This Week in Motorsports: July 25-31, 2022
· NCS/NXS: Indianapolis Motor Speedway – July 30-31
· NCWTS/ARCA: Indianapolis Raceway Park – July 29
· NHRA: Pacific Raceways (Kent, Washington) – July 31
PLANO, Texas (July 27, 2022) – The NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series makes its return to the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway, while the NASCAR Truck Series and ARCA Menards Series head back to Indianapolis Raceway Park. The NHRA Drag Racing Series is also on track this weekend as they close their Western Swing at Pacific Raceways, just outside of Seattle.
NASCAR National Series – NCS | NXS | NCWTS
Bell continues to add strong finishes… Christopher Bell backed up his first win of the season with another strong run as the Oklahoma-native finished fourth at Pocono Raceway. Bell has now scored top-10 finishes in eight of the last 11 races.
Wallace with back-to-back top-10 finishes… Bubba Wallace is coming into Indianapolis off back-to-back top-10 finishes for the first time in his Cup Series career as the 23XI Racing driver followed a fourth-place finish at New Hampshire Motor Speedway with an eighth-place run in Pocono. Wallace will get two chances for a good finish in Indy as he will compete in his second and final Xfinity Series race of the season for Joe Gibbs Racing on Saturday.
Gibbs looks to close in on championship points lead… Ty Gibbs had another strong run last Saturday in the NASCAR Xfinity Series event as the runner-up finish allowed the 19-year-old to close in to within 22 points of the points lead. Gibbs makes his second start in Indianapolis this weekend. He led four laps and scored a top-20 finish in his track debut one season ago.
Toyota Truck Series teams pack Playoff field… For the first time in Truck Series history, one manufacturer has seven drivers in the field as Toyota racers John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes and Matt Crafton are all vying for the 2022 drivers’ title.
Smith looks to continue strong performance at Indianapolis… Chandler Smith ended the Truck Series regular season in the best way possible – with a dominating win at Pocono Raceway as he led 49 of the 60 laps. Smith has also been very good at Indianapolis Raceway Park as the 20-year-old driver has won the last two ARCA Menards Series events he competed in at the facility in 2019 and 2020 and will look to add to his trophy case as he will compete for Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA Menards Series event immediately preceding the Truck event.
Crafton with IRP truck experience… Matt Crafton will have something that most Truck Series drivers will not have at Indianapolis Raceway Park – experience at the short track. The three-time Truck Series champion finished sixth at the last Truck Series event at the facility in 2011. He has three top-five results at the track, with a best finish of third in 2010.
NHRA – Top Fuel | Funny Car
Brown, Capps amongst Seattle’s most recent winners… Antron Brown and Ron Capps are among NHRA’s most recent winners as the series makes its first stop at Pacific Raceways since 2019. Brown and Capps swept the nitro classes at the 2018 running of the event.
Langdon gaining momentum… Shawn Langdon is continuing to gain momentum. In the last five events, Langdon has advanced to the semi-finals or better four times, including two final round appearances at Bristol and Denver.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA
Venturini strong in Indianapolis… Venturini Motorsports (VMS) has won the last three ARCA events at Indianapolis Raceway Park with Christian Eckes claiming victory in 2018 and Chandler Smith earning wins in 2019 and 2020. VMS will field four Toyota Camrys for drivers Smith, Jesse Love, Toni Breidinger, and Tom Hessert in the event to try to continue that streak.
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