Brandon Jones led the way for Toyota in Kansas, earning his second NASCAR Xfinity Series win of the season, while Doug Kalitta earned his third NHRA Top Fuel win of the season in St. Louis.
NASCAR
Polesitter Brandon Jones dominated with a strong long-run car to earn his second Xfinity Series win of the season Saturday afternoon at Kansas Speedway. In addition to Jones’ win, it was also a strong showing for a trio of Toyota GR Supras who finished inside the top- 11, with Taylor Gray (sixth), Dean Thompson (10th) and William Sawalich (11th).
“It’s huge to win the final stage, would have liked to have won the first two stages but I’m not going to get greedy,” said Jones. “No mistakes, the entire day was so well executed. In my career that was by far my best executed race. I’m so proud of these guys, we work so hard the entire week to get here and put races like this together. I was so happy it went green. I know for the fans they want to see action, but I was just praying for long runs was so good there. I just love coming to this place. We contend every time we come here, Joe Gibbs Racing is always extremely fast at these places and Toyota shows up with a ton of speed in the entire camp. We had people here from Spectracide, Hot Shots, Rejuvenate, and Menards this weekend. It’s always a blast to win and move onto the next round.”
- Brandon Jones
Denny Hamlin was the highest-finishing Toyota driver as he brought home a runner-up finish in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) race at Kansas Speedway. Hamlin led a race-high 159 laps. Hamlin’s Toyota teammates filled the rest of the top-five with Christopher Bell (third), Chase Briscoe (fourth), and Bubba Wallace (fifth) rounding out the top-five and fellow Toyota driver Tyler Reddick posting a seventh-place finish. Chase Elliott was the race winner.
The 2-3-4-5 result marks just the 14th time four Toyota Camrys have finished inside the top five in a Cup Series race.
Hamlin leads all Toyota drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings, currently sitting second overall. Bell is third, Briscoe seventh, Wallace 10th and Reddick 11th with one race remaining in the Round of 12.
“It’s super disappointing,” said Hamlin. “Obviously I wanted it bad. It would have been 60 (wins) for me. The team just did an amazing job with the car. It was really, really fast. They gave me everything I needed. Got the restart I needed, I just couldn’t finish there on the last corner. I got really, really, tight with the No. 23 (Bubba Wallace) and let the No. 9 (Chase Elliott) win.”
- Denny Hamlin
NHRA
Doug Kalitta captured his third win of the season in Sunday’s Midwest Nationals at World Wide Technology Raceway. Kalitta now sits 86 points ahead in the Top Fuel points standings over Justin Ashley with three races remaining.
“(This current run) is incredible,” said Kalitta. “Alan (Johnson, crew chief), Mac (Savage, crew chief) and this whole Mac Tools Toyota team – they have this Mac Tools Toyota Dragster running. I’m trying my best and hopefully it’ll be good enough, and it was today. We’ll keep going at it and I’m just super happy!”
- Doug Kalitta
Ashley and Antron Brown made the semifinals, while the other Toyota Top Fuel Dragsters of Shawn Langdon and Steve Torrence advanced to the second round. Ron Capps and J.R. Todd were eliminated in round one in Funny Car.
ARCA
Gio Ruggiero (second) and Taylor Reimer (fifth) earned top-five finishes for Toyota in Friday night’s ARCA Menards Series race at Kansas Speedway. Brenden Queen was the race winner. Reimer, who was making her ARCA pavement track debut, recorded her second top-five finish in just five career ARCA starts.
OFF ROAD
CJ Greaves cemented his legacy by clinching his milestone 10th Pro 4 championship with a third-place finish in Saturday’s season finale at Glen Helen Raceway in Southern California.
WHAT’S NEXT
NASCAR heads back to the southeast for their second visit to Charlotte Motor Speedway, but this time it’s to compete on the 2.28-mile, 17-turn ROVAL road course with all three of NASCAR’s National Series. The Truck Series kicks off the weekend, beginning the Round of 8 of their Playoffs, on Friday, Oct. 3, at 3:30 p.m. EST on FS1. The Xfinity Series concludes the opening round of its Playoffs on Saturday, Oct. 4, at 5 p.m. EST on the CW. Finally, the Cup Series holds the final race for the Round of 12 on Sunday, Oct. 5, at 3 p.m. EST on the USA Network.
The ARCA Menards Series closes its season at Toledo Speedway on Saturday, October 4 at 4:00 p.m. EST on FS2.