March 2025 was a big month of NASCAR with our first road course race of the year in the midwest plus the back-to-back West Coast leg and back to East with a mix of hot and cold weather between Homestead-Miami and Martinsville.
NASCAR today’s result: Another dominant Toyota weekend by Christopher Bell courtesy of a sensational race-winning move with six laps to go along with an P22 finish of a tough weekend from John Hunter Nemechek at Legacy MC
Here’s another Toyota race winning weekend and what a sensational drive Christopher Bell has pulled off against both Chevys in William Byron and Kyle Busch right there & never looked back on his second race win of the new year with 6 laps to go on the final stretch at COTA.
Looks like he’s the early favourite tipped to be the next first-time champion at the No.20 Gibbs Camry even though there’s a whole lot of other races to get through after three weeks of 36 or 37 if you count the All-Star non-points weekend.
And yes for Legacy Motor Club, it may not have been the best weekend, especially when racing on a road course & also in qualifying where they rolled off at the back. But at least both cars came home all in one piece with #43 Erik Jones in 27th while #42 John Hunter Nemechek benefitted some yellows to gain some track position there & he finished 22nd – imagine what could happen if JHN started a bit further afield with a fighting chance.
Still lots of time though as he’s been happy with the team’s good progress as of late with first two races being Top 10 & sure he will make it three out of four before he’ll be running after a Top 5 very soon.
NASCAR today’s result: Christopher Bell goes three-in-a row after he defeated Gibbs team-mate Denny Hamlin at the white flag plus more coming from Legacy Motor Club
A bit unlucky there from the No.11 Denny Hamlin but good to see him finish 2nd and how good was Christopher Bell in the No.20 Gibbs Camry once again with another Toyota race win after three races out of four minus the Daytona 500.
Still early days with 2nd chances on the line by everyone else before Bell would want to pull off a Phoenix Raceway clean sweep alongside that championship trophy he long wanted come November for the C’ship 4 finale but so far, so good.
And yes, the same goes to fellow Toyota customer Cup team Legacy MC with a lot to reflect on.
JHN was excellent on the long runs as always like it was last weekend at COTA where he finished in 14th with the exact same difficult circumstances he had to do from the back once again – imagine how serious he could be and the best of this LMC’s on-track results is yet to come.
Erik Jones, meanwhile, may not have been able to hold down a top-half spot especially with a series of yellows holding him back ahead of restarts but not a bad second half session though to sign off at the 43 office in 18th.
NASCAR today’s result: Josh Berry another first time winner who just gifted Wood Brothers Racing’s 101st Cup win and a mixed afternoon in LV from Legacy Motor Club
It’s good to see another Wood Brothers race win in the space of just over six months from their centurion Cup victory and hats off to hard-worker Josh Berry with his first Cup win.
Didn’t know there was another first timer making the big rounds at WBR just like Harrison Burton last year at Daytona & don’t forget Young Ryan Blaney too back in June 2017 at Pocono.
For Legacy MC, kinda of a mixed day with John Hunter Nemechek on another Top 20 afternoon (20th) & Erik Jones 27th.
Erik was off to a flyer thanks to his unreal qualifying run from 5th but then a lot of yellows + his own spin ruined his momentum while JHN effective on the long runs as always & able to keep his car clean that benefitted his track position – wish he had good qualifying car though that can change everything.
From last weekend: Kyle Larson pulls off late move over Alex Bowman for the best of Hendrick at Homestead along with some late progress from Erik Jones in 15th for LMC
It was a brilliant afternoon of NASCAR Cup racing at Homestead last weekend this time during the early season swing rather than later in the year at Playoffs time headlined by a Hendrick 1-2 finish courtesy of 2021 champion Kyle Larson, who made the winning move over team-mate Alex Bowman in the 48 after Alex brushed the wall a wee bit much with only seven laps to go – how good is racing!
Gotta feel for Bubba there who wasn’t far off the lead from Bowman at the time and then he just couldn’t keep up with those two Chevys on the run home, although he finished 3rd as the leading Toyota Camrys for 23XI Racing ahead of two Gibbs cars which ain’t bad.
Meanwhile, unlucky for his best friend Ryan Blaney in the No.12 Penske Ford following a great start but then a poor Stage 3 restart coupled with a blown engine meant he couldn’t go on through the end -you gotta feel for YRB there.
Other than the Hendrick Chevy cars being absolutely top-notch up front, it was also good seeing both RFK Ford cars finish Top 10 like the always consistent No.17 Chris Buescher (6th) and so does the statement driver Ryan Preece in the new No.60 team (9th), along with AJ Allmendinger just inside Top 7 for Kaulig Racing (Chevy).
And last but not least for LMC, yeah don’t know what went wrong when a good qualifying run didn’t quite translate into a satisfactory race result. John Hunter Nemechek had that issue from the line in 7th where he was running outside Top 20 but at least the other car in Erik Jones seems to have the better finish thanks to a series of adjustments including the DNF of Ryan Blaney and he came home in 15th.
What can LMC improve going into Martinsville?
So six races out of 36, LMC has the raw pace as seen in practice and qualifying with back-to-back Top 10s which wasn’t bad for a start. But when it comes the race day form, it seems they are sometimes going all over the place inconsistently from up front to the middle of the field.
One thing they’re good at though is their ability to finish races strong – as long as they steer clear out of the crashed and mechanically defunct cars, they are all good to finish whatever track position they can take towards the checkered flag. Other than that, JHN is 18th and Erik is 23rd in Drivers’ Points so another Top 10-15 run or better is the way to go.
It is still a work in progress as said when Jimmie Johnson made a host of off-season changes and right now, they are currently on the up with still a long way to before the No.42 and No.43 Toyotas can start fighting consistently with the front-runners.
NASCAR Race Results: Denny Hamlin wins his first race of 2025 with a new crew chief along with some good Top 10-15 results from elsewhere all at Martinsville
What a Denny day it has been from the man who led the most laps on his way to his first victory of 2025 earlier today at the paperclip (Martinsville Speedway) & with the Joe Gibbs Toyotas (including Denny’s own 23XI satellite cars) ever so strong up front over the last couple of weeks, no doubt this could be their best year ahead.
What else?
- Good to see Ryan Preece back up another Top 10 finish in the No.60 Ford Mustang for RFK Racing in 7th.
- Shoutout to Todd Gilliland btw also in a Ford with the No.34 team at Front Row Motorsports and he crossed the line with a Top 10 result in 10th.
- There’s a bit more room also when Michael McDowell finished 12th for Spire and Ty Dillon 15th with his Aussie crew chief Andrew Dickeson (ex-Erebus crew from Supercars) calling the shots at Kaulig Racing.
And on Legacy MC, yes, their practice and qualifying laps have no doubt continued to shine. However, they just couldn’t quite translate it into race results unfortunately once again every time yellows hold up every now and then – not even a DQ from Erik Jones has helped so little either and he was busted after post-race inspection.
