Summit Modifieds Begin 36-Race Season with Six Races in Week 1Tours’ longest season in history begins Tuesday, July 15 at Brownstown Speedway in Indiana BROWNSTOWN, IN – June 14, 2021 – Thirty-six races in its 36th year of operation. The 2021 DIRTcar Summer Nationals Late Model Hell Tour is finally here. Alongside the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals, setting out on their 11th season of competition, the Summer Nationals Late Models kickoff the tour this Tuesday night, June 15, in Indiana at the quarter-mile Brownstown Speedway. $5,000 is on the line for the Late Model Feature winner, while the new tour minimum $1,500 will go to the UMP Modified winner. Week 1 ScheduleTuesday, June 15 | Brownstown Speedway | Brownstown, INWednesday, June 16 | Peoria Speedway | Peoria, ILThursday, June 17 | Kankakee County Speedway | Kankakee, ILFriday, June 18 | Tri-City Speedway | Pontoon Beach, ILSaturday, June 19 | Fairbury Speedway | Fairbury, ILSunday, June 20 | Plymouth Speedway | Plymouth, IN (Related: SUMMER’S ALMOST HERE: Hell Tour Regulars Speak on New Format, Purse, Tracks) Don’t forget – each and every Summer Nationals and Summit Modified event will be broadcasted live this summer on DIRTVision presented by Drydene. Get a FAST PASS subscription today and watch the 2021 Hell Tour unfold wherever you are. Here are the drivers to watch for and the storylines to follow in Week #1… WHOLE NEW BALLGAME – The Summer Nationals and Summit Modifieds both take on a new championship chase format to decide this year’s champions. The Late Model tour will take a driver’s best 31 finishes over the 36 races scheduled into the points standings, meaning championship chasers will either have some of their worst finishes dropped or be able to sit some race out, depending on the number of races that are completed by season’s end. For their efforts, a new points fund system has been implemented that could award the champion a potential $36,000. For each race completed above 25, an additional $1,000 will be added to the champion’s check, making the potential for $36,000 to be awarded to the victor. VIEW FULL CHAMPIONSHIP PAYOUT CHART The Modifieds will stick with their $5,000-to-win championship check and take each driver’s best 12 finishes of the 36 scheduled, breaking away from the traditional eight-best finishes. SQUIRREL ON DEFENSE – Four-time and defending Summer Nationals Late Model champion Brian Shirley gets set to defend his title in the kickoff at Brownstown Tuesday night. Shirley, of Chatham, IL, is coming off a solid showing at Eldora Speedway this past weekend, where the DIRTcar Late Models ran four consecutive nights in back-to-back Dirt Late Model Dreams. Shirley made all but one Feature and posted a week-best finish of fifth on Wednesday night. In last year’s kickoff at Brownstown, Squirrel dropped out 21 laps in while running sixth with apparent mechanical issues. However, he’s shown his prowess with the tour at the quarter-mile before, with one win that came back in 2008 – ending a then seven-year tour absence from the facility. CHASING FOURTEEN – There’s only two drivers on the DIRTcar UMP Modified scene with ten national points victories or more at this point in the season. One of them is the defending DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals champion, Nick Hoffman. Hoffman, of Mooresville, NC, won his second consecutive and third overall Summit Modified championship last year on the back of 13 Feature wins in 24 races – tying a record he set the year previous. This year, he shoots to break that record by reaching 14 Feature wins. He’ll have 36 opportunities to get it done, compared to only 28 scheduled races last year. He’s coming off a stellar weekend at Eldora as well, piloting a DIRTcar Late Model for Mahomet, IL-based Hatcher’s Motorsports. Hoffman qualified for all four Dream Features he attempted, posting two top-10 finishes over the four-day stretch. STAND UP 10 – A feeling of relief ascended over the Eldora Speedway grandstands and pit area Friday night as Jason Feger emerged unharmed from his wrecked racecar after a vicious crash in Turn 1. Feger, of Bloomington, IL, made heavy contact with Kyle Strickler and was sent flipping wildly, badly damaging his MB Customs #25. Fortunately, he was able to pull out a backup car and finish the weekend, which he will start his 2021 Summer Nationals campaign with on Tuesday. The 2010 Hell Tour champion claimed two victories on the circuit last year and looked very strong since making the switch to the MB Customs Race Car. ON TOUR – Several drivers on both the Late Model and Modified side of the tour have revealed their intentions of following at least the first week of the schedules – many of which are expected to follow the tours in their entirety. Late Models: Brian Shirley, Bobby Pierce, Tanner English, Devin Moran, Ashton Winger, Bob Gardner, Billy Moyer Jr., Taylor Scheffler, Joe Godsey, Tim Lance and Tim Lance Jr. UMP Modifieds: Nick Hoffman, Hunt Gossum, Kyle Hammer and Steven Brooks

DIRTcar Summer Nationals is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, Chevy Performance, DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), FireAde, Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), Indiana Decal Company, Intercomp, iRacing, Racing Electronics, SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), Summit Racing Equipment, and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Beyea Custom Headers, COMP Cams, Drydene, Fox Factory, Hoosier Racing Tire, MSD, Quarter Master, Summit Racing Equipment, VP Racing Fuels, and Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum).

Summit Modified Nationals is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including : Summit Racing Equipment, Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, Chevy Performance, DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), FireAde, Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), Indiana Decal Company, Intercomp, iRacing, Racing Electronics, SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Bassett Racing Wheel, Bell Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, COMP Cams, Drydene, Fast Shafts, Fox Factory, Hoosier Racing Tire, Jerovetz Motorsports Shock Service, K1 Race Gear, KSE Racing Products, MSD, Mulit FireX, Schoenfeld Headers, Summit Racing Equipment, Velocita USA, VP Racing Fuels, Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum), and Xceldyne.

The Greatest Show on Dirt Visits 34, Dubuque & Beaver Dam This WeekendWEST BURLINGTON, IA – June 14, 2021 – After sweeping through Knoxville, there’s no slowing down for The Greatest Show on Dirt.This weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series prepares for a triple-header through the states of Iowa and Wisconsin.The Outlaws are back at West Burlington’s 34 Raceway for a Thursday night under the lights, then it’s off to the Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway for the first time ever on Friday night, and finally the weekend concludes with a return to Wisconsin’s Beaver Dam Raceway on Saturday evening.Thursday at 34 (BUY TICKETS) Friday at Dubuque (BUY TICKETS) Saturday at Beaver Dam (BUY TICKETS)Here are some of the top storylines to follow:PARITY AT 34: Thursday’s trip to West Burlington, IA’s 34 Raceway marks the sixth appearance by the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. A different winner has found victory lane in every race giving us five winners in five shows at the 1/3-mile oval.Of active drivers, Donny Schatz and Parker Price-Miller are the only two with World of Outlaws wins at the facility. Schatz won in 2014 and he’ll be back on Thursday chasing his first win of the 2021 season aboard the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing #15. PPM will enter this week’s race as the defending winner and a chance at his third career victory with his third car owner, now driving his own #19.FIRST TIME EVER: Since 2019, the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series has been trying to race at Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway each season. Unfortunately, on each previous occasions, the Iowa fans never got to see The Greatest Show on Dirt. Rain washed out the event in 2019 and COVID-19 protocols cancelled the race in 2020. In 2021, we’re bound and determined to finally host the first-ever World of Outlaws event at the Dubuque 3/8-mile, which comes this Friday night.SWEET’S SAVING GRACE: It’s been more than a month since Brad Sweet last appeared on the podium of a World of Outlaws Feature, precisely nine races actually. His best finish over that nine-race stretch has been fifth, but his low points have 12th & 14th at Eldora and most recently a season-worst 16th at Knoxville. His struggles have allowed both David Gravel and Carson Macedo to close in on the championship battle.The Grass Valley, CA native heads to Beaver Dam Raceway on Saturday, where he’s dominated in the past. The Big Cat has four total wins at the Wisconsin track, tied for most all-time with his former Kasey Kahne Racing teammate Daryn Pittman. Recently, the NAPA Auto Parts #49 has topped three-straight Features at the 1/3-mile, including a weekend sweep at the joint last June.A return to form this weekend at Beaver Dam could be crucial to Sweet’s championship hopes and his momentum heading into the “Summer of Money.”WAYNE WANTS A WIN: Oklahoma City’s Wayne Johnson has driven to victory lane at two of the three tracks on this weekend’s slate. The 2020 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year is still chasing his first-career World of Outlaws win, something he hopes to check off his bucket list this weekend.The pilot of the Two-C Racing #2C has previously won at 34 Raceway in a 2015 National Sprint League race and he topped a 2019 Sprint Invaders show at Dubuque Fairgrounds Speedway. Through 30 races this year, Johnson sits 12th in the championship standings with two top-10 finishes to his credit.BACK-TO-BACK: For the first time in his career, Carson Macedo has won back-to-back World of Outlaws Features. Coming off a weekend sweep at Iowa’s Knoxville Raceway, the Lemoore, CA native is carrying more confidence than ever inside the cockpit of the Jason Johnson Racing #41.With Philip Dietz on the wrenches and in the ownership role along with wife Brooke, the JJR squad is thriving as much as ever. Crew members Clyde Knipp and Nate Repetz, along with the trust and faith from the Johnson family, has the group chemistry meshing more than ever before.Macedo’s five-win campaign is already the most of his young World of Outlaws career, and he could add even more this weekend.POINTS TIGHTENING: In part due to Brad Sweet’s recent struggles, the championship chase is as close as it’s been since March. The top-three are separated by exactly 60 points and the top-six are all within 200 of each other.Sweet’s KKR #49 continues to hold the edge with 4,188 points, but closely following him is David Gravel’s Big Game Motorsports #2 (-48 PTS), Carson Macedo’s Jason Johnson Racing #41 (-60 PTS), Donny Schatz’s Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing #15 (-134 PTS), Sheldon Haudenschild’s Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing #17 (-138 PTS), and Logan Schuchart’s Shark Racing #1S (-166 PTS).SUMMER OF MONEY: This weekend’s triple-header offers up some crucial confidence and momentum to be found heading into the luxurious “Summer of Money.” On Sunday, the season’s officially change and the most lucrative portion of the World of Outlaws campaign begins. A total of nine events over that period will pay out more than $20,000-to-win.here’s the Huset’s 50 paying $30,000-to-win on June 22, the Jackson Nationals paying $50,000-to-win on June 24, the Kings Royal paying $175,000-to-win TWICE on July 15 and July 17, the Silver Cup paying $25,000-to-win on July 20, the Summer Nationals paying $20,000-to-win on July 24, the Ironman 55 paying $20,000-to-win on August 7, the Knoxville Nationals paying $150,000-to-win on August 14, and the Skagit Nationals paying $25,000-to-win on September 5.Following the May 21 Feature at Attica (OH) Raceway Park, Aaron Reutzel drove his race car through the pit area at an excessive and unacceptable speed, which is a direct violation of the World of Outlaws rule book. He was assessed a fine and placed on probation for the remainder of the 2021 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series season.This Week at a Glance – When and WhereThursday, June 17 at 34 Raceway in West Burlington, IA Friday, June 18 at Dubuque Fairgrounds in Dubuque, IA Saturday, June 19 at Beaver Dam Raceway in Beaver Dam, WIOn the Internet World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series Twitter – @WorldofOutlaws Instagram – @WoOSprint Facebook – Facebook.com/WorldofOutlawsSprintCarSeries YouTube – Youtube.com/WorldofOutlaws DIRTVision – DIRTVision.com – Platinum annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/monthAround the Turn: Following this weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will roll northwest to visit River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND on Friday, June 4, then Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, MN on Saturday, June 5.NOS ENERGY DRINK FEATURE WINNERS (10 Drivers): 9 wins – Brad Sweet, Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #49 5 wins – David Gravel, Big Game Motorsports #2 5 wins – Carson Macedo, Jason Johnson Racing #41 3 wins – Sheldon Haudenschild, Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing #17 2 wins – Aaron Reutzel, Roth Motorsports #83 2 wins – Logan Schuchart, Shark Racing #1S 1 win – James McFadden, Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #9 1 win – Brent Marks, Brent Marks Racing #19M 1 win – Dave Blaney, Dave Blaney #10 1 win – Kyle Larson, Paul Silva #57FEATURE LAPS LED (20 Drivers): 202 laps – Brad Sweet 152 laps – Sheldon Haudenschild 108 laps – David Gravel 105 laps – Aaron Reutzel 89 laps – Donny Schatz 68 laps – Logan Schuchart 57 laps – Carson Macedo 40 laps – Kerry Madsen 31 laps – James McFadden 27 laps – Sam Hafertepe Jr. 25 laps – Kyle Larson 19 laps – Tyler Courtney 17 laps – Brent Marks 10 laps – Jacob Allen & Brock Zearfoss 3 laps – Ian Madsen 1 lap – Kasey Kahne, Kraig Kinser, Brandon Spithaler, Dave BlaneySLICK WOODY’S QUICKTIME AWARDS (13 Drivers): 8 QuickTimes – David Gravel 4 QuickTimes – Sheldon Haudenschild 3 QuickTimes – Brad Sweet 2 QuickTimes – James McFadden, Aaron Reutzel, Logan Schuchart, Cory Eliason, Giovanni Scelzi, Sam Hafertepe Jr. 1 QuickTime – Carson Macedo, Danny Dietrich, Anthony Macri, Kasey KahneDRYDENE HEAT RACE WINNERS (26 Drivers) 14 Heat Wins – David Gravel 10 Heat Wins – Aaron Reutzel, Carson Macedo 8 Heat Wins – Sheldon Haudenschild, Logan Schuchart 6 Heat Wins – James McFadden, Donny Schatz 4 Heat Wins – Giovanni Scelzi, Brian Brown 3 Heat Wins – Brad Sweet, Brock Zearfoss, Ian Madsen, Sam Hafertepe Jr. 2 Heat Wins – Jacob Allen, Kasey Kahne, Kraig Kinser, Jason Sides, Kyle Larson 1 Heat Win –  Danny Dietrich, Hunter Schuerenberg, Tyler Courtney, Lance Dewease, Anthony Macri, Brandon Spithaler, Kerry Madsen, Parker Price-MillerPODIUM FINISHES (22 Drivers): 14 Podiums – Brad Sweet 10 Podiums – Sheldon Haudenschild, Carson Macedo 8 Podiums – Donny Schatz, Logan Schuchart 7 Podiums – David Gravel 6 Podiums – Aaron Reutzel 5 Podiums – Brent Marks 3 Podiums – James McFadden, Giovanni Scelzi 2 Podiums – Cory Eliason, Lance Dewease, Anthony Macri, Kerry Madsen 1 Podium – Kraig Kinser, Danny Dietrich, Tyler Courtney, Justin Peck, Brian Brown, Anthony Macri, Dave Blaney, Kyle Larson, Sam Hafertepe Jr.2021 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Schedule & WinnersNo. / Day, Date / Track / Location / Winner (Total Wins) 1. Fri, Feb. 5 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Brad Sweet (1) 2. Sun, Feb. 7 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Logan Schuchart (1) 3. Fri, March 5 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Carson Macedo (1) 4. Sat, March 6 / East Bay Raceway Park / Tampa, FL / Aaron Reutzel (1) 5. Fri, March 12 / Magnolia Motor Speedway / Columbus, MS / Sheldon Haudenschild (1) 6. Sat, March 13 / The Rev / Monroe, LA / David Gravel (1) 7. Fri, March 19 / Cotton Bowl Speedway / Paige, TX / Sheldon Haudenschild (2) 8. Sat, March 20 / Cotton Bowl Speedway / Paige, TX / Brad Sweet (2) 9. Sat, March 27 / Lake Ozark Speedway / Eldon, MO / Brad Sweet (3) 10. Fri, April 2 / I-55 Raceway / Pevely, MO / Brad Sweet (4) 11. Sat, April 3 / I-55 Raceway / Pevely, MO / Brad Sweet (5) 12. Fri, April 9 / Kokomo Speedway / Kokomo, IN / James McFadden (1) 13. Sat, April 10 / Tri-State Speedway / Haubstadt, IN / Carson Macedo (2) 14. Fri, April 22 / Bristol Motor Speedway / Bristol, TN / David Gravel (2) 15. Sun, April 24 / Bristol Motor Speedway / Bristol, TN / David Gravel (3) 16. Thur, April 29 / Jacksonville Speedway / Jacksonville, IL / Brad Sweet (6) 17. Fri, April 30 / I-70 Motorsports Park / Odessa, MO / Brad Sweet (7) 18. Sat, May 1 / I-70 Motorsports Park / Odessa, MO / Brad Sweet (8) 19. Sat, May 8 / Eldora Speedway / Rossburg, OH / Brent Marks (1) 20. Sat, May 8 / Eldora Speedway / Rossburg, OH / Sheldon Haudenschild (3) 21. Wed, May 12 / Lincoln Speedway / Abbottstown, PA / Brad Sweet (9) 22. Fri, May 14 / Williams Grove Speedway / Mechanicsburg, PA / Carson Macedo (3) 23. Sat, May 15 / Williams Grove Speedway / Mechanicsburg, PA / Aaron Reutzel (2) 24. Tues, May 18 / Bridgeport Speedway / Swedesboro, NJ / Logan Schuchart (2) 25. Fri, May 21 / Attica Raceway Park / Attica, OH / David Gravel (4) 26. Sat, May 22 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH / Dave Blaney (1) 27. Mon, May 31 / Lawrenceburg Speedway / Lawrenceburg, IN / Kyle Larson (1) 28. Sat, June 5 / Granite City Speedway /Sauk Rapids, MN / David Gravel (5) 29. Fri, June 11 / Knoxville Raceway / Knoxville, IA / Carson Macedo (4) 30. Sat, June 12 / Knoxville Raceway / Knoxville, IA / Carson Macedo (5)Photo – Jared Buckallew

(6/11/21 – Alex Nieten) Watsonville, CA … The Kaeding name has been synonymous with success in California for many years, and Tim Kaeding out-dueled his brother, Bud, on Friday night at Ocean Speedway to continue the family’s winning ways by earning his third Pombo-Sargent Classic victory with the NARC King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Cars.

“Congrats to Bud, he ran a hell of a race. He just got snookered by the old man,” an elated TK joked in victory lane.

Tim’s win was his first with the series since August of 2019, and it made for the fourth different winner in as many NARC-KWS races this year.

Mitchell Faccinto led the field to green and paced the field early on with third row starters Bud Kaeding and Justin Sanders in pursuit. A caution after ten laps had been completed bunched the field back up for what would be a chaotic restart.

Bud used an excellent jump to slide Faccinto into turn one. Faccinto attempted to turn back underneath Bud, but he found Justin Sanders’ car sliding up the track, and the two collided in the middle and came to a stop in turn two.

Their misfortune proved to be the Kaedings’ gain as Bud and Tim inherited the top two spots for the ensuing restart.

What followed was a brotherly battle through lap traffic as the two raced for the Kaeding family’s 17th overall Pombo-Sargent Classic win. Tim seized on a key opportunity when Bud got trapped behind a slower car on lap seventeen and snuck by coming out of fourth corner in his Bates-Hamilton Motorsports Vinyltech/R&B Company No 42. Bud launched a huge slider into turn one the next lap, but Tim countered with a crossover and put a little distance between himself and the 69 car.

“We built a great racecar,” Tim said, crediting his BHR team and machine. “Josh, Bobby, Roger, everybody that’s associated with this forty-two car.”

A few more late race cautions brought the field back together, but with Bud, Shane Golobic and DJ Netto waging war late for the runner-up spot, Tim was able to cruise to a comfortable win in what he knew was one quick machine.

“This thing was bullet-fast,” Tim said. “It was fast all night long,”

Bud Kaeding, Shane Golobic, DJ Netto and Sean Becker completed the top-5.  The remainder of the top ten featured Kurt Nelson, Sean Watts, Colby Copeland, Austin McCarl and Ryan Robinson.

Ryan Robinson earned his first ARP Fast Time of the year by breaking the Ocean Speedway track record with a blistering 10.867.

FUJITSU FEATURE EVENT (30 laps) – 1. 42X Tim Kaeding 2. 69 Bud Kaeding 3. 17W Shane Golobic 4. 88N DJ Netto 5. 83V Sean Becker 6. 72W Kurt Nelson 7. 98 Sean Watts 8. 76 Colby Copeland 9. 21 Austin McCarl 10. Ryan Robinson 11. 01 Mitchel Moles 12. 46JR Joel Myers Jr. 13. 98X Bryce Eames 14. 3M Adam Kaeding 15. 88 Kyle Offill 16. 22 Keith Day Jr.  17. 26 Billy Aton 18. 2 J.J. Ringo 19. 78 Mark Barosso 20. 37 Mitchell Faccinto 21. 16A Justin Sanders 22. 41 Dominic Scelzi 23. 09S Geoffrey Strole 24. 34 Ryon Nelson

HOOSIER TIRE LAPS LEADERS: Faccinto 1-10, Bud Kaeding, 11-16, Tim Kaeding 17-30

SWIFT METAL FINISHING HARDCHARGER: Sean Watts 19th to 7th.

ARP FAST QUALIFIER (24 cars): Ryan Robinson 10.867 seconds (New Track Record)

BROWN & MILLER HEAT RACE #1 (10 laps): Austin McCarl, Justin Sanders, Ryan Robinson, Sean Becker, Mitchel Moles, Joel Myers Jr., Adam Kaeding

FUJITSU GENERAL USA HEAT RACE #2 (10 laps): Mitchell Faccinto, DJ Netto, Bud Kaeding, Dominic Scelzi, JJ Ringo, Keith Day Jr., Sean Watts, Mark Barroso

FLORACING.COM HEAT RACE #3 (10 laps): Shane Golobic, Tim Kaeding, Ryon Nelson, Kurt Nelson, Colby Copeland, Kyle Offill, Geoffrey Strole, Bryce Eames

SUNNY VALLEY “POWERED BY BACON” DASH (6 laps): Mitchell Faccinto, Ryan Robinson, Shane Golobic, Tim Kaeding. Bud Kaeding, Justin Sanders

Madden, Sheppard, Briggs and more get ready for Stateline, Thunder Mountain, and Selinsgrove

CONCORD, NC – JUNE 14, 2021 – The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models is gearing up for its biggest weekend of the season, so far. 

The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet kickoff a Northeast swing through New York and Pennsylvania, with three 40-lap Morton Buildings Features paying $10,000-to-win, at three different tracks. 

It starts on Thursday, June 17, when the Series visits Stateline Speedway in Busti, NY. It’s the first of two trips to the Empire state in 2021. 

The Series moves South on Friday, June 18, to Thunder Mountain Speedway in Knox Dale, PA for the 11th annual Connor Bobik Memorial. 

The jam-packed weekend finishes with the “Late Model National Open” at Selinsgrove Speedway in Selinsgrove, PA on Saturday, June 19.

If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision with the annual Platinum FAST PASS subscription for $299/year or the monthly FAST PASS Subscription for $39/month.

Here’s a look at some of the storylines heading into this weekend:

Boom’s Backyard: It’s always exciting to race in front of your home crowd. Boom Briggs has that chance this weekend since Stateline Speedway is 15 minutes from his Bear Lake, PA home. 

Briggs finished ninth the last time the Series raced there in 2019. 

He’s also had success at Thunder Mountain Speedway. Boom has two wins at the track in non-sanctioned events and had a top-10 last year in World of Outlaws competition.  

If Briggs wins this weekend, not only would it be his first home state win, it would be his first trip to Victory Lane with the Series.  

Dream-Like Momentum: The driver with arguably the most momentum heading into this weekend is Chris Madden. 

“Smokey” finished second at the 26th annual “Dirt Late Model Dream,” leading a few laps before getting passed by the winner, Brandon Overton. 

While the Gray Court, SC driver has been good on all types of tracks in 2021, he has two wins on 1/2-mile tracks like Selinsgrove Speedway this year. 

He also has past success at Selinsgrove, winning the “Late Model National Open” in 2018. 

Madden is trying to chase down three-time and defending champion Brandon Sheppard in the standings. “Smokey” is 46 points behind and hopes to make up some ground with his fifth Series win of the season. 

A win this weekend would give him 33 World of Outlaws victories, tying him for seventh on the all-time win list, with 2004 Series champion Scott Bloomquist, and 2006 champion Tim McCreadie. 

Number 1 Focus: While Brandon Sheppard isn’t having the season many would expect, he’s still at the top of the standings heading into the weekend. 

The reigning champion has held the points lead since Bristol, on the strength of consistent finishes. 

“The Rocket Shepp” had back-to-back top five’s during the Indiana swing, including a runner-up finish at Circle City Raceway. 

Despite the consistency, Sheppard still only has one win this season.  

The good news for the New Berlin, IL driver is the Series returns to a track he’s had success at. Sheppard won one of the two stops at Thunder Mountain Speedway last year. It’s also a track like Mississippi Thunder Speedway, where he won his 70th career World of Outlaws Feature. 

Sheppard hopes to make up ground in his quest for history. He’s chasing Josh Richards for most wins all-time (78) and most Series championships (4). 

Rise of The Rookies: While Sheppard and Madden are turning heads, another battle to keep an eye on is the chase for Rookie of the Year. 

Tyler Bruening leads Ryan Gustin by 108 points heading into this weekend. 

The two Iowa drivers have similar numbers in 2021. Both have four top-fives, and Bruening (12) has one more top-10 than Gustin (11). 

Each driver had a podium finish during the Indiana swing. Gustin finished third at Circle City Raceway, and Bruening finished third at Plymouth Speedway. 

Both also hope they can capitalize on momentum from the “Dirt Late Model Dream” at Eldora Speedway. 

“The Reaper” had a second-place finish during one of Friday’s preliminary Features, while Bruening gave a thrilling performance by making Saturday’s “Dream” after starting last in the B-Feature. Bruening finished 12th in the 100-lap race. 

Bruening and Gustin are each searching for their elusive first Series victory. 

When and Where

June 17: Stateline Speedway, Busti, NY

June 18: Thunder Mountain Speedway, Knox Dale, PA

June 19: Selinsgrove Speedway, Selinsgrove, PA

About the tracks

Stateline Speedway is a 1/3-Mile semi-banked 

Thunder Mountain Speedway is a 3/8-Mile semi-banked oval 

Selinsgrove Speedway is a 1/2-mile oval 

PREVIOUS STATELINE SPEEDWAY WINNERS

2019- Max Blair on Sept. 19
2018- Brandon Sheppard on June 14
2013- Shane Clanton on June 1
2006- Dick Barton on July 1
2005- John Blankenship on July 2

PREVIOUS THUNDER MOUNTAIN SPEEDWAY WINNERS

2020- Brandon Sheppard on Sept. 26
2020- Scott Bloomquist on Sept. 25

PREVIOUS SELINSGROVE SPEEDWAY WINNERS

2019- Darrell Lanigan Sept. 21
2018- Chris Madden on Sept. 22
2017- Jeff Rine on Sept. 3
2016- Billy Moyer Jr. on Sept. 4
2015- Darrell Lanigan on Sept. 6
2014- Darrell Lanigan on Aug. 31
2014- Tim McCreadie on Aug. 30
2013- Darrell Lanigan on Sept. 1
2013- Greg Satterlee on Aug. 31

June 14, 2021

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Quick Lane Tire and Auto Center Mustang didn’t have quite enough speed to race their way into Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway. But their fans had stepped up and voted DiBenedetto into the non-points extravaganza, so he was able to join the 21-driver starting field and wound up finishing the 100-lap affair in 17^th place.

DiBenedetto started the night by taking the green flag for the NASCAR Open from third place.

That race, divided into three segments, two 20 lap segments followed by a 10 lap segment, offered the winner of each segment a berth in the All-Star race. He ran in the top five throughout the Open, but came short of winning a segment. He finished fourth in the first round, third in the second and second in the third.

Then the results of the fan vote were announced.
 
“I’m really thankful to the fans who voted us in,” DiBenedetto said. “That was really cool for all of us, pretty special. We were up against some good competition on that.”
 
Like the Open, the All-Star Race proved to be one in which track position was critical.
 
Because the drivers who advanced to the All-Star Race from the Open had to start in the rear of the pack, they were at a disadvantage from the start. DiBenedetto ran near the back of the 21-driver field for most of the first two Rounds of the All-Star race.
 
“We didn’t have great speed but we were able to hang on pretty good when we had track position,” he said, adding that when he did get to start up front he could stay there.
 
In the third 15-lap Round of the All-Star race, the line-up was set by a full-field inversion of the previous segment, and DiBenedetto started second.
 
He got the lead just after the drop of the green flag, led the first six laps and finished second in that segment.
 
DiBenedetto started eighth in the fourth Round, after a partial inversion, and ran as high as fourth before finishing eighth.
 
In the fifth Round, at 30 laps the longest of the night, he made his mandatory four-tire pit stop after just two laps but a slow stop cost him valuable track position, and he finished 19^th. He gained two spots in the final 10-lap run and was scored 17^th for the night.
 
“Once we lost track position, I couldn’t do much in the dirty air,” he said. “But, overall it was a good night, especially winning the fan vote.
 

NASCAR CUP SERIES TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT JUNE 13, 2021
 KYLE LARSON WINS MILLION-DOLLAR NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE FORT WORTH, TEXAS (June 13, 2021) – Kyle Larson took the checkered flag and the $1 million prize when he drove his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 1LE to victory lane in the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway. The 28-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver won the first and final rounds of the unique All-Star format to score his second-career All-Star win in three seasons. The triumph marks Larson’s third consecutive, and fourth NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) victory thus far in 2021. The annual, non-points paying race made its debut at the 1.5-mile Texas oval for the first time in the event’s history. Larson’s victory in the six-round, 100-lap race gave Chevrolet it’s 20th All-Star win.The triumph marked the 11th victory in the prestigious All-Star event for Hendrick Motorsports, more than any other team in NASCAR’s premier series.  All four Hendrick Motorsports drivers claimed All-Star round wins with Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE victorious in Round 3; William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE in Round 4; and Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE winning Round 5. Elliott finished third, Bowman finished sixth, and Byron finished seventh in the final order. Kurt Busch drove his No. 1 GEARWRENCH Camaro ZL1 1LE to a 10th-place finish to give Team Chevy five of the top-10 finishing positions.  Elliott’s No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports pit crew also pocketed a $100,000 bonus for recording the fastest service during the mandatory four-tire pit stop in Round 5. Brad Keselowski (Ford) was second, Joey Logano (Ford) finished third, and Ryan Blaney (Ford) rounded out the top-5 overall. The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Nashville Superspeedway with the Ally 400 on Sunday, June 20 at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript: 
THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by the winner of tonight’s NASCAR All-Star Race, and that is Kyle Larson. Kyle, just a quick opener, lots of rounds, lots of inversions but also lots of action, lots of passing, which was the reason for those rounds and inversions. Exciting race. Congratulations. Please take us through the action tonight. KYLE LARSON: Yeah, first off, I’m just glad Brandon Overton wasn’t here to take any more of our money. He was really good this week at Eldora, so good to get a win in something. Yeah, no, it was fun, I thought. That first segment there I thought I kind of fell back to third maybe, second or third, and I was like, man, it’s Texas, it’s going to be hard to pass. But was able to get to the lead again, win that segment, and then I was like, okay, I think I’ve got a good car to be able to drive up, and that was not the case. I was really tight in traffic, and we had to take a really big swing at it. The third round I actually went backwards in the second one so we took a huge swing at it, and I’m not really sure what happened that segment. But anyways, after that one, we kept making huge swings, and then I noticed that the guys who had finished up in front and started in the back of the invert didn’t move forward, so I was like, well, we’re probably not bad in points here. Then for that fourth one, I knew as long as I finished second I was going to be second points lineup for the fifth round there, and that worked out good. We were able to get out and get running and stretched out and ended up lining us up for third going into that final stage. I definitely wanted to be third because I wanted to be able to choose the outside. I feel like you have more options when you go there. That restart just worked out perfect where Chase kind of got choked up and I was able to get to his back bumper and push him past the 12 to get him a little bit clearer, and he kind of shaded left a little bit much, and I poked through the outside and had about — almost all fours but both right sides above where we had been running and I kind of eyeballed it under yellow and I was like, you know what, we have a 10-lap run and there’s no points on the line, I’m going to go for it if I get the chance, and if I wreck, I wreck. But I think there will be enough grip. It worked out there was. Yeah, that was just really cool. Q.With this format, were you able to get in any sort of a rhythm? Were you confused? It seemed a little disjointed watching it. Did you feel there was a flow?KYLE LARSON: So I honestly looking at the format before I got out there, like you said, I thought they were going to be too short of ones where you couldn’t get into a flow and you couldn’t really pass.I think at least for me, when it strings out, I can pass people easier that way, but the drafts were so big that you could make up ground for, gosh, 10 laps or so, and then it seemed like people — your tires would start fading and it got harder to pass. I don’t know what other people think. I actually kind of enjoyed it. I don’t know if this format, I don’t know if this is an event now we’re going to take to other tracks each year or not, but I don’t know if this is a format that will work at every track, but I feel like for Texas it worked, and I think the mandatory green flag stop at the end was kind of cool, the inverts were nice, not knowing exactly what the invert number was going to be kept you wanting to progress even if you were anywhere inside the top 12. You wanted to progress.I thought it was okay. I don’t know what the other competitors and fans thought of it. And you, Bob. Q.Are you concerned at all about your teammates thinking you’re winning too much? If you know what I mean by that. Are you concerned that they’ll get frustrated that they have the same equipment and you’re beating them?KYLE LARSON: I don’t know. I mean, who’s to say? I think for me, I mean, I guess I’m the one winning so I’ve got a different view of it, but our team, our overall Hendrick Motorsports is winning. When William won Homestead I was pumped; when Alex has gotten his couple wins I’ve been pumped. Even getting beat by him at Dover, I was excited for him. When Chase won at COTA, I was in position to win the race and the rain came out, and I was still happy for him and the team. As long as our organization is winning, I’m cool with it, and so far I think we all are, as well. If we can keep running good and working together, we’ll be — all four of us will be hard to beat. So we’ve just got to keep that up. We have talks about it throughout the week, and yeah, I think those are great conversations to have and get ahead of things. Like I said, I enjoy racing with my teammates. We race hard together. I thought we raced great today to kind of set us up to be up in the front, to give at least three opportunities to win this race going into that final 10 laps. Yeah, I think we’ve worked well together. Obviously it’s proven, we’ve all been up front these last month and a half or so. Q.Brandon Overton won 273,000. You won over a million and didn’t have to work two nights for it.When you got out of the car you seemed happier. I haven’t seen you this happy since winning the Chili Bowl. I’m just kind of wondering what was it about this event? I know you like big events and I know you like big checks, but what was it just that had you so elated when you stepped out of the car?KYLE LARSON: Well, I think because there was points in the race that I didn’t think I was going to win. I think through the second and third rounds there, I was like, you know what, I’m just out here logging laps, I’m not going to be able to win tonight. My car is not driving nearly as good. I’m getting passed by people. I can’t pass cars that we lapped typically. I was like, there’s no way. But then I kind of got that glimmer of hope when I looked up and I noticed that the 18 and the 9 hadn’t passed anybody in that one stage, so I was like, we’re going to line up front, and now that I ran that whatever segment that was where I was kind of towards the front, I was like, you know what, my car is getting better. So then yeah, I think I was so excited because there was a while where I didn’t think I’d win, and then to go and steal it there in a shootout from Chase Elliott, who’s to me in my opinion like the most aggressive and best restarter — one of the best restarters, especially from the front row. That was really cool. And to win a lot of money is awesome, too. Q.Also curious about the PJ1. You really used it to your advantage except when you broke the draft on Keselowski to really jump out and give an advantage for him. But the PJ1 really seemed to come in and be the place — it seemed like the groove to be in tonight.KYLE LARSON: Yeah, yeah. I saw Dale Jr., I think he tweeted something about maybe it’s time to either not put it down or potentially move it up the racetrack, and I would kind of agree with that now after running. It gets so grippy, and we know that it’s got so much grip, I think it’s almost too low and too fast in 1 and 2. 3 and 4, I don’t know if we’ll be able to move up much more than where we were at already.I think for sure I would like to see coming back in the fall — I don’t really know what the weather will be like. If it’s weather, then yeah, for sure I think we probably need to move it up some, but yeah, it was a ton of grip up there for sure. 3 and 4 it’s so easy to run that you don’t really even notice the VHT. Q.Your teammates may or may not be frustrated, but it seems like your competitors. Brad Keselowski says you guys are too fast. How do you respond to a competitor saying things like that?KYLE LARSON: I don’t know. I’m not the one that works on the car, so I think that’s a big credit to Hendrick Motorsports and everybody back at the shop, the engine shop, because they’ve been putting in the work. It’s a shame we’ve got only half a season or whatever left with this package, but I think next year we’ll be hopefully just as good. Q.You’re one of eight people now to win multiple All-Star Races and everybody on the list is a former champion or a Hall of Famer. Curious if you’ve had any — what does that mean to you to have an accomplishment like that and be associated with legends of the sport like that?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, you’re right. I hadn’t thought of it. But yeah, it’s cool, but the races are hard to win and championships are even harder to win. We’ve just got to keep working really hard. This is definitely the best opportunity I’ve ever had to win the championship. But there’s still a long season left, and other cars and teams are going to get better, and so will we. Just got to keep working hard, and hopefully we can have ourselves in position come October or November. Q.I don’t know if you’ve spent the million dollars you won a couple years ago, but do you have any idea how you’re going to spend this million?KYLE LARSON: I’m going to save for sure. Q.Kind of following up, you’re the first driver I believe over the history of the All-Star Race to have won it at two different tracks. Given how many drivers have won this race and how few tracks we’ve gone to in that time, how has it taken only until now for that to happen?KYLE LARSON: I don’t know, probably because it stayed at Charlotte for so long, for a couple generations, I think, or so. Yeah, I don’t know. It was fun to watch it at Bristol last year. I’ve always believed that the All-Star Race should move around to different tracks and stuff, kind of like how other sports, their All-Star games kind of move to different venues and things. Yeah, we’ll see if that’s something that they do. I think all of us drivers would love to see that, but yeah, it’s cool to be one of the few guys that have now won it at a couple different tracks. Q.Where does this win rank? You’ve won a lot of big races. Where does this one rank?KYLE LARSON: Ooh, I don’t know. It’s hard to really think about right now. My emotions were really high for sure. Gosh, as soon as I took the lead, my foot is wide open and I can feel it shaking. It obviously means a lot to win. But I don’t know where yet to rank it. It’s definitely up there. Purse-wise it’s in the top two now of purse races I’ve won. Really cool to win any crown jewel in any sport, but in NASCAR especially. Q.How does it feel right now? It seems no matter what you get in, you’re up front, you’re winning, you’re 10 feet ball and bulletproof, at least the last couple of weeks. What does it feel like as a race driver to be in this kind of a groove with good equipment and be on top of your game?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I mean, it’s great for sure. I think it’s a credit to all the race teams that I get to race for. I’m in some of the best equipment, and any time I sit in a race car, I’m in some of the best if not the best equipment out there. Paul Silva prepares — and I believe he’s the best sprint car mechanic, so his sprint car is amazing. Kevin Rumley, who I got to spend all week with at Eldora, he’s a genius. His cars are always good, too, and then obviously my 5 team is unbelievable. Just very fortunate to be in these cars. I’ve worked really hard to put myself in the best equipment. But yeah, it’s definitely enjoyable for sure. Q.How did this battle with Keselowski compare to any you’ve had with him before? I’m just wondering because for as strong as you guys have been, I wondered if you saw a little bit more desperation or a little bit more aggressiveness maybe than what you had in maybe some other battles with Brad or if this was a typical battle?KYLE LARSON: I think it was a typical battle with any competitor. He didn’t seem — like it didn’t matter to me that it was Brad behind me. It could have been anybody, and I think it would have been the same. I haven’t seen a replay at all so I don’t really know what was happening behind me. I could watch my mirror a little bit in 3 and 4, but 1 and 2 I was just focused on my marks. I think I felt him maybe try to take the air off my rear into 1 once. I got a little bit light getting into 1. It’s hard to pass the leader for sure, and I could tell he was going to have to get desperate to do something and get a run on me. But thankfully our car was fast enough, he just couldn’t get those extra few feet. THE MODERATOR: Kyle, have a great night and good luck next week in Nashville.
CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript: 
THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by the winning crew chief, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports, and that’s Cliff Daniels. Cliff, obviously I mentioned this to Kyle, but lots of rounds, lots of inversions but lots of passing, lots of strategy for you. Can you take us through the strategy side of this event and this unique format that was put in front of you? CLIFF DANIELS: Yeah, I would — honestly the grade I would give myself on the execution of the strategy would be probably a B because at the beginning of the race our car was too built for trying to have clean air and we didn’t do a good job getting the balance right for what he needed in traffic early. We had to work on the balance to get it closer so he could run in traffic better, and the second round did not go very well for us. So once we — the guys buckled down, we threw a lot of changes at it, got the car a lot closer where he could be aggressive and try to set himself up for passes, which was cool to see, and then the way the points and everything worked out for us to start in the top 3 or 4 going into the fifth round worked out pretty well. Executing the pit stop was okay. Big, big tip of the cap to the 9 team, congrats to those guys on winning the pit crew deal, and they had a phenomenal pit stop, and had it not worked out like that, I don’t know that the 2 would have been a factor the way they were, and then of course Brad did a really good job of keeping his car kind of in the mix to kind of break up what we had going on with our Hendrick cars. And then the last restart Kyle was just absolutely phenomenal. I don’t even think there was a lane up there from what I saw, and he put it up there and it stuck. Really cool day for our HendrickCars.com, Chevy. Proud of all the guys. Just a cool day. Q.I’m just curious, how do you strategize in a race like that? What is the strategy there?CLIFF DANIELS: Our best strategy going in was to try to have a car that could pass better than we did at the early part of the race, which is why I’m not giving myself a very good grade to start the day. We knew the way kind of the rerack of the lineup was going to work out, you had to be able to pass, so it took us a little while to get our car where it could do that, otherwise the one invert did help us out when we just weren’t as good as we needed to be, and that was certainly no intention on our part to try to lag back to get the invert. It just kind of played out that way, and of course having a car to take advantage of starting on the pole the way we did and get the first win or whatever of the first round was important to just kind of help minimize the way the points worked out, I believe. That was about all we could do. Q.When he’s restarting third, I think, before the final stage, are you feeling good, or are you thinking it’s going to be a tough road to hoe?CLIFF DANIELS: I don’t know that I was hedging my bet one way or the other. Never bet against yourself, and I kind of knew Kyle could get it done in that position. My confidence was lacking a little bit in kind of what we had given him with the issues we had in traffic earlier, so I was kind of crossing my fingers that our adjustments worked out, and we had to get pretty aggressive with the car in some adjustments that we made. Fingers were crossed that the adjustments were going to be okay and the car was going to be under him, and I knew that he was just going to make whatever move he could to get to the lead, and he did, which was really cool to watch. Q.What does it feel like now, this team, every time you show up, you’ve got a car good enough and your driver is giving you everything he’s got to make you — basically this team is on a roll that we haven’t seen in quite some time. What does it feel like from your perspective, a team perspective to be on this kind of a roll, this kind of success?CLIFF DANIELS: More than anything just thankful. When I walked in today, I was talking to my car chief Jesse, and I remember years ago back in the 2000s I was working on a start-and-park Xfinity team and I was a mechanic and getting through tech was a struggle if it was a hot day. To be in a position now where we have such an amazing team, we have the support of Chevrolet and Mr. H and Hendrickcars.com, everything single guy on our team is bought in. They’re strong. A team is really only as strong as its weakest link and we just don’t have any. All the guys on our team are racers and they live, eat and breathe this stuff. They put in so much prep time at the shop, and of course all teams do, and I think what is helping us right now is just the chemistry. This is a tough stretch that we’re on in the summer months. Everyone is going through it with the backup cars and multiple-day shows that we’re about to have quite a few in a row. You know, it just takes a lot of different things, chemistry-wise, and then of course the timing of what we have. Chevrolet the last three or four years, we’ve been off, and we had to get to work. Very thankful for what we have with the Chevrolet body now, with Hendrick Power that we have now. There’s a lot of good things that have kind of come together for us that trickled in last year, and Alan and Chase certainly showed that at the end of 2020, to their credit, and fortunately we’ve been able to take a lot of what they proved to us and to the world and keep building on it and make it better. Q.Any personal vindication? I know when you guys were struggling to win with Jimmie and whatnot, a lot of people called you into question a little bit. Do you feel any personal vindication?CLIFF DANIELS: I mean, to a degree, yes. One thing that’s for sure, if it weren’t for Jimmie, I would not be in this seat right now, so I’m forever grateful to him. I think a lot of the leadership that he taught me and taught the guys on our team of how to be tough when things aren’t going your way, and he knew that the last few years our cars just weren’t quite right. We had a great group back at the shop and again with Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports that dug deep and knew we had a hole to climb out of. Jimmie was behind us the whole time to stay strong, and of course being in my position, I did have self-doubts of our performance last year and what we could potentially do this year.We knew we had built a really good team; a lot of that is credit to Jimmie. The guys on this team really bought into him as a driver for all those years, and he kind of helped bring some of us up, including myself from years ago from when we were younger and gave us an opportunity, and we’re just trying to make the best of it. Q.You talked about the fact that you guys have been really successful and how that’s been great. What does it mean to you when you hear a lot of people now saying that the No. 5 is the championship favorite as we head into the second half of the year?CLIFF DANIELS: It’s a great position to be in, and it’s really cool to hear, but facts on the table, and honestly Alan Gustafson has taught me this a lot, it is a long summer and it is a long year. There were some things that happened to the 9 in 2020 if you look at the championship run that they went on, where the summertime they had a couple tough moments, and they knew it was a long year and they kind of regained their strength and executed at the end of the year that they could end it strong, and they did.Really that’s on us now to make sure we get through the stretch of the hot summer months strong and everybody is still maintaining the good chemistry that we have now within our company, within our team, and take that into the playoffs. We all know that this is the Cup Series. Things go in cycles. While we have the cycle going our way now, when we get into the end of the summer and into the playoffs, we need to keep it going because our competition is certainly not taking their foot off the gas, so we’re going to keep ours on it, too. Q.Looking at tonight in particular with the format that NASCAR went with, what are your thoughts on how they chose to go with this format and how it played out?CLIFF DANIELS: Yeah, I definitely thought it was interesting coming in and we’ve seen so many different formats of the All-Star Race play out. I thought it was really interesting, now in retrospect, how much just really the flow of the race kind of changed things I thought because we got stuck in traffic back there with the 24 and some of those other guys and kind of got down on ourselves that we may not have a shot to be up front at the end. And then the next round with the next invert, some of the guys that were at the front that we thought were going to be really strong and they went to the back, I think it was 18 and maybe the 9, they didn’t make it very far up there that round. So you really saw just kind of a big mix within the field. I don’t know, I’ve never been asked about All-Star format races, so I don’t know what I would say to change it at this point, but luckily it worked out today. THE MODERATOR: Cliff, congratulations and good luck next week in Nashville. 

NASCAR CUP SERIES TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES JUNE 13, 2021

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL ALL-STAR RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER1st      KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE 3rd     CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE6th      ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE 7th      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE10th    KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 1LE TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL ALL-STAR RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)2nd     Brad Keselowski (Ford)3rd     Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)4th      Joey Logano (Ford)5th      Ryan Blaney (Ford)
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Nashville Superspeedway with the Ally 400 on Sunday, June 20 at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. TEAM CHEVY ALL-STAR POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Race WinnerWE HEARD YOU SAY ‘THAT PLAYED OUT EXACTLY LIKE YOU PLANNED’. THE SEASON YOU’RE HAVINGT, HE ALL-STAR WIN WITH YOUR NEW TEAM AND YOUR FOURTH WIN ON THE SEASON. DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE LIVING A DREAM? “Definitely. Honestly, I can’t believe it. That second run there, we were really bad and I was like, ‘man, we’re in trouble’. I went backwards that round, so I was like we’ve got an uphill battle. I did not imagine seeing myself winning this race today. Cliff (Daniels, crew chief) and everybody works so hard on this thing and made some good adjustments throughout the first, second and third rounds and got us in position.”
“That last restart worked out exactly how I needed it to. I wanted Chase (Elliott) to not get a good run down the back. Thankfully, I think the No. 12 (Ryan Blaney) got to his inside. I just shoved him down the back and he probably thought I was going to just follow him. I thought there had to be enough grip above where we’d been running for one corner. It was a little slick up there, but I was able to get it and hold him off from there. I can’t believe it.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 3rdWHERE DID IT GO AWRY FOR YOU IN THAT END SEQUENCE?“Kyle (Larson) got to my outside and that was the end of it, really. Just got beat. Appreciate the effort today by Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and everybody on our NAPA team. I’m super proud of everybody at Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet. We’ll keep it rolling and try to find another spot or two when it counts.” ON THE NO. 9 TEAM’S PIT STOP COMPETITION WIN: “Yeah, we had a badass stop. I knew when they dropped the jack that it was close. They did a really good job and I’m proud of them for that. Hopefully, we’ll carry some of that momentum forward and try to get to victory lane.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 6th“Sixth place isn’t terrible, but definitely not where we wanted to end our night. Congrats to Chevrolet and the No. 5 team. A million dollars would have been nice.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 7th“Tonight, we had a very strong Axalta Chevy. We were able to really get through traffic even though passing was difficult with this package. We put ourselves where we needed to be in basically just about every round. We definitely had a shot at the million-dollar prize going into the last stint, but it just didn’t go our way. While it’s tough to not get the win, there are still positives we can take away from tonight. We’ll take the momentum and go on to Nashville.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 ICASHAUTOS / I AM SECOND CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 16th “Man, that was one of the hottest races I’ve ever been part of, but we did what we initially came to do and that was to make the main show tonight to give it our all for the $1 million dollars. Our iCashautos / I Am Second Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was really loose in the Open, but I was able to keep it up front and win Stage 2 to advance to the All-Star race. We definitely fired off better for the All-Star race, but it was tough to tell which direction the car was leaning in once the shade started to come in. I felt like we teetered right on the edge of being too tight and too loose all night long, but the car seemed to change every single lap. We kept fighting though to try to make our car better all night long and made some progress. It was fun to be in the All-Star race for the first time in my career and race with no points on the line, but I’m ready to get back to the season and continue our momentum at Nashville next weekend.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 ANDY’S FROZEN CUSTARD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 19th “It was great to see all of the fans at Texas Motor Speedway today, and all of the excitement and buildup for the All-Star Race. Man, what an opportunity to be able to race for $1.1 Million dollars in the No. 3 Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevrolet. It was a hot one out there tonight, which made Andy’s Frozen Custard a cool sponsor for the race. We started fifth and ran a strong race despite how slick the track was. We were lacking a lot of grip and just missing something. I got a little too aggressive during our timed pit stop and we ended up with a speeding penalty, which put us a lap down. I wish we could have gotten the Lucky Dog before the last round. It was hard to make up many positions in those last 10 laps. We’ll regroup and move onto Nashville Superspeedway next week.”

Austin Dillon and The No. 3 Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevrolet Team Vie For A Cool $1.1 Million in NASCAR All-Star Race

19th

5th

12th

“It was great to see all of the fans at Texas Motor Speedway today, and all of the excitement and buildup for the All-Star Race. Man, what an opportunity to be able to race for $1.1 Million dollars in the No. 3 Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevrolet. It was a hot one out there tonight, which made Andy’s Frozen Custard a cool sponsor for the race. We started fifth and ran a strong race despite how slick the track was. We were lacking a lot of grip and just missing something, but this team never gave up. I got a little too aggressive during our timed pit stop and we ended up with a speeding penalty, which put us a lap down. I wish we could have gotten the Lucky Dog before the last round. It was hard to make up many positions in those last 10 laps. We’ll regroup and move onto Nashville Superspeedway next week.”  -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick Races His Way into the NASCAR All-Star Race with the iCashautos / I Am Second Chevrolet Team

16th

19th

13th

“Man, that was one of the hottest races I’ve ever been part of, but we did what we initially came to do and that was to make the main show tonight to give it our all for the $1 million dollars. Our iCashautos / I Am Second Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was really loose in the Open, but I was able to keep it up front and win Stage 2 to advance to the All-Star race. We definitely fired off better for the All-Star race, but it was tough to tell which direction the car was leaning in once the shade started to come in. I felt like we teetered right on the edge of being too tight and too loose all night long, but the car seemed to change every single lap. We kept fighting though to try to make our car better all night long and made some progress. It was fun to be in the All-Star race for the first time in my career and race with no points on the line, but I’m ready to get back to the season and continue our momentum at Nashville next weekend.” -Tyler Reddick

Written by Ainsley JacobsHosted at the iconic Summit Motorsports Park, the fourth stop on the 2021 Holley NMRA Ford Nationals drag racing tour was the Inaugural NMRA Ford Performance Nationals on June 11-13 in Norwalk, Ohio, and the weekend wound down the fields in over a dozen classes to finish out strong with memorable winner’s circle celebrations. Continuing his number one qualifying streak from St. Louis in Norwalk as well, Tony Hobson’s name topped the order for VP Racing Madditives Street Outlaw as his ProCharged 1990 Ford Mustang ran out the back door to go 4.353 at 165.01 mph. The Lake St. Louis, Missouri, resident took on John Urist in his Hellion Turbo 2015 Mustang, and although Urist had the hole shot advantage, he spun not long into the run and Hobson powered past to conclude another event with a win as his 4.422 at 164.81 mph time slip made things official.

Once again, the Edelbrock Renegade qualifying sheet hosted KBX Performance power in the top spot as Joel Greathouse, the 2020 season champion, piloted Jeremy Wolf’s turbocharged 1993 Mustang to a quick 4.612 at 154.00 mph timeslip. New Yorker Eric Bardekoff was close behind in second with his supercharged 2016 Mustang and a 4.640 at 154.58 mph trip. The two took out the rest of the field on their way to the finals where it was a wild fight for glory, but Greathouse refused to relinquish his advantage and got the job done with a 4.633 at 153.33 mph blast to cap off his second win of the weekend.  Reigning JDM Engineering Limited Street champion Bill Putnam of Loxahatchee, Florida, put his UPR Products-backed 1994 Mustang into the lead during qualifying when he ran it out the back door to go 8.525 at 160.48 mph. Putnam continued to dominate the field in eliminations and met with Kevin McCotter who had qualified seventh in the finals. When the green light signaled the start, Putnam let loose with a monster rip and widened the gap all the way to the finish. He lit the scoreboards with an 8.538 at 161.04 mph run to add yet another win to his incredible streak as McCotter slowed to cruise home as the runner up. Nathan Stymiest was the number one qualified driver in G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock for the second event in a row, as the Pennsylvania-based driver ran 9.905 at 134.91 mph this time out in his 1992 Mustang. Stymiest exited during eliminations, although Randy Soper and Chad Stephens both continued on. In the finals, Soper had the advantage on paper having qualified fourth to Stephens’s twelfth, but a red light ended the weekend for Soper and allowed Stephens, who had overcome ongoing mechanical trouble with his ’87 “Dirty Bird” Thunderbird all weekend long, to take his much-deserved first ever trip to the winner’s circle for the class before he headed back to his home in Canada. With both the quickest elapsed time and the fastest trap speed, Mike Bowen of Girard, Pennsylvania, topped the qualifying list in Richmond Gear Factory Stock with a 10.362 at 129.83 mph trip in his 1971 Ford. However, the final round was occupied by the number two qualifier, Mark Anderson of Illinois, and Justn Fogelsonger of Pennsylvania, for a rematch of the St. Louis race they had run less than 48-hours prior. With a reversal of the results from the last showdown, Anderson and his Laris Motorsports Insurance-backed Mustang wrapped up the win with a 10.363 at 127.04 mph blast.

A perfect 0.000-second reaction time for ARP Open Comp driver Ray Williams Sr. of Thomasville, Georgia, put him and his 1979 Ford ahead of the rest of the 37-car class for qualifying. In eliminations, though, Dennis Corn and Ashley Conway-Lang lined their cars up against one another for all the marbles in the finals. Lang was a touch late on the tree and opened the door for Corn to steal the show, which he did when he ran 9.418 at 124.46 mph on his 9.32 dial in. The competition was tight in Exedy Racing Clutch Modular Muscle, but Floridian Jason Henson’s dead-on 0.000-second light with his 2002 Mustang in qualifying entitled him to have his name put into the lead. Andy Russell also had a perfect reaction time and wound up third as a result, and Fallon Walker wasn’t far behind in sixth with a 0.005-second light. They both drove expertly through eliminations and were aiming for 10.12-second and 11.25-second runs in the finals, but Walker slowed a touch and Russell illuminated the win light with a 10.211 at 125.83 mph run to make Walker the runner up. Running in two categories this weekend, Texas’s own Llyod Mikeska qualified number one in HP Tuners Super Stang with a 0.004-second reaction time behind the wheel of his 2016 Mustang. Mikeska made his mark on eliminations and stayed in the game through to the finals, but Chris Parisi of Jacksonville, Florida, who had qualified on Mikeska’s heels in second outran the man where it mattered most. Taking the win with a 120.94 at 104.80 mph pass, Parisi added an Edelbrock Victor to his collection.Mike Roup’s 1970 Ford pickup left the startling line just 0.001-seconds after the green light lit during Detroit Locker Truck & Lightning qualifying to earn the top spot. Based out of Texas, Roup held strong until the semi-finals, but multi-time champion Randy Conway of Michigan and defending champion Bob Dill of Pennsylvania worked their way to the finals. As the lights came down, both men wanted to get going, but Dill was too quick on the tree with his 2001 truck and Conway scored the win as a result of a red light in the opposing lane with a 10.319 at 126.16 mph trip from his 1984 model as the icing on the cake. Running just 0.003-seconds over his 10.503 index with his 1972 Ford, Clyde Dunphy was the number one qualifier in RacePagesDigital.com Ford Muscle. When eliminations began, the Illinois-based racer went out in the semi-finals while the number five and six qualified drivers, Danny Towe and Matthew Keiser, respectively, took up the two spots in the finals. Although both men were just 0.01-seconds off their dial ins, with Georgia resident Towe going 12.01 and the Indiana-based Keiser going 10.26, the victory went to Towe by default as Keiser turned on the red light at the start instead of the win light at the finish. The Fastest Street Car Bracket classes hosted full fields of fast cars on both days. On Saturday, the B1 Fast Ford winner was John Gregory who ran 9.824 at 119.95 mph over Kenny Robinson, the B2 Quick Ford winner was Randy Conway going 10.248 at 131.78 mph over Rod Lenhart, and the B3 Street Ford winner was Daniel Imloff with a 12.199 at 109.70 mph pass over Duane Vennings. On Sunday, however, B1 was won by John Gregory yet again with a 9.725 at 126.29 mph pass over Jerry Spoor, B2 had Gary Fitzgerald as the winner with a 10.012 at 123.45 mph pass against Kim Moritz, and B3 was trumped by Mike Baker on an 11.589 at 114.95 mph trip to Elaine Moistner’s effort. Mickey Thompson Street Car Challenge competitors put their street legal machines to work on the 1,320 and Randy Thomas had the quickest car of them all in qualifying as his 2010 Ford Mustang recorded an 8.393 at 164.49 mph run. Thomas took his place in the finals with Shane Isaacs and his 1993 Mustang in the other lane. Both men had run quicker than 8.50 earlier in the race and, as neither car held a chassis certification to go below the number, were given warnings as per the rulebook. When it came time to do business, they both went all out and ran quicker than 8.50 yet again. As a result, both were simultaneously disqualified and with no winner of the race, they were designated as co-runners up. It was a truly unique situation, but Thomas and Isaacs had fun with the turn of events as they shared the winner’s circle photos and even cut the trophy in half so they could each keep a piece. Drivers in QA1 True Street got to enjoy a scenic 30-mile cruise around Ohio farm country before blasting down the drag strip three times in a row. The quickest average of the group, 8.691-seconds, belonged to Randy Thomas of Paducah, Kentucky, and his 2010 Ford Mustang, which made Thomas the overall winner. Neal Adler was named the runner up thanks to his 9.471-second average with his 1988 Mustang, while individual class wins went to Rick Baum (9-second), Bo Webb (10-second), Dominic Post (11-second), Thomas Van Tassel (12-second), Timothy Miller (13-second), Chris Lee (14-second), and Chris Graff (15-second). The ladies got to compete in a separate QA1 All Female True Street Presented by Baer Brakes, with top honors going to Leticia Hughes who averaged 11.095-seconds in her 2018 Mustang and the runner-up spot was taken by Leigh Ann Wagoner with an 11.982-second average in her 2019 model. Maci Belcher won the 12-second group, Sabrina Wright won the 13-second section, Amanda Jordan was the quickest of the 14-second racers, and Heather Flanagan took the title for the 15-second bunch. The special TREMEC Stick Shift Shootout hosted the quickest eight manually-shifted cars of the QA1 True Street for a random-pairing of eliminations. Each contestant received a custom acrylic award, but Jeff McCool earned the big win in the battle of the Fox body final round and got to take home a McLeod Racing RXT win disc clutch and flywheel valued at $1,300 thanks to his 10.202 at 136.91 mph blast while runner up Tim Lasto scored a $500 McLeod Racing product certificate. On Friday evening, four of the rain-delayed final rounds from the 16th Annual NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing Presented by HPJ Performance at World Wide Technology Raceway outside of St. Louis, Missouri, were run to completion. Taking the win in Edelbrock Renegade was Joel Greathouse over Martin Connelley, while in JDM Engineering Limited Street the victory went to Bill Putnam who ran against Chad Wendel. In G-Force Racing Transmissions Coyote Stock, Kevin McMullin lit the win light in his lane and put Randy Soper on the trailer, and Justin Fogelsonger did the same to Mark Anderson in Richmond Gear Factory Stock. The UPR Products Car Show and special Ring of Fire competition were in full swing on Saturday as well, and the Model T Ford Club International brought out their absolutely beautiful antique Fords to display during the festivities. The 2021 Holley NMRA Ford Nationals drag racing series continues with the Inaugural Arrington Performance NMRA/NMCA Power Festival presented by Force Engineering at “The Fastest Track in Michigan,” US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan, on July 22-25 and the NMRA will return to Summit Motorsports Park in 2022 on June 10-12. For more information and advance tickets, visit NMRAdigital.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX STREETS OF BELLE ISLE TEAM CHEVY POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT JUNE 13, 2021
Pato O’Ward and Taylor Kiel Press Conference Transcript
THE MODERATOR: We’ve been joined by our race winner, Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 AMSP Chevy. We’ve also been joined by president of Arrow McLaren SP, Taylor Kiel. Congratulations. Pato, tell us how you’re feeling. You’re the first guy to win multiple races this season, and after finishing third yesterday, here you are, winner.PATO O’WARD: Yeah, today was pretty good. I knew I had a great car. I made a stupid mistake in qualifying, didn’t transfer. I started in the back, so I knew it was going to be tough. I knew I had to fight my way literally to the front because I remember after the last pit stop Taylor was like, okay, this is the order, everybody has one pit stop, everybody is reset, so it’s like, well, we’re staying here unless we have a yellow and I can ship it.So yellow came out, and that’s where I — I have a lot of faith in myself whenever the car is wiggling around. I know I’m very strong on cold tires, so I took advantage of it, got by people and got her done.THE MODERATOR: Taylor, obviously an emotional weekend for you this weekend with Felix’s injury. Pato dedicated the race to him. Can you give us your perspective?TAYLOR KIEL: Yeah, I think that’s really it. It says it all, emotional. When you see something like that happen to a race driver, it puts your stomach in your throat. First of all, we’re happy that Felix is okay and he’ll be back with us soon. Certainly bringing home a victory was top of mind in trying to help Felix’s recovery a little bit, but man, what a great effort from everybody, certainly from the men and women on the 7 car to get that thing fixed and ready to compete today.But also the men and women on the 5 car, to make it a race-winning car. We had a great car today. Pato did what he needed to do. The team did what they needed to do. And when you execute like that, we’re tough to beat.Certainly lows and highs, but we’re ending on a high and excited to get to Road America in a week.THE MODERATOR: Have you had a chance to talk to Felix yet?PATO O’WARD: No, I have not seen my phone, but I told Felix this was for him before the race started.TAYLOR KIEL: He’s been texting me a lot. He said he’s never seen 10 laps like that in his life. He was certainly watching. He’s super excited for the team and ready to get back.Q.Pato, pretty big weekend for Mexico sporting-wise, first Brandon Moreno becomes the first Mexican-born UFC champion last night and now this big win for you today. We all know your first win earlier this year was special, but what does it mean to you to win in Detroit in Chevrolet’s backyard and to dedicate this win to your teammate?PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I think first off, I’m really happy that I got it because I truly wanted to get it for the — because yesterday was very mixed emotions. We were on the podium but everything was very focused on Felix being okay, and I consider Felix very close, and it’s not a cool feeling to see that because it can happen to any of us. Yeah, it’s not fun.I was really pleased to hear that he was okay. Yeah, he left the hospital today. He’s feeling better. He’s sore. But yeah, I’m excited that I got this for the team, for him, and yeah.Q.How was that dip in the fountain?PATO O’WARD: Oh, my God. Water has never felt so good. It was like perfectly chilled.Q.Pato, a lot of people are wondering, how do you get your tires warmer than others or how do you keep them so clean heading into a restart? What was your secret for that last climactic restart?PATO O’WARD: Fast hands.Q.What did your car feel like in those last few laps as you were —PATO O’WARD: It was wiggly, but I felt like I still had life in the tire available, so I just had to be very — I knew I only had one chance to get every single guy. I couldn’t spend three chances on Dixon. It had to be one. So every time I would pull out or do something, I had to take the risk of pushing the braking zone or getting that mega exit to be able to get in front of them.But I feel like — I was very happy with how I executed it.Q.Several people I talked to said what stands out about you, at least that they’ve seen, is once you get there like you were just talking about, you do strike, you don’t necessarily delay. Where does that come from, that aggression, whatever you want to call it?PATO O’WARD: The problem is whenever you let people step around over you, then it becomes a habit. You need to — I mean, people know that I’m not here to be fifth or sixth. They know I’m here to win. I’m pretty sure that’s the message that we portrayed today.Q.You’re aggressive, you got two guys in two turns, I think four or five guys in four or five laps and wheel to wheel with Josef. I think you guys touched there; is that correct?PATO O’WARD: Yeah, he was moving me on to the marbles. He knew where to put me in order for me not to be able to get him, but I didn’t move, so we kind of both went into each other, I guess. That straightaway isn’t really straight.Yeah, it was a good battle, I think. I think it makes it more exciting whenever there’s a little rubbin’ rub.Q.How do you balance that? Like you’re aggressive and you go for it? How do you not go over the line?PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I didn’t forget the words that Taylor said. He’s like, okay, this is the caution, everybody is going to stack up, lap cars are going to go, blah blah blah. If you have a chance, take it, but if you don’t, keep the championship in mind. But in my head, the two guys that I’m fighting the championship with are in front of me, and I was not going to be pleased if we ended behind them, especially if we had a restart and we were all together, so if I had the chance I was going to strike. I just had to make sure every strike wasn’t like, Oh, am I going to get it? No, it had to be like boom, definite. Once you’re on the inside, it’s yours.Yeah, I mean, I think they were very clean passes. I don’t think I put anybody in jeopardy in ways of hey, I screwed your race or anything. I felt like I did it very clean. I knew I was racing around very professional drivers, very clean, hard racers, Josef, Colton, Palou, definitely on, Graham, some of them have been racing many years. Some of us have been in INDYCAR very little, but these guys are pros. I was around people that you can get within less than an inch and race.Q.Were you a Juan fan? You fact like him, you drive a little bit like him, you’ve got the confidence of him.PATO O’WARD: I know Juan. I feel like we get along really well. Maybe that’s something Taylor can catch on. I was a little too young in Juan’s time. I was a big Montoya fan when he was in INDYCAR after he was in Formula 1, but I started really watching —Q.After NASCAR?PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I was really watching all the races until maybe I was like seven, eight years old when I really somewhat understood kind of the Formula 1 and INDYCAR racing. But Juan was in like Formula 1 and stuff in 2004, 2003, and then he was an INDYCAR champion the year I was born. Yeah, I don’t think I remember much about back then.Q.Zach said at Indy that you know how important it is for the team to win the INDYCAR championship. How has that message been conveyed to you?PATO O’WARD: They have given me an opportunity that many people would kill for, and I want to be the one that gives them their first championship. Yeah, I mean, there’s not much more to say than that. I have so much faith in this group of people. They have my back, I have theirs.In a business like this you consistently have to show that you are capable and still have it, and I feel like it’s races like these where everyone, that little extra that you may put into something will always be given because they know that you’ll be out there giving it everything you have, to give them what they deserve.Q.One win got you a test. What does two wins get you?PATO O’WARD: I don’t know. I know what a championship will get me, though.Q.What?PATO O’WARD: Maybe I share whenever I win the championship. Hopefully I win it. That’s going to be the goal for sure.Q.So now everybody has got to wait?PATO O’WARD: Yes. I’ll post a picture.Q.Do you change your firesuit before you come in or do you come in wet?PATO O’WARD: Oh, I’m wet.Q.Obviously a lot is going on this weekend. To end on this high note, how does that make the team feel?TAYLOR KIEL: Well, I think it’s the right medicine for the issue that we had. Obviously Felix’s crash is shocking. It’s shocking to watch. It makes everybody sick to their stomach. To rebound like we did, it’s huge, and it’s a good boost to morale for the group. It’s a boost to morale for Felix. I think he’s very excited for his teammate, and it’s the least we can do to try to just bring this group back together and refocus after an event like that that just kind of shakes everybody.Q.How did you guys get to Oliver? Was it because he was here and he was familiar with the team and the car?TAYLOR KIEL: Both, yeah, but Oliver is a good driver, and I think that in a situation like that, it’s not about evaluating or finding the next Pato O’Ward, it’s about calming the waters, and I think Oliver was somebody we were familiar with, we knew he could just hop in and get on with it. We had his belts and his measurements and his seats and he was here and all those things, so it just made a very difficult situation less difficult.Q.Everybody was here until 1:00, 2:00 in the morning?TAYLOR KIEL: Yeah 2:30 I think the group left.Q.So everybody gets pep back in their step after, I suppose?TAYLOR KIEL: I hope so. I think probably by the time they get to Fort Wayne tonight on the way back to Indy, it’ll be — hopefully we’ve got some people that are good to drive tonight.It’s been a heck of a weekend.Q.What do you make of you guys have come so far in two years?TAYLOR KIEL: It’s crazy. You’ve got to sit back and peek your head above water sometimes. We’re grinding so hard to try to be the best team in the paddock, and I think when you’re working that hard and you’re so focused on the goal, it’s hard to see how far you’ve come.It’s moments like this where I try to allow myself to take a step back and look around and go, man, we’re close. We can compete every weekend. When the chips are down and we’re P6, we’ve still got a shot to win.It doesn’t come without a lot of hard work and a lot of great support from our partners, but we’re knocking on the door. I don’t think we’re there yet. We’ve still got a long way to go. But we’ve got a shot and that’s all we can ask for?Q.And you’re wet, as well?TAYLOR KIEL: I am, yeah.Q.Taylor, you have one good car but you have a perfect day now with Pato. Do you feel like you can apply that strategy that works or is it just faith in him?TAYLOR KIEL: Well, I think we can only take strategy so far, and at a certain point the driver takes over, and I think that’s exactly what we saw today. We got ourselves as far as we could go with strategy, which was P6, and we got the yellow that we needed, and after that it was all up to the driver.It’s a mix of both. It’s certainly a team effort, no doubt.Q.Taylor, can you explain how well Felix’s car stood up to a really hard hit and just go over what the safety features did and how much he owes Dallara for building a car that’s really tough?TAYLOR KIEL: Well, I think a lot of things. The car certainly did its job. Like I said earlier, you watch that replay on TV and it’s like, shocking. You take into account the speed and the angle of impact and those types of things. The tub held up extremely well. The aeroscreen did exactly what it needed to do. Certainly all of the safety equipment that Felix was wearing and the safety of the track, obviously there was tires everywhere, but the walls held up, the tires held up. There was only minor repairs.It really was a wonderful job by everything in and around that accident that kept him okay, and to see him literally go to the hospital just to double check, that’s kudos to anybody that’s involved in and around safety in INDYCAR.Q.Two years ago at this track, at this race, your career was at a crossroads. You had just signed with Red Bull, didn’t know what your INDYCAR career was going to be. Any time over the last two years that you’ve doubted where you’re going to be?PATO O’WARD: For sure. My career has almost ended at least four or five times, so honestly if everyone says, oh, it’s easy to make it, it hasn’t been hard enough for you then, because it’s such a tough business to make it. When you do it, you have to continue proving yourself for the next 20 years if you want to have a long career.But yeah, obviously there’s been very high and very low moments. But like I said, these guys gave me an opportunity, and I told them I will get you your wins and I will get you your results, so I hope my bosses are proud of me.But we’ve got a long way to go. I love the group of people that I work with. I think they’re some of the best in the business for sure. I’m very excited to see what we can accomplish in the next years.Q.Pato, second win of your INDYCAR career, now second in just five races or so. I know you were so incredibly excited after that first one that you got in Texas. Can you describe a little bit about how this win feels different like from a career or season perspective? I know it’s not the first one, but maybe in some way it’s even more validating?PATO O’WARD: I was always like telling Taylor, man, at Texas we really had to work for it. It didn’t just land on us. I feel like today we fought for it even harder. I feel like those races maybe them taste so sweet because we truly worked together as a team to get it done.When it’s such a competitive series like INDYCAR, I don’t care what anybody says, there is nothing like this in the world. Nothing, nothing like this in the world. It’s so competitive. The cars are beasts. They’re physical, they’re fast, they’re loud. They’re just hard to control.I feel like that’s what really makes the win feel like you just accomplished something really cool.Q.Kind of a similar but maybe different question for you, Taylor, from the team’s perspective what does a second win in a season do compared to just getting one in a year?TAYLOR KIEL: I think one is relieving and two is validating. It shows you that what you’re doing is sustainable, and that’s something that’s been in our narrative for a long time. We’ve been a flash-in-the-pan team for a long time. We sneak out a win here or there and we’re happy to be there.It’s not the case anymore. Our goal is to compete at the front all the time and win championships, and for us to do that you have to win three, four races a season. By the way, you also have to finish in the top 5 like all the time.That’s what we’re aiming to do, and that’s what we’ve proven that we can do, so that’s the goal.Q.You mentioned a couple minutes ago that you still feel like there’s a ways for this team to go. Is part of that — I know we’ve seen Felix up and down the season before his crash on Saturday. Do you feel like a lot of what we’ve seen from him just comes down to continuing to onboard him with this team and get him to a level of comfort that Pato is with Arrow McLaren SP?TAYLOR KIEL: Yeah, Pato has got a year head start. I feel like the car we produce is very difficult to drive, but it’s fast. I think that we’re working to make that better for both drivers, and there’s no boundaries on that. Whatever Felix needs, he’s going to get, and likewise with Pato. There’s no, hey, here’s the car we’ve got and it is what it is. It’s a continual process, and we’re working towards it.I think if Felix was here he’d tell you that the car is coming to him, and he feels better about where it is today than it was in say St. Pete.We’re never satisfied with results or how good the car is to drive or otherwise. It’s nose down and we’ll continue to work to make it better.Q.I think this got brought up in Texas when you guys won your first race of the year. For so many years we’ve tossed around this team in INDYCAR the big three. I imagine for both of you this might signal the end of us referring to that without you guys included.PATO O’WARD: That has been the plan. I don’t think it’s my place to say, though.TAYLOR KIEL: Well, I think being a part of the big three means that we’re a part of the championship hunt and we’re regular contenders and we’re winning races. If it’s the big three or the big 15 or the big one, it doesn’t matter to me, as long as we’re doing that.That’s what we’re doing now, and I aim to keep it up. If we want to call it whatever we want to, that’s fine, but my goal is to be first at the end of the year.THE MODERATOR: Thanks to Taylor and Pato for joining us.
Josef NewgardenPress Conference Transcript
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. We are joined today by our second-place finisher Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevy. Josef, obviously a disappointing finish there at the end. Tell us more about your day.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, just our breaking day for sure, finished second, and yeah, just kind of was what it was there at the end. Felt like we had a good car and just didn’t work our way strategy-wise and some of the times that we had to pit where we thought we had to pit because a yellow was probably going to come out, I think it all just didn’t play into our favor.Yeah, it is what it is. Move on to the next, but felt like we had a good car. Really proud of our team. I thought they were really resilient this weekend, which is important, and it’s a great job for our partners at Team Chevy to get a one-two here, so pretty stoked for those guys and certainly our partner Hitachi and everybody from Penske Corp that was here supporting us.Q.Last year after St. Pete you were saying Pato is one of the future stars of INDYCAR, in fact you said you were already a fan of him, he was already a star at that time and how clean he’s driven you, now you guys have had some battles this year at Texas and then today. What’s he done differently compared to last year to this year when you’ve been racing him?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t know that he’s done anything different, but he’s — I think he’s picked up where he left off last year. They were in the fight last year and they’ve got strong cars certainly at McLaren. They were in the fight pretty much all the way through last season. I think you’re seeing a lot of the same.Q.How do you think yourself and the team can bounce back from this going into Road America next week?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, I’m not sure we have to really bounce back. It’s just we were fast today, hopefully fast next weekend, and hopefully it all works out.Q.You’ve been close to a win a couple times this year, just can’t quite get there. What is it going to take for you and Team Penske to finally get a victory this year?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, if I had the answer I’d be doing it but I’m sure it’ll happen at some point. It just hasn’t aligned. Sometimes you get that. You just don’t get everything to line up perfectly. I think we’ve got a lot of the ingredients right. I don’t think we really need to change much, just keep doing our thing.Q.Do you feel the team is taking too risky a calls or anything like that where the cautions could catch you out?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Nope, nope, I wouldn’t change a thing. Look, you can’t predict these races. You can look like a hero or a zero pretty easily in this sport, so yeah, I would ask anyone to change anything. I think they’re doing all the right stuff, it’s just not worked out.Q.Josef, can you describe just how much of a challenge it was for you just to hold off Colton and Alex at the end there? Those tires looked cooked and one little mistake and you’d probably go from second to fourth.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, they were fried. I think probably the worst part was we had to put about 10 extra laps on those tires because we thought the caution was going to come out in that first stint around lap 18 I think we pitted, and you just can’t risk missing the caution. If you miss the caution, you’re just hosed. It just completely ruins your day.I think that compromised us more than anything. Then we had to run 25 laps on used reds, so that was not ideal, and then the cautions bunching us up probably hurt us, as well, just brought the whole field back to it. I think we probably could have held Colton off potentially if we just would have run cleanly to the end there. But that’s kind of impossible to say. I’d have to see that play out. I think, yeah, just the cautions and the potential caution is more of what hindered us today.Q.You and Pato touched on a pretty quick section of the racetrack. I just wanted to get your thoughts on how you saw that. Was it just good hard racing or was it a bit on the limit?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely I think on the limit, but I think it was good hard racing. There’s a kink on the back straight so it’s not perfectly straight, so to be fighting side by side, I think you probably get a little bit of contact like that. It’s not completely abnormal down in that section of the track. But he was coming like a freight train. My tires were cooked, and he was having great drives off the corner, as you saw.I think that’s what kind of did us in. It almost did us in with Alex, too. Thankfully we were able to hold on to second, but yeah, just hard racing.Q.My question is the fact that it’s been two years now since we’ve been at Belle Isle. Has the track changed or evolved in relation to the tire wear that you’re getting on either the reds or blacks?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: If anything the reds were quite a bit more durable than ’19. I think if you guys cast your thoughts back to ’19, they were diabolically bad for tire wear. You didn’t want to be on them for more than two laps in the race. Certainly they were more resilient today. You could almost make a used set work. A new set would have been preferred, but you could definitely make a used set work for I would say 15, 20 laps. 25 is pushing it, but Firestone made a change and definitely made them more durable, but I think the fact that they are more fragile than the blacks makes it interesting to watch. I think as a spectator it’s probably more fun to see that mix-up and that dynamic than them being just both really durable and just a little time offset.That’s what you set here. You get quite a bit of spread. But a lot less spread than what it was in ’19.Q.Looking back through this season, can you consider this isn’t a bad one, or can you consider a successful one?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, we haven’t completed it yet, so I don’t know how to look at it yet completely.I think looking at half of it, it seems okay. It’s not exactly what we wanted, but it’s not too bad. We’re in the hunt. But we’ve got halfway to go, so a lot of racing to hopefully still be in this fight.THE MODERATOR: Josef, good luck next weekend at Road America.

·        No. 1 qualifier and three-time event winner Matt Hagan drives DSR Performance Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car to quarterfinals at National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) New England Nationals

·        Leah Pruett pilots DSR Precision Manufacturing HEMI®-powered Top Fuel dragster from No. 10 seeded position to a close quarterfinal battle at New England Dragway

·        Solid Funny Car qualifying effort put Ron Capps and his DSR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in the No. 2 spot for eliminations with fire ruining his opening-round run

·        No. 6 seed Cruz Pedregon qualifies Snap-on Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in top half of eliminations ladder for sixth consecutive event and has solid side by side battle in opening round

June 13, 2021, Epping, New Hampshire – It looked to be a very promising race day for HEMI®-powered machines at New England Dragway for the TascaParts.com New England Nationals, the sixth National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Camping World Drag Racing Series event of the season. Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) stablemates Matt Hagan and Ron Capps qualified No. 1 and No. 2 aboard their Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars, while Cruz Pedregon extended his season-long streak of qualifying in the top-half of the eliminations ladder with a sixth place seeding.

Reigning Funny Car world champion Hagan returned to Epping, New Hampshire, dragstrip as the defending three-time winner (2017, 2018, 2019) and in the hunt his first win of the 2021 season after taking his DSR Performance Mopar to the No. 1 qualifier position with his Friday evening run at 3.891 seconds at 331.53 mph. With that effort, Hagan earned three valuable bonus points and a first round bye. He powered his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to a 3.935 seconds/ 327.11 mph pass, the quickest of the opening round, to find himself paired with Tim Wilkerson for a quarterfinal showdown. The two competitors gave the crowd a great show and a close race but Hagan’s 3.983 sec./328.06 mph was just short of Wilkerson’s 3.956/324.44 mph winning passto defeat the defending event champ. 

Hagan’s teammate Capps earned his No. 2 qualifier position with his NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat’s 3.941-second pass at 315.42 mph in Q2, and then backed that up with the third quickest pass in Q3 to earn a total of four bonus points. A two-time winner at the New England Nationals (2014 and 2016), Capps came out strong in the opening round against No. 13 seed Terry Haddock in order to take advantage of a quarterfinal bye opportunity, but sparks appeared at half-track causing a sudden lack of traction. He tried to wrangle his ride but ultimately saw his opponent squeak by as they approached the finish. While fire made an appearance beneath him, Capps brought his Funny Car to a safe stop and immediately turned his focus to the next event in Norwalk, Ohio, in two weeks.  

Also qualified in the top half of the Funny Car eliminations ladder for a sixth consecutive event this season was Pedregon who earned the sixth place starting position by taking his Snap-On Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for a 3.969 second run at 326.71 mph, the fastest speed in final qualifying. That effort set up with a first round match-up against No. 9 qualifier J.R. Todd and, looking to build on the Pedregon Racing team’s season-long progression, the veteran driver came out swinging. Pedregon hit the throttle and earned the starting line advantage with a 0.052-second reaction time to Todd’s 0.085-second launch. The two battled side-by side the length of the dragstrip to cross the finish line within just 0.0003 seconds of each other. Unfortunately, the approximately two-inch margin of victory was not in Pedregon’s favor as his 4.027/321.73 mph run was edged out by Todd’s winning 3.994/322.88 mph pass.

In Top Fuel competition, DSR’s Leah Pruett marked her NHRA silver anniversary with a silver ribbon displayed on her HEMI-powered dragster’s roll cage and tenth seeded position heading into race day in celebration of her racing debut 25 years ago as an eight year-old in Junior dragsters. From the hit, Pruett took her DSR Precision Manufacturing Mopar Dodge//SRT dragster straight down the lane for her quickest pass of the weekend at 3.771 sec./324.28 mph to dispose of No. 3 qualifier Justin Ashley in the opening round. Pruett had a similarly strong run in the quarterfinals against No. 4 seed and Top Fuel points leader Steve Torrence, posting a 3.811/323.12 pass to her opponent’s 3.823/320.13, but a quicker start gave him the edge he needed and the holeshot victory to end her day.

The next event on the NHRA’s 70th anniversary season calendar, Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, takes place June 25-29 at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio.

ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES

FUNNY CAR:

Matt Hagan, DSR Performance Dodge Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
(No. 1 Qualifier – 3.891 seconds at 331.53 mph / Three bonus point for quickest Q1 run)

Round 1: (0.073-second reaction time, 3.935 seconds at 327.11 mph) wins on a BYE run
Round 2: (0.067/3.983/328.06) loss to No. 8 Tim Wilkerson (0.058/3.956/324.44)

“It was a pretty good weekend at Epping. We qualified No. 1 for the first time this year and got that yellow Camping World hat. The car ran really good and we have a really good race car. We were just on the bad side of a good drag race that second round against Tim Wilkerson. You’re gonna have those. You lose more than you win, but when you do win them, it makes them that much more special. Our turn is right around the corner, so I’m really looking forward to Norwalk. We’re doing everything right to turn on the win lights, but sometimes you get on the bad side and that’s just racing. Last year we were on the right side of most of those races. You pay your dues, work hard and it will come around for you and that’s what we’re doing right now. We’ll roll into Norwalk and be excited for a great weekend. We’re glad to get DSR Performance and the DSR parts website some good exposure with getting the No. 1 qualifier. That car looked good and it ran good too. There’s so much racing left this season. This is only our sixth race in and there’s so much racing left, but it’s all about the finish and we’re a marathoner, not sprinting.”

Ron Capps, DSR NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
(No. 2 Qualifier –  3.941 seconds at 315.42 mph / Three bonus points for quickest run in Q3 and one bonus point for third-quickest in Q2)

Round 1: (0.093-second reaction time, 4.292 seconds at 263.20 mph) loss to No. 13 Terry Haddock (0.150/4.214/253.23)

“Haddock has been running well and we knew we couldn’t take them lightly, so we definitely were prepared to lay down a good number. ‘Guido’ (crew chief Dean Antonelli) came on the radio and said ‘we need to make sure we win this round’ because we knew there was a Bye into the semis and you can’t take that for granted. The car was driving fine, it was smooth, it didn’t seem out of control, and all of a sudden, the tires came loose. I waited and gave it a pedal and then the car blew up and caught fire. I didn’t even realize it at that point because I was trying to stay on it and get ahead of Haddock, and then just before the finish line, I saw him drive by. By then, my legs started to feel really hot so I just wanted to get the car stopped and get out of there. The fire burned up my suit pretty badly, and I’ve got to give credit to Impact Racing. My Impact firesuit protected my legs, and other than a little soreness, I’m alright. The suit did what it was supposed to do. The whole situation is a bummer because if we would’ve won that round, we would’ve had an automatic Bye to the semis, so it’s just disappointing to give up rounds like that. But, we’ll comb through all of the data, figure out why it smoked the tires, and head to Norwalk.”

Cruz Pedregon, Pedregon Racing Snap-on® Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

(No. 6 Qualifier – 3.969 seconds at 326.71 mph)

Round 1: (0.052-second reaction time, 4.027 seconds at 321.73 mph) vs No. 9 J.R. Todd (0.085/3.994/322.88)

“We had a solid weekend here in New England. We qualified sixth and kept our streak of qualifying in the top half of the eliminations ladder for the entire 2021 season alive. I think the worst we’ve qualified was eighth so far. The opening round was a great race against J.R. Todd and it was literally a race of inches. Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way but it was a great effort. We’re getting better but have a few kinks we still have to work out. I feel like we’re on schedule to have some great runs here coming up in the near future. We’re looking forward to going to our next race in Norwalk and shortly thereafter, our Western swing starting out in Denver for the Dodge//SRT Mile High Nationals and then California. Overall it was a good weekend and we ran top speed of all the cars, even Top Fuel, in Saturday’s final qualifying effort with a 326 mph pass, so it shows that the HEMI power is there. We’re putting it to the ground and we’re just looking to improve little by little, and start winning these close rounds.”

 
TOP FUEL:

Leah Pruett, DSR Precision Manufacturing Dragster  
(No. 10 Qualifier – 3.927 seconds at 278.92 mph)

Round 1: (0.090-second reaction time, 3.771 seconds at 324.28 mph) defeats No. 3 Justin Ashley (0.045/4.063/274.78)

Round 2: (0.103/3.811/323.12) loss to No. 4 Steve Torrance (0.060/3.823/320.13)

“A second round exit is not what we had in mind for this DSM Manufacturing dragster today. The silver lining on the weekend is that we have a car that is having conversations with us. We had second quickest ET of round one and that was awesome with that (3).771. We were behind a little bit after having some bad data from the weather station. The team did a phenomenal job of getting us qualified and into a winning position on race day. The first round win was great. We had never been able to beat Justin Ashley before, so that was a boost for this team. The second round was just a good, close drag race. We lost on a holeshot and that’s on me. Walking away from this, we have a race car that is properly working and we’re now very confident heading into Norwalk where we get to pull double-duty with the Dodge SRT dragster and Factory Stock (Showdown) Drag Pak.”

NHRA Championship Points Standings:
Following the TascaParts.com NHRA New England Nationals Presented by Bandero Premium Tequila at New England Dragway

FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1. Bob Tasca III – 495 (2)

2. John Force – 480 (1)

3. J.R. Todd – 450 (1)4. Robert Hight – 423

5. Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 375

6. Ron Capps (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 372

7. Tim Wilkerson– 364

8. Alexis DeJoria – 325

9. Cruz Pedregon (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 305

10. Terry Haddock – 221

TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)
1. Steve Torrance – 606 (2)

2. Antron Brown – 444 (1)

3. Billy Torrence – 391 (1)

4. Shawn Langdon – 354

5. Brittany Force – 341 

6. Doug Kalitta – 330

7. Justin Ashley – 283

8. Josh Hart – 278 (1)
9. Clay Millican– 270

10. Leah Pruett (Mopar Dodge//SRT) – 267

DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News

Fans can follow all the NHRA’s action this season at DodgeGarage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag-racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads, and merchandise. For more information, visit www.dodgegarage.com. 

@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram

The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers on the track. Fans can see action from the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.

Mopar  

Mopar (a simple contraction of the words MOtor and PARts) offers exceptional service, parts and customer-care. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, the Mopar brand has evolved over more than 80 years to represent both complete vehicle care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.

Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era with performance parts to enhance speed and handling for both on-road and racing use. Later, the brand expanded to include technical service and customer support. Today, Mopar integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.

Complete information on the Mopar brand is available at www.mopar.com. Mopar is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.

Follow Mopar and company news and video on:

Company blog: blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Media website: media.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Mopar brand: www.mopar.com/

Mopar blog: blog.mopar.com/

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mopar

Instagram: www.instagram.com/officialmopar

Twitter: twitter.com/OfficialMOPAR

YouTube: www.youtube.com/c/mopar or www.youtube.com/StellantisNA

Dodge//SRT

For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge shifts into high gear with muscle cars and SUVs that deliver unrivaled performance in each of the segments where they compete.

2021 marks the year that Dodge is distilled into a pure performance brand, offering Hellcat-powered, 700-plus-horsepower SRT versions of every model across the lineup. For the 2021 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the new 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world, and the new 710-horsepower Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat, the most powerful SUV ever. Combined, these three muscle cars make Dodge the industry’s most powerful brand, offering more horsepower than any other American brand across its entire lineup.

In 2020, Dodge was named the “#1 Brand in Initial Quality,” making it the first domestic brand ever to rank No. 1 in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS). The Dodge brand also ranked No. 1 in the J.D. Power APEAL Study (mass market). These results are historic because it marks the first time a domestic brand has earned top spots in both J.D. Power studies in the same year.

Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION TASCAPARTS.COM NHRA NEW ENGLAND NATIONALS NEW ENGLAND DRAGWAY IN EPPING, NEW HAMPSHIRE RACE RECAP JUNE13, 2021                                                                                                                        

Chevrolet doubles up at New England Dragway • John Force outduels teammate Robert Hight for win No. 153• John Force Racing earns third consecutive Funny Car win• Aaron Stanfield edges Greg Anderson in Pro Stock final

EPPING, N.H. (June 13, 2021) – How appropriate that John Force would be holding the Wally in the 900th Funny Car race in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) history.
The 16-time Funny Car champion, driving the PEAK/BlueDEF Platinum Chevrolet Camaro SS, earned his record-extending 153rd Funny Car victory by defeating teammate Robert Hight in the final of the TascaParts.com NHRA New England Nationals presented by Bandero Premium Tequila at New England Dragway.
In another all-Chevy Camaro final match, Aaron Stanfield denied Greg Anderson from tying the Pro Stock record for career wins and picked up his second victory in the process.
Force’s victory was his second of the season and third in a row for his namesake Funny Car team. Hight recorded his 52nd career win in the previous NHRA event at Houston. It is the 144th Chevrolet Funny Car win and 64th with the Camaro body.
“It represents team effort,” said Force, who holds a 4-3 edge against Hight in their final-round meetings. The No. 3 qualifier went straight down the middle of the racetrack in 3.972 seconds at 327.51 mph to Hight’s 3.993-second pass in the AAA New England Camaro. “I won today; I did my job.”
Added Hight’s crew chief, Jimmy Prock: “Everybody has worked really hard; we had to start over this year after taking a year off (because of the economics of the COVID-19 pandemic) and it shows what great people we have here.”Stanfield, who was 6 years old in 1999 when Anderson made the first of his 161 Pro Stock finals, recorded a 6.576-second run in the Janac Brothers Camaro SS to edge Anderson’s 6.577-second pass in the HendrickCars.comCamaro SS.
“It’s been a lot of hard work by the guys on my team; they’ve been working really hard on this hot rod, and I’ve been trying to do my job behind the wheel,” said Stanfield, the 2020 Factory Stock Showdown champion in the Janac Brothers Chevrolet COPO Camaro. “It all jelled today. Getting to race somebody that you grew up watching do really well over the years, it’s cool to get to race him and beat him.”
Anderson, the No. 1 qualifier for the fifth time in six races and 111th time in his career, was seeking to tie Warren Johnson with 97 victories for the most all time in Pro Stock and second to Force overall. Anderson did break a tie with Tony Schumacher for third in NHRA career round wins. He has 854; Johnson is second with 874 and Force is the runaway leader with 1,368.
Brittany Force, the No. 7 qualifier in the Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet dragster, fell in the first round.
Next on the schedule is the Summing Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals on June 25-27 in Norwalk, Ohio. The race was not held in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
CHEVROLET FROM THE COCKPIT
TOP FUEL:
BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, FLAV-R-PAC/MONSTER ENERGY CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (No. 7 qualifier, fell in first round): “We ran a 3.843 pass with a cylinder out and got beat first round here at New England Dragway. This Flav-R-Pac Monster Energy team has had a tough couple of races lately so we’re hoping to turn our luck around at the next one in Norwalk, Ohio.”
FUNNY CAR:
JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK/BLUEDEF CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 3 qualifier, won second race of season and 153rd of career): “You have to look at both of these cars (his and teammate Robert Hight’s) and Brittany’s (Force) dragster. The all have PEAK on them and AAA and Monster, Flav-R-Pac, Chevy and all the people that take care of me, that’s what it’s all about. Robert helps me back in the driver’s seat. I want to thank all the people in Epping for coming back and I want to thank Daniel Hood for a great tune-up and (Tim) Fabrisi for fixing the cockpit in my car.”
ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AAA NEW ENGLAND CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 10 qualifier, runner-up for second time this season): “Really wanted this one for AAA New England. We all really wanted it. This crew, Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham, they worked hard. We went some rounds and got better, but not the result we wanted. You always want to be the ones winning, but I’m glad it stayed in the John Force Racing family. John’s been working hard, too. All of our teams have been and we’re dominating. That’s ultimately what you want. In Norwalk, it will be us.” 
PRO STOCK:
GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier, race runner-up; points leader): “I certainly can’t complain. It’s really been a dream start to the season. The driver made a couple of mistakes, otherwise, we could have had a seriously good run going already. My HendrickCars.com Chevy has been bad to the bone all year, but I really want to present a trophy to Mr. (Rick) Hendrick. The HendrickCars.comteam has been doing a great job over there in NASCAR, and we need to start pulling our weight over here in NHRA.”

Alex Palou finishes third in second round of the Detroit doubleheader
Colton Herta, Graham Rahal score top-five finishes
Honda powers 10 of top 15 finishers

DETROIT, Mich. (June 13, 2021) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Alex Palou was the top Honda finisher in today’s second of two races at the Detroit Grand Prix, taking third place in his #10 NTT INDYCAR SERIES machine.

The 70-lap race saw three yellow flag periods, the first on lap one for contact between Max Chilton and James Hinchcliffe, the second for Jimmie Johnson spinning and finally for Romain Grosjean who suffered a brake fire. The field went back to green for a seven-lap shootout to end the race.

In the closing stages, Colton Herta was running in the third position before locking up and running wide in his #26 Andretti Autosport Honda. The incident allowed Palou to close up and take the last podium position from the young Californian, behind Pato O’Ward and Josef Newgarden.

Herta would hold on to the fourth position ahead of Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal.

Detroit Grand Prix Race 2 Honda Results
3rd Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
4th Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
5th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
7th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
9th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
10th Santino Ferrucci Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
11th Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda
12th Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
13th Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda
14th James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport Honda
17th Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda
19th Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda
21st Jimmie Johnson-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
24th Romain Grosjean-R Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship (unofficial, after 8 rounds)
Honda 643 points
Chevrolet 652

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers’ Championship (unofficial, after 8 rounds)

1. Pato O’Ward, Arrow McLaren SP 299 points [2 race wins]
2. Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 298 [1 race win]
3. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda 263 [1 race win]

Quotes
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Finished third: “Yesterday was one of those days where we didn’t really have any luck at all.  But the team worked all night, and it was amazing to see the #10 American Legion Honda car finishing on the podium today. We had a good fight with Colton [Herta] and Josef [Newgarden] at the end there. I couldn’t really get Josef, but I’m really happy with a podium finish and good [championship] points.  Now we leave for [next weekend’s race at] Road America and we need to go win that one”

Colton Herta (#26 Andretti Autosport Honda) Finished fourth: “It’s pretty disappointing, to be honest. We definitely had a fast car, I just didn’t get it done in the end there, unfortunately. We can find some stuff to make the car a little better on restarts.  But whatever [race winner] Pato [O’Ward] have found is really good.  We need to work ourselves towards that goal.  The race car on a long run was fantastic.  I imagine we were one of the fastest – if not the fastest – cars on the track today. Full credit to the Gainbridge team, the [pit] stops were amazing, the Honda was wonderful, always proud to be powered by Honda, and our strategy was perfect.  It put us in the best position to win today.  Unfortunately, I just didn’t get it done.”

Fast Facts
In addition to Brazilian Helio Castroneves historic win last month at the Indianapolis 500, the other Honda race winners this year include Spaniard Alex Palou (Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama); defending and six-time champion Scott Dixon (Texas Race 1) from New Zealand; American Colton Herta (Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg); and Marcus Ericsson of Sweden (Detroit Race 1).

Honda-powered drivers have won six of the last eight Indy car events run on the Belle Isle Park street circuit.

Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES is back racing next weekend at the National Park of Speed, Wisconsin’s Road America June 17-20.

Honda Racing social media content and video links from Detroit can be found on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD). Additional features and long-form videos can be found on the Honda Racing/HPD YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV).

Honda Ridgeline Baja Race Truck captures fourth consecutive Class 7 win
Fifth Ridgeline Class 7 Baja 500 victory in last six years

ENSENADA, Mexico (June 13, 2021) – The Honda Off-Road Racing Team returned to Baja California this weekend, and continued its string of Baja 500 successes with another Class 7 victory at the iconic off-road race. The impressive result was the fourth consecutive class win for the Ridgeline Baja Race Truck, and the fifth for the Honda Ridgeline in the last six years.

Once again competing in Class 7, for unlimited V6-powered race trucks, the Honda Ridgeline duo of team owner/driver Jeff Proctor and Pat Dailey faced a single-loop course of 466 miles, starting and ending in the coastal city of Ensenada. A total of 243 entries took part in this year’s 25th running of the event.

Quote
Jeff Proctor (team owner/driver Ridgeline Baja Race Truck) won Class 7 for unlimited V6 Trucks; fourth consecutive Baja 500 race win for Honda: “This was a very fast, yet very technical Baja 500, demanding as always. It was extremely dusty, with many single-track lines that didn’t really allow for passing. But the entire Honda Off-Road Racing Team was on fire today, thanks once again to everyone for all of their effort and hard work, it all paid off for us once again.”

Fast Fact
Making approximately 550 horsepower, HPD’s 3.5-liter HR35TT engine uses the same block and cylinder heads as the production V6 that powers the production Ridgeline. Additional, custom elements of the powertrain include an HPD-designed intake plenum and custom Engine Control Unit programming.

Next
The Honda Off-Road Racing Team next travels to the desert of Nevada for the 25th anniversary Maxxis Tires “Casey Folks” Vegas to Reno off-road race, August 11-15, starting in Las Vegas and running north to Reno, Nevada.

Honda Racing social media content and video links from the Baja 500 can be found on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD). Additional features and long-form videos can be found on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV). Additional photos and information from the Ridgeline Baja Race Truck’s efforts can be viewed on Instagram at @hondaoffroadracing and @proctor_race.

with Fourth Consecutive Victory at EldoraWells Motorsports & Co. bags $273,000 in total prize money over four-day stretch ROSSBURG, OH – June 12, 2021 – When the week began, the thought of one driver coming into Eldora Speedway and leaving with over a quarter million dollars was just a dream. But it’s not a dream anymore. It’s reality. Brandon Overton completed one of the greatest achievements in dirt track racing history Saturday night with his fourth consecutive Feature win in four days, sweeping both the 27th and 26th runnings of the Dirt Late Model Dream for an incredible $273,000 in total prize money. The Evans, GA-driver is now only the second driver in history to win back-to-back Dreams, joining eight-time event winner Scott Bloomquist with that achievement, which he conquered in 2017 and 2018. “To grow up as a kid, watching all these guys here at Eldora… this place is so special to the Dirt Late Model world and the racing world, period. To get it done, I don’t know that I’ll ever top this,” Overton said. His Feature wins on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday night involved a pass for the lead before he cruised to the finish line unchallenged. But Saturday night was different – Overton lost the lead for 10 laps and was forced to take it back in his quest for the $126,000 winner’s check. A second-place finish in Heat Race #1 to Kyle Larson earlier in the night seeded Overton seventh on the starting grid, which forced him to make his way up through the top-10 in the opening stages. He said that Heat Race loss was actually the kick in the pants that he needed. “Probably the best thing that happened to me was [Kyle] Larson beating me in that Heat Race,” Overton said. “I wasn’t pissed, but I was like ‘alright, don’t worry about it, just shake it off.’ I told myself ­– he got me then, now I gotta go get him.” When the green dropped, Overton went and got them all. Including the polesitter, Darrell Lanigan. Lanigan, the 2003 Dream winner from Union, KY, led the first 52 circuits before Overton hunted him down on a restart just before halfway and made the pass with a big move to Lanigan’s outside in Turns 1-2. Back in command at the head of the field, it seemed like Overton would just cruise to another big payday. Enter Chris Madden. Madden, of Gray Court, SC, started his climb from 10th on the grid and gradually made his way through the field in the first half of the race. By Lap 70, he was staring down Overton’s bumper. A caution four laps later put Madden right on Overton’s outside for the restart, where he sailed around him with ease to grab the lead on Lap 75. At that point, Overton knew the battle was far from over. “We had that restart, and I spun my tires a little bit, and Madden got to running through that middle. He got me, but I knew if I could just keep pace with him and keep pressuring him… he’d have to chop me off or run me in the wall if he was going to get down,” Overton said. “I knew I had a good car, but I’ve come here and watched these things… it ain’t over until it’s over. So, I knew all I had to do was just stay right there in contention and I’d have my shot again.” Madden led the next six circuits before Overton challenged him back. The two traded the lead back-and-forth three laps in-a-row before Overton took it back permanently on Lap 86. “The rubber started coming, and I couldn’t stay in the rubber,” Madden said. “[Overton] was a lot better in that stage of the race, and I couldn’t fend him off.” From that point on, nobody was catching the Wells Motorsports #76. Overton found his groove right in the middle of the track and pulled away by over two seconds at the checkers to win his second career Eldora crown jewel. Madden came home second and bagged $20,000 in his best career finish at the Dream. Chris Ferguson charged from 13th to finish third – a new event-best for the driver out of Mt. Holly, NC. Jonathan Davenport, a prelim Feature winner on Wednesday night, crossed in fourth, ahead of Lanigan. Reflecting back on his incredible accomplishment, Overton was reminded of an earlier exchange with a former Dream winner, putting his winning attitude into full perspective. “I sat with Jimmy Owens earlier and I asked him how old he was when he won. He said, ‘I think I was like 37.’ It made me feel good. I was like, ‘well dang, Jimmy Owens kicks everybody’s ass and he’s been kicking everybody’s ass for a long time now.’ So, it keeps me hungry and makes me want to keep digging.” A-Feature (100 Laps) – 1. 76-Brandon Overton[7]; 2. 44-Chris Madden[10]; 3. 22-Chris Ferguson[13]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 5. 29-Darrell Lanigan[1]; 6. 6-Kyle Larson[6]; 7. 25-Shane Clanton[18]; 8. 39-Tim McCreadie[12]; 9. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[14]; 10. 17M-Dale McDowell[22]; 11. 16-Tyler Bruening[27]; 12. 20-Jimmy Owens[19]; 13. 9-Devin Moran[2]; 14. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 15. 32-Bobby Pierce[15]; 16. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[24]; 17. 157-Mike Marlar[21]; 18. 0-Scott Bloomquist[16]; 19. 1P-Earl Pearson, Jr.[23]; 20. 8-Kyle Strickler[11]; 21. 20RT-Ricky Thornton, Jr.[5]; 22. 1-Brandon Sheppard[9]; 23. 17-Zack Dohm[25]; 24. 7-Ricky Weiss[8]; 25. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 26. 6H-Nick Hoffman[26]; 27. 11H-Spencer Hughes[28]; 28. 18B-Shannon Babb[20]

DIRTcar Racing is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel), Chevy Performance Parts, iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, and NAPA Auto Parts (SDS). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), ASI Race Wear (SDS), Bassett Racing Wheel, Bell Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, Bicknell Racing Products (SDS), Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux (SDS), Cometic Gasket (SDS), COMP Cams, Drydene, Fast Shafts, Fox Factory, Jerovetz Motorsports Shock Service, K1 Race Gear, KSE Racing Products, MSD, Mulit FireX, Quarter Master, Schoenfeld Headers, Summit Racing Equipment, Velocita USA, Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum), and Xceldyne. Along with manufacturer sponsors, including: FireAde, Intercomp, and Racing Electronics.

For Second-Straight Night, Macedo Steals World of Outlaws Glory from Kerry Madsen

KNOXVILLE, IA – June 12, 2021 – It’s safe to say that Carson Macedo is ready for August.

After a weekend sweep of the Brownells Big Guns Bash, the Jason Johnson Racing driver will enter the 60th running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals pres. by Casey’s General Stores with all of the momentum on his side.

The Lemoore, CA native looked like he was out of it on Saturday night, losing the lead to Kerry Madsen on Lap six and eventually falling to third, but the resilience was undeniable as he rallied through lap traffic and offered up a last-lap pass for the win that brought the Knoxville Raceway crowd to their feet.

It was a game-changing weekend for the 25-year-old, who tacked off several accomplishments. He finally got his first 410 win at Knoxville, won back-to-back with the Outlaws for the first time ever, soared to 11 career Outlaw wins, and hit his fifth Outlaw win of the season, already the winningest year of his career.

“My car was good the whole main event,” Macedo mentioned. “I just didn’t know where to be at times. When I was leading I thought I was plugging nice laps on the bottom, but then Kerry got a lane move me. In traffic, he was so superb. When Sheldon got by me, I realized how much better the bottom was if I was patient. I realized Kerry was making the same mistake like fading off from the corner exit. I was trying to set him up for the last corner, but it worked out down the backstretch.”

After scoring the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash win, Macedo was set up nicely to score two in-a-row. He led the opening five circuits aboard his #41 ride, but Madsen went one lane higher through turns one and two and zoomed right by him, placing the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanin Racing #14 in the top spot.

Madsen looked dominant at times, especially in lap traffic as he zigged and zagged by the back markers and pulled away from Macedo.

It seemed as if it was over in the closing stages when Macedo slipped to third as Haudenschild rose to the occasion and drove his NOS Energy Drink #17 to second. However, a fire got lit under the #41 and he came roaring back.

Macedo got Haudenschild back on Lap 19 and quickly tracked Madsen down as he figured out the black zook clay on the 1/2-mile. As the white flag waved, Macedo perfected the bottom of turns one and two and capitalized as Madsen’s #14 drifted high and left the door open.

In turn, Macedo walked right through the door and ran away to a 1.120-second advantage to officially sweep the weekend.

“Two in a row is pretty cool, man,” Macedo admitted. “You’re seeing the fruit from everything that Jason [Johnson] built here. I’m looking forward to the future with Philip Dietz. It’s no secret Knoxville is a chess game and I’m feeling better about this place every time.

For the second-straight night, Kerry Madsen of St. Mary’s, NSW, AUS was forced to settle for a podium bid after leading laps. The 25-time World of Outlaws winner was obviously frustrated with letting a win slip away, but the success in his short time at Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing isn’t lost on him.

“I just got tight and screwed it up,” Madsen acknowledged. “I have to apologize to this team. I should’ve brought that home. This thing is so fast, and so fun to drive. It’s all a testament to TSR as an organization.”

Settling for the final podium position in third was Sheldon Haudenschild.

“My guys have got me feeling good at this place,” he said. “We were there at the end and there’s not much more you can ask for. We’re learning and we’ll keep ripping.”

Rounding out the top-five in the finale of the Brownells Big Guns Bash was Giovanni Scelzi in fourth-place aboard the KCP Racing #18 and Logan Schuchart in fifth-place aboard the Shark Racing #1S.

Closing out the top-10 on Saturday night was Aaron Reutzel in sixth, Brent Marks in seventh, James McFadden in eighth, Parker Price-Miller in ninth, and Brian Brown in tenth.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series now turns its attention to a triple-header next weekend. The Greatest Show on Dirt will race at 34 (IA) Raceway on Thursday, June 17, Dubuque (IA) Fairgrounds Speedway on Friday, June 18, and Beaver Dam (WI) Raceway on Saturday, June 19.

NOS Energy Drink Feature (25 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo [1][$10,000]; 2. 14-Kerry Madsen [2][$6,000]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [5][$3,500]; 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [4][$2,800]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart [8][$2,500]; 6. 83-Aaron Reutzel [3][$2,300]; 7. 19-Brent Marks [9][$2,200]; 8. 9-James McFadden [12][$2,100]; 9. 5-Parker Price-Miller [6][$2,050]; 10. 21-Brian Brown [11][$2,000]; 11. 2-David Gravel [15][$1,600]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz [19][$1,400]; 13. 2KS-Matt Juhl [7][$1,200]; 14. 11K-Kraig Kinser [17][$1,100]; 15. 56N-Davey Heskin [16][$1,050]; 16. 49-Brad Sweet [22][$1,000]; 17. 2C-Wayne Johnson [10][$1,000]; 18. 9T-Kasey Kahne [24][$1,000]; 19. 3-Ayrton Gennetten [23][$1,000]; 20. 7-Justin Henderson [18][$1,000]; 21. 44-Chris Martin [20][$1,000]; 22. 15H-Sam Hafertepe [13][$1,000]; 23. 1A-Jacob Allen [25][$]; 24. 25-Scott Bogucki [21][$1,000]; 25. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [14][$1,000]. Lap Leaders:Carson Macedo 1-5, 25; Kerry Madsen 6-24. KSE Hard Charger Award: 15-Donny Schatz[+7]

The Gray Court, SC driver started 10th in the 100-lap Feature

ROSSBURG,OH – JUNE 12, 2021 – A $126,000 prize was in Chris Madden’s grasp. He just took the lead from Brandon Overton and looked to have Saturday’s Dirt Late Model Dream win in his sight at Eldora Speedway.  

But the Gray Court, SC driver was battling “Big Sexy”, the man searching for his second “Dream” win in 36 hours. 

Madden tried to hold on to the lead on the outside, but Overton was too strong on the bottom, thundering past Madden with 15 Laps to go. 

Overton held on to win his second DIRTcar sanctioned Dirt Late Model Dream this week, collecting $273,000 in winnings. 

Madden had to settle for second and knew Overton was better in the closing stages. 

“The rubber started coming, and I couldn’t stay in the rubber,” Madden said. “He was a lot better in that stage of the race, and I couldn’t fend him off. We tried and gave it all we had but we were a second-place car [Saturday].”

Despite finishing second, Madden was still smiling after the Feature. He feels a win at Eldora Speedway is coming sooner rather than later, especially with how well he ran. 

“We definitely found some things in [Friday’s] Feature and worked on it [Saturday], but I still need a little bit more,” Madden said. “I just can’t get that W at [Eldora], but I’m going to get it one day.” 

“Smokey” isn’t the only one getting credit for his finish on Saturday. Madden is happy with how hard his team worked to put him in this position.

“My guys never quit, and they keep a great attitude, they just keep telling me to hang in there,” Madden said. “We just got a good chemistry going, they’re good with me and I’m good with them so we’ll just keep building.” 

Madden was one of five World of Outlaws drivers to qualify for the race. 

Tyler Bruening started last in his B-Feature and qualified through the B-Scramble. The Decorah, IA driver finished 11th in his first “Dream” start. 

Brandon Sheppard, Ryan Gustin, and Ricky Weiss all had trouble that ended their night early. 

Madden hopes to keep his momentum rolling next weekend when The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet kick off a Northeast swing with a tripleheader through New York and Pennsylvania. 

The Series visits Stateline Speedway in Busti, NY on Thursday, June 17, Thunder Mountain Speedway, in Knox Dale PA on Friday, June 18, and Selinsgrove Speedway in Selinsgrove, PA on Saturday, June 19. 

Madden will continue chasing his first Series championship. He’s currently in second place—46 points behind Sheppard, who’s the reigning champion. 

Another race to keep an eye on is the exciting battle for Rookie of the Year, as Bruening leads Gustin by 135 points. 

DETROIT (June 12, 2021) – Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy won an all-Chevrolet Corvette C8.R battle in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category of the Detroit Sports Car Challenge on Saturday at Belle Isle Park. The duo in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R beat their Corvette Racing teammates Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor by 0.226 seconds in a non-points GTLM round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. The two Corvettes made their lone pit stops of the race three laps apart, with Taylor pitting first after 42 minutes. Tandy then stopped with a 55-second lead, and the gap shrank back to a little more than a second with 25 minutes to go with Garcia trying to run down Milner to the end before and after a late-race caution period. Despite no points being available in GTLM, having Corvette Racing back on Belle Isle was of huge benefit on multiple fronts. For one, the Belle Isle appearance provided an opportunity for the hundreds of Chevrolet production team members who contributed in some way to the C8.R – and the road-going Corvette Stingray – to see Corvette Racing in-person. The reveal of the C8.R nearly 18 months ago was culmination of almost six years of work between all facets of engineers and designers from the Corvette production side and Corvette Racing. Second, it was Corvette Racing’s first IMSA event since March. With a busy stretch coming up in the IMSA championship over the next six weeks – plus the 24 Hours of Le Mans in mid-August – Belle Isle offered up a nice refresher on operations and procedures for the four drivers plus the crews and engineers. Saturday’s race also was the first street race for the Corvette C8.R, and the team also collected valuable data ahead of the Long Beach street circuit in September. Corvette Racing’s next event is the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen on Sunday, June 27 from Watkins Glen International.

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM RACE WINNER: “The goal coming here was to keep the cars off the wall and learn as much as we possibly could about the C8.R on a street track. We did that. We did treat this as competition within our team to remain sharp and working through our processes. We did that with no mistakes in the race. We knew having Nick stay out longer than Jordan would help, and it did. There was a little traffic and then the yellow near the end to bunch us up. That gave us a little battle for sure. It was good for us to shake off the cobwebs and get ready for the long haul toward the end of the season.”Both cars are close as it is, no matter what. We expected a nice little race with the 3 car, which we got there at the start. Our pit strategy put us a little farther ahead and Antonio kind of made it back toward me for a nice little run to the end. I had no radio, which was not the plan! That’s about the only thing that went wrong for us this weekend. The crew could give me gaps (on a signboard). But I could see the gap to Antonio and could see he was getting closer. We had the yellow and I knew there were about six of seven laps to go. For us to learn a lot about the car and the tires in those situations is a benefit. It puts us back in a groove again. We’ve been off for so many weeks. It’s good for us as a team to shake the rust off and get our minds back into racing mode again. In some ways, it was a practice race for us before we push on for the last races.”That was mission No. 1, but the whole point of coming here was to showcase these Corvettes. We haven’t been here since 2008, so it’s a great opportunity for Corvette Racing to showcase these C8.Rs to the engineers and a lot of the people who work for Corvette Racing and Chevrolet. Their families were able to be here and see these cars. It wasn’t just about us driving on the racetrack. It’s about giving back to a lot of the people who make this race program what it is. It was an opportunity for them to see the cars up close and experience what these Corvettes are capable of and what they are working toward. Both cars are in one piece. From our perspective, job well done.The reception of Corvette on Belle Isle: “It’s a great opportunity for us as drivers and a team to interact with the many, many people who in some way helped to make these race cars or street cars, or someone else who works for Chevrolet or GM who has a hand in a different model than Corvette. The Corvette is a halo car and America’s supercar. It’s the pinnacle of what Chevrolet offers. It’s a chance to build excitement within those programs and for those engineers to get excited about what they produce. Fundamentally, this was high on the priority list for coming here and doing this race. We wanted to give them a good experience to see what they’re working on and had a hand in some ways so they can show their friends and families what they do. That’s what racing for a long time has been about – to showcase the latest and greatest in technologies. They can see the track-to-street correlation to see how close the race cars look compared to the street cars. They can see production parts that they helped build or design that are on the race cars. It’s a unique opportunity for GM and Chevrolet, and it’s a no-brainer for us to come to this race.”

NICK TANDY, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTLM RACE WINNER: “Not only did we complete the race and show off this awesome Corvette to everyone in the stands and around the track, but we also got a load of relevant information for the next time we are on a street track. This was the first time we’ve been on this type of track with the C8.R. What also was pleasing was how the whole weekend went operationally. The whole team was able to get back in the swing of things again before a busy summer. So yes, mission accomplished.”We had a good race between our cars. The start was interesting. We were three-wide in the kink before the start-finish line, and I was surprised to see this. But it all worked itself out. We learned a lot about what we need out of the car from a street track point of view. This is good. We had a restart with cold tires and it’s always fun when you have someone to play with and compete against, so this was good. Between the pair of us, we split strategies a bit; one car pitted early to avoid traffic, and we stayed out in the hope we could build a gap. We could see the differences in these kinds of strategic decisions. This is something that goes into a notebook. Fortunately for me and Tommy and everyone on the 4 Corvette, we get to celebrate in Victory Circle. We’ll take it as a victory, and I’m happy to be here.”

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: “Every time you race, you find things. It’s great to now have laps on the C8.R around a street circuit. It’s good to do a race for the first time here because there is a lot of data to be collected. We raced hard and tried to get the most out of the Corvette while racing against each other. We proved that we were running fairly quick. I think I left my right-side mirror somewhere on the track! It was cool. It’s always to race around a street circuit. Maybe we were missing some competition like we are used to, but it was great to be here in Detroit with all the people who work on and appreciate the Corvette. This has been a highlight weekend for everyone.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: “It was a good experience. We had some new crew members over the wall for pit stops. We tried some new things on the car to help with reliability. There may to have been points but we learned a lot to take to Long Beach for another street course and of course Le Mans, which is the big one we are preparing for. So yes, a very good day for Corvette Racing.”

EPPING, NH (June 13, 2021) — The veteran driver from Springfield, Illinois, rolled into the TascaParts.com NHRA New England Nationals presented by Bandero Premium Brand Tequila with momentum from a semifinal finish two weeks ago. Over two days of qualifying  veteran driver and crew chief Tim Wilkerson continually improved the performance of the Levi, Ray & Shoup Summit Racing Shelby Mustang. The team rolled into the first round sitting No. 8 in qualifying and facing another first round match-up with Blake Alexander.

Two weeks ago Wilkerson drew Alexander in the first round and the veteran was able to get the win. Today Wilkerson was once again able to turn on the win light against the up and coming driver. When both cars leapt off the line Wilkerson’s race car moved out into the lead and Alexander’s car went into immediate tire smoke. Down-track Wilkerson’s Levi, Ray & Shoup Summit Racing Mustang began hugging the centerline but he was able to get it to the finish line for the win.

In the quarterfinals Wilkerson pulled up beside No. 1 qualifier Matt Hagan, who had won the previous three Funny Car titles at the New England Nationals. When the tree flashed, Wilkerson took off first and never trailed for the win. His winning time of 3.956 seconds was his quickest pass of the weekend and gave him lane choice headed into the semifinals.

“That run in the second round was just about perfect. You can’t give me that many shots at the track because I will figure it out,” said Wilkerson, a 20-time Funny Car national event winner. “We got off the line first and this Mustang just made a great smooth run. Racing against Hagan is tough but that was a great win for this team. We have another tough customer in Robert Hight in the semifinals. I think we have a shot at winning this race.”

The Levi, Ray & Shoup Summit Racing Shelby Mustang and driver Wilkerson were racing in their third semifinal race of the season. In an unfortunate turn Wilkerson jumped the start, lighting up the Christmas Tree with a premature red-light and handing the win to Hight. Wilkerson’s race car lit up the scoreboard with a 4.367 seconds just behind Hight’s 4.022 seconds but it was all for naught after the misstep on the starting line.

“That is not how we wanted that round to go,” said Wilkerson. “I just messed up but I will put that behind me and head on to Norwalk. I am really happy with how this race car reacted to the changes I was making. We made some great runs on a warm race track and that will pay dividends for us as we head into summer.”

Qualifying Results

Q1: 7.863 sec, 82.65 mph; Qual. 9

Q2: 4.076 sec, 268.71 mph; Qual. 8

Q3: 3.974 sec, 320.89 mph; Qual. 8

Bonus Points:  0

Race Results

First Round
Driver                          Qual    R/T      ET        MPH 
Tim Wilkerson                  8              .080        4.492     206.10 (W)

Blake Alexander                               7              .054        10.409   73.61     

Second Round
Driver                          Qual    R/T      ET        MPH 
Tim Wilkerson                  8              .058        3.956     324.44 (W)

Matt Hagan                        1              .067        3.983     328.06

Semifinals
Driver                          Qual    R/T      ET        MPH 
Tim Wilkerson                  8              -.090      4.367     205.07

Robert Hight                     10           .097        4.022     322.27 (W)

Camping World Funny Car Top Ten

1.           Bob Tasca III, 495

2.          John Force, 480

3.         J.R. Todd, 450

4.           Robert Hight, 423

5.           Matt Hagan, 375

6.           Ron Capps, 372

7.           Tim Wilkerson, 364

8.           Alexis DeJoria, 325

9.           Cruz Pedregon, 305

10.         Terry Haddock, 226

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX STREETS OF BELLE ISLE TEAM CHEVY RACE RECAP – O’WARD WINS JUNE 13, 2021
DETROIT – Hard-charging Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, rocketed from fifth place to the lead in a four-lap span late in Sunday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES Dual 2 of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear to become the series’ first repeat winner of 2021.
It marked Chevrolet’s seventh victory at Belle Isle since 2012 and its first 1-2 finish at the event since 2016.
O’Ward previously put his name in the win column this season at Texas Motor Speedway Race 2 in early May. In fifth place Sunday following a restart on Lap 64, O’Ward quickly moved up to third within one lap, then caught and passed Josef Newgarden with three laps remaining.
O’Ward, who started 16^th, now leads the standings by one point. And after three very hot and muggy days on Belle Isle, O’Ward and his team enjoyed the now-traditional dip in the Scott Fountain.
“Congratulations to Pato O’Ward and the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP team on their victory in IndyCar Dual 2 at the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president Performance and Motorsports. “The temporary street course on Belle Isle is very challenging and Pato showed tremendous skill to make multiple exciting passes to get to the front for the win.
“It was great to have a 1-2 Chevrolet finish with Pato along with Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 IndyCar Chevrolet.” Two-time series champion Newgarden, No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, won the pole for Sunday’s race and led the first 67 laps of the 70-lap event on the temporary street course on the way to his second runner-up finish of 2021.
Today’s strong runs by Team Chevy drivers also moved Chevrolet to the lead in the battle for the Manufacturers’ Championship.
Other Team Chevy Drivers finishers for Race Two as follows:Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet – 2^ndWill Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet – 6thSimon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards Chevrolet – 8thConor Daly, No. 20 US Army Ed Carpenter Racing – 20thSebastien Bourdais, No.14 ROKIT Chevrolet – 14^thRinus Veekay, No. 21 Sonax/Autoeek Ed Carpenter Racing – 18^thScott McLaughlin, No. 3 PPG Chevrolet – 20thMax Chilton, No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet – 22^ndDalton Kellet, No. 4 K-Line Chevrolet – 23rdOliver Askew, No, 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet – 25th Alex Palou completed the podium. Next on the schedule is June 20 at Road America, Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin.  DRIVER QUOTESPATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Race WinnerTELL US ABOUT THOSE TWO RESTARTS. YOU STARTED 6th OR 5th ON THE FIRST ONE, FROM ALL THE WAY BACK THERE TO VICTORY LANE. HOW DID YOU GET IT DONE?“The two guys I’m fighting were in front of me, so I said from behind, there is no good! So, pass them, I guess? It’s tough to pass around this place. These cars are the best of the best, so it’s not like they’re going to make it easy on you. I knew that I’m strong on cold tires. So, I had to take advantage of it.” HOW WERE YOU ABLE TO MAKE IT WORK WITH JOSEF NEWGARDEN AND WERE YOU SENSING THERE WAS AN OPPORTUNITY THERE, KNOWING HE WAS ON THOSE RED TIRES?“I had such a great car all weekend. Today was my fault that we made it a little extra hard on us starting from the back. But I had a great car under me. I’ve got to thank Arrow Electronics and Team Chevy, man. This is Team Chevy territory. I’m so excited and so pumped to get them this. And, I talked to Felix (Rosenqvist) this morning and the important thing is that he’s okay. But I told him I’m going to win it for you. So, this is for him. “I told him I was going to get it done. I like to be a man of my word, so I got it done.” YOU ARE NOW THE CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER“Yes, I should be. There is still a long way to go. We need to continue doing this and we’re in the fight, man. We’re in the fight. We’re leading it. And we just need to keep our head in it.” AND YOU DID IT COMING FROM 16th.“Yeah, I screwed up in qualifyijng. I owe this to these guys because they gave me a great car all weekend. The plan all along was to get in the fountain and go swimming at the end of the day.” JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 2ndYOU HAVE TO RUN THE SOFTER FIRESTONES AT SOME POINT. YOU HAD TO MAKE THEM HANG ON. AND YOU HELD ON FOR A LITTLE WHILE. WHAT WERE THOSE LAST FEW LAPS LIKE?“Sad. Pretty sad. It’s hard not to be disappointed. I think we had the car to beat. It’s just cautions when we didn’t need them and the wrong tires when we didn’t need them. It was a fun strategy. I think we were doing well. It’s just the caution that killed us. My rears were shot. And we didn’t really need that. So, it is what it is. We tried. We went for what we went for. I don’t want to second guess too much. It just didn’t fall our way there at the end, so that’s pretty sad. “Obviously Team Chevy won still. So, I’m very happy for all our partners. Team Chevy does a lot for us, so to get a one-two is a big thing here in Detroit. I’m super happy about that. And, I’m happy to represent the Penske Corporation here in this town and our great partner in Hitachi. I’m just disappointed. Obviously, we wanted to win, and we had the car to do it.” THE YELLOWS CAME AT THE WRONG TIME. YOU WANTED TO GO LONGER ON THE FIRST STINT TO MAKE THE LAST STINT A LITTLE BIT SHORTER. BUT TOWARD THE END, THE RACING WITH PATO O’WARD (RACE WINNER) IN THE END, WAS THERE ANYTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE?“He was coming like a freight train. What are you going to do? I just couldn’t do anything (with) him and (Alex) Palou (finished third). Alex was right behind me and about to pass me, too. I was just trying to hold on to him. I had so much wheel spin. My rear tires were shot to death with the last 10 laps. And you know, just trying to be aggressive with the re-sets on the restarts doesn’t help you. None of it played into our favor; and especially the first caution. We had to pit because we weren’t sure if they were going to go full course caution. If we don’t pit, we get completely hosed. So, we had to put an extra seven or eight or 10 laps on the tires we didn’t want to. It would have been a lot easier if we could have kept them cleaner, and that was our plan. But look, it just work our way.”