NASCAR: Toyota driver announcement date set for 2023

Following Joe Gibbs Racing’s announcement, Toyota’s full driver lineup for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season is set to be confirmed on Thursday.

With Ty Gibbs moving to the NASCAR Cup Series to replace the Richard Childress Racing-bound Kyle Busch behind the wheel of the No. 18 Toyota (now the No. 54 Toyota) for the 2023 season, Joe Gibbs Racing needed to find a replacement for Gibbs in the Xfinity Series.

Shortly after Busch’s departure was announced, Brandon Jones, who had been with Joe Gibbs Racing’s Xfinity Series team as the driver of the No. 19 Toyota since 2018, announced that he would be joining JR Motorsports, replacing the Cup Series-bound Noah Gragson behind the wheel of the No. 9 Chevrolet.

That left Joe Gibbs Racing with two Xfinity Series seats to fill for 2023, in addition to the third “star car” entry.

They made their first confirmation on Tuesday, announcing that Sammy Smith is set to drive the No. 18 Toyota, which had been the “star car”, full-time in 2023.

Smith spent nine races behind the wheel of the car during the 33-race 2022 campaign. He was one of nine drivers who had the chance to drive the car throughout the season.

According to Fox Sports’ Bob Pockrass, more announcements are on the way later this week, with Toyota set to reveal their full Xfinity Series driver lineup for 2023 on Thursday.

There were four full-time Toyota entries in the series in 2022. The only non-Joe Gibbs Racing entry fielded by the manufacturer was the No. 26 Toyota, which was entered by Sam Hunt Racing. A total of 10 drivers drove that car at some point during the season.

The primary focus of Toyota’s announcement will, of course, be Joe Gibbs Racing. If they do continue to field a “star car”, they obviously aren’t going to confirm the lineup for that car for the entire 33-race season. It took until October for the 2022 lineup to be completed.

So with Smith confirmed following the promotion of Gibbs and the departure of Jones, it is likely that the organization will announce at least one more full-time driver for 2023 later this week.

Several drivers have been discussed as possibilities, including but not limited to John Hunter Nemechek, Trevor Bayne, Corey Heim, and Ryan Truex. Nemechek, Bayne, and Truex all drove the “star car” during the 2022 season, combining for 17 starts.