Chase Elliott qualified for the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 race with a victory at Martinsville Speedway in his last chance to advance.
That marks the first time since 2016 that a Chevrolet driver will compete for the championship in NASCAR’s top division. That was the year Jimmie Johnson won his record-tying seventh title.
Elliott isn’t the only representative of the bowtie brand competing during Championship Weekend. Three Chevrolet drivers qualified for the Championship 4 in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series—Brett Moffitt, Sheldon Creed and Zane Smith—all representing GMS Racing.
Two Camaro drivers are racing for the NASCAR Xfinity Series title on Saturday, Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports and Justin Haley of Kaulig Racing. All told, six of the 12 drivers competing for titles this weekend driver Chevrolets.
“We’re really happy this time around,” said Jim Campbell, vice president, performance and motorsports for Chevrolet. “We’re competing in all three of the series, Truck, Xfinity and Cup—three, two, one—three Chevy drivers in the truck race, two in the Xfinity on Saturday and obviously Chase Elliott on Sunday. So three, two, one—ready to go.
In contrast, Cup contender Denny Hamlin is the only Toyota driver in any of the three Championship 4 races.
“For Toyota, this is not really the season that we would expect it to be for us, only having one car in the Cup championship, and then no one competing for a championship in Trucks and Xfinity,” said Ed Laukes, outgoing group vice president of marketing for Toyota North America.
“That’s really not how we normally would end a season. Maybe that’s one of the reasons why I’m retiring, I don’t know.”
Greg is the author of "The Nuts and Bolts of NASCAR: The Definitive Viewers' Guide to Big-Time Stock Car Auto Racing" and has been published in major publications across the country including the Los Angeles Times, the Cleveland Plain Dealer and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He was also a contributor to Chicken Soup for the NASCAR Soul, published in 2010, and the Christmas edition in 2016. He wrote as the NASCAR, Formula 1, Auto Reviews and National Veterans Affairs Examiner for Examiner.com and has appeared on Fox News. He holds a BS degree in communications, a Masters degree in psychology and is currently a PhD candidate majoring in psychology. He is currently the weekend Motorsports Editor for Autoweek.
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