“The race was not playing out our way at the end,” said Bell. “And after the green flag stop, I was pretty much in the back. But being on the bottom lane, I was able to squeeze by that last wreck. We had an awesome Interstate Batteries DEWALT Camry. We showed a lot of pace between the Duel and the early part of the race. When we had track position, we were fast. But I don’t know, didn’t go our way and we need to study it.”
- Christopher Bell
It was a strong start to the racing season for Team Toyota at Daytona International Speedway with an ARCA victory and multiple runner-up finishes in NASCAR national series competition.
NASCAR
For the second consecutive year, Christopher Bell led Toyota in the season-opening Daytona 500 race with a third-place run. Bell had a stellar Speedweeks with a Thursday Duel victory and a top-five finish in the rain-delayed ‘Great American Race.’ William Bryon was the race winner.
“Track position was really hard to get all night,” said Creed. “Just tried to be smart and not get in any of the crashes. I had to miss a couple of them there that were really close. Just happy to get through that solidly. I didn’t need to lose my pusher there, think that was (Ryan) Sieg behind me there. I feel like if I could’ve just kept him hooked up there, I would’ve had a shot at Austin (Hill) there. Overall, a great start with Joe Gibbs Racing, Toyota. Everyone that’s been supporting us this offseason, yeah, a great start. Stage points and to start with a top three finish, is a lot of momentum going for our team so happy with that.”
- Sheldon Creed
Bubba Wallace continued his stellar Daytona performance with a fifth-place run, while LEGACY MOTOR CLUB officially kicked off their Toyota tenure with two top-10 runs with John Hunter Nemechek in seventh and Erik Jones in eighth. It marks the first time LEGACY MOTOR CLUB’s placed two cars inside the top-10 in the same race since the team’s debut in 2023.
In the rain-delayed Xfinity Series race, it was almost a storybook beginning for Sheldon Creed as he brought his Toyota GR Supra home in the runner-up spot in his Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) debut on Monday night. Austin Hill was the winner.
“I hope everyone is okay from that wreck,” said Heim. “It looked pretty brutal in my mirror. I hope everyone is okay. That was a tough one. I just avoided wrecks and I just kind of figured this is what was going to happen. I didn’t feel like we had a truck to win tonight but I could run top five, and we did. Thank you to everyone at Toyota Racing, Safelite and TRICON Garage. We’ll move on to Atlanta.”
- Corey Heim
Joining Creed inside the top-five was Chandler Smith (fifth), while Nemechek finished his marathon day of 800 miles of racing with another seventh-place result.
Corey Heim continued to deliver his consistent performance as the Georgia-native finished second to race winner Nick Sanchez on Friday evening in NASCAR Truck Series action. The Toyota development driver has now finished 22 of the last 25 Truck Series races inside the top-10.
Taylor Gray looked like he was going to battle for his first win late in the race, before being involved in a final lap accident where the Tundra driver flipped on the 2.5-mile superspeedway. Gray was evaluated and released from the Infield Care Center after the incident.
ARCA
Gus Dean delivered the milestone 100th ARCA win for Venturini Motorsports at Daytona International Speedway on Friday evening. Dean took the lead on the final, overtime restart to score his third ARCA victory. The remainder of the Toyota entries for Venturini Motorsports and Joe Gibbs Racing were involved in accidents, with Amber Balacen driving her damaged Camry back from two laps down to finish ninth.
What’s Next
NASCAR heads to another superspeedway style race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. It is a doubleheader on Saturday, February 24, with the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series at 2:00 p.m. ET and the NASCAR Xfinity Series at 5:00 p.m. ET. Both races are on FS1. On Sunday, February 25, the NASCAR Cup Series runs at 3:00 p.m. ET on FOX.