Is Toyota Quietly Winning NASCAR’s Talent War? Despite having just two Cup Series teams in the roster, Toyota's limited but efficient driver development program is making waves in NASCAR. Saad Rashid

NASCAR has evolved, and the role of manufacturers in the sport has only increased over the years. Driver development has become almost as important as the raceday results, and while Chevy has the majority of teams under its roster, Ford has dominated the Next-Gen era with back-to-back championships. But Toyota seems to be playing an entirely different game altogether, one that prioritizes being clinical instead of working with volume. With just two teams, 23XI and Joe Gibbs Racing, in its roster, the Japanese manufacturer is focusing on delivering world-class talent in the stock car racing world.

And they’ve succeeded. Over the years, we’ve seen Ty Gibbs, John Hunter Nemechek, and Corey Heim come through the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) system, which seems to be an efficient pipeline f