When Toyota entered NASCAR’s premier series in 2007, the manufacturer was concerned more about making races than winning 200 of them.
In its first year, Toyota drivers suffered through nearly 100 failed qualifying attempts — but the lack of speed didn’t dissuade Joe Gibbs Racing from signing with the automaker for the 2008 season despite its drivers’ concerns.
“Certainly, I was worried when we switched over,” JGR driver Denny Hamlin said Sunday to make Toyota the fourth manufacturer to reach the 200-victory mark in Cup. “Obviously, it was a big leap of faith by everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing. The drivers were kind of like an innocent bystander. We were going to live and die by those decisions that JGR made. It turned out to be the best partnership that they could imagine.”
Two races into the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, Toyota’s blazing pace in trying to end a six-year championship drought has emerged as a prevailing storyline.
After Toyota at Darlington Raceway, Hamlin and teammate Chase Briscoe claimed the top two spots at the 1.25-mile oval outside St. Louis that commonly is known as Gateway.
Toyota’s Camrys have led 515 of 607 laps in the playoffs, and their all-around performance has left defending series champion Joey Logano marveling at the gap with Ford and Chevrolet.
“They’re ridiculously fast,” Logano said when asked about Toyota after taking fourth at Gateway as the top Ford driver. “They’ve got a lot of grip, and they’ve got a lot of horsepower. We’ve got a lot of work to do to catch up. We’ve got to be absolutely perfect in every category to contend, and we need them to make mistakes, which they do. We have the potential to do it, it’s just going to be really challenging.”
Logano has won two of the past three titles for Team Penske , a track that is similar in size and shape to Gateway.
After failing to lead a lap at Phoenix in his past two Championship 4 appearances in 2020-21, Hamlin is hopeful of being a factor again after leading a race-high 75 of 240 laps at Gateway.
“I remember showing up to the championship race in 2021 knowing we had no shot, that we weren’t good on the short tracks,” he said. “I do feel like our cars are good right now. This is a track that you can draw some connections to Phoenix, the distance and the banking. You just never know. The Penske cars have come out of nowhere the last few years when you didn’t think they had the speed. They just showed up one week and, poof, they had it.
“You just never know in this sport. It ebbs and it flows.”
Toyota Racing Development president Tyler Gibbs also is cautiously optimistic about the consistency across the manufacturer’s nine-car lineup. Though Joe Gibbs Racing is Toyota’s winningest organization with 166 victories (56 apiece by Hamlin and Kyle Busch, ), 23XI Racing (who has five top-10 finishes in seven races), and Legacy Motor Club has three top fives in the past three races.
“The tracks have suited us well and our drivers well,” Gibbs said. “I think execution is going to be what wins races in the playoffs and is going to win the championship at Phoenix. The cars are so close, and that execution can take all that away. We’re just going to keep our heads down and keep preparing the way we have. The work that the teams have done is incredible. We had some stumbles at the beginning of the year, and we worked really hard to eliminate those and be ready for the playoffs.”
Career expiration date
Hamlin reaffirmed after his 59th career victory that “the countdown has begun” to the end of his driving career. , he has 70 races remaining — the eight left on the 2025 schedule, plus the next two 36-race seasons — and he said the timeline is helping him stay motivated to remain in top form.
“I’m just not going to leave this sport on my deathbed, just leaking oil and running in the back of the pack,” Hamlin said. “I have way too much pride for that. I’m way too cocky for that. There’s just no way. I want to be able to win my last race. To do that, I’m going to have to retire when I’m racing like this.”
Sorry goes only so far
Ryan Blaney rallied for fourth at Gateway despite falling to 18th after being spun by Kyle Larson with 105 laps remaining. Blaney still was miffed after a postrace apology from Larson, who said he misjudged the distance from his No. 5 Chevy to Blaney’s No. 12 Ford entering Turn 3.
“He just said he made a mistake, and that’s fine, but at the end of the day, I still got turned,” Blaney said. “He came from all the way on the bottom of the racetrack and hit me in the left rear. I know he most likely didn’t mean to do it, but it happened anyway. And so that’s just one I’ve got to remember.”
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