Team Toyota Press Conference
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| Joe Gibbs |
ED LAUKES, VP of marketing, performance and guest experience, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A.
JOE GIBBS, Joe Gibbs Racing
BARNEY VISSER, Furniture Row Racing
ED LAUKES
"Good afternoon, everyone. Obviously we had the launch of the new 2018 production vehicle along with the race car at the North American Auto Show in Detroit in January, and it was a huge, huge reception. We had Kyle and Denny up there along with our chairman, Akio Toyoda, and I guess the strategy around what we did was we actually had our Calty Design Studio in Newport Beach, California, we actually designed the new production vehicle, and along with that, we designed the race car side by side with it. So there was never a better opportunity to get it out, get it out to Daytona and actually get it onto the racetrack early. It's not even going to be in the showroom until about September of 2017 as a 2018. So we're really excited about having it out there. I think if you see the styling of it, you see how aggressive it is. It's probably the most aggressive styled Camry that we've ever had, and we're really doing a great job. The engineering crew is really doing a great job of taking the similarities of the styling cues from the production vehicle, keeping it on the race car, so we're pretty happy about it."
JOE GIBBS
"I'm sure Barney would like just to switch and add a oneâ€'foot difference. But I've got to tell you, we're thrilled about it. For us to get a chance to race the Camry this year before it even goes on sale is a thrill for us, and the development, being able to work on it as a race car, our guys are really excited about it. I think going forward with our four cars, our drivers are really pleased, I think, so far. And so it's something where you get a rare experience to be able to work with one of the most successful companies in the world. It's a thrill for us to represent them and get a chance to race the car this year."
"Well, we intend to beat all this year. I will tell you about the Camry, though, because we've got this car under â€'â€' we had to keep it under wraps for â€'â€' since when, about November? And everybody that has seen the body style, everyone that has come through the shop, all the guys working on it, we weren't allowed to let anyone through the shop, and we didn't, Ed, we were good about that, is just dazzled by this body style. They love the looks of this thing, and so it's going to be fun. It's my understanding, also, that not only was the body that you made set up that the race car followed that, but some of the changes made in the body came from the race team as it was â€'â€' you get 80 mileâ€'anâ€'hour speed limits out there, and you've got crosswinds of 20 miles an hour on normal highways now, and it's going to be nice to have."
"I think the collaboration between the production side of the house, the design studio and the race team working together has never been more apparent on any car that we've ever had."
JOE GIBBS
[adinserter name="GOOGLE AD"]Last year the Toyotas dominated the Daytona 500 and finished one, two, three, four out of the top 5. In the Clash last Saturday, the Ford teams found a way to side draft and pick the line of Toyotas apart. Do you have a counteracting strategy at work for the Daytona 500?
"Well, I think for us, last year the plan â€'â€' when you get going restrictor plate racing, in particular here at Daytona, I mean, you're never sure what's going to happen. I can't tell you how many times going into the last lap, and I thought it was going to happen last year, we were in pretty good position, but it was real close. If Matt had not been able to hang on to that car, it was going to be a wreck in front of the field. So rarely does it wind up going the way you want it to go, but last year it worked out great. I think the game plan for us this year would be similar. We'd love to have a chance to get together. We think with the fact that Barney has got his two cars, and we could get our four somehow to help each other, I think it would be great. But we know the Fords are going to be strong; obviously they were in the Shootout. I think Chevy obviously, it was obvious, Jr. being up front and really had great chance to win the 125 he was in. So I think it's going to be all the manufacturers got a strong effort here. This is our premier race. Everybody loves it, and you're never sure what's going to happen."
ED LAUKES
Ed, you guys obviously rolled out the race car and the car as we've heard. That's a huge investment for a company who is obviously very supportive of the sport. What does that say about the viability of the sport when you're willing to make that commitment, and for Barney, we know you've got other things that you can do. Why is NASCAR so vital to your business?
"So I think all you need to do is go out front and look at the Toyota injector and see everything that happens at every racetrack that we either are official vehicle at or do things at to see that our commitment to NASCAR is not wavering at all. We believe in NASCAR. We're a car company, and we're not wavering at all. We think that the investment is well worth it. We think that the market really will continue to grow. We think that the car business itself, while it's moving a little bit between SUV and car, that will stabilize over time, and this sport will be viable for a long time for us."
BARNEY VISSER
"Yeah, with a lot of television, people are bailing out of the ads quite a bit now with all of their TiVos and everything else. So it's difficult to get your name out there, and racing is one of the ways that I think is going to stay pretty consistent because a normal television ad, we built our company on television advertising, and it's just not what it used to be. We like racing. We like racing as one of the ways to keep our name out there."
BARNEY VISSER
I know it's been somewhat of a tough week with Martin Truex Jr.'s team and the car with inspection both preâ€' and postâ€'race. Some people might say that that might be related to expanding to a second car. What would you say about that, and has it been a smooth process, or has it been more difficult than you expected?
"No, it's been a tough weekend. We had a bracket off on our templates that we built all the bodies to, one bracket on one corner, and it turned the weekend into kind of a mess. The guys have recovered. They've got the car into spec, and we think we're going to be fast, but it was a rough weekend in the shop there."
How about expanding to a second car?
"I don't think that had anything to do with it. I don't think a bracket that was off on the first template that the cars go through was â€'â€' on one corner of the car, and it just turned our world upside down. What I am pleased with is how the teams have responded to it and have made the changes at the track here and got it done and were fast."
JOE GIBBS
There’s been a lot of expectations on Daniel (Suárez) this year coming up to the Cup Series. How do you feel he's handled it so far, the attention, the hype, and what has made you confident that he's the right guy to handle that kind of car and ride?
"Yeah, I think â€'â€' well, that's a good point. Of course we got a big surprise with Carl, and that came â€'â€' nobody expected that. And the great thing about our team and everything that we've done with Toyota and the Toyota partnership, we thank goodness were invested in young guys, and Erik going to Barney, and then us having Daniel setting there, what we were really pleased with, you're never quite sure with a young guy how quick he's going to move. We were in the Truck Series for a while. Obviously he did extremely well there. We came up to XFINITY, and then for him to win that championship last year, and then towards the end of the year really started to improve and show his talent, and so when it came down time then, and Carl informed us that he was going to step down, I think it was kind of a natural thing for us. We all met on it. We never just make a decision just our race team. We all talked it over, Toyota, ourselves, and we felt like the natural thing to do was go ahead and move him up. Thank goodness all of our sponsors agreed to that, ARRIS, obviously, Stanley Black & Decker and Subway, all of them felt like it was the right thing to do, and so I think we're all together on it. The way he's handled things, Daniel is just â€'â€' when we have sponsors come in to Charlotte and we all kind of have outings with them, we go bowling, we go indoor kart racing and stuff, Daniel shows up whether it's his sponsor or not. He's involved â€'â€' hey, at 7:00 in the morning he's in the weight room. I laughed and joked with everybody, I said, hey, we couldn't get Tony Stewart or Kyle or anybody else to do that. I said, this guy may be too good of a guy to drive a race car. But anyway, he is just a dream as a young guy, and when you stop and think about it, he's one of the great sports stories. How many young guys would move to a country, can't speak English, and fight their way up in one of the toughest sports you can be in? I think it's a great sports story, so hopefully we'll do well here. Everybody knows, the thing about this sport, you can't talk your way up, you can't buy you way up, you've got to race your way up, so we'll see what happens."
JOE GIBBS
Joe and Barney, last year there was a team meeting prior to the 500 I think the day before kind of going over strategy and everything. What is going to be said in that meeting today, and what is going to be the focus?
"I think the focus, Barney said, okay, three more feet back the other way for his car. No, I think our drivers â€'â€' I think last year was an unusual year. We had that meeting. How many times do you see something work out that way in the Daytona 500? We would love to have that happen this year. I think similar type game plan, but nobody knows what's going to happen."
JOE GIBBS
Earlier this week, Forbes and Wall Street Journal released reports that are very concerning about motorsports. Where do you see the state of motorsports in 2017 as owners?
"For me, I really would like to address this. I'm glad you asked that question. I was interviewed for that article, and there wasn't one comment I made that was in that article, or there was no slant to anything in there. And so think about this for a minute: What was brought up in that article is that the management team, Brian France, Lesa and everybody, it's hard for them to make good decisions, fast decisions. I think nothing could be farther from the truth. Think about our sport. Three years ago we completely changed the Chase. Huge, big decision. We now have charters. In one year working with Brian France, NASCAR, the owners were able to put together charters. Huge deal for us. We come back this year, and in a short period of time, we now have stage racing. I would say that that is so far off, nothing could be farther from the truth. I think everybody is engaged. I think everybody from Brian on down. We've had meetings with owners and with our OEMs and everybody. I don't know of anything that's â€'â€' where a sport has tried to reach out, please the fans, and make huge decisions. The second thing I would say on that, we announced FedEx the other day, a new extension for them, a longâ€'term extension. There's three other sponsors that we also did that with our race team alone. We saw Shell come in and make a huge decision with Roger. We also have two new sponsors coming in that we can't announce right now that will probably be announced within the month, okay. We have seven at Joe Gibbs Racing, us alone, and I said this in that statement to the Wall Street Journal, we have four Cup cars that are wellâ€'funded, going to go like mad with some of the biggest and best sponsors in the world. We have three XFINITY cars, okay, wellâ€'funded, going to go like mad and race like mad. Our sport, as far as I'm concerned, has a bright future. I think you don't get the biggest and best companies in America involved in our sport and going as hard as they are and reâ€'upping and signing unless you've got a sport that brings value to the table. So thank you for asking that question. I felt strongly about it. I wanted to say that."
BARNEY VISSER
Coach started out with a oneâ€'car team and now he's four. Not suggesting you're going to four, but how has your life changed going from one team to two? And you're also running other businesses.
"Yeah, for me, it's pretty much the same. I mean, it's the same shop. It's quite a few more people in the shop. Joe Garone's life has gotten a whole lot busier, and it pretty much falls on him, but my life is pretty much as it was. The races are just going to be twice as exciting here."
JOE GIBBS
Why do you think the Wall Street Journal â€'â€' because I talked to so many executives who were interviewed but never included in the article. Why do you think the Wall Street Journal would do that? Do you think they do not understand the sport, took the lowâ€'hanging fruit, and do you believe that the story can be told to make up for something like that, that all of you execs and topâ€'level people were interviewed for the article and not included in the article?
"I would love for the key owners and key OEMs to have a chance in a forum to talk about it and talk about the sport, because I think we all know that you can take a series of interviews and probably slant it any way you wanted to. My personal opinion. I just kind of felt like this thing was already going in a direction, and it was like when I was asked questions, it was, we're headed one direction, I don't care what you say. Now, maybe that's not fair and I know that, but I felt it. I felt that. I felt it personally. And I take it because this is all my family, J.D., Coy, all of us, all we do is race every day, and I think our sport is healthy, and with our sponsors, I think we're proof of that. I think Barney and the people that came on board with him this year, and I think when you've got companies you're sitting next to somebody like a Toyota, the biggest and strongest companies in the world are in our sport, I really think that could have been written in a totally different way. But you're never quite sure what the objective was."
ED LAUKES
"As a followâ€'up to that, I will tell you that I started â€'â€' we came into Cup racing in 2007, and the collaboration between NASCAR, the manufacturers, the team owners, the sponsors, the networks has never been healthier, and I sit in meetings and I'm on conference calls. It seems like every other week where there's collaboration going on amongst the group. I take my hat off to Lesa and Brian and Brent Dewar and Mike Helton and that whole group for really bringing this thing together and addressing some of the issues and working together. I think it's never been healthier as far as collaboration goes."