Four-time NHRA champion takes over Top Fuel points lead

KENT, Wash. (July 23, 2023) – Steve Torrence won Sunday’s Top Fuel final at Pacific Raceways near Seattle to earn the 200th victory for Toyota in NHRA competition. Torrence topped Doug Kalitta in an all-Toyota Top Fuel final to earn the milestone victory.

In Funny Car, J.R. Todd advanced to the final round and came home runner-up by inches to race-winner Tim Wilkerson on Sunday. This continues Todd’s performance surge as the former champion has finished in the semi-finals or better four of the last five races.

Toyota Post-Race Recap

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series

Pacific Raceways

Race 11 of 21

TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINISHING POSITIONS 

Name	Car	Final Result	Round-by-Round
Steve Torrence	Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Winner	W. 3.736 v. 3.750(J. Hart) W. 3.752 v. 8.811(B. Force) W. 4.016 v. 4.074(S. Langdon) W. 3.940 v. 4.861 (D. Kalitta)
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Finalist	W. 3.753 v. 4.384(R. Smith) W. 4.975 v. No Run(Bye) W. 3.813 v. 3.947(C. Millican) L. 4.861 v. 3.940 (S. Torrence)
Shawn Langdon	Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Semi-Finals	W. 3.779 v. 4.755(A. Brown) W. 3.792 v. 4.772(M. Salinas) L. 4.074 v. 4.016(S. Torrence)
Justin Ashley	Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Second Round	W. 3.740 v. 3.785(T. Schumacher) L. 3.807 v. 3.973(C. Millican)
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	First Round	L. 4.755 v. 3.779(S. Langdon)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR FINISHING POSITIONS 

Name	Car	Final Result	Round-by-Round
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	Finalist	W. 3.909 v. No Run(A. Laughlin) W. 3.964 v. 4.085(C. Pedregon) W. 3.988 v. 3.974(Holeshot Win –C. Green) L. 4.014 v. 4.007 (T. Wilkerson)
Ron Capps	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	Second Round	W. 4.481 v. 12.260(J. Diehl) L. 4.958 v. 4.006(T. Wilkerson)
Alexis DeJoria	Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	First Round	L. 4.176 v. 3.963(C. Green)

TOYOTA QUOTES

STEVE TORRENCE, Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Torrence Racing

Final Result: Winner

How does it feel to head to Sonoma with all of this momentum after today’s win?

“It’s a great feeling. Just kind of a monkey off your back sense of accomplishment feeling. In the year’s past, we’ve had such a dominant race car and I think you can get a little complacent and winning is a norm and it’s really not and never should be. The performance today – I’ll tell you, two rounds were stellar, and two rounds were not stellar. You’ve got to be confident. It’s difficult when things are not going absolutely great to be as confident as you need to be to drive these things successfully. And, like I said, you just need to take a step back, reevaluate the situation and just see how thankful, grateful, fortunate and blessed we are to be able to do what we do with such great partners like what we have. This is a great place to win and at the right time to feel like we’re getting some momentum going. We’re getting that race car that we’ve had in year’s past back where you go out there and call your shots. I knew that as the day got hotter and the track was a little more susceptible to spinning the tires out there, we struggled but we did better than the guy or girl beside us. Right now, our confidence is back. I don’t think that it’s as good as it can be, but it’s definitely moving in the right direction. You’re only as good as your last shot so you need to continue moving forward. I think that we have a really good race car going into Sonoma. Conditions will probably be a much different situation there where you have to move a lot faster and it just won’t be as warm, maybe, but we’ll see how it goes. Hats off to the Capco Contractors boys at home that are taking care of us and keeping us out here. And Toyota that just makes sure we have all the right information for the track, excited to get the 200^th win for Toyota here today. Also, thanks to Red Line Tools that supports us. We’re a family-owned and family-run team and we’re really close to the vest and careful with who we partner with so we’re proud of the people that support us.”

DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

Final Result: Finalist

Are you happy after a good points day for the team?

“Obviously, getting beat in the final there’s not a lot of positive things to say, but it was a good weekend for us. Going to the final again. All of my guys have worked hard on this thing, and I couldn’t be more proud of what we’ve got going on. It was there for the taking in the finals, so it was one of those deals that we let one get away. I really appreciate everyone’s support.”

 

July 23, 2023

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 DEX Imaging team took advantage of some savvy strategy calls that put them in the lead pack in the final laps of Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway and came away with an eighth-place finish.

It was Burton’s second top-10 of the season, the first being a sixth place at Darlington in May, and the fourth of his Cup Series career. 

In the early laps of Sunday’s 400-miler on the Tricky Triangle, Burton moved up two spots from his 26th starting position then finished the first 30-lap Stage in 15th place by staying on the track as others ahead of him made pit stops just prior to the end of the Stage.

Crew chief Brian Wilson brought Burton to pit road during the caution period at the end of the Stage then called for several more stops under caution, at Laps 36 and 46, which allowed the DEX Imaging team to make a green flag stop with just four laps remaining in Stage Two.

When a group of drivers pitted at the end of the Stage, Burton moved up to 13th position for the start of the third and final segment of the race.

Burton was back on pit road at Laps 106, and that strategy allowed him to move up to second place during the next round of green-flag stops.

The No. 21 Mustang hit pit road at Lap 138 for two tires and six laps later was back in the top 10 with 15 of 160 laps left to run.

Burton, with his No. 21 Mustang responding well to some mid-race adjustments, did his best driving of the day over an action-packed final 10 laps as two more incidents caused restarts, with the racing as aggressive as it had been all day.

The final green flag flew with three laps remaining, and Burton picked up three positions to eighth place before a stalled car on the track caused the race to end under the caution flag. 

“We were mired in traffic all day and that makes it hard,” Burton told reporters after the race. “We struggled for handling but made a few changes at the end and that got the car pretty good right before the long green-flag cycle and I could kind of run long. 

“A lot of those guys pitted themselves into traffic, and we were able to have clean air and click off faster lap times. 

“We pitted and came out in front of a lot of those guys, so that helped us a lot.”

Burton said the varying strategies employed at Pocono make the racing much more interesting. 

“It’s fun to kind of know what’s going on and know that you have to go run fast laps because the guys behind you are trying to do the same,” he said. “It worked out to where we pitted out in front of them. The guys did a good job on pit road to do that, and the last few restarts I just tried to be aggressive and keep moving forward and got a few more spots.”

Burton said the strong run and top-10 finish were a big boost for him and the No. 21 team. 

“The last two weekends have been better for us,” he said. “This weekend I was disappointed the first little bit because it wasn’t very good, and then found a way to keep digging and claw out of it. Last weekend was the opposite. The first three-quarters of the race was really good and then the end just got cycled back on some restarts.

“It’s good to finish on the good side of it this weekend and keep fighting through the day and not give up on making the race car better. We definitely did that. 

“I’m proud of our guys. There’s not a lot of quit on this race team. We’ve been through hell and high water, but we’re still fighting.”

Next up for Burton and the Wood Brothers team is a Sunday afternoon 400-lapper at Richmond Raceway. 
 

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

HY-VEE HOMEFRONT 250 PRESENTED BY INSTACART

NEWTON, IOWA

TEAM CHEVY RACE NO. 2 POST RACE RECAP

Will Power Gave Chevy Second Podium Step with Runner-Up Finish

NEWTON, IOWA (July 23, 2023)

• Josef Newgarden with Chevrolet 2.2 liter V6 power scored back-to-back wins at the Hy-Vee Doubleheader Weekend at Iowa Speedway after starting 3^rd on Saturday and 7^th on Sunday
• The two victories are 4th and 5th wins of the season for Team Chevy in the NTT INDYCAR Series
• Chevrolet has 11 wins at Iowa Speedway
• Led 212 of the 250-lap race in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet
• Took the lead on lap 31 and led remainder of way except through pit stop exchanges 
• Two-time NTT INDYCAR Series Champion scored his 6th win on the .894-mile track 
• Win is fifth straight oval track win for Newgarden including 2023 Indianapolis 500
• Equals AJ Foyt in 1964, and Al Unser, Sr. in 1968 and 1970
• Win was 29^th victory of his career, tying Rick Mears on all-time-list
• All of Newgarden’s wins were behind the wheel of a Team Penske Chevy INDYCAR
• Newgarden now sits 2^nd in the standings, 80 points down to leader with 5 races remaining
• Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet, finished 2^nd to give Chevrolet two podium positions for Race 2 after scoring a podium sweep in Race 1
• Power started on the pole for both races
• Was credited for leading 30 laps in Race 2 after leading 119 in Race 1
• Of the 5 cars remaining on the lead lap at the checkered flag of Race 2, two were Chevy powered
• Felix Rosenqvist, No 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, finished 4^th
• Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 EXPEL Team Penske Chevrolet, finished 5^th
• Up next on the 17-race NTT INDYCAR Series schedule is the Streets of Nashville on August 4 – 6, 2023

Josef Newgarden and his No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet team returned to Iowa Speedway with a vengeance scoring victories in both races of the Hy-Vee Doubleheader Weekend.

The wins were 5^th and 6^th for Newgarden at his favorite short track and the 11^thand 12^th wins for Chevrolet in the NTT INDYCAR Series at Iowa.

With podium finishes by Scott McLaughlin and Pato O’Ward on Saturday to sweep the podium and a runner-up podium by 

Will Power on Sunday, Team Chevy scored 5 of the 6 spots available.

For the second consecutive year, Will Power won the NTT P1 Award for both races to push his career total poles to 70-the most of any driver.

The Series moves on to Streets of Nashville August 4-6. 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET-RACE WINNER:

ON HIS RACE

“For us, we knew we had a great car, and the pressure was there because we wanted to execute on it and make sure it was a great weekend. I am happy now.  When you finish the first race, its great to have a doubleheader, but you feel incomplete until you get through today.  To be able to come back and do it again, and make our car a little bit better, I am super proud of the team. Luke and the entire group.  Chad leading the boys, its just a fantastic effort from everyone.  Hitachi has been with most of my victories I think, so to be with them and have them on the car is fantastic. And Team Chevy. We almost got a repeat of that 1-2-3 for Chevy. So, sorry we didn’t get that done but they were phenomenal this weekend.”

YOU SWEPT THE WEEKEND. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?

“Its very gratifying because I know how good our car is here.  When you show up with a car like this, you have the pressure to execute and get the job done. If you don’t get the job done, you feel like you did something wrong.  I certainly felt that after qualifying, but to be able to fix that and win a couple of races….its not so much last year that I am thinking of, it’s just purely this year we wanted to execute.”

TALK ABOUT THE CHAMPIONSHIP AND TAKING THAT TO THE HOMEFRONT IN NASHVILLE

“Look, I will speak about Alex (Palou) again.  He is a tremendous competitor and its funny because he is actually my pickleball teammate, so we have a little bit of a relationship. But he is great to run against and is one of the best you are going to find in the world. So, I think what he has done this year, its easy to see why he has gotten the points gap. He’s been tremendous, his team has been tremendous, and I hope that we can close that. We have got to win more races in the 2 car to do it, but there is no doubt that he has been one of the best competitors that you can drive against. I am excited for the rest of the season and who knows what will happen. This is INDYCAR and things can change really quickly. So, let’s stick with it and see how it shapes up.”

WILL POWER, NO.12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET-FINISHED 2ND:

I AM LOOKING AT THAT FINAL RESTART AND OBVIOUSLY THAT WAS KEY

“Yeah, it was a very good restart.  We struggled massively at the beginning and my engineer made a really good change. Taking wing out helped me so much. I had a really fast car, we just needed to pit a couple of laps early so that we could be P2 to Josef and I think we might have had a shot at it. It’s the best car that I have had here, and I was really happy with it and enjoyed the race. Not the first stint though.  Man, I was like white knuckling it the whole time, so I am stoked to get the Verizon Chevy to P2.  Its pretty tough to beat Josef here, but we will do it one day.  We will get him.”

HOW TOUGH IS IT TO JUST BE THE DRIVER AND NOT THE STRATEGIST AND THEY ARE TRYING TO WORK TOWARD THE WIN?

“Yeah, I mean yeah.  Those guys have done so well for me over the years, its just tough around here.  You have to be real sneaky to call to pit, because if you pit, then everyone will just come at the same time. Yeah, mega day.  I was thinking we were going to be struggling to be in the top 10, but it just shows how quickly that stuff can change. Stoked with all the team effort and everything. Bloody great.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 6 ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET-FINISHED 4^TH:

DID YOU THINK YOU WOULD BE FIGHTING FOR A WIN LATE IN THIS RACE?

“Yes and no.  We have been strong here previously and I thought we all had a tough day as a team yesterday.  Pato did a mega performance.  Today the car was really good. Arrow McLaren and NTT Data, big thanks to them.  We turned the car around really good, and we also found ourselves one lap behind at one point.  From there on we had two really, really good stints in the middle. The last stint was initially pretty good, then we struggled a little bit at the end.  The last restart, I don’t know. I will have to look at it but I felt like Will kind of pushed me up in the marbles and I was very lucky to finish the race because I was full locked and waiting to see where I was going to end up. So, yeah, never been more bummed about a fourth-place finish, but it was a good drive.  Those last lap things can end up either way as we saw at Indy.  Hell of a day for us and glad we have some momentum going.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET-FINISHED 5TH:

WHAT IS THE PHYSICAL TOLL ON THE SECOND HALF OF THE DAY ON AN OVAL DOUBLEHEADER?

“Its more mental than anything. I have no idea how I finished that last stint. I had burned the right rear off and I was just hanging on. It was a Sprint Car there. So, out on the cush and having a lot of fun, but I am happy to bring the XPEL Chevrolet back with two top fives.  A podium is not a bad deal. I would have loved to have joined my teammates at the podium today, but we just tried something different, and it didn’t quite work.”

WE HEARD YOU TOWARD THE END ON THE RADIO JUST TRYING NOT TO CRASH. WHAT WAS THAT LIKE AND DID YOU KNOW AS YOU DROPPED BACK THAT IT DIDN’T MATTER AND WASN’T FOR POSITION?

“I had run out of tools. I was fully stiff on my front bar, fully stuffed on my rear bar, and I was all the way to the right in my weight jacker.  I had zero tools left and I was just driving this thing. It was fun and I learned a lot and its not fun when you restart with the whole field behind you. But it is what it is, and I am learning every lap around these ovals and what I learned this weekend was huge and I can’t wait to come back here in the future.”

YOU DON’T COME FROM AN OVAL BACKGROUND BUT THIS IS YOUR 13^TH OVAL AND YOUR SEVENTH TOP FIVE. WHAT HAVE YOU FOUND TO GET SO GOOD ON THIS TYPE OF RACING?

“Look, Team Penske builds great cars.  They gave us three rocket ships as you saw this weekend. We probably tried a little bit too hard to undercut Josef and Will to get in front of them with that off strategy sort of move that we did mid-race.  But yeah, I am very proud of the car that I drive, the people I drive for, and yeah, just very lucky. I count my lucky stars.  Just speaking to some of the drivers at intros and they are a little jealous and they are scared to go up against us which is a nice thing about ovals.  But there is a lot of respect there for sure. 

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET-FINISHED 10TH:

TELL US ABOUT YOUR RUN TODAY PATO

“I don’t have an explanation on what happened today. We obviously went the wrong way, at least that is what it seems like. Obviously, the guys are going to do a sit down now and see if maybe we missed something in that transfer.  But man, just the pure fact that we didn’t end up in an accident with just ourselves or somebody else, feels like a win.  It’s just, I don’t know.  You come into these weekends knowing usually where you have been in the past and a chance to kind of bounce back. Obviously, today, it feels like we just threw that away.  I don’t have an explanation for that, and I don’t think any of us know what or why. It felt like it was the right direction, and as you can tell, I am just confused.  Congratulations to Josef, he dominated. Absolutely destroyed everybody.  Would have loved to have made him sweat a little bit and fight it out with him like we have in the past. But today was just a miserable day for us.”

ALEXANDER ROSSI, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET-FINISHED 15TH:

ON HIS RACE:

”This was pretty much a lost weekend for us. With it being a doubleheader, double points, we needed to capitalize here, and it just didn’t happen. We were outside the window and just didn’t have the pace we needed to compete. We have a lot to look into before Nashville. We’re all hungry for more than what it showed this weekend.”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET-FINISHED 14^TH:

“Pretty strong two days for us. 15th yesterday; 14th today. Nine positions gained yesterday; 10 positions today. Yeah, overall car felt great. A lot more comfortable today with the car than yesterday. So we made some big improvements. We just got really unlucky with the yellows. I was the last person for Newgarden’s pass on both of those last yellows and I lost I lost laps because of that. Otherwise, just before that I was fighting with other cars and yeah, it was looking quite good. So a little bit annoying; luck wasn’t on our side at all that sort of stuff. But race was good. And we did the best job we could. I think it was it was promising. So big thanks to the team. Thanks for Chevy. Thanks, Pete are on board with us this weekend. On to Nashville.”

AGUSTIN CANAPINO, NO. 78 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET-FINISHED 26^TH:

“Unfortunately, I touched the wall when I picked up the marbles which is a shame because we were really good battling with guys at that moment. I think today we had a car that could have run in top-10, maybe more. So, thanks to my team for the work they always do. Today is learning for me. It was my mistake.”

PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

Josef Newgarden

Will Power

THE MODERATOR: Joined by Josef Newgarden as well, back with another victory here. Driving the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. Obviously sixth win here at Iowa. Fifth straight oval win, which ranks you up there with A.J. Foyt, 1964, the great Al Unser in ’68 and 1970. 29th career INDYCAR SERIES win now, which ties you with Rick Mears on the 13th all-time. Ain’t so bad.

First time the INDYCAR SERIES has had a double-header sweep since Scott Dixon did it in Toronto in 2013. You made it look easy leading 211 of the 250 laps, but I know it wasn’t. Your thoughts about another win here at Iowa?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: By no means easy. I think today was different. As we spoke about yesterday, I felt like today was going to have a different twist, and it did.

I think that’s why you saw the order slightly jumbled in the top ten. Just balance-wise with a hotter track you were getting different reactions from the car, and we needed to keep up with it.

I think the good thing is and the fortunate thing for us is that we have a really good baseline race car here. You know, it’s impossible to win around this place without a great car, and we always have it at this track. At least in recent memory we’ve always had it.

Yeah, it was great day. I feel really happy today. Yesterday felt incomplete. That’s the only way I can put it. When you have a double-header and you feel like you have a great car underneath you, finishing day one it just doesn’t feel finished. Today I feel like we’re done now. We can leave.

I’m much happier today, and really proud of the team. Excited for them. They deserve it. They put in a lot of work, and they deserve the results this weekend.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Josef Newgarden.

Q. You just said it was a different twist today. Does it mean the car was different than yesterday?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, the balance was different today. The tires were wearing out I think more aggressively, or let’s just say they were wearing quicker with the track temp elevated slightly more.

Balance was different. It was more difficult today to manage the front rear axle of the car relative to yesterday. Yesterday if you had one axle going off during the race, it stayed consistently sort of there. You can manipulate it on both ends of the car, but today it was both ends, and you could get yourself in a bad spot on either end of the race car today really quickly. It could flip stint to stint.

I think that’s what made it trickier, and that’s probably why you saw some people moving more today because it was easier to get it wrong, and you just had to be really on top of your tools to make sure that you didn’t let it get away from you.

Q. You talked about it a little bit in post-race on TV just about the satisfaction and relief almost of being able to get through this weekend and not being able to totally celebrate or appreciate yesterday’s win until today’s race was over with. What is that like after you got done talking to us going through your routine, going to bed last night? What emotions, what was that feeling like, that tension of not being able to be totally settled or happy with a great performance that you just had done?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I would say I just felt heightened. Similar to when you haven’t run a race on a normal weekend, you know, you are just heightened the night before.

I’m just focused. I’m focused on what’s going to be different. I watched probably four hours of video last night just figuring out what can be a little bit better, including the whole broadcast.

I just felt kind of on the chip just ready to go, like it’s just not done. It’s half of what the available points are, and so I felt really charged and ready to rock again.

But I wouldn’t say that’s different to a normal weekend. That’s how you feel leading up to a Sunday. So you get through Saturday, and you think, oh, what a great achievement, and it was, but it’s just not done yet. You can reverse everything the next day.

Now I feel good about it. We’re not reversing anything. We did the job, and now we can leave.

Q. Like winning pole on a Saturday, but not feeling like the weekend is totally done?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I think that’s a good way to put it. Winning the pole is a big deal. It helps. Very satisfying, but it’s kind of just half the battle.

I would say even the pole is less than that. It’s probably 25% of the battle. The wins are so much more. Yesterday truly only felt like 50% of the battle.

Q. Going into the final championship stretch of five races with four races on road and street courses. I know you’ve been a little bit up and down with one podium this year I think at Road America, a handful of top tens, but maybe not quite the strength or the consistency as Alex. What do you feel like you guys are going to have to get out of those last couple of races, and do you guys feel like you have that performance and the distance in the car to try and steal this one from him?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think that’s the unknown. We have been a little bit too up and down across the board. We’ve talked about this before.

It’s just, yeah, I don’t think we have the consistency that we want as a team. When you look at every track type, we’re probably bouncing up and down a little bit too much.

There’s no doubt that the ovals, particularly the race package has been very strong for us. It’s hard to complain about our race cars on ovals these days. They’re very, very good.

It’s a complex schedule on the way out. We’ve got to do street course, road course, oval, back to two road courses, and yeah, it is a question mark. We definitely have to elevate our game on where we’ve been the first half of the year. There’s no doubt.

I think that Alex and his crew, they’re in a really good spot. They’ve had what appears to be a pretty consistent program. We’ve got to elevate to their level and just execute.

You just never know what’s going to happen. I think if we can be excellent on the back half of the schedule, then anything is possible.

THE MODERATOR: I have an apology to Graham Rahal, who swept the Detroit double-header in 2017. I was thinking I blamed someone who wasn’t here. Anyway, kudos to Nathan on that one.

Q. You were saying about the four hours of video. What was that made up of? I guess you watched the race broadcast, and was it…

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Just whatever we have. Whatever we record I’m watching or listening to, yeah.

Q. You mentioned in recent memory the car has been good here. You had obviously won races before the Aero screens came in. Do you think there’s any characteristics that the Aero screens introduced into the car, and that’s why you’ve been so good in this period after this?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I wouldn’t say so. I think this is — I think Iowa has stayed so consistent over the last, let’s say, four, five years. It’s the same challenge every time we’re here.

It moves around a little bit, right, year to year depending on temp, track condition, tires. Tire was slightly different this year. There were small differences, but I think the broad equation or the overall problem that you’re trying to solve here has not changed.

I would say other tracks have changed dramatically with the Aero screen. This has not been one of them. The only thing is it’s wearing out more and more. Degradation is just higher every year, but the thing you have to figure out is just the same every year. You know, how do you get the thing consistent?

It doesn’t take much. Everybody is struggling with it. And if you just get fractionally more consistent than the competition, then it can make a massive difference here relative to another track.

Q. I know last year this day was not a good one or anyone around you would want to really think about it or remember it. But emotionally or just personally, does this win today feel — have you thought about that day last year and what this win might mean to kind of correct that a little bit and just what that feels like?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I’m happy it didn’t happen again. You know, it was — to just answer the question, no, I have not thought about it much. I didn’t think about it last year or think that, hey, I want to come here and right the wrong. It wasn’t that sort of situation.

When I think back to it, what pops out in my head is more the work that had to go into make sure they let me stay in the race car the next weekend. That’s what stands out to me.

Obviously the win-loss was disappointing too for many reasons, but I just remember that the week after that, it was a heck of a journey trying to make sure that we were in the car.

But, no, I wasn’t thinking about it. As far as this weekend, the only thing that stands out is that — we talked about it yesterday, but just any person that I talked to, they just assume. They just assume, oh, you’re going to have a great weekend.

I just stay very vigilant with that because there is going to be a year. It’s bound to happen. We’re going to show up here, and we’re not going to be very good.

That’s okay. I’m expecting that to happen. I want to be able to get on top of it when it does hit us, but yeah, that’s the challenge that I think of when I come here.

Q. I guess now you can leave the leather helmet at home that you wore at Indy last year. You whacked 18 more points off the lead. You’re down to 80. If somebody had said to you entering the weekend you can get points lead down to 80, or a deficit, I should say, how would you have felt about that? And five races to go, is it doable?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, I would take it. I don’t know about you, but that’s a positive result I think leaving the weekend.

I would have liked it to reach 50 or 60. That sound better, but that’s not where we’re at, and I think we did a pretty good job given what was in our control this weekend.

I mean, it’s hard not to give kudos to Alex. I think he just did a great job. Clearly we seem to have the upper hand this weekend, and he had a great day today. You know, he maximized what he could, and I think that speaks to what he brings to his program. He maximizes his results. He minimized a loss today. You know, it could have be more, and he just made sure it wasn’t.

He is a tremendous competitor. Did a great job. I wish we gained more, but I’m not going to be dissatisfied with where we brought it to.

Q. Josef, when I asked Alex and Will when they were in here earlier, they told me that in the pre-race meeting that you guys were told with ten to go if there’s a caution, pits would not open with the attempt to try to get a green flag finish at the end. Was that your same understanding, and did you know that, or did that come to mind when that yellow flag came out with ten to go?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah. Yeah, that’s how I understood it too. It seems to be the most fair way to — it’s such a short track.

To procedurally do all the things that they want to do, just to give second, third, and so on place a chance at the end on a restart, I don’t like that, but I think if you’re looking at it from a fairness standpoint, if you’re going to let everyone have pit stops, then you have to — okay, we do that, but then we also have to move all the lap cars.

I don’t think they have enough time on this length of the track. That’s the situation that happened in 2018, and we ran out — we thought we were going to go green, and we pitted, and we didn’t. We just ran out of time.

I think the only way they can really approach this stuff is get the lap cars out of the way, we will go to the restart, and not allow anybody to pit. It’s probably the fairest thing can you do.

I didn’t love it. I would have preferred to keep the lap cars in between. But looking at it from a competitor, I think it’s the fairest way they can approach it.

Q. We’ve had a couple more laps. Say everyone gets a chance to pit and puts on fresh tires, obviously you dominated the race up to that point. Do you feel like you still would have had the car underneath you with the adjustments that you had made and the adjustments some other cars up close to you had made to fend folks off at the end if that had been the circumstance?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: So difficult to say. I have no idea. I would like to think, yeah, we would have been just fine, but this race can change quickly.

The balance can get away from you really fast. I think we managed our balance perfectly at the time we needed to. We needed to do it for 250 laps. If it was longer, it was 300, maybe we would lose out to somebody else, but it’s impossible to say.

Q. Following up on the caution with ten to go — you’re smiling.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Caution with ten to go and I’m smiling?

Q. You’re smiling at me like I’m about to ask something —

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t know what you are about to ask. I’m very curious what you’re about to ask. You’re giving me that cheeky smile, like…

Q. Is the red flag not an option the way it is at the Indy 500 if there is a late caution like that?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely. I will say that procedurally this is what they said they were going to do. They also have the abandonment of procedures, so they could just do whatever they want; right?

I guess saying that, the red flag is the option. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. That’s definitely doable.

I don’t know in this type of — it’s hard to say. I’ll say this. Whatever they were going to do, I’m fine with it. We’ll race, and we’ll figure it out, and we’ll still try and win.

What they did today, we lived with it. I thought it was fair enough, but if they want to do it differently in the future, I’m all game for whatever anybody wants to do. Whatever is going to make everybody happy, that’s what we should be doing. Everybody, every person.

Q. The style of racing, did some of the offenders heed your advice today?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, but I think I probably made too much of a stink about it. I was worried about the reverse happening and it just getting worse. It didn’t get worse. It was the same situation as yesterday.

I knew that was probably going to be the case. Like I said yesterday, I was trying to be prepared today on what I could do within my control to manage it.

When you are out there and this stuff is happening, I can’t affect anybody else. The only thing I can do is just be more prepared, and I have felt more prepared today. I was ready for it, and whatever was coming my way, I was just going to handle it as it was.

Q. And your corn field comment after the race about buying a corn field, I mean, I know that they do grow corn in Tennessee, but not quite like in Iowa. But just the fact that this part of the country has done so well for you, and also, you came up driving go-karts at New Castle in Indiana in the Midwest. The whole midwestern thing really works for you.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Bruce, I’m here to invest; okay? I’m ready. I’m going to buy some corn fields. I’m going to start producing for the country and doing my part. It seems like the right thing to do at this point with all the years I’ve spent here. I agree with you.

I really like Iowa. It’s actually a great little place. It’s not super busy out here, but it feels like a big event this weekend is what I’ll say. I think Hy-Vee has done a tremendous job at making this a destination.

I like to say it’s the Field of Dreams of racing. It really is. It’s a cool place to come and visit and spend a weekend, and Hy-Vee has made it an event. So it’s only gotten better from the first time I’ve been here.

Yeah, I’m going to partner with — I’m not even going to say it. I’m going to get myself in trouble. But, yeah, maybe.

Q. To kind of differentiate this race from yesterday’s race, would you rather see it be 300 laps to where it’s a little bit different procedurally, or are you fine with it staying two 250s?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I don’t think that’s going to change the show. I almost think — gosh, I mean, whatever you say it’s going to be unpopular. I almost think you could put a little downforce on the cars again. I’ll just say it. I’ll say it.

I don’t want anyone to change it. I’m pretty happy with it the way it is, but if you really want to help the show, I think you put some more downforce back on the cars. It gets strung out pretty fast here, which is fun. I love it. As a race car driver, it’s a good formula. I would just put more horsepower, make them dig even more. That would be my request.

But if you are trying to appease people, you could probably put a little bit more downforce back on, close it up, and you would still get that degradation on the sort of back one-third of a stint, but just keep the group compressed a little bit longer into a stint is what I think we could do to maybe improve the show, if that’s what we’re looking to do.

Q. Or have one of them be a nice race?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I’m never against a night race. I would run every race as a night race if it was my decision.

Q. Before the race weekend, it was my impression a lot of talk about tire degradation. So how was the whole weekend summarized with the tire situation? Was it worse? Was it bad?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was slightly worse, yeah, for degradation. And by worse I don’t mean in a bad way. There just was more. I think naturally there was more.

Every year you come here and the track is a little bit older, you’re always going to experience slightly more. It wasn’t night and day different to last year. I would say it’s slightly more, but not night and day. Pretty similar race.

Q. (Off microphone).

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Oh, yeah, no, no, no. I mean, the tire is strong and structurally great. There’s nothing wrong with that.

When it wears out, you just run a little bit slower, but it was very similar it last year. I would say you just have a tiny year-over-year increase.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations. Josef Newgarden driving the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, now a six-time winner here at Iowa.

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon. Wrapping up today’s Hy-Vee One Step 250 here at Iowa Speedway, and for that matter the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend. Again, Josef Newgarden will join us momentarily as will third place finishing driver Alex Palou, but joined now by Will Power, driver of the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet.

Managing his best finish of the season with a second. It’s his fourth podium of the season, 98th of his career. Will, kind of a long weekend, but you made some points and a couple of good finishes there for you.

WILL POWER: Yeah, good weekend. Two poles, second. I feel like I had the car to really challenge at the end there.

We’re lucky to get the yellow. Probably should have pitted a couple of laps earlier. It probably would have put us in contention. Struggled the first two massively. Like, massively. Massively loose.

Yeah, once we fixed that, we were really strong again. That was really good. Yeah, good day, good day.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Will Power?

Q. You’ve been on rolls before in your career, but you know, tracks that are just Will Power tracks. Will Power is going to win this race, and everybody else is fighting for second. It seems lately Josef has this place figured out. Is it almost exasperating that no matter what you do, he just seems to be that much ahead of everybody?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it is. I obviously look at it very closely. I felt like we actually finally had it once we made those adjustments to run with him.

We came into pits with him, but I had to wait for X and to pit. It was just bad timing on our part to not pit a couple of laps early.

Obviously risks with that, but not much. Here you have a two-lap window to make a yellow.

Just ovals in general, he has won every single oval that he has finished in a long time now, yeah.

Q. Will, do you see him taking a page out of your playbook from last year in making the most of any day?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I think it’s a points lead that’s not completely comfortable. Pretty comfortable to take a bit more risk. Yeah, he has won a championship before. He knows that. He is going to do what he does, which is pretty good.

Q. Can I go back to Will? A question. You just said earlier a minute ago if I understood it correctly that the car was very loose, and it could be fixed. Was there already an indication today in the morning in warmup that the car was loose?

WILL POWER: There was an indication, and we didn’t do enough. Yeah, yeah, it’s nuts how the adjustment just of the front wing how it transformed the car from just horrible to extremely good.

Q. Was curious how it was communicated to you over the radio on those final ten laps and whether you were surprised that the leaders on the lead lap didn’t get a chance to go through pit lane to take tires or anything over that final ten laps of the race?

WILL POWER: You weren’t allowed to take — yeah, you weren’t allowed.

Q. I didn’t know if you guys would have been expecting the pits —

WILL POWER: To open? There weren’t enough laps left so I guess they were thinking. I think they said that in the driver meeting that with ten to go, they’re just going to — kind of it is what it is, which is quite interesting because it’s like — it would have been a big battle if it was new tires. A bit less with the old tires. Kind of close, but it still would have been a fun restart.

Q. Say this happened five laps early, so 15 to go, maybe more time to allow the pits to open and still get a restart, do either of you feel like you had a car to take to Josef on fresh tires with the adjustments you guys have made over the course of the race to challenge him for a win, or would it have still probably been the same or similar results?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I really did. I was right within that last stint going into the pit stop, and I had to wait for Ericsson to pit, so it was going to be interesting.

My car was very, very strong middle to end of stint. And at the beginning, yeah, I had a great restart. Went from I think sixth to third and then just hung back and saved tires and went again and went to second.

Yeah, that’s the first time I actually thought, yeah, I could probably challenge this guy. A little bit last year, yeah, and today. Not yesterday.

Q. Will, you mentioned the Ericsson pit stop. They held you while he went in. How heads-up was that and then to realize, hey, Ericsson is coming in, there are some people that have penalties for unsafe releases. Let’s keep him here and —

WILL POWER: I was watching my mirror because I saw them set up, and I knew that he would be coming, so I sat there watching. There was confusion on the radio that I was, like, not going to have one of these.

It sucks because you just watched three, four — almost three or four seconds tick by. A chunk of time. Like, he came out, and I could hardly see him. I came in the pits right on him, on Josef.

Yeah, that’s the gamble. I just thought we were in a position to take a big risk and pit way early because we’re not really in the championship. Just go for a win. But I’m not on the stand, so I don’t know the situation. I don’t think anyone had pitted at that point, but that would have given us clear in and out and the undercut.

CHEVROLET IN NHRAFLAV-R-PAC NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS PACIFIC RACEWAYS KENT, WASHINGTON TEAM CHEVY RACE REPORT JULY 23, 2023 JOHN FORCE RACING AND TEAM CHEVY FACE TOUGH NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS RACE DAY IN SEATTLE John Force raced to Round 2 after a bye in the first round, with his day ending early in the second when he was defeated by Chad Green.  Falling in Round 1, Robert Hight’s day ended prematurely after facing a defeat by Cruz Pedregon.Teammates Austin Prock and Brittany faced each other in Round 1 after qualifying No. 5 and No. 10 respectively.J. Force captured his first No. 1 qualifier of the 2023 season and 166th of his legendary career Saturday at the Northwest Nationals. KENT, Washington (July 23, 2023) – Heading into the 2023 Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals race day at Pacific Raceways, the Chevrolet nitro teams of John Force Racing faced a tough day and premature elimination. In what had been a hopeful and winning weekend in the Pacific Northwest unfortunately saw Brittany Force, driver of the Flav-R-Pack/Monster Energy Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster, as well as her father John Force, driver of the PEAK Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, eliminated in Round 2. Despite the early exit, B. Force did continue showing her team’s strength, setting the track speed record at Pacific Raceways during the weekend. “That first-round win was an outstanding run for this Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy team. We set the track speed record and ran low ET of the weekend. Our team worked really hard to turn things around after an uneventful two days of qualifying. Unfortunately, we went out the second round, but we know our error and we’ll improve it before we go to the next race,” Force said. “Overall, we were really excited to be out here representing Flav-R-Pac at their title race. It was awesome to see Flav-R-Pac splashed all over everywhere. I wish we could have done better but we’ll attempt to get the job done again next weekend in Sonoma.” Hopeful to visit the Winner’s Circle at day’s end, J. Force looked strong at the conclusion of qualifying Saturday by capturing his 166th career No. 1 qualifier with a run of 3.915 ET at 327.35 MPH. “Not the day we wanted. Couldn’t get the job done for Frank Tiegs at his Flav-R-Pac race. Really thought, after going No. 1 and after that first round in Top Fuel, we might have had it. Just not our day,” Force said. “This PEAK team, we’re doing good. We can hang with the rest of these teams, just need to find our consistency. We’ll pack up and head to the next one, try to get some rounds in Sonoma.” Facing Round 1 elimination, Robert Hight, driver of the Cornwell Tools/AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, fell to Cruz Pedregon after smoking the tires on his run. Austin Prock, driver of the Montana Brands/Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster, was knocked out by teammate B. Force after racing tightly to the finish line. The Chevrolet Top Fuel and Funny Car teams at John Force Racing in NHRA wrap up the Western Swing with the DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway in Sonoma, California July 28-30, 2023. Broadcast of Sunday’s eliminations will air live at 4 p.m. ET on FOX Sunday, July 30, 2023. WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:Austin Prock, driver of the Montana Brands/Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster for John Force Racing:“This Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team had a strong run today; we were just lined up against the wrong car. Drag racing is tough and humbling sometimes. We have a good hot rod right now, we just need some things to fall our way. On to Sonoma to give it another go.” Robert Hight, driver of the Cornwell Tools/AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car for John Force Racing:“Disappointing, but again, we get the opportunity to turn it around in just a couple days. I know this Cornwell Tools team was really hoping to get another Northwest Nationals Wally. Would have been nice to get it done for Frank Tiegs again at his title race after everything he’s done for John Force Racing. Hopefully we can turn it around and get into a groove starting in Sonoma next weekend.” Round 1 Recap:Top Fuel:No. 10 Brittany Force defeated teammate No. 5 Austin Prock with her 3.707 ET pass at 334.73 MPH to Prock’s 3.738 ET at 325.92 MPH.Funny Car:No. 1 John Force moved to Round 2 after seeing a bye in the first round.No. 4 Robert Hight fell to No. 11 Cruz Pedregon after he ran a 4.412 ET at 214.89 MPH to Pedregon’s 3.956 ET at 323.50 MPH. Round 2 Recap:Top Fuel:B. Force fell to Steve Torrence with her run of 8.811 ET at 70.93 MPH to his 3.752 ET at 328.78 MPH.Funny Car:J. Force fell to Chad Green with his run of 4.229 ET at 255.43 MPH to Green’s 3.979 ET at 319.52 MPH.

KENT, Wash. (July 23, 2023) – With Steve Torrence’s victory at Pacific Raceways today, Toyota Gazoo Racing North America has achieved a milestone in NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series competition – 200 event wins. 

Toyota has participated in NHRA, the largest auto racing organization in the world, since the 2002 with the first Toyota Celica Funny Car. Jerry Toliver delivered the first win for Toyota in March 2004 at the Winternationals at Pomona Dragway. Since then, Toyota has earned hundreds of victories across NHRA’s two nitro divisions – Top Fuel and Funny Car. Toyota has been an official partner with NHRA for nearly a decade – holding the Official Car of the NHRA title since 2014.

“We are honored to have achieved our 200th victory in NHRA competition,” said David Wilson, president, TRD. “Our NHRA teams constantly deliver for Toyota on and off the drag strip. Their hard work and tireless effort to succeed has allowed us to achieve this incredible milestone in our Toyota Racing history. We look forward to celebrating this achievement with them and continuing to work towards the season-long championship titles.”

Long-time Toyota driver Antron Brown holds the most Toyota victories with 56, while Larry Dixon (19), Shawn Langdon (17), Del Worsham (17), Cruz Pedregon (13), Morgan Lucas (12), Doug Kalitta (11), J.R. Todd (11) and Richie Crampton (10) all have scored 10 or more victories under the Toyota banner. Toyota drivers have earned 10 total championships, including Brown’s three Top Fuel titles (2012, 2015, 2016) and Top Fuel and Funny Car titles with Worsham. Toyota’s newest driver, Ron Capps, is the reigning Funny Car titlist.

Toyota’s current driver lineup – Justin Ashley, Brown, Capps, Alexis DeJoria, Kalitta, Langdon, Todd and Steve Torrence – have all scored victories with Toyota support.

NASCAR CUP SERIESPOCONO RACEWAYHIGHPOINT.COM 400TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORTJULY 22, 2023

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER7th      Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Blue Buffalo Camaro ZL19th      Erik Jones, No. 43 U.S. Air Force Camaro ZL110th    Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1  The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Richmond Raceway with the Cook Out 400 on Sunday, July 30, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 BLUE BUFFALO CAMARO ZL1Finished: 7thStenhouse Jr. on his top-10 finish at Pocono Raceway:“It was an up-and-down day for the No. 47 Blue Buffalo Chevy team. We didn’t have track position at the beginning. We got it there in the middle stages of the race, but just wasn’t good enough to keep it. The guys made some really good adjustments and we got better. The final stage when we ran long, we were running good lap times when we got clean air. We took two tires and that gave us really good track position for when the cautions came out. It was just about timing those restarts there at the end. We messed up every restart there at the beginning, and then nailed every one there at the end. All-in-all, it was a really strong day for our team.”  ERIK JONES, NO. 43 U.S. AIR FORCE CAMARO ZL1Finished: 9th Jones on his top-10 finish at Pocono Raceway: “It was a good day for the No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevy. I thought we had some good speed. We capitalized a lot on strategy and some opportunities to get up to the top there at the end. We had some restarts go our way and happy it played out for us. It was a good day and hope to keep improving.” Your team is trending in the right direction and your team is heading to your home track of Michigan International Speedway in a couple weeks. How does that feel knowing that you guys have it going in the right way with your last five races going pretty well overall?“Yeah, it’s exciting. You want to go to Michigan (International Speedway) and run well. We want to get through next weekend at Richmond (Raceway) and run well. It’s been a place where we’ve struggled the last couple of years with this car. But Michigan has been another one, historically, like Pocono (Raceway) that’s been good for us. We ran good there last year. Hopefully we can carry some speed and things we learned here that I think we can probably get better on our No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevy to go to a big track like Michigan. We’ll see how it plays out, but I’m happy with where we’ve been going.” What does this momentum mean for you and the No. 43 Chevy team? “It’s good. Obviously we wish we were fighting for that playoff spot – we’re in a must-win. But we need some more speed to get into a winning position on tracks like this. Daytona (International Speedway) is obviously going to be an opportunity, but we need another step going to a place like Michigan (International Speedway) coming up to contend for wins. We made big gains – we went from a 25th place team to a top-12 team, I’d say, right now. Just hope we can find a way to take that next step.”  NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 42 SUNSEEKER RESORTS CAMARO ZL1Finished: 22nd“Decent day for our No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevy team. Just lost too much on pit road and didn’t make good adjustments there at the end. It’s a step in the right direction, but we just need to be better. Disappointing, but we don’t have a mark on the car. We just need to be better.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in the Final Stage. Finished: 34thYou got caught up in an incident after having a great run today. We saw the displeasure with Tyler Reddick – what happened and what message were you trying to send him? “That I was mad. I don’t know – I heard (Dale Earnhardt) Jr.’s replay said that I came down a little bit. I felt like I was holding my own. He was at my left-rear going in there, and I knew we were three-wide. I think I’ve got the right to at least hold my lane. I’ve got to turn at some point to get down. Brad (Keselowski) was on my outside, maybe a half-lane up. But Tyler (Reddick) drove it in there, and obviously I feel like he drove it in there deep enough where he had to come up the track into me. We can look at the SMT and see the little fine movements that we make, but I felt like that was not the time to do that for the No. 45.  I hate it for the No. 3 BREZTRI Chevy team. We really sucked at the beginning of the race. We got the car much better and made some good strategy moves. But we just live to fight another day. It was a pretty rough hit.”  DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage Two. Finished: 36th Suarez on the accident that ended his day: “I don’t know – I got turned around on the right-rear on a very fast straightaway. Just lucky we didn’t get wrecked big time, but unfortunately we couldn’t continue anymore. But at the end of the day, it’s our fault. We shouldn’t be back there with those guys. We fought the balance of the car in the first stage. We lost a bunch of track position. We kind of got it back a little bit. I felt like once we got the balance, we were going to be able to drive the front. But we didn’t get the opportunity to and got wrecked before that.  It was a racing incident, but we shouldn’t be back there racing with those guys anyway.” How tough of a deal is this given the playoff situation? “Yeah, it’s not great; it’s not ideal. But I have to control what I can control, and I cannot control some of the other guys. Like I said, in my mind, we shouldn’t be racing back there. We had a car capable of running in the top-10, top-15 at least, and we were running in the 20s because we missed the balance of the car in the first stage. We just have to be better.” How frustrated are you at this point? “Definitely frustrated because I feel like we’re better than this. I’m frustrated also because I feel like guys are wrecking each other and I’m the one that ended up out of the race without being in their mess. But what are you going to do – sometimes you’re on the good end of it and sometimes you’re on the bad end of it. Unfortunately today, I was on the short end of it.”

KENT, WA (July 23, 2023) — Justin Ashley and the Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster powered by Okuma rolled into Pacific Raceways looking to build some momentum in the middle of the historic NHRA Western Swing. The Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals offered Ashley the chance to get back to sea level and more consistent racing conditions. After three rounds of qualifying Ashley headed in to race day as the No. 3 qualifier on the strength of his final qualifying pass. In the last session Ashley’s Phillips Connect Toyota dragster made the quickest run of the session and jumped the 2020 NHRA Rookie of the Year from the No. 7 spot to the No. 3 position and first round race with eight-time world champion Tony Schumacher.

Justin Ashley and Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster powered by Okuma takes out Tony Schumacher in first round, photo by Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery

 
In a monster match-up Ashley and Schumacher left the starting line together and it was the Phillips Connect dragster making the more powerful pass getting to the finish line in 3.740 seconds at 327.82 mph ahead of Schumacher’s 3.785 second run at 326.71 mph. The win propelled Ashley into the second round and race against Denver winner Clay Millican.
 
Millican and Ashley were each looking to keep a unique streak alive as they pulled up to the starting line. Every time each driver has advanced out of the first round of competition, excluding the four-wide national events, they have raced to the final round this season. Ashley held a four out of five wins record in finals and Millican was two for two.
 
Ashley, true to form as the best leaver in the category was first off of the starting line with a .057 reaction time and the Phillips Connect Toyota dragster powered by Okuma was flying to the finish. As Ashley closed in on the 1,000 marker the Goodyears slicks on his 11,000-horsepower dragster began to lose traction robbing the points leader of much needed momentum. The door was opened for Millican to get around him at the finish line for the win.
 
“It’s a tricky racetrack. Throughout the weekend a lot of cars, ourselves included, started to spin the tires down the racetrack and we tried to do everything we could to prevent that from happening,” said Ashley. “That’s just a part of racing. We obviously wanted to go out there and make it solid A to B run and give Clay a run for his money, but we came up a little short. Mike Green, Tommy DeLago and our team are the best in the business. We learned from it and we’ll move on to Sonoma.”

Justin Ashley and Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster powered by Okuma team, photo by Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery

 
The second race in two weeks takes its toll on all the teams but the experience has become more manageable for Ashley. This is the championship contender’s third swing and he is handling the grueling travel and back-to-back races much better.
 
“The swing is a different animal,” said Ashley. “You have three races in row on the West Coast, and now that I’ve done it a few times, I feel more comfortable myself and I know that we have plenty of guys who have done it multiple times before. This was a good event for our Phillips Connect team from our visit to Harbor Food Services on Friday to spending time with all our hospitality guests over the weekend.”
 
After the second round exit Ashley was back in his pits reviewing the run with his crew chiefs and helping his team prepare for the move down the coast to Sonoma. The fan-favorite driver was also spending time on the pit ropes signing autographs and posing for photos with his supportive fan base.
 
“It’s disappointing when you don’t win, but when you come back to the pits and you see kids, adults and NHRA fans waiting at the ropes for a picture or an autograph, it really puts things in perspective,” said Ashley. “I have a lot of gratitude, just to be able to live out a dream and do it with a team and marketing partners that are like family. It’s best to have a short memory in this sport and appreciate the opportunities that present themselves at the racetrack.”
 
The Phillips Connect Toyota team will be back in action Friday night at Sonoma Raceway with two qualifying sessions. On Saturday the team will get two more runs to try and secure their second No. 1 qualifier of the season. One Sunday Ashley will be chasing his fifth Top Fuel national event win of the season when eliminations begin at 10:30 a.m. PST. The race will be televised nationally on FOX.
 
Qualifying Results
Q1: 3.801 sec, 319.46 mph; Qual. 4
Q2: 3.842 sec; 310.98 mph; Qual. 7
Q3: 3.760 sec, 325.45 mph; Qual. 3
Bonus Points: +3 (quickest of Q3)
 
Race Results
 
First Round
Justin Ashley, Phillips Connect Toyota dragster powered by Okuma, (.048), 3.740, 327.82 mph def.Tony Schumacher, SCAG dragster, (.048), 3.785, 326.71 mph
 
Second Round
Clay Millican, Parts Plus/Rick Ware Racing dragster, (.079), 3.807, 316.82 mph def.  Justin Ashley, Phillips Connect Toyota dragster powered by Okuma, (.057), 3.973, 272.78 mph
 
Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Ten – Top Fuel
1. Steve Torrence       821
2. Justin Ashley          817
3. Leah Pruett             685
4. Brittany Force         684
5. Austin Prock            654
6. Doug Kalitta             637
7. Antron Brown         624
8. Mike Salinas           622
9. Josh Hart                 571
10. Clay Millican         568
 

KENT, Wash. (July 23, 2023) – Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster team will maintain their fourth-place points position after a quarterfinal exit at the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals Sunday at Pacific Raceways. John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy Camaro SS also had a quarterfinal exit while Robert Hight with the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevy Camaro SS and Ausitn Prock with the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist Chevy dragster exited in the first round. Entering the day as the No. 10 qualifiers, Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac team had an unfortunate first-round match-up with teammate Austin Prock. Force and Prock would put on quite the show with their side-by-side quickest pair of the weekend. The Flav-R-Pac team would take the win with a 3.707-second run at a track record 334.73 mph while Prock would handle the Montana Brand dragster to a stout 3.738 at 325.92. Force’s impressive showing in the first round landed her in a quarterfinal race against four-time champion Steve Torrence. The Flav-R-Pac machine would run into tire smoke around 60 feet, coasting to the finish line at 8.811 seconds and 70.93 mph. Torrence wouldn’t miss a beat with a 3.752 pass at 319.52. “That first-round win was an outstanding run for this Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy team. We set the track speed record and ran low ET of the weekend. Our team worked really hard to turn things around after an uneventful two days of qualifying. Unfortunately, we went out the second round, but we know our error and we’ll improve it before we go to the next race,” Force said. “Overall, we were really excited to be out here representing Flav-R-Pac at their title race. It was awesome to see Flav-R-Pac splashed all over everywhere. I wish we could have done better but we’ll attempt to get the job done again next weekend in Sonoma.” Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team, who entered the day as the No. 5 qualifiers, held onto their No. 5 points position after taking the first-round loss to Force. Their 3.738-second pass at 325.92 was the third-best ET of the round and coupled with Prock’s .067 reaction time would have beat anyone else in the round. “This Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team had a strong run today; we were just lined up against the wrong car. Drag racing is tough and humbling sometimes,” Prock said. “We have a good hot rod right now, we just need some things to fall our way. On to Sonoma to give it another go.” John Force and the PEAK Chevy started race day as the No. 1 qualifiers after they had a blistering Saturday evening pass. The efforts earned the 16-time champion a first-round bye. Force would handle the PEAK Camaro to a 3.952-second run at 323.89 mph to earn lane choice over his second-round opponent, Chad Green. Force would run into trouble in the quarterfinal matchup, crossing the finish line at only 4.229 seconds. “Not the day we wanted. Couldn’t get the job done for Frank Tiegs at his Flav-R-Pac race. Really thought, after going No. 1 and after that first round in Top Fuel, we might have had it. Just not our day,” Force said. “This PEAK team, we’re doing good. We can hang with the rest of these teams, just need to find our consistency. We’ll pack up and head to the next one, try to get some rounds in Sonoma.” Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools Chevy had their defense of the NHRA Northwest Nationals cut short in the first round. Hight started race day from the No. 4 qualifying spot, squaring up with Cruz Pedregon. The Cornwell Tools Camaro would haze the tires to go only 4.445 seconds at 214.89 mph, falling short of Pedregon’s 3.956 at 323.50. “Disappointing, but again, we get the opportunity to turn it around in just a couple days. I know this Cornwell Tools team was really hoping to get another Northwest Nationals Wally. Would have been nice to get it done for Frank Tiegs again at his title race after everything he’s done for John Force Racing,” Hight said. “Hopefully we can turn it around and get into a groove starting in Sonoma next weekend.” The final leg of the famed NHRA Western Swing kicks off next weekend, July 28-30, with the DENSO NHRA Sonoma Nationals at Sonoma Raceway. -30-

AUSTIN PROCK, 27, Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragsterQualifying:5th; 3.774-seconds; 323.27 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+1 (3rd quickest Q2) Race Results: Lost to Brittany ForceBRITTANY FORCE, 37, Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy dragsterQualifying:10th; 3.808-seconds; 319.22 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0 Race Results: Beat Austin Prock; Lost to Steve Torrence JOHN FORCE, 74, PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:2nd; 3.915-seconds; 327.35 mphBonus Qualifying Points: +5 (2nd quickest Q1; quickest Q3)Race Results: Bye; Lost to Chad GreenROBERT HIGHT, 53, Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:4th; 3.963-seconds; 320.81 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0 Race Results: Lost to Cruz Pedregon

Photo Credit: Gary Nastase, Auto Imagery

Unofficial NHRA Camping World Top Ten Points Standings TOP FUEL – 1. Steve Torrence, 821; 2. Justin Ashley, 817; 3. Leah Pruett, 685; 4. Brittany Force, Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy dragster, 684; 5. Austin Prock, Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist dragster, 654; 6. Doug Kalitta, 637; 7. Antron Brown, 624; 8. Mike Salinas, 622; 9. Josh Hart, 571; 10. Clay Millican, 568. FUNNY CAR – 1. Matt Hagan, 832; 2. Ron Capps, 815; 3. Alexis DeJoria, 712; 4. Robert Hight, Cornwell Tools/AAA Chevy Camaro SS, 703; 5. Chad Green, 702; 6. Tie, Bob Tasca III and Tim Wilkerson, 660 each; 8. John Force, PEAK Coolant and Antifreeze Chevy Camaro SS, 605; 9. J.R. Todd, 578; 10. Cruz Pedregon, 508.

 

KENT, WA (July 23, 2023) — Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster team moved from Denver to Seattle for the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals this weekend looking to build on his quarterfinal finish from last week. The 2023 Pep Boys Top Fuel Allstar Callout winner was returning to Pacific Raceways for the second time in his professional career. Through three rounds of qualifying Hart made two consistent passes and in the final session his R+L Carriers overpowered the track sending the rising Top Fuel star into eliminations as the No. 11 qualifier. His quickest run during qualifying was during the first pass on Saturday and he posted a 3.820 second run at 319.67 mph.

 
“We had three shots in qualifying and coming down from the mountain it took us a couple of runs to get squared away,” said Hart, who has two national event wins. “It was a little warm and our first run on Saturday was something we knew we could build on. The final session of qualifying we just missed it but (crew chief) Ron (Douglas) knew we could throw more at the track on race day.”
 
On race day Hart drew four-time world champion Steve Torrence in a No. 11 versus No. 4 qualifier battle. The fellow independent team owners and drivers have a mountain of respect for each other but that was put to the side when the helmets went on to start the Northwest Nationals. As the Christmas Tree fired Hart was first off the line and was side by side with Torrence as both dragsters flew down the track. As the finish line closed in Torrence was able to get the nose of his Capco Contractors dragster out in front of Hart’s R+L Carriers 12,000-horsepower land rocket.
 
As Hart and Torrence crossed the finish line the win light came on for Torrence and Hart was left with the satisfaction of a well-run race. His R+L Carriers Top Fuel machine made its quickest run of the weekend and showed the team it truly has the power to compete, posting a 3.750 second pass at a whopping 331.12 mph time.

Josh Hart with fans at Northwest Nationals, photo by Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery 

“Ron threw everything at the track and we really stepped up with a 3.75 second pass,” said Hart. “The biggest positive is we have a race car that can run with anyone. We just need to get one or two favorable match-ups. These R+L Carriers guys are working really hard and this weekend showed we can battle and keep our heads up.”
 
As the final race of the Western Swing loom next weekend at Sonoma Raceway Hart will look to that event as the beginning of his push to prepare for the Countdown. Four races stand between the championship contender and moving up in the Top Fuel point standings.
 
“This weekend we had a lot of R+L Carriers guests in our hospitality and we will have a good group in Sonoma,” said Hart. “Our job is to win rounds but we want to make sure our guests enjoy the experience. I was able to talk with a lot of guests all weekend and that helps with the sting of a short weekend. I am chasing my dream out here and we have a ton of support. We are going to go after it in Sonoma.”
 
Hart and the rest of the Top Fuel class will be on track on Friday with two qualifying sessions followed by two more qualifying sessions on Saturday. The quickest 16 Top Fuel dragsters will battle it out on Sunday with the race being broadcast on FOX nationally.
 
Qualifying Results
Q1: 3.915 sec, 308.21 mph; Qual. 8
Q2: 3.820 sec, 319.67 mph; Qual. 8
Q3: 4.492 sec, 173.25 mph; Qual. 11
Bonus Points: 0
 
Race Results
First Round
Steve Torrence, CAPCO Contractors dragster, (.084), 3.736, 328.38 mph def. Josh Hart, R+L Carriers dragster, (.0073), 3.750, 331.12 mph

Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Ten - Top Fuel
1. Steve Torrence       821
2. Justin Ashley           817
3. Leah Pruett             685
4. Brittany Force         684
5. Austin Prock            654
6. Doug Kalitta             637
7. Antron Brown         624
8. Mike Salinas           622
9. Josh Hart                571
10. Clay Millican         568
 

Event: Northwest Nationals, Pacific Raceways

Scrappers Racing Results:

·      Top Fuel – Mike Salinas – Round 2

·      Pro Stock Motorcycle – Jianna Evaristo – Round 1

Driver/Rider	Opponent	ET
Mike Salinas	Round 1 – BYERound 2 – Shawn Langdon	Round 1 – W. 3.786Round 2 – L. 4.772 vs. 3.792
Jianna Evaristo	Round 1 – Chase Van Sant	Round 1 – L. 6.822 vs. 6.799

KENT, Wash. (July 23, 2023) – Mike Salinas started the weekend in the Northwest strong by claiming the number one qualifier position during the second qualifying session early on Saturday afternoon. The Valley Services Top Fuel dragster posted a time of 3.743 seconds at 329.02 mph for the second number one qualifier for Scrappers Racing this season.

As race morning rolled around, Salinas would inherit a bye run in the first round due to his number one qualifier position. He posted another solid pass at 3.786 seconds even losing a cylinder in his nitro-powered motor on the run. That would give him lane choice over Shawn Langdon for round two, but Salinas had to lift down track and would lose to Langdon with a 4.772 to a 3.792.

“We went up there with the thought of running a smooth, clean, fast run,” said Salinas, following round two. “We have the bottom end of the track real good and we’re trying to ease into the top part and the track just wouldn’t hold what we were trying to give it, that’s all. I got him (Langdon) on the light and had him to a certain spot. We were ahead of him and the car started breaking loose so I had to lift and he went by.”

In the first appearance for Pro Stock Motorcycle at the Pacific Raceways, Jianna Evaristo qualified in the number eight position with a time of 6.848 seconds at 197.42 mph. Evaristo would pair up against Chase Van Sant in round one as NHRA’s ‘Marquee Matchup.’ While Evaristo posted her fastest time of the weekend with a 6.822 second pass, it wasn’t enough to advance to round two as Van Sant posted a time of 6.799 seconds.

The NHRA Championship Drag Racing Series will finish out their Western Swing next weekend at Sonoma Raceway in Northern California. The Scrappers Racing Top Fuel car with Salinas and the Pro Stock Motorcycle of Evaristo will begin the weekend with the first round of qualifying on Friday, July 28 at 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET.

MARION, IL (July 22, 2023) – One night after giving up the lead and a win in the final laps, Jade Avedisian sang a song of redemption in Southern Illinois Raceway Victory Lane – a winner with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota and the POWRi National Midget League for the second time this season.

The 16-year-old Californian was heartbroken Friday night after defending Xtreme Outlaw champion Zach Daum got around her for the lead coming to the white flag at Doe Run Raceway, forcing her to settle for a runner-up finish. She and the Keith Kunz Motorsports crew shook it off, regrouped, came back looking for vengeance on Saturday and got exactly that.

Avedisian started up front, took the lead on a late restart and drove it back home for her second Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series win of the season and fourth Xtreme Outlaw win of her career.

“Lately, we’ve been in the first few rows of every Feature and had a shot to win, and [either] I mess up or something goes wrong,” Avedisian said. “To finally get back into Victory Lane for the second time this year gives us a bit more momentum rolling into the next month of Xtreme racing.”

From fourth on the starting grid, Jade kept pace with the leaders through the first half of the 30-lap main event, not letting Kyle Jones or Taylor Reimer get too far out. With the final third of the race quickly approaching, Avedisian decided it was go-time and selected the top lane as her vehicle to get her moving toward the front.

“I just tried to drive it as hard as I possibly could,” Avedisian said. “I wasn’t sure in the beginning if it was going to work. I finally got up there, and I was assuming the few cars behind me were just trying to help me clean it off. It just kept getting faster and faster.”

The faster the top got, the more she gained on leader Jones. By the time the race’s only caution flew with 22 laps complete, Avedisian had shrunk Jones’ lead down to under a half-second from what was once almost two full seconds.

On the ensuing restart, Avedisian showed her hand in her bread-and-butter lane around the top.

“I saw [Jones’] crew guys telling him to go to the top, and I wasn’t sure if he was going to, and he ended up not,” Avedisian said. “He kinda left me on the restart, but luckily I had enough speed around the top.”

With a great run off Turn 2 and a sweeping line around Turns 3-4, Avedisian sailed around the outside of Jones to take the lead at the flag stand. Now in control in the final laps with a fast car, Avedisian hit the afterburners and drove away from the field, leading them back around to the checkers to bag the $4,000 grand prize.

Crossing the stripe in second was Zach Daum, who drove all the way up from 11th on the starting grid. Though his quest for four-straight victories with his new team at Trifecta Motorsports fell one spot short, Daum was still pleased with he and the car’s performance as he charged to the front in his signature bottom-hugging lane.

“I ran a couple laps on the top – I had to get around [Andrew] Felker, and I knew he was on the bottom and wasn’t leaving, so I couldn’t waste any time messing with him,” Daum said. “I moved around a little bit, but we were just so good on the bottom that I never really felt the need to move and abandon.”

With four-straight podium finishes and five top-fives in the last five Series events, Daum and the Trifecta squad have been working well together since their first pairing in the team’s flagship #7U car at the beginning of June.

“I feel like we’re all in a really good place,” Daum said. “Janky [Bobby Milliser] works his ass off, Staton and Steve [car owners] work their ass off. They’re in this to win races, win championships, be competitive, and it shows.

“We ain’t got the biggest rig in the pits, but we got everything we need to go race. And that’s the important part.”

Taylor Reimer crossed the stripe third from fourth on the starting grid, posting back-to-back top-five finishes for the first time on the 2023 Xtreme Outlaw trail. After a slow start to the 2023 season, she’s picked up her average start and average finish and said she feels she’s been improving.

“I feel a little bit more confident; I think I was just a little down on myself,” Reimer said. “At the beginning of the year, we weren’t performing as well as we should’ve been.

“The past couple of weeks, on my down time, I’ve been trying to stay focused – watching film, going to sim when I can. Just trying to keep my head down and grind it out.”

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota gets back into action in less than a week’s time, starting up a three-day race weekend next Friday-Sunday, July 28-30 at Ohio Valley Speedway (WV), Atomic Speedway (OH) and Brushcreek Motorsports Complex (OH).

Tickets for all three events will be on sale at the gate. If you can’t be there in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 71-Jade Avedisian[4]; 2. 7U-Zach Daum[11]; 3. 25K-Taylor Reimer[3]; 4. 16-Kyle Jones[1]; 5. 08-Cannon McIntosh[15]; 6. 26R-Corbin Rueschenberg[5]; 7. 40-Chase McDermand[6]; 8. 58-Daniel Whitley[7]; 9. 11A-Andrew Felker[2]; 10. 97-Gavin Miller[13]; 11. 21K-Karter Sarff[16]; 12. 97K-Cooper Williams[9]; 13. 1K-Brayton Lynch[12]; 14. 56-Mitchell Davis[20]; 15. 31K-Jaxton Wiggs[14]; 16. 26-Chance Crum[17]; 17. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[8]; 18. 44-Branigan Roark[10]; 19. 17B-Austin Barnhill[18]; 20. 08K-Brody Wake[19]

BRANDON, SD (July 22, 2023) – Brandon Sheppard held off challenges from both Bobby Pierce and Hudson O’Neal to win his second career Silver Dollar Nationals – Presented by MyRacePass on Saturday night at Huset’s Speedway. The box score will show that Sheppard led all 80 laps, but it was far from easy as he took home $53,000 for his second Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season. Pierce, who started eighth finished second to Sheppard with O’Neal coming home in third. The current Big River Steel Chase for the Championship – Presented by MyRacePass points leader Ricky Thornton Jr. charged from his 16th starting spot to place fourth. Tyler Erb came from 12th to round out the top five. Sheppard, who won the Silver Dollar Nationals when it was at I-80 Speedway in 2020 dueled with Pierce and O’Neal for most of the last half of the race, withstood every attempt by those two competitors to come home with the victory. “Man, them guys were making it hard on me for sure. The track it was awesome. It was treacherous out there. I was tight about halfway thru the race thru three and four and they had me messed up and a little bit worried. Once I moved to the top in one and two I kind of started slowing down my entry into three and four and that helped me out a bunch then all the lapped cars were on the bottom, so I just committed myself to the top for the rest of the race. I got a smooth rhythm going and I was just able to hold them guys off.  Bobby and Hudson have been really tough this year, we’ve had our ups and downs all year long. Our win column isn’t as good as we would have liked it to be,” said the 30-year-old New Berlin, Illinois resident. “This one means a lot to me. I won it with the Rocket House Car a couple of years ago and to do it at a new racetrack, it’s a short track. We were battling hard there and that’s what you get when you run short tracks. This place is awesome. We battled a lot with Mother Nature this weekend, but the track guys did a phenomenal job on the track the whole time. It got a little one lane the first night, but you will have that occasionally. Like I said hats off to the track crew.” Pierce, who just a few weeks ago won the $50,000 NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 at Deer Creek Speedway took several shots at Sheppard but could not duplicate the ending where he beat O’Neal to the finish at Deer Creek. “I wish I would have tried the bottom sooner. I just couldn’t make that run on him so I was hoping for some lapped cars to hold him up and maybe I could cross him [Sheppard] over. That was a heck of a race to come from eighth like that. We were on the move pretty quick in the race. I don’t how he [Sheppard] fit around me there in turn four that one lap, that was nuts. I had the slider basically cleared and he just got around and that won him the race so congrats to him on that. He drove a heck of a race.” O’Neal rounded out the Big River Steel Podium with his third-place finish. “That was brutal up around the that cushion, it wasn’t brutal for the race cars, man it was on us. I was dead about the last ten laps. Man, it was a good race me, Shepp and Bobby, I think you could have thrown a blanket over us the last 30 or 40 laps or whatever it was. I thought it was a great race. There was sometimes where I thought we were going to have a shot I got a good restart on the last one and I was able to kind of sneak under Shepp for a minute, but I just couldn’t quite get clear of him, and Bobby played it good and got back by me.” The winner’s Sheppard-Riggs Racing, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by True Timber Camo, Valvoline, Paulson Rock Products, Dennis G. Woodworth Attorney-at-Law, Wyld Gear, Riggs Drilling Solutions, Sheppard Auto Sales and Salvage, Sunoco Race Fuels, and Bilstein Shocks. Completing the top ten were Tim McCreadie, Chase Junghans, Kyle Bronson, Jonathan Davenport, and Devin Moran. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary 13th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals Presented by MyRacePassSaturday, July 22, 2023Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, SD Penske Shocks Round #1 – Heat Race #1 Finish (11 Laps): 1. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 2. 99B-Boom Briggs[1]; 3. 14M-Morgan Bagley[4]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[9]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[7]; 6. 8-Dillon McCowan[6]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[3]; 8. 11-Spencer Hughes[2]; 9. 10W-Junior Coover[8]Summit Racing Products Round #1 – Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps): 1. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[2]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 4. 157-Mike Marlar[4]; 5. 111B-Max Blair[6]; 6. 99-Devin Moran[7]; 7. 24-Bill Leighton[5]; 8. 66C-Matt Cosner[8] Simpson Race Products Round #1 – Heat Race #3 (10 Laps): 1. 25C-Shane Clanton[1]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[2]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton[5]; 5. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 6. 58-Garrett Alberson[7]; 7. 25-Chad Simpson[4]; 8. 07-Ben Sukup[8] AP1 Insurance Round #1 – Heat Race #4 (10 Laps): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 18-Chase Junghans[2]; 3. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[6]; 5. 39-Tim McCreadie[7]; 6. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[3]; 7. 14J-Jake Neal[8]; 8. 6-Al Humphrey[5] Penske Shocks Round #2 – Heat Race #1 Finish (11 Laps): 1. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 4. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[4]; 5. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[5]; 6. 1T-Tyler Erb[7]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 8. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 9. (DNS) 6-Al Humphrey Summit Racing Products Round #2 – Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 2. 111B-Max Blair[3]; 3. 25C-Shane Clanton[8]; 4. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[7]; 5. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[5]; 6. 14J-Jake Neal[1]; 7. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]; 8. 10W-Junior Coover[2] Simpson Race Products Round #2 – Heat Race #3 (10 Laps): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 2. 16-Tyler Bruening[3]; 3. 25-Chad Simpson[5]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[7]; 5. 07-Ben Sukup[1]; 6. 24-Bill Leighton[4]; 7. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[6]; 8. 18D-Daulton Wilson[8] AP1 Insurance Round #2 – Heat Race #4 (10 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[6]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 4. 66C-Matt Cosner[1]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar[5]; 6. 18-Chase Junghans[7]; 7. 8-Dillon McCowan[4]; 8. 11-Spencer Hughes[8] Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 25-Chad Simpson[2]; 3. 7-Ross Robinson[3]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[4]; 5. 66C-Matt Cosner[5]; 6. 8-Dillon McCowan[6]; 7. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[7]; 8. 11-Spencer Hughes[8]; 9. 6-Al Humphrey[9] UNOH B-Main Race #2 (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 4. 14M-Morgan Bagley[2]; 5. 14J-Jake Neal[5]; 6. 07-Ben Sukup[7]; 7. 10W-Junior Coover[8]; 8. (DNS) 24-Bill Leighton Non-Qualifiers Race (10 Laps): 1. 66C-Matt Cosner[1]; 2. 14M-Morgan Bagley[2]; 3. 8-Dillon McCowan[3]; 4. 14J-Jake Neal[4]; 5. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[5]; 6. 6-Al Humphrey[7]; 7. 07-Ben Sukup[6]; 8. 10W-Junior Coover[8] 13th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals Presented by MyRacePass Feature Finish (80 Laps):

Race Statistics Entrants: 33Terminal Maintenance & Construction Pole Sitter: Brandon SheppardLap Leaders: Brandon Sheppard (Laps 1-80)Wieland Feature Winner: Brandon SheppardArizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: Brandon SheppardBrandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: Brandon Sheppard Margin of Victory: 0.326 secondsGorsuch Performance Solutions Cautions: Debris (Lap 16); Daulton Wilson (Lap 37); Ross Robinson (Lap 42); Ross Robinson (Lap 46)Series Provisionals: Spencer Hughes; Boom BriggsFast Time Provisional: n/aSeries Emergency Provisionals: n/aTrack Provisional: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Brandon Sheppard, Bobby Pierce, Hudson O’NealPenske Shocks Top 5: Brandon Sheppard, Bobby Pierce, Hudson O’Neal, Ricky Thornton, Jr, Tyler ErbTodd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Kyle Bronson (Advanced 14 Positions)Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Chase JunghansDeatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Mike MarlarEarnhardt Technologies Most Laps Led: Brandon Sheppard (80 Laps)Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Brandon SheppardMidwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Max BlairEtchberger Trucking Fastest Lap of the Race: Brandon Sheppard (Lap 3 – 13.081 seconds)MD3 Tough Break of the Race: Brandon OvertonOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Corey Richman (Brandon Sheppard)ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Ricky Thornton, Jr. (12.561 seconds)Time of Race: 29 minutes 43 seconds The Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:

Abreu survives a challenge from David Gravel for his first win at the historic racetrackMECHANICSBURG, PA (July 22, 2023) – Not often do the Pennsylvania Posse fans embrace an outsider like one of their own. But not all outsiders are as beloved as Rico Abreu.When Abreu stopped in front of the famed Beer Hill in Turn 3 after winning Saturday at Mechanicsburg, PA’s Williams Grove Speedway, the passionate fans cheered as if PA is listed next to his name instead of CA in the home state column. As he climbed the fence in front of them, the noise elevated from cheers to a roar.The St. Helena, CA native led all 30 laps of the Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals finale, holding off a late David Gravel charge to collect a victory representing neither the World of Outlaws or PA Posse, but the Invaders. A $20,000 paycheck awaited Abreu for his efforts.Abreu’s visit to Victory Lane was his fourth of 2023 with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars. It also marked his first career triumph at Williams Grove, making him the 53rd different driver to win at the half mile with The Greatest Show on Dirt. The 31-year-old has now won twice as an Invader in PA this year after topping Lincoln’s Spring Showdown race back in March.For Abreu, the night marked yet another testament to the vast strides he’s made in 2023 as he continues what’s been an amazing season.“That was really intense there at the end. It’s really hard to judge your pace. I really wasn’t catching traffic,” Abreu said. “I’m just thankful for this team. Everybody does an unbelievable job making the right decisions. The Dash Draw was really important tonight for us and the way the circumstances laid out in the race. I’m wore out from climbing the fence back there.“This has been a really special racetrack to me. A very difficult racetrack as a race car driver coming from the west coast out here. Just totally different driving styles. It’s taken me a few years to really conquer this place and put a team behind me that developed me into a mature enough driver to be successful here. We haven’t ran out of the top five, I think, with Ricky (Warner, crew chief) here. It just shows how important your team is.”As Abreu noted, the Dash Draw positioned him favorably as drawing the one lined him up first for the Toyota Racing Dash that he won to earn the pole of the Feature. The best starting spot in the field allowed him to pull ahead at the drop of the green flag.Behind Abreu, Spencer Bayston held second while David Gravel and Brent Marks commenced a war for third. The two traded sliders and crossovers and even a little contact until Gravel finally secured the spot.Only a few laps later, Gravel pulled up to the tail tank of Bayston to begin a battle for the runner-up position. On lap 12, Gravel ripped the cushion in Turns 1 and 2 to roll around Bayston. With Bayston unable to answer his move, Gravel put Abreu in the crosshairs.Up front, Abreu worked smoothly through traffic as the race moved beyond halfway. Gravel steadily began to inch toward the top spot. While Abreu favored the bottom line around both ends of the paperclip-shaped track, Gravel opted for the top in Turns 1 and 2. Hitting the cushion perfectly allowed him to chip away at the lead until he was only a few car lengths back.“I knew Gravel was pressuring me there the whole race,” Abreu noted. “You have to be very disciplined as a race car driver when you get put in those circumstances. You know there’s pressure and you get out of the groove and you lose a pass and that’s the race winning move.”Once Gravel got close with less than 10 laps to go, it was as if he hit an invisible wall. Suddenly, the Big Game Motorsports #2 couldn’t close as Abreu continued to roll the bottom. Then one small mistake from Abreu nearly cost him the race. Exiting Turn 4 coming to three laps remaining, Abreu narrowly missed the grip, helping Gravel get a massive run. He peeked to Abreu’s outside heading down the front straightaway but wasn’t able to nose ahead entering Turn 1.That move proved to be the final challenge as Abreu went on to cross the finish line with a little over a half a second advantage.“I know my family is at home watching,” Abreu said. “And I know how much it means to them to be able to see us have success and the investment and time it takes to get a team to the elite level like this to compete against the World of Outlaws and Pennsylvania Posse. They’re all here this weekend.”As for the celebration on Beer Hill? It was something he’d been planning for a while.“I watched Fred Rahmer do it when he won the National Open, and I had a lot of respect for that,” Abreu said. “I’ve always said if I ever were to win a race here, I was going to make sure to stop over there. Those race fans don’t get a whole lot of love when it comes to Victory Lane, so it was important to me to stop over there and try to rowdy them up.”Gravel came home second for his 14th top five in the last 16 races and 23rd podium of the season. The Watertown, CT native felt that timing wasn’t his friend. Whether it was his preferred line going away when he neared Abreu or the checkered flag flying right when he thought another opportunity to take the lead was coming together, time wasn’t on his side.“I found the bottom early in (Turns) 3 and 4, and Rico was running high then he moved down at the right time,” Gravel said. “Then I found the top of (Turns) 1 and 2, and he didn’t, but that top got so far around and the bottom started cleaning up. I knew every lap the bottom was going to get faster and faster, so I knew I had to try really hard to get him as soon as possible. I got to his rear bumper here on the front stretch and did all I could and let it all out there… I wish it was like five more laps because if he got a little closer to lapped traffic in (Turns) 1 and 2, I think I would’ve had a little bit better shot on that last lap.”Bringing home the final podium spot was the PA Posse’s leading representative – Brent Marks. The Myerstown, PA driver was happy with he and his Murray-Marks team’s performance in the main event and thought he could’ve finished a spot better had a couple things fallen his way.“We had a really good car there the last half,” Marks said. “I ran those guys down. I was really hoping David would keep running the top down in (Turns) 1 and 2. It just felt like I could’ve squeezed by him there, but I guess he felt like he was losing some ground and moved down to the bottom there for the last few laps. On the last lap he tried another one around the top, and I was hoping I could get a run off of (Turn) 2 to squeeze by him to get to second but just wasn’t able to do it.”Spencer Bayston and Justin Peck completed the top five.Gravel’s runner-up coupled with Brad Sweet finishing eighth tied the two at the top of the championship standings as they continue their competitive title fight.Carson Macedo picked up the KSE Racing Hard Charger with a run from 21st to 14th. Macedo also topped the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.In Low-E Insulation Qualifying, Brad Sweet netted his first Simpson Performance Products QuickTime of the season and the 70th of his career.CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One also went to Sweet (227th Heat Race win of career). NOS Energy Drink Heats Two through Four were claimed by Justin Peck (eighth of career), Spencer Bayston (18th of career), and James McFadden (42nd of career).UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make their one trip to New York in 2023 as they invade Weedsport Speedway for the Empire State Challenge (July 29-30). The final night will serve as another “Summer of Money” stop with $20,000 going to the winner. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the action on DIRTVision.RESULTS:NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[1]; 2. 2-David Gravel[3]; 3. 19-Brent Marks[6]; 4. 5-Spencer Bayston[2]; 5. 13-Justin Peck[8]; 6. 83-James McFadden[5]; 7. 11-Cory Eliason[4]; 8. 49-Brad Sweet[7]; 9. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 10. 8-Freddie Rahmer[11]; 11. 1S-Logan Schuchart[9]; 12. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[15]; 13. 17B-Steve Buckwalter[16]; 14. 41-Carson Macedo[21]; 15. 44-Dylan Norris[13]; 16. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[12]; 17. 67-Justin Whittall[17]; 18. 2D-Chase Dietz[24]; 19. 69K-Lance Dewease[22]; 20. 99M-Kyle Moody[14]; 21. 11T-TJ Stutts[19]; 22. 48-Danny Dietrich[26]; 23. 5E-Brandon Rahmer[20]; 24. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[18]; 25. 7S-Robbie Price[23]; 26. (DNF) 23-Devon Borden[27]; 27. (DNF) 6-Bill Rose[25]

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 22, 2023) – Rising star Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) claimed a cathartic victory in the Drag Specialties Bridgeport Half-Mile as Progressive American Flat Track, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing, made an unforgettable debut at Bridgeport Speedway in Swedesboro, New Jersey. Daniels’ triumph came by a scant 0.095 seconds over his Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle title rival, Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle/Rogers Racing/SDI Racing FTR750), with JD Beach (No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT), Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing Indian FTR750), and Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750) all in contention for a win. The victory couldn’t have been better timed for the Estenson Racing ace, as he simultaneously halted Mees’ momentum and reclaimed the title lead, if only by two points (280-278). The outcome was arguably even more important for his psyche after he’d wound up second in a series of prior head-to-head matchups with the legendary rider. Mees, who controlled the middle portion of the race after getting past early leader Beach, was unable to drop the pack the way he did last time out. That’s in part due to the fact that Beach, Daniels, and Fisher – all desperate to prevent that escape from transpiring – continued to attempt to slide underneath Mees. Those attempts would occasionally see a rider other than Mees sneak into first momentarily but never in a way that the lead change stuck. That is until Daniels worked out a high line that allowed him to roll through the corners and power down the straights. That line eventually allowed him to storm past Mees and immediately open a small advantage. But the cagey Mees adapted and closed back in for one last strike. That came in the race’s final corner, where the champ attempted a slide up on the leader’s flank, but Daniels kept it pinned and held Mees at bay by just fractions of a second at the line. The win was Daniels’ first-ever Half-Mile triumph in the premier class, moving him to within a TT win of the Grand Slam. It also saw him up his season-long podium streak to 13 in the process. “It’s been one heckuva year,” a jubilant Daniels said. “These Half-Miles are kind of the kryptonite for the Yamaha and for me on a twin. I remember on the 450, I won like six Half-Miles in a row in 2020, but when I got on a twin, it was kind of difficult. “Jared has just been kicking our butt. He won every Mile and almost all the Half-Miles. This is his forte right here. I had to reach back and grab that one. I was so nervous. That top – you’ve really got to roll it. It’s all about momentum. For a couple laps, I was just trying to get in the lead so I could do it. I knew once I cleared their front, I could roll. It just feels so good. It’s so awesome.” Beach, Fisher, and Robinson finished third through fifth, respectively, with Briar Bauman (No. 3 Parts Plus/Jacob Companies KTM 790 Duke) leading the second half of the top-ten in sixth. Jarod Vanderkooi (No. 20 JMC Motorsports/Fairway Ford Indian FTR750) came home in seventh, followed by Henry Wiles (No. 17 BriggsAuto.com/Martin Trucking Indian FTR750), Ben Lowe (No. 25 Rackley Racing/Mission Foods Indian FTR750), and Cameron Smith (No. 34 Martin Trucking/Fredericktown Yamaha MT-07). Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER Tom Drane (No. 59 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F) continued the torrid start to his Progressive AFT career, scoring a third Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER victory in just 14 attempts. After dominating his heat and Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda Challenge, the young Aussie came into the Main Event as the strong favorite to end the evening atop the box. And while that ultimately proved true, he had to earn it. Drane found himself mired in fifth following a less than ideal opening lap. He then had to work to erase the gap and systematically fight his way through Jared Lowe (No. 63 Mission Foods/Helmet House Honda CRF450R), Chad Cose (No. 49 1st Impressions Race Team/Husqvarna Racing FC450), and Chase Saathoff (No. 88 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R) before finally shifting his sights to the race-long leader. That happened to be his teammate, Trevor Brunner (No. 21 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F), who had pulled more than a second on the field in his bid to secure a first win of the season. Drane pushed Brunner’s hope back at least another weekend. He reeled in his Estenson Racing stablemate and then threw a series of slide jobs at him before finally overhauling him in a pass that saw the two make contact mid-corner. Once out front, the Drane freight train continued full steam ahead and he took the checkered flag with nearly a second in hand. Drane said, “I was just working the whole race, trying to catch up. And then right towards the end I got close enough to make the move – I didn’t mean to run into him, but that’s just racing. I can’t thank the whole team for all the work they put in throughout the day. Their work makes this all possible. I’m going to keep it going, keep the confidence up, and go into the next race just like this one.” Max Whale (No. 18 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-F) made it two Aussies in the top three, finishing off his charge up from seventh with a last-corner overtake of Saathoff to steal away the final spot on the podium. Trent Lowe (No. 48 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R) executed an impressive climb of his own, battling his way from the LCQ and an early 13th-place position to round out the top five. Lowe’s run up through the field came at the expense of reigning class champion Kody Kopp (No. 1 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-F), who was a tick off his usual form most of the night. The Red Bull KTM star finished sixth after winning the previous three races. But despite the minor dip in form, Kopp still boasts a commanding championship lead, which now stands at 45 points (255-210) over Saathoff. Brunner is a close third with 208 points, while the surging Drane has closed to within striking distance of second as well at 207. Next Up: The stars of Progressive American Flat Track will now tackle one of the most renowned races in two-wheel motorsport with this year’s edition of the famed SC2 Peoria TT at the Peoria Motorcycle Club in Peoria, Illinois, on Sunday, July 30. Visit https://www.tixr.com/groups/peoriamotorcycleclub/events/peoria-tt-60731 to reserve your seats today. For those that can’t catch the live action from the circuit, FansChoice.tv is the live streaming home of Progressive AFT. Sign up now and catch every second of on-track action starting with Practice & Qualifying and ending with the Victory Podium at the end of the night at https://www.fanschoice.tv.

KENT, Wash. (July 22, 2023) – John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS team rallied to their first No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday at the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways. Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevy Camaro SS team will start from No. 4 while in Top Fuel, Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team are No. 5 and Brittany Force with Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy are No. 10. John Force and the PEAK Chevy team started day two of qualifying at the Northwest Nationals from the No. 2 spot. They had a solid pass to start Saturday’s qualifying with Force handling the PEAK Chevy to a 4.041-second pass at 318.92 mph. Force would take over the No. 1 spot in the final session by a landslide with a 3.915 pass at 327.35. The No. 2 qualifier only had a 3.961. With the No. 1 start, he’s earned a bye in the first round of eliminations.   “My crew chief, Danny Hood, does a great job, he’s got Tim Fabrisi to back him up and a great bunch of guys that really support me. We got a race to win tomorrow. Our team cars are good, some are a little bit off. Some are hot, I didn’t think we’d be that fast. Danny said, ‘Hang on.’ When he does that, I know he’s pushing it. I’m excited. Some days you get beat up and you feel like everything is going wrong. Then you run like that and you feel young again. That’s pathetic, but that’s the way it works,” Force said. “I love Seattle. They’ve made a lot of improvements up here and invested a lot. The fans showed up today. Yesterday was light but we had them here today and I want us to do it again tomorrow. Let’s keep Frank Tiegs, who loves it, sponsoring this thing. Let’s do it again tomorrow, let’s have a safe race and an exciting end to the weekend.” It is Force’s seventh No. 1 at Pacific Raceways and 166th in his career. It is his first No. 1 qualifying position since September 2022, when he took the No. 1 spot at the NHRA Carolina Nationals in Charlotte.   Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools team consistently improved during their three qualifying efforts. With a 4.028 on Friday night, they jumped to a 4.006-second pass at 323.66 mph on Saturday afternoon and then broke into the three-second range with a solid 3.963 at 320.81 mph that ultimately earned them the No. 4 qualifying position and a date with long-time rival Cruz Pedregon in the first round. “Feels good to have improved each session. Jimmy Prock and this Cornwell Tools team, they learned from each run, and it showed so it has me excited for race day,” Hight said. “We need some consistency; we need to go some rounds. It’s coming together, and it’s good timing. SO we’ll just see how tomorrow goes. Would love to get a back-to-back win here for Frank Tiegs and Flav-R-Pac and celebrate in the winners circle with our partners at Cornwell Tools too.” Austin Prock and the Montana brand team were consistent through qualifying at the Northwest Nationals. After a 3.808-second run on Friday evening, Prock handled the Montana Brand dragster to a 3.774-second pass at 323.27 mph Saturday afternoon and then a 3.818 at 315.56. Prock’s efforts landed him the No. 5 qualifying spot but an unfortunate matchup with teammate Brittany Force in the first round. “This Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team made some progress today. We had a really nice pass in the second session this afternoon, but we dropped a cylinder in the final session and couldn’t improve,” Prock said. “All in all, a good day. I’m looking forward to the greatest day of the week, Sunday.” Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac team had nothing but room for improvement entering the day without having made a full pass on Friday night. They’d put together a 3.808-second pass at 319.22 mph on Saturday afternoon before having to shut off early in the final session for only a 4.042 at 221.63. As the No. 10 qualifiers, they’ll take on their teammate Austin Prock in the first round. “I’m excited to be here a the Flav-R-Pac Northwest Nationals. We qualified in a tough position No. 10 and right out of the box we face teammate Austin Prock in the first round,” Force said. “It’s unfortunate. That’s drag racing for you though. We’re both going to battle it out. At least one of us is going to the second round to make Frank Tiegs and all of Flav-R-Pac happy. This Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy team is looking for a long day, we need to turn our luck around after two tough days of qualifying and get this win.” The Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways continues with eliminations Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Television coverage of the event continues with a second qualifying show Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations will be aired Sunday at 4:00 p.m. ET on FOX Broadcasting Network. -30-

AUSTIN PROCK, 27, Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragsterQualifying:5th; 3.774-seconds; 323.27 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+1 (3rd quickest Q2) BRITTANY FORCE, 37, Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy dragsterQualifying:10th; 3.808-seconds; 319.22 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0 JOHN FORCE, 74, PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:2nd; 3.915-seconds; 327.35 mphBonus Qualifying Points: +5 (2nd quickest Q1; quickest Q3)ROBERT HIGHT, 53, Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:4th; 3.963-seconds; 320.81 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0

Event: Northwest Nationals, Pacific Raceways

Scrappers Racing Results:

·      Top Fuel – Mike Salinas – No. 1 Qualifier – 3.743, 329.02 mph

·      Pro Stock Motorcycle – Jianna Evaristo – No. 8 Qualifier – 6.848, 197.42 mph

KENT, Wash. (July 22, 2023) – Mike Salinas drove his Valley Services Top Fuel dragster to the number one qualifier position during the second round of qualifying on Saturday afternoon. Salinas posted a time of 3.743 seconds at 329.02 mph and the time held through the third and final session later in the afternoon.

For Salinas, the achievement marks his second number one qualifier of 2023 with his first coming at Route 66 Raceway near Chicago. It was also his 13th career number one qualifier. For Salinas and his Scrappers Racing team, there has been a lot of effort behind-the-scenes to learn about the car and make some adjustments before heading into the Countdown and with today’s results, the team believes those learnings are starting to pay dividends.

“Basically,  what we did was exactly what Steve Torrence did last year, we just didn’t share it with anybody,” said Salinas, following his final qualifying round. “We just fell on our face and tried all kinds of different things. All the stuff we did learn, we’re just applying it now and the car seems to be responding exactly like we wanted it to. Our 60 foots were amazing for the heat and the track temperature. I think we’re in a good place.”

By earning the number one qualifier position, Salinas will have a bye run in the first round of eliminations on Sunday. With the track temperatures expected to be coolest for that first session, you can expect the Scrappers Racing team to still bring as much power as possible to the starting line.

“Guaranteed,” said Salinas. “We are going to throw down. We have to. Every run means something for the Countdown. It helps moral and it helps with three guys in there calling the shots. I told them yesterday, it’s time to open up a can and let’s go and see what we can do. I’ve let you do everything you want and now it’s time to run. There is no tomorrow because if we don’t start now and get our momentum going, we’re not going to do too well.”

The first round of eliminations from Pacific Raceways begins at 10:30 AM PT/1:30 PM ET. Coverage of the finals will air on FOX at 4:00 PM ET.

ADDITIONAL QUOTES – MIKE SALINAS:

You were able to make your quickest run in Q2, but how important was it to back it up in Q3 with another strong pass?

“We were actually trying to run a little bit better and be a little better, but I think it mowed through the clutch a little bit. We were actually trying to make the same run with it being just a little bit hotter because that’s what it’s going to be tomorrow. First round everyone is going to go hard so it should be pretty impressive.”

Are you having fun with the motorcycle ride?

“Oh yeah, I haven’t talked to the business in three weeks and it’s been pretty amazing. They keep calling, but I’m not answering. Us guys that work everyday and we come in and race on the weekends, it’s harder to drive these cars and focus because if we like it or not, we have business on our mind and how many things we have going on and when you can just get a little break and learn how to turn it off, it helps a lot.”

What has it been like spending so much time with the family on the ride?

“I think we’ve done 2700 miles on the bikes and my wife and I said five words to each other on the ride so it was kind of awesome and she probably appreciated it (laughing). And how often do we get to turn everything off and see America, the true America. We’ve met some really great people along the way and it’s been pretty nice. Really enjoyable.”

What has been your favorite part of the ride to date?

“Actually we went through Montana and there was about a 10-mile stretch that I haven’t smelled air that fresh and it was noticeable. We were on the bikes and riding and it was like a wall. It was just amazing. Whatever that area was, I want to buy right there. It was just amazing. But it’s been fun because the family is together and we’ve had a great time. We’re actually going to ride along the coast on the way home and I’ve got an extra bike for Steve Torrence if he wants to come with us.”

What would it mean to pull off the win tomorrow?

“It would be great to pull it off, but look, there are some great cars here and a lot of people have been testing and everybody is ready for this stuff. When you have guys that have won four championships and you watch what they do and you go study all the runs that they’ve done and you watch all these guys from Steve Torrence to Allen Johnson and how they won races, strategically we’re in a good place and everyone is going to try for the same thing. It’s probably the best racing we’re going to see and I say that every year, but you need to be good at this to run with these guys so it’s impressive.”

Doug Kalitta, Ron Capps lead Toyota in qualifying heading into race day in Seattle

KENT, Wash. (July 22, 2023) – Team Toyota’s excellence in the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenges continued at Pacific Raceways, just outside of Seattle, on Saturday with Toyota drivers Steve Torrence and Ron Capps picking up the challenge wins. It was an all-Toyota final round in both Top Fuel and Funny Car as Torrence was able to get past Shawn Langdon and Capps defeated J.R. Todd in a close duel.

In qualifying action, Doug Kalitta continued his strong performance in Denver with a second place starting position, followed by Justin Ashley in third and Torrence in fourth. In Funny Car, both Capps and Todd had their best runs of the weekend in their Challenge final. Capps is seeded in third, with Todd in close pursuit in fifth. Alexis DeJoria had a couple of strong runs and is seeded eighth overall in her Toyota GR Supra Funny Car.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series

Pacific Raceways

Race 11 of 21

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Mike Salinas*	Valley Services Top Fuel Dragster	1st (3.743)	BYE
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	2nd (3.753)	R. Smith
Justin Ashley	Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	3rd (3.760)	T. Schumacher
Steve Torrence	Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	4th (3.764)	J. Hart
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	7th (3.781)	S. Langdon
Shawn Langdon	Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	8th (3.786)	A. Brown

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
John Force*	Peak Chevy Camaro Funny Car	1st (3.915)	BYE
Ron Capps	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	3rd (3.951)	J. Diehl
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	5th (3.967)	A. Laughlin
Alexis DeJoria	Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	8th (3.997)	C. Green

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA QUOTES

DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 2nd

How do you feel about race day tomorrow after a solid qualifying effort?

“I’m super excited. It’s been a fun day. We smoked the tires in the last one there, but I think we’ll be in good shape for tomorrow. Seattle is a cool place to run with all of the trees. I got to run the Toyota Supra today in the Supra Showdown which is always fun. I’m definitely looking forward to having a good race day on Sunday.”

STEVE TORRENCE, Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Torrence Racing

TF Qualifying Result: 4th

Mission Challenge Top Fuel Winner

What does it mean to get a victory in the Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenges for tomorrow’s race?

“We had a really good race car in Denver. That thing actually shut off about 100 to 150 feet early against Doug (Kalitta) – we should’ve won that round. It definitely gives me a boost of confidence in my race car and in myself just driving my car. I went there with a completely different mindset to start the Western Swing – to go out and get that Steve Torrence swagger back. You can overthink the situation, you can overanalyze it, you can do a lot of different things and back yourself into a corner and you either fight your way out or you don’t. And, I’m a fighter. I re-evaluated my situation, I trusted my guys and my guys and my car. We didn’t win four world championships by me doing something stupid and not trusting in them. That was the mindset I went to Denver with. Left there with a lot of confidence in the car and came here. You may be able to go up there and run a little bit quicker, but you still want to win that shootout. We did what we needed to do. Like I was saying, it’s hot. It’s hot for here, but you’re sitting in the car and it’s high stress and you’re ready to race, you’re wanting to win, the sun is dead behind the tree and you’re blinking. I knew I missed the tree. Not many times do you get away with that against Shawn Langdon, but we had a good car. My guys were consistent, and we went out and did what it was supposed to do. To sum that up, a lot of confidence going into race day tomorrow. First win we’ve had in a while. We openly and admittedly kicked ourselves last year in trying to re-create the wheel and I think that it’s finally coming around the way that we wanted to. It’s more mentally taxing than anything because when you have that momentum and that confidence and that swagger and just that consistency that we had for four years and then to have a season like we had last year, you kind of have to dig deep to get back where you’re at. I’m not one of the guys that looks back at what we’ve accomplished, I’m look back and think you’re only as good as your last past and it hadn’t been that good. We’re thankful for all of the partners that have stood behind us and that Capco Contractors Toyota Dragster with MAC Tools and Red Line in it. It’s the baddest thing here. I’ve got the best thing. I’ll put my team toe to toe with any team in the history of this sport. We’ve done more and accomplished more in a shorter timeframe than anybody and you’ve got to remember that and stand with the guys. You’ve got to stand with the girl you brought to the dance and that’s what we’re doing.”

RON CAPPS, NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Ron Capps Motorsports

FC Qualifying Result: 3rd

Mission Challenge Funny Car Winner

How exciting is it to pick up another specialty win today?

“Once again, I want to just say it over and over, thank you to Mission Foods for putting this up. They really created something cool. We all ran it. We all saw the points is the thing that stood out for most. It’s great money, we appreciate that, too. As you know we won the world championship last year by less than a handful of points. I completely understand. I’ve lost championships in year’s past by less than a handful of points several times. I understand that, but what they did to be able to do this and to be able to get your confidence back – it does help. They created a whole new Saturday. It was cool to have two Toyotas up there. Obviously, Alexis (DeJoria) or J.R. (Todd) they were both so key in inviting me to the Toyota family this year and I’ve bragged and bragged about that. So, anytime I race them in a final or something like that it’s fun to go and throw down because we knew a Toyota was going to win. We’ll take the points, we’re very excited about that. I’m happy for Guido (Dean Antonelli, crew chief), he’s got some good data for tomorrow. We lost the number one spot to (John) Force and the number two spot to (Bob) Tasca and I think Guido was trying to run a little quicker but he didn’t have time to make a big change at the end.”

July 22, 2023

Harrison Burton, in the No. 21 DEX Imaging Mustang, is set to start Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway from 26^th place.

Burton took that spot with a lap around the Tricky Triange at 167.019 miles per hour in single-car qualifying Saturday afternoon.

The DEX Imaging Mustang was faster in qualifying than in a practice session held earlier on Saturday afternoon. Burton was 25^th fastest in practice with a best lap at 166.306 mph. He posted that time on the 11^thof the 15 laps he ran in the session.

Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400 is scheduled to get the green flag just after 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time with TV coverage on USA Network.
 
Stage breaks in the 160-lap race are set for Laps 30 and 95.

 

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

HY-VEE HOMEFRONT 250 PRESENTED BY INSTACART

NEWTON, IOWA

TEAM CHEVY RACE NO. 1 POST RACE RECAP

JULY 22, 2023

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN AND PATO O’WARD FILLED ALL-CHEVROLET PODIUM IN RACE NO. 1 OF HY-VEE DOUBLEHEADER

NEWTON, IOWA (JULY 22, 2023) – Josef Newgarden did what Josef Newgarden does at Iowa Speedway – wins. Starting third in the 28-car field for Race No. 1 of the Hy-Vee Doubleheader WEEKEND, the driver of the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet methodically worked his way to the lead on lap 121 and never looked back.

The two-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion chased down his teammate second-place starter Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 XPEL Chevrolet, to claim 2^nd in the running order on lap 95 of the 250-lap race. Newgarden then set his sights on pole winner and race leader Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet. On lap 121, he made a clean pass on Power on the bottom through turns one and two and jumped out to an almost five second lead.

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren INDYCAR Chevrolet, completed the all-Chevrolet podium. Starting fifth on the grid, O’Ward quickly dispensed with another car and stayed in the battle with the three Team Penske drivers.

Today’s victory is the fifth for Newgarden at Iowa Speedway, the 28^th of his career, and jumped to second in the point standings, 98 points behind the leader with six races left on the 2023 schedule.

Power will start on the pole for Sunday’s Hy-Vee ONESTEP 250 with McLaughlin again alongside on the front row. Newgarden will roll off 7th and O’Ward will start from 11th on the grid.

Race No. 2, the Hy-Vee ONESTEP 250 presented by Gatorade is set to start at 2:30 pm ET with live coverage on NBC TV, INDYCAR Radio and INDYCAR. live timing and scoring.

TOP-FIVE QUOTES:

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET-RACE WINNER:

LITTLE FRUSTRATION THERE AT THE END, WE COULD TELL, BUT YOU DOMINATED

“Yeah, it was a great day. Look, my team is just…they are unbelievable. They gave me a great car. I show up every weekend and I feel like I have got the best of the best behind me.  Team Penske, I am proud to be a part of this team and proud to have partners like Hitachi and Team Chevy. Team Chevy has been really tremendous to us, and they are always working hard, even with our feedback. They always take it and put it to use.  I love Iowa and obviously it was a great day, but its tough in INDYCAR. These guys that are about to go a lap down, they always run the leader really hard and that is the name of the game.  Its legal, but man it is a little frustrating at times. And it has gotten worse.  It was much worse here than I have ever had it. So, I am going to study the tape and I am going to be better tomorrow.  Because if that is how its got to be, then I just have to elevate my game for race two.”

THERE WAS A TIME TODAY WHEN YOU WERE DOWN, BUT YOU FOUND A WAY

“Yeah, look, we did not start where we wanted to be and that was right from qualifying. I was so frustrated.  We unloaded off the truck pretty much perfectly.   Luke Mason did an amazing job with this car, and it was exactly where it needed to be and then to qualify where we did, it was…..I have messed up qualifying here so many times and it never gets easier. I am always so mad with myself that we didn’t get that right.  And it was like that at the beginning of the race. It took us literally a stint and a half to get the car just where it needed to be. But once it was comfy, I think it was the car to beat. I really do.  We needed to manage it and we did that, and it doesn’t guarantee you anything for tomorrow, I promise you that. Everyone is going to get better, and they already got much better from last year.  So, we have to stay on our toes, and maybe we can do another one.

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET-FINISHED 2ND:

I WOULD SAY THERE IS NO SHAME IN LOSING TO A GUY THAT HAS WON FIVE TIMES HERE

“When I saw him coming, I was like ‘ah its on mate’.  Hey, Bus Bros was 1-2, so not bad.  Really happy for everyone on the Xpel Chevy.  The car was great today, and the team gave me a great car. I have to thank Josef, and congrats to him for winning the race, but during the week we sat down together and really went over like everything.  And it helped me today.  I learned a ton today, I badly want to beat that guy and I am going to be trying everything I can to beat him, but he is the epitome of a great teammate and I appreciate the help he has given me.”

YOU WERE DEFINTELY BEST IN CLASS, SO IS THERE SOMETHING YOU CAN BRING BACK FOR TOMORROW?

“I mucked up one of my in and out laps and got caught with a lap car, so I was a bit slower coming in and I lost a couple of seconds. So, there was all that catch up from there and we got back to sort of there or there abouts, but just really proud of everyone and thankful for everyone at Xpel and at Chevy and everyone that supports me. The Thirsty Threes were ripping, I love that, and can’t wait to come back tomorrow.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET-FINISHED 3RD:

YOU GOT CLOSE AGAIN, WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY TRYING TO CHASE THOSE GUYS?

“I learned that I couldn’t keep up with them today.  We didn’t have a strong enough car and I was holding on for dear life on some of those laps. So, it was a tough one and we have got work to do.  We have another opportunity tomorrow and we are going to try and maximize that. We have a pretty significant step forward that we have to make if we want to challenge these guys.  Specifically in traffic, I felt a little handcuffed as far as where I could place the car.”

IT WOULDN’T HANDLE?

“No, I just could really only use one lane and I couldn’t really get through traffic the way that they could.  I think when the tires were a little bit fresher, we weren’t far off, but when you start getting into that dirty air, we just couldn’t do anything.  We would just get stuck. I tried multiple times, and I am probably the first guy t

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

YOU WERE UP FRONT, STARTED ON THE POLE BUT BRUSHED THE WALL. WHAT WERE THE CIRCUMSTANCES TODAY?

“I just got a little high. The car in front went up and took the air and boom. It was a pretty square it and I was worried about how much force goes through the suspension.  We will probably have to change it tonight.”

THE CAR WAS OKAY AFTER THAT?

“Yeah, I think so. We had more push, but I don’t think it really hurt the car too bad.”

WE KNOW YOU ARE FAST. YOU ARE STARTING ON THE POLE TOMORROW, SO WHAT IS THE GAME PLAN AND DO YOU EXPECT TO BE ABLE TO CHALLENGE NEWGARDEN?

“Yeah, its tough man. It will probably be a slightly different race because everyone gets a bit better, it gets a little hotter and then you have to get through all that traffic. So, yeah, we sort of have to review.  I mean, at the end of the day it was just who got through that traffic better.  We had a huge gaggle of cars once Josef got me. I mean, he is very good at reading that stuff and he just got me on the inside.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN-SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN-PATO O’WARD

Press Conference Transcript

THE MODERATOR: Joined by now five-time winner here at Iowa Speedway, Josef Newgarden, leading 129 of the 250 laps, driving the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. It’s career win No. 28.

You climb now. You’re 98 points back of Alex Palou of the overall season long championship. More importantly, another win here today. Congratulations.

What came to you there after that first stint and a half or so that you were able to get past Will and stay up front?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It was just unfortunate that we came off the truck so good — Luke Mason did such a great job with this car. I was so happy yesterday, pretty immediately, and then to qualify as disappointingly as we did, I think for us, for our expectation, if you will — it wasn’t a disaster, but it wasn’t where we thought we should be. I know it’s not where the car should be.

I was really — I’ve done that a lot here. I’ve not qualified where I think we should. That exact problem was sort of the same in the beginning of the race. We were trying to counteract it and didn’t quite get there. It took about a stint, stint and a half, to really get the car where it needed to be.

Then it was great. It was back to sort of the beginning of yesterday. It was just a nice car. Team did a great job as always. They always give me a fantastic car here. You can’t win a race around this place without having the best car in the field, and I feel like we’ve always got that when we show up.

Q. Josef, you were really upset, I remember, last year after qualifying. I believe you were second in both races behind Will to start. Is it the way you drive the track you’re doing wrong or setup?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s a combination. It was mostly setup today, which is not on anybody. I’ll say it’s on me. Like I just didn’t quite know where we needed to be.

I mean, you’re kind of guessing. We were supposed to originally qualify at 8:30. It was going to be a lot colder. So you’re basing the setup around that. Then you have to think about the race. We were also probably a little bit more lean to the race than other people because you’ve just got to choose a little bit.

The temperature is going to keep rising in the race. Do you want the race car to be right, or do you want the qualifying car? And you’re kind of in the middle a little bit. So I don’t think we were fully optimized for qualifying, but I also just didn’t get the balance right.

I would say it’s that. Last year was the same deal. I could have done better personally last year. I didn’t drive hard enough, so I was kicking myself for that. I felt like I drove hard enough today. I just didn’t have the balance I needed. We were pretty upset about it, but we knew we’d have a chance in the race.

We’ve got a great car. We knew that right from the jump. It was just a matter of I felt like we could do more today. Even leaving now, we’ve got a lot of homework tonight to be even better. It was good, but it wasn’t quite good enough. It’s going to need to be better tomorrow is my feel.

Q. Yesterday you were telling us how you went a step beyond being a teammate to Scotty and shared everything about this track, and he was explaining that after qualifying today that you reviewed every lap he made and every lap you made last year. Did you have any regrets about that in the closing laps and knowing he was breathing down your neck at some points during this race?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I knew he knew everything. I tried to be as transparent as I can with him as a teammate. He’s been — he’s a great member of the team. He’s a good pal. I want to kick his ass as much as anybody. It’s got nothing to do with that, and I’m not giving him any favors necessarily. I just think it’s the right thing to do.

If your teammate wants to learn something, I hope he would give me the courtesy the same way. When he’s got something on me, I want him to teach me it. I think that’s how it should be. You don’t always get that, but I’m happy to teach him what I know.

I look at it that it doesn’t really matter — if he knows exactly what I know, then it’s just going to come down to who’s doing a better job. If he does a better job than me, then he deserves to win. I hope he doesn’t do a better job than me tomorrow, but if he does, he’ll be a deserving winner. Let’s see what happens. He looked really good today. I’m going to probably have to step up a little bit more tomorrow.

Q. In Victory Lane, you were obviously upset with some of the lap traffic today. Pato and Scotty were both in here and shared your concerns about that. Are you going to name any names for us? Anyone you want to call out in particular?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: There’s a lot of people. There’s a lot of people. It’s one thing if you’re leading the race. If you’re leading the race, you’re really within your right. If you’re fighting with people around you, seventh, eighth, ninth place, you’re all fighting. You’re within your right to fight as hard as possible.

I think, the way the rule was written, it’s also legal for them to fight to the death to stay on the lead lap in front of the leader. It is legal. I’m just telling you you’re not making any friends when you do it. There’s 20 laps to go in the race, and I was getting driven like it was literally to the death for the end of the Indy 500. It was just crazy. I couldn’t believe the way people were mirror driving.

I’ve never seen it that bad here. Normally if you’re the leader, you’re not getting a handout, but you’re at least getting the courtesy that you are the leader and you’re about to get lapped. You don’t have to pull over, but just don’t be aggressive and weave in front of the leader, block the leader, chop the leader.

Like there’s just a point where you’ve got to understand that that comes back around. If you do that to someone, I’m going to fence you the next time I see you. If you’re the leader the next time, I am going to do you so dirty if you did that to me.

It’s common sense. Everybody in the paddock knows it, and they’re just — for whatever reason, there’s just people who just can’t get it. You know what, if they can’t learn it by now, they’ll probably never learn. I guess where I’m going with this, you can tell I’m frustrated by it, which a lot of people are. I can’t change people’s behavior. If they’re going to continue to do that, I have to study and figure out how to counteract it because that’s how they’re going to play.

I’m going to assume they’re going to play like that tomorrow, and I’ve got to be in a better position and better equipped handle it.

Q. Scotty said he might go talk to some people tonight.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I’ll go talk to some people too. They need to know. Look, it’s not cool. It’s not cool. If you want to play that game, that’s fine, but you should be thinking long term.

Q. Josef, you said earlier the car was good. Nevertheless do you think the car has enough to win tomorrow?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s definitely in the window, there’s no doubt. The tough thing about Iowa is the window is so tight here. You can have a stint where you’re really good and a stint where you all of a sudden lose a ton of potential and time on the average, and it’s really easy to bounce back and forth between perfect and way off perfect.

I think the car’s in the window. We’ve just got to maybe clean some areas up. I’ve got to get some new tools in my toolkit, figure out how can I arm myself a little bit better for the way everything is flowing nowadays?

Everyone is stronger. It looks like that. Everyone has more maneuverability. Everyone is getting coached by their spotters now on exactly how to race people hard. So it is a tougher game than I think it’s ever been around here.

Our car is capable. We’ve just got to make sure we maximize it.

Q. So much of the history of Penske Racing has been drivers who are great oval drivers like Al Unser and Rick Mears and now yourself. To be in that category, and when you win on an oval race for Team Penske, how special is it?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t really feel differently about it than any other track, to be honest. My goal is to be strong everywhere. It doesn’t matter the discipline or the track type. I want to be good everywhere we show up. If there’s a place we’re not good, it’s number one on my list to figure out. Why aren’t we good here? Why can’t we win this race?

Anything is possible for us and our team, and we need to approach it that way. So just in short, it doesn’t feel different to me, whether it’s Iowa or it’s Toronto or it’s Detroit or Road America. They all matter. You take great pride in being able to work with the team and put a victory together. They’re all difficult.

It’s not easy to win a race in this series, so they all feel the same.

Q. Obviously the goal is to come here tomorrow and win again. How do you feel the prospects are coming out here and getting out the broom?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I was hesitant yesterday to — I feel like everybody — when we walk in here, they just assume, oh, we’re going to be quick. It’s not the attitude that you can have. You just can’t feel like there’s anything given. I think we did a good job today recovering. I was really proud of the team.

To feel disappointed with qualifying and then to just really improve the race car and do a great job today, I’m proud of that, but that doesn’t guarantee tomorrow either. I think Scott’s going to be really good. Pato, he’s going to come back better. I think Will’s going to be strong. You never know who else is going to improve overnight.

I’m focused on being better tomorrow because I’m going to assume that everyone else is going to pick up their game.

Q. Obviously laser focused, and obviously frustrated about the traffic and stuff like that. I don’t know if you feel like you’re putting more pressure on yourself this weekend because of maybe your own expectations and what everyone else is expecting you to do. When you come into this place, it feels like you’re quite pent up at the moment. Is that the pressure you’re putting on yourself for this weekend?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Maybe a little bit. There’s a pressure that’s on us, I know when we show up here. It’s that assumption. It’s the assumption that we’re going to be great just because we should be. We’re the 2 car. We should be really good here.

That’s okay because I think there’s always a pressure that exists. You show up to Indianapolis with Team Penske, and there’s only — there’s only one place that people accept as okay for Team Penske, and that’s winning the race. We deal with those pressures. It’s not like it’s something new.

But I think, more than anything, it’s just been — it’s honestly been a really tough year, like we’ve had some good moments, there’s no doubt. Obviously the 500 was just — it was the best moment for everybody this year. Other than that, it’s been a really tough season, really, really tough. It just feels like one of those grinders again. We grinded last year.

I want to figure out how to get us in a place where we’re not grinding and try to figure it out week to week. I’ve got all the confidence in the world. The tough thing for me is I know the potential of the team, I really do. It’s there. It’s always been there, and I just want us to realize it more.

We’re continually working on that. For me, I’m just a perfectionist, and I think working towards that potential and maximizing it is what you’re seeing from me.

Q. Have you thought about the points at all in terms of what today means for that? And if you allowed yourself to kind of think about that? Or is your focus solely on tomorrow and trying to keep that out of your mind?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yes and no. I’m very aware of it. I’ve seen it climb from the beginning of the season. Alex has had a great run. He’s really had no bad races. I explained this in the past that, when you’re a great driver like Alex and he’s got a great team around him and you don’t have any bad races, that is what happens points-wise. You build up a cushion the way they have.

It’s a tough deficit that we’re in. I’m aware of it. I’m not putting any pressure on this weekend or to the end of the year. It kind of is what it is, right? I can’t control what happens with Alex. I think the odds are higher that he has some bad luck at some point, but that doesn’t mean it’s ever going to come. It just may be a great year for those guys where they don’t ever truly see it, and that’s okay.

I’ve just had to learn over the years that you can’t control these things. You really can’t. I focus on trying to be the best that we can be every weekend. This weekend’s no different. It’s just you’re dealing with that scenario that you brought up that everyone expects us to be really good here and win a couple of races. I know that.

Regardless of that, I just try to make sure we do the best job. We did the best job we could today, and we need to do that tomorrow.

Q. I was going to ask about points as well. Just following up on that, you were 126 out coming in, and now you’re 98 out. You took 28 points off today. Is that a good chunk? If you do that tomorrow, do you feel good about leaving here?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I do. That’s a great chunk. You win another time, what does that put you at, I don’t know, 72? That would be great. That would be great. We’re going to for sure need that.

You can’t spin this any way. I’m not telling myself a story to make myself feel better tomorrow. There’s no doubt we have to win a lot of races, and Alex has to inevitably at some point hit bad luck. It’s just the way this whole thing goes. If that doesn’t happen, then we’re still going to focus on winning races, and hopefully we have a lot of wins on the year and we get close. Or maybe just winning a bunch of races and he doesn’t need the bad luck, and that’s enough to get us the championship.

I have no idea how this is all going to play out, but yeah, tomorrow — they all matter at this point. What is there, six to go? They’re all going to be critical. We can’t afford a bad weekend anymore. He can, but we’ve got to be pretty much perfect, which when it’s like that, it just almost doesn’t matter. Like what’s going to be is going to be. I think a lot of people are in this mindset. They’re just trying to win races.

It’s kind of a good way to go about it because you can’t just take little bites out of him. It’s just not going to work. You’ve got to be hitting it with a hammer and hoping that fate kind of swings back your way. So I hope we get that, but there’s just no telling if that’s going to happen.

Q. Speaking of the hammer, do you feel like you need to hit two nails this weekend? It seems like you’re having trouble celebrating this win because you feel like you’re only half done. Is that accurate?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think that’s very accurate because you’ve got to look at it as a complete result, the two races combined. That’s a very good way to put it. It is not just a single race weekend and then we move on to the next challenge. It is the same challenge two times over.

So we’ve got to go do the job tomorrow, and then once we get done with that, we’ll move to Nashville and start figuring out that problem.

THE MODERATOR: Five-time winner here at Iowa. Go for six tomorrow. Good luck. Josef Newgarden in Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.

That will wrap things up. Next warmup comes up tomorrow morning here at Iowa Speedway.

THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up today’s Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by Instacart, podium finishers will be here of course. Josef Newgarden with the win here today. Joined now by Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Expel Team Penske Chevrolet, coming home 2nd, second podium of the season, tenth of his career. And also joining us, Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet with his fifth podium of 2023 and 18th of his career.

Scott, tell us about race number one here this week and your thoughts.

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I’m going to get him at some point. I’m very determined. Helluva race. I think the three of us could have easily swept the top three there. Pato did an awesome job. Their cars are just really good through traffic.

What I learned with Josef during the week, during the last couple of weeks, has been huge. It’s a nice little rabbit to chase when he’s out in front. When you can keep up with him, that’s a nice feeling. Gives me a lot of confidence.

Learned a lot for tomorrow. I think we’ve got a really good race car we can sort of evolve with and just get better.

THE MODERATOR: Pato, your thoughts getting back on the podium here at Iowa Speedway?

PATO O’WARD: Solid podium for us today. Just didn’t have anything for the Penskes. We need to take a solid step forward if we want to make them sweat tomorrow.

I just think they were specifically strong getting through traffic. I would just — I’d get stuck. I wasn’t able to place the car where I needed to in order to get by some slow cars.

Obviously happy with it, but considering how much pace we had last year, it’s like where is it?

THE MODERATOR: You guys were catching up quickly to back markers, lap cars, and whatnot. Mentally, what’s that like to go through a couple hours or so where you’re really trying to — weaving in and out of cars and dealing with traffic all day long? Pato?

PATO O’WARD: Usually it’s quite okay. You know who you’re racing. Sometimes you get to some guys, and they’re just not very gentleman-like, I guess, when you’re falling behind.

Yeah, I had some moments in there where it wasn’t all turning left for sure.

THE MODERATOR: 1,502 passes on track, which is the most on record here at Iowa Speedway, INDYCAR sort of tracking that back in 2007. So there’s a lot going on out on the 7/8-mile oval. Take a couple of questions.

Q. Pato, do you have enough time in the warmup tomorrow, and can you do enough to make enough changes to catch up to the Penske guys? They’re incredible.

PATO O’WARD: I have a very clear picture of what we need. We’ve just got to get creative and see how we’re going to find that. Obviously we put our best foot forward coming into qualifying for the race, knowing what we’ve had here in the past, and we think this is going to be working for us.

But we need to take another step if we want to challenge for the win tomorrow.

Q. Scott, you were telling us yesterday that like Josef had opened up the playbook and showed you everything, but you thought there might be some things maybe he didn’t show you. Do you feel like you’ve got a full Monty from Josef?

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I definitely think he’s opened it right up, which is good because I think it’s pushed us all three. Us three were really, really strong during that race, something to be proud of for the team.

Yeah, I was — I’m a little bummed the second to last stint we just didn’t have the balance that I needed. If I had the balance that I had in the last stint and I was able to stay with him, I really feel like we could have been right there with him and made some moves.

When I was catching him towards the end, I was like, oh, it’s going to be a little Texas rerun but other way around. Yeah, didn’t quite get there. He’s very good on this place. He’s got a very good understanding of the car and where he puts it.

Yeah, I think he was getting choked up a little bit. There’s a lot of guys out there that were racing the leader very hard, mirror driving, and just at times it was quite dangerous. Yeah, it is what it is.

Q. That was one of the first things that Josef mentioned in his Victory Lane interview, so I’ll give you guys the opportunity. Are we naming names in terms of who some of these drivers are?

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Not in the media, but we’ll go see them tonight.

Q. Same question for you both. How was the tire situation, and can you use maybe the tire degradation and change the pressure?

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: My engineer gets paid to figure that out. So I’ll just drive the thing. I think we definitely need a little bit here or there. I think all three cars in Penske have the strengths and weaknesses. So we’ll sort of try and make up a sort of special sauce for tomorrow.

Yeah, I thought they brought a new tire this weekend from Firestone. Feels really good. No vibrations or anything. So that’s really good to start.

Q. Scott, first portion of the race when Will was leading and you tried a couple of times to go underneath him and a couple of times weren’t able to pull it off, was that just basically the strength of his car, or did you run out of room on the track?

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I think it’s just I probably ran him a little hard. I thought Josef was further back, and then all of a sudden he was ten back, five back, and then passing me. Probably burned my stuff up a little too much, but I had to start going for it.

Definitely felt faster than Will, but it was hard. We were always — one was getting choked up by traffic, and the next, you take one lane, and then that lane in front of you had gone. You can’t just wash up in front of the guy or into the side of them.

It is what it is, but that was probably one part of the race where I felt annoyed with myself a little bit.

Q. Pato, over the last couple of years, it seems like the same guys fighting for the wins and for the victories. How much does it, at least finishing on the podium, validate how good you are here?

PATO O’WARD: Absolutely, it’s one of the places where we come in here and we know that we’ve had a very good past here. It doesn’t necessarily mean we’re going to have the exact same results.

I think today was a little bit of what we had last year, but definitely not as strong. Last year we had, I felt like we were on par with where Josef was, and really what makes you lead or be second in line is usually if you can get them on the undercut or whatever.

Today I definitely felt like I was a bit more on the defensive. I didn’t feel like I was attacking as much, and I couldn’t put the car where I needed to. It was a really, really hard race, probably the hardest Iowa race that I’ve done, just to keep it where we had it.

Q. For both of you, the opening green stint was a very long stint. Were you both surprised at how long that was? Was there ever a thought in your mind around halfway that the race could have gone caution free?

PATO O’WARD: I thought it could have been caution-free for sure. 60-something laps, wasn’t it? I don’t know exactly how much it was, but it was getting pretty gnarly.

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: We said in our strategy meeting the actual probability of yellows is low. There’s not really that many yellows here. We sort of figured it was going to be like that.

Yeah, I was surprised how long that first run to the yellow went, but at least it didn’t throw a curveball fuel-wise. Everyone had to make a stop or two. I don’t know how many stops we made it in, but yeah.

Q. Was it very tough out there physically for the first opening stint for that long? Usually you’re able to take a small breather under yellows but not that much.

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: It was okay. The head pad is a wonderful thing, laying your head on it, and you sort of just go with it.

It’s more mental. It’s just mentally very like — you feel like you’re not blinking for two hours. That’s probably more taxing. I’ll get a good sleep tonight and come back tomorrow.

Q. Scott, just for people that tune in to my podcast and stuff down here in New Zealand, this is the true essence of speedway racing in its purest form on a short track oval like this. Can you just explain what that’s like for you as a driver by comparison to anything else the series comes across?

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: It’s a little bullring. It’s probably one of my favorite ovals. Apart from IMS, it’s probably my favorite just from the perspective of being able to run different lanes and be able to really control your own destiny with your right foot.

It’s not just flat out. It’s not just ripping around. You’ve actually got to really think where you put the car, how hard you drive into the corner. You’ve got to think about looking after your tires at the start of the stint to the end because it’s a really nice bank.

Gateway has a little bit of it, but this one really, really cool and I enjoy having two races here. It also helps when your car is phenomenal like it has been the last few years. Enjoyed it and glad I qualified up front both races.

Q. It’s mentally very tough too concentration-wise because something is happening all the time, there’s no breathing space whatsoever for you.

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: I think it’s probably 30 laps, 15 after the start and 15 after the restart, where we didn’t pass anyone. Like after that, every lap I was passing a car. That’s pretty crazy to think about in an 18-second lap, but it is what it is.

Sometimes then at the end of the stint, you’ve got people that aren’t that quick, but they’re on new tires, so they’re just flying through you like a video game. You feel like a superhero at the start of your stints, that’s for sure. It’s an awesome place for this car, for this series, and I’m glad we’ve got two races, and it’s such a great event.

Q. Well done today. Happy you’re 1-2, but let’s reverse the fortune tomorrow.

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: Thank you.

Q. What’s the recovery plan for both you guys? A beer with Kenny Chesney?

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN: No, man. I’ll probably have a really cold shower. I’d like a nice bath. I think you boys do that. Yeah, just cool down. It’s not as hot as last year thankfully. And get ready for a big one tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Pato, how are you going to recover?

PATO O’WARD: Eat.

THE MODERATOR: Good plan.

PATO O’WARD: Big meal.

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on the podium. We’ll see you tomorrow. Scott McLaughlin will start 2nd tomorrow, Pato O’Ward will start 11th.

NASCAR CUP SERIESPOCONO RACEWAYHIGHPOINT.COM 400TEAM CHEVY POLE WIN REPORTJULY 22, 2023   Byron, Chevrolet Claims NASCAR Cup Series Pole at PoconoCamaro ZL1’s Seventh NCS Pole of 2023

·       William Byron (No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1) posted a lap of 52.746 seconds, at 170.629 mph, in the final round of qualifying to capture the pole position for tomorrow’s HighPoint.com 400 at Pocono Raceway – his third NASCAR Cup Series pole win of the 2023 season.   ·       The pole win is Byron’s 11th career pole in 201 starts in NASCAR’s premier series.   ·       This marks Chevrolet’s seventh NASCAR Cup Series pole of the 2023 season; the manufacturer’s series-leading 35th NCS pole at Pocono Raceway; and its 741st all-time pole in NASCAR’s premier series.  ·       Two Chevrolet drivers posted a top-three qualifying effort including pole winner William Byron, and his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson (third).  ·       Chevrolet drivers swept the pole wins across all three NASCAR national series at Pocono Raceway with Nick Sanchez (No. 2 Rev Racing Silverado RST) in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series; Josh Berry (No. 8 JR Motorsports Camaro SS) in the NASCAR Xfinity Series; and William Byron (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1) in the NASCAR Cup Series.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 STARTING LINEUP:  POS.   DRIVER1.        William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL13.        Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL112.      Corey LaJoie, No. 7 TD Bank Camaro ZL116.      AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL117.      Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Jockey Camaro ZL119.      Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL120.      Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Best Friends Camaro ZL1  TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:  POS.  DRIVER1.        William Byron (Chevrolet)2.        Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)3.        Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)4.        Kevin Harvick (Ford)5.        Christopher Bell (Toyota)

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Pole Win Press Conference

WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO START ON THE POLE TOMORROW FOR THE LONG RACE, PIT STALL SELECTION AND HOW GOOD TODAY’S LAP WAS? “Yeah, it’s really important to have pit stall selection. I feel like I reiterate that a lot with my team – qualifying position is important, but pit stall selection is really critical. Just happy to get that number one pit stall. For us, I felt like we had a really smooth day. We had some tough conversations after Loudon. We just had a tough weekend. We went into Wednesday and focused hard on kind of building up our Pocono car and using the Chevy simulator. Just thanks to those guys for their efforts. Some weeks it’s different than others, but this week they did a great job. Just thankful for our whole team and the effort we put in. This really is a speed race track. I was nervous coming here. I feel like the Toyota’s have been really strong, but we’re inching up on it and I think we’re right there.” SIX WEEKS LEFT IN THE REGULAR SEASON. YOU AND MARTIN TRUEX JR. ARE CHASING FOR THE 15 PLAYOFF POINTS BONUS. HOW IMPORTANT IS STAYING CONSISTENT OVER THESE NEXT SIX WEEKS?“It’s important. I don’t think I stress any more or less, based on the regular season. I kind of had that thought after Loudon. It can go either way. I think there’s tracks that he’s really strong at; there’s tracks that we’re really strong. It’s just going to be kind of toe-to-toe for the rest of the time. There’s a lot in our control, but there’s also some wild card races in there. So I think honestly for us, just trying to perform. We know that the last 10 races is where it really counts. If we can compete for stage wins and compete for race wins, we’re going to stack up playoff points and the points on the regular season will take care of themselves.  I think for me, my mindset is just trying to do the best that we can and try to make these six races a good prep session for the playoffs.” THE FACT THAT YOU GUYS WERE ABLE TO COME BACK WITH SPEED BECAUSE, LIKE YOU SAID, IT WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN THAT SURPRISING IF TOYOTA WAS LIKE ONE-TWO-THREE IN QUALIFYING OR SOMETHING. SO FOR YOU GUYS TO SHOW UP WITH THE SPEED YOU HAVE AFTER THE WEEK YOU JUST HAD, DOES THAT GIVE YOU EVEN MORE CONFIDENCE THAT THIS IS SORT OF A DIFFERENT YEAR THAN YOU’VE HAD BEFORE WHERE YOUR TEAM CAN JUST OVERCOME WHATEVER?“It does, for sure. I think that for me, I was a little bit nervous after last week. We had some damage on pit road, so it wasn’t completely realistic how we finished. But we were off a little bit on speed and I feel like Nashville (Superspeedway) we were off a bit on speed, as well. So I think this week, showing up with the pace that we had off the truck, was really impressive. It shows that our tools are working correctly because right now, it’s really all about unloading with the right setup and the right feel. So for us, our balance was really close. We had potential – we had lap time that we could go out and get. So I think that’s a really good sign and we just have to keep pushing. Those guys have been strong, really strong, at a lot of the tracks. It’s nice to see though that we can take a few punches for a few weeks and come back with this performance.” (NO MIC.)“I do. I think Martin (Truex Jr.) and I have somewhat similar styles. At least in the old car, when we would look at data, we had similar brake pressure and similar inputs. I mean we’re totally different backgrounds and totally different ages. But yeah, I enjoy racing him. I think he races the way people should. I don’t think he does anything super malicious, but he’s aggressive. He’s good to race against. I think there’s five or six guys out there that I really like racing with.” SINCE YOU WON THE POLE, HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR CHANCES FOR THE NEXT SIX WEEKS, ESPECIALLY WITH A GOOD START COMING ON SUNDAY? “Yeah, I mean we’ve kind of had our tough tracks over the summer for years – I would say the years that Rudy (Fugle) and I have been working together. For some reason, just some of those tracks haven’t clicked exactly how we wanted them to. But this is one that we come to that we take a lot of pride in being good here. And there’s also some other ones – Nashville (Superspeedway), Atlanta (Motor Speedway) was good. We just have to keep it up. It’s a long six weeks and we just have to continue to pace ourselves, do the right things during the week. Make sure our process kind of stays similar throughout the week so that we can show up on Sunday’s and perform.” HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ATMOSPHERE AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS RIGHT NOW? OBVIOUSLY YOUR IN THE MIDST OF THE FIGHT FOR THE REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHP AND HAVE FOUND PLENTY OF SUCCESS THIS SEASON. KYLE LARSON IS COMFORTABLY IN THE PLAYOFFS, AS WELL. CLEARLY CHASE ELLIOTT AND ALEX BOWMAN ARE ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN AS IT STANDS. “Well I think we all work really hard, so I think it’s just trying to put all the pieces together. It’s been a tough season for a couple of our teammates, in terms of staying healthy and all of those things, and just the rhythm of the week. Yeah, we’ve been fortunate that we’ve had a good year so far, but like I’ve been saying, it’s race #20 and there’s a lot left to do. So we can’t kind of rest on what we’ve done, but yeah hopefully our entire team can keep pushing and just continue to improve.” WITH WHERE YOU ARE IN THE POINTS RIGHT NOW AND THE BATTLE WITH MARTIN TRUEX JR., HOW DO YOU KIND OF BALANCE POINTS RACING WITH ALSO BEING AGGRESSIVE, TAKING SWINGS AT THINGS, TRYING TO GO FOR PLAYOFF POINTS AND CONTINUING TO CHASE WINS?“I mean I’ve noticed a change in how Rudy (Fugle) calls races. I think that he’s just aggressive, in general, so really it doesn’t change anything. We were aggressive at Atlanta (Motor Speedway). We were aggressive at Chicago (Street Race) – it didn’t work out because I hit the wall, But I think overall, I think he’s pushing and I don’t think he’d do anything different. I think that’s just his learning curve in the Cup Series. He’s not been at it for very long and I think he’s starting to kind of adapt to the strategy side. So for me, I drive the same. I don’t really change anything.” YOU’VE BEEN PRETTY CONSISTENT AT POCONO RACEWAY OVER YOUR CAREER. HOW DO YOU VIEW THIS PLACE? DO YOU LIKE RACING HERE AND WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO BE SUCCESSFUL AT A PLACE LIKE POCONO? “For some reason, I like it. I don’t know. My dad sent me a stat that was pretty good this week, just about this being one of my best tracks. I don’t know why. I think when I came here, I came here in the ARCA car when I was like 18 years old – I don’t know if that helped. Or just the experience in the truck and winning that race I think helped. When we got here in the Cup car when I worked with Darian Grubb my first year, this was a bright spot to our year. We had a really strong performance here. So I think it’s just kind of clicked ever since that first time in the Cup car.” WHAT UNIQUE CHALLENGES DOES POCONO RACEWAY BRING TO BOTH YOU AND YOUR TEAM? “Everyone talks about it – making all three turns and having the right balance. It’s really tough to have all three turns have the right balance in the car. When you talk to your crew chief about this place, you say – man, OK one was good.. two I missed.. three wasn’t as good. There’s always like little spots – I feel like other race tracks, you just kind of talk about the whole balance around the whole track. You’re like – at Nashville (Superspeedway), I’m free in this spot or I’m tight in this spot. But here, it’s just really different. You have a lot of time to think down the straightaways and corner entry is really tough.” OBVIOUSLY YOU’RE GOING TO ROOT FOR YOUR TEAMMATES TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS, BUT IF THEY DON’T MAKE THE FIELD, DOES THAT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE FOR YOU OR FOR KYLE (LARSON) ONCE THE PLAYOFFS ACTUALLY START?“I think it’s obviously better if all four of us make it because that’s all four of us pushing each other to perform; build better setups, build better racecars. But yeah, we just try to do the best job we can. Try to help those guys when we can at certain race tracks, and go from there.” DOING THE RICHMOND (RACEWAY) TEST IN A WEEK, DO YOU THINK THAT THE RESULTS WILL BE ANY DIFFERENT THAN WHAT YOU WOULD HAVE GOTTEN AT NEW HAMPSHIRE (MOTOR SPEEDWAY)?“Well I know it’s going to be really humid and hot, so I’m going to sweat everything out from the weekend. But I don’t know – I think it’s going to be a good test. Hopefully we try to give our best effort to help NASCAR with helping the rules package on the short-tracks. I think it’s great that they’re using this as an opportunity to improve. Yeah, I’m just going to try to help them as much as I can. I don’t know how much it will really help us for this year, but going to try really help grow that short-track package and hopefully get a better product.” CAN YOU DESCRIBE YOUR POLE-WINNING LAP? “Yeah, I think the first round was crazy because we basically ran half of our lap and had to come back in, change tires and just kind of reset. At that point, try to put a first round together that is good enough to advance. The second round lap, I felt like I got off of (turn) three good coming to the green. I felt like I had pretty good momentum. My shift point was as little bit sooner than before, so I felt like I had good momentum coming to start-finish. And then really, just felt like one was a weakness that I saw on SMT between rounds. I felt like I could get into one just a little bit deeper and maybe have some more grip through the middle. I got off of one good, so I was really confident getting to the tunnel. And then when I got into the tunnel, I just kind of got in a little bit soft and a little bit shallow and hit the bumps at a bad angle. So I had to lift a little bit off of two – just didn’t have a lot of momentum off of two. I felt like my RPM was down going down that short chute, so I was just coaching myself into not trying to make up for it in three. I was like – man, that corner is done, I just have to go through three and have a good exit of that corner because kind of the exit of three is really what makes the lap coming to start-finish. So tried not to compound mistakes. You’re never going to really hit a lap perfect here, but I felt like I got through one and three good enough.”