By Roy J. Akers – www.skyviewsports.net
Twice this season, (Tyler Reddick and Denny Hamlin) have won three races in a row. Toyota was the manufacturer both times, and Denny owns the team Reddick drives on, and JGR Racing owns Hamlin’s ride. Here is the manufacturer news for this week.
NAVAL BASE CORONADO Friday, June 19 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 7 p.m. ET (FS1)Sunday, June 21– NASCAR Cup Series, 4 p.m. ET (PRIME)This weekend will feature another landmark event for NASCAR as it competes on an active United States military base for the first time. Naval Base Coronado is scheduled to host all three of the sport’s top divisions, highlighted by the NASCAR Cup Series event on Sunday. BLANEY STREAKING AGAINRyan Blaney’s 10th-place finish on Sunday at Pocono Raceway was his fourth straight top-10 effort and fifth in the last six races. The only race in this recent streak that wasn’t in that category came at Watkins Glen International when he finished 11th. The 2023 Cup Series champion, who has 11 top 10s in 16 races this season, is a Ford-best third in the point standings .  SITTING ON 749The next Ford win will be its 750th all-time in NASCAR’s top series. Ned Jarrett is Ford’s win leader with 43 while Bill Elliott is second with 40. Shirtless Jimmy Florian scored the Blue Oval’s first series victory when he upset the likes of Lee Petty, Curtis Turner and Joe Weatherly at Dayton Speedway on June 25, 1950. Florian earned his nickname after getting out of his 1950 flathead Ford without a shirt. Overall, 91 drivers have won at least one series race with Ford, including notable drivers Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Parnelli Jones, A.J. Foyt, Richard Petty, and Dale Earnhardt.  QUESTION: WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED ABOUT THE SAN DIEGO COURSE?  RYAN BLANEY: “Turn one is pretty high commit, high speed. Turn two is very downhill. And then it gets pretty rough through three, four and the exit of five is super rough. They’ve worked on a couple patches like the railroad tracks and stuff like that. They said they would pave it some to help it out, but it’s gonna be bumpy and it’s gonna be tight. It’s gonna be a lot like Chicago. Chicago was narrow, bumpy, things like that, so we’ve dug into it a good bit the best we can. I’m just looking forward to seeing it all put together. It will be challenging. It’s a big racetrack and something like three-and-a-half miles, so there are a lot of corners to do well in or mess up in, but it’ll be a unique challenge.” DO YOU EXPECT THIS TO BE MORE OF A TRADITIONAL ROAD COURSE FLOW? “I’d say there are more flowy sections of the racetrack than Chicago because Chicago was a lot of 90-degree corners. Here, there are some tighter esses and there’s one flowing ess type situation. Obviously, you’ve got your 90 degrees, but there are only a handful of those, so I think this is gonna be different from Chicago to where it’s not just 90, 90, 90. It might possibly have a little bit more rhythm to it like a more traditional road course.” |
Denny on Kyle Busch Denny was not bullish on 2026 Denny on success at Pocono
NASCAR National Series – NCS/NOAPS/NCTSS
Toyota celebrates 700th Cup race … Sunday’s Cup Series race around Naval Base Coronado will be the 700th for Toyota in the NASCAR Cup Series since its series debut in 2007. To-date, Toyota has 213 Cup Series wins, along with 185 pole positions. Denny Hamlin, who captured Toyota’s 200th Cup Series win last season, holds the record for most Cup Series wins (61) and poles (46) with Toyota.
Hamlin on a heater … With his win last Sunday at Pocono Raceway, his record-extending eighth career win at the track, Hamlin has won three consecutive races, joining his triumphs at Nashville Superspeedway and Michigan International Raceway the two weeks prior. This is the first time in his historic career Hamlin has won three straight races, and now sitting at 64 overall career wins, he now stands alone in ninth on the Cup Series all-time wins list and is 12 victories behind Dale Earnhardt Sr. for eighth. Hamlin has also further cut into the Cup Series points lead, now just 19 points behind Tyler Reddick.
LEGACY MOTOR CLUB riding momentum … With two top-five finishes by John Hunter Nemechek (fourth) and Erik Jones (sixth) at Pocono last weekend, LEGACY MOTOR CLUB is riding momentum into the summer stretch of the 2026 Cup Series season. The fourth-place finish is the best for Nemechek this season and ties his career-best finish overall. For Jones, his sixth-place finish last weekend continues his strong run of late, which also includes his runner-up finish at Michigan two weeks ago. The team will field three Camrys this weekend as seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and team owner Jimmie Johnson will make his second, and final, scheduled start of the season.
Gibbs, Reddick eager to continue road course prowess … Ty Gibbs and Reddick have been strong on road courses of late and look to continue that success on the new Naval Base Coronado circuit this weekend. Gibbs has finished inside the top-10 in four of the last six Cup Series road course races dating back to the Chicago Street Race last season, while Reddick has top-10s in the last six. Reddick also captured victory in the first road course race this season at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) back in March.
BOWTIE BULLETS:
· NASCAR’s OEMs will share the pacing duties for the San Diego Street Course race weekend, with the lineup featuring the Corvette Stingray for the Cup and O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races and the Silverado RST for the Craftsman Truck Series race.
· Chevrolet heads into the weekend undefeated in street course racing in NASCAR’s premier series, with Shane van Gisbergen (2023 and 2025) and Alex Bowman (2024) earning the victories in the series’ three Chicago Street Race events.
· In 25 NASCAR Cup Series road/street course events in the Next Gen era, Chevrolet leads the series with 18 victories – recorded by eight drivers from four different Chevrolet organizations.
· Daniel Suarez’s Coca-Cola 600 win marked Chevrolet’s fourth consecutive trip to victory lane in NASCAR’s premier series, setting the season record for the longest points-paying win streak by a single manufacturer.
· At Talladega Superspeedway, Chevrolet tallied six top-10 finishes, marking the second time this season a manufacturer has placed six cars in the top-10 of a Cup Series event. The Bowtie brand took it one step further by achieving the highest representation of different organizations within those results with five Chevrolet organizations placing drivers in the top-10.
· With seven-straight victories to start the 2026 NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series season, Chevrolet set the record for the longest season-opening streak by a single manufacturer in the division’s history.
· In 160 points-paying races in the NASCAR Cup Series Next Gen era, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 72 victories – a winning percentage of 45%.
· Chevrolet is coming off its 29th all-time sweep of the NASCAR Cup Series championship titles – capturing its 34th driver championship and 44th, and fifth consecutive, manufacturer championship in 2025.
· With its 44 NASCAR Cup Series manufacturer championships, 34 NASCAR Cup Series driver championships, and 886 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title as the winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history.
 Undefeated in the StreetsNASCAR’s brief history of street racing has seen a commanding performance by the Chevrolet camp, highlighted by an undefeated win record in the sport’s top division. In July 2023, NASCAR made its first-ever appearance on a street course with the introduction of the Chicago Street Race – ultimately marking the start of a three-race campaign at the circuit. The inaugural event turned into a career-defining moment for the three-time Supercars Champion, Shane van Gisbergen, who turned his NASCAR debut into a historic trip to victory lane. Alex Bowman’s triumph in the circuit’s 2024 event, along with a return trip to victory lane by Van Gisbergen last season, has kept Chevrolet undefeated on street courses heading into the San Diego race weekend. |
| ROAD COURSE RINGERS IN THE TRACKHOUSE STABLEThe three-driver lineup in the Trackhouse Racing stable has produced strong statistics on road and street courses in recent seasons, making the organization ones to watch for the inaugural San Diego race weekend. Since his first career win in the 2023 Chicago Street Race, Shane van Gisbergen has asserted his claim as one of the most successful road racers in NASCAR history. One month ago at Watkins Glen International, the Auckland, New Zealand, native drove his No. 97 Chevrolet to victory lane – marking his first win of the season and his seventh all-time in NASCAR’s premier series. The feat pushed him to third on the series’ all-time road course wins list, tying fellow Team Chevy driver, Chase Elliott. His short NASCAR career has also seen the driver earn five wins in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series, all of which were earned on a road or street course. Teammate, Ross Chastain, also broke through as a first-time winner at NASCAR’s highest level on a road course. In NASCAR’s annual visit to Circuit of The Americas during the 2022 season, the Alva, Florida, native took the checkered flag to not only score his first career win, but also make Trackhouse Racing a first-time winner in just the organization’s second season of competition. While still looking for his first victory at NASCAR’s highest level, rookie Connor Zilisch has already established himself as a road course ringer. His first career start in the NASCAR national ranks came in the O’Reilly Auto Parts Series at Watkins Glen International during the 2024 season – a debut that ended with a trip to victory lane. Since then, the 19-year-old Mooresville, North Carolina, native has earned 13 wins in the second-level series, with seven of those triumphs earned making left- and right-hand turns. |
