Photo Credit: Michael L. Levitt, LAT Photo USA for Toyota Racing |
With the 2014 NASCAR Sprint Cup season almost over, the Toyota teams in the series have been enduring a less than spectacular outing. A season that looked promising during the first part of Daytona Speedweeks, the 2014 Sprint Cup effort for Toyota has been one of the least fruitful since the conclusion of the manufacturer's winless debut season in 2007. After 31 races, the collection effort of the Toyota organizations has amounted to only two wins in point-paying races. Both coming with Joe Gibbs Racing owned vehicles, the Toyota Camry found victory at Auto Club Speedway driven by Kyle Busch and at May's Talladega race when Denny Hamlin wheeled the #11 machine. While qualifying has been kinder to the 2014 Toyota Camry with seven starts at the front this season, the cars have not seen victory lane in the 21 races since Talladega.
Looking ahead to greater fortunes in next season's NASCAR Sprint Cup series, the Japanese-derived auto company has created an all-new body style intent on seeing it claim more winner trophies than 2014. Based on the production car version of the new Toyota Camry (just recently released for sale to the public), the new stock car receives a more pronounced front end. Reflecting the bolder stance of the production car, the 2015 race car also features reshaping of the quarter panels and rear portion for greater personality. Responding to the design expertise invested in the 2015 Toyota Camry NASCAR stock car, TRD (Toyota Racing Development) president and general manager David Wilson said, “It was a challenging process balancing performance and design, but working closely with Calty Design, NASCAR and our race team partners, we were able to develop a race car that looks similar to its production counterpart -- and provide a performance upgrade on the race track.”
The 2015 Toyota Camry NASCAR Sprint Cup car will debut next season at Daytona Speedweeks receiving its first ultimate field test in the Daytona 500. With the change for 2015, Toyota becomes the first manufacturer to update a NASCAR Sprint Cup vehicle based on the so-called "Gen 6" architecture balancing brand parity with unique identity. The car will also conform to a refreshed 2015 Sprint Cup series rule package designed to lessen aerodynamic downforce and drag along with reducing engine momentum. This new Camry race car will also be the shape of Toyota's 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series (the soon-to-be new name of the Nationwide Series).