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Toyota

Motorsport

NASCAR Race 9 of 36 2025: Kyle Larson wins at Bristol with a few Gibbs Toyotas sweeping up the front row results 

by Sports Benches

Other than a dominant Kyle Larson afternoon after 500 laps at short track Bristol, not a bad day from the Toyotas up front – particularly with the Gibbs cars.

So close of going three wins in a row by Denny Hamlin when things were quiet other than just stage pauses and the odd yellow but will take 2nd. 

Then there’s Ty Gibbs (No.54) with his first Top 5 of the year in 3rd and so does James Small’s (crew chief) 19 team of Chase Briscoe after he came home 4th.

Here’s some more good Top 10-15 results by a few other Chevy cars like Trackhouse’s Ross Chastain now with 3 x Top 7s in a row in 7th & AJ Allmendinger who brought back the Top 10 for the No.16 team at Kaulig – despite being the first one lapped down with that mini 2nd group lot in 9th.

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Motorsport

NASCAR: Denny Hamlin wins another race for the Joe Gibbs Toyota Camrys on another week at Darlington Raceway

by Sports Benches

It’s been another amazing JGR Toyota weekend with another Denny Hamlin win for the second straight week running this time at the Throwback walls of Darlington.

Not only he was Top 3 fastest in qualifying he also took good care of the field too and with his Playoffs berth already intact, all Denny wants to do is keep on running up front every week so he can make the most out of the Championship later this year.

Here’s a few more when others survive those cut-offs of yellow flag mayhem:

One of the RFK Racing Fords goes Top 7 once again by Chris Buescher and so does the Front Row duo of Zane Smith (12th) and Todd Gilliland (14th) – glad Zane’s lifeline opportunity is going well so far.

Ty Dillon following up another solid day also in 16th with the No.10 Chevy for Kaulig Racing including ex-Erebus personnel Andrew Dickeson upstairs.

And at Legacy MC, Erik Jones finished 17th who kept battling hard all day in the 43; Although not so much from JHN in the other 42 when both customer Toyotas didn’t have the best push towards the end.

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Motorsport

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

by Sports Benches

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. 

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Motorsport

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

by Sports Benches

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.

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Motorsport

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

by Sports Benches

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.

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Motorsport

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

by Sports Benches

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.

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Motorsport

2026-30 Supercars TV rights deal update March 2025

by Sports Benches

We got an update on the next Supercars TV rights deal and according to the latest Speedcafe’s Full Credit to the Noise Podcast, it seems the top tier package has all but signed, sealed and delivered with Fox Sports staying on as their primary broadcast partner once again.

So that means Nine would be out of the running at all not even via a shared FTA arrangement since they want the whole lot through Stan Sport with some on the main channel since its inception back in 2021.

It’s either Seven or 10 now as one could be staying on or returning after all.

I think Seven would be the winner when most of their simulcast sports deal do come with Fox Sports & they’ve got a great history with racing on their own that has been going on for many decades.

One thing that Foxtel should consider is at least having every Saturday or Sunday main afternoon race of every round live in front of a paywall on top of six marquee & full event ones (like the support races, etc.) including the Bathurst 1000 whether if it’s on Kayo Freebies or even Seven.

It’s just not the same as it once was before going back to the glory 90s & 2000s but times have changed unfortunately due to the prices of sports tv rights going up the roof including the demise of Holden at the start of this decade along with Chevy currently running an outdated Camaro.

Although you can tell Toyota is coming into the fold next year that could make up a three-way fight up front for the championship especially with the first-ever finals format coming later this year.

Yes, ad-free and getting the best experience out of a regular Supercars viewer on Fox/Kayo is paramount but would love to see a race per round live on either side of the weekend as if they’re tuning into NRL or AFL with both flexible paid and free TV options every weekend.

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Motorsport

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

by Sports Benches

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.

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Motorsport

NASCAR today’s result: Another Top 10 run by Legacy Motor Club this time from John Hunter Nemechek in the No.42 on what has been a top Toyota afternoon at Atlanta

by Sports Benches

Fantastic to hear another Legacy Motor Club Top 10 run of 2025 this time at Atlanta Motor Speedway (Race 2/36) by John Hunter Nemechek – who endured a decent No.42 Toyota Camry all afternoon from 22nd to staying right in between Top 10-15 for the most part even though there were multiple yellows where he had the chance at one stage up front – and there goes his solid result for crew chief Travis Mack & his crew on pit road and garage.

Yes, the real test does begin other than the unpredictable restrictor plate races like Daytona 500 last week as he’s 100% right post-race. It goes to show how competitive this can be when going after the regular front-runners for race wins that isn’t Daytona or Talladega but they are getting there though race after race.

You can see how the 77 Spire’s Carson Hocevar was oh so close there particularly at the final restart after he finished 2nd as sure he can go one better sooner rather than later that can mean anything including the Playoffs later this year.

Although unlucky for Erik Jones there in the other Legacy No.43 Camry when he was taken into the wall midway through Stage 2 – wasn’t a team-mate crash though as this was committed by the No.17 Chris Buescher from Ford’s RFK Racing.

But still not a bad weekend to keep themselves through the field from LMC and also Team Toyota in general with Christopher Bell being the 2nd early winner of 2025 for the No.20 Gibbs camp.

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Motorsport

NASCAR Today’s Results: Jimmie Johnson Carvana-led 84 team finishes third at the 2025 Daytona 500 with John Hunter Nemechek 5th & Erik Jones 12th that caps off a stunning new season start for JJ’s Legacy Motor Club

by Sports Benches

It was awesome to see Legacy Motor Club begin their 2025 campaign with a bang in their 2nd year using Toyota engines off the back of their huge off-season change of crew and even minority investment thanks to the man of the hour himself Jimmie Johnson.

He still has something to offer whose patience paid off after he came home third even though he races part-time these days, John Hunter Nemechek had a solid Top 5 car all day long other than the late yellows but happy though with 5th & Erik Jones not far off down in 12th – fortunately he was okay.

This is still a team in progress when things will take time but surely they will be more than ready to sweep Top 10-15z every weekend including an odd Playoffs run in possible – time will tell with JJ calling the shots now himself in majority charge.

Plus, happy to see Jimmie’s former team Hendrick celebrating this year’s Daytona 500 win in none other than William Byron.

And shoutout to ex-player Aaron Woods who stopped by at Daytona the other day to promote NRL/Rugby League with the new season opener soon in Las Vegas.

There won’t be a NASCAR race though on the same weekend unlike last year but will they will be back in the middle of March.

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