Can Toyota stack the deck in Round of 8?

LAS VEGAS -- Eight drivers are still eligible to win the NASCAR Cup Series championship in 2023. Four of them drive Toyotas. Joe Gibbs Racing's Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr. and Denny Hamlin are joined by 23XI Racing's Tyler Reddick as the manufacturer's last daggers in the title hunt. Toyota hasn't won a Cup championship since Kyle Busch netted his second triumph in 2019, and with only six full-time Toyotas on the grid, Toyota typically gets outnumbered on the race track. Now, it has strength in numbers as Bell, Truex, Hamlin and Reddick chase a championship. MORE: Round of 8 resets | Las Vegas schedule "They (Toyota) apply their resources to less cars, and obviously, they've been pretty successful doing that," Hamlin said Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. "And really, over the last 10 years, they've been solid when it really counts at the end, right? It's a one-third or two-thirds disadvantage, but when you get down to the final eight and you got half the field, it's pretty good, right? So certainly, I think that the way they do things has been really successful, so it's hard for me to second guess that." Heading into Sunday's race at Las Vegas (2:30 p.m. ET, NBC, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, NBC Sports App), Bell is the last man standing from last season's 2022 Championship 4. The fourth-year Cup driver needed clutch walk-off wins last year to advance through the postseason. This year has been far less stressful, advancing to this round by a 27-point margin. Entering sixth after the round reset, eight points beneath the provisional elimination line, Bell carries valuable experience into this year's title run. "I know that from last year, my Round of 8 didn’t go well because I wrecked out here (at Vegas) and didn’t have a good Miami, but I was still able to win at Martinsville," Bell said Saturday after scoring the Busch Light Pole Award in qualifying. "That will be in the back of my head that it can be done all the way to the last minute." [caption id="attachment_410304" align="aligncenter" width="640"]Alejandro Alvarez | NASCAR Studios[/caption] Reddick was third, quickest of the Toyotas, in Saturday's practice session in Sin City before qualifying eighth for the South Point 400 in his No. 45 entry. This year marks his first under the Toyota Racing Development banner after spending the bulk of his young career with Chevrolet. "They’ve been very beneficial to me as a driver and certainly the team this year," Reddick said. "I’m new to it – my first year with Toyota. I’ve just been extremely pleased about what they bring to the table and how they operate. It has been a lot of fun. Personally, that would be really cool if the four Toyotas that are left can execute in this Round of 8 and we can lock that thing out. That would be great. "Obviously, I can’t do anything about the other three, but if we do our job and if Denny, Martin, and Christophe execute as well, I think that is something that is very possible. I think it is going to take some wins, but we have the speed to go out there and win.” Truex, the 2017 champion, weighed that possibility and surmised: "I wouldn't say it's impossible. Four great teams, great drivers. The competition is stiff, though. Just focused on getting ours in there." Truex is one of four drivers who have won at each of the remaining four tracks on the schedule, joining Hamlin along with Chevrolet's William Byron and Kyle Larson. So, how do these tracks stack up for Toyota? "I mean if you look at our history, they're great," said Truex, who qualified fourth. "But I think you could say the same for all the other guys that are left. There's a lot of guys that are good in the next three races and three race tracks. It's going to be tough. Everybody's close, and it's closer than ever. You're going to have to be good and consistently running up front to get there." Such is the nature of a round with eight drivers separated by a mere 27 points ahead of Sunday's green flag. "I just feel like everything's tighter than normal," Truex said. "There's less room for error. The speeds of the cars are tighter. The pit stops are closer. Just everything is just magnified I feel like."