Denny Hamlin tops the Toyota Racing Power Rankings heading into the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season.
Hamlin has won 48 Cup races since Joe Gibbs Racing moved to Toyota. He is the manufacturer’s active wins leader. Martin Truex Jr. is second with 32 of his 34 Cup wins coming in a Toyota.
The Toyota Racing Power Rankings include some familiar Cup drivers, as well as a prospect in the pipeline who competes in the Truck Series. All of these rankings are based on past success across the three national NASCAR series as well as respective team situations entering 2024.
Kyle Larson ranks No. 1 in Chevrolet Power Rankings earlier this month. Joey Logano ranks No. 1 in the Ford Power Rankings, revealed last week.
NBC Sports Power Rankings for Toyota
1. Denny Hamlin (Cup) — Hamlin enters his age 43 season having made the playoffs every season of the elimination format era (2014-present). He has won 28 races in that span, including back-to-back seasons with at least six wins. Hamlin shows no signs of slowing down.
2. Christopher Bell (Cup) — Bell has achieved success as a member of the Toyota Racing pipeline. He won the 2017 Truck Series championship and 17 Xfinity races in 77 starts. Since moving to Cup in 2020, Bell has won six races and reached the Championship 4 twice while improving his average finish each season.
3. Martin Truex Jr. (Cup) — Truex enters his 19th full-time season with 34 Cup wins, 32 with Toyota Racing. He has won at least three races in a season six times. This includes his championship campaign in 2017 when he celebrated eight wins. Truex proved to be a contender once again in 2023 by winning three races and the regular-season championship.
4. Tyler Reddick (Cup) — Reddick went winless in his first two Cup seasons. He has since won five races, two after his move to 23XI Racing last season. Reddick has shown that he can contend at every road course and at intermediate tracks while becoming a perennial playoff contender.
5. Erik Jones (Cup) — Jones won the 2015 Truck Series championship, nine Xfinity races and two Cup races while working his way through the national NASCAR ranks as a Toyota prospect. He is now back at Toyota after winning one race in three seasons at Chevrolet as he leads the Legacy Motor Club lineup once again.
6. Bubba Wallace (Cup) — Wallace has capitalized on opportunities since moving to 23XI Racing and Toyota in 2021. He has scored two Cup wins and led 497 laps. Wallace made the playoffs for the first time last season and reached the Round of 12 while showing improvement as a road course racer and in qualifying.
7. Ty Gibbs (Cup) — Gibbs has turned into one of Toyota’s top prospects. He won 10 races and the ARCA Menards Series championship in 2021. He also won four Xfinity Series races that season while running a part-time schedule, including his series debut. Gibbs won seven races and the Xfinity championship in 2022 before moving up to Cup full-time and winning Rookie of the Year in 2023. He enters 2024 with more experience as he drives for one of NASCAR’s powerhouse teams, Joe Gibbs Racing.
8. John Hunter Nemechek (Cup) — Nemechek returned to Toyota in 2021 after one season in Cup with Front Row Motorsports. He dropped down to Trucks and won seven races in two seasons. Nemechek spent last season in Xfinity, winning seven races and finishing fourth in the championship standings. He returns to Cup with Legacy Motor Club as the organization moves to Toyota.
9. Corey Heim (Truck) — Heim enters 2024 as a Toyota prospect to watch. He has nine wins in ARCA. This includes six in 2021 as he and Gibbs combined to win 16 races. Heim has since moved up to the Truck Series, where he has won five races. He ended last season third in the championship standings after winning the regular-season championship. Heim returns to the Truck Series in 2024 with Tricon Garage.
10. Sheldon Creed (Xfinity) — Creed has spent the first five seasons of his national series career with Team Chevy while winning a Truck Series championship and eight races. He achieved early success in ARCA with Toyota. He won the ARCA Menards Series championship in 2018 after winning four races and finishing top 10 in 18 of the 20 races. Creed returns to Toyota after two years at Richard Childress Racing and takes over the No. 18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.