What’s Wrong with TRD in 2022

With the 2022 season coming to a close, watching the saga of what Toyota will look like across NASCAR for next year has been something to see. The list of drivers TRD has been willing to let go got just that much longer this year, combined with what seems to be a bit of a disrespect problem with their current crop of drivers.

With the arrival of 23XI Racing and Ty Gibbs fully into the national touring series this season, it seems apparent that TRD is hinging the bulk of their hopes on Joe Gibbs Racing, 23XI, and Ty Gibbs. Just this season alone, TRD has been willing to lose Kyle Busch (and Kyle Busch Motorsports), Chandler Smith, and Brandon Jones.

2023 Moves So Far

1. Kyle Busch (Cup Series): Leaving the JGR #18 Toyota to join Richard Childress Racing and the #8 Chevrolet.
2. Ty Gibbs (Cup Series): While not officially announced yet, Ty Gibbs seems to be the leading candidate to replace Kyle Busch in the #18 Toyota.
3. Kyle Busch Motorsports (Truck Series): Joining the Chevrolet ranks to align with Kyle Busch signing with RCR.
4. Chandler Smith (Xfinity Series): Joining Kaulig Racing to replace A.J. Allmendinger in the Xfinity Series #16 Chevrolet.
5. Brandon Jones (Xfinity Series): Leaving the #19 Toyota to replace Noah Gragson in the #9 Chevrolet at JR Motorsports, possibly bringing his Menards sponsorship along. Jones is also an ex-RCR Xfinity Series driver.
6. Tyler Reddick (Cup Series): Leaving the RCR #8 Chevrolet a year early, to replace the retiring Kurt Busch in the #45 23XI Racing Toyota.
7. David Gilliland Racing (Truck Series): Has signed to become the go-to development team in Trucks (second time), Leaving Ford.

The Losses:

Toyota has started to gain a reputation of letting drivers go despite on track success, just to make room…. the pipeline seems to simply always be too full, so it is bled out every now and then. Already, the TRD development program has let Smith (mentioned above), Hailie Deegan, and Nick Sanchez go among others. This has left other manufacturers and teams to pick up what Toyota has dropped, only have to these drivers exceed expectations and continue to climb the ladder. 

Another huge blow to TRD is the loss of Kyle Busch Motorsports. The KBM truck series and ARCA teams have been the unofficial development rung for quite a few drivers over the years, including names likes Erik Jones, Bubba Wallace, and Christopher Bell. The loss of such a competitive team has led to TRD suddenly having to scramble to find homes for Sammy Smith, Corey Heim, and John Hunter Nemechek. There are very few available teams in the Truck Series with ThorSport being seemingly full, it leaves David Gilliland Racing and Hattori Racing Enterprises (who let Chase Purdy go this week) as the front runners. 

The Disrespect Problem:

With so many young drivers in the current pipeline, it has led to an influx of newer drivers in higher-up series. These drivers have been somewhat rushed, which has caused a decent amount of disrespect for competitors and equipment on track.

Even more recently, it has caused a few fines and suspensions. Over the past month Ty Gibbs, Sammy Smith, Drew Dollar, and Bubba Wallace have all had major incidents with competitors that give Toyota somewhat of a black eye and emphasize the exact lack of respect mentioned above. A few examples are listed below:

• Bubba Wallace retaliating against Kyle Larson in Las Vegas, purposely wrecking Larson and earning a 1 race suspension (and possibly ending fellow TRD driver Christopher Bell’s Chase hopes as a side-effect)
• Ty Gibbs receiving a $75,000 fine for making contact on pit road during a Cup race, ultimately sending that car into an active pit stall of a fellow team
• Sammy Smith doing a celebratory burnout and making close to contact with fellow TRD competitor Jesse Love after the ARCA Menards East finale
• Drew Dollar and former ARCA TRD owner Billy Venturini locked in a name calling battle on Twitter after an incident over a month ago, in which Dollar wrecked one of Venturini’s cars during an ARCA Menards Series race

The Side Effects:

With TRD seemingly firmly focused on Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing, they have seemingly left a good portion of their talent pool with few options, most of which have signed with Chevrolet teams in some capacity next season.

While it is not clear what will happen with many of their contracted up-and-coming drivers in other series, the Cup Series teams seem to be set. The 2023 lineups for the JGR Xfinity teams are certainly not set yet, while the Truck Series plans are even less concrete as of this writing. 

While the signing of Tyler Reddick was a highlight for TRD, even that was not without its own controversies…which shines a negative light on the team as a whole. They seem to be Cup focused, leaving their formerly rich development program as afterthought. 

When all is said and done for 2022, TRD (and JGR) seem to need to take a sharp look at their development program and their flaws. They could benefit from following the old ARCA-Truck-Xfinity-Cup program, which moves drivers gradually through the higher series, instead of fast-tracking their best current talent, but giving them little experience.