Christopher Bell won the All-Star race for the first time on Sunday evening.
NASCAR
Christopher Bell and his team proved to make the right pit call on the final caution and Bell drove from sixth to the lead in the final laps to win the All-Star race for the first time in his fifth attempt. It is Toyota’s first All-Star win since 2017.
“I had so much fun last year,” said Bell. “I sucked in the race, but racing here last year was so much fun. As this place continues to age, it’s just going to get better and better. Man, that was an amazing race. All the way from - there were so many guys up there racing for the lead. We saw two-wide, three-wide for the lead, it’s just a pleasure to race here, and especially whenever you get to drive this Mobil 1 Toyota Camry. These boys have done such a good job on this thing. I told them going into it, this was the best car we’ve had in a long time. Joey (Logano) was fast. He gave us a lot of competition and the 12 (Ryan Blaney) was really good there and the 9 (Chase Elliott). They had competitive cars. The strategy – we knew it would be all over the place and it fell our way.”
- Christopher Bell
On Saturday, Gio Ruggiero continued his recent performance surge in the Truck Series as the Toyota Development Driver won his first stage and finished seventh – his fourth top-10 in the last five races – to lead Toyota. Chandler Smith was the race winner.
“I felt like we were good there in the beginning and just fought hard,” said Ruggiero. “Strategy could have played out a little differently for us there. Had a lot of cautions there at the end. I’m just proud of all of the guys. I felt like we had a strong First Auto Group Tundra and had a lot of speed. Probably should have finished up in the top-five, but the way the strategy worked out for us there at the end, got passed by a couple of guys with newer tires. Another top-10 for us to build off of, going into the next one.”
- Gio Ruggiero
His teammate, Corey Heim, once again, had a dominant performance as he led 162 of 250 laps and was leading before another competitor made contact with Heim on the final lap which caused him to spin. He was scored 17th, and maintained the Truck Series points lead.
NHRA
Justin Ashley nearly scored his first win of the season for the second straight race in Chicago. The 15-time winner left the start first on Tony Stewart in the final round, but came up just short at the finish line.
“We’re really happy with everything (today),” said Ashley. “Obviously, would’ve loved to finish it off with a win. But when you look at the gauntlet of people we had to go through today – Brittany Force in the first round, Antron Brown in the second round and Doug Kalitta in the third round, then falling just a little bit short to Tony Stewart in the finals. Speaks volumes to the high-level competition and we feel like we’re right there with everybody. Continuing to learn, continuing to grow and continuing to make the necessary changes that’ll help us improve down the road. Super happy, super proud of our SCAG Power Equipment Toyota team and we’ll pack it up and get after it in Epping.”
- Justin Ashley
In Funny Car, Ron Capps led Toyota with a second round finish. Jack Beckman was the race winner.
ARCA EAST
Max Reaves continued his stellar start to his ARCA career as he won his third straight event – this time at Flat Rock Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing driver won the pole and led nearly every lap on his way to victory.
GR CUP
Toyota Development Driver Westin Workman had a special weekend at Sebring International Raceway. After 10 runner-up finishes in the GR Cup series, Workman scored his first race win on Saturday and followed that with another victory on Sunday to sweep the weekend. Workman also took over the points lead heading into the series next race weekend in Virginia.
USAC
Three different Toyota drivers registered USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Championship victories over three days this past weekend.
The weekend kicked off with a pair of races at the Belleville (Kansas) Short Track with series point leader Justin Grant earning his second win of the season on Friday. The following night, Cannon McIntosh would lead a Toyota 1-2-3 finish with Kale Drake placing second and Gavin Miller third.
On Sunday at the Sweet Springs (Missouri) Motorsports Complex, Drake would pull off a dramatic late race pass on lap 39 of 40 to earn his first win of the season with Grant placing second and Drake Edwards finishing third as Toyota drivers again swept the top three finishing positions.
GT4
Toyota Development Drivers Tyler Gonzalez and Gresham Wagner drove their RAFA Racing Team Toyota GR Supra GT4 EVO2 to a runner-up spot on the podium in Sunday’s SRO Pirelli GT4 race at Sebring International Raceway.
WHAT’S NEXT
Memorial Day weekend helps usher in an iconic NASCAR race weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway as NASCAR Cup Series drivers look to earn a crown jewel victory in the Coca-Cola 600.
Racing action kicks off on Friday, May 23 with a doubleheader as the ARCA Menards Series runs at 6:00 p.m. ET, followed by the NASCAR Truck Series at 8:30 p.m. ET. Both races are on FS1. The NASCAR Xfinity Series competes on Saturday, May 24 at 4:30 p.m. ET on the CW, and the NASCAR Cup Series closes the weekend on Sunday, May 25 at 6:00 p.m. ET on Amazon Prime.