The No. 66 Toyota Camry will be fielded by Michael Waltrip Racing and Jay Robinson Racing in 2014. Team owner Michael Waltrip will start the season behind the wheel of the car in the Daytona 500 scheduled for Feb. 23 but the car will also see Jeff Burton and Joe Nemechek share time behind the wheel.
Waltrip, a two-time winner of the Great American race, will also drive the car at Talladega in the fall. Burton will see time in the car in six to eight races, the first of which will be March 9 at Las Vegas.
That leaves Joe Nemecheck to drive the car in as many as 28 races for which Jay Robinson Racing will field the car.
On Thursday MWR co-owner Rob Kauffman announced a deal with JRR and Nemechek as part of MWR’s sponsorship deals for the 2014 season.
No doubt for the following seasons other big brands related to motor racing such as Michelin, Dunlop or even Kwikfits Express Insurance for example will be watching with interest.
“We have done a lot of work this off-season to prepare for a successful 2014,” said Kauffman. “We kept a heavy emphasis on the product, which is a cohesive race team competing each week for wins. Our partners expect a lot out of us, but not as much as we expect out of ourselves and I believe we are solidly positioned entering this new season.”
It remains unclear how much help MWR will hand Nemechek. The 50-year-old driver has been running cars out of his NEMCO Motorsports team since the start of the 2009 season. Since the No. 66 car will be fielded by JRR during Nemecheck’s races the resources are expected to be limited. The job of Nemechek will be to secure points for the car while Burton and Waltrip are not racing.
In 2013 Nemechek ran in 33 races with a best finish of 25th at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. In 651 career starts at the Sprint Cup Series level the 21-year veteran has massed four wins, 18 top-five, 62 top-ten and ten poles.
Nemehek has also competed in the NASCAR Nationwide Series regularly since 2009. There has been no word if those plans will continue into the 2014 season.
Michael Waltrip Racing will field Toyota’s for Clint Bowyer and Brian Vickers full-time in the Sprint Cup Series in 2014 in addition to the limited schedule of Burton and Waltrip in the No. 66 machine.
On Thursday MWR announced sponsorship plans for the No. 15 of Bowyer and the No. 55 of Vickers. 5-Hour Energy will continue to sponsor Bowyer, and will appear on the Camry for 24 races. PEAK Antifreeze & Motor Oil also will be returning this year with the PEAK logos and will adorn Bowyers No.15 Toyota at the Auto Club in March, Talladega in May and Chicago in Sept. AAA Mid-Atlantic will serve as the primary sponsor on the car for the April race at Richmond and the Oct race at Martinsville. Charter will serve as the primary sponsor on the No.15 in the NASCAR Sprint Showdown at Charlotte.
Kansas Strong will be teaming up with MWR and Bowyer to promote its message about the role oil and gas plays in advancing Kansas and sustaining the nation’s energy supply. The logo will adorn Bowyer’s fire suit throughout the year and on the No. 15 Toyota at the two Kansas races.
Aaron’s will be upon Vicker’s car full-time this season. Aaron’s has been a part of the Michael Waltrip Racing sponsor lineup since 2000 and has grown from a six-race Nationwide Series sponsor of a part-time team to a multi-year full-season sponsor at the NASCAR Sprint Cup level.
“Aaron’s is one of the cornerstone partners at MWR,” said Waltrip, MWR’s founder and co-owner. “Without Aaron’s there would be no MWR. There are few companies that love NASCAR and its fans more than Aaron’s.”
