Denny Hamlin dominated from the pole – leading 292 of 400 laps – before finishing second to lead Toyota at Martinsville Speedway.
NASCAR
Hamlin led the majority of the Cup Series race before late-race cautions and pit strategy didn’t go the No. 11 team’s way. Chase Elliott was the race winner.
“He did a good job controlling the pace there,” said Hamlin. “Just really came from that bad restart – just not much more that I could have done there. I felt like we gave it our all in our Bob’s Discount Furniture Camry.”
- Denny Hamlin
Ty Gibbs (fourth) continued his impressive run as the North Carolina-native has now finished five consecutive races in the top-six. He is a season-best sixth in the Cup Series standings, and is tied for the overall lead in top-fives (four) and top-10s (five). Christopher Bell added a third Joe Gibbs Racing Camry inside the top-10, coming home in seventh. Tyler Reddick (15th) continues to lead the point standings.
Despite the runner-up finish, Toyota continues to dominate the laps led count as they hit 1,051 laps led on the year, which is over 57 percent of the total laps run this season.
On Saturday, Sam Hunt Racing led Toyota in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series race at Martinsville. Harrison Burton led 17 laps in the final stage, which set a new single-race high for the team, while his teammate Dean Thompson scored the best finish for Toyota in seventh. Toyota Development Driver Brent Crews finished 10th. Justin Allgaier was the race winner.
“I feel like our team just fires on all cylinders here,” said Thompson. “I feel like my crew chief, Kris Bowen, has a knack for this place. We all love it here, and we all get to sleep in our own beds, which is pretty nice. I just feel like this place clicks for me and clicks for my crew chief. Things just kind of panned out our way. We always have really, really fast race cars. I’m lucky to drive this One TPG Toyota GR Supra. It is always fast when we come here. We were struggling in practice, but I felt like I could have qualified well but it got rained out and we just fought and clawed our way to the front. I wish those last 16 laps went straight because I felt like we could have gotten a better finish out of it because we had a really good long run car but super pumped to come out of here with a good finish.”
- Dean Thompson
ARCA
In the ARCA Menards Series East opener at Hickory Motor Speedway, Max Reaves led the majority of the race from the pole, before late race contact relegated him to a runner-up finish. Nitro Motorsports co-owner Nick Turner made his return behind the wheel and finished fifth. Tristan McKee was the race winner.
SPRINT CAR
Toyota Development Driver Buddy Kofoid had a stellar weekend in World of Outlaws competition. On Friday, at US 36 Raceway, Kofoid won heat two and started third before a great battle with Carson Macedo resulted in a second-place finish. On Saturday, Kofoid was not going to be denied with a stunning rally and final lap pass of Ryan Timms to take the win at 81 Speedway. It is Kofoid’s second win of the season and moved the California-native from sixth to fourth in the point standings.
LATE MODELS
Keelan Harvick sat on the pole and dominated the CARS Tour West Pro Late Model race from the Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. It is Harvick’s first CARS Tour West win of the season, and his first victory piloting a Toyota Camry.
WHAT’S NEXT
While the NASCAR Cup Series enjoys their first weekend off, there are three races in two days at Rockingham Speedway.
The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts the weekend on Friday, April 3 at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1, with the NASCRA O’Reilly Auto Parts Series closing the weekend with their race on Saturday, April 4, at 2:30 p.m. ET on the CW
The ARCA Menards Series East continues their season as they run in between the two national NASCAR series on Saturday, April 4. FloRacing has the coverage starting at 11:30 a.m. ET.