Getty Denny Hamlin (front) races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Toyota Racing will celebrate a significant milestone during a NASCAR doubleheader weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The OEM will hit 1,000 starts with the Toyota Camry.
According to a press release from Toyota Racing, the Quaker State 400 available at Walmart will mark the 595th Cup Series race for the Toyota Camry. This will take the overall number to 1,000 when combined with the 405 races in the Xfinity Series.
The Toyota Camry has visited Victory Lane 324 total times across the two NASCAR series. 175 of these wins have been in the Cup Series. Denny Hamlin has delivered 46 while Kyle Busch delivered 56 before moving back to Chevrolet. 149 of these wins have been in the Xfinity Series.
Along with the wins, the Toyota Camry has been responsible for seven total manufacturers’ championships in NASCAR. The Cup Series championships took place in 2016, 2017, and 2019. The Xfinity Series championships took place in 2008, 2009, 2010, and 2016.
Toyota Racing Switched Models in the Xfinity Series
GettyChristopher Bell (front) races during the final Xfinity Series season featuring the Camry.
Hitting 1,000 starts with one car model is a significant milestone for Toyota Racing. However, a major decision actually pushed back this moment by several seasons.
The Toyota Camry was a mainstay in the Cup Series and Xfinity Series for several seasons, but a change took place ahead of the 2019 season. Toyota Racing unveiled its Supra race car in July 2018 and announced that it would be the main vehicle used in the Xfinity Series.
Toyota Racing used a rising NASCAR star as the face of this switch. Christopher Bell, the reigning Truck Series champion, took center stage for the announcement video. He climbed into the Toyota-branded Supra, and he performed burnouts while showing off the race car for the first time.
Bell made his move to the Xfinity Series on a full-time basis in 2018, and he won seven races while driving the Toyota Camry. He then returned to Joe Gibbs Racing for the 2019 season, and he took over the new Toyota Supra.
Bell told Motorsport.com in 2018 that he didn’t know how big of a learning curve there would be as he and JGR switched to a new body style. All he knew is that he would have to “drive the crap out of it” while trying to contend for wins.
There were several unknowns entering the 2019 season, but they did not hold Bell back. He won a career-high eight races in the No. 20 Toyota Supra, and he finished third in the championship standings.
Toyota Racing’s Drivers Have Delivered More Camry Wins in 2023
GettyDenny Hamlin celebrates a win at Kansas Speedway.
The Camry stopped competing in the Xfinity Series after the 2018 season, but it has continued to be a factor in the Cup Series. Several drivers have taken the entry to Victory Lane in recent seasons while contending for championships.
The 2023 season has seen Toyota Racing celebrate four wins in the Cup Series. Christopher Bell was the first as he captured the Bristol Dirt Race on Easter Sunday.
Martin Truex Jr. was second as he won at Dover Motor Speedway and capped off a Truex family weekend sweep that also saw younger brother Ryan win the Xfinity Series race. The 2017 Cup Series champion has since added a win at Sonoma Raceway to put himself atop the regular-season standings.
Sandwiched between the Truex wins was Hamlin’s 49th in the Cup Series — his 46th in a Toyota. The three-time Daytona 500 champion captured the spring race at Kansas Speedway and tied Tony Stewart on the all-time wins list.