It’s time to welcome Ty Gibbs to the NASCAR Cup Series title contender conversation.
The 23-year-old driver in his fourth Cup campaign made a statement with his second win of the season at the Iowa Corn 350 at Iowa Speedway on Sunday (Aug. 9). This was the latest victory in a season full of them for Toyota as the manufacturer has collected 14 of the 23 checkered flags in points-paying races this season.
However, those triumphs haven’t been necessarily evenly distributed among members of the Toyota fleet. Five drivers account for all of the OEM’s wins: Gibbs, Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick, Chase Briscoe and part-timer Corey Heim. That leaves some Toyota drivers singing the blues.
7: Second Place Finishes for Christopher Bell
Previously on Stat Sheet, we talked about another near-win for Christopher Bell at the Brickyard 400. Two weeks later, the driver of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 was the bridesmaid once again in Iowa, placing second after a fierce late-race battle with teammate Gibbs.
This runner-up result carries added historical significance. Bell posted his seventh second-place finish without a win in 2026, tying NASCAR Hall of Famer Harry Gant for the dubious distinction of most runners-up without a victory in a single Cup season.
Gant accomplished the feat in his second full-time Cup season in 1981, ultimately finishing third in points behind Bobby Allison and that year’s champion Darrell Waltrip, who won a resounding 12 times.
Bell seems well-positioned for a similarly great points finish, currently residing at sixth in the Cup standings. Furthermore, he appears to be peaking in the stretch run to The Chase with five top fives across the last six races.
With a little more speed and a little more luck, Bell could break through for a win and be a championship contender.
3.5: Average Finish for Joe Gibbs Racing
Gibbs and Bell’s 1-2 finish was just one half of another banner day for JGR in 2026.
Their teammates, Hamlin and Briscoe, finished the day in fifth and sixth, respectively, adding up to an average of 3.5 for the JGR quartet.
Hamlin and Briscoe overcame some pre-race adversity to get a great finish. Both the No. 11 and No. 19 teams reported significant issues with brakes, which poses a problem at a short track like Iowa. Nonetheless, they managed their equipment to the finish.
The run JGR is on so far in 2026 has their fans thinking back to 2019, a year when the organization won 19 of the 36 Cup points-paying races and then capped it off with a second Cup championship for Kyle Busch.
However, not every Toyota driver left Iowa happy.
249: Points Lost By Tyler Reddick in the last 11 Races
Do you remember the old Looney Tunes cartoons where Wile E. Coyote would chase after the Road Runner only to fall off a cliff?
That is the perfect visualization for Reddick’s free fall from a big points lead to fourth in the standings. Over the past 11 races, Reddick has lost a resounding 249 points, going from a lead of 129 after Watkins Glen International to trailing Hamlin by 120 markers leaving Iowa.
The results above tell the story. Reddick has registered five finishes of 30th or worse in this 11-race stretch, including dead last at Iowa after a very early wreck that collected Toyota teammate Erik Jones.
With a 140-point gap back to fifth-place Briscoe, Reddick is still in line for a high seed in The Chase. However, if the No. 45 team wishes to reinforce itself as championship contenders, then it needs to recapture its early-season mojo quickly.
100: Percent of Laps Ross Chastain Spent in the Top 15
Outside of Shane van Gisbergen‘s two road course wins and current position above The Chase cut line, it has been a 2026 to forget for Trackhouse Racing.
With that being said, Ross Chastain and the No. 1 team have not given up on their Chase hopes just yet. The seventh-place showing may not have been Chastain’s best finish of 2026 (that would be third place at the first EchoPark Speedway race), but it may have been his most complete race of the season.
First, Chastain qualified well, rolling off the grid in ninth. Then, he maintained good track position the whole way as the sole driver to spend all 250 laps inside the top 15. Finally, Chastain made his way to the front late, leading a season-high 40 laps before pitting for fuel late.
With that result, Chastain now finds himself within 47 points of Austin Cindric for the 16th and final Chase spot, a decent but not insurmountable gap. Could the 2022 Championship 4 driver fight his way into The Chase?
4: Finishing Position for Josh Berry
Since winning for Wood Brothers Racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway early in 2025, it has been tough sledding for Josh Berry in the No. 21, so much so that he has been pulled from the ride for 2027 in favor of Jesse Love.
With that said, Sunday marked a rare silver lining for WBR with a fourth-place finish. This marks just the second top-five finish for Berry since the Vegas victory, the other coming last season at New Hampshire Motor Speedway, a track NASCAR will be visiting in two weeks.
It is too late for Berry to make The Chase or really salvage anything this season, but a few more performances like Sunday could help him secure a ride for 2027.
Andrew Stoddard joined Frontstretch in May of 2022 and is currently an editor and a weekly writer of Stat Sheet. He is a graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, the University of Richmond, and VCU. He works as an athletic communications specialist at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Va.