This Week in Motorsports: June 1-7, 2021
· NCS/ARCA WEST: Sonoma Raceway – June 5-6
· NXS/ARCA: Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course – June 5-6
PLANO, Texas (June 2, 2021) – It’s the lone split weekend for the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series this season. Both series are taking on road courses as the Cup Series battles at Sonoma Raceway, while the Xfinity Series makes its return to Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. The national ARCA Menards Series supports the Xfinity Series race in Ohio on Friday, while ARCA Menards Series West will prelude the Cup Series event in California on Saturday.
NASCAR National Series – NCS| NXS
Milestone minded… Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) and Toyota have had an incredible run of success since partnering together in 2008. With a weekend sweep in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Mid-Ohio and Sunday’s Cup Series event in Sonoma, JGR and Toyota look to celebrate 300 victories together. JGR has 132 Cup Series wins and 166 Xfinity Series victories since partnering with Toyota in 2008.
Sonoma master… Martin Truex Jr. has proven to be the master recently at Sonoma Raceway. He has driven to back-to-back victories at the two most recent Toyota/Save Mart 350 events in 2018 and 2019. Truex was dominate in 2019 – leading 59 laps (of 90) on his way to his third total victory at the California-track (2013, 2018, 2019).
Hamlin continues to lead the way… Heading into the mid-point of the 2021 Cup Series season, Denny Hamlin continues to lead the overall point standings by 98 points. Hamlin is still looking for his first win of the season, and his first at Sonoma Raceway. He scored a track-best second-place finish in June 2016.
Gibbs impressive once again… Ty Gibbs continued what is already an outstanding start to his NASCAR career at Charlotte Motor Speedway where he scored his second-career Xfinity Series win in just his sixth start in the series on Saturday. Gibbs is back in the No. 54 Toyota Supra this weekend for a return to road course racing at Mid-Ohio. The No. 54 Supra team has swept the Xfinity Series road course events so far this season with Gibbs and Kyle Busch behind the wheel.
Toyota looking for first Mid-Ohio win… Toyota is looking for its first win at Mid-Ohio this weekend. Current Cup Series driver Christopher Bell drove Toyota to a second-place finish at the track’s last Xfinity event in 2019. This weekend, five Supras look to give Toyota that first Mid-Ohio trophy, including Joe Gibbs Racing’s Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones, Harrison Burton and Ty Gibbs and Sam Hunt Racing’s Kris Wright.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA | ARCA WEST
Gibbs continues to be dominant… For the second time this season, Ty Gibbs led every lap on his way to victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He has four wins in the first six ARCA events this season. He looks to add another victory this weekend as the ARCA Menards Series makes its first-ever stop at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
National tour stars get extra road course reps… Full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver Brandon Jones and Truck Series driver Austin Hill are both set to get extra road course laps in the ARCA race this weekend at Mid-Ohio. Jones will be in the No. 25 Camry for Venturini Motorsports, while Hill will compete for his Truck Series team, Hattori Racing Enterprises, in the No. 1 Toyota Camry.
Love returns to try to repeat his ARCA West title… After three months away, the ARCA Menards Series West is back on track this weekend for their second race of the season. Last year’s champion – 16-year-old Jesse Love — got off to a strong start in Phoenix, scoring a top-10 finish.
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