better to get to their level.”
MARTIN TRUEX, No. 78 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Toyota Camry, Furniture Row Racing
How are you preparing for 2016 and the Daytona 500?
“Trying to do everything the same as I did last year just as a team in general. Just trying to make the switch, everybody at Gibbs (Joe Gibbs Racing) has been a huge part of this, obviously, making the transition. We’re getting a lot of parts and pieces from those guys and they’ve been critical in the change. Cole (Pearn, crew chief) and I are really just trying to figure it all out.”
MICHAEL WALTRIP, No. 83 Maxwell House Toyota Camry, BK Racing
How do you have success at Daytona?
“Dale (Earnhardt Sr.) always said, ‘Just look around – you can see the air,’ and I thought, ‘Well, that’s kind of weird,’ but if you look around and put yourself in enough positons and get around the other cars enough, you eventually can see the air – you see what it’s doing, you understand what it’s doing and that enables you to gain spots, pass guys and get to victory lane.”
NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS): Camry drivers Daniel Suarez (fifth) and JJ Yeley (12th) finished the 2015 season ranked in top-15 overall in the NASCAR XFINITY Series (NXS) point standings … After winning Rookie of the Year in 2015 in the No. 18 Camry, Daniel Suarez will now pilot the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Camry in 2016.
ERIK JONES, No. 20 Reser’s Main St. Bistro Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How do you approach any race at Daytona International Speedway?
“Be patient. That’s all you can really say at Daytona is you’ve got to be patient, stay in line and wait for things to develop. It’s pretty tough to make something happen.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, No. 19 ARRIS Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing
How do you feel entering your second full-time season?
“I feel like right now, we are a different driver and a different race team. We know where we need to be. Our confidence level is different as well, so I really feel really good. I really feel like right now from one year to right now we have made a lot of ground, so really looking forward to trying to make something different on this superspeedway.”
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS): Six Tundra drivers finished the 2015 season in the top-10 in the NCWTS point standings, including Erik Jones (first) and Matt Crafton (third)… Tundra drivers won eight-straight NCWTS races at Daytona from 2007 through 2014.
