Toyota drivers captured victories in Formula Drift, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and the Lucas Oil Midwest Short Course League this weekend as Fredric Aasbø, Brett Moffitt and the father-son duo of CJ and Johnny Greaves continued to add to their win totals this season.
NASCAR
Tundra driver Moffitt captured his fourth NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory this season, making a last-lap pass to beat Johnny Sauter to the finish line by a mere 0.025 seconds at Michigan International Speedway.
After starting from the 21st position in the No. 16 Tundra, Moffitt drove to the front, leading only five (of 100) total laps in Saturday’s event. With the win, Moffitt tied Sauter with a series-best four victories in 2018 and is poised to earn the second seed in the Playoffs with one race remaining in the regular season.
“We’ve had good trucks all year long and it’s just an honor to go drive them,” said Moffit. “We get a lot of momentum going into the Playoffs now and have some more Playoff points today. That’s a positive feeling.”
Moffitt’s Toyota teammates Noah Gragson (fourth) and Todd Gilliland (fifth) also finished in the top-five.
In the Cup Series event at Michigan, it was a Toyota front row to start the race with Denny Hamlin and Kyle Bush starting in the first and second positions, respectively.
Busch went on to lead 22 laps (of 200) at the two-mile speedway and was the highest-finishing Camry driver on Sunday.
“Overall, we gave it a good effort here and it’s Michigan so we give that a grain of salt anytime we come here,” said Busch after the race. “We’re not great here. We did the best we could and had a solid day.”
Hamlin (eighth) also posted a top-10 finish in his Camry, while Kevin Harvick went on to win the race.
In Ohio, the NASCAR Xfinity Series competed in a standalone event at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Saturday, completing its second-consecutive road course event. Camry driver Christopher Bell (11th) was the top-Toyota driver as Justin Allgaier took the checkered flag. Bell continues to lead the point standings.
On the West Coast, the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West raced at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington, where Toyota driver Derek Kraus was the driver to beat all day. After capturing the pole position and starting from the front, Kraus led the first 115 laps before running out of fuel. Kraus was forced to pit, falling three laps down to finish in ninth.
Kraus’ teammate Cole Rouse scored a career-best second-place finish at the race track while their third Bill McAnally Racing teammate, Hailie Deegan, also posted a top-10 finish in her Toyota Camry with a seventh place result.
Formula DRIFT
In Formula Drift’s first appearance at Gateway Motorsports Park, Aasbø defeated Matt Field in the final round to capture his second Formula DRIFT victory of the 2018 season – the second driver to accomplish the feat this season.
It was the fourth podium for Aasbø in six events as he remains second in the series point standings, 30 points back from first with two events remaining.
Toyota driver Ken Gushi finished fifth in the Great 8 after breezing through the Top 32 and Top 16 rounds. Gushi’s fifth-place result was a season-best for the veteran racer.
LOMSCL
The Greaves Tundras finished 1-2 in both of the weekend’s Lucas Oil Midwest Short Course League PRO 4 events at Bark River International Raceway in Michigan. CJ was victorious on Saturday, while Johnny took the win on Sunday. This season the Greaves’ have six victories in six races, including all five PRO 4 events.
What’s Next
NASCAR’s national series move to Bristol Motor Speedway for a series of night races at the Tennessee short track. The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series opens the three-race event on Thursday, Aug. 16 at 8:30 p.m. ET on FOX. The Xfinity Series takes to the half-mile track on Friday, Aug. 17 at 7:30 p.m. on NBCSN with the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series capping the weekend on Sunday, Aug. 18 at 7:30 p.m. on NBCSN.
Three series compete on Sunday, Aug. 19, beginning with the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship at Virginia International Raceway on FS1 at 1 p.m. ET. NHRA follows at 2 p.m. as the series competes at Brainerd International Raceway (Minnesota) with finals set to air on FS1.
The ARCA Racing Series will also compete on Sunday, Aug. 19 at Illinois State Fairgrounds with the race broacast on MAV TV starting at 2:30 p.m. ET.
Midget racing will close the weekend with a two-race event taking place at Macon Speedway (Macon, Illinois) and Angell Park Speedway (Sun Prairie, Wisconsin) on Aug. 18-19, respectively. The races will not be aired.
