Toyota won the 2017 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) manufacturer’s championship with a victory by Camry driver Martin Truex Jr. at Homestead-Miami Speedway to claim its second-consecutive Cup manufacturer’s title Sunday.
After winning its first Cup manufacturer’s title in 2016, Toyota won the 2017 championship on the strength of 16 victories this season, punctuated by the performance of Truex, who won the 2017 driver’s championship.
“Toyota is fortunate to have a great group of Camry drivers, and tremendous team partners, that allow us to have success on the race track and win accolades like the Cup manufacturer’s championship two years in a row,” said Keith Dahl, motorsports general manager for Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). “To be able to win the title in the first season racing the new 2018 Toyota Camry is truly remarkable and displays the effort TRD (Toyota Racing Development) and Calty Design put into preparing this championship-winning Camry.”
Four Camry drivers captured 16 victories in 2017 and four Toyotas advanced to the Playoffs, led by Truex with a series and career-best eight victories. Kyle Busch tallied five Cup wins this year, while Denny Hamlin took two trips to victory lane in his Camry and Matt Kenseth won one race.
“We also would like to congratulate Martin Truex Jr. on winning the Cup Series driver’s championship, as well as all of our Camry drivers for helping Toyota win another NASCAR manufacturer’s title,” said Dahl. “Earning our second-consecutive manufacturer’s title speaks to the hard work and consistency of our race teams and drivers who continue to push each other and challenge our great competitors in the NASCAR Cup Series.”
In addition to winning the manufacturer’s and driver’s championships in the Cup Series, Toyota also captured the 2017 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver’s and manufacturer’s titles.
Toyota won the 2017 Cup manufacturer’s championship using its new 2018 Toyota Camry that debuted during the 2017 season and before the new production model hit showrooms in the Fall. Prior to the start of the 2017 season, TRD, U.S.A. and Calty Design Research, Inc., Toyota’s U.S. design studio, worked together to develop the new Camry race car to ensure it intimately matched its new, radically redesign production counterpart and was built for success on the race track. The result was a 2018 Camry that won the manufacturer’s and driver’s championship and led a series-best 5,757 laps, the most-ever for Toyota in a single Cup season.
Toyota first entered MENCS competition in 2007, and the 2017 season marks the 10th anniversary of the Camry competing in the Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series. Since entering the MENCS, Toyota drivers have won 111 races and captured 107 pole positions over 396 races.
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