Austin Dillon Capitalizes on Wild Ending at Talladega Superspeedway To Earn Top-10 Finish in the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE

8th

11th

12th

“That was a crazy race today in the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Talladega Superspeedway. We were really good to start the race, and then for portions of the race we couldn’t make anything work unless I was on the top. We made some moves at the end of the race to get that eighth-place finish. Everyone was all over the place and that was some work. We hit someone on the outside quarter panel, but I’m not even sure who it was. We were all wrecking on the backstretch, but somehow it didn’t happen. I don’t know how we all came out of that. It was crazy. I’m proud of everyone at RCR and ECR for working so hard to get us that awesome finish. We’ll go back to Welcome and look over our Chevy to get it even better for Daytona.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and No. 8 Roland Chevy Team Survive and Capitalize To Earn Top-10 Finish at Talladega Superspeedway

7th

20th

22nd

“We had a really strong No. 8 Roland Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE today and were able to walk away with a finish that showed it. After being caught up in a wreck so early at Daytona this year, our strategy was different for this race with the goal of making it to the end. My whole team did a great job today with sticking with that strategy and racing smart with the big picture in mind to be there at the checkered flag. Almost all day long I could get the car to do whatever I wanted, which was great. The run right before the green-white-checkered, it felt like the car completely flipped its switch and didn’t drive anything like it did for the majority of the race, so we’ll have to figure out what changed there. Luckily, we were still able to make it through the chaos of the last lap and come away with a solid seventh-place finish. Overall, a good day for our team.” -Tyler Reddick

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA POST RACE RECAP APRIL 25, 2021 JOSEF NEWGARDEN AND SIMON PAGENAUD PUT CHEVY ON PODIUM ON THE STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURGCHEVROLET DRIVERS CAPTURE SEVEN OF TOP-12 FINISHERS ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA (April 25, 2021) – Chevrolet drivers captured two steps on the podium in Race 2 of the NTT INDYCAR Series season, and scored seven of the top-12 finishers on the challenging street course in St; Petersburg, Florida. Josef Newgarden was looking for a three peat on the Streets of St. Petersburg, but had to settle for runner-up. The two-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion and two-time winner at St. Petersburg needed a strong race to start his run for another title. With a first-lap accident at Barber, a solid podium finish was just what he needed to get his season back in championship form. Simon Pagenaud, driving the No. 22 Menards/Australia Gold Team Penske Chevrolet, had a very steady race that netted him a third place finish and another solid points day. Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet, recovered from a disappointing qualifying effort that put him 20th on the grid. The former Series’ champion and Indianapolis 500 winner marched his way to eighth in the finishing order. Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Sonax Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, continues to take lessons learned from his rookie year and apply them to his second full-time season. He battled all day in the top-half of the field and brought home a solid ninth place in the final finishing order/ It looked like a promising hometown race for four-time Series’ champion Sebastien Bourdais, but first lap contact as well as other issues relegated him to 10th in the final order.  Rookie-of-the-Year contender Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet, had another strong showing for his first INDYCAR street race. He ran competitively in the top-15 for virtually the entire 100-lap race and brought home an 11th place finish.  Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, had a strong showing in only his second race with the team. His 12th place finish gives him a solid foundation to build on as the season progresses. Colton Herta was the race winner.Next on the schedule is the doubleheader on April 30-May 1 at Texas Motor Speedway.   TEAM CHEVY FINISHERS:2.       Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske3.       Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards/Australian Gold Team Penske8.       Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske9.       Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Sonax/Autogeek Ed Carpenter Racing10.     Sebastien Bourdais, No. 14 ROKiT AJ Foyt Racing11.     Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Dex Imaging Team Penske12.     Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP16.     Conor Daly, No. 20 U.S. Air Force Ed Carpenter Racing19.     Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP23.     Dalton Kellett, No. 4 K-Line Insulators USA AJ Foyt Racing24.     Max Chilton, No. 59 Gallagher Carlin          DRIVER QUOTES:JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 2ndIT GOT A BIT CLOSE AT THE END. TALK US THROUGH THE IDEA THAT YOU KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO HAVE TO PUT ON THE REDS AT THE END. WHAT WAS YOUR THINKING GOING INTO THAT FINAL STINT?“Well, we lost a little too much ground in that second stint, really; to capitalize with the reds. And then we had the caution, which almost gifted us another chance. And I just didn’t want to over-extend myself today. I felt like I was close to an opportunity, but Colton (Herta, race winner) was really good. He was doing a great job on the restarts. It was tough to get tire temps. So, I pushed really hard right there in those two initial restarts. I didn’t have quite the runs I needed, so I didn’t want to risk anything. But a good day. I’m really happy with Chevy’s performance and thankful for all their work; and to have Hitachi on and get a podium is really nice here to start our year off. So, congrats to Colton. It was a great rebound for both of us. I feel bad about what happened last week, so I’m really happy that he got back on it today and had a very deserved victory. I wish we could have fought him a little bit more. I think we were just lacking a little bit.” GREAT REBOUND FROM LAST WEEK. WAS THAT PART OF THE IDEA ABOUT NOT OVER-EXTENDING AND WHAT YOU WERE THINKING?“Yeah, if I have an opportunity I’m going to go for the win. I was very close to having just enough of that opportunity. I think I was just a little shy of it. So, I didn’t want to force something that wasn’t there today. It’s not the day to do that. But I’m happy with the podium. We obviously want to win but we’re on the board now. “I was close but I think he (Colton Herta) definitely had us covered. We had a good opportunity with those cautions bringing us back into the mix. I just didn’t want to over extend myself if the opportunity wasn’t perfect. And I didn’t feel like it wasn’t the perfect opportunity to make the pass. I looked for it, it just wasn’t there. Podium is pretty nice. Would have liked to have that third win, but we are back in the war and that’s what we needed after last week.”SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS/AUSTRALIAN GOLD TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 3rdYOU’VE GOT A BEAUTIFUL NEW GOLD LIVERY AND ELVIS-STYLE GLASSES, AND YOU END UP ON THE PODIUM. THAT MUST HAVE BEEN THE IDEA, RIGHT?“Yes, Australian Gold. I’m glad we had some sunglasses and sunscreen this weekend. It was a hot race. But we’re very happy with the end.” JOSEF NEWGARDEN HAD TO USE THE REDS. YOU HAD A CHOICE AND PUT THEM ON. DO YOU THINK ULTIMATELY THAT WAS RIGHT IN THE END?“Yeah, it was great strategy. We really had a shot on restarts, but it was too slippery on the inside to go for it. I noticed it when I tried to pass Jack (Harvey). But really when I lost the race was at the beginning of the first stint but overall, I think it was a great performance by the No. 22 Chevy Australian Gold team. That was a great performance. I think on street courses we could be very strong. I can’t wait for the oval, especially Indy and Texas.” IT WASN’T THAT LONG AGO THAT YOU WERE ON THE PODIUM, BUT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN 2021“Yeah, we finished really well here. I think we finished sixth last year. And then we made some more improvement over the winter. The whole team is giving us a lot of support to give us the best cars out there. So, thanks to them and thanks to Chevy for giving us all the horsepower we need. I’m excited about the podium. Very good street course run. Awesome. Very happy all weekend. I couldn’t ask for a better car. Great strategy. Fantastic looking car. It made social media for sure. Australian Gold is a new partner for Menards. I hope We get to see that gold car more often.” WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH AFTER STARTING 20TH: “Yeah, really solid day for us to get up there to P8. It was inside the top 10 and that was our goal in starting the race.  Obviously qualifying was pretty disappointing, but yeah, solid pit stops today.  We tried to catch a few yellows and finish in the top five but it just didn’t work out.  We passed a lot of cars on track and the car did really well, so we were very happy to get the Verizon 5G Chevy in the top 10. Really good day.” RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 SONAX/AUTOGEEK CHEVROLET – FINISHED 9TH“So, a pretty tough day here in the office. But you know, a Top 10, P9. I had a hard lock-up on the red tires, which wasn’t ideal. But again, I learned so much. A good points day, but not an easy day at the office. Not much to complain about. It was very, very tough, obviously. But we survived, and I’m fully ready for Texas next weekend.”SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 14 ROKIT AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH: “Not the best of day here in St. Pete for round two for the INDYCAR Series. Our No. 14 ROKIT Chevrolet suffered some damage when I misjudged the gap between myself and Simon (Pagenaud) and the race was a long drive from there.  We had some not-so-great sequences with a few hiccups in the pits and then I made some mistakes. So unfortunately started fifth and finished 10th and it was not what we were looking for today, but we got some points and we brought it home.”SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 DEX IMAGING TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11TH: “Yeah, overall a good day for us in the DEX Imaging Chevy. It was a full-on race, very hot, very humid and one of the most physical races I have ever done. Solid race from our end and I was probably a little bit too safe at the start.  I was just trying to keep my front wing on.  It was pretty forceful out there and a lot of the veterans around me were just using a bit more of their experience on colder tires.  We got around in the first stint and we pitted at the right time and we were actually on a very alternative strategy there, that could have almost put us in the lead. Unfortunately there was a couple of spinners towards the middle of that race. And our team reacted and we pitted and we did the right thing on that strategy, just unfortunately there was no yellow. We didn’t use the speed we had in the clear air to really get going, but for me right now its continuously finishing races.  Finishing P 11 is a great run for us and we will continue to build on that and hopefully come the end of the year we will be bigger, better and stronger.  Just want to thank DEX Imaging for their support and am excited for the next few races.” FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 VUSE ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – FINISHED 12TH“I just finished a long race here at St. Pete. I thought it was okay. It wasn’t really anything fantastic. We’re going to have to do some bigger things on the car to compete at the front. We could follow the field but couldn’t really get forward. It’s so tight in the field; if you don’t have that little extra it’s kind of hard to move forward. But it feels good to finish the race and get some points and move on to Texas where I think we have a good chance to get some good points at those two races.” NEWGARDEN AND PAGENAUD ZOOM CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTTHE MODERATOR: Thanks for joining us today here for our Firestone Grand Prix of St. Pete post-race press conference. We’ve been joined by our second- and third-place finishers, Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, and Simon Pagenaud, driver of the No. 22 Menard’s Australian Gold Team Penske Chevrolet, as well.Gentlemen, thanks for joining us. Josef, we’ll start with you. A chance to get three back-to-back to back wins, finished second, obviously that’s disappointing, but tell us about your day. You had a good chance to get that third win.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, just a little short today on finding that Victory Lane one more time. Kind of sad now that I think about it. It would have been nice to put three in a row together. That would have been pretty sweet. But it was important for us to get on the board. I said we needed to do that last weekend. We didn’t accomplish that. But a good bounceback by the entire crew and the team, and to get some good points is really what we needed today, so we accomplished that.Now we can get our season off the ground, get going to Texas and feeling good about things. But pretty happy about what we put together.I think team Chevy did a really nice job doing their homework, and I think us as a group we put in a lot of effort this off-season and found some good pace. We were in the mix today without a doubt. We were in the fight, just came up a little bit short. But I think a lot of the work from all the people at Team Penske is paying off, and it’s good to get a podium finish for team Chevy and Hitachi. THE MODERATOR: Simon, disappointing weekend for you last week at Barber, but great finish for you on the podium with your very fancy Australian Gold Team Penske Chevrolet. Talk about your day.SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, first of all, great weekend, a gold livery that made a lot of headlines. So thanks to Team Penske, Australian Gold for coming along, and giving it a bit of joy like that with livery is exactly what racing is about. It was a lot of fun. We had some special glasses, as well, just to note.But overall great performance all weekend. Thanks to the whole team for working on the street course package as hard as it did with team Chevy, and overall great performance. I think very pleased with third place. It’s a really good hope for the championship knowing how good we’re going to be on oval. Q. After last week’s crash you sounded not only disappointed for yourself but also that you got some of the other title contenders involved in it like Colton. In some ways did you kind of feel good that both you and him were able to fight it out today, because you both kind of needed a rebound from last week?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, definitely. I was really pleased for Colton, for him to have a solid day. I think him and his crew were certainly deserving of the victory. They were very strong. Just a touch better than us I would say on the day today. They worked hard, and it was nice to get them get a bounceback event, too. They got caught up in the mess last week through no fault of their own. I felt pretty bad. It was just one of those things. It’s tough to have a bad weekend, and when you affect others it makes it double tough.Yeah, pleased for both of us, I guess, but we can get our season started now and feel pretty good about things, and was happy to have a nice little battle with Colton. I think we had a good little race there at the end. It’ll be fun to do that hopefully a couple more times this season. Q. This is the middle weekend of four races in a 14-day period. Now we go to Texas for a double-header. How do you guys feel about — I guess there’s no rest for the wicked?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, definitely not. It’s going to be flat out. We’ve got to be on it here. We knew we were going to rattle through four races pretty quickly and then when you really count May into that, you’re getting through a third of the season pretty fast.We’ll know where we’re at pretty solidly in this championship hopefully by the time we get to June, but we need to stay focused and get through this next period pretty quickly with the best results possible. Q. Simon, your thoughts?SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, it’s obviously a hard day. It’s been two physical races. The cars are faster than ever. Definitely feels like it’s very important to be at a high fitness level, and personally very happy with it. I think it’s the best I’ve ever had.Very excited about the whole season. I’m glad — we got in a very good groove with the 22 team, so I look forward to the next few races coming up, which we know are going to be strong for us. Q. A lot of drivers are saying this is a very physical weekend; they seem very exhausted after the race today. I’m wondering how both of you are feeling and why today might have been difficult.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I would say it was probably the heat today. For me, like I felt pretty good in the car physically, but I was really — I was pretty hot. Like this morning I was really, really warm.Probably not acclimated as well to the heat right now, but yeah, that was the biggest thing for me. I thought it was really humid today. Temperature-wise it wasn’t that hot. I think about 80 degrees. That’s not really that tough. But when you add 90 percent humidity, it definitely changes the effect, so you’ve got to make sure you’re hydrated really well and you’re not overheating because physical exhaustion is one thing but then heat exhaustion is a different one. Yeah, that’s what’s made it tough.It’s funny, I got through warmup, and I’m like, man, this is going to be a really hard day. Then you get into the race and you’re like, you know what, it’s going to be fine, and you end up getting through it just fine, as always.I don’t know about Simon, though. He looked pretty worn out, so I’m worried about him for a couple of events. I’m messing with him. SIMON PAGENAUD: It’s actually quite interesting because I noticed Colton lying down and Josef was next to him pouring water on his face. I felt fantastic. I mean, obviously my fitness program, and I’m being serious, is much better than Josef’s, and I must say I have a lot of confidence right now because if you’re fresh then we can race again. Take that. Come on, come back. JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Just look at the lap times at the end. That tells the story to me for fitness.SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, yeah, look at the lap times at the end. Exactly. Q. So both of you guys, it’s your peak physical condition that kept you in shape for today?SIMON PAGENAUD: Absolutely. I feel fantastic.JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it’s amazing. You know, we all went through — all the drivers, we went through a performance analysis, and I couldn’t believe how well that I tested compared to the rest of the team. I mean, it’s just — my fitness level is so high right now, and the confidence is through the roof at the moment. While everyone is falling on the floor, I’m so ready for these exhausting races. Q. Just double checking, Colton was or was not laying down on the ground having water poured —SIMON PAGENAUD: You’ll have to ask him. You’ll have to ask him.Q. Simon, can you give us a bit of an overview of Barber and what happened there and if today kind of feels like maybe a bounceback performance or things felt much better today or is your street course package so different to Barber that the two really aren’t relevant to each other?SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I think the street course package is very satisfying. I think we’ve made big improvements, especially since we were here last year. We had a good understanding what we needed from the car, and we found a really good package for my style. So very excited about street course racing.On the road course, yeah, we need to keep digging, keep finding some performance. Not fully happy there, and I think this is probably our weakness compared to how good we’re going to be on oval, which I think is going to be our most strength — our biggest strength this year. So that’s where we’re at. Q. For both of you, Colton has really kind of emerged quickly on the kind of INDYCAR scene and really he’s been kind of the stand-out guy at Andretti since he came in and he’s got more wins since Alexander Rossi since he came into INDYCAR. Do you see Colton as sort of the biggest contender from Andretti now?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I would say so. I don’t want to discount someone like Rossi, either. I think Alex is certainly capable of being in that mix every weekend, so I think it would be unwise to discount him, but I think Herta is without a doubt their — to me he seems like the top gun over there.He’s so young; he started, whatever it was, I think three years ago, but he’s still so young right now, so he’s got a lot of runway, pretty level-headed, has a great crew around him. I know his engineer. He was my first engineer. He’s got a great team around him. Seems to work well with his dad. I was watching his dad this weekend and how proud he was of him when he was getting in the car, and they just seem like they have good chemistry.Yeah, I think they’ll be in the mix without a doubt all year, but like I said, I wouldn’t discount some of the other boys over at Andretti. I think they have some other capable drivers, too, and not just Herta. Q. Any thoughts on that, Simon?SIMON PAGENAUD: Yeah, I think he’s fantastic. He’s a great driver. He’s really young, so he’s got a lot of room to improve still, which is impressive.But I see a lot of young guys coming up and having just as much talent and potential in the future, being championship contenders, as well. The series is at its highest level right now. It’s just incredible to see the talents and the personalities, as well. Yeah, look forward to the future. Q. Josef, you’ve been incredibly fast all weekend; on those restarts at the end, how much were you thinking championship versus win?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely both. You know, it was kind of serendipitous that it was me and Colton there at the end. I definitely appreciated that personally that we were kind of bouncing back together here after last weekend’s difficulty. But I was pushing him. I mean, look, if he gave me an opportunity to win the race, I was going to take it, as we all should. It just wasn’t quite there.I really had gotten a second chance at it. If those cautions didn’t come out, I think Colton was going to kind of walk us. He was just better today. He had a little bit on us for sure. But with that fresh opportunity with the two cautions, I pushed as hard as I could directly after them. I mean, I was really looking for a clear, clear opening, and I was close. It was very close to being open there, but it just wasn’t quite enough.Yeah, I was looking for the win, but certainly tempering things trying to make sure we had a solid day. Q. Simon, with this third place are you going to run that gold livery all the time now?SIMON PAGENAUD: Well, it certainly has a lot of attention this weekend for great reasons. I think it was awesome to see something new like that, something that hasn’t been seen in a while. It’s great to see Australian Gold join us, same with Menard’s. I hope we get them back. I hope they stay and I hope we have more races with that car.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA NEWGARDEN AND PAGENAUD PODIUM QUOTES APRIL 25, 2021 JOSEF NEWGARDEN AND SIMON PAGENAUD put Chevrolet on the podium at St. Petersburg. JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 2ndIT GOT A BIT CLOSE AT THE END. TALK US THROUGH THE IDEA THAT YOU KNEW YOU WERE GOING TO HAVE TO PUT ON THE REDS AT THE END. WHAT WAS YOUR THINKING GOING INTO THAT FINAL STINT?“Well, we lost a little too much ground in that second stint, really; to capitalize with the reds. And then we had the caution, which almost gifted us another chance. And I just didn’t want to over-extend myself today. I felt like I was close to an opportunity, but Colton (Herta, race winner) was really good. He was doing a great job on the restarts. It was tough to get tire temps. So, I pushed really hard right there in those two initial restarts. I didn’t have quite the runs I needed, so I didn’t want to risk anything. But a good day. I’m really happy with Chevy’s performance and thankful for all their work; and to have Hitachi on and get a podium is really nice here to start our year off. So, congrats to Colton. It was a great rebound for both of us. I feel bad about what happened last week, so I’m really happy that he got back on it today and had a very deserved victory. I wish we could have fought him a little bit more. I think we were just lacking a little bit.” GREAT REBOUND FROM LAST WEEK. WAS THAT PART OF THE IDEA ABOUT NOT OVER-EXTENDING AND WHAT YOU WERE THINKING?“Yeah, if I have an opportunity I’m going to go for the win. I was very close to having just enough of that opportunity. I think I was just a little shy of it. So, I didn’t want to force something that wasn’t there today. It’s not the day to do that. But I’m happy with the podium. We obviously want to win but we’re on the board now. “I was close but I think he (Colton Herta) definitely had us covered. We had a good opportunity  with those cautions bringing us back into the mix. I just didn’t want to over extend myself if the opportunity wasn’t perfect. And I didn’t feel like it wasn’t the perfect opportunity to make the pass. I looked for it, it just wasn’t there. Podium is pretty nice. Would have liked to have that third win, but we are back in the war and that’s what we needed after last week.” SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS/AUSTRALIAN GOLD TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 3rdYOU’VE GOT A BEAUTIFUL NEW GOLD LIVERY AND ELVIS-STYLE GLASSES, AND YOU END UP ON THE PODIUM. THAT MUST HAVE BEEN THE IDEA, RIGHT?“Yes, Australian Gold. I’m glad we had some sunglasses and sunscreen this weekend. It was a hot race. But we’re very happy with the end.” JOSEF NEWGARDEN HAD TO USE THE REDS. YOU HAD A CHOICE AND PUT THEM ON. DO YOU THINK ULTIMATELY THAT WAS RIGHT IN THE END?“Yeah, it was great strategy. We really had a shot on restarts, but it was too slippery on the inside to go for it. I noticed it when I tried to pass Jack (Harvey). But really when I lost the race was at the beginning of the first stint but overall, I think it was a great performance by the No. 22 Chevy Australian Gold team. That was a great performance. I think on street courses we could be very strong. I can’t wait for the oval, especially Indy and Texas.” IT WASN’T THAT LONG AGO THAT YOU WERE ON THE PODIUM, BUT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME IN 2021“Yeah, we finished really well here. I think we finished sixth last year. And then we made some more improvement “Very good street course run. Awesome. Very happy all weekend. I couldn’t ask for a better car. Great strategy. Fantastic looking car. It made social media for sure. Australian Gold is a new partner for Menards. I hope We get to see that gold car more often.”

Myatt Snider and the TaxSlayer Chevrolet Team Earn Ninth-Place Finish in Rain Shortened Race at Talladega Superspeedway

9th

10th

7th

“Our TaxSlayer Chevrolet Camaro had a ton of speed today. Andy Street (crew chief) and the boys brought a really good piece and it was able to suck up behind any car even when I didn’t have help out behind. The handling started a little free, then went tight, but the adjustments made on each of our stops definitely improved the overall feeling inside the car. Everyone executed well today, from Andy on top of the box, Derek Kneeland (spotter) on the roof helping to guide me, and the pit crew with fast stops that put us out front every time. I hate we didn’t get to finish the final few laps, because I think we would have had something for the win. Mother Nature forced the ending, but a top-10 result is still a good day for our Richard Childress Racing team.”  -Myatt Snider

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA QUALIFYING RECAP APRIL 24, 2021 TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS CAPTURE FOUR OF FIRESTONE FAST SIX SPOTS DEFENDING RACE AND TWO-TIME WINNER JOSEF NEWGARDEN WILL ROLL OFF THIRD IN SUNDAY’S 100-LAP RACE ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA (April 24, 2021) – Four Chevrolet powered drivers secured starting positions in top-three rows for Sunday’s 100-lap Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg in Firestone Fast Six qualifying battle for the NTT P1 Award. Two-time and defending winner of the first street race of the season Josef Newgarden will start his No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet from the inside of the second row, third overall of the 24 starters. Teammate Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards/Australian Gold Chevrolet will start alongside Newgarden. Sebastien Bourdais, No. 24 ROKIT AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, will roll off fifth, on the inside of row three with Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, captured the sixth starting spot.  Rookie-of-the-Year Contender Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Dex Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet, continued his steady improvement behind the wheel of an INDYCAR with a solid 14^th place qualifying effort. Pole favorite Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet, tapped the wall on his final hot lap and damaged his car relegating him to the 20^th starting position. Colton Herta and Jack Harvey (both Honda) will make up the front row.Live coverage of the 100-lap race starts at noon Sunday on NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network.          TEAM CHEVY QUALIFIERS:3.       Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske4.       Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards/Australian Gold Team Penske5.       Sebastien Bourdais, No. 14 ROKiT AJ Foyt Racing6.       Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP7.       Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Sonax/Autogeek Ed Carpenter Racing14.     Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Dex Imaging Team Penske17,     Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP19.      Conor Daly, No. 20 U.S. Air Force Ed Carpenter Racing20.      Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske22.     Max Chilton, No. 59 Gallagher Carlin     24     Dalton Kellett, No. 4 K-Line Insulators USA AJ Foyt Racing DRIVER QUOTES:JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 3RD“We had a good day on Saturday here in St. Pete. I feel really good about our car. I just got through qualifying. It’s pretty hot and definitely very humid outside, so it’s going to be a hard race to get through. But I felt really good in all sessions except for that Fast Six. In the Fast Six, I felt like it difficult to bring the tires up when they were used. I think that’s how we got beat. So, we’re starting third for the race tomorrow. It’s a good enough spot to win from, no doubt. I think we have a good race car across multiple stints that we can make something happen from that spot. I’m feeling really good and have good momentum and just need to keep carrying it all the way through until tomorrow night, and hopefully we’ve got a win underneath us.” SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS/AUSTRALIAN GOLD TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 4^TH: “We were P4 today at St. Pete with the Australian Gold Chevy car. It was fun qualifying. We found a lot of speed. We found a really great balance on the car all weekend. I’m very happy. I think we kept progressing every session and at the end there, it was great to be in the Fast Six and put out as much we could out of the race car. So, I’m satisfied with P4. Josef (Newgarden) is starting third so it’s going to be interesting at the start with him. And then obviously we’ve got to go to the front together. So, I’m very excited. I’m glad we brought the sunscreen. It seems to work.” SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 14 ROKIT AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5^TH:“Really good afternoon here at the Grand Prix of St. Pete in the No. 14 ROKIT AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet. Really happy we made it the Firestone Fast Six and will start fifth tomorrow. Definitely a big turn around from practice one and two. Hats off to the boys for figuring it out and giving me a really fast ride. Can hardly wait until the race tomorrow!” PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, QUALIFIEED 6TH:“We just got done with qualifying here in St. Petersburg. We are sixth, starting on the outside of the third row. We had a quick car in qualifying but we just didn’t make quite the right call on either using reds or new blacks. The track was very different to what we felt in Practice 2, but we have a quick race car. We are going to be thinking about it tonight, and we are going to go get it tomorrow.” SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 DEX IMAGING TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 14^TH“Overall, it was a pretty disappointing day for me, I guess; coming back to St. Pete, a track that I know, after last year, you sort of want to try again for that Q2 bracket. Unfortunately, the car was feeling really good in practice and qualifying in the first segment there, especially on black tires. But we put the red tires on and I just didn’t get that little extra bit you need to really get into that t Top Six to advance to Group 2. It’s going to come with time. I’m feeling really comfortable and strong on the black tires and I think we were the fastest in that group there in one stage where everyone had the same tire. The red tires; just not enough laps right now. I haven’t got a great feel for it and confidence to really find the grip at times when you can only do it once or twice in a run. So, I’m a little bit disappointed. But, at the end of the day we start XX for a pretty long race tomorrow and hopefully we can make our way through with the pace that we have on the right compounds.” WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED 20TH“It was definitely not the qualifying session we were looking for. We just didn’t get the set-up quite right and the series is so tough now, if you’re not right on point, you’re certainly going to pay for it and then start back somewhere like 20^th. So, it looks like a two-stop strategy. We are hoping there are some yellows, which will open the windows up and give us a chance to potentially jump some people. So, the aim for tomorrow will be a Top 10. We’ll try to get some points and get in that Top 10 and that would be good for us.”

Colton Herta takes pole in Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg qualifying
Jack Harvey qualifies second in all-Honda front row

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (April 24, 2021) – Colton Herta prevailed in a typical fraught NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying, edging fellow Jack Harvey by just two-tenths of a second to secure an all-Honda front row for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Herta and Harvey were two of the seven Honda drivers to advance through the first round of INDYCAR “knockout” qualifying. Behind the lead pair, defending series champion Scott Dixon will start eighth in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal and Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama race winner Alex Palou rounding out the top 10 for Honda. Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi and James Hinchcliffe also advanced to second-round qualifying, and will start 11th and 12th, respectively.

Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg Qualifying Results
1st Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
2nd Jack Harvey Meyer Shank Racing Honda
8th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
9th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
10th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
11th Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda
12th James Hinchcliffe Andretti Autosport Honda
13th Ryan Hunter-Reay Andretti Autosport Honda
15th Takuma Sato Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
16th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
18th Romain Grosjean-R Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
21st Ed Jones Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda
23rd Jimmie Johnson-R Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

Quotes
Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport Honda) Pole Qualifier, 1st NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole of 2021 and 5th career pole: “I knew [before the start of the race weekend] we had a good race car for here. Just had to get through those two [qualifying] stages nice and clean. Really happy for [my] guys. We’ve got the best seat in the house [pole] for the start, it’s been an incredible weekend so far. Can’t wait to get going again tomorrow.”

Jack Harvey (Meyer Shank Racing Honda) Qualified Second, third career front-row start: “We felt confident coming into this weekend, as we’re run well here previously. We were strong all day, and happy to share the front row with our ‘pseudo teammate’ [Colton Herta]. With Colton, with Honda and the Andretti Autosport connection [MSR shares a technical partnership with Andretti Autosport], it’s a really good day for us all.”

Fast Facts
Honda claimed the initial lead in the 2021 INDYCAR Manufacturers’ Championship with Alex Palou’s victory Sunday at the season-opening Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama.

As a result, Honda holds a 17-point lead in the Manufacturers’ Championship, with 90 points to 73 for rival Chevrolet. The company is seeking its fourth consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship in 2021.

Palou also takes the early-season lead in the Drivers’ Championship standings, with 53 points to 41 for Team Penske’s Will Power. Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, defending and six-time INDYCAR champion Scott Dixon, is third with 35 points.

The 24-car starting field at the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg will once again be led to the green flag by the Honda Civic Type R Pace Car. The Civic Type R is the latest in a series of Honda Pace Cars utilized for NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition since 2006.

Where to Watch the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
Sunday’s 100-lap Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg starts at 12 p.m. EDT, with live network television coverage on NBC. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on NBC Peacock, the NBC Sports App and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Honda Racing social media content and video links from St. Petersburg can be found on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD). Additional features and long-form videos can be found on the Honda Racing/HPD YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV).

Friesen, Williamson, and Dippel take Bristol Showdown podium after intense 40-lap Feature at Bristol Motor SpeedwayBRISTOL, TN – Stewart Friesen added to his list of Hall of Fame-worthy accomplishments Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway, winning the Super DIRTcar Series’ debut at “The Last Great Colosseum.”  He did so in a gladiator fashion worthy of the iconic sword he was awarded after piloting his Halmar Racing #44 chariot from eighth to the lead in the 40-lap World of Outlaws Bristol Throwdown Feature.“This is a huge stage to get a win on in our Northeast Modifieds and I appreciate everyone inviting us here,” Friesen said. “Our cars put on excellent racing like they do at Charlotte and Volusia. It was really cool for us and to get the first win here is really special.”Friesen was fastest overall in Time Trials and took the Billy Whittaker Cars Fast-Time Award by running a 16.574 sec. lap. That time was nearly a second faster than the Quick Time set during Thursday’s practice session. He then won his Heat Race, but drew the eight in the redraw – a fate of luck he initially thought killed his chance at a win. From there, he passed seven cars on his way to claim his now coveted World of Outlaws Bristol Showdown sword. “I found the top side pretty early,” Friesen noted. “I thought pulling eighth in the redraw was going to be the kiss of death with the way the Heat Races went. The track crew did a great job working the outside. I started thinking about the top when Tyler Courtney in the Sprint Car’s Last Chance Showdown was on the outside making some hay. I knew it was there but it just needed to be cleaned up. We raced all around the track for the first few laps and when my tires came in, away we went.”Bristol Motor Speedway can be intimidating to some drivers, but Friesen has been circulating the Bristol highbanks more than anyone else over the last month. He raced in both the NASCAR Cup Series race on dirt as well as the Camping World Truck Series race. For the Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON native, the initial shock and awe has worn down and he could approach the race like any other. “The NASCAR experience on the dirt here helped,” Friesen noted. “Not with the setups though. I got a lot of help from some of the late model guys. That paid off. We did a lot of homework.”With the fast-time award, a Heat Race win, and a racy Feature victory, Friesen looks tough to beat at Bristol. Mike Mahaney, from King Ferry, NY, started the race in the top spot after redrawing first place and collecting a special bonus from SRI Performance. He built a huge lead in the early going before cautions allowed Friesen a few opportunities to pass cars and get up to the rear bumper of the #35. After the #44 went by him, Mahaney held tight to second place until Keith Flach slowed in front of the leaders on the backstretch and bottled Mahaney up. Three cars got around him but he was able to hold on for fifth after dominating the early stages.Tyler Dippel picked up a career-best second-place finish with the Super DIRTcar Series. His #1D Teo Pro Car stayed up front all race after rolling off from third. At the initial start of the 40-lap Feature, Dippel won the drag race with defending Series champion Mat Williamson, from St. Catharines, ON to grab second.  After that, the only car to pass him was Friesen on his way to the win. “Once Friesen went around and showed us the top would work I started searching around,” said runner-up Dippel. “The crazy part to me was working through the dirty air. When you got up on someone close you had to have the left or right front sticking out to get the nose in the air. I’ve never felt that in a dirt car besides the Syracuse Mile.“The speed sensation is unbelievable. The G-forces really suck you down into the seat. It was fun. I had a blast out there.”The final podium step was filled by Mat Williamson, driver of the #88 Buzz Chew Racing machine. Williamson and his team worked hard to squeeze a few more tenths of a second out of his Bicknell Racing chassis and Billy the Kid engine. We spent last night testing some things and trying to get better but tonight is the best we’ve gotten it,” Williamson said. “You’re going so fast I didn’t expect the race track to race as well as it did. When Friesen went around me on the top I had fully expected there to be no one up there.”While some drivers wanted to draw comparisons, like Lebanon Valley Speedway in respect to its speed or Cornwall Motor Speedway in respect to its banking, it’s clear Bristol is unlike any other track.“It’s a whole different ball game down here,” Williamson noted. “It was a good thing that no one had a hometrack advantage because it had us all figure it out together.”Williamson has won some huge races in front of some big crowds but Bristol is incomparable. “I’m happy and I hope it was a good show for the fans,” he said. “It’s really cool for the modifieds to get an opportunity like this. The Feature was hotly contested from the top to the bottom of the field. Erick Rudolph, from Ransomville, NY, took his #25R up 15 positions to claim the night’s hard charger award. He finished in the eighth position after 40 laps and 20 miles of racing. The legendary “Franklyn Flyer” Billy Decker in the #91 Gypsum Racing Big Block had a difficult start to the night as he spun on the first lap of his Heat Race and was collected by Chad Phelps in the #X car. He was forced to take provisional but passed 15 cars himself to finish twelfth. Tim Sears Jr., in the #83X, has backed up his great finish at Can-Am Speedway with a fourth-place finish on the Bristol high banks. It’s going to get tough for Sears to sneak up on the Series stars because now they know that yellow #83X is coming for the front. Mike Mahaney, from King Ferry, NY, started the race in the top spot after redrawing first place and collecting a special bonus from SRI Performance. He built a huge lead in the early going before cautions allowed Friesen a few opportunities to pass cars and get up to the rear bumper of the #35. After the #44 went by him, Mahaney held tight to second place until Keith Flach slowed in front of the leaders on the backstretch and bottled Mahaney up. Three cars got around him but he was able to hold on for fifth. Race fans can catch the Super DIRTcar Series again tomorrow at the World of Outlaws Bristol Throwdown finale. It’s a 40-lap, $10,000-to-win Feature, which also pays $1,000-to-start. Get your tickets at BristolMotorSpeedway.com or tune in live on DIRTVision. Feature (40 Laps)1. 44-Stewart Friesen [8][$10,000]; 2. 1D-Tyler Dippel [4][$5,000]; 3. 88-Mat Williamson [2][$2,500]; 4. 83JR-Tim Sears [6][$1,800]; 5. 35-Mike Mahaney [1][$1,600]; 6. 84-Gary Tomkins [5][$1,400]; 7. 3B-Chad Brachmann [3][$1,300]; 8. 25-Erick Rudolph [23][$1,200]; 9. 21A-Peter Britten [7][$1,100]; 10. 32C-Max McLaughlin [15][$1,000]; 11. 9S-Matt Sheppard [14][$900]; 12. 91-Billy Decker [27][$800]; 13. 99L-Larry Wight [21][$700]; 14. 42P-Pat Ward [10][$650]; 15. 5H-Chris Hile [26][$600]; 16. 2-Jack Lehner [9][$600]; 17. 2A-Mike Gular [12][$600]; 18. 14W-Ryan Watt [11][$600]; 19. 98H-Jimmy Phelps [18][$600]; 20. 83-Brian Swartzlander [22][$600]; 21. 28-Jordan McCreadie [24][$600]; 22. 3-Justin Haers [25][$600]; 23. 19M-Jessey Mueller [13][$600]; 24. 20-Brett Hearn [20][$600]; 25. 111-Demetrios Drellos [19][$600]; 26. 22-Brandon Walters [30][$]; 27. 17D-Marcus Dinkins [28][$600]; 28. 4R-Kevin Root [29][$]; 29. 3J-Marc Johnson [16][$600]; 30. 43F-Keith Flach [17][$600]PHOTO: GT Smith

The Super DIRTcar Series is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel), Chevy Performance Parts, iRacing (Official Online Racing Game) and NAPA Auto Parts. Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), ASI Race Wear, Bicknell Racing Products, Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux, Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, Drydene, Fox Factory, MSD, and Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including: FireAde, Intercomp, and Racing Electronics

The 2006 Series Champion won his 33rd career World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model FeatureRICHMOND, KY– April 23, 2021 – Uncertainty fluttered in Tim McCreadie’s mind before the start of Friday night’s World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Feature at Richmond Raceway.He would see the drop of the green flag from his outside pole starting position, but doubts possessed his confidence in the position with Chris Madden on the pole. However, it only took a lap for those doubts to be exorcised.The 2006 Series champion bested Madden on the first lap from the outside lane and never released his stronghold on the lead for all 40 laps.“I knew [Madden] was really good and I wasn’t going to be able to snooker him, so I thought let’s just roll the top and see if there’s anything up there,” McCreadie said. After passing Madden, the Watertown, NY driver tried to find comfort around the bottom of the track, but Madden again forced McCreadie to place doubt on his line by making up ground around the top.With Madden on his tail, McCreadie returned to the top to kill the 29-time Series winner’s momentum.“[Madden] moved up and started getting back to me, and my crew moved me up, and that’s when I noticed the sticks started moving farther apart again,” McCreadie said. “At that point I knew once [the track] latched down I’d probably be OK.”And OK, he was. McCreadie was the first to see the checkered flag and claim his 33rd career World of Outlaws victory. He’s now tied for seventh on the all-time win list with 2004 Series champion Scott Bloomquist. While Madden had to settle for second, the podium continues his promising consistency. The finish was his fifth top-five of the season. Even though he had a shot at passing McCreadie in traffic, he knew second was the best he could do once the track took rubber. “[McCreadie] was able to get back to the bottom, and we just couldn’t complete the pass,” Madden said. “His guys did a great job moving him around, getting him into the right position.”One of the drivers who worked the outside of the racetrack early in the race was third-place finisher Scott James. The Bright, IN driver started eighth, and quickly went up high, moving up five positions. “In the [pace] laps I felt like there was some traction up there,” James said. “The car was phenomenal; it would just roll right around the top.”Ricky Weiss finished fourth, for his second-straight top-five finish, and Tyler Bruening finished fifth.Three-time and defending champion Brandon Sheppard crossed the line ninth, for his eighth top-10 of the season. That’s more than any other driver on the Series. The New Berlin, IL driver still holds the point lead, but now there’s a tie for second place. The bad luck continued for Mooresville, NC driver Kyle Strickler, when his hood popped up with just three laps to go. The “High Side Tickler” finished 22nd, dropping him into a tie with Madden, 46 points behind Sheppard. UP NEXT: The Most Powerful Late Models on The Planet head to Boone Speedway in Boone, IA for the inaugural Hawkeye 100 April 30-May 1. For Tickets: CLICK HERE.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.Morton Buildings Feature (40 Laps)-1. 39-Tim McCreadie [2][$10,000]; 2. 44-Chris Madden [1][$6,000]; 3. 83-Scott James [8][$3,500]; 4. 7-Ricky Weiss [4][$2,800]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening [3][$2,500]; 6. B1-Brent Larson [5][$2,300]; 7. 76-Brandon Overton [12][$2,200]; 8. 17-Zack Dohm [6][$2,100]; 9. 1-Brandon Sheppard [9][$2,050]; 10. 81E-Tanner English [10][$2,000]; 11. 58-Mike [14][$1,600]; 12. 32-Bobby Pierce [16][$1,400]; 13. 97-Cade Dillard [11][$1,200]; 14. 12-Jason Jameson [24][$1,100]; 15. 31-Tyler Millwood [19][$1,050]; 16. 21-Kirk Phillips [18][$1,000]; 17. 40B-Kyle Bronson [23][$1,000]; 18. 28-Dennis Erb [20][$1,000]; 19. 97C-Michael Chilton [13][$1,000]; 20. 11-Tommy Bailey [21][$1,000]; 21. 99B-Boom Briggs [17][$1,000]; 22. 8-Kyle Strickler [15][$1,000]; 23. 99L-Darrell Lanigan [22][$1,000]; 24. D8-Dustin Linville [7][$1,000] Hard Charger: 12-Jason Jameson[+10]Qualifying Flight-A – 1. 44-Chris Madden, 15.329; 2. 83-Scott James, 15.563; 3. 17-Zack Dohm, 15.583; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie, 15.586; 5. 1-Brandon Sheppard, 15.587; 6. 8-Kyle Strickler, 15.656; 7. 97C-Michael Chilton, 15.664; 8. 97-Cade Dillard, 15.669; 9. 38-Derek Fisher, 15.688; 10. 99L-Darrell Lanigan, 15.739; 11. 21-Kirk Phillips, 15.822; 12. 31-Tyler Millwood, 15.831; 13. 1G-Ryan King, 15.843; 14. 13W-David Webb, 15.895; 15. 40B-Kyle Bronson, 16.062Qualifying Flight-B- 1. 11-Tommy Bailey, 15.491; 2. 76-Brandon Overton, 15.523; 3. 81E-Tanner English, 15.586; 4. 7-Ricky Weiss, 15.607; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening, 15.664; 6. B1-Brent Larson, 15.692; 7. D8-Dustin Linville, 15.714; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce, 15.757; 9. 12-Jason Jameson, 15.759; 10. 16R-Justin Rattliff, 15.802; 11. 99B-Boom Briggs, 15.803; 12. 28-Dennis Erb, 15.819; 13. 58-Mike , 16.013; 14. 13-Brayton Laster, 17.062

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.

Gravel Set New Track Record, Won His Heat, His Dash, and Friday’s 25-Lap FeatureBRISTOL, TN – April 23, 2021 – A perfect night is hard to come by against the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. It’s even harder to come by at the daunting high-banked 1/2-mile of Bristol Motor Speedway.Don’t tell that to David Gravel, though.The Watertown, CT native paved his path to victory lane with a trail of downright domination on Friday night. His Big Game Motorsports #2 was simply unstoppable from the time the trailer unloaded. Harnessing 20 years of pent up energy, Gravel made sure he was the first, and biggest, storyline leaving Thunder Valley in the Series’ first race since 2001.It all started with his new track record. At 13.672 seconds, Gravel clocked an average speed of 138.502 MPH; officially making him the fastest driver to ever turn laps on the dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway. From there, he won his Heat Race, won the Dash, and ran away with a $10,000 Feature victory, the 60th of his World of Outlaws career.With his winning sword in hand, the newest gladiator of The Last Great Colosseum reflected on how special this opportunity is to race on a stage and venue like Bristol.”This is so cool,” Gravel said in awe of a massive crowd. “This is just such an iconic place that everyone always talks about. I can’t thank Bristol Motor Speedway and the World of Outlaws enough for making this event happen. I hope we get to finish out this weekend and go after that $25,000 check.”A noted ace on bigger, faster tracks, Gravel’s clean sweep of the night at Bristol equals him with Donny Schatz for the most wins (9) on 1/2-mile ovals since the beginning of 2019. His unbeatable performance on Friday marked the first perfect night of the 2021 World of Outlaws season.”This thing has been incredible ever since we unloaded yesterday,” Gravel bragged on his Big Game Motorsports crew. “After the Heat and Dash, I told them not to change a damn thing. I just ripped down five qualifying laps there at the end to try and hold off Reutzel.”Not just the physical size, but the stature that Bristol brings can offer true season-changing momentum. Gravel has felt his early-season resume has been lackluster at best with two wins in 14 races, but with a Bristol beatdown in his bank, he feels more and more confident heading into the crucial summer months.”I really think we’ll kick ass at big tracks all year long,” Gravel noted with a grin. “This schedule is so unique because we’re going to a super short track on Thursday and then we’re back at a big track on the weekend. You have to be good everywhere with the Outlaws. This engine program is super stout and this team is really hitting our stride.”Gravel’s closest contender came in the form of KSE Hard Charger Aaron Reutzel, who battled back from a pair of engine changes to roar from ninth-to-second and compete for the win in his Roth Motorsports #83. The Clute, TX native rolled by Sam Hafertepe Jr. on Lap 18 and was cutting into Gravel’s lead lap-after-lap with the aid of back markers.By Lap 20, the gap was only five-tenths of a second and Reutzel was poised to give Gravel some heat in the closing circuits. However, a caution for Logan Schuchart changed it all.With Gravel removed from traffic and given the benefit of clean air, his Big Game #2 proved to be too stout. Reutzel hung close with him for the first lap, but the raw speed of Gravel’s Morrison Racing Engines powered Maxim Chassis was too much to handle.When the checkered flew on Lap 25, a dejected Aaron Reutzel crossed the line 1.871-seconds short of Gravel’s tail tank.”That caution killed every ounce of momentum I had,” Reutzel explained post-race. “We went from ninth-to-second, we were flying through there and he couldn’t pass the lap cars. That restart gave him clean track and he was gone, though. He was the fastest car all night until lap traffic, and then I thought we were the car to beat. You have to be good to win these races, but you also have to be lucky.”Rounding out the podium aboard the Jason Johnson Racing #41 was Carson Macedo, who was surprised, but pleased with track conditions.”I was just searching for too long in the beginning,” Macedo explained. “I thought the bottom would be dominant, but Aaron found the top and I realized where I needed to be. I think it got a lot more racey there at the end. I can’t say enough about how cool this event is. A dream come true for me to be on the podium at Bristol.”Following Gravel, Reutzel, and Macedo on night one of the Bristol Throwdown was Sam Hafertepe Jr. of Sunnyvale, TX, who actually led the opening two laps before Gravel went storming by. Closing out the top five was Donny Schatz aboard the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Ford Performance #15.The rest of Friday’s top ten finishers were NASCAR sensation Kyle Larson in sixth, Gio Scelzi aboard the KCP Racing #18 in seventh, championship leader Brad Sweet in eighth with the Kasey Kahne Racing #49, Paul McMahan in ninth making his season-debut, and rookie contender Brock Zearfoss in the tenth spot.UP NEXT – The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will wrap up the Bristol Throwdown on Saturday, April 24 with a $25,000-to-win main event. Officials are bound and determined to complete the event on Saturday night, but a Sunday rain date could be used at Bristol Motor Speedway if absolutely necessary.NOS Energy Drink Feature (25 Laps) – 1. 2-David Gravel [1][$10,000]; 2. 83-Aaron Reutzel [9][$6,000]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo [6][$3,500]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe [2][$2,800]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz [3][$2,500]; 6. 57-Kyle Larson [12][$2,300]; 7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [5][$2,200]; 8. 49-Brad Sweet [8][$2,100]; 9. 23-Paul McMahan [4][$2,050]; 10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [16][$2,000]; 11. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [10][$1,600]; 12. 71-Spencer Bayston [7][$1,400]; 13. 9-James McFadden [20][$1,200]; 14. 11K-Kraig Kinser [18][$1,100]; 15. 26-Cory Eliason [21][$1,050]; 16. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [23][$1,000]; 17. 72-Tim Shaffer [11][$1,000]; 18. 20-Ryan Taylor [17][$1,000]; 19. 9JR-Derek Hagar [24][$1,000]; 20. 1S-Logan Schuchart [15][$1,000]; 21. 2C-Wayne Johnson [13][$1,000]; 22. 22-Jac Haudenschild [22][$1,000]; 23. 19-Parker Price-Miller [14][$1,000]; 24. 24-Rico Abreu [19][$1,000]. Lap Leader(s):Hafertepe 1-2; Gravel 3-25. KSE Hard Charger Award: 83-Aaron Reutzel[+7]NEW Championship Standings (14/83 Races) – 1. Brad Sweet (2,014); 2. David Gravel (-82); 3. Sheldon Haudenschild (-98); 4. Carson Macedo (-100); 5. Aaron Reutzel (-122); 6. Logan Schuchart (-134); 7. Donny Schatz (-178); 8. Kraig Kinser (-246); 9. Brock Zearfoss (-322); 10. Jason Sides (-392).Photo – Trent Gower

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink® Sprint Car 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), NOS Energy (Official Energy Product), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider) and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel); contingency sponsors include ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, KSE Racing Products (Hard Charger Award), MSD and Slick Woody’s (Quick Time Award); manufacturer sponsors include FireAde, Intercomp, K1 Race Gear, and Racing Electronics.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 all World of Outlaws events over the Internet to fans around the world. Learn more about the World of Outlaws.

NASCAR CUP SERIES TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY GEICO 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT APRIL 23, 2021

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript:  GIVE US A RECAP OF HOW THE WEEK HAS BEEN SINCE YOU WON ON SUNDAY.“Yeah, Sunday night was fun. Recovery and kind of a normal week, honestly; normal competition meetings, team meetings, a little more media than normal. It was really special to win at Richmond (Raceway), on a short track, get the No. 48 back in victory lane and get Ally’s first win. That’s really, really cool.”
AFTER A PIT PENALTY AND BEING QUITE FAR AWAY FROM THE LEADERS IN THE CLOSING STAGE OF THE RACE, HOW DID YOU FEEL ABOUT ACTUALLY ENDING UP WINNING THE RACE? “Yeah, it was a surprise to me, I guess. I knew we were really good, but really to be buried in the field twice throughout the day, to be able to come back from that pit road penalty and pass as many cars as we did. Really under green, we drove from last to third. The leaders were pretty checked out and then got that late caution to be able to pass the No. 22 (Joey Logano) and the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) was really neat. I felt like we had a car capable of winning all day, just didn’t have the track position to get up there and do it until the end.” 
CAN YOU TALK US THROUGH THE INTERACTION OR THE WAY YOU LIKE IT WITH YOUR SPOTTER ON THE RACETRACK? ALSO, PEOPLE HAVE DIFFERENT PHILOSOPHIES ON FRIENDS. SO, HOW DOES HAVING FRIENDS HELP OR HOW MUCH DOES IT HELP TO BE SELFISH THESE DAYS?“Spotter/Driver interaction on the No. 48 team is very sarcastic. Both of us are very sarcastic all the time, whether it’s daily life, meetings, in the racecar, spotting. Neither one of us do a very good job of turning it off, it’s always there. So, there’s a lot of that, for sure.”
“I think having friends on the racetrack doesn’t really benefit you, expect for this week going to Talladega (Superspeedway). I respect everybody I race with. There are a few guys in the Cup garage that I would consider friends, but I’m not there to make friends. I’m there to do the best I can. I have a pretty small circle of friends as it is; it’s not just an in-racing thing. I have a small group; I keep to myself and do my own thing. I think being selfish is definitely rewarding in the Cup Series. But this week, I need all the friends I can get. So, everybody be my friend and push me to the front.”
WITH TEAMMATES TO THINK ABOUT AND CHEVROLET TO THINK ABOUT, HOW SELFISH ARE YOU ALLOWED TO BE? HOW SELFISH CAN YOU BE?“I think the goal is go win Talladega and if you have to be selfish to do that, that’s fine as long as you win. We’re all going to work together as much as we can. If we can’t win, we want one of the HMS cars to be there and being winning it.”
NOW THAT WE’RE ABOUT TEN RACES DEEP, HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THE START OF THE SEASON FOR THE NO. 48 TEAM AND JUST HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS IN GENERAL?“I think HMS, in general, has been great. I feel like about every week, they’ve had a car that’s capable of winning. It’s really cool to see that. The atmosphere in the company is amazing. Everybody is working really well together. A lot of new faces and everybody has really clicked. For us, it was a rough start to the year. Obviously, we got the pole at Daytona; crashed like 12 laps in. From there, we had some rough weeks. We had a lot of speed, but just really couldn’t put races together. I felt like Bristol and Martinsville, we had cars capable of winning. Obviously, didn’t get the job done at either of those; broke a transmission at Bristol and then, Martinsville, we got crashed. It’s been rougher than we wanted and rougher than what we wanted for Ally. But going to Richmond, we just wanted a good, solid top-10 and to come out of there with a win, I think it’s a good point in the year to kind of get pointed in the right direction and hopefully we can carry that through the summer and into the Playoffs.”
HOW DO YOU FEEL LIKE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS STACKS UP AGAINST THE COMPETITION RIGHT NOW? DO YOU FEEL LIKE THIS IS THE ORGANIZATION TO BEAT?“I think so. It might not be one specific car every week, but every week there’s one of the cars that are up front. I think we’re only going to get better, just with the atmosphere in the company and everything. Everything is so positive right now and I think it’s going to continue heading in that direction. It’s really cool to see that. In 2018 when I started there, it was a rough year. 2019 started rough and got better. Last year was kind of hit-or-miss and ended the year really positive, and it’s good to see it carry over to this year.”
AS IT GETS CLOSER TO MOTHER’S DAY, WHAT ARE YOUR REMEMBERANCES OF YOUR MOTHER HAVING A BIG ROLE IN YOUR RACING CAREER COMING UP?“She hated it (laughs). She was not a fan when I was a kid. She was definitely skeptical about racing as a kid; being safe, how much school I had to miss, kind of all of that. I think once she realized that it wasn’t going anywhere and I was going to stick with it, she got super, super supportive and has been supportive ever since. I remember she hated it at first, but once she realized it wasn’t going to stop, she’s been extremely supportive.”
I KNOW YOU WON EARLY IN THE YEAR LAST YEAR TOO, BUT HOW IMPORTANT IS IT TO GET THAT FIRST VICTORY OF THE YEAR PRETTY EARLY IN THE SEASON?“Yeah, I think it’s a little bit of a stress reliever. But (INAUDIBLE)… we want to win each and every week. There’s a lot more races that we’re going after. Last year, we won early and then kind of fell off through the summer months, and I think that’s something we really want to avoid this year. We want to stay strong all year long and have good Playoff points to fall back on in the Playoffs. We put together one of the best Playoff runs of anybody last year and still ended up sixth in points, just because we didn’t have the Playoff points to fall back on. We want to do a better job of that throughout the summer, but it’s definitely good to have a win early.”
YOU’VE TRADITIONALLY PERFORMED WELL IN THIS PARTICULAR RACE, THE GEICO 500 AT TALLADEGA. YOU FINISHED EIGHTH IN 2018, RUNNER-UP IN 2019 AND THEN SEVENTH LAST SEASON. WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE KEY TO NAVIGATING THE DIFFICULT TRACK, WHEN TO MAKE A MOVE AND WHEN TO STAY PATIENT? “Yeah, really the key is just surviving, right? You’ve got to be there at the end and that’s really hard to do at superspeedways these days. Everybody is just continually getting more aggressive, continually feeling like they can throw huge blocks and not cause crashes, and push each other really aggressively and not crash. Surprise, we crash a lot. It’s just tough to make it to the end. I think knowing when to be aggressive is key. It’s different each and every speedway race. It kind of has a flow to how the race goes and it’s kind of a guessing game, to a point. I feel like there’s definitely some guys that have it a little more scienced out than I do, but we just have to do what we can to survive to the end and be aggressive when it counts.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, KNOWING WHAT YOU KNOW ABOUT HIM, WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS OF WHAT HE’S DOING NOW? “To be honest with you, I expect him to have a lot of fun. Probably bring a lot of new eyes to IndyCar and make the most of his opportunity. I feel like putting an expectation on finishing position and stuff like that isn’t really fair to a guy that got two test days and went racing in the hardest open-wheel series in America. It’s really cool to see him do that and see him trying something new. Never having driven anything like that, going into a car with so much downforce, some really technical racetracks that he’s never seen before – I think it’s hard to put a finishing position goal on that. I think by the end of the year, you’re going to see improvement. All year long, he’s going to continue to get better and better; learn the racecars, learn the racetracks. But I think the biggest thing you’re going to see is he’s going to have a lot of fun with it and probably there’s going to be nobody in the garage area happier to be there than he is.”
I WANT TO GO BACK TO THE SHORT TRACK AND WITH THE WIN: YOU MENTIONED YOU DRIVE THE TRACKS A LOT DIFFERENT THAN YOUR TEAMMATES AND MAKES THE SETUP A LITTLE MORE INTERESTING. HOW IS YOUR DRIVING STYLE DIFFERENT THAN YOUR TEAMMATES, BUT THEN ALSO HOW MUCH OF A CONFIDENCE BOOST IS IT TO SEE THE SPEED THAT YOU GUYS SHOWED?“Yeah, I feel like we all have different backgrounds. Chase (Elliott) grew up racing super late models. William (Byron) grew up iRacing and then quickly into late models, and then Xfinity and all that. Kyle (Larson) grew up somewhat similar to me. He raced a lot of sprint car stuff, whereas I raced the midget stuff more. I think it just makes us all drive different. When we go to short tracks, we all kind of point to Chase. He’s been the most successful lately. Chase and I have really different driving styles at the short tracks. So, it’s hard for us when we have one car that’s really successful there and we’ve kind of struggled to go a different direction. But I think it’s something I feel like Greg (Ives, Crew Chief) realized that we needed to do. I was never going to be able to copy Chase’s driving style and it’s worked out here recently. So, I’m appreciative of him sticking with me and knowing I ask a lot out of the racecar at short tracks and want different things than most. But we’ve been able to figure out how to make it work.”
NOW THAT YOU GUYS HAVE A WIN AND ARE LOCKED IN THE PLAYOFFS, WHAT’S THAT FOCUS NOW THAT WE HEAD INTO SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER?“Really just winning more races; staying consistently upfront through the summer months. It’s something we’ve struggled to do the last two years, really. We’ve fallen off through the summer. So, we want to continue to be as strong as we are right now and win more races before the Playoffs start.”
HOW MUCH IS THE LUCK FACTOR FOR YOU AT TALLADEGA BECAUSE YOU HAVE JUST ONE TOP-FIVE FINISH THERE. IN YOUR EXPERIENCE, HOW MUCH HAS LUCK KIND OF PLAYED INTO YOUR RESULTS?“Well, I definitely think you make your own luck to a point. I feel like we’ve crashed out of a lot of superspeedway races. Daytona, we were like 12 laps in, leading the top line minding my own business and got cleaned out. Luck is definitely a factor, but there are also guys that can consistently seem to avoid those situations and consistently seem to be upfront at the end of those races. I have to figure out how to do that and do a better job of doing that, but it’s definitely part of it. To a point, you make your own luck.”
HOW MUCH HAVE YOUR RELIED ON KEVIN (HAMLIN, SPOTTER) OVER THE YEARS, AS FAR AS KIND OF GUIDING YOUR WAY? I KNOW THERE ARE TIMES WHERE HE DOESN’T HAVE TIME TO REACT, BUT HOW MUCH DO YOU RELY ON HIS NAVIGATION FOR YOU?“Yeah, I mean a ton. The Cup cars, you can’t see a whole heck of a lot out of them, so your spotter is really all you got; painting a picture of what’s around you. I think he does a really good job of giving me what I need. I feel like we’ve gotten continuously better at knowing what each other wants and needs in communication. He’s done a great job. I rely on him a ton. I think every Cup driver is relying on their spotter a ton. He’s going to go through some radio batteries this weekend, for sure.”
CJ LEARY, WHAT’S YOUR GAMEPLAN FOR HIM, AS FAR AS HOW MUCH INTERACTION AND SUPPORT ARE YOU GIVING HIM IN WHAT DISCIPLINES?“Yeah, him and I are really close friends. Obviously, he drives my wing car and he’s going to keep driving the Chili Bowl stuff. Other than that, he’s got his own non-wing deal driving for Bill Michael from Arizona. That’s their deal, but the wing deal is going OK. We’ve got a lot to learn. I feel like he’s just got to get comfortable in a wing car. We seem to be able to go fast and then just struggle to race. He just needs laps and races. I think by the end of the year, we can be really, really strong. We’ve been racing with the World of Outlaws and the All-Stars lately; kind of jumped in head first. So, I think once we get back to the local stuff, he gets his feet under him and figures out how to race the air and all there, he’ll be really, really strong.”
NINE, GOING ON TEN RACES THIS SEASON, WHAT’S IT BEEN LIKE HAVING KYLE LARSON AS A NEW TEAMMATE AND WHAT HE’S BROUGHT TO THE TABLE TO BETTER YOURSELF AND THE ORGANIZATION AS A WHOLE.“Kyle (Larson) and I are good friends, so it’s really cool to have him as a teammate. It’s been a lot of fun. I feel like he fit right into the group. Everybody has clicked really well and he’s definitely fast. Everywhere we go, he’s very sharp on what he wants in a racecar. He does a really good job of knowing exactly what he wants and kind of what he’s had in past experiences and I think that’s been really good for the team. I feel like the four of us are all clicking really well together. The four crew chiefs are working really well together. Obviously, Rudy (Fugle) is new and he’s been really great, too. It’s cool to see all the new faces and people that have moved around at HMS all clicking really well right now.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO PUT THE NO. 48 BACK IN VICTORY LANE AFTER ALMOST FOUR YEARS AND STARTING TO BUILD A NEW LEGACY FOR THAT NUMBER?“Yeah, it’s really special. It’s a similar thing that I went through with the 88 and it’s cool to do it again in the 48 and put it back in victory lane. We want to win a lot more. There are some high expectations to live up to driving the 48 car. But to get it back to victory lane and get Ally their first win, it’s really special.”
HOW DOES GOING FROM THE BRINK PLAYOFF CUT-OFF A WEEK AGO TO NOW HAVING A WIN CHANGE THE VIBE GOING INTO THE NEXT FEW MONTHS?“Yeah, I mean honestly, last week I couldn’t have told you where we were in points. I wasn’t thinking about that or worried about that. I knew it wasn’t good; we had had a rough start to the season. But I felt like if we run as we should run and finish how we run, we could make the Playoffs and win races. The vibe for the rest of the season is just to keep it turned on through the summer months. It’s something that we’ve struggled to do as a team throughout the last couple of years. We’ve got to run strong each and every week for the rest of the year. I feel like we magically turned it on for the Playoffs last year and went on probably the best streak of my career, as far as how strong we were each and every week. But we need to do that for the entire rest of the year to come away with what I feel like we’re capable of doing.”
WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED FROM CHASE ELLIOTT AS A TEAMMATE AND WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES CHASE A GREAT CHAMPION AND THE MOST POPULAR DRIVER?“Yeah, I think having Chase (Elliott) as a teammate is really cool. I feel like all my teammates are pretty great in their own way. Chase approaches things a little differently. He doesn’t live here, he just kind of does things a little different. So, it’s cool to see him be so successful. I think he’s a great Champion for the sport for a lot of reasons. I think it’s been a while since such a popular guy has won the Championship, so for him to do that is obviously really popular. People love him; people just absolutely love that guy. Chase is a great guy and I really enjoy being around him. I don’t know what parts or pieces makes somebody so popular, but he definitely is and it’s really cool to see.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY GEICO 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT APRIL 23, 2021
RICKY STENHOUSE, JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERGY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript: TALK ABOUT GOING TO TALLADEGA AND WHAT YOUR APPROACH WILL BE“For us, it’s just to go out and try to get a win and get some Stage points. We came up short at Daytona, just the way things played out, where we were in the pack coming down the stretch at some of those Stages, we didn’t get the Stage points that we got last year and it kind of put us behind a little bit. But I feel like we’ve been making up for that with the end results, the finishing results. So, we’d like to get some more Stage points. We know our NOS Energy Drink Camaro is going to be really fast. It always is. The guys have been massaging on it and working on it hard. When we’ve got it ready to go, we’ve just got to be one spot better than what we were at this race last year. All in all, it’s just really about trying to get to the checkered flag and making sure that we have a chance for the win.”
CONCERNING WHERE YOU ARE IN POINTS, DO YOU FEEL LIKE IF IT GETS DICEY, DO YOU STILL FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE TO GET STAGE POINTS RATHER THAN MAYBE BACKING OUT, WHICH MIGHT BE THE SAFER PLAY?“I don’t know. I just kind of always go off the feel. I don’t really always have a set full game plan. I feel like when you have those game plans and you try to stick to it, especially at speedways, it can be a detriment to the decisions you make on the race track. So, I’m more of a feel guy. One that goes out to the race track and that’s me, my spotter, and that’s also (crew chief) Brian Pattie watching from the pit box. I feel like we do a really good job of just kind of watching what’s going on. So, I’m not sitting here and saying like hey, we have to go get Stage points. Just like at Daytona, if the opportunity arises, then we’ll go get them. If I feel like things are getting too dicey and something could happen and we won’t make it to the end of the race, then I’ll back out. It’s just the way we have always done our speedway racing.”
WHAT IS THE OVERALL VIBE OF THE TEAM, CONSIDERING RIGHT NOW YOU’RE IN THE PLAYOFF MIX COMPARED TO A YEAR AGO WHEN AT THIS TIME, YOU REALLY WEREN’T?“It’s definitely a different feeling and you’re always looking to not make mistakes and continue the run that we’ve been on. Last week at Richmond, with the caution the way it came out and a pit road penalty, it kind of set us back a little bit. But we were still able to manage a decent finish. We didn’t finish where I feel like we normally run there at Richmond. But, you know, the overall confidence in the team is really high. We’re doing what we set out to do this year and that’s to be consistent, get those Top 15 finishes, try to average a 14th place or better finish, and just see where things shake out. It’s nice to be in the mix. It’s nice to be on a good, consistent run; and also check the goals off that we’ve been trying to do since the off-season. And it’s been fun to accomplish. We’ve got to keep it up. We’ve got to keep doing it. There are a lot of races left until the cutoff, so yeah, there are a lot of winners, but you never know how it’s going to shake out. So, we’re just going to keep plugging away.”
THERE ARE A COUPLE OF WEEKS UNTIL THE DARLINGTON RACE, AND IT’S GOING TO BE ON MOTHER’S DAY. WITH THAT IN MIND, WHAT ARE YOUR BEST MEMORIES OF YOUR MOTHER HAVING A ROLE IN YOUR RACING CAREER?“My mom, she’s always been super supportive of my dad racing when he first started racing, making sure he’s fed while working in his carport back in the day when they first started dating. She’s continued that trend all the way through with me racing and us working in the garage. She’s always supporting us and always going to the race track and she’s coming to Talladega this weekend so I’m pretty excited about that. So yeah, I think most drivers always know that they worked really hard with their dad to get to the point that they’re at. But if it wasn’t for our moms supporting us on the back side, I don’t think any of us would make it here either.”
YOU’VE HAD A LOT OF SUCCESS AT TALLADEGA AND DAYTONA. WHAT IS IT ABOUT SUPERSPEEDWAYS THAT WORK SO WELL FOR YOU AND YOUR CAR?“Well, I think it definitely evens the playing field out a little bit more than maybe some of the race tracks to when it comes to having the most resources and having the all-out fastest car. Obviously, the draft takes care of a lot of things. But you still need a fast race car. When we won our first race here at Talladega, we sat on the pole by two-tenths. It’s nice to be able to have a car that fast. Since being paired-up with Brian Pattie, I feel like he takes a lot of effort and pays a lot of attention to detail when it comes to the speedway racing, and I feel like that’s made me a better speedway racer. And then just learning over the years how the draft works, what you can do to manipulate other drivers, and other cars, to give yourself an advantage. And then just trying to work and put yourself in the right positions and get yourself out of positions when you feel like things aren’t going good. So, it’s just been something that over time. I feel like that’s why we tend to have some good runs here. Once you get a win at a speedway race, and we got back-to-back wins, I feel like that gives you a little bit more confidence in the decisions that you’re making on the race track.”
WHERE DO YOU FEEL LIKE JTG DAUGHERTY RACING HAS MADE THE BIGGEST IMPROVEMENTS FROM LAST YEAR?“I think it’s just paying attention to detail. For me, as a driver, not trying to do more than what the car is capable of, less mistakes, better pit roads; we’ve had really good pit stops all year and that’s always beneficial when we have cars that are running in the Top 15 and we can come down pit road and gain a spot or two or maintain. That was something we struggled with last year when we were fast. I felt like we would come in pit road and we could leave five or six spots behind and then you’re trying to make that up all the time. That’s an area I think is better. We set-up this off-season to come into 2021 and make less mistakes, be consistent, and try not to do anything spectacular and don’t do anything that is really bad. And I think that’s where our heads are at and I feel like we’re all a little bit more focused each week. The guys working on the car, me in the car making the decisions behind the wheel have been a lot better and probably some of the best of my career as far as the decisions I’ve made. I’m looking forward to building on that and continuing to get better. Also at the same time, we’re trying to make our cars faster. Our Kroger team has worked really hard in the off-season as well as making some of the race tracks, now that we have a notebook, being at the team for a year, we can look back at those races where we struggled last year and make different decisions and different set-up decisions going in that can benefit us. And I think you’re seeing some of that as well.”
HOW DOES THE NEW QUALIFYING PROCEDURE AFFECT SOMEONE LIKE YOU WHEN YOU’RE STARTING AND FINISHING AN AVERAGE OF 13TH? DO THE RICH JUST KEEP GETTING RICHER UNDER THIS QUALIFYING METHOD?“Yes and no. I do feel last year, when we re-started, and I finished 40th and made not even a lap; and then all of a sudden we’re starting in the back every week. It was definitely difficult to get to the front or to get to where we felt like we should be running. But it’s long races. The No. 48 (Alex Bowman) went to the back the same time I did. Granted, he was a lap ahead of us. But he went to the back for a pit road penalty and drove up and won the race. I think if you have a fast race car you’re going to get to where you should run no matter where you start. I definitely would like to qualify. I have fun qualifying. It’s a bummer that we can’t. But I think if you have your car where you want it to be and need it to be; yeah, the first Stage might not go as planned or get the Stage points you’re looking for, but you normally get your track position and kind of keep it throughout the race. So, like you said, it’s the same for everybody. And it can make the first Stage or two difficult. But with competition cautions, you’re not really worried about going a lap down. So, if you drive up through the field and come down pit road during the competition caution and gain some spots, and you’re right there where you should be running.”
CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE NUMBER OF FRIENDS YOU HAVE ON THE RACE TRACK AND HOW THAT’S CHANGED OVER THE YEARS OR HOW THAT MATTERS NOW, INCLUDING THE FRIENDS YOU INHERIT VIA YOUR MANUFACTURER AND THOSE YOU FEEL YOU’VE MADE OR DON’T HAVE?“Yeah, I think everybody sits here and talks about the friends that they have and your teammates going to work in the draft and obviously being at Talladega is why you bring that up. So, when you get out on the race track, you really don’t see a whole lot of like big time help from people. Everybody still makes the decisions based off what’s going to benefit them in the end. And I’m okay with racing like that. I feel like that’s one thing that has helped us be in contention for wins is making decisions throughout the race that are going to benefit your team and your partners. And you can’t keep making decisions throughout the race based on the people you’re drafting with and just lose track position. You have to keep your track position, no matter what, throughout the race to have a shot at winning States and getting Stage points and winning the race in the end. Ryan Preece and I talked about it this week. And I’m like dude, just do what benefits you and your team because I feel like we get too caught up in like hey, how’s this going to affect the guys I’m drafting with? If you watch the No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) yeah, he has teammates out there; but he does, and makes moves constantly, that benefit him and his team. I feel like that’s why he’s won so many Daytona 500’s and that’s why he’s in mix at the end of these races. I feel like to the media maybe he says hey, I’ve got my manufacturer teammates and that’s what we’re going to work with; but when it comes down to it and you watch the races, I feel like everybody is out there for himself.”
WE TOOK A FAN VOTE ON THE AIR LAST NIGHT ABOUT WHO THEY THOUGHT HAS THE MOST FRIENDS AND WHO HAS THE LEAST NUMBER OF FRIENDS AT A PLACE LIKE TALLADEGA. DENNY HAMLIN SAID HE HAS A LOT OF FRIENDS THAT HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH HIS SPONSOR. HE HAS A LOT OF FRIENDS IN THE FIELD THAT WILL WORK WITH HIM OR THAT HE’S WORKED WITH. SO, YOU ALMOST GOT THE MOST VOTES FOR BEING MAYBE THE ONE WHO MIGHT HAVE THE LEAST NUMBER OF FRIENDS OVER THE YEARS. CAN YOU COMMENT ON THAT?“Well, that’s the fan’s opinion; they don’t really know what’s going on exactly, in our race cars; or the conversations that are had before a superspeedway race. I feel like I’ve got plenty of friends when I need to go out there and draft. But like I said, if you watch those people that yeah, they have friends and there are a lot of people that follow Denny when he makes moves. There are people that follow (Joey) Logano and (Brad) Keselowski because their cars are fast, and they know how to stay up front and they know what they’re doing. The more races, overtime, where I’ve run well and won and been in contention on superspeedways, you just get more people that go with you. And when you have a fast car that can lead a line to the front and you show that, more people go with you. So yeah, that’s the fan’s perspective which, everybody has their opinion, and they have a right to have their opinion whether they think I have friends out there or not. But I’m very confident when I come to Talladega and Daytona that we can get the job done.”
HOW DIFFICULT IS IT FROM A DRIVER’S PERSPECTIVE TO DRIVE ON SUCH A WIDE RANGE OF RACE TRACKS IN A SHORT PERIOD OF TIME?“It’s something that we’re used to. I think the NASCAR schedule is very diverse. We go to so many different race tracks and we’ve added a couple of new ones this year. You could throw in concrete and dirt and asphalt, new asphalt, worn-out asphalt, smooth tracks and rough tracks. We run on all different sorts of race tracks and I think that’s what is fun about our schedule and about our sport. Every week is different. Some notes apply. You could go from one 1.5-mile to another, and your set-ups are totally different. I think that’s what’s cool about this sport and of NASCAR. All the tracks we go to are different and that makes drivers and teams stay on their toes to make sure that they’re ready.”
WHEN IT COMES TO TALLADEGA AND WORKING WITH TEAMMATES, AT WHAT POINT DURING THE RACE DO YOU THINK OKAY, IT’S EVERY MAN FOR HIMSELF AND I’M READY TO GO FOR THE WIN REGARDLESS OF YOUR TEAMMATES AND THE GUYS YOU’RE WORKING WITH?“You stay constant throughout the race with those around you that you’re comfortable with, drafting. But you can’t ever really count on anybody to go with you or to like the decisions that you make to benefit your team. Throughout the whole race you have to make decisions based on what’s going to give you the track position. Sometimes that’s changing lanes where there’s only one hole to be filled and maybe the people that you’re drafting with behind you don’t have a hole to get in. But that’s something where you weigh your options of do I stay in the Top 10 or do I stay out here in the outside lane and draft with them and fall back to 20th? Those are things that you contemplate and that you calculate throughout the race. I think everybody has noticed, I would say over the last three or four years, track position means a lot. You can’t just run up through the field like you used to be able to. And it’s difficult to get that track position to break into that Top 10. There are so many games being played on pit road of when to take tires and when not to, just based off of track position. The whole race you’re probably making decisions based off what’s going to be best for you.”
SO FAR THIS YEAR, WE’VE BEEN TO RESTRICTOR PLATE, SHORT TRACKS, INTERMEDIATE, AND ROAD COURSE TRACKS. WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU AND JTG DAUGHERTY NEED TO WORK ON TO BE STRONGER?“That’s a great question. I think the road courses are something that are not my strong suit. But, JTG has probably helped my road course racing. Our cars are a little bit better than what I’ve run on some of the road courses, and so that’s helped me out. I think our short track program needs to get better. We went to Martinsville and we tried a totally different set-up and we struggled. At Richmond, we got really good at the end of the race, but we didn’t start out as good as what we needed to. So, I would say short tracks are where we need to pick-up some of our stuff and work on to get some better finishes and have fast race cars. But all in all, I’m really happy with the consistency that we have. We’re still just working on every race track and making sure that we’re better.”
WHAT IS YOUR OPINION OF THE DOUBLE YELLOW LINE RULE AND WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IT MAYBE CHANGE IN SOME CAPACITY?“I don’t know. I really struggle with the double yellow line rule. I’ve been bitten by it a couple of times, actually. And I feel like it’s happened to me two or three times actually, that I’ve gotten penalized for going below the double yellow line and advancing my position. There are so many instances where, in all of my cases, I feel like if I would have stood my ground and not gone below the double yellow line, whoever was blocking me was going to crash. And so, to avoid the crash, I went below the double yellow line and still, I guess, advanced my position. So, any time that happens, I just automatically now have to give it back because we’ve been bitten by it too many times. They say it’s a judgement call. I’m not sure. I don’t know if there’s a certain way they judge it, because I’ve been bitten by it so many times. It’s in place and you can use it to your advantage. I haven’t really seen them penalize people for blocking people below the yellow line. I’ve only been on the other receiving end of being blocked and then getting penalized for going below it. I don’t really know what else there is to do with the double yellow line as far as rules go. It’s either there or it’s opened up; one of the two. And the way we all drive right now, if you opened it up, I think you would have people entering on the apron getting into the corner and I don’t know if that would be good or not.”

Lake Cumberland Speedway also added to both schedules on July 13 CONCORD, NC – April 23, 2021 – Thirty-five years of Hell Tour tradition has given the Dirt Late Model and Modified worlds some of the best short-track racing available anywhere in the United States. 2021 marks the DIRTcar Summer Nationals’ next evolution of that same great competition in an all-new championship format and an upgrade in prize money. Traditionally, Late Model championship chasers competed in every race on the schedule for the $25,000 title. This year, each Late Model driver’s best 31 finishes over 36 scheduled races will be counted toward the overall points championship. For their efforts, a new points fund system has been implemented that could award the champion a potential $36,000. For each race completed above 25, an additional $1,000 will be added to the champion’s check, making the potential for $36,000 to be awarded to the victor. Each of the other spots inside the top-10 will follow suit, with different amounts being added to each position’s check as more races past 25 are completed. At its maximum, the runner-up in final points could take home over $14,000 with over $10,000 going to third. A grand total of 36 Late Model and 35 Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals shows will make up the 2021 schedule, each shown live on DIRTVision presented by Drydene, spanning seven competitive weeks (eight with the possible make-up week, Aug. 11-15) at 36 different tracks in nine states from June 15 to Aug. 21. One final track has joined the schedule on both sides to complete a list of four brand-new tracks to the tours this year. Lake Cumberland Speedway in Burnside, KY, will kick off Week #5 and host both tours for the first time in track history on Tuesday, July 13. The 3/8-mile red clay oval precedes another track debut at the newly constructed Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis, IN. Seven weekly points fund checks will also be awarded this year – $2,000 going to the points champion of each week, tallied from the first race of the week to the final. The Summit Modifieds will stick to their traditional championship format in 2021, counting each driver’s best 10 races of the 35 scheduled. A $5,000 check will again be awarded to the points champion at season’s end, crowned for the first time ever in the state of Michigan at Merritt Speedway on Aug. 21. The championship chase begins with the first race at Brownstown Speedway in Indiana on June 15. Catch all 36 races at the track or live from your home with a Platinum or monthly FAST PASS subscription to DIRTVision presented by Drydene. Combined tour schedules:Week #1Tuesday, June 15 | Brownstown Speedway | Brownstown, INWednesday, June 16 | Peoria Speedway | Peoria, ILThursday, June 17 | Kankakee County Speedway | Kankakee, ILFriday, June 18 | Tri-City Speedway | Pontoon Beach, ILSaturday, June 19 | Fairbury Speedway | Fairbury, ILSunday, June 20 | Plymouth Speedway | Plymouth, IN Week #2Wednesday, June 23 | LaSalle Speedway | LaSalle, ILThursday, June 24 | Spoon River Speedway | Canton, ILFriday, June 25 | Sycamore Speedway | Maple Park, ILSaturday, June 26 | Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 | Pevely, MOSunday, June 27 | Jacksonville Speedway | Jacksonville, IL Week #3Wednesday, June 30 | Beaver Dam Raceway | Beaver Dam, WI (Late Models only)Thursday, July 1 | Davenport Speedway | Davenport, IA (Late Models only)Friday, July 2 | The Dirt Oval at Route 66 | Joliet, ILSaturday, July 3 | Fayette County Speedway | Brownstown, ILSunday, July 4 | Lincoln Speedway | Lincoln, IL Week #4Tuesday, July 6 | Knox County Fair Raceway | Knoxville, ILWednesday, July 7 | Belle Clair Speedway | Belleville, IL Thursday, July 8 | Macon Speedway | Macon, ILFriday, July 9 | Farmer City Raceway | Farmer City, ILSaturday, July 10 | Highland Speedway | Highland, ILSunday, July 11 | Tri-State Speedway | Haubstadt, IN Week #5Tuesday, July 13 | Lake Cumberland Speedway | Burnside, KY Wednesday, July 14 | Circle City Raceway | Indianapolis, INThursday, July 15 | Thunderbird Raceway | Muskegon, MIFriday, July 16 | Hartford Speedway | Hartford, MISaturday, July 17 | Oakshade Raceway | Wauseon, OHSunday, July 18 | Terre Haute Action Track | Terre Haute, IN (Modifieds only) Week #6Wednesday, July 21 | Randolph County Raceway | Moberly, MOThursday, July 22 | Springfield Raceway | Springfield, MO (Late Models only)Friday, July 23 | Lake Ozark Speedway | Eldon, MO (Late Models only)Saturday, July 24 | Clarksville Speedway | Clarksville, TNSunday, July 25 | Richmond Raceway | Richmond, KY Fri-Sat, July 30-31 | Fairbury Speedway | Fairbury, IL (Modifieds only) Week #7Wed-Sun, Aug. 11-15 | Make-Ups Week #8Wednesday, Aug. 18 | Butler Motor Speedway | Quincy, MIThursday, Aug. 19 | I-96 Speedway | Lake Odessa, MIFriday, Aug. 20 | Tri-City Motor Speedway | Auburn, MISaturday, Aug. 21 | Merritt Speedway | Lake City, MI

DIRTcar Summer Nationals is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, Chevy Performance, DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), FireAde, Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), Indiana Decal Company, Intercomp, iRacing, Racing Electronics, SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), Summit Racing Equipment, and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Beyea Custom Headers, COMP Cams, Drydene, Fox Factory, Hoosier Racing Tire, MSD, Quarter Master, Summit Racing Equipment, VP Racing Fuels, and Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum).Summit Modified Nationals is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including : Summit Racing Equipment, Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, Chevy Performance, DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), FireAde, Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), Indiana Decal Company, Intercomp, iRacing, Racing Electronics, SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Bassett Racing Wheel, Beyea Custom Headers, COMP Cams, Drydene, Fast Shafts, Fox Factory, Hoosier Racing Tire, Jerovetz Motorsports Shock Service, K1 Race Gear, KSE, MSD, Schoenfeld Headers, Summit Racing Equipment, VP Racing Fuels, Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum), and Velocita USA.

This email was sent to trishyunick@me.com 
DIRTcar Racing, 7575 Westwinds Blvd Suite D, Concord, NC 28027, United States 
Unsubscribe

NASCAR CUP SERIES TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAYGEICO 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT APRIL 23, 2021

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 CAREGILITY/YORKTEL CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript:  RECAP YOUR SEASON AND HOW YOU ARE APPROACHING THIS WEEKEND AT TALLADEGA?“I’m going to approach it the same way we’ve approached every weekend: we go and try to win. That’s what we’ve tried to do all year, and we are on a path to get there.”
BASED ON EXPECTATIONS BEFORE THE SEASON, WHERE DO YOU SEE PROGRESS AND WHERE DO YOU SEE AREAS FOR IMPROVEMENT?“It’s been humbling, for sure. There have been a lot of things that I’ve just done wrong behind the wheel… the small details of driving the car. We’re working down a path with no practice of trial-and-error at these races to see what works for me and what works for the car. We have to be better. We’ve been pretty honest with ourselves and pretty transparent with each other in what we see. You can throw a lot of that on me. There are a lot of things in the car that I have to keep doing better. We’ll keep working toward that.”
ARE YOU FILLING UP A PROVERBIAL NOTEPAD WITH THE 42?“Absolutely. If we could go back and do these races again with what we’ve learned, I’m sure they’d be better and we’d be better. That’s what makes the good guys great. They’re really good at this. To try and catch up and beat them in our first couple of at-bats is a tall task, but it’s what we signed up for. I never realized how much I appreciated practice coming up through the different series and in my time in the Cup Series over the last few years. Man, what I wouldn’t give for a few laps of practice.”
WITH NASCAR RACING AT DARLINGTON ON MOTHER’S DAY, WHAT KIND OF ROLE DID YOURS PLAY IN YOUR CAREER?“Big… very big. She’s driving to Talladega right now with my aunt. They’re road-tripping and bringing some fresh watermelon from our farm. She sent me a video last night from the field, and that was her last stop. Starting out, she was always there to support me and did everything from sewing the patches on my suits, helping us load the racecar and driving me to the track before I was 16 if my dad was in the field or on our farm. She knew I wanted to race, so those early years were hobby racing and what we loved to do. We’ve had some special times. It’s brought our family closer together. It’s brought in her parents and giving them a more active role. It all gave us excuses to be around each other, so it really brought us together.” 
DO YOU TALK ABOUT PLAYOFFS THIS EARLY IN THE SEASON? OR IS IT MORE ABOUT IMPROVEMENT AND GETTING BETTER?“Every driver and every team look at the points. They usually come out about the time we get to the plane, and you can find it online. Everyone glances at it, but we haven’t had the points acquisition this year that we were looking for. We haven’t finished good enough to deserve points at a lot of races so far. So, we’re building. We just talk about what we need these cars to do, what I need to do better and where we need to do better as a team. It’s more about the progress of these racecars and myself. Obviously, the playoffs are a big deal, and missing them would not be good. The goal is still to make them. There are a lot of opportunities with more races left in the regular season than we’ve ran.”
YOU SEEM TO BE HITTING YOUR STRIDE. DOES HEADING TO TALLADEGA PUT YOU IN A FAVORABLE OR UNFAVORABLE POSITION WITH MOMENTUM?“I heard a Trucks series veteran say a long time ago… we’ll probably crash but it’s the art of getting through it with minimal damage or no damage to put yourself in position to win at the end. What I learned at the 500 will pay off, although it was a smaller pack most of the race after the first big crash. Talladega is a little bit wider with easier entries and exits out of the corner. It doesn’t funnel down and cause the stack-ups that can cause a lot of wrecks. I don’t know if anyone can feel favorable going to Talladega. It’s just Talladega. We’ll race and work with Team Chevy, Kurt Busch and see what we can come out with.” THOUGHTS ON THE DOUBLE YELLOW-LINE RULE?“It’s gotta stay. It’s there for a reason. You can’t have that transition on the apron. They didn’t have it back in the day; that’s why they put it in. There has to be a rule. A good reminder would have been in the iRacing event. There was no double yellow-line rule, and it’s not even painted there from the last scan, I guess. I think the guy that should have won the race got beat because of a pass below the double-yellow. Back where I was in the middle of the pack, there were guys passing below the yellow all day long. There was no enforcement there. We can’t have that. It needs to stay. We all know the rule, so why are we complaining about it?
WHAT’S THE THING YOU ENJOY MOST ABOUT CHIP GANASSI RACING?“The people. There are so many people that I’m still meeting a lot of them. There are around 170 people here. The biggest thing that I got reminded of a few weeks in, I kept going to my crew chief (Phil Surgen) and Doug Duchardt with questions and ideas. Doug was like, ‘You know we have people for this stuff’. Now I don’t go to them necessarily about an idea, but I go to them to find out who do I talk to about this, and who do I talk to about that. That’s why this building is here in Concord (North Carolina), and that’s why they’ve been able to sustain for so long – the people and their livelihood and their job is to push these racecars. That’s the goal. It’s a higher volume and higher quality than I have ever been part of.” 
BIGGEST SURPRISES IN THE CUP SERIES SO FAR?“I’ve been here a few years. We had the Xfinity program, so I’ve raced out of the shop and then I’ve raced for other teams. I’ve been here a good chunk of days out of the week over the years seeing these cars get built, sent out, come back, built, raced and come back torn apart. So, I’ve watched all these processes and couch-raced. I’m a self-proclaimed couch racer. What I mean is that whenever I see a racecar on track, I think I can drive it better. I’m always like, ‘He should be higher. He should enter higher. He should wait to pick up the throttle, ease into it and hook up those rear tires.’ Then I get in the car and I drive in shallow and pick up the gas too soon… so yeah, I’m a couch racer. It’s hard, the transition being on-track. The transition being in the shop has been great.”
HAVE GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS CHANGED AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON?“No. We have attainable goals and the small steps of doing the obvious things right during a race. Our goal is to win. Our process in preparing for a race does not change. It’s only ramped up and we’re pushing harder. It’s with that goal of winning. We are competitive people and competitive thinkers. I think competitively about everything in every aspect of my life, most of the time with myself to do better. That can be hard sometimes because it can feel like I’m on a spinning wheel and I just can’t catch up. It’s how I’m wired. I wake up and my mind instantly goes to competition about something, what I want to accomplish and what I need to do to get there. We’re not backing down. These guys are here late and up early. We have a lot of things we want to accomplish.”

BATAVIA, OH (April 23, 2021) – Automotive Racing Products (ARP), Official Partner of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and title sponsor of the Engine Builders Challenge Program on the tour, continues to award the top engine builders on the series again in 2021. The ARP Engine Builders Challenge Program will award points to engine builders based on where their engines finish in the A-Main at each series event. The engine builder that earns the most points throughout the year will be crowned the ARP Engine Builder of the Year at the series year end awards banquet. After 13 completed events this year, Clements Race Engines have won seven events, with Cornett Race Engines claiming six wins. Several other engine builders have been knocking on the door of victory lane including Vic Hill Race Engines, Durham Race Engines, and Pro Power Race Engines. The current ARP Engine Builders Point Standings can be viewed at www.lucasdirt.com/points/2021-points. “We are thrilled to have ARP as an Official Partner on the series and supporting the ARP Engine Builders Challenge Program. As the title sponsor of our engine builders program, ARP will honor the great engine builders that build and support the open engine competition platform that the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is founded on. ARP is a leader in the motorsports industry and a great partner of Lucas Oil Motorsports,” stated Wayne Castleberry, Corporate Motorsports Sales and Marketing for Lucas Oil Motorsports. ARP is the world leader in fastener technology, proudly made in the USA. Located in Ventura, CA, ARP’s product line contains thousands of part numbers, and has expanded to include virtually every fastener found in an engine and driveline and throughout the suspension and frame. These range from quality high performance OEM replacement parts to exotic specialty hardware for all forms of motorsports and marine applications. To learn more about ARP visit their website at www.arp-bolts.com.  In addition to ARP as the title sponsor of the Engine Builders Challenge Program, several other great companies have signed on to strengthen the Engine Builders Program and provide additional awards to the engine builders that compete on the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series in 2021. We would like to thank the following companies that are also a part of the ARP Engine Builders Challenge Program: Brodix, CP-Carrillo, Lucas Oil Products, MSD, Schoenfeld Headers, Thermo-Tec, and Sunoco Race Fuel.

About Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt SeriesFounded in 2005, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series showcases the talents of the top dirt late model drivers from across the country. In 2021, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will sanction 59 events across 18 states, including some of the biggest marquee events in the industry, providing dirt slinging, sideways, door-to-door racing action lap after lap.  The series receives national exposure through a television package filmed, produced and edited by Lucas Oil Production Studios. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events will broadcast on four networks including CBS, NBC Sports, CBS Sports Network and the MAVTV Motorsports Network.   The in your face excitement of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is second to none in motorsports. For more information, including the latest news, tour schedule, driver information, and more, visit the official website at: www.LucasDirt.com.

Richard Childress Racing at Talladega Superspeedway… Richard Childress began his driving career at Talladega Superspeedway in 1969 and is in a tie for the most all-time car owner victories at the storied Alabama-based race track with 12 NASCAR Cup Series wins. Dale Earnhardt earned nine Talladega wins under the RCR banner, including his final career win in the 2000 Winston 500. Other drivers winning for RCR include Clint Bowyer (2010 and 2011), and Kevin Harvick (2010). The Welcome, N.C. organization has also found success in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with one win, 10 top-five, and 18 top-10 finishes. Catch the Action… The NASCAR Xfinity Series Xfinity 300 will be televised live Saturday, April 24, beginning at 4 p.m. ET on FOX and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.  The NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 will be televised live Sunday, April 25, beginning at 2 p.m. ET on FOX and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

‌  ‌  ‌

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Talladega Superspeedway… In 15 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega Superspeedway, Dillon earned his best finish at the 2.66-mile track in April 2016 when he finished third. His best starting position at Talladega Superspeedway in the NASCAR Cup Series is first. His best finish in four NASCAR Xfinity Series Starts is third, and he has two starts in the NASCAR Truck Series, earning a best finish of seventh in October 2011. About Tracker Off Road… Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE prominently features TRACKER ATVs, a game-changing new line of all-terrain vehicles and side-by-sides offering breakthrough performance, service and value in the off-road industry. TRACKER OFF ROAD was born out of a powerhouse partnership formed between Bass Pro Shops and TRACKER founder Johnny Morris and Textron Specialized Vehicles, bringing together the undisputed world leader in boating with a global leader in innovation and technology.  About Bass Pro Shops… Bass Pro Shops is North America’s premier outdoor and conservation company. Founded in 1972 when avid young angler Johnny Morris began selling tackle out of his father’s liquor store in Springfield, Missouri, today the company provides customers with unmatched offerings spanning premier destination retail, outdoor equipment manufacturing, world-class resort destinations and more. In 2017 Bass Pro Shops acquired Cabela’s to create a “best-of-the-best” experience with superior products, dynamic locations and outstanding customer service. Bass Pro Shops also operates White River Marine Group, offering an unsurpassed collection of industry-leading boat brands, and Big Cedar Lodge, America’s Premier Wilderness Resort. Under the visionary conservation leadership of Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops is a national leader in protecting habitat and introducing families to the outdoors and has been named by Forbes as “one of America’s Best Employers.” Bass Pro Shops has a long relationship with NASCAR, dating back to 1998. For more information, visit http://www.basspro.com/. AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:What will it take to be successful at Talladega Superspeedway?“Anything can happen at Talladega Superspeedway. It’s a little bit of a coin flip, but my No. 3 team will be doing everything we can to try and win and earn maximum stage points. In order to succeed at Talladega, you have to have a little bit of luck, and use momentum at the very end to take advantage of positions. It’s speedway racing. It’s drafting. And it’s chaos, but we’re up for the challenge.”

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Roland Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Talladega Superspeedway… Reddick has two NASCAR Cup Series starts and one top-10 finish at Talladega Superspeedway. Reddickwon the 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the 2.66-mile track with RCR and has one additional top-10 finish in the Xfinity Series. He also has one pole award and two top-five finishes at the superspeedway in the NASCAR Truck Series. About Roland… Roland DGA Corporation serves North and South America as the marketing, sales, distribution and service arm for Roland DG Corporation. Founded in 1981 and listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange, Roland DG of Hamamatsu, Japan is a worldwide leader in wide-format inkjet printers for the sign, apparel, textile, personalization and vehicle graphics markets; engravers for awards, giftware and ADA signage; photo impact printers for direct part marking; and 3D printers and CNC milling machines for the dental CAD/CAM, rapid prototyping, part manufacturing and medical industries. For more information, visit rolanddga.com. FOX Broadcasting Booth… Reddick will be back in the FOX broadcasting booth to call the NASCAR Xfinity Series race alongside Adam Alexander and Joey Logano on Saturday. Tune in and catch all the action beginning at 4 p.m. ET on April 24. TYLER REDDICK QUOTE: What are your thoughts as we head to Talladega Superspeedway on Sunday, a place where some of a driver’s day is determined by luck?“This is a style of racing that I really do enjoy a lot when things go right but can be extremely frustrating when they don’t. It feels like the last two or three plate races we’ve had never even got going before stuff happened and affected our day. But this is a fresh weekend for us. Our No. 8 Roland Chevrolet team just has to be smart on Sunday. Last fall at Talladega, we got damage on the first lap. Luckily, we were able to salvage it and come away with a top-10 finish by avoiding other wrecks, but that still affected our day in a major way. Then at this year’s Daytona 500, we had the wreck on Lap 14. It’s frustrating because I know how strong of a superspeedway program we have at RCR, we just need a little luck to go our way and to be smart to maximize our day.”

Myatt Snider and the No. 2 TaxSlayer Chevrolet Camaro at Talladega Superspeedway… Snider has two career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Talladega Superspeedway, both of which came during the 2020 season while driving for RSS Racing. The 26-year-old has also competed in two NASCAR Truck Series race at the Alabama tri-oval, earning consecutive third- and second-place results in 2017 and 2018 respectively.  About TaxSlayer… TaxSlayer makes online tax filing accessible for millions of Americans, with an easy-to-use platform and unlimited support at a fraction of the cost of the competition. Trusted for over 50 years, the Augusta-based tech company successfully completed more than 10 million federal and state e-filed tax returns in 2020 and processed $15 billion in refunds. TaxSlayer achieved a 4.5/5 TrustScore on consumer review site Trustpilot, with 87% of its customers rating the tax filing platform Great or Excellent. For more information, visit www.TaxSlayer.com. MYATT SNIDER QUOTES:After already having one superspeedway race in the books this season, what are your expectations for Talladega Superspeedway? “You just have to stay out of the mayhem, plan out your moves, and pick who you are racing against. If you get around some squirrels, they can get a little feisty and ruin your race. Andy Street (crew chief) and the boys always bring really fast cars to the superspeedways and Daytona was no exception. We were even faster in practice than we were in our pole run from 2020. I have the utmost confidence that we will bring a fast race car and we will be ready to slay it and get to the front quick.”  How do you approach strategy in a superspeedway race? Get to the front as fast as possible or protect yourself until the end? “I think you have to be aggressive from the start and stay in front. You don’t necessarily need to dominate the race, but be inside the top five cars, because that is probably the safest area to be at. Usually from the back, you have to dodge wrecks and deal with people jockeying for positions. We will try to get our TaxSlayer Chevrolet to the front as fast as we can and stay out of everyone else’s messes.”

Super DIRTcar Series Drivers Hit Thunder Valley for the First Time Five different drivers ran fastest laps in five separate practice sessions at Bristol, Mike Gular fastest overallBRISTOL, TN –  The excitement and anticipation finally came to a head at Bristol Motor Speedway when the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds turned its first-ever laps on the famed Tennessee half-mile. Mike Gular, driver the #2A, laid down the fastest lap overall with a 17.361 second lap, which means he drove at an average speed of 112mph.While many of the drivers were in awe of racing in The Last Great Colosseum, they quickly turned their focus toward turning the quick laps.Four other drivers topped their respective groups: Stewart Friesen, Marc Johnson, Matt Sheppard, and Max McLaughlin. The track remained consistently fast all night. Drivers were utilizing the bottom, middle, and top to get around the track, which bodes well for the 40-lap, $10,000-to-win, NAPA Super DIRT Week qualifiers. Gular, from Greene Lake, PA, was the only driver to enter the 17.3 second bracket around the half-mile. His time of 17.361 edged Stewart Friesen by just .042 seconds. Although he clocked the fastest lap overall, it took some time for him to find the sweet spot. “We’re just trying to find whatever speed we can get,” Gular said. “We’re gaining on it. We went from twentieth-something to running the fastest lap so we are happy. We’re going to keep trying a little bit more here.”The speeds were impressive and the track created multiple lanes of racing from the bottom to the top. However, it did not slow down much as the night progressed. The top times in all the sessions were separated by the smallest margins. “The track is getting a shine to it but it’s not slowing down at all,” Gular noted.” I think the goal is to go flat around this place. That’s what we’re dialing it in to do.”Stewart Friesen, from Niagara-on-the-Lake, ON, ripped his Halmar Racing #44 around the Bristol high banks in only 17.411 seconds during the first practice session of the evening. He barely topped Larry Wight and Jack Lehner on the final lap of the session. “It’s pretty awesome,” Friesen said. “I’m proud of the Halmar guys. It’s really good to unload fast and be quick time in the first session.”The car started out a little tight and then it freed up in the second session. I don’t think the tires came in as well as the first. It’s badass. It’s a lot of fun running around the top. I hope that continues.”Friesen participated in both the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race as the NASCAR Cup Series race at the end of March. No one has turned more laps on the dirt at Bristol than him but the Big Block is much different than a stock car/truck. “It’s way different than racing in the truck,” Friesen noted. “When you sit in the truck you sit so low with the big body all around you, and then sitting in an open cockpit car like a modified here you can see so much more. It feels like you are going a heckuva lot faster. It feels almost as fast as going around on asphalt.”Marc Johnson, from Guilderland, NY, is coming off a huge win at the Albany-Saratoga Speedway opener. He dominated a field that held a significant number of Series drivers. Now he’s wheeling the #3J at the top of the charts on Bristol Motor Speedway. Johnson was quickest in practice session two running a 17.542 sec. lap. “We’re trying to learn the track and find speed,” Johnson said. “I’m just trying to feel where the car is best for me. In the beginning, I was almost flat but I felt better rolling out of it a little and keeping the car straight. If guys are wide open out there then God bless them.” One of the best parts of the evening was how the track was able to be fast on the top, middle, and bottom grooves. “The track is very racy but it’s still a huge challenge.”Seven-time Series champion Matt Sheppard, from Savannah, NY,  wasn’t necessarily looking to top the charts but via his process of getting comfortable on the Bristol banks, he did. Sheppard ran a 17.522 sec. lap in the fourth practice session of the evening. “We were looking at all aspects, not just qualifying,” Sheppard said. ‘We’re monitoring tire wear and scuffing some tires for the weekend. We were working on short-run speed and I guess we’ll digest it all tonight and see if we can sort it out for tomorrow.”Mooresville, NC native Max McLaughlin ran quickest in the final practice session where Heat Race conditions were simulated. “We put more fuel in the car for this run because it was 8 laps and wanted to see how the car would turn with the extra fuel,” McLaughlin said. “I made a change that I wanted to try and it definitely helped. Honestly, it was weird, I was decent the first half of the run but in the second half started driving it like the asphalt car here. It just was like a different race car. Once I calmed down a little bit and drove it like the asphalt stuff here it was like a familiar Bristol.”McLaughlin has experience running at Bristol in the NASCAR K&N Series and he recently got some advice from a driver who turned thousands of laps at Bristol on the pavement. “Last week I was teammates with Ryan Newman at Martinsville and he told me to drive it exactly the same,” McLaughlin noted. “It clicked in my head on that run and I drove it like that and it helped a lot.”The #32 was fast but the driver played it safe. “I wasn’t running up top at all like those other guys. The car wasn’t turning as well as I think it should and I’m not going to put it in the fence in practice.”The excitement level is ratcheted up another notch as the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modified race for $10,000 and a guaranteed starting position at NAPA Super DIRT Week in October. Forty laps are set to separate the best of the best at Bristol Motor Speedway. Get your tickets now at BristolMotorSpeedway.com. If you can’t make it to the track, be sure to catch all the action live on DIRTVision. PHOTO: Joe Grabianowski

The Super DIRTcar Series is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel), Chevy Performance Parts, iRacing (Official Online Racing Game) and NAPA Auto Parts. Contingency sponsors including: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), ASI Race Wear, Bicknell Racing Products, Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux, Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, Drydene, Fox Factory, MSD, and Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including: FireAde, Intercomp, and Racing Electronics.

at BristolGravel, Schatz, Reutzel & Haudenschild Headline Practice Night of Bristol ThrowdownBRISTOL, TN – April 22, 2021 – History was made on Thursday night as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series ended a 20-year absence at Bristol Motor Speedway.A full night of practice brought The Greatest Show on Dirt back to The Last Great Colosseum in preparation for this weekend’s highly-anticipated Bristol Throwdown. The event officially kicks off tomorrow with Hot Laps slated to open a full program of racing at 6:00pm ET. If you can’t be here, you can watch it all LIVE on DIRTVision.For most drivers and teams, it was their first chance to hit the high banks in Thunder Valley. Three different sessions for a total of five rounds gave competitors several different looks at the surface with times to make changes and adjust to the .526-mile race track.Round One – Donny Schatz (14.210) Round Two- Gio Scelzi (14.575) Round Three – David Gravel (14.533) Round Four – David Gravel (14.742) Round Five – Parker Price-Miller (15.059)Donny Schatz, the 10-time Series champion, led the way with the single fastest lap of the night at 14.210 seconds in the opening set. That’s an average speed of 133 MPH aboard the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Ford Performance, Carquest #15.For Schatz, a native of Fargo, ND, the World of Outlaws return to Bristol is a homecoming of sorts. He earned one of the biggest wins of his early career at the 1/2-mile on June 8, 2001. Now, two decades later, Schatz is still ruling the Outlaws and he’s back at Bristol with a chance to claim his milestone 300th career victory.Whereas Schatz has previous experience to rely on, others like Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year contender Parker Price-Miller are walking in blind. Worried at first, PPM grew more comfortable by the lap and by the end of the night, he hit the fastest lap in the final session at 15.059 seconds.”I feel a lot better leaving tonight than I did when the day started,” Price-Miller admitted. “The place is intimidating, especially for someone who hasn’t been here before, but I really enjoyed where the track ended up. Hopefully we get a track like this tomorrow.”David Gravel made the most noise throughout the three-hour session, ending up as the only driver in the field to record a top-ten time in every single session. The Watertown, CT native also topped two different sessions aboard the Big Game Motorsports #2, the only driver to do that as well.Although the 59-time World of Outlaws winner had never been to Bristol before, he does have the confidence of being a 1/2-mile stud. Since 2019, Gravel has won eight events on the biggest tracks the Outlaws face, second only to Schatz’s nine wins.Knowing the World of Outlaws format which relies on qualifying and leads into straight-up heat races, Gravel is excited about the speed they found right out of the gates.”It’s a huge confidence boost to roll out of the trailer and be that fast,” Gravel noted. “I’ve always loved racing on these bigger tracks and this place doesn’t disappoint. I hope we can get a track just like this when it comes to racing, but maybe get it out a little bit wider.”In the fifth and final session of the night, a longer green flag run, Aaron Reutzel and his Roth Motorsports #83 clocked the best eight-lap average at 15.336 seconds. Another notable with a strong eight-lap average in the final session was Spencer Bayston of Lebanon, IN aboard the Indy Race Parts #71 at 15.383.The biggest story of the night came when a special reveal stunned Jac Haudenschild and brought back to life one of the most iconic cars in the history of the World of Outlaws.A deal months in the making, car owner Rico Abreu and businessman Frank Bolter surprised The Wild Child with a modern day version of the yellow Pennzoil #22 for his farewell season, which starts this weekend at the Bristol Throwdown.Haudenschild’s historic relationship with the car dates back to the 1990’s when he drove Jack Elden’s #22 with Pennzoil sponsorship for more than a half-decade. Now, to end his legendary career, the 72-time World of Outlaws winner is reunited with the car he is most associated with.A sixth-place runner at Bristol in 2000, Haudenschild is one of the five drivers this week that competed int the last event here 20 years ago. Also included in that list is Paul McMahan, making his season debut aboard the CJB Motorsports #23 this weekend.”I don’t remember much of this place from back then, but it’s everything I expected it to be this week,” McMahan said. “As long as they get it wide and races, I think it’ll be totally fine. We had some great races back then, so I know we can do it again.”Now that the entire field has laps at Bristol Motor Speedway, the stage is set to officially return to the Tennessee speed plant in Friday’s opener of the Bristol Throwdown. A $10,000-to-win program will lead into Saturday’s $25,000-to-win finale.Fans who can’t make it to the track can catch all of the action on DIRTVision with the annual Platinum FAST PASS subscription for $299/year or the monthly FAST PASS subscription for $39/month.Photo – Trent Gower

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink® Sprint Car 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), NOS Energy (Official Energy Product), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider) and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel); contingency sponsors include ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, KSE Racing Products (Hard Charger Award), MSD and Slick Woody’s (Quick Time Award); manufacturer sponsors include FireAde, Intercomp, K1 Race Gear, and Racing Electronics.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 all World of Outlaws events over the Internet to fans around the world. Learn more about the World of Outlaws.

CONCORD, NC – April 22, 2021 – DIRTcar UMP Modified competition is receiving a big upgrade in 2021 with the formation of an 11th region.

Several new tracks will be holding weekly and special event competition under the DIRTcar banner this year, forcing a reorganization of some existing Modified regions as well as the spawning of the all-new Appalachia Region.

The Appalachia Region consists of several tracks found in the 2020 East Region and the addition of the recently revived West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells, WV, which is scheduled to host two Renegades of Dirt/Dirt Cup Challenge races in August. Winchester Speedway and Wythe Raceway also join the region as special event hosts.

Many of DIRTcar’s newest weekly Modified racing venues make up the revamped East Region, including Roaring Knob Motorsports Complex, Eriez Speedway, Raceway 7 and Stateline Speedway. Greater Cumblerland Speedway, Hesston Speedway, Hummingbird Speedway, Sharon Speedway and Thunder Mountain Speedway also join DIRTcar as special event tracks in the new East Region.

The Michigan Region stays at a strong 11 tracks this year with the addition of special event action at Tri City Motor Speedway in Auburn.

UMP Modified racing in Indiana has been split into two main regions again this year, but with some changes from 2020. The new Indiana Region is comprised of each track found in the former Southern Indiana/Kentucky Region (except Tri-State) with the addition of the brand-new Circle City Raceway in Indianapolis and Thunder Valley Speedway in Salem.

The new Ohio/Indiana Region will house the second main group of Indiana circuits that made up the former Northern Indiana Region last year. They will combine with Daugherty Speedway, Eldora Speedway, Limaland Motorsports Park, Millstream Speedway and Oakshade Raceway to make up the 10-track group.

The Missouri/Illinois Region stays largely the same with the addition of Quincy Raceways and St. Francois County Raceway in Farmington, MO.

The Northern Illinois Region stands as the only region on the list not undergoing any changes for 2021. All eight tracks are returning for weekly/special Modified competition.

Four returning tracks will make up the South Region this year and join two newcomers in the Bluegrass State – Mountain Motor Speedway, hosting three Renegades of Dirt races, and Western Kentucky Speedway. Haubstadt, IN’s Tri-State Speedway will call the South Region home as the Southern-most Indiana track under the DIRTcar banner.

The Deep South Region has expanded to 11 tracks and now includes special events at All-Tech Raceway in Florida and Friendship Motor Speedway and Halifax County Motor Speedway in North Carolina.

The Ohio Region sees a significant restructuring for 2021 with the addition of Hilltop Speedway, Muskingum County Raceway and Wayne County Speedway.

Last but not least, the Illinois Region comes in as the smallest group on the list, with four returning tracks from 2020 and the addition of special events at Champaign County Speedway.

The top-10 in each Modified region’s points standings at season’s end will receive a points fund check according to the scale below. The national champion will collect the traditional $20,000 check.

1st – $2,000
2nd – $1,000
3rd – $800
4th – $500
5th – $300
6th – $200
7th – $150
8th – $135
9th – $125
10th – $100

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE GEICO 500 TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY TALLADEGA, ALABAMA APRIL 25, 2021

RACE #10 – TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAYThe NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) make a shift from short-track racing as the they head to the second speedway race of the season: Talladega Superspeedway. Alabama’s 2.66-mile oval features 33 degrees of banking in the turns and is never short on excitement. 
Chevrolet has won 41 of the 103 NASCAR Cup Series races at the track since it opened in 1969, and Team Chevy drivers will be looking for another victory in the Geico 500 on Sunday, April 25. In NASCAR Cup Series history at the venue, the Bowtie brand also leads the Series in consecutive wins at Talladega with 13, captured by five different drivers from April 1999 to May 2005. 
In the spring 2020 race, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was the runner-up in the JTG-Daugherty Racing Camaro ZL1 1LE. Ty Dillon led three Chevrolet drivers in the top-five in the fall 2020 race with a third-place finish. Chase Elliott won the spring 2019 race.
Chevrolet drivers entered with three or more starts in the 188-lap race hold the top three spots for best average finish: Ryan Preece (11.5; two top-10s in four races); Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (12.7; one win, nine top-10s in 16 races); and Chase Elliott (14.9; one win, five top-10s in 10 races).
Chevrolet has won 18 of the 30 NXS races at Talladega, including the past four. Justin Haley swept the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Talladega in the No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro SS. Haley currently sits fourth in the Driver Standings through seven races thus far this season. He will seek to score his first victory of the season driving the Kaulig Racing Camaro SS in the Ag-Pro 300 on Saturday, April 24. Heading into the race weekend, Chevrolet leads in the NXS Manufacturer Standings. 
CHEVY LEADING AT THE QUARTER POLEChevrolet sits atop the NCS Manufacturer Standings through nine of the scheduled 36 points-races. The Bowtie brand leads all manufacturers with 39 top-10 finishes and has led 568 laps on superspeedways heading to Talladega Superspeedway to top manufacturers.
Alex Bowman, Kyle Larson and Willian Byron have qualified for the Playoffs with victories. Chevrolet also is closing in on 800 NCS victories, entering the race weekend with 798.
BIG NUMBERS ON SHORT TRACKSChevrolet drivers recorded impressive results in the NCS short-track races the past three weeks. Alex Bowman won the Series’ most recent event at the .75-mile Richmond Raceway. A week earlier at .526-mile Martinsville Speedway oval, Chase Elliott scored a runner-up finish. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. was runner-up on the .533-mile Bristol Motor Speedway dirt oval. Overall, Chevrolet registered six top-five and 13 top-10 finishes in the three races.
BYRON MOVES TO FOURTH IN STANDINGSWilliam Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 LE, moved from sixth to fourth in the NCS Driver Standings with his seventh-place finish at Richmond Raceway. Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 1LE, is sixth and reigning NCS champion Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE, remained seventh. Richmond winner Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, is 13th.
ON THE WAY TO THE GREENWith no practice or qualifying for the race, the starting lineup is determined by NASCAR’s metrics system that was introduced to the series last year and incorporates results from both individual races and season-long results. Team Chevy’s top-20 starters:4th      William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 1LE 8th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE11th     Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Camaro ZL1 1LE12thKyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 1LE15th     Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE17th     Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 NOS Energy Drink Camaro ZL1 1LE18th     Ross Chastain, No. 42 Caregility/Yorktel Camaro ZL1 1LE19th     Daniel Suarez, No. 99 CommScope Camaro ZL1 1LE20th     Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Roland Camaro ZL1 1LE
BOWTIE BULLETS.·       Chevrolet has 798 NASCAR Cup Series wins to lead all manufacturers.
·       Victories by active Team Chevy drivers at Talladega Superspeedway include:Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE, has one win (April 2019)Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 NOS Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, has one win (May 2017) 
·       Chevrolet team, Hendrick Motorsports, leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins by an organization at Talladega with 13. 
·       In addition to its 41 NCS wins at Talladega Superspeedway, Chevrolet has amassed 195 top-five and 375 top-10 finishes.
·       Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, is tied for most starts among active drivers at Talladega with 40 and is the leader with 21 top-10 finishes. He is also the active leader with 7,215 laps at the track.
·       Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 NOS Energy Drink Camaro ZL1 1LE, earned his first NCS victory at Talladega in May 2017.
·       Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Camaro ZL1 1LE, has completed all but two of the 2,594 laps run this season.
·       Chase Elliott (Daytona Road Course), William Byron (Homestead-Miami Speedway) and Kyle Larson (Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway 2) have stage wins.
FOR THE FANS:·       Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Talladega Superspeedway.·       Fans can check out an assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: Corvette Stingray Convertible 3LT, Silverado 150 Trail Boss, Tahoe Premier, Blazer RS, Camaro 1LZ and Trailblazer LT. ·       At the Chevrolet Display, fans can also view Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE.   Chevrolet Display Hours of Operation:  Saturday, April 24th: 9:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m. Sunday, April 25th: 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.  TUNE INFOX will telecast the NASCAR Cup Series GEICO 500 at 2 p.m. ET Sunday, April 25. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. FOX will telecast the NASCAR Xfinity Series Ag-Pro 300 at 4 p.m. ET Saturday, April 24.
QUOTABLE QUOTESWILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 4th IN STANDINGSBYRON ON RACING AT TALLADEGA:“Talladega is a lot more open of a track than Daytona with a lot more pushing and shoving. It’s a lot easier to get to someone’s bumper because handling isn’t as important there. You have to be able to push well but also receive a push well. It takes a fast car but one that can handle a push from someone else. For me, I don’t approach it much different than I do Daytona. There are times you want to be conservative, so you can make sure you are there in the end, but you also need to know when it’s time to make aggressive moves. We have had some good runs going there but not the results in the end until recently. I know the No. 24 team will prepare a fast Liberty University Chevy, so if we are still in contention in the end this weekend, I think we have a good shot at the win.”
RUDY FUGLE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LEFUGLE ON RACING AT TALLADEGA:“Hendrick Motorsports takes a lot of pride on building fast cars, especially for superspeedway races. I think that shows every time we get to the track. There’s a ton of hard work put in from the guys and gals back at the shop to make these cars as fast as they are. I think we all showed that at Speedweeks in Daytona earlier this year. While Daytona didn’t end how the No. 24 team would have hoped, we know we had a strong car that was capable of winning, and that should be the same in Talladega. The biggest thing in these races is being around in the end, though. On my end, that means calling the right strategy, not only for us, but for working with our teammates. On William’s side, that means judging the situation he’s in and knowing when to push it and when to bide his time to avoid an incident. Racing at Talladega is always unpredictable but we’ll do everything we can to put ourselves in contention and, hopefully, we will have luck on our side to be there at the end.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 6th IN STANDINGSLARSON ON TALLADEGA STRESS:“Hendrick Motorsports has really fast superspeedway cars, and that makes your job as a driver a little bit easier and a little less stressful. I say that, but Daytona and Talladega are always stressful. There’s always a big wreck that you hope to be in front of or avoid. Talladega has been hard on me. I’ve been upside down on the backstretch, and I broke a rib there a couple years ago in a crash. Daytona went well earlier this year, so hopefully Talladega will go well, too.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 7th IN STANDINGS“To me, superspeedway races and Talladega, just as much as Daytona is, are such a coin flip. There’s no way of really knowing the right place to be at the right time all the time. I feel like there are guys that seem to have a better feel for it than others and know when to be in certain positions and know when something doesn’t feel right. I’ve tried to learn that over the years. I haven’t done a great job of it, but it’s just about positioning yourself in the right place at the right time. Also, having patience and taking runs when you have the opportunity. I also think what makes the guys who are really good at those tracks great is that they know when to quit putting up a fight, when to not throw that big block, knowing they might have another opportunity on the back end rather than crashing. Showing patience in big moments at those tracks are really hard to do, but I think that’s a piece that the guys who win there do all the time.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 12th IN STANDINGSWHAT WILL IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY?“Anything can happen at Talladega Superspeedway. It’s a little bit of a coin flip, but my No. 3 team will be doing everything we can to try and win and earn maximum stage points. In order to succeed at Talladega, you have to have a little bit of luck, and use momentum at the very end to take advantage of positions. Its speedway racing. Its drafting. And its chaos, but we’re up for the challenge.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 13th IN STANDINGSBOWMAN ON SUNDAY’S WIN AT RICHMOND RACEWAY: “Getting the win on Sunday was big is so many ways. It was a huge goal for our team to be able to get Ally into victory lane this season, and we are so pumped to get them their first points-paying victory. The 48 team has put together some amazing short-track cars the last two weeks and it has definitely showed. I drive these places so wrong sometimes, so it is truly on this team for bringing such a fast car. Being locked into the playoffs is a good spot to be in, but our approach every week is to win. There isn’t a sit-back-and-relax mode with Hendrick Motorsports or this 48 team. We are focused on winning each and every week for everyone back at the shop, our team and our amazing partners.”
BOWMAN ON GOING SUPERSPEEDWAY RACING THIS WEEKEND: “No one sleeps going to Talladega. Hendrick Motorsports always builds amazing superspeedway Chevrolets and I feel like every time we unload there, we have a chance to win. There are so many unknowns at tracks like this. You can be in contention to win at one moment and loading up a wrecked car the next. Working with our teammates is key, but you have to be able to work with everyone on track. Racing in ‘Dega this weekend is really special because this was Rowdy (Harrell’s) home track. If we could pull off a win this weekend, I know that would mean the world to him.”
GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LEIVES ON CLAIMING THE WIN AT RICHMOND: “I felt like we had a really good long-run car and I think we passed a lot of cars on Sunday. Probably the most quality passes of anyone on the racetrack, honestly. We had great speed and that is credited to everyone here at Hendrick Motorsports, my engineer Tim O’Brien and car chief Austin Konetski. They put in a lot of hours and a lot of pride into their work. That definitely shows each week when we unload. The Ally pit crew does an awesome job. We had a tire get away, but that was on all of us. All in all, adversity was there and we overcame it.”
IVES ON WHAT THE NO. 48 ALLY THROWBACK PAINT SCHEME MEANS TO HIM: “I enjoyed driving. I enjoyed the aspect of setting up the car, putting it on the track and feeling what it did. This paint scheme kind of chose me. I was so surprised that Alex, Ally and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports pulled this off and wanted to pay tribute to me. To me, I am going to deflect it back to all of those grassroots racers that give all of their time, energy and life to this great sport that we love called racing. Whether it is on the NASCAR level or a local short track. Hopefully, people can get behind the story and understand what it meant to me.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 ROLAND CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 22nd IN STANDINGS“This is a style of racing that I really do enjoy a lot when things go right but can be extremely frustrating when they don’t. It feels like the last two or three plate races we’ve had never even got going before stuff happened and affected our day. But this is a fresh weekend for us. Our No. 8 Roland Chevrolet team just has to be smart on Sunday. Last fall at Talladega, we got damage on the first lap. Luckily, we were able to salvage it and come away with a top-10 finish by avoiding other wrecks, but that still affected our day in a major way. Then at this year’s Daytona 500, where everyone remembers how we had the wreck on Lap 14. It’s frustrating because I know how strong of a superspeedway program we have at RCR, we just need a little luck to go our way and to be smart to maximize our day.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 23rd IN STANDINGSDID DAYTONA GET YOU EXCITED FOR TALLADEGA?“Oh yes. At Daytona, we got caught in someone else’s mistake early on, and even though I made it through the wreck, my car got killed on the grass. So frustrating, such a shame. But at the same time, I’m very excited for what is coming this year. If we are as fast this weekend as we were in Daytona then I think we will have good race.”
WHAT IS THE KEY TO TALLADEGA?“Stay out of trouble, avoid the wrecks and make it to the end. “
ARE YOU AT A DISADVANTAGE AS A SINGLE CAR TEAM AT TALLADEGA? “Obviously, teammates are very important to being successful at Talladega. We may be a one-car team with our CommScope Chevrolet, but we are very much a part of the Chevrolet family and we have our strong alliance with the RCR teams. If we are as fast as we were in Daytona, we won’t have any trouble attracting drafting partners”
ERIK JONES, NO. 43 TUSKEGEE AIRMEN CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 26th IN STANDINGSTALLADEGA IS CONSIDERED A WILD CARD WHEN IT COMES TO FINISHES. WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO BRING HOME A WIN?“Talladega (Superspeedway) is definitely a wild card, but I enjoy it. As a driver, I have been close to a win a couple of times the last few times that we have been to Talladega. The way I look at superspeedway racing – as long as you are putting yourself in that position time-after-time, eventually one of those races is going to go your way and you are going to win one of them. We have been up front and been in contention. We just need to figure out how to close it out. I feel like every time we are there, the last lap we have a shot to go up and win it, and just haven’t quite done it yet. It is a great opportunity for us to win and that is the way I look at it. Just giving ourselves the opportunity to go out there and hopefully win a race and get Richard Petty Motorsports into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.”

Baggsy securing the third step on the podium!

Let’s talk about the first ever UK Drift Championship event. Located at the Three Sisters Circuit in Wigan on the 17th & 18th of April 2021.

You may all know the outcome for the SB team and Steve ‘Baggsy’ Biagioni, securing third place on the podium.. but you may not know the full story. 

So let’s fill you in with what happened.

Let’s start on the Wednesday, car set up day and a visit to our good friend and Pro drifter Martin Richards for a full alignment. 

After a year in America for demos and then a year in storage at SB HQ, we wanted to make sure everything was perfect for the #S13V8 to compete in the UK at pro level.

A few changes we had already made to the S13, consisted of relocating the radiator and fans to the rear of the car, upgrading to a Radium fuel system, a full rebuild of the engine and uprated big Wilwood brakes.

By the end of the day we had the alignment & suspension dialled.

Thursday. Dyno day. What power could our LS engine make? 

It all seemed to be going smoothly the whole day, until on one of the last pulls.. he engine dropped a valve
The decision we had to make straight away was to either call it, send the car back to the workshop and miss out on the first event of the year.
Or, to go through the night from Coventry to get the car back to the workshop in Southend, replace the heads, check it hadn’t done any more damage and find somewhere to test the car before the event. 

So, the team headed straight back to the workshop loaded up with Monster Energy, ready to work through the night!

The whole team pulled an all-night shift to get the car fixed and back together, working 16+ hours to be ready for the event.

The guys at Birmingham Wheels were also very helpful and let us use their circuit to test the car before finally getting to Three Sisters on the Friday night. 

Saturday was a well needed setup & chill day with the Pro 2’s on track, with sunny skies and warm weather we decided to get a few photos of the car on track after the event was done for the day. 

Its pro day! Practice going well and many tyres smoked, Baggsy feeling comfortable with the car on track, running a high scoring lead line all morning.

Qualifying under way with a 79.3 on Baggsys first run, securing 6th place for the battles and going against Scott Cartledge in Top 32.

Scott unfortunately shutting it down with a car issue on his chase run which gave Baggsy the win and advancing into the Top 16.

Next battle saw Baggsy against Martin Wonnacott in a borrowed car for the weekend, Baggsy pulling a gap from Martin in his lead run gaining an advantage, and with a savage chase run, Baggsy wins gaining a place in the Top 8.

Lwi Edwards was Baggsy’s next driver in his crosshairs. Lwi pulling a few car lengths leading up to the first corner, but that didn’t phase Baggsy!

The S13’s pace is no match for the BMW as Baggsy was on his door all the way around the last corner. A faultless lead line gave Baggsy the win on the second half of this battle.

The Final 4, this was the toughest battle of all for us. Going against Duane Mckeever, an Irish and British Drift Champion!

With the sheer pace of Duane’s high horse powered Nissan S13, he pulled away towards finish line gaining an advantage in his lead run. Which in turn put us in the 3rd/4th place playoff against Kevin Quinn.

This battle wasn’t a simple win or lose.

Baggsy to chase first against Kevin, door on door action until the last few turns, Quinn runs wide and Baggsy follows! Both cars de-bead a tyre and fail to complete the run, giving Baggsy an advantage and rewarding a competition time out.

But, with the clock ticking by, and the track curfew closing in, there was only enough time to to run one more battle which inevitably was the final, Baggsy was then given the win and the third place winner overall. 

The lead up to the first round of the UK Drift Championship tested the team and pushed us to our limits, but once again everyone pulled together and worked to get it done.

All the hard work paid off! Bringing home the third place trophy & we can’t be happier!

Baggsy – “It’s been a tough week for the team, working insanely long hours to get the S13 running perfectly, and i really can’t thank them enough for all their positivity!”

www.baggsyboy.com

www.sbmotorsport.com