The first two NASCAR Cup Series postseason races have Toyota riding high, but also acknowledging there is still plenty of racing left to go before potentially hoisting the championship.
“You definitely don’t need to remind me,” TRD president Tyler Gibbs said Sunday night of having last won one in 2019. “It’s race by race, week to week. Anything can happen.”
Chase Briscoe dominated and won the postseason opener at Darlington Raceway to advance into the Round of 12. Briscoe led a top four sweep in the Southern 500, in a race where Toyota had six of the top 10 finishers and its drivers combined to lead 351 of 367 laps.
On Sunday, it was Denny Hamlin winning his way into the next round at World Wide Technology Raceway after leading the most laps (main image). Hamlin did so from the pole, which he had also claimed at Darlington. Toyota again placed six drivers inside the top 10, and overall, Toyota drivers combined to lead 164 of 240 laps.
It was also the 200th series win for Toyota.
Briscoe and Hamlin are the only two drivers locked into the Round of 12 with the elimination race at Bristol Motor Speedway next. There are five Toyota drivers in the Cup Series postseason field, and all five are above the cutline going into Saturday night.
“We’re going to Bristol next week; Bristol traditionally is a pretty good track for us and for our teams and for our drivers,” Gibbs said. “But it’s Bristol. It’s the night race. It’s a playoff race. The stakes are high for everybody.
“One mistake by anybody can cost other playoff contenders all kinds of issues. We’re just going to focus one race at a time. I know that’s cliché. It doesn’t really do us any good to look that far down the road. We’ll prepare for this week. Look at the week after as well, because it takes so much work to get ready for these races.”
Kyle Busch was the last Toyota driver to win a Cup Series championship (’19). It was also the last time the championship was crowned at Homestead-Miami Speedway.
In the last five years, Toyota has consistently been represented in the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway. The closest one of their drivers has come to winning the title was Martin Truex Jr. and Hamlin finishing second and third to Kyle Larson in 2021. In each of the other seasons, the Toyota driver finished third or fourth in the championship standings.
“The tracks have suited us well, our drivers well,” Gibbs said. “You’ve seen execution. 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 there’s so much work that goes into doing all that, that execution can take all that away. So, we’ve seen that last week. We’ve seen a little bit this week, maybe less than last week.
“We’re going to keep our heads down, keep preparing the way we have. The work that the teams have done is incredible. Between the work that the TRD folks have done over the course of this year – we had some stumbles at the beginning of the year, and we worked really hard to eliminate those and be ready for the playoffs. This is what we’re here for.”