This Week in Motorsports: October 5-11, 2020
· NCS/NXS: Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval (Concord, North Carolina) – October 10-11
· ARCA EAST: 5 Flags Speedway (Pensacola, Florida) – October 10
PLANO, Texas (October 7, 2020) – It’s a milestone weekend at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval as Toyota competes in its 500th Cup Series event. This weekend is also a Playoff Cutoff race for both the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS). The ARCA Menards Series East closes their season at the fast 5 Flags Speedway in Florida.
NASCAR National Series – NCS| NXS
500 for Toyota … This weekend’s race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Roval will be the 500th Cup Series event for Toyota. Toyota made its series debut at the season-opening Daytona 500 in February 2007. Since that race, Camry drivers have scored 151 victories, three manufacturer’s titles (2016, 2017, 2019) and three driver’s titles with Kyle Busch (2015, 2019) and Martin Truex Jr. (2017).
Hamlin Adds Another Win… Denny Hamlin added another victory to an incredible season on Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway. Hamlin started from the pole position and led 26 laps (of 200) on his way to tying NASCAR Hall of Fame driver Bill Elliott with 44 career wins. Although superspeedway races are notorious for large accidents, Hamlin has been incredible in the four events this season with two victories and four top-five finishes.
The Playoffs Move to the Round of 8… For both the NCS and NXS, this weekend marks the Playoff cutoff race, moving from the Round of 12 to the Round of 8. In the Cup Series, Hamlin has locked his place in the next round with his Talladega victory, while Truex Jr. is in a solid position with a 32-point advantage on the cutline. Busch sits in ninth, 21 points behind the eighth and final position to advance. In NXS competition, Brandon Jones is a strong fifth overall, and 34 points to the good heading into Charlotte. Harrison Burton sits ninth, just seven points out of advancing to the next round, while Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Riley Herbst looks for a victory to continue his Playoff run.
Toyota Xfinity Drivers Impressive at Previous Road Course Race… Joe Gibbs Racing NXS drivers had a great run at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in August. Brandon Jones led two laps and finished second for his career-best road course finish, while rookie drivers Herbst and Burton drove to top-10 finishes.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA EAST
West Points Leader Comes East… Jesse Love will make his second start for Venturini Motorsports this weekend at 5 Flags Speedway. The 15-year-old driver, who leads the ARCA Menards Series West standings on the strength of eight top-five finishes in eight events, scored a fourth-place finish in his Venturini Motorsports Camry at Winchester Speedway in September.
Venturini Motorsports Strong at 5 Flags… Venturini Motorsports put three Toyota Camrys in the top-four finishing positions last year at 5 Flags Speedway with Michael Self scoring his first victory of the season. This year, Love will be joined by Mason Diaz and Corey Heim.
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About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2019.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.
