Toyota claimed three victories at Phoenix Raceway with Christopher Bell (Cup), Aric Almirola (Xfinity) and Brent Crews (ARCA) this weekend. Toyota also got the Top Fuel victory by Antron Brown in the NHRA season opener at Gainesville.
NASCAR
For the third straight weekend, Christopher Bell took home the checkered flag in a thrilling finish Sunday afternoon at Phoenix Raceway. Leading 105 total laps, Bell became the first driver in the Next Gen era to win three straight races. After a late yellow forced an overtime finish, Bell held off hard-charging competitors behind him, including Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) teammate Denny Hamlin in the second-closest finish in Phoenix Raceway history to take home the victory.
“My Reeser’s No. 20 Camry XSE was incredible, especially on the yellow tires (primary tires),” said Bell. “It seemed like the red tires (options), the field was a little bit closer. I would imagine that’s going to be the tire we race on when we come back (to Phoenix Raceway) in the fall, so have to dig in and see what we were missing to be a little bit better on the red tires. Super proud of everyone on this No. 20 group. Obviously, the boys are killing it. This was our first race with Reeser’s on the car and we got them in victory lane. What a day for JGR!”
- Christopher Bell
For Hamlin, the runner-up result was his best finish of the season and marked his 17th career top-five finish at Phoenix Raceway. John Hunter Nemechek also had a solid day, charging from a 36th-place starting position to be inside the top-10 in the closing stages of the race and finishing 14th at the checkered flag.
In Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race, JGR driver Aric Almirola captured his first victory of the 2025 season in a thrilling, last lap three-wide finish. Almirola made a pass in the final corner and edged his No. 19 GR Supra across the line first. In two starts so far in 2025, Almirola has two top-five finishes – the Phoenix victory and a third-place result at Atlanta.
“I felt like I was better than the No. 7 (Justin Allgaier),” Almirola said. “Earlier in the race, they had a great car. We had a great car. And it was just an awesome battle. And at the end there, we were running them down pretty fast, and the caution came out and I was like ‘Oh yeah! Now we have a chance!’ We went down into (turn) one (on the overtime restart) and he (Allgaier) just got loose under me and ran me into the marbles, and I was just thankful I got my tires clean coming back to (turns) three and four. That gave me an opportunity to get to the No. 17 (Alex Bowman). And yeah, we out drag-raced them to the start/finish line and it was exciting. I’m sure the fans got their money’s worth.”
- Aric Almirola
JGR teammates Brandon Jones and Taylor Gray joined Almirola inside the top-10 on Saturday. Jones, who placed inside the top-10 in both stages, nearly snatched victory at the end and came home third in the three-wide finish at the line. For Gray, a sixth-place result marks his third top-10 in four starts so far this season.
ARCA
Toyota Development Driver Brent Crews scored his third career ARCA Menards Series victory Friday night in Phoenix. Like Almirola, Crews used a last lap pass to capture the victory in his debut with Joe Gibbs Racing, as well as his first ARCA win on pavement.
NHRA
Defending Top Fuel world champion Antron Brown started off the 2025 season where he left off by winning the NHRA Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway on Sunday. Brown defeated Toyota teammate Shawn Langdon in a close final to earn his 81st NHRA victory and the 65th in Top Fuel.
In Funny Car, Ron Capps advanced to the final round but fell to eventual race-winner Chad Green.
LATE MODELS
Toyota Development Driver Jade Avedisian won her second consecutive late model race, capturing victory in the Carolina Pro Late Model race Saturday night at Hickory Motor Speedway. This backs up her CARS TOUR victory last weekend where she became the first female to win a CARS TOUR event.
What’s Next
NASCAR heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway for its first of two visits in 2025 – with all three national series competing. The Truck Series kicks off the weekend in Las Vegas on Friday, March 14, at 9 p.m. ET on FS1. On Saturday, the Xfinity Series takes the track with coverage on the CW Network at 4:30 p.m. ET. Finally, on Sunday, the Cup Series competes at 3:30 p.m. ET on FS1.