This Week in Motorsports: June 30 – July 6, 2025
· NCS/NXS: Chicago Street Race – July 5-6
PLANO, Texas (July 2, 2025) – NASCAR heads to the Windy City for its third race on the streets of Chicago this Fourth of July weekend. The Xfinity Series kicks off the racing action on Saturday, with the weekend culminating in the 75-lap Cup Series race Sunday afternoon.
NASCAR National Series – NCS/NXS
Five Camry drivers advance to second round of In-Season Challenge … After a wild race Saturday night in Atlanta, five Camry XSE drivers have advanced to the next round in NASCAR’s In-Season Challenge – Ty Gibbs, Bubba Wallace, John Hunter Nemechek, Erik Jones and Tyler Reddick. Each will have difficult matchups this weekend in Chicago with Gibbs versus AJ Allmendinger, Wallace taking on Alex Bowman, Nemechek facing Chase Elliott, Jones competing against Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and Reddick facing Carson Hocevar.
Jones catching momentum at the right time … Last weekend’s fifth-place finish at EchoPark Speedway continued the recent surge from Jones and the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE team at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB. Jones has finished inside the top-13 in six of the last eight races, with three of those coming inside the top-10. These solid finishes have catapulted Jones to 16th in the Cup Series driver standings, sitting 49 points back in the current Playoff standings, as he looks to close in on a spot in the postseason.
Heim returns to the No. 67 … For the third time this season, Corey Heim will pilot the No. 67 Toyota Camry XSE for 23XI Racing, taking on the streets of Chicago on Sunday. This will be the first Cup Series road course start for Toyota Development Driver. Heim has already shown his road course racing skills in the Truck Series with three career wins – at Mid-Ohio Sportscar Course in 2023, Circuit of the Americas in 2024 and last weekend at Lime Rock Park where he led 99 of 100 laps on the way to victory.
Bell eager to continue road and street course success … Road courses have been circuits of success for Christopher Bell of late, with the Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver having three straight second-place-or-better finishes – second at the Charlotte ROVAL last fall and at Mexico City in June, along with his win at Circuit of the Americas in March. Bell also looks for points-paying win number four this weekend as the season inches closer to the Playoffs.
Perkins makes GR Supra debut … Australian Supercars driver Jack Perkins will pilot the No. 19 Toyota GR Supra for JGR in this weekend’s Xfinity Series race at Chicago. The Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, native is a previous race winner in the Australian racing series and makes his first of two starts for JGR this weekend as he is also scheduled to drive the No. 19 at Portland International Raceway in August.
Grala makes first Xfinity start of 2025 … NASCAR veteran Kaz Grala returns to the Xfinity Series this weekend in Chicago behind the wheel of the No. 24 GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing. Saturday will be Grala’s 78th career start in the Xfinity Series, his 35th with Toyota, and his second on the streets of Chicago after finishing 10th in 2023.
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.
