Solid Day for Jesse Love and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Team at Circuit of the Americas Results in Sixth-Place Finish

6th

14th

4th

“It was a decent finish and a good points day for our No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet team. The big horsepower isn’t something that I’m used to, and towards the end of the race, I figured out what I needed to do in order to make speed out of the car. Even though we had to fight our way from the back to the front a couple of times, I kept my head in the game and tried to learn as much as I could. During the last stage, I put together some fast laps that kept me in the hunt. There were some issues with the last restart that didn’t go our way, but it could have been a lot worse. Overall, it was a decent day and something to build off of. I need to get to work on my road course driving style and come back stronger. I want to applaud everyone at Richard Childress Racing and ECR for bringing fast Camaros every week. This team has been close to winning this year and we will achieve that soon.”  -Jesse Love

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet Team Leave Circuit of the Americas With Strong Second-Place Finish

2nd

11th

1st

“It was a frustrating end to the race, but heck of a job by everyone at Richard Childress Racing. Our Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet was so fast all day. Early in the race, I made a mistake cutting the track and we had to come back from that pass-through penalty. The last overtime restart seemed to go somewhat clean in my opinion. It seemed like the No. 97 lifted early and then he started to wheel hop once I got to the back of him in Turn 1. I was able to get by him and tried to drive as hard as I could without overdriving. I thought I was doing everything right by trying to protect in Turns 15 and 16, but ultimately, we got ran over. All in all, it was a good day for our No. 21 team. We are firing on all cylinders right now. It doesn’t matter where we go, we are running and finishing inside the top-five. We will keep our heads up.”  -Austin Hill

Chevrolet saw four drivers finish in the top-five of qualifying’s Group 1, with Scott McLaughlin, driver of the XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, leading the Bowtie brigade in second with his fastest lap of 01:38.6068 seconds.Alexander Rossi, driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, led Team Chevy in Group 2 in seventh with his fastest lap of 01:39.1140 seconds after a mid-session caution shook up strategy.Ahead of Sunday’s heat races and main event, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES completed four test sessions with Callum Ilott, driver of the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, topping the charts with his fastest lap of 01:38.7784 seconds in Test Session 3.In the fourth open test Saturday afternoon, Chevrolet occupied the first two or three positions for most of the session, finishing with four teams in the top-five, and seven in the top-10.Sunday’s $1 Million Challenge from The Thermal Club airs live at 12:30 p.m. ET on NBC, with additional broadcast coverage on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 160. TEAM CHEVY GROUP 1 QUALIFYING RESULTS, HEAT RACE 1 LINEUP:2nd    Scott McLaughlin3rd     Rinus VeeKay5th     Josef Newgarden6th     Will Power7th     Romain Grosjean8th     Agustin Canapino10th   Santino Ferrucci14th   Sting Ray Robb TEAM CHEVY GROUP 2 QUALIFYING RESULTS, HEAT RACE 2 LINEUP:7th     Alexander Rossi8th     Callum Ilott9th     Pato O’Ward11th   Christian Rasmussen

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (Quotes):Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:“I feel solid in race running. It’s a tricky surface. There’s definitely going to be drop off and tire wear, but I think we’re looking after the tires super well so I’m excited for race running. Got to stay out of trouble to start, and then I think our longevity should prove to be pretty competitive. Proud of the Hitachi Chevrolet crew. It’s been fun testing here and getting through a list of items and seeing if we can win some money tomorrow.” A pretty strong start to the season with Chevrolet, a pretty strong package…“Chevy’s done a great job. They continue to bring us great performance on the weekend. Excited to get through tomorrow, but also really excited to get back to Long Beach as well and keep proving our worth.” Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:“I’m hell bent. To have a qualifying session which was just bang, bang, bang in a shootout lap, one lap, is pretty awesome and that’s effectively what that was. To do a good job there was good. Congrats to Felix (Rosenqvist). I feel like I could have had him. I just marked up that last corner, but that’s… You’ve got to do the lap, it’s pressure, and that’s cool.” You’ve got to get it right on the push-to-pass lap…“Exactly. I think that’d be really cool, but I think our XPEL Chevy was great. Obviously, Chevy has been giving us great power this year and fuel mileage so really stoked for everyone there, and hopefully we can keep this XPEL Chevy up front.” So what do you expect for the heat race tomorrow? How do you approach that?“We’ll do what we can. Every race, we go out and try to win it. It’s a learning process too. We’ll figure out what the car does even more so over ten laps, but yeah, I’ll be doing my best to at least get ahead of Felix (Rosenqvist). It’s going to be interesting where we’ll shake up at the end of ten laps.” Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:“Because you have push-to-pass, it’s just one lap and big (degradation). It’s very difficult to wait two hours, then have a different condition and just go. It’s tough.” Did you know what the track was going to be like?“I did. I tried a couple of different things and made mistakes. I mean, honestly, the quickest time was a quick time. It was hard to put all of that together. For (Felix) Rosenqvist to be P1 is solid.” How do you think the heat races will play out?“It just depends on what you want to do. I don’t feel like doing much damage for P6 or something. It’s such a short race, anything can happen.” With all of the test sessions, do you feel as a group it was worth it? You were able to try a bunch of different stuff.“I think the whole qualifying and racing made you not try stuff. You were doing these qualifying sims because you knew the only way you’ll do well in these things is qualifying up front.” Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren:“This track is very sensitive to heat, wind. It was getting really gusty, especially there in the back over by the esses. There was a lot of sand on track. You could see it from the rooster tails coming out of the cars. As it was for us, it wasn’t the most perfect lap for me, but I just could never get the car to set. It was always wanting to go the opposite direction of where I wanted it to go. It was a bit of a fight out there, but it seems like we’re not the only ones. A lot of guys are struggling with it, and it’s just really, really gusty and feels icy out there.” Do you remember a weekend like this where it’s different to run all the time?“Not in INDYCAR, but in a Formula 1 test, yes. Those cars are really, really wind sensitive and I feel like we’re getting a taste of that here. Maybe in Indy, where you’re going so fast and the wind is a bit more of a factor. It’s definitely shifted a lot. You think you have a good car, and then you’re going into it and what happened to the balance? Not that if felt horrible, but it just never actually got into, I feel like, an operating window. I feel the tires never got to their sweet spot, and this qualifying session that we’ve with overtake, you’ve got one lap to do it. Once you choose your lap, you’ve got to stick with it. I’m glad that we tried in Lap 2, I think Callum (Ilott) did as well. But it seems that we’re not the only ones that are struggling.” Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:“It’s interesting. Just like this whole weekend, right? It’s different. You’ve got the push-to-pass too, which usually you can focus on one thing, but now we’re pressing a button on the top of the steering wheel. It felt really good. One thing about this track, with the wind and basically a sandstorm that came through, every session, maybe every outing, the car felt different. We just kind of nailed it for the conditions the way they were. A little bit surprised. Didn’t feel as good as in practice, but very, very happy and great job by the guys.” What will be the biggest key tomorrow? Will it be aggressiveness? Conservative?“Staying on track. I think that’s my thing. You only have to lead one lap and that’s the last one. First got to make it through to the all-star race and then to the $1 Million Challenge, and then we look forward there. This starting position definitely makes tomorrow a little bit easier. If you’re second with $500,000 on the line, are you willing to move someone to win?“If I’m close enough and I see a gap, I’ll definitely go for it.” Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:“We knew qualifying was going to be a challenge. Very tricky conditions out there. I made a small mistake in our lap that cost us, but we are up there in the mix, so a lot of potential in the car.” Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:“We are in a good position. Honestly, the lap wasn’t good. We didn’t find the speed in the fastest corner, and we need to check what happened. But the good thing is we are in a good position for tomorrow to try and make it to the main race.” From that kind of position, you know you need to pick up a couple of spots. What is the approach in this short heat race tomorrow?“I think the target is try to end better. Of course, we are starting P8 alongside my teammate Romain (Grosjean). We need to only need to advance two positions. It will be difficult of course. Many good drivers and top teams, but we had a good car, especially in practice. We were much better. For some reason, my car wasn’t good in qualifying again on the faster corners, but I think we can find some speed for tomorrow.” What have you learned this weekend that will help you moving forward this season?“Oh, a lot. I remember this same moment, same place, last year, and I was completely lost. Completely, completely lost. I made a big improvement during my first year. I need more practice, more experience, especially with the new tires, but we are in a good situation. The team has improved a lot, especially with Romain (Grosjean). We are in a good situation. You can see that with the guys we have now behind us.”

POMONA, CA (March 23, 2024) —- Mark Pawuk started the NHRA Winternationals running to the top of the qualifying order and continued to put pressure on his Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown competitors. The NHRA Gatornationals winner ran 7.856 seconds at 178.87 mph in the opening session of qualifying Friday. Pawuk’s Empaco Dodge Drag Pak that is memorializing his longtime friend and NHRA Hall of Famer Don Schumacher held off the rest of the field through the second session. After Saturday’s qualifying session was rained out Pawuk earned his fifth No. 1 qualifier and will enter Sunday looking to secure his third national event win.

 Mark Pawuk launches off starting line at NHRA Winternationals, photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

I won the Gatornationals two weeks ago and I would love to win the Winternationals this weekend,” said Pawuk, from his pit after qualifying was cancelled. “Flexjet Factory Stock has never run in Pomona so getting the first win would be cool. We have a good hot rod but there are a lot of tough cars here this weekend. I am going to have to be on top of my game. We had a couple good runs yesterday and Mother Nature didn’t cooperate with us today. We’ll be ready for race day tomorrow.”
 
Pawuk will be racing back-to-back Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown title when eliminations get underway. Two weeks ago, Pawuk as the No. 3 qualifier raced to the winner’s circle at the NHRA Gatornationals. The two-time Factory Stock Showdown national event winner will be looking to hold onto the Flexjet Bounty throughout race day. The first driver to have a shot at taking the $1,000 prize will be Tony Scott Jr.
 
“I have a lot of pride in this Don Schumacher memorial car so I want to put on a good show tomorrow,” said Pawuk. “I want to thank all my sponsors especially Empaco, Ohio CAT and CAT Reynolds storage. I also have folks like Mr. Heater, Heat Star and Summit back on my car with Red Line Oil, Dodge and all my associates like VP Fuel, Mickey Thompson and the group at Diamond Pistons. It takes a lot to run these cars and I want to thank Flexjet for all they do for the class. Getting to run at the Winternationals is special and I am glad we wound up No. 1.”
 
Behind Pawuk in the qualifying order sits Scott Libersher, David Janac and Anthony Troyer driving Chevrolet COPO Camaros. Libersher’s 7.879 second pass was also posted in the first qualifying session. The Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown class is making its series debut at In-N-Out Burger Dragstrip at Pomona this weekend. With all three major manufacturers represented in the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown field race day will be an exciting battle between Chevrolet, Dodge and Ford.
 
First Round Match-ups
 
No. 1 Mark Pawuk vs No. 10 Tony Scott Jr.
No. 2 Scott Libersher vs. No. 9 Stephen Bell
No. 3 David Janac vs. No. 8 Ricky Hord
No. 4 Anthony Troyer vs. No. 7 David Davies
No. 5 Lee Hartman vs. No. 6 Doug Hamp
 
2024 FLEXJET NHRA FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN SCHEDULE
April 12-14                  24th annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Las Vegas
May 17-19                   24th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals, Chicago
June 7-9                      23rd annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol, Tenn.
June 27-30                  18th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Norwalk, Ohio
Aug. 15-18                   42nd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Brainerd, Minn.
Aug. 28-Sept. 2           70th annual Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals, Indianapolis
Sept. 12-15                  39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, Reading, Pa.
Sept. 27-29                  13th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals, St. Louis


About Flexjet
 
If maintaining performance vehicles is your passion – translate those skills into becoming a Flexjet aircraft maintenance technician (AMT). Explore a career with the world-class Flexjet Maintenance group today.
 
Flexjet, Inc., a global leader in subscription-based private aviation, first entered the fractional jet ownership market in 1995. Flexjet offers fractional jet ownership and leasing and is the first in the world to be recognized as achieving the Air Charter Safety Foundation’s Industry Audit Standard, is the first and only company to be honored with 25 FAA Diamond Awards for Excellence, upholds an ARG/US Platinum Safety Rating, a 4AIR Bronze Sustainable Rating and is IS-BAO compliant at Level 2. Red Label by Flexjet, a market differentiator, which features the most modern fleet in the industry, flight crews dedicated to a single aircraft and the LXi Cabin Collection of interiors. To date there are nearly 50 different interior designs across its fleet, which includes the Embraer Phenom 300 and Praetor 500, Bombardier Challenger 350, the Gulfstream G450 and G650. Flexjet’s European fleet includes the Embraer Praetor 600 and the Gulfstream G650. Flexjet’s helicopter division sells fractional, lease, and on-demand charter access to its fleet of owned, operated and maintained Sikorsky S-76 helicopters which boast 55,000 hours of safe flying certified by Wyvern and ARG/US and serving locations throughout the northeastern United States, United Kingdom, and southern Florida. Flexjet is a member of the Directional Aviation family of companies. For more details on innovative programs and flexible offerings, visit www.flexjet.com or follow us on Instagram @FlexjetInc.
 

March 23, 2024

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang Dark Horse are set to start 29^th in Sunday’s EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas.

Burton toured the 20-turn, 3.426-mile course at an average speed of 93.817 miles per hour in Saturday’s qualifying session. His fourth and final lap was his best of the session.

Sunday’s 68-lap, 231.88-mile race is scheduled to get the green flag just after 2:30 p.m. local time (3:30 p.m. Eastern) with Stage breaks at Laps 15 and 30.
 FOX will carry the TV coverage.

NASCAR CUP SERIES CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS ECHO PARK AUTOMOTIVE GRAND PRIXT EAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT MARCH 23, 2024

Byron Claims Pole Position at Circuit of The AmericasFour Camaro ZL1’s Qualify in Top-10

·       William Byron drove Chevrolet to its first NASCAR Cup Series pole of the season at Circuit of The Americas – posting a best-lap of 129.636 seconds, at 94.696 mph, in his No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1 in the final round of qualifying.  ·       The pole marks Byron’s second NASCAR Cup Series pole at Circuit of The Americas, and his 13th career pole in 222 starts in NASCAR’s top division.  ·       Byron’s pole marked Chevrolet’s third pole win in the NASCAR Cup Series’ four races at Circuit of The Americas.  ·       The feat marked Chevrolet’s first NASCAR Cup Series pole win of the 2024 season, and the manufacturer’s 744th all-time pole win in NASCAR’s top division.  ·       Four drivers from three different Chevrolet organizations posted a top-10 qualifying effort, with Byron leading Spire Motorsports’ Corey LaJoie in fifth, Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain in sixth and Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott in ninth.  ·       FOX will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas on Sunday, March 23, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 STARTING LINEUP:  POS.   DRIVER1st      William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL15th      Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Gainbridge Camaro ZL16th      Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL19th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.comCamaro ZL1 – Pole Win Media Availability Quotes You had the track record last year. I think there were 28 drivers in qualifying this year that broke it. You held onto it in the first round and then won the pole. Can you describe the differences between running the qualifying laps this year with the new pavement compared to last year? “Yeah, so the areas that they repaved have quite a bit more grip as we got the tire rubber kind of rubbered in and got the race track to where it was kind of peak grip level. I feel like it took probably the first five to eight laps for everyone to make for the track to keep getting faster, and probably for us to understand where the grip level is on the race track to push. I feel like we got to a spot where we understood the race track more. I think my biggest thing, or my biggest concern, is just turn eight and how the dirt is there. It’s definitely difficult to get through that corner. Wish that was a little bit better to make the race track flow a little bit nicer, but I feel like the added grip in some areas was nice and a little bit smoother. I don’t think it will really change the race any. I think the braking zones and the passing zones will be the same. It should be a pretty exciting race.” Is there anything you feel like should change.. should they put curb in overnight in that area, or say what they’re going to do with track limits in that area? “I would like to see a curb, maybe where the grass starts there.. just maybe right there on that edge. That would probably be the best solution. I think we should do something. Like track limits.. I don’t know, it’s really tough to police through there. It’s very difficult to see that area, so I think kind of having something that can not allow us to go there and risking damage.” Talking about track limits, in general.. how do you balance the line of pushing through the esses to maximize your laps times, while also not ending up with that penalty where you end up having to make a pass through? How do you balance where that aggression is? “Yeah, I feel like through the esses, the track limits is very appropriate because it’s easy to understand through there. Obviously, you have a lot of paint inside the curbing, but you can really kind of tell where you are on the race track there. So I feel like track limits through the esses is great. We’ve gotten used to it. The rules have been the same now for three years, I think. I think we’re doing a good job with the rules and everything to police that, and everyone has kind of stayed within the box. I didn’t ever get any laps disallowed, and hopefully don’t get any tomorrow.” What’s been the best advice you’ve gotten from Max Papis, who’s coached you in the past when it comes to racing at the road courses?“Yeah, I mean it’s just an evolution over time. Going out to the carting track this week, and just honestly, it’s been my first normal week since the Daytona 500.. just being able to be back home; be in my rhythm and kind of my cocoon and be able to focus on driving the race car. I feel really happy with how the week has gone. I feel very fresh going into this race, so I’m excited for that.  Yeah, our preparation is kind of the same that we normally do for road courses.” We saw a lot of guys locking-up going into turn one. Some said it was tires, some said they might have been pushing too hard. Is that something that you foresee being an issue on race day?“I don’t know. It seemed like once we understood that was the limit, it seemed like things got better there. I don’t know.. I haven’t looked at my turn one’s to see if I was giving up time, but I wasn’t locking up as I went through the rounds there. So I feel like at first, it was really prevalent because the bump there and the subsequent bumps, kind of as you get to the apex, is definitely rough. If there’s anywhere that I thought they would repave, I thought it would be there because turn one is very rough, but it creates some character. And on the restarts, it’s very tricky. We’ll see how that all plays out, for sure.”

Austin Prock qualifies No. 9 in Funny Car, while John Force was disqualified for crossing the center line

POMONA, Calif. (March 22, 2024) – Winning the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals has long been on Brittany Force’s bucket list. After Friday’s single nitro qualifying session, the two-time NHRA Top Fuel champion on Friday appears well on her way toward hopefully achieving that goal. Force’s Mark Christopher Auto Center Chevrolet/Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster was third quickest of the 17-car field, with an outstanding run of 3.783 seconds at 330.39 mph at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. “Coming out of a tough weekend in the season opener at Gainesville, Pomona is my home track and you want to do well there,” said Force. “We have Mark Christopher on the car and we want to make them proud and get them into the winner’s circle. “There’s a lot of pressure and looking at the forecast (Saturday), we may have only one qualifying session heading into the finals (on Sunday). It was a solid run.” Force recorded the best performance of the three-car John Force Racing team. ******************* Force’s teammate, Austin Prock, is the provisional ninth-quickest in the Auto Club of Southern California/Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car.Prock recorded a run of 4.758 seconds at 229.31 mph in Friday’s solo qualifying session. “I can run a lot better than 4.75 and smoking the tires like we did,” Prock said. “The track was real tricky tonight. The thing was hooked up and then it just (lost traction). It didn’t give me any signal at all. I was feathering the throttle just to keep it off the wall.  “But sitting ninth right now, fingers crossed, hopefully we can get better weather than what’s forecast tomorrow and hopefully get this Auto Club of Southern California Camaro into the top half. “I know I can do a better job than what I did and if it gets rained out tomorrow, at least we’re in the field and racing on Sunday.” The Auto Club team also earned a berth in this week’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge with a semi-final result in the season-opening Gatornationals two weeks ago. He will face Chad Green in the first round of the Challenge that will take place simultaneously with the second round of Winternationals qualifying on Saturday, weather permitting.  *******************Team owner John Force had his hands full in his qualifying run, with things not turning out the way he had hoped. The 16-time NHRA Funny Car champion and winner of 155 national events lost traction roughly 300 feet down the dragstrip and then drifted across the center line, causing an immediate disqualification. As a result, the driver of the PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS is not among the 16 drivers who are qualified thus far. He is hoping Saturday’s weather forecast is more positive so that he can get in at least one more qualifying attempt and work his way up into the final field for Sunday’s eliminations. *******************As Prock and Brittany Force alluded to, weather is a significant concern for Saturday. Two more rounds of nitro qualifying are scheduled at Noon PT and 2:30 p.m. PT, but Mother Nature may have other plans. Various weather reports peg the chance rain at almost 90% throughout the entire afternoon and into the evening. **********************************Weather permitting, FS1 will televise Qualifying Show No. 1 on Saturday, March 23, from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET. Qualifying Show No. 2 is Sunday, March 24, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET. The Finals will also air on Sunday, March 24, from 7 to 10 p.m. ET.#2024ORCE

NASCAR CUP SERIES CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS ECHO PARK AUTOMOTIVE GRAND PRIX TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT MARCH 22, 2024

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of racing double duty in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Race at Circuit of The Americas.  Media Availability Quotes:  How do you expect the car to react at the road courses? Tyler Reddick said you can’t bring what you brought last year and expect it to still do the same thing. Are you anticipating the car handling any differently with the package this year than it did a year ago?“I have no idea, so yeah I don’t really know how to answer that.. other than I just assume with another year that the team has gotten smarter and better about setups, that our car is going to be driving better. Just like it did from 2022 to 2023, it drove better even though we had less downforce, I guess, last year. Now that we have more downforce, I would hope that the braking zones would be a little bit more comfortable. I remember last year being really uncomfortable in the brake zones.. a lot of us were. But then like through the corners, my car handled better. So now I’m hoping that the brake zones will be a little bit more comfortable, and then our car setup will be good through the corners and stuff, too. Wishful thinking, so we’ll see when we get out on the track tomorrow.” You’ve got a win under your belt, so your season is obviously going pretty well. What is your forecast for some of the upcoming tracks like Richmond and things. What are focusing on as you get ready for Indy and other stuff you have going on the sidelines?“Yeah, I don’t know. I never try to look too far out in front. Yeah, I mean I don’t even know what race is after Richmond, honestly. So yeah, I mean these two weeks, I guess, is all I’m really looking at. I’ve been looking forward to this one for a while, just because I want to get better here. And it’s the first road course of the year, so it’s different and it’s fun. Studying all week and stuff like that is enjoyable.  But then yeah, I don’t know. We’re tied for the point lead right now, so we’ve been doing something right. But yeah, we’d just like to continue the consistent runs. Continue getting good stage points at every race track, or at least having a good shot at the end of the race too. Yeah, it’s just been a goal of mine, is to try and do a better job throughout the regular season. I know we’re only five races in, but it’s been going well, so far. Just have to keep it up.” Do you find yourself having a little bit more time to focus on the Indy 500 and things like that, or have you even thought about that yet? “I get asked that question every week (laughs).. what should I be doing?”  (No mic.).. “I don’t know either.  I feel like to this point, I’m as prepared as I can be. I’m just to the point now where I need to get on track. We get on track in a few weeks, and then I’ll get to be able to think more about the Indy 500. But also, I can’t take focus off of the Cup Series because it’s not like this stuff comes easy to me. It takes a lot of work, so I also have to dedicate a lot of time to this if I want to be doing my team justice on Sunday’s, as well. I race a lot of stuff and I prepare the same for all of it, so Indy is no different. Like I’m not racing a sprint car for another month, but I’m not worried about right now, either. I’m worried about right now. Maybe that will hurt me when it comes to Indy, but I don’t think it will. I’m not changing my process.” The Drivers Council have been in effect for a few years. What are your impressions on how its evolved? “Yeah, that’s a good question. I think it’s evolved, for sure. I think even before the Drivers Council was ever established; I was a part of stuff.. some version of a Drivers Council like probably nine or more years ago. And just to see where it’s kind of come from since then has been promising. I feel like there’s way more open communication, trust amongst everybody.. all of that. I feel like we’re moving forward together a little bit, better than we used to. I mean it’s always been good. Even from its inception, I feel like it’s been decent. But I feel like now, there’s the trust level between everybody, which makes things a little bit nicer.” Is there one thing you’d change in how this sport operates? “No.. I mean I’m just a driver.” How do you expect to tackle the new restart zone here at COTA? Also, your thoughts on going back to stage cautions? “Yeah, I don’t know. I think we just have to see how the truck race plays out a little bit. But I would imagine the restart zone being to the final corner.. like when the leader takes off, the cars will still be kind of stuck going around that corner. So I believe, there should be less, kind of seven-wide, into turn one.. less divebombs, crashes and just craziness. Which is good, I think, because even fans last year were like, ‘this is kind of dumb’, right? Like we look like amateurs out there. So I think it will look a little bit more professional. I think you’re still going to have divebombs, for sure, but maybe not from four rows back. And then just shoving guys through the two rows in front of you. I think it’s going to be good. I think it’s going to be a nice compliment to what the drivers wanted, plus what everybody kind of needed, as far as just not crashing people.” You mentioned how you’re tied for the point lead. When do you really begin to start looking at the regular season standings, as the regular season winds down? “Daytona.. I don’t know if other people are the same way, but I think if you take your eyes off of it too much, then you can get a little careless and then you get further behind. I’ve always paid attention to the points every week, and I would say most people probably do, as well. It’s always on your mind, especially when there’s playoff points being given at the end of the regular season. I think that makes you more aware of where you’re at in the standings, even with the one win that we have and knowing that we’re locked-in or whatever. It’s what, like 15-points I think, to win the regular season, and then it drops by five. I mean that’s like a full race win, so yeah it’s important to have the best regular season that you can to benefit yourself through the playoffs.  In 2022 and 2023, yes we were pretty competitive, but we stumbled a lot in the regular season and didn’t finish very high in the regular season points, and then the playoffs were difficult where we were barely kind of squeaking by through some of the rounds. Ultimately at the (Charlotte) ROVAL in 2022, I missed it by three-points, where if I could have just finished a couple of spots in the regular season points, I would have made it through and racing in the Championship Four. So yeah, points are always on my mind. Maybe not necessarily during the race, but afterwards.” Did you have a chance to see the onboard camera from Bristol last weekend that was floating around on social media? Did it feel like a real life video game when you were doing it, and would you ever want to participate in a race like that again? “Yeah, I watched the three-and-a-half minute clip that I saw on Twitter. Honestly, it was crazier from my seat than even like Twitter or the onboard. Like when I watched the onboard, I was like ‘man, this doesn’t look as wild as it was out of my windshield’. It just felt like when I left pit road.. which I thought I was screwed, right? Like I was one of the first people to pit and I thought for sure there would be a caution, and I was like my race is over. So I’m kind of just like, I didn’t even try hard coming to pit road.. didn’t try hard leaving. I went out there and I’m just like driving around people, and I was like ‘man, maybe we’re going to get this whole cycle through’. It was just wild. I felt like I was passing the same guy like very five laps. It was just nuts. I mean I would be like passing somebody on the bottom, and then like turn right mid-corner and drive around that guy before exit. It was just weird.. it was just like those weird dreams that you would have, like it wasn’t real life.  It was fun. And don’t get me wrong, like I think a lot of people got me wrong last weekend and I didn’t probably show how much fun I had. But I was always smiling in all my post-race media stuff.. like I had a blast. I had a great time; it was just maybe I could have taken more time in explaining my comments like ‘I hope I don’t ever had to do this again’.. it was more that like, you couldn’t really manage your stuff. Yes, you could manage it three to seven more laps better, I guess, than some people. But it was just too short.. they were too short of little stints, I guess. If it was a little less extreme, we could kind of manage that throughout a little bit longer run. I would be all for that.  And two, I would have loved for it to like laid a little bit of rubber so you could kind of move around and still push and pay for it if you needed to because how it was then, we were just so stuck to the bottom.. I hate to nitpick it, but it could have been a little bit better. But it was still fun.. I enjoyed it a lot. I’ve never been in a race like that. I’ve been in sprint car races like that, but they are like 25 or 30 lap races. That was 500 laps of like rubber down racing, where you’re just blowing through your tires without even trying. It was crazy.”

BATAVIA, Ohio (March 22, 2024) – The quest for the Big River Steel Chase for the Championship – Presented by ARP continues this week at Atomic Speedway and Brownstown Speedway.

Ricky Thornton Jr. leads the championship standings following the Georgia-Florida Speedweeks. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion will earn an industry high $200,000 of the over one million dollar point fund.

The year-long format will continue to award teams bonuses at four different intervals throughout the season. However, bonus points will not be awarded after each round. Drivers can still move up in points after each bonus round and be eligible for additional bonuses as the season winds down.

The Big River Steel Big Four will now be determined at the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals on September 21. From there, the four championship contenders will battle for the 20th Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Championship at the remaining seven races of the season.

“A big thanks to Big River Steel, ARP, Sunoco Race Fuels, Summit Racing Equipment, and UNOH for their support of this format and the bonus money they all put into the points fund. 2024 is already shaping up to be another exciting season on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series,” stated Wayne Castleberry, Sales and Marketing for Lucas Oil Motorsports.

The four bonuses are:

Sunoco Road to Wheatland: May 25 at Lucas Oil Speedway; 32nd Annual Show-Me 100: 1. $2,500, 2. $1,500, 3. $1,500, 4. $1,500, 5. $1,500, 6. $1,000, 7. $1,000, 8. $1,000, 9. $1,000, 10. $1,000, 11. $500, 12. $500, 13. $500, 14. $500, 15. $500 = $16,000

Summit Racing Equipment Super Twelve: July 13 at Lucas Oil Speedway: 18th Annual Diamond Nationals: 1. $5,000, 2. $1,000, 3. $1,000, 4. $1,000, 5. $1,000, 6. $1,000, 7. $1,000, 8. $1,000, 9. $1,000, 10. $1,000, 11. $1,000, 12. $1,000 = $16,000

UNOH Great Eight: August 24 at Port Royal Speedway; The Rumble by the River: 1. $7,500, 2. $1,500, 3. $1,500, 4. $1,500, 5. $1,500, 6. $1,500, 7. $1,500, 8. $1,500 = $18,000

Big River Steel Big Four: September 21 at Knoxville Raceway; Late Model Knoxville Nationals: 1. $10,000, 2. $2,000, 3. $2,000, 4. $2,000 = $16,000

Big River Steel Big Four Championship Events:
Date – Venue – Event – To Win
Sept. 27 – Brownstown Speedway – 3rd Annual CJ Rayburn Memorial – $10,000
Sept. 28 – Brownstown Speedway – 45th Annual Jackson 100 – $50,000
Oct. 1 – Atomic Speedway – The Night the Stars Come Out – $20,000
Oct. 4 – Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway – 36th Annual Pittsburgher – $10,000
Oct. 5 – Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway – 36th Annual Pittsburgher – $50,000
Oct. 10 – East Bay Raceway Park – The Grand Finale (Prelim; Non-Points) – $5,000
Oct. 11 – East Bay Raceway Park – The Grand Finale (Prelim; Non-Points) – $5,000
Oct. 12 – East Bay Raceway Park – The Grand Finale – $50,000
Oct. 18 – Eldora Speedway – 44th Annual Dirt Track World Championship (Prelim; Non-Points)
Oct. 19 – Eldora Speedway – 44th Annual Dirt Track World Championship – $100,000

2024 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Point Fund:

1. $200,000
2. $150,000
3. $125,000
4. $100,000
5. $75,000
6. $60,000
7. $50,000
8. $45,000
9. $40,000
10. $35,000
11. $30,000
12. $25,000

Chase Bonuses: $66,000
Point Fund: $935,000
Total: $1,001,000

Oklahoma racer also dipping into driver coaching in weekly Micro Sprint races at Millbridge Speedway

CONCORD, NC (March 22, 2024) – Cannon McIntosh’s climb back to the top of the points standings with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota has not been easy, considering where he was only six months ago.

The 21-year-old from Bixby, OK, watched his championship hopes evaporate in the final race of the season last October, suffering an early DNF while Jade Avedisian completed a comeback of her own to clinch the Series title with Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM).

Fast forward to March, and McIntosh has reunited with his former team at KKM – where he’d not raced in over three years – and has already been to Victory Lane. His Feature win last Saturday inside the Southern Illinois Center marked his first in 23 starts with the Xtreme Outlaw Series in his first weekend back in national Midget series competition with KKM.

After so much time apart, why was 2024 the year for his return to Midget racing’s most decorated team?

“I needed a change anyway; just a good reset,” McIntosh said. “I feel like this was the place to land. No better place to land when you need a good reset than with the best team.”

McIntosh admits that after such a dominant start to 2023 – winning four of the first seven races which led to leading the points standings for most of the year – the second half of the season fell short of his standards.

Coming into championship weekend in October, he had not won a Feature on tour since May and had only seven top-five finishes in the previous 16 races. Even after climbing into a CB Industries-backed operation for the final weekend of the season, McIntosh’s efforts to untangle his late-season struggles proved fruitless as he dropped back to a fourth-place finish in the Series standings.

“I don’t know what exactly I was struggling with,” McIntosh said. “Obviously, I had made a team transition in the middle of a championship battle. There was just a lot of factors, and it was really, really tough. It definitely made a mental struggle as well, just trying to stay super motivated and trying to keep your confidence up when there was nothing to show for it.

“That was definitely a big battle for a long time, I felt like. But I felt like I never really stopped working, training and doing all the things I could do, and just waiting for the right things to fall into place.”

But that’s all behind him now. McIntosh said KKM co-owners Keith Kunz and Pete Willoughby contacted him before the Chili Bowl Nationals in January and expressed their desire to have him return to the team for the marquee event and evaluate their options for regular season racing soon after.

They set up an agreement to race together in 2024 with numerous Xtreme and USAC events on the schedule, and McIntosh has never been more ready to take on the national scene.

“With the reset and going to Keith, I really had something to motivate me,” McIntosh said. “I know in the back of my head I have a whole team depending on me to go perform. So, when you have that, you want to push yourself whether it’s in the gym, whether it’s what you eat, what you watch… there’s plenty of factors.”

A fifth-place run on opening night in Du Quoin followed by a win the next night is a strong start for he and the team. But successful operations revolve around more than just results, and McIntosh has felt the communication, flow and comradery around the KKM pit already.

“Everyone showed up, worked hard and I feel like the chemistry was good all around,” McIntosh said. “From Beau [Binder] to Keith, to the tire guys, car chiefs, crew chiefs – it was good.”

To supplement his education as a driver, McIntosh has taken up crew chief and car ownership duties in 2024 as well with his all-new Cannon McIntosh Driver Development program. He and Robert Dalby – former crew chief at Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports – have reunited to take-in and coach up-and-coming racers via Millbridge Speedway’s weekly Micro Sprint events with equipment of their own.

McIntosh already has multiple drivers lined-up to take seat time in his program, keeping him occupied with racing seven days a week – in the shop or at the track.

“It really can help develop your people skills too,” McIntosh said. “You work on communication skills with the driver; you can kinda pick up things too as the night goes on in the race night with the new driver and learn new things in yourself.”

McIntosh and KKM are back in action with the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets in two weeks for a doubleheader in Missouri – Friday, April 5, at US 36 Raceway and Saturday, April 6, at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.

Tickets for both events are on sale now at XtremeOutlawSeries.com and will also be available at the gate on race day. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

Richard Childress Racing at Circuit of The Americas… RCR has six starts at the 3.410-mile, 20-turn road course in Austin, Texas with two top-five and four top-10 finishes led by Kyle Busch’s second-place finish in 2023. RCR has one pole position at COTA, with Tyler Reddick at the inaugural NASCAR Cup Series race in 2021. RCR in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Circuit of The Americas… RCR has five starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Circuit of The Americas led by Austin Hill’s second-place finish in 2022. The Welcome, N.C., company has collected three other top-10 finishes. Catch Saturday’s Action… The Focused Health 250 at Circuit of The Americas will be televised live on Saturday, March 23 at 5 p.m. ET on FS1 and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.  Follow Sunday’s Action in Austin… The EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix will be televised live on Sunday, March 24 beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX. The race will also be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Circuit of The Americas… Austin Dillon has made three previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at Circuit of The Americas, finishing 10th in 2022 and earning a 12th-place finish in 2021. Dillon showed speed, gained stage points, and had a strong race before a late-race incident in 2023.  Delivering Performance on the Track and For the Planet… Dillon will race the Get Bioethanol Chevy at the Circuit of The Americas, showcasing the performance benefits of racing with earth kind and engine-smart bioethanol blended fuel, Sunoco Green E15. Whether it’s delivering cleaner and cooler high-octane on the racetrack or a more affordable option for summer road trips, plant-based bioethanol makes a positive impact on our planet. NASCAR drivers have now officially raced 23 million NASCAR miles driven on Sunoco Green E15, a notable milestone for the environment as NASCAR’s partnership with Get Bioethanol has reduced greenhouse gas emissions by 20 percent across its three national touring series while also increasing horsepower on the track. Learn more about bioethanol at getbioethanol.com. AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:What are your thoughts on Circuit of The Americas? “COTA is an exciting and technically challenging track to race on. There is a lot of havoc created in Turn One. The new restart rule should resolve some of these issues. At the end of the race last year, we were wiped out in Turn One after running very well inside the top 10. In several areas, there is new pavement, and several spots on the track have been patched. I feel like the key to the race will be having good pit stops and keeping our Get Bioethanol Chevy clean.”

Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Mark III Employee Benefits Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Circuit of The Americas… Kyle Busch scored a second-place finish one year ago at Circuit of The Americas, his best finish in three starts at the 3.410-mile road course and first top-five effort. The driver of the Mark III Employee Benefits Chevrolet has two top 10s and has completed all 198 possible laps. His best starting position entering this weekend is fourth-place, which came in the first-ever Cup event at the track located in Austin, Texas. Busch won from the pole position in his only NASCAR Xfinity Series race at COTA in 2021, leading 35 of 46 laps. The Las Vegas, Nev., native has two NASCAR Truck Series starts at Circuit of The Americas, highlighted by a second-place finish in 2023. Road Course Prowess… In 2023, Busch racked up three top-five finishes and finished with the fourth most points scored in road course races in the Cup Series. Busch has 52 career road course starts at NASCAR’s highest level and has racked up four wins (two at Sonoma Raceway and two at Watkins Glen International) plus 19 top-five and 28 top-10 finishes. About Mark III Employee Benefits… Mark III Employee Benefits is a family owned, operated, and licensed brokerage and consulting firm since 1973 and is the benefits provider for Richard Childress Racing. The company serves over 150 public sector clients and insure over 300,000 employees throughout Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Virginia. Mark III Employee Benefits is qualified to evaluate, design, implement, manage, and enhance overall benefits program. Services and areas of expertise for the company include medical consulting, benefit administration, compliance updates, wellness programs and online enrollment platforms. For more information, log on to https://markiiieb.com/. KYLE BUSCH QUOTES:Have you seen where the track at Circuit of The Americas has been repaved and patched? How will that impact the race? “I don’t think it’s going to impact the race any. I think they got rid of a bump on the exit of turn one, and I think they did a little bit into the backstretch straightaway through 12 or 13, and then out of the carousel and into 19. I don’t foresee it changing a whole lot. Like you’ll have lack of grip probably through the carousel, and then you’ll pick up the grip on the exit and be able to go much faster through 19. But then out of 19, it’s back to the old asphalt and Turn 20 is very slow with old asphalt being as slick as it is. I don’t know that it really opens up any more opportunities of passing or anything like that, just smoother surface I would imagine.” Last year at Circuit of The Americas there were four cautions in the last 15 laps of the race. How mentally challenging is that for a driver? “I would say that last year’s caution periods towards the end of the race were a challenge because you kept having to go through the restarts so thinking about what line you wanted to line up in and where you needed to be in order to position yourself for the restart all the dive bombs and the disrespect that keeps happening getting into Turn 1 is always an issue so you’ve got to be ready for that, mindful that you know that’s going to be happening so from there you hope for the best.” Do you prefer stage cautions on road courses or had you rather the race stay green? “I do not prefer stage cautions on road courses and don’t think that they should be there because of the fact that people jump the stages or they stay out in order to steal points from those that jumped the stages knowing when the cautions are going to fall. I definitely feel like it throws off the strategy of the race for a lot of people but when we were at Watkins Glen last fall, we needed those stage cautions so we could put ourselves back in position when we got behind on our pit road issues.”

Jesse Love and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro SS at Circuit of The Americas… Jesse Love will make his inaugural Xfinity Series start at Circuit of The Americas this Saturday. Despite making his first road course start behind of the wheel of the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet, the 19-year-old has experience at the Austin, Texas circuit. Love competed in three endurance racing events at the 3.41-mile course in 2023.  Career-Best Finish… With a second-place effort at Phoenix Raceway, Love not only captured his first top-five result but his career-best Xfinity Series finish.  ROTY Leader… Through four races, Love continues to lead the Sunoco Rookie of the Year point standings. After a top-five finish in Arizona, the Menlo Park, California native extended his lead to 44 points over second-place Shane van Gisbergen.  About Whelen Engineering… Whelen Engineering is a family-owned company with a pioneering spirit and a passion to protect the lives of those who protect and serve others. The company mission is to provide industry-defining safety solutions around the world, while creating a community of problem-solvers who are inspired to push boundaries and continue our legacy of delivering ground-breaking innovation. As a global leader in the emergency warning industry, Whelen has been trusted to perform since 1952, when George Whelen III invented the first rotating aviation beacon. Whelen now encompasses two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Connecticut and New Hampshire with over 750,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing space and the largest design staff in the industry. Every part of every Whelen product is proudly designed and manufactured in America. We embrace quality as our foundation, we celebrate innovative engineering in every product we produce. Meet Love… On Saturday, March 23 at 12:50 p.m. local time, Love is scheduled to sign autographs at the RCR Merchandise Trailer located in the Fan Zone at Circuit of The Americas. Stop by to meet the rookie driver and purchase new gear. JESSE LOVE QUOTES:What are your thoughts heading into your first road course race at Circuit of The Americas?“I enjoy road course racing and I think I’m pretty good at it. I enjoy racing at COTA and it’s probably my best road course. I have a decent amount of laps there compared to other road courses we’ll go to this season. With those laps under my belt, I know the intricacies of the place, so I know what needs to be done behind the wheel instead of guessing. Leading into this weekend, I’ve done a lot of sim time and work with Josh Wise and Scott Speed. I feel like it’s an easy way to set yourself apart when you know more than the guy next to you. It matters more on a road course compared to an oval.” Four races into the season. Assess how the year has started for the No. 2 team. “Up and down. With the exception of Las Vegas Motor Speedway, I feel like we have had a shot to run really well – whether that be competing for the win, or a top-five finish. At Phoenix Raceway, I tried to run 90-95% and have a smooth day without issues. Going into COTA, I’m going to be aggressive and drive hard. Now that we’ve had a good run, I want to go win and lock ourselves into the Playoffs.”

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet Camaro SS at Circuit of The Americas… Austin Hill has two career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Circuit of The Americas, posting a best finish of second in 2022. Last season, Hill faced a mechanical problem that retired the No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet early on lap 13. The Winston, Georgia native also has one NASCAR Truck Series start at the Austin, Texas facility, earning a ninth-place finish in 2021.  Bennett in the Lone Star State… McDonough, Georgia-based Bennett Transportation and Logistics is two-stepping into Texas with the support of three of their local companies. BOSS, RoadMasters, and American Eagle logos will adorn the decklid of the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro, representing Bennett Family of Companies’ Texas footprint in the transportation and logistics industry. A quarter of the company’s employees live in the great state of Texas, handling freight with truckers coming in and out of the state every day, and over 30 Texas-based employees, drivers, customers, and freight agents will be on property to cheer on Hill. Did You Know? Hill is one of only two drivers who have finished inside the top-five in each of the first four Xfinity Series events. The 29-year-old has opened the 2024 campaign with two consecutive wins and two consecutive fourth-place results.   About Bennett Family of Companies… McDonough-Ga. based Bennett Family of Companies is a woman-owned, Women’s Enterprise Business Council (WBENC) certified, diversified transportation and logistics company. Through its 14 affiliated operating companies, the Bennett Family of Companies delivers integrated transportation and supply chain management solutions worldwide. Bennett has 4,625 drivers/owner-operators, over 1,000 employees and 600 agents located across the United States. For more information, visit www.bennettig.com. AUSTIN HILL QUOTE:How are you feeling heading into the first road course race of the season?“I feel confident in our road course package. Over the last two years, our No. 21 Richard Childress Racing team has continued to build a notebook of info for our road course package, and I think it’s in a good place. Last year at COTA, we had a shifting issue during the race, and we were only able to race a total of 13 laps. That issue was resolved quickly, so we should be able to have another strong run like our rookie season together. Our Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet has been consistent the first four races this season, so the top-five streak has a good chance of continuing. It’s not going to be easy though with the depth of good road course racers in the field.”

NASCAR SET FOR FIRST ROAD COURSE RACE OF 2024 SEASONNASCAR is set to make its fourth appearance at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) this weekend, with the 3.41-mile circuit hosting the series’ first road course race of the season. Arguably one of the most technical circuits on the schedule, the course lies within the rolling hills of Austin, Texas – featuring 20-turns and just over 130 feet of elevation change. COTA welcomed Formula One for the circuits’ inaugural event in November 2012, and the venue has since hosted some of the most pristine series in motorsports with NASCAR being the latest addition in 2021.  Chevrolet returns to COTA with a pair of victories in both the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS), with the manufacturer looking to continue its undefeated season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) by picking up its first win in the series at the circuit.

Chevrolet at Circuit of The Americas: Milestone MemoriesTeam Chevy’s Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain took Chevrolet on a pair of memorable trips to victory lane in the NASCAR Cup Series’ first two events at Circuit of The Americas.

In the series’ debut at the circuit in 2021, Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 team gambled on fuel strategy in exchange for prime track position amid inclement weather conditions. Sitting at the top of the leaderboard when the event was red-flagged and ultimately deemed official, Elliott not only became the first-ever NCS winner at COTA, but also delivered Chevrolet its milestone 800th all-time NCS victory. The victory also brought Hendrick Motorsports to a tie with Petty Enterprises’ all-time win record in the series, with the organization going on to break the record the following week at Charlotte Motor Speedway. To date, Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports continue to hold the record as the winningest manufacturer and organization in NASCAR’s top division with 854 and 303 wins, respectively, in the series.

One year later, Chastain took the Bowtie brand back to victory lane at COTA. The triumph was a monumental victory for both Chastain and Trackhouse Racing – marking the first-ever win for both the driver and the organization in NASCAR’s top division. The victory also came with a playoff berth to give Chastain his first appearance in the series’ post-season championship battle, with the Team Chevy driver going on to lead the manufacturer in the final points standings with a runner-up finish.

CHEVROLET’S ROAD COURSE HISTORY Chevrolet’s first NASCAR Cup Series victory on a road course came with Buck Baker in the series’ debut at Watkins Glen International in 1957. To date, the Bowtie brand has tallied 64 all-time road course victories in NASCAR’s top division – seven of which have come since the Next Gen cars began competing in the series at the beginning of the 2022 season.  In recent years:

Chevrolet has earned 17 victories in the past 22 NCS road course events – starting with Chase Elliott’s victory at Watkins Glen International in August 2019, to AJ Allmendinger’s victory at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course in October 2023.  Within that time span, the manufacturer notched a streak of 11 consecutive road course wins in the series – beginning with Chase Elliott’s victory at Circuit of The Americas in May 2021.  Six drivers from four different Chevrolet teams contributed to the manufacturer’s streak of 11 consecutive NCS road course victories: Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet:(Circuit of The Americas; May 2021)(Road America; July 2021) Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet:(Sonoma; June 2021)(Watkins Glen; August 2021)(Charlotte ROVAL; October 2021)(Watkins Glen; August 2022) AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet:(Indianapolis Road Course; August 2021) Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet:(Circuit of The Americas; March 2022) Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet:(Sonoma Raceway; June 2022) Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet:(Road America; July 2022)(Indianapolis; July 2022)

ZILISCH TAPS IN FOR NASCAR DEBUTTrackhouse Racing development driver Connor Zilisch is slated to make his much-anticipated NASCAR debut in Saturday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Circuit of The Americas. The 17-year-old driver will take over the reins of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Silverado RST – a ride that has already found victory lane this season with two-time NCS champion Kyle Busch (Atlanta Motor Speedway – Feb. 2024).  Zilisch grabbed the attention of the motorsports world in the 2024 Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway when the young Team Chevy driver was a part of Era Motorsports’ LMP2 win – making him the second-youngest driver in history to win the event. The rising star made his first and only start in the ARCA Menards Series at Watkins Glen International last season – leading 34 of the event’s 42 laps en route to a runner-up finish.

ALLMENDINGER, CHEVROLET SETS SIGHTS ON COTA THREE-PEATChevrolet’s two NASCAR Xfinity Series wins at Circuit of The Americas have come with road course phenom AJ Allmendinger. The 42-year-old California native took his Kaulig Racing Camaro ZL1 to victory lane at the Austin circuit the past two seasons. Now returning to the series full-time, Allmendinger will have the opportunity to make it three-straight in Saturday’s Focused Health 250. Allmendinger will also pilot a third entry for Kaulig Racing in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event. The Team Chevy driver has earned one top-five finish at the circuit in NASCAR’s top division, which came in the series’ inaugural event in 2021.

Allmendinger’s win at COTA last season brought the Team Chevy driver to 11 NXS road course victories – extending his record as the only driver in series’ history to earn a double-digit win count on road courses. He also drove Kaulig Racing to victory lane in the NCS’ event at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course last season – marking his 13th career road course victory at the NASCAR national level.

Doing Double-DutyAllmendinger’s Kaulig Racing teammate Shane van Gisbergen will also be pulling double-duty in the NCS and NXS at COTA this weekend. The 34-year-old New Zealand native has just two starts in NASCAR’s top division – recording a history-making win in the series’ inaugural street course race in Chicago, and a 10th-place finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course last season.  2021 NCS Champion Kyle Larson also adds to the list of Team Chevy drivers set to compete in NASCAR’s top two series this weekend. The 31-year-old California will get behind the wheel of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro SS to mark his first of two starts in the organization’s NXS entry this season. Two of his four starts in the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro SS have come on a road course – tallying a runner-up finish at Road America in 2022, and a third-place finish at Sonoma Raceway in 2023.

ECKES CONTNIUES CHEVROLET’S UNDEFEATED RECORDMcAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes kept the Bowtie brand’s win streak alive at Bristol Motor Speedway – driving his No. 19 Silverado RST to a pole win, going on to lead a race-high 144 laps en route to his first victory of the season. The victory continued Chevrolet’s undefeated record in the NCTS this season, with Eckes becoming the fourth different driver to take the manufacturer to its fourth-straight NCTS victory lane appearance. This marks the seventh time in series’ history that a single manufacturer has won at least the first four races of a NCTS season. Chevrolet’s longest season-opening win streak came in the series’ inaugural season (1995) when the manufacturer tallied eight-straight victories.

BOWTIE BULLETS:·       With 13 races complete across NASCAR’s three national series this season, Chevrolet has a winning percentage of 69% with nine victories (NASCAR Cup Series – three wins; NASCAR Xfinity Series – two wins; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – four wins). ·       Chevrolet has recorded four-straight victories to start the 2024 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season – marking the seventh time in series’ history that a single manufacturer has won at least the first four races of a NCTS season.  ·       Active Chevrolet drivers with a NASCAR Cup Series win at Circuit of The Americas:   Ross Chastain: one win (2022)Chase Elliott: one win (2021) ·       Chevrolet has recorded wins in 17 of the past 22 NASCAR Cup Series road course races, including a streak of 11 consecutive wins that started with Chase Elliott’s victory at Circuit of The Americas in May 2021 ·       Chevrolet has 64 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins on road courses – starting with Buck Baker at Watkins Glen International in 1957. ·       Chase Elliott leads the series’ active drivers with seven road course wins in NASCAR’s premier series – ranking him third on the NCS all-time road course wins list behind Jeff Gordon (nine) and Tony Stewart (eight).  ·       Within the first three points-paying races of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series races season, each Chevrolet organization had already recorded at least one top-10 finish.  ·       With its 42 NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships, 33 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Championships, and 854 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title as the winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history.

Manufacturer Points Standings Chevrolet: 184Toyota: 181 (-3)Ford: 166 (-18)

Manufacturer Points Standings Toyota: 150 Chevrolet: 148 (-2)Ford: 120 (-30)

Manufacturer Points Standings Chevrolet: 160Toyota: 134 (-26)Ford: 128 (-32)

TUNE-IN:NASCAR Cup Series EchoPark Automotive Grand PrixSunday, March 24, at 3:30 p.m. ET(FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90) NASCAR Xfinity SeriesFocused Health 250Saturday, March 23, at 5 pm. ET(FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90) NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series XPEL 225Saturday, March 23, at 1:30 p.m. ET(FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)

QUOTABLE QUOTES:ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1Can you take me through a perfect lap at COTA as a previous race winner?“I’ve never done it. I can’t take you through it because I’ve never done it (laughs). There’s a lot of mistakes that happen with 20 turns. There’s a lot of mistakes that happen for every driver, every lap. I can’t even dream of the perfect lap at COTA. I just want to minimize the mistakes.” Where is the best place to pass at COTA?“There’s 20 brake zones and 20 acceleration zones on the other side of each corner. I can’t think of one spot that I get really excited about passing because they’re all high risk, very heavy braking. There are some new asphalt patches in some of the corners that are brake zones. So nothing is comfortable about passing at COTA because it’s really easy to slide through the apex and wipe another driver out, or get wiped out, or spin out.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 GET BIOETHANOL CAMARO ZL1What are your thoughts heading into COTA. It can be a difficult track for drivers …“COTA is a tough racetrack. It’s got a lot of different corners. Every corner connects to each other. COTA can be challenging because I feel like it has multiple road courses in one, and it’s one of the biggest tracks we’ve ever gone to. We’ve had some success recently on road courses so we’ll be heading to COTA with the goal of backing up some of the runs we’ve had on road courses of late. We’re really focused on being aggressive with the adjustments to the car and how I drive in the race.” KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 MARK III EMPLOYEE BENEFITS CAMARO ZL1Have you seen where the track at COTA has been repaved and patched? How will that impact the race? “I don’t think it’s going to impact the race any. I have seen it, yeah. I think they got rid of a bump on the exit of turn one, and I think they did a little bit into the backstretch straightaway through 12 or 13, and then out of the carousel and into 19. I don’t foresee it changing a whole lot. Like you’ll have lack of grip probably through the carousel, and then you’ll pickup grip on the exit and be able to go much faster through 19. But then out of 19, it’s back to the old asphalt and turn 20 is very slow with old asphalt being as slick as it is. I don’t know that it really opens up any more opportunities of passing or anything like that, just smoother surface I would imagine.” Last year at COTA there were four cautions in the last 15 laps of the race. How mentally challenging is that for a driver? “I would say that last year’s caution periods towards the end of the race was a challenge because you kept having to go through the restarts so thinking about what line you wanted to line up in and where you needed to be in order to position yourself for the restart all the dive bombs and the disrespect that keeps happening getting into Turn 1 is always an issue so you’ve got to be ready for that, mindful that you know that’s going to be happening so from there you hope for the best.” Do you prefer stage cautions on road courses or had you rather the race stay green? “I do not prefer stage cautions on road courses and don’t think that they should be there because of the fact that people jump the stages or they stay out in order to steal points from those that jumped the stages knowing when the cautions are going to fall. I definitely feel like it throws off the strategy of the race for a lot of people but when we were at Watkins Glen last fall, we needed those stage cautions so we could put ourselves back in position when we got behind on our pit road issues.” DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 31 CIRKUL CAMARO ZL1“COTA will be a challenge of its own. It will be my first time driving these Next Gen cars with sequential shifting, the brakes, and just the raw capability of the cars. It will be a brand-new experience for me, but I love any opportunity to grow as a driver and as a race team. Kaulig Racing has had solid, road-course success, so hopefully with this new package, we can adapt and learn quickly.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 Bowman on racing at Circuit of The Americas: “I’m excited to get to COTA (Circuit of the Americas) and unload to see what we have. With the aero package being different and the little bit of repave, it will be interesting to have to adapt to. They’ve patched COTA so many different times. It has lots of different kinds of surfaces through it and it can be pretty tricky.. and a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to this weekend- COTA has been a good place for us.” BLAKE HARRIS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1Harris on racing at Circuit of The Americas: “I think we’ve had really good runs at road courses and he (Alex Bowman) is statistically really strong at COTA (Circuit of the Americas). The No. 48 team is looking forward to getting there. There are a lot of questions about the new aero package and we get an extra practice session on Saturday, so hopefully we can dive in and get adjusted quickly. I think it (COTA) is probably one of Alex’s favorite road courses, and track in general, so we look forward to work to carry our momentum from Bristol to Texas.” DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1What are your thoughts on COTA?“I feel like COTA owes me one or two. We have run well there since we started, but something has happened at the end of these races to disappoint us. But, we certainly go to COTA knowing we will run up front and that’s always a great feeling.” Does COTA’s proximity to Monterrey give you extra motivation?“Yes, I love going to COTA. I hear more cheers than normal when we go around in the pace car before the race. That’s a great feeling knowing we have the support. A win anywhere is great, but winning at COTA would be really cool.”

Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics Manufacturers Championships:Total (1949-2023): 42First title for Chevrolet: 1958Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15) Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022, 2023 Drivers Championships:Total (1949-2021): 33First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)Most Recent: Kyle Larson (2021) Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021 Event Victories:Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)                2024 STATISTICS:                                                                                                    Wins: 3Poles: 0Laps Led: 390Top-five finishes: 9Top-10 finishes: 15Stage wins: 3·       Chase Elliott: 1 ·       Kyle Larson: 2  CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:Total Chevrolet race wins: 854 (1949 to date)Poles won to date: 743Laps led to date: 249,565Top-five finishes to date: 4,307Top-10 finishes to date: 8,876                                                                                                          Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date:                    General Motors: 1,188           Chevrolet: 854           Pontiac: 154           Oldsmobile: 115           Buick: 65            Ford: 828                                                                      Ford: 728           Mercury: 96           Lincoln: 4            Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467           Dodge: 217           Plymouth: 191           Chrysler: 59            Toyota: 182

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (March 20, 2024) – Chris Dyson has won four of the past six Trans Am by Pirelli races at Road Atlanta, three from the pole, including the past two years. The three-time defending series champion is looking to continue that winning streak as he looks to bounce back with his #16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang from a disappointing incident last month at the 2024 series opener at Sebring. A collision while going for the lead in the race’s first turn relegated Dyson to an eighth-place finish. “It was not the way we’d planned to start the season,” Dyson said. “But last year we finished 10th at Sebring and then came back to win the next two races, including Road Atlanta.” With those two wins, along with a pair of runner-up finishes at Lime Rock Park and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and then a third win at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Dyson established a strong lead in the point standing that he then expanded over the final five races of the season. Dyson is looking to duplicate that performance, but he predicts it will be even more challenging than last season. “The team had to dig hard the rest of the first half of the 2023 season,” Dyson said. “We had some tough competition; this season with Paul Menard and Wally Dallenbach finishing first and second at Sebring and looking like they will both be in the running the whole season, we’ve got out work cut out for us.  Last year our car was really quite good at Road Atlanta, and with some of the improvements we’ve made in the interim the whole team is excited to see a strong performance this weekend.” Road Atlanta Schedule Qualifying takes place Saturday, March 23, 5:45 p.m. — 6:00 p.m. ET The 100-mile race takes the green flag Sunday, March 24, at 12:10 p.m. ET Broadcast Schedule The race will be live-streamed on both the Trans Am and SpeedTour’s YouTube channels.  Additional Broadcast Coverage On MAVTV In addition to the livestream, 60-minute feature produced by Greenlight TV will be broadcast the following Thursday at 9:00 p.m. ET to MAVTV’s 22 million North American linear households and 175 million connected devices.

ellraizer Jacks Sponsoring Pit Crew Challenge at Show-Me 100

BATAVIA, Ohio (March 20, 2024) – Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series officials are excited to announce Hellraizer Jacks Inc. has joined the growing list of marketing partners for the 2024 season. The Hellraizer Jacks Pit Crew Challenge will take place at Lucas Oil Speedway during the Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 weekend. Race Teams that have perfect attendance with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the Lucas Oil MLRA will be eligible to compete in the competition. The Pit Crew Challenge will be a timed event to see which driver and crew can enter the designated pit box, change two right side tires, and exit the pit box the fastest. Each crew will utilize a Hellraizer Jack during the competition. The winning team of the Hellraizer Pit Crew Challenge will receive $2,000 in cash plus a new Hellraizer Demon Jack valued at $1,515. The 2nd place crew will receive $1,000 in cash. There will also be a $1,000 cash award to the Best Appearing Crew, which will be judged based on their crew uniforms and overall team appearance.  Hellraizer Jacks Inc. owned by Tim Sheets is based in Mooresville, NC and builds Billet Aluminum Jacks that are used in various forms of motorsports including NASCAR, asphalt short track racing and in dirt racing divisions all across the country. Hellraizer Jacks can be found at various parts vendors including Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series partner Behrents Performance Warehouse. To learn more about Hellraiser Jacks Inc visit their website at https://www.hellraizerjacks.com or visit their Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100039680186132.  “We are thrilled to have Hellraizer Jacks Inc. sign on as a marketing partner and title sponsor of the Pit Crew Challenge during the Show-Me 100 weekend. Adding to the already mega Show-Me 100 weekend, the Pit Crew Challenge will showcase the pit crews and give them an opportunity to win some cash awards and a new jack for their race team. In addition, the Best Appearing Crew award should make for some interesting and good-looking pit crews as they display their talents in front of a huge audience. We appreciate Tim Sheets and his company coming on board with the series and adding another great program to the series for the race teams,” stated Wayne Castleberry, Sales and Marketing for Lucas Oil Motorsports. The 2024 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season continues March 22-23 with trips to Atomic Speedway and Brownstown Speedway. For the latest news, results, championship standings and more about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, please visit www.lucasdirt.com.

LEAGUE PLAY A MASSIVE SUCCESS FOR DRBB FOLLOWING THE GATORNATIONALS DALLAS (March 20, 2024) — Any team will tell you that nothing sets the tone for a professional drag racing season, like a strong start at the Gatornationals. Drag Race Bracket Bonanza (DRBB), the first dynamic bracket competition for drag racing fans, is no different. In its inaugural event for its first ever full season of game play, DRBB set new records for sign-ups and brackets completed and launched many new features. The most talked about being league play.    “I am so fired up to see all the different Drag Race Bracket Bonanza leagues forming around the world,” said DRBB creator, Elon Werner. “The number one request we received from our players last year was they wanted leagues. We listened to them, and I am thrilled with the response. Drag Race Bracket Bonanza is about fan engagement and community. Seeing all the leagues form just shows how massive our drag racing community is.”   By the time that brackets closed at the start of Top Fuel eliminations during the Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Florida, 115 leagues had been created by DRBB players across the world. Leagues ranged in source and size, from groups of friends who bonded over being drag racing fans in Australia, to coworkers – like the Texas Motorplex staff league, to larger leagues such as the CompetititonPlus.com league and WFO Radio Podcast league, created by Joe Castello.   “Drag Race Bracket Bonanza was the perfect way for me to engage my WFO Radio podcast audience,” said Castello, a long-time podcaster and NHRA announcer. “We filled out our brackets and discussed the Gatornationals winners afterwards. It makes the NHRA action much more personal. Now, listeners can win along with the race teams!”   Leading up to the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals this weekend, March 21-24, a total of 127 leagues have now been created. This includes a brand-new league created by Funny Car driver Bob Tasca III, with the promise that whoever wins his league at the end of the season will walk away with a Tasca Racing prize pack.   “It’s so awesome to see drivers continue to get involved with DRBB in various ways,” said Werner. “Every weekend we have teams like Erica Enders Racing shouting us out on social media, guys like Justin Ashley with our decal on their car and now Bob Tasca with this new league. Nothing makes me happier than seeing people talk about DRBB online and drivers engaging right back with them. It really emphasizes one of the best parts of our sport – how close fans can get to the drivers.”   DRBB’s lead developer, Aidan Lamkin, of Lamkin Software Solutions, describes how more players can set up leagues of their own, to join in on the fun.   “Players can create their own league by signing up, navigating to the “My Leagues” tab and clicking the join league button. They can then enter a name for their league and optionally a picture for it then invite their friends to their league by sending out the invite code,” said Lamkin. “I think leagues make Drag Race Bracket Bonanza a more personal competition. It is one thing to compete in a global competition and another to beat your best friend and have immediate bragging rights. It’s been so cool to see something we worked on over the off-season come to life, exactly how we envisioned it.”   Many DRBB players enjoyed sharing their brackets on social media, so they could compare with their friends, commiserate together about bracket busters and brag about earning more points than their family members. After the points were tallied up, five new event winners (Overall, Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, Pro Stock Motorcycle) were crowned, and they will each receive plaques signed by the race winners. All five DRBB winners came from a different state, and it was their first time winning. Top Fuel winner, Nikki C. from Indianapolis, Indiana, and Pro Stock Motorcycle winner, Christopher S. from Columbus, Ohio each had perfect brackets in their respective categories.   “I WON TOP FUEL!!!” Nikki C. shared on X. “Thank you [Drag Race Bracket Bonanza]! Can’t wait to play every race! … And I bet I won’t win another one this season.”   The Winternationals is the second race in The Majors series, which will wrap up at the beginning of September with the U.S. Nationals. Throughout the season there will be other series, like the Four-Wide Nationals Cup and the Countdown, to keep gameplay competitive for players all season long. Each series will come with its own unique prizes.   Brackets for the Winternationals will open at the end of qualifying on Saturday, March 23. DRBB players will then have until the first round of Top Fuel kicks off on Sunday, March 24 at 2 p.m. EST to fill out their brackets. Fans can watch the NHRA broadcast on FS1 or NHRA.TV.

March 20, 2024

The Motorcraft/Quick Lane team – and their peers on NASCAR’s Cup circuit – had to perform a West Coast-style turn-around this week in preparing the No. 21 Mustang Dark Horse for this weekend’s race at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

The No. 21 hauler left North Carolina early Wednesday to make the 1,200-mile trek to the 20-turn, 3.426-mile track that will host Sunday’s fourth-annual EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix. 

That early departure meant lots of work had to be done in two days once the NASCAR caravan returned home following last Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Jeremy Bullins, crew chief of the No. 21 Mustang Dark Horse driven by Harrison Burton, said he’s hoping his team can build on Burton’s prior runs at COTA.

In 2022, Burton scored points in both Stages and finished 17^th. Last year he started 16^th and ran well before experiencing mechanical issues and finishing 22nd. Both of those races were run before Bullins took over as Burton’s crew chief. 

Bullins scored top-10 finishes at COTA in the past two seasons with Austin Cindric as his driver.
 
“If you look back at last season, Harrison seemed to get around COTA pretty well before having transaxle trouble and losing first gear,” Bullins said. “It’s a track that we have run well at in the past and have a good set-up to work from.
 
“Hopefully we can adapt it to Harrison’s liking and have a good weekend in our Motorcraft Ford.”
 
Practice for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix is set for Saturday at 9 a.m. Central Daylight Time (10 a.m. Eastern Time) to be followed by qualifying at 11:30 a.m. (Eastern Time).
 
Sunday’s 68-lap, 231.88-mile race is scheduled to get the green flag just after 2:30 p.m. (3:30 p.m. Eastern) with Stage breaks at Laps 15 and 30.
 
FOX Sports 1 will carry the TV coverage of practice and qualifying, with FOX taking over the broadcast on Sunday.
 

OCALA, FL (March 20, 2024) — After a busy first race of the season that saw his team host a massive Fanfest at Burnyzz Speed Shop in Ocala in advance of the historic Gatornationals followed by racing in the Pep Boys Top Fuel Allstar Callout for the second year in a row and a quarterfinal finish in the race Josh Hart is ready to focus on more round wins at this weekend’s NHRA Winternationals. Bringing the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team to the West Coast is always a daunting task but Hart enjoys the location and the history of the famed racing facility in Southern California.

 Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster are looking for more win lights at the NHRA Winternationals, photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

“There is a lot of history at this track and the Winternationals,” said Hart, a multi-time NHRA Top Fuel national event winner. “We start the season at two of the most famous facilities in our sport and I have won the Gatornationals so I would love to drive this R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster into the winner’s circle in Pomona this weekend. The team is moving in the right direction and we are getting more runs and data which is what we need.”
 
The month of March Hart is also focusing attention on his hometown of Huntington, Indiana through a challenge donation led by his wife Brittanie to give back to the community in a big way, through the “Race to Fill the Food Pantry” campaign. Donations made to the United with Love food pantry during the month of March will be matched dollar for dollar up to $10,000. Already donations have come in from races, fans and members of the Huntington community.
 
“We are so grateful to the Hart family, Brittanie, Josh, and their children for supporting our pantry in nourishing our neighbors. In 2023 we had over 8,950 individual visits to our food pantry and we cannot do this alone. This matching donation is critical at this time of the year when donations are down, but the need is unchanged,” said Erin Didion, Executive Director, United with Love of Huntington County.
 
Every dollar donated will make a difference. Donations can be made by cash or check at the food pantry, mailed to 715 Byron Street, Huntington, IN 46750 or online at https://www.osvhub.com/…/race-to-fill-the-food-pantry . United With Love partners with neighbors to address the barriers that prevent them from reaching their full potential. Their longstanding goal is to lovingly serve all their Huntington and surrounding community neighbors in need and provide stability through Christ-centered services that meet individual needs.
 
At the end of last season Hart’s R+L Carriers team led by crew chief Ron Douglas was making positive strides after an up and down 2023 season. The infusion of new parts made a big difference that is continuing to pay off at the start of the season. In Gainesville Hart qualified No. 12 but got the upset win over No. 5 qualifier 8-time champion Tony Schumacher to start the season with a win light. It was the second consecutive win over Schumacher and gave Hart a 3-2 career head-to-head record.
 
“You have to get up for everyone in this class and I truly just focus on doing my job on the starting line,” said Hart. “You have to respect drivers like Schumacher because they have so much experience. I am racing in Top Fuel to take on the best of the best and we want to perform at our highest level when the stakes are high. There are so many talented teams and drivers there are no easy round wins.”
 
In Hart’s short career he has proven to be a worthy adversary, winning multiple Top Fuel national events and the 2023 Pep Boys Top Fuel Allstar Callout. He finished in the Top Ten last year with a solid end of season performance but simply finishing in the Top Ten is not a primary goal for Hart. The entrepreneur from Florida is building a team for championship runs and more Top Fuel wins.
 
“This whole team has a very positive attitude, and we understand what our goals are. We want to perform on the track for our sponsors and the fans and we want to represent our sponsors very well off the track,” said Hart. “It was great to host so many R+L Carriers guests in the pits and that gets everyone fired up to perform. Having new fans come to the race and get behind the scenes experience is a big plus. Having them see us win rounds on Sunday is huge too. This weekend is going to be a lot of fun and I can’t wait to get on the track.”
 
The R+L Carriers team and Josh Hart will get one qualifying run on Friday, March 22, followed by two more qualifying runs on Saturday. The quickest 16 Top Fuel dragsters will get to race for the Wally trophy and a specially designed Winternationals snowflake medallion from Indianapolis-based artist and fabricator Katie Buttera. The race will be broadcast nationally on Sunday night on FS1.
 

Josh Hart Eyes Continued Success at Winternationals

OCALA, FL (March 20, 2024) — After a busy first race of the season that saw his team host a massive Fanfest at Burnyzz Speed Shop in Ocala in advance of the historic Gatornationals followed by racing in the Pep Boys Top Fuel Allstar Callout for the second year in a row and a quarterfinal finish in the race Josh Hart is ready to focus on more round wins at this weekend’s NHRA Winternationals. Bringing the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team to the West Coast is always a daunting task but Hart enjoys the location and the history of the famed racing facility in Southern California.

 Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster are looking for more win lights at the NHRA Winternationals, photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

“There is a lot of history at this track and the Winternationals,” said Hart, a multi-time NHRA Top Fuel national event winner. “We start the season at two of the most famous facilities in our sport and I have won the Gatornationals so I would love to drive this R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster into the winner’s circle in Pomona this weekend. The team is moving in the right direction and we are getting more runs and data which is what we need.”
 
The month of March Hart is also focusing attention on his hometown of Huntington, Indiana through a challenge donation led by his wife Brittanie to give back to the community in a big way, through the “Race to Fill the Food Pantry” campaign. Donations made to the United with Love food pantry during the month of March will be matched dollar for dollar up to $10,000. Already donations have come in from races, fans and members of the Huntington community.
 
“We are so grateful to the Hart family, Brittanie, Josh, and their children for supporting our pantry in nourishing our neighbors. In 2023 we had over 8,950 individual visits to our food pantry and we cannot do this alone. This matching donation is critical at this time of the year when donations are down, but the need is unchanged,” said Erin Didion, Executive Director, United with Love of Huntington County.
 
Every dollar donated will make a difference. Donations can be made by cash or check at the food pantry, mailed to 715 Byron Street, Huntington, IN 46750 or online at https://www.osvhub.com/…/race-to-fill-the-food-pantry . United With Love partners with neighbors to address the barriers that prevent them from reaching their full potential. Their longstanding goal is to lovingly serve all their Huntington and surrounding community neighbors in need and provide stability through Christ-centered services that meet individual needs.
 
At the end of last season Hart’s R+L Carriers team led by crew chief Ron Douglas was making positive strides after an up and down 2023 season. The infusion of new parts made a big difference that is continuing to pay off at the start of the season. In Gainesville Hart qualified No. 12 but got the upset win over No. 5 qualifier 8-time champion Tony Schumacher to start the season with a win light. It was the second consecutive win over Schumacher and gave Hart a 3-2 career head-to-head record.
 
“You have to get up for everyone in this class and I truly just focus on doing my job on the starting line,” said Hart. “You have to respect drivers like Schumacher because they have so much experience. I am racing in Top Fuel to take on the best of the best and we want to perform at our highest level when the stakes are high. There are so many talented teams and drivers there are no easy round wins.”
 
In Hart’s short career he has proven to be a worthy adversary, winning multiple Top Fuel national events and the 2023 Pep Boys Top Fuel Allstar Callout. He finished in the Top Ten last year with a solid end of season performance but simply finishing in the Top Ten is not a primary goal for Hart. The entrepreneur from Florida is building a team for championship runs and more Top Fuel wins.
 
“This whole team has a very positive attitude, and we understand what our goals are. We want to perform on the track for our sponsors and the fans and we want to represent our sponsors very well off the track,” said Hart. “It was great to host so many R+L Carriers guests in the pits and that gets everyone fired up to perform. Having new fans come to the race and get behind the scenes experience is a big plus. Having them see us win rounds on Sunday is huge too. This weekend is going to be a lot of fun and I can’t wait to get on the track.”
 
The R+L Carriers team and Josh Hart will get one qualifying run on Friday, March 22, followed by two more qualifying runs on Saturday. The quickest 16 Top Fuel dragsters will get to race for the Wally trophy and a specially designed Winternationals snowflake medallion from Indianapolis-based artist and fabricator Katie Buttera. The race will be broadcast nationally on Sunday night on FS1.
 

CHEVROLET IN NHRA2024 LUCAS OIL NHRA WINTERNATIONALS IN-N-OUT BURGER POMONA DRAG STRIP POMONA, CALIFORNIA TEAM CHEVY RACE ADVANCE | NOTES & QUOTES MARCH 22-24, 2024 CHEVROLET AND JOHN FORCE RACING CARRY GAINESVILLE MOMENTUM INTO POMONA FOR THE LUCAS OIL NHRA WINTERNATIONALS

Notes:Team Chevy next heads to the In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip for the second round of the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season, March 22-24, 2024.With a strong start in two events of his Funny Car debut, Austin Prock and his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS teams head to Pomona after winning in Bradenton and finishing runner-up in Gainesville.Prock, in a Top Fuel dragster, claimed the 2022 victory at Pomona in the fall, while setting his career-best E.T. and mph run in the same event (3.636-seconds E.T. at 336.23 mph).John Force, legendary team owner of John Force Racing and driver of the PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, returns to his home track of Pomona in search of his 167th career No. 1 qualifier and 156th career victory.Searching for her first win since her 16th career victory at Las Vegas 2 in 2022, Brittany Force, driver of the Mark Christopher Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster, also looks to capture her 47th career No. 1 qualifier.B. Force remains the NHRA Top Fuel national record holder in both Elapsed Time (E.T.) and speed, setting E.T. at Reading in 2019 with her run at 3.623 seconds, and at Pomona in 2022 with a run of 338.94 mph.In Pro Stock, Camrie Caruso heads to Pomona looking to defend her spring No. 1 qualifier, while Dallas Glenn seeks to go back-to-back in victories after capturing the Wally trophy in 2023. Both achievements for Caruso and Glenn came from behind the wheel of a Chevrolet Camaro SS Pro Stock car.

Quotes:BRITTANY FORCE, DRIVER OF MARK CHRISTOPHER CHEVROLET TOP FUEL DRAGSTER:“There’s nothing like (Pomona). It’s one of my favorite racetracks because it is my home track. The support that comes when racing at Pomona is like no other event you have. You’re surrounded by family and friends and it’s just this support system that pours in, and it makes the weekend very special.” What’s your mindset heading into a race like Pomona that’s special to you?“Going into Pomona, we need to see better results on race day, and in order to do that we need to make more consistent runs. We need to qualify top five and go some rounds on race day. We’d like to win this thing. It’s Pomona and I’ve won there in the past. This David Grubnic-led team set the national mph record back in 2022 at 338.94 mph at Pomona, so we have been successful on this track. We just need to kind of regroup and get back on track after a tough season.” “A win there would be more elevated. It means something more because it’s a home track that I grew up on. It’s right in my neighborhood, and I’m surrounded by friends and family and this extra support. I’ve raced Super Comp there, I’ve raced A Fuel, I’ve raced Top Fuel, and I won a (Top Fuel) championship there. There are so many memories built around there during my career and then before my career as a kid, so it just has this very home comfort feeling that I love about it.” AUSTIN PROCK, DRIVER OF THE CORNWELL TOOLS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS FUNNY CAR:“It still feels surreal, being able to drive this Funny Car and race with my family. I’m looking forward to Pomona. I’ve always loved that racetrack. It’s always been my favorite one to hit on the map. The dragster is a lot more elegant, I would call it. (With) the longer wheelbase you’re accelerating quicker, but the car is moving left to right, slower. I would call it the Cadillac of NHRA drag racing. The way it moves around is a lot more slow and lazy. You can be a lot smoother on the wheel, where the Funny Car, when it takes off it, it really wants to hunt, it wants to go in whatever direction it wants to go. It’s going there in a hurry and you better be two steps ahead of it. So yeah, it’s just figuring out. I love driving both of them (Funny Cars and Top Fuelers). It’s just figuring out the tendencies and when to get on the wheel and when not to get on the wheel.” On winning at Bradenton, going runner-up at Gainesville, and competing with his father and brother by his side…“It hasn’t really sunk in yet. It’s one of those deals where things are just happening and so much is coming at me at once right now. I feel like I’m just kind of like, holding on to the wheel, but I’m definitely enjoying it. It still feels surreal, being able to drive this Funny Car and race with my family. I’m looking forward to Pomona. I’ve always loved that racetrack. It’s always been my favorite one to hit on the map.” JOHN FORCE, DRIVER OF THE PEAK ANTIFREEZE & COOLANT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS FUNNY CAR:“Pomona is personal to me. My love for Pomona goes back to the 60s, when I was driving a truck. I went out and looked through the fence to watch the starting line and watching the people racing. Then, in 1974-75, I started running the local tracks, but Pomona was the big ball field. That was our Dodger Stadium. That’s where we wanted to be. And now here I am. So coming home to it, there’s a lot of memories. I won a lot of races and won championships. I’m looking for another win and I’m going to try to get it done here. Every race counts, but I’m excited to be back home and be racing with family.” John Force on 2024…“We’re in the championship run for the title. And I want number 17 (championship). I may not yell and scream it, and I’ve won so many, but I want to keep winning. I want to I want to win with (crew chief) Daniel Hood and with my team. (Pomona is) just the place to be. We’re coming here now, we’ll kick off the second race of the season and we’ll come back at the end of the year. And hopefully, if not me, one of us will run for the title, Brittany (Force) or (Austin) Prock. That’s what we do.”

How to Watch:The 2024 Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip kicks off with Friday’s qualifying airing Saturday, March 23, 2024 at 9:30 p.m. ET from Pomona, Calif. Saturday’s qualifying session will air Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET with Sunday’s Finals following at 7 p.m. ET. All sessions from In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip air with NHRA on FOX on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Coverage streams live throughout the weekend on NHRA.tv, and is available via AppleTV, Android TV, and Roku devices.

TEAM CHEVY BY THE NUMBERS:1,443: Round wins for John Force (1st all-time).626: Round wins for Robert Hight; 13th all-time. Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), sits 12th, with 628.383: Number of wins in Pro Stock since 1970; 264 won in the Chevrolet Camaro body.166: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for John Force (1st all-time).159: Number of Chevrolet Racing Funny Car wins since 1967.84: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for Robert Hight (6th all-time). Tony Schumacher (Top Fuel) is fifth with 88.79: Number of Chevrolet Racing Funny Car wins with the Camaro SS body.46: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for Brittany Force.28: Number of NHRA championships Chevrolet holds as a manufacturer since entering the first in 1966. This is the seventh-consecutive award and ninth in 11 seasons. No other manufacturer has won it more than Chevrolet.24: Wins by John Force in a Chevrolet-bodied Funny Car.20: Chevrolet career Top Fuel wins in NHRA.19: Number of Pro Stock championships.16: Number of Chevrolet career wins by Brittany Force.7: Number of Funny Car driver championships.2: Number of Top Fuel driver championships.

Sent on behalf of 1st Impressions Racing Team JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (March 20, 2024) – 1st Impressions Racing Team confirmed its plans for the 2024 Progression American Flat Track season, in which it will focus its efforts on a one-rider team built around rising talent James Ott. On the heels of a breakthrough two-pole, three-podium campaign with the team in ‘23, Ott will again pilot a Husqvarna FC 450 in the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER class with support from Husqvarna Motorcycles/Husqvarna Germany. Further strengthening the team is the return of crew chief Paul Ott and lead mechanic Ashley Kruppenbacker. Ott, who finished ninth in last year’s championship standings, is off to a promising start in ‘24. He’s currently ranked eighth in the points following the doubleheader season opener and Daytona and primed to climb up the charts as the series now arrives at the Senoia Short Track, where the Simi Valley, California, native finished as runner-up a year ago. Eric Hoyt, 1st Impressions Team Owner: “Entering our fourth year in Progressive AFT, we are still relatively new to this. But already, we have proved we belong, and that we’re a team capable of winning. Last year was our first with Husqvarna, and James showed a ton of potential with the new bikes. This year, with a concentrated one-rider effort and support from Husqvarna, we are confident of attaining even greater success. 2024 is shaping up to be our best year yet” James Ott #19: “Eric believes in me, and that means a lot. For sure, I want to finish even higher in the championship this year, and I know we can accomplish that. This year, the team is going to have really strong bikes everywhere we go, so I’m doing my part to make sure I’m able to match that. Obviously, winning is the first goal, but I’m also aiming to finish the year ranked in the championship top three.” Follow 1st Impressions @Facebook: 1st Impressions Race TeamInstagram: 1stimpressions_raceteam Team Sponsors Husqvarna – Husqvarna Germany, 1st Impressions Contractors Inc, Floridian plumbing, Media HT inc., Floridian Heating and Air, 1st Impressions Services of Florida, Motul, Hinson, Bell Helmets, Fredericktown Cycles, Solid Performance, Hbd Graphics, Elite Properties Inc, Light Shoe, Dunlop Tires, Pro Taper Bars, Kully Co.

POMONA, CA (March 20, 2024) – Veteran driver and team owner Mark Pawuk opened the season with an emotional win at the NHRA Amalie Motor Oil Gatornationals racing to his second career Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series victory. The win was sweeter because he was driving a Dodge Drag Pak designed to honor long-time friend and NHRA Hall of Famer Don Schumacher, who passed away over the off-season. For Pawuk, a long-time NHRA Pro Stock competitor turned Flexjet Factory Stock racer, the win was meaningful on a variety of fronts. He will get his chance to continue his win streak as the fan-favorite series makes its debut on the West Cost at the NHRA Winternationals, at In-N-Out Dragway in Pomona, Calif., March 22-24.
 
“The Gatornationals is one of the biggest races in the NHRA and I have always wanted to win in Gainesville,” said Pawuk, from the Gatornationals winner’s circle. “To get that win and to have Don’s name on the race car was special. Don was a great friend and competitor. This class has a lot of tough drivers and cars, so anytime you can turn on a win light that’s a big deal. Racing Stephen (Bell) in the final was tough. I knew I would need to get off the line quick and hopefully hold him off. I can’t wait to get to Pomona and show off for the California fans who have never seen this class.”

 Mark Pawuk poses with signature NHRA “Wally” trophy in the Gatornationals winner’s circle following his Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown victory,
photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

In that final against Bell, Pawuk posted low ET of the event – a masterful 7.745 seconds at 177.23 mph. Both Pawuk and Bell got good jumps off the starting line, but Bell’s Chevrolet COPO Camaro spun the tires and Pawuk pulled away for the victory and the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series bounty. Bell held off three opponents throughout the race day, but Pawuk was able to get the win light and the $1,000.
 
“I was excited to get the win and then I knew I got the bounty on top of that which is pretty cool,” said Pawuk. “I love the Flexjet bounty program because it just makes the racing a little more exciting. I know I will have the bounty for the Winternationals and I want to hang onto it for as long as possible.”

 Mark Pawuk (foreground) takes off versus Stephen Bell in the final round of the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown during the NHRA Gatornationals,
photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

With the absence of Aaron Stanfield and David Barton, the two previous Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown world champions, the field is wide open in 2024. Pawuk has the points lead after the first race, but 2023 championship runner-up Bell is right behind him. The top five in points is rounded out by David Janac, Doug Hamp, and Scott Libersher. Janac escaped a scary top end incident during the second round of the Gatornationals when his Ford Mustang Cobra Jet spun at the top end and contacted the guardwall. He is on the entry list for the Winternationals and a strong performance this weekend would be an impressive feat. Every driver will be looking to get the first Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown win at the historic In-N-Out Dragstrip at Pomona.
 
Qualifying for the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown begins Friday, March 22 with sessions at 1:30 and 4:00 p.m. (PST). A final qualifying session will take place on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. (PST) with elimination rounds in the afternoon and carrying over into Sunday with final eliminations scheduled for 3:50 p.m. (PST).
 
2024 FLEXJET NHRA FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN TOP TEN
1. Mark Pawuk, Dodge                       116
2. Stephen Bell, Chevrolet                  94
3. David Janac, Ford                            77
4. Doug Hamp, Chevrolet                   73
5. Scott Libersher, Chevrolet              55
6. Anthony Troyer, Chevrolet             54
7. David Davies II, Dodge                    52
8. Mike Clark, Dodge                          48
9. Jason Dietsch, Ford                         33
10T. Ricky Hord, Chevrolet                 32
10T. Tony Scott Jr., Chevrolet             32       
10T. Raymond Nash, Dodge               32
 
2024 FLEXJET NHRA FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN SCHEDULE
April 12-14                  24th annual NHRA Four-Wide Nationals, Las Vegas, Nev.
May 17-19                   24th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals, Chicago, Ill.
June 7-9                      23rd annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol, Tenn.
June 27-30                  18th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Norwalk, Ohio
Aug. 15-18                   42nd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Brainerd, Minn.
Aug. 28-Sept. 2           70th annual Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals, Indianapolis, Ind.
Sept. 12-15                  39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, Reading, Pa.
Sept. 27-29                  13th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals, St. Louis, Mo.

John Force: “I want No. 17 (Funny Car championships). I may not yell and scream it, I’ve won so many, but I want to keep winning.”

POMONA, Calif. (March 19, 2024) – If John Force Racing ever needed a perfect song theme for this weekend’s Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip, it might be one of the late John Denver’s biggest hits: “(It’s Good To Be) Back Home Again!” No location on the Mission Foods Drag Racing Series means more to team patriarch John Force – as well as fellow drivers Brittany Force and Austin Prock – as the dragstrip on the grounds of the Los Angeles County Fairplex. “Pomona is personal to me,” said Force, the winningest driver in drag racing history with 16 NHRA Funny Car championships and 155 national event wins. “My love for Pomona goes back to the ‘60s, when I was driving a truck. I went out and looked through the fence to watch the starting line and watch the people racing. “Then in 1974-75, I started running the local tracks. But Pomona was the big ball field. That was our Dodger Stadium, that’s where we wanted to be. And now here I am. So coming home to it, there’s a lot of memories, I won a lot of races and won championships. You walked away from some bad crashes, but it’s just personal. I’m looking for another win and I’m going to try to get it done here. Every race counts, but I’m excited to be back home and be racing with family.” Ironically, Pomona initially wasn’t very welcoming to Force: he failed to qualify in three of his first five races at the famed quarter-mile in the late ‘70s. But once he figured out the tricky track, Force would become its winningest driver there, with 16 overall victories (7 in the Winternationals, 8 in the World Finals and one in the NHRA 50th Anniversary Nationals in 2001). Collectively, JFR has an outstanding winning record in the Winternationals (all in Funny Car): John Force (7 wins), Robert Hight (5), Tony Pedregon (2) and Courtney Force (1). Extrapolated even more, JFR drivers have won 30 races at Pomona between the winter and fall events, with 29 coming in either Top Fuel or Funny Car. The only non-nitro win there came from JFR vice president Ashley Force Hood, driving a Top Alcohol Dragster in 2004. The Winternationals is the second race on the 20-race NHRA national event schedule. JFR got off to a promising start in the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals in Gainesville, Fla., two weeks ago when Prock was No. 1 qualifier and finished runner-up in Funny Car, defeating John Force along the way in the quarterfinals. And while Brittany Force lost in the first round of Top Fuel eliminations, she took some consolation in finishing runner-up in the Pep Boys Top Fuel NHRA All-Star Callout exhibition event on Saturday, March 9. As for their respective liveries this weekend, fans will see John Force in the PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, Brittany Force will pilot the Mark Christopher Auto Center Chevrolet/Monster Energy Top Fuel Dragster, and Austin Prock will drive the Auto Club of Southern California/Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car. Here’s a preview of all three JFR drivers heading into Pomona: ********************************** Austin Prock comes into Pomona with the greatest momentum of the three JFR drivers after the season opener. In addition to being No. 1 qualifier and finishing runner-up at Gainesville, Prock also won a special exhibition race in Bradenton, Fla., last month in his first-ever start in a Funny Car. Sitting a close No. 2 in the Funny Car standings, the Lansing, Mich., native almost has to pinch himself to make sure he’s not dreaming. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Prock said. “It’s one of those deals where things are just happening and so much is coming at me at once right now. I feel like I’m just kind of holding on to the wheel, but I’m definitely enjoying it.” Prock is filling in for three-time NHRA Funny Car champion Robert Hight, who is on a temporary leave of absence from racing for personal medical reasons. Prock has a strong supporting cast that led Hight to a runner-up finish in Funny Car last season, including his father Jimmy Prock (Hight’s long-time crew chief), and brother Thomas Prock (Hight’s assistant crew chief). “It still feels surreal, being able to drive this Funny Car and race with my family,” Prock said. “I’m looking forward to Pomona. I’ve always loved that racetrack. It’s always been my favorite one to hit on the map.” In seven career appearances at Pomona (all in a dragster), Prock has reached the final round of the Winternationals three times (2020, 2022 and 2023) and also won the 2022 season-ending World Finals race. “We’ve had some success there,” Prock said. “So hopefully that can carry over to Funny Car and maybe we’ll roll out of there with my first Funny Car Wally (trophy).” Prock’s car has an outstanding legacy: Hight still holds both ends of the NHRA Funny Car records for elapsed time (3.793 seconds on 8/18/2017 at Brainerd, Minn.) and speed (339.87 mph on 7/29/2017 at Sonoma, Calif.). Prock knows he has some big shoes to fill. “Any time I get in a race car, I just want to do the absolute best job I can,” he said. “And more or less, it’s not about proving myself to everyone else, it’s proving myself to myself. I want to be able to get in the car and know I can do a good job and get the result I want.” Prock will also be taking part in Saturday’s race-within-a-race, the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge. Introduced last season, it pits semifinalists from the previous race against each other in a rematch during Saturday’s two qualifying sessions. Prock qualified because he finished runner-up in the season-opening NHRA Gatornationals two weeks ago in Gainesville, Fla. Points are awarded that are then added to a driver’s points total heading into the NHRA’s six-race Countdown to the Championship playoffs. **********************************John Force has been a dynamo in the Winternationals. In 45 previous starts, Force has seven wins, has been No. 1 qualifier 10 times and owns a career Winternationals round-by-round record of 66-36. Overall, between the Winternationals and World Finals, Force has won a record 140 rounds of racing at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip. To put that in perspective, Prock has won 73 rounds in all the events he’s run in his entireNHRA pro career to date. And yet the soon-to-be 75-year-old Force is bound and determined to win more races en route to a 17th Funny Car championship. “We’re in the championship run for the title and I want No. 17,” Force said. “I may not yell and scream it, I’ve won so many, but I want to keep winning.” Force comes into Pomona ranked seventh in the NHRA Funny Car standings after Gainesville. “I want to win with (crew chief) Daniel Hood and with my team,” Force said. “(Pomona is) just the place to be. We’ll kick off the second race of the season and we’ll come back the end of the year. And hopefully, if not me, one of us will run for the title, Brittany or Prock. That’s what we do.” ********************************** Brittany Force hopes a return to one of her favorite tracks will help power her and her dragster into the winner’s circle. “There’s nothing like Pomona,” the younger Force said. “Not only is it my home track, the support that comes when racing at Pomona is like no other event we have. You’re surrounded by family and friends and the support system that pours in makes the weekend very special. “In the past I’ve had teachers show up that I haven’t seen since high school, or just random people that I haven’t seen in a long time, who knew the drag races were in town, came out and then found me signing autographs at the ropes and said ‘hi.’ Being reunited with people from my past is awesome.” Currently 14th in the Top Fuel standings after a tough first round loss at Gainesville, Force is determined to bounce back in a big way. “We need to see better results on race day, and in order to do that we need to make more consistent runs, we need to qualify top five and go some rounds on race day,” Force said. “We’d like to win this thing. It’s Pomona and I’ve won there in the past. This David Grubnic (crew chief) team set the national mph record back in 2022 at 338.94 mph. So we have been successful on this track. We just need to kind of regroup and get back on track.” Force remains the national record holder in NHRA Top Fuel competition in both elapsed time (3.623 seconds set on 9/14/2019 in Reading, Pa.) and speed (338.94, set on 11/11/2022 in Pomona). “I’ve raced Super Comp there, A Fuel, Top Fuel, won two Top Fuel championships there,” Force said of Pomona. “There’s so many memories built around there during my career and then before my career as a kid. It just has this very home comfort feeling that I love about it.” ********************************** The 2024 Mission Foods NHRA Drag Racing Series Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals runs from March 21-24 at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip in Pomona, Calif. FS1 will televise Qualifying Show No. 1 on Saturday, March 23, from 9:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. ET. Qualifying Show No. 2 is Sunday, March 24, from 12:30 p.m. to 2 p.m. ET, and the Finals will also air on Sunday, March 24, from 7 to 10 p.m. ET. #2024ORCE