- 2015 was a monumental year for Toyota.
Obviously, what Kyle did transcends sports.
It's not a motorsports story.
It's a sports story.
It's a story about resilience and determination.
- That year, Daytona, Kyle Busch, horrific wreck.
He was able to come back
and worked as hard as he did to come back,
all of us havin' things ready when he did come back,
and then, to perform the way he did
for the rest of that year,
it was kind of a storybook year.
- Homestead is such a mental race,
let alone the physicality of it
because of being in a race car,
but the mental aspect of it.
And it's the weeks preparation getting up to it
and then, you get to the weekend,
you get through practice,
and the nerves of practice and not crashing the car.
And then, you get through qualifying,
tryin' to qualify upfront.
I think we qualified fifth.
- [Announcer] In the final race of 2015,
the green flag is in the air.
- Getting into the race that night,
we were fifth place car
and top five car the whole race long.
And then, as the track got a little bit more dark,
it seemed like we were kind of catchin' up a little bit.
We were getting a little bit faster.
As the lights turned on, the temperature started goin' down,
but the whole time, I'm still tryin' to think, keep focused.
Keep doin' what your supposed to be doin'.
Don't let the excitement or anything kinda get to you.
So, during part of the race,
I actually started singing children's songs
from Brexton and the TV shows that he was watching
to just kinda like release my mind
into thinking about what could happen
and putting myself back into what I was doing.
And then, we had the final caution that came out
with 11 to go, 12 to go, something like that.
And I'm like, ah, of course.
You've gotta go through the agony of coming down pit road
and the pressure on the pit crew and will they perform?
My guys did an amazing job.
They gave me a great pit stop.
They got me out of the pits first.
I remember getting a good restart,
getting down to turn one, and just never lifting.
And just blitzing around the outside of Brad
and gettin' to the backstretch.
And hearing the words clear from Tony
and thinking, okay, idiot, 10 more.
Don't remember breathing.
I'm sure I was breathing, but I don't remember breathing.
And I remember just comin' through three
and four on the final lap of the race,
and finally, this tear rolled down my cheek.
My mind had already, I guess, gone there.
My emotions had already gone there.
- [Announcer] Here he comes off the end
of the back straightaway for the final time.
Kyle Busch steers his Toyota Camry
to the bottom of the racetrack,
looking for some serious hardware in Homestead.
- [Host] The win goes to Kyle Busch.
The championship goes to Kyle Busch.
He has done it here in Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Kyle Busch is the 2015 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion.
- Takin' the checkered flag and thinking,
finally, been able to to win a championship
at the top echelon of NASCAR.
And to do it with my son being born.
He was nine-months old at the time.
My wife being there, my family being there,
all the sponsors being there,
everybody that has pulled through
so much over the years for me and my family,
that I'd finally been able to reward everyone
that was a part of that team,
and it's just been an amazing ride since then.
(engine revs)
- That night in Homestead is still just surreal.
It's just so surreal.
Walking out of that coach
and walking to Victory Lane, that championship stage,
I get emotional just thinking about it.
♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
(calm rock music)
- It starts with somehow being able to build
this incredible partnership alliance between
Joe Gibbs Racing and Furniture Row Racing.
Martin Truex was with one of our founding teams previously
in Michael Waltrip Racing.
That story didn't end well.
Fast-forward to 2017 and his championship with Toyota,
very emotional in its own right
because of the journey that we had been on together,
that we had gone on together.
I love Martin Truex.
He's genuine, he's authentic.
He loves TRD,
our team members at TRD in Costa Mesa in North Carolina.
They love Martin Truex because,
I'll say hands down, of all of our drivers,
he's the one never to forget about this organization.
And for us, that instills a level of loyalty
that you can't buy.
- The first Monster Energy Trophy ever made, we got.
That's the top of the heap.
That's as high as you can get.
There was plenty days when I didn't think
it would ever maybe be possible.
I remember takin' the white flag and thinkin', I got it.
- [Announcer] The best team all year long
can now celebrate a championship.
- That was perfectly fine and just focused
and almost inhuman (laughs) for like a lap.
And I seen the checker flag
and literally just fell apart
and felt like a three-year old.
You know what I mean?
I couldn't control my emotions.
I didn't know what to say.
I don't even know what I said on the radio.
I was mumblin' something and screamin'
and I was cryin' like a little girl.
It was pretty embarrassing,
but at the same time, it was crazy how fast
you can go from 100% focused on exactly what you need to do
and then, in three seconds, it can all fall apart.
But yeah, that last lap was pretty crazy
how the emotions changed.
(crowd cheering)
Obviously, one of my proudest moments,
just because of the way the whole last round went
and being able to keep my composure
and hold it all together, perform.
The excitement that you could feel
through everybody as incredible.
It was so awesome to have that camaraderie
and just that spirit come out of everyone,
and to see how much it meant to everybody on the team.
That's what it's all about.
That's what we all race for,
just the passion, the will to win,
and the hard work that gets put in.
Nothin' is sweeter than winnin' as a team.
(calm music)