This Week in Motorsports: July 18-24, 2022
· NCS/NXS/NCWTS/ARCA: Pocono Raceway – July 22-24
· NHRA: Sonoma Raceway – July 24
PLANO, Texas (July 20, 2022) – It’s a busy weekend at Pocono Raceway for NASCAR and ARCA as fans get to see four races in three days, while the NHRA teams compete in their second stop on the Western Swing at Sonoma Raceway.
NASCAR National Series – NCS | NXS | NCWTS
Bell ready to add more trips to victory lane… Christopher Bell earned his first Cup Series win of the season at one of his favorite tracks – New Hampshire Motor Speedway on Sunday. The Oklahoma-native is effectively locked into the Playoffs as he sits eighth overall. Bell scored his first career Cup Series top-five finish at Pocono Raceway in June 2020.
First two for Denny … Denny Hamlin earned not only his first win at Pocono Raceway – but his first two wins as the then rookie driver swept the events at the track in 2006. He has since added four additional victories at the Pennsylvania-based track (August 2009, June 2010, July 2019, June 2020).
Busch desires repeat victory … Kyle Busch drove to victory at Pocono Raceway last season in a wild set of final laps. This is another stellar track for the two-time Cup Series champion as he has scored four wins in a Camry at Pocono Raceway since 2017.
Gibbs looks to be one spot better… Ty Gibbs came close to earning a victory in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Pocono Raceway last season, finishing in second after leading 11 laps. The four-time victor this season would love nothing more than to add another victory to his tally as he looks to close in on the Xfinity Series overall championship points lead.
Ferrucci back in the Xfinity Series… Santino Ferrucci will make his return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the first of back-to-back starts for Sam Hunt Racing in the No. 26 Toyota GR Supra. The former Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year ran seven races for the team one season ago, including the event at Pocono where he earned a top-15 finish.
Toyota looks to set Truck Series record… Matt Crafton, who is currently in the final Playoff spot, looks to help Toyota clinch a Truck Series Playoff record. Since going to the Playoff format in 2016, no OEM has played seven drivers in the Truck Series Playoffs. Toyota already has six drivers locked into the field: John Hunter Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Ben Rhodes, Stewart Friesen, Ty Majeski and Christian Eckes have clinched six Toyota Tundra TRD Pro’s in the field, and if Crafton clinches his spot, Toyota will own the record.
Heim plans to grow Rookie of Year lead… Despite his part-time schedule, Toyota development driver Corey Heim took back the rookie of the year lead for the Truck Series at Mid-Ohio. Heim, who will run the balance of the season, is making his first Truck Series start at Pocono, but did claim victory at Pocono last year in the ARCA Menards Series.
Bodine goes for 800… Todd Bodine plans to make his final NASCAR start this weekend as the multi-time Truck Series champion will reach 800 starts for his NASCAR career. Bodine has one top-10 finish in five starts this season, but has scored 22 wins in his impressive Truck Series career, along with 15 NASCAR Xfinity Series victories.
NHRA – Top Fuel | Funny Car
Langdon on strong run… Shawn Langdon has continued to show improvement with his new crew chief and team as the 2013 Top Fuel Champion has advanced to the final round in two of the last three events (Bristol, Denver).
Sonoma sight of Todd’s first Funny Car win… J.R. Todd has driven to some great memories on NHRA’s Western Swing. In 2017, Todd earned his first Funny Car victory at Sonoma Raceway in just his 15th start in the class. Todd would deliver Toyota its most recent Funny Car title one season later.
Torrence family won the last two races at Sonoma… The Torrence Family has won the last two runnings of the Sonoma Nationals. Billy Torrence earned the Wally in 2019 and his son, Steve Torrence picked up the win last year.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA
Jones returns to ARCA… Toyota full-time Xfinity Series competitor Brandon Jones will get some extra laps on track as he competes in the ARCA Menards Series race on Friday evening. It is Jones’ third ARCA start of the season. The Georgia native has gone two-for-two in his previous starts this year at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May and Iowa Speedway in June.
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