When Toyota entered the NASCAR Cup Series in 2007, the company’s primary concern was how many cars it would be able to qualify for Sunday’s race.
Aside from the fact that the Japanese manufacturer’s entry into the American stock car racing scene was polarizing among fans, they struggled to garner on-track results in NASCAR’s premier division.
They walked away from their debut year in the Cup Series without a single win, with Dave Blaney the only Toyota driver to finish in the top 35 in points.
“Oh, we were worried about it,” recalled David Wilson, president of TRD.
But Toyota has dramatically flipped the script over the last 19 years, making steady progress since their NASCAR debut in the Truck Series in 2004. The company won its first (of six) Truck Series championships with Todd Bodine in 2006.
In 2008, the manufacturer teamed with Joe Gibbs Racing in the Cup Series — a fruitful partnership that authenticated its presence in the industry. All three of Toyota’s premier championships have been earned by JGR drivers.
The company’s highwater mark was the 2016 season, when Toyota won 49 races across all three national series, accounting for more than half the races the manufacturer competed in. And while this year hasn’t been a record one in regard to wins — they’ve topped nine of 29 Cup Series races thus far — there have been several significant milestones.
On July 23 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Denny Hamlin brought Toyota its 600th win across NASCAR’s three national series. It was also Hamlin’s 50th career victory in the Cup Series and 47th for Toyota.
“As an engineer, I like the simple math of 20 into 600. That equals 30,” Wilson said. “Meaning, 30 on average wins per year for Toyota. And 20 years ago, we were just racing in the Truck Series.”
Since then, Toyota has continued to rack up the numbers, with John Hunter Nemechek clinching the manufacturer’s 200th Xfinity Series victory on Sept. 9 at Kansas Speedway.
But the statistic that matters most to Wilson relates to this season’s Cup Series playoffs.
“Our goal was five Toyotas into the Round of 16. Two Toyotas to Phoenix (Raceway) for the finale. That’s an aggressive goal, but we’re the only manufacturer to get at least one driver into the championship final every single year,” Wilson said.
The first box was checked off Wilson’s list when Truex Jr., Hamlin, Christopher Bell, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace made it into the Round of 16, which commenced on Sept. 3 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
The target has continued to move closer, with all five drivers advancing to the second playoff round following the cutoff race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway on Sept. 16.
It marks the first time since 2016 that five Toyota drivers will compete in the Round of 12.
“We’re not going to win the most races this year, that’s clearly going to be Chevrolet,” Wilson said. “You have highs and lows along the way…but we continue to put solid partnerships and teams and drivers onto the track. I like to think that the fans have come to respect the level of commitment that we have to the sport year in and year out.”