- Chevrolet drivers building momentum, as shown by their Texas weekend.
- Chevrolet swept the Texas weekend, taking all three races.
- Standings and points show Chevrolet remains in contention with Toyota.
Through the opening stretch of the season, Toyota drivers have positioned themselves well, particularly in the NASCAR Cup Series. With five wins in 11 starts, Tyler Reddick and 23XI Racing handed the manufacturer an early edge. Denny Hamlin’s win at Las Vegas and Ty Gibbs’s win at Bristol added to that tally, placing Toyota clear of Chevrolet and Ford in terms of victories.
That grip, however, has begun to loosen. Chase Elliott’s win, the latest coming at Texas, along with Carson Hocevar’s Talladega result, has added three wins for Chevrolet, while Ryan Blaney’s success at Phoenix accounts for Ford’s lone entry in the column.
How was the Texas weekend a Chevrolet show?
At Texas Motor Speedway, Chevrolet turned the weekend into a clean sweep, becoming the first manufacturer this season to claim wins across all three national series. The run was capped by Chase Elliott, who secured his second Cup Series win of the season.
The tone of the race looked placed in qualifying, where Chevrolet drivers locked out the front row with Carson Hocevar and Daniel Suarez, while Kyle Busch started sixth and Alex Bowman ninth. By the end of Stage 1, six Chevrolet cars were inside the top 10, even as Erik Jones, driving a Toyota, bagged the stage win, with Hocevar and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. following in second and third.
Stage 2 saw four Chevrolet cars remain in the top 10 as Ford entries gained ground, but Elliott took the stage and carried that momentum forward. By the close of the race, the Hendrick Motorsports driver had led 87 of 267 laps and collected 69 points.
Elliott, who started 14th, worked through the field and outdueled Denny Hamlin by a margin of 0.407 seconds to take the win. Alex Bowman followed with a third-place finish for the second week in a row after Talladega. Daniel Suarez, Carson Hocevar, and William Byron finished sixth, seventh, and eighth, placing five Chevrolet cars inside the top 10. Toyota placed three, while Ford had two.
In the standings, Elliott climbed three spots to third, while Hocevar jumped six positions to sixth. Suarez, Ross Chastain, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Bowman also gained ground with their results.
Despite Toyota holding seven wins to Chevrolet’s three, the gap in points remains narrow. Chevrolet trails by 73 points, with stage results keeping the manufacturers within reach of each other.
Meanwhile, Kyle Larson, still without a win this season, has led 499 laps, second only to Denny Hamlin’s 624. Larson has also collected 91 stage points, tying Hamlin and surpassing Tyler Reddick’s 87 despite Reddick’s five wins.
NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts and Truck Series also show Chevrolet’s dominance
In the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, Chevrolet has taken control with 10 wins in 12 races, while Toyota has two and Ford has yet to reach victory lane. The points gap reflects that margin, with Toyota trailing Chevrolet by 215 points. The standings also underline that trend, as eight of the top 10 positions are held by Chevrolet drivers. Justin Allgaier has three wins, Sheldon Creed one, Corey Day one, and Kyle Larson two, including the Texas result that sealed the weekend sweep.
In the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Toyota leads with three wins, but Chevrolet and Ford remain in the hunt with two wins each. The points spread remains tight, with Chevrolet merely 25 points behind Toyota and Ford 31 back. RAM, which entered competition this season, is still searching for its first win.
In the Truck Series driver standings, Ford holds ground with four drivers in the top 10, including Chandler Smith, Layne Riggs, Ben Rhodes, and Ty Majeski. Toyota matches that presence with four drivers, while Chevrolet has two. Carson Hocevar’s win at Texas has added to Chevrolet’s tally and kept the manufacturer within striking distance.
