By David G. Firestone
The committee had a really good meeting this week. We got a lot done, we took a nap, and had some more cuddle time. So we present to you the Toyota leaderboard.
1. Obaika Racing #97 Toyota Camry
Number of Schemes: 4
Rank Last Year:N/A
GPA: 3.82
Victor Obaika, NASCAR’s first African team owner, had a lot of great looks this year. While The Excel Therapy/Maximum Off-Road was a little over done, this new team had a very solid year, appearance-wise.
2. Erik Jones #20 Toyota Camry
Number of Schemes: 13
Rank Last Year:6th of 10
GPA: 3.30
Doosan and SportClips weren’t great, though SportClips would have a great Throwback scheme. Toyota’s scheme was awful. Sirius and the second Circle K weren’t bad, with room for improvement. The rest of the schemes were great, but the bad balanced out the good in the end.
3. MBM Motorsports #66 Chevy Camaro/Ford Fusion/Toyota Camry
Number of Schemes: 12
Rank Last Year:N/A
GPA: 3.27
The Rewards.com, and the Rewards.com throwback weren’t the best. Other than those two, there were a lot of A, A-, and B+ schemes this year. But the numbers don’t lie, and the average is a 3.27. In years past, this could have been a higher rank, but this year isn’t a high rank.
4. Kyle Busch #18 Toyota Camry
Number of Schemes: 15
Rank Last Year: 2nd of 10
GPA: 3.20
Snickers Almond, Snickers Intense, and Interstate Batteries were the only black marks here. Kyle had 15 schemes, 12 are A schemes, 3 are F schemes. When everything was averaged, Kyle got a 3.20 GPA.
5. Martin Truex Jr. #78 Toyota Camry
Number of Schemes: 8
Rank Last Year: of 10
GPA: 3.14
In their last year of existence, Furniture Row debuted a bad template, which could get, at best, a C-. The Auto-Owners Insurance schemes were good. Their throwback scheme for the final race was amazing. It was a decent year for Martin
6. Gaunt Brother Racing #96 Chevy Camaro/Toyota Camry
Number of Schemes: 11
Rank Last Year:N/A
GPA: 2.73
Ik9 had some great looks this year. The Dale Earnhardt Sr. Throwback was great, as was Northern Provincial. There were some bad looks, but the season as a whole was decent. It could have been better, but it was just decent.
7. Daniel Suarez #19 Toyota Camry
Number of Schemes: 9
Rank Last Year: 6th of 10
GPA: 2.68
Stanley and Comcast were horrible this year. Interstate Batteries thought thier scheme looked so great that it would work on the #19, which it didn’t. Coca Cola, Arris, Peak, and Lenox tried to make up for this, but in the end, it was just a meh year for the #19.
8. Denny Hamlin #11 Toyota Camry
Number of Schemes: 6
Rank Last Year: 5th of 10
GPA: 2.68
The FedEx schemes were the same unremarkable blue and orange schemes they were last year. The FedEx Cares scheme was hideous. I will give Denny credit for having a great looking throwback. All in all, this was just a meh year for Denny.
Number of Schemes: 18
Rank Last Year: 8th of 10
GPA: 1.43
There were two plain schemes that worked, as did the throwback, and Best Bully Snacks. Everything else ranged from awful to God awful. There were many schemes that were pointlessly over designed for no real reason. I’m glad I won’t have to look at BK Racing next year.
Next week, the grand finale!
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