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Toyota has clinched the NASCAR Cup Series manufacturers’ championship and now has four drivers chasing the drivers’ title with three races left, Toyota Racing Development president Tyler Gibbs told RACER.
Tyler Reddick‘s win at Phoenix Raceway last Sunday, his sixth of the season, sealed the manufacturers’ title, Toyota’s first since 2019. Toyota leads Chevrolet by 219 points.
18 wins in 33 races
Toyota drivers have won 18 of the season’s 33 races, the most for the manufacturer since it won 19 in 2019. A Toyota driver finished second in eight of the other 15 races. It is Toyota’s fourth Cup manufacturers’ championship.
“It means a lot,” Gibbs said. “It means that we’ve been consistent all year, that we’ve won races with multiple drivers and teams, and it means that we’ve competed very, very well in those races we didn’t win.”
“Don’t get me wrong, we would certainly like to have a drivers’ championship, and we’re going to give it our very best to get there,” he said.
Four Toyotas in the title fight
Four of the top seven drivers in the Chase standings drive Toyotas. Christopher Bell is second, five points behind leader Kyle Larson. Chase Briscoe is third, 24 back, Denny Hamlin is fourth, 31 back, and Reddick is seventh, 56 back. Hamlin led the standings after the first two Chase races before Larson took over.
Gibbs said that gives Toyota more chances than Chevrolet, which has Larson as its only realistic contender.
“We’ve thought about it, and the Chevy guys essentially have one bullet at this point in the season,” Gibbs said. “If Larson has another day like he had at Phoenix, they’re going to really struggle to have a real opportunity at a championship. We’ve got multiple bullets, and they’re taking each other’s lunch some days, and that’s a challenge. But I think from our side, having more bullets is better than having fewer bullets.”
Briscoe has won two Chase races, including Charlotte, where he beat Bell. Gibbs said Toyota wants its drivers to work together until late in each race.
“We want the guys to work together until the last 10, 15, 20 laps and then have at it,” Gibbs said. “We’re going to take the numbers even if it means on occasion they hurt each other a little bit.”
Toyota’s last drivers’ title
Toyota’s last Cup drivers’ championship came in 2019 with Kyle Busch, who won two of the manufacturer’s three Cup titles. Busch died in May at age 41.
The final three races are Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama, on Sunday, Martinsville Speedway in Ridgeway, Virginia, and Homestead-Miami Speedway in Homestead, Florida. Briscoe is the defending winner at Talladega. Hamlin won at Martinsville in the spring of 2025, and Reddick won at Homestead in the fall of 2024.
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