Richard Childress Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Track… With the NASCAR Cup Series taking to dirt for the first time since 1970, Richard Childress Racing will compete in the inaugural event at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Track. Before the main feature on Sunday, Austin Dillon and Tyler Reddick will run two 50-minute practice sessions and a qualifying heat to determine the starting lineup. Both Dillon and Reddick are armed with dirt backgrounds and have spent significant time preparing for this unique race with their teams.  Richard Childress Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway… While Sunday’s race will make history on the Bristol Motor Speedway dirt oval, Richard Childress Racing has found success on the half-mile’s typical concrete surface. In 179 NASCAR Cup Series starts, the Welcome, N.C. organization has scored nine wins, 35 top-five, and 71 top-10 finishes at the Tennessee short track.  Catch the Action… The NASCAR Cup Series Food City Dirt Race will be televised live Sunday, March 28, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

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Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Bristol Motor Speedway… While this weekend marks the first NASCAR Cup Series race on Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt configuration, Dillon has made 14 paved Cup starts at the track, earning one top-five and three top-10 finishes.  Winner, Winner… Dillon has won at Bristol Motor Speedway on both the paved and dirt configurations. In addition to winning a NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the track in August 2016 (paved), Dillon was among the first drivers to compete on the track’s dirt surface last week. He won two features and a heat race in dominating fashion in a 604 Crate Late Model for Corey Hedgecock Racing. An Ace on Dirt… Dillon first began racing dirt late models in 2006 as the natural progression in his career after starting out in legend cars and bandoleros. Under the tutelage of Shane and Dale McDowell, notable dirt racing victories include the All-Star Shootout at the Dirt Track at Charlotte Motor Speedway (May 2009 and May 2007). 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 QUOTES: The configuration of the high banks on the Bristol dirt stands out. What are some other parts of the track that strikes you as either very similar or very different from dirt tracks that you’ve raced in the past?“Well, I think the dirt itself is interesting. The type of dirt they choose to lay down on Bristol is not a dirt that you see in the Midwest; it’s a sandy-dirt. When you really get into the dirt track racing world, you start talking about the type of dirt that you’re racing on and certain dirt puts on better races, and certain dirt goes through different transitions than the other. The good thing is that the dirt, I feel like, came from a track that I kind of grew up racing around and I kind of know the transitions and what it takes, I think, to create speed throughout the transitions that it’s going to go through. So, if anything, maybe that helps me. But it’s not a dirt that I believe you’re going to see a cushion built; it doesn’t do that. This stuff kind of creates a fluff and it gets up there; you can gain grip because it might be wet up there for a while, but it’s not something that you can use as a curb to catch you, which is different. And I’m glad that it came from around here because I feel like I’ve ran on it a lot and know when it has grip and when it doesn’t.”  Does the weight of the cars play into your favor?“From sprint cars to late models, I definitely think there’s some experience there that helps. Kyle (Larson), he’s driving late models now and doing really well. He about won the big race this past weekend in the super. The weight in those late models, they drive so much different than our Cup cars or a truck. A truck, from what I know in the past, the history that I have in my mind is that they are heavier. You don’t really drive them, I would say, like a late model or a sprint car. Definitely the weight is the biggest thing in the difference in how you drive.” “Side force, too, I’ll throw that in there. Our cars don’t have the bodies that the late models and sprint cars have wings; they’re just built a lot different to rely on downforce.” Talk about the importance of the practice session at Bristol.“It will be nice to have some practice to just test and tune. I think the difference between an asphalt track and a dirt track is we have so many notes on things that we don’t do. A dirt track is where you can go to it with an open mindset and do things that you wouldn’t normally do to find speed and that’s what’s going to be fun for all of the crew chiefs, car chiefs and mechanics out there to really do things opposite. The thought process has to be so open-minded when we get there to the track. Not only are you worrying about the setup, but you’re worried about the car. Make sure the heights are right, you’re not rolling the nose under – there’s a lot of things that we do at a dirt track to just make the car go around the track. And then it might not always be like ‘hey, we needed just a little more wedge to be perfect’. It might be ‘we need more clearance so I don’t hit the track right here and get tight’. There’s a lot of fun stuff about the practice.” “The heat races – they’ll be challenging. It’s a short amount of time and you’ll want to get as many passing points as you can. Your starting position matters at any type of racing level. The draw – I haven’t really looked into how that’s going to go down or where we start in the heat races yet. But I think the whole process is going to be fun. I was hoping we would go off of a regular race weekend and go off of the past race, because we would have a pretty good starting position after our run at Atlanta this past weekend, and I think starting up front would be really good for us. I’m not really worried about where we start in the dirt race because I feel like if you do your job and practice that you should be able to move forward through the race.” “I watched the stock car race and I felt like the stock car race was probably one of the best races this past week when I was there at the Dirt Car Nationals, and that’s what I’m hoping you guys get to see from the Cup level. All the guys that are preparing the track – I’ve been in touch with some of those people, trying to just give feedback to give it the best show we can put on for all the fans out there. I think they’re prepared; I think the knowledge they gained form the Dirt Car Nationals last week will really go a long way when it comes down to it of what you see this coming week.”

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Bristol Motor Speedway… This weekend marks the first time the NASCAR Cup Series will be running on dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. Reddick does have two Cup Series starts at the track on the concrete surface, with his best finish of fourth coming during last fall’s event. Reddick also has five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the track, winning the 2019 fall race with crew chief Randall Burnett, along with two top-five and four top-10 finishes. He also has two NASCAR Truck Series starts and two top-five finishes at Bristol. Dirt Track Savvy… Both Reddick and his crew chief, Randall Burnett, came to NASCAR from dirt racing backgrounds. Reddick began racing on dirt at age four in Outlaw Karts before moving on to midgets, dirt late models and sprint cars. During that time, he became the youngest person to qualify on the pole for the World 100 at Eldora Speedway, as well as the youngest winner at the East Bay Winter Nationals and in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. Burnett grew up in Fenton, Missouri, where he often built and raced his own late models at local tracks before moving out to attend school at UNC Charlotte. Burnett continues to be an avid dirt racing fan today. iRacing Success… On Wednesday night, Reddick climbed behind the wheel of his virtual No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for the kick-off event of the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series. After advancing through his qualifying heat, Reddick rode the high line to a second-place finish in the main feature. About Bet MGM… BetMGM is a market leading sports betting and gaming entertainment company, pioneering the online gaming industry. Born out of a partnership between MGM Resorts International and Entain (formerly GVC), BetMGM has exclusive access to all of MGM Resorts’ U.S. land-based and online sports betting, major tournament poker, and online gaming businesses. Utilizing Entain’s U.S.-licensed, state of the art technology, BetMGM offers sports betting and online gaming via market leading brands including BetMGM, Borgata Casino, Party Casino and Party Poker. Founded in 2018, BetMGM is headquartered in New Jersey.TYLER REDDICK QUOTES: While they weren’t NASCAR vehicles, what are your thoughts on Bristol Motor Speedway’s dirt surface after seeing the Bristol Dirt Nationals take place last week?“I saw a lot of great racing and a really fast track for those divisions that ran last week. We saw a couple bumps develop in Turns 3 and 4, likely because of the rain, but overall it was a very fast track for those cars. That’s exciting to me because our Cup cars are so much heavier with more power and less tire underneath us, so we should have some great racing this weekend. I think one thing that will be interesting to see if it unfolds is if two lanes of competitive racing on the track will develop with the Cup cars at the same time. But regardless, from what I saw this past week, I think it’s going to be a good race. It was just really cool to watch. My crew chief, Randall Burnett, and I went up to Bristol last Friday afternoon to check it out, touch the dirt and really understand how it was going so far. To see how quick these late models were going was amazing. 250 laps is a lot for a dirt track, so the track will change quite a bit during the race on Sunday. It should be exciting for fans and I’m looking forward to being behind the wheel of the No. 8 BetMGM Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for it.” What were some of the takeaways from your visit to Bristol last Friday on how the track has been prepared?“There’s a lot of things to look at. The track says they took banking out, but it still has a lot of banking in it, so that was wild to see. There’s a lot of dirt on this racetrack, and it’s really incredible to see how they all brought it together. They had a lot of equipment out there and were trying a lot of things on the track this past week. I think it was great Bristol had that week of racing with so many different entries ahead of NASCAR’s weekend there. Bristol now has a better idea of what the track is going to do with so many different cars having been on it, that now they can get the track where they want it to be for us.”

Yeager impressive in Tour debut, Ducharme notches career best finish March 24, 2021 – Blake Matjoulis got his goal of competing for a DIRTcar eSports Tour championship started off right with a win in the season opener Wednesday night on DIRTVision. “We got a couple wins last season, and to start off like this, it’s definitely some good momentum for Week #2,” Matjoulis said. A 50-lap contest stood before the Bicknell Racing Products Big Block Modified field of 38 strong at Weedsport Speedway. Matjoulis, of Ashville, NY, had yet to win with the Big Blocks on the DIRTcar eSports Tour, but looked as good as ever, backed by his newest iRacing team at 127 Industries. Starting fourth on the grid, Matjoulis chased down early leader Tyler Ducharme, of Bomoseen, VT, in the opening laps with fellow frontrunners Alex Bergeron, Evan Seay and Dylan Yeager. Matjoulis found his first opportunity at the lead directly after a restart on Lap 18, where he rode the high side of the slicked-off track surface and gained enough speed out of Turn 4 to nip Ducharme at the line for the lead. “I found something in [Turns] 1-2 that was about a tenth faster every lap and was pounding the fence in 3-4. That’s how I ended up getting the lead,” Matjoulis said. That move proved to be all the #127 needed to get the lead. But, holding it was a different story. While the top side got him the lead, the bottom carried him to victory. Matjoulis quickly swapped lanes to the bottom in an effort to hold off Ducharme and wisely held the line through the remainder of the race. Bergeron, of Drummondville, QC, was riding solidly in third with just under 15 circuits remaining when a bit of contact with his competition sent him in a near-spin through Turns 3-4, losing several spots. He impressively rebounded before the checkers, though, climbing back up to a fifth-place finish. This incident inadvertently allowed the resurgence of Yeager and his charge back up to third, which he completed on the final lap. “Alex [Bergeron] and Tyler [Schell] got together and I was able to capitalize on that and finally get around Richard [Murtaugh] for third-place, so we’ll take it,” Yeager said. Back out front, the caution-sprinkled race allowed those behind Matjoulis multiple chances to make a move for the lead, but he was too good in the slick. The 2019 World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model iRacing World Champion got a great final restart after the final caution in the closing laps and drove off to his third career victory with the Tour and the $250 check. Ducharme was able to hang on for a runner-up finish, the best of his few DIRTcar eSports Tour starts since his debut last season. “Congrats to Blake, he ran a great race,” Ducharme said. “Once he got in front of me, I got back under him a couple of times. I’m not going to driver through him for a win, I wouldn’t do that to anybody.” The DIRTcar eSports Tour next heads to the high, dirt-covered banks of Bristol Motor Speedway next Wednesday night, March 31, for a UMP Modified showdown in race #2 of 10. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision! Bicknell Racing Products Feature (50 Laps) – 1. 127-Blake Matjoulis [4]; 2. 25-Tyler Ducharme [1]; 3. 48-Tyler Yeager [2]; 4. 033-Richard Murtaugh [7]; 5. 12-Alex Bergeron [3]; 6. 32-Tyler Schell [10]; 7. 96-Gunnar Swanchara [9]; 8. 33-Evan Seay [5]; 9. 71-Keven Hebert [19]; 10. 213-James Boniface [14]; 11. 81-Bobby Sweeney [6]; 12. 0-Kevin Dedmon [15]; 13. 77-Brandon Planck [17]; 14. 1-Jesse Enterkin [23]; 15. 331-Dustin Hall [16]; 16. 17-Brett Rowles [22]; 17. 91-Felix Roy [11]; 18. 79-Maxime Plante [12]; 19. 114-Joe Garcia [24]; 20. 77-Blaise Baker [20]; 21. 2-Chance Carr [21]; 22. 41-Logan Rumsey [8]; 23. 115-Boddie Parker [18]; 24. 44-Mason Hammel [13] LOW ‘N SLOW: Gage Scores First Career Street Stock League Win in Season 3 Opener at KnoxvilleJackson continues dominance with podium effort; Axner charges 17th-to-5th One of the most difficult lines to take around a glass-smooth Knoxville Raceway in a DIRTcar Street Stock on iRacing is right around the bottom. Fittingly, it was the very line Jordan Gage took en route to his first career DIRTcar eSports Chevy Performance Street Stock League Feature win Wednesday night on DIRTVision. “I usually run the slider line here, but it was kind of wearing out faster than I liked,” Gage said. “These [races] are awesome when they come onto the table, especially when you can run them.” Starting P1, Gage, of Whiting, IA, jumped out to the early lead and began fending off a hungry field of 23 other competitors behind him. Applying the most pressure early on was none other than the winningest driver in League history, Tyler Jackson. Jackson, from Rockford, IL, started fifth and tried both the high and low lines to make the move on Gage, but was unsuccessful. After a late-race caution that brought a green-white-checkered finish at 22 laps, Thorne Zimmerman, of Sanderson, FL, was continuing his charge up from the seventh starting spot and got a great restart as the field came to two-to-go. Zimmerman took the low line right behind Gage while Jackson followed suit, fending off a high-flying Carl Kilgore to his outside. The field rounded Turns 1-2, breeding a big run for Zimmerman down the backstretch. He tried the middle of the track in the final turns but came up just one spot short in the end. “That white flag – I tried going in a little higher, so that maybe I could swing it under him, but I think [Gage] saw it coming and blocked the bottom to me,” Zimmerman said. Jackson, a three-time winner in Season 2, crossed the line in third, continuing his stretch of success in the League that he began last December. “Kinda got locked down there on the bottom at the end, but all-in-all for 12 green-flag laps, I guess we did all we could,” Jackson said. The Chevy Performance Street Stocks are back in action next Wednesday night, March 31, at Limaland Motorsports Park for Round #2 of 10 in DIRTcar eSports Season 3. Catch all the action live on DIRTVision presented by Drydene! Chevy Performance Feature (20 Laps) – 1. 0-Jordan Gage [1]; 2. 003-Thorne Zimmerman [7]; 3. 8-Tyler Jackson [5]; 4. 021-Carl Kilgore [11]; 5. 546-Randy Axner [17]; 6. 7-Chris Davis [13]; 7. 17-Brett Rowles [15]; 8. 44-Mason Hammel [8]; 9. 29-Lane Phillips [21]; 10. 71-Daniel Stiffler [9]; 11. 04-Joshua Dennison [14]; 12. 14-Kyle Vaughn [10]; 13. 48-Grant Parr [20]; 14. 93-Steve Miskolczi [24]; 15. 077-Holden English [18]; 16. 225-Nathan Lemons [12]; 17. 6-Mitch Erickson [19]; 18. 53-Aidan Skraha [3]; 19. 717-Bobby Rafferty [6]; 20. 69-Keith Hackney [2]; 21. 21-Jim Reavis [22]; 22. 1-Alex Breuer [4]; 23. 26-Sage Luther [16]; 24. 111-Jaron Valley [23]

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

Inside Line Promotions – STOCKTON, Calif. (March 24, 2021) – Dominic Scelzi salvaged a podium finish despite misfortune on Saturday night during the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Sprint Car Series season opener.

Scelzi put himself in a great position to contend for the victory at the Stockton Dirt Track. He qualified fourth quickest and finished where he started – third – in a heat race to garner enough points to make the dash.

“We went out late in qualifying and we qualified well, which was important,” he said. “We ran well in the heat race and that put us in the dash.”

Scelzi drew the No. 2 during the dash draw to line up on the outside of the front row for the dash. He maintained that position to start the feature on the front row. Unfortunately, the nose wing came loose on the opening lap.

Scelzi held onto the runner-up position for most of the race and even challenged the leader in traffic as well as during a restart. However, a late-race restart dropped Scelzi to a third-place finish. It marked his fifth top five of the season.

“It’s definitely a Catch-22,” he said. “On one hand I feel we gave away a great chance to win a race. To be as good as we were without the nose wing – it really hindered us – shows how great of a car we had. On the other hand that’s the first NARC points race. To win the points championship you have to take bad nights and turn them into as good of nights as you can.”

Five top fives in his first nine races this year ties Scelzi’s best start to a season with his opening nine races in 2018. He placed 10^th in the 10^th race that year so his next race can offer the greatest start to a season in his sprint car career.

Scelzi plans on competing this Friday and Saturday at Thunderbowl Raceway in Tulare, Calif., with the Kings of Thunder 360 Sprint Cars.

“I haven’t been to Tulare since 2019,” he said. “I feel like it was going in the right direction so we’re excited to get back there. It will be a good two-day weekend.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOOD CITY DIRT RACE TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT MARCH 24, 2021
RANDALL BURNETT, CREW CHIEF, NO. 8 BETMGM CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript: CAN YOU GIVE US AN OVERVIEW OF WHAT IT’S BEEN LIKE THIS WEEK FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM AT RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING HEADING TO THE BRISTOL DIRT RACE?“Yeah, it’s been a little different than normal. This is something new for all of us on the Cup side. It’s been a challenge. The rules are a little bit different with the cars; how we approach things. For instance, we normally run a splitter on the car that kind of keeps us off the ground a little bit and keeps us from traveling the car too much, because on the asphalt tracks, we run really close to the ground to try to make as much downforce as we can. We’re going with a little bit different approach this weekend. You are kind of going to be running the car up off the ground, so you don’t dig the nose in and tear it up. That’s been something we’ve had to work on. Just coming up with a set-up that we don’t really know much about the track. We don’t really know much about how these cars are going to react on the track. So, we’re trying to make our best guess, basically, is what it boils down to.”
YOU HAVE A DIRT BACKGROUND AND YOUR BROTHER OWNS MILLBRIDGE SPEEDWAY AND TYLER REDDICK HAS A DIRT BACKGROUND. IS THIS AN OPPORTUNITY WEEKEND? ARE YOU PUTTING MORE PRESSURE ON YOURSELVES TRYING TO GO OUT AND CAPITALIZE ON THIS WEEKEND?“I think both of us, kind of having a little bit of a dirt background; I’ve never driven on dirt myself, really, except for at my brother’s track up at Millbridge and racing go karts and stuff like that. Tyler’s got quite a bit of experience on anything from Micro Sprints to dirt Late Models and everything else. That’s kind of what he grew up racing. He’s pumped up about this weekend. We don’t want to get our hopes up too much because we don’t know what to expect, you know? This is a completely different animal for us as far as having this heavy of a car to run on dirt. So, we’re both excited about the opportunity to go up there. And hopefully we can put a good package together and unload off the truck good. I think that’s going to be very important this weekend.”
WHERE IS THIS TEAM AT NOW? IT SEEMS LIKE THE SPEED IS THERE BUT THERE HAVE MAYBE BEEN A FEW THINGS THAT HAVE GONE WRONG. DO YOU HAVE TO REIGN TYLER IN A LITTLE BIT OR ARE YOU JUST LETTING HIM BE WHO HE IS WHEN HE MAKES A MISTAKE?“We’ve shown signs of speed throughout all the races this year. We’ve just done a poor job of executing; whether it be calls on pit road or bad pit stops or driver errors or whatever. We’re all in it together and we’ve all made our fair share of mistakes this year. We’ve just got to really focus on cleaning that up. I think we saw that our RCR cars and our teammates all have good speed as well as us. We’ve just got to do a better job of executing and not trying to overcompensate for it. If you start trying too hard then you start making too many mistakes. So, we’ve just got to clean-up everything we’re doing and get back to doing the basics right.”
HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT DECIDING ALL THE THINGS THAT NASCAR IS ALLOWING THE TEAMS TO DO?  DO YOU HAVE TO PICK AND CHOOSE?“Well, I think we’ll get there, and we’ll see a wide variety of people’s approaches. None of us really know how to approach this. Some guys have been to the Eldora truck races, so we’ve got some notes from that. We’ve talked to people that have run well there; and just trying to get some ideas on things. Obviously, Bristol is probably going to be a little bit different animal than Eldora. So, there will be some things that you fight at Bristol that you didn’t see at Eldora. So, it’s basically just kind of getting back to your general knowledge of cars and getting back to kind of your roots and knowing what works for you and what doesn’t; and don’t put too much stuff on your car to get yourself in a bad place that something breaks. That’s the main thing. You’re going to have plenty of tire clearance and things like that, so you don’t put all this stuff on your car and end up cutting a tire with it. We’ve looked at things that we thought would help on our car and things that we’re allowed to do that we didn’t really need to do. It’s kind of been a mixed bag on some of that.”
SO, WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST CONCERN? ARE YOU CONCERNED ABOUT DIRT GETTING INTO AREAS AND OVERHEATING AND CERTAIN PARTS & PIECES BREAKING AND YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT TYPE OF PUNISHMENT IT’S GOING TO GET?“Well, I think a little bit of both. I think the main thing is, to finish the race, you’ve got to keep oil and water in it and that’s going to be a big deal. We don’t know how the nose is going to hold up if you do get close and hit the track; or, getting into somebody. We’ve seen the damage that happens on a normal weekend with that. We’ve tried to take some precautions for that. But I definitely think keeping the motor cool for 250 laps without packing it up full of dirt and trying to protect your radiator and your cooling system as much as you can is definitely one of the big concerns we have. And then again, with parts fatigue, we don’t know if the track stays really hard and smooth and it doesn’t rut-up, you’re probably a little less likely to break something. If that stays the case, whether it starts pulling up and rutting up a little bit, and you are kind of bouncing through holes and stuff, you’re going to take a bigger chance of breaking something. So, that’s when you’ve kind of got to be concerned about part’s fatigue and things like that.”
IN TERMS OF WORK LOAD, IS IT MORE, LESS, OR THE SAME IN PREPARING A CAR FOR BRISTOL DIRT AS IT IS FOR A NORMAL BRISTOL RACE?“Yeah, probably a little bit more work load because you’re doing a little bit of different things here. You’ve had to fabricate some new things that you don’t have to typically have to fabricate on a car; and trying to get the teams to agree on what they need and what they don’t so you’re not building three or four different cars. We also have to have a good back-up car that’s prepared too because you never know what’s going to happen. So, you’ve kind of got two cars that we don’t typically have in shop or in hand that we’re going to need on these cars. So, it’s been a little bit more of a strain on the fab shop to get that ready. And also, our road crews, just making sure they have everything they need in the way of spare parts they might need, and everything prepared for the back-up car. So, it’s been a little bit more workload this week, for sure.”
IS THE INCREASED WORK LOAD BECAUSE THIS IS A BRAND-NEW THING? OR, IF THERE IS A NEXT TIME, YOU WON’T HAVE TO GO THROUGH THIS PROCESS MORE THAN ONCE?‘I would like to say yeah because it would be easier to go through it again because you would know what you need for engine cooling and what worked and what didn’t, and what panels you made for protecting brake lines and things like that. All that stuff, you’d know what you need and what you don’t need. It’s definitely been a little bit of a process (with) lots of meeting about what we thought we needed to build and what kind of preventative plans we need to put in place to help with cooling and protecting parts and things like that. I would like to say it would be a lot easier to do again. We don’t have another one of these on the schedule. So, if we ever do it again, it looks like it would be with the Next Gen car, so I would think you would start all over.”
FROM A CREW CHIEF AND TEAM PERSPECTIVE, IS THIS SOMETHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO SEE HAPPEN AGAIN?“I like different things. It’s going to be interesting to see how the race place out and how the track and the cars hold up. I enjoy dirt racing. I’ve been around it my whole life. I think it’s going to be something new for the fans. It will be interesting to see how the cars race and how they race each other. The Eldora dirt race with the trucks has been an exciting one to watch. So, hopefully it pans out for the Cup cars and I think they’ll put on a good show. There’s a reason all these guys race on Sunday. It’s because they’re really good. There will be guys with some experience with it and there will be guys that don’t have any experience. But I would imagine they’ll pick it up pretty quick.”
WITH HAVING A THIRD TEAM IN THE SHOP THIS YEAR, HOW MUCH HAS THAT MADE A DIFFERENCE? HOW MUCH HAS IT HELPED? OR IS IT LIKE IT WAS LAST YEAR BUT INSTEAD OF GERMAIN IT’S TRACKHOUSE?“Germain was in a separate shop last year, so they were a little bit more disconnected. With having TrackHouse in house, it’s basically like having a third team in-house. Travis (Mack) and Justin (Alexander) and myself have known each other for year. So, it’s nice that Travis is here. I think he’s doing a good job of getting that team rolling. It’s got a lot of really good guys on it. I think it’s helped. It’s brought in some new ideas for us and helped our processes, I think. And on the other side of that, it’s more cars to build and more to keep up with. So, it’s good and bad in ways; but I’m excited they’re here. I think you’ve seen speed. Like they had a lot of speed at Atlanta this past weekend as well as the No. 3 car. Unfortunately, we had our accident but overall, we had some pretty good speed in the race. I think you’re going to see both RCR and TrackHouse keep elevating their game.”
WITH THE NEXT GEN CAR, HOW MUCH HAVE YOU HAD YOUR HANDS ON IT? AT WHAT POINT DURING THE SEASON DOES YOUR FOCUS TURN TO THAT? HOW WILL YOU BALANCE THE REST OF THIS SEASON ALONG WITH WORKING ON THE NEW CAR FOR NEXT YEAR?“It’s definitely going to be a little bit of a balancing act. I’ve been around. I’ve been looking at things and talking with the guys. We have our testing guys that go work on that and kind of keep up on that. I keep up with them and what they’re doing and how it’s developing and things like that. I haven’t had my hands on it a whole lot by any means; so, I’ve still got a pretty steep learning curve with it. Fortunately, we’ve got a good group of guys that go with it and are very educated about it. I think that’s going to be of benefit. But when we get all the cars, we’ll see how it works. The Next Gen car we’ve got, the first one they built, the actual cars that we’re getting, production-wise, are going to be a little bit different than that. So, there’s still going to be some learning curve. The body is a little bit different. They’ve kind of refined that. There’s still going to be a pretty steep learning curve. It’s going to be a challenge to remain focused on what we’re doing in developing our cars and trying to make our cars better each week, as well as going and testing with that when we start getting cars put together, when NASCAR allows that. So, it’s going to be a busy second half of the season, for sure.”
DID MOST TEAMS BUILD NEW CARS FOR THIS RACE OR ARE THEY BRINGING THE OLDEST CAR THAT THEY WEREN’T GOING TO TAKE TO ANY OTHER TRACK?“You definitely have to build a car so the primary cars don’t come out of your inventory. NASCAR allows us to have so many cars a year. So, this car is kind of a throwaway car. It’s definitely a one-off car. A lot of teams, like ourselves, you build so many chassis over the years and then you kind of pick one that wasn’t in the litter for the whole year. That’s kind of the way we approached it. It’s not like it’s just a throwaway car, or anything like that. It’s just one that we’ve had sitting here that’s been used already and we kind of prioritized it to be our Bristol dirt car.”
ON TIRES, DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU ANTICIPATE WITH THE BIAS PLY TREADS?“They’re bringing a little bit different tire it sounds like, from what they’ve raced at Eldora. We’ve looked at those. It’s definitely going to be different for us. We’re going to be focusing a little bit more on stagger and things like that. The radial tire, it’s a lot easier to get that; and they’re very consistent. The bias ply tire is going to bring a new element for us as far as keeping up with our stagger and making our sets consistent across and being able to change that. It’s definitely something that you can use as a tuning tool that doesn’t play into the radials quite as much. We have a very small window on the radial tires with stagger and rollout. So, that’s a very, very small window. This is a much bigger window. That’s something we’ve definitely got to keep up with. The tire guys are going to be pretty busy this weekend.”
DOES THE PIT CREW HAVE TO DO ANYTHING TO ADJUST? IS ONE TIRE A DIFFERENT SIZE THAN THEY’RE CURRENTLY USED TO CARRYING?“Yeah, they’re definitely a little bit smaller, it looks like, overall. So, it’s not going to be a big deal for the pit crew guys. Our road guys are doing it. I’m bringing one of our pit crew guys that’s going to come with us and help us with that. We’ll see how it goes. I don’t think they’re going to have to make any big adjustments to what they do. It will certainly be a little bit different. But as far as that goes, I don’t foresee anything big on that.”

The Canadian is eager for a full season of Super DIRTcar Series racing, which includes Bristol and Super DIRT WeekBy Nick GrazianoLAFARGEVILLE, NY – March 24, 2021 – The Super DIRTcar Series championship crown remained atop Mat Williamson’s head at the end of 2020. But only by default.The racing season that never was, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, allowed Williamson to hold the title without a fight for another year. However, with restrictions in New York easing and a new Super DIRTcar season ahead, the St. Catharines, ON driver is eager to earn the crown once again.“We’re in good shape,” he said. “We went to Florida (for the DIRTcar Nationals) a few months ago and shook everything down. Stuff went back to the shop. The guys up there got everything turned around and we’re ready to go for Can-Am (the Super DIRTcar Series season-opener on Saturday, April 10). That’ll be the first race back in the Northeast the #88 Buzz Chew car. It’ll kick off a busier than normal April. I’m looking forward to it.”While the Series was able to run the six-day OktoberFAST event last year, the $7,500-to-win April 10 event at Can-Am Speedway, in LaFargeville, NY, is the first scheduled points event in more than a year. That year-break from full-time racing made for a tough 2020, Williamson said.The toughest part was getting from Canada to the United States for the few races there were. Not only was he missing out on races, but he was also missing out on opportunities to work his other job at Bicknell Racing Products in New York.There was a lot of homework on his plate to figure out what he needed to do and how to still make a living, Williamson said. Fortunately, for him and his family, with the success he had in 2019, they set themselves up to be prepared – unexpectedly – for the pandemic. He was in good standing financially and in health to make for an easier path across the border.“If the thing would’ve hit the year prior, we might not have been set up to cross,” Williamson said. “We just weren’t set up professionally. We didn’t have the people in place that made crossing the border easy. All the bad that came out of it ended up being good timing really.“Fortunately, we got through it. I didn’t get fired from any cars. We’re back here in hopefully a normal summer and get back to winning again.”This year, he’s focused on getting back to normal. Getting back into a rhythm.“At the end of last year, we kind of got into some normalcy with OktoberFAST and [winning at] Port Royal,” Williamson said. “That, I think, helped me out personally. Everyone, even the crew, kind of get into a rhythm and they know what to do when you race often. Last year, we weren’t doing that. We kind of have a game plan with what is happening with the world and what is going on this summer. Like I said, we’re looking forward to it and hope to get back into the winning ways.”He scored three top-five finishes and six top-10s during the six-day OktoberFAST event in New York last year and then backed up that performance with two top-fives and three top-10s during the four-day DIRTcar Nationals event at Volusia Speedway Park in February – a non-points event for the Super DIRTcar Series. Williamson knew he was at a disadvantage going into the DIRTcar Nationals with not having raced as much as other drivers in the field. However, he left Florida feeling like he and the team started to find their rhythm that’s been at rest, waiting to end its hibernation.While chasing the 2021 Super DIRTcar Series championship will be Williamson’s main focus in 2021, it’s not the only title he’s after.“This year we’re going to do Friday nights at Ransomville, where we haven’t won a championship at yet,” he said. “We’re going to really chase that and we’re going to chase the Super DIRTcar championship. One we’ve got before and the other we haven’t. Both we’re looking forward to.“We’re going to race as much as possible. Probably going to race at Orange County [Fair Speedway] some Saturday nights and race some Thursday nights. Probably going to race back home at Merrittville [Speedway in Ontario] at every opportunity that we can. It’s going to be a good year. We’re looking forward to it. The biggest goal is obviously the Super DIRTcar Series championship and win some big money races.”Two of those big races circled on his calendar are the World of Outlaws Bristol Throwdown, April 22-24, and the return of the prestigious NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week at Oswego Speedway, Oct. 6-10. Along with trying to defend his Super DIRTcar Series championship title, Williamson will aim to defend his 2019 Super DIRT Week win, as well. He also has a target on his first Small Block win at Oswego.Bristol Motor Speedway will be a new experience for all Super DIRTcar Series drivers, as the April event will be the first time in history the Big Blocks grace the famous half-mile track for two $10,000-to-win Features. That has the Canadian excited.“There’s a lot of good drivers in the Big Block series,” Williamson said. “I think we can put on a good show and show the world what we can do on such a big stage.”There are several big stages available for Williamson to stand on this season. But when the calendar turns to November, he’s focused on standing atop the championship stage during the World Finals at The Dirt Track at Charlotte with the championship still firmly on his head.For the full 2021 Super DIRTcar Series schedule, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision with the annual Platinum FAST PASS subscription for $299/year or the monthly FAST PASS subscription for $39/month.

The 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.

Larson, Stewart, Kahne, Stenhouse Bring NASCAR Spotlight to The Greatest Show on DirtBRISTOL, TN – March 24, 2021 – The wait is over. The entry list for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series at Bristol Motor Speedway is set.Here’s who is heading to the Bristol Throwdown on April 22-24:1A – Jacob Allen (Hanover, PA)1S – Logan Schuchart (Hanover, PA)2 – David Gravel (Watertown, CT)2C – Wayne Johnson (Oklahoma City, OK)3Z – Brock Zearfoss (Jonestown, PA)5 – Brent Marks (Myerstown, PA)7BC – Tyler Courtney (Indianapolis, IN)7S – Jason Sides (Bartlett, TN)9 – James McFadden (Alice Springs, NT, AUS)9JR – Derek Hagar (Marion, AR)11 – Ian Madsen (St. Mary’s, NSW, AUS)11K – Kraig Kinser (Bloomington, IN)13 – Justin Peck (Monrovia, IN)15 – Donny Schatz (Fargo, ND)15H – Sam Hafertepe Jr. (Sunnyvale, TX)17 – Sheldon Haudenschild (Wooster, OH)18 – Gio Scelzi (Fresno, CA)19 – Parker Price-Miller (Kokomo, IN)19P – Paige Polyak (Tiffin, OH)20 – Ryan Taylor (Perkasie, PA)21 – Brian Brown (Grain Valley, MO)23 – Paul McMahan (Nashville, TN)24 – Rico Abreu (St. Helena, CA)24R – Jac Haudenschild (Wooster, OH)24M – Kerry Madsen (St. Mary’s, NSW, AUS)26 – Cory Eliason (Visalia, CA)27 – Tucker Klaasmeyer (Paola, KS)33M – Mason Daniel (Springville, CA)41 – Carson Macedo (Lemoore, CA)44W – Austen Wheatley (Lake Stevens, WA)49 – Brad Sweet (Grass Valley, CA)57 – Kyle Larson (Elk Grove, CA)71 – Spencer Bayston (Lebanon, IN)72 – Tim Shaffer (Aliquippa, PA)73 – Scotty Thiel (Sheboygan, WI)83 – Aaron Reutzel (Clute, TX)83R – Lynton Jeffrey (Sydney, NSW, AUS)85 – Dustin Daggett (Portland, MI)Highlighted by 15 full-time World of Outlaws teams, an additional 23 of the best sprint car drivers in the world will join them for the Bristol Throwdown.Among the leading storylines is Kyle Larson making his return to The Greatest Show on Dirt aboard Paul Silva’s #57. In 2020, Larson topped a Series best 12 World of Outlaws features and dropped jaws nationwide along the way. This year alone, Yung Money has already won the Chili Bowl Midget Nationals, a Dirt Late Model event, and a NASCAR Cup Series race at Las Vegas. He’ll be the only one of 38 drivers with laps on this current layout of Bristol dirt, having competed in the Bristol Dirt Nationals last weekend and the NASCAR Trucks and Cup Series races this weekend.The NASCAR ties don’t end there, though.Tony Stewart, Kasey Kahne and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are all owners of championship contending teams with high hopes. In fact, all three organizations are inside the top five in World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series points through the first eight of a scheduled 84 events this year.Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing – Donny Schatz drives the Carquest #15Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb – Brad Sweet drives the NAPA Auto Parts #49Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb – James McFadden drives the Karavan Trailers #9Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing – Sheldon Haudenschild drives the NOS Energy Drink #17Included in the 38-car field are five drivers that competed in the 2000-01 World of Outlaws events at Bristol. Those returning to The Last Great Colosseum with prior sprint car experience are 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz, “The Wild Child” Jac Haudenschild, “The Steel City Outlaw” Tim Shaffer, “Pauls to the Wall” Paul McMahan, and “Double Down” Jason Sides.Schatz, 299-time Outlaws winner, is the only of those five returning with a victory under his belt at the .533-mile, high-banked oval. On June 8, 2001, he charged from 10th-to-first for a win over Jeff Shepard and Sammy Swindell. In the 20 years since, the Fargo, ND native has become a living legend on tour.”The magnitude of it was surreal,” Schatz recalled on his first trip to Bristol. “It was a big ordeal. It’s a really unique setting, like it’s truly a colosseum. It was fast. We did a lot of things to cars back then 20 years ago to make sure they would withstand the speed and the banking. Everybody has their concerns now as to what it will do. Modifieds, Late Models and NASCAR have seen it, but obviously we’re going the fastest. There are some questions. What’s gonna happen? Who knows. The idea is awesome. It’s certainly a thrill for many to be back.”Of the 38 competitors, 25 are former World of Outlaws winners. However, none of the newbies have faced an animal quite like Bristol.The six winners from this season including Brad Sweet of Kasey Kahne Racing, Sheldon Haudenschild of Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing, Logan Schuchart of Shark Racing, David Gravel of Big Game Motorsports, Aaron Reutzel of Roth Motorsports, and Carson Macedo of Jason Johnson Racing will all be making their first appearance on the daunting half-mile.Some are pumped. Some can’t wait. Others are admittedly intimidated. No matter the feeling, it’s all everyone is talking about.Prior to the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars show at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 22-24, the Series has a busy month of racing through the Midwest. Eight events across four weekends will take the traveling series to Missouri’s US-36 (3/26), Lake Ozark (3/27), and I-55 (4/2-3), followed by Indiana’s Kokomo (4/9) and Tri-State (4/10), before an excursion to Oklahoma’s Lawton (4/16) and Texas’ Devil’s Bowl (4/17) leads them to Bristol, Tennessee.Racers will have Thursday, April 22 to use as a practice night before the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars are joined by the Super DIRTcar Series Big Block Modifieds for two nights of racing. Friday’s program offers a standard $10,000-to-win purse, while Saturday’s finale pays $25,000-to-win.For tickets to the World of Outlaws Bristol Throwdown, go to BristolMotorSpeedway.com.If you can’t make it to the track, 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 – Jacy Norgaard

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 BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOOD CITY DIRT RACE TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT MARCH 24, 2021

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 FREIGHTLINER CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript:  EVERYBODY HAS TALKED ABOUT YOU BEING A FAVORITE FOR THIS RACE. DO YOU FEEL THAT YOU’RE A FAVORITE? WHY OR WHY NOT?“I don’t know; I think I’m considered a favorite probably at most race tracks right now. But I think with it being a dirt track, yes, I think people look at me with all the experience that I have on dirt as being even more of a favorite. But these cars are way different than what I typically race on dirt. They don’t drive anything like what I’m used to with a sprint car, midget or now a dirt late model. These cars are way heavier and have a lot less horsepower than I’m used to on a dirt track. I still think I’ve got a good shot, but I don’t really know if I have an advantage over anybody, other than just being able to kind of read the track surface; know kind of how that’s changing, where to find grip and things like that. Really, I think that’s probably the only advantage any of us dirt guys have over somebody who hasn’t had much dirt experience.”
OF ALL THE DIRT TRACK RACES YOU’VE EVER RAN; HAVE YOU EVER RAN ANYTHING REMOTELY CLOSE TO 250 LAPS IN A SINGLE RACE AND WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT?“I guess Eldora in the truck would be the only other thing and I don’t really remember how many laps it was; I think 150. But yeah, it’ll be long. The track will change a lot, so just have to stay on top of that and hopefully our Freightliner Chevy is good and we can stay out front for most of it.”
YOU HAVE YOUR FOUNDATION ON THE IRACING CAR TONIGHT. WAS IT DIFFICULT, AT ALL, TO DECIDE TO DO THAT BECAUSE YOU KNOW THAT WOULD POTENTIALLY BRING LIGHT TO THE VENUE WHERE THE INCIDENT HAPPENED.“No, I mean I’ve been on iRacing for awhile now. It was easy to get back on as soon as they unsuspended me on there towards the tail-end of last year. I’ve used iRacing quite a bit over the off season and even really to get ready for the road course race at Daytona; I used it a bunch. So, yeah, now to be able to have the opportunity to showcase my foundation, I think that’s exciting and hopefully it gets a lot of coverage.” 
WITH YOU HAVING ALREADY BEEN TO PHOENIX THIS YEAR, WHICH YOU GUYS CALL A SHORT TRACK, BRISTOL IS GOING TO BE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT, IN TERMS OF SHORT TRACK, WITH THE DIRT. WILL IT BE MARTINSVILLE BEFORE YOU HAVE A REALLY GOOD HANDLE ON WHERE THINGS ARE WITH YOUR SHORT TRACK PROGRAM? AND HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT RACE? “Yeah, I don’t know. I mean I felt really, really good at Phoenix. We had kind of an awkward set of tires there that last run that we think got us off. But if not for that, I felt like we had the first or second, maybe third, best car there that day. So, I would say judging off that, our short track program is good. But also, judging off of how they were last year as an organization, they were great.”“Martinsville is a place that I struggle at, I think, more than my equipment that I’ve had in the past. So, I’m definitely curious to see how I’ll be there, being with a team who just won the last event there at Martinsville. Hopefully I’m better than normal. I’m pretty confident kind of going to any race track right now. I think our team has been doing a great job.”
YOU MENTIONED IN THE PAST THAT ELDORA WOULD GET SO SLICK, IT WOULD KIND OF BE LIKE A WORNOUT PAVEMENT TRACK. I’M CURIOUS, AFTER RUNNING AT BRISTOL LAST WEEK, DO YOU ANTICIPATE THAT BEING THE CASE AT BRISTOL, WHERE IT BECOMES MORE LIKE THAT WORNOUT TRACK? IF SO, DOES THAT TAKE AWAY THE ADVANTAGE THE ADVANTAGE A DIRT GUY HAS OVER SOMEBODY WITH LESS EXPERIENCE?“Yeah, I mean I don’t know how it’s going to be. But yes, I would assume that it’s going to be really slick; it’ll probably slow down a lot. I don’t think it’s going to drive like an aggressive-style dirt car that I’m used to. So yeah, I think that if anything, evens the playing field a lot for guys that don’t have dirt experience. We’ll see how it goes. I don’t know what to expect; I think I have a little bit more of an idea now after racing there last week. But still, there’s a lot of unknown because the cars are different; the tires are different than what I ran last week. So, we’ll see.”
CHRIS WINDOM SAID HE’S TALKED TO YOU LEADING INTO THIS EVENT TO KIND OF GET A LITTLE BIT OF EXPERIENCE AND AN IDEA ABOUT IT. HOW DO YOU THINK SOMEBODY LIKE HIM CAN DO AND WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU TO SEE SOME OF THE DIRT GUYS BE ABLE TO TAKE PART IN THIS EVENT WITH YOU?“Yeah, I think it’s awesome. Chris (Windom) and (Shane) Golobic are two guys that I’ve raced with for a long time now. So, for them to have the opportunity to go out there and hopefully do a great job is something that I’m going to be paying attention to. I would love to see them run up front and battling for a win, but I think that will be really hard, just because even though it’s a dirt track and we’ve never done it, a team like Hendrick Motorsports has way more knowledge and experience of setting up a car to go to Bristol than the teams they’re racing for. I still think that they’ll be kind of fighting an uphill battle, but I think with their driving talents, hopefully they can crack inside the top-20 or if it is really even, maybe into the top-15 or 10 and have an awesome day.”
I’M SURE YOU GUYS HAVE HAD A CHANCE TO DEBRIEF OVER THE LAST COUPLE OF DAYS ABOUT ATLANTA. ANY TAKAWAYS FOR YOU, CLIFF (DANIELS) AND THE TEAM ABOUT HOW THE RACE WENT AND MAYBE HOW YOU WOULD HAVE HANDLED IT DIFFERENTLY IN THE FINAL RUN?“First off, a lot of positives from the day. We had a dominating car and did a great job as a team really all race long. I think it just kind of falls in my lap of just playing out that last stage wrong. I think (Ryan) Blaney got a lot better; the track picked up a lot of pace with it cooling down and we had longer runs. That was probably as hard as I ran all race, just because I was trying to get out to that big-ish lead that I had before. I wasn’t getting that big lead, so I was still trying really hard to get out there and get away. I wish I would have just realized that I wasn’t getting away as quickly as I thought I could and kind of aborted that plan and went into tire save mode. That way, I still think maybe he would have caught me by the end of the race, but I would have had more tire to maybe hold him off and more tire to get by Joey (Logano). And just run my own pace there at the end, rather than try to fight off Ryan (Blaney) and work really hard to get by lap cars.”
THERE WAS SOME DISCUSSION, KYLE, ABOUT WOULD IT HAVE HELPED YOU IF YOU WOULD HAVE HAD MORE INFORMATION ON WHERE (RYAN) BLANEY WAS RUNNING. OBVIOUSLY, HE WAS RUNNING A HIGHER LINE THAN YOU, ESPECIALLY IN A COUPLE OF THOSE TURNS. WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON THAT – WOULD IT HAVE HELPED YOU IF YOU WOULD HAVE HAD MORE INFORMATION? WERE YOU SURPRISED HE WAS ABLE TO GET THAT KIND OF MOMENTUM AND RUN YOU DOWN FROM THE HIGH-SIDE?“Well, it wasn’t like he was running the high-side every lap. So, I could look in my mirror and I knew where he was running. I asked I think a couple of times where he was running, just to really know if he was running like a few feet different than me that I could maybe try and find some extra grip. He just did a really good job managing his stuff that last run and I didn’t, and he capitalized on my error in strategy for that final run to the end.”
YOU’VE ALREADY GOT A WIN HEADING INTO THIS WEEKEND. HOW MUCH RELIEF IS IT THAT YOU’VE ALREADY GOT THAT WIN AND YOU DON’T HAVE TO WIN THIS RACE TO GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS?“I mean I don’t think I would have viewed it any differently; I don’t think I view any weekend differently. I want to win every weekend. So, it doesn’t relax me any more; it wouldn’t have made me any more stressed going in there. It’s still early in the year and we’ve been running well. I’ve been confident that we were going to make the Playoffs no matter what, based off of just sheer speed and being with a great team. Had we started the year off badly or average and been around that bubble spot right now with no win going into Bristol – yeah, I would probably have a lot more pressure on me to go win. But we’ve been running well, so that doesn’t change my mindset now going into Bristol.”
YOU’RE A DIRT GUY, SO I CAN IMAGINE THERE’S GOING TO BE SOME DIFFERENT CHANGES AROUND THIS WEEKEND, EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE IN A STOCK CAR, THAT NASCAR FANS LIKE ME AREN’T USED TO. WHAT SHOULD WE REALLY LOOK OUT FOR? OBVIOUSLY, THERE ARE QUALIFYING RACES AND THERE’S A BUNCH OF DIFFERENT FORMAT CHANGES.“Yeah, I think NASCAR has tried to adapt a short track, dirt track format into their event, which I think is pretty cool. With the random draw for where you start and then passing points, I think is cool. It’s still a different passing points format than say we would have at the Chili Bowl. Chili Bowl, you get penalized for going backwards. Where here at this event, to keep it simple so NASCAR fans who aren’t used to passing points can follow along, it’s just really you only get points for going forward; you don’t lose any for going backwards. Which is simpler for the fans to understand, but as a competitor from dirt tracks, I wish there would be a penalty for going backwards in the heats.”
“Other than the format, I don’t really know off the top of my head what’s different from a normal race. You still have stages; we don’t have live pit stops. It’ll be similar to kind of how Eldora was, aside from just the way they lined up the heats.”
IT GOES WITHOUT SAYING THAT YOU’RE ONE OF THE CLEAR FAVORITES FOR THE BRISTOL DIRT RACE THIS WEEKEND. BUT WHO DO YOU CONSIDER TO BE YOUR BIGGEST OPPONENT THIS WEEKEND? “I would not be shocked if a pavement guy went there and was fast right off the bat because I don’t think it’s going to be dirt like we’re used to. But it’s hard to also not look at the guys that have a lot of dirt experience as being a favorite. I think Christopher Bell; I think he’s obviously one of the most talented race car drivers I’ve ever watched, especially on dirt. So, I think for sure he’ll be one of the guys to beat. Austin Dillon is another one I look at. If anybody has more experience racing on this type of stuff, it’s him. I’ve got probably still under 10 dirt late model events under my belt, where he grew up racing modifieds and late models. So, he’s used to the heavier types of cars. He just raced a crate late model there, so he’s used to less horsepower and stuff in a full-body car. I think Austin, if anybody, probably has the most advantage. But I also wouldn’t be surprised if a guy like Kyle Busch, who’s so talented and can adapt to anything, can go there and win.”
“I wouldn’t be shocked either if the finishing results weren’t much different than a normal Bristol race.”
YOU MENTIONED NO LIVE PIT STOPS DURING THIS EVENT. JAMIE LITTLE WITH FOX SPORTS TWEETED OUT: TALKED TO A HENDRICK CREW CHIEF; SOME/MOST TEAMS AREN’T BRINGING THEIR PIT CREWS TO BRISTOL. ROSTER LIMITATIONS MEAN MECHANICS AND FABRICATORS ARE ESSENTIAL. WITHOUT GIVING TOO MUCH AWAY, WHAT KIND OF ADJUSTMENTS HAVE YOU AND YOUR TEAM HAD TO MAKE IN PREPARATION FOR THIS EVENT?“I don’t know – I really couldn’t give you an honest answer because I haven’t talked to anybody about that. Obviously, I knew there was no live pit stops, so I assumed we wouldn’t have our pit crew there. But that’s really not a big deal. I don’t know what the amount of time is that they allow us on pit road for pit stops, but we won’t be in a rush if we don’t have damage and stuff like that. So, that’ll be good.”
“And two – as far as car stuff that they’ve had to change, I don’t know. I don’t ever get into that stuff. I just kind of show up, put the steering wheel on and hit the gas pedal.”
WITH THE VICTORY AT LAS VEGAS AND THE DOMINATE EFFORT AT ATLANTA LAST WEEKEND, DID YOU EXPECT TO BE THIS COMPETITIVE COMING BACK RIGHT NOW AT THIS POINT IN THE SEASON WITH A NEW TEAM?“I had hoped that we could start the year off this strong, or close to being this strong. I didn’t know and honestly expected that we wouldn’t start off this good with just me being out of the car for a long time, going to a new team and organization, and being with a whole new crew. I just didn’t know if things would be way different and I would have to have a lot of things to adapt to. But our cars have been really good, and fast, and it’s made things easier than I thought to come back in. I’ve also worked really hard to get up to speed as quickly as I’ve been; studying more than I’ve ever studied and just trying to prepare more than I’ve ever prepared. With no practice, you kind of have to put in that work during the week, which is fun as a driver.”
WE SAW YOU RACE ELDORA IN A TRUCK, SO WE CAN EXPECT WHAT WE SAW AT ELDORA ON HOW THE TRUCKS RACED TO BE KIND OF SIMILAR TO THE WAY THE CUP CARS WILL RACE AT BRISTOL? OR DO YOU THINK THE DIFFERENCE IN THE TRACK, THE BANKING, IT DOESN’T LOOK LIKE THERE’S A CUSHION – WILL IT BE TOTALLY DIFFERENT?“I think it will be similar, but different. Eldora didn’t really have a cushion either. I guess when I won it, it kind of had a cushion. Bristol, I don’t think will have a cushion; it’s just that type of surface doesn’t really pack up and build a cushion. I think it will be a similar style of race, but I think with Bristol having more banking, you’ll kind of have more grip than we had at Eldora. So, we’ll have the confidence probably in our cars to be able to move around. I actually think it’ll be a better race because of it. I watched the street stocks and stuff this past weekend and they were able to run like three or four- wide at times and it was fun racing. So, I think it will be similar to that, if you want to pull up some street stock highlights, Bob (Pockrass), and take a look. I think it’ll be similar to that style of racing.”
SO, IF I PULL UP THE HIGHLIGHTS OF YOU TEARING THE RIGHT SIDE OFF OF THE TRUCK, I SHOULDN’T EXPECT THAT ON SUNDAY?“Well, the wall is a lot lower at Bristol. So, if I’m up that high, I’m cheese-grading the right side of my car probably with the catch fence. I hope to not have to lean on the wall like that to be fast.”
YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING AT DATA MORE NOW THAN YOU HAVE EVER OVER THE COURSE OF YOUR CAREER. WHEN YOU LOOK BACK AT DATA FROM ATLANTA, IS THERE A PIECE OF DATA OR STAT THAT YOU’RE LOOKING AT AS EXTRA VALUABLE FOR MANAGING YOUR STUFF BETTER FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON? HOW VALUABLE IS THAT DATA TO LEARN MORE THINGS ABOUT BEING IN THOSE SITUATIONS?“Honestly, I haven’t looked at any data after Atlanta, just because I’m pretty confident in knowing what I did wrong. I think Ryan (Blaney) was just more disciplined than I was and did a better job of not running one hundred percent and saving his stuff. As far as driving style, it’s hard to really look at that stuff. I ran all race a certain driving style way; throttle, brake, whatever steering inputs and stuff. If I look at Ryan’s stuff and he has less wheel input or something like that – I don’t know if it’s going to teach me a ton in that moment. But I think what teaches me is watching the race and kind of just how good he was on long runs; how he paced his lap times, didn’t slip a tire and took care of his stuff.”

 

March 24, 2021

As he heads into this weekend’s Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the Cup circuit’s first appearance on clay since 1970, Matt DiBenedetto is confident he’ll have a strong run in his No. 21 Menards/Quaker State Mustang.

He’s basing that on his experience racing on dirt early in his career, when he was racing Outlaw Karts on northern California dirt tracks like Cycleland Speedway in Chino and the track in Red Bluff, Calif.

DiBenedetto is one of several drivers, including his fellow Cup competitors Kyle Larson and Tyler Reddick, who learned their craft on those tracks in their native California.

Although DiBenedetto hasn’t done as much dirt racing since he joined the Cup Series as some of his peers, he believes he’ll adapt quickly once he hits the track at Bristol, which was covered in clay for this weekend’s NASCAR races as well as a host of support events.
 
“Any time I’ve hopped in a dirt car or a sprint car, it’s been like riding a bike,” he said. “It’s all come back to me pretty quickly.”

DiBenedetto said he didn’t pursue a ride in one of the Late Model races run at Bristol last week, as some Cup drivers did to prepare for this weekend. But he did follow the action, paying particular attention to how the racing surface was prepared.

“Watching it was valuable,” he said. “I feel pretty comfortable, especially since we have practice and heat races before Sunday.”

He said that one of keys to success will be keeping up with the changing conditions of the racing surface as the races progress. Dirt tracks usually lose moisture during an event, and some grooves will take on rubber.

“The track can change so much,” DiBenedetto said. “You have to continuously adjust your driving and keep up with what other drivers are doing.
 
“We’ll have to figure it out on the fly.”
 
This weekend’s race will be the first on dirt for many Cup teams but the 33^rd dirt race for the Wood Brothers.
 
They have one dirt win, at Richmond Raceway in 1960 with Speedy Thompson driving. In their last race on dirt, on May 30, 1964, at Greenville-Pickens Speedway in South Carolina, Marvin Panch qualified the No. 21 Ford on the pole and led the first 55 laps before an encounter with the wall led to an 11th-place finish.
 
Leonard Wood, who was turning wrenches on the No. 21 at that time, said he had looked over some competitors’ cars that season and determined that the fastest ones had more arch in their rear leaf springs.
 
So he hammered some more arch into the springs on Panch’s car, polished them up, and reinstalled them.
 
In dirt races leading up to the pole-winning run at Greenville-Pickens, Panch went on quite a run, posting four second-place finishes and a third.
 
“We didn’t run as much dirt as Richard Petty and Ned Jarrett and some of those guys,” Wood said. “But we had some success with it. [Brother] Glenn ran really good on dirt.”
 
Glenn Wood was a regular competitor on the NASCAR Convertible circuit, which ran on more dirt tracks than asphalt ones.
 
He had five career wins in that series, two of them on dirt tracks – at Richmond in April of 1957 and at the Charlotte Fairgrounds track that fall, with Curtis Turner driving in relief for him.
 
Of Wood’s nine poles, four came on dirt tracks, including the pole for the final race of the Convertible Series, at the Charlotte Fairgrounds on Aug. 23, 1957.
 
Leonard Wood said that while racing has changed tremendously since the Cup Series last raced on dirt, some things about dirt racing are the same.
 
“You just have to have the talent to do it,” he said. “Some drivers can hang on without spinning out, and some just aren’t cut out for it.”
  
There will be two practice sessions at Bristol on Friday, at 4:05 and 6:35 p.m. Eastern Time, with TV coverage on FOX Sports 1. There will be four qualifying races, beginning at 6 p.m. on Saturday with TV coverage on FOX Sports 1.
 
The 250-lap main event is set to start just after 3:30 p.m. on Sunday, with TV coverage on FOX. Stage breaks will be at 75 and 150 laps.

 

Illinois natives Brandon Sheppard and Dennis Erb, Jr. will be on the hunt for a home-state winFARMER CITY, IL – March 24, 2021 – The month of money continues for the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series, April 1-3, at Farmer City Raceway for the Illini 100 with an overall top prize of $26,000 on the line between the two Features.The best Late Model drivers in the country on Friday, April 2, will compete in a $6,000-to-win Feature, and then, on Saturday, April 3, they’ll go fender to fender for the $20,000 top prize. Saturday’s event will also award $10,000 to second and will pay $1,2000 to start. Thursday, April 1, will be a practice session for all classes.The April event will be the Series’ first time back to the quarter-mile track since 2019 and 17th visit there overall.The event is a favorite to drivers and fans alike due to the small track’s ability to create exciting racing and the fun atmosphere of the town. For Illinois-born drivers like three-time defending champion Brandon Sheppard and Dennis Erb, Jr. it’s also a chance to race close to home and in front of family.“It’s a track in Illinois that I have a lot of laps around,” said Erb, of Carpentersville, IL – about two hours from Farmer City. “I used to go there every Friday night back in the day. I haven’t gotten to run too much there lately. I always look forward to going back to tracks I have a lot of laps around and are close to home. It’s a lot nicer to run those places, rather than being 13 hours away from home. When you get back to tracks you have a lot of laps on you definitely feel more comfortable.”Erb has four wins in total at Farmer City but has yet to win there with the World of Outlaws. Sheppard, of New Berlin, IL – about an hour away from the track – won the Series’ last event at the track in 2019. He has two wins with the World of Outlaws there and currently holds the track record with an 11.750 sec. lap.Sheppard is still on the hunt for his first win of the season and first top-five finish. If that win is achieved at Farmer City, not only will he get to celebrate another home-state win, but he’ll celebrate his 70th career World of Outlaws victory.The defending champion is currently second in points behind Series points leader and Rookie of the Year contender Kyle Strickler. The Pennsylvania native has had a strong start to the Series, claiming his first two career Series wins at Volusia. Strickler is still the only driver this season with multiple victories. The Illini 100 will be his debut at Farmer City with the World of Outlaws.For tickets to the April 1-3 Illini 100 at Farmer City Raceway, CLICK HERE.COMPETITOR NOTES: https://bit.ly/2OTpHpG ORDER OF EVENTS: Friday – https://bit.ly/3tM8htI / Saturday – https://bit.ly/3rdrUt6The Illini 100 will lead into the April 8-10 World of Outlaws Bristol Bash at Bristol Motor Speedway, which keeps the month of money rolling for the Series with the Friday, April 9, event paying $10,000-to-win and the Saturday, April 10, event paying $25,000-to-win. For tickets go to BristolMotorSpeedway.com.If you can’t make it to the track, you can 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.PREVIOUS FARMER CITY RACEWAY WINNERS 2019 – Brian Shirley on April 5; Brandon Sheppard on April 6 2017 – Brandon Sheppard on March 31; Brian Shirley on April 1 2016 – Josh Richards on April 2, 3 2015 – Scott Bloomquist on April 17; Brandon Sheppard on April 18 2014 – Shannon Babb on April 26 2013 – Billy Moyer on April 6 2012 – Jimmy Mars on March 31 2010 – Billy Moyer on April 10 2009 – Shane Clanton on April 4 2008 – Billy Moyer on April 5 2007 – Shannon Babb on April 27 2006 – Billy Moyer on Aug. 14

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOOD CITY DIRT RACE TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT MARCH 23, 2021

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Press Conference Transcript:  I WAS TALKING TO KYLE LARSON AND I SAID ‘KYLE, TELL ME WHY YOU’RE NOT THE GUY THAT’S GOING TO WIN BRISTOL’. AND HE SAID, YOU’D BE REALLY SURPRISED – AUSTIN DILLON IS A GUY WHO COULD PROBABLY WIN. WHAT MAKES YOU GOOD AT THE BRISTOL DIRT TRACK? “I think just dirt racing, in general, I’ve got a little bit of a background in it. From Eldora, winning the first Truck race there, I’d say that’s what he’s talking about. Kyle (Larson), he’s good at anything he gets in and I’m just glad that he mentioned me; that’s pretty awesome, really. It makes my day, so now I have to step-up and perform. Last weekend, I was able to win that crate race there in a late model and I think that was good experience, just to see the track. We were pretty dominate in all three of the races that we were in. I think from the knowledge side of things, I can probably do a pretty good job of getting what we need, when it comes to down to race time. 250-laps around a dirt track, you don’t really get that many laps on a track in a race on dirt. So, it’ll be a learning curve and I think we’ll be as prepared as anyone for it; that’s the one advantage, I think.”
DOES THE WEIGHT OF THE CARS PLAY INTO YOUR FAVOR?“From sprint cars to late models, I definitely think there’s some experience there that helps. Kyle (Larson), he’s driving late models now and doing really well. He about won the big race this past weekend in the super. The weight in those late models, they drive so much different than our Cup cars or a truck. A truck, from what I know in the past, the history that I have in my mind is that they are heavier. You don’t really drive them, I would say, like a late model or a sprint car. Definitely the weight is the biggest thing in the difference in how you drive.”
“Side force, too, I’ll throw that in there. Our cars don’t have the bodies that the late models and sprint cars have wings; they’re just built a lot different to rely on downforce.”
LET’S GO BACK TO THE FIRST ELDORA RACE. YOU WIN THAT ONE AND I REMEMBER AFTER THE FIRST COUPLE OF PRACTICE SESSIONS, THERE WERE A LOT OF GUYS WHO DIDN’T PREP FOR THE RACE; THEY WERE COMPLETELY LOST. YOU WIN THAT RACE; YOU GO BACK IN 2014 – DID YOU SEE AN EVOLUTION IN HOW MUCH GUYS TOOK IT MORE SERIOUSLY OR STRIVE TO GET BETTER AT IT? DO YOU THINK THAT THE BRISTOL RACE IS GOING TO BE COMPLETELY DIFFERENT BECAUSE YOU DO SEE SO MANY GUYS DOING MODIFIEDS, LATE MODELS, JUST TO GET SOME DIRT EXPERIENCE?“Yeah, the competition in the Cup Series is just, all-in-all, a higher level. I think it’s the highest form of motorsports; the best drivers in the world. All of them are doing their job, preparation-wise, off the track; running other cars that they aren’t comfortable running in, just to get on dirt and understand what the transition of the track is. There’s a lot of smart dirt crew chiefs out there, also, that people are probably bringing in trying to understand how they can make their cars drive better on dirt.” “The biggest difference from 2014 – I just stepped in another truck and the difference between the truck we took the first time to the second time, there was a difference and we weren’t ever really able to find that feel that we had the first race around. So, going this time, I think there’s some guys obviously with less dirt experience that are going to be surprised; it’s just an experience thing. But there’s so many good race car drivers at the Cup level that have dirt experience, or some sort of dirt experience, that they’ll be able to lean on. Not many of the guys at this point at the Cup level, maybe a couple, that have not ever been on dirt. I think everybody has some sort of dirt racing experience at this point.”
ONE THING THAT I’VE HEARD CONSISTENTLY ENOUGH THAT ONCE THE TRACK TAKES ENOUGH RUBBER, IT MIGHT BE A SLOWER VERSION OF WHAT BRISTOL USED TO BE WHEN IT WAS KIND OF BOTTOMING-FEEDING, BUMP-AND-RUN. IS THAT KIND OF FAIR TO SAY?“I think there’s definitely going to be a point where there’s going to be a dominate line everybody is going to be fighting for. The one thing, though, that I noticed at the dirt track last weekend was that you can kind of move around, momentum-wise, to find speed, which is nice. That’s what’s great about dirt racing. As the track goes through transitions, it’s always going to change. There might be a point in the race where, ultimately, you have to be on the bottom and you’ll be fighting for it. But the great thing about dirt racing is that the track is always changing. So, it’ll go through so many transitions throughout the race and that’s what’s cool about dirt racing. You have to be comfortable with change because it changes throughout the race and to be good at it, you have to search constantly. Even when you’re the leader, the leader is always kind of a moving target. They have to be comfortable; they can’t just get in a line and think that line is going to win them the race. We’re going 250 laps on a dirt track. After 25, the dirt track changes drastically with a lot of cars out on it. So, that’s the great thing about it. It’ll go through so many transitions and the team that is willing to change and move will be the best by the end of it.”
TALK ABOUT THE IMPORTANCE OF THE PRACTICE SESSION AT BRISTOL. YOU GUYS HAVEN’T HAD A LOT OF PRACTICE AND THAT IS CERTAINLY GOING TO BE AN UNIQUE ENVIRONMENT THAT NOBODY KNOWS WHAT TO EXPECT. AND THEN THE HEAT RACES, HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THE PRACTICE AND HEAT RACES?“It will be nice to have some practice to just test and tune. I think the difference between an asphalt track and a dirt track is we have so many notes on things that we don’t do. A dirt track is where you can go to it with an open mindset and do things that you wouldn’t normally do to find speed and that’s what’s going to be fun for all of the crew chiefs, car chiefs and mechanics out there to really do things opposite. The thought process has to be so open-minded when we get there to the track. Not only are you worrying about the setup, but you’re worried about the car. Make sure the heights are right, you’re not rolling the nose under – there’s a lot of things that we do at a dirt track to just make the car go around the track. And then it might not always be like ‘hey, we needed just a little more wedge to be perfect’. It might be ‘we need more clearance so I don’t hit the track right here and get tight’. There’s a lot of fun stuff about the practice.”
“The heat races – they’ll be challenging. It’s a short amount of time and you’ll want to get as many passing points as you can. Your starting position matters at any type of racing level. The draw – I haven’t really looked into how that’s going to go down or where we start in the heat races yet. But I think the whole process is going to be fun. I was hoping we would go off of a regular race weekend and go off of the past race, because we would have a pretty good starting position after our run at Atlanta this past weekend, and I think starting up front would be really good for us. I’m not really worried about where we start in the dirt race because I feel like if you do your job and practice that you should be able to move forward through the race.”
“I watched the stock car race and I felt like the stock car race was probably one of the best races this past week when I was there at the Dirt Car Nationals, and that’s what I’m hoping you guys get to see from the Cup level. All the guys that are preparing the track – I’ve been in touch with some of those people, trying to just give feedback to give it the best show we can put on for all the fans out there. I think they’re prepared; I think the knowledge they gained form the Dirt Car Nationals last week will really go a long way when it comes down to it of what you see this coming week.”
ISN’T THAT HIT OR MISS THEN, IF PEOPLE ARE TRYING STUFF. AREN’T WE TALKING ABOUT HIT OR MISS ON THE PRACTICE WHEN IT COMES TO THE RACE AND THE HEAT RACES? “For sure. There’s definitely going to be some guys that hit it or miss it; go forward or have to make some drastic changes to try and get the car better. But I think the biggest thing you’ll see, when it comes to movers or guys that are falling back, is the transition with the track is going to be the same. When somebody’s car is too tight at the beginning, they might be really good at the end. Somebody might be really fast at the beginning and really slow at the end. So, you’ll go through those transitions throughout the race. Somebody that doesn’t look good at the beginning and might just stay on the lead leap that, all of a sudden, just comes forward.”
KYLE LARSON SAID THAT YOU’RE A FAVORITE, BUT IT SEEMS GOING INTO THIS RACE, A LOT OF FOLKS OUTSIDE THE GARAGE HAVE SETTLED ON HIM AND CHRISTOPHER BELL AS THE TWO BIG FAVORITES. WITH THAT IN MIND, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE GETTING SHORT-CHANGED IN THAT CONVERSATION, THAT YOU SHOULD BE CONSIDERED THAT THIRD BIG FAVORITE? OR ARE YOU CONTENT PLAYING DARKHORSE GOING INTO IT?“I feel like I’m playing that role a lot. It’s a good role to be in; like the spoiler side of it. But it does mean a lot to me that Kyle (Larson) said that. I really respect his opinion on a lot of things and his talent level, everybody talks about it in the media center. He’s a very talented driver, so for him to throw me in there means a lot and drives me to want to get after it even more this weekend than I already do.”
THE HIGH-BANKS ON THE BRISTOL DIRT, THE CONFIGURATION STANDS OUT. WHAT ARE SOME OTHER PARTS OF THIS TRACK THAT STRIKES YOU AS EITHER VERY SIMILAR OR VERY DIFFERENT FROM DIRT TRACKS THAT YOU’VE RACED IN THE PAST?“Well, I think the dirt itself is interesting. The type of dirt they choose to lay down on Bristol is not a dirt that you see in the Midwest; it’s a sandy-dirt. When you really get into the dirt track racing world, you start talking about the type of dirt that you’re racing on and certain dirt puts on better races, and certain dirt goes through different transitions than the other. The good thing is that the dirt, I feel like, came from a track that I kind of grew up racing around and I kind of know the transitions and what it takes, I think, to create speed throughout the transitions that it’s going to go through. So, if anything, maybe that helps me. But it’s not a dirt that I believe you’re going to see a cushion built; it doesn’t do that. This stuff kind of creates a fluff and it gets up there; you can gain grip because it might be wet up there for a while, but it’s not something that you can use as a curb to catch you, which is different. And I’m glad that it came from around here because I feel like I’ve ran on it a lot and know when it has grip and when it doesn’t.” 

Ross Bailes Returns to site of only World of Outlaws Late Model WinGAFFNEY, SC- Sometimes the best remedy when you’re struggling, is coming home again.That’s the case for Clover, SC driver Ross Bailes, as the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models return to South Carolina at Cherokee Speedway Friday and Saturday, March 26-27.It’s a place “The Boss” hopes will get him back on a track after a rough start to the 2021 season in the first six races.So far, he has one top-10 finish, coming at the DIRTcar Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in February. He’s currently 10th in the points standings, and second in the race for Rookie of the Year, behind current Series points leader Kyle Strickler.The lack of top-10 finishes has the Big Frog Motorsport #58 team going back to the drawing board before three straight weekends of racing.“We have to get back to a basic package, something that works so when we unload, we’re in the ballpark,” Bailes said.With Cherokee being the next track on the schedule, he has the chance to find some momentum at a place where he’s had a lot of success.Bailes has 10 wins at the speedway overall, including a World of Outlaws race in May 2019 – his first career victory with the Series. Bailes also has a victory the with Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series in 2019 at Cherokee and holds the track record of 14.568 sec.“I think going to [Cherokee] will be good, because I know what kind of speed we have to have, and we’re going to go test on Thursday to see where we stack up,” Bailes said.This weekend’s Rock Gault Memorial will be the biggest payday in the track’s history. Friday night’s twin features pay $5,000 each to win. Then, Saturday night’s event pays $40,000 to the winner – one of the biggest winning purses of the year – $15,000 for second, and $10,000 for third.“If I could pick a track to go to that pays a lot of money that would be the track I pick, because it’s my home track and I have a lot of laps around it,” Bailes said. “I feel confident, but it still doesn’t mean it’ll be easy to outrun the field.”While the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models have been off for a few weeks, “The Boss” has been able to build a bit of momentum before the Cherokee event. He had a pair of top-fives at Cochran Motor Speedway in Georgia, March 12-13.Even though he’s happy with those finishes, he knows Friday and Saturday will be a different animal.“It gets really slick at [Cochran] and I don’t think we’ll see the same track condition [at Cherokee], but when Cochran had a little bit of grip in it, I felt good,” Bailes said.He hopes coming home again will be the best remedy to end his struggles.If you can’t make it to the track, catch all the action Live on DIRTVision with the annual Platinum FAST PASS subscription for $299/year or the monthly FAST PASS subscription for $39/month.

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

Mar 16, 2021 | Featured, Race Results, Rachel Meyer

Rachel Meyer scored her first national event victory in her NTK Sensors Top Alcohol Dragster at the 52nd annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals while teammate Julie Nataas qualified in the top half and went to the quarterfinal round of the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series.

“Going into my first national event of the 2021 season, I was nervous.” Rachel said. “I felt like I have big shoes to fill following my sister’s back-to-back championships as well as having some amazing sponsors I want to keep happy.”

At the end of qualifying, Julie Nataas led the team as the No. 4 qualifier with a 5.21 ET at 271 mph, and Rachel wasn’t far behind in the No. 5 spot with a 5.22 ET at 278 mph.

First round, Nataas crossed the finish line with a 5.246 ET at 274 mph to take out No. 12 qualifier James Stevens’ 5.30 ET. Meyer followed a few pairs later with an identical 5.246 ET at 277 mph to turn on the win light against Dan Mercier. The girls were set up to run each other for the second round of eliminations, with lane choice going to Meyer who had the faster speed.

It was a Randy Meyer Racing take-all to the semifinals as Meyer and Nataas staged up against each other at Gainesville Raceway. Julie had the starting line advantage over Rachel by .028-seconds but as she went immediately into tire smoke, Rachel showed the entire category that she was a force to be reckoned with as she crossed the finish line first with a 5.180, 273 mph.

In the semifinals, Rachel had a first-time matchup against Karen Stalba. With the track temperature hitting almost 120 degrees, Rachel got the starting line advantage over Stalba and never trailed for the victory. Meyer clocked in with a 5.257, 278 mph while Stalba had trouble and lost traction.

In the final round, Rachel had another first-time matchup against Jackie Fricke. Once again, Rachel had the starting line advantage over her competition and her 5.227, 277 mph blistered by Fricke’s 5.29 ET for the win. In her second ever national event final, Rachel adds national event winner to her already impressive racing resume. 

“I was nervous every round. I was off my game on my lights and I really didn’t want to lose on a hole shot. We were running consistently in the 20’s every round, as well as all our competitors, so it was a though field all weekend. I want to thank JJ and Kris for the awesome work on the car as well a Julie for helping with fuel. Thanks to Rich, Roy, and Dale for help between round when we didn’t have much time and especially my dad for giving me a great, consistent car all weekend and to my mom and sister for the constant support.” Rachel said.

Watch the NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series 2021 GatorNationals on FS2 Thursday, March 25 at 8/7pm CT

DRILLING DOWN WITH DRELLOS: Rising Star Demetrios Drellos Aiming High at Can-Am, BristolQUEENSBURY, NY – Demetrios Drellos has a firmly stated goal for 2021: to win the Super DIRTcar Series championship. After claiming the $10,000 prize and his first career win at Albany-Saratoga Speedway in 2019 – his hometown Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship track – “Double D” will try to rekindle that success at the start of the 2021 season by trying to start off strong with a win at Can-Am Speedway and Bristol Motor Speedway in April.“We are on target for chasing the Super DIRTcar Series championship in 2021,” Drellos said. “We’ve got some new ideas and I am hoping that comes with better finishes. We are operating at 110% going into the season.”Drellos, from Queensbury, NY, has proven himself to be a podium contender at every track his #111 Drellos Motorsports team enters. However, in two Series races at Can-Am Speedway, Drellos hasn’t broken the top 15, yet. He finished 17th in 2019 but picked up the Hard Charger award at 2020’s OktoberFAST event after starting 28th and finishing 19th. “You have to approach the first race at Can-Am a little different,” Drellos noted. “It’s so early in the season and that means the track is hard and slick from the cold and sun or it’s a little bit muddy. We are going to show up with our best guess as to what the weather is like that day. That’s all you can prepare for. It could be a slick track or completely opposite. You roll the dice.”Many long hours of wrenching are spent in the family-owned Drellos Motorsports shop in Queensbury, NY. The walls are now decorated with checks from some of his recent wins. He plans to add more to the decor in 2021. “Ninety percent of setting up a car for a race happens at the shop,” Drellos said. “For most places you want a baseline for what that track is going to be like. You can still do a 180 at the track with the way springs are now but you definitely prepare more in the shop than at the race track for your setup.”Once the Thunder in the Thousand Islands 100 points-paying opener is settled at Can-Am Speedway on Saturday, April 10, all eyes will be locked on the World of Outlaws Bristol Throwdown at Bristol Motor Speedway, April 22-24, for a pair of $10,000-to-win Super DIRTcar Series Features – which are also NAPA Super DIRT Week Qualifiers.“I feel very fortunate that I get to go to Bristol Motor Speedway,” Drellos said. “It feels great to be able to go to a NASCAR facility with my own race car. That right there is pretty cool. From what I have seen in the videos is that it’s going to be awesome. There’s no cons. It’s only good for us.”Drivers are working hard to determine the best way to prepare for Bristol. Some are thinking along the lines of the days of racing at the New York State Fairgrounds one-mile clay oval. The speeds were tremendous and cars were reinforced to handle the demanding nature of the unique race track. Others are comparing Bristol to contemporary tracks they’ve raced on like Lebanon Valley Speedway or Eldora Speedway to come up with a game plan. “I raced at The Mile once in a 358. They misspelled my name terribly but I was there,” Drellos said laughing. “I am thinking of other tracks compared to it though. It has the same clay as Port Royal and The Dirt Track at Charlotte with a long straightaway of Port Royal and the banking of Charlotte. With the red clay, you’ll have a lot of grip. With the banking, you’ll have a lot of grip, and the straightaways are going to give you a lot of speed so it’s going to be pretty fast. With that comes excitement for most people.” History will be made when the Series hits the Bristol banking for the first time during a special Hot Laps session on Thursday, April 22. Race fans can purchase tickets now for the World of Outlaws Bristol Throwdown by clicking here. The entire race weekend will be broadcast live on DIRTVision. Fans will be flocking to Can-Am Speedway on Saturday, April 10 to watch the Super DIRTcar Series kick off the 2021 championship season. Get more info at the track website. The race night will also include DIRTcar Sportsman Modifieds and DIRTcar Pro Stocks competing for Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship points with the added bonus of racing in front of the entire DIRTVision audience.Both events will set the stage for Drellos’ main goal: win the 2021 Super DIRTcar Series championship.Be sure to follow driver Demetrios Drellos on Facebook and Twitter as well as the Super DIRTcar Series on both Facebookand Twitter. Get the entire Series schedule, features, and more at SuperDIRTcarSeries.com. 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 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.

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WHAT TO WATCH FOR: World of Outlaws Start Missouri Trip at US-36 and Lake OzarkSaturday’s 3rd Annual Jason Johnson Classic Pays $15,000-To-WinOSBORN, MO – March 22, 2021 – Florida was fun, the Dirty South Swing was a blast, and the Texas Two-Step was thrilling.Now, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is set for an exciting swing through the state of Missouri.The Greatest Show on Dirt gets back on track this Friday, March 26 with an appearance at US-36 Raceway in Osborn, MO. On Saturday, March 27, the third annual Jason Johnson Classic pres. by FK Rod Ends offers a $15,000-to-win purse at Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, MO.US-36 TICKETS (3/26) LAKE OZARK TICKETS (3/27)Here are the top stories to follow this weekend:HAUD’S HOT: After a tough start to the 2021 season, Sheldon Haudenschild and his Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing team have found themselves in a solid rhythm. They started the year with finishes of 15th, 12th, 6th, and 11th, but have since recovered with runs of 1st, 5th, 1st, and 5th; that’s an average finish of 11.0 to 3.0. On back-to-back weekends, Haudenschild has parked the NOS Energy Drink #17 in victory lane with thrilling triumphs at Mississippi’s Magnolia Motor Speedway and Texas’ Cotton Bowl Speedway.The good news? Haudenschild enters Friday’s appearance at US-36 Raceway as the defending race winner. He won last August’s World of Outlaws show at the Osborn, MO 1/3rd-mile in spectacular fashion with a last-lap, last-corner pass on champion Brad Sweet. Another win on Friday night would make 27-year-old Sheldon the first driver to three victories this year, and it would match him with Joey Saldana as the only multi-time Outlaw winners at US-36.HOME TURF: For a pair of World of Outlaws organizations, a trip to Missouri means they’re racing close to home base. Although Carson Macedo of Lemoore, CA and Mason Daniel of Springville, CA are both left-coasters at heart, their new shops on the Outlaw tour are based out of the Show-Me State. For Daniel, his operation in Carrollton, MO is located just over an hour away from US-36, where the 20-year-old already owns a second-place result from ASCS Warrior Region competition.For Macedo, the new wheelman at Jason Johnson Racing, his shop is located in the heart of the Ozarks, officially in Rocky Mount, MO. It’s a short 20-minute jaunt over to Lake Ozark Speedway, where the 3rd annual Jason Johnson Classic commences on Saturday night. It’s an especially meaningful race for JJR, who won the inaugural event in 2019 with driver David Gravel. Macedo, who has three previous top tens at Lake Ozark, will try to deliver another $15,000 title to the #41.J-MAC’S TITLE DEFENSE: Hoping to stand in the way of Macedo’s JJR triumph is the defending Jason Johnson Classic champion, James McFadden. Fresh off a plane from down under, the Alice Springs, Northern Territory native has officially kicked off his stint as a full-time World of Outlaws Sprint Car driver in the Kasey Kahne Racing, Karavan Trailers #9.Last October, McFadden banked his second career World of Outlaws win in the second annual Jason Johnson Classic. Saturday’s trip to Lake Ozark will only be his fourth event of the 2021 season, following Friday’s show at US-36 and a pair of top ten finishes last weekend in Texas.TOUGH LOVE: A pair of Outlaws revealed their inner critic last weekend when victory slipped from their grasp. Aaron Reutzel and Jacob Allen want to win just as much as their competitors, and they proved that with their golden interviews last weekend. Reutzel was chasing his second win of the year on Friday at Cotton Bowl when Sweet and Haudenschild drove around him on the outside. Post-race, Reutzel simply said he “did a shitty job of driving” and mentioned “you have to run 35 perfect laps to win these [Outlaw] races.”On Saturday, Allen was the center of heartbreak once again. After passing Sweet for the lead on Lap 11, the Shark Racing #1A pilot made one mistake entering turn one and slammed into the outside wall, flipped upside down, and ended his shot at a second career win. Allen brought the Paige, TX crowd to life when he said “I stepped on it, that’s what I did.” The Drydene Performance Products driver admitted he “needed to take a chill pill” to start delivering the wins his team deserves. This weekend, we’ll see if either of them can return their passionate attitude to victory lane.THE BIG FOUR: The “Big Four” if you will, are the four winningest active Outlaw drivers and they’ve got the highest four point averages over the last four years. They’re currently 1-2-3-4 in this year’s championship standings and that’s thanks to the unrivaled consistency of each of them. All four drivers are averaging a top five finish through the first eight races.Leading the points is two-time winner and two-time Series champion, Brad Sweet. The Grass Valley, CA native is currently on a streak of five-straight podium finishes aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts #49.Trailing Sweet by -24 points is Logan Schuchart of Hanover, PA. The driver of the Shark Racing, Drydene Performance Products #1S is the only racer with a top ten finish in all eight World of Outlaws features this year.Behind those two is 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz (-38). Outside of an ignition box failure at Volusia, Schatz and his Tony Stewart Racing, Carquest #15 have a top-seven result at every race. A win this weekend would be the 300th of Schatz’s career.Along with Schatz at (-38) is Watertown, CT native David Gravel. Finding success in his new role at Big Game Motorsports, Gravel has six top-five finishes and seven top-ten runs to go along with his jaw-dropping win at The Rev.Anyone unable to make it to the track can watch all of the action live 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.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: World of Outlaws Late Models return to Cherokee for huge payout at Rock Gault Memorial Chris Madden, Brandon Sheppard, Ross Bailes and more ready to battle for $40K on SaturdayGAFFNEY, SC- MARCH 22, 2021 – The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series returns to “The Place Your Momma Warned You About” this weekend for the biggest event in Cherokee Speedway’s history.The Series is gearing up for two nights of action at the 3/8-mile track, including twin 25-lap Features –paying $5,000 each – on Friday, March 26, and a $40,000-to-win event Saturday, March 27 – also paying $15,000 to second and $10,000 to third.After six events this year, Series points leader and Rookie of the Year contender Kyle Strickler is currently the only driver with multiple wins; both coming at Volusia Speedway Park. The World of Outlaws Late Models have run five races at Cherokee Speedway, with four different winners. Brandon Overton is the most recent winner, taking the checkers in the October Mike Duvall Memorial.If you can’t make it to either event, 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.Here are the top stories to follow this weekend: SMOKEY LOOKS TO STAY HOT: Chris “Smokey” Madden is on a bit of a hot streak lately, winning the “Tennessee Tip-Off” at Smoky Mountain earlier this month. But that’s not the only reason he has momentum. The Grey Court, SC driver already has a victory at Cherokee in 2021. He won the Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series event in February, leading him to his second consecutive championship with the Series.While Madden is still looking for the elusive first World of Outlaws Late Model win at Cherokee, he’s had a lot of success at the track, claiming 27 career wins overall. In five starts with the World of Outlaws at Cherokee, he’s earned four top-five finishes.MOVING UP THE LADDER: After DIRTcar Nationals in Volusia, three-time defending champion Brandon Sheppard was sitting sixth in the point standings without a top-five finish. While the New Berlin, IL native is still looking for his first top-five, his eighth-place finish at Smoky Mountain propelled him to second in points, just 66 points behind leader Kyle Strickler.Cherokee is a track where Sheppard is still looking for a win. He has four top-fives in five World of Outlaw starts there. In those five races, he’s also finished in the runner-up spot three times. If Sheppard can pull off a win this weekend, it’ll be his 70th career World of Outlaws victory.OVERTON LOOKS FOR THREE STRAIGHT: When the green flag flies this weekend at Cherokee Speedway, “Big Sexy” Brandon Overton will look for his third straight Series victory at Cherokee. The Appling, GA driver won the Mike Duvall Memorial in 2019 and 2020. He also picked up a win during the Blue Gray 100 at Cherokee to kick off the Drydene Xtreme DIRTcar Series last November.Overton already has a World of Outlaws win this year at DIRTcar Nationals. His next Series victory will be his 15th in his career.THE BOSS LOOKS FOR HOME STATE REBOUND: While Ross Bailes hasn’t had the start to the 2021 season he may have liked, he’s looking to rebound in his home state this weekend.So far, “The Boss” only has one top-10 finish in the 2021 season, but he’s returning to a track he’s won at 10 times in total. He won his only World of Outlaws Late Model event there in May of 2019. The Rookie of the Year contender currently sits in 10th in the standings.STRICKLER STILL ON TOP: Series point leader Kyle Strickler is another driver looking to rebound this weekend at Cherokee. While he had early season success at Volusia, Smoky Mountain didn’t go how the “High Side Tickler” planned. He had his first finish outside the top-10 in the 2021 World of Outlaws season there.The good news for the Pennsylvania campaigner is that his only start with the World of Outlaws at Cherokee resulted in a fourth-place finish last year. Strickler holds a 66-point lead over Sheppard heading into this weekend. A win would give him his third victory of the season, and his career.This Week at a GlanceWhen and Where March 26-27 at Cherokee Speedway for the Rock Gault MemorialAbout the Track Cherokee Speedway is a 3/8 high banked track Online: http://cherokeespeedwaysc.com Track Record: 14.568 set by Ross Bailes on January 26, 2020Cherokee Speedway Previous Winners 2020- Brandon Overton on Oct. 2 2019- Ross Bailes on May 3; Brandon Overton on Oct. 4 2018- Mike Marlar on May 4 2017- Shane Clanton on May 5On the Internet World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models Series Twitter – Twitter.com/WoOLateModels – @WoOLateModels Instagram – Instagram.com/WoOLateModels – @woolatemodels Facebook – Facebook.com/WorldofOutlawsLateModelSeries YouTube – Youtube.com/WorldofOutlaws DIRTVision – DIRTVision.com – Platinum annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/monthAround the Turn: The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, April 1-3, returns to the Farmer City Raceway, in Farmer City, IL, for the Illini 100. CLICK HERE for tickets.Feature Winners: (5 Drivers) Rank- Driver- Hometown-WinsKyle Strickler, Sinking Springs, PA-2Kyle Bronson, Brandon, FL-1 Devin Moran, Dresden, OH-1 Brandon Overton, Evans, GA-1 Chris Madden, Grey Court, SC-1Drydene Heat Winners (18 Drivers) Rank- Driver- Hometown-WinsKyle Bronson, Brandon, FL-3 Tim McCreadie, Watertown, NY-3Kyle Strickler, Sinking Spring, PA-2 Devin Moran, Dresden, OH- 2 Tyler Bruening, Decorah, IA-2 Bobby Pierce, Oakwood, IL-2 Chris Madden, Grey Court, SC-2Dale Mcdowell, Chickamauga, GA- 1 Cade Dillard, Robeline, LA-1 Darell Lanigan, Union, KY-1 Parker Martin, Milledgeville, GA-1 Ross Bailes, Clover, SC- 1 Brandon Overton, Evans, Ga-1 Brent Larson, Lake Elmo, MN-1 Mike Marlar, Winfield, TN-1 Hudson O’Neal, Martinsville, IN-1 Ricky Thornton Jr., Chandler, AZ-1 Jonathan Davenport, Blairsville, GA-1Last Chance Showdown Winners (12 drivers) Rank- Driver- Hometown-WinsRicky Weiss, Headingly, MB -2 Dale Mcdowell, Chickamauga, GA-2Ross Robinson, Clover, SC- 1 Boom Briggs, Bear Lake, PA-1 Brent Larson, Lake Elmo, MN-1 Scott Bloomquist, Mooresburg, TN-1 Chase Junghans, Manhattan, KS-1 Brandon Overton, Evans, GA- 1 Dennis Erb, Jr., Carpentersville, IL-1 Mike Norris, Sarver, PA- 1 Stacy Boles, Clinton, TN-1 Kyle Strickler, Silver Springs, PA-1Podium Finishes (14 drivers) Rank – Driver, Hometown – PodiumsKyle Strickler, Sinking Spring, PA – 3Devin Moran, Dresden, OH – 2 Kyle Bronson, Brandon, FL – 2 Cade Dillard, Robeline, LA – 1 Scott Bloomquist, Moorseburg, TN – 1 Darrell Lanigan, Union, KY – 1 Hudson O’Neal, Martinsville, IN – 1 Ricky Thornton, Jr., Chandler, AZ – 1 Bobby Pierce, Oakwood, IL – 1 Dale McDowell, Chickamauga, GA – 1 Brandon Overton, Evans, GA – 1 Chris Madden, Grey Court, SC-1 Mike Marlar, Winfield, TN-1 Jonathan Davenport, Blairsville, GA-1Hard Charger Award (4 drivers) Rank – Driver, Hometown – H.C. AwardsRicky Weiss, Headingly, MB – 2 Chase Junghans, Manhattan, KS – 2Boom Briggs, Bear Lake, PA – 1 Brandon Sheppard, New Berlin, IL – 1Slick Woody’s Quick Time Award (6 drivers) Rank – Driver, Hometown – QTsKyle Bronson, Brandon, FL – 1 Kyle Strickler, Sinking Spring, PA – 1 Brandon Overton, Evans, GA – 1 Devin Moran, Dresden, OH – 1 Bobby Pierce, Oakwood, IL – 1 Donald McIntosh, Dawsonville, GA- 12021 World of Outlaws Late Model Schedule & Winners No./ Day, Date / Track / Location / Winner (Total Wins) 1. Thursday, Jan. 14 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Kyle Bronson (1) 2. Saturday, Jan. 16 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Kyle Strickler (1) 3. Wednesday, Feb. 10 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Kyle Strickler (2) 4. Thursday, Feb. 11 / Voluisa Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Devin Moran (1) 5. Friday, Feb. 12 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Brandon Overton (1) 6. Saturday, Mar. 6/ Smoky Mountain Speedway/ Maryville, TN/ Chris Madden (1).

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.

WAVERLY, OH (March 21, 2021) – Hudson O’Neal won the Buckeye Spring 50 on Sunday Night at Atomic Speedway for his second series win of 2021. For the first time in his career, the 20-year-old Indiana native is atop the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Championship Point Standings. O’Neal became the third and final leader of the race after he took the lead on lap nine from Devin Moran. He held off Tim McCreadie to win by .563 seconds. Moran came home in third followed by Jonathan Davenport and Kyle Bronson. Kyle Strickler started on the pole and took the lead at the start of the race as drivers were running two and three-wide around the 3/8ths mile high-banked track. Strickler led until Moran took over the point on lap five. The top three of Moran, Strickler, and O’Neal, were putting on a spectacular race for the lead when Strickler suffered a right rear flat tire, forcing a caution flag with 19 laps complete. Strickler exited to the pits, which meant that no driver on the series tour this year has won from the pole starting spot. A caution at the halfway mark set-up a long green-flag stretch of racing for 22 laps until a lap 48 caution set up a race to the finish. O’Neal was able to break away on the restart, and that was enough to send him to Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the ninth time in his career. O’Neal has now joined Tyler Erb as the only 2-time winner so far in LOLMDS competition this season. He previously went to Lucas Oil Victory Lane at East Bay back in January. “I can’t thank these guys enough for their work on this race car. We had one of the University of Northwestern Ohio students on board with us this weekend. Thanks to my family and everybody involved with the race team. This car was awesome from the start. I know McCreadie was all over me a couple of times and all it was going to take was one mistake and he [McCreadie] would get by me.” McCreadie stayed with O’Neal and was ready to pounce if O’Neal made a mistake, but settled for the second spot. “I didn’t need the yellow at the end. It looked like he [O’Neal] got lost on the track a little bit, which happens sometimes when you are leading. I moved around and found something that was really good. His guys told him that under the caution. We passed a lot of good cars. I wish I could have been a tick better, but it’s no shame finishing second to Hudson.” Moran was in the hunt for his first series win of the season for most of the race and rounded out the podium in third. “That was a heck of a race. Congratulations to Huddy. He capitalized when I messed up and I feel like we gave that one away. Good job to those guys for winning and to Timmy for second. I feel like we need to keep our heads up and we can get a lot of wins this year.”     The winner’s Roger Sellers owned, Double Down Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Lazydays RV, O’Neal’s Salvage and Recycling, Lucas Oil Products, 210 Enterprises, and WR1 Sim Chassis. Completing the top ten were Jimmy Owens, Tyler Erb, Josh Richards, Shane Clanton, and Mike Marlar. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary Buckeye Spring 50Sunday, March 21st, 2021Atomic Speedway – Waverly, OH Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Jonathan Davenport / 13.938 seconds (overall)Fast Time Group B: Devin Moran / 14.226 seconds  Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 8-Kyle Strickler[3]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 3. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 4. C9-Steve Casebolt[2]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]; 6. 14G-Joe Godsey[6]; 7. 20-Jimmy Owens[8]; 8. 21K-Kirk Phillips[7] Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 81E-Tanner English[5]; 3. 11R-Josh Rice[4]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[3]; 5. 4G-Kody Evans[6]; 6. 29-Clint Keenan[7]; 7. 28C-Tyler Carpenter[2] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 4. 14-Josh Richards[4]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton[7]; 6. 71R-Rod Conley[5]; 7. 16R-Rusty Griffaw[6] Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[4]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 5. 20B-Todd Brennan[7]; 6. 14R-Jeff Roth[6]; 7. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[5]

HAMPTON, GA – March 22, 2021 – Ryan Blaney scored his first NASCAR Cup Series win of the 2021 season at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday and recorded Ford’s fifth straight win in Atlanta. Blaney became the second Ford driver to drive a Ford Mustang to victory lane this season and sixth different Cup winner in as many races.

“Congratulations to Ryan, Todd, Roger, and the No. 12 team,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Ryan and the No. 12 crew executed throughout the day and they kept digging until the final lap. Thanks to Ford Performance and their employees that continue to provide our teams the tools needed to win races.”

Blaney and the No. 12 pit crew worked together throughout the entire race to get the No. 12 in position to challenge for the lead. Blaney was able to come from more than two seconds behind to chase down the No. 5 of Kyle Larson with just eight laps to go, then took the lead with a cross over pass. Blaney was able to stretch his lead and take the checkered flag to record his fifth career NASCAR Cup Series race win.

The No. 12 Ford Performance Mustang led the race three different times for a total of 25 laps, but none more important than the last eight. This marked the 80th win for Team Penske with Ford Performance and the 180th Cup win for Roush Yates Engines.

“Gosh, we had a great long run car all day,” commented Blaney in post-race interview. “It took us a little bit to get going. I was pretty free all day, so we made a really good change to tighten me up where I needed it and it looked like Kyle was getting loose and I’m happy it worked in our favor that there was a couple long runs at the end that kind of let us get there. We’ve been good this year and had some bad breaks and it’s nice to close out a race like that. That was awesome.”

Roush Fenway’s Chris Buescher drove a strong race, finishing P7 and Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick recovered from an earlier race tire issue to finish P10.

Two Ford Performance teams finished in the top-10 in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Saturday, Riley Herbst from Stewart-Haas Racing finished P6 and Ryan Sieg from RSS Racing in P10.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Bristol Motor Speedway for the first time ever dirt track race this weekend. It’s time to sling some dirt!    33 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 416 WINS – 376 POLES!

WAVERLY, OH (March 21, 2021) – Hudson O’Neal won the Buckeye Spring 50 on Sunday Night at Atomic Speedway for his second series win of 2021. For the first time in his career, the 20-year-old Indiana native is atop the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Championship Point Standings. O’Neal became the third and final leader of the race after he took the lead on lap nine from Devin Moran. He held off Tim McCreadie to win by .563 seconds. Moran came home in third followed by Jonathan Davenport and Kyle Bronson. Kyle Strickler started on the pole and took the lead at the start of the race as drivers were running two and three-wide around the 3/8ths mile high-banked track. Strickler led until Moran took over the point on lap five. The top three of Moran, Strickler, and O’Neal, were putting on a spectacular race for the lead when Strickler suffered a right rear flat tire, forcing a caution flag with 19 laps complete. Strickler exited to the pits, which meant that no driver on the series tour this year has won from the pole starting spot. A caution at the halfway mark set-up a long green-flag stretch of racing for 22 laps until a lap 48 caution set up a race to the finish. O’Neal was able to break away on the restart, and that was enough to send him to Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the ninth time in his career. O’Neal has now joined Tyler Erb as the only 2-time winner so far in LOLMDS competition this season. He previously went to Lucas Oil Victory Lane at East Bay back in January. “I can’t thank these guys enough for their work on this race car. We had one of the University of Northwestern Ohio students on board with us this weekend. Thanks to my family and everybody involved with the race team. This car was awesome from the start. I know McCreadie was all over me a couple of times and all it was going to take was one mistake and he [McCreadie] would get by me.” McCreadie stayed with O’Neal and was ready to pounce if O’Neal made a mistake, but settled for the second spot. “I didn’t need the yellow at the end. It looked like he [O’Neal] got lost on the track a little bit, which happens sometimes when you are leading. I moved around and found something that was really good. His guys told him that under the caution. We passed a lot of good cars. I wish I could have been a tick better, but it’s no shame finishing second to Hudson.” Moran was in the hunt for his first series win of the season for most of the race and rounded out the podium in third. “That was a heck of a race. Congratulations to Huddy. He capitalized when I messed up and I feel like we gave that one away. Good job to those guys for winning and to Timmy for second. I feel like we need to keep our heads up and we can get a lot of wins this year.”     The winner’s Roger Sellers owned, Double Down Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Lazydays RV, O’Neal’s Salvage and Recycling, Lucas Oil Products, 210 Enterprises, and WR1 Sim Chassis. Completing the top ten were Jimmy Owens, Tyler Erb, Josh Richards, Shane Clanton, and Mike Marlar. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary Buckeye Spring 50Sunday, March 21st, 2021Atomic Speedway – Waverly, OH Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Jonathan Davenport / 13.938 seconds (overall)Fast Time Group B: Devin Moran / 14.226 seconds  Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 8-Kyle Strickler[3]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 3. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 4. C9-Steve Casebolt[2]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[4]; 6. 14G-Joe Godsey[6]; 7. 20-Jimmy Owens[8]; 8. 21K-Kirk Phillips[7] Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 81E-Tanner English[5]; 3. 11R-Josh Rice[4]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[3]; 5. 4G-Kody Evans[6]; 6. 29-Clint Keenan[7]; 7. 28C-Tyler Carpenter[2] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 4. 14-Josh Richards[4]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton[7]; 6. 71R-Rod Conley[5]; 7. 16R-Rusty Griffaw[6] Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[4]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 5. 20B-Todd Brennan[7]; 6. 14R-Jeff Roth[6]; 7. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[5]

Lucas Oil Feature Finish (50 Laps):

Race StatisticsEntrants: 29Lap Leaders: Kyle Strickler (Laps 1 – 3); Devin Moran (Laps 4 – 8); Hudson O’Neal (Laps 9 – 50)Wrisco Feature Winner: Hudson O’NealArizona Sport Shirts CJC – Presented by DirtOnDirt Feature Winner: n/aBrandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/aMargin of Victory: 0.563 secondsCautions: Josh Rice (Lap 8); Kyle Strickler (Lap 19); Clint Keenan (Lap 25); Ricky Thornton Jr. (Lap 47); Joe Godsey (Lap 48)Series Provisionals: n/aFast Time Provisional: n/aSeries Emergency Provisionals: n/aTrack Provisionals: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Hudson O’Neal, Tim McCreadie, Devin MoranPenske Shocks Top 5: Hudson O’Neal, Tim McCreadie, Devin Moran, Jonathan Davenport, Kyle BronsonOptima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Jimmy Owens (Advanced 19 Positions) Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: noneHot Rod Processing Most Laps Led: Hudson O’Neal (42 Laps)Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jimmy OwensEibach Springs Rookie of the Race: n/aDirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Tim McCreadie (Lap #5 – 15.158 seconds)Fast Shafts Tough Break of the Race: Ricky Thornton Jr.Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Trevor Crittenden (Hudson O’Neal)ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Tim McCreadieTime of Race: 33 minutes 44 seconds

March 21, 2021

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Maytag team had their best run of the 2021 season in Sunday’s Folds of Honor/QuikTrip 500 at Atlanta Motor Speedway, coming away with an 11th place finish.

DiBenedetto lined up 20th for the start of the 325-lap race and was on the move from the drop of the green flag. He had climbed to 12th place when the competition caution flag flew on Lap 25.

He cracked the top 10 for the first time on Lap 31 and raced around 10th place for the remainder of the first 105-lap Stage, finishing that segment of the race in 12th place.
 
At the start of Stage Two, he used some bold moves on restarts to work his way into the top five and ran as high as third before finishing that segment in sixth place, earning five Stage points.

In the third and final segment of the race, he ran in the top five early on, then lost a few spots in the latter stages, finally ending up 11th at the finish. 

“We had a solid race from start to finish with our Menards/Maytag Mustang,” DiBenedetto said. “Our pit crew did a great job keeping our track position, which took some hard work on their part, and we were able to get some Stage points, which was good.

“We got a little loose at the start of the third Stage, and that may have cost us a spot or two, but we had a 10th place car pretty much all day, then gained some track position that got us further up for a while. Overall, it was a solid day. I can’t complain.”

DiBenedetto also said the No. 21 team is steadily overcoming a slow start to the season.

“It started at Las Vegas,” he said. “We had a great car there. Since then we’ve had some well-prepared cars and some good, solid races.” 

On Sunday, DiBenedetto was one of six Ford drivers, led by race winner Ryan Blaney, to finish in the top 15. Blaney’s win extended Ford’s win streak in AMS Cup races to five. 

Eddie Wood said he was proud of the efforts of the Menards/Maytag team and the entire Ford contingent.

“Matt drove a good race and did a good job managing his tires,” Wood said. “[Crew chief] Greg Erwin made good strategy calls, and the pit crew had good stops all day.

“It was a really good day for us, and we’d like to congratulate our Ford teammates Ryan Blaney and his team on a big win.”

DiBenedetto and the No. 21 team now head to Bristol Motor Speedway, where the Cup Series will race on a dirt surface for the first time since 1970.
 

Strong Sixth-Place Result For Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Team at Atlanta Motor Speedway

6th

13th

11th

“Today was a good little step in the right direction from where we’ve been the last few weeks. Everyone on the Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet team did a great job with adjustments throughout the race. During portions of the race, I couldn’t turn the wheel on entry, so I would just go in there straight. I made up time running some very weird lines. Justin Alexander and the team kept working on it and got it pretty good in Stage 3. I found some grip in the middle of track late in the race. If I would have found that earlier, we might have been better. We’ll keep working on it.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Team Push Through Tough Atlanta Motor Speedway Race

26th

29th

28th

“It has been a tough start to our season, but my No. 8 Alsco Uniforms Chevrolet team stuck with it today at Atlanta Motor Speedway. I got into the wall early in the race, but my team did a great job making all the necessary repairs to keep us going. I had a lot of speed after that and ran some great lap times all race long, but we were just trapped a couple laps down for the majority of the day. We made some gains on handling today, which will be important to take note of when we come back to Atlanta later this summer. I struggled with a lack of rear lateral grip early on, but the adjustments made throughout the race really helped on that issue. I still wanted to be tighter at the end of the race, but this at least gives us some good notes to build off of for July.” -Tyler Reddick