NHRA^® Team Report

NHRA U.S. Nationals – Gatornationals

Pre-Race Report

As a five-time number one qualifier and previous winner of the Gatornationals, Cruz Pedregon and team are headed to Florida with their sights set on a strong showing. The Snap-on Dodge^® will be decked out in its Snap-on 100^th scheme, that was recently featured on a magazine cover, while a new body and paint scheme are being prepped for October.

In the magazine’s article, Cruz says, “I feel like we’re on the brink of breaking out of the rebuilding mode that I’ve been in for several years now.” He shares that he’s got one of the most solid teams he’s had in a decade and feels like the team “stacks up well” in facing the competition.

Working with Nick (Casertano) and Eric (Lane), Cruz says he, the team and the Snap-on Funny Car are ready to take on the rest of what’s been a challenging year for drivers, teams and fans. 

“When you’ve got good people on your side, you know those incremental improvements you make each race are the result of their hard work under circumstances none of us could have imagined,” he says. He adds that he’s grateful to the sponsors, his team members and fans for continuing to make the sport of drag racing one of the best to be a part of saying, “We still have our eyes on winning and love having the fans along with us on TV, online and in the stands for the ride.”

While Cruz’s Dodge^® is still sporting the Snap-on 100^th paint scheme, he’s hoping fans will take and post pictures of the car with the hashtag #Snapon100. 

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

To see the latest Cruz news, like his Facebook page, where you can also check out his Vlog “Kickin’ It With The Cruzer.” Follow Cruz on Twitter and Instagram, and like the Snap-on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages for all things tools, racing and Cruz.

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY BRISTOL, TENNESSEE SEPTEMBER 19, 2020
BRISTOL: RACE #29It’s a historic race with Playoff implications on the line – it’s ‘America’s Night Race’ at Bristol Motor Speedway. For the third time this season, the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) returns to the ‘World’s Fastest Half-Mile’ for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The pressure is heightened as the 500-lap, 266.5-mile event at the .533-mile Tennessee venue will serve as the third race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and the cut-off race for the Round of 16. This weekend’s event marks the first time in NASCAR history that Bristol Motor Speedway has hosted a post-season event. 
Joining the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will visit Bristol Motor Speedway to make it a three-day race weekend. The weekend’s schedule kicked off with the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics for the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors on Thursday night, which served as the first race in the Truck Series’ seven-race Playoff stretch. Bristol Motor Speedway will also be the host of the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season finale with the Food City 300 on Friday, September 18, at 7:00 p.m. ET as drivers vie for the last chance to compete for the championship title. With momentum on his side, JR Motorsports and Chevrolet driver Justin Allgaier enters the weekend coming off of a doubleheader sweep at Richmond Raceway, giving the team their 50th and 51st victories in the series. 
A limited number of fans will be allowed to take in the action in-person for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series’ events, adhering to all safety measures and protocols in place. To-date, the NCS All-Star Race that took place in July at Bristol Motor Speedway has had the largest crowd in any sporting event this year since the pandemic restrictions took place in March. With approval for up to 30,000 fans in attendance, Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race has been sold out at ‘socially-distanced capacity’. 
ROUND OF 16: THE CUT-OFF RACEFor the first time in NASCAR history, Bristol Motor Speedway will be the host of the third race of the Playoffs, serving as the elimination race for the first of four rounds and cutting the championship field down from 16 to 12 drivers. Bristol will become the fifth different track to serve as the third race of the Playoffs, joining Talladega Superspeedway (2004-2005), Kansas Speedway (2006–2010), Dover International Speedway (2011-2017) and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (2018-2019). Heading into the Bristol race weekend, here are where the Team Chevy Playoff Contenders sit in the points standings:  Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Camaro ZL1 1LE – 6th in Standings (2,094 points)Victories: 1 (Texas Motor Speedway) Top-Fives: 4; Top-10’s 9; Laps Led: 135; Average Finish: 15.9Stage Top-Five’s: 5; Stage Top-10’s: 16; Stage Points: 78At Bristol: Top-Five’s: 1; Top-10’s: 3; Average Finish: 17.385 Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE – 7th in Standings (2,086 points)Victories: 2 (Charlotte Motor Speedway and Daytona Road Course)Top-Fives: 11; Top-10’s: 16; Laps Led: 646; Average Finish: 12.8Stage Wins: 6; Stage Top-Five’s: 20; Stage Top-10’s: 38; Stage Points: 217At Bristol: Top-Five’s: 3; Top-10’s: 4; Average Finish: 12.667 Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE – 8th in Standings (2,085 points)Victories: 1 (Auto Club Speedway)Top-Fives: 3; Top-10’s: 10; Laps Led: 389; Average Finish: 16.3Stage Wins: 4; Stage Top-Five’s: 14; Stage Top-10’s: 31; Stage Points: 184At Bristol: Top-Five’s: 1; Top-10’s: 2; Average Finish: 22.667 Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE – 11th in Standings (2,065 points)Top-Fives: 4; Top-10’s: 15; Laps Led: 111; Average Finish: 13.2Stage Wins: 1; Stage Top-Five’s: 6; Stage Top-10’s: 24; Stage Points: 101At Bristol: Wins: 6; Top-Five’s: 12; Top-10’s: 21; Average Finish: 14.871 William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 1LE – 13th in Standings (2,058 points)Victories: 1 (Daytona International Speedway)Top-Fives: 3; Top-10’s: 10; Laps Led: 97; Average Finish: 15.9Stage Wins: 2; Stage Top-Five’s 9; Stage Top-10’s: 24; Stage Points: 117At Bristol: Top-10’s: 1; Average Finish: 17.2 
BOWTIE BULLETS·       Current Chevrolet drivers that have recorded wins at Bristol Motor Speedway include:Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, has 6 wins (’02, twice in ’03. ’04, ’06, & ’18).Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, has 2 wins (’10 & ’17).Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE, has 4 wins (’05, ’06, ’13 & ’15)
·       Of 119 NASCAR Cup Series events held at “The Last Great Colosseum”, Chevrolet has scored 210 top-five’s, 437 top-10’s and have led 23,701 laps.
·       Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE, leads all active drivers in top-five finishes with 15.
·       Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, leads the series’ active drivers in top-10 finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway with 21. Since 2014, Johnson also leads all drivers with an average finish of 8.85. 
·       Of the NCS active drivers, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, ties for the most starts at Bristol Motor Speedway with 39. His March 2002 victory at Bristol made him one of just five drivers to score their first career NASCAR Cup Series win at the track.  BRISTOL SCORECARDNASCAR’s premier series has made 119 appearances at the high-banked, all-concrete Tennessee short track. With eight different manufacturer’s finding their way to victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway in NASCAR’s history, Chevrolet leads the way with 45 wins, giving the Bowtie brand a winning percentage of 37.8%. Chevrolet’s first win at Bristol Motor Speedway was captured by Charlie Glotzbach in the 1971 event, which also set the current race record at 101.074 mph.  In addition to the win category, of nine different manufacturers that have won the pole at Bristol Motor Speedway, Chevrolet has scored 39 poles, more than any other manufacturer. Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet driver Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE, currently holds the track qualifying record from his April 2019 pole win, clocking in at 131.713 mph with a lap time of 14.586 seconds. Of his 10 career-starts, Elliott also leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in average starting position with 6.889.  STARTING LINEUPFor the remainder of the 2020 NCS season, the starting lineups will be determined by a competition-based formula, combining the following metrics from the previous race event: 15% of a fastest lap time position, 25% of the driver’s final race finish position, 25% of the owner’s final race position and 35% of the Owner points position.  Here are Team Chevy’s top-20 starters for Saturday Bass Pro Shops Night Race: 5th      Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Off Road Camaro ZL1 1LE6th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE8th      Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE13th    Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE15th    William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 1LE17th    Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Childress Vineyards Camaro ZL1 1LE19th    Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE TUNE-INNBCSN will telecast the 500-lap, 266.5-mile Bass Pro Shops Night Race live at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 19th. Live coverage can also be found on the NBC Sports Gold App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.  QUOTABLE QUOTES:AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 6th IN STANDINGSWHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY? “Anything can happen at Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s a short track and you can get caught up in things fast. Our goal as a team is to be consistent and to try and score Stage points early. I think Stage points will play a big part of advancing out of each round in the NASCAR Playoffs, and with Bristol being the cutoff race there’s a lot on the line.” WHAT’S GOING TO BE YOUR TOP PRIORITY FOR THE BRISTOL RACE WEEKEND? JUST FINISHING OR GOING FOR A WIN? “I think you’ve got to keep going for wins. Darlington and Richmond were both good races for us, but we have just as much potential at Bristol. We had a solid run here back in May, and I really think this team has the capability to back that up.”  DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WERE OVERLOOKED COMING INTO THE PLAYOFFS A LITTLE BIT? “I get overlooked some, probably more than most, and I don’t know why.  I always feel like I perform pretty well in pressure situations, and RCR as a whole can step up.  I have total belief in the 3 team and probably more belief this year than I’ve ever had because we’ve brought consistent speed to the track. We might not have gotten every finish that we should have gotten this year, but we’ve gotten a lot of good finishes. It’s been one of my best years statistically and just the ability behind the cars are better. Chevy has stepped up.  Eric Warren, RCR, all of the mechanics and everybody that puts work in do a really good job. I think the smaller group has been good for us, with less distractions at the track.  As a whole, our group really works together well.” CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 7th IN STANDINGSDOES SUCCESS AT PREVIOUS RACES AT BRISTOL THIS SEASON GIVE YOU AN EDGE?“I’m not sure that it gives us an edge, but it does give us a good starting spot from a setup perspective so I look forward to that. I think we have a good base line, so to speak, to start the race which is encouraging. Hopefully we can make the right adjustments throughout the race to be good at the end of 500 laps.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 8th IN STANDINGSBOWMAN ON BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Bristol is a good track for us, just as long as we have the track position we need. If you get down on track position early, it can be difficult to bounce back. We ran pretty strong in the All-Star race over the summer, which gives the team some momentum going into the final race in the Round of 16.” BOWMAN ON THE TEAM’S MOMENTUM: “Following last weekend’s race in Richmond, we have some really good momentum going into Bristol. Richmond has always been a tough track for this team but coming out of Saturday night with a ninth-place finish, was like a win. We are doing what we need to do, as a team, in order to continue pushing our way through the playoff rounds.” KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 11th IN STANDINGS“I think this is awesome to have a Bristol race in the playoffs. I think Bristol has always been deserving of being in the Playoffs. Even though it’s one of those Crown jewel, marquee events; it’s as big as the Southern 500 was a couple weeks ago at Darlington. I mean, it’s the Bristol night Race! A lot of people are focused on playoffs and it’s the cutoff at same time. The set-ups for Bristol have changed a lot, pretty rapidly. Some of my consistent results there; I finished second to my little brother when I first started with Chip Ganassi racing, I won there in 2018 with Stewart Haas. Those set-ups just aren’t there anymore. We’ve had to evolve and adapt. This particular race with the Playoff situation puts things into the drivers hands. If he says you’re two points to the good; you want look in the mirror and make sure you’re clear. If he says your two points behind and somebody’s on your front bumper out ahead, well, that’s where you’ve got to take matters into your own hands. That’s what this opportunity is for everybody to advance through the rounds. It’s a short track and drivers need to take things into their own hands.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 13th IN STANDINGSBYRON ON HIS MINDSET FOR BRISTOL: “I have confidence for this weekend at Bristol after our performance in the spring race and the All-Star Race. We ran well in both races this year, plus all four races that I’ve run there with Chad (Knaus) on the pit box have been good. We’ve just had circumstances out of our control. I think Hendrick Motorsports as whole runs well at Bristol, too. Chase (Elliott) showed that with his All-Star Race win in the summer. That just means we have a good notebook to utilize for our setup. Overall, I have confidence for this Saturday’s race. We just need to focus on the details, execute all race and we’ll accomplish what we need to.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHILDRESS VINEYARDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 19th IN STANDINGSOVER THE COURSE OF THESE FINAL EIGHT RACES, WE RETURN TO A COUPLE OF TRACKS YOU’VE NOW BEEN ABLE TO MAKE A CUP START AT, INCLUDING THIS WEEKEND AT BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY. HOW ARE YOU AND THE TEAM LOOKING TO IMPROVE FROM YOUR LAST RACE AT BRISTOL?“We had a really good Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE during the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway. We started near the back of the field due to how line-ups were determined at the time, but we were making some good adjustments on our car and starting to pick our way up through the field. Unfortunately, it was just a wrong place-wrong time situation when we got caught up in the wreck with the No. 47 car and a few others during the first part of that race. Bristol is a tough track and one where you have to be aware of those moves people will make entering the backstretch, especially since that seems to be where a lot of the wrecks happen. So that is something I’ll be paying attention to, but we had a solid piece entering that race and were making good adjustments before our day ended early. We’ll definitely be looking back at our notes from that time to get a feel for what we want to do entering this weekend’s event with our No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet.”

September 20, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy team had some good luck and some bad in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, but in the end, not enough good fortune to advance to the Round of 12 in the Cup Series Playoffs.   

DiBenedetto started Saturday’s 500-lapper, the final race in the first Playoff round, from 16^th place. He moved up to 12^th place then took the lead by taking just two tires during a caution period at Lap 30. He ran among the top five for more than 60 laps, but the caution flag he needed for the two-tire strategy to work never flew. At a disadvantage tire-wise, he ended the Stage in 12^th place.

DiBenedetto and the Menards/Dutch Boy team again experienced equal doses of good and bad luck in the second Stage. On the 61^st lap of the second Stage, DiBenedetto had to make a green-flag pit stop because of a loose wheel.
 
He rejoined the race in 29^th place, three laps down, but good luck was riding with him. His fresher tires allowed him to regain one of the laps under the green flag, then he regained another lap by taking the wave-around when fellow Playoff driver William Byron wrecked in the closing laps of that Stage. Then when the caution flag flew to end the stage, DiBenedetto was in the free pass position and was able to return to the lead lap for the start of the final segment of the race.
 
A penalty for speeding on pit road sent him to the rear of the field for the restart, but he worked his way forward and was running seventh, a lap down, with less than 100 laps to go.
 
Still, the win he needed to advance in the Playoffs remained a long shot. DiBenedetto held his position until the bad luck returned in the form of a cut tire with just under 10 laps remaining.
 
A green-flag pit stop put him back three laps and left him with a 19th-place finish and elimination from the Playoffs.
 
DiBenedetto said after the race that the team’s perseverance at Bristol gives him hope for a strong finish to the 2020 season.
 
“Tonight shows the fight that we have as a team, rebounding like that,” he said. “I just hate that we miss the next round.
 
“We had some not-so-good races, bad luck tonight, you name it, but we’ve got a lot of season left.  We still have a lot of positions in points to fight for, and we have fast race cars like you see tonight, so we still have a lot of stuff left and hopefully a lot of good things to come.”
 
Eddie Wood said it just wasn’t in the cards for his family team to advance in the Playoffs.
 
“It was a long shot going into Bristol,” he said. “We ran pretty good. The car was tight early in the race, but adjustments got it better.
 
“We needed some luck on our side and got some at times in the race. But luck goes both ways and we saw that with a cut tire at the end.
 
“We’ll move on and make the most of these next seven races.”
 
DiBenedetto and the No. 21 team now head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where they finished second earlier this season.
 

GREENWOOD, NE (September 17, 2020) – Kyle Strickler outran Shane Clanton to the checkered flag to win his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event on Thursday Night at I-80 Speedway. Strickler passed Clanton on lap 11 and then edged Clanton by just .045 seconds at the finish line. Josh Richards came from the 10th starting spot to finish third with Chris Madden and Jimmy Owens rounding out the top five drivers. Clanton grabbed the lead at the start of the 30-lap event while Strickler dropped back several car lengths behind him. Stickler managed to find a groove that worked well for him and he slowly started to close the gap on the Georgia veteran. Strickler was finally able to track down Clanton and pass him on lap 11.  Clanton began to lose contact with Strickler, but in the last two laps was able to make up several car lengths. Coming out of the final corner Clanton dropped to the inside of Strickler but came up one car length short of victory as the checkers flew. The 37-year-old North Carolina driver became the 19th different winner this year on the tour. “On that last lap I thought please no flat right rear tire. My hat is off to Shane, he could have really sent her in there and cut in front of me, but he raced me clean and I appreciate that. I knew if I got into one and come off of four clean we would be really good. Man, everybody on this team deserves it so much. All my guys back home, my wife and my kids are watching on tv, my mom and my dad and friends are watching. Thanks to everybody who has helped me get here.” Clanton came up just short of his first series win of the year. “If I would have went to the bottom a few laps before the end, maybe I could have cleared him off of four on the last lap. Overall, it was good night, and we led some laps. I thought we did pretty well to maintain a fast pace. Strickler just snuck by me on the bottom and then I don’t know if I just started to let up or become more timid. I was just trying to save my stuff for 30 laps.” Richards survived a torrid battle for third place. “We had a phenomenal car. I can’t thank these guys enough for not giving up. We’ve had a lot of speed the last couple of weeks. We didn’t qualify the greatest, we were a little snug, the track was little greasy. It was a little narrow earlier and then it widened out and you can race all over it.” The winner’s Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Bilstein Shocks, G Style Transport LLC, Donaldson Grading, Wehrs Machine, Tim Cat Performance, and Andy’s Towing. Completing the top ten were Devin Moran, Ryan Gustin, Tim McCreadie, Brandon Overton, and Billy Moyer.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
Optima Batteries I-80 Nationals – Presented by General Tire
Thursday, September 17th, 2020
I-80 Speedway – Greenwood, NE

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Devin Moran / 16.603 seconds 
Fast Time Group B: Kyle Strickler / 16.484 seconds (overall)

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 29V-Darrell Lanigan[2]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil[1]; 3. 44M-Chris Madden[4]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[7]; 5. 9-Devin Moran[6]; 6. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[5]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[8]; 8. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 9. 43-Jeremy Grady[9]; 10. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[11]; 11. 29D-Spencer Diercks[10]; 12. 112-Tyler Smith[12]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[2]; 4. 56-Chris Spieker[4]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[6]; 6. 1T-Tyler Erb[7]; 7. 98J-Jason Rauen[5]; 8. 81E-Tanner English[8]; 9. 14J-Jake Neal[10]; 10. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[9]; 11. L88-Larry Clawson[11]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 4. 8-Kyle Strickler[6]; 5. 32S-Chris Simpson[5]; 6. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 7. 777-Jared Landers[7]; 8. 62-Justin Zeitner[8]; 9. 98-Ben Schaller[10]; 10. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[12]; 11. 10C-Junior Coover[11]; 12. 6D-Dylan Schmer[9]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 2. 18J-Chase Junghans[4]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 8. 1C-Chad Simpson[11]; 9. 53-Andrew Kosiski[8]; 10. 3C-Mike Collins[9]; 11. 14M-Reid Millard[10]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 1C-Chad Simpson[8]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 6. 81E-Tanner English[7]; 7. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[10]; 8. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[11]; 9. 14M-Reid Millard[12]; 10. 14J-Jake Neal[9]; 11. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[13]; 12. 04-Tad Pospisil[1]; 13. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 14. 10C-Junior Coover[14]

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[2]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 777-Jared Landers[5]; 4. 62-Justin Zeitner[6]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 6. 98J-Jason Rauen[1]; 7. 53-Andrew Kosiski[7]; 8. 98-Ben Schaller[9]; 9. L88-Larry Clawson[13]; 10. 29D-Spencer Diercks[11]; 11. 3C-Mike Collins[10]; 12. 43-Jeremy Grady[8]; 13. 6D-Dylan Schmer[12]; 14. 112-Tyler Smith[14]

Richard Childress Racing at Bristol Motor Speedway … In 177 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, Richard Childress Racing has scored nine wins, 34 top-five, and 70 top-10 finishes. The Welcome N.C. organization has also found success in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the ‘World’s Fastest Half-Mile’, capturing nine wins, 37 top-five and 61 top-10 finishes. NASCAR Playoffs … Austin Dillon is in the midst of his fourth NASCAR Playoffs appearance and currently ranks sixth among the 16 Playoff-eligible drivers following a couple strong top-five performances in the opening round of the NASCAR Playoffs (second at Darlington Raceway and fourth at Richmond Raceway). Dillon is 36 points above the cut line with only one race remaining (Bristol) in the Round of 16. Catch the Action …The NASCAR Xfinity Series’ Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway will be televised live Friday, September 18, beginning at 7 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.  The NASCAR Cup Series’ Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway will be televised live Saturday, September 19, beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC Sports Network and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

This Week’s Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road/E-Z-GO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Bristol Motor Speedway … In 13 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, Dillon has one top-five and three top-10 finishes, including a career-best fourth-place finish in August 2016. He finished sixth in his most recent Bristol Motor Speedway appearance in May. He is a former winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the track (August 2016). Tracker Off Road … Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE prominently features TRACKER ATVs, a game-changing new line of all-terrain vehicles and side-by-sides offering breakthrough performance, service and value in the off-road industry. TRACKER OFF ROAD was born out of a powerhouse partnership formed between Bass Pro Shops and TRACKER founder Johnny Morris and Textron Specialized Vehicles, bringing together the undisputed world leader in boating with a global leader in innovation and technology. Bass Pro Shops … Bass Pro Shops is North America’s premier outdoor and conservation company. Founded in 1972 when avid young angler Johnny Morris began selling tackle out of his father’s liquor store in Springfield, Missouri, today the company provides customers with unmatched offerings spanning premier destination retail, outdoor equipment manufacturing, world-class resort destinations and more. In 2017 Bass Pro Shops acquired Cabela’s to create a “best-of-the-best” experience with superior products, dynamic locations and outstanding customer service. Bass Pro Shops also operates White River Marine Group, offering an unsurpassed collection of industry-leading boat brands, and Big Cedar Lodge, America’s Premier Wilderness Resort. Under the visionary conservation leadership of Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops is a national leader in protecting habitat and introducing families to the outdoors and has been named by Forbes as “one of America’s Best Employers.” Bass Pro Shops has a long relationship with NASCAR, dating back to 1998. For more information, visit http://www.basspro.com/. E-Z-GO … E-Z-GO is an iconic, world-renowned brand in golf cars and personal transportation vehicles. Products sold under the E-Z-GO brand include RXV® and TXT® fleet golf cars, Freedom® RXV and Freedom TXT personal golf cars, E-Z-GO Express™ personal utility vehicles, and the 2Five® street-legal low-speed vehicle. Known for innovation in electric-vehicle technology, E-Z-GO’s newest offerings include the ELiTE series of lithium-ion powered golf cars and PTVs, and the company’s exclusive 72-volt AC electric powertrain found in its latest Express series vehicles. Founded in 1954 in Augusta, Ga., E-Z-GO became part of Textron Inc. in 1960, and today operates as part of the company’s Textron Specialized Vehicles division. NASCAR Playoffs …  Dillon’s 2020 NASCAR Playoffs appearance was enhanced last Saturday at Richmond Raceway by a career day in which he led 55 laps, scored 18 Stage points and finished fourth despite two in-race penalties. Dillon now ranks sixth among the 16 Playoff-eligible drivers. The four-round postseason consists of eliminations after the Round of 16 (Darlington, Richmond, Bristol), the Round of 12 (Las Vegas, Talladega, Charlotte Roval) and the Round of 8 (Kansas, Texas, Martinsville). The Championship 4 will compete for the title at Phoenix. AUSTIN DILLON QUOTES:What are your thoughts on Bristol Motor Speedway?“Anything can happen at Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s a short track and you can get caught up in things fast. Our goal as a team is to be consistent and to try and score Stage points early. I think Stage points will play a big part of advancing out of each round in the NASCAR Playoffs, and with Bristol being the cutoff race there’s a lot on the line.”What’s going to be your top priority for the Bristol race weekend? Just finishing or going for a win?“I think you’ve got to keep going for wins. Darlington and Richmond were both good races for us, but we have just as much potential at Bristol. We had a solid run here back in May, and I really think this team has the capability to back that up.” Did you feel like you were overlooked coming into the playoffs a little bit? “I get overlooked some, probably more than most, and I don’t know why.  I always feel like I perform pretty well in pressure situations, and RCR as a whole can step up.  I have total belief in the 3 team and probably more belief this year than I’ve ever had because we’ve brought consistent speed to the track. We might not have gotten every finish that we should have gotten this year, but we’ve gotten a lot of good finishes. It’s been one of my best years statistically and just the ability behind the cars are better. Chevy has stepped up.  Eric Warren, RCR, all of the mechanics and everybody that puts work in do a really good job. I think the smaller group has been good for us, with less distractions at the track.  As a whole, our group really works together well.”

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Bristol Motor Speedway … Tyler Reddick has one previous NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway. Reddick also has five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at the track, winning last fall’s race with crew chief Randall Burnett, along with two top-five and four top-10 finishes. Reddick has two NASCAR Truck Series starts, with two top-five finishes at Bristol. About Childress Vineyards … Childress Vineyards is a premier winery located at the southern gateway of the Yadkin Valley in Lexington, North Carolina. Owned by Richard Childress, NASCAR team owner and Hall of Fame member, Childress Vineyards has been producing award-winning wines with the expertise of Winemaker Mark Frizsolowski. Open daily for tours, tastings, and lunch in the Bistro. Information about Childress Vineyards can be found on Facebook at facebook.com/childresswines/, on Twitter at @ChildressWines and on Instagram at  Instagram.com/childresswines. About Food City … Headquartered in Abingdon, Virginia, K-VA-T Food Stores (Food City’s parent company) operates 134 retail supermarkets throughout southeast Kentucky, southwest Virginia, east Tennessee, Chattanooga and north Georgia, including 109 pharmacies and 108 fuel/convenience stores. The company also owns and operates their own 1.2 million square-foot distribution center in Abingdon, VA. Food City offers a wide variety of services and conveniences, including in-store bakery/delis, floral boutiques, full-service meat and seafood departments with in-house butchers, locally grown produce, full service pharmacies, fuel centers, GoCart curbside pick-up, and home delivery. The Food City name is also synonymous with NASCAR racing through their title sponsorship of two of the sport’s most popular events, the Food City 500 and Food City 300 at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, TN. Food City is Bristol Motor Speedway’s longest running sponsor and the second longest in NASCAR.Learn more by visiting FoodCity.com. TYLER REDDICK QUOTE: Over the course of these final eight races, we return to a couple tracks you’ve now been able to make a Cup start at, including this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. How are you and the team looking to improve from your last race at Bristol?“We had a really good Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE during the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway. We started near the back of the field due to how line-ups were determined at the time, but we were making some good adjustments on our car and starting to pick our way up through the field. Unfortunately, it was just a wrong place-wrong time situation when we got caught up in the wreck with the No. 47 car and a few others during the first part of that race. Bristol is a tough track and one where you have to be aware of those moves people will make entering the backstretch, especially since that seems to be where a lot of the wrecks happen. So that is something I’ll be paying attention to, but we had a solid piece entering that race and were making good adjustments before our day ended early. We’ll definitely be looking back at our notes from that time to get a feel for what we want to do entering this weekend’s event with our No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet.”

Anthony Alfredo and the No. 21 Death Wish Coffee Chevrolet Camaro at Bristol Motor Speedway …Anthony Alfredo returns to the seat of the No. 21 NASCAR Xfinity Series entry for Richard Childress Racing this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. Friday night will mark Alfredo’s first short track appearance of the 2020 season; however, Alfredo is familiar with ‘The Last Great Colosseum’ after competing in the short track nationals behind the wheel of a late model stock car early in his career. About Death Wish Coffee … In 2012, Death Wish Coffee Co. started a small coffee shop in Saratoga Springs, NY. Founder Mike Brown saw a need for coffee that was both strong and delicious to serve his groggy morning customers. After creating the perfect blend of beans and combining it with his unique roasting technique, the ‘World’s Strongest Coffee’ was born. Today, thousands of people trust Death Wish Coffee to wake them up and keep them going every day. For more information visit deathwishcoffee.com.Fast Start for Fast Pasta … Running a limited schedule in the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing, Alfredo has secured six top-10 finishes. He also won an eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Saturday Night Thunder Race at Dover International Speedway during NASCAR’s hiatus from on-track competition. ANTHONY ALFREDO QUOTES: How do you feel about making your first short track appearance of the season at a place like Bristol Motor Speedway? “I’m pumped to finally go short track racing in the NASCAR Xfinity series, especially at Bristol where RCR has had a lot of success. Short track racing is where I started my career, so it’s exciting to go back to my roots and be racing at this level. I even have a little history at Bristol from when I competed in the short track nationals in a late model stock car. I’m looking forward to putting together a strong performance in our Death Wish Coffee Chevrolet, and hopefully we will have a shot at the win under the lights on Friday night!”  What are going to be the keys to a successful night at Bristol Motor Speedway? “I think patience will be key on Friday night, especially with us starting further towards the back of the field. With that being said, I know we will have a very fast Death Wish Coffee Chevrolet. There will also be times where I will need to be aggressive behind the wheel to capitalize on opportunities since track position is very important. If we can have a smooth night and not make any mistakes, I am confident we can be in contention at the end.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT SEPTEMBER 17, 2020
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference to discuss his outlook going into the race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, the pressure that comes with racing during a cutoff race, and more. Transcript: HOW DO YOU HANDLE THE TRACTION COMPOUND ON SATURDAY, ESPECIALLY WITH WHERE YOU ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS? DO YOU HAVE TO PLAY IT VERY CONSERVATIVELY OR DO YOU JUST RACE AND HOPE YOU DON’T SLIDE ON IT?“I think the biggest question right now is actually the weather. With Sally moving through, we hope that the Truck race gets in on time and we have the Xfinity race, as well. The thing about the summer race at Bristol is that you have the races before the Cup series race, so it helps burn in the traction compound. Even if they spray more, it still has a more consistent feel. So, this year, the spring race, it had a race before it. But at the All-Star race, there was no race at all and the Cup cars went out there right away, and it was like you were on ice. So, I’m hopeful for more consistent August/September track conditions, which will then lead the notes to what we’ve done in years past at this race. So, for us, we’re just hoping the weather cooperates and the race track ends up very close to the same as it usually ends up as.”
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU FOUND THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO DO RACING ON THE BUBBLE AND ADVANCING THAT YOU FEEL ARE THE KEYS TO SUCCESS?“Fast cars and fast pit stops – that makes it easier. It’s just not getting too far ahead of yourself and executing as a team. With most likely a competition caution at lap 30, then the stage breaks at 125 and 250, there’s three opportunities to get points – stage one, stage two and the end. If we go out there and do our job, we’ve got a gain those points in the stages so that way the end of the race isn’t as much of a nail-biter as it should be.”
YOU’RE SO GOOD AT BRISTOL. DOES THAT LEND SOME SORT OF CONFIDENCE IN YOU OR HAVE THINGS CHANGED WHERE WITHOUT PRACTICE, IT’S DIFFERENT? BRISTOL, YOU JUST GO BACK TO IT BEING BRISTOL TO YOU, RIGHT?“Yeah, I feel like anytime you can go to a track that you’ve had past success at, it lends to just better feelings, it lends to going through the checklist items in an easier fashion. So, our confidence is high going into the race. We have our homework done and now we go and race. There are some other tracks where you’re like – we didn’t run so well at Kansas, let’s just say earlier this year, and we’ve got more questions so to speak going into the race. So, Bristol, we’re ready to rip and ready to go with the Monster Energy Chevy. We’ve got seven points to the plus and that’s just kind of how we’ve been all year – we’ve been right around that tenth-place position all year.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO KNOW DURING THE RACE, KNOWING THAT BRISTOL IS A BLINK OF AN EYE, AND HOW MUCH WILL YOU JUST SAY ‘TELL ME WHEN I ASK FOR IT’ KIND OF THING?“There’s so many guys in the mix, so wherever the points end up at the end of each stage, I’ll just want the plus or the minus. As we’re getting closer to the final 100 laps, that’s when you have to make those decisions to race the guys straight up for points and play more of a defensive role if you have to.”
SEVEN POINTS – HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THAT GAP RIGHT NOW? DO YOU PLAY OFFENSE? DO YOU PLAY DEFENSE? A COMBINATION OF THE TWO? JUST WHAT KIND OF STRATEGY DO YOU LOOK AT GOING INTO A RACE WITH JUST A SINGLE DIGIT CUSHION?“So far in the Playoffs in 2020, we haven’t finished worse than 13th in any stage and we haven’t finished any better than 5th. So, that’s the good news and bad news all mixed in together. And so we just go there and do our job to get points in the stages. We know it’s going to come down to the final little bit on who’s above the line and who’s not, and you can’t worry about it too much. You race off the talent of the crew, the pit strategy, the pit crew guys themselves – everybody has to do their job right now because it’s the Playoffs, it’s what you do. It’s what we do and it’s what we’re prepared for.”
ARE YOU FEELING CONFIDENT JUST KNOWING THAT THE CUTOFF RACE IS IN BRISTOL? DESPITE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, GIVEN YOUR PAST EXPERIENCE THERE, DOES THAT KIND OF BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THAT EVENT?“Yeah, I enjoy Bristol. It’s a track that I look forward to going to and I get amped up for. I’m ready for the challenges that Bristol brings. The night race, getting back to the PJ-1 traction compound question, you hope that it all gets burned in and that the outside lane comes into play. But each time we go back to Bristol, there’s just these little weird things that the track is doing that SMI might not tell NASCAR. NASCAR might not tell SMI. And then there’s the Goodyear tire that shows up with different stager values, even though it’s the same tire code. So, there’s a lot of little things at Bristol all the time. But with this being a cutoff, you have to just go in there and do it. Get the job done, don’t shy away from the pressure. Even after this round, you have to go to the Roval and advance through it to get to the round after that. And then you have to go to Martinsville to go through that round if you’re going to have a shot at the championship. This Playoff format is genius for the anxiety level for all the drivers and teams.”
FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, RICHMOND SEEMED PRETTY TAME FOR A SHORT TRACK. DO YOU THINK THAT THE ANXIETY WILL BE ELEVATED GOING INTO BRISTOL, JUST BECAUSE IT IS A CUTOFF RACE?“The anxiety will be higher, the nerves of course, and just the overall ambiance and excitement. But in all reality, everybody’s got so much riding on the line and everybody’s got to protect their race car, get the points that they can, not run into somebody and get a fender rub. That’s what led to Richmond’s, I guess, lack of excitement and that could end up happening at Bristol. Which then that’s a question of, well wait a minute, maybe we need to move this race back to August when goes aren’t necessarily worried about points as much and let the rough edges drag, dump somebody or wreck some cars and not have to pay such a big points penalty. That’s the difference in Playoff racing – everybody is making sure they’re getting every point possible and, therefore, they’re driving more cautiously.”
THE NEXT ROUND BEGINS AT LAS VEGAS AND THAT’S ONE OF THE RACES THAT WERE HELD BEFORE THE PANDEMIC AND THE PAUSE. TYPICALLLY, YOU HEAR DRIVERS AND CREW CHIEFS TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THINGS HAVE CHANGED IN THAT PERIOD OF TIME. HAVE THINGS CHANGED AS GREATLY BECAUSE OF THE CHALLENGES THIS SEASON OR HOW DIFFERENT WILL VEGAS BE THIS TIME COMPARED TO THE VEGAS RACE THAT WAS HELD BEFORE THE SEASON WAS PAUSED?“First things first is that this race is in 100-degree temperatures, where the spring race is in usually 60 to 70-degree temperatures. So that’s a huge difference all in its own. Then you get into the real nuts and bolts of 2020 and that’s where we haven’t had practice. That’s when more things are done on simulation models and engineering models for the baseline setups. That seems to have fallen into some teams’ hands and it seems to have handcuffed other teams. We can say that even within the same garage area, as far as Gibbs – we’ve got Denny Hamlin with a ton of wins and my little brother (Kyle Busch) with none. Guys like (Kevin) Harvick have a ton of wins and all the rest of Stewart-Haas has one. So, it works some ways to be a position, other ways it doesn’t work out as well. Even like Penske, with (Brad) Keselowski running well and (Ryan) Blaney is right on the line of being eliminated. So, it’s hard to really say. What happened back in March seems like two years ago and then also things trend in tech inspection, as well, on things that were going on in March versus what’s happening here in September.”
PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THAT NEXT ROUND. THE FEELING IS YOU NEED TO WIN AT LAS VEGAS BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF TALLADEGA AND THE ROVAL. IS THAT ALMOST THE WRONG APPROACH TO TAKE AND LOOK AT IT AS OPPORTUNITIES INSTEAD OF WILD CARD RACES?“Yeah, there’s a hundred different philosophies or different ways to look at it. Each team has their own agenda. There’s definitely the championship front-runners. There’s the guys that need to throw the hail marys and try to gamble on a pit stop. You’re going to see some of that at Bristol with this cutoff race. Guys might just do two tires and stay out and try to muscle their way to the end. There could be that same thing at Vegas, where you come in just for fuel only and try to top it off even though you can’t even make it to the end, but you try to use that strategy to get some points or to get a win. So, it’s really hard to really play out all the scenarios. You’ve just got to race with what your strengths are. And some teams have different strengths in different areas.” IS BRISTOL A TOUGH TRACK TO GET THE BASELINE SET-UP RIGHT, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’RE STARTING 13^TH AND YOU’RE AROUND THE GUYS THAT YOU NEED FOR STAGE POINTS IN STAGE 1?“It seems like it’s tougher with the spray (traction compound) and how much they spray or where they spread. That’s been the biggest adjustment. It’s hard to really get into the full jargon of the level of detail of what an engineer has to do to match a race track surface; but then when you throw in inconsistencies from the track and the spray that they’re using and how much chemical versus how much water they mixed in. Or, how rain is hitting the track right now. In years past, to win Bristol you would set-up for lap 250. You would set-up for halfway. And you would just try to get through the first half of the race the best that you could. But you can’t do that anymore with it being the Playoffs and with Stage points. So, you’ve got to go hard right away, but you’ve got to build in that adjustability to be able to be that guy at the end that can win as well.” CONSIDERING THE PANDEMIC, HOW MUCH INPUT HAVE YOU HAD WITH (CREW CHIEF) MATT MCCALL THIS WEEK, GOING INTO THIS RACE?“My phone says I have a new operating system that I can download, but I’m scared to do that because I have so many digital meetings and so many calendar items of this department and that department. Hendrick Engines was checking in on some of the horsepower levels. There are these new departments of communication and open line; I mean, it’s all hands on-deck right now. And so, we’re staying on top of it the best way that we can. I even asked the shock department yesterday to have shocks that can have compression and rebound adjustable shocks in case we are off on our set-up and we have to go aggressive with changes. And the only time that you’re able to really do that is if you’re the last car on the lead lap on a pit stop or something. You’ve got to be ready for all case scenarios right now.”

Batavia, OH (September 17, 2020) – The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be back in action at I-80 Speedway, in Greenwood, NE for 3 full events, with the Al Belt Custom Homes I-80 Nationals on September 17th – 19th.

Thursday, September 17th and Friday, September 18th will feature two complete shows – paying $7,000-to-win. Thursday will also feature a full show for the Malvern Bank Stock Cars. Friday, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be joined by the Malvern Bank Modifieds with a full show. 

On Saturday, September 19th, there will be B-Mains, a 20-lap, $2,000-to-win Non-Qualifiers race and the 80-lap, $30,000-to-win Al Belt Custom Homes I-80 Nationals. Saturday’s Lucas Dirt events will be lined up from the best points night from Thursday or Friday, with the top 18 drivers locked into the A-Main. In addition, Saturday will also feature a full show for Malvern Bank SLMR.

Tickets are available online at www.i-80speedway.com (All seating will be General Admission). Hot laps are set to begin at 6:45 PM CDT each day. To make purchases over the phone, please call the speedway office from 8:30 AM-5:30 PM CDT at 402-342-3453.

For anyone unable to make it out in person, all three nights will be available on LucasOilRacing.tv with a yearly subscription. 

Track Information:Phone Number: 402-342-3453Location: 13909 238th St Greenwood, NE 68366Website: www.i-80speedway.com

Tire Rule for I-80 Speedway: September 17th – 18thLeft Front – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1350, (90) LM20, (90) WRS2Right Front – Hoosier (90) WRS2Left Rear – Hoosier (90) WRS2
Right Rear – Hoosier (92) LM40
*Must use the same set of 4 tires for Time Trials, Heat Races, and B-Mains.
*For the A-Main, competitors may use 2 new rear tires.
*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain starting position.

September 17th – 18th Event Purse:
1. $7,000, 2. $4,000, 3. $3,000, 4. $2,000, 5. $1,500, 6. $1,000, 7. $900, 8. $800, 9. $700, 10. $600, 11. $580, 12. $560, 13. $540, 14. $520, 15. $500, 16. $490, 17. $480, 18. $470, 19. $460, 20. $450, 21. $440, 22. $430, 23. $410, 24. $400

Tire Rule for I-80 Speedway: September 19thLeft Front – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1350, (90) LM20, (90) WRS2Right Front – Hoosier (90) WRS2Left Rear – Hoosier (90) WRS2Right Rear – Hoosier (92) LM40 *Must use the same set of 4 tires for B-Mains and Non-Qualifiers Race.*For the A-Main, competitors may use 4 new tires.
*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain starting position.

September 19thNon-Qualifier Purse: 
1. $2,000, 2. $1,800, 3. $1,600, 4. $1,500, 5. $1,400, 6. $1,300, 7. $1,200, 8. $1,100, 9. $1,075, 10. $1,050, 11. $1,025, 12. $1,000, 13. $975, 14. $950, 15. $925, 16. $900, 17. $875, 18. $860, 19. $850, 20. $840, 21. $830, 22. $820, 23. $810, 24. $800

September 19thAl Belt Custom Homes I-80 Nationals Purse:
1. $30,000, 2. $18,000, 3. $10,000, 4. $7,000, 5. $6,000, 6. $5,000, 7. $4,600, 8. $4,400, 9. $4,200, 10. $4,000, 11. $3,900, 12. $3,800, 13. $3,700, 14. $3,600, 15. $3,500, 16. $3,400, 17. $3,300, 18. $3,200, 19. $3,100, 20. $3,000, 21. $2,900, 22. $2,800, 23. $2,700, 24. $2,600, 25. $2,575, 26. $2,550, 27. $2,525, 28. $2,500

Quality Craftsmanship and an Expert Team are why Professional Race Teams and Businesses Large and Small Trust Lucas Oil Fabrication Shop

CORONA, Calif (September 16, 2020) – Lucas Oil Fabrication “The Fab Shop” is a professional metal fabrication and welding operation that specializes in custom hot rod builds, chassis fabrication, welding and other general fabrication needs. During the inception of The Fab Shop in 2013, the team’s first project was to create an in-house Top Fuel dragster chassis for Morgan Lucas. The custom chassis saw immediate success with Morgan and generated high interest from other professional race teams. With countless national event wins and multiple championships, The Fab Shop continues to produce custom chassis and a wide range of fabrication solutions for professional race teams and consumers.

“The craftsmanship and quality from the team at Lucas Oil Fabrication is unparalleled. They have brought another level of expertise and detail to our Top Fuel chassis that has equated into nearly 40 race wins in 3 seasons for our team. For Torrence Racing, Lucas Oil Fabrication is the only choice,” said Steve Torrence, 2018/2019 NHRA Top Fuel Champion. While there were several viable options available in 2013 to manufacture a Top Fuel dragster chassis, Morgan Lucas’ team felt an in-house fabrication shop would better suit their needs. A group of expert metal fabricators and welders was quickly assembled in Brownsburg, Indiana, and produced the #MLR-001 chassis just in time for Morgan’s race in Charlotte, North Carolina. Success was instant as Morgan qualified first on the new chassis and would proceed to win the race. Interest in purchasing an MLR chassis began pouring in from race competitors and resulted in The Fab Shop producing MLR chassis for almost half of the teams and drivers in the NHRA Drag Racing Series. Key customers include Steve and Billy Torrence, Mike Salinas, Bob and Dom Lagana, Kelly Betts and Peter Xiberas. Some notable race wins and championships on the MLR chassis include:Steve and Billy Torrence – collectively won 38 NHRA national events and NHRA World Championships in 2018 and 2019, and a win in 2017 at the US Nationals in Indianapolis. Richie Crampton – seven NHRA wins including a US Nationals event win in 2014Morgan Lucas – four NHRA wins and a US Nationals event win in 2015Blake Alexander – two NHRA National event winsKelly Betts – Australian National Drag Racing (ANDRA) Top Fuel Champion 2018Peter Xiberas – two ANDRA event winsMike Salinas – two NHRA National event wins  In addition to the almost 20 Top Fuel dragsters built, The Fab Shop has also worked on vehicles in Rallycross, Circle Track and other motorsports. Some notable past projects include a 37′ Plymouth street rod built for Forrest Lucas, the infamous Dragweek 57′ Chevy Wagon belonging to Top Fuel driver Richie Crampton and a 56’Chevy owned by well-known hobby racer Joe Barry.

The Lucas Oil Helicopter trailer inside the 20,000 square-foot Lucas Oil Fabrication Shop. Photo: Lucas Oil Products

Following the 2016 race season and Morgan Lucas’ decision to retire from full-time racing to pursue the role of VP of Sales with Lucas Oil – he has since been appointed President of Lucas Oil Products – Morgan committed himself to expanding The Fab Shop’s consumer sales. In order to achieve the desired level of growth, it became apparent that expanding outside of the racing and motorsports industry would be required. Today, while Lucas Oil Fabrication still works on racing-related projects such as manufacturing new UTV components and street/strip roll cages for door cars, the talented team routinely develops a wide range of non-motorsports products for customers large and small. From promotional builds and displays for trade shows to sanitation disposal components and marine parts, nothing is out of reach. The Fab Shop team even rose to the challenge of building additional production line conveyors to help ramp up the production of Lucas Oil’s Hand Sanitizer in direct response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Our success as a full production metal fabrication and welding shop is largely attributed to our hard-working crew at The Fab Shop. Their commitment to going above and beyond with every custom order shows in our products’ quality and the reputation the shop has earned over the years. Thanks to our team, The Fab Shop is the leading fabrication and welding shop in the racing industry and continues to expand its clients outside of motorsports,” says Morgan Lucas, President, Lucas Oil Products. “We look forward to the future and are confident that we will continue to grow and provide quality products for each new and existing customer, one part at a time.” In efforts to meet a wide range of custom fabrication and welding needs, Lucas Oil Fabrication continually adds new pieces of equipment to its arsenal. With the addition of two water jet machines, two CNC machining centers, presses and shears, and various pieces of welding equipment, The Fab Shop’s capabilities have grown exponentially to include, but are not limited to:Tig / Mig weldingMill / lathe / precision machining CNC machining5-axis water jettingCAD drawingGeneral fabrication / bending / metal formingWhile Lucas Oil Fabrication is still considered to be in the early stages of business development, the group has recruited eight extremely hardworking and talented individuals. Lucas Oil Fabrication TeamAdam Shipman “Haus” is the newest member of The Fab Shop crew. He left his family’s metal sales business when he graduated high school to pursue a career in race building and fabrication. Adam is currently honing his welding skills and assists Rod with order fulfillment of truck and fleet production parts. Drew Edwards “Peanut” started with Lucas Oil Fabrication two years ago and brings a background of welding and fabrication experience from working in the railroad industry and drag racing. Drew is a talented welder and is currently working on designing his own golf clubs.Travis Orr “Hank” joined The Fab Shop team a year ago and brings years of chassis and fabrication experience working for some of the leading car builders in drag racing and sprint car racing. Travis does much of the chassis welding and roll cage installations at The Fab Shop. Ryan Pethtel “Pickle” has worked for Lucas Oil for five years and brings over 20 years of drag racing and rally car experience. He has been instrumental in the building of customs headers and chassis for customers.Rod Centorbi “Rodzilla” started as Assistant Crew Chief for Morgan in 2012, then onto Richie’s car after Morgan left full-time racing. He has also been involved in drag racing for nearly 30 years and taught himself how to run the waterjets and CNC machines. Rod handles the production parts and day-to-day orders. Norm Boutot “Stormin’ Normand” brings 30 years of building and CAD design experience to The Fab Shop. Storming Normand also worked in drag racing, road racing and spent several years designing and building commercial awnings. Norm specializes in designing and planning projects in CAD.  Richie Crampton “Oz” is a professional Top Fuel driver who worked as Clutch Technician for Morgan before taking over behind the wheel once Morgan retired. Richie remains fully involved with The Fab Shop during his tenure as a professional driver. Jason Rush “Squig” has 15 years as a crew member in drag racing and over 25 years in welding, fabricating and metal shaping. Jason is responsible for overseeing the day to day function of The Fab Shop and project management. With decades of combined experience between them, Lucas Oil Fabrication understands the demand for efficiency and reliability and strives to deliver quality parts and pieces in a customer-friendly environment.  For information about Lucas Oil Fabrication or to inquire about custom metal fabrication and welding work, visit www.lucasoilfabrication.com.

September 15, 2020

After weeks of focusing on the points standings, first as they worked to make the Cup Series Playoffs and then to advance to the Round of 12, Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy team can pretty much forget about points, at least for one night.

DiBenedetto’s only real hope to advance to the second round of the Playoffs is to win Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the final race of the first round of the Playoffs. 

In DiBenedetto’s favor is that Bristol is his best track. Driving for another team last fall, he finished second to Denny Hamlin after leading 93 laps late in the race. And he won the All-Star Open there in July aboard the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Mustang.
 
“If there is one track to be in a must-win situation that I would choose it would definitely be Bristol,” DiBenedetto said. “I think we have a good shot at it. It is one that I am excited about and have circled off in this round…
 
“And I have some unfinished business, I guess, after last year as well.”

DiBenedetto said his Menards/Dutch Boy team has given him the cars he needed to make his first Playoff appearance and his team’s second, and he believes the same effort will go into the Mustang he’ll drive in Saturday night’s 500-lapper.
 
“All these guys on the Wood Brothers Racing team, I’m proud of them,” he said. “They’ve been working really hard… Menards, Motorcraft, everybody at Ford has been putting a lot of effort into this thing.  
 
“Going to Bristol is obviously an exciting race and one that we feel good about and have a lot to build on.
 
“I think we can go there and perform.”
 
Eddie Wood said he’s optimistic as well going into Bristol, but he’s also looking at the big picture of his team’s season.
 
“We’re in a spot where we have to win to advance, but it’s pretty much been that way since the Playoffs started,” he said. “No matter how it goes Saturday night, I’m still very proud to have made the Playoffs.”
 
There will be no qualifying or practice prior to the start of the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, which is set for just after 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time with TV coverage on NBCSN.

Inside Line Promotions – DODGE CITY, Kan. (Sept. 15, 2020) – Dominic Scelzi scored his career-best result at Dodge City Raceway Park and he tied his season-best outing with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series on Saturday during the Boot Hill Showdown finale.

Scelzi recorded a seventh-place showing, which was his fourth top 10 of the season with ‘The Greatest Show on Dirt.’

The start of both nights mirrored each other with Scelzi qualifying 13 ^th quickest and starting fifth in a heat race. He finished in that position on Friday to lock into the 13^th starting position for the A Main.

“The first night the track was pretty locked down and hard to pass,” he said. “You couldn’t get off the bottom. Running around the bottom guys would get tight and I’d pass them that way. I got to eighth and we had to restart on the outside. I got tight and fell back to 11^th.

“The second night it was a little bit slicker. We were able to get a spot in the heat race, which started me 10^th in the feature. I got a really good start and was able to rip around the guy who started inside of me to be in ninth. Then I passed Jacob Allen by rolling the bottom in turns three and four to get into eighth. Tim Kaeding blew a right rear tire with a couple of laps to go so that moved us to seventh. We were right there on Donny (Schatz) and the guy in front of Donny, but it was really hard to pass.”

Scelzi’s seventh-place result was his third top 10 in the last seven races with the series.

The team plans to race this Friday and Saturday at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D., during the DeKalb/Asgrow Power Series Nationals presented by Casey’s General Stores with the Midwest Sprint Touring Series and the Midwest Power Series.

Scelzi placed second with the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions in August and he finished 11^th and seventh, respectively, during World of Outlaws races at Huset’s Speedway earlier this month.

“I really like the place; it’s super racy,” he said. “When they get the surface right it’s two lanes all night. I’m looking forward to getting there for two good sized 360 races. We ran well there with the All Stars and ran well with the Outlaws so I want to take some money out of that place this weekend.”

Three-Day Showdown On Deck in the Arizona Desert

CORONA, Calif. (September 14, 2020) – The 2020 Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series Presented by GEICO has reached its halfway point and as fall approaches the best short track off road racers on the planet are gearing up for an exciting stretch to close out the season. On deck for the competitors across all eight classes is a three-day showdown from Chandler, Arizona’s Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. The action-packed Super Clean Duel in the Desert Presented by Toyota gets underway on Friday, September 18, with Round 6, followed by Round 7 on Saturday, September 19. The weekend comes to a close with Round 8 on Sunday, September 20. The Chandler event will not be open to spectators and will be conducted exclusively for competitors due to restrictions surrounding public gatherings in the state of Arizona and the Gila River Indian Community regarding COVID-19.

Chandler, Arizona’s Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park will be the site  of a September tripleheader for the Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series. Photo: Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series

The first half of the 2020 Lucas Oil Off Road season has featured exceptional battles across both the junior and pro divisions. An array of winners have taken their turn to stand atop the podium through the first five rounds, and the overall parity that’s been on display thus far has resulted in some hotly contested title fights. While reigning Pro 2 Champion Jerett Brooks has consistently been the driver to beat this season, he’s received a stiff challenge from his rivals as he continues to refine the performance of his brand new race truck. With three wins in the first five rounds Brooks has done all he can to establish the foundation of a successful title defense, but Doug Mittag has been right there every step of the way, earning his first win of the season at the most recent race. As a result, the top two are separated by just four points coming into Wild Horse Pass.

Jerett Brooks’ (left) Pro 2 title defense has been a success so far,  but Doug Mittag (right) has been right there every step of the way. Photo: Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series

The competitiveness of Pro Lite has lived up to the expectations that accompanied the division coming into the season. With such a deep and talented field of racers, the class was destined to see several different winners and a variety of faces on the podium. Thanks to a recent surge of momentum in which he’s earned two wins and four straight podium finishes Brock Heger has moved to the top of the standings and enjoys a 14-point lead over Christopher Polvoorde, who kicked off the season with a win of his own and has failed to finish on the podium just once thus far.

Brock Heger looks to keep the momentum going in Pro Lite,  where he currently sits atop the championship standings. Photo: Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series

After young guns grabbed the spotlight early in the season, defending champion Eliott Watson has seized control of Pro Buggy. The titleholder has yet to miss out on a podium result thus far, but his three-race sweep at the previous event was the catalyst for Watson’s ability to open up a comfortable 23-point lead in the championship standings. The momentum is fully in the champ’s favor coming into Chandler, but rising stars Trey D Gibbs and Matthew Brister will look to close the gap.

Defending champion Eliott Watson has taken charge of Pro Buggy and will look to extend his three-race winning streak in Arizona. Photo: Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series

The action across both UTV classes has been some of the best in all of Lucas Oil Off Road this season. While reigning back-to-back champion Corry Weller has been as fast as ever in Turbo UTV, she’s been forced to deal with heavy pressure from Ronnie Anderson every step of the way. The pair are separated by just 10 points coming into Wild Horse Pass and their ongoing rivalry is sure to intensify even further in the Arizona desert, where Anderson will look to gain some ground on the Chandler native. In Production 1000 UTV former champion Brock Heger and Myles Cheek have traded momentum all season long. Currently, Cheek has the edge by virtue of his three wins and podium finishes at every round, opening up a 13-point lead over Heger, who has a pair of wins and four podium results himself. Their head-to-head battle will unfold even further at Wild Horse Pass.

The Production 1000 UTV rivalry between Brock Heger (#912) and Myles Cheek (#957)  appears destined to get more exciting as the season progresses. Photo: Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series

Parity has also highlighted the trio of junior classes. In Mod Kart, Braden Chiaramonte, Trey Eggleston, and Connor Barry are collectively separated by just 11 points, with each of the five checkered flags this season spread amongst this trio. In JR 2 Kart the consistency of Rhyan Denney has allowed her to build a 15-point advantage over rivals Logan Leggitt and Brodie Martin. The action is RZR 170 has proved to be a platform for TJ Siewers to emerge as the breakout driver of the 2020 season. The young up and comer has earned three wins and has yet to miss a podium finish, putting him 18 points ahead of defending champion George Llamosas.

Rhyan Denney (front) and the highly competitive JR 2 Kart field will continue to showcase some of the best racing short course off road has to offer. Photo: Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series

Even though fans won’t be in the stands, all the action from Wild Horse Pass will unfold LIVE on Lucas Oil Racing TV. The streaming service will provide exclusive live coverage of the Arizona tripleheader, beginning at 7:30 a.m. PT / 10:30 a.m. ET on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Action on the track for the entire weekend will begin with the RZR 170, JR 2 Kart, and Mod Kart junior classes, before the pro classes take center stage with Pro Lite, Turbo UTV, Pro Buggy, Production 1000 UTV, and Pro 2. Event Info Super Clean Duel in the Desert Presented by Toyota Rounds 6-8: Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series September 18-20, 2020 Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park 20000 S Maricopa Road Chandler, AZ 85226 Friday, Saturday & Sunday Race Day Schedule (all times Pacific): 7:30 a.m.   Junior Races RZR 170 JR 2 Kart Mod Kart9:30 a.m.   Pro Class RacesPro LiteTurbo UTV Pro Buggy Production 1000 UTV Pro 2

Colton Herta leads Andretti Autosport podium sweep as Honda drivers finish 1-5
Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay complete the podium
Honda extends Manufacturers’ Championship points lead as series enters home stretch

LEXINGTON, Ohio (September 13, 2020) – Honda drivers and teams – led by the Andretti Autosport trio of Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay – dominated the second half of the Honda Indy 200 doubleheader at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, sweeping the top five finishing positions in Sunday’s second 75-lap NTT INDYCAR SERIES race of the weekend.

With seven wins in 11 races this season, Honda continues to lead the IndyCar Manufacturers’ Championship, with an unofficial total of 911 points to 824 points for Chevrolet, as the company seeks a third consecutive manufacturers’ title in 2020. Today’s race was the second podium sweep for Honda this season, as Takuma Sato led a 1-4 finish for Honda drivers at last month’s Indianapolis 500.

Scoring his first win of 2020, but the fourth Indy car win in just the second year of his career, Herta led 57 of the 75 laps today, resisting an early challenge from fellow Honda driver and championship points leader Scott Dixon, then maintaining a narrow, but consistent advantage over his teammates Rossi and Hunter-Reay to the finish. For Andretti Autosport, the 1-2-3 sweep was the first for the team since the 2005 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Finishing second and third, respectively, Rossi and Hunter-Reay fought for position throughout the day, but running identical strategies and with clean pit stops for both, ran in virtual lock step once Rossi passed his teammate during the opening stint of the race. Graham Rahal came from 12th on the grid to finish fourth, while Marcus Ericsson gained 10 positions in an impressive run in the opening laps to complete the top five finishers for Honda.

While dueling with Rossi and Hunter-Reay following the first round of pit stops, championship leader Dixon survived a spin exiting turn one to recover in 19th. He then spent the rest of the day working his way through the field to finish 10th and maintain an unofficial lead of 72 points in the Drivers’ Championship battle after 11 of 14 races.

Next
Following this weekend’s Honda Indy 200 doubleheader at Mid-Ohio, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES takes the next two weekends off, before resuming October 2-3 for the Indy Harvest GP, the final doubleheader and penultimate race weekend of 2020, on the road course of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Honda Racing social media content and videos from the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will be available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Quotes
Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport Honda) Started first, finished first; first win of 2020 and fourth career win: “I’m so happy. We’ve been knocking on the door [of a victory] almost every weekend. We’ve had the pace, but for some reason or another, something has gone wrong. But we finally put everything together. Got the pole this morning, the entire Capstone Andretti crew produced a stellar car and a Honda/Andretti 1-2-3, so happy to be powered by Honda. Now we just need to be finishing on the podium on every other weekend. It seems like we’re only on the podium when we win. So if we can fill in those other races with seconds and thirds, I’ll be very happy then.”

Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport Honda) Started 10th, finished second: “I’m just so happy for Andretti Autosport, Michael [Andretti] and everyone on the team. It’s been a terrible year for us, so to have a good day today, huge hats off to Colton and the ‘88’ guys, and for the team to sweep the podium for the first time since 2005 is very cool. We’re just focusing on race wins at this point, and really trying to build a good foundation for next year. I think we’re doing that right now, so this is definitely a step in the right direction. It’s great to be running up front again.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport Honda) Started eighth, finished third: “The race was all right. Alex [Rossi] and I both had a great start, and fought the whole way. The guys did a great job in pit lane, and it was nice to have a solid day. The team needed it. We’ll pick up from here and hopefully keep this momentum rolling.”

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) Started 12th, finished fourth: “I think we had the pace [to win], and our Fifth Third Bank guys did a great job. I’m extremely pleased with the way the weekend went, it was a strong two days. I think we’ll be very competitive at [the next race] at Indy, I expect we’ll be in contention [for the wins] there. It was great to have the crowd [the circuit was allowed] here. Thanks to everyone who came.”

Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started third, finished 10th; unofficially leads drivers’ championship by 72 points with three races remaining: “We tried to set up the car so that the tires would remain strong throughout a long run, so our cold [tire] pressures were really low. We struggled on the restarts as a result, so I got a little aggressive, hit the ‘overtake’ button on the exit of Turn One and just had way too much Honda power there, so it just spun the tires and spun the car. Total rookie mistake, and I’m so bummed for the team, it’s a mistake I shouldn’t have made. Fortunately, we were able to fight our way back up to 10th, but it should’ve been a much better [championship] points day.”

Allen Miller (Race Team Principal, Honda Performance Development) on today’s seventh Honda win of 2020: “What a great day for Honda at Mid-Ohio, the home race for all of our Ohio associates. Honda power was on full display for everyone to see today. Congratulations to Colton [Herta] and everyone at Andretti Autosport for their dominating 1-2-3 podium sweep. Graham [Rahal] produced another excellent performance and showed that he is coming on strong in the final races of the season; and Scott Dixon fought his way back through the field. Just a great day for everyone, and we hope all our fans can return in full force here next year.”

CHEVROLET NTT INDYCAR SERIES HONDA INDY 200 DOUBLE HEADER MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE LEXINGTON, OHIO TEAM CHEVY RACE TWO RECAP SEPTEMBER 13, 2020 TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER6^th       Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet7^th        Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet8^th       Josef Newgarden, No. 1 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet9^th       Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet11^th     Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Sonax Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet13^th     Max Chilton  15^th     Oliver Askew, No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet                    TOPE FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER                                                             1^ST      Colton Herta (Honda)2^nd      Alexander Rossi (Honda)3^rd       Ryan Hunter-Reay (Honda)4^th       Graham Rahal (Honda)5^th      Marcus Ericsson (Honda) Josef Newgarden continues to cut into the lead in the championship race. Coming into the Mid-Ohio Doubleheader the defending and two-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion, Newgarden trailed ScottDixon by 96 points. After a podium on Saturday and eighth place today, the spread is now 72 points heading to the Harvest GP Doubleheader on the Indy road Course Chevy had four in the top-nine with Simon Pagenaud finishing 6^th, Will Power finished 7^th, Newgarden 8^th and Pato O’Ward finished in 9^th place. Team Chevy drivers hold three of the top-five positions in points: Newgarden-2^nd; O’Ward-3^rd and Power-5^th.  The NTT IndyCar Series season continues on October 2-3 with the INDYCAR Harvest GP Doubleheader at the Road Course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for races 12 and13 ot the season. p.m.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DXC TECHNOLOGY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 6^th:“I think we finally broke our curse. We had a good race today and we’ll take a sixth-p andlace finish in the DXC Technology Chevrolet. Saturday’s result was a real shame – it definitely didn’t show the pace that we had here. I think we’ve had a good car all weekend long and I think today we maximized what we had. We definitely still have some work to do but we are happy with the direction we are headed with the car and that’s a good sign for us heading back to Harvest Grand Prix at Indianapolis.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 7^th:“It was actually a pretty solid race for the Verizon Chevrolet. We had some radio issues so I really wasn’t sure what position we were running in all the time so I really just followed my teammates and pitted when they did. It was pretty smooth sailing from there but we really couldn’t make up a lot of ground. Obviously it was a pretty disappointing result in qualifying today and that was totally my fault. Considering that and the radio challenges during the race, we come away actually feeling alright with a seventh-place result and a pretty good weekend overall with the win on Saturday.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 8^th:“We were just a little too average today. We didn’t really have superior pace and our starting position didn’t help us out. We tried to make some hay in the beginning and the caution didn’t really work in our favor for what we were planning strategy-wise. We were just kind of stuck where we were all day, to be honest. We just need to work on getting a little more race pace. I think that’s what we were lacking. On the car itself, we needed a little better grip and a little more balance. Everything else was solid. I think Team Chevy came with a great engine today. We had what we needed from them and obviously the support from PPG is always great here at Mid-Ohio, so we just need to work on ourselves a little next time out.”
PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 9^th:“We started 21st and made our way up a few places at the start, but then everything kind of went sideways from there. We came into the pits for the first stop and guys were getting released, which put us into a position where we couldn’t turn into the box quite as tight as we wanted to. This meant the fuel probe couldn’t quite connect and we couldn’t get fuel into the car. This led to us having to go all the way to the back and pit for more fuel. We had to make everything up on track after that. We had such strong pace and I truly think if we had started up front, we would have been better. I made a very stupid mistake in qualifying that really put us on the back foot and I tried to earn back as much as I could today by giving it everything I had. At the end of the day, a top 10 finish isn’t bad from where we started.” RINUS VEEKAY, No. 21 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET- Finished 11^th:“That was a very tough race! Maybe because of the rainy conditions this morning, the track was different. My car felt nothing like yesterday! I had to dodge some cars at the start and did not really move forward like other guys did. It wasn’t the greatest race, but P11 is not terrible! We’ve got the Indy road course again – and again! I had my best road course finish there so I am ready to go back!” MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET – Finished 13^th:“It wasn’t quite the top 10 that I wanted, but to start back in 18^th and make up five positions throughout the race and do it legitimately is something to be proud of. We out-raced and out-paced some strong cars out there and I did two of the best overtakes I’ve done all year around the outside of a high speed corner. I’m very happy with the job we did today. We kept good pace and good fuel mileage and I feel like we managed the race really well. I don’t think we could’ve done much more during the race, the only thing would’ve been to qualify slightly higher up. Regardless, I know that top-10 for myself and the Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet is coming this year.” OLIVER ASKEW, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 15^th: “The No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP team made good progress during the weekend. Today was the first time I had to fuel save this year, which was an adjustment, but I felt like I gave it my all. Looking forward to getting back to the Indianapolis Road Course, where we qualified in the Fast Six earlier this year. I think the entire team has a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to capitalizing on that.” CONOR DALY, NO. 20 U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 16^th: “Today was tough in qualifying. We just didn’t get the right lap in at the right time and we just missed having another lap by a couple of seconds. Starting on the back foot, that’s hard. We took a gamble with the setup which was actually good for me to try. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time for everything that happened on track, it was a shame. However, there were some positives; yesterday, we qualified 4th which was really good. We are still learning together as a team, hopefully we can put what we learned here towards the Harvest Grand Prix.” CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 4 TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 19^tht: “So I definitely think we made the No. 4 Tresiba Chevrolet better overnight from race one to race two. This morning obviously was unfortunate with the spin in the wet so we started last and around here at Mid-Ohio it’s so hard to pass. The guys did a great job in pit lane. We were able to hit the fuel number we needed to get to the end of the race, so on that side of things I think we checked some boxes, learned some things, learned a little bit about the car as we head to the doubleheader at the Harvest Grand Prix back on the Indy road course. We’ll take what we learned from there in July, what we learned from here, put it together and hopefully come up with a good package off the truck.”  DALTON KELLETT, NO 14 K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 21st: “The only thing you can do on a day like today is take the positive and learn from what went wrong. The team made some good changes from qualifying to the race.iFor the first half of the first stint, the car felt really good, we were on pace with the guys around us. Our speed was pretty competitive on the alternate Firestones. Just a little mistake on my part on the downshift, it got loose into [Turn] 1 and I couldn’t save it. When I backed it into the gravel, we damaged the underwing pretty bad so it was a big loss in downforce. The rest of the race was more of an exercise in keeping the car on the track and trying not to get in the way of the leaders and the cars that weren’t damaged and kind of chugging along. It’s one we’ll have to file away and come back stronger for the Harvest GP.” 

September 13, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Quick Lane team find themselves in a must-win Playoff situation heading into next Saturday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway after a 17^th-place finish at Richmond Raceway.

DiBenedetto started Saturday’s 400-lapper at Richmond from 16^th place but struggled early with the handling on his Quick Lane Mustang.

He finished 17^th in the first Stage and 19^th in the second, but he lost a lap when he came just a few laps shy of making a two-pit-stop strategy work in his favor in the second stage.

Still, DiBenedetto was able to run in the free pass spot for a long stretch at the start of the third and final segment of the race.

Unfortunately, the lack of caution flags took away any opportunity to rejoin the lead lap, and he wound up finishing outside the top 15. 

There were only three yellow flags all night, one for the competition caution and two for stage breaks.
  
So, Benedetto and the Quick Lane team head to Bristol 25 points below the Playoff cutline. The bottom four drivers in the standings after Bristol will be eliminated from title contention, so the only plausible way for DiBenedetto, 15^th in the standings, to make the Round of 12 would be to win at Bristol since a win in any round guarantees an advancement to the next round.

DiBenedetto, who was racing at Richmond for the first time since joining the Quick Lane team, said the lack of practice there put him and the team at a disadvantage.
 
“No practice really bit us,” he said, adding that his Greg Erwin-led crew was able to tune the No. 21 Mustang and make it competitive after a slow start. “We made a fair amount of adjustments and got it driving, not perfect, but OK.

“We rode in the lucky dog spot for the longest time but couldn’t ever get a caution. That trapped us behind the Eight Ball, and we couldn’t get the finish we deserved.”
 
DiBenedetto said that while winning at Bristol will be a tall order, he believes he and his team are capable of pulling it off.
 
“We have good race cars, and if we get it just right we have a shot at it,” he said.
 

Alexander Rossi collects second podium finish of 2020 in opening race of the weekend
Graham Rahal runs fourth as Honda drivers claim five of top-seven finishes
Second 75-lap race in doubleheader weekend runs Sunday at Mid-Ohio

LEXINGTON, Ohio (September 12, 2020) – Alexander Rossi held off a strong challenge from hometown favorite Graham Rahal to secure the final step on the podium Saturday at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, as their battle for third was a highlight in the opening race of a doubleheader Honda Indy 200 weekend.

Exiting the pits after the final round of stops on Lap 54, Rossi and Rahal battled to the finish of today 75-lap contest, while a trio of Honda drivers filled out the rest of the top seven positions. Ryan Hunter-Reay ended the day fifth, after starting and running as high as third in the opening stint, with Felix Rosenqvist sixth and Jack Harvey equaling his best result of 2020 with a seventh-place finish.

Recovering from a disappointing qualifying session that left him starting deep in the field, 17th, at the start, championship points leader Scott Dixon went to work right from the green flag, gaining six position in the opening laps and eventually making the largest gain in the 23-driver field, to finish 10th. After 10 of 14 races, Dixon maintains a 76-point lead in the drivers’ championship over Josef Newgarden, who finished second today.

Next
Today’s race was the opening round of a doubleheader Honda Indy 200 weekend at Mid-Ohio. Tomorrow’s 75-lap finale starts at 1 p.m. EDT, with live coverage on NBC.

Honda Racing social media content and videos from the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will be available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Quotes
Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport Honda) Started sixth, finished third (second podium finish of 2020): “It’s good. We haven’t had a lot of things go our way this year, so now we’re just trying to go out and make the most of every opportunity we get for the rest of this year. The Andretti Honda guys did a great job. Had we been able to clear Ryan [Hunter-Reay] and get Josef [Newgarden], I think we might’ve had a shot at the win. Our pace was really good, but starting sixth it was always going to be a little bit of a challenge. But it was a good day for us, and we get to do it all over again tomorrow.”

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) Started eighth, finished fourth: “It feels good to get a good result after St. Louis, which was kind of a bruiser. But our pit stops were fast today, strategy was good, and we were right there in contention [for the win]. I gave Alex [Rossi] as much as I could [in the battle for third]. I think tomorrow’s going to be interesting. It’s going to be hot, and physical, and I think some guys are going to ‘fall out of the saddle’. Thanks to Honda for all their support in putting on this event, it should be a great day tomorrow.”

Ted Klaus (President, Honda Performance Development) on today’s opening race in the Honda Indy 200 doubleheader race weekend: “Today wasn’t the win everyone at HPD was working to achieve, but there were several individual accomplishments that we can cheer. It was great to see Alexander Rossi back on the podium, and to watch Graham Rahal recover from a disappointing weekend in St. Louis to finish fourth today. The battle between Rahal and Rossi for third was one of the highlights of the race. Scott Dixon gained seven positions on the day, and remains in charge of the championship. So, there’s a lot to take away from today’s race, and we get to do it all again tomorrow.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 400 RICHMOND RACEWAY TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES SEPTEMBER 12, 2020
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER4th      AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW NORKOOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE5th      CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE9th      ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM / TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE11th    TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CAT RENTAL STORE CAMARO ZL1 1LE13th    KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Brad Keselowski (Ford)2nd     Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)3rd      Joey Logano (Ford)4th      Austin Dillon (Chevrolet)5th      Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)UNOFFICIAL CURRENT PLAYOFF RANK (Following Round 2 of 10)POS.   DRIVER (* = Chevy Contender)        1.        Kevin Harvick (Ford): Win2.        Brad Keselowski (Ford): Win3.        Denny Hamlin (Toyota): + 64/Clinched by Points4.        Joey Logano (Ford): +515.        Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota): +386.        * Austin Dillon (Chevrolet): +367.        * Chase Elliott (Chevrolet): + 288.        * Alex Bowman (Chevrolet): + 279.        Kyle Busch (Toyota): +1810.      Aric Almirola (Ford): +711.      * Kurt Busch (Chevrolet): +712.      Clint Bowyer (Ford): +3________13.      * William Byron (Chevrolet): -314.      Cole Custer (Ford): -815.      Matt DiBenedetto (Ford): -2516.      Ryan Blaney (Ford): -27
The NASCAR Cup Series seasons continues at Bristol Motor Speedway with the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday, September 19th,^, at 7:30 p.m. ET to conclude the Round of 16 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:AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW NORKOOL CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 4th “I feel like I gave one away tonight. Our Dow NORKOOL Chevrolet was so fast tonight. We had a massive day for stage points, which is going to help us out big picture-wise. We had a speeding penalty in Stage 1, and to come from the back to the front in that Stage just shows how fast our Chevy was tonight. This No. 3 team is on fire right now and showing up when it matters. I have a line here and it’s been working. I run a little lower on the straightaway and it gives me good forward drive. I saw some other drivers start picking it up and laying the rubber down on that line. It might have hurt us a little bit at the end of the race, but the biggest thing is when we came to pit road for our second green-flag stop in Stage 3 we were trying to bring everybody down. The No. 1 car was in my mirror on tires. I overdrove that entry just a little bit thinking that I needed to avoid getting rear-ended, and then it was like ‘Oh no, I’m going to hit the red box’ so I had to make another lap around the track. That cost us three seconds. It probably killed our deal, but it was still early, so who knows. It was a lot of fun out here tonight and I think we had the best car tonight, so thanks to Justin Alexander and everyone at RCR and ECR for giving us a solid Chevy tonight. We’re headed to Bristol Motor Speedway in a good spot and it’s exciting to know we still have eight more chances to try and get another win. Our confidence level for Bristol is pretty high.” CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 5thFOUND THE FRONT A COUPLE OF TIMES. WHERE WAS THE NO. 9 OFF JUST A LITTLE BIT TONIGHT?“First off, we were way better than we’ve been here, probably ever, so I thought that was a big improvement for us. We really needed it here. This has been a really, really tough track for us. I thought we got our NAPA Auto Parts Camaro good, especially through the middle portion. Just got a little behind, I think, as the race went on to roll the center as good as we needed to late in a run. But, we were way, way better than we’ve ever been here I feel like before. And consistently all night, too. I thought that was a pretty big step for us at a track that we’ve really struggled at.” THE HARD WORK WAS NOT LOST BY ANY OF US – WE KNOW HOW HARD EVERYONE BACK AT THE SHOP WORKS TO MAKE THIS HAPPEN. HOW DID THEY GET THAT DONE AND WHERE DID THEY IMPROVE THE MOST FOR YOU HERE?“I feel like Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and all our guys just tried to find trends over the last number of years – the things we’ve struggled with and look at some of the things we’ve done good. The only problem was there wasn’t many things that we’ve done good here with. So, just trying to pick apart those fine details and I really think we hit on a few of them. Certainly weren’t the best, but way better than we’ve been here before I feel like in my opinion. I think that was a big deal for us.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CHEVYGOODS.COM / TRUCK HERO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 9th “How about that? We ended up top-10 at Richmond. That is like a miracle. We had a really good car and definitely better than a ninth-place car. I made my fair share of mistakes and we had some issues getting on and off pit road. We lost some time there. I am pumped for Truck Hero and CHEVYGOODS.com. It is really weird to be this pumped about running ninth, especially when we had a much better car than ninth. Last time we were here we ran, I think, 24^th. This is good momentum for us going into the cutoff race next week in Bristol.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CAT RENTAL STORE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 11th“I think Richmond Raceway is one the most challenging tracks on the circuit, but my No. 8 Cat Rental Store team did a great job tonight helping me find my rhythm and build a strong run out there with our Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Not having any practice here for my first Cup start, it took me a little bit of time in the first Stage to figure out how the best way to get around here with the balance I had in our car. My whole team did a great job of analyzing the SMT data available to us in real-time and relaying to my spotter, Derek Kneeland, on what I needed to be doing differently on track to gain spots out there. That data really did help and made a ton of difference in our night. Between that feedback and the changes, we made during our pit stops tonight, I was able to become more confident in the car and run harder earlier in each run of the night. I needed just a little more on the short runs to get going, but overall, this was one of better races we’ve had in the last few weeks. We’ll take this and continue to fight next week at another short track.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 13th“Our pit strategy just didn’t turn out the way that we had hoped. We really had to work hard early in the race to manage the tires and an ill-handling car. The guys did a nice job working on the balance, to make the Monster Energy Chevy better on the long runs. With no cautions to help us out we just weren’t able to catch a break that we needed. Who ever thought we would a short track with no unplanned cautions?”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 21stMINUS FOUR GOING INTO BRISTOL – HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? HOW DISAPPOINTED ARE YOU GOING THERE BELOW THE CUTOFF LINE?“It is what it is – we ran horrible tonight and no excuse for that. It was really kind of a slow death the entire race, so we’ll go to Bristol and regroup for that one.”
ARE YOU SURPRISED YOU’RE IN THIS POSITION? DID YOU THINK YOU’D BE IN A BETTER PLACE?“No, I mean we knew Richmond was our biggest struggle of the Playoffs. The first time I came here, it seemed like things were pretty good. And then last year, we really struggled here and obviously didn’t really improve. It’s disappointing. We just have to put this one behind us and go to Bristol. I think we’ve ran OK at Bristol – top-10 in the spring and made the All-Star race. So, I think we just have to go there and hopefully have a good run.”
DOES THE EXPERIENCE OF BOUNCING BACK AT DOVER THE DAY AFTER HAVING A BAD RACE GIVE YOU ANY CONFIDENCE IN BEING ABLE TO BOUNCE BACK FROM THIS?“Not really, just because I feel like we had a chance to work on the car the second day and improve. When you miss it, you miss it. There’s no practice, there’s nothing really to identify with. We knew pretty early on in the race that we were in trouble. I think we lost like 10 spots in 10 laps it felt like. When you’re in that position, you just have to try to change it up as a driver and try to do different things. But I think going to Bristol, it’s a track that we can have a good setup at. We’ve ran decent there in the past, so we can hopefully look at that.”
I HEARD YOU SAY YOU STRUGGLED TONIGHT, BUT WHAT HAPPENED? WHAT WENT WRONG FOR YOU GUYS THAT YOU JUST DIDN’T HAVE IT?“It seemed like every time that we entered the corner with any sort of brake pressure at all, we were pretty much locking the left front and sliding across the track. We were really tight in. Typically, you’re loose in here and we were extremely tight into the corner, locking the left front up and having to get off the brake as quick as possible to keep the front tires turning. That just doesn’t make a lot of speed and anytime we tried to go any faster than that, we were just killing the front tires off the car. Pretty much just had to run around there about 80 percent most of the time and try to have something for the end of a run. But typically, we just fell off like a rock at the end of each run that we had to run out to our pit stop. With no cautions, it kind of is what it is.”
FIRST OFF, JUST HOW SURPRISED WERE YOU THAT THE ONLY CAUTIONS WERE THE COMPEITION CAUTION AND THE STAGE BREAKS?“I think it’s expected at Richmond. We are sliding around a lot, but because we’re sliding around so much, it’s kind of expected every lap that you’re going to slide around. Everyone in the field did a good enough job to manage that and you’re not going to see a lot of cautions when everyone kind of knows that grip is low and you’re just out there racing your car. You can’t really battle anybody for position that hard because you’re that low on grip. It’s just the way this track is. It’s fun as a driver, but obviously has very little cautions because of it.”
OBVIOUSLY WITH THE WAY THE PLAYOFFS ARE, FOR SOME DRIVERS, CERTAIN ROUNDS ARE BETTER THAN OTHERS. AS YOU MENTIONED, THIS WAS GOING TO BE A TOUGH RACE FOR YOU AND JUST THE WHOLE ORGANIZATION. HOW DID YOU GO INTO THE PLAYOFFS AND HOW IMPORTANT WAS DARLINGTON BECAUSE OF WHAT THE POTENTIAL ROAD BLOCK WAS HERE?“It was important. I think we did pretty much our job there – we finished top-five. I felt like we missed out on some stage points. We knew this track was going to be tough. Last year, we saved ourselves in this round with the Roval – qualifying on the pole and finishing sixth. We don’t really have that to lean on that much this year, so we have to perform at Bristol. Definitely our toughest round. I’d like to say if we can get through this round, the rest of the Playoffs will be great. But we’re here and this is what we have to do.”

Austin Dillon and the Dow NORKOOL Chevrolet Team Display Dominance at Richmond Raceway By Leading Laps, Earning Stage Points and Top-Five Finish

4th   3rd  6th

“I feel like I gave one away tonight. Our Dow NORKOOL Chevrolet was so fast. We had a massive day for stage points, which is going to help us out big picture-wise. We had a speeding penalty in Stage 1, and to come from the back to the front in that Stage just shows how fast our Chevy was tonight. This No. 3 team is on fire right now and showing up when it matters. I have a line at Richmond, and it has been working for me. I run a little lower on the straightaway, and it gives me good forward drive. I saw some other drivers start picking it up and laying the rubber down on that line. It might have hurt us a little bit at the end of the race, but the biggest thing is when we came to pit road for our second green-flag stop in Stage 3, we were trying to bring everybody down. The No. 1 car was in my mirror on tires. I overdrove that entry just a little bit thinking that I needed to avoid getting rear-ended, and then it was like ‘Oh no, I’m going to hit the red box’ so I had to make another lap around the track. That cost us three seconds. It probably killed our deal, but it was still early, so who knows. It was a lot of fun out here tonight, and I think we had the best car tonight, so thanks to Justin Alexander and everyone at RCR and ECR for giving us a solid Chevy tonight. We’re headed to Bristol Motor Speedway in a good spot, and it’s exciting to know we still have eight more chances to try and get another win. Our confidence level for Bristol is pretty high.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and No. 8 Cat Rental Store Team Capitalize on Data to Adapt and Secure 11th-Place Finish at Richmond

11th   22nd   19th

“I think Richmond Raceway is one the most challenging tracks on the circuit, but my No. 8 Cat Rental Store team did a great job tonight helping me find my rhythm and build a strong run out there with our Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Not having any practice here for my first Cup start, it took me a little bit of time in the first Stage to figure out the best way to get around here with the balance I had in our car. My whole team did a good job of analyzing the SMT data available to us in real-time and relaying to my spotter, Derek Kneeland, on what I needed to be doing differently on track to gain spots out there. That data really did help and made a ton of difference in our night. Between that feedback and the changes we made during our pit stops tonight, I was able to become more confident in the car and run harder with each run of the night. I needed just a little more on the short runs to get going, but overall, this was one of better races we’ve had in the last few weeks. We’ll take this and continue to fight next week at another short track.” -Tyler Reddick

CHEVROLET NTT INDYCAR SERIES HONDA INDY 200 DOUBLE HEADER MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE LEXINGTON, OHIO TEAM CHEVY RACE ONE RECAP SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER1st       Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet2nd     Josef Newgarden, No. 1 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet8th      Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Sonax Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet11th   Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet13th    Conor Daly, No. 21 U.S. Air Force Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet18th    Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet19th    Oliver Askew, No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet                    TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER                                                             1st      Will Power (Chevrolet)2^nd     Josef Newgarden (Chevrolet) 3^rd       Alexander Rossi (Honda)4^th       Graham Rahal (Honda)5^th      Ryan Hunter-Reay (Honda) WILL POWER TURNS POLE INTO WIN  It was a good day for Will Power. Not only did he win his 60^th P1 Award in the NTT INDYCAR Series , it turned it into his 38^th Series’ win. It was also his first win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course Power, the 2014 Series’ chamion and 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner, led 66 of the 75 lap race. It’s the third pole, but first win of the season for Power. It is his 8^th win of the season. Defending and two-time champion Josef Newgarden, No. 1 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, finished second and gained 20 points in the championship battle. He is now 76 points down to leader. Giving Chevrolet three of the top-eight was Rookie-of-the-Year points leader Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Sonax Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet.  The NTT IndyCar Series season continues on Sunday September 13^th with Race #2 of the Honda Indy 200 Doubleheader at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. NBC will telecast the race at 1:00 p.m.ET. Live coverage can also be found on Pennzoil INDYCAR Radio Network affiliates, Sirius 211, XM 205, IndyCar.com and on the INDYCAR Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. Live coverage of NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying is available on NBC Gold, XM 205, IndyCar.com and the INDYCAR Mobile app at 10:15 a.m.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – WINNER:YOU FINALLY GOT IT DONE BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOU GUYS JUST PUT TOGETHER A COMPLETE RACE. IT LOOKED FLAWLESS. WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR THIS TEAM MOVING FORWARD?“It’s great. It’s been a pretty trying year. Obviously, for everyone it has. I mean, the circumstances are very tough with COVID-19 and all the social distancing that we have to do. But the fact that we’re out here racing, and we have some fans is fantastic. We love to do it; we love to entertain, and we love to drive. I’m so happy to have the Verizon No. 12 car in Victory Lane. And this is probably the first race, I reckon, in about ten years that I haven’t just gone hard. Every other race we save fuel and play a strategy game. Today I just said hey let’s just go hard, man. Screw this. We don’t want to get caught by a yellow. Let’s just run hard and use my raw pace and see what happens. And we won the race, so it was a great strategy.” YOU MADE IT LOOK SO EASY. BUT BEHIND THE WHEEL, WERE THERE ANY MOMENTS THAT KIND OF GOT YOUR HEART RATE UP?“No, it’s just putting down good laps, lap after lap after lap. I’d get to someone I had to lap, and I’d get past and I’d push hard. It was just a flawless day. That’s what you’ve got to do to win races in this series. The whole team did a fantastic job and to see Verizon in Victory Lane again is fantastic because it’s been a while.” A COUPLE OF MILESTONES TODAY INCLUDING YOUR 60^TH CAREER POLE, SECOND ALL-TIME. YOU ALSO PICK-UP YOUR FIRST WIN HERE AT MID-OHIO. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE sCHECKING SOME OF THOSE BOXES AND MOVING UP ON THE ALL-TIME WINS LIST, AS WELL?“It’s just great to tick the Mid-Ohio box. I have finished on the :podium here five times; on the front row, I think we counted like nine times, and finally converted one. So, I’m absolutely over the moon.” THIS IS A VERY PHYSICAL COURSE. HOW DO YOU PREPARE TO COME BACK FOR THE SECOND RACE HERE EARLY TOMORROW?“I’ll definitely have an ice bath and a bit of massage and then try to sleep. It’s hard to get the ole ticker to stop when you’ve executed like 75 hard laps. But we’ll be all right. Everyone is in the same boat. I’m pretty fit. And I feel good.”lJOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 2^nd:“It was a pretty straightforward day. We kind of finished where we started, I was lucky to get by Ryan Hunter-Raey at the start. We missed the chaos. It would have been amazing if this rain would have come 10 minutes sooner. I don’t think I wanted this necessarily made a difference for us today, but it would have been fun to watch. Congrats to Will. He is still Will Power. He’s been knocked down a little bit and has had some tough times. So really happy for him.
“I wish our PPG car could have been a little better. But I think we were a couple of tenths slower today each lap. I could kind of tell all race I was fighting for second. Team Chevy obviously did a great job so super proud of that.  Having PPG here in Ohio is always good.
“Tomorrow we just need to be a little bit sportier than we were. In the beginning it was kind of evident we couldn’t run with Will. If we can pick up a couple of tenths a lap I think we can race with him. We did make up some points like you said. One place higher would have make it even bigger. We will do our best.
“I was tired after the hour and 15 minute practice which just shows you the physical toughness of this track. So to do another 75-lap race and get-up on the wheel to get something. I wish it would come through how tough these cars are to drive. Everybody up and down pit lane is working hard.”
RINUS VEEKAY, No. 21 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET- Finished 8^th:“Good race! I struggled a little bit at the beginning to get around slower traffic. Once I figured it out, it was really enjoyable. It definitely wasn’t a perfect race, but I’m happy with what we made of it and the speed we had. I think we can do even better in qualifying tomorrow, which will make the race easier!” PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 11^th:“Yeah, we had a really messy day today. Not starting toward the front doesn’t make your life any easier. We had some clutch issues in the pits which caused us to stall. That made it really difficult for us to get out of the box. We made up as much time as we could on track. We were very fast and I think the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet was one of the best cars out there. We just didn’t quite perfect the little things that get you to the front today. We will work on that for tomorrow and we should have a good race.” CONOR DALY, NO. 20 U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 13^th:“We had a really good start, got up to 3rd, which was nice! We struggled with the balance a little bit, but once we settled into 4th we held our position. It was tough to nail the times we needed on the out laps. Running out of fuel, these things happen sometimes. It was a shame because we would have been in the Top 10. Hopefully, we can work on some race pace for tomorrow and thankfully we have another day.” MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET – Finished 16^th:“It was a tough race for us. We had a fairly decent run at qualifying earlier today finishing sixth in our group and just barely missing out on a top-10 start for the Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet in Race 1. We lost a few spots at the start of the race and then after that it was just tough to get around anyone and get those positions back. It’s unfortunate that we didn’t go forward like we would’ve liked especially with how well we qualified and how quick the guys were in pit lane. We have some things to look at tonight, but thankfully we get another chance tomorrow to do it all again and we’ve already shown in qualifying that we have the speed to be battling with the guys in the top 10.”
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DXC TECHNOLOGY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 18^th:“Frustrating day for the No. 22 DXC Technology Chevrolet. We had some good pace, but with no cautions and the mistake at the beginning of the race, it was hard to make up the track position. Just spun out and stalled the car and couldn’t get it refired. We tried to short pit and gain some track position, but without any cautions, there wasn’t much else we could do. Hopefully, we can go out there tomorrow and do better.” OLIVER ASKEW, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 19^th:“It was a tough day for the entire team. You’re always going into the race on your back foot when you don’t qualify toward the front. The No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet felt strong during the race but it’s always tough to pass at Mid-Ohio and we just couldn’t make up ground. The entire team will put in the work tonight to figure out how we can be better and faster tomorrow. Looking forward to getting another shot at it.”
DALTON KELLETT, NO 14 K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 22^nd:“Not the overall finishing position we’d like, but I think we found some easy time to gain in qualifying for tomorrow so hopefully we should be able to qualify a little further up the grid and that will definitely make it a little easier because when you’re starting at the back there, by the end of the first lap you’re already a significant chunk behind the leaders and it’s a short lap so then with the pit cycles you end up kind of risking going a lap down and getting caught in a pack that’s at a different speed than you so that can be a bit difficult. So really the goal for tomorrow is qualifying further up, that will make our lives easier and keep working on the car. I think we’ve made the car better from practice to qualifying to the race and definitely learned some good lessons today that we can take into tomorrow.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 4 TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 21^st: “It was a really tough day honestly. We missed it a little bit in qualifying and I feel like we missed it a lot in the race. The 14 car looked a little more competitive in the race so we’ll look at what they did and come up with some ideas. The nice thing is that we get to do it all again tomorrow, so I have a lot of faith in the No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing crew. We just have to sit down, put all our heads together and come up with something to start tomorrow.”  

CHEVROLET NTT INDYCAR SERIES HONDA INDY 200 DOUBLE HEADER MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE LEXINGTON, OHIO TEAM CHEVY WINNER QUOTE SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 WILL POWER TAKES CHEVY TO RACE ONE VICTORY LANE WINNER’S QUOTE:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET RACE WINNER:YOU FINALLY GOT IT DONE BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOU GUYS JUST PUT TOGETHER A COMPLETE RACE. IT LOOKED FLAWLESS. WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR THIS TEAM MOVING FORWARD?“It’s great. It’s been a pretty trying year. Obviously, for everyone it has. I mean, the circumstances are very tough with COVID-19 and all the social distancing that we have to do. But the fact that we’re out here racing, and we have some fans is fantastic. We love to do it; we love to entertain, and we love to drive. I’m so happy to have the Verizon No. 12 car in Victory Lane. And this is probably the first race, I reckon, in about ten years that I haven’t just gone hard. Every other race we save fuel and play a strategy game. Today I just said hey let’s just go hard, man. Screw this. We don’t want to get caught by a yellow. Let’s just run hard and use my raw pace and see what happens. And we won the race, so it was a great strategy.” YOU MADE IT LOOK SO EASY. BUT BEHIND THE WHEEL, WERE THERE ANY MOMENTS THAT KIND OF GOT YOUR HEART RATE UP?“No, it’s just putting down good laps, lap after lap after lap. I’d get to someone I had to lap, and I’d get past and I’d push hard. It was just a flawless day. That’s what you’ve got to do to win races in this series. The whole team did a fantastic job and to see Verizon in Victory Lane again is fantastic because it’s been a while.” A COUPLE OF MILESTONES TODAY INCLUDING YOUR 60^TH CAREER POLE, SECOND ALL-TIME. YOU ALSO PICK-UP YOUR FIRST WIN HERE AT MID-OHIO. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CHECKING SOME OF THOSE BOXES AND MOVING UP ON THE ALL-TIME WINS LIST, AS WELL?“It’s just great to tick the Mid-Ohio box. I have finished on the podium here five times; on the front row, I think we counted like nine times, and finally converted one. So, I’m absolutely over the moon.” THIS IS A VERY PHYSICAL COURSE. HOW DO YOU PREPARE TO COME BACK FOR THE SECOND RACE HERE EARLY TOMORROW?“I’ll definitely have an ice bath and a bit of massage and then try to sleep. It’s hard to get the ole ticker to stop when you’ve executed like 75 hard laps. But we’ll be all right. Everyone is in the same boat. I’m pretty fit. And I feel good.”

CHEVROLET NTT INDYCAR SERIES HONDA INDY 200 DOUBLE HEADER MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE LEXINGTON, OHIO TEAM CHEVY WINNER QUOTE SEPTEMBER 12, 2020 WILL POWER TAKES CHEVY TO RACE ONE VICTORY LANE WINNER’S QUOTE:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET RACE WINNER:YOU FINALLY GOT IT DONE BUT MORE IMPORTANTLY, YOU GUYS JUST PUT TOGETHER A COMPLETE RACE. IT LOOKED FLAWLESS. WHAT DOES THAT DO FOR THIS TEAM MOVING FORWARD?“It’s great. It’s been a pretty trying year. Obviously, for everyone it has. I mean, the circumstances are very tough with COVID-19 and all the social distancing that we have to do. But the fact that we’re out here racing, and we have some fans is fantastic. We love to do it; we love to entertain, and we love to drive. I’m so happy to have the Verizon No. 12 car in Victory Lane. And this is probably the first race, I reckon, in about ten years that I haven’t just gone hard. Every other race we save fuel and play a strategy game. Today I just said hey let’s just go hard, man. Screw this. We don’t want to get caught by a yellow. Let’s just run hard and use my raw pace and see what happens. And we won the race, so it was a great strategy.” YOU MADE IT LOOK SO EASY. BUT BEHIND THE WHEEL, WERE THERE ANY MOMENTS THAT KIND OF GOT YOUR HEART RATE UP?“No, it’s just putting down good laps, lap after lap after lap. I’d get to someone I had to lap, and I’d get past and I’d push hard. It was just a flawless day. That’s what you’ve got to do to win races in this series. The whole team did a fantastic job and to see Verizon in Victory Lane again is fantastic because it’s been a while.” A COUPLE OF MILESTONES TODAY INCLUDING YOUR 60^TH CAREER POLE, SECOND ALL-TIME. YOU ALSO PICK-UP YOUR FIRST WIN HERE AT MID-OHIO. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE CHECKING SOME OF THOSE BOXES AND MOVING UP ON THE ALL-TIME WINS LIST, AS WELL?“It’s just great to tick the Mid-Ohio box. I have finished on the podium here five times; on the front row, I think we counted like nine times, and finally converted one. So, I’m absolutely over the moon.” THIS IS A VERY PHYSICAL COURSE. HOW DO YOU PREPARE TO COME BACK FOR THE SECOND RACE HERE EARLY TOMORROW?“I’ll definitely have an ice bath and a bit of massage and then try to sleep. It’s hard to get the ole ticker to stop when you’ve executed like 75 hard laps. But we’ll be all right. Everyone is in the same boat. I’m pretty fit. And I feel good.”