Interstate Batteries, JGR Team For 34th Season
Written by I Dig Sports
DALLAS The most tenured team partnership in all of NASCAR continues unabated this year. Interstate Batteries, the leading replacement battery brand in the United States, has signed a multi-year extension with Joe Gibbs Racing to continue their partnership well into a fourth decade.
Interstate Batteries is JGRs founding partner, joining the team for its NASCAR Cup Series debut in 1992. The endorsement from the Outrageously Dependable battery brand allowed team owner Joe Gibbs to turn his dream of a NASCAR team into reality, namely by securing the services of a future NASCAR Hall of Famer, Dale Jarrett, to drive his race cars.
When we first began our partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing in 1992, we had around 120,000 dealers comprised of service stations, garages and car dealers that sold our batteries, but we didnt have a national reputation.
Joe Gibbs Racing gave Interstate Batteries national recognition. Joe was still in the NFL and coaching in Washington, and then Dale Jarrett delivered our first win together in the first race of our second season, said Norm Miller, Chairman Emeritus, Interstate Batteries.
We already saw that the partnership was working during our inaugural season together, but that 1993 Daytona 500 win really put Interstate Batteries on the map. It helped us secure national accounts because we had strong name recognition among consumers. That recognition remains true to this day as we enter our 73rd year delivering outrageously dependable batteries.
In 2025, it is perennial championship contender Christopher Bell who will carry the signature green colors of Interstate Batteries on his No. 20 Toyota Camry XSE in four NASCAR Cup Series races, while Ty Gibbs will augment those races with an Interstate Batteries race of his own June 1 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway.
Bell kicks off Interstate Batteries 2025 campaign in the 67th running of the Daytona 500 Feb. 16 at Daytona (Fla.) Intl Speedway. The Interstate Batteries green machine returns with Bell March 16 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and May 4 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth before Bell brings Interstate Batteries branding back in the Cup Series season finale Nov. 2 at Phoenix Raceway.
Our customers are the backbone of our success at Interstate Batteries, and our partnership with Joe Gibbs Racing is a great avenue to strengthen our relationships with them on and off the track, said Lain Hancock, President and CEO, Interstate Batteries. Our Outrageously Dependable mantra speaks to our tenure with JGR and our long-time customers, and no one enjoys seeing the color green wave on another NASCAR season more than all of us at Interstate Batteries.
Interstate Batteries helped launch JGR and, in their 33 years of partnership, JGR has won five NASCAR Cup Series championships and scored 214 Cup Series victories, a number that includes four Daytona 500s. All of JGRs firsts first win with Jarrett in the 1993 Daytona 500, first pole with Bobby Labonte on April 21, 1995 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, and first championship with Labonte in 2000 have come with Interstate Batteries as the primary sponsor.
We wouldnt be where we are as a race team without the support from our founding partner, Interstate Batteries, said Joe Gibbs, owner of Joe Gibbs Racing. To think were now well into our fourth decade together speaks to how special our partnership has been and the relationships weve built with everyone at Interstate Batteries. Ill be forever grateful to Norm and Tommy Miller, who gave us a chance when we didnt have a building, cars or even employees. We are blessed to continue to work with great people like Lain (Hancock) and his entire team.
There are few partnerships that have stood the test of time like Joe Gibbs Racing and Interstate Batteries.