With every passing week, it’s becoming clearer that Toyota has the edge on Chevrolet and Ford in NASCAR Cup Series competition. But for Chevy, it’s especially concerning.
Some growing pains were expected for Chevy teams in 2026 with a new Camaro body that teams did not yet have notes on yet. But with only four races remaining until NASCAR reaches its halfway mark, Toyota is still far ahead.
“We’re still behind the Toyotas, there’s no doubt about it,” said Michael McDowell, who drives the No. 71 Chevrolet for Spire Motorsports, Wednesday on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. “We have to close the gap. In that Nashville race, it was the Toyotas and it was me.
“We still got a chunk that we gotta find. So we’re all working hard. Everyone at [General Motors] is working hard. I think the potential is there. I don’t think we’ve extracted it. I think there’s still more juice to squeeze, we just haven’t got it all yet.”
Chevrolet is in trouble
Chevy has scraped together five victories through the first 14 races of the season, a stark contrast to the last time it had a new body but not a new generation of car in 2018. Chevrolet only had one win through the first 21 races of 2018 and ended the season with only four.
Both of McDowell’s Spire teammates in Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez have won this season, with Chase Elliott winning twice and Shane van Gisbergen winning at Watkins Glen. But several other high-profile drivers, including defending champion Kyle Larson, William Byron, Alex Bowman and Ross Chastain remain winless and searching for consistent winning speed.