{"id":941084,"date":"2026-10-21T08:30:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-21T08:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/941084\/"},"modified":"2026-10-21T08:30:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-21T08:30:14","slug":"toyota-ends-chevrolets-nascar-manufacturer-championship-streak","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/941084\/","title":{"rendered":"Toyota Ends Chevrolet\u2019s NASCAR Manufacturer Championship Streak"},"content":{"rendered":"

Since 2019, Toyota has been locked out of the NASCAR Cup Series manufacturer championship, but with nine full-time drivers and one part-time spread among three multi-car teams, the manufacturer has unseated Chevrolet this year for the coveted title.<\/p>\n

For the last five consecutive years, Chevrolet has walked off with the manufacturer title in NASCAR\u2019s Cup Series. Ford\u2019s lone manufacturer title during that time span came in 2020.<\/p>\n

Toyota has spent the last six years building its teams and developing its drivers. Of the drivers who drove for Toyota in 2019, only two\u2014Denny Hamlin and Erik Jones\u2014are with the manufacturer this season, and only one team remains from 2019\u2014Joe Gibbs Racing.<\/p>\n

23XI Racing joined the Toyota camp in 2021, and Legacy Motor Club followed in 2024. Jones moved from JGR to Legacy when that team was known as Richard Petty Motorsports, while Hamlin remained with JGR as the organization\u2019s senior driver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the same drivers, we have the same car, we have a lot of carryover from 2025, which really allows us to focus on those small differences that add up,\u201d TRD President Tyler Gibbs said.<\/p>\n

\"NASCARChris Graythen\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Tyler Reddick\u2019s win at Phoenix clinched the title for Toyota.<\/p>\n

Tyler Reddick\u2019s Phoenix victory secured the manufacturer championship for Toyota which has 18 Cup wins this year, its most in a season since 2019. Four of the seven competitors in contention for this year\u2019s driver title are in the Toyota camp as are six of the 16 in the Chase. The only three full-time Toyota drivers not in the Chase are Jones, John Hunter Nemechek, and Riley Herbst. Corey Heim won two races this year, but he\u2019s not racing full-time.<\/p>\n

Gibbs, who is no relation to team owner Joe Gibbs, cites the drivers and Toyota\u2019s engine performance as the key factors in this year\u2019s success. He said engine changes that have been profitable this year were made 18 months to two years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes a very long time for those kinds of developments to really play in,\u201d Gibbs noted.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we haven\u2019t won manufacturers championships, we\u2019ve won quite a fair number of races (since 2019). I think the drivers that we\u2019ve brought in and are bringing along now are really beginning to contribute. So, it\u2019s kind of a natural progression to get ourselves to where we are this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibbs cited Heim\u2019s and Ty Gibbs\u2019 progression as well as Chase Briscoe\u2019s selection to replace Martin Truex Jr. when he retired.<\/p>\n

\"AUTO:Icon Sportswire\/\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Ty Gibbs at Phoenix Raceway.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know how this is with young drivers,\u201d Gibbs said. \u201cIt takes time for them to develop and to contribute. All four Gibbs cars won, 23XI cars won races, and that just demonstrates kind of where we\u2019re at. I think the driver side has really helped us this year.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can see those things adding up. There\u2019s an expectation for us to compete for race championships, and that\u2019s kind of where we\u2019ve been living.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gibbs notes there is more collaboration among the Toyota Cup teams than ever before, and that has been a factor as well.<\/p>\n

Winning the manufacturer title means several things to Toyota, Gibbs said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt means that we\u2019ve been consistent all year,\u201d Gibbs continued. \u201cIt means that we\u2019ve won races with multiple drivers and multiple teams. It means that we\u2019ve competed very, very well in those races we didn\u2019t win. It really validates the work that we\u2019ve put in all year across all of the cars and all of the drivers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toyota is in its third season with its current body style. Chevrolet introduced a new one this year. Ford will introduce a new body next year for its Cup car.<\/p>\n

In addition to this year and 2019, Toyota\u2019s other Cup Series manufacturer titles came in 2016 and 2017. With three races remaining in the season, Toyota is still in contention to win the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series manufacturer title and driver championship.<\/p>\n

Entering Talladega this weekend, Toyota possesses 698 NASCAR victories.\n<\/p>\n

\"Lettermark\"<\/p>\n

A North Carolina native, Deb Williams is an award-winning motorsports journalist who is in her fourth decade covering auto racing. In addition to covering the sport for United Press International, she has written motorsports articles for several newspapers, magazines and websites including espnW.com<\/a>, USA Today, and The Charlotte Observer. Her awards include the American Motorsports Media Award of Excellence, two-time National Motorsports Press Association writer of the year, and two-time recipient of the Russ Catlin award. She also has won an award in the North Carolina Press Association\u2019s sports feature category.\u00a0 During her career, Deb has been managing editor of GT Motorsports magazine and was with Winston Cup Scene and NASCAR Winston Cup Scene for 18 years, serving as the publication\u2019s editor for 10 years. In 2024 she was inducted into the NMPA Hall of Fame.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since 2019, Toyota has been locked out of the NASCAR Cup Series manufacturer championship, but with nine full-time…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":941085,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[446],"tags":[49,48,782,322362,784,237154,1642,634,322361,273948,82,183339],"class_list":["post-941084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-content-type-news","tag-contentid-c9e74b10-ce7d-42f5-b6d6-77cbbfeb21bc","tag-displaytype-standard-article","tag-issyndicated-false","tag-locale-us","tag-nascar","tag-shorttitle-toyota-ends-chevrolets-nascar-championship-streak","tag-sponsored-false","tag-sports","tag-subsection-nascar"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=941084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/941084\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/941085"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=941084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=941084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=941084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}