CHEVROLET RACING IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONFERENCE OCT. 22, 2020

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN No. SHELL V-POWER NiTRO+ Team Penske ChevroletPress Conference Transcript

THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everybody. Welcome to today’s NTT INDYCAR Series media news conference. We’re joined by the driver of the No. 3 Shell V-Power NiTRO+ Chevrolet for Team Penske, also the three-time Australian Supercars champion, Scott McLaughlin. Scott, welcome into the call. Welcome to the INDYCAR Series. SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: G’day, Arni. Thanks very much, mate. It’s all a bit weird when you’re saying it like that. I’m just used to Shell V-Power Racing. Now I’m adding the NiTRO on the end of it. A little bit weird but very excited. THE MODERATOR: It’s been a pretty eventful week for you. Last week you were at Mount Panorama getting ready for the Great Race, the Bathurst 1000. You have tested the car now at a track that you’ve probably never seen. How excited are you for your INDYCAR debut?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Very excited. I think it’s a great opportunity. I obviously never thought I’d get a chance this year due to the nature of the beast with COVID, all that sort of stuff.I’ve driven the car before, which gives me a little bit more confidence heading into St. Pete, that I sort of know what to expect from a car perspective. Never been on a street track in an INDYCAR. I know it’s very bumpy. The feeling inside the car with the bumps and stuff, it’s going to be a lot different.I’ve got a lot to learn, but I’m excited for what’s ahead. Excited to see what everyone is like, meet some of the media, meet some of the fans, see how the schedule goes like on the weekend. I’m really excited, really excited. THE MODERATOR: A few years ago you came to Indianapolis to be a guest of Mr. Penske at the Indy 500. When you came to that race, did you think that INDYCAR was ever an option for you, being a guy who has raced with a roof over your head for most of your career?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I’ve always been an INDYCAR fan. I said that from the start. I’ve always been a Scott Dixon fan due to the Kiwi connection. It’s a bit weird now, I have to work out who I’m going for now that I’m at Team Penske.Look, it’s certainly been a transition that has happened pretty fast. I know I probably initially didn’t think that Roger and Tim would think I’d be ready for an INDYCAR, sort of consider me, just because of my touring car roots, having a roof over my head.They put the proposition to me about a year and a half now. I have haven’t looked back since. I’ve always been interested it. I love the Indy 500, watch it all the time. Back in Australia it’s a massive thing. The connection with Will and Scott Down Under is big.For me, it was always a cool thing to be a part of, but never thought I could be because I’ve been in a touring car for most of my career. THE MODERATOR: You did three tests this winter. Seems like it was years ago, but it was in 2020. It’s been quite a while since the COTA test where you placed third on the time sheets. With all that’s been going on with COVID and travel restrictions, being in Australia in the Supercars bubble, what have you been able to do to prepare yourself for single seaters?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I’ve been training a lot. I definitely lost some weight just to be a little bit lighter for the INDYCAR. Weight is obviously a big thing. All year my body clock is going crazy because I’ve been watching INDYCAR in Australia at sort of 3 a.m., 4 a.m. our time.It’s been good to get to know how some guys race, how the teams work, how the pit stops and the cautions work, just little things you can pick up with the coverage. The coverage that NBC does is amazing, the way that INDYCAR gets it to Australia is so cool. I’ve been able to, yeah, really enjoy that part.From a driving perspective, at the Indy 500 I sort of was listening in to Helio’s radio. They are my crew guys, the 3 car. They are all of my pit crew, my engineers. They’re all very similar. It was nice to have an idea and an introduction to how everyone talks, gets through the race weekend. THE MODERATOR: What kind of expectations do you have for the weekend?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: It’s a hard one. Like, I just want to do every lap I can, do every pit stop I can. It’s a massive learning thing. I’ll go there, I’ll drive the car as fast as I can within my comfort level, which my comfort level will be a lot lower than some.Look, yeah, I’m fully expecting this will be the toughest challenge of my career, but I’m looking forward to it. THE MODERATOR: We have quite a few media on the line. We’ll take questions.Q. You said you listened to Helio’s radio during the 500. How did you have that hookup?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: It’s amazing technology now. I had basically the Microsoft Teams program. I couldn’t talk obviously. I just had the communication between the team to Helio, again the strategists.That was a cool, cool thing for me to understand, not only just how they talk to each other, but also understand the race more. I think I’ve watched the Indy 500 for a long time, but probably haven’t gone behind the scenes like that, fuel codes, lots of stuff. Still got a lot to learn, but it was a nice introduction. Q. Your schedule this past week, you had a big race on the weekend. What was your travel like?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, it’s been pretty wild. I did the race on Sunday in Australia, Saturday your time. I basically jumped on a plane straightaway. Bathurst is about two hours west of Sydney. I flew quickly to Sydney, spent the night in Sydney, then flew 10:30 a.m. Monday morning to America, to California, then California to Charlotte. That was Monday night.I went straight to the simulator that night. I did basically a four- or five-hour session on the simulator. It was probably the best thing for my jet lag. I feel amazing now because I stayed up. Went back to the simulator on Tuesday, plus seeing the guys, a little bit of a seat fit here and there.The last couple days, Wednesday and Thursday, it’s just been seeing everyone, getting acquainted with the team a bit more. Everyone has sort of taken a couple days off before St. Pete. Myself and my wife, we’ve sort of just been having a look around, hanging out, staying safe. Now we head to St. Pete tonight. Q. Are you tired?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Thankfully I’m good. I had a great sleep last night. I was probably a little bit tired yesterday. You get to about one or two and it starts hitting you. I was feeling pretty good. I feel pretty good now. Had one of my best sleeps. That was good. Q. What interests you about INDYCAR? Why do you want to do this?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: For me it’s one of the most competitive series if not the most competitive series in the world. You look at the closeness, how different the winners can be up and down the field. It’s an all-around package. You can race on road courses, ovals.For me it’s a fresh start with being an open-wheeler, very different to what I’ve had before. I guess, yeah, it’s a different experience. If I’ve got the opportunity to be able to do it, I’ve got to grab it with both hands. Q. Have you accomplished everything that you can accomplish?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: In Australia, yeah, for sure. I’ve done everything I wanted to achieve. I wanted to win at Bathurst and a championship. Thankfully I won three championships and one Bathurst. I moved my way up the ranks in terms of the wins and stuff like that, poles. I’ve done everything I wanted to achieve. If it did come to the point where I was moving on from Supercars, I would be satisfied.At the same time that series leaves you wanting more, as well, especially when you have a race like I did at the weekend at Bathurst. It wasn’t my best race. It’s one of those races that you love so much but hate just as much as well because it’s such a wild card. It leaves you wanting more. Q. Roger Penske was on the NASCAR channel a couple nights ago, talked about your debut. He described this more like it’s almost less a tryout and more a confirmation of whether you want to do INDYCAR. He said it’s about you deciding if you want to do this full-time, the team will make a decision over the next 30 days about that. Can you explain your perspective on that? Do you feel like this is more about feeling out if this is what you want to do next year and beyond?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, for me, yeah, for sure. I think it’s an opportunity to learn and understand what goes into it. COTA was good in some ways where I understood the car, I understood how to sort of get some time out of the car, out of the race car.When you’re doing one lap by yourself, it’s a lot easier than when you’re put with 23 other drivers heading down to turn one. I’m fully expecting a new challenge when I get into the racing side of things with in-and-out laps, pit stops, all that sort of stuff.I think there’s still a lot of things that I haven’t come across that I need to learn and need to understand before I actually make a decision, as a team.Like I said, this is an opportunity. It’s something that I’m just going to go in like a sponge, soak everything up, see what comes out of it. I’m pretty confident that I’m going to like the series, I’m going to like the cars, I’m going to like everything. There wouldn’t be a reason why I wouldn’t be here.It’s cool that I’m able to have that support from Roger, the team, Tim, to allow me to be able — I’m 27 years old, try to achieve stuff overseas, accomplish dreams. To have that support, it’s a pretty cool thing for a person who drives for someone. Q. Josef Newgarden said if you finished top 10, that would be a great result. If you finished top five, that would be amazing. If you were to do that Sunday, are we talking about you being in the INDYCAR Series next year?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I think if I finish top 10, I’ll be doing cartwheels, going crazy (laughter).I think, look, it depends on what goes on. I’m fully expecting a tough battle. I might have a great, great experience running last. I don’t know. It’s not going to change how I feel or whatever. I’ve got a lot to learn. I’m fully expecting I could be last.At the end of the day, as long as I get a good feel for the category, a good feel for the cars, we’ll be all right. Q. Scott Dixon was saying it’s almost unheard of that somebody could come from where you came, other side of the world, to here. Do you feel that way, you’re pinching yourself a little bit?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, look, it’s a dream come true. As a young person, you join the sport or you join the sport as a hobby with your mum and dad. Thankfully I was lucky to turn it into a profession Down Under. I achieved a lot of my dreams, like I said, winning Bathurst, winning a championship.Then to have the opportunity to drive with a world class organization that’s got so many opportunities elsewhere to further my career… When I initially signed with Roger, that was a part of my thought process, was I wanted to potentially expand the horizon if I wanted to.I’ve always been a person once I have ticked a box, I want to go to another spot and tick another box and whatever. Never want to stop and be content.Like I said, this is the biggest challenge of my career. Yeah, I can’t believe I’m here, especially with COVID right now. Seriously, looking forward to meeting a lot of people, yourselves, like I said, the fans, other drivers, getting to know them not just through the computer screen like I was with the INDYCAR Series on iRacing. It was a bit different.It’s certainly a very proud moment for me, my family. My family are a bit funny because they’re getting up at 4 a.m. to watch me race this week. It’s a bit different. It’s going to be cool. It’s going to be very cool. Q. Your mentality from a competition standpoint. Coming from Supercars one weekend straight into an INDYCAR, how much of a challenge is that for you? Are you the kind of driver that as long as you’re in a race car you’re really just fine?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, it’s a bit of both. I’m not going to lie, it’s a big challenge. There’s a lot of different things I have to learn. Even on the simulator Monday, Tuesday, I had a couple bad habits and stuff, not trusting the aerodynamics of the race car, something you really can’t do in a Supercar.Yeah, I’ll literally race a wheel barrel if I can. I don’t care. I’ll race anything. It’s one of those deals where, yeah, I’ve certainly got a lot to learn. It’s a challenge.Even coming to St. Pete on a street circuit, the car will handle a lot different than what I’m used to over bumps and stuff. A Supercar, you do a Supercross jump, no drama, you wouldn’t even feel it. In regards to the INDYCAR, it’s the complete opposite.Certainly got a lot to learn. I’ll race anything, like I said. Just adapt to how I go.Q. You said in preparation for this you’ve lost some weight. What is your training regimen? How much weight did you shed getting ready for this?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I was a bit fat for Supercars anyway. I needed to lose some weight regardless, if it was an INDYCAR deal or not.I worked pretty hard. I started a little diet, intermittent fasting. I really found a benefit out of that. Certainly shed a lot of kilos. See, kilos, I’m not talking pounds at the moment.For me, a lot of high-intensity training, weights, but high repetition. A lot of cardio. Yeah, just trying to gear me up. The INDYCAR is very strenuous with no power steering, a few other things. That’s a bit I had to learn, beef up my shoulders a bit more.For me, I need to be competitive when I come here. I want to be competitive, especially when I get to St. Pete. For me to be competitive, I needed to lose some weight, get my weight down. I didn’t want to be one of the heavier guys. Definitely still going to be because I’ve always been a bit bigger, but definitely better than it was. Q. You talked you always looked up to Scott Dixon. Your perspective on what it means to you to be able to race against him this weekend as he’s going for a sixth championship, which is crazy.SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, the guy is unbelievable. He doesn’t get enough credit in New Zealand either. New Zealand is full of rugby. Motorsports takes a bit of a backseat.What he’s done, even with five championships, to be going for his sixth is phenomenal. Very excited. I can’t explain at COTA at the test the way the pit lane order worked. Scott was actually behind me, his pit box was right behind me. Rolling out on one of the sessions there, he passed me on the out lap because obviously I was a bit slower. It was surreal.Yeah, I have a tremendous amount of respect for him. I have a tremendous amount of respect for a lot of the drivers. Scottie has always been someone that in New Zealand is just an icon. What he’s done with Indy 500s, now five-time champion, going for his sixth. To be racing him and still be in his era is pretty cool. Probably personally a cool moment for me. Q. You said you were happy to be here especially during COVID. Did you have any restrictions you had to go through to get here from Australia?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, Australia is a bit more strict in regards to traveling. I had to apply for an exemption to leave the country. I left because of work. I made sure that I got that. Karly, my wife, thankfully fell on that, too.Yeah, it wasn’t too bad, but it was enough that we couldn’t book the flights till we got a travel exemption. That all happened quickly because my calendar came out in Australia and said Bathurst was my last race. Gave us sort of enough time to prepare this car for the race, get some partners onboard in Shell-V, NiTRO+. Yeah, it’s been pretty (indiscernible) but we’re here now. Q. Was the exemption to get out of Australia, not to get into the U.S.?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, to get out of Australia. I have an ESTA just to get into America. Normal travel visa. Yeah, Australia, the travel exemption. Q. You’re a pretty self-confident guy, but is there an intimidation factor as well? I think Mark Donohue was the last guy to make his INDYCAR debut for Team Penske. I’m not trying to pile on the pressure there.SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: No dramas (laughter). He went all right, didn’t he? Q. Yes, he did. We were at COTA for the test. You said you’d drive a wheel barrel if it had the Team Penske logo on the side. Do you think that does ramp up the pressure, Team Penske, he has to perform well straightaway? Is that intimidating for you?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I think I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t feeling some pressure, but it’s probably from myself more than anything. I’m pretty hard on myself in regards to where I’m at in terms even on the simulator. I was a little bit slower than the guys. Most people would be pretty happy still where I was, but I wasn’t. I wanted to be closer than I was, which wasn’t far.Yeah, there’s probably I wouldn’t say intimidation but there’s an unknown there. I’m excited to see how I fare in a racing situation because I haven’t had that before. Like I said, it’s going to be a lot different.But I trust my ability. I trust what I can do in a race car. I trust the process that Team Penske have put me on. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t think I was ready and they wanted me to do it. That gives me already a lot of confidence in the process, what goes on.Yeah, probably the only thing I’m just getting used to is dealing with the media, dealing with other things in the team. It’s a lot bigger than what I’m used to. That other stuff has probably been the harder part. Q. Tell me a little bit about whether you’ve chatted to Scott and Will so far this week. Who will be your race engineer?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: No, I think I’ve texted Scottie, obviously seen Will a couple times in the shop the last little bit. Not a huge amount. I’ve sort of been just working with my guys a little bit.My engineer would be Jonathan Diuguid, Helio’s engineer. The guy calling my strategy is John Bouslog. It’s going to be a team full of experience, worked with Helio for a long time, someone I can really feed off of.In terms of talking to Scottie and Will, they’ve been really cool. I spoke to Rossi and Hinch, Conor Daly. Conor Daly, we play video games together, so it was pretty funny. I have a little bit of a relationship there.Yeah, I have to say everyone has been really nice. Even when I went to COTA, it was a very welcoming feel within the drivers. They seemed all like really nice, cool people. Obviously they’re competitors, we all want to beat each other. At the same time credit to them for welcoming a new person to the series. Yeah, just saying hello, whatever. It’s quite easy not to. It’s been good. Q. You’re an attacking type of driver, lap of the gods, lap of the century. How many cars are you going to pass on the first lap on St. Pete? How many do you aim to pass?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I just don’t want to rip a corner off. Let’s just say that. Get through, keep my front wing on, don’t piss off anyone. As long as I get out of here with no enemy, I’ll be happy (smiling).THE MODERATOR: Appreciate everyone’s participation. Scott, we thank you for your time this morning and wish you the best of luck this weekend at St. Petersburg.SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Thanks guys. Thanks for coming on.

CHEVROLET AT HOUSTON What: Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by PennzoilWhen: Friday, Oct. 23-Sunday, Oct. 25Where: Houston Raceway in Baytown, TexasTV: FOX will telecast eliminations live at 2 p.m. ET Oct. 25                                                                                      Chevrolet contenders aim to make inroads into Pro Stock titleEnders, Line and Coughlin enter penultimate race of season

DETROIT (Oct. 22, 2020) – Skill, experience and confidence are among commodities that the three National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Pro Stock championship contenders share entering the penultimate race of a truncated season.
The Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil this weekend in suburban Houston will be another fight to the finish for Chevrolet drivers Erica Enders, Jason Line and Jeg Coughlin Jr., who have recorded a combined 11 Pro Stock titles.
Enders, driver of the Melling Performance/Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro SS, holds a 31-point lead over Line and is 93 points clear of Coughlin. The reigning series champion regained the top spot in the standings last weekend at Dallas by virtue of a victory over Line’s Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro SS in the weather-delayed St. Louis final and a semifinal appearance in the regularly-scheduled event.
“St. Louis was where everything changed for me last year. It was the first race that we won, and we were able to parlay into a championship,” said Enders, a three-time winner this season. “It was just a huge move. To win in my home state, I’m just so proud of my guys.”
Line then fell in the second round to Coughlin in the Dallas eliminations.
“Every round counts, and we’re coming close to the end of this season and our last chance at earning a fourth Pro Stock championship,” Line said. “A win in Houston would go a long way toward that.”
Coughlin, who won two of the four races to start the season in the JEGS.com/Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro SS, saw his fortunes turn quickly with a pair of first-round exits in September. He rebounded with a semifinal appearance at Dallas.
“Erica and Jason are out there a bit but we can’t control what they’re doing so we’ll just get super aggressive and try to earn as many points as possible,” said Coughlin, who earned his first Pro Stock victory in 1997 at Houston. “If the JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro is the last car left on race day, we’ll know for sure we’ve earned more points than everyone else, so that’s the goal.”
Aaron Stanfield will aim for his third successive SAM Tech.edu NHRA Factory Stock Showdown victory this weekend in a Janac Bros. Chevrolet COPO Camaro. Stanfield, of Bossier City, Louisiana, is among the COPO Camaro standout drivers entered in the event that was postponed Sept. 27 because of inclement weather and poor track conditions in Madison, Illinois.FOX will telecast eliminations live at 2 p.m. ET Oct. 25. 
CHEVROLET FROM THE COCKPIT
PRO STOCK:
ERICA ENDERS, ELITE MOTORSPORTS, MELLING PERFORMANCE/ELITE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (points leader; three-time winner this season; holds track Pro Stock speed record, set in April 2013): “(Winning the delayed St. Louis final last week at Dallas) was really huge. When it’s all on the line and our backs are against the wall, my guys perform every time, and I can’t speak highly enough of them. It is a big step in the right direction and by no means is it anywhere close to over, but I’m excited to be in the (points) lead.”
JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (second in points; won at Indianapolis in July; announced that 2020 would be his final season behind the wheel): “”I have a couple of wins in Houston, but it’s been a while since I’ve seen the inside of the winner’s circle there. I’d like to see it one more time before my time as a Pro Stock driver is over, and I think our silver Summit Racing Chevy could get the job done this weekend. Every round counts, and we’re coming close to the end of this season and our last chance at earning a fourth Pro Stock championship. A win in Houston would go a long way toward that.”
GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (runner-up at last event; three-time winner at track; holds track Pro Stock elapsed time record, set in April 2018): “We came so close last weekend with our Summit Racing Chevy, and we’d like to leave Texas with a Wally. We’ve got one more chance at that before we head to Vegas to finish off the season, and we have every opportunity to get that trophy if we capitalize on the good car that we have right now. I have to do my job, and the guys have to keep giving me the top-notch car they gave me last Sunday in Dallas. If we have the whole package, we’ll be unstoppable.”
JEG COUGHLIN JR., ELITE MOTORSPORTS, JEGS.COM/ELITE PERFORMANCE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (two-time winner this season; four-time winner at track; third in points): “We need a perfect scorecard from here on out to even have a glimpse of hope. Fortunately, we made a lot of progress in Dallas and the final two races left on the schedule both take place at tracks where we have historically done very well so we feel good about finishing strong.” 
MATT HARTFORD, HARTFORD RACING, TOTAL SEAL CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (most recent winner on circuit for third career win; fourth in points): “To hold the first ever Camping World Wally in Pro Stock, that never gets forgotten. For me, it’s just incredible. It wasn’t an easy road (to win Oct. 18), but we’ve had a good car all year long. It’s incredible for the Total Seal car to have another Wally.”
BO BUTNER, JIM BUTNER AUTO, STRUTMASTERS CHEVROLET CAMAROS SS (earned initial Pro Stock victory at Houston in 2017): “It would really take a miracle to win the championship with our car, but we can win a race or two to close out this year. It’s still inside of us, wanting to win, and that keeps us motivated these last two races. I’m especially looking forward to getting to Houston, because that’s where I won my first Pro Stock race three years ago. Maybe we can get to the winner’s circle there again one more time in a Pro Stock car.”
ALEX LAUGHLIN, LAUGHLIN MOTORSPORTS, HAVOLINE CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (won at Gainesville on Sept. 27 for fourth career victory; fifth in points): “This year, I didn’t know how many races we’d have with all these COVID issues so I’m grateful to have a win right now. As challenging as it is to race Pro Stock, and to keep our car out there, I can promise you one thing; it keeps you humble.”

Richard Childress Racing at Texas Motor Speedway … Richard Childress Racing has a storied history at Texas Motor Speedway that includes two NASCAR Cup Series wins with Jeff Burton (1997) and most recently with Austin Dillon (2020). The Welcome, NC organization has earned five NASCAR Xfinity Series wins with Kevin Harvick (2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012)  and two NASCAR Truck Series wins with Jay Sauter (1999) and Ty Dillon (2013). RCR 1-2 Finish at Texas … Richard Childress Racing scored a 1-2 finish with drivers Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick earlier this season at Texas Motor Speedway. The victory clinched Dillon’s fourth career NASCAR Playoffs berth and Reddick’s runner-up finish was the rookie’s best career finish in the NASCAR Cup Series to date.  Catch the Action … The NASCAR Xfinity Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway will be televised live Saturday, October 24, beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.  The NASCAR Cup Series Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 at Texas Motor Speedway will be televised live Sunday, October 25, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

This Week’s Dow Sullair Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Texas Motor Speedway … Austin Dillon heads into this Sunday’s 500-mile NASCAR Cup Series race as the defending race winner. He punched a ticket to the 2020 NASCAR Playoffs with a win at Texas Motor Speedway in July, crossing the finish line first over his teammate, Tyler Reddick, to produce a 1-2 finish for Richard Childress Racing. Overall, Dillon is an accomplished driver at Texas Motor Speedway with 31 starts spread out across NASCAR’s Cup, Xfinity and Truck Series. He has even competed virtually at the track on iRacing. The Welcome, North Carolina driver has earned pole awards in all three of NASCAR’s national touring series while competing at Texas Motor Speedway and has led laps in four of his 15 Cup races there.Dow brings a science and engineering crew who is driven by limitless curiosity to the RCR Team …Austin Dillon and the RCR team are again supported by Dow’s materials science expertise and technologies this season. Backed by the power of data analysis and virtual modeling, Dow develops and manufactures high-performance components and materials custom-made for the No. 3 car. Dow and RCR’s partnership has expedited innovation and shortened testing time in the automotive industry by recreating in the lab one of the most extreme environments – the racetrack. After 7 years of collaboration, Dow scientists and RCR engineers are continuing to work together to make the No. 3 car faster, safer and more precise. Stay up to date with Dow’s exciting developments at www.dow.com/sports and follow us on twitter @DowSports & @DowNewsroom. About Sullair … Since 1965, Sullair has developed and manufactured air compressors with proven reliability and wear-free durability. Sullair is globally recognized as a leading manufacturer of air compressors for use in manufacturing, oil and gas operations, food processing, construction and more. Customers around the world keep their compressors running optimally with a full line of aftermarket parts, fluids and services. AUSTIN DILLON QUOTES:Tell us about racing at Texas Motor Speedway and how it differs from other 1.5-mile tracks, such as Kansas Speedway?“Texas Motor Speedway is a bit different from Kansas Speedway in that it has two different ends. You have one end that’s very banked and has high speeds, and then you have a hard end where you have to get turned and get back on the gas. Texas Motor Speedway just has so much grip now.  It’s quite a bit different, and the banking has changed a lot from the old track to the new track. I really like Texas and am looking forward to getting there, especially since we are the defending race winners. Our cars have been strong on 1.5-mile tracks this year, and we will look to some of that speed to try and get the No. 3 Dow Sullair Chevy into Victory Lane.” You won at Texas Motor Speedway in July. How does that change your mindset going into the race this weekend?“I think our team remains just as hungry as ever to get back to Victory Lane. My RCR team has been really strong on mile-and-a-half tracks this season, and I know that we have everything we need to try and back up our performance from July. We’re going to attack from the opening green flag.”

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Clark Pipeline Services Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Texas Motor Speedway … Tyler Reddick has one NASCAR Cup Series start at Texas Motor Speedway, having finished second at the track to teammate, Austin Dillon, earlier this year. Reddick also has five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the 1.5-mile speedway, with his best finish of second coming in both October 2018 and March 2019. The driver also has six starts, one pole award and four top-five finishes at the 1.5-mile speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series. About Clark Pipeline Services … Clark Pipeline Services is a multi-million dollar company based in the heart of Eagleford Shale with over 10 years of experience in large and small diameter pipe with zero accidents. Clark Pipeline Services is a Civil Construction and Energy Construction Company dedicated to the service and safety of their clients. Clark Pipelines Services can provide superior quality, time savings, unmatched services and environment protection while completing successful projects. Learn more at  clarkpipeline.com. TYLER REDDICK QUOTE: What is the biggest lesson you took away from Texas Motor Speedway earlier this year when RCR finished 1-2?“Well, the way we went about that race is now out in the open and everyone knows how we did it, so I’m not sure that strategy will work when we go back this weekend. We’ll have to come up with something a little different this time. Texas is going to be a little bit like Kansas in the way that you have to take all the track position you can get and not make mistakes. The people you pass once are going to then understand where you were better than they were, so if you have to pass them a second time around they’ll know how to defend against you. That’s what makes it so hard racing in the Cup Series. Everyone is so smart about it. We’re going to need a really solid race in our No. 8 Clark Pipeline Services Chevrolet to be able to grab a good finish this weekend.”

This Week’s No. 21 Maestro’s Classic Chevrolet Camaro at Texas Motor Speedway … Anthony Alfredo will make his final start of the season for Richard Childress Racing this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. Alfredo led laps earlier this season at Texas Motor Speedway before an on-track incident ended his day early. He also has two career starts in the NASCAR Truck Series at the 1.5-mile racetrack. In eight career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts on 1.5-mile racetracks, Alfredo has five top-10 finishes. He recorded his best finish of fourth at Homestead-Miami Speedway in June. About Maestro’s Classic … Maestro’s Classic is more than a Beard Care Products Brand. It is a movement in masculinity, with a nod to love, hard work, strength and creativity. Maestro’s Classic shines a light where others don’t…on its supporters. We celebrate the integrity of man and honor his commitment to family, community and craft while shaping the bearded path for the next generation of young men. We have designed a line of beard care products that are Undeniably Good™ and will assist in Crafting a Better You™ in beard care. Visit https://www.maestrosclassic.com/ to shop our products today. ANTHONY ALFREDO QUOTES:You were able to drive to the front and lead laps last time you were at Texas Motor Speedway. What is it about Texas that seems to fit your driving style?“I’m honestly not really sure. Texas Motor Speedway is a fast and challenging racetrack with two completely different sets of corners. It’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly what it is that seems to fit my style so well. I just really enjoy these tracks with high speeds. Texas is so unique. It’s hard to get the balance right for both corners, but my Richard Childress Racing team always does such a great job unloading fast Chevrolets. I’m just excited to go back to a track where we competed at earlier this year. Hopefully, we can get up front again and get the job done this time in my last start of the season.”  This weekend will be your last start of the season in the No. 21 Chevrolet for RCR. Overall, do you feel like you have met your expectations, while running a limited schedule this year? “Absolutely. I definitely feel like I have met my own and everyone else’s expectations and maybe even exceeded some. With that, I am never satisfied. Every time I achieve a goal or reach an expectation, I always set the bar higher for myself. I just want to go out and win this weekend because we have proven we have the speed and I know we can do it as a team. We have the people, the equipment, and all the means necessary to do so and I’d love for us to put one together. I think a win would just be an incredible way to cap the season off and hopefully help set us up for next season.”

October 22, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters team head to Texas Motor Speedway hoping to avoid the bad luck that ruined a promising day for them at Texas back in July.

In that race, DiBenedetto was poised for a strong finish when he was collected by a rookie driver who made a sudden move to pit road from the outside groove.

DiBenedetto salvaged a 17^th-place finish, but he’s still thinking about that good finish that got away as he heads back to the Ft. Worth track for Sunday’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 500.
 
“We had a really fast car at Texas earlier this year and got wiped out by the lap car while running fourth,” DiBenedetto said, adding that the positives from the summertime Texas race far outweigh the negatives. “I feel great going back.”
 
The 1.5-mile Texas track is similar to intermediate-length ovals at Las Vegas, where he finished second in both races there this year, and Kentucky Speedway, where he finished third in the Cup circuit’s only appearance at that track. 

 “The mile-and-a-half tracks are strong for our Menards/Richmond Water Heaters team,” he said. “And this weekend we will have great notes from the first Texas race to go off of.”
 
DiBenedetto is scheduled to start 14^th in Sunday’s 500-miler, which is set to get the green flag just after 3:30 p.m. with TV coverage on NBCSN.

CHEVROLET RACING IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA CHAMPIONSHIP CONTENDER PRESS CONFERENCE OCT. 21, 2020

Josef Newgarden No. 1 Hitachi Team Penske ChevroletPress Conference Transcript

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the NTT INDYCAR Series video conference. It is our last race of the season and we are joined by Josef Newgarden, who drives the No. 1 Chevrolet for Team Penske. As we head into the weekend, it is the 15th consecutive season that the battle for the Astor Challenge Cup will be decided in the final race. It will also be the first time that it has been decided at St. Pete, which is exciting. There are over 19,872 different scoring possibilities for both title contenders. THE MODERATOR: Josef, you have three wins on the season. You are tied for top fives, but you have actually won the last time we were in St. Pete, which is something that Scott hasn’t been able to do yet. Tell us about your mindset going into the weekend. JOSEF NEWGARDEN: We’re excited to get back to a street course. It’s been a while. We haven’t been able to do that yet this year. That’s going to be a change-up for the entire field with the new Aeroscreen.Feeling good. Ready to go. Just had a great call with everybody a couple hours ago. I feel like we’re definitely prepped and ready to rock for the weekend. Just going there to try to win the race. That’s really all I can do. I love on the fact sheet, I saw this put out, it was like 20,000 scenarios, 1% of the scenarios means we can win the championship.You’re saying there’s a chance and that’s all we need. I don’t know, it’s going to be an exciting weekend. We’ll see how it shakes out. We’re just going to go into our thing, see where everything lands at the end of it. THE MODERATOR: It’s funny you mention that. Before we put it out the other day, I said, Do we really want to put 1% on there? I was told that looked better than the actual amount of chances you have. We were trying to help you out on that.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: You’re right, there’s a chance, anything could happen, this is why we race, right? Anything can happen. I like how the 1% looked better than the number you could have put up (laughter  It is what it is. THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions.Q. Tell me how excited are you for the race this weekend, that we’re actually getting to go to St. Pete, but also we’re going to have fans there as well. Josef talk to me a little bit about your season, where your mind is at going into the race this weekend.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I’m excited, just like Scott. It’s kind of fitting that we come full circle this with. It was odd to be there at the beginning of the year when everything fell apart, not just in INDYCAR but the world really. To be able to finally come back and run the race is great. To have some fans there is fantastic. Hopefully have a little bit of energy.It’s obviously different having the fans, the way they’re able to be into the track, social distancing, masks, all that. It’s going to be a different energy, but somewhat to have energy back is really pleasing to see.Great effort by everybody. Like Scott mentioned, a lot of people to put this together the whole year without knowing we were going to have that. Just thankful we’re able to go back there and race this season. I think it’s going to be a really fun time in October. It’s a different ending for us than we’ve seen in INDYCAR.We’re all pumped. Team is ready. Feel good. We’ll go to try to have a great weekend. Q. Can you tell me what the remember about being in St. Pete the first time, anything that stood out in that weird period of you thought you were going to race, then you weren’t going to race? Also, if you could talk about what this season has felt like, some fans, no fans, canceled events, et cetera.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s been a tough year. Showing up to the racetrack in the conditions that we’ve seen this year, it’s hard. I think just from an event standpoint, you don’t have the energy of the fans and the crowd. That’s really what makes INDYCAR racing what it is. I think it makes sport what it is.It’s fantastic, we have an amazing partner in NBC. To be able to showcase the events still through broadcast is great. The atmosphere at the track has been, yeah, I think tough in a lot of ways. Hopefully we can continue to work back to our old normal. I think you need that in sport. You got to have that energy to feed off for everybody, make it what it is.Earlier in the year at St. Pete, it was an odd lead-up to the event. You have so much buildup over four or five months for the season to kick off, you always want to have a good first weekend. There’s a lot of pressure and anxiety, some nerves going into that first event.I just remember when the NBA postponed, I don’t even remember how they announced it, I think they said they were canceling the season. As soon as that happened, people were speculating there’s no way we’re going to run this weekend. You saw the trickle-down effect from everywhere in the country. Didn’t take long for everything else to follow suit.It was just a strange time to be involved in. Q. Josef, you’re inside Team Penske. The effort that’s come from Roger to get this season complete, are you surprised by what he’s accomplished?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely not surprised at the effort. I don’t know anyone in the world that has more energy or enthusiasm than Roger Penske. There’s just nothing that’s going to stop him when he’s leading the charge on something, he’s going to maximize everyone’s capabilities around him and make the most of the situation.I think we’re all pretty thankful that Roger has been in charge to lead us forward. I think they’ve done a tremendous job. I’m certainly not surprised to see that. They’ve done everything possible. They did everything possible to run the 500 with a limited amount of fans.I think if people knew the energy that was put in, the constant evolution they had to work through. The world was changing every day, every week. They’re constantly keeping up with it, trying to make it work, trying to make it work. The same from the INDYCAR Series the entire season. A tremendous amount of effort.Yeah, not surprised. There’s a lot of great people working in the series, certainly at Penske. Thankful we had a year. You’ll take this over nothing, without a doubt. Hopefully we can just keep getting better next year onwards. Q. Josef, when you know you have to likely win, when you’re going into a race in the end of the season, you’re kind of the attacker instead of defender, do you anticipate this race feeling any different? Do you feel freer than you have been in ’17 and ’19 defending?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think for us, I don’t feel the pressure so much on our end. You probably normally don’t when you’re pursuing versus trying to hold someone off. I’m surprised we’re here, to be honest. It almost makes it more disappointing looking at the year now that we’ve clawed back to this point. We were in such a deficit, there was such a hill. We’ve reduced the hill, without a doubt, but it’s still a mountain to climb. It’s going to be a very hard task for us to try to win the championship.I don’t think there’s a ton of pressure. I’m just really proud of what we’ve come back from this year, some of the adversities we’ve had to work through. But as far as the approach, answering that specifically, I mean, honestly for us, we don’t change our approach. I’ve never really changed my approach.When you do start to get yourself in a tough situation is when you start trying to compensate, or if you’re trying to play to a certain level or you’re trying to drive the car to a certain speed, that’s when you can overcomplicate things and create more issues than just trying to go out and maximize the potential of the car.If we have a fifth-place car on the weekend, you can only force so much. For me, it’s all about calculated risks, getting the most out of the weekend. For us, that needs to be a win. If it’s not there, I’m not going to take a sixth-place car and try to pass five guys in front of me. I’ll probably end up in the wall doing that. I don’t see the approach changing for us very much. Q. Scott McLaughlin, what has been your impression of him in his lead-up to making his debut? What do you anticipate him being able to do?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s going to be really fascinating to see how he handles this challenge. This is going to be an enormous task for Scott. He’s really, really good. We already know that. You could see that a mile away. I think we all admire his strengths around the Super Car side. I think he’s a great racer overall, doesn’t matter what car you put him in.As far as INDYCAR specifically this weekend, he doesn’t have a lot of time. This is a very abnormal St. Pete weekend. Normally you have three practices, an hour apiece, maybe about two and a half hours total. He’d have an overnight to kind of understand things and make sure to distill it down to useful information for him, review in a longer time period.He’s got to work on the fly. He’s never been to this track. He’s never really driven the car on a true street circuit. It’s an enormous task. If he finishes in the top 10, it’s a great weekend. If he finishes in the top five, it’s an amazing weekend. Who knows, maybe he goes and wins the race. Very possible for someone like him. Q. Josef, what do you admire about Scott and what he’s done over his career? Scott, what do you admire about Josef, what he’s done so far?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I think for me, I’ve got a tremendous amount of respect for Scott, without a doubt. He’s one of the best that we’ve seen in the INDYCAR Series. But I think in racing overall. I wouldn’t limit it to just our championship. I think he’s a world class driver that’s very diversified and has an incredible amount of accomplishments over a long period of time.He’s been consistent throughout his whole career. He’s just always there. He’s very dependable and very capable in any situation, which is why I think he’s had such success.Yeah, I’m happy to compete against him. I want to kick his butt this weekend. I have a tremendous respect for him. If we don’t have enough to beat him, we’ll shake his hand, his team’s hand, say great job, try to beat them next year.They’re one of the toughest to beat, and specifically Scott is one of the toughest to beat because he’s so consistent and dependable. I respect that a lot about him. That’s a key quality he’s had throughout his career. Q. Josef, do you feel there was a certain point in the season when this championship chase really turned in your direction?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, I think you got to look to race two at Gateway, was kind of the final time it came back around to us. This trend has thankfully gone the right way from there. It kind of ebbed and flowed. The first three races were just bad because Scott racked up so many points so quickly, then we kind of were ebbing and flowing for a little while. We’d have a good race, then a weird race. The points would go up and down.The point where the trend has reversed was Gateway race two. That’s what we’ve been working towards. We’re going to try to continue that trend through St. Pete. We need another really good weekend. Q. Can you remember how good your street course setups were back in Sebring in February? Are you confident they’re strong? Once we learned St. Pete was back on the schedule, when did your teams say, Right, we need to go focus on that again, that’s going to be the championship decider?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I agree. It’s hard to know until you actually really get to the weekend. We were in the same position back in March where we’d all tested, we’d all been on the tire that we were going to run on the weekend. But it’s not a true street course track condition that you’re testing on. You don’t know how it’s going to apply to each specific street course that you go to.I guess I could say I felt like our street course car took a massive step in 2019. We were all pretty happy, I know I was very happy with our street course package in 2019. Tried to carry that through with the Aeroscreen, modify it a bit for the differences.I don’t think it’s changed our outlook. Running this whole year with the Aeroscreen, running a lot of road courses, I don’t think it’s changed our outlook on what we want to do going into St. Pete. I think our plan, what we had, is a lot of what we’re probably going to stick to.The good news is we had already done a ton of work. We were ready to go run St. Pete. Now we’re just going to try to apply that.THE MODERATOR: Thanks to Josef for joining us today.

CORONA, Calif. (October 21, 2020) – While the 2020 racing season may have come to a conclusion, the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Presented by GEICO (LOORRS) and its racers showed their continued support for those in need by amplifying the efforts of Stronghold Motorsports in bringing attention to pediatric cancer awareness by hosting the first-ever #Hoods2Help campaign, benefiting Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital (LLUCH). The campaign was part of the two-day LOORRS season finale held at Glen Helen Raceway on October 16 and 17.   The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series #Hoods2Help campaign, in collaboration with Stronghold Motorsports and Loma Linda Children’s Hospital, was a special campaign designed to benefit LLUCH during Pediatric Awareness Month. The campaign provided children at LLUCH the opportunity to design their own race truck. Participating teams selected a design and then had it replicated and wrapped onto their race vehicles for the stop of the season.

More than 40 children presently under LLUCH care, including outpatient, submitted drawings

Even during these times, the racing community has stepped up in a big way with drivers like the Baileys (Madix and Irie), RJ Anderson, Carson Parrish and others who showcased these new looks in support of their respective new ‘co-pilots‘ and the work at the LLUCH.    “Lucas Oil and Stronghold Motorsports have been fortunate over the years to see the amazing work that Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital has provided for families going through the most challenging times, and right now they need your support more than ever.” – Ritchie Lewis, Series Director, Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series    “We are proud of our family’s long-standing support of the hospital. The children of our communities continue to face trauma, childhood cancer, congenital heart disease and other life-altering realities. We are grateful for Lucas Oil in supporting Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital commitment to serving the most vulnerable – our children.” – Scott Bailey, COO, Stronghold Engineering   The culmination of everyone’s hard work paid off as the drivers and their newly wrapped vehicles were able to connect via Zoom with their young designers to surprise them and announce them as their copilots for the race weekend.

RJ Anderson (left) and Madix Bailey (right) shown above during the Zoom calls

All of the families that participated were given links to Lucas Oil Racing TV to see the action live, as well as links for the hospital to be able to broadcast the races internally for everyone to enjoy. Sponsorship for the event helped cover the redesign and vehicle panels for this project, with all additional funds raised going directly to LLUCH to finance the Hospital’s greatest needs. Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital understands that even during these uncertain times, their dedicated health care teams continue to work diligently to keep their young patients and families, caregivers and team members healthy and safe. In addition to Sponsorship options, an online auction is being held with unique items including race helmets signed by members of both Pro Lite and Pro 2 classes:  https://one.bidpal.net/Lucasoil/browse/all   Lewis wanted to make sure the 2020 season ends on a high note, keeping perspective of the bigger picture as he concluded, “With the unprecedented challenges that 2020 has brought to all of us, and far beyond that of just us here at Lucas Oil, we remain in resolve to keep our competitors and teams safe but to have something good that we can do in support of others in need, like those at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital.”

• Foursome of Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) continues to jostle for position atop the championship standings at this weekend’s Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park
•  DSR drivers are 1-2-3-4 in battle for Funny Car crown as Matt Hagan leads Jack Beckman by four markers while Tommy Johnson Jr. and Ron Capps fight to remain in contention with two events left in the 2020 season
• DSR Funny Car stable has won every national event this season and seeks to extend the streak of 12 consecutive victories that began in October 2019
• Matt Hagan and Ron Capps’ Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars along with Leah Pruett’s Mopar Top Fuel dragster will all prominently feature Pennzoil as part of their paint schemes
• Mopar Drag Pak of Mark Pawuk sits No.2 in the Factory Stock Showdown championship

October 21, 2020, Auburn Hills, Mich. – The contingent of Mopar Dodge//SRT race cars from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) is staging for the penultimate event of the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing Series season this weekend at the Mopar Express Lane SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil near Houston, Texas. While much of the attention is focused on the team’s season-long four-way battle for the Funny Car crown, championship hopes for Leah Pruett and her Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster are still very much alive, and Mark Pawuk’s Mopar Drag Pak sits No.2 in Factory Stock Showdown championship rankings.

Rescheduled from its original spring date due to the pandemic, Houston Raceway Park Powered by Pennzoil will be dressed up in the familiar blue, white and yellow Mopar Express Lane and Pennzoil signage associated with speedy in-and-out quality, factory-backed service by the certified technicians that keep customer vehicles in tip-top shape while providing everything from convenient oil changes to complimentary multi-point check-ups. Also geared-up for the occasion, Matt Hagan and Ron Capps’ Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars along with Pruett’s Mopar Top Fuel dragster will all prominently feature Pennzoil as part of their paint schemes in honor of the Houston-headquartered brand’s home race.

The anticipation for this weekend’s Mopar Express Lane SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil is palpable for numerous reasons, primarily that it sets the stage for an exciting championship showdown the following weekend in Las Vegas at the Dodge NHRA Finals Presented by Dodge, in which a “points-and-a-half” format will likely keep fans guessing who will win the crown in each category until the final round of the final race.

Expectations for record runs at the Texas venue are higher than usual this weekend as the beneficial atmospheric conditions, due to cool air that normally filters in from coastal waters, are enhanced by the date change to a late October national event.

“The excitement when you’re racing at your sponsor’s event is huge,” says Hagan, who finished runner-up last year and won his first career race at the Houston venue in 2010. “There’s always pressure at any race, but when it’s your sponsor’s race you have extra motivation to win it. The conditions at Houston will likely be similar to what we had in Gainesville and we ran really well there, so we feel confident that we have a great opportunity to win at our sponsor’s event.”

DSR’s foursome of Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car continues to jostle for position atop the championship standings this weekend as Hagan leads the fray by just four markers over teammate Jack Beckman, with Tommy Johnson Jr.  and Capps in third and fourth place, respectively, still in contention with two national events left in the season.

“Being able to battle it out for a championship is something I’m very prepared to do,” says Hagan. “I think there’s only been one time in my entire career that I wasn’t in the hunt. It always comes down to the wire and you never know what’s going to happen, but that’s what makes it so exciting. Every race is very important, and every run counts. We’re going to go out there, do what we do, and that’s turn on win lights for Mopar and Pennzoil.”

The DSR Funny Car stable has combined to win every national event this season and is working to extend their record streak of 12 consecutive victories that began in October 2019. While each driver has at least a pair of Wally trophies this season, last week’s victor, Beckman, has a category-leading three wins in nine events.  He is also hoping to take his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to the winner’s circle at this event for the first time after three runner-up finishes in 2009, 2014 and 2015.  

Sitting third in standings, Johnson is looking to inch closer to his teammates in the points by seeking his first win at the venue and deliver a Wally to the MD Anderson Cancer Center, headquartered in Houston, for which the paint scheme on his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat has been representing this season. Capps, meanwhile, is looking to shed his championship underdog status by adding another Houston trophy to the four he previously earned in 2006, 2007, 2015 and 2017. 

In Top Fuel action, Pruett and her Pennzoil-schemed Mopar Top Fuel dragster is adopting a “now or never” attitude to stay in championship contention and move up from her third place position where she is 148 points from leader Steve Torrance and 97 behind Doug Kalitta. Pruett is also chasing her first win of the season and has plenty of motivation to go for it.

“Houston! Home of our Pennzoil proving grounds,” says Pruett. “Very much looking forward to proving our way up into the points. Incredible to think the season is ending as we are getting back in the travel and racing groove. Looking forward to our Baytown Pennzoil hometown crowd. We have had a good amount of success here, and the fans remember that, and we will undoubtedly be feeling that vibe. Our championship pursuit is hotter than ever, with lessons learned in Dallas that will only make us stronger for this event.”

Pruett will also be racing in Factory Stock Showdown competition aboard her Mopar Drag Pak along with teammate Mark Pawuk and his Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak this weekend as a carry-over of the unfinished St. Louis event with two qualifying sessions to take place on Saturday and eliminations on Sunday. Pawuk currently sits second in the Factory Stock Showdown championship.

NHRA nitro qualifying sessions are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, while elimination rounds for the Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil will begin at 10 a.m. local time on Sunday, Oct. 25, with the television broadcast on FS1 beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern featuring live coverage of the final rounds.

NHRA Championship Points Standings:

(Following the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals)

FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)

1. Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 762 (2)

2. Jack Beckman (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 758 (3)

3. Tommy Johnson Jr. (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 685 (2)

4. Ron Capps (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 588 (2)

5. Bob Tasca III – 538

5. Tim Wilkerson – 538

7. J.R. Todd – 526 

8. Alexis DeJoria – 414

9. Paul Lee – 351 

10. Cruz Pedregon – 335

TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)

1. Steve Torrance – 764 (4)

2. Doug Kalitta – 713 (1)

3. Leah Pruett (Mopar Dodge//SRT) – 616

4. Billy Torrance – 598 (1)

5. Shawn Langdon – 491 (1) 

6. Antron Brown – 458

7. Justin Ashley – 453 (1)

8. Terry McMillen – 436

9. Clay Millican – 381

10. Tony Schumacher – 294

NASCAR CUP SERIESTEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT OCTOBER 21, 2020

Erik Jones met with media via teleconference to discuss the recent announcement that he will be joining Richard Petty Motorsports in 2021 as the driver of the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in the NASCAR Cup Series. Full Transcript:  MODERATOR: BIG DAY FOR YOU, ERIK. HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO FINALLY GET THIS PAST, GET THIS DONE AND GET READY TO MOVE ONTO 2021? Erik Jones: “Yeah, it feels good. These past few months have been kind of hectic trying to work with teams, talk to different people and figure out what opportunities are out there. It’s just nice to finally have it sealed up – have it done, announced and have it out there. You don’t have to answer all the questions anymore from everyone – where you going, what are you doing and when you are going to announce it. So, it’s nice to have it done. It’s a really cool opportunity for myself and I think it’s going to be a pretty great pairing for both of us.” 
RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS HAS A TECHNICAL ALLIANCE WITH RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING AND THEY JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THEY ARE GOING TO BE GETTING ENGINES FROM THE HENDRICK GROUP. IS THAT PROGRAM GOING TO EXPAND TO YOU GUYS, AS WELL? Erik Jones: “I believe so. I can’t answer for sure, but RPM has had an alliance with RCR for a few years and it’s been a full-on technical alliance. There’s still some stuff I have to learn about in how it all works -what we’re getting from RCR and what the whole program is there. I know the essentials of it and how it works, but that was a pretty recent announcement, so I haven’t really dove into that yet in how everything is going to work there. But, I assume it’s the same stuff, so I think that’s going to be a positive. They’ve been trending upwards the last couple of years anyways, with RPM on their own and with RCR’s help, they’ve both been moving in the right direction. So, I think that’s going to continue to drive it the right way anyways.” OBVIOUSLY, WITH THE CREW CHIEF, IT’S A GUY YOU’RE FAMILIAR WITH – JERRY BAXTER. HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO GET BACK WITH HIM AND HOW MUCH DOES THAT HELP A TRANSITION GOING FROM ONE TEAM TO THE NEXT, WHERE YOU HAVE SOME FAMILIARITY THERE? Erik Jones: “Yeah, it makes things simpler. I’m not going in blind by any means. I know Jerry (Baxter) pretty well. I haven’t worked with him as a Crew Chief of my own, but when I was at KBM, he was obviously there and working at KBM on the other Trucks. I know Jerry and have met and talked to him quite a bit. I actually already talked to him a little bit the last week or so after we were getting really close on getting this deal signed. He’s really excited – I’m excited to work with Jerry. He’s been around for a long time in the sport – has a lot of knowledge, a lot of know-how and I think what he’s done at RPM has been pretty impressive too. I think it will be an easy transition. We get to skip kind of the awkward introduction stage and we can go right into working on the race cars and kind of what we’re going to look for in each other and the team to go out and be strong right off the bat at Daytona. So, I think that’s going to be a good pairing. Jerry’s a racer at heart, as am I, and I think we can share that right off the bat and kind of get things started off on the right foot.” I KNOW FOR YOU, YOU WERE IN A GROUP OF FOUR DRIVERS BEFORE. NOW, YOU’RE THE GUY. THEY SAID TODAY THEY’RE GOING TO PUT ONE HUNDRED PERCENT EFFORT AND FOCUS ON YOU. COMING FROM A SMALL TOWN LIKE BRYON AND NOW COMING TO A SMALLER TEAM, HOW EXCITED ARE YOU AND HOW MUCH DOES THAT GIVE YOU MORE COMFORT AS OPPOSED TO BEING A PART OF JUST A MASSIVE TEAM WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT MOVING PARTS? Erik Jones: “Yeah, I think it’s great. That was one of the things that when RPM reached out I was excited about – the opportunity to be a single-car team and just have everybody working in the same direction. The cool part is I’ll have the chance to get to know everybody at RPM – everybody that’s working on the car in the shop and getting it to the race track. Coming from JGR, I never got the chance to meet everybody. It’s a pretty big company and there’s a lot of people that I never had the chance to really interact with too much. So, that was always a little strange for me with growing up racing and working on my own stuff with my family and getting to know everybody that had a hand in working on the race car. So, kind of getting back to that small town and small team feel I think is going to be really kind of nice. Just having one voice, which is mine and Jerry’s, to kind of lead the team in the direction we think we need to go, I think is going to be a good thing.” THE NO. 43 IS A PRETTY IMPORTANT NUMBER. I WAS JUST WONDERING WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU TO BE ABLE TO HAVE THAT NOW ON THE SIDE OF YOUR CAR AND JUST THAT HISTORY AND LEGACY THAT COMES WITH THAT?Erik Jones: “Yeah, it’s definitely iconic. You look at the history of NASCAR and the 43, everybody knows who Richard Petty is if they’re a race fan. And even if they aren’t a race fan, a lot of people know who Richard Petty is. So, that’s really neat. Having the chance to get to spend some time with him the last couple of weeks has been pretty cool. I’d never really gotten the chance to talk too much with him and spend a lot of time with him, other than in passing. So, it’s just really cool to hear the old stories. I’m a really big fan of the history of the sport and to get to hear some of the stories first-hand is a pretty cool experience. It’s really neat to see how invested he is in the team, in the sport and the direction we’re going. I think that’s going to be a really good match. The thing about RPM, like I mentioned a second ago, it’s a group of racers and that really fits me well and my goal, as well. I think we are both really motivated going into it. I have a lot that I want to go out and prove in the Cup Series and want to continue to go out and win more races, and RPM wants to do the same thing. They want to go out and want to win races. I think we can work together pretty well in trying to get to that goal and get that accomplished for next year.” DO YOU FEEL ANY EXTRA ADDED PRESSURE WITH THAT NUMBER ON THE SIDE OF YOUR CAR?Erik Jones: “There is definitely a heritage you want to uphold. I think that number is one of the most successful numbers in the history of the sport and one of the biggest numbers. You want to do it proud. You want to run well and you want to be up front. I don’t know that there’s extra pressure from that. I always feel like I think the pressure that’s on me is really internally just from myself. I want to go out and run well. I want to go out and compete and win races. I’ve never tried to let too many things from the outside come in and influence that.” YOU MENTIONED IT WAS GOING TO BE A GREAT PAIRING FOR THE BOTH OF YOU. CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THAT?Erik Jones: “I think it was just kind of a good timing for us. Obviously, they were moving on and looking for a new driver and I was looking for a new team. Just common goals and common interests, I think, that really matched up between both of our groups going into it. Just the motivation side of it – I think they’re more motivated than ever to continue to grow their program and they’ve been heading in such a good direction the last few years. They are just so close to taking that next step and they wanted to find somebody on the same path. I feel like I’m kind of in that same spot, where we’ve been really close, we’ve won races and I want to win more. So, I think that’s a really good joining of two groups coming together now that are going to be able to go out and really go for a common goal and have one focused effort on it. That’s really the part I’m most excited about.” YOU MENTIONED THE ICONIC NUMBER, THE NO. 43. I THINK WITH THAT, YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE A FAN BASE THAT’S GOING TO BRING A NEW FAN BASE. TALK ABOUT WHAT IT’S GOING TO MEAN TO GO DRIVE THAT 43 FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THE NEW FAN BASE AND COMING TO MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILIES THERE? Erik Jones: “Yeah, there’s a huge fan base that follows along with RPM and with the number. So, that’s going to be really cool to welcome all of those people into my group that’s already following me and have them, hopefully, join along and follow. I think we share a lot of the same core values, really, between the fans and myself, what we do and what we look for. It’s cool for me. My grandma is a huge Richard Petty fan. Growing up, she was always interested in watching him. So, that’s pretty cool. She’s excited about it and has been wanting to tell everybody for the last week about what I was doing. It will be cool. I hope when we come back to MIS we get to have fans there so I can have some friends and family come down and to have the chance to meet the King. That’s a pretty cool experience. He’s been really welcoming to me coming in there, so I think it’s going to be a pretty cool experience for everybody.” WHEN YOU LEFT YOUR TEAM AND WHEN BUBBA (WALLACE) LEFT RPM, WAS THIS THE JOB YOU WERE REALLY TARGETING OR WERE THERE SOME OTHER PARTNERS THAT WERE IN THE BACKGROUND PERHAPS LOOKING FOR YOUR SERVICES?Erik Jones: “We definitely talked to a variety of different teams. I wouldn’t say that RPM was the only team on the plate. But as things started to shake out and people started finding their rides, we were starting to work towards one direction. I think RPM became a pretty clear choice for us and the place that we wanted to go.” “The thing that meant a lot to me was RPM reached out to us and I thought that was really encouraging. As a driver and a person, you want to be somewhere where you’re wanted. RPM showed that interest right off the bat when they were looking for a driver and I thought that was really encouraging. Like I said, you want to be somewhere where you’re wanted, you’re appreciated and I think RPM is definitely going to be that place.” WITH THE PARTNERSHIP HAPPENING WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND OTHERS, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE SOME TOP-NOTCH EQUIPMENT. DOES THIS HAVE YOU, RICHARD, KYLE AND THE WHOLE TEAM REALLY EXCITED TO KNOW THAT THE NO. 43 COULD RUN UP FRONT? Erik Jones: “Yeah, I think they’re going to have great equipment. Like I mentioned, the way that they’ve been trending the last few years, continuing to get their stuff better and better. I think their alliance with RCR has been great to keep developing their equipment. And I hope I can help with that. I hope that I can bring something to the table that’s going to help them continue to get better and better. Obviously, I have four years of experience at JGR – what we did over there and can bring a lot of knowledge from that situation. I think it that’s going to be helpful going into it – that we can continue to improve the stuff. But I definitely think going into it, watching from afar, I think they are continuing to improve and can run up front.” DO YOU FEEL LIKE NOW WITH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OUT THERE, DO YOU FEEL LIKE IT’S A FRESH START FOR YOU?Erik Jones: “Yeah, I do. I spent seven years really with Toyota and what they had going on between KBM and Joe Gibbs Racing, and that was great. They did a lot for me and, obviously, took me from the Truck Series all the way to the Cup Series for the last few years and it was a great ride. I got a lot of great things out of that, won races with them and did a lot of good things. I think it was to a point where it was time to do something different for maybe both sides and this is definitely a fresh start for me – a new manufacturer, a new team. Things are going to be pretty new. It’s definitely the most change that I’ve ever had since 2013, my first year in the Truck Series coming from late models. So, it’s a whole new slate for me. The only thing that stays the same is that it’s the Cup Series and we’re racing the same tracks. It’s just going to be a whole new group and everything. It’s going to be good I think. You kind of reset, take what you learned the last few years, apply what you can and learn what you can moving forward to try and take advantage of the current situation. I think that’s a good thing. Like I mentioned, I think both sides are really motivated and I think it’s going to be a good, clean slate and a breath of fresh air to start over.” WHO’S THE COOLEST PERSON THAT REACHED OUT TO YOU ABOUT THIS? Erik Jones: “I’ve definitely got some cool texts today. People from actually my past racing that have reached out and said their congratulations, and that’s been really cool. Really from the start, the support that’s been out there from the time we made the announcement that I wasn’t going to be back at JGR all the way up until now, obviously today announcing the new ride with RPM –  the support has been pretty amazing and more than I really ever expected. So, that’s been pretty cool.” YOU TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE ICONIC OF THE NO. 43 AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PART OF THE TEAM. BUT FOR YOU TOO, THIS IS A TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF NASCAR, HAS GOTTEN TO VICTORY LANE A LOT, BUT THEY HAVEN’T SINCE 2014. WHAT WILL IT MEAN TO YOU WHEN YOU CAN GET THEM BACK TO VICTORY LANE AND KIND OF CLOSE THAT GAP OF SOMETHING THEY HAVEN’T FELT AS A TEAM SINCE 2014.Erik Jones: “It would be a huge moment, I think, for both of us. Getting the No. 43 back in victory lane would be awesome. I can only imagine seeing the King walking into victory lane and what that emotion would be like for the both of us, really. There’s a lot of people there that would be really, really ecstatic about it. I’m getting the chance to meet more and more people, and just seeing their excitement to start this deal next year, has been really encouraging. They want to win. Like I mentioned, they’re racers and they want to go out there and win races. That’s the goal – we want to go out there and get back to victory lane for both of us. So, I think that’s going to be cool. I think we have a great opportunity to do it. The emotions would be high, I think, from a lot of people if we can get that car back to victory lane.” YOU ALSO SAID YOU’VE BEEN SITTING ON THIS FOR A LITTLE BIT TOO. I KNOW COMING INTO THE PLAYOFFS, YOU HAD SAID THAT THIS WHOLE CONTRACT SITUATION AND TRYING TO FIND A RIDE WAS A BIT OF A DISTRACTION. IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS, YOU’VE BEEN ONE OF THE BEST DRIVERS, PLAYOFF DRIVERS OR NOT. DO YOU FEEL LIKE THAT REALLY TOOK THAT PRESSURE OFF AND HOW MUCH HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO JUST FOCUS ON DRIVING? Erik Jones: “Yeah, it’s been great to run as good as we have the last few weeks. That’s the goal – you want to run up front. We obviously want to finish the year strong with where we are now and hopefully we’ll win another race. That’s what we want to do. Those guys, they haven’t given up at all. And for me, we were still working on this deal the last couple of weeks. I was just doing my deal, I guess – just going out, try to put it aside for the weekend and run strong. It was definitely somewhat of a distraction. You know, you’re trying to work hard on putting this deal together, getting it done and keeping tabs on what all is going on. You spend a lot of time on the phone, catching up with a lot of different people. And then after you sign it, trying to learn everybody’s roles, who everybody is and trying to make that all happen really fast. And in the meantime, keeping pace with what you’re doing right now. So, there’s a lot of different things going on, but having it done now is going to make life a little bit easier. Only three races left in the season – still pretty focused on those and trying to get done what I want to get done there in the No. 20 car. But, definitely excited to have this done, be able to start working on it a little bit and start heading in that direction.” 

Troy Coughlin Jr. welcomes new sponsor BENMIT

HOUSTON (Oct. 21) — It wasn’t that long ago that five-time Pro Stock world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. was in full control of the factory hot rod class. He raced to three finals in the first four races, winning twice, and was more than two rounds ahead of Jason Line and almost four rounds up on his Elite Motorsports teammate Erica Enders. But with only 10 races on the COVID-shortened 2020 NHRA schedule, slip-ups can reverse one’s fortunes in short order, as Coughlin discovered after two unlikely first-round exits, which helped flip the table in the standings. He now trails Enders by four and a half rounds and Line by three.

Five-time Pro Stock world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr.

“We need a perfect scorecard from here on out to even have a glimpse of hope,” Coughlin admitted. “Fortunately, we made a lot of progress in Dallas and the final two races left on the schedule both take place at tracks where we have historically done very well so we feel good about finishing strong. “Erica and Jason are out there a bit but we can’t control what they’re doing so we’ll just get super aggressive and try to earn as many points as possible. If the JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro is the last car left on race day, we’ll know for sure we’ve earned more points than everyone else, so that’s the goal.” Coughlin is a four-time winner at Houston Raceway Park powered by Pennzoil, which hosts this weekend’s rescheduled 33rd annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil. The 65-time national event winner claimed glory at HRP in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2010. “The victory here in ’97 was my first in Pro Stock so it would be great to finish like we started with another Houston win,” said Coughlin, who will retire from full-time professional competition at year’s end. Of note, Coughlin has five more wins at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with trophy finishes in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2009. The 2020 season ends in Las Vegas.

Troy Coughlin Jr. with BENMIT co-owner Jennifer Woodruff

Houston also will be a huge stop for rookie Pro Stock driver Troy Coughlin Jr. as he unveils a special sponsorship with BENMIT, which processes steel pipe for businesses in the oilfield/energy and water delivery sectors. BENMIT has several customers in the Greater Houston Area whom they will be entertaining at the event. “It’s a real honor to have BENMIT on the racecar,” Troy Jr. said. “I went for a visit to their facility in Ohio this week and it’s great to see American workers making top-notch American products that keep America’s engine running. Houston is the energy capital of the world so it’s natural for BENMIT to have a bunch of happy customers there. “Probably the coolest part of BENMIT is that it’s a third-generation company, just like we have at JEGS. Jeff and Brian Cunningham, along with their sister Jennifer Woodruff, are doing their family proud. I’m thrilled to bring some attention to their made-in-the-USA steel pipe.” Troy Jr. will be driving the same JEGS.com/BENMIT Ford Mustang out of the Elite Motorsports camp that he’s raced for most of the season, including during a career-best final-round appearance at the third Indy race, where he lost to his uncle Jeg Jr. “Being a part of Elite Motorsports gives BENMIT a great chance to experience the top level of NHRA drag racing and it would be awesome to get them a win,” Troy Jr. said. “With guys like Rick Jones, Mike DePalma, Eric Luzinski and Robert Freeman behind me, I feel fully prepared for a big weekend.”

Oct 21, 2020 | Featured, Julie Nataas, Megan Meyer, Race Results

Randy Meyer Racing ran the table this weekend at the 35th annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals in the Top Alcohol Dragster class as Julie Nataas won the rain-delayed Gatornationals on Saturday and Megan Meyer took the win on Sunday for back-to-back Texas Motorplex victories in her NGK Spark Plugs dragster.

On Friday, the first qualifying session in the late evening at the Ennis, Texas-based track proved to be tough to battle as Megan and Julie both went up in smoke after they launched and were forced to abort their runs. Saturday morning, Megan rebounded with a stout 5.177, 278.86 and jumped up to the No. 4 qualifying spot.

Saving the best pair for last in that second and final session, Julie bounced back just as Megan did ahead of her with a 5.177, 280.60. This stellar run also counted towards the rain-delayed Gatornationals against Josh Hart. Hart clocked in with a 5.228, 278.00 but he was no match for the Randy Meyer-tuned dragster in the opposing lane. On her way to the Gatornationals’ winner circle, she defeated Joey Severance, Duane Shields, and Josh Hart.

On Saturday evening, Julie came into the FallNationals raceday in the No. 3 spot while Megan was close behind in the No. 4 spot. Megan crossed the top end with a 5.232, 281.07 to defeat Buddy Domingue’s 5.417, 252.38. Julie staged up against Joey Severance in the first round for the second race in a row and used a 5.260, 269.08 to turn on the win light against Severance’s troubled 9.036, 93.32.

In the second round, Megan remained consistent with a 5.251, 276.01 to cross the finish line ahead of Josh Hart. Unfortunately, after Julie did her burnout in her pairing, the throttle stuck, and she went into the sand trap. Luckily, she was unharmed and able to get out of the dragster immediately. Unable to stage the car against her competitor, Aaron Cooper was given the competition single. 

In the semifinals, Megan turned heads when she clocked in with a 5.164, 275.17 and defeated Matthew Cummings’ 5.455, 268.71 and headed to the final round with a matchup against Aaron Cooper.

In true Randy Meyer-fashion, Megan saved her best run of the weekend for the finals as she crossed the finish line with a 5.126, 279.09 to score her 12th national event Wally and second win of 2020 over Cooper’s 5.647, 209.17.

Megan’s victory at Texas Motorplex was Randy Meyer Racing’s 75th NHRA event win; 32 of them have been on the national event circuit and 43 at the regional level.

Julie will compete for her third NHRA National event win at this weekend’s rescheduled Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals near Houston, Texas. Megan, who originally was not planning to compete at this race due to her wedding being postponed to this weekend, is going to enter the event and make a single qualifying pass to extend her points lead before flying home Friday night for her wedding on Sunday, October 25th.

Inside Line Promotions – ELDON, Mo. (Oct. 20, 2020) – Saturday will mark another new track for Dominic Scelzi to check off the list.

Scelzi and Roth Motorsports invade Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Ind., for the second-to-last World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series event of the season.

“I’m excited to get an opportunity to race at Kokomo Speedway,” he said. “We’re putting a new car together so hopefully we can have more of a balance.”

Scelzi made his debut with Roth Motorsports’ World of Outlaws team last weekend during a pair of races in the Midwest. It began on Friday at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., where Scelzi made his first appearance. He timed in 25^th quickest in qualifying, placed seventh in a heat race and ended fourth in the Last Chance Showdown to transfer into the back of the main event. Scelzi capped the night by maneuvering from 24^thto 19^th.

The team then headed to Lake Ozark Speedway on Saturday for the Jason Johnson Classic. Scelzi qualified 18^th quickest, finished sixth in a heat race, produced a third-place run in the Last Chance Showdown and rallied from 23^rd to 18^th in the A Main.

“I think for us we’re wading through all the stuff the team has,” he said. “There is a lot of different stuff than the California team, which I drove for last year. We’re trying to figure out what we need. We changed so much stuff in the two nights because we were extremely tight and didn’t have good drive. When we were against moisture in the track the left front was off the ground. You get off the moisture and you get stalled out. Hopefully the new car we’re putting together this week will put us in a good position on Saturday night at Kokomo.

“Dennis and Teresa Roth and Todd Ventura put in a lot for this team and I want to put together a solid night with a great result for them. The goal is to consistently run up front during the final couple of races this year.”

QUICK RESULTS –

Oct. 16 – Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. – Qualifying: 25; Heat race: 7 (7); B Main: 4 (5); Feature: 19 (24).

Oct. 17 – Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo. – Qualifying: 18; Heat race: 6 (5); B Main: 3 (2); Feature: 18 (23).

SEASON STATS –

61 races, 3 wins, 17 top fives, 29 top 10s, 42 top 15s, 49 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Saturday at Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Ind., with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series

2021 Holley NMRA Ford Nationals Event Schedule Santa Ana, CA (October 20, 2020)  The Holley NMRA Ford Nationals returns to action in 2021 with six (6) all-Ford national events through diverse markets. The national event series is the largest Ford motorsport show in the world hosting thousands of participants each year with championship drag racing, QA1 True Street challenges, specialty shootouts, UPR Products car shows, celebrity appearances, and much more.  “We closed out the 22nd season with an incredible NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival, despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic. It’s nice to have that momentum heading into 2021 for our racers, fans, and sponsors as next year’s schedule is our best yet,” said Rollie Miller, General Manager and National Event Director of the Holley NMRA Ford Nationals.

March 4-7, 202127th Annual NMRA Spring Break ShootoutBradenton Motorsports Park, Bradenton, FL

April 8-11, 202113th Annual NMRA/NMCA All-Star NationalsAtlanta Dragway, Commerce, GA

May 13-16, 202116th Annual NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag RacingWorld Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Madison, IL

June 10-13, 2021Inaugural NMRA Ford Performance NationalsSummit Motorsports Park, Norwalk OH

July 22-25, 2021Inaugural NMRA/NMCA Power FestivalUS131 Motorsports Park, Martin MI

Sept. 30 – Oct. 3, 202123rd Annual NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford FestivalBeech Bend raceway Park, Bowling Green, KY

NMRA kicks off the season with the legendary, must-attend Spring Break Shootout, held at Bradenton Motorsports Park. The second tour stop is Atlanta Dragway for the NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals in April. The prestigious World Wide Technology Raceway, just outside of St. Louis, is the new home of the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing extravaganza. It goes down in May on a weekend that holds historic value to longtime Ford drag racing fans. A month later the traveling Ford motorsport show makes a return to the world-class facility known as Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio with the Ford Performance Nationals. Then it’s back to US 131 Motorsports Park for the NMRA/NMCA Power Festival in July followed by a break leading up to the biggest, baddest, and the most over-the-top Ford event of the year, the NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival. The annual festival goes down as September closes and October opens, bringing prime weather conditions for record-breaking action on the drag strip and tire-shredding madness on the circle track.  For more information on the 2021 Holley NMRA Ford Nationals, visit www.NMRAdigital.com

KANSAS CITY, KS – October 19, 2020 – Joey Logano, won the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, securing a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 for Team Penske and Ford Performance. Chase Briscoe, from Stewart-Haas Racing, also secured a spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 by winning the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday.

“A great weekend for Ford Performance, Team Penske, and Stewart-Haas Racing. Congratulations to Joey, Paul, Chase and Richard for their wins at Kansas. To be locked into the Championship 4 for both series at the beginning of the Round of 8 is awesome,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Joey was able to take advantage of his experience and fast pit crew!  And to see Chase mature as driver, collect his ninth win in a single season, is a testament to his passion and character for our great sport.”

Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Ford Mustang led three times for a race high 85-laps, but a late race caution shuffled up the field. It was the quick work of the No. 22 Team Penske pit crew, that provided the lead for Logano during the restart on lap 223. Logano led a total of 47 laps and was able to hold off a hard charging Harvick to win by .312 of a second.

“What an amazing team this Shell Pennzoil team is,” Logano commented. “Pit stops put us in position and got us the lead. We are going to Phoenix and racing for a championship again. Heck Yeah!”

Harvick finished P2 while Team Penske teammates Brad Keselowski finished P4 and Ryan Blaney P7 and Wood Brothers Racing’s, Matt DiBenedetto finished P12. With two races to go before the Championship, all three Ford Performance Playoff drivers are currently in the top four by wins or points.

Briscoe, driving the No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang, dominated the Xfinity Series race by sweeping both stages and leading 159 laps out of the 200-lap race. During a late race caution, Briscoe re-started mid-pack and muscled his way through the field to finish 1.199 seconds ahead of second place. Briscoe’s ninth win of the year is the highest numbers of wins for a Ford driver in the Xfinity Series.

During his victory lane interview, Briscoe commented, “I am super happy to be locked into Phoenix. It is going to be a lot less stressful the next two weeks. I can’t say enough to everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. This Ford Performance Racing School Mustang was lights out. It has been an unbelievable year, but we have three more to go.”

Both Chase and Ford Performance teammate, Austin Cindric are currently in position to advance to the final Championship 4.

The Ford Mustangs of Multimatic Motorsports and PF Racing raced at Road Atlanta on Friday in the Fox Factory 120 in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series. PF Racing finished P8 while Multimatic finished P18 due to an early race incident.

The NASCAR Playoffs head to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend for the second race in the Round of 8. The next race for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenges Series is at Laguna Seca.   27 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 411 WINS – 367 POLES!

·        Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) wheelman Jack Beckman drives Infinite Hero Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to winner’s circle at 35^th annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals 

·        Beckman’s victory over teammate Matt Hagan at Texas Motorplex gives DSR and the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat a record 12 consecutive national event Funny Car wins

·        Win puts Beckman within four points of points leader and runner-up finisher Hagan in battle for Funny Car world championship with two events left in season

·        DSR Dodge Chargers of Beckman, Hagan, Tommy Johnson Jr. and Ron Capps are locked in a four-way battle for the Funny Car world championship heading to Houston for the rescheduled Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals next weekend

·        Leah Pruett and the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye dragster remain third in the hunt for a Top Fuel world title after quarterfinal exit

·        Mark Pawuk takes his Mopar Drag Pak to two holeshot wins and a semifinal appearance in Factory Stock Showdown to remain second in the championship

October 18, 2020, Ennis, Texas – Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) wheelman Jack Beckman earned his third win of the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing Series season at 35^th annual AAA Texas FallNationals over Funny Car points leader Matt Hagan in an all-Dodge final. The win by Beckman extends his team’s undefeated streak to a NHRA record 12 consecutive Funny Car victories which DSR has maintained since last year’s event at Texas Motorplex.

Beckman made his way to the final elimination round by defeating Cruz Pedregon, Tim Wilkerson and Bob Tasca. He scored his first-ever victory at the Dallas track earning a Wally trophy, the 33rd of his career, and the track’s signature cowboy hat with a 0.070-second reaction time and 3.908 second pass at 328.46 mph to out run Hagan’s 0.069-sec. start and 3.943 sec./324.20 mph effort. 

“Maybe the best weekend ever,” said Beckman. “I mean doubling up at Indy in 2015 is going to be awfully hard to exceed, but I so wanted to win at Dallas. My dad (Bob Beckman) lives close to here and he’s been supporting me my whole career and he’s 83-years-old. That might have been my last shot at Dallas and it’s going to be extra special to give him that cowboy hat from the (Texas) Motorplex. It’s perfect. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a better weekend at a drag strip than this.”

With just two national events remaining to determine a Funny Car world champion, the victory keeps the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver within four markers of the category leader Hagan and also keeps fans guessing as to which of the four DSR drivers might take the crown as Tommy Johnson Jr. and Ron Capps also remain in the mix.

From his No. 1 seeded position on the eliminations ladder, Hagan drove his special edition Pennzoil paint scheme Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat through eliminations with wins over Todd Simpson, J.R. Todd and teammate Capps to advance to his fourth final round appearance of the year. Despite the loss to Beckman, Hagan’s runner-up finishes in back-to back events have helped him maintain the points lead.

“All-in-all another really good day here at Dallas for this Pennzoil/Mopar team,” said Hagan who made his third final round appearance at Texas following wins in 2016 and 2019. “(Jack) Beckman just had a little better day. They have a great race car, but we have a great race car too. We’ve been keeping pace and we’re going to keep doing our thing for the next two races and see how this thing plays out. I’m super excited we get to do it again in a few days at Houston next weekend. We have a lot of momentum. The team is working great. The guys are doing a great job. We just have a little more work to do.”

Winner of the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals near St. Louis two weeks ago, No. 2 seed Johnson Jr. was looking to go rounds in his MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and keep the battle for the championship as close as possible heading into the final two races of the season that will conclude with a “points-and-a-half” format at the season finale. Unfortunately, Johnson saw his racecar lose tire adhesion in the quarterfinals against Bob Tasca and lost a little traction in the points as well while remaining third in the standings.

From his fourth place position on the ladder, Capps joined his teammates Beckman and Hagan in advancing to the semifinals aboard his DSR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in order to gain valuable points. His day came to a disappointing end after his (0.067-sec.) 3.958 sec./ 318.84 mph effort wasn’t enough to halt Hagan’s (0.062-sec.) 3.907 sec./326.08 mph run.

From her fifth place position on the Top Fuel eliminations ladder, Leah Pruett took her Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye for a hotshot win against Scott Palmer in the first round to advance to the next round and keep her championship hopes alive. However, a quarterfinal loss to Shawn Langdon thwarted her plans to make any gains in the points, but she still maintains her third place position in the Top Fuel standings behind Steve Torrance and Doug Kalitta.

For a fifth time this season, Pruett also doubled up on track time by taking her Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak for some laps in the Factory Stock Showdown (FSS) class alongside teammate Mark Pawuk. While her day was cut short with a first round loss to Arthur Kohn, her teammate had a more productive day.

Pawuk drove his Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak to back-to-back holeshot wins against John Cerone and Jesse Alexandra to advance to the semifinals and face FSS points leader Aaron Stanfield. Pawuk’s 0.091-sec. reaction time and 7.992 sec./171.58 mph run wasn’t quite enough to beat Stanfield’s 0.051-second reaction time and 7.976/171.82 pass, but he remains second in class.

NHRA competition will head south from Dallas to a second consecutive national event in the Lone Star State and the penultimate of the 2020 season. Rescheduled from its original April date, the upcoming Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented By Pennzoil will take place at Houston Raceway Park near Baytown, Texas from Oct. 23-25.

Two NHRA nitro qualifying sessions are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, at 1:45 and 4:45 p.m. local time. Elimination rounds at the Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented By Pennzoil are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 25, with the television broadcast on FS1 beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET featuring LIVE coverage of the final rounds.

ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES: 

Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No.6  Qualifier – 3.917 seconds at 328.70 mph)
Round 1: (0.081-second reaction time, 3.933 seconds at 326.16 mph) defeated No. 11 Cruz Pedregon (0.071/3.981/324.98)

Round 2: (0.094/3.908/327.35) defeated No. 3 Tim Wilkerson (0.106 /4.796/164.43)

Round 3: (0.101/3.903/329.34) defeated No. 7 Bob Tasca (0.084/3.934/328.22)

Round 4: (0.070/3.908/328.46) defeated No. 1 Matt Hagan (0.069/3.943/324.20)

“Maybe the best weekend ever. I mean doubling up at Indy in 2015 is going to be awfully hard to exceed, but I so wanted to win at Dallas. My dad (Bob Beckman) lives close to here and he’s been supporting me my whole career and he’s 83-years-old. That might have been my last shot at Dallas and it’s going to be extra special to give him that cowboy hat from the (Texas) Motorplex. It’s perfect. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a better weekend at a drag strip than this.”

Matt Hagan, Pennzoil Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car  
(No. 1 Qualifier – 3.860 seconds at 328.54 mph)
Round 1: (0.082-second reaction time, 3.885 seconds at 330.63 mph) defeated No. 16 Todd Simpson (0.105/6.845/100.28)

Round 2: (0.055/3.928/326.63) defeated No. 8 J.R. Todd (0.078/3.987/326.00)

Round 3: (0.062/3.907/326.08) defeated No. 4 Ron Capps (0.067/3.958/318.84)

Round 4: (0.069/3.943/324.20) lost to No. 6 Jack Beckman (0.070/3.908/328.46)

“All-and-all another really good day here at Dallas for this Pennzoil/Mopar team. (Jack) Beckman just had a little better day. They have a great race car, but we have a great race car too. We’ve been keeping pace and we’re going to keep doing our thing for the next two races and see how this thing plays out. I’m super excited we get to do it again in a few days at Houston next weekend. We have a lot of momentum. The team is working great. The guys are doing a great job. We just have a little more work to do.”

Tommy Johnson Jr., MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 2 Qualifier – 3.871 seconds at 315.34 mph)

Round 1: (0.070-second reaction time, 3.948 seconds at 321.88 mph) defeated No.15 Jim Campbell (0.122/4.134/312.21)

Round 2: (0.055/4.348/218.09) lost to No. 7 Bob Tasca (0.096/3.972/324.83)

“That was surprising and disappointing. We had such a great running car all weekend. I didn’t expect the tires to come loose. We needed to win that round to keep pace, but that didn’t happen. We aren’t out of this thing yet. There’s two races left and points-and-a-half at the last one. We need to do our job and go rounds and try to win the next two. Still, very happy with this team and happy to be able to race with such a great group here at DSR.”

Ron Capps, NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 4  Qualifier – 3.885 seconds at 326.79 mph)
Round 1: (0.103-second reaction time, 3.907 seconds at 327.98 mph) defeated No. 13 Terry Haddock (0.272/4.188/293.92)

Round 2: (0.109/3.903/327.35) defeated No. 5 Alexis DeJoria (0.147/11.211/76.74)

Round 3: (0.067/3.958/318.84) lost to No.1 Matt Hagan (0.062/3.907/326.08)

“It’s tough to gain points when these cars in front of us keep going rounds. We felt so good from qualifying to run 3.90 the first two rounds with back-to-back three point nine zero runs, we felt we had typical Rahn Tobler. Almost like a bracket racing car and we really only tried to improve a little bit against Dickie (Venables) and (Matt) Hagan and if we got beat, we got beat. For some reason the car slowed down a little bit and ran 3.95. It’s a major bummer. Those guys are running so good that you have to improve a little bit to outrun them. It’s nice to go again at Houston next week, but we’re kind of running out of rounds to make a run for the championship. We’ll head to South Texas and try to make some ground up.”

Leah Pruett, Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Top Fuel Dragster  
(No. 5 Qualifier – 3.732 seconds at 318.77 mph)

Round 1: (0.079-second reaction time, 3.780 seconds at 317.27 mph) defeated No. 10 Scott Palmer (0.094/3.778/317.57)

Round 2: (0.084 /3.863/293.86) loss to No. 4 Shawn Langdon (0.056/3.825/311.77)

“The resurrection of the Dodge SRT Hellcat Redeye wasn’t quite at fierce as we hoped it would be on this Sunday. We had a very competitive, stout first round against an always tough competitor in (Scott) Palmer. In the second round we had some fuel mixture mix-ups with the cylinders. That should have been an attainable round win and those win lights are just so important right now. We’re not out of this fight by any means and we’re thankful that Dodge is able put on the race at Las Vegas in two weeks. We know exactly where we’re at going into Houston and we hope it’s our time to shine in the big Lone Star State and getting that Wally at Houston.”

Mark Pawuk, Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak– Factory Stock Shootout
(No. 6 Qualifier – 7.934 seconds at 174.21 mph)

Round 1: (0.018-second reaction time, 7.989 seconds at 171.82 mph) defeated No. 11 John Cerbone (0.141/7.997/175.07)

Round 2: (0.080/7.998/171.97) defeated No. 3 Jesse Alexandra (0.202/7.963/172.28)

Round 3: (0.091/7.992/171.58) lost to No. 2 Aaron Stanfield (0.051/7.976/171.82)

“It was another good weekend for this Empaco Equipment Dodge Drag Park. We had a shot to go to the final round at Dallas, but unfortunately the driver didn’t do his job in the semis. Overall, it’s a good weekend. We qualified sixth. We’re solid in second in the points and we look forward to doing it again at Houston next weekend.”

Leah Pruett, Mopar Dodge Challenger Mopar Drag Pak – Factory Stock Shootout 
(No. 13  Qualifier – 8.001 seconds at 172.56 mph)
Round 1: (0.059-second reaction time, 8.047 seconds at 170.32  mph) lost to Arthur Kohn (0.009/8.015/171.23)

“We raced a tough car in (Arthur) Kohn today and at both ends of the track we didn’t have what it needed. It was a very close race and we’re pushing this Drag Pak to the max, but just getting beat right now. We can be down or know what it takes in the long term and we’re finding little wins that will add up, but Mark (Pawuk) is doing well for Mopar and Dodge and I can’t wait for the new Drag Pak Dodge in 2021 next spring.”

October 18, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Wrangler RIGGS team rallied from some early struggles in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway to score Stage points in the second Stage and post a 12^th-place finish at the end.

DiBenedetto earned the 18^th starting spot for Sunday’s race and was on the move early on, moving to 13^th place after just eight laps.

He fell back for the remainder of the first Stage and finished that 80-lap segment outside the top 20. A leaking left rear tire was found to be the culprit, but not before adjustments had been made to compensate for the ill-handling condition.

Once the Menards/Wrangler RIGGS team had the chance to readjust the No. 21 Mustang, DiBenedetto again began to work his way forward.

As the leaders began to make green-flag pit stops around Lap 125, crew chief Greg Erwin made the call to run long on that segment.

DiBenedetto took the lead on Lap 133 and was out front when the caution flag flew for a spin by Matt Kenseth.

That allowed DiBenedetto, who led a total of 12 laps, to make that stop under the caution. That led to a seventh-place finish in the second Stage, which was worth four bonus points.

In the third and final segment of the race, DiBenedetto ran either in the top 10 or just outside that group, eventually finishing 12^th in a race won by his fellow Ford driver Joey Logano, who now will race for the championship on Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway, where he won earlier this season.

“We just didn’t have the speed we needed,” DiBenedetto said. “We were a little off all day, but we recovered and made a fairly solid day out of it.”
 
He said the leaking tire early in the race was one of the team’s main challenges.
 
“It threw us for a loop and kind of put us behind for a while,” he said. “It was a little bit of a setback.” 
 
Eddie Wood said that all-in-all it was a good day at the race.
 
“I’m happy for Joey and Team Penske to have earned a spot in the championship round,” he said. “And although we didn’t finish in the top five or top 10 like you always want to do, it was a good day for us.
 
“Greg and the crew did a great job, and Matt hung tough all day even though they never got the car where he felt comfortable.
 
“And Greg’s call to run long near the end of Stage Two worked out even better than he thought it might.”
 
DiBenedetto and the Wood Brothers team remain in 15^th place in the points standings heading into next Sunday’s Autotrader 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
 

CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION AAA TEXAS NHRA FALL NATIONALS TEXAS MOTORPLEX IN ENNIS, TEXAS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2020Chevy Doubles Up in Dallas in Pro Stock competition
• Erica Enders wins delayed St. Louis NHRA Midwest Nationals event on Saturday • Matt Hartford scores first win of 2020 with victory over last year’s winner Anderson

Ennis, Texas (October 18, 2020) – Matt Hartford marched from the No. 4 qualifier to the Winner’s Circle hoisting the coveted Wally for winning the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex. The driver of the Total Seal Camaro SS went through Chris McGaha, Bo Butner, three-time Pro Stock champion Erica Enders, and finally four-time champion Greg Anderson to capture his fourth career NHRA Pro Stock victory. Hartford sealed the deal with a holeshot run of .018 reaction time to start a 6.625 seconds/206.39 mph against Anderson in the Summit Racing Camaro SS. 
Derek Kramer powered his American Ethanol Camaro SS to his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier. He fell to Enders in second round. After qualifying concluded for the Fall Nationals, Enders won the postponed finals of the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals at St.Louis to take the points lead, only to have Jason Line in his Summit Racing Camaro SS take it back following Sunday’s finals at Texas. Line went down to Jeg Coughlin in round two.
Enders extended her points lead to 31 points over Line as the series heads to Houston with just two events left in the season. 

PRO STOCK:
MATT HARTFORD, TOTAL SEAL/CIP1/NITRO FISH CAMARO SS (race winner) “I have raced Erica enough and she is so good, and she is always leaving on me. So many of these races that I have lost have been on a holeshot. So I said, ‘I am just going to take my chances, take my time and relax and get ready to go’.  This is for everybody back at the shop and for my whole team. We are going to the finals and we aren’t scared of that guy in there (points to Greg Anderson).”
WHAT DID YOU MISS ABOUT THESE MOMENTS?“All I missed is that K.I. and Chris Singleton, my partner in crime and owner of CIP1 is not here. This is going back to Canada (holding Wally trophy).  You said you wanted two of them and I only got you one. Everybody at Total Seal, they support me so much and all the investment group behind me, they allow me to come out and do this. Its good people that allow people like me to come out and race.  And Greg Anderson, he and I have battled it out for a long time, and normally he beats me.  They are giving me incredible horsepower, we didn’t utilize it great today, but the win lights came on.” 
JASON LINE, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, (Fell in the second round): “It was a shorter day than we anticipated for the silver Summit Racing Chevy Camaro, but the good news is that my teammates were helpful in making sure we still have a reasonable shot at the championship. They did a good job, and KB Racing got a win today. That’s great for our team owners, Ken and Judy Black, and it’s always a good thing to have a Summit Racing Chevy in the final. Tomorrow is a new day, and we’ll see what Houston holds for us. We’ve got two more races before the Finish Line Tour comes to an end for me, and I’d like to get another one of these trophies.” 

GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (fell in the finals): “Today all day, Texas was good to us. My Summit Racing Chevy was fantastic, it was the best car I had all year by a mile. But I can’t seem to get the two things together, the car and the driver, to win a race right now. You have to have both of those things just right. My guys did a great job, and they saved my bacon all day long. They tried again in the final and I dropped the ball. I have to figure out what I’m doing wrong. I’m not a guy who cuts a .060 light. I’m doing something wrong, I just don’t know what yet. That’s what I’m going to be working on before we get to Houston next week, because if I can get that figured out, we’re going to win.”
ERICA ENDERS, ELITE MOTORSPORTS, MELLING PERFORMANCE/ELITE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS(fell in semis) “We are good all the time and our back is against the wall, but I am not worried about anybody. For this Melling Performance Chevrolet, a lot of people help us out. Mark Melling, Gallagher, and I am really proud to be affiliated with all those people.  Today wasn’t our day, but yesterday was. We got two more and they are two good tracks for us.”

JEG COUGHLIN JR., ELITE MOTORSPORTS, JEGS.COM/ELITE PERFORMANCE  CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (fell in semis): “We chipped away a little bit but left some there as well. It was great to get Jason out of the way in Round 2 and, although I would never, ever wish Erica to lose, I was sitting in the waterbox watching in Round 3 when she lost to Matt Hartford, so there was a big chance to go another round or two, but Greg (Anderson, Coughlin’s semifinal opponent) and his crew had other plans. We’ve not helped our cause the last few races but we got back on track today to some extent and we have two and a half more races to go at two of my favorite tracks on tour so we’ll keep fighting. I say two and a half because the Vegas finale is awarding points and a half each round so there is extra on the table should anyone falter.”
BO BUTNER, KB RACING, JIM BUTNER AUTO GROUPCHEVROLET CAMARO SS:(fell in second round) “I’m planning to go to Houston and win. We had two KB Racing cars in the final this week, and that’s good because I drive a KB Racing Chevy. You never know what can happen these next two races. It’s so tight right now that you really can’t pick who’s going to win.” 

NASCAR CUP SERIES KANSAS SPEEDWAY HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES OCTOBER 18, 2020
 TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER3rd     ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE6th      CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE 8th      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE11th    AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE16th    RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Joey Logano (Ford)2nd     Kevin Harvick (Ford)3rd     Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)4th      Brad Keselowski (Ford)5th      Kyle Busch (Toyota) UNOFFICIAL CURRENT PLAYOFF RANK (Following Race 7 of 10)POS.   DRIVER (* = Chevy Contender)        1.        Joey Logano: Round of Eight win2.        Kevin Harvick: + 41 points3.        Denny Hamlin: + 20 points4.        Brad Keselowski: + 8 points5.        * Chase Elliott: – 8 points6.        * Alex Bowman: – 27 points7.        Martin Truex Jr.: – 31 points8.        * Kurt Busch: – 73 points
The NASCAR Cup Series seasons continues at Texas Motor Speedway with the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 on Sunday, October 25,^, at 3:30 p.m. ET, race two of three of the Round of 8 for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, the NBC Sports Gold app, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES (INCLUDING ALEX BOWMAN AND CHASE ELLIOTT PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS):ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 3rd“It seemed like we needed a really long run there at the end. We were pretty free all day and snugged it up and snugged it up. We got our Truck Hero Camaro running a little better but didn’t really have much right rear grip. There at the end, just running wide open and it finally came back to us. I kind of burnt the tires off of it to try to get there in the first place. It is a bummer. I messed up coming to two (laps) to go and cost us any chance that we had. It is still a really good day for us. Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We are building great Camaros, just came up a little short today.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 6thWHAT A CRAZY DAY FOR CHASE ELLIOTT. IT WINDS UP BEING A SIXTH-PLACE FINISH, BUT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT ALL THE RADIO ISSUES ALL DAY LONG. YOU MUST MENTALLY BE FRIED AFTER THAT RACE. HOW BAD DID IT GET AND HOW MUCH OF A DISTRACTION WAS THAT, CHASE?“Yeah, it wasn’t a massive deal. The good news was they could hear me, I just couldn’t hear them once we went green. Once we kind of had the situation understood, that they could hear me and I just couldn’t hear them, that helped, obviously. And then from there, I just kind of knew what to expect. I was just trying to pay attention to lap count and when everybody else was going to start pitting or not. But I don’t think it ultimately hindered our performance at all.”
“We had a pretty fast NAPA Camaro. I felt like we fired off well. Lost a little track position there in that middle stage and it was just tough to get a big chunk of it back in a hurry. Had a bad restart there, fell back too far, and it just took me a long time to kind of claw back up through there. We’ve got two more weeks and we’ll try to go get them in Texas.”
MINUS EIGHT GOING INTO TEXAS – I KNOW THAT’S A RACETRACK WHERE YOU GUYS HAVE STRUGGLE IN THE PAST. BUT MARTINSVILLE AT THE END OF THIS ROUND, CHASE, HOW DO YOU ASSESS THE NEXT TWO TRACKS?“I’m looking forward to both of them. Like I’ve been saying all week, I feel like you can’t have bad tracks and expect to win a championship. You need to have a shot to win every week and I believe in that a lot. We’ll go to Texas, give it our best shot to go win, and same at Martinsville. Hopefully, we’re still alive come Phoenix.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 8th“It was a good day for us by the end there. We had a couple things happen early on that we had to recover from. We took two tires early and fell back really far in the field and that was tough. We rebounded from that though and got our car tightened up which we needed. We were just too loose for the majority of the day. By the end our car was really fast and we could have ran around fifth to seventh-place and ended up finishing eighth. That’s a good day for us. We’re putting together solid runs and we just need to keep that going as the year ends.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 CASH APP CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 18th“A pretty uneventful day for us. That was the best car we’ve had at a 1.5-mile track in a really long time. We did our homework. The guys did a really good job getting our No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Cash App Camaro ZL1 1LE kind of where we needed it all day. We started out really good and maintained that. We got a little behind on that last pit stop – a little on the tight side. But the pit crew was beyond flawless today, so super proud of them. Great effort for us for Kansas Speedway – come out of there with a good run and learned a lot heading into Texas Motor Speedway. We’ll see what we’ve got.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 24th“Our GEICO Camaro ZL1 1LE was a lot better there at the end of the race. We just didn’t have the speed overall that we needed with this package. You have to have so much downforce in the car to make up any ground on the track. Our Germain Racing team never gives up and even though the timing of a couple cautions didn’t go our way, we battled back to finish 24th. We have three races left together and our focus now shifts to Texas next week.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 25th“We had good speed in our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Kansas Speedway today. It was hard at times to get a feel on the handling of our car since it felt like it would take about seven to eight laps for the front tires to come in today, but we did a better job adjusting throughout the race this time than during our first trip to Kansas earlier this year. It felt like for most the day I was snug on entry to the corners but then would become loose on center and exit, so a lot of our focus was on figuring out what changes would help me the most overall. We just have a couple other things to continue to work on as a team to put ourselves in better contention at these races. I thought maybe I had a right front tire coming down a couple laps before I got into the wall towards the end of Stage 3, but it was tough to tell if that is what was happening in that moment, so that’s a feeling I’ll definitely put in my notebook and learn from. We still have three more opportunities left this year to finish out my rookie season strong, and I’m really looking forward to getting to Texas Motor Speedway next week to try to finish one spot better than we did in July.” KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by engine failure on lap 197; Finished 38thTOUGH WAY TO END IT FOR KURT BUSCH HERE AT KANSAS. THEY HAD THE SPEEDING PENALTY EARLIER. CAME BACK FROM THAT AND WAS RUNNING ALMOST TOP-FIVE THERE. KURT, ANY INDICATION BEFORE THAT? IT SEEMED LIKE IT HAPPENED ALL OF A SUDDEN THAT THE ENGINE STARTED TO GO.“Yeah, usually there’s no warning. Everything is so buttoned up these days in the engine department. I haven’t seen an engine problem in years. No fault of anybody at Hendrick engines. We’re running hard here. We were running top-five and there’s a ton of RPM down the front-straightaway with the tail wind. We were right in the mix. We were doing the deal. I just couldn’t quite clear some guys to get into that top-three or four and then our car would come back to us on the long run after about lap 30.” “It’s a shame for everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing. Having an engine failure in the Playoffs – it’s just like a huge parachute that slows you up. We’ll pack that parachute up, throw it away and we’ll go to Texas to win. We knew we were going to have to win either here or Texas. Martinsville we have a shot at it, too. The odds are stacked against us, but hey, we’re in the top-eight for a reason. I have a great crew chief, Matt McCall, and we’ll bounce back. Thanks to Monster, GEARWRENCH, Chevrolet. It’s just one of those things where you have an engine failure and there’s nothing we can do about it.”  ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Alex Bowman, our third‑place finisher. We’ll get right to questions for Alex.            Q. Are you happy with a top three run, your best run since Darlington, or are you frustrated because you lost points on the cutoff?ALEX BOWMAN: I’m just here to get top fives because you told me I wasn’t getting enough top fives, Bob.           No, I mean, I think it’s obviously a really good day for us. We didn’t have the car that we hoped to have. We struggled with it quite a bit today. Still got good stage points. Didn’t really have the speed we wanted to have.           But our last couple changes really got the car dialed in. We needed a little bit longer run there at the end. I think we were the fastest car, just kind of ran out of laps.           Happy and sad, a little bit bummed we lost points. A little bummed Joey won. That makes my life harder over the next couple weeks. I feel like we had a really good day. I’m really proud of my race team.           A lot of people said we were going to go out early in the Playoffs. We’re still here fighting. We’re still bringing really fast cars to the racetrack each and every week.            Q. I’m trying to understand what drivers view about races like today. You had Harvick who had a faster car, couldn’t get by Logano because he didn’t win the race off of pit road. That’s been the package for the last couple years. Have you accepted it and that’s how racing is or do you feel like guys still come away with races like that and they’re privately saying screw this package? How do drivers view it?ALEX BOWMAN: I’m just happy I have a job and get to drive racecars for a living.           I think it is somewhat frustrating that it comes down to blocking for an entire run. I think we’re all on the same package, right? We’re all race car drivers. Most of us would go race lawn mowers if NASCAR said they were switching to lawn mowers next week.           I think for us, we’re all just trying to do the best job we can with the package we have to race. That’s part of this package. On a cold day like today, it really brings out that element of it. Yeah, I mean, I wish it was easier to pass when you’re a faster car. Maybe not easier, but maybe less easy to block.           That’s just part of the package. We’re all trying to maximize it the way we need to.            Q. Was there any concern when Kurt Busch’s engine went away, since he also has a Hendrick powerplant? Have they been able to use any of the ECR components yet in the cars y’all are using for the Playoffs?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, so I didn’t even know the 1 car had an engine issue. That’s a bummer for sure. Our engine shop does a great job. Yeah, that’s a bummer.           I don’t know exactly what parts and pieces we’ve used or haven’t used yet. I know everybody is doing a really good job of working together. Chevrolet is doing an awesome job kind of helping us all work together.           Proud of everybody at the engine shop. I think this week was a step in the right direction. I think we were definitely it seemed a little better on restarts. We’re headed in the right direction. Everybody is definitely working really hard.            Q. Does this team have a little bit of a chip on its shoulder? You say with a smile almost every time you come on, Nobody expects us to be here, nobody thought we would still be here. Is that what fuels this team, kind of at times maybe a lack of respect?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, I use that as a lot of motivation personally. I love it. Honestly, like, if people want to motivate me, just talk crap about me on the Internet. It works pretty well (smiling).           Yeah, I mean, I do think my team is a little bit undervalued. They’re one of the best race teams in the garage. They make up for me not being very good at some of these places, give me some pretty great racecars to drive.           Yeah, I mean, I think we definitely have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. I think those last couple laps go a little bit differently and we could very well be going to Phoenix to race for a championship. I feel like we’re right there, right where we need to be. Everybody is doing a really good job.            Q. How proud are you of the fact that you did make it, are still here with a fighting chance? You didn’t hurt yourself today.ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, for sure. It’s crazy to think about coming in, like, 17 points back and running third, getting stage points, now being 27 points back. That’s a little wild.           Yeah, I’m really proud of our race team. The summer was really rough. We were able to switch it on a couple weeks before the Playoffs. Ever since then we’ve been firing on all cylinders, bringing great racecars to the racetrack, executing really well. Bristol and Talladega we had some issues. Other than that, really, really good each week.           Really proud of my race team.            Q. You were running up near the top 10 all day, not battling for the lead. What put you over the edge to close in at the end?ALEX BOWMAN: We were really loose all day honestly. Didn’t have a lot of right rear grip. Entry to both ends was really sketchy for the most part. Just had to calm the car down. Couldn’t get it into the corner very hard.           We just tightened up and tightened up all day. We finally got it to where I could run about wide open up top, which helped me build a lot of moment and run them down there at the end.           Yeah, just really all day fought rear grip. Finally got the rear grip we needed in the race car at the end. Could have used a little bit more, but we got it much better over the course of the race.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Alex, for taking the time to join us. We’ll see you at Texas.
ALEX BOWMAN: Thanks. You guys have a good one.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: WAS YOUR CAR WORSE AT THE END OF THE RACE COMPARED TO THE OPENING STAGE OR WAS IT JUST THE MATTER OF TRACK POSITION?“I actually thought we got our car back pretty decent there at the end. Obviously, Kevin (Harvick) was very fast and just couldn’t find a way around the No. 22 (Joey Logano). But I thought we were better than we were in the middle stage of the race – I just had a couple bad restarts there just after halfway, fell too far back and it took a long time to get back up where we needed to be.” 
WERE YOU CONCERNED AT ALL THAT NASCAR MIGHT MAKE YOU COME IN TO FIX THE RADIOS TO MAKE SURE YOU COULD HEAR YOUR SPOTTER OR DID YOU HAVE ANY SENSE THAT YOU FELT LIKE YOU COULD HEAR ENOUGH OF THEM THAT IT WASN’T AN UNSAFE SITUATION?“I didn’t think it was unsafe. Honestly, I never even thought about that. Short track dirt racers around the country race with no spotters every weekend. We have both, so I don’t know why we can’t handle it if your radios go bad.”
IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES LIKE THIS, DOES IT MAKE YOU APPRECIATE MORE HAVING CLEAR RADIO COMMUNICATION WITHOUT HAVING TO RELY ON SIGNALS AND ALL THAT?“Yeah, in certain situations, knowing what we’re doing as far as coming to pit road and things of that nature. But, luckily, I could hear them under caution, I just couldn’t hear them once we went green. We made those green flag pit stops there early in the race and, luckily, that was it. So, it could have been worse.”
YOU MENTIONED THE RESTARTS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RACE. OBVIOUSLY, THESE RESTARTS WERE WILD THROUGHOUT. LOOKING BACK, WHAT KIND OF WENT WRONG OR DIDN’T GO YOUR WAY? I KNOW A LOT OF TIMES, IT’S AS MUCH WHAT SOMEBODY ELSE DOES AS OPPOSED TO WHAT YOU’RE DOING.“Yeah, I mean it is. Sometimes, you try to get greedy and end up just hurting yourself. I feel like that’s kind of what I did there on a couple of occasions. It’s so hard, sometimes, to have a good run and realize that not doing something with it is going to net you better in a couple of laps. That’s just something I need to do a better job of.”
ALSO, OBVIOUSLY THE STRUGGLES OF LAST YEAR IN THIS ROUND, TO GET A STRONG FINISH, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, EVEN THOUGH YOU FALL BACK OUT OF A TRANSFER SPOT WITH JOEY (LOGANO) WINNING?“I think for us, we just have to treat every week like it’s our last chance – like it’s the last race of the year. That’s the best way, I think, we can approach them and I think if you were to ever make the Final Four one day, you’re going to be better prepared for it because you have to go to that last race and likely win. So, I think the more we put ourselves in that position and recognize that now, the better off we’ll be and the better we’ll be prepared.”
DID YOUR TEAM EVER FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS CAUSING THE COMMUNICATION ISSUES. AND, IF SO, WHAT WAS CAUSING IT?“I’m not sure. They could hear me, I couldn’t hear them, so that kind of tells me it was something with an earplug or something along those lines because the rest of it seemed like it was working fine. But, I don’t know for sure.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES KANSAS SPEEDWAY HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES OCTOBER 18, 2020
 TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER3rd     ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE6th      CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE 8th      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE11th    AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE16th    RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Joey Logano (Ford)2nd     Kevin Harvick (Ford)3rd     Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)4th      Brad Keselowski (Ford)5th      Kyle Busch (Toyota) UNOFFICIAL CURRENT PLAYOFF RANK (Following Race 7 of 10)POS.   DRIVER (* = Chevy Contender)        1.        Joey Logano: Round of Eight win2.        Kevin Harvick: + 41 points3.        Denny Hamlin: + 20 points4.        Brad Keselowski: + 8 points5.        * Chase Elliott: – 8 points6.        * Alex Bowman: – 27 points7.        Martin Truex Jr.: – 31 points8.        * Kurt Busch: – 73 points
The NASCAR Cup Series seasons continues at Texas Motor Speedway with the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 on Sunday, October 25,^, at 3:30 p.m. ET, race two of three of the Round of 8 for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, the NBC Sports Gold app, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES (INCLUDING ALEX BOWMAN AND CHASE ELLIOTT PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS):ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 3rd“It seemed like we needed a really long run there at the end. We were pretty free all day and snugged it up and snugged it up. We got our Truck Hero Camaro running a little better but didn’t really have much right rear grip. There at the end, just running wide open and it finally came back to us. I kind of burnt the tires off of it to try to get there in the first place. It is a bummer. I messed up coming to two (laps) to go and cost us any chance that we had. It is still a really good day for us. Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We are building great Camaros, just came up a little short today.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 6thWHAT A CRAZY DAY FOR CHASE ELLIOTT. IT WINDS UP BEING A SIXTH-PLACE FINISH, BUT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT ALL THE RADIO ISSUES ALL DAY LONG. YOU MUST MENTALLY BE FRIED AFTER THAT RACE. HOW BAD DID IT GET AND HOW MUCH OF A DISTRACTION WAS THAT, CHASE?“Yeah, it wasn’t a massive deal. The good news was they could hear me, I just couldn’t hear them once we went green. Once we kind of had the situation understood, that they could hear me and I just couldn’t hear them, that helped, obviously. And then from there, I just kind of knew what to expect. I was just trying to pay attention to lap count and when everybody else was going to start pitting or not. But I don’t think it ultimately hindered our performance at all.”
“We had a pretty fast NAPA Camaro. I felt like we fired off well. Lost a little track position there in that middle stage and it was just tough to get a big chunk of it back in a hurry. Had a bad restart there, fell back too far, and it just took me a long time to kind of claw back up through there. We’ve got two more weeks and we’ll try to go get them in Texas.”
MINUS EIGHT GOING INTO TEXAS – I KNOW THAT’S A RACETRACK WHERE YOU GUYS HAVE STRUGGLE IN THE PAST. BUT MARTINSVILLE AT THE END OF THIS ROUND, CHASE, HOW DO YOU ASSESS THE NEXT TWO TRACKS?“I’m looking forward to both of them. Like I’ve been saying all week, I feel like you can’t have bad tracks and expect to win a championship. You need to have a shot to win every week and I believe in that a lot. We’ll go to Texas, give it our best shot to go win, and same at Martinsville. Hopefully, we’re still alive come Phoenix.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 8th“It was a good day for us by the end there. We had a couple things happen early on that we had to recover from. We took two tires early and fell back really far in the field and that was tough. We rebounded from that though and got our car tightened up which we needed. We were just too loose for the majority of the day. By the end our car was really fast and we could have ran around fifth to seventh-place and ended up finishing eighth. That’s a good day for us. We’re putting together solid runs and we just need to keep that going as the year ends.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 CASH APP CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 18th“A pretty uneventful day for us. That was the best car we’ve had at a 1.5-mile track in a really long time. We did our homework. The guys did a really good job getting our No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Cash App Camaro ZL1 1LE kind of where we needed it all day. We started out really good and maintained that. We got a little behind on that last pit stop – a little on the tight side. But the pit crew was beyond flawless today, so super proud of them. Great effort for us for Kansas Speedway – come out of there with a good run and learned a lot heading into Texas Motor Speedway. We’ll see what we’ve got.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 24th“Our GEICO Camaro ZL1 1LE was a lot better there at the end of the race. We just didn’t have the speed overall that we needed with this package. You have to have so much downforce in the car to make up any ground on the track. Our Germain Racing team never gives up and even though the timing of a couple cautions didn’t go our way, we battled back to finish 24th. We have three races left together and our focus now shifts to Texas next week.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 25th“We had good speed in our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Kansas Speedway today. It was hard at times to get a feel on the handling of our car since it felt like it would take about seven to eight laps for the front tires to come in today, but we did a better job adjusting throughout the race this time than during our first trip to Kansas earlier this year. It felt like for most the day I was snug on entry to the corners but then would become loose on center and exit, so a lot of our focus was on figuring out what changes would help me the most overall. We just have a couple other things to continue to work on as a team to put ourselves in better contention at these races. I thought maybe I had a right front tire coming down a couple laps before I got into the wall towards the end of Stage 3, but it was tough to tell if that is what was happening in that moment, so that’s a feeling I’ll definitely put in my notebook and learn from. We still have three more opportunities left this year to finish out my rookie season strong, and I’m really looking forward to getting to Texas Motor Speedway next week to try to finish one spot better than we did in July.” KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by engine failure on lap 197; Finished 38thTOUGH WAY TO END IT FOR KURT BUSCH HERE AT KANSAS. THEY HAD THE SPEEDING PENALTY EARLIER. CAME BACK FROM THAT AND WAS RUNNING ALMOST TOP-FIVE THERE. KURT, ANY INDICATION BEFORE THAT? IT SEEMED LIKE IT HAPPENED ALL OF A SUDDEN THAT THE ENGINE STARTED TO GO.“Yeah, usually there’s no warning. Everything is so buttoned up these days in the engine department. I haven’t seen an engine problem in years. No fault of anybody at Hendrick engines. We’re running hard here. We were running top-five and there’s a ton of RPM down the front-straightaway with the tail wind. We were right in the mix. We were doing the deal. I just couldn’t quite clear some guys to get into that top-three or four and then our car would come back to us on the long run after about lap 30.” “It’s a shame for everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing. Having an engine failure in the Playoffs – it’s just like a huge parachute that slows you up. We’ll pack that parachute up, throw it away and we’ll go to Texas to win. We knew we were going to have to win either here or Texas. Martinsville we have a shot at it, too. The odds are stacked against us, but hey, we’re in the top-eight for a reason. I have a great crew chief, Matt McCall, and we’ll bounce back. Thanks to Monster, GEARWRENCH, Chevrolet. It’s just one of those things where you have an engine failure and there’s nothing we can do about it.”  ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Alex Bowman, our third‑place finisher. We’ll get right to questions for Alex.            Q. Are you happy with a top three run, your best run since Darlington, or are you frustrated because you lost points on the cutoff?ALEX BOWMAN: I’m just here to get top fives because you told me I wasn’t getting enough top fives, Bob.           No, I mean, I think it’s obviously a really good day for us. We didn’t have the car that we hoped to have. We struggled with it quite a bit today. Still got good stage points. Didn’t really have the speed we wanted to have.           But our last couple changes really got the car dialed in. We needed a little bit longer run there at the end. I think we were the fastest car, just kind of ran out of laps.           Happy and sad, a little bit bummed we lost points. A little bummed Joey won. That makes my life harder over the next couple weeks. I feel like we had a really good day. I’m really proud of my race team.           A lot of people said we were going to go out early in the Playoffs. We’re still here fighting. We’re still bringing really fast cars to the racetrack each and every week.            Q. I’m trying to understand what drivers view about races like today. You had Harvick who had a faster car, couldn’t get by Logano because he didn’t win the race off of pit road. That’s been the package for the last couple years. Have you accepted it and that’s how racing is or do you feel like guys still come away with races like that and they’re privately saying screw this package? How do drivers view it?ALEX BOWMAN: I’m just happy I have a job and get to drive racecars for a living.           I think it is somewhat frustrating that it comes down to blocking for an entire run. I think we’re all on the same package, right? We’re all race car drivers. Most of us would go race lawn mowers if NASCAR said they were switching to lawn mowers next week.           I think for us, we’re all just trying to do the best job we can with the package we have to race. That’s part of this package. On a cold day like today, it really brings out that element of it. Yeah, I mean, I wish it was easier to pass when you’re a faster car. Maybe not easier, but maybe less easy to block.           That’s just part of the package. We’re all trying to maximize it the way we need to.            Q. Was there any concern when Kurt Busch’s engine went away, since he also has a Hendrick powerplant? Have they been able to use any of the ECR components yet in the cars y’all are using for the Playoffs?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, so I didn’t even know the 1 car had an engine issue. That’s a bummer for sure. Our engine shop does a great job. Yeah, that’s a bummer.           I don’t know exactly what parts and pieces we’ve used or haven’t used yet. I know everybody is doing a really good job of working together. Chevrolet is doing an awesome job kind of helping us all work together.           Proud of everybody at the engine shop. I think this week was a step in the right direction. I think we were definitely it seemed a little better on restarts. We’re headed in the right direction. Everybody is definitely working really hard.            Q. Does this team have a little bit of a chip on its shoulder? You say with a smile almost every time you come on, Nobody expects us to be here, nobody thought we would still be here. Is that what fuels this team, kind of at times maybe a lack of respect?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, I use that as a lot of motivation personally. I love it. Honestly, like, if people want to motivate me, just talk crap about me on the Internet. It works pretty well (smiling).           Yeah, I mean, I do think my team is a little bit undervalued. They’re one of the best race teams in the garage. They make up for me not being very good at some of these places, give me some pretty great racecars to drive.           Yeah, I mean, I think we definitely have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. I think those last couple laps go a little bit differently and we could very well be going to Phoenix to race for a championship. I feel like we’re right there, right where we need to be. Everybody is doing a really good job.            Q. How proud are you of the fact that you did make it, are still here with a fighting chance? You didn’t hurt yourself today.ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, for sure. It’s crazy to think about coming in, like, 17 points back and running third, getting stage points, now being 27 points back. That’s a little wild.           Yeah, I’m really proud of our race team. The summer was really rough. We were able to switch it on a couple weeks before the Playoffs. Ever since then we’ve been firing on all cylinders, bringing great racecars to the racetrack, executing really well. Bristol and Talladega we had some issues. Other than that, really, really good each week.           Really proud of my race team.            Q. You were running up near the top 10 all day, not battling for the lead. What put you over the edge to close in at the end?ALEX BOWMAN: We were really loose all day honestly. Didn’t have a lot of right rear grip. Entry to both ends was really sketchy for the most part. Just had to calm the car down. Couldn’t get it into the corner very hard.           We just tightened up and tightened up all day. We finally got it to where I could run about wide open up top, which helped me build a lot of moment and run them down there at the end.           Yeah, just really all day fought rear grip. Finally got the rear grip we needed in the race car at the end. Could have used a little bit more, but we got it much better over the course of the race.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Alex, for taking the time to join us. We’ll see you at Texas.
ALEX BOWMAN: Thanks. You guys have a good one.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: WAS YOUR CAR WORSE AT THE END OF THE RACE COMPARED TO THE OPENING STAGE OR WAS IT JUST THE MATTER OF TRACK POSITION?“I actually thought we got our car back pretty decent there at the end. Obviously, Kevin (Harvick) was very fast and just couldn’t find a way around the No. 22 (Joey Logano). But I thought we were better than we were in the middle stage of the race – I just had a couple bad restarts there just after halfway, fell too far back and it took a long time to get back up where we needed to be.” 
WERE YOU CONCERNED AT ALL THAT NASCAR MIGHT MAKE YOU COME IN TO FIX THE RADIOS TO MAKE SURE YOU COULD HEAR YOUR SPOTTER OR DID YOU HAVE ANY SENSE THAT YOU FELT LIKE YOU COULD HEAR ENOUGH OF THEM THAT IT WASN’T AN UNSAFE SITUATION?“I didn’t think it was unsafe. Honestly, I never even thought about that. Short track dirt racers around the country race with no spotters every weekend. We have both, so I don’t know why we can’t handle it if your radios go bad.”
IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES LIKE THIS, DOES IT MAKE YOU APPRECIATE MORE HAVING CLEAR RADIO COMMUNICATION WITHOUT HAVING TO RELY ON SIGNALS AND ALL THAT?“Yeah, in certain situations, knowing what we’re doing as far as coming to pit road and things of that nature. But, luckily, I could hear them under caution, I just couldn’t hear them once we went green. We made those green flag pit stops there early in the race and, luckily, that was it. So, it could have been worse.”
YOU MENTIONED THE RESTARTS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RACE. OBVIOUSLY, THESE RESTARTS WERE WILD THROUGHOUT. LOOKING BACK, WHAT KIND OF WENT WRONG OR DIDN’T GO YOUR WAY? I KNOW A LOT OF TIMES, IT’S AS MUCH WHAT SOMEBODY ELSE DOES AS OPPOSED TO WHAT YOU’RE DOING.“Yeah, I mean it is. Sometimes, you try to get greedy and end up just hurting yourself. I feel like that’s kind of what I did there on a couple of occasions. It’s so hard, sometimes, to have a good run and realize that not doing something with it is going to net you better in a couple of laps. That’s just something I need to do a better job of.”
ALSO, OBVIOUSLY THE STRUGGLES OF LAST YEAR IN THIS ROUND, TO GET A STRONG FINISH, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, EVEN THOUGH YOU FALL BACK OUT OF A TRANSFER SPOT WITH JOEY (LOGANO) WINNING?“I think for us, we just have to treat every week like it’s our last chance – like it’s the last race of the year. That’s the best way, I think, we can approach them and I think if you were to ever make the Final Four one day, you’re going to be better prepared for it because you have to go to that last race and likely win. So, I think the more we put ourselves in that position and recognize that now, the better off we’ll be and the better we’ll be prepared.”
DID YOUR TEAM EVER FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS CAUSING THE COMMUNICATION ISSUES. AND, IF SO, WHAT WAS CAUSING IT?“I’m not sure. They could hear me, I couldn’t hear them, so that kind of tells me it was something with an earplug or something along those lines because the rest of it seemed like it was working fine. But, I don’t know for sure.”

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet Team Earn 11th-Place Finish at Kansas Speedway

11th   17th  10th

“I’m so proud of my No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet team. My crew chief, Justin Alexander, and all of the guys did a great job working on our Chevy throughout the race, and we definitely learned a lot. The track was really fast today with the cold temperatures in Kansas, and restarts were wild. For most of the race we were too loose, but once we got tightened up we were able to contend and just nearly missed a top-10 finish. The bumps in Turns 1 and 2 weren’t working with us today, so we will do our homework to address that during the off-season. Overall, it was a good run for us. On to Texas Motor Speedway, where we will try to get another win before the season winds down. Thank you to everyone at Growth Energy for their support, and congratulations to them on reaching 17 billion miles on American-grown E15.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and No. 8 Caterpillar Team Show Speed Despite Late-Race Damage at Kansas Speedway

25th   15th   19th

“We had good speed in our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Kansas Speedway today. It was hard at times to get a feel on the handling of our car since it felt like it would take about seven to eight laps for the front tires to come in today, but we did a better job adjusting throughout the race this time than during our first trip to Kansas earlier this year. It felt like for most the day I was snug on entry to the corners but then would become loose on center and exit, so a lot of our focus was on figuring out what changes would help me the most overall. We just have a couple other things to continue to work on as a team to put ourselves in better contention at these races. I thought maybe I had a right front tire going down a couple laps before I got into the wall towards the end of Stage 3, but it was tough to tell if that is what was happening in that moment. That’s a feeling I’ll definitely put in my notebook and learn from. We still have three more opportunities left this year to finish out my rookie season strong, and I’m really looking forward to getting to Texas Motor Speedway next week to try to finish one spot better than we did in July.” -Tyler Reddick

ENNIS, Texas (Oct. 18) — Five-time Pro Stock world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. managed to keep his title hopes alive Sunday at the 35th annual AAA NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex by beating Jason Line in the quarterfinals and advancing to the final four in his JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. Line entered the weekend as the class points leader but dropped to second Saturday when Coughlin’s Elite Motorsports teammate Erica Enders beat Line to win the postponed St. Louis race, which had been put on hold two weeks ago. With both Enders and Coughlin advancing to Sunday’s semifinal, the pair were able to gain a little ground on Line, who remained second, three rounds ahead of Coughlin and a round and half behind Enders.

Jeg Coughlin Jr. (left) in the pits with Elite Motorsports clutch specialist Robert Freeman.

“We chipped away a little bit but left some there as well,” Coughlin said. “It was great to get Jason out of the way in Round 2 and, although I would never, ever wish Erica to lose, I was sitting in the waterbox watching in Round 3 when she lost to Matt Hartford, so there was a big chance to go another round or two, but Greg (Anderson, Coughlin’s semifinal opponent) and his crew had other plans. “We’ve not helped our cause the last few races but we got back on track today to some extent and we have two and a half more races to go at two of my favorite tracks on tour so we’ll keep fighting. I say two and a half because the Vegas finale is awarding points and a half each round so there is extra on the table should anyone falter.” Coughlin has four victories at Houston Raceway Park, the site of next weekend’s penultimate race, having won there in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2010. He has five more wins at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with trophy finishes in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2009. Sunday, Coughlin beat Aaron Stanfield with a 6.600 at 206.32 mph to Stanfield’s 6.607 at 207.43 mph, and Line with a 6.629 at 206.48 mph to Line’s 6.631 at 200.80 mph. Against Anderson, Coughlin’s 6.627 at 206.07 mph wasn’t enough for Anderson’s 6.612 at 207.40 mph. “It’s been a fun year, without question,” said Coughlin, who will retire from full-time competition after the Las Vegas finale. “We won a few races earlier this year and had the points lead for quite a while but being off just a touch in two races really cost us. But that’s behind us so we’ll focus on a great finish and see what happens.”

Troy Coughlin Jr. is enjoying his rookie year in Pro Stock after winning back-to-back Top Alcohol Dragster regional championships.

Troy Coughlin Jr., Jeg Jr.’s nephew and teammate, was beaten by Enders in the opening round of Sunday’s eliminations. Driving a JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Ford Mustang, Troy Jr. left the starting line -.002 seconds early to giftwrap the win for Enders, who powered to a 6.593 at 208.52 mph.