June 10, 2021

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Quick Lane Tire and Auto Service team enter this weekend’s NASCAR All-Star Open looking to repeat their Open victory from last year at Bristol Motor Speedway. However, in 2021 the non-points event has been moved from Bristol, one of DiBenedetto’s best tracks, to Texas Motor Speedway, which is hosting the All-Star race for the first time.  

DiBenedetto said he still feels good about his chances, as the Quick Lane team has had some of its best runs on intermediate-length tracks like Texas.

“Texas has been a pretty good track for us as far as speed,” said, DiBenedetto, who is set to take the green flag for the Open from the third starting position following a random draw. 

Like last year, DiBenedetto will need to either win one of the three stages of the Open or prevail in the fan vote to earn a starting spot in the All-Star race, which will be run Sunday evening once the preliminary events are completed. 

“We raced our way in last year, which was awesome,” he said. “It’s a great accomplishment to be a part of the All-Star race.”

This weekend will mark the second appearance atop the Quick Lane pit box for crew chief Jonathan Hassler. He filled in for Greg Erwin on an interim basis earlier this year at Martinsville Speedway and now takes over full-time crew chief duties for the No. 21 Mustang starting with this weekend’s event.

“We welcome Jonathan to the 21 team, and we wish Greg nothing but the best going forward,” Wood said. “Greg will always be a valued part of our team’s history.” 

The All-Star Open is set to get the green flag Sunday at 5 p.m. (6 p.m. Eastern Time). The 50-lap race will be divided into three stages, two 20-lappers followed by a 10-lap finale. 

The three stage winners, along with the fan’s choice, will advance to the All-Star Race, which is scheduled to start just after 8 p.m. Eastern Time. That race will consist of 100 laps divided into six rounds. FOX Sports 1 will carry the telecast.

Briggs is highest finishing Outlaw in second Feature 

ROSSBURG, OH – JUNE 9, 2021 – In a two-day show where every lap matters, a good start on night one can make or break you. For World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models driver Ricky Weiss, it puts him closer to finding a “Dream-Like” Victory Lane. 

The Headingly, MB campaigner finished fourth in the first of two $10,000-to-win Features Wednesday during the preliminary night of the DIRTcar sanctioned 27th Dirt Late Model Dream at Eldora Speedway. 

While he was happy with the finish, “The Manitoba Missile’s” stout Qualifying run [6th in Group A] put him in a good position. 

“Qualifying is everything in this sport,” Weiss said. “We have a pretty good baseline here, and we’ve just been trying a lot of things so when we unloaded, confidence was everything.” 

The good Qualifying run led to a Heat Race win and propelled him to a top-five after 25-laps. Weiss also learned a lot going into Thursday’s racing program. 

“We did some things that we really needed to know whether it was good or not on [Wednesday],” Weiss said. “We took a bit of a gamble and it probably cost us a few positions early, but then we made them up at the end.” 

“[My crew] knows what we can do to make this thing better, and they’re already talking about what we need to do [Thursday].” 

Weiss was the standout of the World of Outlaws tour regulars in the field with a fourth-place finish. The Headingly, MB driver was the only one to finish in the top-10. 

Despite that, Boom Briggs was still a bright spot in the second Feature. The Bear Lake, PA driver started 18th and drove up to 11th. 

“I’m pretty sure we passed the most cars in the Heat Race and in the Feature,” Briggs said. 

Briggs hadn’t been to Eldora Speedway in 12 years up until two weeks ago. He thinks it could’ve been an even better night if he didn’t struggle during Qualifying. 

“I got us behind in Qualifying with the wrong shock and spring package, but I fixed it for the [Heat Race],” Briggs said. 

“We got some momentum going for [Thursday], the car is good. We’re pretty happy, we just have to do some tire work and maintenance to do, and hopefully, we can make the big race.” 

Briggs, Weiss, and the rest of the tour regulars return to Eldora Speedway on Thursday to try and qualify for the 27th Dirt Late Model Dream, paying $127,000-to-win. 

TWIN FEATURE #1 RESULTS
Ricky Weiss- 4th 

Ryan Gustin-11th

Brandon Sheppard-12th

Tyler Bruening-14th 

Chris Madden-16th 

Dennis Erb Jr.-19th 

TWIN FEATURE #2 RESULTS

Boom Briggs-11th

Horsepower 100 Hype Building at Albany-Saratoga

Demetrios Drellos hopes Malta homecoming can steer him to 2021 Series success

MALTA, NY – The Horsepower 100 at Albany-Saratoga Speedway on Tuesday, June 22, can’t come soon enough for Demetrios Drellos. 

Bad luck has hovered over the Super DIRTcar Series regular throughout the start of the 2021 season, leaving Drellos 15th in points after the six first races, but he eyes Albany-Saratoga as a potential turning point.

The Queensbury, NY driver earned his first and only Super DIRTcar Series win at Albany-Saratoga in 2019 and has been racing Ed Monger’s #93 Magsarus DIRTcar Big Block for Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship this year at the 4/10-mile track. “I hope things start going better for us,” Drellos said. “We are in a hole but optimistic about going back to Albany-Saratoga Speedway.”

The stars and cars of the Series last visited “The Great Race Place” in 2020 for the DIRTcar OktoberFAST presented by DIRTVision event, which saw Anthony Perrego win a memorable 60-lap contest. Drellos finished 26th in that race. 

Drellos’ quest to get back in the top-10 and another win got off to a rocky start this season when an off-track excursion with another car ending his night during the season-opening race at Can-Am Speedway.

Then, his Bristol Motor Speedway debut in April resulted in a 25th place finish. However, Drellos’s #111 shined at the front of the pack during the second night of racing at Bristol, finishing second behind Stewart Friesen who had to use every inch of the track to hold off Drellos. 

Bad luck, unfortunately, struck again the next race when Drellos was set up for a seventh-place finish at Bridgeport and his dry sump belt fell off. He elected to pull the car behind the wall before his engine failed completely. 

He earned an 11th place finish during the last Super DIRTcar event at Weedsport Speedway to propel him into the $7,500-to-win event at Albany-Saratoga event with some momentum.

“The notebook is a lot thicker at Malta as opposed to the other tracks on the tour,” Drellos said. “There are some tracks on the tour that I’ve still only been to once. We have a lot of laps here and that will help.”

Adding to that momentum is Drellos is currently running ninth in Albany track points in the #93 Big Block against an extremely competitive field of drivers. The team has not decided which car to use for the event.

“I love driving the #93,” Drellos noted. “People love the dinosaur logo.”

Even though he goes into the race at Albany-Saratoga with a foundation of knowledge about the track Drellos is aware that the competition and parity are extremely even at Series races.

“Whenever you go to a Super DIRTcar Series race you are expecting a really close, tight field,” Drellos said. “Even the top guys are always within reach. We are all so even now. We are all fast, so it comes down to putting the whole event together from Time Trials through 100 laps.”

The Horsepower 100 takes the green on Tuesday, June 22. If you can’t make it to Albany-Saratoga Speedway, you can always catch Series stars Matt Sheppard, Mat Williamson, and Billy Decker on DIRTVision with your FAST PASS.

One-Night Stop in Wisconsin Before “Month of Money” Arrives

WILMOT, WI – June 9, 2021 – For one night only, The Greatest Show on Dirt is coming to Wilmot Raceway.

The lone event on the weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will bring the best drivers in the country to the Kenosha County Fairgrounds 1/3-mile oval on Saturday, July 10. 

Next month’s Badger 40 will mark the ninth-ever appearance by the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars at the Wisconsin track.

BUY TICKETS HERE (7/10)

Over the last six trips, David Gravel of Watertown, CT has been nearly unstoppable the racy semi-banked bullring. Four of his 63 career World of Outlaws wins (15th all-time) have come at Wilmot; even more impressive is the fact that those four wins have come with three different car owners. 

In 2014, he led the final 23 laps over Joey Saldana to win aboard the Roth Motorsports #83; In 2016, he led all 40 laps to win with the CJB Motorsports #5; In 2017, he won again with CJB in a torrid battle with Brad Sweet & Shane Stewart; In 2020, he took the Jason Johnson Racing #41 to victory lane in a flag-to-flag score.

Even when Gravel doesn’t win at Wilmot, he’s always scoring points and running consistently. In the only two events he lost at the Wisconsins track, the 28-year-old finished a respectable second in 2019 and fourth in 2018.

Now, he’ll head to Wilmot for the first time with the Big Game Motorsports #2. Since linking up with car owner Tod Quiring and crew chief Cody Jacobs, the combination has been lethal over the first 28 races. They’ve won five Features this year and currently sit second in the championship standings.

“Something about that place just really clicks with my driving style,” Gravel noted. “I remember from day one, I always loved the track. We’ve won there now with several different cars, and hopefully I can get Big Game Motorsports a win next month in my first try with them.”

The only other full-time driver to win at Wilmot is 10-time Series champion, Donny Schatz. He parked his Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing #15 in victory lane two years ago in 2019, beating Gravel to the stripe.

Schatz has been at the forefront of the attention all season long, chasing his milestone 300th career World of Outlaws victory. Albeit winless in 2021, his Carquest, Ford Performance machine has been a staple of consistency when luck falls their way. Recently, they’ve rallied to fourth in the championship standings with their sights set on an 11th championship.

For championship leader Brad Sweet, Wilmot has always been good to him minus a rough 19th-place finish last year. Prior to that result, the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts #49 was consistently battling for podiums with runs of 3rd, 3rd, 4th, 4th. With another month left before the Wilmot return, Sweet has nine World of Outlaws to his credit this season as he chases his third consecutive title.

Currently in third in the title chase is Carson Macedo, who leads the charge of drivers hoping for their first Wilmot win. Others hungry for that elusive victory is Sheldon Haudenschild and Logan Schuchart, along with Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year contenders Aaron Reutzel, Brock Zearfoss, and James McFadden.

WILMOT RACEWAY WINNERS:
4 wins – David Gravel (20, 17, 16, 14) 4th in 18
1 win – Donny Schatz (19)
1 win – Brent Marks (18)
1 win – Daryn Pittman
1 win – Mark Dobmeier (06)

NASCAR CUP SERIES NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT JUNE 9, 2021 ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Highlights: LOOKING AHEAD TO NEXT WEEK AT NASHVILLE, WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE RACING THERE AND WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO GET READY?“It’s been a while. I’ve been there in two different truck tests, myself. But my last lap on the track, I crashed. That was a long time ago and I learned a lot since then. It sounds like there were some issues in finding the right Goodyear Eagle tire that we’re going to use. It sounds like the three manufacturers and my teammate, Kurt Busch, was the guy for Chevrolet to be there a couple of different days over the last few months. I think they found what not to run, for sure, and it sounds like settled in on a good race tire. I’ve heard rumors about a resin, or something put on the race track, but I haven’t seen any paperwork on that, for sure. I’m curious if they do something on the track. But as long as they have a tire that can go the distance and falloff and do all the things that we’re used to right now, I think it’ll be fine.” THERE HAS BEEN A LOT OF CHATTER ABOUT THE MOVE YOU MADE AT SONOMA. DID YOU KNOW WHAT YOU COULD DO OR WHAT WAS YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS THROUGH THAT?“Yeah, it all happened really fast. But I’ve looked up before and know the rules, and if there’s a wreck down there, the odds of being able to turn ahead of time are pretty slim. But once I was facing backwards, I knew I couldn’t turn right unless I let the whole field go by. So, I was just turning left to get one out of the way and I was still on the racing line. I was on the curbing. And then I saw the front stretch there and the exit of (Turn) 11 and I was like well, I’m just going to grab some gears here. I never heard if there was a caution out or anything. I saw to my left accelerating, so I just grabbed gears as fast as I could and re-blended in right in front of the No. 14 (Chase Briscoe) and thought that might be where it was at. I guess the way the scoring worked, it was different than that. I wasn’t trying to do anything. I wasn’t trying to make it look that bad. Once I saw the replay, I was like oh, that looks bad coming at that angle. But I was in control and was just re-merging behind where I entered the corner. I definitely didn’t gain time, for sure. I saw there backwards for a few seconds, and I didn’t gain any spots. I was just trying to get back on track.” IS IT A COINCIDENCE, OR IS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT THESE ROAD COURSES THAT ARE MAKING YOU A LITTLE BIT MORE COMFORTABLE?“It’s funny. I actually have been more comfortable on the road courses. I think a lot of it goes back to all the years of Xfinity racing and four road courses a year at four totally different style tracks. And we ran in the rain, I ran on scuffed tires, I ran on stickers, I ran on low horsepower motors compared to the field, I ran in good cars. So, I’ve kind of done that through Xfinity for four or five years. The Cup series is a whole other level, but I didn’t expect it, going into it. And the Daytona Road Course the second race of the year. I wasn’t comfortable there and how to hustle the car, but now I’ve found a good level inside the car and finding those brake zone limits and finding the tire fall-off limits for a place like Sonoma, wheel spin versus lap time, so yeah, as crazy as it is, I have felt more comfortable even though I don’t feel like I’m a good right-hand turner. As simple as that sounds I don’t turn right well. Like I didn’t do it growing up. So, road course racing wasn’t high on my list, but I’ve put a lot of time into it over the years and a lot of just mental thinking through it and looking back through video and iRacing. Just making laps at all these tracks just where I can do it without thinking all right, this is a left-hand and this is a right-hand and this is a big curve, little curve, sharp apex, late apex like where all that stuff is just natural like it is on the ovals. That took time and it took a lot of effort.” SO FAR THIS SEASON, THE COMPETITION IS CLOSER IN THE FIELD. WHAT IS YOUR PERSPECTIVE ON THE TEMPERAMENT OF THE FIELD?  YOU ARE MAYBE CLUSTERED TOGETHER MORE THAN IN YEARS PAST. AND WHAT MIGHT THAT TEMPERAMENT BE LIKE WITH MORE ROAD COURSES COMING UP IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS?“Actually, I would say for me, it’s a lot calmer and cooler than my years in the past with Xfinity and Trucks. In those years and those two series, I was pushing the limit on every past and every lap and every restart. Those races are shorter. I felt like clean air was even more keen, especially in the Truck Series like in 2019 and even last year in the Xfinity Series. It was just go. And I really didn’t have any friends. And I tried to table that and put it aside to start this year, but I still, in those instinctive moments of to block or not, or to punch a guy or not, or to let him go. I was still making those same moves and I didn’t realize it. A few guys sat me down. Kurt, my teammate and Joey Logano, we had a good conversation after a race, and it was kind of eye-opening. It was like okay I’ve got to pay up for it here a little bit. So, I’m racing anywhere from eighth to 15th now, and we want to be a little bit better. But our group there, coming from the back, guys point me by, and I point guys by and it’s crazy. So, for me, it’s actually been really eye-opening to work with these guys and like, oh let’s both go faster. We’re still racing. Even though I told myself I was going to be better, I wasn’t until I really had honest conversations with some of my competitors and a teammate and realized there’s a lot better way to go about it.” HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR SEASON RIGHT NOW WITH 10 REGULAR SEASON RACES LEFT?“If you would have asked me about this after Las Vegas, which is a place where I should have been humble enough to realize like, I’ve spent time in the booth with you guys before for the Xfinity race, but I would have said it was terrible. I was not doing my job in the car. But ever since Las Vegas, we’ve been on the upswing of just getting these cars figured out for me. Me figuring myself out. And betting in a better spot mentally and not so down. If we finish a few spots worse than I think we should, I’m not just totally out of my mind on Sunday night and Monday morning and how do I reset and trying to get ready for the next one. It’s been tough. And with 10 to go in the regular season, I just try to do my job. Everybody looks at points. Anybody that says they don’t is not telling the truth. But we want to just score as many points as we can and run as good as we can and everything else will take care of itself. So, I wouldn’t grade myself very high this year. It’s progressively getting better and it’s exponentially rising right now. There’s still a lot of work to do though.” ON TEAMMATE KURT BUSCH, WOULD IT BE A BIG BLOW TO LOSE HIM? IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’VE LEANED ON HIM SOME.“Yeah, I’ve leaned on him a ton. Just, how do I interact with other drivers from truly on-track to set-up and driving comparisons, but I have no idea what else is going on. He’s my teammate and all heads forward.” WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO PICK-UP FROM KURT BUSCH AS A MENTOR?“it’s been incredible. I’ve been around CGR for a few years, and we’ve passed. I’ve sat in on meetings and debriefs and pre-race meetings and conference calls and all that, but I was never the driver of the Cup car. And I was worried about how that might change. It did change, but it truly did change for the better. I didn’t realize how much more there was there to get. He’s truly forgotten more things at his age that I’ve ever learned. It’s just like, how he articulates things is just not how I’ve ever been able to do that. Maybe I wasn’t taught at an early age how to truly articulate my feelings and my thoughts and put them out there in a way within a group of people listening can understand. I’ve struggled with that. They way he walks in the shop and approaches people like when you step back in COVID restrictions, our cars are prepared halfway across the shop from each other so the two teams can be socially distanced. And you watch him walk 20 feet and nobody sees him coming and he walks up to his guys. How he walks up to them and approaches them and interacts with them is different than how I’ve done it. Just watching little things like that, let along asking him, how do I talk to this driver, hey can I have this phone number, what should I say when I call this guy and all that stuff. It’s endless what I’ve gotten out of him.” WHAT IS YOUR MINDSET HEADING INTO THE NASCAR ALL-STAR OPEN AND HOW DO YOU APPROACH THAT RACE?“I’ll learn a lot from the Truck race. Fortunately, I’m running the No. 45 truck for Niece Motorsports. Anytime I get to run that thing, I’m excited and it’s like a family to me. We are family, basically. From there, I’ll get to go right into the Open the next day. So, I’ll already have time in the PJ1 and spray and the track and pit road. Not that in our Open we’ll be making green flag pit stops, but just all the little things. Just clean-up on Texas. We do DIL Simulators with the team. IRacing has come so far. Now that I have a real rig, it’s truly giving me better feedback. That’s been a game-changer. All that said, it’s still on-track stuff that gets me the most. That’s where I feel like I just learn so much on the actual track I’m about to race. Expectations are we start fifth in the Open, drive up to the lead, win the Open, get in the All-Star race, and go race with my heroes.” HOW MUCH OF A CONFIDENCE BUILDER CAN THAT TRUCK RACE BE FORE YOU?“It’s big. What we’ve been able to do over the years with Niece Motorsports was nothing short of incredible in 2019, and now we expect that. But it’s still our same group of boys and girls there. When they’d go to the track there’s hardly anybody left at the shop. Now there is. They’ve done a lot for me over the years. Anytime I get to race together it feels like it was when I was growing up and my family, I had an uncle doing decals and I had my granddad jacking the truck up, the fast truck up to change the tire before qualifying. It’s just family and that’s now Niece feels.” HOW MUCH DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO BE AGGRESSIVE IN THE ALL-STAR OPEN? WOULD YOU BE EVEN MORE AGGRESSIVE TO MAKE IT TO THE ALL-STAR RACE?“I want to go race with my heroes. I want to race with the guys I’ve looked up to. But I can only do what the car can do, and I can only do what my capabilities are. Low power, I know some of the guys, I know (Tyler) Reddick has been down in the dumps about this package. Like, I’m good. It’s the same for everybody. I know we’re bringing the best race car we can. We’re not shorting anything. We’re not taking it lightly this week. My guys are still there early. They were still there early Monday morning getting ready. We got home from Sonoma at 4 am and they’re there earlier than I could have gotten there. And they’ve stayed late. I’m going to go drive the best I can. I can’t drive any harder though. Aggressive or not, I would say I have been and I’m trying to find a happy spot with that.” WAS IT HARD TO FIGURE OUT TO FIGURE OUT THE FORMAT?“I do not know. I will not lie to you. I do not know what the All-Star format is.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT JUNE 9, 2021 RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/BUSH’S BEANS CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript: REGARDING NASCAR CHANGING THE PACKAGE FOR THE UPCOMING DAYTONA RACE IN AUGUST“No, I think it’s the same for everybody as far as if it makes it more challenging or not.  You know, I am interested to see what the racing is like. It seems like every time we slow the cars down we continue to push harder, so, it just seems to be a product of being a little more comfortable.  If the speeds are that far down, I feel like bumping in the corners becomes more continuous and I don’t know how that will affect people kind of locking up like the Fords did. When the speeds were slower, I felt like the Fords were kind of able to lock together and push a little bit more. So, it will be a little more interesting, but they have to try something because obviously we are flipping cars. And that’s something no one wants to do.  But if you look at the history of racing and all race cars, that is a product of racing, and it happens. That is a tough ask, but it is cool that they are trying.” I ASSUME FLIPPING IN A SPRINT CAR VERSUS A STOCK CAR WOULD BE A BIT DIFFERENT“Yeah, no doubt, its definitely different. Flipping at the speedway is, I would say, one of the worst situations because being one of the front cars in a pack flipping, then you have everyone else coming through the crash scene at a high rate of speed. Definitely not safe, but like I said, it happens in every form of racing, and I am glad they are trying to make it less likely to happen.” LOOKING AHEAD TO NASHVILLE, ANY RACING MEMORIES FROM YEARS BACK OR EXPERIENCES THAT STAND OUT FROM YOUR TIME THERE AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY?“Like you said, I spent a lot of time testing there and quite a few races as well. I remember the racetrack is difficult, its concrete, and one of the bigger concrete tracks that we have.  It races different than a lot of racetracks do, with that concrete…..flat in areas. The racetrack is really wide, but I feel like we all want to fight for one area of the racetrack which is the bottom and bottom groove. It will be interesting to see since we haven’t had Cup cars on it and obviously the package that we have is totally different than anything that we tested at Nashville, back in the day as far as the Cup cars that we had. So, I am looking forward to it and I think its going to be a lot of unknowns. I know we all have a lot of notes because we tested there, and I hope that it lays down rubber. I hope the tire that Goodyear brings will lay down a decent amount of rubber so that we can start moving around and using different grooves.” YOU WILL START FOURTH IN THE ALL-STAR OPEN, HOW DO YOU SEE YOUR CHANCES GIVEN THAT STARTING SPOT?“Yeah, we struggled last year at Bristol which was odd for us as much as we like Bristol. But we have raced our way into the All-Star Race before and obviously having a good starting spot helps.  You have to be one of three to win, so starting in the top four is definitely a bonus. This package with less horsepower, kind of anxious to see. I think the center of the corner speed might be a little higher, but your entry speed is going to be a little bit slower. I am not sure what that is going to do for racing, but I do know that track position is going to be key, especially with that short amount of laps.  It will be about maintaining position, and putting ourselves in position to win one of the three segments. Hopefully we can get it done, we feel good about it.” WHAT PERCENTAGE DO YOU RAMP UP YOUR AGGRESSIVENESS FOR AN EVENT LIKE THIS?“You don’t have anything to lose, but you don’t want to crash a bunch of race cars just to crash them or tear up somebody else’s race car.  So, we will all race hard, and Texas is a very fast race track, and I am hoping with the Truck race and the Xfinity race, I am hoping the PJ1 will be activated so we can run a few different grooves. I think that will be beneficial for us and I think it will be exciting. I think the thought process is that if we have less horsepower then maybe we can all run a little bit closer together. It hasn’t seemed to work anytime we have done that, but that is the thought process. So, we will see how it works out.”  REGARDING NEXTGEN, WHAT WILL YOU DO TO TRY TO PREPARE FOR THAT CAR AND DO YOUR HOMEWORK BEFORE YOU GET ON TRACK WITH IT?“I think that is a really good question. Right now, for myself, I haven’t really worried about it and haven’t gone and looked at it. I haven’t sat in it and I have been kind of focused on what we have in front of us this year. I think a lot of the preparation is going to be from the team side and then obviously from the few tests that we will have, I am kind of hoping we can kind of get a handle on the race car and then really kind of prepare from there as far as what it drives likes, what you feel like you need in the race car to go fast, and then to be able to race around people and make passes. For me, I think a lot of that because I haven’t driven it yet, I can only go off of what other people say about that.  I look forward to eventually getting behind the wheel of one and testing it and kind of making my decisions of what I need to do in the race car off of that.” DO YOU THINK ITS IMPORTANT FOR DRIVERS TO DO THEIR HOMEWORK BEFORE RACING THIS CAR?“Well, we all get in and show up and drive now and I don’t think its any different. Obviously, I do believe that the teams and drivers that have driven it, probably have definitely a leg up on everyone. Us at JTG,we haven’t run the car and we haven’t had anybody at a test session, so you don’t know exactly how its going to be and there is only so much you can do outside a race cars. Obviously, simulators and things like that, but we don’t have access to that, so I will be using iRacing I reckon and go from there.” 10 RACES LEFT AFTER WE GET OUT OF TEXAS FOR THE REGULAR SEASON. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CHANCES TO GET IN THE PLAYOFFS?“Yeah, our chances are still there. We don’t like exactly the position that we are in, but the opportunity is still there. We just have to go execute and perform. We were really consistent at the beginning of the year where we ran 11th to 15th to 17th range and we have to get back to that. If we can get back to that, and it all works out, then that is great. If not, we set off to be consistent at the beginning of the year, every week, and when you have a bad week like this past week, its all about trying to rebound. Its not a points race at Texas this weekend, but we can carry some good momentum from Texas to these last 10. So, we are looking to have a good All-Star performance in the Open and hopefully in the All-Star Race and carry that momentum to those last 10 races.” WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT DONNY SCHATZ MAKING HIS NASCAR DEBUT AFTER ALL THESE YEARS?“Yeah, he definitely should do it at Knoxville even though racing these types of cars or trucks on dirt, they really drive nothing like Donny has driven. But I know he will adapt really well and obviously he has got so many laps around Knoxville, and I believe they will really pay off. I think he is with a good team, and they have some good notes as far as dirt racing goes.  So, I think he will do well, and I think he is just a great race car driver all around. I know he has driven some Silver Crown cars on pavement and things like that back in the day, so I know he is ready to adapt and its cool to finally see him jump in one.”  HOW DO YOU VIEW WHAT THE TEMPERAMENT OF THE FIELD IS AFTER SEVERAL ROAD COURSES, SHORT TRACKS AND DIRT TRACKS?“Yeah, I think there is a lot better equipment throughout the entire field and like you said, everyone is a lot tighter and they are getting better. We all know that we have a job to do, and that is to perform. When people take those opportunities away from you, you get kind of frustrated with it.  In road course races, I feel like people move each other out of the way and if you move someone, you better expect to get moved back. And that is part of it. The ones that just lay over and let it happen, it’s going to continue to happen. I think it is good to remind people who pays back and who doesn’t. It definitely is aggressive racing week in and week out. There are a lot of people who are tough to pass and put up a lot of fight for nothing, and those guys are the ones that end up getting moved more regularly. I do think us being in some slower corners on the road courses, the short tracks, and the dirt racing, you definitely have a better opportunity. None of us want to go crash somebody on, but in those slower corners you can move people out of the way without crashing and that is why you see more of it.”

NASCAR CUP SERIESNASCAR ALL-STAR RACE TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTJUNE 9, 2021
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 ANDY’S FROZEN CUSTARD CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Highlights Transcript: LOOKING AHEAD TO NASHVILLE – YOU’VE WON THERE IN A TRUCK AND YOU’VE RAN THERE A FEW TIMES. WHAT KIND OF MEMORIES STAND OUT, WHETHER IT’S TRUCK OR XFINITY, OR I’M GUESSING YOU DID A GOOD NUMBER OF TEST SESSIONS THERE? WHEN YOU THINK OF NASHVILLE, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES THAT COME BACK TO YOU? “Nashville (Superspeedway) kind of kicked off my Cup career. One of my first, full-blown Cup tests was Nashville, leading into that season. We got to go test with the team; had a good time. We went there with the Trucks and finished third there with KHI. We had fun at Nashville. It was a good track for me. We kind of found something in the last session of practice in Trucks and it carried me through the weekend. We were able to be fast and competitive.”
“I’m looking forward to going back. I always felt like if we got a shot in the Cup car that it would be a good track for us. I can’t wait. I haven’t done much sim work on it yet, but leading into next week, we’ll definitely be grinding it out and see what we can learn.”
YOU SAID ONE OF YOUR FIRST CUP TESTS WAS AT NASHVILLE? WHAT DID THAT MEAN FOR YOU AT THAT POINT IN YOUR CAREER?“It was exciting, getting to go have my time to be in the Cup Series and getting the time with the team. Obviously, they were Kevin Harvick’s team and then we kind of jumped into that season. I was the new guy, so getting to hang out with the guys and just be a part of it. It was a fun time, obviously starting off my Cup career. I just remember going there, testing, and just trying things. We didn’t get to race there, but it was cool just to go through and kind of get ready for a practice session. But it was also like a team-building, fun time because after the test, I think we went out downtown Nashville and had a really good time. The next day was not as productive as the first day.”
DO YOU KNOW THE RULES FOR THE ALL-STAR RACE? ARE YOU GOING TO TRY AND LEARN THE RULES, OR ARE YOU JUST GOING TO TELL YOUR CREW CHIEF TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO?“Yeah, I haven’t even looked into it. I went through my sim session today, just trying to make the car drives as good as possible on the simulator. The one thing I did work on that was kind of different – I know there’s a $100,000 reward for the fastest pit stop, and that includes yellow line to yellow line. So, I have to do my part to help our pit crew have that opportunity, as well.”
“As far as the inversion and all the different starting positions, I think I’ll just leave that up to Justin (Alexander, crew chief) and the guys to help me out with that. I know we’re starting fifth and we’ll just take it from there. I think it’s a 100-lap race and a couple different cautions and resets throughout. So, I guess the most average finishes play into it and speed. We’ll just make it work.”
WHAT DID THE SIMULATOR TELL YOU ON HOW THE 510 HORSEPOWER WILL BE DIFFERENT THAN 550?“I didn’t feel a huge difference. I think everybody’s going to try and run wide-open. It’s going to be hot; it’s 90 degrees and you’re trying to run wide-open. So, people will be trying to trim their car out. I still think we’ll get them where they’re edgy for the speed purpose of things. Turns one and two are not the most ideal corners, so you’re going to be balancing – do you want to be able to easily run wide-open or have more speed trimmed-out and make turns one and two more difficult? Turns three and four are pretty self-explanatory, but one and two can get difficult. I still think there’s going to be handling involved. We’ll be able to adjust that too, I think, with the way the stops are built. The only one you can really lose on is the one at the end, I think.”
“We’ll be able to adjust a little bit. If you start aggressive and you don’t feel like that’s the right direction, you might be able to tighten your car up or do something to make the car drive a little better. Sometimes we don’t want to adjust the car because it slows the pit stops down. We’ll have a little more time to adjust and make the car drive a little different if you’re struggling with the something.”
THE FACT YOU GUYS HAVE TO HIT THE ROAD FOR THE ALL-STAR RACE, AS OPPOSED TO BEING HOME FOR THE TRADITIONAL TWO WEEKS IT USED TO BE, DO YOU PREFER THE OLD TWO WEEKS AT HOME OPTION AND RUN TWO RACES AT CHARLOTTE?“It’s definitely nice being at home; you can’t knock being at home. I like that the All-Star race moves around. Maybe we can move the All-Star race around in North Carolina. We’ve got some other short tracks around here; Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, a lot of those places could get cleaned up and go for a fun All-Star weekend. Some of these old short tracks – I think NASCAR needs to go to more short tracks. I see that we’re going to more road course races. I’m OK with that, but I think we could do probably three to four road course races and add three short tracks, instead of adding road course races. That’s just my opinion. I think it’s more fun to watch, personally.”
YOUR THROUGHTS ABOUT GOING TO TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOR THIS RACE.“We won Texas (Motor Speedway) last year, so going to Texas for the All-Star race, we’re pretty confident. We feel like we have it setup that if we get in the right place on the track, that we can win with. The confidence is high and the chance to win a million dollars, you don’t get that very often. We’re locked in the race and we’re headed down there, we might as well take some money home after the trip. I’m looking forward to it. We’re going down there for one reason and that’s to win a million dollars. That’s pretty cool. You don’t get those opportunities very often and it’s a track that we’ve won at.”
REGARDING NASHVILLE, IT’S INTERSTING THERE HASN’T BEEN A CUP RACE, BUT CUP TEAMS HAVE TESTED AND WORE THAT PLACE OUT, AND THERE’S A FEW PEOPLE WITH A NOTEBOOK. WHAT KIND OF RACE DO YOU ANTICIPATE AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY?“I talked to Kurt (Busch) because I think he did the NASCAR test for Chevrolet. He was a bit concerned about tires; being able to last just because the concrete had some edges that it had created over the years from just not being raced on. The edges weren’t really knocked down, kind of like when we got to Dover and Bristol.. (inaudible). Where Nashville seemed to be tough on tires when they were testing. Looking forward to seeing when we all get out there and all that rubber gets laid down. I’m assuming it’s going to lay a ton of rubber down after the practice sessions, so it could change. But I think what’s cool and what I enjoyed about Nashville is people fought for that bottom line and you really had to be disciplined and not miss your exit leaving the corner at Nashville. The car that rotated the most was pretty good.”
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s a good track, like I said, for us in the past. I did get to test there a long time ago. We’ll look at some of the notes. I’ve already looked at my Truck stuff. I think we have the Xfinity notes, as well.”
SEEING THE POWER THAT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAS PICKED UP, HAS IT BEEN A MUTUAL SITUATION WHERE YOU’VE BOTH BEEN BENEFITTING FROM THE ADVANCES THAT THEY’RE MAKING RIGHT NOW? “Yeah, I think Chevrolet as a whole is working better together than they ever have in the past. Obviously, it’s good to see Hendrick (Motorsports) running well.”
“As far as from an engine standpoint, I know it’s good to see the ECR power running well each and every weekend. The group that Chevrolet has created and Rick (Hendrick), himself, has been really adamant in helping us with whatever we need. So, it’s been nice working with all the teams, especially Rick and all the guys at Hendrick. I think it’s only going to make us better in the future working together and especially with the Next Gen car. We’re just doing everything we can to keep Chevrolet out front.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF A LEG UP SINCE ERIC WARREN HAS TAKEN OVER THE PROGRAM? “No – Eric (Warren) is fair, you know what I mean. He doesn’t do that. Eric is like my second dad; yes, we have a great relationship. But he’s just trying to make Chevrolet, as a whole, the best that he can. He’s doing a good job of it. I think you’ve obviously seen it. He won’t take credit for it, but I think he has done a lot already to get Chevy moving in the right direction and really building towards the future. I think the stuff that he has planned for Chevrolet will really shine the further we go as a group. He really wants us working together as much as we can. So, I’m pumped about that. He pushes us all, so it’s nice.”
YOU’RE THOUGHTS ON HOW YOUR TEAM IS PERFORMING? YOU’RE 12TH IN THE STANDINGS AND LOOK PRETTY SOLID. THE SPEED IS THERE. JUST ASSESS WHERE THIS TEAM IS AT AS WE GO INTO THE ALL-STAR RACE AND JUST 10 RACES TO GO IN THE REGULAR SEASON? “I’m very excited about where we’re at. Obviously, points-wise, it’s a good position. You always want more. One win changes how you feel about things; one win for you or someone else. I feel like we’ve competed well; we’ve got speed. The last two weeks, we’ve overcome adversity that over the past couple years, if we had some of the things happen that we’ve had the last two weeks happen to us, we would not have recovered like we were able to. Charlotte was really a high-point. I feel like we had a car capable of running inside the top-three. I know that Kyle (Larson), Chase (Elliott) and all the Hendrick Motorsports guys were really good, but we showed really good lap times. If you go back and look at that, we were making a lot of passes. We lost a pit crew member early in the week and had gone with some fresh faces on the team, and they did a good job to get us through it. We were able to have a car fast enough to overcome losing track position.”
“Then we went to Sonoma – it actually wasn’t an alternator problem; it was just a wire that was left loose. We had to keep changing batteries because we were losing voltage. On a road course, where typically I haven’t been that great, but we’ve really developed this year a lot. I think the 24-hour race and just getting more road course experience has been good for me, and I’ve got some confidence now going to these road course races that I compete and putting a lot of effort in. So, to come back and finish 13th at Sonoma from the tail that last restart: we started dead last in the last stage – to get back to 13th, I thought that was pretty special. I’m pumped about what we have going on right now as a group and we’ll just keep plugging along. I think that some of these things, stuff that doesn’t happen very often, like the alternator stuff and we have our full pit crew back this weekend, I think we can really go out there and light it up the next couple of weeks.”
A LOT HAS BEEN MADE THIS YEAR ABOUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAVING ALL FOUR CARS BEING CONTENDERS. YOU GUYS AT RCR ARE THE SAME; YOU AND TYLER (REDDICK) ARE NOT FAR OFF FROM EACH OTHER. HOW GOOD HAS THAT BEEN FOR THE COMPANY TO HAVE TWO CONSISTENT PLAYOFF-CONTENDING CARS?“I think it’s good. Tyler (Reddick) and I both push each other. We’re both competitive and we both bring something I think a little different to the table, so it’s a good match, as far as teammates go. We’ll just keep pushing. The teams are working well together. Daniel Suarez and the No. 43 (Erik Jones) – I think all those guys are showing speed at different times in the year and it’s been good to see that out of our camp.” 

Inside Line Promotions – SAUK RAPIDS, Minn. (June 9, 2021) – Dominic Scelzi enjoyed a fast race car last weekend when he made his debut of driving for Mark Dobmeier.

Scelzi kicked off a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series doubleheader on Friday at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., during the Gerdau Presents the 1^st Leg of the Northern Tour.

“We qualified 11^th the first night,” he said. “It was the first time we got to hit the track at speed with hot laps being greasy. I felt good in the car and we knew what to do to make it better. Then we got rained out, which was a bummer.”

Scelzi ventured to Granite City Motor Park in Sauk Rapids, Minn., on Saturday for the GMC Select Dealers of Minnesota Presents the World of Outlaws. He qualified fourth quickest to begin his debut at the dirt track. That lined him up on the outside of the front row of a heat race.

“We were challenging for the lead and ended up taking the lead in the heat,” he said. “All of a sudden we really, really fell off. We came in and found out the right rear bleeder wasn’t turned on so that was an error on our part. It caused the right rear tire to grow substantially and we fell to fifth.”

Scelzi advanced a position to finish fifth in the qualifier, which started him on the inside of the fifth row for the main event.

“We felt pretty good in the qualifier,” he said. “Then in the feature I was running around eighth or ninth. We were right there running the top. When (Carson) Macedo and James (McFadden) got together I had nowhere to go. It was either smoke them or hit the wall and stop. I got into the fence and stopped. Luckily nothing was damaged and we restarted at the back. At that point it was hard to pass and we ended up 14^th.”

The mid-race incident hampered the finishing result for Scelzi, but he is excited to return to the Dobmeier No. 13 during a trio of races at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D., June 20-22.

Up next is a weekend in his family owned car this Friday at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif., for the 35^th annual Pombo/Sargent Classic and Saturday at Placerville Speedway in Placerville, Calif., for the 30^th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Race with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series. Scelzi enters the weekend leading the championship standings.

“We won the last Pombo/Sargent Classic in the Roth car and we were running third when we broke at the last Dave Bradway Jr race so we’ve run well at both events,” he said. “We want to win the points championship, but we’re trying to win races. If we do that the points deal will take care of itself.”

QUICK RESULTS –

June 5 – Granite City Motor Park in Sauk Rapids, Minn. – Qualifying: 4; Heat race: 5 (2); Qualifier: 5 (6); Feature: 14 (9).

SEASON STATS –

25 races, 9 wins, 19 top fives, 23 top 10s, 24 top 15s, 24 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Friday at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif., for the 35^th annual Pombo/Sargent Classic and Saturday at Placerville Speedway in Placerville, Calif., for the 30^th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Race with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series

Jason Johnson Racing Car Chief Traded Wrenches for Steering Wheel at Granite CityCALIFORNIA, MO – June 8, 2021 – From start-to-finish, the smile never once wore off Clyde Knipp’s face on Saturday night at Granite City Speedway.Thanks to the trust and generosity of his Jason Johnson Racing team, he was able to live his dream of being a World of Outlaws driver again.”That was absolutely amazing,” the Missouri native said with wide-eyed grin following the race.You see, Clyde is no stranger to The Greatest Show Dirt. At the ripe age of 17-years-old, he joined the tour full-time in 2016 and contested two complete seasons with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. He finished 14th and 15th in the standings, respectively, but in 2018 he was unable to race full-time.He made his way back to the Series in late 2019, in the form of Car Chief for Jason Johnson Racing #41. He got to work with David Gravel, and now Carson Macedo behind the wheel. It’s been an enjoyable experience for the now 23-year-old, who is soaking up every single ounce of knowledge he can obtain on the road.At the end of the day, though, Clyde’s passion for strapping in and racing against the best of the best tops all.On Saturday, he got to re-ignite that passion. It started off as a joke, but quickly turned into reality.”There were only 17 cars signed-in at the time, so Phil [Dietz], Carson, and I were all kind of just joking that we should bring the second car down,” Knipp noted on how the opportunity came about. “The more we thought about it, the more it seemed realistic, though.”Soon enough, the backup #41 was out of the trailer and being assembled with Clyde ready to make his season-debut for the $1,000-to-start purse money.”Phil told me from the beginning, this is your job and you have to make sure Carson is taken care of first,” Knipp continued. “I knew from the beginning he was the number one priority. You know we’re competing for a championship, so obviously his car comes first.”So, it was decided. Clyde was racing. However, he still fulfilled all of his duties as Car Chief on the #41. Managing fuel, tightening bolts, changing torsion bars, and making any setup adjustments relayed from Crew Chief, Phil Dietz.”I hadn’t been in a car since 2019, so I was a little concerned with how rusty I would be, honestly,” Knipp admitted. “I got in and it just awesome, though, like I was right at home and never quit racing. I compare it to riding a bike. You know the basics like how to fire the car, when to get on the gas, how much gas to give it.”The best part of it all? He wasn’t just racing any old piece, he was driving one of the best machines in the country. It was a brand new Maxim Chassis, a car he helped assemble to run a backup car for Macedo this season. And, it was for Jason Johnson Racing. A car owned by the namesake of a man that he grew up idolizing as a boy in Missouri.”I tried not to let it get to me that night,” Knipp spoke on the magnitude of it all. “It’s pretty cool that JJR trusted me enough to do it. It was amazing to sit behind the wheel, let alone fire it off and then race it.”After qualifying for the Feature, Knipp kept it cool and pulled into the infield once the leaders reached him in lap traffic. Ultimately, it was a good decision as a Lap 14 incident involved Macedo sent the JJR #41 to the work area. Knipp quickly climbed out of his own car and ran to the work area to help get Macedo back on the track.Although, he’s not behind the wheel full-time anymore, Knipp is just as happy to still be on the tour in his current role. He knows that next opportunity, just like Saturday night, can come out of nowhere.”I’d say 75% of me being out here is just to stay familiar with the car owners, even local guys,” Knipp acknowledged. “You never know what opportunities come about in Sprint Car Racing. Paying my dues, learning with JJR, it’ll only benefit me down the road. Whether that’s driving again in the future or maybe being a crew chief one day.”This weekend, Clyde will return to his full-time duty as Car Chief on the Jason Johnson Racing #41 at Knoxville Raceway where Carson Macedo goes for his fourth win of the 2021 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

One driver could walk away with $30K if they win both events 

JACKSON, MN – JUNE 8, 2021 – When the calendar turns to July, the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models will kick off their northern swing in style with a trip to the state-of-the-art Jackson Motorplex. 

The Series is preparing for a doubleheader weekend at the 4/10-mile speedway in Jackson, MN July 9-10. It’s the first of two trips to the North Star State in 2021. 

Friday, July 9, The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet will run a 40-lap Morton Buildings Feature, paying $10,000-to-win. 

They’ll return on Saturday, July 10, with $20,000 on the line in a 60-lap Feature. 

This year, you’ll have the privilege of seeing both Features at Jackson in person with the track welcoming fans back to the track.

Last season, the Series ran two thrilling Features at the speedway, won by Ricky Thornton Jr. and Ricky Weiss. “The Manitoba Missile” had to survive several restarts and outlast a hard-charging Brandon Sheppard for his second career World of Outlaws victory. 

Their battle will continue this year, but Sheppard will have an extra level of hunger driving him, as he continues his chase for history. The three-time and defending champion is chasing Josh Richards for the most wins all-time (78) and most Series championships (4). 

The two stars of the Series will have to contend with a stout field of competitors – such as Chris Madden, Tyler Bruening, Cade Dillard and Ryan Gustin – all ready to give everything they have to get to Victory Lane.

Brent Larson, of Lake Elmo, MN, will try to bring his home state fans to their feet by picking up his first career World of Outlaws victory at the Minnesota track.

There will be no shortage of excitement during the World of Outlaws Late Model’s highly anticipated return to Jackson Motorplex. 

PREVIOUS JACKSON MOTORPLEX WINNERS
2020-Ricky Thornton Jr. on May 23
2020- Ricky Weiss on May 22
1988- Willy Kraft on June 18

EPPING, N.H. (June 8) — Pro Stock driver Troy Coughlin Jr. has experienced an up-and-down start to the 2021 NHRA season, racing to two final-round appearances in the first five races of the year, while also suffering three first-round losses. As the tour arrives at New England Dragway for this weekend’s TascaParts.com New England Nationals, the third-generation pro has a plan in place to level his fortunes. “I need to stick to the process and make the best lap possible every time I pull up to the starting line,” Coughlin said. “I know we’ve got the horsepower, the best crew chiefs and crewmen, and an awesome racecar — the ingredients for sustained success are right here. We just need to keep after it. “I’ve learned from my uncles and grandfather to be more process-oriented than performance-oriented. And it’s important to enjoy the process and never forget what a privilege it is to drive one of these cars at this level.”

In the three weeks since the last NHRA event, the team at Elite Motorsports has been making big gains with Coughlin’s JEGS.com Chevrolet Camaro. Meanwhile, Coughlin continued to hone his skills with a weekend at the Derby City 50K bracket race, piloting a JEGS dragster alongside his sister Paige Coughlin and their cousin Makenna Brown. “Different car but same process, so it was good to get some seat time and have fun with Paige and Makenna,” Coughlin said. “I entered twice so we ended up running more than 20 passes in competition. I even managed to make a little money by reaching the semifinals of a 32-car shootout that was part of the program.  “It helps you remember the good times when you have a chance to turn on some win lights, which is the mindset you need to keep. When your luck is running cold, it only becomes an issue if you make it one. We’re not going to do that because we have so many great chances to win ahead of us.”

The COVID pandemic forced the cancellation of last year’s national event in New England so Coughlin expects the fans to be in high spirits when the action roars to life on Friday. “A couple years ago I remember a bunch of the fans at the Epping race coming up and saying, ‘Thank you for being here,'” Coughlin said. “They were so excited to have us in their backyard. I thought it was kind of odd to hear that because I was wanting to thank them for coming out and being such great supporters of our sport. “They’ve been waiting an extra year to see us again so I’m sure it will be a big weekend for all of us. I know we’re all ready to get started.”

Batavia, OH (June 8, 2021) – An already-big payday at West Virginia Motor Speedway will get even bigger in 2022. West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells, which recently made its return to racing for the first time since 2013, welcomes the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series for the second edition of the “Historic 100,” June 3rd and 4th, 2022. The elite teams of the nation’s premier dirt late model tour will compete for a combined weekend purse of over $200,000. On Friday, June 3rd, drivers will compete in a 30 lap A-Main for a shot at $15,000 with the weekend culminating in a 50-lap, $50,000-to-win finale on Saturday, June 4th. On the heels of a highly successful inaugural “Historic 100,” the team at West Virginia Motor Speedway is looking forward to building on that momentum in 2022. “We look forward to working with Rick (Schwallie) and the entire Lucas Oil team to build this event into one of the premier weekends of the season,” said track owner Cody Watson. “As we continue to build onto and modernize the venue, we are excited to bring even more star power to our supporting fan base. Our fans have been awesome all season and we hope this shows our commitment to give them some of the sport’s biggest events.” “Cody and his staff have done an amazing job of revitalizing the West Virginia Motor Speedway,” Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Director Rick Schwallie added. “We pride ourselves in sanctioning some of the biggest events in dirt late model racing and we’re thrilled to add the Historic 100 to that growing list of mega events. Hats off to Cody and the team at West Virginia Motor Speedway for stepping up to build a marquee event for drivers and fans alike.” Tickets for the 2nd Annual “Historic 100” will go on sale later this year. Since being crafted marvelously in 1984, the West Virginia Motor Speedway has played host to some of the sport’s biggest events and brightest stars. Boasting one of the most beautiful settings and seats in dirt track racing while nestled attractively into the wild and wonderful mountains of small-town Mineral Wells, West Virginia the 5/8-mile terraced hillside sits conveniently adjacent to Interstate 77 for effortless access. Home to the ‘World’s Fastest Dirt Track’ ™, WVMS will blow you away with its incredible racing action and thrill-seeking speed. Affectionately known as “The Speedplant” the 70-acre site underwent a massive renovation before its reopening in 2021, claiming its place among the premier dirt tracks in the country. The West Virginia Motor Speedway is located at 2 Matheny Road in Mineral Wells, exit 170 off I-77, just south of Parkersburg, WV. For more information on West Virginia Motor Speedway, visit them online at www.wvmotorspeedway.com or “Like” them on Facebook @visitwvms. Friday, June 3rd Event Purse: 1. $15,000, 2. $6,500, 3. $3,500, 4. $3,000, 5. $2,500, 6. $2,400, 7. $2,300, 8. $2,200, 9. $2,100, 10. $2,000, 11. $1,600, 12. $1,400, 13. $1,300, 14. $1,200, 15. $1,050, 16. $1,000, 17. $1,000, 18. $1,000, 19. $1,000, 20. $1,000, 21. $1,000, 22. $1,000, 23. $1,000, 24. $1,000 = $57,050 Saturday, June 4th Event Purse: 1. $50,000, 2. $20,000, 3. $10,000, 4. $5,000, 5. $4,000, 6. $3,750, 7. $3,500, 8. $3,000, 9. $2,800, 10. $2,700, 11. $2,500, 12. $2,400, 13. $2,350, 14. $2,300, 15. $2,250, 16. $2,200, 17. $2,150, 18. $2,125, 19. $2,100, 20. $2,075, 21. $2,050, 22. $2,025, 23. $2,000, 24. $2,000 = $135,275

Doubleheader Offers Important Info Ahead of August’s Knoxville Nationals

KNOXVILLE, IA – June 8, 2021 – You’re guaranteed some magical moments when The Greatest Show on Dirt visits The Sprint Car Capital of the World.

This weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars look to deliver on that promise with the much-anticipated season debut at Iowa’s famed Knoxville Raceway.

The two-day Brownells Big Guns Bash is the ultimate pre-game for the 60th running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals pres. by Casey’s General Stores, which offers a $150,000 grand prize on August 11-14.

BUY TICKETS HERE (6/11-12)

Read up on some of the top storylines entering this weekend:

THE BIG THREE: When it comes to Outlaws at Knoxville, there’s no denying the current state of “The Big Three.” It’s Donny Schatz, Brad Sweet, and David Gravel without question. The numbers don’t lie.

Together, they’re the last three champions of the Knoxville Nationals, they’re the three winningest full-time Outlaws at the 1/2-mile, and they’re the three most successful drivers in the June doubleheader.

Since the June doubleheader was established in 2016, those three have helped to shut out every other Outlaw from victory lane. In those ten races, Schatz & Sweet each have two wins, while Gravel has one of his own. They’ve all been on the podium more than five times and all have recorded more than seven top-fives. You can count on each of them being favorites this weekend.

LOCAL LAPS: You can never have enough laps at Knoxville Raceway. Twice the season, teams have taken full advantage of a rain out and made the trip to the Iowa oval to attend a weekly show. Both times, an Outlaw walked away as the winner.

In April, when Devil’s Bowl rained out, the Knoxville season opener offered plenty of excitement when Sheldon Haudenschild scored his first-career win at the track, doing so in dramatic fashion with a last-lap pass over Giovanni Scelzi.

Two weeks ago, following Terre Haute’s cancellation, a new batch of teams trekked to town and this time, swept the podium. It was 2018 Knoxville Nationals champion Brad Sweet leading the way over Jason Johnson Racing’s Carson Macedo and his Kasey Kahne Racing teammate James McFadden.

NATIONALS PRE-GAME: Each and every year, the Brownells Big Guns Bash is crucial for teams and drivers. Excluding rare occurrences, this is the only weekend for the World of Outlaws to get a turn at the tricky 1/2-mile before the 60th running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals pres. by Casey’s General Stores comes around on August 11-14.

It’s the most prestigious event of the season, and it pays a cool $150,000-to-win. Making the preparation and practice all that much more important before game time arrives. Fan can BUY TICKETS HERE for the Knoxville Nationals.

KNOXVILLE REGULARS: Just like the PA Posse or California clan, there’s always a stout group of local competitors waiting to face the Outlaws when Knoxville rolls around. That’s no different this year.

Leading the charge is Brian Brown of Grain Valley, MO, who ranks fifth (53 wins) on Knoxville’s All-Time Wins List, with two of those coming this year. Terry McCarl of Altoona, IA will also be in action, chasing his 60th career win with a chance to tie Doug Wolfgang for second on the All-Time Wins List.

Other winners this season at Knoxville include Austin McCarl, Lynton Jeffrey, and most recently Giovanni Scelzi. Leading the Knoxville championship and expected to be in contention this weekend is also Davey Heskin of St. Michael, MN and Justin Henderson of Tea, SD.

GRAVEL’S GAINING: Saturday’s win at Granite City (MN) Speedway, his fifth of the season, marked another large dose of momentum for David Gravel and his Big Game Motorsports #2. They took that momentum and built on it come Sunday, taking advantage of a local show at Huset’s Speedway and getting a victory before the $30,000/Win Huset’s 50 brings the Outlaws to town on June 21-22.

With Sweet missing the podium for the seventh-straight race, Gravel cut the points advantage down to -56 points. He’ll have another two chances this weekend at Knoxville, where he’s the reigning Nationals champion, to close the gap even more.

FITTING PLACE FOR HISTORY: Obviously, he’ll take a win anywhere. However, you can’t underscore the magnitude of where such a historical win comes for Donny Schatz. Mother Nature spoiled his golden opportunity to do it at River Cities (ND) Speedway last Friday, but if it can’t be home, the hallowed grounds of Knoxville (IA) Raceway is probably second best.

The Knoxville, IA 1/2-mile will forever be linked to Schatz. The 10-time Knoxville Nationals champion is only two titles away from tying “The King” Steve Kinser for the most all-time. He’s won 27 career Features on the black book clay, ranking 10th all-time. It’s a place that has made the Fargo, ND native a lot of money and fame during his storied career.

More than the glory of getting his 300th career World of Outlaws win, Schatz just wants the sigh of relief from getting his first victory of the year. His current 35-race dry spell is his longest with the Series since 2002-03.

This Week at a Glance – When and Where

Friday, May 28 at Terre Haute Action Track in Terre Haute, IN
Monday, May 31 at Lawrenceburg Speedway in Lawrenceburg, IN

On the Internet
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Twitter – @WorldofOutlaws
Instagram – @WoOSprint
Facebook – Facebook.com/WorldofOutlawsSprintCarSeries
YouTube – Youtube.com/WorldofOutlaws
DIRTVision – DIRTVision.com – Platinum annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/month

Around the Turn: Following this weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will roll northwest to visit River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND on Friday, June 4, then Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, MN on Saturday, June 5.

NOS ENERGY DRINK FEATURE WINNERS (10 Drivers):
9 wins – Brad Sweet, Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #49
5 wins – David Gravel, Big Game Motorsports #2
3 wins – Sheldon Haudenschild, Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing #17
3 wins – Carson Macedo, Jason Johnson Racing #41
2 wins – Aaron Reutzel, Roth Motorsports #83
2 wins – Logan Schuchart, Shark Racing #1S
1 win – James McFadden, Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #9
1 win – Brent Marks, Brent Marks Racing #19M
1 win – Dave Blaney, Dave Blaney #10
1 win – Kyle Larson, Paul Silva #57

FEATURE LAPS LED (19 Drivers):
202 laps – Brad Sweet
152 laps – Sheldon Haudenschild
108 laps – David Gravel
105 laps – Aaron Reutzel
89 laps – Donny Schatz
68 laps – Logan Schuchart
47 laps – Carson Macedo
31 laps – James McFadden
27 laps – Sam Hafertepe Jr.
25 laps – Kyle Larson
19 laps – Tyler Courtney
17 laps – Brent Marks
10 laps – Jacob Allen & Brock Zearfoss
3 laps – Ian Madsen
1 lap – Kasey Kahne, Kraig Kinser, Brandon Spithaler, Dave Blaney

SLICK WOODY’S QUICKTIME AWARDS (12 Drivers):
8 QuickTimes – David Gravel
4 QuickTimes – Sheldon Haudenschild
3 QuickTimes – Brad Sweet
2 QuickTimes – James McFadden, Aaron Reutzel, Logan Schuchart, Cory Eliason, Sam Hafertepe Jr.
1 QuickTime – Carson Macedo, Danny Dietrich, Anthony Macri, Giovanni Scelzi

DRYDENE HEAT RACE WINNERS (24 Drivers)
14 Heat Wins – David Gravel
10 Heat Wins – Aaron Reutzel
9 Heat Wins – Carson Macedo
8 Heat Wins – Sheldon Haudenschild
6 Heat Wins – James McFadden, Logan Schuchart
5 Heat Wins – Donny Schatz
3 Heat Wins – Brad Sweet, Brock Zearfoss, Ian Madsen, Brian Brown, Giovanni Scelzi, Sam Hafertepe Jr.
2 Heat Wins – Jacob Allen, Kasey Kahne, Kraig Kinser, Jason Sides, Kyle Larson
1 Heat Win –  Danny Dietrich, Hunter Schuerenberg, Tyler Courtney, Lance Dewease, Anthony Macri, Brandon Spithaler

PODIUM FINISHES (21 Drivers):
14 Podiums – Brad Sweet
9 Podiums – Sheldon Haudenschild
8 Podiums – Carson Macedo, Donny Schatz
7 Podiums – David Gravel, Logan Schuchart
6 Podiums – Aaron Reutzel, David Gravel
5 Podiums – Brent Marks
3 Podiums – James McFadden, Giovanni Scelzi
2 Podiums – Cory Eliason, Lance Dewease, Anthony Macri
1 Podium – Kraig Kinser, Danny Dietrich, Tyler Courtney, Justin Peck, Brian Brown, Anthony Macri, Dave Blaney, Kyle Larson, Sam Hafertepe Jr.

2021 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Schedule & Winners

No. / Day, Date / Track / Location / Winner (Total Wins)
1. Fri, Feb. 5 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Brad Sweet (1)
2. Sun, Feb. 7 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Logan Schuchart (1)
3. Fri, March 5 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Carson Macedo (1)
4. Sat, March 6 / East Bay Raceway Park / Tampa, FL / Aaron Reutzel (1)
5. Fri, March 12 / Magnolia Motor Speedway / Columbus, MS / Sheldon Haudenschild (1)
6. Sat, March 13 / The Rev / Monroe, LA / David Gravel (1)
7. Fri, March 19 / Cotton Bowl Speedway / Paige, TX / Sheldon Haudenschild (2)
8. Sat, March 20 / Cotton Bowl Speedway / Paige, TX / Brad Sweet (2)
9. Sat, March 27 / Lake Ozark Speedway / Eldon, MO / Brad Sweet (3)
10. Fri, April 2 / I-55 Raceway / Pevely, MO / Brad Sweet (4)
11. Sat, April 3 / I-55 Raceway / Pevely, MO / Brad Sweet (5)
12. Fri, April 9 / Kokomo Speedway / Kokomo, IN / James McFadden (1)
13. Sat, April 10 / Tri-State Speedway / Haubstadt, IN / Carson Macedo (2)
14. Fri, April 22 / Bristol Motor Speedway / Bristol, TN / David Gravel (2)
15. Sun, April 24 / Bristol Motor Speedway / Bristol, TN / David Gravel (3)
16. Thur, April 29 / Jacksonville Speedway / Jacksonville, IL / Brad Sweet (6)
17. Fri, April 30 / I-70 Motorsports Park / Odessa, MO / Brad Sweet (7)
18. Sat, May 1 / I-70 Motorsports Park / Odessa, MO / Brad Sweet (8)
19. Sat, May 8 / Eldora Speedway / Rossburg, OH / Brent Marks (1)
20. Sat, May 8 / Eldora Speedway / Rossburg, OH / Sheldon Haudenschild (3)
21. Wed, May 12 / Lincoln Speedway / Abbottstown, PA / Brad Sweet (9)
22. Fri, May 14 / Williams Grove Speedway / Mechanicsburg, PA / Carson Macedo (3)
23. Sat, May 15 / Williams Grove Speedway / Mechanicsburg, PA / Aaron Reutzel (2)
24. Tues, May 18 / Bridgeport Speedway / Swedesboro, NJ / Logan Schuchart (2)
25. Fri, May 21 / Attica Raceway Park / Attica, OH / David Gravel (4)
26. Sat, May 22 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH / Dave Blaney (1)
27. Mon, May 31 / Lawrenceburg Speedway / Lawrenceburg, IN / Kyle Larson (1)
28. Sat, June 5 / Granite City Speedway /Sauk Rapi

June 7, 2021 Jim Allen

NARC NEWSLINE – JUNE 8, 2021, By Jim Allen …  Some sprint car drivers go their entire racing careers without ever experiencing the thill of victory lane.  Some finally hang up their helmet after only one or two wins over a career that last a decade.  It’s not for a lack of trying as much as it’s just plain hard to do.  The car needs to be darn near perfect, the driver must be on his A-Game, and a little luck always helps.  In other words, a lot of stars need to align, which brings us to Dominic Scelzi at the May 14-15 Peter Murphy Classic.  He didn’t win just once, not twice, not three times, but an almost unfathomable four times in two nights.  A career weekend for many.  In the revised PMC track format, Scelzi scored a Sprint Car Challenge Tour 360 win and Kings of Thunder 410 victory at Hanford on Friday night.  Then he backed that up the next night at Tulare with top honors in the Kings of Thunder 360 feature and the grand finale – the $11,000 to win Peter Murphy Classic for the NARC King of the West Fujitsu 410 Sprint Cars.  What are the odds?  A single renegade rut, a slip in qualifying, a brush with the wall, a flat tire, or just a bad hair day can totally ruin everything and end the streak.  While the King of the West record books will only officially show only one victory on May 15th, anybody who attended — and there were a lot of you — will remember the weekend that Dominic Scelzi lived up to his nickname (Dominator.) 

Speaking of capacity crowds, it is so nice to see California returning back to normal.  The ecstatic fans at Hanford and Tulare were stoked to see some “live” sprint car racing..  And the drivers and teams were glad they were back as well.  Racing without fans is like playing video games in the bathroom – empty, hollow, and doesn’t smell right.

PETER MURPHY CLASSIC NOTES – MAY 15th:  Said Scelzi at Tulare after setting quick time, “I got hurt here and I’m looking to redeem my myself.”  For those of you who might have forgot, Scelzi broke his back at Tulare a few years back and was going to give up the sport.  However, he said Peter Murphy encouraged him to recover and move forward.  Scelzi’s voice cracked with emotion during victory lane interviews and it was hard not to notice that one of the first people Scelzi hugged upon exiting his #41 sprint car was Peter Murphy … Bud Kaeding made Scelzi work for his big win at Tulare.  He led the first 23-laps, trading slide jobs, until Scelzi took the point.  At that point, Kaeding struggled and dropped to fourth.  Shane Golobic was second ($5000) and 11th starter Willie Croft ($3000) was a bullet in the late going to finish third. … Speaking of Golobic, he was on “baby-watch” all weekend, ready to depart at a moments notice.  But like a true racing champ, new son Tucker held out until Monday. … Twenty-two of the 24-starters finished on the lead lap.  It paid $1,000 to start the feature. …

… Billy Aton earned the Swift Metal Finishing Hardcharger award, starting 20th and ending up 10th.  While on the topic of Anton, he officially threw his name into the running for the NARC-King of the West Rookie of the Year award. … NARC driver Ronnie Day built a successful sprint car resume’ in his day, but he admitted things have changed recently.  He is no longer known as Ronnie Day, but as Corey Day’s dad.  Corey and Joel Myers Jr. happen to be the two biggest “up and comers” in the Golden State and their DMV Learners Permit will tell you they are only 15-years old.  Think about that for a second!  Hopefully they don’t get pulled out of California too soon to race back East. … Chase Johnson was down and out on Saturday after hurting his only 410 motor on Friday night at Hanford.  Being a car owner sucks sometimes.  He needs a full-time ride. … The PMC featured the Aussie Pole Shuffle.  In case you missed it, it went like this:  Sean Becker outran Kasey Kahne and won the next shuffle when Kyle Hirst was DQ’ed for a jump.  Bud Kaeding was next in line and beat Becker and Golobic in separate skirmishes, before losing to Scelzi in the finale.  Always exciting; always unpredictable.  …

… Iowa driver Austin McCarl was involved in a multi-car feature crash that did a number on the Tarlton Motorsports 21.  He was unhurt in the red flag incident. … Scelzi earned more than $20,000 for the weekend with all of the extra cash put up.  Thanks to Kimo’s Tropical Car Wash and Norm Rapp, Scelzi pocketed $1500 for his two fast time efforts on Saturday.  He also picked up a $600 bonus from Hanford Jewelry & Loan for claiming the Pole Shuffle.  Scelzi first investment might be on a bigger wallet.  They money will also come in handy for baby gear and diapers since he is going to become a new Dad soon.  On the flip side, Scelzi gave away all 18-pounds of Sunnyvalley Bacon he won to a pair of lucky fans.  …  As always, we are grateful to the one and only legend Peter Murphy for all of his contributions to the sport and for promoting a great two-race weekend with Tulare lead man Steve Faria. …

PETALUMA SPEEDWAY NOTES – MAY 22nd:  Justin Sanders, who is chasing a NARC-KWS title this season, was looking to improve on his 11th and eighth place finishes at the first two events of the year.  He finally got his ducks in a row and scored the elusive “W” at Petaluma aboard Larry Antaya‘s #16 XXX sprint car.  Sanders even set quick time, which he admitted is more rare than a tax break in California.  The seventh King of the West victory and the 100th of his career was worth $3500. …

… The start of this feature caused more finger-pointing than an investigation at a Pennsylvania ballot box.  Dash winner Andy Forsberg and Sanders started on the front row and it went downhill from there on the initial start as they powered out of the fourth corner.  Sanders and Forsberg got together.  Before it was over, Forsberg, Tim Kaeding, Dominic Scelzi, Kyle Offill, Michael Sellers were reeled in and Sean Becker escaped most of the carnage by flying over the infield berm with a wild Baja Trophy Truck maneuver.  It wasn’t pretty in any sense of the word and tempers got heated.  Sanders made it through intact, but Forsberg’s night in the upside down family A&A Stepping Stone 92 was over.  On a lighter note, hopefully nine pounds of Sunnyvalley Bacon made for a good breakfast the next morning at the Forsberg household. … Scelzi and Kaeding made quick repairs under red flag conditions to restart at the back and finished fifth and seventh respectively to stay in the championship points hunt. …

… Once the feature restarted, it went 30-laps non-stop in around seven-minutes, with Sanders sharing the podium with Bud Kaeding and the aforementioned Joel Myers Jr.  Nine cars finished on the lead lap. …  Kalib Montgomery surprised some driving the Scott-Ingraham #93.  With Stephen Ingraham out with other plans, Montgomery took over and did his own version of sprint car shock and awe.  He timed in eighth quick and finished a very respectable sixth in the feature — driving a 360-powered machine. …  Ryan Robinson looked right at home driving the Mike Phulps #56 car.  He timed in second quick and finished 10th in the main. … This racing program was completed at 8:36 p.m., or as my wife likes to say, “before the mall closed across the street.” …

NARC NOTES:  A front wing autographed by the 410 Peter Murphy Classic competitors was auctioned off for the NARC Benevolent Fund at Tulare.  It raised $750 for the fund.  Thank you Mike Vidal. Also, a sincere thank you to Rick Faeth/Glad Enterprises, “Big Kevin,” and Nancy Truex for their generous donations to the NARC Benevolent Fund also! …  California lost two more quality drivers to another part of the United States with Geoff and wife Shayna Ensign moving to Idaho.  Geoff’s best run with NARC was in 2019 when he ran the entire schedule, finished fifth in points, and earned the rookie-of-the-year award. … We have added a Friday, July 23rd event to the 2021 schedule.  It will take place at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway, which will make it a two-race weekend with Santa Maria Raceway hosting a Saturday night show. The Tulare race will be the “Chris & Brian Faria Memorial.”  Saturday’s show features a wheelie contest! … Have you checked out the nice “Pit Personalities” article on crew chief Drew Warner on NARC410.com?  You should! …  All of our races are available on FloRacing.com.  However, we would prefer to see you in person.  So would the track promoters! …  Pick up your official 2021 NARC King of the West t-shirt at the Bullet Impressions trailer or online at www.onefasttee.com. …

UPCOMING EVENTS:  We have another premium weekend of open wheel racing on tap for June 11-12th.  This is a bullring doubleheader with the NARC King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Car Series rolling into Ocean Speedway and Placerville Speedway.  Friday’s show in Watsonville will mark the 35th Annual running of the Pombo-Sargent Classic.  On Saturday, the series heads east up Highway 50 to the El Dorado County Fairgrounds for the highly anticipated 30th Annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial.  Thanks to the efforts of Dianne and Dave Durica, and the love and support of fans and sponsors of the Bradway event, this one is super lucrative.  It will pay $5000 to the winner of the 40-lapper.  Just think about that for a second … a 40-lapper at Placerville, where your typical 10-second lap has more excitement than a three-legged cat being chased by a pack of hungry coyotes.  There is also $5200 in lap money for the A & B-mains and the “Carwash” Mike Avilla Fast Time Award pays $1350.  And not to sound like an infomercial — “but wait, there is more!”  The Hardcharger payout is up to $1800 and if you read this a couple days from now, probably more!  Heat winners will score Hoosier RR rubber from Hoserville CA, plus there are a bunch of other donations for a variety of finishing positions.  It promises to be another great weekend and we wouldn’t expect nothing less.

Coming to you live from Auburn, CA.  See ya!

· First race for program on Belle Isle since 2008· Two mid-engine Corvette C8.Rs to compete in front of home crowd· Corvette brand with victories in GT, Prototypes at Detroit over the years

DETROIT (June 8, 2021) – For the first time in more than a decade, Corvette Racing will compete in its hometown when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship returns to Detroit and the Belle Isle street circuit this weekend for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic. Both of the team’s mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs will compete in the 100-minute race that airs live at 5 p.m. ET Saturday on NBCSN as part of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix weekend. While the GT Le Mans (GTLM) contest in a non-points event, that doesn’t lessen the importance of having Corvette Racing back on Belle Isle. For one, Belle Isle will provide an opportunity for the hundreds of Chevrolet production team members – both within the Corvette team and others outside the main program, all of whom contributed in some way to the C8.R and the road-going Corvette Stingray – to see Corvette Racing in-person for the only time in 2021. The reveal of the C8.R nearly 18 months ago was culmination of almost six years of work between all facets of engineers and designers from the Corvette production side and Corvette Racing. What resulted was a racecar that won six times during its 2020 debut season and swept the full-season IMSA GTLM championships for Manufacturers, Drivers and Teams. The Corvette C8.R also won the Rolex 24 At Daytona to start the 2021 season. Second, it’s Corvette Racing’s first IMSA event since the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March. Competing on Belle Isle will serve as a tune-up for a busy summer schedule that includes four races in a six-week span, plus the 24 Hours of Le Mans in mid-August. It also will be the first time the full-season driver pairings compete together – defending GTLM champions Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R with Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette. Corvette Racing competed at Belle Isle in 2007 and 2008 with the sixth-generation racing Corvette, which took American Le Mans Series class victories each year. The event date shifted from September to June in 2012, which was in conflict with the 24 Hours of Le Mans – one of the premier events on Corvette Racing’s calendar.  Two of the four Corvette Racing drivers – Milner and Taylor – have previous experience on Belle Isle. Milner twice raced GT2 cars in the American Le Mans Series, and Taylor is a five-time winner in prototypes at Belle Isle, including three in a Corvette Daytona Prototype. Chevrolet on Display at Belle IsleIn addition to happenings on the racetrack on Belle Isle, fans will have no shortage of things to see and do from Chevrolet. That’s because the Chevrolet Motorsports Display will be full of Chevrolet vehicles that spectators can learn more about throughout the weekend. The Chevrolet Motorsports Display opens at 7:30 a.m. from Friday through Sunday in the fan midway. Numerous Chevrolet vehicles and other highlights include: • A Corvette Racing C8.R showcar and the No. 16 Paretta Autsport IndyCar• Additional Chevrolet products such as the Camaro ZL1, Silverado and Blazer Redline Edition• An opportunity to receive a 2021 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix special edition T-shirt  The Chevrolet Sports Car Classic is scheduled for 5:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 12. The race will air live on NBCSN and stream on TrackPass via NBC Sports Gold and the NBC Sports App. IMSA Radio will air full qualifying and race coverage at IMSA.com along with Sirius 219, XM 202 and SiriusXM Online 992.

NHRA^® Team Report

NHRA New England Nationals – Epping

Pre-Race Report

Starting from the top-half of the field at every race this year is the fuel Cruz Pedregon, Crew Chief John Collins (JC) and the team need to keep rolling strong into Epping this weekend. The team is seeing the Snap-on^® Dodge^® Charger SRT Hellcat make consistent runs, and the break between races afforded time to check and resolve a timing issue and repair the body that scraped the wall in Houston. 

“The team is working so hard and you can see it paying off with a 3.94 second run at 323 (mph). We’re going to keep chipping away…going rounds and moving up in the points. With each race, we’re getting better and that feels good,” Cruz says. 

The team is building up its inventory and readying everything for the busiest part of the season, according to Cruz who says of the trip to the Northeast, “Epping’s always a fun race and I’m looking to claim a Wally at a track I have yet to win, so I’d like to punch a “W” there. There aren’t too many races we haven’t won, so this would be one of them. The best is yet to come for us and we’re just getting started.”

The season has already provided the team with more round wins than in the previous full season and a perfect reaction time by Cruz in Charlotte making him the first Funny Car driver to achieve it since 2008. He is one of only four drivers to do so in the last 40 years.

Follow Cruz and Snap-on on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

To see the latest Cruz news, like his Facebook page, where you can also check out his Vlog “Kickin’ It With The Cruzer.” Follow Cruz on Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to follow @MakersandFixers on Instagram and share your stories at makersandfix

Hosts Past Champions, New Rides and a Sprint Car StarDavenport, Sheppard, Larson and more big names hit the half-mile for four-straight nights ROSSBURG, OH – June 8, 2021 – Two Dirt Late Model Dreams in one week are now reality as the best DIRTcar Late Model drivers in the nation make their first of two annual pilgrimages to the hallowed grounds of Eldora Speedway to compete in the 26th and 27th Dream crown jewel events this Wed-Sat, Jun 9-12. With nearly $800,000 in total purse money up for grabs over all four nights, including $273,000 in winner’s shares alone, the sport’s biggest stars are scheduled to compete in front of a non-capacity-restricted Eldora grandstand for the first time in over 21 months. Wednesday and Friday nights will serve as the lone preliminary nights, featuring twin 25-lap, $10,000-to-win Feature events to set the Heat Race lineups for Thursday and Saturday night’s Dream main events. $127,000 goes to the winner of the 27th Dream on Thursday, $126,000 to the 26th winner on Saturday. Stay up to date with all of the latest information, photos, videos and other content throughout the double Dream week by following along on DIRTcar’s social media channels (Facebook @DIRTcar, Twitter @DIRTcarRacing, Instagram @dirtcar_official) and website. Here are the storylines to follow and drivers to watch for this weekend… WIN AND YOU’RE IN – Dream format news broke last Friday with Eldora announcing that each of the B-Scramble winners will now transfer directly into the Feature events on Thursday and Saturday nights. The B-Scramble races, contested immediately after the B-Main events before the Dream Features, were originally five-lap, $1,500-to-win dashes for any non-transfer car remaining on the track after their B-Main. This year, the winner will tag the rear of the main event field and have a chance to win the big money. WHAT KRYPTONITE? – Jonathan Davenport, of Blairsville, GA, is Eldora’s most recent Late Model marquee event winner, taking the checkers in the World 100 substitute Intercontinental Classic last September, and again comes into the week as a double Dream favorite. Superman is currently riding the momentum wave of a big weekend in West Virginia, sweeping the Super Late Model events at West Virginia Motor Speedway to collect a grand total $35,000 in winnings. While the track was a semi-banked 5/8-mile, compared to Eldora’s 24 degrees of banking in the turns, the similar speeds he faced down the straightaways were a nice bit of preparation before beginning his high-speed hunt for a second Dream title this week. SPRINT CAR STAR – Bursting on to the Dirt Late Model scene in August of last year, in the midst of what will be forever known as one of the most successful seasons in dirt track racing history, Kyle Larson has since become one of the biggest threats to win any given Late Model event across the nation. Larson, of Elk Grove, CA, has mastered Eldora in a Sprint Car multiple times over his career, but never once competed at the track in a Late Model. That is, until this Wednesday, when he’ll climb back behind the wheel of the K&L Rumley Enterprises #6 Longhorn Chassis, chasing a $10,000 victory in one of two 25-lap preliminary Features. Despite having only a handful of Dirt Late Model starts, Larson will enter the event as one of the favorites. His most recent Late Model start on a half-mile came back in March at the dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway, where he led laps and finished second to winner Jonathan Davenport. Crew chief and car owner Kevin Rumley, who took Davenport to Victory Lane at both of Eldora’s crown jewels in 2015, will once again be in his corner, which makes 2021 the team’s best shot at seeing Eldora Victory Lane in a crown jewel event since their 2015 triumphs. D-SHEPP – The defending Dream champion will take to The Big E this week for his first-ever Eldora crown jewel title defense. Brandon Sheppard, of New Berlin, IL, gave Rocket1 Racing team owner Mark Richards his first career Eldora crown jewel event victory in the most recent running of the Dirt Late Model Dream back in June 2019. Last year’s Dirt Late Model Stream Invitational was technically not considered to be a Dream, thus making him the defending champion coming into the weekend. The 28-year-old currently leads World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series points and would love nothing more than to claim a $126,000 and/or $127,000 check for he and the team – one that would certainly brighten up a season in which they’ve only seen Victory Lane an unusually low two times so far. SMALL TRAILER, BIG DREAM – Many local and regional Late Model teams throughout the country would trade a lot for an opportunity to compete in even one Dirt Late Model Dream. Last week, Ryan Missler was granted the opportunity to race in two. The five-time Attica Raceway Park track champion from Bellevue, OH, won the fan-vote contest to send one local/regional Late Model racer who had never previously entered the event to this year’s double Dream with a big prize package that included Hoosier Racing Tires and fuel certificates, a new set of seatbelts and even his own custom t-shirts for the occasion. OFF THE CHAIN – It’s only June, and Kyle Strickler has already had one whirlwind of a season. After kicking off his 2021 campaign with two big victories versus the Outlaws at Volusia, Strickler recently vacated his ride at Hope, IN-based PCC Motorsports and cashed in on an opportunity to work with one of the sport’s all-time greats, Scott Bloomquist. The 37-year-old from Mooresville, NC, linked-up with the Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer for last month’s World of Outlaws weekend at Port Royal Speedway and is slated to bring his Team Zero Race Cars ride into Eldora this week – a place where Bloomquist himself has won an all-time high 12 crown jewel events. Strickler won a Stream Invitational preliminary Feature and nearly captured the victory in the Intercontinental Classic last year if it weren’t for a blown tire in the final laps. With Bloomquist in his corner this week, Strickler is set up for his biggest chance to finally claim his first Late Model crown jewel in front of a full-capacity crowd.

DIRTcar Racing is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel), Chevy Performance Parts, iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, and NAPA Auto Parts (SDS). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), ASI Race Wear (SDS), Bassett Racing Wheel, Bell Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, Bicknell Racing Products (SDS), Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux (SDS), Cometic Gasket (SDS), COMP Cams, Drydene, Fast Shafts, Fox Factory, Jerovetz Motorsports Shock Service, K1 Race Gear, KSE Racing Products, MSD, Mulit FireX, Quarter Master, Schoenfeld Headers, Summit Racing Equipment, Velocita USA, Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum), and Xceldyne. Along with manufacturer sponsors, including: FireAde, Intercomp, and Racing Electronics.

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Steve ‘Baggsy’ Biagioni WINS BDC Round One! This past weekend marked the first British Drift Championshipevent of 2021. With the season being kicked off at Teesside Autodrome in Middlesbrough on the 29th & 30th May.

With over 40 drivers lined up to compete in the Pro class, Baggsy brought the #PS13V8 to party, fresh from its trip back from Oman. This is the first time Baggsy has driven the car since it was shipped out, back in November 2020!

Sunday morning practice. Baggsy felt comfortable out on track, laying down both solid lead and chase runs, mixing it up with different drivers on the grid.

11:45, Qualifying time. Baggsy scoring an 82.33 on his first run,playing it safe to get a score on the board and placing him into23rd position.

With the session coming to an end, Baggsy put everything he had into his last run. Running a near perfect qualifying line, scoring a92.83 on his second run. Securing 6th place.

Battles up next & Baggsy going against Haydn Cruickshank in the Top 32.  Baggsy pulling away from Haydn in this lead run, handing the advantage into his chase. Baggsy sticking his PS to the door in the chase too, ultimately gave Baggsy the pass into the next bracket.

Shortly after Baggsy’s battle, all drivers brought their vehicles out for the Top 16 parade. With interviews from each driver, it gave the perfect opportunity for the fans to check out their favourite cars going into the main show.

Next up, Ross Barr in the Top 16. Baggsy to lead first, pulling away a few car lengths from Ross in the chase, giving him the advantage leading into the second run. Ross making a little mistake into clip 4 causing him to have too much angle in the car gave Baggsy the chance to stick to his door through the rest of the circuit. Ending with Baggsy advancing into the Great 8.

Dan Tyler was Baggsy’s next victim. Dan putting a solid lead line in the first half of this battle, although that was no match for the sheer pace of Baggsy’s V8 PS13, which was glued to Dan’s door the whole lap.  Baggsy pulled away from Dan in his lead run which inevitably gave him the win onto the Final 4.

Final 4, Baggsy vs Kevin Quinn. The rivalry carried over from UKDC, when they battled eachother in the Final 4 a month ago at Three Sisters Circuit.  Baggsy to lead first, laying down a very solid qualifying line. Kevin calling a 5 minute rule before the second half of the battle, and then him to lead. Baggsy to chase the fast Nissan S15, pulling off a backwards entry into clip 4 and staying with Kevin for the rest of the run.  Baggsy advances on into the Final.

The Final. Baggsy to battle it out for the top spot against Steven McConnell.Off the line and Baggsy takes impact from McConnell into the first corner, which gave Baggsy a huge advantage going into the second half of this battle.  Baggsy to chase, leaving a gap between him and McConnell but reels him in after the first few clipping points. Coming out of the last corner McConnell shuts it down causing another collision, ending the run & securing the win for Baggsy.

Two events, Two podiums in 2021!

Also bringing in a new face to the team this year, Sam has stepped up to be Baggsy’s spotter and team engineer, alongside Bob from Motorsport Fifty6 and only pushing for the best.

British Drift Championship – Battles Livestream

Baggsy – “What a weekend!” “Thank you to everyone who supported us this weekend here at Teesside for BDC R1, my team here & at home, our family and our sponsors” “For the first time in a long time the car was perfect from start to finish! Just awesome to drive and that’s down to my amazing team, thank you!” www.baggsyboy.com www.sbmotorsport.com

EVENT RECAP: Round 2   Florida completely opened our eyes for what is ahead! Being back at Orlando Speedworld with harsh transitions off the bank; into uneven track conditions, along with sensitive speed control through the course, proved just how far the Supra’s development has come! Dan was one with the car and ran some of his best practice laps to date. As much as we all want to break into the Great 8 and advance from there, we battled through Top 32 but our night ended in Top 16. Overall Dan and the team left Orlando feeling very confident in the car and what it is now capable of, allowing Dan to be more competitive than ever. We have set high expectations for this season and our enthusiasm has only increased as we progress closer and closer to our goals within this challenging motorsport that you have chosen to be a part of with us. Next up, New Jersey in 3 weeks!

The car is back at HQ!

Back in November 2020 we shipped our Nissan PS13 comp car to Oman for the Oman International Drift Championship, unfortunately the organisers had to cancel their series.

So it’s been a while since we last saw the car, but last week Baggsy received a call that we had all been waiting for. After some serious shipping delays, the PS is back on British territory! 

Now back at the workshop, fluid changes and spanner check done, the car has only been back for a day and it’s ready for its first event of the year.

This past Sunday we headed down to Wheel Pros Europe in Braintree, Essex for their first Open House. 

The guys at Wheel Pros asked us to bring the PS13 to display the Rotiform LAS-R wheels, alongside Luke Woodham’s S14 and George Barclay’s S13.

We even had @PlayersShows interview Baggsy for their next episode of Players World. 

Baggsy – “It’s great to have the PS13 back in the workshop after so long & I’m excited to get back behind the wheel at BDC this weekend!”

www.baggsyboy.com

www.sbmotorsport.com