CORONA, Calif. (October 21, 2020) – While the 2020 racing season may have come to a conclusion, the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Presented by GEICO (LOORRS) and its racers showed their continued support for those in need by amplifying the efforts of Stronghold Motorsports in bringing attention to pediatric cancer awareness by hosting the first-ever #Hoods2Help campaign, benefiting Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital (LLUCH). The campaign was part of the two-day LOORRS season finale held at Glen Helen Raceway on October 16 and 17.   The Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series #Hoods2Help campaign, in collaboration with Stronghold Motorsports and Loma Linda Children’s Hospital, was a special campaign designed to benefit LLUCH during Pediatric Awareness Month. The campaign provided children at LLUCH the opportunity to design their own race truck. Participating teams selected a design and then had it replicated and wrapped onto their race vehicles for the stop of the season.

More than 40 children presently under LLUCH care, including outpatient, submitted drawings

Even during these times, the racing community has stepped up in a big way with drivers like the Baileys (Madix and Irie), RJ Anderson, Carson Parrish and others who showcased these new looks in support of their respective new ‘co-pilots‘ and the work at the LLUCH.    “Lucas Oil and Stronghold Motorsports have been fortunate over the years to see the amazing work that Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital has provided for families going through the most challenging times, and right now they need your support more than ever.” – Ritchie Lewis, Series Director, Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series    “We are proud of our family’s long-standing support of the hospital. The children of our communities continue to face trauma, childhood cancer, congenital heart disease and other life-altering realities. We are grateful for Lucas Oil in supporting Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital commitment to serving the most vulnerable – our children.” – Scott Bailey, COO, Stronghold Engineering   The culmination of everyone’s hard work paid off as the drivers and their newly wrapped vehicles were able to connect via Zoom with their young designers to surprise them and announce them as their copilots for the race weekend.

RJ Anderson (left) and Madix Bailey (right) shown above during the Zoom calls

All of the families that participated were given links to Lucas Oil Racing TV to see the action live, as well as links for the hospital to be able to broadcast the races internally for everyone to enjoy. Sponsorship for the event helped cover the redesign and vehicle panels for this project, with all additional funds raised going directly to LLUCH to finance the Hospital’s greatest needs. Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital understands that even during these uncertain times, their dedicated health care teams continue to work diligently to keep their young patients and families, caregivers and team members healthy and safe. In addition to Sponsorship options, an online auction is being held with unique items including race helmets signed by members of both Pro Lite and Pro 2 classes:  https://one.bidpal.net/Lucasoil/browse/all   Lewis wanted to make sure the 2020 season ends on a high note, keeping perspective of the bigger picture as he concluded, “With the unprecedented challenges that 2020 has brought to all of us, and far beyond that of just us here at Lucas Oil, we remain in resolve to keep our competitors and teams safe but to have something good that we can do in support of others in need, like those at Loma Linda University Children’s Hospital.”

• Foursome of Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) continues to jostle for position atop the championship standings at this weekend’s Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil at Houston Raceway Park
•  DSR drivers are 1-2-3-4 in battle for Funny Car crown as Matt Hagan leads Jack Beckman by four markers while Tommy Johnson Jr. and Ron Capps fight to remain in contention with two events left in the 2020 season
• DSR Funny Car stable has won every national event this season and seeks to extend the streak of 12 consecutive victories that began in October 2019
• Matt Hagan and Ron Capps’ Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars along with Leah Pruett’s Mopar Top Fuel dragster will all prominently feature Pennzoil as part of their paint schemes
• Mopar Drag Pak of Mark Pawuk sits No.2 in the Factory Stock Showdown championship

October 21, 2020, Auburn Hills, Mich. – The contingent of Mopar Dodge//SRT race cars from Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) is staging for the penultimate event of the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing Series season this weekend at the Mopar Express Lane SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil near Houston, Texas. While much of the attention is focused on the team’s season-long four-way battle for the Funny Car crown, championship hopes for Leah Pruett and her Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster are still very much alive, and Mark Pawuk’s Mopar Drag Pak sits No.2 in Factory Stock Showdown championship rankings.

Rescheduled from its original spring date due to the pandemic, Houston Raceway Park Powered by Pennzoil will be dressed up in the familiar blue, white and yellow Mopar Express Lane and Pennzoil signage associated with speedy in-and-out quality, factory-backed service by the certified technicians that keep customer vehicles in tip-top shape while providing everything from convenient oil changes to complimentary multi-point check-ups. Also geared-up for the occasion, Matt Hagan and Ron Capps’ Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars along with Pruett’s Mopar Top Fuel dragster will all prominently feature Pennzoil as part of their paint schemes in honor of the Houston-headquartered brand’s home race.

The anticipation for this weekend’s Mopar Express Lane SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil is palpable for numerous reasons, primarily that it sets the stage for an exciting championship showdown the following weekend in Las Vegas at the Dodge NHRA Finals Presented by Dodge, in which a “points-and-a-half” format will likely keep fans guessing who will win the crown in each category until the final round of the final race.

Expectations for record runs at the Texas venue are higher than usual this weekend as the beneficial atmospheric conditions, due to cool air that normally filters in from coastal waters, are enhanced by the date change to a late October national event.

“The excitement when you’re racing at your sponsor’s event is huge,” says Hagan, who finished runner-up last year and won his first career race at the Houston venue in 2010. “There’s always pressure at any race, but when it’s your sponsor’s race you have extra motivation to win it. The conditions at Houston will likely be similar to what we had in Gainesville and we ran really well there, so we feel confident that we have a great opportunity to win at our sponsor’s event.”

DSR’s foursome of Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car continues to jostle for position atop the championship standings this weekend as Hagan leads the fray by just four markers over teammate Jack Beckman, with Tommy Johnson Jr.  and Capps in third and fourth place, respectively, still in contention with two national events left in the season.

“Being able to battle it out for a championship is something I’m very prepared to do,” says Hagan. “I think there’s only been one time in my entire career that I wasn’t in the hunt. It always comes down to the wire and you never know what’s going to happen, but that’s what makes it so exciting. Every race is very important, and every run counts. We’re going to go out there, do what we do, and that’s turn on win lights for Mopar and Pennzoil.”

The DSR Funny Car stable has combined to win every national event this season and is working to extend their record streak of 12 consecutive victories that began in October 2019. While each driver has at least a pair of Wally trophies this season, last week’s victor, Beckman, has a category-leading three wins in nine events.  He is also hoping to take his Infinite Hero Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to the winner’s circle at this event for the first time after three runner-up finishes in 2009, 2014 and 2015.  

Sitting third in standings, Johnson is looking to inch closer to his teammates in the points by seeking his first win at the venue and deliver a Wally to the MD Anderson Cancer Center, headquartered in Houston, for which the paint scheme on his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat has been representing this season. Capps, meanwhile, is looking to shed his championship underdog status by adding another Houston trophy to the four he previously earned in 2006, 2007, 2015 and 2017. 

In Top Fuel action, Pruett and her Pennzoil-schemed Mopar Top Fuel dragster is adopting a “now or never” attitude to stay in championship contention and move up from her third place position where she is 148 points from leader Steve Torrance and 97 behind Doug Kalitta. Pruett is also chasing her first win of the season and has plenty of motivation to go for it.

“Houston! Home of our Pennzoil proving grounds,” says Pruett. “Very much looking forward to proving our way up into the points. Incredible to think the season is ending as we are getting back in the travel and racing groove. Looking forward to our Baytown Pennzoil hometown crowd. We have had a good amount of success here, and the fans remember that, and we will undoubtedly be feeling that vibe. Our championship pursuit is hotter than ever, with lessons learned in Dallas that will only make us stronger for this event.”

Pruett will also be racing in Factory Stock Showdown competition aboard her Mopar Drag Pak along with teammate Mark Pawuk and his Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak this weekend as a carry-over of the unfinished St. Louis event with two qualifying sessions to take place on Saturday and eliminations on Sunday. Pawuk currently sits second in the Factory Stock Showdown championship.

NHRA nitro qualifying sessions are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, while elimination rounds for the Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented by Pennzoil will begin at 10 a.m. local time on Sunday, Oct. 25, with the television broadcast on FS1 beginning at 2 p.m. Eastern featuring live coverage of the final rounds.

NHRA Championship Points Standings:

(Following the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals)

FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)

1. Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 762 (2)

2. Jack Beckman (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 758 (3)

3. Tommy Johnson Jr. (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 685 (2)

4. Ron Capps (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat) – 588 (2)

5. Bob Tasca III – 538

5. Tim Wilkerson – 538

7. J.R. Todd – 526 

8. Alexis DeJoria – 414

9. Paul Lee – 351 

10. Cruz Pedregon – 335

TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)

1. Steve Torrance – 764 (4)

2. Doug Kalitta – 713 (1)

3. Leah Pruett (Mopar Dodge//SRT) – 616

4. Billy Torrance – 598 (1)

5. Shawn Langdon – 491 (1) 

6. Antron Brown – 458

7. Justin Ashley – 453 (1)

8. Terry McMillen – 436

9. Clay Millican – 381

10. Tony Schumacher – 294

NASCAR CUP SERIESTEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT OCTOBER 21, 2020

Erik Jones met with media via teleconference to discuss the recent announcement that he will be joining Richard Petty Motorsports in 2021 as the driver of the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in the NASCAR Cup Series. Full Transcript:  MODERATOR: BIG DAY FOR YOU, ERIK. HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO FINALLY GET THIS PAST, GET THIS DONE AND GET READY TO MOVE ONTO 2021? Erik Jones: “Yeah, it feels good. These past few months have been kind of hectic trying to work with teams, talk to different people and figure out what opportunities are out there. It’s just nice to finally have it sealed up – have it done, announced and have it out there. You don’t have to answer all the questions anymore from everyone – where you going, what are you doing and when you are going to announce it. So, it’s nice to have it done. It’s a really cool opportunity for myself and I think it’s going to be a pretty great pairing for both of us.” 
RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS HAS A TECHNICAL ALLIANCE WITH RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING AND THEY JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THEY ARE GOING TO BE GETTING ENGINES FROM THE HENDRICK GROUP. IS THAT PROGRAM GOING TO EXPAND TO YOU GUYS, AS WELL? Erik Jones: “I believe so. I can’t answer for sure, but RPM has had an alliance with RCR for a few years and it’s been a full-on technical alliance. There’s still some stuff I have to learn about in how it all works -what we’re getting from RCR and what the whole program is there. I know the essentials of it and how it works, but that was a pretty recent announcement, so I haven’t really dove into that yet in how everything is going to work there. But, I assume it’s the same stuff, so I think that’s going to be a positive. They’ve been trending upwards the last couple of years anyways, with RPM on their own and with RCR’s help, they’ve both been moving in the right direction. So, I think that’s going to continue to drive it the right way anyways.” OBVIOUSLY, WITH THE CREW CHIEF, IT’S A GUY YOU’RE FAMILIAR WITH – JERRY BAXTER. HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO GET BACK WITH HIM AND HOW MUCH DOES THAT HELP A TRANSITION GOING FROM ONE TEAM TO THE NEXT, WHERE YOU HAVE SOME FAMILIARITY THERE? Erik Jones: “Yeah, it makes things simpler. I’m not going in blind by any means. I know Jerry (Baxter) pretty well. I haven’t worked with him as a Crew Chief of my own, but when I was at KBM, he was obviously there and working at KBM on the other Trucks. I know Jerry and have met and talked to him quite a bit. I actually already talked to him a little bit the last week or so after we were getting really close on getting this deal signed. He’s really excited – I’m excited to work with Jerry. He’s been around for a long time in the sport – has a lot of knowledge, a lot of know-how and I think what he’s done at RPM has been pretty impressive too. I think it will be an easy transition. We get to skip kind of the awkward introduction stage and we can go right into working on the race cars and kind of what we’re going to look for in each other and the team to go out and be strong right off the bat at Daytona. So, I think that’s going to be a good pairing. Jerry’s a racer at heart, as am I, and I think we can share that right off the bat and kind of get things started off on the right foot.” I KNOW FOR YOU, YOU WERE IN A GROUP OF FOUR DRIVERS BEFORE. NOW, YOU’RE THE GUY. THEY SAID TODAY THEY’RE GOING TO PUT ONE HUNDRED PERCENT EFFORT AND FOCUS ON YOU. COMING FROM A SMALL TOWN LIKE BRYON AND NOW COMING TO A SMALLER TEAM, HOW EXCITED ARE YOU AND HOW MUCH DOES THAT GIVE YOU MORE COMFORT AS OPPOSED TO BEING A PART OF JUST A MASSIVE TEAM WITH SO MANY DIFFERENT MOVING PARTS? Erik Jones: “Yeah, I think it’s great. That was one of the things that when RPM reached out I was excited about – the opportunity to be a single-car team and just have everybody working in the same direction. The cool part is I’ll have the chance to get to know everybody at RPM – everybody that’s working on the car in the shop and getting it to the race track. Coming from JGR, I never got the chance to meet everybody. It’s a pretty big company and there’s a lot of people that I never had the chance to really interact with too much. So, that was always a little strange for me with growing up racing and working on my own stuff with my family and getting to know everybody that had a hand in working on the race car. So, kind of getting back to that small town and small team feel I think is going to be really kind of nice. Just having one voice, which is mine and Jerry’s, to kind of lead the team in the direction we think we need to go, I think is going to be a good thing.” THE NO. 43 IS A PRETTY IMPORTANT NUMBER. I WAS JUST WONDERING WHAT IT MEANS TO YOU TO BE ABLE TO HAVE THAT NOW ON THE SIDE OF YOUR CAR AND JUST THAT HISTORY AND LEGACY THAT COMES WITH THAT?Erik Jones: “Yeah, it’s definitely iconic. You look at the history of NASCAR and the 43, everybody knows who Richard Petty is if they’re a race fan. And even if they aren’t a race fan, a lot of people know who Richard Petty is. So, that’s really neat. Having the chance to get to spend some time with him the last couple of weeks has been pretty cool. I’d never really gotten the chance to talk too much with him and spend a lot of time with him, other than in passing. So, it’s just really cool to hear the old stories. I’m a really big fan of the history of the sport and to get to hear some of the stories first-hand is a pretty cool experience. It’s really neat to see how invested he is in the team, in the sport and the direction we’re going. I think that’s going to be a really good match. The thing about RPM, like I mentioned a second ago, it’s a group of racers and that really fits me well and my goal, as well. I think we are both really motivated going into it. I have a lot that I want to go out and prove in the Cup Series and want to continue to go out and win more races, and RPM wants to do the same thing. They want to go out and want to win races. I think we can work together pretty well in trying to get to that goal and get that accomplished for next year.” DO YOU FEEL ANY EXTRA ADDED PRESSURE WITH THAT NUMBER ON THE SIDE OF YOUR CAR?Erik Jones: “There is definitely a heritage you want to uphold. I think that number is one of the most successful numbers in the history of the sport and one of the biggest numbers. You want to do it proud. You want to run well and you want to be up front. I don’t know that there’s extra pressure from that. I always feel like I think the pressure that’s on me is really internally just from myself. I want to go out and run well. I want to go out and compete and win races. I’ve never tried to let too many things from the outside come in and influence that.” YOU MENTIONED IT WAS GOING TO BE A GREAT PAIRING FOR THE BOTH OF YOU. CAN YOU ELABORATE ON THAT?Erik Jones: “I think it was just kind of a good timing for us. Obviously, they were moving on and looking for a new driver and I was looking for a new team. Just common goals and common interests, I think, that really matched up between both of our groups going into it. Just the motivation side of it – I think they’re more motivated than ever to continue to grow their program and they’ve been heading in such a good direction the last few years. They are just so close to taking that next step and they wanted to find somebody on the same path. I feel like I’m kind of in that same spot, where we’ve been really close, we’ve won races and I want to win more. So, I think that’s a really good joining of two groups coming together now that are going to be able to go out and really go for a common goal and have one focused effort on it. That’s really the part I’m most excited about.” YOU MENTIONED THE ICONIC NUMBER, THE NO. 43. I THINK WITH THAT, YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE A FAN BASE THAT’S GOING TO BRING A NEW FAN BASE. TALK ABOUT WHAT IT’S GOING TO MEAN TO GO DRIVE THAT 43 FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH THE NEW FAN BASE AND COMING TO MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY FOR THE FIRST TIME WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILIES THERE? Erik Jones: “Yeah, there’s a huge fan base that follows along with RPM and with the number. So, that’s going to be really cool to welcome all of those people into my group that’s already following me and have them, hopefully, join along and follow. I think we share a lot of the same core values, really, between the fans and myself, what we do and what we look for. It’s cool for me. My grandma is a huge Richard Petty fan. Growing up, she was always interested in watching him. So, that’s pretty cool. She’s excited about it and has been wanting to tell everybody for the last week about what I was doing. It will be cool. I hope when we come back to MIS we get to have fans there so I can have some friends and family come down and to have the chance to meet the King. That’s a pretty cool experience. He’s been really welcoming to me coming in there, so I think it’s going to be a pretty cool experience for everybody.” WHEN YOU LEFT YOUR TEAM AND WHEN BUBBA (WALLACE) LEFT RPM, WAS THIS THE JOB YOU WERE REALLY TARGETING OR WERE THERE SOME OTHER PARTNERS THAT WERE IN THE BACKGROUND PERHAPS LOOKING FOR YOUR SERVICES?Erik Jones: “We definitely talked to a variety of different teams. I wouldn’t say that RPM was the only team on the plate. But as things started to shake out and people started finding their rides, we were starting to work towards one direction. I think RPM became a pretty clear choice for us and the place that we wanted to go.” “The thing that meant a lot to me was RPM reached out to us and I thought that was really encouraging. As a driver and a person, you want to be somewhere where you’re wanted. RPM showed that interest right off the bat when they were looking for a driver and I thought that was really encouraging. Like I said, you want to be somewhere where you’re wanted, you’re appreciated and I think RPM is definitely going to be that place.” WITH THE PARTNERSHIP HAPPENING WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND OTHERS, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE SOME TOP-NOTCH EQUIPMENT. DOES THIS HAVE YOU, RICHARD, KYLE AND THE WHOLE TEAM REALLY EXCITED TO KNOW THAT THE NO. 43 COULD RUN UP FRONT? Erik Jones: “Yeah, I think they’re going to have great equipment. Like I mentioned, the way that they’ve been trending the last few years, continuing to get their stuff better and better. I think their alliance with RCR has been great to keep developing their equipment. And I hope I can help with that. I hope that I can bring something to the table that’s going to help them continue to get better and better. Obviously, I have four years of experience at JGR – what we did over there and can bring a lot of knowledge from that situation. I think it that’s going to be helpful going into it – that we can continue to improve the stuff. But I definitely think going into it, watching from afar, I think they are continuing to improve and can run up front.” DO YOU FEEL LIKE NOW WITH THIS ANNOUNCEMENT OUT THERE, DO YOU FEEL LIKE IT’S A FRESH START FOR YOU?Erik Jones: “Yeah, I do. I spent seven years really with Toyota and what they had going on between KBM and Joe Gibbs Racing, and that was great. They did a lot for me and, obviously, took me from the Truck Series all the way to the Cup Series for the last few years and it was a great ride. I got a lot of great things out of that, won races with them and did a lot of good things. I think it was to a point where it was time to do something different for maybe both sides and this is definitely a fresh start for me – a new manufacturer, a new team. Things are going to be pretty new. It’s definitely the most change that I’ve ever had since 2013, my first year in the Truck Series coming from late models. So, it’s a whole new slate for me. The only thing that stays the same is that it’s the Cup Series and we’re racing the same tracks. It’s just going to be a whole new group and everything. It’s going to be good I think. You kind of reset, take what you learned the last few years, apply what you can and learn what you can moving forward to try and take advantage of the current situation. I think that’s a good thing. Like I mentioned, I think both sides are really motivated and I think it’s going to be a good, clean slate and a breath of fresh air to start over.” WHO’S THE COOLEST PERSON THAT REACHED OUT TO YOU ABOUT THIS? Erik Jones: “I’ve definitely got some cool texts today. People from actually my past racing that have reached out and said their congratulations, and that’s been really cool. Really from the start, the support that’s been out there from the time we made the announcement that I wasn’t going to be back at JGR all the way up until now, obviously today announcing the new ride with RPM –  the support has been pretty amazing and more than I really ever expected. So, that’s been pretty cool.” YOU TALKED A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE ICONIC OF THE NO. 43 AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE A PART OF THE TEAM. BUT FOR YOU TOO, THIS IS A TEAM IN THE HISTORY OF NASCAR, HAS GOTTEN TO VICTORY LANE A LOT, BUT THEY HAVEN’T SINCE 2014. WHAT WILL IT MEAN TO YOU WHEN YOU CAN GET THEM BACK TO VICTORY LANE AND KIND OF CLOSE THAT GAP OF SOMETHING THEY HAVEN’T FELT AS A TEAM SINCE 2014.Erik Jones: “It would be a huge moment, I think, for both of us. Getting the No. 43 back in victory lane would be awesome. I can only imagine seeing the King walking into victory lane and what that emotion would be like for the both of us, really. There’s a lot of people there that would be really, really ecstatic about it. I’m getting the chance to meet more and more people, and just seeing their excitement to start this deal next year, has been really encouraging. They want to win. Like I mentioned, they’re racers and they want to go out there and win races. That’s the goal – we want to go out there and get back to victory lane for both of us. So, I think that’s going to be cool. I think we have a great opportunity to do it. The emotions would be high, I think, from a lot of people if we can get that car back to victory lane.” YOU ALSO SAID YOU’VE BEEN SITTING ON THIS FOR A LITTLE BIT TOO. I KNOW COMING INTO THE PLAYOFFS, YOU HAD SAID THAT THIS WHOLE CONTRACT SITUATION AND TRYING TO FIND A RIDE WAS A BIT OF A DISTRACTION. IN THE LAST FEW WEEKS, YOU’VE BEEN ONE OF THE BEST DRIVERS, PLAYOFF DRIVERS OR NOT. DO YOU FEEL LIKE THAT REALLY TOOK THAT PRESSURE OFF AND HOW MUCH HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO JUST FOCUS ON DRIVING? Erik Jones: “Yeah, it’s been great to run as good as we have the last few weeks. That’s the goal – you want to run up front. We obviously want to finish the year strong with where we are now and hopefully we’ll win another race. That’s what we want to do. Those guys, they haven’t given up at all. And for me, we were still working on this deal the last couple of weeks. I was just doing my deal, I guess – just going out, try to put it aside for the weekend and run strong. It was definitely somewhat of a distraction. You know, you’re trying to work hard on putting this deal together, getting it done and keeping tabs on what all is going on. You spend a lot of time on the phone, catching up with a lot of different people. And then after you sign it, trying to learn everybody’s roles, who everybody is and trying to make that all happen really fast. And in the meantime, keeping pace with what you’re doing right now. So, there’s a lot of different things going on, but having it done now is going to make life a little bit easier. Only three races left in the season – still pretty focused on those and trying to get done what I want to get done there in the No. 20 car. But, definitely excited to have this done, be able to start working on it a little bit and start heading in that direction.” 

Troy Coughlin Jr. welcomes new sponsor BENMIT

HOUSTON (Oct. 21) — It wasn’t that long ago that five-time Pro Stock world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. was in full control of the factory hot rod class. He raced to three finals in the first four races, winning twice, and was more than two rounds ahead of Jason Line and almost four rounds up on his Elite Motorsports teammate Erica Enders. But with only 10 races on the COVID-shortened 2020 NHRA schedule, slip-ups can reverse one’s fortunes in short order, as Coughlin discovered after two unlikely first-round exits, which helped flip the table in the standings. He now trails Enders by four and a half rounds and Line by three.

Five-time Pro Stock world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr.

“We need a perfect scorecard from here on out to even have a glimpse of hope,” Coughlin admitted. “Fortunately, we made a lot of progress in Dallas and the final two races left on the schedule both take place at tracks where we have historically done very well so we feel good about finishing strong. “Erica and Jason are out there a bit but we can’t control what they’re doing so we’ll just get super aggressive and try to earn as many points as possible. If the JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro is the last car left on race day, we’ll know for sure we’ve earned more points than everyone else, so that’s the goal.” Coughlin is a four-time winner at Houston Raceway Park powered by Pennzoil, which hosts this weekend’s rescheduled 33rd annual Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals presented by Pennzoil. The 65-time national event winner claimed glory at HRP in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2010. “The victory here in ’97 was my first in Pro Stock so it would be great to finish like we started with another Houston win,” said Coughlin, who will retire from full-time professional competition at year’s end. Of note, Coughlin has five more wins at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with trophy finishes in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2009. The 2020 season ends in Las Vegas.

Troy Coughlin Jr. with BENMIT co-owner Jennifer Woodruff

Houston also will be a huge stop for rookie Pro Stock driver Troy Coughlin Jr. as he unveils a special sponsorship with BENMIT, which processes steel pipe for businesses in the oilfield/energy and water delivery sectors. BENMIT has several customers in the Greater Houston Area whom they will be entertaining at the event. “It’s a real honor to have BENMIT on the racecar,” Troy Jr. said. “I went for a visit to their facility in Ohio this week and it’s great to see American workers making top-notch American products that keep America’s engine running. Houston is the energy capital of the world so it’s natural for BENMIT to have a bunch of happy customers there. “Probably the coolest part of BENMIT is that it’s a third-generation company, just like we have at JEGS. Jeff and Brian Cunningham, along with their sister Jennifer Woodruff, are doing their family proud. I’m thrilled to bring some attention to their made-in-the-USA steel pipe.” Troy Jr. will be driving the same JEGS.com/BENMIT Ford Mustang out of the Elite Motorsports camp that he’s raced for most of the season, including during a career-best final-round appearance at the third Indy race, where he lost to his uncle Jeg Jr. “Being a part of Elite Motorsports gives BENMIT a great chance to experience the top level of NHRA drag racing and it would be awesome to get them a win,” Troy Jr. said. “With guys like Rick Jones, Mike DePalma, Eric Luzinski and Robert Freeman behind me, I feel fully prepared for a big weekend.”

Oct 21, 2020 | Featured, Julie Nataas, Megan Meyer, Race Results

Randy Meyer Racing ran the table this weekend at the 35th annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals in the Top Alcohol Dragster class as Julie Nataas won the rain-delayed Gatornationals on Saturday and Megan Meyer took the win on Sunday for back-to-back Texas Motorplex victories in her NGK Spark Plugs dragster.

On Friday, the first qualifying session in the late evening at the Ennis, Texas-based track proved to be tough to battle as Megan and Julie both went up in smoke after they launched and were forced to abort their runs. Saturday morning, Megan rebounded with a stout 5.177, 278.86 and jumped up to the No. 4 qualifying spot.

Saving the best pair for last in that second and final session, Julie bounced back just as Megan did ahead of her with a 5.177, 280.60. This stellar run also counted towards the rain-delayed Gatornationals against Josh Hart. Hart clocked in with a 5.228, 278.00 but he was no match for the Randy Meyer-tuned dragster in the opposing lane. On her way to the Gatornationals’ winner circle, she defeated Joey Severance, Duane Shields, and Josh Hart.

On Saturday evening, Julie came into the FallNationals raceday in the No. 3 spot while Megan was close behind in the No. 4 spot. Megan crossed the top end with a 5.232, 281.07 to defeat Buddy Domingue’s 5.417, 252.38. Julie staged up against Joey Severance in the first round for the second race in a row and used a 5.260, 269.08 to turn on the win light against Severance’s troubled 9.036, 93.32.

In the second round, Megan remained consistent with a 5.251, 276.01 to cross the finish line ahead of Josh Hart. Unfortunately, after Julie did her burnout in her pairing, the throttle stuck, and she went into the sand trap. Luckily, she was unharmed and able to get out of the dragster immediately. Unable to stage the car against her competitor, Aaron Cooper was given the competition single. 

In the semifinals, Megan turned heads when she clocked in with a 5.164, 275.17 and defeated Matthew Cummings’ 5.455, 268.71 and headed to the final round with a matchup against Aaron Cooper.

In true Randy Meyer-fashion, Megan saved her best run of the weekend for the finals as she crossed the finish line with a 5.126, 279.09 to score her 12th national event Wally and second win of 2020 over Cooper’s 5.647, 209.17.

Megan’s victory at Texas Motorplex was Randy Meyer Racing’s 75th NHRA event win; 32 of them have been on the national event circuit and 43 at the regional level.

Julie will compete for her third NHRA National event win at this weekend’s rescheduled Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals near Houston, Texas. Megan, who originally was not planning to compete at this race due to her wedding being postponed to this weekend, is going to enter the event and make a single qualifying pass to extend her points lead before flying home Friday night for her wedding on Sunday, October 25th.

Inside Line Promotions – ELDON, Mo. (Oct. 20, 2020) – Saturday will mark another new track for Dominic Scelzi to check off the list.

Scelzi and Roth Motorsports invade Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Ind., for the second-to-last World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series event of the season.

“I’m excited to get an opportunity to race at Kokomo Speedway,” he said. “We’re putting a new car together so hopefully we can have more of a balance.”

Scelzi made his debut with Roth Motorsports’ World of Outlaws team last weekend during a pair of races in the Midwest. It began on Friday at Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan., where Scelzi made his first appearance. He timed in 25^th quickest in qualifying, placed seventh in a heat race and ended fourth in the Last Chance Showdown to transfer into the back of the main event. Scelzi capped the night by maneuvering from 24^thto 19^th.

The team then headed to Lake Ozark Speedway on Saturday for the Jason Johnson Classic. Scelzi qualified 18^th quickest, finished sixth in a heat race, produced a third-place run in the Last Chance Showdown and rallied from 23^rd to 18^th in the A Main.

“I think for us we’re wading through all the stuff the team has,” he said. “There is a lot of different stuff than the California team, which I drove for last year. We’re trying to figure out what we need. We changed so much stuff in the two nights because we were extremely tight and didn’t have good drive. When we were against moisture in the track the left front was off the ground. You get off the moisture and you get stalled out. Hopefully the new car we’re putting together this week will put us in a good position on Saturday night at Kokomo.

“Dennis and Teresa Roth and Todd Ventura put in a lot for this team and I want to put together a solid night with a great result for them. The goal is to consistently run up front during the final couple of races this year.”

QUICK RESULTS –

Oct. 16 – Lakeside Speedway in Kansas City, Kan. – Qualifying: 25; Heat race: 7 (7); B Main: 4 (5); Feature: 19 (24).

Oct. 17 – Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Mo. – Qualifying: 18; Heat race: 6 (5); B Main: 3 (2); Feature: 18 (23).

SEASON STATS –

61 races, 3 wins, 17 top fives, 29 top 10s, 42 top 15s, 49 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Saturday at Kokomo Speedway in Kokomo, Ind., with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series

2021 Holley NMRA Ford Nationals Event Schedule Santa Ana, CA (October 20, 2020)  The Holley NMRA Ford Nationals returns to action in 2021 with six (6) all-Ford national events through diverse markets. The national event series is the largest Ford motorsport show in the world hosting thousands of participants each year with championship drag racing, QA1 True Street challenges, specialty shootouts, UPR Products car shows, celebrity appearances, and much more.  “We closed out the 22nd season with an incredible NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival, despite the challenges presented by the global pandemic. It’s nice to have that momentum heading into 2021 for our racers, fans, and sponsors as next year’s schedule is our best yet,” said Rollie Miller, General Manager and National Event Director of the Holley NMRA Ford Nationals.

March 4-7, 202127th Annual NMRA Spring Break ShootoutBradenton Motorsports Park, Bradenton, FL

April 8-11, 202113th Annual NMRA/NMCA All-Star NationalsAtlanta Dragway, Commerce, GA

May 13-16, 202116th Annual NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag RacingWorld Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, Madison, IL

June 10-13, 2021Inaugural NMRA Ford Performance NationalsSummit Motorsports Park, Norwalk OH

July 22-25, 2021Inaugural NMRA/NMCA Power FestivalUS131 Motorsports Park, Martin MI

Sept. 30 – Oct. 3, 202123rd Annual NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford FestivalBeech Bend raceway Park, Bowling Green, KY

NMRA kicks off the season with the legendary, must-attend Spring Break Shootout, held at Bradenton Motorsports Park. The second tour stop is Atlanta Dragway for the NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals in April. The prestigious World Wide Technology Raceway, just outside of St. Louis, is the new home of the NMRA/NMCA Super Bowl of Street-Legal Drag Racing extravaganza. It goes down in May on a weekend that holds historic value to longtime Ford drag racing fans. A month later the traveling Ford motorsport show makes a return to the world-class facility known as Summit Motorsports Park in Ohio with the Ford Performance Nationals. Then it’s back to US 131 Motorsports Park for the NMRA/NMCA Power Festival in July followed by a break leading up to the biggest, baddest, and the most over-the-top Ford event of the year, the NMRA World Finals + Holley Intergalactic Ford Festival. The annual festival goes down as September closes and October opens, bringing prime weather conditions for record-breaking action on the drag strip and tire-shredding madness on the circle track.  For more information on the 2021 Holley NMRA Ford Nationals, visit www.NMRAdigital.com

KANSAS CITY, KS – October 19, 2020 – Joey Logano, won the Hollywood Casino 400 on Sunday, securing a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 for Team Penske and Ford Performance. Chase Briscoe, from Stewart-Haas Racing, also secured a spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship 4 by winning the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday.

“A great weekend for Ford Performance, Team Penske, and Stewart-Haas Racing. Congratulations to Joey, Paul, Chase and Richard for their wins at Kansas. To be locked into the Championship 4 for both series at the beginning of the Round of 8 is awesome,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Joey was able to take advantage of his experience and fast pit crew!  And to see Chase mature as driver, collect his ninth win in a single season, is a testament to his passion and character for our great sport.”

Kevin Harvick in the No. 4 Ford Mustang led three times for a race high 85-laps, but a late race caution shuffled up the field. It was the quick work of the No. 22 Team Penske pit crew, that provided the lead for Logano during the restart on lap 223. Logano led a total of 47 laps and was able to hold off a hard charging Harvick to win by .312 of a second.

“What an amazing team this Shell Pennzoil team is,” Logano commented. “Pit stops put us in position and got us the lead. We are going to Phoenix and racing for a championship again. Heck Yeah!”

Harvick finished P2 while Team Penske teammates Brad Keselowski finished P4 and Ryan Blaney P7 and Wood Brothers Racing’s, Matt DiBenedetto finished P12. With two races to go before the Championship, all three Ford Performance Playoff drivers are currently in the top four by wins or points.

Briscoe, driving the No. 98 Ford Performance Racing School Mustang, dominated the Xfinity Series race by sweeping both stages and leading 159 laps out of the 200-lap race. During a late race caution, Briscoe re-started mid-pack and muscled his way through the field to finish 1.199 seconds ahead of second place. Briscoe’s ninth win of the year is the highest numbers of wins for a Ford driver in the Xfinity Series.

During his victory lane interview, Briscoe commented, “I am super happy to be locked into Phoenix. It is going to be a lot less stressful the next two weeks. I can’t say enough to everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. This Ford Performance Racing School Mustang was lights out. It has been an unbelievable year, but we have three more to go.”

Both Chase and Ford Performance teammate, Austin Cindric are currently in position to advance to the final Championship 4.

The Ford Mustangs of Multimatic Motorsports and PF Racing raced at Road Atlanta on Friday in the Fox Factory 120 in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Series. PF Racing finished P8 while Multimatic finished P18 due to an early race incident.

The NASCAR Playoffs head to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend for the second race in the Round of 8. The next race for the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenges Series is at Laguna Seca.   27 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 411 WINS – 367 POLES!

·        Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) wheelman Jack Beckman drives Infinite Hero Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to winner’s circle at 35^th annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals 

·        Beckman’s victory over teammate Matt Hagan at Texas Motorplex gives DSR and the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat a record 12 consecutive national event Funny Car wins

·        Win puts Beckman within four points of points leader and runner-up finisher Hagan in battle for Funny Car world championship with two events left in season

·        DSR Dodge Chargers of Beckman, Hagan, Tommy Johnson Jr. and Ron Capps are locked in a four-way battle for the Funny Car world championship heading to Houston for the rescheduled Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals next weekend

·        Leah Pruett and the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye dragster remain third in the hunt for a Top Fuel world title after quarterfinal exit

·        Mark Pawuk takes his Mopar Drag Pak to two holeshot wins and a semifinal appearance in Factory Stock Showdown to remain second in the championship

October 18, 2020, Ennis, Texas – Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) wheelman Jack Beckman earned his third win of the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing Series season at 35^th annual AAA Texas FallNationals over Funny Car points leader Matt Hagan in an all-Dodge final. The win by Beckman extends his team’s undefeated streak to a NHRA record 12 consecutive Funny Car victories which DSR has maintained since last year’s event at Texas Motorplex.

Beckman made his way to the final elimination round by defeating Cruz Pedregon, Tim Wilkerson and Bob Tasca. He scored his first-ever victory at the Dallas track earning a Wally trophy, the 33rd of his career, and the track’s signature cowboy hat with a 0.070-second reaction time and 3.908 second pass at 328.46 mph to out run Hagan’s 0.069-sec. start and 3.943 sec./324.20 mph effort. 

“Maybe the best weekend ever,” said Beckman. “I mean doubling up at Indy in 2015 is going to be awfully hard to exceed, but I so wanted to win at Dallas. My dad (Bob Beckman) lives close to here and he’s been supporting me my whole career and he’s 83-years-old. That might have been my last shot at Dallas and it’s going to be extra special to give him that cowboy hat from the (Texas) Motorplex. It’s perfect. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a better weekend at a drag strip than this.”

With just two national events remaining to determine a Funny Car world champion, the victory keeps the Infinite Hero Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver within four markers of the category leader Hagan and also keeps fans guessing as to which of the four DSR drivers might take the crown as Tommy Johnson Jr. and Ron Capps also remain in the mix.

From his No. 1 seeded position on the eliminations ladder, Hagan drove his special edition Pennzoil paint scheme Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat through eliminations with wins over Todd Simpson, J.R. Todd and teammate Capps to advance to his fourth final round appearance of the year. Despite the loss to Beckman, Hagan’s runner-up finishes in back-to back events have helped him maintain the points lead.

“All-in-all another really good day here at Dallas for this Pennzoil/Mopar team,” said Hagan who made his third final round appearance at Texas following wins in 2016 and 2019. “(Jack) Beckman just had a little better day. They have a great race car, but we have a great race car too. We’ve been keeping pace and we’re going to keep doing our thing for the next two races and see how this thing plays out. I’m super excited we get to do it again in a few days at Houston next weekend. We have a lot of momentum. The team is working great. The guys are doing a great job. We just have a little more work to do.”

Winner of the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals near St. Louis two weeks ago, No. 2 seed Johnson Jr. was looking to go rounds in his MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat and keep the battle for the championship as close as possible heading into the final two races of the season that will conclude with a “points-and-a-half” format at the season finale. Unfortunately, Johnson saw his racecar lose tire adhesion in the quarterfinals against Bob Tasca and lost a little traction in the points as well while remaining third in the standings.

From his fourth place position on the ladder, Capps joined his teammates Beckman and Hagan in advancing to the semifinals aboard his DSR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in order to gain valuable points. His day came to a disappointing end after his (0.067-sec.) 3.958 sec./ 318.84 mph effort wasn’t enough to halt Hagan’s (0.062-sec.) 3.907 sec./326.08 mph run.

From her fifth place position on the Top Fuel eliminations ladder, Leah Pruett took her Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye for a hotshot win against Scott Palmer in the first round to advance to the next round and keep her championship hopes alive. However, a quarterfinal loss to Shawn Langdon thwarted her plans to make any gains in the points, but she still maintains her third place position in the Top Fuel standings behind Steve Torrance and Doug Kalitta.

For a fifth time this season, Pruett also doubled up on track time by taking her Mopar Dodge Challenger Drag Pak for some laps in the Factory Stock Showdown (FSS) class alongside teammate Mark Pawuk. While her day was cut short with a first round loss to Arthur Kohn, her teammate had a more productive day.

Pawuk drove his Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak to back-to-back holeshot wins against John Cerone and Jesse Alexandra to advance to the semifinals and face FSS points leader Aaron Stanfield. Pawuk’s 0.091-sec. reaction time and 7.992 sec./171.58 mph run wasn’t quite enough to beat Stanfield’s 0.051-second reaction time and 7.976/171.82 pass, but he remains second in class.

NHRA competition will head south from Dallas to a second consecutive national event in the Lone Star State and the penultimate of the 2020 season. Rescheduled from its original April date, the upcoming Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented By Pennzoil will take place at Houston Raceway Park near Baytown, Texas from Oct. 23-25.

Two NHRA nitro qualifying sessions are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 24, at 1:45 and 4:45 p.m. local time. Elimination rounds at the Mopar Express Lane NHRA SpringNationals Presented By Pennzoil are scheduled to begin at 11 a.m. ET on Sunday, Oct. 25, with the television broadcast on FS1 beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET featuring LIVE coverage of the final rounds.

ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES: 

Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No.6  Qualifier – 3.917 seconds at 328.70 mph)
Round 1: (0.081-second reaction time, 3.933 seconds at 326.16 mph) defeated No. 11 Cruz Pedregon (0.071/3.981/324.98)

Round 2: (0.094/3.908/327.35) defeated No. 3 Tim Wilkerson (0.106 /4.796/164.43)

Round 3: (0.101/3.903/329.34) defeated No. 7 Bob Tasca (0.084/3.934/328.22)

Round 4: (0.070/3.908/328.46) defeated No. 1 Matt Hagan (0.069/3.943/324.20)

“Maybe the best weekend ever. I mean doubling up at Indy in 2015 is going to be awfully hard to exceed, but I so wanted to win at Dallas. My dad (Bob Beckman) lives close to here and he’s been supporting me my whole career and he’s 83-years-old. That might have been my last shot at Dallas and it’s going to be extra special to give him that cowboy hat from the (Texas) Motorplex. It’s perfect. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a better weekend at a drag strip than this.”

Matt Hagan, Pennzoil Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car  
(No. 1 Qualifier – 3.860 seconds at 328.54 mph)
Round 1: (0.082-second reaction time, 3.885 seconds at 330.63 mph) defeated No. 16 Todd Simpson (0.105/6.845/100.28)

Round 2: (0.055/3.928/326.63) defeated No. 8 J.R. Todd (0.078/3.987/326.00)

Round 3: (0.062/3.907/326.08) defeated No. 4 Ron Capps (0.067/3.958/318.84)

Round 4: (0.069/3.943/324.20) lost to No. 6 Jack Beckman (0.070/3.908/328.46)

“All-and-all another really good day here at Dallas for this Pennzoil/Mopar team. (Jack) Beckman just had a little better day. They have a great race car, but we have a great race car too. We’ve been keeping pace and we’re going to keep doing our thing for the next two races and see how this thing plays out. I’m super excited we get to do it again in a few days at Houston next weekend. We have a lot of momentum. The team is working great. The guys are doing a great job. We just have a little more work to do.”

Tommy Johnson Jr., MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 2 Qualifier – 3.871 seconds at 315.34 mph)

Round 1: (0.070-second reaction time, 3.948 seconds at 321.88 mph) defeated No.15 Jim Campbell (0.122/4.134/312.21)

Round 2: (0.055/4.348/218.09) lost to No. 7 Bob Tasca (0.096/3.972/324.83)

“That was surprising and disappointing. We had such a great running car all weekend. I didn’t expect the tires to come loose. We needed to win that round to keep pace, but that didn’t happen. We aren’t out of this thing yet. There’s two races left and points-and-a-half at the last one. We need to do our job and go rounds and try to win the next two. Still, very happy with this team and happy to be able to race with such a great group here at DSR.”

Ron Capps, NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 4  Qualifier – 3.885 seconds at 326.79 mph)
Round 1: (0.103-second reaction time, 3.907 seconds at 327.98 mph) defeated No. 13 Terry Haddock (0.272/4.188/293.92)

Round 2: (0.109/3.903/327.35) defeated No. 5 Alexis DeJoria (0.147/11.211/76.74)

Round 3: (0.067/3.958/318.84) lost to No.1 Matt Hagan (0.062/3.907/326.08)

“It’s tough to gain points when these cars in front of us keep going rounds. We felt so good from qualifying to run 3.90 the first two rounds with back-to-back three point nine zero runs, we felt we had typical Rahn Tobler. Almost like a bracket racing car and we really only tried to improve a little bit against Dickie (Venables) and (Matt) Hagan and if we got beat, we got beat. For some reason the car slowed down a little bit and ran 3.95. It’s a major bummer. Those guys are running so good that you have to improve a little bit to outrun them. It’s nice to go again at Houston next week, but we’re kind of running out of rounds to make a run for the championship. We’ll head to South Texas and try to make some ground up.”

Leah Pruett, Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye Top Fuel Dragster  
(No. 5 Qualifier – 3.732 seconds at 318.77 mph)

Round 1: (0.079-second reaction time, 3.780 seconds at 317.27 mph) defeated No. 10 Scott Palmer (0.094/3.778/317.57)

Round 2: (0.084 /3.863/293.86) loss to No. 4 Shawn Langdon (0.056/3.825/311.77)

“The resurrection of the Dodge SRT Hellcat Redeye wasn’t quite at fierce as we hoped it would be on this Sunday. We had a very competitive, stout first round against an always tough competitor in (Scott) Palmer. In the second round we had some fuel mixture mix-ups with the cylinders. That should have been an attainable round win and those win lights are just so important right now. We’re not out of this fight by any means and we’re thankful that Dodge is able put on the race at Las Vegas in two weeks. We know exactly where we’re at going into Houston and we hope it’s our time to shine in the big Lone Star State and getting that Wally at Houston.”

Mark Pawuk, Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak– Factory Stock Shootout
(No. 6 Qualifier – 7.934 seconds at 174.21 mph)

Round 1: (0.018-second reaction time, 7.989 seconds at 171.82 mph) defeated No. 11 John Cerbone (0.141/7.997/175.07)

Round 2: (0.080/7.998/171.97) defeated No. 3 Jesse Alexandra (0.202/7.963/172.28)

Round 3: (0.091/7.992/171.58) lost to No. 2 Aaron Stanfield (0.051/7.976/171.82)

“It was another good weekend for this Empaco Equipment Dodge Drag Park. We had a shot to go to the final round at Dallas, but unfortunately the driver didn’t do his job in the semis. Overall, it’s a good weekend. We qualified sixth. We’re solid in second in the points and we look forward to doing it again at Houston next weekend.”

Leah Pruett, Mopar Dodge Challenger Mopar Drag Pak – Factory Stock Shootout 
(No. 13  Qualifier – 8.001 seconds at 172.56 mph)
Round 1: (0.059-second reaction time, 8.047 seconds at 170.32  mph) lost to Arthur Kohn (0.009/8.015/171.23)

“We raced a tough car in (Arthur) Kohn today and at both ends of the track we didn’t have what it needed. It was a very close race and we’re pushing this Drag Pak to the max, but just getting beat right now. We can be down or know what it takes in the long term and we’re finding little wins that will add up, but Mark (Pawuk) is doing well for Mopar and Dodge and I can’t wait for the new Drag Pak Dodge in 2021 next spring.”

October 18, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Wrangler RIGGS team rallied from some early struggles in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway to score Stage points in the second Stage and post a 12^th-place finish at the end.

DiBenedetto earned the 18^th starting spot for Sunday’s race and was on the move early on, moving to 13^th place after just eight laps.

He fell back for the remainder of the first Stage and finished that 80-lap segment outside the top 20. A leaking left rear tire was found to be the culprit, but not before adjustments had been made to compensate for the ill-handling condition.

Once the Menards/Wrangler RIGGS team had the chance to readjust the No. 21 Mustang, DiBenedetto again began to work his way forward.

As the leaders began to make green-flag pit stops around Lap 125, crew chief Greg Erwin made the call to run long on that segment.

DiBenedetto took the lead on Lap 133 and was out front when the caution flag flew for a spin by Matt Kenseth.

That allowed DiBenedetto, who led a total of 12 laps, to make that stop under the caution. That led to a seventh-place finish in the second Stage, which was worth four bonus points.

In the third and final segment of the race, DiBenedetto ran either in the top 10 or just outside that group, eventually finishing 12^th in a race won by his fellow Ford driver Joey Logano, who now will race for the championship on Nov. 8 at Phoenix Raceway, where he won earlier this season.

“We just didn’t have the speed we needed,” DiBenedetto said. “We were a little off all day, but we recovered and made a fairly solid day out of it.”
 
He said the leaking tire early in the race was one of the team’s main challenges.
 
“It threw us for a loop and kind of put us behind for a while,” he said. “It was a little bit of a setback.” 
 
Eddie Wood said that all-in-all it was a good day at the race.
 
“I’m happy for Joey and Team Penske to have earned a spot in the championship round,” he said. “And although we didn’t finish in the top five or top 10 like you always want to do, it was a good day for us.
 
“Greg and the crew did a great job, and Matt hung tough all day even though they never got the car where he felt comfortable.
 
“And Greg’s call to run long near the end of Stage Two worked out even better than he thought it might.”
 
DiBenedetto and the Wood Brothers team remain in 15^th place in the points standings heading into next Sunday’s Autotrader 500 at Texas Motor Speedway.
 

CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION AAA TEXAS NHRA FALL NATIONALS TEXAS MOTORPLEX IN ENNIS, TEXAS SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18, 2020Chevy Doubles Up in Dallas in Pro Stock competition
• Erica Enders wins delayed St. Louis NHRA Midwest Nationals event on Saturday • Matt Hartford scores first win of 2020 with victory over last year’s winner Anderson

Ennis, Texas (October 18, 2020) – Matt Hartford marched from the No. 4 qualifier to the Winner’s Circle hoisting the coveted Wally for winning the AAA Texas NHRA Fall Nationals at Texas Motorplex. The driver of the Total Seal Camaro SS went through Chris McGaha, Bo Butner, three-time Pro Stock champion Erica Enders, and finally four-time champion Greg Anderson to capture his fourth career NHRA Pro Stock victory. Hartford sealed the deal with a holeshot run of .018 reaction time to start a 6.625 seconds/206.39 mph against Anderson in the Summit Racing Camaro SS. 
Derek Kramer powered his American Ethanol Camaro SS to his second consecutive No. 1 qualifier. He fell to Enders in second round. After qualifying concluded for the Fall Nationals, Enders won the postponed finals of the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals at St.Louis to take the points lead, only to have Jason Line in his Summit Racing Camaro SS take it back following Sunday’s finals at Texas. Line went down to Jeg Coughlin in round two.
Enders extended her points lead to 31 points over Line as the series heads to Houston with just two events left in the season. 

PRO STOCK:
MATT HARTFORD, TOTAL SEAL/CIP1/NITRO FISH CAMARO SS (race winner) “I have raced Erica enough and she is so good, and she is always leaving on me. So many of these races that I have lost have been on a holeshot. So I said, ‘I am just going to take my chances, take my time and relax and get ready to go’.  This is for everybody back at the shop and for my whole team. We are going to the finals and we aren’t scared of that guy in there (points to Greg Anderson).”
WHAT DID YOU MISS ABOUT THESE MOMENTS?“All I missed is that K.I. and Chris Singleton, my partner in crime and owner of CIP1 is not here. This is going back to Canada (holding Wally trophy).  You said you wanted two of them and I only got you one. Everybody at Total Seal, they support me so much and all the investment group behind me, they allow me to come out and do this. Its good people that allow people like me to come out and race.  And Greg Anderson, he and I have battled it out for a long time, and normally he beats me.  They are giving me incredible horsepower, we didn’t utilize it great today, but the win lights came on.” 
JASON LINE, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS, (Fell in the second round): “It was a shorter day than we anticipated for the silver Summit Racing Chevy Camaro, but the good news is that my teammates were helpful in making sure we still have a reasonable shot at the championship. They did a good job, and KB Racing got a win today. That’s great for our team owners, Ken and Judy Black, and it’s always a good thing to have a Summit Racing Chevy in the final. Tomorrow is a new day, and we’ll see what Houston holds for us. We’ve got two more races before the Finish Line Tour comes to an end for me, and I’d like to get another one of these trophies.” 

GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (fell in the finals): “Today all day, Texas was good to us. My Summit Racing Chevy was fantastic, it was the best car I had all year by a mile. But I can’t seem to get the two things together, the car and the driver, to win a race right now. You have to have both of those things just right. My guys did a great job, and they saved my bacon all day long. They tried again in the final and I dropped the ball. I have to figure out what I’m doing wrong. I’m not a guy who cuts a .060 light. I’m doing something wrong, I just don’t know what yet. That’s what I’m going to be working on before we get to Houston next week, because if I can get that figured out, we’re going to win.”
ERICA ENDERS, ELITE MOTORSPORTS, MELLING PERFORMANCE/ELITE MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS(fell in semis) “We are good all the time and our back is against the wall, but I am not worried about anybody. For this Melling Performance Chevrolet, a lot of people help us out. Mark Melling, Gallagher, and I am really proud to be affiliated with all those people.  Today wasn’t our day, but yesterday was. We got two more and they are two good tracks for us.”

JEG COUGHLIN JR., ELITE MOTORSPORTS, JEGS.COM/ELITE PERFORMANCE  CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (fell in semis): “We chipped away a little bit but left some there as well. It was great to get Jason out of the way in Round 2 and, although I would never, ever wish Erica to lose, I was sitting in the waterbox watching in Round 3 when she lost to Matt Hartford, so there was a big chance to go another round or two, but Greg (Anderson, Coughlin’s semifinal opponent) and his crew had other plans. We’ve not helped our cause the last few races but we got back on track today to some extent and we have two and a half more races to go at two of my favorite tracks on tour so we’ll keep fighting. I say two and a half because the Vegas finale is awarding points and a half each round so there is extra on the table should anyone falter.”
BO BUTNER, KB RACING, JIM BUTNER AUTO GROUPCHEVROLET CAMARO SS:(fell in second round) “I’m planning to go to Houston and win. We had two KB Racing cars in the final this week, and that’s good because I drive a KB Racing Chevy. You never know what can happen these next two races. It’s so tight right now that you really can’t pick who’s going to win.” 

NASCAR CUP SERIES KANSAS SPEEDWAY HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES OCTOBER 18, 2020
 TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER3rd     ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE6th      CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE 8th      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE11th    AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE16th    RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Joey Logano (Ford)2nd     Kevin Harvick (Ford)3rd     Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)4th      Brad Keselowski (Ford)5th      Kyle Busch (Toyota) UNOFFICIAL CURRENT PLAYOFF RANK (Following Race 7 of 10)POS.   DRIVER (* = Chevy Contender)        1.        Joey Logano: Round of Eight win2.        Kevin Harvick: + 41 points3.        Denny Hamlin: + 20 points4.        Brad Keselowski: + 8 points5.        * Chase Elliott: – 8 points6.        * Alex Bowman: – 27 points7.        Martin Truex Jr.: – 31 points8.        * Kurt Busch: – 73 points
The NASCAR Cup Series seasons continues at Texas Motor Speedway with the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 on Sunday, October 25,^, at 3:30 p.m. ET, race two of three of the Round of 8 for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, the NBC Sports Gold app, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES (INCLUDING ALEX BOWMAN AND CHASE ELLIOTT PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS):ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 3rd“It seemed like we needed a really long run there at the end. We were pretty free all day and snugged it up and snugged it up. We got our Truck Hero Camaro running a little better but didn’t really have much right rear grip. There at the end, just running wide open and it finally came back to us. I kind of burnt the tires off of it to try to get there in the first place. It is a bummer. I messed up coming to two (laps) to go and cost us any chance that we had. It is still a really good day for us. Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We are building great Camaros, just came up a little short today.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 6thWHAT A CRAZY DAY FOR CHASE ELLIOTT. IT WINDS UP BEING A SIXTH-PLACE FINISH, BUT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT ALL THE RADIO ISSUES ALL DAY LONG. YOU MUST MENTALLY BE FRIED AFTER THAT RACE. HOW BAD DID IT GET AND HOW MUCH OF A DISTRACTION WAS THAT, CHASE?“Yeah, it wasn’t a massive deal. The good news was they could hear me, I just couldn’t hear them once we went green. Once we kind of had the situation understood, that they could hear me and I just couldn’t hear them, that helped, obviously. And then from there, I just kind of knew what to expect. I was just trying to pay attention to lap count and when everybody else was going to start pitting or not. But I don’t think it ultimately hindered our performance at all.”
“We had a pretty fast NAPA Camaro. I felt like we fired off well. Lost a little track position there in that middle stage and it was just tough to get a big chunk of it back in a hurry. Had a bad restart there, fell back too far, and it just took me a long time to kind of claw back up through there. We’ve got two more weeks and we’ll try to go get them in Texas.”
MINUS EIGHT GOING INTO TEXAS – I KNOW THAT’S A RACETRACK WHERE YOU GUYS HAVE STRUGGLE IN THE PAST. BUT MARTINSVILLE AT THE END OF THIS ROUND, CHASE, HOW DO YOU ASSESS THE NEXT TWO TRACKS?“I’m looking forward to both of them. Like I’ve been saying all week, I feel like you can’t have bad tracks and expect to win a championship. You need to have a shot to win every week and I believe in that a lot. We’ll go to Texas, give it our best shot to go win, and same at Martinsville. Hopefully, we’re still alive come Phoenix.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 8th“It was a good day for us by the end there. We had a couple things happen early on that we had to recover from. We took two tires early and fell back really far in the field and that was tough. We rebounded from that though and got our car tightened up which we needed. We were just too loose for the majority of the day. By the end our car was really fast and we could have ran around fifth to seventh-place and ended up finishing eighth. That’s a good day for us. We’re putting together solid runs and we just need to keep that going as the year ends.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 CASH APP CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 18th“A pretty uneventful day for us. That was the best car we’ve had at a 1.5-mile track in a really long time. We did our homework. The guys did a really good job getting our No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Cash App Camaro ZL1 1LE kind of where we needed it all day. We started out really good and maintained that. We got a little behind on that last pit stop – a little on the tight side. But the pit crew was beyond flawless today, so super proud of them. Great effort for us for Kansas Speedway – come out of there with a good run and learned a lot heading into Texas Motor Speedway. We’ll see what we’ve got.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 24th“Our GEICO Camaro ZL1 1LE was a lot better there at the end of the race. We just didn’t have the speed overall that we needed with this package. You have to have so much downforce in the car to make up any ground on the track. Our Germain Racing team never gives up and even though the timing of a couple cautions didn’t go our way, we battled back to finish 24th. We have three races left together and our focus now shifts to Texas next week.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 25th“We had good speed in our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Kansas Speedway today. It was hard at times to get a feel on the handling of our car since it felt like it would take about seven to eight laps for the front tires to come in today, but we did a better job adjusting throughout the race this time than during our first trip to Kansas earlier this year. It felt like for most the day I was snug on entry to the corners but then would become loose on center and exit, so a lot of our focus was on figuring out what changes would help me the most overall. We just have a couple other things to continue to work on as a team to put ourselves in better contention at these races. I thought maybe I had a right front tire coming down a couple laps before I got into the wall towards the end of Stage 3, but it was tough to tell if that is what was happening in that moment, so that’s a feeling I’ll definitely put in my notebook and learn from. We still have three more opportunities left this year to finish out my rookie season strong, and I’m really looking forward to getting to Texas Motor Speedway next week to try to finish one spot better than we did in July.” KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by engine failure on lap 197; Finished 38thTOUGH WAY TO END IT FOR KURT BUSCH HERE AT KANSAS. THEY HAD THE SPEEDING PENALTY EARLIER. CAME BACK FROM THAT AND WAS RUNNING ALMOST TOP-FIVE THERE. KURT, ANY INDICATION BEFORE THAT? IT SEEMED LIKE IT HAPPENED ALL OF A SUDDEN THAT THE ENGINE STARTED TO GO.“Yeah, usually there’s no warning. Everything is so buttoned up these days in the engine department. I haven’t seen an engine problem in years. No fault of anybody at Hendrick engines. We’re running hard here. We were running top-five and there’s a ton of RPM down the front-straightaway with the tail wind. We were right in the mix. We were doing the deal. I just couldn’t quite clear some guys to get into that top-three or four and then our car would come back to us on the long run after about lap 30.” “It’s a shame for everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing. Having an engine failure in the Playoffs – it’s just like a huge parachute that slows you up. We’ll pack that parachute up, throw it away and we’ll go to Texas to win. We knew we were going to have to win either here or Texas. Martinsville we have a shot at it, too. The odds are stacked against us, but hey, we’re in the top-eight for a reason. I have a great crew chief, Matt McCall, and we’ll bounce back. Thanks to Monster, GEARWRENCH, Chevrolet. It’s just one of those things where you have an engine failure and there’s nothing we can do about it.”  ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Alex Bowman, our third‑place finisher. We’ll get right to questions for Alex.            Q. Are you happy with a top three run, your best run since Darlington, or are you frustrated because you lost points on the cutoff?ALEX BOWMAN: I’m just here to get top fives because you told me I wasn’t getting enough top fives, Bob.           No, I mean, I think it’s obviously a really good day for us. We didn’t have the car that we hoped to have. We struggled with it quite a bit today. Still got good stage points. Didn’t really have the speed we wanted to have.           But our last couple changes really got the car dialed in. We needed a little bit longer run there at the end. I think we were the fastest car, just kind of ran out of laps.           Happy and sad, a little bit bummed we lost points. A little bummed Joey won. That makes my life harder over the next couple weeks. I feel like we had a really good day. I’m really proud of my race team.           A lot of people said we were going to go out early in the Playoffs. We’re still here fighting. We’re still bringing really fast cars to the racetrack each and every week.            Q. I’m trying to understand what drivers view about races like today. You had Harvick who had a faster car, couldn’t get by Logano because he didn’t win the race off of pit road. That’s been the package for the last couple years. Have you accepted it and that’s how racing is or do you feel like guys still come away with races like that and they’re privately saying screw this package? How do drivers view it?ALEX BOWMAN: I’m just happy I have a job and get to drive racecars for a living.           I think it is somewhat frustrating that it comes down to blocking for an entire run. I think we’re all on the same package, right? We’re all race car drivers. Most of us would go race lawn mowers if NASCAR said they were switching to lawn mowers next week.           I think for us, we’re all just trying to do the best job we can with the package we have to race. That’s part of this package. On a cold day like today, it really brings out that element of it. Yeah, I mean, I wish it was easier to pass when you’re a faster car. Maybe not easier, but maybe less easy to block.           That’s just part of the package. We’re all trying to maximize it the way we need to.            Q. Was there any concern when Kurt Busch’s engine went away, since he also has a Hendrick powerplant? Have they been able to use any of the ECR components yet in the cars y’all are using for the Playoffs?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, so I didn’t even know the 1 car had an engine issue. That’s a bummer for sure. Our engine shop does a great job. Yeah, that’s a bummer.           I don’t know exactly what parts and pieces we’ve used or haven’t used yet. I know everybody is doing a really good job of working together. Chevrolet is doing an awesome job kind of helping us all work together.           Proud of everybody at the engine shop. I think this week was a step in the right direction. I think we were definitely it seemed a little better on restarts. We’re headed in the right direction. Everybody is definitely working really hard.            Q. Does this team have a little bit of a chip on its shoulder? You say with a smile almost every time you come on, Nobody expects us to be here, nobody thought we would still be here. Is that what fuels this team, kind of at times maybe a lack of respect?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, I use that as a lot of motivation personally. I love it. Honestly, like, if people want to motivate me, just talk crap about me on the Internet. It works pretty well (smiling).           Yeah, I mean, I do think my team is a little bit undervalued. They’re one of the best race teams in the garage. They make up for me not being very good at some of these places, give me some pretty great racecars to drive.           Yeah, I mean, I think we definitely have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. I think those last couple laps go a little bit differently and we could very well be going to Phoenix to race for a championship. I feel like we’re right there, right where we need to be. Everybody is doing a really good job.            Q. How proud are you of the fact that you did make it, are still here with a fighting chance? You didn’t hurt yourself today.ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, for sure. It’s crazy to think about coming in, like, 17 points back and running third, getting stage points, now being 27 points back. That’s a little wild.           Yeah, I’m really proud of our race team. The summer was really rough. We were able to switch it on a couple weeks before the Playoffs. Ever since then we’ve been firing on all cylinders, bringing great racecars to the racetrack, executing really well. Bristol and Talladega we had some issues. Other than that, really, really good each week.           Really proud of my race team.            Q. You were running up near the top 10 all day, not battling for the lead. What put you over the edge to close in at the end?ALEX BOWMAN: We were really loose all day honestly. Didn’t have a lot of right rear grip. Entry to both ends was really sketchy for the most part. Just had to calm the car down. Couldn’t get it into the corner very hard.           We just tightened up and tightened up all day. We finally got it to where I could run about wide open up top, which helped me build a lot of moment and run them down there at the end.           Yeah, just really all day fought rear grip. Finally got the rear grip we needed in the race car at the end. Could have used a little bit more, but we got it much better over the course of the race.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Alex, for taking the time to join us. We’ll see you at Texas.
ALEX BOWMAN: Thanks. You guys have a good one.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: WAS YOUR CAR WORSE AT THE END OF THE RACE COMPARED TO THE OPENING STAGE OR WAS IT JUST THE MATTER OF TRACK POSITION?“I actually thought we got our car back pretty decent there at the end. Obviously, Kevin (Harvick) was very fast and just couldn’t find a way around the No. 22 (Joey Logano). But I thought we were better than we were in the middle stage of the race – I just had a couple bad restarts there just after halfway, fell too far back and it took a long time to get back up where we needed to be.” 
WERE YOU CONCERNED AT ALL THAT NASCAR MIGHT MAKE YOU COME IN TO FIX THE RADIOS TO MAKE SURE YOU COULD HEAR YOUR SPOTTER OR DID YOU HAVE ANY SENSE THAT YOU FELT LIKE YOU COULD HEAR ENOUGH OF THEM THAT IT WASN’T AN UNSAFE SITUATION?“I didn’t think it was unsafe. Honestly, I never even thought about that. Short track dirt racers around the country race with no spotters every weekend. We have both, so I don’t know why we can’t handle it if your radios go bad.”
IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES LIKE THIS, DOES IT MAKE YOU APPRECIATE MORE HAVING CLEAR RADIO COMMUNICATION WITHOUT HAVING TO RELY ON SIGNALS AND ALL THAT?“Yeah, in certain situations, knowing what we’re doing as far as coming to pit road and things of that nature. But, luckily, I could hear them under caution, I just couldn’t hear them once we went green. We made those green flag pit stops there early in the race and, luckily, that was it. So, it could have been worse.”
YOU MENTIONED THE RESTARTS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RACE. OBVIOUSLY, THESE RESTARTS WERE WILD THROUGHOUT. LOOKING BACK, WHAT KIND OF WENT WRONG OR DIDN’T GO YOUR WAY? I KNOW A LOT OF TIMES, IT’S AS MUCH WHAT SOMEBODY ELSE DOES AS OPPOSED TO WHAT YOU’RE DOING.“Yeah, I mean it is. Sometimes, you try to get greedy and end up just hurting yourself. I feel like that’s kind of what I did there on a couple of occasions. It’s so hard, sometimes, to have a good run and realize that not doing something with it is going to net you better in a couple of laps. That’s just something I need to do a better job of.”
ALSO, OBVIOUSLY THE STRUGGLES OF LAST YEAR IN THIS ROUND, TO GET A STRONG FINISH, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, EVEN THOUGH YOU FALL BACK OUT OF A TRANSFER SPOT WITH JOEY (LOGANO) WINNING?“I think for us, we just have to treat every week like it’s our last chance – like it’s the last race of the year. That’s the best way, I think, we can approach them and I think if you were to ever make the Final Four one day, you’re going to be better prepared for it because you have to go to that last race and likely win. So, I think the more we put ourselves in that position and recognize that now, the better off we’ll be and the better we’ll be prepared.”
DID YOUR TEAM EVER FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS CAUSING THE COMMUNICATION ISSUES. AND, IF SO, WHAT WAS CAUSING IT?“I’m not sure. They could hear me, I couldn’t hear them, so that kind of tells me it was something with an earplug or something along those lines because the rest of it seemed like it was working fine. But, I don’t know for sure.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES KANSAS SPEEDWAY HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES OCTOBER 18, 2020
 TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER3rd     ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE6th      CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE 8th      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE11th    AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 AMERICAN ETHANOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE16th    RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Joey Logano (Ford)2nd     Kevin Harvick (Ford)3rd     Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)4th      Brad Keselowski (Ford)5th      Kyle Busch (Toyota) UNOFFICIAL CURRENT PLAYOFF RANK (Following Race 7 of 10)POS.   DRIVER (* = Chevy Contender)        1.        Joey Logano: Round of Eight win2.        Kevin Harvick: + 41 points3.        Denny Hamlin: + 20 points4.        Brad Keselowski: + 8 points5.        * Chase Elliott: – 8 points6.        * Alex Bowman: – 27 points7.        Martin Truex Jr.: – 31 points8.        * Kurt Busch: – 73 points
The NASCAR Cup Series seasons continues at Texas Motor Speedway with the Autotrader EchoPark Automotive 500 on Sunday, October 25,^, at 3:30 p.m. ET, race two of three of the Round of 8 for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, the NBC Sports Gold app, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES (INCLUDING ALEX BOWMAN AND CHASE ELLIOTT PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPTS):ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 3rd“It seemed like we needed a really long run there at the end. We were pretty free all day and snugged it up and snugged it up. We got our Truck Hero Camaro running a little better but didn’t really have much right rear grip. There at the end, just running wide open and it finally came back to us. I kind of burnt the tires off of it to try to get there in the first place. It is a bummer. I messed up coming to two (laps) to go and cost us any chance that we had. It is still a really good day for us. Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. We are building great Camaros, just came up a little short today.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 6thWHAT A CRAZY DAY FOR CHASE ELLIOTT. IT WINDS UP BEING A SIXTH-PLACE FINISH, BUT I WANT TO TALK ABOUT ALL THE RADIO ISSUES ALL DAY LONG. YOU MUST MENTALLY BE FRIED AFTER THAT RACE. HOW BAD DID IT GET AND HOW MUCH OF A DISTRACTION WAS THAT, CHASE?“Yeah, it wasn’t a massive deal. The good news was they could hear me, I just couldn’t hear them once we went green. Once we kind of had the situation understood, that they could hear me and I just couldn’t hear them, that helped, obviously. And then from there, I just kind of knew what to expect. I was just trying to pay attention to lap count and when everybody else was going to start pitting or not. But I don’t think it ultimately hindered our performance at all.”
“We had a pretty fast NAPA Camaro. I felt like we fired off well. Lost a little track position there in that middle stage and it was just tough to get a big chunk of it back in a hurry. Had a bad restart there, fell back too far, and it just took me a long time to kind of claw back up through there. We’ve got two more weeks and we’ll try to go get them in Texas.”
MINUS EIGHT GOING INTO TEXAS – I KNOW THAT’S A RACETRACK WHERE YOU GUYS HAVE STRUGGLE IN THE PAST. BUT MARTINSVILLE AT THE END OF THIS ROUND, CHASE, HOW DO YOU ASSESS THE NEXT TWO TRACKS?“I’m looking forward to both of them. Like I’ve been saying all week, I feel like you can’t have bad tracks and expect to win a championship. You need to have a shot to win every week and I believe in that a lot. We’ll go to Texas, give it our best shot to go win, and same at Martinsville. Hopefully, we’re still alive come Phoenix.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 8th“It was a good day for us by the end there. We had a couple things happen early on that we had to recover from. We took two tires early and fell back really far in the field and that was tough. We rebounded from that though and got our car tightened up which we needed. We were just too loose for the majority of the day. By the end our car was really fast and we could have ran around fifth to seventh-place and ended up finishing eighth. That’s a good day for us. We’re putting together solid runs and we just need to keep that going as the year ends.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 CASH APP CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 18th“A pretty uneventful day for us. That was the best car we’ve had at a 1.5-mile track in a really long time. We did our homework. The guys did a really good job getting our No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Cash App Camaro ZL1 1LE kind of where we needed it all day. We started out really good and maintained that. We got a little behind on that last pit stop – a little on the tight side. But the pit crew was beyond flawless today, so super proud of them. Great effort for us for Kansas Speedway – come out of there with a good run and learned a lot heading into Texas Motor Speedway. We’ll see what we’ve got.”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 24th“Our GEICO Camaro ZL1 1LE was a lot better there at the end of the race. We just didn’t have the speed overall that we needed with this package. You have to have so much downforce in the car to make up any ground on the track. Our Germain Racing team never gives up and even though the timing of a couple cautions didn’t go our way, we battled back to finish 24th. We have three races left together and our focus now shifts to Texas next week.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 25th“We had good speed in our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Kansas Speedway today. It was hard at times to get a feel on the handling of our car since it felt like it would take about seven to eight laps for the front tires to come in today, but we did a better job adjusting throughout the race this time than during our first trip to Kansas earlier this year. It felt like for most the day I was snug on entry to the corners but then would become loose on center and exit, so a lot of our focus was on figuring out what changes would help me the most overall. We just have a couple other things to continue to work on as a team to put ourselves in better contention at these races. I thought maybe I had a right front tire coming down a couple laps before I got into the wall towards the end of Stage 3, but it was tough to tell if that is what was happening in that moment, so that’s a feeling I’ll definitely put in my notebook and learn from. We still have three more opportunities left this year to finish out my rookie season strong, and I’m really looking forward to getting to Texas Motor Speedway next week to try to finish one spot better than we did in July.” KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by engine failure on lap 197; Finished 38thTOUGH WAY TO END IT FOR KURT BUSCH HERE AT KANSAS. THEY HAD THE SPEEDING PENALTY EARLIER. CAME BACK FROM THAT AND WAS RUNNING ALMOST TOP-FIVE THERE. KURT, ANY INDICATION BEFORE THAT? IT SEEMED LIKE IT HAPPENED ALL OF A SUDDEN THAT THE ENGINE STARTED TO GO.“Yeah, usually there’s no warning. Everything is so buttoned up these days in the engine department. I haven’t seen an engine problem in years. No fault of anybody at Hendrick engines. We’re running hard here. We were running top-five and there’s a ton of RPM down the front-straightaway with the tail wind. We were right in the mix. We were doing the deal. I just couldn’t quite clear some guys to get into that top-three or four and then our car would come back to us on the long run after about lap 30.” “It’s a shame for everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing. Having an engine failure in the Playoffs – it’s just like a huge parachute that slows you up. We’ll pack that parachute up, throw it away and we’ll go to Texas to win. We knew we were going to have to win either here or Texas. Martinsville we have a shot at it, too. The odds are stacked against us, but hey, we’re in the top-eight for a reason. I have a great crew chief, Matt McCall, and we’ll bounce back. Thanks to Monster, GEARWRENCH, Chevrolet. It’s just one of those things where you have an engine failure and there’s nothing we can do about it.”  ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM/TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: THE MODERATOR: We are joined by Alex Bowman, our third‑place finisher. We’ll get right to questions for Alex.            Q. Are you happy with a top three run, your best run since Darlington, or are you frustrated because you lost points on the cutoff?ALEX BOWMAN: I’m just here to get top fives because you told me I wasn’t getting enough top fives, Bob.           No, I mean, I think it’s obviously a really good day for us. We didn’t have the car that we hoped to have. We struggled with it quite a bit today. Still got good stage points. Didn’t really have the speed we wanted to have.           But our last couple changes really got the car dialed in. We needed a little bit longer run there at the end. I think we were the fastest car, just kind of ran out of laps.           Happy and sad, a little bit bummed we lost points. A little bummed Joey won. That makes my life harder over the next couple weeks. I feel like we had a really good day. I’m really proud of my race team.           A lot of people said we were going to go out early in the Playoffs. We’re still here fighting. We’re still bringing really fast cars to the racetrack each and every week.            Q. I’m trying to understand what drivers view about races like today. You had Harvick who had a faster car, couldn’t get by Logano because he didn’t win the race off of pit road. That’s been the package for the last couple years. Have you accepted it and that’s how racing is or do you feel like guys still come away with races like that and they’re privately saying screw this package? How do drivers view it?ALEX BOWMAN: I’m just happy I have a job and get to drive racecars for a living.           I think it is somewhat frustrating that it comes down to blocking for an entire run. I think we’re all on the same package, right? We’re all race car drivers. Most of us would go race lawn mowers if NASCAR said they were switching to lawn mowers next week.           I think for us, we’re all just trying to do the best job we can with the package we have to race. That’s part of this package. On a cold day like today, it really brings out that element of it. Yeah, I mean, I wish it was easier to pass when you’re a faster car. Maybe not easier, but maybe less easy to block.           That’s just part of the package. We’re all trying to maximize it the way we need to.            Q. Was there any concern when Kurt Busch’s engine went away, since he also has a Hendrick powerplant? Have they been able to use any of the ECR components yet in the cars y’all are using for the Playoffs?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, so I didn’t even know the 1 car had an engine issue. That’s a bummer for sure. Our engine shop does a great job. Yeah, that’s a bummer.           I don’t know exactly what parts and pieces we’ve used or haven’t used yet. I know everybody is doing a really good job of working together. Chevrolet is doing an awesome job kind of helping us all work together.           Proud of everybody at the engine shop. I think this week was a step in the right direction. I think we were definitely it seemed a little better on restarts. We’re headed in the right direction. Everybody is definitely working really hard.            Q. Does this team have a little bit of a chip on its shoulder? You say with a smile almost every time you come on, Nobody expects us to be here, nobody thought we would still be here. Is that what fuels this team, kind of at times maybe a lack of respect?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, I use that as a lot of motivation personally. I love it. Honestly, like, if people want to motivate me, just talk crap about me on the Internet. It works pretty well (smiling).           Yeah, I mean, I do think my team is a little bit undervalued. They’re one of the best race teams in the garage. They make up for me not being very good at some of these places, give me some pretty great racecars to drive.           Yeah, I mean, I think we definitely have a little bit of a chip on our shoulder. I think those last couple laps go a little bit differently and we could very well be going to Phoenix to race for a championship. I feel like we’re right there, right where we need to be. Everybody is doing a really good job.            Q. How proud are you of the fact that you did make it, are still here with a fighting chance? You didn’t hurt yourself today.ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, for sure. It’s crazy to think about coming in, like, 17 points back and running third, getting stage points, now being 27 points back. That’s a little wild.           Yeah, I’m really proud of our race team. The summer was really rough. We were able to switch it on a couple weeks before the Playoffs. Ever since then we’ve been firing on all cylinders, bringing great racecars to the racetrack, executing really well. Bristol and Talladega we had some issues. Other than that, really, really good each week.           Really proud of my race team.            Q. You were running up near the top 10 all day, not battling for the lead. What put you over the edge to close in at the end?ALEX BOWMAN: We were really loose all day honestly. Didn’t have a lot of right rear grip. Entry to both ends was really sketchy for the most part. Just had to calm the car down. Couldn’t get it into the corner very hard.           We just tightened up and tightened up all day. We finally got it to where I could run about wide open up top, which helped me build a lot of moment and run them down there at the end.           Yeah, just really all day fought rear grip. Finally got the rear grip we needed in the race car at the end. Could have used a little bit more, but we got it much better over the course of the race.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Alex, for taking the time to join us. We’ll see you at Texas.
ALEX BOWMAN: Thanks. You guys have a good one.
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: WAS YOUR CAR WORSE AT THE END OF THE RACE COMPARED TO THE OPENING STAGE OR WAS IT JUST THE MATTER OF TRACK POSITION?“I actually thought we got our car back pretty decent there at the end. Obviously, Kevin (Harvick) was very fast and just couldn’t find a way around the No. 22 (Joey Logano). But I thought we were better than we were in the middle stage of the race – I just had a couple bad restarts there just after halfway, fell too far back and it took a long time to get back up where we needed to be.” 
WERE YOU CONCERNED AT ALL THAT NASCAR MIGHT MAKE YOU COME IN TO FIX THE RADIOS TO MAKE SURE YOU COULD HEAR YOUR SPOTTER OR DID YOU HAVE ANY SENSE THAT YOU FELT LIKE YOU COULD HEAR ENOUGH OF THEM THAT IT WASN’T AN UNSAFE SITUATION?“I didn’t think it was unsafe. Honestly, I never even thought about that. Short track dirt racers around the country race with no spotters every weekend. We have both, so I don’t know why we can’t handle it if your radios go bad.”
IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES LIKE THIS, DOES IT MAKE YOU APPRECIATE MORE HAVING CLEAR RADIO COMMUNICATION WITHOUT HAVING TO RELY ON SIGNALS AND ALL THAT?“Yeah, in certain situations, knowing what we’re doing as far as coming to pit road and things of that nature. But, luckily, I could hear them under caution, I just couldn’t hear them once we went green. We made those green flag pit stops there early in the race and, luckily, that was it. So, it could have been worse.”
YOU MENTIONED THE RESTARTS IN THE MIDDLE OF THE RACE. OBVIOUSLY, THESE RESTARTS WERE WILD THROUGHOUT. LOOKING BACK, WHAT KIND OF WENT WRONG OR DIDN’T GO YOUR WAY? I KNOW A LOT OF TIMES, IT’S AS MUCH WHAT SOMEBODY ELSE DOES AS OPPOSED TO WHAT YOU’RE DOING.“Yeah, I mean it is. Sometimes, you try to get greedy and end up just hurting yourself. I feel like that’s kind of what I did there on a couple of occasions. It’s so hard, sometimes, to have a good run and realize that not doing something with it is going to net you better in a couple of laps. That’s just something I need to do a better job of.”
ALSO, OBVIOUSLY THE STRUGGLES OF LAST YEAR IN THIS ROUND, TO GET A STRONG FINISH, WHAT DOES THIS MEAN, EVEN THOUGH YOU FALL BACK OUT OF A TRANSFER SPOT WITH JOEY (LOGANO) WINNING?“I think for us, we just have to treat every week like it’s our last chance – like it’s the last race of the year. That’s the best way, I think, we can approach them and I think if you were to ever make the Final Four one day, you’re going to be better prepared for it because you have to go to that last race and likely win. So, I think the more we put ourselves in that position and recognize that now, the better off we’ll be and the better we’ll be prepared.”
DID YOUR TEAM EVER FIGURE OUT WHAT WAS CAUSING THE COMMUNICATION ISSUES. AND, IF SO, WHAT WAS CAUSING IT?“I’m not sure. They could hear me, I couldn’t hear them, so that kind of tells me it was something with an earplug or something along those lines because the rest of it seemed like it was working fine. But, I don’t know for sure.”

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet Team Earn 11th-Place Finish at Kansas Speedway

11th   17th  10th

“I’m so proud of my No. 3 American Ethanol Chevrolet team. My crew chief, Justin Alexander, and all of the guys did a great job working on our Chevy throughout the race, and we definitely learned a lot. The track was really fast today with the cold temperatures in Kansas, and restarts were wild. For most of the race we were too loose, but once we got tightened up we were able to contend and just nearly missed a top-10 finish. The bumps in Turns 1 and 2 weren’t working with us today, so we will do our homework to address that during the off-season. Overall, it was a good run for us. On to Texas Motor Speedway, where we will try to get another win before the season winds down. Thank you to everyone at Growth Energy for their support, and congratulations to them on reaching 17 billion miles on American-grown E15.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and No. 8 Caterpillar Team Show Speed Despite Late-Race Damage at Kansas Speedway

25th   15th   19th

“We had good speed in our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Kansas Speedway today. It was hard at times to get a feel on the handling of our car since it felt like it would take about seven to eight laps for the front tires to come in today, but we did a better job adjusting throughout the race this time than during our first trip to Kansas earlier this year. It felt like for most the day I was snug on entry to the corners but then would become loose on center and exit, so a lot of our focus was on figuring out what changes would help me the most overall. We just have a couple other things to continue to work on as a team to put ourselves in better contention at these races. I thought maybe I had a right front tire going down a couple laps before I got into the wall towards the end of Stage 3, but it was tough to tell if that is what was happening in that moment. That’s a feeling I’ll definitely put in my notebook and learn from. We still have three more opportunities left this year to finish out my rookie season strong, and I’m really looking forward to getting to Texas Motor Speedway next week to try to finish one spot better than we did in July.” -Tyler Reddick

ENNIS, Texas (Oct. 18) — Five-time Pro Stock world champion Jeg Coughlin Jr. managed to keep his title hopes alive Sunday at the 35th annual AAA NHRA FallNationals at Texas Motorplex by beating Jason Line in the quarterfinals and advancing to the final four in his JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro. Line entered the weekend as the class points leader but dropped to second Saturday when Coughlin’s Elite Motorsports teammate Erica Enders beat Line to win the postponed St. Louis race, which had been put on hold two weeks ago. With both Enders and Coughlin advancing to Sunday’s semifinal, the pair were able to gain a little ground on Line, who remained second, three rounds ahead of Coughlin and a round and half behind Enders.

Jeg Coughlin Jr. (left) in the pits with Elite Motorsports clutch specialist Robert Freeman.

“We chipped away a little bit but left some there as well,” Coughlin said. “It was great to get Jason out of the way in Round 2 and, although I would never, ever wish Erica to lose, I was sitting in the waterbox watching in Round 3 when she lost to Matt Hartford, so there was a big chance to go another round or two, but Greg (Anderson, Coughlin’s semifinal opponent) and his crew had other plans. “We’ve not helped our cause the last few races but we got back on track today to some extent and we have two and a half more races to go at two of my favorite tracks on tour so we’ll keep fighting. I say two and a half because the Vegas finale is awarding points and a half each round so there is extra on the table should anyone falter.” Coughlin has four victories at Houston Raceway Park, the site of next weekend’s penultimate race, having won there in 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2010. He has five more wins at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, with trophy finishes in 2000, 2001, 2002, 2008 and 2009. Sunday, Coughlin beat Aaron Stanfield with a 6.600 at 206.32 mph to Stanfield’s 6.607 at 207.43 mph, and Line with a 6.629 at 206.48 mph to Line’s 6.631 at 200.80 mph. Against Anderson, Coughlin’s 6.627 at 206.07 mph wasn’t enough for Anderson’s 6.612 at 207.40 mph. “It’s been a fun year, without question,” said Coughlin, who will retire from full-time competition after the Las Vegas finale. “We won a few races earlier this year and had the points lead for quite a while but being off just a touch in two races really cost us. But that’s behind us so we’ll focus on a great finish and see what happens.”

Troy Coughlin Jr. is enjoying his rookie year in Pro Stock after winning back-to-back Top Alcohol Dragster regional championships.

Troy Coughlin Jr., Jeg Jr.’s nephew and teammate, was beaten by Enders in the opening round of Sunday’s eliminations. Driving a JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Ford Mustang, Troy Jr. left the starting line -.002 seconds early to giftwrap the win for Enders, who powered to a 6.593 at 208.52 mph.

Portsmouth, OH (October 17, 2020) – Brandon Sheppard captured the 40th Annual General Tire Dirt Track World Championship – Presented by Optima Batteries on Saturday Night at Portsmouth Raceway Park. Sheppard earned $100,000 for his fourth career win in the crown jewel event sanctioned by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. With the win, Sheppard became the third driver in the 40-year history of the event to score back-to-back wins, joining Josh Richards and Scott Bloomquist. Ricky Thornton Jr. finished in second for his best career finish in the event with Tim McCreadie claiming third at the finish. McCreadie had led the first 23 laps of the 100-lap affair until yielding the top spot to Sheppard, who started 11th. Chris Madden; in his first DTWC start in 14 years; finished in fourth and 22nd-place starter Tyler Erb rounded out the top five drivers at the finish. McCreadie, who had already clinched second place in the championship point standings, sprinted to the lead at the start of the richest first-place prize money offered in dirt late model racing this year.  McCreadie held off challenges from last year’s DTWC runner-up Mike Marlar for several laps until Marlar lost the second spot to Sheppard on lap 21.   Sheppard made his move to the lead three laps later taking over the top spot on lap 24. Zack Dohm was on the move taking the second spot on lap 35 and started to challenge Sheppard for the lead. Dohm pulled even with Sheppard a couple of times until lap 75 when Thornton moved into second place. Thornton held the second position until the finish. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the fifth time in 2020 the 27-year-old Sheppard withstood some tense caution flags laps to get the win. “I will tell you what, I love this place. As hard as its been all weekend I knew it was going to be around the bottom at the end of the race. I knew when I rolled out there for the race, drive as hard as I could to get to the front as soon as I could. So that was kind of the game plan. We went a little different on tires than we normally do here. We had an early game, but once we got the lead we didn’t know what we were going to do.” “Our car was good just like it has been all year long. I think that’s 31 wins this year so that’s really awesome. During those cautions I had too much time to think about my right rear tire for sure. When I was in lap traffic I tried to pass them one time and I didn’t feel good and so I tucked back in behind them. Zack showed me his nose on the outside and when he showed the line a little bit different in one and two, that got me going a little bit better.” Thornton was coming off his first career LOLMDS win at Pittsburgh came home in second. “I honestly don’t think the cautions mattered. He [Sheppard] had a really good car. I was going to try and go to the top if I got close enough. On the restarts he would really take off and it took me about 5 or 6 laps to get going. We ran a little hard on tires and I knew on the restarts we wouldn’t be as good as those other guys.” McCreadie wound up third in the final rundown. “I gave it my best shot. I was too good too early, and I didn’t know where to be on the track. When Sheppard got by me I was just kind of got lost for a few laps and it cost us. On the restarts I just couldn’t get a clear track to make a move.” The winner’s Mark Richards Racing Rocket Chassis is powered by a Durham Racing Engines and is sponsored by Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Gunters Honey, Ace Metal Works, Integra Racing Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, Sallack Well Services Keyser, and Rocket 1 Pre-Owned Motors. Completing the top ten were Zack Dohm, Billy Moyer Jr., Boom Briggs, Kyle Bronson, and Jason Feger.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
40th Annual General Tire Dirt Track World Championship – Presented by Optima Batteries
Saturday, October 17th, 2020
Portsmouth Raceway Park – Portsmouth, OH
Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Tim McCreadie / 15.911 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Shane Clanton / 16.002 seconds

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (15 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 22F-Chris Ferguson[1]; 2. 44M-Chris Madden[3]; 3. 29V-Darrell Lanigan[2]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[6]; 5. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[5]; 6. 58-Ross Bailes[4]; 7. D8-Dustin Linville[8]; 8. 16-Tyler Bruening[7]; 9. 144-Anthony Kinkade[9]; 10. 10C-Craig Christian[10]; 11. (DNS) 1A-Audie Swartz

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (15 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 0-Scott Bloomquist[2]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[5]; 4. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 5. 44-Colten Burdette[1]; 6. 9-Devin Moran[7]; 7. 49-Jonathan Davenport[6]; 8. 81-Jason Riggs[9]; 9. 0P-Steve Prince[10]; 10. 17T-Tim Vance[8]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (15 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 2. C9-Steve Casebolt[5]; 3. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[1]; 4. 0PD-Freddie Carpenter[8]; 5. 83-Scott James[6]; 6. 32A-Tyler Carpenter[7]; 7. 33K-Kevin Wagner[9]; 8. 25-Shane Clanton[3]; 9. 16C-Michael Conley Jr[11]; 10. 69-Jon Hodgkiss[10]; 11. 71-Hudson O’Neal[4]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (15 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 2. C9-Steve Casebolt[5]; 3. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[1]; 4. 0PD-Freddie Carpenter[8]; 5. 83-Scott James[6]; 6. 32A-Tyler Carpenter[7]; 7. 33K-Kevin Wagner[9]; 8. 25-Shane Clanton[3]; 9. 16C-Michael Conley Jr[11]; 10. 69-Jon Hodgkiss[10]; 11. 71-Hudson O’Neal[4]

MyRacePass Heat Race #5 Finish (15 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 2. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 3. 21H-Robby Hensley[6]; 4. 25F-Jason Feger[7]; 5. 72C-Jason Covert[5]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 7. 31T-Tyler Millwood[1]; 8. 79-Doug Drown[9]; 9. 24D-Michael Brown[8]; 10. 17ST-Shannon Thornsberry[10]

Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 Finish (15 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 99B-Boom Briggs[2]; 3. 777-Jared Landers[3]; 4. 6-Kyle Larson[5]; 5. 88-Trent Ivey[4]; 6. 22-Gregg Satterlee[7]; 7. 25B-Mike Benedum[9]; 8. 95-Jerry Bowersock[6]; 9. 20B-Todd Brennan[8]; 10. 316-Fast Eddy[10]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (15 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[4]; 4. 4G-Kody Evans[7]; 5. 81E-Tanner English[5]; 6. D8-Dustin Linville[8]; 7. 71C-RJ Conley[9]; 8. 2S-Stormy Scott[15]; 9. 81F-Brandon Fouts[11]; 10. 16-Tyler Bruening[10]; 11. 144-Anthony Kinkade[12]; 12. 4B-Jackie Boggs[13]; 13. 10C-Craig Christian[14]; 14. 1A-Audie Swartz[16]; 15. (DNS) 58-Ross Bailes; 16. (DNS) 8-Kyle Strickler

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (15 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[1]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[5]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[15]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[7]; 5. 44-Colten Burdette[3]; 6. 81-Jason Riggs[9]; 7. 33K-Kevin Wagner[8]; 8. 83-Scott James[4]; 9. 0P-Steve Prince[11]; 10. 17T-Tim Vance[13]; 11. 69-Jon Hodgkiss[14]; 12. 16C-Michael Conley Jr[12]; 13. 0PD-Freddie Carpenter[2]; 14. 25-Shane Clanton[10]; 15. 32A-Tyler Carpenter[6]

Sunoco Race Fuels B-Main #3 Finish (15 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 2. 25F-Jason Feger[1]; 3. 79-Doug Drown[9]; 4. 72C-Jason Covert[3]; 5. 24D-Michael Brown[11]; 6. 22-Gregg Satterlee[6]; 7. 25B-Mike Benedum[8]; 8. 88-Trent Ivey[4]; 9. 20B-Todd Brennan[12]; 10. 95-Jerry Bowersock[10]; 11. 31T-Tyler Millwood[7]; 12. 316-Fast Eddy[14]; 13. 6-Kyle Larson[2]; 14. (DNS) 17ST-Shannon Thornsberry
Jim Dunn Memorial Non-Qualifiers Race Finish (25 Laps): 1. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[1]; 2. 44-Colten Burdette[5]; 3. 71C-RJ Conley[10]; 4. D8-Dustin Linville[7]; 5. 83-Scott James[13]; 6. 24D-Michael Brown[6]; 7. 79-Doug Drown[2]; 8. 81-Jason Riggs[8]; 9. 33K-Kevin Wagner[11]; 10. 25B-Mike Benedum[12]; 11. 144-Anthony Kinkade[19]; 12. 0PD-Freddie Carpenter[25]; 13. 81F-Brandon Fouts[15]; 14. 32A-Tyler Carpenter[24]; 15. 69-Jon Hodgkiss[22]; 16. 0P-Steve Prince[16]; 17. 95-Jerry Bowersock[20]; 18. 4G-Kody Evans[3]; 19. 20B-Todd Brennan[17]; 20. 17T-Tim Vance[18]; 21. 16C-Michael Conley Jr[23]; 22. (DNS) 4B-Jackie Boggs; 23. (DNS) 72C-Jason Covert; 24. (DNS) 88-Trent Ivey; 25. (DNS) 31T-Tyler Millwood; 26. (DNS) 22-G

Garcia, Taylor, Catsburg continue strong season in GTLM championship push

BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 18, 2020) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Nicky Catsburg posted a runner-up class finish Saturday in the 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. The trio narrowly missed sending their No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to its sixth victory of the season in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Le Mans (GTLM) class. After a wild and crazy afternoon, the No. 3 Corvette team finished just 1.779 seconds from its third straight class victory. The result, though, was good enough to increase the Drivers’ Championship lead for Garcia, Taylor and the No. 3 Corvette C8.R team to 28 points with two races to go. Chevrolet grew its lead in the Manufacturers standings to 16 points. Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner and Marcel Fässler placed fourth in class with the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R. Both of the mid-engine Corvettes led multiple times on a topsy-turvy day. Gaps between cars in GTLM rose and fell on a whim in traffic, which wasn’t unexpected around the challenging and undulating 2.54-mile, 12-turn road course. Garcia began from the GTLM pole, dropped to fourth at the start but regained the lead by the time his 94-minute opening run finished, thanks to skillful driving and great pit work by the No. 3 Corvette crew. The team twice gained three spots on pit stops in the race. Taylor drove a double-stint and again pitted from the lead to hand over to Catsburg near the three-and-a-half-hour mark for his only double stint of the race.  Taylor took back over just past the halfway point and remained in contention into darkness before Garcia’s final triple stint to close. A full-course caution period with 11 minutes left gave Garcia – who earlier took advantage of trouble for Jesse Krohn’s race-leading BMW with 37 minutes remaining to move into second place – his chance to pounce on Fred Makowiecki’s leading Porsche. Unfortunately a final caution period following the restart with five minutes left meant the race ended under full-course yellow. Milner drove a triple-stint to start in the No. 4 Corvette and led twice in his opening run after starting the race fifth in class. Fässler was in next and kept the car in contention before Gavin got in nearly three hours in. From that point, the No. 4 Corvette struggled to match the ultimate pace of the race leaders, although both Milner and Fässler drove strong stints in the race’s second half to keep the No. 4 Corvette in contention for a podium finish to the end. Corvette Racing’s next event is Oct. 31-Nov. 1 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: “The late yellows may have been the difference. We didn’t have the pace against the 24. I tried very hard in my first stint when I got back in the car at night. We managed to gap both of the Porsches, and they went on a different strategy than us. I got held up by the 25 BMW, and that hurt. I don’t know if he didn’t know I was there. I had to pit a little sooner than expected, and from that point we were on the back foot. My middle stint wasn’t as good compared to the 911, and even if I picked up the pace at the end of the stint then it wasn’t enough. I couldn’t defend against him when I came out of the pits on cold tires (with 45 minutes left). Without a yellow, it would have been a question as to who would make the tires last the longest. We were both pushing hard. There was a chance for us but it was another second at Petit Le Mans. Looking back at the season, if this is a bad result then I will take it! We are in good shape for the championship. From that standpoint, we can be very happy of the consistency and being able to fight at every single race. We’ll go and try to win the last two and close it out.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: “That was a tough race, but was a good day overall for Corvette Racing. When you look at the whole day, it was pretty flawless for the No. 3 side – no issues on the track, no issues in the pits, perfect strategy and perfect in the pits. To come away with P2 is great. It’s good for the points. But you always want to win these big ones when you have the opportunity. I think if we had gone green at the end then Antonio would have had something for the 911. It was unfortunate to see it go yellow at the end, but overall it was a good day.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTLM: “It was a nice race but very busy. It’s cool to be on the podium at this event with this car, this team and these teammates. Somehow it feels like we could have gotten a win, but I’m still happy with P2. It’s been a good event for us. The team and drivers did a faultless job. Maybe we didn’t have the pace at the end, but this was still a cool event for us. I had a moment with one of the Porsches that went too far in my opinion. He was racing like it was the last lap of the race and was pretty unacceptable. I think he got a drive-through penalty for it. But other than that I was quite happy with the double-stint I did and am looking forward to being back in the Corvette at Sebring.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FIFTH IN GTLM: “This was the most difficult Petit Le Mans that I’ve ever done. I’ve had hurt ribs after an incident biking  earlier this week. I felt good around Wednesday but it became apparent Thursday that it was going to be a struggle in the car. I received a number of different treatments trying to get as comfortable as possible with the goal of doing a stint or two in the race. It just was too much pain and discomfort in my stint and we elected to get Marcel back in during the caution. He and Tommy did an amazing job under the circumstances, especially in a race as unpredictable as Petit Le Mans. Thanks to them and the team for all the effort and encouragement. We’ll try to get back on the right track at Laguna Seca later this month.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FIFTH IN GTLM: “We just weren’t good enough today. It was tough and frustrating. At times the car was good. It looks like we were off a little bit there at the end pace-wise compared to everyone else. We were hoping for a yellow late and got it, and thought we could have done something with it. I maybe had an opportunity or two with the 24 in the first few corners but it would have probably been more crashing and mayhem; it wasn’t worth running somebody off the road just for a spot. That’s not how I like to race. We’ll learn what we can, go to Laguna Seca and try again.”

MARCEL FÄSSLER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FIFTH IN GTLM: “My first run in the race was quite good, but I think I pushed a little too hard on the tires because they dropped off toward the end. That meant I struggled with some pace. The middle stint was good, and I was happy with the balance of the Corvette. The night portion was quite tough because somehow I couldn’t get the front tires to work. It was an issue and I lost a lot in traffic. We were hoping for an earlier caution to help us out. It was not easy out there with the traffic. But the Corvette C8.R showed it has great pace. The pit stops were perfect all day, and the team had a great day in the championship. I’m looking forward to Sebring and hoping we can have a better run and be back on the podium in the No. 4 Corvette.”

·        Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) pilot Matt Hagan and Pennzoil Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat earned No.1 qualifier position for 35^th annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals.

·        Hagan is defending winner and hopes to extend DSR’s record win streak of 11 Funny Car event titles which he launched last year at Texas Motorplex

·        Hagan leads DSR teammates in battle for Funny Car world championship 

·        DSR’s Tommy Johnson Jr. qualifies No.2 with his MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car following his Mopar Express lane NHRA Midwest Nationals win.

·        Leah Pruett qualifies her Mopar dragster fifth and heads into eliminations third in the Top Fuel championship points 

·        Pruett pulls double duty for the fifth time this season as she qualifies her Mopar Dodge Challenger Drak Pak 13th for Factory Stock Showdown (FSS)

·        Mopar Drag Pak teammate Mark Pawuk qualifies No.6 for FSS eliminations

October 17, 2020, Ennis, Texas – Three events remain in the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Drag Racing Series season and a fierce battle for the Funny Car world championship intensifies amongst the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) quartet of Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat machines as Matt Hagan laid down two stout qualifying passes aboard his Pennzoil Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to earn the No.1 qualifier position honor and maintain the Funny Car points lead heading into Sunday’s 35th annual AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals near Dallas, Texas.

Hagan’s fourth No.1 qualifier position of the 2020 NHRA season, the 40th of his career, also puts him in prime position to defend his 2019 Texas Motorplex Wally trophy and extend his team’s record win streak of 11 consecutive Funny Car victories which was launched with his win here last year.

Hagan’s efforts in qualifying earned him five bonus points as he posted the second quickest run in the first session, a 3.890-second elapsed time pass at 323.97 mph, and the best run of the second session, a 3.860 sec./328.54 mph lap, to stay atop the standings and ahead of teammates Jack Beckman, Tommy Johnson Jr. and Ron Capps, who are 2-3-4 respectively. In fact, all four DSR Dodge Charger Funny Cars earned at least one bonus point for posting a top-3 qualifying run and are seeded in the top-half of the eliminations ladder, thus avoiding any first round pairings against a teammate.

Hagan will begin his race day against No. 16 seed Todd Simpson after finishing runner-up in the previous national event to his teammate Johnson Jr.

Winner of the Mopar Express Lane NHRA Midwest Nationals near St. Louis two weeks ago, Johnson Jr. kept the positive momentum going through the first qualifying session where he posted the quickest lap aboard his MD Anderson Dodge Charger and earned the No. 2 spot on the eliminations ladder. He’ll see Jim Campbell as his first round opponent.

Fourth in points and also on Sunday’s eliminations ladder, Capps will line-up his Dodge Charger next to Terry Haddock for the opening round, while sixth-seed, Jack Beckman, will match-up against No. 11 seed Cruz Pedregon.

Two weeks removed from a harrowing incident aboard her DSR dragster in eliminations, Leah Pruett showed everyone that her unwavering focus remains on battling for an event win this season and to continue to vie for the Top Fuel championship. Pruett qualified her Mopar dragster fifth and will see Scott Palmer in the next lane for the first round of Top Fuel action.

For a fifth event this season, Pruett will pull double duty as she also competes in Factory Stock Showdown (FSS) aboard her Mopar Dodge Challenger alongside teammate Mark Pawuk.

Pawuk qualified No. 6 aboard his Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak and will face John Cerbone in the first round of eliminations, while Pruett is seeded 13^th and will see No. 4 Arthur Kohn as her first round pairing.

Elimination rounds for the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals will begin at 10 a.m. local time on Sunday, Oct. 18, with the television broadcast on FS1 to air from 2-5 p.m. ET featuring live coverage of the final round of eliminations at Texas Motorplex.

ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES: 

Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No.6  Qualifier – 3.917 seconds at 328.70 mph)
Qualifying 1: 3.917 sec./ 328.70 mph

Qualifying 2: 3.978 sec./ 316.23 mph

“So we unloaded with a nice run and that always takes the pressure off. Even though there’s only 16 cars you always want to qualify well and you want bonus points and we did that on the first run. We tried some different parts on the second run and we’re not quite sure what happened. All of our backup parts should be good and predicable. Something probably didn’t do what it was supposed to do in the bellhousing department. We’ll go back and look at all the data and figure it out and have a hot race car for tomorrow. I’m looking for four win lights for the Infinite Hero Dodge.”

Matt Hagan, Pennzoil Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car  
(No. 1 Qualifier – 3.860 seconds at 328.54 mph)
Qualifying 1: 3.890 sec./ 323.97 mph

Qualifying 2: 3.860 sec./ 328.54 mph

“We made two great runs with this Pennzoil Dodge. It was a bit of a cluster up there for the second run. We were trying to make a clutch call and Dickie (Venables) was trying to put a timing map in, and I was like take a deep breath, it’s going to be alright. And it was. I have a great race car under me and I’m trying to drive the wheels off of it and it’s amazing to see all these fans here at the Texas Motorplex and it sort of feels normal and I love it. We’ll try to make four good laps tomorrow and stay in the championship hunt for Dodge and Mopar and all those who support us.”

Tommy Johnson Jr., MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 2 Qualifier – 3.914 seconds at 315.78 mph)

Qualifying 1: 3.871 sec./ 315.34 mph 

Qualifying 2: 3.914 sec./ 315.78 mph

“We were going for it on the second lap and it laid over a little bit on the top end there. No biggie, still two good laps. I knew they were taking as swing as we had nothing to lose. We have a good, solid race car for MD Anderson. We’re strong contenders for tomorrow. We’re in top half of the field again and we’ve put ourselves in a strong position and we’re doing everything we can to make it a good race day and championship chase.”

Ron Capps, NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 4  Qualifier – 3.885 seconds at 326.79 mph)
Qualifying 1: 8.473 sec./ 74.92 mph 

Qualifying 2: 3.885 sec./ 326.79 mph

We certainly didn’t start off the way we wanted to and this current format with only two qualifying runs on Saturday, you hate to lose one. It actually shook the tires on the first run, but (Rahn) Tobler and our NAPA team tried a few things that we were hoping would increase the performance. It didn’t work on that run, but a lot of times we seem to learn more from things that don’t work than do. He put it back to normal and it went right down the track at a great 3.88 that put us No. 4 in qualifying. That’s a great job to bounce back and that gives us a lot of confidence going into race day tomorrow. We’re looking to make a move and work our way back up in the points.”

Leah Pruett, Mopar Top Fuel Dragster  
(No. 5 Qualifier – 3.732 seconds at 318.77 mph)

Qualifying 1: 4.104 sec./ 203.92 mph 

Qualifying 2: 3.732 sec./ 318.77 mph

“It was a very progressive qualifying day for the SRT Hellcat Redeye team. Especially after St. Louis and having to front half a car and put it together for battle this weekend here at Dallas. The first hit we had some fuel system issues and made a couple of tuning adjustments and sent it right down Broadway. For me, that was very rewarding for me after the last race. If you didn’t have any apprehension, you wouldn’t be humane. We feel human today and we feel like we got our momentum back and we’re looking forward to hitting four jackpots tomorrow with this Mopar dragster.”

Mark Pawuk, Empaco Equipment Mopar Drag Pak– Factory Stock Shootout
(No. 6 Qualifier – 7.934 seconds at 174.21 mph)

Qualifying 1: 7.934 sec./ 174.21 mph

Qualifying 2: 7.934 sec./ 174.21 mph

“It was another decent qualifying outing for the Empaco Equipment Dodge Drag Pak with DSR. We qualified sixth. We did ok on Friday, but made a better run today. We made some changes to the car and we were in the top four today. Hopefully the driver does his job and we can continue to go some rounds and rack up some Factory Stock Showdown points and continue the momentum that we started at Indy at the U.S. Nationals and we want to keep it going for three more weeks.”

Leah Pruett, Mopar Dodge Challenger Mopar Drag Pak – Factory Stock Shootout 
(No. 13  Qualifier – 8.001 seconds at 172.56 mph)
Qualifying 1: 8.002 sec./ 172.56 mph

Qualifying 2: 8.001 sec./ 170.82 mph

“We made a lot of major changes between Q1 and Q2, from Friday to Saturday, and we had nearly the same result. Where we qualified was in the No. 13 spot. We know what our handicap is and we’re not able to adjust for that this season. We will try to put as much power to the ground as we can and Mark’s (Pawuk) car is carrying the Mopar flagship and it’s important to keep him fighting for the Factory Stock championship. I love this class. It’s a lot of fun and I love running for Mopar and to compete and win.”

Late-race battle for first ends in contact, ends Acura winning streak
Acura Team Penske ARX-05 prototypes finish second and third
Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo again knocked out of GTD contention

BRASELTON, Ga. (Oct. 17, 2020) – Acura’s winning streak in the 2020 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship ended at three Saturday at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, as contact resulted in second- and third-place finishes for the Acura Team Penske prototypes. In GTD, the Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo had to go behind the wall for repairs following contact from another competitor.

Acura Team Penske
Hopes of continuing the three-race victory streak, that started at Road America in August for the #7 Acura ARX-05 of Ricky Taylor, Helio Castroneves and endurance driver Alexander Rossi, came to an end in the closing minutes of today’s 10-hour event, as Taylor made contact with Action Express driver Pipo Derani while battling for the lead, and both cars spun.

Wayne Taylor Racing driver Renger van der Zande, running third when Taylor and Derani collided, then moved into the lead, and his victory was assured when another crash involving a GTLM-class competitor resulted in the race ending under the caution flag.

Starting from the pole following a lap-record qualifying run by Dane Cameron, the #6 Acura ARX-05 led from the green, with teammate Ricky Taylor slotting his #7 ARX-05 into second. Cameron and co-drivers Juan Pablo Montoya and Alexander Rossi continued to lead the field at the one, two, three hour marks; and led again as the race neared its halfway point at five hours.

Just minutes before the five-hour mark, the #8 Tower Motorsports by Starworks LMP2 class prototype lost control while avoiding a collision involving the Mazda prototype of Tristan Nunez and the GTD Ferrari of Alessandro Balzan, and made contact with Cameron’s Acura. Although the Acura Team Penske crew quickly replaced the damaged nose on the #6 ARX-05, it was unable to match its previous pace, but still recovered for a third-place finish behind their teammates.

Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo
For the third race in succession, contact with a competitor ended the GTD class victory hopes for the #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 piloted by Mario Farnbacher, Matt McMurry and Shinya Michimi.

After a lap record qualifying run to the class pole by Michimi on Friday, the MSR Acura swapped the GTD lead with the #48 Paul Miller Racing Lamborghini throughout the first four hours. Still running in the lead pack with less than three hours remaining, contact with the #23 Heart of Racing Aston Martin sent both cars to the pits with suspension damage. After a long stop for repairs, the #86 returned to finish an unrepresentative 10th.

The #57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Acura of Alvaro Parente, Misha Goikhberg and Trent Hindman ran as high as third with just over two hours remaining, but handling issues in the final hour saw Hindman fall away from the lead pack to finish sixth.

Next
The 2020 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship next heads west to central California for the Halloween weekend Monterey Sports Car Championship race, October 30-November 1 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Acura Motorsports social media content and video links from the Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta are available on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), on Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter (www.twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).   

Quotes
Ted Klaus (President, Honda Performance Development) on today’s Motul Petit Le Mans: “
“The results were disappointing for us, but it certainly was another wild and crazy Petit Le Mans. The racing was exciting, and the #7 Acura was challenging for the victory right until the contact with the #31 car, which unfortunately then gave the Wayne Taylor team the opportunity they needed to extend their lead in the championship. In GTD, for the third race in succession, the #86 NSX GT3 Evo was damaged by contact from another GTD competitor, once again ending their chance for a class win. But there are two races remaining, so it’s on to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca for the penultimate race of 2020. I’m proud of everyone’s efforts at Acura Team Penske, Meyer Shank Racing and HPD, but we have work to do to earn the championships we desire.”

Ricky Taylor (#7 Acura Team Penske ARX-05) finished second: “I have to thank everyone at Acura and Team Penske for the speed they brought this weekend to Petit Le Mans. We showed all weekend that we were going to be tough to beat, and it played out that way in the race. I hate the way that it ended, and in no way did I mean to take out the #31 car. It’s Petit Le Mans. Everyone wants to win this race and I saw an opportunity to do that for my team. To come home second is a solid points day, but we were the car to beat at the end and I’m bummed that we didn’t end on top of the podium.” 

Trent Hindman (#57 Heinricher Racing with MSR Acura NSX GT3 Evo) finished sixth in GTD: “I have to thank the team for having me back for another race. I wish I could have helped [co-drivers] Alvaro [Parente] and Misha [Goikhberg] get a better result, but we just didn’t have to pace to be able to compete up front. The guys in pit lane had some great stops, and we had seamless driver changes which really helped us. The last stint was pretty tough, and I had a hard time getting the car to brake and slow down enough into the corners. We started sixth and finished sixth, so we didn’t lose any positions but you always want to do better. I’m really looking forward to being back with the team for the Sebring 12-hour next month.” 

Late Race Crash Ends Promising Top-Three Run for Anthony Alfredo and The No. 21 Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevrolet Team at Kansas Speedway

29th   25th  9th

“We had a really strong Andy’s Frozen Custard Chevrolet tonight, and ran in the top-five for most of the race. Unfortunately, an on-track incident in Stage 3 ended our race early. We were four-wide on a restart and no one backed down. That was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced, and it definitely shows you how fast things can happen in racing. I ended upside down, on my roof and I just have to thank the NASCAR safety crew for being there immediately. They were there before I even realized the wreck was over or where I was. I’m glad to be okay, and thankful for everyone at RCR that builds these safe race cars that we have today, and all of the safety equipment that goes into keeping all of us drivers safe in the race cars. I wish we could have flipped the car back over and kept digging because I was having a blast running up front tonight at Kansas Speedway. It’s been an awesome year so far and we still have one more shot to go win a race at Texas Motor Speedway next weekend.”-Anthony Alfredo