This Week in Motorsports: April 12-18, 2021
· NCS/NCWTS: Richmond Raceway – April 17-18
PLANO, Texas (April 14, 2021) – This weekend marks the return to Richmond Raceway for the Toyota Owners entitlement races at the Virginia short track. The ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) race is up first on Saturday afternoon before the Toyota Owners 400 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) event takes place on Sunday afternoon.
NASCAR National Series – NCS| NCWTS
Toyota Owners Weekend… It’s the ninth annual Toyota Owners Weekend at Richmond Raceway. On Saturday, the ToyotaCare 250 NASCAR Truck Series race will be paced by the 2021 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. The Toyota Owners 400 completes the weekend on Sunday. The Cup race will be led to green by thee 2020 Toyota Camry TRD.
Virginia is for racers like Truex… After earning his third Martinsville victory in the last four races on Sunday, Martin Truex Jr. added to his recent success in the state of Virginia. Truex has five wins in the state of Virginia since April 2019, including two wins at Richmond Raceway – a sweep of both races in 2019.
Busch looks to add to his Richmond tally… Kyle Busch has excelled at Richmond Raceway since joining Team Toyota in 2008. He scored Toyota’s first win at the track in May 2009, and has since added five additional victories (May 2010, April 2011, April 2012, April 2018, September 2018).
Hamlin holds race advantage… Denny Hamlin continued his stellar start to the season after leading over half of the laps at Martinsville Speedway on Sunday before scoring a third-place finish. In the first eight races of the season, Hamlin has seven top-five finishes and holds a race advantage in points over second-place Truex in the standings.
Toyota looks to extend streak… Tundra drivers have won five consecutive races since the start of the Truck Series season, marking the second time in the past three seasons (2019) Toyota has accomplished the feat. Ben Rhodes started the year strong for the Tundra – winning both races at Daytona, and since then it’s been all Kyle Busch Motorsports with series points leader John Hunter Nemechek winning at Las Vegas and NCS regulars Busch and Truex adding victories at the series’ last two events.
ThorSport strong at Richmond… ThorSport Racing swept the podium at last year’s return to Richmond Raceway with Grant Enfinger scoring the victory. ThorSport’s full-time drivers all currently hold Playoff positions in their return to Toyota.
Hill continues to rebound… After a tough start to the season, 2020 regular season champion Austin Hill has rebounded with three strong runs, including a runner-up finish at Atlanta and a top-10 run on the dirt in Bristol. Hill has moved back inside the top-10 in the standings. In his first truck start at Richmond last fall, Hill earned a top-10 finish.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands plus our 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota has created a tremendous value chain and directly employs more than 47,000 in North America. The company has contributed world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama that begins production in 2021.
Through its 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.
