Toyota won the Formula DRIFT Auto Cup title after another strong performance in the season-closing race in California, while Christopher Bell and Chandler Smith opened the Round of 8 in the NASCAR Playoffs with strong runs.
FORMULA DRIFT
Fredric Aasbo closed out the Formula DRIFT season at Irwindale Speedway with a runner-up finish – his third podium of the season. It was a strong day for Team Toyota overall, as all four Toyota supported entries won at least one round.
With the finish, Aasbo locked up third overall in the point standings, while Toyota earned its ninth Auto Cup manufacturer’s championship.
NASCAR
On Sunday, Christopher Bell finished second for the second straight week after winning the pole and leading 155 of 267 laps in Las Vegas. Bell charged through the field from over 26 seconds back to less than one second from the race winner over the final 37 laps before coming up just short of the victory. Martin Truex Jr. (sixth), Denny Hamlin (eighth) and John Hunter Nemechek (ninth) joined Bell inside the top-10.
“I don’t know, and I don’t think I’ve come to terms with it yet,” said Bell. “Just a bummer. Everyone on this team did everything perfect today. This thing was obviously on rails, the pit crew did an amazing job, Adam (Stevens, crew chief) called an amazing race. We did everything we needed to put the Rheem Camry into victory lane, and unfortunately, it wasn’t meant to be today.”
- Christopher Bell
With the finish, Bell leads the overall standings and is second in the Playoff standings, 42 points above the cutline, while Hamlin is in fifth – 27 points out with two races remaining in the round.
The third Toyota Playoff driver, Tyler Reddick, also had a strong Camry as he led nine laps and won stage one before an incident in the second stage is sixth, 30 points below the cutline.
Chandler Smith added another top-five finish to his recent performance surge as the Georgia-native finished fourth in the Xfinity Series race on Saturday, which was his seventh straight top-five and ninth consecutive top-10 run. Smith led four Toyotas in the top-15 finishers as Sheldon Creed was scored ninth, Corey Heim finished 11th and Aric Almirola came home 13th.
“We definitely maximized our day,” said Smith. “This No. 81 QuickTie Products GR Supra was not as fast as Xfinity internet at the start of the race. It was an absolute handful – all I could do not to wreck by myself. “We came in the stage one break and made a change and got it slightly better, and progressively got it slightly better all day. It just wasn’t at all what we expected coming into the weekend – wasn’t where we targeted or thought we would be – just with what we brought, we balanced everything off the Spring race and was not close to what we were during the Spring race. Definitely need to go back to the drawing board and be a little bit better. We need to be a little bit better these next two weeks for sure.”
- Chandler Smith
With the top-five finish, Smith continues to hold down a Round of 4 berth as he is eight points above the cutline with two races remaining in the round.
What’s Next
The Round of 8 continues at Homestead-Miami Speedway this weekend for all three NASCAR national series. The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series have a double header on Saturday, October 26 with the Trucks on track at noon ET on FS1, followed by the Xfinity Series at 4:00 p.m. ET on CW. The NASCAR Cup Series closes the weekend in Florida on Sunday, October 27 at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
The ARCA Menards Series West has its next-to-last race weekend at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway in California. FloRacing has the coverage on Saturday, October 26 at 11:00 p.m. ET.