Captures fourth win of the season in Toyota 1-2 Finish at Bristol
PLANO, Texas. (August 19, 2019) – Denny Hamlin’s win at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday highlighted the racing action for Toyota over the weekend.
NASCAR
Hamlin captured his fourth win of the season on Saturday night in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Bristol. Hamlin led 79 laps (of 500), passing Camry driver, Matt DiBenedetto, for the lead with 11 laps to go. DiBenedetto tallied a career-best second-place finish after leading a race-high 93 laps at the Tennessee short track.
“I’m so sorry to Matt DiBenedetto, (crew chief) Mike Wheeler,” said Hamlin, following the win. “I know a win would mean a lot to that team, but I have to give it 110% for FedEx and my whole team. Proud of this whole FedEx team for giving me a great car, pit crew, crew chief, everybody doing an amazing job. The whole team is just doing an amazing job right now.”
Kyle Busch (fourth) also finished in the top five after coming from a lap down to lead 30 laps, as Toyota drivers led a combined 277 laps throughout Saturday night’s MENCS race.
Timmy Hill was the top-finishing Supra driver in Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol, matching a career-best seventh-place finish.
“Bristol has always been a great track for me and I’m glad we could put on a great finish here,” said Hill, following the race. “MBM (Motorsports) and HRE (Hattori Racing Enterprises) came in collaboration for this race. I’m glad to have Toyota Tsusho on board with us. They gave me a great Supra. One that I could have a lot of fun with. Bristol is one of those tracks where you just have to keep your fenders clean, which we were able to do all night. I didn’t make any mistakes. I’m happy for these guys because they gave me a fun car to drive and we came home with a great finish.”
Supra drivers collected both stage wins with Brandon Jones winning Stage 1 and Kyle Busch taking Stage 2 after leading a race-high 137 laps (of 300).
Chandler Smith earned a career-best second-place finish at Bristol in just his third NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) race on Thursday.
“He (Brett Moffitt) was just better all day,” said Smith. “We fought back early in the race. We got up to the 45 (Ross Chastain) and Brett (Moffitt). We needed just a little bit more to sit where he is right now. We’ve definitely made the most of it.”
Seven Toyota Camrys finished in the top-10 in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Bristol on Thursday with Ty Gibbs earning a runner-up result for the fourth time this season.
On the West coast, five Camry drivers finished in the top-10 in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West race at Washington’s Evergreen Speedway with Derek Kraus (second) and Brittney Zamora (third) leading the way for Toyota. It matched a career-best finish for Zamora, who started from the pole position for a second time this season.
NHRA
Shawn Langdon drove his Camry to the Funny Car semifinals, while Doug Kalitta did the same in Top Fuel in Brainerd, Minnesota to clinch berths in the NHRA Countdown to the Championship playoffs.
“Your list of goals every season starts with making the Countdown,” said Langdon. “We accomplished that goal today and I am excited to see the constant improvement on this Global Electronic Technology Toyota Camry. I think we are building momentum at the perfect time.”
Langdon and Kalitta join Antron Brown and J.R. Todd, who qualified for the playoffs on Saturday. One NHRA event remains in the regular season, the U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis, on Labor Day weekend.
ARCA
Michael Self held off Venturini Motorsports teammate, Christian Eckes, to earn his fourth ARCA Menards Series victory of the season, and first career dirt-track win, on Sunday at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Self continues to lead the championship standings following his victory on the dirt rack.
POWRI/USAC
Logan Seavey earned a pair of runner-up finishes to lead Toyota in POWRi competition at Fairbury American Legion Speedway and Lincoln Speedway this weekend. Toyota drivers, Jesse Colwell and Zach Daum, continue to lead the championship standings.
What’s Next
The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and NHRA both have upcoming weekends off while the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series go road racing this weekend. The Xfinity Series competes at Wisconsin’s Road America on Saturday, August 24 at 3:00 p.m. EDT on NBCSN and the Truck Series races on Sunday, August 25 at 2:30 p.m. EDT on FS1. The K&N Pro Series is set to have the second of two combination events with the East and West Series both competing just outside of St. Louis at Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway on Saturday, August 24.
