“I couldn’t figure out if I wanted the top or the bottom,” said Truex. “I restarted on both lanes and felt like neither of them were great, but I fell back in 2018 – I had the lead, and I took the top and I lost the race and I didn’t want to do that again, so I figured I would try the opposite of that and go to the bottom. Riley (Herbst) gave me a crazy push, so shout out to him. He didn’t wreck me – just straight up pushed me. Once the restart shook out, I was just listening to Tyler (Green, spotter) telling me where to block. AJ (Allmendinger) – I knew he had a run coming to the white. I knew he was going to go for it going into (turn) one and I got lucky, and all of those guys hit each other, and the caution came out. Here we are.”
- Ryan Truex
Ryan Truex earned his second win of the season as he claimed victory in Daytona.
NASCAR
On Friday night, Ryan Truex delivered the first NASCAR Xfinity Series win for Toyota at Daytona International Speedway in over a decade with a strong performance. Truex led six times for 28 laps and was upfront when a caution fell after the white flag was displayed on the final restart to earn his second win in his eight starts this year and the sixth win for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) team. It was a strong night overall for JGR with pole winner Chander Smith finishing in the runner-up position, and Sheldon Creed scoring his fourth straight top-10 run with an eight-place finish.
“I don’t know,” said Bell. “I’m bummed about it – you want to push the leader out and have a shot to win it yourself. I just never really felt in control. I was always chasing my Interstate Batteries Camry – so I was never confident behind the 8 (Kyle Busch) and pushing him. Disappointed with that last green-white-checkered, but overall, a great day. It is one of those races where when we look back it, we will be happy – but right now it stings.”
- Christopher Bell
In Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series race, Christopher Bell (third), Ty Gibbs (fifth) and Bubba Wallace (sixth) led Toyota with solid top-10 finishes at Daytona. Harrison Burton won the race.
With one race remaining in the regular season, Martin Truex Jr. is 58 points to the good, while Gibbs is 39 points to the good on the strength of back-to-back top-five finishes. With a new winner, Wallace fell to 21 points below the Playoff cutline.
“It kind of started down and definitely just made our truck better all day,” said Gray. “Props to Jeff Hensley (crew chief) making awesome adjustments on the box and getting us upfront and being able to contend for a top five. It’s a step in the right direction. Just got to work on getting a little bit better in terms of the speed and things like that to contend for wins right now. I can’t thank my guys enough at TRICON Garage for bringing me a really good JBL Tundra TRD Pro. Just needed a little bit more to contend for a top-three or a win.”
- Taylor Gray
In the regular season championship battle, Tyler Reddick extended his advantage to 17 points. It would be the first regular season title for both Reddick and 23XI Racing.
On Sunday, the NASCAR Truck Series kicked off their Playoff run at the Milwaukee Mile. Taylor Gray had a solid day – earning stage points and delivering a fifth-place finish to lead Toyota. Corey Heim battled back from a pit road speeding penalty to finish seventh. Layne Riggs was the race winner.
With two races remaining in the round, Heim and Gray are both above the Playoff cutline. Heim is 41 points to the good, while Gray moved up to fifth in the standings, 13 points up on ninth.
ARCA
William Sawalich continued his recent hot streak in ARCA Menards Series competition with his fourth win in the last five races at the Milwaukee Mile. With the victory, he closed to within 16 points of the ARCA Menards Series East championship lead with one race remaining in their schedule. Sawalich was joined inside the top-five by Kris Wright, who brought his Toyota Camry home in fifth.
What’s Next
The final race of the regular season for the NASCAR Cup Series is a Crown Jewel – the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. Racing action is on USA Network on Sunday, September 1 at 6:00 p.m. ET. The NASCAR Xfinity Series kicks off the weekend at Darlington on Saturday, August 31 at 3:30 p.m. ET at USA Network.
NHRA has its biggest weekend of the year – the Toyota U.S. Nationals. Final eliminations are on Monday, September 2 at 2:00 p.m. ET on FOX.
Formula DRIFT has its next-to-last race weekend of the season on the Utah Motorsports Campus, on Saturday, August 31. Coverage in on FormulaD.com at 6:00 p.m. ET.
Finally, the ARCA Menards Series has its last dirt race of the season at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Race coverage is on FS1 on Sunday, September 1 at 8:30 p.m. ET.