Toyota, together with Ford, was one in every of two producers to introduce a brand new physique – the Toyota Camry XSE – to the NASCAR Cup Sequence in 2024, and whereas Ford has struggled to achieve constant velocity, Toyota has rocketed to the entrance and got here inside a couple of automobile lengths of successful final weekend at Las Vegas with Tyler Reddick.
Eventual winner Bell led 50 laps en path to his win, whereas second-year driver Ty Gibbs completed third after main 57 circuits. Martin Truex Jr. completed seventh after main for 55 laps, whereas Reddick and Hamlin led a mixed 136 laps and completed tenth and eleventh, respectively.
Even the worst-running Toyota vehicles nonetheless had their moments within the solar, as Bubba Wallace, who completed sixteenth, ran within the prime 5 and prime ten for a few of stage three, and Erik Jones completed fourth in stage one earlier than being caught up in an incident and ending thirty first.
The scariest factor for Ford and Chevrolet is not a lot the outcomes sheet, as each producers had not less than one automobile end within the prime six, however the velocity chart. Christopher Bell was the quickest driver on the ten, 20, and 30 lap averages in Friday’s follow session, and Hamlin and Gibbs locked down an all-Toyota entrance row in qualifying. After which, after all, the race, the place, as beforehand talked about, Bell not solely received, however Toyota as an entire led 298 laps or a staggering 95.51% of Sunday’s race. The race additionally featured the largest margin of victory for a Cup Sequence race for the reason that Subsequent-Gen automobile was launched in 2022, at 5.465 seconds.
There is a distinction between getting beat and never even being aggressive. Whereas a Ford completed second and a Chevy sixth, relaxation be assured that executives in each workplaces are scratching their heads and punching the partitions because the collection heads to Bristol, which makes use of the identical guidelines package deal as Phoenix.
Add in that Phoenix is the place the championship might be selected Nov. 10, and people with their ft in Ford or Chevrolet camps are rightly terrified after witnessing Toyota’s decimation of the sector.
With Toyota seemingly already determining its new physique, the most popular query within the storage space must be how briskly Ford and Chevy can modify. If the producers fail to make adjustments, it may very well be a protracted season for the fits in Detroit.
The sector will get one other crack at Toyota on Sunday when the NASCAR Cup Sequence travels to Bristol Motor Speedway. The inexperienced flag is ready for 3:30 p.m. ET on Mar 17, with the race being broadcast on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
