Top Nascar Truck Series Vehicles
We're midway through the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, with Toyota driver Corey Heim leading the pack with 530 points fresh off of his win at the O'Reilly Auto Parts 150 at Mid-Ohio last weekend. Even though Heim's win pushed him atop the standings, sportsbooks still don't trust the young driver (who burst into the scene in 2022 as the Truck Series Rookie of the Year) to hold his own against more experienced racers like reigning champion Zane Smith (admittedly another young racer, but one who's shown he can win under the bright lights) and 2021 champion Ben Rhodes. Right now, Heim has the second or third best odds of raising his first championship trophy this season, with odds at or around +400 depending on the sportsbook you go to. Toyota will need him to make good on those odds (and have a lot of help from the rest of their drivers) to help Toyota win their third straight Manufacturer's Championship this season, as the powerhouse brand languishes through a down year.
The Truck Series Standings And Rivals For This Season:
As many Nascar fans follow their favorite drivers like Heim's fellow Toyota driver and Maryland native Timmy Hill, who currently sits at No. 23 in the Truck Series standings, they also follow the best predictions and odds in Maryland Sports Betting: they have the best choices to keep up with during the most important events during the season.
When it comes to the Truck Series, the list of best vehicles has typically begun and ended with Toyota. Since the series' inaugural season in 1995, Toyota has won 13 of the 28 total Manufacturer's Championships.
This year, though, rival brands Chevrolet and Ford have jumped to the head of the pack. Heim is the only Toyota driver in the top ten, with Chevy (five drivers) and Ford (four drivers, including three of the top four) rounding out the rest of the list.
While Ford's F- series sits in a league of its own in terms of commercial popularity (and Toyota's own Tacoma leads their brand in sales), much of Toyota's success can be attributed to the Tundra's track record.
A relative newcomer to the pickup racing world Toyota began using the Tundra in the Truck Series in 2006, the year they won their first Manufacturer's Championship. Unlike other NASCAR stock car races, the Truck Series has a track speed limit of 200 miles per hour (operating a top heavy pickup truck at high speeds would be even more dangerous than it already is without that limit): while the Tundra's 6.0 liter V8 engine helps it accelerate, top speed doesn't play as much of a role in the truck races.
Driver talent continues to have a massive impact, of course, and Toyota's between the shoulders talent (whether as it pertains to the drivers themselves or the talent evaluators deciding which racers to sign to the brand) has helped them stay a cut above the rest. While drivers like Kyle Busch have secured a pair of individual championships while racing for Toyota in the Truck Series (and he likely could have won more had he focused solely on the pickups instead of dividing his time between the Cup Series and Xfinity Series as well), Toyota's talent evaluation and training has excelled from top to bottom. You can't win a Manufacturer's Championship without well rounded talent across the board, as the points system takes into account how each driver for the brand performs over the course of a season.
After Toyota, Chevrolet is bearing down their necks with ten Manufacturer's championships: Dodge and Ford bring up the rear with three and two, respectively, and none in almost two decades.
