Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Media Availability | Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Martinsville Speedway

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series for Team Penske, comes into this weekend’s race at Martinsville Speedway 38 points below the cut line. He’ll be looking to duplicate his victory at the half-mile track from a year ago in the elimination race and clinch a spot in the Championship 4. He spoke with members of the media today on a NASCAR conference call about his situation.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Discount Tire Ford Mustang Dark Horse – HOW MUCH DOES LAST YEAR’S WIN GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE? “I feel like you’re constantly learning race to race at that track and short tracks and stuff like that. Thinking what we learned from this tire from Wilkesboro and Richmond maybe you apply just little things here and there, but we built off of the November race last year. The fall race last year to the spring race this year and then we built off both of those for this race and then what we’ve also learned from this tire and at other short tracks so you’re always kind of building. I don’t think you can just unload with the same stuff you were successful with there in the past. Even if it was the same tire, I feel like we’d always change some stuff up because it can be a little different and you learn things through the year that might help you. Little pieces and you just hope you hit it right.”

DO YOU GO BACK AND STUDY WHAT HAPPENED AT HOMESTEAD ON THE FINAL LAP? “I worried about it enough Sunday night and Monday morning. I rewatched it when I got home Sunday night. I rewatched the whole race and rewatched the end of it and lost some sleep over the end of that race. I mean, it’s so easy to go back and watch it from the broadcast or re-live it in your head of, ‘Gosh, if I would have just done this different it would have been a different outcome.’ That’s easy to do, but in the moment it’s really hard to make the right decision. You’re making decisions every lap. You’re making a lot of decisions every lap and I look back on that and I talk about in some scenarios, whether it’s speedways or end of these races things, whether you’re leading or second or whatever you’re guessing in some situations on what lane is gonna be better, where the car in front of you is gonna go, where the car behind you is gonna go. You’re guessing and sometimes you guess right and sometimes you guess wrong. In that scenario, I guessed wrong on where he was gonna go. Yeah, I wish I would have done something different the whole last lap. I didn’t get through one and two very good. It started there and then I didn’t get to the right lane in three and four and I just guessed wrong of what he was gonna do and he did a great job of going where I wasn’t and carried just a ton of entry speed to get there and it stuck for him. I didn’t stew on it for too long. I feel like, ‘OK, here are some scenarios maybe you’ll be in in the future and let’s try to change it up,’ but I try not to lose my mind over that stuff. Even though it’s hard and it’s difficult to accept losing a race like that on the last corner, but you just try to put that in the memory bank of if you’re in that scenario again maybe do something different.”

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE KEYS TO YOU BEING SO GOOD AT MARTINSVILLE A YEAR AGO? “I feel like what made us really good last year at that race was we didn’t have great qualifying speed. We didn’t qualify very good, but our race pace was really solid, especially after 20 or so laps. I feel like I could move around where I needed to after 50 laps, but my strong suit was just kind of running where I needed to – kind of low and out of the rubber, but also being able to move around. I passed a handful of guys on the top of the racetrack when they got slowed up in lap traffic or rubbered down on the bottom I could be pretty versatile. I think that versatility in our car really helped out. I was kind of racing the 11, who is really good there, the whole race and kind of seeing where our strengths were compared to his and just being able to kind of move around with our car, where I feel like some guys were maybe a little bit more locked into their lane that they were running. I had the ability to move around and that helped me a lot in traffic, so that’s something I hope we have again. The tire is gonna be interesting. It’s nice to have a longer practice on Saturday. Hopefully, the track gets rubbered in to where the race is gonna be as far as the rubber goes and what it does. Does it lay down? Does it kind of snake up a little bit to where you’re gonna have to be below it or above it? I feel like you’re gonna be able to make both lanes work and it just depends on how you adjust your car and your driving style to make both lanes work, but that versatility, I feel like, was a huge advantage for us.”

IF YOU WERE TO GET TO PHOENIX WITH A CHANCE TO REPEAT, WHAT DID YOU LEARN THERE A YEAR AGO ABOUT HANDLING THE PRESSURE GOES THAT WOULD HELP AGAIN? “Like you said initially, I’m just focused on Martinsville. We’ll figure out Phoenix if it happens for us, but 100 percent of the focus is Martinsville and how do we perform on Sunday to try to win the race and get there, and then we’ll deal with Phoenix after that. I haven’t put any thought into Phoenix because the next task is Martinsville.”

YOU AND JOEY HAD TO GO WITH TWO TIRE STRATEGIES FOR TRACK POSITION IN THE FIRST RACE THIS YEAR AT MARTINSVILLE. WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES OF WHAT THAT WAS LIKE WITH TWO TIRES AND WHAT COULD THIS NEW TIRE DO IN TERMS OF A TWO TIRE STRATEGY? “It was a good call that Jonathan made in the spring after we lost some track position after we had to come down pit road again. I kind of got stuck in the teens or wherever we were, low teens, and the two-tire strategy was good because we didn’t see a ton of fall off in the spring and I don’t know. We’ve talked about all these different scenarios this week and it’s just a lot of unknown with what the tire is gonna be like, how much does it fall off? Those are the decisions you make a little bit after practice, but also through the race. How does it rubber down? Can you go anywhere? If you’re mired back in those positions do you feel like you can move forward? If not, maybe you do throw the tire-tire strategy at it, but a lot of that is just tire fall off. If they fall off a cliff, then maybe that would be like a big home run move, kind of a Hail Mary if you want to put two tires on it. It just depends on where you’re running, so it’s just one of those tough decisions that crew chiefs have to make and drivers have to assess of how competitive you think you are and how much you think tires are worth and where you’re running at the time. That’s why crew chiefs get paid the big bucks to make those decisions and I can just give them all the feedback that I can on that, but Jonathan does a great job of trying to understand what we need to do at the time and how I react to where we’re running. In the spring, I felt like I was pretty good, but I just got stuck where I was running and couldn’t pass anybody, so it was like, ‘Alright, let’s just throw two and see what it does,’ and we were able to hold on and that set us up for the end of the race. Those are live decisions that you have to decide on and he chose right on that one. You never know this weekend what people are gonna come up with.”

EVEN WITH THE SUCCESS THAT YOU’VE HAD, HAVE YOU LEARNED ANYTHING ON HOW TO HANDLE THOSE DISAPPOINTING SITUATIONS AND NOT LETTING IT EAT YOU UP? “I’ve just tried to move on from them quicker. I feel like it gets easier as you get older and you are in those scenarios more. You’re gonna lose races that you feel like you should have won – woulda, shoulda, coulda kind of deals. If it’s a situation like Gateway, we talk about it like, ‘Hey, what could we have done different or what are the mistakes that we made?’ It’s the same as Homestead. What could I have done different? That was purely on me of just making the wrong decisions at the end of that race and how do you learn from it and put it in the back of your head, and then you just move on. What’s the next job? We can’t do anything about it now. I used to stew over that stuff for a long time when I was younger and I’ve just learned to let it go after you’ve learned. You can’t just throw it out the window like, ‘Yeah, whatever.’ You’ve got to learn from that stuff, so I try to do that and then just, ‘OK, what’s our new job?’ And then fully focus on that and I feel like our group does that really well too as the 12 team, so those things sting, but you can’t just tear your mind apart thinking about them over and over, especially when we have a massive race coming up this weekend. I think it’s just something I’ve worked harder on and it’s gotten easier with time, just natural aging, I feel like, helps that out.”

CAN YOU TALK THROUGH LEAVING REDDICK THE HIGH LINE AND BEING WORRIED HE MIGHT DIVE BOMB YOU? WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND TO MAKE THE DECISION YOU DID? “That’s the difficulty of, and I can only speak on pro sports because I’m part of one and I watch a lot of the others. When I watch a football game I’m like, ‘Why didn’t he just do that?’ I become that person and in the moment when you’re that person and you’re that athlete living in that time, it’s so much harder than being on the outside and watching on TV with all different angles and things like that. When you’re making real-time decisions in the moment, you don’t have any time to process, think about it, go through other options. It’s just boom boom boom. It’s all happening super fast and it’s just a wrong decision that you make. You’re never gonna be batting 1000 for making the right decision or the right call. That’s the difficult of sports is – can you make the right decisions and how often do you make the right decisions, so, honestly, in my mind going down the back in the moment I’m seeing the run that he’s got down the back and the timing of it. I’m like, ‘OK, I think he might pull a slider here.’ That’s what I made my mind up on was that he was gonna pull a slider. I kind of entered where I did and slide up the track and then if he did pull a slider, maybe I can pull under him or where I kind of entered I was like, ‘Well, I’m gonna cut a little distance off the racetrack here to where maybe I can still be on his outside if he did pull a slider and I can drive back around him and it was just the wrong move. He did a good job of countering what I decided of, ‘Oh, there’s a lane and a half up top. I’m gonna send it in here and hopefully it sticks,’ and it did. It’s so easy to be like, ‘He should have done this or he should have done that,’ but it’s so hard in the moment. I guessed wrong. Like I said, I had probably four lanes that I could have chosen between two lanes off the wall, one lane off the wall, the wall or the bottom and I just picked the wrong lane. I had a one in four lanes that I could pick and I just chose the wrong one and he chose the right one, so those things are hard to do in the moment, but when you’re seeing it from the outside or looking back on it it’s like, ‘Well, that should have been easy,’ but I encourage anybody to try to get in those scenarios and make the right decision It’s very very hard to do. It’s just one of those things to where I try to just live in the moment. You just try to make the right calls and I just made the wrong one.”

HOW DO YOU DEAL MENTALLY WITH ISSUES LIKE THAT? “It’s mental and you try not to let it spin you out. When I talked earlier about not festering over things. You could get in a downward spiral pretty quick of just like going over all that stuff, so it’s a lot of just mental toughness and how can you react to these moments that stink. That sucked losing that race like we did and how do you get over it and how do you just prepare your mind for the next job and try to take the good things. We did a great job all day. Those guys were awesome on pit road. They kept us in the game. The car was fantastic. I ran I felt like a really good race and I just didn’t close it out. It’s just a lot of moving on and understanding where you want to be better as a driver. You’re always wanting to get better even if you dominate a race or not, you’re always wanting to get better, so it’s one of those things. It’s not only physically demanding, but I feel like the mental side is the toughest part about our sport especially is just how do you mentally stay in it and how do you adjust to what you need to do week in and week out and in the moment and then for the future, so I try not to dwell on the past too much and just learn from it and move on. It’s funny, I heard people talking like, ‘Oh, Reddick ran the top the whole last run. How did Blaney not know that?’ I’m not watching it on TV. I’m worried about myself. I’m trying to figure out how to pass the 11. I’m not paying attention to where the 45 is running or how he got to be in second or the laps before. I’ve got so much stuff going on behind the wheel that I don’t know. Timmy can only tell me so much of where the 45 has run at the time, so it just goes back to how hard it is in the moment. I don’t have the bird’s-eye view. I have the straight ahead view and I have so much stuff going on behind the wheel that I have to worry about me and that’s just the nature of everything.”

IS THIS A CUTOFF RACE AT MARTINSVILLE THAT IS PROBABLY THE BEST TEST FOR THE DRIVER BECAUSE IT’S NOT REALLY A WILD CARD RACE LIKE TALLADEGA OR THE ROVAL? “I think it’s great when they, I forget what year they made – a handful of years ago – they made Martinsville the final race of the Round of 8. It used to be the first one and I feel like it’s the perfect final race for this round because it’s a grueling 500 laps around that place. It’s really really tough to mentally and the physical side of it – you’re worn out after this thing – so I think it’s a perfect race for it. It always puts on a good show. You’re gonna have contact through the race between a lot of drivers just because the place is so tight and you’re gonna have people be aggressive and then with the hype of that race being your last shot for six other guys to get in, you’re gonna have a lot of intense moments. I feel like that’s what it should be. That’s what the playoffs are for – having these really hard races and a place like Martinsville being the last shot for six guys to do it and have a shot at a championship, it’s the perfect scenario. I love Martinsville. I’ve loved it ever since I was a kid. I went there a lot watching my dad race. It’s one of my favorite race tracks and just to compete there is a pleasure, so I look forward to that. I think people look forward to that pressure of how low you can run at this really hard racetrack and hopefully we can accept that pressure and rise to the occasion.”

WHAT DOES THE PRESSURE FEEL LIKE GOING INTO MARTINSVILLE? “There’s pressure in everything. There’s pressure in everyday life, how you’re gonna live and there’s pressure in your profession. I feel like if anyone asks you in certain moments that they don’t feel any pressure when it comes time to do this, I think they’re not telling you the whole truth because everyone feels it. This is your livelihood and this is what you love to do. There’s a lot of people counting on you that work for you and work for your race team and things like that, that they expect you to perform and it’s how do you handle it? How do you accept all the pressure that is given and how do you rise above it and how do you enjoy pressure? I feel like you have to enjoy that because it’s a privilege that you get to feel that pressure. Guys who aren’t in the playoffs right now and your championship hopes are not there anymore if you’re not in the eight, so all six of us who aren’t locked in, they’re feeling pressure and that’s with everything. It’s just how do you and your team approach the weekend understanding that it’s there and really not let it get to you too much, and how do you use that pressure that can motivate you internally to where I want to be the team and the guy that overcame all that pressure and succeeded and I think we have that mentality like we did last year. There was pressure going into Martinsville last year. Yeah, we were in a better spot on points, but there’s pressure of are we gonna throw away these points that we got and not make it there? So, I think it’s the same kind of situation, honestly, as last year.”

WHAT IS THE SECRET BEHIND DOING WELL AT MARTINSVILLE? “Martinsville used to be a place kind of up until the fall of 2017 that I really struggled at. I just couldn’t really figure it out and just could never get the timing as a driver that I needed to for there, and then in that Fall of ‘17 race with the Wood Brothers it just kind of clicked. It’s like, ‘OK, we ran pretty good here. I think I kind of know now what I need to be competitive here,’ and that’s just gotten better year in and year out. It’s funny when things click at a racetrack where you maybe don’t run great at, like, ‘Oh, this is how I need to feel and how I need to approach it and how I need to drive it,’ and ever since then I feel like we’ve done a good job. As a driver, I feel like I have a decent understanding of what I need through practice and then the race to be good there, and it’s just kind of how you want your car to drive. It’s how you drive the racetrack and how you adjust as the track changes. The track changes a ton through the race and through a single run with the concrete corners, where it kind of gets darker and rubbers down, and I feel like it’s just clicked. It’s one of those places I love going to. We always seem to bring some good stuff and hopefully that continues, but I really enjoy that place. It was a tough few years before that in trucks and my early years of Cup racing, but once I understood you’re like, ‘Oh, OK. I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before,’ and you hope you continue to evolve your skills to adjust for the new tire, or a different car or different situations. It’s been a pretty solid place for us, so hopefully that continues.”

WHAT MADE THAT PLACE SO MEMORABLE WHEN YOU WERE A KID GOING TO MARTINSVILLE? “I think multiple things. I grew up in High Point, so like 45 minutes away from there, so we went there a lot when I was younger. It was a place that we would always go to twice a year as a family, just because it was easy to get to and you’d drive to it, and I just thought the racetrack was incredibly neat, and it reminded me, it’s a really small short track and it reminded me like, ‘Oh, I can kind of relate to this because I’m running Legends cars and Bandoleros,’ and even started my late model career. Like, ‘OK, I can kind of relate to this short track style of racing.’ And I just loved how the cars were so close together and you could see everything as a kid. We’d go sit in the stands and you could watch the whole racetrack and there was always something going on no matter where you looked, and I liked that as a kid. I enjoyed the noise of it as a kid and the smells that were right there, and then I remember watching – I think it was 2011 – fans don’t like it but I think Harvick passed Dale Jr. with like six to go and I was sitting on my dad’s pit box. He was running for Baldwin at the time and I remember watching that race, our pit stall was right off of turn four and I remember watching the cars come off turn four and that was the first time I really understood and could watch them from the inside of the racetrack and really get a good picture of how the cars looked and how they drove and it just intrigued me as a kid. I think it was just a lot of relatability from what I was racing at the time and I just loved how small the track was and you could see every little bit of the racetrack and you could walk around in the infield and go to different parts of the track and see whatever you wanted to see, and it was just a close place. I honestly named that as my home track because I honestly grew up closer to Martinsville than I did to Charlotte from High Point, so it’s just one of those things that just grabs you as a kid and you have these core memories when you were growing up.”

Martinsville Speedway Competition Notes

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (October 30, 2024) – Michael McDowell will celebrate his 500th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Martinsville Speedway this weekend for the penultimate race of the 2024 season.

McDowell will become the 47th different driver in series history to make 500 starts or more and is one of six active full-time drivers in the Cup Series to reach the 500 start-plateau joining Kyle Busch, Martin Truex Jr., Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Brad Keselowski. The 39-year-old also made is first Cup Series start at Martinsville in 2008 driving for Michael Waltrip Racing. McDowell will be making his 28th start at the Martinsville Speedway, looking to improve on his 21st place result in the spring.

Benebone will be back on the No. 34 FRM Ford Mustang Dark Horse this weekend returning back to the track since Watkins Glen International, where McDowell finished 7th-place.

The NASCAR Cup Series track activity will begin Saturday, November 2nd with practice and qualifying at 1:00 pm ET on the NBC Sports app. The Xfinity 500 will be Sunday, November 3rd at 2:00 pm ET. Fans can watch the action live on NBC or listen via the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM channel 90.

No. 34 Benebone Ford Mustang Dark Horse:

DRIVER MICHAEL MCDOWELL:

“It’s pretty special to be making my 500th career Cup Series start and to achieve such a big milestone in my career. Martinsville was where I got my first ever start back in 2008, so it’s cool that it has come full circle to this weekend. Just want to thank everyone who has been a part of this journey – team owners, sponsors and fans – who have supported me all these years.

“It’s awesome to have Benebone back on the car this weekend. We’ve run well every time they’ve been on our Ford Mustang Dark Horse this season, so we’re going to try to keep the momentum up at Martinsville.”

CREW CHIEF TRAVIS PETERSON:

“For anyone to have raced in this sport for as long as Michael has is pretty remarkable, especially with some of the names he’s included with. It’s an awesome honor to be on the box for his 500th start and I know the team is excited as well to be a part of this milestone.”

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series team from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

Charles Denike to replace Barker, who will remain with 23XI, following season finale

Huntersville, N.C. (Oct. 30, 2024) – 23XI Racing announced today that veteran crew chief Bootie Barker will call his final race with Bubba Wallace and the No. 23 team at the season finale at Phoenix Raceway. Following the end of the season, Barker will be replaced by Charles Denike, the current crew chief for the No. 19 truck team at McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. Barker will remain with 23XI and continue to work with the competition leadership team to prepare cars and strategize for races. His new role will be based at Airspeed.

“23XI has been good to me, and I hope I have been as good for 23XI,” said Bootie Barker. “Loyalty is important to me and I will continue to do all I can in my new role to help everyone here succeed. I was fortunate to be a part of 23XI’s inception, and I look forward to being a part of the team’s continued journey.

“Since joining 23XI, Bootie has provided Bubba and the No. 23 crew with the leadership and confidence they needed to grow into the team they are today,” said Dave Rogers, 23XI Director of Competition. “As we began to look ahead to next season, we decided that Bootie’s experience would best serve the organization in a different role based at Airspeed. His input will continue to be an asset to our teams. We’re excited to welcome Charles to the organization and look forward to getting started with him at the end of the season. He will be a terrific addition to the No. 23 team and 23XI as we continue to work to be better.”

“Bootie has meant a lot to me and the No. 23 team,” said Bubba Wallace, driver of the No. 23 Toyota Camry. “We’ve been together for some special moments, and I’m glad he’s still going to be a part of what we’re building at 23XI. I’m excited to work with Charles and see what we can accomplish together.”

Denike joins 23XI and the No. 23 team after working as a team manager, race engineer, and crew chief in several of NASCAR’s touring series. In 2012, Denike began his racing career with Precision Performance Motorsports as the team manager overseeing their K&N Pro Series East and Xfinity Series teams. While with the team, he oversaw their expansion into the Xfinity Series and served as a crew chief with the K&N team before moving to GMS Racing in 2016. In his first three years at GMS, he worked as a race engineer on the truck and Xfinity programs before moving to the crew chief role in 2020. Denike was crew chief for three trucks at GMS over three seasons, earning two wins, before moving to McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in 2022 to crew chief the No. 19 truck. In 2023, Denike helped earn the company’s first win and first playoff berth, and to date has earned nine wins. The move to 23XI will be Denike’s first experience in the Cup Series.

“I am excited for the 2025 season with the No. 23 team and to work with Bubba and all of 23XI Racing beginning in the offseason,” said Charles Denike, newly named crew chief for the No. 23 team. “Bubba is a proven winner, and I believe we will bring out the best in each other. Thank you to Michael, Denny, and Dave for the opportunity to join the 23XI family. They have built an incredible culture at Airspeed. I am a believer that winning is a process. When you step foot into Airspeed, you see the tools and resources that it takes to win and are surrounded by people with the same vision and mindset. I am looking forward to this next chapter and to be able to contribute to 23XI’s growth and journey to winning championships.”

Before his NASCAR career, Denike served nine years in the US Army as an engineer officer. During his military service, Denike served as an Executive Officer, Plans Officer, Company Commander, and Brigade Engineer on various duty assignments, including underwater searches and inspections, battalion and future operations planning, construction manager, and facilities manager. Denike earned the rank of Major before being honorably discharged from active duty. Denike earned a mechanical engineering degree from the University of Virginia and a Master of Science in engineering management from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.

About 23XI Racing

23XI Racing – pronounced twenty-three eleven – was founded by NBA legend Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin in 2020. With rising NASCAR star Bubba Wallace selected to drive the No. 23 Toyota Camry, the team made its NASCAR Cup Series debut in the 2021 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Wallace made history on October 4, 2021, when he captured his first career Cup Series win, becoming just the second African American to win in the Cup Series, and earning 23XI its first-ever victory. 23XI expanded to a two-car organization in 2022 with Cup Series Champion Kurt Busch driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry. With a win at Kansas Speedway in May of 2022, Busch earned 23XI the team’s first-ever playoff berth. 23XI currently features the lineup of Bubba Wallace in the No. 23 Toyota Camry and Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 Toyota Camry. The team operates out of Airspeed, a state-of-the-art facility in Huntersville, N.C. that opened in January of 2024.

This Week in Motorsports: October 28 – November 3, 2024

NCS/NXS/NCTS: Martinsville Speedway – Nov. 1-3
NHRA: The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway – Nov. 1-3

PLANO, Texas (Oct. 30, 2024) – NASCAR and the NHRA both reach their penultimate races this weekend as championship battles intensify. NASCAR’s three national series are in Martinsville for the Round of 8 cutoff race to decide who will race in Phoenix for the championship. NHRA is in Las Vegas for the second time this season as the Countdown to the Championship nears its conclusion.

NASCAR National Series – NCS | NXS | NCTS

Camry XSE drivers fight for chance at a championship … After his monumental victory at Homestead on Sunday, Tyler Reddick has locked himself into the Championship 4 at Phoenix Raceway – the first NCS title race appearance for he and 23XI Racing. His Camry XSE teammates, Christopher Bell and Denny Hamlin have work in front of them to also advance to the championship race. Bell is in a solid position as things currently sit, 29 points above the cutline, while Hamlin will enter Sunday’s race 18 points below.

Toyota continues Championship 4 streak… With Reddick’s victory, Toyota will continue its streak as the only manufacturer to have at least one driver in every Championship 4. Since NASCAR switched to this points system in 2014, Toyota has been represented by Hamlin (2014, 2019, 2020, 2021), Kyle Busch (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019), Carl Edwards (2016), Martin Truex Jr. (2017, 2018, 2019, 2021) and Bell (2022, 2023).

Hamlin back at favorable Martinsville … In racing for a spot in the Championship 4, Hamlin is back at Martinsville Speedway, which has been a strong track for he and the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 11 team of late. The 43-year-old has three top-five finishes in the last four Martinsville races, and four in the last seven. Hamlin also has five career victories at the half-mile oval (2008, 2009, 2010 – twice and 2015). Adding a sixth Martinsville triumph to his name would secure Hamlin a spot in the Championship 4 for the sixth time in his career and first since 2021.

Toyota seeks to continue pole streak … Following the pole by Reddick last weekend at Homestead, which capped off its 13th-all time national series race weekend pole sweep, Toyota will look to pace the field for the third consecutive weekend. This would be the third time this season Toyota would have three poles in a row and would give the manufacturer its 13th pole of the season, as it already has the most in the Cup Series.

Smith to go all in at Martinsville … Entering Saturday’s race 28 points below the Xfinity Series Playoff cutline, Chandler Smith will be going for victory at Martinsville. The half-mile Virginia oval has been a solid place for the Georgia native, who has two top-10s in his three career Xfinity Series starts, including a third-place finish in the spring.

Bubba Pollard makes GR Supra debut … Georgia native Bubba Pollard will make his second career Xfinity Series start, and Toyota debut, with Sam Hunt Racing this weekend in the No. 26 GR Supra. Pollard, an accomplished late model racer and champion, made his Xfinity Series debut in the spring at Richmond, where he finished an impressive sixth place.

It comes down to Martinsville for Heim and Gray … Friday night’s 200-mile race at Martinsville Speedway offers one last chance for Corey Heim and Taylor Gray to lock themselves into the Truck Series Championship 4. Heim, who seeks his second consecutive appearance in the title race, currently sits a favorable 49 points above the cutline after a fourth-place result last weekend at Homestead, which included his first pole of the 2024 season. For Gray, he is currently 24 points below the cutline following his 10th-place finish at Homestead. He has been strong at Martinsville Speedway so far in his career with top-10 finishes in all three of his starts.

NHRA – Top Fuel | Funny Car

Ashley, Brown lead Toyota title fight contingent … With just two races remaining in the 2024 NHRA season, Toyota continues to hold serve in Top Fuel. Justin Ashley, following his victory at Ennis three weeks ago, holds a 44-point advantage over Toyota teammate, Antron Brown in the Top Fuel points standings heading to Las Vegas this weekend. Following those two is Shawn Langdon in third, 76 points behind and Steve Torrence in fourth, 88 points back. Doug Kalitta is seventh and Billy Torrence is 10th in the current standings. In Funny Car, Ron Capps remained in the fourth points position after a finals appearance at Ennis. J.R. Todd is eighth and Alexis DeJoria is 10th going into Las Vegas.

Toyota looks to continue streaks … After the win by Ashley in Top Fuel and finals appearance by Capps in Funny Car in Ennis, Toyota continued its incredible hot streak in NHRA. Ashley’s triumph made it 16 Top Fuel victories for Toyota in the last 19 races, dating back to Pomona last November. The final appearances by Ashley and Capps marked 41 consecutive NHRA races that Toyota has had at least one finalist.

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 nearly 64,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants. In 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 30 electrified options.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.