Toyota Racing needs no reminder about the last time it claimed a NASCAR Cup Series championship.
"Forever," Tyler Gibbs, the president of Toyota Racing Development (TRD), told ESPN. "It feels like it's been forever."
For the record, it's been six years. It was 2019, with the late Kyle Busch, who is responsible for two of the three titles that Toyota has in the series (2015, 2019), behind the wheel. The other came courtesy of Martin Truex Jr. in 2017.
"When you compare the number of wins we have in that timeframe compared to the number of wins, let's say, that Chevrolet or Ford has, just on a purely prorated basis, we should have more championships," Gibbs said. "Yes, it feels like it's been forever and ever. So, we aren't due [to win one] because we're just participating; we are due because of the level and effort of performance we've had over time."
Gibbs knows nothing is guaranteed, even in another season when Toyota is clearly the series leader. Its cars have been the fastest and its drivers the most consistent, including 15 wins in 29 races (the most since the 2019, when Toyota won 19 of 36 races). Until this past weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, a Toyota driver, either Denny Hamlin or Tyler Reddick, had led the championship points standings all season.
Now, Kyle Larson, in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, leads Hamlin by one point. But four Toyota drivers sit inside the top seven in the standings. All six Toyota drivers who made the Chase are also in the top 10 in points.
Hamlin entered the postseason as the No. 1 seed. Reddick started the year red hot, becoming the first driver to win the season's first three races, then had five in the bank after the first ten.
"I think we all know that we're all racing each other kind of for the championship," said Chase Briscoe as the postseason began. "I definitely would say that pressure's there, but I don't think the expectation's been put on us. We just all kind of internally know it."
And that is where the storyline lies. Toyota being the favorites is not new, but it comes with the clear understanding of how much further in the rearview the last championship continues to get and how hard it is to win one. Toyota joined the Cup Series in 2007, and that feeling of foreverness was there until the first one came in 2015. So, in a way, it's back now and bringing a sense of déjà vu.
Toyota and its drivers faced their most recent disappointment last year, when Hamlin, who led the series in victories, was three laps away from winning the series title when the caution flew in the finale. He lost the race off pit road and, with it, the championship. It would have been Hamlin's long-awaited first title, but he remains 0-for-20.
Despite coming up short of the big prize over the last six years, the manufacturer has won 60 races. Gibbs doesn't deny the pressure is on to close this one out.
"But that is the position we want to be in," he said. "If we have to chase, we'll chase, but we would much prefer to be in the position that we're in and be the target."
One thing needs to be understood, however, about the pressure. Toyota isn't putting any of it on its drivers. But it certainly is there.
"I think it's Toyota's championship to lose," Bubba Wallace said. "We never get to see the manufacturer's standings ... but I think, based on how many races we've won as a Toyota organization this year, it would be a shame if we didn't seal the deal."
Gibbs also doesn't believe any driver would have more pressure than his teammates.
"I hope the drivers don't feel pressure from us other than the normal pressure of we have high expectations of them and how they race each other," Gibbs said. "But individually, I think each of them would say they have a tremendous amount of pressure. ... I think they feel the pressure, but most of it is self-induced.
"Just like Joe Gibbs, Denny [Hamlin] and Michael [Jordan] for 23XI Racing, we want to provide the very best platform for them to compete upon. We'll be happy if we can get any one of them to beat Ryan Blaney, Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott, and the other guys, too."
Christopher Bell was brimming with confidence as the postseason began. He not only agreed with predictions that his closest competition comes from within Joe Gibbs Racing, but also boldly and repeatedly stated that the champion will be a Toyota driver.
"I do believe that the champion will be a Toyota," Bell said, "and I think the champion will come from the top six seeds. I am pretty confident in those statements. So, we'll see if they turn out right or wrong. I'm confident in those statements."
The competition knows Toyota is the standard this season, acknowledging how fast the cars are and trying to figure out how to keep up. It's expected to be more of the same over the next three weeks, when Toyota drivers could separate themselves from the championship pack with a slate of three straight intermediate races. Those racetracks, in particular, have been Toyota's strength.
Gibbs speaks with pride about the work done on the engine program over the last 18 months, as well as the technical tools between the bases in California and North Carolina. And the alliance harmony between Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing is as strong as ever. It is a bit undersold, Gibbs feels, the consistency Toyota has had throughout the years with its cars and drivers, which has allowed it to polish its process and pieces to get better.
But it's not over yet. Toyota has been here before, many times, and knows better than anyone that plenty of work remains.
"We've set a high expectation, and that's exactly what we're here for," Gibbs said. "We want to be expected to win. It doesn't mean that it'll happen or it'll be easy. Blaney and Larson and all those guys are going to make it very, very difficult for us. But this is what we're looking for.
"I talked to our team members a couple of weeks ago ... and just said to them, 'This is why we're here. This is exactly why we're here. We want the target on our back. We want to be working and pushing forward.' Again, we don't deserve anything. We haven't earned it yet. We've got [seven] more weeks to earn it, and that's exactly what we're here for."
