Indianapolis, Indiana, May 23, 2022 — DragonSpeed Cusick Motorsports will start the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 in the 33rd position. A mechanical issue in the morning practice session on Saturday necessitated an engine change, and while the crew made every effort to replace the power unit, inclement weather ended the day’s running early, meaning Stefan Wilson and the No. 25 DragonSpeed Cusick Motorsports Chevrolet were unable to set a qualifying time.   “We thought we could qualify in the 229-230 mph range, which would have been awesome for us,” said Wilson, who will contest his fourth Indianapolis 500 on Sunday this week. “But Chevy saw something in the first run in practice they didn’t like and we had to abort the run and replace the engine. At that point, we were really racing against the weather and we didn’t get to run, unfortunately. We’ve got to keep our chin up and look towards the practice sessions this week and the race this Sunday. We have to make the best of the situation.”

“We’re all disappointed not to post a qualifying time, but the race is what really matters and we are focused on maximizing the opportunity,” said Don Cusick, Founder and CEO of Cusick Motorsports. “The crew has done a fantastic job in refining the car as much as possible, which is nothing short of a heroic effort given the time constraints going into the event. We’ve been blown away by the support from fans, series stakeholders and our partners, all of which have spurred us on and motivated us even more. We’re ready for race day.”

Practice resumes today at 1:00 p.m. ET and Carb Day practice kicks off at 11:00 a.m. ET on Friday May 27th. Both practice sessions will be live on Peacock TV. Green flag for the 106th Running of the Indianapolis 500 flies at 12:45 p.m. ET on Sunday May 29th. Watch the race live on NBC and follow all on-track timing and scoring via the NTT IndyCar Series app.

About Cusick Motorsports   Founded in 2021 by entrepreneur Don Cusick, Cusick Motorsports was created to drive meaningful business relationships through motorsports. As a marketing and business-to-business incubator, Cusick Motorsports creates bespoke programs for its partners across a variety of racing series.   For companies new to the world of racing, Cusick Motorsports identifies the best opportunities, negotiates deals that make business sense, and oversees each partnership to ensure the defined return-on-investment targets are being met. Cusick Motorsports provides support in building the most effective marketing strategy possible for each partner, helping create digital marketing campaigns, positioning its brand ambassadors, and creating experiential marketing efforts. Cusick Motorsports will utilize its vast network to create business-to-business opportunities and once-in-a-lifetime experiences for its partners. At all race events, partners will enjoy an unparalleled perspective on the sport, with VIP hospitality and direct access to the race team and drivers

(5/23/22) Sacramento, CA… The NARC Fujitsu General Sprint Cars haven’t visited the Pacific Northwest since 2012, but that will change in a big way this week as the series heads north for The Fastest Four Days in Motorsports.

The event will consist of four races in four days at three tracks in two states. The racing gets rolling Thursday, May 26th at Southern Oregon Speedway located in Central Point, Oregon. On Friday, May 27th it’ll be up to Lebanon, Oregon’s Willamette Speedway. The final two nights will both take place at Grays Harbor Raceway in Elma, Washington on Saturday, May 28th and Sunday, May 29th.  (Note: Monday, May 30th is a rain date if needed.)

The venture will be a lucrative one with all four Fujitsu Features awarding $5,000 to the winner. There is also a whopping $40,000 bonus on the line for any driver who can sweep the mini-speedweek, meaning they’d walk away with $60,000 total. If someone wins three of the four, they’ll earn an extra $5,000.

On Sunday in Elma before the racing there will be a Drivers BBQ Luncheon in the Borden Building followed by a parade through town featuring the NARC racers and teams. Full details on both events can be found below in the Fan & Competitor Info section.

Championship Chase

Heading into the FFDM, Dominic Scelzi extended his point lead to 27 markers courtesy of his third straight victory.

Tarlton Motorsport pilot, Mitchell Faccinto, continues to hold the runner-up spot with four top-fives through five races this season.

Eleven points behind Faccinto is Shane Golobic, and he’s got Willie Croft (two points behind) and Bud Kaeding (three points behind) pressuring him for the final spot on the points podium early in the season.

Full-time drivers Justin Sanders, Max Mittry, Billy Aton, Tim Kaeding and Joel Myers Jr. complete the top-10.

Californians Invade

Many of the NARC regulars from California have few or no starts at all at the Oregon and Washington ovals, but some of the drivers have had success in limited appearances up north and will look to bring the trophies back to the Golden State.

Colby Copeland has been one of the strongest drivers with NARC in 2022, and he’ll have a good chance to continue his impressive run. The Roseville native has won at two of the three tracks on the FFDM schedule, picking up Western Sprint Tour victories at both Oregon facilities. Copeland’s Willamette Speedway triumph came just last year.

Another driver with some impressive showings up north is Colfax’s Willie Croft. He owns a sprint car win at Grays Harbor Raceway. Back when NARC more frequently visited Oregon, Croft managed to make four series starts at Southern Oregon Speedway with a best showing of fourth and not finishing worse than seventh. He also picked up an ASCS Regional top-five at Willamette back in 2014.

Other California drivers expected to make the trip north for at least part of the trip include Fresno’s Dominic Scelzi, Hanford’s D.J. Netto, Benicia’s Billy Aton, Campbell’s Bud Kaeding, Hanford’s Mitchell Faccinto, Fremont’s Shane Golobic, Clovis’ Corey Day, Aromas’ Justin Sanders, Sebastopol’s Joel Myers Jr., Yuba City’s Landon Brooks,

Protecting Home Turf

While the NARC drivers from California will be tough to beat, the Pacific Northwest natives with more laps around the tracks will look to top them in front of their home fans.

Logan Forler may be focusing primarily on NARC in California this year, but he was born in Washington and has spent a good chunk of his career racing in the Pacific Northwest and will aim for some strong runs. The former ASCS standout has wins at both Grays Harbor and Willamette, and one of his two career NARC top-fives came at Southern Oregon Speedway in 2010.

After getting his first 410 engine at the start of last year, Jacksonville, Oregon’s Tanner Holmes has made strides and is looking for success at his home tracks. Holmes has won at both Southern Oregon Speedway and Willamette. He’s also had some solid runs with the Interstate Sprint Car Series up at Grays Harbor.

Central, Point Oregon native, Garen Linder, has been competing with NARC in California early this season and will look for some good results in more familiar territory. Linder has won at both Southern Oregon Speedway and Grays Harbor. He notched his best career NARC finish with an 11th-place effort in Tulare on night one of the Peter Murphy Classic and will almost certainly crack the top-10 on home turf.

Other drivers native to the Pacific Northwest expected to compete on at least one night include Harrisburg, Oregon’s Tyler Thompson, Puyallup, Washington’s Trey Starks, Burlington, Washington’s Jason Solwold, Lake Stevens, Washington’s Austen Wheatley and more.

Fan & Competitor Info

The NARC-King of the West Hoosier Tire Format on all four nights will feature ARP Fast-Time Qualifying, 10-lap Heat Races, a six-lap Sunnyvalley Bacon Trophy Dash, a Kaeding Performance Semi if necessary, and the 30-lap Fujitsu Feature.

On Thursday at Southern Oregon Speedway the pit gate will open at 1:00 P.M. with the front gate opening at 5:00 P.M. Qualifying is slated for 6:00 P.M. and racing at 7:00 P.M. Teams are welcome to stay in the pits overnight, and fan camping is permitted on the grounds.

Adult GA tickets on Thursday will be $20. Seniors (62+) and veterans with a valid I.D. will be admitted for $15. Juniors’ tickets (ages 7-12) will be just $10. Family passes for two adults and four kids can be purchased for $60. Kids six and under are free. Tickets can be purchased at the gate or via the Ticket Hoss app.

Southern Oregon Speedway is located at 6900 Kershaw Rd, Central Point, Oregon 97502. For more information visit http://www.southernoregonmotorsports.com/ or call 458-220-6272.

On Friday at Willamette Speedway the pit gate will open at 1:00 P.M. with the grandstands opening at 3:30 P.M. Qualifying is set for 5:00 P.M. with racing at 6:00 P.M. Teams are welcome to stay in the pits, and fan camping is permitted on the grounds.

Adult GA tickets on Friday will be $25. Seniors, military, and kids (ages 6-12) will be admitted for $20. Tickets can be purchased at the gate or via the following link: https://www.myracepass.com/events/404532/tickets/

Willamette Speedway is located at 36606 Airport Dr, Lebanon, Oregon 97355. For more information visit http://www.trophymotorsports.com/ or send an email to willamettespeedway@hotmail.com.

On Saturday at Grays Harbor Raceway the pit gate will open at 2:00 P.M. and will open at 10:00 A.M. on Sunday to help accommodate the luncheon and parade. The remainder of the program will look the same on both nights with the drivers meeting scheduled for 4:00 P.M., wheel packing at 4:30 P.M., and racing at 6:00 P.M.

Adult GA tickets each night at Grays Harbor will be $28. Seniors, juniors (ages 7-17), and military with a valid I.D. will be admitted for $22. Children ages 2-6 will be just $5. Tickets can be purchased at the gate or online in a variety of package options via the following link: https://www.myracepass.com/tracks/1942

The Drivers Luncheon on Sunday will begin at 11:00 A.M. in the Borden Building (Dog Barn). Fans are welcome to attend. Donations are encouraged with the proceeds benefitting the Elma Raceway Hall of Fame. Drivers eat free.

Cars and haulers are to head to the parade at 12:30P.M., which will begin at 1:00 P.M. in the Elma High School parking lot.

Grays Harbor Raceway is located at 30 Elma McCleary Rd, Elma, Washington 98541. For more information visit https://www.graysharborraceway.com/ or call 360-482-4374.

Burlington, IA (May 22, 2022) – Defending Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion Tim McCreadie put on a dominating performance Sunday night at 34 Raceway in Iowa leading wire-to-wire in the CRST The Transportation Solution Inc. main event for his 30th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series victory. McCreadie raced unchallenged for the last of the race and won the race by nearly 10 seconds, half-a-lap ahead of a tight finish for second between Brandon Sheppard and Earl Pearson Jr. Pearson closed in rapidly in the final two circuits on the current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader. Garrett Alberson, one of the five contenders for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie-of-the-Year, had his best finish with the series taking fourth at the finish. Hudson O’Neal, who won at 34 in the last series appearance in 2019, came home in fifth. In a caution-free race McCreadie had no trouble negotiating lapped traffic as he lapped up to the ninth-place finisher. Sheppard tried to move to the top of the racing surface, but lost ground to McCreadie, who stayed glued to the bottom of the track. Pearson came on strong at the end and finished just one-car length behind the runner-up Sheppard at the checkers. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the second time in 2022 McCreadie thanked a multitude of people for getting him to the winner’s circle. “This speaks a lot for Longhorn Chassis. Justin Labonte and Steve Arpin in the shop. It hasn’t been easy for us this year. We have been working really hard trying other cars we have in the stable. We are just trying to get better. This car was spot on tonight. Early on I could roll through the middle there, unfortunately the top was really slimy over in three and four tonight it was kind of crowned off over there. The track crew did a really good job with what we had to work with. I appreciate that they had the track smooth. I know they were trying, I didn’t think it raced bad.” Sheppard crossed the line for another runner-up finish for the weekend after finishing second on Friday night at Farley to Tyler Erb. “Congratulations to Timmy he did a great job there. We had another solid night for us. I had a pretty good car there. I was moving around and trying everything. I think I got my tires overheated up top trying to hustle this thing. I moved down and I didn’t feel good on the bottom. I was moving around all over the place to figure out where I needed to be on the track. It was another solid night for this Rocket house car team.”  Looking for his 40th career series win, Pearson was edged out at the finish by Sheppard. “I did find a different line in traffic. I could get up high in one and two and get a run down the backstraight away. All-in-all 50 laps and no cautions I can’t say enough about what the track people here did. I appreciate all the fans coming out here on a Sunday afternoon to make this happen. We are proud to come home third here and hopefully it gives us some momentum heading into Wheatland.” The winner’s Donald and Gena Bradsher/Paylor Motorsports Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas, Mega Plumbing HVAC, Armslist.com, New Point Lighting and Design, Bilstein Shocks, Racing for Heroes, The Aesthetic Haus, Walker Performance Filtration, and Baker Mitchell Company. Completing the top ten were Bobby Pierce, Ricky Thornton Jr., Billy Moyer Jr., Tyler Erb, and Jimmy Owens. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt SeriesRace SummaryCRST, The Transportation Solution 50Sunday, May 22nd, 202234 Raceway – West Burlington, IA Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Brandon Sheppard / 15.974 seconds (overall)Fast Time Group B: Tim McCreadie / 16.306 seconds Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[2]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 6. 93-Jay Johnson[5]; 7. 33-Brandon Rothzen[7]; 8. 7A-Amanda Robinson[8] Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[1]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 5. 32S-Chris Simpson[5]; 6. 17-Tim Simpson[6]; 7. 07-Ray Raker[7] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 3. 11-Spencer Hughes[3]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson[6]; 5. 25-Chad Simpson[5]; 6. 89-Ashton Winger[4]; 7. 39H-Ed Hollenbeck[7] Lucas Oil Feature Finish (50 Laps):

Race StatisticsEntrants: 22Lap Leaders: Tim McCreadie (Laps 1-50)Wrisco Feature Winner: Tim McCreadieArizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/aBrandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/aMargin of Victory: 9.273 secondsStop-Tech Cautions: n/aSeries Provisionals: n/aFast Time Provisional: n/aSeries Emergency Provisionals: n/aTrack Provisionals: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Tim McCreadie, Brandon Sheppard, Earl Pearson, Jr.Penske Shocks Top 5: Tim McCreadie, Brandon Sheppard, Earl Pearson, Jr., Garrett Alberson, Hudson O’NealOptima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Advanced 3 Positions)Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Brandon SheppardHot Rod Processing Most Laps Led: Tim McCreadie (50 Laps)Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Brandon SheppardO’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Garrett AlbersonDirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Tim McCreadie (Lap 4 – 15.823 seconds)DirtonDirt.com Tough Break of the Race: Daulton WilsonOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Phillip Snellen (Tim McCreadie)ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Ashton Winger (15.620 seconds)Time of Race: 14 minutes 31 seconds

NASCAR CUP SERIES

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES

MAY 22, 2022

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:

POS.   DRIVER

5th      DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1

6th      ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1

7th      AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ANDY’S FROZEN CUSTARD CAMARO ZL1

11th    WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1

19th    RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER / WISE CAMARO ZL1

20th    ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1

22nd   ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1

23rd   CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1

24th    KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: 

POS.  DRIVER

1st      Ryan Blaney (Ford)

2nd     Denny Hamlin (Toyota)

3rd      Austin Cindric (Ford)

4th      Joey Logano (Ford)

5th      Daniel Suarez (Chevrolet)

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, May 29, at Charlotte Motor Speedway with the Coca-Cola 600 at 6 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th 

“I felt like we were pretty fast. Everyone at Trackhouse Racing – the 99 team, the 1 team, everyone has been doing a very, very good job building fast racecars. I feel like at one point, we were probably one of the best cars out there. Right down to the very end, we probably were not. We were at a disadvantage on tires, as well.

It was a huge fight. We started in the back, fought all the way to the top-10 or something like that and then tires changed. I’m just happy with the result. Hopefully we can close the deal next week in the Coca-Cola 600.”

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident during Stage Two of the NASCAR All-Star Race. 

YOU HIT KYLE (BUSCH) AT ABOUT 185 MPH. WHAT DID THAT FEEL LIKE? 

“It felt like the driver of the No. 1 car chose the wrong lane to get in. Our Worldwide Express Chevy was tight all night and we were just managing the tightness. I saw Kyle (Busch) have an issue with a tire down. I guessed left and I should have guessed right. 

It was a big hit into Kyle. It was a tough break, but we had a fast car.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident during Stage Two of the NASCAR All-Star Race. 

WHAT DID YOU FEEL, SEE OR THINK ABOUT THAT?

“I saw the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) had a problem; and then I saw the No. 1 (Ross Chastain) hit him really hard. I just didn’t give him enough room. I knew he was going to go straight; I just didn’t realize he was going to go that far right that quick. I just kind of misjudged it. It was really avoidable on my end. I just kind of messed up and didn’t get the gap shot quick enough. 

Hate it. I thought our No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy was surprisingly pretty good for me and Texas (Motor Speedway), so I was pretty excited about it; looking forward to getting going and seeing what we had here towards the end. I thought we were sitting in a really good spot with strategy and things like that. We’ll try again next week.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident during Stage Two of the NASCAR All-Star Race. 

“Just had a right front tire let go. I got moved up, but I don’t really think that made the (tire) wear any worse. It just let go in the center and took off. I hate that it happened. I feel like our car was good enough, depending on restarts since you can’t pass at all, especially the leader anyways. 

We’ll move on and look forward to the Coca-Cola 600, and hopefully put on some good racing there.” 

TEAM CHEVY QUICK RACE NOTES: 

NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE: STAGE ONE

• Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (All-Star Open Stage One Winner); Daniel Suarez (All-Star Open Race Winner); and Erik Jones (Fan Vote Winner) transferred to the NASCAR All-Star Race, giving Chevrolet nine drivers of the 24-car field. 
• The 25-lap Stage One went caution free, with Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.comCamaro ZL1 team leading Chevrolet in third. William Byron (4th), Ross Chastain (6th) and Chase Elliott (10th) rounded out the Team Chevy top-10. 

NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE: STAGE TWO

• Varying pit strategies were seen throughout pit road at the conclusion of Stage One. No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 Crew Chief, Cliff Daniels, opted not to bring Larson down pit road, giving him an outside second row starting spot to start Stage Two. 
• Kyle Larson suffered a flat right front tire, with damage ultimately taking the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 out of the race. 
• Chase Elliott and Ross Chastain were involved in an accident on lap 49, ending the day for both Camaro ZL1’s. 
• In an overtime finish for Stage Two, William Byron led Chevrolet with a third-place finish. Joining Byron in the top-10 of the Stage included Daniel Suarez (4th) and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (8th). 

NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE: STAGE THREE

• A caution that flew with just three laps to go in Stage Three, pit strategy came back into play among teams. The No. 99 Camaro ZL1 and No. 24 Camaro ZL1 both came down pit road, giving Suarez and Byron a fifth and sixth-place restart position, respectively. 
• With a green-white-checkered finish to end Stage Three, Daniel Suarez and the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Camaro ZL1 team led Chevrolet with a runner-up finish. 
• William Byron joined Suarez into the Team Chevy top-10 in sixth. 

NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE: FINAL STAGE/POST-RACE NOTES

• The fourth and final stage of the 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race consisted of a 50-lap run. 
• A caution on lap 104 replaced the scheduled competition caution. The top four cars of the field stayed out, including Daniel Suarez and the No. 99 Freeway Insurance Camaro ZL1 team. 
• Going green for the remainder of the race, three Camaro ZL1’s placed in the top-10 of the final running order, including Daniel Suarez (5th), Alex Bowman (6th) and AJ Allmendinger (7th).

May 22, 2022

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging team wound up being spectators at the NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway after being unable to advance to the main event from the All-Star Open.

Burton qualified ninth for the Open, which saw the winner of each of the three Stages advance to the main event, along with the winner of the fan vote.

He finished eighth in the opening 20-lap run, then made a pit stop before the start of the second 20-lapper.
 
Starting from the rear he worked his way forward and again finished eighth.
 
The Motorcraft/DEX Imaging team opted to stay on the track during the break between the second and third Stage. That put him sixth at the drop of the green flag, but his bid for the win was short lived as he was collected in a crash with Tyler Reddick on the second lap.
 
Burton officially finished 13^th on the day, but the team was able to get 42 laps of race experience on the 1.5-mile Texas track, which will be beneficial heading into team’s next event – the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte Motor Speedway next Sunday.

 

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

INDIANAPOLIS 500

INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY 

TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING FULL PACKAGE

MAY 22, 2022

 RINUS VEEKAY PUTS CHEVROLET POWER ON FRONT ROW 

FOR 106^TH INDIANAPOLIS 500

SEVERE WEATHER COMPLICATED FAST FRIDAY 

• RINUS VEEKAY POSTS THIRD-FASTEST FOUR-LAP AVERAGE QUALIFYING SPEED TO PUT CHEVROLET ON FRONT ROW FOR THE 106^TH INDIANAPOLIS 500 ON SUNDAY
• BOSS AND TEAMMATE ED CARPENTER WILL START FOURT
• A TOTAL OF 16 CHEVROLET-POWERED DRIVERS WILL START  

INDIANAPOLIS (MAY 22, 2022) – And…now we race. After an exciting Top-12 qualifying round, followed immediately by a record-breaking Firestone Fast Six, the field is now set for the 106^th running of the Indianapolis 500. Team Chevy’s Rinus VeeKay laid down the third fastest time and will start on the outside of the first row with a four-lap average of 233.385 MPH.

The driver of the No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet will lead a 16-car contingent of Chevrolet 2.2 liter V6 twin turbocharged powered drivers in Sunday’s 106^th Indianapolis 500.

VeeKay’s boss and teammate Ed Carpenter also transferred from the top-12 to the Firestone Fast Six. Behind the wheel of the No. 33 Alzamend Neuro Chevrolet, Carpenter laid down the fourth fastest four-lap average of 233.385 mph to nail down the inside of the second row.

Scott Dixon won the pole with the second fastest four-lap average in track history – 234.046 mph.  Alex Palou will start in the middle of the front row. The second row is completed by Marcus Ericsson in the middle and Tony Kanaan outside.

The remaining Team Chevy drivers from the Top-12 flight were: 

Pato O’Ward, No.5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet – Seventh

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet – Eighth

Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet – 11^th

Romain Grojean, Takuma Sato, will start ninth and 10^th with Jimmie Johnson starting 12^th.

The remaining 11 Chevrolet-powered drivers start as follows:

Josef Newgarden              14^th

Santino Ferrucci                15^th              

JR Hildebrand                    17^th

Conor Daly                        18^th

Callum Ilott                        19^th

Sage Karam                      22^nd

Scott McLaughlin               26^th

 Kyle Kirkwood                   28^th

Dalton Kellett                     29^th

Juan Pablo Montoya          30^th

Stefan Wilson                    33^rd

The 200-lap 106^th running Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge around the famed 2.5-mile oval is scheduled to take the green flag Sunday, May 29th at 12:45 pm EDT with flag-to-flag coverage on NBC. 

TEAM CHEVY QUOTES

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITCOIN RACING TEAM WITH BITNILE CHEV/ROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING: “I’m very happy with qualifying. Looking at yesterday, I think I and many people expected me as a hot prospect for the pole. I gave it all I had out there. We could’ve maybe found some speed to get second in qualifying, but Scott (Dixon) was just very fast and a little bit out of our league! I’m very proud that Ed (Carpenter) and I are very fast. Fastest Chevy in Indy 500 qualifying, third year in a row. Happy me!”

ED CARPENTER, NO. 33 ALZAMEND NEURO CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING:

 “We’re in a really good spot for next week. Not ultimately where we wanted to be, but at the same time, it’s great that Rinus is starting third, then fourth for me! That’s the same as last year, so I’ve got a little deja vu here. It’s great to be able to put some Chevrolets in the fight and show off the hard work and dedication of the ECR crew and have a BitNile and an Alzamend Neuro up front. We’re in a good spot for next Sunday and we can do work from there!”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW McLAREN SP CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN SP:

“I was extremely happy with my car man. I think it’s probably the best balance that we’ve had in qualifying. We need to dig into what really happened and why we randomly just lost speed from one day to another. It’s the same on the 7 side. We’ll just look at that, but the 5 guys did a great job. They gave me a great car. We just kept getting better and better, so I’m really happy and this is a great position for the race. It’s so, so long; 500 miles. Yeah, I’m not worried. This is a great spot to work from.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 VUSE ARROW McLAREN SP CHEVROLET,ARROW McLAREN RACING SP:

“Mixed feelings I’d say. I don’t think we could have been in the top-six today. I think Pato (O’ward) showed that. We had some issue this morning. We lost a lot of speed and kind of have to go to plan C into qualifying to change all of our gears and everything to match the lower speed that we suddenly had. We still don’t know why we lost speed, but we are pretty happy to be P8 instead of P12 I’d say. That’s kind of what it felt like when we started the day. It was a good run. I think we did everything we could with our run and honestly pretty gnarly, so good fun. Yeah, third row. I mean you can win from there, we’re good.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:

“Really stoked to get the Verizon 5G Chevrolet in the Top-12. I would love to make a run for the pole, but we are so much better than we were last year, we will focus on improving our race car and be ready for Sunday. We have strong Chevy power so I’m looking forward to a good race.

Rinus Veekay

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome, everybody. Wrapping up qualifying for the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Again, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, and Rinus Veekay make up the front row.

Joined as well by Rinus VeeKay, drives the No. 21 machine for Ed Carpenter Racing. 

Just some opening thoughts, and I’ll begin with this. So many accolades coming with today’s qualifying run, but we can confirm that this is also the quickest front row in Indianapolis 500 history with a four-lap average amongst the three at 233.643 miles an hour. That just edges out the 96 front row at 233.233 miles an hour. Pretty fast, right? Congratulations.

Rinus, we’ll start with you. You’re the one paying attention. Just your thoughts on being back in the front row. Obviously, a second front row for you in the Indianapolis 500.

RINUS VEEKAY: Very proud to be in the front row again. Haven’t qualified worse than fourth in my three qualifying attempts at the 500, so very proud of that, especially at my age.

Yeah, I think as a team, we maximized everything we had. We made all the right decisions, and I had the best car I’ve had in qualifying weekends during the Fast 6 qualifying, so that shows how on point we were today. The car was fast.

Q. How do you go out there and go 233, 234 miles an hour?

RINUS VEEKAY: Well, I was actually pretty nervous for today. I knew there was, well, many people counted on me to go for the pole position, so we were very fast yesterday. Of course, a bit lucky with the draw and driving in cold conditions, but, yeah, having to go two times today was not ideal.

The first run just, like Scott’s, was very much on the limit. I could stay flat, but turn four was, yeah, very close to disaster, but stayed flat. Then we changed the car. Took some downforce out for the Fast 6 and really matched the balance of how I liked it. I was more comfortable in my Fast 6 run than my Fast 12 run.

Q. One more for Rinus. How do you break through that gaggle of Ganassi guys and win the race?

RINUS VEEKAY: Well, try to count on my experience that I got in Texas and in the race here last year. Of course, I was very pumped leading the race last year, and I think the second or third lap, but it really only counts at lap 200, so really I think we have to make sure we stay out of trouble, stay in the top five always, and yeah, just make sure we save some cars for the end.

Q. Real quickly, for Rinus. When you see those numbers pop up for him and you are sitting there, because you’re not racing against each other. He is out there running; you guys are watching. What is it like, I guess, to know you can’t go back out there and do it again?

RINUS VEEKAY: It’s unique about Indy 500 qualifying. I think really after my run and knowing Scott wasn’t going to go out, I expected him to improve my time. And, yeah, seeing his first lap, I knew it was going to be very, very hard for him to actually make a mistake and finish and qualify behind me.

Q. For all three of you: There were two eight-minute “work periods” with a two pray lap in between. How much were you able to adjust your cars from the first run to the second run to fine-tune them that much more to the Nth-degree?

RINUS VEEKAY: I think we made some minor changes. Really some balance changes, but nothing crazy on the car. We knew what we had was pretty good. We didn’t have to step too far away from what we had, so we basically tried to straighten out the balance a little bit, and that’s exactly what we’ve done.

ALEX PALOU: (Speaking Spanish).

Q. I have one question for Rinus. If you could for the benefit of the assembled media, could you pronounce your full name and the name of your hometown?

RINUS VEEKAY: So my full name is Rinus van Kalmthout, and the name of my hometown is Hoofddorp.

THE MODERATOR: That might be the easiest question of the month. Well done.

RINUS VEEKAY: I knew that just from when I could talk.

Q. The format of having to do two four-lap runs in basically less than two hours to win the pole, it seemed like that was somewhat born of there being 33 cars and no bumping, but now that you guys have done it, even if they had more than 33 cars, should they keep this kind of format?

RINUS VEEKAY: I think it’s around even. Everything has its positive and negative sides, but I think it definitely brings more excitement, especially when there’s no bump day, but I think for the drivers it’s more nerve-wracking. If I could choose, I would go back to fast lane qualifying.

Q. Obviously, got a question for the young man from the village in the Netherlands. Rinus, second front row start in a row. Your third time in the Fast 9. Is there anything you learned from the first two times in terms of process and mental prep to get yourself ready and in the zone for today and those very important qualifying runs?

RINUS VEEKAY: I think I definitely have learned from my past two qualifying runs in the previous years. Of course, I have kind of done this before, and I have had a very sketchy moment last year in 2021.

It’s not going to be easy to qualify high up the order, so you’ve got to be at the edge, and sometimes people go over the edge to find the sweet spot. I think I felt really comfortable finding that sweet spot. I was never this encouraging of a team to go further on trimming, and I think confidence-wise it definitely felt very cool in the car.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll wrap things up. I’ll throw out one more stat for everyone. We’ve been crunching the numbers. Based on the 32 qualifying speeds this year, this is also the fastest field in Indianapolis 500 history. Just eclipsing last year’s speed. This year’s speed average 231.023 miles an hour. Last year was 230.294.

A little bit of history this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Congratulations to the fastest front row in 500 history. Scott Dixon, Alex Palou, and Rinus VeeKay. Thanks, everyone.

NASCAR CUP SERIES

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

NASCAR ALL-STAR OPEN

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES

MAY 22, 2022

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:

POS.   DRIVER

1st      DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1

2nd     AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1

3rd     JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1

4th      COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 BUILT.COM CAMARO ZL1 

5th      ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 

6th      TY DILLON, NO. 42 FERRIS CAMARO ZL1 

12th    TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 GUARANTEED RATE CAMARO ZL1 

15th    LANDON CASSILL, NO. 77 SHELTON ENERGY SOLUTIONS CAMARO ZL1

16th    RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/VIVA TOWELS CAMARO ZL1 (STAGE 1 WINNER)

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: 

POS.  DRIVER

1st      Daniel Suarez (Chevrolet)

2nd     Austin Dillon (Chevrolet)

3rd     Justin Haley (Chevrolet)

4th      Corey LaJoie (Chevrolet)

5th      Erik Jones (Chevrolet)

TEAM CHEVY OPEN POST-RACE QUOTES:

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1, All-Star Open Race Winner; Advances to the All-Star Race. 

YOU HAD A GOOD CHANCE GETTING IN BY THE FAN VOTE, BUT WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU TO RACE YOUR WAY IN? 

“I wish I knew the result because I felt like I’ve received a lot of support on social media in the last couple of weeks from the fans. I felt like they were going to have my back if something happened, but I really wanted to get in on speed. 

The car had the speed, we just needed to work a little bit on the balance. When we got that figured out, it was a tire and restart kind of game. A lot of people were able to keep track position right at the end and have a couple of good restarts to stay up front. 

JUSTIN MARKS, OWNER AND FOUNDER, TRACKHOUSE RACING

“The driver had to work right there. The team made some good changes and got him a race car there right at the end when it mattered. It’s just another surreal moment in my life. I’m so fortunate to have all these wonderful people working so hard and giving us an opportunity to do great things. 

Two Trackhouse Racing cars in the All-Star Race going for a million dollars; pretty exciting!”

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., No. 47 KROGER/WISE CAMARO ZL1 – All-Star Open Stage One Winner; Advances to the All-Star Race. 

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., YOU TOOK CARE OF BUSINESS RIGHT OUT OF THE GATE. HOW ENCOURAGING IS THAT FOR YOU AND THE NO. 47 TEAM? 

“We definitely got a fortunate circumstance there getting to go to the front row. Our No. 47 Kroger/Viva Camaro took off really, really strong there. The Kroger team has been working really hard the last few weeks and we’ve been getting results, which is nice. Now, we get to go race for one million dollars and be in the big show. We sat and watched it last year, so it feels really good. We’ll make some adjustments. I’ve got a better idea of what my car was doing there, so hopefully we can run up through the field.” 

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1, won the Fan Vote, giving Jones the fourth and final starting position for the 2022 NASCAR All-Star Race. 

YOUR FANS OF THE FAMED NO. 43 CAR HAVE VOTED TO PUT YOU INTO THE ALL-STAR RACE. 

“Appreciate the fans, thank you. I never thought I would have a shot to win, but the No. 43 fans are pretty strong. We struggled a bit, but we’ll make some big changes here for tonight and hopefully give them a run for it.” 

NASCAR ALL-STAR OPEN: STAGE ONE

·       The 20-lap Stage One of the NASCAR All-Star Open went caution-free, with Ricky Stenhouse Jr. leading every lap to take the Stage win and transfer to the NASCAR All-Star Race. 

·       This will mark the fourth NASCAR All-Star Race start for Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

NASCAR ALL-STAR OPEN: STAGE TWO

·       Corey LaJoie took the green for Stage Two from the pole position after Crew Chief, Ryan Sparks, opted not to pit following Stage One. 

·       The conclusion of Stage Two saw Daniel Suarez leading the bowtie brigade to a second-place finish. Chevrolet swept second through seventh of the final running order at the end of the Stage.

NASCAR ALL-STAR OPEN: FINAL STAGE

·       The final stage of the NASCAR All-Star Open was a 10-lap dash to the finish, with a Chevrolet front row leading the field to the green with Daniel Suarez and Austin Dillon. 

·       Restarting the final stage with eight laps to go following a caution brought out by Reddick, Daniel Suarez brought his No. 99 Freeway Insurance Camaro ZL1 to the NASCAR All-Star Open Race win and the third transfer spot into the NASCAR All-Star Race. 

·       This will mark the third NASCAR All-Star Race start for Daniel Suarez. 

·       Erik Jones was named Fan Vote winner, giving the No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL1 team the fourth and final spot for the NASCAR All-Star Race. 

(5/21/2022 – Alex Nieten) Petaluma, CA… It’s been quite the eight-day stretch for Dominic Scelzi.  Last weekend, the reigning NARC Fujitsu General Sprint Car champion swept the NARC portion of the Peter Murphy Classic, becoming the first driver the win the finale twice in the process.

And Saturday night at Petaluma Speedway’s Salute to First Responders, Scelzi led all 30 circuits en route to his third straight series victory. With his third consecutive triumph, he became the first person to accomplish the feat since Kyle Hirst in 2016. The win was the 18th of his career, and Petaluma Speedway became the 10th different track he’s won at in NARC competition.

As if that list of milestones wasn’t enough, Scelzi again extended his point lead as his title defense continues.

After the checkered flew, Scelzi continued to heap praise on his crew for his success.

“What can I saw about these guys?” Scelzi said of his crew. “That’s three in a row. Jimmy (Carr) has this thing on kill mode. This is not my cup of tea when we’ve got to get up on the gas like this, and we were really good tonight.”

After winning the Sunnyvalley Bacon Trophy Dash, Scelzi earned the pole for the Fujitsu General Feature, lining up next to second-starting Willie Croft. With the way the Petaluma adobe clay surface was hooked up, Scelzi made potentially the winning move on the opening lap by rocketing by Croft out of turn two to take the initial lead.

“I knew the start was going to be key,” Scelzi said. “This place is known for getting wetter and wetter as the night goes and it did that tonight.”

Scelzi quickly opened a big lead in the early going in his Red Rose Transportation/Whipple Superchargers No. 41 as Croft settled into second and Chase Johnson faced a challenge from Justin Sanders for third.

The leaders entered traffic before 10 laps were complete, and just as things were tightening as they navigated slower cars, the race’s first caution flew.

Tim Kaeding, who was running inside the top-10, had trouble with a slower car and contact between the them sent Kaeding into Ryan Robinson, ending TK’s night and hampering Robinson’s.

On the ensuing restart Scelzi again jumped out to a strong advantage. Croft and Johnson continued to pursue as heavy traffic again became a factor with just 10 circuits remaining. However, another caution for John Clark and Billy Aton colliding in turn two with nine laps to go temporarily eliminated the threat of traffic.

As the laps dwindled after the next restart, lap traffic presented Croft with one final opportunity. Scelzi struggled to get by Geoffrey Strole, swinging wide out of turn four and scraping momentum. Croft dove to his inside down the front stretch, but Scelzi hammered the top in turns one and two, clearing Croft and Strole and ultimately cruising to victory.

“I feel like Andy Forsberg right now,” Scelzi said with a laugh after the race. “It was juiced up and bouncy and all over the place.”

Croft held on to bring his Holey Smokes BBQ/Amerikote Powdercoating No. 29 home in the runner-up spot, his first podium of the year and third top-10 as he continues to chase his first series title.

“First off I’d like to thank my crew, Billy and my son, Cole,” Croft said. “Some of my guys couldn’t make it this weekend, so luckily Billy jumped in the truck and really helped us out… Things just didn’t quite go my way. I thought they were in traffic there then I just ran out of laps. The track was technical. It had slick and wet. It had moisture and a curb. It was pretty entertaining.”

The third-place spot was filled by the hometown hero, Chase Johnson in his Price-Simms/Toyota No. 24. It was his first NARC podium since July of 2019. Johnson was proud to have made some strides with his family-owned machine in front of his home fans.

“It was a good night tonight,” Johnson said. “Sure would’ve liked to be two spots better, but third with how our year’s been going so far with the 24 car is a good improvement. We’ve been struggling getting a handle on it, but we kind of got a little bit more of a handle on it now.”

Completing the top-10 was Justin Sanders, Mitchell Faccinto, Shane Golobic, Bud Kaeding, Joel Myers Jr., Landon Brooks (first series top-10), and Ryan Robinson.

FUJITSU GENERAL USA FEATURE (30 laps): 1. Dominic Scelzi 41 2. Willie Croft 29 3. Chase Johnson 24 4. Justin Sanders 2X 5. Mitchell Faccinto 21 6. Shane Golobic 17W 7. Bud Kaeding 69 8. Joel Myers Jr. 83V 9. Landon Brooks 5V 10. Ryan Robinson 56 11. Max Mittry 2XM 12. John Clark 12J 13. Billy Aton 26 14. Geoffrey Strole 09S 15. Tim Kaeding 42X 16. Angelique Bell 551 17. Adam Kaeding 3M

HOOSIER TIRE LAP LEADERS: Scelzi 1-30

SWIFT METAL FINISHING HARDCHARGER: Shane Golobic 12th to 6th

ARP FAST QUALIFIER (17 Cars): Tim Kaeding 12.433

BROWN AND MILLER RACING SOLUTIONS HEAT ONE (8 laps): Johnson, Croft, Kaeding, Mittry, Clark, Bell

KIMO’s TROPICAL CAR WASH HEAT TWO (8 laps): B. Kaeding, Sanders, Scelzi, Myers Jr. Strole, A. Kaeding

DIRT.TRAVEL CLUB HEAT THREE (8 laps): Faccinto, Golobic, Robinson, Aton, Brooks

SUNNYVALLEY “POWERED BY BACON” TROPHY DASH (6 laps): Scelzi, Croft, Johnson, Kaeding, Sanders, Faccinto

It’s the Pittsburgh, PA driver’s first career World of Outlaws triumph

PORT ROYAL, PA– May 21, 2022 – In 2020, a World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models victory slipped through Jared Miley’s clutches at Thunder Mountain Speedway. 

Almost two years later, “The Jet” got his redemption, taking the lead from 2011 Series Champion Rick Eckert to score his first World of Outlaws win Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway.

Miley rose from his fifth starting position under the bright lights of the “Speed Palace,” working the bottom of the racetrack. He picked off cars one by one until he climbed to second place.  

He pulled alongside “Scrub” for the lead as the Feature’s only caution slowed the field. That’s when “The Jet” lived up to his nickname, thundering under Eckert in Turns 1 and 2 to take a lead he wouldn’t relinquish.

The Pittsburgh, PA, driver thought that caution may have kept him from reaching the $10,000 prize as he tried to anticipate Eckert’s next move on the restart.

“I was a little bit worried,” Miley said. “I kind of just got beside him, and I was worried he would move down on me and take my line away and get me messed up. Luckily, he couldn’t stay down there because he tried to move down, but he couldn’t.”

Miley needed 21 laps to take the lead but wasn’t sure of his car’s strength. He stated that everything came together at the right time. 

“The car was good, and I didn’t really expect to be that good,” Miley said. “We’ve been gaining on some stuff, and [Saturday], everything just came together. 

“Once I got [to second] and saw Rick leading, I knew I could get him, and I did and just tried to maintain a smooth line and just keep the car under me.”

Gregg Satterlee finished second, one spot short in his quest for a second National touring win this season at Port Royal. 

After redrawing eighth before the Feature, the Indiana, PA driver felt luck wasn’t on his side.  

“I’m not sure that more laps would’ve made a difference,” Satterlee said. “The redraw probably didn’t help us too much starting eighth, and I’m not sure if that caution helped me or hurt me. But all in all, we went forward and finally finished a race for the first time this weekend.” 

Max Blair, the top Rookie of the race, rounded out the all-Pennsylvania podium. He moved up multiple positions in the final 10 laps to cross the line third. The Centerville, PA driver wished the track was slicker than at the start. 

“We had a really good car once it got slippery, even in the Heat Races,” Blair said. “I wish we were starting the race right now on this racetrack, but that wasn’t the case, and we came home with a podium, so I’ll take it.”

The third is Blair’s second podium of the weekend and the fifth of the season in Series competition. He also cut the deficit in the battle for the championship to 100 points behind Dennis Erb Jr., who finished ninth.

Eckert faded to fourth at the checkered flag after leading the first 20 laps of the Feature. “Scrub” stated he knew he had an uphill climb once he caught the tail of the field. 

“I knew we were in trouble once we got into traffic,” Eckert said. “I couldn’t turn down in the corner to try and pass them lap cars. So, my only option was to go around them on the outside. 

“Then we had that caution, and I was like, oh, that might help us some. My crew had told me they were coming on the top, so I moved up there, and I wasn’t very good and let Miley by. Then I moved back down and thought I could hold my own, but when I got close to cars, I just couldn’t turn left off the corner.”

Colton Flinner, who has three wins at Port Royal in 2022, rounded out the top five. The Allison Park, PA driver, felt he needed a better start to the night to put him in a position to win.

“I needed to qualify better,” Flinner said. “I put myself in a hole and had to dig myself out of it. I’m happy with a solid top five with the World of Outlaws, and hopefully, we can keep this momentum up.”

Jared Miley’s win Saturday at Port Royal is a memory he’ll cherish for the rest of his career. It also fixed his heartbreak from 2020, with $10,000 in his bank account.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models return to the Buckeye State May 27-28 for a Memorial Day spectacular at Sharon Speedway in Hartford, OH.

May 21, 2022

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft Quick Lane/DEX Imaging Mustang are set to start ninth in Sunday’s NASCAR All-Star Open at Texas Motor Speedway.

Burton took that spot with a lap at 184.780 miles per hour in one-lap qualifying on Saturday afternoon.

The Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Mustang was faster in qualifying than in practice, where Burton was 11^th on the speed chart with a best speed of 182.229 mph, which he posted on the fifth of his 20 laps run in the session. 

He was third best in speeds on a 10-consecutive-lap run with a speed of 181.614 mph, which came on his second through his 11^th lap.

Sunday’s Open race is scheduled to get the green flag just after 4:30 p.m. (5:30 Eastern). The race will consist of two 20-lap segments followed by a 10-lap run.
 
The winners of each segment, plus the winner of the fan vote, will advance to the All-Star Race, which is set to start just after 7 p.m. (8 p.m. Eastern).
 
That race will consist of three 25-lap segments followed by a 50-lap finale, with the winner earning $1 million.
 
FOX Sports 1 will carry the coverage.
 

NASCAR CUP SERIES

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE

TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING NOTES

MAY 21, 2022

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE QUALIFYING RESULTS:

POS.   DRIVER

3rd     WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 

4th      KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1

6th      ROSS CHASTASIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1 

10th    AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ANDY’S FROZEN CUSTARD CAMARO ZL1 

13th    CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 

20th    ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1

TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE QUALIFYING RESULTS: 

POS.  DRIVER

1st      Kyle Busch (Toyota)

2nd     Ryan Blaney (Ford)

3rd     William Byron (Chevrolet)

4th      Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)

5th      Kurt Busch (Toyota)

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL NASCAR ALL-STAR OPEN QUALIFYING RESULTS:

POS.   DRIVER

1st     TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 GUARANTEED RATE CAMARO ZL1 

2nd    DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1 

3rd     RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/WISE CAMARO ZL1 

4th     ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 

6th     JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1 

7th     AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 

8th     COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 BUILT.COM CAMARO ZL1 

11th   LANDON CASSILL, NO. 77 SHELTON ENERGY SOLUTIONS CAMARO ZL1 

12th   TY DILLON, NO. 42 FERRIS CAMARO ZL1 

TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL NASCAR ALL-STAR OPEN QUALIFYING RESULTS: 

POS.  DRIVER

1st     Tyler Reddick (Chevrolet)

2nd    Daniel Suarez (Chevrolet)

3rd     Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (Chevrolet)

4th     Erik Jones (Chevrolet)

5th     Chris Buescher (Ford)

·       Nine Chevrolet Camaro ZL1’s will take on the NASCAR All-Star Open for the chance to race their way into the 125-lap NASCAR All-Star Race. 

·       The starting lineup for the NASCAR All-Star Open was determined by a single-car, single-lap qualifying run. Chevrolet swept the top-four starting spots of the NASCAR All-Star Open, with Tyler Reddick to lead the field to the green from the pole position. 

·       Joining Reddick in the top-five of the NASCAR All-Star Open starting lineup includes: Daniel Suarez (2nd), Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (3rd) and Erik Jones (4th). 

·       The starting lineup for the NASCAR All-Star Race was determined by a unique format introduced to the event. Qualifying was split up into two rounds, with round one utilizing a single-car, single-lap qualifying format with the top-eight fastest cars moving to the round two. 

·       Round two featured a three-round, elimination-style bracket, with pit crews playing a vital role in the battle for the pole. During each elimination round, pit crews performed a four-tire stop, with the driver then racing back to the start/finish line and the fastest advancing on until the polesitter is crowned. 

·       In Round One, William Byron topped the leaderboard of the 20-car NASCAR All-Star field. Also advancing to Round Two for the bowtie brigade included defending All-Star winner, Kyle Larson, and All-Star rookie, Ross Chastain. 

·       The Hendrick Motorsports pit crews for the No. 24 Camaro ZL1 and No. 5 Camaro ZL1 were fastest in their first stops to moved forward to the next round. Falling just short on the second stops for both teams in their respective stops, both cars were eliminated from the bracket. 

·       William Byron will lead Chevrolet in the NASCAR All-Star Race lineup from the third starting spot in his No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1. Kyle Larson, No, 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1, will join his Hendrick Motorsports’ teammate on the outside of row two. Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1, will start sixth. 

·       FS1 will air tomorrow’s NASCAR Cup Series All-Star action, starting with the All-Star Open at 4:30 p.m. ET, followed by the 125-lap All-Star Race at 8 p.m. ET. Live coverage of both events can also be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

NASCAR CUP SERIES

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE

TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

MAY 21, 2022

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway. Press Conference Transcript:

ROSS, LAST YEAR YOU RACED YOUR WAY INTO THE ALL-STAR RACE THROUGH THE ALL-STAR OPEN. THIS YEAR, YOU ARE LOCKED IN WITH TWO WINS ALREADY THIS SEASON. HOW’S THAT FEEL?

“It feels great. It’s a lot of FOMO when you are not in it, so you just feel like you’re in the Cup Series you need to be in it with teams like I drive for. Yeah, last year was a lot of pressure and I thought it would be easier, but it’s been no different. I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself, and we put a lot of pressure on us as a team to keep performing the way we’ve been this year.”

THE QUESTION PROBABLY EVERYONE WANTS TO KNOW, HOW ARE YOU FEELING AND TELL US ABOUT YESTERDAY AFTER THE TRUCK RACE?

“I feel good. Odd deal. Looking back and trying to figure out what went wrong and why that happened with our AMR staff and our medical staff that travels with us. They know me, they see me every week. Even whenever I don’t see them, they are walking through the garage and watching us. They see us after crashes when we go to the care center, so as soon as we walked in Kevin’s like yeah man you are dehydrated. We were talking and then last night I got to thinking about my week and I think I just got lazy. I just didn’t hydrate enough. I was fine in the truck; I mean it was hot. It was a hot race, and I went to get out and I went to step out of the truck on the floorboard and my left calf locked up, like it cramped, and then my left hamstring and then my hips both did when I was on the door of the truck. There was somebody from the medical team was there right then and nobody else was even around me. He asked if I was ok, and I told him no. He helped get me out of the truck, like I was already sitting on the door. He got me out and I laid down and felt ok. Then I got up and was like alright I probably need to go on in there if it’s going to cramp that bad. I’ve never had cramping like that and when that amount of pain comes in it creates lightheadedness and all of that. It’s not fun, so I’m not going to let it happen again. With the IV’s last night and what they recommended for water intake today, will probably get some more before the race tomorrow. I’m just staying in contact with the medical team to let them kind of guide me on what they recommend.”

INAUDIBLE

“I do. I swear I said it last night, I don’t know what’s in those bags, but it makes you feel like a superhero. It’s awesome. It’s all kinds of vitamins and minerals and potassium and everything that we need that I should have been taking in naturally and more just natural throughout the week that I got lazy on. It’s straight into you and halfway through the first bag I was like I’m ready. Like I’m ready to go. I’ve had probably four of five times throughout my career went and gotten IV’s and it’s worth it to go ahead and stay and get the second bag. Really try to prepare now for two more days on track. I want to be at 100 percent. I feel good though.”

THE ALL-STAR RACE IS ONE OF THOSE EVENTS WHERE IT REALLY DOESN’T MATTER IF YOU DON’T WIN, BUT THAT’S ALL THAT MATTERS IS IF YOU WIN. IT’S A MILLION BUCKS. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR TRACKHOUSE IF YOU WERE TO PULL THIS OFF FOR THE WHOLE ORGANIZATION AND FOR YOU?

“I mean, it’s money. Just call it what it is, right! That’s the whole reward of it. Winning in the Cup Series is just, that is what it is. Being competitive and competing is really my motivation. I want to come to the track every week and compete. That’s my whole life goal right now is just competing. If we aren’t doing that then that’s what we are going to work towards and that’s what we are going to try to win the day. So, whatever that is today’s practice and qualifying. We were just kind of going through it before I walked over here, lie there’s the lights and there’s a buzzer and is there like a laser system or is it just by the eye test if you jump early. Trying to understand all of that is cool. I’ve always watched All-Star qualifying; I mean used to they came off of Turn 4 at a hundred something miles an hour and tried to slowdown and do a pit stop. We’re not doing that, but it’s still this is a bucket list item that I’m getting just to qualify for. Go through a qualifying event where it’s not normal, right? We are going to do one lap and hope we are top eight and then we really get to do the cool stuff, involve our pit crew and go fight for the pole.”

YOU GUYS HAVE HAD A TON OF MOMENTUM. YOU’VE LED IN THE LAST FOUR RACES, UP UNTIL THE SPIN AT DARLINGTON YOU WERE RUNNING UP AT THE FRONT. KIND OF EXPLAIN THAT, LIKE WHAT HAS THIS YEAR BEEN LIKE FOR YOU PERSONALLY AND THEN BEING PART OF SUCH A STRONG TEAM THAT’S PROBABLY BEEN THE BIGGEST STORY THIS YEAR?

“I don’t know if I can explain it because I can’t even believe it sometimes. Everything we are working on is to keep being better, keep being fast and keep competing in the Cup Series like I said. When I lay down or I watch film back from this year, I’m honest when I say I can’t believe that I’m watching the No. 1 and No. 99 compete the way we are. It’s just not supposed to happen this way. I know Justin (Marks) doesn’t like me saying it, but I don’t view myself as a competing, winning Cup Series driver. I prepare to be one. I believe that I’m the best driver. I think that if you don’t think that you shouldn’t be in the Cup Series. Every driver strapping in today for practice should think that they are the best driver. Nobody is better in their car then them. They are the best. I believe that, but man I watch us lead laps, I watch us pick up spots on pit road, control restarts, push on restarts in the front two rows, that is so hard to do. I’ve watched it for 10 years of my career from 2011 until this year really competing. There’s a lot of losing that came along with that. I’m very conditioned to losing. Although I don’t want to sound like I’m complacent with it, I got to a spot in my career several years ago where I just realize what my potential was. Now, Trackhouse, Chevrolet, and Phil Surgen have given me this whole new lease on my career and given me this opportunity to compete. We’ve been preparing for this for years, but to actually go do it is just hard for me to believe, honestly.”

I KNOW HOW CLOSELY THIS ORGANIZATION WORKS TOGETHER, BOTH TEAMS. WITH YOU ALREADY BEING IN, IS THERE A LOT OF FOCUS GOING INTO THE OPEN ON REALLY TRYING TO WORK HARD TO GET DANIEL (SUAREZ) AS WELL RACING HIS WAY IN AND NOT HAVING TO HOPEFULLY DEPEND ON THE FAN VOTE IF NOT? ARE Y’ALL WORKING TOGETHER ON IT, EXCHANGING INFORMATION AND THOSE KINDS OF THINGS TO REALLY TRY TO GET THAT TEAM IN AS WELL?

“Yes, and it’s no different than any other week. The 1 and 99 teams work out of the same hauler on the brain side of it. They work in the same office at Trackhouse headquarters in Concord. I mean, we fly together. We live life together. Especially the crew chiefs, engineers and mechanics and pit crews, that’s a given. The cool part about this event is that the Open cars go first, it’s just like an A and B practice for a normal weekend. So, it’s just like we are split up in A and B. He’s going to practice in A and then we’re going to practice and unfortunately or fortunate for me we will learn from him whenever he practices. We will be able to make adjustments going into our practice right after the Open cars for the All-Star cars. Then, we will give him our feedback as they go into qualifying, and we will give them our feedback for them going into their Open race. It’s no different. It’s pretty incredible how much I’ve learned from Daniel. We’re similar in age and we’re similar in a lot of things, but he’s been in Cup longer than me. He’s been mentored by a lot of people that have been in the sport a long time. I am too, but not at this level. Like I was just talking about, and I catch flack for it, because I just don’t view myself in a lot of ways and he does. He knows that and he knows his potential. I’m trying to learn from him and I’m sure there’s things he is learning from me, I think. It’s wild to look back at our careers and see where the different walks of life we’ve came from and literally the different languages we grew up speaking to now both being teammates here. He’s just an awesome guy and we’ll learn from each other throughout these practices and the Open race and hopefully both go compete in the All-Star race.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU NEED TO LOOK AT ANY OF YOUR IN-CAR HYDRATION SYSTEMS OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT YOU DO TO KEEP HYDRATED BEYOND WHAT YOU DO BEFORE YOU GET IN THE RACECAR?

“I’m looking at all of that. I think I got lazy thinking it was just a Truck race. I don’t wear a cool shirt over there. I don’t do a lot of things I do in the Cup car, and I don’t think I need to change a whole lot. I think the week leading up, probably eat some more watermelon, probably just eat more watermelon in general. I mean, really, I know we joke about the watermelon but if I would have eaten a little more of it probably wouldn’t have had the problems I had. In the car, there’s not a whole lot Niece (Motorsports) could have done. I think it was on me.”

ONE OF THE COLLATERAL THINGS WHEN YOU GET SUCCESS IS THAT YOUR FAN BASE EXPANDS AND POPULARITY GOES UP. HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT THIS YEAR AND ARE THERE SOME TANGIBLE THINGS THAT SAYS OK I’VE HIT A CERTAIN LEVEL HERE?

“Yeah, I’m probably scaring some of them off with shirtless pictures from the care center hooked up to an IV. I probably should have thought twice about that, but I’m sitting in there waiting on the second bag to get done and just thought I should tell people I’m ok. They gave me my phone and saw a lot of stuff online of what people thought happened and I just wanted to clear it up. I mean, yeah, the most tangible way to measure it is just the business of our racing. The business side of Trackhouse and Ross Chastain has never been better. For both cars, we are bringing on new partners. You guys hear us talking about it. You guys hear us welcoming new people to the family and to the house. I think that’s the best way, so go down the list of people we are announcing, and we’ve got more coming down the pipeline. It’s checking all the boxes. Then yeah, social media numbers are up. That comes with it’s fair share of negativity and that’s ok. Everybody’s got an opinion and social media gives them that platform to share that. I’ve learned how to deal with that better and there was a time where one bad tweet would just make me delete Twitter off my phone and wait three days and then re-download it. Now it’s like I don’t mind, and I don’t have to block people and mute them. Don’t get me wrong, I have a few people muted from year’s past. It’s big business racing. I was up in some suites yesterday with the Worldwide Express folks. This is their first race on my car, and they also sponsored my Truck and Dean Thompson. Just looking out, I don’t get up in the suites a whole lot anymore. Used to I was a fan of the grandstands and I was always up there, but looking out you realize how big of a deal this place is and this track. With the big screen and the billboards and everything being color coordinated across the whole footprint of this racetrack and all the advertising that goes on, let alone on TV. I mean we’ve got sponsors on the foam safer barrier blocks in the wall. That’s big business racing and I’m proud our stuff is growing and going good.”

Sheldon Creed and the No. 2 Whelen/NLEOMF Chevrolet Team Show Speed at Texas Motor Speedway

26th

21st

15th

“We had a really fast Whelen Chevrolet today at Texas Motor Speedway, and that’s a good thing because I think that we’re getting somewhere with our cars. I felt like we had a ton of speed early in the race. We were a little free on entry and tight in the center during Stage 1. We made an air pressure adjustment that freed me up through the center. I was going around the No. 10 car and honestly got free out of nowhere. I hadn’t gotten free in that spot in Turn 4 all day. I got free, caught it and then I was just in the spray and there’s no grip in that. It stinks because our teammates ran well and at that point in the race I thought we were better than they were. I felt really good about our Whelen Chevrolet today so it’s a shame we had problems. That’s kind of the way our year has gone.” -Sheldon Creed

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Global Industrial Chevrolet Team Earn Top-5 Finish at Texas Motor Speedway

5th

3rd

9th

“Today was a step in the right direction for our Global Industrial Chevrolet Camaro. We had been struggling the last few weeks just trying to find front turn and I think we made a big improvement here at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend. It was tough at the end of the race because we stayed out when everybody else pitted. I saw the No. 48 car behind us pitting and we were kind of on the same tire strategy. I saw him peel off and my crew chief Andy Street told me to stay out. I think what hurt us were all the cautions and the heat cycles on the tires. When we went back green on that final restart, I got in line third and I was doing all I could do just to stay where I was. The No. 1 car was pressuring me really hard and I started building really tight. We just had a lot of laps on the tires at the end of the race and I just settled into a top five. I’ll take it. It was a solid effort by everyone at RCR.”  -Austin Hill

NARC NEWSLINE – MAY 21, 2022, By Jim Allen … Let’s be honest, chasing championship points is by far the hardest thing to do in motorsports. It takes mettle, perseverance and a never-ending personal sacrifice by not only the driver and car owner, but for everybody involved with the team.  Some view it as fun, like a once-in-a-lifetime adventure. Others have done it long enough that it has become a J – O – B.  Either way, you need a team that loves demanding work and long hours because it will consume a lifetime.

The man who did it the best in the Northern Auto Racing Club’s history books was Brent Kaeding.  His impressive resume’ featured 13 NARC championships, 13 more King of California titles and his induction into the National Sprint Car Hall of Fame.  In one word, that’s called a “DYNASTY.”  He dominated like Tiger Woods did in his heyday.  It was all about fighting and clawing for top five finishes, and always being in position to take advantage of luck if it happened to come his way.  And when a top five just wasn’t possible, just finishing anywhere but last was the mission.  BK, Billy Albini, and the Hogs set the standard for sprint car racing in California, the same way Michael Jordan did in basketball.

So where is all this leading?  After MJ came LeBron. Each generation has its own stars and heroes, and we might be in the preliminary stages of witnessing the making of another dynasty.  True, the NARC Fujitsu General Sprint Car Series has only four races under its belt this season, but it’s hard to ignore that Dominic Scelzi, Jimmy Carr, and his crew are up to something good.  A pair of feature wins at the Peter Murphy Classic, a runner-up at the season opener and a third-place outing at the Tarter Memorial is worthy of that attention.  Championship hangover?  Forget about it!  The Scelzi Motorsports #41 team is out having fun, which produces momentum and that becomes almost unbeatable.

Scelzi’s efforts last weekend at the Peter Murphy Classic were like a sprint car version of Groundhog Day.  (For you millennials who don’t know what Groundhog Day is, it was a movie in 1993, where everyday repeated itself, but only got better. Goggle it.)  He became the first driver to deposit a pair of $11,000 paydays from the PMC!  His win on Saturday came after starting 12^th and doing the proverbial fighting and clawing to the front.  When Corey Day and Justin Sanders got together and crashed during a heated battle for the lead, Scelzi was in position to take advantage of luck when it happened to come his way.  Sound familiar?

As a final parting note, Dominic Scelzi‘s pit crew needs a nickname.  Any ideas?

THE FASTEST FOUR DAYS IN MOTORSPORTS: Many of us circled this blast of NARC Memorial Day weekend races on the schedule immediately after it was announced.  Well, it’s finally here, meaning it’s time to head North for a Thursday, May 26^th outing at Southern Oregon Speedway.  This will be followed by a Friday show at Willamette Speedway in Lebanon, OR and a two-day Timber Cup finale at Grays Harbor Raceway on May 28-29^th.  And since it is the Pacific Northwest, we always had a rain date in our pocket (Monday, May 30^th if needed.)  The weather in the PNW is always sketchy, but we knew that in advance. For added incentive, there is a $40,000 bonus on the line for any driver who can win all four races. Three out of four races still earn a $5000 kicker, so NARC teams are focusing in on the possibilities.

I know I have covered most of this before, but here are some of the Fastest Four Days in Motorsports basics:  Camping is available at all three tracks.  Race car haulers can stay in the pit area overnight. … Tickets for all three facilities are available online and presales are looking good right now.  … There is an Elma Raceway Hall of Fame barbecue at 11:00 a.m. on Sunday, May 29^th at Grays Harbor Raceway.  It will be held in the Borden Building (AKA … the Dog Barn).  Drivers eat free and donations are accepted. … At 12:30 p.m. on Sunday, all the NARC teams will convoy to Elma High School to stage for the Elma’s Salute to the Red, White & Blue parade. The parade will start at 1:00 p.m. and will go on a leisurely jaunt through downtown, before race teams get herded right back into the pit area. …  Among the teams committed to make the trip are DJ Netto (Netto 88N), Mitchell Faccinto (Tarlton 21), Billy Aton (Aton 26), Joel Myers Jr. (Vertullo 82V), Bud Kaeding (BK Racing 69), Dominic Scelzi (Scelzi 41), Willie Croft (Croft 29), Tim Kaeding (Bates-Hamilton 42X), Shane Golobic (Wood 17W), Justin Sanders (Mittry 2X); Max Mittry (Mittry 2XM), Colby Copeland (Antaya 16A), Logan Forler (Forler 2L), Tanner Holmes (Holmes 18T), Nick Parker (Parker 15), Garen Linder (22), and others!

NARC NOTES:  Kalib Henry posted his first career NARC top five finish in the McCollough RV 17 at the Peter Murphy finale. It wasn’t like he started up front and just held on. He began his adventure in 17^th and earned the Swift Metal Finishing Hardcharger award, finishing fifth … Another driver who continues to impress is Landon Brooks.  In his four NARC races aboard the Vanlare 5V sprint car, he has been in the dash on three of those nights. …  There was a noticeable change in 410 car counts at the PMC. Thirty-one cars competed on Saturday night. Only 24 in 2021. … Craig Stidham still has “it.”  He earned the Swift Metal Finishing Hardcharger award on night one of the PMC.  He started 19^thand finished fifth. It was his first top five finish since 2017.  It was worth $450. …

… Tim Kaeding and the Bates-Hamilton Racing Team took a beating at the PMC.  The team crashed both nights and TK was visibly hurt after his second night spill.  Friday’s night tumble happened with only two-laps remaining in the Thunderbowl feature.  Saturday’s spill was on the other end of the spectrum when he crashed on his second qualifying lap. TK was already second fast time on his first qualifying lap.  After sitting in the back of the ambulance for a couple minutes, he actually raced in his heat race, but it was very painful. To quote him directly, “my back is killing me.”  By design, TK started the main and pulled in after one lap. It serves as a reminder that this is a dangerous sport. … Tanner Holmes and Joel Myers Jr. also took ugly spills at the Thunderbowl.  The 18T team accessed the damage and loaded up and headed back home to Oregon to regroup for the Fastest Four Days in Motorsports. If you haven’t checked out Tanner’s social media efforts, go look. Fun and informative. …The Dave Vertullo team burned the midnight oil and rebuilt to race on Saturday. …

… The fine people at Karsyn Construction in Fresno made things interesting.  With Saturday’s show already paying $11,000 to the winner, Karsyn offered up the possibility of doubling it. The offer on the table was to give the top two finishers in the pole shuffle the option to start at the back of the pack.  If one of them pulled off the win, it would be a $22,000 payday.  Justin Sanders said it wasn’t worth the risk based on his current starting spot in Paul Silva-wrenched #57. … Kerry Madsen message was about the same.  He stated that the Roth Motorsports Toyota R&D team is looking to score wins and it’s slightly easier to do it when starting up front. … If you haven’t been to Pete’s Pub at Hanford in the pit area before the races, you are missing out. Fans get a chance to enjoy food and beer, hang at the drivers meeting, listen to interviews, and rub elbows with their favorite drivers.  More racing facilities are rolling out the Happy Hour events for fans.  We need more of that. …

… What was more fun to watch?  Max Mittry during the pole shuffle, or his dad Demo Mittry animated body language as he jumped up and down and flayed his arms while rooting for his son on from the infield.  Demo wins this one in a landslide. Speaking of the Pole Shuffle, here is how it went:  Max Mittry outran Landon Brooks in the first round and moved on to oust DJ Netto in the second.  The veteran Kerry Madsenfinally stopped the 16-year-old streak and used that momentum to outrun another 16-year-old Corey Day.  Justin Sanders held his own in the Works Limited 57 to win the Pole Shuffle over Madsen … Max Mittry ended the night in sixth – his best career NARC finish.  It came in only his fourth start in a 410-sprint car. The future is looking bright.

HOOSIER TIRES:  While social media is mostly ablaze with negative opinions and comments on tire availability, teams in California are coping with the current situation. However, you wouldn’t know that if you read the comments of a super-opinionated few.

Are all those in the racing community aware that the supply chain is a little sporadic? Absolutely! Are racing sanctioning bodies, promoters, and Hoosier Tires fighting through the situation? Absolutely! Are all parties actively working on solving this issue? Absolutely!  (Today’s word is ABSOLUTELY!)

Most active sprint car teams have always played to their comfort level with a large pile of tires at their disposal. The main difference in today’s world is that most rigs are not hauling around their usual stockpile of 15+ tires – which makes some uncomfortable.  However, tire hoarding by just a few teams will only make things worse.  If you need an example, just flashback to the toilet paper scenario in 2020.  It should be publicized that nobody in California has been sidelined because of a lack of tires. Compliments go out to Hoosier Tire West, who are stepping up and paying gigantic freight bills to express ship tires to the Golden State.  It doesn’t make much financial sense to do that, but they are doing the right thing to help the racers.  Trust me, they want this issue resolved immediately also.  If everybody cooperates and works together, we can make it through the 2022 campaign without cancelling any events. Once again, everybody is working on it and the only thing that will fix it is time to fill the pipeline. Please don’t trash sponsors on social media.  It only makes things worse.

As of right now, the NARC tire rule spelled out in the rulebook is still in place. The HTW tire burn off period is in full effect until June 1^st. After that, only the H-tire package are allowed. Peter Murphy is adamant that Super Dirt Cup be competed on a level playing field. That means theH-tire package will be the only tire run at the three-day show in late June.  Can any of this be changed in the future if something happens?Absolutely, but it will be addressed on a race-by-race basis.

FROM THIS WEEK’S FYI DEPARTMENT:  We are missing Sean Watts on this year’s NARC tour.  Sean sold his 410 motor to Chase Johnson and needs a motor and sponsorship-backing to return. He still has a 360 so race fans will see him at select events. … The Keller Motorsports team was looking forward to competing in about 20 410 events this season. Unfortunately, early season problem at the Outlaw shows sidelined both of their powerplants.  They hope to get them back in August with JJ Ringo behind the wheel. … Colby Copeland’s victory at the April 2^nd Stockton season opener was his third NARC win of his career.  Corey Day also scored his third career victory of his short NARC career at the Tarter Memorial at Chico. As a follow-up that race, with his impressive flag-to-flag run, Day took home half of the$3500 in lap money up for grabs.  Here is the breakdown:  Corey Day ($1750); Justin Sanders ($760); Landon Brooks ($570); Dominic Scelzi ($220); Blake Carrick ($140); and Sean Becker ($60).  We thank the Tarter Family, their foundation, and all the sponsors who supported this magnificent event. … Speaking of lap sponsorships, all the laps are sold for the June 11^th Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial race.  However, we are still looking for additional race sponsors.  If you would like to get involved, please contact Karen Bradway Tuccelli on Facebook. … Tickets for the June 23-25^th Super Dirt Cup are available through the track website.  What are you waiting for?  This event pays a staggering $50,000 to Saturday nights winner.

Coming to you live from Auburn, CA.  See ya!

Larson Earns 2nd World of Outlaws Win after Back-to-Back Runner-Up Results

ATTICA, OH – May 20, 2022 – After losing close ones at Bristol and Bridgeport, Kyle Larson was bound and determined to return to World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory lane, and he did just that on Friday night.

The Elk Grove, CA native laid down arguably the most dominating performance of the 2022 season, never once relinquishing control of the lead through 40 laps at Ohio’s Attica Raceway Park. Larson was forced to survive five restarts, but handled each situation better than the last and fended off every challenge Carson Macedo could throw his way.

Yung Money’s wing dance was an inevitable one of sorts. Since his first Series win of the year at Tulare (CA) Thunderbowl in March, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion had settled for a pair of tough-to-swallow second-place finishes. There was Bristol (TN) Motor Speedway when he lost out on $25,000 by mere inches to Spencer Bayston, and then Bridgeport (NJ) Motorsports Park when he faltered on a late-race restart to Sheldon Haudenschild.

On this night, though, there was no doubting the multi-faceted superstar. His wire-to-wire victory makes him the seventh multi-time winner of 2022 and brings him to 26 career wins with The Greatest Show on Dirt in only 118 starts at 29-years-old.

“I definitely let one slip away the other night, so it feels great to rebound like this,” Larson admitted. “The Outlaws are always tough to beat, we still had to earn that one. Paul Silva has had this #57 on point every single time I’ve been in this year, and it’s a lot of fun to drive. It’s awesome to get a win in front of a packed crowd like this at Attica. These Ohio fans are amazing and I love racing in front of them.”

The win marked Larson’s fourth career triumph at the Attica Raceway Park 1/3-mile and his first since he topped the 2020 Brad Doty Classic. He’s expected to return to the BDC on Tuesday, July 12 for a chance at the season sweep with $15,000 on the line.

Larson’s biggest challenger throughout the 40-lap affair was Carson Macedo, who previously drove for his now-defunct Kyle Larson Racing #2 team. The Lemoore, CA native lined up on the inside and outside of Larson’s #57 on restarts, offering several sliders to his former boss but never quite had the speed to clear him.

“I knew Carson was really good tonight and I could see him below me on the restarts into [turn] one,” Larson thought. “He’s obviously an aggressive driver and great at these restarts, so I was a bit nervous at times. I felt like as long as I could get a good launch then I preferred that over traffic and dealing with the dust. It was just that one lap on restarts that I knew mattered most.”

Macedo ultimately finished 1.415-seconds behind Larson and re-claimed the runner-up spot in the current championship standings. His seventh podium is arguably the most meaningful of the season for the Jason Johnson Racing, Albaugh #41.

It was up to the 25-year-old Macedo and young gun crew guys Clyde Knipp and Nate Repetz to control things with crew chief Philip Dietz and co-owner Brooke Dietz at home with their newborn baby, Jase.

“My guys did an incredible job tonight,” Macedo praised. “Clyde and Nate stepped up huge with Phil taking care of Brooke and their little boy, Jase. He was watching DIRTVision and we were talking about things on the phone. It was an interesting dynamic, but it worked tonight. The restarts were tough and Kyle is so good at them. He times each of them differently, so you can never exactly nail down what he’s doing. I could stay with him for a lap or two, but then I would just lose momentum and slide back.”

Rounding out the podium was James McFadden with his first top-three finish in more than two months aboard the Roth Motorsports #83. It was a rollercoaster ride for the Alice Springs, NT, Australia native in the 40-lapper.

“It felt like we went from ninth to fifth down to eighth up to sixth, and then third,” McFadden joked. “It’s been a rough couple of weeks, so it’s good to get back on the podium in this Roth car. The cautions kind of hurt us, but near the end they helped us too. Justin [Adams], Rob [Beattie], and Gary [Woodman] have been working hard. We need to get a win for Dennis and Teresa, I can’t thank them enough for the opportunity.”

Closing out the top-five at Attica was Sheldon Haudenschild in fourth aboard the Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink #17, and Brad Sweet in fifth aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts #49.

Finishing out the top-10 was Jacob Allen with a 19th-to-sixth bid, Donny Schatz with a 14th-to-seventh run, Logan Schuchart in eighth after starting pole position, Greg Wilson with the KSE Hard Charger Award for going 23rd-to-ninth, and then Brent Marks in 10th-from-19th.

NOS NOTEBOOK (ATTICA RACEWAY PARK, 5/20/22)

Kyle Larson’s 26th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series victory moved him back into sole possession of 25th on the All-Time Wins List. His next triumph will tie him with Paul McMahan and Tim Shaffer for 23rd all-time.

Friday’s stop in Attica, OH marked the first of 10 appearances by the Series in Ohio this season, most of any state. The Greatest Show on Dirt returns to the Attica 1/3-mile on Tuesday, July 12 for the $15,000-to-win Brad Doty Classic.

David Gravel topped 41 cars in My Place Hotels Qualifying to score his third Slick Woody’s QuickTime Award of the season and the 92nd of his World of Outlaws career.

Picking up NOS Energy Drink Heat Race wins were Carson Macedo (66th career), Brad Sweet (204th career), David Gravel (191st career), and Sheldon Haudenschild (72nd career). Ohioan DJ Foos won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown via a last-lap pass on Alex Bowman. Logan Schuchart earned his Series-best third pole position with another DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash win.

UP NEXT (Sat) – The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series takes a two-hour drive to eastern Ohio for a Saturday stop at Sharon Speedway. Fans can BUY TICKETS HERE, or watch every lap LIVE on DIRTVision.

NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (40 Laps) – 1. 57-Kyle Larson [2][$10,000]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo [4][$6,000]; 3. 83-James McFadden [8][$3,500]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [6][$2,800]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [3][$2,500]; 6. 1A-Jacob Allen [19][$2,300]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz [14][$2,200]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart [1][$2,100]; 9. 97-Greg Wilson [23][$2,050]; 10. 19-Brent Marks [17][$2,000]; 11. O9-Craig Mintz [18][$1,600]; 12. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [20][$1,400]; 13. 5-Spencer Bayston [5][$1,200]; 14. 3J-Trey Jacobs [16][$1,100]; 15. 24-Rico Abreu [12][$1,050]; 16. 18-Cole Macedo [9][$1,000]; 17. 55-Alex Bowman [22][$1,000]; 18. 2-David Gravel [7][$1,000]; 19. 49X-Ian Madsen [11][$1,000]; 20. 16-DJ Foos [21][$1,000]; 21. 11K-Kraig Kinser [24][$1,000]; 22. 6-Bill Rose [26][$]; 23. 11-Buddy Kofoid [10][$1,000]; 24. 9-Kasey Kahne [25][$]; 25. 23-Chris Andrews [13][$1,000]; 26. 33W-Caleb Griffith [15][$1,000]. Lap Leaders:Kyle Larson 1-40. KSE Hard Charger Award: 97-Greg Wilson[+14]

NEW Championship Standings (After 21/78 Races): 1. Brad Sweet (2,904); 2. Carson Macedo (-38); 3. David Gravel (-46); 4. Sheldon Haudenschild (-56); 5. Logan Schuchart (-92); 6. Donny Schatz (-130); 7. Spencer Bayston (-142); 8. James McFadden (-146); 9. Jacob Allen (-218); 10. Brock Zearfoss (-342).

The Carpentersville, IL Driver Led all 40 Laps En Route to 11th Career World of Outlaws TriumphMARION CENTER, PA – May 20, 2022 – Dennis Erb Jr. proved one thing to the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model field Friday at Marion Center Raceway. The road to a World of Outlaws Championship goes through Carpentersville, IL, in 2022. One night after finishing second to kick off a three-race Pennsylvania swing, the current Series points leader struck back with a vengeance, dominating the Connor Bobik Memorial.  Erb wasted no time grabbing the lead, powering off the cushion in Turn 2 past 2011 Series champion Rick Eckert.  He held off Shane Clanton on numerous restarts en route to the $10,000 victory—his second World of Outlaws triumph of the season and fifth win of 2022.  The veteran driver knew getting ahead of Eckert at the start was a key to victory. “You definitely needed to get out front,” Erb said. “We had a good start. We were able to roll up through the middle and just carry speed like we needed to. After that, it was kind of just hitting our marks and keeping it upfront.” The importance of Erb hitting his marks wasn’t only key on green flag runs but also restarts. The Illinois campaigner had to defend his lead from Clanton several times. “Once we got rolling there, I was rolling pretty good,” Erb said. “You get in a little rhythm and stuff, and you don’t want to see any of those cautions come out. But we fired off real good, and everything went good after that.” Erb’s win extends his points lead—112 points ahead of Max Blair, who finished ninth.  Clanton held on for second, giving him back-to-back top-fives in his return to World of Outlaws competition.  The Zebulon, GA driver worked the outside late in the race, trying to find a way past Erb.   “I was trying to move around because I can’t drive through him, so I was trying to hunt,” Clanton said. “My guy was telling me after a caution after five or six laps, I’d pull away, so I’d give myself those three or four laps, and then I’d try to move around and go a different place than he was.  “It was working there in [Turns 1 and 2], but I couldn’t get [Turns 3 and 4] down, but overall, a good night. The Capital Race Car was good all night, so hopefully, we can build on that and carry it on to [Saturday] at Port Royal.” Four-time Series champion Josh Richards finished third, his third consecutive podium. He thundered through the field on the inside lane in the first 20 laps, driving to third from his 12th starting spot.  “Kid Rocket” felt a caution after halfway halted his momentum.  “I didn’t want to see that caution,” Richards said. “I was able to get a good rhythm and sneak up on some of those guys, and once the caution came out, I think the track changed a little bit, and that advantage went away. “I’m just thankful to get up through there and have a good enough car. I feel like we’re making some strides, and hopefully, we can put something together and keep this consistency up.” Gordy Gundaker crossed the line fourth—a turnaround from Thursday’s race at Bloomsburg, where he finished 13th.  The St. Charles, MO driver stated he was starting to reel Richards in at the end but didn’t have enough momentum to get by.  “I was catching Josh [Richards] at the end in [Turns 1 and 2]; he was just better in [Turns 3 and 4],” Gundaker said. “Overall, a great night, especially after [Thursday] getting tore up, so a top-five is just what we needed going into Port Royal.” From Mahaffey, PA, Jon Lee rounded out the top five in only his third race of the season. It’s his best career finish in World of Outlaws competition—a spot he never thought he’d be in. “I never dreamt that we would’ve run as good as we did [Friday],” Lee said. “We were trying to save tires, and I definitely think we were on a softer tire than the other guys, but the car was definitely good.” Dennis Erb Jr.’s consistency continues to shine no matter where the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models visit. While there’s a long way to go until Charlotte, if he keeps this pace up, it’ll be a long, uphill climb for his opponents the rest of the season.  UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models head to Port Royal Speedway in Port Royal, PA on Saturday, May 21.  If you can’t make it to the tracks, watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online on with the DIRTVision App. CASE Construction Equipment Feature (40 Laps): 1. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[3]; 3. 1-Josh Richards[12]; 4. 11-Gordy Gundaker[8]; 5. 5L-Jonathan Lee[10]; 6. B1-Brent Larson[5]; 7. 81E-Tanner English[23]; 8. 0E-Rick Eckert[1]; 9. 111V-Max Blair[4]; 10. 1*-Chub Frank[14]; 11. 10-Jared Miley[13]; 12. 99B-Boom Briggs[18]; 13. W3-John Weaver[24]; 14. X3-Wyatt Scott[7]; 15. F1-Coleby Frye[15]; 16. 4S-Ryan Montgomery[17]; 17. 45-Kyle Hammer[9]; 18. 21-Matt Lux[22]; 19. 1C-Alex Ferree[19]; 20. 19R-Ryan Gustin[11]; 21. 48-Colton Flinner[20]; 22. 44-Danny Snyder[21]; 23. 22-Gregg Satterlee[6]; 24. 7-Drake Troutman[16] FOX FACTORY HARD CHARGER: Tanner English [+16].

The World of Outlaws Case Construction Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Case Construction Equipment (Official Construction Equipment), DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider) VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel); contingency sponsors include Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, Fox Factory (Hard Charger Award), MSD, My Place Hotels, Penske Racing Shocks, Quarter Master, Slick Woody’s (Quick Time Award), Swift Springs, and Wrisco–Wieland Metal Services (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including Dirt Car Lift, Capital Race Cars, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, FIREBULL, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, K1 Race Gear, Racing Electronics, Reliable Painting, Rocket Chassis, and Sea Foam.

FARLEY, IA (May 20, 2022) – Tyler Erb held off current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship points leader Brandon Sheppard to win the Truck Country 50 on Friday Night at 300 Raceway in Iowa. Erb had to withstand two caution flags in the final ten laps to score his second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win in the series last three races. Erb led all 50 laps for his 18th career series win. Sheppard finished in second followed by Ricky Thornton Jr., Hudson O’Neal, and Jimmy Owens (after starting 18th). Erb took the lead at the start of the race as O’Neal pressured him early on. Thornton moved by O’Neal on lap 13 to gain the second spot. Thornton tracked down Erb as he closed right behind the Texas racer. The race went green for the first 32 laps until Tyler Bruening slowed with a right rear flat. With the field bunched up, Erb still held the point with Thornton and Sheppard close behind. Sheppard picked up the second spot, overhauling Thornton on lap 36. Sheppard set his sights on Erb, who was maintaining a steady pace out front despite damage from his right-side spoiler support. Sheppard got within two cars lengths of Erb, using a lower line in turns three and four. A caution with eight laps to go halted Sheppard’s momentum. On the restart Erb pulled a few car lengths ahead of Sheppard, as Sheppard had to regain his line. Sheppard closed briefly on Erb, but another caution with two laps to go would set up a green-white-checkered finish. Erb was able to open just enough breathing room over Sheppard to score his second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of 2022, moving to second in the championship point standings. “I was one of those that finished here last year. I got second. The track was a complete 180 from last year. I really like this place; you never know what you are going to get. It was a really good race; you could change around a lot. It was nerve-racking out there I could tell in three and four I was slowing down. All-in-all it was good night,” said the 25-year-old who was the 2019 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie-of-the Year.  Sheppard, who announced last month his intentions to chase the $150,000 to win Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series championship will maintain the points lead heading to 34 Raceway on Saturday night. “The track was awesome tonight. They had a huge crowd and that was awesome. Congratulations to Tyler those guys do a really good job. We had a really fast race car again tonight. I guess we will second them to death for a while. I was really trying to keep my car as straight as possible and keep my tires underneath me and hopefully I would be there at the end. Once I got close to Tyler, he got on the same line I was running. I just followed him around there after that.”  Last year’s Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Rookie-of-the-Year and defending Dirt Track World Championship winner, Thornton, rounded out the podium in third. “We were pretty good, it’s the same car we flipped the other night. We’ll take it, we have a little damage tonight. They have a really good track here, sometimes it’s a little different. The race tonight was definitely the right way to do it.”  The winner’s Eric and Kelly Brock/Best Performance Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Bulk Material Lift, Lucas Oil Products, M&W Transport, Midwest Sheet Metal, Bazell Race Fuels, Sunoco, KBC Graphics, Roberts Bee Company, and First-Class Septic. Completing the top ten were Garrett Alberson, Spencer Hughes, Billy Moyer Jr., Earl Pearson Jr., and Ross Robinson. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt SeriesRace SummaryTruck Country 50Friday, May 20, 2022300 Raceway – Farley, IA Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Billy Moyer, Jr. / 15.136 seconds (overall)Fast Time Group B: Hudson O’Neal / 15.259 seconds Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[1]; 3. 49-Jake Timm[4]; 4. 11-Spencer Hughes[3]; 5. 32S-Chris Simpson[5]; 6. 89-Ashton Winger[7]; 7. 29-Spencer Diercks[6]; 8. 22-Charlie McKenna[8] Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson[2]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[3]; 5. 18D-Daulton Wilson[5]; 6. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 7. 40C-Joel Callahan[6]; 8. 44W-David Webster[8] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[2]; 5. 58-Garrett Alberson[6]; 6. 20-Jimmy Owens[5]; 7. 17-Tim Simpson[7] Lucas Oil Feature Finish (50 Laps):

Race StatisticsEntrants: 23Lap Leaders: Tyler Erb (Laps 1-50)Wrisco Feature Winner: Tyler ErbArizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/aBrandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/aMargin of Victory: 0.555 secondsStop-Tech Cautions: Tyler Bruening (Lap 32); Chad Simpson (Lap 42); Debris (Lap 48)Series Provisionals: n/aFast Time Provisional: n/aSeries Emergency Provisionals: n/aTrack Provisionals: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Tyler Erb, Brandon Sheppard, Ricky Thornton, JrPenske Shocks Top 5: Tyler Erb, Brandon Sheppard, Ricky Thornton, Jr, Hudson O’Neal, Jimmy OwensOptima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Jimmy Owens (Advanced 13 Positions)Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Brandon SheppardHot Rod Processing Most Laps Led: Tyler Erb (50 Laps)Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Tyler ErbO’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Garrett AlbersonDirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Tyler Erb (Lap 1 – 15.544 seconds)DirtonDirt.com Tough Break of the Race: Bobby PierceOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Randall Edwards (Tyler Erb)ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Clements Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Brandon Sheppard (14.793 seconds)Time of Race: 22 minutes 46 seconds

NASCAR CUP SERIES TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT MAY 20, 2022 TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 Guaranteed Rate CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway. Press Conference Transcript: WHEN WE LOOK AT THE DEVELOPMENT, THE SIMULATION DEVELOPMENT, OF NASCAR, THE NEW CAR AND EVERYTHING YOU GUYS HAVE RAN SIMULATION ON THIS RACE I’M ASSUMING AS YOU DO EVERY RACE. HOW IMPORTANT IS IT WHEN WE COME BACK IN THE FALL TO HAVE THIS WEEKEND’S DATA, TO HAVE REAL TRACK DATA ON THE CARS? HOW DOES THAT ALL WORK JUST THE TAKING FROM ONE RACE TO THE OTHER AND THEN HOW IMPORTANT WILL IT BE TO GET GOOD DATA THIS WEEK KNOWING THAT IT’S A PLAYOFF RACE LATER ON THIS YEAR?“I think it’s more important than ever before. This car is so new. We’ve really only in a lot of aspects been able to gain information through tire tests and some of the wheel force data that we have been given so that we can go to the simulator and work on our cars. Seeing how that matches up and seeing how well we did at bringing cars this time around for this weekend is really important for any of the events that we go back to for a second time, but especially those that we return to in the playoffs.” YOU’VE HAD UPS AND DOWNS THIS SEASON, BUT YOU’RE FAST. YOUR THOUGHTS ON YOUR SEASON SO FAR? THEN NEXT WEEKEND GOING INTO THE 600, IS THERE EVER A POINT IN THAT RACE WHERE YOU’RE LIKE OH MY GOD HOW MANY MORE LAPS DO I HAVE OR READY FOR IT TO JUST BE OVER?“Preparing for that race is really important. I guess more the second question you had there my memory’s not the greatest at times. I have been forgetting everything all day today. The second part of the question on like rough days or the way that last year’s race kind of played out where the track didn’t really move around a lot and you kind of just get stuck in behind whoever it was, like it was last year that was frustrating. You wanted it to just be over with, because you’re pretty much running 100 laps hoping for a good pit stop, (inaudible) under green. You would pretty much be done after the restart. I don’t think it will be when we go back with this car. It has shown that there’s going to be a lot of getting the car right mechanically speaking. Balance of the car is going to be really important at the bumpy, wore out Charlotte racetrack.” WITH 600-MILES ON THIS CAR, WILL THAT BE LIKE ANOTHER TEST FOR THE NEW CAR? DO YOU LOOK AT IT LIKE THAT?“It certainly can. It’s more of can the drivers, can the teams endure it. I think the team side certainly, but us as drivers in the car when it’s not driving great it’s really difficult to manage at times, especially if you’re on the looser side of things. If at any point in that race you, over 600-miles it’s very reasonable that the car isn’t going to handle the way it should and you’re going to have to make adjustments on it. So, it’s going to be important to survive those rough patches of the race and hopefully not loose too much track position. Even more importantly, not making a mistake and crash. 600-miles is a lot of opportunities to do that, so it’ll be a very difficult race, but that car is up for that challenge. The car can handle it.” THE FIRST PART OF THAT QUESTION WAS YOUR SELF EVALUATION OF YOUR PERFORMANCE SO FAR.“Oh, yeah. (laughing) We’ve ran good, but I can see why I didn’t want to talk about that one or forgot about it. It’s been a tough year, at times. We’ve certainly had the speed. We’ve been leading laps. We’ve been in the top-five a lot, but also at the same time we’ve finished outside the top-30 quite a lot too which is out of character for us as well. Not necessarily ideal, but the speed’s there. A lot of the right things are where they need to be. The pit crew’s executing on a high level and we’re making good adjustments to our car during the race to make it a little bit better as we go. The outright speed in our cars is there, just a lot of the details where they need to be. One of these days when we are able to put it all together, we’re going to be running the top-five like we have been on some of those days.” YOU HAD THE TIRE ISSUE LAST WEEK AT KANSAS, IS THERE ANY CONCERN THIS WEEK WITH THE SAME TIRE, SIMILAR TRACK?“My tire issue was related to wall contact. It wasn’t really anyway related to being too aggressive with setup or air pressure. In a place like Kansas seeing the issues that we did, didn’t really surprise me because there’s just so many different lane choices that you have and with the progressive banking that that track has you have a lot of opportunities two or three places on the racetrack in each corner. Whether it’s the first seam, the second seam or crossing the front straightaway, going to the flat on the front straightaway there’s a lot of places where you can put a lot of force on that left rear tire in the beginning of a run on low air when you’re really having to be aggressive on restarts. To see that happen and play out that way wasn’t surprising, I guess. Being that we learned a lot about this tire, and we all think that we’re safe enough and not going to make those mistakes while we go out there and practice by ourselves, we’re not making those crazy, daring moves. I think once we got to racing, we had to get more aggressive battling restarts and I’m thinking that’s where that came from. Again, that all comes back to how aggressive you are with what you bring to the racetrack.” I KNOW YOUR ROOTS ARE DIRT LATE MODELS, BUT YOU’RE A CALIFORNIA GUY. DID YOU EVER HAVE INTEREST IN THE INDY 500? DID YOU EVERY PURSUE ANY SORT OF OPEN WHEEL PATH AND IF SO WITH THIS WEEK DO YOU EVER WONDER WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN?“I don’t say I wonder what could have been, I wonder what it could still be. I’m young. I never really went that path. I grew up racing a lot of dirt and open wheel cars, but the Indy 500 is always a really exciting time it being around the same time the 600 is. Just how excited that whole city of Indy is and how big of an event it is for open wheel racing has always been really cool for me to follow. I’ve always followed it from the outside looking in. Just really have a huge amount of respect and admiration for the high level commitment that those drivers have every single lap, how physical those cars are to drive, the mental barriers they pretty much have to break past and just push through to wheel those cars that are no power steering, very physical, a lot of wear and tear on the driver. I had a lot of respect for them, and I still do. Yeah, I’m racing asphalt and racing NASCAR right now, but I love racing of all kinds and I would love to hopefully find myself in the seat of something like that if the opportunity ever presents itself. I definitely wouldn’t want to do it if I’m not competitive, so I know myself if I am going to go do it, I’d want to put a lot of work into it. It would be hard to do while racing in the Cup Series.” YOU HAD A BIG SPONSOR THING WITH CHEDDAR’S YESTERDAY. HOW DID THAT GO?“Yeah! Oh my gosh, it was great. Cheddar’s put together and All-Star meet and greet at the location in Irving and Tony Dorsett joined us. As really cool as it was for all the staff and the fans that showed up for autographs, it was really cool for me too. I got to spend a number of hours with just a huge icon of the Cowboys, of football. To be a Heisman winner and be in the Hall of Fame, what he did for the size that he was too that for me was really cool. He’s not too much taller than me. He was out there going up against the big boys, knocking out yards, getting touchdowns and winning games. Getting to spend time with him and talk about what he did as a football player and what he’s doing now was a lot of fun. The craziest part to me is he was just his genuine excitement and curiosity about racing, what I do, what my life as a young kid growing up, how I got into it, just asking all these questions. He just has a huge interest in racing. It was really cool to be able to spend that time with him and kind of connect the two worlds a little bit and share stories and get to know each other was a lot of fun.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES

TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

NASCAR ALL-STAR RACE

TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

MAY 20, 2022

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1, met with the media in advance of this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway. Press Conference Transcript:

YOU HAD THE TIRE ISSUE LAST WEEK AT KANSAS. WAS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU LEARNED THIS WEEK ABOUT WHAT OCCURRED; AND IS THERE ANY CONCERN THIS WEEK WITH ANOTHER 1.5-MILE TRACK AND THE SAME LEFT SIDE TIRE? 

“Yeah, that’s a good point about the tire being the same. I leave it up to the engineers. There’s nothing that I could do different. That was definitely the cleanest run that we had; probably the fastest pace that we had, being in the lead and running up front. But I don’t know if any of that really contributed to it. I think it’s just one of those things that everyone seemed to go through last weekend at some point in time. 

Just fortunate that I could drive it back to pit road and not have any body damage, but we certainly had a lot of underbody damage that caused a loss of speed over the race. That was unfortunate. We didn’t do a great job keeping up with the track after we had our issues there with the left rear because it definitely took away a lot of downforce.”

NEXT WEEKEND IS THE COCA-COLA 600. IS THERE EVER A POINT IN THAT RACE WHERE YOU’RE LIKE ‘I WISH THIS RACE WAS OVER’ WHEN YOU’RE BEHIND THE WHEEL; AND HOW DO YOU HANDLE THAT AND STAY FOCUSED IN THE RACE? 

“Honestly, not last year. I felt like last year was a game of runs. Obviously the No. 5 (Kyle Larson) was great all night and I felt like we were inching up on him each run; inching up and then we did take the lead at one point in Stage Three. So at that point, I thought the race was going pretty fast because I felt like we were constantly just trying to get a little bit better as the race went on. As soon as we took the lead, it was like ‘alright, we’ve got control of the race’. So, you’re trying to think about all of those things. 

To answer your question, it goes by faster when you’re running well. If you’re not running well in that race, it’s definitely a really long race.”

THE CUP SERIES IS GOING TO GO TO GATEWAY. WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE CUP CARS BEING THERE AND IS THERE ANYTHING YOU CAN TAKE AWAY FROM WAY BACK WHEN?

“There’s really not a ton I can take from when I race there because they repaved the track. The engine package for us is obviously going to be a lot different than what I raced there in the trucks. I feel like for me, it’s going to be all kind of a clean slate. I look towards a Martinsville (Speedway) or a Phoenix (Raceway) to kind of understand how the track is going to drive in these Next Gen cars. Probably more so Phoenix, but with longer straightaways. So, it might be like Martinsville on corner entry, at least into turn one. 

I’m excited for it. I think our short track program has been really good this year. That’s not a short track, but it definitely kind of races like one.”

DO YOU ROLL IN HERE WITH KIND OF A DIFFERENT FEELING BECAUSE IT’S BIG MONEY AND NO POINTS ON THE LINE? DO YOU GUYS FEEL THE WAY FANS LOOK AT THIS RACE?

“Yeah, it definitely is a little weirder preparation for the week. It’s probably the least that I know about this race of any race every week. I feel like you get in a rhythm when you go to certain race tracks. You know how the stages are going to play out. You know how long the race is and you kind of plan all that in your head of what’s important. And then you’re also kind of worried about getting a good finish. I think at this race, you’re not as worried about getting a solid finish. You’re kind of just worried about winning it. That definitely brings a different preparation leading up to the week, just to think about what’s it going to take to win, instead of what’s it going to take to get myself in a position to win. You’re really just thinking about the qualifying format; you’re thinking about how do I maximize that to get on the pole.”

HAVING THE ALL-STAR RACE HERE AND HAVING A RACE HERE LATER THIS YEAR THAT IS PART OF THE PLAYOFFS – I KNOW A LOT CHANGES, BUT FROM A SIMULATION STANDPOINT AND FROM A DATA STANDPOINT, HOW MUCH WILL TEAMS AND MANUFACTURERS USE THIS WEEKEND AS PREPARATION FOR FUTURE RACES HERE? 

“Yeah, it depends a lot on the weather when we come back in the fall – is it going to be 45 degrees? I think that alters your simulation quite a bit. I feel like you can get a baseline for travels and get a baseline for what the track content is and things like that. But really nothing really simulates the change in weather. I feel like that’s the biggest variable in a lot of this – figuring out if it’s going to be similar weather. Luckily, Sunday is kind of cooler and that might simulate more of what the fall is going to be like.”

YOU’RE RUNNING YOUR FIRST XFINITY SERIES RACES TOMORROW SINCE YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP IN 2017. HOW DID THAT ALL COME TOGETHER WITH YOUR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS TEAMMATES AND WHY NOW AFTER FIVE YEARS? 

“That’s a good question. It really came together just through Mr. Hendrick, Jeff (Gordon) and Chad (Knaus), and everyone at HendrickCars.com. They wanted to do this is and it was something that they saw was a benefit to us. They asked us who wanted to race and I was really adamant that I wanted to do as many as possible. I can only do five, but I’m going to do three as far as I know. 

I think it’s good to get a feel for this place. I haven’t been here in awhile in a Xfinity car, like you said, and I feel like the Xfinity car is probably closer to the Cup car this year with the low downforce. So, maybe I can learn some things there; and ultimately just have some fun and try to go win a race. It’s going to be a scorcher, so hopefully I stay hydrated and don’t fall out of the seat.”

Richard Childress Racing at the All-Star Race and Texas Motor Speedway … Richard Childress Racing has four wins in the NASCAR All-Star Race, three by Dale Earnhardt (1987, 1990 and 1993) plus Kevin Harvick’s victory in 2007. Jeff Burton (2007) and Austin Dillon (2020) have wins at Texas Motor Speedway in events where points were awarded. The Welcome, N.C., organization has earned five NASCAR Xfinity Series wins with Kevin Harvick (2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2012) and two NASCAR Truck Series wins with Jay Sauter (1999) and Ty Dillon (2013). 

All-Star Race Rules and Regulations:

The race will consist of four stages, with the first three 25 laps in length and the fourth and final being a 50-lap shootout for the $1 million prize. The new format has provided a major incentive to win any of the opening three stages or the pit stop competition during the break between Stages 2 and 3.

• Stage 1 (25 laps): Stage 1 winner will start on the pole in the final stage as long as he finishes 15th or better in Stages 2 and 3.

• Stage 2 (25 laps): Stage 2 winner starts second in final stage as long as he finishes 15th or better in Stage 3.

• Special Stage Break (Pit Stop Competition): Each team must pit and perform a four-tire stop. The team with the shortest time on pit road (pit in/pit out) wins the pit crew award and the driver will start fourth in the final stage as long as he finishes 15th or better in Stage 3.

• Stage 3 (25 laps): Stage 3 winner starts third in final stage.

• Stage 4 (50 laps): Stage 1 winner starts first, Stage 2 winner second, Stage 3 winner third and pit stop competition winner fourth. If a “natural” caution occurs between laps 15-25 of the final stage, standard race procedures will be in effect. If no “natural” caution occurs during that time, NASCAR will call an “All Star” competition caution. Winner of the Stage 4 earns $1 million.

Introducing the Next Gen … NASCAR’s Next Gen Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which officially debuted in 2022, is a collaboration of the brightest engineering minds in racing. With technology at the forefront, Richard Childress Racing has played a unique and critical role in helping to bring this new on-track identity to life, working closely with OEMs, other teams and NASCAR to build and test the initial prototype. 

Catch the Action … The Texas 250 at Texas Motor Speedway will be televised live on Saturday, May 21 beginning at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 

Follow Sunday’s Action at Texas … The NASCAR All-Star Open preludes the NASCAR All-Star Race and will be televised live on FS1 Sunday, May 22 beginning at 5:30 p.m. ET, followed by the NASCAR All-Star Race at 8 p.m. ET on FS1. Both races will also be broadcast live on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.