Under the current playoff format, a driver needs to either win or run very well at Phoenix, which also requires leading laps. In the last two years – spanning four races – that’s been a scarcity for Toyota.
While Chevrolet drivers won both Phoenix races last year and Ford accomplished the same feat in 2022, Toyota drivers totaled just 15 laps led.
Then came Sunday, when not only did Toyota pick up the win with a strong performance from Bell and his No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team, but Toyota drivers collectively led all but 14 of the 312 laps in the race.
First win for the XSE
It was a monumental shift in performance, which first became evident in practice on Friday and held true in qualifying with an all-Toyota front row.
“For Toyota, this was a momentous win,” said Toyota Racing Development president David Wilson. “This was the first win with our new Camry body. I was clear to say at the beginning of the year that we have struggled here recently.
“Today we led everything but 14 laps. That’s a credit to the Joe Gibbs organization, TRD USA and Calty Design, who helped us with this new Camry body.
“At the same time, I will say that the secret to longevity in sports, in motorsports, is never get too high when the day goes your way, and never get too low when it doesn’t because we’re going to be racing again next week.”
Both TRD and Ford Performance debuted new iterations of their respective Camry and Mustang race cars in the Cup series in 2024 but in the season’s first three races, Chevrolet drivers had visited Victory Lane.
Still, success at Phoenix was especially important for two reasons – the 1-mile oval hosts the series championship race in November and it also was the debut of NASCAR’s new short track/road course aero package.
Sunday’s result – with Toyota drivers claiming five of the top 10 finishing positions and leading nearly every lap – bodes well for the manufacturer in both areas.
Bell is now locked in the 2024 playoffs and currently Toyota has five other drivers in the top 16 in the series standings.
“It was unprecedented how much TRD USA and Joe Gibbs Racing worked together on that (new) body,” Wilson said. “But you don’t race wind tunnels, you don’t race dynos.
“You could be the best on paper, but unless you have the talent behind the steering wheel and the team and the pit crews to put an entire race together, the rest is meaningless.
“Certainly, what we’ve seen four races in validates a lot of our optimism, but we have a whole lot of racing to go, more intermediate (tracks), more big tracks and short tracks to truly evaluate where we are.”