Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 19 team secured the 2025 NASCAR Xfinity Series owner’s championship after finishing second at Phoenix Raceway, with Aric Almirola driving on Saturday evening. This marks the seventh time Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has won the owner’s title in the series, all in partnership with Toyota. It is also JGR’s second owner’s championship in the past four years.
Throughout the 2025 season, several drivers contributed to the No. 19 team’s performance: Aric Almirola participated in 17 races, Justin Bonsignore in seven, Riley Herbst in four, Jack Perkins in two, while Christopher Bell, Chase Briscoe, and Ty Gibbs each drove once.
The team achieved three wins during the year—all by Almirola—at Phoenix Raceway in March, Bristol Motor Speedway in September, and Las Vegas Motor Speedway in October. In addition to these victories, the No. 19 team collected ten top-five and thirteen top-ten finishes. Christopher Bell earned a pole position for the team at Darlington Raceway in April.
This year marked JGR’s fourth consecutive appearance in the Championship 4 for owners and its second title for the No. 19 car following its previous win in 2016. The organization now holds owner titles from 2008, 2009, 2010, 2012, 2016, 2022, and now 2025. The first five championships were achieved with a Toyota Camry; more recent ones have come with the GR Supra model.
Since entering NASCAR Xfinity Series competition in 2007, Toyota has recorded a total of 218 wins as of this season; of those victories, sixty-nine were achieved using a Toyota Supra.
Reflecting on Saturday’s race and season-long effort that led to his first championship experience as a driver—even though it was an owner’s title—Aric Almirola said: “What an absolute fight. Our car was not good to start. We had to just keep swinging at it. We were making huge adjustments, and those guys were just firing off so much better than me and I just couldn’t keep pace and finally Seth Chavka (crew chief) and the guys just kept swinging at it and swinging at it with huge adjustments and we finally got it decent to where I could maintain and keep pace with those guys. That restart was key to be able to get to third and try and keep pace with the 88 (Connor Zilisch). I knew I wasn’t racing the 2 (Jesse Love). I just knew that I needed to stay close enough that if the 2 got by the 88 then I could run him down and go and get by him for the owner’s championship. I’m just so proud. J.D. Gibbs name is on this car. Coy Gibbs name is on this car. This is not about me. This about a team. Coach Gibbs talks all the time about winning with people and this is about a lot of people at Joe Gibbs Racing. This is an owner’s championship. It has nothing to do with Aric Almirola. I was the lucky guy to be behind the wheel for a few of the wins and to get the championship tonight, but it is a team effort. I’m just so thankful for Coach and J.D. and the Gibbs family and Toyota, Young Life. Oh my gosh. This is really, really awesome. I’ve never won a championship. This is my first championship and again like I said, this isn’t about me, but I was a part of this and I’m just so proud of our organization and everybody that helps us and supports us. Praise God. This is pretty awesome.”
Ty Gibbs commented on what recent weeks have meant for both himself personally as well as his family business: “First of all, it’s been a great few weeks. We had the Taylor Gray win and then now the owner’s championship. It’s super cool. This is a family business, and I grew up in it coming to the race track, so this means a lot to me. I want to be here one day and be able to help JGR out in any way I can so it’s super cool to be here and I’m very happy about our last two weeks.”
Dedra DeLilli from Toyota Motor North America highlighted how this achievement fits into their longstanding relationship: “Tonight’s championship is another chapter in the longstanding and prolific partnership between Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota. This achievement is truly deserved by everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing and our tremendous TRD team after an incredible NASCAR Xfinity Series season, and we look forward to celebrating this accomplishment together.”
Toyota has been active within North America for nearly seventy years through its Toyota and Lexus brands as well as over eighteen hundred dealerships across North America; almost sixty-four thousand people are directly employed by Toyota regionally contributing toward design engineering assembly work including production at fourteen manufacturing plants.
In addition—in line with ongoing sustainability efforts—Toyota began assembling automotive batteries for electrified vehicles at its North Carolina plant starting in 2025.
More information about Toyota can be found at www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
