This Week in Motorsports: August 30-September 6, 2021
· NCS/NXS/NCWTS: Darlington Raceway – September 4-5
· ARCA: DuQuoin State Fairgrounds – September 5
PLANO, Texas (September 1, 2021) – The Playoffs begin for the NASCAR Cup Series as they compete in the historic Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday. The Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series will also be in Darlington, while the ARCA Menards Series competes on dirt for the final time this season in Illinois.
NASCAR National Series – NCS| NXS| NCWTS
Four Toyota Drivers ready for Playoff battle… The NASCAR Cup Series has set its 16-driver Playoff field and four Toyota drivers – Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr. and Christopher Bell – are locked in to compete for the 2021 Championship. Truex is the highest Toyota seed in second. Busch is the fourth seed and Hamlin is the seventh seed. Bell – in his first Playoff season – starts as the 12th seed.
Truex looks for another dominating performance… Truex has to be pleased to start the Playoffs at Darlington. The 2017 Cup Series champion earned his third victory of the season earlier this year at the track in dominating fashion – leading 248 of 293 laps.
Wallace coming off career-best result… Bubba Wallace came up just one spot short of his first-career victory at Daytona International Speedway – coming home with a career-best-tying second-place finish. Wallace is looking for his first top-10 finish at Darlington Raceway.
Hamlin makes annual Xfinity Series start… Hamlin will be back behind the wheel of a Supra this weekend as he makes his annual Xfinity Series start at Darlington Raceway. Hamlin’s last four Xfinity Series starts have come in the Labor Day Darlington event, while five of his 17 career Xfinity victories have come on the South Carolina-oval.
Jones looks for another Darlington victory… Brandon Jones heads back to Darlington as the reigning event winner. Last season, Jones drove from third to first in the closing laps to score the win in a throwback Toyota championship scheme honoring Robert Huffman.
Burton, Hemric clinched… With three races remaining in the regular season, Harrison Burton and Daniel Hemric have clinched their spots in the Xfinity Series Playoffs after top-10 finishes in Daytona. Jones is also on-track to score his fourth consecutive Playoff berth.
Crafton, Rhodes and Friesen have strong Playoff starts… Matt Crafton, Ben Rhodes and Stewart Friesen all had strong starts to the Truck Series Playoffs in St. Louis – scoring top-five finishes which vaulted them all inside the top-five of the standings and gave them a buffer of over 30 points over the Playoff cutoff line.
Nemechek, Hill look for Darlington Victory Lane… At Darlington earlier this season, it looked like the battle for the win could come down to John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill before both drivers were taken out in a late-race accident. Nemechek led 65 laps with Hill pacing the field for 11. Both are looking for redemption this weekend.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA
Final stop on dirt… Ty Gibbs drove to his ninth victory of the season at the Milwaukee Mile – winning in domination fashion by leading all 150 laps to open up an 11-point lead over Corey Heim. However, with the ARCA Menards Series headed back to dirt, Heim is ready. He won the pole, led the most laps and scored the win at the other dirt event this season – August’s Allen Crowe 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
Toyota’s winning ways continue… Gibbs’ victory at the Milwaukee Mile gave Toyota its 15th victory in 16 events this season. Toyota is trying to best its own record of 18 wins in 20 national ARCA Menards Series events, which was set in 2018.
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