Garcia, Taylor move into second in points after fourth-place finish in GT-only fight LAKEVILLE, Conn. (July 22, 2023) – Luck and track position went against Corvette Racing on Saturday at Lime Rock Park as Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor drove to a fourth-place finish in the FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix presented by Liqui Moly. The day wasn’t a complete loss, though, as the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette finished high enough to move into second place in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Daytona (GTD) PRO points standings with four events to go.

Saturday’s race was the first of two GT-only races on the schedule this year, and the packed hillsides of fans watched a fantastic show around the 1.474-mile, seven-turn bullring as the top four cars were separated by just 1.138 seconds at the end. The first 90 minutes or so were full of differing pit strategy among the GTD PRO entries. Garcia maintained his third-place position from the start and led when he made his first stop at half-hour mark, rejoining third but second among the cars on a three-stop strategy. A full-course yellow only minutes later jumbled up the strategy again with Garcia and the No. 14 Lexus stopping for fuel and left-side tires while the race-winning Aston Martin stayed out. Even with fresher tires, the difficulty for Garcia in third and the second-place Lexus to get around the Aston Martin was evident during a long green-flag run in the middle of the race. That meant a period of fuel-save to try and gain track position on the final pit stop. Garcia brought the Corvette to the pitlane for the last time with 72 minutes left from third place. The swap to Taylor looked routine until the Corvette stalled leaving the pitbox, and Taylor lost nearly 10 seconds as the car wouldn’t go back into gear. That cycled the Corvette back to fourth for the final run to the finish. A full-course yellow with a little more than an hour bunched up the field, but Taylor was unable to make in-roads on the tight and twisty Lime Rock circuit during the final 47 minutes. Corvette Racing’s next event is the IMSA SportsCar Weekend at Road America on August 4-6.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTD PRO: “A very frustrating race. It felt like it was impossible to pass anybody on track, and it was all about track position. It’s a shame we didn’t have a better starting position in qualifying, but that was kind of a key thing this year. We never had the ultimate pace to be upfront in qualifying, especially. I thought being P3 would’ve been enough just to have race pace, but everybody kind of had pretty much the same thing. Here, it seemed impossible to pass with what we had. On top of that, we had to play the strategy, and I think we probably had the Lexus covered because I was saving quite a bit of fuel behind them. I think it was the right call to pit behind them, but then the car had an issue (on the driver change). I don’t really know what happened there, but we lost six, seven, or eight seconds and we lost position even to the Porsche. So just frustrating. As we knew, Jordan (Taylor) did 70 laps behind them, and there’s nothing you can do. We didn’t seem to have anything extra to pass them. We need to look back and see what we can do different.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED FOURTH IN GTD PRO: “It was a pretty frustrating day. We didn’t have the fastest car, but with the way the strategy was looking, it looked like we were going to be able to jump a bunch of guys on that last stop and then something went wrong on the stop itself. I couldn’t get it back in gear, and we were sitting there for an extra 10 seconds. Once you lose all that track position, it’s impossible to pass around here. Even if we had a stronger car, you’re just sitting behind guys. We were just waiting for someone to make a mistake or something like that to cruise by. But that wasn’t the case. Everyone kind of drove around in a line, and that was it.”

McIntosh flips and takes second DNF of the season, shrinks points gap down to 55 over Miller

DOE RUN, MO (July 21, 2023) – Zach Daum’s hot streak is still burning. His third-straight Feature win with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota Friday night came in a thriller, passing Jade Avedisian for the lead coming to the white flag and holding her off to win the first-ever Midget event held at Doe Run Raceway.

The exciting finish was his third-straight Series victory with his new team at Trifecta Motorsports, which he joined after the seat of the flagship #7U car was vacated in early June. One phone call from team owner Steve Carbone was all it took to turn Daum’s early season hardships around, as they walked out of their first race weekend together with two wins at Wayne County Speedway before the Series’ summer break.

Now, they’ve got a third. The big smile on Daum’s face in Victory Lane said it all – it’s a memorable time for him in his open-wheel racing career.

“I don’t know that this is the best I’ve ever done, but it’s right up there,” Daum, of Pocahontas, IL, said. “Everything’s playing together right now. We’ve been fast, I feel like I’m driving good, I have confidence – just everything it takes to put these types of races and championships together.”

A third-place run in his Heat Race set the defending Xtreme Outlaw champion up with a ninth-place starting spot for the Feature. Using his preferred lane around the bottom, Daum surged all the way up to second in 15 laps.

“I had a good rhythm on the bottom and in the middle,” Daum said. “I was picking off cars, especially when people would start sliding each other, I could get both of them at once because they both had to check up and I could get ahead and drive back around them.”

As he hit the halfway point of the 30-lap Toyota Racing Feature, only one car remained ahead of him – Jade Avedisian.

Avedisian, the 16-year-old championship contender from Clovis, CA, had led all but six laps up to that point and was maintaining a big lead over Daum. A caution flag with six laps left erased that gap and put Daum right on her tail-tank for the restart.

Avedisian got a great start, using her preferred line around the top. But three laps later with Daum right on her heels, she decided it was time to change lanes to protect the lead.

“I wasn’t sure what to do [on the restart]; I knew the top was getting really far around and it shelfs-off really bad here,” Avedisian said. “I finally saw [Daum] poke his nose, and I still thought with like three-to-go that I would have enough and by that time, he was almost right next to me. So, I decided to go down there, and I had no clue he was in the middle.”

“I knew as soon as I peeked my nose down there, she was gonna come down, which she had to,” Daum said. “The problem was we weren’t running the bottom; we were running the middle and kinda floating around.

“She just had no idea. She ran 20-plus laps on the top and then tried to run the last couple on the bottom. It’s hard to transition.”

Despite her best efforts to keep Daum at bay, Avedisian was unable to hold the 7U off in the end. Daum countered her new line on the bottom by moving up into the middle, wound-up the momentum and made the pass to her outside as the white flag was displayed out of Turn 4.

“When [KKM crew] told her to move to the bottom, I thought, ‘Well, here’s my chance,’” Daum said. “If I can get a good restart, and she puts two car lengths on me, she’s gonna win the race. She kinda did, and then I just got back to her.

“She moved down, and it was like, ‘Okay, it’s over now because I know I can roll through the middle better.’”

Avedisian didn’t go away silently, however, trying to scrape-up the momentum she needed for a pass-back attempt coming to the checkers, but it wasn’t enough. Daum sailed across the line to bank the big check and his fourth career Series victory.

Though slightly dejected after the checkers, Avedisian still held her head high with a runner-up finish, knowing it turned out to be a great points night. Despite her best efforts on the top side of the track for much of the race, she stood by her decision to move down, considering she wasn’t gaining anything by trying to race any higher up.

“I ran [the top line] as hard as I possibly could when he was right next to me, and [Daum] was still gaining on me,” Avedisian said. “I think I moved down at the right time, I just moved down too low, and he just went around me.”

Abacus Racing driver Daniel Whitley came home third to notch his best career Xtreme Outlaw victory. Taylor Reimer crossed in fourth and Series points runner-up Gavin Miller crossed fifth.

The top-five runs by Avedisian and Miller turned out to be very valuable in the championship standings as points leader Cannon McIntosh struggled throughout the second half of the night. Fuel problems in his Heat left him with a 15th-place starting spot for the Feature, where he made it all the way to 10th before a crash sent him tumbling through Turn 2, effectively ending his night early with a 20th-place finish and shrinking his points lead down to 55 on Miller.

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets are back in action Saturday, July 22, with a visit to Southern Illinois Raceway in Marion, IL, for the second leg of the weekend doubleheader. Get a ticket at the gate or stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7U-Zach Daum[9]; 2. 71-Jade Avedisian[2]; 3. 58-Daniel Whitley[3]; 4. 25K-Taylor Reimer[5]; 5. 97-Gavin Miller[4]; 6. 51B-Joe B Miller[10]; 7. 11A-Andrew Felker[1]; 8. 21K-Karter Sarff[7]; 9. 32-Trey Marcham[8]; 10. 44-Branigan Roark[18]; 11. 33-Kyle Jones[20]; 12. 97K-Cooper Williams[6]; 13. 26R-Corbin Rueschenberg[17]; 14. 40-Chase McDermand[12]; 15. 16-Garet Williamson[11]; 16. 26-Chance Crum[14]; 17. 31K-Jaxton Wiggs[21]; 18. 08K-Brody Wake[16]; 19. 17B-Austin Barnhill[19]; 20. 08-Cannon McIntosh[15]; 21. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[13]

The Hanover, PA native sneaks by Brad Sweet on the final lap to claim the Morgan Cup for the World of OutlawsMECHANICSBURG, PA (July 21, 2023) – The race appeared to be over. Brad Sweet had led from the drop of the green flag at Williams Grove Speedway on Friday night with a comfortable advantage. But as the white flag waved on the Morgan Cup, the Jaws music began to play.Logan Schuchart spent the entire race in pursuit. Scratching and clawing his way by lapped cars but unable to keep up with Sweet. And then suddenly, hope arose. Schuchart went from 2.2 seconds behind with three laps to go to 1.2 behind as they began the final lap. Down the back straightaway he charged with a head of steam aboard the Shark Racing #1S. As they exited the final corner, Schuchart used a massive run to dip under Sweet and steal the win by only eight one hundredths of a second.The Pennsylvania crowd erupted. Fans looked at each other as if seeking confirmation for what they’d witnessed. Surely Schuchart couldn’t have pulled that off. But he did. He erased a more than two second gap in only three laps. Even Schuchart himself could hardly believe it.“Man, I really didn’t think I had a shot, either,” Schuchart admitted. “I just ran the top the whole race running the same line as Brad. When we did get to some lapped cars there, they were just in both lines. I took way too long to get by them. Brad just got way out there. He was running a consistent race. I knew we felt pretty good, and I felt that our car was going to come in later. “The closer it got those last couple laps, I think I looked up around Lap 20, and I thought I’d move the wing back and try to move around the racetrack to see if I could find anything. I was able to get by Kasey (Kahne) there and slowly started moving in on Brad and really gained on him the last couple laps there. I knew he was probably going to be conservative and block the bottom… When he moved down, I thought I’m just going to run the top and with my wing trunked I thought I’m going to have to keep the car as loose as possible and try and spring off the exit and try to get down the straightaway good. And that’s what we were able to do.”Schuchart’s 38th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car victory was his first at Williams Grove in his 57th attempt at the historic half mile. The Hanover, PA native became the 52nd different driver to win a race with The Greatest Show on Dirt at the tricky oval. The 30-year-old is up to a trio of World of Outlaws triumphs this year plus his Eldora Million victory.And while he may hail from Pennsylvania, the win in the dual Morgan Cup finale/Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals opener was one for the Outlaws as the 10-year Series veteran snatched the Cup from the PA Posse and banked $15,000. Regardless of his driving allegiance, Schuchart was full of excitement to stand in Victory Lane in front of the fans who’ve cheered him on from his earliest days.“This one hits close to my heart,” Schuchart said. “This is really cool to win in front of our PA fans. If you would’ve told me 10 years ago it was going to take me 10 years to win an Outlaw race at one of my home tracks, I would’ve been pretty disappointed. I can’t thank all of the fans enough. Always a bunch of support after the races here no matter if we run 15th or whatever.”The early portion of the race was controlled by Sweet. After topping the Toyota Racing Dash, he wheeled the Kasey Kahne Racing #49 ahead in the early circuits. No cautions interrupted the flow of the race, and even when faced by thick traffic as they approached halfway, Sweet didn’t falter. The four-time and reigning champion sliced expertly through slower cars.What hurt Sweet in the closing laps was a lost wheel cover, causing mud to fill his right-rear wheel and making the car difficult to handle. Sweet’s misfortune was Schuchart’s gain as he closed in and made the thrilling last-second pass.For Schuchart, the moment served as a testament of the importance of giving your all until the race is over.“It doesn’t matter what position you’re in. Until that checkered flag falls, you give it 110%,” Schuchart said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s racing, football, any sport, or life in general, you’ve got to give it 110% every chance you get because you never know. I’m just very thankful to do this with my team and get this opportunity night in and night out.”Sweet’s runner-up result gave him back-to-back second place efforts and four runner-ups in the last six races. “The Big Cat” is up to 18 World of Outlaws podiums this season. No driver will be happy with losing a win of the final lap, but Sweet’s silver lining came in the form of regaining the point lead as he now sits 12 markers ahead of David Gravel, who finished 11th. For Sweet, the missing wheel cover was too much to overcome.“Somehow the wheel got packed full of mud, and I honestly just barely made it around the last lap,” Sweet explained. “I tried to just go to the bottom there. I didn’t think I should go to the outside. I just really couldn’t see it was shaking so bad. I couldn’t get any traction coming to the line. I knew I was in trouble if anyone was close. I tried to limp it around and just wasn’t good enough.”Rico Abreu stayed toward the front for the duration of the race after starting fourth and brought the #24 home third. It marked another consistent run for the St. Helena, CA native who is having a career year behind the wheel. The result put him at 10 World of Outlaws podiums for the year. He’s only the fourth driver to reach that mark this season and the only one among non-full-time drivers.“We were just really consistent throughout the whole race night,” Abreu said. “Our balance is really good. We’ve been really good here. Getting from sixth to fourth there in the Dash was pretty important for us and beating Carson (Macedo) on the start into Turn 1… I could see Brad’s car shaking there when he was ahead of us. Logan and him and I just got to racing when the pace slowed down, and I thought we would’ve been able to stick our nose in there and break some momentum, but it was just a little bit too late.”Sheldon Haudenschild and Carson Macedo completed the top five.Macedo also picked up the night’s Simpson Performance Products QuickTime Award – his Series best 12th of the season and the 31st of his career.For the second straight night, Danny Dietrich was the KSE Racing Hard Charger. The Gettysburg, PA native drove the Gary Kauffman #48 from 15th to seventh.CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One went to Carson Macedo (108th Heat Race win of career). NOS Energy Drink Heats Two through Four were topped by Logan Schuchart (114th of career), Gio Scelzi (31st of career), and Cory Eliason (19th of career).Spencer Bayston won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.The Smith Titanium Brake Systems “Break of the Race” went to Justin Peck after an issue on the final lap ended a sure top 10 run and dropped him to a 21st place finish.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars finish the Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals with $20,000 up for grabs on Saturday, July 22. 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 (25 Laps): 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[4]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[7]; 5. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 6. 19-Brent Marks[6]; 7. 48-Danny Dietrich[15]; 8. 11-Cory Eliason[5]; 9. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[8]; 10. 8-Freddie Rahmer[14]; 11. 2-David Gravel[10]; 12. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[17]; 13. 69K-Lance Dewease[20]; 14. 23-Devon Borden[9]; 15. 15-Donny Schatz[13]; 16. 5-Spencer Bayston[21]; 17. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[16]; 18. 44-Dylan Norris[11]; 19. 83-James McFadden[18]; 20. 67-Justin Whittall[23]; 21. 13-Justin Peck[12]; 22. 11T-TJ Stutts[25]; 23. 9-Kasey Kahne[24]; 24. 1A-Jacob Allen[19]; 25. 99M-Kyle Moody[26]; 26. 12-Billy Dietrich[22]

KENT, Wash. (July 21, 2023) – The Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals got things started at Pacific Raceways with one qualifying session on Friday afternoon. John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS led his four-car team as the Funny Car provisional No. 2 qualifier while Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevy Camaro SS were No. 8. In Top Fuel, Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team will start Saturday from the No. 5 spot while Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy team will work to climb up from the No. 10 spot. John Force and the PEAK Chevy, who are looking for their 10th victory and seventh No. 1 qualifier at Pacific Raceways, opened qualifying with a solid 3.983-second pass at 322.42 mph to earn two bonus points for the provisional No. 2 qualifying position. “I’m excited about this race, the Flav-R-Pac Northwest Nationals. We promoted it really hard with the FanFest at the mall in Auburn and Brittany, she was all over Seattle and hung out with the WNBA Basketball team, the Storm, and then they came out here today. That’s awesome,” Force said. “I’d like to win this race. Win for PEAK and all our sponsors but especially for Frank Tiegs. It’s his race and he’s on all our cars and really done a lot for this team. So I want us to get it done.” Defending event champions Robert Hight and the Cornwell Tools Camaro made a full pass in their first session but were down on speed for a 4.028-second pass at 321.42 mph to end up in the No. 8 spot. Austin Prock and the Montana Brand team had a solid pass to kick off their qualifying efforts at the location of Prock’s first career victory. Prock would record a 3.808-second pass at 312.86 mph with a cylinder out to end the night in the No. 5 spot. Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac dragster ran into tire smoke at mid-track during their first attempt down Pacific Raceways. They coasted to a 6.406-second pass at 92.71 mph in a 13-car field to end up No. 10 with two runs left to move their way up on Saturday. The Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways continues with qualifying Saturday at 2:15 and 4:45 p.m. Eliminations are slated to begin Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Television coverage of the event begins with qualifying shows Saturday at 2 p.m. and 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; 3.808-seconds; 312.86 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0 BRITTANY FORCE, 36, Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac dragsterQualifying:10th; 6.406-seconds; 92.71 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0 JOHN FORCE, 74, PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:2nd; 3.983-seconds; 322.42 mphBonus Qualifying Points: +2 (2nd quickest Q1)ROBERT HIGHT, 53, Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevy Camaro SSQualifying:8th; 4.028-seconds; 321.42 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

HY-VEE DOUBLEHEADER AT IOWA SPEEDWAY

NEWTON, IOWA

TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE ONE REPORT 

JULY 21, 2023

CHEVROLET LEADS PRACTICE ONE AT IOWA SPEEDWAY

• Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet-four-time Iowa Speedway winner, and Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet ended practice session No. 1 on top of leader board with laps of 18.2420 seconds/176.428 mph, and 18.2897 seconds/175.968 mph respectively
• Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, the last NTT INDYCAR Series winner at Iowa Speedway, stood fifth in the final rundown with a lap of 18.3416 seconds/175.470 mph
• Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20 Bitnile.com Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, three-time winner at Iowa Speedway, posted the eighth quickest lap at 18.4749 seconds/174.204 mph
• A total of 13 Chevrolet-powered INDY cars participated in the only practice session of the Hy-Vee doubleheader INDYCAR weekend
• The qualifying procedure for the Iowa weekend is unique in that each car gets two laps on the clock; lap one secures their starting position for the Saturday Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by INSTACART. The second lap secures their starting position for Sunday’s Hy-Vee ONESTEP 250 presented by Gatorade 
• Qualifying is scheduled to start Saturday morning at 9:30 am ET with live coverage on Peacock and INDYCAR Radio
• The 250-lap Hy-Vee Homefront 250 presented by INSTACART is set to start Saturday at 3:00 pm ET with live coverage on NBC TV, INDYCAR Radio and INDYCAR.COM live timing and scoring

POST PRACTICE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

Josef Newgarden

Pato O’Ward

Ryan Hunter-Reay

THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up one practice for this week’s Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend here at Iowa Speedway. Pato O’Ward, fifth quick, he will join us here momentarily, as will eighth place finishing driver Ryan Hunter-Reay in today’s practice. Joined now by Josef Newgarden, driving the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. Four-time winner here at Iowa. Indy 500 champion obviously from this year as well and two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champ. P1 at 176.428 miles-an-hour. Joseph, any indication of what’s to come this weekend?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t know. It’s hard to say. Good practice for sure, no doubt. It’s difficult to say what tomorrow and Sunday is going to bring.

I think everybody looks really good. There’s a lot of cars that tested here. Pretty much the whole field tested outside of us in McLaren, and I think everybody looks like they’ve raised their game.

So it’s not going to be easy whether it’s qualifying or the race. I think it will be pretty tight up and down the grid. We’ll see what happens.

THE MODERATOR: One practice and qualifying, one session at a time. Questions for Josef Newgarden?

Q. Josef, you said it was just okay, but you’re approached by a significant amount. Does that mean you feel good about qualifying, and it’s race setup where you’re wondering?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, both. I had a really clear run to start out for my Q1 in the beginning. The second two Q-sims I did were not clear. The last one I got a little bit closer to that ultimate time that I did, but yeah, I think either/or it’s going to be tough.

There’s a lot of other cars out there that probably didn’t get clear Q-sims, and we didn’t maybe see their ultimate pace. I’ll be fascinated to see the morning.

I think we should be in the mix. It just has this feeling like everyone is way closer than what they were last year. So I’m speaking more about the race, but both sessions I think it’s going to be really close.

Q. Is there anybody in particular outside of the Penske McLaren cars who caught your eye who is really strong or could be a threat?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Legitimately everyone looked like they were levelled up relative to last year. Practice is kind of difficult here just because you’ve got to be ten laps difference on tires makes a huge swing in performance. So it’s hard to assess where everybody is when you’re out there, and it’s hard to get an apples-to-apples comparison.

Any car that I was up against just felt like they were better than what they were doing last year. It was certainly not as easy to kind of come through the field.

I think Ryan will be good in that ECR car. He has been good here in the past, and he looks pretty sporty.

I thought the Ganassi cars looked better than they’ve been. It looked like they were happy at the test, so I think they’ll be difficult. I know McLaren is really strong here.

Then you have my teammates. I know Scotty is going to be good. Yeah, hopefully he is not too good, but he could be very good this weekend I could see.

Q. (Indiscernible).

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s just a compromise. We decided to go to Road America versus here, whereas other teams decided to do it the other way around; right? So it’s not that there’s a secret. We made a choice.

We almost came here. It wasn’t like a clear-cut decision or that it was easy to go to Road America versus this place, but we thought that was an area where we had more opportunity to gain than at Iowa. That’s why we did it.

We’re going to find out here in 48 hours if that was a good call or not.

Q. I think your cars are going to be impounded tomorrow after qualifying. How does the team set up the car? You just go with race setup?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah. I mean, you kind of have to. At the end of the day, qualifying, it doesn’t really matter. When it comes to choosing between that and a race, you have to have a good race car. You’re going to be stuck with it for 250 laps versus two.

So, yeah, you’re going to be putting the race car setup on. You might sneak in a little bit of an adjustment for trying to get a decent run in qualifying.

But to be honest, it’s a terrible condition setup. We’re going to be qualifying at 8:30 a.m. It’s going to be 12 degrees cooler, and then you can’t adjust the car for when it’s the middle of the day.

I don’t personally love that. I think you’re going to be bottoming a lot more when the conditions are super cool. The car is just going to be stuck.

So I kind of wish we had that setup differently where we could adjust at least ride heights or front wing or something like that. The way the rules are written in impound, you’re going to basically put your race car on, and hopefully it’s not too aggressive for qualifying.

THE MODERATOR: Joined obviously now by Pato O’Ward, fifth quick today, driving the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. First winner in last year’s race number two at the Hy-Vee INDYCAR Race Weekend. Pato, another nice start to the weekend here at Iowa Speedway?

PATO O’WARD: I have no idea where we’re at, to be honest. It’s just tough. Around here five laps difference on your tires versus somebody else’s tires, it’s really a world of difference. It’s super easy to kind of spook yourself and feel like you’re not as strong as what you actually are, or you can get a misread and think, I’m a hero, and then you’re not.

I think tomorrow will be obviously an opportunity to learn more of what everybody has got to work for race two. Yeah, we don’t have more time to really work on the car, so it’s just kind of qualifying and then race that qualifying car.

I think it will be a dead game just like it always is in 60-something laps per set. Really pretty tall order.

THE MODERATOR: Hanging on there at the end maybe.

PATO O’WARD: Yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Follow-ups for Josef before we go ahead and cut him loose?

Q. I was going to ask about Scott. You mentioned how good he looked at the practice there. Do you feel like every year you come here, you know, he can see your data, and it’s a little bit of giving away some of your secrets, or do you still feel like you can keep some things to yourself, and it’s not as simple as him kind of going through your data and saying, okay, Josef is doing this on this lap and this on this corner or whatever?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, there’s no hiding when he is your teammate. I’ve gone a step further than that and just opened up my playbook for him.

He is smart. He is probably going to utilize that pretty well. He already looks like he is. So let’s see if I still have enough for him.

Q. To come up with a compromise that’s going to be fast in qualifying and be able to handle the race, at least a Saturday race, how much does that really show the expertise and the brilliance of an engineering staff to find out what that compromise really is?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I want to make it sound more impressive than it is, but you are basically just putting your race car on and trying to not bottom too much. So you’re not — there’s not anything too tricky that we can do.

I think mostly, at least on our team, it would be much more preferred if we could just make a few adjustments because I think everybody going to fight that.

At the end of the day you’re putting your race car on, and you’re going to try to set your ride heights, and that’s about it. It’s nothing too crazy.

THE MODERATOR: Josef, we’ll cut you loose. Thanks for being in here. Appreciate and see you tomorrow bright and early for qualifying. More questions for Pato O’Ward?

Q. To follow up on that a little bit, it’s two laps, but it’s warmup laps. Can you try and time it a little bit to get peaky on lap two that counts, or you just have to — you give up too much on lap one, then you are in trouble on two.

PATO O’WARD: You don’t want to give up on lap one. You want to obviously get the best run out of your warmup lap into lap one and then that will obviously feed into lap two.

We didn’t really get a read on that either because it’s just such a small track with so many cars. Our Q runs weren’t really Q runs. By the time you actually get maybe a decent turn one and two clear, your pressures are already skyrocketing. It’s so hard to get a read.

So tomorrow in qualifying I think we’re going to go into it knowing a little bit of what we’ve got, but a little bit of not what we’ve got. Just like Josef said, everybody just races their — sorry — qualifies their race car because, you know, in reality this track is probably the least qualifying-sensitive track. You can qualify last, but if you have a frickin’ rocket in the race, you’re chilling.

THE MODERATOR: Simon Pagenaud a couple of years ago. He started last.

PATO O’WARD: He got helped by the strategy.

Q. You said you definitely are not the strongest, and I think the last year certainly was Penske and McLaren and then everybody else. Josef was saying that Hunter-Reay looked good, the Ganassi cars looked good. Who outside of your teammates, the Penske cars, looks strong to you?

PATO O’WARD: Particularly I think we obviously were not here for the test, so they’ve obviously gotten stronger because they had a full day that we didn’t.

Well, vice versa. We had a full road in Road America that they didn’t, so you just have to pick your fights and really go to where you think you’re lacking.

But it’s just — it’s an odd place from day-to-day because, like I said, you can feel like you’re not very strong, and then tomorrow everybody is on the exact same laps on the exact same tires, and then you’re just cruising.

Like, that happened to me last year. I was kind of, like, eh, and then as soon as everybody is on the same playing field, it was just, like, bye.

It’s so hard to read. You really don’t know until you get that race one under your belt, and then you are, okay, I need this for race two.

I think today was a little bit of that. You know, we got some long runs in, but I mean, 40 laps, we still need to go 20 more to finish this stint, and those last 20 laps are usually pretty sketch.

Q. (Off microphone).

PATO O’WARD: Exactly. Josef can also be the strongest and not care. I feel like it can be anybody’s just because you get false reads. I think everybody gets false reads on other people because you feel that you’re weak, but you’re also maybe on 15 older tires or 10 lap older tires. And here, different to other tracks, five laps here, like 35 to 40, huge difference.

You can get a false read. You know, they’ve been behind us pretty much all stint. Well, but all stint? Or really how much pressure do they have, or are theirs older and you feel so much stronger than them? It’s just pretty much a guessing game kind of thing for the race.

Q. What can you do to make your tires stay a little better a little longer? Is it line? I know it’s setup, of course, but what can you personally, the driver, do?

PATO O’WARD: You ultimately just don’t — you don’t want to over-abuse it. The problem is if you don’t — if you’re just not really using it, then you’re just going to get freight-trained by everybody.

There’s a compromise there, but a lot of things are in the moment. You can feel out how much you’re oversaturating the front or how much you’re beating it. It really depends on what balance you have.

Then once you get the first stint done, then you know where your balance is kind of going to. Then for the next one you can kind of prepare it or at least start it a little bit better and hopefully make it last a little bit better rather than going either super under-steery or super over-steery. It’s a tough game.

What’s up, bro? You look good. Jinx.

THE MODERATOR: We were just talking about that difference. Ryan Hunter-Reay joins us, driver of the No. 20 Bitnile.com Chevrolet. Three-team winner here at Iowa. What did you learn in that session today?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It was quite a bit different than the test, that’s for sure. Just started the session pretty loose and then just had to work on kind of getting that in check.

I kind of made the decision let’s just bail on focusing on anything qualifying. Let’s just focus on the race car the whole time.

Yeah, like Pato was saying, it’s different phases of the tire through the life of the tire, and you kind of figure out what you can get away with and what you can’t. It’s tough.

It’s amazing how much different this place is than it was back in my first run in 2012. Totally different race car, but it’s challenging.

It’s tough to keep the tire under you. You have to be smart about it. It will be a tough one, but I think we made the right changes towards the end of the session in practice. We had a good direction at the end, which is important.

Q. Pato, 28 cars on the shortest track of the season. Are there going to be three lanes, and how much time in the race do you spend not only looking ahead, but behind you paying attention to what the cars behind you are doing maybe to position yourself? Not to block, but just to kind of keep them from getting around you.

PATO O’WARD: It is to block. If you are looking behind you, it’s because you’re in defense mode (laughing).

Three racing lanes? I think for restarts maybe or for race start, but for racing I just don’t see us hanging it out like all the way up there, especially in three and four. Three and four, for me it was pretty slippery.

THE MODERATOR: See you tomorrow morning.

PATO O’WARD: Thanks.

THE MODERATOR: More questions for Ryan Hunter-Reay?

Q. Ryan, since you’ve taken over the No. 20, is this the track where you feel most like Ryan Hunter-Reay?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: It’s different every track we go to. I felt good at Mid-Ohio. Just didn’t really have the balance that I wanted or needed or what I kind of was striving for.

Toronto, timing just never really went right. Not getting the tires in before it rained in qualifying type of thing. It was just one of those deals.

Yeah, here this is the first place I’ve come back to that I’ve been on the track with the team, and we had a test day. This place, it either seems like, bar a few cars here or there, it seems like maybe Newgarden and Pato, I’m not sure, but it seems like you’re either under-steer or over-steer. There’s kind of no happy medium.

It is difficult. I’m not sure what we’ll have tomorrow, but like I said, I think we went in the right direction.

Yeah, this place I have a certain affinity for short track racing, and it’s been a big part of my career. Yeah, we’re back here at Iowa, which has been a place that has been really good to me. So hopefully that trend will continue.

Q. As you enter traffic, how is the car behaving in traffic? Much different than the other prerun?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, big difference. You could be on your own for a straightaway or two and thinking you’re Superman, and then all of a sudden you come up on three or four cars, and the whole thing changes.

That really makes it difficult on car placement because of the lack of grip and where you drive into the corner and how you place your car. Let’s say I want to be on that lane, and I want my right sides to be there. It’s really difficult to place the car at times, especially on older tires.

Once you get to about lap 40 on tires, you want to pick up the phone and call 9-1-1 and tell them you’re coming in. Then they tell you, well, you have another 30 laps to go.

Then you tell them, Wow, it’s really bad.

They tell you, Well, everybody else is dealing with it too.

THE MODERATOR: That’s universal. It doesn’t matter what team you’re on.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: I think they pull a cheat sheet, a card out, like a laminated card that says, Nope, everybody else is dealing with that; you can’t come in.

Q. What about the heat?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: The heat? Yeah, absolutely. I miss this place being a night race, but it is really incredible what Hy-Vee has been able to do with this place. It’s absolutely insane. Having last raced here in 2020, it looks like a completely different racetrack.

Not on the surface. Everywhere around it obviously. But, yeah, the heat is going to be an issue.

The good news is everybody else is dealing with that same circumstance. It’s a matter of being smart on how you deal with traffic and how aggressive you are.

The line is so, so thin on making the right move or the wrong move in traffic and putting yourself up in the marble, so two lanes for sure.

Q. Ryan, on the flip side of the 9-1-1 call, somebody was telling me about I don’t know which one of your Iowa victories it was, but there was one where you pitted and just darted past everybody because you were on fresh tires, and everybody else was —

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: That was pure talent. That was not tires (laughing). It was so much fun, though. That was one of the most fun races I’ve had.

Q. What is that like when you can dominate the field at will like that here?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Yeah, that race was 2014. We hadn’t had the best night. Tony was leading the whole time, and we knew tires were going to be the way to go.

We didn’t know if we had enough time to do. At the time Michael Andretti made the call. I wasn’t sure about it because we had to give up 10, 11 spots to do it, something like that. I don’t remember what it was.

The great thing was that all the guys that were on used had to use the higher lane because they were just forced there. They couldn’t run the lower lane.

So Josef Newgarden and I both had new tires, and we just ran around the bottom just passing everybody like it was a video game. It was really incredible. I would like to do that again actually.

Q. How I guess important is it to you to have a result like that in practice in the role that you’re in right now? Can you take any momentum from that, or is it kind of like just a result of so many cars on a short racetrack?

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: The practice results that you see are not indicative at all of who is fast in race trim because the practice results are based on a solo lap by themselves with no interference, no dirty air, and all that stuff.

What’s really going to pay this weekend is a car that is consistent over the long run that uses the Firestone tire in a balanced manner through the stint. We have no idea who that is yet.

We do have a good idea based on history and based on who I ran around tonight. I think Josef and Pato were probably some of the best out there. That’s what’s most important.

Really the practice session really doesn’t matter. Folks that know really what to look for, we’ll go back and look at average pace or average lap times over a stint of 20, 30 laps, and that will kind of tell a story.

But, yeah, it wasn’t a bad day. I think we made some good changes. I’m cautiously optimistic on hopefully we can just make a consistent run to the first two stints. If we do that, I think we’ll be good.

THE MODERATOR: Get a good night’s sleep, young man.

RYAN HUNTER-REAY: Thank you. You’re here at 6:30 or something like that?

THE MODERATOR: Bring some donuts with you. That be would great. Hy-Vee, of course. Next session comes up qualifying for tomorrow’s race one here at Iowa Speedway. Qualifying begins at 8:30 a.m. Central Time. Thanks, everyone.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

Garcia goes under old track record, will roll off third on grid in GT-only showcase LAKEVILLE, Conn. (July 21, 2023) – Corvette Racing and Antonio Garcia will charge toward the first corner for the Northeast Grand Prix on Saturday from inside the second row after a third-place result in qualifying Friday at Lime Rock Park. Garcia, in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R, set a best time of 50.897 (104.257 mph) in a record-breaking, 15-minute session around the 1.474-mile, seven turn Lime Rock layout.

He’ll start Saturday’s IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race and will team with Jordan Taylor – the same duo that won the GT-only race in 2021 with the No. 3 Corvette. The five cars in the GTD PRO class were under the previous track record of 51.079; they were all separated by 0.481 seconds. Garcia set the fastest GTD PRO lap in Friday’s first practice and was quickest overall in the final session prior to qualifying. That’s a good sign for the long-run pace of the Corvette, which won for the first time this year two weeks ago at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. While the Garcia/Taylor pairing currently sits third in points, the No. 3 Corvette is in the thick of the GTD PRO championships with 109 points separating the team from the class-leading No. 14 Lexus in the standings.  With six victories at the 1.474-mile, seven-turn road course in northwestern Connecticut, no team in IMSA history has won more times at Lime Rock than Corvette Racing. In fact, no team in the paddock has half the number of victories at the circuit. This is the first of two races this season to feature only GTD PRO and GTD cars, the second coming at Virginia International Raceway in August. Of note, six of Corvette Racing’s 126 victories worldwide have been overall wins, including the 2021 Lime Rock win for the No. 3 Corvette. The FCP Euro Northeast Grand Prix at Lime Rock Park is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Saturday. The race will air live on USA and stream live on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. IMSA Radio also will air the race beginning at 11:30 a.m. ET at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED THIRD IN GTD PRO:“It was a bit messy with the traffic, for sure. Obviously in practice it is way easier to find a rhythm and finding a gap. Here everyone was finding their way in, and I didn’t quite manage to do it. It doesn’t mean I would have done anything different. The balance of the car changed a tiny bit compared to practice. It just wasn’t quite there. We know that we can go from there and that we have a decent race car.”

2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO (After six of 11 events)Driver Standings1. Ben Barnicoat/Jack Hawksworth – 2,1102. Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon – 2,0143. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2,0014. Klaus Bachler/Patrick Pilet – 1,9555. Alex Riberas/Ross Gunn – 1,698 Team Standings1. No. 14 Vasser Sullivan – 2,1102. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 2,0143. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 2,0014. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 1,9555. No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 1,698 Manufacturer Standings1. Lexus – 2,1102. Mercedes-AMG – 2.0143. Chevrolet – 2,0014. Porsche – 1,9555. Aston Martin – 1,709 CORVETTE RACING AT LIME ROCK: By the Numbers• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 25 years of racing: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette• 4: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at Lime Rock Park since 2004 – Corvette C5-R (2004), Corvette C6.R (2005-13), Corvette C7.R (2016-2019) and Corvette C8.R, which made its Lime Rock debut in 2021• 6: Number of victories at Lime Rock for Corvette Racing, the most of any entrant in IMSA.• 7: Number of drivers who have won races at Lime Rock for Corvette Racing – Oliver Gavin (four), Olivier Beretta (three), Jan Magnussen (two), and Johnny O’Connell and Tommy Milner (one each). Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor joined the list with last year’s victory• 7: Fastest race laps for Corvette Racing drivers at Lime Rock. Antonio Garcia (2017) was the most recent• 7: Pole positions at Lime Rock for Corvette Racing, the most of any entrant in IMSA. Jordan Taylor (2021) was the most recent• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001• 27: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Monza, Portimão, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen• 34: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999. Ben Keating and Nico Varrone joined that list with their participation – and victory – in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the World Endurance Championship• 100: As in Corvette Racing’s 100th program victory at Lime Rock Park in 2016• 126: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America, nine at Le and three in the FIA WEC. The most recent came in the last IMSA round at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park• 277: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.• 6,708.24: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 15 previous trips to Lime Rock Park. That represents 4,412 laps or 64 trips from the Empire State Building in New York City to the track• 359,080.28: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon… and then some! Corvette Racing at Lime Rock Park (wins in bold)2004No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GTSNo. 4 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GTS (Beretta pole, fastest race lap) 2005No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT1No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 (Beretta pole, fastest race lap) 2006No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT1No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 4th in GT1 (Beretta fastest race lap) 2007No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT1 (O’Connell fastest race lap)No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 2008No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 (Gavin pole, Beretta fastest race lap) 2010No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Johnny O’Connell – 12th in GT2No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 5th in GT2 2011No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 9th in GTNo. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 10th in GT 2012No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTNo. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GT 2013No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTNo. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GT 2016No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GTLM (100tth Corvette Racing win; Gavin fastest lap) 2017No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 8th in GTLM 2018No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLM (Garcia pole)No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM 2019No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 5th in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Marcel Fässler – 6th in GTLM 2021No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTLM (Taylor pole)No. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 2nd in GTLM 2022No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 4th in GTD PRO

NASCAR CUP SERIES POCONO RACEWAY HIGHPOINT.COM 400 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT JULY 21, 2023   CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1, met with the media ahead doing double duty in the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series at Pocono Raceway this weekend. Media Availability Quotes –   CURIOUS GOING BACK TO LAST YEAR. DID YOU GET TO KEEP THE TROPHY OR DID YOU LET DENNY (HAMLIN) HAVE IT?“He actually gave me the trophy, but he kept the flag though because I think his little girl was pretty married to the flag. So, it was all good. I appreciate him sending me the trophy though we didn’t win it outright. I certainly would have rather won it the way he won it, but maybe this year.”  IT’S GOING TO BE DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO POINT YOUR WAY INTO THE PLAYOFFS. WHAT TRACK COMING UP IS GOING TO BE YOUR BEST CHANCE TO WIN AT?“I hope here this weekend. My thought process since all this has happened is that we are going to have to win. That is kind of what everybody was saying until we had a few good weeks of points and then everybody was like ‘oh, he can point his way in’. So, the storylines can change pretty fast.”  DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE DEFENDING WINNER OF THE RACE FROM LAST YEAR?“Not at all.. not even close. We were credited with the win, but I don’t feel like we had a stellar run. We were decent, but certainly not like we came up here and dominated the race like you want to have happen. So, a little bit of a different vibe and I am not sure that I really….certainly not in the NASCAR time, I never remember being gifted a win like that. Any other time, maybe over the years somewhere, but certainly not since I have been doing this stuff.”  DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE IN MORE OF A RHYTHM THAN YOU WERE A FEW WEEKS AGO?“Yeah, I mean we had a couple of good runs that I thought were trending in the right direction. Loudon was terrible. We struggled all weekend really, which I was disappointed and I think as a team, we all were. We had a good test up there a couple of months ago and it hasn’t been a great track for me, so I was super excited to get some extra laps, and go up there and try to get better at a place that hasn’t been super good. I thought we did that and made a lot of gains, and went back and we were just horrendous. We didn’t really understand why – we came back in a very similar manner to when we left and we just missed. That stuff happens, unfortunately.  Yeah, didn’t have the run we wanted to have last weekend obviously, but I thought the prior three to four weeks to my recollection were certainly better and in the ballgame. That was good, and it’s in there, we just have to extract it.”  WHERE IS THE BALANCE OF THE TEAM, AS FAR AS GOING FOR WINS OR POINTS?“We just have to go and do our jobs to the best of our ability, and show up every weekend and make sure we are prepared – thinking about the right things, talking about the right things and making sure that I am honing in on every piece of my craft and what I need to focus on that weekend from track-to-track. The road courses – everybody likes to talk about that, that I was this really good road racer two or three years ago, but now we haven’t won one and that has cooled off too. So, it’s just that narratives change really fast. The fun part of the position that I am in, and that our team is in, is we have the ability to change those narratives and we can make you’ll write about all kinds of stuff if we just go do our jobs. That is kind of how I look at it and I think that for us, as we look at the tracks coming up, this weekend I think is an opportunity. Has it been a phenomenal racetrack for me? No, it hasn’t, but it is an opportunity to get better. And you want to try to improve and that is where my head is at. I want to get better and I want to be fighting for wins each week and kind of get in the mix of those guys that when you walk in here after the race, you are not surprised to see have won an event. That is the group that I have always wanted to be in and just let the rest figure itself out. If I am up here and we are fighting for top fives and fighting for wins on a weekly basis, I am good. The rest of the stuff is going to work itself out eventually. That has always been my headspace, so it’s no different. No different today and I think we are very capable of doing that. Like I said, we just have to put the pieces together at the right time and extract our potential and we will be fine.”  LOOKING AT THE STATS, IT LOOKS LIKE YOU ARE NOT THAT CLOSE.. “Like I said, I think last weekend certainly was not very good. The prior two or three weeks before that, I thought were. Did we lead any laps in those events? Probably not. But we were running up front and inside the top five and putting together solid races. So from that standpoint, I think that is a pretty good weekend, in my opinion. If you are in those front two or three rows on the final two or three restarts, I consider that going in the right direction. So, I think we just have to keep working hard, keep….as I said a few minutes ago, thinking about the right things, talking about the right things, and I think we are doing that.  And I don’t see any reason why we can’t go and have a good run here this weekend and keep chipping away. That is all we can do. As I look back at last year, we had a really hot start or a hot summer stretch. We were decent at the start – had a good summer stretch and we struggled probably from about this time last year all the way through the end of the season and were just trying to get back on track and put some of those good runs together. So, I think it’s there. It’s just riding the wave. It’s like my dad has said over the years – you just have to ride the wave and continue to put the work in, and it will work itself out.”  CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE DIFFICUTLY AND ART OF QUALIFYING HERE AND HOW YOU LOOK AT IT?“To Bob’s point, I am not the person to be asking about qualifying if you haven’t noticed. I used to qualify okay, but we just haven’t qualified well in a while. So, I guess we had a couple of good starts a few weeks ago. Heck, I don’t know from that standpoint. My philosophy on qualifying has always been dialing in where I feel like the car needs to drive from a race-based perspective. And when you put on four tires, it should go faster. And that has always been my approach – when you put on better tires, it should go better. Yes, the balance might need to shift a little here or there and you might try and find that trend and then hit it each week. But I think that all starts with a really solid setup from a race-based perspective and go from there. It’s always my philosophy and I am not going to change that. We are going to keep trucking in that direction and try to get better.”  HOW ABOUT QUALIFYING HERE AT POCONO?“Yeah, I think qualifying in general has changed over the course of my career. When we first came in, we were having Friday practices that were dedicated strictly for qualifying and we had these really elaborate qualifying setups that we would have to make one fast lap with weight distributed in different parts of the car and everyone was doing it. The schedules changed some and you had less that you could do from a one lap type situation and now even less than then with not even being able to tape up and things for qualifying. So, I think that has changed the qualifying aspect a little bit more than anything. Again, I think it comes back to getting your car driving like you want it to from a long run perspective, and when you put on four tires, you should be able to extract more pace from it.”  HOW DIFFERENT IS IT INTERNALLY FOR THE NO. 9 TEAM IN BEING ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN?“Yeah, it’s certainly different from last year, but I think it has been in some ways enjoyable to find new challenges and kind of push yourself in different areas. It doesn’t really feel a ton different I guess than like a Playoff run, like in the final 10. In those situations like in years past….like last year when we had a good year, we had a lot of Playoff points going into the post-season and I am glad we did because that got us to Phoenix (Raceway). But in years that we didn’t, it was about that you had to show up every week and really get it in those last 10 if you wanted to advance, and that is really kind of how it feels now.  I have always enjoyed those final 10 weeks just because of that. You show up to the race track every week and there was something on the line. There always is, don’t take me wrong. It is to me, it’s a little more fun knowing that it’s kind of ‘make or break’. You either get in, or you don’t. It’s up to us to go and try to achieve that. So, it feels very similar to a Playoff situation without having many Playoff points.”  HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAS BEEN GOOD AT POCONO RACEWAY FOR YEARS, BUT OBVIOUSLY THIS IS A NEW CAR. WITH YOU AND ALEX’S (BOWMAN) TEAMS BOTH ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN RIGHT NOW, IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR EMPHASIS ON POCONO THIS WEEKEND KNOWING THERE’S ONLY SIX MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR THE TWO OF YOU TO GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS AT THIS POINT?“No.. they all matter. They all pay the same amount of points to win or whatever. It matters.. they all matter.” WHAT HAS YOUR CREW CHIEF TALKED TO YOU ABOUT, AS FAR AS THE SUCCESS THIS YEAR, BECAUSE YOU HAVE SEVEN TOP-10’S IN THIS SEASON ALONE AND WITH THE PLAYOFFS COMING UP SOON. WHAT IS YOUR CREW CHIEF TALKING TO YOU ABOUT TO TRY AND MOTIVATE YOU TO GET THAT SUCCESS THAT YOU’RE LOOKING FOR? “We’re all motivated, and we’re always motivated. I’m hired to go and do a job, and my job is no different than any one person on our team, at the shop or wherever it may be. We all have an objective and an assignment, and we all want to deliver, no matter what your obligation is. The motivation is always there for that reason alone. I want to go do a good job. I want to do my part and make sure I’m holding up my end of the bargain. We’re not talking about motivating one another.. we’re talking about how we can be better at the upcoming track – what kind of balance trends we’ve had in years past; what kind of trends we’ve fought or had over the last few weeks; where have we made improvements; what have we not improved upon. So it’s really all performance-related in our conversations, honestly. He knows that when I show up to the race track, I’m going to give him my all. And I know when I show up to the race track, he’s going to give me his, and we’ve had that agreement since day one. I’ll never question that and he won’t either.” WHERE WERE YOU AND HOW DID YOU FIND OUT ABOUT THE WIN AT POCONO RACEWAY LAST YEAR, AND WAS THERE ANY KIND OF CELEBRATION AT THE SHOP THAT WEEK?“No, there was no celebration. I didn’t want to celebrate it, personally. That’s not how I want to win a race, personally. I don’t think anyone at Hendrick Motorsports or on the No. 9 team in particular wants to win that way. We all want to go win them out-right and make sure we feel like we earned it. We want to earn it every week.  So no, there was really no celebration. Heck, I was on the way home so when I landed, I had a couple text messages saying ‘hey, you won the race’. And I was like ‘we won the race.. no, we ran third’. Yeah, so that’s how I found out. It was just weird.. the whole deal was kind of odd. But it is what it is – it wasn’t anything I did, it just worked out, I guess.” TALK ABOUT RUNNING THE XFINITY RACE HERE THIS WEEKEND. IS IT JUST TO GET SOME SEAT TIME? IS IT TO LEARN SOME THINGS FOR THE CUP SERIES RACE ON SUNDAY? “Yeah, the opportunity – Jeff Andrews, Chad (Knaus), Alan (Gustafson) and that whole group at Hendrick Motorsports asked me if I was interested in doing it. I guess the schedule for the car has kind of changed a little bit with HMS entering a Xfinity car. They’ve predominately been doing road courses, and they’ve been tossing around the idea of maybe doing an oval or something here or there. So yeah, I threw my name in the hat and said – hey, if an opportunity comes up, I’d love to drive and this is one of the tracks that I would love to have some more time at. And just the way the schedule worked out and the timing of them getting the car built and things, it just landed here. I was super interested in doing it and would love to maybe do some more. I’m not sure – I don’t think anyone really knows what the schedule for this car is, internally or externally. So we’re just kind of going with the flow and making sure that whenever we do decide to go race, we do it the right way – everybody is prepared and we have the car built like we want to have it built and things inside of Hendrick Motorsports.  Just appreciate them letting me drive it and would love to have a good run this weekend for that reason alone. HendrickCars.com has been a part of my career for a long time. Obviously with my relationship there and obviously the number and the car is very special to Mr. Hendrick and Linda, so would love to put a good run together for them. And also for me, just try to help myself for Sunday.” A LOT OF GUYS THAT ARE ON THE CUTLINE HAVE DIFFERENT STRATEGIES – PITTING AT DIFFERENT TIMES TO HOPEFULLY CATCH LIGHTNING IN A BOTTLE. IS THAT SOMETHING THAT YOU’RE ALREADY CONSIDERING IN DOING OR IS THAT MORE DOWN THE STRETCH? “I think that’s more down the stretch. A lot of those decisions are made based on how you’re running, really. If you’re out front and have the race under control, I think your call would be different than it would be if you were struggling. You look at like last weekend as an example – as bad as we were running, Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) is going to call a race differently versus how the No. 19 (Martin Truex Jr.) was running, right? Those guys had a nice lead and you can just call a race a little differently in that position versus needing to try to make something happen, or taking a chance even though you know it’s going to net out slower to maybe try and catch a caution or something. So I think all of those decisions are really made kind of on the spot and really based on how you’re running at the time.” I KNOW YOU SAID EVERY TRACK IS IMPORTANT FOR THE NEXT SIX WEEKS, BUT IS THERE ONE THAT YOU FEEL STICKS OUT WHERE YOU HAVE THE BEST OPPORTUNITY TO GET A WIN AND LOCK YOURSELF INTO THE PLAYOFFS?“I don’t think so. I’m sure everybody wants me to say a road course or something here or there, but no I don’t feel that way. Again, like I said, I want to have that opportunity every week. That’s where I want to be. That’s the position you need to be in to go and have a legitimate shot of winning the actual whole deal. You have one magic race track that gets you in the playoffs.. that’s not going to get you to Phoenix (Raceway). You’re not going to ride that one miracle all the way through. Yeah, we want to be good every week and we’re capable of being good every week. It’s not just that we want to, it’s that we’re capable of doing it. We need to go and make it happen. That’s where I want to get to and we’re going to keep working really hard to get there, and hopefully we can get in the show. And if we don’t, we’re going to continue to work really hard throughout the rest of the year – whether we get in or not – to try and win, improve and make ourselves better.” THE ONLY TIME YOU’VE EVER BEEN TO POCONO RACEWAY IN A XFINITY CAR WAS 2018 AND YOU FINISHED SECOND IN THAT RACE. I KNOW IT WAS AWHILE AGO, BUT DO YOU REMEMBER ANYTHING AT ALL FROM THAT RACE THAT YOU CAN STILL APPLY FOR TOMORROW?“I remember it now that you say that, but I totally forgot about that.. I kind of forgot that I’ve run one up here. Yeah, when I was running Xfinity full-time, we didn’t race here at that point the way the schedule was worked out.  Yeah, it’s been awhile. I remember the race, but I certainly don’t remember much about our car or all the little stuff. We’ll see today.” THERE WAS A TIME WHERE WE SAW CUP DRIVERS NOT RACE AS MUCH IN THE OTHER SERIES BECAUSE THEY DIDN’T FEEL LIKE IT PAID A BENEFIT ON SUNDAY’S. BUT NOW THAT SHIFT IS CHANGING A LITTLE BIT, WE’RE SEEING MORE OF IT. IS IT MORE TOMORROW ABOUT ‘WIN OR BUST’, OR IS IT JUST EXPLORING OPPORTUNITIES TO SEE IF THERE IS NOW A DIFEFRENCE SINCE THE CARS ARE CHANGING AGAIN AND THERE IS A LITTLE BIT MORE OF A COMPATIBILITY?  “Well I haven’t driven one in a while, so I don’t know if it is compatible or not. From the outside looking in, I feel like there’s really more differences than there are similarities when you really dive into the fine details of it all. But I think there are a lot of positives from having a Xfinity car in-house for a number of reasons. Sure – from a driver’s standpoint, if you can pick up something that weekend, but also from a crew member’s standpoint. Finding and making sure that road crew guys are experienced and also used to the culture of whatever race shop that they’re working in. Hendrick Motorsports, for us – I think it can be a really useful tool for all of us to get our feet wet in a series that’s not Cup. And potentially better prepare new hires, guys that are going over the wall, or whatever it may be of being on the road and working in that environment. Building a car at the level that we want to build them at HMS on the Cup side. So I think there’s more benefit to it than just from a driver’s perspective. I think company-wide, it can benefit all of us.” (NO MIC.)“Yeah, I think the whole piece. Just getting different faces, sometimes fresh faces, all in the same room together, all at the same race track, in the same garage area with the same goal in mind – I think is very useful, I guess is what I was trying to say.” I KNOW YOU SAID AFTER THE CHICAGO STREET RACE THAT SVG’S WIN MADE CUP DRIVERS LOOK BAD. NOW LOOKING FURTHER AHEAD TO THE INDIANAPOLIS ROAD COURSE, YOU HAVE TO RACE HIM AND BRODIE KOSTECKI. YOUR THOUGHTS ON THAT? “Yeah, I didn’t know he was coming back, so that’s awesome. I hope all of those guys come and run more races because I think it’ll make us better at the end of the day. That’s super cool and I’m glad to hear that he got another opportunity. I mean the guy went and won the race – he deserves to race however much he wants. But I think that’s great and I’m looking forward to having him and looking forward to racing with him again. As I alluded to up in Chicago, I thought his drive was not only impressive, but very classy. You didn’t see him running over people. He didn’t run over people to go win the race. I thought he did it the right way and that is very admirable, and I think people like that deserve great opportunities. Looking forward to having him back and racing against both of those guys.”

Nick Hoffman, Brandon Sheppard, and Brian Shirley highlight what makes the Prairie Dirt Classic a fan and driver favorite

FAIRBURY, IL – July 21, 2023 – As July closes for the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series, one of the most highly-anticipated events on the 2023 schedule awaits the Series in Central Illinois.  

The 33rd Prairie Dirt Classic at Fairbury Speedway is July 28-29, boasting a $50,000 payday to the winner and continuing the Summer of Money for the World of Outlaws. 

Three-time and defending race winner Brandon Sheppard, Brian Shirley – a two-time Prairie Dirt Classic Shootout winner – and Germfree Rookie of the Year leader Nick Hoffman – a multi-time Modified winner at Fairbury – described what makes Fairbury and the Prairie Dirt Classic a fan, and driver, favorite. 

What makes Fairbury  different from any other track in Illinois? 

Hoffman: “There is a lot of small-town racetracks that we go to. But it’s just like the whole town gets around it. You just see all of the golf carts riding around, going up and down the streets to get groceries, food, whatever it is. And it’s just a whole different feel. I grew up around Illinois and never really went to Fairbury as a kid. I feel like it’s only blown up, maybe in the last 12 years. There are just so many people and literally campers in people’s front yards. It’s just a different feel. It’s obviously a big party atmosphere, and I think the fans see more of what us drivers do there than anywhere. I feel like 90% of the fans at Eldora don’t really come in the pits, and I feel like all of the fans at Fairbury end up coming into the pits at some point.” 

Sheppard: “Fairbury is different because of the atmosphere. And the town is very involved. You don’t see that a lot anymore. They’re proud of it. They’re proud of the racetrack. You don’t see that anymore. It’s kind of small. We’re all kind of jammed in there. It’s completely packed wall-to-wall.  

“It’s a fun place to go. Anyone you ask where they want to go next, it’s Fairbury. Everybody talks about it, and it deserves it. On top of everything I just mentioned, the racetrack is one of the best. It can be track record speed, or it can be slow and slick. And no matter what, the track is still racy, and two lanes of racing most of the time. Very rarely do you see that place one lane. It’s tough to keep racetracks like that anymore. The cars are so fast, and we’re very fortunate to have a place like that to be able to race at. Being in Illinois so close to my home, there’s no complaints from me, that’s for sure.” 

Shirley: “It’s got the community and the town, and all of the people in the town love it. For this race, they go over the top as far as going about everything. It just seems like it’s amped up another level when it comes to the [Prairie Dirt Classic].” 

How would you describe your past experiences at Fairbury? 

Hoffman: “In the Modified, I’ve had some really good success. I’ve won the PDC in a Modified and had heartbreak. The (DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment) Summer Nationals Modified championship comes down to PDC. One year, I was leading the points and blew a tire at Oakshade [Speedway]. I would’ve clinched the points at Oakshade. I blew a tire leading, and it brought it all to Fairbury. Mike Harrison had to win the championship and beat me. He passed me with three or five to go, winning the race and the title. So that was like complete devastation for me. So, I’ve had ups and down.  

“On the Late Model side, I got to drive for Barry Wright last year, got in the show, and ended up with a DNF. I drove there for Scott (Bloomquist). That’s where I made my debut for Scott in the #0 car. I made the show, and I think we ran 18th or something. I feel like I get around there OK, but it definitely doesn’t fit my style.” 

Sheppard: “When my dad raced, I didn’t consider [Fairbury] one of the local tracks because it was two hours away, or an hour and 45 minutes away when there were five or six other tracks within an hour where we could go. When my dad started slowing down racing, we started venturing out a little bit, and we found ourselves in Fairbury a lot because they had a lot of good racing and a good racetrack, and it was hard on me for a long time. It taught me a lot growing up because it was always elbows up, and stuff happened really fast. You had to make moves on the racetrack a lot faster than what you did at your normal racetrack. So, it’s like the ultimate elbows-up deal, and it was tough on me for a long time.  

“I remember in 2010 for a fair race they had. It was just a $1,500-to-win race on a Wednesday. We were in the lead, checked out, and shook the gear out. So, I was like, man, we really want to win there. Then, we went on to win a few and now winning the Prairie Dirt Classic three different times. It means a lot to me because I went with my dad some growing up, and it’s close to home, and just the atmosphere and the people. There are guys that cook for us every time we go there and treat us well. We have a lot of good friends from there that I’ve made over the years. It’s just a fun place for me.” 

Shirley: “It seems like it’s either good to me or bad to me. I don’t know what it truly takes to win there night in and night out. We’ve won big races there. We’ve run good there. We’ve run good in a couple of these races in the prelims and DIRTcar Summer Nationals and stuff. But to truly win the big race, I just feel like I don’t have that good of a reading on the racetrack as far as I need to be setup-wise. 

How do you approach racing the Prairie Dirt Classic, knowing it’s a two-night format? 

Hoffman: “You just have to test and make sure your stuff is good for the final night. That’s the biggest thing. Make sure you have your short-track package, and you make sure you’re ready to blow the deck out, it’s just what it takes. It’s whatever it takes to win that $50,000.  

“Bobby Pierce and Brandon Sheppard, those guys are by far the best at running the top, and I’m not a guy that can get up there great like they can. I just have to make sure my stuff is good enough to get around the bottom and run the top too when I need to. You’ll see a guy like Dennis Erb Jr., and Tanner English, they’ll marry themselves to the bottom and be good down there. So, it’s almost like you have to pick one or the other.” 

Sheppard: “It’s kind of like all of these big crown jewel races used to be. We used to go to a majority of the crown jewel races and Qualify and Heat Race on Friday and run [Last Chance Showdowns] and Features on Saturday. That’s pretty much what it is, except the Heat races are a little longer. I kind of consider it the same as them. That’s the way I go about it, anyway. It doesn’t really affect us too bad.” 

Shirley: “I just go there and try to do the best I can that night, and where the chips fall is where the chips fall. Then, you get up the next day and figure out whether it was a good or bad day. Even when it’s a good day, you’re working and trying to get better. We just take things day by day.” 

How do you feel about your chances there? 

Hoffman: “I’m more comfortable than I’ve ever been in a Late Model. So, this is obviously my first solid opportunity in a full-time ride. I haven’t ran any Modifieds this year, so I’m very comfortable jumping right into it and confident that I can get it done. So, I feel like we’ll be pretty good. Getting back to racetracks I’ve had laps at before and running well that’s the biggest thing for me. Ponderosa, I made laps there, but we sucked. We’re testing this weekend, going to make sure our ducks are in a row, and make sure we’re good for next week.” 

Sheppard: “I feel really good, honestly. We’ve been there three times and finished second, third, and fifth. We haven’t finished outside the top five. We’ve learned a lot there, and our car gets better every time we race it. We’re learning a lot on it, and we’re steadily growing with this thing. I’m feeling pretty good about it.” 

Shirley: “I always feel like I can win. To be honest, I always feel like Fairbury is either good to me or bad to me. If all the cards fall the right way, and everything falls right, and the track conditions are more my style, we could win the race. I’m not going into the race thinking I couldn’t win. It’s just how well you execute everything and putting yourself into the right position. Obviously, if you put yourself in the front and start in the first couple of rows, it’ll be easier for you.” 

The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models battle at Fairbury Speedway in the 33rd Prairie Dirt Classic, July 28-30—two nights of action with a $50,000 winner’s payday along with lap money on Saturday. 

For tickets to the Prairie Dirt Classic, CLICK HERE. 

BATAVIA, Ohio (July 21, 2023) – The battle for the Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup in 2023 is heating up as the top dirt late model drivers battle at Huset’s Speedway. Saturday night’s 13th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals presented by MyRacePass will be the next event in the Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup. Ricky Thornton Jr. leads the current Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup standings. Hudson O’Neal is 70 points behind in second with Devin Moran just 80 points back in third. Tim McCreadie and Jonathan Davenport round out the top five – with only 145 points separating the top five drivers. The mini-series within the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series schedule consists of sixteen (16) events that pay $30,000 or more to the winner. Drivers with perfect attendance on the tour will earn points in these sixteen (16) events based on their respective finishes. The driver that earns the most points at the sixteen (16) Crown Jewel Cup events will be crowned the Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Champion – earning a $15,000 cash bonus at the year-end awards banquet. The drivers who finish second through fifth in the Crown Jewel Cup standings will earn $6,000, $4,000, $3,000, and $2,000 in cash, respectively for a total point fund of $30,000 for these sixteen (16) events. Arizona Sport Shirts will continue to have a presence at all Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events as the Official Merchandise Provider for the series along with their extensive online store at https://www.gottarace.com/collections/lucas-oil-late-model-dirt-series For the latest news, results, championship standings and more about the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, please visit www.lucasdirt.com. 2023 Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Schedule:Sat. May 13 – Fairbury Speedway – Fairbury, IL – $30,000 – Bobby PierceSat. May 27 – Lucas Oil Speedway – Wheatland, MO – $50,000 – Devin MoranSat. Jun. 3 – West Virginia Motor Speedway – Mineral Wells, WV – $50,000 – Rained OutSat. Jun. 17 – Smoky Mountain Speedway – Maryville, TN – $50,000 – Ricky Thornton Jr.Sat. Jun. 24 – Lernerville Speedway – Sarver, PA – $50,000 – Ricky Thornton Jr.Sat. Jul. 1 – Muskingum County Speedway – Zanesville, OH – $30,000 – Ricky Thornton Jr.Sat. Jul. 8 – Deer Creek Speedway – Spring Valley, MN – $50,000 – Bobby PierceSat. Jul. 22 – Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, SD – $53,000Sat. Aug. 12 – Florence Speedway – Union, KY – $75,000Sat. Aug. 19 – Batesville Motor Speedway – Batesville, AR – $50,000Sat. Aug. 26 – Port Royal Speedway – Port Royal, PA – $50,000Sun. Sep. 3 – Tyler County Speedway – Middlebourne, WV – $30,000Sat. Sep. 16 – Knoxville Raceway – Knoxville, IA – $50,000Sat. Sep. 23 – Brownstown Speedway – Brownstown, IN – $30,000Sat. Sep. 30 – Pittsburgh’s PA Motor Speedway – Imperial, PA – $30,000Sat. Oct. 21 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, OH – $100,000

NASCAR CUP SERIES

POCONO RACEWAY

HIGHPOINT.COM 400

TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

JULY 21, 2023

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 LENOVO CAMARO ZL1, met with the media on Friday afternoon at Pocono Raceway. Media availability quotes: 

WHERE WERE YOU AND HOW DID YOU FIND OUT LAST YEAR THAT YOU HAD BEEN DQ’D?

“Driving back to the airport after the race.”

WHAT WAS YOUR REACTION TO THAT?

“Yeah, it was a surprise that it happened for sure.  Having no idea of anything about that, would come as a surprise – getting a second-place finish taken away from you, but it wasn’t as bad as a win.”

WHAT WOULD IT MEAN FOR ANY OF YOUR TRUCK SERIES DRIVERS TO SCORE KBM’S 100^TH WIN TONIGHT?

“Yeah, it would certainly be nice. We have been talking about it for way too long.  That would be good.  Again, just having too many opportunities slip away for sure over the last three years, and to not have gotten to 100 by now.  Only winning one race last year, only winning one race this year….you know, its been pretty lackluster.  So, it would be nice to come out here and have a good, strong run with our Zariz Transport Silverado and get back in victory circle.”

HOW HUNGRY ARE YOU COMING TO A TRACK WHERE YOU HAVE WON FOUR TIMES SINCE 2017?

“Yeah, I wouldn’t say the hunger diminishes in any week more so than the next.  Missed opportunity last week. I couldn’t carry it. I tried like hell to carry it, just couldn’t do it.  You know, so, that hurt us last week in not finishing and at least score some points.  Short track package has been our nemesis and still is.  So many ideas have been thrown around and we have tried different ideas and concepts and none of them have hit it yet.  Obviously, we haven’t found the golden ticket.”

REGARDING THE SECRET TO RECENT SUCCESS AT POCONO

“It was a lot of things. Definitely having a better understanding of how to attack the track and having a better set up that would allow me to be able to run the grooves and everything that I needed to run.  When the repave happened here – I am terrible on repaves for a few years. Its finally getting to the point, the last five or six years, that the track has gotten some age on it and some character to it and stuff like that. Spraying the PJ1 allows you to widen it out and run different grooves. You don’t have to follow in the guy behind yours’ wake, because that’s the fastest way around.  Not having that here this weekend will be interesting to see if we are back to square one with single groove or what happens in that.  All-in-all, in 2014 we started to hit on something with Dave Rodgers and then right after that in 2015 with Adam (Stevens). It felt just super easy and just clicked. We have been fast here ever since that, so hoping that Randall (Burnett) and the boys have a good Lenovo Camaro for me to race this time around and to have some good success again being at RCR.”

AFTER SEVERAL RACES IN THE BOOKS WITH THE SHORT TRACK PACKAGE, HOW BIG OF A CONCERN IS THAT FOR YOU?

“It’s a big concern. You know, again, we are just trying to figure it out. How many things we have tried, I can’t even comprehend to tell you.  Obviously, we haven’t hit on it yet.  We have Richmond coming up next week, so we have to find something that is going to work for us there. Definitely some conceptual ideas that are going around again, on what to do.  We will just have to play it out and see how it goes.”

WHAT EXACTLY WAS WRONG LAST WEEK? BECAUSE THERE WERE THREE SEPARATE INCIDENTS

“It was the same thing every time. Just loose, no grip.  I can’t feel the rear or back of the car getting into the corners, on entry, especially getting into the turn. Just tiptoeing and just trying to hold the steering wheel straight and not give it wheel.  And anytime you give it wheel and ask for it to pull the car through the corner, the rear just steps out and the rear can’t hold it. So, that was our biggest issue.  That has been our biggest issue on all short tracks.”

ARE YOU FLABBERGASTED ABOUT LAST WEEK OR DO YOU NEED WEEKS LIKE THAT WHEN YOU ARE TRYING TO FIGURE OUT THE SHORT TRACK PACKAGE?

“Well, I would say that…..how many short track races have we had? Six? Five? Okay, enough is enough. I don’t think we need any more bad ones to prove that we are bad at them. We need to find what the answer is to be good at them.  I know we are all working as hard as we can and I am at the simulator six hours a week, every week, trying to figure it out.  We are doing different things and this week we tried some more stuff this week that kind of hit on what our issues were. We were trying to recreate the issues that we had at the track, in the sim. So we feel like we had a little bit of the right direction on that this time around.  Again, we will see if that is the case in what we found, but it would certainly be nice if it was just as easy as copy and paste. Like if you could just copy the 5 or the 24, but the 24 ran terrible last week too.  Both of those cars were arguably the fastest cars at Richmond the last time around.  So, I don’t think it just comes that easy so we have to find out exactly what the right levers and buttons are to push and pull.”

WHAT IS YOUR SENSE OF HOW SHANE VAN GISBERGEN IS GOING TO BE AT INDIANAPOLIS ON THE ROAD COURSE?

“I would say he is the favorite going in.  For sure. I would say that the gap will be closer from Chicago to the rest of the field that he had.  He had us all beat by six to eight tenths of a second a lap. I would say going into Indy we should all be within two to three tenths, but he will still be the best guy.”

HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO RACE WITH BRODIE KOSTECKI AND HAVE YOU GIVEN HIM ANY ADVICE?

“Yeah, we tested together our V8 Supercar that we have at RCR earlier this year.  So, he was there when we first went out and I think he had me covered by about two seconds a lap and then as the day kind of progressed, and by the end of the day, we actually ran times that were real comparable and right on top of his.  It just took me a while to get used to those cars and what they are and how you can really attack corners. Just various driving techniques that those cars take, but I think those guys are all very good at what they do, and they really understand the heavy stock car feel and basis for these road courses. So, I would assume that he will be strong as well.  Hopefully I can lean on him and learn a lot from him and have some time in the sim and stuff like that with him that will allow us to be better off when we get there as well and better prepared.”

HAS THERE BEEN ANY NOTICIBLE DIFFERENCE IN SWITCHING MANUFACTURERS IN YOUR TRUCK TEAM AS FAR AS PERFORMANCE?

“I would have said right after Vegas that it was seamless and we are actually better off, you know? We won Vegas in dominating fashion earlier this year and all of us qualified 1-2-3. It was really, really good and gave us high optimism for the year, but since then it just hasn’t quite gone that way.  Kansas was a struggle for us and we were just super off on balance.  We did not have a very good feel there for what we needed from sim.  So for Pocono, I didn’t do any sim stuff for here. I just told them to rely on past notes because we have always been really, really fast here.  Just look at what balances we need and go from there and we will see what happens again, with no PJ1 being sprayed down.  I would like to think that our stuff is just fine and its just as good as it should be. Unfortunately, William (Byron) didn’t get any wins in his races that he was with us either. So that was another head scratcher and a bit unfortunate.  We know we have to get better and there are some things that we are lacking on.  I have tried to voice that, so hopefully we can remedy.”

WHAT HAVE YOU TOLD YOUR TEAM TO MAKE SURE YOU DON’T HAVE THE GEAR ISSUE AGAIN?

“Just make sure the clutch is bled and works good. And that is about it. No, that was kind of an ironic situation the way that all worked out. The clutch went out and I was stuck in high gear and the way that the fuel mileage race was, it was perfect fuel mileage for the end of the race and me being able to kind of save and conserve fuel.  The rest of the pack was on a different fuel strategy so they had to pit or stop and that gave us the opportunity to get the lead.”

HAVE YOU THOUGHT OF TRYING TO WIN A TRUCK SERIES TITLE WHEN YOUR TIME IS DONE IN CUP?

“Yeah, I mean I kind of tried that back in the day.  2008, 2009, somewhere in there where I ran as many races as I possibly could.  There were some races where it gets expensive trying to fly back and forth and the only way to do that is private air travel obviously.  Then the rules all came about where you can’t run that and so whatever.  Obviously, it’s kind of been an idea of mine you know and not necessarily why KBM is still going, but obviously we give back to the sport a lot by doing that and all the drivers that have come through there over the years.  I would like to give back to me a little bit, or take from it, as I get closer to hanging it up.  And then obviously turning it over the Brexton.”

WHAT WAS YOUR THOUGHT PROCESS IN RUNNING DOUBLE DUTY HERE AT POCONO RATHER THAN ANY OTHER TRACK?

“You want the truth? I am only allowed so many races to choose from on the truck side, so this was about one of the only ones that was left that I could choose.  With all the limitations on the Cup drivers in being able to race in the lower divisions, I was out of options. So, that is just kind of why it was. I enjoy coming to Pocono, I don’t mind racing here, I have won a couple of times in the trucks. But it is nice to just get back out there and see what we have and work on our program at KBM and evaluate.  So, it will be nice to kind of get my final shakedown of that for this year and a brand-new truck. I look forward to learning the most we can.”

DO YOU THINK DRIVERS SHOULD BE DISQUALIFIED OR DO YOU THINK THE WIN SHOULD STAND?

“I think we have had this debate for years.  To me it depends on the severity of it, right? Like the piece of tape that was there, last year, for that infraction, I felt like it was a bit over the top.  Obviously, it was a blatant thing that shouldn’t have been there, but honestly if it was something missed, then that is the price we have to pay as a team. We win and we lose together. So the cars have to be right, and more right now than ever because the rules and the infractions are just so stiff.”

The My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 is set to boast a $214,000 purse for the World of Outlaws

DAVENPORT, IA (July 21, 2023) – My Place Hotels of America is joining the Quad Cities 150 as title sponsor, further elevating the event’s marquee status during the World of Outlaws’ Summer of Money.

Fans and drivers will get three straight days of the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking at Davenport Speedway, in Davenport, IA, Aug. 24-26; again featuring the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models and Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota.

The Quad Cities is currently home to one My Place hotel in Davenport, IA, and will soon welcome a new My Place hotel in East Moline, IL.

“We are excited to join forces with the dynamic World of Outlaws community,” said Ryan Rivett, co-founder and CEO of My Place Hotels. “As title sponsor of the Quad Cities 150, we are not just promoting our brand, but championing a sport that resonates deeply with many guests and franchisees. This event is a testament to our ongoing commitment to community engagement and fostering memorable experiences, both on and off the track.”

Taking place during the Summer of Money for the World of Outlaws, the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 will boast a substantial $214,000 overall purse for the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models, paying $10,000 to win Thursday and Friday before awarding a $30,000 top prize during Saturday’s finale.

Tanner English swept the final two nights of the event last year and brought fans to their feet with one of the closest finishes in Series history. He’ll be back to try and reclaim his thrown, but will be up against the likes of defending Series champion Dennis Erb Jr., four-time Series champion Brandon Sheppard, 2015 Series champion Shane Clanton, leading Germfree Rookie of the Year contender Nick Hoffman and more.

The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets, featuring rising stars like Jade Avedisian, Gavin Miller, Cannon McIntosh and more, will practice on Thursday, Aug. 24, and then contend for a $4,000 payday on Friday and a $5,000 payday on Saturday.

Fans attending the event will not only enjoy the racing action but also various engaging activities and opportunities to meet the drivers.

For tickets to the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking, CLICK HERE.

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

July 21, 2023 — DETROIT, Mich.

• Fujisawa joins Honda founder Soichiro Honda in the Automotive Hall of Fame
• Six other inductees were honored at the awards celebration in Detroit

Flanked on stage by three iconic products that helped to establish Honda as one of the most innovative companies in America – the Honda 50 motorcycle (Super Cub), the Honda Civic CVCC and the HondaJet – Honda co-founder Takeo Fujisawa was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame at the awards ceremony last night at The Fillmore Detroit.

Honda Motor Co. Ltd, Chairman Seiji Kuraishi accepted the honor on behalf of Fujisawa’s family, and Honda associates around the world.

“The spirit and vision of Takeo Fujisawa continues to guide Honda,” said Kuraishi. “Our business in America may have started with the Super Cub motorcycle, but due to his vision it continues with new types of mobility, including the HondaJet.”

Fujisawa joins Honda founder Soichiro Honda, who was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame in 1989, the first Japanese automotive executive so honored.

Born on November 10, 1910, Fujisawa originally aspired to become a teacher, but instead worked as a salesman for a steel products company and then for a lumber company when he met Soichiro Honda in August 1949, about one year after the founding of Honda Motor Co., a small local venture in Hamamatsu, Japan. It was right after the launch of the Dream D-Type, considered to be Honda’s first full-fledged motorcycle product.  While the two men were equipped with different personalities and skill sets, Honda and Fujisawa hit it off almost immediately and began deep discussions about their approach to business and dreams for the future. 

Quickly developing a trusting relationship, they established a shared vision for the future of the company with Fujisawa joining Honda Motor in October 1949.  As a president of the company, Honda retained responsibility for product design and technology development and manufacturing operations, inventing many innovative vehicles including Super Cub, the world’s best-selling mobility product. Fujisawa backed him up as his right hand with responsibility for the business side of the company, including sales, finance and marketing. 

Fujisawa’s marketing savvy, strong business sense, and keen ability to chart unique paths to growth proved the perfect match to Soichiro Honda’s engineering acumen and vision for mobility. The partnership lasted 25 years, until March 1973 when Messrs. Honda and Fujisawa retired together. From the beginning, Fujisawa had an enormous impact on Honda’s business globally and in the U.S., where he played the key role in the approach to the American market. 

Fujisawa made several lasting and impactful business decisions that are still relevant today:

Starting Honda Business in the U.S.
In 1959, and by then the senior managing director of Honda, Fujisawa made the challenging decision to establish American Honda as Honda’s first subsidiary outside Japan.  At the time, the entire U.S. motorcycle industry sold no more than 60,000 units annually — mostly larger bikes.  One member of the team recommended expansion in Asia, where small motorcycles from Europe, like those made by Honda, were already in use.  He suggested that America, the “land of the automobile,” was too difficult a target for Honda.  Fujisawa had another idea.  “On second thought, let’s do America,” he said. “To succeed in the U.S. is to succeed worldwide. To take up the challenge of the American market may be the most difficult thing to do, but it’s a critical step in expanding the export of our products.” Without Fujisawa’s leadership, Honda would not be the success story in the United States that it is today.

Creating Independent U.S. Dealer Network
Fujisawa adopted many innovative sales and marketing strategies in Japan and the U.S. This included the decision to start motorcycle sales by establishing Honda’s own dealer network. Despite suggestions that Honda should follow the approach of other Japanese companies and rely on a trading company to launch U.S. sales, Honda forged relationships with many smaller dealers, even those with no history in the motorcycle industry, and successfully expanded business from the West Coast across America.  By the mid-1960s, Honda was the best-selling motorcycle brand in America.

Establishing Separate R&D Company
In 1960, based on Fujisawa’s initiative, Honda R&D Co., Ltd. was created as a separate company.  Fujisawa conceived the idea with two objectives: to give Honda engineers the freedom to create new value without being constrained by the ups and downs of daily business and to protect Honda’s ability to sustain this innovation in the future when they could no longer rely on the genius of Soichiro Honda.   The new R&D company ushered in an era of incredible technological and product innovation and entering new business areas including the automobile and aviation industries. Honda R&D’s focus on research and creating new value in mobility continues to this day. 

The corporate culture Mr. Fujisawa helped foster is alive and well today and will continue as a driving force for Honda in business.  The commitment to act as a good corporate citizen is as important now as it has always been as Honda continue to pursue The Power of Dreams and use technology to help move people and society forward.

BRANDON, SD (July 20, 2023) – Ricky Thornton Jr. came from his sixth starting spot to grab the lead from Jonathan Davenport on lap 19 to win the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Go 50 on Thursday night at Huset’s Speedway. Thornton, the current Big River Steel Chase for the Championship – presented by ARP points leader picked up his 13th series win of the season as he crossed the finish line ahead of Bobby Pierce, Davenport, Chad Simpson, and Tim McCreadie. Thornton who now has collected over $300,000 in winnings and bonuses so far this season in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series held steady on the bottom over the last half of the race to score his 18th career series win. “Man, that was wild there. I don’t know I was really good right through the middle of one and two. It wasn’t clean, but there was just enough traction where you could really get through it. I feel like this is a really big sprint car place and it’s really cool to win here. Bobby’s [Pierce] been really good probably the last two or three months. I know JD [Davenport] has been really good lately too. I think I started 12th here last year and got to the lead. I knew I had to get a really good start and not get mired back in the pack.” Pierce, making his first appearance with the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series since winning the NAPA Auto Parts Gopher 50 at Deer Creek came in second to Thornton. “Yeah, I know I got a pretty slow run there through one and two on the bottom and at that time our car wasn’t as good as his [Thornton]. He got that middle going there and after that I knew it would be hard to pass him back. It was a fun race though you know being the first time here and these guys have a race up on me here so we’ve got kind of a notebook now heading into the big race on Saturday we’ll see what we can do.”  Davenport rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third as his two-race Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win streak was snapped. “I don’t think it was a disadvantage to lead early on tonight. I was just too tight there and I was just having to get too bent there. I gave my guys a little bit of body work to do. I think they need a little practice. I guess Ricky [Thornton] was just a little better and he could move around. I heard Bobby [Pierce] on the inside of me and so I didn’t want to chop him and wreck us both getting into turn number one.”    The winner’s Todd and Vickie Burns-owned, SSI Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Big River Steel, Hoker Trucking, Coltman Farms, Sub-Surface of Indiana, Dyno One Inc., West Side Tractor Sales, D&E Outside Services, Excel Floor Covering, Certified Inspection Services, Sunoco, Bilstein Shocks, Midwest Sheet Metal, and Murty Farms. The rest of the top ten were Brandon Sheppard, Garrett Alberson, Daulton Wilson, Brandon Overton, Kyle Bronson. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary Go 50Thursday, July 20, 2023Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, SD Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Jonathan Davenport / 12.905 seconds (overall)Fast Time Group B: Ricky Thornton, Jr. / 13.046 seconds  Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[3]; 3. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[2]; 4. 14M-Morgan Bagley[7]; 5. 66C-Matt Cosner[4]; 6. 199-Jesse Sobbing[6]; 7. 53-Andrew Kosiski[8]; 8. 07-Ben Sukup[5]; 9. 10W-Junior Coover[9] Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 25-Chad Simpson[1]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 3. 11-Spencer Hughes[5]; 4. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[4]; 5. 49T-Jake Timm[6]; 6. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[9]; 7. 24-Bill Leighton[7]; 8. 14J-Jake Neal[8]; 9. 99-Devin Moran[2] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr [1]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[4]; 5. 18-Chase Junghans[7]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 7. 25C-Shane Clanton[5]; 8. 111B-Max Blair[9]; 9. 16-Tyler Bruening[8] AP1 Insurance Heat Race #4 (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[4]; 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 5. 157-Mike Marlar[6]; 6. 8-Dillon McCowan[3]; 7. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[7]; 8. 04-Tad Pospisil[8]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[9] Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[4]; 2. 66C-Matt Cosner[1]; 3. 199-Jesse Sobbing[3]; 4. 49T-Jake Timm[2]; 5. 53-Andrew Kosiski[5]; 6. 24-Bill Leighton[6]; 7. 14J-Jake Neal[8]; 8. 07-Ben Sukup[7]; 9. 10W-Junior Coover[9]; 10. 99-Devin Moran[10] UNOH B-Main Race #2 (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 2. 18-Chase Junghans[1]; 3. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 4. 25C-Shane Clanton[5]; 5. 8-Dillon McCowan[4]; 6. 111B-Max Blair[7]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[9]; 8. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[6]; 9. 99B-Boom Briggs[10]; 10. 04-Tad Pospisil[8] Go 50 Feature Finish (50 Laps):

Race Statistics Entrants: 36Terminal Maintenance & Construction Pole Sitter: Jonathan DavenportLap Leaders: Jonathan Davenport (Laps 1-18); Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Laps 19-50)Wieland Feature Winner: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Arizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/aBrandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/aMargin of Victory: 0.579 secondsGorsuch Performance Solutions Cautions: n/aSeries Provisionals: Devin Moran; Max BlairFast Time Provisional: n/aSeries Emergency Provisionals: Tyler BrueningTrack Provisional: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Bobby Pierce, Jonathan DavenportPenske Shocks Top 5: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Bobby Pierce, Jonathan Davenport, Chad Simpson, Tim McCreadieTodd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Brandon Sheppard (Advanced 6 Positions)Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Garrett AlbersonDeatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Ross RobinsonEarnhardt Technologies Most Laps Led: (Laps)Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Max BlairEtchberger Trucking Fastest Lap of the Race: Jonathan Davenport (Lap 1 – 14.560 seconds)MD3 Tough Break of the Race: Devin Moran Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Anthony Burroughs (Ricky Thornton, Jr.)ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Clements Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Daulton Wilson (12.917 seconds)Time of Race: 12 minutes 56 seconds The Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:

The point leader bests Brad Sweet in first World of Outlaws race at BAPS in more than three decadesYORK HAVEN, PA (July 20, 2023) – A long time had passed since the last World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car race at BAPS Motor Speedway. So much time, in fact, that current Series point leader – David Gravel – was only 40 days old at the time.Fast forward 31 years, and Gravel arose victorious as The Greatest Show on Dirt returned to the York Haven, PA racetrack. Gravel came out on top of a fierce duel with his closest championship competitor – Brad Sweet – to make the trip to Victory Lane. A back-and-forth battle between two of Sprint Car racing’s best proved the long awaited return to BAPS was worth every bit of the wait. The Watertown, CT native climbed atop the wing with his son Levi in a celebration for the World of Outlaws over the PA Posse.The victory moved Gravel up to a Series-best nine in 2023 aboard the Big Game Motorsports machine. His 85th career win elevated him into a tie with none other than Brad Sweet for 10th on the all-time Series win list. And in the grand scheme of the season, Gravel added four more points on his championship lead over Sweet.“Hats off to Kolten (Gouse), Scott (Gobrecht), and everybody here at this racetrack. They gave us a really good racetrack,” Gravel said. “Cody (Jacobs), Scott (Vogelsong), and Zach (Patterson) gave me an unbelievable car tonight. We didn’t qualify that great. But from the Heat Race I knew we had a really good race car. It feels good to be on the second row of the Heat Race and get in the Dash and win one.”The path to the front was by no means an easy one for Gravel. He began the race behind the wheel of the Huset’s Speedway #2 from inside the second row with a front row consisting of Sweet and Logan Schuchart ahead. On the opening circuit Gravel immediately went to work on attacking Schuchart for second as Sweet pulled ahead. Gravel slid by the Shark Racing #1S in Turn 2, but Schuchart crossed him over down the back straightaway. In Turns 3 and 4 Gravel pounded the cushion around Schuchart to secure the runner-up spot.Up front Sweet comfortably paced the field until traffic become a factor and Gravel began to close in. With a racing surface that offered a nearly equal top and bottom, the battle became about mastering both lines in order to navigate traffic. Gravel shifted toward the bottom while Sweet stayed high leaving Gravel a window and he pounced, rolling by on Lap 14 for the lead.But on the next lap, Gravel got caught behind a lapped car on the top, allowing Sweet the lane to sneak back around. Only five circuits later on Lap 20, Sweet found himself trapped by traffic, and Gravel ripped the cushion to regain the top spot.“Man, I think they (track grooves) were about equal,” Gravel explained. “Wherever the lapped car wasn’t that’s where I had to go. Brad was pretty good. I was behind Freddie (Rahmer), and that one lap he went to the top in front of me and gave Brad the lead back. Just happy to have a good enough car. He definitely started spinning (his tires) down the backstretch pretty bad. I was better than him at that point.”Gravel’s move on the 20th circuit proved to be the winning one as Sweet wasn’t unable to catch him to challenge again. Sweet stayed close but not quite close enough as Gravel took the checkered flag with a 1.240 second advantage.“It was a great racetrack,” Gravel said. “I’m glad a lot of fans came out today. Now we’ve got a little mini-speedweek with three days in a row. Hope we’ll see everybody at Williams Grove this weekend and battle it out.”Brad Sweet’s second place effort marked his 18th World of Outlaws podium of the season as he continues the hunt for a fifth consecutive title. The driver of the Kasey Kahne Racing #49 felt like he had a strong car but was missing a touch of speed needed to stay ahead of Gravel and potentially pick up the win.“I was pretty good early,” Sweet recalled. “I really struggled in lapped traffic. It didn’t surprise me when David got me. But the racetrack was great, two lanes. I got him back. I just didn’t have a good enough car I don’t think. Like he said, I was spinning down the backstretch. I just couldn’t find a great spot for my car. At the end I kind of paced him and felt like we were pretty equal. I was trying hard, and I was too far behind. We’ll take a second tonight and try to get better for the next two nights.”Rounding out the podium was Logan Schuchart. The Shark Racing pilot kept the C&D Rigging machine toward the front of the entire race after starting outside the front row to earn his eighth podium of the season. Like Sweet, Schuchart found himself missing a little something to have the speed necessary to best Gravel. Overall, the night proved to be an encouraging one on home turf for the Hanover, PA native.“It’s really cool to have the run that we did and be here at BAPS Motor Speedway,” Schuchart said. “Anytime we can race in front of these PA fans, we love it. Happy to be here. I’ve never won here in my career. We come here at the end of the year, and we’re always on the podium but never win. Looking forward to coming back. I think we have a great car to come back with. Every time I’d get to them it seemed like a lapped car would be in my way on the top and I’d have to move to the bottom. I just didn’t feel as comfortable as I needed to.”Carson Macedo and Brent Marks completed the top five.Gravel’s win grew his point lead to six over Sweet while Macedo stayed close as he now sits 32 markers behind Gravel.A 19th to eighth run gave Danny Dietrich the KSE Racing Hard Charger Award.The Smith Titanium Brake Systems “Break of the Race” went to Cory Eliason after a late flat tire ended a likely top 10 run.Justin Peck topped Low-E Insulation Qualifying for his second consecutive Simpson Performance Products QuickTime.CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One went to Justin Peck (seventh Heat Race win of career). NOS Energy Drink Heats Two through Four were claimed by Brad Sweet (226th of career), Carson Macedo (107th of career), and Logan Schuchart (113th of career).Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars tackle two more nights against the PA Posse at Mechanicsburg, PA’s Williams Grove Speedway for the Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals (July 21-22). 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. 2-David Gravel[3]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 5. 19-Brent Marks[12]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[7]; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich[19]; 9. 83-James McFadden[10]; 10. 13-Justin Peck[8]; 11. 44-Dylan Norris[11]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[17]; 13. 23-Devon Borden[23]; 14. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[13]; 15. 9-Kasey Kahne[9]; 16. 1A-Jacob Allen[14]; 17. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[15]; 18. 99M-Kyle Moody[20]; 19. 7S-Robbie Price[22]; 20. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[18]; 21. 5-Spencer Bayston[16]; 22. (DNF) 11-Cory Eliason[4]; 23. (DNF) 8-Freddie Rahmer[24]; 24. (DNF) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[21]

The point leader bests Brad Sweet in first World of Outlaws race at BAPS in more than three decadesYORK HAVEN, PA (July 20, 2023) – A long time had passed since the last World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car race at BAPS Motor Speedway. So much time, in fact, that current Series point leader – David Gravel – was only 40 days old at the time.Fast forward 31 years, and Gravel arose victorious as The Greatest Show on Dirt returned to the York Haven, PA racetrack. Gravel came out on top of a fierce duel with his closest championship competitor – Brad Sweet – to make the trip to Victory Lane. A back-and-forth battle between two of Sprint Car racing’s best proved the long awaited return to BAPS was worth every bit of the wait. The Watertown, CT native climbed atop the wing with his son Levi in a celebration for the World of Outlaws over the PA Posse.The victory moved Gravel up to a Series-best nine in 2023 aboard the Big Game Motorsports machine. His 85th career win elevated him into a tie with none other than Brad Sweet for 10th on the all-time Series win list. And in the grand scheme of the season, Gravel added four more points on his championship lead over Sweet.“Hats off to Kolten (Gouse), Scott (Gobrecht), and everybody here at this racetrack. They gave us a really good racetrack,” Gravel said. “Cody (Jacobs), Scott (Vogelsong), and Zach (Patterson) gave me an unbelievable car tonight. We didn’t qualify that great. But from the Heat Race I knew we had a really good race car. It feels good to be on the second row of the Heat Race and get in the Dash and win one.”The path to the front was by no means an easy one for Gravel. He began the race behind the wheel of the Huset’s Speedway #2 from inside the second row with a front row consisting of Sweet and Logan Schuchart ahead. On the opening circuit Gravel immediately went to work on attacking Schuchart for second as Sweet pulled ahead. Gravel slid by the Shark Racing #1S in Turn 2, but Schuchart crossed him over down the back straightaway. In Turns 3 and 4 Gravel pounded the cushion around Schuchart to secure the runner-up spot.Up front Sweet comfortably paced the field until traffic become a factor and Gravel began to close in. With a racing surface that offered a nearly equal top and bottom, the battle became about mastering both lines in order to navigate traffic. Gravel shifted toward the bottom while Sweet stayed high leaving Gravel a window and he pounced, rolling by on Lap 14 for the lead.But on the next lap, Gravel got caught behind a lapped car on the top, allowing Sweet the lane to sneak back around. Only five circuits later on Lap 20, Sweet found himself trapped by traffic, and Gravel ripped the cushion to regain the top spot.“Man, I think they (track grooves) were about equal,” Gravel explained. “Wherever the lapped car wasn’t that’s where I had to go. Brad was pretty good. I was behind Freddie (Rahmer), and that one lap he went to the top in front of me and gave Brad the lead back. Just happy to have a good enough car. He definitely started spinning (his tires) down the backstretch pretty bad. I was better than him at that point.”Gravel’s move on the 20th circuit proved to be the winning one as Sweet wasn’t unable to catch him to challenge again. Sweet stayed close but not quite close enough as Gravel took the checkered flag with a 1.240 second advantage.“It was a great racetrack,” Gravel said. “I’m glad a lot of fans came out today. Now we’ve got a little mini-speedweek with three days in a row. Hope we’ll see everybody at Williams Grove this weekend and battle it out.”Brad Sweet’s second place effort marked his 18th World of Outlaws podium of the season as he continues the hunt for a fifth consecutive title. The driver of the Kasey Kahne Racing #49 felt like he had a strong car but was missing a touch of speed needed to stay ahead of Gravel and potentially pick up the win.“I was pretty good early,” Sweet recalled. “I really struggled in lapped traffic. It didn’t surprise me when David got me. But the racetrack was great, two lanes. I got him back. I just didn’t have a good enough car I don’t think. Like he said, I was spinning down the backstretch. I just couldn’t find a great spot for my car. At the end I kind of paced him and felt like we were pretty equal. I was trying hard, and I was too far behind. We’ll take a second tonight and try to get better for the next two nights.”Rounding out the podium was Logan Schuchart. The Shark Racing pilot kept the C&D Rigging machine toward the front of the entire race after starting outside the front row to earn his eighth podium of the season. Like Sweet, Schuchart found himself missing a little something to have the speed necessary to best Gravel. Overall, the night proved to be an encouraging one on home turf for the Hanover, PA native.“It’s really cool to have the run that we did and be here at BAPS Motor Speedway,” Schuchart said. “Anytime we can race in front of these PA fans, we love it. Happy to be here. I’ve never won here in my career. We come here at the end of the year, and we’re always on the podium but never win. Looking forward to coming back. I think we have a great car to come back with. Every time I’d get to them it seemed like a lapped car would be in my way on the top and I’d have to move to the bottom. I just didn’t feel as comfortable as I needed to.”Carson Macedo and Brent Marks completed the top five.Gravel’s win grew his point lead to six over Sweet while Macedo stayed close as he now sits 32 markers behind Gravel.A 19th to eighth run gave Danny Dietrich the KSE Racing Hard Charger Award.The Smith Titanium Brake Systems “Break of the Race” went to Cory Eliason after a late flat tire ended a likely top 10 run.Justin Peck topped Low-E Insulation Qualifying for his second consecutive Simpson Performance Products QuickTime.CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One went to Justin Peck (seventh Heat Race win of career). NOS Energy Drink Heats Two through Four were claimed by Brad Sweet (226th of career), Carson Macedo (107th of career), and Logan Schuchart (113th of career).Sam Hafertepe Jr. won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars tackle two more nights against the PA Posse at Mechanicsburg, PA’s Williams Grove Speedway for the Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals (July 21-22). 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. 2-David Gravel[3]; 2. 49-Brad Sweet[1]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 5. 19-Brent Marks[12]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 7. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[7]; 8. 48-Danny Dietrich[19]; 9. 83-James McFadden[10]; 10. 13-Justin Peck[8]; 11. 44-Dylan Norris[11]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[17]; 13. 23-Devon Borden[23]; 14. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[13]; 15. 9-Kasey Kahne[9]; 16. 1A-Jacob Allen[14]; 17. 27-Troy Wagaman Jr[15]; 18. 99M-Kyle Moody[20]; 19. 7S-Robbie Price[22]; 20. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[18]; 21. 5-Spencer Bayston[16]; 22. (DNF) 11-Cory Eliason[4]; 23. (DNF) 8-Freddie Rahmer[24]; 24. (DNF) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[21]

DOE RUN, MO (July 20, 2023) – Summer break is over, and racing is back in session. The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota returns to action this weekend, bringing national Midget racing back to a pair of tiny Midwest ovals.

Never in the 29-year history of Doe Run Raceway have Midgets raced within its 1/6-mile confines; that is until Friday night, when the Xtreme Outlaws make their Series debut, competing for a $4,000 grand prize.

Southern Illinois Raceway welcomes the return of Midgets to its 1/8-mile course for the first time in four years. The POWRi National Midget League held the last Midget event there in 2019 and teams up with the Xtreme Outlaw Series for a $4,000-to-win show to cap the weekend Saturday night.

Both shows will be run in conjunction with POWRi as part of the Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series, which pays the points champion $2,500 at season’s end.

Tickets for both events will be on sale at the gate on race day. If you can’t make it to your favorite track, stream every lap live with a FAST PASS subscription to DIRTVision.

Here are the drivers to watch and storylines to follow this weekend:

MR. CONSISTENT – Up by 121 points in the Xtreme Outlaw standings, Cannon McIntosh has been nothing but consistent through the first third of the 2023 schedule.

Through the first 10 races, the 20-year-old Oklahoman has podium finishes in every event except for two; one of which he took a DNF after an early incident while running inside the top-five. With four wins and no finishes outside the top-six in Xtreme competition thus far, McIntosh is inching closer toward his first career national Midget championship.

He’s currently riding a wave of momentum from a dominant display through POWRi’s Illinois SPEEDweek, where he won three of the four scheduled races and finished second in the lone race he did not win en route to his third-straight miniseries championship.

McIntosh leads the field into Doe Run on Friday, aiming to become the track’s first-ever Midget Feature winner. He’s also started two previous Midget races at Southern Illinois with POWRi – one in 2018 (17th-place) and the other in 2019, when he took a DNF after starting third.

MOST IMPROVED – After coming so close to his first career national Midget Feature win with the Xtreme Outlaws on multiple occasions before the summer break, Gavin Miller finally cashed-in – twice – and is one of the nation’s most rapidly improving Midget drivers.

The 16-year-old from Allentown, PA, nearly won the Xtreme Outlaw Showdown at Wayne County Speedway, leading by a lengthy margin in the final laps before getting into the outside wall and surrendering the top spot to eventual winner Zach Daum. Three nights later in USAC action, he took a hard tumble after leading 12 laps at Circle City Raceway.

On June 9, Miller finally broke through to Victory Lane, beating a stout USAC Indiana Midget Week field to score the win at Bloomington Speedway. Most recently, Miller cashed-in with POWRi, winning the latest national event at Lake Ozark Speedway in Missouri.

With podium finishes in three of his last four Xtreme Outlaw starts, Miller now sits 121 points behind McIntosh in the championship standings.

7-UP – Since joining the Trifecta Motorsports team days before the most recent Xtreme Outlaw race weekend in June, Zach Daum dramatically turned a slow start to the season around.

Daum, the 32-year-old open-wheel veteran from Pocahontas, IL, was sitting ninth in Series points after a tough weekend at Millbridge Speedway, getting involved in a wreck that destroyed his new King Chassis that he put together before the start of the season. He soon received a call from car owner Steve Carbone about filling the open seat in the team’s flagship #7U and grabbed his equipment with renewed ambition.

In their first Xtreme race together at Tri-City, Daum drove from 10th on the starting grid up to fifth before sweeping both races Friday-Saturday at Wayne County Speedway. Daum’s first two victories of the season surged him all the way up to fifth in the standings, where he currently sits 270 points back of leader McIntosh.

Daum has two previous starts with POWRi at Southern Illinois, finishing 12th in 2018 and eighth in 2019. He’s back in the Trifecta #7U this weekend in search of his fourth career Series victory.

REBOUND RUN – After surviving a wave of tough luck in the last Xtreme Outlaw race weekend, things are starting to look up again for Jade Avedisian.

A blown tire while running inside the top-five at Tri-City and a pass attempt for the lead gone awry on the first night at Wayne County ruined the 16-year-old Californian’s would’ve-been podium finishes last month. She’s since dropped to fourth in the Series standings, 180 points out of the lead.

However, a fourth-place result in USAC Indiana Midget Week points and three-straight top-five finishes to cap POWRi Illinois SPEEDweek indicate the three-time Xtreme Outlaw winner’s rebound behind the wheel of the Keith Kunz Motorsports, Bullet/Toyota #71 as she prepares to take on Doe Run and Southern Illinois for the first time this weekend.

POWRed-UP – The second and third Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series events on the 2023 schedule will commence this weekend.

The 11-race schedule, now shortened to eight races due to weather cancelations, tabs points across each Xtreme Outlaw & POWRi co-sanctioned race this season, awarding a $2,500 champion’s check to the driver with the most points after the Xtreme Outlaw season finale at I-44 Riverside Speedway in October. Cannon McIntosh (231) leads the current standings after one race by 10 points over Zach Daum (221) and 15 over third-place Kyle Jones (216).

The Xtreme Outlaw stars will take on POWRi’s best in both events this weekend, led by POWRi National Midget League points leader Corbin Rueschenberg, Sweet Springs (MO) winner Karter Sarff (third in points), and Keith Kunz Motorsports’ newest team member Cooper Williams, who sits fourth in points.

THIS WEEKEND AT A GLANCE

When and where
Friday, July 21 at Doe Run Raceway in Doe Run, MO
Saturday, July 22 at Southern Illinois Raceway in Marion, IL

On the internet
Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota
Twitter – @Xtreme_Outlaw
Instagram – @XtremeOutlaw
Facebook – @XtremeOutlawSeries.WRG

Live broadcast
DIRTVision – DIRTVision.com. Platinum annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/month.

Current championship points standings (view full standings)
1. Cannon McIntosh (2173pts); 2. Gavin Miller 2052pts (-121); 3. Chase McDermand 1995pts (-178); 4. Jade Avedisian 1993pts (-180); 5. Zach Daum 1903pts (-270); 6. Chance Crum 1847pts (-326); 7. Taylor Reimer 1837pts (-336); 8. Landon Brooks 1734pts (-439); 9. Hayden Reinbold 1629pts (-544); 10. Ethan Mitchell 1579pts (-594).

Toyota Feature winners (5 drivers)
4 wins – Cannon McIntosh (Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports)
2 wins – Chase McDermand (Mounce/Stout Motorsports); Zach Daum (Trifecta Motorsports)
1 win – Jade Avedisian (Keith Kunz Motorsports); Jesse Love (Chad Boat Industries)

Toyota Feature laps led (13 drivers)
78 laps – Cannon McIntosh
44 laps – Zach Daum
28 laps – Ryan Timms
26 laps – Thomas Meseraull
24 laps – Jade Avedisian, Chase McDermand
23 laps – Gavin Miller
22 laps – Shane Cottle
21 laps – Ashton Torgerson
11 laps – Hayden Reinbold
6 laps – Karter Sarff
4 laps – Jesse Love
1 lap – Nick Drake

Whitz RC Racing Products Quick Time Awards (6 drivers)
3 awards – Cannon McIntosh
2 awards – Ethan Mitchell
1 award – Gavin Miller, Daniel Whitley, Hayden Reinbold, Jesse Love, Kevin Thomas Jr.

Heat Race winners (17 drivers)
5 wins – Jade Avedisian
4 wins – Cannon McIntosh
3 wins – Zach Daum
2 wins – Chance Crum, Nick Drake, Chase McDermand, Ethan Mitchell, Hayden Reinbold, Gavin Miller
1 win – Austin Barnhill, Shane Cottle, Thomas Meseraull, Corbin Rueschenberg, Kyle Jones, Rico Abreu, Briggs Danner, Daison Pursley

High-points honors (9 drivers)
2 honors – Cannon McIntosh
1 honor – Gavin Miller, Chance Crum, Rico Abreu, Daniel Whitley, Landon Brooks, Briggs Danner, Hayden Reinbold, Jade Avedisian

Last Chance Showdown wins (10 drivers)
2 wins – Kyle Jones
1 win – Landon Brooks, Karter Sarff, Howard Moore, Ryan Timms, Taylor Reimer, Henry Chambers, Chance Crum, Chase Briscoe, Mitchell Davis

DIRTVision Hard Charger Awards (10 drivers)
1 award – Mitchel Moles, Chase Johnson, Ryan Timms, Chance Crum, Zach Daum, Gavan Boschele, Taylor Reimer, Chase McDermand, Shane Cottle, Cooper Williams

Podium finishes (13 drivers)
7 podiums – Cannon McIntosh
6 podiums – Chase McDermand
4 podiums – Gavin Miller
3 podiums – Zach Daum
2 podiums – Shane Cottle
1 podium – Thomas Meseraull, Jade Avedisian, Kyle Jones, Ryan Timms, Ashton Torgerson, Taylor Reimer, Landon Brooks, Jesse Love

Top-10 finishes (35 drivers)
9 top-10s – Cannon McIntosh, Gavin Miller
8 top-10s – Jade Avedisian, Chase McDermand
7 top-10s – Zach Daum
6 top-10s – Chance Crum
5 top-10s – Landon Brooks
4 top-10s – Kyle Jones, Ethan Mitchell, Taylor Reimer, Gavan Boschele
3 top-10s – Thomas Meseraull, Ryan Timms
2 top-10s – Corbin Rueschenberg, Briggs Danner, Shane Cottle, Chase Briscoe, Kevin Thomas Jr.
1 top-10 – Mitchel Moles, Chase Johnson, Austin Barnhill, Daniel Adler, Sam Johnson, Rico Abreu, Ashton Torgerson, Daniel Whitley, Don Droud Jr., Mariah Ede, Nick Drake, Hayden Reinbold, Karter Sarff, Branigan Roark, Cooper Williams, Jesse Love

2023 Schedule & Winners – Race No. Day, Date / Track / Location / Winner (Total Wins)
1. Fri, March 10 / Southern Illinois Center / Du Quoin, IL / Cannon McIntosh (1)
2. Sat, March 11 / Southern Illinois Center / Du Quoin, IL / Jade Avedisian (1)
3. Fri, April 14 / Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 / Pevely, MO / Cannon McIntosh (2)
4. Fri, May 5 / Humboldt Speedway / Humboldt, KS / Chase McDermand (1)
5. Sat, May 6 / 81 Speedway / Park City, KS / Chase McDermand (2)
6. Tue, May 22 / Millbridge Speedway / Salisbury, NC / Cannon McIntosh (3)
7. Wed, May 23 / Millbridge Speedway / Salisbury, NC / Cannon McIntosh (4)
8. Thu, June 1 / Tri-City Speedway / Pontoon Beach, IL / Jesse Love (1)
9. Fri, June 2 / Wayne County Speedway / Wayne City, IL / Zach Daum (1)
10. Sat, June 3 / Wayne County Speedway / Wayne City, IL / Zach Daum (2)

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE

Pocono RacewayLong Pond, Pennsylvania July 22-23, 2023

TRIPLE AT THE “TRICKY TRIANGLE”All three NASCAR national series will join together this weekend to take on one of the most unique tracks on the circuit – the 2.5-mile, three-turn Pocono Raceway. The Pennsylvania oval famously known as the “Tricky Triangle” has been a piece of NASCAR’s history for over 50 years with Sunday’s HighPoint.com400 marking the NASCAR Cup Series’ (NCS) 90th appearance at the circuit. Saturday’s on-track action will feature back-to-back races for two of NASCAR’s top series – kicking off with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series’ (NCTS) CRC Brakleen 150, followed by the NASCAR Xfinity Series’ (NXS) Explore The Pocono Mountains 225.  This weekend is the first time that NASCAR’s three national series will compete at the same track since Nashville Superspeedway one month ago – a tripleheader that saw Chevrolet sweep the weekend’s wins. A feat that only the Bowtie brand has accomplished this season, the manufacturer is heading to Pocono Raceway seeking its fifth NASCAR tripleheader weekend sweep of the season.

A WINNING HISTORYChevrolet has a history of success at Pocono Raceway – leading the series with 34 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins at the “Tricky Triangle”. Benny Parsons gave Chevrolet its first win in NASCAR’s premier series at the Pennsylvania venue in 1977. Of those series-leading triumphs includes a streak of six consecutive trips to victory lane – a run that started with NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon’s final NCS win at the track in August 2012. While looking for his ticket to claim a playoff berth, Hendrick Motorsports’ Chase Elliott delivered Chevrolet the victory in the series’ most recent appearance at the track one year ago.  Hendrick Motorsports also leads the series in wins at Pocono Raceway with eight different drivers giving the organization a combined 18 victories. Career Chevrolet driver Jeff Gordon contributed to six of those triumphs – a series-leading win record that still stands today.

FIRST-TIME WINNERS Chevrolet etched its name in the history books as the inaugural winners in two of NASCAR’s national series at Pocono Raceway. The NASCAR Xfinity Series has a short history at the 2.5-mile Pennsylvania oval – first competing at the track in June 2016 with Kyle Larson driving the Bowtie brand to the victory. Since then, the series has made seven appearances at Pocono Raceway with Noah Gragson driving the No. 9 JR Motorsports Camaro SS to the win one year ago.

Kyle Larson, No. 42 Chip Ganassi Racing ChevroletPocono RacewayNXS – June 4, 2016Noah Gragson, No. 9 JRM ChevroletPocono RacewayNXS – July 23, 2023

The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series made its debut at the “Tricky Triangle” in July 2010 – a race that saw Elliott Sadler drive a Chevrolet Silverado for team owner Kevin Harvick to the win. Five different drivers have taken Chevrolet to victory lane in the series’ 13 race history at Pocono Raceway – most recently by Team Chevy NCS regular Ross Chastain behind the wheel of a Niece Motorsports Silverado (July 2019).

Ross Chastain, No. 45 Niece Motorsports ChevroletPocono RacewayNCTS – July 27, 2019

POCONO MARKS TWO-TO-GO FOR NCTS’ REGULAR SEASONOnly two chances remain for NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers to keep their championship title hopes alive – with four spots remaining to either win or point their way into the 10-driver playoff field. Of the six drivers that have already claimed a playoff berth by virtue of a win, three come from Chevrolet camp including GMS Racing’s Grant Enfinger, McAnally-Hilgemann Racing’s Christian Eckes and Niece Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar – all of which have reached victory lane twice this season. Two more Chevrolet drivers will enter the race weekend above the playoff cutline with Rackley WAR’s Matt DiBenedetto in eighth (+5 points) and Rev Racing’s Nick Sanchez in ninth (+2 points).

DOUBLING UP Four of Chevrolet’s NASCAR Cup Series regulars will get double the seat time this weekend with Chase Elliott and Ty Dillon joining the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and Kyle Busch and Ross Chastain taking on the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.

·       Chase Elliott will make his return to the NASCAR Xfinity Series for the first time in nearly two years – taking his turn behind the wheel of the No. 17 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro SS. This will mark the third start for the team’s No. 17 entry – with Elliott’s teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson both recording podium finishes earlier this season. The 27-year-old Georgia native has a strong resume in the series – collecting five victories and a championship title (2014) with Hendrick Motorsports affiliate team JR Motorsports.

·       Daniel Suarez will take over the driving duties for the No. 10 Kaulig Racing Camaro SS this weekend to make his second NXS start of the season. Suarez has three career NXS wins on his resume – all off of which came in 2016 en route to the championship title. He will be the ninth different Team Chevy driver to get behind the wheel of Kaulig Racing’s “All-Star” NXS entry this season, joining fellow Team Chevy drivers Kyle Busch, Austin Dillon, Derek Kraus, AJ Allmendinger, Justin Haley, Kyle Larson, Jordan Taylor and car owner Justin Marks. The No. 10 Camaro SS has been no stranger to victory lane this season with Allmendinger and Larson earning a combined three triumphs for the team.

·       Ty Dillon will return to the Richard Childress Racing (RCR) NXS stable to make his second start of the season behind the wheel of the No. 3 Camaro SS. The 31-year-old North Carolina native has 135 career NXS starts in the RCR entry – collecting 84 top-10 finishes. The No. 3 RCR Camaro SS made its series’ debut at Daytona International Speedway in 2002 and the entry has since seen an elite group of drivers behind the wheel including the Dillon brothers (Ty and Austin), Mike Porter, Jeff Green, Ron Hornaday Jr., Steve Park and Shane Lee.

·       Kyle Busch will make his final NCTS start of the season this weekend – getting back behind the wheel of his No. 51 Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) Silverado RST. In three of his four NCTS starts of the season, the Team Chevy driver has finished no worse than second-place, including a win at his hometown track of Las Vegas Motor Speedway (March 2023). Busch has recorded 63 career NCTS wins – claiming the title as the winningest driver in the series’ history.

·       Ross Chastain will return to the seat of the No. 41 Niece Motorsports Silverado RST this weekend for his seventh NCTS start of the season. The 30-year-old Florida native has powered the team to a pole win (COTA) and two top-five finishes (COTA and Kansas) in the series this season. Chastain has four career NCTS wins to his name – all recorded behind the wheel of a Niece Motorsports Chevrolet-powered machine.

BOWTIE BULLETS:·       Chevrolet will pace the field in the tripleheader race weekend at Pocono Raceway. The Silverado RST lead the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in Saturday’s CRC Brakleen 150; the Camaro SS 1LE will lead the NASCAR Xfinity Series in Saturday’s Explore The Pocono Mountains 225; and the Camaro ZL1 will lead the NASCAR Cup Series in Sunday’s HighPoint.com 400.  ·       Chevrolet is the only manufacturer to record a sweep of the weekend’s wins when all three NASCAR national series are in competition on the same weekend. The feat was most recently accomplished at Nashville Superspeedway – marking the manufacturer’s fourth tripleheader sweep of the season.  ·       NASCAR Cup Series victories by active Chevrolet drivers at Pocono Raceway:   Kyle Busch – four wins (2021, 2019, 2018, 2017)Chase Elliott – one win (2022)Alex Bowman – one win (2021)  ·       In 89 NASCAR Cup Series races held at Pocono Raceway, Chevrolet has recorded 34 victories and 34 poles – both of which are series-best feats.   ·       Only four drivers in the NASCAR Cup Series are repeat winners this season – three of which come from Team Chevy: William Byron: series-leading four wins (Las Vegas, Phoenix, Darlington & Atlanta 2)Kyle Busch: three wins (Auto Club, Talladega, WWTR)Kyle Larson: two wins (Richmond & Martinsville) ·       In 20 points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race this season, Chevrolet continues to lead the series in wins (12), top-fives (48), top-10s (88), stage wins (17) and laps led (2,255). ·       Chevrolet leads the series in wins across all three NASCAR national series this season with 12 victories in 20 NASCAR Cup Series races, nine victories in 18 NASCAR Xfinity Series races and eight wins in 14 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series races – all with a win percentage of at least 50%.  ·       With William Byron’s win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hendrick Motorsports now sits at 297 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories – all recorded with Chevrolet.  ·       Chevrolet’s series-leading 12 NASCAR Cup Series wins this season have been recorded by drivers from four different Chevrolet teams: Ricky Stenhouse Jr. (JTG Daugherty Racing), Kyle Busch (Richard Childress Racing), William Byron and Kyle Larson (Hendrick Motorsports) and Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen (Trackhouse Racing).  ·       Chevrolet drivers have recorded 17 of the 40 NASCAR Cup Series stage wins this season: William Byron (seven; series-leading), Ross Chastain (five), Kyle Larson (two), Kyle Busch (two) and Chase Elliott (one).  ·       Chevrolet continues to sit atop the manufacturer points standings in all three NASCAR national series, leading by 67 points in the NASCAR Cup Series, 45 points in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and 37 points in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. ·       With Grant Enfinger’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series win at World Wide Technology Raceway, GMS Racing is now the winningest Chevrolet organization in NCTS’ history with 44 all-time wins in the series. ·       With its 41 NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer’s Championships, 33 NASCAR Cup Series Driver’s Championships, and 845 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title of winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history.

FOR THE FANS:·       Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Pocono Raceway.  ·       Fans can check out an assortment of Chevrolet vehicles at the Team Chevy Racing Display including: Corvette Stingray Convertible, Camaro ZL1 Coupe, Equinox RS, Blazer RS, Tahoe High Country, Silverado ZR2, Silverado 1500 Crew ZR2 4WD.  ·       Fans can also view Chase Elliott’s No. 9 Camaro ZL1 show car, as well as a custom military appreciation airbrushed Silverado.  Team Chevy Driver Appearances at the Display:Friday, July 21·       Andrés Pérez de Lara: 1:45 p.m. – 2 p.m. Saturday, July 22·       Stefan Parsons: 9 a.m. – 9:15 a.m. ·       Grant Enfinger & Rajah Caruth: 9:30 a.m. – 9:45 a.m. ·       Nick Sanchez: 9:45 a.m. – 10 a.m. ·       Carson Hocevar & Lawless Alan: 10 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. ·       AJ Allmendinger: 12:45 p.m. – 1 p.m. ·       Daniel Hemric: 2:45 p.m. – 3 p.m. Sunday, July 23·       Erik Jones: 11 a.m. – 11:15 a.m. ·       Austin Dillon: 11:30 a.m. – 11: 45 a.m. ·       William Byron: 11:45 a.m. – 12 p.m. ·       BJ McLeod: 12 p.m. – 12:15 p.m.  Chevrolet Display Hours of Operation: ·       Friday, July 21: 1 p.m. – 6 p.m. ·       Saturday, July 22: 8 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. ·       Sunday, July 23: 8 a.m. – 3 p.m.

TUNE IN: ·       NASCAR Cup Series: HighPoint.com 400Sunday, July 23, at 2:30 p.m. ET(USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90) ·       NASCAR Xfinity Series: Pocono 225Saturday, July 22, at 5:30 p.m. ET(USA Network, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90) ·       NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series: CRC Brakleen 150Saturday, July 22, at 12 p.m. ET(FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90)

QUOTABLE QUOTES:ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1It seems you have a busy week of racing this week, can you talk about that?“I’m headed to the northeast a little bit early to do some dirt racing on Thursday night at Utica-Rome Speedway in New York. I don’t have a lot of experience on dirt so I just go out there with the mindset to learn something every lap. Then I’ll drive over to Pocono to get in the No. 41 truck for Niece Motorsports to get some extra track time. We had a pretty good car at Pocono last year towards the end of the race so I’m hoping we can get a strong finish for Worldwide Express.” With the Playoffs coming up here in a few weeks, how do you approach those? “For me personally, I prepare the same every week whether it’s a regular season or playoff race. Preparation is key for me. It’s not just simulator work, it’s physical fitness, eating correctly, getting the proper amount of rest, all of those things. To really put your best foot forward I feel you need look at it as a whole. Not just put a bunch of extra time and effort into one thing but try to be well-rounded. At some point there’s only so much you can do though. But I want to control what I can control and the rest is just going to happen.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1What has been the biggest challenge for you at Pocono Raceway?“Pocono Raceway is very technical. The tunnel turn is my biggest challenge. It’s a high speed turn and over the years it’s gotten rough with the track tunnel underneath it. The bumps going over the tunnel turn are noticeable, and you need your car balanced well through that turn. I love the other end of the track. You have the flat end in turn three and turn a lot through that corner. Going into turn one there’s a lot of banking there, you’re drafting down the front straight so you’re carrying a lot of speed into turn 1 so you have to set yourself up to drive into turn 1 and get to the bottom and drive off to head to the tunnel turn.” Last year you finished 10th at Pocono Raceway. What are your expectations this weekend?“I think we should cut last year’s finish in half or try and win. Right now, we’re in a situation where we have to win to make the playoffs. In 2022 we had a good car and my team stayed on top of track conditions. This allowed us to adjust our Chevrolet’s balance to pass cars at the end of the race and finish 10th. At the 2-mile tracks, I feel we made good progress last year. We’ll have to be aggressive on fuel strategy and have a clean day on pit road. I think we have a shot at a win or a top 5 finish.” Are there any special challenges to track that have three turns and not 4 turns?“There are three different corners in the tricky triangle, making it difficult to solve. You know you’ll have to give up some on one end to be better at the other. To have a car that handles average in all three turns is key. I think there is one end that is more important than the other when looking at the data. Sometimes it changes when you race. When we thought we would be okay in turn three and actually our most important turn was the first. It’s interesting how those subtle changes happen from race to race.” KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1Larson on his recent results at Pocono Raceway: “The No. 5 HendrickCars.com team almost got a win there (at Pocono Raceway) in 2021 and we got a top-five finish there last year. Hopefully, we can get a win there this year.” CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1Daniels on the team’s approach at Pocono: “We are looking forward to going to Pocono (Raceway). It’s been a pretty good track for us. We had a tough finish there in 2021 when we were on a streak of wins and then it kind of slipped away from us. We certainly know how tricky the track can be – no pun intended there for what its nickname is. It’s usually a challenge there in all three corners, very unique and different. Kyle (Larson) has a knack for unique tracks and can pretty much adapt anywhere. We have just got to give him a good car, make sure we execute a good race and hopefully we will be in good shape.” KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 LENOVO CAMARO ZL1Your first win at Pocono didn’t come until 2017, but then you ripped off three wins in four races. Did something just click for you?“Around the 2014 timeframe Pocono really started to click and we really started to get our program straightened out and better there for what I like and for what I need to be able to be fast. That was with Dave Rogers and then we went into 2015 with Adam Stevens and kind of evolved on what we were doing and how our setup was and things just clicked. We probably should have won four more races from 2015 all the way through last year. We’ve had some really, really strong runs at Pocono. I’ve come to enjoy the track and be fast there and that always makes things fun.” Do you think there is one area of the track that’s most important at Pocono? “Everything is important at Pocono. There’s just so much time there that can be gained because the track is so big that if you mess up in Turn 1 that can be a huge hit all the way down the back straightaway or if you mess up in Turn 3, that can be costly with the length of how long the front straightway is. You definitely want to be good everywhere and make the most of your day.”  How important is it to manage the restarts because cars can go three and four-wide into Turn 1?“Restarts are tough at Pocono just because it’s so hard for the spotters to see and the cars are pretty equal. Guys pulling out of line and getting runs on you or laying back on the restart zone in order to be able to manipulate it to make a run at you to get alongside of you before getting to Turn 1. That’s always difficult. You’re always trying to play protector and kind of block the guys behind you making those moves. You’ve always got to be looking out front trying to make the moves yourself, but then also looking out back and trying to watch those moves being made on you. You’ve got to stay on top of all that. Restarts are kind of tricky and it doesn’t just relate to down the front straightaway and Turn 1. It’s also off Turn 2 and into Turn 3. I feel like that’s where a lot of action kind of happens, too, because it really narrows up in Turn 2 and the track is really rough over there. You really don’t want to be going through there side-by-side and take a chance to being next to someone.” CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1Elliott on what it would mean to be the driver to put the No. 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series entry in victory lane with everything that number means to the Hendrick family: “I think that’s the big thing. It is special to not only Rick (Hendrick), but Linda (Hendrick) too. Driving for them and knowing how much it means to them to have that car on track would be great. I know they’ve been super close (to winning) and probably should have a couple by now, so hopefully we can start racking them up for them.” ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1Gustafson on Elliott racing double duty this weekend and the team’s outlook for Pocono: “The cars are so different now. I think before the Next Gen, the two series were much closer to be able to take some things setup wise and information wise, and certainly line wise for Chase (Elliott). That said, anytime you’re racing something it is still beneficial. He can certainly learn something and going through the experience is good. I think they’ll have an opportunity to win the race, so I think that’s good. Certainly, a capable bunch and the car has run so well. They just have had tough circumstances, so hopefully he can win. For us on this No. 9 team, we’re focused on trying to get our car dialed in and driving well. We want to have as much pace as we can and execute a good race on Sunday.” AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ACTION INDUSTRIES CAMARO ZL1“Pocono is definitely one of the most unique, tougher racetracks that we go to with all three corners being completely different. I think this is a track that track position is key, but because of how long the track is, strategy is really important. I’m looking forward to the challenge of it. Our speed at bigger racetracks has been good this year and Pocono is a track that if we get right, we can get some good points at. Hopefully we unload solid and have speed to put together a good race and rebound from last week.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1Byron on rebounding at Pocono: “While we didn’t have our strongest race last weekend at New Hampshire (Motor Speedway), I’m confident in my team that we’ll rebound at Pocono (Raceway). We’ve always had fast cars there not only as a team but as an organization as well. Rudy (Fugle) and I have a win there in trucks and we came close in 2021 to getting two wins in the doubleheader weekend. Heading to a track that we’ve been traditionally really good at helps to bring that momentum back for everyone after a tough weekend. I’m just excited to get on track and put New Hampshire behind us.” RUDY FUGLE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1Fugle on what is the most challenging aspect about racing at Pocono: “I’ve always enjoyed racing at Pocono Raceway and I know William (Byron) has as well. While the track has three different corners with their own characteristics, we traditionally have always thought that you had to ‘give up’ handling in one corner to really get the other two right. I don’t think that’s as much of the case anymore. You can get turns one and three pretty similar in handling – it’s turn two that’s the hardest and what really sets you up for the rest of the lap. The whole track is rough but turn two is the most treacherous, so you have to worry a lot about the ride quality of the car and any bump contact.” JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1“I always love going to Pocono. The speed in our cars at the bigger tracks right now is really good, so I’m happy to get on track and keep working toward great finishes. Pocono is a challenging track and so unique it makes it that much more enjoyable to drive.” NOAH GRAGSON, NO. 42 SUNSEEKER RESORTS CAMARO ZL1“I really like racing at Pocono. Last year when we won in Xfinity, it was probably the hardest I’ve ever driven. We put on a heck of a show. It was such a good race at the end, that win meant so much to us. I like going up there and am hoping for a good weekend.” ERIK JONES, NO. 43 U.S. AIR FORCE CAMARO ZL1“Pocono has been a good track, I have been there just as much, if not more, than any other track that I have been to in my career. I have been racing there since 2013 in ARCA cars and then up through the Truck, Xfinity, now Cup series, and I have enjoyed going every time. I feel like it has been a good track for me, and I feel like I got around there pretty well. Last year I felt like we had a good car there with a lot of speed in it, and I am hoping to have the same this year. I always like going up there, I love the track itself and the racing is fun with the way that it plays out with stages, you can mix it up with taking tires and fuel before the stage or not, taking two or four, and seeing how the fuel plays out at the end of the race is always pretty fun. I am hoping we have a good car with some speed to continue our good runs up at Pocono.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY BEST FRIENDS CAMARO ZL1Bowman on how his past at Pocono will help him this weekend: “Having won there (at Pocono Raceway) in 2021 and knowing what it takes to win helps a lot. Blake (Harris, crew chief) and I have been looking at past notes, leaned on our teammates’ notes to try and get the car in a good spot for practice and make adjustments from there. I’ve said it before, but this No. 48 team is really strong and there is no reason we can’t go win any given weekend. We have to keep staying focused on each race and be ready to perform when the time comes. Right now, we are focused on trying to win at Pocono (Raceway).” BLAKE HARRIS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY BEST FRIENDS CAMARO ZL1Harris on the next few races: “We have six races left in the regular season and Alex (Bowman) has wins at two of them, which is great for us in terms of confidence. Our team is plenty capable of contending every week but having a few tracks where Alex has found success is reassuring. Obviously, we have to take it one race at a time, stay focused on the small tasks and make sure we aren’t complacent on the easy tasks. It takes a team to win a race and our group is firing on all cylinders to punch our ticket into the top 16. Hopefully, we go get it done this Sunday at Pocono (Raceway). DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1What are your thoughts going into the next six races with a playoff spot on the line?“I’m optimistic. We have had good speed at most of the races recently. Sometimes we struggle a little bit with execution, but we are in a good spot right now. We know what we have to do and I’m confident we will do it.” Is there pressure?“This isn’t our first time being in this position. It’s fine and it’s part of racing. We can control only what we can control. We can’t control the points situation, we can only control one race at a time. There is always pressure in racing. That’s what makes it fun and why we do it.” Do you have any races in the next six races circled as one you are most looking forward to?“The next one. It’s always the next one.” What are your thoughts on a busy week ahead?“I like it. I haven’t run SRX yet so it’s going to be a new experience. I haven’t been to Stafford Speedway either. I have heard a lot about it, but this will be my first time. Xfinity is going to be fun as well. The Kaulig Chevrolet is really good and we are going to Pocono with high hopes.” GRANT ENFINGER, NO. 23 CHAMPION POWER EQUIPMENT SILVERADO RSTEnfinger’s thoughts on returning to Pocono Raceway:“Pocono is one of the most unique tracks that we have on the schedule with the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, and it’s definitely one of the shortest races of the year. We’ve only got 60 laps to get it done here, so qualifying up front is going to be key with how short the stage lengths are. I like racing here and had a few good runs in the ARCA days, but for some reason it’s been tough on us in the Truck Series. Jeff and the rest of the No. 23 team have been doing a bunch of homework to make some big improvements on where we were last year, and I know the chassis is one of our best that we have in our rotation, so hopefully we can right the ship and put a good run together for everyone that supports us with Champion Power Equipment, Chevrolet, and all the guys back at the shop.” RAJAH CARUTH, NO. 24 WENDELL SCOTT FOUNDATION SILVERADO RSTCaruth’s thoughts on racing at Pocono Raceway:“I’m pretty excited to go to Pocono this weekend with my experience from last year. I was passing for third in the ARCA race before it got cut short due to weather, and unfortunately had an early end to the Xfinity race the following day. I’ve got a lot of laps there from testing and the two races, so I’m feeling pretty good about it. Looking forward to getting back to another big track; I think those types of places give us a good shot at going for the win and locking ourselves into the playoffs. The men and women on our No. 24 truck, along with our partners at The Wendell Scott Foundation and Chevrolet, and Maury Gallagher, Mike Beam, Ron Booth, as well as the guys at GMS Fabrication deserve it. I think we have a good shot this weekend.”  DANIEL DYE, NO. 43 CHAMPION CONTAINER CORPORATION SILVERADO RSTDye’s thoughts on racing at Pocono Raceway:“I’m really looking forward to heading to Pocono this weekend; it’s close to the Champion Container home base and we will have a bunch of their employees that’ll be joining us at the track. Pocono is a place that I’ve raced at before and I enjoy racing at quite a bit, so I’m looking forward to seeing what Blake and the rest of our No. 43 team can bring to the racetrack. We’ll fight hard all day and make good changes and hopefully put on a good show for our partners and give them a run they can be proud of.” KYLE BUSCH, NO. 51 ZARIZ TRANSPORT SILVERADO RSTKBM has been very good at Pocono in recent years. How has your team been able to be so successful there?“Pocono is a track that we put a lot of emphasis on in our early days. When the Craftsman Truck Series first started going there, we got our butt kicked by KHI the first couple years — really, really bad — and I wasn’t too thrilled about it. So, after that, we put a lot of emphasis on getting better there and focusing on that place. We went and tested there in 2015 when Rudy (Fugle) was the crew chief with Erik Jones, and I was able to go to the test and be there as well and ever since then we’ve been really good. We went back for the race a month later and I was able to bring home the win and I think we’ve won at Pocono every year except one year since then — even had a couple of KBM 1-2 finishes along the way. This will be our first time showing up with Team Chevy, so I’m looking forward to our Silverado’s being fast out there and of course me being behind the wheel of the Zariz Transport Silverado hoping that we can get another win for them to cap off their first year as sponsor in NASCAR on a high note. If we can do that, it’ll be KBM’s 100th — it’s been talked about way too long that we’ve been trying to bring home that monumental win, so hopefully we can knock that out of the way Saturday.” CHASE PURDY, NO. 4 BAMA BUGGIES SILVERADO RSTWhat is the trickiest part of “The Tricky Triangle?“I would definitely say the tunnel turn. It’s rough and I think every time that you go through it guys just kind of hold their breath because it’s hard to keep your truck stable — it gets really light through there.” How does having such short stage lengths affect how the race plays out at Pocono?“I think it puts a bigger emphasis on qualifying. It’s important to put down a good lap because you don’t want to get behind the eight ball before the race even starts. You don’t want to have to play strategy to get yourself track position and try to contend; you want to be able to contend from the drop of the green flag. In a situation like we are in, we need to go out there and run up front, lead laps and try everything that we can to put ourselves in a position to win the race.”

Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics Manufacturers Championships:Total (1949-2022): 41First title for Chevrolet: 1958Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15) Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021, 2022 Drivers Championships:Total (1949-2021): 33First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)Most Recent: Kyle Larson (2021) Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021 Event Victories:Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)                2023 STATISTICS:                                                                                                    Wins: 12Poles: 6Laps Led: 2,255Top-five finishes: 48Top-10 finishes: 88Stage wins: 17·       Ross Chastain – 5 (Daytona), (Auto Club x2), (Dover), (Darlington)·       William Byron – 7 (Las Vegas x2), (Phoenix), (COTA), (Richmond), (Dover), (Charlotte)·       Kyle Larson – 2 (Phoenix), (Bristol Dirt)·       Chase Elliott – 1 (Talladega)·       Kyle Busch – 2 (WWTR), (Sonoma)  CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:Total Chevrolet race wins: 845 (1949 to date)Poles won to date: 740Laps led to date: 247,799Top-five finishes to date: 4,269Top-10 finishes to date: 8,800                                                                                                          Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date:                    General Motors: 1,179           Chevrolet: 845           Pontiac: 154           Oldsmobile: 115           Buick: 65            Ford: 822                                                                      Ford: 722           Mercury: 96           Lincoln: 4            Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467           Dodge: 217           Plymouth: 191           Chrysler: 59            Toyota: 176

NHRA^® Team Report

NHRA Northwest Nationals

Pre-Race Report

It will be back to traditional tuning this weekend for Cruz Pedregon’s Snap-on^® Dodge^® SRT^® Hellcat^® after leaving the mile-high conditions in Denver. Seattle is a track with great memories for Cruz dating back to 1991 when he made it to his very first semi-finals as a professional driver in a Top Fuel Dragster.

“I’d been around racing all my life, so to best the legendary Don ‘The Snake’ Prudhomme in a Top Fuel Round 1 that year in Seattle is something I’ll think of every time we head to the Pacific Northwest,” Cruz says. “We get to be here a week earlier this year with the change in the NHRA schedule, and we’re really looking forward to seeing all the fans in the stands and those who stop by our pit every year.”

Cruz’s Funny Car will once again sport the Snap-on franchise tribute paint scheme to honor the many franchisees of the team’s primary sponsor. Before races, Cruz rides along with franchisees in NHRA cities to visit shops and professionals talking tools and racing. The ‘Own It’ paint scheme is a reminder that the Snap-on franchise opportunity is a way to own your own business, and it’s a ‘thank you’ to current and future Snap-on franchisees.

The weekend the Snap-on Nitro Franchisee featured on the side of Cruz’s car is Shawn Sinclair. He’s had his Snap-on franchise in the Spokane area for 34 years. In his early career, Shawn was an automotive technician who says he found out “he enjoyed the tools more than working on the cars.” Shawn met Cruz and his brother NHRA’s Tony Pedregon while in the pit here three years ago. When he’s not working or at a race event, Shawn is a former motocross guy who now gets his need for speed while jet skiing. 

CHEVROLET IN NHRA

2023 FLAV-R-PAC NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS

PACIFIC RACEWAYS

KENT, WASHINGTON

JULY 21-23, 2023

DETROIT (JULY 20, 2023) – Hosting the second stop of NHRA’s Western Swing, the Chevrolet-backed drivers and teams of John Force Racing head next to Pacific Raceways this weekend for the 2023 Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals near Seattle, Wash. While the Pro Stock teams sit idle until the upcoming Menards NHRA Nationals Presented by PetArmor at Heartland Motorsports Park near Topeka, Brittany Force, Austin Prock, John Force, and Robert Hight all have their sights set on the Top Fuel or Funny Car Winner’s Circle, respectively.

The defending winner of 2022’s event in Seattle for Funny Car, Robert Hight, driver of the Cornwell Tools/AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS machine, looks to the weekend with anticipation after exiting Denver’s race day early at the NHRA Mile-High Nationals. Hoping to go back-to-back in the Pacific Northwest, Hight said, “I’m looking forward to racing in Seattle. The Cornwell Tools team didn’t have the best showing in Denver so it’s nice that we get to turn right around and get back at it just a couple of days later. We have some work to do but we’ll just have to take it one run at a time.”

Brittany Force, driver of the Monster Energy/Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster, aims to not only repeat her No. 1 qualifier from 2022, but also to see herself and her team in the Winner’s Circle at the end of Sunday. She noted, “Most importantly this weekend, we need to turn out luck around. We struggled a little bit in Denver on race day. We went out early in the first round. So we’ll be looking for some good qualifying runs and going rounds on race day.”

Despite not competing this weekend, Chevrolet stood strong in 2022, capturing two achievements at Pacific Raceways in Pro Stock, with Greg Anderson setting the ladder as No. 1 qualifier and Troy Coughlin, Jr. racing his Chevrolet Camaro SS Pro Stock to the Winner’s Circle last year. The Chevy drivers and teams of Pro Stock will be back in action in Topeka, Aug. 11-13, 2023.

Additionally sitting idle, the FlexJet Factory Stock Showdown Chevrolet teams return for the biggest event of the season soon, the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Sept. 1-4, 2023. 

The 2023 Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals from Pacific Raceway near Seattle, Washington airs first with Friday’s qualifying on Saturday, July 22 at 2 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Saturday’s qualifying airs Sunday, July 23 at 1:30 p.m. ET, with Sunday’s Finals following on FOX at 4 p.m. ET. Coverage streaming live throughout the weekend can be found through NHRA.tv, available via AppleTV, Android TV, and Roku devices.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:

Austin Prock, driver of the Rocky Mountain Twist / Montana Brands Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster for John Force Racing:

“Excited to be back at sea level this week in Seattle. I foresee a great weekend for this Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team. We have had success there in the past, Pacific Raceways is where I got my first win so I know we can get the job done and the weather conditions look like they will suit us well. It would be amazing to get a win at Frank Tiegs’ race.”

Brittany Force, driver of the Monster Energy/Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster for John Force Racing:

“Seattle is next on the list for the Western Swing and this Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy team is excited to get there with Flav-R-Pac being the title sponsor of the event. Our boss Frank Tiegs is going to be there along with a bunch of Flav-R-Pac employees and family are going to be there so we’re looking forward to it. I’m getting to go in a little early on Thursday and do some media around Seattle and really get to talk up this race to hopefully get as many fans out to the track as possible. I’m also really looking forward to getting to meet some of the Seattle Storm WNBA players. I’ll be going to their game on Thursday, and they’ll be out at the track on Friday.”

John Force, driver of the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car for John Force Racing:

“Flav-R-Pac Northwest Nationals, I’m ready for them. Looking forward to taking care of Frank Tiegs and all his Flav-R-Pac employees. Seattle has always been good to me. Pacific Raceways, tucked into the trees. Love the fans, we’ll be doing a show in Auburn, a FanFest, to say hi and kick off the event. We had a decent performance in Denver but it didn’t go our way on race day. Ready to turn that around and see what happens.”

Robert Hight, driver of the Cornwell Tools/AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car for John Force Racing:

“I’m looking forward to racing in Seattle. The Cornwell Tools team didn’t have the best showing in Denver so it’s nice that we get to turn right around and get back at it just a couple of days later. We have some work to do but we’ll just have to take it one run at a time. We’re looking forward to putting on a good show for the fans in Washington and hopefully get Frank Tiegs (of Flav-R-Pac) another Winner’s Circle celebration at his title race. He’s been a great partner to John Force Racing so it would mean a lot to get the job done for him and his companies.”

TEAM CHEVY BY THE NUMBERS:

1,433: Round wins for John Force (1st all-time).

605: Round wins for Robert Hight; 13th all-time. Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), sits 12th, with 620.

375: Number of wins in Pro Stock since 1970; 255 won in the Chevrolet Camaro body.

165: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for John Force (1st all-time).

157: Number of Chevrolet Racing Funny Car wins since 1967.

79: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for Robert Hight (6th all-time).

77: Number of Chevrolet Racing Funny Car wins with the Camaro body.

47: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for Brittany Force.

27: Number of NHRA championships Chevrolet holds as a manufacturer since entering the first in 1966. No other manufacturer has won it more than Chevrolet.

24: Wins by John Force in a Chevrolet-bodied Funny Car.

18: Number of Pro Stock championships.

20: Chevrolet career Top Fuel wins in NHRA.

16: Number of Chevrolet career wins by Brittany Force.

7: Number of Funny Car driver championships.

2: Number of Top Fuel driver championships.

UPCOMING NHRA MILESTONES:

950: Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) is second all-time with 921 elimination round wins. He could reach 950 round wins with a decent run in the 18-race schedule.

605: Robert Hight achieved 605 Funny Car elimination wins in Chicago to rank 13th on the all-time NHRA list; Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car) sits 12th with 620.

445: By qualifying for his next race, Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) will extend his NHRA record to 445 consecutive race day appearances. His first appearance came in 2002 at Pomona 2, and he holds the longest career qualifying streak in NHRA.

138: Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) ranks third on the NHRA all-time list with 121 No. 1 qualifiers. He will tie Warren Johnson (Pro Stock, 138) for second to John Force (165) on the list.

269: By qualifying for his next race, Robert Hight will extend his NHRA record to 269 consecutive race day appearances. His first appearance came in 2010 at Pomona 2, and he currently sits seventh in career qualifying streaks in NHRA (Doug Kalitta is sixth at 275).

65: Robert Hight moved into the top 10 on the all-time NHRA victory list with his win in Pomona 1 with 63. Jeg Coughlin Jr. (Pro Stock, retired) is next ninth on list with 65.

46: Erica Enders has 44 career Pro Stock victories (all with Chevrolet, first win coming at Chicago, 2012 and last win at Las Vegas 2, 2022). Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) is the all-time NHRA female leader with 46. 

18: Brittany Force (16 Top Fuel career wins) will move past Shirley Muldowney (18 wins) into third on the NHRA all-time victory list for females. Erica Enders (Pro Stock, 44) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle, 46) are ahead.

6: Erica Enders (Pro Stock) could tie Warren Johnson (6 Pro Stock championships) for second on the class list. The same holds for Greg Anderson. Bob Glidden is the leader with 10.

3: Brittany Force (Top Fuel, 2 championships) would tie Shirley Muldowney (Top Fuel) and Angelle Sampey (Pro Stock Motorcycle) for second on the NHRA all-time championship list by females with another title in 2023. Erica Enders (Pro Stock, 5) is the leader.

Jul 19, 2023 | Featured, Megan Meyer, Race Results, Rachel Meyer

Nitro Chaos helped commemorate Mo-Kan Dragway’s 61st anniversary with an unforgettable two-day event of nitro-fueled excitement in southeast Missouri. The third stop on the tour brought together drag racers and fans from far and wide, who witnessed an adrenaline-charged showcase of skill, speed and some record-breaking performances. Randy Meyer Racing emerged as the winner of both the McKinney Motorsports ‘A’ Field and the CP-Carillo ‘B’ Field with two of their three nitro-injected entries.

Driver of the “Nitro Queen Bee” dragster sponsored by GUNK Tough & Trusted and Shop Squad, Megan Meyer, who won the 2022 Nitro Chaos at Mo-Kan Dragway, claimed the second qualifying position with her best time of 3.59 ET at 223 mph to the 1/8th mile. Megan faced off against James Gilliland in his altered and got the immediate win first round after he had an early red-light start, but slowed to a 3.77 at 213 mph to lose in the semi-finals.

Rachel, driver of the “We Like It Dirty” Gunk and Boxo USA Tools sponsored dragster qualified third with her best time of 3.61 ET at 221 mph in the 1/8th. She defeated Donnie Massey in first round who also had an early red-light start, while Rachel ran the quickest and fastest pass of the opening round of eliminations with a 3.58 ET at 222 mph. Rachel slowed to a 3.66 ET in the semifinals against Megan, but emerged as the winner in the final round, outperforming Todd “The Bull” Bruce to secure a well-deserved victory improving to a 3.51 ET at 227 mph in the heat, running the best pass of the entire Nitro Chaos competition.

“I never thought I’d be able to run the top alcohol car at this track, and I finally did this weekend and got the win,” said hometown hero, Rachel. “Going into this weekend I was just hoping we could make some good clean A to B passes, especially since it’s the track I race at almost every weekend so I wanted to have a good outing. I had hoped to win but knew it was going to be tough, and thankfully my dad had the car figured out and we were able to run a stout 3.51 at 227 in the finals. I almost made the 3.40 club and maybe next year I will. Thanks so much to Gunk, JJ, Rich, and my mom and dad for getting this car down the track. Big thanks to DMP Awnings for sponsoring the series, and for all the guys who gave us a great track this weekend.”

Meanwhile, Matt Sackman, also representing Randy Meyer Racing, dominated the CP-Carillo ‘B’ Field and claimed the win with a solid performance in the OTG dragster. Matt qualified 10th overall, the second position of the ‘B’ Field, and defeated Tod Barker, Aaron Morrow in eliminations, and automatically earned the win as Joseph Gallegos was unable to run in the finals.

“It was a bummer we got a bye in the final, that’s not how I like to get a win but it is what it is,” said Matt. “It is cool to add a chaos trophy to the trophy collection and to get another win for Randy and the team. There’s a lot of effort put into his program.”

You can catch the live replays of all Nitro Chaos and Funny Car Chaos races only on FloRacing. The fourth and final event will be held in Lufkin, TX at Pine Valley Raceway for the championship-deciding drag race of the inaugural Nitro Chaos series. Megan Meyer is currently first place in points with a chance to secure the 2023 championship, but 2-5th places also have a chance to take her down. Rachel is currently 6th and Matt is now 7th, but neither will be able to compete at the event due to the RMR team competing elsewhere with their two dragsters.