“Just really thankful to Coach (Joe Gibbs) for giving me this opportunity to come back and race for him, and to do it for this organization – all of these people at Joe Gibbs Racing,” said Almirola. “It is really awesome to come and play, and that is what I really get to do – I get to play, and not a lot of people get to do that and finish their career like that. Just really humbled. Really thankful to Coach, and everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing. Our Toyotas are really fast – any one of our cars can win on any given weekend. I’m just really thankful for the He Gets Us ministry and all of those people to give me this opportunity to semi-retire and still get to come out and race and win.”
- Aric Almirola
It was a successful weekend across the country as Aric Almirola, Justin Ashley and Shawn Langdon all picked up victories, while Karter Sarff achieved a milestone win in dirt midget racing for Toyota.
NASCAR
Aric Almirola led the majority of the race and delivered in the final overtime restart to claim his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win for Toyota on Saturday evening at Martinsville Speedway. Almirola, who also won the Dash 4 Cash $100k bonus, led 148 of the 251 laps.
“Hats off to everybody at 23XI,” said Wallace. “I appreciate all of the effort. We do a lot of stuff during the week, and I’m finally starting to understand that it all pays off. You’ve got to give the effort, because these guys are. It is days like this that you appreciate it. I appreciate all of these McDonald’s guys – and the men and women at the shop. We needed that. My Toyota was strong today. We lost a little bit on that last stop. We got too free, but all-in-all, I was content in finishing sixth, and that’s why you never give up. Top-five – good day, and we will go on to Texas.”
- Bubba Wallace
Chandler Smith (third) and Sheldon Creed (sixth) continued the strong run for Joe Gibbs Racing, as both will be Dash 4 Cash eligible in Texas. Smith continues to lead the championship standings, growing his advantage to 35 points over Cole Custer.
23XI delivered in the NASCAR Cup Series race for Toyota with Bubba Wallace (fourth) and Tyler Reddick (seventh) each achieving new career-bests at Martinsville Speedway to lead Toyota. The race was won by William Bryon.
“Not exactly where we want to be with our JBL Tundra,” said Gray. “We want to be contending for wins, but solid points day. I don’t think we got many stage points, but overall – good finish. From where we started practice, and where we qualified. I will take it.”
- Taylor Gray
Taylor Gray (sixth) and Corey Heim (10th) led Toyota with top-10 finishes in Friday evening’s NASCAR Truck Series race, won by Christian Eckes. Gray has now earned five consecutive top-10s, while Heim has top-10s in 21 of the last 22 Truck Series events.
“This whole Kalitta Air team, from Connie (Kalitta, team owner, Kalitta Motorsports), Chad Head (general manager, Kalitta Motorsports), to Brian Husen (crew-chief) coming over this year,” said Langdon. “Brian’s done such a fantastic job making some crew changes and the crew has been absolutely flawless. They’ve given me a picture-perfect car all year long. First round, we had a little bit of a weird hiccup and I had to do the idle of shame down the race track. The rest of the runs went a lot smoother. I know in the final, Justin (Ashley) and that whole SCAG group over there with Tommy (DeLago, crew chief) and Mike Green (co-crew chief), they’re a tough bunch. I was thinking in my head, ‘I just got to lead Justin and let Brian do his work.’ So when I hit the gas, I said, ‘Well, we got a shot.’ So, congrats to Brian, the whole Kalitta Air team, everyone at Toyota, DHL, Revchem. Two out of three is not bad, but we’re ready for more.”
- Shawn Langdon
NHRA
Shawn Langdon continued his hot start to the season, delivering his second win in three races in Phoenix on Sunday evening to extend his points advantage. On Saturday afternoon, Justin Ashley added to his trophy shelf with a victory in the rain-delayed Winternationals final round, and he had another stellar day on Sunday – coming up just short of Langdon in the final round.
In Funny Car, Alexis DeJoria advanced to the final round to lead Toyota. The race was won by Austin Prock, while J.R. Todd continues to lead the points.
GT4
Tyler Gonzalez and John Geesbreght had a stellar run at Sonoma Raceway earning the first win in GT4 America for Smooge Racing on Saturday afternoon. The duo backed that up with a fourth-place run on Sunday’s second event, while Daniel Hanley and Parker Thompson battled back from a tough Saturday to earn a podium finish on Sunday in their Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO.
GR CUP
In the kick-off weekend for the second Toyota GR Cup season, last season’s championship team, Copeland Motorsports, continued right where they left off with team drivers Gresham Wagner and Westin Workman finishing 1-2 in both Saturday and Sunday’s races at Sonoma Raceway.
XTREME MIDGET
Karter Sarff drove to victory Friday night in the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series event at US 36 Raceway to give Toyota a milestone 500th national Midget feature win since the program's inception in 2006. Kale Drake would make it a Toyota sweep of Xtreme's weekend in Missouri by taking the checkered flag at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex narrowly edging teammate Taylor Reimer as Toyota drivers swept the top four finishing positions on the night.
What’s Next
NASCAR heads to the home track for Toyota Motor North America – Texas Motor Speedway – next weekend. The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series kicks off the action on Friday, April 12 at 8:30 p.m. ET, with the NASCAR Xfinity Series competing on Saturday, April 13 at 1:30 p.m. ET and the NASCAR Cup Series closing the weekend on Sunday, April 14 at 3:30 p.m. ET. All NASCAR racing action is on FS1.
Formula DRIFT kicks off their season on the Streets of Long Beach with eliminations beginning at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 13 on FormulaD.com.
NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series has their first four-wide race of the season at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Final eliminations are on Sunday, April 14 at 7:00 p.m. ET on FS1.