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Since the manufacturer\u2019s debut in NASCAR\u2019s top division in 2007, Toyota drivers have won three Cup championships, with Kyle Busch in 2015 and 2019 and Martin Truex Jr. in 2017.<\/p>\n
Though both Christopher Bell and Hamlin are mathematically alive in the race for the 2026 title\u2014trailing Kyle Larson by 67 and 70 points, respectively, entering Sunday\u2019s Championship Race\u2014their hopes are roughly equivalent to winning the lottery, as Hamlin put it.<\/p>\n
Hamlin has contributed four of Toyota\u2019s 18 victories this season, but he and his team have not executed at the same level during the Chase presented by Mobil 1.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it needs to be looked at personally, internally with Toyota and JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) and LEGACY (Motor Club) and 23XI (Racing),\u201d Hamlin said. \u201cI think we have to figure out that the win ratio to the championship ratio has just not been as good as it needs to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I think that that needs to be a deep dive and honestly figure out what needs to be changed. I don’t think we should just rinse and repeat and let’s just do this all again next year.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we really should think about what it’s going to take to win the big prize at the end, because our cars are too fast for there to be just a few, I think, two, and Martin (Truex Jr) is in there. It’s three championships in 20 years. We\u2019ve got to fix that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Toyota Racing Development president Tyler Gibbs responded to Hamlin\u2019s comments on Friday night, after Kaden Honeycutt won the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series championship in a Toyota Tundra at Homestead-Miami Speedway.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe car changes to the Next Gen car (in 2022),\u201d Gibbs said. \u201cWe see some challenges there, candidly. You look at last year, we won 14 races. This year we won 18 races. It feels like we are getting back to a little bit of where we were in ’17, ’18, ’19. Not that we were far off.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut this is a really tough garage. They’re going to take advantage of every single weakness, whether it’s a mistake you make or whether it’s them just excelling in the given moment, as we saw a number of times in the championship race itself (under the elimination format).<\/p>\n
\u201cI don’t think there’s a fundamental flaw, if you will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gibbs also pointed out that, with its 18 victories, Toyota claimed the Cup Series manufacturers\u2019 title this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor us, the manufacturers\u2019 championship is a big deal,\u201d he said. \u201cWe recognize that the drivers\u2019 championship gets more exposure, and it should. We want that in our sport.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, to have won 18 and not won the drivers\u2019 is disappointing. We still have a shot. We’ve got two shots. We’ve got a lot of work to do, and we’re going to need some help.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut anything’s possible. We’re going to give it all we’ve got on Sunday.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ross Chastain explodes mythology of Hendrick phone call<\/b><\/p>\n
Ever since team owner Rick Hendrick and driver Ross Chastain talked on the phone after the Darlington race in May of 2023, conventional wisdom has become accepted truth\u2014that a tongue-lashing from Hendrick somehow neutered Chastain\u2019s aggressive driving style.<\/p>\n
Make no mistake. Hendrick was incensed that Chastain wrecked one of his drivers\u2014Kyle Larson\u2014at the Lady in Black.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t care if he\u2019s driving a Chevy,\u201d Hendrick said after the race. \u201cI don\u2019t care. I\u2019ve told Chevrolet that. If you wreck us, you\u2019re going to get it back.\u201d<\/p>\n
The assumption has always been that the phone call between Hendrick and Chastain took the same tenor, but Chastain said that simply isn\u2019t true.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere’s a lot that’s always, ever since then, that’s been made about Hendrick, like Rick Hendrick, and the phone call we had,\u201d Chastain said. \u201cI laughed because there was only two people on that phone call. And the way it went was so inspiring to me, because he could have said anything.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut the fact that he encouraged me to race, and, like, we had a meaningful conversation that, honestly, it was in the morning, and I remember walking outside, and it was right after Darlington, and I was like, \u2018Wow, I can run through a brick wall right now.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Adding credence to the conventional wisdom, Chastain\u2019s Trackhouse Racing cars have sustained a dip in performance since then. In 2026, Chastain has suffered through a winless season he\u2019d prefer to forget.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s just so unfortunate that the timing lined up that way, because people, they truly believe,\u201d Chastain said. \u201cI have people come up to me all the time and believe that I purposely am driving in a way to drive slower and to drive cautiously.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I’m like, I don’t know how you think that’s possible in the Cup Series. I mean, I am driving into the corner, through the center of the corner, off the corner as fast as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n
John Hunter Nemechek brings valuable intangibles to Haas Factory Team<\/b><\/p>\n
When Joe Custer had the opportunity to hire John Hunter Nemechek for the Haas Factory Team, he saw the 29-year-old as more than just a talented driver to fill an empty seat in the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series.<\/p>\n
\u201cJohn Hunter\u2014I\u2019ve challenged him with being our leader,\u201d said the Hass Factory Team president. \u201cAnd what does that mean? It\u2019s more than ‘Rah, rah.\u2019 It\u2019s actually helping us make sure that, when we work on development on different things in the car, we directionally correct.<\/p>\n
\u201cIs the tire model right in the simulator? What about our affiliates? How are we communicating and helping their program? So, it takes a little bit more, and I think he\u2019s at a point in his career\u2014and I told him this\u2014this experience with us can make him a better overall driver if he embraces it, and I think he is and will.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nemechek has been driving for LEGACY Motor Club in the NASCAR Cup Series this season but lost his ride for 2027 suddenly and unexpectedly when Wood Brothers Racing driver Josh Berry became available.<\/p>\n
For its part, Haas Factory Team is experiencing total turnover on the O\u2019Reilly Series side with Sheldon Creed departing for Sam Hunt Racing and Sam Mayer returning to JR Motorsports.<\/p>\n
Nemechek will join new teammate Dean Thompson, who already has been announced as an HFT hire for next season.<\/p>\n
Nemechek acknowledged he had discussions with Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing in the wake of co-owner\/driver Brad Keselowski\u2019s announced departure at the end of the season. Keselowski\u2019s exit leaves a Cup Series seat open under uncertain circumstances.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe did have a few discussions over there,\u201d Nemechek said. \u201cIt\u2019s debatable how many races they\u2019re going to run. At the time of the discussions, no one really knew if it was going to be part-time, full-time or what that situation was going to be.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut for me, I wanted to go win races. I wanted to go have fun and be in contending, winning equipment every single week and know that I can show up and make a difference internally and also make a difference on the race track. We felt like this was the right fit.\u201d<\/p>\n
Short Strokes\u2026<\/b><\/p>\n
Casey Mears is making his 500th NASCAR Cup Series start in Sunday\u2019s Championship Race (3 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)\u2026 For J.J. Yeley, the Cup start will be his 400th, adding the Arizona driver to an exclusive club. Yeley also has 404 starts in the NASCAR O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series. Morgan Shepherd and Joe Nemechek are the only other drivers to have 400 or more starts to their credit in each series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Reid Spencer | NASCAR Wire Service Why does NASCAR Cup drivers\u2019 championship continue to elude Toyota? HOMESTEAD, Fla. \u2014 Denny Hamlin raised the issue during his media availability on Friday, indicating that Toyota teams will spend the offseason examining data in an effort to determine why NASCAR Cup Series drivers\u2019 championships have been so<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":676,"featured_media":61605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_hide_featured_image":false,"_jetpack_featured_image_duplicate_dismissed":0,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[527,16],"class_list":["post-62380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nascar","tag-homestead-miami-speedway","tag-nascar"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7hzTZ-ge8","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/racedaysa.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2299730452-scaled.jpg?fit=2560%2C1707&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62380","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/676"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62380"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62380\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":62409,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62380\/revisions\/62409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61605"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62380"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62380"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/racedaysa.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62380"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}