This Week in Motorsports: June 19-25, 2023
- NCS/NXS/NCTS: Nashville Superspeedway – June 23-25
- NHRA: Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park (Norwalk, Ohio) – June 25
- ARCA: Elko Speedway – June 24
PLANO, Texas (June 21, 2023) – The second half of the NASCAR season begins with all three national series racing at Nashville Superspeedway, while Toyota’s NHRA teams vie for Toyota’s 200th victory in Norwalk, Ohio.
NASCAR National Series – NCS | NXS | NCTS
Truex plans to add to points lead… Martin Truex Jr. picked up his second points paying victory of the season at Sonoma Raceway in dominating fashion. Truex led 51 of 110 laps and picked up his fourth victory at the Northern California road course. With the win, Truex picked up the points lead for the first time this season. Truex has multiple top-fives in Nashville in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and led 82 laps in last year’s Cup Series race.
Bell plans to continue strong runs in Nashville… Christopher Bell is seventh in the point standings, and just 32 points out of the championship lead heading into Nashville Superspeedway. Bell has had strong runs in both Cup Series races at the track thus far – earning two top-10 finishes.
Gibbs double-duty … Ty Gibbs will have twice the racing fun for the second straight weekend as he competes in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) event and Sunday’s Cup Series race. Gibbs, who leads the Rookie of the Year standings in the Cup Series, is making his track debut in the Camry TRD Cup car, but he scored a fourth-place finish in the NXS race in Nashville last year.
Nemechek championship leader … John Hunter Nemechek leads the NXS point standings by four points heading into Nashville Superspeedway. Nemechek is making his NXS track debut but does own two top-10 finishes in Truck Series competition at the facility.
Heim returns… Corey Heim missed the NASCAR Truck Series race at Gateway due to illness, but with his strong run prior to that event, held on to the points lead. Heim has been remarkably consistent with nine top-10 finishes in 11 races. Heim had a strong run going in Nashville one season ago – finishing top-three in the first two stages – before being taken out in a late-race incident.
Friesen, Gray battle for last Playoff berths… With just four races to go in the regular season, Stewart Friesen and Tanner Gray are battling for the final Playoff berths. Friesen moved inside the provisional field with a strong third-place finish in Gateway to slot in ninth in the standings going into Nashville. Gray is battling to get back in the 10-driver field. He currently sits 11th, just seven points below 10th heading into this weekend.
NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA
Sawalich desires home track win… William Sawalich picked up his first national ARCA Menards Series victory over the weekend as the 16-year-old drove to the win at Berlin Speedway with a late race pass on fellow Toyota driver Jesse Love. Winning at Elko Speedway on Saturday would be huge for Sawalich, as the ARCA East points leader grew up less than an hour from the facility in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.
NHRA – Top Fuel | Funny Car
200 wins coming in focus… After three event wins in Bristol, Toyota comes into racing action in Norwalk sitting at 199 event wins. Toyota scored its first victory in 2004 in the Winternationals as Jerry Toliver drove his Toyota Celica Funny Car to the win at Pomona Raceway. Toyota has won five of the first eight Top Fuel trophies this season and earned its first Funny Car victory of the year at Bristol two weeks ago.
Ashley, Capps lead… Justin Ashley and Ron Capps took over the points leads in Bristol with exceptionally strong weekends. Ashley completed the rare double-up as he picked up the rain-delayed New England National trophy on Saturday before completing the weekend sweep on Sunday. It was Ashley’s fourth victory in eight races this season. Capps delivered on the first anniversary of his first win with Toyota by scoring his seventh Bristol Funny Car win – more than any other NHRA driver.
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 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 more than 48,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 45 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th 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 22 electrified options.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
