2023 CHILDREN’S OF ALABAMA INDY GRAND PRIX

BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP

APRIL 30, 2023

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN SCORES VICTORY AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

McLaughlin Captures Chevrolet’s 8th Victory at Barber in 11 Events, Team Chevy’s 108th in INDYCAR Since 2012

• Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske earned his fourth career victory in the NTT INDYCAR Series and Chevrolet’s 108th victory since 2012.
• Team Penske’s Will Power joined McLaughlin on the podium finishing third.
• Five Team Chevy drivers finished in the top-10 at Barber Motorsports Park. 
• All three Arrow McLaren INDYCAR Chevrolets finished in the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix top-10.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (April 30, 2023) – Capturing his first win of 2023, and the fourth of his NTT INDYCAR Series career, Scott McLaughlin and the No. 3 Good Ranchers Team Penske crew aced the day to win Chevrolet’s 108th victory in the 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era. As an engine manufacturer, the Bowtie brand has now captured the eighth victory at Barber Motorsports Park in 11 races since 2012.

“I call it a happy driver strategy,” reflected McLauglin. “I was a lot happier doing that. So thankful and first weekend with Good Ranchers on the car. What an amazing thing for them to be with us this weekend. My team advanced me there to victory lane. We had great fuel, went past (Romain) Grosjean there on a little bit of strategy, advanced past him and feel really good about it. Really happy to advance to victory lane and I am really happy about it.”

Taking over the lead from Grosjean with 19 laps remaining, McLaughlin cruised to victory on a three-stop strategy after leading 24 of the 90 laps. Grosjean finished second, and McLaughlin’s teammate Will Power, in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, completed the podium in third.

Leading the pack of Team Chevy drivers at the green flag from third, Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward, also on a three-stop strategy in the No. 5 Chevrolet, finished in the top-five in fourth to close the gap in the championship standings from 15 points behind to three. Joining him in the top-10, teammates Alexander Rossi, in the No. 7 Chevrolet, and Felix Roseqvist, finished 8th and 9th, respectively.

Up next for Team Chevy is the prestigious month of May, shifting gears to the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the GMR Grand Prix May 12-13, 2023 followed by the Indianapolis 500 Sunday, May 28, 2023.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RESULTS:

POS. DRIVER

1st      Scott McLaughlin

3rd     Will Power

4th     Pato O’Ward

8th     Alexander Rossi

9th     Felix Rosenqvist

2023 CHEVROLET BY THE NUMBERS:

• 186: NTT INDYCAR SERIES races as V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR. 
• 108: Wins in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012. 
• 121: Earned poles since 2012. 
• 7: Manufacturer Championships since 2012. 
• 7: Driver/entrant champions since 2012. 

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

WAS IT THE CONTACT AT THE START OF THE RACE THAT CAUSED YOUR ISSUES TODAY?

“It sure felt like it. It’s hard to say, but right after this hit, I felt like I had a right rear going down. So, I radioed in for them to check the right rear pressure and it looked fine, but something else felt very odd. The story of the race was that when there were new tires on the car, it was drivable. It was off, definitely the right to left asymmetrically off, but it was drivable on new tires. And that was masking it. The problem was the left rear was getting destroyed, which is not the tire that was hit. But whatever was going on over here, was having some effect over there. We just couldn’t hang on at all and it went bad. I just wish we had the car that we had in warmup, and we would have been just fine. But this was just evil. Just an evil-handling car. We were literally just holding on the whole race. Every second after was just a disaster and what a shame because obviously, we had the winning strategy. It was a great day for Team Penske so I am obviously happy for the team, but we were in position and another one just gets away. This one got away pretty badly. So, very demoralizing for the whole group.”

THE RESULTS SO FAR THIS SEASON HAVE TO BE FRUSTRATING?

“Yeah, just pretty unlucky. I hate saying luck, but it’s a big part of it. Luck and timing kind of go hand in hand and it’s certainly not been on our side. If we are getting that out of the way and we are going to have great timing and great luck for the rest of the year, then I am all good with it. It would be a shame if that trend continues. We will just turn the page and go to the month of May. Incredible group here and it’s not anything to do with them, it’s just some unfortunate timing.”

THE GP IS FIRST, BUT ON THE OVAL YOUR CAR LOOKED PRETTY AMAZING. WHAT IS THE CONFIDENCE LEVEL GOING INTO THE MONTH OF MAY?

“Yeah, sky high. I felt really good that day in practice. I felt so good this morning and I was ready for today and ready for what we were doing. So, that is what makes it so demoralizing. We literally had the car three hours ago and for something to happen and to go so disastrously it’s just odd. You can’t even get mad about it. It’s just a strange situation. My confidence level is still sky high with this group.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske: 

AS FAR AS THE BATTLE WITH GROSJEAN, WAS ST. PETE IN THE BACK OF YOUR MIND?

“No, we racers just get on with it. You are only as good as your last race and you get on with it. We talked man to man and as far as I am concerned and he is concerned is that we race hard and press on. There’s no hard feelings between the two of us, but I am glad to get a win here for the Thirsty Threes. It’s been coming, we have been close, we just couldn’t get it the last few rounds, but we got it now.”

THE MONTH OF MAY STARTS TOMORROW, HOW IMPORTANT IS THAT?

“May is going to be an awesome time for us and I can’t wait. Best race in the world is coming up here soon. We ended April on a good note. Just happy for my team, for Chevy for the fuel mileage. We had a hell of a strategy here today and I am super pumped.”

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Yeah, it was an extremely good day. When I saw everyone saving fuel there, we talked about doing a three-stop and I felt like it was better to do that, but the guys made the call. It was just super-fast when we got clear air. That was the key to getting up to third. I had a real fast car and it’s a pity we didn’t start further up. Chevy did a great job with the engine and obviously got to thank Verizon for all the support because we are on another championship run. We are just chipping away here, and we are going to get a win soon. We just have to keep at it, improve in qualifying, and just having fun. Enjoying it a lot.” 

WHAT DID YOU NEED TO GET UP TO SECOND AND POSSIBLY CHALLENGE MCLAUGHLIN?

“The tires had gone too much. Like I could do a faster lap time, but as soon as I got to his dirty air, I just couldn’t get close enough. I tried everything I could and even made a couple of big mistakes just trying and I just couldn’t get to him. I tried to save the push to pass until I got to him, but there’s nothing….you just get to that air pocket and you just can’t. The tires were gone too much. It wasn’t worth throwing a third place away trying something stupid, so I just took the points.”

HOW ARE YOU FEELING AFTERWARDS FROM A SORT OF HOT DAY?

“Pretty good. It’s always tough the first 10-15 laps, then your muscles settle in and you are good to go. But yeah, I was able to push the whole way. Still fit for an old bloke.”

Conor Daly, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“We definitely had pace when we decided to switch to the three-stop strategy. Unfortunately, we got caught behind the 14 car and he decided to put me off the track. Not soon after, we got ran off by the 15 car and that one definitely sent us to the back. It was just too hard to recover from there.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“This was a tough race! It started off pretty well even though I was saving tires and fuel pretty hard. It turned out not to be enough and at the end of my first stint, I was just too far off. We were committed to the two-stop strategy and we had to stay out. The next two stints on black tires were pretty good, but I think that yellow helped out some guys on the three-stopper. I did everything I could, but it’s really hard to get the tire deg right and save fuel at the same time.”

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

“We had to get a massive number, and I really don’t know how we kept up the pace like that at the end. It was a great car, and I’m very happy with how we did this weekend. Obviously, when you look back now with how everything played out, I think we were on the wrong strategy. No one made a mistake, that’s just a roll of the dice you have to take at the beginning of the race. Scott McLaughlin and Will Power were on the good end of it, a couple others too. Nevertheless, it was a really strong result for us. I’m happy with P4.”

THAT CAN’T BE SUPER COMFORTABLE SITTING IN THE CAR LIKE THAT AFTER A LONG RACE?

“I was lifting so much, and we had to get a massive number and I really don’t know how we kept up the pace like that. Great car, and if we look back at this weekend and look back at how we played that, I think we were on the wrong strategy. But no one made a mistake, that is just a roll of the dice you have to take.  That’s racing.  Scotty (McLaughlin) was on the good end of it, (Will) Power was on the good end of it and a couple of other guys.  Nevertheless, it was a really strong result for us. Happy with fourth, but the month of May is coming up, the busiest month of the year.  The big cookie is also coming up, so pumped for that.”

HAD YOU BEEN ABLE TO GET UP FRONT, MIGHT THAT HAVE CHANGED THE STRATEGY?

“It might have changed the strategy a little bit. I mean Scott was behind us and he finished first. It was all about that we didn’t make the call to come in for the three-stopper. When you look at it back now, we might have done it a little bit differently if you see exactly how the yellows played out and all that stuff. But that was a chance in one in a hundred. They really got lucky with that one. All the three-stoppers. It is what it is and we made the best of what we had, and we maximized it. We were against arguably four Hondas that were extremely strong and it definitely had us on the edge of our seat to keep them behind us.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU ARE BACK IN A RHYTHM NOW? AND ARE THESE THE DAYS THAT CAN LEAD TO A CHAMPIONSHIP?

“Yeah, I mean obviously Long Beach was not the ideal (race). This is what we want, and this is what we know we can do. We will go into the Indy GP with the same approach just like we will the rest of the season. We want to win races. We have yet to win in 2023, but we have been there every single race. Obviously, not all of them have worked out the same. This is really solid. For four races, we have had three top-fives.”

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

“I’ve bummed for my McClaren team. In the first lap, I just didn’t anticipate how early everyone would brake, and I touched Josef (Newgarden). So, luckily he didn’t get caught into it but I basically spun myself doing it. Got out into the gravel and got back. Yeah, we were last at a point, but the guys just did such a good job on the stand getting us back in the game. It was really fun. I thought for most of the race we were just rolling. Hell of a recovery for basically starting last.”

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

“There were a lot of positives from today. I think we underperformed in qualifying. You can look at everything in hindsight and look at it differently, but, ultimately, the car was fast all weekend. We are continuing to gel and learn together as a team, so overall, I’m happy. It’s just when you have pace, and only walk away with eighth, it’s disappointing. It’s a good problem to have.”

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

“It was a solid Sunday for us considering we didn’t qualify. Just tough with strategy, we struggled with the car. I think we were a little bit too free on entry and a little too tight in the middle but all in all a top 20 for us is something to walk away with. We completed all the race laps and you know what, can’t complain. So, looking forward to the month of May now and we’ll go from there.”

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

“Great race here at Barber, finished P22 after starting pretty close to the back [P25]. Crazy race, lots of really cool passes, always something going on, very busy race. Pretty proud of what we were able to do today. I think there was potential to maybe be in the top 15, but we had a couple mistakes happen, but overall very positive and very happy with the race.”

Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“It was a bit of an interesting race for a while. We were struggling quite a bit. Took a gamble in the middle to try and overcut some people with better fuel and make the tires last. It wasn’t working; we were P24 for a while, and then into that final restart I was P24 and we managed to pull it back to P13. So we just came alive, the car came alive. It was a good effort. Really happy with that. Gets us positively moving on to the rest of the year. It will be exciting to get to the Indy road course. It’s another track that’s quite good for us. A few things to improve. I think it was an enlightening weekend for that, but yeah, definitely a lot of positives going on for the next one.”

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

“We finished here P26. It’s a shame that the position we lost, we did a pit stop on the strategy. But anyway, it is what it is. But on the racing, we’re still learning. I’m really happy with finishing the race. I’ll continue my improvement.” 

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 GOOD RANCHERS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET — Win Press Conference Transcript:

A LOT OF STORYLINES FOR YOU IN THIS RACE. TO GET A WIN HERE, IT’S GOT TO FEEL GOOD.

“Feels awesome. I think we have had the pace. Obviously, St. Pete we were strong, contending for wins, maybe not Texas, but Long Beach we were right there. I’m really proud to sort of execute today. Probably the most complete race I’ve ever driven in an INDYCAR, to be honest, from a strategy perspective, picking people off. It was getting pretty tough in the middle when we were making passes, lap traffic, whatnot. Ultimately when Grosjean got me out of the pits, didn’t catch me by surprise. Well, he caught me napping. It was a great move by him. To reset, go again, then pass him back with the pace that we had, that’s a proud drive for me personally, but from a team perspective, really proud. Good Ranchers first time on the car. They’re going to be big supporters in INDYCAR. Their enthusiasm they have got for the series I think is just great. They have people like that willing to spend money in our series, that are so passionate. They didn’t have customers here this weekend, they had staff and the CEO. It’s a good vibe. Really proud for them. Yeah, perfect way to kick off what is going to be a massive month.”

THE BATTLE BETWEEN YOU AND ROMAIN, IMMEDIATELY EVERYONE WAS THINKING ST. PETE.

“I knew it.”

WHAT WAS GOING THROUGH YOUR MIND AS YOU’RE TRYING TO HOLD HIM OFF?

“I thought if I hit him this time, it would be bad (smiling). Racing him like we normally do, very clean. I knew it was going to be hard passing him. It was a matter of me biding my time. I asked the guys, Where are we at on fuel? Had a bit more than him. Allowed me to pressure him a bit more, use a bit more to overtake, whatever. I had a lot more overtake up my sleeve. Ultimately that’s what helped me pass him. I think the way I got the run up into turn eight was purely by push to pass. I was able to save that. Once we got out in front, it was just a matter of managing it till the end.”

WHEN THAT BATTLE IS HAPPENING, YOU KNOW YOU’RE GOING TO HAVE THE FRESHER TIRES AT THE END OF THE DAY, WOULD HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A MOVE, TRY TO REPASS HIM.

“Yeah, but it was hard. I thought I’d be on the safe side when I had the reds on. Thought I might have been able to get him back. But he had great pace. I knew I couldn’t sit behind him too long. I had to pressure him. Yeah, that’s what we did, managed to get the pass.”

RACING AT ALABAMA, BARBER, YOUR TAKE ON WHAT IT’S LIKE RACING OUT THERE?

“Personally, I think this is our best road course that we go to. Especially now it’s my favorite (smiling). Honestly, it’s a great place. The state of Alabama do a fantastic job with how they look after things. Obviously (indiscernible) before that. A beautiful place. I remember coming here the first time going, Whoa, this is amazing. But to drive an INDYCAR around here at high speeds, high commitment, is some of the best driving you’ll ever do. I’m telling all my friends back in Australia like Shane van Gisbergen. People are asking, like, the track looks awesome. Yeah, this is next-level commitment. They’ve got a gym here. I’m very excited they extended the contract multi-year for more races here, especially now I know I’ve got a good car. Very cool, cool place.”

THE INDY 500, YOU DOUSE YOURSELF IN MILK. THE NESTLE DRUM STICKS, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT?

“John has been there for 40 years. He always as ice creams after, especially after we win. I had an ice cream after qualifying yesterday and I sucked. Maybe I just needed more ice cream.”

OBVIOUSLY, WITH THE NEW SPONSOR, THE STAKES ARE HIGH. WHEN GROSJEAN GETS PAST YOU, WHAT’S YOUR LEVEL OF FRUSTRATION? ARE YOU THINKING WITH EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENED IN ST. PETE, YOU KNOW THERE’S GOING TO BE MAJOR CONTACT, IT’S NOT GOING TO GO AS NICELY THIS TIME AROUND?

“Never thought that. I ultimately was just like, Okay, got past me, caught me napping. That was a great move by him. I had car pace and fuel on hand. I think ultimately, I would have got past him anyway with how much he had to save fuel. I wasn’t stressed. I was annoyed I cost myself maybe cruising in some ways, saving fuel, driving to my number. Ultimately it made the race win a lot more satisfying passing for the lead after being passed at the end of the exchange.”

POWER WAS ON REDS TILL THE END. DID HIS PACE CONCERN YOU AT ALL?

“No, no, no. I was full, like, in control. Honestly, I felt like the car was so good, I was just hitting my number, did what I needed to do. I knew if Power got to me, I had pace and fuel on hand to push till the end.”

THERE WAS CONCERN ON THE RADIO ABOUT FUEL. DID THEY TELL YOU WHY?

“No. Ultimately I think we were looking after our engine. Whenever you get that call halfway through the last lap, you poop your pants a little bit. Yeah, I was pretty nervous.”

WHEN YOU’RE RUNNING ON A DIFFERENT STRATEGY TO THE TWO-STOPPERS WERE, THE RACE STARTS TO PLAY ITSELF OUT, HOW MUCH IN YOUR MIND ARE YOU THINKING YOU HOPE YOU MADE THE RIGHT MOVE OR WE SHOULD HAVE GONE THE OTHER WAY?

“Yeah, I just trust my team. The only concern I had was why we stopped a couple laps after Josef and we lost track position on him. We eventually sort of caught up and passed him. I wasn’t too stressed about that. It was just a matter of just maximizing what I had, what my cards were. That was getting through traffic and using that car pace. We talked about that in the strategy meeting this morning. Sort of knew what I had to do. At the end of the day I see a 10th of what everyone else sees on the stand. I know I’ve got the best guys in pit lane calling my strategy. I just trust them. It’s a boring answer, but legitimately for me I was ticking laps off in my head, driving the best I could, doing what I needed to do.”

HOW CLOSE DID YOU COME TO TOUCHING ROMAIN? DID YOU TOUCH IN EITHER OF THOSE?

“I think we touched when he passed me a little bit. But it was fair game. It was awesome racing, man. It was exactly what INDYCAR was. Yeah, ain’t no procession here, that’s for sure. It was a lot of fun.”

WHEN YOU HAVE HAD AN INCIDENT LIKE YOU HAD IN ST. PETE RACING WHEEL TO WHEEL THROUGH A CORNER, DO YOU HAVE TO APPROACH WHEN YOU’RE PASSING SOMEONE ANY DIFFERENT OR DO YOU LEARN SOMETHING FROM THAT TYPE OF INCIDENT TO BETTER PREPARE YOU TO PASS THAT SPECIFIC DRIVER COMING INTO ANOTHER SITUATION THAT WAS SIMILAR TODAY?

“No, no, no. Just play your cards as you get dealt. Take risks where you need to. You got to learn from your mistakes obviously. We both had our opinions on the incident from St. Pete. We’re over it now. For me, I think for him as well, it was just press on. Yeah, I think we showed today it’s no big thing affair. It’s just hard racing. We’ll race each other to every bit of the track, use each other up when we need to. That’s just part of it and that’s why I enjoy racing Romain.”

WHAT DID YOU SEE FROM YOUR VANTAGE POINT WHEN YOU MADE YOUR MOVE IN TURN FIVE? WAS IT A LITTLE BIT OF A WIGGLE COMING THROUGH? DID YOU FIND YOURSELF AT THAT POINT WAITING FOR HIM TO MAKE A MISTAKE OR MOVE?

“I was pressuring him. I knew he was starting to save fuel and stuff. I was biding my time. I was really surprised. I didn’t think I was going to pass him at that point. Sort of just took my chance. I had a lot more push to pass than he did. I just used push to pass all the way up to seven, managed to clear him. He was never going to sort of pass me into eight. If he did pass me into eight, he was probably going to crash me. Just sort of hoped to God that he didn’t do that, and he didn’t. We got out of there and pressed on.”

HE CAME INTO THE SPORT AT THE SAME TIME, ROOKIE SEASONS UPS AND DOWNS AT THE SAME TIME. EVEN THOUGH YOU HAD THE INCIDENT IN ST. PETE, SEEMS LIKE YOU HAVE A LOT OF RESPECT, AREN’T AFRAID TO BANG WHEELS, HAVE A LOT OF TRUST IN EACH OTHER. HOW DO YOU VIEW OR HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE ROMAIN AS A COMPETITOR ON TRACK?

“ He’s got a never-give-up attitude. I think that’s why he’s been in F1 for so long, come over here and been quite successful. At the end of the day you know you’re going to have a hard battle with him. I feel it’s give or take. If you give him nothing, he will give you nothing. It’s the whole tit for tat. I really enjoy racing him. No hard feelings. We spoke about what happened, yeah, and just get on with it. I’ve had great battles with him. I actually really enjoyed the battle today. It’s a lot of fun. Obviously, I came out on top, but it’s still a lot of fun.”

WE’VE HAD A WIDE VARIETY OF RACES. ST. PETE WAS A BRAWL. THE BIG OVAL AT TEXAS, ANOTHER INTERESTING RACE. TALK ABOUT HOW YOU APPROACH IT WHEN YOU DON’T HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO GET WHEN YOU COME TO A RACETRACK.

“I think it’s just the product of INDYCAR. But play your cards how you’re dealt. Today could have been a two-stop, or a three-stop like we did. We thought it was a three-stop was the right way. We have the opportunity as a series to change that up. That’s why it makes it so exciting. I think the addition of push to pass, stuff going on as well, is a good thing. It’s such a good racing product. I don’t know how to explain it. I think we’re very lucky with the level of drivers, how hard we can race the cars. The cars are very strong. The difference in compounds. The tires are really good. Firestone built a really good tire that’s able to race in hard conditions all the time. Yeah, I don’t know. I just think it’s INDYCAR. It’s not a about winning every race in this racing series, it’s all about just being consistent in the championship. That’s exactly what our goal has sort of been since the start.”

YOUR STRATEGY MEETING, YOU WRITE EVERYTHING IN PENCIL, HERE IS WHAT WE THINK WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO DO?

“It all depends on yellows. If there was an early yellow, our thing probably wouldn’t have worked that well. Two-stoppers would have looked really good. Yeah, you just got to play your cards how you think you’re going to be right, hopefully, it comes off. You can’t beat car pace. That’s the best part, you can’t beat car pace.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET — Podium Press Conference Transcript:

TELL US ABOUT YOUR DAY. TRYING TO CLOSE THE GAP ON ROMAIN (GROSJEAN) TOWARDS THE END.

“Yeah, in the first stint when I saw everyone saving fuel about eight to 10 laps in, I said to the guys, maybe we should switch to a three-stopper here. Do you want me to push? It was the best thing to do at that time. Yeah, it worked out well. We had a very fast car. Any time we had clear air, we were pumping out some seriously quick times. During that last sequence is where we gained a ton of track position. I was able to do 67s in the last few laps. Yeah, using the tires up. As soon as I started getting Romain’s dirty air, he was doing a really good job of sort of saving fuel and also getting big exits, not making mistakes. I did everything I could to get to him and I just couldn’t get there.”

WILL, DID WE SEE YOU GO BACK TO MAYBE LAST YEAR’S CHAMPIONSHIP STRATEGY WHERE BETTER TO GET THIRD THAN TO PUSH IT?

“I mean, I did everything to get to him and try to get him. Yeah, obviously there’s that fine line, right? You can overdo it, which I did have a big moment in turn two where I was opposite like that.”

“So, yeah, I mean, just had to weigh that up. I simply couldn’t close that gap. Yeah, he was doing a good job. My tires were sort of used up. Dirty air. Tried with push to pass. Nothing I could do. That’s the most I could get out of the day. Extremely happy with it. Extremely, extremely happy to finish third.”

TWO TEAM PENSKES IN THE TOP THREE, WITHOUT ONE OF THEM BEING JOSEF, SHOWS HOW FAST THIS MCLAUGHLIN KID IS.

“Yeah, two races where I followed him on the same bloody strategy. He ended up ahead. That all ebbs and flows in the season when you’re doing a good job. If you’re doing your job, you’ll get what you deserve, whether that’s good or bad. Depends how good you do your job.”

WILL, YOUR SEASON HASN’T BEEN BAD, BUT IT HASN’T BEEN GOOD. A QUARTER OF THE WAY THROUGH THE SEASON NOW, HEADING TO INDIANAPOLIS, HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO GET THE KIND OF FINISH YOU GOT TODAY?

“Yeah, look, if I finished fifth I would have been happy, or sixth, even eighth honestly. There are days that it’s a bad day that get you. I would say in the start of my season, it’s just been pretty good. I wouldn’t say it’s a bad start of the season at all. I’ve been happy with all the results except for one, which was Texas. You can’t win ’em all. In fact, it’s very difficult to win one or two in a season. You just have to keep racking up good finishes.”

WILL, HOW MUCH OF A BENEFIT IS FINISHING ON THE PODIUM GOING INTO THE MONTH OF MAY? DOES IT BODE WELL FOR THE MONTH OF MAY?

“Yeah, I mean, it’s good for the whole group on the car. Obviously mentally for yourself, it’s a very positive thing. Everything’s heading in the right direction. Indy is a very, very different animal in terms of the 500. Obviously, you have the Grand Prix before that. But, yeah, the 500 is a very standalone, tough, unique event. Yeah, we’re hoping to be in the game this year. We’ve been pretty disappointed with the performance the last few years. We’ll wait and see. You don’t say anything. We’ve done a lot of work.”

WILL, YOU WERE THE OTHER SIDE OF THAT COIN. WHAT DOES THAT FEEL LIKE?

“I mean, last year I did the two-stop, was doing what he had to do, went from 19th to 4th. This year we did the opposite thinking that the fuel mileage will be harder. If there’s not a yellow, the number is going to be too big and the lap time deficit is too much. Yeah, it kind of turned out like that. I think the yellow helped the three-stoppers a bit. Would have saved those guys a little bit of fuel. It was perfect timing for our pit stop. But, yeah, it’s a lot more fun when you get to just go all out, qualifying laps every lap. I really enjoy that sort of racing. I have to say what he did is extremely difficult and technical. To finish 20 seconds ahead of the next guy is pretty impressive.”

WILL, YOU HAD GREAT PACE TOWARDS THE END OF THE RACE. YOU’VE DONE WELL HERE AT BARBER. IS THERE SOMETHING ABOUT THIS TRACK THAT FITS YOUR DRIVING STYLE?

“They’re all different. These days you’ve got to be an expert at every track. It requires a lot of homework, which every single driver does now, as you can see from qualifying. I’ve just got a good group around me making the right decisions in the race. It is a real process to put a whole race weekend together without mistakes. That’s what I’ve worked very hard on over the last couple years. I struggled this weekend. I basically qualified 11th. I think our potential was just on the verge of the top six. We were pretty close to where we needed to be. Then executed in the race. Yeah, I love the track. I think it’s a phenomenal event. The appearance, presentation they do, is really good. It’s setting the example for all promoters. Yeah, I hope we continue to come here for years.”

Elite Motorsports Drivers, The Cuadra Boys, Make History With First Family Four-Wide Pass

CONCORD, N.C. (April 30, 2023) – Elite Motorsports Pro Stock driver Fernando Cuadra Jr. powered his way to the final round of the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals today at zMAX Dragway. This marks the first final round of the talented young driver’s career. It’s especially meaningful as this is the first event wherein all four of The Cuadra Boys were racing in the ultra-competitive Pro Stock category.  Facing the complexities of the fan-favorite four-wide format, Cuadra Jr. started race day from the No. 15 qualifier position. He was the only Elite Motorsports driver in the first quad of the day where he faced off against Dallas Glenn, Camrie Caruso and Mason McGaha, advancing to the next round with Glenn. Aaron Stanfield and Jerry Tucker also advanced to the second round of competition thanks to holeshot victories proving how important reaction times are in this category. Cuadra Jr. faced Glenn, Kyle Koretsky and Tucker in the second heat of the day and he emerged victorious with the best pass of the quad at 6.569-seconds at 208.88 mph. Glenn crossed the finish line second to advance into the finals with Cuadra Jr.  In the final round, Cuadra Jr. faced Glenn, Deric Kramer and the No. 1 qualifier Matt Hartford. The entire Elite Motorsports team was behind Cuadra Jr. as well as his family. Unfortunately, Cuadra Jr. left a tick too early getting a red light. Kramer turned on the win light.  “Making it to the first final round of my career at a four-wide race is really incredible,” said Cuadra Jr. “I know that our first win is close and we just keep getting better. This is a great team and I’m proud of my brother, David, for doing so well in his Pro Stock debut.” Another highlight for the Cuadra team took place on Saturday during qualifying when all four of the Corral Boots Mustangs, driven by Fernando Cuadra Sr. and his sons, Fernando Cuadra Jr., Cristian Cuadra and David Cuadra, took to the track at the same time for a history-making qualifying quad.  Stanfield snagged a runner-up finish in the Factory Stock Showdown category and Troy Coughlin Jr.’s uncle, Mike Coughlin, landed the Top Alcohol Dragster victory thanks to a triple holeshot.  ***

Photos

The Cuadra family takes to the track with their four Corral Boots Mustangs. (Photo credit: Auto Imagery)

The Cuadra Boys interview with Bruno Massel. (Photo credit: Auto Imagery)

Fernando Cuadra Jr. advanced to his first final round at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. (Photo credit: Auto Imagery)

Bo Butner and Aaron Stanfield lay down smokey burnouts. (Photo credit: Auto Imagery)

Erica Enders in her JHG / Melling Performance Camaro. (Photo credit: Auto Imagery)

Jerry Tucker in his Elite Motorsports Camaro. (Photo credit: Auto Imagery)

Troy Coughlin Jr. in his JEGS.com Camaro (Photo credit: Auto Imagery)

Bacon becomes 150th different World of Outlaws winner by capturing elusive Haubstadt victoryHAUBSTADT, IN (April 29, 2023) – “The Macho Man” had plenty of time to think about it. Dream about it. Strive for it.Saturday night at Tri-State Speedway, he finally did it. Brady Bacon won his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car race.The Haubstadt, IN oval grandstands were packed Saturday night, but hardly a seat was used when Bacon threw a slider for the lead with less than three laps to go. The same fans that rose to their feet and roared had seen him come so close to glory at the southern Indiana bullring in the past.There was 2015 when “The Macho Man” led 32 laps before a late pass made him settle for second. The next year brought Bacon another runner-up. In 2017, Bacon was leading the Dash before getting upside down.This year there would be no heartbreak. Bacon wheeled the Kelly and Lora Hinck owned TKH Motorsports #21 from sixth to the front – sealing the deal on his inaugural World of Outlaws win with a late race pass on Series star Sheldon Haudenschild. The fans met Bacon with a thunderous roar as he climbed atop his wing in Victory Lane.Bacon cemented a place in Sprint Car history with the win. The Broken Arrow, OK native became the 150th different driver to win with The Greatest Show on Dirt. It took Bacon 65 Feature starts to get the job done as he became the 20th different driver to win at Tri-State Speedway.“I feel like I’ve had several slip through my fingers here,” Bacon said. “I haven’t raced (with the World of Outlaws) a whole lot in the last few years. Thanks for Kelly and Lora Hinck giving us the opportunity to race more so we can get in contention to win these races. I knew with my guys and the equipment we put together that if we could just race a little bit then we could win some races and win a World of Outlaws race. It’s been on my bucket list for quite a while. It was kind of my last one to check off. Glad to get it done here, and it’s fitting I get it done here where I’ve always ran really well.”The early part of the race was controlled by pole sitter and winner of the previous three Tri-State Speedway World of Outlaws races – Carson Macedo. The current Series point leader maintained the top spot throughout a flurry of stoppages in the first half of the 40-lapper while battles raged on behind him all over the track.When the second half of the race began, the action for the lead intensified.Eighth-starting Sheldon Haudenschild had driven his way into second and closed on Macedo as the duo entered traffic. On Lap 22, Haudenschild rolled the bottom of Turns 1 and 2 perfectly to secure the top spot and wasted no time checking out.Like Bacon, Haudenschild was also starved for a Tri-State triumph. Entering Saturday, the Wooster, OH native had led laps in three different World of Outlaws Features at the quarter mile but never won.The pilot of the Stenhouse Jr./Marshall Racing #17 looked as if he’d claim that elusive victory once he grabbed the top spot. Haudenschild was smooth as he sliced through lapped traffic and extended his advantage.A late red flag set up a 12 lap dash to the finish, and Bacon knew he was primed to make a move while running third.“The track was kind of coming to me, and my car was coming to me,” Bacon explained. “Starting on the inside I knew I was going to be good to get a good restart.”Getting a good restart was exactly what he did as he moved by Macedo for second and set his sights on Haudenschild with five laps remaining. Haudenschild squeezed between two lapped cars with less than four laps to go which looked as if it may have been the winning move. But in the next set of corners, Bacon utilized a perfect line to drive between the same two cars and get a run on Haudenschild down the front straightaway. Heading into Turn 1 after crossing the line with three laps to go, Bacon tossed a perfect slider to grab the lead.“Once Sheldon hit traffic there, I could kind of smell it,” Bacon said with a smirk. “I think I found that extra over-100% to make it happen and get by him. I knew he was going to get held up, and I just kind of drove the crap out of it to get there and was able to hit it right with lapped traffic. We had a really maneuverable car, probably more than anybody else, and that helped me in traffic.”After making the pass, Bacon drove away and claimed the checkered flag by more than a second. He made it official. He’ll forever be a World of Outlaws winner.Behind Bacon, Haudenschild held on to the runner-up spot – his third podium of the year in the NOS Energy Drink #17. Despite another tough pill to swallow at Tri-State, Haudenschild was in good spirits afterwards and even equipped with a sense of humor about the outcome.“Them damn Non-Wing boys got this place figured out,” Haudenschild said with a smile. “Hats off to Brady. He did a great job. We had a really good car all night. I didn’t get with it in that Dash. I should’ve been more aggressive, but I don’t think it mattered. We had a really good car, and I was able to get up through there early in that Feature.”Completing the podium was Brad Sweet aboard the Kasey Kahne Racing #49. The four-time and defending champion now owns top-fives in five of his last six races in Haubstadt. The result gave the Grass Valley, CA native sole possession of 10th on the all-time World of Outlaws podium list – breaking a tie with former teammate, Daryn Pittman.“We made a good adjustment under that open red,” Sweet said. “You hate to see open reds, but tonight we capitalized and got our car a little bit better. We were hanging on for fourth and fifth there then drove back up to third.”Completing the top five was Carson Macedo and Tyler Courtney. Courtney took a wild route to his result. After early contact with another car, “Sunshine” made a trip to the Federated Car Care Work Zone and drove through much of the field to earn the strong finish.Carson Macedo remains the championship points leader while Sweet moved into second – only 12 markers behind.Joe B. Miller earned the KSE Racing Hard Charger with a drive from 18th to eighth.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to Eldora Speedway for #LetsRaceTwo next weekend (May 5-6). For tickets, CLICK HERE. If you can’t make to the track, catch all of the action on DIRTVision.RESULTS:A Feature (40 Laps): 1. 21H-Brady Bacon[6]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[8]; 3. 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[3]; 6. 13-Justin Peck[15]; 7. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[10]; 8. 51B-Joe B Miller[18]; 9. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[2]; 10. 5-Spencer Bayston[13]; 11. 1A-Jacob Allen[9]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[16]; 13. 11-Michael Kofoid[20]; 14. 1S-Logan Schuchart[21]; 15. 4X-Justin Grant[24]; 16. 7N-Darin Naida[22]; 17. 5K-Daison Pursley[19]; 18. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[11]; 19. 7S-Robbie Price[7]; 20. 11K-Kraig Kinser[17]; 21. 47BC-Emerson Axsom[12]; 22. 2-David Gravel[14]; 23. 83-James McFadden[23]; 24. 9P-Parker Price Miller[5]

(4/29/23 – Ben Deatherage) Antioch, CA … The NARC 410 Sprint Series returned to Antioch Speedway for the first time since 2017 and dished up a thrilling show. Dominic Scelzi managed to hold off a hard-charging Corey Day to procure his first win of 2023 with the series. It would be the 20th career triumph for the driver of the Scelzi Enterprises/Red Rose Transportation/Whipple Superchargers #41 Kistler/Maxim.

“I’m amazed!” said an excited Scelzi. “I felt like I was setting a decent pace running high out of turn four with the lapped car running on the bottom was the place to be. This track was phenomenal and what we race car drivers dream of, and they nailed the surface tonight; you can’t ask for any better.”

Joey Ancona paced the opening laps aboard his Dryco Construction/Swindell Speed Lab/Melrose Powder Coating #88A Rider/Maxim and set a torrid pace for the 20-car field.  He was the class of the field until he spun while leading on lap nine.  He managed to save the car but would lose the pacesetter position to Scelzi, who was anxious to take advantage of the opportunity.

A breathtaking battle developed in the late stages as Scelzi tried to hold off the continued challenges of second row starter Day.  The 17-year-old driver obtained the coveted position in the Jason Meyers-owned Meyers Constructors/Four C’s Construction/Autry Plumbing #14 Kistler/KPC with about mile to go.  However, it was a short-lived stint as Scelzi stole it right back on the following circuit.

The stage was set for one last sprint to the checkered when the caution flag appeared on lap 26.  However, Scelzi proceeded to master the restart and hold off Day to become the third different winner in four races. It was the first time the two-time defending series champ has won at Antioch Speedway and his first NARC victory since May 26th, 2022.

Day finished a respectable second, just .352 seconds behind the winner.  Joey Ancona rebounded from his earlier mishap to score his first ever NARC podium finish. The balance of the top five finishing order would consist of Colby Copeland, in the Larry Antaya fielded Fire Protection Management of the Bay Area/Northstar Concrete Pumping/#16A Helix in fourth and finishing fifth was the NOS Energy Drink/Keith Day Trucking #22 Rider/KPC of Ryan Bernal, racing for owner Keith Day.

The balance of the top ten featured ARP fast qualifier Justin Sanders, Williams Roofing Hardcharger Chase Johnson, Bud Kaeding, Shane Golobic and Justyn Cox.

FLORACING.COM FEATURE EVENT (30 laps): 1. 41-Dominic Scelzi[2]; 2. 14-Corey Day[4]; 3. 88A-Joey Ancona[1]; 4. 16A-Colby Copeland[3]; 5. 22-Ryan Bernal[9]; 6. 2X-Justin Sanders[5]; 7. 24-Chase Johnson[13]; 8. 69-Bud Kaeding[11]; 9. 17W-Shane Golobic[10]; 10. 42X-Justyn Cox[8]; 11. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[6]; 12. 92-Andy Forsberg[14]; 13. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr[19]; 14. 26-Billy Aton[12]; 15. 4-Burt Foland Jr[16]; 16. 12J-John Clark[17]; 17. 75-Bill Smith[18]; 18. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery[7]

WILLIAMS ROOFING HARD CHARGER: Chase Johnson – 13th to 7th

METTEC TITANIUM LAP LEADERS: Joey Ancona 1-9, Dominic Scelzi 10-24, 26-30, Corey Day 25

ARP FAST QUALIFIER (20 CARS): Justin Sanders, 11.977

BMRS HEAT ONE (10 Laps): 1. 88A-Joey Ancona[2]; 2. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery[1]; 3. 2X-Justin Sanders[4]; 4. 69-Bud Kaeding[3]; 5. 75-Bill Smith[7]; 6. 46JR-Joel Myers Jr. [5]; 7. 115-Nick Parker[6]

KIMO’S TROPICAL CAR SHOW HEAT TWO (10 Laps): 1. 41-Dominic Scelzi[1]; 2. 42X-Justyn Cox[2]; 3. 17W-Shane Golobic[3]; 4. 26-Billy Aton[5]; 5. 14-Corey Day[4]; 6. 4-Burt Foland Jr. [6]

BEACON WEALTH STRATEGIES-RAYMOND JAMES FINANCIAL HEAT THREE (10 Laps): 1. 16A-Colby Copeland[1]; 2. 22-Ryan Bernal[2]; 3. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[4]; 4. 24-Chase Johnson[5]; 5. 92-Andy Forsberg[3]; 6. 12J-John Clark[6]

SUNNY VALLEY BACON TROPHY DASH (6 Laps): 1. 88A-Joey Ancona[1]; 2. 41-Dominic Scelzi[3]; 3. 16A-Colby Copeland[2]; 4. 14-Corey Day[5]; 5. 2X-Justin Sanders[6]; 6. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[4]

CONCORD, N.C. (April 29, 2023) – Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster team picked-up their third No. 1 qualifying position of the season Saturday at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway. Robert Hight and the Flav-R-Pac / Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS landed in the No. 2 spot with John Force in the BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevy Camaro SS and Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster both sitting No. 7.  Starting the day sitting seventh, Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac team laid down a track record elapsed time of 3.651-second pass at 336.32 mph to rocket to the No. 1 position for the 45th time of her career. The two-time reigning world championship team picked up three bonus points for their efforts. The Flav-R-Pac hotrod closed out qualifying with another clean pass of 3.742 at 320.20. “That was an incredible run. It was more than I think this Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy team expected. A 3.65 is just outstanding and then to be able to run a 3.74 in that last run. So, we had three solid runs, three of the four which is great going into race day. It gives us enough information to hopefully carry it over and go some rounds tomorrow,” Force said. “We’ve had success here in the past. I’ve always loved this track. We’ve won the Four-Wide before years ago. It’s tricky, it’s a challenge for the entire team, everybody involved, but that’s what makes winning it so much better.” Robert Hight, racing the Flav-R-Pac colors for the final time this season, started Saturday in the No. 3 spot but would improve on his Friday qualifying efforts with a 3.865-second pass at 330.23 mph during his third try. In the final session, Hight would have to shut off his Chevy Camaro early but still put up a 3.947 at 274.44. “Good qualifying effort for this Flav-R-Pac team. There’s more out there for us, but we had three solid passes to work off of for race day,” Hight said. “Jimmy Prock, I know he’s been working hard on this car. He’ll do whatever it takes to get us to where we need to be, and we have the team to get the job done. Keep our heads down and trust the process, we’ll be good. I’m excited for tomorrow. Looks like we’ll have a chance to get it done, so we’ll see what happens.” After an impressive close to day one, Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / RMT team maintained their consistency through Saturday starting things off with a solid 3.710-second pass at 332.34 mph in the third session. Prock ended qualifying with his best run of the weekend going 3.701 at 330.47 to secure the No. 7spot. “So far so good this weekend for this Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team. We made four clean passes down the racetrack. We weren’t the quickest every hit, but the car is responding,” Prock said. “It gives you confidence going into Sunday with a consistent car. I’m ready to get after it tomorrow and hopefully walk away with my first Four-Wide win.” John Force and the BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevy improved Saturday starting with a 3.898-second pass at 331.12 mph during their third qualifying try to jump from 10th to seventh. In the final qualifying session, the BlueDEF Camaro would smoke the tires at the starting line to coast to a 10.096 at 76.71. He’ll stay seventh off his 3.898. “Well, it’s a new hot rod and I’m learning to drive it. We’re getting a handle on it. Danny Hood, Tim Fabrisi, this whole BlueDEF team, they’ve had a busy off week getting this Chevy Camaro ready,” Force said. “Cars are changing and I have to stay up with it. Have to keep improving to keep up with these young kids out here. Looking forward to race day here at Bruton Smith’s Bellagio.” Weather permitting, the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway continues with eliminations slated to begin Sunday at noon. Television coverage of the event continues on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) Sunday at 6:00 p.m. ET. -30-

AUSTIN PROCK, 27, Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist DragsterQualifying:2nd; 3.707-seconds; 328.70 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+2 (second quickest Q2)BRITTANY FORCE, 36, Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy DragsterQualifying:1st; 3.651-seconds; 336.32 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+3 (quickest Q3) JOHN FORCE, 73, BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:7th; 3.898-seconds; 331.12 mphBonus Qualifying Points: 0ROBERT HIGHT, 53, Flav-R-Pac Chevy Camaro SSQualifying:3rd; 3.865-seconds; 330.23 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+6 (quickest Q1, third quickest Q2, 2nd quickest Q3)

CONCORD, N.C. (April 29, 2023) – Lenny Lottig earned his first career No. 1 qualifying position Saturday in his ITI Trailers and Truck Bodies Chevrolet COPO Camaro at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway. Lottig would go on to win in his first elimination quad of Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown. 

After running 7.625-seconds at 179.92 mph to earn the top qualifying spot, Lottig would face Richard Ingram and AJ Berge in the first round. Lottig’s 7.698 at 176.67 would better Berge’s 7.832 at 178.52 mph and Ingram who did not make the run. 

Lenny Lottig, Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals No. 1 qualifier, photo by Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery

“We’ve had a great car all weekend. We’ve got a good team. We’re gelling. We’re getting all the little quirks worked out of the car and driving pretty good. It’s just coming together and it’s nice to finally see all the hard work come to fruition,” said Lottig, who, along with Berge, will have a bye run into the semifinals. “It’s much better being the number one than being further down in the pack. It’s finally nice to be on the right side of the ladder, for sure and then be able to move onto the next round.”

Reigning Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown champion David Barton and his Retail Fixture / Sawmill Auto COPO Camaro will also be moving onto the second elimination quads after they reached the finish line first with a 7.717-second pass at 178.57 mph to defeat Stephen Bell’s 7.743 at 177.95, Joe Welch’s 7.753 at 181.69 and Scott Libersher at 7.823 at 176.84. Bell and his Stanfield Racing Engines Camaro will also race in the second-round quad. 

“I’ll be working on a plan for the rest of the race tonight. I wasn’t worried about it before the first round, but now that we made it through with a bunch of cars, we’re going to sit down and do some homework,” Barton said. “I look forward to the four-wide races. It seems like a lot of people are confused by looking at the scoreboards and what’s going on. Nobody knows how to read them. As a driver, I look forward to coming to this race. If you’re a decent driver, it’s an advantage because people are kind of flustered so if you can keep it together, I think it’s an advantage. I like any advantage I can get.”

David Barton (bottom) defeats Joe Welch (second from top) to take Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown bonus, photo by Gary Nastase/Auto Imagery

When he reached the line first, Barton also earned $1,000 in the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown bounty program for defeating most recent event winner Welch. 

“It’s always nice having the bounty money. I’m not going to turn down any free money and I appreciate the NHRA and Flexjet having that added bonus. That was a great way to start the race,” Barton said. 

Weather permitting, round two of the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown will take place Sunday at 1:20 p.m. with semifinals at 3:05 p.m. and finals at 4:15 p.m. 

Sunday Quads

No. 1, Lenny Lottig

No. 9, AJ Berge

Bye

Bye

No. 15, Warren Walcher

No. 13, David Janac

No. 6, David Barton

No. 8, Stephen Bell

No. 2, Aaron Stanfield

No. 18, David Davies III

Bye

Bye

No. 4, Jesse Alexandra

No. 16, Don Belles

No. 3, Mark Pawuk

No. 11, Lee Hartman

GR Supra Funny Cars Qualify Top-10 for Four-Wide Event

CHARLOTTE (April 29, 2023) – Justin Ashley claimed the number two qualifier position for Sunday’s Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway. Ashley posted a time of 3.662 seconds during Friday night’s late qualifying session and the time stood as number one until Brittany Force out-ran the time by a hundredth of a second Saturday afternoon. Fellow Toyota drivers, Steve Torrence (fourth), Doug Kalitta (sixth), Antron Brown (eighth) and Shawn Langdon (11th) are all poised for Sunday’s second four-wide event of the 2023 season.

In Funny Car competition, Alexis DeJoria drove her GR Supra to the number five qualifier position after holding the number one position following Friday night’s qualifying session with a time of 3.876 seconds. J.R. Todd qualified sixth in his GR Supra and Ron Capps’ Toyota qualified ninth.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series

zMax Dragway

Race 5 of 21

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Brittany Force*	Monster Energy Top Fuel Dragster	1st (3.651)	D. Foley A. Brown C. Millican
Justin Ashley	Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	2nd (3.662)	J. McNeal A. Prock M. Salinas
Steve Torrence	Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	4th (3.679)	D. Mercier J. Hart T. Schumacher
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	6th (3.699)	L. Pruett P. Dakin S. Langdon
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	8th (3.711)	B. Force D. Foley C. Millican
Shawn Langdon	CMR Construction & Roofing Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	11th (3.727)	L. Pruett P. Dakin D. Kalitta

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Bob Tasca III	Snap-On Tools Funny Car	1st (3.852)	D. Richards T. Wilkerson R. Capps
Alexis DeJoria	Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	5th (3.876)	M. Hagan D. Creasy Jr. C. Green
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	6th (3.888)	R. Hight A. LaughlinM. McIntire Jr.
Ron Capps	NAPA Auto Parts Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	9th (3.899)	B. Tasca III D. Richards T. Wilkerson

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA QUOTES

JUSTIN ASHLEY, Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Davis Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 2nd

Did you feel you had more in the race car to go after the number one qualifier?

“I think we wanted to try and push the envelope a little. To be honest with you, I think that we actually had a little bit more in it. We didn’t go full throttle. We also wanted to make sure we went down the track. Tomorrow it depends on the weather conditions but anticipating what it’s going to be like, I certainly think that you’re going to have to make a throw down type of run if you want to give yourself a chance to win every round.”

ALEXIS DEJORIA, Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, DC Motorsports

FC Qualifying Result: 5th

What has your progress been like this season and how has your team progressed from last year?

“We’ve been working towards our current success. We’ve been through hell and back. We’re really excited about how we’ve been running and to be running this well early in the season and to be consistent the last few races. We’ve been getting down the track when a lot of cars haven’t been getting down the track. It’s just pretty much up to me now. I have to do my part to make it down there and get off the starting line in a decent time. And not get too far ahead in the game – just stay focused and stay in my seat.”

Do you feel you’re performing better this weekend than you did in Vegas?

“I hope we’re going to do better than Vegas because that was definitely our race to lose. This is a new race and a new four-wide. I have yet to win a four-wide. It’s exciting. Hopefully we will go some round on Sunday and make it to the winner’s circle.”

How important are qualifying points?

“Points are key. Obviously, we want to get as many points as we can, but I want to win this race. It’s time. It’s past time. We need our first race win this year.”

How has your consistency helped the team’s momentum this season?

“Having a good consistent race car is a huge confidence builder for the whole entire team. It does a lot for us and I can tell. I look around the guys faces and everybody is a little more upbeat now and I kept telling the guys last year, I was like, ‘Guys, we’re building for next year. Just hold on, we’re building for next year’ So far it’s definitely paid off. I’m glad we’re somewhat patient.”

April 29, 2023 — LEEDS, AL

• Romain Grosjean scores his second NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole of 2023 in qualifying for Sundays Childrens of Alabama Indy Grand Prix
• 2021 race winner Alex Palou completes front row sweep for Honda
• Honda drivers claim four of the top-six qualifying positions

Romain Grosjean prevailed in an extremely tight final qualifying round Saturday at Barber Motorsports Park to claim his second NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole of the 2023 season, and third in four races for his Andretti Autosport Honda team. 

Meanwhile, 2021 Barber race winner Alex Palou qualified second-fastest in his Chip Ganassi Racing entry to make it an all-Honda front row for Sundays Childrens of Alabama Indy Grand Prix.

The third row of the 27-car starting field will also be all-Honda, with Chip Ganassi Racings Scott Dixon starting fifth; and Christian Lundgaard rounding out the top six for Rahal Letterman Lanigan in his best qualifying performance of 2023.

Childrens of Alabama Indy Grand Prix Honda Qualifying Results

•   1st Romain Grosjean            Andretti Autosport Honda
•   2nd Alex Palou                         Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
•   5th Scott Dixon                         Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
•   6th Christian Lundgaard            Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda   
• 12th Kyle Kirkwood                    Andretti Autosport Honda
• 13th Marcus Ericsson                 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
• 14th Colton Herta                       Andretti Autosport Honda
• 16th Simon Pagenaud                Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• 17th David Malukas                    Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
• 18th Devlin DeFrancesco            Andretti Autosport Honda
• 19th Graham Rahal                    Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
• 21st  Helio Castroneves              Meyer Shank Racing Honda
• 23rd  Sting Ray Robb-R              Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
• 24th Jack Harvey                       Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda    
• 26th Marcus Armstrong-R           Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes
Romain Grosjean (#28 Andretti Autosport Honda) pole qualifier: “Missing practice yesterday [due to a mechanical issue] is never ideal, but it shows the strengths we have at Andretti Autosport as a team. Weve got a very good baseline [chassis setup] and the car works well everywhere, weve been working with Honda to optimize our performance at each race. So we have nice driveability and great feedback from all our [Andretti Autosport] drivers. Quite excited to have an all-Honda front row for tomorrow!”

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified second, has finished first and second in his two previous starts at Barber Motorsports Park: “Its great! HPD and Honda locking down the front row is super good.  Honestly, we started really good [in practice] yesterday.  We were able to test here [earlier this year] which always helps. We just missed [pole] by a little bit, and you need to be perfect to nail a pole in Indy car qualifying. So, happy with the front row [starting position], but hopefully we can find a little bit more in warmup and go for the win in the race.  Its going to take a perfect day [to win], well need to be really good on both the primary and alternate tires, and perfect on the strategy calls.  Nowdays, if you just have a slight ‘moment during the race, youre gone from the fight for the win. So hopefully its going to be a perfect day for us tomorrow.”

Fast Facts

• This is Hondas third pole in four rounds of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES.  Romain Grosjean qualified first at both the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg and today at Barber; while his Andretti Autosport teammate, Kyle Kirkwood, claimed the pole at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach enroute to his first win in the series.
• Honda holds the early-season lead in the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers Championship, with two victories and three poles so far this season. Honda comes to Barber Motorsports Park with a 32-point advantage (254-222) over rival Chevrolet. The company is seeking its fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers Championship in the last six years in 2023.
• With a win at the season-opening Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg, Chip Ganassi Racings Marcus Ericsson comes to Barber Motorsports Park leading the Drivers Championship points standings, with 15-point lead (110-95) over Pato OWard. 

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

CHILDREN’S OF ALABAMA INDY GRAND PRIX

BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA

TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT

APRIL 29, 2023

TEAM CHEVY QUALIFIES SIX IN THE TOP-10 AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK

• Chevrolet will start two in the top-five, six in the top-10, in Sunday’s Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix at Barber Motorsports Park.
• 2022’s event winner Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren INDYCAR and Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin represented Chevrolet in the Firestone Fast Six.
• All Team Penske and Arrow McLaren INDYCAR Chevrolets transferred from their respective qualifying groups to Segment 2 of the session, along with Rinus VeeKay of Ed Carpenter Racing.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULT:

POS. DRIVER

3rd     Pato O’Ward

4th     Scott McLaughlin

7th     Josef Newgarden

8th     Felix Rosenqvist

9th     Rinus VeeKay

10th   Alexander Rossi      

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“We qualified seventh, which is pretty good. Not where the car should be. I think it’s a pole-winning car quite frankly, so I was certainly disappointed that we weren’t able to realize all of the potential but this crew has been phenomenal this weekend. I think the PPG car is going to be really fast in the race. We’re going to make good use of it, to try and move forward pretty quick, hopefully, and hopefully get another win on the board. That’s our goal.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Overall, pretty good day for the Good Ranchers Chevy. P4 we start tomorrow. I think we’ve got a pretty good car but just didn’t quite have enough for pole. A bit of me, a bit of the car. We’ll find a bit of speed overnight, and hopefully will come out stronger tomorrow. It’s going to be an interesting strategy. Strategy-wise, it’s going to be different with a three-stop, two-stop and who does what.”

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Not bad. I mean, I was determined to get into the top 12. Still just struggling with a little bit of straight-line speed. Still got to decide what we do with the engine. Obviously, everyone’s at the end of their miles. Some people change, some don’t, so there’s a bit of a discrepancy. You’ve got to think about what might hurt you down the road here. I think we can have a good race from there. It’s not a bad spot. Obviously, I’d like to be up further, but we’ll see what we can do. Hopefully, it’s a bit of a mixed-up strategy race, and we can play the right cards.”

Conor Daly, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“We’re certainly not starting as far back as we were at Long Beach which is helpful! We started racing our way forward in Long Beach so we are looking to do the same here. I do think we have a chance to move forward as was a bit of confusion from one set of tires to another in our qualifying session. We lost a bit of the balance of the car on our second set. Just a shame, it’s very, very tight; very very close. I am happy that Rinus (VeeKay) was able to get a decent qualifying run. Obviously, we need a good race tomorrow. Hopefully, we can work some magic and move forward.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“I am proud of the guys! We have been struggling this weekend, so making it into the Top 10 almost feels like a pole position. This morning I was 20th while pushing hard, but we made a big jump forward. We have a fast car now. Really, our race pace has been good all three races this season, we’ve just had a bunch of bad luck and not had the results. We also haven’t been able to put it together in qualifying, but this time we did! The team worked really hard and it paid off.”

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

“We did some really good changes. I’m just really happy with what we did from practice 2 to qualifying. I mean, we missed it by less than a tenth, so we’re there. We’ve definitely found the lap time we wanted to. From practice to now working on the race car, it’s a different beast with the (tire degradation) and all that. You’ll see guys taking risks on the three-stopper, which ultimately is the quickest. But you can get hosed really easily by a yellow. The last couple of years, it’s been the fuel-save two-stopper, so I expect the Ganassis to be very quick. Obviously, Grosjean, it’s his second pole of the year, so I know he will be right on pace. I think for us, to have a good start, a good clean start. I don’t know what we’re going to do strategy-wise. Obviously, you want to go with the one that will win, so we’re just going to have to see what warmup says in terms of tire degradation from black to red and just play it from there.”

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

“I think there was more potential than that. Looking at Q1, we were pretty strong and Q2, I don’t know, it’s just so sensitive with tire warm-up and I just didn’t really feel like I had it in me or the car. Like, it wasn’t going to come. I did a decent lap but it wasn’t enough. Obviously, I’ve been close in the Fast Six three times in a row, so a bit bummed about that. But, honestly, where we started yesterday, I’m pretty happy to be P8. It’s a good spot, that gives us the fuel-save. Tomorrow, it could be to our advantage. We’re normally pretty good at that. Let’s see, you never know. Not too bad. My team, Arrow McLaren, always does a good job. Unfortunately, we have those weekends sometimes when you roll out, you don’t feel like you’re in it, and I think we did a really good turnaround from yesterday. We’re there. It’s super tight. Really good job from them, and we’ll see where we can end up tomorrow.”

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

“It’s really disappointing. I mean, we thought we had a pretty easy top-six car and made a change there. You’re always so close, you kind of have to adjust to the track and evolution. Just made the wrong change. I think the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevy has been good all weekend. We started our very happy, we’ve been happy all weekend, we just made the wrong decision there. We know what to do for the race. It’s a constantly evolving championship and it’s so tight. You’re looking for hundredths, and so you’re always trying to optimize, and sometimes you take the step in the wrong direction.”

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

“Yeah, a lot of positive changes today for free practice two, then we had an issue with the clutch so we didn’t get to run our second set of new tires. So we made some blind changes going into qualifying to where we had a sensor fail. So, now we have a lot of tires. So should make for a fun race tomorrow.” 

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

“Qualifying all wrapped up here at Barber. We’re just trying to figure out what is going to work the best for the race tomorrow. And I feel like we made a slight step in qualifying but we still have a pretty big step to make for the race tomorrow, but just staying focused and trying to figure out exactly what the car needs to go faster and I feel like we’re in a pretty good situation with tires for tomorrow. So hopefully we can try to gain a couple of positions if not more, being very smart with strategy and figuring out a way to move forward tomorrow.” 

Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“We start P15 overall. Could be better, could be worse. I felt the car was quite good. We’ve improved a lot. Just missed in one or two areas with it. The field is so tight, that that made the difference. But overall, I’m happy with the progress we’ve been making. Obviously, some others have made a little more progress from yesterday, but we’re heading in the right direction. I think, you know, this is a better track for us. Especially in the race, I think we’ll be all right. Looking forward to tomorrow. A few things to work on overnight. Should be a good one.”

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

“Really happy with the progression, especially from practice to qualifying. We start P22 tomorrow, and we will try to do our race and finish the race we want to.”

Late heroics by Catsburg, team effort secure runner-up finish heading to Le Mans

FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (April 29, 2023) – It wasn’t a victory, but Corvette Racing earned the next best thing Saturday with a rallying drive to a runner-up class finish at the Six Hours of Spa in the third round of the FIA World Endurance Championship. Nicky Catsburg, Ben Keating and Nico Varrone finished second in GTE Am with their No. 33 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R – a remarkable result given some of the hardships working against the Corvette Racing team. The team came back from 12th place early in the race along with the addition of 45 kilograms of success ballast for this race to keep its perfect run of podiums intact through the first three races – and more importantly keep its early-season momentum headed into the 24 Hours of Le Mans. For the second race in a row, Catsburg took a starring role late. After a stellar defense two weeks ago to win at Portimão, Catsburg held off the faster car of Charlie Eastwood for second place. The result means that – against all odds – the Corvette team increased its GTE Am championship lead unofficially from 31 points to 39: 82 points compared to the No. 83 Ferrari team with 43.

Keating started fourth in class, but the big story even before the race began was the weather. With the track damp and mist falling, the Corvette team elected to start the race on wet-weather tires. Numerous cars on slick tires went off-track and race officials elected to begin the race behind the safety car. The additional formation lap allowed the dry-tire cars a chance to get their tires up to temperature, putting the Corvette and other cars that began on rain tires at a distinct disadvantage once the race went green and the track began to try. Keating made a pit stop for dry tires at the 30-minute mark to fall down the order, and the Corvette team caught another bad break when the pits closed for another safety-car period as Keating was set to come in again for fuel, tires and a driver change. Instead he had to stop for five seconds of emergency fuel near the one-hour, 45-minute mark and came in a lap later for the scheduled service. Varrone took over for a double-stint from seventh place and steadily worked his way up into the top-five through a full-course yellow and the race’s third safety-car period. The initial stint on his tires was difficult to manage as the team chose to try a harder compound in his run, but changing to a softer tire put him back on the pace of the leaders heading into the final two hours. That set the stage for Catsburg’s double-stint to the end. A fourth safety-car period brought the Corvette back to the lead pack, and he managed to find himself in first before the final stop with 54 minutes remaining. A fierce duel over the final 40 minutes began with Catsburg getting around Eastwood on the latter’s out-lap and racing out to a nearly eight-second advantage. It didn’t take long for the lighter and quicker Aston Martin to find its way back to Catsburg’s rear bumper. The final 14 minutes saw the two cars run nose-to-tail with Catsburg keeping the Corvette ahead despite traffic from the overtaking prototypes. He crossed the line with a 0.249-second gap to third place. Corvette Racing’s next event in the FIA WEC is the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 10-11. It is an event that Corvette Racing has won eight times.

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTE AM: “Somehow we managed to find ourselves in the top-five or top-six before I jumped in the car. The Corvette Racing guys did great work again in the pitlane. We were in the mix with the front-runners, and I was able to pass some on the out-lap. I knew we didn’t have the pace to challenge for the lead, and I was never expecting to keep P2. But it worked out. It was déjà vu back to Portimão! I was struggling a lot to keep the Aston Martin behind. Charlie did a great job. He didn’t make any crazy moves and it was super-nice racing. An awesome feeling of two races in a row getting a good result. Great job to Ben doing the start in insanely difficult conditions. Nico… what people don’t know is that Nico had to drive on the worst tire compound we had available because we used him as a guinea pig to test! So it was very difficult for him, and hats off to him for keeping the car on the track and keeping it in contention. I’m super happy with the work they are doing and the team is doing. It’s super nice to have these big points.”

BEN KEATING, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTE AM: “This is another team win. Even though we came home second, with 45 extra kilograms this feels like it’s better than a win. I came into Sebring with the idea that maybe we could win. I came into Portimao with the idea that a podium would be a success. I came into this race thinking a top-five would be good. I never dreamed we would be second. It’s an unbelievable finish, especially given how we started. “Normally in these races, you don’t get the opportunity to make up lost time. We had three different times where we got a pass-around around the safety car. We were a lap down a couple of times because I made the choice to go out on rain tires at the start because I thought it was the conservative, safe choice. It turned out to be the wrong choice and had to come in for an early stop. Because of that, we were off-sequence with everyone and kept going a lap down. The safety cars came out exactly when we needed them to and we were able to get our laps back. It was a crazy race. It’s hard to think that it was even crazier than Portimao! I’m just glad I have a good heart! This has been unbelievable to watch. The whole team was fantastic. Nico did a great job. I don’t know how Nicky stayed in front of the Aston Martin because they were so fast all weekend. It’s just an incredible job by Nicky two weekends in a row. I’m ready to go to Le Mans!”

NICO VARRONE, NO. 33 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – SECOND IN GTE AM: “This was a really hard race. From the beginning, we weren’t looking to be on the podium. A top-five would have been mega. But again the Corvette Racing team did a great job. We were lucky with the pass-arounds to get us back in the fight for the win. Nicky had great pace and did a great job defending again as in Portimão. Today was just fantastic. I can’t really believe it yet! It was a bit crazy. Big thanks to Ben and Nicky for the great job and to Corvette Racing for amazing pit stops and the engineers on the strategy. Everything was perfect.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES

DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY

WURTH 400

TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT

APRIL 29, 2023

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 STARTING LINEUP:  

POS.   DRIVER

1st      KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 LENOVO CAMARO ZL1

8th      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1

9th      RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/ICY HOT PRO CAMARO ZL1 

10th    CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1

11th    ERIK JONES, NO. 43 ALLEGIANT CAMARO ZL1 

14th    ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1

15th    DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 PITBULL/FREEWAY INSURANCE CAMARO ZL1

16th    TY DILLON, NO. 77 NATIONS GUARD CAMARO ZL1

18th    KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1

TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:  

POS.  DRIVER

1.        Kyle Busch (Chevrolet)

2.        Christopher Bell (Toyota)

3.        Ryan Blaney (Ford)

4.        Brad Keselowski (Ford)

5.        Chris Buescher (Ford)

The NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Dover Motor Speedway was canceled due to weather. With the starting lineup set by the NASCAR rule book, Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL1 team will lead the field to the green from the pole position.  

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 LENOVO CAMARO ZL1 – Polesitter Quotes

A LOT OF TALK ABOUT TIRE ISSUES. IN PRACTICE, JOEY LOGANO HAD A RIGHT-FRONT THAT CORDED. DID YOU HAVE ANY TIRE ISSUES DURING PRACTICE? 

“We didn’t really run long enough to see any tire issues for us. I think we saw the No. 48 (Josh Berry) had a little bit. I think they had a 14-lap run or something, so they saw a little bit of that. As the tires were wearing, they weren’t really laying the rubber down into the race track as what we used to see here. They were kind of foaming up, if you will. Like you pick it up and it was like dust, like foam. That’s not too out of normal here at Dover, but definitely not seeing any rubber on the race track is not positive.” 

DOES TOMORROW BECOME A TIRE MANAGEMENT GAME, OR DO YOU HOPE THAT AFTER 100 LAPS THAT THINGS GET RUBBERED UP? 

“Yeah, I mean you would like to hope that after today it gets rubbered up. The Xfinity race getting out there and hopefully being able to lay some rubber down, but who knows with the weather tomorrow. If it rains and washes all that off, you start over with the Cup race. So if we’re going to be on a green track, it’s going to be a bit rough to start. Probably need a competition caution. Don’t ask me what lap number to put it on because I don’t want to be the one that’s on the hook for what lap, over or under, that the tires will blow. But yeah, you’re definitely going to need a competition caution or two.”

HOW WAS YOUR CAR DURING PRACTICE? IT SOUNDED LIKE THERE WERE SOME HANDLING ISSUES THAT YOU WERE BATTLING.

“Yeah, I mean the car drove fine. The ride quality of the car, the platform of the car – everything on that front was fine. It was just the balance was super, super tight. We were kind of throwing a little bit of things at it. We weren’t going too heavy on it just to kind of sneak up on it. We saw Austin (Dillon) crash in practice and so we were a little tentative on what our adjustments were and how fast we would go to free it up. But seeing what we saw for the rest of practice and how our balance is right now, we’ve got a lot of work to do on the No. 8 Lenovo Camaro to get it where we want it for the race and what it’s going to take to keep the right-front tire on it for a long run.”

April 29, 2023

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 DEX Imaging Mustang are set to start 31st in Sunday’s Wurth 400 at Dover Motor Speedway. After rain washed out qualifying on Saturday, the line-up was set by a qualifying formula based on recent performances. 

In practice on Saturday, Burton was 22nd on the speed chart with a best lap at 155.494 miles per hour, which he set on the fourth of the 15 laps he ran in the session. 

Sunday’s 400-mile race on the one-mile Dover oval is scheduled to start just after 1 PM Eastern Time. (The green flag has been moved up one hour due to the weather forecast.)

TV coverage will be provided by FOX Sports 1. Stage breaks are planned for Laps 120 and 250.

 

NASCAR CUP SERIES

DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY

WURTH 400

TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

APRIL 29, 2023

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript: 

HAVE YOU TALKED TO ALEX? ALSO, WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF RACING SOMETHING ELSE BESIDES A CUP CAR THAT WOULD MAKE THE ARGUMENT THAT WE NEED TO CONTINUE TO RACE OUTSIDE OF HERE? 

“I have talked to Alex. Look, I know he’s bummed. But I think it could have been a lot worse, right. For me, number one, I’m thankful he’s in a position where he’s going to be able to get back to the team and be able to contribute 100 percent as he was before. So to me, his health is really first and foremost. I know he’s bummed and he’s probably not feeling good, but I’m looking forward to having him back. 

As for what you get out of it, I think that depends on who you are. I think that depends on your outlook on what you enjoy doing and what makes you happy. Alex enjoys racing sprint cars. He likes building his cars – drift cars, midgets and going and racing that stuff. That’s a passion of his, so I think for that reason, it’s meaningful to him and I think that probably changes per who the individual is and what your outlook on things are. I think for him, he seems to really enjoy all aspects of that stuff. It’s a bit of his getaway and I think that’s important.”

HOW MUCH CONCERN IS THERE ON YOUR END ON WHAT HAPPENED WITH THE NO. 5 CAR LAST WEEKEND AND THE WAY THE PASSENGER SIDE COLLAPSED AND THE DOOR BARS COMING IN? 

“Yeah, I mean it’s not great, right. At the end of the day, you look at that thing – I haven’t seen it in person. We tested at Loudon this week, so I wasn’t at the shop on Monday. From what I’ve heard and the pictures I’ve seen, certainly it’s a bit concerning on a multitude of levels. I’m disappointed in that, personally. Last year, the softer hits were a problem, but that’s in preparation for a bigger hit being covered. From the data I heard, he was only doing 130 mph, so what happens if he’s doing 180 or 160 mph? So yeah, I definitely think that’s concerning. But I also think it’s probably more of a conversation on how to move forward outside of this room. We’ll get it better to where we can be productive on it and not just sit here and run my mouth.” 

JEFF ANDREWS WAS JUST IN HERE AND HE SAID ONE ACCIDENT IS BAD. TWO EXTRACURRICULAR ACCIDENTS IS NOT GREAT. HE SAID MAYBE THERE’S A CHANCE IN THE FUTURE THAT HE MIGHT HAVE TO LOOK AT WHAT YOU GUYS DO. HOW CONCERNED ARE YOU THAT THERE COULD BE A CHANGE IN WHAT YOU GUYS ARE ALLOWED TO DO AND HOW MIGHT IT EFFECT YOU IF THEY HAVE TO GO FORWARD WITH THOSE TYPES OF CHANGES? 

“I really don’t see it changing. I think it’s obviously very, very poor timing with where I was at and just coming back and obviously Alex being hurt this week. I mean look, I get it. It’s a bad look. I totally understand that. But also, I understand that there is a timing piece of that and it’s just really poor timing. I think if one happened this year and the other happened next year, would we be having the same conversation? Probably not, you know really. I think them being back-to-back makes it look a little worse than the reality.” 

YOU COME IN AS THE DEFENDING WINNER AT DOVER. HOW MUCH DO YOU USE FROM LAST YEAR THAT YOU CAN MOVE FORWARD TO THIS YEAR? 

“Yeah, I’m with you.. I don’t know what aero package it is and isn’t anymore. Certainly I’m sure the car is going to drive different because at this point last year, there was still a lot of learning going on. Not that there’s not still a lot of learning going on now, but I do think that people have really progressed a lot through the second half of the season. So I anticipate that it’s going to feel different. The car might have some different tendencies. It’s still going to have those characteristics that come along with being at this race track and racing here, so I don’t anticipate that changing a ton. But we’ll see. It’s been a year since we’ve been here and obviously a lot can happen in that amount of time. We’ll get on track and kind of see where we stack up and go from there.”

HOW IS YOUR LEG DOING? ALSO, YOU MENTIONED THE TIRE TEST UP AT LOUDON. DOES DOING THOSE LAPS AND GETTING THOSE EXTRA REPS KIND OF HELP BUILD BACK THAT STRENGTH? 

“Yeah, I feel fine. I’m not going on runs or doing sprinting drills, but I feel fine. I don’t feel like it impacts me in the car at this point. Really, I didn’t think it impacted me in the car at Martinsville either and I’m certainly better than I was then. It’s just one of those things where you’re going to have good days, you’re going to have days that you don’t get around great. That’s just going to be part of it here for a little while I think. I think those extra reps are good. We made a lot of laps and I felt fine there both days and the day after, yesterday, being out of the car. 

Yeah, I feel good. Just ready to keep pushing forward.”

WHERE DO YOU FEEL YOUR PACKAGE IS AT, NOT ONLY HERE THIS WEEKEND, BUT GOING FORWARD, CONFIDENCE-WISE? 

“Well for me personally, I’m just kind of getting back, really and truly. Obviously Hendrick Motorsports as a company has had a lot of success. When I was gone, I felt like they ran really well at Las Vegas. They ran really good at Phoenix. I thought they were OK at COTA. Atlanta is obviously a bit of a wash. But Richmond, they were obviously very strong there, as well. As a whole, I feel like the Chevrolet camp and Hendrick Motorsports have been strong. For me, we ran Martinsville and then went to Talladega. We were OK at Martinsville – we certainly weren’t anything special. We were really bad there for the majority of the day, but we qualified bad. We qualified bad and put ourselves in a tough spot. You’re going to start see that narrative more – I think when you qualify bad, it’s probably going to set you up for a long day. I think we’re in a good place. I just have to get back in the rhythm of doing this stuff and getting going.”

YOU MENTIONED IT’S STILL DOVER AND IT STILL HAS THOSE TENDENCIES. YOU HAVE TWO WINS HERE. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS PLACE THAT KIND OF SUITS YOUR DRIVING STYLE? 

“Yeah, I don’t really know to be honest with you. We ran pretty well here I feel like on the Xfinity side, too. We’ve had some really solid runs on the Cup front; last year probably being one of our better runs, maybe our best run. But yeah, it’s been fortunate that this place has been a solid track for us over the last few years. I hope that continues. We’ll see. I’ve enjoyed coming up here. I wish that meant we were going to guarantee me a good run tomorrow, but unfortunately that’s not how it goes.”

WITH JOSH BERRY FILLING IN FOR YOU FOR A HANDFUL OF RACES, HOW DO YOU FEEL HE DID WITH THE TEAM? 

“I thought he did great with the team. Not only did I think that from the outside, but once I got back, everybody enjoyed working with him. I think you have to have that dynamic. He’s a guy that doesn’t say a whole lot, but I kind of like that. He doesn’t talk a ton, but he’s certainly putting in the effort and putting in the work; thinking about things, dissecting what he feels and what he needs to do next. I think he’s going to continue to build on that. Obviously he’s going to get a few more weeks here now to run and I think that’s just going to make him better, better and better. I think he’ll continue to run well; keep building on like his result at Richmond. I think he’s going to keep building on those things because he’s a guy that he’s learning a lot in a short period of time and I think he’s going to apply that very quickly.”

DO YOU LOOK AT DOVER AS ONE OF YOUR BETTER OPPORTUNITIES TO WIN IN THE REGULAR SEASON TO MORE SAFELY SECURE YOUR PLAYOFF POSITION? 

“Yeah, it’s certainly an opportunity. When we show up properly, I think any given week can be a good opportunity for us, frankly. But certainly as I reference a second ago, this has been a good track for us. Does that guarantee that tomorrow is going to go good? No, but I certainly hope so. But look, these races, a lot can happen and a lot can happen out of your control. You have to put it all together on the race track, on the pit box, on pit road – everything has to be perfect. That’s a lot to put together and I think it’s a bit unfair to throw that all on one day and bet the house on it. That’ just unrealistic. But I think we can go and have a good run here just like we can go and have a good run next week or the next 15 after that, if we show up and do our part.”

BEING OUT OF THE CAR THIS SEASON, YOU SAW JOSH BERRY GET THAT GREAT RESULT AT RICHMOND. NOW THAT ALEX IS IN THAT POSITION, SEEING SOMEONE ELSE HAVE SUCH A GOOD RUN IN YOUR CAR, WHAT WERE THE EMOTIONS OF THAT DAY? 

“At that point, I was past the weird space of seeing my car – it’s not really my car, it’s really Rick’s (Hendrick) car – but seeing the NAPA No. 9 car go around the track, I was kind of past that weird space of it and was really just excited to see them do good. They deserve it, in my opinion. I’ve been telling you all in here a long time – that team is really, really good. They make me look a lot better than I really am. I was hoping that maybe you all would start to believe me on that over the period of me being out because it’s very true.”

DO YOU TAKE MORE RISK? OBVIOUSLY WITH A MEDICAL WAIVER, TOP-30 IN POINTS, THAT’S GOING TO BE A GIVEN. SO DO YOU TAKE RISK TO WIN AS IF YOU ALREADY HAVE A WIN IN YOUR POCKET, OR DO YOU KEEP CHOPPING AWAY AT THE POINTS AND MAYBE GET TO THE 16TH SPOT? 

“I haven’t been keeping up with it closely. That’s pretty farfetched, I would say, even if we run really well. Not impossible, but we’d have to have a summer stretch like we did last year to do that, which was a really good stretch for us. Really, our mindset is no different this week than it was last week. I feel like we have to win. If you’re putting yourself in position to win races, I think it’s probably going to work itself out. On the other side of that coin, if you’re not putting yourself in position to win races at least once or twice in the next 16 weeks, then I’d say you’re not going to win a championship anyways. So does it really matter at the end of the day, right? It matters, obviously. But like when you step back and look at it – if you’re not in contention at least a couple of times, I’d say you thinking you have a shot to go win Phoenix is probably a little unrealistic.” 

WE HEAR A LOT ABOUT THE PHYSICALITY OF THIS RACE TRACK AND HOW IT KIND OF JUST MOVES YOU AROUND IN THE SEAT AND HOW YOU’RE PRETTY WORN OUT AFTER A RACE HERE. HOW MUCH OF THAT PHYSICALITY IS ON YOUR LOWER EXTREMITIES, SPECIFICALLY YOUR LEG? 

“I don’t think it will be a whole lot. Fortunately, my knee and just kind of where it sits in the car is in a really secure position. And even before the injury, the way I kind of had all my stuff setup like where my knee is, doesn’t move laterally or it’s designed to not move laterally, at least in a normal circumstance. Obviously crashing could be something different. So that being said, no – I don’t foresee it being any more difficult than say a Martinsville or Loudon test where you’re using the brakes and kind of pushing your car from that perspective. I could be wrong, but I don’t anticipate that.”

No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R places fifth; sister car retires early following incidentFRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (April 29, 2023) — Reliability again proved to be key for the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R as the entire team learns the ins and out of Hypercar class racing in its maiden FIA World Endurance Championship season.Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook combined to drive to a commendable fifth place in the 13-car Hypercar field in the Six Hours of Spa-Francorchamps. Through three rounds, the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R has placed a consistent fourth, fourth and fifth. Taking the green flag under a lingering mist on the 7.004km (4.35-mile), 20-turn road course, Bamber moved up one position from his qualifying spot on the first lap and remained in the top four throughout his stint. Bamber gave way to Lynn just after the halfway point of the race and the No. 2 Cadillac continued to turn consistent lap times as it stalked the leader. Westbrook climbed in the car during a safety car period and brought the car home over the final 1 hour, 27 minutes of more changeable weather conditions. The pole-sitting No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing entry won the race. A strong start for the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R came to an abrupt end with 4 hours, 30 minutes left when the racecar driven by Renger van der Zande came off the right-hand curbing hard through the high-speed Eau Rouge corner, spun and slid up the track into the barrier. Van der Zande was checked at the infield medical facility and cleared.“It was an up and down weekend for the 3 car,” said Mike O’Gara, No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R strategist and director of operations for Chip Ganassi Racing which runs the car. “We came here with a brand-new car, then had some issues that the mechanics worked on all night long. Obviously, it was a very competitive car and our strategy worked well. Renger was doing a great job and (engineer) Danielle (Shepherd) made a great selection on tires. We were just putting in laps, cruising and then unfortunately had a bit of an issue at the most critical, highest-loaded part of the track that ended our day.” Three other Hypercars retired from the race. The No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R, which was making its WEC debut as a warm-up for the 24 Hours of Le Mans, qualified a solid fifth in the Hypercar field with Sebastien Bourdais behind the wheel. Van der Zande was running second when the incident occurred. Both drivers will next drive the No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R in the 2-hour, 40-minute IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race May 12-14 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterrey, California. Cadillac Racing is preparing for three Hypercar entries in the centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 10-11. The Nos. 2 and 3 Cadillac V-Series.Rs will be joined by the No. 311 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R co-driven by Pipo Derani, Alexander Sims and Jack Aitken. Cadillac last competed in the iconic endurance race in 2002. Aitken, who competes in the IMSA endurance races in the Action Express Racing-prepared car, was brought in as the third driver of the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R at Spa to gain additional experience behind the wheel of the Hypercar. He drove an LMP2 car in his Le Mans debut in 2022.

No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.REarl Bamber: “We decided as a team what to do and we split the cars and we took wets. If it stayed green, it definitely was the right call but the safety car, so we got put back more than a minute. We recovered well, had great pace and the car was really good for me and my teammates.” Alex Lynn: “It was a typical Spa day. I’m proud of the team. We had a really fast car. Again, a lot to learn but we made it to the finish for the third race in a row. Coming into Le Mans in the top five in the driver points then perfect. The car is reliable, we’re gaining speed all the time and we’re just getting better and better.” Richard Westbrook: “Tough day but a lot learned again. Really difficult conditions with choosing the right tires. Mixed conditions and as we all know it’s difficult on out-laps on cold tires, so we did well to stay out of trouble in that respect because we saw a lot of Hypercars go off in those situations. It’s nice to get a strong finish again. A lot learned and a lot we can take forward.”   No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.RRenger van der Zande: “It’s a tribute to the team how we were running P2 there with the right tire choice. The laps time were really good, we were cruising into the race and making sure we were taking care of the car and everything. But something went wrong in Eau Rouge and that was the end of our day. We’re still investigating to figure out what happened, but I am super lucky to be in a safe Cadillac because that was almost out of a movie scene. Jumping out of that car is a miracle and I’m quite proud that Cadillac builds such strong cars. We’ll bounce back and continue our develop as a team.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES

DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY

WURTH 400

TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

APRIL 29, 2023

KYLE BUSCH, NO. 8 LENOVO CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript

WHAT DO YOU GET IN RUNNING OTHER RACING SERIES?

“The difference is between real life situations and simulators is entirely different.  The G Forces, the acceleration, the adrenaline of it and all that sort of stuff. So, for me, I have raced Super Late Models before and Micros now more recently with the dirt game and with Brexton in doing what he does. So, it’s just the enjoyable nature of being a race car driver and going out and running in various series and race cars and such. I just enjoy it overall.  Does running a Micro give you anything toward running a Cup car? No, not really.  But it does give you a sense of competition and getting out there and stacking yourself up against top talent.”

HOW MUCH CONCERN DO YOU HAVE OF WHAT THE 5 CAR LOOKED LIKE AFTER THAT WRECK LAST WEEK WITH THE PASSENGER SIDE DOOR BARS CAVED IN?

“Yeah, I am no scientist, but you see the concern with the severity of the damage on the right side of the 5. And you can only wonder, what if it was the left side? Right? So that is a huge issue, but the bigger matter is what created the damage, you know?  And that is the other car didn’t sustain much damage. So, looking at the 41 and seeing some of the stuff on that car, it was a brick getting rammed into a stick of butter. You know? It’s just going to smash it if it’s built too stiff.”

BIG WIN FOR YOUR SPONSOR MCLAREN GRILLS LAST WEEK, WITH THEIR WEBSITE CRASHING. WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THAT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE?

“That’s the KFB factor.  No, that is what we are all hopeful for, right?  You want to drive attention to the sponsors, and have the sponsors get that notoriety and getting people to check out their products and buy their products. Stuff like that.  I can’t tell you the last time that I grilled on a charcoal grill, but I did on Saturday night at Talladega with my McLaren Custom Grill with the number eight on it, my signature on the lid, and all that stuff. So, we had some great steak and some hamburgers and stuff like that.  So, it was a lot of fun to do that and to have them be a part of our weekend, our winning weekend in Talladega. It’s been 15 years since I was lucky, and you have to have those every once in a while. It was unfortunate that we didn’t get the luck that we needed in Daytona, but it was nice to have it last week.”

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ENERGY AROUND THE FACILITY WITH THE WAY YOU GUYS HAVE BEEN ABLE TO HIT THE GROUND RIGHT AWAY?

“Yeah, I think moral is high. I think everybody from the Xfinity shop and the Cup shop has done a tremendous job. I think early in the season, Richard (Childress) was in victory lane four weeks in a row or something it seemed.  Five weeks maybe. But it was nice to finally get a Cup Series speedway win for me and to have that be a part of RCR and their legacy and history at Talladega – was really cool.  I know all the guys are pumped up, and the guys at the shop are excited. That’s two wins on the year so far and we are hoping for more obviously.”    

WHAT IS THE DYNAMIC BETWEEN YOU AND AUSTIN (DILLON) AS FAR AS TEMMATES?

“We have obviously been in our team meetings every week and we continue to talk about our stuff and how we can get better. What things can we look for and try to do.  I think a lot of that is going to come into play this weekend and next weekend so I am optimistic and hopeful that we will have some really strong runs at Dover and Kansas. I thought Austin did an awesome job with what we had at Martinsville, running 12th there, that was good.  I think he was actually better than me at the Bristol dirt race, had a better long run car than I did. I could go on the short run, but not the long run. He got the finish he deserved, and I didn’t do a good enough job to get the finish that we needed out of that one. So, obviously we all have our ups and downs, and I would say that we have struggled at times for sure, you know, Martinsville being the worst.  But that doesn’t mean that we don’t go to work and try and figure it out and make it better for both of us.”

REGARDING HOW YOU LOOK AT THE SAFETY OF THE CARS YOU AND YOUR SON GET INTO

“Yeah, you know, safety first, right? That is always my biggest thing is to make sure my seats are right, and they are mounted right and are in the position that I want them in.  The seats that we buy for Brexton are safe and secure and good seats. Depending on what vehicle we are in, we will go to the lengths of lightening the seats and go to a point of where we feel comfortable. But like his Junior Sprints stuff, we don’t touch that, and leave that alone as is from the manufacturer. Safety is all our concern, all of our priority, and there have been so many advancements over the years.  You are never going to trump natural occurrences, right?  It’s just going to happen. I haven’t seen the (Alex) Bowman crash, but grateful that he will be okay. I remember Chase (Elliott) at the Chili Bowl, last year or the year before, he had a violent flip as well. So, he was okay after that. It’s just the nature of running those cars a lot of times.  I stick to the Micro game, they are a little bit slower and shorter track. You hope that you end up okay, but there are injuries in that as well too.”

WAS THERE SOME LEVEL OF EXCITEMENT AFTER THE TALLADEGA WIN AFTER YOU GUYS WERE ABLE TO GET IT DONE THERE?

“Yeah, I mean, I think anytime you get a win that is obviously exciting.  That is obviously what we all strive to do each and every week.  I have been good a lot, and have won a lot of races, not at restrictor plate tracks.  I have not had a lot of restrictor plate wins and lucky enough to get those wins. There are guys that are better at that style of racing than maybe me. But I still think it comes down to certain circumstances at the end, and where you are, and how it all works, and how it all happens. That is just the nature of that beast of restrictor plate racing. So, thankful to win, but isn’t a defining factor for our season.”

PRETTY FUNNY POST THIS WEEK BETWEEN YOU AND SAMANTHA.  CAN YOU GIVE SOME KIND OF CONTEXT AS TO WHAT YOU WERE UP TO?

“Yeah, you must be talking about Celebrity Game Face.  We were on that show with Kevin Hart and his wife and a couple of others, his buddies. So, we were just all playing games and stuff like that. So, just kind of unique, kind of fun.  Just thanks to the network for allowing us to be on there and being part of that.  That was really cool to have some face time with him. So yeah, check out our social….it was on E, so you got to go watch.”

CHASE PURDY HAS AS MANY TOP TENS THIS YEAR AS HE DID THE LAST TWO YEARS COMBINED WITH HIS OTHER TEAMS.  HOW HAVE YOU SEEN HIM DEVELOP OVER THE FIRST THIRD OF THE YEAR?

“Yeah, I have been excited about that.  With Chase, and Jack (Wood) and (Nick) Sanchez, they all had a shot to win Atlanta.  They were all running up front in the top three, top four. It was really cool, and I was hoping we were going to get into victory lane, but unfortunately circumstances just didn’t work out there at the end on that last lap.  Purdy has done a good job. He went to Vegas and was smooth and consistent and ran in the top 10.  Texas was a little more of a struggle where he ran 10^th to 12^th, but finished 10^th. Where Sanchez was dominating that race, leading that race.  So, there are still some things we can work on to help those guys be better and get better.  Top 10s are great, but being up front and contending for wins is what it’s all about and where he wants to be. I know he has been working hard at that. Him and Jimmy Villeneuve, they have built a good working relationship thus far. It’s exciting to see that as well as all the drivers and crew chiefs at our place. It’s going real well.”    

NASCAR CUP SERIES

DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY

WURTH 400

TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

APRIL 29, 2023

JEFF ANDREWS, PRESIDENT AND GENERAL MANAGER, HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS; BLAKE HARRIS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1; JOSH BERRY, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript: 

JEFF ANDREWS: “Obviously you know by now, Alex (Bowman) had an accident in his sprint car this week. INAUDIBLE… He has a fractured vertebrae and the timeline he’s been given is somewhere in the three to four week window before he’ll be ready return. That’s really all we know right now. Talked to him yesterday. He’s home and resting. Some pain – it comes and goes for him. But overall, he’s in good spirits and we look forward to getting him back as soon as he’s ready.”

JEFF, OBVIOUSLY THE SECOND TIME YOU’VE HAD A DRIVER INJURED THIS SEASON. I KNOW YOU SAID AT LAS VEGAS THAT DRIVERS NEED TO LIVE THEIR LIVES. BUT IS THE MOMENT WHERE THE TEAM NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEPER LOOK AT WHAT DRIVERS CAN AND CAN’T DO? 

JEFF ANDREWS: “I think from that aspect, we always discuss with them and have conversations. There’s a process that we have in place when they do want to run racing events outside of the Cup Series. That’s still in place, that was in place. For this race, we were very aware of Alex’s schedule through the season for this sprint car. We look at Chase and Alex’s situation as two different situations. This is the first extracurricular racing accident that we’ve had that’s taken one of our drivers out here for three weeks. Chase’s situation was a snowboarding kind of recreational accident. 

We’re always looking at it. I think our message is – you know, be careful. It’s difficult because that’s something Alex has a passion for. Something that he’s worked very hard to be better at and we feel like it helped him over here in the Cup Series this year. He’s obviously having the best year of his career in the Cup Series. This is a temporary setback and we look for him to come back strong. We’re always evaluating. We’re always knowledgeable in the conversations with our drivers about what they’re doing and where they’re racing outside of the Cup Series. Obviously it’s a topic of conversation for us. We’ve had discussions with our guys about it since Alex’s accident. We’ll continue to have those talks and as a group, we’ll make the best decisions.”

JOSH, IT’S YOUR SECOND OPPORTUNITY TO STEP-UP TO THE BIG LEAGUES. HOW ARE YOU FEELING RIGHT NOW, ESPECIALLY COMING INTO DOVER THIS WEEKEND?

JOSH BERRY: “Obviously, I hate the circumstances once again. Alex has been a friend to me. Like I said, it’s a difficult situation to step in again. I hate that for Alex. He’s been a friend to me over the last couple of years. You never want to see anyone injured like that. The reality of it is I feel a little bit more comfortable than where we were sitting in at Las Vegas; having a relationship with everyone at HMS and working through a handful of races with the No. 9. I’m ready to go today. We have a great opportunity in the Xfinity race today I feel like with the No. 8 car being the defending winners. We’re going to stay in the present; race these two races this weekend and see how it goes.”

THE NO. 48 CAR IS GOOD AT DOVER. JOSH, YOU’RE GOOD HERE IN XFINITY RACING. REALISTICALLY, WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT? AND BLAKE, PUTTING A DIFFERENT DRIVER IN THE CAR, CAN YOU CARRYOVER THE THINGS THAT ARE SO GOOD ABOUT THE NO. 48 AT DOVER? 

BLAKE HARRIS: “Yeah, I think all of those things this weekend. This company has a great history of success here in the No. 48 car alone. Josh, we got him in the simulator Wednesday as soon as we knew something – I mean within two hours, I think, of him knowing he was able to hop in for us. Statistically, he’s probably the best guy here. He’s only had a handful of races, but I don’t know that he’s finished worse than second here. Certainly the easiest fit to plug in. He’s got a handful of Cup races and we’re going to take the approach this week to let him get comfortable and get up to speed. Fortunately we’re going to get practice and qualifying in today, so less nervous from the standpoint of having to throw him straight in the race. 

Yeah, I think with his success and the history of the No. 48 and HMS all together, I think all of those things are the best situation we could be in with what we’ve got.”

JOSH, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THIS PARTICALLY RACE TRACK AND THE COMFORT YOU FEEL HERE IN THE NO. 48 CAR? 

JOSH BERRY: “I can’t really decipher exactly why Dover has fit me pretty well. I remember how nervous I was coming here in 2021 for the first time in the Xfinity Series with no practice or anything. It’s been a good track for me. Obviously Hendrick Motorsports has been super strong this year and they build great cars each and every week. For me, it’s just going to be about getting comfortable. Kind of like Blake said, just taking it one step at a time. We get practice and qualifying, which will be different. I think I only practiced twice in the No. 9 out of the five races, so that will be nice to kind of get that under our belt and hopefully that will accelerate the process of kind of adapting to the Next Gen at Dover. I’m confident in Blake. He’s a racer like myself. Those guys have been off to a great start to the year, so I’m sure we can have a solid day tomorrow; limit our mistakes and see where we end up.” 

JEFF, NO SECRET IN THE GARAGE THAT THERE ARE CUP TEAMS TALKING TO JOSH FOR NEXT YEAR AND SOME OF THEM AREN’T CHEVROLET TEAMS. WAS THERE ANY THOUGHT OF NOT USING JOSH BECAUSE HE MIGHT BE GOING TO ANOTHER MANUFACTURER NEXT YEAR? 

JEFF ANDREWS: “I don’t have any knowledge or anything on that. But there was never a question in our mind of who the right person to put in the No. 48 car was while Alex is out.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY INSIGHT INTO ANYTHING YOU GUYS HAVE LEARNED ABOUT THE NO. 5 CAR FROM THEIR ACCIDENT LAST WEEK? IS THERE ANYTHING YOU FEEL LIKE NASCAR CAN DO SHORT TERM OR WHAT YOU’RE DOING SHORT TERM FROM WHAT YOU SAW IN THE NO. 5 CAR AFTER THE ACCIDENT LAST WEEK? 

JEFF ANDREWS: “Yeah, so what I can tell you is that a group of us were there very early on Monday morning. That group included Kyle – he wanted to see the car and sit in the car. We went through kind of an initial evaluation of talking with NASCAR; discussing it and looking at it through the day and the days that followed that. The car went through somewhat of a disassembly process so more of it could be evaluated and looked at. Obviously you can see in the pictures there was quite a bit of damage to the door car area, specifically on the right-hand side, that’s moved significantly to the left in the vehicle. From this point, it’s just going to be the industry I think working together to really understand and figure out what we need to do to prevent things like that from happening. There certainly are things – there needs to be some short term discussions and some long term discussions, as well. NASCAR is very involved, very concerned. Had us over there multiple times and I’m sure there will be a lot more discussions in the coming weeks and months on what we do to prevent that going forward.”

DID YOU DO ANY CHANGES FOR THIS WEEK? 

JEFF ANDREWS: “There are no changes.”

JOSH, HOW DO YOU LOOK BACK AT THE LAST THREE OR FOUR YEARS OF YOUR CAREER? YOU’RE A GUY FROM SHORT-TRACK RACING AND CERTAIN THINGS HAPPENED THERE THAT DIDN’T GO SO WELL. A TRAVEL AGENT WOULD NOT BOOK THIS KIND OF A TRIP, SO HOW DO YOU LOOK AT YOUR CAREER THE LAST THREE OR FOUR YEARS WHEN HERE YOU ARE RUNNING A CUP CAR? 

JOSH BERRY: “I remember it being a lot better than you did, I feel like (laughs). I mean I would do that journey all over again if I had the opportunity. It was just a lot of fun racing short-tracks all over North Carolina and Virginia. 

Yeah, just been very fortunate to have some great opportunities over the last couple of years and, in a way, make the most of those opportunities that’s got me here today. For me, just really thankful for everybody that’s had a part in getting me here. Looking forward to this weekend and seeing what we can do in these two races.”

DO YOU TAKE PRIDE IN THE FACT THAT YOU SEEM TO BE ABLE TO DELIVER WHEN YOU GET THOSE OPPORTUNITIES? 

JOSH BERRY: “Yeah, I think so. You obviously look at the opportunity in the No. 8 a couple of years ago – it’s really what made my career. Winning at Martinsville and running well at places like here and Darlington is kind of what set me up for a full-time year I think. Ultimately, still have one full season in NASCAR in the top three series, so I still have a lot to learn and work through, but I feel like I’m proving myself that I can do this. I’m just ready for this weekend and we’re going to keep pushing forward after that.”

JOSH, YOU MADE YOUR CUP SERIES DEBUT AT DOVER A COUPLE YEARS AGO. WHAT’S MADE DOVER SPECIAL TO YOU OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS? 

JOSH BERRY: “Yeah, like I said earlier, Dover has been a good track for me for whatever reason. I don’t really know why. I think it’s a combination of JR Motorsports being really strong here and Hendrick Motorsports will be really strong here this weekend. I think having great cars makes it a lot easier. But yeah, I don’t know – I just seem to fit the place and it seems to fit my style. Making my Cup debut here a couple years ago – I know it wasn’t the dreamy ending that everybody wanted, but it was a great opportunity. Same deal – last second, thrown in the car kind of deal. 

Dover is always going to be special. I got a Monster sitting in my living room that I look at every day, so that’s always going to be pretty cool no matter what.”

BLAKE, WHAT DOES ALEX’S ABSENCE MEAN TO THIS NO. 48 TEAM RIGHT NOW? OBVIOUSLY YOU GUYS HAVE HAD A REALLY GREAT START, LEADING THE SERIES IN AVERAGE FINISHES. WITH HIM NOT BEING BEHIND THE WHEEL FOR THE NEXT THREE WEEKS AT LEAST, WHAT IMPACT DOES THAT HAVE ON THIS NO. 48 TEAM? 

BLAKE HARRIS: “I think this year so far, we’ve done a god job of just reacting with whatever has been thrown at us. This will just be another thing that we look back on and we’ll react accordingly. We’ve got full support of Alex. We want him to get well. As soon as he’s healthy and ready to come back, we’ll plug him back in and keep digging. From the standpoint of all those things and the momentum that we’ve had, I don’t look at that as being any different than what we’ve had. We show up every week with the plan to win races. We’re going to have to win races to get in the Playoffs. If we were leading points, we’re planning on winning races. So when he gets back, we’ll have to win races and we’ll get ourselves in a good position to make a run at the title. I don’t see that we look at it as anything different than just another bump in the road here that we’ve got to get across. We’ll go do the best that we can here for Josh, the No. 48 team and Hendrick Motorsports the next few weeks, and when he’s back and ready, we’ll be ready too.”

THIS IS NOT YOUR FIRST TIME IN THE CUP CAR THIS YEAR, BUT IT WILL BE YOUR FIRST TIME WITH THE NO. 48 TEAM. OBVIOUSLY THERE WILL BE SOME DIFFERENCES BETWEEN THE NO. 9 AND THE NO. 48. DO YOU FEEL LIKE ALL THE EXTRA RACES WILL COME HANDY OR IS IT GOING TO BE THAT LEARNING EXPERIENCE ALL OVER AGAIN WITH ADJUSTING TO A NEW TEAM? 

JOSH BERRY: “No, I definitely feel like I’m in a lot better place going into this – having some experience in the Next Gen and having a relationship with everybody at Hendrick Motorsports from the opportunity with the No. 9. 

The way I look at it is – ultimately, this is Alex’s race team and my job in this situation is to just try and keep these guys going, prepared, happy and just ready to rock n’ roll whenever Alex gets back. I think that was the mentality we took with the No. 9 and obviously they came back and hit the ground running. That to me, I think that shows a little bit of me in that moment of keeping the morale and everything up high. Obviously these guys are off to a great start of the season and they are going to be championship contenders throughout the year. My job is not come in here and win every race. My job is to adapt and do the best I can and just keep everything pulling in the right direction. I feel like we were able to do that with the No. 9. Had some good results along the way and hopefully we can do that again in the No. 48.”

JOSH, KNOWING WHAT YOU DID IN THE NO. 9 CAR, HOW DO YOUR OWN PERSONAL GOALS AND EXPECTATIONS CHANGE NOW THAT YOU HAVE ANOTHER OPPORTUNITY WITH THIS ORGANIZATION? 

JOSH BERRY: “I think it’s hard to have too high of expectations when you step in this, right. Cup racing is hard. These guys are great; they’re the best of the best in the world racing here at these tracks. I don’t think it’s really fair for me to come in and have really high expectations. I think my expectations are of myself, which is to give the best effort I can each and every week to be prepared to drive the race car and do the best job I can in the race car to limit my mistakes and be there at the end of the race. It reminds me a lot of my opportunity in 2021 with no practice and qualifying. We kind of wouldn’t even worry about the first stage, really. We would just adapt to the car and try to use the second-half of the race to use strategy or whatever we could to get upfront and get the result that we wanted. I think it’s a similar aspect – learning this new car and a new team. These guys are great. That’s what I learned the first time around. These guys are amazing to work with and they’re super, super smart, so I think we can hold our own.”

JOSH, FROM THE FIRST TIME YOU RAN DOUBLE DUTY FROM WHEN YOU FILLED IN FOR CHASE TO NOW, HOW HAS YOUR WEEKLY PROCESS CHANGED IN TERMS OF WHERE YOU FOCUS YOUR TIME, YOUR EFFORT, YOUR MIND, TO ENSURE YOU DO YOUR BEST FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS AND JR MOTORSPORTS ISN’T EFFECTED IN THAT PROCESS? 

JOSH BERRY: “Yeah, you know obviously in the first go around a couple years back, it was COVID-related and kind of last second, so it was really little to no preparation. I remember back on these opportunities; I would say I was notified maybe a day before we left. No time to really prepare for much. Working through the last month – yeah, I mean it’s been a lot to manage. Obviously my primary focus is running for the Xfinity Series championship with my No. 8 team, but I tried to be present as much as I could with everything at Hendrick Motorsports and not leave anything on the table that I felt like I could have done to be better prepared and I think we did that. Really, you can only do so much in a week. It was definitely a challenge trying to manage all of that, but it’s been really important to me to be present with those guys, but also stay really present and involved with the No. 8 team and make sure those guys don’t feel like we’re leaving anything on the table there either.”

JEFF, HOW MUCH DOES THE FACT THAT THERE’S ONLY 20 MINUTES OF PRACTICE WEIGH INTO THE FACT OF LETTING DRIVERS DO OTHER THINGS – THE FACT THAT THEY’RE NOT ON THE TRACK AS MUCH AS THEY USED TO BE IN THE PAST, AND WHAT DO YOU FEEL LIKE THEY GET BY RACING EITHER SPRINT CARS, DIRT LATE MODELS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT, THAT THEY CAN’T GET EITHER IN A SIMULATOR OR DOING SOMETHING ELSE? 

JEFF ANDREWS: “I think, first of all, the relationship between the race track and a simulator – I’ve never sat in one, but I think any of our guys will tell you that it’s completely different. I mean the simulator is close, specific to this series and the cars they’re driving and the racing in general. Some of our guys just enjoy that involvement – that hand-eye coordination and those continued reps, whether it be in the off-season or through the regular season. They’ll tell you it’s something that helps them. From our perspective, I think we have to evaluate; we have to look at it and we have to understand what the right balance is. We certainly don’t want to tell them ‘no’ to something we feel like would help them here on Sunday. As a company, we’ll just continue to look at it, continue to talk to our guys and make sure we’re making the right decisions together. Make sure they’re in the right race cars, good race cars, safe race cars. From there, as I said before, our primary focus right now is on Alex. We miss him here this weekend. We want him to get well and get back here soon. We’re very fortunate to have someone like Josh – someone of his caliber – to be here to fill-in.”

CLARIFICATION ON SOMETHING YOU SAID EARLIER – WHEN YOU TALKED TO THE DRIVERS, WAS THERE A CONVERSATION THAT CLARIFIED HOW YOU ALL FEEL? 

JEFF ANDREWS: “Whenever our drivers come forward with schedules for extracurricular racing and things that they’re going to do – whether it be the Chili Bowl in the off-season, William has been running a late model and of course Kyle with his sprint car series – those schedules are reviewed. The message from Mr. Hendrick is that – I don’t want to stop those things, but be careful. Understand what the most important thing is and the most important thing for Hendrick Motorsports is the results here on Sunday. So we’ll always keep that at the top of the list. Again, we may take a look at this. If this happens again, we’ll have to. But for right now, there’s not going to be any chances to our policy, other than just be aware. The most important thing is to results on Sunday in the Cup Series.” 

WHEN THE SCHEDULE IS REVIEWED, DO YOU EVER SAY – WE WISH YOU WOULDN’T DO THAT ONE.. IT’S AT THAT TRACK AND IT’S TOO DANGEROUS? DO YOU EVER SAY ‘NO’ OR MAINLY YOU’RE ALLOWED TO DO THIS? 

JEFF ANDREWS: “It goes through a review process if there’s something added – if we don’t have a knowledge of the track’s safety or things like that. It’s more we want to make sure the sponsors are OK with it. In Alex’s case, we want to make sure Blake and the team is OK with it; it fits the weekly schedule and it doesn’t interfere with something that’s going to effect the results here on Sunday.”

Gravel becomes 12th to earn 80 World of Outlaws victoriesGRANITE CITY, IL (April 28, 2023) – After an early season stretch of dominance that saw him claim three of the first five World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car races, David Gravel’s results had slipped in recent weeks.The sub-par finishes were never a matter of performance. A slight mistake at U.S. 36 Raceway led to a DNF. Contact with a competitor in Pevely turned a potential win into a ninth. Through it all, the Big Game Motorsports #2 continued to be one of the fastest cars on track.On Friday night, Gravel and his team put a full night together to collect their Series-leading fourth triumph of the season after a mid-race pass for the lead as the World of Outlaws returned to Tri-City Speedway for the first time in 15 years. With the victory, Gravel upped his career total with The Greatest Show on Dirt to 80 – becoming only the 12th to reach that mark. The Illinois oval became the 42nd different track he’s visited Victory Lane at with the World of Outlaws.In the bigger picture, Gravel also moved up to second in points – only 12 behind leader Carson Macedo. Perhaps most importantly, celebrating in Victory Lane helped Gravel forget about the recent troubles and bring to mind what he and the Big Game team are capable of when everything operates smoothly as they pursue a title.“We’ve been up front all year,” Gravel said. “I screwed up at U.S. 36, and then we had stuff happen at Volusia and Pevely, but this car has been fast all year… We’ve been in the Dash so many of the nights. Even if we’re not in the Dash, we battle to the front… It’s been a fun year. We’ve had three nights to throw away already, but if we keep running like we are, it’ll take care of itself.”While Gravel emerged as the winner, it was Logan Schuchart who controlled the early portion of the race. The driver of the Shark Racing #1S won the night’s Toyota Racing Dash to earn the pole of the NOS Energy Drink Feature. When the green flag flew, it was Schuchart who paced the field with Sheldon Haudenschild in tow.The runner-up spot was gifted to Gravel on lap eight when Haudenschild tapped the Turn 1 wall on corner entry and couldn’t get his car pulled away. The contact sent the NOS Energy Drink #17 upside down. Despite sustaining heavy damage, the Stenhouse Jr./Marshall Racing crew, with the help of others, was able to make repairs and send Haudenschild back out.A quick red flag on the ensuing restart caused the next attempt to be single file and set up what wound up being the race’s longest green flag run.Schuchart charged ahead when the green flag came about, but Gravel stayed not too far behind. As Schuchart stuck with the low line around the entire three-eighths mile, Gravel began to search. Eventually, the Watertown, CT native found speed on the cushion in Turns 1 and 2 and quickly ran down Schuchart.A few laps prior to halfway, Gravel powered down the backstretch with a massive run and looked to Schuchart’s inside entering Turn 3 but didn’t have the room to make it stick. A few quick circuits later and Gravel refused to be denied. With the same type of run down the back straightaway, Gravel roared alongside the Shark Racing machine and held his ground. Schuchart slipped up in the set of corners, and Gravel hit the moisture on the exit perfectly to secure the top spot.“Yeah I just didn’t want to blow it and get inside him (Schuchart) and show him I was running the top and getting big runs on him,” Gravel explained. “Luckily, it all worked out. I was able to get by him down the backstretch He kind of really wasn’t running the bottom, kind of running low then slipping up where I was kind of getting that moisture line. That line was getting thinner and thinner as the race went on. It got tricky, so I had to get my wing back.“I was really ginger going into (Turn) one. I didn’t want to do what Sheldon did. It’s so easy to do that. There’s a shadow there. The curb is against the wall, so I was kind of conservative on entrance, but I tried to have a lot of corner speed through the center and exit and it worked out.”Once he grabbed the lead, Gravel began to stretch the advantage in traffic – slicing through lappers while those behind them struggled to get through.As the laps waned, fifth-starting Parker Price-Miller began to run down the top two while running the top all around the racetrack. With less than five laps remaining, “The Law Firm” threw a slider on Schuchart to take over the second spot.Even with PPM’s late speed, there was no time to catch Gravel as the 30 year old cruised to the checkered flag with more than a two second advantage for his fourth win in 14 races. The only thing that could’ve made the celebration sweeter is if he’d reached the 80 win mark prior to four time and defending champion – Brad Sweet, who earned his 80th last month.“Me and Brad Sweet kind of have the same stats. We were both at 79, and I wanted to beat him to 80, but he’s a lot older than me, so I’ve got more time,” Gravel said with a smile.Holding on for a popular second place effort was Kokomo, IN’s Parker Price-Miller. It was his first World of Outlaws podium of the year and the eighth of his career. The crowd greeted him with nearly a winner’s applause for his efforts when he emerged from the car.“Really happy to have a good run. We kind of struggled in the beginning,” Price-Miller said. “I didn’t want to see that last caution. We were kind of tight, but that’s how it fell. Maybe we needed one more yellow, but David looked really good and it’s hard to pass guys. Happy with a second, but it’s also like we were so close to getting another win. We’ll take it.”Rounding out the podium was the night’s pole sitter and leader of the first 15 laps, Logan Schuchart. It marked the Hanover, PA native’s second straight top three as he continues to build momentum. Schuchart’s average finish in the last four races is a strong 4.25 as he looks to continuing climbing toward the points lead.“You always like to win. That’s the goal, but it’s nice to get a podium,” Schuchart said. “The more the race went on the more I felt like we were struggling, just kind of hanging on and playing defense a little bit. I knew Parker was back there, so I tried to get the wing pulled back… We just missed it a little bit there in the Feature. I didn’t expect it to slick off that much.”UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, IN tomorrow (April 29). For tickets, call (812) 768-6025.If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the action on DIRTVision.RESULTS:A Feature (30 Laps): 1. 2-David Gravel[3]; 2. 9P-Parker Price Miller[5]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 4. 41-Carson Macedo[6]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet[4]; 6. 11-Michael Kofoid[18]; 7. 71-Cory Eliason[8]; 8. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[10]; 9. 83-James McFadden[13]; 10. 21H-Brady Bacon[15]; 11. 24-Rico Abreu[11]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[20]; 13. 39M-Anthony Macri[12]; 14. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[17]; 15. 8-Aaron Reutzel[7]; 16. 51B-Joe B Miller[23]; 17. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 18. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[25]; 19. 7S-Robbie Price[9]; 20. 21-Brian Brown[19]; 21. 5-Spencer Bayston[21]; 22. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[16]; 23. 5T-Ryan Timms[22]; 24. 9R-Chase Randall[14]; 25. 23B-Brian Bell[24]

CONCORD, N.C. (April 28, 2023) – Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist Chevrolet dragster team were consistent Friday at the Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway to finish the night in the provisional No. 2 spot. Robert Hight has the Flav-R-Pac / Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevy Camaro SS in the No. 3 spot while Brittany Force has the Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy dragster sitting No. 7 and John Force’s BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevy Camaro SS is No. 10. Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / RMT team were consistent through qualifying during day one of the Four-Wide Nationals. Prock would open things up with a clean pass in the first session going 3.801 seconds at 324.05 mph. It would be there second run at 3.707 and 328.70 that would put them in the No. 2 spot and earn them two bonus qualifying points. “It was a great healthy day for the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team today. My team was confident, and they showed up,” Prock said. “We needed a day like today, two solid runs, sitting in the top half, and it’s going to set us up for a strong weekend. Feels good to have my hotrod back.” Robert Hight handled the Flav-R-Pac / Cornwell Tools / AAA Chevrolet Camaro SS to the only 330 mph run in Funny Car’s first qualifying session. Off the trailer Hight would run an impressive 3.932-second pass at 330.31 mph to lead the first session and follow it up with a 3.894 pass at 330.23 mph to be third quickest of the second session and end up in the No. 3 spot. Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac dragster shut off almost immediately in her first qualifying try to coast to a 9.775-second pass at 71.12 mph. The team would improve in their second pass with a solid 3.730 run at 328.70 to move into the No. 7 spot. John Force and the BlueDEF Chevy, running a new body, looked strong early on their first run but would slow mid-track for only a 4.966-second pass at 156.48 mph. His Chevy Camaro would have more trouble in the night session crossing the finish line at only 9.055 and 77.24. The Circle K NHRA Four-Wide Nationals at zMAX Dragway continues with qualifying Saturday at 1:15 and 4:35 p.m. Sunday eliminations are slated to begin at noon. Television coverage of the event continues with a second qualifying show Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations will begin on FS1 Sunday at 6:00 p.m. ET. -30-

AUSTIN PROCK, 27, Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist DragsterQualifying:2nd; 3.707-seconds; 328.70 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+2 (second quickest Q2)BRITTANY FORCE, 36, Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy DragsterQualifying:7th; 3.730-seconds; 328.70 mphBonus Qualifying Points:0 JOHN FORCE, 73, BlueDEF PLATINUM Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:13th; 4.966-seconds; 156.48 mphBonus Qualifying Points: 0ROBERT HIGHT, 53, Flav-R-Pac Chevy Camaro SSQualifying:3rd; 3.894-seconds; 330.23 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+4 (quickest Q1, third quickest Q2)

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES CHILDREN’S OF ALABAMA INDY GRAND PRIX BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE REPORT APRIL 28, 2023 TEAM CHEVY TOPS FIRST PRACTICE AT BARBER MOTORSPORTS PARK Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske captured led the Children’s of Alabama Indy Grand Prix first practice with his lap of 1:06.6610.Will Power of Team Penske took the checkered flag for first practice third at Barber Motorsports Park with his late session lap of 1:06.8985, a difference of 0.2375 behind teammate McLaughlin.Team Chevy had four cars in the top-10 of the Friday afternoon practice session. TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER1st       Scott McLaughlin3rd      Will Power7th      Josef Newgarden8th      Pato O’Ward WHAT THEY’RE SAYING:Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:“The car is in the window, and I’m happy with the balance. There are obviously a few changes that we have to make for it to be a little bit better, but we’re in a good spot to have a good day tomorrow and Sunday.” Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:“Not super happy with today. The traffic was an issue, but I don’t think we have a top-six car right now. There’s some stuff to work on, but I’m not too worried about it. We just have to get the balance a bit more in the window and we should be good.” Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:“That’s a good start to the weekend. There were too many cars out there, honestly, but everyone is dealing with it. I feel like we have a great car to have a positive weekend and, hopefully, we can rebound from what’s been a difficult last two events.” Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:“Pretty okay. Finished P14. The tires are a little bit different this year, so we’re trying to find our way around those a little bit. So far, so good. Obviously, more things to fine-tune to help out for tomorrow. We’re doing quite a bit of data. I think tomorrow will be alright. Just need to improve in a couple of areas. All smiles, moving forward.” SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 GOOD RANCHERS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – First Practice Press Conference Transcript:SCOTT, NICE START TO THE WEEKEND FOR YOU GUYS.“Yeah, thanks. Really good day. I feel like we had a really good car. Good Ranchers the first time on the car this weekend. Starting with a P1 is obviously good. It’s practice. For everyone to have a go on blacks, then reds, everyone is showing their cards a little bit. I feel good. I feel like my road course package is really strong. We won Portland, and have been really strong here, in road courses in the past, even at Laguna. I think first road course of the year, so really excited to be back on one.” IS THERE SOMETHING INNATE ABOUT ROAD COURSES THAT FITS YOUR DRIVING STYLE, FEELS NATURAL TO YOU HERE?“I think maybe just there’s a little bit less going on. Like, there’s a lot going on, don’t get me wrong. I think from bumps, standpoints of just how physical these cars are, probably on the lesser side. This place is hard on the neck because of the high speed. I really put Barber down to it’s one of the most committed tracks I’ve ever driven on. From a perspective of like racing Supercars at Bathurst, the commitment, laps there, this is a similar level in terms of committing to a lap, trusting what you have underneath you, even if you don’t understand what’s underneath you as well, which is the beauty of INDYCAR. Yeah, very happy with it. Our test translated really nicely. I feel comfortable. But there’s a lot of laps left to go.” NOW THAT YOU’RE A BIG TV STAR IN AMERICA, HOW NICE IS IT TO BACK THAT UP WITH A P1?“My wife is not here this weekend. She said, I’ll come if you get pole. So that’s my goal. I really like having my wife at the races. There’s no pressure there. But look, I think it’s just been fantastic, the doco. Obviously, we had me and Josef, Marcus, a pretty big part of that first episode. That’s a lot of pressure. From what I read online, everyone has been pretty welcome to it, thought it was great. I think what’s really cool about the doco is you could watch this racing for years and you understand everything, it kept you captivated. I thought at one place last night I was going to win the race again, but I didn’t. Then you have the normal fan that we’re really trying to target. It really shone a really good light on INDYCAR. I’m sure it’s going to be better and better. They’re filming everything right now. Really excited for what’s ahead for INDYCAR and can’t thank Roger and the team enough for really working hard on this. I think it’s a big step for INDYCAR.” SCOTT, OBVIOUSLY YOU’RE AT THE TOP OF THE CHART. HOW DID THE STOPPAGES AFFECT YOU TODAY?“It’s hard because this track is, like I said before, high commitment, you need confidence. Regardless, if I’ve done a heap of laps here in testing or not, it’s all about flow, getting into a rhythm. It’s a bit like playing a guitar or drums, whatever, you want to get into a rhythm of hitting your laps, learning how long the tires take to warm up. It’s hard when they stop and start like that. I was a bit worried there in the middle session. I thought we left our run too late. We did know our car was going to be reasonable, we just wanted to make sure we used the track at the right time. Thankfully came through. It’s tough. I think it would be harder if we hadn’t done the test day here about a month ago.” OFF OF WHAT WE SAW LAST NIGHT, HOW DIFFICULT IS IT WITH THE MONTH OF MAY COMING UP TO NOT OVERLOOK THIS RACE GIVEN WHAT’S COMING UP?“This race, it’s very important I think for me especially. At the end of the day we’re showing good speed, but we haven’t capitalized. Our bad races haven’t been bad, bad. We have been edging on a top 10 if not a top 10. I really want to win this race. It would really set us up well for the month, give us a lot of confidence. Not that we’re lacking any, but it would be a nice little pep. I always circle this one on the calendar as a very important one. Get out of here with some solid points and look to what is going to be a pretty long month of May.” WHICH GOOD RANCHERS BOX DO YOU RECOMMEND?“I get custom. I have a T-bone, New York strip. Got a little bit of chicken as well. I have to watch my weight. I’m on the heavier side of drivers. You can use my code ‘Scott’ and you can get 25% off. It’s on the interweb, yeah.” LOOKING FORWARD TO QUALIFYING TOMORROW. ONE LAP ON THE REDS, MAYBE TWO?“I don’t know. Depends on temps. I think you’ll be wanting to make sure your tires are probably ready for that second lap. If you go a third, I think you might just get it. It will really depend on the competitiveness of the group as well in qualifying.” I’VE BEEN READING A LOT ABOUT THE NEW WIND DEFLECTOR THERE IS FOR THE RAIN, IF THERE’S A RAIN SITUATION. CAN YOU TELL US ANYTHING ABOUT THAT AT ALL?“I can’t really because I haven’t really run with it. The one thing that’s really good about INDYCAR is they learn from what we’ve learned in the past. Indy GP was our last wet race. We learned we need to deflect some water off the screen. That’s what it’s ultimately going to do. I think we’re going to be constantly learning in that process. It’s a good step. I think it’s going to help. That’s optional, I think. I don’t know enough of it until we get into the wet race. I am sure the studies, the CAD drawings and everything they’ve done in the wind tunnels and whatnot, they’ll be all over it, it will be an improvement. Constantly evolving the screen, a new thing each time, but we’ll see.” YOU’VE TALKED ABOUT THE COMMITMENT YOU NEED THIS WEEKEND. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT HOW HARD IT’S GOING TO BE TO KEEP YOUR CONCENTRATION ACROSS THE WHOLE RACE? LOOKED A BIT HAIRY OUT THERE A COUPLE TIMES.“That’s what it is at this track, so many different corners, high-speed stuff, then you have the seven, eight, nine section where you have to use a lot of commitment over curbs and then slow it down. It’s very hard physically on the body. Probably one of the hardest in terms of that. So, fitness-wise you got to be right. Yeah, it depends. If it turns into a fuel race, which it has in the last few years, you’ve got to think about saving fuel but trying to maximize speed as well. There’s a lot to think about around this track. But definitely at the end of Sunday night, you’re mentally drained probably more so than physically, which you are physically as well. It’s pretty crazy. I love racing here, I really do. I think it is one of the best road courses on the calendar. “ HOW DO YOU APPROACH NEXT PRACTICE SESSION WHEN YOU HAVE A FAST CAR? DO YOU GO FOR CHANGES? DO YOU STAY THE WAY IT IS?“Yeah, that’s a good question. You got to have a bit of a balance on how far you go with the car. But I think the best thing you learn in this session is you have a really good base. You can experiment with a few things. But then ultimately if it doesn’t work, you know you can go back to this race car and be there or abouts. But we’ll make calculated decisions going off of what we learnt from the test as well, where we think the track is going to be. Hopefully, we put it in the sweet spot. We’re going to have to improve. That’s INDYCAR. Overnight, people will find 10ths, half seconds. We have to work hard and make sure we come out flying tomorrow.”

No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R earns highest starting spot; No. 3 Cadillac surprises fieldSTAVELOT, Belgium (April 28, 2023) — The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R earned the highest qualifying position of its maiden FIA World Endurance Championship season and its sister No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R was the surprise of the 13-car Hypercar field during the 15-minute session for the Six Hours of Spa. Earl Bamber negotiated the tricky 7.004km (4.35-mile), 20-turn Spa-Francorchamps circuit on a damp and chilly afternoon to record a best lap of 2 minutes, 01.043 seconds – only two-tenths off the lap time of the pole-winning effort of the No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing – to claim the outside of Row 2 for the third round of the championship.The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R had previously qualified fifth at Sebring and eighth at Portugal and has advanced more positions (five) that any other Hypercar in the two races. The No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, co-driven by Alex Lynn and Richard Westbrook, was also second quick in the morning free practice session. The No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R, making its WEC debut this weekend, qualified fifth with Sebastien Bourdais behind the wheel with a best lap of 2:02.138. Bourdais and co-drivers Renger van der Zande and Jack Aitken had only put 35 laps on the brand-new racecar in the three free practice sessions.

The Six Hours of Spa is scheduled for 6:45 a.m. ET / 12:45 p.m. Central European time Saturday. MotorTrend and MotorTrend Plus will provide both live television and streaming coverage in the U.S.. Radio Le Mans will stream audio coverage of the race. Live streaming is also available through a subscription on the FIA WEC app. Additionally, a one-of-a-kind viewing experience is available via the cockpit camera in the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R. WATCH

No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.REarl Bamber, Alex Lynn, Richard WestbrookBamber drove in the 15-minute qualifying session (qualified fourth with lap of 2 minutes, 01.043 seconds; seven total laps): “We’ve been working and working, and I think today was really good with P2 in practice three and not far off the pole. To be honest, we’re building more and more and that is what this team is all about. Again today, two-tenths from pole, now we start to show what we can do. It’s the hard work of the guys between Portugal and now, and we’re not going to stop until we get there.” No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.RSebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande, Jack AitkenBourdais drove in the 15-minute qualifying session (qualified fifth with lap of 2 minutes, 2.138 seconds; six total laps): “Obviously, not having any clue of what the balance was going to be, not having actually run that tire before, I think we can be pretty happy with the result. We’ll take a good look at the data and try to make it good for the long runs.”