The trip to Sonoma Raceway in 2022 was a dreadful experience for Toyota Racing Development as only Kurt Busch finished inside of the top 20. Fast-forward to the 2023 NASCAR season, and the OEM’s drivers completely flipped the script.
The Toyota drivers were the story early on June 11. Denny Hamlin started from the pole while Tyler Reddick joined him on the front row. Hamlin went on to lead every lap of the opening stage while four other Toyota drivers joined him in the top 10.
Meanwhile, Martin Truex Jr. used a dominant car to take the lead on four separate occasions. He spent a race-high 51 laps at the front of the pack while other drivers tried to track him down. They were unable to achieve this goal as he captured his fourth win at the California road course.
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One of the other examples was Christopher Bell, who started fourth overall and secured bonus points in every stage before ending the day ninth overall. Hamlin ultimately finished last after hitting the wall in Turn 12 and spinning on the frontstretch. Reddick finished 33rd after a flat tire and a penalty dropped him a lap behind the leaders.
“The whole Toyota group was a lot stronger than last year,” Bell said. “I’m proud of the effort from those guys and I’m proud of this 20 group. I felt like at times we deserved better than a ninth, and then at times we didn’t deserve ninth. We got some good stage points and a top-10 in our Rheem Camry, and we will move on to Nashville.”
The Previous Trip To Sonoma Was a Major Learning Experience
GettyMartin Truex Jr. celebrates his fourth Sonoma win.
Prior to the 2022 Cup Series season, the expectation was that the Toyota Racing Development drivers would continue to perform well on the road courses. Truex had three previous wins at Sonoma and one at Watkins Glen International while former JGR driver Kyle Busch had two at each. Denny Hamlin also had one win at Watkins Glen International.
The first year of the Next Gen era saw Christopher Bell add to this total with a win at the Charlotte Roval, but the Toyota camp struggled overall at road courses.
Sonoma was a fitting example. All six Toyota drivers finished outside of the top 15, and they struggled with pace. As Truex explained, they were “more than a second off” from the Ford Performance and Team Chevy drivers.
“We shot ourselves in the foot a few times and [Sonoma] was one of them for sure,” Truex said after the race. “Like we came here and completely disregarded everything we know about this track, thinking it was a new car and it’s going to be different. And we ran terrible, and it was like, ‘Okay, that was dumb. We’re idiots.'”
“…We kind of knew before the race even started, we screwed up. But we couldn’t do anything about it because it’s like, you come with a certain setup, and then you can’t change it after practice.”
The Rebound Was Pivotal for Truex & JGR
The 2022 season was not an enjoyable experience for Truex and the No. 19 team. There were several races where they had a car capable of winning, but they fell short of the goal due to mistakes on pit road, mechanical problems, and various other reasons.
Truex went winless for the first time since 2014, which could have led to some sweeping changes. However, the 2017 Cup Series champion and Joe Gibbs Racing kept the group intact.
This decision has paid off. Truex kicked off the season by winning the Busch Light Clash at the LA Memorial Coliseum. He then won the rain-delayed race at Dover Motor Speedway on May 1. His third win — second points-paying — secured the points lead.
“I never thought we couldn’t win again,” Truex added. “We should have won a bunch of races last year, even though our cars weren’t probably the best cars in the field. Toyota as a group probably was off.
“I still felt like we should have won five or six races, and we did think we made mistakes. We had some bad luck. We had some crazy things happen. And that’s just racing, but I don’t think any of us ever got down. That’s why my team’s all the same.”
Truex now has his 33rd career win, putting him in a tie with Fireball Roberts for 26th all-time. He also has 11 playoff points with an opportunity to add at least 15 more if he can maintain his spot as the points leader.
“Yeah, it’s just trying to make the most out of every day with the car you have,” said crew chief James Small. “If you have a fifth-place car, you have to run fifth or better and try to score as many points as possible.
“There’s a huge amount of playoff points for first in points. That’s something I’m sure everybody’s got their eye on. But we’re working towards trying to achieve that.”
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Toyota Flips the Script Ahead of NASCAR Off-Week