NASCAR CUP SERIESCHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAYCOCA-COLA 600TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTMAY 22, 2020 
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY PATRIOTIC CAMARO ZL1 1LE, spoke with media via teleconference to discuss the anticipation leading into this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600, what it means to race at his hometown track, and more. Full Transcript:  YOU’RE PILOTING THE NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY PATRIOTIC CHEVROLET THIS WEEKEND. CAN YOU TELL US A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT PAINT SCHEME THAT YOU WILL BE FEATURING IN THE COCA-COLA 600 THIS WEEKEND?“We have the patriotic paint scheme again this year, so we kind of did something a little bit different with the way that it looks. It looks really good – I think they modeled it kind of after Captain America. It looks really cool; hopefully we can get Sgt. Billings a good run and just have a great 600. Obviously, it’s the longest race of the year. It takes a lot of patience, a lot of adjustments, a lot of pit stops, things like that, so you just have to progress your way through the event.” THERE’S BEEN A LOT OF TALK ABOUT THE CHOOSE CONE RULE LATELY, JUST BECAUSE DARLINGTON OBVIOUSLY HAVING SUCH A DOMINATE GROOVE AFFECTED A LOT OF GUYS AND AUSTIN DILLON WAS TWEETING ABOUT IT. WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON WHETHER THAT SHOULD BE A THING IN NASCAR?“I think it should be, especially with how critical restarts are with this package and just the shear track position you can gain or lose in one restart alone is pretty huge. And how close the field is, too. The top-10 to 12 cars are typically reasonably the same or close in pace to each other, so I think a choose cone would allow you to have some different options to be able to make a run. Let’s say you lost track position on a pit stop, you could have the potential to gain that back. I could see something that’s maybe for the top-20 cars and maybe the next 20 doubles up like normal so it’s not a huge confusion coming to a restart. But it would definitely be welcomed for us.” HOW ARE YOU FEELING PHYSICALLY AFTER TWO RACES IN A SHORT AMOUNT OF TIME AND ARE THERE ANY CONCERNS GOING INTO 600-MILES ON SUNDAY?“I just got done training, so I hope I’m doing physically well (laughs). It’s been different for me. I train probably twice a week now. Given the fact if there’s two races, I kind of take the day after the race just to recover. Then, the following day is whatever training that my guys have lined up for me in terms of what they put on the app that we use. Really, I’ve just tried to stick to that schedule so far. The 600 is going to be tough just because of the humidity in North Carolina, so it’s not going to be easy.” HAVE YOU GUYS LEARNED ANYTHING ABOUT PROCESSES OR HOW TO GO ABOUT THINGS DIFFERENTLY THAT YOU WOULD KEEP WHEN THINGS GO BACK TO NORMAL?“We have. We run a little different interior components, like I have a drink bag that attaches to the left side of my seat, which is different than what I’ve had in the past. I usually just run a polar water bottle, so it’s a little bit different there. I run some extra fans inside the car just to get some air flow to my upper body and everything like that. So, a little different processes there inside the car. Everybody is carrying their helmets and stuff to the car, so that’s much different. I’ve got my suit in my car right now from this past weekend, so I have to wash those. It’s unique, but I love it honestly. It kind of feels like back to the roots of what we all grew up doing – going to the race track, bringing your own stuff and going to race.” DARLINGTON WAS KIND OF A MIXED BAG FOR YOU GUYS, SO I’M JUST CURIOUS AS TO WHAT YOU TOOK OUT OF THOSE TWO RACES? “We had some issues to work through in the Wednesday race that we didn’t really figure out until after the race, so that was kind of is what it is. But the Sunday race, we had a really good car and obviously had the misfortune there with the loose wheel. Like you said, kind of a mixed bag. We weren’t as good on Wednesday, but I think we know why and we just have to work towards getting ready for the 600. We had a really good car there last year; we qualified on the pole. We just have to try to carry over what we’ve been doing speed-wise at HMS. We’ve had some really good cars this year. We just have to put together solid races and have good execution. It sounds kind of boring and simple, but it’s really what it comes down to. Hopefully we’ll get to the end of the race and have the opportunity.” HOW DOES THE STRATEGY CHANGE GOING INTO AN ENDURANCE RACE LIKE THE 600? “Charlotte has become an interesting race track because you have the PJ-1 that they put down in the second groove. So, you have a much different balance over the course of the race. As that stuff starts to come in towards the middle part of the race, it creates a much different balance. As it wears off, the car, at least for us, progressively gets tighter. You’ve got to keep up with the race track to have a good car at the end because once that stuff wears off, it seems to have rubber that sticks to it and it gets pretty slick at times. It’s just a constant battle with that stuff on the race track and trying to figure out what your car needs to do and how to setup passes because a lot of guys can maintain a lap time up there. So, it makes it twice as hard to pass or complete the pass at least. You can run side by side pretty easily. It’s just a constant evolution throughout 600 miles.” AS A CHARLOTTE-NATIVE AND THIS WEEKEND, YOU’RE PROBABLY GOING TO HAVE MORE EYES ON THE SPORT THAN EVER BEFORE, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR YOU?“It’s awesome – it’s great every year running the 600. Honestly, what’s cool about it is just waking up in your own bed, driving to the race track and feeling like you’re in your own space. Again, it kind of goes back to the roots of where I grew up racing, what I grew up doing, so it makes it really cool. I will say, it’s a little bit easier this year because I don’t have anyone going to the race, unfortunately. I don’t have family or anything there, so we can spend time together away from the track, but not at the track. So, it’s going to be pretty seamless there.”
NOW THAT YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN BACK IN THE CAR FOR TWO RACES GOING INTO CHARLOTTE, ARE THERE GOING TO BE ANY NEW CHALLENGES CONSIDERING YOU’RE GOING TO GET QUALIFYING THIS WEEKEND OR WILL IT FEEL LIKE A REGULAR RACE AGAIN?“I think that with qualifying taking place, it’s hopefully going to be easier to have track position at the start of the race and kind of have the normal players, I guess you could say, towards the front. So, I guess that’s going to be an easier way to go about the start of the race. Hopefully, we qualify well and we’re up towards the front, and we can have a smooth start to the race. Yeah, I think that’s going to honestly be an easier process than the inverts have been and things of that nature. But still your pit selection goes back to last week, so that’s critical. I just look at the 600 as a long evolution of a race and it takes adaptation each run that goes by.” WITH THE CIRCUMSTANCES THAT WE’VE BEEN RUNNING UNDER AND THE FACT THAT THE 600 IS BASICALLY THE ONLY SHOW IN TOWN WITH NO MONOCO AND NO INDIANAPOLIS 500, IS THAT GOING TO BE WEIRD OR HOW UNIQUE WILL THAT BE FOR YOU GUYS TO BE THE CENTER OF ATTENTION ON MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND?“Yeah, it’s different. It feels different. Usually at this time of the race weekend of the 600, you kind of know what to expect and you’ve been through practice. Typically, actually this day is a day off because they do the Thursday qualifying and Saturday practice, so it’s much different. Having not even sat in the car physically yet to know what’s going to happen, it feels much different. But in some instances, like a normal race like we’ve been having, you just kind of roll with the next one because we’ve had a series of races here every few days. So, it’s starting to get a little bit of a rhythm of just racing a lot.” WITH THE 600 RUNNING ON SUNDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHT’S RACE, BOTH RUNNING UNDER PRETTY SIMILAR CONDITIONS, DIFFERENT THAN DARLINGTON, DO YOU EXPECT THAT THE SAME FRONT RUNNERS WE’LL SEE WEDNESDAY NIGHT COMPARED TO THE 600?“You’re going to have a different field just because of the ability everybody has, not just the driver’s ability, but the team’s ability to learn from the previous race and get better. I guarantee you’ll probably have five or six guys that run well in one race that won’t run well in the other or a new player that’s a dominant factor in each race is probably going to be different. I think you saw that at Darlington. Obviously, some of the players were the same at the front, but there were some different. So, I think that’s going to continue with these double-header type races where you have a couple of days to go back, review what happened, what went well, what didn’t go so well and make adjustments to your car or make adjustments as a driver to get better.” WHAT IS THE ROUTINE LIKE IN THE MOTORHOME SINCE YOU’RE ISOLATED FOR ALL THAT TIME?“It’s honestly not as complex as people probably think. I really just sit there, try to eat well, eat whatever meal I had planned on before the race. But you obviously can’t be with anybody else, so there’s not much going on like there would be at a normal race weekend where you have appearances, you talk to your team and all those things. In some ways, it’s kind of easier to kind of get yourself in that zone that you want to be in. I typically try to shut technology down, try to not look too much at what’s going on in the outside world and that seems to be working OK. Just try to find something that occupies by mind for a couple of hours if I can before the race.”
WITH YOU GUYS NOW RESPONSIBLE FOR YOUR UNIFORMS AND EQUIPMENT LIKE YOU REFERENCED, I KNOW THAT’S A LITTLE DIFFERENT BECAUSE TYPICALLY A LOT OF THAT STUFF WAS CARRIED ON THE HAULERS OR HANDLED BY INTERIOR PEOPLE. HAVE YOU COME CLOSE TO LEAVING ANYTHING BEHIND?“Yeah, so it’s funny, I actually use my racing shoes on iRacing. I just started doing this because of the new format, but I’ll test a little bit on iRacing the night before the race typically. So, I try to run in the shoes I’m going to wear on race day. Obviously, they change every week with the sponsor changes and things of that nature. I’ve come close to leaving those a couple of times at home, so hopefully that doesn’t happen anytime soon. I try to leave them right in front of the door the night before so I don’t forget. That’s the closest I’ve come is just leaving gloves or shoes at home on my iRacing rig.”

May 22, 2020

Fresh off a ninth-place finish at Darlington Raceway on Wednesday night, Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/FVP team head to Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Cup circuit’s annual Memorial Day weekend tradition – the Coca-Cola 600.

DiBenedetto, who enters the weekend ninth in the Cup standings, said he’s expecting to run well in his first start there in the iconic No. 21 Mustang.

“It’s a fun place to race,” he said. “I’m looking forward to it.” 

DiBenedetto, driving for another team last year, had a fast car in for the Monster Energy Open that preceded the All-Star race at Charlotte, finishing fourth. He said he can build on that as well as his second-place finish earlier this year at a similar track – Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
 
“We were fast at the end at Las Vegas, so I feel good about that,” he said. “And Greg (Erwin, crew chief) and the people on the team feel good about the car and the set-up.”

The Wood Brothers will be making their 117^th start at Charlotte, where they have six wins, 24 top-five and 39 top-10 finishes. They also have 19 poles, including 13 in a row from 1973-1979.

As part of NASCAR’s and Charlotte Motor Speedway’s annual 600 Miles of Remembrance, each car in the Coca-Cola 600 will carry the name of a service member who died serving their country.

This year, the Menards/FVP Mustang will carry the name of Air Force Major Lucas F. Gruenther, who was an F-16 Flight Lead and the Chief of Flight Safety for the 31st Fighter Wing at Aviano Air Base in Italy. 

As Chief of Flight Safety, he developed and executed all aspects of the wing commander’s flight safety mishap prevention and response program. He was responsible for conducting mishap investigations and safety inspections. Additionally, Major Gruenther directed various working groups, wrote and maintained the wing Mishap Response Plan, and coordinated safety concerns on all matters relating to airfield construction and maintenance. 

Major Gruenther earned his commission from the United States Air Force Academy in 2003, where he was a Distinguished Graduate and member of the Parachute Team, the “Wings of Blue.”

He had more than 400 combat hours, including his service in Operation Enduring Freedom.
 
Major Gruenther, from Twain Harte, Calif., died Jan. 28, 2013, from injuries suffered when he ejected from his F-16 during a nighttime training flight.

He is survived by his daughter Serene Gruenther, who was born on February 7, 2013, just after he died, and his wife of seven years, Cassy Gruenther. He also is survived by his mother Romel Mathias, and numerous other relatives and friends.

Qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 is scheduled for Sunday, May 24, at 2:05 p.m., and the race is set to start just after 6 p.m., also on Sunday, with TV coverage on FOX.

There will be no practice, and fans will not be allowed at the track.
 

BRISCOE WINS AT DARLINGTON RACEWAY DARLINGTON, SC – May 22, 2020 – The NASCAR Xfinity Series got back to racing in a big way last night. Chase Briscoe left everything on the track; he would not be denied his second Xfinity win of the season and first at Darlington Raceway. Briscoe also brought home the second win of the week for Stewart-Haas Racing.

“Congratulations to Chase, Richard, Tony, Gene, and the No. 98 crew,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “I am so proud of this wheelman and pray for his family during this difficult time. This has been a special week for our sport, and we are very fortunate to have the leadership of Ford Performance, great teams, fans, and our partners.”

After a rain delay moved the restart of the Xfinity series to later in the day, developing the right game plan proved to be critical, with no practice nor qualifying, the Ford drivers strapped in for their first race in over two months. The Ford Performance teammates proved they had done their homework, competing in the top-10 for most of the race.   It all came down to the last restart of the race. Briscoe and Austin Cindric lined up in the outside lane, first and fourth, respectively. Cindric gave Briscoe a good push at the restart and after a brief battle with Justin Allgaier, Briscoe was able to clear the field and take the lead. But veteran driver, Kyle Busch would work to reel Briscoe in over the course of the last six laps. Briscoe drove with grit and true determination to defend the lead, as he and Busch traded paint on the final two laps of the race. Coming off the final corner, Briscoe squeezed his No. 98 Ford Mustang between Busch and the wall and drag raced Busch to take the checkered flag.

“This has been the hardest week I’ve ever had to deal with, and God is so good,” commented Briscoe in his victory interview. “Even when I took the lead with 50 to go, I was crying inside the race car and just emotionally I wasn’t there at all. There’s nothing else to say other than God is just so glorious. Obviously, I’m happy to get HighPoint.com and Ford Performance Racing School in victory lane, but this is more than a race win. This is the biggest day of my life after the toughest day in my life, and to be able to beat the best there is so satisfying.”

Cindric, Team Penske’s No. 22 driver, also drove a great race and finished P4. Briscoe is on top of the driver’s leader board with Cindric in third.

The Cup series capped off their two-race stint at Darlington Wednesday night with Clint Bowyer leading a race-high 71 laps while winning Stage 1 and Stage 2. Although the race was cut short due to rain, the Ford Mustangs finished strong with five Fords in the top-10: Kevin Harvick (P3), Brad Keselowski (P4), Joey Logano (P6), Aric Almirola (P7), and Matt DiBenedetto (P9).   Harvick remains the points leader after Darlington with a 34-point advantage over second place Logano.

NASCAR heads to Charlotte, NC for the historic Coca Cola 600 on Sunday and the Xfinity series will take center stage on Memorial Day in the Alsco 300. Reference the full 2020 schedule on Roushyates.com.  27 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 384 WINS – 357 POLES!

WAYNESVILLE, GA (MAY 22, 2020) – Josh Richards picked up his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of 2020 on Thursday Night at Golden Isles Speedway. He led most of the race, until Mason Zeigler took over the top spot, but ultimately luck was on Richards’ side when race leader Mason Zeigler got into the turn two wall with two laps remaining leaving the second-place running Richards a clear path to victory lane. Zeigler and Richards battled for the lead for nearly 28 laps, but Zeigler slipped in turn two on lap 38. He got into the wall and ended his night after he led since lap 29. Richards then pulled away from Tim McCreadie in the final circuits to pick up his 29th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory and his seventh at Golden Isles. With McCreadie’s second place finish, he takes over the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series point lead.  Jimmy Owens completed the Big River Steel podium with his third place finish. Mark Whitener grabbed the fourth spot with Devin Moran coming from the tail to finish in fifth. Moran missed the ten-minute call and had to start 24th on the grid.   Brandon Overton started from the pole after winning the PFC Brakes Pole Award and he led the first seven laps of the race until ignition problems caused him to bring out the first caution of the race. His night ended when his car slowed coming off turn number four as Richards went by him to lead lap eight. As Overton exited the race under the caution, the restart went one-two Richards on the point and McCreadie in second, followed by home state driver Steven Roberts. The car on the move after the restart was Mason Zeigler. He shot to the second spot around McCreadie on lap 11 and then set his sights on Richards. Richards and Zeigler duked it out in a two-car battle for the lead with McCreadie and Owens hot on their heels. Zeigler stalked Richards until he slid under him in turn four to take over the lead on lap 29.  Richards then stayed close to Zeigler as the two blazed a furious pace around the speedy 3/8th mile oval. With just two laps to go Zeigler got into turn one too hot and banged the turn two wall putting him out of a shot at his second win of the season. With the win, Richards became the eighth different winner in eleven Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events this season. “He [Zeigler] has come a long way. I don’t know if I could have gotten back around him. I was kind of a sitting duck; I couldn’t roll the corners good as I wanted to. I was kind of using the right rear a little bit. I was trying to find a good rhythm and once he got by me I was trying to turn the wick back up.  He made a mistake tonight and Mason slipped up a little bit and I was able to hold off McCreadie at the end.” The winner’s Clint Bowyer Racing Rocket Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by iRacing, Big River Steel, DEKALB, Integra Shocks, Crawford Outdoor, and Cometic Gasket. Completing the top ten were Jonathan Davenport, Kyle Bronson, Tanner English, Shane Clanton, and Rick Eckert.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
Optima Batteries Golden Isles Nationals – presented by Bilstein
Thursday, May 21st, 2020
Golden Isles Speedway – Waynesville, GA

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Brandon Overton / 15.220 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Tim McCreadie / 15.322 seconds 

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[5]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2]; 4. 50-Shanon Buckingham[4]; 5. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 6. 8B-Mike Benedum[7]; 7. 22F-Chris Ferguson[3]; 8. 2W-Pearson Williams[8]; 9. 00-Russell Brown Jr[9]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer):  1. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 5. 1B-Ross Bailes[6]; 6. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[7]; 7. 25DC-Donnie Chappell[8]; 8. 0R-Ryan Scott[9]; 9. (DNS) 1S-Brandon Sheppard

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 3. 0E-Rick Eckert[4]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton[6]; 6. 71-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 7. 6S-Blake Spencer[7]; 8. 1G-Ryan King[8]; 9. (DNS) 89-GR Smith

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 111-Steven Roberts[1]; 2. 5W-Mark Whitener[2]; 3. 81E-Tanner English[5]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 5. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 6. 7F-Jason Fitzgerald[7]; 7. 72-Michael Norris[6]; 8. (DNS) F15-Jeremy Conaway; 9. (DNS) 5T-John Tweed

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer):  1. 2S-Stormy Scott[1]; 2. 1B-Ross Bailes[2]; 3. 8B-Mike Benedum[3]; 4. 2W-Pearson Williams[7]; 5. 22F-Chris Ferguson[5]; 6. 0R-Ryan Scott[8]; 7. (DNS) 21-Billy Moyer Jr; 8. (DNS) 25DC-Donnie Chappell; 9. (DNS) 00-Russell Brown Jr; 10. (DNS) 1S-Brandon Sheppard

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 2. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[2]; 3. 89-GR Smith[9]; 4. 1G-Ryan King[7]; 5. 6S-Blake Spencer[5]; 6. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 7. 7F-Jason Fitzgerald[4]; 8. (DNS) 72-Michael Norris; 9. (DNS) F15-Jeremy Conaway; 10. (DNS) 5T-John Tweed

14th    17th   14th

“It was a solid day for our No. 21 iRacing Chevrolet. My first lap at Darlington Raceway was when they dropped the green flag today, so that was exciting to say the least. We used the first two Stages to try and find a balance on our Chevrolet and get me comfortable in the seat. We just battled tight handling conditions throughout the day, but I felt like we were better on the long runs. I would say it was a successful day to finish in the top 15 at Darlington Raceway with the challenges we faced. Thanks to my crew chief, Andy Street, and all the guys on my No. 21 iRacing Chevrolet team for all their hard work. It felt great to be back in the race car.” -Anthony Alfred

KCR Simulators announces title sponsorship for new five-week iRacing championship

 INDIANAPOLIS (May 21, 2020)- With real world racing still on pause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Formula 4 United States Championship Powered by Honda will take its first foray into online sim racing starting on Tuesday, May 26 at 6:30 p.m. Eastern.

Following the success of the FR Americas iRacing Invitational Championship, KCR Simulators maximized its partnership with SCCA Pro Racing to create the five-week KCR Simulators F4 U.S. Esports Championship.

KCR Simulators will work with drivers participating in the esports series to push the limits of their simulator development.

“I’m incredibly excited to be a part of the F4 U.S. Esports Championship,” said KCR Simulator CEO Kyle Connery. “I look forward to the information we will collect in making a better product for our customers. Just like the drivers, teams, and series we at KCR Simulators strive to always improve. Pushing the limits of simulator development to provide an accurate platform for drivers to hone their skills.”  

The KCR Simulators F4 U.S. Esports Championship drivers will tackle some of the championship’s favorite circuits from over the last five seasons, including Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Barber Motorsports Park, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course  with one bonus North American track picked by fans.

The format for each race will include a separate practice and qualifying session, followed by a 30-minute feature. The top-three drivers will be interviewed post-race in the winner’s circle. With only 33 available spots, current, former and future F4 U.S. drivers will qualify prior to each event to set the weekly entry list.

To keep in the spirit of F4, the drivers will compete virtually against one another in the identically prepared F3 international cars with additional weight and detuned power to simulate a more real-life F4 driving experience.

The championship winner will receive a huge prize from the reigning FR Americas team champions. In effort to show the single-seater progression, Global Racing Group will host the iRacing champion for a real-life test day in the Halo-equipped Ligier JS F3 car. The championship prize package also includes an Omologato watch, Bell Helmet Accessories and a Balaclava and 50 percent discount from Sabelt America.

KCR Simulators will also award the weekly hard charger with a private one-hour coaching session with three-time champion Dakota Dickerson.

The championship will be streamed weekly by Apex Racing TV starting at 6:30 p.m. Eastern live across the F4 U.S. YouTube channel and Facebook page and Apex Racing YouTube and Twitch channels with live commentary from John Fippin and Austin Knight.

Enter the Series- https://bit.ly/2TtqfBr

CORVETTE RACING CHASSIS HISTORY: 1999-2004Looking back at Corvette C5-R GT1 era

DETROIT (May 21, 2020) – Corvette Racing’s legacy in sports car racing dates back more than 20 years. The program’s decade of competition includes 107 race wins worldwide and multiple IMSA Manufacturer, Driver and Team championships since 1999. These accomplishments came in some of the most memorable and revered cars in all of road racing.  Today we offer this look back at the Corvette C5-R, Chevrolet’s first entry into modern factory racing. As the C5 did against its production-based competitors, the C5-R quickly established itself as a world-beater against some of the biggest names in endurance racing.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-001

First up in Corvette chassis history is the one that started it all – Corvette C5R-001. It placed second at Daytona in 2000 and third in 1999. Its first race was as No. 2 and not the familiar No. 3.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-002

Corvette chassis C5R-002 competed in six races and was third in class at Le Mans in 2000. Andy Pilgrim drove it in each of its six appearances.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-003

Corvette C5R-003 is possibly the most famous Corvette Racing chassis in history! It was the first race-winner (Texas 2000) and won the Rolex 24 overall in 2001. C5R-003 won 10 times in 17 races including Le Mans in 2001 and 2002. It also started a long-time partnership between Corvette legends Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-004

Three wins in 15 contests for Corvette C5R-004 including the ‘Pilgrim Pass’ at the 2000 Petit Le Mans with a repeat victory the next year. It gained worldwide notoriety when Dale Earnhardt and Dale Earnhardt Jr., drove it at the 2001 Rolex 24 At Daytona alongside Andy Pilgrim and Kelly Collins at the 2001 Rolex 24.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-005

Corvette C5R-005 was one of Corvette Racing’s most dominant cars. It won seven times in 11 races including Petit Le Mans in 2002 and the 2003 Sebring 12 Hours. It also helped program legend Ron Fellows to his first American Le Mans Series title in 2002. After life in North America, C5R-005 went on to race throughout Europe in privateer hands until 2008.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-006

Corvette C5R-006 took three wins in 11 races in the hands of Corvette Racing, including the program’s first at Road America in 2002. It went on to race in the hands of Pacific Coast Motorsports in the 2005 ALMS season with all three Corvettes finishing on the GT1 podium at Portland – a first for the brand.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-007

A Fun Fact: Corvette C5R-007 is the only Corvette chassis NOT to be fielded by Corvette Racing. It was built for Selleslagh Racing Team (SRT) in the Belgium Racing Car Championship (Belcar). It is by far the most ‘experienced’ C5-R chassis with 71 races throughout Europe but it never appeared at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. It did, however, compete at the 24 Hours of Spa on multiple occasions.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-008

Corvette C5R-008 had a relatively short career but it made results count: two wins in eight races. It also was the car Oliver Gavin drove for the majority of his first full season with the team. The No. 4 Corvette in IMSA, it also wore the No. 50 at Le Mans in 2003.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-009

Corvette C5R-009 had a similarly brief career as chassis 008. It claimed three wins in 10 races and started as No. 53 at Le Mans before continuing on as No. 3 in the American Le Mans Series. It carried Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell to a second straight ALMS GTS title in a tight battle over Prodrive.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-010

The 2004 season was the final one for the Corvette C5-R in factory hands. Chassis C5R-010 marked the beginning of the Oliver Gavin/Olivier Beretta/Jan Magnussen partnership that began in 2004. Its first victory was Le Mans in 2004 – the first of three in a row in France for the trio. Gavin and Beretta won three straight races late in the season including Petit Le Mans. This chassis went on to race extensively in Europe until October 2009.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-011

Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell closed out their Corvette C5-R run with four wins in chassis C5R-011. This car’s first race was a class victory at Sebring in 2004, and it won its final factory outing at Laguna Seca. Seven additional wins followed internationally including multiple wins in FIA GT competition.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C5R-012

A bonus item in our Corvette history project. Chassis C5R-012 served as the testing and development car for the C6.R generation. It tested on-track for the first time in 2003 with Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell handling most of the testing duties. Fellows also drove this on stage to debut the C6.R at the 2005 North American International Auto Show.

Broadcasts for the Opening Rounds of MotoAmerica’s 2020 Season are Scheduled for May 30th and 31st

Corona, Calif (May 21, 2020) – MAVTV, the only cable television network in the U.S. dedicated solely to motorsports, is thrilled to announce the return of LIVE racingbeginning with coverage of the opening rounds for MotoAmerica’s Supersport series from Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The LIVE broadcasts are scheduled to air at 3 pm ET on Saturday, May 30th and Sunday, May 31st. MAVTV’s LIVE broadcasts will feature one-hour programming of the rising stars competing in the hotly-contested Supersport class.  “MAVTV has a rich history with two-wheel racing and we are proud to offer America’s premier road racing series in our May broadcast schedule,” said John Duff, Head of Content, MAVTV Motorsports Network. “While racing without fans isn’t ideal, the ability to hold a live race is still a big win for the industry and its fans, and we’re excited to broadcast these live events to motorsports enthusiasts.”

May 21, 2020

Despite struggling to find the speed he hoped to have at Darlington Raceway, Matt DiBenedetto came away from two races in four days with two solid finishes, including his second top-10 finish of the season, a ninth-place effort in Wednesday night’s 500-kilometer race at the Lady in Black.

DiBenedetto and his No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang fired off fast in Wednesday’s race, the start of which was delayed by rain throughout the day.

He started seventh after the qualifying order was set through an inversion of the finishing order of Sunday’s Darlington race in which he finished 14^th.

He had driven up to fifth place, but made an early pit stop because he and the team were worried that there might be an issue with his car.

The decision to pit cost DiBenedetto and the team track position and caused them to use up one of the eight sets of tires each team was allotted for the race.

DiBenedetto restarted 27^th and passed 15 cars in just 10 laps.

“It was fun to fly through the field like that,” he said. “I was surprised how many cars I could just fly by.”

But as the track took on more rubber, the results weren’t as good.

“We were a lot better on the green track,” he said. “When the track rubbered up, we just weren’t where we needed to be.”

Still he was able to finish 10^th in the second 60-lap stage, earning one stage point.

As the laps wound down, DiBenedetto and his team, led by crew chief Greg Erwin and spotter Doug Campbell, used strategy to move into the top 10 when it counted.

Sensing rains would arrive before the race reached the advertised distance, the decision was made to leave DiBenedetto on the track when the caution flag flew with 32 laps remaining.

DiBenedetto moved up to second for the restart and was hanging on to ninth place when the race was called for rain 20 laps shy of the planned 228 laps.
 
“We gambled at the end and got lucky, but we’ll take it,” he said of his second top-10 finish of the season, the first a runner-up run at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the second race of the season. “All of the tracks except for Darlington we have had really good speed, so I know we will take a little luck from this one and moving forward we should be fast at a lot of places and be better at Charlotte.”
  
DiBenedetto and the team remain in ninth place in the Cup standings heading into this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
 

NASCAR CUP SERIESDARLINGTON RACEWAYTOYOTA 500TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTESMAY 20, 2020 
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER8th      JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE 12th    WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE 13th    TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE15th    KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE 16th    BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LETOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Denny Hamlin (Toyota)2nd     Kyle Busch (Toyota)3rd      Kevin Harvick (Ford)4th      Brad Keselowski (Ford)5th      Erik Jones (Toyota) The NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday, May 24, at 6:00 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 8th“It was a solid night for the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet. We had to start in the back because of the crash during the first race. Things were looking pretty good early, we were able to march up through there. But the competition caution, and just so many cautions honestly, affected our strategy and affected us being able to take advantage of our strong racecar and move forward. Finally, in the middle of the race, we got some longer runs in and were able to move forward. We were in a nice position and then we were caught a lap down when the caution came out when the 42 car spun from his flat tire. So, we had to start all over again. On that last restart, I think I was 14th and, fortunately, I was in the outside line, which was the place to be, and we worked our way up to 8th before the caution happened and the rain came.”“It was a good rebound from a few days before; I wish I could have that weekend back. I really felt like we had things going our way there and could have capitalized. But it’s nice to be back. Good finish in the top-10 and looking forward to going to Charlotte.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 12th“It was a solid night for us. We really just needed a decent result. We’ve had a tough stretch of races with a multitude of things go bad that were really out of our control. Today was good just to be able to put together a solid result. Obviously having to start in the back was a detriment with a short race and short runs. Our pit stall was difficult too, having to go around the No.14 who ran really well all night and the No.42 was in front of us. So, we had a tough time on pit road there. Overall, it was solid and we got some stage points in Stage Two. We got trapped a lap down in that green-flag sequence which was tough. We rallied though and finished 12th. We’ll take it. Definitely not where we want to be but at least we could put a number up there and go into Charlotte.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 13th “Man, we had to fight hard for that finish, and I’m proud of my No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet team for sticking together tonight. We weren’t exactly where we needed to be to fire off tonight and just missed the handling a little bit for the first half of the race. I kept bouncing from being too tight to too loose, but mostly too tight. It honestly felt different every lap we ran, which made it tough to decide which way to keep adjusting. I made a slight rookie mistake at one point and got some damage after a brush with the wall, but my team helped get back after it. I have to hand it all my guys. They kept after it and worked really hard to make the changes we needed to pick our way back through the field. We were in a good spot for that final restart in the 11^th position, but restarting on the bottom is tough here and we slipped back a couple spots to 13^th. That’s just a product of the restarts here. The top lane is so good that it’s almost impossible to stop that momentum. We’ll take it though and move on to the Coke 600. We’re going twice the distance there, more than I’ve ever gone in a race, so minimizing mistakes will be key, but I’m looking forward to the challenge.” KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 15th“What a tough race. Seems like nothing went our way tonight. The handling was all over the map with our Monster Energy Camaro. After finishing third on Sunday, it is tough to understand how we had such a difficult time finding the handle on the car. The guys had to make a ton of adjustments on pit road, so it was hard to make up any ground on pit stops. We will have to go back and dissect that one and figure out what we had. Ready to move on to Charlotte this weekend.” BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 16th “It was an interesting night at Darlington Raceway for the round two race. Position 16 – I’m excited about the finish and I’m bummed about the finish for two reasons. I wish we would have restarted, I know with the weather, but I also wish that caution wouldn’t have come out because we had a big run off of turn four. So, I believe we would have finished a couple of spots better, especially with another restart and starting on the top. I was excited about that. But, all-in-all, it was a great day for our No. 43 Victory Junction Chevrolet team. We pulled some strategy there, led some laps, and got a career-best finish at Darlington Raceway. So, we got a lot of positives that came out of it. I’ve already talked to Jerry (Baxter) on the way home. I’m proud of him and the guys for the efforts they put in. We’ll jump on calls in the morning on how to be better; the grind never stops. The Coca-Cola 600 is up next, I’m excited about that one. It’s a home race for us and we’ve always had speed there. We’ll build off this and continue on.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM NOCO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 18th “Not the day we wanted. At least not the finish we wanted. Just didn’t go our way there at the end. Definitely some differences from Sunday to now. We struggled to get the balance where we needed to get it with the car. It was much better through the bumps. Bummed out about that, but we will move on to Charlotte and be strong there.” TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 19th“My GEICO guys are awesome. They build and prepare solid Chevrolet Camaros each and every week, which gives me the confidence to dive it into turn one like I did at the beginning of the race without any practice laps. For four years now, I’ve trusted them and it just builds confidence as a driver. I appreciate all the hard work everyone at Germain Racing is putting in, especially with racing so close together right now. A pair of 19th-place finishes isn’t a bad way to get this thing restarted and it was so cool to lead laps early, especially in the GEICO Hump Day car.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW / KEEP AMERICA BEAUTIFUL CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 20th“Long race tonight, not what we wanted. We thought at the beginning we were going to be OK getting the car freed up, but just never could. It was just really tight; we just missed it pretty bad with the weather change. The cool weather, the rain, the temperatures dropping – it didn’t play into our hands. We wanted a little more heat. It just wasn’t a good night for the No. 3 team, but we’re looking forward to the Coca-Cola 600. We know we can find some speed there and I think it will be a good one for us. Thank you for tuning in, all the people out there. It’s been fun. We’ll see you Sunday, another quick turnaround!” MATT KENSETH, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 30th “It was an up and down day today. It ended on a down note, unfortunately. We had some good runs and some bad runs. I made a couple mistakes. I had a good run going and just scraped the wall a little bit off of turn two. We ran another ten laps; we didn’t really think we had any damage. We came in and got new tires, got a tire rub and cut a right rear down. So, it got us a couple of laps down and pretty much ended our night. It was a disappointing finish to the day, for sure. But I felt like we learned a lot the last five days or so, and I’m ready to give it another shot at Charlotte!” ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF FOR THE NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE YOU HAD A GOOD OPPORTUNITY TO LISTEN TO KYLE BUSCH’S EXPLANATION OF WHAT HAPPENED. DOES THAT CALM THE WATERS SOMEWHAT?“No; I mean ultimately he (Kyle Busch) made a mistake and I get it. I don’t think he intentionally wrecked us, but you just get tired of coming out on the wrong end of those deals too often. I certainly feel like we were in position to win that race. Denny (Hamlin) was in trouble on old tires and we were going to clear Kyle. You get tired of getting ran over like that. His explanation I’m sure is accurate, but it doesn’t change it. All these guys work their tails off on this NAPA Chevy and they deserve to win a race.”

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Dow Keep America Beautiful Chevrolet Team Fight Hard Through Handling Challenges at Darlington Raceway

“Wednesday night NASCAR Cup Series racing – how great is that for our industry to pull together and make that work. I hope all of the fans enjoyed tuning in. I know a lot went into it. We started off the race with a tight-handling Dow Keep America Beautiful Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 and that proved to be our challenge all race long. Handling issues plagued us in Stages 1, 2 and 3. I thought for sure that we were going to be able to get our Chevy freed up, but we never could. It wasn’t for lack of effort. The team never gave up and made adjustments all race long. That’s just the way it goes sometimes.The weather was much different than it was last Sunday. Cooler weather, rain and temperatures dropping didn’t play into our hands. We wanted a little more heat in the track. Even though it turned into a long race and we didn’t get the finish we were hoping for, I know we have it in us. I think we can find some speed heading into Charlotte Motor Speedway and the Coca-Cola 600 on Sunday. It feels good to be back racing and I want to thank everyone at Dow, Keep America Beautiful and all of the fans who tuned in.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Team Battle Through Tough-Handling Conditions for 13th-Place Finish at Darlington Raceway

“Man, we had to fight hard for that finish, and I’m proud of my No. 8 Caterpillar team for sticking together tonight. We weren’t exactly where we needed to be to fire off  and missed the handling a little bit for the first half of the race. I kept bouncing from being too tight to too loose, but mostly too tight. It honestly felt different every lap we ran, which made it tough to decide which way to keep adjusting. I made a slight rookie mistake at one point and got some damage after a brush with the wall, but my team helped get back after it. I have to hand it all my guys. They kept after it and worked really hard to make the changes we needed to pick our way back through the field. We were in a good spot for that final restart in the 11th position, but restarting on the bottom is tough here and we slipped back a couple spots to 13th. That’s just a product of the restarts here. The top lane is so good that it’s almost impossible to stop that momentum. We’ll take it though and move on to the Coca-Cola 600. We’re going twice the distance there, more than I’ve ever gone in a race, so minimizing mistakes will be key. I’m looking forward to the challenge.” -Tyler Reddick

WAYNESVILLE, GA (May 20, 2020) – Kyle Bronson took advantage of some late race misfortune on lap 30 and went on to lead the final ten laps on Wednesday Night at Golden Isles Speedway. The win marks his fourth career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory.Bronson was running third when leader Devin Moran broke in turn four and made contact with second-place running Josh Richards. Richards’ car sustained a flat right front tire which forced him to the hot pit for a tire change. Moran went to the pits as his night was done.Bronson then pulled away from second-place running Tyler Erb to pick-up his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season and become the seventh different driver to win in ten events for 2020. Bronson’s winning margin over Erb was 1.939 seconds. Tuesday’s race winner at Golden Isles, Jimmy Owens, saw his streak of wins end with a third-place finish. Shane Clanton came home in fourth and the hard charger of the race, Tim McCreadie was fifth.The 29-year-old Florida racer started 11th in a stout field of entrants. “It was kind of tough out there tonight. I hate what happened when Moran broke and Josh got into him. It was one of those days when we had a pretty good car, and everything fell our way. I felt like we lost a bunch of races during Speedweeks in February when we had really good cars and things didn’t go our way and I felt like today everything just fell in place.”Tyler Erb’s runner-up finish moved him to third in the championship points standings behind leader Brandon Sheppard and Tim McCreadie. “It was tough out there. The top was so fast at the beginning. I made up some time on the bottom. All those guys were just flirting with disaster on that top and Kyle is really good at running the top. Once he got ahead of me on that last restart I knew I was in trouble. You have to get those guys on the restart. We are just really happy to finish second tonight.”Entering the race night Owens had won six out of his last seven starts overall and came home third behind Bronson and Erb. “I am pretty happy with third tonight. We tried some stuff to make the car a little better and I think we made it worse. With all of that rainwater on it, it never got slick. It was probably faster tonight than it has been since we got here. We just missed it. We expected it to be a lot slicker than it was. It was just hammer down all night long.”The winner’s Rocket Chassis is powered by a Durham Racing Engine and sponsored by Brandon Ford, Brandon Collision, Lucas Oil Products, Borchers Equipment, Race Car Engineering, Earnhardt Technologies, VP Fuels, Hoosier Tires, and Swift Springs.Completing the top ten were Steven Roberts, Jonathan Davenport, Mason Zeigler, Brandon Sheppard and Rick Eckert.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
Optima Batteries Golden Isles Nationals – presented by Bilstein
Wednesday, May 20th, 2020
Golden Isles Speedway – Waynesville, GA

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Jonathan Davenport / 15.158 seconds 
Fast Time Group B: Devin Moran / 15.020 seconds (overall)

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer):  1. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 3. 111B-Max Blair[3]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[5]; 6. 39-Tim McCreadie[8]; 7. 2S-Stormy Scott[7]; 8. KB0-Kerry King[9]; 9. 1B-Ross Bailes[6]; 10. (DNS) 89-GR Smith

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer):  1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[6]; 5. 0E-Rick Eckert[5]; 6. 6S-Blake Spencer[8]; 7. 25DC-Donnie Chappell[7]; 8. 0R-Ryan Scott[9]; 9. 22F-Chris Ferguson[2]; 10. (DNS) 8B-Mike Benedum

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[3]; 3. 50-Shanon Buckingham[5]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[4]; 5. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 6. 72-Michael Norris[6]; 7. 71-Hudson O’Neal[7]; 8. 5T-John Tweed[8]; 9. 311-Ken Monahan[9]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 2. 111-Steven Roberts[2]; 3. 5B-John Baker[3]; 4. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[5]; 6. 2W-Pearson Williams[4]; 7. 1G-Ryan King[10]; 8. 7F-Jason Fitzgerald[8]; 9. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 10. F15-Jeremy Conaway[9]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 0E-Rick Eckert[2]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[1]; 4. 25DC-Donnie Chappell[6]; 5. 6S-Blake Spencer[4]; 6. KB0-Kerry King[7]; 7. 89-GR Smith[11]; 8. 22F-Chris Ferguson[10]; 9. 0R-Ryan Scott[8]; 10. (DNS) 2S-Stormy Scott; 11. (DNS) 1B-Ross Bailes; 12. (DNS) 8B-Mike Benedum

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[2]; 3. 72-Michael Norris[3]; 4. 71-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 5. 2W-Pearson Williams[4]; 6. F15-Jeremy Conaway[11]; 7. 1G-Ryan King[6]; 8. 5T-John Tweed[7]; 9. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[10]; 10. 311-Ken Monahan[9]; 11. (DNS) 7F-Jason Fitzgerald

Inside Line Promotions – MILTON, Fla. (May 20, 2020) – Giovanni Scelzi has been busy during the last couple of weeks.

Scelzi earned a pair of top-five finishes in a family owned sprint car while racing in three different states. His return to racing began on May 8 at Knoxville Raceway in Knoxville, Iowa, where a mechanical problem ended the night early during the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series event.

“Going into a tough race like that with 48 of the top drivers you need to be nearly flawless and we struggled for balance the whole night,” he said. “It’s hard when you only get about two laps in hot laps to figure your stuff out and then you go into qualifying, which can make or break your night. We made progress throughout the night and I felt like we had a shot to make the show, but mechanical issues hurt us. That was not an easy race to make the show and we were in contention so that’s a positive.”

Four days later Scelzi ventured to West Texas Raceway in Lubbock, Texas, to tackle the West Texas Crude Nationals. He qualified fourth quickest in his group and won a heat race to lock into a dash. A runner-up result in the dash lined Scelzi up on the inside of the second row for the A Main.

“We were just a bit off,” he said. “Plus, it’s a weird track surface so that made it tricky. It took rubber in qualifying so it made it tough to figure out what we needed to do. Luckily we got the fourth spot for the heat race inversion so we started the heat up front. Track position was the biggest thing all night and we were able to capitalize on good starting positions in the heat race, dash and main event.”

Scelzi placed fifth in the feature to record his fourth top five of the season. The event finale rained out on Wednesday.

The team then hustled to Florida for a USCS Series doubleheader at Southern Raceway last weekend. Scelzi maneuvered from third to second place in a heat race on Friday before picking up a position in the main event to place eighth.

The weekend concluded with a better result on Saturday. Scelzi’s charge from seventh to win a heat race garnered the pole position for the A Main.

“We made some changes after Friday and it was in the right direction for Saturday’s program,” he said. “It’s a sandy track and different surface. In the feature Mark Smith got the lead right away. I slid him once, but he got back by me. There was a point where if I could get ahead maybe I could have held him off. The first 10-to-15 laps before it took rubber the track was dusty and I felt better, but we kept having yellows. Once the track cleaned off Mark was able to pull away a bit and we finished second.”

The traveling continues this weekend as Scelzi plans to head to Tucson Speedway in Tucson, Ariz., for a pavement late model doubleheader with Nascimento Racing. There will be a practice session Friday prior to racing on Saturday and Sunday.

“Going to a new track and not knowing what to expect, especially after all the COVID-19 stuff going on, it will be a challenge,” he said. “However, I tested with them once and it went well so hopefully we’ll have a solid weekend.”

May 20, 2020 | Featured, Megan Meyer, Pre-Race Releases, Rachel Meyer

Megan and Rachel Meyer will be competing under the Randy Meyer Racing camp at this weekend’s Lone Star Nationals in Dallas, TX for the re-opening of NHRA drag racing during COVID-19. This is the first event of the NHRA during the pandemic since the middle of March.

The Meyer sisters placed first and second at this event last year where Megan inched her way across the finish line first for her first win of 2019, which set the foundation for her points lead to ultimately become the Word Champion in the Top Alcohol Dragster class in her NGK Spark Plugs dragster.

“Our two-month break since our last race in March has been nice to catch up on to-do lists at home, but we are more than ready to get back to doing what we love as a family,” said Megan. “Everyone is looking forward to how this event pans out, especially since the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series is partnering with the Midwest Pro Mod Series to host the race. We have a stacked field this year with a lot of out of town competition is coming to play since this is the only drag race that is on schedule for now. I’m looking forward to getting in some track time to defend my championship, and gain points to secure a spot in the Jegs Allstars event later on this year.”

According to NHRA.com, this race will decide the final entrants for the annual JEGS Allstars competition, where two drivers from each of the two classes will qualify for the Allstars event. Rachel and Megan are battling one another for the top spot in the Central Region’s Top Alcohol Dragster field and to stay ahead of Dean Dubbin. The sisters were teammates for the Central Region team last year as well, and Rachel made it to the final rounds of the 2019 Allstars after defeating Megan in the semi-finals.

The Randy Meyer Racing Team will make a few test runs with both nitro-injected dragsters on Thursday and Friday, followed by qualifying on Friday and will have eliminations on Saturday.

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCETOYOTA 500DARLINGTON RACEWAYDARLINGTON, SOUTH CAROLINAMAY 20, 2020
2020 NASCAR CUP SERIES CONTINUES WITH RACE #6:The NASCAR Cup Series will make a return visit to Darlington Raceway for the circuit’s next event, the Toyota 500, on Wednesday evening, May 20th at 6:00 p.m. ET. Following the sport’s successful return to active competition at the track nicknamed “Too Tough to Tame’ just three days ago, NASCAR continues with its revised schedule of five Cup races in a 14-day span. BOWTIE BULLETS:·       Chevrolet leads all other manufacturers with 41 all-time wins in NASCAR’s premier division at Darlington Raceway.
·       Jimmie Johnson, who pilots the No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, tops the win list for active drivers with three NCS wins at Darlington Raceway (2012, and the sweep in ‘04). ·       The youngest Darlington Raceway pole winner to-date is set by Hendrick Motorsports driver William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE, who captured the pole for the 2019 Southern 500 (21 years, 9 months, 3 days). TEAM CHEVY MOMENTUM:With a solid return to action following a two-month pause in the midst of the Coronavirus pandemic, the Bowtie Brigade has momentum on its side. In Sunday’s race, Alex Bowman, No. 88 ChevyGoods.comNOCO Camaro ZL1 1LE, spent 204 laps in the top-two positions, earning an average running position of 2.8, to capture a solid runner-up finish. Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, and Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE, were right behind in third and fourth, making it three Chevrolet’s in the top-four. Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Caterpillar Camaro ZL1 1LE scored a career-best Cup Series result with a seventh-place finish. In his return to full-time racing, Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE, posted a solid tenth place in the order to give Team Chevy five of the top-ten overall. A PAIR OF CAMARO ZL1 1LE’S ON THE FRONT ROW:Without qualifying or practice, the starting lineup for Wednesday’s race has been determined by the finishing order of the Real Heroes 400 event. The top-20 finishers from Sunday’s race will be inverted, which puts Ryan Preece, No. 37 Tide Power Pods Camaro ZL1 1LE, on the pole.  Ty Dillon, sporting a special ‘Hump Day’ paint scheme, will start on the outside front row in his No. 13 GEICO Camaro ZL1 1LE, making it a Chevrolet front row to lead the field to the green in the mid-week event.  The starting order for the remainder of the 39-car field will mirror the finishing positions of the May 17th race. TUNE-IN:In compliance with the pandemic guidelines, the Toyota 500 will run without spectators, but you can view the live competition on Wednesday, May 20th, at 6:00 p.m. ET on FS1. Live coverage of the 228-lap, 311-mile race can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. QUOTABLE QUOTES:ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM / NOCO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 2nd IN STANDINGS“Everybody at HMS does a really good job of getting all our cars extremely close. I think we can take what we ran (Sunday) and have a pretty good idea of some adjustments we couldn’t do on pit road but I felt like would really help what I needed in the racecar there to be a little better on long runs and help me in some areas. I’m really looking forward to it. I think we have a good game plan for it. Our cars are really strong right now.” CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 4th IN STANDINGS“I’m looking forward to Wednesday. I am excited to keep this trend going. I think it’s super fun showing up and racing. It adds an element of excitement for me that I haven’t had in a while so I thought that was really cool. I am looking forward to getting back and going back over there and racing Wednesday night under the lights. Such a cool race track to race at in general, but I think the night time brings another element that’s going to be really cool, always has been in the past for me. We will see how it goes Wednesday and hopefully we can finish a few spots better. Hopefully just try and improve on Sunday.” KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 13th IN STANDINGS“As far as heading back to Darlington, three days after a race. This is that that moment that we always have in team meetings, where we ask one another. “if we were going to go back there tomorrow, what would we change?” Now it’s time to put our money where our mouth is and make the changes and capitalize, with these two events being so close to one another. It is similar to the All-Star Race and then going back to run the 600 at Charlotte. Only this is even closer in comparison, because of the stage lengths and the approach to the race. Also, with our starting positions, we pulled the random draw to start 22nd for the first Darlington race and then with the invert, following the third-place finish, will be starting 18th in this second race. Both of our races are very similar, the stages and the set-ups are pretty close. We could go along with no yellows in between stage one and stage two, but we’ll see how it pans out. This is definitely one of those moments where it’s like “boom” make quick changes and head straight back to the track and go for the win!” BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 19th IN STANDINGS“Returning to the Darlington Raceway for race number two – I feel more confident going into this one. Having the first race under our belt, and figuring-out what we need to be better. Our Richard Petty Motorsports team had a good debrief to get our Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE better as a whole. We have a good balance read and balance update, so we have some ideas of what we could do to be more competitive. Darlington Raceway, no matter how many times you run on it you will still show-up and be intimidated by the track. I’m looking forward to the challenge when we get down there Wednesday.” JERRY BAXTER, CREW CHIEF OF THE NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE“We’ve got the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Victory Junction Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE just about ready to go for the second race at the Darlington Raceway. We learned a lot down there, last weekend, and we made quite a few changes on the current car. We’ll go down there and fight the rain for a little while, and we’ll see how we can do.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 21st IN STANDINGS“I’m looking forward to going back to the same race track in the same week. I think it’s a unique situation that we don’t normally get, for us to be able to go back to a track for a second time and so soon. I’m excited to see what we can carry over from our speed that we showed in our Axalta Chevy on Sunday. I think it’s going to be difficult from where we’re starting the race, but I’m looking forward to moving through the field and hopefully getting back up towards the front again.” RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 23rd IN STANDINGS“Well, hopefully we’ve got that bad luck in the rearview mirror now. Yesterday’s race obviously didn’t go how we had hoped or planned, but the only thing to do now is to keep moving forward. We’ve got a little bit of a challenge ahead of us since we didn’t get any track time on Sunday, but everyone at the shop has worked really hard to get our cars ready and prepped for us to race. Our teammate had solid speed, so we can learn a little bit off of what he was feeling in the car on Sunday and take those notes to apply to our car on Wednesday. Wednesday’s race will be at night, which will affect the setups from Sunday and is a little bit more of what we’re accustomed to racing at Darlington Raceway. We have speed on our intermediate track program on this No. 47 Kroger Camaro ZL1 1LE and I’m ready to makeup what we lost on Sunday when we get back to Darlington.” RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 TIDE POWER PODS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 30th IN STANDINGS“I was pretty happy with how our race went on Sunday at Darlington Raceway. We definitely had speed in our No. 37 Chevrolet, and earning stage points was huge as we continue to turn our season around from a rough start. Racing on Sunday was really good to build notes for Wednesday night’s race. While the track conditions will be opposite racing at night than it was during the day, we definitely have a lot of things we learned that we can apply. We were really good in Turns 1 and 2, but just needed a little bit more front turn in Turns 3 and 4. Starting on the pole for the shortened race on Wednesday night will be really important for track position. I’m proud of everyone at the shop and on the road crew for adapting to this new normal and giving us a car we can continue to build on, and put on another great race on Wednesday night in our No. 37 Tide Power Pods Camaro ZL1 1LE.” MATT KENSETH, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 34th IN STANDINGS“I had a lot of fun in the car on Sunday and enjoyed getting to work with all the guys for the first time, and we ended with a great finish. It was a really good way for us to start, and I hope to just improve a little bit on everything we did during Sunday’s race. It was a quick turnaround to get ready to get back on track and the conditions will be a bit different for this race, but the CGR Chevy’s run really well at Darlington, so I’m looking forward to another good race and another chance for us to work together as a team.” 

WAYNESVILLE, GA (May 19, 2020) – Jimmy Owens picked up his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of 2020 on Tuesday Night at Golden Isles Speedway. The series returned to the race track for the first time since the Georgia-Florida Speedweeks back in February, 100 days ago. The 40-lap main event had three different race leaders, Owens, Brandon Overton, and Josh Richards. Owens took the lead from Brandon Overton on lap 32 and then pulled away for his 65th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win. Mason Zeigler got by Overton on the final lap to finish second. Overton was third followed by Josh Richards and Devin Moran. Overton was looking for a clean sweep of the night after setting the overall fast time amongst the 43 entrants on hand, then ran away to a heat race win, earning the outside front-row starting position alongside Richards in the process. Overton led the pack for the first eight laps of the race until Richards took the lead on lap 9. A lap later Overton regained the top spot. One of the cars on the move was Tim McCreadie.  McCreadie, who won the first race of the season at Golden Isles back in February, climbed to second after a terrific side-by-side battle with Richards for several laps.  McCreadie finally cleared Richards by lap 23 and had his sights set on race leader, Overton. As McCreadie was battling 3-wide in traffic for the lead, he and a lap-car got together, with McCreadie suffering a cut right-rear tire, forcing the caution and him into the pits to change the tire. When the race resumed Overton still held the point in the Wells Motorsports/Longhorn.  Owens began his assault on the leaders and started to flex his muscles. He quickly moved to second around Richards on lap 28 and then with 9 laps remaining he was able to take the lead from Overton. Overton fought back as the two drivers went door-to-door for the race lead. Owens was finally able to shake Overton and go on to become the sixth different winner in the nine events contested so far in 2020. In his last seven starts overall this season Owens has won six of those races. The 48-year-old Tennessee native and 3-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion continued his recent hot streak of victories as he recorded his fourth career win at Golden Isles. “The car was a little bit freer than I wanted it to be. It had a push, so I had to rotate it a lot through the center of the turns a lot more than I wanted to. We made a couple of changes right before the feature and I felt like it really messed us up, but the car is still really, really good right now.” Zeigler picked up one of the most exciting wins back in February at East Bay, and tonight came from 9th to pick up the runner-up spot in the JLE Industries/Rocket. “I really needed the top on that restart.  Those two guys [Owens and Overton], went to slide them both, but they both went to the middle. Rubbing is racing sometimes. The car was good, I wish we could have started closer to the front and we are aiming for that tomorrow.” Overton led the most laps during the race and held on for third in the end. “In the middle of the race I got into a lapped car and it never drove the same after that, it got really, really tight. All-in-all it has been so good all night and I didn’t want to touch much. These guys are the best in the business, Jimmy’s been really hot so congratulations to him.” The winner’s Ramirez Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Vic Hill Racing Engine and is sponsored by Reece Monument Company, Tommy Pope Construction, Boomtest Well Service, General Tire, Ohlins, Champion, FK Rod Ends, Hypercoil Springs, and Red Line Oil. Completing the top ten were Shane Clanton, Tyler Erb, Rick Eckert, Kyle Bronson, and Tanner English.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
Optima Batteries Golden Isles Nationals – presented by Bilstein
Tuesday, May 19th, 2020
Golden Isles Speedway – Waynesville, GA
Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Josh Richards / 15.006 seconds 
Fast Time Group B: Brandon Overton / 14.779 seconds (overall)

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer):  1. 14-Josh Richards[1]; 2. 111B-Max Blair[2]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[3]; 4. 0E-Rick Eckert[5]; 5. 22F-Chris Ferguson[4]; 6. 5W-Mark Whitener[7]; 7. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 8. 1B-Ross Bailes[6]; 9. 1V-Vic Hill[9]; 10. 00-Russell Brown Jr[11]; 11. 8-Mike Benedum[10]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer):  1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[5]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 6. 50-Shanon Buckingham[4]; 7. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[9]; 8. 6S-Blake Spencer[10]; 9. 2W-Pearson Williams[7]; 10. 0R-Ryan Scott[11]; 11. 89-GR Smith[8]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 4. 111-Steven Roberts[3]; 5. 49-Jonathan Davenport[5]; 6. 72-Michael Norris[6]; 7. 1G-Ryan King[7]; 8. KB0-Kerry King[8]; 9. F15-Jeremy Conaway[9]; 10. (DNS) 71-Hudson O’Neal; 11. (DNS) 91S-Blake Naylor

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 3. 7F-Jason Fitzgerald[5]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[7]; 5. 25DC-Donnie Chappell[4]; 6. 311-Ken Monahan[9]; 7. 14B-John Baker[10]; 8. 5T-John Tweed[8]; 9. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 10. (DNF) 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 5W-Mark Whitener[3]; 2. 22F-Chris Ferguson[1]; 3. 50-Shanon Buckingham[4]; 4. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[5]; 5. 1B-Ross Bailes[7]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 7. 28E-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 8. 00-Russell Brown Jr[11]; 9. 0R-Ryan Scott[12]; 10. (DNS) 6S-Blake Spencer; 11. (DNS) 1V-Vic Hill; 12. (DNS) 2W-Pearson Williams; 13. (DNS) 8-Mike Benedum; 14. (DNS) 89-GR Smith

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 72-Michael Norris[3]; 3. 1G-Ryan King[5]; 4. 14B-John Baker[6]; 5. F15-Jeremy Conaway[9]; 6. 91S-Blake Naylor[13]; 7. 311-Ken Monahan[4]; 8. 2S-Stormy Scott[10]; 9. KB0-Kerry King[7]; 10. 71-Hudson O’Neal[11]; 11. (DNS) 5T-John Tweed; 12. (DNS) 25DC-Donnie Chappell; 13. (DNS) 40B-Kyle Bronson

EPPING, N.H. (May 19) — NHRA officials have announced a second JEGS SPORTSnationals event on the weekend of Aug. 21-22 at New England Dragway. The new race will bring national-event level drag racing to the historic Northeast locale, which lost this year’s regularly scheduled NHRA main event due to the COVID-19 pandemic. “We are thrilled to team with our longtime friends at JEGS to present this event,” said Josh Peterson, NHRA Vice President-Racing Administration. “Sportsman racers are truly the backbone of our sport and the opportunity to give them another place to shine this season and the chance to do it with our partners at New England Dragway is a tremendous opportunity. The SPORTSnationals has been a rich tradition in NHRA for more than 40 years and we’re proud to help add to that history.”   Dating back to the mid-1970s, SPORTSnationals events feature high-level drag racing in eight of NHRA’s Lucas Oil Series categories. Drivers in Competition Eliminator, Stock Eliminator, Super Stock, Super Comp, Super Gas, Super Street, Top Sportsman and Top Dragster will collect national-level points while carving out a share of more than $100,000 in prize money. “We are thrilled to add a second JEGS SPORTSnationals event to the 2020 schedule,” said Scott Woodruff, director of media and motorsports at JEGS Automotive, Inc. “Having a chance to fill this need for our Division 1 friends and all of the great New England fans is a real honor for all of us at JEGS.    “It was a bummer when NHRA was forced to trim a few races off the national schedule because of COVID-19, so when the group at NHRA called and asked if we could help do something special, we were happy to put this together for everyone.” It’s not unprecedented for there to be more than one JEGS SPORTSnationals events held in a single year. In fact, there have been as many as three in one season. This year’s other JEGS SPORTSnationals will take place during JEGS Speedweek on July 16-19, merging with the season-opening Division 3 race at National Trail Raceway in Hebron, Ohio, just outside of Columbus.

May 19, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team head back to Darlington Raceway Wednesday night for an encore performance with the Lady In Black.

 DiBenedetto finished 14^th in this past Sunday’s The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington, which marked NASCAR’s return to racing after a 10-week hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic.

With that race in the books, DiBenedetto and the team are working to find more speed for Wednesday’s 500-kilometer race, a rare midweek prime-time TV appearance for the sport. Once again, there will be no fans in the grandstands due to the threat of spreading COVID-19.

DiBenedetto, who will be making his sixth career Cup start at the iconic South Carolina track, said he plans to review the broadcast of Sunday’s race, taped for him by his wife Taylor, to see what can be learned from it.

 “I’ll watch the other guys and see what I can pick up as far as how to improve,” he said, adding that he expects crew chief Greg Erwin to make adjustments as well to the Mustang they’ll race on Wednesday. “We’ve got a little catching up to do, but we can do it.”

Wednesday’s race will be the 95th Cup appearance at Darlington for the Wood Brothers, who first competed there in the 1961 Rebel 300 with the legendary Curtis Turner, a close friend of the Woods, at the wheel of the No. 21.

 Modern era fans point to the spring race at Darlington in 2003, where Ricky Craven edged Kurt Busch for the win in a door-slamming battle to the checkered flag, as the best-ever finish at Darlington. But for fans of an earlier era, the ’61 Rebel 300 was the gold standard for great Darlington finishes.

Here’s how author and historian Greg Fielden described the late-race battle between the veteran Turner and the youngster Fred Lorenzen in his book, Forty Years of Stock Car Racing: “Fair-haired Fred Lorenzen and old pro Curtis Turner literally fought each other with fists of steel in Darlington Raceway’s fifth-annual Rebel 300 in a death-defying slugfest which decided perhaps the most exciting stock car race of all time.”

Fielden reported that the two “slapped considerable sheet metal” before Lorenzen finally took the lead with two laps remaining, leaving a frustrated Turner to finish second. 

Turner expressed his sentiments to reporters after the race, saying: “If I could have caught [Lorenzen] before he got the checkered flag, I guarantee you he never would have finished the race.”

It was the first of seven runner-up finishes at Darlington for the Woods, who have eight victories there. Six of those victories were with David Pearson driving. Cale Yarborough and Neil Bonnett scored the other two.

In Wednesday’s race, DiBenedetto and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team will show that not all heroes drive race cars.

The team will honor Loretta Burton as a Star of Life.

Burton, a paramedic from Youngstown, Ohio, will be recognized for her actions that saved the life of a cardiac arrest patient in April of 2019. 

On that day, she and her EMT partner were called to a dental clinic parking lot where they found an 81-year-old male in cardiac arrest. With the help of her partner, Burton began CPR and then continued ALS care on her own.

She was able to establish a return of spontaneous circulation, and the patient was transported to the emergency department of a local hospital. The patient was released a few days later with no neuro deficits or cardiac damage. 

This save was a direct result of Burton’s dedication to the patients she serves. That dedication perhaps was demonstrated best when she was the medic on the scene of a car accident involving the man who had earlier tried to shoot her policeman husband. She treated this patient with respect, and he received the best of care.  

Burton has been in EMS for 18 years. She began her career as an EMT and continued her education to become a paramedic. She attained the rank of supervisor but reduced her hours to part-time to care for her five children.

Wednesday’s 228-lap race is set to get the green flag just after 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time with TV coverage on FOX Sports One.

BATAVIA, OH (May 18, 2020) – The Lucas Oil Reopening Tour for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series kicks off this week with the Optima Batteries Golden Isles Nationals – Presented by Bilstein. Three single day shows – paying $7,000 each to-win will be contested at Golden Isles Speedway in Waynesville, GA on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday May 19th, 20th, and 21st. All three events will be full series points races, including Time Trials, Heat Races, B-Mains and a 40-Lap A-Main Feature Event each night. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, these events will be fan-less.  Following the three nights of racing in Georgia, the Lucas Oil Reopening Tour will travel to East Bay Raceway Park in Tampa, FL for the GEICO East Bay Nationals – Presented by Brandon Ford on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday May 25th through the 27th. Three single day shows – each paying $7,000 to-win will be contested at East Bay Raceway Park, including Time Trials, Heat Races, B-Mains, and a 40-Lap A-Main Feature Event. All three events will be full-point paying races for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, these events will be fan-less.  Thanks to Lucas Oil Products, Lucas Oil Production Studios, LucasOilRacing.TV, and the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, fans will still have the opportunity to watch all three events LIVE from Golden Isles Speedway and East Bay Raceway Park from wherever they are located around the world. The adrenaline-pumping Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be broadcast LIVE on LucasOilRacing.TV for monthly and yearly subscribers and LIVE on the Series Facebook page (www.facebook.com/lucasdirt/) for FREE at 7:30PM ET/6:30PM CT each night. All six nights of racing on the Lucas Oil Reopening Tour will be taped for broadcast on the MAVTV Motorsports Network – airing later this year. “We want to thank all of our partners who are making it possible to reopen the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series during the COVID-19 Pandemic. We especially would like to thank Optima Batteries, GEICO, Brandon Ford, and Bilstein for their sponsorship of the TV broadcasts, making it possible to show all the action live to the fans – from all six events of the Lucas Oil Reopening Tour. Lucas Oil’s love for the sport, race teams, fans, and all our partners, couldn’t be more evident at this moment. We encourage everyone to tune in to the LIVE broadcasts and get ready for some thrilling racing action,” stated Wayne Castleberry, Corporate Motorsports Sales and Marketing for Lucas Oil Motorsports. The Lucas Oil Reopening Tour will also have additional bonus money up for grabs, courtesy of Riggs Drilling Solutions and Sunoco Race Fuels. The driver that earns the most points in these six events will receive a $5,000 cash award after the final event at East Bay Raceway Park, compliments of Riggs Drilling Solutions. The Sunoco Road to East Bay program will award racers with perfect attendance in 2020 through the May 27th event at East Bay Raceway Park, an additional $1,500 cash bonus, compliments of Sunoco Race Fuels. Any companies or individuals that would like to contribute to this bonus/point fund program for the Lucas Oil Reopening Tour can contact Wayne Castleberry directly at his email at: wcastleberry@lucasoil.com or by phone at: 951-741-8679. The more contributions we receive, the more spots the point fund will pay back to the drivers that compete in the Lucas Oil Reopening Tour.

NASCAR CUP SERIESDARLINGTON RACEWAYTHE REAL HEROES 400TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTMAY 18, 2020 
MATT KENSETH, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference to discuss his Top-10 finish in The Real Heroes 400 at Darlington Raceway. Full Transcript:   WALK US THROUGH YOUR RACE, YOUR FIRST RACE BACK WITH NO PRACTICE AND NO QUALIFYING. IT SEEMS LIKE YOU DIDN’T MISS A STEP.“I don’t know about that. It ended up being a great finish. I had a lot of fun in the car and working with those guys. There were certainly some things that I need to be sharper on and brush up on. But yeah, overall, it was a great day. The CGR cars run really well there at Darlington (Raceway), so I was glad we were able to get a good finish and work our way back up toward the front there at the end.” HOW WOULD RATE THAT AS FAR AS THE MOST DIFFICULT THINGS YOU’VE DONE IN RACING? WAS IT ONE OF THE MOST DIFFICULT? WAS IT NOT ALL THAT DIFFICULT? WHERE WOULD YOU RATE IT?“It’s never really easy. I would say to get prepared and get the mental mindset and everything ready to start the race was very difficult. I was definitely anxious when they were getting ready to throw the green, firing off there in the first corner, and everything being new and different with having an extended period of time off. But really once we got into that second restart and ran three or four laps, I really felt pretty comfortable. There are a lot of things when you’re out for awhile that you just aren’t as sharp on as when you left; just all the little detail stuff like getting in your pit box clean, pit road stuff, just a lot of different little stuff. But I really felt pretty comfortable in the car. They did a great job of getting everything ready. I felt really good physically. There were really no issues there, just trying to get rolling again. So, I mean they were all difficult, but I certainly think it helped that typically their cars run really well at Darlington. Certainly, this package makes the cars easier to drive than what they were when I left. When you have less power and more drag, everything is happening just a little bit slower and that helps with the adjustment as well.” WE THOUGHT VETERANS WOULD ACCEL AT DARLINGTON. IT’S PRETTY AMAZING WHAT YOU DID. HOW DO YOU LOOK AT GOING BACK AND DO YOU THINK THE VETERANS WILL BE THE ONES THAT WILL BE THE ONES TO DO BETTER WHEN WE GO BACK WEDNESDAY? HOW DO YOU LOOK AT PREPARING FOR THE RETURN? “I don’t know, I haven’t really gotten to review any film yet or anything. I don’t really know what everybody looked like, except for the cars that I raced around. It’s just hard to predict who’s going to do better than everybody else on Wednesday, although it is a quick turnaround. I wouldn’t expect the guy that won the race is going to run really bad or vice versa necessarily. I just hope to improve a little bit on everything we did. But, at the same time, that’s what everybody is trying to do. It’s not like you’re going to go out there and be like ‘we finished tenth, I need to do this better and that better, and we’re going to go there and automatically do that much better’ because that’s what everybody’s goal is. Everybody went in there, nobody had any practice, all the drivers have been out of their cars for 60 or 70 days or whatever it was. I think everybody is going to get better. I have to try to figure out how to be better, we’ve got to get the car a little better. It’s definitely going to be different conditions, most likely, than what we had this weekend. So, there are a lot of variables.” HOW ODD WAS IT YESTERDAY WITH  ALL THE PROTOCALS AND NO FANS FOR YOUR FIRST RACE BACK? TODAY, THIS MORNING, HOW HAS YOUR BODY RESPONDED TO BE READY TO GO BY WEDNESDAY?“I feel fine, I could probably use a little bit more sleep. It was pretty busy around here getting everybody going with the kids, getting all the race notes done and then throwing in some of this stuff. So, it’s a little busy; need a little bit of time probably to get caught up on everything. But I feel good, I feel really good. I haven’t really had any issues, which I’m thankful for. Everything fit pretty good and I feel good.” “It kind of felt like you were going to a test, so yeah it was different not having all the fans there. I would say once they threw the green flag, you didn’t really notice it as much. But certainly, pre-race and post-race it definitely felt different, for sure. Once the race started, I thought the racing was good. With nobody having practice, I think that typically makes for better races because some people kind of hit it and some people kind of miss it. You didn’t really notice the environment from the driver’s seat being different once we started the race.” SINCE YOU HAVEN’T DRIVEN THIS PACKAGE BEFORE, WHAT WAS IT LIKE AND WHAT KIND OF ADJUSTMENTS DID YOU HAVE TO MAKE TO YOUR DRIVING STYLE? LISTENING TO THE RADIO A LITTLE BIT, CHAD (JOHNSTON) WAS GIVING YOU A LOT OF INFORMATION, LIKE WHAT THE LEADER OR OTHERS WERE DOING WITH THE THROTTLE IN THE CORNERS. IS THAT SOMETHING YOU WERE GETTING MORE OF TO HELP YOU WITH THIS PACKAGE? “It’s always good to get information; I would rather have too much information than not enough. So, I think that’s the approach we take. If you can use it to your advantage, you can get better and adjust to something faster. A lot of it is dictated on how your car is driving, the traffic your in and all that stuff. As far as the package, I certainly think it made the adjustment a little bit easier to get going again. It’s definitely different. Even Darlington for as worn out that it is and all the tire fall off, you have to be much more strategic, especially on restarts. The first three or four laps there were, I hate to say luck, but being on the right line on restarts. I can imagine that will be a lot more important when we get to places like Charlotte where you have a lot of grip and can run closer to wide-open, if not wide-open. But yeah, you had to be more patient. There were times where if it was the old package, you would catch somebody on a restart, you would turn under them and try to pass them and you could usually make that pass. I caught myself doing that a few times; you’d get along side of him and then four cars would pass you down the straightaway on the top. So, you certainly had to be more patient, I think. You had to get whatever you could get on restarts, but you also had to be careful to not get yourself in a position where you would get your car bogged down, get stacked up down the straightaway and go back by you. So, certainly a little more strategy involved, particularly when the cars were bunched up, than there used to be.” YOU SPOKE GOING INTO THIS RACE HOW YOU WERE A LITTLE BIT NERVOUS AND YOU JUST USED THE WORD ‘ANXIOUS’. WAS THERE A POINT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RACE WHERE YOU FELT LIKE ‘I GOT THIS’?“You never feel like you got this until you’re coming off four and leading; that’s the only time you really feel like that. I would say about the second or third lap, I felt pretty good. I felt pretty comfortable and I felt pretty aware of my surroundings. I was able to race a lot of the cars around me and even in that first segment, make a few passes on some competitive cars. It really felt pretty good, so just the part about being on the race track it didn’t take me long to feel comfortable or at home, or I haven’t really had any time off. That part didn’t really take very long. A big part of that, like I said, was having a good-driving race car. I really wasn’t uncomfortable at all by the time we got done with the second restart.” A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO, KEVIN HARVICK WENT OUT OF HIS WAY ON HIS RADIO SHOW TO PRAISE YOU AND HE WAS GLAD TO HAVE YOU BACK. HARVICK SAID IT AGAIN LAST NIGHT AND HE WENT OUT OF HIS WAY TO TALK ABOUT HOW GREAT IT WAS TO HAVE YOU BACK. HAVE YOU HEARD FROM OTHER PEOPLE THAT HAVE SAID THEY ARE EXCITED TO HAVE YOU BACK?“I’ve heard from a lot of people. That’s really nice of him to say, especially when he’s out there winning those races. Certainly, it feels good to be back. I’ve had a lot of fun the last two or three weeks working with Chad (Johnston) and my new team, and getting back on the race track and being competitive. You just don’t know, I wasn’t real competitive the last season that I raced and, certainly, the year before that really didn’t go the way I thought it should go or wanted it to go necessarily. It feels good to be back, to be wanted, to be part of that team and to get a good start. It’s only one race; I have a lot of racing to do and I realize I have a lot of improving to do. But it has been fun so far, for sure.” KURT BUSCH TOLD US LAST NIGHT THAT HE WAS REALLY LOOKING FORWARD TO CALLING YOU ON THE WAY HOME. I WAS WONDERING, DID YOU GUYS HAVE A CONVERSATION AND HOW THAT WENT TALKING TO KURT? “I actually called him, I didn’t know he was calling me (laughs). I called and talked to him a little bit on the way home. Actually, as soon as we hang up here, we have a call scheduled. It was good, Kurt had a really good day. He finished really well and I’m looking forward to reading more of his stuff, and hearing more about his race. Hopefully, I can learn something from that and apply it for Wednesday.” HOW DOES YOUR FINISH COMPARE TO HOW YOUR EXPECTATIONS WERE GOING INTO THE RACE? ALSO, SINCE YOU DID SO WELL IN THAT RACE, ARE YOU ALREADY LOOKING POTENTIALLY AHEAD AT A PLAYOFF BID FOR CHIP GANASSI RACING?“We’re only one race in and have a lot of work to do and racing to do to have a shot at making the Playoffs. Obviously, a win would get you there, but I don’t know about any of that. Expectations are a tricky thing. I expect to be competitive. I didn’t know how long that would take for me to be at my best, necessarily. You never know how you’re going to run week to week. It was super, super random and I never usually make predications. But my kids were talking to me last week and Kaylin was kind of grilling me on where I thought we were going to finish and how we were going to run. I don’t know why, but I just had 12th in my head. She had two other people last week when they were talking about it, everybody had 12th. I would have been pretty happy with being 12th my first day, so finishing 10th I thought was really good. Top-10’s are not easy to come by, so to get one on our first day and for Kurt to go out there and run third, I thought that was a big success for the whole organization.” I KNOW YESTERDAY YOU WERE RUNNING AROUND TYLER REDDICK A BIT; I DON’T KNOW HOW MUCH YOU RAN AROUND JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK AT ALL. BUT SEEING THOSE TWO ROOKIES COME HOME WITH TOP-10’S, DID YOU SEE ANYTHING THAT JUMPED OUT ABOUT THEM THAT MAY HAVE SURPRISED YOU? “I watched the championship race for Xfinity at Homestead last year. I don’t know him at all, but I watched that race with my dad and it was just incredible driving. He went and won that race, and he was the difference maker in that. A lot of times, everybody is pretty good when you get to this level, and you feel like it’s more about the car, positioning, and a lot of different stuff. But when I watched that race at Homestead, he’s just incredibly talented. Especially at those tracks where you have to run high and get all that extra out of it, and just laying it on that line without making a mistake. A lot of people can lay it on that line, but typically or eventually make a mistake. He really impressed me watching that race, so I can’t say it really surprised me when I saw how fast he can run. Yesterday, particularly when he had nobody in his way in that top grove, he really got that working well.”
“John Hunter (Nemechek) I haven’t really raced against a lot. I’ve watched him race; he’s obviously got a lot of talent. It’s not a knock at all on the team, but especially when you see him in that car in the top-10, that was a really impressive run.”