(6/18/24 – Ben Deatherage) Merced, California … The Central Valley is about to hear the roar of the 900+ horsepower powerplants of the NARC 410 Sprint Car Series on Saturday, March 23rd, when the tour returns to Merced Speedway! The high-banked ¼-mile clay oval will host the cars and stars of the NARC organization for the first time since August of 2021 and will be the lone visit to the facility in 2024.

This marks the second stop on NARC’s 65th Anniversary 25-race campaign, which is slated to visit 17-different dirt oval tracks in California, Oregon, and Washington.

“I’m super excited to get to Merced,” said Lemoore driver Cole Macedo, hot off a big win at the Mini-Gold Cup in the Tarlton Motorsports #21 sprint car. “I know (promoter) Doug Lockwood has put in a lot of effort to make that place what it is today.  I think Drew Warner (crew chief) will give me a fast race car, and if I do my job, we should come out with a good finish.”

Macedo is the current NARC championship point leader after scoring his second NARC feature win of his career in Chico.

Many of the NARC sprint cars stars will be competing on the action-packed bullring for the first time, including a strong class of rookie drivers.  This year’s rookie field includes Lemoore’s Caeden Steele, who finished third in Chico, Fresno’s Gauge Garcia, Dominic Gorden from Clovis, Chico’s Michael Ing and Wilton’s Ashlyn Rodriguez.

Who to Watch

Aromas’ Justin Sanders, expected to be a strong challenger for the 2024 NARC title, will be looking to rebound after a crash took him out of contention in Chico. Sanders hit pay dirt in the series’ last visit to the track in August 2021 and knows that a victory gets him right back into the title hunt.

Shane Golobic, who finished second in the NARC season opener in Chico, is looking to put the Matt Wood Racing #17W car in NARC victory lane for the first time at Merced Speedway.  Golobic placed fifth in 2021 and was 16th when the World Of Outlaws visited in March 2022.

Bud Kaeding, who claimed the series title in 2017, still doesn’t have a Merced victory on this impressive resume.  He came across the line in sixth when NARC was in Merced last time. With a retro look for the #29 team, the Campbell racer is looking to check off Merced on his win list.

Tim Kaeding, from San Jose, will no doubt wow the crowd in the famed Williams Motorsports #0 entry. The “Governor of Good Times” was fourth in the last NARC trip to Merced. Kaeding is hitting the NARC trail heavy this spring and the 2002 and 2011 series champion is hungry to revisit victory lane.  He has 72 NARC victories to his credit.

Chase Johnson of Penngrove has a lot of laps and wins at Merced in many different types of cars, but the pilot of the #24 has yet to win in the 410 ranks. Johnson was third in a USAC-CRA race in September of 2019 and is in search of his fourth career NARC win.

Other NARC 410 Series stars expected to compete include Justyn Cox from Clarksburg, Oakley’s Dylan Bloomfield, Billy Aton of Benicia, Gilroy ‘s Jarrett Soares, Kaleb Montgomery of Templeton, Michael Faccinto and DJ Netto from Hanford and many more!

Fan & Competitor Info

The companion divisions for the evening include the Hobby Stocks, Mini Late Models, and IMCA Northern SportMods.

Merced Speedway is located at 900 Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Merced, California. Tickets are $25.00 for Adults, Juniors (11-17) $10.00, Kids (6-10) $5.00, and 5 and Under are FREE.

Pit Gates will open at 2:00 PM and the Front Gates at 5:00.  Hot Laps are expected to begin around 6:00, with racing kicking off at 7:00.  Additional information can be found at www.mercedspeedway.net.

The NARC racing format includes qualifying, four eight-lap heat races, an exciting six-lap trophy dash, a 12-lap last chance race, and a 30-lap main event.

The NARC 410 Sprint Series is the leading 410 Sprint Car tour west of the Rocky Mountains. Since 1960, they have enthralled countless thousands of fans from tracks up and down the Pacific Coast. For more information, visit their website at www.narc410.com or social media pages.

The event at Merced Speedway can be viewed live on Floracing.com, along with every NARC 410 Sprint Car Series race.

The NARC 410 Sprint Car Racing Series is also sponsored by Hoosier Racing Tires and Floracing.com. Associate and product award sponsors include Automotive Racing Products (ARP), Beacon Wealth Strategies, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Bullet Impressions, Diversified Machine Inc., Jim Allen Promotions, Kaeding Performance Center, Kimo’s Tropical Car Wash, KSE Racing Enterprises, Lifeline LLC, Maxim Racing Products, Mettec Titanium, Pyrotect, Saldana Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Scelzi Enterprises, SCI Racing Products, Starr Property Management, System 1 Ignition, Ultra Lite Brakes, Williams Roofing, Wilwood Disc Brakes, and Winters Performance Products.

NARC 410 SPRINT CARS SERIES
CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS
(AFTER ONE EVENT IN 25-RACE SERIES)

1. Cole Macedo, Lemoore – 142
2. Shane Golobic, Fremont – 139
3. Caeden Steele, Fresno (R) – 138
4. Dylan Bloomfield, Oakley – 137
5. Bud Kaeding, Campbell – 136
6. Tanner Carrick, Lincoln – 135
7. Sean Becker, Roseville – 134
8. Nick Parker, Chico – 133
9. Justyn Cox, Clarksburg – 132
10. Gauge Garcia, Lemoore (R) – 131
11. Ryan Robinson, Roseville – 130
12. Chase Johnson, Penngrove – 129
13. Justin Sanders, Aromas – 128
14. DJ Netto, Hanford – 127
15. Andy Forsberg, Auburn – 127
16. Jayson Bright, Antioch (R) – 125
17. Kalib Henry, Sacramento – 125
18. Michael Faccinto, Hanford – 123
19. Robbie Price, Cobble Hill, B.C. – 122
20. Max Mittry, Redding – 121

UPCOMING EVENTS:
April 6 – Stockton Dirt Track – Asparagus Cup with SCCT
April 13 – Kings Speedway (Hanford) – $11,000 to win Peter Murphy Classic
April 27 – Stockton Dirt Track – Salute to NARC champ Leroy Van Conett
May 4 – Thunderbowl Raceway (Tulare) – Chris & Brian Faria Memorial
May 11 – Antioch Speedway – Contra Costa County Clash
May 18 – Thunderbowl Raceway (Tulare) – KRC Night at the Races
June 1 – Placerville Speedway – Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial

BATAVIA, Ohio (March 18, 2024) – The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is back in action this week – Friday, March 22 at Atomic Speedway and Saturday, March 23 at Brownstown Speedway. Drivers will contend for a $12,000 top prize in Friday’s Buckeye Spring 50 at Atomic Speedway. The pit gate will open at 2:00PM, followed by general admission gates at 4:00PM. Dirt Draft Hot Laps are slated to begin at 5:00PM followed by Allstar Performance Time Trials, Heat Races, B-Mains, and the 50-lap Buckeye Spring 50 finale. Also on the card will be the 305 Sprint Cars and Sport Modifieds.  Atomic Speedway is located at 2535 Blain Highway in Waverly, Ohio – just off S.R. 23 six miles south of Chillicothe. For more information about Atomic Speedway, including how to purchase discounted tickets in advance, please visit www.atomicspeedway.net.  Teams will travel west on Saturday to the historic Brownstown Speedway. A complete program is on deck for the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series – highlighted by the $15,000-to-win, 50-lap, 27th Annual John Jones Auto Group Indiana Icebreaker. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be joined by the Pure Stocks and Super Stocks.  All gates at Brownstown Speedway will open at 12:00PM, with on-track action set to begin at 6:00PM with Dirt Draft Hot Laps. Brownstown Speedway is located one mile southeast of Brownstown, Ind. on S.R. 250 at the Jackson County Fairground. To purchase tickets in advance or find more information about Brownstown Speedway, visit the track’s website at www.brownstownspeedway.com. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series has seen nine different winners in the first 13 events of the 2024 season. Among those victors are the top three in the Big River Steel Chase for the Championship – presented by ARP standings – Ricky Thornton Jr., Hudson O’Neal, and Jonathan Davenport. Daulton Wilson and Brandon Sheppard round out the top five in championship standings. For the latest news, results, championship standings and more about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, please visit www.lucasdirt.com. Track Information:Atomic SpeedwayPhone Number: (740) 703-9749Location: 2535 Blain Hwy, Waverly, OH 45690Website: www.atomicspeedway.net Brownstown SpeedwayPhone Number: (812) 358-5332Location: 476 East CR 100, Brownstown, IN 47220Website: www.brownstownspeedway.com Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Tire Rule:March 22 – Atomic SpeedwayLeft Rear/Fronts – Hoosier (90) NLMT2Right Rear – Hoosier (92) NLMT2, (92) NLMT3 March 23 – Brownstown SpeedwayLeft Rear/Fronts – Hoosier (90) NLMT2, (90) NLMT3Right Rear – Hoosier (92) NLMT3, (92) NLMT4 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Purses:Buckeye Spring 50: 1. $12,000, 2. $6,000, 3. $3,500, 4. $2,800, 5. $2,500, 6. $2,300, 7. $2,200, 8. $2,100, 9. $2,050, 10. $2,000, 11. $1,600, 12. $1,400, 13. $1,200, 14. $1,100, 15. $1,050, 16. $1,000, 17. $1,000, 18. $1,000, 19. $1,000, 20. $1,000, 21. $1,000, 22. $1,000, 23. $1,000, 24. $1,000 = Total $52,800 Indiana Icebreaker: 1. $15,000, 2. $7,000, 3. $5,000, 4. $4,000, 5. $3,000, 6. $2,500, 7. $2,400, 8. $2,300, 9. $2,200, 10. $2,100, 11. $2,000, 12. $1,800, 13. $1,600, 14. $1,500, 15. $1,400, 16. $1,300, 17. $1,200, 18. $1,100, 19. $1,000, 20. $1,000, 21. $1,000, 22. $1,000, 23. $1,000, 24. $1,000, = Total $63,400

March 17, 2024

A promising start to Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway for Harrison Burton and the No. 21 DEX Imaging team took a disappointing turn just 67 laps into the 500-lapper as Burton made an unscheduled green-flag stop for fresh rubber. Although he and the team managed to work their way back onto the lead lap, the tire issues continued to plague them and they wound up 32^nd at the finish.

Burton started the race from 13^th place and drove into the top 10 by Lap 44. He was running just outside the top 15 at Lap 60 when tire issues surfaced, necessitating a green-flag stop that left him two laps in arrears.

Burton and the DEX Imaging team worked their way into the free pass position and rejoined the lead lap when the caution flag was displayed at Lap 175 for a multi-car crash.

He was back among the top 20 in the latter portions of the second Stage, and ended that segment in 19^th place.

The DEX Imaging crew called for a two-tire stop at the end of the Stage and moved back into the top 15 only to experience another tire issue and another unscheduled green-flag stop at Lap 306 that cost them three laps. 
 
With few strategy options at the team’s disposal, Burton was unable to advance. 
 
Burton and the No. 21 team return to the track next week for a road-course race at Circuit of the Americas. 

NASCAR CUP SERIES BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOOD CITY 500 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT MARCH 17, 2024

·       Alex Bowman led Chevrolet to the checkered-flag in the NASCAR Cup Series Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway – driving his No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 to a fourth-place finish.  ·       Three Camaro ZL1’s earned top-10 results at the Tennessee short-track, with Bowman leading his Hendrick Motorsports teammates Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1, in fifth; and Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1, in eighth.  ·       With his second top-five finish of the season, Larson took over the top position in the NASCAR Cup Series driver points standings.  ·       The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Circuit of The Americas with the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix on Sunday, March 24, at 3:30 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20:  POS.   DRIVER4th      Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL15th      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL18th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL115th    Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Light Fishing Camaro ZL118th    Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Jockey Outdoors by Luke Byran Camaro ZL1

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1Finished: 4thBowman on his fourth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway: “We just made our left-front tire last a little longer than some others there. I think it was a good, solid day for the No. 48 Ally Chevy team. I feel like we had a pretty good Chevy, but we just had to go roll around half-speed and try to make it last. It kind of reminded me of Greenville Pickens (Speedway), short-track racing in the East Series, or something like that. Just had to be really, really, really patient. Obviously that long green-flag run where we all pitted, I think our right-front probably lasted the longest. It got us some track position and we ended up with a fourth-place finish. I don’t really know where my race car could have ended up, straight-up, because we were never able to run hard, but it was pretty good.” Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1Finished: 5thHow difficult was it to get into a rhythm in today’s race? “Yeah, it was tough.. tough to get a rhythm. I felt like I was kind of in a rhythm when I could run around fourth to sixth behind the Gibbs cars and kind of pace myself. I felt like I was doing a good job of managing my stuff, we just never got a long run. And then the one time we get a long run is when we had the penalty and we had to go to the back, and abuse my tire to get back to the top-five.   It all just kind of weirdly worked out. I still don’t really know how we ended fifth, but we will take it and move on.  You’ll take a fifth. You don’t care how you got there, as long as you get to fifth, right? “Yeah, for sure. Obviously, I would have loved to not get that penalty because I felt like I could pace the 11 (Denny Hamlin) well, and I thought I could manage my tires good. He would have been hard to beat, but we could have ended up a little bit better and we could have ended up worse. So, yeah, I think I will take the fifth and be happy with it.” Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1Finished: 8thFor short-tracks, is this a good thing? “It’s a better race than we’ve had here. It was pretty fun from my seat.” What made this race challenging? “Normally, you could just bury the car into the corner so far and you don’t ever really get beat by guys with tires that bad. But you could just fall off a cliff there with the way that was. It was like racing at a really old, worn out short-track. It was a lot of fun. I think there was probably a little better balance somewhere up there, but I had a good time.”  AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Mountain Dew/Doritos Camaro ZL1Finished: 23rd“We initially struggled to find balance in our No. 16 Mtn Dew Cheetos Chevy. Combined with the tire issues the field faced, we had our hands full. I’m proud of our team and Travis [Mack] on the pit box. The way our day started, it wasn’t looking good, but we refocused as a team and made the most out of our day.” Austin Dillon, No. 3 BREZTRI Camaro ZL1Finished: 24th “We fought hard with the No. 3 BREZTRI Chevy. It didn’t matter what we did, we just kept losing tires. We were kind of in a box there trying to save and trying to go. Man, it was a weird race. Hate it that we couldn’t hold on because that would have been good run if we would have gotten ourselves into a better position. It was a good fight. We’ll go get a little bit more next week at COTA.” Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Cirkul Camaro ZL1Finished: 28th“Lots of highs and lows during this long race. We had a solid second stage, but after making some contact with the wall, we just fought a really tight-handling No. 31 Cirkul Chevy. The right front would wear quickly, and the rear would start going away not long after. Hopefully we can come back in the fall for some redemption.”

Hard Fight By Austin Dillon and The No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE® (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Team at Bristol Motor Speedway

24th

31st

30th

“We fought hard today in the No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE® (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Bristol Motor Speedway. No matter what we did, we kept losing tires. It put us in a box with managing when to save tires and when to race hard. It was a very different race than what we’ve had in the past here. I hate that we couldn’t hold on there at the end. We had ourselves in a better position late in the race and I feel we could have had a really good finish. It was a good fight. We’ll go get a little bit more next week at Circuit of the Americas.” -Austin Dillon

Kyle Busch Leads Laps, Overcomes Many Hurdles in FICO Chevrolet at Bristol Motor Speedway

25th

14th

16th

“Today was one of those days where you just try to survive and get the best finish you can. Our FICO Chevrolet was good at the beginning of the race and we were able to work our way into the lead. The right-side tire wear was a huge factor and unfortunately led to me spinning out a couple of times. We were able to make up that lost time by taking the wave around during a caution just past halfway and catching a yellow flag about 50 laps later that put us back on the lead lap. Crew chief Randall Burnett and the guys worked hard on the car all day but the balance was just too tight. At the end of the race, we stretched out tire wear as far as we could go before pitting but unfortunately had to stop under green. It was a tough day overall but we’ll rebound next week at the Circuit of the Americas.”    -Kyle Busch

NASCAR CUP SERIES BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOOD CITY 500 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT MARCH 17, 2024

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20:  POS.   DRIVER4th      Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL15th      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL18th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL115th    Ross Chastain, No. 1 Busch Light Fishing Camaro ZL118th    Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Jockey Outdoors by Luke Byran Camaro ZL1

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1Finished: 4thBowman on his fourth-place finish at Bristol Motor Speedway: “We just made our left-front tire last a little longer than some others there. I think it was a good, solid day for the No. 48 Ally Chevy team. I feel like we had a pretty good Chevy, but we just had to go roll around half-speed and try to make it last. It kind of reminded me of Greenville Pickens (Speedway), short-track racing in the East Series, or something like that. Just had to be really, really, really patient. Obviously that long green-flag run where we all pitted, I think our right-front probably lasted the longest. It got us some track position and we ended up with a fourth-place finish. I don’t really know where my race car could have ended up, straight-up, because we were never able to run hard, but it was pretty good.” Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1Finished: 5thHow difficult was it to get into a rhythm in today’s race? “Yeah, it was tough.. tough to get a rhythm. I felt like I was kind of in a rhythm when I could run around fourth to sixth behind the Gibbs cars and kind of pace myself. I felt like I was doing a good job of managing my stuff, we just never got a long run. And then the one time we get a long run is when we had the penalty and we had to go to the back, and abuse my tire to get back to the top-five.   It all just kind of weirdly worked out. I still don’t really know how we ended fifth, but we will take it and move on.  You’ll take a fifth. You don’t care how you got there, as long as you get to fifth, right? “Yeah, for sure. Obviously, I would have loved to not get that penalty because I felt like I could pace the 11 (Denny Hamlin) well, and I thought I could manage my tires good. He would have been hard to beat, but we could have ended up a little bit better and we could have ended up worse. So, yeah, I think I will take the fifth and be happy with it.” AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Mountain Dew/Doritos Camaro ZL1Finished: 23rd“We initially struggled to find balance in our No. 16 Mtn Dew Cheetos Chevy. Combined with the tire issues the field faced, we had our hands full. I’m proud of our team and Travis [Mack] on the pit box. The way our day started, it wasn’t looking good, but we refocused as a team and made the most out of our day.” Austin Dillon, No. 3 BREZTRI Camaro ZL1Finished: 24th “We fought hard with the No. 3 BREZTRI Chevy. It didn’t matter what we did, we just kept losing tires. We were kind of in a box there trying to save and trying to go. Man, it was a weird race. Hate it that we couldn’t hold on because that would have been good run if we would have gotten ourselves into a better position. It was a good fight. We’ll go get a little bit more next week at COTA.” Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Cirkul Camaro ZL1Finished: 28th“Lots of highs and lows during this long race. We had a solid second stage, but after making some contact with the wall, we just fought a really tight-handling No. 31 Cirkul Chevy. The right front would wear quickly, and the rear would start going away not long after. Hopefully we can come back in the fall for some redemption.”

BATAVIA, Ohio (March 17, 2024) – Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series officials are excited to announce Slicker Graphics has signed on to sponsor the Slickest Move of the Race for each event. As part of the agreement, Slicker Graphics will pay out cash awards at the series’ year-end awards banquet. The driver that earns the most Slickest Move of the Race points during the year will receive a $2,000 cash award at the championship awards banquet. The 2nd place driver will earn $1,000. Slicker Graphics located in Cincinnati, OH is fast becoming one of the most well-known graphics companies in the country. They specialize in wraps and graphics for Dirt Late Models, Modifieds, Street Stocks and Go-karts. Owned by Michael LeFevers, Slicker Graphics supplies all the victory lane checks for the series and has been a long-time partner of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. To contact Slicker Graphics, visit https://theslickerthebetter.com.  “We’re excited to add this new category to our lengthy list of incentives for drivers that follow the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series. The Slickest Move of the Year award exemplifies the excitement the series brings to the industry and shines light on the stars that follow the series. We appreciate what Michael does for the series and now this new category will be great for the racers,” stated Wayne Castleberry, Corporate Sales and Marketing for Lucas Oil Motorsports. The 2024 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series season continues March 22-23 with trips to Atomic Speedway and Brownstown Speedway. For the latest news, results, championship standings and more about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, please visit www.lucasdirt.com.

About Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt SeriesFounded in 2005, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series showcases the talents of the top dirt late model drivers from across the country. In 2024, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will sanction 63 events across 16 states, including some of the biggest marquee events in the industry, providing dirt slinging, sideways, door-to-door racing action lap after lap.  The series receives national exposure through a television package streamed live via FloRacing, with select broadcasts on MAVTV Motorsports Network.   The in your face excitement of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is second to none in motorsports. For more information, including the latest news, tour schedule, driver information, and more, visit the official website at: www.LucasDirt.com.

March 17, 2024 — SEBRING, FL.

• Louis Delétraz charges to victory in the final hour to win the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring
• Delétraz and teammates Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta take their #40 Acura ARX-06 prototype to the first overall win for the Acura brand at Sebring and the second 12-Hour victory for HRC US
• Teammates Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor and Brendon Hartley finish fifth in their #10 WTRAndretti Acura

After 12 hours of hard-fought IMSA endurance racing it was Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Global on top, with the #40 Acura ARX-06 taking the honors in the 2024 Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. 

Starting third, the #40 crew of Deletraz, Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta led just 18 laps en route to victory, but a thrilling late-race pass in GT traffic with just four laps to go was all they needed to catapult themselves to the win.

On the way to said victory, Deletraz also set the fastest lap time in the IMSA GTP class of 1:49.497. With tonight’s win, Acura moves into an early-season three-way tie for the IMSA GTP Manufacturers’ Championship; while drivers Deletraz, Jordan Taylor and Herta are tied for first in the drivers’ title chase.

The sister #10 Acura ARX-06 driven by Ricky Taylor, Filipe Albuquerque and Brendon Hartley led 55 laps on the day before losing a lap in pitlane after the team noticed smoke trailing from the rear of the car. Thankfully, it was a quick fix and the #10 crew was able to continue to the end where they would wind up fifth. 

Acura NSX GT3 Evo22
The #66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo 22 of Tatiana Calderon, Katherine Legge and Sheena Monk appeared headed for a strong finish in the production-based GTD class.  But in the ninth hour, contact from the #6 GTP car of Fred Makowiecki while Legge was running in the top six sent her Acura hard into the Turn 17 wall, ending Gradient’s day with major damage.

Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Acura Race Results

• Race Winners – #40 Louis Deletraz, Jordan Taylor and Colton Herta; Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06
• Finished 5th overall – #10 Filipe Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor and Brendon Hartley; Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06.
• Finished 17th in GTD – #66 Katherine Legge, Sheena Monk and Tatitana Calderon; Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22 [not running – contact]

Drivers’ Championship (after 2 of 9 rounds)	Manufacturers’ Championship
1. Louis Delétraz, Jordan Taylor, Colton Herta	706	1. Acura	710
2. Dane Cameron, Felipe Nasr, Matt Campbell	706	2. Porsche	710
3. Jack Aitken, Pipo Derani, Tom Blomqvist	600	3. Cadillac	710
		4. BMW	620
7. Filip Albuquerque, Ricky Taylor, Brenon Hartley	594	5. Lamborghini	186

Quotes
Louis Delétraz (#40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06) Race winner, first win in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship competition: “I can’t believe it. It was a long [final] hour, to be honest. I caught Sebastien [Bourdais, race leader], but we all know he is a hard racer and I didn’t want to take too much of a risk initially. But at the end I had to send it because it was now or never. I saw a gap and went for it. We had a few contacts, but we won, and that’s what matters. We really wanted to win this. It means a
lot to the team. Colton [Herta, co-driver] and Jordan [Taylor, co-driver] both were amazing. The car was perfect, our pit stops were excellent, everything was perfect.”

Colton Herta (#40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06) Race Winner: “To win this race, and to win it overall, is just incredible. I’m really fortunate to be a part of this [WTRAndretti] group, and Louis [Delétraz] did everything tonight. He got us in position to win with his moves. You wouldn’t want anyone else in the car in that situation.”

Jordan Taylor (#40 Wayne Taylor Racing with Andretti Acura ARX-06) Race Winner: “We were up and down throughout the day, but Louis was awesome. You could tell even back when we were testing here last month that he was the guy for the job. It was an unbelievably respectful battle for the lead. They both kept it clean, and it is a great night for the team, for the Dex Imaging Acura and for HRC.”

Tatiana Calderon (#66 Gradient Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo22) 17th in GTD (not running, contact): “It’s a shame to lose what I think would have been a top-five finish. I think we were all [three drivers] running really well, and the team was working so well together, until the collision. The important thing is Kat [Legge] is okay. Every time I get in the Acura, I feel more and more confident. I’m understanding the car and the tires a bit more all the time. I think we were doing a great job. So it’s a real shame not to finish, but that’s racing sometimes.”

David Salters (President, HRC US) on this weekend’s Acura victory at the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring: “So, thanks to the efforts of our marvelous team of people at HRC US, ORECA and WTRAndretti; brilliant drivers and brilliant teamwork, we won Sebring. That’s a biggie. This place means so much to everyone involved in this sport. It’s iconic. To win here is just awesome. Plan A: have a fast car, fast drivers and a fast team. Plan B: refer to plan A. Well done team, amazing job.”

Fast Facts

• With tonight’s victory, Acura and its performance arm, Honda Racing Corporation USA (formerly Honda Performance Development), have recorded a total of nine victories at the 12 Hours of Sebring, including two overall wins (2016 and tonight); three class wins for Acura; and four LMP2 class wins under the HPD (now HRC US) umbrella.
• HPD was renamed HRC US in January to reflect the new role of the company in Honda’s global racing efforts. With this change, HRC US will take on an increased role in Honda’s global motorsports activities.
• This weekend’s 12-hour contest was the 72nd race for endurance sports cars on the famed former World War II training facility and airport. 

Next
The 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship now moves west to Southern California for the April 19-20 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.

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Race-long leaders Miller, Meseraull involved in incident with lapped traffic as McIntosh takes KKM to Victory Lane

DU QUOIN, IL (March 16, 2024) – The dry spell is over. Cannon McIntosh is once again in Victory Lane with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota.

The 21-year-old from Bixby, OK, had been shut out of Victory Lane with the Series for 23-straight races, dating back to May of last year when he completed a sweep of the weekend Millbridge Speedway. But Saturday night was his night at the Southern Illinois Center, as he inherited the lead in the final laps – after an incident involving the top-two cars took them out of contention – and held on to win his sixth career Series Feature.

The win stood as McIntosh’s first in his return to Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM), who he last drove for during the 2020 regular season and at the 2021 Chili Bowl Nationals.

“It feels amazing,” McIntosh said. “It feels like a long time since I’ve won. It feels a lot longer than it has been. It’s kind of been a journey all last year. Once we stopped winning, it was definitely dark times between switching teams and losing some relationships and that.

“But things circle back, and luckily, I feel like I’ve grown from a lot of losses in this timespan. It’s made me better as a driver, and I’m just thankful to be back in this position.”

Though McIntosh was victorious in the end, the majority of the race was controlled by front-row starters Joe B. Miller and Thomas Meseraull. The two open-wheel stars chased each other for the first 35 laps of the race, breaking only twice for cautions on Lap 4 and Lap 9.

After the caution periods, Miller – the polesitter – jumped out to a gap on Meseraull that grew nearly as large as a full second as the two began to break away from the field and enter lapped traffic. Inside and outside, Meseraull looked for any sliver of space to get by Miller but was unable to make the move.

That was until Lap 36, when Meseraull got a big run to the outside of Miller coming off Turn 4. Miller crossed the stripe first and entered Turn 1 hugging the inside berm. Meseraull swung it wide on the top lane through the corner and briefly took the lead out of Turn 2 as Miller was slowed-up by lapped cars in front of him.

As the two raced into Turn 3 nearly side-by-side, TJ Smith and Ethan Mitchell came together and flipped multiple times right in front of the leaders. Meseraull tried to evade on the outside but Smith came down on top of him. Miller locked-up and stalled on the bottom with Mitchell flipping in front of him as the red flag quickly came out.

All drivers were unharmed, but Smith, Mitchell and Meseraull were all towed off the track while Miller was ordered to restart from the tail of the field for his involvement in the incident as determined by race officials.

This incident handed the lead over to McIntosh, who was running in third place at the time.

“It didn’t matter to me, I just knew I was gonna be in whatever position was given to me,” McIntosh said. “Once I could hear them say I was the leader, I knew there wasn’t more than five laps to go, and I just had to execute, really.”

Now in control of the field with only five laps remaining, McIntosh began to devise his plan to keep the top spot.

“Once they said Ryan [Timms] was behind me, I knew he had probably been really good because he started pretty far back,” McIntosh said. “I knew I just couldn’t make any mistakes.

“[Timms] was obviously running a different line but Keith was basically telling me on the fence – stay on the bottom. It might not be better, but it’s gonna be hard for them to pass you if you hit your marks correctly.”

Ryan Timms had made the charge up to fourth by that time from his 12th-place spot on the starting grid and lined up to restart second, looking for a way to get by his KKM teammate.

“I thought I’d restart maybe fourth or fifth and then I heard over the PA I was restarting second,” Timms said. “I was definitely feeling good about it, especially with how fast I was up top in 3 and 4. But I knew it was going to be tough to beat Cannon if he just hit his marks on the bottom and didn’t make any big mistakes.”

Try as he may, however, Timms was unable to get by McIntosh in the end. McIntosh held off Timms’ challenges on the top and the bottom lanes to collect the $5,000 grand prize and the Series points lead by three points over Zach Daum.

“On that last lap, I just kinda went in full-send, wide-open on the top,” Timms said. “I really thought I was gonna get him. It seemed like to me we were side-by-side, at least in the middle of the corner and then he kinda pulled away going down the frontstretch.”

For the second night-in-a-row, Daum crossed the finish line third in the running order, this time coming in behind Timms. Jade Avedisian rebounded from her misfortunes on Friday night to finish fourth, while Trey Marcham crossed in fifth after starting 11th.

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota returns to action in three weeks’ time for a two-day swing through Missouri – Friday, April 5 at US36 Raceway and Saturday, April 6 at Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex.

Tickets for both events are on sale now at XtremeOutlawSeries.com and will also be available at the gate on race day. If you can’t be there in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[4]; 2. 67-Ryan Timms[12]; 3. 7U-Zach Daum[6]; 4. 71-Jade Avedisian[3]; 5. 32-Trey Marcham[11]; 6. 67K-Ashton Torgerson[7]; 7. 86-Shane Cottle[15]; 8. 25K-Taylor Reimer[21]; 9. 40-Chase McDermand[5]; 10. 06-Rylan Gray[19]; 11. 97-Gavin Miller[17]; 12. 51B-Joe B Miller[1]; 13. 2H-Nick Hoffman[9]; 14. 83-Will Armitage[20]; 15. 21K-Karter Sarff[18]; 16. 55-Trevor Cline[10]; 17. 56D-Mitchell Davis[14]; 18. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[22]; 19. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[2]; 20. 14S-Tyler Smith[13]; 21. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[16]; 22. 56-Tyler Edwards[8]

(3/16/24 – Ben Deatherage) Chico, CA … Cole Macedo battled his way to an impressive Mini Gold Cup triumph at Silver Dollar Speedway, when he recaptured the lead with only two laps remaining in a wild 40-lap NARC 410 sprint car finale that featured multiple lead changes. Macedo pocketed a stout $10,000 payday for this first ever victory at the quarter-mile oval driving the Tarlton & Son/Complete Parts and Equipment Solutions #21 Maxim.

“I worked really hard for that,” said a happy Macedo in victory lane. “The track was super demanding, and I’ve been in the gym all winter, and that prepared me for a race like this. I can’t say enough about this Tarlton Motorsports team: Drew (Warner, Crew Chief), Nate, Koby, Landon, Marv, and everyone who helps! We struggled this whole weekend and me and Drew kept putting our two cents into each other and put our best foot forward and he got me going really good there.”

The main event began with the Bates-Hamilton Racing #42X, driven by Justyn Cox, putting the Lippert Construction Maxim to the point at the opening green flag. Unfortunately, three race stoppages occurred while he reigned supreme, keeping the competition close.

Chase Johnson maneuvered his Toyota of Marin, Walnut Creek, and Sunnyvale/Price Family Dealership #24 Maxim to the point after a lap eight restart to pace the field. As the race developed, Johnson came under attack by a shadowing Macedo, but the leader managed to hold off the repeated challenges. But on the 31st circuit, Macedo finally overtook Johnson for the top spot.

Just when it looked like Macedo was going to cruise to the victory, Ryan Robinson, who started 18th, recovered from an early race tip-over to blast by Macedo.  But in a strange turn of events with the white flag waving, Robinson flipped violently down the back straightaway, giving the lead back to Macedo.  Luckily Robinson was unhurt in the accident.

Macedo would inherit the lead to and hold back the NOS Energy Drink/Matt Wood Racing entry, driven by Shane Golobic, to claim his second career NARC 410 Sprint Car Series victory.

Caeden Steele, who was also involved in a mid-race accident wowed the crowd with his first career NARC podium in third.  He was driving the BCCR Racing/Cen-Cal Demolition Services #121 Maxim.  The Vertullo Racing Starr Property Management/Air 1 Racing #83V Maxim of Dylan Bloomfield held on to fourth while the 2017 champ Bud Kaeding rallied to finish fifth in the Kaeding Performance Center/Alviso Rock #29 Maxim.

Tanner Carrick was credited with sixth, while Sean Becker won hard charging honors by piloting the Don Bjork-owned entry to a seventh place finish after starting 22nd. Nick Parker, Justyn Cox and rookie Gauge Garcia rounded out the top ten.   Only ten cars survived the entire distance.

Andy Forsberg set quick time in ARP Qualifying while heat winners were 2019 title winner D.J. Netto, Johnson, Justin Sanders, and Max Mittry.

Gauge Garcia was upside down in the heat race action. During the caution plagued main event, Max Mittry, Justin Sanders, and DJ Netto were involved in red flag incidents.  There were no injuries reported.

HOOSIER A-FEATURE (40 Laps): 1. 21-Cole Macedo [12]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic [13]; 3. 121-Caeden Steele [14]; 4. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield [10]; 5. 29-Bud Kaeding [9]; 6. 83T-Tanner Carrick [17]; 7. 7B-Sean Becker [22]; 8. 15-Nick Parker [16]; 9. 42X-Justyn Cox [1]; 10. 2K-Gauge Garcia [23]; 11. 16A-Ryan Robinson [18]; 12. 24-Chase Johnson [4]; 13. 2X-Justin Sanders [3]; 14. 88N-D.J. Netto [7]; 15. 92-Andy Forsberg [2]; 16. 68-Jayson Bright [21]; 17. 17-Kalib Henry [8]; 18. X1-Michael Faccinto [6]; 19. 21P-Robbie Price [20]; 20. 2XM-Max Mittry [5]; 21. 26-Billy Aton [11]; 22. 0-Tim Kaeding [15]; 23. 3-Kaleb Montgomery [19]; 24. 12-Jarrett Soares [24]

METTEC TITANIUM LAP LEADERS: Justyn Cox 1-7; Chase Johnson 8-30; Cole Macedo 31-36, 39-40 ; Ryan Robinson 35-38

WILLIAMS ROOFING HARDCHARGER: Sean Becker +15

BROWN AND MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS HEAT ONE (8 Laps): 1. 88N-D.J. Netto [1]; 2. 17-Kalib Henry [4]; 3. 121-Caeden Steele [5]; 4. 0-Tim Kaeding [2]; 5. 3-Kaleb Montgomery [3]; 6. 75-Bill Smith [8]; 7. 7X-RC Smith [7]; 8. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez [6]

KIMO’S TROPICAL CAR WASH HEAT TWO (8 Laps): 1. 24-Chase Johnson [2]; 2. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield [1]; 3. X1-Michael Faccinto [4]; 4. 83T-Tanner Carrick [3]; 5. 21P-Robbie Price [7]; 6. 68-Jayson Bright [5]; 7. 16J-Jacob Johnson [8]; 8. 4-Burt Foland Jr. [6]

LIFELINE USA HEAT THREE (8 Laps):  1. 2X-Justin Sanders [1]; 2. 29-Bud Kaeding [2]; 3. 21-Cole Macedo [3]; 4. 15-Nick Parker [6]; 5. 92-Andy Forsberg [4]; 6. 7B-Sean Becker [5]; 7. 21M-Michael Ing [8]; 8. 2K-Gauge Garcia [7]

KAEDING PERFORMANCE CENTER HEAT FOUR (8 Laps):  1. 2XM-Max Mittry [2]; 2. 26-Billy Aton [7]; 3. 17W-Shane Golobic [5]; 4. 42X-Justyn Cox [4]; 5. 16A-Ryan Robinson [1]; 6. 10-Dominic Gorden [3]; 7. 12-Jarrett Soares [6]; 8. 551-Angelique Bell [8]

STARR PROPERTY MANAGEMENT B-FEATURE (12 Laps): 1. 68-Jayson Bright [3]; 2. 7B-Sean Becker [2]; 3. 2K-Gauge Garcia [9]; 4. 12-Jarrett Soares [5]; 5. 21M-Michael Ing [7]; 6. 87-Ashlyn Rodriguez [10]; 7. 16J-Jacob Johnson [8]; 8. 551-Angelique Bell [12]; 9. 75-Bill Smith [4]; 10. 4-Burt Foland Jr [11]; 11. (DNF) 10-Dominic Gorden [1]; 12. (DNS) 7X-RC Smith

BEACON WEALTH STRATEGIES & RAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL TROPHY DASH (6 Laps): 1. 42X-Justyn Cox [2]; 2. 92-Andy Forsberg [1]; 3. 2X-Justin Sanders [3]; 4. 24-Chase Johnson [8]; 5. 2XM-Max Mittry [4]; 6. X1-Michael Faccinto [6]; 7. 88N-D.J. //Netto [7]; 8. 17-Kalib Henry [5]

ARP QUALIFYING QUICK TIME: Andy Forsberg, 11.407 (32 Cars)

One night after taking the points lead Scelzi gets his first win of 2024. (Trent Gower Photo) PAIGE, TX (March 16, 2024) – Cotton Bowl Speedway delivered yet again.One night after a race of the year candidate, the Paige, TX oval provided another thriller that brought the crowd to its feet. Huge slide jobs. Crossovers to counter. Battles all over the track. And a second straight late-race duel to decide the Texas Two-Step winner.This time it was Giovanni Scelzi making his way to Victory Lane with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars. The KCP Racing pilot started on the front row, pulled away early, and out-dueled a fast-charging Brent Marks to seal the deal. On Friday night he took the World of Outlaws points lead for the first time in his career, and on Saturday night he scored his first win of the season.“I need to go find a top-dollar machine at the casino right now,” Scelzi said of a smile with his recent good fortune. “Man, the car is so fast. It minimizes the mistakes I make, so I can stick it in the slick part of the racetrack. Hats off to Adam (Clark). Bob (Curtis) if a new addition to the team, and he’s done an incredible job. And Aaron (Beiler) is doing great, too. Like I said, thank you to my guys.”Scelzi is now up to seven career victories with The Greatest Show on Dirt, equaling him with Jeff Sheperd, Chad Kemenah, and Brian Brown for 55th all-time. Last year it took the Fresno, CA driver 29 races before notching the first triumph of his rookie campaign. Seven races were all that was required for him to grab his first of the sophomore season. Scelzi’s early season points lead grew to 16 markers courtesy of his win.The result also made it seven different winners through seven races in 2024. That moves within one of equaling the record of eight different winners in the first eight races of a season established in 2015.After topping the Toyota Racing Dash, Donny Schatz led the field to green with Scelzi alongside. Schatz slid up in front of Scelzi in Turns 1 and 2, but Scelzi turned down the banking on corner exit and drove ahead of the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing #15.As the early laps unfolded, Schatz was able to stay close behind Scelzi. But as the leaders entered traffic Scelzi sliced through lappers to build his advantage north of a second. The lead grew as large as two-and-a-half seconds.But on the 13th circuit a new contender began to emerge. Friday’s winner – Brent Marks – threw a slider on Schatz that stuck and quickly set his sights on Scelzi. Lap by lap the margin between the two began to shrink. Marks worked through traffic masterfully as the Murray-Marks #19 began to reel Scelzi in. On Lap 15 the gap was under two seconds, and then six circuits later it dropped to under a second.Then on Lap 24 the battle for the top spot heated up. Marks got a huge run down the back straightaway and launched a massive slider in Turns 3 and 4. Scelzi barely got back by on corner exit to retake the lead down the front straightaway. Then in the next set of corners Marks threw another slide job at “Hot Sauce.” Scelzi again turned low to counter and drove back ahead. Meanwhile, Logan Schuchart and David Gravel were engaged in just as intense of a duel for fourth behind them. The two traded several sliders and crossovers for the position.More traffic waited ahead as the laps continued to wane. Scelzi made a few strong moves through the lappers and looked as if he had the win in the bag. But the red flag flew with two laps remaining as Gio’s brother – Dominic Scelzi – got upside down on the back straightaway. The crash set up a green-white-checkered finish and gave Marks one last shot at Scelzi. But on the restart Schatz challenged Marks for second and forced him into a defensive mode. While Marks fended off the 10-time World of Outlaws champion, Scelzi pulled away to secure his first checkered flag of 2024.“I just couldn’t get the thing squared up right to drive off the corner, and I started getting tight on entry,” Scelzi said of late struggles that allowed Marks to close. “Brent got to me and started bombing me and broke my momentum like he had to. I felt like once I got him the last time he didn’t slide me in (Turns) 3 and 4, and I was clear.”Marks brought the Murray-Marks #19 home second, falling one spot short of a Texas Two Step sweep at Cotton Bowl. The “Myerstown Missile” had plenty of speed but couldn’t quite piece together a challenge for the victory on the final restart.“We just needed to get a good start there,” Marks said. “Gio went pretty early in the corner and being the second guy on the start there it’s just really hard to judge where they’re going to take off. He did a good job at tricking me a little bit, and when he took off it kind of left me in the slick a little bit more than I wanted to be. I spun the tires and just couldn’t quite get down the straightaway and into (Turn) 1 like I wanted to have a shot at him.”Rounding out the top three was Donny Schatz, marking his second podium of the season. The Fargo, ND native had high hopes of a win but still came away encouraged as his early season speed continues.“I would’ve liked to have won that, but I guess third is better than fourth,” Schatz said. “You’ve got to think about the big picture. All in all a decent night. This isn’t one of my best places. I think everybody that has a cell phone could see that all weekend it didn’t look like we were going to get to race, and we got two great nights of racing.”Logan Schuchart and David Gravel rounded out the top five.A 22nd to 12th run gave Jace Park the KSE Racing Hard Charger in only his third career Series start.Giovanni Scelzi took Simpson Quick Time honors in Sea Foam Qualifying.NOS Energy Drink Heats One and Three went to Brock Zearfoss (15th Heat Race win of career) and Brent Marks (33rd of career). Milton Hershey School Heat Two was topped by Logan Schuchart (122nd of career).UP NEXT: Two new Texas tracks are on tap for the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars when the Series heads to Big O Speedway (Ennis, TX) on March 22 and Kennedale Speedway Park (Kennedale, TX) on March 23. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.FEATURE RESULTS:NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]; 2. 19-Brent Marks[3]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 5. 2-David Gravel[8]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[12]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 8. 41-Carson Macedo[13]; 9. 83-Michael Kofoid[10]; 10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[6]; 11. 87-Aaron Reutzel[16]; 12. 45X-Jace Park[22]; 13. 7S-Landon Crawley[7]; 14. 1A-Jacob Allen[19]; 15. 6-Bill Rose[17]; 16. 25B-Blaine Baxter[21]; 17. 70-Kraig Kinser[15]; 18. 16TH-Kevin Newton[18]; 19. 41S-Dominic Scelzi[9]; 20. 23-Garet Williamson[14]; 21. 95-Matt Covington[11]; 22. 42P-Preston Perlmutter[20]For full results, CLICK HERE.

(March 16, 2024) – The No. 13 AWA Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R led the contingent of first-year GT3 Corvettes at the end of Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Cadillac. The trio of Orey Fidani, Matt Bell and Lars Kern placed ninth in a 22-car GT Daytona (GTD) field at Sebring International Raceway in the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Sebring was the second race for AWA as part of the Corvette program following a debut in January’s Rolex 24 At Daytona. The No. 13 trio completed 314 laps and finished on the lead GTD lap in a largely trouble-free run.

Fidani drove two stints in the early part of the race, including the opening laps after all four Corvettes started from the rear of the field due to a post-qualifying technical infraction. But the No. 13 Orlando Corporation Z06 GT3.R team steadily worked its way through the field and ran as high as third in class before a successful fight in the closing hour to maintain its top-10 finish. The No. 3 Oshkosh/Mobil 1 Corvette Z06 GT3.R of Antonio Garcia, Alexander Sims and Daniel Juncadella looked as if it would take the honors as the highest-finishing Corvette in the race before being hit from behind and spun off track in the waning laps while running second in GTD PRO. The biggest mover early was Sims, who started the race and went from ninth to first in the first 67 minutes to set the table for a race-long fight for the class win with a special Mobil 1 gold livery to mark the company’s 50th anniversary. Garcia drove a double-stint before Juncadella put in a strong three-hour drive in the hottest part of the day as the No. 3 Corvette remained in the hear t of the fight. An untimely full-course yellow and an emergency pit stop for fuel with less than three hours to go pushed the team back down the order, but solid driving and strategy put Juncadella back into the lead inside the final 70 minutes. Late-race chaos saw Juncadella jostled around by multiple cars, the final being the impact that knocked the No. 3 Corvette off the circuit with six minutes to go. The No. 4 Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports Z06 GT3.R lost time in the first half of the race trying to sort clutch issues while trying to remain in GTD PRO contention with servicing during pit stops. Near the halfway point, the team elected to change a clutch component and lost multiple laps in the process. AWA’s second Corvette – the No. 17 Z06 GT3.R in GTD – retired early in the race with an electrical problem. The next IMSA round for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R program is the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach – featuring the GTD class – on April 20 from the Long Beach (Calif.) Street Circuit.

AWA POST-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES

MATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was pretty intense out there. Obviously in Daytona we just had to circulate around a bit after that unfortunate start. It was good to be back in the GTD battle properly there. There was some intense battling, and I managed to fight my way from the back to P8, I think, so it was nice to be in the fight. We’re still really learning the car and optimizing things we learned in practice. Chevrolet and Pratt Miller have built an impressive piece of GT3 machinery. We’re still getting to grips with it a little bit, but as the race went on we jumped up and down the leaderboard and think at one point we were P3 after cycling through some stops. That was a proper, old-fashioned GTD stint doing some overtaking, which was nice to be in the fight. You’re always learning and you’re always pushing as well. We’re not just cycling around trying to be in school. We’re going as hard as we can.”

LARS KERN, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was a pretty tough race. It seems like we haven’t had the pace, so we need to figure out why. We didn’t have the pace to fight with the top guys so that was a bit frustrating. It was a hard race and really hot in the car. There were some little hiccups but didn’t have any penalties or any big incidents. So generally I’d say we executed pretty well. It’s good after Daytona to finish this race, gain some experience and move on.”

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS POST-EVENT DRIVER QUOTES

DANI JUNCADELLA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “There were some pretty poor driving standards at the end from many cars. I just got fully rear-ended into the braking zone at Turn Three. I was just a passenger and there was nothing I could do. It’s a shame because we lost a podium probably – P2 or P3. Two corners before I got run wide by the Ferrari as well. It was very hectic out there and people were acting over-aggressive. It gets dark here and there’s not much (camera) footage so people start believing there are no rules. It was a bit too much. It’s a shame because after the last stop when we jumped everyone to the lead. I thought we maybe had it. But restarting through the GTD cars was a complete mess. I got overtaken before the green by the 14. We were lacking a little bit of top speed unfortunately late to fight the others. But the Z06 GT3.R was good and I was happy. I enjoyed the experience of returning to Sebring. It was just a bittersweet ending. We’ll analyze and get better for the next one.”

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “We struggled a little bit in practice, but at the end of Thursday we had a feeling that we understood what that was and qualifying seemed to go well. In that first race stint, it was good to just get into it. It seemed like the car’s pace throughout the whole stint was pretty strong. But I tried to be sensible as well and not take too many risks and be too crazy early in the race.”

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was a standard GTD race with a lot of warriors. The ABS in these cars allow people to throw it in and pray for the car to stop. It’s not ideal. It was a great job by Alex and Dani. We lost A/C from the third hour so it was very hard on us. It’s a shame we didn’t come out with a decent result. I’m not saying we deserved the win but I think we did deserve a strong result.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It wasn’t too bad early. The mentality at the start here was not to do anything stupid, no matter what. On the very first laps, you needed be very easy. Obviously there was a lot of chaos in front of us, but the mindset was already pretty reserved anyway so it didn’t affect us. I had two good stints there. It was tough to race with some the other cars in our class.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “To be honest, I think we had pretty good pace and were competitive. Unfortunately we ran into some issues with the clutch, so we kept losing time at the pit stops, and I had to stop twice on track. The pace is there but we were losing track position. We will keep plugging away at it and hopefully end up with a good result at the next race.”

No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R fights to end; Derani uninjured in incident while leading

SEBRING, Fla. (March 16, 2024) – In the usual ebb and flow of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac, six-time IndyCar champion Scott Dixon summarized: “You’re never out of it until you’re out of it.” The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, whose prospects for victory were dashed the past two years by not going the distance after starting on the front row, challenged for the victory to the checkered flag Saturday night.

Drivers Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande and Dixon, the Chip Ganassi Racing team and Cadillac Racing engineers combined to lead the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) entry to second place at Sebring International Raceway. It is the second runner-up finish of the young IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship season for Cadillac Racing. The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R placed second in the Rolex 24 At Daytona in January. Cadillac, the reigning GTP Manufacturer champion, is tied for the lead through the two races. “Congratulations to Cadillac Racing team and the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R on their podium in the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac. Every member of the team can be very proud of their efforts on preparing the racecar for success, from both a technology and durability standpoint,” said John Roth, Global Vice President, Cadillac. “For more than a century, racing has provided a testbed for Cadillac to transfer knowledge and technology between racecars and production vehicles, and our V-Series portfolio demonstrates how we seamlessly bring lessons from the track to the road. The second place today showcases the remarkable capabilities and determination of the Cadillac Racing team.”Bourdais drove the final 2 hours, 12 minutes, negotiating the 3.741-mile, 17-turn course and traffic under the lights, holding off GTP challengers on three restarts and over the closing laps while meeting an energy number. Bourdais was overtaken by the No. 40 Acura on newer tires with 5 minutes left. The cars bumped several times, with the No. 40 going on to win by 0.891 seconds and end Cadillac’s three-year hold on the overall trophy. For the second consecutive IMSA GTP race – and second year in a row at Sebring — Cadillac Racing locked out the front row in qualifications. Both the pole-sitting No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R and No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R started strong, leading all but 10 of the 148 laps through the initial four hours and the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R pacing the 11-car GTP field at the halfway point. The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R led a field-high 97 laps and the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R led 79.

The fortunes of the pole-winning and race-leading No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R were turned upside down with 4 hours, 35 minutes left when it was involved in an incident that forced its retirement. Reigning GTP champion Pipo Derani was 12 seconds clear of his closest competitor when his car made slight contact in Turn 10 while overtaking a GTD car, sending the prototype nose-first into the tire barrier and rolling on its hood. Derani was checked and released from the infield care center. “First and foremost, we are glad that Pipo was able to walk away from the incident under his own power, and that has been evaluated and released from the infield care center. That is what is most important,” said Jim Campbell, GM U.S. Vice President, Performance and Motorsports. “The construction of the Cadillac V-Series.R, its safety systems and Sebring’s trackside safety elements all did their job to keep Pipo safe. With the uncertain condition of the engine and hybrid system, we made the decision with the team to retire the No. 31 Cadillac.” Cadillac Racing will look to return to the podium April 20 at Long Beach, where it has won five times on the 1.9-mile street course since entering IMSA prototype competition in 2017.

No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R Sebastien Bourdais: “I gave it all I had. The 40 car was out of sync and they put new tires on at the last stop and we didn’t because we didn’t have time for that and they just came like a rocket at the end. I’m a little disappointed that it turned into a bumper car contest at the end. I’m glad we got out of it because we could have picked up four or five punctures along the way. Obviously disappointed for the whole group and Cadillac because we had a really strong day. It was not as straightforward as we wanted, but up front most of it. It always hurts to get done like this in the closing laps. But it’s racing.” Renger: van der Zande: “The battle there at the end is good for the show. I thought with six minutes to go, we were in a good position to get that win. I am obviously disappointed but at the same time very proud of the team and Cadillac. We’ll continue to be in the hunt to win other races this year, but this one for now stings. Second place in my 100th IMSA start is not bad.” Scott Dixon: “It’s always an action-packed race. I had a ton of run out there. It was definitely up and down. We had an electronic issue that we were trying to debug. We got that sorted after falling back and clawed our way back up to second and then took the lead. The car had good speed. You never know; you always think you’re in this race and it can change quickly. You’re never out of it until you’re out of it. Glad Pipo (Derani) is OK. That’s a testament to the safety of these cars.” No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R Pipo Derani: “The Dallara Cadillac is a strong car. It’s one of those days that things go upside down, literally. It’s just a shame because we had a really strong car and our race was going strong. There was nothing I could have done and the wall came pretty quickly. The moment I was headed to the wall I knew the race was over. First time for me flipping a racer. Not the nicest feeling to be upside down until they can turn the car around. Good that I’m racing in 2024 and not in the ‘60s. I felt I was OK, just a little annoying when you try to open the door and you can’t. Luckily, everything was OK and the safety crew was there quite quickly and I was giving them signs I was OK. In general, I think the tire barrier got the most of the impact. (Navigating GTD traffic) I was 12 seconds ahead, I think, and everything was running smooth. We overtake thousands and thousands of cars. It’s one of those moments maybe he didn’t see, let go a little bit and there I was. Maybe I was expecting him to hold his line to the right; I was going to go on the left. It’s just one of those situations where it happens where you don’t have any chance at thinking or reacting. It’s part of multi-class racing. Our championship took a little hit with this one, but we have a strong car. We have more races to go. I wish I could have tried for my fifth win (at Sebring). I’ll have to try again next year.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOOD CITY 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT MARCH 16, 2024

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 FICO CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.    Media Availability Quotes: I KNOW IT’S THE FIRST TIME THAT WE’VE BEEN ON THE CONCRETE HERE IN THE SPRING IN A COUPLE OF YEARS, BUT DO YOU NOTICE AS MUCH OF A CHANGE COMPARED TO OTHER TRACKS THAT WE VISIT TWICE, WHERE YOU’VE GOT A DAYTIME RACE VERSUS THE NIGHT RACE WHEN WE COME BACK IN SEPTEMBER? “Probably not as much here at Bristol (Motor Speedway) as normal. I would say that both races here tend to act very much more similar than other places we go to. Even Martinsville (Speedway), the way the gaps are between the asphalt and the concrete, they change from spring to fall. But here, being all concrete and not much temperature variation in the concrete surface itself compared to asphalt, you don’t notice as much.”  HAVE YOU SEEN WHERE THEY’VE REPAVED AND PATCHED AT COTA? AND IF SO, HOW WILL THAT IMPACT THE RACE? “I don’t think it’s going to impact the race any. I have seen it, yeah. I think they got rid of a bump on the exit of turn one, and I think they did a little bit into the backstretch straightaway through 12 or 13, and then out of the carousel and into 19. I don’t foresee it changing a whole lot. Like you’ll have lack of grip probably through the carousel, and then you’ll pickup grip on the exit and be able to go much faster through 19. But then out of 19, it’s back to the old asphalt and turn 20 is very slow with old asphalt being as slick as it is. I don’t know that it really opens up any more opportunities of passing or anything like that, just smoother surface I would imagine.”  WE’RE NOT EXPECTING ANY CHANGE IN HORSEPOWER, BUT LET’S SAY THAT IF NASCAR WERE TO CHANGE THE SPACER AND GIVE YOU MORE HORSEPOWER, WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU NEED TO KNOW? WOULD YOU NEED TO CHECK GEARING, THE TIRES, THE TRANSAXLE? FROM YOUR MECHANICAL KNOWLEDGE OF THE CAR, WHAT ELSE WOULD NEED TO HAPPEN BEFORE YOU COULD ACTUALLY GO OUT ON THE TRACK? “I would say the only thing that would be a limiting factor might be the transaxle. But honestly, I’ve never really looked inside one or seen the components of one to see how sturdy the gears are. That would about be the only thing in my book of just knowing whether or not it would withstand the horsepower gain. I would imagine that it would.. that it wouldn’t be that big of a deal because I think Xtrac builds transmissions and such for off-road racing and things like that, where they’re over 1,000 horsepower. So I’m sure they’re used to, or at least have experience, in that realm of the higher horsepower. The brakes are fine. We don’t blow the tires off enough. I think that’s what we’re all kind of talking about. We need these things to be faster going into the corner; utilizing the brakes more, utilizing the tires more and having the opportunity to overdrive the cars more to burn the tires up to see guys struggle over a run.”  YOU’VE HAD VARIOUS RUNS HERE OVER THE YEARS WHERE YOU’VE BEEN REALLY, REALLY GOOD. THIS PLACE HAS CHANGED A TON, WHETHER IT’S BEEN THE SURFACE OR THE WAY THE TRACK WAS CUT-UP ON THE TOP OR WHATEVER. WHAT ARE THE THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GOOD AT BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY, AND DOES THIS CAR, THE CURRENT VERSION OF THE TRACK AND THE RESIN GIVE YOU CONFIDENCE HERE GIVEN WHAT YOU’VE HAD BEFORE OR IS IT JUST A COMPLETELY DIFFERNET PLACE? “The car really changes a lot for it, for me. We won here with this car on the dirt surface, but I would say that since we’ve been bringing the new Next Gen car to the concrete surface, I have not found my way with it yet. I definitely had a way with understanding this place; having a sense of setup, how to drive it and whatnot with the old stuff, but not with the new stuff. We’ll see what happens here this weekend with our No. 8 FICO Chevrolet. Looking forward to the truck race. It’s been a long time since I’ve been in a truck here. I think the last time was 2017 when I won, so certainly would be nice to come out here and go back to victory lane with one of those.” I KNOW YOU HAVE A LOT OF RESPECT FOR BUBBA POLLARD, AND HE’S GOING TO MAKE HIS XFINITY DEBUT HERE IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO NASCAR, THE SHORT-TRACK INDUSTRY, TO HAVE HIM GET A CHANCE AND TELL HIS STORY TO THIS AUDIENCE? “Yeah, I love it. A guy that works as hard as he does and does as much on his own as he does, I mean he’s a really smooth guy. I’ve raced against him a lot and we’ve had some really good battles. We’ve always been cordial with one another. I think the only time was when one of the younger kids was racing for me, he punted him out of the way, I think it was at Alabama one time at a race down there. He said, ‘well that’s what Kyle would do’. And I called him and I was like, ‘bro.. when have I ever done that to you.. like come on man’. We’ve always had a good relationship, so I respect the hell out of him for what he does. He’s honestly one of the best. Definitely one of the best from the south in the super late model ranks. I’ve raced against a lot of greats out on the west coast, up in the northeast and Midwest.. a lot of different names that always come to mind.” LAST YEAR, YOU GOT OFF TO A QUICK START. HOW WOULD YOU CATEGORIZE WHAT HAS HAPPENED THIS YEAR IN THE OPENING PART OF THE SEASON? “Yeah, the Clash was great.. we ran really well there. Daytona, we were fast. If I would have choose a different line on a restart, we probably would have had a top-four at Daytona, for sure. Atlanta, coming oh-so-close there with just needing a couple inches to win that thing. And then Las Vegas, we were really fast. We were probably one of the only guys that could keep up with Kyle Larson. We had a great shot there and pit road was our demise. And then last weekend (at Phoenix), we just weren’t very good, in general, with the short-track stuff still. We’ve tried everything, so I don’t even know where to go with what we do next. We’ll see, with some new ideas, if anything works here at Bristol.. being as though it’s a short-track race, but it’s still the different aero package. But yeah, I mean we’ve come to find what our strengths are, what our middle ground is and where our weaknesses are, for sure. We keep trying to improve on all of them.” IS THE PIT CREW STILL AN UNSETTLED SITUATION, OR DO YOU THINK YOU’VE GOT THE PIECES TOGETHER AND YOU’RE GOING TO KIND OF LET THEM WORK THEIR WAY THROUGH IT AND SMOOTH EVERYTHING OUT? “I would say it’s still unsettled. The proof is in your results, right? You’re only as good as your last race, as us drivers tend to say. So you’re only as good as your last stop, I guess, is what a pit crew guy should say. But I know that everybody at the shop and all of RCR is working hard on trying to figure something out and get through it with the resources that we have. Each week, we’ll keep trying to fine-tune the personnel and make the best that we can out of the situation we’ve got to have at least decent stops. My thing is – they’re either the defense or the special teams unit, however you want to look at that. When you come down pit road, I’ve been saying it the last couple of years since we’ve been racing this car – the easiest time to pass people is when they’re sitting still.. it’s when they’re in their pit box. And so, we can’t be the ones that are always getting passed. We need to hold our own.” YOUR TEAMMATE, AUSTIN DILLON, WAS TALKING LAST WEEKEND ABOUT MAKING THE WIDTH OF THE TIRE SMALLER. HE SAID IT WOULD MAKE YOU GUYS FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE MORE SPEED WITH THE NEW SHORT-TRACK PACKAGE. I’M CURIOUS IF YOU FOLLOW THAT PHILOSOPHY, AND HOW DO YOU THINK THAT PACKAGE WILL REACT AT RICHMOND? “Yeah, I mean I can see where he’s coming from. I think we’ve all kind of said that, when the tire got wider, we all knew it was going to produce more grip. We all expected it to be softer so it would wear, and it would wear out and then you would have less grip over the course of a run and have some falloff. But unfortunately, we haven’t seen that.. we haven’t seen that softer compound yet. We saw last year here at this race in particular where guys stayed out on 60 or 70 lap tires; went the rest of the way in the first stage and won the stage. Guys were finishing in the top-10 by staying out. You don’t want to have tire blowouts.. I get that. I understand Goodyear’s stake on that part. But I think when we have had softer tires in the past and have had blowouts, that’s because they were softer.. because they wore out.. because we punished them, you know. So you’re kind of to your own demise, in a sense. I guess tires not holding air probably don’t sell well on Monday.” HAVING DRIVEN THIS PACKAGE AT PHOENIX, DO YOU THINK IT WILL HELP THE RACING AT RICHMOND? “No… no… no. The problem starts at the front of the car; the splitter and the way the air is, and everything that we all do on setup stuff for make these things rely on the air as much as they do. That’s the problem.. I think they went about it.. that’s a funny way to say it.. backwards. There’s another way of saying that, but I’ll leave it for another day.  But they started at the back of the car. That’s not the problem.. it’s at the front of the car. So, that’s it.” WITH ALL THE TALKS OF WHAT COULD BE CHANGED, WHAT ARE TODAY’S FANS NOT ABLE TO SEE YOU DO THAT YOU COULD HAVE DONE OR HOW YOU COULD DISPLAY YOUR TALENTS 10 OR 15 YEARS AGO IN THE CAR? WHAT IS THE KYLE BUSCH THAT FANS ARE SEEING NOW, AND HOW MUCH IS THIS NOT THE 100 PERCENT KYLE BUSCH THAT WE COULD HAVE SEEN 10 YEARS AGO.. IS THERE THAT MUCH DIFFERENCE? “I get what you’re saying. I feel as though that when the teams were able to build the cars, with the manufacturers and they were able to design them the way they wanted to design them, you’d have particular teams that would really focus on chassis build. They would work on their front clips. They would work on their rear clips. They would work on their bodies, and they’d work on their engines. You had a lot more feasibility in where you wanted to dump your resources. Did you want superspeedway cars? Did you want intermediate cars? Did you want short-track cars.. road course cars? You get it, right?  So now, we all have the same LEGOS and it’s just about how you assemble the LEGOS, which apparently we’re not smart enough yet at the short-track LEGOS to have that program scienced-out. For me anyways, I feel the practice limitations that have been set forth – I don’t have time to work through and dissect the car as much as I once did of being able to go through practices; look at the data, go through another practice, go through qualifying, go through weeks of being able to do that to build on your program and to give that feedback to the team, engineers and everybody back at the shop to make your stuff better. So I would say that’s probably a big part of it.” ALL THIS TALK ABOUT SIMULATION, AND HOW FAR IT’S COME AND HOW YOU’VE SEEN TO COME THROUGH YOUR YEARS. WITH WHAT YOU TALKED ABOUT, NOT BEING ABLE TO GET THAT FEEL IN PRACTICE AND SO FORTH, WHY CAN’T THAT BE DONE IN SIMULATION OR WHERE DOES SIMULATION FALL SHORT THAT PREVENTS YOU FROM GETTING BETTER IN PRACTICE SITUATIONS? “I would say that there’s nothing like the real thing. There’s nothing like the asphalt dyno, as my dad would always say. Going to the race track with your stuff and competing against the rest of the competitors to see where your shortcomings are.  The smartest robot in the world will never be what a human is, you know what I mean? It takes a human to build that robot, so there’s going to be way too many circumstances that would come about to make sim life what real life is.” HOW IMPORTANT IS IT FOR NASCAR TO HAVE A SUPERSTAR? SOMEBODY WHO TRANSCENDS THE SPORT, LIKE RICHARD PETTY, DALE EARNHARDT OR JEFF GORDON, AND DO WE HAVE ONE NOW? WHAT WOULD IT TAKE TO GET THERE IF WE DON’T? “You’re looking at him.. no, I’m kidding (laughs).  I think his name is Chase (Elliott). He’s the man, so ask him.  But yeah, for whatever reason – I’m not sure what it is, but you have the diehard fans of NASCAR, of Jeff Gordon, Dale Earnhardt, Rusty Wallace, Terry Labonte, Mark Martin, Harry Gant. You name it – guys from the 90s, mid-90s, late-90s, all of that. Our world now, today, of 2024, is a lot different fan base that’s following along. I don’t feel like we were able to transition a lot of the fans that were fans of those drivers of the names that I just mentioned, into a William Byron fan; into a Kyle fan or whoever. They kind of all probably went away.. just stopped following as much. Which is hard to say because honestly, when you look at NASCAR, the fans love the drivers. The driver star power, that’s what brings people to the race track, is the drivers. When you look at the NFL, for instance – those players on that team change so often. You guys think my pit crews’ names changing every week is a lot.. look at the roster changes of NFL teams, and what they do; what they go through with their 53-man roster. But fans are fans of the teams, and a lot of times – I’ll throw out a name.. Jacksonville, for instance. The last few years, they’re coming back because of Trevor Lawrence, right? They’ve got somebody back that has brought the team back into the forefront. But before that, their stadiums were empty, you know what I mean. You can find the same struggles across different sports, is what we see sometimes.” I WANT TO GO BACK TO WHAT YOU WERE TELLING MATT (WEAVER) ABOUT HOW IT’S BEEN HERE FOR YOU IN THE NEXT GEN CAR. HOW MUCH OF THAT IS THE FEELING OF THE CAR BEING SO DIFFERENT FROM WHAT YOU WERE USED TO HERE, AND HOW MUCH OF IT IS RHYTHM WHEN IT COMES TO THIS RACE TRACK? JUST KNOWING WHAT YOU WANT TO FEEL AND HOW YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO RUN THIS RACE TRACK.“Well Bristol is a lot of rhythm, but it takes a feel of what you’re looking for here, as well, too. This car just drives a lot different, and it drives a lot different because of the limitations in which it’s built. It just has a different way of you needing to go about it. I’ve learned some of that, but I guess I’m not the best of figuring out how to be better than some of the other drivers. Or maybe their cars are better than my car.. I don’t know. It’s not like we can swap seats. I’d always run this place more round.. like I would always try to make it as much of a circle as I possibly could, and now you kind of run this place in a diamond. You go up to the wall; do you try to come off the wall? Do you up to the wall in the corner? Do you come up the wall, you know what I mean? So it’s more diamond-shaped. It’s definitely a different way of running it. That seems to be a little bit more of the faster way this day in age. It’s a different technique to get used to, but that’s not to say that I can’t do it. It’s just a matter of sometimes you can’t out-race your own equipment, and you’ve got to go and get what you can get out of it, but nothing more.”

DU QUOIN, IL (March 15, 2024) – When it comes to racing around the dirt oval inside the Southern Illinois Center, few have mastered its narrow, 1/6-mile confines like Thomas Meseraull.

Friday night, the 43-year-old open-wheel racing veteran from San Jose, CA, put on another display of indoor excellence in the season opener for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota, taking the lead five laps into the race and holding off the field the rest of the way to capture the $4,000 grand prize and the fourth Midget win of his career in the building.

The win also came as Meseraull’s first with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series – a sudden surprise to him when DIRTVision reporter Peyton Williams informed him of the achievement in Victory Lane.

“When I heard that, I actually thought he lied,” Meseraull said. “I’m like, ‘Pffft, I’ve won an Xtreme race… maybe that was a Sprint Car race, maybe I haven’t won an Xtreme [Midget] race.’

“It’s always nice to like, etch your name in the history books, you know what I mean? ‘Cause nobody remembers who was second.”

From the outside pole on the starting grid, Meseraull immediately put pressure on polesitter Tyler Edwards – making his national Midget series debut for Mounce/Stout Motorsports. Edwards led the first four circuits of the 30-lap main event, but Meseraull was right behind the entire time, waiting for the right moment to pounce.

“We had a yellow and he ended up at the front and I thought, ‘Okay Thomas, you really need to calm down, there’s no need to be doing sliders on Lap 1 and 2. Let’s just try to work the bottom and see if he makes a mistake,’” Meseraull said. “I was able to kinda sneak by him.”

Meseraull was strong on the bottom and took advantage of the shortest line around, throwing a slide job on Edwards to take the lead away on Lap 5. From there on out, it was smooth sailing for the Tim Engler-owned No. 7x as he controlled the race the rest of the way.

“We started up front and it just worked out,” Meseraull said.  “Track position is so important in indoor racing. I’ve been, I feel like, one of the fastest cars here several nights and ended up just in a traffic jam.”

Behind him, a battle for position raged on between several racers in the top five. After starting third on the grid and dropping back to fifth, Gavin Miller found speed on the top side of the track and used it to power around Ethan Mitchell, Tyler Edwards and later Shane Cottle on Lap 18 to take over second.

“I just had to play my cards right – pick the bottom here, pick the bottom there,” Miller said. “Just play your cards right and stay out of trouble.”

Throughout the final 12 laps, Miller searched for a way around leader Meseraull but was met with brute resistance.

“I tried getting to the top before he did so I could get to it faster and cut across and possibly pass him,” Miller said. “He was just as even as us, and he would have been really hard to pass without getting into, and I’m not going to ruin my shot to… we’ve got a whole season ahead of us and a lot more races, so I’m not gonna pull anything stupid or wreck him or wreck myself for the win.”

Even on the final restart, in green-white-checkered fashion, Meseraull held strong out front as Miller fought to keep his own spot in second as Zach Daum gave him a challenge on the final lap.

“Luckily for [Meseraull], he didn’t really make any many mistakes for me to get and advantage and pass him,” Miller said. “He did a good job, congrats to him, and we’ll try again tomorrow.”

Daum poked his nose to the inside of Miller after taking the white flag and appeared to have the advantage coming out of Turn 2, but Miller made use of the top-side momentum to retain second as Daum crossed behind him in third.

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota is back in action Saturday night, March 16, at the Southern Illinois Center in Du Quoin, IL, for a 40-lap, $5,000-to-win program.

Tickets will be on sale at the door. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[2]; 2. 97-Gavin Miller[3]; 3. 7U-Zach Daum[7]; 4. 86-Shane Cottle[6]; 5. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[13]; 6. 51B-Joe B Miller[10]; 7. 83-Will Armitage[18]; 8. 21K-Karter Sarff[11]; 9. 56D-Mitchell Davis[22]; 10. 40-Chase McDermand[19]; 11. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[20]; 12. 67-Ryan Timms[8]; 13. 88A-Austin Torgerson[17]; 14. 71-Jade Avedisian[21]; 15. 56-Tyler Edwards[1]; 16. 43-Gunnar Setser[16]; 17. 25K-Taylor Reimer[15]; 18. 5U-Peter Smith[14]; 19. 14S-Tyler Smith[9]; 20. 35-Tyler Robbins[12]; 21. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[4]; 22. 55-Trevor Cline[5]

SEBRING, Fla. (March 15, 2024) – The 50th anniversary Mobil 1-liveried No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports will lead a group of four Corvettes to the start of Saturday’s Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Cadillac. Alexander Sims – part of Cadillac Racing’s overall race-winning lineup a year ago – set a lap of 1:59.508 (112.661 mph) in Friday’s 15-minute qualifying session for GT Daytona (GTD) PRO and GTD entries. It was enough for fourth in GTD PRO and eighth overall in the combined GTD PRO/GTD category and put the No. 3 that he shares with Antonio Garcia and Daniel Juncadella 0.8 seconds off the class pole-winning time.

Teammate Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Corvette Z06 GT3.R qualified eighth in class and a little more than 0.2 seconds off Sims’ time – another indication of the high level of competition in the production-based classes. In GTD, Orey Fidani paced AWA’s qualifying efforts in the No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R at 2:05.079 (107.643 mph) – a scant one-tenth of a second quicker than teammate Anthony Mantella in the No. 17 Corvette. The rough-and-tumble Sebring International Raceway in central Florida is steeped in Corvette Racing lore with countless tests plus 29 races during a quarter-century of Corvette competition. That should bode well for the fortunes of the four Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R entries entered for this America’s oldest sports car race.

CORVETTE RACING MEDIA INFORMATION Corvette Racing media information is updated and available ahead of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Cadillac. Materials include Corvette Racing event advance and quotes, Corvette Racing stats and figures, Corvette Z06 GT3.R racecar comparisons, Corvette Racing Fast Facts, driver biographies and Corvette Racing photography.

The goal for each team is to put Corvette back on the top step of the podium – a place Corvette Racing has stood 14 times leading into this year’s running. The current Corvette/PMM team tested the Corvette Z06 GT3.R at Sebring in November in order to gather valuable data on the first-year car ahead of the season’s most grueling race across the bumps and concrete of the 3.74-mile, 17-turn Sebring circuit.  To mark the 50th anniversary of Corvette technical partner Mobil 1, both the No. 3 and No. 4 Corvettes from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports will contest Sebring with special Mobil 1-inspired liveries. Both cars – plus the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R in GTP – will feature celebratory Mobil 1 gold along with the Mobil 1 Pegasus, which throughout its history has symbolized speed and power within the brand. The Mobil 1 brand and its partners will be highlighting the brand’s legacy and future at Sebring, as well as off the track through the rest of this monumental anniversary year.

For more than 25 years, the Mobil 1 brand has been an integral part of the Corvette Racing program. It was the only lubricant used by the factory racing effort dating back to the first on-track tests of the Corvette C5-R in 1997. The Mobil 1 brand continues as a primary sponsor of the Pratt Miller-run Corvette Z06 GT3.R team, and since 1993 has been the factory fill for all new production Corvettes. The Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring presented by Cadillac is scheduled for 9:40 a.m. ET on Saturday, March 16. The race will air on USA Network from 4-10 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage on Peacock at 9:30 a.m. ET. IMSA Radio will air the race in full at IMSA.com along with Sirius 216, XM 207, SiriusXM Online 992 and 100.9 FM at the circuit.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

ALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “For the race, the conditions we qualified in aren’t so relevant because the race is about the evening and the night. Nevertheless, we have to start the race in as good a position as we can and I think we’ve done a reasonable job of that today. The other guys were too fast for us in qualifying. For the Corvette that we have, I feel like we optimized it pretty nicely. We had some struggles in practice and some settings weren’t quite as we planned. Once we sat the car down in the evening, we hit the reset button a little bit and I’m glad those issues seem to have been largely resolved. I think we have a little bit of work to do in order to improve the car for the race pace. It’s all gone well. It was nice for me personally to qualify here; you have to go back to 2018 for me in GT cars. It’s cool here with a nice bit of grip and low fuel. It causes the Corvette to come alive that little bit more, which is good fun for me as a driver. It’s all good. The team is working well and we’re doing a good job working toward the race.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Obviously we didn’t qualifying where we wanted to and where we’ve been pace-wise in practice. But at the end of the day, I think we are happy with things generally. In normal race situations, it seems like pace is good. We made a change for qualifying to compensate for what we thought would happen and went a little too far. With the heat like this, you only really get one opportunity to do it. My lap was OK but was slightly uncomfortable with the car. From that you lose just a little bit, and a little bit is a lot of spots in IMSA. I’m not happy with starting eighth in class, but I’m not unhappy with how our weekend has been so far the progress we’ve made so far. I’m excited for the Corvette we have in the race.”

AWA QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Being at Sebring is always a great experience. The fans are amazing, the weather is nice and the competition is stellar. To race on such a prestigious track onboard an iconic car like the Corvette Z06 GT3.R is a privilege. I am very happy with the handling of the car. Unfortunately, we qualified in the back tier of the field, but I am confident that Lars, Matt and I will make our way towards the pointier end of the grid in no time.”

ANTHONY MANTELLA, NO. 17 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Everybody says respect the bumps when they are at Sebring. That’s the track motto, but the Corvette is handling so well that we barely notice the bumps. Our engineers have got it dialed in and the car’s really easy to drive really fast. Full credit goes to the engineering staff at Pratt Miller and Corvette Racing for overcoming some teething problems and getting us to a competitive level at Sebring. We are looking forward to being on the podium at the end of the 12 hours.”

No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R grabs pole at Sebring; No. 01 Cadillac second

SEBRING, Fla. (March 15, 2024) – For the second consecutive race and the second year in a row at Sebring International Raceway, Cadillac Racing secured the front-row staring spots. Cadillac Racing earned its 25th pole award in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship prototype competition since 2017 as Pipo Derani topped Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) qualifying for the 72nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac. That total includes five at Sebring International Raceway. Derani, the reigning IMSA GTP champion, toured the demanding 3.741-mile, 17-turn course in 1 minute, 48.152 seconds to pace the 10-car field. The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, driven by Sebastien Bourdais, qualified second with a best lap of 1:48.299 during the scheduled 15-minute afternoon session that was interrupted by a red flag. The field had 4:04 after the stoppage to put in their best laps.

“Congratulations to the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R on securing pole position in qualifying for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac,” said John Roth, global vice president of Cadillac. “We are excited to get back on the track and compete for the overall win this weekend.” Derani was also the pole sitter for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in late January and Bourdais was close behind in second. It is also the same order as the 2023 race. “It is a good start for the race, but it’s a long race,” said Derani, who will share driving duties with Jack Aitken and Tom Blomqvist.

Notables* Cadillac has won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring the past three years and five times since joining IMSA prototype competition in 2017.* Derani is a four-time winner of the race.* The race will mark the 100th IMSA start for Renger van der Zande, co-driver of the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R with Scott Dixon and Bourdais. He has at least one victory in each of his 10 IMSA seasons.* The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R leads the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup standings after the Rolex 24 At Daytona.* Bourdais holds the Sebring circuit lap record of 1:45.166 (128.025 mph) set on March 18, 2022, in the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R during qualifications.

Peacock will provide flag-to-flag streaming coverage beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET Saturday, March 16. USA Network’s telecast is from 4-10 p.m. IMSA Radio’s race broadcast begins at 9:30 a.m. on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com along with Sirius channel 211, XM 207, Web/App 996, at the track at 100.9 FM, and Sebring station 99.1 FM).An interview with Pipo Derani (drove No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R in qualifying; best lap of 1:48.152; starts first) Tell us about qualifying. How is it shaping up for tomorrow?“It was a difficult qualifying session. It’s never easy when you have a red flag situation and you have to put the lap in. I was told over the radio that I could potentially have a second flying lap if I pushed. So, I obviously pushed but I was way too close for comfort to the No. 40 Acura. I was able to put the lap in but was a little bit disrupted because it wasn’t such a clean lap because he made a few mistakes in front of me, so I lost a little bit of time trying to control that distance to make sure I guaranteed a lap in case I didn’t have a second one. For sure, there’s more from the lap time. It wasn’t a perfect lap because of those things I said. Nevertheless, it was enough to be on pole. It’s never the nicest way to get a pole – for the grid – when you know that no one was able to achieve the full potential of their cars. Nevertheless, it’s still the same for everyone. You still have to put a lap in. You make no mistakes in such a pressure situation. I was able to extract to a certain extent enough out of the car that was good enough for pole. Very hot conditions, which makes it even more interesting how you operate the tires. It’s a tricky situation.” Where to you think the Cadillac is best around the track?“I don’t think there’s a place where it’s stronger. If you look at the DPi era, I think the car was better throughout the race. I think in GTP the Cadillac seems to be, at least here in Sebring, very positive on the heat of the day compared to the others. We tend to lose a little bit that advantage at night, I believe. Last year we saw Acura and Porsche very strong at the end. We restarted first and we lost some of that edge that we had throughout the day. We led a bunch of the race last year, but at the end we weren’t as competitive as in the beginning. It’s an area that as a team we’ve been working on from last year to try and improve. Obviously also last year at the very beginning of the race I had a contact with a P3 car that spun right in front of me, which damaged the floor of the car. We as a team are not sure how much of that damage influenced the end of the race. I think my honest opinion is that it’s not a matter of having a part of the track that it’s better for us, it’s more a matter of how the tire is reacting to the temperature. It still remains to be seen if a good car without any damage, if we are as strong as we were during the day, at night. Obviously the 01 didn’t get to the end of the race last year. It’s a bit of a question mark on that point. I would say it’s more temperature related as to a specific part of the track itself.” How difficult is it to put in a flying lap in a short session?“Well, the reality is that it’s the same for everyone. It’s not like there was someone who had put a lap in and then all the others were just basically waiting. In the end of the day, when you think of it this way, you just got to go and do the best you can. I honestly don’t feel much pressure in those situations. I feel like I handle it quite well. At the end of the day sometimes it’s better to be a bit on the conservative side and put a lap in than try a little bit over and make a mistake. In our car, I went out with a set of tires, had a red flag. I asked the team to change the tires and go with another new set, which was a risk because we didn’t know how much time the red flag was still going to be on. As you guys saw, as we went out, the 40 car, I think he kept the warm tires from the previous run, so he overtook me on cold tires. That’s the only situation where in that situation you don’t really know whether you’re going to have enough time to get the tire ready to do the lap. I think what helped us is it’s really hot out there and it helped us to bring the tires in a different way on the out-lap so that they were ready. That’s not always the case. It could in a much cooler condition be disruptive to one team or another because you might make the wrong choice whether you keep or not the tires, then you don’t have enough time to have them in the right window for a lap. I like pressure situations like that. I was happy to be able to put the lap in.” Did you use three sets of tires?“No, I went out on one, then as we came into the pit for the red flag, I asked them to change.” What are track conditions like?“I think the whole weekend the track is not as quick as last year. At Sebring, it’s quite usual to see that happen. Sometimes even during the day there’s periods of the day where you’re much quicker than others. Especially compared to when we were here a month ago during private testing, we were quicker than we are now. It’s just the condition that we have right now I think is a track condition and not cars. I would say, let’s say, if I had a perfect lap, it’s hard to say, but you could possibly be 4/10ths quicker than what I was, which would still be, if I’m not wrong, far from the pole position last year.”Sebastien Bourdais (drove the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R in qualifying; best lap of 1:48.299; starts second): “It was a bit of a longshot (for pole) with the pit position we had. Couldn’t really put any heat in the tires on the second attempt (after red flag) and started the lap in the tail of the 10 (car). There really wasn’t any gap for me and the Lambo started to check up before the last corner and I knew I had to do the last corner somewhat quick and I ended up really close to the 10, but there was nowhere else to go. Just a shame that they put the red flag on us just before I could complete the first timed lap. That would have been enough for pole. We’ll take out second and go from there.”Celebrating 50 years The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R has a special gold Mobil 1 livery for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac, celebrating the brand’s 50th anniversary. ·Mobil 1 is the factory fill for all Cadillac CTV-5 Blackwing production cars, and has been available to customers in GM dealerships since 1986. Media resources* Event guide: Cadillac storylines, bios, stats and more * Wins: Cadillac Racing results 2023-2017 at Sebring. * 2024 so far: Cadillac IMSA GTP statistics. * On-track photos: The Sebring race weekend  Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Cadillac V-Series

In addition to being the presenting sponsor of the main event, Cadillac is the Official Luxury Vehicle of Sebring International Raceway and is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its V-Series sub-brand that was unveiled during the Twelve Hours of Sebring.  Spectators have the opportunity to see the exciting roster of Cadillac vehicles, including the award-winning CT5-V Blackwing and Cadillac Escalade, at the Cadillac display in the Fan Zone Saturday from 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R grabs pole at Sebring; No. 01 Cadillac second

SEBRING, Fla. (March 15, 2024) – For the second consecutive race, Cadillac Racing claimed the front-row staring spots. Cadillac Racing earned its 25th pole award in IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship prototype competition since 2017 as Pipo Derani topped Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) qualifying for the 72nd Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac. That total includes five at Sebring International Raceway. Derani toured the demanding 3.741-mile, 17-turn course in 1 minute, 48.152 seconds to pace the 10-car field. The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R, driven by Sebastien Bourdais, qualified second with a best lap of 1:48.299 during the scheduled 15-minute afternoon session that was truncated by a red flag.

“Congratulations to the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R on securing pole position in qualifying for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac,” said John Roth, global vice president of Cadillac. “We are excited to get back on the track and compete for the overall win this weekend.” Derani was also the pole sitter for the season-opening Rolex 24 At Daytona in late January and Bourdais was close behind in second. “It is a good start for the race,” said Derani, the defending and four-time winner of the race. * Cadillac has won the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring the past three years and five times since joining IMSA prototype competition in 2017. * The race will mark the 100th IMSA start for Renger van der Zande, driver of the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R. He has at least one victory in each of his 10 IMSA seasons.

Peacock will provide flag-to-flag streaming coverage beginning at 9:30 a.m. ET Saturday, March 16. USA Network’s telecast is from 4-10 p.m. IMSA Radio’s race broadcast begins at 9:30 a.m. on IMSA.com and RadioLeMans.com along with Sirius channel 211, XM 207, Web/App 996, at the track at 100.9 FM, and Sebring station 99.1 FM).Celebrating 50 years The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R has a special gold Mobil 1 livery for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Cadillac, celebrating the brand’s 50th anniversary. ·Mobil 1 is the factory fill for all Cadillac CTV-5 Blackwing production cars, and has been available to customers in GM dealerships since 1986. Media resources* Event guide: Cadillac storylines, bios, stats and more * Wins: Cadillac Racing results 2023-2017 at Sebring. * 2024 so far: Cadillac IMSA GTP statistics. * All-time: Cadillac Racing numbers in all series  Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Cadillac V-Series

In addition to being the presenting sponsor of the main event, Cadillac is the Official Luxury Vehicle of Sebring International Raceway and is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its V-Series sub-brand that was unveiled during the Twelve Hours of Sebring.  Spectators have the opportunity to see the exciting roster of Cadillac vehicles, including the award-winning CT5-V Blackwing and Cadillac Escalade, at the Cadillac display in the Fan Zone Saturday from 8 a.m.-7 p.m.

Mar 15, 2024 | Featured, Race Results

After kicking off the 2024 racing season, the Randy Meyer Racing Team has seen a semi final finish at the first 3 events; but they have their eyes set on claiming their first win.

The team started off the year at Belle Rose, LA where 2023 World Champion Julie Nataas qualified 2nd and finished in the semis. The following weekend was the first of two NHRA drag racing events held in Gainesville, FL with teammate Hunter Green returning to join Julie. Julie clinched the second qualifying spot again with her best time of 5.233 ET at 270 mph, but had issues getting traction and took the loss in first round. Hunter qualified right behind her with his best time of 5.236 ET at 278 mph and got the win in first round over Dan Dietrich.

Rain delayed the conclusion of eliminations and pushed them back to finish during the Gatornationals the following weekend. Hunter got the starting line advantage but shook and lost traction and clicked it off to get a semi final finish. Moving onto the first national event of 2024, Hunter qualified 5th running a 5.270 ET at 272 mph while Julie sat 4th with a 5.262 ET at 270 mph.

Both drivers got the win in first round; Hunter defeated Megan Smith running the quickest time of the class with a 5.212 ET at 275 mph. Julie knocked out Mike Coughlin while also improving to a 5.248 ET at 270 mph. However, the pair of Randy Meyer-owned nitro dragsters had to go head-to-head in round 2. Hunter again got the holeshot advantage but had issues down track to let Julie pass by running a 5.359 ET to her 5.231 ET.

“It’s nice to be back in the driver’s seat after a four month layoff,” said Hunter. “The car is performing great. We ran the second fastest run of the weekend in Gainesville. Pomona holds a special place in my heart after winning and doubling up with my father there last November. It will be difficult to top that and do it again, but we have the right people and the same car to do it and nothing is impossible.”

Moving onto the semi finals, Julie drag raced against Jeff Veale. She got the advantage off the line this time, but the tires go up in smoke and she has to let off the throttle finishing her day at the Gatornationals.

“Car is fast and consistent,” said Julie. “We just had an unlucky semifinal loss as we smoked the tires at the hit. We are ready to find our way back to the winners circle. Hopefully Pomona will be a first win for the season, and first win for me at this track!”

The team is thrilled to be heading to race no. 4 of 2024; the NHRA Winternationals at Pomona Drag Strip next weekend where we finished off the 2023 season in the winner’s circle.

The connection between The Greatest Show on Dirt and Texas continues to grow over the next four races.PAIGE, TX (March 14, 2024) – Texas is known for many things – country music, superb BBQ, rodeos, and being big in every way. All things the “Lone Star State” residents are proud to represent. And while it might not be as widely known as some other staples of the southern state, Sprint Car racing has helped pump the heartbeat of Texas for decades.The state was the birthplace of the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and has hosted the Series 208 times, which ranks fifth most and trails only the Sprint Car hotbeds of Pennsylvania, California, Ohio, and Iowa. There have been only three years (2006, 2008, 2012) in 46 seasons of history in which Texas didn’t host an event.And it’ll host the Series for two more consecutive weekends this year. First up is the Texas Two-Step at Cotton Bowl Speedway (Paige, TX) on March 15-16. Then it’s north to the Dallas-Fort Worth region where Big O Speedway (Ennis, TX) and Kennedale Speedway Park await on March 22-23. The World of Outlaws’ connection to Texas dates back to March 18, 1978 when the final night of Devil’s Bowl Speedway’s Spring Nationals became the first night of Ted Johnson’s famous vision. The Texas transplant brought a $2,000-to-win race to the Mesquite facility, taking the first step in establishing his World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. The race was won by California’s Jimmy Boyd, driving Kenny Woodruff’s #21.Then, the Series’ sophomore year saw an early season stop at Big H Speedway (Houston) – claimed by Steve Kinser. Devil’s Bowl and Big H became mainstays of the Series’ early years. Both hosted at least one race in every season from 1979 through 1988.It wasn’t until 1984 before a third track welcomed Johnson’s band of travelers. Kilgore’s Lone Star Speedway hosted a trio of races that season, and Sammy Swindell topped all three aboard Texas native Raymond Beadle’s machine. Two years later Swindell bagged another three straight at Lone Star on the heels of a Big H win. Four days later, Swindell crossed the finish line first at the Battleground Speedway (Highlands, TX) debut for five straight Texas victories. Swindell’s streak grew to nine before Steve Kinser ended it in 1987. The run of nine in a row remains the longest stretch of consecutive Texas triumphs.The next new facility came in 1990 when North Texas Motor Speedway (Royse City) appeared on the schedule. Mark Kinser swept both Features of the two-night show. Move ahead to 1993, and it was Mark’s cousin – Steve – sweeping the first two nights at Hub City Speedway (Lubbock). The following year, Steve took both Lubbock nights again and still stands as the only Series winner at the track.The year 1993 also marked a major moment for Texas pride as Hooks, TX pilot Gary Wright became the first native of the state to win a World of Outlaws race on home soil. Wright came out on top at Devil’s Bowl and went on to win five races at the historic facility. Wright’s first Devil’s Bowl win came during the 93rd World of Outlaws race contested in Texas.The turn of the century introduced a pair of new facilities. A little north of Fort Worth Greg Hodnett topped the debut at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track in 2000. The following weekend Stevie Smith won the first Series race at Houston Raceway Park.The 2010s saw three new tracks added to the schedule. The far western corner of the state saw the tour come to town in 2013 when El Paso Speedway Park first hosted an event. Steve Kinser added it to his long list of tracks that he’s won at with the debut triumph.Three years later Brad Sweet took the first World of Outlaws checkered flag handed out at this weekend’s destination – Cotton Bowl Speedway. The following season David Gravel bested the field at Gator Motorplex before the track shuttered later that year.Last October, perhaps the most important chapter in the World of Outlaws and Texas connection came to a close. The birthplace of the Series – Devil’s Bowl Speedway – hosted its final race. Fittingly, the World of Outlaws were there to send the track off. David Gravel beat James McFadden in a thriller to wear the final Devil’s Bowl cowboy hat.But even though Devil’s Bowl was a painful door to close, new ones have opened as the longstanding tradition of The Greatest Show on Dirt in Texas continues to expand. Cotton Bowl’s young relationship with the World of Outlaws will grow this weekend as it continues its status as a springtime staple since debuting in 2016. Next weekend, Big O and Kennedale become tracks number 12 and 13 in the state to host the Series.And just like when Ted Johnson unleashed the World of Outlaws at Devil’s Bowl in 1978, the tradition of the country’s best Sprint Car drivers battling for glory will continue as new chapters of the sport are written.For tickets to Cotton Bowl, Big O, or Kennedale, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.TEXAS WORLD OF OUTLAWS WINNERS48 wins – Steve Kinser 37 wins – Sammy Swindell 13 wins – Mark Kinser 9 wins – Danny Lasoski, Doug Wolfgang 7 wins – Bobby Davis Jr., Donny Schatz 6 wins – Joey Saldana 5 wins – Daryn Pittman, Gary Wright, Jeff Swindell 4 wins – Bobby Allen, Brad Sweet, Dave Blaney 3 wins – Andy Hillenburg, David Gravel, Logan Schuchart, Stevie Smith 2 wins – Brad Furr, Carson Macedo, Craig Dollansky, Danny Smith, Greg Hodnett, Jason Johnson, Joe Gaerte, Ron Shuman, Shane Stewart, Sheldon Haudenschild, Tim Green, Tim Shaffer 1 win – Brad Doty, Brent Kaeding, Brent Marks, Brian Paulus, James McFadden, Jason Sides, Jimmy Boyd, Kerry Madsen, Tyler Walker