By David G. Firestone
The meeting was tedious, but the Driver Suit Blog Paint Scheme Review Committee has worked through all the difficulties and disagreements and now we present the Toyota paint scheme ratings from 2017:
#1-Premium Motorsports #55 Chevy SS/Toyota Camry– Rank Last Year: 2 of 10
Aside from Low T, Star Com Fiber, Wind River, the #55 has had a very solid showing in 2017, with a lot of A schemes.
#2-Joe Gibbs Racing #18 Toyota Camry Rank Last Year: 4 of 10
The Interstate Batteries scheme, as well as both of Snicker’s schemes took a solid A season for the #18, and given it a solid rating, but nowhere near the top.
#3-Joe Gibbs Racing #19 Toyota Camry Rank Last Year: 5 of 10
Comcast Business was awful. Stanley remains mediocre. Subway was great, and the rest of the 2017 schemes were great! It’s the Comcast Business scheme that is keeping the #19 from having a better season. Still, they did have a solid season.
#4-Premium Motorsports #15 Chevy SS/Toyota Camry Rank Last Year: NA
Low T is a bad scheme, and Michael Waltrip’s D- Aaron’s scheme completely derailed an almost perfect season for paint schemes. The #15 had many one and two race sponsors, but they were almost all great. The #15 could have been higher, if not for the two low scores.
#5-Joe Gibbs Racing #11 Toyota Camry Rank Last Year: 6 of 10
The FedEx schemes took a dive this year. The paintbrush motif doesn’t work. The SportClips scheme needed a work as well. The Throwback was great, as was FedEx Cares and FedEx/Walgreens. The average score is lower than it could have been though.
#6-Joe Gibbs Racing #20 Toyota Camry Rank Last Year: 3 of 10
Tide Pods, Toyota, Toyota Care, and Red Cross were horrible, to say the least. Aside from the Sirius/XM scheme, which was graded a B+, all of the other schemes the #20 ran were A’s. Sadly, averaging out the grades places the #20 down the list.
#7-Furniture Row Racing #78 Toyota Camry Rank Last Year: 8 of 10
The #78 had a decent start, with Furniture Row and Auto Owner’s Insurance having solid A schemes. Then came Bass Pro Shops, 5-Hour Energy, Wix Filters, Ducks Unlimited, and Tracker Boats. Any good looks left once they came on board. The average is low, and the final rank is low.
#8-BK Racing #23 Toyota Camry Rank Last Year: 7 of 10
JAS Trucking, the throwback, Freshbeards, My Freedom Smokes, and Beardfresh/Earthwater were all solid A schemes. These were the 5 jewels in a series of mediocre to awful schemes the #23 ran in 2017. BK racing loves to over design their cars, and this set is another example of that.
#9-BK Racing #83 Toyota Camry Rank Last Year: 9 of 10
BK racing loves to over design their cars. This is evident since many of their cars that they raced in 2017 had some form of pointless design. There were a few bright spots, but the cars just didn’t look good in 2017.
#10-Furniture Row Racing #77 Toyota Camry Rank Last Year: NA
The Game Stop and Cars 3 schemes were the only bright spots in a series of awful schemes that plagued the #77 in 2017. The grades ranged from C- to F and the whole set is ugly, and over designed. Even the two A graded Game Stop and Cars 3 schemes couldn’t save the #77 from a low rating.
Next week, Driver Suit Blog Paint Scheme Review Committee will rank all 3 manufacturers for their 2017 paint scheme rankings!
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