This season, Toyota Racing Development has revealed their driver development lineup, which includes 13 drivers from three different motorsports disciplines.
After spending a year with Kaulig Racing, Chandler Smith leads the stock car racing field as he joins Joe Gibbs Racing in the Xfinity Series. Smith plans to pursue his second career Xfinity victory while driving the No. 81 Toyota GR Supra full-time.
Smith was a part of Toyota Racing before. For Venturini Motorsports, he made 35 starts in the ARCA Menards Series and won ten races. After that, Smith raced in 61 Truck Series events for Kyle Busch Motorsports, where he won five of them.
Smith is joined in the stock car lineup by reigning Truck Series regular-season champion Corey Heim, Truck Series driver Taylor Gray, and ARCA Menards Series East champion William Sawalich. Gray and Heim will compete for Tricon Garage full-time. Additionally, they will start in Xfinity for Joe Gibbs Racing and Sam Hunt Racing, respectively.
While defending his ARCA East championship, Sawalich will start in many Truck races for Tricon and multiple Xfinity races for Joe Gibbs Racing.
Brent Crews, Isabella Robusto, and Gio Ruggiero will drive for Venturini Motorsports, a Toyota Racing affiliate, and compete in multiple ARCA Menards Series races. This season, Ruggiero will also be vying for the ARCA East championship. In addition to Robusto’s GT4 races, all three drivers will still participate in Late Model events.
Three more dirt racers round out the driver development roster. Buddy Kofoid will oversee Roth Motorsports’ entire World of Outlaws program. Ryan Timms, the youngest feature winner in the history of the series, has signed on to drive for Keith Kunz Motorsports in USAC National Midget races.
Jade Avedisian will drive for Nitro Motorsports and compete in the entire Toyota GR Cup Series season in addition to competing in dirt midget races for Keith Kunz Motorsports.
The development roster for Toyota Racing is completed by three drivers of sports cars. In both SRO and IMSA, John Geesbreght will be a driver for Smooge Racing. Tyler Gonzalez, who is now Geesbreght’s co-driver in SRO, is going to join Smooge Racing.
Westin Workman, who drives for Copeland Motorsports, will make a full season return to the Toyota GR Cup Series.
Trent Rodriguez, TRD’s manager of driver development, stated in a statement, “The TD2 program is something that we take much pride in at TRD.” “Providing opportunities for young drivers to reach their goals in motorsports will always be something that TRD celebrates.
“Our lineup for this season is incredibly diverse and filled with exceptionally talented drivers. With this group, we look forward to earning countless race wins and championships across multiple racing series this year.”
Front Row Motorsports announced the addition of a new sponsor to the lineup on Tuesday. In a partnership with B’laster Holdings, the Ford Performance team agreed to sponsor Michael McDowell in a number of Cup Series events.
In July at Pocono, McDowell will introduce the B’laster plan. The organization is switching from Live Fast Motorsports to Front Row Motorsports, and it will continue to race into the fall.
“The opportunity to work with the B’laster brand, known for its commitment to excellence and innovation, is exciting,” McDowell said in a statement. “We were introduced to B’laster when Matt (Tifft) raced with us at FRM and now it’s great to work again with both Matt and B’laster with this relationship.”