Brad Keselowski recently reignited the discussion around Toyota’s dominance in NASCAR. He pointed to what he sees as a key advantage in how the manufacturer operates with its top teams.

“And they’ve done a lot of things to push elite collaboration amongst their top organizations so that they have, for reference, two ‘A’ organizations, rather than an ‘A,’ ‘B’ and ‘C.’ As I’ve seen to date, the other OEMs have not done that, and Toyota is making them pay for that with results on the race track.”

Keselowski presented a well-coordinated operation by implying that the manufacturer has deliberately promoted cooperation between its two best teams, Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing. Denny Hamlin, however, has already reacted with an alternative viewpoint. He is contending that team-made business choices rather than boardroom orders are more responsible for Toyota’s success.

“I certainly think that Toyota has a role in it, but I don’t know that Toyota is that much different than the other manufacturers? We just pay a fee, so that’s a difference. It’s not like they force us to work together. We chose to be affiliated with Joe Gibbs Racing, and for us we felt like it would shorten up our learning curve, get us competitive quicker, and now it’s a relationship that I mean we still pay.”

As Toyota continues to rule the NASCAR Cup Series, Denny Hamlin made these remarks. Toyota-backed teams, including Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing, have won 11 races this season with four different drivers. As 23XI Racing has established itself as a respectable front-running outfit and JGR’s four-car operation continues to compete for victories, the manufacturer’s strength has become more and more evident.

Similar alliance structures are used by other manufacturers. Chevrolet relies heavily on relationships between Hendrick Motorsports and affiliated teams such as Spire Motorsports. Meanwhile, Ford’s setup includes partnerships such as Wood Brothers Racing and Team Penske. That being said, none really seems to have matched Toyota and their current level when it comes to performance.

As Joey Logano told Frontstretch, “It’s not too good,” summing up Ford’s struggles.

For Hamlin, though, this comparison misses the point altogether. He thinks that the edge that Toyota seems to have today isn’t just a manufacturer-driven one, but the result of teams choosing smart partnerships. He pointed to the partnership between Joe Gibbs Racing and 23XI Racing as a business decision, rather than a directive from Toyota.

Back when 23XI had launched in 2020, the team lacked the infrastructure to compete immediately with the top organisation. So instead of waiting years for the support and development to fall into place, they chose to partner with JGR. That was smart on their part, but that smartness comes at a cost, and 23XI paid for access to those resources.

Even so, Hamlin did stress that the connection is not at all one-sided. Ideas and information go both ways, benefiting both enterprises. According to Denny, that dynamic is much the same as other alliance structures seen throughout the garage. In particular, he cited the partnerships between RFK Racing and Team Penske as instances of teams pooling resources and intelligence while operating under the same manufacturer’s name.

In the end, Hamlin does agree that Toyota encourages collaboration but not control. For him, success comes from the teams making strategic choices, not choices made in the boardroom.