NASCAR CUP SERIESNASCAR ALL-STAR RACE TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTJUNE 9, 2021
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 ANDY’S FROZEN CUSTARD CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Highlights Transcript: LOOKING AHEAD TO NASHVILLE – YOU’VE WON THERE IN A TRUCK AND YOU’VE RAN THERE A FEW TIMES. WHAT KIND OF MEMORIES STAND OUT, WHETHER IT’S TRUCK OR XFINITY, OR I’M GUESSING YOU DID A GOOD NUMBER OF TEST SESSIONS THERE? WHEN YOU THINK OF NASHVILLE, WHAT ARE SOME OF THE MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES THAT COME BACK TO YOU? “Nashville (Superspeedway) kind of kicked off my Cup career. One of my first, full-blown Cup tests was Nashville, leading into that season. We got to go test with the team; had a good time. We went there with the Trucks and finished third there with KHI. We had fun at Nashville. It was a good track for me. We kind of found something in the last session of practice in Trucks and it carried me through the weekend. We were able to be fast and competitive.”
“I’m looking forward to going back. I always felt like if we got a shot in the Cup car that it would be a good track for us. I can’t wait. I haven’t done much sim work on it yet, but leading into next week, we’ll definitely be grinding it out and see what we can learn.”
YOU SAID ONE OF YOUR FIRST CUP TESTS WAS AT NASHVILLE? WHAT DID THAT MEAN FOR YOU AT THAT POINT IN YOUR CAREER?“It was exciting, getting to go have my time to be in the Cup Series and getting the time with the team. Obviously, they were Kevin Harvick’s team and then we kind of jumped into that season. I was the new guy, so getting to hang out with the guys and just be a part of it. It was a fun time, obviously starting off my Cup career. I just remember going there, testing, and just trying things. We didn’t get to race there, but it was cool just to go through and kind of get ready for a practice session. But it was also like a team-building, fun time because after the test, I think we went out downtown Nashville and had a really good time. The next day was not as productive as the first day.”
DO YOU KNOW THE RULES FOR THE ALL-STAR RACE? ARE YOU GOING TO TRY AND LEARN THE RULES, OR ARE YOU JUST GOING TO TELL YOUR CREW CHIEF TO TELL YOU WHAT TO DO?“Yeah, I haven’t even looked into it. I went through my sim session today, just trying to make the car drives as good as possible on the simulator. The one thing I did work on that was kind of different – I know there’s a $100,000 reward for the fastest pit stop, and that includes yellow line to yellow line. So, I have to do my part to help our pit crew have that opportunity, as well.”
“As far as the inversion and all the different starting positions, I think I’ll just leave that up to Justin (Alexander, crew chief) and the guys to help me out with that. I know we’re starting fifth and we’ll just take it from there. I think it’s a 100-lap race and a couple different cautions and resets throughout. So, I guess the most average finishes play into it and speed. We’ll just make it work.”
WHAT DID THE SIMULATOR TELL YOU ON HOW THE 510 HORSEPOWER WILL BE DIFFERENT THAN 550?“I didn’t feel a huge difference. I think everybody’s going to try and run wide-open. It’s going to be hot; it’s 90 degrees and you’re trying to run wide-open. So, people will be trying to trim their car out. I still think we’ll get them where they’re edgy for the speed purpose of things. Turns one and two are not the most ideal corners, so you’re going to be balancing – do you want to be able to easily run wide-open or have more speed trimmed-out and make turns one and two more difficult? Turns three and four are pretty self-explanatory, but one and two can get difficult. I still think there’s going to be handling involved. We’ll be able to adjust that too, I think, with the way the stops are built. The only one you can really lose on is the one at the end, I think.”
“We’ll be able to adjust a little bit. If you start aggressive and you don’t feel like that’s the right direction, you might be able to tighten your car up or do something to make the car drive a little better. Sometimes we don’t want to adjust the car because it slows the pit stops down. We’ll have a little more time to adjust and make the car drive a little different if you’re struggling with the something.”
THE FACT YOU GUYS HAVE TO HIT THE ROAD FOR THE ALL-STAR RACE, AS OPPOSED TO BEING HOME FOR THE TRADITIONAL TWO WEEKS IT USED TO BE, DO YOU PREFER THE OLD TWO WEEKS AT HOME OPTION AND RUN TWO RACES AT CHARLOTTE?“It’s definitely nice being at home; you can’t knock being at home. I like that the All-Star race moves around. Maybe we can move the All-Star race around in North Carolina. We’ve got some other short tracks around here; Rockingham, North Wilkesboro, a lot of those places could get cleaned up and go for a fun All-Star weekend. Some of these old short tracks – I think NASCAR needs to go to more short tracks. I see that we’re going to more road course races. I’m OK with that, but I think we could do probably three to four road course races and add three short tracks, instead of adding road course races. That’s just my opinion. I think it’s more fun to watch, personally.”
YOUR THROUGHTS ABOUT GOING TO TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY FOR THIS RACE.“We won Texas (Motor Speedway) last year, so going to Texas for the All-Star race, we’re pretty confident. We feel like we have it setup that if we get in the right place on the track, that we can win with. The confidence is high and the chance to win a million dollars, you don’t get that very often. We’re locked in the race and we’re headed down there, we might as well take some money home after the trip. I’m looking forward to it. We’re going down there for one reason and that’s to win a million dollars. That’s pretty cool. You don’t get those opportunities very often and it’s a track that we’ve won at.”
REGARDING NASHVILLE, IT’S INTERSTING THERE HASN’T BEEN A CUP RACE, BUT CUP TEAMS HAVE TESTED AND WORE THAT PLACE OUT, AND THERE’S A FEW PEOPLE WITH A NOTEBOOK. WHAT KIND OF RACE DO YOU ANTICIPATE AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY?“I talked to Kurt (Busch) because I think he did the NASCAR test for Chevrolet. He was a bit concerned about tires; being able to last just because the concrete had some edges that it had created over the years from just not being raced on. The edges weren’t really knocked down, kind of like when we got to Dover and Bristol.. (inaudible). Where Nashville seemed to be tough on tires when they were testing. Looking forward to seeing when we all get out there and all that rubber gets laid down. I’m assuming it’s going to lay a ton of rubber down after the practice sessions, so it could change. But I think what’s cool and what I enjoyed about Nashville is people fought for that bottom line and you really had to be disciplined and not miss your exit leaving the corner at Nashville. The car that rotated the most was pretty good.”
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s a good track, like I said, for us in the past. I did get to test there a long time ago. We’ll look at some of the notes. I’ve already looked at my Truck stuff. I think we have the Xfinity notes, as well.”
SEEING THE POWER THAT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAS PICKED UP, HAS IT BEEN A MUTUAL SITUATION WHERE YOU’VE BOTH BEEN BENEFITTING FROM THE ADVANCES THAT THEY’RE MAKING RIGHT NOW? “Yeah, I think Chevrolet as a whole is working better together than they ever have in the past. Obviously, it’s good to see Hendrick (Motorsports) running well.”
“As far as from an engine standpoint, I know it’s good to see the ECR power running well each and every weekend. The group that Chevrolet has created and Rick (Hendrick), himself, has been really adamant in helping us with whatever we need. So, it’s been nice working with all the teams, especially Rick and all the guys at Hendrick. I think it’s only going to make us better in the future working together and especially with the Next Gen car. We’re just doing everything we can to keep Chevrolet out front.”
DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE A LITTLE BIT OF A LEG UP SINCE ERIC WARREN HAS TAKEN OVER THE PROGRAM? “No – Eric (Warren) is fair, you know what I mean. He doesn’t do that. Eric is like my second dad; yes, we have a great relationship. But he’s just trying to make Chevrolet, as a whole, the best that he can. He’s doing a good job of it. I think you’ve obviously seen it. He won’t take credit for it, but I think he has done a lot already to get Chevy moving in the right direction and really building towards the future. I think the stuff that he has planned for Chevrolet will really shine the further we go as a group. He really wants us working together as much as we can. So, I’m pumped about that. He pushes us all, so it’s nice.”
YOU’RE THOUGHTS ON HOW YOUR TEAM IS PERFORMING? YOU’RE 12TH IN THE STANDINGS AND LOOK PRETTY SOLID. THE SPEED IS THERE. JUST ASSESS WHERE THIS TEAM IS AT AS WE GO INTO THE ALL-STAR RACE AND JUST 10 RACES TO GO IN THE REGULAR SEASON? “I’m very excited about where we’re at. Obviously, points-wise, it’s a good position. You always want more. One win changes how you feel about things; one win for you or someone else. I feel like we’ve competed well; we’ve got speed. The last two weeks, we’ve overcome adversity that over the past couple years, if we had some of the things happen that we’ve had the last two weeks happen to us, we would not have recovered like we were able to. Charlotte was really a high-point. I feel like we had a car capable of running inside the top-three. I know that Kyle (Larson), Chase (Elliott) and all the Hendrick Motorsports guys were really good, but we showed really good lap times. If you go back and look at that, we were making a lot of passes. We lost a pit crew member early in the week and had gone with some fresh faces on the team, and they did a good job to get us through it. We were able to have a car fast enough to overcome losing track position.”
“Then we went to Sonoma – it actually wasn’t an alternator problem; it was just a wire that was left loose. We had to keep changing batteries because we were losing voltage. On a road course, where typically I haven’t been that great, but we’ve really developed this year a lot. I think the 24-hour race and just getting more road course experience has been good for me, and I’ve got some confidence now going to these road course races that I compete and putting a lot of effort in. So, to come back and finish 13th at Sonoma from the tail that last restart: we started dead last in the last stage – to get back to 13th, I thought that was pretty special. I’m pumped about what we have going on right now as a group and we’ll just keep plugging along. I think that some of these things, stuff that doesn’t happen very often, like the alternator stuff and we have our full pit crew back this weekend, I think we can really go out there and light it up the next couple of weeks.”
A LOT HAS BEEN MADE THIS YEAR ABOUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HAVING ALL FOUR CARS BEING CONTENDERS. YOU GUYS AT RCR ARE THE SAME; YOU AND TYLER (REDDICK) ARE NOT FAR OFF FROM EACH OTHER. HOW GOOD HAS THAT BEEN FOR THE COMPANY TO HAVE TWO CONSISTENT PLAYOFF-CONTENDING CARS?“I think it’s good. Tyler (Reddick) and I both push each other. We’re both competitive and we both bring something I think a little different to the table, so it’s a good match, as far as teammates go. We’ll just keep pushing. The teams are working well together. Daniel Suarez and the No. 43 (Erik Jones) – I think all those guys are showing speed at different times in the year and it’s been good to see that out of our camp.” 

Inside Line Promotions – SAUK RAPIDS, Minn. (June 9, 2021) – Dominic Scelzi enjoyed a fast race car last weekend when he made his debut of driving for Mark Dobmeier.

Scelzi kicked off a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series doubleheader on Friday at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, N.D., during the Gerdau Presents the 1^st Leg of the Northern Tour.

“We qualified 11^th the first night,” he said. “It was the first time we got to hit the track at speed with hot laps being greasy. I felt good in the car and we knew what to do to make it better. Then we got rained out, which was a bummer.”

Scelzi ventured to Granite City Motor Park in Sauk Rapids, Minn., on Saturday for the GMC Select Dealers of Minnesota Presents the World of Outlaws. He qualified fourth quickest to begin his debut at the dirt track. That lined him up on the outside of the front row of a heat race.

“We were challenging for the lead and ended up taking the lead in the heat,” he said. “All of a sudden we really, really fell off. We came in and found out the right rear bleeder wasn’t turned on so that was an error on our part. It caused the right rear tire to grow substantially and we fell to fifth.”

Scelzi advanced a position to finish fifth in the qualifier, which started him on the inside of the fifth row for the main event.

“We felt pretty good in the qualifier,” he said. “Then in the feature I was running around eighth or ninth. We were right there running the top. When (Carson) Macedo and James (McFadden) got together I had nowhere to go. It was either smoke them or hit the wall and stop. I got into the fence and stopped. Luckily nothing was damaged and we restarted at the back. At that point it was hard to pass and we ended up 14^th.”

The mid-race incident hampered the finishing result for Scelzi, but he is excited to return to the Dobmeier No. 13 during a trio of races at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D., June 20-22.

Up next is a weekend in his family owned car this Friday at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif., for the 35^th annual Pombo/Sargent Classic and Saturday at Placerville Speedway in Placerville, Calif., for the 30^th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Race with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series. Scelzi enters the weekend leading the championship standings.

“We won the last Pombo/Sargent Classic in the Roth car and we were running third when we broke at the last Dave Bradway Jr race so we’ve run well at both events,” he said. “We want to win the points championship, but we’re trying to win races. If we do that the points deal will take care of itself.”

QUICK RESULTS –

June 5 – Granite City Motor Park in Sauk Rapids, Minn. – Qualifying: 4; Heat race: 5 (2); Qualifier: 5 (6); Feature: 14 (9).

SEASON STATS –

25 races, 9 wins, 19 top fives, 23 top 10s, 24 top 15s, 24 top 20s

UP NEXT –

Friday at Ocean Speedway in Watsonville, Calif., for the 35^th annual Pombo/Sargent Classic and Saturday at Placerville Speedway in Placerville, Calif., for the 30^th annual Dave Bradway Jr. Race with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series

Jason Johnson Racing Car Chief Traded Wrenches for Steering Wheel at Granite CityCALIFORNIA, MO – June 8, 2021 – From start-to-finish, the smile never once wore off Clyde Knipp’s face on Saturday night at Granite City Speedway.Thanks to the trust and generosity of his Jason Johnson Racing team, he was able to live his dream of being a World of Outlaws driver again.”That was absolutely amazing,” the Missouri native said with wide-eyed grin following the race.You see, Clyde is no stranger to The Greatest Show Dirt. At the ripe age of 17-years-old, he joined the tour full-time in 2016 and contested two complete seasons with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series. He finished 14th and 15th in the standings, respectively, but in 2018 he was unable to race full-time.He made his way back to the Series in late 2019, in the form of Car Chief for Jason Johnson Racing #41. He got to work with David Gravel, and now Carson Macedo behind the wheel. It’s been an enjoyable experience for the now 23-year-old, who is soaking up every single ounce of knowledge he can obtain on the road.At the end of the day, though, Clyde’s passion for strapping in and racing against the best of the best tops all.On Saturday, he got to re-ignite that passion. It started off as a joke, but quickly turned into reality.”There were only 17 cars signed-in at the time, so Phil [Dietz], Carson, and I were all kind of just joking that we should bring the second car down,” Knipp noted on how the opportunity came about. “The more we thought about it, the more it seemed realistic, though.”Soon enough, the backup #41 was out of the trailer and being assembled with Clyde ready to make his season-debut for the $1,000-to-start purse money.”Phil told me from the beginning, this is your job and you have to make sure Carson is taken care of first,” Knipp continued. “I knew from the beginning he was the number one priority. You know we’re competing for a championship, so obviously his car comes first.”So, it was decided. Clyde was racing. However, he still fulfilled all of his duties as Car Chief on the #41. Managing fuel, tightening bolts, changing torsion bars, and making any setup adjustments relayed from Crew Chief, Phil Dietz.”I hadn’t been in a car since 2019, so I was a little concerned with how rusty I would be, honestly,” Knipp admitted. “I got in and it just awesome, though, like I was right at home and never quit racing. I compare it to riding a bike. You know the basics like how to fire the car, when to get on the gas, how much gas to give it.”The best part of it all? He wasn’t just racing any old piece, he was driving one of the best machines in the country. It was a brand new Maxim Chassis, a car he helped assemble to run a backup car for Macedo this season. And, it was for Jason Johnson Racing. A car owned by the namesake of a man that he grew up idolizing as a boy in Missouri.”I tried not to let it get to me that night,” Knipp spoke on the magnitude of it all. “It’s pretty cool that JJR trusted me enough to do it. It was amazing to sit behind the wheel, let alone fire it off and then race it.”After qualifying for the Feature, Knipp kept it cool and pulled into the infield once the leaders reached him in lap traffic. Ultimately, it was a good decision as a Lap 14 incident involved Macedo sent the JJR #41 to the work area. Knipp quickly climbed out of his own car and ran to the work area to help get Macedo back on the track.Although, he’s not behind the wheel full-time anymore, Knipp is just as happy to still be on the tour in his current role. He knows that next opportunity, just like Saturday night, can come out of nowhere.”I’d say 75% of me being out here is just to stay familiar with the car owners, even local guys,” Knipp acknowledged. “You never know what opportunities come about in Sprint Car Racing. Paying my dues, learning with JJR, it’ll only benefit me down the road. Whether that’s driving again in the future or maybe being a crew chief one day.”This weekend, Clyde will return to his full-time duty as Car Chief on the Jason Johnson Racing #41 at Knoxville Raceway where Carson Macedo goes for his fourth win of the 2021 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

One driver could walk away with $30K if they win both events 

JACKSON, MN – JUNE 8, 2021 – When the calendar turns to July, the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models will kick off their northern swing in style with a trip to the state-of-the-art Jackson Motorplex. 

The Series is preparing for a doubleheader weekend at the 4/10-mile speedway in Jackson, MN July 9-10. It’s the first of two trips to the North Star State in 2021. 

Friday, July 9, The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet will run a 40-lap Morton Buildings Feature, paying $10,000-to-win. 

They’ll return on Saturday, July 10, with $20,000 on the line in a 60-lap Feature. 

This year, you’ll have the privilege of seeing both Features at Jackson in person with the track welcoming fans back to the track.

Last season, the Series ran two thrilling Features at the speedway, won by Ricky Thornton Jr. and Ricky Weiss. “The Manitoba Missile” had to survive several restarts and outlast a hard-charging Brandon Sheppard for his second career World of Outlaws victory. 

Their battle will continue this year, but Sheppard will have an extra level of hunger driving him, as he continues his chase for history. The three-time and defending champion is chasing Josh Richards for the most wins all-time (78) and most Series championships (4). 

The two stars of the Series will have to contend with a stout field of competitors – such as Chris Madden, Tyler Bruening, Cade Dillard and Ryan Gustin – all ready to give everything they have to get to Victory Lane.

Brent Larson, of Lake Elmo, MN, will try to bring his home state fans to their feet by picking up his first career World of Outlaws victory at the Minnesota track.

There will be no shortage of excitement during the World of Outlaws Late Model’s highly anticipated return to Jackson Motorplex. 

PREVIOUS JACKSON MOTORPLEX WINNERS
2020-Ricky Thornton Jr. on May 23
2020- Ricky Weiss on May 22
1988- Willy Kraft on June 18

EPPING, N.H. (June 8) — Pro Stock driver Troy Coughlin Jr. has experienced an up-and-down start to the 2021 NHRA season, racing to two final-round appearances in the first five races of the year, while also suffering three first-round losses. As the tour arrives at New England Dragway for this weekend’s TascaParts.com New England Nationals, the third-generation pro has a plan in place to level his fortunes. “I need to stick to the process and make the best lap possible every time I pull up to the starting line,” Coughlin said. “I know we’ve got the horsepower, the best crew chiefs and crewmen, and an awesome racecar — the ingredients for sustained success are right here. We just need to keep after it. “I’ve learned from my uncles and grandfather to be more process-oriented than performance-oriented. And it’s important to enjoy the process and never forget what a privilege it is to drive one of these cars at this level.”

In the three weeks since the last NHRA event, the team at Elite Motorsports has been making big gains with Coughlin’s JEGS.com Chevrolet Camaro. Meanwhile, Coughlin continued to hone his skills with a weekend at the Derby City 50K bracket race, piloting a JEGS dragster alongside his sister Paige Coughlin and their cousin Makenna Brown. “Different car but same process, so it was good to get some seat time and have fun with Paige and Makenna,” Coughlin said. “I entered twice so we ended up running more than 20 passes in competition. I even managed to make a little money by reaching the semifinals of a 32-car shootout that was part of the program.  “It helps you remember the good times when you have a chance to turn on some win lights, which is the mindset you need to keep. When your luck is running cold, it only becomes an issue if you make it one. We’re not going to do that because we have so many great chances to win ahead of us.”

The COVID pandemic forced the cancellation of last year’s national event in New England so Coughlin expects the fans to be in high spirits when the action roars to life on Friday. “A couple years ago I remember a bunch of the fans at the Epping race coming up and saying, ‘Thank you for being here,'” Coughlin said. “They were so excited to have us in their backyard. I thought it was kind of odd to hear that because I was wanting to thank them for coming out and being such great supporters of our sport. “They’ve been waiting an extra year to see us again so I’m sure it will be a big weekend for all of us. I know we’re all ready to get started.”

Batavia, OH (June 8, 2021) – An already-big payday at West Virginia Motor Speedway will get even bigger in 2022. West Virginia Motor Speedway in Mineral Wells, which recently made its return to racing for the first time since 2013, welcomes the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series for the second edition of the “Historic 100,” June 3rd and 4th, 2022. The elite teams of the nation’s premier dirt late model tour will compete for a combined weekend purse of over $200,000. On Friday, June 3rd, drivers will compete in a 30 lap A-Main for a shot at $15,000 with the weekend culminating in a 50-lap, $50,000-to-win finale on Saturday, June 4th. On the heels of a highly successful inaugural “Historic 100,” the team at West Virginia Motor Speedway is looking forward to building on that momentum in 2022. “We look forward to working with Rick (Schwallie) and the entire Lucas Oil team to build this event into one of the premier weekends of the season,” said track owner Cody Watson. “As we continue to build onto and modernize the venue, we are excited to bring even more star power to our supporting fan base. Our fans have been awesome all season and we hope this shows our commitment to give them some of the sport’s biggest events.” “Cody and his staff have done an amazing job of revitalizing the West Virginia Motor Speedway,” Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Director Rick Schwallie added. “We pride ourselves in sanctioning some of the biggest events in dirt late model racing and we’re thrilled to add the Historic 100 to that growing list of mega events. Hats off to Cody and the team at West Virginia Motor Speedway for stepping up to build a marquee event for drivers and fans alike.” Tickets for the 2nd Annual “Historic 100” will go on sale later this year. Since being crafted marvelously in 1984, the West Virginia Motor Speedway has played host to some of the sport’s biggest events and brightest stars. Boasting one of the most beautiful settings and seats in dirt track racing while nestled attractively into the wild and wonderful mountains of small-town Mineral Wells, West Virginia the 5/8-mile terraced hillside sits conveniently adjacent to Interstate 77 for effortless access. Home to the ‘World’s Fastest Dirt Track’ ™, WVMS will blow you away with its incredible racing action and thrill-seeking speed. Affectionately known as “The Speedplant” the 70-acre site underwent a massive renovation before its reopening in 2021, claiming its place among the premier dirt tracks in the country. The West Virginia Motor Speedway is located at 2 Matheny Road in Mineral Wells, exit 170 off I-77, just south of Parkersburg, WV. For more information on West Virginia Motor Speedway, visit them online at www.wvmotorspeedway.com or “Like” them on Facebook @visitwvms. Friday, June 3rd Event Purse: 1. $15,000, 2. $6,500, 3. $3,500, 4. $3,000, 5. $2,500, 6. $2,400, 7. $2,300, 8. $2,200, 9. $2,100, 10. $2,000, 11. $1,600, 12. $1,400, 13. $1,300, 14. $1,200, 15. $1,050, 16. $1,000, 17. $1,000, 18. $1,000, 19. $1,000, 20. $1,000, 21. $1,000, 22. $1,000, 23. $1,000, 24. $1,000 = $57,050 Saturday, June 4th Event Purse: 1. $50,000, 2. $20,000, 3. $10,000, 4. $5,000, 5. $4,000, 6. $3,750, 7. $3,500, 8. $3,000, 9. $2,800, 10. $2,700, 11. $2,500, 12. $2,400, 13. $2,350, 14. $2,300, 15. $2,250, 16. $2,200, 17. $2,150, 18. $2,125, 19. $2,100, 20. $2,075, 21. $2,050, 22. $2,025, 23. $2,000, 24. $2,000 = $135,275

Doubleheader Offers Important Info Ahead of August’s Knoxville Nationals

KNOXVILLE, IA – June 8, 2021 – You’re guaranteed some magical moments when The Greatest Show on Dirt visits The Sprint Car Capital of the World.

This weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars look to deliver on that promise with the much-anticipated season debut at Iowa’s famed Knoxville Raceway.

The two-day Brownells Big Guns Bash is the ultimate pre-game for the 60th running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals pres. by Casey’s General Stores, which offers a $150,000 grand prize on August 11-14.

BUY TICKETS HERE (6/11-12)

Read up on some of the top storylines entering this weekend:

THE BIG THREE: When it comes to Outlaws at Knoxville, there’s no denying the current state of “The Big Three.” It’s Donny Schatz, Brad Sweet, and David Gravel without question. The numbers don’t lie.

Together, they’re the last three champions of the Knoxville Nationals, they’re the three winningest full-time Outlaws at the 1/2-mile, and they’re the three most successful drivers in the June doubleheader.

Since the June doubleheader was established in 2016, those three have helped to shut out every other Outlaw from victory lane. In those ten races, Schatz & Sweet each have two wins, while Gravel has one of his own. They’ve all been on the podium more than five times and all have recorded more than seven top-fives. You can count on each of them being favorites this weekend.

LOCAL LAPS: You can never have enough laps at Knoxville Raceway. Twice the season, teams have taken full advantage of a rain out and made the trip to the Iowa oval to attend a weekly show. Both times, an Outlaw walked away as the winner.

In April, when Devil’s Bowl rained out, the Knoxville season opener offered plenty of excitement when Sheldon Haudenschild scored his first-career win at the track, doing so in dramatic fashion with a last-lap pass over Giovanni Scelzi.

Two weeks ago, following Terre Haute’s cancellation, a new batch of teams trekked to town and this time, swept the podium. It was 2018 Knoxville Nationals champion Brad Sweet leading the way over Jason Johnson Racing’s Carson Macedo and his Kasey Kahne Racing teammate James McFadden.

NATIONALS PRE-GAME: Each and every year, the Brownells Big Guns Bash is crucial for teams and drivers. Excluding rare occurrences, this is the only weekend for the World of Outlaws to get a turn at the tricky 1/2-mile before the 60th running of the NOS Energy Drink Knoxville Nationals pres. by Casey’s General Stores comes around on August 11-14.

It’s the most prestigious event of the season, and it pays a cool $150,000-to-win. Making the preparation and practice all that much more important before game time arrives. Fan can BUY TICKETS HERE for the Knoxville Nationals.

KNOXVILLE REGULARS: Just like the PA Posse or California clan, there’s always a stout group of local competitors waiting to face the Outlaws when Knoxville rolls around. That’s no different this year.

Leading the charge is Brian Brown of Grain Valley, MO, who ranks fifth (53 wins) on Knoxville’s All-Time Wins List, with two of those coming this year. Terry McCarl of Altoona, IA will also be in action, chasing his 60th career win with a chance to tie Doug Wolfgang for second on the All-Time Wins List.

Other winners this season at Knoxville include Austin McCarl, Lynton Jeffrey, and most recently Giovanni Scelzi. Leading the Knoxville championship and expected to be in contention this weekend is also Davey Heskin of St. Michael, MN and Justin Henderson of Tea, SD.

GRAVEL’S GAINING: Saturday’s win at Granite City (MN) Speedway, his fifth of the season, marked another large dose of momentum for David Gravel and his Big Game Motorsports #2. They took that momentum and built on it come Sunday, taking advantage of a local show at Huset’s Speedway and getting a victory before the $30,000/Win Huset’s 50 brings the Outlaws to town on June 21-22.

With Sweet missing the podium for the seventh-straight race, Gravel cut the points advantage down to -56 points. He’ll have another two chances this weekend at Knoxville, where he’s the reigning Nationals champion, to close the gap even more.

FITTING PLACE FOR HISTORY: Obviously, he’ll take a win anywhere. However, you can’t underscore the magnitude of where such a historical win comes for Donny Schatz. Mother Nature spoiled his golden opportunity to do it at River Cities (ND) Speedway last Friday, but if it can’t be home, the hallowed grounds of Knoxville (IA) Raceway is probably second best.

The Knoxville, IA 1/2-mile will forever be linked to Schatz. The 10-time Knoxville Nationals champion is only two titles away from tying “The King” Steve Kinser for the most all-time. He’s won 27 career Features on the black book clay, ranking 10th all-time. It’s a place that has made the Fargo, ND native a lot of money and fame during his storied career.

More than the glory of getting his 300th career World of Outlaws win, Schatz just wants the sigh of relief from getting his first victory of the year. His current 35-race dry spell is his longest with the Series since 2002-03.

This Week at a Glance – When and Where

Friday, May 28 at Terre Haute Action Track in Terre Haute, IN
Monday, May 31 at Lawrenceburg Speedway in Lawrenceburg, IN

On the Internet
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
Twitter – @WorldofOutlaws
Instagram – @WoOSprint
Facebook – Facebook.com/WorldofOutlawsSprintCarSeries
YouTube – Youtube.com/WorldofOutlaws
DIRTVision – DIRTVision.com – Platinum annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/month

Around the Turn: Following this weekend, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will roll northwest to visit River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND on Friday, June 4, then Granite City Speedway in Sauk Rapids, MN on Saturday, June 5.

NOS ENERGY DRINK FEATURE WINNERS (10 Drivers):
9 wins – Brad Sweet, Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #49
5 wins – David Gravel, Big Game Motorsports #2
3 wins – Sheldon Haudenschild, Stenhouse Jr. Marshall Racing #17
3 wins – Carson Macedo, Jason Johnson Racing #41
2 wins – Aaron Reutzel, Roth Motorsports #83
2 wins – Logan Schuchart, Shark Racing #1S
1 win – James McFadden, Kasey Kahne Racing w/ Mike Curb #9
1 win – Brent Marks, Brent Marks Racing #19M
1 win – Dave Blaney, Dave Blaney #10
1 win – Kyle Larson, Paul Silva #57

FEATURE LAPS LED (19 Drivers):
202 laps – Brad Sweet
152 laps – Sheldon Haudenschild
108 laps – David Gravel
105 laps – Aaron Reutzel
89 laps – Donny Schatz
68 laps – Logan Schuchart
47 laps – Carson Macedo
31 laps – James McFadden
27 laps – Sam Hafertepe Jr.
25 laps – Kyle Larson
19 laps – Tyler Courtney
17 laps – Brent Marks
10 laps – Jacob Allen & Brock Zearfoss
3 laps – Ian Madsen
1 lap – Kasey Kahne, Kraig Kinser, Brandon Spithaler, Dave Blaney

SLICK WOODY’S QUICKTIME AWARDS (12 Drivers):
8 QuickTimes – David Gravel
4 QuickTimes – Sheldon Haudenschild
3 QuickTimes – Brad Sweet
2 QuickTimes – James McFadden, Aaron Reutzel, Logan Schuchart, Cory Eliason, Sam Hafertepe Jr.
1 QuickTime – Carson Macedo, Danny Dietrich, Anthony Macri, Giovanni Scelzi

DRYDENE HEAT RACE WINNERS (24 Drivers)
14 Heat Wins – David Gravel
10 Heat Wins – Aaron Reutzel
9 Heat Wins – Carson Macedo
8 Heat Wins – Sheldon Haudenschild
6 Heat Wins – James McFadden, Logan Schuchart
5 Heat Wins – Donny Schatz
3 Heat Wins – Brad Sweet, Brock Zearfoss, Ian Madsen, Brian Brown, Giovanni Scelzi, Sam Hafertepe Jr.
2 Heat Wins – Jacob Allen, Kasey Kahne, Kraig Kinser, Jason Sides, Kyle Larson
1 Heat Win –  Danny Dietrich, Hunter Schuerenberg, Tyler Courtney, Lance Dewease, Anthony Macri, Brandon Spithaler

PODIUM FINISHES (21 Drivers):
14 Podiums – Brad Sweet
9 Podiums – Sheldon Haudenschild
8 Podiums – Carson Macedo, Donny Schatz
7 Podiums – David Gravel, Logan Schuchart
6 Podiums – Aaron Reutzel, David Gravel
5 Podiums – Brent Marks
3 Podiums – James McFadden, Giovanni Scelzi
2 Podiums – Cory Eliason, Lance Dewease, Anthony Macri
1 Podium – Kraig Kinser, Danny Dietrich, Tyler Courtney, Justin Peck, Brian Brown, Anthony Macri, Dave Blaney, Kyle Larson, Sam Hafertepe Jr.

2021 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Schedule & Winners

No. / Day, Date / Track / Location / Winner (Total Wins)
1. Fri, Feb. 5 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Brad Sweet (1)
2. Sun, Feb. 7 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Logan Schuchart (1)
3. Fri, March 5 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Carson Macedo (1)
4. Sat, March 6 / East Bay Raceway Park / Tampa, FL / Aaron Reutzel (1)
5. Fri, March 12 / Magnolia Motor Speedway / Columbus, MS / Sheldon Haudenschild (1)
6. Sat, March 13 / The Rev / Monroe, LA / David Gravel (1)
7. Fri, March 19 / Cotton Bowl Speedway / Paige, TX / Sheldon Haudenschild (2)
8. Sat, March 20 / Cotton Bowl Speedway / Paige, TX / Brad Sweet (2)
9. Sat, March 27 / Lake Ozark Speedway / Eldon, MO / Brad Sweet (3)
10. Fri, April 2 / I-55 Raceway / Pevely, MO / Brad Sweet (4)
11. Sat, April 3 / I-55 Raceway / Pevely, MO / Brad Sweet (5)
12. Fri, April 9 / Kokomo Speedway / Kokomo, IN / James McFadden (1)
13. Sat, April 10 / Tri-State Speedway / Haubstadt, IN / Carson Macedo (2)
14. Fri, April 22 / Bristol Motor Speedway / Bristol, TN / David Gravel (2)
15. Sun, April 24 / Bristol Motor Speedway / Bristol, TN / David Gravel (3)
16. Thur, April 29 / Jacksonville Speedway / Jacksonville, IL / Brad Sweet (6)
17. Fri, April 30 / I-70 Motorsports Park / Odessa, MO / Brad Sweet (7)
18. Sat, May 1 / I-70 Motorsports Park / Odessa, MO / Brad Sweet (8)
19. Sat, May 8 / Eldora Speedway / Rossburg, OH / Brent Marks (1)
20. Sat, May 8 / Eldora Speedway / Rossburg, OH / Sheldon Haudenschild (3)
21. Wed, May 12 / Lincoln Speedway / Abbottstown, PA / Brad Sweet (9)
22. Fri, May 14 / Williams Grove Speedway / Mechanicsburg, PA / Carson Macedo (3)
23. Sat, May 15 / Williams Grove Speedway / Mechanicsburg, PA / Aaron Reutzel (2)
24. Tues, May 18 / Bridgeport Speedway / Swedesboro, NJ / Logan Schuchart (2)
25. Fri, May 21 / Attica Raceway Park / Attica, OH / David Gravel (4)
26. Sat, May 22 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH / Dave Blaney (1)
27. Mon, May 31 / Lawrenceburg Speedway / Lawrenceburg, IN / Kyle Larson (1)
28. Sat, June 5 / Granite City Speedway /Sauk Rapi

June 7, 2021 Jim Allen

NARC NEWSLINE – JUNE 8, 2021, By Jim Allen …  Some sprint car drivers go their entire racing careers without ever experiencing the thill of victory lane.  Some finally hang up their helmet after only one or two wins over a career that last a decade.  It’s not for a lack of trying as much as it’s just plain hard to do.  The car needs to be darn near perfect, the driver must be on his A-Game, and a little luck always helps.  In other words, a lot of stars need to align, which brings us to Dominic Scelzi at the May 14-15 Peter Murphy Classic.  He didn’t win just once, not twice, not three times, but an almost unfathomable four times in two nights.  A career weekend for many.  In the revised PMC track format, Scelzi scored a Sprint Car Challenge Tour 360 win and Kings of Thunder 410 victory at Hanford on Friday night.  Then he backed that up the next night at Tulare with top honors in the Kings of Thunder 360 feature and the grand finale – the $11,000 to win Peter Murphy Classic for the NARC King of the West Fujitsu 410 Sprint Cars.  What are the odds?  A single renegade rut, a slip in qualifying, a brush with the wall, a flat tire, or just a bad hair day can totally ruin everything and end the streak.  While the King of the West record books will only officially show only one victory on May 15th, anybody who attended — and there were a lot of you — will remember the weekend that Dominic Scelzi lived up to his nickname (Dominator.) 

Speaking of capacity crowds, it is so nice to see California returning back to normal.  The ecstatic fans at Hanford and Tulare were stoked to see some “live” sprint car racing..  And the drivers and teams were glad they were back as well.  Racing without fans is like playing video games in the bathroom – empty, hollow, and doesn’t smell right.

PETER MURPHY CLASSIC NOTES – MAY 15th:  Said Scelzi at Tulare after setting quick time, “I got hurt here and I’m looking to redeem my myself.”  For those of you who might have forgot, Scelzi broke his back at Tulare a few years back and was going to give up the sport.  However, he said Peter Murphy encouraged him to recover and move forward.  Scelzi’s voice cracked with emotion during victory lane interviews and it was hard not to notice that one of the first people Scelzi hugged upon exiting his #41 sprint car was Peter Murphy … Bud Kaeding made Scelzi work for his big win at Tulare.  He led the first 23-laps, trading slide jobs, until Scelzi took the point.  At that point, Kaeding struggled and dropped to fourth.  Shane Golobic was second ($5000) and 11th starter Willie Croft ($3000) was a bullet in the late going to finish third. … Speaking of Golobic, he was on “baby-watch” all weekend, ready to depart at a moments notice.  But like a true racing champ, new son Tucker held out until Monday. … Twenty-two of the 24-starters finished on the lead lap.  It paid $1,000 to start the feature. …

… Billy Aton earned the Swift Metal Finishing Hardcharger award, starting 20th and ending up 10th.  While on the topic of Anton, he officially threw his name into the running for the NARC-King of the West Rookie of the Year award. … NARC driver Ronnie Day built a successful sprint car resume’ in his day, but he admitted things have changed recently.  He is no longer known as Ronnie Day, but as Corey Day’s dad.  Corey and Joel Myers Jr. happen to be the two biggest “up and comers” in the Golden State and their DMV Learners Permit will tell you they are only 15-years old.  Think about that for a second!  Hopefully they don’t get pulled out of California too soon to race back East. … Chase Johnson was down and out on Saturday after hurting his only 410 motor on Friday night at Hanford.  Being a car owner sucks sometimes.  He needs a full-time ride. … The PMC featured the Aussie Pole Shuffle.  In case you missed it, it went like this:  Sean Becker outran Kasey Kahne and won the next shuffle when Kyle Hirst was DQ’ed for a jump.  Bud Kaeding was next in line and beat Becker and Golobic in separate skirmishes, before losing to Scelzi in the finale.  Always exciting; always unpredictable.  …

… Iowa driver Austin McCarl was involved in a multi-car feature crash that did a number on the Tarlton Motorsports 21.  He was unhurt in the red flag incident. … Scelzi earned more than $20,000 for the weekend with all of the extra cash put up.  Thanks to Kimo’s Tropical Car Wash and Norm Rapp, Scelzi pocketed $1500 for his two fast time efforts on Saturday.  He also picked up a $600 bonus from Hanford Jewelry & Loan for claiming the Pole Shuffle.  Scelzi first investment might be on a bigger wallet.  They money will also come in handy for baby gear and diapers since he is going to become a new Dad soon.  On the flip side, Scelzi gave away all 18-pounds of Sunnyvalley Bacon he won to a pair of lucky fans.  …  As always, we are grateful to the one and only legend Peter Murphy for all of his contributions to the sport and for promoting a great two-race weekend with Tulare lead man Steve Faria. …

PETALUMA SPEEDWAY NOTES – MAY 22nd:  Justin Sanders, who is chasing a NARC-KWS title this season, was looking to improve on his 11th and eighth place finishes at the first two events of the year.  He finally got his ducks in a row and scored the elusive “W” at Petaluma aboard Larry Antaya‘s #16 XXX sprint car.  Sanders even set quick time, which he admitted is more rare than a tax break in California.  The seventh King of the West victory and the 100th of his career was worth $3500. …

… The start of this feature caused more finger-pointing than an investigation at a Pennsylvania ballot box.  Dash winner Andy Forsberg and Sanders started on the front row and it went downhill from there on the initial start as they powered out of the fourth corner.  Sanders and Forsberg got together.  Before it was over, Forsberg, Tim Kaeding, Dominic Scelzi, Kyle Offill, Michael Sellers were reeled in and Sean Becker escaped most of the carnage by flying over the infield berm with a wild Baja Trophy Truck maneuver.  It wasn’t pretty in any sense of the word and tempers got heated.  Sanders made it through intact, but Forsberg’s night in the upside down family A&A Stepping Stone 92 was over.  On a lighter note, hopefully nine pounds of Sunnyvalley Bacon made for a good breakfast the next morning at the Forsberg household. … Scelzi and Kaeding made quick repairs under red flag conditions to restart at the back and finished fifth and seventh respectively to stay in the championship points hunt. …

… Once the feature restarted, it went 30-laps non-stop in around seven-minutes, with Sanders sharing the podium with Bud Kaeding and the aforementioned Joel Myers Jr.  Nine cars finished on the lead lap. …  Kalib Montgomery surprised some driving the Scott-Ingraham #93.  With Stephen Ingraham out with other plans, Montgomery took over and did his own version of sprint car shock and awe.  He timed in eighth quick and finished a very respectable sixth in the feature — driving a 360-powered machine. …  Ryan Robinson looked right at home driving the Mike Phulps #56 car.  He timed in second quick and finished 10th in the main. … This racing program was completed at 8:36 p.m., or as my wife likes to say, “before the mall closed across the street.” …

NARC NOTES:  A front wing autographed by the 410 Peter Murphy Classic competitors was auctioned off for the NARC Benevolent Fund at Tulare.  It raised $750 for the fund.  Thank you Mike Vidal. Also, a sincere thank you to Rick Faeth/Glad Enterprises, “Big Kevin,” and Nancy Truex for their generous donations to the NARC Benevolent Fund also! …  California lost two more quality drivers to another part of the United States with Geoff and wife Shayna Ensign moving to Idaho.  Geoff’s best run with NARC was in 2019 when he ran the entire schedule, finished fifth in points, and earned the rookie-of-the-year award. … We have added a Friday, July 23rd event to the 2021 schedule.  It will take place at the Tulare Thunderbowl Raceway, which will make it a two-race weekend with Santa Maria Raceway hosting a Saturday night show. The Tulare race will be the “Chris & Brian Faria Memorial.”  Saturday’s show features a wheelie contest! … Have you checked out the nice “Pit Personalities” article on crew chief Drew Warner on NARC410.com?  You should! …  All of our races are available on FloRacing.com.  However, we would prefer to see you in person.  So would the track promoters! …  Pick up your official 2021 NARC King of the West t-shirt at the Bullet Impressions trailer or online at www.onefasttee.com. …

UPCOMING EVENTS:  We have another premium weekend of open wheel racing on tap for June 11-12th.  This is a bullring doubleheader with the NARC King of the West Fujitsu Sprint Car Series rolling into Ocean Speedway and Placerville Speedway.  Friday’s show in Watsonville will mark the 35th Annual running of the Pombo-Sargent Classic.  On Saturday, the series heads east up Highway 50 to the El Dorado County Fairgrounds for the highly anticipated 30th Annual Dave Bradway Jr. Memorial.  Thanks to the efforts of Dianne and Dave Durica, and the love and support of fans and sponsors of the Bradway event, this one is super lucrative.  It will pay $5000 to the winner of the 40-lapper.  Just think about that for a second … a 40-lapper at Placerville, where your typical 10-second lap has more excitement than a three-legged cat being chased by a pack of hungry coyotes.  There is also $5200 in lap money for the A & B-mains and the “Carwash” Mike Avilla Fast Time Award pays $1350.  And not to sound like an infomercial — “but wait, there is more!”  The Hardcharger payout is up to $1800 and if you read this a couple days from now, probably more!  Heat winners will score Hoosier RR rubber from Hoserville CA, plus there are a bunch of other donations for a variety of finishing positions.  It promises to be another great weekend and we wouldn’t expect nothing less.

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

· First race for program on Belle Isle since 2008· Two mid-engine Corvette C8.Rs to compete in front of home crowd· Corvette brand with victories in GT, Prototypes at Detroit over the years

DETROIT (June 8, 2021) – For the first time in more than a decade, Corvette Racing will compete in its hometown when the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship returns to Detroit and the Belle Isle street circuit this weekend for the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic. Both of the team’s mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.Rs will compete in the 100-minute race that airs live at 5 p.m. ET Saturday on NBCSN as part of the Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix weekend. While the GT Le Mans (GTLM) contest in a non-points event, that doesn’t lessen the importance of having Corvette Racing back on Belle Isle. For one, Belle Isle will provide an opportunity for the hundreds of Chevrolet production team members – both within the Corvette team and others outside the main program, all of whom contributed in some way to the C8.R and the road-going Corvette Stingray – to see Corvette Racing in-person for the only time in 2021. The reveal of the C8.R nearly 18 months ago was culmination of almost six years of work between all facets of engineers and designers from the Corvette production side and Corvette Racing. What resulted was a racecar that won six times during its 2020 debut season and swept the full-season IMSA GTLM championships for Manufacturers, Drivers and Teams. The Corvette C8.R also won the Rolex 24 At Daytona to start the 2021 season. Second, it’s Corvette Racing’s first IMSA event since the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring in March. Competing on Belle Isle will serve as a tune-up for a busy summer schedule that includes four races in a six-week span, plus the 24 Hours of Le Mans in mid-August. It also will be the first time the full-season driver pairings compete together – defending GTLM champions Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R with Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy in the No. 4 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette. Corvette Racing competed at Belle Isle in 2007 and 2008 with the sixth-generation racing Corvette, which took American Le Mans Series class victories each year. The event date shifted from September to June in 2012, which was in conflict with the 24 Hours of Le Mans – one of the premier events on Corvette Racing’s calendar.  Two of the four Corvette Racing drivers – Milner and Taylor – have previous experience on Belle Isle. Milner twice raced GT2 cars in the American Le Mans Series, and Taylor is a five-time winner in prototypes at Belle Isle, including three in a Corvette Daytona Prototype. Chevrolet on Display at Belle IsleIn addition to happenings on the racetrack on Belle Isle, fans will have no shortage of things to see and do from Chevrolet. That’s because the Chevrolet Motorsports Display will be full of Chevrolet vehicles that spectators can learn more about throughout the weekend. The Chevrolet Motorsports Display opens at 7:30 a.m. from Friday through Sunday in the fan midway. Numerous Chevrolet vehicles and other highlights include: • A Corvette Racing C8.R showcar and the No. 16 Paretta Autsport IndyCar• Additional Chevrolet products such as the Camaro ZL1, Silverado and Blazer Redline Edition• An opportunity to receive a 2021 Chevrolet Detroit Grand Prix special edition T-shirt  The Chevrolet Sports Car Classic is scheduled for 5:10 p.m. ET on Saturday, June 12. The race will air live on NBCSN and stream on TrackPass via NBC Sports Gold and the NBC Sports App. IMSA Radio will air full qualifying and race coverage at IMSA.com along with Sirius 219, XM 202 and SiriusXM Online 992.

NHRA^® Team Report

NHRA New England Nationals – Epping

Pre-Race Report

Starting from the top-half of the field at every race this year is the fuel Cruz Pedregon, Crew Chief John Collins (JC) and the team need to keep rolling strong into Epping this weekend. The team is seeing the Snap-on^® Dodge^® Charger SRT Hellcat make consistent runs, and the break between races afforded time to check and resolve a timing issue and repair the body that scraped the wall in Houston. 

“The team is working so hard and you can see it paying off with a 3.94 second run at 323 (mph). We’re going to keep chipping away…going rounds and moving up in the points. With each race, we’re getting better and that feels good,” Cruz says. 

The team is building up its inventory and readying everything for the busiest part of the season, according to Cruz who says of the trip to the Northeast, “Epping’s always a fun race and I’m looking to claim a Wally at a track I have yet to win, so I’d like to punch a “W” there. There aren’t too many races we haven’t won, so this would be one of them. The best is yet to come for us and we’re just getting started.”

The season has already provided the team with more round wins than in the previous full season and a perfect reaction time by Cruz in Charlotte making him the first Funny Car driver to achieve it since 2008. He is one of only four drivers to do so in the last 40 years.

Follow Cruz and Snap-on on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram

To see the latest Cruz news, like his Facebook page, where you can also check out his Vlog “Kickin’ It With The Cruzer.” Follow Cruz on Twitter and Instagram. Be sure to follow @MakersandFixers on Instagram and share your stories at makersandfix

Hosts Past Champions, New Rides and a Sprint Car StarDavenport, Sheppard, Larson and more big names hit the half-mile for four-straight nights ROSSBURG, OH – June 8, 2021 – Two Dirt Late Model Dreams in one week are now reality as the best DIRTcar Late Model drivers in the nation make their first of two annual pilgrimages to the hallowed grounds of Eldora Speedway to compete in the 26th and 27th Dream crown jewel events this Wed-Sat, Jun 9-12. With nearly $800,000 in total purse money up for grabs over all four nights, including $273,000 in winner’s shares alone, the sport’s biggest stars are scheduled to compete in front of a non-capacity-restricted Eldora grandstand for the first time in over 21 months. Wednesday and Friday nights will serve as the lone preliminary nights, featuring twin 25-lap, $10,000-to-win Feature events to set the Heat Race lineups for Thursday and Saturday night’s Dream main events. $127,000 goes to the winner of the 27th Dream on Thursday, $126,000 to the 26th winner on Saturday. Stay up to date with all of the latest information, photos, videos and other content throughout the double Dream week by following along on DIRTcar’s social media channels (Facebook @DIRTcar, Twitter @DIRTcarRacing, Instagram @dirtcar_official) and website. Here are the storylines to follow and drivers to watch for this weekend… WIN AND YOU’RE IN – Dream format news broke last Friday with Eldora announcing that each of the B-Scramble winners will now transfer directly into the Feature events on Thursday and Saturday nights. The B-Scramble races, contested immediately after the B-Main events before the Dream Features, were originally five-lap, $1,500-to-win dashes for any non-transfer car remaining on the track after their B-Main. This year, the winner will tag the rear of the main event field and have a chance to win the big money. WHAT KRYPTONITE? – Jonathan Davenport, of Blairsville, GA, is Eldora’s most recent Late Model marquee event winner, taking the checkers in the World 100 substitute Intercontinental Classic last September, and again comes into the week as a double Dream favorite. Superman is currently riding the momentum wave of a big weekend in West Virginia, sweeping the Super Late Model events at West Virginia Motor Speedway to collect a grand total $35,000 in winnings. While the track was a semi-banked 5/8-mile, compared to Eldora’s 24 degrees of banking in the turns, the similar speeds he faced down the straightaways were a nice bit of preparation before beginning his high-speed hunt for a second Dream title this week. SPRINT CAR STAR – Bursting on to the Dirt Late Model scene in August of last year, in the midst of what will be forever known as one of the most successful seasons in dirt track racing history, Kyle Larson has since become one of the biggest threats to win any given Late Model event across the nation. Larson, of Elk Grove, CA, has mastered Eldora in a Sprint Car multiple times over his career, but never once competed at the track in a Late Model. That is, until this Wednesday, when he’ll climb back behind the wheel of the K&L Rumley Enterprises #6 Longhorn Chassis, chasing a $10,000 victory in one of two 25-lap preliminary Features. Despite having only a handful of Dirt Late Model starts, Larson will enter the event as one of the favorites. His most recent Late Model start on a half-mile came back in March at the dirt-covered Bristol Motor Speedway, where he led laps and finished second to winner Jonathan Davenport. Crew chief and car owner Kevin Rumley, who took Davenport to Victory Lane at both of Eldora’s crown jewels in 2015, will once again be in his corner, which makes 2021 the team’s best shot at seeing Eldora Victory Lane in a crown jewel event since their 2015 triumphs. D-SHEPP – The defending Dream champion will take to The Big E this week for his first-ever Eldora crown jewel title defense. Brandon Sheppard, of New Berlin, IL, gave Rocket1 Racing team owner Mark Richards his first career Eldora crown jewel event victory in the most recent running of the Dirt Late Model Dream back in June 2019. Last year’s Dirt Late Model Stream Invitational was technically not considered to be a Dream, thus making him the defending champion coming into the weekend. The 28-year-old currently leads World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Model Series points and would love nothing more than to claim a $126,000 and/or $127,000 check for he and the team – one that would certainly brighten up a season in which they’ve only seen Victory Lane an unusually low two times so far. SMALL TRAILER, BIG DREAM – Many local and regional Late Model teams throughout the country would trade a lot for an opportunity to compete in even one Dirt Late Model Dream. Last week, Ryan Missler was granted the opportunity to race in two. The five-time Attica Raceway Park track champion from Bellevue, OH, won the fan-vote contest to send one local/regional Late Model racer who had never previously entered the event to this year’s double Dream with a big prize package that included Hoosier Racing Tires and fuel certificates, a new set of seatbelts and even his own custom t-shirts for the occasion. OFF THE CHAIN – It’s only June, and Kyle Strickler has already had one whirlwind of a season. After kicking off his 2021 campaign with two big victories versus the Outlaws at Volusia, Strickler recently vacated his ride at Hope, IN-based PCC Motorsports and cashed in on an opportunity to work with one of the sport’s all-time greats, Scott Bloomquist. The 37-year-old from Mooresville, NC, linked-up with the Dirt Late Model Hall of Famer for last month’s World of Outlaws weekend at Port Royal Speedway and is slated to bring his Team Zero Race Cars ride into Eldora this week – a place where Bloomquist himself has won an all-time high 12 crown jewel events. Strickler won a Stream Invitational preliminary Feature and nearly captured the victory in the Intercontinental Classic last year if it weren’t for a blown tire in the final laps. With Bloomquist in his corner this week, Strickler is set up for his biggest chance to finally claim his first Late Model crown jewel in front of a full-capacity crowd.

DIRTcar Racing is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel), Chevy Performance Parts, iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, and NAPA Auto Parts (SDS). Contingency sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), ASI Race Wear (SDS), Bassett Racing Wheel, Bell Helmets, Beyea Custom Headers, Bicknell Racing Products (SDS), Billy Whittaker Cars & Trux (SDS), Cometic Gasket (SDS), COMP Cams, Drydene, Fast Shafts, Fox Factory, Jerovetz Motorsports Shock Service, K1 Race Gear, KSE Racing Products, MSD, Mulit FireX, Quarter Master, Schoenfeld Headers, Summit Racing Equipment, Velocita USA, Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum), and Xceldyne. Along with manufacturer sponsors, including: FireAde, Intercomp, and Racing Electronics.

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Steve ‘Baggsy’ Biagioni WINS BDC Round One! This past weekend marked the first British Drift Championshipevent of 2021. With the season being kicked off at Teesside Autodrome in Middlesbrough on the 29th & 30th May.

With over 40 drivers lined up to compete in the Pro class, Baggsy brought the #PS13V8 to party, fresh from its trip back from Oman. This is the first time Baggsy has driven the car since it was shipped out, back in November 2020!

Sunday morning practice. Baggsy felt comfortable out on track, laying down both solid lead and chase runs, mixing it up with different drivers on the grid.

11:45, Qualifying time. Baggsy scoring an 82.33 on his first run,playing it safe to get a score on the board and placing him into23rd position.

With the session coming to an end, Baggsy put everything he had into his last run. Running a near perfect qualifying line, scoring a92.83 on his second run. Securing 6th place.

Battles up next & Baggsy going against Haydn Cruickshank in the Top 32.  Baggsy pulling away from Haydn in this lead run, handing the advantage into his chase. Baggsy sticking his PS to the door in the chase too, ultimately gave Baggsy the pass into the next bracket.

Shortly after Baggsy’s battle, all drivers brought their vehicles out for the Top 16 parade. With interviews from each driver, it gave the perfect opportunity for the fans to check out their favourite cars going into the main show.

Next up, Ross Barr in the Top 16. Baggsy to lead first, pulling away a few car lengths from Ross in the chase, giving him the advantage leading into the second run. Ross making a little mistake into clip 4 causing him to have too much angle in the car gave Baggsy the chance to stick to his door through the rest of the circuit. Ending with Baggsy advancing into the Great 8.

Dan Tyler was Baggsy’s next victim. Dan putting a solid lead line in the first half of this battle, although that was no match for the sheer pace of Baggsy’s V8 PS13, which was glued to Dan’s door the whole lap.  Baggsy pulled away from Dan in his lead run which inevitably gave him the win onto the Final 4.

Final 4, Baggsy vs Kevin Quinn. The rivalry carried over from UKDC, when they battled eachother in the Final 4 a month ago at Three Sisters Circuit.  Baggsy to lead first, laying down a very solid qualifying line. Kevin calling a 5 minute rule before the second half of the battle, and then him to lead. Baggsy to chase the fast Nissan S15, pulling off a backwards entry into clip 4 and staying with Kevin for the rest of the run.  Baggsy advances on into the Final.

The Final. Baggsy to battle it out for the top spot against Steven McConnell.Off the line and Baggsy takes impact from McConnell into the first corner, which gave Baggsy a huge advantage going into the second half of this battle.  Baggsy to chase, leaving a gap between him and McConnell but reels him in after the first few clipping points. Coming out of the last corner McConnell shuts it down causing another collision, ending the run & securing the win for Baggsy.

Two events, Two podiums in 2021!

Also bringing in a new face to the team this year, Sam has stepped up to be Baggsy’s spotter and team engineer, alongside Bob from Motorsport Fifty6 and only pushing for the best.

British Drift Championship – Battles Livestream

Baggsy – “What a weekend!” “Thank you to everyone who supported us this weekend here at Teesside for BDC R1, my team here & at home, our family and our sponsors” “For the first time in a long time the car was perfect from start to finish! Just awesome to drive and that’s down to my amazing team, thank you!” www.baggsyboy.com www.sbmotorsport.com

EVENT RECAP: Round 2   Florida completely opened our eyes for what is ahead! Being back at Orlando Speedworld with harsh transitions off the bank; into uneven track conditions, along with sensitive speed control through the course, proved just how far the Supra’s development has come! Dan was one with the car and ran some of his best practice laps to date. As much as we all want to break into the Great 8 and advance from there, we battled through Top 32 but our night ended in Top 16. Overall Dan and the team left Orlando feeling very confident in the car and what it is now capable of, allowing Dan to be more competitive than ever. We have set high expectations for this season and our enthusiasm has only increased as we progress closer and closer to our goals within this challenging motorsport that you have chosen to be a part of with us. Next up, New Jersey in 3 weeks!

The car is back at HQ!

Back in November 2020 we shipped our Nissan PS13 comp car to Oman for the Oman International Drift Championship, unfortunately the organisers had to cancel their series.

So it’s been a while since we last saw the car, but last week Baggsy received a call that we had all been waiting for. After some serious shipping delays, the PS is back on British territory! 

Now back at the workshop, fluid changes and spanner check done, the car has only been back for a day and it’s ready for its first event of the year.

This past Sunday we headed down to Wheel Pros Europe in Braintree, Essex for their first Open House. 

The guys at Wheel Pros asked us to bring the PS13 to display the Rotiform LAS-R wheels, alongside Luke Woodham’s S14 and George Barclay’s S13.

We even had @PlayersShows interview Baggsy for their next episode of Players World. 

Baggsy – “It’s great to have the PS13 back in the workshop after so long & I’m excited to get back behind the wheel at BDC this weekend!”

www.baggsyboy.com

www.sbmotorsport.com

The May 28 World of Outlaws event at Terre Haute Action Track has now been canceled

TERRE HAUTE, IN – June 7, 2021 – World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and Terre Haute Action Track officials have been forced to cancel the postponed event from May 28 with no viable reschedule date available.

Those who purchased tickets in advance to the May 28 World of Outlaws event will receive a face-value credit to their MyDirtTickets.com account to be used towards World of Outlaws event available on the World of Outlaws website. If a credit to your account does not work for you, then you’ll have until July 7, 2021 to request a refund. CLICK HERE to make that refund request.

If you purchased the three-day World of Outlaws + USAC package, you’ll need to send your wristband to the Terre Haute Action Track office for a refund.

Send to:
Terre Haute Action Track
PO Box 79
Macon, IL 62544

Please include your name, return address and phone number. You can reach the track at 217-764-3200 if you have further questions.

The Greatest Show on Dirt continues its tour across the country on June 11-12 at Knoxville Raceway, in Knoxville, IA, for the Brownells Big Guns Bash doubleheader. CLICK HERE for tickets.

It’s the Series first visit to “The House of Power” since 2004 MIDDLETOWN, NY – JUNE 7, 2021 – The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models will have a “New York State of Mind” for a second time in 2021.  The Series will return to the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, NY on Thursday, August 19, for the first time since 2004. It kicks off a four-race weekend spanning New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.  It’s the second time the World of Outlaws will race at the .625-mile oval. Rick Eckert, the 2011 Series champion, and most recent winner found Victory Lane in the first event.   Orange County Fair Speedway’s Director of Motorsports Brett Hearn is excited for New York fans to see the Series’ return.  “These are the fastest, non-wing dirt racing cars on the planet,” Hearn said. “Since the last time they were here, the [Series] gets a lot more exposure with DIRTVision. Even though it’s not a division that runs here all the time, a lot of people know who the players are.”  World of Outlaws Late Models Series director Casey Shuman is also thrilled to return to such a historic venue.  “Orange County has a rich history of racing, and we’re really excited for the Late Models to be a part of it,” Shuman said. “It should be a great event, and a fun track for our guys to race on.”  Three-time and defending champion Brandon Sheppard is currently at the top of the standings—46 points ahead of Chris Madden.   The reigning champion and New Berlin, IL driver is also chasing history. He’s paving a path to his fourth Series championship, which would tie him for the most Series titles all-time with Josh Richards.   The “Rocket Shepp” will have to contend with Madden, other stout tour regulars like Ricky Weiss, and Rookie of the Year contenders Tyler Bruening and Ryan Gustin.  The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet will be joined by the Pro Stocks, who are also making their return to “The House of Power.”  If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision with the annual Platinum FAST PASS subscription for $299/year or the monthly FAST PASS subscription for $39/month.

The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings® Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Drydene (Official Motor Oil), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Morton Buildings (Official Building), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider) VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, including: Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, MSD, Penske Racing Shocks, Quarter Master, Slick Woody’s (Quick Time Award), and Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including: Capital Race Cars, FireAde, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, K1 Race Gear, Racing Electronics, Reliable Painting, and Rocket Chassis.Founded in 1978, the World of Outlaws®, based in Concord, NC, is the premier national touring series for dirt track racing in North America, featuring the most powerful cars on dirt, the World of Outlaws NOS® Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings® Late Model Series. Annually, the two series race nearly 140 times at tracks across the United States and Canada. CBS Sports Network is the official broadcast partner of the World of Outlaws. DIRTVision® also broadcasts World of Outlaws events over the Internet to fans around the world. Learn more about the World of Outlaws.

It’s the Series first visit to “The House of Power” since 2004 MIDDLETOWN, NY – JUNE 7, 2021 – The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings Late Models will have a “New York State of Mind” for a second time in 2021.  The Series will return to the Orange County Fair Speedway in Middletown, NY on Thursday, August 19, for the first time since 2004. It kicks off a four-race weekend spanning New York, Pennsylvania, and Ohio.  It’s the second time the World of Outlaws will race at the .625-mile oval. Rick Eckert, the 2011 Series champion, and most recent winner found Victory Lane in the first event.   Orange County Fair Speedway’s Director of Motorsports Brett Hearn is excited for New York fans to see the Series’ return.  “These are the fastest, non-wing dirt racing cars on the planet,” Hearn said. “Since the last time they were here, the [Series] gets a lot more exposure with DIRTVision. Even though it’s not a division that runs here all the time, a lot of people know who the players are.”  World of Outlaws Late Models Series director Casey Shuman is also thrilled to return to such a historic venue.  “Orange County has a rich history of racing, and we’re really excited for the Late Models to be a part of it,” Shuman said. “It should be a great event, and a fun track for our guys to race on.”  Three-time and defending champion Brandon Sheppard is currently at the top of the standings—46 points ahead of Chris Madden.   The reigning champion and New Berlin, IL driver is also chasing history. He’s paving a path to his fourth Series championship, which would tie him for the most Series titles all-time with Josh Richards.   The “Rocket Shepp” will have to contend with Madden, other stout tour regulars like Ricky Weiss, and Rookie of the Year contenders Tyler Bruening and Ryan Gustin.  The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet will be joined by the Pro Stocks, who are also making their return to “The House of Power.”  If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision with the annual Platinum FAST PASS subscription for $299/year or the monthly FAST PASS subscription for $39/month.

The World of Outlaws Morton Buildings® Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Drydene (Official Motor Oil), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Morton Buildings (Official Building), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider) VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel); in addition to contingency sponsors, including: Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, MSD, Penske Racing Shocks, Quarter Master, Slick Woody’s (Quick Time Award), and Wrisco (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including: Capital Race Cars, FireAde, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, K1 Race Gear, Racing Electronics, Reliable Painting, and Rocket Chassis.Founded in 1978, the World of Outlaws®, based in Concord, NC, is the premier national touring series for dirt track racing in North America, featuring the most powerful cars on dirt, the World of Outlaws NOS® Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Morton Buildings® Late Model Series. Annually, the two series race nearly 140 times at tracks across the United States and Canada. CBS Sports Network is the official broadcast partner of the World of Outlaws. DIRTVision® also broadcasts World of Outlaws events over the Internet to fans around the world. Learn more about the World of Outlaws.

Eric Powell snares a Saturday TC Podium in his HPD Honda Civic Type R
Carter Fartuch earns second runner-up TCA finish of 2021 for HPD Honda Civic Si
Powell, Kevin Boehm lead Touring Car America season standings after six races

ALTON, Va. (June 6, 2021) – HPD Honda Civic Si and Type R racers kept themselves in the thick of the hunt for 2021 Touring Car America championships as the season hit the halfway point with this weekend’s races at Virginia International Raceway.

In the TC class, Eric Powell used a third-place run on Saturday and a fourth-place effort on Saturday to wrest the championship lead from fellow HPD Honda Civic Type R pilot Kevin Boehm, besting the DXDT Racing driver in a pair of races that both ended early due to red-flag incidents involving non-Honda competitors.

Boehm shook off a seventh-place run to open the weekend to come back for a fifth-place result in Sunday’s race and is just 2.5 points behind Powell for the TC class championship lead, and is the only driver in the class to have multiple victories through the first six races of the year.

Lindsay Brewer carded a pair of top-10 runs, allowing the Skip Barber Racing School HPD Honda Civic Type R driver to extend a season-long streak of points-paying finishes. In addition, Frank Szczesnick matched a season-best with an 11th-place run on Sunday in his second race weekend of the year in his Honda.

TCA
In the TCA category where the HPD Honda Civic Si is featured, Carter Fartuch moved into second in the season championship on the strength of two top-five results this year, including a second-place run on Sunday. Fartuch had a spirited battle with Luke Rumberg as the race passed the halfway mark, but was denied a chance to battle for the win when a hard crash with 23 minutes to go caused damage to the guardrail and ended the race prematurely.

Sally McNulty had her best weekend of the season in her HPD Honda Civic Si, running seventh in the opener before finishing a season-best fifth in the Sunday event. Mario Biundo also carded a season-high result on Sunday, taking his LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si to sixth, just ahead of Chris Harrison. Jose Blanco also earned a pair of top-10 runs over the weekend and is fifth in the TCA point standings.

HPD has two ready-to-race Civic models for touring car competition. The line starts with the affordable and reliable Civic Si TCA race car, then leads to the Civic Type R TC racer that puts legendary Type R performance on track, Our unparalleled trackside support at every level from HPD engineers is a unique benefit that no other manufacturer can offer. Find out more about these cars and our touring programs at: https://hpd.honda.com/Motorsports/Touring.

Next:
After the first six rounds of the 2021 season, the SRO Touring Car America series now takes an extended break before resuming with rounds 7 and 8, July 27-29 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wis.
Social media content and video links from this weekend’s SRO Touring Car America races at VIR are available on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (www.twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD). Additional features and long-form videos can be found on the Honda Racing/HPD YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV).

Touring Car America presented by Skip Barber Racing School VIR Saturday Honda Results
•3rd TC – #92 Eric Powell, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R
•7th TC – #9 Kevin Boehm, DXDT Racing Honda Civic Type R
•10th TC – #29 Lindsay Brewer, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R
13th TC – #73 Frank Szczesnick, LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type R
TCA Honda Results
5th TCA – #16 Carter Fartuch, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si
7th TCA – #780 Sally McNulty, Team Sally Racing Honda Civic Si
8th TCA – #99 Jose Blanco, VGMC Racing Honda Civic Si
9th TCA – #77 Mario Biundo LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si
10th TCA – #2 Colin Harrison, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si

Touring Car America presented by Skip Barber Racing School VIR Sunday Honda Results
4th TC – #92 Eric Powell, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R
5th TC – #9 Kevin Boehm, DXDT Racing Honda Civic Type R
9th TC – #29 Lindsay Brewer, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Type R
11th TC – #73 Frank Szczesnick, LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Type R
TCA Honda Results
2nd TCA – #16 Carter Fartuch, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si
5th TCA – #780 Sally McNulty, Team Sally Racing Honda Civic Si
6th TCA – #77 Mario Biundo LA Honda World Racing Honda Civic Si
7th TCA – #2 Colin Harrison, Skip Barber Racing School Honda Civic Si
9th TCA – #99 Jose Blanco, VGMC Racing Honda Civic Si

June 7, 2021

After watching Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Knauf Insulation team struggle to a 23^rd-place finish in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway, Eddie Wood said he’s taking the long view of his team’s slump since a fourth-place finish at Kansas Speedway on May 2. The team has a best finish of 18^th and a worst of 24^th in that five-race span.
 
“I’ve been racing in NASCAR for a long time,” Wood said. “I’ve been through some really good times, and I’ve been through some where things don’t go right and you can’t find the speed you need.
 
“But I’ve learned that if you keep working hard and doing the things you need to do to improve eventually the pieces start to fall into place and it will turn around.”
 
Wood said disappointing races generally aren’t always a matter of just bad luck. 

“You can’t panic, and you can’t quit,” he said. “You just have to do what you think is best, keep working hard and it’ll eventually turn around.
 
“It did earlier this year after we had a rough start to the season, and things will get better again.
 
“I am confident of that. We’re not even to the halfway point of this season, so there’s time to get things fixed and make this year one we’re all proud of.”
 
At Sonoma, DiBenedetto and the Menards/Knauf team started 17^th and showed early signs of speed. They were able to finish ninth in the first 20-lap Stage, earning two bonus points.
 
DiBenedetto stayed on the track following the caution for Stage One and ran as high as second place before drivers on fresher tires overtook him.
 
But from that point on, the No. 21 Mustang ran outside the top 10 for the most part and was involved in a couple of late-race fender benders before taking the checkered flag in 23^rd place. 
 
DiBenedetto, who remains in 17^th place in the Cup Series standings, said that once he fell back in Sunday’s race it was more than he could overcome.
 
“When we had track position we could hang in there a little bit,” he said. “But we had some trouble on a pit stop and some tire issues and lost our track position.

“When we got buried in the back of the pack it was just a mess. We got banged around some and got some damage on those late-race restarts.
 
“We just have to do a better job as a team and get out there and execute.”
 
Up next for DiBenedetto and the Wood Brothers team are the NASCAR All-Star Open – and possibly the All-Star race – at Texas Motor Speedway next Sunday followed by the next Cup Series points race, at Nashville Superspeedway on June 20.
 

NASCAR CUP SERIESTOYOTA/SAVE MART 350SONOMA RACEWAYTEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTJUNE 6, 2021

Team Chevy Scores Fourth-Consecutive NCS VictorySONOMA, CA – (June 6, 2021)– Kyle Larson’s return to his home state of California brought the Hendrick Motorsports driver his third win of the 2021 season when he took his No. 5 HendrickCars.comCamaro ZL1 1LE to victory lane in the Toyota Save Mart 350 at Sonoma Raceway. In back-to-back races, the 28-year-old driver swept both Stage wins and led a race-high 57 laps to capture his first road course victory and ninth-career victory in 239 starts in NASCAR’s premier series.  The triumph is the fourth-consecutive victory for Chevrolet Racing and Hendrick Motorsports, continuing to lead all manufacturers in the overall win count with seven thus far in the 2021 season. The victory, Chevrolet’s 12th win at the 2.52-mile/12-turn road California road course, brings the winningest manufacturer in motorsports its 802nd all-time NASCAR Cup Series win. Hendrick Motorsports now sits at an all-time record of 22 race wins on road course circuits, more than any other organization in NASCAR Cup Series history.  Hendrick Motorsports has been no stranger to dominance on road courses. Larson’s victory brings the organization its sixth win in the last seven road course events. Chase Elliott, who finished in the runner-up position, gave Hendrick Motorsports its fourth consecutive 1-2 finish, tying a NASCAR record set in 1956 by Carl Kiekhafer Racing. Chip Ganassi Racing teammates posted strong top-10 finishes, with Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, finishing sixth; and Ross Chastain, No. 42 Clover Camaro ZL1 1LE, taking the checkered flag in seventh. Alex Bowman drove his No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE to a ninth-place finish, giving Chevrolet five of the top-10 positions in the final running order.  Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota) was third, Joey Logano (Ford) was fourth and Kyle Busch (Toyota) rounded out the top-five finishers of the race.  The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Texas Motor Speedway for the NASCAR All-Star Race on Sunday, June 13, at 8 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: THE MODERATOR: We are joined by our race winner today, Kyle Larson. Congratulations on another victory. Last week and again today. An exciting week to be a part of Hendrick Motorsports. Talk to us a little bit about that run today. KYLE LARSON: Yeah, thank you. It was an awesome race car. I was a little bit nervous to start the race just having Chase Elliott, who is probably the best road racer right now, lined up next to me. When I was able to kind of stretch out from him, then kind of slow myself down, I was able to learn some things about the track, kind of get into a rhythm. From then on, we were really good. Even passing cars was easier than I’ve ever had here before. Just really shows how good my race car was today. Worked out great to win both stages and the race. Just an unbelievable race car, which it has been all year long. We just now finally have been able to get some wins to show for it. THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with questions. Q.There’s so many restarts late there, so many chances for the field to take a shot at you. What’s the key in those situations to not make a mistake?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, on a few of the earlier restarts, they were able to kind of stay on my right side longer, then it had me out to the left through two, so I was hoping to get a better launch to where I’d be a little bit clear of them by the time I got to turn two to get down. Each of those last restarts, I got good launches, was able to do that. On each of them I felt like I lost a little bit of front grip on each of them. Kind of went through there and pushed a little bit too much, couldn’t get on the gas as soon as I needed to. Same with three, three A and four. Chase was actually able to stay closer to me than I wanted him to by the time we got to seven. He’s really good at out-braking people. I didn’t want to go in there and make a mistake. I can get good drive off to kind of stretch out from him. Just had to make sure I hit my marks and didn’t enter into the fast corners too fast, slide out and lose speed. My car was really good. I didn’t really have to run 100%. I could run 95%, just limit my mistakes a little bit better. Q.You’ve always been fast here, but you haven’t had the best races. What was the difference today?KYLE LARSON: I think Hendrick Motorsports and just the cars that they bring to every racetrack right now, but today I think our car was better than Hendrick Motorsports has been here in the past. I think that helps my job out a lot. Then also, I mean, there was definitely — I put work into it this week by looking at a lot of S and T, things like that. Josh Wise and I work out, not just work out, I do a lot of stuff with him, and he’s hired on Scott Speed to kind of work side-by-side with him. Scott is one of the best American road racers we’ve ever seen. Getting to pick his brain a lot, look at areas where I’ve probably struggled in the past. Scott really helped me this week of, like, I had my mindset how I thought you needed to out-brake people, which was opposite of what you really needed to do. So talking to him, I felt like I got a lot better out-braking people. I was able to pass people really easily. I think having him was a huge benefit to me, as well as Ross Chastain, Reddick, Bowman who ran pretty good today until he had his crash. Yeah, I think we have a really cool thing going throughout the week and it definitely helped prepare all of us drivers who work out with him, Josh and Scott, to be good for the weekends. Q.The celebration in Victory Lane, where you spit the wine out, was there something behind that? Looked strange.KYLE LARSON: I won a K&N race here in 2014. Apparently it wasn’t windy that day because it shot out perfect, was a cool picture. I was like, Man, I’m going to do that again today. But totally blew it. It was way windy. I feel super bad. I got it all over Jill Gregory. That was my bad (smiling). I messed that up.I wasn’t spitting the wine out because it was bad or anything. I was doing it for a cool photo like it was in 2014. Q.Can you remind me, when did you first start going to Sonoma? What are your earliest memories?KYLE LARSON: I didn’t honestly come here a whole bunch. My parents brought me here, I don’t know what year it was, I would have had to have been probably five or six maybe, because it was before I started racing. We came to like a Happy Hour, the Saturday practice day for NASCAR. I’ve came to a lot more, like, NHRA qualifying days than NASCAR. I came to one NASCAR race here when Juan Pablo won, with me and my best friend who actually was one of our spotters today, we came here and watched Juan win.
Like I said, I was always racing on weekends. By the time we were done with our race for the weekend, we were pretty burnt out, didn’t make it up here. I came to an INDYCAR race actually once or twice. Yeah, not a bunch of times here. Q.The picture of you on the hillside in the DuPont year, when would that have been?KYLE LARSON: That would have been during that practice day when I was probably five or six years old. Q.To win here, is it a big deal to you?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, for sure. Even though I didn’t grow up coming here a bunch, it’s still my home track. I’ve spent a lot of time in the Napa Valley when Rico and I used to hang out a bunch. Actually got to have lunch with David Abreu and his winemaker Brad Grimes yesterday, he cooked for a lot of my friends, we got to have some of his awesome wine. Napa Valley, it’s obviously not my hometown, Oak Grove is my hometown. Throughout, I don’t know, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12 or so, I spent a bunch of time here. Yeah, so Napa Valley is close to me for sure. Q.Just watching you take off in turn one, you just really seemed to get a launch that would separate you from the competition. Is there something you worked on specifically on the restarts to try to get an advantage?KYLE LARSON: Not really. I mean, I’m trying to get away from them in every corner and stretch out. The last two restarts I was surprised. We had a lot of laps on our tires. I honestly had probably better traction then, at least equal or better, on the launch as I did on sticker tires. I don’t know why that was. It kind of allowed me to get a little bit nosed ahead of the 9 through one, then kind of get my momentum built up like I needed to through two to get clear of him. Where like the 19 and 22 on a couple of the restarts early in the race, they were able to stay on my right side for a couple corners. I didn’t want that to happen. I just needed to nail my launch, then my few couple corners. Q.We have several more road courses coming up. How much confidence finally getting that first road course win is it going to help you in future road courses?KYLE LARSON: It definitely, definitely helps my confidence. I mean, I think everybody knows, like, I’ve always qualified really well on the road courses, but I haven’t been the best racer. Then today starting from the pole, I was like, Man, I just hope it’s not like it always is. It wasn’t. I knew we had a car capable of winning after that first competition caution. Yeah, so to get a win and know that I can race, I feel like I learned a lot here this week about how to kind of pass people on road courses. I think that’s really going to benefit me going forward. We were able to beat the two best road course racers of the last six years or longer it seems today. Definitely means a lot. For sure helps our confidence on this 5 car. Q.In recent weeks you’ve been on this run. Have you given much consideration to winning the regular-season points championship?KYLE LARSON: Definitely. I think there for a few weeks, I was probably over a hundred-and-something points behind Denny Hamlin. I was like, He’s kind of got it locked up. I kind have thought, Well, I mean, I’ve had a couple really bad finishes, and he hasn’t had any. If he just has one bad race, we’ll be right back in it, which he still hasn’t had any bad races, DNF’s or anything like that. We’ve had a few really good weeks where we’ve won stages, won the race these last couple weeks. We’ve taken huge chunks out of it.
It’s definitely a goal of mine to get those I think 15 bonus Playoff points if you can win it. Yeah, we just got to keep finishing the races, gaining a lot of stage points, and finishing up front, not making things bad, just trying to be smooth and finish the best we can. Q.Would you say at this point in time, is this the most confident you’ve ever felt in a Cup car in your career?KYLE LARSON: In a Cup car, yeah, probably. I’ve talked about 2017 being a really good year for me. I would say this is better, for sure. Now we’ve got three wins at this point in the season. A lot of other seconds and top fives. Right now I feel like we could go to any racetrack and be good. There were still times I think in 2017 where, yeah, we won a lot, ran up front a lot, but there were still races where we were just average. Seems like this year we’ve been strong at every racetrack. I feel like I’m confident as a driver in what I’ve been learning, getting better at. I definitely feel like I’m a better driver than I was in 2017. But our team is also extremely good right now. For sure I think all of us on the 5 car and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports for that matter is confident right now.
Q.Two years ago they added the carrousel back to Sonoma. What has been the biggest difference in tackling that?KYLE LARSON: I don’t know. I like the carrousel. Even two different than a couple years ago, there’s a strip of new pavement there that you can kind of use, position your car on to get good grip, angle yourself for the exit. Some of the curbs were different than they were from what I remember in 2019, like up through one and two. Those curbs were different. It was fun. You kind of had to learn it really quickly. Yeah, some of the braking markers were different than normal. Without having practice, it was fun to try to learn it all on the fly. Q.With the stage wins, do you think this is the best stretch you’ve had in your NASCAR career?KYLE LARSON: What was that? Q.Do you think your current stretch is the best in the career?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I couldn’t understand. Everything is going better than it has for me in the Cup Series. It’s just been a lot of fun. I just hope we can keep it going. I think it’s great to be on a hot streak, but this series is so tough that you could easily get knocked back and be struggling and don’t know why you are. We just got to continue to work hard. Pit crew has been doing a great job. Cliff, everybody at the shop, on all the cars, have been doing great. I feel like I’m putting in a lot of work on my end and results are showing. We got to keep working hard to stay this good. Q.It’s been two years since you have been to Sonoma because of the pandemic and all that. How reliable are the notes when you come back after two years, all the rule changes, the tire compound changes?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I was honestly nervous going into this race because, I mean, I feel like I looked at a lot of stuff, S and T, all that, watched a lot of in-car and things. I haven’t been here forever. None of us have. A new team, all that. My week was really busy. I didn’t really have enough time I felt like to get on iRacing to kind of get familiar with things. I was honestly a little bit nervous, especially being the first car to turn one today. But I think all that stuff, video and S and T that I watched, really helped, obviously paid off. Q.How did today make you a better racer, especially knowing you had Chase chasing you, your teammate because of the conditions and your tire falloff? How did all of that come together to help you get this win?KYLE LARSON: I don’t know. I think just preparation and work by everybody. Obviously it helped us today. Like I said, Chase and Martin are two of the best road racers. They are the two best road racers that have been around now for the last few seasons. Throughout the race when I passed the 19, ran the 9 down and passed him, like it definitely helped my confidence out a lot throughout the race. I think going forward it will, too. Just a cool day, for sure. Any time you win in the Cup Series, it’s not easy, so you know you did something good as a team to get it done. Q.Did the late cautions get you over the hump where you could run with cooler tires?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I didn’t notice much with the tires. I think my car was really good. Honestly, my forward drive, the grip in my tires stayed better than what I’m used to. I don’t know how other people — how like the 19 felt compared to normal, if he felt like he fell off more or the lap times showed that.For me, my car was good. I fell off, but I didn’t fall off nearly as bad as I feel like I typically do here. Q.I saw on social media this week that you raised $62,000 through your Drive for 5 program. What does it mean to have a program like that alongside your stellar season?KYLE LARSON: It’s cool. With each lap completed, the wins and stuff, the money gets bigger. It definitely in the back of my mind adds a little bit more pressure to want to go out there and complete every lap and win these races. Cool that I’m able to raise that money, work together with some great organizations, too, through it. Definitely need to keep stacking that money up there. We have a goal of getting to $500,000. Hopefully we can raise some more money throughout the year with running up front, doing good, but also fans can donate as well. Q.What were your emotions like returning home after all that happened last year? What was it like exiting the car in front of the home crowd?KYLE LARSON: It was cool to be here today with I guess the largest crowd that California has seen at a sporting event since the pandemic started. I think it was just cool for all those people. I got to come hang out with a lot of my friends before the race. They cooked some tacos before the race, so that was cool. Did some wine tours throughout this week, went to Guy Fieri’s house the other night, have a good time, drink a little bit too much (smiling). It’s good to come out West. I think all of us enjoy staying at a nice resort with our families. We’re just relaxed, enjoying some awesome weather. To cap it off with a win at my home track, it’s really cool. Q.What was it like going to Guy Fieri’s house?KYLE LARSON: He’s good friends with Clint Bowyer. This is kind of towards the end of the FOX broadcast. The other night they had like a little party to say thank you to them. We happened to be staying with Clint this week, so we got to go. Yeah, I don’t really remember it, but I made I guess a deal with Guy that if I won this weekend, I would give him the trophy. I got to figure out how I’m going to get it to him. But, no, it was cool that he let us come over and have a good time. Look forward to coming back out again next year. Q.Knowing the past couple weeks it’s been you and your teammates racing each other closely and hard, how do you balance racing a teammate but also going out there yourself going for the win?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I don’t know. I feel like you do have to race each other a little bit differently. You don’t want to run into each other and damage their car or damage yours, take out two opportunities for our organization to get a win. At the same time we got to run hard because we’re battling up front for these wins with each other. It’s been cool to get to race really hard with Chase especially. William and Alex have been doing a great job this year, to have us all getting wins, battling up front all throughout the race, it’s awesome.I think, too, we all want to see each other do good. We work really well together. I think we all learn something off of each other each week. Q.A lot of people with the success that you’re having have pointed to you as the championship favorite. What does it mean to you to hear that? Do you feel that is the case?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I mean, it’s still a lot of racing left. I think if you were to point right now at a favorite, I think for sure you’d have to look at us, with us running up front, leading lots of laps, getting the stage wins, things like that, and now getting a couple race wins these last two weeks. Like I said, it’s still a long ways left to go. Teams are going to get better. Teams are going to fade. I just hope we’re a team that continues to get better, keeps getting these wins, hopefully be battling my teammates for a championship in Phoenix later this year. Q.This is five consecutive finishes for you in the top two. What have you learned about yourself?KYLE LARSON: I don’t know. I’m not really sure. We could have won some more races, I think. I got to race a lot last year. Gosh, I ran 90-something races. I think I was in the top two for 70-something of ’em. I think last year kind of taught me a lot, helped keep my heart rate down. These late-race restarts and things, I feel a lot less pressure I think when I’m out there nowadays than I did maybe before.Yeah, I think just the experience of that really helps now more than anything. Q.Mr. H was talking after last week’s win about the camaraderie and how proud he was that you and Cliff Daniels have built the relationship. Talk about that relationship, how beneficial it’s been.KYLE LARSON: Yeah, all these wins are team wins. Yeah, my relationship with Cliff and everybody on the 5 car is great. Cliff is a very intense guy. He’s a perfectionist really. That’s what you want out of a crew chief. Outside of that, it’s cool to me that obviously dirt racing is important to me, all that, but he watches more dirt racing than I do throughout the week. I think that’s really cool. He’ll talk to me, Hey, man, did you see this or that? This guy did great, did you see that slide job? I think that’s awesome. It definitely helps us build a closer connection. He’s only a few years older than me. I hope we’re together for a very long time. I hope this 5 team is together for a very long time. They’ve already been together for a while with Jimmie and stuff. I hope with me plugged in, we can be together forever. Q.How did today kind of reflect with you being with Hendrick now? Chase being the so-called road course ace, whatever, what is the competition like between you guys all under one roof? They have the Penske commercials where they have the competitive nature. Are you guys kind of like that, butting heads, pushing each other?KYLE LARSON: I mean, so I wasn’t around before. Every week we go into the competition meetings, Marshall and Chad, even Rick, Jeff Gordon, guys like that, will talk about how the teams have never been working better together than they are right now. That includes us drivers, too. Like I mentioned earlier, I think we’re all competitive with each other, but we all want to see our organization do well. We definitely work well together. We race hard together. I’m sure throughout the years we’ll have run-ins over whatever on track. I think if we can be man enough just to have talks to get through them, be good teammates, it would be hard to stop us. I think all of us are very unselfish too. Like I said, we all want to see each other do good. I’m an open book if any of them have questions for me, I answer it 100% honestly of what I may be doing in the car with my hands or my feet, whatever lines I look for, past trends and stuff. I feel like I can ask any of them the same thing and I’ll get an honest response back. Like I said, we all want to see each other do good. I think that’s how you build great teammates. THE MODERATOR: Kyle, thank you for your time tonight. Congratulations on the victory. KYLE LARSON: Yep, thank you.
CLIFF DANIELS (CREW CHIEF), NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT: 
THE MODERATOR: We’ve now been joined by our race winning crew chief, Cliff Daniels. A victory last week, now a victory here today in Sonoma. Talk a little bit about this week and what it has been like to be a part of the 5 team. CLIFF DANIELS: Yeah, it’s been a special week for sure. After the Coke 600, that was quite a race. It’s hard to even believe that the race played out then the way it did, our car stayed up front the whole time.This week we were a little tired on Monday and Tuesday. I’m so thankful and proud of the guys back at the shop, everyone at Hendrick Motorsports, because we let opportunities like that — we let moments like that create opportunities for us to get rejuvenated and go work hard. Our guys put in a lot of long hours, the whole shop did, to try to get these cars ready to come out west. The trucks had to leave early this week.
Tuesday was a long day. Wednesday was a really long day. The guys were just ready to grind it out. It takes all of that prep and focus to get us back here. Very, very thankful. THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with questions. Q.Did your plan coming into the race, did it change at all or was it set in stone and it unfolded as you expected?CLIFF DANIELS: Stage one was pretty set. I think we executed that basically how we planned to. Didn’t know how good our car was going to be. Haven’t been here before with Kyle. It’s been a couple years since we’ve been here anyways. It’s no secret the last handful of trips here, the Hendrick cars, Chevrolets as a whole, we just haven’t been as good as we need to be. We were hoping we could stay up front and get stage points in stage one. We were prepared to shorten the stage like a lot of guys did in stage two. Once we realized we had a really fast car that could pass, Kyle was doing such a good job with it, it allowed us to gamble a little to try to get another stage winning, stage points, which luckily we did. Then having a tire advantage on a handful ahead of us only by a few laps, but then a good chunk at the front of the field we had more than a handful of laps of tire advantage. Looking at that, assuming we could get through with clean tires and clean fenders, we thought stage three could play out eventually and work out okay for us. I did not expect us to get back to the front that quick. That just shows how hard Kyle was able to drive the car. He’s just a master in traffic. To see that play out was really cool. Once we got up front, from my perspective, it’s a little nerve-wracking because you know you have a fast car, there were still a lot of laps left. We didn’t want to abuse our tires or push too hard. Even the way the race played out at the end, he had three restarts that he had to nail. He nailed them perfect, so really cool. Q.Coming into this race, as it unfolded, have you noticed winning the regular-season championship is more attainable and that has affected your wanting to go after stage points?CLIFF DANIELS: I can’t say you’re wrong in that assumption. It’s definitely something we’ve had our eyes on. Credit to the 11 bunch, as good as they’ve been all year for a little while for the whole rest of the field. It didn’t really look like that was going to be achievable for someone else because the 11 had built up such a lead.Our team is strong right now. Knowing that is kind of in our sights, we’re certainly going to pay attention to it. There’s still a lot of racing left. It’s going to be a long summer. A lot of weeks in a row where we’re going to have backup cars and practice-qualifying events. We’ve got to stay sharp. Then come Playoff time, that’s when we’ve really got to be on top of our game.Yeah, we’re going to keep our eyes on it, but we need to keep sharp in the meantime. Q.Do you have a set number of points that by this time of the year we want to be within this much of Hamlin, a month later… Do you map it out when you’re trying to catch somebody like that?CLIFF DANIELS: I understand the thought process, but honestly no way. Since the beginning of the year, we knew we were close in a couple races, for one reason or another, things didn’t work out for us. We really just want to focus right now on executing every week. It’s more about building our process, making sure the team — if there’s 10 tens out there to get, we don’t need to try to get 11 and stub our toe or we don’t need to get complacent and only get eight either, if that makes sense. Yes, the points matter. Yes, the outlook of all that matters. Having the distraction of thinking we need to achieve a certain amount of points per event, we’re just not really going there right now. We’re keeping all of our focus just on what it takes to go execute every week. Q.It’s not the same equipment, but Kyle always has been fast here, but he hasn’t had good races here. Was there anything you saw in his past races that you harped on him to focus on these things because if you do you’ll have a good race just like you qualified?CLIFF DANIELS: Not specifically. I think he naturally, and we all saw it today, right, even from the drop of the green flag, he has an amazing knack for this place. To be very candid, the issues he’s had of handling and the cars in the past at Ganassi, we have had the same issues. I can’t say Hendrick has been as good as we need to be here. I think it was more of a Chevrolet thing in the past. We struggled the last couple trips here with Jimmie. Some of our other teammates did as well. Thankfully we’ve had a great foundation of the road course setups that we’ve been building, credit to Alan and to Chase on the 9 team, that we’ve all been able to take that kind of foundation of what they’ve built and we get to go apply it at these tracks we haven’t been at in a while. Obviously we have a few new tracks coming up that we haven’t been to either. He have to keep building on it, which is a really cool spot to be in. We’ll just see how it goes. Q.What was the difference with the tires this year? Seemed like they wore out a lot more than the past at Sonoma.CLIFF DANIELS: There was a lot of falloff, for sure. To me, I guess what stands out is, as hard as we were able to run them at the beginning of the run, because we ran pretty hard, they didn’t fall off a cliff of lap time after eight or ten laps. It was more of a gradual progression. Still plenty of falloff, we know it’s a soft compound tire. I thought that was encouraging, from the racing standpoint where a guy could go hard and kind of beat his stuff up, and didn’t have to pay a one-second penalty for the next five or eight laps. You could kind of get everything back underneath you and keep going. Even when we were passing our way back up through there and we had to work our tires pretty hard, once we got back into clean air, Kyle did a great job of being patient once we reestablished track position, the tires seemed to come back to him. We haven’t had a chance to debrief yet, but it seemed pretty reasonable. Q.Coming into the year you preached about building a foundation early with this team. Is there anything about how quickly things have come together for this team that is surprising or surreal?THE MODERATOR: Hang tight. We will try to reconnect with Cliff. We’ll get started as soon as we can.Go ahead with your question again. Q.You preached coming into the season about building a foundation early, the importance of doing that. Is there anything about how quickly things have come together with this team that is surprising or surreal, you have to pinch yourself about?CLIFF DANIELS: It’s definitely a very special place to be in for our whole team. There’s been a lot that has gone into getting us where we are. Kyle had an amazing year on the racetrack and had a lot he had to overcome last year off the racetrack. He’s probably never been in a better spot in his career now. He’s definitely amazing in any car that he gets in every week. Then for our team, it’s been a challenge the last three or four years. We’ve really been seasoned to that. We have just an amazing chemistry back at the shop. Road crew, pit crew, our whole team is just absolutely phenomenal. To kind of see it all come together in this way is really special. Even still, yes, with an amazing start to the year that we’ve had, very thankful for that, we’re still going to Texas All-Star next week. That’s the first time this team will be at Texas with Kyle behind the wheel. Then when we go to Nashville, that’s a totally new track. It will be our first time with him behind the wheel. So on and so forth. I think the first rerun track we get to, correct me if I’m wrong, is Atlanta quite a few races from now. Every week in a way is still kind of a new week for us. It’s a good opportunity to continue to learn and continue to build that foundation. Again, still a lot of racing left. Hopefully we get it right when it counts. Q.Given what you’ve seen from your team and Kyle, the organization in general over the last four weeks, the entire season, can you foresee anyplace on the schedule where one of your four Hendrick guys wouldn’t be a legitimate contender for a win?CLIFF DANIELS: It’s a great question and it’s kind of tough to say. Pocono is always a challenge I think for everyone. If I remember correctly last year, we weren’t where we needed to be at Pocono. I do think there are a few more tracks coming up that are going to be challenging. Thankfully our company is so strong right now, everyone is working so well, locked in arms with each other. Hopefully that energy and that momentum can get us what we need when we go to some of those challenging tracks. Going back to Watkins Glen, it’s been a couple years. Indy road course will be new. There are some of these places that it’s hard to say because we just don’t know. Pocono is definitely a challenge, and it has been for us for some time. We’ll brush up on our notes and give it our best shot. Q.What is it like as a crew chief, you mentioned you were talking about how you didn’t come here last year because of the pandemic, we missed you out here on the West Coast, but how difficult is it when you have all these little rule changes over the past two years, trying to rely on notes from 2019? How difficult is it to approach a track with all the different rule changes?CLIFF DANIELS: It’s definitely a big challenge. Another layer on top of everything you just said, is the tire construction changed coming here. It’s a place, that, yes, all the factors you just mentioned, plus the difference in the tire, I had a lot of anxiety even before the start of the race just because we know kind of our process of what we looked at from old notes, trying to do our best job to understand the tire or predict the tire ahead of time. There’s still so many unknowns. Thankfully we had a good spot on pit road. Kyle is so good here. We saw that from the drop of the green flag. All of that helped. We did tune on our car just a little bit as the day went. Yeah, there was a lot of prep to get us to this point that was our best educated guess, I would say. Q.What kind of small things can you rely on when you have so much changing?CLIFF DANIELS: Again, I mentioned it earlier. I think the foundation of where the Hendrick Motorsports road course package is right now, very thankful that it is strong and we can really compete well at all the places. Thinking back to the Daytona road course at the beginning of the year, our cars ran up front. COTA, our cars were going to be up front wet or dry. Then to come here and be strong. Just a great a foundation. Those are the notes we rely on, then just try to piece together the uniqueness of Sonoma, how to apply that to here. Didn’t expect it to work as well as it did today. Thought if we got it right, we could compete. Certainly a great day. Q.As later stages of the race were unfolding, you were making up some ground on Chase in big, big chunks, but the tire was falling off really bad. Did you feel like the late cautions saved things a little bit?CLIFF DANIELS: Yes and no. I mean, I think either way once we had gotten out to the lead, still under green before the yellows happened at the end, I think Kyle was going to be really smart with how he managed everything. He was going to maintain a pretty good gap. I think we would have been okay at that point. Obviously it’s hard to say how bad the tire falloff would have been the last handful of laps of the race because that was going to be our longest stint of the day. Once the yellows happened, it gives everything a chance to cool down obviously, and that kind of more or less equalizes things to guys behind you.I knew it was going to be critical to make sure we had a good launch on the restarts, have a good first couple corners. Kyle did just a phenomenal job of nailing I think it was three restarts, nailing all of that.They certainly got to beat on our bumper for a corner or two, which is good, hard racing. Then it worked out after that. Yeah, tough to say if or if not the yellows. I think we were in a good spot either way. THE MODERATOR: Cliff, thank you again for spending some time with us. Congratulations again on the win. CLIFF DANIELS: Thank you, guys. Thanks for having me.