(upbeat music)
- NASCAR asked us to get our feet wet
in the Truck Series first before entertaining
the potential running in either Xfinity or Cup,
so we for three years, we kinda cut our teeth
again on the national level with the Truck Series.
Fast forward a couple more years right,
we, you take your step into Xfinity and Cup,
and you know the air is harder to breathe up there,
and the level of competition is harder,
and the level of selfishness is greater.
Very intentionally, very strategically, we understood
that in order to secure the credibility, the trust,
the acceptance of the fan base,
quote-unquote buying our way into the sport
wasn't gonna work,
and that's not what we do anyway, so again,
we came into the highest form of motorsport
with two brand new teams in Red Bull Racing
and Michael Waltrip Racing,
and by partnering with Bill Davis,
on old-school NASCAR team that
hadn't had a tremendous amount of success,
but it demonstrated that we were going to live
the mantra of earning our way.
- Toyota at the time, the Toyota Camry at that time
I believe was the only car in NASCAR Sprint Cup Series.
It was manufactured in the U.S.,
and it had the most parts in the car
assembled or manufactured in the U.S.
- I knew Toyota would make NASCAR better,
and I knew there would be challenges of owning a team,
not only because of the acceptance of the race fans.
You know, Ford, Chevy, Dodge.
Toyota, really?
- I think the approach that Red Bull took
and Toyota took coming into this sport
was really exciting and energizing
and different and new and interesting.
I like the long term, methodical kind of approach
that both took to the sport and to technological development
and engineering and their focus on engineering,
and that really came from both organizations.
- We had worked so hard to get our cars to Daytona
in February of 2007, and remember,
it was a little team behind my house
out in the country of North Carolina,
and we grew into this huge organization.
We took three cars, fully sponsored cars, to Daytona
to race the 500 in 2007.
- We knew that we had our hands full,
and of course we show up, you know.
The great American race in 2007
with a lot of new people and new challenges,
and we're faced with a crisis right out of the gate.
- Michael Waltrip, a two-time Daytona 500 winner,
almost went from driving in today's race
to watching it on FOX.
While trying to qualify his Toyota,
NASCAR, upon further inspection,
punished him for using an illegal substance
believed to be found in jet fuel.
(upbeat music) - We had Domino's,
UPS, NAPA on the sides of our cars.
Great companies that loved NASCAR,
and were so thankful to be part of the Toyota family.
We just, we just let 'em down.
You know what I'm most thankful about that
is we came back on Thursday.
We qualified through the qualifying race,
and we raced in our first Daytona 500,
all three of our cars did.
Life's hard; you're gonna be set back.
Daytona probably for me more so than anywhere in the world,
it says highest of highs and lowest of lows to me.
- 2007 was a really challenging year for a lot of reasons,
particularly for us at Red Bull and Toyota.
It was kind of a double whammy in a lot of ways.
It was a new manufacturer, new engine, and a new team.
- You know, it certainly brought a level
of humility to Toyota.
That entire season, I still remember,
we would go to the race track, hoping to qualify
as many cars as we could.
- And for the third week in a row,
Michael Waltrip will head to the house.
And David Reutimann will not race on Sunday.
- NASCAR didn't make it easy on us.
When we started in 2007, they wanted you to struggle,
and struggle we did.
I didn't necessarily think we should win in our first year,
but damn, we sure should have qualified,
and we didn't qualify for a lot of races.
Looking back, I'm thankful for that
because it made me so appreciative
of when we raced for a championship
and finished second in the standings in 2012,
and we're right there week in and week out winning races.
It made it that much sweeter.
NASCAR made it hard early.
We made it hard on ourselves early with some mistakes,
missteps along the way,
but what a great experience.
(upbeat music) (car engines roaring)
- [Mike] He will get his first win
here at O'Reilly Raceway Park,
and he will be the man that delivers Toyota
its first victory in the NASCAR Busch Series.
There it is, the checkered!
- [Radio] Great job. (uplifting music)
- ORP used to be such a great track.
I hate that we're not competing there
as a sport any longer,
but you always look at your firsts.
Jason Leffler being behind the wheel that night,
putting Camry into Victory Lane in 2007,
the first year that we competed in Xfinity
as well as Cup.
That was a significant milestone.
One of the defining values of Toyota TRD is humility.
I never think that we're better
than anybody in that garage.
This sport is too hard and it's too competitive
to ever think you're that,
and I think that helps keep our feet on the ground.
I always remind our people
that no matter what our level of success or failure
is let's keep our heads down, keep our focus,
and continue to be determined to be better tomorrow
than what we are today.