PLANO, Texas (September 23, 2019) – Toyota drivers swept the NASCAR races over the weekend with Martin Truex Jr. winning Saturday night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race and Christopher Bell scoring a win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) event on Friday. Ty Gibbs also earned his first career victory in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East action.

NASCAR

Camry drivers led 311 laps (of 400) in Saturday night’s Cup Series race at Richmond Raceway with Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) drivers finishing in the top-three spots for the third time this season. Truex passed teammate Kyle Busch with 25 laps remaining in the race to earn back-to-back wins for the first time in his career and the sixth victory of the season.

“I’m speechless,” said Truex, following his victory. “Just an unbelievable job by all my guys. Had a heck of a race with Kyle (Busch) and Denny (Hamlin) all night long really, and we just kept plugging away at it as we always do. We just keep digging and we never quit. Next thing you know, catching the 18 (Kyle Busch) for the lead, I’m like, ‘cool, all right, here we go.’ To sweep Richmond finally is pretty awesome.”

The win marked a series-best 16th victory at Richmond Raceway for Joe Gibbs Racing and its drivers have earned four straight triumphs at the three-quarter mile Virginia short track.

Busch led a race-high 202 laps, and with his second-place finish, he joins Truex in advancing to the Round of 12 in the MENCS Playoffs. Hamlin followed Truex and Busch to the finish line in third place at his home track and sits fifth in the Playoff point standings.

Christopher Bell kicked off the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) Playoffs with a victory at Richmond Raceway on Friday night. Bell led a career-high 238 laps (of 250) to earn his seventh win of the season. Bell automatically advances to the next round of the NXS Playoffs with his Richmond victory.

“This is a very, very important race,” said Bell. “If you win this one, not only do you get locked into the Round of 8, but you’ve got two back-to-back weeks and an off-week mixed in there. We’re living stress-free for a long time now and I’m very thankful for that. I told my whole team, this is a very important race and we were able to capitalize on it and win.”

Harrison Burton registered his third top-10 finish in his fourth-career NXS start with a sixth-place result on Friday night. Brandon Jones, who is also in the NXS Playoffs, finished 11th at Richmond and currently sits ninth in the NXS point standings.

Ty Gibbs earned his first career NASCAR K&N Pro Series East victory in just his sixth series start on Saturday at New Hampshire Motor Speedway. Gibbs led a race-high 112 laps (of 125) en route to the win. Gibbs’ teammate, Tanner Gray, followed Gibbs to the finish line for a second-place finish. A total of six Camry drivers finished in the top 10 on Saturday at New Hampshire.

What’s Next

The NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series both compete at Charlotte Motor Speedway’s road course. The Xfinity Series race on Saturday, September 28 will be broadcast on NBCSN at 3:30 p.m. EDT, while the Cup Series closes the weekend on Sunday afternoon, September 29, on NBC at 2:30 p.m. EDT.

NHRA travels to World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, just outside of St. Louis, to compete with the Finals being televised on Sunday, September 29 on FS1 at 2 p.m. EDT.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West returns to action, competing at Meridian Speedway on Saturday, September 28 and USAC competes at Eldora Speedway over the weekend.