This Week in Motorsports: April 24-30, 2023
· NCS/NXS/ARCA: Dover Motor Speedway – April 28-30
· NHRA: zMax Dragway (Charlotte, North Carolina) – April 30
PLANO, Texas (April 26, 2023) – The NASCAR and ARCA teams take on the Monster Mile in Dover, while NHRA races its second and final four-wide event of the season this weekend in Charlotte.
NASCAR National Series – NCS | NXS
Bell adds another top-10… Christopher Bell is on top of the point standings for another week as the Oklahoma-native earned his series-best seventh top-10 finish of the season at Talladega Superspeedway. Bell led Toyota with a fourth-place finish at Dover last year and owns a NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at the track in 2019.
Four in the top-10 after 10… Talladega Superspeedway was the 10th race of the season and Toyota drivers hold four of the top-10 spots in the points standings, which is tied for the most of any manufacturer. Along with Bell, Tyler Reddick (sixth), Martin Truex Jr. (seventh) and Denny Hamlin (10th) are currently in Playoff positions.
Nemechek plans to take back points lead… John Hunter Nemechek heads to Dover just four points out of the championship lead. The North Carolina-native leads the Xfinity Series in top-10 finishes (seven) and laps led (340) going into this weekend. Nemechek has competed in the last two NASCAR Xfinity Series events at Dover, running in the top-10 in both events before mechanical woes ended both days.
Heim makes Xfinity Series debut… Toyota development driver Corey Heim will make his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut this weekend aboard the No. 24 Toyota GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. The Georgia-native has been impressive in every series since joining Team Toyota. Heim scored six wins and a runner-up finish in ARCA competition in 2021 and earned the Truck Series Rookie of the Year title and two wins last season. Heim is the most recent Truck Series victor this year as he swept both stages and won in Martinsville to clinch his first Playoff berth.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA
Sawalich looks to extend early lead… After an impressively dominant performance at the season opener, William Sawalich looks to extend his championship lead in his first start at Dover Motor Speedway. The 16-year-old driver won in his debut at Five Flags Speedway in Florida and holds a seven-point advantage in the standings going into this weekend.
NHRA – Top Fuel | Funny Car
Closing in on 200…Toyota is getting ever closer to a major milestone in its NHRA history – 200 victories. After Antron Brown’s 56th Toyota victory in Las Vegas, Toyota currently sits at 196 wins across both nitro classes coming into Charlotte. Toyota earned its first win with Jerry Toliver in Funny Car in 2004, and now holds 148 Top Fuel victories and 48 Funny Car wins.
Torrence back at the top… Steve Torrence is back at a familiar spot for the multi-time champion, as the Texan holds the points lead for the first time this season. Torrence moved to the top spot with his runner-up finish in Las Vegas – his second final round appearance of the season. Charlotte would be a great place to get yet another Four-Wide victory – Torrence won the race in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2021.
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