August 25, 2024

Harrison Burton outdueled veteran Kyle Busch on the final lap of an Overtime finish of Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway to score his first career Cup Series victory and the 100th for his Wood Brothers team.

The win earned Burton and the Wood Brothers a berth in the 10-race, championship-deciding Playoffs, which begin after next week’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

The historic win for the Wood Brothers, who got their first Cup victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1960 with Speedy Thompson at the wheel of the iconic No. 21 Ford, was their first since Ryan Blaney won at Pocono Raceway in 2017. The Woods have now won races at the Cup level for seven straight decades and have won NASCAR races for eight straight.

Saturday’s win also was the first since a third generation of Woods joined the ownership of the team founded by the late Glenn Wood and operated with his brothers Leonard, Ray Lee, Delano and Clay. Then a second generation, Glenn’s sons Eddie and Len and daughter Kim Wood Hall steered the team before being joined by the next generation of Jon Wood, Keven Wood and Jordan Wood Hicks. And in the winner’s interview in the media center Saturday night, a fourth generation Wood, Bailey joined the group on the podium.

The milestone victory came at Daytona, where the Woods have won five Daytona 500s and 11 more in the track’s second race, long known as the Firecracker 400.

Burton, who became the 19th driver to win a Cup race for the Woods and the 89th to win in a Ford, said getting the 100th win had been a topic of many a conversation at team meetings this year.

“That’s something you can’t take lightly,” he told reporters at Daytona. “We as a group have that place in history now forever for the 100th win for the Wood Brothers.

“To me, that just means the world.”

And he said he hopes there’s more to add to the team history before he leaves the team at season’s end.

“We’re not going to roll over and die,” he said. “We’ve had a rough year, but this is the shot in the arm we’ve needed, and we’re going to go to Darlington set on kill.”

Eddie Wood said in the winner’s interview that there are many people responsible for the team reaching this milestone.

“I don’t really have the words,” he said. “I just want to thank everybody that supported us. Harrison, he’s done such a great job tonight. I mean, missing those wrecks. It just seemed like they’d run a little while, then have another crash. He was so close. Just a matter of I’m not even going to say an inch, that one wreck, the early one. Seemed like about a quarter of an inch.

“It just means so much to our team to finally get the other win…We’ve got a wall in front of our museum that’s got 21 winners, 21 different drivers that’s won races in our cars. We get to put him up next week.”

Wood said he’s especially grateful for the support of Ford Motor Company, which is the only manufacturer the Woods have ever been associated with. And that support has been there even in the lean years, he said.

“Timing is everything, they say, but there was a phone call from Edsel Ford back in 2008,” Wood said. “We were really struggling. He said, ‘I’m going to have a gentleman call you tomorrow that’s going to help you.’

“That man’s name was Jim Farley, who is now the CEO of Ford Motor Company. That’s how far back things go.

Our family raced Ford Motor Company products since the beginning,1950. I think that’s one of the things I’m really, really proud of.”

Burton, who started from 20th place Saturday night, ran in the top 10 for much of the event but had to dodge several multi-car crashes to be in position to battle for the win at the end.

On the final restart, he lined up on the outside, with part-time Cup driver Parker Retzlaff, who was making just his second career Cup start and driving for a part-time team, on his bumper. On the inside line were two veterans – Busch and Christopher Bell.

Busch took the lead initially, then, like Burton, Retzlaff rose to the occasion and pushed Burton’s DEX Imaging Mustang Dark Horse into the lead on the final lap. From there Burton recovered from a bump from Busch that pushed him below the yellow line and kept the veteran at bay for the final yards to the finish line.

Crew chief Jeremy Bullins, who now has 10 Cup victories including the 2017 win at Pocono with Blaney, said Burton made all the right moves to survive the wrecks then prevail in Overtime. “He earned this one,” Bullins said.

The victory was a popular one in the garage, especially for those in the Blue Oval camp.

Austin Cindric posted on X: “I think I’m wearing my @woodbrothers21 hat all week. Good things happen to good people. I am so proud of @HBurtonRacing.”  

Burton and the Wood Brothers team now head to Darlington Raceway for Sunday’s Cookout Southern 500.

 

AWA Corvette builds on Akin Award lead with seventh-place GTD finish ALTON, Va. (August 25, 2024) – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports suffered an uncharacteristic tough day at Virginia International Raceway as mechanical gremlins impacted both of the team’s Corvette Z06 GT3.R entries during the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. The No. 4 Corvette of Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg finished eighth in GTD PRO, a spot ahead of teammates Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Z06 GT3.R.

The result for AWA’s No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R was a bright spot as Orey Fidani and Matt Bell finished seventh in GTD. Adding to that was the No. 13 Corvette’s position as the highest-finishing car in IMSA’s Bob Akin Award standings for the second time this year. After a run of trouble-free races during the summer, separate issues plagued the No. 3 and No. 4 GTD PRO entries. Catsburg lost time when the Corvette wouldn’t restart after a pit stop with an hour to go. He and Milner did finish on the lead lap and were buoyed by the race’s only full-course caution with a little more than 30 minutes to go but couldn’t advance up the order. Garcia started second and ran third at the time of the No. 3 Corvette’s first pit stop at the 49-minute mark. Sims rejoined fifth and was getting up to speed before the car lost power on the backstretch. Following a couple of attempts to reset the power cycle, the team brought Sims back to the garage to replace the power steering pump. Sims also was at the wheel when the No. 3 suffered a suspension issue with 45 minutes to go. In GTD, Fidani drove the No. 13 Corvette for the first 47 minutes and gained a spot in class before handing off to Bell. The No. 13 went from 13th at the time of the stop to its final position in the final two hours, including a hectic fight through the field after the yellow with high track temperatures and high tire degradation. With the result, Fidani grew his lead in the Akin Award championship with the highest points-scoring Bronze driver at the end of the season earning an automatic entry to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 25. The race will air live on USA starting at noon ET with live streaming on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.comoutside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning with Friday afternoon’s opening practice at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 206 and SiriusXM Online 996.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS POST-EVENT DRIVER QUOTESALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Today is what it is. No one wants to have issues, but that was the reality today. As has been common this year, we showed decent pace and were holding our own in third with Antonio. I think the pit cycle was going to be pretty favorable for us on strategy. As far as I understand it, we would have effectively been first in that middle stint once all the pit cycles were finished. I felt pretty comfortable out in front of the Aston Martin, and we were holding our own. That’s when the car cut out on me, and the power steering failed. After a few laps, I understood why these are designed to have power steering. This isn’t a formula car in terms of the steering weight where you could get through it. But after four or five laps, I knew it wasn’t going to last. I just tried to give the guys enough time to at least preempt what we needed to do in the garage, but it was a big change and set us way back. That’s the way it goes, unfortunately. The suspension issue was pretty bizarre. There was no contact on my side, and Antonio looked like he had a completely clean race. We need to understand the two issues, and try to react and come back stronger.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “A bit of gut punch today for the whole team. Having quite a few races with no issues, and then today with both cars having both problems is going to make quite a few people on this team unhappy. We’ll go back to look at it, figure out what happened and improve the car for the future. But yeah, a tough day for us.”

AWA POST-EVENT DRIVER QUOTESMATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was another great IMSA battle and a great IMSA race. We made all the right calls at the right times. Tire deg and tire management was a huge part of this race. We had to be smart and give up pace at certain times but also know when to push and know when to go for it. I got great information and great support from everyone on the pit stand – everyone from AWA and Corvette Racing really helped out. This was as much as any of the other races – if not more – a real team effort to come through the pack like that. It’s a big credit to everyone on this program. I just had to try and make it work.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was quite a hot with the air conditioning off. It was a little tough for me at the start as I didn’t go on brand new tires. I went on older tires and struggled with understeer. It seemed to get a little better as the fuel burned off and I was able to get some pace. But it was tough. Matt did a great job to get us up the order at the end.”

SHEPHERD, MT (August 24, 2024) – One year ago, Jake Bubak pocketed $12,012 for winning Big Sky Speedway’s Harvey Ostermiller Memorial under the ASCS Frontier Region banner.

With the race joining the American Sprint Car Series National Tour calendar in 2024, Bubak had a field full of the best 360 Sprint Car drivers in the nation to fend off, but none of them could stop him from taking his second win in a row in the event.

“It was challenging, I’m glad I started on the front row,” Bubak said following his fifth National Tour win. “With this car the last two months, we’ve been really solid. We ran well at the 360 [Knoxville] Nationals. I knew we could compete with these guys.”

Bubak won his second Dash in as many nights to claim the pole for the 30-lap Feature. The bottom lane was dominant early, as Bubak made a beeline for the inside berm in the first set of corners along with the rest of the top five.

Jason Martin started second and was the first to try the top side on Lap 2. He briefly caught Bubak’s rear bumper before slipping up in Turn 3, allowing Bubak to drive away to a half-second advantage.

Half a lap later, Martin’s quest for his first podium finish since Dodge City Raceway Park on June 1 came to screeching halt when he got upside down in Turn 2. The incident gave the second spot to Zach Blurton, who kept pace with Bubak in the laps following the ensuing restart.

While Blurton was busy plotting a move on Bubak, Frontier Region point leader Phil Dietz was busy holding off two of the National Tour’s biggest stars in Seth Bergman and Sam Hafertepe Jr. for the third spot. He held on until Lap 12, when Bergman powered around Dietz’s outside exiting Turn 4 and Hafertepe followed him through three laps later.

With seven laps remaining, Bradley Fezard came to a stop while running 19th to bring out the caution. A perfect restart allowed Bubak to keep the lead, but trouble for Kory Wermling and Brandon Anderson two laps later ereased his advantage once more.

On what would be the final restart of the race, Bubak was off like a rocket through Turns 1 and 2 and drove away to a 1.5-second win at the checkered flag.

The Feature was marred by strong winds thoughout the race, something Bubak believes was critical to him securing the victory.

“The wind affected the track so much,” Bubak said. “The track was in good shape, I think without the wind it would have been really fun. Just the way it would blow you off the end of Turn 2, it was pretty difficult and just best to be in the lead at that point.”

Runner-up Blurton went through the first 16 races of the season without a top five, but has now picked up two podiums in eight days, completely flipping his outlook on the remainder of the season.

“Last night, we just struggled so so bad and I thought maybe the weekend before was just a fluke,” Blurton said. “I’m looking forward to next weekend and the rest of the year. I almost wish we could start the year back over with what we know now.”

While Bergman came up two spots short of sweeping the weekend in Billings, the third-place run extended his lead over Hafertepe to 103 points entering the second half of the Montana swing at Electric City Speedway next weekend.

“Sam’s a great race car driver, he’s got a great team, definitely doesn’t make it easy,” Bergman said. “We’re doing our job too to try and stay on top here, and to have weekends like this where you don’t finish off the podium is what we’ve got to do if we want to see this championship through.”

Hafertepe finished one spot behind Bergman in fourth to minimize the harm in the title chase, while Kyler Johnson drove from 17th to fifth to collect the Triple X Hard Charger Award and his first top five since the second race of the year at Red Dirt Raceway.

UP NEXT: The ASCS National Tour concludes its trip to Montana at Electric City Speedway in Great Falls with the Montana Roundup on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 30-31. Tickets are available for purchase in advance here, while those unable to make it to the track can catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 27B-Jake Bubak[1]; 2. 2J-Zach Blurton[4]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[9]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson[17]; 6. 2C-Hank Davis[8]; 7. 2JR-Kelly Miller[16]; 8. 95-Matt Covington[13]; 9. 72-Phil Dietz[3]; 10. 5H-Harli White[14]; 11. 28-Joe Perry[6]; 12. 01-Rich Bailey[12]; 13. 88-Terry Easum[7]; 14. 6G-Bryan Gossel[21]; 15. 15D-Andrew Deal[18]; 16. 10-Landon Britt[19]; 17. 37-Trever Kirkland[10]; 18. 44-Damon McCune[22]; 19. 55B-Brandon Anderson[15]; 20. 938-Bradley Fezard[11]; 21. 16G-Austyn Gossel[20]; 22. 9K-Kory Wermling[23]; 23. 36-Jason Martin[2]

Carson Macedo grabs third win in four races, closes on Schatz in the pointsWEST FARGO, ND (August 24, 2024) – Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing are getting hot.On Friday Macedo pieced together an impressive drive from sixth to victory at River Cities Speedway. On Saturday when the stage shifted to West Fargo, ND’s Red River Valley Speedway, Macedo made things a little easier on himself. There would be no need to drive from the third row as he earned the pole of the 30-lap Feature. And the Lemoore, CA native put together a nearly perfect race to punctuate a perfect night. Macedo earned Simpson Quick Time, won the first NOS Energy Drink Heat Race, topped the Toyota Racing Dash, and sealed the deal by leading every lap of the Feature. The performance earned Macedo and JJR a weekend sweep in North Dakota and their third victory in the last four races.“I just felt extremely good,” Macedo said. “Philip Dietz knocked it out of the park again. He’s done an incredible job this weekend. Robby McQuinn and Adam Zimmerman putting the whole package together and working really hard. It just feels good to get a win here.“We’ve got a lot of momentum. It just feels good to be running up front, contending for wins, and then closing it out and getting the job done. The 41 is just fast right now. When your race car is fast and things are clicking, it seems like things just go your way. I remember Jason Meyers telling me at one point, ‘When the iron is burning, it burns hot. When it’s cold, it’s tough to get out of that wintertime.’”The weekend sweep marked Macedo’s first back-to-back wins since April of 2022. He’s up to 41 career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car victories, equaling him with fellow full-timer Sheldon Haudenschild for 20th on the all-time win list. A night after claiming his second River Cities checkered flag, he grabbed his second Red River Valley trophy, making it the 11th track where he’s a multi-time winner. He also closed to within four points of Donny Schatz for second in the standings.Macedo rolled right out to an early advantage when the green flag flew for the finale. He established control early and made it clear it was going to be difficult to pass him. In only two laps, his lead grew to a second and a half. Even when he first encountered traffic, Macedo showed no signs of slowing. The Albaugh No. 41 sliced through slower cars and clicked off laps. The gap between himself and second-running Sheldon Haudenschild expanded to north of two seconds by the halfway point.But you can’t ever count out Haudenschild. He’s known for incredible feats behind the wheel and looked to achieve another by erasing Macedo’s huge advantage and stealing the victory.The lead dropped back under two seconds on Lap 21 as Macedo met some struggles navigating traffic. And then a close moment nearly cost him. Two lappers collided just ahead of Macedo exiting Turn 4 forcing him to slow down considerably. The contact allowed Haudenschild to pull right up to Macedo, but he couldn’t find a path around him.The yellow flag flew with four laps remaining as Donny Schatz slowed with a flat tire. The caution was just what Macedo needed as the clear track allowed him to drive away and complete the statement win.“The track turned out to be really wide and racy,” Macedo said. “I was surprised. It took a while to get worked in early in the night and then was fast through the Heat Races. It was just a great track and a lot of fun.”Haudenschild brought the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 17 home second as he continues to build momentum. The Wooster, OH native has strung together four consecutive podiums. The recent stretch of consistency has lifted Haudenschild from seventh to sixth in points.“We ran him back down,” Haudenschild commented. “Lapped traffic was hectic. He did a great job getting through them. Then I kind of had to pick my way back through them. It’s frustrating as a driver having this good of a car and to not pick up a win this weekend. But hats off to (Kyle) Ripper, Steve (Kinzer Dussel), and Luke (Vaughn). They’ve been putting the work in, and we’re getting better each week I feel.”Michael “Buddy” Kofoid came home third to round up the podium with Roth Motorsports. The effort capped a strong weekend for the Series rookie as he landed in the top three on both nights. Kofoid is buildings some momentum with his home tracks in California on the horizon.“It was a great weekend for us,” Kofoid said. “I feel like we’re back to how I felt my best here and even in general. I always love coming here. I was a little apprehensive when I saw how wet it was, but it turned out really good.”Bill Balog and Giovanni Scelzi completed the top five.A 19th to ninth drive earned Garet Williamson the KSE Racing Hard Charger.Carson Macedo earned his 10th Simpson Quick Time of 2024 and the 43rd of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.NOS Energy Drink Heats One and Three belonged to Carson Macedo and Sheldon Haudenschild. Milton Hershey Heat Two went to Andy Pake.Carson Macedo topped the Toyota Racing Dash.Garet Williamson won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown. Scott Bogucki earned the Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to South Dakota for the rescheduled Huset’s Hustle presented by Folkens Brothers Trucking finale on Friday, August 30 before the BillionAuto.com Huset’s High Bank Nationals presented by Menards on August 31-September 1 with a $100,000-to-win finale. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.FEATURE RESULTS:NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[7]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[8]; 6. 64-Andy Pake[2]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 8. 2-David Gravel[12]; 9. 23-Garet Williamson[19]; 10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[14]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 12. 7S-Landon Crawley[9]; 13. 24T-Christopher Thram[13]; 14. 70-Kraig Kinser[17]; 15. 17GP-Justin Henderson[16]; 16. 6-Max Guilford[21]; 17. 13-Mark Dobmeier[15]; 18. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[11]; 19. 8-Jack Croaker[24]; 20. 27-Weston Olson[20]; 21. 52-Adam Sobolik[23]; 22. 14T-Tim Estenson[18]; 23. 11M-Brendan Mullen[22]; 24. 10-Scott Bogucki[6]For complete results, CLICK HERE.

“The Reaper” goes undefeated at Atomic Speedway on Saturday night through 50 laps of racing

CHILLICOTHE, OH (August 24, 2024) – Ryan Gustin gave an ode to Scott Bloomquist by channeling his inner “Dirt Track Dominator” on Saturday night at Atomic Speedway.

Topping the scoring pylon in each appearance on the 3/8-mile racetrack, the Marshalltown, IA driver led all 50 laps through a wave of challenges from multiple World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models competitors.

He began the night by grabbing the Dirt King Simulator Hottest Hot Lap, then picked up his 11th Simpson Quick Time Award.

In Heat 3, Gustin led every lap to lock himself a spot in the Feature Redraw. He made the most of his luck by drawing the #1 chip for his second Bilstein Pole Award of the 2024 season.

Firing on all cylinders at the commencement of the 50-lap Feature, Gustin ripped the high line to escape New Berlin, IL driver Brandon Sheppard, Robeline, LA driver Cade Dillard, and Oakwood, IL driver Bobby Pierce.

In the battle for the top five, Sheppard followed Gustin until contact with the lapped car of Dennis Erb Jr ripped the left rear quarter panel off his No.B5 Longhorn Chassis, then Dillard caught a piece of Erb to damage his right rear quarter panel. Sheppard and Dillard kept on rolling with the damage lingering on their cars.

Gustin got away on the restart as Sheppard held his own with the damage to his car. Dillard had to retire his No.97 machine with a smack of the Turn 4 wall that sent a dagger into his hopes of salvaging a rebound result at Atomic after a DNF on Friday night.

While leading, Gustin ripped the rear spoiler off his No.19R Infinity Chassis and began to dangle until the caution flew for debris from Sheppard’s left rear quarter panel falling off.

When the green flag flew once more with 14 laps to go, Pierce sent his No.32 Megan’s Mission machine deep into Turn 1, then slid up on Sheppard to force him off the track to claim second place in a move that caused implications the season-long points battle.

Sheppard dropped to seventh place, Chatham, IL driver Brian Shirley took third, and fellow championship contender Nick Hoffman inherited fourth place.

While Gustin had aero troubles with the loss of his spoiler, he maintained the gap on Pierce through the remaining circuits around the Chillicothe, OH racetrack for his fourth win of the season in the Fireball 50.

In Victory Lane, he celebrated with Scott Bloomquist’s infamous “hang loose” signal and a point to the sky to the man who meant a lot to Gustin as a mentor and friend. He also dedicated the win to his son, Bradyn, who turned 12 on Saturday.

“It means the absolute world to me,” Gustin said. “It’s been rough, I’m sure we made him proud up there tonight. We were handicapped pretty bad when you lose a spoiler like that. I thought we were done, but the only way to win was to drive like a madman like we did for the last (14) laps.

“Tim (Douglas) was telling me I had a pretty big lead before lap traffic, but its hard when you got guys that can catch up pretty fast to you. Cautions definitely helped us for sure to get us going again, but anytime you can win with no spoiler is a testament to how good these Infinity Chassis are and these Jay Dickens Engines run flawlessly. It’s also my son’s birthday today so I wanted to get one for him.”

Pierce finished second to finish the weekend by closing the distance to Sheppard in the Series championship hunt to 54 points with seven races left in the season. Pierce is in a tie with Hoffman for second place but has the tiebreaker over Hoffman for finishing higher than him in the Feature.

“I love the finish,” Pierce said. “It’s good to end the weekend with a first and second, but I didn’t like how I got there. When I passed Sheppard, he got off the track and I know he wouldn’t have fell off the track if he had more room there. I did kinda come up into his line. It’s such a tricky deal when the top has so much speed and you’re trying to make passes here.

“Besides that, we held on and didn’t fall off which was one of my main concerns. The track was so treacherous and both corners had it’s characteristics. Turns 1 and 2 was like running at Bristol with potholes. The last two corners were normal to how the track is, but had a dip with a slick spot in Turn 4. I gotta hand it to Gustin, he was fast and turning like he was going for qualifying laps each time. We gotta work on it, see what’s wrong, but we’ll take it.”

Shirley finished third for his fifth consecutive podium finish in August with the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models. While he was inside the thick of the drama at the front of the field, Shirley kept his nose clean to finish the night with a podium result.

“The track was really demanding,” Shirley said. “It was one of those deals where we were good, but not the greatest. I just had to bide my time, get by guys when I could on the restarts, and lucky enough for things to fall our way to end up third.

“Nights like tonight, when our car is 85-90%, it shows that we can be patient and take what you can get. That’s what it boiled down to, I was really trying to do all I could on restarts and take what’s in front of us.”

Hoffman finished fourth with an 18-place climb from a 22nd-place starting spot to receive Saturday night’s Fox Factory Hard Charger Award. Batavia, OH driver Adam Stricker finished the night with a fifth-place result to end his weekend with the Series.

RECAP NOTES:

Dirt King Simulator Hottest Hot Lap: Ryan Gustin

Simpson Quick Time Award: Ryan Gustin

Heat Race Winners: Bobby Pierce, Cade Dillard, Ryan Gustin, Brandon Sheppard

Last Chance Showdown Winner: Freddie Carpenter

Bilstein Pole Award: Ryan Gustin

Fox Factory Hard Charger: Nick Hoffman (+18)

Up Next: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models head south towards Georgia and Alabama for Senoia Raceway on Saturday, Sept. 14, and the completion of the Alabama Gang 100 at the Talladega Short Track on Sunday, Sept. 15.

For more information about the upcoming events in the 2024 World of Outlaws CASE Late Models season,CLICK HERE.      

If you can’t make it to the track, watch every lap of the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models season on DIRTVision – through your computer or mobile device.

CASE Late Model Feature (50 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[10]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[22]; 5. 68-Adam Stricker[7]; 6. 19M-Spencer Hughes[5]; 7. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 8. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[12]; 9. 40B-Kyle Bronson[15]; 10. 19-Dustin Sorensen[11]; 11. 16-Tyler Bruening[18]; 12. 71C-RJ Conley[16]; 13. 17-Zack Dohm[13]; 14. B1-Brent Larson[24]; 15. 22*-Max McLaughlin[20]; 16. 71R-Rod Conley[19]; 17. 90-Michael LeFevers[25]; 18. S21-Seth Daniels[8]; 19. 1-Tyler Erb[6]; 20. 11-Jared Hawkins[14]; 21. 97-Cade Dillard[3]; 22. C4-Freddie Carpenter[17]; 23. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[23]; 24. 97JR-Cody Overton[9]; 25. 57B-Caiden Black[21]

PORT ROYAL, PA (August 24, 2024) – Jonathan Davenport grabbed the lead on the second lap and maintained it throughout, securing victory at the Rumble by the River presented by UNOH.edu on Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway. Davenport’s win netted him $50,000 out of the $150,000 feature purse in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event. Ricky Thornton Jr. finished second, with Max Blair, Devin Moran, and Tim McCreadie rounding out the top five. Moran led the opening lap from his pole-stating spot, but Davenport made a move in turn two to take over the lead on the second circuit. The first caution of the race flew on lap four when Friday night’s winner, Garrett Alberson, slowed on the track as his night would end on the hook. On the restart, Davenport fought off Hudson O’Neal for several laps until Thornton and O’Neal made contact, battling for second coming off of turn four on lap 19. A few laps later, O’Neal slowed with a flat tire, drawing a caution. During lap 33 of the race, Davenport was leading with Thornton close behind when Boom Briggs spun out in front of them. Both Davenport and Thornton had to take evasive action as the caution came out for Briggs’ stalled car. Two laps later, the final caution was caused by Mike Marlar, who had moved up from 18th place but lost his brakes and hit the turn two wall. Marlar would ultimately retire from the remainder of the race. From then on, Davenport and Thornton chased each other around the top of the racetrack. Thornton managed to get within half a second of Davenport, but contact with the wall on each end of the track derailed Thornton’s chance at the win. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 81st time in his career, the three-time series champion picked up his second $50,000 Arizona Sports Shirts Crown Jewel Cup win of 2024, following his Show-Me 100 victory in May. With the win, Davenport also moved back into second place in the championship standings. “It feels great to win this event. I tried to stay as low as possible for as long as possible. There at the end we got behind a lapped car and he was blowing just enough grit, and I didn’t have a really good clean line where I wanted in one and two. I pushed a little bit and got into the wall. I’ve got to thank my dad I’m thinking of him he’s probably not doing too well. In fact, I know he’s not doing too well, he is in the hospital. Hopefully he had enough strength to stay up and watch me he don’t get to come out on the road near as much as he used to. I am thankful for all he has done for me,” said the Blairsville, Georgia native. “We’ve just been tuning on this thing quite a bit. You know you’ve got to keep up with these young guys. It seems like everywhere we go now, if there’s just a little bit of grip around the top, that’s where we’ve got to be. I just want to thank all of these fans for coming out tonight. It was a great crowd tonight.” Thornton finished 4.234 seconds behind Davenport at the finish. “I definitely didn’t need those cautions. I felt like it took me five or six laps to get going again after those restarts. A few of us started to slow down a little bit after that, and I could slowly reel up to him [Davenport], and then we’d get to lapped cars, and I could get by the first or second one, and then a yellow would come out. He never really had to move around. I started playing with the middle down in three and four, and I knew I could maintain it a little bit. I was giving it all she had in the last ten laps. I hit the wall in turns one and two and then three and four, and I was like, alright, just finish it.” The highest-finishing Pennsylvania driver was Max Blair, who rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third but could never get close enough to challenge Davenport and Thornton for the race lead. “It’s what I had the last part of the race. I was just way to tight getting in and it really affected me on the restarts because I couldn’t be very aggressive for a couple of laps or so. I about gave third away to Devin on the last lap too. I am pretty happy with third. I love this place I wish we could race here a lot more than we do.” The winner’s Lance and Darla Landers, Double L Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions, Dyna Gro Seed, Bob Cat of Batesville, Mark Martin Automotive, ASC Warranty, Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas, VP Fuels, Bilstein Shocks, Midwest Sheet Metal, and Lucas Oil Products. Drake Troutman, Hudson O’Neal, Ross Robinson, Carson Ferguson, and Daulton Wilson completed the top ten. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary The Rumble by the River Presented by UNOH.edu | Night 2Saturday, August 24, 2024Port Royal Speedway – Port Royal, PA Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Devin Moran | 18.241 seconds (overall)Fast Time Group B: Jonathan Davenport | 18.279 seconds  Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 111-Max Blair[2]; 3. 2T-Kyle Lee[3]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[4]; 5. 06-Mike Lupfer[6]; 6. 77-Tyler Dietz[5]; 7. 4S-Danny Snyder[8]; 8. 17Z-Seth Zacharias[7]; 9. EZ1-Ron Fink[9] Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 3. 93F-Carson Ferguson[3]; 4. 66C-Matt Cosner[4]; 5. D19-Dillan Stake[5]; 6. 66-Justin Kann[6]; 7. 5-Chad Julius[8]; 8. 80D-Greg Diehl[7] Earnhardt Technologies Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 1C-Alex Ferree[2]; 3. 7T-Drake Troutman[3]; 4. 93-Cory Lawler[6]; 5. 22-Gregg Satterlee[4]; 6. 0Y-Andrew Yoder[5]; 7. 25K-Kody Lyter[7]; 8. 15-Scott Flickinger[8] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 3. 7-Ross Robinson[3]; 4. 119-Bryan Bernheisel[2]; 5. 1Z-Logan Zarin[5]; 6. 2-Dan Stone[6]; 7. 11-Jason Schmidt[7]; 8. 21-Chad Myers[8]; 9. (DNS) 11C-Trevor Collins Lucas Oil Heat Race #5 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 2. 1-Tim McCreadie[3]; 3. 2J-Justin Weaver[4]; 4. 15K-Jamie Lathroum[2]; 5. 0-Rick Eckert[6]; 6. 9M-Hayes Mattern[5]; 7. 32J-Shaun Jones[7]; 8. 4-Gary Stuhler[8] Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 48-Colton Flinner[2]; 2. 6-Clay Harris[4]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[6]; 4. 24-Dylan Yoder[5]; 5. 99B-Boom Briggs[1]; 6. 91-Coleby Frye[3]; 7. 17SS-Brenden Smith[7]; 8. 63-Nathan Long[8] Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 66C-Matt Cosner[2]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[1]; 3. D19-Dillan Stake[5]; 4. 22-Gregg Satterlee[6]; 5. 93-Cory Lawler[3]; 6. 06-Mike Lupfer[4]; 7. 77-Tyler Dietz[7]; 8. 4S-Danny Snyder[10]; 9. 5-Chad Julius[11]; 10. 17Z-Seth Zacharias[13]; 11. 15-Scott Flickinger[15]; 12. EZ1-Ron Fink[16]; 13. 80D-Greg Diehl[14]; 14. 66-Justin Kann[8]; 15. 0Y-Andrew Yoder[9]; 16. 25K-Kody Lyter[12] UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 119-Bryan Bernheisel[1]; 2. 0-Rick Eckert[5]; 3. 2-Dan Stone[7]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[6]; 5. 9M-Hayes Mattern[8]; 6. 32J-Shaun Jones[11]; 7. 24-Dylan Yoder[3]; 8. 4-Gary Stuhler[14]; 9. 11-Jason Schmidt[10]; 10. 21-Chad Myers[13]; 11. 63-Nathan Long[15]; 12. 15K-Jamie Lathroum[2]; 13. 1Z-Logan Zarin[4]; 14. (DNS) 91-Coleby Frye; 15. (DNS) 17SS-Brenden Smith; 16. (DNS) 11C-Trevor Collins The Rumble by the River Presented by UNOH.edu | Night 2 Feature Finish (50 Laps): Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Pay1 – 2 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $52,3002 – 5 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Martinsville, IN – $28,3003 – 7 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $10,7004 – 1 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $10,2005 – 10 – 1 – Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – $9,3006 – 17 – 7T – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $6,9007 – 3 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $7,0008 – 14 – 7 – Ross Robinson – Georgetown, DE – $4,7009 – 15 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $4,30010 – 11 – 1C – Alex Ferree – Saxonburg, PA – $3,60011 – 4 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – $5,60012 – 16 – 2J – Justin Weaver – Clearspring, MD – $3,20013 – 12 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $3,50014 – 22 – 0 – Rick Eckert – York, PA – $2,50015 – 8 – 20 – Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – $3,20016 – 20 – 119 – Bryan Bernheisel – Jonestown, PA – $2,30017 – 19 – 66C – Matt Cosner – Ridgeley, WV – $2,20018 – 23 – 99B – Boom Briggs – Bear Lake, PA – $2,60019 – 6 – 48 – Colton Flinner – Allison Park, PA – $2,00020 – 24 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $2,50021 – 25 – 93 – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – $60022 – 18 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – $4,20023 – 13 – 2T – Kyle Lee – Mercersburg, PA – $2,00024 – 21 – 25Z – Mason Zeigler – Chalk Hill, PA – $2,00025 – 9 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $4,200 Race Statistics  Entrants: 50Victory Fuel Pole Sitter: Devin MoranLap Leaders: Devin Moran (Lap 1); Jonathan Davenport (Laps 2-50)Wieland Feature Winner: Jonathan DavenportArizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: Jonathan DavenportBrandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: Jonathan DavenportMargin of Victory: 4.234 seconds Dave Warren Powersports Cautions: Garrett Alberson (Lap 4); Debris (Lap 14); Debris (Lap 16); Hudson O’Neal (Lap 24); Boom Briggs (Lap 33); Mike Marlar (Lap 35)LOLMDS Series Provisionals: Boom Briggs; Brenden SmithFast Time Provisional: n/aLOLMDS Emergency Provisionals: Cory LawlerTrack Provisional: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Jonathan Davenport, Ricky Thornton, Jr., Max BlairPenske Shocks Top 5: Jonathan Davenport, Ricky Thornton, Jr., Max Blair, Devin Moran, Tim McCreadieTodd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Drake Troutman (Advanced 11 Positions) PEM 4th Place Feature: Devin MoranWilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Hudson O’NealDeatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Clay HarrisMD3 Most Laps Led: Jonathan Davenport (49 Laps) Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Drake TroutmanColtman Farms Fastest Lap of the Race: Jonathan Davenport (Lap 6 | 19.194 seconds)Slicker Graphics Slickest Move of the Race: Jonathan DavenportMiller Welders Hard Luck Award: Garrett AlbersonOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Cory Fostvedt (Jonathan Davenport)ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Tim McCreadie (18.4265 seconds)Time of Race: 37 minutes 55 seconds Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Pay1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Martinsville, IN – 5635 – $368,6492 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 5410 – $299,1503 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 5395 – $306,5054 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 4905 – $165,7035 – 1 – Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – 4890 – $198,4256 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 4715 – $133,4257 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – 4605 – $150,5258 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – 4565 – $131,6259 – 20 – Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – 4345 – $91,02510 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 4300 – $101,30011 – 7T – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 3895 – $82,22512 – 7 – Ross Robinson – Georgetown, DE – 3785 – $76,05013 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – 3780 – $53,87514 – 99B – Boom Briggs – Bear Lake, PA – 3355 – $46,02515 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – 3265 – $32,85016 – 93 – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – 3075 – $18,67517 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – 3055 – $50,775

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY COKE ZERO SUGAR 400 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT AUGUST 24, 2024

·       Battling to keep their championship title hopes alive, Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1 team came just .047 seconds from the victory – ultimately taking the checkered-flag in the runner-up position after a chaotic overtime restart for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.  ·       After losing the regular season points lead at Michigan International Speedway last weekend, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 team earned crucial points in both stages. Running fourth with less nine laps to go, Larson was caught up in a multi-car wreck that took his chances away from his first career victory at the “World Center of Racing”. Making repairs to ultimately cross the finish line in the 21st position, Larson will head into the series’ regular season finale at Darlington Raceway sitting in the second position in the standings and 17 points behind current points leader Tyler Reddick.  ·       Amidst the battle for his second career regular season title, Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team were collected in a multi-car incident while running mid-pack during Stage Two. Suffering too much suspension damage to continue, the former series champion was forced to retire early from the race – moving the Team Chevy driver to the third position and 18 points from the points lead.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10:  POS.   DRIVER 2nd Kyle Busch7th Parker Retzlaff9th Daniel HemricWITH 25 NASCAR CUP SERIES RACES COMPLETE:Wins: 11Poles: 7Top-Five Finishes: 42Top-10 Finishes: 91Stage Wins: 13

UP NEXT: The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season concludes at Darlington Raceway with the Cook Out Southern 500 on Sunday, September 1, at 6 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES: Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1Finished: 12th You’re 27 points below the cutline. How do you feel going into Darlington?“I look at it like we have another chance to go win the Southern 500. That’s what I’m focused on this week. The points, they give them out at the stages and end of the race. If you run good, they give you a lot of them. I just get excited for a chance to go win the Southern 500.” When you get in an incident early like that, drive around and hope for the breaks you need to get back to the front, are you thinking about the points situation? “I was just hoping it would stay running, keep the water in it and be able to keep up with the pack. Looking at the car, it was amazing it did. The whole splitter is off of it; dragging the ground. Yeah, it’s pretty incredible that we were even able to finish. I thought the radiator was going to be gone. We’re fortunate to finish, but yeah, as I’m riding around – mainly in Stage Two when I dropped back from the pack and was going to be the free pass, I thought through all of it then. And then the whole final stage, it was all about trying to execute and maximize what we could.” Kyle Busch, No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1Finished: 2nd“It’s just frustrating. We’ve led races here at Daytona going into the last restart and haven’t been able to pull off a victory. Not sure what it is; what I’m doing wrong or what it is that I’m missing. It seems like the energy broke up off of turn two and the No. 20 (Christopher Bell) got crooked and wasn’t on my rear bumper the way we needed to be. The outside lane just went by. I wanted to get up in front of the No. 21 (Harrison Burton) because I knew the momentum was coming there. But I knew the No. 20 was a better friend. It just didn’t work out.” You did everything right tonight. How do you square this one?“Just finished second. It’s all good. We were really, really, really lucky tonight to miss a few of those crashes. All good. Just real proud of everybody; Randall (Burnett, crew chief), all the guys at RCR and ECR. They did a great job and brought a fast car. Was hoping we could get those free No. 8 specials on Monday for everybody; get some chicken tenders rolling, but wasn’t meant to be. We’ll take this. We’ve got a good little stretch here going with these last three weeks, and hope we can do what we need to do next week.” Can you go on and win the Southern 500 next week?“Yeah, I mean, we want to. We ran good there the first time I ran with these guys early last year. But early this year, we struggled mightily. We’ll just have to go with hopefully a really good package that works and get our job done.” Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Cirkul Camaro ZL1Finished: 9th“Speedway racing. It was chaotic. I thought we lined up pretty well there for the green-white-checkered and tried to formulate something going into (turns) three and four. I made a move to separate and I got shoved. Luckily, I got a big shot coming to the line to even get back forward and get spots back into the top-10. All-in-all, it was a decent day for the No. 31 Cirkul Chevy team. Appreciate Cirkul and all they do for us; all the people we have here supporting us. Looking forward to going to one of the coolest race tracks in the country next weekend.” Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/BIGGIE Muffins/ Capri Sun Camaro ZL1Finished: 33rd “I was just running the middle there. Kind of saved our car all day. Actually made our way to the front a little quicker than I thought we were going to be able to. That caution kind of killed us. We’d been saving a ton of fuel. In the spot we were in, I felt like we were going to gain some track position on that green flag pit stop. Obviously, we didn’t get that, and were mired back there in 20th, and so we got the third row in the middle there, and it looked like the No. 2 just turned the No. 34 and then we piled in there. Just part of it.” “I felt like we got towards the front. We were really setting ourself up for that green flag pit stop. We were saving a ton of fuel. When the caution came out, it kind of screwed our strategy up. Being 20th and coming in and not really gaining anything on your pit stop, so it kind of put us in a bad spot. Kind of had to make our way up through there and put ourselves in the middle. I didn’t really like being in the middle but I had to make some moves. I think we got somewhere close to the top 10, and looked like the No. 2 turned the No. 34 and we just piled in. We were hoping for a green flag pit stop, because that’s what we were really setting up ourselves for. Hopefully jump a lot of cars and jump into the top-10 that way. But, didn’t happen.” Parker Retzlaff, No. 62 Funkaway Camaro ZL1Finished: 7thWhat does this finish mean to you?“Yeah, it was definitely a good run for the No. 62 Funkaway Chevy team. I’m happy with a top-10 finish. I came in here today saying I wanted a top-15. Coming out of turn four there, knowing I was third or maybe fourth to the No. 20 (Christopher Bell), I knew I had a shot. I’m happy we gave this team a shot. We had an amazing car. Thank you to Darren (Shaw, crew chief) and everyone at Beard Motorsports; the Beard family for everything they’ve done and the support of Funkaway. I’m happy about it, but I still want more.” Talk about the emotion of this sport. “It’s just been my dream to be here in the Cup Series at Daytona. It was my first one and I feel like I gave myself a shot. Coming so close and not getting it just hurts a little bit.” What was it like there at the end?“It was just really aggressive. Everyone was pushing as hard as they can. It just very aggressive, but that’s how this racing gets and that’s why you see wrecks like you do. You have to be lucky and miss the wrecks, but also have a fast enough car to be there at the end.” Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in a multi-car incident during Stage Two. Finished: 36thWhat happened from your perspective? “Yeah, I honestly have no idea. I just think that everybody was kind of playing games. Nobody wanted to lead, and it just kind of puts everyone in a tough spot. We were all just kind of stacked up there. Somebody was switching lanes, it looked like, and got out of shape. It’s a bummer. It was so early in the race. I would just like an opportunity to get a little deeper into it and just see where things shook out. We’ve been pretty lucky these last couple of trips down here to Daytona. It’s just unfortunate, but we’ll try to have a good weekend at Darlington.” Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Camaro ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in an incident on pit road. Finished: 40th “I was doing my pit stop just like every single weekend. The No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) was right behind me and the No. 21 (Harrison Burton) was right in front of me, so unfortunately I got boxed in. We know that every single time we do a pit stop, we drop a little bit of fuel and that’s completely normal. Unfortunately, the No. 11 was leaving his pit stall right behind me, and because he was waiting for me to leave, his exhaust fired up the little fuel I dropped. Because I was still parked there, that went up the back of my car where the fuel cell is and it just grabbed it. It was a very unfortunate situation. I don’t know what we could have done differently. Just sad that we’re out of the race this way, but I’m glad I’m fine and the entire team was fine. The other crazy thing is that I was able to feel the heat, but because I don’t run a rearview mirror and only run the rearview camera, I couldn’t see it. The rearview camera is connected to the rear bumper, so I could see the smoke, but I couldn’t see the fire. I could feel the heat, but I couldn’t see how big it was.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND

PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

PORTLAND, OREGON

TEAM CHEVY ALL CHEVY FRONT ROW

FULL PACKAGE

AUGUST 24, 2024

WILL POWER QUALIFIES SECOND TO LOCK-IN ALL CHEVROLET FRONT ROW FOR THE BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND 

• Santino Ferrucci put his No. 14 Phoenix Investors AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet on pole for the BiTNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland with a lap of 58.2046 seconds
• It is Ferrucci’s career-first NTT P1 Award, and the first pole for AJ Foyt Racing since Detroit, 2014
• Will Power, INDYCAR’S all-time pole winner, qualified second to lock-in an all-Chevy power front row behind the wheel of his familiar No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet with a lap of 58.3120 seconds
• Two Team Chevy drivers-Ferruci and Power-progressed to the Firestone Fast Six to run for the pole
• Josef Newgarden and Romain Grojean also represented the Bowtie brand in the Fast 12
• The schedule on Saturday concluded with a final 30-minute practice at 5:15 PM PT
•  The session was completed without incident
• Ferrucci had a solid session finishing ninth in the final order
• Sunday’s race will be live of USA and Peacock starting at Noon PT, 3:00 PM ET plus INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 218..

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULT:

Pos. Driver

1^st    Santino Ferrucci (58.2046)

2^nd    Will Power (58.3129)

7^th     Josef Newgarden (58.41.63)

8^th    Romain Grojean (58.4494)

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING-QUOTES

SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 14 PHOENIX INVESTORS AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER:

How special is this moment?

“I mean, this is definitely one of the greatest days of my career. In qualifying, too, it’s so tight. This series is so incredible talented. To be doing this today is such a feat for us and the team, and shows how hard we’ve been working. I can’t thank everybody enough for believing in me.

“Man, I think it’s no secret how hard we’ve been working this year, how hard I’ve been working, Larry (Foyt), our entire staff. I mean, my first career pole in an INDYCAR and I’m not known for being the best qualifier and today, we just felt it. We unrolled off the trailer amazing. It’s been a year of hard work and progression. We’ve showed some real speed at certain times and it feels great to put it together, man. I can’t just thank this entire team enough, Sexton Properties, Phoenix Investors, everybody that’s involved, Chevrolet. We brought it.”

Starting on pole, how do you keep it up front in the race tomorrow?

“We’ve been so good in race craft, that’s actually the least of my worries. The racing’s so good for us. We’ve been struggling everywhere else on the weekend, so to knock this out of the park, I’m excited.” 

You’ve been strong on ovals in past, but to get this first career pole on a road course, how does that feel to you?

“Everything. I’ve got some more bargaining power for next year. I mean, I love it. What Larry (Foyt) and I have been building at this team, I’m so proud of him, so proud of what we have accomplished, and I just can’t wait for the future. I think this is a glimpse of what we’ve got. This is the last road course of the year, and, trust me, I want to get on that podium so bad, stand on that top step, and a road course would be a way to make it happen.” 

LARRY FOYT, AJ FOYT RACING TEAM PRESIDENT:

“It’s just awesome. I mean, the trajectory where we’ve been headed as a team, it’s just been great. We’ve added so many great people to our group. Santino (Ferrucci) is just getting better all of the time. This is just a testament to everything we’re doing. Thanks to affiliation with Penske. Certainly, a huge help. Those guys are awesome, but our guys just really delivered today and Santino drove the wheels off. It’ll be good to call dad. It’ll be a fun call for a change. I hope the Sextons are watching and the Phoenix livery is beautiful this weekend. It’s great, just great.” 

We know what one half of the team is going to look like from the driver perspective with David Malukas. What does this do to help solidify Santino’s position in the team?

“He’s done a super job this year. Can’t say enough about how he’s helped elevate the team. It’s just really good. I hope he can enjoy this. It’s really great for the morale of the whole group.” 

What have been some key moments along the way with this team whether it’s key personnel, milestones, etc.?

“You get a good group together, everybody pulling in the same direction, and that’s what it really takes. INDYCAR is so tight. You can be up one weekend and down there next. If you’ve got a group that really likes working together and putting in the extra effort, that’s just what we’ve been doing. From guys like Michael Cannon joining the team to the Penske affiliation, Chevy power, everything just comes to this. It feels great.” 

MICHAEL CANNON, AJ FOYT RACING TECHNICAL DIRECTOR:

“I’m just so blessed to work with so many really good drivers, really great drivers, a lot more great drivers and these great engineers. This has been a 19-month project getting here and I can’t thank Larry (Foyt) enough for giving me this opportunity to build a racing team, Roger Penske and his group, Ron and all the guys there with all of the help they’ve been giving us, it’s made a world of difference. We’ve turned this team completely around from tail end Charlie to pole. This is magnificent.”

Many on the team were here when you showed up to help with this resurgence. Celebrating this moment, what does that mean to you?

“Everything. It means everything. I hope AJ (Foyt) is watching. I hope he’s proud of us. It was what I was hired to do. A lot of us came in here given a blank slate, not necessarily a blank check but a blank slate. To pull this off is remarkable. It’s one of the best days of my 42 years of racing that I can remember. Just truly remarkable, so proud of (this crew), and I’m so glad I could do this for Larry and AJ (Foyt).” 

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON BUSINESS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED SECOND:

“I made one mistake in turn 12. I dropped the wheel off which lost me a bit over a tenth, so (Santino Ferrucci)’s lap was very, very good. He did a great job. All stoked to get through the Fast Six. I really wanted pole because it helps so much not getting caught up in that first corner. But, it’s great to be on the front row with somewhat of a teammate. Obviously, with Santino, we share information some, so we can start about the start. Ultimately, just have to keep finishing ahead of (Alex) Palou. He’s right there. Obviously, I can be a bit more aggressive than he can on the start. I have less to lose than he does, so we’ll just focus on trying to win the race.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 TIRERACK.COM TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED SEVENTH:

“We heard your radio discussing the limiter concern that you had on your lap. How big of a difference do you feel that it made?

“Pretty small, but when you’re talking in the grand scheme of things of couple of hundredths of a second making the difference in the cut, you know… We haven’t seen the data yet, but regardless of that, we probably needed to be a little bit quicker to be safe and not have to even worry about something like that. But that on that particular lap, we had a limiter spike for whatever reason. I’m disappointed. Our car was really good. This team is really good. Luke (Mason) did a really good job on the set up. It’s fun to have TireRack.com on board. They’re new for us this weekend. Obviously, we have a great partnership with Discount Tire, so to bring Tire Rack as well is really great on our INDYCAR program. But I’m disappointed because I really wanted to transfer there, I wanted a shot at the pole. Hopefully, Will (Power) can get that job done. As you can see, our cars are quick. We’ll have to focus on the race with the No. 2 car.” 

Obviously, INDYCAR qualifying is intense but it seems like this weekend, the field is so close. How intense are these sessions as a driver?

“It’s insane. I don’t know how to describe it any more. We have essentially a new car we’re working with. It’s five races old, we’re 100 pounds lighter. It’s hybridized, so it’s a completely different use case and somehow everyone is within a tenth or two of a second. It’s unbelievable how tight it is. You can’t make one little misstep whether it’s me driving the car or us with the setup. Any little detail just can’t be missed. It’s hard. I don’t think there’s anything more competitive on the planet. It’s been that way with INDYCAR but it seems to ratchet up each year.” 

ROMAIN GROJEAN, NO. 77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED EIGHTH:

“P8 in qualifying, and think we’re going to start P6 with engine penalties in front, so pretty good job. Not an easy weekend with the start, but we’ve done some great work to get better in qualifying. A few ideas for the race. Weather for tomorrow is going to be a lot different, so we just need to try to analyze that the best and get a good race car.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 FREIGHTLINER TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 14^TH: NOTE – will take a six position grid penalty for unapproved engine change

“Our car was good now, I just didn’t find the gap where I should have. Pretty disappointed for everyone on the Freightliner Chevy. Our car was quick. You just can’t afford to just be, even if the car is a second in front of you, it’s disturbs it enough to slow it down. I’m bummed with that because we have a car good enough for pole, but I’m just going to have to do it the hard way.” 

What did the reds feel like there? Did they take a lap or two to come in there?

“It was pretty normal to every other track. It’s not a problem with that. It’s a matter of just getting it in the right gap.” 

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 askROI ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15^TH:

“This is a tough one. We really feel that we have a much better car than 15th, but it’s so hard to get the gaps right during qualifying and then not knowing what other cars around you are going to do. Last year though, I started 13th and had my best finish of the season, so we will try to move our way forward tomorrow and continue our streak of Top 10s!”

CHRISTIAN RASMUSSEN, NO. 20 GUY CARE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 17^TH:

“I think everyone knows it’s that tight. You have to be on the absolute limit to even transfer. A tenth of a second, I mean, in practice it was a matter of ten spots, a tenth of a second. It’s crazy tight. Unfortunately, we were just on the wrong side of that, and I think we have a strong car this weekend. We didn’t really show our pace in the practices, but this is more like it. Hopefully, we can move forward a little bit in the race and finish the season off strong.” 

Last race of the season, what does that mean mentally for you?

“I want to race, that’s what I’m here for, but right now I’m focusing on this weekend and doing the best I can, give us a best spot in the championship – that’s what we’re all thinking about. It’s not going to be anything super crazy this weekend, just kind of a safe, strong weekend.” 

ALEXANDER ROSSI, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 18^TH:

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 23^RD:

“I don’t know what went on with the reds. The blacks, the car didn’t feel horrible on the blacks, it just felt like it never switched on the reds. I don’t know if it what how we brought them in or having to back down when some of the guards in front… We were a little bit off sequence. That was obviously a handful. Just no pace in it at all. Couldn’t really get it out of the car. There’s not much more I could’ve done or would’ve been spinning. It’s a bummer because I thought we had a chance for at least a Fast Six and for the pole. We just couldn’t get the car to switch on on the reds.”

NOLAN SIEGEL, NO. 6 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 24^TH:

“Pretty strong pace-wise in practice, and we were in a good spot to transfer, then I thought we had pretty clean run and the balance in the car was fine. It didn’t feel like anything went wrong, we were just lacking pace. Obviously, none of us transferred so not a stellar day. We’ll have to find a little bit more and keep searching. I think our race pace is a little bit better than qualifying pace, at least, but was hoping to have a stronger qualifying session for the last road course qualifying of the year, for sure.” 

You went 20th to seventh at World Wide Technology Raceway so you know how to slice and dice your way through the field. What kind of different challenges on a road course does that present?

“It’s very different than to oval racing. I don’t know how much strategizing there will be in this race. I think that it’s generally easier to make passes on road courses or at least it has been. Gateway raced pretty well. I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve never done an INDYCAR race here at Portland, so I’ll be learning. I’ll see what I can do, and hopefully this track races as well as Gateway did last weekend.” 

STING RAY ROBB, NO. 41 GOODHEART VET/PRAY.COM AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 25^TH:

”Qualifying was great for the team, seeing Santino in P1 was very exciting . We’re going to his car to try it out in the warmup and see what happens there. Hopefully that will improve it for us and I think that we’ll be in a good spot.”

CONOR DALY, NO. 78 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 27^TH:

“It is what it is. It’s just frustrating because I think the team made a great step forward in the car. Just don’t have the experience to take advantage of it, and we can’t afford to make silly mistakes either. I think we’ll be fine, I do believe that. Obviously, the work is really hard for us. But I appreciate everyone trying to get me up to speed with just one session. Honestly, you just have to make something happen. We’ll try and stay out of trouble and try to strategize our way forward and use the speed of the car that we’ve got. It is what it is. I’m personally frustrated because I want to be better for these (Juncos Hollinger Racing) guys. It’s almost impossible to really know what I don’t know.”

POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

Santino Ferrucci

Larry Foyt

Will Power

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Santino Ferrucci for AJ Foyt Racing with his first career NTT P1 award.

Santino, congratulations. Tell us about this. What are the emotion months like?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, it’s pretty awesome. It’s my first career pole in the series. To come on a road course like Portland where it’s so tight, it’s so competitive. It just felt great.

That lap felt amazing. We rolled off the trailer really good coming here. We knew we had a strong car. So it’s really nice to put everything together for myself and for the team.

Yeah, super stoked as well. New sponsor on the car this weekend, Phoenix Investors. They were all down there in the pits with us when it happened, so it was a blast.

THE MODERATOR: You were already P1, but pushing towards the end. The unknown is what you’re fearful of. You weren’t backing down at the end at all, were you?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: No, definitely not. It’s always about who crosses the line last year. I’ve watched enough Fast Sixes to know that. We field for three laps, so I was going to use them all, regardless if we ran out or not.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Larry, could you talk about what this means for the organization.

LARRY FOYT: Well, it’s huge. I think you can just see how happy everybody is because a couple years ago it was a struggle. We’ve just kept building this team, kept adding better people. It’s led to all this.

Having some consistency with Santino, man, everyone is just really happy. This whole year, even fighting for a top 10 in the championship was a huge step up. The qualifying pace, don’t say you’re not a good qualifier, can’t say that (smiling).

We have such a good group working together from the engineering, mechanics, and a hell of a driver. So it feels great.

Q. How much does the Penske alliance put you in this position today?

LARRY FOYT: It’s great. They’ve been super to work with. I’ve learned a lot. So can’t thank them enough for everything that they’ve done to help us achieve that, get to where we’re headed. Awesome organization to be with.

Q. Santino, you said this gives you some bargaining power for next year. Are you going to get a contract out of Larry by the end of the day? What’s your situation?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: When is warm-up? How long do we have (laughter)?

No, it’s good. I don’t think it’s any secret that I very much found a home here with Larry and AJ Foyt. I want to stay. That’s kind of in the cards here. Obviously there’s a lot that needs to happen, still a pretty big off-season.

Getting pole today definitely doesn’t hurt (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: AJ Foyt’s first P1 award since Belle Isle in 2014. This has to feel good, Larry.

LARRY FOYT: Yeah, I was in my 30s (smiling). It does feel great. We had a good car from when we unloaded. Santino said the car was really good. We thought we had a shot at top six, but we really didn’t think the pole. Just a hell of a lap he put in there.

Q. You felt this was a place you could target for a strong result. What about this track, permanent road course package, made for this? Did you feel like a pole was possible or did this take you a little by surprise today?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I said Portland would be a good one for us just based off of how we did at Barber and Laguna. We kind of understood why we were so quick there in the race. It was just putting it together here in Portland. Obviously they’re three totally different tracks.

When we unloaded on Friday, we knew we had a really good car. Then it was fine-tuning it really into today. I kind of figured we’d be able to get into the top 12. The Fast Six I knew was going to be really difficult.

The new tire runs for us we’re not super sparkly. The second tire runs is where I kind of knew we had something. So in my head, when Larry told me we had advanced into the Fast Six, I knew that if I just stayed calm and hit my marks, we could really be a threat to contend for a pole.

I didn’t think we would get it, but I thought we would at least be on the front row. I’m beyond thrilled to lead the field to green tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Larry, any chance you’ve heard from the boss yet?

LARRY FOYT: No. I’m going to go give him a call right now and give Marlene Sexton from Sexton properties a call. None of this would be possible without them. This will be a fun call (smiling).

Q. When the Fast Six starts, we see everybody pile out onto the track. You stayed in your pit stall for quite a few minutes. Was it just a matter of that’s the way you wanted to do it to build a gap or did it have more to do with the heat cycle on the reds?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: There were a couple of strategy things involved. I think I’ll say a lot has to do with the fuel situation here in Portland. Just we’ve run a lot today. We really only had one run. Just wanted to make it count.

Yeah, that was kind of the plan.

Q. We had the announcement about Malukas. Santino, when we know what you’ve accomplished, how this program has grown together, the ability to not get demoralized, down, continue to rally when you’re facing an unknown situation for next year…

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think it’s been a very interesting two years. I think me and Larry have worked really well together. That news is honestly a huge steppingstone for the team. There’s a lot behind for that. Obviously for me it’s a bit of an unknown.

Things like today help. The Indy results that we’ve had during the 500 help. Being 10th in the championship helps. We’ve really brought it together.

Regardless of news, I never really found it demoralizing if that makes sense just because of how much we’ve been able to accomplish in the last two years. I don’t see it as a negative. I see it as a massive positive for something like that to come along.

Yeah, no, it’s exciting for the future. I can’t wait to see what unfolds.

Q. Larry, any thoughts other than that?

LARRY FOYT: Yeah, this whole season is a big tribute to a lot of what Santino brings to the table. Fighting for us to get top 10 in the championship, first time in two decades that this late in the season we’re fighting for that. That’s a big testament to a lot that he’s done.

We have a great relationship. I’m sure things will work out the way they should.

Q. Santino, in the Fast Six, you had last year’s polesitter Graham Rahal, Alex Palou, Will Power. Does that make what you accomplished today, taking pole, any more satisfying?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: To be honest, when we made it into the Fast Six, I was like, Who’s in it?

They said, Will.

I was like, Oh, damn.

It’s so hard to compete against everybody here. Everybody’s so talented. On any given day as a driver, as an athlete, if you get everything right, it’s a chance and an opportunity to excel. We had the car. Today was the day for me in qualifying to nail the lap, to get it right, especially when it counts.

Honestly the Fast 12 was more pressure than the Fast Six just because it’s so hard. I mean, you’re going against so many more people. Once you’re in the Fast Six, the math in my head was you’re in the Fast Five. Once you’re in the Fast Five, it’s only two more spots to third. If you nail your lap, it’s front row.

To take the pole, I didn’t really think about it (laughter).

Q. Were folks communicating to your ear with 30 seconds to go that you were on top or did you not know you had pole or were sitting on the fastest time until the session was over with?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I knew I was first starting the final lap, when I came onto the frontstretch just because we have telem in the car and stuff like that. I knew I was good. With one more lap to go, it’s whoever does the last lap normally gets the pole.

I just kind of put my head down. I felt like the car was in a perfect position. I just drove as hard as I could. When I got on the back straight out of seven, that’s when I keyed up the radio ’cause they have more telemetry than anybody else. I was asking them if I’m going to make it. Knew we were quick. I knew it was a hell of a lap. I just didn’t know how good.

At the line, we kind of knew. We were just waiting for Palou. Yeah, once we came down pit road, we had it.

Q. What is it like when you look down with a lap to go and you’re sitting on top? Was it surprising? How do you keep your emotions in check?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Kind of made me hungry, I’m not going to lie. When you see it there and you know you got more lap time that you can wring out of the car and yourself as a driver, I saw that. I saw I was already negative on the dash. I just wanted to push as hard as I could to see what I could actually do without the threat of what’s the worst that’s going to happen. You’re still going to end up in the Fast Six. At that point there’s no pressure to not push. That’s kind of where I was at mentally.

Q. Larry, there’s been a lot of attention on the Penske deal. A lot of people you brought into the team over the past few years. Might you want to talk about those people and reaction to all this happening, the importance of some of the hires you made.

LARRY FOYT: Well, for sure. I mean, we’ve been fortunate to bring in some really great people that have helped all the way from Michael Cannon to a lot of the other engineers, Adam, James. The whole stand. C.J., has been here a long time. A lot of people have stuck with us through the hard times, and as well a lot of new people have come in and been a great addition.

It’s just a great group that are working hard together. Definitely the Penske alliance has been great. They’re a great company to work with. We go back so far. AJ and Roger go way back. Obviously Tim Cindric. Working with him and Ron has been great. I’ve learned a lot. Certainly has been a benefit to help us get to where we’re headed.

No, can’t say enough about everyone on the team. That alliance has been very helpful, as well.

Q. Santino, is this your first pole since British F3 in 2014?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think this is my first one in a minute. At least that I can remember (smiling). It will be nice to lead the field to green, to have no one in front of us.

I’ve been off pole a couple of times. But yeah, it’s definitely fun.

Q. Will was saying you two could strategize for tomorrow. Does it help to have someone who is sort of a teammate to you alongside you?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: It’s definitely going to make it interesting. At the end of the day we are kind of our own team. We’re fighting our own championship. The championship doesn’t really matter as much to me as getting a win. That’s kind of my goal.

If we can help out some of our Penske alliance friends, to help Will with the championship in any way with how we do things, then yeah, we’re obviously going to. It’s what teammates do, how things kind of work.

By no means am I going to start and pull over and let him take the lead into one.

Q. Can you assess the rise that you and the team have had over the last 12 months?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, yeah, it’s been a huge help. There’s so much more that goes into it between just the alliance and working with everybody. Our engineering staff is unreal. We have some really overqualified guys here. They’ve worked together so well.

It’s one of those things to where it’s kind of created a perfect storm for us to where everybody has just gelled seamlessly. The car, we found good setups throughout the year. We found a lot of speed at a lot of different tracks, a lot of different disciplines. We were good at Laguna, Barber. We were average at Road America.

Coming into Portland with the last road course, I knew if we put everything together correctly… Everyone working with Chevrolet and some of the other things that we get as being a Chevy team really prepped us well for this event and it shows.

This is definitely a glimpse into the future for the team, I believe.

THE MODERATOR: As we wrap up qualifying, we’re joined now by Will Power. His fourth front row start of 2024.

You were the first one to congratulate Santino. You knew what this kind of moment meant for him, right?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I’m good friends with Santino. We go-kart together, go to dinner, so on. I was upset that I didn’t get pole, I really wanted it here, I wanted it badly. I was kind of a little bit upset.

Couldn’t be happier for Santino. He’s driving extremely well. And Foyt, it’s a great partnership for those guys. It’s good stuff, man. Good stuff. A fiercely competitive field. As you’ve seen, you never know who is going to get pole, you never know who will be the top six, you never know who is going to win the race.

THE MODERATOR: Obviously a Chevy sweep on the front row. Points championship still very much alive. Starting second, a nice boost heading into tomorrow’s race.

WILL POWER: Yeah, very nice to be on the front row. Of course, you have Palou right there. I can certainly be aggressive with him because he has a lot more to lose than me. Just got to keep finishing ahead of him. I’ll drive like Verstappen. Give him a little bit of pressure (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions for Will.

Q. Looking at the championship, do you still see it as a realistic opportunity for you?

WILL POWER: Yeah, man, still very, very possible. Very possible. It’s almost a little less than a quarter of the races to go, four races. A lot of points, a lot of stuff can happen.

I would have to say if he finishes ahead of me tomorrow, starts to look very, very tough. We have to have a good day, at least finish ahead of him, see where we come out in points there. Then doubleheader at Milwaukee, a lot on offer. Our goal is to get as close as we can to him by Nashville.

Q. After all that happened last week, have you cleared that up with the team? Is that sorted going into the rest of the season?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, whatever. I’m over that stuff real quick. Just one of those things that was unfortunate. We had a very good car and a very good night.

Yeah, moved on very quickly, focusing on this event to get the best possible result. See what we can do tomorrow.

Q. How do you see Santino as a prospect, and Foyt as well? They have the potential to start taking points away from you. At the same time they’ve also got the potential to finish ahead some of your rivals as well. How do you see all that playing out?

WILL POWER: Well, yeah, they could be a great asset to us, taking points from Palou. Obviously, yes, they can take points from us, but that’s just the name of the game. They got a good driver in Santino, obviously a good car with the partnership we have.

Yeah, like I said before, I couldn’t be happier for Santino to get a pole. He works hard, deserves it.

Q. Looking at the final stretch of races with the three oval races to come, you have to feel a little bit more confident than Alex considering Alex hasn’t had an oval victory.

WILL POWER: Yeah, based on our oval form this year, we should be more confident than he is. You never know in this series, though. I think Dixon is very strong at Nashville. Milwaukee, we haven’t been there, so we don’t know.

Ultimately we have to finish ahead of him every weekend. It’s the only way. Anything can happen in this series. Look at last week. I mean, I led so many laps, had the quickest car, and I finished 18th just because of a restart. Same with Toronto the race before. I was running the top four or five, had an incident, gave myself a drive-through.

A lot can go down and change quickly. We’ll see how this plays out.

Q. Looking at the race tomorrow, a lot of the other championship contenders are caught in the awkward midfield area, which is not a place to be at Portland.

WILL POWER: Yeah, definitely a tough place to be at the start of the race, no question. We’ll see, yeah. Can even be tough where I am honestly. Really you want to be a leader. That’s why I was mad after I didn’t get pole. Man, I need that, get a jump in front of the whole field, take off.

Yeah, but they have the lead to go early which strings it out more than it used to, so that will help. Yeah, we’ll see what happens.

Q. Do you feel this weekend can erase what happened last weekend? How confident are you to catch some important championship points tomorrow?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it certainly can erase last weekend with a race win. That would help tremendously. I know Palou is a very tough customer. He doesn’t make mistakes. He’s very good in the race. We’ve got our work cut out for us to finish ahead of him because it’s almost essential that we do.

We’ll work on our car in warm-up and try to get the best possible race car that we have, yeah, see where we stand.

Q. How important is it to start in the first row for tomorrow? How do you feel about that?

WILL POWER: I think the only guy that feels completely safe is P1. Even starting on the outside of the front row can be a little tough at times because the inside row goes, if you can’t block out third place.

Yeah, we’ll see. Anything can happen. Can’t really plan on it. Just the key is to get through that first turn in a reasonable position.

Q. Do you feel you could be P1 after the second session?

WILL POWER: Yeah, like in the Fast Six, could I have been P1? Is that what you mean?

Q. Yes.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I made a mistake. The lap he did was really good. He did a really good lap. It was going to be tough to beat that.

But I actually lost like a 10th and a half on the 10 and 12 curb when I made a little mistake there. It was doable, but man, he put a bloody good lap together. It’s impressive.

Q. You said you can talk with Santino about the start, and also you can be more aggressive than Alex can be. What can you and Santino work together on ahead of the start? What kind of plan can you put in place? When you say you can be more aggressive, what does that mean?

WILL POWER: Well, we can take more risk with strategy. I mean, I race as clean and fairly as possible. Never want to win a championship in a way where you’ve taken someone out. Of course not. But I can race him a little harder because it’s not just me that he’s racing. If we both went out, it would be bad because there’s a lot of people coming as well around my points.

Yeah, yeah, my goal is I just got to stay ahead of the guy. I have to finish ahead of him, it’s as simple as that. It’s the only way I’m going to have a shot at the championship.

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT AUGUST 24, 2024

JUSTIN MARKS, FOUNDER AND OWNER OF TRACKHOUSE RACING, AND SHANE VAN GISBERGEN, DRIVER FOR TRACKHOUSE RACING, met with the media at Daytona International Speedway to announce that Trackhouse Racing will field three full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025, with van Gisbergen behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.  Press Conference Quotes:  Justin Marks:“A great day for the company, obviously. Being able to announce that we’re expanding to a third full time Cup series entry in 2025. The most exciting thing about it, for me, is that we’re able to announce that Shane Van Gisbergen is going to be the full time in the Cup Series for us next year for Trackhouse as we expand from two cars to three. These moments are always special, especially since 48 months ago this was a Tennessee Limited Liability Company with 500 dollars in the bank and sort of an idea. Me and Ty trying to figure out how to do it. For us to come in as a one car team in 2021 and make the acquisition of Ganassi, expand into two teams, win seven races the next year two and a half years after that, and have some great, great partners come on and sort of continue this amazing journey of building a great company here, this is obviously a huge moment. Really, really thrilled and excited that Shane put the trust in us and made a huge commitment and leaving a very successful career in Australia and New Zealand and move to a new country and start over and put his faith and trust in us, means a lot to us. He put in a tremendous amount of work. Great human being. Very, very talented racecar driver and someone with an incredibly bright future. We’re very excited to have him here. It’s also what’s kind of unique about this is that this is a neat moment for Project 91. Project 91 was a program to bring incredible talent from around the world to the NASCAR Cup Series and see if we could do something special with it. Obviously, with Shane going to Chicago and being the first winner in 60 years on debut in Project 91 and then make the move over, make the commitment to the Xfinity Series this year, and a bunch of Cup races, and then be able to turn that into a full time Cup Series ride in 2025, is just a really cool moment and story of Project 91. So, we’re very excited. We’re thrilled that he’s accepted the offer and made the commitment and looking for big things in 2025.” Shane van Gisbergen:“Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. It’s been a pretty awesome 18 months, I guess, now. It’s been a huge life change as Justin said. Everything he’s said will happen has happened. I never thought it would happen this quick, and I’m very glad we’ve done the learning this year in Xfinity. Kaulig Racing has been great to work with, and also a lot more races to finish the year now. It’s been a huge learning experience, but just excited to get full time in the Cup Series next year. Working with Trackhouse has been fun this year the way everyone goes racing, the attitude in the place, it just resonates from the top with Justin and Ty, the leadership there. You just feel it through the place. It’s a really cool team to be a part of. Hugely excited about it. Have a lot of work to do and it’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure. But, I’ll keep pushing and hopefully fit in pretty good next year. Can’t wait.” Justin, talk about as you look at Trackhouse Entertainment Group and how you get all of the different regions now of the world represented under that banner…“That’s definitely an element to the story here that we take a lot of pride in. We’re going to be full time Cup racing with three cars and three drivers that were born in three different countries, which I think is a pretty amazing thing for this sport. It’s pretty amazing for where motorsports is today, and we’re thrilled and honored to be stewards of international diversity. The top level of motorsports. I’ve said this a couple of times now, with our MotoGP lineup next year and our Cup Series lineup next year with Trackhouse has a roster of athletes that represent Mexico, New Zealand, the USA, Spain and Japan which is a pretty incredible thing for a motorsports company. We take a lot of pride in that. We just continue to tell a great story, try to get really great people in the house with diverse backgrounds, great stories to tell, compelling personalities, and at the end of the day just really, really dedicated, hard workers.” Shane, for you, coming over here and you’re racing over here with those you haven’t met before. When we were in Chicago, you were trying to read the names on the back of the windows to try and remember who you were trying to race in that corner. Talk about a year later now that you’ve been around these guys, how much you’ve learned, and also some of the respect you see between yourself and some of the other drivers…“It goes both ways. Didn’t you have to Google me when Justin brought my name up? It’s a different world, and it’s you’re still car racing but it’s a completely different sport. But like I said, learning so much this year and got two recent examples of people I guess that came through – Marcos Ambrose and Juan Pablo (Montoya) – similar backgrounds and Juan did three or four races in Xfinity and then full time into Cup. Marcos took it the slower route, so we’re kind of in between. I think the way we’ve done this is the right way with all of the processes and even though the Xfinity car is very, very different to a Cup car, I think it was 100% worth it. Learning all of the tracks, all of the places, the terminology, metric vs. imperial, that’s been tough. But, you know, it’s a massive learning era, but I’ve just got to keep building on it and keep improving every week. Had a little set back in Xfinity, I guess, losing our crew chief, but we’ve got to get that momentum built up. I’m still fully focused on getting a result in the Playoffs and keeping that momentum into next year. Pretty exciting times.” Justin, one more element to this in expanding the team, you have to dig deep and started thinking what’s going to be the number. How do you take this into the next level and something that has relevance?“Before we unveil the number, one of the things for Trackhouse, numbers are important. I mean, numbers are important and they’re a big part of the branding in this sport. Numbers represent history, and they represent legions of fans and historic drivers and historic moments in this sport. We don’t take our number choices lightly, and when we chose the No. 99 car to begin with, there was a responsibility that came with that. That was wins with Carl Edwards, wins with Jeff Burton and a lot of great drivers. Same thing with the No. 1 with Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray, and when we think about the numbers and our history and the number, it’s important for us to honor that history and to add to the winning legacy of that number. We’ve done with the No.1 and we’ve done with the No. 99 and we intend to do it with the new one.” Justin, talk a little bit about the process of this, wanting to do the right thing, talking to the Hendrick group, talking to Jeff Gordon, talking to the Earnhardt’s…“I called Carl Edwards in the end of 2020 and said we’re starting this Cup team, and we want to run the No. 99 number, and I want to tell you we’re doing this and obviously get your endorsement of it and get your support for it. We did the same thing with the No. 1, and we’ve done it with the No. 88 in talking to the folks at Hendrick and to Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. who I was just texting an hour and a half ago. It’s important for us to have the endorsement. A great exchange with Dale Jr. saying look, it’s not my number. I added to legacy of it. It’s important to me personally, but he was proud to see it in good hands. And that’s something that’s super, super important to me and this company.” What was the trigger that said all of a sudden, we need to do this? Did you have a goal, like last year, if we get to this certain time, we’ll pull the trigger on a third team, or was this just the time was right?Marks: “I’ve always thought that three teams is a really strong number of teams to have in this sport. It just gives you 33% more of an opportunity on the racetrack every weekend. Frankly, it’s four-car teams are reserved for really, really big companies in this sport, and it’s tough to make four cars work. I think three was kind of always sort of the number for us from day one if things went our way and we could grow from one car to two, that three was kind of the goal. An opportunity be able to come up to expand to a third car for this year, so we took it.” Shane, for you, the pressure is there. When you won in Chicago you said this was your ultimate goal. Next year, you’re going to be a full time Cup driver. Pressure, do you feel pressure? Are you motivated, excited, happy, anxious?“All of the above, but that’s why we do it. Those feels are good things because it means you care so much about it, right? All this year, I’ve been nervous getting in the car. Anxious. How it’s going to go. How am I going to be? That’s an awesome feeling and something I haven’t had for a few years, so it’s been really cool. It’s cool to be energized like that. Of course there’s going to be pressure. The Cup Series is pretty cutthroat as we’ve seen. A lot of guys, it’s pretty hard to make it. I just have to keep learning, do the best I can, and I’ll be fine.” Justin, can you confirm where you’re getting the charter from?“What would you guess? I would guess Stewart Haas Racing.“Probably not a bad answer.” Can you talk about the decision, or was it an easy decision? You had more drivers than you had spots, so you had to announce you were releasing Zane and keeping Shane…“I think when we decide the drivers, it’s a big picture, and we cast a wide net, sort of, of qualifications. It’s commercial support, fit in the company, personality, all of that. We don’t have four cars, we have three, so we have to make a decision. We’re excited about the decision we’ve made with SVG.” With all of your endeavors and connections in other motorsports arenas, is there a concentration of on where you’ll find the next driver to potentially bring to NASCAR? With a wide net, is there a target?Marks: “I don’t think we’re in the driver-looking business for right now for a while. We’re excited with Ross (Chastain), we’re excited with Daniel (Suarez), we’re excited with SVG. Really excited about resigning Raul Fernandez and bringing the (Ai) Ogura into the MotoGP thing. And we’ve got amazing talent who’s going to be racing full time next year in the Xfinity Series in Connor Zilisch. I think we’re in a pretty good spot right now. As the business expands and we’re able to expand to a third team and have these opportunities, it was important to make sure we put an emphasis and put ourselves in the best position to get the best talent in the house. I think we’ve done that, and now we can focus on what we’ve got and try to go win races.” Can you give a number, an exact number, on what you paid for the charter?“No.” In negotiations of the charter agreement, there’s been some debate whether to continue to invest in teams. Why not wait to acquire a third charter until the negotiations are final?“I don’t really have any stress that the fact the charter system is going to continue. I don’t really think that’s a risk, and when there is an opportunity to make a move and to expand… We had a lot of great commercial support around this program that we’ll announce later this season. There’s a lot of things falling in line. We had to take advantage of that opportunity when it was here before we lost it. It wasn’t really that difficult of a decision. The charter negotiations will continue. Those conversations will continue to happen. I think the charter system has been good for the sport. I think NASCAR will tell you the same thing. We don’t really have any stress about that system continuing.” Justin, the news came out that Zane Smith and Trackhouse were parting ways. Did this come down to a Zane or Shane decision. If it didn’t, describe what you made pick Shane for this seat over some other drivers who I’m sure were in consideration who may have had experience in NASCAR specifically?“The way I’ll answer this, this moment is about Shane van Gisbergen. This is a SVG moment. I’m going to keep it an SVG moment. I will tell you the reason we chose to go with Shane for this third car is that he… Yeah, there’s not a lot of experience in the Cup Series, some unknowns, a lot of hard work, but Shane checks a lot of boxes for a really, really compelling story and building great business for this sport. I think it’s the fact he’s incredibly talented. He’s really dedicated. There’s a reason why he was the first one to win on debut since Johnny Rutherford in 1963. That’s a big thing. Obviously, the Chicago Street Race is kind of in his wheelhouse, but the rate of adaptability of everything else, just the competition, the restarts, the pit stops, the way he prepared for that race, this is a superstar. This is somebody we were really excited about committing to knowing that’s a relatively unconventional path to a Cup car. But we wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t think this guy couldn’t win lots and lots of Cup races and be a Playoff contender. It was honestly a pretty easy decision because he checked a lot of boxes for us and everyone in the company is really excited for it.” Shane, what has been the hardest part about your learning curve? Just trying to get up to speed? You come out and, in your debut, win. What has really challenged you along the way?“Turning left. It’s just there’s so many variables in this racing. You see even Kyle Larson, who is the best driver, he’s first one week, 20th the next. There are so many variables that make this sport a thing. I’m used to being on one line, the repetition the whole time, hitting my marks, where the race can change so much over the course of the day. When the weather changes, the rubber goes down, or ever the superspeedway racing is completely different. Probably just the amount of variables in this racing. You can prep all you want, but it’s having those instincts in how to react and having the best way to do it. Every race, I’m learning something. I seem to always start the races kind of slow, and by stage three, I’m on the pace kind of thing. Just every week, this time of year, going back to tracks I’ve been to before, hopefully I can show that improvement and keep getting better. As I said, every week, I’m like a sponge trying to learn stuff and get better and better.” Do you expect to run any Xfinity races next year?van Gisbergen: “Yeah, I hope so. Obviously, there will be speaking with Chris and the Kaulig team and there’s opportunities to do the road courses, but to me, that’s the easy stuff. I want to do more ovals with them and learn in both ways. Hopefully, we’ll race with them next year and win some road courses but hopefully, they’ll let me do some ovals and I can keep getting more experience.” Justin, Project 91, you mentioned the importance of it right off the top. Do you anticipate it continuing moving forward with a full three car roster, or do you feel that stretches the team too thin?“We’re having those discussions right now. I think that Project 91 is something that 100% in my mind, I’d love to continue. It’s just difficult to do it this year because we had so much on our plate with supporting other drivers in other programs, and just a lot of other business development stuff we’re working on. I would expect Project 91 to be back sooner rather than later. Obviously, it has to fit into the workflow of the company. We’re expanding our focus on running three competitive Cup cars next year. There’s a lot of interest in Project 91 both from drivers, and from commercial partners. I would 100% anticipate that to continue in some capacity.”

No. 3 Corvette qualifies second, Milner on inside of third row in GT-only fight ALTON, Va. (August 24, 2024) – Antonio Garcia will start on the outside of the front row Sunday after leading the group of Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R drivers in qualifying for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.

Garcia, in the No. 3 Corvette from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, set a best qualifying lap of 1:43.346 (113.908 mph) in Saturday’s 15-minute qualifying session. That put him 0.140 seconds off the GTD PRO pole-winning time around the 3.27-mile, 17-turn Virginia International Raceway circuit. Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Z06 GT3.R was fifth in class at 1:43.745 (113.470 mph) and four-tenths of a second from the front row for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s lone GT-only event. The Virginia driver was on the back foot early after being balked on his first flying lap by another car that ran ahead of both Corvettes. The Pratt Miller squad claimed six victories at VIR under the Corvette Racing factory banner through the end of last season, including last year’s win for Garcia and Jordan Taylor in the Corvette C8.R. The Z06 GT3.R already has two VIR wins this year as DXDT Racing swept both rounds of GT World Challenge America there earlier this year with Milner as one of its drivers. In GTD, Orey Fidani qualified the No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R 14th in class with a lap of 1:47.306 (109.704 mph). He and Matt Bell are coming off a season-best, fifth-place finish the last time out at Road America. A repeat – or besting that result – at VIR would solidify Fidani’s lead in the Bob Akin Award standings, with the highest points-scoring Bronze driver at the end of the year earning an automatic entry to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Sunday. The race will air live on USA starting at noon ET with live streaming on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.comoutside the U.S. IMSA Radio will stream the call of the race at IMSA.com with coverage also on XM 206 and SiriusXM Online 996.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS POST-QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTESANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – QUALIFIED SECOND IN GTD PRO: “It was a confusing session with people slowing down, so you were forced to slow down in order to start the next lap. I’m sure we were in everybody’s way most of the time. I tried to be clean and do the best I could. I’m happy with the position for sure. I wasn’t expecting this, and I wasn’t expecting such a long track to be so busy. But yeah, that’s the way it went.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – QUALIFIED FIFTH IN GTD PRO: “It was a frustrating qualifying session. I think if you asked everyone except the pole-sitter, they would probably agree. It was a messy qualifying. Realistically we’ve had too many of those as a series… too many sessions where people try and build gaps all the time and cause problems. My quick lap was OK. I’m not crazy unhappy with it, but it would have been nice to have had a normal qualifying progression where I could go for two laps and see what that would have been. The good thing is that it’s just GTD PRO cars ahead of us, which is good. But we do have our work cut out for us. This is a place where having straight-line speed is very beneficial, and in the current state of things we don’t have a lot of that. So we’ll need to be clever tomorrow with our strategy. We’re prepared for that and know what to expect. We’ll work on that overnight tonight and see what we can come up with for the race.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND

PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

PORTLAND, OREGON

TEAM CHEVY ALL CHEVY FRONT ROW 

WITH QUOTES AND TRANSCRIPTS

FULL PACKAGE TO FOLLOW

AUGUST 24, 2024

WILL POWER QUALIFIES SECOND TO LOCK FRONT ROW FOR CHEVROLET

•  Santino Ferrucci put his No. 14 Phoenix Investors AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet on pole for the BiTNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland with a lap of 58.2046 seconds
• It is Ferrucci’s career-first NTT P1 Award, and the first pole for AJ Foyt Racing since Detroit, 2014
• Will Power qualified second to lock-in an all-Chevy power front row behind the wheel of his familiar No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet with a lap of 58.3120 seconds
• The schedule on Saturday will conclude with a final 30-minute practice at 5:15 PM PT. All practice and qualifying sessions broadcast with Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 218. Sunday’s race will be live of USA and Peacock starting at noon PT, 3:00 PM ET.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 14 PHOENIX INVESTORS AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER:

How special is this moment?

“I mean, this is definitely one of the greatest days of my career. In qualifying, too, it’s so tight. This series is so incredible talented. To be doing this today is such a feat for us and the team, and shows how hard we’ve been working. I can’t thank everybody enough for believing in me.

“Man, I think it’s no secret how hard we’ve been working this year, how hard I’ve been working, Larry (Foyt), our entire staff. I mean, my first career pole in an INDYCAR and I’m not known for being the best qualifier and today, we just felt it. We unrolled off the trailer amazing. It’s been a year of hard work and progression. We’ve showed some real speed at certain times and it feels great to put it together, man. I can’t just thank this entire team enough, Sexton Properties, Phoenix Investors, everybody that’s involved, Chevrolet. We brought it.”

Starting on pole, how do you keep it up front in the race tomorrow?

“We’ve been so good in race craft, that’s actually the least of my worries. The racing’s so good for us. We’ve been struggling everywhere else on the weekend, so to knock this out of the park, I’m excited.” 

You’ve been strong on ovals in past, but to get this first career pole on a road course, how does that feel to you?

“Everything. I’ve got some more bargaining power for next year. I mean, I love it. What Larry (Foyt) and I have been building at this team, I’m so proud of him, so proud of what we have accomplished, and I just can’t wait for the future. I think this is a glimpse of what we’ve got. This is the last road course of the year, and, trust me, I want to get on that podium so bad, stand on that top step, and a road course would be a way to make it happen.” 

LARRY FOYT, AJ FOYT RACING TEAM PRESIDENT:

“It’s just awesome. I mean, the trajectory where we’ve been headed as a team, it’s just been great. We’ve added so many great people to our group. Santino (Ferrucci) is just getting better all of the time. This is just a testament to everything we’re doing. Thanks to affiliation with Penske. Certainly, a huge help. Those guys are awesome, but our guys just really delivered today and Santino drove the wheels off. It’ll be good to call dad. It’ll be a fun call for a change. I hope the Sextons are watching and the Phoenix livery is beautiful this weekend. It’s great, just great.” 

We know what one half of the team is going to look like from the driver perspective with David Malukas. What does this do to help solidify Santino’s position in the team?

“He’s done a super job this year. Can’t say enough about how he’s helped elevate the team. It’s just really good. I hope he can enjoy this. It’s really great for the morale of the whole group.” 

What have been some key moments along the way with this team whether it’s key personnel, milestones, etc.?

“You get a good group together, everybody pulling in the same direction, and that’s what it really takes. INDYCAR is so tight. You can be up one weekend and down there next. If you’ve got a group that really likes working together and putting in the extra effort, that’s just what we’ve been doing. From guys like Michael Cannon joining the team to the Penske affiliation, Chevy power, everything just comes to this. It feels great.” 

MICHAEL CANNON, AJ FOYT RACING TECHNICAL DIRECTOR:

“I’m just so blessed to work with so many really good drivers, really great drivers, a lot more great drivers and these great engineers. This has been a 19-month project getting here and I can’t thank Larry (Foyt) enough for giving me this opportunity to build a racing team, Roger Penske and his group, Ron and all the guys there with all of the help they’ve been giving us, it’s made a world of difference. We’ve turned this team completely around from tail end Charlie to pole. This is magnificent.”

Many on the team were here when you showed up to help with this resurgence. Celebrating this moment, what does that mean to you?

“Everything. It means everything. I hope AJ (Foyt) is watching. I hope he’s proud of us. It was what I was hired to do. A lot of us came in here given a blank slate, not necessarily a blank check but a blank slate. To pull this off is remarkable. It’s one of the best days of my 42 years of racing that I can remember. Just truly remarkable, so proud of (this crew), and I’m so glad I could do this for Larry and AJ (Foyt).” 

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON BUSINESS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED SECOND:

“I made one mistake in turn 12. I dropped the wheel off which lost me a bit over a tenth, so (Santino Ferrucci)’s lap was very, very good. He did a great job. All stoked to get through the Fast Six. I really wanted pole because it helps so much not getting caught up in that first corner. But, it’s great to be on the front row with somewhat of a teammate. Obviously, with Santino, we share information some, so we can start about the start. Ultimately, just have to keep finishing ahead of (Alex) Palou. He’s right there. Obviously, I can be a bit more aggressive than he can on the start. I have less to lose than he does, so we’ll just focus on trying to win the race.”

POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

Santino Ferrucci

Larry Foyt

Will Power

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Santino Ferrucci for AJ Foyt Racing with his first career NTT P1 award.

Santino, congratulations. Tell us about this. What are the emotion months like?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, it’s pretty awesome. It’s my first career pole in the series. To come on a road course like Portland where it’s so tight, it’s so competitive. It just felt great.

That lap felt amazing. We rolled off the trailer really good coming here. We knew we had a strong car. So it’s really nice to put everything together for myself and for the team.

Yeah, super stoked as well. New sponsor on the car this weekend, Phoenix Investors. They were all down there in the pits with us when it happened, so it was a blast.

THE MODERATOR: You were already P1, but pushing towards the end. The unknown is what you’re fearful of. You weren’t backing down at the end at all, were you?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: No, definitely not. It’s always about who crosses the line last year. I’ve watched enough Fast Sixes to know that. We field for three laps, so I was going to use them all, regardless if we ran out or not.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Larry, could you talk about what this means for the organization.

LARRY FOYT: Well, it’s huge. I think you can just see how happy everybody is because a couple years ago it was a struggle. We’ve just kept building this team, kept adding better people. It’s led to all this.

Having some consistency with Santino, man, everyone is just really happy. This whole year, even fighting for a top 10 in the championship was a huge step up. The qualifying pace, don’t say you’re not a good qualifier, can’t say that (smiling).

We have such a good group working together from the engineering, mechanics, and a hell of a driver. So it feels great.

Q. How much does the Penske alliance put you in this position today?

LARRY FOYT: It’s great. They’ve been super to work with. I’ve learned a lot. So can’t thank them enough for everything that they’ve done to help us achieve that, get to where we’re headed. Awesome organization to be with.

Q. Santino, you said this gives you some bargaining power for next year. Are you going to get a contract out of Larry by the end of the day? What’s your situation?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: When is warm-up? How long do we have (laughter)?

No, it’s good. I don’t think it’s any secret that I very much found a home here with Larry and AJ Foyt. I want to stay. That’s kind of in the cards here. Obviously there’s a lot that needs to happen, still a pretty big off-season.

Getting pole today definitely doesn’t hurt (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: AJ Foyt’s first P1 award since Belle Isle in 2014. This has to feel good, Larry.

LARRY FOYT: Yeah, I was in my 30s (smiling). It does feel great. We had a good car from when we unloaded. Santino said the car was really good. We thought we had a shot at top six, but we really didn’t think the pole. Just a hell of a lap he put in there.

Q. You felt this was a place you could target for a strong result. What about this track, permanent road course package, made for this? Did you feel like a pole was possible or did this take you a little by surprise today?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I said Portland would be a good one for us just based off of how we did at Barber and Laguna. We kind of understood why we were so quick there in the race. It was just putting it together here in Portland. Obviously they’re three totally different tracks.

When we unloaded on Friday, we knew we had a really good car. Then it was fine-tuning it really into today. I kind of figured we’d be able to get into the top 12. The Fast Six I knew was going to be really difficult.

The new tire runs for us we’re not super sparkly. The second tire runs is where I kind of knew we had something. So in my head, when Larry told me we had advanced into the Fast Six, I knew that if I just stayed calm and hit my marks, we could really be a threat to contend for a pole.

I didn’t think we would get it, but I thought we would at least be on the front row. I’m beyond thrilled to lead the field to green tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Larry, any chance you’ve heard from the boss yet?

LARRY FOYT: No. I’m going to go give him a call right now and give Marlene Sexton from Sexton properties a call. None of this would be possible without them. This will be a fun call (smiling).

Q. When the Fast Six starts, we see everybody pile out onto the track. You stayed in your pit stall for quite a few minutes. Was it just a matter of that’s the way you wanted to do it to build a gap or did it have more to do with the heat cycle on the reds?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: There were a couple of strategy things involved. I think I’ll say a lot has to do with the fuel situation here in Portland. Just we’ve run a lot today. We really only had one run. Just wanted to make it count.

Yeah, that was kind of the plan.

Q. We had the announcement about Malukas. Santino, when we know what you’ve accomplished, how this program has grown together, the ability to not get demoralized, down, continue to rally when you’re facing an unknown situation for next year…

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think it’s been a very interesting two years. I think me and Larry have worked really well together. That news is honestly a huge steppingstone for the team. There’s a lot behind for that. Obviously for me it’s a bit of an unknown.

Things like today help. The Indy results that we’ve had during the 500 help. Being 10th in the championship helps. We’ve really brought it together.

Regardless of news, I never really found it demoralizing if that makes sense just because of how much we’ve been able to accomplish in the last two years. I don’t see it as a negative. I see it as a massive positive for something like that to come along.

Yeah, no, it’s exciting for the future. I can’t wait to see what unfolds.

Q. Larry, any thoughts other than that?

LARRY FOYT: Yeah, this whole season is a big tribute to a lot of what Santino brings to the table. Fighting for us to get top 10 in the championship, first time in two decades that this late in the season we’re fighting for that. That’s a big testament to a lot that he’s done.

We have a great relationship. I’m sure things will work out the way they should.

Q. Santino, in the Fast Six, you had last year’s polesitter Graham Rahal, Alex Palou, Will Power. Does that make what you accomplished today, taking pole, any more satisfying?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: To be honest, when we made it into the Fast Six, I was like, Who’s in it?

They said, Will.

I was like, Oh, damn.

It’s so hard to compete against everybody here. Everybody’s so talented. On any given day as a driver, as an athlete, if you get everything right, it’s a chance and an opportunity to excel. We had the car. Today was the day for me in qualifying to nail the lap, to get it right, especially when it counts.

Honestly the Fast 12 was more pressure than the Fast Six just because it’s so hard. I mean, you’re going against so many more people. Once you’re in the Fast Six, the math in my head was you’re in the Fast Five. Once you’re in the Fast Five, it’s only two more spots to third. If you nail your lap, it’s front row.

To take the pole, I didn’t really think about it (laughter).

Q. Were folks communicating to your ear with 30 seconds to go that you were on top or did you not know you had pole or were sitting on the fastest time until the session was over with?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I knew I was first starting the final lap, when I came onto the frontstretch just because we have telem in the car and stuff like that. I knew I was good. With one more lap to go, it’s whoever does the last lap normally gets the pole.

I just kind of put my head down. I felt like the car was in a perfect position. I just drove as hard as I could. When I got on the back straight out of seven, that’s when I keyed up the radio ’cause they have more telemetry than anybody else. I was asking them if I’m going to make it. Knew we were quick. I knew it was a hell of a lap. I just didn’t know how good.

At the line, we kind of knew. We were just waiting for Palou. Yeah, once we came down pit road, we had it.

Q. What is it like when you look down with a lap to go and you’re sitting on top? Was it surprising? How do you keep your emotions in check?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Kind of made me hungry, I’m not going to lie. When you see it there and you know you got more lap time that you can wring out of the car and yourself as a driver, I saw that. I saw I was already negative on the dash. I just wanted to push as hard as I could to see what I could actually do without the threat of what’s the worst that’s going to happen. You’re still going to end up in the Fast Six. At that point there’s no pressure to not push. That’s kind of where I was at mentally.

Q. Larry, there’s been a lot of attention on the Penske deal. A lot of people you brought into the team over the past few years. Might you want to talk about those people and reaction to all this happening, the importance of some of the hires you made.

LARRY FOYT: Well, for sure. I mean, we’ve been fortunate to bring in some really great people that have helped all the way from Michael Cannon to a lot of the other engineers, Adam, James. The whole stand. C.J., has been here a long time. A lot of people have stuck with us through the hard times, and as well a lot of new people have come in and been a great addition.

It’s just a great group that are working hard together. Definitely the Penske alliance has been great. They’re a great company to work with. We go back so far. AJ and Roger go way back. Obviously Tim Cindric. Working with him and Ron has been great. I’ve learned a lot. Certainly has been a benefit to help us get to where we’re headed.

No, can’t say enough about everyone on the team. That alliance has been very helpful, as well.

Q. Santino, is this your first pole since British F3 in 2014?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think this is my first one in a minute. At least that I can remember (smiling). It will be nice to lead the field to green, to have no one in front of us.

I’ve been off pole a couple of times. But yeah, it’s definitely fun.

Q. Will was saying you two could strategize for tomorrow. Does it help to have someone who is sort of a teammate to you alongside you?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: It’s definitely going to make it interesting. At the end of the day we are kind of our own team. We’re fighting our own championship. The championship doesn’t really matter as much to me as getting a win. That’s kind of my goal.

If we can help out some of our Penske alliance friends, to help Will with the championship in any way with how we do things, then yeah, we’re obviously going to. It’s what teammates do, how things kind of work.

By no means am I going to start and pull over and let him take the lead into one.

Q. Can you assess the rise that you and the team have had over the last 12 months?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, yeah, it’s been a huge help. There’s so much more that goes into it between just the alliance and working with everybody. Our engineering staff is unreal. We have some really overqualified guys here. They’ve worked together so well.

It’s one of those things to where it’s kind of created a perfect storm for us to where everybody has just gelled seamlessly. The car, we found good setups throughout the year. We found a lot of speed at a lot of different tracks, a lot of different disciplines. We were good at Laguna, Barber. We were average at Road America.

Coming into Portland with the last road course, I knew if we put everything together correctly… Everyone working with Chevrolet and some of the other things that we get as being a Chevy team really prepped us well for this event and it shows.

This is definitely a glimpse into the future for the team, I believe.

THE MODERATOR: As we wrap up qualifying, we’re joined now by Will Power. His fourth front row start of 2024.

You were the first one to congratulate Santino. You knew what this kind of moment meant for him, right?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I’m good friends with Santino. We go-kart together, go to dinner, so on. I was upset that I didn’t get pole, I really wanted it here, I wanted it badly. I was kind of a little bit upset.

Couldn’t be happier for Santino. He’s driving extremely well. And Foyt, it’s a great partnership for those guys. It’s good stuff, man. Good stuff. A fiercely competitive field. As you’ve seen, you never know who is going to get pole, you never know who will be the top six, you never know who is going to win the race.

THE MODERATOR: Obviously a Chevy sweep on the front row. Points championship still very much alive. Starting second, a nice boost heading into tomorrow’s race.

WILL POWER: Yeah, very nice to be on the front row. Of course, you have Palou right there. I can certainly be aggressive with him because he has a lot more to lose than me. Just got to keep finishing ahead of him. I’ll drive like Verstappen. Give him a little bit of pressure (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions for Will.

Q. Looking at the championship, do you still see it as a realistic opportunity for you?

WILL POWER: Yeah, man, still very, very possible. Very possible. It’s almost a little less than a quarter of the races to go, four races. A lot of points, a lot of stuff can happen.

I would have to say if he finishes ahead of me tomorrow, starts to look very, very tough. We have to have a good day, at least finish ahead of him, see where we come out in points there. Then doubleheader at Milwaukee, a lot on offer. Our goal is to get as close as we can to him by Nashville.

Q. After all that happened last week, have you cleared that up with the team? Is that sorted going into the rest of the season?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, whatever. I’m over that stuff real quick. Just one of those things that was unfortunate. We had a very good car and a very good night.

Yeah, moved on very quickly, focusing on this event to get the best possible result. See what we can do tomorrow.

Q. How do you see Santino as a prospect, and Foyt as well? They have the potential to start taking points away from you. At the same time they’ve also got the potential to finish ahead some of your rivals as well. How do you see all that playing out?

WILL POWER: Well, yeah, they could be a great asset to us, taking points from Palou. Obviously, yes, they can take points from us, but that’s just the name of the game. They got a good driver in Santino, obviously a good car with the partnership we have.

Yeah, like I said before, I couldn’t be happier for Santino to get a pole. He works hard, deserves it.

Q. Looking at the final stretch of races with the three oval races to come, you have to feel a little bit more confident than Alex considering Alex hasn’t had an oval victory.

WILL POWER: Yeah, based on our oval form this year, we should be more confident than he is. You never know in this series, though. I think Dixon is very strong at Nashville. Milwaukee, we haven’t been there, so we don’t know.

Ultimately we have to finish ahead of him every weekend. It’s the only way. Anything can happen in this series. Look at last week. I mean, I led so many laps, had the quickest car, and I finished 18th just because of a restart. Same with Toronto the race before. I was running the top four or five, had an incident, gave myself a drive-through.

A lot can go down and change quickly. We’ll see how this plays out.

Q. Looking at the race tomorrow, a lot of the other championship contenders are caught in the awkward midfield area, which is not a place to be at Portland.

WILL POWER: Yeah, definitely a tough place to be at the start of the race, no question. We’ll see, yeah. Can even be tough where I am honestly. Really you want to be a leader. That’s why I was mad after I didn’t get pole. Man, I need that, get a jump in front of the whole field, take off.

Yeah, but they have the lead to go early which strings it out more than it used to, so that will help. Yeah, we’ll see what happens.

Q. Do you feel this weekend can erase what happened last weekend? How confident are you to catch some important championship points tomorrow?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it certainly can erase last weekend with a race win. That would help tremendously. I know Palou is a very tough customer. He doesn’t make mistakes. He’s very good in the race. We’ve got our work cut out for us to finish ahead of him because it’s almost essential that we do.

We’ll work on our car in warm-up and try to get the best possible race car that we have, yeah, see where we stand.

Q. How important is it to start in the first row for tomorrow? How do you feel about that?

WILL POWER: I think the only guy that feels completely safe is P1. Even starting on the outside of the front row can be a little tough at times because the inside row goes, if you can’t block out third place.

Yeah, we’ll see. Anything can happen. Can’t really plan on it. Just the key is to get through that first turn in a reasonable position.

Q. Do you feel you could be P1 after the second session?

WILL POWER: Yeah, like in the Fast Six, could I have been P1? Is that what you mean?

Q. Yes.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I made a mistake. The lap he did was really good. He did a really good lap. It was going to be tough to beat that.

But I actually lost like a 10th and a half on the 10 and 12 curb when I made a little mistake there. It was doable, but man, he put a bloody good lap together. It’s impressive.

Q. You said you can talk with Santino about the start, and also you can be more aggressive than Alex can be. What can you and Santino work together on ahead of the start? What kind of plan can you put in place? When you say you can be more aggressive, what does that mean?

WILL POWER: Well, we can take more risk with strategy. I mean, I race as clean and fairly as possible. Never want to win a championship in a way where you’ve taken someone out. Of course not. But I can race him a little harder because it’s not just me that he’s racing. If we both went out, it would be bad because there’s a lot of people coming as well around my points.

Yeah, yeah, my goal is I just got to stay ahead of the guy. I have to finish ahead of him, it’s as simple as that. It’s the only way I’m going to have a shot at the championship.

Shane van Gisbergen Will Drive No. 88 Chevrolet in NASCAR Cup Series Stephen Doran Will Serve as Team’s Crew Chief in 2025

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA. –What began as a one-off PROJECT91 race in 2023 and continued as a successful Xfinity Series campaign in 2024 will turn into a fulltime NASCAR Cup Series season in 2025 for New Zealander Shane van Gisbergen. Trackhouse Racing announced today that it has acquired a third charter for the three-time Supercars champion who will join Ross Chastain and Daniel Suárez in the team’s 2025 Cup Series lineup. “This is a big day in so many ways for Trackhouse Racing, Shane, Chevrolet and race fans around the world,” said Trackhouse Racing founder and owner Justin Marks. “This is an important step for our organization and it’s a credit to the men and women at Trackhouse Racing whose hard work and success the last few years has led to us expanding to three Cup teams in 2025.

“It’s also a big step up for Shane who took a chance on Trackhouse Racing, moved here from New Zealand and now joins the most competitive stock car racing series in the world. Everyone will get to watch one of the world’s racing superstars compete in the NASCAR Cup Series next year.”Van Gisbergen said his mission since leaving the Supercars Series has been to come to America and earn a place in the Cup Series. He has raced full-time with Kaulig Racing in the Xfinity Series in 2024, winning at Portland International Raceway, Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway and the Chicago Street Race. He’s also raced in four Cup Series races in 2024 with plans to run in seven more races. “This is what I have planned for and I am ready,” said the 35-year-old Auckland, New Zealand native. “I know there is a tough learning curve ahead, but the best way to learn is to go out and do it. I feel I have made progress running the Xfinity Series this year with Kaulig Racing and I can’t thank everyone there enough. I look forward to the Cup Series. Those drivers and teams are the best in the world and it will be an honor to be part of their races.”

Van Gisbergen’s Chevrolet will carry the number 88 in 2025. That car number has been driven to victory lane 76 times in NASCAR history by legends including Dale Earnhardt Jr., Darrell Waltrip, Dale Jarrett, Donnie Allison, Ricky Rudd, Rusty Wallace, Buddy Baker and others. Stephen Doran, 38, will serve as the No. 88 crew chief in 2025. Doran is in his first year as a NASCAR Cup Series crew chief working with driver Zane Smith on the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet. The Butler, Pennsylvania native began his NASCAR career in 2006 at Petty Enterprises and worked as Kevin Harvick’s lead engineer at Stewart-Haas Racing from 2014 to 2023.

Trackhouse Racing will announce the No. 88’s sponsors in the upcoming weeks. The story of today’s announcement began in 2023 when Marks convinced Van Gisbergen to climb behind the wheel of Trackhouse’s PROJECT91 Chevrolet at the inaugural Chicago Street Race. Marks created PROJECT91 in 2022 to expand the organization’s global reach by fielding a Cup Series entry for renowned international racing drivers. 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen raced for PROJECT91 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International in 2022 and at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas in 2023. Van Gisbergen, though popular around the world, was little known to most of the NASCAR audience despite a resume that includes Supercars Championships for Triple Eight Race Engineering in 2016, 2021 and 2022, plus 78 wins and 47 pole positions making him the fourth most successful driver in series history. He also won the Bathurst 1000 in 2020, 2022 and 2023. The NASCAR world took notice at Chicago in 2023 when he led nine laps and won the race by 1.259 seconds in overtime. Van Gisbergen became one of six foreign-born drivers to win a Cup Series race and the first driver since Johnny Rutherford in 1963 to win his first Cup Series start. He returned later in the season to finish 10th on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. “Shane is the type of driver we had in mind when we created PROJECT91,” said Marks who expects another PROJECT91 entry in 2025. “He took advantage of his opportunity and that experience in Chicago launched a whole new chapter in an already successful story.”Van Gisbergen signed a driver development agreement with Trackhouse Racing that led to a full-time Xfinity Series seat at Kaulig Racing in 2024 along with competing in a handful of Cup Series races. Trackhouse Racing made its debut in 2021 and with Suárez as a single car team housed at Richard Childress Racing in Welcome, North Carolina. After purchasing the NASCAR assets of Chip Ganassi Racing later that season it expanded to a two-car team in 2022 with Suárez and Chastain. In 232 races, Trackhouse has won seven races, posted 41 top-five and 78 top-10 finishes.

SHEPHERD, MT (August 23, 2024) – Seth Bergman’s two-month winless streak on the American Sprint Car Series National Tour came to an end Friday night when he took the checkers on the opening night of the Harvey Ostermiller Memorial at Big Sky Speedway.

“I’ve run second to Sam [Hafertepe Jr.] so many times, I get tired of looking at the back of that thing,” Bergman said. “It’s just a very rewarding feeling when you’re close and you’re in a championship hunt, the guy you’re racing is winning and you’re right there and you’re running second a lot. To finally cross over that threshold again and get a win, it feels really really good.”

Bergman’s fourth-place Dash run put him right next to the No. 15H on row two to start the Feature, with Jake Bubak and Hank Davis out front. Bubak and Davis swapped lanes through Turns 1 and 2 on the start, with Bubak riding the top lane to the early lead after one lap. While Bubak paced the field, Hafertepe looked to be a man on a mission once again, as he immediately got around Davis for second on the bottom in Turn 4.

One lap later, Bergman followed Hafertepe through to take the third spot away from Davis. Matt Covington then tried to send him back another spot, but the two made contact in Turn 2 and Davis went flipping over the banking to bring out the red flag.

When the race went back green, Bubak was off like a rocket and grabbed a half-straightaway lead over Hafertepe. He would only get to enjoy his advantage for five laps though, as Andrew Deal’s spin on Lap 9 reset the field once again.

Bubak’s restart was a mirror image of the prior one, but the battle was on behind him for the runner-up spot. Bergman looked low in Turn 1, pulled in front exiting Turn 2 and then defended against a challenge from Hafertepe on the low side of Turn 3 to hold onto the spot.

Once he cleared Hafertepe, Bergman went to work on running down Bubak, and on Lap 15 the No. 23 car made the winning move. The slower car of Zach Blurton blocked Bubak’s progress on the bottom in Turn 3, and Bergman seized his opportunity to dart to the top and take command of the race with 10 to go.

The spinning car of Austyn Gossel brought the yellow out seconds after Bergman made his move, but Bubak was unable to reclaim the lead on the restart. From there, Bergman went unchallenged in the final segment to take his fifth Series win of the year and his first since the Speedweek finale at Tri-State Speedway in June.

“I’ve been doing it long enough to know to just take a deep breath, take [the track] for what it is,” Bergman said. “There’s still an opportunity to win a race, so that’s kind of where my mind was. Just taking it for what it was and finding an opportunity to win the race. We had a really good race car, and it was able to make the right moves at the right times.”

Bubak’s victory in last year’s Ostermiller Memorial under the Frontier Region banner proved that he knows how to get the job done at Big Sky, and another podium run against the National Tour further confirmed his speed in Billings.

“Finishing between Sam and Seth, they’re the two dominant cars every year I feel like,” Bubak said. “I think we’re in a good position.”

Hafertepe’s third-place effort snapped a five-race win streak in full-points events dating back to Tulsa Speedway on June 28. While he was disappointed to miss out on the Friday trophy, he knows what he has to do to be in contention come Feature time on Saturday with $12,012 on the line.

“On a normal racetrack, I think we’ve got a really good race car,” Hafertepe said. “Tonight obviously wasn’t a normal racetrack. So we’ll see. There’s not a lot we can take from tonight and use, but we can use little small segments. Like in Qualifying, we can use something out of that. We can use little small segments throughout the night to try and get better.”

Jason Martin finished fourth for his third-straight top-six effort, while Landon Britt came home fifth for his first top five since 81 Speedway on July 20.

The Triple X Hard Charger Award went to Frontier Region star Trever Kirkland, who made the Feature through the Last Chance Showdown before driving from 20th up to 12th in the main event.

UP NEXT: The National Tour returns to Big Sky Speedway on Saturday night for the $12,012-to-win conclusion to the Harvey Ostermiller Memorial. Tickets are available online here or at the track on race day. Can’t make it? Watch every lap live on DIRTVision.

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[4]; 2. 27B-Jake Bubak[1]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[3]; 4. 36-Jason Martin[6]; 5. 10-Landon Britt[8]; 6. 45X-Kyler Johnson[10]; 7. 55B-Brandon Anderson[12]; 8. 2JR-Kelly Miller[11]; 9. 21-DJ Brink[7]; 10. 14-Blayne Brink[16]; 11. 95-Matt Covington[5]; 12. 37-Trever Kirkland[20]; 13. 6G-Bryan Gossel[15]; 14. 5H-Harli White[14]; 15. 72-Phil Dietz[22]; 16. 15D-Andrew Deal[18]; 17. 9K-Kory Wermling[13]; 18. 01-Rich Bailey[17]; 19. 938-Bradley Fezard[21]; 20. 28-Joe Perry[23]; 21. 2J-Zach Blurton[19]; 22. 16G-Austyn Gossel[9]; 23. 2C-Hank Davis[2]

The Jason Johnson Racing driver holds on to win on the night the World of Outlaws honored Eloy Gutierrez

GRAND FORKS, ND (August 23, 2024) – There looked to be no stopping Carson Macedo on Friday night at River Cities Speedway.

The Californian lined up sixth for the 40-lap finale with a stacked five names ahead in the lineup, but it didn’t matter. None of them would get in Macedo’s way on his charge toward Victory Lane.

Macedo moved the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41 wherever he wanted to march forward. After starting on row three, he snatched the lead from Michael “Buddy” Kofoid on Lap 19. A fierce battle ensued for the next few laps before Macedo secured the spot. He then picked his way through heavy traffic and survived Kofoid’s final surge to grab the win.

An emotional celebration followed as the evening was all about honoring Eloy Gutierrez who passed away on Monday. Gutierrez helped implement the use of electronic timing and scoring, evolving Sprint Car racing to a new level. He dedicated many years of his life to the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars. But most importantly, he was one of the kindest humans to ever grace the racing community. Gutierrez treated everyone he met with kindness and as a friend.

“I just want to give a huge shoutout to Eloy,” Macedo said. “We miss him very much. It just sucks not having him here. He was a guy that was a friend to you no matter who you were. You felt like Eloy was your best friend because he made it a point to make you feel that way every time you saw him. I know we’re going to miss him very much.”

Macedo’s win bumped his career tally up to 40 with The Greatest Show on Dirt. He became the 21st driver in Series history to reach the milestone. The victory was his second at River Cities, making him the eighth with at least a pair of checkered flags at the Fargo, ND bullring. River Cities also became the 10th track where he’s won at least twice with the World of Outlaws.

Macedo might’ve made the drive to the front look easy, but it by no means was a simple cruise to the lead on the exciting quarter mile that is River Cities Speedway.

When the green flag dropped on the 40-lapper, it was second starting Kofoid getting the jump on the pole sitter Haudenschild to lead the first lap. Kofoid established command in the early going as the Roth Motorsports No. 83 pulled ahead of the field.

It didn’t take long for Macedo to begin charging, and right before the halfway point of the race he grabbed second when Haudenschild got tripped up on the cushion in Turns 1 and 2. Right after Macedo secured the spot the yellow flag flew for the first time.

The caution set up a pivotal restart as Kofoid opted for the bottom and gave Macedo the top for the double-file formation. Macedo took advantage by ripping by Kofoid in Turns 1 and 2 when the green flag brought the action back to life.

Kofoid fought back a few laps later as he got a strong run down the back straightaway and slid Macedo into Turn 3. Then during the next lap Macedo returned the favor as he pulled off a Turn 3 slider to regain the lead. 

The laps clicked away quickly in the second half of the race. Kofoid and Haudenschild gave it everything they had in their hopes to catch Macedo, but it simply wasn’t enough. Both closed in on the final lap, but Macedo held on comfortably on his way to his fifth World of Outlaws victory of the season. 

“I started to kind of second guess what I was doing there at the end,” Macedo admitted. “I started to kind of second guess what I was doing there at the end. I was starting to get a little free up top in (Turns) 3 and 4, but if I got my wing back a little bit, I’d get tight other places. I kind of found a happy medium there and moved around just enough. I could see him (Kofoid) exiting to my inside off of (Turn) 4 a little bit, so I tried the bottom. It was really slick on entry, but it was really center off, so I could see where he was using that and making up a little bit of ground. It was slick up top in (Turns) 3 and 4 as well.”

Buddy Kofoid settled for runner-up after leading 19 laps. It gave the Penngrove, CA native 13 podiums for the year with the World of Outlaws. After how the restart unfolded, Kofoid found himself second guessing his choice to take the bottom groove on the racetrack.

“I knew I obviously took the lead on the top on the initial start,” Kofoid said. “But it had been almost 20 laps since to where I figured the middle had kind of slicked up just enough to where I could take off on the bottom. But I just needed to be on the outside on the restart. Carson and the 41 guys did a good job. To be honest I felt like I could still pace them in their dirty air. There were times I felt like I was faster. Everyone is just hauling ass here. They did a good job. I just made a mistake, and it cost me.”

Rounding out the top three in the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing No. 17 was Sheldon Haudenschild. The hunger continues to grow for a River Cities victory for the team NOS Energy Drink driver as he looks for his first win at the quarter mile.

“We kind of got going there towards the end,” Haudenschild explained. “We were just kind of hanging on there at the beginning and tried to burn some fuel off and just get rolling. (Kyle) Ripper and the boys did a great job all night. I rolled the bottom good there the last two laps or so and kind of got my nose and really threaded the needle with the one lapper. I really wanted to get a win for Eloy, but we’ve got tomorrow and we’ll keep fighting.”

Giovanni Scelzi and Donny Schatz completed the top five.

Tim Estenson earned the KSE Racing Hard Charger with a 24th to 16th drive.

Sheldon Haudenschild claimed his sixth Simpson Quick Time of 2024 and the 35th of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.

NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Three, and Four belonged to Sheldon Haudenschild, Bill Balog, and Buddy Kofoid. Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Logan Schuchart.

The Toyota Racing Dash was won by Sheldon Haudenschild.

Scott Bogucki topped the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Justin Henderson.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make their only appearance at West Fargo, ND’s Red River Valley Speedway on Saturday, August 24. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[6]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[2]; 3. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[1]; 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 5. 15-Donny Schatz[11]; 6. 2-David Gravel[7]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 8. 23-Garet Williamson[8]; 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[9]; 10. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 11. 64-Andy Pake[13]; 12. 13-Mark Dobmeier[10]; 13. 6-Max Guilford[19]; 14. 7S-Landon Crawley[16]; 15. 70-Kraig Kinser[22]; 16. 14T-Tim Estenson[24]; 17. 24T-Christopher Thram[15]; 18. 17GP-Justin Henderson[12]; 19. 17Z-Zach Omdahl[18]; 20. 8-Jack Croaker[14]; 21. 10-Scott Bogucki[21]; 22. 11M-Brendan Mullen[17]; 23. 26-Blake Egeland[20]; 24. O-Nick Omdahl[23]

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

“Squirrel” has shown improvements since a summer reset with the World of Outlaws 

CONCORD, NC (August 9, 2024) – Brian Shirley’s 2024 World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models campaign can be summed up in a tell of two tales. 

Before the June Heartland Grand Tour, Shirley only managed three top-10s, sat outside of the top-10 in Series points, and held an average finish of 17.1 through 11 races. 

Entering the mid-point of August, the Chatham, IL driver flipped the script by switching his car’s chassis to Longhorn, won his first Series race of 2024 at North Dakota’s River Cities Speedway and earned three times as many top-10 finishes (12). His average finish improved to 8.4 to go to eighth in the season standings. 

While Shirley knows he can finish the year stronger than how it began, it’s all in an effort to build his team’s program back to full comfort behind the No. 3S Bob Cullen Racing Late Model to chase a championship in 2025. 

“The season has gone by so quickly,” Shirley said. “Truthfully, the goal when Bob (Cullen) wanted to switch cars was to start working towards 2025. We’ve set goals within the team and ourselves on how we want to end the year and that’s what we’re trying to do is strive for the goals that we set to hopefully put ourselves in a position to be in contention to have more wins and go for a championship.” 

Shirley’s team restarted from scratch with the mid-season change in cars, which brought a new form of motivation that paid dividends through remarkable top-10 finishes in the crown jewel events at Deer Creek Speedway, Fairbury Speedway, and Cedar Lake Speedway.  

“It’s been a compilation of dedication to the team,” he said. “The guys have kept working hard at it. Switching cars brought some new life to the team. We’re happy that (Bob) was willing to flip the team from one way to another, so we’ve been able to find what I need and these new race cars.” 

Staying inside the Prairie State for two days of racing at Highland Speedway and Spoon River Speedway brings Shirley to tracks he has experience at before but will have to work off a new notebook with the new chassis. 

Shirley won at Spoon River with the DIRTcar Summer Nationals in 2019 – the season that saw him win his third of four Summer Nationals titles. At Highland, Shirley’s best finish was a third-place finish with the Hell Tour in 2014. 

“Them (Illinois) tracks are right in my backyard,” Shirley said. “We’ve raced at Spoon River a lot. Highland, not so much, maybe once every couple of years for Summer Nationals. All in all, it’s one of those deals that we’re going there for the first time with this car and with the World of Outlaws. The notes that we did have there are not really as useful. I’ve got a good grasp on how those tracks race and how they change, but it’ll be the first time with everyone else. 

After the two nights in Illinois, the Series completes the trio of races with a two-night debut at Maquoketa Speedway. While Shirley picked up a top-10 at the track in March during the Nippy 50, he’ll have to re-learn how to get around the facility to his liking with the new car. 

“We ran at Maquoketa earlier in the year,” Shirley said. “It helped us get an understanding of the place, but we were racing with the old car. Honestly, every race going into the end of the season is a new experience with the car, but the new situation will help build the notebook, so we know where to get better for the future.” 

Shirley suits up behind the wheel of the No. 3S once more in Illinois and Iowa with the Series at the trio of debuting tracks at Highland Speedway (Aug. 14), Spoon River Speedway (Aug. 15), and two nights of the Hawkeye 100 at Maquoketa Speedway (Aug. 16-17). 

CLICK HERE to get $5 off your ticket for Spoon River Speedway and Maquoketa Speedway using Shirley’s code “SHIRLEY3S” at checkout. 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 9, 2024) – History is now mere days away. On Sunday, August 11, the stars of Progressive American Flat Track, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, will take the Grand National Championship into the Streets of Downtown Sturgis, South Dakota, for the inaugural Arrowhead Brass Sturgis TT presented by Rick Ware Racing & The CAT Rental Store. The innovative event, developed and promoted in collaboration with AFT Events, Øuterkind and the City of Sturgis, reconnects the city to its legacy of motorcycle racing that dates back to the very origins of the fabled Sturgis Motorcycle Racing, now in the midst of its 84th edition. Equal parts heritage and modern-day spectacle, the Arrowhead Brass Sturgis TT will not just honor the past by way of the present but also look to the future with the highly anticipated introduction of the all-new AFT AdventureTrackers™ class. However, the season’s headlining story continues to be the quest of reigning Mission AFT SuperTwins champion Jared Mees (No. 1 Rogers Racing/SDI Racing/Indian Motorcycle FTR750) to become the first rider in the seven-decade history of the series to claim a tenth Grand National Championship. That mission came even more clearly into focus this past Tuesday night when Mees moved to the top of the points race for the first time this season. A victory this weekend would push him that much closer to the unprecedented achievement, but it will not come easily. When the series last did battle on a hybrid TT circuit that combined dirt and asphalt at the 2021 Atlanta Super TT, JD Beach (No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) was fastest in every practice and qualifying session, won both his heat and the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, and ran away with the Main Event victory by several seconds. Despite spending the bulk of his season racing a Tytlers Cycle BMW Superbike, Beach is already back at the top of his dirt track game as evidenced by his runner-up finish at the Peoria TT and a first-career Half-Mile victory at Black Hills Speedway. The fact that Beach was beaten at all in Peoria underlines the fact that Briar Bauman (No. 3 Rick Ware Racing/KTM/Parts Plus KTM 790 Duke) is a rider to watch this weekend as well. Besides being a rider with the all-around talents to excel at the circuit, he’s also one who will be looking to make amends coming off a difficult Main Event in Rapid City. But perhaps no rider is more in need of a big day than Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750), who currently ranks second to Mees in the championship race. While TTs have never been Robinson’s forte, the Mission Roof Systems rider has improved in the discipline, and the novel nature of the circuit provides ample opportunity to shock the world. Pit up against a 17-point disadvantage with four rounds remaining, Robinson would be well served to put riders between himself and Mees. Fortunately for his championship hopes, Beach isn’t the only wild card with the potential to run up front; Multi-time TT winner Sammy Halbert (No. 69 OnlyFans/Martin Trucking/ Castro Yamaha MT-07) is back in the mix following a run of hugely impressive rides earlier this season. Several series regulars could also play the role of spoiler, including the likes of Jarod Vanderkooi (No. 20 JMC Motorsports/Fairway Ford Ohio Indian FTR750), Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing Indian FTR750), Brandon Price (No. 92 Memphis Shades/Sody Ent/OTBR Yamaha MT-07), and Dalton Gauthier (No. 79 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650), not to mention red-hot rookies Trevor Brunner (No. 21 Mission Foods/Zanotti Racing KTM 790 Duke) and Declan Bender (No. 70 GOMR/BriggsAuto.com/Martin Trucking Indian FTR750), who both claimed maiden premier-class top fives earlier this week. Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER Double defending Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER king Kody Kopp (No. 1 Rick Ware Racing/Parts Plus KTM 450 SX-F) has a chance to secure one of the few remaining accomplishments that has thus far eluded him during his record-breaking stint in the class. Now holding either sole possession or a share of the all-time lead in championships as well as career, single-season, Half-Mile, and Short Track victories, Kopp has yet to stand atop the podium at a TT. Doing so this Sunday would also tilt the balance of power back in his direction after seeing the last four races go to his primary rivals, Chase Saathoff (No. 88 JPG Motorsports Honda CRF450R) and Tom Drane (No. 59 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F), who figure to once again be Kopp’s biggest threats this weekend. Tarren Santero (No. 75 Vinson Construction/P&M Motorcycles Honda CRF450R), Evan Renshaw(No. 265 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R), and Jared Lowe (No. 63 BigR/Little Debbie Racing Honda CRF450R) were next best in Peoria. However, those results should be considered, at best, a rough guide of what may transpire this weekend, with the Arrowhead Brass Sturgis TT promising to be a different beast entirely. Meanwhile, Trent Lowe (No. 48 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R) and James Ott (No. 19 1st Impressions Race Team Husqvarna FC450) will resume their fight for fourth in the championship hunt and hope to do so by adding to their seasons’ tally of podium finishes. AFT AdventureTrackers One of the fastest growing and fiercely competitive segments of the global motorcycle market will take their respective claims of supremacy to the Streets of Downtown Sturgis with the long-awaited debut of the AFT AdventureTrackers. And as a showcase for Dual Adventure bikes specifically designed to dominate any and all terrain they are confronted with, the hybrid TT course couldn’t possibly be more perfectly suited for the task at hand. The AFT AdventureTrackers class has been designed around production-based race bikes that are as close to street stock as is feasible. And in turn, an incredibly decorated and diverse collection of riders has been recruited to demonstrate exactly what these versatile machines are capable of. Saddlemen Race Development will field a Daytona 200 legend and big-bike specialist in teammates Danny Eslick (No. 64 Saddlemen Race Development Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250) and Frankie Garcia (No. 14 Saddlemen Race Development Harley-Davidson Pan America 1250). Meanwhile, Memphis Shades/Vinson Honda comes armed with a championship-winning dirt tracker in Dan Bromley (No. 62 Sody Enterprises/Memphis Shades/Vinson Honda Africa Twin). And Triumph has its bases well covered with big-name riders hailing from across dirt track, world enduro, stunt riding, and Superhooligan in Sammy Halbert (No. 69 Triumph Racing Triumph Tiger 1200), Robby McLendon (No. 169 Triumph Racing Triumph Tiger 1200), Ivan Cervantes (No. 25 Triumph Racing Triumph Tiger 1200), Nick ‘Apex’ Brocha (No. 777 Triumph Racing Triumph Tiger 1200), and Kole King (No. 80 Triumph Racing/Triumph Indianapolis Triumph Tiger 1200). Which style will prove superior for these machines and this course? That’s a fascinating question that won’t be answered until the AdventureTrackers’ rubber hits the road (and dirt) for the first time in history this Sunday. Due to its setting in Downtown Sturgis on the final day of the 84th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, race fans will obviously have a huge number of off-track attractions at their disposal. Included among them are the Progressive Insurance Sturgis TT Demo & Display Lot, numerous vendors, expansive food and beverage options, and live music from the Rally Point stage performed throughout the day by country music star and The Voice alum Joey Green. Attendance for Sunday, August 11’s inaugural Arrowhead Brass Sturgis TT presented by Rick Ware Racing & The CAT Rental Store is free of charge. Fans also have a unique opportunity to witness history in comfort from ideal vantage points offered by legendary Sturgis Main Street bars Loud American and One-Eyed Jacks Saloon. These Arrowhead Brass Sturgis TT VIP Experiences are available for $175 at https://www.tixr.com/groups/americanflattrack/events/sturgis-tt-112510. Practice will start at 2:00 p.m. ET (11:0 a.m. PT) with Opening Ceremonies scheduled to begin at 4:45 p.m. ET (1:45 p.m. PT). You can catch the livestream of all the weekend’s racing activities on FloRacing. Motorsports fans can subscribe to FloRacing to enjoy over 1,000 live motorsports events in 2024. FloSports is available by visiting https://flosports.link/aft or by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Chromecast. The Arrowhead Brass Sturgis TT pre-race show will air on FS2 on Saturday, August 17, at 1:00 p.m. ET (10:00 a.m. PT), immediately followed by the race broadcast on FOX at 2:00 p.m. ET (11:00 a.m. PT). The complete two-hour pre-race and race package will then re-air on FS1 later that evening, starting at 9:00 p.m. ET (6:00 p.m. PT). For more information on Progressive AFT visit https://www.americanflattrack.com.

WALTON, KY (August 8, 2024) – Jonathan Davenport and Ricky Thornton Jr. won the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series preliminary main events on Thursday night at Florence Speedway. Davenport won his 79th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event, pocketing $6,000 for the first 25-lap race leading the entire distance over Devin Moran, Drake Troutman, Tyler Erb, and Josh Rice. Thornton went to Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Victory Lane for the 12th time in 2024 as he led the final 17 circuits to win the second 25-lap main event that also paid $6,000. Bobby Pierce tracked down Thornton late in the race to come home in second. Tim McCreadie was third followed by Hudson O’Neal, and Kyle Bronson. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the fifth time in 2024 and for the first time since June 20 at Lernerville, Davenport was 2.417 seconds ahead of Moran at the finish. “It’s a big relief really. I have not liked my car lately in the features. It drove well there honestly; I wished I would have started further back where I could’ve seen where my car was better or worse at. We are just going have to go back and watch the video and see where was better or where we were worse at. I think we will see more of a transition in the race Saturday around I would say the mid-point of the race. We will just have to wait and see. The biggest takeaway is we are finally in victory lane. That’s huge for us and our race team.” Moran, who vaulted past Davenport in the championship points after winning the Silver Dollar Nationals at Huset’s battled with Davenport early on in the race as he held the second spot the entire 25-lap distance. “I was real good on that start. We had a little bit softer tire than he did. I don’t think we could have done anything tonight with him. He was really, really good. I tried moving up, but I couldn’t really run up top. I started to move around, but I couldn’t do a whole lot. We had a second place tonight so I really can’t complain.” Troutman earned the Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race as he came from 14th to round out the Big River Steel Podium in third in his Florence Speedway debut. “We took last weekend off and just went through this car really good. This is a new Jay Dickens engine under the hood. So, for the first time running here we gained some valuable experience that will hopefully help us the rest of the weekend.” The winner’s Lance and Darla Landers, Double L Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions, Dyna Gro Seed, Lucas Oil Products, BobCat of Batesville, Bilstein Shocks, ASC Warranty, Mark Martin Automotive, Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas, and VP Fuels. Completing the top ten in the Group (A) A-Main were Jimmy Owens, Ethan Dotson, Dale McDowell, Tanner English, and Ross Bailes.

Thornton’s win was his first for Koehler Motorsports and their newly named crew chief, Chris Madden. “To come out the first night like we did; we had a lot of speed coming out of the box a few weeks ago. We didn’t have the finish we wanted at Huset’s, we came back home and put a new body on the car. I tore it up a little bit there. I felt like I was almost running too hard trying to get my tires to go. I know we went harder than most of them. I thought Nick [Hoffman] had a really good pace and then he really started to slow down going into three. I knew I needed to get a good run down the backstraightaway, and I was going to slide him and hopefully I could take off after I did that.” Pierce, who started ninth, made a late race charge at the end as he came up 2.080 seconds short of the win. “It was hard racing,” said of his battles during the race with Jason Jameson and Cory Hedgcock. “We have raced a lot here. I don’t know he [Jameson] knows how to smash the gas pedal I will give him that. He does a good job getting up there early, but we were just coming through, and I had the faster car, and I got under him and slid him. It just got tight up there. Me and Hedgecock had a little contact when we went three-wide, and I apologize for that. I got into his right front.” “We were trying to get back to the front, we were really fast, so I had to make the moves in 25 laps. There wasn’t a lot of time to get it done. I made a big screwup down there I hit that cushion so hard and man it just about finished our night off. I just about lost eight positions. So, it was fun trying to track RTJ back down. I would have loved to see a caution, but the racetrack was awesome.” McCreadie rounded out the Big River Steel Podium with his third-place finish. “It cost us a couple of spots there at the end when I got up in that cushion in four. I know it’s not victory lane where we all want to be, but we are definitely improving. It’s getting better every time we hit the track.” The winner’s Bobby and Jessica Koehler, Koehler Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Capital Waste, Traffic Control Safety Services, Ultimate Towing and Recovery, Ultimate Motorsports and RV Park. Rogers Realty and Auction Company, inc., Five-Star Metal Buildings, Coltman Farms, Hoker Trucking, and D&E Outside Services. Completing the top ten in the second A-Main was Cory Hedgecock, Brandon Overton, Nick Hoffman, Garrett Alberson, and Carson Ferguson. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary 42nd Annual Sunoco North/South 100 – Presented by Lucas Oil – Prelim Night 1Thursday, August 8, 2024Florence Speedway – Union, KY Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Jonathan Davenport / 15.410 seconds (overall)Fast Time Group B: Jason Jameson / 15.609 seconds Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 – Group A Finish (8 Laps, Top 5 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[3]; 3. 17D-Zack Dohm[2]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[5]; 5. D48-Derek Groomer[6]; 6. 18P-Gray Parton[4]; 7. 11T-Tyler Collins[7]; 8. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[8] Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 – Group A Finish (8 Laps, Top 5 Transfer): 1. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 2. 74-Ethan Dotson[1]; 3. 87-Ross Bailes[3]; 4. 96-Tanner English[4]; 5. 1G-Devin Gilpin[5]; 6. 49B-Billy Green[7]; 7. 7R-Brad Rickels[6]; 8. 8-Curt Addison[8] Earnhardt Technologies Heat Race #3 – Group A Finish (8 Laps, Top 5 Transfer): 1. 11R-Josh Rice[2]; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell[1]; 3. 99B-Boom Briggs[4]; 4. 7T-Drake Troutman[3]; 5. 17SS-Brenden Smith[6]; 6. 19M-Spencer Hughes[5]; 7. H22-Brandon Hardgrove[7]; 8. (DNS) 11-Calvin Carlton Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 – Group A Finish (8 Laps, Top 5 Transfer): 1. 111-Max Blair[2]; 2. 79-Donald McIntosh[3]; 3. G4-Trent Ivey[1]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[4]; 5. 38-Derek Fisher[5]; 6. 93-Cory Lawler[6]; 7. 90-Michael LeFevers[7] Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 – Group B Finish (8 Laps, Top 5 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 2. 12-Jason Jameson[1]; 3. 32P-Bobby Pierce[3]; 4. 97C-Michael Chilton[4]; 5. 93X-Zak Blackwood[5]; 6. D6-Dustin Linville[6]; 7. 21-Robby Hensley[7]; 8. 6-Clay Harris[8] Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 – Group B Finish (8 Laps, Top 5 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 23-Cory Hedgecock[2]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 4. 4T-Tripp Gerrald[5]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 6. 8M-Dillon McCowan[4]; 7. 18-Trevor Landrum[7] Earnhardt Technologies Heat Race #3 – Group B Finish (8 Laps, Top 5 Transfer): 1. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 4. 71C-RJ Conley[4]; 5. 2-Tyler Stevens[5]; 6. 29J-Jordan Wever[6]; 7. 29-Clint Keenan[7]; 8. 99J-Donnie Jeschke[8] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 – Group B Finish (8 Laps, Top 5 Transfer): 1. 1-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 114-Jordan Koehler[2]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 4. 93F-Carson Ferguson[4]; 5. 17-Blake Creech[5]; 6. 63-Austin Lay[6]; 7. 3:16-Mike Bargo[7] Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 – Group A Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 19M-Spencer Hughes[2]; 2. 11T-Tyler Collins[5]; 3. H22-Brandon Hardgrove[6]; 4. 5N-Dustin Nobbe[9]; 5. 7R-Brad Rickels[7]; 6. 49B-Billy Green[3]; 7. 18P-Gray Parton[1]; 8. 93-Cory Lawler[4]; 9. 8-Curt Addison[10]; 10. 90-Michael LeFevers[8]; 11. (DNS) 11-Calvin Carlton UNOH B-Main Race #1 – Group B Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 29J-Jordan Wever[2]; 2. D6-Dustin Linville[1]; 3. 21-Robby Hensley[5]; 4. 8M-Dillon McCowan[3]; 5. 18-Trevor Landrum[7]; 6. 29-Clint Keenan[6]; 7. 63-Austin Lay[4]; 8. 3:16-Mike Bargo[8]; 9. (DNS) 6-Clay Harris; 10. (DNS) 99J-Donnie Jeschke 42nd Annual Sunoco North/South 100 Prelim Night 1 Group A Feature Finish (25 Laps): Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Pay1 – 1 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $6,0002 – 3 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $3,0003 – 14 – 7T – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $2,0004 – 13 – 1T – Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – $1,2505 – 2 – 11R – Josh Rice – Crittenden, KY – $1,0006 – 5 – 20 – Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – $9007 – 7 – 74 – Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – $8508 – 9 – 17D – Zack Dohm – Cross Lanes, WV – $8009 – 15 – 96 – Tanner English – Benton, KY – $75010 – 11 – 87 – Ross Bailes – Clover, SC – $70011 – 6 – 17M – Dale McDowell – Chickamauga, GA – $65012 – 19 – 1G – Devin Gilpin – Columbus, IN – $60013 – 12 – G4 – Trent Ivey – Union, SC – $55014 – 10 – 99B – Boom Briggs – Bear Lake, PA – $50015 – 17 – D48 – Derek Groomer – Bloomington, IN – $50016 – 20 – 38 – Derek Fisher – Olympia, KY – $50017 – 22 – 11T – Tyler Collins – North Vernon, IN – $50018 – 18 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $50019 – 23 – H22 – Brandon Hardgrove – Burnside, KY – $50020 – 21 – 19M – Spencer Hughes – Meridian, MS – $50021 – 24 – 5N – Dustin Nobbe – Batesville, IN – $50022 – 4 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $50023 – 8 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – Dawsonville, GA – $50024 – 16 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – $500 42nd Annual Sunoco North/South 100 Prelim Night 1 Group B Feature Finish (25 Laps):Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Pay1 – 1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton, Jr. – Martinsville, IN – $6,0002 – 9 – 32P – Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – $3,0003 – 4 – 1 – Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – $2,0004 – 11 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $1,2505 – 12 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $1,0006 – 7 – 23 – Cory Hedgecock – Loudon, TN – $9007 – 3 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $8508 – 2 – 9 – Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – $8009 – 6 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $75010 – 16 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $70011 – 10 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – $65012 – 15 – 4T – Tripp Gerrald – Versailles, KY – $60013 – 14 – 71C – RJ Conley – Wheelersburg, OH – $55014 – 22 – D6 – Dustin Linville – Lancaster, KY – $50015 – 18 – 2 – Tyler Stevens – Paragould, AR – $50016 – 24 – 8M – Dillon McCowan – Urbana, MO – $50017 – 19 – 7 – Ross Robinson – Georgetown, DE – $50018 – 23 – 21 – Robby Hensley – Walton, KY – $50019 – 8 – 114 – Jordan Koehler – Mount Airy, NC – $50020 – 20 – 17 – Blake Creech – Richmond, IN – $50021 – 17 – 93X – Zak Blackwood – Columbus, IN – $50022 – 21 – 29J – Jordan Wever – Bloomington, IN – $50023 – 13 – 97C – Michael Chilton – Salvisa, KY – $50024 – 5 – 12 – Jason Jameson – Lawrenceburg, IN – $500 Race Statistics  Entrants: 61Group A Victory Fuel Pole Sitter: Jonathan DavenportGroup B Victory Fuel Pole Sitter: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Group A Lap Leaders: Jonathan Davenport (Laps 1-25)Group B Lap Leaders: Nick Hoffman (Laps 1-9); Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Laps 10-25)Group A Wieland Feature Winner: Jonathan DavenportGroup B Wieland Feature Winner: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/aBrandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/aGroup A Margin of Victory: 2.417 seconds Group B Margin of Victory: 2.080 seconds Group A Dave Warren Powersports Cautions: Zack Dohm, Boom Briggs, Mike Marlar, Dustin Nobbe (Initial Start); Mike Marlar, Donald McIntosh (Lap 1); Max Blair, Dale McDowell (Lap 1 Restart); Spencer Hughes (Lap 12)Group B Dave Warren Powersports Cautions: Jason Jameson (Lap 8); Blake Creech, Zak Blackwood, Michael Chilton (Lap 8 Restart)Series Provisionals: n/aFast Time Provisional: n/aSeries Emergency Provisionals: n/aTrack Provisional: n/aGroup A Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Jonathan Davenport, Devin Moran, Drake TroutmanGroup B Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Bobby Pierce, Tim McCreadieGroup A Penske Shocks Top 5: Jonathan Davenport, Devin Moran, Drake Troutman, Tyler Erb, Josh RiceGroup B Penske Shocks Top 5: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Bobby Pierce, Tim McCreadie, Hudson O’Neal, Kyle BronsonGroup A Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Drake Troutman (Advanced 11 Positions) Group B Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Dustin Linville (Advanced 8 Positions) Group A PEM 4th Place Feature: Tyler ErbGroup B PEM 4th Place Feature: Hudson O’NealGroup A Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Ethan DotsonGroup B Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Brandon OvertonGroup A Deatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Trent IveyGroup B Deatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: RJ ConleyGroup A MD3 Most Laps Led: Jonathan Davenport (25 Laps) Group B MD3 Most Laps Led: Ricky Thornton, Jr. (16 Laps) Group A Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Drake TroutmanGroup B Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: n/aGroup A Coltman Farms Fastest Lap of the Race: Devin Moran (Lap 1 – 16.829 seconds) Group B Coltman Farms Fastest Lap of the Race: Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Lap 12 – 17.132 seconds) Group A Slicker Graphics Slickest Move of the Race: Drake TroutmanGroup B Slicker Graphics Slickest Move of the Race: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Group A Miller Welders Hard Luck Award: Max BlairGroup B Miller Welders Hard Luck Award: Michael ChiltonGroup A Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Cory Fostvedt (Jonathan Davenport)Group A Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Chris Madden (Ricky Thornton, Jr.)Group A ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesGroup B ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesGroup A Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisGroup B Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Bobby Pierce (15.452 seconds)Group A Time of Race: 21 minutes 26 seconds Group B Time of Race: 15 minutes 55 seconds  Sunoco North/South 100 Prelim Point Standings (After Night 1):Pos. – No. – Competitor – Thu 8/8 – Total – Fastest Lap from Qualifying1 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – 260 – 260 – 2 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton, Jr. – 250 – 250 – 3 – 99 – Devin Moran – 230 – 230 – 15.6563 – 32P – Bobby Pierce – 230 – 230 – 15.7865 – 1 – Tim McCreadie – 220 – 220 – 15.6935 – 7T – Drake Troutman – 220 – 220 – 16.0577 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – 210 – 210 – 15.8027 – 1T – Tyler Erb – 210 – 210 – 16.0829 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – 205 – 205 – 15.8649 – 11R – Josh Rice – 205 – 205 – 15.93111 – 23 – Cory Hedgecock – 200 – 200 – 15.75211 – 20 – Jimmy Owens – 200 – 200 – 15.75913 – 74 – Ethan Dotson – 195 – 195 – 15.51713 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – 195 – 195 – 15.65413 – 76 – Brandon Overton – 195 – 195 – 15.69516 – 17D – Zack Dohm – 190 – 190 – 15.64316 – 9 – Nick Hoffman – 190 – 190 – 15.71718 – 17M – Dale McDowell – 185 – 185 – 15.7118 – 96 – Tanner English – 185 – 185 – 16.00220 – 87 – Ross Bailes – 180 – 180 – 15.84720 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – 180 – 180 – 16.19922 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – 175 – 175 – 23 – 4T – Tripp Gerrald – 170 – 170 – 16.14823 – 1G – Devin Gilpin – 170 – 170 – 16.20925 – G4 – Trent Ivey – 165 – 165 – 15.90525 – 71C – RJ Conley – 165 – 165 – 16.01927 – 99B – Boom Briggs – 160 – 160 – 16.06927 – D6 – Dustin Linville – 160 – 160 – 16.15629 – 2 – Tyler Stevens – 155 – 155 – 16.20229 – D48 – Derek Groomer – 155 – 155 – 16.52631 – 8M – Dillon McCowan – 150 – 150 – 16.03331 – 38 – Derek Fisher – 150 – 150 – 16.25733 – 7 – Ross Robinson – 145 – 145 – 16.23133 – 11T – Tyler Collins – 145 – 145 – 16.64735 – 21 – Robby Hensley – 140 – 140 – 16.26435 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – 140 – 140 – 16.27937 – 12 – Jason Jameson – 135 – 135 – 15.60937 – 114 – Jordan Koehler – 135 – 135 – 15.73237 – H22 – Brandon Hardgrove – 135 – 135 – 16.57640 – 19M – Spencer Hughes – 130 – 130 – 16.11640 – 17 – Blake Creech – 130 – 130 – 16.23342 – 97C – Michael Chilton – 125 – 125 – 15.91942 – 111 – Max Blair – 125 – 125 – 15.96542 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – 125 – 125 – 16.05842 – 157 – Mike Marlar – 125 – 125 – 16.09742 – 93X – Zak Blackwood – 125 – 125 – 16.13742 – 29J – Jordan Wever – 125 – 125 – 16.29842 – 5N – Dustin Nobbe – 125 – 125 – 17.07849 – 18 – Trevor Landrum – 120 – 120 – 16.63249 – 7R – Brad Rickels – 120 – 120 – 16.6451 – 29 – Clint Keenan – 115 – 115 – 16.67351 – 49B – Billy Green – 115 – 115 – 16.82853 – 18P – Gray Parton – 110 – 110 – 15.86653 – 63 – Austin Lay – 110 – 110 – 16.55855 – 93 – Cory Lawler – 105 – 105 – 16.33255 – 3:16 – Mike Bargo – 105 – 105 – 16.76557 – 8 – Curt Addison – 100 – 100 – 58 – 90 – Michael LeFevers – 95 – 95 – 59 – 99J – Donnie Jeschke – 50 – 50 – 17.29859 – 11 – Calvin Carlton – 50 – 50 – 99.99859 – 6 – Clay Harris – 50 – 50 – 99.999

The Californian will make a run at the Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year next seasonKNOXVILLE, IA (Aug. 8, 2024) – Cole Macedo, one of Sprint Car Racing’s top rising talents, is heading to the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car tour in 2025.The 24-year-old has linked Todd Carlile’s TwoC Racing for a rookie run with The Greatest Show on Dirt. The jump to the World of Outlaws tour will fulfill a childhood dream for Macedo as he follows the path of his older brother Carson.“I’m definitely excited,” Macedo said. “The goal from when I was a little kid for me and Carson both was to race with the World of Outlaws. It’s pretty surreal. Obviously, he’s already made it, but for me to follow his footsteps I’m super excited. I’m super grateful that Wayne and Todd and everybody there at TwoC Racing is giving me a shot. I’m definitely nervous, but I think it’s going to be an awesome deal. I think me and Wayne and the crew guys will work really well together. Todd seems like an awesome car owner.”It will also bring 2020 Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year, Wayne Johnson, back on the tour as the former driver for TwoC Racing has moved to the crew chief role for the No. 2C. Johnson recently announced his retirement from being in the seat after a racing accident sidelined him earlier this year.“Man, I’m pumped,” Johnson said. “I’ve said this over and over about going out when I did. I wish I would’ve got the chance at 24 or 25 years old with the car owner that I have now, and I just never got the opportunity basically until I was too damn old to be doing it. I have a great car owner, and he didn’t want to do it without me driving. But when I mentioned that we could get Cole, he was like, ‘Well, let’s go back full-time Outlaw racing.’”Macedo has spent the last few years proving his potential. The Lemoore, CA native cut his teeth on the California bullrings before broadening his horizons in 2020 with a heavy slate of Ohio racing. He had a breakout 2021 that saw him bag seven 410 Sprint Car wins including his first with the All-Star Circuit of Champions.This year has been especially busy for Macedo as he racks up airline miles traveling from the west coast to the Midwest for racing. Out on the left coast he’s pursuing a Northern Auto Racing Club (NARC) championship with Tarlton Motorsports. They’ve tallied a trio of wins and sit just three markers behind the point lead. In the country’s heartland he’s made plenty of starts aboard the 2nd Law Motorsports No. 16T.“About a year and a half ago I told myself I’m going to race as much as I possibly can and never sit at home,” Macedo said. “Even if it’s a car that I don’t feel like is the best, I’m going to try to go make the best of it. Some of those nights were my best nights out there. I think racing as much as possible is a key to having success.”One of Macedo’s 47 races in a 410 Sprint Car this year came with the TwoC Racing crew at Knoxville Raceway. Macedo jumped in for a local show on June 8 and drove from 16th to fifth.“We just sat down and talked about next year and this that and the other, and I asked him if he’d like to run a couple races for us this year to just kind of see if we could work together,” Johnson said. “And we came to Knoxville for a weekly show and ran fifth. Then, we just talked ever since then about wanting to do it and kind of put it all together from that.”While Macedo and the TwoC team are ready to hit the road with the World of Outlaws, they both remained focused on their tasks at hand. Macedo has his sights on the NARC title in the Tarlton No. 21. TwoC Racing is chasing the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) owner’s championship with Hank Davis in the seat.But once the checkered flag flies on 2024, the focus turns to fulfilling a lifelong goal for Macedo in 2024.“There’s a long list of people from when I grew up that I looked up to that raced World of Outlaws races,” Macedo said. “And I always told myself I want to be one of those guys one day. I feel like it’s the best of the best.”For tickets to World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car races, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

Yung Money wins his fourth consecutive Sprint Car race and earns the pole for Saturday’s $190,000-to-win Knoxville Nationals finale

KNOXVILLE, IA (August 9, 2024) – Not too long ago many questioned Kyle Larson’s chances at the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s. But in one short week, every trace of doubt has been erased, and he stands likely as the favorite.

A big week at Eldora Speedway served up struggles for the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series champion. It started with a strong runner-up, but then he closed out the week with a 13th during the Knight Before and missing the Kings Royal main event. 

And then it all began to turn around at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55. Larson opened Ironman weekend with an unforgettable drive from 21st to victory. Then he topped his third Ironman 55 the following night by charging from 12th. The stage then moved to Southern Iowa Speedway (Oskaloosa, IA) on Monday, and “Yung Money” rolled from 13th to Victory Lane.

Knoxville Raceway then welcomed the Sprint Car world for “The Granddaddy of ‘Em All” this week. And Larson delivered yet another statement on Thursday during Toyota Qualifying Night.

Larson lined up sixth for the 25-lapper and put on another show in the Silva Motorsports No. 57. He methodically picked his way forward, passing some strong cars in the process. The Elk Grove, CA native punctuated his rise to the top of the leaderboard with a slider on Rico Abreu with only two laps remaining. Four straight wins for Larson with a combined 49 Sprint Cars passed. The Knoxville triumph was his 10th overall at “The Sprint Car Capital of the World.”

And just like that, Larson looks like the clear-cut favorite for Saturday as he aims to go back-to-back on the sport’s biggest stage. His performance earned him 490 points, enough to put him on the pole for the 50-lap finale. 

“Rico was doing a good job as the leader and doing a good job through traffic,” Larson recalled. “And Carson (Macedo) got kind of rolling there for a minute and thankfully I was able to get by him. I didn’t know exactly what to do. I felt like if you could hit the bottom, it was the best place to be, and I think Rico knew that as well. But then he got to that lapper and couldn’t follow him, had to go to the top or middle. And that lapper just hit the berm in front of me, gave me a bunch of clean air and probably messed him up. So, right place at the right time, but you always have to execute every lap. We were able to put ourselves in position to get another win. It feels really good. The car felt great during the Feature.”

Bill Balog and Abreu led the Feature to green, and it was Balog inching ahead to lead the opening lap. 

Throughout the opening half of the race, the action remained relatively tame up front. Balog made some daring moves in traffic to stay ahead of Abreu, but the action really warmed up beyond the halfway mark.

Abreu made his move with a slider on Balog on Lap 12. The battle between the two allowed third-running Carson Macedo to close in. Right after Abreu stole the lead, Macedo ripped by Balog to secure the runner-up spot.

It wasn’t much longer before Larson followed the footsteps of the two Californians up front and went by “The North Pole Nightmare” for third. Up ahead Abreu got trapped behind a lapped car allowing Macedo to look low down the back straightaway, but the No. 24 closed the door on the No. 41. 

That allowed Larson to close in, and on Lap 18 he rolled by Macedo for second. Then the sights were set on his childhood friend Abreu just ahead.

Larson got to work building momentum to chase down Abreu as he was nearly a second behind once he grabbed the runner-up position. It didn’t take long for the gap to shrink, but Abreu made some moves in traffic to hold Larson off at first as the race hit five laps to go.

But Larson stayed on the gas, and the opportunity he needed presented itself with only two laps remaining. As the two navigated Turns 1 and 2, Larson looked low as Abreu went to the cushion. Larson managed to pull alongside, and a lapped car drifted in Abreu’s lane exiting the corner. The disruption to Abreu’s line allowed Larson to power ahead down the back straightaway and head toward the white flag.

Abreu stayed close with Larson throughout the final rotation around the half mile, but there was no stopping Larson as he held on for the prelim win.

Now all the focus is on Saturday for Larson. With NASCAR duties in Richmond, VA, it’s going to be a busy day but he’s confident. It’s not his first rodeo of jumping between race cars and a few flights over a weekend.

“It’s always fun to run the 57. We’ve definitely been on it lately and no better time than now,” Larson said. “I’ve been fortunate enough now to be able to do double duty between NASCAR and the Sprint Car. No doubt it’s on your mind through the whole weekend. Richmond is a tough place for us. I’ll definitely be focused on that as well. I’m looking forward to getting back in the 5 car. It’s been a couple weeks since I’ve seen all of them with the break. Excited to see the 5 guys. And then hopefully Qualifying goes well then we’ll get back here and try to win another Knoxville Nationals.”

Abreu come home second and only a couple laps short of prelim glory. The St. Helena, CA driver earned some valuable lessons as he prepares to chase his first Knoxville Nationals title on Saturday. He’ll line up sixth.

“I’ve got to do a little better job managing traffic and knowing the race pace,” Abreu said. “I felt like I left the bottom open there, but I just wanted to keep it up on the pipes toward the end of the race. The top was just really far around. On the cushion my right front would get up a little bit where I had to give up some in the center. Other than that, Ricky (Warner), Zack (Middlebrooks), and Brady (Forbrook) did an awesome job.”

Rounding out the Knoxville Nationals prelim podium was Carson Macedo and the Jason Johnson Racing crew. It was a strong night from beginning to end that will set them up fourth in the lineup for Saturday’s finale.

“The race was in stages for me,” Macedo said. “I feel like early I got my wing back too far, and I had to push it back forward. I started catching them back once we got to traffic. I felt pretty good. And then once we got to traffic I felt really good. I could maneuver really nicely anywhere I wanted to go. I got to Rico when he kind of got messed up with a lapper and thought I was going to be able to squeeze underneath him and then just had to pace behind him for a minute.”

Tyler Courtney and Bill Balog rounded out the top five.

A 23rd to 13th run in the Roth Motorsports ride earned James McFadden the KSE Racing Hard Charger.

Daryn Pittman claimed Simpson Quick Time honors in Sea Foam Qualifying.

Your Life Iowa Heat Races One, Three, Four, and Five belonged to Daryn Pittman, Tasker Phillips, Carson Macedo, and Ayrton Gennetten. Milton Hershey School Heat Two went to Hunter Schuerenberg.

Dusty Zomer won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

16 KNOXVILLE NATIONALS CHAMPIONSHIP FEATURE LOCK-INS:

Row 1: Kyle Larson – Daryn Pittman
Row 2: Tyler Courtney – Carson Macedo
Row 3: Giovanni Scelzi – Rico Abreu
Row 4: Brian Brown – Anthony Macri
Row 5: Brady Bacon – Scott Bogucki
Row 6: Corey Day – Brent Marks
Row 7: Bill Balog – Sheldon Haudenschild
Row 8: Chase Randall – Jacob Allen

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars take on FVP “Hard Knox” Preliminary Night on Friday, August 9 with four more tickets up for grabs to Saturday’s $190,000-to-win NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals presented by Casey’s finale. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

A Feature (25 Laps): 1. 57-Kyle Larson[6]; 2. 24R-Rico Abreu[2]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[7]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog[1]; 6. 69K-Daryn Pittman[8]; 7. 49-Brad Sweet[9]; 8. 21H-Brady Bacon[4]; 9. 26-Zeb Wise[11]; 10. 21-Brian Brown[5]; 11. 58-Kaleb Johnson[14]; 12. 19S-Hunter Schuerenberg[13]; 13. 83SR-James McFadden[23]; 14. 8-Cory Eliason[24]; 15. 5T-Ryan Timms[17]; 16. 1D-Tasker Phillips[18]; 17. 24D-Danny Sams III[10]; 18. 36-Jason Martin[12]; 19. 3J-Dusty Zomer[21]; 20. 7S-Landon Crawley[16]; 21. 3G-Ayrton Gennetten[20]; 22. 13JT-Mark Dobmeier[15]; 23. 33W-Cap Henry[22]; 24. 25-Daison Pursley[19]

August 8, 2024

After taking the past two weeks off while NASCAR’s broadcast partner NBC focused on the Olympics, the Cup Series is back in action with Sunday evening’s Cook Out 400 at Richmond Raceway.

Jeremy Bullins, crew chief of the No. 21 DEX Imaging Mustang Dark Horse driven by Harrison Burton, said the break was refreshing, but he’s anxious to get back to work with the No. 21 race team.

“I have to admit, the two-week break has been great, and we were all able to hit the reset button and get prepared for the end of the season,” Bullins said. “It was nice to spend some time away, but I’m definitely ready to get back to the race track with our DEX Mustang.”

The 400-lap run on the three-quarter-mile Richmond oval is unique in that it will feature two different tire compounds, much like the recent All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

One choice of tires, which will be referred to as Primes, is the standard compound that was used at Richmond earlier this year. The Option tire has more grip – and therefore more speed – initially but is expected to fall off as the laps go by. Teams will have a total of eight sets of tires allotted for the race, six Primes and two Options.

Bullins said that will give him plenty to think about on the pit box as Sunday’s race plays out.

“This week should offer some interesting challenges with the addition of the Option tire that was used at the All-Star race,” he said. “With only having two sets of them for the race, it’ll add some variety to the race strategies based on when teams choose to use them.”

Practice for the Cook Out 400 is set for Saturday at 4:30 p.m. Eastern Time to be followed by qualifying at 5:35. The NBC Sports App will carry the coverage of practice and qualifying.

Sunday’s 300-mile, 400-lap race is scheduled to get the green flag just after 6 p.m., with Stage breaks planned for Laps 70 and 230. USA Network will carry the live TV broadcast.