With seven races left on the 2020 Cup Series schedule, the goals have shifted a bit for Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Duracell team, but the determination to succeed remains unwavering.

They were among the four teams eliminated from the Cup Series Playoffs at the end of the Round of 16, but there are still significant accomplishments to pursue, among them a race win and a choice spot in the final points standings.

The work begins this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in Sunday’s South Point 400. It was at Las Vegas back in February, where DiBenedetto, riding on older tires but having track position due to a strategy call, scored a runner-up finish in his second race in the Wood Brothers Mustang.

“I can’t wait for Vegas, especially after finishing second there earlier this year,” DiBenedetto said, adding that he’s ready to put the disappointment of dropping out of championship contention behind him. “I’m bummed we didn’t make it through the first round of the Playoffs and had a few rough races, but I’m excited to go to a strong track for us and to finish the season strong in this Menards/Duracell Mustang.”

DiBenedetto will have some extra motivation this weekend as the Menards/Duracell Mustang will be honoring a cancer hero, Marnie Howiler, as part of the Nominate a Cancer Hero program spearheaded by the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation.

Howiler, from Cornelius, N.C., is the granddaughter of the late NASCAR Hall of Famer Bobby Isaac. She was diagnosed with Stage IV Wilms Tumor at five years old and underwent eight months of treatment.

Howiler was nominated by Robbie Isaac, daughter of the late NASCAR champion, who said she reconnected with the Wood Brothers at the NASCAR Hall of Fame and now cheers, along with her family, for DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Mustang.

In her nomination, Isaac wrote: “Since there isn’t a No. 71 [her father’s car number], in the field, being with Matt, the Wood Brothers and the No. 21 car is the perfect place for Marnie. They are all survivors and winners.”

Isaac described DiBenedetto as “a person everyone would love to see win.”

She had similar praise for Howiler. “Marnie is my cancer hero because she chooses to be happy every day and enjoy life. She is a wonderful person, and I couldn’t love her more.”

Sunday’s South Point 400 is set to get the green flag just after 7 p.m. Eastern Time with TV coverage on NBCSN.

Menards

A family owned company started in 1958, Menards is headquartered in Eau Claire, WI. Menards has more than 300 retail stores located throughout the Midwest in the states of IL, IN, IA, KS, KY, MI, MN, MO, NE, ND, OH, SD, WI and WY. Menards is known throughout the home improvement industry as the low price leader. It’s famous slogan “Save Big Money at Menards” is widely known and easy to remember. For more information, visit Menards.com, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter, Instagram or Pinterest.

Wood Brothers Racing

Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glen Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glen’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Matt DiBenedetto in the famous No. 21 racer.

McDowell on Las Vegas:

“I can’t wait to head back to Las Vegas this weekend for the second time this year. It feels like forever since we were last at Las Vegas; you know, with the quarantine and everything else that has happened this year, it feels like a really long time.

“I’m also excited to get back on a mile-and-a-half. Las Vegas has shown to be a strong race track for us in past races and unfortunately we had some mechanical issue in the spring, so hopefully we can rebound this time around and add another solid result to our 2020 portfolio.

“We have Love’s Travel Stops and Delo back on board our No. 34 Ford Mustang for the second consecutive week and we’re coming off of a great Top-10 run together at Bristol, so hopefully we can keep the momentum rolling with them this weekend.

“We’re nearing the end of September, but we’re not there yet. I want to remind all professional truck drivers that throughout the entire month of September, Love’s has been running some really cool initiatives that were created specifically to show their appreciation for all that professional truck drivers have done and are continuing to do to help keep America moving. I encourage all professional truck drivers to head over to Loves.com to learn more and take advantage of these great rewards programs while they last.”

About Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores

Love’s Travel Stops & Country Stores is the nation’s industry-leading travel stop network with 530 locations in 41 states. Founded in 1964 and headquartered in Oklahoma City, the company remains family-owned and operated and employs more than 27,000 people. Love’s provides professional truck drivers and motorists with 24-hour access to clean and safe places to purchase gasoline, diesel fuel, fresh coffee, restaurant offerings and more. Love’s has more than 390 truck service centers, which include on-site and stand-alone Speedco and Love’s Truck Tire Care locations. Love’s and Speedco combined is the largest oil change, preventive maintenance and total truck care nationwide network. Love’s is committed to providing customers with “Clean Places, Friendly Faces” at every stop. To learn more, visit loves.com.

About Chevron Delo®

Chevron Delo® is the global commercial lubricant technology leader recognized by OEMS and consumers for providing superb heavy-duty diesel equipment protection. Delo 400 with ISOSYN Advanced Technology works to provide excellent diesel parts protection, improve engine longevity and extend oil drain performance. Delo
400 low viscosity oils will help optimize fuel efficiency performance.

ISOSYN ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY is the combination of Chevron’s outstanding formulation expertise, unique high performance additive chemistry and premium base oils helps extend the durability of critical diesel engine parts.

Roush Fenway Weekly Advance | Las Vegas

With just seven races remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series season, the circuit heads west this weekend to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for its second event at the Nevada track in 2020. Jack Roush has 16 wins all-time at the 1.5-mile track, including seven in the NCS.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-Mile)
South Point 400
Sunday, Sept. 27 | 7 p.m. ET
NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90
· Ryan Newman, No. 6 Guaranteed Rate Ford Mustang
· Chris Buescher, No. 17 SunnyD Ford Mustang

Vegas Next Stop for NASCAR Playoffs

· For the first time since the return to racing, NASCAR heads west as Las Vegas Motor Speedway plays host to the fourth race of the NASCAR Playoffs, and first in the Round of 12. All three National series will be at the 1.5-mile track this weekend as part of their respective playoff schedules.
· Following action in Vegas, the series heads to the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 4) followed by the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Oct. 11) to cap off the Round of 12.
· The starting lineup will once again be set by three competition-based performance metrics, rewarding both season-long and single-race performance. Chris Buescher will roll off 16th for the event, with Ryan Newman starting from the 27th position.
· Four weeks of NASCAR action were completed prior to the COVID-19 hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed before the schedule later picked back up in mid-May.

Bristol Recap, Vegas Preview

· Newman finished 25th last weekend in Bristol.
· Buescher rallied late to finish eighth at Bristol, his seventh top-10 of the 2020 season.
· Guaranteed Rate returns to Newman’s machine for the Sunday evening race in Las Vegas, where he has 10 top-10 results and an average finish of 15.7.
· SunnyD is back on Buescher’s machine this weekend for the first of two-straight races for the brand as part of the #SUNNYDouble. During #SUNNYDouble race week, fans will have the opportunity to win a personalized, virtual signed hero card, a virtual photo with Buescher and their very own personalized SunnyD bottle. Fans will also have the chance to win spectacular SunnyD giveaways like lanyards, t-shirts, hats, laptop stickers and more.

Early JACKpot

Roush Fenway hit the Vegas jackpot right off the bat, winning the inaugural Cup event at Las Vegas in 1998. Mark Martin led 82 laps in the victory that served as a banner day for Roush Fenway.

Inaugural Sweep

Roush Fenway placed all five of its Cup entries inside the top 10 of that inaugural Las Vegas Cup race in 1998, including three inside the top five, four inside the top six, one in the winners circle and the runner up (6 – 1st, 99 – 2nd, 26 – 4th, 16 – 6th and 97 – 10th).

Continued Success

Roush Fenway Racing won the first three Cup races at LVMS from ‘98-’00, with Jeff Burton winning back-to-back events in ’99 and ’00. Roush Fenway also took three of the first nine Xfinity Series events at LVMS.

Victory Lane at Vegas

In addition to the first three Cup races at LVMS, Roush Fenway again found the winners’ circle in 2003 and 2004 at the 1.5-mile track with Matt Kenseth. Carl Edwards took the checkered flag at the 2008 and 2011 events to give RFR seven Cup wins at Las Vegas with four different drivers.

Back to Back at Vegas

Roush Fenway has won back-to-back Cup races at LVMS on two separate occasions in ’99-’00 and ’03-04’ and once in the Xfinity Series in ‘99 and ‘00.

Across the Board at Vegas

All in all, Roush Fenway Racing has tallied 16 total NASCAR wins, while turning 37,000+ laps in NASCAR action at LVMS for 55,000+ miles, while leading over 2,600 laps at the track in NASCAR’s top three divisions. At the same time the organization has finished inside the top 10 in 50 percent of its 176 NASCAR starts at LVMS.

Roush Fenway Las Vegas Wins
1998 Martin Cup
1999 Burton Cup
2000 Burton Cup
2003 Kenseth Cup
2004 Kenseth Cup
2008 Edwards Cup
2011 Edwards Cup
1999 Martin NXS
2000 Burton NXS
2002 Burton NXS
2005 Martin NXS
2009 Biffle NXS
2012 Stenhouse NXS
1997 Ruttman NGOTS
1999 Biffle NGOTS
2007 Kvapil NGOTS

NEWS RELEASE

This Week in Motorsports: September 21-27, 2020

· NCS/NXS/NGROTS: Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Sept. 25-27

· ARCA: Memphis International Raceway – September 26

· ARCA West: The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – September 26

PLANO, Texas (September 23, 2020) – NASCAR heads back to the West Coast as the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Round of 12 begins under the lights at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. They will be joined by the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS), which begins their Playoff run, and the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series (NGROTS). The ARCA Menards Series also finishes its first of four championships on Saturday afternoon in Memphis.

NASCAR National Series – NCS| NXS| NGROTS

Kyle Wins at Home… Kyle Busch has quite the track record at this home track, Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with six victories across the top three series of NASCAR, including earning his first Las Vegas crown in the NCS in 2009. Busch added a Truck Series victory to his total earlier this season.

Round of 12 Begins… The NCS begins the second round of the Playoffs – the Round of 12 – this Sunday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with all three Toyota drivers advancing to the second round. Denny Hamlin is the second seed with Martin Truex Jr. in sixth and Busch starting in 10th.

Burton Ready for Vegas… NXS Rookie Harrison Burton has been extremely consistent in his limited starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In his NGROTS rookie year one season ago, Burton drove to two top-10 finishes in Las Vegas and added a fifth-place result in his NXS track debut in February.

Headed Back Home… Las Vegas native Riley Herbst returns home for his third career NXS start at his home track. Herbst has finished ninth in both of his previous starts at the track.

Reigning Las Vegas Winner… Austin Hill drove to his third win of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last fall. Hill took the lead with 12 laps to go and drove away to earn the victory. Hill was also solid in the first race at Las Vegas Motor this season, finishing third to fellow Toyota driver Busch. Hill will also compete in the NXS race on Saturday.

First Career Vegas Start…Chandler Smith heads into Las Vegas with momentum after earning a top-five finish at Bristol Motor Speedway. It is the 18-year-old’s first Las Vegas start after making his mile-and-a-half track debut earlier this season at Kentucky Speedway.

NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA| ARCA West

Championship Opportunity for Gibbs… The first ARCA Menards Series championship of the season – the Sioux Chief Showdown – will be decided at Memphis International Speedway on Saturday afternoon with 17-year-old Ty Gibbs still in the running for the title. Gibbs is currently second in the standings and sits six points behind leader Sam Mayer. Gibbs currently has two wins and eight top-10 finishes in nine events so far this season.

ARCA West Back on Track… After one month off, the ARCA Menards Series West is back on track with the first of four remaining events at the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Last time the series was on track at Colorado National Speedway, Jesse Love continued his strong season with his third win of the year. Love continues to lead the point standings.

Stay Connected

https://www.toyota.com/racing @ToyotaRacing.com @ToyotaRacing

facebook.com/ToyotaRacing Camera With Flash on Apple iOS 11.3 ToyotaRacingMedia.com

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2019.

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.

Team: No. 6 Guaranteed Rate Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @RyanJNewman
Race Format: 400.5 miles, 267 laps, Stage Lengths: 80-80-107
South Point 400 – Sunday, Sept. 27 at 7 p.m. ET on NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

ADVANCE NOTES

Vegas Next Stop for NASCAR Playoffs

· For the first time since the return to racing, NASCAR heads west as Las Vegas Motor Speedway plays host to the fourth race of the NASCAR Playoffs, and first in the Round of 12. All three National series will be at the 1.5-mile track this weekend as part of their respective playoff schedules.
· Following action in Vegas, the series heads to the high banks of Talladega Superspeedway (Oct. 4) followed by the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway (Oct. 11) to cap the Round of 12.
· The starting lineup will once again be set by three competition-based performance metrics, rewarding both season-long and single-race performance. The lineup will be announced later this week prior to Saturday night’s event.
· Four weeks of NASCAR action were completed prior to the COVID-19 hiatus with races at Atlanta, Homestead, Texas, Bristol, Richmond, Talladega, Dover and Martinsville postponed before the schedule later picked back up in mid-May.

Newman Historically at Las Vegas

· Newman makes his 22nd Cup start at Las Vegas on Sunday, where he has 10 top-10s and an average finish of 15.7. Most recently, Newman finished 10th in the No. 6 last fall after starting 17th.
· Newman’s best result at the 1.5-mile track came in 2015 when he finished third, one of his four top-fives dating back to 2001. He ran fourth twice – first in 2002 and again in 2012 – and also finished fifth in 2011.
· Dating back to his last eight events at Vegas, Newman has just two finishes outside the top-15 and an average finish of 11.7.
· Newman has an average starting position of 14.9 Vegas, with one pole and nine top-10 starts.

Scott Graves Historically at Bristol

· Graves will be atop the box for his seventh Cup race at Las Vegas on Sunday, where he has an average finish of 18.8 with two top-10s.
· Graves led Newman to the 10th-place run last fall, and also finished eighth with Daniel Suarez in the 2018 fall race.
· In Xfinity Series action, Graves called three events – including two with Chris Buescher – and recorded a best finish with him of ninth (2014). In his final Xfinity race at the 1.5-mile track, Graves led Suarez to a runner-up result in 2016.

QUOTE WORTHY
Newman on racing at Vegas:
“We’re going into the weekend hoping for a strong run in the Guaranteed Rate Ford. We found something in our car last fall and ran 10th, so our goal is to come out with an even better result this weekend.”

Last Time Out
Newman finished 25th last weekend in Bristol.

Where They Rank
Newman is 26th in driver points after 26 points races in his 2020 campaign. In owners’ points, the No. 6 is 25th.

On the Car
Guaranteed Rate returns to Newman’s Ford this weekend in Vegas, as part of the overall 12-race schedule for the brand to close out the 2020 slate.

Supporting Childhood and Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month
September is childhood and ovarian cancer awareness month. In an effort to create awareness, the Martin Truex Jr., Foundation has partnered with the NASCAR Foundation to launch the Nominate a Cancer Hero program for this weekend’s race. Proceeds from the program will support the children’s emergency department in Huntersville, N.C., as well as therapies for women and children undergoing cancer treatments and child life services across the racing communities.

The name of a Cancer Hero will ride along the name rail on the cars of drivers who participated in the campaign. Riding on Newman’s passenger name rail will be Terri Bush, nominated by her husband, Jerry.

About Guaranteed Rate

Guaranteed Rate is one of the largest retail mortgage lenders in the United States. Headquartered in Chicago, the Company has more than 5,000 employees in nearly 350 offices across the U.S., and is licensed in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Since its founding in 2000, Guaranteed Rate has helped hundreds of thousands of homeowners with home purchase loans and refinances and funded more than $30 billion in loans in 2019 alone. The Company has cemented itself as Positively Different by introducing innovative technology, such as the world’s first Digital Mortgage, by offering low rates and by delivering unparalleled customer service. Honors and awards include: Top Lender for Online Service for 2018 by U.S. News & World Report; No. 3 ranking in Scotsman Guide’s Top Retail Mortgage Lenders 2019; Top Lender 2016, 2017 and 2018 by Chicago Agent magazine; Chicago Tribune’s Top Workplaces list for seven consecutive years; and Best Online Mortgage Lender, Best Mortgage Lender for VA loans and Best Conventional Mortgage Lender by NerdWallet in 2019. Visit rate.com for more information.