Toyota Racing
This Week in Motorsports – April 1 – 7, 2019
Toyota Racing On-Track this Week
· MENCS/NXS/NKNPSE: Bristol Motor Speedway (Bristol, Tennessee) – April 6-7
· NHRA: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (Las Vegas, Nevada) – April 7
· Formula Drift: Streets of Long Beach (Long Beach, California) – April 5-6
· USAC: Kokomo Speedway (Kokomo, Indiana) – April 5-6
NASCAR National Series – MENCS | NXS
Toyota Tops the Charts… Toyota Racing has had a stellar start to the 2019 NASCAR season, posting 13 victories across 18 NASCAR national series events. In total, Toyota drivers have led 47 percent of all laps run in the three national NASCAR series with Toyota also leading the manufacturer championship standings in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS), NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS). Toyota MENCS and NXS drivers head to Bristol Motor Speedway this week, where last spring Toyota swept both events with Kyle Busch and Ryan Preece winning in their respective series.
Toyota Takes Bristol… Over the last decade, Toyota drivers have won 50 percent of the MENCS races run at Bristol. In total, the manufacturer has 10 victories at the half-mile short track over the span of 20 MENCS races. Busch has the most MENCS Camry wins (six), while Denny Hamlin (one) and former Camry drivers Matt Kenseth (two) and Carl Edwards (one) also have Bristol victories. Overall, Busch leads all active drivers in the MENCS with seven total victories at Bristol.
Show Me the Money… Supra drivers have more than just a race win on the line at Bristol Motor Speedway. The Saturday afternoon event marks the first of four races where NXS drivers will compete in the 2019 Dash 4 Cash program. Following a third-place finish in last weekend’s event at Texas Motor Speedway, Christopher Bell is one of four drivers to qualify for the Dash 4 Cash race at Bristol. If Bell is the highest-finishing qualifier at the short track, he’ll win a cash bonus and automatically qualify for the next event at Richmond Raceway. Last year, Preece received the bonus after winning at The Last Coliseum.
NHRA
Todd Looks To Keep Vegas Streak Going… J.R. Todd looks for his third consecutive victory at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend. Last year, he swept both events at the track on the way to earning the 2018 NHRA Funny Car world championship. This weekend also marks the fifth anniversary of Todd’s time at Kalitta Motorsports. He made his debut with the team at Las Vegas in the spring of 2014 after team owner Connie Kalitta decided to make a change during the race weekend. Todd flew from Indiana to Las Vegas on a red-eye, qualified on Saturday and raced on Sunday.
Toyota Drivers Win Big In Vegas… The NHRA’s annual spring race in Las Vegas has provided a jackpot of winnings for Toyota drivers. Camry Funny Car drivers have won four of the last six events at the track, with J.R. Todd winning in 2018, while former Toyota drivers Alexis DeJoria (2014, 2016) and Cruz Pedregon (2013) were also victorious. Toyota Top Fuel drivers have enjoyed similar success with five victories in the past nine spring events. Antron Brown has earned three titles (2011, 2016 and 2017), Richie Crampton won in 2015 and former Toyota driver Larry Dixon in 2010.
Kalitta Dragsters Off To Fast Start… Kalitta Motorsports has won two of the first three Top Fuel events to open the 2019 campaign. The Toyota-sponsored dragsters of Doug Kalitta and Crampton were victorious in two of the biggest events in the sport with Kalitta taking the Winternationals at Pomona and Crampton with his second consecutive Gatornationals crown at Gainesville in the most recent NHRA event. Kalitta enters this weekend’s action leading the Top Fuel point standings by 42 points, while Crampton currently sits fifth in points.
Formula Drift
Return to Where it all Began… Formula Drift opens its 2019 season at the Streets of Long Beach where Toyota driver Frederic Aasbø captured a victory with the 2019 Toyota Corolla Hatchback in its Formula Drift debut last year. Aasbø returns this year hoping to win his second-consecutive race at the course and third win in Formula Drift competition at Long Beach.
New Year, New Goal… Toyota closed the 2018 Formula Drift season with its fifth-straight manufacturer’s championship. The title was won on the strength of two wins and six podium finishes with Aasbø garnering both victories at Long Beach and St. Louis. Toyota has competed in Formula Drift since 2008, when Scion entered the series as Toyota drivers have combined for 16 victories in 11 seasons.
Regional Stock Car Racing – NKNPSE
From West to East… The NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKNPSE) returns to action for its second event of the 2019 season. Three K&N Pro Series West regulars will compete once again in the NKNPSE as Derek Kraus, Hailie Deegan and Brittney Zamora will all make an appearance at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kraus returns to the series after winning its season-opener at New Smyrna Speedway in February. Toyota Racing drivers have won three-consecutive events at the short track with Todd Gilliland winning last year’s race.
Midget Racing – USAC
Thomas Leads Toyota Into Kokomo Grand Prix… After a pair of second-place finishes to open the season, Kevin Thomas Jr., will lead 15 Toyota-powered drivers into this weekend’s USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series Kokomo Grand Prix double-header at Kokomo Speedway. Among those expected to join Thomas will be defending series champion Logan Seavey, the series’ most recent winner in 16-year-old Cannon McIntosh and 2018 POWRi champion Tucker Klaasmeyer. Toyota drivers currently hold down seven of the top-10 positions in the point standings.
