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Semifinal Appearance for Pruett and Dodge//SRT at Northwest Nationals to Close Out NHRA Western Swing

  • Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Top Fuel pilot Leah Pruett drove her Sparkling Ice +Caffeine Dodge//SRT dragster to a semifinal appearance after qualifying No. 12 at the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Northwest Nationals near Seattle 
  • Pruett closes out the NHRA three-event Western Swing sixth in the Top Fuel standings after her win at the Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals near Denver, a No. 1 qualifier position and quarterfinal appearance at the Sonoma Nationals, and this weekend’s semifinal appearance at the Northwest Nationals
  • TSR Funny Car driver Matt Hagan remains second in the championship standings after a trio of challenging race weekends wrapped up at Pacific Raceways with a No. 10 qualifier position and a third consecutive early exit
  • Cruz Pedregon qualified his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car No. 4 for eliminations at the Northwest Nationals but bows out early and leaves the Seattle-area event seventh in points

July 31, Kent, Washington — Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) pilot Leah Pruett closed out the National Hot Rod Association’s (NHRA) three-event Western Swing by taking her Sparkling Ice +Caffeine Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster from the No. 12 seeded position to a semifinal appearance at the Northwest Nationals near Seattle, Washington.

Pruett drove to a 3.897-second elapsed time pass in the final qualifying session to secure the spot on the eliminations ladder that paired her with No. 5 qualifier Antron Brown for the opening round. She kicked off eliminations by beating Brown on the tree by 0.003 seconds, then battling it out the entire length of the track before the Dodge//SRT dragster turned on the win lights with Pruett’s quickest run of the weekend, a 3.781-second pass at 325.69 mph to defeat her opponent’s 3.796 sec./320.81 mph effort.

In the quarterfinals, Pruett had another close battle with No. 4 qualifier Doug Kalitta whom she chased down with a (0.080-second reaction time) 3.818 sec./322.42 mph run to better his (0.075-second RT) 3.827 sec./316.67 mph pass and take the round win with a 0.0041-second margin of victory. That set up a semifinal match-up with Brittany Force against whom a loss of traction at the start of the lap sent Pruett’s chances to challenge the current Top Fuel points leader up in smoke and ended what has been a solid three week campaign for her TSR team.

Pruett’s performance over the three-event Western Swing included a big win at the Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals near Denver, a No. 1 qualifier position and quarterfinal appearance at the Sonoma Nationals, and with the addition of Sunday’s semifinal appearance at the Northwest Nationals she sits solidly sixth in the Top Fuel championship standings with three events remaining in the regular season.

TSR teammate Matt Hagan came into the Western Swing second in the Funny Car championship standings after a strong start to the year that included three wins aboard his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat. After initially kicking off the series of three consecutive events with a No. 1 qualifier position at the Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals, the team has since encountered a few challenges. 

Following a pair of uncharacteristic first round exits at Denver and Sonoma, Hagan had hoped to drive from his 12th place qualifying position at Pacific Raceways to four quality elimination runs on Sunday beginning with a showdown against No. 3 qualifier John Force. The Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat launched first and took the early lead but started to lose power just as Force began to lose traction. By then it was too late for Hagan as his opponent pedaled it enough to make it to the finish ahead of him. Despite the third consecutive opening round loss, Hagan remains solidly in second place behind category points leader and eventual event winner Robert Hight.

Fellow Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver Cruz Pedregon put in another solid qualifying effort to put himself No. 4 on the eliminations ladder and set up for a first round pairing with No. 9 seed Tim Wilkerson. While his opponent had a quicker start, Pedregon’s Snap-on Tools HEMI®-powered Funny Car took over the lead in the first few feet until it began to haze the tires and drop cylinders. While Wilkerson also had traction issues, he was able to make his way to the finish first and brought Pedregon’s race day to a premature end. Despite the setback, Pedregon is seventh in Funny Car points and firmly among the top ten positions with expectations of making the “Countdown to the Championship” playoffs.

The NHRA will take a one week break before returning to competition for the 14th of 22 events on the 2022 schedule at the Menards NHRA Nationals Presented By PetArmor at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas.

ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES:

Leah Pruett, Sparkling Ice +Caffeine Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster  

(No. 12 Qualifier – 3.897  seconds at 314.39 mph)  

Round 1: (0.090-second reaction time, 3.781 seconds at 325.69 mph) defeats No. 5 Antron Brown (0.093/3.796/320.81)

Round 2: (0.080/3.818/322.42) defeats No. 4 Doug Kalitta (0.075/3.827/316.67)

Round 3: (0.141/6.295/107.05) loss to No.1 Brittany Force (0.087/3.823/325.61)

“This was one of the largest learning curves that we’ve had in a long time. We came out on the good side of things. Qualifying No. 12 wasn’t ideal, but a problem kept arising that would happen every two or three races. Saturday night before eliminations, this Sparkling Ice team spent about four hours dedicated to finding our out of control shaft issue, with an outlier we couldn’t put our finger on. By 11 p.m., we found a very large issue, so we addressed it going into race day with things unknown. We were able to put down a solid .78 run with lane choice for the second round. We have a better performing race car than we’ve had all year even though we didn’t make it to the finals. There was a huge piece of the puzzle that was missing and we found it here in Seattle. 

“It’s very difficult to do something like that one the Western Swing, but we did, so we have more confidence than ever going into finalizing our spot in the top 10 and keeping the points going. I did not do my best job in the semifinal. We put on a different blower and the car ended up being better than we thought it was, so we were overpowered. We didn’t finish the best way we wanted to, but everyone on the team has a great mindset. We had a great Western Swing and we only missed running in three rounds. Our parts attrition has been fantastic and attitudes are great. I personally learned a lot of dynamics of doing a great job on the tree. I didn’t get to fully use some of the apparatuses I have in the toolbox to practice on the road, so I’ll be spending these next two weeks dialing myself back in. We have a race car that’s performing better than ever now and will be more consistent. It makes the drive home for the team even better when you’ve had a successful Swing like this.” 

Matt Hagan, Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car  

(No. 10 Qualifier – 4.031 seconds at 311.20 mph)

Round 1: (0.062-second reaction time, 4.633 seconds at 186.00 mph) loss to No. 3 John Force (0.073/4.277/277.66)

“The Western Swing wasn’t very kind to us. It was tough having three first-round losses in a row. I think we have some problems with our fuel management system, where we are dropping cylinders. That’s something that is uncommon for us, so we have to use this next week off to take a look at some things. We’ll look at what we’ve changed from the beginning of the season to now and go back to where the car is running on all eight cylinders again. We have to get back on top of where we were and how we were doing it. Our Dodge Power Brokers crew wants to perform well in qualifying to set us up for a great day on Sunday. The car had a cylinder out at the step and it was one of those rounds that could have gone either way and today, things didn’t go our way. I always love racing John (Force). He’s a character and I like getting up on the wheel for him because I get excited to race him. He’s one of those guys you just want to beat because he’s John Force. I’m looking forward to the week off to see my family and get back to the farm. The week off will allow us to hit the reset button and get focused to race in Topeka.”

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

(No. 4  Qualifier – 4.002 seconds at 315.56 mph)

Round 1: (0113-second reaction time, 4.622 seconds at 181.64 mph) loss to No. 9 Tim Wilkerson (0.087/4.459/214.83)      

“We qualified in the No. 4 spot with a four flat and we felt good going into race day against Tim Wilkerson. We had some solid qualifying runs at 4.07 [seconds], 4.05 and a 4.0, so heading into race day in the early morning we felt like the track was going to be good. Unfortunately, we went out there, spun the tires, and it really ended our weekend prematurely. We’re disappointed that that was our end result, but we’ll go back and regroup. We’re going to debut a new car this coming weekend at the ‘Night under Fire’ special match race in Norwalk (Ohio) next Saturday. It’s a completely new car so we look forward to getting that dialed in with some test runs to get it ready for Topeka. We’re optimistic with a lot of big races coming up. We’re looking forward to continuing our qualifying efforts and carrying that through the next few race days.”

NHRA CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS:

Following the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways 

FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)

1.   Robert Hight 1250 (6)

2.  Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat): 1022 (3)

3.  Ron Capps: 956 (2)

4.  John Force: 904

5.  Bob Tasca III: 797 (1)

6.  J.R. Todd: 708

7. Cruz Pedregon (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat): 686

8.  Alexis DeJoria: 659

9.  Tim Wilkerson: 574

10. Jim Campbell: 457

TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)

1.  Brittany Force: 1083 (5)

2.  Mike Salinas: 1008 (3) 

3.  Justin Ashley: 910 (2) 

4.  Steve Torrence: 862

5.  Josh Hart: 689

6.  Leah Pruett (Dodge Power Brokers): 673 (1)

7.  Shawn Langdon: 657

8.  Doug Kalitta: 624

9.  Austin Prock: 602

10. Clay Millican: 583

DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News

Fans can follow all the NHRA 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.

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.

Dodge drives forward as a pure performance brand, offering SRT versions of every model across the lineup. For the 2022 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world, and the Dodge Durango SRT 392, America’s fastest, most powerful and most capable three-row SUV. 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). In 2021, Dodge brand ranked No. 1 in the J.D. Power APEAL Study (mass market) — making it the only domestic brand ever to do so two years in a row.

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.

Burton Finishes Third at Indy



July 31, 2022


Harrison Burton, aboard the No. 21 DEX Imaging Mustang, struggled in the middle stages of Sunday’s Verizon 200 on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then steered his way through two chaotic late-race restarts to score a Cup-career-best third-place finish. 
 
“We tried to stay out for Stage points and more people stayed out than we thought and got buried there,” Burton told reporters after the race. “Then I made a mistake and got into [Cole] Custer.  

“I was spun out at one point. I was all over the place.”
 
Then he got a break when the team’s pit strategy put him in position to make a late-race charge.
 
“It was a tough day for me and then got some new tires there before the last caution and started picking guys off and just got in a good place for those restarts…” he said. “The big thing was being on the inside for those restarts and kind of plugging the middle and missing the chaos.”
  
Burton started the race from 13th place and was in the top 10 after one circuit around the 2.439-mile, 14-turn track.
 
He ran around the top 10 for the remainder of the opening 15-lap Stage and ended that segment in ninth place, earning two bonus points.
 
He steered his DEX Imaging Mustang to pit road for service during the ensuing caution period and rejoined the race in 25th place. He made his next pit stop with three laps remaining in the second Stage and that put him 30th for the next restart.
 
The third segment of the race saw crew chief Brian Wilson and the DEX Imaging crew employ the pit strategy that put Burton in position to move forward in the race’s final laps.
 
The final stop came with 19 laps left to run.
 
As others ahead of him pitted he moved up to 19th place and was running there when the caution flag flew for debris on the track with five of the scheduled 82 laps left to run.
 
On the restart, as drivers ahead of him began bouncing off each other, he worked his way to ninth place when another incident sent the race into Overtime.
 
The final restart saw him once again steer through spinning cars to take third place, which he maintained over the final two laps to get the first top-five finish of his Cup career.
 
Burton and the No. 21 team now head to Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400.

 

###

About DEX Imaging
DEX Imaging is the digital document imaging division of Staples, the world’s largest business solutions provider. DEX sells and services the broadest selection of copiers, printers and data management solutions, such as HP, Konica Minolta, Canon, Kyocera and numerous others.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES:
Reducing Operating Costs
Reducing Paper Consumption
Increasing Productivity

DEX Imaging has been the recipient of virtually every industry award since the company’s inception, including the JD Power & Associates Award for Best Customer Experience, the prestigious ProTech Service award by Konica Minolta, the Diamond Premier Dealer Award by Kyocera, and the Elite DEALER Award by ‘ENX’ magazine. Other accolades include being named ‘Best Place to Work’ by numerous business journals in the markets DEX serves.

chevy racing–nhra–washington–post race

CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION FLAV-R-PAC NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS PACIFIC RACEWAYS IN KENT, WASHINGTON JULY 31, 2022
Team Chevy adds to Western Swing victory total• Robert Hight ties career best with sixth Funny Car win in 13 races this season• Troy Coughlin Jr. adds to family legacy with his first Pro Stock victory• No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force extends Top Fuel points lead, sets track speed record • Chevrolet drivers earn six wins, five runner-up finishes in pro classes on Swing 
KENT, Wash. (July 31, 2022) — Whether it’s the 59th time on the winner’s stage or the first, thrusting a Wally to the sky is a satisfying and emotional moment.
Robert Hight, who collected his sixth Funny Car victory of the season and 59th of his career, welcomed first-time Pro Stock winner Troy Coughlin Jr. to the stage following the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.
Brittany Force almost made it a Chevrolet sweep for the second consecutive National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Camping World Drag Racing Series visit to the racetrack near Seattle. Force, the No. 1 qualifier for the fifth time in 13 races, set the track speed record of 332.43 mph in the first round of eliminations and went on to record a runner-up finish in the Flav-R-Pac/Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster.
Team Chevy drivers in the three professional classes registered six victories, six top qualifier honors and five runner-up finishes on the three-race Western Swing that also included Denver and Sonoma, California.“I’m blown away that at this point in the year we already have six wins,” said Hight, the No. 5 qualifier in the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS who matched his career best for wins in a season. “But coming up we have a Countdown, and if we don’t do equally as good in the back half we’re not going to win a championship. That’s the goal for this Auto Club Chevy team.”
Hight, who has advanced to the final round in eight of the 13 races, increased his points lead with his second victory on the Western Swing.
Hight clipped John Force’s bid for his record-extending 10th Funny Car victory at Pacific Raceways by winning the semifinal matchup. The teammates met in the semis two weeks earlier at Denver, with Hight prevailing and going on to the event victory. Force, the No. 3 qualifier in the PEAK/BlueDEF Platinum Camaro SS, remains fourth in the standings.Coughlin, who had posted eight victories in Super Gas, Super Comp and Top Alcohol dragster competition, earned his initial Pro Stock win by defeating points leader Erica Enders by .0001 of a second in the final.
“It’s something else. I’ve watched my uncle Jeg win a ton of these races in the class of Pro Stock. My dad has won five or six. The monkey is off your back, but you want to keep going,” said Coughlin, who advanced to his fourth career final in the JEGS.com Camaro SS.
Enders, driving the Melling Performance Camaro SS, beat Elite Motorsports teammate Aaron Stanfield, driving the Janac Brothers Camaro SS, and Coughlin defeated Greg Anderson, the No. 1 qualifier for the 119th time in his career, in the semifinals. Anderson, driver of the HendrickCars.com Camaro SS, is seeking career win No. 100.
Brittany Force extended her Top Fuel points lead with her fifth final-round appearance of the season. She was the No. 1 qualifier in two of the three races on the Swing and won at Sonoma.
“We had an awesome weekend. We qualified No. 1 and had a final round appearance. We stayed in the points lead, and that’s the most important thing. We’ll head to Topeka next,” she said.
Austin Prock, who earned his first Top Fuel victory at Pacific Raceways in 2019, was the No. 10 qualifier in the Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster. He fell in the first round.
Ryan McClanahan of San Bernardino, California, was runner-up in Stock Eliminator competition in his 2021 Chevrolet COPO Camaro.
Chevrolet teams have a brief respite after three consecutive weeks of racing before the Menards NHRA Nationals on Aug. 12-14 at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas.
Team Chevy drivers swept the 2021 event with No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force winning in Top Fuel, John Force winning in Funny Car and Dallas Glenn earning the victory over KB Racing teammate Kyle Koretsky in Pro Stock. FS1 will telecast eliminations at 2 p.m. ET Aug. 14.
An interview with Funny Car winner ROBERT HIGHT, driver of the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS:
THESE MOMENTS OF PERSEVERANCE. HOW MUCH SWEETER DOES IT MAKE IT?“It’s unbelievable. To have six wins at this point in the year, I am blown away. Today, to have low ET every single round, I’m so proud of my guys.”
YOU KNOW HOW BAD JR TODD WANTED THAT AND HOW GOOD THEY ARE.“It’s good to see JR’s car running good. He’s a great driver and good guy. Except for one little hiccup we had in Sonoma in the semifinals, we came really close to getting another final and sweeping this Western Swing. That’s really what this team wanted to do. I’m blown away that at this point in the year we already have six wins. But coming up we have a Countdown and if we don’t do equally as good in the back half, we’re not going to win a championship. That’s the goal for this Auto Club Chevy team. It’s amazing the caliber of drivers, former champions, none of these rounds get any easier. Up until a couple of races ago, this Auto Club Chevy we didn’t have a hot weather setup. We were good when the conditions were good. But Jimmy (Prock) and Chris (Cunningham) and the whole team have pulled together, and we had low ET every round today. All these teams out here today earned their keep working in his heat. We appreciate all the fans sticking it out in the heat. It’s so good to be back in Seattle.”
YOU’RE NOT TAKING THE NEXT WEEKEND OFF. YOU’RE GOING TO NORWALK TO PUT ON A SHOW AND HAVING A CHANCE TO LEARN.“Without a doubt. We’re going to make the most of it next Saturday at the Night Under Fire in Norwalk (Ohio); one of the greatest shows in the country. We’re going to make some runs during the day for testing and then try to win another race. We treat that just like an NHRA race. We get a couple of days off and then we’re back at it at Topeka, so no rest for the wicked.”
YOU’VE TIED YOUR ALL-TIME HIGH FOR RACE WINS AND STILL HAVE NINE RACES TO GO.“There are a lot of great cars out here. Last time we were here, John (Force) and Austin (Prock) both won and I think we lost early. I was really hoping we were going to get a double up with Brittany (Force). I thought that that car was going to get it.”An interview with Pro Stock winner TROY COUGHLIN JR., driver of the JEGS.com Chevrolet Camaro SS:
WINNING YOUR FIRST PRO STOCK WALLY. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU?“It’s something else. I’ve watched my uncle Jeg win a ton of these races in the class of Pro Stock. My dad has won five or six. The monkey is off your back, but you want to keep going.”
YOU’VE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN SPORTSMAN CLASSES. NOW YOU CAN ADD PRO STOCK TO YOUR RESUME.“That’s absolutely humbling. I’ve been surrounded by some wonderful people with great equipment, so I’m definitely really blessed and can’t wait to keep going.”
FINAL ROUND, YOU KNOW ERICA HAS THE BEST CAR OUT HERE. DO YOU LOOK OVER OR DO YOU THINK I THINNK I’VE GOT HER?“The margin of victory was triple zero one, so I don’t think I could have made that decision. I was just trying to get there.”
RANK THIS ONE WITH ALL THE OTHERS.“This one you can’t even rank it’s so special. We come out here to Seattle, it’s a wonderful place to race, the fans are amazing. It’s great to be back here. I’ll never forget this. The flight home is going to be sweet.”
CHEVROLET FROM THE COCKPITTOP FUEL:BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, FLAV-R-PAC/MONSTER ENERGY CHEVOLET DRAGSTER: “It was a great weekend for this Flav-R-Pac team running at the first-ever Flav-R-Pac Northwest Nationals. I’m very proud to be teamed with a company like Flav-R-Pac. I was excited to see their colors painted all over the drag strip this weekend. “We had an awesome weekend. We qualified No. 1 and had a final round appearance. We stayed in the points lead, and that’s the most important thing. We’ll head to Topeka next.”
AUSTIN PROCK, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONTANA BRAND/ROCKY MOUNTAIN TWIST CHEVROLET DRAGSTER: “This Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team got beat in a close race today. We made a bunch of ground this weekend, though, just came up short in the first round. It wasn’t the Western Swing we anticipated but I know we’re moving forward. We’ve got a week to polish this hotrod up and come out swinging in Topeka.”
FUNNY CAR:JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK/BLUEDEF PLATINUM CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: “Good weekend for this PEAK Chevy. We got to running well, had to do some driving but we got the job done, went some rounds. Really good weekend for Frank Tiegs with Flav-R-Pac, his car went No.1 and made it to the finals, they’re running well and I think everyone was expecting them to win it. In the points lead with plenty of races left to get the job done but Robert got it done today with that Auto Club team. Austin was looking good over there with Montana Brand too.”
PRO STOCK:GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: “There were a lot of positives this weekend, no question. We definitely picked up our performance, we got ourselves back in the fight with the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and now we can contend for wins again. That’s a huge positive.”

RCR NCS Post Race Report: Indy

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet Team Show Speed and Determination at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course
30th29th21st
“We started 29th today in our No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet and my team worked all day long to salvage a good finish. It’s tough coming from behind at a road course because it’s so easy to get caught up in the messes. We worked really hard throughout the race to improve the handling of our BetMGM Chevy. We made an air pressure adjustment toward the end of the race and our car came to life. We were running lap times as fast as the race leader, and we were in position to earn a top-10 finish but it was mass chaos at the end of the race. We ended up in some messes there at the end. We’re looking forward to getting to Michigan to take home a win.” -Austin Dillon
Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Team Dominate at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and Take Home Their Second Victory of the Season
1st1st11th
“What a day! We qualified on the pole and our car was crazy fast. This team has worked so hard and they brought me a dominant car. Thank you to everyone at RCR and ECR for making this possible. My pit crew and spotters were on top of it all day and my crew chief, Randall Burnett, made all the right calls. Road courses have been so good for us and I’m just really glad we were able to capitalize on our speed and bring home another win. To be able to get another victory and do it here in Indianapolis, I’m just thrilled. This is one really special place to race, and really excited that I got to kiss the bricks. I’m so excited that we got 3CHI a win in their hometown, too. Just such a special, special day and this No. 8 3CHI team is going to celebrate.”-Tyler Reddick

KALITTA MOTORSPORTS GR SUPRA GOES TO FINAL ROUND IN SEATTLE

J.R. Todd Makes His First Final Round Appearance of 2022

KENT, Wash. (July 31, 2022) – With the NHRA Drag Racing Series making its final stop on the ‘west coast swing,’ the Kalitta Motorsports Funny Car team made the most of the extreme heat in the race track and the air temperature. J.R. Todd drove his Toyota GR Supra Funny Car to the final round and ultimately lost by only three one-thousandths of a second to Robert Hight.

In Top Fuel competition, Justin Ashley drove his Toyota dragster to the semi-finals, but his car smoked the tires ultimately ending his day. The Toyota dragsters of Doug Kalitta, Shawn Langdon and Steve Torrence were eliminated in round two while Antron Brown fell out in the first round.

Toyota Post-Race Recap

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series

Pacific Raceways

Race 13 of 22

TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINISHING POSITIONS 

NameCarFinal ResultRound-by-Round
Justin AshleyPhillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel DragsterSemi-FinalsW. 3.782 vs. A. Prock (3.796) W. 3.785 vs. S. Torrence (6.333) L. 5.131 vs. T. Schumacher (4.485)
Steve TorrenceCapco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel DragsterRound 2W. 3.794 vs. R. Smith (No Time) L. 6.333 vs. J. Ashley (3.785)
Doug KalittaMac Tools Toyota Top Fuel DragsterRound 2W. 3.837 vs. A. Laughlin (3.856) L. 3.827 vs. L. Pruett (3.818)
Shawn LangdonDHL Toyota Top Fuel DragsterRound 2W. 3.796 vs. M. Salinas (No Time) L. 3.797 vs. T. Schumacher (3.827)
Antron BrownMatco Tools Toyota Top Fuel DragsterRound 1L. 3.796 vs. L. Pruett (3.781)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR FINISHING POSITIONS 

NameCarFinal ResultRound-by-Round
J.R. ToddDHL Toyota GR Supra Funny CarFinal RoundW. 3.955 vs. B. Alexander (3.990) W. 3.980 vs. B. Tasca III (7.751) W. 3.984 vs. BYE L. 3.978 vs. R. Hight (3.975)
Alexis DeJoriaBandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny CarRound 2W. 3.964 vs. J. Campbell (4.045) L. 5.142 vs. R. Hight (3.960)
Ron CappsNAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra Funny CarRound 1L. 4.674 vs. R. Hight (3.914)

TOYOTA QUOTES

J.R. TODD, DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Kalitta Motorsports

Final Result: Final Round

What can you say about the progress of this race team and today’s final round appearance?

“This DHL team has really been working hard to get our GR Supra to the point of consistently going rounds and today we were able to do that. Really proud of our whole team and all the effort these guys put into today and this whole weekend. It’s hot out here and it was hot on the race track, but they never gave up. I would have loved to have gotten the win, but it was a close race and we know we’re right there knocking on the door. We’ll get one soon.”

How has this team been able to continue slowly improving performance week after week?

“It seems like it came together there in Q3 and then again in first round. Todd and John just keep picking away at it and trying stuff. I also have to give a shout out to the track here at Pacific Raceways and NHRA for this track. They’re doing a hell of a job with the track temp and the track is hanging in there. The fans sitting in those aluminum seats, they’re the brave ones out here. Thanks for spending your hard-earned money to come out here and watch us try to put on a good show.”

JUSTIN ASHLEY, Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Davis Motorsports

Final Result: Semi-Finals

What happened in the semi-finals when you struggled down the track and crossed the center line?

“Just went up in smoke and that’s what happens when you’re racing. Just tried to give it a run and I saw Tony (Schumacher) having some trouble in the other lane. Just tried to give our Phillips Connect Toyota a shot so we tried to pull some of that Vita-C Energy we needed. Real proud of the guys this weekend. I thought we ran well and the real magic number is 47. These guys turned this car around in this weather in 47 minutes and really proud of them. We’ll regroup and move onto the next one.”

chevy racing–nascar–indy–post race

NASCAR CUP SERIES

IMS ROAD COURSE

VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES

JULY 31, 2022

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 RACE RESULTS:

POS.   DRIVER

1st      TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1 

7th      AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 GOLD FISH CASINO CAMARO ZL1

13th    RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER / GO-GURT CAMARO ZL1

15th    ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1

16th    CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1

18th    COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES CAMARO ZL1

19th    JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: 

POS.  DRIVER

1st      Tyler Reddick (Chevrolet)

2nd     Austin Cindric (Ford)

3rd      Harrison Burton (Ford)

4th      Todd Gilliland (Ford)

5th      Bubba Wallace (Toyota)

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, August 7, at the Michigan International Speedway with the FireKeepers Casino 400 at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1 – Race Winner

What a drive for Tyler Reddick today, the dominant driver here at Indy, his son Beau coming in for a hug, and the crew sprinting up pit road to get to Tyler to celebrate. Second win of the year for this race team and a win at Indianapolis. I’ve got to know your thoughts when you saw the 1; he went through the access road. Were you as shocked as everyone else to see him all of a sudden passing you for the lead?

“I was like, uh-oh. But that was a scenario that had been talked about. If you get bottled up, what do you do? Take the access road.

I couldn’t believe he got ahead of me. I was kind of waiting to see if he was going to have a penalty because I didn’t want to move him out of the way and make his race worse than what it was. Yeah, I was really surprised by that; but hey, we made it work. Hats off to Ross (Chastain) for trying to do that, but really glad it didn’t end up working out because I’d have been pretty pissed off.”

You made the announcement you’re moving from RCR. How did this team rally to get back to this point where you could come together and win races again?

Well, we just know what we’re capable of, and we did that at Road America. Certainly it was a little bump in the road, but we went out and won a race fair and square a couple weeks ago. And if we change nothing, we keep working really, really hard, we find a way back to Victory Lane.

Just really glad to be able to do it here in Indianapolis. This is one really special place to race, and really excited to kiss the bricks here in a little bit and really excited we got 3CHI their win in their hometown.”

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 15th

“We struggled today with our FOCUSfactor Chevy. Road courses have definitely been an area where we need to work and we thought we’d be a little better this weekend. Just didn’t qualify well, started at the back and fought the handling most of race. The guys stayed after it, we used the car up and salvaged a 15th-place finish. We’ll take it and move on to Michigan. I think we’ll have a good race next weekend and I’m looking forward to going home and racing in front of family and friends.”

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 27th

You were looking for a spot there at the end. What were you thinking, taking the access road and getting off course there?

“Just trying not to be in the corners there in Turn 1. I thought we were four wide, and couldn’t go any farther right, and decided to take the NASCAR access lane out there.”

Was that something you and the team had talked about earlier, like that’s a great option and it may not cost us anything?

“No, no, just pure reaction there for our Worldwide Express Chevy. I took it in practice on exit, overshooting Turn 1. You know where they’re at and in 12 you have to go around the loop there, and there is around the pole. Just wanted to not get hit and merged back on where I merged.”

TY DILLON, NO. 42 FERRIS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 34th 

You got majorly surprised it looked like. What did you feel? 

“All I saw was a blue flash and that’s about the hardest I’ve been hit by anything. First, I’m just grateful to God that I’m OK and these cars are safe enough to take a shot like that.

We were having a good run with our No. 42 Ferris Camaro ZL1 and I was just blindsided, really. I’m all good. It’s been a tough year, but I’m never going to quit. We’re going to keep getting better. We’ve been running good, just things are happening. You’ll have days like that, you’ll have times like that. You just never give up and go onto the next one.”

TEAM CHEVY RACE QUICK NOTES

Stage One:

·       Tyler Reddick – the series’ most recent road course winner – captured his second career NASCAR Cup Series pole win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. 

·       Reddick led the first 12 laps of the 15-lap Stage One, with Crew Chief Randall Burnett bringing the No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1 down pit road for their first scheduled stop with three laps to go in the stage. 

·       William Byron led Chevrolet to the end of Stage One in the third position. Team Chevy Stage One Top-10 Results: 

3rd      William Byron, No. 24 Acronis Camaro ZL1

5th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

7th      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

Stage Two: 

·       The 20-lap Stage Two saw three different lead changes, with pole sitter Tyler Reddick leading the second most laps (12) to that point of the race. 

·       Chase Elliott recorded his second top-five stage finish of the day in Stage Two, driving his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 to a fourth-place finish. 

·       Team Chevy Stage Two: Top-10 Results

4th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

5th      Ty Dillon, No. 42 Ferris Camaro ZL1

9th      Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL1 

Post-Race Notes: 

Tyler Reddick goes back-to-back in NASCAR Cup Series road course wins, capturing his second NCS win of 2022 in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

  • The win is Reddick’s second career victory in 96 NASCAR Cup Series starts. 
  • Reddick is now the sixth repeat winner of 2022. 
  • Reddick’s victory marks Chevrolet’s 10th-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series road course win since the manufacturer’s milestone 800th NCS win at Circuit of The Americas in May 2021.  
  • With 22 NASCAR Cup Series races complete, the Camaro ZL1 now sits at a manufacturer-leading 13 wins this season. 
  • The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 827 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories. 

TYLER REDDICK GETS SECOND WIN OF 2022 IN INDIANAPOLIS

NASCAR CUP SERIES

IMS ROAD COURSE

VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD

TEAM CHEVY RACE WINNER QUOTE & NOTES

JULY 31, 2022

Chevrolet’s 13th NCS Win of 2022; 10th-Consecutive Road Course Win

·       Tyler Reddick goes back-to-back in NASCAR Cup Series road course wins, capturing his second NCS win of 2022 in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

·       The win is Reddick’s second career victory in 96 NASCAR Cup Series starts. 

·       Reddick is now the sixth repeat winner of 2022. 

·       Reddick’s victory marks Chevrolet’s 10th-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series road course win since the manufacturer’s milestone 800th NCS win at Circuit of The Americas in May 2021.  

·       With 22 NASCAR Cup Series races complete, the Camaro ZL1 now sits at a manufacturer-leading 13 wins this season. 

·       The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 827 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories. 

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1, Race Winner Quick Quote:

Q. What a drive for Tyler Reddick today, the dominant driver here at Indy, his son Beau coming in for a hug, and the crew sprinting up pit road to get to Tyler to celebrate. Second win of the year for this race team and a win at Indianapolis. I’ve got to know your thoughts when you saw the 1; he went through the access road. Were you as shocked as everyone else to see him all of a sudden passing you for the lead?

TYLER REDDICK: “I was like, uh-oh. But that was a scenario that had been talked about. If you get bottled up, what do you do? Take the access road.

I couldn’t believe he got ahead of me. I was kind of waiting to see if he was going to have a penalty because I didn’t want to move him out of the way and make his race worse than what it was. Yeah, I was really surprised by that; but hey, we made it work. Hats off to Ross (Chastain) for trying to do that, but really glad it didn’t end up working out because I’d have been pretty pissed off.”

Q. You made the announcement you’re moving from RCR. How did this team rally to get back to this point where you could come together and win races again?

TYLER REDDICK: “Well, we just know what we’re capable of, and we did that at Road America. Certainly it was a little bump in the road, but we went out and won a race fair and square a couple weeks ago. And if we change nothing, we keep working really, really hard, we find a way back to Victory Lane.

Just really glad to be able to do it here in Indianapolis. This is one really special place to race, and really excited to kiss the bricks here in a little bit and really excited we got 3CHI their win in their hometown.”

WANTED IT MORE: McKinney Outduels Hoffman for First Modified Prairie Dirt Classic Victory at Fairbury

Harrison out of Last Chance race to finish fourth, Weisser goes 14th-to-fifth

FAIRBURY, IL – July 30, 2022 – From Summit Modified races, the FALS Super Nationals, to the FALS Cup points championship, Mike McKinney had won just about every marquee DIRTcar UMP Modified race on the Fairbury Speedway schedule, except one. The Prairie Dirt Classic had evaded his grasp throughout his career, but now, it’s finally his.

“I wanted it more than anybody here, I can promise you that,” McKinney said. “It doesn’t matter who we beat, I just wanted to win this race. I’m glad it’s on our list now.”

Though his determination seemed unmatched, McKinney was forced to fend-off another driver with equal drive to win Saturday night – the newly crowned five-time DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals champion, Nick Hoffman.

The two waged a war of epic proportions throughout the final 15 laps of the 40-lap main event, swapping the lead twice in that span and bringing the crowd to the feet as they zoomed around the quarter-mile oval.

In the end, Hoffman came up just one spot short. For the second time this season, McKinney had gotten the best of the winningest Summit Modified driver.

“Mike just hit six perfect laps to beat me,” Hoffman said. “He did a great job.”

Their lane choices acted as weapons in their bullring battle for $5,000 – McKinney firing on the high side, right against the wall, while Hoffman swung down low, hugging the extreme bottom lane.

Hoffman had to drive from 11th on the starting grid after a rough Qualifying result on Friday set him back in his Showdown Feature. But with 15-to-go, Hoffman had just made the pass for second and was coming after leader McKinney.

Caution was displayed just two laps later, erasing McKinney’s half-second lead and putting Hoffman right on his bumper for the restart. The green dropped and Hoffman immediately challenged McKinney to his inside, taking the lead for the first time on Lap 28.

“Up until about 15-to-go, I thought I was gonna finish fifth in that race,” Hoffman said. “I just couldn’t get breaks and didn’t feel great in the car either. But some lanes opened-up and I was able to get to the lead.”

Hoffman led through Lap 34, when the caution was displayed for the final time. Though Hoffman got a great jump on the restart, McKinney hit his marks on the cushion, reeling the leader in and making the pass back for the lead with four-to-go.

“The harder I was running, the better it actually got,” McKinney said. “We had that last restart with six-to-go, and it took me a couple laps to get into a rhythm and get wound-up. Finally, I was able to shoot the gun and drive back by [Hoffman].”

Hoffman gave it everything he had on the bottom in the final laps to close on McKinney, but it proved fruitless. McKinney rounded Turn 4 for the final time and beat Hoffman to the line by .361 seconds to score a dramatic victory in the 32nd annual Prairie Dirt Classic.

“Getting out of the car and seeing all those people, it’s exactly what I thought it would be,” McKinney said. “It feels damn good.”

Though Mike got the biggest slice of Victory Lane glory, his father and crew chief David shared a part in the shining moment as well. The two took on a brand-new gameplan and joined the new Longhorn Chassis Modified program for the start of the 2021 season, putting in a ton of time and energy into learning how to master the new car. Though it wasn’t easy at first, David has helped accelerate Mike’s learning curve with the setup help, and together, they’ve finally bagged one of Fairbury’s most prestigious events.

“Sometimes I nail it and he can drive it with one hand,” David said. “Sometimes I miss it and he says, ‘I’ll make up for it.’

“How good is it for father and son to spend time together and race. I wouldn’t do it with anybody else, and he’s the same way.”

Though it doesn’t happen often in Summit Modified competition, Hoffman conceded to McKinney for the second time this season. He was bested by McKinney a few weeks earlier at Shadyhill Speedway in Indiana, and this time around, just didn’t feel as comfortable as he normally does out front at Fairbury.

“I just felt terrible everywhere in Turns 3-4,” Hoffman said. “I ran the bottom most of the race, but I tried the middle with a couple guys and just couldn’t make any speed off of 4. Normally, I feel like I get from Turn 4 to the flag stand better than anybody. I just didn’t feel that way tonight.”

Outside of the top-two, Tyler Nicely came home third after running up front all night. Six-time Summit Modified champ Mike Harrison came all the way out of a Last Chance Showdown event (17th on the Feature starting grid) to finish fourth, while Allen Weisser charged from 14th to round-out the top-five.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature 40 Laps | 00:33:14.718

1. 96M-Mike McKinney[2]; 2. 2-Nick Hoffman[11]; 3. 25-Tyler Nicely[3]; 4. 24H-Mike Harrison[17]; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser[14]; 6. 45-Chase Holland[6]; 7. 22-Josh Harris[9]; 8. 8-Kyle Steffens[10]; 9. 12H-Jason Hughes[16]; 10. 777-Trevor Neville[24]; 11. 8A-Austin Holcombe[7]; 12. 28M-Frank Marshall[1]; 13. 5-Steven Brooks[18]; 14. 37-Michael Ledford[22]; 15. 35W- Ethan Weber[12]; 16. 88S-Alan Stipp[23]; 17. 21D-Danny Schwartz[5]; 18. 5CS-Curt Spalding[19]; 19. 18L-Michael Long[4]; 20. 54-Zachary Hawk[21]; 21. 130-Chase Allen[13]; 22. 1S-Brian Shaw[8]; 23. 00-Ethan Dotson[20]; 24. 8K-Levi Kissinger[15]

PERFECT SCORE: Sheppard Nets Third Prairie Dirt Classic Win at Fairbury

The New Berlin, IL driver led all 100 laps to earn $100,000 between winnings and lap money

FAIRBURY, IL – JULY 30, 2022 – Brandon Sheppard knew less than 10 laps into Saturday’s Prairie Dirt Classic his ability to read Fairbury’s surface would pay off well. And pay off big.

As the New Berlin, IL driver saw a cushion building on the track’s high banks, he felt right at home. 

The reigning World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series champion used his experience at the Illinois track to quickly take the lead—one he wouldn’t relinquish en route to his third Prairie Dirt Classic win, along with a $100,000 overall payday.

While he never relinquished the lead, “Rocket Shepp” didn’t go unchallenged. Fellow Illinois competitor Bobby Pierce chased Sheppard for more than 20 laps, trying to slide past the former champion and grab his first win in the prestigious event.  

As Pierce gained momentum, heartbreak struck the Oakwood, IL driver. A brake issue sidelined Pierce to a 19th-place finish. 

From there, Sheppard cruised to victory despite surviving several late-race restarts. He was grateful to lead all 100 laps as he dealt with changing track conditions throughout the race.

“With all that track prep and stuff, and the way that they did it, I felt like the cushion would be there,” Sheppard said. “The bottom was still pretty hard. It was wet down there, but I didn’t feel like it was going to keep up with the cushion if I could run it right. 

“It was definitely tricky. It was rough around there after they tilled it, like a rut all the way around about a car lane off the top. It was tricky, and the transition from blowing the cushion over top of that, it was definitely tricky. I was about to turn over a couple of times, I thought, but it paid off, it was a crazy race, and we were very fortunate to lead all of the laps.”

Sheppard’s third Prairie Dirt Classic win earned him and Rocket1 Racing $100,000 after he grabbed the $50,000 check for the win and the $500 bonus per lap led – which for him was all 100.

He also adds his name to a list of Illinois legends who have won the event three times. Sheppard joins Shannon Babb and Bob Pierce as the only Prairie State drivers to win the event more than twice. 

“It honestly means the world to me to win this race,” Sheppard said. “This place is like home for me. All the fans, and the people, and the atmosphere is electric. They’ve taken me in like it’s home, and it’s two hours away from the house, but it’s definitely turned into my favorite track.”

Sheppard’s Prairie Dirt Classic win is his 80th career World of Outlaws CASE Late Model victory—and third of the 2022 season. 

Mike Marlar crossed the line second, his fifth straight top five in World of Outlaws competition.

The 2018 Series champion felt he was close to grabbing the win but didn’t have enough to get by Sheppard. 

“Coming into this weekend, we had a little bit of a streak there, but I was like, ‘Dude, there’s 81 cars at this little bullring, and that’s asking a lot to come out of here with a good finish,’” Marlar said. “Not only did we have a good finish, we had a shot lots of times at [Sheppard], he just didn’t do anything wrong, and I needed just a little bit to pass him, but we were really close.”

Tanner English, the World of Outlaws Rookie of the race, crossed the line third for his second podium finish of the season. 

The Benton, KY driver was resilient after dropping back to 10th in the first 50 laps. 

“I fell back to about 10th there early on, and I just kind of waited around and just tried to hit my marks and go where they weren’t, and the car kept getting better,” English said. “I kind of stalled out there with about 50 to go, and we just kind of rolled there and caught people when they made mistakes.”

English moved into second in the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models points standings and now leads in the race for Rookie of the Year—two points ahead of Max Blair, who finished eighth. 

Tyler Erb finished fourth after hovering in the top five for most of the race. The New Waverly, TX driver stated he was happy with his performance overall. 

“I didn’t want to kill my stuff at the drop of the green, so I just tried to maintain as long as I could,” Erb said. “When Bobby [Pierce] passed me, it was kind of the sign that I needed to move up and maintain his pace. He got to [Sheppard] really quick, and I was like, man, if there’s still 70 laps left, or 40 or whatever, if I could just ride with him until the last 20 or 30, I could give myself a chance.”

Ryan Gustin rounded out the top five. The Marshalltown, IA driver used a different line than he’s used to, as he rolled the bottom patiently throughout the race. 

“We’ve been doing some different things to the car where it’s a lot easier to driver here lately,” Gustin said. “You don’t have to go up there and live and die by the cushion. I just tried to be patient there. I kind of wanted to go hard at the beginning to make sure I didn’t get put a lap down or anything like that.

“The track went through a lot of different changes tonight, and it kind went the bottom, middle, top, diamond line, slider line, it was all over the place, which makes for good racing for sure.”

Brandon Sheppard felt at home at Fairbury Speedway, scoring another Prairie Dirt Classic win. His experience at the track paid off well and paid off big.  

“It’s always racy, and my car’s really good here, and I have a good feel of this place,” Sheppard said. “It’s been good to me for sure.”

UP NEXT: The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet return to Wisconsin for the $50,000-to-win USA Nationals Aug. 4-6 at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI. 

BACK-2-BACK: David Gravel Dominates for Second-Straight Weedsport Win

Fifth Win of 2022 for Big Game Motorsports Closes Championship Gap to Sweet

WEEDSPORT, NY – July 30, 2022 – David Gravel and Big Game Motorsports are quickly becoming one of the hottest teams at the perfect time with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

The Watertown, CT native crushed the field on Saturday night at New York’s Weedsport Speedway, earning his second-straight win at the track as Empire State Challenge Weekend kicked off. The 30-year-old owned a monstrous 8.034-second lead at one point in what was arguably the most dominant performance of the 2022 season.

Starting from the outside pole, Gravel settled into second as Donny Schatz controlled the opening 12 laps of the 30-lap affair. He quickly made his presence felt in the Huset’s Speedway, Jackson Motorplex, Billion Automotive #2, pouncing on an overwhelmed #15 in lap traffic on the 13th circuit.

He cruised to the lead on Lap 13 and never looked back, ultimately surviving for a 2.970-second margin of victory following the final restart with three laps remaining. It’s his 74th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win and his fifth of the season, with three of those coming within the last eight races over two and a half weeks.

The gap to Brad Sweet’s championship advantage dwindled from -54 to -46 points, but more importantly, Gravel and his Big Game crew are gaining some big momentum ahead of high-paying events like the Ironman 55 (Aug. 5-6), Knoxville Nationals (Aug. 10-13), Jackson Nationals (Aug. 18-20), Skagit Nationals (Sept. 1-3), and Gold Cup Race of Champions (Sept. 8-10).

“My guys gave me an unbelievable car,” Gravel said in Victory Lane. “That’s probably the best car I’ve had all season and it came at one of the toughest tracks we race at. Cody [Jacobs], Trey [Bowman], and Zach [Patterson] are busting their butts right now. We had a little time off to regroup and it’s paying off. After feeling so stale and average there for a long time, it feels good to be in the contention almost every night again.”

Scoring his 10th podium finish of the season was 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz with a runner-up effort. The Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Ford Performance, Carquest Auto Parts #15 led the opening 12 laps from the outside pole, but lap traffic was the final straw that let Gravel slip by the Fargo, ND native. He settled for a P2 finish, extending his stretch of stellar finishes at the Weedsport, NY oval.

“I don’t know if we were gonna get by him, I think he was in another league,” Schatz said on the final caution. “I felt decent at the start but kept losing and losing him once he got me in traffic. That yellow gave us an opportunity, but there was nothing to capitalize on. I need to figure out how to get the grip at the end of races, we used to be able to do that but it’s a different day and tires are different.”

Continuing his magical stretch of home state performances against the World of Outlaws was Paulie Colagiovanni with a third-place effort. The Cicero, NY native was a close runner-up finisher at Ransomville last year and finished third at Weedsport on Saturday, earning his second podium finish in his seventh-career start. The potential is most certainly there for the #10 pilot to threaten for his first-career Series win on Sunday night.

“This one has been circled on the calendar all year long and I’ve been thinking about it all week,” Colagiovanni told a thrilled New York crowd. “We struggled with our setup earlier this season when we ran against them at Volusia, but we’re hooked up now. I think we can provide some stiff competition for these Outlaws tomorrow night.”

Rounding out the top-10 at Weedsport on Saturday night was Brad Sweet, Jacob Allen, Carson Macedo, Larry Wight, Spencer Bayston, James McFadden, and Danny Varin.

NOS NOTEBOOK (WEEDSPORT SPEEDWAY, 7/30/22)

David Gravel’s 74th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win brings him two away from tying Brad Sweet for 11th on the All-Time Win List. His fifth win of the 2022 season ties him with Brent Marks for the third most on tour behind Sheldon Haudenschidl (8) and Carson Macedo (7).

Carson Macedo started the night in a familiar fashion by topping My Place Hotels Qualifying at 14.310 seconds around Weedsport Speedway. The Jason Johnson Racing #41 is up to eight QuickTime Awards this season, a Series best mark with the World of Outlaws in 2022.

NOS Energy Drink Heat Race wins went to Jacob Allen (43rd career), Sheldon Haudenschild (77th career), and Donny Schatz (502nd career). David Gravel topped the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash, earning his fourth pole position of the year. Brock Zearfoss won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown, becoming the 10th driver to win the LCS on multiple occasions in 2022.

“Lightning” Larry Wight of Paulie Colagiovanni earned KSE Hard Charger honors with a 17th-to-7th drive in the #99L. It’s his third World of Outlaws top-10 finish in only seven starts with the Series.

UP NEXT (Sun) – The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series prepares to make its only stop in The Empire State next weekend with a New York’s Weedsport Speedway hosting shows on Saturday and Sunday, July 30-31. Fans can BUY TICKETS HERE, or watch every lap LIVE on DIRTVision.

NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (30 Laps) – 1. 2-David Gravel [1][$10,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [2][$5,500]; 3. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni [7][$3,200]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [4][$2,600]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen [6][$2,350]; 6. 41-Carson Macedo [5][$2,150]; 7. 99-Larry Wight [17][$2,100]; 8. 5-Spencer Bayston [15][$1,950]; 9. 83-James McFadden [9][$1,900]; 10. O1-Danny Varin [8][$1,850]; 11. 1S-Logan Schuchart [11][$1,400]; 12. 11K-Kraig Kinser [12][$1,200]; 13. 79-Jordan Thomas [10][$1,000]; 14. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [19][$950]; 15. 9-Kasey Kahne [13][$900]; 16. 5H-Chris Hile [18][$900]; 17. 20G-Noah Gass [14][$900]; 18. 7S-Robbie Price [23][$900]; 19. 2X-Dave Axton [21][$900]; 20. 98-Joe Trenca [20][$900]; 21. 28F-Davie Franek [16][$900]; 22. 88-Floyd Billington [24][$900]; 23. 7NY-Matt Farnham [22][$900]; 24. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [3][$900]. Lap Leaders: Donny Schatz 1-12; David Gravel 13-30. KSE Hard Charger Award:99-Larry Wight[+10]

NEW Championship Standings (After 44/77 Races) – 1. Brad Sweet (5,948); 2. David Gravel (-46); 3. Carson Macedo (-104); 4. Sheldon Haudenschild (-124); 5. Donny Schatz (-186); 6. Logan Schuchart (-192); 7. Spencer Bayston (-332); 8. James McFadden (-352); 9. Jacob Allen (-514); 10. Brock Zearfoss (-656).

BRITTANY FORCE PUTS FLAV-R-PAC DRAGSTER INNo. 1 SPOT SATURDAY AT NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS

KENT, Wash. (July 30, 2022) – Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster team secured their first No. 1 at Pacific Raceways during the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals, their primary sponsor’s first title race. Austin Prock landed the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster in tenth while John Force and PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy Camaro SS at No. 3 and Robert Hight and Automobile Club of Southern California are No. 5.
Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac dragster had a hard time getting off the line in their second qualifying try. Force is shut off almost immediately and coasts to a 12.566-second pass at 62.56 mph. The Top Fuel points leaders eliminated doubts of a wavering tune up in their final session laying down a stellar 3.753-second pass at 327.35 mph to jump from No. 13 to the No. 1 spot. It is her fifth No. 1 this season, first at Pacific Raceways and 37th of Force’s career. She’ll race against Jim Maroney in the first round of eliminations. 
“That was really important to be able to make a killer run and get this Flav-R-Pac dragster down the race track. We struggled Q1 and 2. In Q1 we got greedy and then in Q2 our automatic shut off malfunctioned. We went back, fixed the problem and had answers for both runs. Luckily on our third run we really laid it down. Very similar to last weekend in Sonoma, one run down in qualifying and then came out race day and got the job done,” Force said. “I wasn’t expecting that in the heat third run but Grubby said he wanted to push and get into the top. It was pretty outstanding for this Flav-R-Pac team.We ended up going No.1 at this Flav-R-Pac sponsored race so we think the boss is happy.”
The PEAK Chevy Camaro had to shut off early on its first pass of the day allowing John Force to cross the line at only 4.679-seconds at 174.39 mph. For third final qualifying pass at Pacific Raceways, Force would go 4.026 at 310.55. They stay No. 3 off their Friday night run of 4.001 at 311.92 to face Matt Hagan first round. 
“In the top of the qualifying ladder, good place to be for this PEAK Chevy,” Force said. “Brittany is over there in the Flav-R-Pac dragster landing it in the No. 1 spot at her sponsor’s race. Putting on a show for Frank Tiegs and all the Flav-R-Pac employees and customers we have here with us. Going to be a good day tomorrow trying to get this PEAK Funny Car in the winner’s circle.”
Robert Hight and the Auto Club Chevy team picked up their performance Saturday at the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways to jump into the No. 5 spot. On their first run on Saturday, the Auto Club Chevy had a clean solid 4.003-second pass at 231.24 mph that would earn them three bonus points for being quickest of the session and ultimately land their No. 5 qualifying spot. In the final qualifying session of the Northwest Nationals, Hight would handle the Auto Club Camaro to a 4.035 at 297.94. 
“My crew chiefs, Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham, they wanted to run 3.99 on that first run today and that just shows the kind of power we have in this combination. They’ve all worked really hard, all these Auto Club guys to get us where we are now,” said Hight who will run against Ron Capps first round. “Looking forward to tomorrow, going to take it one run at a time and get this Auto Club Chevy back in the winner’s circle.”
Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / RMT dragster don’t have a full pull but make a huge improvement in the second qualifying session going 4.034-seconds at 231.24 before clicking it off. Crew chiefs Joe Barlam and Rahn Tobler tuned the Montana Brand / RMT dragster to a a solid 3.870 at 312.21 to put Prock in the No. 10 spot to compete against Justin Ashley in the first round. 
“It was another day of learning for this Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team. We’ve improved each session here at the Flav-R-Pac Northwest Nationals,” Prock said. “I feel confident that we will have a competitive car come race day tomorrow. Looking forward to going some rounds and finish this Western Swing out strong.”
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series action at the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways continues with eliminations at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. Television coverage of the event continues on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with a second qualifying show Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET. Eliminations will be aired on FOX Broadcasting Network Sunday at 4:00 p.m. ET.
-30-
AUSTIN PROCK, 26, Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist DragsterQualifying:10th; 3.870-seconds; 312.21 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0BRITTANY FORCE, 36, Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy DragsterQualifying:1st; 3.753-seconds; 327.35 mphBonus Qualifying Points: +3 (quickest Q3)JOHN FORCE, 73, PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:3rd; 4.001-seconds; 311.92 mphBonus Qualifying Points: +1 (3rd quickest Q1)ROBERT HIGHT, 52, Auto Club of Southern California Chevy Camaro SSQualifying:5th; 4.003-seconds; 315.71 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+3 (quickest Q2)

TOYOTAS TAKE ALL TOP-10 QUALIFYING POSITIONS IN SEATTLE

Torrence and DeJoria Score Second-Fastest Spots in Pacific Northwest

KENT, Wash. (July 30, 2022) – All five Toyota Top Fuel dragsters qualified within the top-seven for Sunday’s NHRA event at Pacific Raceways in Washington. Steve Torrence claimed the number two qualifier slot followed by Doug Kalitta (fourth), Antron Brown (fifth), Shawn Langdon (sixth) and Justin Ashley (seventh).

In Funny Car, all three Toyota GR Supra Funny Cars also qualified in the top-eight with Alexis DeJoria claiming the number two qualifier position followed by J.R Todd (seventh) and Ron Capps (eighth).

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series

Pacific Raceways

Race 13 of 22

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

NameCarQualifying PositionFirst Round Opponent
Brittany Force*Flav-R-Pac Top Fuel Dragster1st (3.753)J. Maroney
Steve TorrenceCapco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster2ndR. Smith
Doug KalittaMac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster4thA. Laughlin
Antron BrownMatco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster5thL. Pruett
Shawn LangdonDHL Toyota Top Fuel Dragster6thM. Salinas
Justin AshleyPhillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster7thA. Prock

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS

NameCarQualifying PositionFirst Round Opponent
Bob Tasca III*Ford Performance Funny Car1stG. Densham
Alexis DeJoriaBandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car2ndJ. Campbell
J.R. ToddDHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car7thB. Alexander
Ron CappsNAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra Funny Car8thR. Hight

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA QUOTES

STEVE TORRENCE, Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Torrence Racing

TF Qualifying Result: 2nd

What were you talking with Shawn Langdon about following your Q2 run?

“We were talking about Super Comp stuff. This is what we do because we do it, but he (Shawn Langdon) races Super Comp and my old man is in Topeka. I think it may have pushed a head gasket out. We were running pretty good down through there and then we were just bantering back and forth. He said I took him at the line by two or three hundredths, but he’s way better at that stuff than I am. I’m just holding on trying not to run over anything or anybody.”

SHAWN LANGDON, DHL Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 6th

Do you feel your car has been waking up in recent weeks and this weekend in Seattle?

“They’ve been doing a good job and with the heat up here, we’re just trying to make good runs down the track. Made a good run on Friday and that’s where we’ve been struggling a little bit and getting behind the eight ball. This DHL team did a great job getting good runs yesterday and today.”

JUSTIN ASHLEY, Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Davis Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 7th

How do you feel about the weather conditions for tomorrow’s race and your performance?

“Right now it’s just about how strong this team has performed and in weather like this, it’s important to be consistent. To go up there as a driver and be comfortable in the race car and to go up there and run a 3.85 twice in a row really speaks volumes of this team. We’re excited and we’re looking forward to race day. We have a lot of folks from Phillips Connect here and all of our sponsors. It’s time for race day.”

ALEXIS DEJORIA, Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, DC Motorsports

FC Qualifying Result: 2nd

How important is this number two qualifier spot for tomorrow’s race?

“We’re definitely not in Sonoma anymore. It’s a hot track out here in Seattle, but a beautiful, beautiful place. Great fans. We qualified number two with our Bandero Toyota GR Supra and it carried through from Friday night and really happy about that. We got some bonus points Friday. We tried to step it up this last run, but just dropped a hole early and ended up smoking the tires at the top end. But hey, we’re back and we’re back in the top-three again and qualifying really well. We’ve got a great car and I’m excited to race tomorrow. I got to come out early and spend some time with the Seattle Seahawks and meet the head coach, Pete Carroll. I did fan girl a little bit because I’ve seen him win championships and that guy’s a badass. He’s about the same age as my dad and super healthy. Good luck to that team! That was a great opportunity – thanks to Toyota.”

How do you feel heading into the Countdown in a few weeks with your recent performance?

“The Countdown is coming up and this a great time for our team to get hot. You don’t want to peak too early and you don’t want to peak too late. It’s the right time right now. I believe we’ve solidified a good spot in the Pep Boys All-Star Callout and just feeling good. We’re excited about tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.”

J.R. TODD, DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Kalitta Motorsports

FC Qualifying Result: 7th

Is this team making progress as we head towards the Countdown?

“Our back half numbers are right there at the top, we’re just giving up a lot early. We’re kind of experimenting here today with it being a light field so hopefully that gives us some momentum going into the later part of the season where we need to make it count. This DHL Toyota GR Supra definitely isn’t qualifying where we want it to be, but anything can happen. First round tomorrow is going to be in the morning so that will make things more interesting.”

###

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.  

Toyota directly employs more than 48,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 43 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants.  By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles.  With the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

Beach Wins Clash of Titans at 75th Peoria TT

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 30, 2022) – JD Beach (No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) solidified his claim as the leading TT rider in all of Progressive American Flat Trackby earning a second consecutive victory at the World Famous SC2 Peoria TT presented by Country Saloon on Saturday at the Peoria Motorcycle Club in Peoria, Illinois. While Beach ultimately went wire-to-wire to victory, the contest was in fact quite a tense affair with two-time Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle champion Briar Bauman (No. 3 Indian Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750) glued to Beach’s rear wheel pretty much throughout. A five-rider freight train formed at the start, with Beach holding the lead ahead of Jarod Vanderkooi (No. 20 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750), Bauman, Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750), and Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT). Bauman was the first to slip past ‘VDK,’ blasting ahead as they exited the race’s opening corner, while Mees and Daniels would do the same over the next few minutes. Bauman only really showed Beach his front wheel on a single occasion. That said, he was perfectly positioned at nearly every moment to capitalize on any mistakes that might possibly befall Beach on the dry and notchy track. However, the Yamaha ace proved remarkably resilient under fire, especially considering he was still riding at less than 100% after hurting his ankle at the Mission Port Royal Half-Mile a couple weeks back. Beach took the checkered flag 0.492 seconds ahead of Bauman to improve his overall series TT record to five wins in his last six attempts. He said, “When I hurt my ankle at the last race, I couldn’t even walk to leave the track. Coming into Peoria, there are so many fast guys here, and I was sitting on my butt for two weeks. I just have to thank my family, who made sure I didn’t do anything because I’m not good at sitting around. “The whole Estenson team worked so hard. Today was a little hectic, but to get this win again here and get two in a row… To imagine Henry (Wiles) got 14 in a row here is just insane. It feels so good. I’m pumped.” The continuation of Bauman’s midseason surge further tightened the title fight. So too did Daniels’ third-place finish, a result that only came following a protracted battle with reigning champion Mees for the position. If not for his continued woes at leaving the starting line, the rookie might have had more of a say in the final outcome. Still, he had to be satisfied with standing on the box in his first premier-class race at his home track. Bauman is now just three points behind Mees (188-185), while Daniels is only another 13 points back. Beach, too, has new life, closing to within 30 points of Mees (159) after securing his second win of the season. The challenge of 14-time Peoria TT winner “King Henry” Wiles (No. 17 Willy Built/Lyndy Roofing Co. Kawasaki Ninja 650) never fully materialized. Wiles showed respectable speed throughout the day but faded back to ninth before making a late climb to an eventual sixth, finishing behind Vanderkooi in the Main. Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750) came home in seventh, one spot ahead of Mission Production Twins Challenge entrant Jesse Janisch (No. 33 Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson XG750R), who executed a spirited climb up the order early before running out of steam. Ben Lowe (No. 25 Rackley Racing/Mission Foods Indian FTR750) and Bronson Bauman(No. 37 Latus Motors Racing Harley-Davidson XG750R) rounded out the top ten. Mission Production Twins presented by Vance & Hines Before he was a full-fledged Mission Production Twins presented by Vance & Hines title fighter, Jesse Janisch (No. 33 Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson XG750R) originally made his name as a Peoria TT expert. In fact, that reputation actually landed him last year’s opportunity to earn his current ride – a ride that subsequently launched him into championship contention. While he’s clearly grown beyond the specialist tag, Janisch proved yet again he’s one of the very best there is at the legendary venue. He was in full-on imperious form, winning the drag race to Turn 1 and promptly building up a sizable gap before even completing a single lap. Janisch’s fellow Semi winner, Johnny Lewis (No. 10 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650), was outflanked by Dan Bromley (No. 62 Vinson Construction/Viper Air Yamaha MT-07) in the first corner and then spent the next couple of minutes looking for a way back through. By the time Lewis retook second, Janisch already had more than two seconds in hand. That advantage only continued to stretch even when Lewis had clear air in front of him. Janisch ultimately piled on more than 14 seconds worth of padding before he wheelied his way down the front straight to a 12.192-second margin of victory. The triumph was Janisch’s fourth professional win at the circuit, the first three coming aboard single-cylinder machinery. Afterward, he said, “That was awesome. I’m so much more comfortable with the bike and team this year. Last year, I came here and was just trying to stay quiet and be polite and ride the thing. This year, we’re obviously working good with the team and making changes, trying to learn me and the bike better. The Vance & Hines guys are amazing.” The victory also provided Janisch a bit more breathing space in the championship fight. That said, defending class champion Cory Texter (No. 1 G&G Racing/Yamaha Racing Yamaha MT-07) did what he does so well, minimizing the damage on the days in which he’s at a disadvantage in order to fight back another day. Texter held Cole Zabala (No. 51 Memphis Shades/Corbin/Vinson Yamaha MT-07) at bay to finish fourth, crossing the line just over a second back of podium finishers Lewis and Bromley. As a result, Janisch now leads Texter 199-188 with seven races remaining to decide the back-and-forth championship battle. Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER The four-race win streak of Kody Kopp (No. 12 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-FFE) finally came to an end, but even so, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing win streak now stands at five.And that’s because Kopp’s teammate, Max Whale (No. 18 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-FFE), finally collected his first victory of 2022 after leading the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER class in Main Event victories with five a season ago. However, both KTM pilots found themselves behind Estenson Racing’s Trevor Brunner (No. 21 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F) off the line. Whale struck first, railing up the inside of Brunner as they powered onto the front straight a minute-and-a-half into the contest. The Australian would then proceed to rip open a couple seconds at the front as Kopp desperately attempted to find a way through himself. Instead, he found himself victimized by the charging Morgen Mischler (No. 13 American Honda/Progressive Insurance CRF450R) and dropped to fourth as Whale continued to break away at the front. Mischler would eventually exploit a big bobble on Brunner’s part to slide into second with around a minute to go and then close rapidly on the leader. What once seemed to be a certain win became considerably less so, but Whale responded to Mischler’s late push to hold on for a 0.831-second win. While Whale was awarded last year’s win at Peoria, it only came due to a DQ ahead of him. So technically this was his second in succession at the famed race even if it felt like a first to him. He said, “It’s been a long seven weeks since (getting hurt at) the Red Mile. And to come back finally with a win… It feels like it’s been years since I won a race. That was so much fun. I found a line that worked early on and just stuck to it. It’s unreal to get a win at Peoria, and the crowd here is awesome. I’m stoked.” Mischer’s runner-up represented his first-ever TT podium and saw him narrow Kopp’s title advantage for the first time in five races (even if it still stands at two full races, 220-170). The podium was completed by Brunner, who ultimately kept Kopp corralled behind him for full race distance, which meant the title leader would equal his worst finish of the season in fourth. Rookie Chase Saathoff (No. 106 American Honda/Progressive Insurance CRF450R) pulled off a last-lap pass on Ferran Cardús (No. 377 Roof Systems of Dallas/Bullet Strong Racing Honda CRF450R) to edge the Spanish champion for fifth by 0.008 seconds at the flag. The SC2 Peoria TT presented by Country Saloon will premiere on FS1 on Sunday, August 7, at 11:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. PT, including exclusive features, cutting-edge aerial drone and onboard footage, and expert commentary. Next Up: Progressive AFT will hit the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally for the second in a string of four consecutive race weekends with the Progressive Black Hills Half-Mile presented by Saddleman at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, South Dakota, on August 6. Visit https://store.americanflattrack.com/ebooking/ticket/view/id/3696/ to secure your tickets today. You can catch the livestream of all the weekend’s racing activities on FansChoice.tvFansChoice.tv provides free-to-view livestreaming of Practice and Qualifying. FansChoice.tvsubscribers will then be able to watch the drama unfold from Opening Ceremonies through the Semis, Main Events, and podium celebrations. FansChoice.tv offers two subscription options, granting unlimited access to premium AFT content. Monthly subscriptions start at just $7.99, while a six-month subscription is available for $44.99. For more information on Progressive AFT visit https://www.americanflattrack.com. To score the latest gear for the Progressive American Flat Track fan, visit our official merchandise store at https://store.americanflattrack.com

Late-Race Spin Spoils Solid Run by Sheldon Creed and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Team at Indianapolis

23rd15th13th
“This Richard Childress Racing team did a great job today. Our Whelen Chevrolet needed rear grip early in the race and my crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz made changes that really improved the handling. Our pit crew was really good all day long. We were in position to score another solid finish, a top-five or maybe even better, and just got turned around. It stinks but we’ll bounce back next week at Michigan.” 
-Sheldon Creed
Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics / Ace Doran Chevrolet Team Tally Solid Top-10 Finish at Indianapolis
9th9th6th
“We had a solid day today in our Bennett Transportation & Logistics / Ace Doran Chevrolet. After practice and qualifying yesterday afternoon, we were feeling pretty confident. When we fired off, we struggled with rear lateral grip and it started coming to me at the end of Stage 1. We just continued to struggle with that for the entire race. My team made some adjustments that helped with the lateral in high speed corners as we got into Stage 2 but we just didn’t have the car to get all the way up front. I’m glad we were able to bring home a solid top 10. I’m looking forward to getting to Michigan next weekend.” -Austin Hill

Rossi Win Completes Honda Sweep of Indianapolis in 2022


Alexander Rossi leads a Honda 1-2 result at the Gallagher Grand Prix
Christian Lundgaard finishes second in best run of his rookie season
Today’s Honda win completes a sweep of all three NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this year at the Indianpolis Motor Speedway

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (July 30, 2022) – Alexander Rossi dominated the second half of today’s Gallagher Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as the Andretti Autosport driver headed a 1-2 finish for Honda and completed a sweep of NTT INDYCAR SERIES races at the famed “Brickyard” in 2022. Rossi led a race-high 44 laps in the 85-lap contest to record his first win of 2022, and his eighth career victory.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard completed the 1-2 Honda result today, his best result in his rookie Indy car season. Teammate Graham Rahal finish seventh in another strong outing. Colton Herta led 17 laps, setting up a possible 1-2-3 finish for Honda, but dropped out after 42 laps with an apparent transmission/driveline issue. Scott Dixon gained a dozen positions in the race to finish eighth, taking him to fourth in the series championship standings.

Gallagher Grand Prix Honda Race Results
1st Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda
2nd Christian Lundgaard-R Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
7th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
8th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
10th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
11th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
14th David Malukas-R Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
15th Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
16th Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda
18th Devlin DeFrancesco-R Andretti Autosport Honda
19th Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda
20th Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
22nd Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
24th Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda [did not finish – mechanical]
25th Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda [did not finish – fuel]
R – Rookie

Quotes
Alexander Rossi (#27 Andretti Autosport Honda) race winner: “It’s been an amazing weekend, right from Practice 1, the car performance was there. Everything we had going for us, from the balance to the Honda power and driveability, we knew we had a car to win. It was just a matter of us going out there and doing it. I’m so thankful for the continual belief I’ve received from the whole Andretti Autosport organization this year, just an incredible weekend for us.”

Christian Lundgaard (#30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) Finished second, best INDYCAR result in his rookie season: “Honda one-two! It really should have been a one-two-three, but this feels amazing. It’s just awesome to be up here, to be on the podium at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! I think the team just deserves every bit of this achievement and this performance. I’m just super happy for the team. For me, as a driver, of course I’m happy with this podium, but I think the team just deserves it so much after all their hard work. I’m just incredibly pleased.”

Wayne Gross (Manager of Trackside Support, Honda Performance Development) on today’s Honda victory on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course: “Congratulations to everyone at HPD, Andretti Autosport and of course Alexander Rossi. With Colton [Herta] and Alex, we won both Indy road course races here this year, plus the 500 with Marcus [Ericsson]. This has been a pretty special place for us this year! Thanks to everyone involved, and let’s keep pushing through the final quarter of the season.”

Fast Facts
Today’s results complete a sweep for Honda at NTT INDYCAR SERIES races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2022.

Honda’s Colton Herta began the streak in May, as the Andretti Autosport driver bested the field despite constantly changing weather conditions and a wet/dry/wet track to win the GMR Grand Prix on May 14.

One week later, Dixon claimed pole for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500, and his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson scored Honda’s 15th victory in the Memorial Day Weekend classic.

Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES now heads to the temporary street circuit Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tennessee, and the conclusion of a run of five races on four consecutive race weekends.

Honda Racing social media content and video links from Indianapolis 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).

POWER PUTS CHEVY ON THE PODIUM AT INDY ROAD COURSE

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

GALLAGHER GRAND PRIX

INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

TEAM CHEVY RACE RECAP & QUOTES

LEAVES INDIANA WITH NINE-POINT LEAD IN THE STANDINGS

INDIANAPOLIS

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (July 30, 2022) – Will Power put his No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet on the podium for the Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) Road Course. With the strong run to third, Power leaves with nine-point lead in the standings with four races remaining in the 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series Season. It is the 92nd career podium for Power.

Following close behind Power in the final order was teammate Scott McLaughlin driving the No. 2 Gallagher Insurance Chevrolet to finish in the fourth position. The second year Team Penske driver is seventh in the point standings.

Capturing the fifth spot in the final order is two-time Series’ champion Josef Newgarden, giving Chevrolet powered drivers three of the top-five finishing positions. Newgarden sits third in the standings. 

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile, crossed under the double checkered flags in sixth position. Pole winner Felix Rosenqvist finished ninth in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet to give Team Chevy five of the top-nine in the finishing order. Alexander Rossi was the race winner and Christian Lundgaard completed the podium.

Chevrolet continues to lead the NTT INDYCAR Series Manufacturer standings 1086 points to 999.

Next on the calendar is the Music City Grand Prix on the Streets of Nashville on August 7, 2022 and will be broadcast on NBC 3:00 p.m. ET

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 4TH, FINISHED 3RD:

TELL US HOW THIS DAY WENT AND WHAT MORE YOU MIGHT HAVE NEEDED? “Yeah man, it was a crazy start and some pretty questionable driving there at the beginning. It was a great recovery for us, and we kept out of trouble and then we were able to get to third. What a day.”

FOURTH TO THIRD SEEMS ROUTINE, BUT YOU WERE DOWN AS FAR AS 16TH: “It definitely was a rough start. I got pushed around in Turn One, I got pushed into Pato (O’Ward), which spun him. Then Helio (Castroneves) went for a big move and pushed me on the curb. It was a great recovery. You can never expect a normal day in INDYCAR!”

YOU HAD SOME COMMENTARY ABOUT THE DRIVING OF THOSE AROUND YOU AT THAT TIME. “It was just one of those things. Everyone is very aggressive. It’s so hard to win in this series. It’s the toughest series in the world, and everyone fights for position. You just have to keep it clean. Great job today by the Verizon 5G guys. It’s amazing that we can go all the way back there and recover to third, and thanks to Chevy for such great fuel mileage.”

YOU’RE LEADING THE CHAMPIONSHIP THROUGH YOUR CONSISTENCY. “That was the goal from the very beginning… to play the long game, and we’ve been doing that. We’re doing what we know, and that’s what I’ve been doing. I know this game so well, and I know it can change very quickly. But you take what you can get every day and every race.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 GALLAGHER INSURANCE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH, FINISHED 4TH:

“It was as good as we could have hoped. P4 after qualifying 15th, with a great start and we were able to press on and get going. Very proud because Team Chevy gave us great fuel mileage and we were able to just control it to the end.”

I’m pretty pumped. We needed one of those. To get from 15th to fourth in the Gallagher Chevy in the Gallagher Grand Prix was fantastic. The car was good. I was pumped. I was trying to push this guy (teammate Will Power)… I was like, ‘C’mon, let’s go!’ I had a bit of a blister on my right-front but he controlled it really well. We just missed out on the podium but a top-five was a great day for us.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5TH, FINISHED 5TH“Good day for our PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. I am just glad to be back out there on the track and get this race under my belt. We were able to come away with a solid top-five finish and make up some points, which is a pretty solid day. We had great strategy and Team Chevy brought some great power today, which allowed us to stay up front. Overall, a really good day for our PPG team.”

RINUS VEEKAY, BITCOIN RACING TEAM WITH BITNILE, QUALIFIED 8TH, FINISHED 6TH: “Pretty happy actually. Got in the mess at the start with everyone where I think Pato (O’Ward) spun to the inside, which you don’t see that often. It was a bummer because I think I chose the wrong side and lost some positions there. I think I went from like sixth or seventh to 13th or 14th. So, that didn’t really help but for the rest of the race, good pace. Again, not much luck at the yellow with me pitting just before. That would have brought me much more of an advantage if it didn’t go yellow. I’m pretty happy, because that is stuff we cannot control that didn’t go our way. But everything we could control was great.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, QUALIFED POLE, FINISHED 9TH:

“Today was a tough race. I gave it everything. The first stint on blacks was pretty poor; good in the beginning and then we started losing ground. I feel like the car felt good, but we just didn’t have any pace so we just kept losing positions. The Andretti cars just left us in the distance.

“We started out in like P12 or P13 after the first sequence and from there on there was nothing really happening as we were just doing the same lap times as others on the reds. The car felt good, but I think we had some issue like a dragging brake as we kept losing ground on the straights and it felt a bit abnormal so we will have to look into that.

“We have to nail the details on days like this, and it seems like today we didn’t. To come away with P9, though, were were able to collect some good points. We’ll have a look at everything and go to Nashville.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED , FINISHED 12TH:

“What looked to be like it was going to be a good day, turned out to be really tough for both cars. I got hit during the start which damaged the car and I kind of had to nurse it until the end. We basically went all the way to last place and had to shift strategy-wise. The car wasn’t far off, but this wasn’t a good race for us today.”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER CHEVROLET, JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING , QUALIFIED 19TH, FINISHED 14TH: “It was quite a tough race. We ended up 14thh and ran out of fuel over the line so I lost one position. It was tough, especially in the first half. When the track was low-grip, it was taking awhile to get the car to work, and I was struggling to get past other cars. We had good pace in clean air but I was always stuck behind someone. Once we ended up getting some free air in that last stint-and-a-half. The pace was quite strong, actually. We were catching Pato (O’Ward) but then I had to go into fuel-saving mode… eco-friendly and tried to save it. It was a bit unfortunate. I almost caught him but then almost didn’t finish. But it was a great result to end with. We needed to find a bit of pace earlier in the weekend. We struggled for pace when it was low-grip conditions. Overall I’m happy with P14 from P19. It wasn’t too bad.”

CONNOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 10TH, FINISHED 17TH:

 “I made a mistake today in pits, stalling the car. The team gave me a really great car, it was really fast. I can admit when I make a mistake and it was a real shame. We will try to bounce back next week. I am thankful the car was fast as it was.”

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING, QUALIFIED FINISHED 21ST: “We moved up in the race with the No. 4 K-Line car, so that was good not to finish where we started because we were toward the back after a tough qualifying. We made improvements to the car from the start of the weekend, figured a few things out and was able to collect some spots. It was a decent race overall for us. We’re making some progress on our road-course car. We’re trying to work on showing up for these races and knowing where we need to be in that window. We head to Nashville next weekend and I’m really excited. It was a fun track last year and it will be a fun party in Country Music Town. It should be a lot of fun.”

KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 SEXTON PROPERTIES CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING – FINISHED 23RD: “It was actually a fun race; we were just on the wrong strategy. We started off on the red tires, which didn’t work out for anyone except Scott McLaughlin and he went long on them. We just didn’t really have the pace on the black tires. From there we went to an old set of reds because it was all we had left. We were the only ones to use reds in practice. We got hit in Turn Nine… that ultimately gave us too much damage to have any pace for the rest of the race. It ultimately put us a lap down with an extra pit stop due to an issue with the rear-right tire from that incident. It was an unfortunate day, but we made improvements this weekend. We’ll take the positives from it, and that was definitely one of them. We’ll go on to Nashville and another street course. Fingers crossed we’ll be good there.”

PRESS CONFERENCE INTERVIEW WITH WILL POWER:

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Wrapping up the Gallagher Grand Prix here at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. We are joined by the now-once-again points leader in the NTT INDYCAR Series, Will Power, driver of the Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, his 92nd career podium today, which ties him with Dario Franchitti for seventh all time, seventh podium of the season and retakes the points lead and now has a nine-point advantage over Marcus Ericsson.

Congratulations on another podium. You got the points lead again. You’ve got to feel pretty good coming out of here.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I do, yeah. Considering the start of the race, yep, great recovery, man. Great recovery. It’s amazing some of the runs we’ve had this year. But yep, just kept my head and did what I could in the situation. I had to get a big fuel number and go as fast as I can.

Very good day. Good day for the team all around.

THE MODERATOR: Outside of Iowa and here, I know you were begging for starts of races up front because it didn’t happen there for a while where you didn’t have to make up big ground like you did at Mid-Ohio, and so far so good the last three races.

WILL POWER: Yeah, that’s right. It’s always hard starting fourth or the outside row at this track. You get — I don’t know, you get freight trained. So it’s tough going into 1. We didn’t make the most of that, but we definitely made the most of the rest of the race.

THE MODERATOR: Final restart and all that, at least towards the end, did you have anything for Rossi?

WILL POWER: No, not with the fuel number I had to get. I had to get a big fuel number because we pitted five laps before everyone.

THE MODERATOR: And played catch-up a little bit after that because of chasing the fuel?

WILL POWER: Yeah, pretty much all the way to the end we were on a number that was definitely holding us back. We had definitely a lot of pace in hand.

THE MODERATOR: We welcome all of you joining us on Zoom. We’ll get to your questions in a matter of moments. Let’s begin with questions in person.

Q. Will, you kind of said you made what you had today and you referenced in your post-race interview that you’ve been playing the long game all season. Are you pleased with where the long game has gotten you with four races to go?

WILL POWER: Yeah, definitely. It’s not necessarily the long game, it’s just that sort of attitude switch where you know these races are long, the season is long, and you’ve got to make the most of every situation, even if you’re fighting for like 12th. If that’s your day to finish 12th, well, finish 12th, not 24th.

Yeah, it’s certainly working very well.

Q. You also kind of referenced outside that there’s a point at which it switches now in the last four races. Did you have to sort of race points for a week or two here now? How do you look at the rest of the way?

WILL POWER: That totally depends on the situation, how you qualify, who’s in front of you, where you’re running, and where the guys that you are fighting or you believe will be the people or the drivers that you have to fight at the end. It becomes a little more obvious with three to go.

The next couple races you’ve got to know, okay, this is definitely the lead guys that we’re racing. We’ve got to cover them on strategies and such.

Yeah, it’s still not completely clear. A lot of guys still clustered up — I think there’s probably still five guys are out in the game, so still a long way to go.

Q. Otto told us Thursday that he feels like it’s going to go down to Laguna obviously but with five guys. Do you expect the same thing? Are you keeping your eye on anybody in particular or do you feel like it’s going to be five guys all the way to the end?

WILL POWER: I mean, that’s impossible to predict, but it’s still pretty close right now. It will always — it feels like it’s always going to go down to the last race. I expect to be having a fight at Laguna. Yeah, we’ll see how it plays out. Impossible to predict in this series. There’s just too many fast guys, good teams, good drivers, everything. It’s just try and pick a winner each week and try and pick a pole sitter. Impossible.

THE MODERATOR: Just 46 points separating the top 5 right now as an illustration of how tight it is.

Q. It’s been a while since you’ve been this deep into the season as the points leader. It happened a lot early in your career. Do you think that experience is beneficial to you to know what it takes to get through the day-to-day pressure that’s going to come with that?

WILL POWER: Absolutely. So different to what it was back then. Just know the game so well. Mentally just miles ahead mentally in every respect than I was back then.

Yeah, just a tremendous amount of experience in this series.

Q. Also, I hate to use the term “wild card,” but because of its unpredictable nature, do you see next week’s race at Nashville as being one of the ones that could cause somebody to go over the cliff?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I hope no one does go over the bridge (laughter), but it could be like Toronto where it could be an absolute crazy race, but it could also be very green. You just can’t predict. You don’t know. We don’t know.

Obviously last year, yeah, with track blockages, this sort of thing, it was pretty crazy, but sometimes a race gets into a flow and it goes. But honestly I think if it goes yellow, it’s going to breed more yellows for sure. That’s when people go for the big moves.

Yeah, we’ll see what happens.

Q. What was it like racing behind the Great Dane today?

WILL POWER: I could only see him as a dot in the distance. He took off. He was too fast.

 Q. Will, you and Pato and Sato both pitted underneath the first yellow. You’re here in third, Pato finished 12th and Sato was 15th. What was the major differentiator? Was it tire strategy or something else that worked well for you?

WILL POWER: I think it was our pace on the fuel mileage we had to get. Definitely we were able to make some hay just getting big numbers that we had to get. We had a great car. Car was really fast. Yeah.

Q. It seems like something wild happens to you pretty much every other race this season, whether it be qualifying or in the race, and you were able to bounce back from that so well. Just wondered if it’s kind of crept into your mind yet that you feel like the favorite in the championship based off that because you’re able to come back from some of these crazy situations?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, to this point we’ve had a fantastic year, obviously leading the points right now. Just got to keep doing what I’m doing. I know the game so well, been in it so long. We have great potential to win the championship, but there’s four other guys that also do. It’s going to be hard fought to the end.

I’m enjoying it. I really am.

Q. Will, a couple laps in when you’re in 16th, what’s going through your mind? What’s your approach in a situation like that?

WILL POWER: Well, at that point you’re starting to think of what can we do, if there’s an alternate strategy, then the yellow comes and you’re like absolutely, all right, I think the guys understand, and we talked about it before the race, like we’ll pit, and try and make it on two more stops from there. Yeah, big fuel number, and that was a great call.

Yeah, never got upset or — just yep, that’s what it is. That’s how it rolls in this series. Just kept going.

Q. Obviously you knew you had a chance to take over first place in the standings; is that something on your mind during the race? Is that something you try not to think about? What’s your perspective on that?

WILL POWER: You’re just focusing on the race. You are aware of championship contenders if you’re around one or you do understand if there’s one — somebody racing behind you that you’re competing for the championship, you’ll definitely do your absolute best to keep him behind, but if it’s someone else, you’ve got to save big fuel, you might not fight him as hard.

Q. Will, you talked a while ago about seeing a dot in front of you, ahead of you, as opposed to maybe getting up on somebody’s tailpipe. When did that settle into your brain that third was going to be the best you could do today? How do you actually settle that into your brain?

WILL POWER: Well, when it all reset and all those guys pit, I had to pit before it went yellow. When we reset, it was, okay, we don’t have to get as big a fuel number now, and we’re P3, so if I can finish P3, that’s a great day.

Q. Will, this maturation process, you’re more settled, you keep talking about experience. How much of that is on the track and also off the track? Beau is getting a little older, the family man thing —

WILL POWER: Yeah, it is on both sides. It simply feels like the older you get, the more relaxed you get, just understand how life is. Life is not easy, it doesn’t flow that way like you expect when you’re younger that everything should just go right, but it simply just never does. That’s just the way it is. You get more relaxed about that.

Q. Do you enjoy moments like this a little bit more as you get older?

WILL POWER: Oh, yeah, yeah, I’m loving the racing. It’s a privilege to feel nervous before a race because there’s going to be a time that you don’t get to do that for decades. Some people never get to do that.

Q. You get to go into full dad mode.

WILL POWER: Yeah, exactly.

Burton Qualifies 13th at Indianapolis


July 30, 2022


Harrison Burton and No. 21 DEX Imaging team earned their best road-course starting spot of the season with a 13th-place effort on Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Burton took that berth with a lap at 98.418 miles per hour around the 14-turn, 2.439-mile course inside the Speedway.

His speed in qualifying represented an increase from the practice session earlier in the day when he posted a best lap of 97.608 mph on the 10th of the 12 laps he ran in the session.

He was sixth fastest among drivers who ran 10 consecutive laps. His average speed from Laps 2-11 was 96.387 mph.

Sunday’s 82-lap Verizon 200 at the Brickyard is set to get the green flag just after 2:30 p.m., with TV coverage on NBC.

Stage breaks are set for Laps 15 and 35.


 

###

About DEX Imaging
DEX Imaging is the digital document imaging division of Staples, the world’s largest business solutions provider. DEX sells and services the broadest selection of copiers, printers and data management solutions, such as HP, Konica Minolta, Canon, Kyocera and numerous others.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES:
Reducing Operating Costs
Reducing Paper Consumption
Increasing Productivity

DEX Imaging has been the recipient of virtually every industry award since the company’s inception, including the JD Power & Associates Award for Best Customer Experience, the prestigious ProTech Service award by Konica Minolta, the Diamond Premier Dealer Award by Kyocera, and the Elite DEALER Award by ‘ENX’ magazine. Other accolades include being named ‘Best Place to Work’ by numerous business journals in the markets DEX serves.



Wood Brothers Racing
Wood Brothers Racing was formedin 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glenn Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glenn’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Harrison Burton in the famous No. 21 racer.

NASCAR CUP SERIES IMS ROAD COURSE VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD TEAM CHEVY POLE WINNER





TYLER REDDICK TO LEAD THE FIELD TO THE GREEN IN INDIANAPOLISFifth NCS Pole Win of 2022 for Camaro ZL1
 ·       Tyler Reddick clocked-in a lap of 88.354 seconds, at 99.378 mph, to capture the pole position for tomorrow’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
·       This marks Reddick’s second career NASCAR Cup Series pole, both of which have been captured on a road course.
·       Reddick’s pole gives Chevrolet its fifth NASCAR Cup Series pole win of 2022; and 728th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series history. 
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (July 30, 2022) – The last time the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) turned laps on a road course circuit, Tyler Reddick drove his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Camaro ZL1 to victory lane for the first time in his NCS career (Road America, July 2022). Today, the 26-year-old California native picked up right where he left off, capturing the pole for tomorrow’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. Reddick laid down a lap of 88.354 seconds, at 99.378 mph, in his No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1 to capture his second career pole win in NASCAR’s premier series. Reddick’s pole winning lap was almost three tenths of a second faster than the second-fastest driver, proving the No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1 will be a strong contender to go back-to-back in road course wins.  “I could have done a better job, but it was really nice to know that we really did such a good job; everyone at RCR and the ECR power under this hood,” said Reddick. “Just this whole group on the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet team did a really good job of preparing the last couple of weeks for this race.” Reddick’s pole win marked the fifth for the Camaro ZL1 in 2022; and a manufacturer-leading 728th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series history. The bowtie brand has proven to be a force to be reckoned with on road course circuits, with Chevrolet currently sitting at nine consecutive NCS road course victories. A streak that started with Chase Elliott’s victory at Circuit of The Americas in March 2021, six drivers from four different Chevrolet teams have added to the Chevrolet NCS road course win count and the manufacturer looks to take that number to double digits this weekend.    NBC will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 31. Live coverage can also be found on the NBCSports Gold App and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript:WALK US THROUGH YOUR FAST LAP OUT THERE? “Well, it certainly seemed like a pretty good lap, but definitely not a pole lap. Right away, we were hustling to cool the car down and cool the brakes down so we could re-run. But it ended up being a good enough lap and it stood up against the nine other competitors. I definitely had a little bit of concern missing it a little bit in turn four and just a little bit in the braking zone. 
I’m glad it was a good enough lap. Certainly you always try and run the perfect lap. We didn’t quite do that, but it was good enough to win the pole.”
YOU’RE COMING OFF YOUR FIRST NASCAR CUP SERIES VICTORY AT ROAD AMERICA AND NOW YOU’RE SITTING ON THE POLE HERE IN INDIANAPOLIS. HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DOES THAT GIVE YOU KNOWING THAT YOU’VE WON AT A ROAD COURSE; WON A ROAD COURSE IN THIS CAR; AND YOU’RE SITTING ON THE POLE AT INDIANAPOLIS?“I certainly have a little bit more confidence. A lot of the confidence that myself and my whole team has comes from the work that we put in. The confidence that we have and displayed today comes from that, but certainly it’s good to know that we’re doing the right things and we’re on the right track. 
We’ll see how tomorrow goes. We’re going to have a really good pit stall selection and have the opportunity from the start to control the race. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that and keep it up front all day.” 

chevy racing–nascar–IMS road course–pole quote

NASCAR CUP SERIES

IMS ROAD COURSE

VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD

TEAM CHEVY POLE WINNER QUOTE

JULY 30, 2022

TYLER REDDICK TO LEAD THE FIELD TO THE GREEN AT INDIANAPOLIS

·       Tyler Reddick clocked-in a lap of 88.354 seconds, at 99.378 mph, to capture the pole position for tomorrow’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. 

·       This marks Reddick’s second career NASCAR Cup Series pole, both of which have been captured on a road course. 

·       Reddick’s pole gives Chevrolet its fifth NASCAR Cup Series pole win of 2022; and 728th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series history.

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1, Pole Winner Quick Quote:

TYLER REDDICK GETS HIS SECOND CAREER POLE WITH A MONSTER LAP THERE.. ALMOST THREE TENTHS FASTER THAN SECOND PLACE. DID IT FEEL THAT GOOD? WHERE DID THAT COME FROM? 

“It actually didn’t. It’s what really prompted me to want to re-run there, but it ended up being a good enough lap. I could have done a better job, but it was really nice to know that we really did such a good job; everyone at RCR and the ECR power under this hood. Just this whole group on the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet team did a really good job of preparing the last couple of weeks for this race. It looks like we’re picking right back up where we left off at Road America.”

WE FOUR KINGS: Marshall, McKinney, Long and Nicely Win Modified PDC Showdowns at Fairbury

Top-4 drivers locked into Saturday’s main event, top-2 from those will redraw

FAIRBURY, IL – July 29, 2022 – Sixty-two answered the bell, and sixteen are now locked-in to the main event. The DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals portion of the 32nd Prairie Dirt Classic kicked off Friday night at Fairbury Speedway and contested four individual 20-lap Showdown Features, taking the top-four finishers from each into Saturday’s 40-lap, $5,000-to-win main event.

Any other driver not yet qualified for the Modified Prairie Dirt Classic Feature will compete in one of two Last Chance Showdown events on Saturday evening, from which the top-two finishers will transfer into the main event, followed by four provisional starters to make up the remainder of the 24-car field.

Saturday’s events begin with a round of Hot Laps, followed by the redraw for the top-2 transfers from each of the Showdown Features. Tickets are available at the gate, but if you can’t be there in person, watch all the action live on DIRTVision.

Showdown Feature #1 – Frank Marshall

In similar fashion to his Friday night victory in 2021, Frank Marshall bagged the win in the first Showdown Feature of the evening.

In short, Marshall was dominant, winning the caution-free 20-lapper unchallenged in nine minutes and fifteen seconds. He took off at the drop of the green and crossed the stripe with a gap of nearly eight seconds over runner-up Chase Holland.

Marshall, of Valparaiso, IN, put on a clinic in traffic, whizzing past the slower cars in multiple lanes at a blazing pace.

“I may have taken a few less chances had I known I had that lead,” Marshall said. “I didn’t realize I had that lead until I got back to the trailer; I thought that was Curt Spalding right next to me at the finish line, I thought I beat him by half a car.”

In his eyes, a smooth and hammer-down racetrack was just what he was looking for to bag his second career Summit Modified Feature win and get into the redraw on Saturday.

“We got a perfect racetrack as the first race out, smooth and tacky, a little bit slick at first then it tacked-up,” Marshall said. “Soft tires worked out nice, and everything fell into place.”

Showdown Feature 1 20 Laps | 00:09:15.603 | Summit Racing Equipment

1. 28M-Frank Marshall[1]; 2. 45-Chase Holland[4]; 3. 22-Josh Harris[3]; 4. 130-Chase Allen[7]; 5. 5CS-Curt Spalding[2]; 6. 777-Trevor Neville[5]; 7. 50-Tyler Weiss[8]; 8. 3-Mike Brooks[11]; 9. 28-Rodney Standerfer[9]; 10. 21-Lyndon Whitfill[6]; 11. 15-Chris Smith[12]; 12. 48-Adam Pockrus[10]; 13. 34T-Tanner Reed[13]; 14. 83-Kasey Schrock[14]; 15. 11S-Nick Seplak[15]; 16. 73-Mark Rhoades[16]

Showdown Feature #2 – Mike McKinney

In what was the most action-packed Modified Showdown of the night, Mike McKinney emerged victorious after putting a last-lap pass on Brian Shaw in Turn 4 to seal the win.

McKinney trailed Shaw for 19 laps around the quarter-mile of Fairbury, digging harder each lap to try and find a way around the #1s.

“Dad said we had some room, so just started searching around trying to find a line to get by him,” McKinney said. “I knew that getting under him or above him on entry wasn’t going to be the ticket, so I started opening-up my entry super high into Turn 3. I’d enter on the top and turn it down the hill to try and beat him down the straightaway.”

A few laps of the new strategy, and McKinney found himself on the rear bumper of Shaw. He got a big run out of Turn 4 coming to the white flag and threw it into Turn 1 under Shaw. With the #96M right at his door panel, Shaw slid up the track in Turns 1-2, creating the lane McKinney needed to get by.

McKinney, of Plainfield, IL, kept it low in Turns 3-4 and held off Shaw for his 15th career Summit Modified Feature win, and first-ever in the Prairie Dirt Classic.

“That was definitely the hardest I’ve ever worked for $500, but it was awesome to win in front of these fans and have ‘em all cheer when I got out,” McKinney said. “This is a race I want really bad. We’ve accomplished a lot here, and this is the last thing on my list.”

Showdown Feature 2 20 Laps | 00:12:30.323 | All-Star Performance

1. 96M-Mike McKinney[1]; 2. 1S-Brian Shaw[2]; 3. 2-Nick Hoffman[7]; 4. 8K-Levi Kissinger[3]; 5. 24H-Mike Harrison[5]; 6. 77- Ray Bollinger[4]; 7. 66-Cole Falloway[6]; 8. 463-Daniel Sanchez[10]; 9. 1D-Dean Hoffman[11]; 10. 59R-Jacob Rexing[9]; 11. 88S-Alan Stipp[14]; 12. 14-Caden McWhorter[13]; 13. 12-Wyatt Harms[15]; 14. 43-Jared Thomas[8]; 15. 7-Tim Nash[12]

Showdown Feature #3 – Michael Long

Michael Long waited several years to make his first PDC appearance, and made it count Friday night, winning his Showdown Feature from the pole to lock himself into the redraw Saturday evening.

Though he’s competed at Fairbury several times in the past, Friday was his first PDC appearance – one which he won right up on the well-noted Fairbury cushion. But it took getting past Allen Weisser in the opening laps, which he did on Lap 4 with a great run off the top of Turn 4.

“Once we got rolling, the car was good and the tires got warmed-up a little bit,” Long said. “Got my momentum going, was able to get back to the lead and held on for the rest.”

Long, of Fowler, IL, led the rest of the way to collect his sixth career Summit Modified Feature win.

Showdown Feature 3 20 Laps | 00:12:47.687 | Hooker Harness

1. 18L-Michael Long[1]; 2. 8A-Austin Holcombe[4]; 3. 8-Kyle Steffens[3]; 4. 25W-Allen Weisser[2]; 5. 37-Michael Ledford[9]; 6. 35-Jason Hastings[11]; 7. 00-Ethan Dotson[6]; 8. 10-Garrett Jameson[15]; 9. 7T-Drake Troutman[5]; 10. 64-Dawson Cook[14]; 11. 17N-Dillon Nusbaum[7]; 12. 32-Mason Duncan[10]; 13. 1W-Bob Pohlman[12]; 14. 36-Eric Vaughan[13]; 15. 71R-Troy Ricketts[16]; 16. 89-Austin Friedman[8]

Showdown Feature #4 – Tyler Nicely

He missed Prairie Dirt Showdown Victory Lane last year by one spot. This year, Tyler Nicely was not going to be denied.

Now professionally reunited with his previous car builder Nick Hoffman of Elite Chassis, Nicely piloted his #25 to Fairbury Victory Lane Friday night with authority, leading all 20 laps en route to his fourth career Summit Modifieds Feature win.

“Ever since I got back in this Elite [Chassis] car, it fits me and I’m a lot more comfortable,” Nicely said. “I knew tonight we needed a good Qualifying effort, and that put us up front. We’ll get to that redraw tomorrow and hopefully we’ll be on that stage by the end of the night.”

Nicely, the 2015 PDC finale winner from Owensboro, KY, hasn’t seen PDC Victory Lane since 2019 when he won a Showdown. Friday’s Feature showed what he and the car can do, which he’ll use again Saturday in pursuit of a $5,000 check.

Showdown Feature 4 20 Laps | 00:17:54.659 | Deke Trucking

1. 25-Tyler Nicely[1]; 2. 21D-Danny Schwartz[4]; 3. 35W-Ethan Weber[3]; 4. 12H-Jason Hughes[7]; 5. 5-Steven Brooks[12]; 6. 24S-Jacob Steinkoenig[6]; 7. 99W-Chris Arnold[2]; 8. 3L-Jeff Leka[9]; 9. 62E-Deece Schwartz[10]; 10. 757-Bradley Jameson[8]; 11. 6-Ryan Ayers[14]; 12. 1-Nash Hilmes[13]; 13. 54-Zachary Hawk[15]; 14. 94-Tom Pasek[11]; 15. 16C-John Clippinger[5]