Toyota locked up the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series manufacturers’ championship at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday, October 18. Toyota’s manufacturers’ title is the fourth in its Cup history and its first since 2019. Tyler Reddick sealed it by winning the Freeway Insurance 500 in the No. 45 23XI Racing Toyota.
The clinch came with three races still to run. By then, Toyota drivers had won 18 of the season’s first 33 Cup races. That pace left Chevrolet and Ford with no way to catch up in the brand standings.
The drivers’ title is still open, and it gets most of the attention. However, the makers keep their own score all season long. For Toyota and its racing arm, Toyota Racing Development (TRD), this trophy measures a whole year of engines, bodies and engineering support.
How the Toyota manufacturers’ title is scored
The manufacturers’ standings work differently from the drivers’ table. Each race, a brand scores the points of its best-finishing car, according to RACER’s report on the clinch. In other words, one strong Toyota per weekend counts more than a pack of mid-field finishes.
That system rewards depth, because a different driver can carry the brand each week. RACER notes that Denny Hamlin earned Toyota the most points this season. After Phoenix, Toyota led Chevrolet by 218 points, a margin no rival could close in the final three races.
Toyota’s four titles, from 2016 to 2026
Toyota entered the Cup Series in 2007, as Heavy’s report on the title recalls. Its first manufacturers’ crown came nine years later, in 2016. The Toyota Racing release published by Jayski lists the earlier titles and the wins behind each one.
- 2016: champion with 16 wins
- 2017: champion again with 16 wins
- 2019: champion with 19 wins
- 2026: champion with 18 wins and three races left
The gap between the third and fourth titles ran six full seasons. Meanwhile, the overall record kept growing. Toyota Racing counts 221 Cup wins and 189 poles in 716 starts since 2007, according to the same release.
Who won the 18 races
No single driver carried the load. RACER’s tally splits Toyota’s 18 wins across six drivers. Reddick leads with six, and Hamlin has four.
Chase Briscoe added three wins, while Corey Heim and Ty Gibbs won two apiece. Christopher Bell completes the list with one. Those drivers race for three Toyota teams: 23XI Racing, Joe Gibbs Racing and Legacy Motor Club, which RACER also names.
Several of those wins came at major events. The Toyota Racing release credits Reddick with the Daytona 500 and Heim with the Brickyard 400. It also notes Ty Gibbs’ first Cup wins, at Bristol and Iowa, and Bell’s crown-jewel win at Darlington.
The timing of those wins helped, too. Reddick won five of the first nine races of 2026, including the first three, according to Jayski. Because the brand scores its best finisher every week, each of those early wins counted in full toward the title. Later, the other five drivers kept adding wins while Reddick went 23 races without one.
The Phoenix finish that clinched it
Phoenix only had to supply the final points. Reddick beat Ryan Blaney to the line by 0.801 seconds, according to NASCAR’s official results.
The victory was also Reddick’s sixth of 2026 and his first at Phoenix, as Jayski’s race report records. Behind him, five Toyota drivers finished inside the top 10, RACER notes. That depth is exactly what the brand standings reward.
What TRD said about the Toyota manufacturers’ title
Tyler Gibbs, president of TRD, U.S.A., spoke for the company after the race. “We couldn’t be more pleased to have that work pay off with our fourth manufacturers’ title,” he said, as quoted by RACER.
In the Toyota Racing release, Gibbs also credited the teams. He said they “have delivered at the highest level all season.” Still, the record book offers one more target before the season ends.
One more win to match 2019
Toyota’s best Cup season remains 2019, when its drivers won 19 races. As a result, one more victory in the last three races would equal that total. Two more would set a new high for the brand.
The next chance comes at Talladega Superspeedway in the YellaWood 500, according to Jayski’s race report. Then the season closes with two more races. Either way, Toyota’s fourth manufacturers’ championship is already won, on the strength of 18 victories in the season’s first 33 races.
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