This Week in Motorsports: March 3 – 9, 2025
- NCS/NXS/ARCA: Phoenix Raceway – March 7-9
- NHRA: Gainesville Raceway – March 7-9
PLANO, Texas (March 5, 2025) – NASCAR enters the fourth week of its season with the Cup and Xfinity Series, joined by the ARCA Menards Series, heading to Phoenix Raceway for the first of two trips in 2025. The NHRA begins its 2025 campaign at Gainesville Raceway this weekend as well.
NASCAR National Series – NCS/NXS
Bell goes for three in a row and Phoenix Spring repeat … 2025 has already been magical for Christopher Bell and his No. 20 Camry XSE team just three races into the new season. The Oklahoma native comes to Phoenix this weekend with two consecutive wins, at Atlanta Motor Speedway and last Sunday at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) and currently sits fourth in the Cup Series points standings. Bell also returns to the one-mile short oval in search of a repeat victory from last March where he led 50 laps on the way to victory. Phoenix has been a strong track for Bell, who’s finished inside the top-10 in six of his 10 career starts.
Camry XSE drivers seek another pole … Toyota enters this weekend with two of the three Cup Series pole positions in 2025, and seven of the last eight races dating back to Las Vegas Motor Speedway last October, after Tyler Reddick’s blistering run at COTA last weekend. Phoenix is an ideal track for Team Toyota to continue the streak, with Toyota Camrys capturing both poles last season – by Denny Hamlin in the spring and Martin Truex Jr. in the fall.
Toyota drivers return to favorable Phoenix … Similar to Bell, Phoenix Raceway has been kind to several of the Toyota Camry XSE drivers over the course of their careers. Toyota drivers led all but 14 of the 312 laps in the race that Bell won in March 2024, and Toyota became the first manufacturer to have five drivers lead 50 or more laps in a race, including Hamlin and Reddick (68), Ty Gibbs (57), Truex Jr. (55 laps) and Bell (50). Additionally, Reddick has four top-10s in the last six Phoenix races; Hamlin has 16 top-fives and 22 top-10s in 39 career Phoenix starts; Chase Briscoe has top-10 finishes in half of his Phoenix starts, including his first career win in 2022 and Riley Herbst returns to Phoenix after winning the Xfinity Series finale last November.
Sawalich looking to continue solid rookie start … Eighteen-year-old Toyota Development Driver, William Sawalich, has a had a solid beginning to his rookie campaign in the Xfinity Series. The driver of the No. 18 GR Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has two straight top-10 finishes at Atlanta and COTA and currently sits 12th in the series points standings. Sawalich looks to make up more ground this weekend at Phoenix Raceway where he’s found success before, winning the ARCA Menards Series race from the pole position last season and claiming the pole in the Xfinity Series race last November.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA Menards Series
Crews back in ARCA … Toyota Development Driver, Brent Crews, makes his first ARCA Menards Series start of the 2025 season this weekend in Phoenix, piloting the No. 18 Toyota Camry for JGR for the first time. The 16-year-old has made eight career ARCA starts to date, with two career wins, six top-fives and six top-10s.
NHRA – Top Fuel/Funny Car
Brown begins Top Fuel title defense … Antron Brown and his Toyota Top Fuel Dragster team drop the curtain on their NHRA Top Fuel title defense at Gainesville Raceway this weekend. The 49-year-old captured his fourth Top Fuel world championship, and the eighth for Toyota, last November in Pomona and now goes for his fifth, which would tie him for second all-time in the category. Toyota also seeks its third consecutive Top Fuel title this season after Brown’s 2024 championship and the 2023 title won by Doug Kalitta.
Langdon, Todd seek Gainesville repeats … The 2024 Gatornationals will go down in history for Kalitta Motorsports as it was the first time the famed race team won both the Top Fuel and Funny Car categories in a weekend with Shawn Langdon and J.R. Todd taking home the Wally Trophies last year. Both drivers return to Gainesville this weekend in hopes of a repeat to get their 2025 championship quests off on the right foot once again. A victory by Langdon would be the 20th of his career and a win for Todd would be his 22nd.
Toyota Dragsters to compete in Top Fuel callout … Along with pushing for the event victory, Toyota’s Top Fuel Dragsters of Brown, Justin Ashley, Langdon, Kalitta and Steve Torrence will also do battle in the NHRA Top Fuel All-Star Callout, which takes place on Saturday during and around the qualifying sessions. The callout, where drivers who are a part of the special event can call out competitors they’d like to race, offers a chance to earn additional prize money during the race weekend. In last year’s callout at Gainesville, Brown captured bragging rights with the victory.
Bode makes debut with DC Motorsports … Stepping into the DC Motorsports Toyota GR Supra Funny Car this weekend in Gainesville is 22-year-old, Bobby Bode. The Illinois native has 40 career starts under his belt and made nine Funny Car appearances during the 2024 season. His career-best result to-date is a runner-up finish in Houston in 2022.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for nearly 70 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 nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 49 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In spring 2025, Toyota’s 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 31 electrified options.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
