By Roy J. Akers —www.skyviewsports.net
With NASCAR racing in the 20th of 26 points races in the regular season, there are two weeks before the break the first week of August. North Wilkesboro is having its first points race in 30 years.
Time for Manufacturer News
| BLANEY SECURES FORD’S 750TH CUP WIN Ryan Blaney swept the weekend at EchoPark Speedway as he won the pole and all three stages to deliver Ford Racing its 750th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory. Blaney, who led 14 times for a race-high 171 laps, passed Carson Hocevar on the final lap to record his second win of the season and 19th of his career. The victory also extended his personal-best streak of consecutive Top 10 finishes to eight as the series heads to North Wilkesboro Speedway. There have been 91 drivers who have at least one Cup Series win with Ford, including ‘Shirtless’ Jimmy Florian, who won the first on June 25, 1950 at Dayton Speedway. Ned Jarrett has the most wins in a Ford with 43 while Bill Elliott is second with 40. Joey Logano is the winningest active driver with 35 Ford wins, which is fourth on the list. |
 FORD HISTORY AT NORTH WILKESBORO Ford has 20 career wins in the NASCAR Cup Series at NWS dating back to Buck Baker in 1955 and the most recent coming in 1995 with Mark Martin. NASCAR Hall of Famer Junior Johnson (right) leads all Blue Oval drivers with four wins, including sweeping two races each in 1958 and 1965. Three additional NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series wins came in 1995 (Mike Bliss), 1996 (Martin) and 2025 (Chandler Smith). |
 BLANEY AND GILLILAND REACHIN-SEASON CHALLENGE SEMI’S Ford Racing drivers Ryan Blaney and Todd Gilliland won their matchups last weekend and advanced to the semi-final round of the NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge. Gilliland, the 25th seed,has defeated Daniel Suarez, Carson Hocevar and Alex Bowman and will face off against Chase Elliott. Blaney, the No. 3 seed, has beaten Josh Berry, Shane Van Gisbergen and William Byron, and now faces Christopher Bell. The winner will be crowned after the Brickyard 400 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and receive $1 million. |
 LOOKING AT THE STANDINGS Blaney’s win solidified his third-place position in the overall point standings, but he has closed the gap to 41 points behind Tyler Reddick for second and 65 to leader Denny Hamlin with six races remaining in the regular season. Chris Buescher, who finished 10th last weekend, is seventh while Austin Cindric is 14th. Three-time champion Joey Logano continued his push to make the 16-driver field as his ninth-place run moved him to 17th. He trails Erik Jones for the final spot by eight points after he scored 43 points on Sunday, the third-highest total among all drivers. The Chase begins on Labor Day Weekend with the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway. |
NASCAR National Series – NCS/NCTS
Bell advances to In-Season Challenge semifinals … After last weekend’s race at EchoPark Speedway (Atlanta), Christopher Bell has advanced to the semifinals of the NASCAR Cup Series In-Season Challenge – the lone Toyota Camry XSE remaining in the tournament. Bell will go up against Ryan Blaney Sunday night at North Wilkesboro Speedway. The Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) driver has also been on a strong run of late in the Cup Series, with three consecutive top-five finishes and two consecutive runner-up results, which has propelled him up to ninth in the series point standings. Bell also won the All-Star Race which was held at North Wilkesboro last season.
Wallace makes 200th Toyota start … Sunday’s race at North Wilkesboro will be the 200th in Bubba Wallace’scareer driving a Toyota Camry. The 23XI Racing driver made his first start with the manufacturer at the 2021 Daytona 500, and has since captured three victories (Talladega 2021, Kansas 2022 and last season’s Brickyard 400), 28 top-fives, 60 top-10s, along with three pole positions, in that timespan. In three of his first five years with Toyota, Wallace made the Cup Series Playoffs and is pushing for a spot in “The Chase” this season.
Honeycutt continues impressive 2026 … With a third-place finish last weekend at Lime Rock Park, TRICON Garage’s Kaden Honeycutt added another impressive result to an already stellar 2026 Truck Series season. After 14 races, the Toyota Development driver has one win (Watkins Glen International), nine top-fives and 10 top-10s, along with three pole positions. Honeycutt sits second in the series point standings, 44 points behind the lead, as he chases a regular season title with four races remaining.
Leitz, Heim to pilot No. 1 and No. 5 Tundras … For this weekend’s Truck Series race at North Wilkesboro, Nick Leitz and Corey Heim will be behind the wheel of the No. 1 and No.5 Toyota Tundra TRD Pros, respectively, for TRICON Garage. Leitz makes his 10th career Truck Series start and second of 2026 after running the No. 5 for TRICON Garage at Daytona International Speedway to open the season. For Heim, this will be his sixth Truck start of the season, where he has three wins (Darlington Raceway, Rockingham Speedway and Michigan International Speedway), four top-fives and four top-10s. This weekend also marks Heim’s 95th career Truck Series start.
To Be Updated
