Toyota Racing
This Week in Motorsports – April 29 – May 5, 2019
Toyota Racing On-Track this Week
· MENCS/NXS/NGOTS: Dover International Speedway (Dover, Delaware) – May 3-5
· NHRA: Atlanta Dragway (Commerce, Georgia) – May 3-5
· ARCA: Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville (Nashville, Tennessee) – May 3-4
· NKNPSE: South Boston Speedway – Twin 100s (South Boston, Virginia) – May 3-4
· POWRi: Valley Speedway (Grain Valley, Missouri) – May 3
Lucas Oil Speedway (Wheatland, Missouri) – May 4
NASCAR National Series – MENCS | NXS | NGOTS
Another Top Ten… With a 10th place result in Talladega, Kyle Busch scored his 10th consecutive Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) top-10 finish to start the season. This season, Busch has scored three MENCS wins and six top-fives. His average finish is 4.5, and he continues to the lead the point standings.
Get Out the Broom… Toyota has swept the MENCS, NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) spring race weekend at Dover International Speedway twice. The first sweep was earned in 2010 with Kyle Busch winning both the MENCS and NXS races and former Toyota driver Aric Almirola picking up the NGOTS victory. Three years ago, Kyle Busch picked up another NXS win with former Toyota drivers Matt Kenseth (MENCS) and Matt Crafton (NGOTS) clinching the triple for Toyota.
Last Time We Were Here… Christopher Bell scored his first Dover Monster trophy in the fall playoff race. Bell led 110 laps, including the last 29, to score his seventh career NXS win.
Continued Top Truck Performance… Since 2008, a Toyota Tundra has visited the NGOTS Dover winner’s circle eight times. Kyle Busch has three wins (2014, 2013, 2011), and former Toyota drivers Matt Crafton (2016), Todd Bodine (2012), Aric Almirola (2010), Brian Scott (2009) and Scott Speed (2008) have one win each. Toyota is also riding a streak of seven straight NGOTS wins dating back to Phoenix last November.
NHRA – Top Fuel | Funny Car
Kalitta Teams Showing Strength… Kalitta Motorsports heads to this weekend’s NHRA Southern Nationals at Atlanta Dragway with four wins in the season’s first six events, with each of the team’s four drivers picking up a Wally already this season. Shawn Langdon earned the team’s most recent win this past weekend in Charlotte, following previous victories from J.R. Todd (Las Vegas), Richie Crampton (Gainesville) and Doug Kalitta (Pomona).
Langdon Heads to Atlanta After History Making Performance… Last race, Shawn Langdon earned his first Funny Car win in Charlotte and in the process became just the 17th driver in NHRA history to win in both Nitro Funny Car and Top Fuel. In addition, the 2013 Top Fuel world champion became just the second driver ever to win in both categories at zMax Dragway, joining his crew chief Del Worsham.
Toyota Top Fuel Drivers Excel in Atlanta…Toyota Top Fuel drivers have won seven of the past 11 Southern Nationals. Antron Brown has earned four of those victories (2015, 2013, 2011 and 2008), with Doug Kalitta winning in 2016 and former Toyota drivers Larry Dixon (2010) and Morgan Lucas (2009) also taking home Wallys. Kalitta may own the most memorable win of all as he won the closest race in Top Fuel history when he defeated teammate Todd by an official margin of 0.0000 seconds.
Regional Stock Car Racing – ARCA
Points leader… For the first time this season, Michael Self leads the point standings. After a rough Daytona result, Self has scored three straight top-five finishes, including two victories, to advance to the top spot.
First time winner… Last season at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, former Toyota driver Zane Smith claimed his first-career ARCA Menards Series win. He scored three more victories on his way to a Rookie of the Year title.
Regional Stock Car Racing – NKNPSE
Undefeated in the Twins… South Boston Speedway has run the twin 100s for the past two seasons, and thus far, Toyota has scored all four wins in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East (NKNPSE) competition. In 2017, Harrison Burton scored the second win of his championship season, while last year, Tyler Ankrum earned his first NKNPSE victory on his way to the title. Former Toyota drivers Travis Miller and Tyler Dippel complete the sweep.
Strong start for Kraus… Derek Kraus started the NKNPSE season with a victory in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and followed that with a sixth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kraus comes into this weekend three points out of the championship lead.
Midget Racing – POWRi
POWRi Ready for Show-Me-State Double-Header… After seeing last weekend’s Midwest triple-header rained-out, the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League is set to take to the track for a double-header in Missouri. Action kicks off on Saturday at Valley Speedway where Toyota driver Logan Seavey is the defending race champion. The 2017 series champion already has a pair of POWRi wins to his credit this season. On Sunday, the series heads to Lucas Oil Speedway in Wheatland, where Tanner Carrick earned his first national midget car feature win a year ago. Toyota drivers have collected 10 national midget feature wins this season.
