Toyota NASCAR Bristol Advance

Toyota Racing – Bristol NASCAR Advance

Week of April 9 – 15, 2018

Busch is Back… If there’s one track Camry driver Kyle Busch is known for it’s Tennessee’s Bristol Motor Speedway. Busch is already on a tear this season, posting top-three finishes in his last five races – including his first win a week ago at Texas Motor Speedway – and leads the Monster Energy NACAR Cup Series (MENCS) standings. Busch now heads to Bristol where last fall he swept a combined MENCS, NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) weekend for the second time in his career – and Busch is the only driver to do so, let alone twice. When it comes to putting his Camry out front, Busch has led more than twice as many laps as any other active driver at the 0.533-mile short track and has six MENCS wins, the most among active drivers.

Toyota Tames The Last Great Coliseum… Toyota drivers showed up in full force at Bristol Motor Speedway last fall, sweeping the top four spots of the race. Busch (first), Erik Jones (second), Denny Hamlin (third) and former Camry driver Matt Kenseth (fourth) finished one right after the other, posting the second top-four sweep in Toyota’s MENCS history. Since entering the MENCS full-time in 2007, Toyota has claimed 41 percent of the wins at ‘The Last Great Coliseum’ with Camry driver Busch (five Toyota wins) leading the way as Hamlin (one) and former Camry drivers Kenseth (two) and Carl Edwards (one) also secured victories in a Toyota.

Jonesing for Bristol… After earning his first top-five finish with Joe Gibbs Racing last week at Texas Motor Speedway, E. Jones turns his attention to Bristol, a track where he posted a career-best finish of second in the MENCS last August after earning his first-career pole award. In his rookie campaign a year ago, Jones led a career-high 260 laps (of 500) at ‘The World’s Fastest Half Mile,’ battling teammate Busch for the win in the closing laps. It wasn’t the first time Jones has had success at Bristol, as the 21-year-old driver also has two NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) victories at the track, and holds the record for the youngest Xfinity Series winner at Bristol after winning there at 19 years, nine months and 17 days in April 2016.

Money Maker… The chance to win $100,000 is back as the Dash 4 Cash returns to the NXS this weekend and two Camry drivers are set to compete for the prize – Christopher Bell and Ryan Preece. After posting top-five finishes at Texas and being two of the top-four finishing NXS regulars, Bell and Preece will race for the cash at Bristol for the first time in their careers. Preece will make his first Bristol start in a Toyota, while Bell will make his first series start at the track. History is on their side as 11 of the last 15 NXS events at Bristol have been won by a Camry, including back-to-back wins by Joe Gibbs Racing with MENCS drivers Busch and E. Jones, most recently. Although not competing for the Dash 4 Cash prize at the half-mile track, Brandon Jones will also contend for the win in a Joe Gibbs Racing entry after capturing his first-career stage win at Texas last weekend.

Staying Connected… You can follow Toyota Racing on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, and online at www.toyotaracing.com. For media images, please visit www.toyotaracingmedia.com.

Toyota Notes & Numbers at Bristol… Since entering their respective series full-time in 2004 (NCWTS) and 2007 (MENCS, NXS), Toyota drivers have won 48 percent of all Bristol races run across all three national series… Kyle Busch leads the driver contingent with 18 Toyota victories (five MENCS, eight NXS and five NCWTS) at Bristol… Heading into Bristol, Christopher Bell has posted four top-four finishes in the last five Xfinity Series events, including a runner-up finish at Texas.

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