NASCAR: Toyota adding new Xfinity Series entry for 2023

While Joe Gibbs Racing will be remaining at three entries for the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season, Toyota’s other team will be expanding.

Even with Ty Gibbs being promoted to the NASCAR Cup Series to replace the Richard Childress Racing-bound Kyle Busch and Brandon Jones moving to JR Motorsports to replace the Cup Series-bound Noah Gragson, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Xfinity Series team is set to consist of two full-time drivers and a separate Toyota entry shared by part-time drivers once again in 2023.

Sammy Smith and John Hunter Nemechek, who both spent time behind the wheel of Joe Gibbs Racing’s third entry during the 2022 season, are set to replace Gibbs and Jones as the team’s full-time drivers in 2023.

Ryan Truex, who also competed part-time for the team in 2022, is again set to compete in select races behind the wheel of their third entry throughout the 2023 campaign.

Even with Joe Gibbs Racing remaining at three cars, Toyota as a whole will be jumping from four to five full-time entries for the 2023 season.

There is just one other Toyota team that competes full-time in the Xfinity Series, and that is Sam Hunt Racing. They entered the series in 2019 and began competing full-time in 2021. In 2021 and 2022, they fielded one full-time entry which was shared by a number of drivers.

They are set to field a full-time rotational ride again in 2023, but for the first time, they are set to field a second full-time entry, one which is set to be driven by one driver.

The team announced last week that Kaz Grala is set to become the first full-time driver of the No. 26 Toyota. Grala made his first start with the team in the 2022 Xfinity Series finale at Phoenix Raceway.

Connor Mosack, who competed in one race for Joe Gibbs Racing and one race for Sam Hunt Racing in 2022, is set to be the primary driver of their new entry, the No. 24 Toyota. He has been confirmed behind the wheel of the car for 20 of the 33 races on the 2023 calendar, though the specific races in which he is set to compete have not yet been announced.

The confirmations mean that Toyota is set to have three full-time drivers in 2023 instead of two, and they are set to continue to run two full-time rotational entries.