NASCAR CUP SERIES ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY AMBETTER HEALTH 400 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES MARCH 19, 2023

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER4th      Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Celsius Camaro ZL18th      Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL110th    Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL1  TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Joey Logano (Ford)2nd      Brad Keselowski (Ford)3rd      Christopher Bell (Toyota)4th      Corey LaJoie (Chevrolet)5th      Tyler Reddick (Toyota)    The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Circuit of The Americas with the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday, March 26, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES: Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 210. Finished: 31st “There was nowhere to go. Nobody had been having tire issues, so I wasn’t even expecting the No. 10 (Aric Almirola) to have a tire issue in front of me. Even if I did, I didn’t have time to react. It’s a bummer. Just frustrating.. I was finally upfront on this style of race track and still end up with a DNF. I don’t know, just frustrating.”  Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Celsius Camaro ZL1Finished: 4th“I hope he gives me a shout-out for pushing him (race winner Joey Logano).. gave him a good shot there at the end. I was probably fourth or fifth in the top lane there. I had an opportunity to get down and as soon as I didn’t take it, I was like – man that was the race. That was probably with 18 or 20 to go. That’s why these guys make millions of dollars.. they’re pretty good and know where to put their car. Fourth-place is a solid day for the No. 7 Celsius Chevy team.” LaJoie on this style of racing: “Honestly, I think as this track gets a little more wear and abrasiveness to it, it’s going to be like old Daytona.. where you’re bumping and sliding around, and your car has to be fast. I felt like the track lost 10 to 15 percent of grip from last year, so handling was a big thing. You could really drive or push if you wanted to, or you could be sideways. Our Chevy drove great. We were able to pick the right lanes at the right time, just a little short.” Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL1Finished: 10th“We had a decent day. Our No. 8 Lenovo Camaro was fast enough. I think there were probably 20 of them that were fast enough. It was just a matter of positioning yourself and getting positioned there towards the end. I got shuffled out to around 16th and then made our way back into the top-10. Tried to make a move there with four to go on the outside and just hit a block or a wall of air and just slowed up. Top-10 finish. We’ll take that and head to COTA.” Josh Berry, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1Finished: 18th “I thought it was a solid day for the No. 9 NAPA Chevy. I feel like we definitely improved. We got up there in the top-10 and we were pretty solid before that wreck. After that, the car was just a little too damaged to be too aggressive. All-in-all, we finished the race, learned a lot and had some fun.”  AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1Finished: 16th“I thought we made the best of it. We got a little bit of damage in one of the wrecks and that probably didn’t help our speed, but we were just lacking speed in general which made it tough for us to make moves and we kinda got stuck. Pit stops were really good, strategy was really good. We did everything right and the car handled well, just got stuck there in pack racing and we didn’t have a lot of raw speed in the car. We just tried to make the best there with what we had and we got out with a clean race car.” William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 190. Finished: 32nd “It was superspeedway-type racing. I thought for the most part, it was pretty single-file all day. That was a little discouraging because the bottom lane wouldn’t really go that much. But as we all started to save fuel on the top, the bottom started to surge there. It looked like the No. 1 (Ross Chastain) and the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) just got connected there into turn one and got the No. 4 loose. It’s just part of racing. That’s the way it goes.. not really in our control. We were up there running in the top-five and doing what we needed to do. Thank you to Liberty University and all of our partners. We’ll go to COTA and hopefully control a little bit more there and get a win.”  Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Camaro ZL1Finished: 12th “It was a smooth, solid day for the No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevy team. I felt pretty competitive running in the top-10 or 15 throughout the race. Really felt like we had a decent shot, we were just a little too far back there at the end to really make anything happen. But solid execution and solid job by everyone on the No. 42 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Chevy team.  Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1Finished: 8thDid you think you’d get a top-10 after that accident? “Probably not. Just looking at the day, I thought we were just stuck farther back. It was just hard to pass. We didn’t qualify good, so it just took awhile for us to get up there and we never really did, and then we got in a crash there.  Happy to get a top-10 for the No. 43 Allegiant Chevy. We needed that. We just needed a good finish. We haven’t had one this year, so it was nice to do that. I hope we keep it rolling. We just kind of squeaked that one out there at the end with some stuff working out on the last two laps for us. But happy with that; proud of that. Glad we can hopefully get some momentum going and keep rolling.” 

Stage One·       Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 team led Chevrolet in yesterday’s qualifying session, taking the green from a ninth-place starting position for today’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. ·       The only caution in Stage One fell early in the race on lap 11, with the majority of the field opting to not pit for track position. ·       Kyle Busch (No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL1) led Chevrolet to the conclusion of Stage One in the seventh position. ·       Two Chevrolet drivers scored stage points with top-10 finishes in Stage One: 7th      Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL19th      Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Tootsies Camaro ZL1 Stage Two·       The 100-lap Stage Two went caution-free, with a round of green-flag pit stops playing a factor in track position in the latter-part of the stage. ·       At the 160-lap mark, the race had seen nine lead changes, with Kyle Busch leading twice for Chevrolet for seven laps. ·       Alex Bowman (No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1) led Chevrolet to the end of Stage Two in the third position. ·       Team Chevy Stage Two: Top-103rd      Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL15th      William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL110th     Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Celsius Camaro ZL1·       With a round of pit stops at the conclusion of Stage Two, crew chief Mike Kelley called Ricky Stenhouse Jr. down pit road for a two-tire pit strategy. The No. 47 Kroger / Nature Valley Camaro ZL1 team gained 18 positions on pit road to lead Chevrolet to a fourth-place starting position for the final stage.  Final Stage·       The first multi-car accident of the race took place on lap 190, collecting a handful of Chevrolet drivers (No. 9, 24, 1, 8, 3, 78). Unable to make repairs to the No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1, Byron was forced to retire from the race. ·       Kyle Larson was running in the second position on lap 210 when race leader Aric Almirola spun due to tire issues, collecting the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1. Damage sustained in the accident ended Larson’s day. ·       Corey Lajoie and the No. 7 Celsius Camaro ZL1 team finished in the fourth position, leading Chevrolet to three top-10 finishes at the conclusion of the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. ·       With five NASCAR Cup Series races in the books, Chevrolet has recorded four wins, two pole wins, 12 top-fives, 24 top-10s and seven stage wins.

Abreu earns 10th Series win while Macedo banks $10,000 with Spring Showdown championship

ABBOTTSTOWN, PA (March 18, 2023) – Rico Abreu made a powerful opening statement for his 2023 Sprint Car season.

On a night that was all about World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars battling the PA Posse, it was a driver not fitting into either category coming out on top.

Making his 2023 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car season debut, Abreu topped a thriller at Lincoln Speedway (Abbottstown, PA) on Saturday night in the Low-E Insulation Spring Showdown finale. The St. Helena, CA native outdueled four-time and defending Series champion, Brad Sweet, in the 35-lap Feature to take home the $10,000 check.

The victory marked his 10th with The Greatest Show on Dirt and first in the state of Pennsylvania. Abreu became the 48th different driver to reach double digit World of Outlaws wins and only the eighth from the state of California.

Needless to say, Abreu was thrilled for he and his #24 crew to come out swinging so forcefully to begin his year.

“It’s an incredible feeling,” Abreu said. “It’s incredible for my team. I think that’s the coolest part for me is for my team to experience something like that. Those are definitely difficult wins to come by.”

The majority of the 35 laps proved to be a three-horse race between Abreu, Sweet, and Raymond, WA native turned PA Posse driver, Devon Borden.

Sweet controlled the early portion of the race, taking off from the pole position. The driver of the Kasey Kahne Racing #49 faced an early challenge from Freddie Rahmer as traffic became a factor early on. However, on lap nine Rahmer’s chances vanished as he nosed into Sweet’s tail tank and spun in Turn one.

Rahmer’s misfortune moved Borden into the runner-up spot. On the ensuing restart, it appeared as if Sweet may get away, but lapped traffic again posed an issue for him, allowing Borden to close in. Around the halfway point, Borden made one valiant attempt at the lead as he drew even with Sweet down the front straightaway, but Sweet got his elbows up and pulled away after catching a glimpse of the Shuttlesworth-Stehman #23 to his outside.

“I actually thought there, for a minute, we were going to have a really good shot to win,” Borden said of the battle with Sweet. “We were really fast, had a really good car. I was just trying to stay patient and got to Sweet there a couple of times and was really close to him.”

Only a lap after Sweet put some distance between himself and Borden, Abreu’s car began to come alive as he rolled by Borden and set his sights on Sweet. Shortly after taking the runner-up spot, Abreu closed on “The Big Cat” and tossed a slider on him to take the lead coming to 13 laps to go. Abreu gave plenty of credit to his legendary crew chief, Ricky Warner, and his work on the wrenches for his late race speed.

“Ricky is obviously a very experienced crew chief and understands the ability to adapt quickly when it comes to crew chief decisions on racetracks that develop throughout the night,” Abreu said. “My car was unbelievably fast tonight. I was really lucky to get good track position and not have to fight too hard to get up front. Toward the end of the race, my car just kept getting better and better.”

After Abreu took the lead, there was no looking back as he pulled ahead and ultimately took the checkered flag with nearly a two second advantage over Sweet. A win to kick off his racing season left Abreu feeling especially grateful for his situation.

“I have some great partners,” Abreu said. “Everybody just does an unbelievable job. It’s just really cool to sit back and see it and see everybody involved and how pleasuring it is to me to be in this position. It’s unbelievable.”               

Behind Abreu, Sweet finished on the podium for the second time this year, earning the 259th of his illustrious career with the World of Outlaws. The Grass Valley, CA native felt encouraged with the result but also couldn’t help but think of what could’ve been after leading the opening 22 circuits.

“Overall tonight, we were pretty happy with our car, finishing second even though we were leading laps and up front,” Sweet explained. “I just felt we were a little off in the A (main), but this is a tough field of cars. And with new tires and a lot of unknowns, you just don’t know how these nights are going to go, so we’re pretty happy with second with our Napa Auto Parts car.”

Rounding out the podium in just his 14th career World of Outlaws Feature start was Borden, marking his first career Series top-three.

“It honestly means the world just to be running out here in Pennsylvania against the absolute best in the world and running up front and contending for wins, you know,” Borden said. “We’ve come a long way, didn’t think I’d be here this soon. It’s really cool.”

One spot behind Borden was a hard charging Carson Macedo. The Jason Johnson Racing driver moved up from ninth to fourth, enough to make him the Low-E Insulation Spring Showdown champion and pocket an extra $10,000.

“It means a lot to us,” Macedo said. “I think it’s something really cool they put together that hopefully they continue to do in the future. I feel like all the people from Low-E Insulation, that’s a good chunk of change for them to put out.”

David Gravel and Brad Sweet finished second and third in the Spring Showdown standings to take home the remaining portion of the point fund with Gravel taking $6,000 and Sweet claiming $4,000.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars will take on a down south double header as next weekend (March 24-25), Talladega Short Track (Eastaboga, AL) and Magnolia Motor Speedway (Columbus, MS) host The Greatest Show on Dirt. For tickets, CLICK HERE

If you can’t make it to the track, watch live on DIRTVision.

RESULTS

A Feature (35 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[3]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 3. 23-Devon Borden[4]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[9]; 5. 13-Justin Peck[12]; 6. 48-Danny Dietrich[7]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[5]; 8. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[21]; 9. 19-Brent Marks[13]; 10. 2-David Gravel[6]; 11. 5-Spencer Bayston[8]; 12. 11-Michael Kofoid[10]; 13. 83-James McFadden[25]; 14. 27-Chris Windom[16]; 15. 39M-Anthony Macri[19]; 16. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[27]; 17. 16-Matt Campbell[11]; 18. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[22]; 19. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[30]; 20. 15-Donny Schatz[28]; 21. 9-Kasey Kahne[29]; 22. 1A-Jacob Allen[15]; 23. 8D-Billy Dietrich[14]; 24. 69-Tim Glatfelter[20]; 25. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[18]; 26. 99M-Kyle Moody[26]; 27. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[23]; 28. 44-Dylan Norris[24]; 29. 8-Freddie Rahmer[2]; 30. 1M-Landon Myers[17]

(March 18, 2023) – Corvette Racing showed itself strong early but was left wondering what might have been at the end of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday. The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R – with Antonio Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner sharing the wheel – placed fifth in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class after the second race of this year’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

After fighting back first from an untimely full-course yellow early and then a mechanical problem with four hours remaining, Corvette Racing appeared to be in a great spot for a second straight Sebring class victory until late-race chaos that started with the GTP-class fight with 20 minutes to go undid all the team’s good work at the end. The Corvette had the race going its way in the opening eight hours. Garcia began from pole position and steadily increased his advantage through the first hour. The first bit of misfortune struck at the race’s second full-course yellow just past the hour mark as the Corvette couldn’t make its first stop before the pits closed. As a result, it had to enter the pitlane for five seconds of emergency fuel and pit again for full service when the GT pits opened. Garcia fell to eighth in class but carved his way back toward the front with a dynamic drive through traffic in the span of 25 minutes. He moved up to second by the time the race went yellow again at the two-hour mark. Taylor got in the Corvette for almost three hours as the Corvette Racing crew got him out ahead of the No. 79 Mercedes for the GTD PRO lead. It was a spot that Taylor held for most of his triple-stint before he handed the C8.R to Milner, who rejoined with the lead. The Corvette continued to lead out front despite the air and track temperatures climbing during the hottest part of the day. Still while leading, Milner radioed to the Corvette Racing pitbox for the crew to check something at the rear of the car. On his final pitstop with about four hours left, the crew found and replaced the C8.R’s left-rear damper. The fix cost Corvette Racing a lap but Taylor got in for his second run in the car still with good pace but needing a yellow. Nearly 2.5 hours later, the yellow flags flew again to solidify the Corvette getting back on the lead lap. Taylor stayed in until the 10-hour mark when Garcia re-entered the race for the final stints to the end. A series of additional full-course yellows and some sharp strategy calls moved the Corvette as high as third and first among the GTD PRO cars that made their final scheduled stops under yellow with about 50 minutes to go. On the subsequent restart, however, Garcia was hit from behind and knocked off track. The contact sent the C8.R down to sixth place. The final blow came with 17 minutes to go when Garcia and the No. 62 Ferrari were involved in a crash instigated by the overall leaders. Despite the second spin, the Corvette did gain a spot to its final fifth-place finishing position. Corvette Racing’s next event in the WeatherTech Championship is Saturday, April 15 in Long Beach, Calif.

Photos: Richard Prince, Chevrolet Racing

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FIFTH IN GTD PRO:“I’m really disappointed with the finish, but it has nothing to do with the team. They did a great job all weekend with the car, our strategy and helping to keep us in the race when things weren’t looking so good. We kept waiting for a long time for a yellow to get back with the main GTD PRO group, and it finally came our way not long after I got in. I felt like we were in the best shape of all with about an hour to go before all the chaos broke out. I really don’t know what to say. All I know is that I was spun twice and it ruined our race and our car. I understand that this is an important race but there is no call for what happened late. It was careless and reckless driving by a lot of guys who should know better. I don’t know if we would have won, but I do know that we had that chance taken from us. I’m not happy.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FIFTH IN GTD PRO: “A disappointing finish. The guys did an amazing job. We were up front and in control for a majority of the day before our mechanical issue. I’d say driving standards for today were pretty sub-par from the whole field. There were so many yellows early on and the end of the race was embarrassing to be part of, to be honest. It’s disappointing to finish fifth after how strong we were, but we’ll move on to Long Beach.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FIFTH IN GTD PRO: “The start was great from Antonio. The first stint from Jordan was awesome. The car was very, very good. At some point in my stint, we had our issue and it looked a little grim for awhile. Then it looked like we would have an opportunity and a chance to race for a podium, which I think we certainly deserved as we had the car to beat. At the end, you had a lot of guys who were driving over their heads and there was a lot of that today. Unfortunately we got the worst of it. I feel for the rest of the guys in GTD PRO to have to deal with Antonio for the rest of the year. He’s going to be fired up.”

Catsburg, Keating, Varrone lead total team effort in WEC victory SEBRING, Fla. (March 17, 2023) – Corvette Racing made an emphatic statement with a convincing GTE Am class victory in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring to open this year’s FIA World Endurance Championship. Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nico Varrone drove the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to a two-lap victory at Sebring International Raceway to start its new program in the class. It was the 14th win for Corvette Racing at the 3.74-mile, 17-turn rough-and-tumble circuit since 2002.

Friday’s victory also was the second for Corvette Racing as a full-time WEC entrant, the first coming last season at Monza in the GTE Pro class. The team now has 123 worldwide victories. That number is easy to understand when looking at the totality of Friday’s race. Each of the three drivers drove error-free stints with no contact and no risks taken. The engineering team rotated the three drivers through consecutively in order of ranking so neither Keating, Varrone or Catsburg had to get back in the Corvette. The Corvette Racing crew also was the fastest of the GTE Am teams in the pitlane with a six-second advantage on the next-quickest team.“No one at Corvette Racing could ask for a better start to our FIA WEC program than this win at Sebring for Ben, Nicky and Nico,” said Laura Wontrop Klauser, GM Sports Car Racing Program Manager. “All three put in excellent drives, the crew was the best throughout the class in the pitlane, and our engineers called a perfect race strategy. Ben really set the tone for this race with his opening three stints, and the performance continued from there with an incredible mid-race triple stint from Nico and then Nicky’s drive to close it out. Winning the first race of the season, in the United States and at Sebring is a storybook start that we will remember for a long time!” The fight of the race early was Keating’s battle with Sarah Bovy in the No. 85 Porsche. Familiar competitors from last year’s WEC, the two swapped the lead in the opening laps before the Corvette settled in to a close second position for the first couple hours. The Porsche gained a slight advantage by making its second stop near the 90-minute mark during a full-course yellow period while the Corvette made its second stop under green. Undeterred, Keating clicked off consistent, fast laps to keep the C8.R in the hunt and never dropped lower than second in class.  Last year’s winner in the 24 Hours of Le Mans and the reigning GTE Am WEC champion, Keating made quite the debut in his first race with the Corvette program. He drove two hours, 40 minutes before handing over to Varrone for a triple-stint and nearly three hours in the C8.R. He moved the Corvette into the lead when the 85 Porsche suffered rear damage and lost multiple laps. From that point on, Varrone increased his pace and more often than not was the fastest driver during his time in the C8.R. His only challenge came from the No. 77 Porsche, which got as close as 14 seconds to the lead after gaining a similar pit stop advantage under yellow as the No. 85 earlier in the race. Varrone pressed on and continued to pound out sub two-minute laps while the Porsche’s pace fell off during its mid-race driver rotation to its Bronze-ranked driver. By the time of his iron-man three-plus hour stint, Varrone gave Catsburg the No. 33 Corvette – and a 90-second lead – for the final two hours. It wasn’t a coast to the end, however. Catsburg had to contend with the usual late-day Sebring sunset and Hypercar entries that attempted to make desperate moves to keep track position in their own race. Like his teammates, he drove clean and measured stints to deliver an undamaged C8.R to victory. Corvette Racing’s next event in the FIA World Endurance Championship is the Six Hours of Portimão on Sunday, April 15.

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTE AM WINNER: “There’s so much to say about today. If you look at the execution, it’s not like we were out-pacing everyone by so much. We just made zero mistakes. In the pitlane, I feel like we were by far the fastest team, which is a big credit to the guys. They’re working out so much… four days per week. It pays off. It’s super-nice to start the season off like this. Those guys (Keating and Varrone) in their first race for Corvette and their first win, I think that’s pretty cool. They did a flawless job so big hats off to everyone!”More on Keating and Varrone: “This was the plan. But for them to do triple-stints in your first race with Corvette, it’s a lot more difficult than you think. It’s three hours in the car and it’s going to hurt at some point! But they each did a fantastic job.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTE AM WINNER: “It was mayhem out there, really. I started in second place, was able to gain the lead and then gave it up again. We got the early safety car that kind of changed the strategy up a little bit for us. It was not easy, for sure. Our car was sliding a lot more than it had in practice, so it was a lot more to handle and I think that was true for the other GT cars that I was watching while I was either following or looking in my camera to the back. “I’m really proud of the way we won the race today. If you look across the field and you look at how we got to be two laps up on the field. It wasn’t because we were the fastest car. It was because we stayed out of trouble. Almost everybody had some sort of issue, and it was really tough with all the traffic. I’m sure (the other winners) would say the same thing. Especially as the race wore on, it really got into one line and the track got more difficult. I’m just really proud of all three of us that we were able to have a clean race.“It’s really special for me to be driving something I sell and to be representing an American brand and winning the only American race for the World Endurance Championship and taking advantage of what I feel like is a home-field advantage. It was a really great job by everyone at Corvette.”More on the win: “This is the only WEC race in the United States, so it’s really special here! The guys, the team did a great job. All the drivers just didn’t make any mistakes, which is pretty tough to do with all that traffic out there. And like I said with, I guess, five hours to go, I said it’s mayhem. And so we just stayed out of it. And pretty much everybody else ended up having some problem or another. And so it’s a nice way to win and also it’s really special. Hearing the American National Anthem and being under an American flag… I couldn’t ask for more. To all the fans, I would say thank you!”

NICO VARRONE, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTE AM WINNER: “What a dream. At Sebring with Corvette and winning the 1,000 Miles of Sebring, I’m super happy. I couldn’t ask for a better debut with the brand. A big thank you to all the guys, all the mechanics, all the engineers. Corvette Racing did a great job all week long. Ben did a great job with the start and in his first three stints. He got us to P2. Then I jumped in the car for three hours, which was tough. Then I handed it over to Nicky, who is a legend. We all know that he knows what to do. He brought it home safely and now I can’t be happier!“This was a very difficult race for me. I had to do a triple stint in the middle. I’ve had to do a triple stint at Le Mans, but I have to say that Sebring is much more difficult! Ben did a great job at the start to get the car to me. The track was changing a lot during the whole race, so we had to figure out what was happening. Corvette Racing did a great job with that. They did a great job all week long. It’s a dream come true.”

No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R just misses podium finish in 1000 Miles of Sebring

SEBRING, Fla. (March 17, 2023) — On the 11th anniversary of the first FIA World Endurance Championship race – on the Sebring International Raceway course – Cadillac Racing made an impressive debut in the Hypercar class. The No. 2 Cadillac-V-Series.R co-driven by Alex Lynn, Earl Bamber and Richard Westbrook battled cockpit heat during afternoon temperatures that reach 84 degrees Fahrenheit, an international field of 11 Hypercars and the usual unpredictable 3.741-mile, 17-turn racecourse to place fourth in the 1000 Miles of Sebring.Bamber, closing out the eight-hour race, finished 10.127 seconds out of the final podium spot. The No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing entry, which is comprised of three former Cadillac Racing drivers from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi era, won the race. Like its run in the IMSA season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in late January, the reliability and overall speed of the hybrid Cadillac racecar stood out. “In 2022, the development of this car, the testing schedule, everything that we went through was so tough on the team, but we are seeing the results and we are so proud of all that work and effort that we put in. It was worth it,” said GM sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser. “We have a solid car and we can’t wait to get to the rest of the WEC season and the IMSA season and show the world how great it is.

“Every time we turn the car on we learn something. Whether if we move it or even if it sits still, we learn something and the racing is the best way possible to learn. So we can only grow and get better.” The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R ran as high as third on multiple occasions to the twin Toyota LMH entries. Bamber led the way with 3 hours, 36 minutes (118 of the 237 laps) behind the wheel.

“No doubt it’s a strong and positive day for Cadillac Racing,” said Lynn, who drove to the fifth-place starting spot Thursday. “We started our WEC campaign with a fourth place and I think we would have taken that at the start of the weekend. This is the first time everyone has worked together on a brand new program, and to come 10 seconds within a podium with a team as strong as Ferrari is just a fantastic start with so much more to improve on.” The six-hour race April 16 in Portimao, Portugal, is next on the WEC schedule. The hybrid Cadillac racecar will soon travel to its European base in Wedlingen, Germany, and be prepared for the second of seven rounds. “The car was great. The pace was better than we expected, and we took advantage at the end of one of the Ferraris misfortune, but we’re racing for the podium and we gave it all we got,” said team manager and strategist Stephen Mitas. “We’ll keep giving it the same effort we’ve given it so far and try to build on this good result.” Earlier in the day, the sister Cadillac V-Series.Rs swept the front row for the 71st Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Pipo Derani, seeking his fourth overall victory in the race, qualified on pole with a lap of 1 minute, 45.836 seconds in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R. Sebastien Bourdais drove the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R to second with a lap of 1:45.923. Cadillac has won the past two IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races at Sebring and four of the past six.

Cadillac Racing 1000 Miles of Sebring high-resolution photos

No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.RAlex Lynn: “No doubt it’s a strong and positive day for Cadillac Racing. We started our WEC campaign with a fourth place and I think we would have taken that at the start of the weekend. This is the first time everyone has worked together on a brand new program, and to come 10 seconds within a podium with a team as strong as Ferrari is just a fantastic start with so much more to improve on. We’re a team that wants to achieve good things, so whilst we respect it as a good result we come away feeling like we wanted more.” Earl Bamber: “That was a tough one. We were fighting for a podium with the Ferrari and a little bit unlucky with a full-course yellow at the end. We were sort of best of the rest, so we’re going to push on. The team did a fantastic job first time in LMDh and it’s on to Portimao for the next race.” Richard Westbrook: “I think we executed brilliantly. Obviously, it’s a new format for everyone, a new team since Daytona and to come very close to a podium on our WEC debut is awesome for this whole Cadillac program. I’m just very proud of everyone. We stayed out of trouble and on another day we could have gotten third. We’re only going to go forward now. We got so much data now to go through. It’s just so invaluable. It beats any eight-hour test.”

(3/17/23 – Jim Allen) Fresno, CA … It was announced today that the victor of the April 15th Dennis Roth Classic NARC sprint car finale at Tulare will pocket a stout $18,300 for their ef…wp.me

(3/17/23 – Jim Allen) Fresno, CA … It was announced today that the victor of the April 15th Dennis Roth Classic NARC sprint car finale at Tulare will pocket a stout $18,300 for their efforts.  That is a hefty $10,000 increase over the originally announced payday.  The two-day show (April 14-15) honors and recognizes the accomplishments of the legendary Sprint Car Hall of Fame inductee car owner whose teams have won some of the biggest open wheel racing events in the nation.

“Dennis and Teresa (Roth) are honored to have a race put on by their peers and it is very special to us.” said Todd Ventura, Roth Motorsports Team Manager. “This team has had so many great moments, great drivers and great accomplishments in our 31-years and we are looking forward to next months show.

The Roth Motorsports team has built a legacy by capturing 100 World of Outlaw victories and recently gave Toyota their first ever win in a sprint car. Roth Motorsports has also won four NARC King of the West championships (2011, 2013, 2014, 2018.)

“It is truly an honor to be part of this team, Ventura continued, “because it’s all about winning.”

Another reward for the team standing in victory lane at the Dennis Roth Classic is the one-of-a-kind longhorn steer skeleton head trophy.  The event is loaded with as assortment of other perks, including ice chests full of beef for the fast qualifier and heat race winners.

The Roth Motorsports team plan to field three or four sprint cars for the Classic.
https://wp.me/p8HUv9-2oF

WILLIAMS ROOFING TO SPONSOR NARC HARDCHARGER AWARD(3/17/23 – Jim Allen) Sacramento, CA … It pays to get your elbows up and pass cars in the NARC 410 Sprint Car Series.  That is because Williams Roofing has partnered up with the sanctio…wp.me

(3/17/23 – Jim Allen) Sacramento, CA … It pays to get your elbows up and pass cars in the NARC 410 Sprint Car Series.  That is because Williams Roofing has partnered up with the sanctioning body to sponsor the NARC Hardcharger Award during the 2023 campaign.

The driver who passes the most cars from their original starting position in each NARC feature event will be presented with a $150 reward for their efforts from Williams Roofing.  (Competitors must run a Williams Roofing Hardcharger decal to be eligible.)

In addition, the driver who passes (advances) the most cars over the course of the entire 23-race NARC campaign, will pocket a $1000 at the November 5th NARC Championship Celebration.  Benicia’s Billy Aton and Bud Kaeding have claimed the bonus during the past two seasons.  Updated passing stats can be found on the NARC410.com points page.

Steve Williams of Williams Roofing has been a longtime supporter of the NARC King of the West series and sprint car racing in general.  His family-owned business is a full service contractor serving the greater California Bay Area from their Fremont office with generations of experience.  They provide roof inspections and repairs to new roof installations and replacements of virtually every type of residential and commercial roofs and gutters.  Williams Roofing offers prompt and friendly service, onsite owner management and exceptional workmanship guarantees so consumers receive the best roof possible.

Williams Roofing provides free estimates and can be contacted at 510-623-1424.  Or for more information, you can go to their website at www.williamsroofing.net.  Please support those who support sprint car racing.

The NARC season opener is scheduled for April 1st at the Stockton Dirt Track.

No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R prevails in race of attrition

SEBRING, Fla. (March 18, 2023) — Sitting on the pit wall collecting his thoughts and barely holding back tears, Chris Mitchum personified the unpredictable nature of endurance racing. Moments earlier, the Action Express Racing director of operations watched the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R survive the literal and figurative bumps in the Sebring International Raceway course to score Cadillac Racing’s inaugural victory in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) era. It wasn’t easy, somewhat surprising and certainly satisfying. “Everybody says you never quit, but all the way through the end there was belief,” said Mitchum, who celebrated Action Express Racing’s 29th victory. “We had our issues, we had a good car all weekend and you have to be there at the end and we were. I could not be more proud to get Cadillac’s first GTP win in IMSA.” Cadillac’s third consecutive win in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is the longest manufacturer streak since Audi’s 2000-07 run, and the luxury brand has won five of the past seven on the 3.741-mile, 17-turn racetrack starting in the IMSA DPi era, including the past three from the pole. But starting from the Motul Pole Award didn’t come into play in the final 15 minutes of the grueling race of attrition. Jack Aitken inherited the three GTP competitors ahead of him tangled, causing a full-course yellow. The first-year prototype driver took the green flag with 4 minutes, 37 seconds left and held off the charges of the second-place BMW to take the checkered flag by 2.940 seconds.“This one was wild, but that’s why you go endurance racing. We worked really hard to be in the position we were at the end,” he said. “It wasn’t an easy race for us. You can’t choose how you win but we deserve that in the long ways.”

It was Cadillac’s 28th prototype win in IMSA since 2017 (most by any manufacturer) and 67th in all series/classes since 2004. “It takes perseverance. That’s one of the great things about endurance racing. It’s not over till it’s over,” Cadillac Global Vice President Rory Harvey said in Victory Circle. “We made it entertaining for the fans today and it was a fantastic win for the No. 31 car. It was an outstanding performance collectively.” Pipo Derani, who drove to Cadillac’s third consecutive pole start in a row in the event, earned his fourth victory (2023, 2019, 2018, 2016) in the Twelve Hours of Sebring – joining four others on the all-time list. Tom Kristensen is the leader with six overall wins. “I’ve had so many unlucky races since the last win here so I’ll take a little bit of luck,” he said. “I feel bad for the guys who crashed. But you have to be lucky a little bit in motorsports. We had a fantastic race. We started on pole, had a flawless race after the incident in the beginning, so we recovered well and just fantastic to get number four. This is for my little girl one at home.” The Action Express Racing team overcame contact with an LMP3 car that spun directly in front of Derani, who did not have time to take evasive action, at the two-hour mark. Replacement of a damaged nose assembly was performed quickly and Derani and co-drivers Alexander Sims and Aitken made up the lost time throughout the remainder of the first quarter of the race. Dominating the first half of the race – leading 127 of the 168 laps — it looked as if both Cadillac Racing cars would earn podium spots.

Renger van der Zande recorded the fastest lap of the race (1:48.311) on Lap 165, endurance championship points were collected, and the two cars traded the point through pit stops and consistently blunted challenges from the field. While leading the race, the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R with Sebastien Bourdais behind the wheel made an unscheduled trip down pit lane with 3 hours, 8 minutes left. After examination on pit lane and back in the garage, the Chip Ganassi Racing campaigned racecar was retired. Cadillac Racing issued a statement: The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R experienced a fuel distribution system issue. It is the first time we have seen it in testing — including a successful 24-hour test at Sebring International Raceway in November and two days of testing at the track in February — and race conditions. Cadillac Racing will figure out the root cause and prepare for the next race. The next race is April 15 on the streets of Long Beach, California, where Bourdais and van der Zande will seek to make it two victories in a row. They won from the pole in 2022 in the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R.Overall, the Cadillac V-Series.Rs led 183 of the 332 race laps over the 12 hours.Cadillac Racing high-resolution IMSA GTP photos available for editorial use A 2023 Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing was the pace car/safety car for the race. The race weekend marked the kickoff of the 20th anniversary of the Cadillac V-Series performance vehicle lineup, and Cadillac was announced as the Official Luxury Vehicle of Sebring International Raceway.  The CT5-V Blackwing is a Car and Driver 10Best again for 2023: “…the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is the greatest sports sedan on sale today, if not of all time.” On March 17, the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R finished fourth in the 1000 Miles of Sebring – its debut race in the Hypercar class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. An interview with the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadilac V-Series.R race winners: Pipo Derani:What does this fourth win at Sebring mean to you?“I’ve been on the unlucky side a few times since my last win. I’ve been close many times but you have to be lucky in motorsports. The most important thing is that we were there in the end with a car that was still running, especially after an early incident of no fault of our own. We were able to capitalize on all the others’ mistakes. I want to say thank you to the whole group. We came here with a very strong car in qualifying and put it on pole. We had an amazing weekend from FP1 through the end of the race. Jack had to start with old tires at the end, so we didn’t quite have the pace to keep the position but we were there at the end with the mistake that others made; it allowed us to get ahead and take the win. It’s a special one for me. It’s the first win I’ve had since fatherhood. My little girl is at home and three months old. It’s the fourth win at Sebring… one that I’ve been hoping to get for a few years. Like I said, I’ve been on the unlucky side so to get it is fantastic. First win as well for the Cadillac V-Series.R and our new LMDh car. A lot of hard work has been put into this program from the beginning, especially on the reliability side. To finish at Daytona and Sebring now with a win and already have pole position is a fantastic effort form the whole group. A big thank you to Whelen Engineering for providing us with amazing lights, Action Express for the amazing job that they’ve done since the beginning and Cadillac for providing us a very fast racecar.” What about double-stinting the qualifying tires?“I think we underestimated the fact that it was quite hot out there. We tried. We knew we couldn’t make it, especially if it was green most of the race, on the amount of tires that we had. We tried to be a little aggressive at the beginning to have more tires at the end. Obviously it wasn’t great at the end of the second stint; the second half of that stint was quite difficult. Very quickly after that, I had contact with a P3 that spun right in front of me. I had to stop for repairs and we removed that set of tires from the car. It was not an easy race in terms of tires. At the end, some had a few new tires to put on their car and some didn’t. It was a balance between using them at moments where the track was a bit warmer and temperatures were hotter or trying to save them for the end. So it’s a bit of you win early or you win later. We had an extra set of tires, but we decided at the end to gain track position on one of the last restarts. Jack continued on his tires and unfortunately we didn’t have the pace to keep the cars behind, but luck played into our side today.” Jack Aitken:What was going through your mind when you saw the accident at the end?“I was trying to do some quick counting at that moment. In those moments so late in the race, you’re pretty much in the moment. I saw the crash and was watching out for debris and other cars because there were cars pretty much everywhere and just trying to survive. It was after I got through that I was waiting for the caution and I thought, ‘That was quite a lot of GTP cars. Maybe we’re alright here.’ Were you worried about the BMW at the end?“We’ve had a lot of trouble on the restarts previously. We had a great strategy call to get us into the lead. The team were fantastic with that one, and it was quick thinking. I just wasn’t able to fight it and the other guys were really impressive with their speed at the restart. We didn’t quite have the pace, especially on warm-up. I was a little bit concerned, but luckily when the flag dropped we were able to sprint away pretty quickly and could just bring it home safely for the last laps.” Going three-wide into Turn 1 late before the accident.“It was very, very tough racing. We were trying to hold our position as good as we could. The other guys were fighting extremely hard. At some point, you have to realize when it’s time to give up and that’s part of the reason we made it to the end today. We all drove pretty smart as well as racing as hard as we could when we had the pace. I was waiting a little bit for an accident to happen at some point.” Were driving standards OK?“It was hard racing. I’m not going to sit here and say that because I was waiting for a crash doesn’t mean that people were necessarily over the limit. It was just really, really hard racing. In this new era where we’ve got so many teams and cars that are racing at a very similar level, it’s inevitable that you’re going to get a little bit of bumping and some close calls. I had a good time out there. I don’t think anyone was particularly out of line.” Alexander Sims:What was the reaction watching the accident at the end?“From my side, it was just a bit surreal, honestly, to watch all that unfold. Until that moment and after the end of the second-to-last safety car restart, it seemed like – as Jack mentioned – we seemed not to have the pace. In your mind, you’re resigning yourself to finishing fourth. And so yeah, the emotions go through a bit of roller-coaster to realize that we’re in the seat to win the race. There’s some level of sorrow for the three ahead that did crash out, to be honest, because we’ve all been in that situation and we know how that feels. Conversely, it benefits you sometimes and we’ve got to take it and enjoy the moment.” Have you seen anything like this before?“That was a surprising end. An excellent effort through the race. We had really good pace at times and the race of attrition was our friend today. The car was in one piece and in good condition at the end, and it was fantastic for Jack to bring it home and capitalize on the issue at the front at the end of the race.”

No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.RSebastien Bourdais: “It’s obviously pretty disappointing for everybody. The guys did a great job. A couple of incidents that kind of put us out of sequence and then we paid the price with the double stints on tires. Renger did a heck of a job hanging onto the car because it was well over two stints on the tires and not easy. And a typical safety car reset the field. We had a great restart from last to ninth and we worked out way to the lead with a great pit stop by the guys. The car was quick. Cadillac seems to have something that works pretty well at Sebring, so that’s really encouraging. I think we made some great progress from Daytona in performance, so that’s encouraging for the rest of the season after finishing on the podium but needing more pace at Daytona. It’s great to see the program heading in the right direction and everyone at Chip Ganassi Racing and Cadillac are working very hard to make progress.” Scott Dixon: “It was quite the race. The car was really fast and I felt like everybody on the team did a tremendous job. We had some ups and downs, but ultimately, we were top-three most of the race and led a good majority of it. Just bummed that it ended the way it did, and we didn’t win the race. It’s one that’s eluded me, and it would have been great to take this one. But we had great speed, great teamwork and everybody did a hell of a job.” Renger van der Zande: “Sebring is a special one, and it’s a shame that it didn’t fall in our direction. We had a strong Cadillac car here and while we’ve been testing all over, we’re still trying to improve things across the board. We’re still learning. We go deep to try to optimize performance. It’s just an unfortunate end to the race after showing so much speed.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY AMBETTER HEALTH 400 TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT MARCH 18, 2023

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:  POS.   DRIVER9th      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL111th    William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL113th    Austin Dillon, No. 3 Andy’s Frozen Custard Camaro ZL115th    Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL117th    Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL118th    Ross Chastain, No. 1 Advent Health Camaro ZL120th    Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL121st    Josh Berry, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL122nd   Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Camaro ZL125th    Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Camaro ZL126th    Ty Dillon, No. 77 Ferris Commercial Mowers Camaro ZL127th    Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger / Nature Valley Camaro ZL128th    Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL130th    AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL131st    Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Celsius Camaro ZL136th    BJ McLeod, No. 78 B’laster Camaro ZL1 TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:  POS.  DRIVER                                                                1st      Joey Logano (Ford)2nd     Austin Cindric (Ford)3rd      Ryan Blaney (Ford)4th      Brad Keselowski (Ford)5th      Aric Almirola (Ford)  ·       With no practice session on the schedule for this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series hit the track for the first time this weekend for a single-car qualifying session.  ·       Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 team led Chevrolet in qualifying, securing a ninth-place starting position for tomorrow’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.  ·       FOX will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday, March 18, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on the PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

NASCAR CUP SERIES ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY AMBETTER HEALTH 400 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT MARCH 18, 2023

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Press Conference Transcript:  Your thoughts on the penalties this week and how you thought NASCAR handled things? “Look, I can’t say the details of the penalty, of what goes on there. But certainly excited for the appeal and everything that comes with that. Just ready for this weekend. We’ve got more to prove and we’ll just keep going. It’s good to get two in a row the last couple of weeks. I feel like we’re on a good role. This is a really good race track for us; won here last year.  I was excited hearing Chad’s (Knaus) comments yesterday and all that was good, so looking forward to the appeal.” Can you describe what the impact of the 100 points and 10 playoff points are? And also, what have you been doing this week to get acquainted to your interim crew chief? “Yeah, certainly the points is something that we just adjust to. It’s early in the season. The cars are extremely fast. We obviously had the pace last week to win regardless, so I think that’s going to continue. I think with that pace, we’re just going to use that to our advantage to makeup points.  We didn’t intend on really relaxing after a win anyways this year. So I think going into the next however many weeks that we’ve got until the playoffs, we’re going to push really hard. I think we’re just going to give it everything, every week. We had a good week of preparation; lots of time in the sim, lots of time at the shop. Just excited for all of that to continue. That’s as far as the points go.  And then as far as the interim crew chief – Brian (Campe) is going to be great. I work with him a lot in the shop through our competition meetings and spend a lot of time with him, so excited to have him on top of the pit box. My engineer, Brandon McSwain, we’ve worked together since the JRM days in 2017. He was my engineer at JRM when we won the championship and he’ll be a bigger factor, bigger role, throughout the weekend. I’m excited for that because we know each other really well. We probably exchange texts about 10 times a week on the car, so excited to have him in a bigger role.” William, you spoke last weekend that after back-to-back wins, you were really confident, really motivated. And then you guys get hit with a really big penalty, but you said a minute ago that you have more to prove. So when you get hit with a penalty like that, does it knock your confidence or knock you for a loop at all? Instead, it seems like you come here with more motivation.“Absolutely. Look, I really get excited about coming to the race track right now. I was just excited in the off-season with the group I know we have. So yeah if anything, it just shows that we’re not there yet. We have more to prove and we have more to go out there and accomplish. I think that’s a dangerous thing, right? We’re going out there with a goal in mind; a specific goal to win every week. We’re going to keep pushing for that every single week. Really, it starts during the week. A lot of the weekend stuff is a result of what we do and our processes back at the shop and communicating with one another. I think that process started on Monday as soon as we got back from Phoenix (Raceway).. what could we have done better at Phoenix because that’s a really important race track. There were certainly things we could have done better there. I thought the No. 4 car (Kevin Harvick) was the best car. I thought we were second or third-best; kind of right there with the No. 5 (Kyle Larson). So I think there were things last week that we could have done better. We addressed all of that Monday and Tuesday, and Tuesday night turned the page to focus on Atlanta (Motor Speedway). Obviously this track has been good for us in the past, but July wasn’t quite as good. So we looked at a lot of the things that Chase (Elliott) and the No. 9 team were doing really well here in July and tried to apply that to this weekend for us.” I’m curious on your thoughts about Josh Berry. How he has come in and his approach to jumping into this car; his growth over the last couple of weeks and what he’s brought to Hendrick Motorsports.“I think Josh (Berry) has been great. It’s a very unique circumstance for him. Last weekend, we had 50 minutes of practice, but he doesn’t have the 10 test sessions that we all had last off-season to get comfortable with this car; learn what it needs and things like that. So he’s at a very big deficit, in terms of experience, with this car. I mean it’s not like anything else that you drive. When I go race a super late model and then go race the Xfinity car – those are in the same ballpark. When you go run the Cup car, you might as well go drive a Trans Am car or go drive a sportscar to adjust.  I think there are so many things he’s having to learn, and I think he’s doing a great job with it all. He’s brought a new perspective to the debriefs. Being such a clean slate, there are some things that he says that you don’t even realize that go on with this car and it’s cool to hear. Excited to have him.” Here this weekend, obviously this is the third race on this surface. I’m curious how much things change from the first one last year to the second, and what you kind of expect for change-wise this weekend.“Yeah, I mean it’s really hard to say. It’s really cold this weekend, so I don’t know how that’s going to factor into the way the race plays out. The groove is wide here because it’s drafting and you’re not at the edge of grip throughout the whole corner. There are certain parts of the corner that you can be on edge of grip and have to lift, which I think is what we all like about it. It does have some element of having to drive because you are out of the gas. So I think that’s what’s cool about the new Atlanta (Motor Speedway). But I don’t know if it’s going to be a similar race to the summer race because that’s obviously really hot and slick.  I’m not really sure what we’re going to see, but I’d say it would be maybe closer to the July race just because the track is starting to age. So curious how that will play a factor.” Before you won your appeal on your penalty last year, you had a 25-point fine and $50,000 fine with the incident with (Denny) Hamlin at Texas Motor Speedway. Denny got the same thing this past week. Do you look at your incident with him – under caution, what happened there and what he did with Ross (Chastain) – as equal penalties? “I don’t know if they’re equal. I don’t know how to answer that part, but I do think that it’s unfortunate. You’re going to have a game of poker, right? Because now guys aren’t going to be able to say what happened. There are a lot of guys that fake it in interviews and us drivers know that. So it’s unfortunate that those are the guys that get away with it.” How do they get away with it then if the drivers know about it? You guys have the memories that stay with you, so it’s not like you guys forget. How is this not resolved because now guys can’t say anything?“Yeah, I mean it will just be handled on the track. I think that’s the way it is. Things are always handled on the race track, but yeah I guess nobody else will know.”

No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R gives brand third pole in a row

SEBRING, Fla. (March 17, 2023) — Cadillac Racing will have an initial advantage as it seeks to successfully defend its Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring victory, sweeping the front row for the 71st edition of the classic U.S. endurance race. The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R driven by Pipo Derani claimed the pole – Cadillac’s third in a row at Sebring International Raceway – with a best lap of 1 minute, 45.836 seconds on the 3.741-mile, 17-turn course.

The sister No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R driven by Sebastien Bourdais recorded a best lap of 1:45.923 in the scheduled 20-minute session cut short because of a red flag with 5 minutes left. Bourdais started from the pole in the 2022 race with a qualifying lap-record time of 1:45.166 in the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R. Cadillac has won the past two 12-hour races at Sebring and four of the six in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship DPi era, including 2022 and ’21 from pole. Last year, Cadillac swept the podium.Derani, who will share the wheel of the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R with Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken, is among five drivers (and youngest) with three wins in the Twelve Hours of Sebring (2016, 2018, 2019), joining the likes of Phil Hill and Mario Andretti. Cadillac Racing Twelve Hours of Sebring pit notes“I think we’ve been having a fantastic weekend since the beginning. It seems we rolled out onto the track with a very competitive car, so the changes have been very small from practice to practice and therefore we keep improving with better lap times,” said Derani, who posted his eighth IMSA pole and second at Sebring (2021). “I wanted to say thank you to the whole Action Express Whelen Engineering team and Cadillac for its continued support, the relentless work and hours behind closed doors to try to make this program the best it can be.” Both entries in the Grand Touring Prototype class tested on the bumpy circuit last month following the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona, and completed a successful 24-hour test at the track in November in the continuing development of the hybrid racecar. A day earlier, the No 2 Cadillac V-Series.R qualified fifth in the Hypercar class for its FIA World Endurance Championship debut in the 1000 Miles of Sebring.

A Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing will be the pace car/safety car for the race. The race weekend marks the kickoff of the 20th anniversary of the Cadillac V-Series performance vehicle lineup. The CT5-V Blackwing is a Car and Driver 10Best again for 2023: “…the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is the greatest sports sedan on sale today, if not of all time.” Peacock will stream flag-to-flag coverage of the race starting at 10:05 a.m. ET Saturday. USA will telecast the track action from 4:30-10:30 p.m. ET. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions at IMSA.com along with Sirius 216, XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992 and 100.9 FM at the circuit. Cadillac Racing IMSA GTP high-resolution photos from Sebring International Raceway No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.RSebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Scott DixonBourdais drove in the 20-minute qualifying session (1 minute, 45.923 seconds): “Obviously, a great day for Cadillac. I had just a tiny bit of understeer, but I think it was pretty close with lap times and everything. I guess last year’s pole didn’t really serve us so well. Maybe it’s a good omen. I think we have a solid racecar and looking forward to the grueling 12 hours ahead. It’s going to be a lot of keeping your nose clean and make sure that you execute and don’t run into any trouble.” No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.RPipo Derani, Alexader Sims, Jack AitkenDerani drove in the 20-minute qualifying session (1 minute, 45.836 seconds): What made the difference for your team this morning?“I think we’ve been having a fantastic weekend since the beginning. It seems we rolled out onto the track with a very competitive car, so the changes have been very small from practice to practice and therefore we keep improving with better lap times. It was a very competitive qualifying session. I think we came in from Daytona a little behind some of our competitors, but it shows we’ve been able to work well together between Action Express and Ganassi to continue to develop the Cadillac. And I think it’s a strong track normally for the Cadillac but with the new regulations you never know how that’s going to translate. It’s still a strong track for our car. We’ve evolved and worked really hard, and it shows we are a little bit more competitive than we were at Daytona. And to be able to extract that in qualifying and have a Cadillac on pole it shows were able to achieve what we’ve been looking for. In general, it’s always good to be back at Sebring. It’s a place that I really enjoy. Being on pole here doesn’t mean much for the race, but for us as a team coming from a difficult ’22 it means a lot to be able to get back on track and show the potential we have as a team. I wanted to say thank you to the whole Action Express Whelen Engineering team and Cadillac for its continued support, the relentless work and hours behind closed doors to try to make this program the best it can be. On a personal note, it’s always nice to have the first Cadillac LMDh pole at a place that I really like to drive. A fantastic beginning to our weekend. Hoping we can have a clean race. I think we’re in a strong position this weekend.” What do you expect this race to look like, how do you think it will shape up?“Sebring being Sebring, it’s a really difficult track on man and machine. Despite having done a 24-hour race at Daytona, I think this is really demanding on the car to the point we might experience new things throughout the race just because of the nature of the track. We’re expecting that we’ll continue to learn about our cars; they are so very new and there are things we are constantly developing. It’s going to be one of those races where you find yourself in the middle thinking, ‘Oh, I didn’t think about this. We could have used this tool or that tool.’ The cars are technologically advanced to the point where sometimes you have five tools to fix the same problem. Those are the learning curves we’re having and this is the second race for these cars. On the competitive side, it’s such a difficult race. When it hits man in terms of fatigue, you can see things starting to go on. We’ll try to stay cool and this race is still like a long practice sessions for us for future races.” Are you more focused on getting your car figured out as opposed to the competition?“Those two things mix with each other. You always want to win the race, and you want to check the boxes you have to make and then you start thinking about the race. We are learning, improving the team and improving the car. Up until about hour 10 of the race, you’re trying to get those learning curves out of the way and then you start thinking about winning the race. For sure, the competition so far has bene really close. It’s fantastic for the new regulations and the future of the sport.”

Related: , jessica davis therapist, construction worker killed in california, google sheets unresolved sheet name, boy names honoring mary, will heathrow terminal 1 reopen, dinosaur baby shower food ideas, atlanta braves catchers, is michael le vell ill, door frame clamp for swing, kelly mi li and simu liu relationship, accident on 84 waterbury, ct today, how old is cody crone, can tears stain your clothes, are cava and chipotle owned by the same company,Related: honda financial services register, first coast news anchor resigns, clipsal 3 phase 5 pin plug wiring diagram australia, amc synthetic shares count, wigan today court, who makes great value corned beef hash, toowoomba grammar school term dates 2023, list 9 important characteristics a president should possess, keni burke wife, michael grondahl house, avengers fanfiction steve and bucky come out, ann paula cusack, just keep swimmin pin neo twewy, is demarcus tillman a real basketball player, james cox chambers palisades ny,Related: mountain view cemetery harding, pa, fifa sudden cardiac death registry, most nfl players drafted by college last 5 years, fake zelle receipt, bill montag net worth, lumpkin county manager search, pret a manger annual report 2020 pdf, dana point yacht club wedding cost, when evaluated as psychometric instruments, most projective tests, wreck in crestview, fl today, fundamental fairness doctrine, powerapps patch sharepoint list choice field, discontinued nabisco cookies from the 70s, winchester model 1897 heat shield for sale, pioneer woman stuffed cabbage soup,

SEBRING, Fla. (March 17, 2023) – In defense of its class victory from a year ago, Antonio Garcia and Corvette Racing will start from pole position in GT Daytona (GTD) PRO for Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Garcia, in the No. 1 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, set a best time of 1:59.315 (112.843 mph) just before a red-flag period ended Friday’s 15-minute qualifying session for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. He and teammates Jordan Taylor and Tommy Milner will look to give the Corvette Racing program its 13th victory in the Florida endurance classic and second in a row. Garcia’s qualifying effort continued a strong pre-race program for Corvette Racing, which posted the fastest GTD PRO times in the final two of Thursday’s three practice sessions around the 3.74-mile, 17-turn circuit. Pre-event work – including significant work in Chevrolet’s Driver in the Loop simulator – helped establish an early baseline with the results validating the virtual efforts.

Garcia, Taylor and Milner finished second in GTD PRO to open the season at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. They have combined for eight class wins in the 12 Hours – nine when adding a sprint-race victory for Milner and then-teammate Oliver Gavin in the 2020 season. The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring is scheduled for 10:10 a.m. ET on Saturday. The race will air on USA Network from 4:30-10:30 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage on Peacock at 10:05 a.m. ET. IMSA Radio will stream the race at IMSA.com with radio coverage also on SiriusXM 392, SiriusXM Online 992 and 100.9 FM at the circuit.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – GTD PRO POLE-WINNER: “The car felt really good. A good thumbs-up for the team. We were not here for the (IMSA February) test but so far things have been really good through practice. Even warmup just before qualifying felt really, really good so we just went for it and it was enough. Luckily enough I was just across the line before the red flag because I just messed up the previous laps. I’m very happy for Corvette Racing. I’ve had a few pole positions here and I love this race and love this track.”More on pole position: “Things felt really good. I have to say that after Practice One, we were not where we wanted. But from Practice Two onward, everyone seemed to be faster… Tommy, Jordan… so we have a good package, for sure. Last night felt good. We tested in the little warmup before qualifying and the car felt good. I had in the back of my mind that this Corvette was good and I would have a chance be on pole.”His Sebring success: “That is true. In GTLM, I was on pole the last two times and now today. The car really suits this racetrack and I think there is more to come because we love racing here. I’m looking forward to the rest of the race. I wouldn’t mind to race in an hour! So it’s a long wait until we start. There are a lot of things to think about, but obviously the car is good so maybe we should just clean it and put it in the truck!”Outlook for the race from pole: “It’s confidence. We have confidence that we have a good Corvette. We knew from practice last night that the car was good, but we didn’t know where it was for a quick, quick lap but we were up there. Tomorrow is a long one but I’m already looking forward to those last two hours of the race.”

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 17, 2023) – Don’t miss the televised premiere of Rounds 1 and 2 of the 2023 Progressive American Flat Track season. The DAYTONA Short Track I will air Saturday, March 18,at 10:30 a.m. ET (7:30 a.m. PT) and the DAYTONA Short Track II will air the following day, Sunday, March 19,at 12:30 p.m. ET (9:30 a.m. PT), both only on FS1. For more information on Progressive AFT visit http://americanflattrack.com.

The defending Series champion is searching for his first World of Outlaws win of the season

FARMER CITY, IL – March, 17, 2023 – While Dennis Erb Jr. has accomplished many feats throughout his World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model career, a Series win in the Illinois driver’s home state has eluded him.  

The defending Series champion, from Carpentersville, IL, hopes to change that when he returns to Farmer City Raceway, in Farmer City, IL, for the Illini 100, March 30-April 1. 

He’s found success at the track before with four touring wins overall, including a DIRTcar Summer Nationals win in 2015. However, even with his experience on the 1/4-mile track, he said he knows how challenging it is to win there against the World of Outlaws. 

“It’s a challenge there,” Erb said. “Farmer City has been known for years to have good cars, good local cars who race there every weekend. With our group that’s there, along with the local cars that show up to that race, it’s definitely a tough place to pick up a win there. 

“We’ve had a lot of wins there and ran good there. So, we’re looking to be in contention for that one. If we could win that one, it would definitely mean a lot.” 

Flanked by two-time and reigning World of Outlaws Crew Chief of the Year Heather Lyne, Erb enters the epic Illinois event with momentum after scoring a win at Clarksville Speedway earlier this month. 

He said his win was essential, showing his team can contend for wins no matter where they unload. 

“When you come out of Florida and pick up a win as early as you can, it definitely helps get things rolling,” Erb said. “It shows our stuff is good, the cars are good, and things just have to work out.” 

Despite the win at Clarksville, Erb has an uphill climb on his way to a second consecutive title. He currently sits ninth in points after DIRTcar Nationals, 48 points behind Chris Madden. 

However, Erb and Lyne have one focus on the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models schedule—the next race. 

“We just go ahead and look forward to the next race,” Erb said. “It’s just one of those things [in Florida]. We’re down there for so long that things can work out, and things can’t. We didn’t have as good of a run as we wanted to, but now it’s just focus on the rest of the season.” 

The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models head to Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, IL, for the Illini 100 on March 30-April 1. Joining the World of Outlaws is the Xtreme Outlaws Midget Series presented by Toyota. FOR TICKETS: CLICK HERE. 

If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online on with the DIRTVision App.

            While ARP is known for sponsoring the two most prestigious awards (AMBR and Slonaker) at the rodding world’s oldest event, the Grand National Roadster Show, the company has increased its support of hot rodding with a major presence in the newest “major league” event, the Triple Crown of Rodding. ARP will also be the “Official Fastener” of the event.

            Slated for September  8-9 at the Nashville Super Speedway in Tennessee, the Triple Crown of Rodding has drawn tremendous support from the hot rodding community. ARP will be the presenting sponsor of three of the show’s major awards; Street Rod of the Year, Street Machine of the Year and Street Cruiser of the Year. A separate slate of awards, sponsored by LMC Truck, are earmarked for trucks built up to 1972, for those manufactured from 1973-87 and 1988-1998.

            Organizing the event are highly credentialed industry veterans Bobby Alloway and Gary Case, and a roster of noted builders that reads like a “who’s who” of hot rodding will be presenting other special awards.

            In announcing the company’s participation, ARP Executive Vice President Bob Florine stated, “We are pleased to expand our support of hot rodding through participating in what promises to be a ‘must’ on the show circuit.” Florine added, “We’ve worked with both Bobby and Gary over the years and have admired their accomplishments. The Triple Crown promises to be the proverbial frosting on the cake.”

            With multiple facilities in Southern California, ARP proudly manufactures all fasteners in-house to the industry’s highest standards. The company’s 5,000-plus fastener kits can be viewed at www.ARP-bolts.com with a free printed copy of the 2023 catalog available upon request.

No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R impresses on Sebring circuit; IMSA GTP cars show speed

SEBRING, Fla. (March 16, 2023) — The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R will start on the inside of the third row in the 1000 Miles of Sebring on Friday in Cadillac’s debut in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s Hypercar class. Alex Lynn covered the 3.741-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway course in 1 minute, 46.082 seconds on his fourth of five laps in the 15-minute qualifying session. The No. 50 Ferrari AF Corse earned the first pole of the WEC season with a best lap of 1:45.067. Lynn will co-drive the hybrid Cadillac V-Series.R with Earl Bamber and Richard Westbrook.

Its sister racecars – the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R and the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R – will compete for the pole Friday morning in qualifying for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring on Saturday in the second race of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season. Both cars were near the top of the time sheet in three free practice sessions.  Cadillac will aim for its third consecutive victory in the endurance race and fifth in the past seven years. Last March, Sebastien Bourdais set the qualifying lap record of 1:45.060 in the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R. Lynn and Earl Bamber teamed with Neel Jani to lead a Cadillac sweep of the podium in the 2022 race.

Media resources * Pit notes* Sebring WEC photos* Sebring IMSA photos* Weekend guideCadillac pacesetterA Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is the pace car/safety car for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The race weekend kicks off the 20th anniversary celebration of the V-Series performance vehicle lineup.

Lynn is a two-time overall winner (2017, 2022) of the 12-hour race at Sebring in a Cadillac DPi-V.R and Bamber has an overall and class win. Teammate Richard Westbrook co-drove a Cadillac DPI-V.R to the runner-up finish last March. The 1000 Miles of Sebring is scheduled for noon ET/5 p.m. CET. The race will air live on MotorTrend in the U.S. with streaming coverage on the MotorTrend app. Radio Le Mans will broadcast the race. No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.REarl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard WestbrookAlex Lynn drove in the qualifying session (qualified fifth; 1 minute, 46.082 seconds on five laps):“It felt really good and that’s why I was a little bit disappointed to be only P5, but I think all credit has to go to Cadillac Racing and Chip Ganassi Racing because I think we’ve come into WEC and made a strong impression so I’m really proud of this team. I think we’re in a good spot. (about the race) It’s only just begun really. We’re in a strong place, we have a fast racecar and I think we just need to run the eight hours really clean and really hard. But I think we’re in a stronger place in the race potentially with how we are with our tires because I think we know that the Hypercars can boost up their power quite a lot, so we need to work out where we can improve and go again tomorrow.” What the IMSA GTP drivers are saying

Jack Aitken, No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R: “The car feels good and I think we’ve made good steps forward even from the test we had here last month. Rather than trying to dial in the car exactly for the conditions we have at the time, we’re trying to get an idea of how the track is evolving and target the end of the race to have the car on point for those conditions. That’s going to be the crunch time. If we can manage that evolution of the track through the race, then that’s even better.”Scott Dixon, No.01 Cadillac V-Series.R:“It’s been good. As always here at Sebring, tracing the track in the morning to the high temperature in the day and kind of cool in the night it definitely makes it fun because it’s never the same. Traffic seems to be a little more demanding than normal, which is interesting as well. I think everybody on the team has done a great job making improvements and making progress.”

Related: dragonfable leveling guide, new restaurants coming to cullman, al, fda eua list kn95, promoting reproductive health and wellness slogan, palisades amusement park deaths, , harry chapin funeral, damon yauney wife, laurence graff grandchildren, tattoo themed t shirts, , owner financing homes in gonzales, la, what is the importance of social organization, popes claimed control of political rulers like kings, why marriage doesn’t work for our generation,Related: heart tail lights honda civic, pictures of the real horse hidalgo, lost ark cash shop costumes, who is jake from angry grandma, ron turcotte horse heart burst, brandon swanson theories, enlisted voluntary early separation program 2021, adam crabb wife, who is rehan and riza in shoaib ibrahim family, morning glory tattoo black and white, ss saxonia 1904, denton, nc obituaries, glass beach american canyon, michael oher step family, brianna k husband gossip,

No. 33 Corvette C8.R to start second in GTE Am debut at Sebring 1,000 Miles SEBRING, Fla. (March 16, 2023) – In his first qualifying session as part of Corvette Racing, Ben Keating qualified second in a stacked GTE Am category Thursday ahead of the FIA World Endurance Championship’s 1,000 Miles of Sebring. Piloting the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, Keating posted a best lap of 1:59.345 (112.841 mph). He will team in Friday’s season-opening race with Corvette Racing veteran Nicky Catsburg and fellow newcomer Nico Varrone.

Only 0.784 seconds separated the four fastest cars in qualifying. Keating was never lower than second and swapped provisional pole position multiple times in the 15-minute session. The Corvette program is easily the most experienced team in the WEC paddock at the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway circuit. It has 25 years of racing experience at the historic track, which sits on the site of an Army airbase from World War II. In addition to two previous starts in GTE Pro at the Sebring WEC round – including a runner-up finish last year for Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy – Corvette Racing has 13 victories at the track with 12 coming in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. On the driver front, both Catsburg and Keating have previous starts in the Sebring WEC round. Catsburg finished second in GTE Pro in 2019 while Keating placed third a year ago in GTE Am on his way to the class championship. Meanwhile, Varrone will make his first full-season start as a WEC competitor in the 1,000 Miles. The 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for noon ET on Friday, March 17. MotorTrend and MotorTrend Plus will provide both level television and streaming coverage. Radio Le Mans also will stream audio coverage the race.

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED SECOND IN GTE AM: “It was really interesting. We did mock qualifying this morning, but I had much more grip in the car. I don’t know if our tires don’t like the Carrera Cup tires or what, but I had a lot more grip this afternoon. It was much of a handful than I expected in qualifying. I was really wheeling the car around there. With less grip, it was more work. I thought I may be able to compete with the time that Sarah did to be on the pole. I did three laps that were almost exactly the same. I think she got ahead of me by four-thousandths and then I got ahead of her. It was fun to go back and forth. We’re starting on the front row for our home race. I know that the Porsche is really different when it gets full of fuel. So qualifying is one thing and racing is another. I’m excited to go out there and race with her. We’ve been on the front row most of last season together, so it’s not unfamiliar territory. We’ll be OK.”

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE

Ambetter Health 400Atlanta Motor Speedway Hampton, Georgia March 19, 2023

RACING FOR FOUR IN A ROW AT ATLANTAAll three NASCAR national touring series will make the trek south to Hampton, Georgia, where the 1.54-mile Atlanta Motor Speedway will be the site of the series’ next tripleheader race weekend.  While Chevrolet has been unbeatable in the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) thus far this season, the manufacturer will also look to keep its winning streak at Atlanta Motor Speedway alive in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400. The Bowtie brand has collected a series-leading 43 NCS wins at Atlanta, including triumphs in the series’ past three consecutive races. The streak dates back to July 2021 when Kurt Busch drove the No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet to the victory in the track’s final race before undergoing a complete repave and reprofiling. An intermediate-sized track now producing superspeedway-styling racing, the variety of unknowns proved no challenge for Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron and Chase Elliott, who drove their Camaro ZL1’s to a sweep of the series’ race wins at the Georgia venue in 2022.

Atlanta Motor Speedway – July 11, 2021Kurt Busch, No. 1 Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet

Atlanta Motor Speedway – Mar. 20, 2022William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

Atlanta Motor Speedway – July 10, 2022Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet

UNSTOPPABLE START TO 2023With William Byron’s back-to-back trips to victory lane, Chevrolet has now gone four-for-four in NASCAR Cup Series wins this season, marking the first time since 2001 that a manufacturer has swept the first four races in a single season in NASCAR’s premier series. In NASCAR’s Modern Era, a manufacturer has swept the first four races of a NCS season on four separate occasions, with Chevrolet recording three of those (1995, 2001, 2023). Chevrolet’s record for the most consecutive wins to start a NCS season came in 1995, with four different drivers collecting a combined seven-straight victories.

BY THE NUMBERSWhile Chevrolet is the only manufacturer that has made its way to victory lane in NASCAR’s premier series in 2023, the Bowtie brand’s dominant start to the season is demonstrated by more than just its win count. A highlight of key statistical measures heading into the Atlanta Motor Speedway race weekend: ·       Chevrolet drivers have taken seven of the eight NASCAR Cup Series stage wins this season. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain and Hendrick Motorsports’ William Byron have each recorded three stage wins, with Byron’s teammate Kyle Larson also having one stage win to his name. ·       Of the 1,000 laps run this season in NASCAR’s premier series, 12 different Chevrolet drivers have led a combined 705 laps. ·       Chevrolet drivers have taken at least 50 percent of the top-10 finishing positions in each of the NASCAR Cup Series points-paying races this season, including a sweep of the top-four at Auto Club Speedway and a podium sweep at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

LARSON ON HORIZON OF MILESTONE STARTSunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway will mark Kyle Larson’s milestone 300th career start in NASCAR’s premier series, all of which have been behind the wheel of a Chevrolet.   The 30-year-old California native first stepped into the NASCAR Cup Series scene in 2013, making four starts that season with the No. 51 HScott Motorsports Chevrolet team. Larson competed his first full-time season in the series with Chip Ganassi Racing in 2014, ending the season with the Rookie of the Year honors. The driver went on to notch his first career NCS win at Michigan International Speedway in August 2016.  Larson’s career season came in 2021 when he joined Hendrick Motorsports to pilot the No. 5 Camaro ZL1. In his debut season with the organization, Larson collected a series-leading 10 wins en route to his first career NCS championship title.  To-date, Larson has collected 19 wins, 91 top-fives and 148 top-10s in NASCAR’s premier series.

SILVERADO RST BACK ON-TRACK AFTER LAS VEGAS WINThe NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) will return to the track after a one-week break to join the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the third tripleheader race weekend of the season. Saturday’s NCTS Fr8 208 will mark the series’ 22nd appearance at the Georgia track. Chevrolet has recorded nine NCTS wins at Atlanta, with the manufacturer’s first win coming in only the series’ second race held at the track (Ron Hornaday, Jr. – March 2005).  Chevrolet is the series’ most recent winner this season after Kyle Busch drove his No. 51 KBM Silverado RST to the win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, also marking the organization’s first win under the Chevrolet banner. Momentum is on the side of the young NCTS Bowtie brigade, with drivers from four different Chevrolet teams taking six of the top-10 finishing positions at Las Vegas.

HILL LOOKS TO DEFEND HOMESTATE WINThe NASCAR Xfinity Series will take over in part two of Saturday’s doubleheader with the RAPTOR King of Tough 250 marking the series’ fifth race of the season. The Bowtie brand has collected a manufacturer-leading 18 NXS wins at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The most recent of those wins comes from Georgia native Austin Hill (No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Camaro SS) in the series’ last appearance at the track in July 2022.  Hill will head to his home track looking to not only defend his race winning title, but also maintain his position as the series’ points leader. The 28-year-old Chevrolet driver already has two NXS wins to his name in 2023, and is one of only three drivers in the series to have top-10 finishes in every race this season. Joining Hill in the top-five includes series’ veteran Justin Allgaier (No. 7 JR Motorsports Camaro SS) in third and series’ rookie Chandler Smith (No. 16 Kaulig Racing Camaro SS). Both drivers have had a strong start to the season, leading the series with three top-fives each.

BOWTIE BULLETS:·       NASCAR Cup Series victories by active Chevrolet drivers at Atlanta Motor Speedway: Kyle Busch – 2 (2013, 2008)William Byron – 1 (2022)Chase Elliott – 1 (2022) ·       In 117 NASCAR Cup Series races held at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Chevrolet has recorded a series-leading 43 victories, including the past three consecutive races at the track (Kurt Busch – July 2021; William Byron – March 2022; Chase Elliott – July 2022). ·       Kyle Larson will make his milestone 300th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Atlanta Motor Speedway this weekend, all of which have been behind the wheel of a Chevrolet. ·       William Byron delivered Chevrolet its fourth consecutive NASCAR Cup Series win of 2023 at Phoenix Raceway, making it the first time since 2001 that the same manufacturer has won the first four points-paying races of a NCS season. ·       Chevrolet’s four consecutive NASCAR Cup Series wins this season have been recorded by drivers from three different Chevrolet teams: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (JTG Daugherty Racing), Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Racing) and William Byron (Hendrick Motorsports). ·       Chevrolet drivers have taken at least 50 percent of the top-10 finishing positions in each of the NASCAR Cup Series races this season, including a top-four sweep at Auto Club Speedway and a podium sweep at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. ·       Chevrolet drivers have recorded seven of the eight NASCAR Cup Series stage wins this season: Ross Chastain (three), William Byron (three) and Kyle Larson (one). ·       Of the 1,000 laps run thus far in the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, 12 different Chevrolet drivers have recorded a combined 705 laps led. ·       Alex Bowman is the only driver in the NASCAR Cup Series to finish in the top-10 in each race this season. ·       With four races in the books for the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series, Chevrolet leads the manufacturer standings in both series. The reigning Manufacturer Champion leads the NCS manufacturer points standings by 27 points, while also leading the NXS manufacturer points standings by three points. ·       With its 41 NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer’s Championships, 33 NASCAR Cup Series Driver’s Championships, and 837 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title of winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history.  ·       Chevrolet will pace the field in the tripleheader race weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Silverado RST will lead the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in Saturday’s Fr8 208; the Camaro SS 1LE will lead the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ in Saturday’s RAPTOR King of Tough 250; and the Camaro ZL1 will lead the NASCAR Cup Series in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400.  FOR THE FANS·       Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Atlanta Motor Speedway. ·       Fans can check out an assortment of Chevrolet vehicles in the Fan Midway including: Tahoe Premier, Blazer RS, Traverse Premier, Silverado 1500 Crew ZR2, Silverado 2500HD Crew Carhartt Diesel, Corvette Coupe 3LT Z51, Camaro ZL1.·       Fans can also view Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Camaro ZL1 show car at the Chevrolet Display in the Fan Midway. Team Chevy Driver Appearances at the Display: Saturday, March 18·       Grant Enfinger, Rajah Caruth & Daniel Dye: 10:15 a.m.·       Christian Eckes & Jake Garcia: 11:20 a.m. ·       Nick Sanchez: 12 p.m. ·       Blaine Perkins: 12:30 p.m.·       BJ McLeod: 2 p.m.·       Jeremy Clements: 2:15 p.m.·       Chandler Smith: 2:30 p.m. Sunday, March 19·       Josh Berry: 11:40 a.m.·       Ross Chastain: 11:55 a.m.·       William Byron: 12:15 p.m.·       Justin Haley: 12:30 p.m. Chevrolet Display Hours of Operation: Saturday, March 18: 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. Sunday, March 19: 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Tune In: ·       NASCAR Cup Series – Ambetter Health 400; 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 19(FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90). ·       NASCAR Xfinity Series – RAPTOR King of Tough 250; 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 18(FS1, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90). ·       NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – Fr8 208; 2 p.m. ET on Saturday, March 18(FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90).

QUOTABLE QUOTES:Ross Chastain, No. 1 AdventHealth Camaro ZL1Two runner-up finishes at Atlanta last year, what is your goal this year?“My goal is to finish one spot better and win the race. Finishing second is great, but I want to win for my team and all of our partners. Racing at Atlanta now is more superspeedway-like and we had two strong finishes last year. Of course, it’ll be a little bit different this time since we’ve had more time with this car, but if you’re anywhere close to the front and there’s a late race restart, I’d say you have a good chance at winning.” We’re seeing more drivers joining broadcasts from the television and radio booths, why is that?“Calling a race from the radio or the television booth always gives you a different perspective. It’s fun to do something different. It’ll be good distraction for me while my brother (Chad Chastain) is out there on the track for his first Xfinity race.” Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1Larson on the season so far: “We had a shot to win in Daytona and I crashed. In Fontana, we had the mechanical issue early in the race, but fixed it and the last two runs of the race we were by far the fastest car. In Vegas, we were the second-best car to William (Byron) and finished second. In Phoenix, again, we had a great car there and had a shot to win late. No win in the column, but I’m super pleased with our performance and look forward to every upcoming race. I feel like no matter where we go right now, we will have a shot at a good finish and hopefully some wins along the way.” Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL1“Driving at the new Atlanta configuration is definitely challenging just due to the fact that it’s really, really fast and it’s a mile-and-a-half so it seems like the superspeedway speeds that you get at a mile-and-a-half make everything go by really quick and things happen quick, faster than a superspeedway. That’s definitely the challenging part. Understanding the grip level of what the cars have and the draft and the moves you can make is also pretty challenging. It’s easier for everybody to go faster with it being restrictor plate style racing and everybody being able to hold it wide-open to the most part makes it for a plate race. Drivers would rather drive and have it as the old Atlanta.” Does running well at Daytona give you confidence entering this weekend in Atlanta?“Yes and no. I would say that we’ve had speed at Daytona with the superspeedway cars. We had a pretty good handling primary car and then, unfortunately, we just weren’t quite able to get the handle the way we wanted it to with the second one, although I thought it was good after the practices we had. Going into Atlanta, it’s just kind of an unknown. We just have to go in there and see what it all feels like and see how the Lenovo Chevy drives compared to what I remember driving there last year.” Josh Berry, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1Berry on his first top-10 finish in the NASCAR Cup Series and looking ahead to Atlanta Motor Speedway: “The top-10 finish at Phoenix (Raceway) was really cool for us to accomplish. And for Atlanta (Motor Speedway), we just want to keep building on what we’ve been doing and just continue to improve. Atlanta is going to be a tough race without a doubt, but Hendrick Motorsports has been really strong there. I think if we can just stay out of trouble and hopefully stay up front, we’ll have a chance of getting a good finish.” Berry on what has helped get him more comfortable with the car and acclimated with the team: “It was amazing what a week of preparation did for us at Phoenix (Raceway). Just being around each other and spending some time in the sim and just getting a little bit more comfortable with each other has definitely helped a lot. This week, I’ve also spent some time with Eddie (D’Hondt, spotter) and getting our communication better as well, which is going to be really important in Atlanta. I think we just keep pushing in that same direction. We’re trending better and better each time we go on the racetrack, so Atlanta should be fun.” William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1Byron on his confidence heading to Atlanta: “This past offseason we really took the time to evaluate where we were and what we needed to get better as a team. I think this year has shown that so far, especially to have two strong runs and wins so soon. Everyone is putting in the time and effort to make sure we are improving. Now we’re heading back to Atlanta (Motor Speedway) as the defending winner of this race last year, and two wins under our belts. It gives us an extra boost of confidence but we’re not going to let up.” Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1“Atlanta was a really great track for us last year. Obviously with it being a speedway track now, it has worked in our favor, but I think as it wears, it’s going to start getting a little bit more like a mile-and-a-half. It’s probably my favorite racetrack right now on the schedule. It’s just something so different than any other track we go to with the high speeds and it being an in-between track. I’ll also have the opportunity to get some laps in during the Xfinity race as well, so I’m really looking forward to this weekend as a whole.” Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Camaro ZL1“I’ve really enjoyed racing at Atlanta over the years. It’s going to be tough without practice on Saturday as I think we can use all the laps we can get being rookies, but we have some great notes to go on from the No. 43 team are focused forward.” Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1Last year, your team was really strong in both Atlanta races. What is it about the superspeedway style of racing on the reconfiguration that fits in your wheel house?“I liked racing in Atlanta last year. It was a lot different obviously with the new layout and new format style of racing. It’s kind of like having an extra superspeedway track for us, but you have a little more handling involved, especially more than what we have at say, Talladega. I feel like our speedway program has been strong; I feel like at the Daytona 500, we had a good car. So hopefully, we can be just as strong there and be able to just lead some laps, be up front, and have a shot to win. Last year, we were pretty close in a couple of them in Atlanta. You know, I really felt like in the second race there we had a great shot to win, and hopefully we can go back down there and close this one out with our Allegiant Chevy.” Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1Bowman on his consistency to start 2023: “It’s been a goal of mine for so long to get more consistent. Having finished in the top 10 in all four races so far gives me a lot of confidence in what the No. 48 Ally Racing team is doing this season. It helps that I have liked a lot of the tracks we start at this season, but we keep bringing fast race cars and maximizing every opportunity that comes our way. Atlanta (Motor Speedway) races more like a superspeedway with the repave so it’s a little bit of a tossup, but I am ready to continue the streak we are on.” Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Camaro ZL1Are you looking forward to Atlanta on Sunday?“Of course. Atlanta is an interesting race track. It’s almost like it can’t decide what it wants to be. It’s a 1.5-mile track that races like a Talladega and Daytona. We have had some good results there since the reconfiguration. I think the key is survival and hopefully we can do that and get another good finish.” How is your season so far?“We have run well. The cars are fast, the pit stops are fast, we are learning. We have things we have to get better at and clean up but we are making progress. I think we are going to have a lot of fun this season if we keep doing what we are doing.” Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Silverado RSTWhat are your thoughts on returning to Atlanta’s newly-renovated reconfiguration for the second time around this weekend?“Atlanta is a lot different since the reconfiguration. It races more like a superspeedway rather than a conventional mile and a half track. With the banking and newer asphalt we will all have a lot of grip which provides for tight racing. We will have to be aggressive on the track and pit road to position ourselves to be upfront for the end. I’m looking forward to this stretch of 5 races in a row. Our Champion Power Equipment team is preparing well, and I feel like GMS Racing has built us some trucks that we can win with.”  Rajah Caruth, No. 24 Wendell Scott Foundation Silverado RSTThough it hasn’t been quite the start of the year that you had hoped for results wise, you’ve shown some stout speed in both races. What are some of your goals in place for this weekend in Atlanta?“Definitely, to your point, the results that we’ve had this year haven’t been indicative of our pace. Especially at Las Vegas two weeks ago; where we were running right around the top-10 and earning points in both stages and being right in the mix before green flag stops before we got wrecked. So really, the goals don’t change from week-to-week, at least for me personally, and I would say that the guys on my team agree with me. We work just as hard and treat every race as if it was a playoffs race. The expectations are that we give our best efforts; and that’s what my guys are doing at the shop. I give my best efforts at the shop, and away from the shop, and that’s what I am for sure doing. So hopefully that will set us up for a great race on Saturday in Atlanta, and from there get a good rhythm going, because we have five races in a row. It’s going to be important to have a good tone here and start off this stretch with a bang, so I’m confident in my team and think we can really show out in Atlanta this weekend.” Daniel Dye, No. 43 Heise LED Lighting Systems / Orlando Longwood Auto Auction Silverado RSTYou haven’t ever competed at Atlanta Motor Speedway before, but since Daytona is still relatively fresh on your mind, do you think you can take what you learned in that race and apply it to this weekend?“I think what I learned at Daytona is certainly going to help me to some extent at Atlanta. Obviously, with the track in Atlanta being close to half the size of Daytona, the racing is going to be a little bit different, but it should feel similar since they reconfigured that track to more of a superspeedway feel. You’re definitely going to have to take that into account, but I’m looking forward to it with our Heise LED Chevrolet Silverado RST. We’ve had a little bit of a rough start to our season, but I know everyone on the No. 43 team is going to do their best to get us rolling in the right direction starting with this weekend.” Chase Purdy, No. 4 Bama Buggies Silverado RST Talk about racing as a kid on the quarter-mile track at Atlanta Motor Speedway.“I have a lot of history at Atlanta – actually for a few years I spent probably every winter running the Winter Flurry deal and the Thursday Thunder on Thursday nights. Every Wednesday we would get there and practice all night and Thursday come back and race on the little quarter mile. So, lots of history there. I love Atlanta – I think it’s cool that it’s a totally different race track now. It used to be old, worn out and slick, and now it’s wide open and races like Talladega and Daytona. I’m really excited to get back there and see what happens.” Does the speed your team had at Daytona increase your optimism for Atlanta?“I’m really excited about how much speed we had at Daytona and Atlanta races like that now. I think if we can go there and have the same speed that we had at Daytona, then we definitely have a shot to win.” Coming off a top-10 finish at Las Vega, does that help your confidence?“We’ve shown a lot of speed at both the race tracks we’ve been to this year. I’ve got a really good group of guys here at KBM. There is no quit in them and they believe in me. I have a lot of confidence going into Atlanta and these next few races as well. Hopefully, we can keep up the momentum we have rolling right now.” Jack Wood, No. 51 Logitech Silverado RSTWill having a strong qualifying run and good speed in the ARCA race at Phoenix give you a confidence boost getting into the truck at Atlanta?“Yeah, for sure. I think that was one of the biggest reasons for us for to go and run ARCA this year was to just kind of build confidence back up. I think that it will translate over to the truck for sure.” Do you like the new style of racing at Atlanta?“It’s fun. Looking at the race from last year, all the KBM trucks were really, really fast, so if we do get a chance to qualify I think we’ll be at the front of the field will help us out. I think it will be a fun race, but you just have to be smart and stay out of the stuff the same way Corey (Heim) did last year and just kind of be there at the end.” Do you think that the style of racing will change at all going back for a second year on the new surface?“I don’t know. It’ll be curious going back to the track for a second time and how much the asphalt has changed over a year with all the weather in Atlanta these past 12 months. I think it will race pretty similar – probably have a little less grip If I had to guess, but I think it will be pretty much the same race that we saw last year.” Christian Eckes, No. 19 NAPA Autocare Silverado RSTOn continuing the No. 19 team’s momentum at Atlanta: “It’s hard to know exactly what to expect at Atlanta with having only one race under our belt there on the new repave and no practice this weekend. I know Charles (Denike) and everybody at MHR put a lot of effort into our NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet for this weekend, so we’ll have to feel it out when they drop the green on Saturday. We’ve had really good driving Chevrolets in both races this year, and we’ll need to continue that on Saturday to be able to maneuver in the draft this weekend. We’ve been doing a good job at getting stage points in both races, so we’ll try to keep that up and put ourselves in position for our first win at the end of the day.” Jake Garcia, No. 35 Quanta Silverado RSTOn making his first start at his home track:“Our Quanta Services team had a great start to the year at Las Vegas and it’d be great to follow that up with another good run at home this weekend. I’ve never raced at Atlanta before, so it’s exciting for my family and friends to be able to race right in our backyard. I think we can build on run at Las Vegas and take another step forward this weekend. Atlanta has turned into a lot more of a drafting game than a typical mile-and-a-half race, but we’ll definitely still need our Quanta Service Chevrolet to handle well and be balanced in the pack on Saturday to run towards the front.”

Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics Manufacturers Championships:Total (1949-2022): 41First title for Chevrolet: 1958Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15) Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022 Drivers Championships:Total (1949-2021): 33First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)Most Recent: Kyle Larson (2021) Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021 Event Victories:Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)                2023 STATISTICS:                                                                                                    Wins: 4Poles: 2Laps Led: 705Top-five finishes: 11Top-10 finishes: 21Stage wins: 7·       Ross Chastain – 3 (Daytona), (Auto Club x2)·       William Byron – 3 (Las Vegas x2), (Phoenix)·       Kyle Larson – 1 (Phoenix)   CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:Total Chevrolet race wins: 837 (1949 to date)Poles won to date: 736Laps led to date: 246,249Top-five finishes to date: 4,232Top-10 finishes to date: 8,733                                                                                                          Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date:                    General Motors: 1,171           Chevrolet: 837           Pontiac: 154           Oldsmobile: 115           Buick: 65            Ford: 820                                                                      Ford: 720           Mercury: 96           Lincoln: 4            Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467           Dodge: 217           Plymouth: 191           Chrysler: 59            Toyota: 170

The four-time and defending World of Outlaws champion looks for more PA success in the final two rounds of the Low-E Insulation Spring Showdown, March 17-18 Last year, Brad Sweet crossed an item off his bucket list that had long eluded him – a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car win at Williams Grove Speedway. Entering last July, Sweet had accomplished nearly everything The Greatest Show on Dirt has to offer – three championships, a Knoxville Nationals, a pair of Kings Royals and plenty more. However, through more than 50 tries, he hadn’t been able to find his way to Victory Lane at the Mechanicsburg, PA half-mile. Then, at the 2022 Summer Nationals, “The Big Cat” pounced on a prime opportunity by taking the top spot late and leading the final three laps for his first Williams Grove triumph. “We put a whole night together and had a great race,” Sweet recalled. “We raced against Donny Schatz, Danny Dietrich, and Sheldon Haudenschild and got the car right where I wanted it and had the track position and found some lanes. It was just a great night, all the hard work paying off. It’s what you do it for.“It was a very special night. It’s one of those things where it’s checked off the bucket list. Nobody can say I never won at Williams Grove. That’s nice as a Sprint Car champion, and I’ve won at a lot of other tracks, so it’s nice to check that track off.”The night served as a powerful testament to Sweet’s progress in the region. The year before the Kasey Kahne Racing driver visited Victory Lane at Williams Grove, he also earned his first win at Abbottstown, PA’s Lincoln Speedway. Even prior to winning at “The Grove,” Sweet felt that they’d taken strides to the point where he was banging on the door of a victory at the paperclip shaped track.“We started to make a lot of gains before (the win), so we started to gain confidence within our team and racecar, the package we were building,” Sweet explained. “We had some stronger finishes. I actually told my guys, probably two or three races before we won, I think we’re getting close to competing for a win here just because we were starting to put the whole night together and get a good feel for what I was looking for.”One of the main catalysts behind the team’s progress has been crew chief native Eric Prutzman. Ever since linking with Sweet in 2018 the duo has proven to be a dominant combination as they’ve collected four titles in their five seasons together. Even with their immediate success, Williams Grove proved to be a puzzle early on.“It’s so unique in itself,” Prutzman said of the challenges Williams Grove presents. “It’s got long straightaways like it’s a big racetrack, but then the corners are so tight. Everything is so narrow. It just takes a lot of laps, I feel like, to be able to understand it. I mean, there are obviously some people who go there, and it suits them perfectly when they get there, but for most people the first time there is a whole new animal, I would say, than what everyone is mostly used to.”On top of breaking through their initial struggles at Williams Grove, Prutzman’s background as a Pennsylvania native made the victory even more significant. “It was definitely cool,” Prutzman said. “We both struggled there together for quite a few races, and then to finally get something going that he was comfortable with made it all that much more special that I could be a part of helping him get that (win). My family was there. He had some family there. It was just really neat. It was really good for everyone to be there to see it, too. It was pretty awesome.”Fast forward to present day, and the World of Outlaws are ready for a rare springtime invasion of “The Keystone State.” This weekend brings the final two rounds of the Low-E Insulation Spring Showdown at Williams Grove (March 17) and Lincoln Speedway (March 18). Sweet’s recent Pennsylvania success has helped elevate his confidence when having to battle the experienced local competition.“From my standpoint, it does feel good knowing we’ve been able to win there,” Sweet noted. “It gives the team confidence. It gives us confidence. We know every race in Pennsylvania is going to be a challenge, but at least we know we can do it. We have those notes in our notebook on those nights, and me, as a driver, I have the feel I was looking for. All of those things help build confidence and hopefully create more wins.”And on the fun side of things, Sweet’s victories have allowed him to playfully banter more often with the PA Posse fans. The Grass Valley, CA native has now won at the entire trio of iconic central PA racetracks – Williams Grove, Lincoln, and Port Royal Speedway, and he’s happy to remind the passionate fanbase of that fact.“They’re always going to cheer for their own, and I’m the farthest thing from their own being a four-time World of Outlaws champion from California. You can’t get much further from PA Posse than that,” Sweet said with a laugh. “They’re usually good sports about it. There’s always a few that have loud mouths, but that’s what drives the sport. “It’s all competitive and a lot of it’s fun. They’re going to cheer for their guys – Lance Dewease, Brent Marks, Danny Dietrich, Anthony Macri, Freddie Rahmer, all of their guys. Even if they don’t cheer for them on a weekly show, they’re going to cheer for them to beat the Outlaws. I think it’s a cool rivalry, and I don’t mind playing into it and riling them up even more.”For tickets to the events at Williams Grove Speedway and Lincoln Speedway, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the tracks, you can watch both races live on DIRTVision.

Sebring notes: Cadillac takes aim at another firstNo. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R team seeks to continue brand’s success in debut in new series

SEBRING, Fla. (March 15, 2023) — The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R co-driven by Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook look to extend Cadillac’s success in its inaugural race in a new series Friday in the 1000 Miles of Sebring. The trio, after completing a successful Prologue last weekend on the 3.741-mile, 17-turn Sebring International Raceway circuit, combined to turn 46 laps in two free practice Hypercar sessions in preparation for the FIA World Endurance Championship season-opening race.Max Angelelli has the distinction of winning in Cadillac’s debut in the Speed World Challenge GT class in 2004 at Sebring International Raceway and in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s DPi class in the 2017 Rolex 24 At Daytona.

“What a coincidence,” said Angelelli, who won the 2004 race from the pole in the No. 16 Cadillac CTS-V. He teamed with Jeff Gordon, Jordan Taylor and Ricky Taylor in driving the No. 10 Cadillac prototype to the victory at Daytona International Speedway in 2017 in the opening race of the DPi era. “Both wins were unique, and both were the beginning of something big and something that is still going and growing a lot,” Angelelli said. “They were programs that became extremely successful – the World Challenge and then the DPi. I’ve been very fortunate. “2004 was kind of I almost couldn’t believe it. We worked a lot in 2003 testing and everything and the car was just so perfect and was so great for Cadillac coming back after the Le Mans experience that didn’t bring the results everybody wanted. Then, P1 and win the first race. And in 2017, I remember the day before I was worrying about failures during the race, and nothing happened. We won the race and that was major as well.” Angelelli also won from the pole at Road Atlanta in 2004. Cadillac earned the Manufacturer Championship in 2005 and ’07, and Andy Pilgrim won the Driver Championship in 2005.“We have to applaud the Cadillac effort as a group,” Angelelli said. “I was just one piece of this enormous program. It was a real team effort, a real team win. My time with Cadillac goes back to 1999 and in a different position now I’m still involved, representing the constructor (Dallara). It’s been more than 20 years enjoying working with General Motors and Cadillac.”Cadillac team learning the ropesThe 15-minute Hypercar qualifying session starts at 7:20 p.m. ET Thursday, with the race taking the green flag at noon Friday. “To win this race, you have to have no mistakes, and that means pit road, no penalties, no issues in traffic,” said Bamber, who teamed with Lynn and Neel Jani to win the 2022 Twelve Hours of Sebring in the No. 02 Cadillac DPi-V.R. “And then second of all strategy. It’s going to be a different race for everyone with the new safety car and full-course yellow rules. And then the heat is going to be a big one. For us drivers to manage a double stint in the heat is going to be really challenging. We’ve worked on that as well at Cadillac Racing.  “With such big competition now between so many factory teams, a podium would feel like a win for our first time out against all the other new LMDh and LMH cars. We’ll make some really good calls, maybe we’ll make some bad calls, but that’s part of the whole learning process coming into the WEC.”IMSA teams prep for first sessionThe No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R and No 31 Whelen Engineering V-Series.R will move onto the course at 10:10 a.m. ET Thursday for the first of three practice sessions preceding qualifications at 10:05 a.m. Friday. Cadillac, which has won the Twelve Hours of Sebring the past two years and four of the past six, participated in an IMSA-sanctioned test at the track last month with both cars.  Cadillac swept the podium in the 2022, 2019 and 2017. Last March, Sebastien Bourdais set the qualifying lap record of 1 minute, 45.166 seconds in the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R. A Cadillac has started from pole in the prototype class in 2022, 2021, 2018. Pipo Derani, co-driver of the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R, is among five drivers (and youngest) with three wins in the Twelve Hours of Sebring (2016, 2018, 2019), joining the likes of Phil Hill and Mario Andretti.Celebrating the anniversary of the V-SeriesCadillac is kicking off a year-long celebration of the V-Series performance sub-brand that was launched at Sebring International Raceway in March 2004. It is now the Official Luxury Vehicle of the iconic racecourse. “Cadillac made a bold move with V-Series that continues to resonate,” said Global Vice President of Cadillac Rory Harvey. “From the racetrack to the road, V-Series has transformed Cadillac and helped redefine performance luxury for thousands of enthusiasts. Over the next 12 months we will celebrate V-Series with a number of significant moments.” The inaugural production V-Series — the 2004 CTS-V — was developed on the racetrack and previewed on Germany’s famed Nürburgring circuit. It was the first of 13 V-Series sedan, coupe, roadster and SUV models to follow. The current lineup includes the CT4-V and twin-turbocharged CT4-V Blackwing, the CT5-V and the supercharged CT5-V Blackwing, and the supercharged Escalade-V. They will be on display in the Cadillac exhibit in the midway starting Thursday.

Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing to pace the raceThe Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing, the high-performance sedan with a 6.2-liter hand-built supercharged V8 engine producing 668 horsepower and capable of reaching 200 mph on track, will serve as the official pace car and safety vehicle for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. The CT5-V Blackwing is a Car and Driver 10Best again for 2023: “…the Cadillac CT5-V Blackwing is the greatest sports sedan on sale today, if not of all time.” Driving home the Sebring relationshipThe Cadillac-Sebring International Raceway connection will also be on display this weekend with the 2023 CT4-V Blackwing Sebring IMSA Track Edition.  The track-capable car features a special matte black paint scheme in honor of the 12-hour race and a symbol of racing in the dark and other eye-catching details that are nods to the iconic racetrack. Spectators can view the limited-edition vehicle in the Cadillac Corral.

Xtreme Outlaw Midgets will join the World of Outlaws Sprint Cars for the doubleheader weekend in Missouri

PEVELY, MO (March 15, 2023) – Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 will welcome the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota for the second time in the Series’ history, April 14-15.

The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets made their debut at the 1/3-mile track last August, giving fans two thrilling shows with the best drivers in the division. They’ll do so again in the spring with $4,000 to win on the line Friday night and a $5,000 payday available Saturday night.

Like the last event, the Series will be paired with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars again, featuring drivers like 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz, four-time and reigning champion Brad Sweet and current Series points leader David Gravel.

TICKETS: CLICK HERE

Early Storylines:

CRUM REPEAT?: Chance Crum, who is contending for the Xtreme Outlaw title this year with Rudeen Racing, won the Series’ first visit to Federated Auto Parts Raceway – his first national Midget win.

He’ll have four chances to try and repeat this year, starting with the spring event. He’s started off the season with one top-five finish during the two-day season-opening event at the Southern Illinois Center.

EARLY CONTENDERS: Cannon McIntosh and Jade Avedisian kicked off the 2023 season with wins at the Southern Illinois Center. For McIntosh, it was his second Series victory, while Avedisian picked up her third Series victory – continuing her title as winningest driver with the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets.

Avedisian left Illinois with the points lead and fellow championship chaser Kyle Jones in second. While he didn’t pick up a win at the Center, he was consistent with a top five and two top-10 finishes.

Of the three drivers, Jones is the only one to have scored a top-10 finish at Federated Auto Parts Raceway with the Series. McIntosh did not compete in the event last year.

DAUM’S REBUILDING: Defending Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series champion Zach Daum, has an entirely new program in 2023. His own car and his own team.

He had an up and down weekend in the season-opener, finishing fifth the first night and then a DNF the second. I-55 could be a welcome sight when he gets there after two top-five finishes at the track last year.

Previous Winners:
2022 – Chance Crum on Aug. 5, Michael Pickens on Aug. 6

If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.