With LMC’s move from Chevrolet to Toyota in the offseason, Toyota will field eight full-time Cup teams for the first time since the 2011 season. Johnson will run at least nine events himself, putting nine fully funded teams on track in at least a quarter of the races.
Many fans expressed their surprise – and displeasure – when Johnson and team ambassador Richard Petty’s move into the Toyota camp was first announced last May.
Reminded of somewhat polarizing response to LMC’s initial move during Wednesday’s Daytona 500 Media Day, Johnson quipped: “Everybody has just been so kind on Twitter (X), I’m just going to have a standing ovation out there.”
Regardless, Johnson said the organization has had to add additional resources just to keep up with the amount of information flowing from Toyota through its new relationship.
“It’s been overwhelming in the greatest of ways. The amount of data that we have; the tools that are included with that, tools that we need to design and create,” he said.
“We literally had to hire software coders to create the tools that we need because this is a new system, new software for us and we have a lot of responsibilities on our side to receive all of this information. But it has been a great journey, a great partnership.
“We are thankful that they believe in us, and we look forward to taking a big step forward. We know it is going to be tougher as we go, but it is truly a partnership, and we are very thankful for it.”
Chevrolet won the most Cup races last season (18) and a Ford driver – Ryan Blaney – captured the series championship, but Toyota definitely got stronger as the year went on.
Toyota had 10 wins with four drivers in Cup last season and one driver – Christopher Bell of Joe Gibbs Racing – advanced to the Championship 4 at Phoenix.
The manufacturer also enters the 2024 season with a new model Camry – the Camry XSE – which it hopes will provide performance gains on the track.
Times are changing
Johnson – who spent his entire full-time NASCAR career with Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet – said the relationship between teams and OEMs has changed since he left full-time competition.
“The way we race today is much different than my last year in 2020. The demand that is on the manufacturers today – they really control data, and the progression of the technology is different,” he said. “All of the years that I was at Hendrick, Hendrick really led all of that.
“Of course, GM helped, but there was less of a technical demand on GM, and it was much more of a marketing relationship, not all marketing, but Hendrick did the heavy lifting on the technology.
“It is so different now, it’s not true apples-to-apples comparison.”
Still, Johnson said he has discerned a difference in his short experience with Toyota.
“The thing that really stands out to me spending time with Toyota like I have is why they have the specific car count and their laser focus on the teams that they have and how they can provide and their philosophy behind that,” he said.
“It really is amazing, and we are fortunate to be receiving all of the rewards on that. It is very tough to be in that family and the partnership. I can see how special that is now that we are in there.”
