HUNTERSVILLE, N.C. – Multiple media outlets have reported that Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota have renewed their manufacturer agreement, which spans across both the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Joe Gibbs Racing switched manufacturers from General Motors to Toyota ahead of the 2008 season and has served as the flagship team for the Japanese manufacturer ever since.
No details about the length of the extension were announced. The extension was first reported by RacinBoys.com on Saturday and later confirmed by NBC Sports.
All Gibbs told RacinBoys’ Lee Spencer of specifics was that the new deal spans for “quite a while.”
Gibbs currently fields four full-time Cup teams and three full-time Xfinity teams under the Toyota banner. His teams have scored five wins so far this season, including the last three Cup races with Kyle Busch.
Busch also leads the Cup Series regular season and playoff standings on the strength of seven top-five and eight top-10 finished in the year’s first nine events.
Since debuting in 1992, Joe Gibbs Racing has won four NASCAR Cup Series championships. The first came in 2000 at the hands of Bobby Labonte and additional titles were added by Tony Stewart (2002, ’05) and Busch (2015).
In addition, Gibbs has won Xfinity Series titles with Busch (2009) and Daniel Suarez (2016) and is a five-time owner’s champion in that division, most recently with Suarez’s No. 19 team two years ago.
Joe Gibbs Racing has won all four of NASCAR’s crown jewel events – the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, Southern 500 and Brickyard 400 – since switching to Toyota, and Gibbs said Saturday to Spencer that he’s very happy with where his organization is at.
“You never know about partnerships until you get in a relationship, and then the tough things you go through test everybody,” noted Gibbs. “Over this period of time, we’ve been through some rough stuff and we keep fighting through it and we’ve been really impressed with the partnership we have.
“It’s (thanks to) everybody inside of Toyota. It’s all the way to the top from Mr. Toyoda – he’s a big race fan – (executive vice president) Bob Carter and all the way down. And we love it.”
