Toyota unveiled its 2018 NASCAR Toyota Camry race car Monday as part of its debut of the 2018 production Camry at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit.
The Camry underwent a redesign and the Camry race car will compete on the race track in 2017 as Toyota defends its Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series manufacturer’s championship.
“The 2018 Toyota Camry NASCAR race car has been years in the making, and to unveil it simultaneously with our new production Camry is a milestone moment for our organization,” said Ed Laukes, Vice President of Integrated Marketing Operations for Toyota Motor Sales (TMS), U.S.A. “The collaboration between Calty Design Group and TRD has produced a NASCAR Camry that showcases aggressive styling that is sure to turn heads on the race track and among our fans in Toyota showrooms across the country. Reimagining both the Camry race car and its production counterpart has been a tremendous undertaking and our goal has been to maintain parallel design characteristics so our fans can enjoy driving a Camry that closely resembles the one their favorite NASCAR driver races each weekend.”
The production Camry last had a redesign for model year 2015.
Led by Camry chief designer Masato Katsumata, the production Camry received a radical redesign for 2018 and engineers from Calty Design Research, Inc., Toyota’s North American design studio, and TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development) worked together to ensure the NASCAR Camry showcased the same aggressive attributes as its updated production sibling. TRD and Calty worked together with NASCAR throughout the process.
Calty previously worked with Toyota and TRD to update the NASCAR Camry when NASCAR introduced its Gen-6 models in 2013, and again when Toyota updated the Camry race car in 2015. The design group also worked with TRD on the 2015 NASCAR XFINITY Series Camry, the 2014 Toyota Tundra for the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the current NHRA Funny Car Camry.
Toyota entered NASCAR Premier Series competition with the Camry in 2007 and the manufacturer won its first driver’s championship in 2015, followed by its first manufacturer’s championship in 2016. Camry drivers have won 95 NASCAR Premier Series races over 10 seasons.
The NASCAR Camry will make its debut on-track in 2017 prior to the 2018 production Camry hitting showroom floors at Toyota dealerships later this year. The NASCAR Camry will first compete at Daytona International Speedway on February 18 in The Clash at Daytona before defending its Daytona 500 title on Sunday, Feb. 26.
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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