BATAVIA, OH (June 26, 2020) – A doubleheader of racing action in Tennessee and Alabama is on tap with Friday’s event at 411 Motor Speedway, followed by an event on Saturday at Talladega Short Track. Both events will feature a complete program of: Time Trials, Heat Races, B-Mains, and a 50-lap, $12,000-to-win main event. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series makes a second visit to the McCarter family-owned 411 Motor Speedway this Friday, June 26th. Known as Tennessee’s Action Track, 411 Motor Speedway is celebrating their 60th year of thrilling, edge of your seat racing action. In addition to the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, 411 Motor Speedway will have 604 Late Models, 602 Late Models, and Classics. In 2019, Ross Bailes led all 50 laps en route to his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win, but it was not easy sailing for the South Carolina driver. A caution plagued event saw many drivers take a stab at the top spot, especially in the closing laps. Donald McIntosh charged from the sixth starting spot to finish second, while current series point leader Jimmy Owens, finished in third.  The activities on Friday will get underway with pit gates opening at 2:00 PM, followed by general admission gates at 4:00 PM, hot laps at 7:15 PM. The stars of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will make a return appearance to Talladega Short Track in Eastaboga, AL for the first time since 2008 (event rained out in 2009), on Saturday, June 27th. Talladega Short Track is a 1/3rd mile, high banked, red clay oval that is the home of “Dirt Trackin’ Southern Style”. The last series visit saw Chris Madden take the victory followed by Ray Cook and Shane Clanton, after a hard fought battle on a multi-grove track.  Saturday’s festivities will begin with pit and general admission gates opening at 12 PM. The on-track action will begin with hot laps at 6:30 PM. Along with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, 604 Dirt Late Models, 602 Late Models, Modifieds, and Hot Shots will be on hand. Lucas Oil Championship Standings:

Pos	Car #	Competitor	Hometown	Points	Pay
1	20	Jimmy Owens	Newport, TN	3025	$73,500
2	39	Tim McCreadie	Watertown, NY	2865	$54,950
3	49	Jonathan Davenport	Blairsville, GA	2760	$56,800
3	1T	Tyler Erb	New Waverly, TX	2760	$43,450
5	9	Devin Moran	Dresden, OH	2705	$39,732
6	40B	Kyle Bronson	Brandon, FL	2685	$41,475
7	14	Josh Richards	Shinnston, WV	2675	$45,175
8	25	Shane Clanton	Zebulon, GA	2640	$40,550
9	21	Billy Moyer Jr	Batesville, AR	2375	$26,275
10	81E	Tanner English	Benton, KY	2260	$20,100
11	1	Earl Pearson Jr	Jacksonville, FL	2175	$20,200
12	71	Hudson O’Neal	Martinsville, IN	2140	$21,125
13	50	Shanon Buckingham	Morristown, TN	2130	$19,375
14	1s	Brandon Sheppard	New Berlin, IL	2055	$52,700
15	16	Tyler Bruening	Decorah, IA	2035	$12,775
16	2S	Stormy Scott	Las Cruces, NM	1905	$11,775

Track & Event Information:411 Motor SpeedwayPhone Number: 865-888-5901Location: 632 Maryville Hwy. Seymour, TN 37865Directions: Located just 13 miles south of Knoxville, 13 miles North of Sevierville, and just 13 miles East of Maryville. 1 mile south of U.S. Highway 441 (Chapman Highway) on Highway 411 intersection.Website: www.411motorspeedway.net Talladega Short TrackPhone Number: 256-831-1413Location: 4343 Speedway Blvd Eastaboga, AL 36260Directions: I-20 to exit 173 toward Eastaboga, turn south onto John N Wills Ave, continue 0.3 miles to the speedway.Website: www.talladegashorttrack.com Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Tire Rule:Left Rear/Fronts – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1350Right Rear – Hoosier (29.0) 1350 NRM, (29.0) 1350 NRMW, (92) LM40 *Must use the same set of 4 tires for Time Trials, Heat Races, and B-Main.*For the Feature, competitors may use 2 new rear tires of choice.*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain the starting position.

BLANEY WINS BACK-TO-BACK RACES AT TALLADEGA  Lincoln, AL – June 23, 2020 – Ryan Blaney wins the Geico 500 by 0.007 of a second in a thrilling overtime finish at Talladega Superspeedway! This win marks Ford’s and Roush Yates Engines’ ninth win out of the last ten races and Blaney’s second win in a row at NASCAR’s largest track.

“What a finish! Winning at Talladega is always special to my family and the entire Roush Yates organization,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Congratulations to Ryan, Todd, Roger and the entire No. 12 team. To have all three Team Penske drivers win a race and to be in playoff position is a great accomplishment. It’s a testament to all their hard work.”

Rain showers pushed back the Geico 500 to a Monday afternoon shootout, but just 57 laps in, the rain halted the race. After nearly an hour rain delay, the drivers were called back to their cars. The green flag waved and all three Team Penske Ford Mustangs and its Wood Brothers affiliate dominated the middle portion of the race and remained in control entering the final stage.   With laps winding down in the final stage, many drivers were asked to save fuel to make it to the end, until there was a late race caution that gave some teams the break they needed to make it to the checkered flag. Ryan Blaney lined up first with Kevin Harvick in second and Chris Buescher third. Blaney described the moment as “just biding your time and hoping you saved enough.”

The last two laps were filled with lane changes, bumps and runs! Harvick took the white flag with Buescher and Blaney on his rear bumper. Coming into turn three, there was a multiple car wreck mid-pack, but the leaders were still racing to the finish. Blaney dove down into turn four and got the lead while the field behind him was three-wide. Blaney used the entire width of the racetrack to maintain the top spot. The No. 12 Ford Mustang crossed the line first, ahead of a hard charging Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

“I’m really proud of this whole Menards/Sylvania Ford Mustang team,” commented Blaney. “It’s been a cool year so far and I’m really excited to get our first win of the year at a cool place.”

Five Fords finished inside the top ten with Aric Almirola spinning across the finish line in P3, Buescher P6, John Hunter Nemechek in P8, and Kevin Harvick in P10. Fast Fords led a race high of 104 of the 191 laps and maintain the manufacture points lead with seven wins in the 2020 season.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series also took on the high banks of Talladega this past weekend for the Unhinged 300. Austin Cindric drove a clean, impressive race and finished P4. Chase Briscoe won stage two, but unfortunately suffered crash damage and finished P18. Briscoe sits second and Cindric sits third in driver points standings.   NASCAR heads to Pocono Raceway for a triple-header this weekend. The Cup series will race Saturday afternoon, June 27th and return to the track on Sunday, June 28th with the Xfinity Series for back-to-back races.  For a complete race schedule head to roushyates.com.  27 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 389 WINS – 357 POLES!

June 22, 2020

DiBenedetto had a fast Quick Lane Mustang for much of Monday’s rain-delayed GEICO 500 at Talladega Superspeedway, but in the end he fell victim to one of the crashes that often occur in the draft at Talladega and its sister track, Daytona International Speedway.

DiBenedetto was involved in a last-lap melee on the backstretch, was unable to continue to the finish line and wound up 26th.
 
“We pitted for fuel and were driving up through the middle and got blindsided by somebody crashing,” he said.

He was checked out at the track’s infield care center and released but said it was a bruising wreck.
 
“It was a hard hit,” he said. “But I should be fine.”

Early in the race, things were going much better for DiBenedetto and the No. 21 team. He started 23^rd after the starting line-up was set by drawing positions.

He had moved up to 19^th by the time the competition caution flag flew at Lap 27, and led that lap by staying on the track while the drivers ahead of him pitted. Back underway he cracked the top five by Lap 42, and was in second place two laps later. He took the lead at one point but had dropped to 13^th place when rain halted the race at Lap 57.

After a 58-minute red flag, drivers headed to pit road, and DiBenedetto returned to the track in 10^th place.

Working with his Ford teammates, he kept the Quick Lane Mustang among the top five for much of the second Stage of the race but ended that segment in 17^th place. 

DiBenedetto was sent to the rear of the pack for speeding on pit road during a stop with 43 laps remaining, but battled back into the top 20 and was in 19^th place for the start of the overtime finish, where he was collected in the last-lap crash on the backstretch that caused him to drop one spot to 15^th in the points standings.
 
The No. 21 team now heads to Pocono Raceway for a Saturday-Sunday double-header this weekend.

NASCAR CUP SERIESTALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAYGEICO 500TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTESJUNE 22, 2020
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER2nd     RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERGY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE 7th      ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE 9th      KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE11th    WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE 12th    TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LETOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Ryan Blaney (Ford)2nd     Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Chevrolet)3rd      Aric Almirola (Ford)4th      Denny Hamlin (Toyota)5th      Erik Jones (Toyota) The NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Pocono Raceway with the Pocono Organics 325 in partnership with Rodale Institute on Saturday, June 27, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the Pocono 350 on Sunday, June 28, at 4:00 p.m. ET on FS1. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES (Additional Team Chevy driver quotes and press conference transcripts for Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Jimmie Johnson): RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERGY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 2nd (See below for press conference transcript) THERE WERE CERTAIN POINTS IN THIS RACE TODAY WHERE YOU LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD THE FASTEST CAR AND MAYBE YOU WERE THE GUY TO BEAT. SO, SECOND MAY BE A LITTLE TOUGHT TO SWALLOW, BUT HOW DO YOU BALANCE THAT?“Yeah, we were so close there at the end. It was hard all day trying to break up the Penske cars and then there at the end, all the blue ovals were together. But, our No. 47 NOS Energy Drink Camaro ZL1 1LE was really fast all day. The boys brought a good one. I thought we had a shot there at the end, it just didn’t work out. But, all-in-all, a solid day. Really cool to see all the support of the fans that are here for Bubba (Wallace). That was a really special moment at the beginning of the race. We came up one spot short – we’ll go get them next week!” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 7th “Figuring out you are a couple laps short on fuel while leading a speedway inside 15 to go is not very much fun. We took the lead there and our fuel mileage number plummeted farther than we thought it would be. We thought we were good and then all of a sudden, we weren’t good. Led a bunch and had to give up the lead to try to make it there at the end. I saved enough once I gave up the lead, but so bummed. We had such a good car and definitely had a shot at winning. It is just one of those deals. Really appreciative of everyone at Valvoline and Hendrick Motorsports. P7 isn’t the end of the world, but man giving up the lead like that is a bummer.” KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 9th “Proud of our effort today for everyone who works on this Monster Energy Chevy. We chipped away at adjustments all day, having to overcome a really loose handling race car. Top-10 is a solid effort! Gotta zig instead of zag next time!” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 11th“Well, we finished 11th today. We had a shot there at the win with about 29 laps to go and just got a push from Logano in the corner. I don’t know why it got loose there but it did. We lost our track position and then really just fought to get back from there and tried to save fuel at the same time. We pitted with two to go to get some extra fuel and we made a pretty good charge to the front there in the third lane. We had a good number of cars to the inside but ultimately finished 11th. It would have been nice to finish top 10 but we did finish a superspeedway race in one piece which is nice. I thought we had some great speed at times and great opportunities to lead the race. We just have to build on that and continue to get better. I feel like these races are always unpredictable but at the same time there is skill involved. We did a decent job of controlling the skill part we just have to keep working.” TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 12th“Our GEICO Camaro was solid today. We had a strategy there at the end to save fuel to make sure we were good to the checkered. I stumbled a little bit on the final restart, but we had just enough fuel to make it. You just have to be in the right line at the right time at the end of these things. We got filed out on the bottom, but still brought home a 12th-place finish. I’m really proud of our result. We needed that and we will keep truckin’ along. I’m proud of my GEICO Germain Racing team. We are going to keep rebounding and getting better.” BUBBA WALLACE, JR., NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 14thNOTE: After the race, Bubba walked across the track to wave and say hello to fans in the stands. WHAT A RUN FOR YOU TODAY! NASCAR RALLIES AROUND YOU, YOU’VE GOT FANS IN THE STANDS. HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THIS DAY, THIS MOMENT?“This is probably the most badass moment right here. It’s been tough. It’s been hell. Well, I wouldn’t say hell; it’s just been hectic you know, carrying this weight, this burden. I wouldn’t really say burden, either. I’m proud to stand where I’m at and carry a new face. Look at this (turns around to face crowd to ask) is this the first time you’re here? From Atlanta? (cheers from fans) That is so cool! The sport is changing.” “The deal that happened yesterday, sorry I’m not wearing my mask, but I wanted to show whoever it was that you’re not going to take away my smile and I’m going to keep on going. I’ve been a part of this sport for a really long time. I’m still kind of a rookie. I’m starting to figure this stuff out. We had a good race going today in our Victory Junction Chevrolet. But man, I know I should have won that damn race. We ran out of gas. It’s just the stars didn’t align for us complete, but all in all, we won today. The pre-race deal was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to witness in my life. From all the supporters. From drivers and crew members. Everybody here. The badass fan base; thank you guys for coming out here.” “This is truly incredible and I’m proud to be a part of this sport. Like I said earlier, I’ve got a long way to go. And we’ll keep on trucking. Another top-15 for us. We’ll take it. And, we’ll just go on to Pocono, right? I’m still smiling. I’ve got a long week ahead of me; probably a couple of weeks. Probably a couple of months, but I’ll be ready for Pocono, though.” RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 15th“That was definitely a crazy day at Talladega Superspeedway in our No. 37 Kroger Chevrolet. We had nose damage early on in the race, and that caused us to use a little bit more fuel than the rest of the field during the long green flag run at the end. We got put in a position where we needed to pit early, then the caution came out after we pit. However, we had a really fast Kroger Chevrolet and were able to run in the front for most of the race and even lead a few laps, and to be able to finish P15 after the issues at the end is something, we can still be proud of. We need some positive momentum to continue turning the season around from our bad luck at the start and this is really going to help.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 REALTREE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 20th“We’re getting closer and closer to winning one of these races. We had a really fast No. 8 Realtree Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE today, really just needed a bigger fuel cell to make it through those closing laps without having to come to pit road. We were a little bit loose today, but the car was able to suck up to others really well, which made it easier for me to work with people and show them that they can trust and work with me in return. It was awesome to get my first Cup career Stage Win, even if we had to wait out a brief rain shower for it. I think that showed a lot of people that we really strong speed today. From there, we just played it smart and stayed out of trouble to be there in the closing laps. We managed to grab the lead with about 16 laps to go. It was tough to maintain the lead and save fuel since we knew we were right on the edge of making it. I thought maybe we would make it before that final caution came out, but then the No. 11 ran out of gas or had a bobble or something. Once he ran out, my main help was gone and the No. 12 was able to slide by as we slid back. But that is how it goes at plate-racing. Timing is everything. It was just chaos on that final restart, but we gave it everything we had. All in all, it was a great day. We were in the lead with a shot at the end, and that’s exactly where you want to be. I want to thank Realtree for letting me run their Timber camo pattern on my car, and I hope they enjoyed the show.” BRENDAN GAUGHAN, NO. 62 BEARD OIL DISTRIBUTING/SOUTH POINT HOTEL & CASINO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 21st“That’s not the finish we wanted – 21^st-place. I will take the heat. I did not do a good job on the last couple of restarts. Darren Shaw (crew chief) and the rest of the boys worked real hard on the No. 62 Beard Oil Distributing/South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet. It was trouble at the start but in the end, they got it right. I will take the blame – 21^st place and not a scratch on it. The good news is it is going to be a heck of a Chevrolet for Daytona.” CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 MOUNTAIN DEW/LITTLE CAESAR’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by accident on lap 133; Finished 38th WHAT ULTIMATELY TOOK YOU OUT FOR THE DAY?“The splitter was in the ground a long ways and it was just dragging too much. It wasn’t getting any air to the engine, so it was getting really hot. So, it just wasn’t worth continuing.” “I hate it. We really started the day struggling pretty bad and finally got it going pretty good, I thought, later on. Ultimately, just got in a bad spot there and went around.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by accident on lap 133; Finished 39th“Unfortunate day for the No. 3 team. The Bass Pro Shops Camaro was pretty solid – we had to work on it a little bit. You try and race at these places and keep yourself upfront in a good position, and that’s what I was doing. Just missed our stage points twice – 11th and 12th at the end of both stages. Tried to work the middle groove there and when Chase (Elliott) got turned, I was just kind of the last guy standing when he came up the track. Unfortunately, it’s a part of these things.” “That was a lot of fun. I think the package was pretty solid that NASCAR gave us. There was some good racing out there. Looking forward to going to Daytona and come back to Talladega. I feel like our speedway program is pretty decent. (Tyler) Reddick leading those laps at the end was big. So, we’ll keep working. Unfortunate finish for us – probably hurts us in the points. But Pocono doubleheader next weekend, we’ll be solid.” RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERGY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: THE MODERATOR: Ricky, we’ll go right to questions for you.            Q. Talk about the last lap. Certainly, at a couple points it looked like you found a place to get to the front. May be one of the craziest finishers I’ve seen since 1982.RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: We didn’t get a great restart. Blaney and I didn’t get hooked up good enough. That seemed to let the outside lane get a run. It let the 4 and the 17 out front.           But what that intended to do was let me and the 12 get hooked up and get a draft from those two cars that were out front. I pushed Blaney really hard down the back straightaway. When we went into three and four, wasn’t sure what direction I wanted to go. We ended up going low. Then I thought I was done. Thought I was a sitting duck. The outside lanes were coming. The 20 had a good run.           Then they started banging fenders, slowing each other down. I just kept on the throttle, was able to get close to the nose of the 12 there coming across the line.           All in all, it was a solid day for us. Our NOS Energy Drink Camaro was really fast. We lost track position, but seemed to be able to get that back pretty fast. Our car was fast. Worked well with others. I think all the blue ovals there together at the end were really tough to beat.            Q. These things are so hard to win, to be so close, what level of disappointment do you have losing by whatever it was?RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: Yeah, it’s disappointing for sure. You work all day long, playing different scenarios out in your head, how you’re going to be the first one across the start/finish line. It does have a lot to do with all the other cars that are racing, who is pushing you, how they can push you, what moves they make.           A lot is in your control, a lot is circumstantial. You just got to keep putting yourself in those positions every race, especially on the speedways, to eventually get them to click off.           People that I worked with all race, if I had them behind me there at the end, I would have felt a little more comfortable because we worked really well together. When you got all the Fords there lined up, it was kind of tough. I didn’t feel like anybody was going to go with me.           We ended up in the bottom lane by ourselves. It ended up working out to get back to second. But definitely frustrating not to win. All in all, man, it’s still a good run for our team. We carried a lot of momentum from Daytona, bringing the same racecar down here to Talladega, it still being fast. That’s a positive. We got more speedway races to go.            Q. You were among those pushing Bubba’s car today. What did that mean to you? The Mississippi State flag, anything over the last couple weeks made you think more about it?RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: Yeah, it was cool to see everybody pushing bush’s car there down to the front. I would say it was a Kevin and Jimmie idea that everybody jumped onboard with. Then to see all the crew members follow suit was really cool.           I think the coolest part for me was listening to the fans before the race, after the race, showing the support as well. I thought that was strong and really cool to see.           We had talked a lot about the Mississippi flag. I wore it on my belt for a long time. We did take it off. We took it off of my race suits over the past couple weeks.            Q. Someone who has had a good share of success at Talladega, describe what you thought about the new package that was run today.RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: I thought it was great racing. You had to work really hard to form your line and really work the side draft, pushing cars, getting cars to push you. You had to work hard for it.           I thought that was great racing. I felt like everybody kept their cars in control. We had some big saves out there. I saw I think the 12, the 11, 22, myself a couple times, get pretty sideways, but gather it back in.           The third lane I felt like with this package got hurt the most. It seemed like you could get some runs going, but it would stall out pretty quick. Seemed like the bottom and middle were the way to go. It kind of took the top lane out of it, which in turn a lot of times we run single file around the top and the race can get kind of stale.           I thought overall the package was really good. I don’t think any driver is going to have any complaints about it.            Q. We’re over a third of the way through your first season at JTG Dougherty. How have you been getting along with the new team and Ryan?RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: It’s been great. I’ve enjoyed every minute of it from the first time we went over there, sat down with Tag and Jodi and Ernie and ate dinner. I felt welcomed. I felt like it’s a family atmosphere. Also, they get the job done. Any money that comes in they put right back into our race team buying parts and equipment, making sure we can perform the best that we can perform with what we got.           The Kroger family is one that I’m proud to be a part of. My mom has shopped there for 35 years so far and continues to shop there. Now having NOS Energy Drink onboard with us, it’s been a good chemistry from the top down, including our partners. I’ve enjoyed it so far.           We’ve got fast racecars. We have had some mistakes that have cost us, some on my end, some on the car’s end. We’re in there together, trying to clean everything up, trying to make sure we put our best parts forward. We’re looking forward to the rest of the year.            Q. Did you get a sense today at all of the actual fans that were in attendance?RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: It was nice to hear them before the race. It wasn’t dead quiet like I said just a little bit ago. Chanting ‘Bubba’ at the start, pretty special to be able to hear that. I think those fans were glad to be here.           When Bubba took the lead, when he got to the lead, came down the front straightaway, we were only two‑wide at that point. I looked at the stands, watched all the people jump up and cheer. That was pretty cool.           Those are things that we haven’t had in a long time. I know those fans got to see a great race because we battled hard all day long.            Q. You mentioned not wearing the belt buckle. Would you say that was a decision based on a learning experience or because of the realization of something other people might feel towards it?RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: You never want to do anything to offend anybody on purpose. Obviously not being on purpose. It’s our state flag. I’ve always been proud to be from Mississippi. I’ve always supported or wore the flag on my belt for a long time. I’ve never really thought of it offending anybody.           Obviously with everything that’s going on in the country, with the rebel flag, learning really how it offends so many people, I don’t intend to do that. That was just the way for us to make sure, myself and JTG and our partners, that we wanted to take initiative to take that off before we felt like somebody wanted us to have to. We just wanted to be proactive and make sure we got that off and didn’t offend anybody going forward.            Q. We’ve seen the moves you were making throughout the day. When you’re making those close‑call moves, how much are you weighing the risk versus reward?RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: For me, you just got to put yourself in position. For the longest time we weren’t sure if the rain was going to come. We wanted to get stage points. I feel like I have a style of drafting that when I get in different lanes, when I’m leading the lanes, I feel like I can pull that lane to the lead. I think it showed for the longest time the Penske cars were lined up on the bottom. Nobody could seem to get alongside of them. Myself, the 18, I think maybe the 95 or 41 was behind them.           I felt like my technique and aggressiveness on the side draft, along with Kyle Busch’s aggressiveness and pushing, got us back to the lead. Ultimately ended up getting us 10 points and winning the stage.           For me, you always want to keep your track position. There were a couple times I got in the back. It was difficult to make passes when they’re two‑ and three‑wide to get back to the front. You have to wait and let it chill out. For me it’s always trying to get back to having good track position.            THE MODERATOR: Thanks so much for your time, Ricky. Have a great week. We’ll see you for the doubleheader at Pocono.            RICKY STENHOUSE JR.: Thank you.  JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: THE MODERATOR: Jimmie, thank you for taking the time. Not that you’re the specific spokesman for rallying the drivers for this stirring moment, but I know you had a large hand in what happened prerace. Start off with the emotional moment to start the race pushing the 43 to the front of the field.            JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I’m obviously very proud of our sport, the drivers and crew members that wanted to stand up today and stand next to Bubba Wallace. That’s really the moral of this story.           A lot of people reached out to me in the morning with ideas, wanting to do something like the video we made a few weeks ago. I certainly have been involved in playing a role in trying to help organize, get things executed and done.           This is really a driver initiative. Many drivers chipped in. Kevin Harvick had the idea of pushing Bubba’s car down the front stretch to the front of the field, have the teams follow. I’m happy to play a role in it. I want to. I know I need to.           I feel like to see the garage area stand up as they have, as well, in the last few weeks, then again today, is just sending a very strong message. I’m very proud of our sport.            THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions for Jimmie.            Q. Was there ever any doubt in your mind you were going to do something today regardless if the other drivers were going to join in?JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I went to bed early last night, was up early. I saw what was going on or what had happened. Like everyone, just couldn’t believe what I was reading.           Early on this morning I mentioned to the driver group that I was just going to go stand with Bubba at his car during the national anthem. If anybody wanted to meet me there, I was going to stand with him and be there. When that seed was planted, the group really started coming up with ideas. Everybody wanted to get involved.           After the drivers had a short period of time conversing, I understood that team managers and crew chiefs caught wind, they wanted to be involved. Within a short period of time, there was a plan in place. Of course, NASCAR was behind whatever we wanted to do 100% in support of that. That’s really the details leading into what happened today.            Q. How would you describe the feeling of the drivers? Are you shocked? Angry? Pissed off more than ever to do something? How are you all feeling emotionally over this?JIMMIE JOHNSON: For me, I feel like I went through all of those emotions. When I woke up this morning, read the news, anger, pissed off, all of that. My blood was boiling. I could not believe that that had happened.           As momentum built and the awareness of the statement the garage was going to make, how many people reached out, how many people wanted to be involved, it shifted to just great pride for our sport.           From when I woke up, I was up early this morning, went for a bike ride, I was probably up at 5:30, saw the news, from 5:30 to probably 10:30 everything took place. My emotions just followed that from complete and total anger and disbelief to then just great pride of our sport, how we were going to support that.            Q. Did you skip the bike ride?JIMMIE JOHNSON: No, I got up and did the bike ride. Did a lot of thinking while I was on it.            Q. You mentioned the driver group chat that’s been used to organize today and the video. Has it been more vocal since this started? How important is it to make your message very clear?JIMMIE JOHNSON: The driver chat has been around for a while. At times it’s been useful. Other times there’s content on there that, I don’t know, just gets in the way, stuff that people aren’t interested in. With what has gone on in the last few weeks, interest has been high, people have been paying attention, people have been engaged.           But I can go back to when we first started the driver council, this chat being established. There are times it’s been extremely effective to find the voice of the drivers. The lesser items, they just make noise, get in the way.           The chat has been very useful. The chat also starts one‑off text messages or phone calls. Brad called me this morning, Joey called me this morning. It’s really a good starting point to get something out there if it’s car related or what we’ve been dealing with the last few weeks. It’s been highly effective.            Q. Can you give us a sense of what it felt like as you walked with the car? For people watching, it was a powerful image to see. Was there any type of particular emotion or thing that went through your mind as you did something that’s never been done in the sport before?JIMMIE JOHNSON: I think after seeing some of the photos the first rain delay, I noticed the magnitude and impact of what we did as a group today. When we all gathered at the racecar, not everyone responds in that chat, so I knew that a lot of drivers wanted to come, but I didn’t know how well‑attended it would be.           I also knew that teams wanted to show their support, as well. Until we started walking and I could see every driver there, looked back and saw each team jump off the wall and fall in line. Then to go back to the rain delay, first thing I did was looked at the phone and saw the photos. To see how many people were on pit road showing their support for Bubba, that warmed me up tremendously.           It was hard to really know it in the moment. We’re obviously out there on the grid, without fans in the stands, it’s a much different environment. As I looked over my shoulder, as I saw the photos afterwards, realized the power of that statement and how many people were involved.            Q. What has it been like the last few weeks to be so socially active? Years past probably not as much so for various reasons. Is this what the sport is going to be now, more and more people be more active going forward?JIMMIE JOHNSON: When I look back, it depends on the topic. When the driver council was intact, there were things to discuss, report back to NASCAR on, every driver has stepped up and been involved. Then things cooled down. Maybe the topics aren’t as relevant or as big in some regards. Things kind of slow down.           The driver group has really helped shape the rules package that we have, race formats. As we’ve gotten into social issues of recent times, the unity there and the willingness for everybody to be involved has been quite impressive.           I’m not surprised because we have been able to be social and help guide our sport in the past. Certainly, this is something new for a lot of us. I do commend their courage and everybody’s willingness to listen and grow and to stand up like we did today.            Q. How difficult was it to have the emotional moment on pit road, then go the 500 miles of Talladega?JIMMIE JOHNSON: For me it was such a moment of pride that I shifted out of the dark place I was this morning and the disbelief that I had, shifted into a moment of pride. Whoever did what they did is hopefully watching and realizes that not here, not in our sport. It switched to a far different emotion than I really even anticipated. There was just great pride involved.           I know it was tough on Bubba. He was quite emotional at different points. I think he probably had a harder transition from what was taking place on pit road to firing the engine and going to work than myself for sure.            THE MODERATOR: Thank you for your time, Jimmie, to tell a great story. Have a great week. We’ll see you in Pocono.            JIMMIE JOHNSON: Awesome. Thank you, everybody. See you soon. 

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road/E-Z-GO Chevrolet Team Have Strong Showing at Talladega Superspeedway Despite Early Finish

39th    17th   18th

“The No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road/E-Z-GO Chevrolet was pretty solid. We had to work on our handling a little bit, but the balance was pretty good by Stage 3. You try to race at these speedways and keep yourself out front to put yourself in a good position, and that’s what I was doing. We barely missed stage points twice – 11th and 12th at the end of both Stages 1 and 2. We tried to work the middle groove, and when Chase Elliott got turned I was just the last man standing when he came up the track. It’s unfortunate, but it’s part of these races. I had a lot of fun out there. I think the package that NASCAR gave us was solid. There was some good racing out there. I’m looking forward to going to Daytona International Speedway, and coming back to Talladega Superspeedway. I feel like our speedway program is in a decent place, and my teammate Tyler Reddick leading laps was big. We’ll keep working. An unfortunate finish probably hurts us in the points, but there is a Pocono Raceway double-header next weekend and I think we’ll be solid.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick Wins Stage, Leads Laps in Realtree Chevrolet at Talladega Superspeedway

20th     16th    16th

“We’re getting closer and closer to winning one of these races. We had a really fast No. 8 Realtree Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE today. We just needed a bigger fuel cell to make it through the closing laps without having to come to pit road. We were a little bit loose today, but our Chevy was able to suck up to others really well, which made it easier for me to work with people and show them that they can trust and work with me in return. It was awesome to get my first NASCAR Cup Series career Stage win, even if we had to wait out a brief rain shower for it. I think that showed a lot of people that we had really strong speed today. From there, we just played it smart and stayed out of trouble to be there in the closing laps. We managed to grab the lead with about 16 laps to go. It was tough to maintain the lead and save fuel since we knew we were right on the edge of making it. I thought maybe we would make it before that final caution came out, but then the No. 11 ran out of gas or had a bobble or something. Once he ran out, my main help was gone and the No. 12 was able to slide by as we slid back. But that is how it goes at plate-racing. Timing is everything. It was just chaos on that final restart, but we gave it everything we had. All in all, it was a great day. We were in the lead with a shot at the end, and that’s exactly where you want to be. I want to thank Realtree for letting me run their Timber camo pattern on my car, and I hope they enjoyed the show.” -Tyler Reddick

NASCAR CUP SERIESTALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAYGEICO 500TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTESJUNE 22, 2020
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER2nd     RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERGY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE 7th      ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE 9th      KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE11th    WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE 12th    TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LETOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Ryan Blaney (Ford)2nd     Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Chevrolet)3rd      Aric Almirola (Ford)4th      Denny Hamlin (Toyota)5th      Erik Jones (Toyota) The NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Pocono Raceway with the Pocono Organics 325 in partnership with Rodale Institute on Saturday, June 27, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX and the Pocono 350 on Sunday, June 28, at 4:00 p.m. ET on FS1. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERGY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 2ndTHERE WERE CERTAIN POINTS IN THIS RACE TODAY WHERE YOU LOOKED LIKE YOU HAD THE FASTEST CAR AND MAYBE YOU WERE THE GUY TO BEAT. SO, SECOND MAY BE A LITTLE TOUGHT TO SWALLOW, BUT HOW DO YOU BALANCE THAT?“Yeah, we were so close there at the end. It was hard all day trying to break up the Penske cars and then there at the end, all the blue ovals were together. But, our No. 47 NOS Energy Drink Camaro ZL1 1LE was really fast all day. The boys brought a good one. I thought we had a shot there at the end, it just didn’t work out. But, all-in-all, a solid day. Really cool to see all the support of the fans that are here for Bubba (Wallace). That was a really special moment at the beginning of the race. We came up one spot short – we’ll go get them next week!” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 7th “Figuring out you are a couple laps short on fuel while leading a speedway inside 15 to go is not very much fun. We took the lead there and our fuel mileage number plummeted farther than we thought it would be. We thought we were good and then all of a sudden, we weren’t good. Led a bunch and had to give up the lead to try to make it there at the end. I saved enough once I gave up the lead, but so bummed. We had such a good car and definitely had a shot at winning. It is just one of those deals. Really appreciative of everyone at Valvoline and Hendrick Motorsports. P7 isn’t the end of the world, but man giving up the lead like that is a bummer.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 11th“Well, we finished 11th today. We had a shot there at the win with about 29 laps to go and just got a push from Logano in the corner. I don’t know why it got loose there but it did. We lost our track position and then really just fought to get back from there and tried to save fuel at the same time. We pitted with two to go to get some extra fuel and we made a pretty good charge to the front there in the third lane. We had a good number of cars to the inside but ultimately finished 11th. It would have been nice to finish top 10 but we did finish a superspeedway race in one piece which is nice. I thought we had some great speed at times and great opportunities to lead the race. We just have to build on that and continue to get better. I feel like these races are always unpredictable but at the same time there is skill involved. We did a decent job of controlling the skill part we just have to keep working.” TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 12th“Our GEICO Camaro was solid today. We had a strategy there at the end to save fuel to make sure we were good to the checkered. I stumbled a little bit on the final restart, but we had just enough fuel to make it. You just have to be in the right line at the right time at the end of these things. We got filed out on the bottom, but still brought home a 12th-place finish. I’m really proud of our result. We needed that and we will keep truckin’ along. I’m proud of my GEICO Germain Racing team. We are going to keep rebounding and getting better.” BUBBA WALLACE, JR., NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 14thNOTE: After the race, Bubba walked across the track to wave and say hello to fans in the stands. WHAT A RUN FOR YOU TODAY! NASCAR RALLIES AROUND YOU, YOU’VE GOT FANS IN THE STANDS. HOW DO YOU DESCRIBE THIS DAY, THIS MOMENT?“This is probably the most badass moment right here. It’s been tough. It’s been hell. Well, I wouldn’t say hell; it’s just been hectic you know, carrying this weight, this burden. I wouldn’t really say burden, either. I’m proud to stand where I’m at and carry a new face. Look at this (turns around to face crowd to ask) is this the first time you’re here? From Atlanta? (cheers from fans) That is so cool! The sport is changing. “The deal that happened yesterday, sorry I’m not wearing my mask, but I wanted to show whoever it was that you’re not going to take away my smile and I’m going to keep on going. I’ve been a part of this sport for a really long time. I’m still kind of a rookie. I’m starting to figure this stuff out. We had a good race going today in our Victory Junction Chevrolet. But man, I know I should have won that damn race. We ran out of gas. It’s just the stars didn’t align for us complete, but all in all, we won today. The pre-race deal was probably one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to witness in my life. From all the supporters. From drivers and crew members. Everybody here. The badass fan base; thank you guys for coming out here. “This is truly incredible and I’m proud to be a part of this sport. Like I said earlier, I’ve got a long way to go. And we’ll keep on trucking. Another top-15 for us. We’ll take it. And, we’ll just go on to Pocono, right? I’m still smiling. I’ve got a long week ahead of me; probably a couple of weeks. Probably a couple of months, but I’ll be ready for Pocono, though.” RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 15th“That was definitely a crazy day at Talladega Superspeedway in our No. 37 Kroger Chevrolet. We had nose damage early on in the race, and that caused us to use a little bit more fuel than the rest of the field during the long green flag run at the end. We got put in a position where we needed to pit early, then the caution came out after we pit. However, we had a really fast Kroger Chevrolet and were able to run in the front for most of the race and even lead a few laps, and to be able to finish P15 after the issues at the end is something, we can still be proud of. We need some positive momentum to continue turning the season around from our bad luck at the start and this is really going to help.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 REALTREE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 20th“We’re getting closer and closer to winning one of these races. We had a really fast No. 8 Realtree Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE today, really just needed a bigger fuel cell to make it through those closing laps without having to come to pit road. We were a little bit loose today, but the car was able to suck up to others really well, which made it easier for me to work with people and show them that they can trust and work with me in return. It was awesome to get my first Cup career Stage Win, even if we had to wait out a brief rain shower for it. I think that showed a lot of people that we really strong speed today. From there, we just played it smart and stayed out of trouble to be there in the closing laps. We managed to grab the lead with about 16 laps to go. It was tough to maintain the lead and save fuel since we knew we were right on the edge of making it. I thought maybe we would make it before that final caution came out, but then the No. 11 ran out of gas or had a bobble or something. Once he ran out, my main help was gone and the No. 12 was able to slide by as we slid back. But that is how it goes at plate-racing. Timing is everything. It was just chaos on that final restart, but we gave it everything we had. All in all, it was a great day. We were in the lead with a shot at the end, and that’s exactly where you want to be. I want to thank Realtree for letting me run their Timber camo pattern on my car, and I hope they enjoyed the show.” CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 MOUNTAIN DEW/LITTLE CAESAR’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by accident on lap 133; Finished 38th WHAT ULTIMATELY TOOK YOU OUT FOR THE DAY?“The splitter was in the ground a long ways and it was just dragging too much. It wasn’t getting any air to the engine, so it was getting really hot. So, it just wasn’t worth continuing.” “I hate it. We really started the day struggling pretty bad and finally got it going pretty good, I thought, later on. Ultimately, just got in a bad spot there and went around.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by accident on lap 133; Finished 39th“Unfortunate day for the No. 3 team. The Bass Pro Shops Camaro was pretty solid – we had to work on it a little bit. You try and race at these places and keep yourself upfront in a good position, and that’s what I was doing. Just missed our stage points twice – 11th and 12th at the end of both stages. Tried to work the middle groove there and when Chase (Elliott) got turned, I was just kind of the last guy standing when he came up the track. Unfortunately, it’s a part of these things.” “That was a lot of fun. I think the package was pretty solid that NASCAR gave us. There was some good racing out there. Looking forward to going to Daytona and come back to Talladega. I feel like our speedway program is pretty decent. (Tyler) Reddick leading those laps at the end was big. So, we’ll keep working. Unfortunate finish for us – probably hurts us in the points. But Pocono doubleheader next weekend, we’ll be solid.”

Dominic Scelzi Produces Top-10 Outing During Race for Roth Motorsports

Inside Line Promotions – HANFORD, Calif. (June 22, 2020) – Dominic Scelzi recorded a top-10 result during a one-off race with Roth Motorsports last Saturday.

Scelzi was efficient throughout the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series season opener at Keller Auto Speedway, where he climbed behind the wheel of the No. 83jr sprint car for the first time since last November.

“I think we started back up where we left off,” said Scelzi, who guided the team to a third-place finish in the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series championship standings last year. “We timed in good for going out late in qualifying. We did what we needed to do in the heat race. And we gained a spot in the dash.”

Scelzi qualified sixth quickest. He then advanced from third to second place in a heat race. The accumulated point total earned a spot into the dash. Scelzi maneuvered from fifth to fourth place in the dash to line up on the outside of the second row for the A Main.

“We moved forward to second a few laps in,” he said. “I was plugged against the cushion in turns one and two. Someone slid up and his right rear tire made contact with my left rear, which shoved me off the track. That put me back to 10^th or 11^th.

“It was so hard to make up ground that by the time we lost those positions we were out of contention. I think we had a top-three car. Our lap times were very, very good.”

Scelzi rallied back from the incident to score a seventh-place result, which was his 12^th top 10 of the year.

Scelzi returns to his family car this weekend when the team ventures to Jackson Motorplex in Jackson, Minn., Thursday through Saturday for the 42 ^nd annual AGCO Jackson Nationals with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

COLUMBUS, MS (June 20, 2020) – Earning $15,000 with his win at Magnolia Motor Speedway, current Point Leader Jimmy Owens won Saturday Night’s General Tire Clash at the Mag – presented by Big River Steel. Owens’ 67th career series victory also marks his first career win in the annual event that has been held since 2009. This event was co-sanctioned with the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series Presented by Lucas Oil. The 100-lap main event saw three different leaders, with Owens regaining the top spot from Shane Clanton on lap 23. After several breakaway runs, Owens held off Clanton at the finish for his third Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the year. Clanton finished just ahead of Josh Richards who came home in third. Bobby Pierce and Tyler Erb rounded out the top five drivers. As the initial green flag dropped, Owens took the lead and Erb ran second for the first 13 circuits of the race. Clanton started fifth and made an early race challenge by climbing to the second spot around Erb on the 14th lap. Erb would pass both Clanton and the race leader, Owens on lap 16 to gain the top spot.  Clanton then became the third new leader of the race as he went to the point on lap 18, but 4 laps later Owens powered around the leader, regaining the lead after a lap 22 restart. Clanton and Erb chased down Owens as the leader was battling traffic. With the top three nose to tail and Clanton threatening to retake the lead, a caution came with 18 laps remaining. Clanton’s hopes for the win faded in the final laps as Owens went on to take the victory over Clanton by .570 seconds at the finish. “This car was really just flawless this weekend,” said Owens in Lucas Oil Victory Lane. “We were so close to making it a sweep for the weekend. Thanks to all the fans who came out. When the track is slick like this, I think it makes for some better racing. We have a hard-working crew and it paid off in the end. Consistency is the key to our program this year. We’ve ended the last couple of seasons running great and we are really excited for the whole season. It is a whole lot better when you are running good.  Maybe 2020 will be the year for car number 20.”   Clanton led five laps early in the race and again got close to Owens with 18 laps to go when a caution flag came out. He finished in the runner-up spot for the second time this season. “We had a good weekend. We have worked awful hard the last two weeks on the car and it shows. We’re getting better.  To come here and run good feels good. Every time you run good like this, it helps the morale of the team.  We are not giving up. If it weren’t for Greg and Tyler Bruening, I probably couldn’t be here.” Richards came home in third in the 100-lap finale. “We did not touch the car tonight. I couldn’t steer it like I wanted too. I couldn’t turn in at all. Once we had some fuel burn-off then I could steer it a little bit better. I would have liked to have won for Big River Steel, but Jimmy’s been really tough. I feel if we could have had the car a little better we might have had something for him.” The winner’s Ramirez Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Vic Hill Racing Engine and sponsored by Reece Monument Company, Tommy Pope Construction, Boomtest Well Service, General Tire, Red Line Oil, Ohlins, and Champion Spark Plugs. Completing the top ten were Kyle Bronson, Devin Moran, Jesse Stovall, Tanner English, and Tim McCreadie.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
General Tire Clash at the Mag – presented by Big River Steel
Saturday, June 20th, 2020
Magnolia Motor Speedway – Columbus, MS

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer):  1. 4M-Michael Arnold[2]; 2. 11J-Drew Armstrong[1]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 4. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]; 5. 00-Jesse Stovall[16]; 6. 36-Logan Martin[11]; 7. 92M-Chad Mallett[15]; 8. 6R-Robbie Stuart[12]; 9. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[9]; 10. 81E-Tanner English[8]; 11. 33-Scott Dedwylder[4]; 12. 21B-Chris Brown[3]; 13. G4-Shelby Sheedy[13]; 14. (DNS) 54-David Breazeale; 15. (DNS) Z6-Zach Combs; 16. (DNS) 1G-Devin Gilpin; 17. (DNS) R5-Hunter Rasdon; 18. (DNS) 111-Steven Roberts; 19. (DNS) 34-Doug Sanchagrin

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 50-Shanon Buckingham[1]; 2. 1ST-Johnny Scott[6]; 3. 86B-Brian Rickman[2]; 4. 86R-Rick Rickman[4]; 5. 86-Kyle Beard[5]; 6. 1C-Chad Thrash[15]; 7. 2S-Stormy Scott[8]; 8. 84-Austin Smith[7]; 9. 31-Nick Thrash[12]; 10. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[3]; 11. 14G-Joe Godsey[11]; 12. 25M-Justin Mcree[17]; 13. 7D-David Payne[13]; 14. (DNS) 33C-Eric Cooley; 15. (DNS) 3-Luke Bennett; 

Anthony Alfredo and the DUDE Wipes Chevrolet Team Score Top-Ten Finish in Wild Superspeedway Debut

6th    10th   10th

“We finished sixth in my first career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Talladega Superspeedway. I’d call it a successful day. To be honest, I wanted a little bit more because you’re never really truly satisfied as a competitor unless you win the race. We had a super fast DUDE Wipes Chevy Camaro today. The No. 21 Richard Childress racing crew all did a great job. The only thing we fought at the end was  we had no help from behind. Every time I would suck up to the car in front of me, we would hit that bubble of air and stall out because we didn’t have enough help. I’m glad we were still able to come away with a sixth-place finish. We had a clean race all day and led laps early, which was a lot of fun. I made a mistake coming to pit road under green and got caught speeding, but that’s just a product of not having any practice. I wish we could have practiced getting onto pit road because I didn’t know how hard I could brake or even where my lift point was. Thankfully, we were able to recover and have a really solid finish.”  -Anthony Alfredo

Richard Childress Racing at Talladega Superspeedway …  Richard Childress began his driving career at Talladega Superspeedway in 1969 and is in a tie for the most all-time car owner victories at the storied Alabama-based race track with 12 NASCAR Cup Series wins. Among those wins include Dale Earnhardt’s final career win in the Winston 500 on October 15, 2000. Earnhardt won nine times, Clint Bowyer had two wins (2010 & 2011), and Kevin Harvick scored one victory (2010) at the superspeedway.  Childress’ most recent win at Talladega Superspeedway came last year when Tyler Reddick claimed the victory en route to his second consecutive NASCAR Xfinity Series championship. Reddick will be the 24th Cup Series driver to make a start at Talladega under the RCR banner this Sunday.COVID-19 Relief … Own a piece of history by participating in an auction and sale of Richard Childress’ personal collection of memorabilia. All proceeds will assist COVID-19 relief efforts. Thousands of rare, hard-to-find and exclusive items from Richard Childress’ 50+ years in NASCAR are up for bid or sale. Visit https://www.ebay.com/str/RichardChildresscollection Catch the Action … The NASCAR Xfinity Series Unhinged 300 at Talladega Superspeedway will be televised live Saturday, June 20, beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports One and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway will be televised live Sunday, June 21, beginning at 3:00 p.m. ET on FOX and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

This Week’s Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road/E-Z-GO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Talladega Superspeedway … In 13 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Talladega Superspeedway, Dillon’s best finish at the track is third (April 2016). He is also a former pole winner at the track (2019). Tracker Off Road … Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE prominently features TRACKER ATVs, a game-changing new line of all-terrain vehicles and side-by-sides offering breakthrough performance, service and value in the off-road industry. TRACKER OFF ROAD was born out of a powerhouse partnership formed between Bass Pro Shops and TRACKER founder Johnny Morris and Textron Specialized Vehicles, bringing together the undisputed world leader in boating with a global leader in innovation and technology. Bass Pro Shops … Bass Pro Shops is North America’s premier outdoor and conservation company. Founded in 1972 when avid young angler Johnny Morris began selling tackle out of his father’s liquor store in Springfield, Missouri, today the company provides customers with unmatched offerings spanning premier destination retail, outdoor equipment manufacturing, world-class resort destinations and more. In 2017 Bass Pro Shops acquired Cabela’s to create a “best-of-the-best” experience with superior products, dynamic locations and outstanding customer service. Bass Pro Shops also operates White River Marine Group, offering an unsurpassed collection of industry-leading boat brands, and Big Cedar Lodge, America’s Premier Wilderness Resort. Under the visionary conservation leadership of Johnny Morris, Bass Pro Shops is a national leader in protecting habitat and introducing families to the outdoors and has been named by Forbes as “one of America’s Best Employers.” Bass Pro Shops has a long relationship with NASCAR, dating back to 1998. For more information, visit http://www.basspro.com/ E-Z-GO…E-Z-GO is an iconic, world-renowned brand in golf cars and personal transportation  vehicles. Products sold under the E-Z-GO brand include RXV® and TXT® fleet golf cars, Freedom® RXV and Freedom TXT personal golf cars, E-Z-GO Express™ personal utility vehicles, and the 2Five® street-legal low-speed vehicle. Known for innovation in electric-vehicle technology, E-Z-GO’s newest offerings include the ELiTE series of lithium-ion powered golf cars and PTVs, and the company’s exclusive 72-volt AC electric powertrain found in its latest Express series vehicles. Founded in 1954 in Augusta, Ga., E-Z-GO became part of Textron Inc. in 1960, and today operates as part of the company’s Textron Specialized Vehicles division. Happy Father’s Day, Austin! … With three generations of racers among their ranks, NASCAR Cup Series races on Father’s Day weekend have always held special meaning to the Childress/Dillon family. This year, however, Father’s Day has even more meaning for Dillon, who became a first-time father on Sunday, June 14 when his wife, Whitney, gave birth to their son, Ace RC Dillon. AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:RCR’s performance is notable so far in 2020. Talk us through that.“It’s been an awesome year so far. I always want more, but compared to years past, I’m very optimistic of where we are. We made a big jump and those jumps are hard to come by. My teammate, Tyler Reddick, entered our NASCAR Cup Series program with a NASCAR Xfinity Series championship and that brought some momentum. I think it fired up everybody. It fired up me to compete. He’s a good wheelman. It builds both teams to compete within and that comes with these good finishes we’re having. The competition is great at RCR. And you’ve got to have that. Chevrolet stepped-up their game in the off-season and really gave us something else to work with as far as the car goes. Our whole entire shop is working really hard. Obviously, it’s been tough on everybody with the quarantine, but I feel like we did a good job of keeping up with the work that we had ahead of us. It’s been a really good break for our team, if anything. And, the way we go to the race track now looks different. Less people go to the track and I think that’s a good thing for our guys. The core group on each team is strong, and that’s nice to see.” How do you think the changes in horsepower and no air ducts will impact the race this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway?“I don’t really know what type of impact the lack of air ducts will have. We’ve obviously raced in the past without air ducts. I’d have to go back in time and look at what our cars did differently. I don’t know what the closest year that we ran a package like this would be. We feel like the racing is going to be different from the way it was at Daytona. It always is different from Daytona to Talladega. The first stage of the race will definitely be a learning curve for all of us. Set-up wise should not be a problem. I hope not. But, just the way we race and the runs you get, we’ll be learning that first stage. And, you want to be aggressive because every point matters throughout the year.” What is the key to having a solid performance this weekend at Talladega?“It’s a chess match. You have to know when to go. I’ve played a lot of different strategies when it comes to speedway racing, but my favorite is just going out there, racing and throwing caution to the wind. I feel like that usually plays out better for us. I won the Daytona 500 being a little more cautious, but it’s more fun when you go out and race. We’ll make a decision quite early in the race to figure out our strategy based on how everything is going. Hopefully all of our Chevys will run up front together and work hard together to do what we need to do to bring home the win for Chevrolet.”

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 Realtree Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE at Talladega Superspeedway … Coming off his first top-five finish in his NASCAR Cup Series career, Tyler Reddick is set to make his first Cup Series start at Talladega Superspeedway this weekend. Reddick, who won last year’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the 2.66-mile track with RCR, also has one additional top-10 finish in the Xfinity Series, as well as one pole award and two top-five finishes at the superspeedway in the NASCAR Truck Series. #RealtreeTimber… When it comes to hunting heritage, dedication and tradition, Realtree is at the forefront. So, when Realtree decided to create its next camouflage pattern, Bill Jordan and the design team met with some of the most legendary hunters, outdoor icons, and world-class guides to understand their vision for what makes an effective and versatile camouflage pattern for all of their outdoor pursuits. They took notes. They asked questions. They tested and tested again until they were sure they had something truly special. Built off the foundations of past Realtree camouflage patterns, they took advantage of new advances in technology and printing allowing them to create a revolutionary new pattern that truly meets the needs of hunters in numerous situations. New Realtree Timber is the result. It’s perfect for ducks in flooded timber, wooded turkey hunting scenarios, in any treestand setup, stalking the rocky terrain of the west, and so much more. Use Realtree Timber and become one with your surroundings! TYLER REDDICK QUOTE:Entering this weekend with a new rules package, what are your thoughts on returning to restrictor-plate racing?“It’ll be interesting to see how this weekend goes at Talladega Superspeedway. They’ve made some changes to the cars since we raced our last restrictor-plate race at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year. We were at one point going to have practice this weekend, and now we’re not. I’m really not sure if we would have utilized the practice session or not because we don’t want to be in a situation where we would damage our No. 8 Realtree Chevy before the race. Regardless, we’re now going to be on track for the race with no real feel for these cars or how this new rules package will run, so it’s going to be intense. Talladega is a wider track than Daytona though, and it’s going to be a lot warmer. I’m excited. I really like racing at Talladega, and I hope we put on a good race. Normally it does, there are just a lot of unknowns entering this weekend. As a team, we need to survive the race and continue to capitalize on as many points as we can. We’re now two points out of a Playoff spot, so I know we can get there.”

This Week’s No. 21 DUDE Wipes Chevrolet Camaro at Talladega Superspeedway … Coming off his first career top-five finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Homestead-Miami Speedway, Alfredo will make his first Xfinity Series start this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway.  Alfredo has one career NASCAR Truck Series start at the 2.66-mile superspeedway, where he ran in the top-10 for the majority of the race. Welcome, DUDE Wipes … The DUDE Wipes revolution was born one fateful day in our Chicago apartment, when we switched from toilet paper to baby wipes and were forever changed. Today we make self-care products for DUDES that get the job done and leave you feeling refreshed, from our original flushable DUDE Wipes to face & shower wipes, and deodorant body powders & body sprays to DUDE performance underwear. Fast Start for Fast Pasta …  In his first five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts in the No. 21 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing, Alfredo has secured three top-ten finishes and has an average finish of ninth. He also won an eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series Saturday Night Thunder Race at Dover International Speedway during NASCAR’s hiatus from on-track competition. ANTHONY ALFREDO QUOTE:You have one career Truck series start at Talladega. Is there anything you learned you might be able to apply this weekend or will it be completely different?“I don’t think much will translate because the trucks punch such a bigger hole in the air and handle quite a bit differently. It is somewhat comforting knowing I’ve been to this track before though. We ran really well in my first and only superspeedway attempt last year, which was at Talladega. Even with some of the unknowns that you will inherently face at Talladega, I have a lot of confidence heading back now because I know my Richard Childress Racing team will have a fast No. 21 DUDE Wipes Chevrolet prepared for me. Things happen really quickly at superspeedways and a lot can happen in less than a lap. I’m hoping we can have a clean race and be there at the end when it matters most to get our first win of the year.”

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCEGEICO 500TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAYTALLADEGA, ALABAMAJUNE 21, 2020
RACE #13: TALLADEGAOriginally postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) will make its first appearance of the 2020 season at Talladega Superspeedway with the GEICO 500 on Sunday, June 21st. The 188-lap, 500-mile race around NASCAR’s longest oval will be the 13th race on the revised NCS schedule.  NASCAR’s June 9th announcement of gradually introducing fans back to events will include this weekend’s visit to the 2.66-mile superspeedway. Up to 5,000 fans will be on hand to watch the drop of the green flag from the track’s front stretch seating. Previous eligible ticketholders were given the first opportunity to purchase tickets, followed by a limited number available on a first come, first served basis to those who reside within 150-miles from the track.  BOWTIE BULLETS·       Chevrolet leads all manufacturers with 41 all-time wins and 37 poles in 101 NCS races at the superspeedway, more than any other brand. Other statistics of note include 191 top-five’s, 366 top-10’s, and 7,903 laps led.  ·       Victories by active Team Chevy drivers include:Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE has two wins (May 2006, April 2001)  Chase Elliott, No. 9 Mountain Dew-Little Caesars Camaro ZL1 1LE has one win (April 2019)Matt Kenseth, No. 42 McDonald’s Camaro ZL1 1LE has one win (October 2012)Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 NOS Energy Drink Camaro ZL1 1LE has one win (May 2017)  ·       The most recent Chevy pole winner is Chase Elliott, No. 9 Mountain Dew-Little Caesars Camaro ZL1 1LE, (October ’19). Elliott leads all active drivers in Busch Pole Awards at Talladega with two and, in eight career starts, has an average starting position of 4.6. His first pole in 2016 makes him the youngest pole winner at the superspeedway to-date (20 years, 5 months, 3 days).   ·       Hendrick Motorsports has the most victories at Talladega of any team with 13, all celebrated with the Bowtie brand. ·       Longtime Chevrolet ambassador Dale Earnhardt holds Talladega Superspeedway records for wins (10), top-five finishes (23), top-10s (27) and laps led (1,377) in 44 starts. Career Chevrolet drivers Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Jeff Gordon are next on list with six wins at the track. LEADING THE STAGESWith 12 races in the books, Chase Elliott leads the field with 141 stage points, which includes five stage wins, 13 top-5’s and 22 top-10’s in stages. Fellow Hendrick Motorsports teammate and Team Chevy driver Alex Bowman currently sits second on the list with four stage wins, including 12 top-five and 18 top-10 stage finishes for 126 points. William Byron (1) and Jimmie Johnson (1) have also contributed to stage wins thus far this season.  With Chase Elliott’s recent victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway and Alex Bowman’s win at Auto Club Speedway earlier this season, two Team Chevy Camaro ZL1 1LE drivers have secured their spots in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. The Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Elliott and Bowman, are currently ranked second and eighth, respectively, in the point standings. AT THE DROP OF THE GREENThe race weekend format continues on as a one-day show with no practice or qualifying. The starting lineup will be set by virtue of owners points and a random draw. Here are Team Chevy’s top-20 starters: 4th      Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE7th      Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE8th      Alex Bowman, No. 88 Valvoline Camaro ZL1 1LE11th    Chase Elliott, No. 9 Mountain Dew/Little Caesars Camaro ZL1 1LE13th    Matt Kenseth, No. 42 McDonald’s Camaro ZL1 1LE16th    Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Realtree Camaro ZL1 1LE17th    Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Camaro ZL1 1LE19th    William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE20th    Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 NOS Energy Drink Camaro ZL1 1LE TUNE-INFOX will telecast the 188-lap, 500-mile race live at 3:00 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 21st. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. QUOTABLE QUOTES:CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 MOUNTAIN DEW/LITTLE CAESARS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 2nd IN STANDINGSELLIOTT ON RACING AT TALLADEGA“Last year worked out really well for us. It was kind of one of those races where things just kind of just fell in our lap there towards the end of the race. We were super patient and just very disciplined as a group. I’m looking forward to getting back to Talladega this weekend with the Mountain Dew/Little Caesars Chevy and trying to do it all again.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 8th IN STANDINGS“Talladega is a track where we have been pretty good at in the past. I feel like anytime Hendrick Motorsports goes to a superspeedway, we are solid. Last year in the spring we were really fast and had a great car. We came up short by one spot to Chase (Elliott), but that just shows how great these Hendrick cars are at Talladega.” “I don’t think I can apply anything from my virtual win at Talladega earlier this year to this weekend’s race. It is a completely different style of racing, but we typically bring fast cars to Dega. It does not hurt to crash at the virtual Talladega and I definitely used a reset in that race. So that is not going to work on Sunday.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 15th IN STANDINGS“I’m excited to get to Talladega. We always have fast cars as an organization. Talladega last year was really good for us as a team. We were leading and got pushed sideways which ended our day. I think though that this weekend will be a good opportunity for us to do well. It is unpredictable but you have to do what you can to try stay in contention and be there at the end. You really look past your windshield during the race so to speak. You mainly watch the car running two spots ahead of you more than anything. This weekend will be no different. You have to watch the cars ahead to try spot potential wrecks before they happen to give yourself more reaction time. If we can do that and keep our nose clean, we’ll be in a really good spot to grab the win.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 16th IN STANDINGSLOOKING AHEAD TO TALLADEGA, HOW DO YOU THINK THE CHANGES IN HORSEPOWER AND NO AIR DUCTS WILL IMPACT THE RACE?“I don’t really know how the air ducts will do. We’ve obviously raced in the past without aero ducts, so that’s one thing I just don’t really know. I’d have to really go back in time and look at what our cars did differently, but there was probably somewhere you could match them up to. I don’t know what the closest year that we ran a package like this would be, but we feel like the racing is going to be different from the way it was at Daytona. It’s always different from Daytona to Talladega, so I’d say the first stage of the race will definitely be a learning curve for just about all of us. Set-up wise should not be a problem – I hope not. But just the way we race and the runs you get, we’ll be learning that first stage. You want to be aggressive because every point matters throughout the year.” “Just trying to play the chess match that’s ahead of us this weekend is going to be the key. Just knowing when to go. I’ve done a lot of different strategies when it comes to speedway racing, but my favorite is just going out there, racing and kind of throwing caution to the wind. I feel like that usually plays out better for us. I won the Daytona 500 being a little more cautious, but it’s just more fun that way when you go out there and race. So, we’ll see. We’ll make a decision quite early in the race to kind of figure out how everything is going. Hopefully all of our Chevys will run up-front together and work hard together to do what we need to do to bring home the win for Chevrolet.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 REALTREE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 17th IN STANDINGS“It’ll be interesting to see how this weekend goes at Talladega Superspeedway. They’ve made some changes to the cars since we raced our last restrictor-plate race at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year. We were at one point going to have practice this weekend, and now we’re not. I’m really not sure if we would have utilized the practice session or not because we don’t want to be in a situation where we would damage our No. 8 Realtree Chevy before the race. Regardless, we’re now going to be on track for the race with no real feel for these cars or how this new rules package will run, so it’s going to be intense. Talladega is a wider track than Daytona though, and it’s going to be a lot warmer. I’m excited. I really like racing at Talladega, and I hope we put on a good race. Normally it does, there are just a lot of unknowns entering this weekend. As a team, we need to survive the race and continue to capitalize on as many points as we can. We’re now two points out of a Playoff spot, so I know we can get there.” BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 20th IN STANDINGSTALLADEGA IS CONSIDERED A WILD CARD WHEN IT COMES TO FINISHES. WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO BRING HOME A WIN?“Surviving; that’s the name of the game for speedway races. Talladega Superspeedway is a lot of fun. We were so fast there last year. Our Richard Petty Motorsports team didn’t qualify well, but we were inside the top-five and then we were involved in an incident. That one stung; it still does. “Richard Petty Motorsports always has good speedway packages. Our Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was fast at the DAYONTA 500 this year. We have to bring back that same package and be a little bit better. We have to show other teams that we are fast and I am capable of hanging one if we are getting pushed. A lot of speedway races, we just get left-out hanging. We could be leading a line and get shuffled out of the lead. We just have to build trust into the other guys. If it doesn’t happen, it doesn’t happen and that’s fine. But we just have to figure out how to manage our own race and be there at the end at the last ten laps really is what’s important.” JERRY BAXTER, CREW CHIEF FOR THE NO. 43 VICTORY JUNCTION CAMARO ZL1 1LE “This weekend is the GEICO 500 at the Talladega Superspeedway. We are taking the Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Victory Junction Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. Bubba (Wallace) does a pretty good job of drafting on the superspeedway tracks, so we are all definitely looking forward to that. It is the same car that we ran at the Daytona International Speedway – we redid it with a fresh body. The car seems to draft really well. It appeared we were going to get a solid top-10 finish until the last lap incident that moved us to 15^th-place in the finishing order. Hopefully, we will be better this week.” RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 NOS ENERGY DRINK CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 21st IN STANDINGS“Talladega Superspeedway is always a track that I have circled on my list. Obviously getting my first win there was really special, but I always enjoy racing at the big tracks like Daytona and Talladega. We had really good speed in the DAYTONA 500 earlier this season and were able to get the pole and lead laps. We won’t have the opportunity for the pole this week, but Brian Pattie and the team at the shop have worked really hard to keep that same speed and more in our No. 47 NOS Energy Drink Chevrolet for this weekend. We struggled a little bit the last two races at Martinsville Speedway and Homestead-Miami Speedway, but if there’s a track that can turn that around for us, it’s Talladega.” RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 KROGER CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 29th IN STANDINGS“I think racing at Talladega Superspeedway with no practice and qualifying this weekend will be awesome. Right now, everyone is super close in the field with no practice because that’s what you have. I think the racing has been better and created opportunities for teams like ours to go out and contend for top-five and top-10 runs consistently. The random draw has been a little more difficult for us, but at Talladega, anything can happen no matter where you start. The package we have now allows you to get better runs and the leader doesn’t have quite the advantage they once did in clean air. My approach is to just keep our No. 37 Kroger Chevrolet clean and make it to the end. It’ll be nice to have fans back, and there’s no place better than Talladega.” MATT KENSETH, NO. 42 MCDONALD’S CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 30th IN STANDINGS“Racing at Talladega and Daytona is different than any racing we do all year. With restrictor plates, handling doesn’t really come into play very much. It’s all about positioning and drafting and being in the right place at the right time, and not being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You feel like it’s a ticking time bomb and you don’t want to get caught up in it when it blows. There’s always a lot of strategy to try to make sure you’re around at the end. But also, you have to be careful about hanging back waiting for the wreck, because there’s always a possibility of not having the wreck, and then you aren’t close enough to the front to have a chance to win. It’s a balancing act of surviving all day and being in position to capitalize for a good finish or even a win at the end.”

COLUMBUS, MS (June 18, 2020) – Bobby Pierce dominated the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series opening night of the 2020 General Tire Clash at the Mag – presented by Big River Steel on Thursday Night at Magnolia Motor Speedway. Piece led wire-to-wire in the 25 lap feature to kick off the weekend. For the Illinois native, it was his first win of the season as he became the 11th different winner in 16 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events this year. Pierce had a healthy lead throughout the race and cruised to the victory. His win came ahead of a torrid battle for second on back that saw current series point leader Jimmy Owens finish in second followed by Ross Bailes, Shane Clanton, and Tyler Erb. Pierce got to the lead at the start of the race while the race for second raged on behind him. Owens and Bailes went back-and-forth several times in the race for second. Owens was finally able to wrestle second-place from Bailes on the 23rd lap. The 23-year-old Pierce went to Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Victory Lane for the 11th time in his career. “The way the night started; I was not happy. We were bad in qualifying. All-in-all it was a great ending to the night, this is our first win of 2020. This Pierce car with Advanced Shocks has been working well. I want to thank my crew and my family.” “It feels great to get that first win, but it’s 100 laps here on Saturday, it’s going to be a little different.  We had just got to get a little better. I feel like when I got to those lapped cars I was struggling a little bit. I saw my dad giving me signals and the sticks were getting closer together at the end. I messed up a couple of times and with this type of field of cars, you cannot do that too many times. It feels to get that monkey off our back.” Owens finished in second, and was happy with another podium finish, “After they worked the track there were crumbs on the bottom and I didn’t get off to a good start. It did not pack in as good as the top. Me and Ross had a good race. We just raced around the top and really couldn’t move around like we wanted to.  We will come back tomorrow night and try to pick up one more spot.”
Bailes took home the third spot in the Lamm Autosports/Rocket. “Thanks to Kemp Lamm for letting me drive his car. I thought we had something for him [Pierce] in the beginning. Congrats to Bobby on the win and thank you to Jimmy for racing me clean.” The winner’s Pierce Platinum Chassis is sponsored by Hoker Trucking, Premier Waste Services, Allgayer Inc., Mesilla Valley Transportation, Viper Risk Management, First Spear, and Advanced Racing Suspensions. Completing the top ten were Billy Moyer, Tim McCreadie, Timothy Culp, Hudson O’Neal, and Josh Richards.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
General Tire Clash at the Mag – presented by Big River Steel
Thursday, June 18th, 2020
Magnolia Motor Speedway – Columbus, MS

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Jimmy Owens / 13.23 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Frank Heckenast Jr. / 13.532 seconds 

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer):  1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 3. 9-Devin Moran[2]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 5. 86B-Brian Rickman[5]; 6. R5-Hunter Rasdon[7]; 7. 84-Austin Smith[6]; 8. 1BJ-BJ Robinson[8]; 9. 3-Luke Bennett[9]; 10. (DNS) Z6-Zach Combs

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer):  1. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 10J-Joseph Joiner[3]; 3. 4M-Michael Arnold[1]; 4. 1ST-Johnny Scott[4]; 5. 1C-Chad Thrash[5]; 6. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]; 7. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 8. 92M-Chad Mallett[9]; 9. 31-Nick Thrash[8]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 25-Shane Clanton[2]; 2. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[4]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[5]; 4. 86R-Rick Rickman[1]; 5. 1G-Devin Gilpin[7]; 6. 00-Jesse Stovall[8]; 7. 34-Doug Sanchagrin[6]; 8. 86-Kyle Beard[3]; 9. 6R-Robbie Stuart[9]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 2. 90-Neil Baggett[4]; 3. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[2]; 4. 14-Josh Richards[8]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[1]; 6. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 7. 36-Logan Martin[6]; 8. 111-Steven Roberts[7]; 9. G4-Shelby Sheedy[9]

General Tire Heat Race #5 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1B-Ross Bailes[1]; 2. C8-Timothy Culp[2]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[5]; 5. 33-Scott Dedwylder[7]; 6. 54-David Breazeale[6]; 7. 21B-Chris Brown[4]; 8. 14G-Joe Godsey[8]; 9. 48-Jamie Elam[9]

Big River Steel Heat Race #6 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 11J-Drew Armstrong[1]; 2. 11H-Spencer Hughes[2]; 3. 50-Shanon Buckingham[6]; 4. 18X-Michael Page[7]; 5. 2S-Stormy Scott[4]; 6. 212-Josh Putnam[5]; 7. 33C-Eric Cooley[3]; 8. 7D-David Payne[9]; 9. 25M-Justin Mcree[8]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer):  1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 1ST-Johnny Scott[2]; 3. R5-Hunter Rasdon[5]; 4. 1C-Chad Thrash[4]; 5. 84-Austin Smith[7]; 6. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]; 7. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[8]; 8. 86B-Brian Rickman[3]; 9. 31-Nick Thrash[12]; 10. 92M-Chad Mallett[10]; 11. 1BJ-BJ Robinson[9]; 12. (DNS) 3-Luke Bennett; 13. (DNS) Z6-Zach Combs

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 2. 86R-Rick Rickman[1]; 3. 16-Tyler Bruening[6]; 4. 00-Jesse Stovall[5]; 5. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[4]; 6. 1G-Devin Gilpin[3]; 7. 36-Logan Martin[8]; 8. 86-Kyle Beard[9]; 9. 111-Steven Roberts[10]; 10. G4-Shelby Sheedy[12]; 11. 34-Doug Sanchagrin[7]; 12. 6R-Robbie Stuart[11]

Arizona Sport Shirts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 33-Scott Dedwylder[3]; 2. 18X-Michael Page[2]; 3. 81E-Tanner English[1]; 4. 212-Josh Putnam[6]; 5. 54-David Breazeale[5]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[4]; 7. 21B-Chris Brown[7]; 8. 33C-Eric Cooley[8]; 9. 14G-Joe Godsey[9]; 10. 7D-David Payne[10]; 11. 48-Jamie Elam[11]; 12. (DNS) 25M-Justin Mcree

Corvette Racing Chassis History: 2005-2009Reviewing history and successes of Corvette C6.R GT1 era

DETROIT (June 18, 2020) – Corvette Racing’s championship-winning legacy has been well-documented. Following on the success of the Chevrolet Corvette C5-R from 1999-2004, the program’s next GT challenger more than lived up to its predecessor with 40 victories to go along with four consecutive Manufacturer, Driver and Team championships in IMSA competition.  We’ll look back today at each individual Corvette C6.R GT1 chassis to count down to the return of Corvette Racing to the racetrack July 3-4 at Daytona International Speedway.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C6R-001

A new era in Corvette history began with the debut of the C6.R in 2005. Chassis C6R-001 was driven by Ron Fellows and Johnny O’Connell, who scored the first win for the sixth-generation Corvette at Road Atlanta with additional victories at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma. After the 2005 American Le Mans Series season, it won in FIA GT at hands of Marcel Fässler, among others.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C6R-002

Corvette C6R-002 is perhaps the most honored Corvette chassis in modern history. It 15 wins in 76 races with seven coming from the trio of Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen/Olivier Beretta including the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2005. It also won the 2005 ALMS GT1 Championship before winning in FFSA and FIA GT series as late as 2009.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C6R-003

Corvette chassis C6R-003 raced 13 times with the factory squad in a high-profile GT1 battle in the 2006 American Le Mans Series. It claimed victory at Road America that year and was a third Corvette entered for the Mosport round in 2007 for Ron Fellows and Andy Pilgrim. This chassis also won twice in 2008 Le Mans Series competition.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C6R-004

Another Corvette chassis that raced with distinction, C6R-004 won five of its 11 races in 2006 with the factory program including four straight in the American Le Mans Series to start: Sebring, Houston, Mid-Ohio and Le Mans. It also won at Portland and gave Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta a second straight ALMS GT1 title.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C6R-005

Corvette chassis C6R-005 featured Jan Magnussen’s addition to full-time duty. Magnussen and Johnny O’Connell won three times in the 2007 American Le Mans Series’ GT1 class. Chassis 005 went on to take multiple FIA GT wins in private hands.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C6R-006

Corvette chassis C6R-006 was another dominant force in the hand of Oliver Gavin and Olivier Beretta in the 2007 ALMS. They claimed nine wins in 12 events including the 12 Hours of Sebring with Max Papis. Unsurprisingly, those results led to another ALMS GT1 Championship. After the car was sold to SRT, Marcel Fässler drove it to a victory in the FFSA French GT Championship.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C6R-007

One of the final Corvette GT1 chassis went out in a big way! Corvette C6R-007 won 10 times in 15 races between 2008-09. Johnny O’Connell and Jan Magnussen won the 2008 ALMS GT1 title with eight wins in the category’s final full season. They won the Sebring 12 Hours back-to-back and went out a winner at Le Mans in 2009 with Antonio Garcia.

CORVETTE CHASSIS C6R-008

The end of the ALMS GT1 era saw four wins in 15 events for Corvette chassis C6R-008 and the Oliver Gavin/Olivier Beretta duo. Among them was a win at home in Detroit in 2008. Its final win for Corvette Racing came at Long Beach in 2009 – the final GT1 race in ALMS.

NASCAR CUP SERIESTALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAYGEICO 500TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTJUNE 18, 2020
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 REALTREE CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference and discussed the Homestead race, his expectations for this Sunday’s race at Talladega, the progress he’s made thus far, his view of the point standings mid-way through the regular season, and more. Full Transcript: TELL US ABOUT LAST WEEK’S RACE IN HOMESTEAD“We had a fairly uneventful day at Homestead. Going into that race that was a track that a lot of people on our team knew that if we got it pretty close, we’d have a pretty good shot at having a good day there. It’s just something about that race track that just clicks with me. I thought I used to need a little bit of practice just to get the high-side working, but apparently I really don’t even need that to get comfortable. It’s just a testament to the team and the effort they’ve been putting forth. This was a race we had circled and unfortunately we couldn’t really totally take advantage of this race track at this event and get a little more out of it. But, still we got a good finish. We got stages points. And, we had a good, solid night of not really making any major mistakes. That’s something we need to build on, and hopefully we do.”
COME SUNDAY, WE’RE HALFWAY THROUGH THE REGULAR SEASON. SINCE NASCAR’S RETURN, YOU’VE HOVERED BETWEEN 15th AND 20th IN POINTS. HOW MUCH ARE YOU LOOKING AT THE POINTS RIGHT NOW?“I would say Charlotte was going to kind of show the trend of where the points were kind of going to start heading, and after the 600 I was pretty happy with where things were going. We were tied for 15th with Jimmie (Johnson) and then Jimmie came to life and a couple of these other guys did, too. Unfortunately, we had two not-so-good races and lost some ground. We weren’t far from being in the top 12, which was what I was trying to strive for just to try and get in that first through 12th draw at these races where sometimes, a little bit of track position can help you if you don’t exactly have the car you need. Honestly, at Martinsville we weren’t terrible at the beginning of that race, but if we start 24th, I don’t know if we don’t go a lap down there at the beginning of that race. So, drawing as best you can is important. And all you can really do to control that is to try and be in that first to 12th draw for starting position. I was trying to get there. After the 600, it was within reach. We were only like 20 points out of it, or something. That’s what I told myself, anyway. But now, it’s obviously a lot different. So, I’m trying to pay attention to it just because it determines our starting position.”
AFTER THAT FABULOUS RUN YOU HAD AT HOMESTEAD, WHAT HAPPENED ON THE LAST LAP?“I don’t know (laughs). I guess I for some reason, going into Turn 1 with two to go, I thought it was the final lap. I must have seen an imaginary white flag waving above my head because I was just convinced that was my last shot to pass Ryan Blaney coming to the line. I just hoped he was going to make a mistake. As it turned out, we were coming to the one to go. Yeah, I wish I could blame somebody. I wish I could say something, but I don’t know. I just missed it. I thought it was the end of the race. I really don’t have an explanation. I’m just very thankful that all the men and women at RCR make really fast race cars. We were about six or seven, or whatever seconds it was, ahead of Aric Almirola so we didn’t lose a spot.”
AS SOLID AS AUSTIN DILLON HAS BEEN ON THE RESTRICTOR PLATE TRACKS, WHAT KIND OF ONE-TWO PUNCH DO YOU THINK YOU’LL HAVE THIS WEEKEND AT TALLADEGA?“It’s hard to say. I like the direction that our cars seem to have started to trend. They had good speed at the superspeedway at Daytona. We’re going to rely on, we’re taking more power away again, with the bigger tapered spacer, smaller holes; so that’s going to change things. The air ducts. How the air comes through the nose and comes up the sides, that’ll kind of change the approach that we’ve had at the superspeedways a little bit, too. So, I don’t know. Obviously whoever can survive, I think is still going to be there at the end. But, it’s nice to know our cars have had speed. We can get a little bit of damage in certain areas and still be able to stay up in it. It’s just going to come down to decisions and just avoiding the big wrecks as they take place and just trying to make sure we’re in the correct position to do so. If me and Austin can get together at the end of that race, within 10 to go, and not have damage, that’s going to be really good for us.”
WHEN DID YOU REALIZE IT WASN’T THE LAST LAP AT HOMESTEAD? HAS IT BEEN A SOURCE OF COMEDY AROUND THE SHOP OR IN TEAM MEETINGS?“Oh, yeah. I’ve been getting picked on quite a bit. But, it’s all good. Every time it gets posted on another page in social media or (other) media puts it out, I’m good with it. I’m fine with it. It’s funny. It was just good that we were running that high and something like that happens and it can be talked about.
“It was about the time I let off the button. I was thanking my crew for a great day. I was apologizing for not getting one or two more spots. And as soon as I let off the button, I think my eardrums almost blew out. It was just so loud. Yelling and then it clicked. And then I look up and I see the No. 10 (Almirola) coming up and I’m like oh my gosh, this is not happening. Fortunately I didn’t like drive it into the fence and wreck coming to the checkered flag. That would have made matters worse. But, we avoided that, for sure. It was pretty funny.”
YOU ARE USED TO THE NOTION OF NO PRACTICE. HOW IMPACTFUL IS THAT ON A SUPERSPEEDWAY SINCE YOU USUALLY HAVE DRAFTING PRACTICE. HOW IS THAT DIFFERENT THIS WEEK THAN FOR A REGULAR RACE?“Everyone has an idea of what a good speedway car for them has been. But, the different amount of power we’re going to have, no air ducts, is kind of a shift with no practice. We just are going off of simulated numbers and data points off of a car that was set up in a cooler condition and obviously, different circumstances. So, it’s going to be quite interesting. But, I think a lot of people will just bring what they know works. And normally you see people bring a good piece and they’ll try some things in practice, whether that’s drafting or a single car run; obviously, none of that. So, I think we’ve been pretty good at getting the cars on the money, but it just adds an extra layer of what-if’s. What if someone’s too loose that first run? It just opens the box for even more uncertainty. And I think it’s made the races interesting. It’s made all the folks at RCR work really, really hard to bring a really good starting point for our cars, which I think, we’ve had more times than not.”
WOULD YOU PREFER, AT A TRACK LIKE TALLADEGA, TO HAVE A PRACTICE?“I’ve done a bit of plate racing throughout my career, but nothing compared to the veterans of our sport. But, everyone knows when it’s time to go and when they need to pull back, even though it doesn’t appear that way sometimes on our end, in the driver’s seat. But, I mean, it was originally planned, and when there’s one track just like that, they’re really doing everything they can to discourage using a back-up car. You’re probably not going to go out there an experiment in a practice session. Yeah, we’ve had all these rules changes, but honestly, we’ve been doing just fine without practicing everywhere else. That adds a little layer to it, like I said. So, I’m okay without having the practice. When you go to a place like Martinsville, and the first time you hit the brake, you don’t know if your brake vibe is set where it need to. You either know it’s your front tires that lock-up or if you have wheel-hop. So, it’s the same kind of level of uncertainty in a way.”
YOUR TEAMMATE (AUSTIN DILLON) BECAME A DAD OVER THE WEEKEND. HAS HE BEEN HITTING YOU UP FOR PARENTING ADVICE OR HAVE YOU HAD ANYTHING TO SHARE WITH HIM?“We talked about it a little bit as it’s gotten closer and he’s asked me about just certain things that I would have thought to think about before Alexa and I had (a baby). I knew he was going to have his hands full with the whole day on Sunday with having Ace come into the world and then leaving the hospital and flying to the race track and racing; and then going home and getting thrown right back into daddy duty. So, we did our debrief over Zoom, like we are here on Monday. He was holding Ace for a little bit, and at the hospital, and jumping in and out of trying to help when needed with the nurses or whatever was going on. I texted him once or twice. I can’t remember exactly what I said, but I knew how I felt a couple days in. I asked him how he was doing and I think he used the word I’m just absolutely delirious. And, I’m like, I get it. I was the same way. You’re used to sleeping normal hours. Every two hours, the baby is up or needs something or the doctor is coming in and out. It’s chaos. But they’re home. That for me, was one thing when I kind of calmed back down. You’re in your own home and can get back in your own routine. But for him, we’re going racing Sunday. So, it’s going to continue to be interesting.”
YOU ALLUDED TO THE RULES PACKAGE BEING DIFFERENT ON THE SUPERSPEEDWAYS NOW, AND OBVIOUSLY A LOT OF THAT WAS IN RESPONSE TO THE ACCIDENT AT THE END OF THE DAYTONA 500. DO YOU ANTICIPATE DRIVERS BEING A LITTLE MORE CAUTIOUS THAN THEY WERE AT THE DAYTONA 500 AND OTHERS IN THE PAST?“No. I don’t think so. For possibly the worst-case scenario to happen to someone like Ryan Newman, and for him to be okay, just goes to show how safe these cars are and just how crazy we’re able to get into them and get away with it. But, granted, that was a scary situation. There was a lot of uncertainty around it. But, the car held up. He’s still with us. He’s still racing like the old fashioned Ryan Newman. So, I don’t know. I don’t think it’s going to change much. The cars themselves are going to be a little bit slower. I honestly think as crazy as this sounds, I think there’s going to be more aggression now that we have less power and the drag ducts are out. It’s going to change how the cars drive. I think the aggression is going to be even higher, actually.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE COMING INTO YOUR OWN IN THE CUP SERIES?“I would like to say yes. But, I know how quickly you can fall out of that groove and how easy it is to get down. We had a couple races where we weren’t bad, but we wanted to run better than we were. And a lot of these races, since we’ve been back, we’ve been going to tracks that have been really good for me over the course of time that have been really good for me. And, we’re getting ready to go to tracks that I’ve had trouble with at times. The real test is coming, I think, in the second half of the regular season for us. But, I like what we saw at Homestead. It’s just going to drive our team to work that much harder. Hopefully we can continue to keep overcoming these challenges. But, it’s going to definitely be tougher the second half.”

XENIA, Ohio (June 17) — A pair of powerful JEGS.com dragsters are headed to Kil-Kare Raceway for this weekend’s 15th annual Ultimate 64 Shootout. The yellow-and-black attack will be led by confirmed JEGS Allstars racer Paige Coughlin and her cousin Makenna Brown, who is stepping up from the Junior Dragster ranks this year. While waiting out COVID-19 restrictions, Paige has been getting herself back up to speed with a pair of races in the last two weeks, the ACE Super Slam at Dragway 42 in West Salem, Ohio, and the K&N Spring Fling GALOT presented by Optima Batteries at GALOT Motorsports Park in Dunn, N.C. Paige Coughlin “Just like it was last season, my JEGS.com dragster is running really well,” Paige said. “The main thing is it’s repeating, which is what you want out of your car more than anything. My guys, Justin Beaver and Tony Collier, always make sure I’m 100% ready to go and I thank them for all their hard work during this extra-long off-season.  “I’m so thankful to finally be able to race again. It was a long time out of the seat but once we got started again it felt like I’d never left. We are trying to stay as busy as possible and I know the schedule will be packed from here on out but we’ll be ready.” In less than a month, Paige will begin her quest to win the Division 3 Super Comp championship during JEGS Speedweek, July 16-19 at National Trail Raceway. She came up just one position short of title in 2019, finishing second to decorated veteran and friend Luke Bogacki. Paige Coughlin in her JEGS.com dragster The newest addition to the Team JEGS sportsman ranks is Brown. The Florida native had a very successful Junior Dragster career representing JEGS.com and has now decided to continue her racing endeavors in the Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series. She collected Super Comp points at the few Division 2 races that were completed before racing was suspended and is now using these summertime bracket races to restart the learning process. “I’ve jumped right in with some of the best bracket racers in the country and these drivers are tough,” Brown said. “It shows me how much practice and work goes into winning. I am so excited to get as many runs in as I can. The Ultimate 64 Shootout will be another weekend to learn and get a little better every round. Makenna Brown “I have amazing people like Justin Beaver and Dave Raurk helping on my car. We have it dialed in and running great. My grandpa, Jeg Sr., my uncle Jeg Jr., and T.J. have all helped me to understand how to dial the car, how to race to the finish, and how to find a spot on the tree. I have talked to all three of them extensively and they have all given me such valuable guidance. I’m also so thankful for everyone at JEGS.  “I just love being at the track. Every run down the track assures me this is where I belong. It is so much different than racing juniors but the love and passion is the same. These racers are tough and I know that going up against some of the best racers in the country in my first couple races is only going to make me better.”

NASCAR CUP SERIESTALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAYGEICO 500TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTJUNE 17, 2020
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference and discussed his newborn son, Ace, the progress of the RCR teams, the upcoming Talladega race and new package, the All-Star race being moved to Bristol, and more. Full Transcript: TALK US THROUGH WHAT THESE LAST FEW DAYS HAVE BEEN LIKE WITH ALL THE EXCITEMENT‘Yeah, I’ll first start off by saying I’m tired. But, it’s been an amazing experience. And, mom has absolutely crushed it. Dad is doing everything he can. He’s hanging on by a thread. But today is awesome. I was late but was just playing with him. He is an amazing little guy and I’m just pumped to have him in this world and ready to show him everything about life. It’s pretty cool.”
CONGRATULATIONS. WANTED TO ASK YOU ABOUT HOW WELL THE ENTIRE TEAM IS DOING, BOTH YOU AND TYLER REDDICK. YOU’RE GETTING TOP-TENS, AND REALLY ACCELERATING EARLY IN THE SEASON, WHICH IS A HIGH FOR THE TEAM IN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS. WHAT IS IT LIKE? WHAT’S YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH TYLER? WHAT’S YOUR SENSE OF THE TEAM AS A WHOLE REALLY BEING ON IT THIS YEAR?“It’s been an awesome year so far. I always want more. But, I mean, compared to years past, I’m very optimistic of where we are; especially last year to this year, a big jump. Those jumps are hard to come by. Tyler, coming in the off-season with an Xfinity championship, brought some momentum. I think it fired-up everybody. It fired-up myself to compete. He’s a good wheelman. It builds both teams to kind of compete within and that comes with these good finishes we’re having. The competition is great at RCR. And you’ve got to have that. I feel like that’s a big part of it. And, Chevrolet stepped-up their game in the off-season and really gave us something else to work with as far as the car goes. And, our whole entire shop is working really hard. Obviously, it’s been tough on everybody with the quarantine and whatnot, but I feel like we did a good job of keeping up with the work that we had ahead of us. It’s been a really good break for our team, if anything. And, the way we go to the race track now if a little bit different. Less people go to the track and I think that’s a good thing for our guys. The core group on each team is strong, and that’s nice to see.”
I’M NOT SURE WHEN ACE WAS BORN, BUT WAS THERE A POINT LATE SATURDAY NIGHT OR EARLY SUNDAY MORNING WHERE YOU THOUGHT YOU MIGHT MISS THE RACE?“He was born at 6:30 in the morning. So, there was definitely a time period where you’re going to the hospital and mom is getting checked-in and you’re just hoping that everything is going to go smoothly. And, it did. The good Lord blessed us with an amazing pregnancy. Mom just walked in and crushed it. Ace came out with flying colors. Everything went well. But if any small thing goes wrong during that timeframe, I’m not racing. So, everything went good. The doctors were great. We used Wake Forest and they did such a great job with Ace and mom and that’s what allowed us to get to the race track and had just a really memorable day.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO TALLADEGA, HOW DO YOU THINK THE CHANGES IN HORSEPOWER AND NO AIR DUCTS WILL IMPACT THE RACE?“I don’t really know how the air ducts will do. We’ve obviously raced in the past without aero ducts, so that’s one thing I just don’t really ….  I’d have to really go back in time and look at what our cars did differently. But, there was probably somewhere you could match them up to. I don’t know what the closest year that we ran a package like this would be. But, we feel like the racing is going to be different from the way it was at Daytona. It always is different from Daytona to Talladega. So, I’d say the first stage of the race, will definitely be a learning curve for just about all of us. Set-up wise should not be a problem. I hope not. But, just the way we race and the runs you get, we’ll be learning that first stage. And, you want to be aggressive because every point matters throughout the year.
“So, just trying to play the chess match that’s ahead of us this weekend is going to be the key. Just knowing when to go. I’ve done a lot of different strategies when it comes to speedway racing, but my favorite is just going out there and racing and kind of throwing caution to the wind. I feel like that usually plays out better for us. I won the Daytona 500 being a little more cautious, but it’s just more fun that way when you go out there and race. So, we’ll see. We’ll make a decision quite early in the race to kind of figure out how everything is going. Hopefully all of our Chevys will run up-front together and work hard together to do what we need to do to bring home the win for Chevrolet.”
WHEN NASCAR RESUMED THE SEASON WITH ALL THE PRECAUTIONS THAT WERE TAKEN FROM A SAFETY AND TRAVEL STANDPOINT, IT WAS A SMALL GROUP OF GUYS WHO COULD JUST DRIVE TO DARLINGTON AND OF COURSE, CHARLOTTE AFTER THAT. BUT, WITH COVID-19 STILL VERY MUCH A THREAT, ARE THE PRECAUTIONS THAT YOU HAVE TO TAKE NOW AS YOU TRAVEL AND EXPAND YOUR FOOTPRINT BY GOING TO PLACES LIKE MIAMI AND TALLADEGA, WHAT PRECAUTIONS ARE YOU TAKING TO KEEP EVERYBODY SAFE?“I think we’ve done a good job. RCR is making our teams…..when they go to the track, they can only take two in a car at a time.  And then drivers, as far as getting to the track, we’ve been pretty much with ourselves. Tyler and I flew together to the track to Atlanta. Everybody has been kind of keeping their distance and wearing masks and doing everything that they’ve asked us to do throughout the process, and it’s worked well. We take our temperatures and report back to RCR and NASCAR with those; and then just trying to stay away from big groups of people. The Zoom meetings, so just talking to my guys, so I think it’s really drawn my team a bit closer, I think, because you get to look at each other on the phone. And, I guess my mind doesn’t wander as much when I’m just talking to my guys at my house. It’s kind of nice to really have the time to sit down and talk about our cars and go through the whole thing and go through the race. It gives you more time to just kind of focus on what’s going on and what went on. So, I think it’s been really good for my team.”
WHEN YOU ARE FLYING, IS IT SMALLER GROUPS THAN IT WAS IN THE PAST?“Yes. I think the teams are flying on a different path than what the drivers are and just trying to stay as separated as possible, of going at certain times to be able to check the car. The road crew and then the shop crew are going in and out at different times also, so they’re not really connecting, either.”
YOU MENTIONED POINTS, AND YOU’VE BEEN BOUNCING AROUND THE 13th, 16th, 17th SPOT IN THE POINTS. HOW MUCH DO YOU PAY ATTENTION TO IT AT THIS POINT AS TALLADEGA MARKS THE HALFWAY POINT OF THE REGULAR SEASON? HOW MUCH DOES THAT DICTATE WHAT YOUR TEAM MIGHT OR MIGHT NOT DO IN CERTAIN SITUATIONS?“I don’t think we can change what we’ve been doing as far as strategy goes. I think we’ve been aggressive when it comes to strategy and that’s worked out for us. Some short-pittings that have gained us spots at the end of these races. I trust Justin (Alexander, crew chief) and I think obviously, to be where we want to be, we want to win races. And we feel like our cars are very close and capable of doing that right now. The more we run in the top 5 and top ten’s, that’s when you get those opportunities to win. We’ve had two cars that are capable of running speeds to win this past weekend at Homestead. I would have loved to see what our car did if we would have been able to not have the problem we had with the tire getting away. And then, Martinsville, another really fast race car that we had that flat tire pretty much before the race started.
“The opportunities are coming and we need to capitalize on them, and I think the only way to do that is if you see guys…..like, Brad Keselowski is a great example. I don’t feel like he’s had the fastest car in most of the races he’s won, but he’s hung around and his team has given him that opportunity to get clean air and win those races. So, the aggression has to come and then, it just makes it a lot easier when you get a win under your belt. And in years past, I feel like we could circle and kind of thing about the small amount of opportunities we had to win a race in our group. And this year, I feel like we’ve definitely got a bigger shot at winning with more opportunities available with the speed in our race cars.”
WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE BETTER AT IN SPEEDWAY RACING AT DAYTONA AND TALLADEGA IN THE LAST YEAR? WHERE TO YOU FEEL LIKE AS A DRIVER, YOU’VE GOTTEN BETTER OVER TIME?“Maybe just the choices I make. I feel like the choices, the lines, drafting closer to people, making the right calls just from history and being in these races. I don’t know. I think it comes in spurts. You get in a rhythm with speedway racing sometimes and it really works out for you. And then you think you’ve got it figured out and then you have a streak of bad finishes and you’re like, what’s going on here? But the one thing that’s kind of resonated a long time with me is the moment you start hating speedway racing, it’s just not going to be good for you. So, you’ve got to learn to love it and enjoy the craziness of it all. And, I think that kind of breeds more good finishes for you. You start seeing kind of against it, and it’ll bite you.”
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE ALL-STAR RACING MOVING FROM CHARLOTTE TO BRISTOL?“It’s definitely a big change. I think it’s good for the All-Star to move around. I feel like Marcus (Smith) and all the people at NASCAR did a good job choosing Bristol because you’re going to get a lot of action there. It’s very easy to get to someone’s back bumper and move people. It’s a chaotic track. And, for the All-Star racing, I think it’s a beautiful setting for it. Some of the drivers aren’t going to like it because they know what’s coming. It’s going to be a bit of a mess at times, but then it’s going to hopefully just put on a great show for our fans. That’s what we’re here to do. And, I’m lobbying for the ‘Choose Rule’, and I think there’s a shot at it for the All-Star race. I’m hoping that goes into effect. I think that track is perfect for it.”

BATAVIA, OHIO (June 17, 2020) – With over $110,000 in prize money on the line for the General Tire Clash at the Mag – presented by Big River Steel, Magnolia Motor Speedway is set to host a three-day weekend that is one of the biggest in Mississippi. Set for June18th – June 20th, the Clash at the Mag will have full racing programs on Thursday and Friday, capping off the weekend with a 100-lap main event on Saturday, paying $15,000-to-win. A complete program of Time Trials, Heat Races, B-Mains, and a $5,000-to-win main event on Thursday and Friday nights. Each night, the pit gates will open at 2:00pm, followed by general admission at 4:00pm. A driver’s meeting will take place at 7:00 pm, followed by hot laps at 7:30pm. Drivers will earn valuable points in each of the two preliminary nights that will determine the lineups for Saturday night’s finale. The top 18 in points will be locked into the A-Main, while the rest of the field will line up in B-Main events, with hopes of finishing in a transfer spot to race for $15,000.   On Saturday, the pit gates will open at 2:00pm, followed by general admission at 4:00pm. Saturday’s festivities will kick off with a Dirt Racing Outreach service from 4:30pm through 5:15pm. A driver’s autograph session will follow, starting at 5:30pm and ending at 6:15pm. On-track action is slated for 7:00pm, beginning with hot laps, followed by consolation events for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The $15,000-to-win, 100 lap main event will top off the series action for the weekend. In 2019, Mike Marlar became the first three-time winner of the annual Clash at the Mag during a caution free event. Josh Richards and Jonathan Davenport took home wins on the prelim nights. The stars of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event will be joined by a strong showing of local and regional standouts. All three nights will be LIVE on LucasOilRacing.tv. Thursday and Friday night’s shows will be available to monthly and/or yearly subscribers, and tape delayed for air on MAVTV Motorsports Network. Saturday night’s finale at Magnolia Motor Speedway will be available for yearly subscribers only, but tape delayed to air on both MAVTV Motorsports Network and NBC Sports. 

SAVE THE DATE: 12th Annual Lucas Oil Eric Medlen Memorial Golf Tournament Set For September 3, 2020Katie and Morgan Lucas Will Host the Annual Memorial  Golf Tournament at Eagle Creek Golf CourseINDIANAPOLIS (June 16, 2020) – Lucas Oil Products is pleased to announce the 12th Annual Lucas Oil Eric Medlen Memorial Golf Tournament will be held on Thursday, September 3, 2020 at Eagle Creek Golf Course in Indianapolis. The annual charity golf tournament honors the late NHRA Funny Car driver Eric Medlen, who passed away due to complications after suffering a traumatic brain injury during a practice crash, by raising money for Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital (PMCH) and Ascension St. Vincent Hospital.  “During these extraordinary times, we have paused to reflect on past tournaments and are truly humbled by the generous support and dedication to honoring Eric and helping the children at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital,” stated Katie and Morgan Lucas. “Our incredible golfers, sponsors and corporate partners have raised over $650,000 for PMCH and helped fund the St. Vincent House, a pediatric MRI Suite, a teaching classroom and so much more. Our 2020 Tournament may look a little different than tournaments of the past, but rest assured our mission remains the same – celebrating Eric’s life and helping those in need at Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital and Ascension St. Vincent.”  Since opening its doors in 2003, Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital has operated as a full-service pediatric care network, inside Ascension St. Vincent Hospital, specializing in the unique needs of children and their families. Today, the Peyton Manning Children’s Hospital includes 48 private inpatient beds, 23 Pediatric Intensive Care Unit beds, 17-bed dedicated Pediatric Emergency Departments and the largest Neonatal Intensive Care Unit in the state of Indiana. More details about the event:8 – 9:30 am Registration and Breakfast9:30 am Shotgun Start2 pm Lunch, Program and AwardsIn accordance with state and CDC guidelines, this year’s tournament will host both lunch and the awards ceremony outdoors and will include additional safety measures to ensure social distancing.  For golf and sponsorship information, please visit www.EricMedlenMemorial.com or contact Jessica at Jessica@LucasOil.com and 317-858-1333.

(June 16, 2020) Jim Allen, Sacramento, CA … The high powered NARC King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Car Series will kick off their 2020 racing campaign at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, this Saturday, June 20th, in an event that will showcased in front of an empty grandstand due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.  However, the race will be available exclusively by Pay-per-View on Speedshift TV.

As the world continues to adapt to ever changing guidelines and restrictions, this event received an approval from local government and health officials as long as specific rules were followed.  The most radical of those guidelines is racing in front of an completely empty grandstand.  In addition, race teams entering the pit area are limited to five people per team (including driver) and must follow a full set of COVID-19 safety rules.  This includes getting their temperatures taken at the pit gate.

To date, the global pandemic has wreaked havoc on the traveling 410 sprint car series originally scheduled 19-races, with seven events being cancelled or postponed.  This pretty much mirrors the racing scene throughout California.  The delayed season opener, which was not on the original schedule, was the result of painstaking hard work by former driver and Hanford track promoter Peter Murphy.

“We had to run a gauntlet of government and local officials to make this show happen,” said Murphy.  “It required their cooperation to approve our efforts before we were allowed to proceed.  That was not as easy process, and I hope it leads to racing in front of fans again in the near future.”

Leading a full field of NARC sprint cars will be local driver DJ Netto.  The Hanford driver is the defending NARC King of the West champion after claiming his first title in an epic points battle last season.  Netto has spent the past few weeks racing throughout the Midwest where coronavirus restrictions eased much earlier.

“It’s nice to finally get going here in California!” said Netto.  “I think all this was blown way out of hand so we went and raced in the Midwest.  You wouldn’t even know there was something called COVID-19 back there, racing front of full crowds.  Racing without fans will have a little different feel.  It’s almost like we are testing.”

Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi, who won an All Star Circuit of Champions main event in Louisiana Sunday, has also traveled around the country – racing with and without fans in the grandstands.

“It’s amazing how different racing without fans actually feels,” said Scelzi, who will be competing in Hanford on Saturday.  “Once you’re off the track, there is an eerie quietness to it all.  And as you roll around the track to line up, the stands look brighter because they reflect more light. It’s a very odd experience for us drivers.”

Either way, most race tracks in California have a green light to move forward, but with limitations.  The racing community takes that as a positive move in the right direction.

“We hope this is the start of something good.” said NARC GM Jim Allen, “Everybody is eager to get back to normal, even if it’s a ‘new normal.’  We had a great season lined-up and were ready to go back in March, but the pandemic sidelined those efforts.  As a result, a lot of our teams have not strapped on a helmet in more than seven months and all would prefer to do it in front of a packed grandstand.  However, they also realize that we have to ease back into this activity because it’s a spectator-driven event.”

Several past champions will be represented in a stacked field of competitors at the 3/8 mile dirt oval.  Among those registered are four-time series champ Kyle Hirst of Paradise; two-time series winner Tim Kaeding of San Jose (2002 & 2011), 2018 titlist Bud Kaeding of Campbell; and Sean Becker of Roseville, the 2005 series champion.  Collectively, they have laid claim to 127 King of the West feature event victories.

Other top contenders will be Roseville’s Willie Croft, Colby Copeland and Jodie Robinson; Sean Watts from Clovis; Tracy’s Kyle Offill; Indiana’s Spencer Bayston; Mitchell Faccinto of Hanford; Auburn’s Richard Brace Jr; Craig Stidham of Fresno, and many more.

Also on the racing card will be the Kings of Thunder non-wing 360 Bandit sprint cars and the 305 Racesavers sprint cars.  

The NARC King of the West portion of the program will consist of individual qualifying, four 8-lap heat races, a six-lap trophy dash, a 12-lap last chance qualifier and a 30-lap Fujitsu-sponsored headliner which pays $3000 to the winner.

Pit gates open at 1:00 p.m. The drivers meeting starts at 4:30 p.m., with the first session of hot laps taking place around 5:30 p.m.

Keller Auto Speedway is located at the Kings Fairgrounds in Hanford.  The address is 801 S 10th Ave, Hanford, CA 93230.  The track can be reached at 559-584-7223.

For more information, call Jim Allen at 714-397-7417.

Inside Line Promotions – CHATHAM, La. (June 15, 2020) – Dominic Scelzi capitalized on a busy two-week stretch with the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1.

Scelzi earned five top fives, won the finale and finished fifth in the Cometic Gasket Thunder Through the Plains presented by Hercules Tires standings after participating in eight races during that span.

“To be honest I think the speedweek was the perfect thing we needed,” he said. “We needed to race a lot in a short amount of time at a lot of tracks. At the beginning of the week we weren’t there. We’d click off a lap in hot laps and then wouldn’t time in well. The last half of the week I feel like we were the best car.”

That showed on Sunday at Chatham Speedway during the Thunder Through the Plains finale. Scelzi qualified third quickest, placed fourth in a heat race, charged from sixth to second place in the dash and then led 32 of the 40-lap main event for his first career win with the series.

“It’s right up there with winning the World Challenge for me,” he said. “It’s something I didn’t think would be possible. To win with the All Stars, it’s an elite group of guys. I feel like it’s harder now than it’s ever been to win an All Star race. The level of competition is tremendous. It’s something I’ll never forget.”

The victory capped four straight nights of top-five runs for Scelzi beginning last Thursday at Southern Oklahoma Speedway in Ardmore, Okla.

“I felt pretty good, but I couldn’t tell where we were at in qualifying,” he said. “I felt like we were going to be all right though. We won the heat and were pretty good in the dash. In the main event I think I gave the race away by not getting to the top fast enough. I got flustered, but got my head back down and kept fighting. It’s a good feeling when you roll around well like that.”

Scelzi led his first career All Star laps before finishing third.

The team posted a fifth-place result on Friday at Monarch Motor Speedway in Wichita Falls, Texas, and a third-place run on Saturday at LoneStar Speedway in Kilgore, Texas, prior to the big win. Additionally, Scelzi finished 16^th at Red Dirt Raceway in Meeker, Okla., on June 5; recorded a fourth-place outing at 81 Speedway in Park City, Kan., on June 7; placed 14^th at Lawton Speedway in Lawton, Okla., on June 8; and earned the Hard Charger Award for passing the most cars after driving from 20^th to 13^th at Devil’s Bowl Speedway in Mesquite, Texas, last Wednesday.

“I think you can always get better,” he said. “I think the biggest thing is cutting down on mistakes. I’ve done that this week. If we want to get to that next level of winning a World of Outlaws race, those mistakes can’t happen. I think we’re pretty close.”

Scelzi plans on heading back to his home state of California this week to drive for Roth Motorsports on Saturday at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford during the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series season opener.