Toyota Racing
This Week in Motorsports – March 18 – 24, 2019
Toyota Racing On-Track this Week
· MENCS/NGOTS: Martinsville Speedway (Ridgeway, Virginia) – March 23-24
· POWRi: Creek County Speedway (Sapulpa, Oklahoma) – March 21
I-44 Riverside Speedway (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) – March 22-23
Port City Raceway (Tulsa, Oklahoma) – March 24
NASCAR National Series – MENCS | NGOTS
Toyota Jump-Starts 2019… Toyota drivers have a 69 percent win rate in 2019 with drivers collecting nine wins across NASCAR’s three national series in Camry, Supra and Tundra race vehicles. In addition, Toyota leads the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) manufacturer standings with Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin and Austin Hill all locked into their respective series playoffs.
Busch Rolls On… Busch is setting a blistering pace in 2019, winning 60 percent of his events in the three NASCAR national series and never finishing outside of the top 10. Busch is also the only Toyota driver to win races in all three Toyota vehicles this season, including Camry, Supra and Tundra. After capturing his 200th NASCAR national series victory at California’s Auto Club Speedway last weekend, Busch looks to make it three MENCS wins in a row – which he last did in 2015 – heading into Sunday’s Martinsville Speedway race where he will make his 1000th NASCAR national series start.
Hamlin’s Return to Old Dominion… Virginia native Hamlin returns to one of his most successful race tracks, Martinsville Speedway. In 26 MENCS starts at the short track, Hamlin has five wins – the second-most among active drivers. Hamlin’s last victory at Martinsville came in March 2015, but the No. 11 Camry driver finished runner-up in the most recent event last fall. Through five MENCS races this season, Hamlin has yet to finish outside of 11th-place and has four top 10s.
Talkin’ Toyota Trucks… Tundra drivers have visited victory lane in all three NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) races this season. After Hill’s season-opening victory at Daytona International Speedway, Busch followed up with two-consecutive wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The last time Toyota drivers claimed the first three victories in a season was in 2014 when the manufacturer won the first 10 races. Toyota has claimed 15 NGOTS wins at Martinsville Speedway with former Tundra driver Noah Gragson the most recent race winner in October 2017.
Midget Racing – POWRi
Bell Heads Home to Oklahoma… NXS regular Bell returns to Oklahoma for the POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League’s season-opening four-race Turnpike Challenge. Bell will take advantage of the NXS off-weekend and compete in his home state where he is undefeated in the Turnpike Challenge, winning all eight events that he’s participated in. Bell last competed in Oklahoma in January when he won his third-consecutive Chili Bowl Nationals for Keith Kunz Motorsports.
