RACE #34 – KANSAS SPEEDWAYFor the first time in his NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) career, Team Chevy’s Kyle Larson is locked into the Championship 4, securing his chance to compete for the title of the 2021 NCS Champion. The next stop for the NCS Playoffs Rounds of 8 has the premier series heading to the Midwest to Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, October 24.  The 267-lap race on the 1.5-mile oval marks the second of three races in the Round of 8 and the next opportunity for the eight driver Playoff field to solidify their spot in the championship hunt. Chase Elliott is aiming to join his Hendrick Motorsports teammate in the title-deciding race on November 7, entering the Kansas race weekend in the fifth spot in the driver standings. Larson, driving the No. 5 HendrickCars.comCamaro ZL1 1LE, will start on the pole for the 11th time this season. Fellow Team Chevy and Playoff contender, Elliott, will take the green for the 400-mile race from fifth in his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE.  Larson’s dominant victory at Texas Motor Speedway, in which he led 256 of the 334 laps on the 1.5-mile oval, was his field-high eighth of the season and maybe the most important as it came with a ticket to the championship race. The 29-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver is among just 17 NCS drivers in the modern era (1972-present) who have recorded eight or more wins in a single season.  A capsule look at Team Chevy in the title hunt:  Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 1LE – 1st in Playoff Standings (Locked into Championship Four by Win)Victories: 8 (field-high)Top-Fives: 18; Top-10’s: 24; Poles: 1; Laps Led: 2,267Average Finish: 9.4Stage Wins: 16At Kansas (13 career NCS starts): Top-Fives: 3; Top-10’s: 5; Average Finish: 16.615Of Note: Larson has now captured four wins on 1.5-mile tracks this season, in addition to the non-points NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway in June. With his win at Texas, he has qualified for the Championship 4 for the first time in his career. In the May 2021 race at Kansas, Larson led a field-high 132 laps, but was involved in contact with another car in the closing laps to finish 19th.  Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts ZL1 1LE – 5th IN STANDINGS (-8 points below cutline)Victories: 2Top-Fives: 13; Top-10’s: 19; Laps Led: 527; Average Finish: 11.7Stage Wins: 4At Kansas (11 career NCS starts): Wins: 1; Top-Fives: 5; Top-10’s: 7; Average Finish: 10.455 Of Note: Elliott has finishes of seventh or better in five races in a row on 1.5-mile tracks this season. Elliott has five top-10 finishes in 11 starts at Kansas Speedway, including a victory in the October 2018 race, making him the youngest NCS winner at the track. His average finish of 10.455 is the best among Playoff drivers. The 2021 NCS season marks Elliott’s sixth consecutive year of being part of the Playoff field.  ALLMENDINGER LEADS CHEVY DRIVERS IN NXS ROUND OF 8Chevrolet NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) drivers grabbed four of the top-10 spots last week at Texas Motor Speedway, led by Noah Gragson’s third-place finish in the JR Motorsports No. 9 Camaro SS. The 200-lap Kansas Lottery 300 at 3 p.m. ET Saturday, October 23, is the middle leg of the NXS Playoffs Round of 8. Regular Season Champion AJ Allmendinger, driving the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Camaro SS, remains first in the standings. Justin Allgaier is third and Noah Gragson is fourth, giving the Bowtie brand three of the top-four spots in the driver standings heading into the Kansas race weekend. Chevrolet, with 15 wins, remains atop of the Manufacturer Standings. CHEVROLET CONTINUES ATOP STANDINGSChevrolet remains the leader in the NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Standings in pursuit of its 40th title. Team Chevy has recorded manufacturer highs of 16 victories, 142 top-10 finishes, 3,806 laps led and 29 stage wins through 33 races. The Bowtie Brand has already surpassed its totals for wins (9), top-10 finishes (120), laps led (2,399) and stage wins (21) from the 36-race 2020 season. TWENTY YEARS AGO: GORDON GIVES CHEVY WIN IN TRACK OPENERThe Hollywood Casino 400 will be the 32nd NASCAR Cup Series race at Kansas Speedway. Jeff Gordon, driving the No. 24 Chevrolet Monte Carlo for Hendrick Motorsports, won the first race at the track on September 30, 2001. Starting second, he led 53 of the 267 laps, including the final 22. Gordon went on to win the 2001 Driver Championship. Gordon visited the winner’s circle at the track again in September 2002 and May 2014.  CHEVROLET CONTINUES SUPPORT FOR “MAKING STRIDES AGAINST BREAST CANCER” WITH PINK CAMARO ZL1 PACE CAR AT TEXASSince 2011, Chevrolet has partnered with the American Cancer Society’s “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” initiative through dealership walks, national test drive promotions and national service rebate promotions. Again this year, Chevrolet is supporting the cause by pledging to contribute $350 for every lap run under caution, with a maximum of $50,000, during three NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) races during the month of October.  The second of three NASCAR Cup Series events that are part of the initiative took place last weekend at the NCS Playoffs Round of 8 opener at Texas Motor Speedway. The specially-themed pink ”Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 served as the pace car for the NCS event at the 1.5-mile Texas oval. With 55 laps made under caution during the NCS Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500, Chevrolet will contribute an additional $19,250 towards the campaign, bringing the current total to $28,700.  The final race of this year’s campaign will take place at Martinsville Speedway (Va.) on October 31, where the pink “Making Strides Against Breast Cancer” Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will return as the pace car for the NCS Playoffs Round of 8 elimination race.  ON THE WAY TO THE GREENWith no practice or qualifying for the 267-lap race, the starting lineup is determined by NASCAR’s metrics system that was introduced to the series last year and incorporates results from both individual races and season-long results. Team Chevy’s top-20 starters:1st     Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 1LE 5th     Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE 9th     William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1 1LE12th   Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Cat Dealer Tech Camaro ZL1 1LE13th   Kurt Busch, No. 1 Advent Health Camaro ZL1 1LE14th   Austin Dillon, No. 3 Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL1 1LE16th   Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Good Sam Camaro ZL1 1LE17th   Eric Jones, No. 43 Petty’s Garage Camaro ZL1 1LE BOWTIE BULLETS·       Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 16 wins, 142 top-10 finishes and 3,806 laps led of 8,120 total this season.·       Chevrolet has scored 25 wins with the Camaro ZL1 1LE over two seasons.·       Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 12 wins in the 31 races since 2001 at Kansas Speedway.·       In addition to its 12 wins, Chevrolet has amassed 61 top-five and 132 top-10 finishes in the 31 races since 2001 at Kansas Speedway.·       Kyle Larson paces all drivers with 2,267 laps led this season.·       William Byron was runner-up to Larson at Texas Motor Speedway, giving Hendrick Motorsports its sixth 1-2 finish of the season.·       Byron earned his fourth top-two finish of the season, including a win at Homestead-Miami Speedway.·       Hendrick Motorsports, which leads the Owner Standings, is tied for most wins at Kansas Speedway with seven.·       Kurt Busch is tied for the most starts at Kansas Speedway with 31.·       Career Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson is the all-time leader with 19 top-10 finishes in 29 races at Kansas Speedway.·       Five Team Chevy drivers have combined for 29 stage wins: Chase Elliott (Daytona RC, Michigan, Daytona2, Charlotte2); William Byron (Homestead, Pocono2, Road America); Tyler Reddick (Road America, Indianapolis road course x2); Kurt Busch (Nashville Superspeedway, Pocono1, Atlanta2); Kyle Larson (Las Vegas, Atlanta x2, Kansas, Dover x2, Charlotte x3, Sonoma x2, Nashville, Darlington2, Bristol2, Las Vegas2, Texas2). FOR THE FANS:Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Kansas Speedway. Fans can check out an assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: 2021 Trailboss LT, 2022 Camaro 1LZ, 2022 Trailblazer 1RS, 2022 Corvette 3LT, 2021 Tahoe, 2021 HD Crew Cab. At the Chevrolet Display, fans can also view Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE show car.  TEAM CHEVY QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSIONS AT THE DISPLAY:Saturday, October 23·       Brandon Brown: 10:00 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. ·       Joe Graf Jr: 11:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. ·       Sam Mayer: 11:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m.·       Josh Berry: 12:00 p.m. – 12:45 p.m.  Sunday, October 24·       Ricky Stenhouse Jr: 11:15 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. ·       William Byron: 11:45 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. ·       Tyler Reddick: 12:00 p.m. – 12:15 p.m.  Chevrolet Display Hours of Operation: Saturday, October 23: 9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. Sunday, October 24: 9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m.TUNE INNBCSN will telecast the 267-lap NASCAR Cup Series Hollywood Casino 400 at 3 p.m. ET Sunday, Oct. 24. Live coverage is also on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. NBC will telecast the 200-lap NASCAR Xfinity Series Kansas Lottery 300 at 3 p.m. ET Saturday, Oct. 23. Live coverage is also on MRN. QUOTABLE QUOTESKYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 1st IN STANDINGSLARSON ON HIS MINDSET AHEAD OF KANSAS KNOWING TEAM IS IN CHAMPIONSHIP 4: “My mind is on Kansas. I want to go there and win. I have led a lot of laps there and come close to a couple of different wins. I want to go there and lead a bunch of laps and try and get another win and then look forward to Martinsville. I don’t want to change up what we have been doing; still take it week by week and do a great job every weekend and carry some momentum into Phoenix. I think it would be bad if we went to Kansas and Martinsville and had a couple of DNFs because we are ‘relaxed.’ Hopefully we can go through these next couple of weeks, have a few good runs and head into Phoenix with some good momentum.” CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE DANIELS ON PREPARING FOR PHOENIX AND UPCOMING RACES: “The schedule makes us prepare for Phoenix a little bit earlier. It’s a Friday, Saturday, Sunday race with practice starting on Friday and qualifying on Saturday. The truck leaves for Phoenix that week, I believe on Tuesday. Your week is short so you have to be prepared on the front side, which we will be. We still have to go have a good run in Kansas and definitely want to have a good run in Martinsville. We have had that one circled for a while because we, as a team, feel like we have something to prove. Hopefully we can do that. We will be focused on Phoenix, but we want to have some good races in the meantime.” CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 5th IN STANDINGSELLIOTT ON RACING AT KANSAS: “We’ve been hit or miss at Kansas, really. I’ve had some good runs and even some of those good finishes we haven’t been as solid as I feel like we want to be, but it’s a place where I know we can go and have success at. I feel like it’s a place where we have a decent notebook, so to speak, to build off of and make ourselves better.” ELLIOTT ON BEING BELOW THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4 CUTLINE: “The great thing is we’re able to be in this Round of 8, which is a great thing. Another thing about that is a win anywhere in this round is an opportunity to race for a championship. Obviously, we want to win – that would be the best way to lock ourselves in. Last year was certainly that way and kind of how it all played out. I would love to do that this weekend at Kansas and be able to go ahead and lock into Phoenix and set our eyes on that one. We’re going to fight through it either way and see where we end up.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 13th IN STANDINGSBYRON ON THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN RACING AT KANSAS IN THE FALL VERSUS THE SPRING: “The fall is usually always cooler than when we go there earlier in the year. It creates a lot of more wide-open throttle time because of that. You still move around the racetrack just as much and the restarts are just as crazy, but your on-throttle time is probably the biggest difference between the two races. It makes it a little bit easier to race but it’s still a tough track because I feel like the surface is pretty hard on tires. It sets it up to be a fun race to be in and I’m sure it’s a fun race to watch for fans. Something about that place clicked early on for me in Trucks and Xfinity. I struggled a bit there when I first got to Cup, but I think I’ve learned a lot over the years and it’s become one of my best tracks now.” RUDY FUGLE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE FUGLE ON WHY KANSAS IS ONE OF HIS FAVORITE RACETRACKS: “Kansas is a really cool track. I like the progressive banking, the speed and the handling that comes with that track. I like when you have to have all the facets of the car together, and the crew chief has a major part to do with that. The first time we went there this year, we ran up front for most of the first stage and I just didn’t do a good job adjusting on it during the second stage, putting us back in traffic. We’ve made a lot of changes since then and our 550 horsepower package is way better since then. I’m just super, super excited to get there. It’s a track where drivers can go bottom, middle or top. Not only can we make a lot of adjustments as needed, but William can as well with his driving style because of that. It reminds me of Homestead at a young state before it aged and got really abrasive. If we can hit on everything we need to, we can definitely go win.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 15th IN STANDINGS“Going to Kansas, I’m really excited. (It’s) one of my favorite racetracks. It’s the only repave that’s stayed super race-y. I’m excited to get there and run from the bottom all the way to the outside wall; bunch of grooves. It’s been a good place for us in the past. We struggled there in the spring, but we have a good notebook to look back on from previous races. Our teammates were pretty strong – the No. 5 dominated that day, so being able to look at his notes and go back strong, we should be good this weekend.”  GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE “The one thing that Kansas (Speedway) definitely allows is multiple grooves in the track. In Texas, you were able to have two grooves, maybe a lane and a half, but in Kansas you can enter on the high side and carry momentum and someone can dive bomb you. You can be trimmed out for the restart for the first four or five laps and then you start getting tight off or loose in and the guy who has a little better downforce can get by you. Hopefully our Ally Chevrolet has speed on the short and long runs and is able to run top to bottom.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 GET BIOETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 17th IN STANDINGSHOW IS KANSAS UNIQUE COMPARED TO SOME OF THE OTHER 1.5-MILE TRACKS? “Kansas Speedway has done a really good job with their banking. There’s a line right up by the fence that has a little extra grip. There’s an angle up there that I don’t think many tracks have figured out yet, but Kansas got it right. You can run from top to bottom there. The bottom groove is the preferred groove at the beginning, but it becomes too tight to try and run around there in turns one and two sometimes depending on what the balance of your race car is. I’ve enjoyed that track a lot ever since they repaved it. I wish every track could do as good as a job as Kansas has with repaves.” ERIK JONES, NO. 43 PETTY’S GARAGE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 24th IN STANDINGSWHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES THAT COME WITH RACING AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY?“At Kansas (Speedway), it’s just the craziness of the restarts. Kansas is so wide that you can run anywhere from the white line all the way up against the wall. When you go through those restarts, you just have cars everywhere. You’re three, four, sometimes five wide. It’s hard to balance that, be aggressive and move forward; but stay out of trouble and not get damage, as well.” “I feel like as far as car balance, you just have to have a lot of speed in your car. You’re pretty much wide open around that track and it always seems like it moves up against the wall as the day goes. So, just having the speed in your car is really important to where you can get up there and have the maneuverability, but also have the speed to drive through the field.” DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 GOOD SAM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 25th IN STANDINGSWHAT IS GOING ON BEHIND THE SCENES AT TRACKHOUSE RACING RIGHT NOW? “I think that would take about an hour to tell you everything that is going on or it might be easier just to tell you what isn’t going on. It’s way more than what i was expecting. There’s a lot of stuff going on people-wise, the shop, the Next Gen Car and things like that.” “I am a big believer in if you want to take care of the future you have to take car of the present. I try not to get too involved in things like that because I still have three more races this year and want to concentrate on that.” “You are always going to be as strong as your last race. I have to keep working on this year, but we have a lot of people working very, very hard getting ready for next year.” “We have to keep digging. The future is very bright.”            Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics Manufacturers Championships:Total (1949-2020): 39First title for Chevrolet: 1958Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15) Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015 Drivers Championships:Total (1949-2020): 32First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)Most Recent: Chase Elliott (2020) Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020 Event Victories:Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)                2021 STATISTICS:                                                                                                    Wins: 16Poles: 5Laps Led: 3,806Top-five finishes: 66Top-10 finishes: 142Stage wins: 29 – Chase Elliott (Daytona RC, Michigan, Daytona, Charlotte RC), William Byron (Homestead, Pocono 2, Road America), Kyle Larson (Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Atlanta x2, Kansas, Dover x2, Charlotte x3, Sonoma x2, Nashville, Darlington, Bristol, Texas 2), Kurt Busch (Nashville, Pocono 1, Atlanta 2, Las Vegas 2), Tyler Reddick (Road America, Indy RC x2)  CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:Total Chevrolet race wins: 811 (1949 to date)Poles won to date: 722Laps led to date: 240,511Top-five finishes to date: 4,131Top-10 finishes to date: 8,544                                                                                                          Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date:                    General Motors: 1,145           Chevrolet: 811           Pontiac: 154           Oldsmobile: 115           Buick: 65            Ford: 811                                                                    Ford: 711           Mercury: 96           Lincoln: 4            Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467           Dodge: 217           Plymouth: 191           Chrysler: 59            Toyota: 162

Inside Line Promotions – FRESNO, Calif. (Oct. 21, 2021) – Dominic Scelzi is hoping for a career-best run during the upcoming Trophy Cup to align with his career-best season.

Scelzi has been on a tear all year and in contention during nearly every race he’s tackled, amassing a career-best 21 feature victories during 63 races. He is hopeful that level of success continues this weekend during one of his favorite events.

Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., hosts the 27^thannual Trophy Cup this Thursday through Saturday.

“This is right up there with a World of Outlaws win for me,” he said. “The three big moments of my career would be winning the Peter Murphy Classic, the Trophy Cup and a World of Outlaws race. We were able to get the Peter Murphy Classic this year. We’ve had strong runs with the Outlaws and we’ve been close at Trophy Cup before. This is the best, most realistic shot I’ve had in my life.”

Six of Scelzi’s feature victories this year have occurred at Thunderbowl Raceway. What is even more impressive is that Scelzi has only visited the track a half dozen times in 2021, meaning he’s reached Victory Lane every time. That is an added confidence boost entering the marquee event.

“There’s a big difference in being fast, being good and being there at the end of it,” he said. “I grew up watching guys like Brad Sweet and Brent Kaeding walk around as the event champion. I’ve seen guys like Roger Crockett walk away in defeat after great weekends. I’ve been on the losing side more than I’d like to count, but it just feels different this year. The biggest thing is you can’t overthink it. I want to win this race more than anything. I’m just rolling in there like any weekend and hopefully can do the same job as any other weekend.”

While Scelzi will continue to chase feature triumphs all weekend, his biggest goal is to be crowned event champion by earning the most points throughout the three-day spectacle.

“If I didn’t win another race all year or even the next six months but get to walk away with the Trophy Cup championship I’d be overjoyed,” he said. “It’s something some guys try their whole careers to achieve and they aren’t able to cross that off their list. This race fits me. Until this year I wasn’t a guy who could knock off a bunch of wins. We’ve proven we are consistent and fast, especially at Thunderbowl. You can’t bang the boards every lap. You have to be able to move around the track and race yourself. I feel like we’re going into Trophy Cup with the best mindset ever.”

SEASON STATS –

63 races, 21 wins, 45 top fives, 53 top 10s, 58 top 15s, 60 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Thursday through Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., for the 27^th annual Trophy Cup

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.GaryScelziMotorsports.com

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DominicScelzi41

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Scelzi41

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Whipple Superchargers 

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“Whipple Superchargers are known worldwide for their business,” Scelzi said. “My dad and Art Whipple are really good friends. He loves racing and when we decided to go sprint car racing he was a huge, huge factor in helping us get going.”

Scelzi would like to thank Scelzi Enterprises, Red Rose Transportation, Inc., Fuel Delivery Services, Inc., Schoenfeld Headers, Roth Motorsports, Red Line Oil, NAPA Auto Parts, Todd Jorgensen, FK Rod Ends, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, K&N Filters, Sparco, Allstar Performance, Auto Meter, Meridian Steel, Kenny’s Components and Worldwide Bearings for their continued support.

October 21, 2021

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Monster team return this weekend to the scene of their best finish so far in the 2021 Cup Series season.

It was at Kansas Speedway back in May that DiBenedetto scored a fourth-place finish. Now they’re back at Kansas for the 21^st annual Hollywood Casino 400, which will be the final intermediate-track race of the season.

In May, DiBenedetto started fifth, struggled in the first two Stages but capitalized on some late-race restarts and drove into the top five despite having just two fresh tires whereas many of his competitors had four.

Not surprisingly, he’s looking forward to a return to the 1.5-mile track, where his Wood Brothers team has five top-five and nine top-10 finishes in 23 starts.
 
“Kansas is my favorite mile-and-a-half track since the racing is so good there,” DiBenedetto said. “You can run all over the race track.”

He said he’s encouraged by the speed the Menards/Monster team has shown at tracks like Kansas, where the 550-horsepower package is used. The final two races of the season – at Martinsville and Phoenix – will be run with the 750-horsepower package.

“We have good speed on the 550 tracks, so we just need to get that win especially with how well the team is working together,” he said.

DiBenedetto and the Menards/Monster team will have extra motivation this weekend as the No. 21 Mustang will carry the name of Cancer Hero Howard Scholick above the driver’s door in the position normally taken by DiBenedetto’s name.

Scholick, of Columbia, Md., was nominated by his son-in-law Scott Townsend as part of a program put on by the Martin Truex Jr. Foundation, the NASCAR Foundation and AdventHealth.

Townsend said he chose DiBenedetto and the Wood Brothers because they share some of the same qualities as his late father-in-law.

“They operate with honesty, integrity and never shy away from hard work,” Townsend wrote.

“Matt has not had an easy road to get to the top level of NASCAR, but even when constantly being faced with adversity he continues to work hard with his ‘never give up attitude.’”
 
He said Scholick was much like DiBenedetto when it comes to work ethic and determination.
 
“It’s just a perfect fit, and we as a family are so thankful for the opportunity to honor Howard in this way.”

Team co-owner Jon Wood said his family and DiBenedetto are proud to be a part of the Cancer Hero program.
 
“It’s an honor to be chosen by the Scholick family, and we will do our best this weekend to turn in a performance that a hero like Howard would be proud of,” Wood said.
 
DiBenedetto will start Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 from 15^th place, as the line-up was set using metrics from Texas, with the eight remaining Playoff contenders occupying the first four rows.
 
The green flag is set to fly just after 2 p.m. (3 p.m. Eastern Time) with TV coverage on NBCSN. Stage breaks are set for Laps 80 and 160 of the 267-lap race. 
 

BATAVIA, OH (October 20, 2021) – Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series officials are excited to announce the addition of Sarver, Pennsylvania’s Lernerville Speedway to the 2022 schedule. The Big River Steel Firecracker 100 on June 23rd – 25th will now boast a $50,000 paycheck to the winner.  Lernerville Speedway’s Firecracker 100 weekend has become one of the most high-profile events in the world of dirt late model racing. There will be a record high purse of over $210,000 at the 16th running of the Firecracker 100 weekend, thanks to the event’s new partnership with Big River Steel and the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. This prestigious three-day racing tradition will now be the richest event of any kind ever held at the Lernerville Speedway. “The Firecracker 100 has become a cornerstone in Dirt Late Model racing, and we’re excited to be a part of this lucrative event in 2022,” Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Director Rick Schwallie said. “Thanks to the devotion of Lernerville Speedway and our great partnership with Big River Steel, we’re able to increase the total purse for the weekend by over $33,000. We look forward to delivering the excitement of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series to the fans of Lernerville Speedway in 2022.” A full program of racing is scheduled each of the three nights on the 4/10-mile dirt oval located 45 minutes Northeast of Pittsburgh, PA. Opened in October 1967, Lernerville Speedway has been enlarged three times; from a small quarter to a large quarter, then to a 3/8-mile, and finally to its current size. Seating has also been increased several times to now accommodate approximately 12,000 in the stands. Camping spaces for the 2022 Big River Steel Firecracker 100 are on sale now and advance tickets will go on sale before the end of the year. For more information on Lernerville Speedway, please visit www.Lernerville.com.

OCALA, FL (October 21, 2021) — Rookie sensation and two-time Top Fuel winner Josh Hart, from Ocala, Florida, joined Artie Allen (Top Fuel), Krista Baldwin (TF), Mike Callahan (Pro Stock), Dallas Glenn (PS), Chad Green (Funny Car), Buddy Hull (TF), Joe Morrison (TF), Marty Robertson (PS) and Rob Tucker (PS) as the nominees for the 2021 NHRA Rookie of the Year award it was announced today on nhra.com. Hart, who began his drag racing career in a ’99 Ford Lightning pick-up truck, is in the homestretch of an impressive rookie campaign.  He won the first event he entered in Top Fuel, the historic Gatornationals and followed that up with another win in the Countdown playoffs at the Carolina Nationals. The 38-year-old driver also has four additional semifinal appearances in just ten races.

“I am living proof that anything is possible,” said Hart. “I came from a very poor background, basically living in a trailer park and now I work in the most expensive trailer park in the world. I feel like I have a very real rags to riches story. I had to work every day to make my dream come true. I made it happen with the love and support of my wife. I want to stay humble and be kind to other people.”

Hart’s drag racing career began at the urging of NHRA legend and friend “Big Daddy” Don Garlits who encouraged Hart to take his pick-up truck to the strip instead of the street. Hart quickly moved up the drag racing ranks moving from local races to divisional events competing in Super Comp, Super Gas, Top Dragster and eventually A Fuel Dragster for five years before moving up to Top Fuel this season.

“I have been lucky to get to know and spend time with Don Garlits,” said Hart. “We have worked together on his electric dragster project and he has been influential as I have grown by business. I consider Don a mentor as well as a friend.”

Hart qualified for every NHRA national event he entered this season. He raced to at least the semifinals at some of the most important races of the season including the Dodge//SRT U.S. Nationals, the Midwest Nationals, and the Texas Fall Nationals. Through four Countdown races he had a win and two semifinal finishes losing only to three-time world champion Steve Torrence.

In addition to his driving skills Hart assembled his entire Top Fuel operation from scratch and runs the day-to-day operations. An entrepreneur and successful self-made businessman he started his first business with just $300 and a dream. Beginning with a mobile door-to-door pro detailing business Hart and his wife grew that endeavor. He then founded Burnyzz Speed Shop in 2010 and open his doors to what the Hart family bills as “Hot Rod Heaven.” He now services clients across the country and around the world from his Ocala headquarters.

His success on the track and in the business community, along with his faith and giving heart have led him to support many of his fellow racers. Over the last five years Hart has donated all his contingency money to young racers in the sportsman categories and junior dragster ranks. 

“I know how expensive it is to participate in drag racing and motorsports,” said Hart. “I want to do what I can to keep the younger generations involved and off the streets. I was lucky Don Garlits pointed me in the right direction and I am just paying it forward from there.”

This season Hart was racing a limited schedule as he built his team and pursued a full-time primary sponsor program. Throughout the season TechNet supported Hart and he added the support of R+L Carriers at the NHRA Norwalk Nationals. After seeing the success of the relationship, they stepped up as the primary sponsor for the seven Countdown playoff races. Hart has been incredibly active all season with both companies attending meet and greets and customer events.

“R+L Carrier events are built around rewarding their current employees and thanking them for being great employees which is why I love them so much,” said Hart. “It’s an excellent recruiting tool to find and introduce new talent to join the work force but it also is a big thank you to their current employees. This is their first foray into motorsports and I have developed a strong personal and professional relationship with the R+L Carrier leadership team.”

With two more races on the 2021 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Hart will be heading to Las Vegas and Pomona, California, with the goal of securing more wins.

CONCORD, NC – From January to Labor Day, five divisions of northeast DIRTcar racing saw drivers in each awarded points towards the $47,000 Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship based on their 16 best finishes.

The points system rewards drivers for racing at their home tracks every week plus, thanks to a common ruleset, encourages drivers to travel to other DIRTcar tracks and Series races to accrue more points and experience. 

This year, Matt Sheppard took the DIRTcar Big Block Modified Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship title, Mat Williamson won the DIRTcar 358 Modified championship Andrew Buff took DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds crown, Chad Jeseo won with the DIRTcar Pro Stocks, and Dante Mancuso is the first-ever DIRTcar 4 Cylinder champion. 

DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds

Only Matt Sheppard, from Waterloo, NY,  could insist he hasn’t had a “great” year while winning major championships like his record-setting eighth Super DIRTcar Series championship plus his seventh Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship for DIRTcar Big Block Modifieds (formerly Mr. DIRT). 

Sheppard’s Hoosier championship points run came with wins at Orange County Fair Speedway, Land of Legends Raceway, Ransomville Speedway, and Weedsport Speedway in both weekly and Series competition totaling 12 wins overall which netted him $5,000 for his title. 

Last year’s champion Stewart Friesen came up four points short. He picked up 10 DIRTcar Big Block Feature wins at six different tracks including Volusia Speedway Park, Can-Am Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway, Orange County Fair Speedway, Weedsport Speedway, and Land of Legends Raceway. 

Peter Britten has had one of the best years of his career. Britten finished third in Hoosier Championship points collecting four wins including a Series DIRTcar Series win at his home track Land of Legends Raceway. 

Check out the full DIRTcar Big Block Modified Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship points HERE. The top twenty in points shared from the over $18,000 in point monies.

DIRTcar 358 Modifieds

St. Catharines, ON driver Mat Williamson, is no stranger to Victory Lane but now he is starting to make championships look routine too. Williamson, who is fighting for a podium on the Super DIRTcar Series standings going into the NGK NTK World Finals, picked up this year’s DIRTcar 358 Modified Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship title worth $3,000.

This is Williamson’s third Hoosier championship in a row. Only this year’s third-place overall David Herbert has won three in a row and he made it four between 2014 and 2017. 

Williamson’s 11 wins came at six tracks: Ransomville Speedway, Brockville Ontario Speedway, Fulton Speedway, Brewerton Speedway, and Weedsport Speedway. 

Billy Dunn finished second in points but he also won the DIRTcar 358 Modified Series championship this year on the back of his herculean efforts to finish the race at Oswego Speedway in the Salute to the Troops 150. 

David Herbert represented the Quebec cause coming in third place in the Hoosier standings. Hebert won DIRTcar 358 Modified Features at Autodrome Granby, Le RPM Speedway, Autodrome Drummond, and Cornwall Motor Speedway. 

Check out the full points HERE. The top 20 in points will share from the over $14,000 cash point fund.

DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds

Andrew Buff has proven his ability to win championships at home and is taking the show on the road. Buff is this year’s DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship title winner collecting $1,000. The star DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Series: East Region driver beat out both Cameron Tuttle from the West and Zach Sobotka in the Central Region by six points. Tuttle and Sobotka finished tied in the Hoosier standings with 906 points. 

Buff added his name to a list that includes Rocky Warner, Matt Sheppard, Chad Brachmann, and Chris Raabe. 

Traveling man Andrew Buff took wins at Lakeview Motor Speedway in South Carolina, Glen Ridge Motor Speedway, Fulton Speedway, and Albany-Saratoga Speedway. 

The final opportunity race for DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds comes up at the Drydene World Short Track Championship from Thursday, October 28 to Saturday, October 30, 2021 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. 

Check out the full DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship points HERE. The top 20 here will share from the $6,500 point fund. 

DIRTcar Pro Stocks 

Chad Jeseo, winner of the DIRTcar Pro Stock 50 at the 49th NAPA Super DIRT Week and overall DIRTcar Pro Stock Series Championship, ran away with the DIRTcar Pro Stock Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship in 2021. His 936 points came on the back of 10 wins. Rival Jason Meltz finished second with 886 points while Kevin Fetterly came in third with 844 points overall. 

This is Jeseo’s second DIRTcar Pro Stock Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship title which he will take home a $1,000 check at the annual awards banquet. His first came in 2012. 

Race fans can catch the DIRTcar Pro Stocks in action at this year’s Drydene World Short Track Championship (Thursday, October 28 – Saturday, October 30, 2021) at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. 

Check out the full DIRTcar Pro Stock Hoosier Racing Tire Championship points HERE. Like the DIRTcar Sportsman, the DIRTcar Pro Stocks also paid out the top 20 with a $6,500 total point fund. 

DIRTcar 4 Cylinders

Dante Mancuso motored his way to a title in the inaugural DIRTcar 4 Cylinder Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship. He piled up his 11-win season at Ransomville Speedway and Genesee Speedway. Brad Whiteside and Cole Susice finished second and third overall. Twenty-one drivers took part in the first season of DIRTcar sanctioned 4 Cylinder action. 

Mancuso will take home $500 for his first ever title and the top 10 in the points will share from the over $2,500 point fund that was established. 

Check out the full points HERE.

NEXT UP: Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship points chasing starts up in 2022 at the DIRTcar Nationals for the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds on February 14-19. The Big Blocks hit Volusia Speedway Park for a newly added Hot Lap session on Monday, February 14 before five straight nights of Feature action on The World’s Fastest Half-Mile all of which award valuable early-season Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship points.

Watch for more updates, schedule announcements, Features, and more at DIRTcar.com and on social media on Facebook and Twitter.

The Bear Lake, PA driver will make his 300th start at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Nov. 4-6

CONCORD, NC – October 20, 2021 – A significant milestone awaits World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model veteran Boom Briggs at the Dirt Track at Charlotte during the NGK/NTK World Finals Nov. 4-6. 

The Bear Lake, PA driver, is expected to make his 300th World of Outlaws start on Friday, Nov. 5—a milestone Briggs stated he couldn’t reach without the support from his family. 

“I never thought I’d get to 300, but that’s pretty amazing,” Briggs said. “If it wasn’t for my mom, and my family, my brother, my wife; you know it’s been four years since my dad’s been gone, and I get to do this because of him. My father’s love for racing; my whole family has supported his love, and that’s how I get to do this. 

“This is totally 100 percent a family effort right down to my wife being home all the time.  Hats off to her and thank you.”

The journey toward Boom’s 300th start involved a change for 2021—a switch to a Rocket Chassis. Despite three top-fives, including one at Davenport Speedway, and 11 top-10s, he’s been hoping for better results throughout the season. 

 “I’d like a little bit more consistency, but we’ve had new cars, and I’ve done a lot of testing, which I’ve got to quit doing,” Briggs said. “Overall, I think we’ve shown more speed and a little bit more consistency, but it’s just a long road, and Shane (Winans) is really my only full-time guy. We had one part-timer earlier in the year, and now we have a couple of part-timers now, so for me and Shane to do this, we get behind sometimes.”

Even though he’s hoping for better finishes, a benefit of driving a Rocket Chassis is the advice he gets on the road. Briggs can ask Mark Richards (Owner of Rocket Chassis) for help to put him in the right direction. 

“Mark (Richards) and all his crew guys have been great, I mean Rocket Chassis, Mark, they’ve been great to me, helped me a lot,” Briggs said. “Chris Madden’s helped me a lot, the three of us have really worked together, plus Brent Larson and the four of us going up and down the road. It’s been a good year. I just thought we’d have a little bit better results.”

Briggs’s next chance at a good result comes at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. He’s already had some laps around the 4/10-mile track—as part of a Rocket Chassis test session. The Bear Lake, PA driver is enthusiastic about this year’s World Finals.  

“I come here and test really good, and then I come back, and I race not so good,” Briggs said. “I think this year with Mark and Chris helping and Brent also I think we can come back here and be real competitive. We’re close; we’re within a tenth or two (of Brandon Sheppard), so we’ll see; I’m looking forward to World Finals this year for a change.”

As 2021 comes to an end, next season is already around the corner. Despite what the calendar says, Briggs isn’t looking too far ahead. 

“We don’t have any set goals yet for next year because a lot of things are up in the air,” Briggs said. “The plan right now is to come back with the Outlaws, and a goal would be to be top-five in points next year.”

While making his 300th start is a moment he won’t forget, there’s still a World of Outlaws milestone eluding him. Briggs hopes a trip to Victory Lane isn’t far behind. 

“I’m not getting any younger; I just turned 50 this year,” Briggs said. “So, a top-five in points and a couple of Outlaw wins, you’d probably see me retire.”

Boom and the rest of the World of Outlaws stars are back in action for the NGK/NTK World Finals on Nov. 4-6. 

For tickets to the three-day spectacular, featuring the Late Models, World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars and Super DIRTcar Series: CLICK HERE.  

If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or through the DIRTVision App.

NASCAR CUP SERIES HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 KANSAS SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT OCTOBER 20, 2021
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript: YOU’VE HAD A COUPLE OF GREAT SPONSORSHIP ANNOUNCEMENTS FROM YOUR TEAM. TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT AND WHAT IT MEANS NOT ONLY TO HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, BUT TO YOU AS WELL“Yeah, we’re really excited. We’ve got a lot of momentum on the partnership side. I’m excited to have Raptor on the car this weekend for Kansas. It’s a company that Axalta is familiar with, and I think the paint scheme looks really cool. You can go to raptortough.com to learn more about that. And yeah, the Liberty news as well was awesome. I’m just really thankful to get to know those guys over the years and Dr. Prevo and his leadership over the last year or so. It’s been nice to get to know Dr. Prevo and they’re doing a lot of great things up there. I got a chance to see coach Freeze and see his football team play two weeks ago. It’s pretty cool up there and it’s been a good couple of weeks.”
SOME PEOPLE DON’T LIKE GREEN CARS, BUT IT MIGHT BE CONSIDERED OLIVE. HAVE YOU EVER HAD ANY SUPERSTITIONS AS FAR AS COLOR OF THE CAR?“Green cars have always been touchy for me but if they look good, then it doesn’t matter to me. I’ve actually won a couple of races with kind of a green car back in Xfinity with Axalta in their industrial paint scheme. No, I’m not worried about it. Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) is a little superstitious, so I’m sure he’ll have to get over it.”
THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF CHATTER THIS WEEK ABOUT HOW NON-PLAYOFF DRIVERS RACE PLAYOFF DRIVERS. IN YOUR SITUATION, WOULD IT BE ANY MORE DIFFICULT TO RACE FOR A WIN VERSUS KYLE LARSON FOR A WIN?“I think it all depends on the point situation. Typically, if a guy is racing for a win, they’re having a really good day. So, they’re getting a lot of Stage points and they’re up front. So, throughout that race last week, my team never told me where Kyle was in points and all that. But knowing before the race that he has a bunch of bonus points and then knowing throughout the race that he got a bunch of Stage points, I wasn’t super worried about his point situation. But I didn’t want to obviously get in a wreck with him. So, we just raced hard and clean and just raced smart. But I want win and my team wants to win, so I’m not going to do anything to sacrifice that. I just have to be aware of the situation.”
AT TEXAS THERE WAS A LOT OF GREAT SPEED IN THE NO. 24 CAR AND A LOT OF RACE-WINNING CAPABILITIES FROM YOU AND YOUR TEAM. HOW ENCOURAGED ARE YOU THAT YOU’RE HERE TO STAY FOR GOOD AND THAT YOU ARE STILL CAPABLE OF WINNING RACES?“I think that, for us, over the course of this year, there has been a lot of good aspects and then there have been some aspects that have been disappointing. But I think all the key ingredients that it takes to win races is there and it’s been there. We won the third race of the year. So yeah. We’re very capable. It’s just about us putting together all the details to be successful. I think we’ve had a shot to win multiple races this year at different times. I think we’ve got all the good properties of a race team that it takes to win races, and Texas was a good example of that. Hopefully we have another shot to win this weekend.”
HAVING BEEN WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS FOR THE LAST FOUR YEARS, WHAT HAS THE ORGANIZATION GIVEN TO YOU THAT HAS ENRICHED YOUR LIFE NOT ONLY PROFESSIONALLY, BUT PERSONALLY?“I think the more time that I spend there, the more I love being there. I’ve really kind of grown into it being a home for me. When I started there, I felt a little bit uncomfortable. I felt like the place was bigger than me, and really kind of hard to fit in. And as I go, and I surround myself with people that have the same desires and interests and think the same way, I think we just get more and more comfortable. It’s been a great year and I feel like I’m just very comfortable in that environment.”
DID YOU GET A SENSE THAT ANYBODY RACED YOU OR THAT YOU WERE RACED A LITTLE BIT DIFFERENTLY AT TEXAS BECAUSE YOU WEREN’T IN TITLE CONTENTION EVEN THOUGH YOU HAD A RACE-WINNING CAR?“I really don’t think so. I think those situations have to be very clear cut for someone to race differently. I was thinking about that throughout the race and some of the cautions. As a race car driver, you’ve got a certain mindset and a certain way that you think as you go throughout the race, and it’s very hard to just kind of change that on the fly. So, you don’t really alter your whole strategy. But if it’s a clear-cut situation where a Playoff guy….  Like, I wouldn’t wreck one of them, especially. I think that’s kind of the biggest thing for me is kind of trying not to wreck one. But I didn’t feel like anyone raced me different or that I raced them differently. But you see the yellow spoilers. You kind of know who you’re around and things like that. I think you’re just kind of aware of those guys and what they’re trying to do.”
FOR THE SECOND WEEK IN A ROW, YOU HAD CONTACT WITH THE NO. 8 CAR OF TYLER REDDICK. AT THE ROVAL, YOU TALKED TO HIM AND HE TOLD YOU WHAT HAPPENED AND YOU SAID YOU WERE GLAD TO KNOW THAT. IS THERE ANY MORE REASON NOW TO HAVE FURTHER COMMUNICATION WITH HIM? IS THERE A GROWING FRUSTRATION?‘No, I don’t think I’m very frustrated. I think I would have been very frustrated if the tire didn’t stay up because that’s kind of the way our season has been with flat tires. But no, I think it just was a situation where is a misjudgment and a couple of those, but I think that’s just something you kind of keep in mind when you’re racing, but yeah, no; I still don’t think it’s anything malicious, but it is another kind of misjudgment.”
AT KANSAS, HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE RESTARTS WHETHER YOU’RE AT THE FRONT OR A FEW ROWS BACK AND WHAT SEEMS TO BE CHAOS?“Yeah, they are very difficult. I think when I first started out in my career in the Cup series, Kansas restarts were probably a nemesis for me (laughs). I think that’s become better over time. We’ve gotten better at predicting where those guys are going to be and using our mirrors and using our spotter to kind of help those conditions. But yeah, it’s tough. A lot of times you can’t always win the restart at Kansas. You have to just minimize the loss. Especially if you’re on the front row, you look at…..  We have all these retention rates and everything and you look at the retention on the front row and it’s not very high. So, you just have to know that going in and know that it’s going to be a challenge to hold the lead or to be second. Unlike Texas, where it’s a very narrow track and you can get a good push and get out front. This place will be a lot different on restarts.”
WHAT IS ONE OF THE KEY THINGS YOU HAD TO LEARN ABOUT RESTARTS AT KANSAS?“I think the biggest thing with the 550 races is getting linked-up to your push if you’re the leader. So, you’ve got to do things whether you drag the brake, or you roll into the throttle slow, you’ve got to make sure that that guy is linked-up to your bumper to push you because if not, there’s not enough horsepower for you to just drive away, unless you’re in first gear or you have different ratios or something. So, that’s watching the mirror. That’s listening to my spotter and him countdown when that guy is getting to my bumper, so I’m always kind of looking up and seeing him and seeing how close he’s getting to me. And then, if you’re not the leader, it’s all about side drafting appropriately, in the right spot. Getting through the gears is important, especially if you’re not the leader, to make sure you’re not losing any momentum. And then yeah, just protecting kind of your right rear or your left rear, based on what lane you’re in, to make sure somebody doesn’t put you three-wide.”
HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HASN’T ANNOUNCED AN EXTENSION FOR YOU. YOU’RE SIGNED THROUGH NEXT YEAR. YOU’VE PROBABLY BEEN WORKING ON THAT. ARE YOU CLOSE, AND WOULD YOU EXPECT AN ANNOUNCEMENT BEFORE THE START OF NEXT YEAR?“Yeah, I think when the time comes, we’ll work on it. And I love being at Hendrick Motorsports and don’t see anything different there, and the way we’re running and everything, it’s been great. So yeah, when the time comes, I’m sure we’ll work on it. I’m not very concerned about it.”

Honda Performance Development-built Civic Type R engines are a cornerstone of the series
Exclusive partnership includes Parella Motorsports Holdings, HPD, Ligier, Hankook Tires and SCCA Pro Racing; opportunity to earn FIA Super License points
2022 calendar features 18 rounds at six iconic circuits around the United States

Santa Clarita, Calif. (October 19, 2021) – Honda Performance Development (HPD) has reaffirmed the organization’s commitment to the F4 United States Championship and Formula Regional Americas, as the title battles in both series come down to the upcoming season finale weekends at the Circuit of the Americas.
“Honda Performance Development exclusively partners with the F4 United States Championship and Formula Regional Americas for the development of North American single-seat racers,” said John Whiteman, Manager, Commercial Motorsports for HPD. “Both series are exclusively powered by HPD-prepared Honda engines; and have continued to grow under the leadership of Parella Motorsports Holdings, in partnership with Ligier and Hankook Tires.” The FRA and F4 US championships offer global developing drivers the opportunity to demonstrate their skills on an international platform, with affordability and safety as top priorities. Both series’ cars are powered by equally strong, reliable, HPD-modified versions of the current Honda Civic® Type R® engine, with the FRA powered by a turbocharged 303-horsepower edition, while the F4 series uses a normally aspirated 160-bhp engines.
In addition, the FIA, world governing body for motorsports, awards up to 18 “Super License” points for FRA competitors, and 12 for drivers in F4US, more than available in any other North American development series.
Now in its sixth season, the F4 US Championship continues to be the most successful F4 regional series in the world. The 2021 title will be decided later this month at the US Grand Prix in Austin Texas, in front of the Honda-powered Formula 1 teams fighting for the FIA World Championship.  The fourth FRA champion will be decided two weeks later at the SVRA finale, also at Austin, Texas. 
F4 and FRA competitors and champions, including Dakota Dickerson, Kyle Kirkwood, Ernie Francis Jr., and Linus Lundqvist, continue to have success and advance in single seater and sports car racing.

Charlestown, IN (September 21st, 2021) – The Greene County Fairgrounds in Waynesburg, Pennsylvania was host to four potent Champions Tour classes of the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League on Saturday September 18th . The event was also the site for the first Champions Tour points champion to be crowned for 2021 in the ARP Super Stock Diesel Truck division. The ARP Super Stock Diesel Truck class was loaded with contenders for the title as several trucks had a mathematical chance to clinch the title. Entering the event Erik Stacey and the SmokinYa HD Chevrolet held the lead and like his fellow competitors would have to be at the top of his game to clinch the title. In the end Stacey would hold off a valiant effort by past champion Cody Hastings and the Against the Grain Dodge who won the class. Stacey would finish fourth in competition, providing the two-point cushion for the title over Hastings. The Summit Racing Mini Rod class continued with a tight, two-tractor race that will be decided at this weekend’s Pro Pulling Nationals in Wheatland, Missouri. Bill Leischner and the past class champion machine Bobcat Jr. won the class in Waynesburg, but it was the Sawed Off machine and Grayson Shelton gaining two points on the Green Streak Black of Austin Boyd, who keeps a six-point spread on Shelton entering Wheatland.  Emerging as a first-time winner in the Optima Batteries Super Modified Two Wheel Drive Truck class was Tony Fleming and his Hi Maintenance Chevy. A pair of pullers were able to draw closer to class points leader Russ Nichols and his On the Edge Ford; Chad Mayhill and the 2-Timin Ford crept closer to Nichols with a fifth in Waynesburg and Jeremy Nelson’s third place finish in the Midnight Gambler gives him a mathematical shot at the title next weekend in Wheatland.  The final class in Waynesburg, the Unlimited Super Stock Tractor class, offered a bit of clarity with class leader Josh Blackbourn and the Considered Armed and Dangerous – HD CaseIH taking second place in competition, furthering his grip on a potential 2021 points title. The battle rages in second and third place where Colin Ross and his Triple Bypass McCormick took the win in Waynesburg and gained four points on the current second place Extremely Armed and Dangerous CaseIH of Terry Blackbourn who finished third in the evening of competition.  Make plans to attend the season finale Pro Pulling Nationals this coming weekend in Wheatland, Missouri at the famed Lucas Oil Speedway or watch both sessions on September 24th and 25th on MAVTV Plus; champions will be crowned and memories made!

For the latest in news from the Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League stay tuned here at www.propulling.com and follow us in social media at our Facebook page, on Twitter (@propulling) and on Instagram (propullingleague). See us in print media with our Pro Pulling Magazine, published bi-monthly and covering the wide range of Lucas Oil Pro Pulling League National and Regional events as well as our Member-States. Get your subscription to Pro Pulling Magazine at www.hookmagazine.com/propulling.html  Lucas Oil Products is the world leader in high-performance lubricants and problem-solving additives, and distributes hundreds of unique formulations in 40 countries, with continued growth every year. Its television production arm, Lucas Oil Production Studios, manages high-def facilities that create more than 300 hours of programming for CBS, CBS Sports, NBC, NBC Sports Network, the Lucas-owned MAVTV Motorsports Network, and the MAVTV Plus App (Formerly Lucas Oil Racing TV), accessible on all the most popular handheld devices, smartphones and computers.

The Decorah, IA driver will claim Rookie of the Year Honors at the NGK/NTK World Finals on Nov. 4-6CONCORD, NC – OCOTBER 18, 2021 – English Football Manager Sean Dyche once said, “Consistency of performance is essential. You don’t have to be exceptional every week, but as a minimum, you need to be at a level that even on a bad day, you get points on the board.” World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models driver Tyler Bruening’s consistency helped him put points on the board in 2021—vaulting him to third in the standings.  The Decorah, IA driver’s 12 top-fives and 27 top-10s will crown him the 2021 Rookie of the Year at the NGK/NTK World Finals at The Dirt Track in Charlotte, Nov. 4-6.  It’s a position Bruening didn’t expect to be in when he joined the Series.   “To be honest, no, we really didn’t picture ourselves being third in the points and leading the Rookie deal,” Bruening said. “But I knew we could do it as long as we had some things go our way, we had a little luck, and we’ve been able to piece together a lot of good nights, and it’s what you’ve got to do to contend for a championship and contend for those wins.” Bruening and the Skyline Motorsports team set realistic goals at the start of the season—goals they’ve met with one exception. He’s still searching for his first trip to World of Outlaws Victory Lane.   “Obviously, we want to win every night, and we feel like we’ve got a good enough race car to do that every night,” Bruening said. “Its just sometimes things don’t go your way, and sometimes everything does go your way, and a little bit of circumstance is going against you. We’re right there; we’re definitely competitive enough to get that first win. “You got to be consistent, you got to have good speed, and you’ve got to have a good handling race car to be upfront to contend for those wins. We’ve had all of those things and pieces in place. It’s just literally just putting a whole night together.” An area separating Bruening from the rest of the World of Outlaws regulars is he’s the only full-time driver that runs a Capital Chassis. While it may seem like a disadvantage, it keeps his team on a forward path at the track.  “Sometimes when you get a lot of your same chassis at a racetrack, or a lot of guys you’re trying to get information from, it can sometimes hinder you a little bit and second-guess yourself on what you should do and what you’re feeling with the car,” Bruening said. “At times, it makes your notebook a bit thinner, but, in all honesty, we just concentrated on the 16 car and what this car needs for me, and I think that’s shown pretty much all year.”  Bruening will venture into new territory at the NGK/NTK World Finals, racing at The Dirt Track in Charlotte for the first time. Despite not having laps on the 4/10-mile track, he still expects to end the season on a high note.  “To finish the year off the right way, to keep the momentum rolling into next year is definitely an important thing,” Bruening said. “I’ve never been to [World Finals]; I’ve been and attended the race, but I’ve never raced at the track, so I’m excited for the environment and the excitement that particular event brings, and we’re really looking forward to it.” Even though he hasn’t reached Victory Lane, Bruening’s consistency gave him a season to remember and a milestone he’ll cherish for the rest of his career. By taking it one night at a time, he put himself on a path toward getting points on the board, no matter the adversity he faced.   “It’s been a long year; It’s been a long season. It’s just the second time we’ve ran a full tour like this, and each year it’s getting better and better,” Bruening said. “So, we’re looking forward to finishing off the year the right way and keep that momentum rolling into 2022.” Bruening and the World of Outlaws return to action Nov. 4-6 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte for the NGK/NTK World Finals.   For tickets to the three-day event at the Charlotte Dirt Track, CLICK HERE. If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online or through the DIRTVision App.

The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings® Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Drydene (Official Motor Oil), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Morton Buildings (Official Building), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider) VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, including: Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, MSD, Penske Racing Shocks, Quarter Master, Slick Woody’s (Quick Time Award), and Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including: Capital Race Cars, FireAde, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, K1 Race Gear, Racing Electronics, Reliable Painting, and Rocket Chassis.Founded in 1978, the World of Outlaws®, based in Concord, NC, is the premier national touring series for dirt track racing in North America, featuring the most powerful cars on dirt, the World of Outlaws NOS® Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings® Late Model Series. Annually, the two series race nearly 140 times at tracks across the United States and Canada. CBS Sports Network is the official broadcast partner of the World of Outlaws. DIRTVision® also broadcasts World of Outlaws events over the Internet to fans around the world. Learn more about the World of Outlaws.

Top Fuel — Mike Salinas, 3.854 seconds, 245.05 mph def. Steve Torrence, 10.316 seconds, 81.57 mph.

Funny Car — Alexis DeJoria, Toyota Camry, 3.921, 327.66 def. J.R. Todd, Camry, 3.939, 326.32.

Pro Stock Motorcycle — Angelle Sampey, Suzuki, 6.773, 196.85 def. Karen Stoffer, Suzuki, 6.760, 197.83.

Super Stock — Greg Stanfield, Chevy Camaro, 9.872, 131.91 def. Jeff Dona, Pontiac Firebird, 9.684, 139.33.

Stock Eliminator — Brett Candies, Ford Mustang, 9.147, 142.85 def. Mark Lewis, Chevy Camaro, 10.777, 115.89.

Super Comp — Jack Sepanek, Dragster, 8.930, 178.87 def. Adam Gerber, Dragster, 8.973, 152.73.

Super Gas — Jacob Elrod, Chevy Corvette, 10.039, 150.87 def. Tim Powell, Corvette, 11.361, 93.34.

Top Dragster presented by Vortech Superchargers — Chad Taylor, Dragster, 7.088, 186.90 def. Steve Furr, Dragster, Broke.

Pro Modified — JR Gray, Chevy Camaro, 5.699, 250.64 def. Jose Gonzalez, Camaro, Foul – Red Light.

• Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Ron Capps and his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car take the lead in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) “Countdown to the Championship” after a semifinal appearance at the Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway
• Capps earned the No. 2 qualifier position and won his 800th career elimination round on the way to a semifinal appearance to move him into the Funny Car championship lead by one point over his DSR teammate Matt Hagan
• Defending world champion Hagan qualified No. 3 by resetting Bristol Dragway’s speed record with the first 330-mph Funny Car pass in the facility’s history but dropped to second in the battle for the category crown after an early eliminations exit
• No. 7 qualifier Cruz Pedregon drove to quarterfinal battle against Capps; Snap-On Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat remains in hunt for third Funny Car championship
• Leah Pruett earned a No. 6 starting position by driving her Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster with the second-quickest run of the second qualifying session before being early round setback eliminated her from contention with two playoff events remaining

October 17, 2021, Bristol, Tennessee — A single point separates two Don Schumacher Racing Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars in the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) “Countdown to the Championship” playoff battle after Ron Capps took the lead from stablemate Matt Hagan by qualifying No. 2 at Bristol Dragway, scoring his 800^th career round win and then driving to a semifinal appearance at the Thunder Valley Nationals.

Fresh off a winning performance last weekend at Texas Motorplex, Capps arrived at Bristol Dragway second in the championship battle with a 33-point deficit and as the winningest Funny Car driver at the venue with five career wins (2001, 2006, 2012, 2017, 2018). He proceeded to qualify his HEMI®-powered machine second on the timing sheets with a 3.945-second run at 325.61 mph and earn two valuable bonus points.

The opening round of eliminations saw the 2016 Funny Car champ dispose of No. 13 seed Blake Alexander while No. 3 qualifier and points leader Hagan was upset by No. 12 seed J.R. Todd, signaling the start of a shift atop the championship standings. 

Capps’ quarterfinal match-up was with fellow HEMI-powered driver and third place championship contender, Cruz Pedregon. The two competitors battled closely the entire length of the track with a solid 3.919-second run at 329.83 mph by Capps to beat Pedregon’s 3.920 sec./326.63 mph pass, collect his 800^th career elimination round victory and, for a tenth time this season, advance to the semifinals. 

With championship implications in play among the top-five contenders, Capps lined up his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat against Todd, who was looking to improve on his fifth place standing and tighten up the points race. As he did against his previous two adversaries, Capps was quicker off the starting line but found himself fighting to keep his racecar in the lane. By mid-track it drifted to the centerline where it made contact with a timing block and nullified his run. An automatic five-point penalty was deducted from the DSR driver’s total and the win awarded to his opponent, but despite the setback Capps moved past Hagan to take the lead in the Funny Car championship by a single point with just two playoff series events remaining. 

The Cruz Pedregon Racing Snap-on Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat began its race day from the No. 7 spot after a 3.975 sec./ 320.13 mph qualifying effort to pair up with No. 8 seed Dave Richards for the opening round. Pedregon lead early, never trailed and recorded his quickest pass of the weekend, 3.964 seconds at 294.11 mph, en route to his 12^th first round win of the year, the most for him since 2015 (15). Following the solid side-by-side battle against Capps that resulted in a quarterfinal loss, Pedregon, who is chasing his third Funny Car championship title, drop a spot and into a tie for fourth place in the standings with John Force. 

Defending NHRA world champ Matt Hagan began his drive at the Thunder Valley Nationals with the Funny Car points lead and qualified his DSR Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat No. 3 for eliminations with a best run of 3.958 seconds at 330.31 mph to reset Bristol Dragway’s speed record with its first 330 mph Funny Car pass. Hagan collected a total of four important bonus points for setting the quickest run of the second qualifying session and putting himself third on the timing sheets in the final session.

With two playoff wins and a runner-up finish last weekend at Texas Motorplex, Hagan’s DSR HEMI-powered machine was lined up for the opening round with lane choice over Todd and its driver looking to turn on win lights and maintain the lead in the points battle. The three-time Funny Car champ drove it straight down the lane for a quick 3.958-second elapsed time run, the exact same as his best qualifying effort, but unfortunately his opponent’s winning 3.924-second pass ended any hopes of advancing further on this race day. Hagan sits in second place behind Capps in the “Countdown to the Championship” and all top-five contenders (Todd, Pedregon and Force) within 100 points of each other heading to the Dodge//SRT Nationals presented by Pennzoil at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the penultimate race of the 2021 NHRA season.

DSR Top Fuel pilot Leah Pruett powered her Sparkling Ice Spiked Mopar Dodge//SRT dragster to the second-quickest run of the second qualifying session to collect two bonus points and secured a spot in the top half of the eliminations ladder. Her No. 6 seeded position paired her up for an opening round contest against No. 9 seed Spencer Massey. With the move to holding the Thunder Valley Nationals in autumn came cooler track conditions that made race day setups more of a challenge than usual for all competitors. 

As the DSR 11-thousand HEMI horsepower dragster launched, Pruett immediately worked to find traction and keep her ride off the wall while her opponent headed for the finish and, despite a fiery explosion in the closing feet, turned on the win light. While the first round loss effectively eliminated the team’s Top Fuel championship hopes, Pruett remains sixth in the rankings and expects to close out the season with strong results in the final two playoff events beginning with the Dodge//SRT NHRA Nationals Presented by Pennzoil October 29-31 in Las Vegas.

ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES
 
FUNNY CAR:
Matt Hagan, DSR Johnson’s Horsepowered Garage Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
(No. 3 Qualifier – 3.958 seconds at 330.31 mph) 
Round 1: (0.084-second reaction time, 3.958 seconds at 326.16 mph) loss No. 12 J.R. Todd (0.069/3.924/324.90

“It’s a tough one but J.R. Todd and that team, they did their homework and outran us and he left on us. That’s drag racing. I hate to lose and I’m trying to put a smile on right now, but it burns you up inside. We’ve got to go to these last two races and really make them count. That’s why we race them on Sunday because you never know what’s going to happen. I’ve got all of the confidence in (crew chief) Dickie Venables, and we’ll regroup and give it all we’ve got in Vegas.”

Ron Capps, DSR NAPA AUTO PARTS Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
(No. 2 Qualifier – 3.945 seconds at 325.61 mph)
Round 1: (0.081-second reaction time, 3.945 seconds at 328.38 mph) defeats No.13 Blake Alexander (0.097/7.575/78.95)

Round 2: (0.077/3.919/329.83) defeats No. 7 Cruz Pedregon (0.098/3.920/326.63)

Round 3:  vs No. 12 J.R. Todd

“This is an all-out battle. We talk about the Countdown to the Championship and talk about how much tighter it seems this year. A lot of press people and media were saying it’s just Matt Hagan and me still in the hunt, and I’m quick to caution everyone because there are so many other cars who can step up and run great and we’ve seen that today with J.R. Todd and that DHL team and Alexis DeJoria. J.R. beat Matt first round and knocked us out in the semis. By no means, especially with Pomona (Calif.) being points-and-a-half, is this thing over. We wanted to grab more points while we were here at Bristol this weekend. The good thing is, we lead the points going into Vegas. It’s almost even. We’re having so much fun and we still have such a great NAPA hot rod and we showed that with qualifying second and making three solid, consistent laps. I’m excited about going to Vegas.”

Cruz Pedregon, Cruz Pedregon Racing Snap-on® Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
(No. 7 Qualifier – 3.975 seconds at 320.13 mph)
Round 1: (0.085-second reaction time, 3.964 seconds at 294.11 mph) defeats No. 8 Dave Richards (0.129/4.023/311.63)

Round 2: (0.098/3.920/326.63) loss to No.2 Ron Capps (0.077/3.919/329.83)

“Bristol is a little tricky with a few bumps which always gives the track personality, it adds to the racing, and adds to the challenge of the race. We had a warm track but then it turned cold so it was really a matter of crew chiefs adjusting. (Crew chief) JC (John Collins) and the team did a great job of  giving me a good car for qualifying. We lost one of the runs (Friday) due to the clocks malfunctioning early on the very first run. We estimated that we would have qualified in the top five there, but didn’t get an elapsed time. We recovered and got a good 3.97 (seconds) qualifying time which put us in the seventh spot. We went out there in the first round and made a good solid run with a 3.96 sec. against Dave Richards. I had to actually shut it off early as the car was drifting over on me a little bit towards the center line but we made a great run. 

“Seems like we’re racing Ron Capps every week and lost another close nail biter with a 3.92 to 3.91 that could have gone either way. We just lost by a fender there at the finish line but overall a good race for us. Our goal is to always go to the semis and we came up one short, but still a quarterfinal is not a bad outcome. These are the final countdown races and everybody’s giving you their best shot. We have plenty of life left. We’re still leaving here in the top four in points, but we’re within striking distance of the championship. (Matt) Hagan went out relatively early, Capps went out in the semis, so yeah, we’re ready for the last two. The Dodge//SRT Las Vegas Nationals is going to be a great race. There are more cars in the hunt now so I think that’ll make for closer racing and then Pomona is a points-and-a-half race. It’ll make the champion really earn it before they close the deal.” 

 
TOP FUEL:
Leah Pruett, DSR Okuma Mopar Dodge//SRT Dragster  
(No. 6 Qualifier – 3.691 seconds at 327.11 mph) 
Round 1:  (0.076-second reaction time, 7.565 seconds at 81.47 mph) loss to No. 9 Spencer Massey (0.056/3.745/328.46)

“Drag racing does not disappoint on the roller coaster of emotions. We had a great qualifying effort, making that run in the 3.60s and had a lot of confidence going into race day. But man, the navigation of this track is pretty tricky. This is probably one of the bumpiest tracks on the circuit but that’s its characteristic, and all race tracks are different and we just didn’t have a hold of it today. Had a real hard shake and ended up into smoke early. It’s interesting how fast things happen, of course. Priority No. 1 is that Spencer (Massey) is safe after his explosion. I got to see it firsthand ahead of me. At one moment there was nothing, and the next moment I’m driving through a range of parts raining down from the atmosphere, dodging and weaving trying to avoid driving over anything. Everyone is safe; unfortunately for us, that first round loss pretty much takes us out of any championship contention but we will continue to be on the massive offense to finish out the season in the highest point standing we possibly can, hurt some feelings along the way, and continue pushing forward as this Mopar team does. I really did think our Sparkling Ice Spiked car was in good position to bring home a Wally trophy this weekend but we will continue to shine and shatter expectations.”

NHRA Championship Points Standings:
Following the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals at Bristol Dragway
 
FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1. Ron Capps (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 2,490 (2) 

2. Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 2,489 (3/1-TJ Johnson Jr.)

3. J.R. Todd – 2,407 (1)

4. Cruz Pedregon (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 2,389 (1)

4. John Force – 2,389 (3)

6. Bob Tasca III – 2,343 (2)
7. Robert Hight – 2,337 (2)

8. Alexis DeJoria – 2,319 (1)

9. Tim Wilkerson– 2,249 (1)

10. Blake Alexander– 2,184
 
TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)
1. Steve Torrance – 2,575 (9)

2. Brittany Force – 2,503 (1)

3. Justin Ashley – 2,428 (2)

4. Mike Salinas – 2,425 (1)
5. Billy Torrence – 2,357 (2)

6. Leah Pruett (Mopar Dodge//SRT) – 2,291 (1)

7. Clay Millican – 2,265 

8. Antron Brown – 2,252 (1)

9. Shawn Langdon – 2,228
10. Doug Kalitta – 2,180

DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News

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

@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram

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

Mopar

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

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

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

Follow Mopar and company news and video on:

Company blog: blog.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Media website: media.stellantisnorthamerica.com

Mopar brand: www.mopar.com

Mopar blog: blog.mopar.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/mopar

Instagram: www.instagram.com/officialmopar

Twitter: @OfficialMOPAR

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

Dodge//SRT

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

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

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

Compass Racing Acura drivers Matt McMurry, Ashton Harrison and Mario Farnbacher take Silver Cup honors in Indianapolis 8 Hour International GT Challenge
McMurry, Harrison also score overall win in three-hour SRO GT World Challenge America “race within a race”
Harrison becomes first female overall race winner in World Challenge history

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (October 17, 2021) – The #77 Compass Racing trio of Ashton Harrison, Mario Farnbacher and Matt McMurry took Silver Cup class honors today in their Acura NSX GT3 Evo at the Indianapolis 8 Hour Intercontinental GT Challenge. The class win followed a breakthrough victory earlier in the day at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as Harrison and McMurry claimed the overall and Pro/Am class win in the opening three-hour Fanatec GT World Challenge America portion of the race.

In her GT3 racing debut, Harrison became the first female overall race winner in SRO GT World Challenge history, driving the opening and closing stints. In the first hour, Harrison made up six positions to gain the SRO lead, with co-driver McMurry maintaining their advantage through his hour-long stint. Harrison returned to the drivers’ seat for the final hour to complete the historic run, claiming both the overall and Pro/Am class wins.

The GT World Challenge America contest was a race within a race, with the finishing order for World Challenge cars determined by their position after three hours of the Indianapolis eight-hour SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge. Following the Compass Racing duo to the three-hour finish was the Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Dakota Dickerson and Taylor Hagler, second in the Pro/Am class and third overall.

Following the conclusion of the GT World Challenge America portion of today’s race, McMurry and Harrison were joined by third driver Farnbacher, and the trio went on to the Silver Cup class victory – and sixth overall – despite contact from a Ferrari that sent McMurry off course less than 25 minutes from the finish. McMurry fell to second in the resulting spin, but quickly recovered to finish second on track, with the trio awarded the class victory when the leading #26 Audi was penalized for entering a closed pit lane late in the race.

In the #93 Racers Edge Acura, Jacob Abel joined Dickerson and Hagler after the three-hour mark, and the trio went on to finish third in the Silver Cup class and eighth overall to complete a historic day for Acura and for the SRO championship, featuring a pair of talented women racers on the podium for both the Intercontinental GT Challenge and the GT World Challenge America.

SRO Intercontinental GT Challenge Indianapolis Eight-Hour Acura Silver Cup Race Results
1st – #77 Ashton Harrison, Matt McMurry, Mario Farnbacher, Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3
2nd – #93 Taylor Hagler, Dakota Dickerson, Jacob Abel, Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo

SRO Fanatec GT World Challenge America Indianapolis Acura Overall, Pro/Am Race Results
1st – #77 Ashton Harrison, Matt McMurry, Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo [1st Pro/Am]
3rd – #93 Taylor Hagler, Dakota Dickerson, Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo [2nd Pro/Am]

Quotes
Ashton Harrison (#77 Compass Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo) 1st overall and Pro/Am GT World Challenge America; 1st in Silver Cup (and sixth overall) in Indianapolis 8 Hour [first female overall race winner in SRO World Challenge history]: “I’m just thankful for this opportunity, this is my first GT3 race and I’m so thankful to Acura, HPD and Harrison Contracting for their supporting me, and allowing me to do this. It’s been great working with Compass, as coming from other series, they’ve been so helpful with this learning curve. Thankfully, I’ve been here [at the IMS road course] before in smaller cars, but there was a definite learning curve with the increased aero and horsepower of the NSX. But Acura and the HPD Academy have been great. I’ve been working to put what I learned there into practice here this weekend.”

Jacob Abel (#93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo) 2nd Pro/Am World Challenge America; 3rd Silver Cup, eighth overall, for the full eight-hour IGTC event: “Absolutely a good day for us. This was the first endurance race for pretty much everyone on our team so I think it was a really good one for us. For me, personally, it was the longest I’ve ever been in a race car, think it was just under two and a half hours. That was definitely exhausting, but we had some great pace. We had some good luck, and some bad luck, and it all kind of balanced out. In the end, I think if we could’ve gotten back on the lead lap, with the pace we had, we might’ve challenged for the win. But all-in-all, we can’t complain at all. To finish on the podium, in a field this deep, in our first endurance race, we’re definitely happy with that.”

Lee Niffenegger (Program Manager, Honda Performance Development): “Overall, it was an excellent weekend for our Acura NSX GT3 Evo teams here in Indianapolis. The first overall GT World Challenge America win for a female racer – HPD Academy student Ashton Harris – and co-driver Dakota Dickerson. And a one-three finish in the Silver Cup class for the full eight-hour race. You can’t ask for a whole lot more it what turned out to be a wild endurance race.”

Next
This weekend’s race at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway closed out the 2021 Fanatic GT World Challenge America season. The 2022 season gets underway April 15-17 at Sonoma Raceway, just north of San Francisco, California.

Social media content and video links from this weekend’s Fanatec GT World Challenge America races from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course are available on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (www.twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD). Additional features and long-form videos can be found on the Honda Racing/HPD YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV).

October 17, 2021

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Atlas/Mohawk team bounced back from a mid-race setback to race inside the top 10 before finishing 13^th in Sunday’s Autotrader 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.

DiBenedetto started the final 500-mile race of the 2021 Cup Series season from 13^th place and drove up to 11^th before the Competition Caution flag flew at Lap 26.

Crew chief Jonathan Hassler elected to change just two tires under the yellow flag, and the time saved on pit road allowed DiBenedetto to restart the race from sixth place.

He quickly drove into the top five and ran as high as third place before dropping out of the top 10.

The Menards team pitted before the end of Stage One to make adjustments and service the No. 21 Mustang, and fell a lap off the pace. DiBenedetto took the wave-around at the end of the Stage and restarted the race from 16^th place.

In Stage Two, a caution flag flew just after the team had made a green-flag pit stop, and that put the No. 21 Mustang two laps in arrears. 

The team used the wave-around to regain one lap, and as the third Stage got underway, DiBenedetto found himself battling Austin Dillon for the Free Pass position.
 
He took that spot when Dillon headed to pit road for a green-flag stop.
 
This time, the caution flag was DiBenedetto’s friend, as a spin by Chase Briscoe allowed the Menards Mustang to rejoin the lead lap and line up 14^th for a restart with 54 laps remaining.

During a flurry of late-race restarts, DiBenedetto worked his way as high as seventh place, before losing ground on the last two restarts and ending the race in 13^th place.

“We came from two laps down back to seventh place and thought we were going to sneak off a good finish, but the top lane restarts hurt us at the end,” DiBenedetto said. “The Menards/Atlas/Mohawk team had to work hard today.
 
“Now, we’re just hoping for a very good last three races.”
 
With their finish, DiBenedetto and the Wood Brothers team were able to regain 18^th place in the points standings heading into this weekend’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

BRISTOL, TN (October 17, 2021) — Racing at one of her favorite tracks on the NHRA circuit veteran driver Alexis DeJoria won for the sixth time in her career and first time with her new Bandero Premium Tequila ROKiT Toyota Camry team today at Bristol Dragway, home of the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Almost a decade ago in 2012 during her rookie season DeJoria raced to the final round but was unable to seal the deal. Today in front of a packed house that roared with every win light DeJoria, the No. 1 qualifier, defeated Paul Lee, earned a second round bye, Robert Hight and J.R. Todd to secure her first win of the 2021 season.

“Round one always makes me want to throw up in my helmet,” said DeJoria. “It’s the worst round for me. It’s not nerves, I just want to get past first round. After that, it gets better. We got the win and I’ll just leave it at that. Then we got the bye in round two which was a gift this week. We just haven’t had much luck.” 

“The first two rounds went great. Obviously, we made it down the track with another good run on our bye run. Just to make it to the semis and the finals was a huge deal. I was just happy to make it to another final and have it be against another Toyota Funny Car. Two Toyota cars in the finals, it couldn’t be better than that. Even though I’m not teammates with J.R. anymore, all of those guys are always going to be teammates to me. We’re Toyota cars and we’re friends and I was just there a long time. I love racing him and I think that’s why I have such good lights against him.”

Bristol Dragway has held a special place in DeJoria’s memory going back to her rookie season. Racing as a team car for Kalitta Motorsports with Del Worsham as her mentor and crew chief the young driver raced to the final round. Today, once again partnered with Worsham, this time as co-owners of their own team, the Bristol experience was even more special. 

“Bristol is a very special track to me,” said DeJoria. “When Del was my crew chief in 2012, this was the first place where we went to a final round and lost a great race to Ron Capps. So, to come back here together again and make it to the final and then win means the world to me. This is one of my favorite tracks, if not my favorite. It’s just beautiful here and all the sounds and the people. I just love it here.”

After a final round appearance at Denver earlier this season and multiple semifinal appearances the pressure to secure a victory in 2021 was mounting with every event. The team knew they had the pieces to win but getting them to align on race day was problematic. Once DeJoria saw the fourth win light today the emotions poured out of the now six-time national event winner.

“It’s a huge weight taken off our shoulders,” said DeJoria. “We were number one qualifier and that was the first step. Getting that elusive number one after getting a ton of number twos, that was amazing. Then to get the Wally at the same race is insane. Whatever happens after this, I just hope for the best, but we’re good because we got a Wally. This is a huge confidence builder for me and our whole team. We knew we could do this, it’s just a matter of time.”

For the fifth consecutive Countdown race a different Funny Car driver captured the Wally. The category has never been as deeply competitive with drivers throughout the Top Ten vying for round wins and victories. The win was as significant to DeJoria as her 2014 U.S. Nationals victory the veteran driver explained to the Bristol media.

“I would say it’s one of the biggest because as a part-team owner definitely,” said DeJoria. “Coming back after taking the two years off and getting to work with my mentor, old teammate and friend in Del Worsham. I look up to him and I learned everything I know from Del. To be able to do this with him again and do something we couldn’t do at Kalitta when he ended up driving the other car. But we always wanted to do this again and we were able to make it happen.” 

After outrunning Hight in the semifinals with the quickest Funny Car run of the day, 3.904 seconds, DeJoria had lane choice over her Toyota teammate Todd, but she knew it would be a tough race. Todd had defeated his own monster list of opponents that included two points leaders, Matt Hagan and Ron Capps, as well as 16-time Funny Car champion John Force.

“It’s hard when the tree is long like that. For us, it seems like an eternity in the car. You’ve got your foot off the clutch, and you’re holding the brake and have the fuel on the high side and you’re just sitting there,” explained DeJoria. “Luckily, I was hungry and know that feeling in the finals it was like I was back in Indianapolis. I was up there saying, I’m just happy to be here and I’m going to do a damn good job and I’m going to win.”

Qualifying Results

Q1: 5.469 sec, 131.52 mph; Qual. 7

Q2: 4.303 sec, 214.86 mph; Qual. 8

Q3: 3.907 sec, 326.79 mph; Qual. 1

Bonus Points: +4 (3^rd quickest of Q2 and quickest of Q3

Race Results

First Round
Driver                                  Qual       R/T         ET           MPH 
Alexis DeJoria                   1             .125       4.030     269.83 (W)

Paul Lee                              14           .119       8.033     87.70

Second Round
Driver                                  Qual       R/T         ET           MPH 
Alexis DeJoria                   1             .093       3.931     321.04 (W)

Bye

Semifinal Round
Driver                                  Qual       R/T         ET           MPH 
Alexis DeJoria                   1             .086       3.904     327.74 (W)

Robert Hight                      5             .073       3.934     329.10

Final Round
Driver                                  Qual       R/T         ET           MPH 
Alexis DeJoria                   1             .002       3.921     327.66 (W)

J.R. Todd                             12           .067       3.939     326.32                  

Camping World Funny Car Countdown Top Ten

1.          Ron Capps                                                2490

2.          Matt Hagan                                             2489

3.          J.R. Todd                                                   2407

4.          Cruz Pedregon                                        2389

4.          John Force                                               2389

6.          Bob Tasca III                                            2343

7.          Robert Hight                                            2337

8.          Alexis DeJoria                                         2319

9.          Tim Wilkerson                                         2249

10.        Blake Alexander                                      2184

BRISTOL, TN (October 17, 2021) — Second year driver Justin Ashley and the Smart Sanitizer Top Fuel dragster powered by Vita C Shot raced to another semifinal in the incredibly competitive NHRA Countdown to the championship today at the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. Through five races the 2020 Rookie of the Year has two final rounds including a win last week at the Texas NHRA Fall Nationals and two additional semifinals. He has moved from seventh to third place in the Camping World Drag Racing Series with two races remaining in the 2021 season.

Today as the No. 5 qualifier Ashley defeated 2013 Top Fuel world champion Shawn Langdon and Countdown competitor Billy Torrence in the first two rounds before dropping a close race to the three-time and reigning Top Fuel champion Steve Torrence. Last weekend it was Ashley getting the win light in the final round over Torrence for this second career victory. Today both cars made clean runs again and Torrence was just a shade quicker to the finish line winning. 

Ashley opened his race day posting a track record and personal best speed in his first round win over Langdon. When the Smart Sanitizer Top Fuel dragster crossed the finish line the scoreboard lit up from an impressive and historic 334.48 mph pass. When Ashley was alerted to the speed record the young driver could barely contain his enthusiasm.

“Wow, how about that,” said Ashley. “We just eclipsed 330 mph yesterday for the first time and this was a big swing. My hat is off to this team led by Dustin Davis and Mike Green and this entire Smart Sanitizer Vita C Shot team. We are moving on and we just have to stay focused on ourselves and do the best we can.”

The second round race was a rematch from the Texas Fall Nationals second round. Once again Ashley got the jump off the starting line and that was the difference in the race as his 3.708 second run got the win over Torrence’s quicker 3.705 second pass. Ashley had the speed to match the elapsed time hitting the stripe at 333.33 mph.

In the semifinals racing the veteran Steve Torrence for the second race in a row Ashley came up just a little short of advance to his third final round in the Countdown.

“Today went really well and we got another semifinal finish,” said Ashley. “Being in the championship hunt against a driver like Steve it is almost like you must win every race. He is always on his A game. It was a tough loss but overall when you look at the weekend as a whole it was fantastic. We ran in the 3.60s a ton and we really have nothing to complain about. The car is running awesome. Now at this point we shift our focus to Vegas. We are going to take what we learned here and apply it to Vegas in two weeks.”

Qualifying Results

Q1: 3.726 sec, 329.50 mph; Qual. 2

Q2: 7.270 sec, 90.30 mph; Qual. 7

Q3: 3.688 sec, 330.80 mph; Qual. 5

Bonus Points: +2 (2^nd quickest in Q1)

Race Results

First Round
Driver                                  Qual       R/T         ET           MPH 
Justin Ashley                     5             .064       3.690     334.48 (W)

Shawn Langdon                10           .056       3.739     327.43

Second Round
Driver                                  Qual       R/T         ET           MPH 
Justin Ashley                     5             .074       3.708     333.33 (W)

Billy Torrence                     4             .081       3.705     327.27

Semifinal Round
Driver                                  Qual       R/T         ET           MPH 
Justin Ashley                     5             .108       3.691     334.15

Steve Torrence                  1             .059       3.677     331.69 (W)

Camping World Drag Racing Series Countdown Top Ten – Top Fuel

1.          Steve Torrence                                    2575

2.          Brittany Force                                      2502

3.          Justin Ashley                                        2428

4.          Mike Salinas                                         2425

5.          Billy Torrence                                       2357

6.          Leah Pruett                                           2291

7.          Clay Millican                                         2265

8.          Antron Brown                                      2252

9.          Shawn Langdon                                   2228

10.       Doug Kalitta                                          2180

NASCAR CUP SERIES AUTO TRADER ECHO PARK AUTOMOTIVE 500 TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT OCTOBER 17, 2021  KYLE LARSON CAPTURES EIGHTH WIN OF 2021 AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAYLarson Secures Spot in Final Four FORT WORTH, TX (October 17, 2021) – In his debut season with Hendrick Motorsports, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE team will be one of four drivers to compete for the title of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Champion. Starting from the pole, Larson captured the Stage Two win and led a field-high 256 laps in route to victory lane at Texas Motor Speedway in the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500, the first race of the NCS Playoffs Round of 8. The win marks Larson’s eighth win of the 2021 season and 14th-career win in 257 starts in NASCAR’s premier series. Larson’s victory at the 1.5-mile Texas oval gives Chevrolet its 16th NASCAR Cup Series win thus far this season, the most of all manufacturers, and 811th all-time win in NCS history. With just three races left in the season, Chevrolet continues to sit atop of the Manufacturer Standings as the Bowtie brand battles for its 40th title. Team Chevy and Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron, brought his No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE across the finish line in the runner-up position to give the Camaro ZL1 1LE a 1-2 finish of the 501-mile race. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Camaro ZL1 1LE, finished 7th; Tyler Reddick, No. 8 CC Ready Mix Camaro ZL1 1LE, finished ninth; and Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway Insurance Camaro ZL1 1LE, finished tenth to give Chevrolet five of the top-10 finishers.  The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, October 24, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel.  KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by our race-winning driver, Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Congratulations, Kyle. We’ll go ahead and open it up for questions.Q. I can’t jinx you now; you’re locked into the final Championship 4. What does that mean to you? What you were going around the track, what were you thinking?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, it’s awesome. I mean, we had a good points lead or whatever from the cutoff going into it, but still, you know, Harvick had his issues last year and didn’t make the Final Four. That will always be on my mind.We had a fast, fast car today, and we had a good couple stages, so even if I didn’t come out with the lead or the win or whatever, I wanted to play it smart and take what I could get. I got good shots from behind me every restart and allowed me to get clear into 1 every time and then do some blocking for a few laps. Fine on all those restarts and we had a great race car to allow me to be aggressive with the blocks, and fast, too, to stay out in front of William. Q. Want to get your thoughts on breaking the tie with Chase Elliott and Tim Richmond on the all-time wins list.KYLE LARSON: Yeah, that’s cool. Hopefully Chase and I are both going to get a lot of wins throughout our career and catch Jimmie or Jeff some day. Yeah, it’s been cool to be teammates with him this season. He’s definitely pushed me to be better, and it’s nice having him there to listen to how he communicates with everybody in the competition meetings and stuff and really getting a look at his data more. I feel like we’ve got a great bunch of drivers and teams and crew chiefs, and that allows all of us to go out there and make ourselves better. Q. I know this is kind of a weird stat because it’s like 36 races and everything and not like all of NASCAR history, but apparently you have a pretty good shot now to get the all-time laps led record since it went to a 36-race season. Do you care about that number? Do you care about that mark?KYLE LARSON: I definitely care. I don’t know what the mark is or what the number is, but yeah, I’m probably 2,300 or so now, close to it. So yeah, that would be really, really cool. I led a lot more laps today than I thought I would, so yeah, it’s definitely a goal of mine. I think somewhere in the back of my mind like it’s a goal. It’s not like something I am upset about if I don’t lead any laps in a race or anything, but once I am leading I want to stay in the lead to help catch that record or whatever.But you have to have a fast race car to do that, and our race car has been really good all season long, especially today to have a dominating run like we did. Hopefully these next few weeks are a lot like today. Q. I was just curious about Phoenix in a couple weeks; do you like the benefit of having practice and qualifying, or do you wish it was like it was last year?KYLE LARSON: Well, I could kind of take it either way, really. We had practice at the 600 and Nashville, and we won those two. I can’t remember what all races we’ve had practice at. But as far as the ovals go for practice, I think we’ve won those.It kind of doesn’t — like I said, it could go either way for me. I think yes, I’m probably — I like having practice to give yourself — it kind of helps your confidence out, whether it’s good or bad, leading into the race with practice. But it also gives — if your car is great or whatever, it gives other people an opportunity to make their car better.But our team has done a really good job this year when we have had practice of not like getting crazy with trying different things. You kind of just get a head start on the race and your adjustments, what they may be.Yeah, I haven’t really thought too much about the practice and qualifying or all that at Phoenix, but hopefully it’ll go good for us. Q. Were you worried about the guys that were behind you that were on fresh tires because Christopher Bell on that last restart started third.KYLE LARSON: Yeah, so obviously Brad had taken the top on the other restarts behind William, and Brad is a really good pusher. I was nervous about that. Honestly like when they told you there was one to go, I was like, please, Brad, take the bottom, take the bottom, take the bottom. He took the bottom, because I was worried — I’m sure you guys will write a story about this, but I was worried about Bell being behind me because just — I felt like — not that he would wreck me or anything, but maybe he wouldn’t give me the push that I needed to get clear out to the lead, so I really wanted Brad behind me.I felt like if Brad was behind me, I could — I could anticipate it better because I knew I was going to get a good push, but I was ready for him to try and pull out and try and take me three wide or anything because he’s trying to race his way into the playoffs and lock in. I was at least ready for that.I wasn’t sure what to be ready for if Bell was behind me, so yeah, I was glad when Brad chose the bottom and gave me a great push like I knew he would. I protected a little bit and was able to get clear of the lead. Q. You had said from the start of the playoffs that Harvick last year was on your mind, and even this morning 47 points over the cushion is not enough. It seemed like you were sort of anticipating, like hey, I might have to race my way in on points. Is it sort of an odd feeling to be sitting here like oh, I’m in, I don’t have to worry about that for the next two weeks, that part of it’s gone?KYLE LARSON: A little bit. Not really. I had such a good day today in stage points and stuff and I was positioned well to where if I finished in the top four or five, I was still going to probably gain a lot I would think on the cut line. I wasn’t too worried about it. Still, yes, it probably still would have been on my mind going to Kansas, but as long as I went to Kansas and ran up front in the stages and stuff, too, I would have felt really good about it.I just was more worried about like if you get in the wall or something like Denny or Truex or get caught up in a wreck, stuff like that, which now we don’t have to worry about. So that’s good.But yeah, I mean, I’m not going to plan on racing any differently these next two weeks. I still want to win stages, win some races and keep this momentum going into Phoenix. Q. You’ve kind of alluded to this, but for a large part of this race it seemed to be on kind of an auto control and then the last 60 laps happened. During that course of time you saw various playoff guys disappear, you had to hold off restarts I think six times in the last 60-some laps. What were you thinking? Were you just focusing on what you were doing, or were you paying attention to the scenarios that were kind of developing behind you?KYLE LARSON: Well, I was more just thinking about William and how I’m going to beat him because I felt like he was the only guy that really had a car capable of passing us in the lead. I mean, even all race long on all the other restarts and throughout those 50-, 60-lap runs, I was just trying to make notes in my mind of what he was doing behind me, how he was trying to figure out how to make runs and stuff. I felt like I was doing a good job of maintaining the runs that he was getting behind me.I was making notes of all that, and then obviously things are going to get more aggressive there at the end, so trying to make plans for if he’s behind me, if he’s side by side with me. Finally stayed side-by-side with me on the restarts, what to do, how aggressive I needed to be, stuff like that. You’re always trying to plan ahead and think ahead, so you’re not really in auto pilot ever throughout a race, even if it’s 500 miles. You’re just trying to plan and be prepared for any moment that might come up. THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Kyle. Congratulations. CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by members of our race-winning team. We have crew chief Cliff Daniels and executive vice president and general manager of Hendrick Motorsports, Jeff Andrews. Congratulations, guys. We’ll open it up for questions. Q. Cliff, it seemed like before the race you were saying, hey, look, we can play this conservatively, like we don’t have to go out and hit a home run today, and then your car is so fast you don’t even have to worry about it. Can you talk about how that changes things for you guys now?CLIFF DANIELS: Yeah, it does for sure, and obviously coming into the day, it’s nice to have the point gap, but I think the last round taught us that nobody is ever safe, and certainly with the point gap we knew we weren’t safe. So it’s tough to certainly just tell yourself you want to call a race conservative, and then when we knew we had a fast car — I wanted to make sure to keep tires on it. We never did lefts or rights, we were either four tires or I think we did fuel only the one time.So wanted to make sure we weren’t really exposed, had a big tire deficit or were going to be short on fuel at any point, trying to be smart about how we called that.And then, yeah, I think you asked about moving forward, too. Moving forward we still want to be aggressive to get wins if our car is capable of it. I think as a company now we’ve got to put our focus on making sure we get the 9 to Phoenix, as well, but our job is still going to go win races every week if we can, and that’s our goal. Q. Cliff, a lot of times we hear people say, hey, the goal is to get to the Final Four because you just can’t bank on what happens in one race. I’d think seven wins would be a successful season, but now that you are there to the Final Four, do you feel like whatever happens over the next three weeks doesn’t define this year?CLIFF DANIELS: Yes and no. The yes part is absolutely we’ve had a great year, and I think it’s really shown a lot of strength of our team, of our organization, but to really see that through, right, to prove what we’ve hopefully earned, you want to walk away with a big prize at the end of the year.We’re certainly going to be focused on that as everybody is who’s in contention. You know, I think changing anything from our perspective now would be a mistake. We’ve had a very common mindset every race throughout the year. It’s what’s got us to this point, so even though we’re locked in, I’m sure my team is going to get a little grumpy at me on Tuesday because I’m going to walk in and tell them we have to win Kansas. That’s just the mentality that we’ve had all year, so we’ll keep it going. Q. Cliff, now what? You say you go in on Tuesday, but do you focus on the next few weeks, or do you specifically focus on Phoenix?CLIFF DANIELS: Well, we’re going to — first, I think part of what helps the Phoenix focus is just the timing of the schedule. Since it’s a Friday, Saturday, Sunday show, the truck is going to leave like Tuesday of that week, and the way these race formats go, our hauler didn’t leave until Friday morning this week, so you’re just going to have two less days that week.So now we are very fortunate that we have a little bit more time just to really plan out the way the next three weeks can go with emphasis on Phoenix where if you’re not locked in right away, you’re kind of giving everything you can for that week, and to not be talking out of both sides of my mouth, we have really good cars in the system already coming for Kansas, already coming for Martinsville. I looked at them with a lot of our guys last week. Both cars look great, so we’re going to finish those out like they are already in process to be, and then when our Phoenix cars get in the system, make sure that they’re top-notch and ready to go. Q. Kyle said something, someone mentioned to him that the last time a driver had eight points wins at Hendrick was Jimmie in 2007. He said some of these guys were on that team. Are there a lot of guys who were with Jimmie back then who are with you now? And how does this run compare to that run 14 years ago?CLIFF DANIELS: From what I know of that run, because I wasn’t at Hendrick then, I would say anything like that is probably hard to compare. Obviously the record that Chad and Jimmie have completely speaks for itself, and to even be mentioned in a conversation with them, first off, is a big blessing and pretty cool just to even have that.I know that I think that there may be one guy on our team that was with Jimmie in exactly the year ’07, and then three of our pit crew guys I believe have been on this team since 2009. If it’s not 2009, it’s 2010, that at least three of those guys have been together.Then there’s another handful of us that have been there, two guys since ’13, another two guys since ’14, and I’m on the group that was the end of ’14, beginning of the ’15 season.So certainly couldn’t be more fortunate to have learned from the champs of Jimmie and Chad for the years that all of us were with those guys, and we have some younger guys on our team that — I think the way we operate, the way we tried to go race every week has kind of resonated within our team. We have such a strong group, it’s just really special to be a part of. Q. I don’t know the exact number, but I believe that you guys are going to have a shot at the single season laps led record since it went to 36 races at least. Do you care about that, Mark?CLIFF DANIELS: I know it’s a really big deal to Larson. I didn’t even realize we were going to be that close in contention to it. That’s pretty cool. I think the way races are nowadays, we’ve seen especially with some of the races that we’ve had this year where we’ve led a lot of laps and we haven’t won, I would love to be leading a category of wins per year, but I’m sure that — what does the King have? The King has 20 something in a year, I think?The King has got a lot, so that would be probably a pretty lofty goal to ever get to, but we’ll take laps led if we can get there at the end of the day. Taking our group of guys, taking our team and all the resources we have at Hendrick Motorsports and putting fast cars on track is so cool and so fun to be a part of that hopefully we keep it going, and whatever the numbers end up, we’ll be happy about.FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use. About ChevroletFounded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE Team Show Grit and Determination at Texas Motor Speedway

14th

15th

17th

“I love Texas Motor Speedway, and our entire Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet team came here this weekend with the goal of backing up our performance from 2020 and finding Victory Lane. Things just didn’t fall that way. We ran in the top-10 early in Stage 1, but we were too tight to stay up there. Even though we threw the kitchen sink at our No. 3 Chevy during pit stops, our Chevy never got dialed in to my liking. The day became even harder with a couple of cut right-rear tires, and untimely cautions that caused us to fall off the lead lap. Our team never gave up, though, and we were able to fight our way back from two laps down. By the last restart, we were too loose. It definitely made things interesting. We worked hard to finish 14th. I’m proud of everyone on this Richard Childress Racing team for sticking with it today.” -Austin Dillon

Hard-Fought Battle for Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Clark Pipeline Services Chevrolet Team at Texas Motor Speedway

9th

8th

12th

“Man, we came so close today. We definitely gave it all we had and put everything on the line to try and find Victory Lane at Texas Motor Speedway. This Clark Pipeline Services Chevrolet team came so close. We had speed right from the start of the race, and Randall Burnett and the guys did a good job of keeping up with adjustments throughout the race. We cut a right-rear tire at one point so I’m glad we were able to recover from that. After the midway point of the race,our Chevy would get tight in the resin, and loose out of the resin, so it was interesting managing that today. At the end, we just didn’t get a good enough chance to make a run at the No. 5 car. Another car got into us on the second-to-last restart and that’s what caused us to fall back. I’m just glad we didn’t have to pit for a tire rub and could hang on to finish ninth. It was a little disappointing after running in the top-five and battling for the lead for most of Stage 3, but I know that this team is capable and we will get to Victory Lane soon.” -Tyler Reddick

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCEAUTOTRADER ECHO PARK AUTOMOTIVE 500 TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES OCTOBER 17, 2021TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER1st      KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE 2nd     WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE 7th      CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1 1LE 9th      TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CC READY MIX CAMARO ZL1 1LE 10th    DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1 1LE 
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)2nd     William Byron (Chevrolet)3rd      Christopher Bell (Toyota)4th      Brad Keselowski (Ford)5th      Kevin Harvick (Ford)
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Kansas Speedway for the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, October 24, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES: KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Race WinnerYOU SURVIVED SEVEN STAGE 3 RESTARTS AND GOT IT TO VICTORY LANE. WELCOME TO THE CHAMPIONSHIP 4. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME EVER FOR YOU, KYLE“Yeah, this is unreal. I knew we had a good shot to win today, and our car was amazing. That’s probably the best 550 package, intermediate car, we’ve had all year. So, thanks to everybody on this No. 5 team, HendrickCars.com, Rick Hendrick, this is so cool; we had a lot of people from HendrickCars here. We get to go race for a championship in a few weeks. This is crazy.” HOW ABOUT THOSE SEVEN RESTARTS YOU HAD IN STAGE 3? YOU NEVER ONCE FALTERED. HOW DID YOU KEEP IT TOGETHER FOR ALL OF THEM?“I just got good pushes from behind me, really. I tried to stay patient on the throttle to keep them to my back bumper. And thankfully, I was able to just barely clear them every time into (Turn) 1 and not have to fight off of (Turn) 2. So thanks to William (Byron) and Tyler (Reddick) and Brad Keselowski, anybody who was ever behind me (laughs), especially Brad there in that last restart. So, it was just awesome to win and hope we can get some more wins throughout the rest of the year.” HOW BIG WILL IT BE TO HAVE TWO WEEKS NOW TO GET READY FOR PHOENIX AND FOCUS ON THAT RACE AND GO RUN FOR A TITLE?“Yeah, it’ll be cool. I don’t think we’re going to lose focus on Kansas or Martinsville, but I definitely think we can shift a little bit more to our Phoenix car and I really look forward to that. I love the West Coast. I love Phoenix. We’ve always been fast there. At least I was really fast earlier this year in the No. 5 and made a lot of mistakes. But I think we should have a good shot. Our team has been so strong all year long and we might as well close it all out.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 2ndYOU CAME UP JUST SHORT TODAY WITH A SECOND PLACE FINISH. YOU GAVE YOUR TEAMMATE, KYLE LARSON, A RUN FOR HIS MONEY TIME AND AGAIN. WHERE DID HE HAVE THAT EDGE ON YOU ON THOSE RESTARTS?“Just control of the lanes. It’s all about the push. And I think here at Texas, the shortest lane kind of wins because of the way the track kind of separates into Turn 1. Our Axalta Chevy was fast all day. We just never quite got control. I think he (Kyle Larson) was definitely better than us in that first Stage. And then I was right there with him the rest of the time and it was just clean air, basically. But congrats to those guys. Kyle really deserves it. They’ve been awesome all year and flawless on pit road; and pit calls and everything. Our team is right there and I think we’re building something really good for years to come.” YOU WERE ELIMINATED FROM THE PLAYOFFS LAST WEEK. WHAT KIND OF A STATEMENT CAN YOU MAKE IF YOU CONTINUE TO HAVE RUNS LIKE THIS?“Yeah, we’re here to stay. Rudy (Fugle, Crew Chief) is going to be in it for a long time, I feel like, and we’ve got a good team; a good young team, myself included, so I feel like we can do a lot of good things. I saw that last week. Just didn’t finish it off with the contact there, but yeah this week we had a pretty good run and had a shot at a win.” CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 7thONCE THAT RIGHT FRONT TIRE ISSUE HAPPENS, IT WAS A TOUGH UPHILL BATTLE FROM THERE. “Yeah, it definitely was. I appreciate everybody continuing to fight through that and get our car a lot better. I thought by the end, we were decent. Just by that point, obviously, it was too late. I had another one vibrate again after that, so I’m not really sure what we had going on there. I’m still currently confused. So, we’ll see. But congrats to Kyle (Larson, race winner). Hopefully we can join those guys in Phoenix and I’m looking forward to these next two weeks. I think we can run good at the next couple and I feel like we’re all super close in points. I don’t know where everybody shakes out.” YOU’RE EIGHT BELOW: “Yeah, there you go. I feel like if we just go do our job these next two weeks and control what’s in our hands, we’ll be alright.” WHEN YOU HAVE A TOUGH DAY LIKE THIS WHEN YOU HAVE ISSUES WITH THE RIGHT FRONT, WHAT DO YOU AND ALAN (GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF) TALK ABOUT THIS WEEK GOING TO KANSAS? WHAT DO YOU FOCUS ON?“There’s nothing really glaring as to what would cause that. So, I’m really confused. We’ll talk about it and maybe we’ll get to the bottom of why that happened. But regardless, just proud of the fight. Obviously, it could have been a lot worse. So, I’m looking forward to Kansas.” DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 10th “It was a good day; up and down. I feel like we probably missed it a little bit on the adjustments in the middle of the race. And then right there at the end, during one of the stops when everyone came for tires and I was the first car without tires, I feel like we should have come for tires. We deserve maybe a little bit better, but we’ll have to keep working.”
ON THE CONTACT WITH THE NO. 19 (MARTIN TRUEX JR.):“I feel so bad for him. I feel like I ruined the race for him, but he just can’t be doing that. I’m racing as well here. I have a lot of respect for the guys in the Playoffs. But one thing is respect, another is taking advantage of the situation. He wasn’t even close to being clear and I don’t know why he did that. We’re in the last 10 to 12 laps of the race; I’ve got tires and he doesn’t have tires. I don’t know, I think he’s just got to be a little smarter.” 
ERIK JONES, NO. 43 MEDALLION BANK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 12th“Up and down day for the Medallion Bank Chevy. Finally got back on the lead lap at the end and got a top fifteen. Proud of the effort to stay in it all day as a team. Hope to take what we learned to Kansas and improve on it”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 14th “I love Texas Motor Speedway, and our entire Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet team came here this weekend with the goal of backing up our performance from 2020 and finding Victory Lane. Things just didn’t fall that way. We ran in the top-10 early in Stage 1, but we were too tight to stay up there. Even though we threw the kitchen sink at our No. 3 Chevy during pit stops, our Chevy never got dialed in to my liking. The day became even harder with a couple of cut right-rear tires, and untimely cautions that caused us to fall off the lead lap. Our team never gave up, though, and we were able to fight our way back from two laps down. By the last restart, we were too loose. It definitely made things interesting. We worked hard to finish 14th. I’m proud of everyone on this Richard Childress Racing team for sticking with it today.”