Toyota, along with Ford, was one of two manufacturers to introduce a new body – the Toyota Camry XSE – to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2024, and while Ford has struggled to gain consistent speed, Toyota has rocketed to the front and came within a few car lengths of winning last weekend at Las Vegas with Tyler Reddick.
Eventual winner Bell led 50 laps en route to his win, while second-year driver Ty Gibbs finished third after leading 57 circuits. Martin Truex Jr. finished seventh after leading for 55 laps, while Reddick and Hamlin led a combined 136 laps and finished 10th and 11th, respectively.
Even the worst-running Toyota cars still had their moments in the sun, as Bubba Wallace, who finished 16th, ran in the top five and top ten for some of stage three, and Erik Jones finished fourth in stage one before being caught up in an incident and finishing 31st.
The scariest thing for Ford and Chevrolet isn’t so much the results sheet, as both manufacturers had at least one car finish in the top six, but the speed chart. Christopher Bell was the fastest driver on the 10, 20, and 30 lap averages in Friday’s practice session, and Hamlin and Gibbs locked down an all-Toyota front row in qualifying. And then, of course, the race, where, as previously mentioned, Bell not only won, but Toyota as a whole led 298 laps or a staggering 95.51% of Sunday’s race. The race also featured the biggest margin of victory for a Cup Series race since the Next-Gen car was introduced in 2022, at 5.465 seconds.
There’s a difference between getting beat and not even being competitive. While a Ford finished second and a Chevy sixth, rest be assured that executives in both offices are scratching their heads and punching the walls as the series heads to Bristol, which uses the same rules package as Phoenix.
Add in that Phoenix is where the championship will be decided on Nov. 10, and those with their feet in Ford or Chevrolet camps are rightly terrified after witnessing Toyota’s decimation of the field.
With Toyota seemingly already figuring out its new body, the hottest question in the garage area has to be how fast Ford and Chevy can adjust. If the manufacturers fail to make changes, it could be a long season for the suits in Detroit.
The field will get another crack at Toyota on Sunday when the NASCAR Cup Series travels to Bristol Motor Speedway. The green flag is set for 3:30 p.m. ET on Mar 17, with the race being broadcast on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.