Pre-Race Report
Event 03: Gatornationals
Gainesville Raceway
Gainesville, Fla.
March 17-19, 2017
Kalitta desires fourth Gator triumph
Gainesville Highlights: Three wins (2014, 2005, 2000); Two no.1 qualifiers (2013, 2003)
Last Event Recap (Phoenix): Qualified fifth; First round defeat (Lost to Shawn Reed in the first round)
2016 Gatornationals Recap: Qualified eighth; First round defeat (Lost to Dave Connolly in the first round) Continue reading Kalitta Racing Gainesville Pre-Race
Scelzi Charges Toward Top 10 During Season Opener Before Losing Brakes
Inside Line Promotions – LAS VEGAS (March 13, 2017) – Dominic Scelzi graded his season opener as a B-minus.
“Although we didn’t end up with the results we wanted I was happy with the speed we showed,” he said. “We didn’t get the breaks we needed, but I feel confident about our team and the direction we are heading.”
Scelzi and his Roth Motorsports supported, family owned team kicked off the season last Thursday at The Dirt Track at Las Vegas during the opening night of the FVP Outlaw Showdown. Continue reading Scelzi Charges Toward Top 10 During Season Opener Before Losing Brakes
LOGANO WINS XFINITY RACE IN VEGAS!
LAS VEGAS, Nev., March 13, 2017 – Team Penske and the No. 12 of Joey Logano won their first NASCAR Xfinity race of the year Saturday night in the Boyd Gaming 300 at Las Vegas. This was the third consecutive win for the No. 12 driven by Logano in the Ford Mustang powered by Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines’ FR9 Carb engine.
“Joey drove a great race.” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Congratulations to Team Penske, Joey and Ford Performance. Our teams worked hard and it all came together during the Xfinity race.” Continue reading LOGANO WINS XFINITY RACE IN VEGAS!
Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Lucas Oil Chevrolet Team Finish 25th at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
“Today just wasn’t our day. We didn’t qualify all that well on Friday and battled from behind from the beginning. That flat right-front tire on lap 132 didn’t make things better. We got behind and had to take the wave-around a few times to get our laps back, but never seemed to get a caution when we needed it most. Then on the last lap we had another tire go down. We’ll try to put this race behind us and move on. I’m sure we learned a few things that we can correct and hopefully finish out this NASCAR goes West tour strong. I appreciate all the support from Lucas Oil this weekend – it was cool to have their logo on the No. 3 car this weekend.”
– Austin Dillon Continue reading Richard Childress Racing–Las Vegas
RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 Earns Pair of Top 10s in 2017 Debut
• Peter Kox earns series Hard Charger Award in Saturday’s opener
• Acura NSX GT3 makes its first street-course start in PWC competition.
• Ryan Eversley scores top-10 finish in Sunday’s event
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla (March 12, 2017) – The Acura NSX GT3s of RealTime Racing debuted in solid fashion this weekend, earning a pair of top-10 finishes as the 2017 Pirelli World Challenge season opened at St. Petersburg, Florida with a pair of events.
The weekend was a study in perseverance for both Ryan Eversley and Peter Kox as both drivers battled through misfortune that prevented their weekends from being resounding successes. Continue reading RealTime Racing Acura NSX GT3 Earns Pair of Top 10s in 2017 Debut
Blaney, Motorcraft/Quick Lane Team Continue Fast Start To 2017 With Seventh-Place Finish At Las Vegas
March 12, 2017
Ryan Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team continued their strong start to the 2017 season with a trip to Las Vegas Motor Speedway that saw them fast in practice, qualifying and the race. And they head to Phoenix International Raceway sixth in the points standings after a seventh-place finish in Sunday’s Kobalt Tools 400 at Las Vegas that netted them 43 points, including 13 earned by finishing in the top 10 in the first two stages of Sunday’s race.
Blaney’s finish, along with that of his Ford teammates Brad Keselowski, Joey Logano and Clint Bowyer, gave Ford four of the top-10 finishers in Sunday’s race.
The finish also gives Blaney two finishes of seventh or better in the three races run so far this season, the other being a runner-up finish in the Daytona 500.
On Sunday, Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team had to overcome several obstacles on the way to his 13th top-10 finish – and his eighth on an intermediate track – since joining the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team.
Early in the race, he ran in the top five after starting third but had to make an unscheduled pit stop. That extra stop also meant that the team had to use one of its allotted eight sets of tires that it had planned for use later in the race. Then, on the final restart, Blaney got bogged down by the slow start of a driver in front of him.
“I thought we are a little bit better than that,” Blaney said in his post-race comments. “We had to come in early in the race and that put us behind.”
Despite the extra stop, Blaney motored his way back into the lead pack and was poised to race for a top-five finish when the green flag flew for the final run to the checkered flag.
“Our car was good enough and once we got back inside the top 10 I felt that we had a shot at fourth or fifth, but that last restart didn’t go our way,” Blaney said. “Good car. Good effort overall. I can’t thank the Wood Brothers enough.”
Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team now head to Phoenix Raceway for the second of three races in NASCAR’s western swing with high hopes of building on their performance in the first three races of this season.
In two starts at Phoenix last year, Blaney had finishes of 10th and eighth.
MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
KOBALT 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTS
MARCH 12, 2017
YOUNG GUNS KYLE LARSON AND CHASE ELLIOTT FINISH 2-3 FOR
TEAM CHEVY IN LAS VEGAS
Solid Finishes at Vegas place Duo Second and Third in Standings
LAS VEGAS – (March 12, 2017) – When a last-lap issue changed the outcome of the KOBALT 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENSC) race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS), Team Chevy young guns Kyle Larson and Chase Elliott were in position to capitalize on an exciting finish. Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Las Vegas, Post Race
MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
KOBALT 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 12, 2017
KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – Finished 2nd
VERY SOLID SECOND PLACE RUN FOR YOU, YOU ARE JUST KEEPING THIS MOMENTUM GOING IN 2017:
“Yeah, no fist flying for me. That was exciting right there, but no, awesome day for our Target team. Second in the first stage, third in the second stage and then finished second in the race. I can’t say enough about my team. I’m so proud of them. Our race cars are amazing right now. We are going to hopefully, keep building on what we’ve got and keep challenging for wins and they will come. Had a lot of fun today. Had a bad restart there after the second stage and lost a lot of track position, but was able to get a good restart there on that last one. Brad (Keselowski) I think he was blowing up or something and got luck there and got second. Back-to-back second’s we would like to have back-to-back wins, but this is pretty awesome.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Las Vegas Post Race
Bourdais Goes Last to First to Win for Honda at St. Petersburg
• Rebounds from qualifying crash to win 2017 Indy car season opener
• Dixon charges to third, last-lap pass nets fourth for Hunter-Reay
• Honda drivers claim four of the top five, seven of top-10 finishing positions
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 12, 2017) – Sebastien Bourdais and his Dale Coyne Racing team used a fast Honda and perfect race strategy to come from 21st and last on the starting grid to win Sunday’s Verizon IndyCar Series season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
A crash in qualifying on Saturday left Bourdais starting shotgun on the field at the green flag for the 110-lap event, but a series of passes and early caution flags saw him move to 12th after just 10 laps. Another caution on Lap 25 – in the midst of scheduled first-round pit stops – presented him with a huge opportunity, and Bourdais was quick to take advantage, restarting in second and then passing for the lead on Lap 37.
From there, Bourdais was in control, leading 69 of 110 laps enroute to his 36th career IndyCar victory, moving him to sole possession of 6th on the all-time win’s list. Continue reading Bourdais Goes Last to First to Win for Honda at St. Petersburg
CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG
STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
POST RACE RECAP
MARCH 12, 2017
Pagenaud Scores Solid Podium Finish to Start Season
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – (March 12, 2017) – Defending Verizon IndyCar Series champion Simon Pagenaud carried the banner for Chevrolet on the Streets of St. Petersburg with a strong second place finish in the season-opening race. He started 14th today in the 110-lap race on the 1.8 mile/14 turn street course.
Driving the No. 1 PPG Automotive Finishes Team Penske Chevrolet, Pagenaud matched his 2016 finish in the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg. The Frenchman went on to win five races and his first title.
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet finished sixth after starting 16th today. Giving Chevrolet three of the top top-eight finishers was Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, who finished 8th. Continue reading Chevy Racing–INDYCAR–St. Petersburg–Pagenaud Scores Solid Podium Finish to Start Season
CHEVY FAST FACTS
KOBALT 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
March 12, 2017
A total of 17 Team Chevy drivers will start the KOBALT 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The 267-lap/400.5-mile contest around the 1.5-mile venue is scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m., EDT. Live coverage will be available on FOX, PRN Radio, Sirius NASCAR Radio Channel 90 and NASCAR.com.
CHEVROLET DRIVERS STARTING IN THE TOP-10:
Kyle Larson, No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS, will start 5th
Kasey Kahne, No. 5 LiftMaster Chevrolet SS, will roll off 7th
Jamie McMurray, No. 1 Credit One Bank/Cessna Chevrolet SS, will start 10th
TEAM CHEVY IN MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES (MENCS) COMPETITION:
Chevrolet has won 39 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series Manufacturer Championships
Team Chevy drivers have scored 765 wins and 689 poles in NSCS competition
CHEVROLET ON THE TRACK—LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY:
Chevrolet drivers have won seven of 19 races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Victories by current Team Chevy drivers are:
Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 KOBALT Chevrolet SS, has four wins at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (’05, ’06, ’07 & ‘10)
A Chevrolet driver has won one of the last two races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
A Chevrolet driver has sat on the pole at Las Vegas Motor Speedway four times
Team Chevy drivers have scored 40 top-five and 79 top-10 finishes at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
A Chevrolet has led 2,128 laps (45.2% of possible 4,708 laps) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Austin Dillon Muscles the No. 2 Rheem Chevy to a Top-Five Finish
“We didn’t start the race out very well and were really tight for a majority of the race. We managed to keep it inside the top-15 and even scored points in the second stage. Justin (Alexander, crew chief) stuck with me and made some great adjustments in the latter part of the race. The balance of the race car was great there for those last couple of restarts and I even thought we would have a shot at the win. All in all, it was a pretty good day for our Rheem Chevy and we’re happy to be third in the owner’s points standings at this point in the season.”
– Austin Dillon Continue reading Richard Childress Racing–Las Vegas Post Race
CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG
STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MARCH 11, 2017
Will Power Puts Chevrolet on Pole at St. Petersburg
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla – (March 11, 2017) Will Power likes to start on the pole. For the second consecutive year, the driver of the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevroletgrabbed the Verizon P1 award in Firestone Fast Six qualifying on the Streets of St. Petersburg.
“It is great to start the IndyCar season with a Chevrolet on the pole position,” said Mark Kent, Director of Motorsports Competition. “This pole win required a total team effort by Will Power and the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet team. Now the focus for the Chevrolet IndyCar teams turns to tomorrow’s race. It should be a ve ry exciting and competitive season opener.”
Today’s pole is the seventh for the 2014 Verizon IndyCar Series Champion for the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, and his 45th career and the fifth for Chevrolet at the season-opening race. Continue reading Chevy Racing–INDYCAR–St. Petersburg
Front Row Start for Honda, Scott Dixon at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
• Dixon, James Hinchcliffe lead qualifying effort for Honda
• Three Honda teams, four drivers reach “Firestone Fast Six” final qualifying shootout
• 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series opens Sunday
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 11, 2017) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon again led the Honda effort Saturday at the season-opening Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, advancing to the “Firestone Fast Six” final qualifying round. Dixon will start Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg from the outside of the front row, second.
In all, three Honda Verizon IndyCar Series teams advanced through two rounds of “knockout” qualifying to make the final, led by Schmidt Peterson Motorsports James Hinchcliffe, who will start third. In his first race with Andretti Autosport, veteran Takuma Sato qualified fifth, with Dixon’s teammate Tony Kanaan rounding out the top six. Continue reading Front Row Start for Honda, Scott Dixon at the Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG
STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MARCH 11, 2017
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, won the pole for Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
“I think that went very well. I saved a good set of tires for the end there. They had one lap on them. Really happy for the guys at Verizon and the whole team. It’s good to be starting on pole.
“That was everything I had at the end. I gave it all I had because I knew it was going to be close. I haven’t put that much energy into a lap for awhile. I’m really happy.
“We will do our best tomorrow in every condition.”
Blaney Posts Fastest Qualifying Lap at Las Vegas, Will Start Third On Sunday
March 11, 2017
Ryan Blaney and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team put forth a strong effort on Friday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and wound up with the third starting position for Sunday’s Kobalt 400.
Blaney was seventh fastest in the opening practice session with a best lap at 192.356 miles per hour. Then during qualifying he was 15th in the first of three rounds with a lap at 192.280 mph, assuring that he would advance to Round Two.
After crew chief Jeremy Bullins and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team made some adjustments for the second round, Blaney ran a lap at 194.147 mph, the fastest of the 24 drivers who advanced from the first round and the fastest speed turned by any driver in the three sessions.
Continue reading Blaney Posts Fastest Qualifying Lap at Las Vegas, Will Start Third On Sunday
MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
KOBALT 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
QUALIFYING NOTES AND QUOTES
MARCH 10, 2017
FOUR TEAM CHEVY DRIVERS QUALIFY IN TOP 12 AT LAS VEGAS
Kyle Larson to Start Fifth in Kobalt 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series Race
LAS VEGAS – (March 10, 2017) Kyle Larson led the way for Team Chevy in the final round of knock-out qualifying at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for Sunday’s Kobalt 400 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) race, Round 3 on the 2017 circuit. Piloting his No. 42 Target Chevrolet SS, Larson made a strong showing with a 27.956 seconds/193.161 mph to earn a fifth-place starting spot in the 39-car field. Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Las Vegas–Qualifying Notes
Honda, Scott Dixon Set The Pace in Practice at Grand Prix of St. Petersburg
• Dixon leads afternoon session and the day
• Marco Andretti paces morning practice
• 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series opens Sunday
ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. (March 10, 2017) – Chip Ganassi Racing’s Scott Dixon led the field in “opening day” practice to officially start the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Series season Friday in advance of Sunday’s Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.
Dixon’s best lap of 1:02.5591 around the waterfront St. Petersburg circuit was the quickest in the afternoon practice, as Honda drivers claimed six of the top 10 positions on the day. Charlie Kimball, Tony Kanaan and Sebastien Bourdais ended Friday in third through fifth, respectively, with James Hinchcliffe seventh overall. Marco Andretti led the morning practice, and finished the day eighth overall.
Activities on the temporary street circuit continue tomorrow with final practice and qualifying. Sunday’s 110-lap season-opening race starts at 12:30 p.m. EDT, with live network television coverage on ABC.
Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): “I think it started generally well. We’ve done some good homework in the offseason for ourselves, to see how the competition stacks up. I think tomorrow will be interesting once the other competitors turn it up. We’ll see where it goes. I was generally comfortable today, in a different rhythm from what I had here previously with the car. I think we can owe that to some fundamental changes we made throughout winter. At the end of the day, it’s still just Friday – it doesn’t pay anything, doesn’t mean anything. Hopefully what we learned today, we can continue on and help improve the car come tomorrow, and more importantly for the race on Sunday.”
CHEVROLET RACING IN THE VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF ST. PETERSBURG
STREETS OF ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA
MARCH 10, 2017
Will Power Leads the Way for Chevrolet as IndyCar Season Gets Underway
ST. PETERSBURG, FLA – Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, led the way for Chevrolet after the first two official practice sessions of the 2017 Verizon IndyCar Season.
Power, who won the pole for the 2016 Streets of St. Petersburg and has won the race twice, turned in a best lap of one minute, 02.8416 seconds/103.116 mph to land second in the final order of the 21 cars set to run in Sunday’s season-opening race.
Teams and drivers will have one more practice session, 45 minutes on Saturday morning, to prepare for Firestone Fast Six qualifying set for 2:55 p.m.
Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg: 12:30 p.m., Sunday, March 12 – 110 laps/198 miles on 1.8-mile, 14-turn street circuit
MONSTER ENERGY NASCAR CUP SERIES
KOBALT 400
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 10, 2017
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 NATURAL LIGHT CHEVROLET SS, met with members of the media at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and discussed his new partnership with Natural Light and Barstool Sports, his transition with the new team at JTG Daugherty Racing, the new stage format and many other topics. Full Transcript:
TALK ABOUT HOW THE TRANSITION TO YOUR NEW TEAM THIS YEAR HAS GONE FOR YOU:
“Yeah, the transition has been good. Everybody over at JTG Daugherty has been awesome. Daytona, we had a car that drafted really well and did not have the single car speed that we would have liked, but at the end of the day it did what it needed to in the race. And then just caught up in one of the accident’s there, so we didn’t get the finish to show it, but AJ (Allmendinger, teammate) ran extremely well. And then Atlanta, was a race where we learned a bunch of stuff. We got a couple of little things we are going to dial in just from a feel stand point. Just trying to get used to it, something a little bit different. We got that all taken care of or the best we know how for right now and come out to Vegas here and see how it all applies. Excited to be out here for our West Coast swing. This is a fast race track here and we will see how everything comes together. I think it’s been pretty good so far.” Continue reading Chevy Racing–NASCAR–Las Vegas–Chris Buescher