Saturday's season-opening Camping World 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Daytona will kick-off Interstate Batteries' 18th anniversary of sponsorship with Joe Gibbs Racing.

The Gibbs/Interstate Batteries relationship is definitely one of faith and luck. Gibbs created Joe Gibbs Racing with his business partner Don Meredith in 1991, and secured a sponsorship deal with Norm Miller, chairman of Interstate Batteries. Gibbs was able to do this, surprisingly, having a tiny staff, no cars, engines, or racing experience.

JGR debuted in February 1992 in the Daytona 500 with the number 18 Interstate Batteries car being driven by Dale Jarrett and Jimmy Makar serving as the crew chief. Jarrett won the Daytona 500 the next year with number 18 car.

Other highlights of their sponsorship include 25.5 wins, 21 Cup wins by Bobby Labonte, two by Jarrett, and one by Kyle Busch, as well as the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Championship won by Labonte. The half win comes from Busch in April 2008 when he was driving a DLP-sponsored car, but wore an Interstate Batteries driving suit.

Kyle Busch will drive the No. 18 in this Saturday's Camping World 300 and is looking to start where he picked up last year. Busch set a record of 21 victories in NASCAR's top-three divisions last season, including 10 wins in the Nationwide Series. He plans this year to compete in every Nationwide Series race this season and give JGR its first driver title in the Nationwide Series.

Busch knows the importance of Interstate Batteries' sponsorship in this tough economic time stating in an interview during Speedweeks: "All joking aside, Interstate Batteries has been in this sport with JGR for like 18 years. I'd rather have them Norm and Interstate Batteries stick around with us for a lot longer." A win on Saturday would give Interstate Batteries their 26.5 win and the first bragging rights of the 2009 season.