PLANO, Texas (October 7, 2019) – Three Toyota drivers celebrated victories over the weekend with Chandler Smith winning the ARCA Menards Series race in Indianapolis while Logan Seavey and Tanner Carrick swept a pair of POWRi races at Jacksonville (Illinois) Speedway.

NASCAR

Camry driver, Martin Truex Jr., needed just a few more laps on Sunday, however, time ran out and he finished second in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway. Truex won the second stage and was closing in on the race winner before lapped cars made it impossible for the New Jersey native to earn his seventh win of the season.

“It was about everything to be honest with you,” said Truex. “We got the lead there at the end of stage two – got that stage win. On the pit stop, we had the issue and lost track position and then the whole third stage we were behind. We were catching him at the end – we got close – but just unfortunate. We win and lose as a team. The guys will clean it up. It’s cool to come home second after that with how hard it was to pass.”

Toyota drivers, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Busch and Matt DiBenedetto, finished fifth through seventh, respectively. Hamlin started from the pole and led a race-high 218 laps (of 400), including winning the first stage. The strong performance moved him up in the point standings to second behind Truex and ahead of Busch as the Toyota drivers hold the series top-three positions in the point standings.

In Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race (NXS) at Dover, Toyota drivers experiened multiple issues. Joe Gibbs Racing teammates, Brandon Jones and Harrison Burton, were involved in a first lap accident which ended their days, and Jones’ Playoff run.

Christopher Bell’s luck followed on lap 15 when he lost fuel pressure. His team was able to fix the issue, but he was already multiple laps down and relegated to a 25th-place result. His Playoff-opening Richmond win already advanced him to the next round, which consists of races in Kansas, Texas and Phoenix.

“They’re three really good race tracks for us,” said Bell, of the next NXS Playoff round. “We should be in good shape. Hopefully we got all the bad stuff out of the way.”

Toyota drivers swept second through sixth in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East race at Dover on Friday. Tanner Gray finished second behind race winner and series champion, Sam Mayer. Todd Gilliland, Drew Dollar, Chase Cabre and Max McLaughlin followed them to the finish line in the series’ season finale.

 ARCA

Toyota drivers dominated the ARCA Menards Series race at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Raceway on Saturday night. Ty Gibbs, who celebrated his 17th birthday a few days prior, started from the pole position and led the first 143 laps (of 162). His Toyota teammate, Christian Eckes, would lead 10 laps, however, it was Chandler Smith who stole the show with the help of Mother Nature. Smith took the lead at lap 161, and the rain followed just one lap later, and he led until the race was called early to earn his fifth win of the season. Eckes would finish in second,

 “I told all the guys when we came into the pits today, a great day and a great finish to all the 20 guys would be to win tonight,” said Smith. “It is win number five for me, and win number six for the team. Hats off to Billy Venturini Motorsports. This (win) was meant to be. We couldn’t have timed that pass any better than we did.”

Toyota driver, Hailie Deegan, earned her career-best ARCA series finish, with a fifth-place result.

Eckes leads the series standings, 20 points ahead of fellow Toyota driver, Michael Self. The ARCA Series concludes the season in two weeks at Kansas Speedway.

 POWRi

Toyota drivers swept a pair of POWRi races at Jacksonville (Illinois) Speedway over the weekend. Logan Seavey tied the series record for most wins (11) in a single season with his victory on Friday night, while Tanner Carrick led wire-to-wire for Saturday night’s triumph. Toyota drivers swept the top-three podium positions each night.

WHAT’S NEXT

NASCAR heads to Talladega Superspeedway where the Gander Outdoors Truck Series kicks off the action on Saturday, October 12 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1. The Cup Series will race Sunday, October 13 at 2 p.m. ET on NBC.

NHRA converges in Charlotte, North Carolina for the Carolina Nationals on October 11-13. The Finals will be televised on Sunday, October 13 at 2 p.m. ET on FS1.

The NASCAR K&N Pro Series West will compete at Northern California’s All American Speedway on Saturday, October 12 and POWRi will host two races in Illinois over the weekend.