NASCAR Cup Series

Is it Toyota time yet? Not quite, but it could be getting closer

Published Apr. 13, 2015 4:39 p.m. ET

Jeff Hammond

At this moment, Toyota looks like they are working in the right direction, despite the fact that Carl Edwards' 10th-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway was the best for Toyota and for Joe Gibbs Racing in the Duck Commander 500 on Saturday night.

I think that the changes that Joe Gibbs Racing has made with their chassis program -- they have a better understanding of this new front nose and the aero balance of these race cars, especially with this new aero package -- are slowly but surely coming around.

When you look how strong these guys were at Auto Club Speedway, which is a lot of aero and a lot of handling, they were very competitive. And, oh by the way, it looks like they've got the power necessary to keep up with the Chevrolet program.

Are they better than Chevrolet?

Probably not.

But right now, I think the quality of the teams within the organization overall, being so fast on pit road, JGR looks like it has a handle on the direction they want to go in right now. And if they can just tighten up a little bit on some pit-road mistakes, this organization is going to be a handful no matter who you are.

Whether you're Kevin Harvick, whether you're Jimmie Johnson, it won't matter. They will be a force to be reckoned with, just like they were in 2013. Edwards won the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he has three Cup victories. This weekend, we'll see if he and his teammates have anything for Harvick, Johnson and the rest of the frontrunners.