Toyota becomes the “Official Vehicle of Kentucky Speedway”
Kentucky Speedway's annual events, including the Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts NASCAR race weekend in July, will serve as core marketing platforms for the manufacturer.
"Toyota has achieved incredible success at its plant in Kentucky and also in NASCAR racing," said Kentucky Speedway General Manager Mark Simendinger. "We could not be adding a better or more significant partner. It is a dream for us to work with the local dealer groups and the Georgetown plant to promote the Toyota brand and the exciting racing taking place at Kentucky Speedway."
The partnership is fitting for Toyota and Kentucky, as Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Kentucky (TMMK) is the automaker's largest plant in the world employing around 8,000 team members and is located just 50 miles from Kentucky Speedway. TMMK recently added more than 700 team members to support the upcoming launch of the 2018 Toyota Camry, and the plant has produced more than 11 million Toyota vehicles – which represents about one-third of all Toyotas manufactured in North America over the last three decades.
This season, the 2018 Toyota Camry is competing in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, aligning the Camry race car more closely with its newly redesigned production counterpart. Toyota's introduction of the 2018 Camry in NASCAR marks the first time a race car debuted on the race track prior to its production model release.
On April 10, the company announced a record $1.33 billion investment into the Kentucky plant making TMMK the first plant in North America to begin producing vehicles using Toyota New Global Architecture (TNGA), which represents a completely new strategy to the way the company designs, engineers, and manufactures its vehicles.
Named the "Most American Made" car by Cars.com and the number one selling car in America for the past 15 years, the Camry, from 2018 model year, will become the first Toyota vehicle made in the U.S. to fully incorporate the new vehicle development and production technology.
In addition to the 2018 Camry, the Georgetown, Kentucky facility also began production of the Lexus ES 350 in 2015, marking the first time a Lexus vehicle was made in the U.S. The Avalon, Avalon Hybrid and Camry Hybrid are also produced at the facility.
Toyota has been a part of several Kentucky Speedway milestones, including Camry driver Kyle Busch winning the inaugural Cup race in Kentucky, the Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts, in 2011 and former Toyota driver Joey Logano becoming Kentucky's only three-time, consecutive race winner 2008-2010 with NASCAR XFINITY Series triumphs. The manufacturer has also visited Kentucky's Victory Lane in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with Toyota Tundras the past three years – marking seven Truck victories for Toyota at the track.
"Toyota is thrilled to be taking another step forward with NASCAR by becoming the Official Vehicle of Kentucky Speedway and Camry, the Official Pace Car of the Quaker State 400," said Scott Wracher, General Manager, Toyota Motor Sales North America, Cincinnati Region. "The all-new 2018 Camry will surprise current Camry owners and the competition with its dramatic new styling, class leading handling, and innovative safety features. The partnership includes the marketing efforts of our surrounding dealers groups in Cincinnati, Lexington, and Louisville and the hard work and dedication of over 8,000 team members building Camrys at the Georgetown facility."
Fans that arrive at Kentucky Speedway in Toyota, Lexus or Scion vehicles will be directed to park in the forward sections of the Toyota Parking Lot, providing fans closer, immediate access to the Kentucky Speedway fan entrances. Sections of the parking lot will bear the names of select Toyota models to guide fans to and from their vehicles on event days.
Toyota became the first new manufacturer to compete full-time in one of NASCAR's national series in more than 50 years when it entered the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in 2004 with the Tundra, followed by the manufacturer entering the Cup Series and XFINITY Series with the Camry in 2007.
Toyota and Camry driver Busch won their first driver's championship in the Cup Series in 2015, followed by Denny Hamlin claiming his and Toyota's first Daytona 500 victory to start 2016. The manufacturer then won its first manufacturer's championship Cup in 2016 to go along with manufacturer's titles in the XFINITY and Truck Series – making Toyota the first OEM to claim all three manufacturer's championships since 2012.