This Week in Motorsports: August 26 – September 2, 2024
NCS/NXS: Darlington Raceway – Aug. 31-Sept. 1
ARCA: DuQuoin State Fairgrounds – Sept. 1
NHRA: Indianapolis Raceway Park – Aug. 30-Sept. 2
PLANO, Texas (Aug. 28, 2024) – A busy holiday weekend is ahead for Team Toyota across the nation. NASCAR’s Cup and Xfinity Series return to Darlington Raceway, with this weekend marking the cutoff race for the Cup Series Playoffs. The ARCA Menards Series heads to DuQuoin State Fairgrounds on Sunday with five races remaining in the 2024 season. The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series enters its final race before the Countdown to the Championship at the Toyota U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis.
NASCAR National Series – NCS | NXS
Reddick leads Cup points heading to Playoff cutoff race … Going into the final race of the Cup Series regular season, 23XI Racing’s Tyler Reddick holds the series points lead by 17 points, looking to secure the regular season title and 15 bonus Playoff points heading to Atlanta next weekend. Reddick is joined inside the provisional playoff field by Christopher Bell (sixth), Denny Hamlin (eighth), Martin Truex Jr. (ninth) and Ty Gibbs (10th). Bubba Wallace comes into the weekend just 21 points below the Playoff cutline. In the current Playoff standings, Bell has the second most Playoff points entering the weekend with 25, thanks to his 10 stage wins and three race wins this season.
Wallace looks for another Darlington top-five … With his Playoff hopes on the line Sunday night, Wallace returns to a track that has been favorable to him of late. The No. 23 Camry XSE driver has four consecutive top-10 finishes at Darlington, including a seventh-place result in the spring. Another such finish, and more, may be enough to get Wallace into the Playoffs once again.
Four races remain in Xfinity Series regular season … Heading to Darlington this weekend, Toyota and Joe Gibbs Racing’s (JGR) two full-time Xfinity Series drivers find themselves solid in the point standings. Chandler Smith moved up to third in the regular season points with a runner-up finish at Daytona last weekend, while Sheldon Creed remained seventh in the points after his fourth consecutive top-10 finish.
Bell returns to No. 20 GR Supra … Bell will be doing double duty this weekend at the ‘Track Too Tough to Tame’ as he’s back in the No. 20 GR Supra for JGR. The Oklahoma-native will make his fourth career Xfinity Series start at Darlington, with a career-best finish of fourth in 2019. He also returns to the Xfinity Series off his triumph at New Hampshire back in June.
Creed returns to favorable Darlington … Like Wallace in the Cup Series, Darlington Raceway has been kind of late to Creed in the Xfinity Series. The driver of the No. 18 GR Supra has three top-10 finishes in his last four Darlington starts, which includes a ninth-place result in the spring.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA Menards Series
Sawalich continues dominance … After another victory in Milwaukee last weekend, William Sawalich is on quite the roll in the ARCA Menards Series. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver has scored four consecutive wins and six in his last seven starts. The Minnesotan makes his second career start at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds this weekend, where he was on pole and finished fifth a season ago.
Reimer returns to ARCA … For the second time this season and third time in her career, Taylor Reimer is back in the ARCA Menards Series with Venturini Motorsports this weekend in DuQuoin. In her lone start this season a few weeks ago in Springfield, Reimer finished third behind Sawalich and Isabella Robusto in a Team Toyota top three sweep.
NHRA – Top Fuel | Funny Car
Toyota’s streaks roll on to Indianapolis … Toyota brings its nine NHRA drivers to Indianapolis with multiple impressive streaks on the line once nitro engines fire Friday night. Following Justin Ashley’s win at Brainerd, Toyota-supported Top Fuel Dragsters have won 13 of the last 14 races dating back to last November in Pomona. Additionally, Toyota enters the weekend making 36 consecutive final rounds in either the Top Fuel or Funny Car categories after the all-Toyota final round in Top Fuel with Ashley and Shawn Langdon two weeks ago in Brainerd.
NHRA regular season closes with Toyota at the top … Heading into the final race before the ‘Countdown,’ Toyota’s racers remain towards the top of the points standings. In Top Fuel, Toyota owns the top five positions with Doug Kalitta, seeking a repeat Top Fuel world championship, sitting atop the standings, followed by Shawn Langdon (second), Justin Ashley (third), Steve Torrence (fourth) and Antron Brown (fifth). Billy Torrence currently sits in ninth position, inside the Countdown field going into this weekend. In Funny Car, J.R. Todd (fourth) and Ron Capps (sixth) are inside the top-10.
Brown, Capps seek U.S. Nationals threepeats … Along with positioning themselves for the Countdown, Brown and Capps also return to the Toyota U.S. Nationals each looking for their third consecutive victories at the biggest race on the NHRA schedule. Another victory at Indianapolis Raceway Park would be Brown’s sixth overall U.S. Nationals win, as he currently has three in Top Fuel and two in Pro Stock Motorcycle, while another Wally Trophy for Capps would be his third in Indianapolis.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 29 electrified options.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
