Toyota Drivers Victorious In Grassroots Racing

Toyota drivers earned victories in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West (NKNPSW) and a pair of midget car features, leading every lap in all three races over the weekend.

In the NKNPSW, Derek Kraus defended last year's victory at Oregon's Douglas County Speedway, leading from start to finish to collect his third win this season.

'It helps a lot when BMR (Bill McAnally Racing) brings me a great car like they did,' said Kraus. 'They prepared me a great car here. We had to push Sonoma behind us from what happened there. Overall, we came to (Oregon) knowing that we won last year, kept up the momentum and won this year.'

Toyota drivers have now won eight of the last nine races at the 0.375-mile Oregon race track. Kraus' teammates Hailie Deegan (third) and Brittney Zamora (fifth) also finished in the top five.

With the result, Kraus extended his points lead to eight points over Deegan.

'The DeWalt Camry was good, and it was good at the end,' said Jones. 'I really think we had a top-four car. We just gave up to much on the second-to-last run. We were loose and fell back to 15th and just had to work up from there. It made it kind of difficult to get the track position from there.'

Martin Truex Jr. (ninth) also finished in the top 10.

Brandon Jones drove double-duty at Chicagoland Speedway, racing in the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS). In both races, Jones was the highest-finishing Toyota driver, finishing runner-up in his Tundra and fourth in his Supra.

'All in all, this is where we need to be,' said Jones following the NXS event. 'We had great stages. Great points day – it's what we need to do to get back into this thing.'

Jones moved to 11th in the NXS point standings while teammate Christopher Bell is third.

A day earlier, Jones led a contingent of six Toyotas in the top 10 in the NGOTS race as all three Kyle Busch Motorsports entries scored top-six finishes. Jones won the first stage and led 13 laps (of 150). Fellow Tundra driver Austin Hill earned his first career-series pole award, starting from the first position and leading 11 laps before finishing fifth.

'I don't know if we could have done something else with pit strategies or not, but that's why we had good pit position there,' said Hill. 'We did learn a lot and that's the most fun I've had in a truck race in a long time.'

ARCA

Toyota Racing development driver Harrison Burton finished second in the ARCA Menards Series event at Chicagoland Speedway. It was Burton's fifth-consecutive top-10 result in his fifth ARCA start this season.

'We had a great night with the Venturini Motorsports team,' said Burton. 'We aren't running for the driver's championship over here, but they are leading in the owner's points and it's really important for us to keep them up front.'

POWRi | USAC

Toyota-powered drivers swept a pair of midget car features with Kyle Larson winning Saturday's USAC National Midget Series event at the Dirt Oval at Route 66 Raceway, while Christopher Bell dominated the POWRi feature at Lincoln (Ill.) Speedway.

Toyota drivers led all 30 laps in each event as Bell collected his 55th national midget series win, the most by any Toyota-powered midget driver in history.

What's Next

Erik Jones and the NASCAR Cup Series head to Daytona International Speedway where the Camry driver scored his first career-series win last season. The Cup Series races on Saturday, July 6 at 7:30 p.m. EDT on NBC with the NASCAR Xfinity Series opening the weekend at the superspeedway on Friday, July 5 at 7:30 p.m. EDT on NBCSN.

NHRA returns to action, heading north to New Hampshire where the series will compete at New England Dragway on Sunday, July 7 at 1 p.m. EDT on FS1.

In grassroots racing, POWRi will run back-to-back races at Fairbury American Legion Speedway (Illinois) and Angell Park Speedway (Wisconsin) on July 6 and July 7, respectively.

Photo credit: Toyota
posted on conceptcarz.com

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