| Nashville, TENNESSEE – August 8, 2022 – The TA2 Music City Grand Prix has already become one of the most popular events in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli Championship calendar and the second annual running of the Nashville event didn’t disappoint. It was an exciting race that saw the Franklin Road Apparel drivers battle hard and gain track position before late incidents cost the Tennessee outfit a few places in the shadow of the checkered flag. Cameron Lawrence went into the race in P8 in the Drivers’ Championship with 119 points and the Texas based pilot qualified the No. 6 Franklin Road Apparel Showtime Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro in P10 in a time of 1:32:110. He improved his position early on the street circuit to claim P8 for most of the race before losing a few places late on to finish in P12. Nevertheless the 14 points he picked up for finishing in P12 put him on 133 for the season and kept him in the Top 10 in P9 in the provisional points table. Meanwhile Team Principal Ken Thwaits, who is much less familiar with the TA2 car, had a difficult time getting clean track in qualifying and started his No. 4 Mike Cope Camaro in P30. Ken had improved his position to P21 with some smooth driving when misfortune struck with just over ten minutes of track time remaining. Ken hit a wall on the exit to Turn 2 and the vehicle was wedged against the wall, trapping the driver in the car. Fortunately, Ken was okay but the yellow cautionary flag that the incident drew was still in place when the race finished. SpeedTour TV reporter Ben Cissell interviewed Franklin Road crew chief Gary Selix in the pit lane who explained, “This place is really hard on brakes, and we knew it was going to be a brake war coming here. The brakes started fading on him and so he was trying to roll the corners a bit, but that corner just got away from him. We will be back next year. Franklin Road!” he said defiantly. The weekend at his home venue did have a very worthwhile silver lining for Ken, and it was nearly gold. Franklin Road Apparel were co-sponsors of the Connor Mosack driven No. 28 Chevrolet Camaro which finished in P2 in the race. Mosack was extremely fast all weekend. He set the fastest lap in the race in 1:31:882 and held the lead through multiple restarts, but eventual winner Crews was never far behind. On Lap 23 Crews got by him and the final yellow flag meant the Charlotte based driver was denied another chance to get the pass. Nevertheless, Mosack was magnanimous in defeat when he spoke after the race, “It’s an unbelievable weekend. It’s so good to have Open Eyes on the car, Nacarato Truck Centers, and Franklin Road Apparel. It’s tough to be this close to the win again this year. I led a lot of laps both years, and unfortunately, couldn’t get it done. I wish we’d had the chance for the race to finish under green. Overall, it was still a great weekend for us and hopefully we can be back and win it next year.” “It’s been a great weekend,” stated Showtime boss Ken Thwaits. “It could have gone better for me personally but Franklin Road powers on. I can’t wait to get back behind the wheel of my TA car at the Glen!” Today’s action from Nashville can be seen on the prestigious CBS Sports Network on Saturday August 13 at 7:30pm ET with an encore presentation at 1:00am the following morning. TA2 drivers will be back in action next month, September 7 to 11, when the muscle car series reassembles at the legendary Watkins Glen for Round 10. That race is sponsored by Franklin Road Apparel and Ken will be back in the more familiar surroundings of his TA Class car with his sights set firmly on another podium finish. |
HARVICK WINS AT MICHIGAN AND GIVES FORD EIGHT IN A ROW
BROOKLYN, MI – August 8, 2022 – Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines won their eighth straight NASCAR Cup Series race at Michigan International Speedway with Stewart-Haas Racing’s Kevin Harvick in the FireKeepers Casino 400. This was Harvick’s 59th career NASCAR Cup Series victory and his series-leading sixth at Michigan. Ford retained the Michigan Heritage Trophy, presented to the winning manufacturer at the 2-mile track. |
| “For sure there is a lot of extra attention when we come here from the executives in our company, having all the employees here so we’ve spent a lot of time with the teams this week leading up to this weekend to let them know how important it is and to ask our Ford teams to work together, whether it’s the drivers or the crew chiefs, but Doug Yates has also been working really hard in the engine shop. This is definitely a horsepower track and he brought a little extra this weekend and it definitely paid off,” commented Mark Rushbrook, Global Director of Ford Performance. |
| “Congratulations to Ford Performance, Gene, Tony, Rodney, Kevin, and everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing for the strong finish to make it 8 wins in a row at Michigan,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “We have always strived to finish strong at Michigan and this year was no exception. We are thankful for the continued leadership and commitment from Ford Motor Company and honored to power these Mustangs.” |
| “I’m just really proud of everybody on our Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang. They’ve been digging all year long trying to make these Mustangs run faster. Our guys have done a good job in trying to take what we have, maximize it and do the things that we need to do. I’m just really proud of everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing. Everybody who doubted us doesn’t know us,” commented Harvick. |
| After a brief rain delay, Ford Performance teammates Joey Logano and Austin Cindric from Team Penske started the FireKeepers Casino 400 from P4 and P5. There were seven caution periods for a total of 36 laps and twenty-two of the 37 drivers finished on the lead lap. A nine-car pileup on lap 25 damaged or eliminated several of the leading cars. The 4 leaders underwent a huge shakeup in the final stage of the race when 2 of the front-leading cars made contact and another received a penalty on pit road. Harvick took the lead on the race’s final restart on Lap 163 and did not relinquish it, finishing the race 4-seconds in front of second place. With 3 regular season races remaining, Harvick adds to the list of 15 different drivers in the playoffs. |
| Ford Performance teammates Joey Logano with Team Penske finished in P4 while Ryan Blaney with Team Penske finished in P5. |
| Riley Herbst with Stewart-Haas Racing finished P9 in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series New Holland 250 at Michigan. |
| Nate Stacy and Luca Mars with Kohr Motorsports started Saturday’s IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge race at Road America from the pole, while Sheena Monk and Kyle Marcelli from JG Wentworth Racing by PF Racing finished P6. IMSA returns August 27th with the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix at Virginia International Raceway. |
| NASCAR Cup returns next week with the Federated Auto Parts 400 at Richmond Raceway while the Xfinity Series takes a one week break and returns to action on August 20th at Watkins Glen. |
TOP FUEL’S BUDDY HULL EAGER TO GET BACK ON TRACK IN TOPEKA
DALLAS, TX (August 8, 2022) — Top Fuel driver and team owner Buddy Hull, will return to the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series this weekend during the Menards Nationals presented by Pet Armor at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas. The second year driver will once again pilot the Vertex Roofing and General Contractors with support from associate sponsors DFW RV Center, Lucky’s Diesel Shop, CamperLife Superstore, Roof 4 Vets and 1st Class Graphics. Hull has qualified for each event he has entered in 2022 including the season opening Winternationals in Pomona, California, and the Spring Nationals in Houston, Texas. This weekend’s event will be Hull’s sixteenth professional start in Top Fuel, one of the most extreme and exciting categories in all of motorsports.
“It has been an awesome summer, but I am tired of looking at my race car in the shop,” said Hull, during an interview on CompetitionPlus.com Power Hour podcast. “I want to see the race car sitting next to the trailer in the pits. I want to see my race car being towed to the staging lanes.”
The young team is still coming together on Hull’s own timeline and the aspiring full-time professional driver knows he must develop marketing relationships as well as team management skills to be successful. Hull has built several successful businesses including Vertex Roofing and General Contractors, so he is leaning on that experience as well as his passion for following his dreams.
“I became very good at being on the phone with tracking down race car parts and making sure the team has everything we need to get the car back together. I am very hands on,” said Hull. “We don’t have any full time help here at the shop. We spent our summer acquiring a bunch of new parts. Tim Wilkerson’s guys built us a few new sets of heads. The chase to get parts is the real deal. We have a lot of friends and they have stepped up and helped us out. I am thankful to all those people and there are too many to thank. It has been a blessing to know there are people that want to see me back out there racing. Without their help we wouldn’t be able to do it. We have no junk in our inventory.”
While Hull is not a regular on the series, he has steadily developed a strong fan following when he does hit the track. His existing fans are very supportive, and Hull also is a master at developing new fans and welcoming people to the sport of NHRA drag racing.
“It is all about the show. In the end we are out there to entertain people,” said Hull. “It is the race cars but also our personalities as drivers and entertainers. I want to get out there with the fans and have fun. I want to let them know yes, we go over 320 mph but we are just people too. If you want to do this too there is a way for you to do it if you work hard enough. I hope to inspire many people to do what I am doing. That is my life’s goal to show people if I can do it, you can do it. I truly believe if you want something bad enough you can do it.”
The passion Hull exudes in his pits also carries over to his marketing partners and supporters. Coming into this season Hull had a plan on his racing schedule and the young team owner has had to deal with a number of hurdles to keep his program on track. He relies on a handful of dedicated part-time crew members and he continues to cultivate marketing relationships that will blossom in the future.
“I am overly thankful for the sponsors that are on my race car,” said Hull. “Without them that is one more thing I would have to be concerned about in terms of providing for my team. I want to do this the very best way I can and I want to win. That is why I get out of bed every day because I want to win. Racing five or six times every year in Top Fuel isn’t going to cut it for me. My plan is to learn how to be a team owner and continue to improve as a driver and grow my team. We have some big irons in the fire. I am not going anywhere. You will see us out there fully funded. I am not quitting.”
1 MONTH ALERT: Fall California Swing set to feature multiple big events
| CHICO, CA (Aug. 8, 2022) – When the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series returns to California in September, it’ll be greeted by two weeks of big events.The Greatest Show on Dirt kicks off the week with the 68th Running of the Gold Cup Race of Champions pres. by RIEBES NAPA, which is now a three-day (Sept. 8-10) event, for the Series, paying $25,000 to win on its final night. Then, the next week will kick off with the Tom Tarlton Classic at Keller Auto Speedway (Sept. 16) before the Series returns to Placerville Speedway for the Bonney Plumbing 49er Gold Rush Classic (Sept. 17).It’ll be a key stretch for all drivers, launching them into the final 11 races of the year, including the championship-determining World of Outlaws World Finals, Nov. 2-5.Tickets: https://bit.ly/3BIK3b1GOLD CUP RACE OF CHAMPIONS – Thursday-Saturday, Sept. 8-10 Track: Silver Dollar Speedway Location: Chico, CA 2021 Winner: Logan SchuchartNotables: With SLC Promotions – a team consisting of defending World of Outlaws champion Brad Sweet, NASCAR champion Kyle Larson and regional-racer Colby Copeland – taking over the promotions at Silver Dollar Speedway, Gold Cup has been returned to its roots as a crown jewel event by expanding to four days – three days with the World of Outlaws – and paying $25,000 on the final night.There have been five different winners in the last five Series races at Silver Dollar Speedway and four different Gold Cup winners in the last four events. Pennsylvania’s Logan Schuchart is the most recent winner, holding off the Kasey Kahne Racing duo at the time of James McFadden and Sweet.Sweet, of Grass Valley, CA, has yet to win the Gold Cup but will be more poised than ever this year to change that. Along with promoting the event, he’s already conquered two wins that have alluded him this year – a win at Williams Grove Speedway and an Ironman 55 victory.TOM TARLTON CLASSIC – Friday, Sept. 16 Track: Keller Auto Speedway Location: Hanford, CA 2021 Winner: Carson MacedoNotables: The Tom Tarlton Classic became a World of Outlaws race for the first-time last year, paying $21,000 to the winner, and gave fans an epic show at Keller Auto Speedway. Carson Macedo, of Lemoore, CA – who has a long history with the Tarlton family – won the event, besting fellow California-native Brad Sweet.Macedo also became the 12th different winner in the last 12 Series races at Keller Auto Speedway. The others include David Gravel (’19), Logan Schuchart (’17), Shane Stewart (’15), Cody Darrah (’14), Donny Schatz (’13), Tim Kaeding (’03), Danny Lasoski (’02), Andy Hillenburg (’01), Stevie Smith (’01), Johnny Herrera (’00) and Joey Saldana (’00).49ER GOLD RUSH CLASSIC – Saturday, Sept. 17 Track: Placerville Speedway Location: Placerville, CA Latest Winner: Shane Golobic (2019)Notables: The World of Outlaws will make its grand return to Placerville Speedway, for the first time since 2019, on Saturday, Sept. 17. The iconic quarter-mile track last saw local hero Shane Golobic, of Fremont, CA, besting Carson Macedo in the closing laps for an upset victory.Seven California drivers made up the top 10 in that race, including Golobic, Macedo, Justin Sanders, Tim Kaeding, Brad Sweet, Kyle Larson and Rico Abreu.Since the World of Outlaws returned to Placerville in 2015, there has yet to be a repeat winner. The list includes Golobic (’19), Sweet (’18), David Gravel (’17), Jason Johnson (’16) and Donny Schatz (’15).If you can’t make it to the tracks, you can watch each race live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App. |
Tight Battle for Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge Continues
| Batavia, OHIO (August 8, 2022) – The chase for the Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge will continue with the 40th Annual Sunoco North/South 100 presented by Lucas Oil. With only four events remaining in the Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge, the tight battle for the $15,000 bonus continues. Tim McCreadie leads the current Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge standings, with Brandon Sheppard trailing by just 95 points. Ricky Thornton Jr. is 105 points out of the lead in third, followed by Earl Pearson Jr. and Jimmy Owens. The winner of the Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge points category will receive a $15,000 bonus, while second and third will receive $5,000 and $2,000 respectively at the year-end awards banquet. Drivers must maintain perfect attendance with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series to be eligible for these cash awards. Brandon Ford, World’s Largest Volume Ford Truck Dealer, continues their support of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series with the Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge. The mini-series within the 2022 schedule is awarding points to drivers at twenty (20) TV events; eighteen (18) LIVE televised events broadcast on the MAVTV Motorsports Network and the two (2) next day airings. The MAVTV Motorsports Network is the only cable television network in the U.S. dedicated solely to motorsports. With a total of 220+ providers across cable, satellite, telco, and digital broadcast platforms, MAVTV is now available to more viewers than ever before. For more information visit www.MAVTV.com. The talent of the nation’s top dirt late model drivers will be put on display along the way, not only during the 18 live events on MAVTV Motorsports Network, but also through the live stream of all Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events via MAVTV on FloRacing. Brandon Ford, located in Tampa, FL, has won Ford’s prestigious President’s Award for 19 consecutive years, saluting the top-performing Ford and Lincoln dealerships that pursue excellence in the highest levels of customer satisfaction in both sales and service. Brandon Ford has one of the largest inventories of new and pre-owned vehicles in the nation. Brandon Ford is centrally located just minutes away from the Crosstown, I-75 and I-4. They are located at the corners of State Roads 301 and 60, with entrances at both sides. Their hours are posted on their website for your convenience, as well as contact phone numbers for each of their departments. To learn more about Brandon Ford or if you are interested in purchasing a vehicle, visit: www.BrandonFord.com. Remaining Brandon Ford TV Race Challenge Events:August 13 – Florence Speedway – 40th Annual Sunoco North/South 100August 27 – Port Royal Speedway – The Rumble by the RiverSeptember 17 – Knoxville Raceway – Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville NationalsOctober 15 – Portsmouth Raceway Park – 42nd Annual Dirt Track World Championship |
| About Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt SeriesFounded in 2005, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series showcases the talents of the top dirt late model drivers from across the country. In 2022, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will sanction 65 events across 18 states, including some of the biggest marquee events in the industry, providing dirt slinging, sideways, door-to-door racing action lap after lap. The series receives national exposure through a television package filmed, produced and edited by Lucas Oil Production Studios. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events will be streamed live on MAVTV Plus, with broadcasts on MAVTV Motorsports Network. |
chevy racing–indycar–nashville post race
CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX
STREETS OF NASHVILLE
NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 7, 2022
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 DEX IMAGING TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET
POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
THE MODERATOR: Joined by the driver of the DEX Imaging team, Penske Chevrolet, Scott McLaughlin, who came home second for his fifth podium of the season. Sixth of his career, 22 laps. We checked. You’re now 58 points out of the championship. I know you were looking earlier. About ten laps to go, I think you were sitting fifth. You just methodically made your way up through the restarts and whatnot. How big was your day today?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: It was up and down, Dave. We obviously led. We had a fast car. I felt like we were just sort of controlling the race there at the start. I hadn’t even touched my push-to-pass or anything like that. The feel same feel, things were good.
As we all know, INDYCAR, anything can happen. Alex pitted, and then we had the yellow. He jumped out in front. I was chasing him down. We had a good battle at the front, pulling away from everyone in that second stint.
But early on in the race I knew I had a car that could pass. I was passing a lot of cars. Especially on restarts. I felt really strong on the brakes, which was a really good thing around here to be confident with and pass people.
Then we had a bad pit stop, unfortunately. We had a blip on the radar there. Very proud of the boys all day. They were fantastic. We had one costly pit stop that put me back to 16th, and then —
Yeah, man. You should have seen this restart.
THE MODERATOR: What were you going into it? What position were you?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I was right behind Alex. We probably would have popped out wherever he popped out. Our cars were pretty close.
We popped out 16th, and, yeah, I was just pissed off, so I just dropped the hammer. I felt like the seas parted, man, on the restart, and I passed all these cars. Jeez, I was quickly in 8th, and then there was another restart, and I passed two more, and another restart, passed a couple of more. Crap, we could have a go here. Passed one guy on the last one, and I’m, like, come on, Scotty, let’s go.
Honestly, Dave, that was probably, even though it didn’t work out in my favor, one of the most fun races of my career in one of the best race cars I’ve ever had. The car was so good. I had so much fun.
Yeah, the cautions and stuff were a bit inconsistent for all the driving in terms of we were just, like — you get into a rhythm, and then you stop, and then you have to restart again, but to battle one-on-one with Scotty right where, Texas last year, I didn’t really battle with him, I just wanted to bring him home in second.
Today I had a full go with him, and it was awesome. That was probably one of the top three best things of my career to date, that race.
THE MODERATOR: Even that said, the final restart, you, obviously, are trying to do whatever you can to get around. Are you going to have a second guess or think about what you did?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: A little bit. I was thinking a little bit of points as well. This is going to be a good points day with Ericsson out. And we’re always back there, Justin is behind me, Alex as well. We were ahead of him. Pato as well.
At the end of the day, we just had a really good race today, and we did. The opportunity was there a couple of times, and then just it probably would have ended up with us both in the fence if I took it. We just missed out.
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I didn’t feel too much of a difference, no.
Q. When you think of the series, I believe one of our conversations you talked about the first time you saw Scott Dixon for real you were, like, wow, you were star-struck by him. He was your hero growing up.
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah, absolutely.
Q. Now here is this guy. He breaks Mario’s place for second-place most wins, but he has to beat you to do it. Elaborate a little bit more when you said that’s one of the best races of your career because of all the things that it involved?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah, look, like I said, I just had a lot of fun, Bruce. I think it was just such an awesome battle. Strategy or not, I’ve had that this year as well. That’s what happens. You find yourself in the right spot at the right time. You have the track position, but we had to work for our track position to come back, and that’s why I had a lot of fun. Then to go toe to toe with Scotty, it was awesome.
Yeah, there’s definitely that star struck is gone. We’re probably more mates now, which is cool, and to call your hero mate is pretty cool. He is just a phenomenal guy. He is the greatest guy of all time, in my opinion. I think he doesn’t get enough respect for what he has achieved. I think he is a phenomenal race car driver. Phenomenal bloke. To go toe to toe with him is a very cool thing for me in my racing career and it’s like a bucket list thing.
Q. (Indiscernible) the crew guys were worried that with you restarting on the bridge with more push, the passes, that they may have been ripe for the picking. What was it necessarily that didn’t go right on the restart that kept you from maybe making the race —
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I probably played it slightly safe. After you look back on it now, I think I was a little nervous with a tense around the tires. I think me and Scotty both knew he crashed on the restart coming to the green, like under yellow. Just being in the wrong gears and whatever.
Yeah, just I had to be smart there. I knew it was going to be a good points day. I had gained back what we had lost, so I knew it was going to be strong for us.
And, yeah, also don’t want to crash a guy. I’ll do what I need to do to win a championship, to win a race or whatever, but at the same time you’ve got to play fair. And I think Scotty is one of the best in terms of playing hard and fair, and I expect that for me and if somebody gives me that feedback, I’ll give it back to them.
We had a good battle at Iowa. It was hard and fair, and today as well. What goes around comes around, and we always have pretty respectful, hard battles.
Q. I don’t know if you have been told it yet (indiscernible) coming in, today’s finish with the fourth closest on a street course between you and Dixon.
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I wish it was the other way around.
(Laughing)
Q. That leads into the second part of my question. I think the finish between you and Josef was even closer at Texas —
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Fantastic. I’m good at finishing second? Is that what you are trying to say?
Q. You are 58 points back. You won twice this year. You are within two-tenths of winning four times this year. Do you feel like you are maybe on the brink of being able to have been a championship winner? If those things go the other way, I don’t know how it plays out, you are either in the lead or incredibly —
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah, and then you take into — if I just stayed off the lab pedal at turn three and at Indy 500 and didn’t crash there, it’s points. Then Long Beach I hit the inside wall at Gumby, spun there, points.
There are so many. Indy GP we were leading, chose the wrong tire. Points. Like I’ve said to you and many people all year, we’ve had pace this year, and that’s all I ever wanted. Last year was tough. I’ve always said it. It’s tough mentally. To bounce back like we have this year, it’s a proud moment. I still fully believe I can win a championship. I feel like I’m going to three tracks I really enjoy,
Gateway, Portland, Laguna.
Yeah, we might be an outsider, but I think I’ll be an outsider as long as I can be, and maybe we can switch that closeness in second the other way.
I’m very proud of just the efforts. Me and Benny have worked really good together all year. Kyle Moyer, my strategist, my team have been fantastic. I’m proud of the advancements we’ve made as a team, and I can’t thank my team enough for having their backs with me as well throughout that period when it was tough.
Q. The start-finish line had been a little farther down the straight there. Did you feel like you had enough there —
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I think if we had one more lap. I was alongside him, so I think I would have passed him, and I would have won the race, but that’s — if it was an 86-lap race, I would have won the race, but it was an 85, goddamn it. I’m going speak to the promoters. Why don’t we add a little more next year? But then I might be another foot.
That’s just motor racing. That’s why we love it. I think it’s a testament to INDYCAR. I was 16th with a fast race car. Sometimes in motorsport, if you have a fast race car, you can’t pass, i.e., the European series.
I genuinely was able to pass, smash under brakes, do this, do that, have the best run of my life, and it’s a testament to the race cars that we build and the packages that we have at INDYCAR. That’s what I have come here racing, the best race in the world.
Q. I imagine you probably have a similar (indiscernible) heading into the (indiscernible) we had nine cautions last year and eight cautions this year and half of the races under yellow. Is there anything we can do to turn this race into more of a green race while still keep the excitement factor, or this kind of going to be what this race is?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: It’s hard to say. At the start it was going smoothly, I’m like: This could be just a whole green race. But it wasn’t. I don’t know. I think you can’t stop us from going for passes and doing bits and pieces. Some people get it wrong, and unfortunately, because it’s so tight, it creates a bit of a cluster.
I’m looking forward to watching the replay because I saw some pretty big shunts, and see what happened today.
But I don’t think sometimes that’s not the track’s issue. I think sometimes that’s a driving issue as well. You know, it’s just — it’s — it takes two to tango. We’ve all been — I mean, I spun out twice last year and still finished a race. It’s just — it is what it is.
Q. You may have just answered this, but without the subpar pit stop at the end —
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I think it would have been a lot easier to pass a few cars. I think the pace that we had, if I had fresher tires and things — you know, yeah, maybe. It is what it is.
Like I said, my guys — I’m not shutting them down. They’ve been amazing all year, and we’ve had just one — this is our second hiccup, but it’s not — it’s not been — I just had a freak accident. We lost a nut, and it is what it is. That’s our best guy, Matt Johnson. Yeah, we’re good.
Q. Obviously, they make the change this year to the course, and everybody is predicting a smoother race, and I think they had as many cautions, airborne cars, wrecked cars and the like. Is it okay to have a race like this? Do you guys kind of like that it’s maybe this is the brand of Nashville, is that it’s wild every year? Is it still fun for you?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Potentially. It’s not fun when you lose out on yellows with a fast race car, but at the end of the day, that’s what — it’s just INDYCAR, and like I said, I don’t — it’s as much of a driving issue as it is a track issue.
I mean, like it’s not — we’re not just — I think — yeah. No, I don’t blame the track at all. I think the track is a great track. Yes, it’s tight. Yes, it’s — you’ve got to be assertive when you pass, but sometimes people just don’t give up, and that’s what happens.
But, look, I think the driving standards are great in the series. It’s just sometimes things happen. It’s racing. It’s good spectacle. Unfortunately, it’s probably one too many cautions that we have. I don’t know if you are going to fix that by lengthening or shortening it. I think all the changes they did this year were fantastic.
Q. You mentioned Benny. Maybe explain to some of the people who don’t know what that relationship is like with your engineer, Ben Bretzman. It’s been fun to watch you guys on social media interact and play golf together. Is it one of those ones where you are friends and co-workers?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah, yeah. We’re definitely friends, which helps our relationship, I think because we’re just very honest with each other.
Benny is a great guy. He is a people’s person, and he was one of the first Team Penske engineering employees that I met when I came to INDYCAR to do my first simulating on the Chevy simulator.
That was a lot of fun, and we’ve just sort of grown our relationship since then. Played a lot of golf together over the last few years, and he was really my pick to be my engineer this year when I lost Jonathan.
I think he’s enjoyed working with me. I think he has had a long relationship with Simon, which was a very good one. They’re still great friends, but I think he has enjoyed just a little bit more of a fresh perspective with me, and vice versa.
We’re enjoying it, and we’ll keep working hard. He is a big team player. He is a big part of Thirsty Threes. He is the one that came up with the hashtag. He is a good lad.
Q. A wild card this weekend. Did you approach it that way? It’s your first championship battle towards the stretch here. Relief to get second. And how big did your eyes get when you found out the red flag was coming out?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah, the red flag I thought might have worked a little bit more in our favor. I kind of wished there was maybe ten laps, and we had two or three laps on the caution. I felt I was in a bit of a rhythm. When you slow down, you could feel your legs cramping up a little bit and getting a little tight. Just trying to keep the blood flowing in them and stuff.
It was — yeah, just knowing that it was going to be a fight, but I also knew that, like I said, it’s a wild card. To get pole like we did, to end up in 16th, I thought, God, this has gone bad, and to come back to where we were. It was, like, sort of helped ourselves a little bit here. Just keep focused and hopefully it works out. It did.
Q. Scott, just a quick thing. First of all, congratulations. I know the other Scott is not there right now, but it’s the first-ever Kiwi 1, 2 in INDYCAR racing.
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Second. Remember Texas?
Q. Oh, yeah, yeah.
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I finished second both times. (Laughing).
Q. I saw the club today of your mom and dad and your bus. Obviously get on Bus Bros in a round-about way on NBC. It’s been fabulous having them there. Last race for them. What a nail-biter to give them before they fly home. For you, really, it reminds me so much of seeing you at Adelaide. You just gel with this track completely. Was this something unique that did that for you? Is it just the way the whole team approached the event?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I said it from the start. If we can have a car that we can roll out of the truck that’s somewhere close, that was going to be awesome for us. And we were able to just tweak it throughout the weekend. From Saturday morning I think we touched the front wing. That’s all we did. We just massaged it and made it better. That’s a testament to Benny.
And then when you do that, you are able to work on yourself and work on your brake markers and work on finding things around the track that other people don’t know because you are just that comfortable with the race car.
I put a lot of the pace down today just due to the fact that I knew my race car, knew what I had, and it’s so important here on INDYCAR weekends. But, yeah, we didn’t win today, but the second was huge. Like I said before, it’s a bit of a wild card here these days, so to come out of here with second was great.
Q. It’s kind of keeping you in the championship chase as well. I guess that’s the thing that’s now coming into your mind. Perhaps a little bit more so than what it did before coming into this race.
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah. It was always there. Ultimately, top five is a massive goal, and then to win it would be an absolute bonus, but certainly still believe that we’re as good a shot as anyone to win it.
I guess I’m the outsider. We can risk a little bit more and have a good time doing it. Yeah, I’m looking forward to throwing a few more sort of risky moves and trying to get myself in contention because I’m not unknown to winning championships. I know how to do it. It’s a matter of having a car to be able to do it.
If we roll up to each track in the next few weeks with the car that we had, we should be in pretty good shape.
Q. I want to ask you how hard it is to keep focus on the race with a lot of yellow flags. Because we had quite a crazy race. Sometimes with competitivity of the series, after those yellow flags, you could have bigger chances to pass your rivals. So how hard were those restarts to keep focus with a lot of pauses along the race?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I felt like keeping focus was — for me I sort of knew what I needed do, but the restarts were important for me because that’s where I could make most of my moves.
I was really aggressive on the restarts to pass people and move our way forward. Once it all sort of strung out, it was quite hard to make our moves. Especially without a bit of risk.
We eventually made some with some risk, but at the end of the day, I felt pretty solid. Yeah, I felt really focused. Yeah, started to get really comfortable with the race car to be consistent on these race starts and understand what I’ve got even if it is a little bit loose.
Q. Did you feel today like a little bit scared on the track? Because we saw like two aggressive moves from some drivers today.
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Nope. (Laughing). I was fine, man. I just throw it in and hope we come out the other side.
Q. You’re fortunate to have a multitude of great sponsors, but what is it about the DEX (indiscernible)? Maybe you want that the next three races?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Look, I don’t know what it is, but they’re great people, and they’ve supported me since I’ve come to INDYCAR. I played golf with Dan Doyle. They’re a family — family-owned, DEX, it’s their family company. I played golf with him on Wednesday. I said, Hey, if I get pole Saturday, you got to come on Sunday. You got to fly up from Florida. He is, like, All right, deal.
Credit to him, he flew out this morning. I rang him on Saturday night. I said, Come on, let’s go. It’s your time to shine. And he did, and I was glad to put on a show for him and Dan Doyle III, his son.
They’re great people and great sponsors for the series. I think they’re going to be around for a long time.
Q. Are you superstitious at all? Kind of think about that a little bit?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: No, but it’s a good thing when you perform well. Just makes you feel good. And thankfully I’ve been able to perform well for many people this year, and it just so happens that DEX have had two great races.
Q. That Kiwi drag race sends Wayne back on a high note. Have you had a chance to see him yet?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I saw him a little bit. He is, like, yeah, great sendoff. It was cool. It was cool. I think they were ready to go home. It’s been a long journey for them all and long journey for me and my wife. Me and mom and dad, we’re pretty close, but not that close. No, no. (Laughing). I’m going to see them back at Christmas. I was so glad that they saw — I really wanted them to come to this race. The races that they came to, I said if you are going to come to the races and do — like, you want to do a chunk, this part of the race series when you have four in a row and there’s stuff going on, and it’s Indy 500, and the Indy race with the NASCAR series, these are the races you have to come to. I’m so glad they did it because they’ll probably never do it again.
But they’re definitely going to sporadically come to a few more races later next year, but it was awesome. We had a great time. Great time.
THE MODERATOR: How long was it? 12 weeks?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: 88 days.
THE MODERATOR: Who is counting?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: We worked it out so they get a 90-day visa, so they literally have to get out of the country or Biden is going to come knocking. It’s going to affect my U.S. citizenship one day. No. (Laughing).
Q. Follow up on that, I don’t know how this works. If you are legitimately in the championship hunt and get to Laguna, is there any way they can make it back?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: They did say they would probably come back for Laguna if I’m in the championship run, but, yeah, it all comes down to cash and a few things because it’s a big trip that they’ve done. Yeah, they bought a truck.
Q. (Off microphone)?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Have you heard that story? My dad bought a truck, and he sent it back to New Zealand, and he is going to convert it to right-hand drive because he loved it so much, and he wants to have a little bit of America in New Zealand.
I’m, like, you’re crazy. Yeah.
Q. How much does it cost to convert it?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I have no idea.
Q. It’s probably as much as the truck.
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Tell you what, I ain’t paying for it. I’m just so glad they had a great time. It was just awesome. Yeah, it was great.
THE MODERATOR: Has it already been shipped?
SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: It’s gone. Yeah. I took it off our insurance yesterday. (Laughing). Took down the premium a little bit.
THE MODERATOR: Great job this weekend. Thanks so much, Scott McLaughlin.
MCLAUGHLIN LEADS TEAM CHEVY WITH RUNNER-UP FINISH
| CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX STREETS OF NASHVILLE NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE TEAM CHEVY RACE RECAP AUGUST 7, 2022 |
| SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN LEADS TEAM CHEVY TO RUNNER UP FINISH IN BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX WILL POWER MAINTAINS POINTS’ LEAD WITH THREE RACES REMAINING NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE (August 7, 2022) – Scott McLaughlin started his No. 3 Dex Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet on pole and led 22 laps in the second annual event on the streets of Nashville. But an uncharacteristic problem on a pit stop dropped him back to 16th position with about two-thirds of the way through the 80-lap race. The KIWI-born driver pulled-his belts tight and moved his way through the field to finish ten-tenths of a second (.1067 of a second) behind the winner. Although he was hoping to capture his third win of the season, with the runner-up finish, McLaughlin now sits sixth in the standings, 58 points behind the leader with three races remaining in the 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series season.. Although the gear shifting sensor was knocked off by contact to the back of his car early in the race, that required him to shift manually with the clutch, Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet, fought his way to an 11thplace finish. The finish, coupled with eight cautions for 36 laps that impacted over a dozen cars, kept the 2014 NTT INDYCAR Series champion in the points lead by six markers. Nashville native and resident Josef Newgarden finished sixth in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet, after battling through the variety of melees that occurred after weather delayed the start of the race on-half hours. Newgarden is fourth in the standings, 22 laps down to the leader. Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, finished seventh to give Team Chevy three of the top-seven finishers. Chevrolet continues to lead the Series’ Manufacturer championship standings 1157 to 1089 points over the competing manufacturer, Scott Dixon (Honda) was the race winner with Alex Palou (Honda) completing the podium. The series moves on to World-Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois, across the river from St. Louis, Missouri on Saturday, August 20, 2022. TEAM PENSKEJOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG CHEVROLET, FINISHED SIXTH:LET’S START WITH THE CONTACT WITH (ROMAIN) GROSJEAN. “I was alongside of him fully if not a little bit ahead. (Watches the replay). “Yeah, I’m already ahead of him at that point. Welcome to INDYCAR. It gets tight. It’s a good thing I was ahead. That’s the biggest thing, you’re going to want to be ahead of this guy in this type of moment.“It’s tight street course racing. I about got taken out six times myself. We probably need to have some discussion with the younger guys. They’re very aggressive and if you’re not aggressive back, then you get run over. That’s INDYCAR racing. You have learn it pretty quick. I don’t like it but that’s the game we’re in. Ultimately we had a big fight back with the PPG car and Team Chevy. That’s all I can say. This has been a really frustrating year in a lot of ways and the way it’s built. We’ve won a lot of races and had a ton of good luck, all thanks to the team and the effort they put in. But more often than not, we’re either winning the race or things are completely going against us one way or the other. It’s built frustration for me because it’s hard to see that happen for this crew when they work so hard. I hate it, too. I’m very competitive. It happens a couple of times a year where things don’t go your way, it’s part of the luck. It’s just happened one too many times, and today was another unlucky day with the way the whole thing played out. You can’t predict these races. It’s part of the game, but it can be frustrating at times.” SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 DEX IMAGING CHEVROLET, FINISHED SECOND:HOW MUCH MORE TIME DID YOU NEED? “One lap! We were alongside there across the finish line. We were 16th after that last pit exchange. I had an awesome restart and man the car was fast. The Dex Imaging Chevy was unreal – good on its fuel and good power. We just fell short at the end. Congratulations to Scotty (Dixon). I always dreamed about racing him to the finish. We kind of had that last year at Texas but this was a proper duel. I had a lot of fun. That’s why I come IndyCar racing. This is the best racing in the world.”WHAT CAN YOU TAKE FROM TODAY? “I hate coming in second! It is what it is, but I learned a lot today. We’ll focus and get better. I’m really proud of everyone. I’m proud of myself, proud of my team and proud of everyone and how we rebounded. We came in with a car that was fast enough to challenge for a race win and got a pole. So it was a great weekend and a great points weekend. We’ll keep pushing the last three races of the year.” WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11TH: “We had the gear thing pretty early. Probably not even 30 laps in we got hit from behind. Whatever they have on the gearbox… I’ve it a couple of times and multiple people have so maybe they should change it. If you get hit from behind, it knocks out your shifting so you have to manually shift. You have to lift and you have to blip the throttle. That makes it an interesting day. I sat back and watched so much mayhem!”AT POINT YOU WERE SITTING BEHIND SCOTT DIXON, WHO WON THE RACE. WITH THAT SAID, YOU’RE STILL LEADING THE CHAMPIONSHIP:“We thought this would be a bit of a wildcard race, like there was going to be a lot of mayhem so you just needed to survive it somewhat, which we did. We’re still in a great place and still digging deep. We’ll see what we can do in the last three races.” ED CARPENTER RACINGCONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17TH:“We were taking advantage of everything that we needed to. We had a good start, got a couple of spots, cycled forward, avoided accidents. But we just got hit really, really hard in the rear region of the car and broke the gearbox. Jack Harvey hit me, but he didn’t have anywhere to go either. It’s hard, if I go any deeper into that corner, I hit the two guys in front of me. We were just an innocent victim. The BitNile guys did an incredible job getting us back out there. We picked up a lot of positions as the race when on, due to even more chaos. Again, not where we wanted to be but we salvaged what we could.” RINUS VEEKEY, NO, 21 BITCOIN RACING WITH BITNILE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12TH: Well, well, well. Things that do not go together: oil and water and Rinus VeeKay and luck! Really, to begin with, I had an amazing race. I was passing people and really enjoying driving out there. I was actually ahead of the whole podium. It was going pretty good until I severely locked my brakes in Turn 9 and lost a bit. Then in the pits, lost a few positions, no biggie. Got them back! Then Graham Rahal, who is many, many laps down, went to inspect the wall and I couldn’t avoid him. I lost a lap there and just had to hang back. But ended up P12, not bad. All things considered: drove like a champion…finished 12th. ARROW MCLAREN SPPATO O’WARD, NO.5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24TH: “I don’t know who caused the check-up. I saw a car slowing down so I had to get on brakes. If not then what Graham did to me, I was going to do to Will. Sadly there’s only one way to look at it. It was a big enough hit to break probably a gear or something in the gearbox. When you hit the attenuator with a pretty solid hit, that’s usually what happens. I couldn’t get it into any gear. And yes… that’s our day.” FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED SEVENTH:“It was a crazy race. I think last year was crazy, but this one was even crazier. I didn’t even know what was happening. “I just tried to have good restarts – there was probably six or seven restarts in the race. It was weird because everyone went way too early and then everyone hit the brakes. It seemed like everyone was going wide into Turn 9 so there were times where you made a bunch of spots and times when you lost a bunch. Honestly, it was like a flip of a coin or roulette going into that one. “The No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet was really quick. I think we had a quicker car than where we finished. These days, you’re happy to just finish, honestly. There’s so much going on and I think the car is banged up on all four corners. But, a good job to everyone on the No. 7 crew and we’ll keep pushing.” AJ FOYT RACINGDALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 25TH: “Not the way we wanted the weekend to end here in Nashville after our best qualifying so far in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. We’re definitely leaving and taking the positives away from this weekend that we can with a good qualifying performance. We made some good strategy calls there… it was a good confidence boost for the team and myself as well. I’m looking forward to taking that into the remaining road courses. Next up we have Gateway, and that was a good race for us last year. We have a test there next week and hopefully that goes well. As far as today’s went, we just got caught up… in a pile-up in that back part of the track. There was really nowhere to go. I got into the back of Dixon and then got hit from behind. There’s a sensor on the back of the gearbox, and if that gets broken off you can’t shift. That’s basically what happened to us.” KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 SEXTON PROPERTIES CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20TH:“I mean honestly a fantastic race overall up until the lap that it ended for us. Fantastic strategy by the team cycled us up into what I think was P4 for on strategy or p3 on strategy and it was really close to even being further up like that than that. So I mean, we cycled back a few spots after some other people got lucky on a caution but then boom right away, we’re back into a hunting for when seemed like a podium and looking at the end of the race there. We were right behind Scott McLaughlin and he was fighting for the for the win at the end of the race, and that’s where I felt like we should have been so I was pushing everything I had. David Malukas was probably about a second off the pace, and I went to pass him and I just don’t think he saw me going through the lunge on the inside of turn nine. I did the same move on Simon Pagenaud and he was aware of the situation, but I guess I’ve got to look into it more, but that was just unfortunate. We were pushing super hard to try and get a podium because that’s what I think this team deserves at the moment.” JUNCOS HOLLIGER RACINGCALLUM ILOTT, NO.77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15TH:“That was a disaster in one way, but we finished P15 in the end somehow,” said Ilott. “We had an incident early on in Turn-6, where they pilled up. I had the clutch in, but for some reason it stalled. It took a minute for them to restart me, which they did get me restarted, but it was a bit frustrating. Once we got going, I was in the middle of the pack, and I think I got a touch from Felix (Rosenqvist) which gave me a puncture into Turn-9 and then had another big whack and then I touched with (Alexander) Rossi. I couldn’t turn and I thought the car was down and brought it back in. At this point we were four laps down, but where able to get back on track. The pace was good, but what a weird race. I’m glad to get a little rest now because that was a long couple of weeks. Thank you to everyone who watched and thank you to Juncos Hollinger Racing for supporting me and getting me through this weekend and getting me to the end to get those points. We beat a lot of guys who I needed to get points on, so hopefully we can make a few more positions during the final races left in the championship.” PARETTA AUTOSPORTSIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 16 ACUMATICA CHEVROLET, FINISHED 26TH:“It was bit of a difficult day. We struggled with pace in general and then had the accident. I was trying to be out of trouble and got sandwiched when the track was blocked in turn nine. It was definitely a matter of wrong place at the wrong time. Life goes on and sometimes street racing is like that. You can get mixed into something not great and other times you can get a bit lucky. Lots of things to think about when we race back on a street course. I’m excited to head to Laguna. I wish we walked out of here with a good result, but I’m really looking forward to Laguna and hoping to have a good ending to the season there.” |
Acura, Wayne Taylor Racing Victorious at Road America
Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor prevail in changing weather conditions to win the IMSA Fast Lane Sports Car Weekend at Road America
Meyer Shank Racing duo of Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis contend for victory until late race spin, contact, results in fourth-place finish
Acura unofficially clinches 2022 IMSA DPi Manufacturers’, Drivers’ and Teams’ championships
ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (August 7, 2022) – A daring late-race pass, while negotiating slower GT traffic, secured the win today for Acura, Wayne Taylor Racing, and drivers Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor. Acura’s fifth WeatherTech SportsCar Championship win of the year has unofficially secured a sweep of the 2022 IMSA Manufacturers’, Drivers’ and Teams’ titles for the manufacturer and its partner teams.
Battling fellow Acura team Meyer Shank Racing with drivers Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis for the race win and championship lead, Albuquerque in the #10 WTR ARX-05 pulled off a daring, two-wheels-in-the-grass pass on Jarvis in the #60 MSR Acura as both prototypes weaved their way through GTD traffic on the downhill run from Turn 3 to Turn 5.
The two Acuras, and a competing prototype from Chip Ganassi Racing, continued to battle for the race win into the closing laps of the two-hour, 40-minute contest – which was marked by frequently changing weather conditions. With just a few minutes remaining, Jarvis lost control exiting the high-speed Road America “Kink” and made heavy contact with the inside wall.
With the caution flag waving for the final two laps, Albuquerque and co-driver Taylor went on to record their fourth victory of the season, while Jarvis was able to nurse his damaged MSR Acura home in fourth, despite heavy front end damage and a deflating left front tire.
With just one race remaining, Acura has unofficially clinched the 2022 IMSA DPi Manufacturers’ Championship, and will formally claim the title when the field takes the green flag for the season finale at Road Atlanta in October. Meanwhile, the drivers’ and teams’ titles will be decided between Meyer Shank Racing and Wayne Taylor Racing, with all other contenders also mathematically eliminated with the start at Road Atlanta.
Acura NSX GT3 Evo22
In the production-based GTD class, the Rick Ware Racing team driver pairing of Ryan Eversely and Aidan Read attempted to run the race on just two pit stops, running as high as third in class at one point as a result, but needed to come in for a splash of fuel near the end of the race that dropped the pair to ninth at the finish.
IMSA Fast Lane SportsCar Weekend at Road America Acura Race Results
1st overall – #10 Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05 DPi
4th overall – #60 Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis, Meyer Shank Racing Acura ARX-05 DPi
9th GTD – #51 Ryan Eversley, Aidan Read, Rick Ware Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22
DPi Manufacturers’ Championship Drivers’ Championship (after 9 of 10 rounds)
- Acura 3.333 1. Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor 3,066
- Cadillac 3,300 2. Tom Blomqvist, Oliver Jarvis 3,047
3. Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande 2,914
Quotes
Filipe Albuquerque (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing Acura ARX-05) Race winner: “What a crazy race. We started in first place and we led the first stint, and then the drizzle came. Ricky had a really tough time with a slick track and new, cold, slick tires. He did a hell of a job keeping the car on the track. We were almost last and were nearly lapped by the guys that took a gamble on rain tires, which was the right choice. At that point, our championship was completely over, but the beauty of IMSA and endurance racing is exactly this: it can shuffle unpredictably. I went back in the car even though I would’ve trusted Ricky to go to the end. I had driven in qualifying so I was confident, and it was dry again. We pushed again—maximum attack—dragging the championship fight to the last race. It came off perfectly for us. Another win, our fourth of the season is just brilliant. We set the goal to win. So far, so good.”
Ricky Taylor (#10 Wayne Taylor Racing ARX-05) Race winner: “My job was to survive the conditions during my stint today. We were looking on for an Acura 1-2 towards the end, which was great and the strategy was strong. It’s the first win for the #10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 at Road America. Finally, crew member Bill Mullen got a [Road America] win after 36 years of coming here, so congratulations to him. On top of everything, that feels the best—Bill Mullen got his win. I can’t say enough about Filipe’s drive. Acura’s been a force since coming into the DPi category. Winning the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi Manufacturers title today is huge. They do such an amazing job. You can see it in the standings over the years. Looking at it from the outside, if you’re going to join the championship, you should get an Acura. They give us such reliable cars and the car has been lightning fast for five years. We’re proud to represent the brand, and to effectively clinch that championship today—hats off to everyone at Acura, HPD and American Honda.”
Lee Niffenegger (HPD IMSA Program Manager) On today’s Acura win at Road America: “Congratulations to everyone at HPD and our Acura Motorsports teams on a great day. Wayne Taylor Racing won for the very first time at Road America—the last of the current IMSA tracks for them to take a victory at. With a start at Petit Le Mans, Acura will win the Manufacturers’ Championship in 2022. It’s a massive achievement that everyone has worked so hard for. And, additionally, our Wayne Taylor and Meyer Shank Racing teams will have the chance to battle it out for the Team and Driver titles.”
Fast Facts
This is the fifth IMSA overall race win of 2022 for Acura. Meyer Shank Racing won the season-opening Rolex 24 at Daytona – and also collected five consecutive second-place finishes prior to today’s race – while Wayne Taylor Racing has been victorious at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Watkins Glen International Raceway and today at Road America; along with a second-place finish at the Rolex 24.
This is the 49th IMSA prototype victory for Wayne Taylor Racing, but the first at Road America. WTR and drivers Filipe Albuquerque and Ricky Taylor will unofficially take a narrow, 19-point lead in the Drivers’ and Teams’ championship battle over fellow Acura-equipped MSR with drivers Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Jarvis.
Next
The GT classes of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, GTD Pro and GTD, travel next to VIRginia International Raceway in Danville, Va., for the August 26-28 Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.
The full IMSA field next runs October 6-8 for the season ending, 10-hour Petit Le Mans at Road Atlanta in Braselton, Ga.
Early Wreck Relegates Burton to 32nd at Michigan
August 7, 2022
A week after posting a career-best third-place finish at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Harrison Burton was involved in an early multi-car crash at Michigan International Speedway that resulted in a 32nd-place finish.
Burton, driving the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang with a special paint scheme honoring 20-year Senior Master Technicians, started the FireKeepers Casino 400 from 27th place.
He was running 30th when the Competition Caution flag flew at Lap 20. The caution period allowed the Motorcraft/Quick Lane crew to make adjustments to the No. 21 Mustang, and Burton rejoined the race in 33rd place.
On the restart a wreck began ahead of him.
Burton’s No. 21 Mustang was tagged in the ensuing melee. While the contact didn’t initially appear to be race-ending, damage to the steering system put the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team out of the race.
“I couldn’t really see much of what happened,” Burton told reporters. “I really didn’t hit anything hard.
“I guess we just broke a part in the steering rack or something, but I couldn’t steer the car.” He concluded that he wasn’t going to be able to make minimum speed and that it was too dangerous to try.
“I felt like we weren’t really that good to start, but I knew we had some good changes coming I was excited for,” Burton said. “We fired up on that last restart and through [Turns] One and Two I thought I was going to gain a lot of spots and then, all of a sudden, the world came crashing in. It’s just a bummer, but we’ll keep pushing on.”
Eddie Wood said that while the on-track results weren’t what anyone on the team wanted, the day was a success in many ways.
He and his fellow team members got to spend time with the 20-year Senior Master Technicians that attended the race and with Ford executives including CEO Jim Farley and Edsel Ford.
“I hate that we didn’t have a better finish for all our guests,” Wood said. “Their support means everything to us.
“It was good that a Ford won the race and that Ford Motor Company got the Michigan Heritage Trophy and the bragging rights that go with it.”
Wood, Burton and the No. 21 team now turn their attention to the 400 lapper at Richmond Raceway on Aug. 14.
chevy racing–nascar–michigan–post race
| NASCAR CUP SERIES MICHIGAN INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY FIREKEEPERS CASINO 400TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES AUGUST 7, 2022 TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 RACE RESULTS:POS. DRIVER7th KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL18th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL19th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL111th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL112th WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL113th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW MOBILITYSCIENCE CAMARO ZL114th TY DILLON, NO. 42 FERRIS CAMARO ZL117th JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL118th AUSTIN HILL, NO. 33 BENNETT TRANSPORTATION CAMARO ZL119th COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 SCHULTER SYSTEMS CAMARO ZL1 TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS. DRIVER1st Kevin Harvick (Ford)2nd Bubba Wallace (Toyota)3rd Denny Hamlin (Toyota)4th Joey Logano (Ford)5th Ryan Blaney (Ford) The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, August 14, at Richmond Raceway with the Federated Auto Parts 400 at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on USA Network, the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES: ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 8th“It was an up and down day for the FOCUSfactor Chevy. We had track position early and got up there towards the top five and just kind of got farther and farther back through the day a little bit. Lost the handle a bit toward the back half of the top ten and thankfully we got that late yellow and were able to make some changes and get a good restart with about 37 laps to go and drive back up to a top 10 finish. So, solid day, had a decent car and just needed to do things a little bit cleaner, little bit smoother and I think we could have had a better finish.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 9th“We just started super deep and played some strategy to get some track position back. We were too tight on the short run. Really too tight on the long run too, but the short runs hurt us a little bit more.I’m happy to get the No. 48 Ally Chevy is back in the top-10. Can’t say enough about Greg (Ives) and the guys – we’ll keep digging as we close out the season.” TEAM CHEVY RACE QUICK NOTES Stage One:· With a competition caution on lap 20, Tyler Reddick led Chevrolet in the second position in his No. 8 Guaranteed Rate Camaro ZL1. Varying pit strategies along pit road, crew chief Randall Burnett brought Reddick down pit road for fuel and an adjustment. · Mid-pack chaos ensued on the restart, collecting the No. 47 Kroger Health/SweetLeaf Camaro ZL1 of Ricky Stenhouse Jr. Bringing his Chevrolet behind the wall, damage sustained ultimately ended the team’s day. · Michigan native, Erik Jones, led Chevrolet to the end of Stage One in the third position. · Team Chevy Stage One: Top-103rd Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL16th Ross Chastain, No. 1 Advent Health Camaro ZL17th William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 Stage Two: · Taking the green for Stage Two, Ross Chastain took the lead in his No. 1 Advent Health Camaro ZL1. · With green flag stops starting to cycle through, an uncontrolled tire during Chastain’s pit stop forced the team to return back to pit road to serve a pass through penalty. · While the green flag stops continued, Erik Jones had cycled to the top position when a caution flew, allowing the team to pit under the caution. · There was a strong showing by the bowtie brigade at the end of Stage Two, with six Chevrolet drivers taking the green/white checkered flag in the top-10. · Team Chevy Stage Two: Top-102nd Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL13rd Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL16th Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL17th Austin Dillon, No. 3 Dow MobilityScience Camaro ZL18th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL19th William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 Final Stage / Post-Race Notes: · Kyle Larson (7th) led Chevrolet to three top-10 finishes at Michigan International Speedway, three drivers from two different Chevrolet teams represented in the top-10 of the final running order. · With 23 NASCAR Cup Series races in the books, Chevrolet continues to lead in lead the series in wins (13), top-fives (54), top-10s (102), and stage wins (20). |
Honda, Dixon Get Hot in Music City
Scott Dixon vaults into championship contention with victory at Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville
Late charge sees defending champion Alex Palou finish third
Dixon’s 53rd career win moves him to second on the all-time victory list
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Aug. 7, 2022) – Despite early race contact that left his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda without a large portion of its downforce-producing floor – and an additional four pit stops to repair the damage – Scott Dixon went on to win today’s Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in downtown Nashville, and jump to second in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers’ Championship, just six points behind leader Will Power with three races remaining.
Key to Dixon’s 53rd career Indy car victory today was pitting just prior to a Lap 51 full-course caution, enabled him to move to second place, then take over the lead when Josef Newgarden made his final stop of the day. The win also moves Dixon to sole possession of second in career Indy car victories, ahead of Mario Andretti and behind only the legendary A.J. Foyt with 67.
For a third consecutive race weekend, Rahal Letterman Lanigan rookie Christian Lundgaard looked to be in contention for a podium finish, until a flurry of late-race cautions and restarts saw him bumped down the order to eighth. In his place, defending series champion Alex Palou put on a late race charge that saw him go from fifth to third at the finish.
Involved in separate incidents in the opening laps, Andretti Autosport teammates Alexander Rossi and Colton Herta clawed their way from the rear of the field – and one lap down to the leaders – to finish fourth and fifth, respectively.
Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Honda Race Results
1st Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
3rd Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
4th Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda
5th Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
8th Christian Lundgaard-R Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
9th Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
10th Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda
13th Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda
14th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
16th Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda
18th Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
19th David Malukas-R Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
21st Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
22nd Devlin DeFrancesco-R Andretti Autosport Honda
23rd Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
R – Rookie
Quotes
Scott Dixon (#9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Race winner, his second victory of 2022 and 53rd career Indy car win: “That was a brutal race. We were involved in a crash just after the start that broke the wheel and took the underwing out of the car. We had to take a bunch of front wing out to try and get it at least a little bit balanced, and the steering was all bent. Just kudos to the team and Honda. Our strategy was right-on, but we still did almost 50 laps on that last set of tires. We didn’t take tires on that last stop [that enabled him to exit the pits in second] so I knew some of those cars [behind him in the closing laps] would be coming fast. But it feels special, very special, to get this [53rd] race win here in Nashville. This is cool.”
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Finished third: “The NTT Data Honda was awesome, and the team did an amazing job with our pit stops and strategies, so I’m happy, and congratulations to Scott [Dixon] for his win. This was good for our championship [effort], but we still need to push hard. We got one step closer today closing to within 33 points of the championship lead], but there still is a long way to go. I’m a bit lucky today that the contact I had with [Will] Power didn’t do any more damage [than a cracked/bent front wing] and I need apologize to him. I didn’t realize he was in trouble and slowing so much [when they made contact]. But yeah, overall, I have to be very happy with today’s result.”
Wayne Gross (Manager of Trackside Support, Honda Performance Development) on today’s Honda win in Nashville: “It was another wild race here in Nashville, which looks like might become the norm here, with a lot of attrition. Congratulations to Scott Dixon, now second on the all-time IndyCar winners list, the entire Chip Ganassi Racing organization for all their efforts. In a lot of ways, this race was a repeat of last year, with the winner encountering a major problem early in the race, but never giving up, making multiple pit stops to repair the car as much as possible. Then Scott [Dixon] putting in a champions-caliber drive, now just six points out of the championship lead. It was a similar race for Colton [Herta] and Alexander [Rossi], netting them fourth and fifth. A great day for Honda and everyone at HPD.”
Fast Facts
Honda drivers and Chip Ganassi Racing have now won both Big Machine Music City Grands Prix in Nashville.
In the inaugural race last year, Honda drivers and teams dominated the results sheet, as Marcus Ericsson recovered from an opening lap contact and brief “flight” to head a Honda sweep of the first seven finishing positions, and eight of the top 10. Today’s winner, Scott Dixon, finished second and James Hincliffe third to complete the Honda sweep.
Previously, INDYCAR and the Indy Racing League conducted eight races on the 1.33-mile Nashville Super Speedway oval in Lebanon, Tennessee, from 2001-2008. Honda drivers and teams won five of the six races the manufacturer contested, from 2003-08.
Next
After a run of five races on four consecutive weekends, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES now takes a one-week break before resuming August 20-21 for the final oval race of the 2022 season, the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway, just outside downtown St. Louis, Mo.
Honda Racing social media content and video links from Nashville can be found on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD). Additional features and long-form videos can be found on the Honda Racing/HPD YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV).
CORVETTE RACING AT ROAD AMERICA: No. 3 C8.R Back on Podium
| Challenges with weather, pace work against Garcia and Taylor in GTD PRO ELKHART LAKE, Wisc. (Aug. 7, 2022) – Corvette Racing came home third in class Sunday at Road America in the IMSA Fastline SportsCar Weekend. Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor finished on the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO podium in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R for their second straight top-three finish at the circuit in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. |
| JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTD PRO: “It was a frustrating day as a whole. It seems our pace over a lap isn’t too horrible, but where our pace is made against everyone else makes it almost impossible to race anyone. It’s the same story on a different weekend from the last five or six races. It’s frustrating overall, so hopefully we can go to Virginia and be a little more competitive than this.” |
Cadillac claims two podium spots at Road America
| Nos. 02 and 01 Cadillac DPi-V.Rs finish second and third in 2-hour, 40-minute race |
| ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Aug. 7, 2022) – Cadillac Racing claimed two spots on the podium in the IMSA Fastlane SportsCar Weekend in a drama-filled 2-hour, 40-minute race at Road America. Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber co-drove the No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R to a runner-up finish – its fourth podium of the season – after starting second. The No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R co-driven by Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande earned its fourth consecutive podium, which includes two victories, with a third-place finish. |
 The ninth race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season included mixed weather conditions that played with strategy and tire choices on the 4.048-mile natural-terrain road course, four full-course cautions and hard racing late between the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R and the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R that benefitted Bamber in the end as the race ended under caution.“That was a mixed race and pretty difficult up and down the whole way,” said Bamber, who drove around both Cadillac DPi-V.Rs that went wide while braking in the Kink. “We had the pace and had the fuel to do it at the end. It’s just a shame we didn’t get all the laps.” The pole-sitting No. 10 Acura won the race. “I think it’s a really good podium,” added Bamber. “It shows we have a really good car and pace. It’s so close in this championship, a little bit of strategy, a little bit of track position and you win.”The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R, co-driven by Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook finished fifth after leading Laps 20 through 45 rain-soaked laps. The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R, co-driven by Olivier Pla and Pipo Derani, placed sixth. Cadillac Racing teams conclude the 2022 season and the DPi era at the Motul Petit Le Mans on Sept. 28-Oct. 1 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Five Cadillac Racing DPi-V.R entries will contest the 10-hour race on the 2.54-mile, 12-turn natural-terrain road course. In 2021, Cadillac Racing locked up its third Manufacturer Championship since 2017 while the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R earned the Team and Driver championships with a runner-up finish at the racecourse in Georgia. |
| Cadillac Racing from the cockpit No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R (finished second)Earl Bamber: “That was a mixed race and pretty difficult up and down the whole way. We were at the front; we were at the back. Tire choice was difficult. The last stop we went to the back and were just trying to make our way forward. The 01 got together with the 5 and we went to third and we were racing the 60 when it went in narrow (in the Carousel) and went off. We had the pace and had the fuel to do it at the end. It’s just a shame we didn’t get all the laps. I think it’s a really good podium. It shows we have a really good car and pace. It’s so close in this championship, a little bit of strategy, a little bit of track position and you win.” Alex Lynn: “Crazy race with the weather, starting on slicks, then going to the wets and back again. Difficult one, but a good one for the fans. Happy with second.” No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R (finished third)Renger van der Zande: “We all race hard in IMSA. I wanted to win this one really bad, so I gave it all. We made one mistake on the class split – the last one – and that was the important one, so we lost (position) to the 5 car. I got behind him; that’s out own mistake. Then I had to just barge through to get by. He braked on the wet and we stayed wide and lost a position. It’s another podium, so we should be happy with that.” Sebastien Bourdais: “I had to make up for my mistake yesterday. It’s shame that we can’t put ourselves back in the championship mix. We were behind the 10 car and the rain started to fall, and at that point the team made the call to stay on slicks with the information they had. Unfortunately, the 5 car was on wets, so we lost track position there. From there, the race kind of unfolded in a bit of a weird way. We gave ourselves a chance, though we didn’t quite execute everything strategy-wise. We’ll just keep digging and try to win Petit.” No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R (finished fifth)Richard Westbrook: “We’re obviously disappointed with the result. We showed again that we can fly at the front and made some great calls, particularly tire-wise, and had good pace in the wet. The car was awesome. The yellows didn’t help us. We had a nice, healthy lead and it wasn’t to be. Tristan did a great job keeping everyone behind him, but then we got stuck in the pit stop and went down to fifth. Tough day, but it was good for bits and pieces.” Tristan Vautier: “We were in the fight for a podium with Renger (van der Zande) and it was a tough battle. Eventually, he got a run on me when I got behind a GT entering the Kink. We raced really hard, knowing it was for a podium spot. He squeezed me quite hard on the inside to brake on the damp side of the track and we both broke really late and that got us off-line and allowed the 02 to go through. No regrets. The team worked really hard and had a great strategy. We gave it a fight; it just didn’t play out our way today. It was good to be in the lead in mixed conditions. We showed as a team that we could be in the lead and manage it. It was good to be at the front, but only the result counts. We have to move forward to the next one because this one hurts.” No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R (finished sixth)Olivier Pla: “From the beginning of my stint there was a drizzle all the time. Overall, we were missing speed this weekend for some reason. We were expecting much more and Pipo and I are not happy. We need keep our heads down, keep working going to Petit Le Mans. I think it’s going to be a good place for us.” Pipo Derani: “It wasn’t an easy race. Unfortunately, we were caught up in all sorts of situations. Unlucky in most of them. Eventually, when we were going to be really close to the other DPis on the restart, a P3 moves and I had to take avoiding action hitting the board. So, just before the restart I had to come in and clear the board that was stuck to the front of the car. Difficult race for us. Never really getting a break to try something. It’s been a difficult season, so we’re going to regroup and we have one more chance to finish on a high. Despite a difficult season we never give up and see if we can have a good race next time around.” |
BIG CAT STRENGTH: Brad Sweet Dominates Pevely for First Ironman 55 Title
Championship Leader Controls All 55 Laps for $20,000 Payday
PEVELY, MO – August 6, 2022 – There was simply no denying Brad Sweet on Saturday night at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55.
As a three-time champion and winner of 77 career Features with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, the Grass Valley, CA native is still finding ways to knock out those first-career achievements with The Greatest Show on Dirt.
In July, he finally earned his first-career win at Williams Grove Speedway, and on Saturday, he finally tamed the iconic Ironman 55 presented by Festus Tourism Commission. “The Big Cat” has long been successful at the Pevely, MO 1/3-mile – proven by his now five-career wins at the track – but the track’s flagship event had always eluded him until tonight.
Earning the pole position with his Series-best fifth win in the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash, Sweet quickly assumed the point and never relinquished it throughout 55 laps. The Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts #49 was in impeccable form, building an advantage as large as 4+ seconds at one point, and surviving a trio of restarts with ease.
It was a bit of redemption for the current championship leader, who lost Friday’s Night Before the Ironman in heartbreaking fashion when lap traffic allowed Carson Macedo to instantly close and complete a Hail Mary slider. The 36-year-old kept that in mind as he destroyed the field in Saturday’s $20,000-to-win Feature.
“After last night, I felt like we had something to prove and I was pretty pissed off to be honest,” Sweet admitted. “I let my guys down and I didn’t do my job to deliver the win we needed and deserved. Team morale and confidence are a big thing in this sport and now we’re heading to the Knoxville Nationals after dominating 55 laps on the hardest track of the year. It’s nice to finally add this one to the resume.”
Although the 2018 Knoxville Nationals champion controlled Saturday’s show from green to checkered, he never felt at ease in the cockpit.
“You just don’t have any time to relax at this race track,” Sweet continued. “You’re constantly searching for a faster line and I felt like I drove 48 good laps, but there were some mistakes in there when I went looking for things. Luckily this car was so good that I could maneuver a little better than others. I was definitely a little extra tense about getting this one.”
Trailing Sweet’s NAPA #49 for all 55 laps was Carson Macedo in the Jason Johnson Racing, Albaugh #41. Unlike Friday night, there was no late-race magic to spoil Sweet’s party this time. The Lemoore, CA native did receive his golden opportunity when the caution flew on Lap 50 and lined him up on Sweet’s rear bumper, but nothing could deter the #49 from cruising to a 1.396-second margin of victory.
“I think we were competitive again and felt like we executed really well, but Brad was just so damn good in that Feature,” Macedo mentioned on chasing Sweet. “He could move around and make it work wherever he needed. I feel like last year we weren’t nearly this good at Pevely, so to come here with two wins and a second is pretty awesome. I’m pumped up for Knoxville.”
Completing the exact same trio of podium finishers for the second night in a row was James McFadden in his Roth Motorsports #83. He’ll head to the Knoxville Nationals carrying loads of speed and confidence hoping to add that first win of the season to his belt.
“He spanked us,” McFadden said on Sweet. “When there’s a middle like that, Brad is the guy to beat. We were competitive with Carson and I had a really good battle with Donny, too. I love racing with Donny, a guy as good as him, and how he races you. Those guys out front were in another world, but it was fun battling our little bubble tonight. I hope I can win this race one day, we’ve been close several times now. Onto Knoxville.”
Donny Schatz finished in fourth for the second straight night aboard his Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Ford Performance, Carquest Auto Parts #15. Rounding out the top five was Sheldon Haudenschild, who charged from 19th to fifth to earn KSE Hard Charger honors in the Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink #17.
Closing out the top-10 in Saturday’s 55-lapper was Rico Abreu in sixth, Brock Zearfoss in seventh, Justin Peck in eighth, Noah Gass in ninth, and Spencer Bayston in tenth.
NOS NOTEBOOK (I-55 Raceway, 8/6/22)
Brad Sweet’s 77th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win brings him to seven wins away from tying Stevie Smith (84) for 10th on the All-Time Wins List.
David Gravel opened the night with his 95th career World of Outlaws QuickTime, circling I-55 in 10.512 seconds to lead My Place Hotels Qualifying. Gravel, Hunter Schuerenberg, Logan Schuchart, and Brock Zearfoss scored Saturday’s NOS Energy Drink Heat Races.
Following his actions at Weedsport Speedway last Sunday – which included pushing and pulling a Series official, throwing safety equipment onto a live track, and making obscene gestures towards the crowd – Sheldon Haudenshild received a fine of $1,000 to be paid by September 1, 2022.
UP NEXT (Wed-Sat) – The Greatest Show on Dirt now prepares for The Granddaddy of ‘Em All. The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is heading for The Sprint Car Capital of the World, Knoxville, Iowa. A field of 100+ entries will compete for a million-dollar purse in the 61st NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s from Wednesday-Saturday, August 10-13. Fans can BUY TICKETS HERE, or watch every lap LIVE on DIRTVision.
NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (55 Laps) – 1. 49-Brad Sweet [1][$20,000]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo [2][$6,000]; 3. 83-James McFadden [3][$3,500]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [4][$2,800]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [19][$2,500]; 6. 24-Rico Abreu [13][$2,300]; 7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [7][$2,200]; 8. 13-Justin Peck [10][$2,100]; 9. 20G-Noah Gass [11][$2,050]; 10. 5-Spencer Bayston [12][$2,000]; 11. 83JR-Kerry Madsen [9][$1,600]; 12. 2-David Gravel [5][$1,400]; 13. 1AU-Marcus Dumesny [14][$1,200]; 14. 51B-Joe B-Miller [21][$1,100]; 15. 11K-Kraig Kinser [20][$1,050]; 16. 84-Brandon Hanks [23][$1,000]; 17. 1S-Logan Schuchart [6][$1,000]; 18. 9JR-Derek Hagar [22][$1,000]; 19. 3N-Jake Neuman [24][$1,000]; 20. 7S-Robbie Price [15][$1,000]; 21. 101-Lachlan McHugh [17][$1,000]; 22. 25-JJ Hickle [16][$1,000]; 23. 1A-Jacob Allen [18][$1,000]; 24. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [8][$1,000]. Lap Leaders: Brad Sweet 1-55. KSE Hard Charger Award: 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[+14]
NEW Championship Standings (After 47/77 Races) – 1. Brad Sweet (6,380); 2. David Gravel (-68); 3. Carson Macedo (-114); 4. Sheldon Haudenschild (-150); 5. Donny Schatz (-184); 6. Logan Schuchart (-224); 7. James McFadden (-356); 8. Spencer Bayston (-372); 9. Jacob Allen (-616); 10. Brock Zearfoss (-688).
BIG CAT STRENGTH: Brad Sweet Dominates Pevely for First Ironman 55 Title
Championship Leader Controls All 55 Laps for $20,000 Payday
PEVELY, MO – August 6, 2022 – There was simply no denying Brad Sweet on Saturday night at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55.
As a three-time champion and winner of 77 career Features with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, the Grass Valley, CA native is still finding ways to knock out those first-career achievements with The Greatest Show on Dirt.
In July, he finally earned his first-career win at Williams Grove Speedway, and on Saturday, he finally tamed the iconic Ironman 55 presented by Festus Tourism Commission. “The Big Cat” has long been successful at the Pevely, MO 1/3-mile – proven by his now five-career wins at the track – but the track’s flagship event had always eluded him until tonight.
Earning the pole position with his Series-best fifth win in the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash, Sweet quickly assumed the point and never relinquished it throughout 55 laps. The Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts #49 was in impeccable form, building an advantage as large as 4+ seconds at one point, and surviving a trio of restarts with ease.
It was a bit of redemption for the current championship leader, who lost Friday’s Night Before the Ironman in heartbreaking fashion when lap traffic allowed Carson Macedo to instantly close and complete a Hail Mary slider. The 36-year-old kept that in mind as he destroyed the field in Saturday’s $20,000-to-win Feature.
“After last night, I felt like we had something to prove and I was pretty pissed off to be honest,” Sweet admitted. “I let my guys down and I didn’t do my job to deliver the win we needed and deserved. Team morale and confidence are a big thing in this sport and now we’re heading to the Knoxville Nationals after dominating 55 laps on the hardest track of the year. It’s nice to finally add this one to the resume.”
Although the 2018 Knoxville Nationals champion controlled Saturday’s show from green to checkered, he never felt at ease in the cockpit.
“You just don’t have any time to relax at this race track,” Sweet continued. “You’re constantly searching for a faster line and I felt like I drove 48 good laps, but there were some mistakes in there when I went looking for things. Luckily this car was so good that I could maneuver a little better than others. I was definitely a little extra tense about getting this one.”
Trailing Sweet’s NAPA #49 for all 55 laps was Carson Macedo in the Jason Johnson Racing, Albaugh #41. Unlike Friday night, there was no late-race magic to spoil Sweet’s party this time. The Lemoore, CA native did receive his golden opportunity when the caution flew on Lap 50 and lined him up on Sweet’s rear bumper, but nothing could deter the #49 from cruising to a 1.396-second margin of victory.
“I think we were competitive again and felt like we executed really well, but Brad was just so damn good in that Feature,” Macedo mentioned on chasing Sweet. “He could move around and make it work wherever he needed. I feel like last year we weren’t nearly this good at Pevely, so to come here with two wins and a second is pretty awesome. I’m pumped up for Knoxville.”
Completing the exact same trio of podium finishers for the second night in a row was James McFadden in his Roth Motorsports #83. He’ll head to the Knoxville Nationals carrying loads of speed and confidence hoping to add that first win of the season to his belt.
“He spanked us,” McFadden said on Sweet. “When there’s a middle like that, Brad is the guy to beat. We were competitive with Carson and I had a really good battle with Donny, too. I love racing with Donny, a guy as good as him, and how he races you. Those guys out front were in another world, but it was fun battling our little bubble tonight. I hope I can win this race one day, we’ve been close several times now. Onto Knoxville.”
Donny Schatz finished in fourth for the second straight night aboard his Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Ford Performance, Carquest Auto Parts #15. Rounding out the top five was Sheldon Haudenschild, who charged from 19th to fifth to earn KSE Hard Charger honors in the Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink #17.
Closing out the top-10 in Saturday’s 55-lapper was Rico Abreu in sixth, Brock Zearfoss in seventh, Justin Peck in eighth, Noah Gass in ninth, and Spencer Bayston in tenth.
NOS NOTEBOOK (I-55 Raceway, 8/6/22)
Brad Sweet’s 77th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win brings him to seven wins away from tying Stevie Smith (84) for 10th on the All-Time Wins List.
David Gravel opened the night with his 95th career World of Outlaws QuickTime, circling I-55 in 10.512 seconds to lead My Place Hotels Qualifying. Gravel, Hunter Schuerenberg, Logan Schuchart, and Brock Zearfoss scored Saturday’s NOS Energy Drink Heat Races.
Following his actions at Weedsport Speedway last Sunday – which included pushing and pulling a Series official, throwing safety equipment onto a live track, and making obscene gestures towards the crowd – Sheldon Haudenshild received a fine of $1,000 to be paid by September 1, 2022.
UP NEXT (Wed-Sat) – The Greatest Show on Dirt now prepares for The Granddaddy of ‘Em All. The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series is heading for The Sprint Car Capital of the World, Knoxville, Iowa. A field of 100+ entries will compete for a million-dollar purse in the 61st NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s from Wednesday-Saturday, August 10-13. Fans can BUY TICKETS HERE, or watch every lap LIVE on DIRTVision.
NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (55 Laps) – 1. 49-Brad Sweet [1][$20,000]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo [2][$6,000]; 3. 83-James McFadden [3][$3,500]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [4][$2,800]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [19][$2,500]; 6. 24-Rico Abreu [13][$2,300]; 7. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [7][$2,200]; 8. 13-Justin Peck [10][$2,100]; 9. 20G-Noah Gass [11][$2,050]; 10. 5-Spencer Bayston [12][$2,000]; 11. 83JR-Kerry Madsen [9][$1,600]; 12. 2-David Gravel [5][$1,400]; 13. 1AU-Marcus Dumesny [14][$1,200]; 14. 51B-Joe B-Miller [21][$1,100]; 15. 11K-Kraig Kinser [20][$1,050]; 16. 84-Brandon Hanks [23][$1,000]; 17. 1S-Logan Schuchart [6][$1,000]; 18. 9JR-Derek Hagar [22][$1,000]; 19. 3N-Jake Neuman [24][$1,000]; 20. 7S-Robbie Price [15][$1,000]; 21. 101-Lachlan McHugh [17][$1,000]; 22. 25-JJ Hickle [16][$1,000]; 23. 1A-Jacob Allen [18][$1,000]; 24. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [8][$1,000]. Lap Leaders: Brad Sweet 1-55. KSE Hard Charger Award: 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[+14]
NEW Championship Standings (After 47/77 Races) – 1. Brad Sweet (6,380); 2. David Gravel (-68); 3. Carson Macedo (-114); 4. Sheldon Haudenschild (-150); 5. Donny Schatz (-184); 6. Logan Schuchart (-224); 7. James McFadden (-356); 8. Spencer Bayston (-372); 9. Jacob Allen (-616); 10. Brock Zearfoss (-688).
PICKENS POCKETS: Michael Pickens Pulls Off Last-Lap Pass for Xtreme Outlaw Midget Win
New Zealander is Fifth Different Winner through First Five Series Races
PEVELY, MO – August 7, 2022 – Michael Pickens had just enough momentum coming off Turn 4 to the checkers for a last-second surge past Jacob Denney, earning his first victory at Federated Auto Parts Raceway in Saturday night’s Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented Toyota main event.
Denney grabbed the lead on a restart with 12 to go and was holding off the field by circling the very bottom of the track. Pickens gave chase on a restart with three to go, putting his car on top and blasting around the outside on the last lap. In the final corner, it looked as if Denney would have just enough to hang onto the win, but Pickens’ Toyota-powered Dave Mac Dalby Motorsports car carried enough momentum to edge Denney at the finish by just over a tenth of a second.
Pickens, an accomplished racer from Auckland, New Zealand, became the fifth different winner through the Series’ first five races in its inaugural season.
“I’m not sure if he missed his marks or what, but we made a ton of ground coming off Turn 2 and Turn 4,” said Pickens, 39, who pocketed $5,000 for the victory and is now headed back to his native New Zealand. “It was super tricky trying to hit my marks down there, it was like a long, big run. I had to lay my right rear over it in the black.
“I’ve got a to say a massive, massive thank you to Dave Mac Dalby Motorsports. They put me in this car just for this weekend. I’ve heard so many cool stories about this place. It’s a privilege to race in America, but especially to race at Pevely and get a win. Sitting on that plane for 15 hours out of Houston is going to be a lot shorter ride than it would have been without a win.”
Pickens started from the outside of the front row and grabbed the lead on the initial start of the 30-lapper, but polesitter Chase McDermand recovered and led until the caution on Lap 18. McDermand bounced through the middle of Turns 1 and 2 on the restart and Denney pounced on the opportunity.
Denney led through four more restarts, including one following a red flag when Emillio Hoover flipped with seven to go.
“It definitely sucks, but congratulations to Michael and the whole Dave Mac Dalby crew,” said Denney, of Galloway, OH. “Michael ran a better last three laps than I did. I just didn’t do the best laps I could do when it counted.”
Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series championship points leader Zach Daum charged from 11th to finish third, maintaining a streak of five top-10 finishes, the only driver to accomplish the feat.
“Michael made the middle and the top work,” said Daum, of Pocahontas, IL. “We passed a lot of cars on the bottom and then we kind of fell in line towards the end. We just kept chugging. We’ve been battling some electrical gremlins the past week, I think we finally got those straightened out. The motor runs good, we just need to finish one of these.
Consistency wins championships. I’ve been in championship deals before, I know what it takes. If we keep putting ourselves in this position we’re going to win a race. We just have a few more things to fine tune and then we’ll be alright.”
News & Notes: This weekend’s Xtreme Outlaw Series races at Federated Auto Parts Raceway were run in conjunction with POWRi. … Michael Pickens was quickest overall in Whitz Racing Products Group Qualifying, turning a lap around the high-banked 1/3-mile oval in 12.770 seconds. … Heat race winners included Brenham Crouch, Karter Sarff, Cade Lewis and Chase McDermand, who pulled a “0” for the inversion. … Bryant Wiedeman won the Last Chance Showdown with former NASCAR Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes earning the final transfer to the main event. … Emillio Hoover and Branigan Roark used provisionals to start the Feature.
Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series Feature Results (30 laps) – 1. 08$-Michael Pickens[2][$5,000]; 2. 61-Jacob Denney[3]; 3. 9M-Zach Daum[11]; 4. 21K-Karter Sarff[8]; 5. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[17]; 6. 40-Chase McDermand[1]; 7. 26-Chance Crum[5]; 8. 97-Brenham Crouch[6]; 9. 25K-Taylor Reimer[12]; 10. 84X-Jesse Love[9]; 11. 71M-Cade Lewis[7]; 12. 7U-Kyle Jones[4]; 13. 51B-Joe B Miller[14]; 14. 84-Jade Avedisian[15]; 15. 06-Rylan Gray[13]; 16. 97K-Ben Rhodes[20]; 17. 71K-Dominic Gorden[18]; 18. 44-Branigan Roark[22]; 19. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[16]; 20. 21E-Emilio Hoover[21]; 21. 7-Shannon McQueen[19]; 22. 97A-Mitchell Davis[10].
NEW Championship Standings (After 5/10 races) – 1. Zach Daum (1062); 2. Brenham Crouch (-60); 3. Bryant Wiedeman (-78); 4. Kyle Jones (-136); 5. Taylor Reimer (-155); 6. Chance Crum (-167); 7. Sam Johnson (-250); 8. Jade Avedisian (-261); 9. Dominic Gorden (-283); 10. Ethan Mitchell (-344).
Next Up: The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota joins the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models Aug. 26-27 at Davenport Speedway in a couple of $4,000-to-win showdowns.
PICKENS POCKETS: Michael Pickens Pulls Off Last-Lap Pass for Xtreme Outlaw Midget Win
New Zealander is Fifth Different Winner through First Five Series Races
PEVELY, MO – August 7, 2022 – Michael Pickens had just enough momentum coming off Turn 4 to the checkers for a last-second surge past Jacob Denney, earning his first victory at Federated Auto Parts Raceway in Saturday night’s Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented Toyota main event.
Denney grabbed the lead on a restart with 12 to go and was holding off the field by circling the very bottom of the track. Pickens gave chase on a restart with three to go, putting his car on top and blasting around the outside on the last lap. In the final corner, it looked as if Denney would have just enough to hang onto the win, but Pickens’ Toyota-powered Dave Mac Dalby Motorsports car carried enough momentum to edge Denney at the finish by just over a tenth of a second.
Pickens, an accomplished racer from Auckland, New Zealand, became the fifth different winner through the Series’ first five races in its inaugural season.
“I’m not sure if he missed his marks or what, but we made a ton of ground coming off Turn 2 and Turn 4,” said Pickens, 39, who pocketed $5,000 for the victory and is now headed back to his native New Zealand. “It was super tricky trying to hit my marks down there, it was like a long, big run. I had to lay my right rear over it in the black.
“I’ve got a to say a massive, massive thank you to Dave Mac Dalby Motorsports. They put me in this car just for this weekend. I’ve heard so many cool stories about this place. It’s a privilege to race in America, but especially to race at Pevely and get a win. Sitting on that plane for 15 hours out of Houston is going to be a lot shorter ride than it would have been without a win.”
Pickens started from the outside of the front row and grabbed the lead on the initial start of the 30-lapper, but polesitter Chase McDermand recovered and led until the caution on Lap 18. McDermand bounced through the middle of Turns 1 and 2 on the restart and Denney pounced on the opportunity.
Denney led through four more restarts, including one following a red flag when Emillio Hoover flipped with seven to go.
“It definitely sucks, but congratulations to Michael and the whole Dave Mac Dalby crew,” said Denney, of Galloway, OH. “Michael ran a better last three laps than I did. I just didn’t do the best laps I could do when it counted.”
Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series championship points leader Zach Daum charged from 11th to finish third, maintaining a streak of five top-10 finishes, the only driver to accomplish the feat.
“Michael made the middle and the top work,” said Daum, of Pocahontas, IL. “We passed a lot of cars on the bottom and then we kind of fell in line towards the end. We just kept chugging. We’ve been battling some electrical gremlins the past week, I think we finally got those straightened out. The motor runs good, we just need to finish one of these.
Consistency wins championships. I’ve been in championship deals before, I know what it takes. If we keep putting ourselves in this position we’re going to win a race. We just have a few more things to fine tune and then we’ll be alright.”
News & Notes: This weekend’s Xtreme Outlaw Series races at Federated Auto Parts Raceway were run in conjunction with POWRi. … Michael Pickens was quickest overall in Whitz Racing Products Group Qualifying, turning a lap around the high-banked 1/3-mile oval in 12.770 seconds. … Heat race winners included Brenham Crouch, Karter Sarff, Cade Lewis and Chase McDermand, who pulled a “0” for the inversion. … Bryant Wiedeman won the Last Chance Showdown with former NASCAR Truck Series champion Ben Rhodes earning the final transfer to the main event. … Emillio Hoover and Branigan Roark used provisionals to start the Feature.
Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series Feature Results (30 laps) – 1. 08$-Michael Pickens[2][$5,000]; 2. 61-Jacob Denney[3]; 3. 9M-Zach Daum[11]; 4. 21K-Karter Sarff[8]; 5. 01-Bryant Wiedeman[17]; 6. 40-Chase McDermand[1]; 7. 26-Chance Crum[5]; 8. 97-Brenham Crouch[6]; 9. 25K-Taylor Reimer[12]; 10. 84X-Jesse Love[9]; 11. 71M-Cade Lewis[7]; 12. 7U-Kyle Jones[4]; 13. 51B-Joe B Miller[14]; 14. 84-Jade Avedisian[15]; 15. 06-Rylan Gray[13]; 16. 97K-Ben Rhodes[20]; 17. 71K-Dominic Gorden[18]; 18. 44-Branigan Roark[22]; 19. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[16]; 20. 21E-Emilio Hoover[21]; 21. 7-Shannon McQueen[19]; 22. 97A-Mitchell Davis[10].
NEW Championship Standings (After 5/10 races) – 1. Zach Daum (1062); 2. Brenham Crouch (-60); 3. Bryant Wiedeman (-78); 4. Kyle Jones (-136); 5. Taylor Reimer (-155); 6. Chance Crum (-167); 7. Sam Johnson (-250); 8. Jade Avedisian (-261); 9. Dominic Gorden (-283); 10. Ethan Mitchell (-344).
Next Up: The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota joins the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models Aug. 26-27 at Davenport Speedway in a couple of $4,000-to-win showdowns.
BACK-TO-BACK EAGLES: Davenport Wins Second Straight USA Nationals at Cedar Lake
| The Blairsville, GA driver led all 100-laps to earn $50,000 prizeNEW RICHMOND, WI – AUGUST 7, 2022 – Jonathan Davenport added another piece of history to his impressive 2022 resume Saturday night at Cedar Lake Speedway.The Blairsville, GA driver held off Chris Madden in the final 10 laps Saturday at Cedar Lake to win his second consecutive USA Nationals, joining Billy Moyer and Jackie Boggs as the only drivers to win the event in back-to-back seasons. Davenport led all 100 laps to score his fourth World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series Feature win of 2022. However, it came one night after he felt his car needed to get better. A few small changes helped him get back on track and score the $50,000 prize. “We just made minor changes,” Davenport said. “I felt the balance was pretty good; there’s a couple of stipulations to the car and a couple of things I didn’t really like about it. So, we made some minor shock adjustments, a shock change, a spring change, and just some little stuff here and there. “We didn’t get crazy, but just a few adjustments to make me a little bit more comfortable.” Despite leading every lap, Tyler Erb nosed ahead of Davenport on two occasions, throwing a slide job to take the spot each time. Davenport stole the lead back on the first attempt, and then a caution negated “Terbo’s” pass the second time. Once that happened, Davenport knew what to expect from the New Waverly, TX driver. “I knew where he was at, “Davenport said. “Obviously, if he slid me in (Turn) 3, I knew he was running the top in (Turns) 1 and 2. I was just moving my line around. It moved quite a few times there. It started out in the middle, and finally, it went all the way to the wall around the cushion, and then I kind of moved back to the bottom.” Erb slipped to third at the end of the race, despite challenging for the lead in the middle stages. “Terbo’s” face had a smile showing satisfaction, but his eyes were burning in frustration knowing he had a chance to be “Superman’s” kryptonite. “I was trying to save, save, and save [my stuff], and when [a chance] presented itself, I let it rip for all she had,” Erb said. “I was honestly able to get by him fairly easy, I thought. The problem is the way him and Madden were running, the only way I was going to pass them was to slide them, and I couldn’t keep my momentum all the way around them. “So, I slid him the first time and slid him the second time, and I was finally going to be clear the next lap. We were good enough to have a chance, just not good enough to finish it all the way off.” While Erb battled with Davenport for the lead, he also waged war with Madden several times for second. The Gray Court, SC driver, won that battle but fell short of a potential fifth $50,000 prize of the season. “Smokey” stated he couldn’t get the momentum he needed to sneak by Davenport in traffic. “We just caught those lap cars at the right time,” Madden said. “[Garrett Smith) was running kind of low, and then when we caught him, I was running the middle and the [top] just carrying my momentum, and I guess [Davenport] just got his nose under him and moved him up. When he moved up, he was right in my line.” “We had a great race car, but we had a lot of cautions that broke my momentum quite a few times. That hurt us, but that’s part of it. We’re trying to keep working on this thing and find what we can do to get better on some shorter runs.” Ricky Weiss crossed the line fourth. The Headingly, MB driver made the battle for second a three-car affair with Madden and Erb a few times but fell behind them in the final few laps. He stated his right front tire went away, costing him a chance at the win. “The right front gave up a little bit when I got alongside Madden,” Weiss said. “We were real good; I could see [Davenport’s] right front give up and change his line, and then Madden was next, so then mine was next.” Four-time and reigning Series champion Brandon Sheppard rounded out the top-five. The New Berlin, IL driver felt the track threw him a curveball, with rain in the New Richmond, WI area throughout the day. “The track was not your typical Cedar Lake, for sure,” Sheppard said. “I think we had a good car, but I was just moving around trying to pass guys so much that you’d overheat your tires really fast. Then, you kind of have to just get back in that middle line. “I think our car was overall pretty decent. Like I said, we just didn’t pass cars earlier in the race, and I was kind of trying to save my stuff for the end. But at the end, it was really hard to pass. It was not the typical Cedar Lake racetrack for sure, and I’m sure the rain had a lot to do with it.” A second consecutive USA Nationals victory for Jonathan Davenport continues his impressive resume of high dollar wins in 2022. It’s a historical victory that Blairsville, GA driver will cherish. “Something’s got to pay off,” Davenport said. “It’s very rewarding to come out here and do good.” UP NEXT: The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet travel to the Northeast for three nights of high-octane action. The weekend kicks off on Friday, Aug. 19, with a trip to Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, PA. Then, the Series returns to Sharon Speedway in Hartford, OH, on Saturday, Aug. 20. Finally, the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models head to Tri-City Raceway Park in Franklin, PA, on Sunday, Aug. 21. If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online on with the DIRTVision App.35th Annual USA Nationals (100 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 4. 7-Ricky Weiss[10]; 5. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 6. 157-Mike Marlar[20]; 7. 111V-Max Blair[15]; 8. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[25]; 9. 18-Shannon Babb[22]; 10. 97-Cade Dillard[21]; 11. 76-Brandon Overton[18]; 12. 81E-Tanner English[7]; 13. B1-Brent Larson[26]; 14. 10S-Garrett Smith[17]; 15. 49T-Jake Timm[3]; 16. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[9]; 17. 58-Ashton Winger[8]; 18. 16-Tyler Bruening[23]; 19. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 20. 8-Kyle Strickler[13]; 21. 19R-Ryan Gustin[14]; 22. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[27]; 23. 25-Shane Clanton[12]; 24. 25F-Jason Feger[19]; 25. 55C-Chad Mahder[16]; 26. 11-Gordy Gundaker[24]; 27. 20-Jimmy Owens[11]; 28. 10-Joseph Joiner[28] FOX FACTORY HARD CHARGER: Dennis Erb Jr. [+17] |
| The World of Outlaws Case Construction Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Case Construction Equipment (Official Construction Equipment), DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider) VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel); contingency sponsors include Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, Fox Factory (Hard Charger Award), MSD, My Place Hotels, Penske Racing Shocks, Quarter Master, Swift Springs, and Wrisco–Wieland Metal Services (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including Dirt Car Lift, Capital Race Cars, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, FIREBULL, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, K1 Race Gear, Racing Electronics, Reliable Painting, Rocket Chassis, and Sea Foam. |
chevy racing–indycar–nashville–pole qualifying
| CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES BIG MACHINE MUSIC CITY GRAND PRIX STREETS OF NASHVILLE NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE TEAM CHEVY POLE QUALIFYING RECAP AUGUST 6, 2022 |
| SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN PUTS CHEVY ON POLE AT NASHVILLECOLLECTS 2ND CAREER NTT INDYCAR SERIES P1 AWARD NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE (August 6, 2022) – Mother Nature played havoc with NTT Qualifying for the Big Machine Music City Grand Prix for the NTT INDYCAR Series. With heavy rain and lightning, the 3:15 p.m. scheduled start time was delayed until 5:00 p.m. Scott McLaughlin knew if he got the opportunity to qualify the No. 3 Dex Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet , and things went as planned, he would be in the conversation for the pole. He wasn’t just in the conversation, he is the talk of Music City. With a lap of one minute, 14.555 seconds, he carried the second NTT P1 Award of his INDYCAR career back to his crew after topping the other five drivers in the Firestone Fast Six. Fellow Team Chevy Drivers Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, and teammate Josef Newgarden, No. 2 PPG Chevrolet, will also start in the first three rows. O’Ward will roll off fifth and Newgarden will start sixth in his hometown race.Romain Grojean, Christian Lundgaard and Alex Palou were the other drivers in the final round of qualifying. Sunday’s race coverage starts at 2:00 CT on NBC and the race will be 80-laps/168-miles. .TEAM PENSKEJOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG CHE22ND:VROLET, QUALIFIED 6TH:“I think we had really good potential to be in the pole conversation. Getting into the Fast Six was positive but we tried a different tire strategy than everyone else and it didn’t quite pan out for us. It’s a little frustrating but I do think we’re in a really good spot for Sunday. Team Penske has had really fast cars all weekend and that always bodes well for the race. We’re excited to be here racing in Nashville with PPG and Team Chevy and we’ll be looking for a good day tomorrow.” SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 DEX IMAGING CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER:“This Dex car has been really good. We won St. Pete with it. Won at Mid-Ohio when the guys were wearing these suits. Now I’m on Pole at Nashville which is a great track. I’m really proud of the Dex Chevy and the guys. The car was phenomenal. To do that on one lap used tires is amazing. Oh man, really good lap. “I think more of the same Kevin, I don’t know. We just got our heads down and our bums up and then just wondering. I’m proud of this group, proud of this team. If I have really good pit stops tomorrow, my Thirsty Threes have got plenty support. So we’ll have a bit of fun. “ WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 7TH“It’s definitely disappointing to not get a chance to fight for the pole because we’ve had a fast Verizon 5G Chevy all weekend. But that’s the rules and we weren’t able to advance to the final round. We know we have good cars here and we will have to work on our strategy to try and get to the front. We know what we have to do tomorrow.” ED CARPENTER RACINGCONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 22ND: “Today was a tough day for us. We have made the car better in every session, but we just seem to be missing a bit still. Hopefully, we can keep working on it overnight and go racing tomorrow. Anything can happen here obviously, we’ll just try to take advantage of everything situation we can and keep moving forward.” RINUS VEEKEY, NO, 21 BITCOIN RACING WITH BITNILE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 10TH: “After being 22nd in practice, I am pretty happy to be starting P10! We were almost two seconds faster than we were in practice, we took a really big chunk of time off. It’s important at this place to stay as far ahead of as much as you can. We are ahead of a lot, I think we will be fine. And I probably deserve to wear my cowboy hat again!” ARROW MCLAREN SPPATO O’WARD, NO.5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5TH:“After qualifying, we are P5 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. That was pretty good considering where we were in practice. We executed, but it was pretty sketchy out there. We got some work to do. It’s going to be a crazy race once again. I don’t think it’s going to be a calm race, and many are on the same page as I am. So, we’ll see what we’ve got tomorrow in warmup and then try to be on the right strategy for the race.” FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH:“We didn’t really have the opportunity to do a lap in qualifying, and it was the same for Rossi. I mean, we just didn’t do anything all session; we just pounded around yellows and red flags, then all of a sudden we’re out in Round 1. So, it’s a shame, especially when I had one more turn to finish that last lap. I definitely thought we could have another pole here and we’ve felt really strong all weekend, so it sucks. We’ll try to go through the field tomorrow.” AJ FOYT RACINGDALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE CHEVROLET, QUALIFED 12TH: “We just posted our best qualifying of the 2022 season so far and it feels really great just to get that No. 4 K-Line Chevy into the Firestone Fast 12 on a great weekend here in Nashville. Lots of interesting stuff going on, we had the Firestone guayule green alternate tires on which were coming up to temp really quick. It was kind of a parallel to the St. Pete qualifying where we did quite well. It seems like when we can get the tires to activate quickly and really just make it happen on that first lap, we seem to have an advantage there. We really press that advantage by just making sure we got ahead of the order of things as far as greens coming out to transfer so that’s something to look at. Very proud of this team overall for the result that we got here today.” KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 SEXTON PROPERTIES CHEVROLET, QUALIFED 16TH“I have to say we don’t really have the pace that everyone else gets out of their cars on the green tires for whatever reason. Fortunately, we assume it’s going to be a primary race tomorrow with the primary black tires, which we’ve been very quick on. Very quick on them in practice one, and we’re super quick on them practice two. We’ve got the car in a good place. So tomorrow if it’s black race, a primary race and everything stays dry, we’re going to be quick.” JUNCOS HOLLIGER RACINGCALLUM ILOTT, NO.77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED, 19TH: “I didn’t get one flying lap in because every time I came out there was a car in the wall. I don’t understand why we can’t pause the time in qualifying, we have had this argument quite a few times, so in the end it just causes problems. The car felt good, I was up for a good lap when I put the greens on, but obviously it ended. I’m not very happy, but I can’t change the outcome.” PARETTA AUTOSPORTSIMONA DE SILVESTRO, NO. 16 ACUMATICA CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 21ST: NTT INDYCAR SERIES News ConferenceScott McLaughlinPato O’WardPress Conference THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the pole winner for tomorrow’s race, Scott McLaughlin, second career pole, 61st in your Team Penske career, which snaps the tie you previously had with Helio Castroneves. You lead the way. Congratulations for that.SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I really wanted that one. Thank you.THE MODERATOR: Scott, your thoughts about P1?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, just stoked, man. The car has been just absolutely phenomenal all weekend since we really rolled out the truck. We massaged it overnight, came out with a beauty today. Really haven’t touch it apart from a little bit of front wing.It’s a credit to Ben and then the team, DEX Imaging Chevy car is good. I’m really excited for tomorrow. I think it’s obviously going to be a pretty blockbuster, crazy race. To start from the front, last year I think I started from Narnia last year, I don’t know where I was. I was 20th. So it’s going to be a lot easier to start, control the pace hopefully, and see where we go.Q. Scott, pole here. This could be a crazy race. Four races to go. Team Penske is definitely strong at Gateway. Do you feel you still have an outside shot at this championship with where you are starting tomorrow?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, the belief is there absolutely. I’ve said it all along, I feel like a little bit of an underdog in this. There’s no reason why we can’t go on a run. These are four tracks that I really enjoy.I mean, Gateway we ran fourth. Portland I out-qualified my teammates. Feel like our cars are quicker there this year. No reason why we can’t be fast there again. Laguna, I love that track. I just made a mess of qualifying, as I did all last year.Really excited for this final run. Anything can happen. It’s INDYCAR. We have a solid week, focus on ourselves, who knows what will happen.Yeah, certainly a position I’m not unfamiliar with, that’s for sure.THE MODERATOR: Joined also by Pato O’Ward, fifth in the championship. He’ll start fifth tomorrow.Advancing to the Firestone Fast Six, fifth place, you’ll take it I’m assuming?PATO O’WARD: Yeah, we’ll take it. I think tomorrow’s race is going to be maybe not quite as hectic as last year, but I think it’s going to be pretty crazy.It’s pretty unpredictable out there. I think all you guys can agree, no?PATO O’WARD: Oh, it’s going to rain. Even better (smiling).So, yeah, we’ll take that. I think we can work from there, for sure.THE MODERATOR: Questions for all four.Q. Scott, you had a forgettable race here last year. How do you prepare mentally to come back this year?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, just another race, man. I think we just knew we had (indiscernible). It was a matter of getting a car that could feel a bit more at home with. I liked the track instantly. Yeah, just put it together once we got here.No, I feel really ready to go for tomorrow. Felt ready to go for this weekend. Can’t wait for what’s ahead.Q. Scott, if I understand it right, leader has discretion in INDYCAR, they want you to go middle of the bridge. Josef was saying wait until the end. Do you have any plan?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Where should I go?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We will sort it out. I’m a nice guy. Don’t know what you’re talking about.Yeah, I don’t know. I got to look back at the notes honestly. I look at that briefly. If we qualify well, I’ll focus on that and see where I’m going to go.Q. You haven’t even thought about it?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: No, nothing. I’m just glad that the race starts on that side. I think it’s going to make it flow a lot better, help the race get going, get into a bit of a rhythm. I’m sure there’s going to be a few dive bombs out there, but I’m sure it’s going to be fine.Q. Pato, in the morning practice you looked like you were pretty hot. You said they don’t let you run a cool suit.PATO O’WARD: Yeah, we don’t have them. It’s horrible in the car. It’s unbearable. Like, I think this is probably going to be the worst race. Yeah, I cannot explain how horrendous it is inside of the car.Like tomorrow they’ll probably mandate the roof scoops. But, yeah, I mean, every braking zone, I’m having to clear my sweat because there’s no ventilation in the car. Every braking zone, even with me trying to clear it out, I’m still like splatting sweat all over my visor. It’s horrible.Q. Is that a team performance thing?PATO O’WARD: No. I think first of all we don’t have the systems. Two, I think as a team we just haven’t looked into it. We have sort of, but, yeah, we don’t have ’em here. Maybe something to look into next year for sure.I didn’t think it was going to be this bad. It’s worse than what I remember last year being. It’s really, really bad.Q. With all of you being in group two, did you learn anything from the cars that went out before you guys with all the rain washing away the rubber on the track?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Showed how much the track had lost grip. As soon as there was a run on it, it was pretty quick. I think a second run for them would have been pretty similar to a first run for us probably.Q. Pato, starting in the second row for this race, knowing where you are in the championship, is this starting to become an almost must-win?PATO O’WARD: I feel like this year, whether you start — I mean, the worst crash last year, or I guess the worst crash that could continue, won last year. I guess it doesn’t really matter where you start, thinking of what the history has been here.It’s a good place to start. There’s just going to be I think a lot of yellows. Maybe I’ll be proven wrong. I don’t think we’re going to go full green. I just don’t see that happening with how hot it’s getting inside the cars, with how long the races are, with how hot it’s going to be. People are going to get tired, touch a wall here or there. There’s going to be mishaps for sure.You can be pole, you can be second or third. We’re starting in the first three rows. A yellow falls not in your favor, you’re going straight to the back.I think tomorrow it’s going to be all about nailing and having some Lady Luck with the strategy because I don’t think it’s going to matter where you start. I think someone with a good car in the back, they nail on a good yellow, they’re going to go straight to the front and they’re going to stay there.Q. Scott, if we get a mixed bag weather-wise tomorrow, what’s that going to do to the grip levels, bearing in mind there’s different types of surfaces around this track? Is that going to upset the balance of the car for you?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, look, no doubt it’s going to be a pretty crazy race. Last year’s was pretty long in bone-dry conditions. I’m sure with a little bit of rain it’s going to be crazy.A lot of painted lines in the middle of apexes here on tight corners with no room for error. I sort of looked at that before. I thought we might have had a bit of wet then. I was trying to figure out where the lines were and whatnot.Yeah, it’s pretty crazy. We’ll see what happens during the race.Q. Watching in the sessions, it reminds me a lot of the backside of the Adelaide street circuit. Probably with the impact you’re seeing in terms of ventilation, how hot you’re getting in the car…SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: It’s pretty warm. The biggest problem is the humidity, I think. When you slow down and come into the pits, the heat soak just builds so quickly.But I’m sort of like ever since my Super Car days have always been a guy that doesn’t wear a cool suit because I think it’s worse if you have one fail. It’s just boiling water rolling around your body.I’m actually okay with running the top duct and the helmet fan, or the helmet air. But it’s going to be a hot race. Like Pato said, it’s going to be the hottest race that we’ve had. Hopefully with all the training all season is going to set us up well for that and we’ll be all right.Q. For you young guys, what do you think of the vibe of this event? Is it really kind of a place…SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I’m still in my 20s, but that’s fine. Don’t worry about me (laughter).PATO O’WARD: The vibe’s dope, bro.Q. Is it almost difficult to not want to go out?PATO O’WARD: Oh, I’m not a big party-er.PATO O’WARD: No, seriously. I enjoy staying in my hotel. I love the food that’s around here. There’s some great spots. I’m going to a great one tonight. I forgot the name. It’s a sushi/Chinese.Q. Really in the heart of everything in Nashville. All you have to go is go across the river…PATO O’WARD: These guys are doing it right. The guys here from this event and what Hy-Vee did in Iowa, they packed up a place in Newton, Iowa. Like if you can pack up a place in Newton, Iowa, you can pack up any other place that we go. They did a phenomenal job.I think everyone can learn from what they’re doing. Like, it’s what it should be. The standard should be this. Yesterday, even Friday, there was quite a bit of people coming out to watch for a Friday. Today was even better. I’m sure tomorrow’s going to be fantastic.Q. When you’re this close to this much activity, you think, I wish I could just go out?PATO O’WARD: Scottie likes it, I can tell.SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: My wife is probably having more fun than any of us. She comes straight in from Broadway. She’s having a good time. But we’re all good. She’s a superstar. Definitely loves this race. Josef is definitely trying to sell the dream about living here, that’s for sure.Q. (No microphone.)PATO O’WARD: Yeah, yeah. Absolutely. I think I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again, it’s going to be a sold-out show when we go. I don’t see it not working out because I know the whole country is super up on all the F1 stuff, racing there. I think if INDYCAR goes there, the series as a whole is going to gain a ton of fans.PATO O’WARD: That’s what I’m saying. It also depends, maybe it can be Mexico City or Monterrey, my hometown. I think that could be really cool for INDYCAR to go to Monterrey. If it’s a success, maybe a street course in Cancun or something. That would be good, huh? You like Mexico?PATO O’WARD: To-do list. Add it on there.PATO O’WARD: You’ll love it. It’s awesome.THE MODERATOR: Thank you so much for your time. |
Front-Row Start for Grosjean, Honda in Nashville
Romain Grosjean qualifies his Andretti Autosport Honda second for Sunday’s Big Machine Music Grand Prix
Christian Lundgaard continues run of strong qualifying efforts, will start third
Defending series champion Alex Palou qualifies fourth
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (Aug. 6, 2022) – In his best qualifying performance of 2022, Romain Grosjean advanced through all three rounds of NTT INDYCAR SERIES “knockout” qualifying today in his Andretti Autosport Honda, and will start on the outside front row – second – in Sunday’s second annual Big Machine Music City Grand Prix on the downtown Nashville temporary street circuit.
For the second consecutive race weekend, Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Christian Lundgaard also advanced to the final, “Firestone Fast Six” qualifying round, and will start third, his career best INDYCAR start and best among the rookies in the field. Defending series champion Alex Palou will start fourth in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda as the top 10 all posted times within a second of the 1:14.555 pole time.
Big Machine Music City Grand Prix Honda Qualifying Results
2nd Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda
3rd Christian Lundgaard-R Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
4th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
7th David Malukas-R Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
9th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
11th Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
13th Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda
14th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
17th Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda
18th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
20th Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
23rd Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
24th Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda
25th Devlin DeFrancesco-R Andretti Autosport Honda
26th Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
R – Rookie
Quotes
Romain Grosjean (#28 Andretti Autosport Honda) will start second: “I think this is a very good result for all of us on the #28 car. We’ve worked very hard to get the car working the way I wanted it to be. I knew from the opening practice that we were headed in the right direction, and every change we made on the car was in the right direction, thanks to my engineer Olivier [Boisson], Honda and everyone on the team, who have been working just as hard. Now we have to continue on and finish the job tomorrow.”
Christian Lundgaard (#30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) will start third: “I think the rain [prior to qualifying] actually helped us. It just cooled everything down from earlier in the day. It definitely helped stabilize our car under braking. I think it was a very exciting qualifying. And we’re making progress as a team, which is the most important thing. I’ve always liked street circuits, but after Toronto [where he started 10th and finished 8th] and today I’m starting to like them even more!”
Fast Facts
Honda drivers and teams dominated the results sheets of last year’s inaugural Big Machine Music City Grand Prix, as Marcus Ericsson recovered from an opening lap contact and brief “flight” to head a Honda sweep of the first seven finishing positions, and eight of the top 10.
Scott Dixon made it a Honda and Chip Ganassi Racing 1-2 result last year in Nashville, with James Hinchcliffe running third to complete the podium sweep for the manufacturer. Honda drivers Ryan Hunter-Reay, Graham Rahal, Ed Jones, and eventual series champion Alex Palou completed the top seven for Honda, with Helio Castroneves finishing ninth.
Previously, INDYCAR and the Indy Racing League conducted eight races on the 1.33-mile Nashville Super Speedway oval in Lebanon, Tennessee, from 2001-2008. Honda drivers and teams won five of the six races the manufacturer contested, from 2003-08.