It was a great weekend to be driving a Toyota. Three factory-backed Toyota Racing teams got the month of August off to a great start by claiming victories in the upper-level series of NASCAR and NHRA. In the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, Toyota swept the podium with Martin Treux, Jr., Matt Kenseth and Daniel Suarez finishing one, two, three at Watkins Glen International. That followed Kyle Busch's dominating performance the day before in the NASCAR XFINITY series at the Glen. Not to be out done, three-time NHRA Top Fuel champion Antron Brown finished ahead of the field in Sunday's Northwest Nationals.
The win at the Glen for Martin Truex, Jr. was his fourth of the 2017 season and allowed the driver of the No. 78 Denver Mattress Toyota to maintain his points lead in the championship. Having grown up nearby the Watkins Glen racetrack, Truex watched his father drive at the same track when he was a boy. Once again, the legendary road course provided excitement for racing fans right down to the checkered flag. As other teams moved to the lead during the final stages of the race, Truex Jr. went into fuel saving mode. Toyota team engineers got it right, as the other drivers were forced to stop in closing laps for fuel, Truex claimed his eleventh career victory.
In Saturday's NASCAR XFINITY Series race, also at the Glen, Kyle Busch added to his record-setting number of series wins. Leading a race-high 43 laps, Busch claimed his 90th win in the XFINITY moving him to 41 wins ahead of second-place Mark Martin (retired). In addition to his own accolades, the victory at the upstate New York road course was the 139th team win in the NASCAR XFINITY series for Joe Gibbs Racing, who took over the top spot as the all-time winningest team in the Series. Busch started Sunday's NASCAR Cup race from the pole, won the first stage but finished deep in the field after experiencing a problem with a loose left front wheel.
E3 race fans can CLICK HERE to read about Antron Brown's victory at Pacific Raceways in the NHRA Northwest Nationals blog.
