May 26, 2021

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Masterforce Tools team are heading into this weekend’s Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway hoping to pick up where they left off the last time the Cup Series raced on a 1.5-mile track.

In the Buschy McBusch 400 at Kansas Speedway on May 2, DiBenedetto ran well all day and scored a season-best fourth-place finish.
 
Sunday’s race, at 600 miles, is the longest on the Cup Series schedule, but DiBenedetto said he and the Menards/Masterforce team are up to the challenge.
 
“It’s a long race, but we are excited for it because we have been strong on mile-and-a-half tracks,” he said.
 
DiBenedetto also said he is proud to be a part of the Memorial Day weekend tribute to fallen service members that has become a part of the race weekend at Charlotte.
 
Through the 600 Miles of Remembrance program, each race team honors a fallen service member by carrying his or her name on the race car and often hosting family members of the deceased.
 
This year, DiBenedetto, the Wood Brothers and the Menards/Masterforce team will be honoring United States Marine Corps Sgt. Jeremy E. Murray of Atwater, Ohio.
 
Murray enlisted in the U.S. Army after graduating from high school. Once he finished his tour he returned home and worked a civilian job for a time before enlisting in the Marine Corps.

Hoping to make the Marines his career, Murray was on his third deployment to Iraq when he died November 16, 2005, from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in the vicinity of Hadithah, Iraq.
 
He was 27 years old. 
 
At that time, he was assigned to 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force, Camp Pendleton, California. During Operation Iraqi Freedom, his unit was attached to 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary.
 
He left behind, his wife, Megan (Ferringer); son, Ian; parents, Harold and Pamela Murray of Atwater; sister, Lisa Murray Frame of Atwater; grandfather, Enlow W. Murray of Georgia; and many aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.
 
The United States Post Office Building in Rootstown, Ohio, where his mother worked, was named for Murray, and now the No. 21 Menards/Masterforce Mustang will carry his name in the Coca-Cola 600.
 
DiBenedetto said he’s honored to be a part of that remembrance.
 
“It’s a special time being Memorial Day weekend,” he said. “We are a very patriotic family and are proud to honor our fallen heroes.”
  
A practice session is set for Friday at 7 p.m. Eastern Time, and qualifying for the Coca-Cola 600 is scheduled to start at 11:05 a.m. on Saturday. 
 
The Coca-Cola 600 is expected to get the green flag just after 6 p.m. on Sunday with TV coverage on FOX.
  
There will be three Stage breaks – at Laps 100, 200 and 300.
 

Festival of Power UnlockedSanta Pod RacewayFri.25 – Sun.27 June 2021
The roar of delight heard around Santa Pod Raceway when Covid-19 restrictions are lifted on 21^st June, as expected, will be drowned out four days later by the roar of engines as the venue presents its first full-house, unlimited-audience event since the pandemic took hold last year.
The Festival of Power is traditionally held at Easter to launch the UK drag racing season. Postponed by Covid, this year’s version will take place over the 25^th-27^th June weekend and, to honour the lifting of restrictions, is being re-branded as the Festival of Power Unlocked.
The name may be modified but the format remains as exciting as ever, melding championship drag racing, on two wheels and four, with entertainments and attractions for all the family. At the noisiest end of the programme will be the nitro-burning European Funny Car Series, plus at least one Top Fuel Dragster shaking off the dust after a winter’s rest. A key feature of the Festival has long been the Jet Car Shootout, and five of the thunderous, fire-breathing beasts are scheduled to light up the start line.
This will in fact be the second national championship round for cars and motorcycles – the series began five weeks earlier, in front of a limited-attendance crowd. The bill-topping Pro Modifieds of the Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship already have an early points leader at whom to take aim when these outrageously powerful ‘silhouette’ machines hit the track on Festival Friday for their first qualifying session. In addition, 11 Sportsman car classes will compete in their respective national title chases while, on two wheels, 10 motorcycle classes, headed by Top Fuel Bike, will battle for two-wheeled supremacy. The youngsters of Junior Dragster and Junior Drag Bike will enjoy their own eighth-mile action.
Away from the track, the Live Action Arena will focus on Monster Trucks and the amazing feats of champion stunt driver Terry Grant and stunt rider Lee Bowers, along with the regular diet of funfair rides, helicopter pleasure flights, sideshows, children’s amusements and some lively evening entertainments in the Fuelers Bar.
The Festival of Power Unlocked takes place at Santa Pod Raceway, near Wellingborough (NN29 7XA) from Friday 25^th to Sunday 27^th June. Advance adult admission prices begin at £20, with children aged 5-15 at £5 each. Full event and venue information is available at www.santapod.co.uk or by telephoning the Box Office at 01234 782828. Tickets may be bought online or by telephone but must be pre-booked. There will be no admission at the gate.

Indy 500 Weekend Shared with The Greatest Show on Dirt in The Hoosier State

TERRE HAUTE, IN – May 25, 2021 – They call it The Greatest Spectical in Racing; We call it The Greatest Show on Dirt.

Not only is The Hoosier State spoiled with the 105th running of the Indianapolis 500 this weekend, but the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is coming to town, too.

While the big track on 16th Street takes the spotlight on Sunday afternoon, the Outlaws will be captivating fans on Friday and Monday to bookend the epic weekend of racing in Indiana. It begins with a trip to Terre Haute Action Track on May 28 and wraps up with a stop at Lawrenceburg Speedway on May 31.

TERRE HAUTE TICKETS (5/28)
LAWRENCEBURG TICKETS (5/31)

Here are some of the storylines to follow this week:

INDIANA’S LAST CALL: The Memorial Day Weekend doubleheader in “The Hoosier State” will mark the final chance for Indiana’s faithful to see the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars inside their home state this year. Two previous appearances on the bullrings at Kokomo and Tri-State thrilled fans in April, so now the big tracks at Terre Haute and Lawrenceburg get their time to shine.

Friday’s race at Terre Haute will be the 165th World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event contested in Indiana.

BIG AND WIDE: After an Ohio weekend on a smaller 1/3-mile at Attica and smooth 3/8-mile at Sharon, the Outlaws will be getting back to two high-speed joint this weekend. Terre Haute’s ultra-wide surface is one of eight 1/2-mile venues on the 2021 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series schedule. After Terre Haute, Lawrenceburg will become one of the most high-banked tracks of the season on Monday.

Of the nine races already contested on 1/2-miles this year, we’ve had seven different winners. Only David Gravel (sweeping Bristol) and Carson Macedo (Volusia, Williams Grove) have found victory lane more than once on the big tracks.

EVIL LADY LUCK: Sheldon Haudenschild and his Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink #17 have been the fastest they’ve ever been, but Lady Luck will just not side with them. It could easily be argued that the Wooster, OH native should have an additional five wins (leading with less than 10 to go) on top of his already scored three victories.

He was gone at Tri-State when he got a flat tire in lap traffic; He was handling it at Jacksonville when he cut a tire on debris; He was destroying the field at I-70 and Sharon until late race cautions spoiled it; and he was coming to take the white flag at Sharon when a lap traffic gave him nowhere to go.

If you crunch the numbers, in an ideal world Haudenschild would be slotted second in the championship only -8 points behind Sweet for the top spot, but instead he’s -164. The season is still young, and the #17 is still rippin’, though. He’ll get two more shots to rebound and get back in victory lane this weekend at Terre Haute and Lawrenceburg.

ON THE RISE: Earlier this season, Donny Schatz had slipped as far back as seventh in the championships standings. You read that right, seventh for the 10-time World of Outlaws champion. Some trying times presented the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing #15 with hurdles, but they’ve fought back and clawed their way to fourth in the standings, only down -150 points.

Since his rough stretch in April with four consecutive finishes outside the top-10, Schatz and the Ford Performance, Carquest crew have recovered nicely. In 13 events since then, he’s recorded five podium finishes and nine top-five results with an average finish of 5.3. This weekend, Schatz returns to two tracks (Terre Haute & Lawrenceburg) that he’s won at before with a good chance to keep the momentum rolling.

POUNCING ON THE BIG CAT: Over the last eight events, two-time and defending Series champion Brad Sweet hasn’t been his usually dominant self. The Kasey Kahne Racing #49 did tame the PA Posse at Lincoln Speedway, but outside of that lone victory during that stretch he recorded an average finish of 9.7 and let him points lead dwindle down.

Capitalizing on Sweet’s slow May is the trio of David Gravel, Carson Macedo and Donny Schatz. At one point, the Grass Valley, CA native had more than 100 points on the whole field, but his struggles have made way for others to close the gap. Now, Gravel only sits -56 behind, Macedo has narrowed it down to -86, and Schatz has clawed back to only -150.

ONE EPIC WEEK: As if the allure of The Greatest Show on Dirt isn’t enough, the overload of racing inside Indiana should sell you on making the trip this weekend. Of course, there’s the World of Outlaws shows on Friday night at Terre Haute Action Track and Monday night at Lawrenceburg Speedway, but to offer you more bang for your buck, there’s more racing every other night.

Fans can pre-game for the Outlaws at Terre Haute by visiting the 1/2-mile on Wednesday and Thursday for USAC Sprint Cars and Silver Crown. The population will surge on Friday, Saturday & Sunday as race weekend arrives for the Indianapolis 500. More local racing supports Indy on the weekend and finally the Outlaws cap off the epic week at Lawrenceburg for a Memorial Day special on Monday night.

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 (8 Drivers):
9 wins – Brad Sweet, Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #49
4 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

FEATURE LAPS LED (18 Drivers):
202 laps – Brad Sweet
151 laps – Sheldon Haudenschild
89 laps – Donny Schatz
88 laps – David Gravel
81 laps – Aaron Reutzel
68 laps – Logan Schuchart
47 laps – Carson Macedo
31 laps – James McFadden
27 laps – Sam Hafertepe Jr.
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):
7 QuickTimes – David Gravel
4 QuickTimes – Sheldon Haudenschild
2 QuickTimes – Brad Sweet, James McFadden, Aaron Reutzel, Cory Eliason, Sam Hafertepe Jr.
1 QuickTime – Carson Macedo, Logan Schuchart, Danny Dietrich, Anthony Macri, Giovanni Scelzi

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

PODIUM FINISHES (20 Drivers):
14 Podiums – Brad Sweet
8 Podiums – Carson Macedo
7 Podiums – Donny Schatz, Sheldon Haudenschild
6 Podiums – Aaron Reutzel, Logan Schuchart, 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, 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)

NASCAR CUP SERIESCHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAYCOCA-COLA 600TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTMAY 25, 2021
CHAD KNAUS, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS VICE PRESIDENT OF COMPETITION ~ Teleconference Transcript Highlights: IT WAS A MONUMENTAL MOMENT FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AT COTA. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU AND TO THE COMPANY?“Oh, it was so many levels of coolness. Obviously, the inaugural event at COTA. Having that 268 kind of circled on my board now for about a year and a half as we’ve been approaching it. And to be able to get that 800th victory for Chevrolet was just awesome. The guys and gals that work here at Hendrick Motorsports over the years have all contributed on many levels to get these wins. To be able to tie Richard Petty Motorsports is just awesome. As I grew up as a young man, the king was the king, right? And everybody wanted to be like Richard Petty. I know the amount of respect that Mr. Hendrick and everybody here at Hendrick Motorsports has for Richard and his whole organization; it’s pretty awesome to be able to tie those guys.”
WHAT WINS STAND OUT THE MOST THAT PERSONIFY HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS THAT SHOW WHY THEY TIED THE PETTY RECORD?“Oh, there are so many. I think back on the ones that I think were challenging that maybe we were able to pull off as an organization that maybe we shouldn’t have. The million-dollar win at Darlington with Jeff; we weren’t as fast as we needed to be that year. We made a bunch of changes to the race car throughout the course of the race and were able to come back and win that race. That’s a big one. There was a 600-mile race at Charlotte for the Coca-Cola 600 that we won that we had an alternator issue. We had to change batteries toward the latter stages of the race. We were all the way back in the pack and were able to charge up past Bobby Labonte, I think it was, coming to the checkered. Those types of races and the tenacity I feel like we’ve had with our drivers, our teams, and our crew chiefs at Hendrick Motorsports is what really makes where we are today possible. There were a ton of races that were won prior to me ever getting here; for being a part of it. But I can tell you this. The reason I’m here is because I wanted to be a part of Hendrick Motorsports and a winning organization when I was a young man. There are a lot of pretty critical ones out there.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE 2004 WIN IN ATLANTA THE WEEK AFTER THE MARTINSVILLE TRAGEDY? WHAT DID THAT DO FOR THE ORGANIZATION?“Obviously, in 2004 we won at Martinsville. That day was tragic. I’ll never forget that day. It was tough. But the thing that I remember the most is going to Mr. Hendrick’s house that night and the strength that we had saying we’re going to keep going. We’re going to keep doing this and showing up at Hendrick Motorsports and saying we’re going to go to Atlanta. We’re going to race. And for us to be able to go there and race that next event as an organization in the manner of which we did, which was tough; it was really hard to get through the weekend. But what was really amazing is once we dropped the green flag, everybody knew what we were there to do. We were there to try to win that race. And we battled Mark Martin at the very end and were able to beat him. That was one that really set this organization up for a can’t lose, never die situation.”
CAN YOU EXPLAIN WHY STOCK CARS ARE JUST NOT GOOD IN THE RAIN? IS THERE AN ANSWER TO THAT?“I don’t know that any car is quote unquote good in the rain, right? Street cars that are designed to be driven in inclement weather, if it’s raining out, it’s hard to see. You slow down, right? That’s kind of what it is. Quite honestly, I felt like our cars performed extremely well in the rain situations. The drivers were able to steer, turn, accelerate, race; I think they performed really well. The issue was the spray. So, the visibility is difficult. That’s like that in any form of racing or on the street. You’re going to deal with that. So, I don’t think that our car is bad in wet conditions per se. I think it actually performed really well. So, I’m not trying to twist you up on that. I’m just saying I don’t think there’s any car that’s really good in the rain when you’re behind somebody else. That’s a tough position to be in.”
SO, IS IT A MATTER OF KNOWING HOW WATER IS TOO MUCH WATER TO COMPETE IN AND NOT NECESSARILY THE CAR BEING THE ISSUE?“There’s probably an element to that, for sure. I think the only way to learn is to do. And could some decisions have been made? NASCAR has admitted it. Could single file restarts at little bit sooner helped? Yeah, I don’t disagree. But you know that. Just like racing on the dirt. You don’t know that until you do it. And you learn from your mistakes. So, it’s an environmental thing where you’ve just got to get yourself immersed in there. You’ve got to do it. You’ve got to get in the environment; understand the situations, and then make decisions as you go. That’s unfortunately what we have to do. I think NASCAR did the best job they could under the circumstances, and I feel like they learned a lot. And we’ll just grow from it.”
WHAT IMPACT ARE YOU MAKING IN YOUR NEW ROLE AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND WHEN MIGHT YOU HAVE EVEN MORE INPUT IN THAT ROLE?“Look, it’s hard for me to know exactly my contribution. You would have to ask people that are probably working with me and alongside me that question. We’ve been working really hard since the middle of last year as an organization to get flipped and to get our performance where we needed it because we weren’t where we needed to be. And that wasn’t a happy place for anybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We decided at that point, as a company, that we were going to put our heads down and get to work and right the ship. By the end of the season, we were fortunate enough to get out there and win a couple of races in a row and pull off the championship in pretty dominating fashion with the No. 9 car. I think we’ve been going down this path for a while, right? Have I helped? I hope so. If I’m not contributing, I’m probably not going to keep this job for very long (laughs).
“We’ve really put our heads down. We’ve really focused on performance and teamwork and working with one another (by) bringing in an amazing crew chief, like Rudy Fugle, to be able to work alongside Cliff (Daniels) and Alan (Gustafson) and Greg (Ives) I think was a huge asset and a huge boost to our company. And then you bring in a guy like Kyle Larson, who is an amazing driver; and put him alongside the other drivers that we’ve had and been growing here at the company, and you’ve got a pretty good army of folks to go to the race track with, right? I think that’s what you’re seeing is a lot of the fruit from the labor and the effort and the work that these guys and our teams and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports has been putting out there. The pit crews are knocking off really good pit stops consistently, which is great. So, there are a lot of things that are going right that are months in the works. Hopefully we have more to come.”
CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH THE CURRENTLY TECHNOLOGY THE TEAMS USE TO MONITOR WEATHER?“If you’re talking directly to the rain, when we made our decisions on wets versus dries and all of that at the beginning of the race, clearly nobody had it right. Every race team had a couple going in each direction. We, unfortunately just like a weatherman on TV. You’re lucky if you get it about 75 percent. And that’s kind of it. We have our weather apps and programs. We do all the things most people do. But weather is weather, and it changes quickly. At a track as large as COTA, it’s really difficult to manage that. You can have a band of showers that goes across one portion of the track and on the other side, it’s not that bad. One thing that was really interesting last weekend was the way that the pit road is, with a tower of suites behind there, three of our teams were kind of where the suites were and the No. 5 car, on the first pit box, was outside of that. I’m sitting on the No. 48 pit box and man it’s not raining that bad. You could see sprinkles coming down. I hopped down and walked down to the No. 5 pit box and those guys were soaked to the bone. You just don’t know that if you’re not in the environment. Still, the best weather app is just taking your hat off and seeing if it’s raining or not and then you can stick it back on.”
ARE YOU GETTING PARTS AND PIECES FOR THE NEXT GET CAR? WHEN DO YOU THINK YOU’LL HAVE A CAR READY TO GO FOR A SESSION?“We have tests scheduled at Bristol in August. That’ll be a first on-track with that. We are starting to slowly get some parts and components in. It’s going to be quite a transition and quite a process, but it’s an exciting one for sure, and it’s the future of our sport. I’m glad to be a part of it and a part of the transition because it’s going to be unique how we pivot, how we change, how we test this car, how we race this car, how we inspect this car. It’s all going to be brand new and we’re going to be learning together as an industry.”
ANOTHER BIG NUMBER FOR YOU IS GOING TO BE 269. IT’S NOT A MATTER OF IF, BUT WHEN. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THAT AND WHAT IT WILL MEAN TO THE ORGANIZATION AND HOW MUCH RICK HENDRICK HAS PLAYED A PART IN THIS SPORT?“We’ve had 268 circled for so long, I don’t even know what 269 is going to be like yet. We’re really excited to be right there, close to being able to get that. The 600 would be an awesome time for us to get it right here in Hendrick Motorsports’ back yard. It would be great to get that before the season is out. That’s definitely the goal. What Mr. Hendrick has done for this industry and the racing community is nothing short of great. He has contributed in so many manners and touched so many people’s lives. Whether you’ve worked with him or raced against him; surely, he’s done something for you in some capacity. To have that presence in our sport is just fantastic. It’s going to be an honor to celebrate that with him. I’m a huge Rick Hendrick fan. He has been a metric to me since I was 21 years old and has really helped me along with my career. I’m just happy to be a part of it. I can’t wait to give him a big hug after we get it and we can go and hopefully get more.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAYCOCA-COLA 600TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTMAY 25, 2021
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript DO YOU TRAIN ANY DIFFERENTLY FOR THE 600, ESPECIALLY CONSIDERING THAT FRIDAY LOOKS TO BE A VERY HOT DAY, BUT SUNDAY LOOKS A LITTLE COOLER?“I just hydrate differently, or more, throughout the week, honestly. As far as it goes, like effort in the car, I think the 600 is maybe not the highest effort race because of the way the track is. There’s not a ton of bump content or wheel content maybe, like you would at, say like Darlington or Atlanta would be harder. So no, I don’t think physically you do much. I think that eating and hydrating is a little bit different because throughout the race you need more fluids, and you also need to eat at some point during the race; whether it’s like energy chews or stuff like that. That’s all I do differently.”
AS A CHARLOTTE NATIVE, GROWING UP IN CHARLOTTE, DO YOU CARE A WHOLE LOT ABOUT THE INDY 500? GROWING UP AS A KID, DID YOU WATCH IT? OR WERE YOU ALWAYS FOCUSED ON GOING TO THE SPEEDWAY AND THE STOCK CARS?“I’ve cared about it more as the years go by. I think as I’ve grown in appreciation of racing in general, and I’ve learned some of those folks on the INDYCAR side with the training guys I use with PitFit (like) Jim Leo, they train Scott Dixon and some of those guys up there. So yeah, I think I’ve grown in appreciation for it. I can’t say that I know everything that I watch or know everything that’s going on, but I definitely try to catch the end of the race as we get ready for the 600. It just kind of varies based on timing. But yeah, it’s a really cool day to have both of us competing.”
WHAT DO YOU ADMIRE ABOUT THE FORM OF RACING WE’LL SEE IN THE INDY 500? WOULD YOU EVER WANT TO RACE ONE OF THOSE CARS IN YOUR CAREER OR ARE YOU LIKE A STOCK CAR GUY?“I’m a stock car guy. They’re both hard. They’re both difficult to drive in their own ways.  I think that what I’ve noticed the most is that with a stock car you’re dealing with something that’s way overpowered and heavy for the race tracks we run on, for the most part. There are some tracks that do have more grip than others. But I think in general, you’re sliding around a lot. I think with an IndyCar, you’re a lot more stuck to the track, but they’re also pushing the cars way faster. So, there are pros and cons to both. But I enjoy watching the INDYCAR races, I’d say, the Indy 500 the most because I feel like it’s got the most importance to those buys. I don’t know if I’d ever do it, thought. It’s so different. The discipline is so different than I’ve ever been used to. I could get used to it on iRacing or something, but it’s going to be a way different beast when you get into the car.”
ALL THE TEAMS AT HENDRICK HAVE WINS NOW HEADING INTO THE PLAYOFFS, AND A WEEK EARLIER, YOU FINISHED 1-2-3-4. CHAD KNAUS SAID ALL THE DRIVERS ARE GETTING ALONG REALLY WELL WITH SHARING INFORMATION. EXPLAIN THE MODE THERE, KNOWING YOU WILL BE COMPETING AGAINST EACH OTHER IN THE PLAYOFFS. HOW DOES THAT FEEL?“I think we hope that this run continues. It’s early in the year so you’ve got to keep that speed and that momentum up throughout the year, which is really hard. You can easily get ahead and then fall behind and somebody leapfrogs, and that cycle continues throughout the year until you get to the final race, which is why that final race is such a surprise sometimes. The work never stops all the way until then. Somebody is always chasing or trying to keep their lead. For us, we’ve just got to keep it up. For us on the No. 24, we’ve done really well this year. I think in the past 10 to 12 races, our worst finish was 11th, and that’s great. We just have to make the highs a little bit higher and try to get another win, which is what we’re focused on at Charlotte.”
THERE WERE A NUMBER OF CHALLENGES AT COTA. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THE RAIN AND THE WINDSHIELD WIPERS AND THE FOGGER AND THAT TYPE OF EQUIPMENT? WHAT WERE THE CHALLENGES? AND WHAT NEEDS IMPROVEMENT IN THOSE COMPONENTS?“It’s a little bit of both. The defogger works pretty well, I think. I think the biggest issue, like last year, we ran in the rain at the ROVAL and none of us used the windshield wiper because it didn’t do anything because the rain was so light. Whereas this time around, the rain got so bad that you actually had to run the windshield wiper just to see, period. I thought ours worked better than we expected. I think there’s still room to so on that. It was extremely hard to see there in Stage 2. I think that everybody agreed on that. I was back in 35th after our damage, and I couldn’t see anything. It got better as the race went on. As I got further up in the field and was starting to run like 5th to 12th, I was able to see better. It was kind of similar at Bristol. The further forward you are, the better it is. I don’t know what they can do. The spray definitely needs to be worked on. I think it’s great for us to run in the rain. There are no traction issues. We all have good car control and can drive the car still, the tire is fine, we just have to figure out the spray so that we can continue to run.”
FROM A DRIVER’S POINT OF VIEW, HOW MUCH TO YOU PAY ATTENTION TO AND FOCUS ON WEATHER? THERE APPEARS TO POSSIBLY BE A 15 DEGREE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WHEN YOU PRACTICE ON FRIDAY AND THE RACE ITSELF ON SUNDAY. IS THAT SIGNIFICANT?“Yeah, I think it’s significant just because the track in Charlotte changes so much. You can go there, and it can be 90 degrees and sunny and you’re fighting a completely different race car than at night. Honestly, that’s the difference maker between when we used to run there for the All-Star race and then we would come back and race a week later and the track and characters at the front would be totally different. Nothing really changed about the cars, but just the characteristics of the track changed. We have to be really conscious of that. I think we have to be conscious of not over-adjusting in practice and not getting too tight or too loose and try to keep it somewhere in the middle and find a package that works. Honestly, I’m of the opinion that when the track is hotter and slicker if your car handles better, it’s going to just handle better when you get to cooler conditions. We try to make it handle as well as possible for the conditions and then hopefully it’s just a little bit better when it gets cooler.”
CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY WILL BE BACK TO FULL CAPACITY WITH FANS THIS WEEKEND. DOES THAT MEAN ANY MORE TO YOU THIS YEAR COMPARED TO LAST YEAR’S RACE? OR ARE YOU USED TO HAVING FANS BACK AT THE TRACK BY NOW?“I think a little bit of both. Yeah, I’m used to seeing fans the last couple of weeks. So, it’s not going to be that different. But I think Charlotte, they always do it a little bit bigger and better, so I feel like it’s probably going to be bigger and better than the last few weeks. It’s probably going to be pretty crowded. I think it’s going to be a different experience and just going to have to stay focused on my end just to continue doing what we’ve been doing, which is staying focused and performing and not listening to the noise too much. That’s our biggest focus.”
WHAT’S THE DYNAMIC LIKE AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS NOW WITH ALL FOUR CARS RUNNING REALLY WELL AND HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT FROM YEARS PAST?“I think there’s just more confidence. I think we’re not searching as much like on what to do. There are less questions going into the race weekend of what the car needs and what we need from a downforce or an aero standpoint, or set-up wise. So, there’s a lot less questions. There is still the desire to perform. It’s always been there. I feel like the desire for us on the No. 24 is higher than ever because we feel like we’re really close. So we’ve just got to work a little bit better on some things, but we’re really close to another win.”
YOU’VE STARTED A PAIR OF RACES AT CHARLOTTE ON THE POLE BUT HAVEN’T FOUND THE SUCCESS MAYBE YOU HOPED FOR. HOW ARE YOU GOING TO CHANGE THINGS TO MAKE THAT HAPPEN THIS WEEKEND?“I think just focus on the race car and what the race car needs as the runs go on and as the race goes on. I’m going to do a lot of studying and prep this week on figuring out what the trends are with the race track and what some of the guys that have been successful there, our teammates, have done better than us. I’ll say that’s my goal this week is just to learn some of those little details that might pay off as the race gets longer and gets toward the end. Like you said, I’ve run really well at Charlotte. I know how to go fast there. So, I don’t have to worry about that. But I just have to focus on what my race car needs to do throughout so I don’t fall off at the end.”
THE COKE 600 IS 100 MILES LONGER THAN WE’RE USED TO RUNNING. AS A DRIVER, DO YOU FEEL THAT IN THE RACE?“Yeah, I think if you’re not running well, for sure. But if you’re running well, the race feels really short and you kind of feel like you’re always trying to get ahead of the next adjustment and trying to get ahead of whoever you’re racing against to try to get that track position and try to win the race. Yeah, I think it is definitely a challenge to keep up with the race track and to stay focused for all 400 miles. The preparation during the week is really critical because you can easily get behind and it can feel like a really long race like you said. But if you’re prepared and your race car is driving well then it’s fine.”
ONE OF THE THINGS THAT COMES FOR WINNING THE 600 IS A RESTORED VINTAGE COKE VENDING MACHINE. WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THAT?“Yeah, I think it would be great. I don’t discriminate trophies. Any of them are good (laughs). So, I don’t feel like any trophy I have is a bad one. But I love all the glitz and glamour that comes with winning the 600. It would be awesome, I’m sure.”
THROUGH THIS FIRST QUARTER OF THIS RACE SEASON, WHAT AREAS CAN YOU LOOK AT WHERE YOU CAN SAY YOU HAVE DEFINITELY IMPROVED AS A DRIVER VERSUS AT THIS POINT IN YOUR EARLY YEARS IN THE CUP SERIES?“Yeah, I don’t think I’m driving any harder or have any different techniques. There are subtle things here and there at different race tracks that I’ve picked up on that I didn’t know before. But I didn’t necessarily have the car to pick-up those things. It goes hand in hand. You’ve got to pick up those techniques when you start running closer to the front. I think that’s one thing. I think my communication has gotten better with my team. I feel like I’m more voiceful, on the things I need in the car and what I’m struggling with so that they can understand how to help. So, I’m not necessarily kind of holding it in and just struggling along anymore. I’m definitely trying to get them to help me where I know that I need help. I think that’s the big difference. I feel like we’re just executing really good races. We’re right there. We’ve just got to get a little bit better and I think that’s going to come this weekend, for sure.”

NASCAR CUP SERIESCHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAYCOCA-COLA 600TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTMAY 25, 2021

 JIM CAMPBELL, CHEVROLET’S U.S. VICE PRESIDENT OF PERFORMANCE AND MOTORSPORTS, met with media following Chevrolet’s milestone 800th all-time win in the NASCAR Cup Series at Circuit of The Americas. Press Conference Transcript:  MODERATOR: IT WAS GREAT SEEING YOU AT CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS THIS WEEKEND AND IT WAS FUN WATCHING THE CELEBRATION AFTER THE GREAT WIN BY CHASE ELLIOTT – CHEVROLET’S 800th WIN IN NASCAR. WHAT A TREMENDOUS ACCOMPLISHMENT, JIM. WALK US THROUGH JUST THE EMOTION GOING THROUGH YOU ON SUNDAY AND CHASE ELLIOTT PULLING OFF THAT MONUMENTAL MILESTONE FOR CHEVROLET. “These kind of milestone wins, they mean a lot. It is a massive amount of hard work done with many, many partners in teams, drivers and crew chiefs, so it was really special. To have the chance to be in Austin, (Texas), at Circuit of The Americas, it’s a place where Chevrolet has raced a lot in our history; primarily in the SportsCar area. But it was great to see NASCAR there. When Chase (Elliott) got the victory, obviously a rain-shortened victory, but nonetheless a victory; it was very sweet. We were so excited. He obviously got the inaugural win at Circuit of The Americas. It was also his first win of the season and 12th career-Cup win overall. It was a special number for the Hendrick Motorsports organization of 268, tying the iconic Petty Enterprises in all-time Cup Series wins. For Chevrolet, it put 800 on the board and we couldn’t have been prouder. So many drivers and teams have contributed to that success, along with our Chevrolet engineering team. We couldn’t have been prouder; it was a great moment.”
WE WANTED TO SPEAK TO THE IMPORTANCE OF YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND HOW THEY’VE BEEN HAND-IN-GLOVE WITH YOU THROUGHOUT THE YEARS IN THE NASCAR CUP SERIES. HOW IMPORTANT IS THAT RELATIONSHIP WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND THE SUCCESS THAT CHEVROLET HAS EXPERIENCED.“The Hendrick Organization, Rick Hendrick, along with all of his leaders; all of the drivers and crew chiefs; Marshall Carlson, Jeff Andrews, Chad Knaus, all of the team that’s there now; but it’s all that came before them, as well. They are fantastic partners. When you look at 268 wins, that is a significant number. Hendrick Motorsports had Chevrolet’s 400th win with Terry Labonte; 500th win with Jeff Gordon; 600th win with Kyle Busch at the time; 700th win with Jimmie Johnson; and now 800th with Chase Elliott.”“Hendrick Motorsports has 268 wins for Chevrolet. Richard Childress Racing has 109 wins. Junior Johnson and his team delivered 53 wins. If you add up those three teams, they are over half of the wins for Team Chevy. We couldn’t be prouder. There is quite a list of top performing drivers, as well. Jeff Gordon had 93 wins, all with Chevrolet. Jimmie Johnson had 83 wins, all with Chevrolet. Dale Earnhardt had 73 of his 76 wins with Chevrolet. Darrell Waltrip had 59, Cale Yarborough had 48, and of course Chase Elliott added his 12th win to that list. It was an exciting way to wrap up the weekend.”
YOU’RE ONE OF THE FEW MANUFACTURERS INVOLVED IN BOTH INDYCAR AND NASCAR. IT’S A BIG WEEKEND FOR BOTH SERIES, BUT LATER THIS YEAR, THEY’LL BOTH BE RACING AT INDIANAPOLIS IN AUGUST. IT IS IMPORTANT TO YOU TO HAVE SYNERGIES BETWEEN THE TWO SERIES? “This is a big weekend with the Indianapolis 500 and the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (Motor Speedway). For Chevrolet, we have a long history in both series, so it’s huge for us. One thing I will say about both IndyCar and NASCAR – with NASCAR, from Jim France to Lisa, Ben, Steve Phelps and Steve O’Donnell and the whole team, they have been really working with us as a manufacturer and others in the industry around things they can do to strengthen the schedule and doing a dual race was on our list. We’re invested in both sports, so that’s going to be huge for us. I think it’s going to be great for the fans to see two different series at the same track. We’ve obviously done that over the years from time-to-time with an IndyCar race and a NASCAR Truck Series Race or NASCAR and IMSA. I would love to see more of that because we’re involved in all of those series and that would be great for us as a manufacturer; but more importantly, for our customers and for the fans.”
YOU WERE GOING TO EXPAND A BUILDING IN CONCORD AND THEN IT BECAME A GM DEFENSE BUILDING. ARE YOU STILL PLANNING TO BUILD SOMETHING IN CONCORD? AND IF SO, WHEN DO YOU THINK THAT COULD BE OPERATIONAL?“We did announce that we’re going to bring Charlotte a GM Technical Center and that will happen. Last year, being so unique with the pandemic, we had to change gears a bit and our GM Defense unit won a significant contract on an infantry squad vehicle truck that is based off of the Chevrolet Colorado, obviously modified for their needs. So, they needed space to go right then and meet the requirements of the GM Defense contract for the government. We did convert that building to the GM Defense and it’s now a full-production facility building those ISV trucks for the military. We will have some news shortly on what our new plans are. We’re still committed to the area for a General Motors Technical Center. There’s more to come.”
YOU STARTED TALKING ABOUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS; THEY’VE KIND OF BEEN ON TOP OF THE WORLD LATELY WITH EVERYTHING THAT’S BEEN GOING ON. BUT LAST YEAR WAS A LITTLE BIT OF A STRUGGLE. THEY TALKED ABOUT HOW LAST SUMMER WAS THEIR LOW POINT FOR THEM. JUST CURIOUS, DID YOU GUYS AT CHEVROLET HAVE ANY CONVERSATIONS WITH THEM OR OFFER UP ANY ADDITIONAL RESOURCES OR IS THIS TURNAROUND MORE IN-HOUSE? “The last two or three years, we have not had the success that we’ve enjoyed previous to that. The great news is that obviously last year ended with a championship with Chase Elliott and Hendrick Motorsports in the No. 9 Camaro ZL1 1LE and we’re proud of that. The team owners and Chevrolet have come together to really rally around a consolidated engineering effort on common projects. We have commitment from Richard (Childress), Chip (Ganassi) and Rick (Hendrick) to do that, along with our affiliate teams. We’re going to put the technical center down there; we already have the work well underway. The alliance between Hendrick Motorsports and ECR engines came together and we certainly advocated and encouraged that, and have been part of that effort to bring those two entities together. That paid dividends for us wrapping up last season.”
“When you put it all together, we’re working on four or five really key focus areas to help with the performance of our Cup program, as well as Xfinity and Truck. That’s in areas, for example, deep aero work that we’re doing together; that’s been on for some time. We’re doing tire development; basically, getting good tire data together. Our simulation program, which is anchored primarily in the Driver-in-the-Loop, which we have in Charlotte and we’re going to add capacity to that. Those are three examples of areas of which we are focusing on together. It’s a huge effort by Jeff Andrews, Andy Petree and Tony Lunders to bring those organizations together with Eric Warren. Eric Warren was at Richard Childress Racing and we brought him on board last year in the fall. He’s a talented engineer and he’s leading up our NASCAR Cup Series program, as well as Xfinity and Truck. So, it’s really engineering-based. We moved our motorsports group into our engineering area last January, so that happened some time ago. I think it really fortified our efforts and it’s starting to pay dividends.”
“Believe me, in this sport, you have to be on it every second. Competition is always moving. We are in series all around the world with Chevrolet and our other brands like Cadillac and Hummer. We know you have to stay on top of it. It’s a pretty ruthless competition and the competition is always trying to get back on top. We’re seeing the improvements and we want all of our Chevy teams to enjoy the same success that we’re seeing with Hendrick Motorsports and we’re starting to see just that.”
SUNDAY MARKED THE 800TH WIN FOR CHEVROLET. LOOKING BACK THROUGH THE YEARS, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MILESTONE MOMENTS THAT STOOD OUT FOR YOU IN WATCHING CHEVROLET GET TO THIS POINT? “I mentioned some of the milestone wins. The first win was Fonty Flock; he won in Columbia, South Carolina, in a Chevy. That was kind of the beginning of the Chevy small-block V8 era and that era really was pivotal for our company, in terms of really adding incredible performance to many of our vehicles, including the ones we race on the track. If you go all the way through, there’s just so many historic wins. I mentioned a few of them there. The 100th win was Rex White in Columbia, South Carolina. The 200th win was Benny Parsons at Riverside and our 300th win was Dale Earnhardt at North Wilkesboro, North Carolina. So, there’s so many that are meaningful and important. I’ve been in racing a long time, like many of you, and when you ask team owners ‘tell me about a win’ or let’s celebrate a win we just had, they often pivot very quickly to what’s next. What about the next win? We have to keep the momentum going; how do we keep this momentum going?”
“The favorite win – I mentioned a few of the historic ones and obviously the favorite one is the next one.”
WITH HOW THE RACE PLAYED OUT SUNDAY AT COTA IN THE RAIN AND HOW DANGEROUS THAT GOT, WITH NASCAR AND GOODYEAR TRYING TO DEVELOP A TIRE WHERE THEY COULD BE POTENTIALLY RACED ON A SHORT TRACK IN SOMEWHAT DAMP CONDITIONS, HOW COMFORTABLE ARE YOU WITH HOW FAR NASCAR MIGHT BE GOING TO EMBRACE RACING IN RAIN CONDITIONS?“That’s a great questions. It’s obviously a hot topic coming off the weekend. Chevrolet is involved in a lot of these SportsCar series, IndyCar and others, and in most of all the other series, we do race in the rain. We have worked with the sanctioning bodies, including IMSA, which is in the NASCAR family. We’ve ran our Corvette since 1999 in the SportsCar series and then more recently, we’ve added Cadillac to the prototype category called DPi. We use technologies like heated windshields, where we basically have a micromesh that’s in between the layers of the windshield that gives enough heat to the windshield to keep the condensation from building. There’re some other techniques that we use there, as well.”
“Racing in the rain – certainly we don’t want anything to be unsafe. There have been moments, even in SportsCar racing, where we’ve seen the series put the yellow out and they’ll run a lot of yellow laps or, in some cases, a red. So, I think every condition, every track, is different and it almost has to be like a game time call, if you will, on that. I think there’s a lot of experience in the NASCAR family, particularly in IMSA, in running in the rain and just making the right calls in the moment based on the conditions. I’m optimistic about it. We have to take it one step at a time. We want to keep the drivers safe; there’s no doubt about that.”
MODERATOR: JIM, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TAKING THE TIME TO JOIN US. GOOD LUCK THIS WEEKEND AS YOU PURSUE WIN 801 AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY.

Already recovered media from the weekend I bring them up to date … 🤭😅.
 On Saturday in the Castilla y León championship after free practice, we classified in 2nd place for the league … A modality that was created for this test and in which we achieved the maximum score by winning all the battles against all the competitors of  the pro category.  We achieved the highest possible score and placed 1st in the league … Then we ran the semi-final and we won it too … We went to the final and not knowing that because we were the winners of the league we came out first, we made a strategic mistake that led us to error on the track and we lost the battle … Of course … giving a show and leaving a good image …  We climbed to 2nd place on the podium and now we are 2nd in the Castilla y León championship … What we are going to have to go back to for 1st place in the next round … 😜.
 We are very happy for the role we played this weekend and we hope that our sponsors and collaborators are too …. Without a doubt, being backed and supported by the best, makes us have to live up to it …. And without  that support and backing none of this would be possible …
 We broke the ice after the beginning of the global pandemic … We went to run in the first scoring drift race in Spain and we achieved 2nd place … We are very happy and grateful …. We’re dusting ourselves off and getting ready for the next one … 💪🏻🐔

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDIANAPOLIS 500 INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAYQUALIFICATIONS RECAPMAY 23, 2021 Team Chevy teammates qualify on Rows 1 and 2 for Indianapolis 500Rinus VeeKay and Ed Carpenter lead 16-car Chevrolet contingent INDIANAPOLIS (May 23, 2021) – Teammates Rinus VeeKay and Ed Carpenter will lead the Chevrolet contingent into the 105th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge from the front two rows.VeeKay, who eight days earlier earned his initial NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, qualified third in the Firestone Fast Nine Shootout with a four-lap average speed of 231.511 mph on the 2.5-mile oval.  Carpenter, a three-time Indy 500 pole winner, qualified fourth in the No. 20 SONAX Chevrolet with an average speed of 231.504 mph. Simona De Silvestro dug deep in the Last Chance Qualifying and put her No. 16 Rocket Paretta Autosport Chevrolet in the 33rd starting position for the field of the Indianapolis 500. It will be the sixth time the Swiss born driver will start the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. After missing the lock-in on Saturday to be in the top-30, De Silvestro had to battle four additional drivers for the final three spots on the grid. Sixteen entries powered by the 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged, direct-injected Chevrolet V6 engine qualified for the 33-car field for the 200-lap race Sunday, May 30. A Chevrolet driver has qualified on the front row eight of the nine years, including six pole starts, since the Bowtie brand returned to NTT INDYCAR SERIES manufacturer competition in 2012. “I’m very proud of our team, proud of Chevrolet giving us all the power we need to go fight for the pole and more importantly to fight for a win next Sunday,” said Carpenter, who is also the principal of Ed Carpenter Racing. Chevrolet front-row starters since 20122021: Third – Rinus VeeKay2019: First – Simon Pagenaud. Second – Ed Carpenter. Third – Spencer Pigot2018: First – Ed Carpenter. Second – Simon Pagenaud. Third – Will Power2017: Second – Ed Carpenter2016: Second – Josef Newgarden2015: First – Scott Dixon. Second – Will Power. Third – Simon Pagenaud2014: First — Ed Carpenter. Third – Will Power2013: First – Ed Carpenter. Second – Carlos Munoz. Third – Marco Andretti2012: First – Ryan Briscoe. Second – James Hinchcliffe. Third – Ryan Hunter-Reay Drivers received a turbocharger boost, which equates to an increase of about 45 horsepower, for practice Friday, May 21, that carried over for the two days of qualifications. Scott Dixon, the 2020 Indy 500 winner, recorded a four-lap average speed of 231.685 mph in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to win the NTT P1 Award. VeeKay was the highest rookie qualifier in 2020 and improved one position for 2021. He will seek to join Simon Pagenaud in 2019 and Will Power in 2018 as Chevrolet drivers to win on the IMS road course and oval in the same month. “Both Ed and I have amazing cars. Chevy power has been outstanding today,” said VeeKay, 20, driver of the No. 21 Bitcoin Chevrolet. “We have a good shot at winning.” Pato O’Ward, who claimed his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory May 1 on the Texas Motor Speedway oval, qualified on Row 4 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. Teammate Felix Rosenqvist, driving the No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, qualified 14th. Scott McLaughlin, competing in his first Indianapolis 500, qualified 17th in the No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet. Pagenaud, the 2019 pole winner, qualified 26th in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya qualified 24th in the No. 86 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. Power persevered through a nerve-racking day of Last Chance Qualifying and drove the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet to 32nd in the starting lineup. He will be joined on the last row by Sage Karam in the No. 24 DRR-AES Indiana Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet and Simona De Silvestro, who is making her first ‘500’ appearance since 2015, in the No. 16 Rocket Pro/Paretta Autosport Chevrolet. NBC will telecast the 200-lap race at 11 a.m. ET May 30. Motorsports icon Danica Patrick will drive the 2021 mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette Stingray hardtop convertible to lead the field to the green flag. The 2021 race marks the 32nd time for Chevrolet to pace dating to 1948, and the 18th time since 1978 for America’s favorite sports car. TEAM CHEVY QUALIFIERS WITH AVERAGE SPEED IN MPH:3. Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Bitcoin Ed Carpenter Racing (231.511)4. Ed Carpenter, No. 20 SONAX Ed Carpenter Racing (231.504)12. Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP (230.864)14. Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP (230.744)17. Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske (230.557)19. Conor Daly, No. 47 U.S. Air Force Ed Carpenter Racing (230.427)21. Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Shell Fuel Rewards Team Penske (230.071)22. JR Hildebrand, No. 1 ABC Supply/AJ Foyt Racing (229.980)24. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 86 Arrow McLaren SP (229.891)26. Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards Team Penske (229.778)27. Sebastien Bourdais, No. 14 ROKiT/AJ Foyt Racing (229.744)29. Max Chilton, No. 59 Gallagher Carlin (229.417)30. Dalton Kellett, No. 4 K-Line Insulators/AJ Foyt Racing (228.323)31. Sage Karam, No. 24 DRR-AES Indiana Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (229.156)32. Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske (228.876)33. Simona De Silvestro, No. 16 Rocket Pro/Paretta Autosport (228.333)Charlie Kimball, No.11 Tresiba AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet and RC Enerson, No. 75 Top Gun Racing Chevrolet did not qualify for the race.  DRIVER QUOTES:RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITCOIN ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 3RD:“I had a big moment on the last lap, in the first corner. I never lifted, but when I think back, maybe I should have! That last lap was the sketchiest lap I’ve ever done, but I kept my foot on the gas. I wanted it to be as on the limit as possible, so I kept the power on, even with all the wiggling. I knew Turn One would be the trickiest so once I got through, I thought it would be fine. I couldn’t have gone any faster. I was happy to make the Fast Nine yesterday and we’re grateful to have Chevy power taking me to the front row! I’m very happy for the team and very grateful, for all the sleepless nights and hard work. I think we can go for the win next Sunday. I love Indy, and with the Ed Carpenter Chevy, it’s such a pleasure – apart from that last lap! I have a great car and a great team around me. That win last week has changed the spirit within the team and we were all extremely motivated. The entire month of May has been amazing.”  ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING, QUALIFIED 4TH: “Chevy has been a great partner; they give us so many tools and help us thrive. There’s no better partner to have. I’m happy, we were in the hunt and we have a car on the front row. Both of our cars were extremely close, and that small gap between the two cars is a testament to ECR and the quality of cars that they build. -Very proud to be seven-thousandths of a mile-an-hour between our cars is frickin’ awesome. That is all ECR. That is all our team; it is Chevy. 10 years as partners is amazing. It’s tough competition, whether it’s Honda versus Chevy or the two of us going against Scott Dixon and Colton Herta. We had all the power we needed to fight for the pole, they were just a little better than us today. There are so many great drivers in the series, it’s awesome to compete against them and we love the challenge. At the end of the day, we’re happy with where we’re starting the Indy 500. Rinus is the real deal, I’m proud of him. He’s a resilient kid, he learns and keeps getting better. He’s going to be tough to beat next Sunday, I’m as worried about him as anyone. But we’ll be in a great spot for the race, with my teammate in front of me, so we’ll tune up the car today and Carb Day and be ready for next Sunday.” SAGE KARAM, NO. 24 DRR-AES INDIANA DRYER AND REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFYING 31ST: “It wasn’t easy running in Sunday’s last Chance qualifying, as it was warmer than Saturday’s qualifying. But the team did a great job preparing the car for the four-lap stint. Glad we were fastest in that little round as we were two years ago. Ironically, I’ll start 31st for the third straight Indy 500. I’m really proud of the DRR Team Chevy and AES Indiana crew the way they kept working so hard to get me in the show here at Indy. As one-car, Indy-only team, DRR has to go up against two cars basically Penske-prepared for Will and Simona. And we beat them today. I think that is very cool. Now we are ready to prepare for next Sunday’s race.”WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFED 32ND:  “Yeah that was very, very nerve-wracking. The run started going loose everywhere. I held onto it out of 2, hit the wall, and I took a chance by holding it wide open and hoping the rear toe wasn’t too bad. Man. That is as loose as you want to get it. I can’t thank Verizon and Chevy enough for sticking with me after all these years. I’m so stoked to get in the race. The team has put a massive amount of effort into this race. It’s a big relief more than anything to get in this race. I knew I couldn’t lift. Some nervy lifts. But yeah. This place throws everything at you. We’re in the race and it’s an amazing feeling, amazing place. It’s more nerve wracking than going for pole. Definitely I lost a bit of sleep!”  SIMONA DE SILVERSTRO, NO 16 ROCKET PRO PARETTA AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 33RD: “What a day. It was definitely nerve racking being in this position. Super happy that we made it in because of everyone involved as well,  because of all the hard work that got put in, it would have been crazy to not have made it. From that point of view, we’re super relieved. Now we just focus on racing and I think we could be pretty good because our car was pretty competitive.“For Beth as well I just wish it wouldn’t have been as crazy for the first time we were racing together. At least we got that one out of the way and now we can really focus on this going forward. It was interesting but you know I think we all stuck together and that’s what made us strong to be here today.”

Batavia, OH (May 23, 2021) – The Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge continues this week at the Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 Presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com. Brandon Ford, the World’s Largest Volume Ford Dealer, provides the Official Pace Truck of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. In 2021, Brandon Ford expanded their partnership of the premier national tour to include support of the TV Race Challenge. This year’s Show-Me 100 will broadcast LIVE on the MAVTV Motorsports Network on Saturday, May 29th. Both Thursday and Friday’s preliminary events will be taped for broadcast on MAVTV Motorsports Network later in the year, while all three nights will be live on MAVTVPlus.com. The Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge will award points to drivers at the 32 televised events broadcasted on Network TV within the series schedule in 2021. The winner of the Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge will receive a $10,000 cash award, while second and third will receive $3,000 and $2,000 respectively at the year-end awards banquet. The talent of the nation’s top dirt late model drivers will be put on display along the way, not only at each venue during the live streams on MAVTV Plus, but also during the 32 broadcast events on the MAVTV Motorsports Network, 15 events on CBS Sports Network, 5 events on CBS, and 13 events on the NBC Sports Network. Currently Brandon Overton leads Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, Brandon Sheppard and Kyle Bronson in the Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge standings. For complete standings visit: https://lucasdirt.com/points/2021-points. “A huge thanks to Wayne Hammond and everyone at Brandon Ford for sponsoring the TV Race Challenge in 2021. Having additional money for the racers to shoot for adds to the excitement of our TV package in 2021. The drivers always want to perform at their best when the TV cameras are on, but having the added cash incentives to compete for during TV races makes every position count,” stated Wayne Castleberry, Corporate Motorsports Sales and Marketing for Lucas Oil Products. Brandon Ford, located in Tampa, FL, has won Ford’s prestigious President’s Award 17 years in a row, saluting the top-performing Ford and Lincoln dealerships that pursue excellence in the highest levels of customer satisfaction in both sales and service. Brandon Ford has one of the largest inventories of new and pre-owned vehicles in the nation. To learn more about Brandon Ford or if you are interested in purchasing a vehicle, visit: www.brandonford.com. Show-Me 100 action kicks off on May 27 with the “Cowboy Classic” for Late Models headlining the program, with a $6,000-to-win, $600-to-start main event which also enables drivers to earn valuable points toward starting position into the night-night main event. The USRA Modifieds feature winner will earn $750. The “Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson” on May 28 also will see a $6,000-to-win feature with more points earned for the starting lineup the next night. USRA Modifieds compete for a $750-to-win feature with more points collected toward the final-night main event. The May 29 program includes B Mains, the Midwest Sheet Metal Show-Me Challenge and the 100-lap, $30,000-to-win main event along with a $1,500-to-win USRA Modified feature. For more information about the Show-Me 100 visit www.lucasoilspeedway.com.

Strickler grateful for opportunity to work with Bloomquist  The “High Side Tickler” looks toward the future with Team Zero ChassisCONCORD, NC – MAY 24, 2021 – Kyle Strickler was at a crossroads in his racing career.“The High side Tickler” split with PCC Motorsports and was left to find a ride for the World of Outlaws Late Model races at Port Royal Speedway with days to spare.After picking up a Vic Hill Racing engine in Tennessee, Strickler made a stop in Mooresburg. That’s when the wheels began turning—leading to the North Carolina driver joining forces with 2004 World of Outlaws champion Scott Bloomquist.“We’ve always kind of joked about [Bloomquist] wanting to get me in cars,” Strickler said. “I told him there’s no better time than right now to put a deal together. It surprised me how excited he was, and how willing he was to go above and beyond and try to put a deal together.”Strickler ran a Team Zero car during the two-day Port Royal Speedway event, which he bought from fellow competitor Frank Ingram. Bloomquist served as his crew chief, hoping to help get the car dialed in for Strickler in a timely manner.“Working with him, I’ll get to know this car as well as my own, and hopefully it’ll help him do as well as he can,” Bloomquist said. “I think he’s got a hell of a lot of talent, and it’s exciting.”For Strickler, it’s more than just teaming up with one of the most accomplished Late Model drivers in history. He sees “Black Sunshine” as a father figure.“I’ve always looked up to him, and if there’s anyone you’re going to look to and try to shortcut your learning curve, the greatest of all-time would be the one to help you do that,” Strickler said. “There’s no better opportunity than to drive for Daddy Scott.”Strickler finished 21st and 16th in the two Morton Buildings Features at “The Speed Palace.” Despite not getting the results he hoped for, the plan is to build toward the future.“These cars are built and centered around Eldora,” Strickler said. “The Dream is coming up, and we were very good there last year with our Longhorn [Chassis]. [Bloomquist] is helping me a lot and we’ve talked non-stop the last two days about what I need to adjust from a driver’s standpoint and how the cars are going to be different.”“The High Side Tickler” hopes it’s a partnership that stays together on his quest toward a World of Outlaws Late Models championship.“If everything goes well, I’d love to stay here,” Strickler said. “We’ll end up eventually getting our own cars, and having my own race team, hopefully working out of [Bloomquist’s] shop in Tennessee a lot.”“The way I see it, the sky’s the limit, and if everything’s going well and [Bloomquist] is behind it and wants to help me progress, I think we could win a lot of big races and crown jewels.”Both drivers are excited about the chance to work together, and Bloomquist hopes it puts Strickler in the right direction for his career.“I’m sure [Strickler’s] got what it takes, I just want to have him in the right car to suit him,” Bloomquist said.“When [Bloomquist] speaks, I listen, and we’ll see how it all works out,” Strickler said. “I’m kind of on cloud nine to have this opportunity, and I just want to go out there and perform.”Strickler hopes to get back to his winning ways, after finding Victory Lane in two of the first three races this season at Volusia Speedway Park. Right now, he’s tied for fourth in the standings with Ricky Weiss—160 points behind Brandon Sheppard.The next stop for the Mooresville, NC driver and the World of Outlaws is Friday, June 4, when the Series visits Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis, IN for the first time.If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision with the annual Platinum FAST PASS subscription for $299/year or the monthly FAST PASS subscription for $39/month.

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS ECHOPARK TEXAS GRAND PRIX TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES MAY 23, 2021 CHASE ELLIOTT CAPTURES 800th WIN FOR CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUP SERIESFirst-Ever NCS Victory at COTA AUSTIN, Texas – (May 23, 2021) – Chase Elliott’s win of the inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in his No. 9 Llumar Camaro ZL1 1LE scored the 800th all-time victory for Chevrolet in NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) competition. This unprecedented win secured a significant milestone for Chevrolet as the most successful manufacturer in NASCAR history. In addition to reaching this 800th triumph for the brand, Elliott brought the Camaro ZL1 1LE to Victory Lane for the 14th time since becoming Chevrolet’s flagship NCS race vehicle in 2020, and the fifth time in the 2021 NCS season. “I couldn’t be more excited,” said Elliott.  “I’ve never won a rain race before, so it’s kind of cool. And I’m just super proud of our team for just continuing to fight. We started the day, and we weren’t very good. I just kept pushing myself and we kept making some good changes throughout the day and got to where I thought we were on pace with those guys there at the end. So, I’m really proud of that. It’s not the greatest thing ever, for it to rain and to have a rain race win, if it’s your first one; but I think it’s okay if it’s down the road, so I’m pretty excited about that. I’m looking forward to next week and trying to keep it rolling.” Due to inclement weather, the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix was called with 14 laps to go. Elliott’s triumph marks the first appearance for the NCS in its debut at COTA, a 3.4-mile, 20-turn, counterclockwise track circuit track with multiple elevation changes that that flow with the hilly landscape. This win was Elliott’s 12th NCS career victory, his sixth road course win, and first of the 2021 NCS season. It also celebrated the 268th victory for Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports. “So proud of Chase Elliott and his No. 9 Camaro team for persevering all race long and handling such challenging conditions to deliver a big win at the first race at Circuit of the Americas,” said Jim Campbell, vice president of Performance and Motorsports. “Chase’s first win of the season is extra special as it was Hendrick Motorsports 268th Cup win and Chevrolet’s 800th Cup win.” “I’d also like to thank all of the Chevrolet engineers, and all of the drivers, crew chiefs, teams and owners who have contributed to those 800 wins over the past 66 years.” Chevrolet’s rich heritage in NASCAR competition began when Fonty Flock took the checkered flag on March 26,1955 at Columbia Raceway in Columbia, South Carolina in his ‘55 Chevy. Sixty-six years later, the ‘Bowtie Brand’ continues to set the mark. Chevrolet’s accolades in NASCAR racing are vast. To date, the manufacturer has earned 32 Driver titles and 39 Manufacturer titles en route to its 800 victories.  No manufacturer has carried more drivers and teams to championships in NASCAR’s premier division than Chevrolet. MILESTONE VICTORIES LIST:1st WIN: 3/26/55 – Fonty Flock, Columbia, SC100th WIN: 7/07/62 – Rex White – Columbia, SC200th WIN: 6/11/78 – Benny Parsons – Riverside, CA300th WIN: 4/20/86 – Dale Earnhardt, Sr. – North Wilkesboro, NC400th WIN: 9/10/94 – Terry Labonte – Richmond, VA500thWIN: 8/12/01 – Jeff Gordon – Watkins Glen, NY600th WIN: 3/25/07 – Kyle Busch – Bristol, TN700thWIN: 11/4/12 – Jimmie Johnson – Ft. Worth, TX800th WIN: 5/23/21 – Chase Elliott – Austin, TX DURATION BETWEEN MILESTONE WINS:1st to 100th: 2660 days = 7 years, 3 months, 11 days100th to 200th: 5818 days = 15 years, 11 months, 4 days200th to 300th: 2870 days = 7 years, 10 months, 9 days300th to 400th: 3065 days = 8 years, 4 months, 21 days400th to 500h: 2528 days = 6 years, 11 months, 2 days500th to 600th: 2051 days = 5 years, 7 months, 13 days600th to 700th: 2051 days = 5 years, 7 months, 10 days700th to 800th: 3122 days = 8 years, 6 months, 19 days WINS BY NAMEPLATE:Bel Air or Biscayne = 55Chevelle/Chevelle Laguna/Laguna S-3 = 36Lumina = 61Monte Carlo/Monte Carlo SS = 396Impala/Impala SS = 152Chevrolet SS = 73Camaro/Camaro ZL1/Camaro ZL1 1LE = 27

May 23, 2021, Baytown, Texas – Rain disrupted National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Camping World Drag Racing Series activities for a second day at the Mopar Express Lane SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park and forced the postponement of competition. After Saturday qualifying was shortened due to weather, a persistent drizzle began at the tail end of Sunday’s opening round of Top Fuel eliminations, resulting in a lengthy delay through the late afternoon until officials made the decision to move the balance of the eliminations contest to 10 a.m. Central Time on Monday morning.

Prior to the rain delay, six Top Fuel pairs were able to get in elimination runs including No. 2 qualifier Leah Pruett and her Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) Pennzoil dragster after extending her streak of qualifying among the quick half of the field to all five national events so far this season. 

After 19 consecutive races in which the HEMI®-powered racer advanced to the quarterfinals or better, Pruett was looking to shake off some of the bad luck that had vexed the team in the opening round of two previous events. Her Mopar rocketed off the start with an impressive 0.020-second reaction time, but a mechanical glitch early in the run hampered her forward motion and despite efforts to peddle her way down the track, Pruett was unable to advance.

However, Pruett will have another chance on Monday to vie for a Wally trophy at the Mopar Express Lane SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil aboard her 2021 Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak in Factory Stock Showdown (FSS) from the No. 10 position on the eliminations ladder. She’ll face No.7 Arthur Kohn in the opening round while her teammate, No. 13 seed Mark Pawuk will line up his Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak against No. 4 seed David Barton. 

Funny Car eliminations have also been rescheduled for Monday with three Dodge Charger SRT Hellcats starting from the top half of the eliminations ladder. No. 3 qualifier Ron Capps will have lane choice over Paul Lee in the opening round, while No. 4 seed Cruz Pedregon will begin his day facing off against Terry Haddock, and from his No. 6 spot, Matt Hagan will battle against Chad Green.

ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES

FUNNY CAR:

Matt Hagan, DSR Pennzoil Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye
(No. 6 Qualifier – 3.961 seconds at 324.12 mph) Bonus point for third quickest Q1 run

Round 1: Delayed until Monday

Ron Capps, DSR NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
(No. 3 Qualifier –  3.941 seconds at 315.42 mph)

Round 1: Delayed until Monday

Cruz Pedregon, Pedregon Racing Snap-on® Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

(No. 4 Qualifier – 3.943 seconds at 323.12 mph)

Round 1:  Delayed until Monday

TOP FUEL:

Leah Pruett, DSR Pennzoil Mopar Dodge//SRT Dragster  
(No. 2 Qualifier – 3.733 seconds at 312.86 mph)

Round 1: (0.020-second reaction time, 12.703 seconds at 60.13 mph) loss to No. 13 Justin Ashley (0.039/3.770/317.79)

“Frustration is the word of the day. Unfortunately for us, we were not able to advance out of the first round. Our issues weren’t caused by tune-up error, nor a driver error. We had a line and fitting that no longer wanted to be married to each other and they disconnected themselves, draining our CO2 bottle after the burnout. So, unfortunately, we did not have the proper pressure to set the clutch where it needed to be and when I hit the gas to leave, we had extra arms in play in the clutch that applied way more power than we had wanted. This is the ultimate proving grounds but I don’t think anybody would be able to make it down the track when you apply all 12,000-horsepower at the same time at the hit. Silver lining in this for us is we still have so much confidence in this team – the driver, the crew chief, the car when it’s not having a bad day. We’re hoping to minimize these terrible days. Thankfully we are still early in the season. Are we impressed with where we sit in the standings? No, but we look forward to getting back after it in Epping. Our heads are not down low; we’re holding them high.”

FACTORY STOCK SHOOTOUT:

Leah Pruett, Mopar Dodge Challenger Mopar Drag Pak –
(No. 10 Qualifier – 7.959 seconds at 174.73 mph)

Round 1: Delayed until Monday

Mark Pawuk, Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak– Factory Stock Shootout
(No. 13 Qualifier – 8.050 seconds at 172.21 mph)
Round 1: Delayed until Monday

NHRA Championship Points Standings:
Following Qualifying for the Mopar Express Lane SpringNationals at Houston Raceway Park

FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)
1. Bob Tasca III – 398 (2)

2. J.R. Todd – 376 (1)
3. John Force – 205

4. Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 294

5. Ron Capps (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 271

6. Alexis DeJoria – 268

7. Robert Hight – 251

7. Cruz Pedregon (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 251

7. Tim Wilkerson – 251

10. Blake Alexander – 182

TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)
1. Steve Torrance – 449 (2)

2. Antron Brown – 369 (1)

3. Brittany Force – 308 

4. Shawn Langdon – 281

5. Josh Hart – 278 (1)

6. Billy Torrence – 247
7. Doug Kalitta – 229
8. Justin Ashley – 225

9. Leah Pruett (Mopar Dodge//SRT) – 215
10. Clay Millican – 198

DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News

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

@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram

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

Mopar  

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

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

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICASECHOPARK TEXAS GRAND PRIXTEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTESMAY 23, 2021 TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.  DRIVER1. Chase Elliott, No. 9 Llumar Camaro ZL1 1LE2. Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 1LE4. Ross Chastain, No. 42 Clover Camaro ZL1 1LE5. AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Hyperice Camaro ZL1 1LE7. Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.  DRIVER1.  Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)     2.  Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)     3. Joey Logano (Ford)4.   Ross Chastain (Chevrolet)     5.   AJ Allmenginger (Chevrolet     The 2021 NASCAR Cup Series continues with Round 15, the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway, on Sunday, May 30. FOX will telecast the race live at 6 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES: CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 LLUMAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Race WinnerIT DOESN’T SEEM TO MATTER THE CONDITIONS. IF IT’S A ROAD COURSE, YOU’RE GOING TO FIND YOUR WAY UP FRONT. THIS IS YOUR SIXTH ROAD COURSE RACE WIN AND 12th CAREER VICTORY“I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve never won a rain race before, so it’s kind of cool. And I’m just super proud of our team for just continuing to fight. We started the day, and we weren’t very good. I just kept pushing myself and we kept making some good changes throughout the day and got to where I thought we were on pace with those guys there at the end. So, I’m really proud of that. It’s not the greatest thing ever, for it to rain and to have a rain race win, if it’s your first one; but I think it’s okay if it’s down the road, so I’m pretty excited about that. I’m looking forward to next week and trying to keep it rolling.” AT THE END OF THE RACE, YOU WERE A COUPLE OF LAPS SHORT ON FUEL. ALAN (GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF) TOLD YOU TO START PUSHING. YOU PICKED UP THE PACE INCREDIBLY AT THE END. YOU WERE TWO SECONDS QUICKER THAN ANYBODY IN THE FIELD. WHAT DID YOU DO DIFFERENT?“I just kept pushing myself harder and harder. Some areas on the track though were getting, actually, really treacherous, I felt like. The back straightaway was puddling up and starting to hydroplane and do some weird stuff. My only option was to just kind of send it through those spots and just hope for the best. “Like I said, I’m just really proud of our team. This is two-in-a-row for Hendrick Motorsports and the 800th win for Chevrolet. I couldn’t be more proud of Chevy and it’s the 268th win for Hendrick Motorsports. “Thanks to all the fans for hanging in there today. It’s great to have Llumar on the car this week and get this win together. I know everybody is used to seeing us in our NAPA colors, but it’s good to have them on board. “I’m just proud of our team. To come here and fight, it’s not the ideal way to win, but we’ll definitely take it and move on down the road.” ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 4th“Fourth place, solid day.  Car was fast in the rain.  My goodness.  Just keep it on track was my plan, and we did that. I had a few close calls, and we did get into a few people, but I think a lot of people did.  Learned a lot and this girl (taps watermelon), is going to have to wait for another day.  Close, and its cool to be disappointed with a top five. Congrats to Chevrolet on their 800th win. Is that possible?  The Clover Chevy…..there were some guests, some Clover guests and there were a ton of Clover machines on property today.  Awesome stuff.  I was proud of the effort of relaying through our spotters of Josh Wise and Scott Speed.  The Skip Barber Racing School here at COTA taught me a ton in the last year at road racing and in the rain. Thank you boys and girls, thank you CGR, and on to the next.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHEDDAR’S SCRATCH KITCHEN CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 9th“To start the day off in COTA with my first NASCAR Cup Series pole was unreal. Our No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet was so fast, and that is a huge testament to all the hard work everyone does at RCR, ECR and Chevrolet. Road racing has been a big challenge in my career, and I’ve worked really hard to get better at it. The race today was wild. It was so difficult to see out there with the rain, but my spotters did a good job of helping me navigate around the track. We came back through the field a handful of times for a variety of reasons during the day, so we definitely had the speed to compete. It was just really tough out there and we just needed a little more time. I’m thankful we were able to get both stage points and a top-10 finish out of the day, but I wish we were somehow able to finish the day safely. I would have loved to get this Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Chevrolet and their 40+ veteran team members that were riding along with me a little farther up, but hopefully I made them proud with our effort today. Congrats also to Chevrolet on 800 wins in NASCAR. Hopefully we’re part of the next one.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 11th11 STRAIGHT TOP TENS COMES TO AN END HERE, WHAT ARE YOU THINKING ABOUT? “Yeah, we honestly wanted to win today, and I thought we were in a great position and I just kind of jumped the gun on pitting too early.  I got the rain tires on the car and we were a little too dry for it and wore them out. We were running fifth there in Stage 1 and the 21 got into us and tore the right rear up and we just had a bunch of damage after that.  To finish 11th is awesome for this Liberty University Chevrolet team. They did a great job repairing it, but it never really drove the same because I think it knocked the rear end out of place.  To finish 11th after that is good, it’s a bummer, but I thought for sure we would get a top 10 the way it was going and just unfortunately the rain came to hard. But it was a blast, I enjoyed it, and congrats to Chevrolet on their big win, and to Hendrick Motorsports.  Getting close to breaking that record, so hopefully we can do it next week.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 WORKRISE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 12th“Well, P 12, that is the best road course race finish for us ever. It was the craziest day I have ever had in racing. Thank you Workrise. Man, that was nuts.  Crazy stuff happening all over the track.  Got to race in the rain, and that was some crazy conditions, but congratulations to Chevrolet on the 880th win.  Let’s go to the next one.” ERIK JONES, NO. 43 BLACK ENTREPRENEUR INITIATIVE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 16th“Decent day for the Lonely Entrepreneur Chevy. Made gains all day but the race getting called early cost us some spots. Felt good to have some better speed at the end, just have to keep improving at the road courses.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS ECHO PARK TEXAS GRAND PRIX TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTS MAY 23, 2021 CHASE ELLIOTT CAPTURES 800th WIN FOR CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUP SERIESFirst-Ever NCS Victory at COTA AUSTIN, Texas – (May 23, 2021) – Chase Elliott’s win of the inaugural EchoPark Texas Grand Prix at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in his No. 9 Llumar Camaro ZL1 1LE scored the 800th all-time victory for Chevrolet in NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) competition. This unprecedented win secured a significant milestone for Chevrolet as the most successful manufacturer in NASCAR history. In addition to reaching this 800th triumph for the brand, Elliott brought the Camaro ZL1 1LE to Victory Lane for the 14th time since becoming Chevrolet’s flagship NCS race vehicle in 2020, and the fifth time in the 2021 NCS season. “I couldn’t be more excited,” said Elliott. “I’ve never won a rain race before, so it’s kind of cool. And I’m just super proud of our team for just continuing to fight. We started the day, and we weren’t very good. I just kept pushing myself and we kept making some good changes throughout the day and got to where I thought we were on pace with those guys there at the end. So, I’m really proud of that. It’s not the greatest thing ever, for it to rain and to have a rain race win, if it’s your first one; but I think it’s okay if it’s down the road, so I’m pretty excited about that. I’m looking forward to next week and trying to keep it rolling.” Due to inclement weather, the EchoPark Texas Grand Prix was called with 14 laps to go. Elliott’s triumph marks the first appearance for the NCS in its debut at COTA, a 3.4-mile, 20-turn, counterclockwise track circuit track with multiple elevation changes that that flow with the hilly landscape. This win was Elliott’s 12th NCS career victory, his sixth road course win, and first of the 2021 NCS season. It also celebrated the 268th victory for Rick Hendrick and Hendrick Motorsports. “So proud of Chase Elliott and his No. 9 Camaro team for persevering all race long and handling such challenging conditions to deliver a big win at the first race at Circuit of the Americas,” said Jim Campbell, vice president of Performance and Motorsports. “Chase’s first win of the season is extra special as it was Hendrick Motorsports 268th Cup win and Chevrolet’s 800th Cup win.” “I’d also like to thank all of the Chevrolet engineers, and all of the drivers, crew chiefs, teams and owners who have contributed to those 800 wins over the past 66 years.” Chevrolet’s rich heritage in NASCAR competition began when Fonty Flock took the checkered flag on March 26,1955 at Columbia Raceway in Columbia, South Carolina in his ‘55 Chevy. Sixty-six years later, the ‘Bowtie Brand’ continues to set the mark. Chevrolet’s accolades in NASCAR racing are vast. To date, the manufacturer has earned 32 Driver titles and 39 Manufacturer titles en route to its 800 victories.  No manufacturer has carried more drivers and teams to championships in NASCAR’s premier division than Chevrolet. MILESTONE VICTORIES LIST:1st WIN: 3/26/55 – Fonty Flock, Columbia, SC100th WIN: 7/07/62 – Rex White – Columbia, SC200th WIN: 6/11/78 – Benny Parsons – Riverside, CA300th WIN: 4/20/86 – Dale Earnhardt, Sr. – North Wilkesboro, NC400th WIN: 9/10/94 – Terry Labonte – Richmond, VA500thWIN: 8/12/01 – Jeff Gordon – Watkins Glen, NY600th WIN: 3/25/07 – Kyle Busch – Bristol, TN700thWIN: 11/4/12 – Jimmie Johnson – Ft. Worth, TX800th WIN: 5/23/21 – Chase Elliott – Austin, TX DURATION BETWEEN MILESTONE WINS:1st to 100th: 2660 days = 7 years, 3 months, 11 days100th to 200th: 5818 days = 15 years, 11 months, 4 days200th to 300th: 2870 days = 7 years, 10 months, 9 days300th to 400th: 3065 days = 8 years, 4 months, 21 days400th to 500h: 2528 days = 6 years, 11 months, 2 days500th to 600th: 2051 days = 5 years, 7 months, 13 days600th to 700th: 2051 days = 5 years, 7 months, 10 days700th to 800th: 3122 days = 8 years, 6 months, 19 days WINS BY NAMEPLATE:Bel Air or Biscayne = 55Chevelle/Chevelle Laguna/Laguna S-3 = 36Lumina = 61Monte Carlo/Monte Carlo SS = 396Impala/Impala SS = 152Chevrolet SS = 73Camaro/Camaro ZL1/Camaro ZL1 1LE = 27 POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS:CHASE ELLIOTT AND ALAN GUSTAFSON, NO. 9 LLUMAR CAMARO ZLI 1LERICK HENDRICK, OWNER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTSKYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE THE MODERATOR: We have now been joined by our race winner, Chase Elliott. Congratulations on the victory.CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, thank you. It was a good day for sure. Too hard to win to get picky on how. We’ll take it.THE MODERATOR: We’ll go straight into questions.Just quickly, a monumental day for Hendrick Motorsports with that win, kind of a really neat opportunity that you’ll have a chance to sign the door of your car along with Mr. H and Richard Petty, then your race team as well. Talk a little bit about what that means and how neat that will be to auction off for Victory Junction.CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, obviously just a huge win on multiple fronts. Win number 800 for Chevrolet. They’re a great partner to me personally. They’ve played a massive role in the success of Hendrick Motorsports past and present. A great group to work with. So super proud of them.Obviously there’s a lot of guys, a lot more guys than me, that have contributed to that banner. Really proud and honored to be able to hold that up today. Then to tie Richard Petty Motorsports obviously is a big one. The boss has been on us heavy about that record. He wants that record. So super glad that we could help with that today.As you mentioned, the tie, then auctioning the door from today to benefit Victory Junction gang, obviously a well-known charity. What Richard has done there for as long as I can remember, I remember that charity as a kid. I know he’s changed a lot of lives. Hopefully we can help that cause as well. A really special piece of our car today, this is a big win. Looking forward to helping any way we can. THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions. Q. Do you have any sense of what’s the right call to make there in those situations? When visibility was so bad on the backstretch, they were wrecking, they restart the race, it got somewhat better, then started raining heavy again. Where is the line for you guys?CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day I’m not the one making the calls. I don’t want to make the calls. I can sit there and look at it and have an opinion, but it’s not my call. Like I say, I don’t want it to be my call.The track went through a bunch of different stages. The visibility further back in the pack, which I restarted back there on multiple occasions, it was super hard to see. That was really the case kind of all day long. I don’t really know how you fix that with the spray coming off the cars.I think where it got to there at the end was just there were puddles of standing water. I think that was where NASCAR got to and they’re like, Hey, this is not good. Visibility is one thing, but when you hydroplane going however fast we’re going, that’s probably not good. I think that’s kind of the situation we found ourselves in there at the end.Obviously I was on the good end of the call, so I’m okay with the race ending. But actually I think a lot of guys would say the standing water was getting pretty serious. It might have gotten better, might have not. Who knows. Q. If they restarted the race, would you have been more worried about running out of gas or conditions, just trying to get through the race?CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I mean, to me, obviously the fuel side of things was what it was. We needed some caution laps to get us to the end. The biggest thing I was thinking about for the restart was if I had a good restart, I was the first one to the back straightaway, that first guy back there was going to have a tough road ahead to make it down there without wrecking, in my opinion. I think it was going to be tough.With those green flag conditions, seemed like cars were kind of spread out around the track. Seemed like there was always a little bit of a tire track to run in. When you have a caution like that, it’s just building, building, building, we’re all bunched up, guys aren’t running around there keeping the water moving, that’s when I feel like it gets worse.As soon as the caution came out, it’s just hard to stay ahead of it at that point. I think that’s the situation we found ourselves in. Q. Was there any point today where you felt like we shouldn’t be out here, or you’re a race car driver and do whatever NASCAR tells you to do?CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, that’s not my call. If they say race, we’re going to go. If they make the call to say that it’s not doable or not smart, that’s what we’ll do, too.Look, it’s not for me to say. It’s not my call. I’m not the one in that position to have to make that call, and I don’t want to be. I’ll try to make the most of whatever it is, try to do my job the best I can. Q. Any close calls for you where you felt like you almost came close to running into the back of somebody because of visibility?CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I mean, there were a lot of close calls for sure. I feel like there’s close calls when it’s 75 and sunny, too. Yeah, of course. There’s close calls all the time.The conditions were different, but I don’t know what you do about it. When it’s raining and the track is wet, there’s going to be water coming off the back of the cars. If you can’t see, slow down till you can see, I guess. I don’t know. I don’t know how you fix that. Q. It’s not like you’ve had a bad season this year, but certainly being the last of the four of the teammates to win, people mention you as one of guys that hasn’t won with all your success last year. How did you handle that? Did that bother you? You seem like you’re able to handle things that come your way. Did it just roll off your shoulders?CHASE ELLIOTT: Like I said in the past, everyone is entitled to an opinion. That’s great. That’s what makes it exciting, right, to watch. Everybody can voice theirs, have something to say about it.At the end of the day the only opinions that matter, that reflect our performance and what we do on track, is our team and what we believe internally. That’s how we’ve always approached our racing at the 9 camp. That’s how we’ll always do it. We’re just focused on the opinions and the people that matter to us, the people that can make a difference, make us either go fast on Sundays or not. Those of the rest of everybody else that have an opinion, they don’t matter really at the end of the day.Q. Mr. H was talking earlier about drivers being in a slump. It’s been a while since you won. He said drivers will always still need that talking to, father-like figure to talk. Are there moments where you get into a slump where you feel like you need somebody to help you get out of it? CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I mean, for sure. There’s going to be times in everybody’s life where you need somebody to look up to or need somebody to talk to or whatever. Mr. Hendrick has always been that guy for me if I want him to be or if I want to talk to him about anything.I feel like my relationship with him, the door’s always open, and he’s going to help me on any level that he can, whether it’s as a person, as a race car driver, whatever it may be.I mean, I couldn’t ask for anything more with our relationship and everything he’s offered me and been willing to help with. Q. With today’s race, you are obviously the first Cup winner at COTA. Is there something about having the first name on the trophy?CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, just to have a name on the trophy is probably the most important thing. Yeah, super proud just of our whole group. I feel like we really kind of persevered through multiple challenges today. I didn’t think we started the day off great, but we were able to kind of fight back, get to where we had a lot of pace there at the end. Really proud of that.Like I said, first name on the trophy, last name, I don’t know that it matters really. Just proud to have it on there. Q. You grab your first win this weekend. How big is that for your confidence heading into the Coke 600?CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, like I said, look, these races are too hard to win to really pick and choose, get picky on how. You want to win ’em normally, without rain or anything to change the normal distance. But, look, I mean, a win is a win. A big win today for our team, for Chevrolet, for Hendrick Motorsports as a whole. Certainly going back to Charlotte, which is HMS’s home track. We love to go there and have another great run, be able to fight for another win. Q. A lot of people like to call you the road course king. What does it mean to have that reputation and keep bolstering it?CHASE ELLIOTT: I don’t read into it much. Like I said a minute ago, everybody has an opinion, they’re entitled to it. I’m happy for ’em. At the end of the day we’ve got to continue to push ourselves, try to be better, challenge ourselves to push forward at all the tracks, not just road courses.A win is a win. Right turns, left turns, uphill, downhill, I really don’t care. They’re too hard to win. I’m going to enjoy it, enjoy ’em all. THE MODERATOR: We have now also been joined by our race-winning crew chief, Alan Gustafson. He’s available for questions, as well.Q. Chase, I know he was there back in November, but what was it like to get the first win of the season with your father in attendance but on your radio as well?CHASE ELLIOTT: Definitely always a special thing to have your dad a part of a good day. Obviously wish my mom had been here, too. Yeah, I mean, you have to appreciate those things. That’s not something that a person should ever take for granted, to be able to enjoy those type of moments with your family.I certainly will enjoy today just like I have tried to enjoy other moments throughout our time together. Today will be no different. Q. Alan, they were talking a lot about the drivers having trouble with the spray. With the rear diffuser in the next-gen car, is that going to do anything? Can you put flaps on the back of the rear wheels or is it pretty much you have what you have? ALAN GUSTAFSON: I don’t know. We were just talking about that. That’s a great question. I’m not sure. I’d be curious to know what another series would do and what they would have had for visibility in that situation.The only thing that kind of comes to my mind, which is a bit unique for us, is we just run really, really close together. I think closer for longer periods of time than most other series do. That definitely makes it more difficult.If the cars had more downforce and more stability, I mean, it would certainly help the car drive better, but certainly not help you see any better. Knowing you’re going that fast, visibility is 30 feet in front of you, it’s just a bad combination.I don’t know. It’s a difficult thing to do. I don’t necessarily see the next-gen car making a huge change when it comes to visibility in that situation. I can’t say I wouldn’t know what to do because there’s just so much moisture in the air, it’s like heavy fog. Visibility is really poor, you’re going really fast. That’s a combination that’s not typically very good. Q. Is there a win that you look back at Hendrick Motorsports that you feel epitomizes being able to tie the record?ALAN GUSTAFSON: There’s not really one that stands out to me. This one’s pretty special. Certainly any of them you get are huge. To contribute to Mr. Hendrick’s success is great, something I’m super proud of. I know the team is. We’ve been trying really hard to get him that record because we certainly think he’s the best owner and he deserves it.I think for me, it’s just to be a part of it and to have contributed to a small percentage of the wins, it certainly makes me feel good. Q. Chase, the race was rain affected. Do you think this was the most challenging race you’ve been to?CHASE ELLIOTT: That’s tough. I mean, it’s tough to rank challenging races. I’ve had a lot of challenges races throughout my career, but challenging in different ways.Today it was the weather, just the conditions were different. I feel like there’s been times where I’ve had other really challenging days just in different ways. Kind of tough to put ’em in order I suppose. Q. Chase, I believe this is your sixth win on a road course in your career, which puts you third or fourth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list with road course victories. What does that mean to you to be a step or two below guys like Jeff Gordon and Tony Stewart? CHASE ELLIOTT: To be real honest, I haven’t spent a ton of time thinking about that and the stat book. I’m really just concerned with wanting to win that day, have success now. I think there’s a time where you can look back and really enjoy and appreciate different things, things in your career, accomplishments, whatnot.When you’re fighting the fight, it’s really hard to do that right now because as a team and me personally, I’m just consumed with wanting to do good. I don’t think sitting there and daydreaming about that is helping me do good. So I choose not to. Q. Chase, Mr. H said he felt like all four Hendrick teams could be in the Championship 4 race. I was curious if you and Alan agree?CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I mean, I don’t see why not. Obviously a lot can happen in those last 10 races. I feel like as a company our cars and each team I feel like is performing at a high level. If we can all carry that throughout the whole season, I don’t see why not.You certainly are going to have to have some things go your way. There are a lot of great drivers and teams that we have to improve with throughout the year and keep up with. THE MODERATOR: To Chase and Alan, congratulations again. Thank you for always spending some time with us following your race wins. We wish you the best of luck next weekend in Charlotte, as well.CHASE ELLIOTT: Thank you. THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Rick Hendrick. Congratulations on another Hendrick Motorsports win today with Chase Elliott. Today’s 268th win, tying the Petty record. Why don’t you give us a couple thoughts before we go into questions. RICK HENDRICK: Well, I really don’t know what to say other than Richard Petty and that organization have been the backbone of the sport. Richard has done so much. It’s quite an honor to even be in the same series with him.Never thought we’d get here. But real proud of the guys. They worked really hard. That’s been something we’ve had in our sights. Really happy for Chevrolet with 800 wins.It’s just been a great day. It’s been a great ride. The season has been so good to us. Everybody’s won a race now. We got all four locked in to the Playoffs. Man, I don’t know. It would sure be nice to win another one in Charlotte. That would be the place to really break the record. THE MODERATOR: Also worth noting that Hendrick Motorsports has a unique kind of memory or memorabilia coming from today’s race with the door of the history-making race car with Chase’s car will be signed by Chase and the winning team, Rick, and Richard Petty, then will be auctioned off for Victory Junction. A really neat way to commemorate this victory. Tell us a little bit about what that means to be able to do that, in honor of Richard Petty, as well. RICK HENDRICK: Well, Victory Junction was a dream. Kyle and Richard wanted to honor Adam. We’ve been involved with that program from the beginning. They helped so many kids. Hats off to them for what they’ve done for so many children. So much of the NASCAR community has supported Victory Junction. I’m just honored that we can take the door off of that car and auction it off for Victory Junction.I couldn’t be any happier. That’s going to be a real treat for me. Hope we raise a lot of money. THE MODERATOR: We’ll go to questions. Q. As a car owner, watching your guys race in this rain today, what was your takeaway from racing in the rain, considering the carnage that took place during the second stage?RICK HENDRICK: When you win a race, you’re pretty excited no matter how you got there. For the track and the fans, I wish it could have been dry because I think you saw the guys put on a heck of a show in the rain and in the dry. That’s a really neat track. So many fans there.I thought the guys did a heck of a job. I don’t know how they ran those cars those speeds in the rain and the wet. Hydroplaning. It takes a lot of guts to drive down a corner or down the straightaway at 140 miles an hour and hope that you don’t hydroplane when you hit the brakes.It was a tremendous effort by the drivers. I think you see the skill set that all of the NASCAR drivers have. Man, those guys were going at it every lap. Just hats off to the drivers, all of ’em. To do what they did in those kind of conditions, I mean, the rain and hydroplane is one thing, but when you can’t see, I don’t know. I don’t understand how we didn’t have more problems than we did. There were a couple of situations there with the 19, it was a pretty serious hit. I’m just glad everybody’s okay. Q. Calling in from a yacht or something?RICK HENDRICK: Calling from home. I got all kinds of grandkids, my two granddaughters and a grandson graduating. One is going, Kate is going to Davidson. I’ve been wearing a Davidson hat all day. I think I’ll put that on. Q. What does this mean to you? Could you talk about what are some of the highlights of all these wins?RICK HENDRICK: When I look back at the pictures of the wins, it brings back so many memories. I think all the time about hadn’t won Martinsville wouldn’t be here. So many things happened along the way. So many really good drivers that everybody from Geoff Bodine winning the first race, Tim Richmond, Terry winning a championship, Jeff Gordon, what he’s meant to us. Of course, Jimmie Johnson, with all his wins. Everybody along the way. Now with these four young guys, and adding Kyle Larson, it’s been a big boost to our company.The future looks bright. I never thought I’d be here. Never thought we’d win this many races. I’m just proud of the people. I think Chase said it: there’s 600-plus folks over there that work hard every day. They’re working together, they’re sharing information. Kyle Petty said this the other day: we’re like a big family, just like the Petty Enterprises were and are. It’s good to see these young guys. Cliff Daniels and all of the guys there that are crew chiefs that grew up in the company. Chad Knaus, Jeff Andrews, everybody. Alan Gustafson, to win his first championship. Big deal.I think they’re all fired up. We’ve got a lot of momentum now. We know it’s going to be hard to keep this streak going. I’ve been through some good times, some bad times, at the top of the mountain, then couldn’t hit our butt. Worked hard, kept going.I think the test of a real company is when you get in those lows, you don’t point fingers and you don’t jump ship; you just work. You can’t stop people that are working together with good communication, just willing to share. I think it’s the best it’s ever been for us, to have a balance of four cars that are running that well. We usually had one or two. Jeff’s dominating, Jimmie’s dominating. Now the sport is so competitive. But to have four that can show up and win any weekend, that’s a testament to the effort that all those people back in the shop are putting into this program. Q. It’s Chevrolet’s 800th victory today. What does it mean to you that you hit your milestone today and also hit a milestone for Chevy?RICK HENDRICK: I was talking to Mark Reuss the other day. I said, We’re going to get you your 800th win and we’re going to tie Richard Petty. Man, I’m so proud for Chevrolet. I’ve never raced anything else but Chevrolet. It’s just been a great ride. 800 wins. I mean, that’s hard to believe by any manufacturer.The support from Chevrolet has been awesome all these years. They’ve always been there. I appreciate that a bunch. You stick with a manufacturer, you go through times where you think your car is not as good, then you hit a streak and you get it all figured out. NASCAR has done a great job to make the cars equal. Next year, man, I don’t know, it’s going to be a real show when everybody is pretty much the same.The drivers, you see the drivers out here today that are just doing some phenomenal things. There are a lot of good road races out there. I’m really impressed with how many of the NASCAR drivers now throughout the field are good road racers.I guess I’m rambling on you guys. But it hasn’t sunk in yet really. You didn’t know what was going to happen there at the end of the race. I could not be more proud to have tied Richard and to have Chevrolet to win that 800th race. Means a lot to me.Again, Richard Petty was going to be my first driver. I thought we had a deal. It didn’t come together. To be able to, again, the respect and admiration I have for him and Kyle, that whole family, it’s a big deal for me to be just mentioned with him.Super excited about that auction for the door. I hope it brings a lot of money. But really, the whole deal’s kind of caught me off guard today because of the rain, not knowing what was going to happen, cars slipping and sliding. But our cars ran good. I hate it that William didn’t get to the top 10. But I’m surprised he finished the race with the damage he had.It’s a great day. THE MODERATOR: Hendrick Motorsports has won Chevy’s 400th, 500th, 600th, 700th, and 800th races. Another milestone there to have all those victories.We’ll continue with questions. Q. You mentioned about all four teams having wins now, the way they’re running. How good does it feel that you have four teams that do look like legitimate contenders?RICK HENDRICK: It feels so great because you have people sponsoring cars, one guy is running really good, I’ll get a text, Why are you giving this guy the best motor? Why are you giving this guy the best car? That’s a situation that people have a hard time believing that the equipment is the same.So now to be able to have all of our sponsors happy that everyone’s winning, everyone’s capable of winning the races. It feels good. It feels great because it just levels out the whole organization from the standpoint of there’s not one guy falling behind. They’re all capable of winning every week. That’s what you want. If you can just be there, be in the mix, be capable of running up front, winning races, that’s as good as it gets for an organization. Q. You mentioned the low points. I think it was Jeff Andrews who said that he felt like last summer was really the low point and turning point for the company. Do you remember that time? He specifically mentioned having to look you and Chevrolet in the eye.RICK HENDRICK: Yeah, well, we had a meeting. We had all the COVID deal going on where you’re going to work in the shop, who is going to do what. We were just fractured.When we had a big get-together, we said, Hey, we got to get after this, all hands on deck. The season turned. Chase was able to win the last two, win the championship. The momentum has carried over into this year.So we’re excited. It’s always hard to win a championship because you don’t know what can happen in that last race. But if you can be there and you can be in part of it, I think we got the best shot we’ve ever had to have four cars legitimate winners that could go into that Final Four. Q. Can you think of a win or two that you feel epitomizes why your organization was able to tie the record?RICK HENDRICK: Man, I tell you, there’s so many wins. When you see the organization come together, I guess the 1-2-3 in ’97 at Daytona. It takes every one of those wins, whether it was Joe Nemechek in Richmond or whoever to get to the number we got to now. I guess Jimmie winning the championship, tying Earnhardt and Petty for seven. We had to win the last race there at Homestead. That was an unbelievable moment for us to win the championship in the last race. The same way it was to win it in Phoenix with Chase.Man, there’s just so many. All of them are special. I can’t pick any one that’s probably any more special than 10 other ones. Q. As far as today, was there any time where you felt like NASCAR should have stopped the race earlier or were you okay with their decisions?RICK HENDRICK: I’m glad I don’t have to make that decision. Is it going to rain harder? Is it going to slack up? Do you stop? Do you throw a caution? Hindsight, you can say when the cars start hydroplaning, you can’t see, you need to stop.I think they did the best they can to keep it safe for the drivers. Once you have some of these accidents like we had, when you can’t see and you’re running those speeds, things are going to happen.It’s hard to say what we should have done. I think they made the best decisions they could. I think there at the end, though, not just because we won the race, because I think Kyle Larson would have won if Chase had to pit.It’s a hard call. I think they do a great job. THE MODERATOR: We’ve also been joined by Kyle Larson. Kyle is also available for questions. Q. Mr. H, you mentioned getting a win at the Coke 600 next weekend would really kind of put a cherry on top of this. Why would that race be so monumental to get a top finish next weekend?RICK HENDRICK: Well, that’s our home track. That track means a lot to us. Our shops are about a mile away. Everybody would be able to celebrate together. So that would be awesome because that is our home.I know Kyle, I see him there, Kyle needs to do it (smiling). Q. Kyle, how did you feel like the visibility was during that race even at the beginning? Did you feel like it was unsafe?KYLE LARSON: I mean, there’s honestly nothing safe about being a race car driver. Yeah, I mean, it was at moments worse than other restarts. NASCAR did a good job with the Air Titans. That definitely helped it. You could definitely see a little bit after that for the restarts.Honestly just the restarts were bad for me. Once you get back around the next time, get better, get better each lap. There at the end, yeah, it was starting to rain pretty hard. You were having to deal with hydroplaning, trying to go 170-something miles an hour. It was getting pretty crazy.There’s also sports car drivers, road racers that do this for a living. Yeah, I mean, I don’t follow it enough to know if our conditions were different than theirs or what. I mean, that’s kind of what you have to expect I think from racing in the rain also. Q. You talked about all the changes, what have you. What kind of a difference has Chad Knaus made being in the role that he’s in now as opposed to just concentrating on one team?RICK HENDRICK: Well, I think you see the evidence with all four cars running like they are. Chad has made some adjustments. All the crew chiefs have worked together. They’ve come up with a plan of who works on all the cars, one group takes care of the setups. All the things that go on between the crew chiefs and back in the shop.Chad is a very capable crew chief, if you look at all the championships he’s won. He’s a perfectionist. With a perfectionist, the cars are going to be right. We’ve got, again, when you look at the chemistry, just the communication. Chemistry, communication. It’s the best I think it’s ever been.Yeah, he’s added a lot. Q. Kyle, what kind of interaction have you had with Chad since coming to Hendrick Motorsports?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I mean, just really the competition meetings, then usually if we have a good run, he’ll let me know that I’m doing a great job. I’ve let him know, too, that I respect his opinion. Even if I’m not doing a good job, or he sees things that I can maybe do to be better, I’ve let him know I want to be criticized.I think we all have a lot of respect for him. He’s obviously accomplished a bunch. I’m thankful to be able to work with him and have him make all of our teams better now.Mr. H has put together an amazing group of people that have been there for a very long time. Us drivers are just getting to be lucky to work with them and drive their race cars. Q. Kyle, certainly there are a lot more road course races coming up this season. We may not see these type of conditions for a long time or could see them soon. What needs to be learned from today’s experience moving forward to try to prevent some of the issues today?KYLE LARSON: I don’t really know. I don’t really have an answer yet. I haven’t gotten to watch replays, see things like that.It was fun, really from my seat. They’ve raced in the rain, too. Like Montreal and stuff before. I can’t really answer that. Q. Rick, it’s not like it’s been a bad season for Chase, but not having a win yet, his other teammates are winning, did you have to talk to him, to kind of just see where his mind was to help him, or has he kind of grown beyond some of that fatherly advice?RICK HENDRICK: Well, no, I don’t think any driver ever does. Even Jimmie Johnson or Jeff Gordon. You get in a little bit of a funk when you don’t win and guys around you are winning.I’ve told him, we talked last week, just keep your chin up, you got a great shot next week. He’s matured a ton. But everybody, Alan, all the crew chiefs, when they’ve had a bad day or a bad start or a couple of bad races, that’s when they need the coaching. Not so much coaching, but just saying, Hey, man, you’re the same guys that won the championship. Just show up, do your deal, and it will be good.I think surely when everybody else had won there but him, he was concerned. But we all know his talent, Alan, the cars. Just a matter of time. It’s super competitive. You look at the wins by so many different teams, so many different drivers this year, it’s hard to win.He’s matured a ton. Pressure doesn’t bother Chase. He is cool like his dad. We went to Phoenix last year for the final race in the championship. I was nervous as could be. Chase was just calm as a cucumber. He’s really, really got a very mature package the way he handles himself, the way he goes about racing.He’s really in a good spot. I’m super excited for him to get this win. I think there’s more to come. Q. Last week you had the 1-2-3-4 finish, this week you have a 1-2 finish. Do you think this is one of the best times for the team in its history?RICK HENDRICK: I do. We’ve won 17 races in a year, total dominance by a couple of cars I think with Jeff Gordon. But to have all four cars running, that 1-2-3-4 was an amazing feat for our company. Then to come back and run first and second today.Yeah, I think on par all cars capable of winning, it’s hard to do. It’s really hard to do because I’ve been at this for a long, long time. I’ve done multiple cars for a lot of years.I was told when I went to two cars I’d never win a championship running two cars. When you have four and you try to tell every sponsor you got the same stuff as the other guy, when they’re all clicking, it makes life a lot easier and we gain a lot of momentum. In the engine, with the engine shop, the chassis shop, everybody gets that big momentum, that Big Mo attitude. The drivers do, crew chiefs do.We’ll enjoy it while we can. This is a tough sport to stay there, so… But, yeah, it’s the best we’ve seen, best I remember by far. Q. Kyle, do you like the consistency of second-place finishes or a win would be more desirable?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I mean, obviously we’d like to be winning. I feel like we did everything we could last week to win. Came up one spot short. Same thing this week. We put ourselves, had the right strategy to win. Had the race gone green at the end of the race, Chase was going to have to pit for fuel. We did everything we could again and just came up one spot short.We’ve been there every weekend. We’ve been challenging. You got to be happy with that. Like I said, we want the wins, but if you can’t win, second’s better than third. Q. Kyle, were you okay with NASCAR’s decision to call the race?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I mean, it was getting pretty bad. Like three laps in a row I was starting to hydroplane down the back stretch. Selfishly I’d like to have kept going just knowing that he was going to have to pit and I would have been handed the lead and the win.But they made the right call. It was getting bad. They already had some pretty big wrecks and stuff throughout the race. I’m not at all upset with the call that was made to make the race official and end it. Q. What does it mean as a team to have all four cars locked into the chase so early in the season knowing you can focus on preparation towards the championship?RICK HENDRICK: It feels great to have the wins because you can try some things before the Playoffs. Right now we want to win every race we can. The momentum of winning, that carries into the chase. We don’t want to just try too many different things. I’m sure we’ll try more when we get to the Playoffs.We’re sitting in a good spot. Again, we got to keep doing what we’re doing. You got to have the momentum when you get in the Playoffs because you got to make all the rounds. As it gets closer, I think we’ll probably try some stuff. The deal is to win and be competitive every week if you want to win the championship. Q. Kyle, looking at the strengths and weaknesses of your team, where do you feel those are right now?KYLE LARSON: I don’t know. We have a lot of strengths. I don’t really know. There’s areas I’m sure that we need to be better, but nothing really stands out to me right now. I think track to track really. Like today, I mean, my restarts were horrible. That’s an area where if we were to be racing in the rain again, I would need to be way more aggressive.But, yeah, we’ve been doing a great job. I feel like Cliff has been making great calls. Our pit crew has been really strong all year long. I feel like I’ve been doing a good job behind the wheel. Knock on wood, I haven’t had any big mistakes here in the last couple months that I can think of where I did kind of early in the year, where I feel like I cost myself some good finishes.No, it’s been good. We just look to carry forward this momentum and try and put together a good race each week. THE MODERATOR: For Mr. H and Kyle, thank you both for joining us. Congratulations again on all of the accomplishments for Hendrick Motorsports. We wish you guys the best of luck next weekend in Charlotte. KYLE LARSON: Thank you. Congrats, Rick.RICK HENDRICK:

NASCAR CUP SERIES CIRCUIT OF THE AMERICAS ECHO PARK TEXAS GRAND PRIX TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES MAY 23, 2021 CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 LLUMAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Race WinnerIT DOESN’T SEEM TO MATTER THE CONDITIONS. IF IT’S A ROAD COURSE, YOU’RE GOING TO FIND YOUR WAY UP FRONT. THIS IS YOUR SIXTH ROAD COURSE RACE WIN AND 12th CAREER VICTORY“I couldn’t be more excited. I’ve never won a rain race before, so it’s kind of cool. And I’m just super proud of our team for just continuing to fight. We started the day, and we weren’t very good. I just kept pushing myself and we kept making some good changes throughout the day and got to where I thought we were on pace with those guys there at the end. So, I’m really proud of that. It’s not the greatest thing ever, for it to rain and to have a rain race win, if it’s your first one; but I think it’s okay if it’s down the road, so I’m pretty excited about that. I’m looking forward to next week and trying to keep it rolling.” AT THE END OF THE RACE, YOU WERE A COUPLE OF LAPS SHORT ON FUEL. ALAN (GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF) TOLD YOU TO START PUSHING. YOU PICKED UP THE PACE INCREDIBLY AT THE END. YOU WERE TWO SECONDS QUICKER THAN ANYBODY IN THE FIELD. WHAT DID YOU DO DIFFERENT?“I just kept pushing myself harder and harder. Some areas on the track though were getting, actually, really treacherous, I felt like. The back straightaway was puddling up and starting to hydroplane and do some weird stuff. My only option was to just kind of send it through those spots and just hope for the best. “Like I said, I’m just really proud of our team. This is two-in-a-row for Hendrick Motorsports and the 800th win for Chevrolet. I couldn’t be more proud of Chevy and it’s the 268th win for Hendrick Motorsports. “Thanks to all the fans for hanging in there today. It’s great to have Llumar on the car this week and get this win together. I know everybody is used to seeing us in our NAPA colors, but it’s good to have them on board. “I’m just proud of our team. To come here and fight, it’s not the ideal way to win, but we’ll definitely take it and move on down the road.”

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDIANAPOLIS 500 INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY QUALIFICATIONS RECAP MAY 23, 2021 Team Chevy teammates qualify on Rows 1 and 2 for Indianapolis 500Rinus VeeKay and Ed Carpenter lead 16-car Chevrolet contingent INDIANAPOLIS (May 23, 2021) – Teammates Rinus VeeKay and Ed Carpenter will lead the Chevrolet contingent into the 105th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge from the front two rows.VeeKay, who eight days earlier earned his initial NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, qualified third in the Firestone Fast Nine Shootout with a four-lap average speed of 231.511 mph on the 2.5-mile oval.  Carpenter, a three-time Indy 500 pole winner, qualified fourth in the No. 20 SONAX Chevrolet with an average speed of 231.504 mph. Simona De Silvestro dug deep in the Last Chance Qualifying and put her No. 16 Rocket Paretta Autosport Chevrolet in the 33rd starting position for the field of the Indianapolis 500. It will be the sixth time the Swiss born driver will start the Greatest Spectacle in Racing. After missing the lock-in on Saturday to be in the top-30, De Silvestro had to battle four additional drivers for the final three spots on the grid. Sixteen entries powered by the 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged, direct-injected Chevrolet V6 engine qualified for the 33-car field for the 200-lap race Sunday, May 30. A Chevrolet driver has qualified on the front row eight of the nine years, including six pole starts, since the Bowtie brand returned to NTT INDYCAR SERIES manufacturer competition in 2012. “I’m very proud of our team, proud of Chevrolet giving us all the power we need to go fight for the pole and more importantly to fight for a win next Sunday,” said Carpenter, who is also the principal of Ed Carpenter Racing. Chevrolet front-row starters since 20122021: Third – Rinus VeeKay2019: First – Simon Pagenaud. Second – Ed Carpenter. Third – Spencer Pigot2018: First – Ed Carpenter. Second – Simon Pagenaud. Third – Will Power2017: Second – Ed Carpenter2016: Second – Josef Newgarden2015: First – Scott Dixon. Second – Will Power. Third – Simon Pagenaud2014: First — Ed Carpenter. Third – Will Power2013: First – Ed Carpenter. Second – Carlos Munoz. Third – Marco Andretti2012: First – Ryan Briscoe. Second – James Hinchcliffe. Third – Ryan Hunter-Reay Drivers received a turbocharger boost, which equates to an increase of about 45 horsepower, for practice Friday, May 21, that carried over for the two days of qualifications. Scott Dixon, the 2020 Indy 500 winner, recorded a four-lap average speed of 231.685 mph in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to win the NTT P1 Award. VeeKay was the highest rookie qualifier in 2020 and improved one position for 2021. He will seek to join Simon Pagenaud in 2019 and Will Power in 2018 as Chevrolet drivers to win on the IMS road course and oval in the same month. “Both Ed and I have amazing cars. Chevy power has been outstanding today,” said VeeKay, 20, driver of the No. 21 Bitcoin Chevrolet. “We have a good shot at winning.” Pato O’Ward, who claimed his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory May 1 on the Texas Motor Speedway oval, qualified on Row 4 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. Teammate Felix Rosenqvist, driving the No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, qualified 14th. Scott McLaughlin, competing in his first Indianapolis 500, qualified 17th in the No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske Chevrolet. Pagenaud, the 2019 pole winner, qualified 26th in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet. Two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Juan Pablo Montoya qualified 24th in the No. 86 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. Power persevered through a nerve-racking day of Last Chance Qualifying and drove the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet to 32nd in the starting lineup. He will be joined on the last row by Sage Karam in the No. 24 DRR-AES Indiana Dreyer & Reinbold Racing Chevrolet and Simona De Silvestro, who is making her first ‘500’ appearance since 2015, in the No. 16 Rocket Pro/Paretta Autosport Chevrolet. NBC will telecast the 200-lap race at 11 a.m. ET May 30. Motorsports icon Danica Patrick will drive the 2021 mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette Stingray hardtop convertible to lead the field to the green flag. The 2021 race marks the 32nd time for Chevrolet to pace dating to 1948, and the 18th time since 1978 for America’s favorite sports car. TEAM CHEVY QUALIFIERS WITH AVERAGE SPEED IN MPH:3. Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Bitcoin Ed Carpenter Racing (231.511)4. Ed Carpenter, No. 20 SONAX Ed Carpenter Racing (231.504)12. Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP (230.864)14. Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP (230.744)17. Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Pennzoil Team Penske (230.557)19. Conor Daly, No. 47 U.S. Air Force Ed Carpenter Racing (230.427)21. Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Shell Fuel Rewards Team Penske (230.071)22. JR Hildebrand, No. 1 ABC Supply/AJ Foyt Racing (229.980)24. Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 86 Arrow McLaren SP (229.891)26. Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards Team Penske (229.778)27. Sebastien Bourdais, No. 14 ROKiT/AJ Foyt Racing (229.744)29. Max Chilton, No. 59 Gallagher Carlin (229.417)30. Dalton Kellett, No. 4 K-Line Insulators/AJ Foyt Racing (228.323)31. Sage Karam, No. 24 DRR-AES Indiana Dreyer & Reinbold Racing (229.156)32. Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske (228.876)33. Simona De Silvestro, No. 16 Rocket Pro/Paretta Autosport (228.333)Charlie Kimball, No.11 Tresiba AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet and RC Enerson, No. 75 Top Gun Racing Chevrolet did not qualify for the race.  DRIVER QUOTES:RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITCOIN ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 3RD:“I had a big moment on the last lap, in the first corner. I never lifted, but when I think back, maybe I should have! That last lap was the sketchiest lap I’ve ever done, but I kept my foot on the gas. I wanted it to be as on the limit as possible, so I kept the power on, even with all the wiggling. I knew Turn One would be the trickiest so once I got through, I thought it would be fine. I couldn’t have gone any faster. I was happy to make the Fast Nine yesterday and we’re grateful to have Chevy power taking me to the front row! I’m very happy for the team and very grateful, for all the sleepless nights and hard work. I think we can go for the win next Sunday. I love Indy, and with the Ed Carpenter Chevy, it’s such a pleasure – apart from that last lap! I have a great car and a great team around me. That win last week has changed the spirit within the team and we were all extremely motivated. The entire month of May has been amazing.”  ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING, QUALIFIED 4TH: “Chevy has been a great partner; they give us so many tools and help us thrive. There’s no better partner to have. I’m happy, we were in the hunt and we have a car on the front row. Both of our cars were extremely close, and that small gap between the two cars is a testament to ECR and the quality of cars that they build. -Very proud to be seven-thousandths of a mile-an-hour between our cars is frickin’ awesome. That is all ECR. That is all our team; it is Chevy. 10 years as partners is amazing. It’s tough competition, whether it’s Honda versus Chevy or the two of us going against Scott Dixon and Colton Herta. We had all the power we needed to fight for the pole, they were just a little better than us today. There are so many great drivers in the series, it’s awesome to compete against them and we love the challenge. At the end of the day, we’re happy with where we’re starting the Indy 500. Rinus is the real deal, I’m proud of him. He’s a resilient kid, he learns and keeps getting better. He’s going to be tough to beat next Sunday, I’m as worried about him as anyone. But we’ll be in a great spot for the race, with my teammate in front of me, so we’ll tune up the car today and Carb Day and be ready for next Sunday.” SAGE KARAM, NO. 24 DRR-AES INDIANA DRYER AND REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFYING 31ST: “It wasn’t easy running in Sunday’s last Chance qualifying, as it was warmer than Saturday’s qualifying. But the team did a great job preparing the car for the four-lap stint. Glad we were fastest in that little round as we were two years ago. Ironically, I’ll start 31st for the third straight Indy 500. I’m really proud of the DRR Team Chevy and AES Indiana crew the way they kept working so hard to get me in the show here at Indy. As one-car, Indy-only team, DRR has to go up against two cars basically Penske-prepared for Will and Simona. And we beat them today. I think that is very cool. Now we are ready to prepare for next Sunday’s race.”WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFED 32ND:  “Yeah that was very, very nerve-wracking. The run started going loose everywhere. I held onto it out of 2, hit the wall, and I took a chance by holding it wide open and hoping the rear toe wasn’t too bad. Man. That is as loose as you want to get it. I can’t thank Verizon and Chevy enough for sticking with me after all these years. I’m so stoked to get in the race. The team has put a massive amount of effort into this race. It’s a big relief more than anything to get in this race. I knew I couldn’t lift. Some nervy lifts. But yeah. This place throws everything at you. We’re in the race and it’s an amazing feeling, amazing place. It’s more nerve wracking than going for pole. Definitely I lost a bit of sleep!”  SIMONA DE SILVERSTRO, NO 16 ROCKET PRO PARETTA AUTOSPORT CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 33RD: “What a day. It was definitely nerve racking being in this position. Super happy that we made it in because of everyone involved as well,  because of all the hard work that got put in, it would have been crazy to not have made it. From that point of view, we’re super relieved. Now we just focus on racing and I think we could be pretty good because our car was pretty competitive.“For Beth as well I just wish it wouldn’t have been as crazy for the first time we were racing together. At least we got that one out of the way and now we can really focus on this going forward. It was interesting but you know I think we all stuck together and that’s what made us strong to be

Batavia, OH (May 23, 2021) – The Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge continues this week at the Lucas Oil Show-Me 100 Presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com. Brandon Ford, the World’s Largest Volume Ford Dealer, provides the Official Pace Truck of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. In 2021, Brandon Ford expanded their partnership of the premier national tour to include support of the TV Race Challenge. This year’s Show-Me 100 will broadcast LIVE on the MAVTV Motorsports Network on Saturday, May 29th. Both Thursday and Friday’s preliminary events will be taped for broadcast on MAVTV Motorsports Network later in the year, while all three nights will be live on MAVTVPlus.com. The Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge will award points to drivers at the 32 televised events broadcasted on Network TV within the series schedule in 2021. The winner of the Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge will receive a $10,000 cash award, while second and third will receive $3,000 and $2,000 respectively at the year-end awards banquet. The talent of the nation’s top dirt late model drivers will be put on display along the way, not only at each venue during the live streams on MAVTV Plus, but also during the 32 broadcast events on the MAVTV Motorsports Network, 15 events on CBS Sports Network, 5 events on CBS, and 13 events on the NBC Sports Network. Currently Brandon Overton leads Hudson O’Neal, Devin Moran, Brandon Sheppard and Kyle Bronson in the Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge standings. For complete standings visit: https://lucasdirt.com/points/2021-points. “A huge thanks to Wayne Hammond and everyone at Brandon Ford for sponsoring the TV Race Challenge in 2021. Having additional money for the racers to shoot for adds to the excitement of our TV package in 2021. The drivers always want to perform at their best when the TV cameras are on, but having the added cash incentives to compete for during TV races makes every position count,” stated Wayne Castleberry, Corporate Motorsports Sales and Marketing for Lucas Oil Products. Brandon Ford, located in Tampa, FL, has won Ford’s prestigious President’s Award 17 years in a row, saluting the top-performing Ford and Lincoln dealerships that pursue excellence in the highest levels of customer satisfaction in both sales and service. Brandon Ford has one of the largest inventories of new and pre-owned vehicles in the nation. To learn more about Brandon Ford or if you are interested in purchasing a vehicle, visit: www.brandonford.com. Show-Me 100 action kicks off on May 27 with the “Cowboy Classic” for Late Models headlining the program, with a $6,000-to-win, $600-to-start main event which also enables drivers to earn valuable points toward starting position into the night-night main event. The USRA Modifieds feature winner will earn $750. The “Tribute to Don and Billie Gibson” on May 28 also will see a $6,000-to-win feature with more points earned for the starting lineup the next night. USRA Modifieds compete for a $750-to-win feature with more points collected toward the final-night main event. The May 29 program includes B Mains, the Midwest Sheet Metal Show-Me Challenge and the 100-lap, $30,000-to-win main event along with a $1,500-to-win USRA Modified feature. For more information about the Show-Me 100 visit www.lucasoilspeedway.com. For more information about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and the Lucas Oil MLRA visit www.lucasdirt.com and www.mlraracing.com.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDIANAPOLIS 500 PRESENTED BY GAINBRIDGE INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY OVAL FAST NINE QUALIFYING RINUS VEEKAY AND ED CARPENTER QUOTES MAY 23, 2021 RINUS VEEKAY PUTS CHEVY ON FRONT ROW FOR INDIANAPOLIS 500TEAMMATE ED CARPENTER WILL START FOURTH RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITCOIN ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 3RD:“I had a big moment on the last lap, in the first corner. I never lifted, but when I think back, maybe I should have! That last lap was the sketchiest lap I’ve ever done, but I kept my foot on the gas. I wanted it to be as on the limit as possible, so I kept the power on, even with all the wiggling. I knew Turn One would be the trickiest so once I got through, I thought it would be fine. I couldn’t have gone any faster. I was happy to make the Fast Nine yesterday and we’re grateful to have Chevy power taking me to the front row! I’m very happy for the team and very grateful, for all the sleepless nights and hard work. I think we can go for the win next Sunday. I love Indy, and with the Ed Carpenter Chevy, it’s such a pleasure – apart from that last lap! I have a great car and a great team around me. That win last week has changed the spirit within the team and we were all extremely motivated. The entire month of May has been amazing.”  ED CARPENTER, NO. 20 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING, QUALIFIED 4TH: “Chevy has been a great partner; they give us so many tools and help us thrive. There’s no better partner to have. I’m happy, we were in the hunt and we have a car on the front row. Both of our cars were extremely close, and that small gap between the two cars is a testament to ECR and the quality of cars that they build. -Very proud to be seven-thousandths of a mile-an-hour between our cars is frickin’ awesome. That is all ECR. That is all our team; it is Chevy. 10 years as partners is amazing. It’s tough competition, whether it’s Honda versus Chevy or the two of us going against Scott Dixon and Colton Herta. We had all the power we needed to fight for the pole, they were just a little better than us today. There are so many great drivers in the series, it’s awesome to compete against them and we love the challenge. At the end of the day, we’re happy with where we’re starting the Indy 500. Rinus is the real deal, I’m proud of him. He’s a resilient kid, he learns and keeps getting better. He’s going to be tough to beat next Sunday, I’m as worried about him as anyone. But we’ll be in a great spot for the race, with my teammate in front of me, so we’ll tune up the car today and Carb Day and be ready for next Sunday.”

May 23, 2021 Jim Allen

(May 22, 2021, Jim Allen) Petaluma, CA …  Justin Sanders became the third different winner in as many NARC King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Car Series events, holding off Bud Kaeding to win Saturday’s fast-paced 30-lapper at Petaluma Speedway.

The initial attempt to get the event underway saw Sanders and fellow front row starter Andy Forsberg get together coming out of the fourth corner to take the initial green flag.  Before the red-flag carnage was over, it reeled in four other cars.  Sanders escaped with no damage, but Forsberg received the worst of it and was done for the night.  The mayhem also forced makeshift repairs on Tim Kaeding’s ride and sent Dominic Scelzi, Kyle Offill and Michael Sellers to the back of the pack for the restart.

Once the line-up was sorted out, the second start was clean and the 30-lap event ran non-stop.  Sanders, piloting the Antaya Motorsports Fire Protection Management XXX #16A sprinter, jumped out to an early lead, pursued by Kaeding, Joel Myers Jr., Kaleb Montgomery and Bill Aton.  Things got entertaining on the sixth circuit when the freight train reached lap traffic with Kaeding shadowing the leaders every move as they zigged and zagged through slower cars.  The pair raced wheel-to-wheel with Kaeding applying pressure throughout the contest, but Sanders made all the right moves on the hooked up track to secure the $3500 victory.

Sanders was subdued in victory lane after scoring his seventh series win and 100th sprint car win of his career.

“I never intended to run Andy (Forsberg) off the track and I feel bad for what happened,”  said Sanders. “That was not my intention and I never want to win that way.”

Kaeding drove the Al’s Roofing Supply #69 to his second runner-up finish in as many weeks.  The 15-year old Myers posted an eye-opening third place finish in his PitStopUSA/Dirt Dudes XXX.  Eleventh starter DJ Netto scored fourth aboard the Penny Newman Grain KPC to pocket the Swift Metal Finishing hardcharger money.  Scelzi rounded out the top five.

The next five to cross the checkered were Kaleb Montgomery, Tim Kaeding, Aton, Austin McCarl, and Ryan Robinson.  Montgomery was driving a 360 powerplant.

Sanders also set quick time with a 12.727 second run around the three-eighths mile oval.  Forsberg won the Sunnyvalley Bacon dash.

Madden claims second consecutive Port Royal win“Smokey” earned $25K+ with back-to-back Port Royal Speedway victoriesPORT ROYAL, PA – MAY 22, 2021 – One of the keys to finding Victory Lane during a World of Outlaws Late Model race is taking advantage when the opportunity comes.    Chris Madden seized his moment Saturday night during the Billy Vacek Memorial at Port Royal Speedway to claim his second win in a row at the Pennsylvania track.With 22 laps to go, race leader Brandon Overton made a mistake in traffic, allowing “Smokey” to dive underneath him and steal the lead.Prior to that, Overton had opened a full straightaway lead over Madden 15 laps into the race before he caught the back of the field. That’s when Madden started to reel him in and plan his attack. “Leading in lap traffic is tough when it’s one lane,” Madden said. “[Overton] took a shot at a lap car and tried to move to the outside of it in [Turn] 1 and 2, and I was able to fill the hole.”After Madden made his move around Overton, “Big Sexy” wasn’t ready to relinquish the lead just yet. The two raced side-by-side into Turn 3 and Overton tried to dive under the Drydene #44 of Madden but couldn’t make the move stick. He ended up sideways in the corner, costing him a shot at Victory Lane. The Evans, GA driver finished fourth; frustrated about what happened.  “I was just trying too hard,” Overton said. “As long as [the lap cars] entered wider than me I’d be fine, but one time they entered a little lower and a little slower. I had to get on the brakes, and I shattered the tires and slid up the hill. “I was too close to [the lap cars]; I probably shouldn’t have been that close to them. I probably should’ve just laid back a couple of car-lengths.”Madden’s win completes a weekend sweep at “The Speed Palace” that sees him walk away with more than $25,000 in winnings. It’s also his third straight win, and fourth of 2021, bringing “Smokey” to 32 career World of Outlaws Morton Buildings wins overall. Rick Eckert, the 2011 Series champion and York, PA campaigner, finished second. He didn’t think he had anything for Madden toward the end. “Even if I got to [Madden], passing him was a different story,” Eckert said. “The only chance I had was if a lap car messed him up.”Port Royal regular Dan Stone crossed the line third. It’s a momentum booster for the Thompson, PA driver who had a backup car and motor. “We hurt the motor in our good car awhile back, and we’ve been waiting on it to come back,” Stone said. “This is a 2017 car, and the motor was probably built in 2008, but you didn’t need a lot of motor because it was pretty slick.”Rookie of the Year contender Ryan Gustin rounded out the top five and was the top rookie of the race. The leading rookie contender, Tyler Bruening finished seventh. Kyle Strickler, who joined Scott Bloomquist Racing for the weekend, finished 16th in his second run with the team. He’s also contending for rookie of the year honors.Three-time and defending champion Brandon Sheppard finished 14th. His point lead is now down to 26 points over Madden.UP NEXT: The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet travel to the Hoosier State, stopping at Circle City Raceway, June 4, and Plymouth Speedway, June 5. If you can’t make it either night watch all the action live on DIRTVision with the annual Platinum FAST PASS subscription for $299/year or the monthly FAST PASS subscription for $39/month.Morton Buildings Feature (50 Laps)-1. 44-Chris Madden [2][$15,000]; 2. 0E-Rick Eckert [3][$7,000]; 3. 2-Dan Stone [4][$4,500]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton [1][$3,500]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin [7][$3,000]; 6. 7R-Ross Robinson [10][$2,800]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening [9][$2,600]; 8. 22-Chris Ferguson [8][$2,500]; 9. 66C-Matt Cosner [5][$2,400]; 10. 22S-Gregg Satterlee [14][$2,300]; 11. 4-Gary Stuhler [16][$1,800]; 12. 7-Ricky Weiss [12][$1,600]; 13. 97-Cade Dillard [23][$1,400]; 14. 1-Brandon Sheppard [13][$1,300]; 15. 45-Kyle Hardy [11][$1,200]; 16. 8-Kyle Strickler [24][$1,100]; 17. 28-Dennis Erb [15][$1,050]; 18. 9-Hayes Mattern [20][$1,000]; 19. B1-Brent Larson [17][$1,000]; 20. 43A-Tyler Bare [18][$1,000]; 21. 99B-Boom Briggs [22][$1,000]; 22. 48-Colton Flinner [25][$1,000]; 23. 24-Dylan Yoder [21][$1,000]; 24. D19-Dillon Stake [19][$1,000]; 25. 55L-Donald Lingo [6][$1,000] Hard Charger: 97-Cade Dillard[+10]Qualifying Flight-A –1. 76-Brandon Overton, 20.848; 2. 45-Kyle Hardy, 20.972; 3. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 21.207; 4. 2-Dan Stone, 21.213; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening, 21.254; 6. 55L-Donald Lingo, 21.302; 7. 22-Chris Ferguson, 21.325; 8. 25Z-Mason Zeigler, 21.328; 9. 24-Dylan Yoder, 21.441; 10. 28-Dennis Erb, 21.634; 11. B1-Brent Larson, 21.662; 12. 171-Jimmy Bernheisel, 21.667; 13. 48-Colton Flinner, 21.684; 14. 1K-Pancho Lawler, 21.686; 15. 112-Chad Julius, 21.708; 16. 3-Tim Wilson, 21.818; 17. 15-Scott Flickinger, 21.901; 18. D19-Dillon Stake, 21.994; 19. 22B-Brett Schadel, 22.114; 20. C33-Chris Casner, 22.332Qualifying Flight-B-1. 44-Chris Madden, 20.715; 2. 66C-Matt Cosner, 21.312; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin, 21.356; 4. 0E-Rick Eckert, 21.41; 5. 7R-Ross Robinson, 21.462; 6. 33-Trent Brenneman, 21.472; 7. 43A-Tyler Bare, 21.521; 8. 4-Gary Stuhler, 21.566; 9. 72-Jason Covert, 21.608; 10. 9-Hayes Mattern, 21.674; 11. 22S-Gregg Satterlee, 21.693; 12. 7-Ricky Weiss, 21.718; 13. 8-Kyle Strickler, 21.735; 14. 99B-Boom Briggs, 21.833; 15. 97-Cade Dillard, 21.842; 16. 76H-Andrew Haus, 21.921; 17. 6-Jamie Lathroum, 21.988; 18. 2J-Jeff Rine, 22.045; 19. 32J-Shaun Jones, 22.115; DNS. 11-Jason Schmidt, NT

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