POMONA, CA (April 2, 2023) — After a tough race at the NHRA Arizona Nationals last weekend Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster made major strides this weekend at the NHRA Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals. The rising star from Ocala, Florida made three solid qualifying runs Friday and Saturday posting times of 3.769, 3.773 and 3.782 seconds all under power. The winner of the 2023 Pep Boys Top Fuel Allstar Callout event rolled into race day as the No. 9 qualifier and a tough match-up with Steve Torrence.

Josh Hart and R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster, photo credit Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery

Knowing he needed to step up on the performance side in the first round Hart and his Ron Douglas tuned 12,000-horsepowered R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster made their quickest run of the weekend a solid 3.756 second run at 326.32 mph. Hart was also first off the line with a tremendous .027 reaction time, quickest of the session to give his team the best shot at advancing to the quarterfinals. Unfortunately, even with Hart’s stellar starting line performance and the improved run by the R+L Carrier dragster he dropped a close race by .002 seconds.

“My awesome co-crew chief, Dave Gaterell and my crew chief Ron Douglas told me I could do whatever I wanted in qualifying to get more acclimated to the car,” said Hart. “I’m super grateful for them putting up with me and I found my groove at the Winternationals. The shallower you stage the lower your ET be. We had a bracket car all weekend and it was a great reset. We got our car back and we needed to get the driver back, so they agreed to let me do whatever I wanted in staging. I feel great now.”

R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster, photo credit Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery

The steady improvement during qualifying combined with the improved run in the first round has the determined Hart ready to make a move in two weeks. Hart will head to Las Vegas for the first four-wide nationals of the season. Hart will be ready to take on the unique racing event just 20 minutes from The Strip.

“You have to understand upfront before you ever get in one of these things that this is racing,” said Hart. “There’s gonna be peaks and valleys and we found a peak when we won the Pep Boys Allstar Callout and we found a valley the past two races. Now it’s time for us to level out a little bit and win some races. I am excited to get to the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals in two weeks.”

Qualifying Results

Q1: 3.769 sec, 330.07 mph; Qual. 8

Q2: 3.773 sec, 330.31 mph; Qual. 9

Q3: 3.782 sec, 323.97 mph; Qual. 9

Bonus Points: 0

Race Results

First Round

Steve Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, CAPCO dragster, (.066) 3.715, 330.23 mph def. Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., R+L Carriers dragster, (.027) 3.756, 326.32 mph

Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Ten – Top Fuel

1.         Justin Ashley               268

2.         Steve Torrence           223

3.         Mike Salinas               213

4.         Brittany Force             204

5.         Austin Prock                201

6.         Leah Pruett                 195

7.         Shawn Langdon          181

8.         Doug Kalitta                167

9.         Antron Brown             162

10.       Tony Schumacher       117

11.       Josh Hart                    97

11.       Clay Millican               97

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

PPG 375

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

FT. WORTH, TEXAS

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT

APRIL 2, 2023

JOSEF NEWGARDEN PUTS CHEVROLET IN TEXAS VICTORY LANE

WIN IS EIGHTH FOR THE BOWTIE BRAND 2.2 LITER V6 ON 1.5-MILE TRACK SINCE 2012

• Victory is third and second consecutive for Newgarden at Texas Motor Speedway and 26^th of his NTT INDYCAR Series career
• Pato O’Ward finished second in the 250-lap race to give Chevrolet 1-2 finish
• Newgarden and O’Ward traded the lead at least six times, and raced in the lead pack the entire as the race ended under yellow with final caution on lap 248
•  O’Ward leaves with points lead as series heads to Streets of Long Beach

FT. WORTH (April 2, 2023) – Josef Newgarden kicked his 2023 NTT INDYCAR Series season into high gear with a hard-fought victory at Texas Motor Speedway behind the wheel of the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. Newgarden led eight times for a total of 123 of the 250 laps in the PPG 375.

From the drop of the green flag, the two-time champion battled in the lead pack trading the lead six times with runner-up Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and in the lead pack that was as many as six cars numerous times during the race.

As the result of an single car incident on lap 248, the race ended under yellow flag conditions giving O’Ward his second consecutive runner-up finish and vaulted him to the points lead as the Series heads to the Streets of Long Beach on April 16, 2023.

Pole winner Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, finished 26^thafter a single car incident on lap 178.

Other Team Chevrolet contenders Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet and Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, were left with disappointing 16^th and 22^nd place finishes respectively after separate incidents on pit lane.

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet and Callum Ilott, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, gave Chevrolet four of the top-10 with sixth and ninth place finishes.

Rookie Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, finished 12^th in his first oval race.  Rookie Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, impressed in his first INDYCAR oval race with a 15^th place finish.

Next on the calendar for Team Chevy is the Long Beach Grand Prix on the Streets of Long Beach April 14-16, 2023.

NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference

Sunday, April 2, 2023

Josef Newgarden

Pato O’Ward

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Josef Newgarden, a three-time winner at Texas Motor Speedway. 26th career win now in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. You led eight times for 123 laps. Jumps up for fourth in the championship.

Nice cowboy hat.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thanks. I don’t know if it fits, right. I apologize to any cowboys that would make fun of my fit.

Great car. I don’t know what else to say other than our car was fast. That’s what made the difference. I sort of owe tuned it middle of the race. Pato ran up on us, got by us, was walking away. We got the tuning back, which was great. Reversed everything that I asked for. Got it into a happy window and were in position at the end.

Team Chevy, PPG, a great weekend for us, great team effort. We’re on the board. We are on the board. We were not on the board leaving St. Pete. We’re on the board now.

THE MODERATOR: The bounceback feels pretty good, too?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s great. I would have liked to start under better circumstances after round one. Here we are playing a little bit of catch-up. Got a long way to go. I’m happy we were able to get this done today. It was good affirmation for the whole team.

Really, really positive on our team. We’ve got a great group across the board, but really on the 2 car, there’s a lot of changes. They’re really good. I’m happy they were able to be shown what they’re capable of this weekend ’cause I know it. Now I feel like they’re really going to believe it going forward.

THE MODERATOR: Questions.

Q. Did you and Pato touch wheels with two to go?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: We did. Right in the dogleg there. The second apex, we just touched kind of heading into T1. Wasn’t as bad as the hit I had with Romain, but it was a light touch.

Q. How was Romain out there? Seems people have many opinions.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I’m fine. I’m cool. Like, look, everything worked out fine. Almost didn’t work out. It gets tight. It gets tight in INDYCAR. It got tight for me.

I came out the other side, so I’ve got nothing to complain about right now. Very happy.

Q. Were you just biding your time?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Oh, yeah, yeah.

Q. You were that good?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, well, you know, it would have looked silly if we led the whole race… Just trying to keep it fun. People would have said it’s a conspiracy for PPG. Don’t want to see that happen (smiling). Let Pato have his fun, then I had to put him away.

No, just kidding, that’s not what happened. We were getting beat pretty significantly in the middle of the race. I thought beginning of the race we had him, like, super covered. The car was good, track gripped up. I asked for some progressions on the setup. They were not right for the way the track was trending.

I think Pato went the right way. He did the exact opposite of what I was doing. They were telling me what he was asking for. We were bad in the middle. He snuck back up on me. I had a big gap. He snuck up on me, was walking away.

I was like we just need to get through this stint and catch back up. He had such a lead at that point, it was going to be difficult. The caution 100% brought us back into it. We got the car back to where it needed to be. When we were in position, we could get the job done.

But we were not significantly better than him. I mean, he was just as good. He was definitely better in the middle. In the end he was just as good. It could have gone either way, in my opinion, between our cars.

Q. I asked Pato and Palou this. In the final third of the race, there was a lot of three-wide passing. What wires you guys to get in there and do that?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Man, I think it’s the Jimmie Johnson effect. We were here last year. People were like, This Jimmie guy, look at him, he can do it. I think Jimmie Johnson basically gave everybody confidence this weekend.

It’s obviously more than that. We’ve got a lot more downforce on the cars. The lanes were working pretty well. How great was that to see, there was a second lane. This was a real race today, which was fantastic.

But I think in this sport you definitely can’t think about the potential. It’s just you got to go pretty flat out if you want to drive the cars at a high level.

It’s impossible to drive these things at the level you need to without blocking everything else out. I think that’s what you get from a lot of drivers here.

Q. The second lane racing, was it a combination of aero changes, tire deg, traction compound? What made the racing what it was today?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think the biggest factors are the downforce increase, which was significant. There’s a lot more load on the cars. The entire last stint, I was flat the whole time, flat for the first half of the stint. It’s a big jump from last year. That’s definitely factor number one.

I think factor two is just the track seemed better this year. Like, it was not quite as dark on the PJ1 patches. I know the last time they coated was September last year. That’s what I was told at least in our briefing. Maybe that’s incorrect.

Q. I think it’s been a few years. They put the resin down but they don’t put the PJ1 down. That’s critical.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I apologize. That’s what they said in the report, they said they put resin down, which I don’t know, I’m not a chemist, I have no idea what these effects are.

But the track was better. It was less dark in the area where the PJ1 has been applied. It didn’t seem as low-grip initially as times when we’ve been here in the past.

Even when everyone tried the high line running, it wasn’t like you ventured up there just to start out and it’s really low grip. Pretty much immediately when we went up there, it was okay grip. I think that was much more inviting for people to have more downforce. We were able to more successfully apply rubber to it from our cars.

I think all of that contributed and led to the type of racing that we had today.

Q. Big-picture question. Last year there was a lot of questions about the future of this place. There’s potential for this track maybe changing in the future, resurfacing… What is your take on that? Is it like we got the racing back, but on the other hand you don’t want the track to be changed?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I just want to see Texas race the way it should race. I think most people would look at today and say that’s how Texas should race.

You look at the past, it’s even been taken up a notch from that. Three-wide the entire time. I wouldn’t want to see that. I think you can go too far nowadays.

I really like high tire deg. I like when people come and go and you’ve got to work your advantage. You’ve really got to work to try to keep the car underneath you.

We’re kind of a step above where I like to see the cars at. I know from an entertainment standpoint this had to be significantly better than last year. It just had to be. It felt packed up for most of the race and definitely at the end.

Where we go from here, it’s hard to say. Old Texas is hard to beat. The configuration was great. The track surface was better for us, we could run all three lanes. I’d like to see that back, then we can start peeling off downforce off the cars. If you go and try and find that again, we might not get it right.

So I don’t think I have a great answer for you. We’ve had the product we’ve had, at least as far as the track. We’ve just chipped away at it. By this year we’ve gotten it really good. I don’t have a good answer for you.

Q. You told us in the bullpen you put St. Pete behind you. When you make an engineer change, have a race like that, any sort of concerns coming into this race?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Not as far as the crew. I can tell you that. I don’t care, I’ll say that, it doesn’t bug me. Every year there’s a reset personally. When you sit out for six months, you start to think, Okay, do I still believe we can do what we were doing last year? I knew exactly where we were last year, what we were capable of.

I said some statements towards the end of the year. These were not grandiose statements, they were true what I said, what I thought was possible on the 2 car.

Six months in an off-season you start to think if that’s true, if we’re still capable of that. Leaving St. Pete, it’s always natural to have those thoughts. I was ready to get here to Texas and get on the board, as I say.

Today is very validating for stuff like that. It just validates my self-positivity, but also affirms what I felt about the team. I know how good the people on the 2 car are. Doesn’t matter that they’re new. I know who’s on it, what they’re capable of.

I hate making these type of statements, but we’re in a really good spot, really good spot.

Q. Back-to-back at Texas Motor Speedway, I believe Helio has done it in the past, it’s quite an achievement. How proud are you of being able to do that?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I’m proud of the team honestly. Obviously personally it’s satisfying, but I think it’s more gratifying, just continue to repeat and echo, but it’s really gratifying for the people that are on the car. There’s a lot of new people on the 2 car specifically. I know each individual and what they can do.

Just coming back and repeating is big validation for all of them, I think gives them a lot of belief. So we’re going to leave here in a good spot.

Look, you can’t take anything for granted. It’s very easy for this championship to swing one weekend to the next. It’s entirely possible we go to Long Beach and have a tough weekend. That can happen.

I think we have to focus on having good, clean weekends going forward. Everybody knows the game in here. It’s a game of averages when you look across the championship. And we have to be the best at that.

Q. Three-wide into three, you got to go for it then or else…

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: That’s pretty much about go forward or you’re exposed. That was the racing style. There was no like I’m going to sit here and ride. You’re in a risky position by doing that.

I think your mentality had to be I’m going forward.

Q. At the end you’re side by side with Pato. Had the race gone on, what was your strategy going to be to be able to nudge ahead of him?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s hard to say. We were building to the white. I was watching the runs every lap, kind of trying to gauge what I needed to do, where I needed to be.

I think the difference maker for our car was that it just had really good speed. It had really natural speed to it. I felt like it was a little bit quicker than Pato’s car, which in the past when I’ve raced him here I felt the opposite, I actually felt like Pato had a really quick car innately.

Today was the complete opposite for me. My car had the speed it needed. It was about keeping positioning where I was. That was the key. Just don’t let him get underneath me basically.

Q. During a portion of the race were you laying back in the weeds conserving the car because you knew you had that speed?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I was full throttle the whole race. I was trying to build the gap early, and we were doing that. We got into the weeds in the middle when I was asking for adjustments that weren’t the right way. At the end there, I was giving it everything. I gave it everything the whole race.

Q. (No microphone.)

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, it’s a one-time deal, yeah. I do. That’s fair.

Q. Last year you sat here and you were asked about winning your first race with your new engineer. I don’t know what it is about you, Texas, new engineers. You’ve done it again. Tell me about this.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think the world of Luke. I guess just to look back a year ago, I felt the same way about Eric. I think Eric did a tremendous job for us in 2022. I can’t speak highly enough about the job that he did.

Then for Luke to step into the role, I’ve just got a high level of confidence in that man. He’s excellent. He is just so excellent at what he does. He is a phenomenal race engineer. You got to understand the definition of ‘race engineer’ to really understand that praise. But he is phenomenal.

I’m excited for him. Obviously extends much further than Luke. Luke has a great team behind him, James, we have Mustafa, aka Simba, is on the stand now. A new guy on our team doing performance and helping Luke. You have the entire crew obviously behind him.

It’s a big team effort. But I think the world of Luke and the entire team. Just to repeat, I feel really good about where we’re at.

Q. Last year in Victory Lane your pockets were filled with hundred dollar bills peeled off from Roger Penske.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: He brought ice cream sandwiches. That is almost as good as 600 bucks. I value ice cream sandwiches tremendously. It’s all perspective (smiling). No cash, though, unfortunately. Shut the valve off this year.

Q. Pato was lapping everybody. It was like you guys were having another race. Did you feel at that point maybe the race was starting to slip away from you at all?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Oh, definitely. It started. It was slipping away. It can happen that quickly. It was one stint that was really not good.

I could see where Pato was strong. In a lot of ways I thought he was just right in step with us, even to start the race. When I would start to pull maybe a second on him, he could pretty much match us straight up. He was very good.

Then I de-tuned us in that stint. He tuned in his race car into the correct direction. He just really took advantage of that particular segment of the race. For sure, I was really worried about did I just compromise the finish here. He’s gotten a big gap on us.

But you got to stay positive. We fortunately had a yellow that bunched us back up and gave us an opportunity.

Q. You feel like the yellow is what saved your race, your day?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s hard to say. I think we could have run him down. It would have been tough. I would like to think on the flip, if I could have gotten that advantage on him in the middle, I would beat him pretty straight up with no yellows. He probably would have done that to us. It would have been hard for me to catch up.

That’s how quickly the race can change and one stint can walk you back. That’s essentially what happened to us.

Q. In your mind how would you have done the race strategy-wise if this race had played out?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Strategy-wise, I have no qualms with what we did. I think it was the right stuff.

I would go back and completely revert what I asked for in the middle of the race tuning-wise. I think I would have gone the opposite direction in hindsight. Fortunately we got it right for the end. I sort of learned from that bad stint what we did wrong, then we got it back.

Q. How was it handling-wise?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I thought we were really balanced well in the beginning. If anything, maybe working towards a little loose. I thought the track was going to really come to us, so I didn’t want any changes. I just wanted to leave it.

I could hear Pato was asking for front wing. He wanted to add turn to the car as we were building into the race. We went kind of somewhat opposite directions ’cause after the first stint, that was the first stint I was talking about, in the second stint I felt the same way. We actually took wing out. We just went opposite ways.

After that second stop, it was very clear that I needed to be probably building with the track. Track grip was coming up. I was pushing to the fence when he was racing me. That’s kind of how he got by me. He was just holding the outside, looked like he could just run flat. I had to be lifting. I was going to run into him if I didn’t lift. That’s kind of where I was on the state of our car.

We just unwound all that stuff, started going the right way, got the car in a good spot.

Q. There was a strategy call, pitted on caution, came back five laps later and topped up, is that strategy something you were asking for, was that a team decision?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, that’s all T.C. probably. Tim, I mean, you’re going to be hard-pressed to find a better strategist than Tim. He’s just got a good feel to these races. It was a great call.

If there was no other yellows till the end, I think that was probably the call to win. Then it obviously changed the game again. Pato, luckily for them, that brought them back in. They got another shot to come back into it.

I’m glad we made the call to get tires as well, because then we were match for match with him, which was probably pretty critical.

Q. We saw a bit of a different race today with lap cars. That’s different than what we’re used to with INDYCAR oval racing, particularly at places like Indianapolis and Gateway. Was there anything different about this particular package at Texas that made lapping cars easier for fast guys?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, the second lane. There still was degradation. I think for the first third of the stint almost to the first half, you had people really packed up and congested. It wasn’t like people were falling off a cliff really early, but you still had the degradation on the second half of the stint.

When that started to build in, you just had somewhere to go. That’s the big thing you need. You’ve got to have racing room. At high-speed places like this, even short ovals, you just can’t follow super well in direct wheel tracks. It’s possible, but the racing is more difficult.

When you have real estate to put your car (indiscernible), it makes the racing 10 times better. That’s all you really saw, was there’s real estate this time around to use.

Q. You mentioned some of the changes in setup that INDYCAR brought. Generally speaking, was a lot of that what you have been clambering for for several years, particularly since the addition of the aeroscreen?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s a tricky balance. They’ve been doing this. They’ve been putting downforce on every year. You don’t want to go too far.

I know I don’t want just a straight-up pack race. I really don’t. I think it takes out too much of the skill. I mean, you want the skill of tire degradation where you’ve got to make a good car and you’ve got to learn how to drive it, but you need some element of a packed-up race, certainly in the beginning of stints, to make the show good, to make that also part of the challenge in the race. I just don’t want that the whole way.

INDYCAR is always walking a fine line. They’ve been adding downforce every single year. So I think it’s been a combination of finding enough downforce on the cars. Unfortunately just sometimes takes this long to get that right combo.

I think more than the downforce, it’s really been the track. I think two, three years ago, it wouldn’t have mattered how much downforce you put on the car, you still weren’t going to use the second lane. It was unusable.

It’s not just been the downforce. It’s been a combination of getting the track better and stopping the PJ1 being laid down has greatly improved that.

I wouldn’t put it just on the downforce or configuration thing. It’s also been the track kind of coming back to where we needed it.

Q. There were some questions whether the Goodyear rubber from the trucks would undo the work you did in the high lane. Did you sense that being an issue?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: From my perspective, no negative impact from the trucks. I really felt like the trucks wouldn’t negatively impact us. Obviously their rubber is not a match to ours.

But I thought the more cars circulating and running multiple lanes would ultimately be better. There’s always the inherent reduction in grip on the start of our race when trucks have been on. You got to give it a good 10, 15 laps to clean up their rubber.

I think from a long-term standpoint in the race, it was never going to be a negative to what we had done. And it wasn’t. It did not unwind the work we did the day before. If anything, it just helped it more.

Q. Thinking about how exciting this race was from your vantage point, can you think back to the last non-Indy 500 that you felt like INDYCAR oval racing was as exciting as today?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, hard to say. It’s been through a lot of configuration changes over the last 10, 15 years, you know?

I mean, I remember old school Texas, ’06, ’07. I mean, I would consider that pretty old school for this track if it started late ’90s. It was classic nighttime, three-wide, all the sparks, everybody packed up. It was just a different time in INDYCAR, different era.

I really think today was a good mix. I’d probably take a little downforce off, if you asked me. I don’t like it super packed up. But I think today was a very good mix between the two worlds, of not having a pack race, but also having a difference maker where there’s tire degradation and you have to work as a team to figure that puzzle out.

I was really happy with today. On ovals, that’s what we need. At Indy we search for something like that. It’s a different race than Texas. Indy is not Texas, so I don’t know that we can compare those two.

Trying to find the balance with downforce and grip, it’s always the game nowadays. We’re just trying to find the right balance where there’s not too much but enough to help us go.

THE MODERATOR: I’m assuming it’s back to Wags & Walks?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, the charity stuff. Same charities. Split between the Children’s Network and Wags & Walks. They did an amazing job of providing that opportunity. It’s a significant difference for these great charities, significant.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll wrap it up there.

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Wrapping up another NTT INDYCAR SERIES race at Texas Motor Speedway.

For now, joined by second-place finishing driver, Pato O’Ward.

Pato, I’m sure you’re wondering if this thing stays green for the next couple of laps what happens? Or how pleased are you with a second?

PATO O’WARD: At which point (laughter)?

THE MODERATOR: The question is, did you have anything for Josef?

PATO O’WARD: Oh, yeah, I had the timing right. The lap before we crossed the line, my nose was slightly in front of his. There was no way it was going to finish in single file. Yeah, racing gods had other plans.

I have to say to the guys it’s been a hell of a start to the year. I had a rocket. Like, I don’t think there’s another way to put it.I was really comfortable in the car. It was fun, I have to say. Like, it’s got to be the best Texas race in the last four, five years. It was freaking awesome.

Really, really nice that I got to drive and race with guys that I have so much respect for: Alex, Josef. You can push it to the limit, but you always give each other the room that you need. I think that’s what we gave the fans. That’s what they deserve.

THE MODERATOR: Pato talked about the respect that the three of you had for everyone, knowing you could push them a little bit but still have room to do what you need to do.

PATO O’WARD: That’s how it has to be. There’s really no other way to do it. Going way too fast to mess around at those speeds. We’re going wheel-to-wheel like 226 miles an hour or something. It’s a little wiggle from somebody can be really big.

So hats off to everybody. It’s pretty insane, I have to say. I don’t know how it looks. It must look cool, I’m assuming. It looks insane. But inside of the car, you’re going in, you see two guys there, then you’re just like keep it in. It’s commitment.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions.

Q. INDYCAR brought some new aero pieces, different aero package this weekend. Is that what produced the good racing today? Did you think they nailed it?

PATO O’WARD: I think a mix of both, track and pieces.

PATO O’WARD: There was a legit second lane, for sure.

PATO O’WARD: No, it was a proper second lane.

Q. Do you think the rubbering-in session helped with that, too?

PATO O’WARD: Yes. But as soon as I went out in the rubbering session, it was like, Wow.

PATO O’WARD: You were running fine.

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I think the tougher part, which I think then strings people out, is 75% to 100% of the stint, that zone is where I think you really see people. I feel like in the beginning, like the top five, top six guys, were basically able to run the same everywhere.

I think then the stronger cars, they were just able to do that for just a lot longer in the stint.

Q. Where do you feel this race shifted out of your favor?

PATO O’WARD: I knew I could have won. It’s just there was really no other way to do it besides timing it. You had to do it the last lap ’cause if not, they were probably going to do it to you.

Just the timing of the last yellow is what really killed us to be honest. All the other ones, you can’t judge when they fall or didn’t fall. If they did, it would probably be a very different story.

Q. (No microphone.)

PATO O’WARD: My strategy? I’m super happy with the calls my team made. No problems there. I think everybody did a phenomenal job.

Q. It looked insane.

PATO O’WARD: Nice (smiling).

Q. Did you and Josef actually touch wheels with two to go?

PATO O’WARD: I don’t know why Josef likes to get so close to me (laughter).

Q. It’s because you’re cute.

PATO O’WARD: I didn’t really have anywhere to go. I had the walls.

Q. You didn’t touch?

PATO O’WARD: We touched in Detroit. That one I felt. This one, no.

Q. What wires you guys to do something that stupid?

PATO O’WARD: The tow was just so strong. With the second lane opening up, you really couldn’t back off or you’re going to get freight-trained by somebody. It’s like keep your foot in it, keep your position, maybe get a position, or lose one. You kind of have to go.

PATO O’WARD: I have to say it would have been really sketchy if it was, like, lap 45 or lap 50 and everyone has tires. I think that would have been, yeah, maybe not very safe.

I just think everybody feels like a hero when everybody has fairly fresh tires, yeah.

Q. You guys obviously put on a great show today. Does this race call for more ovals to INDYCAR? If so, which ones would you like to see added to the schedule?

PATO O’WARD: I haven’t had the pleasure of running Milwaukee and Richmond. I don’t know what to say. We could have a long season, more races, but I say out and about…

PATO O’WARD: That would be nice.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

PPG 375

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

FT. WORTH, TEXAS

TEAM CHEVY JOSEF NEWGARDEN WINNER’S QUOTE

APRIL 2, 2023

JOSEF NEWGARDEN PUTS CHEVROLET IN TEXAS VICTORY LANE

CHEVROLET HAS ONE-TWO FINISH WITH PATO

O’WARD CLAIMING RUNNER-UP SPOT

• Third Texas Motor Speedway victory for Newgarden
• Led 123 of 250 lap race
• Newgarden has 26 career NTT INDYCAR Series victories-all in a Chevrolet powered Team Penske car
• Win is the 8th at Texas for the Chevrolet 2.2 liter V6 since 2012

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, WINNER:

TALK ABOUT THAT FINAL RESTART WITH PATO O’WARD WITH 12 TO GO

“I am just so happy to be here for PPG and Team Penske and it was a group effort this weekend. Pato gave me all the respect in the world when he was racing next to me and it was hard, it was hard to race those guys. I think (Alex) Palou was super strong too and there were no gimmies, it was just packed up today. It was very difficult to get away. There were parts where we were really good, parts where we were weaker and when we needed to be good, the car was there at the end. So proud of this team.  After St. Pete I was kind of rethinking everything and thinking, ‘can we do this again’.  But I am so happy to be here and want to thank Team Chevy for all their support and to PPG obviously. Given the title here, its just a big day for everybody.”

WHEN PATO TOOK OFF AND THERE WERE JUST TWO CARS ON THE LEAD LAP, WERE THINKING NO WAY THIS WAS GOING TO HAPPEN TODAY?

“I knew I needed something to catch back up. Because that stint where he got by me, and ripped a gap, that was my worst stint.  I think we went the wrong way with our adjustments, which was my decision.  I was the one asking for it and then I wanted to reverse it. But like I said, when we needed the car at the end, it was absolutely there. So, I was worried if we didn’t get help to catch back up that he may run away with it and we lost our chance. But they gave us another chance again and we took it. 

Alexis DeJoria Takes GR Supra to Number Two Qualifier in Funny Car

POMONA, Calif. (April 1, 2023) – Justin Ashley drove his Toyota Top Fuel dragster to the number one qualifier position in the third round of qualifying on Saturday afternoon at In-N-Out Raceway in Pomona, California. With Ashley’s run at 3.707 seconds, he also won the second round of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge for a $10,000 bonus for his Davis Motorsports team.

In Funny Car competition, Alexis DeJoria drove her GR Supra to the number two qualifier position with her time of 3.883 holding from Friday afternoon’s qualifying session. Fellow Toyota driver J.R. Todd qualified in the fifth position during round two of qualifying but was involved in an on-track accident after crossing the timing lines and was forced to a backup car and body for the remainder of the race weekend. Defending World Champion, Ron Capps was on the outside of the top-16 qualifiers after two rounds of qualifying, but a time of 3.943 in the final round moved him to the eighth position.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series

In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip

Race 3 of 21

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Justin Ashley	Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	1st (3.707)	K. Baldwin
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	2nd (3.730)	D. Kalitta
Steve Torrence	Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	6th (3.736)	J. Hart
Shawn Langdon	DHL Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	7th (3.758)	T. Schumacher
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	11th (3.793)	A. Brown

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Cruz Pedregon	Snap-On Tools Funny Car	1st (3.865)	J. Force
Alexis DeJoria	Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	2nd (3.883)	J. Arend
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	5th (3.935)	A. Laughlin
Ron Capps	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	8th (3.943)	P. Lee

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

TF Qualifying Result: 1st

How much does a number one qualifying position in the third round fall on the driver’s shoulders?

“On my team it really doesn’t, it’s this team. Our Phillips Connect team is very, very resilient. We struggled in Gainesville and came back and had a great win last week in Phoenix. This Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, we want to win this. We’re in Phillips Connect hometown and we’re just really happy to qualify number one. Mike Green and Tommy DeLago, they’re doing such a great job. Now we can enjoy this win for a very short time. Go back, relax and then try to win another one tomorrow.”

RON CAPPS, NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Ron Capps Motorsports

FC Qualifying Result: 8th

Were you concerned on the final pass about making it into the field?

“A little bit. I had all the confidence in the world, but I was hearing some weird things in the car when I was backing up from the burnout. There’s a reason we’re World Champions. There’s a reason you build that trust, when you see a NAPA Auto Care on the side of the road, you pull in there and that’s what these guys are all about. Guido wanted to give it that little more get up and go and it’s too bad he couldn’t because we could have thrown down a nice .80. The calmness came from the Toyota guys – Slugger (Labbe) and the track specialists and everybody up there with the nod that everything was going to be alright. That was it. My family, we have 70 or 80 people packed together up there and I did not want to stand around tomorrow and sign autographs. Great job boys.”

POMONA, CA (April 2, 2023) — Yesterday before Justin Ashley won the Mission #Fast2Tasty Top Fuel Challenge and raced to the No. 1 qualifier position at the NHRA Lucas Oil Winternationals the rising star  presented a custom surfboard to Phillips Connect CEO Rob Phillips to commemorate last year’s win at the NHRA Lucas Oil Winternationals. Ashley and the Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel team surprised Phillips with the surfboard following the first warm-up of the day. The custom board was made by Michael Quesenbury with Handmade in California who has a personal relationship with co-team owner Dustin Davis. Quesenbury has been working on the custom surfboard, a Longboard Papilionidae, since the beginning of the year and details include pinstriping, Phillips Connect and Justin Ashley team branding, personalization to Rob Phillips and blue colorization to match Phillips Connect brand and look. The longboard measures eight feet six inches long and is made from clear vertical grain Western Red Cedar, reclaimed Redwood, and Alaskan Yellow Cedar.

Dustin Davis, Rob Phillips, Justin Ashley and Michael Quesenbury, photo credit Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery

“I am blown away. This is awesome!” said Phillips, when the surfboard was revealed in the Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster pit area.

Ashley won the 2022 season opening NHRA Winternationals in dominant fashion qualifying No. 2 and outrunning Jim Maroney, Antron Brown, Steve Torrence and Austin Prock for the victory. Ashley would go on to win three times in seven final round appearances in 2022 and contend for the championship until the final day of the season. This year Ashley is off to another hot start winning the NHRA Arizona Nationals and currently sitting No. 2 in qualifying with NHRA Lucas Oil Winternationals.

Phillips Connect corporate team with custom Made in California surfboard, photo by Gary Nastaste/Auto Imagery

“We wanted to give Rob something special to commemorate our first win together and what better gift to give a surfer than a custom surfboard,” said Ashley. “It turned out great and thank you to Michael from Handmade in California and also Dustin Davis for helping us pull this off. It was a great surprise and wonderful way to thank Rob.”

Following the presentation Ashley went on to defeat Steve Torrence in the semifinals of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and in the final qualifying session Ashley posted a winning time of 3.707 seconds to outrun Leah Pruett for the $10,000 top prize for the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and grab the No. 1 qualifier spot. It was Ashley’s third No. 1 of his career and he will race Krista Baldwin in the first round on race day.

James McFadden Dominates Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw Nationals Finale for $20,000McFadden tempers self-doubt with Devil’s Bowl victoryMESQUITE, TX (April 1, 2023) – Even after an early season World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car win at Volusia Speedway Park, some doubt had begun to creep into James McFadden’s mind after a tough recent stretch.Ever since starting the season strong in Florida with four top-10s in five races, the Roth Motorsports pilot endured some struggles that saw him post four straight results of 13th or worse heading into the Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw Nationals finale at Devil’s Bowl Speedway.The doubt faded and confidence was restored Saturday night at the Mesquite, TX oval as McFadden engineered a dominating performance, leading all 30 laps on his way to a $20,000 payday. After managing only one World of Outlaws win in 2022, the 33-year-old now already owns two triumphs in 10 starts this year.The victory marked the seventh of his career at the seventh different racetrack in the seventh different state and his second with the Toyota Racing Development 410 Engine under the hood.And of course, the Alice Springs, NT native honored tradition by celebrating the win with a shoey atop the wing.“I’m just pumped,” said an emotional McFadden in Victory Lane. “The last few races have been tough for us as a team. You start to doubt your abilities and what we’re doing with the car. We’ve just been working really hard… I give credit to my guys. They’ve been working pretty hard. We’ve been, like I said, pretty terrible, tearing up racecars and doing silly things, so to reward them with a win tonight is great.”The race began with what proved to be a pivotal start. On what was a blazingly fast racing surface, getting ahead early was key. McFadden started second alongside Toyota Dash winner, Buddy Kofoid. As the green flag flew, McFadden ripped around Kofoid to take the early lead.“It was really important to get that start. I feel like if I would’ve let Buddy go on the start, he would’ve checked out,” McFadden explained. “I thought he (Kofoid) would’ve gone a little earlier. We were a little bit further around the corner, so I could get a run down the straightaway down the hill, so I got lucky there. We just put ourselves in the right position, and you have to with these guys from the moment you unload.”For Kofoid, he initially thought his start was strong, but thought he potentially should’ve attempted something else after McFadden got around him.“I felt like I restarted really good all weekend here,” Kofoid said. “I thought I had a good start, and James was just able to get around me, and that was probably what needed to happen differently for me.”After grabbing the lead, McFadden wasted no time in building an early lead in the Roth #83. After just two circuits, the gap had grown to nearly a second and a half. An early caution as McFadden was beginning to negotiate traffic cleared the track for him, but it would be the final time the yellow flag would fly.On the restart, McFadden darted ahead and built up the advantage again, but lapped traffic quickly proved to be an issue. As he navigated the slower cars, Kofoid quickly closed in. Unfortunately for the driver of the CMS Racing #11, a lane didn’t open before McFadden again pulled ahead by putting a lapped car between himself and Kofoid.Eventually, McFadden got to a point in the pack when he was confident that he could simply ride behind them without fear of losing the lead as the laps dwindled.“We were able to maneuver through some of those lapped cars,” McFadden recalled. “Then we got to (Brian) Brown and just sort of thought he was fast enough, so I don’t need to go do anything silly.”McFadden proved himself right by patiently driving in Brown’s tire tracks while Kofoid struggled to clear a slower car between himself and McFadden. It appeared that a battle for the lead may shape up when the car between them pulled off with an issue, but ultimately McFadden proved to be too strong. He took the checkered flag with a 1.542 second advantage, helping to rekindle his early season confidence.“Big thanks to Dennis and Teresa Roth for giving me this opportunity,” said a grateful McFadden. “The last couple of weeks have been pretty bad to watch, but to stand on the front straight here at Devil’s Bowl is pretty special.”Kofoid held on to second to continue his impressive early season stretch. Entering this year, the Penngrove, CA native owned a pair of podiums in 24 World of Outlaws Feature starts, and he’s already up to four top-threes through 10 starts this year. With the pace of the field, Kofoid knew he needed to rely on McFadden to make a mistake that never happened.“The track was just super heavy where it kind of made it hard to be a whole lot better than someone,” Kofoid commented. “Everyone was pretty much going the same speed, and you kind of saw that with lapped traffic. Everyone was just so fast. Once I got clear of the one lapper, I got back to James, but it was going to take a mistake from him for me to get by him.”Completing the top-three was Carson Macedo. Like Kofoid, Macedo found it difficult to make up much ground on the car ahead with the amount of speed everyone was carrying. So, the Jason Johnson Racing driver settled for third, his 70th career podium and first since Volusia.“The track was just really fast,” Macedo noted. “It made it tough to pass there in the Feature. I felt like we got to traffic, and I thought that would maybe mix it up, but it seemed like the lapped cars, once we got to them, we would kind of stall out behind their wings and go just as fast as them.”UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars begin a major Midwest swing next weekend with trips to US 36 Raceway in Osborn, MO and 81 Speedway in Wichita, KS. The latter is the fifth Jason Johnson Classic, awarding $20,000 to the winner. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the action on DIRTVision.RESULTS:A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 83-James McFadden[2]; 2. 11-Michael Kofoid[1]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 4. 2-David Gravel[6]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet[5]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[7]; 7. 19-Brent Marks[3]; 8. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[11]; 9. 5-Spencer Bayston[8]; 10. 9-Kasey Kahne[10]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz[12]; 12. 20G-Noah Gass[14]; 13. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[16]; 14. 1S-Logan Schuchart[24]; 15. 17B-Bill Balog[13]; 16. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[20]; 17. 24-Rico Abreu[18]; 18. 88-Austin McCarl[15]; 19. 21-Brian Brown[22]; 20. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[17]; 21. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[23]; 22. 1A-Jacob Allen[25]; 23. 6-Bill Rose[21]; 24. 2C-Wayne Johnson[19]; 25. 7S-Robbie Price[9]KSE Hard Charger: Logan Schuchart (24th to 14th)Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 2C-Wayne Johnson[1]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[3]; 3. 6-Bill Rose[2]; 4. 21-Brian Brown[4]; 5. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[5]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart[7]; 7. 1J-Danny Jennings[6]; 8. 1A-Jacob Allen[8]; 9. 52-Blake Hahn[11]; 10. 4-Austin Mundie[9]; 11. 2B-Brett Becker[13]; 12. 1-Brenham Crouch[10]; 13. 6M-Blake Mallory[12]Toyota Dash (6 Laps): 1. 11-Michael Kofoid[2]; 2. 83-James McFadden[4]; 3. 19-Brent Marks[3]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet[5]; 6. 2-David Gravel[6]Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet[2]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[4]; 4. 9-Kasey Kahne[3]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog[6]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]; 7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[9]; 8. 6-Bill Rose[7]; 9. 1A-Jacob Allen[10]; 10. 52-Blake Hahn[8]; 11. 2B-Brett Becker[11]Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Michael Kofoid[1]; 2. 2-David Gravel[2]; 3. 5-Spencer Bayston[4]; 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 5. 20G-Noah Gass[6]; 6. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[7]; 7. 21-Brian Brown[9]; 8. 1J-Danny Jennings[10]; 9. 4-Austin Mundie[8]; 10. 2C-Wayne Johnson[5]Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks[1]; 2. 83-James McFadden[2]; 3. 7S-Robbie Price[4]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz[3]; 5. 88-Austin McCarl[6]; 6. 24-Rico Abreu[5]; 7. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[7]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart[9]; 9. 1-Brenham Crouch[8]; 10. 6M-Blake Mallory[10]Qualifying: 1. 41-Carson Macedo, 00:13.617[25]; 2. 11-Michael Kofoid, 00:13.689[20]; 3. 19-Brent Marks, 00:13.695[9]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet, 00:13.701[31]; 5. 2-David Gravel, 00:13.780[11]; 6. 83-James McFadden, 00:13.784[10]; 7. 9-Kasey Kahne, 00:13.784[26]; 8. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 00:13.878[18]; 9. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:13.898[24]; 10. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:13.901[5]; 11. 5-Spencer Bayston, 00:13.916[27]; 12. 7S-Robbie Price, 00:13.920[30]; 13. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 00:13.938[29]; 14. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 00:13.965[22]; 15. 24-Rico Abreu, 00:14.002[15]; 16. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:14.007[12]; 17. 20G-Noah Gass, 00:14.091[14]; 18. 88-Austin McCarl, 00:14.092[13]; 19. 6-Bill Rose, 00:14.103[16]; 20. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 00:14.177[2]; 21. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:14.211[3]; 22. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:14.272[7]; 23. 4-Austin Mundie, 00:14.302[28]; 24. 1-Brenham Crouch, 00:14.325[8]; 25. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 00:14.339[17]; 26. 21-Brian Brown, 00:14.376[4]; 27. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 00:14.425[21]; 28. 1A-Jacob Allen, 00:14.492[6]; 29. 1J-Danny Jennings, 00:14.495[19]; 30. 6M-Blake Mallory, 00:14.635[23]; 31. 2B-Brett Becker, 00:14.934[1]Simpson Quick Time Award: Carson Macedo

POMONA, Calif. (April 01, 2023) – Funny Car points leader Robert Hight and the Automobile Club of Southern California / Cornwell Tools / Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet Camaro SS team earned a No. 3 qualifying position Saturday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. Brittany Force landed the Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy Chevy dragster in the No. 2 spot with Austin Prock and the Montana brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team sitting 12th. John Force and the BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevy Camaro SS will battle for a win from the No. 16 spot. Back in the red, white, and blue of Auto Club of SoCal, Robert Hight is chasing his second consecutive victory at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip, formerly Auto Club Raceway at Pomona. The No. 3 qualifying spot was earned with a 3.892-second pass at 329.99 mph from Friday night. Hight would have to shut off early with tire smoke for both runs on Saturday at 5.780, 121.01 and 4.370, 199.58. “Not the best qualifying performance but we’re coming off a win in Phoenix where we didn’t qualify well at all. Tomorrow is a new day, had warmer conditions today, so we learned. I don’t usually have to worry much with this Auto Club team, Jimmy Prock, he lives and breathes this car. He may not sleep tonight but we’ll have this thing figured out and hopefully put on a good show and go some rounds,” Hight said. “I’m looking forward to getting the job done with Auto Club, get them in the winner’s circle their first race of the season.” Hight will race against Terry Haddock in the first round of eliminations on Sunday. Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac team shifted into the No. 2 qualifying spot off their 3.712-second 328. 86 mph pass on Friday evening. On Saturday, the Chevy dragster had tire smoke mid-track for only a 4.631 run at 159.12. In the final session Force would have the second quickest run of the session with a clean 3.720 at 332.10 earning her two bonus points. She matches with Ron August Jr. in the first round of eliminations. “Out here in Pomona at my home track, this Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac team made two consistent qualifying runs at 3.71 and 3.72, that puts us in the number two spot going into race day tomorrow,” Force said. “We will pair up against Ron August and are looking for some solid runs. We want to move up in the points. We’re currently sixth in the standings, but we need to move up there and get this car running with the rest of the competition.” Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / RMT team had two clean passes on Saturday at Pomona Dragstrip. Prock would first handle his dragster to a 3.832-second pass at 316.90 mph before making his best pass of the weekend at 3.832 and 316.90. He ends up in the No. 12 spot to race Leah Pruett in the first round. “Not quite the qualifying effort we hoped for but we’re not as far off as we look,” Prock said. “We had an unfortunate break; in the second session, we were making a really solid run and just backed it off too much in the third qualifying session. I’m confident in our team for tomorrow. I’m already looking forward to some Sunday butterflies.” John Force and the BlueDEF PLATINUM had some unwanted excitement all day Saturday at the NHRA Winternationals. In both sessions, Force would cross the centerline hitting the cones and disqualifying his runs. In the right lane both times, Force’s first run would have him tied up with JR Todd, totaling both cars after the BlueDEF Chevy had tire smoke and took a hard left and then a right into the wall, wrapping his parachutes around Todd’s Funny Car. On the second pass, Force would shut off after being pulled to the left, hitting another pair of cones. “It got squirrely up there, but it’s been doing that since the beginning of the season, and we think we know why. Driving right, left, right left, I can do that, I do that all the time, trying to keep it straight,” said Force after his first disqualified run. “When it hit the bump up there, though, it blew the tires off and it made a left turn into the other lane. I thought I just got his header, JR Todd, but I’m glad, I’m glad he’s okay. Then it hit the wall hard. I have to reevaluate it. I watched the video, maybe I have to pull it back more. I’m okay, but more importantly, JR is okay.” “I’m not doing anything different. This BlueDEF Chevy moved around a little bit and made a left but I thought it would come back on me, but it didn’t come back,” said Force at the end of qualifying. “For some reason, I’m snake-bit right now. But I made it in the show, tomorrow is a new day, and we’ll see what happens.” Force ended up in the No. 16 spot and will race against No. 1 qualifier Cruz Pedregon. The Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals continue with eliminations slated for 11 a.m. on Sunday. Television coverage of the event continues with a qualifying show Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations will begin on FS1 Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. -30-

AUSTIN PROCK, 27, Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist DragsterQualifying:12th; 3.816-seconds; 322.34 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0 BRITTANY FORCE, 36, Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy DragsterQualifying:2nd; 3.712-seconds; 328.86 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+5 (quickest Q1; 2nd quickest Q3) JOHN FORCE, 73, BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:16th; 4.162-seconds; 230.61 mphBonus Qualifying Points: 0ROBERT HIGHT, 53, Auto Club Chevy Camaro SSQualifying:3rd; 3.892-seconds; 329.99 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+1 (third quickest Q1)

POMONA, CA (April 1, 2023) — Reigning NHRA Lucas Oil Winternationals winner Justin Ashley saved the best for last today at In-N-Out Dragstrip racing to the No. 1 qualifier position and winning the $10,000 top prize in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge outrunning Leah Pruett in the final round. His winning time of 3.707 seconds at 330.15 mph moved him around provisional Top Fuel No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force and earned the 2020 NHRA Rookie of the Year three important qualifying bonus points. It was a monster run for the Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster powered by National Debt Relief as they head into Sunday looking to defend their Winternationals title and win for the second week in a row after taking the win at the NHRA Arizona Nationals.

(from left) Rob Phillips, Justin Ashley, Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge winner, Angelle Sampey (photo credit Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery

“I think this is probably the best Saturday I think I’ve ever had at the racetrack,” said Ashley, from the Shav Glick Media Center. “It’s amazing to win the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenge and go to No. 1. It’s great for the fans, but it’s also great for the teams. It really was a great day for this Phillips Connect Toyota team powered by National Debt Relief, and it is a positive step in the right direction.”

In the first round of qualifying Ashley defeated Steve Torrence in a close race. Ashley was first off the line and his 3.751 second pass held up at the finish line for the win. 

“Arizona really paid dividends for us not only because we won the race, but we got four extra rounds of racing on Sunday,” said Ashley. “We have a new tune up and new combination. Mike Green and Tommy DeLago have obviously done a great job learning and adapting and you saw the results here this last session. Mike and Tommy have been doing a great job and we are seeing the benefits these past two races. You want to find some kind of momentum and maintain some kind of consistency. To be able to take what we did in Phoenix and now apply it here so far, Friday and Saturday really goes a long way. It gives us more data, more information, more to learn from for our Phillips Connect team.”

Justin Ashley and Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster powered by National Debt Relief

This was the third No. 1 qualifier for Ashley and the Phillips Connect team and first of the 2023 season. The last time Ashley was No. 1 he raced to the final round at the Betway Nationals zMax Dragway outside of Charlotte during the 2022 NHRA Countdown. The fourth-year pro gave all the credit to his team and their efforts throughout the offseason and the start of this season.

“We’re resilient. These guys don’t stop until we get it right and. Mike and Tommy have championship winning experience and it really pays dividends. You see it every run. Those guys are quiet, they’re meticulous. They go about their job the right way and I’m just happy with today’s result.”

Ashley will face No. 14 qualifier Krista Baldwin in the first round. A win in the first round would provide a bye run in round two. Ashley and his team are not taking anyone lightly in one of the toughest Top Fuel fields in recent memory.

“Make no mistake about it. We are racing Krista Baldwin in the first round, but we are not looking past that match-up,” said Ashley. “Everybody out here has good stuff and we have got to do our job. The focus will be on round one and we won’t change our focus until we light up a win light tomorrow.”

The first round of the NHRA Lucas Oil Nationals will begin at 11 am. Tomorrow following the opening ceremonies at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip. The race will be televised nationally on FS1.

POMONA, CA (April 1, 2023) — For the second time in her young career, Pro Stock rising star Camrie Caruso raced to the No. 1 qualifier at an NHRA national event. On the strength of her Friday afternoon pass of 6.518 seconds at 211.79 mph, during round one of qualifying for the NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip Caruso will lead the Pro Stock field into eliminations tomorrow. Caruso and the Powerbuilt Tools Chevrolet Camaro will face Steve Graham in the first round. The 2022 NHRA Rookie of the Year will bring momentum into the race looking to keep her win streak alive after her victory last weekend at the NHRA Arizona Nationals. 

Camrie Caruso and Powerbuilt Tools Chevrolet Camaro, photo by SR Driven Media

“We’re really excited to be number one heading into Sunday,” said Caruso. “We wanted to win the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, but hopefully we’ll have another shot at it in Vegas. We’ll just focus on winning the race tomorrow. I think we’ll be just fine. My guys are really smart. They know what they’re doing. We were number one coming in today and we didn’t really need to kill it on the performance side. It was way different than it was yesterday. We will be just fine tomorrow.”

The last time Caruso was No. 1 was her fifth start of her rookie year and she raced to the final round at the SpringNationals in Houston. After winning in Phoenix last weekend Caruso has confidence and a strong race car going into race day at the Winternationals.

Camrie Caruso, No. 1 qualifier at NHRA Winternationals, photo by SR Driven Media

“I was really calm on Sunday in Phoenix,” said Caruso, from the Shav Glick Media Center. “I’m just going to continue to try and stay calm and not let anything rattle me. We’re just going to focus on the win lights.”

During the first session of qualifying today Caruso was upset in the opening round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge racing veteran Matt Hartford. Last weekend Caruso got the win light but today Hartford got to the finish line stripe first, then went on to win the Challenge and its $5,000 top prize. In her losing effort Caruso posted the quickest losing time and earned an important championship bonus point.

“We wanted to get that Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win, but we will definitely take that championship point,” said Caruso. “Those points will add up and we just want to give this Powerbuilt Tools Chevrolet Camaro race car every advantage we can. I am excited for tomorrow and going after my second Pro Stock win.”

Final eliminations will begin for Pro Stock at noon with the race being televised on FS1.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (April 1, 2023) – Progressive American Flat Track TT master JD Beach(No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) added another chapter to his legend by reigning supreme at Saturday’s ZO CBD Arizona Super TT presented by RideNow Powersports at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Chandler, Arizona. Beach, who has now claimed victories in seven of the most recent eight Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle TT Main Events, ultimately proved worthy of his status as the heavy favorite coming into the weekend. But that doesn’t mean he didn’t have to work for this one. That work started in the race’s opening corner after initially getting displaced to third behind reigning Grand National Champion Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle/Rogers Racing/SDI Racing FTR750) and points leader Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT). The biggest danger moment for Beach came when Daniels took control of the lead two minutes into the Main. The on-form Daniels – who actually out-qualified Beach earlier in the day – looked to rip open an advantage while his teammate was stuck behind Mees on a track that presented few opportunities to pass and plenty of opportunities to mess up. Almost exactly a minute later, Beach (literally) flew by Mees over the start-finish jump to slot into second. And almost exactly one minute after that he pulled a carbon-copy of the high-flying move on Daniels to take the lead for himself. Daniels did well to keep Beach honest as they left the remainder of the field in their wake. However, he ultimately gave up the chase with a couple minutes remaining on the clock, content to cruise to second. When asked how he managed to charge around a racetrack that almost everyone else had to tiptoe around, Beach joked, “Growing up, I was told you either had to be smart or dumb, and I chose dumb. I was going for it. No, it was a great race. I knew Dallas had my number all day long. He’s been riding so good. All season, he’s been hauling the mail. It’s been frustrating for me because we’re on the same bike, and he’s been whupping my butt. Today, I’ve got to thank my crew. They worked so hard all day long. We were kind of on the back foot, but they didn’t give up. They kept working, and that’s what I did in the Main Event too.” Behind the Estenson Racing 1-2, Mees ran in third with Briar Bauman (No. 3 Parts Plus/Jacob Companies KTM 890 Duke) in determined pursuit. That is until Mees’ machine became unsettled over the bumps and then lost the rear. While Mees did an admirable job to pick up and remount his factory Indian as quickly as was humanly possible, he still lost a few positions in the aftermath of the mishap. That elevated Bauman to his second podium in four starts on the Rick Ware Racing KTM. It also rewarded Ben Lowe (No. 25 Rackley Racing/Mission Foods Indian FTR750) and Johnny Lewis(No. 10 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650) with fourth- and fifth-place finishes, respectively. Mees salvaged sixth and was joined by Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing Indian FTR750), Bronson Bauman (No. 37 Fastrack Racing/2 Wheelz KTM 890 Duke), Kolby Carlile (No. 36 G&G Racing/Yamaha Racing Yamaha MT-07), and Ryan Wells (No. 94 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650) in the bottom half of the top ten. Title hopeful Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750) was a Main Event scratch after suffering a fall during practice at the start of the day. Following four of 18 races, Daniels leads with 92 points, followed by Beach (73), Mees (71), and Bauman (62). Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER 2019 Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER champion Dalton Gauthier (No. 79 D&D Racing/Certified KTM 450 SX-F) closed to within one point of the ‘23 points lead with a precise and patient ride to victory at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Gauthier established himself as the favorite going in with his strong pre-race performance but ended up corralled behind Chad Cose (No. 49 1st Impressions Race Team/Husqvarna Racing FC450) in the early going after Cose dove down from the outside of Row 1 to claim the lead coming out of the race’s opening corner. Gauthier sat close on Cose’s rear wheel as they circulated the slick, one-line track, hoping to either find or force a mistake from the leader. All the while, Gauthier faced similar heat from behind, with a long string of riders jammed up behind them, spearheaded by Kody Kopp (No. 1 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-F), who himself was flanked by Max Whale (No. 18 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-F) and Trevor Brunner (No. 21 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F). Just as the race approached mid-distance, Gauthier made his move, landing along- and inside of Cose as they completed a jump and slid into the subsequent left-hander. Kopp attempted to slip underneath Cose at the same time but was denied. While Kopp and co. regrouped to map out another assault, Gauthier opened a two second lead at the front. The reigning champ did finally push his way up the inside of Cose a couple minutes later and was joined in the overtake by Whale and Brunner. A late red flag added the potential for some unexpected drama to a race that appeared all but settled when Andrew Luker (No. 11 Rackley Racing/Keeran Racing Yamaha YZ450F) crashed with just 10 seconds remaining on the clock. That set the stage for a staggered restart and three-lap shootout. However, Gauthier successfully survived the second launch and cleared off to grab his first checkered flag of the season. The win was his third career TT victory and sees him remain the only rider in the field to have finished on the podium in every race this season. “We worked our butts off this offseason putting this program together,” Gauthier said. “It’s going great. I’ve been on the podium every round and KTM has won every race so far. I’ve got to thank my whole team… There’s so many people that help our program out. It’s only going to keep getting better, and I’m super stoked on this one.” Kopp held for second to retain his points lead over Gauthier (86-85) despite third-placed Whale and fourth-placed Brunner applying maximum pressure over the final laps. Chase Saathoff (No. 88 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R) completed the top five, followed by Hayden Gillim (No. Comstock Energy/Vance & Hines KTM 450 SX-F), who made his way from a crash in his heat to the LCQ to an eventual sixth-place ride. Cose was the biggest loser in the red-flag reshuffle, winding up ninth after leading the opening half of the race and running in the top-two for the bulk of the contest. Next Up: The world’s premier dirt track motorcycle racing series will tackle its first Half-Mile of the 2023 season on Saturday, April 22, with the Mission Dallas Half-Mile presented by Roof Systems at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas.Visit https://www.tixr.com/promoters/americanflattrackto secure your tickets today. For those that can’t catch the live action from the circuit, FansChoice.tv is the live streaming home of Progressive AFT. Sign up now and catch every second of on-track action starting with Practice & Qualifying and ending with the Victory Podium at the end of the night at https://www.fanschoice.tv. FOX Sports coverage of the ZO CBD Arizona Super TT presented by RideNow Powersports, featuring in-depth features and thrilling onboard cameras, will premiere on FS1 on Sunday, April 9at 1:30 p.m. ET (10:30 a.m. PT). For more information on Progressive AFT visit https://www.americanflattrack.com.

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series

In-N-Out Raceway

Race 3 of 21

During the second round of qualifying at the In-N-Out Raceway on Saturday afternoon, the Kalitta Motorsports DHL GR Supra was involved in an on-track incident after crossing the finish line. Driver J.R. Todd was okay following the accident as well as driver John Force who was the that crossed the center line ultimately making contact with Todd. Below are quotes from Todd after the incident. Of note, the team had to go to a backup chassis and body for the remainder of the race weekend.

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

What happened in the incident with John Force in the second round of qualifying?

“Honestly, I still don’t know. I haven’t seen the video, but just normal run. I was trucking down through there pretty good, get the chutes out before the finish line like normal – like you’re pretty much taught as a young driver and that time I feel like I paid the price for doing it. At first I thought maybe he just got into my chutes of something, but next thing I know I see him on my left side and we’re in the left lane. You’re not supposed to be there. After that, just sort of hanging on and steering away from him, steering away from the wall and trying to get on the brake to get the thing stopped. But when the chutes are tangled up like that, you’re just along for the ride. It’s really unfortunate because it was a brand new car for us, beautiful car and worked really well. There’s nothing long with our car that we pulled out for Q3, but just new body and new car. I hate creating extra work for the guys, especially something silly like that.”

What is the feeling in the cockpit when something like this happens?

“It’s a helpless feeling. You’re not really in control at that point when the other guy is wrapped in your chutes or his chutes are wrapped around your car. I haven’t seen any video so I can’t really tell you exactly what happened. I just know he was dragging us along for the ride. It sucks. I don’t like tearing up stuff especially when it’s out of my control.”

Is there anything that could be done differently to avoid this from happening in the future?

“If I had a rearview mirror, I would have swerved to have gotten away from him. I don’t know. I can’t critique what he did or didn’t do because I haven’t seen the run. We made a nice, solid 393 run and got the chutes out and the next thing I’m getting run over.”

What do you need to do with a new car and body to get ready for Sunday?

“Now we need to shake this car down and I’m sure it will be just fine. It’s the car we finished the season with last year and it ran really well. Hopefully we can go rip off a good run in Q3 and get ready for Sunday.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

PPG 375

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

FT. WORTH, TEXAS

TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING REPORT

APRIL 1, 2023

FELIX ROSENQVIST PUTS CHEVROLET ON POLE AT TEXAS

SECOND CONSECUTIVE NTT P1 AWARD AT 1.5-MILE TRACK

• Four Team Chevy Drivers in Top-Five Qualifiers for PPG 375
• Fourth Career NTT P1 for No, 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet Driver

FT. WORTH – (APRIL 1, 2023) – For the second consecutive year, Felix Rosenqvist put his No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet on the pole at Texas Motor Speedway. It is the fourth NTT P1 Award of his INDYCAR Series career. This is the seventh pole for Chevrolet since 2012 when the Bowtie Brand returned with the 2.2 liter Twin Turbocharged Direct Injected V6.

With a two-lap average speed of 220.264, Rosenqvist leads four Team Chevy drivers starting in the top-five for the 250-lap on Sunday.

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet starts third; Josef Newgarden, No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, rolls off fourth and Pato O’Ward, No, 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet will start fifth

The PPG 375 will take the green flag Sunday, April 2 at 12:00 p.m. ET live on NBC, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 160.

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 6 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET:

“Waiting for most of the field to run is kind of what we went through last year. It was funny how similar that was to 2022. We have a great, great car! Thanks to McLaren, NTT DATA, Chevrolet and all our partners for just doing a phenomenal job to put us in this position. All three of us are quick and it’s always in the details by the team you know. It’s flat out just trying to shorten that track distance. And it worked out.

“It’s nice. I don’t know if you will really want to lead this race because of fuel. So maybe I’ll drop back a couple of sessions. We will kind of have to figure that out tomorrow, depending on how the car feels and race trim we have.  It’s nice man. It’s nice to be in the beehive. Big field nowadays and fun.

“Great car. Arrow McLaren just gave us a weapon today again. I think we kind of just built on last year. Maybe it’s a good thing to start out early, I don’t know. The track kind of warmed up, so we’ll take it. Big thanks to all of our partners. Velo, NTT, Arrow, they’ve done just a phenomenal job. I think we’ve always been good here, but this is a whole different confidence level compared to last year. Let’s try to wrap it up tomorrow.”

On team confidence with him and the team…

“I think it is. It’s definitely a calm, and we’re all pretty nice and calm. Everyone at the No. 6 car, especially, I think we’re just kind of doing our thing. Not looking much at the others, and we were chatting there ‘Let’s not celebrate too early here.’ You never know if there’s a magic wind putting Marcus (Ericsson) into P1, but it was an amazing qualifying. I don’t think we could have done much better with what we had. Big thanks to everyone.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES RICHMOND RACEWAY TOYOTA OWNERS 400 TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT APRIL 1, 2023

CHEVROLET FILLS FRONT TWO ROWS AT RICHMONDPast Richmond winners Bowman, Busch to start first, second in Camaro ZL1s Due to morning rain and storms Saturday, race officials cancelled NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying sessions. The starting lineup for the Toyota Owners 400 at Richmond Raceway has been determined by the NASCAR rule book. TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:  POS.   DRIVER1st      Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL12nd     Kyle Busch, No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL13rd      William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL14th      Ross Chastain, No. 1 Jockey Camaro ZL18th      Ricky Stenhouse, No. 47 Kroger/Kraft Mac & Cheese Camaro ZL19th      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL116th    Corey LaJoie, No. 7 BlueGreen Vacations Camaro ZL120th     Daniel Suárez, No. 99 Quaker State Camaro ZL122nd    Erik Jones, No. 43 U.S. AIR FORCE Camaro ZL123rd     Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Camaro ZL125th     AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL127th     Austin Dillon, No. 3 BREZTRI Aerosphere Camaro ZL129th     Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL130th     Josh Berry, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL135th     Anthony Alfredo, No. 78 DUDE WIPES Camaro ZL136th     Ty Dillon, No. 77 NationsGuard Camaro ZL137th     Chandler Smith, No. 13 Quick Tie Products, Inc. Camaro ZL1 TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:  POS.  DRIVER1st      Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)2nd     Kyle Busch (Chevrolet)3rd      William Byron (Chevrolet)4th      Ross Chastain (Chevrolet)5th      Tyler Reddick (Toyota) ·       FS1 will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series Toyota Owners 400 on Sunday, April 2, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – POLE WINNERWHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE IN STARTING FIRST VERSUS STARTING FIFTH?“Pit stall selection, I think, is probably the biggest thing. You’d probably still have a pretty good pit stall at fifth, though. So not a huge difference. Having clean air and all that at the start is important. Hopefully we’ll take advantage of a good pit pick and have a good, solid day. This has been a hard place for me to get a hold of in the past, even with a win here. So just trying to maximize the day and keep chipping away at it.” IS IT ANY DIFFERENT WALKING INTO THE GARAGE TO THE FIRST PIT STALL RATHER THAN THE 16TH?“It’s definitely nice. It’s something I haven’t done in my career. So it’s cool to lead the points with this crew. Obviously we’re a handful of races in, so it’s a small sample size. But we have had a good start to the season, which feels really good. It’s my job to keep that going.” WHAT DO YOU REMEMBER FROM YOUR WIN HERE A COUPLE OF YEARS AGO THAT YOU CAN APPLY TOMORROW?“We’ve had some strong runs here. Honestly last year in the spring, we had a really strong run. We had a tire issue on one run that probably made our day look worse than it was. Really the day we won, we were really good on long runs. We struggled a little bit on the short run and had an uncontrolled tire to start Stage Three, so I had to start at the back and still drove to third before we got that late caution. We’ve kind of been hit and miss here a bit, but hopefully I can apply some of that long-run knowledge that I have or what I’m looking for in the racecar to help us tomorrow. I feel like you’re going to see a lot of long runs for the most part. With no downforce on the thing, it’s going to be a lot about taking care of your tires.” WE’VE SEEN THIS BE A STRATEGY RACE IN THE PAST WITH THE WORN-OUT SURFACE. WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR TOMORROW?“Long runs and a ton of tire fall-off… kind of the same Richmond we’ve always seen. This is the one place that I don’t think that the downforce package is going to really change much. The tire fall-off always has been so high since this place has gotten worn out; it’s always been kind of what it is. I don’t even really feel like the race changed much when we went from the previous gen car to this car, so it’ll be interesting to see. I could be totally wrong but I think we’ll hopefully have a good day tomorrow.” ON BEING BACK WITH GREG IVES.“It’s been cool. He had a short retirement, right? I’m glad to have Greg back and glad to have that depth at Hendrick Motorsports to have a guy like that to fill in when needed. I enjoy working with Greg, and it’s been good to have him back.” LEADING THE POINTS, BEST AVERAGE FINISH AND SO ON… WHAT’S BEEN GOING RIGHT FOR THIS TEAM?“Execution. We’ve maximized our bad days. We struggled a little bit at Phoenix but still ended up in the top-10. At Atlanta, if the last lap goes a little different then we finish in the top-10 there, too. I feel like just maximizing our bad days and maximizing each little part and piece of everything throughout the races. This is a small sample size. It feels good to be leading points and to have this season that we’re having so far. We’re six races in and so much can change. We’re trying to continue that each and every week to keep that going.” WHAT HAS IT BEEN AT RICHMOND THAT HAS BEEN A STRUGGLE?“It’s been tough. We’ve had good days here and then we’ve had really bad days. You have a good day here and I’ve kind of left… Like last spring or even the race we won, I’m like ‘Man, I know exactly what we need and I know the feel that I want to have.’ Then we come back for the fall and be confused and can’t find that or can’t get the racecar to do the same things or feel the same way. So we’ve been a little more hit-and-miss than we want to be. We didn’t practice so it’s hard to say, but I think we identified some things that can help me. Hopefully with the right direction in the racecar we’ll be strong tomorrow.” ON THE RESPECT BETWEEN DRIVERS ON-TRACK.“They’re completely right. There’s no way around it. That second-to-last restart at COTA was a good example of that. I did not want to go down there and run into the 99 and the 19. The problem is that if I follow the 99 into the corner, then I get absolutely run over by everybody. So I get left just to try and defend that, but I still get runover by everybody and shoved into the corner. Fortunately it worked out for us but didn’t for those guys. If you are the super-clean guy and you’re not aggressive or anything, you’re typically going to be the guy getting used up. The cars are about indestructible at this point. The old car, you’d have tire rubs or knock the radiator out of it. We hit each other so hard all the time. At the Coliseum, it felt like you were crashing on every restart. It’s kind of crazy how hard we run into each other. I don’t like it. I’ve always tried to race super clean and I feel like I’ve been one of the cleaner, more fair guys at times – almost to a detriment. I don’t love racing like that but at some point if you’re not aggressive, you’re going to just finish bad every week. It’s also my job to maximize my finishing position for my race team and doing the best I can to achieve that and not be in the drama; we were in the drama a little bit last week but it’s a pain in the butt.” WHAT’S THE FIX FOR THAT?“I don’t think you can blame a racecar when we have three pedals, a steering wheel and a shifter. Everybody has the same thing and can avoid that. We don’t do it on the initial start of the races. We just do it at the end. So at that point, I don’t think you can just blame the car. I think the problem is that that gets rewarded. That style of driving absolutely gets rewarded where we are right now. I don’t know what the fix is. I think it’s a tough spot. I personally would love to see us do restarts in a different manner at road courses, whether that’s how F1 does it or just something different. The Turn One stuff at COTA and at Indy and possibly at Chicago is a bit much, but I think it’s a shared blame between the drivers and cars. It’s the situation we’re in. Every driver here is paid to maximize their finish and everybody sees that being aggressive and doing that stuff is going to help you. At some point, you’re just stuck in a corner where you have to or you’re just giving up positions, which if you give up positions, your team isn’t going to be happy with you. It’s an awkward box that we’re all in. Trying to tiptoe around that and be on the right side of things is tough sometimes.” THIS THREE-RACE, SHORT-TRACK SWING COMING UP… YOUR THOUGHTS ON GOING INTO THOSE RACES AND IS THERE A STRATEGY FOR NEXT WEEK?“For next week, I don’t know. It’s obviously an interesting race. I’m interested to see how it plays out. I unfortunately looked at the weather (for Bristol) today, and I’m a little nervous. Hopefully that changes. I think it’s a bit different. It’s somewhat fun depending on how the racetrack is and how the race goes for you. I love short-track racing. This place and Martinsville are super-technical. This place, especially, in trying to keep the rear tires on it and trying to find little bits of grip and trying to be smart when you’re racing guys is difficult at times but technical and fun. I like this stretch. It’s some good tracks for us. Hopefully racing the sprint car a little more helps me at Bristol even though they couldn’t be more different. At least I’ll have some dirt laps. I don’t know… we’ll see how it goes.” THOUGHTS ON THIS PACKAGE AND HOW IT WILL PRODUCE AT MARTINSVILLE.“I don’t think it’ll change much here. Hopefully it changes Martinsville because last year was not what we all wanted for Martinsville. It wasn’t what we all came to love about that place. Hopefully it improves the racing there… getting the tire to fall off, getting the rear tires to wear out, creating forward drive issues to where you can’t just downshift and accelerate off the corner and stop in the center of the corner and beat the guy behind you. We’ll see. I’m hopeful. It’s a step in the right direction. I think it’s really going to be about the weather, how the rubber lays down and how the tire falls off more than anything.”

POMONA, Calif. (March 31, 2023) – Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster team currently sit in the No. 1 spot Friday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip. Funny Car points leader Robert Hight has the Automobile Club of Southern California / Cornwell Tools / Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet Camaro SS No. 3 with John Force and the BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevy sitting No. 9. Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster tentatively sit No. 10. Brittany Force handled the Flav-R-Pac dragster to a 3.712-second pass at 328.86 mph despite having a cylinder out and heavy tire shake. “Honestly, it didn’t feel like a great run to me, so when we got down to the top and they told me it was a 3.71 and we were currently low, it was exciting, but it surprised me a little,” Force said. “It kind of rattled half-track to the thousand-foot mark. I just thought at any second this thing is going to pop behind me and it’s going to get me in trouble. Right before the thousand-foot mark, it shut off.” Force will be looking to earn her second No. 1 qualifying position of the season, 44th of her career with two more qualifying tries on Sunday. Her provisional No. 1 also earns her three bonus points. Coming off a win in Phoenix, Robert Hight took the Auto Club Chevy to a 3.892-second pass at 329.99 mph to be the third quickest of the first qualifying session and earn a bonus point. John Force and the BlueDEF Chevy made it to mid-track in their first pass down Pomona Dragstrip before smoking the tires and clicking it off. They went 4.162 seconds at 230.61 mph to end up in the No. 9 spot. Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / RMT dragster ran into tire smoke on their first qualifying attempt landing them with a 4.273-second pass at 189.76 mph in the No. 10 spot. The Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals continues with qualifying Saturday at 12:30 and 3:30 p.m. with eliminations slated to begin at 11 a.m. on Sunday. Television coverage of the event begins with qualifying shows Saturday at 7 p.m. ET and Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations will begin on FS1 Sunday at 7 p.m. ET. -30-

AUSTIN PROCK, 27, Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist DragsterQualifying:10th; 4.273-seconds; 189.76 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0 BRITTANY FORCE, 36, Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy DragsterQualifying:1st; 3.712-seconds; 328.86 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+3 (quickest Q1) JOHN FORCE, 73, BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:9th; 4.162-seconds; 230.61 mphBonus Qualifying Points: 0ROBERT HIGHT, 53, Auto Club Chevy Camaro SSQualifying:3rd; 3.892-seconds; 329.99 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+1 (third quickest Q1)

NASCAR CUP SERIES RICHMOND RACEWAY TOYOTA OWNERS 400 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT APRIL 1, 2023

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1, met with the media prior to the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Richmond Raceway. Press Conference Transcript:  AFTER LAST WEEK, THERE WAS MORE TALK ABOUT RESPECT IN THE FIELD. WHY IS IT THAT WAY?“I think there’s a culmination of a lot of different things, too many to list or that I can dream up and think of. Some of it stems from how these younger guys are trained to race, what they do and how they are told what to do from a young age, how to be aggressive and things like that… go out there and a take-no-prisoners kind of thing. But then I feel like there are a lot of guys that just… I don’t know. It’s crazy. A lot of them are friends off the track, too, and then they’re running over each other on the track and even teammates are running over each other. I guess there’s not enough payback per se, even though you look at the Denny (Hamlin) and (Ross) Chastain thing and they’ve continued to go back and forth a few times. It’s just not good. I think the road courses kind of (lend) to a more aggressive nature. I think it’s a little bit of the car, too, where you can just bash into the back of somebody and you don’t have anything that hurts your racecar, where the old car you’d crush a nose in or break a radiator or something like that if you were too dumb about it. Now you can flat-out punt somebody and nothing happens to your racecar. There are a lot of different variables.” THERE’S SOME TALK ABOUT CHANGING DOUBLE-FILE RESTARTS ON ROAD COURSES TO SINGLE-FILE. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU’D LIKE TO SEE?“We talked a lot about respect last year at Indy. The Indy road course is super-terrible for it because you have that long straightaway where we’re all bunched up two-by-two then you fan out four-wide and you have to come down to two-wide or even single-wide trying to get through Turn One or Turn Two. The same kind of thing happens at COTA and the Chicago road course, who knows what the hell is going to happen there. If somebody gets turned sideways in one corner, it’s going to be a track block. That’s going to be interesting. Single-file for Chicago, I think there’s no question that you can’t go without it. You have to go single-file. It would probably help a little bit just to spread some out. You’re still going to get some guys that dive-bomb and go three-wide if they’re at least relatively close enough because the car allows you to do that. The car allows you to take that chance of throwing it in on somebody and knocking into them and you don’t care.” YOU MENTIONED THE FIRST CORNER AT THE INDIANAPOLIS ROAD COURSE. IS THERE A SOLUTION FOR THAT OR IS THAT AMONG THE REASONS WHY THE OVAL WOULD BE BETTER?“The solution obviously could be single-file restarts. A solution also could be that when you leave – I think Turn 13 is the sweeper before the front straightaway – so between turns 12 and 13 if the leader was allowed to leave there and start building speed, you’re still going to have the tail of the field that’s braking getting into Turn 10 and have to come through that S-section before getting onto the frontstrech. So to me, that could be a solution where you’re going to break up the field a little bit and get some separation so you don’t have as much calamity.” WOULD YOU PREFER TO GO BACK TO THE OVAL?“Yeah. I don’t know why we ever went to the road course, to be honest with you. I don’t think it really did an up-tick or change a thing at Indy. If we can’t do a good enough job getting enough people to Indy to suffice us staying on the oval, then we need to go somewhere else. I’ll say that about any track.” YOU’D LIKE TO WIN EVERY RACE, BUT HOW IMPORTANT IS TO THE SPORT AND TO FANS THAT OTHER MANUFACTURERS HAVE FINALLY WON RACES?“Parity is always good, right? Last year we had 19 winners (from) every manufacturer. I think the guy who won the most races – I think it was four or five – so it’s been awhile since it’s been that few of races by the top winner of the series. Typically you see seven, eight, nine, 10 races of a guy who wins. It just showed good parity. I think a lot of that has more to do with this Next-Gen racecar than it does the manufacturers. They’re all working hard and doing the best with what they’ve got, and we continue to build on what our program is with RCR and Chevrolet. Hopefully we can keep heading in the right direction.” IS PARITY A GOOD THING IN RACING?“If you look at F1, I don’t think there’s much parity. You could argue that if you turn on NASCAR races, you kind of don’t really know who’s going to win each week. You know who’s good at particular racetracks and sometimes those guys – myself – will only win one race a year, so they’re not winning every single week. You turn on an F1 race and you wonder if anyone is going to beat Red Bull right now; it was Mercedes so there’s obviously a distinct difference between our two series.” YOU MENTIONED LAST WEEK THAT YOU HADN’T HAD ISSUES WITH TYLER REDDICK AND YOU RACED HIM CLEAN. WHAT IS IT THAT HE HAS DONE WHERE YOU HAVEN’T HAD THOSE ISSUES?“For me and Reddick, we’ve always raced around each other, we’ve always been cordial with each other and given each other room. If you kind of lay on a guy a little bit, no big deal. You give the benefit of the doubt, but you haven’t had guys that have flat-out run over you. Reddick was one of those so you kind of remember those. There are a few others on the opposite end of the spectrum that if it had been them in front, you’d throw it off in there and you don’t care if it sticks. You’d rather you stick and they don’t. So that’s just the nature of our sport and what racing has been forever. I talked about it weeks ago with the past generation of Jeff Gordon, Tony Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Mark Martin and all those guys on how they did things and how I remember growing up watching that and seeing that. Yeah, you had your Earnhardts out there and some of the other guys who were a little rough sometimes and you’re going to have that occasionally. But the week-to-week nature of it and the same guy being in the headlines running over somebody every single weekend is a bit tiresome. I remember Ernie Irvin back in the day who obviously did a little bit of that and had to have a come-to-Jesus meeting with the whole garage area of basically admitting his mistakes. You’re never going to see that in this day.” IS IT ANY DIFFERENT ON HOW YOU MEND FENCES WITH TEAMMATES VERSUS NON-TEAMMATES?“I think that has to do more with the team owner. When I had an issue with Jeff Gordon a long time ago, Rick (Hendrick) brought us in, sat us down and we talked. Myself and Denny once or twice; once for sure in the All-Star race but then after that there were a couple of speedway racing incidents where we had to agree to disagree on our philosophies on speedway racing. Obviously he’s won a hell of a lot more than I have at those, so he’s better at that. But that was where Joe (Gibbs) had to get involved and kind of talk us through our differences. That’s kind of where it lies in my opinion. When I’ve had drivers at KBM that don’t get along or whatever, I talk to them individually, then I bring them together and I talk to them together to try and go over that stuff. Last week looking at the Suarez incident and just the replay incident I saw – I didn’t go back and watch – Chastain dove it in like anyone would and ran into the back of a guy who ran into the back of Suarez. It wasn’t maliciously intent for the 1 to hit the 99; it just happened that way through chain reaction.” WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT YOUNG GUYS COMING UP SPENDING A LOT OF TIME IN SIMULATION. DO YOU SPEND A LOT OF TIME IN SIMULATION AND DO YOU FIND IT A BENEFIT?“I have been in the Chevy sim more in the last two months of me being allowed in it than I had been in three years in the Toyota sim. Trying to get intertwined and engrained in the system and how our setups are, how it feels and how it drives. I did the COTA tire test and then I went in there and had to model the tire and build the tire to what I felt like the tire should feel like. We have a rotation of drivers that go in after races so I did Phoenix a little bit and I did COTA again. There’s a bunch of stuff that happens behind the scenes. What’s been most useful for us probably I would say is Fontana. Fontana was really close. It was probably closest to the sim that we had on a real track with laptimes and everything. Our car feel was right on point. We won that one, so that was really rewarding. Then we go to Vegas and Phoenix and you struggle and you can run seventh to 10th. It has a similar feel but you don’t have the same speed. Like your laptimes are off. If we were running the laptimes that we ran in the sim in real life, we’d be up front and leading all the races. But it’s just about finding that grip. Something’s not correlating between the sim and the shop and the car that gets built and brought to the track. We need to work on that.” SO THAT’S WHERE YOUR KNOWLEDGE OF RACING AS LONG AS YOU’VE BEEN DOING IT WOULD BE MORE BENEFICIAL TO YOU THAN THE SIM IS TO A YOUNG DRIVER?“I’m the best sim we’ve got. I’m the most expensive one, too! I take pride in that because I feel like I give very detailed (information) and can explain a lot about the feedback of the racecar and what it’s doing, it’s attitude, it’s nature, what happens on a short run and a long run, all of that stuff. That’s really where you get a lot of information – the post-race meetings we have and dissecting me and basically downloading me and getting the information so the crew chiefs can go back. Last year we struggled on sim and not seeing the correlation. So a lot of times we would just go off our last race notes, what the setup was, what I said needed to be better and then just change the car around some of those ideas, not validate it on sim and go to the track and we were OK. That right now is not how we’re doing it. This year, we’re going to sim and trying to make that tool as representative as we can.”

Brad Sweet Rolls to Victory on Night One of Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw NationalsThe four-time champion earns back-to-back wins for the first time since mid-2021After knocking down the door to his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car win of the season last week, Brad Sweet made sure it stayed down in Texas.On Friday night at Devil’s Bowl Speedway, the “Big Cat” patiently waited for the right moment to pounce, and after taking the lead on Lap 10, Sweet never looked back on his way to victory on night one of the Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw Nationals.The four-time and reigning Series champion now owns two straight wins after topping last Saturday’s event at Magnolia Motor Speedway, marking his first back-to-back triumphs since July of 2021. He’s now only three victories shy of equaling Stevie Smith (84 wins) for 10th on the all-time World of Outlaws win list. The Kasey Kahne Racing driver has also only missed the top two once in the last six races, giving him a 2.33 average finish over that span.It’s clear that the dynamic between he and the KKR crew consisting of Eric Prutzman, Tye Wolfgang, and Andrew Bowman is as strong as ever as Sweet chases his fifth straight title.“It’s an unbelievable team right now,” a grateful Sweet said in Victory Lane. “We’re just making such great decisions all night long. We didn’t unload that great. I think we threw four bars at it, changed everything under the sun. We went sixth to third in the Dash, but I still wasn’t that good, so we still even made some pretty big changes for the [Feature]. I’m just really impressed with our decision making. We’re really just working well together and trying to figure these tires out. It seems like we’ve got a good handle on it, really working for me right now. I’m just excited to keep it rolling.”Sweet started the 25-lap Feature from row two but quickly jumped into the runner-up spot behind pole-sitter, Brent Marks, on the opening circuit.As the early laps unfolded, Sweet made it clear he would have something for the Murray-Marks #19. The Napa Auto Parts #49 stayed glued to Marks’ tail tank, and Sweet showed him a nose a few times, making Marks aware that he had company.Finally, a slight slip from Marks exiting Turn 2 on Lap 10 gave Sweet the run he needed. As the lead duo navigated Turns 3 and 4, Sweet ripped the cushion to take the lead as Marks rolled the bottom.“I got Brent moving a little, and I felt like my car was way better,” Sweet explained. “I was just kind of waiting until lapped traffic or the right opportunity. I didn’t really want to show him a nose until I thought I could clear him, but he slipped up and I just didn’t quite get there but kept my cool. I honestly just felt really under control the whole time and felt like we just had a really good handling car. I could do a lot with my feet and brakes and everything.”Once Sweet snagged the lead, it simply became a question of how far would the gap grow?The veteran sliced through slower cars with ease as Marks and third-running Jacob Allen watched him drive away. When the checkered flag waved, Sweet’s lead was north of a whopping five seconds.Friday banked $10,000 for Sweet and served as a strong opening statement heading into Saturday’s $20,000 to win Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw Nationals finale.“This gives us a good starting point for tomorrow night, and hopefully we’ll be standing here again,” Sweet said.Behind Sweet, last year’s Texas Outlaw Nationals champion, Brent Marks, held on to the runner-up spot after leading the first nine laps, marking his first Series podium of the year and the 28th of his career. Traffic hindered the Myerstown, PA native’s hopes of winning, but he admitted that even with a clear track, Sweet would’ve been tough to top.“The 49 was really good, and I just couldn’t get through lapped traffic,” Marks said. “I wasn’t able to move around to try different stuff to try and catch Brad again, but they were just so good I don’t know if I was going to be able to. All in all, it was a great night. We just ended up being too tight there and just had to muscle the car into the corner a little too hard.”Rounding out the top-three and equaling his Devil’s Bowl personal best was Shark Racing’s Jacob Allen. The Hanover, PA driver now owns 24 career World of Outlaws podiums. Like Marks, Allen found himself struggling at times with traffic.“It was a good race,” Allen noted. “I did struggle with a couple lapped cars there. I think that kind of hurt me with maybe getting to second. Brad ran a good race, got through lapped cars and off he went.“It feels good to have my second podium of the year. I’m feeling good on the new tires. I feel like it took a couple of races to figure that out, and it feels good to have an understanding of them and get my car adjusted to them.”UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars are back at Devil’s Bowl Saturday, April 1, for the Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw Nationals finale. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the action on DIRTVision.RESULTSA Feature (25 Laps): 1. 49-Brad Sweet[3]; 2. 19-Brent Marks[1]; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen[4]; 4. 2-David Gravel[9]; 5. 11-Michael Kofoid[5]; 6. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[7]; 8. 5-Spencer Bayston[6]; 9. 52-Blake Hahn[8]; 10. 24-Rico Abreu[10]; 11. 7S-Robbie Price[12]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[15]; 13. 83-James McFadden[19]; 14. 9-Kasey Kahne[14]; 15. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[16]; 16. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[18]; 17. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[17]; 18. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[13]; 19. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[20]; 20. 88-Austin McCarl[21]; 21. 17B-Bill Balog[22]; 22. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[11]; 23. 20G-Noah Gass[25]; 24. 21-Brian Brown[24]; 25. 2C-Wayne Johnson[23]Last Chance Showdown (12 Laps): 1. 83-James McFadden[3]; 2. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[1]; 3. 88-Austin McCarl[2]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 5. 2C-Wayne Johnson[6]; 6. 21-Brian Brown[4]; 7. 20G-Noah Gass[8]; 8. 6M-Blake Mallory[11]; 9. 1J-Danny Jennings[7]; 10. 1-Brenham Crouch[9]; 11. 4-Austin Mundie[10]; 12. (DNS) 24W-Garet Williamson; 13. (DNS) 2B-Brett BeckerToyota Dash (6 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks[1]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[5]; 4. 1A-Jacob Allen[2]; 5. 11-Michael Kofoid[6]; 6. 5-Spencer Bayston[3]Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 11-Michael Kofoid[1]; 2. 5-Spencer Bayston[2]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[5]; 6. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[6]; 7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[7]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[9]; 9. 1J-Danny Jennings[8]; 10. 4-Austin Mundie[10]; 11. 2B-Brett Becker[11]Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 1A-Jacob Allen[2]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 3. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 4. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[4]; 5. 9-Kasey Kahne[6]; 6. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[5]; 7. 83-James McFadden[9]; 8. 88-Austin McCarl[7]; 9. 20G-Noah Gass[8]; 10. 6M-Blake Mallory[10]Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 19-Brent Marks[1]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[2]; 3. 2-David Gravel[3]; 4. 7S-Robbie Price[4]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz[6]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[5]; 7. 21-Brian Brown[8]; 8. 2C-Wayne Johnson[9]; 9. 1-Brenham Crouch[7]; 10. 24W-Garet Williamson[10]Qualifying: 1. 11-Michael Kofoid, 00:13.943[5]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart, 00:13.967[16]; 3. 19-Brent Marks, 00:14.014[3]; 4. 5-Spencer Bayston, 00:14.020[2]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen, 00:14.023[18]; 6. 49-Brad Sweet, 00:14.031[8]; 7. 24-Rico Abreu, 00:14.095[28]; 8. 52-Blake Hahn, 00:14.150[1]; 9. 2-David Gravel, 00:14.182[10]; 10. 41-Carson Macedo, 00:14.188[15]; 11. 3-Ayrton Gennetten, 00:14.203[13]; 12. 7S-Robbie Price, 00:14.238[17]; 13. 18-Giovanni Scelzi, 00:14.257[4]; 14. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 00:14.259[6]; 15. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 00:14.263[25]; 16. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr, 00:14.289[11]; 17. 9-Kasey Kahne, 00:14.310[31]; 18. 15-Donny Schatz, 00:14.312[21]; 19. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 00:14.339[7]; 20. 88-Austin McCarl, 00:14.341[27]; 21. 1-Brenham Crouch, 00:14.351[23]; 22. 1J-Danny Jennings, 00:14.363[22]; 23. 20G-Noah Gass, 00:14.370[9]; 24. 21-Brian Brown, 00:14.391[20]; 25. 17B-Bill Balog, 00:14.401[30]; 26. 83-James McFadden, 00:14.430[26]; 27. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 00:14.446[12]; 28. 4-Austin Mundie, 00:14.475[14]; 29. 6M-Blake Mallory, 00:14.780[24]; 30. 24W-Garet Williamson, 00:14.845[19]; 31. 2B-Brett Becker, 00:15.263[29]

POMONA, CA (March 30, 2023) — The Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals will be the first event on Jason Rupert’s five-race 2023 schedule that includes both the Pomona and Las Vegas NHRA national events and the Sonoma Nationals later this summer. Though the independent driver does not have a primary sponsor at the start of the season, he receives support from longtime partners TMS Titanium, Lucas Oil, CP-Carrillo, ICE Recovery + Wellness, and MAC Speed & Custom. He has a host of new local sponsors at his home race including J.S. Easterday Construction, Shell Roofing, S and J Interiors, Realtor David A. Silva, and Mayor’s Manor. Additionally, professional musician C.C. Thomas Jr., the bassist and bandleader for Diana Ross, has come on board with his Music For Young Minds Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity organization that has been established to make free music education accessible for as many children as possible who may have the desire to study music but don’t have the means. Thomas will be with the team during the Winternationals this weekend.

“I’ve been going to TMS for all my titanium needs since 2015,” said Rupert, who has three decades of experience, having begun his driving career in Charlie Marquez’s Top Alcohol Dragster in 1993. “From the performance side to safety and construction, Funny Cars have so many elements that require the combination of strength and lightweight that titanium provides. What separates TMS from other suppliers is their knowledge in our industry of what grade of titanium is best suited for each application.”

Jason Rupert, backed by TMS TItanium and a host of sponsors will return at Winternationals

Rupert’s team will be led by Rahn Tobler, who retired from full-time racing following his Top Fuel win with Austin Prock at the 2022 NHRA Finals. Tobler is advising the Southern California-based team during their limited schedule. Rupert ended his 2022 season with a career-best 4.030 second at 313.44 mph run at the NHRA Finals and was a finalist for the Automobile Club Road to the Future Award. His biggest performance goal for the NHRA Lucas Oil Winternationals is to record a 3-second elapsed time.

“I think we have a lot to be excited about going into a new season,” said Rupert. “We’ve had some ups and downs learning how to race at this level. We have a good group of volunteer guys on the crew who are really passionate. We all want to go out there and run hard. It takes time, and it takes runs. We have good parts and some talented people who have been willing to guide us. It’s up to us to not make mistakes and keep progressing.”

Rupert moved up to the professional ranks after acquiring the late Steve Plueger’s operation and upgrading it with Ford Mustang bodies, engine components from Don Schumacher Racing, and Bob Tasca III’s five-disc clutch program. The team made its debut at the NHRA Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals in 2021 with Jonnie Lindberg driving. Rupert earned his competition license upgrade that Monday and made his Professional driving debut at the 2021 NHRA Sonoma Nationals.

“All I’ve ever really wanted to do is race Funny Cars. I’d sit in all the cars that my dad was putting together at Woody Gilmour’s shop. I’d see the drivers putting on their masks with the breathers in the lanes at Orange County International Raceway and thought that was the coolest thing in the world,” added Rupert.

Outside of racing his Funny Car, Rupert is a custom fabricator by trade and crew chief for Jerry Espeseth’s Atlas Testing Nostalgia Funny Car. He lives in Anaheim Hills, Calif., with wife Jennifer and son Nickolas. Rupert will get to make his first passes of the season Friday in the opening qualifying session followed by two more qualifying runs on Saturday. The quickest 16 Funny Cars will race in eliminations on Sunday beginning at 11 a.m. with the race being broadcast nationally on FS1.

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CONCORD, NC (March 30, 2023) – Simpson Performance Products will help elevate the World of Outlaws in 2023, joining as the Preferred Safety Gear and sponsoring the Quick Time Award. They’ll also serve as a Preferred Partner with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals.

The world-class American safety product supplier will join the contingency program for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series, awarding $50 to the driver who sets Quick Time at each race for both series.

“We pride ourselves in providing the best equipment for the best drivers in the world and are excited to partner the Simpson brand with the premier series in dirt racing,” said Graham Fordyce, circle track sales manager at Holley. “This is a great opportunity to showcase to fans and drivers our commitment to dirt racing and our shared values.”

Along with elevating the series support, Simpson will also elevate the series safety by providing safety gear for series officials – putting its more than 30 years of experience in action all season long.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Cars and World of Outlaws Late Models continue their championship season this month. You can find their full schedules, HERE.

The 2023 DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals season kicks off Wednesday, June 14, at Peoria Speedway. For the full schedule, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the tracks, you can watch every World of Outlaws and DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals race live on DIRTVision.

Devil’s Bowl win list is occupied by many of the sport’s greats

MESQUITE, TX (March 30, 2023) – One of the most important dirt ovals in Sprint Car racing history can be found 20 minutes outside of Dallas.

Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, TX.

The track is known as the home of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars after hosting the Series’ inaugural race in 1978. The Greatest Show on Dirt has visited the half mile dozens of times in the years since and will continue to do so this weekend with the running of the Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw Nationals, March 31-April 1.

Throughout the years, Devil’s Bowl Victory Lane has been reserved for the sport’s best names – many already in the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame and others on their way. Of the 28 different drivers to top a race at the half mile, only three of them have less than 10 World of Outlaws triumphs. 

California’s Jimmy Boyd won the Series debut event on March 18, 1978, forever cementing himself as the first World of Outlaws winner.

Later that year in September, the driver who went on to become the most dominant at Devil’s Bowl, Sammy Swindell, came out on top for his first win at the track. The Germantown, TN legend eventually collected 19 triumphs in Mesquite, winning races in four different decades (‘70s, ‘80s, ‘90s, ‘00s). Swindell’s dominance was highlighted by a five-race winning streak in 1986-1987.

To nobody’s surprise, next in line to win at Devil’s Bowl after Swindell was Steve Kinser in March of 1979. “The King” tallied 16 of his 690 Feature wins at the half mile, trailing only Swindell’s total. Behind Steve is his cousin, Mark Kinser, with six victories including a streak of three straight in 1996-1997.

Hooks, TX native, Gary Wright, may not have the number of wins as Swindell and both Kinsers, but he proved he could contend with anyone at the track located just a few hours west of his hometown. Wright won six races with the World of Outlaws during his time, and all but one came at Devil’s Bowl – each coming in the ‘90s.

Danny Lasoski’s four Devil’s Bowl wins rank fifth all-time. The 2001 Series champion and 122-time Series winner experienced a brief stretch of dominance at the facility, earning all four of his victories over an eight-race span from 1999-2001.

Behind the top-five that separated themselves, the list gets a little crowded. Seven drivers have won three times at Devil’s Bowl, all of which are in the top 20 on the all-time Series win list. Among the three-time winners are current full-timers, 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz and Logan Schuchart. The latter of the two became only the third driver to top three consecutive World of Outlaws races at Devil’s Bowl with his wins from 2019-2021.

Those with a pair of Devil’s Bowl victories include even more legends like 1995 Series champion Dave Blaney (95 career wins), Stevie Smith (84 wins) and Jeff Swindell (51 wins), among others making two trips to Victory Lane.

Eleven different drivers have won once at Devil’s Bowl, most recently Brent Marks last season.

This weekend offers two chances for drivers to add their name to the Devil’s Bowl win list and position themselves next to legends. If the current list is any indicator, it’s nearly a guarantee that name will go down in history as one of the greats of the sport and a trip to the Hall of Fame may be on the horizon.

For tickets to the Federated Auto Parts Texas Outlaw Nationals, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action on DIRTVision.

Devil’s Bowl Speedway Winners (92 Races, 28 Drivers)

19 – Sammy Swindell

16 – Steve Kinser

6 – Mark Kinser

5 – Gary Wright

4 – Danny Lasoski

3 – Doug Wolfgang, Bobby Davis Jr., Andy Hillenburg, Joey Saldana, Daryn Pittman, Donny Schatz, Logan Schuchart

2 – Ron Shuman, Jeff Swindell, Dave Blaney, Stevie Smith, Shane Stewart

1 – Jimmy Boyd, Danny Smith, Brad Doty, Tim Green, Bobby Allen, Craig Dollansky, Brad Furr, Tyler Walker, Jason Johnson, Brad Sweet, Brent Marks

Pomona, CaliforniaMarch 30-April 2, 2023 Round 3 of the 2023 NHRA season continues out west, as the Chevrolet Funny Car, Top Fuel, and Pro Stock drivers and teams take on the historic In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip this weekend in Pomona, California. Seeking the 157th Funny Car Wally, 20th Top Fuel victory, or the 369th Pro Stock win for the Bowtie brand, drivers and teams face stacked fields ahead as they continue their championship hopes early in the year. Leaving Phoenix with his 62nd NHRA victory, and 27th with Chevrolet, Robert Hight, in his AAA/Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car, looks to move closer to his 600 rounds wins milestone, currently with 596 after this last weekend’s win, while protecting the now-acquired NHRA Funny Car points lead heading to Pomona. APPROACHING MILESTONESAfter racing to his 62nd NHRA victory, Robert Hight looks to Pomona this weekend to add to his NHRA Funny Car round win count, currently at 596. If he reaches the finals and wins the Winternationals this weekend, he will achieve 600 round wins. On the Top Fuel side of John Force Racing, Brittany Force looks to notch her fourth consecutive No. 1 qualifier at Pomona 1, previously earning the top spot on the ladder heading into race day in 2020, 2021, and 2022. B. Force also looks to Pomona with her sights set on the Winner’s Circle, showing success and strength at the track while it also is the site where she set the NHRA national speed record in 2022 at 338.94 MPH at Pomona 2. RACING TO [HER]STORY IN PHOENIXBecoming the second female to win in Pro Stock, Camrie Caruso looks to Pomona to capitalize on the momentum she’s gained after completing her first season and earning 2022’s Rookie of the Year honors. With Caruso’s first win, along with Erica Enders, Chevrolet holds both victories by a female in Pro Stock in the Chevrolet Camaro SS. “The win in Phoenix was great but I think this team has a lot of confidence right now and we want to keep the momentum going, said Caruso. “Being able to see the success of this KB Titan Racing team so early shows what we are all capable of heading into this season.” PUSHING TO REACH THE POMONA WINNER’S CIRCLELooking for redemption from NHRA’s first two events of 2023, both John Force (Funny Car) and Austin Prock (Top Fuel) at John Force Racing seek their first No. 1 qualifiers and trips to the NHRA Winner’s Circle this year. Prock has his sights on Pomona, a track where he’s seen success in his young NHRA career that includes winning the Pomona 2 event and racing to runner-up in Pomona 1, both in 2022. John Force, the holder of the most event victories at Pomona 1 with seven, enters his 834th race seeking his 156th Funny Car Winner’s Circle as well as the same redemption to the 2023 start as Prock. In Pro Stock, Erica Enders, driver of the Johnson’s Horsepower Garage Chevrolet Camaro SS for Elite Motorsports, looks to Pomona to shift her season start, and enters the weekend defending her 2022 win as well as the No. 1 qualifier at Pomona 1. Looking to join her Elite teammate Troy Coughlin, Jr., driver of the JEGS.com Chevrolet Camaro SS, as an early winner this season, Elite Motorsports seeks to add to Chevrolet’s win count in Pro Stock this weekend. At KB Titan Racing, Greg Anderson, driver of the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro SS, looks to add to his achievements this weekend as he hopes to pick up where he ended the 2022 season, the Winner’s Circle at Pomona (Pomona 2). By qualifying for Pomona 1 this year, Anderson will extend his streak of race day appearances to 438, holding the longest career qualifying streak in NHRA with his first coming at Pomona 2 in 2002. The Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals action from In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip airs first with Friday qualifying on Saturday, April 1 at 7 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Saturday qualifying from Pomona airs Sunday, April 2 at 12:30 p.m. ET on FS1. Sunday’s Finals also air on FS1, starting at 7 p.m. ET. Coverage streaming live throughout the weekend can be found through NHRA.tv, available via AppleTV, Android TV, and Roku devices. WHAT THEY’RE SAYINGBrittany Force, driver of the Monster Energy/Flav-R-Pack Chevrolet Top Fuel Dragster for John Force Racing:“Heading to race number three on our circuit at my home track in Pomona. This Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy team is coming out of Phoenix with a better understanding of our car after a post-event test session. Our goal is to improve on last weekend. We plan to qualify in the top three and advance on race day. We made some big changes to this car coming into the season, so we knew it was going to take a handful of races to get our stride back. I’m excited to be back in Pomona and hunting down the first win of our season surrounded by friends and family.” John Force, driver of the BlueDEF Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car for John Force Racing:“I love coming home to race at Pomona. All the history, the success, hopefully, it plays into our had this weekend because I could sure use it. This BlueDEF team, we’re running well, just need a little bit of luck and maybe a little bit of extra effort on my part, but Danny Hood, Tim Fabrisi, and Mac Savage helping out now, they’ve got this car figured out. We’ll keep doing what we’re doing, qualifying well, making good solid passes, and then we’ll see what happens on race day.” Robert Hight, driver of the Auto Club/Cornwell Tools Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car for John Force Racing:“Last weekend was great, just what this Auto Club / Cornwell Tools / Flav-R-Pac team needed. Jimmy Prock, he really is the best. I have all the faith and confidence in him with Thomas Prock and Nathan Hildahl. This whole team really stuck with it. We were testing some new things out, Jimmy had to get it all fine-tuned. We almost scrapped it but, like I said, when you have Jimmy Prock as your crew chief, you just know you’re one run away from fixing this thing and being back to where we need to be. I’m ready to get back in the seat, I don’t like having downtime so the fact that we get to keep our momentum rolling right into the next weekend here in Pomona, it’s great. We’ll be looking to Auto Club the win on Sunday.” Austin Prock, driver of the Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster for John Force Racing:“Heading to Pomona always excited me. I got my first-round win there and have had success in the past, along with being the most recent winner at the track. The place is just good to me. I feel like if the track is in a good place, there should be some really quick runs and those types of conditions really suits our setup.” Camrie Caruso, driver of the Powerbuilt Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS Pro Stock for KB Titan Racing:“I am excited to get this Powerbuilt Tools Chevrolet Camaro back on the track this weekend at the Winternationals. The win in Phoenix was great but I think this team has a lot of confidence right now and we want to keep the momentum going. Being able to see the success of this KB Titan Racing team so early shows what we are all capable of heading into this season. I know we have a lot more races to go but doing well in Pomona will only keep us focused.” On working with her KB Titan Racing teammates…“Getting to work with Greg (Anderson), Dallas (Glenn) and Kyle (Koretsky) has been so great. They are really supportive and I am so comfortable in my Powerbuilt Camaro thanks to all their input. Seeing my whole team in the winner’s circle in Phoenix was great. I have to thank my mom, dad and Papa for all their support too. I am looking forward to racing in the 2Fast2Tasty race on Saturday and then chasing that second Pro Stock win on Sunday.” TEAM CHEVY BY THE NUMBERS1,422: Round wins for John Force (1st all-time)596: Round wins for Robert Hight (14th all-time; Bob Glidden sits 13th at 597)368: Number of wins in Pro Stock since 1970; 249 won in the Chevrolet Camaro body264: Final Round wins by John Force (the last coming in Topeka, runner-up)165: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for John Force (1st all-time)156: Number of Chevrolet Racing Funny Car wins since 196777: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for Robert Hight (6th all-time)76: Number of Chevrolet Racing Funny Car wins with the Camaro body43: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for Brittany Force27: Number of NHRA championships Chevrolet holds as a manufacturer since entering the first in 1966. No other manufacturer has won it more than Chevrolet.24: Wins by John Force in a Chevrolet-bodied Funny Car18: Number of Pro Stock championships16: Chevrolet career Top Fuel wins in NHRA16: Number of Chevrolet career wins by Brittany Force7: Number of Funny Car driver championships2: Number of Top Fuel driver championships MOST RECENT WIN IN NHRA BY CHEVROLETPhoenix, 2023: Robert Hight, Funny CarPhoenix, 2023: Camrie Caruso, Pro Stock 2022 NHRA POMONA 1 WINS BY CHEVROLETRobert Hight, Funny CarErica Enders, Pro Stock 2022 NHRA POMONA 1 NO. 1 QUALIFIERS BY CHEVROLETBrittany Force, Top FuelErica Enders, Pro Stock MOST RECENT DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIPS IN NHRA BY CHEVROLET2022: Brittany Force, Top Fuel2022: Erica Enders, Pro Stock2022: David Barton, Factory Stock Showdown2019: Robert Hight, Funny Car UPCOMING NHRA MILESTONES950: Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) is second all-time with 915 elimination round wins. He could reach 950 round wins with a decent run in the 18-race schedule.600: Robert Hight has 596 Funny Car elimination round victories to rank 14th on the all-time NHRA list. Reaching 600 round wins will tie him with Bob Glidden (Pro Stock), who holds 597. Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car) sits 12th with 615.438: By qualifying for his next race, Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) will extend his NHRA record to 438 consecutive race day appearances. His first appearance came in 2002 at Pomona 2, and he holds the longest career qualifying streak in NHRA.138: Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) ranks third on the NHRA all-time list with 121 No. 1 qualifiers. He will tie Warren Johnson (Pro Stock, 138) for second to John Force (165) on the list.260: By qualifying for his next race, Robert Hight will extend his NHRA record to 260 consecutive race day appearances. His first appearance came in 2010 at Pomona 2, and he currently sits seventh in career qualifying streaks in NHRA (Doug Kalitta is sixth at 268).65: Robert Hight moved into the top 10 on the all-time NHRA victory list with his win in Phoenix, tying the retired Larry Dixon (Top Fuel) at 62 wins. Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock, retired) is next ninth on list with 65.46: Erica Enders has 43 career Pro Stock victories (all with Chevrolet). Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) is the all-time NHRA female leader with 46. 18: Brittany Force (16 Top Fuel career wins) will move past Shirley Muldowney (18 wins) into third on the NHRA all-time victory list for females. Erica Enders (Pro Stock, 43) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle, 46) are ahead.6: Erica Enders (Pro Stock) could tie Warren Johnson (6 Pro Stock championships) for second on the class list. The same holds for Greg Anderson. Bob Glidden is the leader with 10.3: Brittany Force (Top Fuel, 2 championships) would tie Shirley Muldowney (Top Fuel) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) for second on the NHRA all-time championship list by females with another title in 2023. Erica Enders (Pro Stock, 5) is the leader.