This Week in Motorsports: June 16 – 22, 2025
- NCS/NXS/NCTS: Pocono Raceway – June 20-22
- ARCA: Elko Speedway – June 21
- NHRA: Virginia Motorsports Park – June 21-22
- FORMULA DRIFT: Old Bridge Township Raceway Park (Englishtown, NJ) – June 19-21
PLANO, Texas (June 18, 2025) – It’s a busy weekend for Team Toyota in motorsports, starting off with NASCAR heading to Pocono Raceway for its annual summer visit with all three national series. The ARCA Menards Series continues its stretch of races with a visit to Elko Speedway in Minnesota. The NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series heads to Virginia Motorsports Park for its ninth race of the 2025 season. Finally, Formula DRIFT is back on track at Englishtown Raceway Park in New Jersey.
NASCAR National Series – NCS/NXS
Camry drivers look to continue Pocono prowess … Pocono Raceway has been a strong track for multiple Toyota drivers who are eager to return to the “Tricky Triangle” this weekend, including Denny Hamlin, Tyler Reddick and Bubba Wallace. Hamlin, who returns to his No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) Toyota Camry XSE this weekend, is the all-time leader in career wins at Pocono with seven – most recently winning in 2023. He also has 16 top-fives and 23 top-10s in 35 career starts in the Pocono Mountains. Reddick comes into this weekend with four straight top-10s at Pocono and his 23XI Racing teammate, Wallace, has three top-10s in the last four Pocono races.
Nemechek posting career-best numbers early in 2025 … Last weekend’s sixth-place result in Mexico City continued the strong start to the 2025 Cup Series season for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB’s John Hunter Nemechek. The driver of the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE has earned a career-best five top-10 finishes in 16 races this season, including a top-five at the season-opening Daytona 500. Nemechek makes his fourth career Cup Series start at Pocono this weekend and is a former winner there with his victory in the Truck Series in 2021.
Sawalich comes to Pocono after career-best result … The sixth-place finish for William Sawalich in last weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Mexico City was the best of his young career. The finish was the Minnesotan’s third top-10 finish this season, as he now enters his debut at the “Tricky Triangle” of Pocono Raceway this weekend.
Bonsignore returns to the No. 19 … For the first time since Rockingham in April, Justin Bonsignore is back behind the wheel of the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for JGR this weekend in Pocono. Saturday will be the fifth start of the season for Bonsignore and the sixth of his career as he looks to improve upon his career-best finish of 16th, which he earned at Homestead back in March.
Friesen back in truck after milestone win … Last time out for the NASCAR Truck Series, Stewart Friesen drove his No. 52 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to victory lane at Michigan in dramatic fashion for his first win since 2022. The Canadian is now locked into the 2025 Truck Series Playoffs and looks for another solid run at Pocono this weekend after finishing seventh last year.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA Menards Series
Reaves aims for another solid night … In his national ARCA Menards Series debut at Berlin Raceway last weekend, Max Reaves finished in the runner-up position, continuing his strong start to 2025. Reaves returns to the No. 18 JGR Camry this weekend at Elko Speedway in hopes of capturing his first national ARCA Menards Series win to go along with his three ARCA Menards Series East victories from earlier this season.
NHRA – Top Fuel/Funny Car
Capps, Torrence coming off big victories … Last time out for NHRA, Toyota earned a sweep in the nitro categories with victories by Steve Torrence (Top Fuel) and Ron Capps (Funny Car), the first triumph by Torrence since Seattle 2024 and the first for Capps since the U.S. Nationals in 2023. Wins by both drivers aided them dearly in the series points standings as the summer stretch of races continues this weekend.
Kalitta seeks Virginia repeat … Former Top Fuel world champion Doug Kalitta comes back to Virginia Motorsports Park in search of a second straight victory after his triumph a season ago. The Michigan native also seeks to continue his dominance in qualifying this season, aiming for his sixth No. 1 qualifier spot and sixth in the last eight races.
Formula DRIFT
Castro comes to Englishtown off career-best result … Jhonnattan Castro enters Englishtown this weekend after a career weekend three weeks ago in Orlando, finishing runner-up in Formula DRIFT’s “Scorched” round. The result boosted the Dominican to fourth in the Formula DRIFT PRO points standings where he sits just 30 points back of points leader and Toyota teammate, Fredric Aasbø.
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 32 electrified options.
For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
