Truex leads a Joe Gibbs Racing top-three sweep in Richmond

At the Salute to American Heroes race weekend presented by Toyota at Richmond Raceway, Martin Truex Jr. led a Joe Gibbs Racing top-three sweep in a dominate day for the team.

NASCAR
Martin Truex Jr. clinched his spot in the Round of 12 with his third victory at Richmond Raceway in the last five races, starting in 2019. The 2017 NASCAR Cup Series champion proved to have the right pit strategy as he led the final 50 laps en route to his fourth victory of the season.

“We talked last week about how much speed we’ve had in these things, and just thanks to all my guys and everybody at JGR, Toyota, TRD, Bass Pro, Auto Owners, Reser’s Fine Foods, Oakley, Textron, everybody that helps us,” said Truex. “We couldn’t do it without them. Very lucky to get to do this, as I mentioned, and very proud to win here tonight.” Martin Truex Jr.

He joins teammate Denny Hamlin, who finished second, in the next round of the Playoffs. Christopher Bell moved up to eighth in the Playoff standings with his third-place run. The podium sweep gave Toyota its 12th top-three sweep since its 2007 Cup Series debut.

In just his second Xfinity Series start of the season, John Hunter Nemechek was impressive behind the wheel of Sam Hunt Racing’s No. 26 Toyota Supra scoring a third-place run behind race winner Noah Gragson.

“It was overall a really solid day for our Safeway Toyota Supra for Sam Hunt,” said Nemechek. “Just thankful for the opportunity from Sam, Toyota, all of our great partners that help us get to the racetrack. It was an off weekend for me in the Truck side, so good for me to put myself back in the seat. I felt like I learned a lot today for myself. In these Playoffs, it’s more about staying mentally tough. We were able to do so today. Racing was crazy. We were able to take a couple gambles I felt like and I’m glad the two cautions at the end there came out or we probably wouldn’t have finished where we did. Thankful for the opportunity. Looking forward to whatever is next. I don’t have any more with Sam this year, but who knows what the future holds.” John Hunter Nemechek

For Nemechek, it was his best Xfinity result since August 2019. For Sam Hunt Racing, it was the first top-five finish for the team in its 36th event.

ARCA WEST
Sixteen-year-old Jesse Love continued his march to his second-straight ARCA West title with a third-place finish in a wild finish at Portland International Raceway. The race was won by Taylor Gray. 

Love leads the point standings by 19 with three races remaining.

NHRA
J.R. Todd kicked off his hunt for a second Funny Car World Championship by advancing to the semifinals in his DHL Toyota Camry for the fourth time in the last five races to lead Toyota in Sunday’s NHRA Nationals at Maple Grove (Pennsylvania) Raceway.

You want to go to the later rounds and not put yourself in a hole early on,” said Todd. “Ideally, it would have been nice to win and put yourself at or near the top. We’ll go to Charlotte and fight it out. It’s going to be a battle all the way down to the end between a pack of cars and I just want to be in that pack when it comes down to Pomona. We’ve got a good consistent DHL Toyota. We made some good runs today, especially in the semis, just came up short against Tommy Johnson J.R. Todd

Shawn Langdon led the way for the Toyota Top Fuel drivers by advancing to the second round.

All five Toyota drivers remain in the hunt for an NHRA title with Todd leading the way in fourth place in Funny Car – 39 points out of the top spot.  Antron Brown is currently sixth in Top Fuel with Langdon seventh, while Alexis DeJoria is eighth in Funny Car and Doug Kalitta 10th in Top Fuel.

POWRi
Toyota drivers Brent Crews and Bryant Wiedeman combined to sweep the weekend’s two POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League Illinois events. The 13-year-old Crews won his fourth race of the season on Friday night at Jacksonville Speedway, while the 16-year-old Wiedeman earned his first-career victory at Spoon River on Saturday.  The two teens are in a two-way battle for the POWRi championship, with Wiedeman holding a 90-point edge.

USAC
Defending USAC national champion Chris Windom drove to two wins and a second place in the three-race USAC Nationals at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, South Dakota, taking home the $20,000 first prize in the 100-lap final on Sunday. 

With the stellar weekend, Windom has closed to within 10 points of point leader Buddy Kofoid.

What’s Next
It’s a busy weekend for Team Toyota with NASCAR headed to Bristol Motor Speedway. The ARCA Menards Series starts the weekend with a combination race with the national and ARCA East tours on Thursday, September 16. Live coverage will be shown on FS1 starting at 6:30 p.m ET. Directly following the ARCA event, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series makes their first Playoff cut. Action at Bristol starts at 9:00 p.m. ET on FS1.

On Friday, September 17, the NASCAR Xfinity Series sets their Playoff field at Bristol Motor Speedway with the race on NBCSN at 7:00 p.m ET. The Cup Series closes the weekend at Bristol on Saturday, September 18 on NBCSN at 7:00 p.m. ET.

Formula DRIFT is back on track at the Streets of Long Beach with the finals at 3:00 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 18 on formulad.com/live.

Finally, the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series heads to NASCAR country as they compete at zMax Dragway in Charlotte. The Final Eliminations are on FOX at 4:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, September 19.



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