Corvette Racing drivers Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor (No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R) along with Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner (No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R) met with members of the media during a teleconference to discuss the team’s recent victory at Daytona, development of the mid-engine Corvette C8.R and the outlook for this weekend’s Cadillac Grand Prix at Sebring. FULL TRANSCRIPT: ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.RTALK ABOUT THE SATISFACTION OF WINNING AT SEBRING FOR THE TEAM’S 100TH VICTORY.“It was definitely a good race for us. Knowing that it was the 100th win for Corvette Racing was very special. We had been waiting for a long time since the 99th victory. I wish there had been more victories with C7.R but getting this win with everything going on this year was a blessing for everyone. After five months of not having track activity, it meant a lot to the guys who had never stopped working on the development of the C8.R. We knew we had a better car right away (compared to the Rolex 24), but we had to prove it on the track. On the first very laps two weeks ago, I could really tell a big difference in the car from the Daytona 24 Hours.” WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO DO IN THE WEEK OR SO SINCE DAYTONA IN TERMS OF COMMUNICATION WITH THE TEAM, AND WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN ABLE TO TAKE FROM DAYTONA THAT YOU CAN USE FOR SEBRING?“Mainly what we could do was fill in with more details a report regarding the Daytona race. The engineers now have hard work analyzing all the data. That’s basically all we can do at this time. They came back to us with all they could see in their data to prepare us for the next race. For us, it’s not a ton of work to be done. It’s more work on the engineering side, and I think we have the best engineers and mechanics behind us. They probably went down to every single bolt on the car and I’m sure they rebuilt the whole car again. I’m sure we learned something from this past race on every aspect – speed and things that we can get fixed for the next race. This is still a very young car, and we are still on a learning curve.” IN THIS BREAK, OTHER THAN YOU BEING IN FLORIDA, IS THIS DIFFERENT FOR YOU? WOULD YOU HAVE GONE BACK TO SPAIN AND THEN COME BACK, OR IS THE PROCEDURE NOW THE SAME IN TERMS OF COMMUNICATION?“It would have been the same. We decided to stay here (near Clearwater, Fla.). We’ve been doing a really good job of staying away from everyone and doing our job. I’ve been living with Olly now for three weeks. All you can do is keep training and looking at all the data the engineers send you and thinking a lot about the next race because there isn’t a ton of things to do (outside of race prep).” WILL CONDITIONS BE A LOT DIFFERENT AT SEBRING THAN WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE FACED IN MARCH?“I don’t know if it will be that much different than it usually is at the Sebring 12 Hours. We probably found way different track conditions during the Daytona 24 race, because there it can get warm but usually it can get very cold during the night. At Sebring, we’ve had quite a few races where it was very, very hot anyway. During the last test we did in February, from what I remember it was not as warm as it is now, but it felt pretty close. But this is a different time of year and the sunset might be different, so that will be something we will experience in a different way. From what I remember, the sunset is usually at the worst point during the March race, so I hope it’s going down in another place other than when you are going into Turn Seven and Turn 17. Other than that, we need to follow the conditions and wait to see what the track temperature will be. Sebring is one of the tracks where we test the most and those are always in different conditions. We need to find out the tire allocation and compounds we have. We need to test those early and see what the best combination. From that point we’ll use all the data we have to get the best car for the race.”  BEING STUCK IN FLORIDA, ARE YOU EXPECTING TO BE THERE INDEFINITELY? DO YOU SEE ANY POINT IN THE SEASON WHERE YOU’LL BE ABLE TO GO BACK HOME TO SPAIN?“The plan is to stay until after Road America. After that we have two off weekends, and as far as I know we will fly back right after that race. There will be a three-week break then almost, and so far it seems like things look better at home than in the U.S. at the moment. I don’t see why there would be an issue for us to go back, but we will all discuss that and see how things develop. We are still almost a month away from that, so we need to wait and see how everything goes. I do have a ticket to fly back so that’s the plan, but everything can change.” DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY DAYS OF TESTING YOU’VE AT SEBRING IN THE C8.R?“I don’t. We did a couple of tests – the one in February and another where we ran at night. It was just those two. It’s been quite awhile since the very first one there. The car changes so much so even if there was a test a year or year-and-a-half from now, it would be way different than at this time. Luckily enough one of the last tests we did was at Sebring so hopefully the car will be almost as it was then. That will be a plus for us. It will be different for the next few races onward since we will have to rediscover the car on all the new tracks that we will be at.”TALK ABOUT HOW YOU EXPECT THE CORVETTE TO DO AROUND WATKINS GLEN.“I think it’s going to be a great car around there. The C7.R was really good around Watkins Glen, and we had a lot of success there. This car, though, will be very, very fun to drive around there. When that time comes, we’ll be a few races into the season and will have raced at Sebring, Road America and VIR. So our car will be a little more developed and everything should be better for The Glen. I’m looking forward to that track for sure. Probably the next four races are probably my favorite tracks.” JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.RIS IT A RELIEF TO GET THE FIRST WIN FOR THE C8.R AND YOUR FIRST WIN AS FULL-TIME DRIVER ALREADY?“It’s great to get that first win early on. The team is always expecting to win, although going into the Rolex it was a big unknown with a brand new car in the Corvette C8.R. Once we got to the halfway point, I think we all thought we could have won that race with how strong we were out of the box. Going back to Daytona with everything we learned through January and during the COVID period, going to the simulators and the engineers working as hard as they did, we knew we were going to have a good shot of winning at Daytona. So for me personally, it’s great to get my first win for the team since 2015 (24 Hours of Le Mans), my first with Antonio and obviously the first for the C8.R and 100th for the team. It’s a lot of milestones but I’m glad we could do it after this huge break to show that everyone’s hard work paid off.”  YOU’LL BE RACING CLOSE TO HOME THIS WEEKEND. WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING?“It definitely will be different going to Sebring for a sprint race as opposed to the 12 Hour. For me, I haven’t raced at Sebring in a GT car since 2013, so I’ll have to get used to the points on the track where I’ll need to look in the mirror again and get used to that. The closing speeds of the prototypes in the high-speed corners will be something to get used to. Like Antonio said, we’ve been to Sebring through testing when it’s been warm. When we tested there ahead of the 12 Hours, it was pretty hot and I was personally very shocked at how good the car behaved in those hot conditions. Sebring is very temperature sensitive. Usually when you start the race late in the morning and get into the early afternoon when it’s really warm, you can struggle for pace and balance. All throughout our testing in those two days we did, the car was very well-balanced. It bodes well for us that we were able to get that test in before the COVID shutdown and were able to take the data that we learned there to the simulator for a couple days to get a head start on the weekend.” ANTONIO MENTIONED THE CAR WAS A LOT BETTER AT DAYTONA THE SECOND TIME AROUND. DID YOU MAKE THOSE CHANGES FOR THE TEST AT SEBRING?“It’s been awhile and I can’t remember exactly what has changed. The car was developed before I was in the picture, and they did a couple of days at Sebring before I was on the team, and then earlier this year we did the two days. A lot of the correlation work that’s been done on the simulator has expedited that development process. I saw in November with how well the simulator and the correlation works. You can do a change in the simulator and then do it at the racetrack… I did it months apart where I drove in the sim and then in the racecar and gave some feedback on a change. When I gave that feedback in real life, it lined up perfectly. Those changes that we are able to make during these times when we weren’t allowed to do track testing, we can rely on those a little bit better and that showed at Daytona. We couldn’t do much track testing before that event, but we were able to put a lot of things on the car that we learned at the simulator, and it proved to work there. I think the same thing could be the case at Sebring.” YOU OFFERED UP YOUR SERVICES FOR THE NASCAR RACEWEEK AT DAYTONA IN AUGUST. DID YOU GET ANY OFFERS OR IS THERE ANYTHING ON THE TABLE?“Kind of. I got an ARCA offer and I don’t know if you’d call it an offer in a Cup car… the conversation was a little bit confusing. I’ve always wanted to do a NASCAR road course race. I’m a big fan of that style of racing in that type of car. I’d love to try it. Daytona is a home track for me, and I’d be right around the corner. Obviously, I have a lot of laps around there. I’m not sure how the weekend will work. Seeing what they’ve done these past few races where they have no practices and go straight into the race, a guy with a little bit of track experience could have maybe a small advantage at the beginning even though I’m sure a lot of those guys probably have done a lot of simulator work as well. It obviously would be a big learning curve to jump into one of those cars and figure it out at the same time. I’d definitely love to try it if there is an opportunity, hopefully in a Chevrolet vehicle.” WHEN YOU SAY CONFUSING, DOES THAT MEAN YOU’RE NOT SURE IF THEY WANT TO PUT YOU IN A CAR, DO THEY WANT YOU TO CONSULT?“It was like, ‘Hey do you want do this?’ And yeah I’d love to do this, but am I just coming to drive? And then they’re like, ‘We need to figure out if we can raise the money for it.’ That’s always kind of the case for those teams that offer those sorts of situations. It’s tough. You don’t want to be labeled as a guy who is going to bring money to a ride. If you get labeled as that, you’re going to get stuck in that position. I don’t want to get in a car to be battling for 35th to 40th, but if it gets my face in the NASCAR scene for a road course event, that’s not a bad thing either.” YOU GOT PRETTY CLOSE LAST YEAR WITH AN XFINITY RACE, RIGHT?“Yeah, I thought I was doing Mid-Ohio and Watkins Glen last year. It was pretty much a done deal, but it fell through at the last minute. I was getting ready to go off to see the team and meet everyone. I was really excited about that. I’d love another opportunity to come around. Daytona being right here is even better than a Mid-Ohio or Road America for that matter.” YOU TALKED ABOUT THE C8.R BEING BETTER THE SECOND TIME AROUND AT DAYTONA. WERE THERE ANY PLACES THAT STICK OUT WHERE YOU WERE NOTICIBLY BETTER THAN YOUR COMPETITORS?“It’s hard to say. I didn’t really get into much battling as Antonio did in the race. My stint was kind of weird with the damp start on slicks and then it going dry. From a drivability point of view, the guys did a lot of work with the engine calibration and the drivability of the engine. There were a lot of little things that we were complaining about during the Rolex weekend that were really fine-tuned for when we came back, whether it was traction control or throttle mapping. Things like that make a driver a little bit happier. Balance-wise, there were some small improvements overall. Daytona mostly has slow-speed corners, so in all the horseshoes the car felt better rotation-wise without losing traction. So the overall package was improved.” YOU TALKED ABOUT BEFORE DAYTONA WAS GETTING USED TO BEING BACK IN A GT CAR, BUT SEBRING WILL BE COMPLETLEY DIFFERENT WHEN IT COMES TO DEALING WITH PROTOYPE TRAFFIC. WHAT DID YOU TAKE FROM DAYTONA TO HELP AT SEBRING?“Thankfully when we went back to Daytona I was a little more prepared, but on the Rolex weekend I got a really big scare from one of the Mazdas in the Dogleg. In a prototype, you don’t realize the closing speeds. When you forget to look at the mirror before the Dogleg and they come flying by you at the exit, it’ll definitely wake you up. Looking at Sebring where we have a lot more of those high-speed corners like Turn One, Turn 17 and the back half of the track, I’ll have to get used to looking in the mirror in certain spots again. At Daytona, you can look at it in certain spots and know if you can relax or not. I’ll have to learn those same little habits and tendencies throughout Sebring.” TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.RHOW QUICKLY HAS THE CORVETTE C8.R DEVELOPED INTO A FRONT-RUNNING GTLM CAR?“First and foremost, it was good to be back racing again and be back at the racetrack. It was good for us, the crew and engineers to get back going again. Obviously, it was a great result for the team with a pole for Olly and a win for the No. 3 in the end. The car showed great pace throughout practice and in the race. We can be proud of the effort the guys put on in the five-month break after the Rolex 24 where we were quick for sure but maybe didn’t quite have the pace of the other cars. Daytona earlier this month was a great result for the team. For us in the No. 4 car, we were a little unlucky with the strategy. The pace was good. I’m excited to keep racing and going to Sebring this coming week to see how the car does there.” HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK THE EXPERIENCE OF TESTING AT SEBRING ALREADY WILL PLAY INTO THIS WEEKEND?“With the C8.R being a new car, some of these racetracks we won’t have tested at in person. Fortunately, Sebring is one of the places we have tested so that should be to our strength a little bit. We’ve done some simulator testing at Sebring as well, so having that experience and in real life should shorten any learning curve we might have. We still have some areas we’d like to improve obviously. The car was pretty good at Daytona. The team has such a long history at Sebring that there’s a lot we can pull from with past experiences and the testing we have done with this car to start the weekend off strong and hopefully improve a little bit as we did at Daytona to give us another great chance at the race.” IS THERE ANY DIFFERENCE IN SETUP AND PREPARATION FOR A SPRINT RACE AT SEBRING COMPARED TO HOW IT WAS INITIALLY PREPPED FOR THE 12 HOURS?“I don’t think fundamentally it’s a huge change. For prep of the car, the biggest difference is probably brake compounds. But otherwise, the engine, gearbox and suspension… we don’t have an endurance spec of those pieces. The car fundamentally, as far as I’m aware, is the same for sprint races and endurance races. The biggest difference is the brake package. The idea, of course, for Sebring would be not to have to make a brake change for the 12 Hours. With the sprint race coming up, the brake compound will be the only major difference we would have seen from the 12 Hours to this race.” HOW MUCH EFFORT HAS BEEN PUT INTO THE CORRELATION BETWEEN THE SIMULATOR AND THE REAL CAR? WOULD THAT HAVE BEEN SOMETHING YOU WANTED TO WORK IN EVEN WITHOUT THE COVID SITUATION?“Before there even was a C8.R racecar… we were already driving iterations of what the race car is now in our simulator that Chevy has in Charlotte. It has been a huge part of this car’s development process and will continue to be. It’s something the team is constantly improving. Even with C7.R, after race events oftentimes we would correlate changes we would make at the track and go back through and run through those changes on the simulator to see if everything correlates as we expected. It allowed the engineering team to improve both the chassis and tire models. The simulator continues to be a big part of making the most use of the track time we get. It helps accelerate the development process of taking something that is brand new like the C8.R and accelerating the process to get it race-ready in a shorter amount of time. During the COVID situation, we weren’t allowed to test on the simulator for a number of months. But before we got back to the racetrack, we had the chance to get back in the simulator. It was good for us as drivers and the engineers to have those tests where we are able to get back in the car and get things back going again.” THE 12 HOURS GOES FROM MORNING AND FINISHES WELL INTO DARKNESS SO YOU GO THROUGH THIS WIDE TEMPERATURE PATTERN. THIS WILL OBVIOUSLY BE MUCH DIFFERENT. DOES THAT ALSO NARROW DOWN THE SETUP THAT YOU’RE ABLE TO PUT IN THE CAR BECAUSE YOU DON’T HAVE TO COMPROMISE OVER A SHORTER PERIOD?“I think in 2016 we were expecting some heavy rain at some point, and some teams gambled with more of a wet setup and others went with a dry setup. The only thing that our simulator can’t do yet is simulate rain conditions, so that’s a situation where we don’t have a ton of time in this C8.R. We are eager to drive it more in the wet to get that experience. Hopefully if rain is to come for the race, we get some of those conditions in practice to learn as much as we can. We’ve seen in the past with C7.R that there is a setup that is ideal for wet conditions, but oftentimes if the balance is good in the dry then it’s good in the wet as well.” WITH TEMPERATURE EXTREMES, WE’VE BEEN DOWN THERE WITH A 20-DEGREE DELTA FROM START TO FINISH. YOU’D THINK THE DELTA WILL BE SMALLER IN THIS RACE WINDOW. DOES THAT ALLOW YOU FOCUS ON A PINPOINT SETUP?“Sebring, in its normal time slot in March, can be super-hot in the daytime and chilly at night. With that, we’d often see ourselves running two or three tire compounds throughout the race. That isn’t going to be factor for this race. Each compound doesn’t typically have a huge balance change from one to the other. But if we are expecting a certain temperature range and it falls in line with only using one compound, then we can hone the setup in on that. For sure that’s another aspect of this sprint race and running it at this time of the year that is different from the 12 Hours and what we are used to.” OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.RWAS THERE SATISFACTION WITH THE TEAM RESULTS FROM DAYTONA, AND HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THE FUTURE OF THIS PROGRAM AS IT GOES FORWARD?“It was great to get pole position at Daytona. I really enjoyed that lap. The car really did come together in qualifying, and it was a huge amount of fun to drive. I think everyone who has driven the C8.R would say that the feedback and enjoyment you get when it gets hooked up and starts to roll is fantastic. It was great to see that we could get a clean sweep on the front row in qualifying, and it was great to see the No. 3 get the victory. Our strategy didn’t play out that day, but that’s the way it is. We’re two cars from one team that is striving to get race wins and ultimately a championship. It’s very exciting to get the racing started back and get going. It’ll be great to go to Sebring where we have tested and had success there. We understand the bumps and how the Florida weather can work. I seem to remember Tommy giving us a fantastic victory there in 2016 and dealing with tricky conditions. This time of year, it can really throw up anything. It definitely will be warm, so we’ll be ready for that.” WITH A FRONT-ENGINE CAR, YOU GET A LOT OF HEATSOAK THROUGH THE PEDALS IN REGARD TO COCKPIT TEMPERATURE. DO YOU NOTICE A DIFFERENCE WITH THE NEW LAYOUT?“It is different. The team has been working very hard on what makes the cabin hot and where we need to do some work. Daytona was another datapoint for that. We’ve gone away and studied that, and Sebring will be another good test. We do have a good A/C system in the car, and Corvette Racing have invested a lot in that. When you get in the car, you hear all the fans running and feel a lot of air moving in the cabin, which is good. Ultimately the truth and the reality of it is will it work well in the race. At Daytona, I don’t’ think we got a full test because it wasn’t that hot in the race; it was sort of overcast and we had some rain that cooled things off. If we have a real scorching Saturday at Sebring, I think that’ll give it a real thorough test. Everyone feels it is a good system. We don’t have any real issues with temperature of the pedals so that’s a nice thing. We have a good system that blows air through the back of the seat, so that’s another thing that’s working well. We have Stand21 suits that we’ve been running for years and are working with those guys. Fingers crossed for Sebring. Our cooling system is a solid piece and something we’ll be able to rely on.” WERE THE REVISED TRACK SCHEDULE AND COVID PROTOCOLS A BIG ADJUSTMENT?“It was a little bit of an adjustment, but IMSA did a great job. It was fantastic to see how structured they were and how we got into the track. Everything went very smoothly and very well. You have to say that IMSA and Daytona did a fantastic job in managing everyone coming in. The fans that were there were kept in their own area, and it was very good in terms of distancing. I expect it to be very similar for Sebring. I’m comfortable with it and what we’ve done IMSA has done a great job getting us back racing.” HOW MANY MILES HAVE YOU PUT ON YOUR BIKE IN THE U.S. SO FAR?“I haven’t really counted miles, but I think it’s somewhere close to maybe 1,000 miles. I cooked myself yesterday and got ridiculously hot! I felt better today so it’s all good preparation for Sebring!”

Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo moves to third in season standings after four rounds
Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock topped qualifying for both weekend races

ALTON, Va (July 12, 2020) – The Racers Edge Motorsports duo of Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli, the 2019 SRO Motorsports GT World Challenge Pro/Am champions, had four months to think about a tough opening weekend at the Circuit of the Americas in March prior to this weekend’s resumption of racing at Virginia International Raceway.

The time off worked in the team’s favor as the #80 Acura NSX GT3 Evo returned to the sharp end of the grid as Barkey and Marcelli combined for a win and a second-place finish in Rounds 3 and 4 of the 2020 GT campaign this weekend in Virginia.

Meanwhile, the Silver Class pairing of Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock continued their strong 2020 season. After a start in March that saw the pair put their #93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo in Victory Lane in each of the first two opening rounds, Hindman and Blackstock added a P2 podium in Saturday’s VIR opening race of a doubleheader GT weekend.

Blackstock started the #93 NSX GT3 Evo from pole Saturday, and ran out to a lead of more than six seconds after 20 laps, while Barkey’s #80 machine was fighting its way into the top three after starting sixth. The team’s strategy of waiting longer than the rest of the field to make its driver change was paying dividends until a Lap 21 caution flag not only erased the advantage, but dropped the team behind those that had already made their driver swaps.

Marcelli, who had taken over from Barkey, restarted second and made quick work of the lead car, taking a lead he would not relinquish. Trent Hindman needed just three trips around the 17-turn 3.27-mile course to move into second, where he would finish 18 laps later.

Sunday’s race followed suit for the #93 NSX as Hindman opened up an early lead, after starting from the pole position for the second consecutive day, only to see it negated by a Pit Lane speed violation during the team’s driver change.

The resulting penalty promoted put Barkey into P2 amid a three-way tussle for the position.

A caution flew on Lap 42, setting up a seven-lap sprint to the checkered flag. Barkey restarted second and hounded the lead car all the way to the flag, finishing second by just .226 seconds. Hindman and Blackstock suffered a mechanical setback in the latter stages of the race and finished seventh overall, but had some consolation in running the race’s fastest lap.

The wins this weekend are the third in four GT World Challenge races for the Acura NSX GT3 Evo, which won team championships in both IMSA GTD and the SRO GT World Challenge series in 2019. The car, sold and supported by HPD in North America, runs in both Sprint and Endurance racing competition around the world.

Next
The GT World Challenge Series will traverse the country after running in Virginia, as the series’ next competition will take place at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway August 7 – 9 where Rounds 5 and 6 will be contested.

Acura Motorsports social media content and video links from Virginia International Raceway are available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, the YouTube videos can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Quotes
Martin Barkey (#80 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo) finished first overall Saturday, second Sunday: “We had better pace at COTA [prior race] than the results there really showed This is a great turnaround for us here. I have to tip my hat to the Racers Edge crew and of course the Acura. It’s such a great car to drive.”

Shelby Blackstock (#93 Acura Accelerated Service NSX GT3 Evo) finished second overall Saturday, seventh Sunday: “We had really good pace here, and it showed in qualifying P1 and in our race lap times. Unfortunately, the results didn’t reflect that, but happy that we showed that we can run with anyone in the class. Eager to get to Sonoma and challenge for the podium there. Thanks to the Racers Edge team and HPD for all the hard work this weekend!”

FORD PERFORMANCE SWEEPS KENTUCKY SPARTA, KY – July 13, 2020 – Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines sweep Kentucky with Cole Custer winning his first NASCAR Cup Series race as a rookie and Austin Cindric capturing back-to-back wins on Thursday and Friday in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

“Congratulations to Cole and Austin on their wins,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “The Ford Mustangs ran strong at Kentucky and to see Cole win his first Cup race as a rookie and Austin win his first two races of the year is special. Ford Performance and our Ford Performance race teams have been working really hard to deliver fast race cars to the track every week and to see the guys in Victory Lane is a testament to everyone’s dedication and teamwork.”

On a late race restart with two laps to go, in Sunday’s Quaker State 400, Stewart-Haas Racing driver, Custer in the No. 41 Ford Mustang started from the third row. With a strong push from Ford teammate, Matt DiBenedetto, during the restart he was able to make a monster move from the outside on the white flag lap to take it four wide and pass the race leader and veteran drivers Martin Truex Jr, Kevin Harvick and Ryan Blaney for the lead. Custer took the checkered flag .271 seconds ahead of second place driver Truex, punching his ticket to the All-Star race on Wednesday night and into the Playoffs.

“I knew I just had to get to the top,” said Custer. “The top rolled pretty good and once I got past and I was like in third I was like I’ve just got to take a shot and do whatever I can here. And it ended up the 4 and the 19 got together a little bit and I was able to take advantage of it. It was just an unbelievable car and I was able to take advantage of it. I just can’t thank all my guys and everybody at SHR enough, and everybody at Roush Yates Engines – just an absolutely amazing car.”

Six Fords finished in the top-10, led by Custer, DiBenedetto P3, Harvick P4, Blaney P6, Stage 1 winner and leader of 128-laps Aric Almirola P8 and Stage 2 winner Brad Keselowski P9.

Ford leads all manufacturers with 10 race wins while Stewart-Haas and Kevin Harvick lead the owner and driver points standings.

In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Austin Cindric battled hard against Ford Performance teammate Chase Briscoe to bring home his first two wins of the 2020 season for Team Penske. This marked three NXS wins in a row at Kentucky for Ford Performance and 4th consecutive win in 2020.   Thursday night, Cindric took the lead with 40 laps to go and it appeared he would take the checkered flag, but late race cautions set the stage for a thrilling over-time finish as he battled with Ford Performance teammate Briscoe.

The two Ford Mustangs lined up side-by-side on the front row for a green-white-checkered finish. Cindric took the outside lane and Briscoe the inside. Briscoe was able to get a slight jump on Cindric at the restart, but the No. 22 would not be denied and got a huge run off the corner to rocket right by the No. 98 to take the lead and the checkered flag in Kentucky. Briscoe finished P4.

“I don’t care what shape the track is, if it’s dirt, oval, I don’t care I’m just so happy this Snap-On Ford Mustang is in Victory Lane,” said Cindric. “We’ve come so close all year. These guys have given me so many awesome race-winning cars. This is awesome. All the credit to my guys for getting me here.”

In a double-header at Kentucky Speedway the Xfinity series returned Friday night, where the No. 22 Ford Mustang dominated the Alsco 300. Cindric led a career high 130 laps out of the 200-lap race and took the checkered flag 2.262 seconds ahead of No. 98 Briscoe, making it a 1-2 finish for Ford Performance.   “I’m just so excited. This is all a credit to my team,” commented Cindric. “I’m the lucky one that gets to drive this Snap-On Ford Mustang. Thank you to everyone – Ford Performance. A one-two between me and Chase. That was a lot of fun.”

Briscoe and Stewart-Haas Racing continue to lead the driver and owner points standings and with back-to-back wins Ford leads manufacturers with seven wins and a 10-point lead. Cindric and Team Penske are in a strong third place position.

The NASCAR Cup Series heads into All-Star week with the All-Star Open and All-Star Race being held in Bristol, TN on Wednesday, July 15th. Reference the full 2020 schedule on Roushyates.com.  27 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 396 WINS – 357 POLES!  *Photos courtesy of NASCAR Media & Getty Images

About Roush Yates Engines   Roush Yates Engines is a leading-edge engine development company based in Mooresville, NC consisting of two state-of-the-art facilities – Roush Yates Engines and Roush Yates Manufacturing Solutions, a world class ISO 9001 / AS9100 certified CNC manufacturing facility. The company’s core business includes designing, building and testing purpose-built race engines.   Ford Performance in partnership with Roush Yates Engines is the exclusive engine builder of the NASCAR FR9 Ford V8 engine and Ford Mustang 5.2L V8 engine, used in the IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge series.   With an unparalleled culture of winning and steeped in rich racing history, Roush Yates Engines continues to follow the company’s vision to lead performance engine innovation and staying true to the company’s mission, provide race winning engines through demonstrated power and performance.   3 Series – 22 Teams – 81 Races

13th   19th  16th

“We had a lot of fun today in the RigUp Chevrolet. Justin Alexander and the entire No. 3 team did a heck of a job all day, and I think if we wouldn’t have had damage to our car we would have been right up there in the mix at the end of the race. We were able to earn some Stage points again this weekend, so that was good. Green-flag pit stops were cycling through at the end of Stage 2, and we were just about to enter pit road when the caution flag was displayed. I quickly got back onto the track to avoid pit road and ended up spinning in front of the field. I was waiting for the big one on the right-side door but thankfully everyone avoided me. After that, though, we had a really tight-handling Chevrolet. I was just so tight, which made it difficult on the last couple of restarts. Still, 13th isn’t bad considering the damage we had.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and the Caterpillar Team Forge Forward into a Top-10 Finish at Kentucky Speedway

10th     24th    17th

“Races like today are ones we need to get ourselves into a Playoff spot in the next few weeks. We really had to fight for our top-10 finish today at Kentucky Speedway. Our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was tight for most of the day but freed up almost too much in the final few laps. My team kept after it all day, and we were able to get up into the top 12 during Stage 2 after some pretty big swings on the adjustments. We got shuffled back in the field during the stage break between Stages 2 and 3 when we hit pit road thinking more cars behind us would follow. Unfortunately, they didn’t so we had to fight up through the field one more time, while also being smart and not getting in any situations that would end our day early. We were able to do that today and grab a top-10 finish with a car we struggled with, so that’s a positive. I know spots in the Playoffs are starting to dwindle down, so we’re going to have to keep picking it up. Top-10 finishes are going to help us, but we’re in a very volatile spot in the standings where things like today could happen and drivers behind us in points could win and lock in a spot. We’ll stay aggressive and not let points get away from us as we get down to the final races of the regular season.”-Tyler Reddick

July 12, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto used what he described as some monstrous restarts to drive his No. 21 Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang from 20^th place with 13 laps remaining to 3^rd at the finish of Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Kentucky Speedway.

His finish, combined with the nine stage points earned earlier in the race, keeps him 12th in the Cup Series standings and continues a recent string of strong performances by the driver, crew chief and pit crew.

DiBenedetto spent much of Sunday’s race at Kentucky running among the leaders after starting 10^th. He ran as high as 3^rd in the first stage before ending that 80-lap run in fourth place, earning seven stage points. 

He continued to run in the top 10 for much of the second stage before a caution period during a round of pit stops with six laps remaining in the stage allowed some drivers who took only two tires or none to pass him. But he rallied to finish ninth and earn two more stage points.

In the final segment of the race he again ran among the leaders until another untimely caution flag flew, occurring just after he’d brought the Menards/Quaker State Mustang to pit road and left him a lap down.

He took the wave-around to rejoin the lead lap but found himself mired in traffic just inside the top 20.

The late-race heroics from DiBenedetto and his spotter Doug Campbell allowed him to drive the Menards/Quaker State Mustang into the top 10 with just 10 laps left to run. He continued to advance until the race’s final caution flag put him in eighth place for a two-lap sprint to the finish.

When the green flag flew, DiBenedetto gave sixth-starting Cole Custer a mighty shove, which put Custer in position to challenge for the win while DiBenedetto followed through to take third place, his second top-three finish of the season, the first being a second-place at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the second race of the season.

“We had a really good car,” DiBenedetto said. “I mean, we could have contended for the win.”  
 
“It was really fast, but lost track position when things shuffled around and we had to do the wave around.  Me and my spotter – I’ve got to give him a lot of credit, Doug Campbell. I told him we should win some sort of restart award – had two monstrous restarts and then pushed Cole to the win there, which kind of felt cool.” 

“Good for him. Congrats, but this is a big race for us having the Menards/Quaker State Ford Mustang in the Quaker State 400, so I wish we could have won it, but circumstances didn’t work out. We’ll take a strong finish and a really fast car.”
 
Next up for DiBenedetto and the Menards team is the NASCAR All-Star Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Wednesday night, where DiBenedetto will have to race his way into the main event through the preliminary Open.

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 12, 2020) — The NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series returned to the track this weekend beginning back-to-back races at Lucas Oil Raceway. Today during the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals the TopCoat™ Dodge driven by Alan Prusiensky, the No. 16 qualifier, made a strong showing against eventual race winner Jason Line. With just one day of qualifying Prusiensky and the blue and black Dodge Dart branded with the TopCoat™ and F11 logos survived a field of over twenty Pro Stock cars to earn the right to race today.

“We really had to pull together on Saturday,” said Prusiensky. “When you only get two runs to try and qualify that puts a lot of pressure on the team. Luckily, this Top Coat Dodge Pro Stock group came through and we got to race.”

On Saturday there were two qualifying sessions on a hot track after an over four month lay-off. It was a tough task for all the teams and Prusiensky made the most of his first run a solid 6.700 second pass which at the time was quick enough to slot him No. 13. In the second session a number of drivers improved but the New Jersey based driver was able to hold them off and run for the Wally on Sunday.

“I couldn’t be out here without the support of TopCoat™ and F11,” said Prusiensky. “Saturday was a lot of stress. We made a good run in the first session and were No. 13. I was hoping to improve in the last run and we got bumped back a little in the qualifying standings but we were still in the show.”

During eliminations with dramatically different conditions Prusiensky pulled up against No. 1 qualifier Jason Line. The Dodge Dart driver knew he had to get every advantage to secure a round win. As the tree fired up the Top Coat Dodge leapt off the starting line first and as the Pro Stock cars approached half-track Line began to move around Prusiensky. As both cars crossed the finish line stripe it was the Summit Chevrolet getting the win light over the Top Coat Dodge with a time of 6.615 seconds versus 7.062 seconds. 

“We were fired up to make the field because the race would be on the FOX national broadcast and that would be great exposure for our sponsor TopCoat™ with F11,” said Prusiensky at the end of qualifying.  “We got one of the toughest racers out here in Jason Line and we tried to give him everything we had. I was glad I had a good reaction time but I would have traded that for a win light for sure. We are going to have some time before the next race and I know we will come back stronger. I have to thank all my crew guys and my wife, Christine, for supporting this team. We come out here every race and give it our all.”

Prusiensky and the rest of his Pro Stock competitors are celebrating the 50^th anniversary season of Pro Stock this season. Throughout the year the NHRA will be celebrating one of the most competitive classes in NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series history.

“I always liked watching Pro Stock back in the day. It is cool to be our here with TopCoat™ racing in the 50^th year of the category. I am really concentrating on my own program and giving this team everything I can,” added Prusiensky.

Next up for the TopCoat™ Dodge Dart Pro Stock team will be the Menards NHRA Heartland Nationals, August 21-23.     

NASCAR CUP SERIESKENTUCKY SPEEDWAYQUAKER STATE 400PRESENTED BY WALMARTTEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTESJULY 12, 2020 
 TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER5th      KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE10th    TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE 11th    WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE13th    AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 RIGUP CAMARO ZL1 1LE16th    TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Cole Custer (Ford)2nd     Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)3rd      Matt DiBenedetto (Ford)4th      Kevin Harvick (Ford)5th      Kurt Busch (Chevrolet) The NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Bristol Motor Speedway with the NASCAR All-Star Race on Wednesday, July 15th at 8:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 5th“We ran strong, we raced tough. We weren’t quite able to rekindle last year’s success, but a top-five is solid. Thanks to Monster, Chevrolet and the everyone on this No. 1 team. Looking forward to seeing everyone Wednesday night in Bristol go the All- Star Race!” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CATERPILLAR CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 10th“Races like today are ones we need to get ourselves into a Playoff spot in the next few weeks. We really had to fight for our top-10 finish today at Kentucky Speedway. Our No. 8 Caterpillar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was really tight for most of the day, but freed up almost too much in the final few laps. My team kept after it all day, and we were able to get up into the top 12 during Stage 2 after some pretty big swings on a couple adjustments. We got shuffled back in the field during the stage break between Stages 2 and 3 when we hit pit road thinking more cars behind us would follow. Unfortunately, they didn’t so we had to fight up through the field one more time, while also being smart and not getting in any situations that would end our day early. We were able to do that today and grab a top-10 finish with a car we struggled with, so that’s a positive. I know spots in the Playoffs are starting to dwindle down, so we’re going to have keep picking it up. Top-10 finishes are going to help us, but we’re in a very volatile spot in the standings where things like today could happen and drivers behind us in points could win and lock in a spot. We’ll stay aggressive and not let points get away from us as we get down to the final races of the regular season.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 RIGUP CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 13th“Well, I feel really stupid after spinning out trying to avoid the orange box. I did make it – it gave us some big, important track position, but it killed the splitter in the process. It kind of separated hitting the wrong way, so we were just super tight there at the end. We were able to make some of probably the best restarts of my career. Eleventh to fifth on that one and just holding on hoping it would go green to the end running ninth. Had that last restart – had another good one, but it kind of got choked up on the bottom that time. Everybody kind of bogged down and couldn’t continue the momentum. And then us being tight, we were just kind of sitting ducks.”
“P-13. Proud of the guys. We had a really fast race car today, just wish I wouldn’t have overreacted there. The apron just kind of shot me towards the wall. Luckily, we didn’t get t-boned. But solid day for all of that. Man, I think we could have in a position to possibly win if we would have maintained that track position that we got on that second-to-last restart. But all-in-all, I have to thank RigUp, everybody that helps this No. 3 RCR team. Solid day – we’ve got some good stuff ahead of us. I’m looking forward to Texas. We’ve got the Open this week. We’ll do what we can do to get in there. We’ll work hard!”
TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 16th“Solid 16th-place finish today at Kentucky. That’s two top-16s in a row, which is awesome. I’m so proud of our GEICO Racing team and we are going to keep digging and building on these consistent finishes. We are learning a lot and definitely getting better. Our team is going to go after it this second half of the season.”  ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 CINCINNATI CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 19th“That is just one of those things. We had a great car today. A big thank you to everyone on this Cincinnati team and everyone at Hendrick Motorsports for putting this car together. We battled some tight conditions there at the end, but overall, we had a decent day. I hate it that we didn’t get Cincinnati the finish they deserve, but we will come back strong this week with two races.”
MATT KENSETH, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 25th“A tough day again for us after a couple of good weeks. The Clover Chevy was pretty fast, and we were able to work our way up into the teens after starting in the back. The conditions today were really tough; probably the toughest I’ve raced under, and passing was pretty difficult with the track conditions and rules package. But, we were making our way towards the top-10 when a miscue in the pits resulted in a broken valve stem that caused the left rear to go down and put us a lap down. We finally got the lap back towards the end of the race and I took a ride through the infield off of turn 4 trying to get all I could get. So, a disappointing day, but I’m really encouraged by the speed we had in our Camaro, which was probably the best mile and half car I’ve raced. Just need to have mistake free days to be able to take advantage of fast cars.”

·       Matt Hagan drives Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to victory over Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) teammate and No. 1 qualifier Tommy Johnson Jr.’s MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in Funny Car finals at E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals to restart 2020 NHRA season 

·       Hagan posts third consecutive national event title for a Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat this 2020 NHRA season following wins by Jack Beckman at Pomona, Calif. and Johnson Jr. at Phoenix, Ariz., and the sixth straight for a HEMI-powered Funny Car since October 2019

·       Three DSR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcats with wins this year are atop Funny Car points standings with Beckman leading the charge over Johnson and Hagan 

·       DSR’s Leah Pruett and her Mopar Dodge/SRT Dragster make a quarterfinal appearance to maintain a top-five position in the Top Fuel points standings

July 12, 2020, Brownsburg, Ind. – An all-Mopar Dodge//SRT Funny Car final elimination showdown at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals was good proof that even a four-month pause in National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Drag Racing Series competition couldn’t stymie the drive to battle for wins as Matt Hagan’s victory over Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) teammate Tommy Johnson Jr. gave the team its third consecutive national title of the 2020 season.

From a sixth-seeded position, Hagan drove his Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to the winner’s circle for the first time this year, giving him his third Wally in six nationals events dating back to October 2019 when he won both the AAA Texas NHRA FallNationals in Dallas and the Dodge NHRA Nationals presented by Pennzoil in Vegas. DSR Teammate Jack Beckman’s wins in the 2019 season finale and 2020 season opening races at Pomona, Calif., along with Johnson’s win at the Arizona Nationals means that a DSR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat has earned a national title at each of the last six events.

Hagan was consistent with both his reaction times and runs to quickly dispose of Daniel Wilkerson, Beckman, and Tim Wilkerson. That set up an all-Mopar final showdown against No. 1 Qualifier, Johnson Jr., who was also making his second consecutive final round appearance. Johnson made it to his 54th final round by knocking off teammate Ron Capps, Blake Alexander and J.R. Todd. The two DSR teammates had previously met twice in final elimination round match-ups, with Hagan emerging as the winner in both. 

Hagan’s powerhouse had the early advantage and enough of a lead over Johnson to earn a decisive win, the 34th of his career, even when his engine let go right at the finish to set off a few of its own fireworks. On the strength of his victory and two top qualifier awards to start the season, the Hagan and his Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat move up into third place in the Funny Car championship points standings.

Meanwhile, following a No. 3 qualifying effort, Beckman was able to keep his lead in the Funny Car points standings by driving his Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat away from Mike McIntire in the first round straight into a quarterfinal showdown with DSR teammate Hagan. While the loss to the eventual winner was disappointing, Beckman is two markers ahead of runner-up Johnson Jr. and 40 points from Hagan, with each driver boasting a win this season.

For his part, Ron Capps had a tough restart to the season, qualifying 16th to face teammate Johnson Jr., who was still riding the momentum from his win at the last-contested NHRA event in February and a No.1 qualifying position earned on Saturday. Capps laid down a solid 3.956 E.T., the second-quickest run of the entire first session except that it was against the only car to run better, as Johnson posted a 3.896 to move on. While they didn’t walk away with the round win, Capps and the NAPA team are bolstered by the fact that they have their car back and know they’re capable of running big numbers.

In Top Fuel competition, a tenth place qualifying position on the eliminations ladder saw Leah Pruett’s opening round pairing pitting her against seventh-seeded DSR teammate Tony Schumacher, the winningest Top Fuel driver in NHRA history, making a cameo appearance for the back-to-back Indianapolis race events. Pruett had the starting line advantage and never looked back to move on to a quarterfinal match-up and lane choice over current points leader Doug Kalitta.

Once again, the Mopar Top Fuel Dragster was quick on the on the tree and held the lead on Kalitta through to half-track, but a close side-by-side race to the finish with just a 0.01 second difference saw Pruett edged by her opponent at the stripe to end her day a little sooner than she had hoped.

Qualified 12th for the first of his two-event ‘comeback tour’ with DSR, Cory McClenathan didn’t even get a chance to challenge for a winlight when an issue kept his car in neutral and from staging the car for the start, but he’ll look another shot to battle for a 35th career Top Fuel win next weekend.

Mopar Dodge//SRT and DSR will return to Lucas Oil Raceway in just a few days for the Lucas Oil NHRA Summernationals, the second of two consecutive Indianapolis-based on July 18-19, as part of the updated 2020 NHRA schedule.

NOTES and QUOTES: 

Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car

(No. 3 Qualifier – 4.050 seconds at 298.47 mph)

Round 1: (0.079-second reaction time, 4.099 seconds at 250.60 mph) beat No. 4 Mike McIntire (0.103/4.506/203.55)

Round 2: (0.069/3.969/316.90) loss to No. 6 Matt Hagan (0.080/3.949/321.19)

“That was the first time we made it to the lights under power in six runs this weekend. We have been having an issue with down track tire spin and we obviously remedied that. The crazy thing is we ran second low ET of the meet by backing the car down and that tells us what we need to do for next weekend. It’s upsetting to lose, but with a new front half on this car the silver lining is we have a good baseline tune-up for next weekend and I think we’re going to be a favorite when we roll back up for Q1.”

Matt Hagan, Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car  
(No. 6 Qualifier – 4.090 seconds at 289.07 mph)
Round 1: (0.072-second reaction time, 4.025 seconds at 315.27) beat No.11 Daniel Wilkerson (0.097/4.238/249.44)

Round 2: (0.080/3.949/321.19) beat No. 3 Jack Beckman (0.069/3.969/316.90)

Round 3: (0.078/3.959/322.34) beat No. 10 Tim Wilkerson (0.081/4.349/211.43)

Round 4: (0.044/4.328/215.00) beat No. 1 Tommy Johnson Jr. (0.066/5.854/117.84)

“It was a big change going from super cool conditions, and being able to run really hard, and then watching (crew chief) Dickie Venables make the adjustments when it’s a 140-degree race track, and different things like that. Really proud of Dickie, (assistant crew chief) Mike Knudsen, Alex Conway, and all my guys that are wrenching on the car to make these adjustments.

“My guys put a great race car underneath me. We kept lane choice all day long and to be able to make those calls, and to go out there and run hard in this heat, is really telling. Tommy Johnson, he really had the car to beat this weekend. He rolled out of the box really strong. That whole team over there, they’re going to be tough for us all year long. I’m just really proud and excited to be a part of NHRA that’s bringing it out here with the fans. We’re back out here, and we’ve got this race underneath us to show people that we can do this, and do it right. People are taking the necessary precautions and making sure we’re staying safe. It’s just really nice to be back into drag racing and to be able to hold up the Wally again.”

Tommy Johnson Jr., MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 1 Qualifier – 3.983  seconds at 317.72 mph) 
Round 1: (0.068-second reaction time,  3.896 seconds at 324.90 mph) beat No.16 Ron Capps (0.073 /3.956/294.24)

Round 2: (0.241/3.963/318.32) beat No. 9 Blake Alexander (no time)

Round 3: (0.070/3.959/319.29) beat No.4 J.R. Todd (0.059/9.211/77.50)

Round 4: (0.066/5.854/117.84) loss to No. 6 Matt Hagan (0.044/4.328/215.00)

“I’m kind of disappointed, but it’s hard to be disappointed when you go to the final round and get a No. 1 qualifier. We have a great car just like we did at Phoenix. Out of nowhere it put a cylinder out and (crew chief) John (Collins) did the right thing by trying to shut me off and just after he did that I watched Matt (Hagan) blow up and I think I could have been him on seven. It’s probably the right decision to not risk hurting parts. It’s still a great weekend and we have such a solid race car and with a shortened season and no Countdown being near the top of the points is the most important thing.”

Ron Capps, NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 16 Qualifier – 4.555 seconds at 184.70 mph)  
Round 1: (0.073-second reaction time, 3.956 seconds at 294.24 mph) lost to No.1 Tommy Johnson Jr. (0.068/3.896/324.90)

“We didn’t qualify where we wanted to, but I always brag about our NAPA team that we can win from any starting position. My friend and former teammate Larry Dixon texted me yesterday and said you have a much better chance winning from the 16th position than the 17th. We just went up there and did what we do. Tobler did a great job reading the race track without lane choice. I don’t think that mattered. We had to go up and race John Collins, who we know well, and Tommy Johnson is as good as it gets in the driver’s seat. At that point we were second quickest of the round and I shut it off a little early because Tommy (Johnson Jr.) was ahead of me. I’m very happy with how the weekend finished after that run, unfortunately we just put ourselves in a bad position with qualifying and we just can’t do that. That’s not our MO. I’m very excited about next weekend.”

Leah Pruett, Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster  
(No. 10 Qualifier – 3.934 seconds at 306.33 mph)   
Round 1: (0.051-second reaction time, 3.817 seconds at 262.03 mph) beat No. 7 Tony Schumacher (0.081/4.108/253.14)
Round 2: (0.047/3.813/319.14) lost to No. 2 Doug Kalitta (0.053/3.803/321.58)

“It was an early start, but we were more than ready. Racing Tony (Schumacher) isn’t ideal. Tony had traction issues and we had the (blower) belt release which is one of the worst feelings as a driver. You’re ahead, you’re going, you’re making power and all of a sudden you’re coasting and I hear Tony pedal and you’re thinking ‘oh my god, just make it.’ It felt great to get the win light and we brought everything we had against Doug Kalitta in a heavy-hitter matchup and it was one of the closest races we’ve had in a long time. What that shows is that this Mopar/Pennzoil team hasn’t skipped a beat. We’re as strong as we’ve ever been and we’ll keep progressing and come back here next weekend with a solid foundation for both cars with Cory (McClenathan) and me and go after that Wally.

BATAVIA, Ohio (July 12, 2020) – The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will make a quick stop in Farley, Iowa on Monday for the Truck Country 50. 300 Raceway is Eastern Iowa’s premiere 3/8 mile dirt track and motorsports facility. The July 13th event presented by Truck Country, will be a complete program of: Time Trials, Heat Races, and B-Mains – highlighted by a 50-lap, $10,000-to-win main event. The IMCA Modifieds and IMCA Sport Modifieds will also be in action. 300 Raceway is located just off US Highway 20 at Exit 300. On Monday, the pit gate will open at 2:00 pm CT, followed by general admission gates at 4:00pm CT. On-track action and live broadcast on LucasOilRacing.tv (for monthly and yearly subscribers) will begin at 6:30pm CT. To learn more, visit: www.300Raceway.com.

The 2019 Series visit to 300 Raceway saw Jonathan Davenport lead every lap, but not without surviving a late-race charge from Tyler Erb and several other bids for the lead all throughout the race. Devin Moran trailed Davenport and Erb to the finish line, passing Josh Richards on the final lap to take third. Richards finished in fourth, followed by 20th place starter, Tim McCreadie.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATIONE3 SPARK PLUG NATIONALSLUCAS OIL RACEWAY AT INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANASUNDAY, JULY 12, 2020Chevrolet Records Return Victory in Pro Stock at Indy
• Jason Line claims No. 1 qualifier position in shortened qualifying sessions Saturday• Line backs up top starting spot with 51^st Pro Stock victory in his Summit Chevrolet Camaro SS • Jeg Coughlin, Jr. maintains Pro Stock point lead for Chevy after three of 18 events
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (July 12, 2020) – Jason Line added to his massive Wally collection from Lucas Oil Raceway with his 51^st victory in beating fellow Chevrolet competitor, Jeg Coughlin Jr., by a mere 0.0168 seconds. Line took the lead off the starting line and never looked back in posting his first victory of 2020. 
Following a four-month disruption for the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, both Line and runner up Coughlin, can continue their farewell tours in the Pro Stock division as both intend to retire from full time competition at the end of the season. 
The two drivers occupy the top two spots in the Pro Stock standings with Coughlin holding a slight eight point advantage over Line. 
“I wish I could see my dad’s face because he’s big into streaks and it was very important to him that I win one race every race that I’ve done this, and we got it done today,” said Line, who has 104 final round appearances. “I want to thank Greg (teammate, Anderson) because he worked his tail off through all this to give us good stuff.”
An interview with Pro Stock winner JASON LINE, KB RACING, SUMMIT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier; earned 51st Pro Stock victory in 27th pro race):
“This was definitely a different weekend. We had a lot of time off, and I can tell you that Greg Anderson led the charge in making sure that we came back with good stuff. He worked his tail off these past few months, and it showed in what we were able to accomplish yesterday and today. I’m pretty excited leaving here knowing that the silver Summit Racing Chevy Camaro is even better than it was before the break. Definitely looking forward to seeing how the rest of this year goes.”
PRO STOCK:
JEG COUGHLIN JR., ELITE MOTORSPORTS, JEGS.COM/ELITEMOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 2 qualifier, fell in the finals; competing in final season behind wheel): “We had a great day, a great weekend really,” Coughlin said. “Rather than qualify on Friday the NHRA allowed us a chance to test and our car was really strong right from the start. We did get two qualifying sessions Saturday and earned second place, so we were pleased with that. We felt really good here on race day and made a great run. “It was special to be back racing again and to see some fans in person and put on a show for them. I know we’ve all missed drag racing and it’s a relief to be back at it. I think the NHRA did a great job keeping everyone healthy and safe.”

GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, SUMMIT RACING EQUIPMENT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (qualified 4^th, fell in the semis): “My Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro isn’t a new car, but it’s new for me, and I can honestly say that I have a really good car now. It worked great – we just made a mistake with my car in the semifinal and missed the starting line. But this Chevy is fast, it was easy to drive, and really it was just a joy to drive. We’re competitive again, and I’m happy. When we go racing again, it looks like I’ll have something to say about how the remainder of this year goes.” 

INDIANAPOLIS (July 12) — Jeg Coughlin Jr. came within .016-seconds of collecting his second NHRA win of the season Sunday at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals, and his strong runner-up effort in his JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro was enough to put him back into the points lead he held after winning the season-opener in Pomona, Calif., back in February. Coughlin beat Elite Motorsports teammates Erica Enders and Bruno Massel, along with rival Chris McGaha, on the day before succumbing to Jason Line in an entertaining finale of the first NHRA professional event in four and a half months. “We had a great day, a great weekend really,” Coughlin said. “Rather than qualify on Friday the NHRA allowed us a chance to test and our car was really strong right from the start. We did get two qualifying sessions Saturday and earned second place, so we were pleased with that. We felt really good here on race day and made a great run. “It was special to be back racing again and to see some fans in person and put on a show for them. I know we’ve all missed drag racing and it’s a relief to be back at it. I think the NHRA did a great job keeping everyone healthy and safe.” With minimal experience in Pro Stock, Round 1 opponent Massel had a tough draw against Coughlin and ultimately didn’t have much of a chance on track, with Coughlin winning after a 6.622 at 206.70 mph to Massel’s resigned 7.093 at 155.60 mph. McGaha was next but he encountered tire shake early in the race and could only watch Coughlin run away and post a 6.651 at 206.99 mph to his 6.773 at 206.83 mph. As points leader at the start of the event, semifinal draw Enders was the one everyone was chasing and Coughlin proved to be up for the challenge with a 6.651 at 207.05 mph to her 6.723 at 206.45 mph. “That was the lucky race for us because both of our cars weren’t very happy that session,” Coughlin said. “Fortunately, mine came around a tick before hers and we were able to pull away at the other end and take the win.” In the final, Line’s 6.647 at 207.21 mph was just enough to hold off Coughlin’s 6.658 at 206.76 mph. “It was a little cooler today and they started eliminations much earlier than normal so that helped everyone,” Coughlin said. “We were top 3-4 every session and had a plan for Jason in the final but came up just short. That was by far the hottest time of the day and the right lane was pretty slippery. I think if we’d had another chance at that lane Rickie (Jones, crew chief) would have figured it out but we’ll never know.”  Troy Coughlin Jr., Jeg Jr.’s nephew, posted his best pass of the event in his Round 1 match-up with four-time champ Greg Anderson, but his posted run of 6.648 at 206.10 mph in Marty Robinson’s borrowed JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Ford Mustang wasn’t good enough to beat Anderson’s best-of-meet 6.603 at 207.43 mph. “We made a decent run but ran into a driver and crew who put together a super strong pass,” Troy Jr. said. “These cars require near perfection every pass and when you don’t start qualifying with a good run then it kind of compounds from there. You need every pass to be good so you can build on it the next time up. “The brain-trust here at Elite Motorsports is second-to-none. It was great to work with them and everyone made me feel right at home. I wish we could have turned on some win lights but that will have to wait for next time. We’re not sure when that will happen but I’ll be ready to go if the opportunity presents itself again.” Troy Jr. will compete in Super Comp at next weekend’s JEGS Speedweek Division 3 race at National Trail Raceway near his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.

 INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 12, 2020) — Terry McMillen and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil Top Fuel team had momentum on their side after a day of testing on Friday and a solid day of qualifying yesterday at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals in Indianapolis.  Coming back to the track that a few years ago was the site of his biggest win, the U.S. Nationals over Labor Day weekend, in 2018 the Elkhart, Indiana racer was full of positive energy. He had a brand new race car and the AMALIEⓇ Motor Oil XTERMIGATORⓇ Top Fuel dragster was ready to battle with a tough Top Fuel field.

In the opening session of qualifying McMillen and his Ron Wendland tuned Top Fueler made the quickest pass of the day and grabbed three valuable bonus points and went in to the final qualifying session as the provisional No. 1 qualifier. In the second round a couple dragster ran quicker but McMillen stepped up and jumped to the No. 3 qualifier position and a strong feeling going into race day. The track conditions during testing and qualifying were hot and as the second session came to an end a huge thunderstorm rolling over the race track ending the day for the racers and setting up a race day with completely different race conditions.

The NHRA made a number of adjustments to their racing schedule to maximize a safe racing environment for the teams and fans which included an early race start at 9 a.m. local time. McMillen’s first round opponent was not your traditional No. 14 qualifier. He would be facing three-time Top Fuel champion Antron Brown who struggled in his only two qualifying runs.

The pair pulled up to stage and as the tree lit up both dragsters leapt off the starting line with Brown grabbing a slight edge. As both 11.000 horsepower dragsters accelerated McMillen pulled even and looked to be pulling away before he hazed his Goodyear tires. That loss of momentum opened the door for Brown to go around McMillen. The Amalie Motor Oil dragster did not give up as McMillen got off the gas and then mashed the throttle pedal back down firing his race car back into motion but he was too far behind Brown as the finish line approached. McMillen tripped the lights with a 6.659 second run at 89.70 mph, a far cry from his best qualifying effort of 3.812 seconds at 316.75 mph. 

“We had a good day of testing and a great day of qualifying,” said McMillen at the end of the day. “We were No. 1 after the first round and stepped up in the second round. I have a great team and my crew chief Rob Wendland has done an amazing job with these guys. We just didn’t capitalize on a great opportunity. We had the advantage I feel and we will not lose that heading into next week. I am already looking forward to getting back to the track and make the most of this opportunity to race the Amalie Motor Oil Top Fuel dragster.”

Qualifying Results
Q1: 3.866 sec, 314.02 mph; Qual. 1
Q2: 3.821 sec, 316.75 mph; Qual. 3
Bonus Points: +3 (quickest of Q1

Race Results
E1: Antron Brown, Indianapolis, Ind., 3.997, 242.71 mph def. Terry McMillen, Elkhart, Ind., Amalie Motor Oil, 6.659, 89.70 mph

Terry McMillen Racing based in Elkhart, Ind., is a Top Fuel drag racing team competing in the NHRA (National Hot Rod Association) Mello Yello Drag Racing Series. The team was founded in 2007 and has shown remarkable determination and dedication. McMillen won the prestigious Chevrolet Performance U.S. Nationals in 2018 and has qualified for the NHRA Countdown, the end of season playoffs, in 2017 and 2018. Throughout his career with longtime sponsor AMALIE® Motor Oil McMillen has raced to eight final rounds including a career best five finals in 2018.

CHEVROLET RACING9th IN NTT INDYCAR SERIESREV GROUP GRAND PRIX DOUBLEHEADERPRESENTED BY AMR – ROUND #2ROAD AMERICAELKHART LAKE, WISCONSINTEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTESJuly 12, 2020
TOP CHEVROLET UNOFFICIALP RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER2^nd      Pato O’Ward9^th      Josef Newgarden10^th     Charlie Kimball11^th    Will Power13^th     Simon Pagenaud14^th    Rinus Veekay15^th    Max Chilton
TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTSPOS.  DRIVER1^st       Felix Rosenquist (Honda)      2^nd      Pato O’Ward (Chevrolet)3^rd       Alexander Rossi (Honda)4^th       Marcus Ericsson (Honda)5^th      Colton Herta (Honda)
It was a weekend of firsts for Pato O’Ward. The young driver put his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet on the NTT INDYCAR Series pole for the first time in his career. It was also the first pole for a Arrow McLaren SP as the newest member of Team Chevy in INDYCAR. 
O’Ward followed his pole-winning effort with leading a race-high 43 laps and scoring his first INDYCAR podium taking home runner-up hardware.
Race Two was cleaner than Saturday’s Race One, but was marred with a major crash on lap one in turn one that took out two cars and damages several others. 
O’Ward appeared to be heading for his first victory, but lapped traffic, need to manage fuel mileage and monitor tire wear led to eventual winner Felix Rosenquist passing for the lead with two laps remaining in the race.
The NTT INDYCAR Series season continues next weekend at Iowa Speedway with the Iowa INDYCAR 250’s on Friday and Saturday, July 17^th and 18^th at 8:30 p.m. ET. Both events will be telecast live on NBCSN. Live coverage can also be found on the INDYCAR Radio Network, Sirius 211, XM 205, IndyCar.com and on thre INDYCAR MOBILE APP powered by NTT DATA.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:PATWO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, Finished 2^nd:YOUR TEAM SAID THEY ASKED A LOT OF YOU. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THOSE FINAL LAPS?“Yeah, it was really tough. The Ganassi cars, obviously Felix (Rosenqvist) was behind me, had a lot of pace. I think we did a really good job managing the whole race. But towards the end, whenever we got into a mix with some lapped cars and dirty air, that really hurt us. I gave it every single little bit that I had. I was pushing, pushing, pushing, but I just couldn’t keep Felix behind me. But I really want to thank Arrow McLaren and Chevy. The car was really, really good. We just missed that little extra on keeping the rear tires under us. But you know, we’re here. We got some good points this weekend and we’re looking forward to Iowa. We like running up front and I think we showed that we have everything to do it. So, I’m excited for the rest of the season.” YOU MENTIONED THE LAPPED TRAFFIC. ONE OF THOSE DRIVERS WAS CONOR DALY. DID YOU TRY TO PUSH ASIDE WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY AND GET THAT OUT OF YOUR HEAD?“Not really. Honestly, I think it was a racing incident yesterday. I think it would have been a different situation if I was overtaking him there, but I was defending. So, I think anybody is going to say whatever they think, but there was no action taken against me for a reason, so I thank him for respecting me and everything, whenever I was leading. You know, it’s racing. Things will happen. I think today we executed. I’m ecstatic. Whenever a second place is disappointing, you know it’s a good day. We started on the pole and we led almost the whole thing. If the race was five laps shorter, we would have been fine. But we have something to work on and we’re going to keep pushing hard.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FIINISHED 9^TH: “Just a tough day for our PPG Chevrolet. Not the kind of day we wanted, especially when you see someone like (Scott) Dixon not have a very stellar day either. We just didn’t have the speed we were hoping to have. I thought we made some good changes overnight, but the race didn’t play out in our favor today. Early on, we knew we were going to be fighting some aero issues being back in the pack, so we switched to more of a fuel strategy/track position race. It could have played out a few different ways, but it just wasn’t meant to be today. All-in-all, we had some speed in our Chevrolet this weekend and we showed that with the pole and leading a bunch of laps yesterday. We just couldn’t put everything together. We will move on and focus our efforts on Iowa now.” CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 4 TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10^TH:  “I’m really excited to get the first top 10 of the season here in Race number two at Road America. The No. 4 Tresiba Chevrolet team worked really hard overnight to get the car ready for qualifying. We qualified 13^th, had a good run there, had to save a little fuel at the end, make it across the line, come home 10th. I think it’s a good weekend – 11th yesterday, 10th today – put some points in the bank and we’ll head to a doubleheader at Iowa next weekend” WILL POWER, NO.12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11^TH “Man, just a rough race for us today. I guess in the end, things could have been worse and an 11^th place finish is a small victory. I don’t really agree with the penalty from early in the race. I felt that was just a racing deal. So we had to come in and change the front wing, then I made a mistake and ran off the track and we had to make another stop for another wing change. Just not the day we needed for the Verizon Chevrolet. Got a podium yesterday, but just didn’t have it today.”
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 13^TH “I’m ready to get to Iowa and get the Menards Chevrolet back up front. This was not our best weekend, but I have to give it to my guys, they never gave up and worked really hard all weekend long. Both days, we tried a lot of different strategies to try and gain back the track position that we needed from qualifying further back in the field. Yesterday, we should have had a top-10 and today we gave it all we had. Just had to play the cards we were dealt and try and make it up through pit strategy and fuel savings. At times, the car was a handful and at times we were as fast as the leaders. Time to shift our focus to Iowa Speedway. There are a lot of points we can make up with another doubleheader weekend.” RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14^TH:  “It was a really tough weekend. We were struggling for speed, but we worked super hard to make the best out of it. I did everything I could, I drove the Direct Supply car the best I could! I’m really ready to try again in Iowa.”
MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15^TH:“It was a bit of strange race with all the different strategies so it was difficult to see where we actually were throughout the race, but we were consistently making passes and hitting fuel numbers. Honestly it just boils down to how tight the INDYCAR field is. We really weren’t that far off of the leaders with the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet. Obviously we would’ve liked to qualify higher and finish the race higher than 15^th, but when you really take a look at the race as a whole it’s a lot easier to see the positives and potential. Also the guys did a great job this weekend – they didn’t miss a beat coming into such a busy doubleheader weekend. This weekend was definitely a learning experience for us and we just keep getting stronger and stronger every race. It’ll be a few weeks before I’m back on track at Mid-Ohio, but I’m really looking forward to cheering on the team next weekend and seeing what they can do in Iowa.” CONOR DALY, NO. 20 U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING, FINISHED 18^TH :“We were the victim of a start stack up. We had a good start, everyone started going but then they all stopped. It’s a circumstance of starting in the back. We had some damage immediately and once we got that fixed, we just tried to make something of our race. We didn’t get the yellow that we needed to catch up. On reds there at the end, we were really fast. That was encouraging and we were able to make up some spots. Obviously, it was a tough weekend. Overall, I’m thankful for the work that were guys did to get us back out there. We’ll rebound at the next one for sure.”
DALTON KELLETT, NO 14 K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RACING, FINISHED 20^TH:  “We’re wrapped up here at Road America. It was a great race weekend, lots of learning for me with the doubleheader, lots of experience gained. The team gave me a great car to learn and keep on progressing, so working with the 14 car crew and Charlie and the 4 car crew, we got some great data. We’ll be debriefing after this. We want to keep getting better, keep progressing. Obviously we don’t want to be coming home 20^th, we want to be fighting with the pack. I think we’ve got some good information coming out of this weekend and going into Mid Ohio – it’s one of my favorite tracks – so it’s going to be a fun weekend. We’ve got about three weeks to think about things so we should be able to regroup and come back strong then.”
OLIVER ASKEW, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21^ST: “Looking forward to putting this behind us. Our race was compromised from the beginning after being hit in the rear. Lost a lot of downforce from the under wing and also had a gearbox issue so we were way behind pace and focused on finishing the race. Really unfortunate circumstances, and definitely a weekend to put behind us. We are taking this as a learning experience and moving on to Iowa next week.”

Honda, Chip Ganassi Racing remain unbeaten in 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition
Felix Rosenqvist comes from behind to score career first Indy car win
Honda extends Manufacturers’ title lead as series continues run of five races in 15 days

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (July 12, 2020) – A thrilling “battle of the young guns” saw Felix Rosenqvist come from behind to claim his career Indy car victory, and extend Honda’s winning streak to four in as many races in the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

In the second race of a doubleheader weekend at Road America, Rosenqvist chased down fellow second-year Indy car driver Pato O’Ward in the final 15 laps of Sunday’s REV Group Grand Prix, erasing an eight-second deficit following the final round of pit stops to catch O’Ward with just over two laps remaining, pulling alongside on the run up the hill from Turn 5 to Turn 6 on the 4.0-mile road course. The pair continued to side-by-side through Turn 6, with Rosenqvist finally establishing an advantage on the run back down the hill through Turn 7 and through the “Carousel”.

Once in front, Rosenqvist extended his advantage on the final lap, taking the checkers 2.8 seconds clear of O’Ward. The win is the fourth in as many races this season for both Honda and Chip Ganassi Racing, with teammate Scott Dixon winning the opening trio of events this year, including the opening 55-lap race here on Saturday.

Championship leader Dixon was unable to sweep the weekend, but salvaged a 12th-place result after contending with chassis balance issues throughout the race, and problems during two of his three pit stops. Dixon remains atop the Drivers’ Championship standings with 173 points, while Herta moves into second with 119 points.

Behind the lead pair, 2019 Road America winner Alexander Rossi scored his first podium result of 2020 with a third-place finish in his Andretti Autosport Honda; while Marcus Ericsson, driving the third Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, gained 12 positions during the race to finish fourth.

With four wins in four races this season, Honda also continues to lead the IndyCar Manufacturers’ Championship, with an unofficial total of 362 points to 270 points for Chevrolet. Honda drivers claimed seven of the top eight finishing positions today. Colton Herta continued his string of top-six results this year, finishing fifth in both races this weekend. Dale Coyne Racing’s Santino Ferrucci came homes sixth, while teammate and promising rookie Alex Palou started on the front row and finished seventh. Takuma Sato rounded out the top eight in his Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

After strong runs on Saturday and in qualifying for today’s race, both fourth-starting Ryan Hunter-Reay and Graham Rahal, who had qualified fifth, were eliminated in separate opening-lap clashes with Will Power.

Next
Following this weekend’s doubleheader at Road America, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES wraps up its run of five races over a 15-day period with another doubleheader next weekend, July 17-18, on the short oval at Iowa Speedway near Des Moines.

Honda Racing social media content and videos from the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America 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
Felix Rosenqvist (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started seventh, finished first; first Indy car win, fourth consecutive win for Honda in 2020 : “We’ve been close [to a win] so many times, this race was for my #10 NTT Data crew and Honda.. We’ve been strong in so many races, but it never quite came together until today. The car was fantastic, and now we’re four for four for Ganassi and Honda, that’s huge. We had so much pace. We kept closing in, almost half a second every lap. We had a really good fight [with O’Ward] at the end, it was a good show and good fun. I’m really proud to be part of the NTT and Honda families.”

Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport Honda) Started 10th, finished third: “It’s been a difficult start to the season, but one constant has been this #27 AutoNation Andretti Autosport Honda team. There’s never been a question of what we’re doing, or why we’re doing it. It’s all been problem solving and keeping our foot down on the pedal and attacking as much as we can. We knew it would come good at some point, our race pace has always been strong. We’ll take this [third-place finish], it’s a step in the right direction and it’s what we needed to get some momentum going heading into Iowa.”

Ted Klaus (President, Honda Performance Development) on today’s fourth consecutive Honda win in the 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERIES: “What a great way to end a great weekend for everyone at Honda and HPD. It’s so satisfying to see Felix Rosenvqist break through for his first win, and really happy to see Alex [Rossi] on the podium where he belongs. It’s unfortunate that both Graham Rahal and Ryan Hunter-Reay were eliminated through no fault of their own, but Colton [Herta] continues to impress with his consistent results, and now is second to [Scott] Dixon in the championship. We’re proud to power all of our partner teams: Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Autosport, Rahal Letterman Lanigan, Meyer Shank Racing and Dale Coyne Racing. Now we head to Iowa, a completely different challenge to these past three road races.”

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIESREV GROUP GRAND PRIX DOUBLEHEADERPRESENTED BY AMR – ROUND #1ROAD AMERICAELKHART LAKE, WISCONSINTEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES & QUOTES
TOP CHEVROLET UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER 2^nd    WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET 8^th     PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET11^th     CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 4 TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET12^th     SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET13^th     RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET14^th     JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET TOP SIX UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1^st       Scott Dixon (Honda)      2^nd      Will Power (Chevrolet)3^rd       Alex Palou (Honda)4^th       Ryan Hunter-Reay (Honda)5^th      Colton Herta (Honda)6^th       Santino Ferrucci (Honda)
Will Power took advantage of strong restarts from late race caution flags to bring home the second-place finishing position in Race One of the REV Group Grand Prix Doubleheader. Starting fifth, the driver of the familiar No, 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet battled to get off pit lane from last pit stop under yellow, but, eventual race winner Scott Dixon beat Power off pit lane, and the pair raced hard to the checkered before the 2018 Indinapolis 500 winner had to settle for the runner-up position on the podium.
Pato O’Ward brought the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet to the finish in the eighth position. 
NTT P1 Award winner Josef Newgarden looked to have the race under control with a lead of more than eight second at different points of the race. But a stall on pit lane trying to leave after a late-race pit stop ended what had looked to be a very promising finish. The defending Series’ champion drove his No, 1 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet to finish in the 14^th position. 
NBC will telecast Race 2 of the REV Group Grand Prix Doubleheader live at 12 Noon ET on Sunday, July 12. Live coverage can also be found on the INDYCAR Radio Network, Sirius 211, XM 205, IndyCar.com and on the INDYCAR MOBILE APP powered by NTT DATA.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 2^ndLOOKS LIKE A PIT STOP PROBLEM COST YOU THE LEAD AND THE WIN. HOW DO YOU FEEL?“Unfortunately, we had to pit under yellow and that lost us the lead in the pits. We just had a slow pit stop. And then we had the wrong gears in the car, so it kind of hurt those restarts. Other than that, it was a good day. We moved up and got up to second. I don’t know what we’re going to do, but we’ll sit there as a team and will figure out how to execute a bit better. Especially frustrating when we just let wins like that go. I think we had a good Verizon Chevrolet and I don’t think Dixon would have gotten by us if we came out of the pit ahead of him. It wasn’t the end of the day, but we still could have won. We’ll try again tomorrow.”
WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE GEAR SITUATION? WAS THE LAP TIME ON THE RACE TRACK DURING THE RACE PACE A LITTLE BIT LOWER THAN YOU WERE THINKING?“No, it was the wrong gear in one spot because obviously everything is quick this weekend, so the guys get different gears for the races. And I think they just missed one that was wrong. It made it a bit awkward, it wasn’t the end of the day. I mean, we still could have won.”
PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 8^th“I truly feel like I gave it my all out there today. We need to work on our black tire pace but our red tire pace is strong. Locking up in the last stint really put us back into the guys behind but we had the pace to catch the guys in front and try to challenge. I had to make some really late breaking moves to get by some people. I think it’s something good that we can work on tomorrow, just seeing what the tires did over the course of a stint. I want to qualify up front tomorrow. We have the car and I know the Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolets can run up front.”
CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 4 TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 11th“Great day for the No. 4 Tresiba Chevrolet here in Race 1 at Road America. The guys did an awesome job in pit lane. All three stops were really quick, on the money all day long. The car got better and better as the race developed and we got close to that top 10 but didn’t quite get there, but learned a lot about the car, learned a lot about what we need to do for tomorrow for Race number two.”
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 12^th“It was a really disappointing day. The Menards Chevy had a few struggles in qualifying, but we were able to get ourselves in a decent spot a few times during the race with some speed on the track and taking advantage of some of the other drivers’ problems. I think we were going to have a top-10 finish and limit the points we might have lost, then we got pushed off the track late in the race. That costs us some spots and points, which is frustrating with Dixon winning again. But it’s alright – we learned a lot today and we’re still second in points, so that’s great. There is still a lot of season left to go and we’ve got another shot at this tomorrow. I have full confidence we will have the Menards Chevrolet ready to go tomorrow.” RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 13th “This was a very hectic race! I had a good start and passed some guys. In Turn 13, many guys went off and I also tried to see how the grip in the grass was. I picked up a plastic bag on my left wishbone which really slowed me down on the straights. I got it off after a few laps and then started to push the car. We went for a long run on reds and I struggled a lot with understeer. Once we got sticker blacks on, it got better. I was happy with that first yellow that really packed up the field. I could just take positions restart by restart. That went pretty well, I had some cool passes and a nice fight with Simon. In those last laps, I had to drive my butt off to keep Josef behind me, but I did it! I think P13 is a good ‘bad’ result!”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 14th“That was a tough one. We had such a strong PPG Chevy and the guys did such a great job putting together such a fast car. We started on the pole and at the beginning of the race, we were just trying to hold track position. I think at one point, we had about a eight second lead. Unfortunately, we had a problem in the pits and stalled the car. It took us a while to get it restarted and that lost all the gap we had built and from there and we were fighting from behind. We had gotten back into the top 10 and I just locked up the tires going into turn one on one of those late restarts. So our day went from a great to pretty bad pretty quickly. But hey, that’s racing – we just didn’t take advantage of our opportunities today. I’m thankful we have another shot tomorrow, since I really love racing at this place. We’re going to take a look at a few things tonight to make sure we have a solid plan going into tomorrow’s qualifying session with the PPG Chevrolet. I’m confident our guys will put together another fast car tomorrow.”
OLIVER ASKEW, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 15th“It was good to gain six positions today in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet and put what happened last weekend at IMS behind us. We obviously have a lot to work on for tomorrow but luckily it will be a fresh start. The whole team is going to learn as much as we can from today and have a better race tomorrow. It was awesome to see fans back at the racetrack today and look forward to putting on a show for them tomorrow.”
MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET – Finished 17^th“It was a long day at the office today with practice, qualifying and a race, but I love Road America. We were competitive this morning, but I felt like it was a bit like the Indy Grand Prix last weekend where we didn’t show our true speed in the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet during practice. I was confident going into qualifying and I felt like I drove the best lap I’ve ever driven here, but unfortunately it wasn’t good enough today. We started toward the back of the field on a track which is very hard with strategy and the only way to get around strategy here is if you’re quick and actually we started the first half of the race fairly quick. We were top-five pace and we were doing fuel-saving well, but it all got messy when we kept getting all of these yellows because our car was really struggling with straight line speed on the restarts. So I was having to defend very hard and it was getting pretty scrappy out there. Then I went for a move down the inside of Rossi when he made a mistake and we clashed wheels. I don’t know if I was ahead or if he was ahead, but it was a big hit with our wheels ripping the wheel out of my hand. He got suspension damage and I got suspension damage and that was pretty much the end of the race. Obviously it was a tough day for the team that was even more frustrating knowing how quick we can be, but it does make it easier to be optimistic about another chance tomorrow to qualify and race well.” 
DALTON KELLETT, NO 14 K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 20^th“It was an interesting day at Road America. Definitely taking some time to get used to the track. This place has a lot more high-speed corners than Indy GP so there’s a bit of familiarization with that. In the race today, once we got some pace, we weren’t half bad on lap times. Had a couple rookie mistakes. Made a mistake on pitlane that cost us a bunch of time. Went long on my marks and guys had to reshuffle to get the stop done. On the restart I was trying to miss a couple of guys that were checking up and I dropped a wheel in the grass and I ended up stuck in the gravel trap at the exit of Turn 14 so went a lap down there so that ended our chances to move up in the race. Feel bad for the guys, they were working great in pitlane all day but we’re going to have a look at everything tonight and come back stronger tomorrow.”
CONOR DALY, NO. 20 U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – Sidelined in crash on Lap 42 – FINISHED 21^stYOU WENT HARD INTO THE TIRE BARRIER. WHAT HAPPENED?“I honestly don’t really know. Pato got out onto the curb and he was really slow exiting. So, I had enough of a run to where honestly, I thought it was going to be okay. But I don’t really race with him that much. It was tough there. That’s hard to go two-wide. That’s probably on both of us a little bit. It’s really hard to go two-wide there. But, I had enough of a run to where you’ve got to take a chance. So, I can’t throw the blame on him. But, it’s a little bit of a shame because he was on red tires so I think he could have lasted a little longer and it sucks for us. That was really painful. But the U.S. Air Force, these guys will fix it up, hopefully and hopefully we can have a better day tomorrow.”
HOW IS YOUR SHOULDER AND HOW DO YOU RECOVER FOR TOMORROW?“It just popped out when I went around so it was really, really painful for a little bit. So, we’ll just ice it down and see what happens.”

Scott Dixon, Honda continue streak with third successive race win of 2020
Rookie Alex Palou stars in third-place finish
Honda pads Manufacturers’ title lead as series continues run of five races in 15 days

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (July 11, 2020) – A strategic pit call by his Chip Ganassi Racing team, combined with Scott Dixon’s ability to run qualifying-like laps in clean air, enabled the Honda driver to continue his season-opening streak of NTT INDYCAR SERIES races wins to three Saturday at the REV Group Grand Prix. Today’s race was the first of a doubleheader race weekend at the challenging 4-mile Road America road course.

Starting ninth, Dixon was seemingly stuck in a pack of cars contesting fourth through ninth for the first two dozen laps of the 55-lap contest, so his Ganassi team elected to make his second stop on Lap 26. Exiting pit lane with no nearby traffic, Dixon rattled off a series of ultra-quick laps to find himself second to Will Power when the pit stop sequence concluded on Lap 30.

Dixon repeatedly challenged Power for the lead, then jumped ahead during the final round of stops under caution on Lap 40. Once in front, Dixon remained in charge to the finish, despite a series of late-race caution flags, to score his 49th career Indy car victory and three in a row for the first time in his career.

The late-race sequence of cautions provided Honda-powered rookie Alex Palou with the opportunity he needed, as the Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh driver jumped from sixth, to fifth, to third in a series of ambitious overtaking moves on the succeeding restarts. The strong finish promoted Palou to third at the checkers, after starting mid-field in 14th. The podium finish is the best to date in the promising rookie’s Indy car career.

Honda drivers claimed four of the top five finishing positions, and eight of the top 10. After starting third, Ryan Hunter-Reay ran in the lead group for the entire day, finishing fourth with his Andretti Autosport teammate, Colton Herta, fifth. Santino Ferrucci ran as high as second in his Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda, but a near collision with a slower car during his final pit stop dropped the second-year Indy car driver to sixth at the checkers.

Starting fourth, Graham Rahal looked like a potential race winner in the opening stint, but a refueling issue during his first pit stop dropped the Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver deep in the field. A strong recovery saw Rahal claw his way back to seventh at the finish. Teammate Takuma Sato worked his way from 15th to ninth, with Marcus Ericsson rounding out the top 10 for Honda despite a spin on the final lap.

With three wins in as many races this season, Honda also continues to lead the IndyCar Manufacturers’ Championship, with an unofficial total of 267 points to 213 points for Chevrolet.

Next
Today’s race was the opening round of a doubleheader REV Group Grand Prix weekend at Road America. Tomorrow’s 55-lap finale starts at 12 p.m. EDT, with live coverage on NBC. A second doubleheader follows next weekend, July 17-18, on the oval at Iowa Speedway.

Honda Racing social media content and videos from the REV Group Grand Prix at Road America 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
Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started ninth, finished first; third consecutive INDYCAR win to open the 2020 season and 49th career victory: “I’m not sure how that happened! I know we had huge out laps [exiting the pits] and a big in lap as well. We’re definitely proud to be powered by Honda here. This is a huge weekend for us. We definitely didn’t start the way we wanted [qualifying ninth], but we dialed it in a little bit better for the race. That was awesome, man! But it’s not me, the team does such an amazing job to cover all the bases. I’m proud of this team, and proud of everyone on it.”

Alex Palou (Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh Honda) Started 14th, finished third: “This is amazing, it feels so good. It took time to get here [finishing on the podium]. We still need more practice, but we’re getting there. I’m becoming more comfortable with the car, and with the team. I was a little bit lucky today, to be honest, with the restarts. It was one of those days were you try something, and it works! We had tough luck in qualifying [14th], but good luck in the race.”

Ted Klaus (President, Honda Performance Development) on today’s Honda win in the GMR Grand Prix: “Today’s effort by Scott Dixon and his Chip Ganassi Racing team demonstrated exactly why they have won so many races, and championships, over the years. That was a brilliant race strategy, and perfect execution by both driver and team to make it work. It was amazing to watch, and a well-earned third consecutive win for Scott, and for Honda. Alex Palou had some fantastic restarts, and it was great to see him get a well-earned result after demonstrating so much speed earlier this season. Ryan Hunter-Reay also drove an excellent race, as did Santino Ferrucci. But for the refueling issue during his first stop, I think Graham Rahal would have challenged for the win. Jack Harvey also deserved better luck after his great qualifying effort and race pace. Best of all, we get to do this again tomorrow!”

·       Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Tommy Johnson Jr. earns top spot in Funny Car qualifying aboard MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for Sunday’s E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals

·       Funny Car points leader Jack Beckman qualifies third aboard his HEMI®-powered machine for the first NHRA event after four-month hiatus

·       Matt Hagan posts sixth quickest time to earn spot in top half of qualifying ladder aboard his Mopar Dodge/SRT Funny Car

·       DSR driver Leah Pruett Mopar Dodge/SRT Top Fuel Dragster qualifies 10th on Sunday’s eliminations ladder next to DSR teammate Tony Schumacher who makes his return to competition since November 2018

July 11, 2020, Brownsburg, Ind. – Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) driver Tommy Johnson Jr. wasted no time getting his MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat back up to speed at Lucas Oil Raceway by qualifying in the top spot for Sunday’s elimination rounds of the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals after a four-month pause in the 2020 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Drag Racing Series season due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Picking up from where he left off as Funny Car title winner at the Arizona Nationals in February, Johnson set the quickest elapsed time on his first qualifying run with a 3.983 second run at 317.72 mph to kick off the two-day race event; the first of a pair of back-to-back race weekends at the Indianapolis drag strip to restart the 2020 NHRA season and the first major-league auto racing event in the state of Indiana to allow fans back in the stands. 

“It’s just a great start after such a long layoff and all the uncertainty,” said Johnson Jr. of his first No. 1 qualifier position of the season and the 19th of his career. “It’s going to be a tough day tomorrow because the conditions are going to be so much different. Today was really irrelevant for tomorrow, but it’s good to know that we have a good baseline and can go from there.”

Johnson Jr. will have Ron Capps as a first round opponent in the next lane after his DSR teammate qualified 16th for the first time since 2009 (Chicago) based on his first run of 4.555 sec. at 184.70 mph and a problem on the start line that never saw him take a second pass.   

Funny Car points leader, Jack Beckman drove his Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to the third spot on the eliminations ladder with his second run of the day by posting a 4.050 second / 298.47 mph effort.

“Now that we’ve lost the first two qualifying runs (due to shortened race event), and the fact that 18 cars showed up, we knew qualifying was going to be a nail biter; we just didn’t think it would be for us.” said Beckman after first run issues sent the team back to the pits looking to work out the gremlins and improve the car for a final shot at improving their ladder position. “I always think we have a car good enough to win the race. Qualifying third kind of underscores that for me.”

Matt Hagan also saw improvements made to his Mopar Dodge//SRT Charger Hellcat Funny Car between qualifying runs to help him post the sixth quickest run of the day. 

“All in all, it was a great qualifying day,” said Hagan who will face off against Daniel Wilkerson in the first round and is looking forward to racing in front of fans again. “Really glad to be a part of NHRA and I want to thank the sanctioning body for bringing the fans back out. We’re one of the first motorsports series to do that.”

“Our Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat is running well and it’ll be fun to get back into competition mode tomorrow,” added Hagan who is looking to move up from his fifth place position in the points battle. “Our car is running strong, we had two good laps today. It was hot today which it makes it a little trickier to be able to navigate the car, but the conditions will be different tomorrow. I’m excited. It’s going to be an early morning tomorrow. We warm up at 6:45 a.m., so I’m going to eat a good steak dinner tonight, get some rest, and get ready to do this tomorrow.”

In Top Fuel competition, Leah Pruett and her DSR Mopar Dodge//SRT Dragster will be joined by two additional DSR entries for the doubleheader race events in Indianapolis. Veteran racer Tony Schumacher, the winningest Top Fuel driver in NHRA history, returns to competition for the first time since November 2018, while Cory McClenathan, who retired in 2019, had five of his 34 career wins while racing for DSR from 2008-2010.

Pruett qualified 10th with a quick time of 3.934 seconds at 306.33 mph to find herself paired up for a first round match-up against her seventh-seeded teammate, Schumacher.

“We have Tony Schumacher with a long list of success here at Indy but this is not the U.S. Nationals,” said Pruett who sits second in the Top Fuel championship point standings. “This is the Indy Nationals and this Mopar team is definitely ready to fight this fight and looking forward to competition tomorrow. We have a long night ahead of us as we triple check everything and be on my practice game and race face for tomorrow even under the mask.”

McClenathan qualified 12^th and will meet T.J. Zizzo as his first round opponent.

Elimination rounds at the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals begin at 9 a.m. on Sunday, July 12, while television coverage includes live action on the FOX national broadcast network beginning at 12 p.m. (ET). 

INDIANAPOLIS (July 11) — Team JEGS Pro Stock drivers Jeg Coughlin Jr. and his nephew Troy Coughlin Jr. successfully qualified for the E3 Spark Plugs NHRA Nationals Saturday with some strong passes down Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. With only a pair of chances to make the cut due to an abbreviated two-day schedule at this event, five-time class champion Jeg Jr. raced his JEGS.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro to the lofty No. 2 starting slot, while first-timer Troy Jr. scratched his way into the 13th slot in Marty Robinson’s JEGS.comElite Motorsports Ford Mustang. Jeg Jr.“We had a really good feeling coming into today that we’d perform well but you never know until you drop the clutch,” Jeg Jr. said. “Rickie Jones (crew chief) and the yellow and black JEGS crew did a great job matching the car to the conditions in both sessions. We were second quickest this morning and third best this afternoon, less than a hundredth of a second off the leader both times, so we’re pleased. “It sure felt great to get back in the car after this unprecedented time away. We won the NHRA’s season opener and the (unsanctioned) Doorslammer Nationals before the COVID virus arrived in March so we had a fantastic start to the season. You just don’t know what could change in a long break like we had but so far it appears we’re picking up right where we left off.” By qualifying second with a 6.635 at 206.89 mph, Jeg Jr. will enjoy lane choice against new teammate Bruno Massel, who usually works as a drag racing reporter on FOX TV. Massel qualified his AutoGeek.com Elite Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro 15th on the grid with a 6.692 at 206.64 mph. On the opposite side of the ladder, No. 13 qualifier Troy Jr. will yield lane choice to class heavyweight Greg Anderson, who was the quickest overall in the second session. Anderson’s best time came in the morning when he went 6.638 at 206.70 mph, while Troy Jr.’s top mark came in the afternoon when he cranked out a 6.678 at 206.16 mph. Troy Jr.“It’s very exciting to be starting my Pro Stock career against one of the best drivers in history,” Troy Jr. said in a nod to four-time class champ Anderson. “I’m going to do all I can as a driver to beat him and I think we have a car that can do the job if I do mine. This is a great group here at Elite and they have all the pieces it takes to win.” Troy Jr. was outside the qualified field after the first session but coolly posted the eighth-best pass of Round 2 to secure his starting spot.  “These Pro Stock cars are so challenging to drive,” Troy Jr. said. “There are so many small things that happen during a single pass and each one of them can make a big difference in how your run turns out. Just making a decent pass quite a feat. It’s all about consistency, precisely hitting each shift point, and staying in the groove. “I was a little concerned after Q1 but I’ve been in that position before in other categories so you just kind of learn to deal with your nerves. I already have a lot of faith in the crew and I knew what we did during testing on Thursday and Friday so I told myself I just needed to execute. Now we’ll step things up and do our best to challenge Greg.”

Anthony Alfredo and the Alsco Chevrolet Team Overcome Late Pit Road Penalties for Sixth-Place Finish in Alsco 300

6th    10th  8th

“Our Alsco Chevrolet Camaro had tremendous speed, especially on the long run. We ran in the top three pretty much the entire first half of the race and picked up some valuable stage points as well. Unfortunately, it was just a little too tight. We tried to adjust on it and we fell behind a bit at the beginning of the final stage. We just lacked a little bit of short run speed, but we rallied back on the long run. We nailed our green flag pit stop and were in great position to grab a top-five before the caution came out. When I came down for the final stop the tire changer from the car in front of me ran out and I turned the wheel to miss him, which caused me to slide through our pit box sideways. On top of my mistake we had another penalty, which forced us to start at the rear of the field. That was frustrating. It definitely ruined our entire strategy. I drove my butt off on that last restart and thankfully we were still able to salvage another sixth-place finish. My team brought an extremely fast car and I think we deserved to finish better both yesterday and tonight; however, that’s just part of it. We’ll keep working hard and be ready for another opportunity next week at Texas.”

UNION, KY (July 10, 2020) – Earl Pearson, Jr. picked up his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win since last February as he won in a photo finish over Florence Speedway track regular Josh Rice on Friday Night. The win kicks off the weekend of racing at the Northern Kentucky ½ mile oval in the General Tire Summer Sizzler Nationals presented by E3 Spark Plugs. Pearson’s 39th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory came by a scant .002 seconds, which was the closest finish in series history. Pearson took the lead on the white flag as he held off Rice and Zack Dohm who nearly made it a three-wide finish. Kyle Bronson finished in fourth followed by the Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race, Trevor Landrum. Jonathan Davenport grabbed the lead at the start of the 50-lap feature and held the point until series point leader Jimmy Owens passed him for the top spot on lap 18. Owens was holding off Davenport, Rice, and Bronson until lap 27. Davenport and Rice made contact on the front stretch battling for second and Davenport got into the front stretch wall forcing the first caution flag of the race. The ensuing restart saw Owens go hard into the turn one wall, ending his night. Rice took over the point and stretched his lead over the field by over two and half seconds. Rice was primed for his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory, but in the last five laps both Pearson and Dohm cut into Rice’s lead. Pearson made the winning pass with two laps to go. Rice gave it everything he had and dive-bombed Pearson at the finish line but came up short. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the first time since early 2019, Pearson became the 13th different winner of the 2020 series campaign. “He [Rice] was up there on the cushion and when you are out there in the lead you don’t know where to go. We found a line through the middle of the racetrack. He [Rice] did a heck of a job and drove the wheels off that car tonight. He’s a good kid, I love racing with him. He drives everybody clean and I respect the heck out of him,” said the 4-time Series champion. “The track was pretty well racy. I don’t know what happened to Davenport and Jimmy up there, but when it is your turn, it’s your turn. It’s been a long-time since we won here at Florence, 10 years to be exact.  We will take the win tonight and hopefully we can keep on going tomorrow.” The 21-year-old Rice recorded his best career finish with his second-place run. I tried backing off the cushion in the last five or so laps. I know it was close finish. We had a hot rod tonight; we will be ready for tomorrow night. If we hadn’t got the front knocked off, I don’t think they would have had anything for us.” Dohm had his best Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series finish of the season with his new Longhorn Chassis.  “I thought the cushion would be bigger during the race. We were set-up to run the bottom and that’s where we stayed the whole race. If that cushion would have been there we would have been in trouble. Congrats to Earl on the win, I hoped the fans enjoyed that race.” The winner’s Ronnie and Terri Stuckey/Black Diamond Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Lucas Oil Products, Tegeler Wrecker and Crane, Etchberger Trucking, Ohlins Shocks, P&W Sales, and Papich Construction. Completing the top ten were Tim McCreadie, Mike Marlar, Tyler Bruening, Tanner English, and Kyle Strickler.