Antron Brown earned a milestone win in Chicago, while Corey Heim continued to impress with another Truck victory.
NHRA
Toyota continued to be undefeated in the Top Fuel ranks this season as Antron Brown earned his 75th career victory over fellow Team Toyota driver Shawn Langdon on Sunday near Chicago. Toyota’s six drivers hold down the top six spots in the Top Fuel point standings as well.
“You have to step up when you race a team like that over there (Shawn Langdon, Kalitta Motorsports),” said Brown. “We knew it was going to be a crazy final, and we know what they ran – a 3.82, 3.83. But first off, all the glory goes to God. For Don Schumacher, our boss, our guy that got us all out here, dedicated this to him and his family. We had a special memorial this weekend for him. Another that's down, we’re missing our crew guy, Alex. Alex, you know what’s going on man. This is for your dad. We love you, we miss you. This is special for Matco Tools, Lucas Oil, all our sponsors. Summit Racing, Sirius XM, Toyota, FVP, everybody. We love all of these people and thanks for making it happen. And thanks to the fans here in Chicago. It feels good to be back here at Route 66 Raceway. What a blessing to win No. 75 and it’s a true blessing to be on this team.”
- Antron Brown
“Definitely a crazy weekend with the weather and whatnot, but I knew since practice that we had the speed,” said Heim. “I can’t say enough about these TRICON Garage guys. What a truck, what a weekend. I knew we had potential from practice and we put it all together and executed great today. So, a huge thank you to them, Safelite and Toyota Racing for everything.”
- Corey Heim
In Funny Car, Alexis DeJoria led Toyota with a first round win.
NASCAR
After rain pushed the finish of the Truck Series race to Sunday, Corey Heim made it count as the Toyota Development Driver led 66 laps and drove to a dominating victory – his third win of the season and eighth of his career.
“I needed more of an advantage to pass for sure,” said Hamlin. “I would run to him, and then you couldn’t pass. I would lose a little bit of air there, and I would try to give my car a break and then run to him again – just have to be so much faster to get around. Hats off to the track, NASCAR and Goodyear for giving it a try. Hopefully, we learned something here for future short tracks. I hate it for our whole Mavis Tire team.”
- Denny Hamlin
Heim’s first-time teammate at TRICON Garage – Brenden Queen was very impressive in his debut as he drove from the back of the field to finish fourth at North Wilkesboro Speedway, while Stewart Friesen scored a season-best 10th-place finish.
Denny Hamlin came close, but couldn’t quite overcome race winner Joey Logano as the Virginia-native finished second in the annual All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro on Sunday night.
Bubba Wallace, who advanced from the All-Star Open with his Toyota teammate Ty Gibbs, drove through the field from 19th to a strong sixth-place finish.
ARCA EAST
William Sawalich, Gio Ruggiero and Toni Breidinger finished second through fourth at Flat Rock Speedway on Saturday evening to lead Toyota in ARCA Menards Series East action. Connor Zilisch was the race winner.
GR CUP
Gresham Wagner continued his strong performance with a race one victory, while Jaxon Bell earned the win in race two at Circuit of the Americas over the weekend. The Toyota Development Drivers in the field – Westin Workman and Jade Avedisian – had very impressive performances, with Workman earning two podiums, and Avedisian finished a career-best fourth in race two.
GT4
In Saturday’s GT4 America racing action, the Hanley Motorsports team earned a third-place finish in the silver class, with the Precision Racing LA team also finishing third in the pro-am category.
USAC
Toyota drivers captured two victories and seven top-three podium finishes in the opening three races of the weekend. Cannon McIntosh kicked off the weekend by winning at the Belleville (Kansas) Short Track with Daison Pursley finishing second and Gavin Miller placing third. On Saturday at Belleville, it was Pursley's turn to take top honors ahead of fellow Toyota drivers Ryan Timms and Kale Drake. Toyota drivers would fall just short in Sunday's weekend finale at Sweet Springs (Mo.) Motorsports Complex as Timms would earn his second connective runner-up finish after Drake had led 34 of 38 laps before a late incident while leading with just two laps remaining.
What’s Next
It is time for the annual 600-mile, Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway. On Friday, May 24, there is a double-header with the ARCA Menards Series starting at 6:00 p.m. ET, followed by the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at 8:30 p.m. ET. Both races are on FS1.
On Saturday, May 25, the NASCAR Xfinity Series is in action at 1:00 p.m. ET on FOX, with the NASCAR Cup Series closing the weekend on Sunday with 600 miles of action at 6:00 p.m. ET, also on FOX.