“It was fast,” said Nemechek. “Overall, what a solid day. This Pye-Barker Toyota GR Supra was super-fast – as fast as Xfinity internet. Just so proud of these 20 guys – they are an amazing group. I’m just honored to be able to hold the wheel for a few times this year. Thank you to Pye-Barker – everyone that supports. Pretty neat experience all around.”
- John Hunter Nemechek
John Hunter Nemechek continued the winning trajectory of the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team as they earned their fifth win of the season in Nashville.
NASCAR
On Saturday, John Hunter Nemechek continued the strong performance of the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 20 team, claiming victory for the second straight week – and the fifth time this season. Nemechek took the lead with 20 laps to go in the second stage at Nashville Superspeedway and was dominant late to earn his second win of the season. Chandler Smith also had a strong run in his Joe Gibbs Racing GR Supra as he finished second – his seventh top-five finish of the season.
“The last set of tires didn’t give our Monster Energy Camry the balance it had all day long that allowed it to contend for the lead with Christopher Bell there,” said Reddick. “We just had a bad restart, I fell back and I could tell there in the closing laps we were wounded bad. The tires were chorded. When the caution came out, we were in a really bad spot. We were going to lose all our track position, but we had to put tires on as I don’t think we were going to be able to hold on during a restart, but it became the very thing that gave us an opportunity to win the race. It was a great call, a gutsy call by the crew chief, Billy Scott. I was upset about the position we were in, but just kept being aggressive on the restarts and we got ourselves all the way there. It's tough. Had just about everything go right into the last lap, I just didn’t get the job done.”
- Tyler Reddick
In the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, Denny Hamlin was mere feet from his fourth victory of the season when a late caution led to several overtime finishes and multiple drivers pitting for fuel. Tyler Reddick (third) and Bubba Wallace (seventh) went on to lead Toyota with top-10 finishes. While Hamlin, after leading 70 laps, finished 12th.
“Yeah, kind of screwed that one up,” said Heim. “I don’t know if we were better than the 19 (Christian Eckes), but it’s hard to tell when he never got into dirty air. This is by the far the worst I’ve felt in dirty air in a while in a truck race, just feel like the 43 (Daniel Dye) was in the way. We’re a lot better than them, just couldn’t pass at all, the groove never widened out. Definitely disappointing. Proud of TRICON Garage, Toyota Racing, Safelite for bringing a fast truck again. Just couldn’t go anywhere. Put the 19 back a spot or two, think we could’ve raced for it, but at the end of the day, finished third and that’s that.”
- Corey Heim
Christopher Bell led the most laps and won both stages Sunday in Nashville, before being involved in an on-track incident. With the two stage wins, Bell now has more Playoff points than any other driver (24).
Corey Heim continued his strong performance as he earned his ninth top-three finish of the season – coming home in third in Friday evening’s NASCAR Truck Series race at Nashville Superspeedway. Earlier in the evening, Stewart Friesen won his first pole since 2019 before finishing 11th. With the strong run, Friesen closed to within 17 points of a Playoff berth.
“Teamwork, teamwork makes the dream work! Brian Corradi’s (crew chief) hometown – got him some ice cream scoops here. Matco Tools, this is their hometown,” said Brown. “Summit Racing, all of our partners, FVP, Sirius XM, Toyota, that’s what makes it happen. We got in a little bit of trouble in that last round. We actually hurt the engine in the other round. We put one in and found something wrong with that one. The boys stayed resilient, didn’t stop and put another one in. We got it in, got the win, truly a blessing. JFR (John Force Racing), John Force, this is for you baby. I got some ice cream, will bring it to you and make you smile!”
- Antron Brown
NHRA
Antron Brown continued Toyota’s winning ways in Top Fuel action as he picked up his 60th win in his career at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio. He defeated reigning champion and current points leader Doug Kalitta in the final round, as Toyota swept the semi-final positions.
In Funny Car, Ron Capps had a strong day as the multi-time champion advanced to the final round before coming up short to race winner Bob Tasca.
ARCA
William Sawalich continued his winning ways as he drove to a dominating victory on Saturday in Berlin, Michigan. Sawalich led nearly every lap on the way to his third ARCA Menards Series triumph of the season. Sean Hingorani was scored third and Kris Wright came home fourth in Venturini Motorsports Toyotas.
What’s Next
NASCAR makes its return to the streets of Chicago for two races this weekend. The NASCAR Xfinity Series competes on Saturday, July 6 at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC, with the NASCAR Cup Series race on Sunday, July 7 at 4:30 p.m. ET, also on NBC.
The ARCA Menards Series West has a double header at Irwindale Speedway – first on Thursday, July 4, with the second race on Saturday, July 6. Both races start at 10:00 pm. ET and will be broadcast on FloRacing.