June 3, 2023 — DETROIT, MI

• Palou scores second-consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole of 2023
• Honda power takes four of six Firestone Fast Six final qualifying spots
• Chip Ganassi Racing qualifies all four cars in top 11 positions

It was Alex Palou on top of qualifying for the second race in a row, this time at the all-new Detroit Grand Prix downtown street circuit aboard his #10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. The pole marks his second-consecutive P1 starting position, following his pole qualifying run at the Indianapolis 500 last month. 

In addition to Palou, three other Hondas made it to the Firestone Fast Six in NTT INDYCAR SERIES knockout qualifying:  Romain Grosjean for Andretti Autosport, and Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson. Honda powered four of the fast six starters, and seven of the top 12. 

This weekend’s Detroit Grand Prix marks the first downtown race since 1991 and the first-ever at the new configuration of the downtown circuit. 

Detroit Grand Prix Honda Qualifying Results

• 1st Alex Palou                          Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 3rd Romain Grosjean            Andretti Autosport Honda
• 4th Scott Dixon                         Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 6th Marcus Ericsson                 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 8th Simon Pagenaud                Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• 11th Marcus Armstrong-R           Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 12th Kyle Kirkwood                    Andretti Autosport Honda
• 17th Devlin DeFrancesco            Andretti Autosport Honda
• 18th Christian Lundgaard            Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda   
• 21st David Malukas                    Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
• 23rd Helio Castroneves              Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• 24th Colton Herta                       Andretti Autosport Honda
• 25th Jack Harvey                       Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda    
• 26th Sting Ray Robb-R               Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
• 27th Graham Rahal                    Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) pole qualifier, first Indy car pole on a temporary street circuit: “We started on used alternate tires, but they didn’t feel very good, so switched right away to our second set.  It feels good [to have two consecutive poles].  We’ve had a great car all weekend, all year really, so qualifying was just about maximizing everything we had.  It’s a crazy track, tight and short.  It’s going to be tough tomorrow in the race, but we’ll try to make it happen.”

Romain Grosjean (#28 Andretti Autosport Honda) qualified third: “Not too shabby, we mainly tried to stay out of trouble, and get the [quick] laps in when it mattered the most.  I did make a mistake on my second set of tires.  I hit the wall coming out of Turn 3 and that cost me a bit of time.  But we have a very good car. All of us – me and my teammates – have been fast. A lot’s going to happen in the race tomorrow, so it’s going to be all about being in the right time and the right place.  Hopefully that will be us.”

Fast Facts

• This is Honda’s sixth pole in seven rounds of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES, and the second of the season for Alex Palou, who also qualified on the pole for the Indianapolis 500 (his career first Indy car oval track pole).
• The other Honda-powered pole winners this year include Christian Lundgaard at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis; Kyle Kirkwood at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach; and Romain Grosjean at both St. Petersburg and Barber Motorsports Park.
• Honda returns to Detroit having won six of the last nine NTT INDYCAR SERIES events – all previously run on a temporary street circuit at Belle Isle Park.
• Honda’s most recent victory in Detroit came in 2021, when Ericsson recorded his first INDYCAR victory in Saturday’s opening race of a doubleheader weekend.

Where to Watch
Television coverage of Sunday’s Detroit Grand Prix starts at 3 p.m. ET on NBC.  Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on NBC Peacock, the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES CHEVROLET GRAND PRIX OF DETROIT DETROIT, MICHIGAN TEAM CHEVY FIRESTONE FAST SIX REPORT JUNE 3, 2023 SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN LEADS TEAM CHEVY IN CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX QUALIFYING, STARTS SUNDAY’S RACE ON THE FRONT ROW IN SECOND Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske, led the Chevrolet teams in the Firestone Fast Six to finish second with his lap of 1:02.1592, and will start from the front row for tomorrow’s Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix on the streets of Detroit.Only 0.300 separated NTT P1 Pole Award winner Alex Palou and the Bowtie brand driver of McLaughlin.McLaughlin’s Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Chevrolet, joined him to battle it out for the pole award in the Firestone Fast 6.Team Penske’s Will Power and Arrow McLaren INDYCAR’s Felix Rosenqvist transferred from Group 1 in Round 1 to the top-12.McLaughlin, Arrow McLaren INDYCAR’s Pato O’Ward, and Newgarden transferred from Group 1 in Round 2 to the top-12. TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULT:Pos.  Driver2nd    Scott McLaughlin5th     Josef Newgarden7th     Will Power9th     Felix Rosenqvist10th   Pato O’Ward WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:“Just didn’t quite have the pace in the Gallagher Chevy, but look, we’ll have plenty of pace tomorrow in the race. I think we’re already good on tires. I love this track to be honest. A lot of fun. First Detroit Grand Prix and a lot of energy here, so really excited for what’s ahead. Full credit to Alex (Palou) and his team – great job. We’ll see. It’s going to be hard on the outside into (Turn) 1 and into 3, but we’ll just put the elbows out and see what we get coming out of three.” Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:“We didn’t think we had another lap. We started the lap. No, that wasn’t (a miscommunication). It was my mistake. I made a little mistake into there, aborted the lap, and the realized that is my last lap. And then we had another shot at it. We certainly had the pace. Seventh ain’t bad. It’s on the inside. It’s pretty bumpy there on the out, the other side. But yeah, we’ll see. You don’t know how these races are going to go. It’s a pretty wild track. Sometimes it doesn’t matter where you qualify. It’s all good, it’s all good. The Verizon Chevy crew has done a great job all month. I made a little mistake in Indy and I made a little mistake there. Just a super competitive series.” If you had to look at the race tomorrow, how do you think it will play out?“I don’t know. Sometimes you think it’s going to be yellow and it doesn’t. I would say it’s going to be pretty hectic. We think like Nashville potentially.” Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:“A bit disappointing. We felt really good in practice, and just, we couldn’t go faster for some reason. We’ll look into it. We probably missed a little bit on pressures, or tire warm up, but yeah, we definitely didn’t have a ½ second in there.” What do you think this race will be tomorrow? Will it have the chaos everybody is predicting?“I think it’ll be about survival, yeah. Is it going to be as crazy as Nashville? I don’t know. Does it have the potential to be as crazy as Nashville? Absolutely. I think tomorrow is all about survival. I think it’ll be tricky with the blend line where it is, and when the yellows fall, people taking it or not taking it, I think it’ll be definitely interesting.” Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:“The car was quick. Maybe not as quick as some, but I think we didn’t execute. I didn’t feel happy with my lap. I kept making mistakes in Turn 2 and Turn 7. I just didn’t really get the proper corner and, you know in this field if you want transfer, you can’t be doing that? I’m a bit disappointed with myself and just wasn’t really vibing with a car, too many mistakes. Something we have to work on. But anyways, starting P9 is, you know, top-10 is not too bad. Don’t want to be in the back, don’t want to be P15 or be 20th. So that’s good. I think anything can happen here, especially with strategy and stuff and short-term planning and we’ll open up for some interesting strategies. We’ll see where we can go from there.” Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:“It’s disappointing to miss it by that much. On that last lap there, I brushed the wall out of Turn 2, so that for sure cost us as well. It’s disappointing. I feel like the Arrow McLaren Chevy has been good this weekend. Practice 2, we didn’t really get a read on anything so went into qualifying a little bit guessing. We should have transferred. Unfortunate, but we’ll just have to make up for it tomorrow.” With traffic, and the course overall, is this one of the toughest and most challenging qualifying sessions of the year?“No, I don’t think so. I just think it’s going to be tougher for everyone, not just me. With really not having a Practice 2 to get an understanding the car. That’s what makes this one challenging, but it’s a joy to drive this track. Everyone has done a really good job to get it to the level it is at.” Conor Daly, No. 20. Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:“It’s our best street course qualifying this year so that’s a good step forward for us. When you’re fighting Alex Rossi right there, we’re in good company. We just haven’t had any clear laps all day. So the entire first session, I never did one lap where I got to go fast through (Turns) 6 and 7, so that was the first time I got to feel what the grip increase has been like. The team gave me a great step forward of grip and balance for this session which was nice. We feel like we can work from there. It’s going to be crazy tomorrow, and hopefully you can just stay out of the chaos.” Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:“The 1,000th of a second is not pace, that’s just a little bit of speed, more speed in one corner or hitting a bump differently. I mean, it’s so tight, it’s not pace-representative. We should have the pace to transfer. It was hard getting everything out of the tire because yesterday the track was so much different when we ran greens (alternate) and also this morning, there was more traffic than actual clean laps. Pretty proud of the effort, though. It’s good to be that close to advancing, and especially to those guys. Pretty happy, car felt pretty good so good job to the guys coming to a new track. We’ll pass some guys tomorrow.” Looking at that and on paper, it seems this team is trending the right way on road and street courses. Do you feel that way?“Yeah, we’re trending in the right direction. It’s been a tough season, but I think there’s a lot of positive energy from the (Indianapolis) 500, though the race could’ve ended a bit differently. Proud of the guys. It’s a long season to go and they put a lot of effort in. We’re going upwards.” Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:“I don’t think it’s bad, we just have a lot to learn with the damping, I think. I think we know that, which is good. It’s good and bad; it’s good because we know where to look, and it’s bad because it’s really hard to adjust on a race weekend. We’re working really hard. We closed the gap now down to half, with three seconds off yesterday we’re down to 1.5. This race is going to be interesting. I don’t know necessarily how much pace you’re going to need because you could have a race like we had in Nashville in 2021. Just work hard into morning warm up and see what we’ve got.” You’re in a unique pit stall, first one in on driver’s right. Is that going to be a disadvantage for you tomorrow?“It’s a huge disadvantage regardless. The whole right side of this pit lane, you have to go under the pit limiter to make the turn, so everybody is checking up. The pit start zone is way too late for us. I’m already in neutral when I come around that corner, so I’m going about 25 mph coming around there, and everybody else who’s going to the left side’s got to be on the limiter in 40. Assuming we don’t get run over in the race tomorrow, hopefully we’ll have a good one.” Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:“Tremendous recovery in qualifying. We’ll start P19. Definitely the best the car has felt since we showed up. We rolled out of the truck pretty far out of the window, but managed to get ourselves back in honestly a very good car. Qualifying felt very good on my part with nailing every lap. It was the best we could get out of it. We’ll keep improving. We always seem to find even more pace for the race. It’s going to be an exciting race tomorrow.” Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:“We’ll have to look after this. It’s just so tight, this session was very close to get in it. I felt like I put in a good time, but I guess it’s just not enough. We got four clear laps in two practices, which is kind of a waste. Otherwise, it’s alright. We’ve worked with it. I think we have a good car. Seems competitive here, just missing a little bit.” Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:“A good day. Qualifying with no problems. Of course we want more, but anyway, it’s a good job for the team, Ricardo (Juncos), and the car. Thanks for the for the job from yesterday. The practice was insane, in qualifying it was okay, but I think the track is really tricky, and we have a really difficult race tomorrow.” SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet – End of Day Press Conference:THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up qualifying. Currently joined by Scott McLaughlin. First front row start of this 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. How was your qualifying session? Pleased with it? SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, yeah. Full credit, Alex, that was a bad-ass lap, man. Good job on the older tires there. Pretty happy with P2. I’ve had a pretty average month of May in my standards. Nice to bounce back here in Detroit. New track. Rebound with a P2 to start tomorrow. But see how we go. THE MODERATOR: All of a sudden your attention turns towards tomorrow, what it may look like. Who knows, right? SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, you don’t know. It is what it is. Same for everyone. Hopefully just everyone, cool heads prevail, but you just never know. Yeah, we’ll go in with the same aggression, see how we come out. It’s not the track I’m worried about, it’s just the outside. Everyone on the outside line, it’s going to be interesting. We’ll be all right. With the track, there’s been a lot of noise I’ve seen in Twitter, from other drivers and stuff. At the end of the day this is a new track, new complex. I think what everyone has done to get this going, like the vibe is awesome. Belle Isle was getting old. We had to do it. Yeah, first-year problems. It’s always going to happen. It’s just going to get better from here. The racetrack for the drivers is a blast. We don’t even know how it races yet. Everyone is making conclusions already. They probably just need to relax and wait for tomorrow. I just had to get that in. Sorry. THE MODERATOR: At least we know how you feel. SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah (smiling). THE MODERATOR: We’ll take questions. Q. Curious, with the 1.7 mile lap, how many times are you playing with the tools, brake bias?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Not much at all. In the practices, yes, because you’re trying to get a balance, a feeling. But once you’re out there, sort of wheeling, trying to figure out where your car is, trying to maximize that lap from what you’ve learnt in the first two practices, for me, I’m just locked in trying to do a lap, dealing with what we did.We made changes during the session that made the car better. I don’t think I was a P2 car to start the session, and we ended up P2. I think we made some really good changes between Q1 and Q2. Q. (Indiscernible)?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I think a lot of it’s going to come down to your right foot, controlling that more than anything. It’s going to be a lot of patience, looking at the tires. Like I said, that’s a lot of self-control in that department. Q. Pit lane was a talking point. Through two days, what is your assessment about that?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I have no idea at the moment. We’ve rolled out after a couple red flags together. At the end of the day there’s a blend line. Gets to the point that dash line at the front, if you’re not in front of the car that’s behind you or beside you, you should get out of it. If there’s any gentlemen in this field, which I highly doubt, you can probably back off and let the other guy in front of you be okay. But I think, yeah, it’s always going to be self-control, self-discipline. Like I said, they’ve done a very good job. It’s a very good pit lane, it’s just tight, it’s different. Who knows till the race. I think it will be eventful for the fans. We’ll just have to figure it out. Q. Was there any extra preparation or things you did special for this weekend? Very good so far.SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, no, the same. New track, so… For me, Belle Isle, I actually felt very good there last year. I just got screwed by a few red flags, whatever. Same old, same old. Stupid story. This weekend is just a new track. Just prepare like I would go anywhere else. Yeah, feel very good. Q. From practice on Friday to qualifying, how much did you have to flip the setup to perfect it?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We went back to our practice one setup. I was hoping it was going to work, and it did. Q. If you watched the INDY NXT race, what kind of prediction do you have for tomorrow?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I watched it. I watched all of it actually. It was carnage. At the same time what’s exciting for me is if you got a fast car, you can make moves. You can come through. It’s going to be all that tire life, tire life is going to be key. One thing that’s good about this track, it’s a lot of stop-start corners. If you get better runs than others, use the push to pass, I think it’s going to race similar to Nashville. Everyone says we crash a lot in Nashville. I think it’s going to race very well. It’s just going to be up to us with the etiquette of the drivers to leave it up to us and figure it out along the way. I think it’s going to race very similar to Nashville. Looking at it, there’s going to be a lot of passes, I think opportunities. Hopefully I only have to make one. Q. Do you have to remember where you are at every moment on this track? With the bumps and stuff, how tough is that to keep that concentration along with racing?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I have Google maps in my steering wheel (laughter). No, you just follow the walls. You don’t hit the walls, you just follow them. I feel like the first practice session, we did a lot of simulator stuff beforehand, so I already had the numbers and stuff down pat. I think now it’s knowing where the bumps are.  There’s bumps on the track you haven’t felt before, you won’t feel till the race, they will feel different with old tires and fuel. Tomorrow is about attrition. It’s about making no mistakes, good pit stops and hopefully a fast car. Q. From the simulator work you did to practice and qualifying, what was the biggest surprise?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: How good the simulator actually is, yeah. What we learnt on the sim, we rolled here with that car. Like I said, we went back to our baseline car for the start of qualifying. I’m pleasantly surprised. Yeah, it was nice. Q. With Chevy being the presenting sponsor, how much pressure does that add to you?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Look, it’s an important race for Chevy. World headquarters. I’ve always said it, I always put more pressure on myself than anyone could put on me. It’s not just Chevy, it’s Roger Penske. Home race. A lot of partners here this weekend. I’m sponsored by a very big company that has a massive presence here, Gallagher, with Detroit Tigers. It’s a big town for them. Doesn’t change how much I want to win this race or the pressure to win every race that we go out in. Q. I wanted to know by comparison to yesterday, has the track evolved? Rubbered up? Still very much a concrete surface?SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: In places there’s low grip, for sure. Potentially where you could pass tomorrow is low grip. Anything off the line right now. That will rubber up pretty quick. Yeah, it’s taking a lot of rubber. Even from practice to qualifying, after the INDY NXT race, it already took a ton of rubber, as well. It’s nice, though, ’cause the first session I felt like it was pretty green. It was hard to get a bearing. But now that rubber is going down, it’s turning the racetrack into a lot of fun. It’s a great racetrack to lay a lap down. It was a blast.

NASCAR CUP SERIESWORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAYENJOY ILLINOIS 300PRESENTED BY TICKETSMARTERTEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORTJUNE 3, 2023 Team Chevy’s Fifth NCS Pole of 2023

·       Kyle Busch (No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1) posted a lap of 32.80 seconds, at 137.187 mph, in the final round of qualifying to capture the pole position for tomorrow’s Enjoy Illinois 300 Presented by TicketSmarter at World Wide Technology Raceway.   ·       The pole win is Busch’s first of the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season, and his 33rd career pole in NASCAR’s premier series.  ·       This marks Chevrolet’s fifth NASCAR Cup Series pole of the season; the manufacturer’s first NCS pole at World Wide Technology Raceway; and its 739th all-time in NASCAR’s premier series (series-best).  ·       FS1 will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series Enjoy Illinois 300 Presented by TicketSmarter on Sunday, June 4, at 3:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on the MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 STARTING LINEUP:  POS.   DRIVER1st      Kyle Busch, No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL17th      William Byron, No. 24 Axalta Camaro ZL18th      Ross Chastain, No. 1 Moose Fraternity Camaro ZL1  TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:  POS.  DRIVER1.        Kyle Busch (Chevrolet)2.        Ryan Blaney (Ford)3.        Denny Hamlin (Toyota)4.        Kevin Harvick (Ford)5.        Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1 – Pole Winner QuotesTAKE US THROUGH YOUR POLE-WINNING LAP HERE AT WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY? “Yeah, it was a really good lap for us – being able to qualifying number one, get the number one pit selection for tomorrow and that’s hopefully going to pay really good dividends for our No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet team. Being able to hit turns one and two, it seemed like that’s where a lot of the speed was today. But overall, the whole lap has to be put together. I feel like the adjustments we were making and the feedback I was giving to Randall (Burnett, crew chief) and the guys, they did a good job of being able to get me what I was looking for and make it better as we went. We saved the best for last there on that last run.” IT’S YOUR FIRST POLE SINCE PHOENIX RACEWAY IN 2019. HOW SIGNIFICANT IS THAT FOR YOU AND TO DO IT FOR RCR?“It is. I haven’t necessarily been known as a great qualifier lately, apparently. Claire was telling me I had 33 career poles and I was like – wow, is that it? She was like, that’s a lot, and I’m like, no – I’ve been here a lot longer than you realize.  But all-in-all, being able to get a pole here with Richard Childress Racing, Team Chevy and everybody on this No. 8 team is good for us and just try to get some momentum rolling. Our short track stuff hasn’t been the greatest this year so far, but this isn’t the short track aero package here this weekend, so that might pay dividends hopefully for us to just have a better day than what we anticipated. Just excited to have the guys pumped up and raring to go, and knowing that their hard work is paying off.” LAST YEAR WAS THE FIRST TIME THE NASCAR CUP SERIES RACED HERE AT WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY. WHAT HAVE YOU GUYS LEARNED FROM LAST YEAR TO THIS YEAR, AND WHAT ARE YOU EXPECTING FOR SOME OF THE BIGGEST CHANGES FOR THE RACING ACTION TOMORROW?“Yeah, whether good or bad, I think we’ll find out. Last year, there was still some leftover resin from the previous year, so we were able to move up the race track; kind of get into that and use that for some speed and have some different lines you can kind of maneuver through. It didn’t seem like any of that was coming true today, so I’m anticipating a bottom race and a lot different than what it was last year. So it might be a little bit tough to pass. But overall, I hope I’m wrong; it widens out and we can put on a great show for the fans that are coming out here to sit in this heat and packing the house. It’ll be a good one.” YOU MENTIONED THE TRACK – IT’S TRICKY BUT YOUR CREW CHIEF GREW UP JUST DOWN THE ROAD AND RACED PLENTY ON THIS TRACK. DO YOU SEE THAT AS ANY TYPE OF ADVANTAGE, AS FAR AS THE THRILL TO WIN? DO YOU WANT TO WIN FOR HIM MAYBE JUST A BIT MORE?“I don’t care where we’re at.. I want to win any week. Anytime you can get one, I’ll take one. Certainly, anytime you have a home game, it certainly makes it a lot cooler. Being from Las Vegas, anytime we go out there, it’s almost like the Daytona 500. It’s just a big deal. You want to run good in front of your hometown crowd and at a race track that you remember racing at as a kid or a young guy, and I think Randall (Burnett) is the same way. Working with him and being a part of this team and his leadership that he’s brought the last few years to this team, but also with me being new this year, has been really good and really fun. I’m hoping for the best for us for tomorrow, and being able to lead the field to the green will be a good start to that.” CONGRATULATIONS ON THE WINS AT DOE RUN THIS WEEK. WAS THAT THE FIRST TIME YOU AND BREXTON (BUSCH) WON ON THE SAME NIGHT? “Thank you. No – we won the first time together with him in a junior sprint and me in a micro in Arizona at Adobe Mountain Speedway. So that was the second time.” NASHVILLE WAS ONE THAT KIND OF GOT AWAY FROM YOU LAST YEAR. HAVE YOU THOUGHT ABOUT THAT AND WHAT WOULD YOUR STRATEGY BE GOING FORWARD?“Yeah, looking forward to Nashville (Superspeedway). It was one that I felt like did get away from us. We were really good through much of the race. We actually had trouble in qualifying; had to start in the back and drove through the field. We got up to the front and got up to the lead. We led for a little bit and then out of nowhere, Chase Elliott and the No. 9 team came on really strong there the second-half of the race and was able to get by us. They were better than us there at the end. I just wish we were able to adjust on our car to keep the speed that we needed when it got to true nighttime so that we were able to prevail. But just didn’t work out for us there – we pitted late, took tires and that was absolutely not worth it. We didn’t make up any ground on that last restart.  So definitely would like to go back there and change fortunes with that. Thankfully I’m with the No. 8 Chevy team this year, where we can look at some of what the No. 9 was doing and what they did to make their stuff better and go from there.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES

WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY

ENJOY ILLINOIS 300

PRESENTED BY TICKETSMARTER

TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

JUNE 3, 2023

COREY LAJOIE, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1, met with the media prior to the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at World Wide Technology Raceway. Media Availability Quotes: 

HOW HAVE YOU BEEN SLEEPING? 

“Like a baby.. because it’s weird, man. It’s like the dream is during the day right now. I missed the call from Mr. Hendrick – he left me a voicemail. I woke up to it on Wednesday morning and I told my wife, I was like – honey, I missed the call. But luckily he answered when I called him back on Wednesday morning and since then, it’s been like drinking out of a fire hose. Just information, preparation and just a level of perfection that those guys expect is really cool to see for the first three or four days leading up to here at St. Louis.”

DO YOU THINK THE LETTER YOU WROTE THREE YEARS AGO HAD ANYTHING TO DO WITH THE CALL THAT YOU GOT? 

“No.. I mean it didn’t hurt and time is a flat circle, apparently. I’m glad that call didn’t come a couple months after that letter because I wouldn’t have been ready for it. I wouldn’t have been ready for the opportunity – my maturation level, my skills behind the wheel. It’s been six years of grind and stacking pennies to feel confident enough to be able to plug into this No. 9 Chevy and run it to its true potential. 

It’s been a wild week. I can get all sentimental and all this stuff that’s attached to the letter and my dad subbing in for Ricky Craven in 1998 and all that sort of stuff. But at the end of the day, when I sit in that thing, I don’t know that NAPA is on it or the No. 9 is on it. I’m going to drive it like I have been driving the No. 7 Chevy and putting that thing 19th in points. It’s been a super fun, successful year so far, and we have a lot of work left to do and things to accomplish over there. But for the opportunity to drive for Mr. Hendrick, it’s a once in a lifetime opportunity.”

CAN YOU SHARE WHAT RICK HENDRICK SAID TO YOU.. WHAT HE SAID ON THE MESSAGE? 

“Yeah.. yeah. So it was just like – ‘Hey Corey, it’s Rick Hendrick here. Just wanted to let you know that I’m excited you’re filling in under this circumstance. Appreciate the help and I know you’re going to do us a good job’. 

I was thinking about this.. there’s a couple young people in here that might have played NASCAR video games growing up. But NASCAR 2004-2005, like you’d start your career mode in the bottom team and then you’d get the call up to the next team and the next team. And then you’d get a notification on your phone from like Rick Hendrick to drive that car. That’s what I felt like laying in bed on Wednesday morning talking to the wife. I was like – my life is a video game right now.. it’s just nonstop progression, failure and just falling short time and time again, but keep taking steps forward towards the goal of getting to the position that I’m in right now. It’s been wild.”

YOU’RE LISTENING AND YOU HEAR ‘HEY COREY, IT’S RICK HENDRICK’.. JUST TO HEAR IT’S RICK HENDRICK..

“Yeah, so Tuesday night , (Jeff) Dickerson was the one that texted me around noon on Tuesday and was like – if this happens, you’re going to fill-in. I was like, are you punking me.. don’t punk me right now. And he was like – no, no it’s happening. 

So he called me – I was actually downtown at NASCAR recording the podcast and Jeff calls me and is like – hey, it’s happening.. get with Alan (Gustafson), get the seats, get the whole thing. There was a lot of self-doubt that crept in that night of just like, can you do it? It’s like ‘put up or shut up’. You’re wrestling around and you’re like wrestling these emotions of like scared and nervous. And then you wake up on Wednesday morning; you go to the shop and you walk in there for the first five minutes and you realize just the collective focus of that group. Their goal is to win races and championships. You can walk through the lobby and you can tell why they’re so successful after the more time I spent there. I got there around 7:15 a.m. Wednesday. I spent about an hour and a half with Alan (Gustafson) and his engineers, and walked through the shop. Around 8:30 a.m., we went to the simulators and spent some time there. Just started looking at how those guys – obviously the difference in setups was interesting to drive, feel out and just the tendencies of how those guys drive; braking techniques, steering wheel angles and things like that. It’s something I’ve never had access to, so it was good for me to have kind of a high watermark to just try to go chase and try to hone how I attack this racetrack and how I changed how I attack this racetrack by just looking what other guys did. I left with much more confidence Wednesday of seeing the process and just the system that those guys have – that you can plugin somebody with good talent and that’s how they become great in the process with those tools and resources. Those guys build champions for a reason because they can extract the very best. And then even more so, so it’s pretty impressive to see. 

Man, I’ve been here three days and my philosophy of how I approach a weekend; how I prepare, how I’m going to engage with my team at Spire Motorsports going forward is going to change. I think I’m going to be able to come in there and just apply and share some of the things I’ve learned over the course of the week with (Ryan) Sparks and the No. 77 team, as well, and I think we’re all going to be stronger for it.”

YOU SAID ON THE PODCAST THAT YOU WOULD HAVE NOT BEEN PREPARED FOR THIS POSITION BEFORE. WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COREY THEN AND COREY NOW?

“Man, a lot. The kids will do it (laughs). But just – I was watching the Netflix documentary on Connor McGregor on the way up here and that will fire you up, for one. But he had this quick saying – he’s training and the lead up before the fight with Khabib and he was mad. He just wasn’t focused and the the chip on his shoulder was weighing him down as opposed to motivating him. And he said that whether it was – don’t eat that, then I ate it. I’m going to wake up at 6:00 a.m. and then you don’t wake up at 6:00 a.m. I’m going to go workout at this time and you don’t go workout at this time. So you string together these defeats, like these mental defeats, and then you don’t feel confident that when the big challenge comes that you can rise to the occasion. 

So the last six or eight months, maybe a little less than that, have been like me preparing for today just not knowing if it’d ever come. It would just be like getting rid of those small defeats of – if you’re going to wakeup at 5:30 a.m., you’re going to wakeup at 5:30 a.m. If you’re going to workout at 7:00 a.m., you’re getting there at 6:50 a.m. Leaning into the work and just not making excuses or exceptions to the pursuit of the person that you want to be. Not the person that you are, but the person you’re striving to be. 

And then you go to Hendrick (Motorsports) and you see that there’s 500 people over there that have the same mentality, and it’s like – OK, that’s why they’re so freaking good.”

WHEN THIS NEW CAR CAME OUT, YOU EXPRESSED THE HOPE THAT IT WOULD BRING THE MIDDLE CLOSER TO THE FRONT, AND THE BACK CLOSER TO THE MIDDLE. IT CERTAINLY HAS, BUT AFTER 72 HOURS NOW IN THE HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS’ SYSTEM, CAN YOU SPEAK A LITTLE BIT NOW ABOUT THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE HAVES AND THE HAVE NOTS IN THIS SPORT AND HOW DRAMATIC IT MAY OR MAY NOT BE?

“I thought that I knew what we didn’t have at Spire Motorsports, but I had no idea. There’s tools that those guys have, intellectual properties specific to Hendrick Motorsports, that even some of the other teams don’t have. But the biggest thing that I noticed was just the people and the attitude of the pursuit of perfection. All the key partner teams across all the OEM’s all have the same data, but they have an unbelievable way of delegating, taking, compacting and making it just digestible – whether it’s for a driver, an engineer, a crew chief. I think the fact that they have four incredibly strong teams individually raises the tide for those guys because when you’re sitting in the simulator and William Byron ran a 33.20 (seconds).. if you’re running a 33.35 with the same setup, you know you have a tenth-and-a-half under your butt and you have to go find it. And then when I go run a 33.20, William next time is going to want to run a 33.19. There’s always a consistently raised watermark on the driver’s end. There’s always a consistently raised watermark on the crew chiefs in trying to build the best setups, and the engineers trying to find the best strategies. Like the inner team competition is one of the biggest things and I think there are several teams that have that.. the healthy ones are certainly evident. But it’s just the overall structure – we have a Hawkeye.. all the things that do the same stuff that Hendrick Motorsports has, but the depth of people, collective focus of the goal and the mission is noticeable and evident. It’s a different world.

I texted Dickerson – Dickerson spent a decade over there with Alan (Gustafson) and spotting for Kyle Busch. He’s been someone I’ve leaned on this week – and also the last six or eight months – of just trying to help me learn how to be a professional. You go over there and the entire group are just as professional as it gets.”

HOW HARD WILL IT BE – OF COURSE YOU’RE MOTIVATED WHEN YOU GO BACK TO SPIRE MOTORSPORTS AFTER YOU SEE WHAT’S AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, BUT AFTER YOU’RE BACK FOR AWHILE, IT MIGHT BE DIFFICULT THINKING – GOSH, WE DON’T HAVE THIS STUFF. HOW DO YOU FEND THAT OFF WHEN YOU SEE WHAT YOU’VE SEEN THIS WEEKEND? 

“Yeah, the only way is through and now I think just forming a better relationship with Hendrick Motorsports and probably having a better working relationship with those guys – we share motors, we share pit crews with those guys. And now that I’m going to have a good relationship with Alan (Gustafson) – him and I have rode mountain bikes together several times, so we already had a bit of a repour before the weekend started. And I think I can lean on him and Andrew, the engineer, a little bit more just because we’re going to form a relationship over this week, and maybe get a little bit more help than we have. There are certain things that Spire Motorsports is trying to gear up to work on – whether it’s wind tunnel time that’s coming up the pipeline from NASCAR. There are some gains we’re going to be making over there. But I’m way past the point in my career and my life of getting jealous of things that I don’t have.. I’m just trying to figure out solutions and how to make where I’m at the best possible way.”

AS YOU GET READY TO RACE THIS ONE RACE FOR NOW, YOU PUT ALL YOUR EGGS IN ONE BASKET AND ALL YOUR HOPES AND DREAMS INTO ONE MOMENT – HOW DO YOU NOT OVERDO THAT? 

“That’s a great question.. I’ve been trying to think about that all week. You know, once you put the helmet on – the talking and all the things that come along with that, all the interviews, that’s the noise. But the noise stops whenever you put the helmet on and you just drive it no different that I would the No. 7 car. 

This is opposite, but kind of the same scenario – I remember, this was a couple of years ago when (Matt) Kenseth was driving the No. 6, the No. 32 and the No. 6 were in the owner’s points right next to each other. It was Matt’s first week back and he had been driving for (Joe) Gibbs – champion, hall of famer and all of that – he gets out of the car after practice and he’s looking at the rundown. He starts on the left side of the sheet and he’s like working his way down. He goes to the next sheet; he’s working his way down and it’s like 31st and 32nd. My buddy (Ryan) Flores that’s on the podcast with me – he’s like it’s going to be like that, but opposite. Like you’re going to work from the bottom like I’m used to; working my way up and you’re just going to keep going a couple spots higher. So hopefully that’s what happens this weekend. It’s not going to be easy. There’s a guy in the back of the room there, the Coca-Cola 600 champion.. congrats Ryan Blaney.. and then 15 to 18 other guys just like him that are capable of winning any other week. So its going to be fun to be able to dice it up and be sitting on equally fast horses as those guys for the first time.”

YOU MENTIONED EARLIER – YOUR DAD GOT A CHANCE WITH HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS BACK IN 1998. WHAT HAVE YOUR CONVERSATIONS BEEN LIKE WITH HIM THIS WEEK AND IS HE HERE THIS WEEKEND? 

“He’s not here, he’s watching the kiddos. Levi and Jenson are at the house and mom and dad are watching them. We talked about it on the podcast a little bit – I believe it was the Coca-Cola 600, dad wrecked Dale Earnhardt Sr., so Ryan (Flores) was like – hey, at least you’re not going to wreck Dale Sr. in your opportunity with Hendrick Motorsports and you’re not going to be able to wreck Chase Elliott because you’re driving his car. So I guess if that’s your measuring stick, I think I’m going to be in pretty good shape.”

McIntosh sixth after final restart, Miller P3 surges to runner-up in points WAYNE CITY, IL (June 2, 2023) – The Trifecta Motorsports team had waited several years for their day to come. They day they’d finally be standing in Victory Lane after taking the checkered flag in a national Midget series event. Friday at Wayne County Speedway was that day, and their new hired gun Zach Daum was their guy to bring them the trophy. Once a single-car team from Tulsa, OK, that competed solely in the Chili Bowl Nationals every January, the Trifecta squad began taking on more races over the last five years in pursuit of one of their biggest goals – winning on the national stage. Daum, the defending Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota champion, moved into the seat of the 7U for the weekend after a hard crash last week at Millbridge Speedway and immediately fired-off with the team, posting a top-five finish Thursday night at Tri-City Speedway. Friday night, Daum faced Wayne County – a place he’d won before, claiming the inaugural Jason Leffler Memorial in 2013. With a front-row starting spot for the 30-lap Feature, Daum survived a late-race charge from Series points leader Cannon McIntosh and a green-white-checkered finish to bag his second career Series victory and the biggest win of his team’s career. “These guys got good stuff – Janky [Bobby Milliser, crew] and Steve [Carbone, car owner] work their asses off on this thing,” Daum, of Pocahontas, IL, said. “I’m just happy to get them a good result. I know they’ve been wanting to win a national race for a long time. I know this one means a lot to them.” Daum earned an outside pole starting spot for the Toyota Racing Feature after the inversion draw and put a slide job on polesitter Hayden Reinbold to take the lead on Lap 12. He led through the halfway point, though fourth-starting Jade Avedisian was closing in on him quickly. She had just moved past Reinbold for second and was on a mission for the lead, hammering the top side of the 1/6-mile oval. When Daum bobbled on the cushion getting into Turn 1 on Lap 17, Avedisian slid through the open door down low and took the lead. Daum crossed the Keith Kunz Motorsports #71 over down the backstretch and retook the position in Turns 3-4. Avedisian kept the high side momentum going, however, and got a big run to Daum’s outside one lap later. She rounded Turn 4 and stuck the nose to Daum’s outside, and that’s when the two came together. Avedisian’s left-front tire met Daum’s right-rear and around she went, bringing out the caution and sending her to the rear while racing in a podium spot for the third time in the last four races. “I was looking right to go back to the cushion, following the dirt back to [my] line, and I looked and looked and didn’t see her, and then we met,” Daum said. “I never saw her until she hopped over the tire and I thought I went airborne.” Daum kept going after the contact and kept the lead for the restart. He took off and pulled out to a slim lead on the field, which was erased less than 10 laps later by McIntosh as he closed in on Daum, in pursuit of his fifth win of the season. The two traded slide jobs until the action was paused with two laps remaining for a spinning Reinbold in Turn 4. “We really didn’t dirty each other too bad,” Daum said. “Less than five-to-go for the win, it’s no-holds-barred at that point in time. Just get after it.” The field was restacked for the restart; green-white-checkered finish upcoming. Under yellow, Daum could feel the pressure mounting with the points leader behind him, but he came prepared. “I just tried to make sure I hit my line on the restart; I didn’t spin the tires, I got down the straightaway good, I entered Turn 1 good,” Daum said. “I figured if I entered 1 and didn’t get tight off of 2, [McIntosh] wasn’t going to make any more speed to slide me in 3.” He got a great jump as the green was thrown and drove two clean circuits unchallenged to grab the victory – his first of the season with the Xtreme Outlaws. Further back, McIntosh got shuffled back several spots on the restart after a bobble on the cushion. He was passed by Gavin Miller first, then several others after. One of which was Shane Cottle, who drove under three cars in front of him to take second from fifth in one lap. “I knew if I stuck the corners pretty good, those guys were washing-up and I could get underneath them,” Cottle said. “We just needed another lap or so, and it would’ve been a good race between me and Zach.” Cottle held on for second while Miller crossed in third – his third podium in the last five Series races. McIntosh slid back to sixth in a matter of two laps but was able to expand his points lead up to 122 over Miller with Avedisian and Chase McDermand further down in the running order. Avedisian was unable to fully recover from her incident with Daum and drove back to 10th by the checkered. Meanwhile, McDermand had advanced from 19th up to 12th by the checkered, recovering from a broken rear-end in his Heat. In the end, he slipped back to fourth in the points standings, now 152 out of the lead. UP NEXT The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets are back in action once more at Wayne County Saturday night, June 3, for the conclusion to the weekend in Illinois. Tickets will be on sale at the gate. If you can’t be there, stream all the action live on DIRTVision. ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results) Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7U-Zach Daum[2]; 2. 86-Shane Cottle[13]; 3. 97-Gavin Miller[8]; 4. 5G-Gavan Boschele[6]; 5. 26-Chance Crum[9]; 6. 08-Cannon McIntosh[3]; 7. 25K-Taylor Reimer[5]; 8. 5-Chase Briscoe[15]; 9. 23-Kevin Thomas Jr[11]; 10. 71-Jade Avedisian[4]; 11. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[7]; 12. 40-Chase McDermand[19]; 13. 97K-Cooper Williams[17]; 14. 17B-Austin Barnhill[16]; 15. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[1]; 16. 44-Branigan Roark[12]; 17. 7-Cody Beard[20]; 18. 31K-Kyle Beilman[14]; 19. 21K-Karter Sarff[10]; 20. 08K-Brody Wake[18]

The Watertown, CT native tightens the championship battle even more with fifth win of the seasonGRAND FORKS, ND (June 2, 2023) – In Sprint Car racing, the lead isn’t always the best place to be.Track conditions can change quickly. The preferred line can shift in a lap. Before you know it, the second place car can power ahead leaving the former leader scrambling to switch grooves.That was exactly the case Friday night at River Cities Speedway as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars invaded the Grand Forks oval. After running second a majority of the 40-lap Feature, David Gravel crept up on James McFadden and slipped by on the 36th circuit before holding on to seal the victory.“I think running second there all race was the best place to be,” Gravel said. “I knew the top was the fastest, but it’s hard to get there when you start on the bottom. That last restart when I was in the lead there, I probably should’ve started on the outside. But I fell back to third or second there, and then I was letting James go. It was one lane around the top, so he could go wear stuff out or maybe he was conserving, too. I just let him go and get to lap traffic, and I knew that was my only chance. I searched down there (Turns 3 and 4) for two laps. It was a little slower, but I felt it coming. Once it came in, it latched up really good.”Gravel’s win was his fifth of the 2023 campaign with Big Game Motorsports, enough to equal him for the most this season. It also marked his second career Victory Lane visit at River Cities, making him the sixth driver through 30 Series visits to the North Dakota bullring to own multiple wins.The Watertown, CT native began the race from the pole after topping the Toyota Racing Dash. Gravel took the lead at the drop of the green, but a caution flag after a lap allowed outside pole-sitter – Brad Sweet – to have another shot at him.“The Big Cat” would not be denied on the next attempt as he drove ahead of Gravel to secure the top spot. Over the next handful of laps, Gravel stayed within striking distance as the lead duo neared traffic. When Sweet’s slider on a slower car in Turns 1 and 2 didn’t clear, the door opened again for Gravel.Heading down the backstretch, Gravel went under Sweet and cleared him with a slide job in Turns 3 and 4. But Gravel and Sweet opened themselves up to attack in the next set of corners. Gravel went low to protect, and Sweet followed him around the bottom. Behind them, a hard-charging James McFadden nailed the cushion and ripped around both of them to take the top spot.From there, McFadden began to distance himself in the Roth Motorsports #83. The Alice Springs, NT native survived a flurry of cautions by driving every restart perfectly. McFadden appeared to be in control and heading toward back to back World of Outlaws wins for the first time in his career.Then Gravel began to chip away at the advantage. Lap by lap the gap continued to shrink until Gravel neared the tail tank of the Roth #83. Coming to four laps to go, Gravel pulled the trigger and rolled through the middle of Turns 3 and 4 right by McFadden.In the closing couple circuits, Gravel struggled with a lapped car allowing McFadden to close back in. But a lane to regain the lead never opened, allowing Gravel to take the checkered flag with a three tenths of a second gap.“I felt urgency like I had to pass that lapped car with two (laps) to go,” Gravel explained. “I couldn’t clear him. Then I heard J-Mac right on me, and I was like I’ve got to run it as hard as I can as close as I can, and if he was going to pass me, he was going to have to go around me.”Behind Gravel, it was McFadden claiming the runner-up position after leading 25 laps of the main event. With holding the top spot a majority of the race, McFadden couldn’t help but be a little disappointed with losing the lead late. But after a win on Monday and the second place effort Friday, McFadden walked way encouraged with the performance.“I still felt pretty decent on the top,” McFadden said of the closing stages of the race. “I felt like I could run it in pretty hard. It was sketchy, but I didn’t feel like I was spinning the tires a lot and struggling for grip. I got super tight behind a lapped car there, and that was probably enough for him to sneak by us. Nothing to hang our heads about. Sometimes it’s nice to be in second place.”After leading early then slipping back nearly outside the top five, Brad Sweet rallied to bring the Kasey Kahne Racing #49 home third. The four-time and defending champion is now up to 11 podiums on the season, and his latest helped him narrowly regain sole possession of the championship lead. Sweet felt that a couple laps early in the Feature changed the trajectory of his race as he struggled with traffic.“That first lapped car just threw me for a loop,” Sweet said. “He did a 360 and got me slowed up. I thought I had enough of a run to slide him, but then he kind of gained some speed, and it kind of made me a sitting duck. I needed to clear him, and I didn’t get it done. It was really top dominant tonight, so once I got (tire) spinning and David got me, we raced down there and he went to the bottom of (Turn) 1 and we were both sitting ducks. I just felt like there were a couple things I didn’t do good, and it set me up for a few bad laps.”Carson Macedo and Logan Schuchart completed the top five.Grand Forks’ own Austin Pierce earned the KSE Hard Charger Award with a run from 23rd to 14th.The battle at the top of the standings is now incredibly tight with Sweet leading both Gravel and Macedo by only two points.Carson Macedo claimed his Series-leading eighth Simpson Performance Products QuickTime Award to begin the night, marking his third consecutive QuickTime.CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One was topped by Carson Macedo (92nd Heat win of career). NOS Energy Drink Heat Races Two and Three were claimed by David Gravel (215th of career) and Gio Scelzi (26th of career).Tim Estenson topped the MicroLite Last Chance Showdown.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make their debut at Ogilvie Raceway in Ogilvie, MN on Saturday, June 3. 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 (40 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[1]; 2. 83-James McFadden[4]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[2]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[6]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[5]; 6. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[3]; 7. 1A-Jacob Allen[10]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz[11]; 9. 5-Spencer Bayston[7]; 10. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[13]; 11. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[12]; 12. 13-Mark Dobmeier[16]; 13. 7S-Robbie Price[20]; 14. 2A-Austin Pierce[23]; 15. 11M-Brendan Mullen[9]; 16. (DNF) 14T-Tim Estenson[19]; 17. (DNF) 9-Kasey Kahne[8]; 18. (DNF) 8-Jack Croaker[15]; 19. (DNF) 8H-Jade Hastings[21]; 20. (DNF) 26-Blake Egeland[18]; 21. (DNF) 20G-Noah Gass[17]; 22. (DNF) 17M-Zach Omdahl[24]; 23. (DNF) 0-Nick Omdahl[14]; 24. (DNF) 99-Jordan Graham[22]

Bobby Pierce finishes third, cutting Chris Madden’s points lead to 30

GRANITE CITY, IL– June 2, 2023 – A battle between best friends ended with Kyle Bronson standing tall Friday night at Tri-City Speedway.   

After trading the lead three times in the final four laps, the Brandon, FL driver beat Brian Shirley to the checkered flag by 0.057 seconds to earn his first World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models win of 2023. 

Bronson, the pole sitter, went unchallenged in the lead through the race’s first 30 laps. Then, the first of three challengers tried to wrestle it away.  

Germfree Rookie of the Year contender Nick Hoffman was the first to step up on Lap 33, using the inside lane to close on Bronson in Turns 3 and 4.  

The Florida competitor took the lane away, staving off Hoffman’s challenge as they drove into Turns 1 and 2 and pulled away. 

But that’s when his next challenger arrived. His best friend, Brian Shirley.  

As Bronson reached traffic, Shirley closed in, seeing an opportunity present itself.  

With Bronson on the outside, and Shirley on the bottom, the Chatham, IL driver made his move with four laps to go.  

Shirley thundered underneath Bronson in Turn 2 as Bronson got caught behind the lap car of Todd Cooney. 

As they entered Turn 3, Shirley slid up the racetrack, leaving the bottom open. That’s when Bronson dove to the inside, pulling his Rocket Chassis almost even with Shirley, as the #3S led the lap.  

Bronson retook the lead in Turn 1 on Lap 38, muscling Shirley up the racetrack and allowing both Hoffman and Bobby Pierce close in behind them. 

Shirley and Bronson switched lanes again as they entered Turns 3 and 4, allowing Shirley to dive to the bottom as Bronson retook the lead on the top with two laps to go. 

The two waged war again in Turns 1 and 2 on Lap 39, with Shirley getting the advantage as they roared down the backstretch. 

Shirley led the field through the first corner again the next lap as Bronson went to the cushion, and Pierce tried to nose ahead of Shirley on the bottom. But it was Bronson’s decision that paid off. He pulled even with Shirley as they entered Turn 3, while Pierce was left to watch the battle in front of him. 

From there, Bronson went through the middle of the corner, pinching Shirley on the bottom so he couldn’t get the momentum he needed – the winning move. Bronson powered off the corner to beat Shirley by 0.057 seconds to earn the $12,000 prize—his third career World of Outlaws triumph and first not at Volusia Speedway Park. 

Bronson said he was thrilled to battle with Shirley for the win, knowing the two would leave it all on the track without wrecking each other. 

“It’s so nice to race with one of my best friends like that, just knowing he ain’t going to wreck you,” Bronson said. “We held each other tight a couple of times. He slid up in front of me. I held him tight so he couldn’t slide me back. It was just a hell of a race.” 

While Bronson came out on top, his win wasn’t without a scare. He said he felt a vibration in the car as the laps wound down. 

“I felt like I was extremely good for the first 35 laps, and then I got an extremely bad vibration, and I could hardly drive the car,” Bronson said. “I started backing off the car because I was scared I was going to sling a driveshaft or break a transmission or something.  

“Then, next thing I know, [Shirley] is driving by me, and I had to pick the pace up. At that point, I said, ‘The hell with it. I ain’t points racing anymore. I’m trying to go for a win here.’ I threw all caution to the wind in the final five laps, and it worked out for us.” 

Shirley, who earned his second top five of the season, said Bronson kept him running the line he needed to at the end. 

“I felt like if I didn’t get Kyle on the start, I was going to have a hard time beating him,” Shirley said. “He runs good around here, and good on the cushion, so I knew it was going to be tough to get around him. I didn’t realize that the track was going to come back to me where we could get under him a little bit.  

“Those last couple of laps, he was just smart enough to block me to where I couldn’t hit my line to where I needed to hit to fully get by him.” 

Pierce crossed the line third, his second podium of the weekend.  

The Oakwood, IL driver had a chance to win after receiving damage in a Lap 4 caution involving Kyle Larson and former Series champion Billy Moyer. He fell back as far as ninth before driving back to the podium. 

“It was pretty crazy how far back we came and being right on them guys,” Pierce said. “Larson got the wall right in front of me, and I just piled right into him. Nine times out of 10, that’s taking you out of the race with how hard we hit.” 

For the second straight night, Pierce gained points on Chris Madden, who finished 13th.  

The “Smooth Operator” is now 30 points behind the Gray Court, SC driver. 

After challenging for the lead in the final 10 laps, Hoffman fell back to fourth. 

The Mooresville, NC driver said Bronson’s ability to protect the lead kept him from making the pass for the win. 

“About halfway through, my stuff was running decently hot, and I was kind of just setting a decent pace,” Hoffman said. “But with about 10 to go, I said screw it. I said I’m going to go for it.  

“I tracked those guys down and from a pretty long way. I got to racing with them, got clear of [Shirley], and ran Bronson down and showed him a nose. He was able to protect into [Turn] 3, and that was kind of the difference I felt like in the race.” 

Shane Clanton, the 2015 Series champion, rounded out the top five. 

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models finish their Midwest tripleheader weekend with a trip to Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY, on Saturday, June 3, for the USA World 50. 

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

CASE Construction Equipment Feature (40 Laps): 1. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[2]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton[6]; 6. 11-Gordy Gundaker[15]; 7. 97-Cade Dillard[3]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 9. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[10]; 10. B5-Brandon Sheppard[18]; 11. 18B-Shannon Babb[8]; 12. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[9]; 13. 44-Chris Madden[11]; 14. 1ST-Johnny Scott[20]; 15. 33-Mike Harrison[12]; 16. 31-Kye Blight[21]; 17. 30-Todd Cooney[24]; 18. 36-Logan Martin[16]; 19. 14W-Dustin Walker[26]; 20. B1-Brent Larson[22]; 21. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[19]; 22. 82-Billy Laycock[25]; 23. 25F-Jason Feger[14]; 24. 96V-Tanner English[23]; 25. 6-Kyle Larson[5]; 26. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[13] Fox Factory Hard Charger: Gordy Gundaker [+9]

MINERAL WELLS, W.Va. (June 2, 2023) – Ricky Thornton Jr. went from third to first on the 20th lap of the 30-lap main event on Friday night at West Virginia Motor Speedway – earning his sixth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season.  Thornton drove by Jimmy Owens and then race leader Daulton Wilson before pulling away for the win on the opening night of the Jan Dils Attorneys at Law “Historic 100” presented by Arizona Sport Shirts. Tim McCreadie would advance to the second spot at the finish followed by Wilson, Hudson O’Neal, and Owens. Wilson jumped to the lead from his outside front row starting spot as Owens went to second and Thornton, the pole-sitter, dropped to third. Wilson set a quick pace as the North Carolina driver was looking for this first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win. Wilson and Owens ran first and second for the first 19 laps to the race, until Thornton made his daring third-to-first move on lap 20. The only caution of the race came out with eight laps remaining. On the restart, Thornton pulled away from McCreadie, who had moved to second on the restart. Thornton went on to win by over two seconds against the two-time and reigning National Champion.  It was Thornton’s 11th career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win as he continues to lead the championship standings heading into Saturday night’s $50,000 to win finale. “I felt bad for Daulton there, he really didn’t know where to go to get by Ross [Robinson]. Daulton turned to the bottom and Jimmy turned to the bottom and I figured I would kind of Hail-Mary it and hope it stuck and it did. I slid Daulton down there; it wasn’t the cleanest slider. I am sure Daulton will owe me one. I got the job done and we really had a good car all night long.” “I just didn’t really get the start I needed to be able to get out front,” said the 32-year-old who now calls Martinsville, Indiana home. “I fell back to third. I was running hard and just trying to conserve my stuff and when we got to traffic, I really could pick up my pace. It just worked out for us.” McCreadie climbed back to the front and after a lap 22 restart tried to stay within striking distance of Thornton but could not muster a challenge in the closing laps. “It was a good night for us tonight. The guys at Longhorn work hard. We have a lot of help with us thankfully because if I have to start working on this car we are in trouble. There are so many people that show up that don’t get paid, and they are good as anybody that does get paid.” Wilson, who came close to his first series win at Fairbury last month rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third-place. “I guess you have to lose them before you can win them. We’ve had a couple of them this year. We had the best car and got out front in the first 20 laps, but you know it was a 30-lap race. Hats off to Ricky and Timmy they did what they had to do. They had good cars. We will work on ours a little bit and come back tomorrow to see if we can put a whole night together.” The winner’s Todd and Vickie Burns-owned, SSI Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored my Big River Steel, Hoker Trucking, Sub-Surface of Indiana, Dyno One Inc., West Side Tractor Dales Company, Certified Inspection Services Company, Inc., Midwest Sheet Metal, Sunoco Race Fuels, Bilstein Shocks, and Murty Farms. Completing the top ten were Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Overton, Gregg Satterlee, Devin Moran, and Spencer Hughes. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary Jan Dils Attorneys at Law “Historic 100” presented by Arizona Sport Shirts – Night 1Friday, June 2, 2023West Virginia Motor Speedway – Mineral Wells, WV Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Ricky Thornton, Jr. / 18.939 seconds (overall)Fast Time Group B: Tim McCreadie / 19.136 seconds  Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 4. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 5. 1T-Tyler Erb[5]; 6. 111B-Max Blair[7]; 7. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 8. 113-Brandon Francis[8] Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 3. 22-Gregg Satterlee[2]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[4]; 5. 17T-Tyler Evans[5]; 6. 58-Garrett Alberson[6]; 7. 66C-Matt Cosner[7]; 8. 0-Edward Shuman[8]           Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 3. 66JR-Eddie Carrier Jr[4]; 4. 11-Spencer Hughes[2]; 5. 99B-Boom Briggs[5]; 6. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[6]; 7. 71R-Rod Conley[7]; 8. C4-Freddie Carpenter[8]; 9. 44KC-KC Burdette[9] Historic 100 – Night 1 Feature Finish (30 Laps):

Race Statistics Entrants: 25Terminal Maintenance & Construction Pole Sitter: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Lap Leaders: Daulton Wilson (Laps 1-19); Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Laps 20-30)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: 2.046 secondsGorsuch Performance Solutions Cautions: Earl Pearson, Jr. (Lap 22)Series Provisionals: n/aFast Time Provisional: n/aSeries Emergency Provisionals: n/aTrack Provisional: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Tim McCreadie, Daulton WilsonPenske Shocks Top 5: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Tim McCreadie, Daulton Wilson, Hudson O’Neal, Jimmy OwensTodd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Max Blair (Advanced 5 Positions)Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Brandon OvertonDeatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Eddie Carrier, Jr.Earnhardt Technologies Most Laps Led: Daulton Wilson (19 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: Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Lap 27 – 19.870 seconds)MD3 Tough Break of the Race: Earl Pearson, Jr.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: Tim McCreadie (19.164 seconds)Time of Race: 13 minutes 56 seconds Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:

About Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt SeriesFounded in 2005, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series showcases the talents of the top dirt late model drivers from across the country. In 2023, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will sanction 56 events across 16 states, including some of the biggest marquee events in the industry, providing dirt slinging, sideways, door-to-door racing action lap after lap.  The series receives national exposure through a television package streamed live via MAVTV on FloRacing, with select broadcasts on MAVTV Motorsports Network.   The in your face excitement of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is second to none in motorsports. For more information, including the latest news, tour schedule, driver information, and more, visit the official website at: www.LucasDirt.com.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

CHEVROLET GRAND PRIX OF DETROIT

DETROIT, MICHIGAN

TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE REPORT

JUNE 2, 2023

• Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, led first practice with his fastest lap on the streets of Detroit course at 1:03.0773.
• O’Ward’s teammates Felix Rosenqvist, driver of the No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and Alexander Rossi, driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, joined O’Ward in the top-six of the session, finishing fifth and sixth respectively.
• Callum Ilott, driver of the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, finished the session ninth with his lap of 1:03.7984, 0.7211 behind leader O’Ward.
• Chevrolet had six drivers and teams represent the Bowtie brand in the top-10 of first Chevrolet Grand Prix of Detroit practice.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 PRACTICE RESULT:

Pos. Driver

1st      Pato O’Ward

5th     Felix Rosenqvist

6th     Alexander Rossi

7th     Will Power

9th     Callum Ilott

10th   Scott McLaughlin

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“It was a good day for us. The XPEL Chevy is pretty decent but we just couldn’t get a clean lap. There was just a lot of traffic out there today, but it is to be expected a bit on a tight course. Everyone is trying to figure out what their optimal lap is and not really worried about getting out of the way. I’m sure that will sort itself out when it’s time to race.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“It’s definitely a unique track. I think it has a lot of characteristics from all the other street courses that we go to in terms of, like, pavements, certain type of corners. We rolled off strong. I think there’s a lot of first times, first time here, first time with the double pit lane. I think that’s going to be interesting in the race with the blend line where it is. I think the pit exit is going to be something to look out for in both qualifying, like impeding. I don’t know if they’re going to mark it as impeding but it definitely gets you out of place if someone is sent there while you’re on a flyer. A work in progress. Probably not a lot of space to work with. I know everybody is doing their best. It’s a challenging track, I can tell you that.”

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Very different kind of. You’re not, like, using the wings of the car really here. It’s very mechanical grip track. Pretty much every corner is first gear except for the one leading onto the back straight. You’re just kind of, like Kyle said, the car is always doing something weird. It’s dancing around, bouncing around, and at the same time you’re trying to keep it off the wall. It’s busy from the driver’s standpoint. It’s very busy. It’s probably going to catch people out in the race, I think. I think it will be really interesting to see going into the hairpin ’cause I was never really close to another car. But to try to make a pass, like how that’s going to work with a bump there and braking. It’s going to be for sure entertaining. Yeah, new challenge. I think the goal is to roll out and see how it is, try to make it good. As Pato (O’Ward) said, we rolled off pretty strong. We’re definitely in the window.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

”It’s always crazy coming to a new place. There were a lot of theories of what it would be like, so it was nice to finally get out there. I think we’re starting from a pretty good place from a balance and performance standpoint. Certainly, everyone’s going to improve a lot overnight, and we just need to make sure we stay on top of the development of the track.”

Gavin Ward, Race Director with Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Decent start on a new track. You always have to find your way a little bit, but obviously our cars are all up there in the mix. Now is when the hard work starts. We have a lot to do to try and squeeze every bit of performance out of the car for tomorrow now that we have some real data to chew on. I have full faith in our team that we’re going to make steps overnight and we’ll be in the mix.”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“We just started off the weekend on something that was a hypothetical set up we couldn’t change in session. It just didn’t work for either car, so obviously, we’ll go back and start building on what we were learning from Long Beach.” 

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Tricky first session. Obviously, we were pretty far off with what we thought was going to work. But we have a great team around us. We have a lot of data to look at overnight, and we’ll do our best to make some big improvements for the next practice.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“I damaged the car on the right side, so our session is done (early). It’s a shame because we are doing a good job at the moment.”

PATO O’WARD, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and FELIX ROSEQVIST, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet – End of Day Press Conference:

Q. Pato and Felix, Chevy had six of the top 10 spots in the first session. Winning is important everywhere, but is there any additional emphasis on this race around the Chevy than being on Belle Isle?

PATO O’WARD: I mean, obviously it’s a huge event for our partner in Chevy. Out of an Indy 500, this is for sure another race that they want to win.

It’s good to say, but it’s too early to tell. It’s so competitive. In some sessions I think you’ll see being dominated by maybe one manufacturer, but the next session can shift. It really depends on how hard you work with your engineers to kind of get the thing to your liking, obviously work with your manufacturers, in our case Chevy, to really try to maximize.

The bumps make it a challenge in downshifting, upshifting, power-downs, all those different scenarios. It’s definitely a strong start, but it’s too early to tell. We need to keep our heads down and keep pushing because everybody is going to make their car go faster.

Q. Can you give us some early predictions on how you think the split pit will play out, how pivotal that will be?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, I always felt when the sessions started, there were quite a lot of cars coming in, four-wide, into how do you say the funneling section? It’s kind of unique in that way because you have the pit speed limit off section is way further, like after the funnel. We’re going to have to figure out who’s going first in there. I think there’s going to be some situations where people probably don’t want to lift.

Yeah, I mean, that’s kind of what INDYCAR is, that we battle it out on track. I think that’s pretty cool. Yeah, let’s hope it doesn’t crash us in pit lane.

Q. Felix, Scott Dixon described with the lack of mechanical grip on these cars, the cars have a tendency to feel fat and top-heavy. You mentioned you’re using mechanical grip. Do you see that as being the biggest reason why the cars are moving around so much on this track, and what can you do to compensate for that?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think this track is probably the most important in terms of damping. That’s pretty much the biggest tool we have to work with mechanical grip. Yeah, we don’t have, I don’t think I’ve even talked about aero today with my engineer, front wing, anything like that, because there’s only one corner where you really feel it.

It’s a different challenge. I think these cars, they have quite a lot of downforce. Normally there’s a lot of emphasis on making the things efficient with downforce and drag and such things. But here it’s just like the more mechanical grip the better. It’s kind of back to go-kart days in that sense.

Q. Pato and Kyle (Kirkwood), does the car feel that much different to you here than it does on any other street course?

PATO O’WARD: I personally think these slow-speed corners are way better than, like, a four or five, six, seven, eight in Nashville. It doesn’t get worse than four through eight in Nashville.

In these, to me, it reminds me a lot of turn five from Belle Isle for some reason. Four and five, I don’t know if you guys agree. But, yeah, they’re obviously —

KYLE KIRKWOOD: The grip level, you mean?

PATO O’WARD: Yeah.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Yeah.

PATO O’WARD: It is what it is, right? But obviously these cars, I mean, the wings are there to help us, but when you’re going in first gear, they’re not doing much. That’s where we start getting all the ugly stuff, rear locking, all that stuff.

It is what it is. Obviously the bumps aren’t going to help either. Yeah, it’s not very different to other places, street courses that we go to, slow speed.

Q. With the number of red flags today, all the guys in the runoff, how important is getting an early banker in qualifying going to be?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I mean, it’s going to be pretty huge, I think. I have to say everyone was well-behaved this session. When you go long, that’s part of the game, when you try to find lap time. Sometimes you end up in the runoff. People stalling was an issue. I didn’t see too much on TV. Seemed like almost everyone kept it out of the wall, that was pretty cool.

Obviously, such a short track in qualifying, you’re probably never going to go a perfect lap around here. You have to get a banker in and see if you can improve it and take what you get just to transfer.

Q. Probably your engineers can answer better, but you weren’t out on full fuel loads. Do any of you see a possibility of bottoming out? What do you do for that?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s only really end of the straight that is a challenge. Actually on average, we don’t bottom a lot here ’cause everything is slow speed. If you take Nashville or most of the road courses, like you’ll drag the floor of the car all around a lap. Here it’s only one section.

You probably have to deal with it a bit there, but the rest of the lap it will be fine.

Q. Because we’re not at Belle Isle, we’re here, is it a lot hotter in the car? How is it going to be throughout the race?

PATO O’WARD: To me, the worst I’ve ever felt is Nashville with the 90-something percent humidity.

I felt fine.

Q. Pato, compare this track to Belle Isle in terms of how rough it is, also how physical the lap is.

PATO O’WARD: Belle Isle I’d say is easier. There is a lot more fast corners in Belle Isle.

Here there’s really one, and that is turn two. It really isn’t that fast. Like Belle Isle turn one and two, the last corner, those are fricking fast corners to be in a street course, with a lot of bumps.

I’m a very big fan of Belle Isle. I was very sad to see it leave the calendar. But it’s a different track. It’s a new track. It’s going to be a great event.

Yeah, I mean, I feel like Belle Isle has a lot of very different corners that get the circuit together. Here we’ve got nine corners, one chicane, a lot of very similar kind of first speed corners I’d say, one hairpin, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Is it rougher here?

PATO O’WARD: Yes, yes. I mean, it is, but it’s nothing out of the ordinary, yeah. It’s drivable, for sure.

Q. How do you think traffic is going to be over the course of the weekend and the race?

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, it’s probably going to be among the worst on the calendar ’cause you have probably the shortest lap I think. It’s a 50 —

PATO O’WARD: It’s going to get tight if you want to get by somebody in the race. I can tell you that.

FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think normally in qualifying it’s fine when you split up the groups. It will be among the worst to get a gap.

EPPING, N.H. (June 02, 2023) – On a hot and tricky New England Dragway, Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster team had the cleanest pass for the John Force Racing quad of hot rods on day one of the NHRA New England Nationals. Prock would end up sitting sixth with dragster teammate Brittany Force in the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac dragster currently No. 10. In Funny Car, Robert Hight has the AAA New England / Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS in fourth while John Force and the BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevy are No. 8. Austin Prock managed a 4.075-second pass at 239.27 mph in the Montana Brand / RMT dragster despite dropping cylinders late in the run and having to shut off before the finish line. With cooler conditions set to come in for Saturday, Prock will look to improve from him No. 6 qualifying spot in the final two qualifying sessions. “Pretty tricky track conditions, but this Montana Brand Rocky Mountain Twist dragster got through the toughest part of the race track. We spun at about 660 feet and dropped two cylinders. I tried legging it to the stripe to get up in the field as far as possible, but the safety device shut it off because of the two cylinders out,” Prock said. “Not exactly what we wanted, but valuable information for these next summer events. The rest of the weekend is polar opposite conditions which suits us well. Should be an exciting weekend.” Robert Hight and the AAA Chevy were amongst the top of a Funny Car field that struggled in the heat at New England Dragway. Hight managed to hold on until the AAA Camaro hazed the tires late in their 4.624 second, 186.74 mph-run. Brittany Force, back in the black and green of Monster Energy, had to shut her dragster off early after it started to lose traction. She would cross the finish line at 4.907 seconds and 149.88 mph. John Force and the BlueDEF Chevy lost traction early in their first attempt down New England Dragway. Force would shut it off early to coast to a 6.816-second pass at 102.35 mph. The NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway continues with qualifying Saturday qualifying at 2 p.m. which will include the first round of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge. Final qualifying and the finals of the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge will begin at 5:30 p.m. Sunday eliminations are set to begin at 11:00 a.m. Television coverage will be aired on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET, and eliminations will be Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET. -30-

AUSTIN PROCK, 27, Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragsterQualifying:6th; 4.075-seconds; 239.27 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0 BRITTANY FORCE, 36, Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac dragsterQualifying:10th; 4.907-seconds; 149.88 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0 JOHN FORCE, 74, BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:8th; 6.623-seconds; 96.42 mphBonus Qualifying Points: 0ROBERT HIGHT, 53, AAA / Cornwell Tools Chevy Camaro SSQualifying:4th; 4.624-seconds; 186.74 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0

Corvette WEC, IMSA drivers work together at Chevrolet Driver in the Loop simulator

LE MANS, France (June 2, 2023) – Corvette Racing really, REALLY wants to win the 24 Hours of Le Mans this year. So much so that after last year’s near-miss, there is a focused, full-team effort to put the No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette in the best position possible to win the GTE Am category this time around. Much of the preparation centers around work at the GM Technical Center in Charlotte, North Carolina where Corvette Racing drivers from the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship have helped their brethren from the FIA World Endurance Championship in Chevrolet’s Driver in the Loop (DiL) simulator with multiple sessions to test different configurations for the C8.R around Le Mans. Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nico Varrone will drive the No. 33 Corvette in the 24 Hours. Each of the three has spent time in the simulator alongside Antonio Garcia and Tommy Milner from Corvette Racing’s IMSA program in the lead up to the 24 Hours.

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FIA WEC: “The IMSA guys are always following us and are always in touch about what’s going on during our weekends in WEC. Tommy has been on the sim a lot and Antonio every now and then, and they have been doing some test work for us. If it works on the sim, we have been implementing that on the track and evaluating their changes. It’s definitely helpful and beneficial. It’s cool that even though we are in two different programs, it still feels like we are all working together. That’s very cool and in the spirit of the team. It’s nice to have everyone involved and keep all the links close. They all have so much experience in this car, so it’s nice to have their help.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FIA WEC: “I spent a couple of days at the sim and spent a lot of time on Le Mans and also Monza. It was really interesting for me and my engineers. I’ve raced a lot of cars at Le Mans. I have enough time in the Corvette now. I’m able to run the C8.R on my sim at home. I thought there wasn’t going to be much value going to the (Chevrolet) sim. But I was there for two days and I left there feeling there was a lot of value. As far as my communication with the engineers that are running the car, I felt like we got a much better understanding of what I like and don’t like. If we can figure that out, it can make a huge difference in our results at Le Mans.”

NICO VARRONE, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FIA WEC: “I was really impressed with the facility in my first time. The GM Technical Center is very cool. You can see that it is next-level. I personally love it. I’m a big sim fan and do a lot of sim racing at home. So I really like this kind of stuff. I always tested other sims and it doesn’t feel so realistic with how the motion works and things like that. I have to say that I was able to jump in the Chevrolet sim right away and it was great. The feeling you get from the car is very similar to real life. It was cool for me to practice for Le Mans – not only driving but also feeling setup changes. I think that’s one of the best things that you can do – try different setups and feel those as a driver. It lets you develop setup changes before you get to the track.“Le Mans is a track where you cannot test. You go there once a year for one test day and then the race-week starts. It’s really difficult to get laps in and everything nailed for the race. So these sims sessions make it easier to establish a baseline. From this, we can work on the car as the track develops, the weather gets warmer and other things. There aren’t so many big changes to do because you know what to use from the start. Between the sim and the experience of Corvette Racing at Le Mans, we are in a great place to start and work from there to get the best car possible for the race.”

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – IMSA: “It’s always good to be back driving the GTE spec and revisit what we raced last year. There was a tiny bit of difference in the setups between the 63 and 64 cars. With only one car now, we need to know what the best options are and see which car was best at certain points. We are re-evaluating things we learned late last year and early this year in the WEC. There is a ton of data to analyze. It’s important to be ahead of things to see what direction you want to take and especially what to discard when you find changes that don’t work. A read at Le Mans is super-long because it’s a four-minute lap. If you want to try something and it doesn’t work, you’ve lost 40 minutes or more on the Test Day, for example. So it’s important to maximize your time not just at the track but in the sim, as well.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – IMSA: “Where I’ve been able to help at the sim is my knowledge from last year about what the car felt like and correlating what they have in the sim now versus what we had last year and made sure the preparations they are doing for this year are getting off on the right foot. They’re using every bit of information that they can get their hands on to improve the car to help Ben, Nico and Nicky be as prepared as possible for the race.“There’s a bit more attention paid to Le Mans and all the work we’ve put in at the sim to make it as reliable as we can for feedback from drivers will pay off the most this year with someone like Ben and Nico, who haven’t raced this car at Le Mans. The DiL is quite valuable for us in this situation to get the opportunity to get their feet wet before they get to the track for the first time in the C8.R.”

2023 FIA World Endurance Championship – GTE Am  (After three of seven events)Driver Standings1. Ben Keating/Nicky Catsburg/Nico Varrone – 822. Alessio Rovera/Lilou Wadoux/Luis Perez Companc – 433. Simon Mann/Ulysse De Pauw – 364. Christian Ried/Julien Andlauer/Mikkel Pedersen – 355. Michelle Gatting/Rahel Frey/Sarah Bovy – 32 Team Standings1. No. 33 Corvette Racing – 822. No 83 Richard Mille AF Corse – 433. No. 21 AF Corse – 364. No. 77 Dempsey-Proton Racing – 355. No. 85 Iron Dames – 32 CORVETTE RACING AT LE MANS: By the Numbers• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 22 appearances at Le Mans: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette• 3: Number of wins for the Corvette C5-R – 2001, 2002, 2004• 4: Number of wins for the Corvette C6.R – 2005, 2006, 2009, 2011• 4: Generations of Corvette Racing entries since 2000 – Corvette C5-R (2000-04), Corvette C6.R (2005-13), Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and Corvette C8.R (2021)• 8: Class victories for Corvette Racing at Le Mans – all since 2001• 9: Number of drivers who have won races at Le Mans for Corvette Racing – Olivier Beretta, Ron Fellows, Antonio Garcia, Oliver Gavin, Jan Magnussen, Tommy Milner, Johnny O’Connell, Scott Pruett and Jordan Taylor• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001• 25: Number of drivers to compete for Corvette Racing at Le Mans. That number grows this year with the additions of Ben Keating and Nico Varrone• 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.• 124: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America, eight at Le Mans and three in the FIA WEC.• 272: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999.• 108,358.22: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 21 previous trips to Le Mans. That represents 12,850 laps… or more than four full trips around the Earth at its equator. The two Corvettes combined to go over the 100,000-mile mark at Le Mans in the 2021 race.• 354,262.62: 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 the 24 Hours of Le Mans (wins in bold)2000No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Chris Kneifel/Justin Bell – 4th in GTSNo. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 3rd in GTS 2001No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Scott Pruett – 1st in GTSNo. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS 2002No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GTSNo. 64 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins/Franck Freon – 2nd in GTS 2003No. 53 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Franck Freon – 3rd in GTSNo. 50 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins/Andy Pilgrim – 2nd in GTS 2004No. 63 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GTSNo. 64 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GTS  2005No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Max Papis – 2nd in GT1No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1 2006No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Max Papis – 7th in GT1No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1 2007No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 14th in GT1 2008No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen – 2nd in GT1No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Max Papis – 3rd in GT1 2009No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GT1No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Marcel Fässler – 4th in GT1 2010No. 63 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell/Antonio Garcia – 12th in GT2 (DNF)No. 64 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin/Emmanuel Collard – 10th in GT2 (DNF) 2011No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTE ProNo. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen/Richard Westbrook – 14th in GTE Pro (DNF) 2012No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 5th in GTE ProNo. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 6th in GTE Pro 2013No. 73 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 4th in GTE ProNo. 74 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 7th in GTE Pro 2014No. 73 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTE ProNo. 74 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Richard Westbrook – 4th in GTE Pro 2015No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ryan Briscoe – DNS (Qualifying crash)No. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTE Pro 2016No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Ricky Taylor – 7th in GTE ProNo. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor – 10th in GTE Pro (DNF) 2017No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 3rd in GTE ProNo. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM 2018No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 4th in GTE ProNo. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 15th in GTE Pro (DNF) 2019No. 63 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia/Mike Rockenfeller – 8th in GTE ProNo. 64 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner/Marcel Fässler – 16th in GTE Pro (DNF) 2021No. 63 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 2nd in GTE ProNo. 64 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Alexander Sims – 6th in GTE Pro 2022No. 63 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor/Nicky Catsburg – 7th in GTE Pro (DNF)No. 64 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy/Alexander Sims – 6th in GTE Pro (DNF)

McIntosh bags sixth-straight top-two finish, McDermand Hard Charger 16th-to-fourth

PONTOON BEACH, IL (June 1, 2023) – It’s been a long time coming for Jesse Love. A winner of races on both asphalt and dirt in his career, but never a national Midget event.

That was until Thursday night, when he broke through to Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota Victory Lane at Tri-City Speedway.

“It feels great,” Love said. “I’ve been trying to win one of these races for what feels like a long time.”

The 18-year-old racer from Redwood City, CA, gave CB Industries team owner Chad Boat his fourth career Series victory and a $4,000 check.

“Chad just believes in me a lot,” Love said. “When you have people that believe in you as much as they do, you just start believing in yourself.

“Chad’s a lot more than a car owner now, he’s one of my best friends. Can’t thank him enough for believing in me and helping me get better every day.”

Love began the night on the right foot, laying down the fastest Qualifying lap of all 21 cars in the pits to earn the Whitz Racing Products Quick Time Award. A third-place finish in his Heat Race earned him a Feature starting spot on the outside pole after the inversion draw, which he took full advantage of in the opening laps.

For the first 26 laps, Love chased polesitter Ryan Timms around the 3/8-mile oval but was unable to make any headway. Timms was heavily gapping the field after every restart and had built a 1.5 second lead as he crossed the stripe to complete Lap 26 when the caution was thrown for Keith Kunz Motorsports teammate Taylor Reimer with a flat right-rear tire atop Turn 4.

Shortly after the caution was thrown, fellow KKM teammate Jade Avedisian came to a stop on the backstretch, also with a flat right-rear tire. Seconds later, Timms pulled into the work area with a right-rear flat of his own.

“There was like seven laps or so where [my car] was just shaking real bad and I didn’t know why,” Love said, referring to the laps he ran under green since the restart prior. “I thought surely it’s not a right-rear tire going down.”

“And then, sure as heck, three cars dropped right-rear tires at the same time. So, I thought I had a right-rear going down.”

This handed the lead over to Love with only four laps remaining. With uncertainty about his tires beginning to creep into his mind, Love could already feel the pressure from the Series points leader behind him.

“I was kinda sure it was Cannon, which is never somebody you want right behind you on a restart,” Love said. “I just had to get the best restart I could.”

What he didn’t know was that behind him, McIntosh was having doubts of his own.

“Under the yellow, I could feel the bounce of the car,” McIntosh said. “Something felt wrong.”

A deflating right-front tire on the Dave Mac-Dalby Motorsports #08 had reared its ugly head as McIntosh hit the throttle for the final restart, which he said hindered his car’s abilities.

Though McIntosh got within striking distance at one point, he was unable to make the move in the end. Love drove under the checkered flag to collect his first victory with the Series, while McIntosh came home second.

“It kinda seemed like something weird there because it was all three KKM cars all at the same time,” McIntosh said. “I kinda felt okay at the same time. Unfortunately, it got our right-front instead.

“I think if we restart that [with an inflated tire] – 100 percent we have a shot at it.”

Fifth-starting Landon Brooks came home third and bagged his first career podium finish with the Series – a great rebound night after suffering back-to-back DNFs last week at Millbridge Speedway.

“I knew we would be good,” Brooks said. “Every other race besides Millbridge, we’ve been really good. I wasn’t too worried about it.”

Chase McDermand, current runner-up in Series points, was the DIRTVision Hard Charger Award winner, advancing 12 spots in his charge from 16th on the starting grid to finish fourth. Defending Series champion Zach Daum rounded out the top-five in his first night at the controls of his new ride – the Trifecta Motorsports #7U.

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets are back in action Friday night, June 2, for the first of a two-race stay at Wayne County Speedway in Wayne City, IL. Tickets will be available at the gate; stream all the action live on DIRTVision if you can’t make it to the track.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 84-Jesse Love[2]; 2. 08-Cannon McIntosh[4]; 3. 2X-Landon Brooks[5]; 4. 40-Chase McDermand[16]; 5. 7U-Zach Daum[10]; 6. 97-Gavin Miller[9]; 7. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[13]; 8. 44-Branigan Roark[20]; 9. 71-Jade Avedisian[3]; 10. 26-Chance Crum[18]; 11. 67-Ryan Timms[1]; 12. 25K-Taylor Reimer[8]; 13. 97K-Cooper Williams[17]; 14. 17B-Austin Barnhill[15]; 15. 31K-Alex Midkiff[19]; 16. 19-Daison Pursley[6]; 17. 08X-Ricky Stenhouse Jr[7]; 18. 31B-Kyle Beilman[14]; 19. 19M-Holly Shelton[21]; 20. 21K-Karter Sarff[12]; 21. 5G-Gavan Boschele[11]

The Oakwood, IL driver cuts points lead to 50 after Chris Madden’s seventh-place finish

FARMER CITY, IL – June 1, 2023 – Bobby Pierce made sure to let his Illinois fans know he was back home Thursday night at Farmer City Raceway with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models.  

The Oakwood, IL driver slid past Nick Hoffman on Lap 27 and held on to earn his second Series win of 2023.  

Hoffman outran Series points leader Chris Madden on the opening lap of the Farmer City Showdown and went unchallenged through the first half of the race.  

However, a caution on Lap 19 for Shane Clanton put Pierce in a position to strike. 

The “Smooth Operator,” who was third at the time, started to move forward on the restart, thundering around Madden for second as the race reached halfway. 

That’s when he started to lurk behind Hoffman, closing in on the Mooresville, NC driver as they reached the tail of the field.  

After two laps of pulling his nose even with Hoffman’s left rear quarter panel, Pierce saw his opportunity on Lap 27. 

Hoffman picked the outside lane in Turn 3 while trying to get by the lap car of Dustin Walker. 

That allowed Pierce to choose the bottom, thundering past the #9 in the middle of Turn 3 and sliding his spoiler in front of Hoffman’s nose as they exited Turn 4. 

“We caught that lap car, and we caught him at the right time because I made up a lot of ground on Nick,” Pierce said. “Nick kind of got bottled up and even pushed a little bit, and I had that bottom, and I just swung it in there, and I felt him get me a little bit in the rear when I slid in front of him. 

“That was probably going to be the only time I was going to pass him. He made a couple of bobbles, but he was pretty fast. Out front by himself, it would’ve been hard to pass him.” 

From there, not even a caution with three laps to go could stop Pierce as he held on for his sixth career World of Outlaws win—one worth $10,000. 

“The car was awesome tonight,” Pierce said. “I think we had a really good setup for how fast the track was.”

Hoffman crossed the line second – his second podium in the last five World of Outlaws races.  

“I just screwed up one time behind lap cars,” Hoffman said. “I wasn’t sure which one to pick, and I chose the wrong one, obviously. He was pretty good on the bottom to be able to get underneath me and slide me into [Turn] 3. I knew he was close. I could kind of hear him back there. 

“Biggest thing is I made one little mistake and opened the door a little bit, and he capitalized.” 

Kyle Bronson finished third, moving up seven spots from 10th.

While happy with the performance, the Brandon, FL driver also referenced a need to be better earlier in the night. 

“I felt I had a really good car,” Bronson said. “It was kind of hard to get position on a car and pass them the way the track was. It’s just tough to start 10th and run that good. The guys are too good to spot them that many spots.  

“I felt like we were kind of too snug all night long, but we raced really well, and that’s the goal, to race really well. We just have to get better in our Qualifying package.” 

Defending Series champion Dennis Erb Jr. finished fourth, and Ryan Gustin rounded the top five.  

For Pierce, the win adds to his consistency over the last month, as he hasn’t finished outside the top 10 in the previous six World of Outlaws races.  

It also helped him lower Madden’s points lead to 50, sweetening his home-state win. 

“We said if we stayed consistent, everything would come to fortune,” Pierce said. “We got the win on top of it. We got the big points jump, and we’re just going to have to keep doing it.” 

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series continues its Midwest tripleheader on Friday, June 2, at Tri-City Speedway in Granite City, IL. Then, a trip to Kentucky is on tap as the Series visits Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY, for the USA World 50. 

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

CASE Construction Equipment Feature (40 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[2]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 5. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley[13]; 7. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 8. 96V-Tanner English[4]; 9. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 10. 24-Ryan Unzicker[12]; 11. 97-Cade Dillard[7]; 12. B1-Brent Larson[11]; 13. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[19]; 14. 36-Logan Martin[17]; 15. 11-Gordy Gundaker[23]; 16. 1ST-Johnny Scott[18]; 17. 30-Todd Cooney[20]; 18. 33H-Roben Huffman[22]; 19. 14W-Dustin Walker[24]; 20. 25-Shane Clanton[9]; 21. 25F-Jason Feger[15]; 22. B12-Kevin Weaver[14]; 23. 81J-Jack Riggs[21]; 24. 18B-Shannon Babb[16]  FOX FACTORY HARD CHARGER: Gordy Gundaker [+8].

CHEVROLET IN NHRA NHRA NEW ENGLAND NATIONALS NEW ENGLAND DRAGWAY EPPING, NEW HAMPSHIRE JUNE 2-4, 2023 (JUNE 1, 2023) – Kicking off the month of June in the 2023 NHRA racing season, the Team Chevy nitro teams of John Force Racing have their sights set on NHRA’s New England Nationals this weekend and the Winner’s Circle. Seeking the 21st Top Fuel win, Brittany Force, driver of the Monster Energy Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster, and Austin Prock, driver of the Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Chevrolet, have worked to close the points gap on Steve Torrence in first in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Racing Series driver championship standings. Currently second, B. Force sits 17 points back from first in second, with Prock right behind her 27 points back in third. “I’m excited to be returning to New England Dragway this weekend with my Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac team,” B. Force said. “We’ve had some luck in Epping in the past with a track record and win. This team is looking for more this weekend,” Force said. “Our plan is to qualify in the top five while attempting to win the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and chase down a win on race day Sunday.” Heading to the northeast, the Chevrolet Funny Car drivers of John Force, driver of the BlueDEF Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, as well as Robert Hight, driver of the Auto Club Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, look to return to the Winner’s Circle and capture the Wally trophy in New England. Seeking the 158th Funny Car victory for Chevrolet, and the 78th for the Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car body, Hight noted anticipation for Epping saying, “Things are coming around and we’re finding some consistency. I’m excited to be driving the AAA Chevy this weekend. Hoping we can get the job done for them at New England Dragway. I’ve gotten close to winning a couple times in Epping. Would be pretty great to get the job done this weekend, mark another one off, move up in points and get AAA in the winner’s circle.” While Pro Stock and the Factory Stock Showdown will not be in competition in Epping at New England Dragway this weekend, Chevrolet drivers and teams in those classes eye the NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals June 9-11, 2023 as their next event at Bristol Dragway in Bristol, Tennessee. The 2023 NHRA New England Nationals action from New England Raceway airs first with qualifying Friday, June 2, at 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Saturday qualifying airs Saturday, June 3 at 9 p.m. ET on FS1. Sunday’s Finals will air on FS1, starting at 7 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 Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet Top Fuel dragster for John Force Racing:“I’m looking forward to firing things off strong in Epping. Always love going there because of the history, it’s an old school track, and the fans are always great. It’s going to be interesting with the swings in weather this weekend, but I believe our Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team will be able to overcome any conditions. Hoping for another solid weekend to keep chipping away at the points standings.”  John Force, driver of the BlueDEF Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car for John Force Racing:“We had a great week with everyone at PEAK and BlueDEF, OWI, their parent company, in Chicago. Even had the founder and chairman out, Tom Hurvis. My hot rod celebrated all of their employees on the hood, and we took it to the semi-finals. We love coming to Epping and putting on a show for the fans. I’m feeling good. We’re in the race within a race and we’re going to win this thing.” Robert Hight, driver of the AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car for John Force Racing:“It’s been a decent season so far. Things are coming around and we’re finding some consistency. I’m excited to be driving the AAA Chevy this weekend. Hoping we can get the job done for them at New England Dragway. I’ve gotten close to winning a couple times in Epping. Would be pretty great to get the job done this weekend, mark another one off, move up in points and get AAA in the winner’s circle.” TEAM CHEVY BY THE NUMBERS:1,428: Round wins for John Force (1st all-time)600: Round wins for Robert Hight; 13th all-time. Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car), sits 12th, with 619.372: Number of wins in Pro Stock since 1970; 253 won in the Chevrolet Camaro body165: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for John Force (1st all-time)157: Number of Chevrolet Racing Funny Car wins since 196778: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for Robert Hight (6th all-time)77: Number of Chevrolet Racing Funny Car wins with the Camaro body45: Number of career No. 1 qualifiers for Brittany Force27: 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 Car18: Number of Pro Stock championships20: Chevrolet career Top Fuel wins in NHRA16: Number of Chevrolet career wins by Brittany Force7: Number of Funny Car driver championships2: Number of Top Fuel driver championships MOST RECENT WIN IN NHRA BY CHEVROLETChicago – Route 66 RacewayDallas Glenn (Pro Stock)Len Lottig (Factory Stock Showdown)  MOST RECENT DRIVER CHAMPIONSHIPS IN NHRA BY CHEVROLET2022: Brittany Force, Top Fuel2022: Erica Enders, Pro Stock2022: David Barton, Factory Stock Showdown2019: Robert Hight, Funny Car UPCOMING NHRA MILESTONES950: Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) is second all-time with 917 elimination round wins. He could reach 950 round wins with a decent run in the 18-race schedule. 619: Robert Hight has 600 Funny Car elimination wins to rank 13th on the all-time NHRA list; Cruz Pedregon (Funny Car) sits 12th with 619. 442: By qualifying for his next race, Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) will extend his NHRA record to 441 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. 264: By qualifying for his next race, Robert Hight will extend his NHRA record to 263 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 273). 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 43 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, 43) 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.

EPPING, N.H. (June 01, 2023) – Brittany Force and her Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet dragster team have made no misguided steps as they prepare for the NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway, the seventh of 21 events on the NHRA Camping Drag Racing Series schedule. With her semifinal finish at the return of the Route 66 Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, Force and the Monster Energy team made a jump from fifth to second in the Top Fuel points standings. Led by crew chief David Grubnic and assistant crew chief Brandon Hazleton, the Monster Energy team has earned three No. 1 qualifying positions, including at the season-opening Gatornationals and both Four-Wide events in Las Vegas and Charlotte. “I’m excited to be returning to New England Dragway this weekend with my Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac team,” Force said. “We’ve had some luck in Epping in the past with a track record and win.” Force won the NHRA New England Nationals en route to her first championship in 2017 when she started from the No. 2 qualifying position. New England Dragway is one of only two tracks on which Force has yet to qualify No. 1 (the other is St. Louis), however, Force did set the current track speed record of 334.90 mph during the first round of eliminations in 2022, she also qualified No. 2 but lost in the second round to teammate Austin Prock.   “This team is looking for more this weekend,” Force said. “Our plan is to qualify in the top five while attempting to win the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge and chase down a win on race day Sunday.” For the second time this season the weekend’s competition has added incentive for Force and her Monster Energy team as they compete in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge during Saturday qualifying. Thanks to their semi-final round appearance at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals, Force earned a rematch against eventual event winner Clay Millican. Performing in the race within a race not only earns drivers’ championship points at the end of the regular season but a chance at extra cash as well. “We still have so much racing ahead of us this season but it’s time to turn things around going forward and get back to the top,” Force said. The NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway start with qualifying Friday at 6:00 p.m. Saturday qualifying and the first round of the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge for Top Fuel will be at 2:20 p.m. If Force wins, her last qualifying session and the Challenge finals will be at 5:55 p.m. Regular Top Fuel qualifying will be at 5:30 p.m. Sunday eliminations are set to begin at 11:00 a.m. Television coverage will be aired on FO Sports 1 (FS1) Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET, and eliminations are slated to begin Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES CHEVROLET DETROIT GRAND PRIX PRESENTED BY LEAR INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA TEAM CHEVY RACE ADVANCE JUNE 1, 2023 CHEVROLET AIMING FOR HOMETOWN VICTORY IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES RETURN TO STREETS OF DETROIT DETROIT (June 1, 2023) – Returning to the streets of Detroit for the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix Presented by Lear, the NTT INDYCAR Series heads to the Bowtie brand’s backyard at the original home of open wheel racing in the Motor City. It is the first time in over 30 years Indy cars will race around downtown Detroit. With the series competing on famed-Belle Isle from 1992 to 2022, the Team Chevy drivers and teams have their eyes set on capturing Chevrolet their potential ninth win since 2012 in Detroit in the V6 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era. “Coming off an exciting Indianapolis 500 win by Team Chevy, Josef Newgarden, and our engineers, our Chevrolet-powered teams are prepped and ready for our hometown race on the Streets of Detroit,” said General Motors IndyCar Program Manager Rob Buckner. “I am so happy and proud of our staff at GM Motorsports and our partners at Ilmor Engineering for their efforts and results in the year’s biggest event. “Moving from the familiar Belle Isle to the unknowns of the Streets of Detroit presents a new and different challenge,” continued Buckner. “With our history of success on other street courses, we feel as prepared as possible for the race. The split pit lane will add a new twist to the event and excitement for the fans. It will be an all-new event, and our Chevrolet teams and drivers are ready to bring home another win for the hometown fans.” After racing to his first Indianapolis 500 victory, as well as capturing Team Chevy’s 12th in history, Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, said of this weekend’s Detroit Grand Prix, “I think the event is going to be A+. I can’t deny I loved Belle Isle, but I really think from an event standpoint it’s going to be a home run. If you’re there for the fans, the engagement, the community, what they’re doing is going to be amazing,” exclaimed Newgarden. “It’s really going to be amazing. [The track is] short. It’s technical because it’s mostly tight corners. It seems like Nashville, if anything, but it’s also different than Nashville. They’re not totally similar, but if there’s any track that it’s most close to, it’ll be that.” The 1.7-mile, nine-turn street circuit will race counterclockwise along Jefferson Avenue, Bates Street, Atwater Street, St. Antoine, Franklin Street, and Rivard, with 100 laps, or 170 miles, determining the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix victor. Adding a new twist to the event is a split pit road for drivers to navigate, adding excitement for race fans and Chevy-powered teams alike. For fans attending the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix in downtown Detroit, the Chevrolet Racing display, featuring 2023 models as well as t-shirt giveaways, will be open throughout the weekend starting Friday, June 1 from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. The display will then be open Saturday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. ET, and Sunday race day from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. ET. The Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix presented by Lear kicks off with Practice 1 Friday, June 1 at 3 p.m. ET, with Practice 2 starting Saturday at 9:05 a.m. ET. Qualifications and the Firestone Fast Six also take place Saturday, starting at 1:15 p.m. ET. A final warm-up will start race day Sunday at 10 a.m. ET. All practice and qualifying will be live on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio and SiriusXM Channel 160. The 100-lap, 107-mile race Sunday, June 4 will take the green flag at 3 p.m. ET live on NBC. WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:“I’m thrilled to be here. It’s always nice to get back racing right away. Indy is always a tough grind for everybody, so we’re dragging a little bit coming into this weekend. But I think once we get on track, we’ll all be excited to be racing again. A new track is always a great opportunity to learn something quicker than everyone else, and try and prove yourself for the inaugural event, and I think the team has done a tremendous job. Excited to represent all of our partners, which most of them have a strong connection to Detroit. Thankful for all the effort that has gone in to move this race downtown.” Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:“I’m actually really, really excited. The track actually it’s very different than what we are used to. We’re going to be in a new spot, so it’s an opportunity to hit the ground running and be quicker than most. I’m excited. I think it’s going to be cool, and a new rejuvenated race for Detroit.” Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:“I’m really excited to get on track this weekend. It has a lot of bumps, a lot of off-camber corners, great long straight, and I think you can’t get too wide in the hairpins. You won’t know until you get out there, but I think it’s going to race really well. The pit lane is pretty cool. For all the people who are in the chalets above are going to enjoy if we have a full course yellow and pit under that caution. It’s going to be interesting out of pit lane when everyone gets off the button. I think it’s really cool we’re racing around the Renaissance Center. It’s Chevrolet’s backyard, and I think the guys have done a great job with the track – the grinding and resurfacing. Pretty special, and I hope we get a massive crowd with half the track being free. I’m looking forward to getting out there on Friday.” Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:“This is our first time going to downtown Detroit. It’s a new track for all of us; everybody starts from zero. I’ve always enjoyed going to Detroit because I get to see a lot of the Latino community there. I’m certainly going to miss Belle Isle, but I’m sure the event this weekend will be awesome, so I’m looking forward to it. There are 11 races to go to chase this championship.” Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:”It’s awesome to go to downtown Detroit. I’ve been looking forward to hitting the streets all year. I think it will be a bumpy and challenging track in pure Detroit fashion. It’s also a new challenge as no one has raced here before, but that’s exciting for us. We will try to roll out of the truck as good as we can.” Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:”I’m looking forward to getting right back on track in Detroit this weekend. I know the amount of effort from the series and promotor that has gone into making this race a reality, and I cannot wait to get started. It is a completely new track for all of us, so everyone will start with a blank slate. I know the team is hungry to continue the success from the month of May.” Gavin Ward, Race Director at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:“New circuits always make for interesting weekends. We’ve done as much homework as we can to roll out with good cars from the start here, but with the many unknowns, we’ll adapt to what we learn in practice and try to give Chevrolet a big win in their home race and keep building up points towards the championship.” Conor Daly, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:“Chevrolet has a lot of momentum going into Detroit. Team Chevy won the Indy 500, so everyone will be very excited to get to this new track. We will do our best to make the Chevy family proud, as well as BITNILE.COM!” Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:“Detroit is going to be a lot of fun! I have driven it on the simulator and I cannot wait to get started there. A new track is always a great challenge! We had a great car at the Indy 500 and I am excited to turn right again.” Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:“I’ve always enjoyed going to Detroit. It’s where I started my IndyCar career (in 2018) and I’ve usually run pretty well there. I think I’ve grown a lot (as a driver) since then. Actually, I was going to have a top-10 in the first race but I got hit and put in the wall. And then the second race I crashed coming out of the pit but I still finished tenth.” Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:“I think since Detroit will be new for everyone it will level the playing field in a big way. While I was in INDY NXT, we went to a new track for everyone – Nashville – which will be like what we will experience in Detroit this week. At Nashville I was fast and picked up quickly, so I am confident we will do the same thing this weekend. I know Foyt has some great street cars and will work hard to achieve some great results.”  Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:“Detroit is obviously a brand-new track, and I understand that it’s going to be a challenge as it’s quite tight. It will be new for everyone, which means that it will be a level playing field and we will try to maximize our chances from that. I’m looking forward to getting a first look at the track, where we can hopefully continue the momentum from last week’s INDY 500. The data from our previous street races at St. Pete and Long Beach could potentially be useful this weekend. However, everything will be unique so until we turn some laps, we won’t know.” Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:“We are going to a new circuit for everyone, which is good for me since in my case, they are always new and this situation allows me to be less at a disadvantage. A difficult circuit is expected, but we have no information so far, so we will have to find out from Friday in the first practice. The objective will be to try to finish the race in the best possible place, as always, to continue learning within the category.” CHEVROLET IN DETROIT:Wins in Detroit (all on Belle Isle since 2012 in the V6 2.2-liter twin turbo injection era): 82014: Will Power (Race 1) and Helio Castroneves (Race 2)2015: Sebastien Bourdais (Race 2)2016: Sebastien Bourdais (Race 1) and Will Power (Race 2)2019: Josef Newgarden (Race 1)2021: Pato O’Ward (Race 2)2022: Will Power Pole Awards in Detroit (all on Belle Isle since 2012): 102012: Will Power2014: Helio Castroneves2015: Will Power (Race 1) and Juan Pablo Montoya (Race 2)2016 Scott Dixon (Races 1 and 2)2019: Josef Newgarden (Race 2)2021: Pato O’Ward (Race 1) and Josef Newgarden (Race 2)2022: Josef Newgarden 2023 CHEVROLET BY THE NUMBERS:188: NTT INDYCAR SERIES races as V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR. 109: Wins in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012. 121: Earned poles since 2012. 7: Manufacturer Championships since 2012. 7: Driver/entrant champions since 2012. 12: Indianapolis 500 victories by Chevrolet at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.5: Indianapolis 500 wins by Chevrolet since 2012 in the V6 2.2 liter twin-turbo direct injected era.26: Wins by Will Power since 2012 – all with Chevrolet power – most of any driver with the same manufacturer. 14: Consecutive seasons with at least one win by Will Power, including the past 11 with Chevrolet power. 9: Wins from the pole by Will Power with Chevrolet power since 2012, most by any driver. 44: Pole starts by Will Power since 2012 in a Chevrolet-powered car, most of any driver.*Will Power’s career total of 68 poles makes him the all-time pole winner in INDYCAR.

EPPING, N.H. (June 01, 2023) – With 600 round wins under his belt, Robert Hight is looking to take the AAA New England / Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS to another winner’s circle at this weekend’s NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway. Hight is just the 13th driver in NHRA pro drag racing history to win 600 competitive rounds, a mark he reached with a first-round win at the NHRA Route 66 Nationals after qualifying No. 1. His qualifying efforts extended his record of having qualified No.1 at least once and won at least once in every season that he has contested the championship (18). The AAA Chevy currently sits third in the overall championship standings after six events thanks to two victories at the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals and NHRA Arizona Nationals.   “It’s been a decent season so far. Things are coming around and we’re finding some consistency. I’m excited to be driving the AAA Chevy this weekend. Hoping we can get the job done for them at New England Dragway,” Hight said. “I’ve gotten close to winning a couple times in Epping. Would be pretty great to get the job done this weekend, mark another one off, move up in points and get AAA in the winner’s circle.” The NHRA New England Nationals is the only current event in which Hight has not yet hoisted the winners’ trophy. That said, he has taken his AAA Chevy Camaro SS to the final round the last two years, dropping an all-JFR final to teammate John Force in 2021 before losing to Matt Hagan a year ago. Hight has qualified No. 1 in 2014 and 2017, setting the current track records of 3.822 seconds and 336.74 mph in 2017. The NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway starts with qualifying Friday at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday at 2:00 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday eliminations are set to begin at 11:00 a.m. Television coverage will be aired on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET, and eliminations are slated to begin Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET.

June 1, 2023

After a long but memorable Memorial Day weekend at Charlotte Motor Speedway, Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane team are back on the road.

This weekend finds them headed to World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Ill., for Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 on the 1.25-mile track formerly known as Gateway International Raceway. 

Brian Wilson, crew chief on the Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang, said there’s lots to feel good about around the team shop this week. 
 
“Last weekend in Charlotte was another solid race for the No. 21 Ford,” Wilson said. “With such a long race you expect ups and downs. We certainly had that throughout the day. 
 
“We ended up with a top-20, but know that we were capable of more than that. We’re all hungry to keep pushing for better results.”
 
Wilson also said he was happy to see Ryan Blaney and the No. 12 crew at Team Penske score a victory in the Coca-Cola 600.
 
“It was great to see our technical alliance partners get a win,” he said. “Everyone in the Ford camp has been pushing to improve our performance at 1.5-mile tracks, and I know every Wood Brothers fan enjoyed seeing the former No. 21 driver Ryan Blaney in Victory Lane.”
 
Wilson said that as he looks forward to the upcoming weekend, he believes he and the team can use what they learned last year to their benefit.
 
Last year, in the Cup Series’ first visit to WWT Raceway, the No. 21 team qualified ninth and ran in the top 20 for much of the race before finishing 25^th.
 
“We believe that we can build on that performance and keep our upward trend of competitiveness going,” Wilson said, adding that the tire compound that will be used this weekend will offer crew chiefs some additional options as they make their calls from atop the pit box. “Last year’s event showcased a tire that allowed for some unique strategies. 
 
“We’ll have the same tire combination from Goodyear for this race. This should allow teams to do two tires, stay out and flip strategies when opportunity presents itself.”
 
Practice for the Enjoy Illinois 300 is set for Saturday at 9 a.m. Central Time (10 a.m. Eastern) to be followed by qualifying at 9:45.
 
Sunday’s 300-mile race is scheduled to get the green flag just after 2:30 p.m. Central Time (3:30 Eastern). Stage breaks in the 240-lap race are set for Laps 40 and 140.
 
FOX Sports 1 will carry the TV coverage all weekend.
 

AUSTIN PROCK AND MONTANA BRAND SET SIGHTS ONNEW ENGLAND NATIONALS VICTORY

EPPING, N.H. (June 01, 2023) – Already with one win this season, Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster team enter this weekend’s NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway sitting third in the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Fuel points standings.  Prock has emerged as a prominent figure in the Top Fuel category, having secured victory in three out of his past 12 national events reaching back to the 2022 Countdown. This season he has gone to the finals twice in the last four event. His most recent triumph in Charlotte at the Four-Wide Nationals, was a significant milestone marking his first victory of the season, first in Four-Wide and first in Top Fuel for seasoned crew chief Chris Cunningham, who was previously part of the crew chief tandem on Robert Hight’s Funny Car with Jimmy Prock. “I’m looking forward to firing things off strong in Epping. Always love going there because of the history, it’s an old school track, and the fans are always great,” Prock said. “It’s going to be interesting with the swings in weather this weekend, but I believe our Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team will be able to overcome any conditions. Hoping for another solid weekend to keep chipping away at the points standings.” With only two previous starts at New England Dragway, Prock has qualified in the top half of the field in both 2019 and 2022. Last season he raced his way to the semifinals losing only to eventual race winner Mike Salinas. The NHRA New England Nationals at New England Dragway starts with qualifying Friday at 6:00 p.m. and Saturday at 2:00 and 5:30 p.m. Sunday eliminations are set to begin at 11:00 a.m. Television coverage will be aired on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) Friday at 7:30 p.m. ET, Saturday at 9:00 p.m. ET, and eliminations are slated to begin Sunday at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Schatz has turned his season around heading into River Cities and OgilvieGRAND FORKS, ND (June 1, 2023) – Temperatures are on the rise as summer nears, and Donny Schatz is beginning to heat up.Tracks get slick. Grip is scarce. And humidity plays with the density of air. These conditions have always brought out the best in the 10-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion. And 2023 has been no exception.After combating struggles through the first couple months of the campaign, Schatz has resembled his prime self since the beginning of May. In the last nine races, Schatz has collected six podiums, including a pair of victories at Attica Raceway Park and Sharon Speedway. The podium tally would likely be seven if it weren’t for a late-race flat tire at Atomic Speedway. He’s also missed only one Toyota Dash over that stretch – a key aspect to their success.“We’ve gotten ourselves qualified. I think that’s the most important part,” Schatz commented. “You can’t start in the third and fourth row of the Heat Races and think you’re going to get in the Dash unless something drastic happens. Nobody really does that. The guys have worked hard. They’ve done their homework, just kind of fine-tuned.“Like I said, it’s all about getting qualified well. Then, you can work on your car a little bit and try a few different things in the Heats and the Dashes. The tracks where you have to drive with any sort of control, we’ve been good at. Lawrenceburg (Speedway) we weren’t all that good at, but honestly it was completely different than when we’ve been there in the past. Normally, there was a little bit of a bottom at times, but this was basically just a death slider race. That’s why we didn’t have the best result. But pretty much everything else the last month has been great – a couple wins and some podiums. You’ve got to be consistent. That’s where we want to be.”A primary catalyst to their results is the performance of the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing team’s Ford FPS 410 engine. With steadfast diligence, they’ve made progress in their motor program, leading to a more comfortable feeling and allowing Schatz to drive the way he prefers.“Everybody at Ford and Ron Shaver that have been working on it are just continually trying to improve with baby steps,” Schatz said. “We’re getting pretty close. We’re getting back to where I can move my foot and being able to race.”In addition to the program being in a good place, Schatz noted the Ford’s functionality excels during the summer stretch.“The cylinder heads on these Ford motors are very efficient,” Schatz explained. “They are super efficient. Sometimes they get running to where they get pumping so hard that when you start to close the butterflies off and cut the air off, they keep running a little bit. And that’s where it kind of helps us come these summertime months when the air is bad. There’s not as much air in there to mix it with fuel and do that.”Looking ahead, the schedule suggests Schatz could continue his current pace. Next up is a visit to one of his home tracks – River Cities Speedway (Grand Forks, ND) – on Friday, June 2 – where the Fargo, ND driver’s record is impeccable. In 29 Series starts, he’s won 12 times, podiumed on 21 occasions, and finished no worse than seventh.“It’s a forgiving place,” Schatz said of his results at River Cities. “I’ve learned where you can get yourself in trouble and not get yourself in trouble. And we’ve been very fortunate to always have a good race car there. Everything’s really just worked there. There are multiple grooves. Everytime we go there we seem to have a pretty decent racetrack.”Another upcoming event close to home for Schatz is the Husets High Bank Nationals (June 21-24) in Brandon, SD – also the home state of his crew chief Steve “Scuba” Swenson. The four-day event will conclude with a $250,000-to-win Feature – the richest payday in World of Outlaws history.“It’s definitely a place I cut my teeth at,” Schatz said of Husets. “I spent a lot of Sunday nights there. I tore a lot of stuff up there. I made a lot of memories there, and I’ve managed to win a few races too. We’re looking forward to it. I think when everybody heard it was paying $250,000 to win, we all thought, ‘Man, is Tod (Quiring, track owner) insane?’ But it’s cool that we can get that opportunity to race for that sort of money. It’s what you strive for. They work hard at trying to put on the best races they can.”Schatz will be poised to maintain his recent performance for the remainder of the season as the third-winningest driver in Series history is in pursuit of his 11th championship. The early season troubles dug him a sizable hole but continuing to perform the way he has and maintaining a pragmatic perspective could lead the racing legend back into the title hunt.“To win a championship you’ve got to be consistent,” Schatz said. “When you can’t win, you’ve got to have seconds and thirds. We’ve been in that form the last month, but I think we’ve dug just a little bit too big of a hole to dig out of it. But there’s still a lot of racing left, so we’re just going to keep down this path to get as much of it as we can, and maybe we’ll still have an opportunity going right down to the last race to have a race for a championship.”Catch Donny Schatz in action with the World of Outlaws this weekend at River Cities (June 2) & Ogilvie Raceway (June 3). For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, watch all of the action on DIRTVision.

SUMMERTIME SPECIALIST: Donny Schatz, Tony Stewart Racing Picking Up Early Season SteamSchatz has turned his season around heading into River Cities and OgilvieGRAND FORKS, ND (June 1, 2023) – Temperatures are on the rise as summer nears, and Donny Schatz is beginning to heat up.Tracks get slick. Grip is scarce. And humidity plays with the density of air. These conditions have always brought out the best in the 10-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion. And 2023 has been no exception.After combating struggles through the first couple months of the campaign, Schatz has resembled his prime self since the beginning of May. In the last nine races, Schatz has collected six podiums, including a pair of victories at Attica Raceway Park and Sharon Speedway. The podium tally would likely be seven if it weren’t for a late-race flat tire at Atomic Speedway. He’s also missed only one Toyota Dash over that stretch – a key aspect to their success.“We’ve gotten ourselves qualified. I think that’s the most important part,” Schatz commented. “You can’t start in the third and fourth row of the Heat Races and think you’re going to get in the Dash unless something drastic happens. Nobody really does that. The guys have worked hard. They’ve done their homework, just kind of fine-tuned.“Like I said, it’s all about getting qualified well. Then, you can work on your car a little bit and try a few different things in the Heats and the Dashes. The tracks where you have to drive with any sort of control, we’ve been good at. Lawrenceburg (Speedway) we weren’t all that good at, but honestly it was completely different than when we’ve been there in the past. Normally, there was a little bit of a bottom at times, but this was basically just a death slider race. That’s why we didn’t have the best result. But pretty much everything else the last month has been great – a couple wins and some podiums. You’ve got to be consistent. That’s where we want to be.”A primary catalyst to their results is the performance of the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing team’s Ford FPS 410 engine. With steadfast diligence, they’ve made progress in their motor program, leading to a more comfortable feeling and allowing Schatz to drive the way he prefers.“Everybody at Ford and Ron Shaver that have been working on it are just continually trying to improve with baby steps,” Schatz said. “We’re getting pretty close. We’re getting back to where I can move my foot and being able to race.”In addition to the program being in a good place, Schatz noted the Ford’s functionality excels during the summer stretch.“The cylinder heads on these Ford motors are very efficient,” Schatz explained. “They are super efficient. Sometimes they get running to where they get pumping so hard that when you start to close the butterflies off and cut the air off, they keep running a little bit. And that’s where it kind of helps us come these summertime months when the air is bad. There’s not as much air in there to mix it with fuel and do that.”Looking ahead, the schedule suggests Schatz could continue his current pace. Next up is a visit to one of his home tracks – River Cities Speedway (Grand Forks, ND) – on Friday, June 2 – where the Fargo, ND driver’s record is impeccable. In 29 Series starts, he’s won 12 times, podiumed on 21 occasions, and finished no worse than seventh.“It’s a forgiving place,” Schatz said of his results at River Cities. “I’ve learned where you can get yourself in trouble and not get yourself in trouble. And we’ve been very fortunate to always have a good race car there. Everything’s really just worked there. There are multiple grooves. Everytime we go there we seem to have a pretty decent racetrack.”Another upcoming event close to home for Schatz is the Husets High Bank Nationals (June 21-24) in Brandon, SD – also the home state of his crew chief Steve “Scuba” Swenson. The four-day event will conclude with a $250,000-to-win Feature – the richest payday in World of Outlaws history.“It’s definitely a place I cut my teeth at,” Schatz said of Husets. “I spent a lot of Sunday nights there. I tore a lot of stuff up there. I made a lot of memories there, and I’ve managed to win a few races too. We’re looking forward to it. I think when everybody heard it was paying $250,000 to win, we all thought, ‘Man, is Tod (Quiring, track owner) insane?’ But it’s cool that we can get that opportunity to race for that sort of money. It’s what you strive for. They work hard at trying to put on the best races they can.”Schatz will be poised to maintain his recent performance for the remainder of the season as the third-winningest driver in Series history is in pursuit of his 11th championship. The early season troubles dug him a sizable hole but continuing to perform the way he has and maintaining a pragmatic perspective could lead the racing legend back into the title hunt.“To win a championship you’ve got to be consistent,” Schatz said. “When you can’t win, you’ve got to have seconds and thirds. We’ve been in that form the last month, but I think we’ve dug just a little bit too big of a hole to dig out of it. But there’s still a lot of racing left, so we’re just going to keep down this path to get as much of it as we can, and maybe we’ll still have an opportunity going right down to the last race to have a race for a championship.”Catch Donny Schatz in action with the World of Outlaws this weekend at River Cities (June 2) & Ogilvie Raceway (June 3). For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, watch all of the action on DIRTVision.

SUMMERTIME SPECIALIST: Donny Schatz, Tony Stewart Racing Picking Up Early Season SteamSchatz has turned his season around heading into River Cities and OgilvieGRAND FORKS, ND (June 1, 2023) – Temperatures are on the rise as summer nears, and Donny Schatz is beginning to heat up.Tracks get slick. Grip is scarce. And humidity plays with the density of air. These conditions have always brought out the best in the 10-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series champion. And 2023 has been no exception.After combating struggles through the first couple months of the campaign, Schatz has resembled his prime self since the beginning of May. In the last nine races, Schatz has collected six podiums, including a pair of victories at Attica Raceway Park and Sharon Speedway. The podium tally would likely be seven if it weren’t for a late-race flat tire at Atomic Speedway. He’s also missed only one Toyota Dash over that stretch – a key aspect to their success.“We’ve gotten ourselves qualified. I think that’s the most important part,” Schatz commented. “You can’t start in the third and fourth row of the Heat Races and think you’re going to get in the Dash unless something drastic happens. Nobody really does that. The guys have worked hard. They’ve done their homework, just kind of fine-tuned.“Like I said, it’s all about getting qualified well. Then, you can work on your car a little bit and try a few different things in the Heats and the Dashes. The tracks where you have to drive with any sort of control, we’ve been good at. Lawrenceburg (Speedway) we weren’t all that good at, but honestly it was completely different than when we’ve been there in the past. Normally, there was a little bit of a bottom at times, but this was basically just a death slider race. That’s why we didn’t have the best result. But pretty much everything else the last month has been great – a couple wins and some podiums. You’ve got to be consistent. That’s where we want to be.”A primary catalyst to their results is the performance of the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing team’s Ford FPS 410 engine. With steadfast diligence, they’ve made progress in their motor program, leading to a more comfortable feeling and allowing Schatz to drive the way he prefers.“Everybody at Ford and Ron Shaver that have been working on it are just continually trying to improve with baby steps,” Schatz said. “We’re getting pretty close. We’re getting back to where I can move my foot and being able to race.”In addition to the program being in a good place, Schatz noted the Ford’s functionality excels during the summer stretch.“The cylinder heads on these Ford motors are very efficient,” Schatz explained. “They are super efficient. Sometimes they get running to where they get pumping so hard that when you start to close the butterflies off and cut the air off, they keep running a little bit. And that’s where it kind of helps us come these summertime months when the air is bad. There’s not as much air in there to mix it with fuel and do that.”Looking ahead, the schedule suggests Schatz could continue his current pace. Next up is a visit to one of his home tracks – River Cities Speedway (Grand Forks, ND) – on Friday, June 2 – where the Fargo, ND driver’s record is impeccable. In 29 Series starts, he’s won 12 times, podiumed on 21 occasions, and finished no worse than seventh.“It’s a forgiving place,” Schatz said of his results at River Cities. “I’ve learned where you can get yourself in trouble and not get yourself in trouble. And we’ve been very fortunate to always have a good race car there. Everything’s really just worked there. There are multiple grooves. Everytime we go there we seem to have a pretty decent racetrack.”Another upcoming event close to home for Schatz is the Husets High Bank Nationals (June 21-24) in Brandon, SD – also the home state of his crew chief Steve “Scuba” Swenson. The four-day event will conclude with a $250,000-to-win Feature – the richest payday in World of Outlaws history.“It’s definitely a place I cut my teeth at,” Schatz said of Husets. “I spent a lot of Sunday nights there. I tore a lot of stuff up there. I made a lot of memories there, and I’ve managed to win a few races too. We’re looking forward to it. I think when everybody heard it was paying $250,000 to win, we all thought, ‘Man, is Tod (Quiring, track owner) insane?’ But it’s cool that we can get that opportunity to race for that sort of money. It’s what you strive for. They work hard at trying to put on the best races they can.”Schatz will be poised to maintain his recent performance for the remainder of the season as the third-winningest driver in Series history is in pursuit of his 11th championship. The early season troubles dug him a sizable hole but continuing to perform the way he has and maintaining a pragmatic perspective could lead the racing legend back into the title hunt.“To win a championship you’ve got to be consistent,” Schatz said. “When you can’t win, you’ve got to have seconds and thirds. We’ve been in that form the last month, but I think we’ve dug just a little bit too big of a hole to dig out of it. But there’s still a lot of racing left, so we’re just going to keep down this path to get as much of it as we can, and maybe we’ll still have an opportunity going right down to the last race to have a race for a championship.”Catch Donny Schatz in action with the World of Outlaws this weekend at River Cities (June 2) & Ogilvie Raceway (June 3). For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, watch all of the action on DIRTVision.