Aric Almirola clinched a Xfinity Series owner’s championship berth for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team with a win in Martinsville
NASCAR
Denny Hamlin was the lead Toyota with a fifth-place finish at Martinsville Speedway as the Virginia native drove through the field after starting from the rear due to a practice incident. Despite the valiant effort, Hamlin missed the Championship 4.
Christopher Bell battled throughout many issues during his race and was close to earning his third straight berth into the Championship 4 before being scored in 22nd to end the race. He misses the Championship 4 by four points.
Aric Almirola clinched a Xfinity Series owner’s championship berth for the No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing team with a win in Martinsville, while Toyota will be represented in the NASCAR driver’s Championship 4 points battle by Tyler Reddick in the Cup Series and Corey Heim in Trucks.
“What an amazing race car,” said Almirola. “So proud of Tyler (Allen, crew chief) and all of the guys on this team. We had an amazing car here in the Spring, and we made a few tweaks to it because I wasn’t totally happy with it, honestly, in the Spring. We showed up yesterday and we were awful. I was like oh, no, what did we do, and they went to work last night and came up with a lot of changes to make to the car. It was so hooked up today. It would just do everything I wanted it to. This is such a special place. This is by far my favorite race track. I’m just so thankful. Thankful for Coach (Joe Gibbs), everyone at Toyota, TRD. Thank you He Gets Us. Thank you, God. There is so much more to it than just me and this race team. Just so lucky and blessed with this opportunity with so many partners – Go Bowling. I hate – they’ve been such a great partner of mine for such a long time, and we haven’t got them to victory lane. Just so thankful. Thankful to everyone at TRD, Toyota. Our GR Supra was fast – faster than the Xfinity internet today. Just what an amazing race car. I’m so proud – so, so proud. We are going to go race for an owner’s championship in Phoenix.”
- Aric Almirola
Toyota will continue to be the only manufacturer to have a driver in the Championship 4 each season, as Tyler Reddick will carry the Toyota banner into the title battle for the first time.
On Saturday, Aric Almirola completed the Martinsville sweep with a dominating victory. Almirola won both stages and led 150 of the 250 laps on his way to his third win of the season and ninth overall victory for the No. 20 team. With the win, Almirola and the JGR team will compete for the owner’s championship against the No. 7, 16 and 21 teams.
“Really thankful for everyone at Safelite, TRICON Garage and Toyota Racing,” said Heim. “Our regular season bonus points really propelled us to an easy, kind of under the radar day here at Martinsville. We had such a great regular season, and that led us to kind of have a relaxing last round here. It is still so stressful at times with the possibility of a new winner and the headache of math that goes on there. Just didn’t quite have the speed. Rode around in the top-10 most of the day, but winning here last year, kind of had our expectations high to come back and do the same thing, and fell short of that day today, but the ultimate goal is to win a championship next week and that is what we are going to try and go do.”
- Corey Heim
Chandler Smith, who was in a must-win scenario to make the Championship 4 on the driver’s side, battled up front throughout the race, but finished in third, which ended his title hopes. Sheldon Creed (sixth) put three JGR Toyotas in the top-six.
On Friday, Corey Heim did exactly what he needed to do as the Toyota Development Driver scored stage points in both stages and finished in seventh to clinch his Championship 4 berth for the second straight season. The Georgia-native leads the series with six victories and will get an opportunity to earn his first NASCAR championship on Friday evening.
NHRA
In Top Fuel, Doug Kalitta advanced to the finals before coming up short to race winner Brittany Force in the delayed final round on Monday in Las Vegas. Toyota continues to look to be headed towards the Top Fuel title as Toyota drivers hold down the top-five spots in the point standings. Justin Ashley continues to hold the points lead, but the top-five are separated by 85 points.
Ron Capps led Toyota in Funny Car with a round win on Sunday. Austin Prock won the race.
His teammate, Taylor Gray, nearly joined him in the Championship 4 after a great pit call gave the 19-year-old fresh tires late. Gray drove through the field and took the lead before contact from the eventual race winner, Christian Eckes, ended his chance at victory. Gray still led Toyota overall in the race with a fourth-place finish.
What’s Next
The NASCAR season concludes this weekend at Phoenix Raceway with four races in three days. The ARCA Menards Series West competes on Friday, November 8 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FloRacing, with the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series finale that same evening at 8:00 p.m. ET on FS1. On Saturday, November 9, the NASCAR Xfinity Series closes its season at 7:30 p.m. ET on CW, while the NASCAR season wraps up on Sunday, November 10 at 3:00 p.m. ET on NBC.