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NASCAR CUP SERIES IMS ROAD COURSE VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (July 31, 2022) – The last time the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) competed on a road course circuit, Tyler Reddick put his name in the record books as a first-time winner in NASCAR’s premier series (Road America; July 2022). Reddick backed up that performance this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, powering his No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1 across the bricks first, taking the checkered flag for the second time in his NCS career. The 26-year-old Richard Childress Racing driver is not only a back-to-back road course winner, but now just the sixth driver to become a repeat winner in the series this season. “We just know what we’re (No. 8 RCR Chevrolet team) capable of and we did that at Road America,” said Reddick. “Just really glad to be able to do it here in Indianapolis. This is one really special place to race and I’m really excited to kiss the bricks.” Reddick’s victory took Chevrolet’s NASCAR Cup Series road course win streak to double digits, with the bowtie brand now sitting at 10 consecutive wins on road course circuits. Dating back to Chevrolet’s milestone 800th win in NASCAR’s premier series at Circuit of The Americas in May 2021, six drivers from four different Chevrolet teams have contributed to that feat. Leaving Chevrolet’s home away from home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the bowtie brand also extended its manufacturer-leading NCS win count to 13 in the 22 races this season. “Tyler, Crew Chief Randall Burnett and the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Camaro ZL1 team put together a strong weekend, clinching the pole on Saturday and racing hard and smart to bring home the win at the Brickyard today,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance and Motorsports. “Tyler has been putting in a lot of work preparing for these road courses, and it has paid off.” With all three NASCAR national series in competition in Indianapolis this weekend, one thing remained consistent in the final results: a bowtie on top. In addition to Reddick’s win on the 2.436-mile, 14-turn Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, Chevrolet drivers Grant Enfinger and AJ Allmendinger gave the manufacturer a weekend sweep.“And congratulations to all the Chevrolet drivers and teams who delivered big wins in all three NASCAR series this weekend in Indianapolis,” said Campbell. “Grant Enfinger, in the No. 23 Silverado, had an exciting win at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday; AJ Allmendinger, in the No. 16 Camaro SS, racing from the pole to the NASCAR Xfinity Series win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Saturday; and Tyler bringing home the Cup win here at the Brickyard today.” The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, August 7, at the Michigan International Speedway with the FireKeepers Casino 400 at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript:THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Tyler Reddick, driver of the No. 8 3Chi Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. You got your second victory of the 2022 season, second win on a road course, too. How good does it feel, and at Indy?
TYLER REDDICK: It feels pretty dang special, I’m not going to lie. The last guy that was up here was about as short as me. That’s good. It’s pretty special. Yeah, it was very special. I’m not going to lie.
I’ve watched a lot of racing at this venue as a kid growing up. A lot of really incredible drivers have won at this racetrack, and it’s really, really cool to be a part of the group of drivers that have won here, and yeah, I’m really happy about it, and hopefully I’ll be racing here again next year — well, I should be, I guess. I should be racing here next year. But hopefully winning again next year, and I’m excited to race here in some other things, too. I’d love to do that.
Q. You got a great restart at the end. Was that just a matter of your timing, or was it — AJ was starting to fade a little bit physically and needed some help afterwards from the heat. His cool suit quit working. If you could just describe the restart and the key that that was to your victory.TYLER REDDICK: Every restart once we had some cautions, they were very important. I’m not going to lie, I saw drivers like Austin Cindric and a few others at the end of practice do some mock restarts.As the race progressed, I thought I had found the limit on the restart braking zone. It’s much different than what the normal braking zone is on a green flag lap.
Thankfully I never overexerted and went past that mark. But we had pretty good brakes on our car all day long, could be pretty aggressive on that front, and was able to defend because of the good brakes that we had on our car and then also kind of be aggressive with the car that we were racing on the front row beside me.
Q. Were you getting a little bit of a push from behind by Blaney?TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I got a good push on that restart by Blaney. I don’t blame him. He was really trying to do a good job of timing the restart to get a good run on me and maybe being able to defend what was behind him, as well. Because of that, the second-to-last restart Chase and AJ got a really good launch because they were committed to pushing, and it got Chase kind of in front of me going into Turn 1, so I had to really nail it on that braking zone.
Unfortunately he got turned around and the rest was history from there.
Thankfully on that last restart he gave me a good push. I was able to fade to the inside. He was getting put in an interesting position by Daniel Suárez, and I saw that in my rear view, and I kind of faded to the bottom with him, so we kind of stayed together and pushed. It worked out really well.
Q. What was your reaction when all of a sudden Chastain goes blowing through Turn 1, and the next thing you know, he’s right next to you?TYLER REDDICK: It didn’t seem like real life. I was like, what? I was waiting to see what was going to happen with that situation because I think I had Jim Pohlman say, hey, he’s probably going to get penalized. Well, dammit, Jim, like — Star Trek reference right there. He’s going to get penalized isn’t good enough. I need to know if — I didn’t know for sure if he was or wasn’t.
Yeah, I was trying to race him as hard as I could, but I saw Austin Cindric was right there, and if you get battling side by side in certain sections of this racetrack, you can really hurt lap time on both drivers and allow third place to catch up. It was kind of a complex situation for a couple seconds there, but thankfully I was able to get momentum on Ross in a pretty convenient spot and make the pass for the lead and then check out from there.
Q. Surviving two restarts as you did is pretty darned impressive. Just your thoughts on being able to accomplish that.TYLER REDDICK: You know, when I was at Road America, it was a pretty straightforward kind of old-school race. Well, we never used to have stages, but if it wasn’t for the stages, we wouldn’t have had a lot of cautions at Road America, and those were the only two cautions we had, so the race kind of played out naturally.
Because of that it kind of became a race just between me and Chase. As the race was unfolding there, Chase got back to second place and I was kind of curious the pace he was going to run. Right before that caution came out he was running about a tenth or two faster so I was like, this is like Road America again, I’m going to have to push really hard and hope I don’t make a mistake.
We didn’t; we ran a really fast lap. I think we were about five tenths faster than he was, and it was like, okay, we’re in good shape, and then the caution came out. I was like, well, I wasn’t prepared for that. I guess I was prepared for it, but I didn’t anticipate it.
I had to be perfect on my restart. I kind of had to make sure that I was a little bit aggressive at blocking drivers to the far right going into Turn 1 because it seemed like that would work out in the first couple of rows for those drivers making that move, but thankfully I did and was pretty good in the braking zone to hold them off, too.
Q. This was the first race where the Next-Gen car raced at this racetrack. Comparatively to the other road course races, they all have decent elevation changes. This place is completely flat. I don’t know if you knew, but there was a lot of cars just spinning off going all over the place. There were only full course cautions on the last stage, but throughout the first two there was a lot of cars going all over the place. Having driven last year’s car and then this year’s car at this racetrack, what are some of the big differences? Is this car more difficult to drive, or is it harder on parts? What do you think about this car?TYLER REDDICK: Well, certainly with this car, the edge is much sharper. It’s like a cliff. With the old car it was a bit more rounded. You could get up to that edge and slide past it and bring it back. I think with this car, if you can harness the — if you can focus enough, you can get to that edge and not crash past it, but it certainly is happening much quicker than it was with the old car for a number of reasons, whether it’s the physical body on the car, how it’s shaped, there’s less quarterpanel, how the diffuser works, and then the sidewall of the tires being different, too, really plays a role in that.
I just think with a flat track like this and how this car gets — I wasn’t in dirty air for many laps today, but certainly there was a pretty big difference whether in clean air or dirty air, so I’m kind of glad we were a little bit on the loose side out front and by ourselves because it allowed us to work dirty air pretty well. These cars are really edgy, and it’s very easy once you get past that limit that you just end up blowing past it and spinning out.
Q. (No microphone.)TYLER REDDICK: I mean, I was pretty loose by myself and I was pretty tight in dirty air. It was a little bit surprising.
Q. This is the first race since the announcement that you’re going to Toyota in 2024. Did you feel more compelled — we know — that you won.TYLER REDDICK: Oh, that I won. I guess it would be the third.
Q. Yeah, that you won, I’m sorry I left out a word. Did you feel extra compelled to show Richard you’re not laying down, because there was two races before here, but does that give you some, hey, I’m here for you guys to bring home checkered flags?TYLER REDDICK: I mean, nothing had really changed from the announcement other than knowing where I’m going to be in the next year and a half. My commitment level, if anything, probably is a little bit higher, but I mean, we’re not talking like it’s a significant amount higher.
I just know that we’ve had time to continue to work on our cars and make them better and grow as a team and go the right direction, and now it’s like, all right, we have a hard stop. This is the end of the road that we have together. For me that puts, I think, a good amount of pressure on me to just keep finding more, because we’re always trying to bring the best that we can to the racetrack, but when we know that the end is — it’s not really close, but we know when it’s going to be, we’ve got to take advantage of every single moment possible, and I hope, I feel like at least for me, it’s a good thing. I think it really makes me push hard, and I think it’s making the team push hard. We’re all working really hard together to give it every last ounce that we have out there and win as many races as we can.
Q. He said when I asked a similar question to him, he said he went and talked to the crew of the team and said, he’s committed, and then he followed up by saying that you’re there next year and obviously y’all are chasing championships.TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, that’s what we’re going to try and do. It’s really nice we won two races this year. We got some good playoff points in our back pocket. We would like to win at other tracks other than road courses, but we’ll win where we can for now.
We’ve certainly had potential to win at a number of places, at a number of different places. We’ll just keep working really hard, and hopefully in the coming weeks we can win some more races, get some more playoff points and put our team, points speaking and mentally, confidence-wise, in a really good place going into the Playoffs.
Q. What did it feel like to see Beau run across the Yard of Bricks to see his daddy?TYLER REDDICK: I’m really glad he was awake. I knew he was going to be awake this time around because we hung out with some 3Chi folks until a little late. Not like crazy late. We called it quits at like 10:30, we had some fun hanging out eating tacos. This is their home track, if you will, their headquarters are pretty close to here. A lot of people that work here are really close to this area, so it was fun hanging out with them last night and getting to spend time with everybody.
I knew we kind of had a late night so I knew he was going to wake up a little bit late, so I knew he wasn’t going to get tired around this time, so I knew he was going to be awake this time around. Thankfully he was awake and he was running across the track and into my arms. I was really pumped about that.
Q. How much confidence do you think the Road America win gave you, because to get two wins in a month, let alone get your first win but then to have the second one come within a month, that’s pretty sporty. It’s almost like the floodgates have kind of opened and things are clicking.TYLER REDDICK: They definitely are looking. If I’m honest, though, when you look back at the Charlotte Roval last year, we had a great opportunity there, we missed out on it. COTA we were like, all right, here we go, and then it just poured all day on Sunday and we were like — we didn’t know what to do about that, right, so that really threw us for a curve ball. These road courses have been our strong suit for a while now and we’ve just continued to harness and make our cars better.
Oh, my gosh, we’ve really been good at a lot of places. I just — even Loudon, that’s probably the worst run we’ve had in a while, and Loudon we were — we had a great car but we were just making little mistakes on pit road, and on pit road I was like sledding through a box, trying too hard, and we kept losing like five, six, seven spots because of my mistakes.
We really are really doing a good job right now; we’re clicking. I think even on tough days we can finish eighth or ninth, in the top 10. That tells me that we’re doing a lot of the right things, and we’re in a good place.
Q. I’m curious, I know you guys have talked about getting through the announcement in the last few weeks, and I’m curious, do you feel like you have to prove anything to anybody beyond just proving being a good race car driver, so forth? Have the last three weeks changed anything from that perception or feelings on your behalf because certainly it’s kind of been a seismic thing that’s happened within the team and the organization?TYLER REDDICK: I wouldn’t say it’s necessarily a matter of proving things, it’s a matter of this is the time we have left. Like I kind of said earlier, we’ve been working hard to built to being a race-winning team. Whether that’s at short tracks, mile-and-a-halfs, road courses, whatever it may be, it seems like road courses have come our way faster than other places.
For me, I just look at the time we have left, and I know I always give it my all, but certainly knowing that this is when — this is when the end of the road is going to be, I need to do everything I can to win as many races as possible for this group because I wouldn’t be the road course racer I am today if it wasn’t for RCR, if it wasn’t for the people on my team, if it wasn’t for Chevrolet.
I owe it to them. I owe it to my team. I owe it to the people that really have helped me to get that done and go out there and deliver for them.
Certainly if anything it’s helped. Just like when Alexa told me, hey, if you win the championship you can name our son, there’s not always times when I think I need an extra motivator because I don’t know if it’s possible or if it’s out there, but when I get them, I take it and run with it. For this situation, knowing when my last day will be with RCR, if anything it’s probably motivated me more than I thought was possible before all this went in motion.
Q. This is the second year in a row that at the end of the race a car has cut a corner. This situation was different than last year’s, but again, could have been a potential for a situation where the presumptive winner gets knocked out and somebody else wins the race. How do you address this situation? Is it something like if you blow the corner it maybe should be just an automatic stop and go? How do you look at it as a competitor? Are you more comfortable with officials having to some degree maybe a little bit of discretion to examine the situation? Does it need to be a hard-and-fast, or are you more comfortable with maybe a little bit more discretion on officials examining something like that? You could have been wiped out and we could be talking to somebody else after you got wiped out by somebody who was penalized.TYLER REDDICK: Well, I’d certainly like to have this conversation first with NASCAR, then with the media. But I think looking at how today went and how some of our racetracks that we’ve had the potential trade-offs for cut-offs or blowing through a chicane or whatever it is like Charlotte Roval and what the penalty is or what you have to do is, hopefully we can learn from this situation and try to make the cut-through a little bit slower so the driver doesn’t have as much of a time gained.
I don’t know, I haven’t looked at Ross’ SMT but it looked like he pretty much decided that was the route he was going to go, but the ruling by NASCAR is they don’t gain a huge advantage or whatever the term might be it’s acceptable, and he obviously gained too much of an advantage and it cost him a really solid finish inside the top 10.
It’s kind of open for discussion, open for interpretation, right, so hopefully going forward, especially when we come back to here with this track and how that chicane or the cut-through is designed, we can make it to where it’s a little bit slower to where no matter if he hit it absolutely perfect, it’s costing you at least two, three, four seconds to where this situation doesn’t happen again.
I don’t blame Ross for making that move because as a competitor, looking at how the rules were set forth, if I’m in a situation I want to do everything I can to win the race. I don’t blame him for trying to take advantage of it. It’s a shame it went the way that it did.
Q. One team had mentioned to me that they felt like you really wouldn’t lose a whole lot if you kind of went through there. They kind of examined it. As part of the pre-race studying that you’ve done, is that what you guys have noticed, like look, if we have to go through this, we’re in not as bad a shape and we can come out —TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I mean, certainly the amount of cars that were getting wrecked in 1 and 2, the risk is way higher to go through 1 and 2 normally than taking the cut-through. Again, I don’t blame him for doing it, but again, it’s the rules that were set forth before the race, and somebody was able to somewhat take advantage of it. Hopefully we can all learn from it, make it better. Certainly NASCAR doesn’t want it to be the way it was where they had to make a decision and penalize him for what he did.
Q. When did Ross enter your field of vision?TYLER REDDICK: Right in the middle of turn — I think it’s the apex of Turn 3. I was like kind of cornering, and I heard Derek come on the radio in my ears, like, Don’t mind the 1, he’s doing whatever he is. Probably said some other not-so-nice words, but heat of the moment, right?
I look over, I’m like, oh, no — I could say other words, but oh, no, there’s Ross, what do I do. He got to my right rear really nice, and as much as I wanted to go through chicane side-by-side with him, I’m like, if I screw up and fly my right-side tires over the inside curb, I could get a penalty. I don’t know if I’m racing him, I don’t know if I’m not, so it put me in an interesting spot. I wanted to pass him, but I also didn’t want to penalize myself trying to get around him. It was just kind of a weird situation.
The way he was behaving in the car driving it, I didn’t know if he was trying to motion me by and then I thought he was, and then we get in the corner, I realized, oh, no, he’s not. It was just a very weird situation, and then with Austin Cindric as close as he was, it just made the whole situation that much more dynamic. I was trying to figure out how hard do I race Ross, and do I race him so hard that I allow the 2 to get close to us, and just trying to weigh all those things, because if I wasn’t racing Ross, he could run in front of me all day long as long as I kept Austin behind me. But if I was racing Ross, I had to get around him, and I just needed to weigh those things in my head, how hard do I race him.
Q. How soon (indiscernible)?TYLER REDDICK: Well, we got to talk before the announcement was made, but we haven’t really spoke much until today since the announcement was made. Thankfully to win smooths some things over, I think.
I’ve told him that as long as I’m racing here, I’m going to do everything I can to win races for this team, and I would love to win a championship or two with this team. I’m going to be more committed — I feel like the older I get, you smarter you get, the more you find ways to work really hard, and I’m just going to work as hard as I can for this team because there’s a lot of great people on this team, a lot of great people at ECR and a lot of great people not just on my car but at the shop at RCR that work really, really hard on these cars, and they’ve helped me come so far as a driver. I’m just going to give them everything I’ve got.
Q. Randall and Richard both said (indiscernible)?TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, no, I got to talk to the team before the announcement was made. Certainly it was tough. I don’t think everyone was expecting it or many were expecting it, but again, it was the situation we were dealt. I just wanted them to know that I was going to continue to be committed to them and that I was going to work harder than ever before or work as hard as I have been, because the things that Brian Bottlemate (phonetic), who’s on my pit crew, he does a lot of the brake stuff on my car. There’s a lot of people that do a lot of different things, not just pitting the car, and all the different people that sometimes come on the road or sometimes don’t, stay at home, like they’ve done a lot to help me get better as a driver, and I just wanted to let them know that I’m going to do everything I can to win as many races as I can with you guys.
I’m looking at this as I don’t have all the time in the world to figure out how to be a better driver. I need to be better now so we can go out and win as many races as possible together.
Q. You said you and Richard really haven’t spoken much, and winning hopefully kind of is a cure-all. I wonder if you had an opportunity to speak in Victory Lane or anything since then?TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, we got to shoot the whatever they call it and kiss some bricks, drink some champagne, sip some champagne, drink some beers.
Q. Did you say anything to him?TYLER REDDICK: Oh, yeah. I’m glad to add to his Brickyard collection of rings and wins. He’s already had a couple of them before me and I’m glad to help add to that. I want to add to everything I can possible with him before my time is up.
Q. Did it feel normal, like there’s no —TYLER REDDICK: Yeah. Winning helps.
Q. You mentioned at the start of the press conference that you’ve grown up watching a lot of great drivers win here at this track. Curious to know if winning on the road course today felt any different than you might expect it might have been growing up assuming that if you were going to win here during your Cup career until a couple of years ago that that would have been on the oval?TYLER REDDICK: I mean, I had a great opportunity in front of me to potentially win here in an Xfinity car. Just didn’t work out. I ran second to my teammate Justin Allgaier.
Then the following year, me and Randall brought up a bullet of a race car. I remember perfectly, it was Anderson’s Maple Syrup, No. 2, it was fast. It was a rocketship. My and Christopher Bell, like we did most weekends, we were racing really, really hard, but unfortunately this on, we collected each other and we just destroyed our race cars.
It was actually my Homestead car, and I totaled it. That was a tough one to swallow because we had a good car to win there, and totaled my Homestead car.
Side story, we went to Texas later on, and me and Chase Briscoe kind of were battling on a restart and I wrecked. I totaled my second Homestead car the second time, and we had to rush the Homestead car through the doors for the championship weekend, a brand-new third car. I had three brand-new cars all year in that championship season with RCR, and the first one I totaled here, second one I totaled at Texas and the third one thank God survived and won a championship.
Q. You had a lot of restarts today where you were at the front and then you had a lot where you were kind of middle of the pack and we saw those got really crazy. Can you describe what your thoughts are and just the general goal and what you’re trying to do to navigate around that big pack?TYLER REDDICK: I’m not going to lie, I wish I had a switch to turn my camera off on the back of that dang car because I can’t tell you how many times when AJ flew up into the sand in Turn 3 and 4, when Chase spun out or I think it was Blaney that spun out on the final restart, I was just like caught looking in the camera like I was a kid watching the best of the best race in front of me, like I’ve got to drive my dang car. I’ve got to stop looking at this camera. I wish I could turn that thing off sometimes. It captures way too much.
I would hit a really good corner, but I would get so caught up with what was happening behind me that I would lose track of what I was looking at. I don’t know, the camera is great, but sometimes I wish I could turn that thing off because I get too caught up in what’s going on behind me sometimes.
Q. When you were leading and on those restarts, did you find yourself looking at that camera a lot, too?TYLER REDDICK: I mean, yeah, after I’ve apexed the corner and I’m kind of accelerating and I don’t have to — maybe if I didn’t look at that thing at all, I’d run faster laps. But I don’t know, I kind of would look in the camera from time to time and kind of gauge my gaps and see every lap, lap after lap, like in Turn 1 or in Turn 13, kind of looking at my gaps, kind of gauging if I’ve made gains or not. But I have Derek and I have Randall and I have a lot of other great people to tell me what the gaps are, but I still seemingly look in the camera to kind of see myself.
Q. How does that champagne compare to your boss’s vineyard products?TYLER REDDICK: No, his is way better by far.
Q. Even with the late restarts, you basically had in race in check. Did you ever feel like you really didn’t have this race in check —TYLER REDDICK: Every single restart I was — I don’t take anything for granted. I knew I was going to have to work really, really hard on every single restart to win this race, and then when I saw Ross come flying back on the track until that decision was made to penalize him, I didn’t feel like I had won it at all, so I just had to go out there and work hard.
Q. With getting the pole yesterday, track position so pivotal, for as good as you are on road courses, I know you don’t take things for granted, but did you feel like this was an opportunity to be in control —TYLER REDDICK: Yes, absolutely.
Q. Explain that mindset going into this event as opposed to if you’d been starting 25th or something like that.TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I mean, how you approach pit road, how you approach pit road entry. You’ve got a really great opportunity. Even if you — the last thing you want to do at a place like this when you have the pole, when you have that great pit stall is go 105 percent on pit road or pit road entry and have a penalty.
Because of the hard work we put in on Saturday, I knew as long as we just played it 95, 90 percent on pit road and pit road entry into the box that — honestly how with the strategy worked out with the guys I was rating, they were having to stay plugged in longer to get fuel than I was, it kind of worked in our favor to kind of be just on the safe side.
But as I’ve kind of discovered with this car, I’ve really pursued getting in the box as hard as I can and then I slide through, but then I’m still a whole pit stop down, and with this car, getting in the box is important, but more than anything, being consistent and stopping a little bit short, that consistency there allows your pit crew to really jump on top of it and really execute a good pit stop.
Q. I know you said you kind of didn’t feel like you were in control when you’re in the middle of the pack on all those restarts. Throughout the race did you feel like you were only having to worry about maybe a couple different drivers?TYLER REDDICK: Yeah.
Q. How concerned were you whether it was Blaney with that strategy or was it more about Bell or was there anybody else? You clearly had the best car and it was just a matter of if something didn’t happen to you, this was going to be your race.TYLER REDDICK: I mean, I was a bit alarmed by the amount of people that were able to make the two-stop strategy work. Certainly restarting I think we were in eighth or ninth, I think it was eighth because then the outside row. I was a bit concerned because the first time around when it was just three or four cars that did that, it was pretty difficult to get back to the lead. I in fact never did before the pit stop cycle occurred.
I knew I had to really push hard on that final Stage 3 restart — the Stage 3 restart we had, not the final restart. I knew I had to be aggressive. I knew I had better tires, and I really had to maximize braking zones to really put the other guys in bad spots, and it worked, but I didn’t know which car I was going to be racing, but I just knew whoever got the good restart and got out in front that was on the older tires was the car I was going to have to run down and race, and thankfully I was able to be a little bit better than Christopher was in the braking zones to really not allow the dirty air effect to really hurt my car.
Q. I saw one side of your car, but I didn’t see the other. Did you get hit at all? There wasn’t any marks or damage that we could see.TYLER REDDICK: Yeah, I made some pretty significant contact with Cole Custer, and for a couple of laps I was like, oh, no, the car is not driving the same. But I just turned that switch off in my head and just went back to attacking the track. Who knows, maybe we bent something a little bit, but it didn’t kill the race car.
The last thing that a driver should do is after contact just jump on the bandwagon of oh, no, the car is ruined, making mistakes, so I just — made a little bit of contact? Whatever. Just gotta keep attacking and making the most of whatever the car will give you.
Q. Since you brought up the camera, have you thought about some tape and cardboard to cover up —TYLER REDDICK: Well, there’s a dim switch on the camera. I think I could have a dim switch setting to where it’s either full brightness or zero percent brightness where it’s basically off. I might do that.
THE MODERATOR: Tyler, thanks for coming in, and good luck in Michigan.
RANDALL BURNETT, CREW CHIEF, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1; AND RICHARD CHILDRESS, OWNER OF RICHARD CHILDRESS RACING – Press Conference Transcript:
THE MODERATOR: We are joined by the team owner of the winning No. 8 car, Richard Childress. Richard, why don’t you start us off and talk about how exciting it is to win here at Indianapolis for you guys.
RICHARD CHILDRESS: Anytime you win at Indy, it’s always great. This will be the fourth win on the Brickyard. We won one with Ty Dillon with the Xfinity, so we’ve won five times. Anytime you can get a win at Indy, it’s very special.
Q. Did you ever think with Tyler going away, would he lay down, because he’s fought for you every week? How does it make you feel to know you’ve got a racer out there?RICHARD CHILDRESS: Well, after they made their announcement, I met — I thought about it a lot that night, gave it a lot of thought, and it’s more than just about one person. It’s about a team. Stayed up most of the night thinking about what I should do, how I wanted to handle it.
I went in the next day and told the whole team it wasn’t a perfect circumstance the way it went down, but we’re going to give it everything we’ve got this year, and we’ll see where we go next year.
Q. You’ve won here on the oval numerous times, now you’ve won here on the road course. There’s talk about whether this race should be on the oval or the road course. There’s a lot of history with the Brickyard 400 on the oval. What does Richard Childress think?RICHARD CHILDRESS: Well, we came here the first time in I think it was ’93. Bill France Jr. brought Earnhardt and myself and wanted to know what we thought about it. We ran it, Dale drove the car then, and I guess it was going into ’94 we came back up here with Rusty Wallace and two or three other drivers and we ran the oval.
When you drive through the gates, go through the tunnel and you drive through here, just the history, tradition of Indianapolis gives you cold chills the first time I came — well, the first time I jumped the fence but we won’t talk about that.
It gives you cold chills when you think about Indianapolis and the history. So yes, I love it. I wish we were back on the oval for sure.
THE MODERATOR: We are also joined by the race-winning crew chief Randall Burnett.
Q. For either or both, Tyler has a three-second lead, caution comes out. What goes through your mind at that point?RANDALL BURNETT: Oh, no. No, I was talking about it on the way up here. We had like a three-, three-and-a-half-second lead there. Obviously Chase was pretty fast. All those guys were pretty fast right behind us. I feel like Tyler was saving his stuff pretty good there.
We kind of expected it. We were expecting it at Road America the other week. We were just kind of waiting on it to happen and it never did there, so to see it happen here wasn’t a huge surprise. With the tire falloff there was no real strategy to play like you didn’t have to worry about having to pit or not. Tires weren’t falling off.
Just hoped for the best. Hopefully not get drove down in there and wrecked, and fortunately we weren’t part of that. It worked out great.
Q. What were you thinking when you saw Chastain go up the access road?RANDALL BURNETT: Yeah, I was trying to watch on TV and then flashed away and was showing the cars wrecking and they flashed back to Tyler and the 1 is right there, I’m like, Where did that guy come from? I saw one car go blowing through the whole thing. I didn’t realize that’s where he came out. I was trying to get caught up. Where did he come from? That was pretty entertaining. I don’t know if he got a penalty or what for that, but yeah, glad him and Tyler didn’t get together and ruin our race. That was more what I was worried about than anything at that point.
Q. Randall, can you discuss how instrumental the brake package is that you’re using on these cars to do what you do, because a lot of your competitors targeted that. They said you guys had an excellent brake package. I’m not taking anything away from your driver, but they said that it looks like you guys have really gone to work on the brakes.RANDALL BURNETT: Well, I credit a lot of that to Tyler. He’s worked really hard on understanding how to brake better. We’ve worked hard as a group to figure out a package that works for him.
Everybody has got the same stuff on these cars. Everybody has got the same rotors and calipers. It’s basically a choice of master cylinders and brake pads and stuff like that, and fortunately for us we found something that worked for him pretty early in the season, and we’ve been able to work with that. He does a phenomenal job at knowing how hard to push, making sure he hits his marks right. Took really good care of his stuff and still had phenomenal speed today.
That’s an “atta boy” to him for sure because he used to hate these places, so he’s done a great job pushing himself to get better for sure.
Q. How much does the technical alliance with GM help because Hendrick had been so stout on the road courses? I think Larson won three out of ten and we don’t have to say anything about Chase, but to kind of take over the mantle, that’s got to be a feather in your cap.RANDALL BURNETT: Yeah, Chevy has put a lot into this deal this year, and it’s been certainly helpful to be able to more freely bounce ideas off one another. We don’t fully know what they’re doing and they don’t fully know what we’re doing, but there is a lot more dialogue between the teams.It’s been helpful for sure.
Q. Randall, what was the conversations like in the aftermath of Tyler’s announcement, and what did you tell the team?RANDALL BURNETT: Well, you know, it’s one of those things. It’s a business deal. We’ve still got a lot of racing left to do with Tyler, and that’s what I told our guys. We’re all professionals. A lot of us, everybody in our team is veterans of the sport. We’ve all been around for a long time. We’ve seen drivers come and go and things move around, and that’s just part of our sport.
We’ve talked about it as a group, and Richard sat in on some of them and talked with all of us about it. The biggest thing we can do is go out and do what we did today and that’s put fast cars underneath Tyler and try to win races and show everybody what this team is made of so we can try to figure out what we need to do to fill that void.
That’s what we’re going to continue to do. We feel like we’ve got a great shot at the championship this year, to win two races now after just not even a month apart.
We’re really looking forward to getting to the Chase, and got a lot of good races in there, so hopefully we can pull that off, too.
Q. Amid a season that’s been very successful for you guys, was there ever a doubt at any point of hey, our season can go sideways here, and the promise we have is not going to be fulfilled?RANDALL BURNETT: Well, after we got spun out at Bristol coming to the checkered I was a little upset about that. I was hoping that wasn’t going to knock us out of the playoffs. But this team is very resilient. We’ve had fast race cars all year. We’ve taken ourselves out of races by making mistakes. We’ve had others take us out of races. We’ve had tires — you name it, we’ve learned how to lose them all year this year and give them away, and what we’ve been preaching lately as a group and everybody pushing each other to minimize the mistakes and make the most opportunities, and I feel like that’s what we’ve done this month.
Q. Richard, going back to your first answer, if I’ve got this right, I think you said we’re going to give it everything we’ve got this year and we’ll see what we get next year. Are you guys still figuring out 2024 with the 8 and Tyler?RICHARD CHILDRESS: Yeah, Tyler will be in the car at RCR next year.
Q. After you figured out what the situation was with the 1, how were you communicating to Tyler? You’re not actually racing the 1 for the lead. What was the communication between you two.RANDALL BURNETT: Well, Derek spoke up pretty quick and he’s like, that’s going to be a penalty on them. He informed him pretty quick to not put himself in a bad spot, but we also had the 2 right there and Ross was still racing us hard. It was important for us to get by the 1 to gap to the 2 because if we messed around with him and let the 2 by us — it was quite a mess right there for a minute, and pretty stressful situation. Fortunately we were able to get by the 1 and just get away from it clean and not have to worry about it.
Q. Richard, this is your team’s first season with multiple wins by one driver since 2013 and your first season with multiple wins, period, since 2017. Is it safe to say that RCR is back, or do you still have a ways to go?RICHARD CHILDRESS: Well, it’s great to be back competitive again. The doors have been open, the lights have been on, but we haven’t been competitive. But it feels great to come to a racetrack and know you’re going to be one of the teams that’s going to be racing for the win.
Q. For either or both of you, with Tyler’s wins kind of sandwiching his announcement at the start and end of this month, did today’s win feel any different? Was it more special given everything that the team has gone through over these last couple weeks? Can you describe the dichotomy between these two wins?RANDALL BURNETT: I mean, obviously any win feels special. I think it’s just a hats off to our guys. To be able to be big enough and put that behind them and go out there and do the job at hand, and that’s what we can do best. That’s what we’ve got to do going forward.
I think it shows the resilience of this team, the dedication by everybody on this team to be able to step up at a big place like here and not have any mistakes today and everybody pull together and get to the common goal, I think that speaks a lot for this 8 team.
Q. Randall, I don’t know who came over the radio and said it, but you guys were obviously very pumped up and somebody said to Tyler that he didn’t take any s— from anybody and he’d earned that one. Was there doubt that he was going to be pushed around or something? I was curious that reaction.RANDALL BURNETT: Well, I think there’s been a few times we’ve been in that position before with Tyler, and it didn’t go our way. I think he’s learned a lot from those situations. Heck, one of the times was our first year in the Cup Series with him, and he was racing Austin at Texas, and Austin got the best of him on two or three restarts when we restarted up front against one another.
He takes that on his shoulders and he tries to study and learn from it. I was just really proud. He was laser focused today and didn’t miss a beat.
Those restarts can get crazy. You never know what’s going to happen, if somebody is going blow through you down there, or who knows what’s going to happen. He did a great job not missing his marks, not overdriving it, hit it precise, and was able to do what he needed to do.
Q. Was it you or Derek?RANDALL BURNETT: That was Derek. I told him that he just won at Indy, in case he didn’t know. Derek was the one who told him he didn’t take no s—
Q. Earlier this year when we spoke you said you were really hoping that this team would get in Victory Lane because Tyler has worked so hard and you guys have come so close. What has that been like to see how he’s matured as a Cup driver and how this team has come together to smooth out races and put everything together?RANDALL BURNETT: Well, I think it’s not only Tyler, I think it’s our whole group. A lot of us have been together for a long time. We’ve got a veteran pit crew that’s been through a lot together. Just this whole team, it’s pretty impressive the talent we’ve got and the depth we’ve got on this team and how we pull together. It’s pretty phenomenal and great to see that we’re getting the fruits out of our labor and winning some races now, because like I said before, we’ve blown plenty of them and had plenty of them taken away, and just whatever happened and come up second however many times.It’s nice to finally be finishing them off the way we should.
Q. Richard, which is better, Victory Cuvee or Victory Lane champagne from here?RICHARD CHILDRESS: No doubt, Victory Cuvee, for all the winning moments in your life. It’s pretty good. (Laughter.)
THE MODERATOR: Richard and Randall, congratulations. Thanks for joining us today.

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ROBERT HIGHT AND AUTO CLUB CHEVY MATCH CAREER BEST SEASON WITH WIN AT FLAV-R-PAC NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

Photo Credit: Gary Nastase, Auto Imagery

Unofficial NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Ten Points Standings
TOP FUEL – 1. Brittany Force, Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy dragster, 1083; 2. Mike Salinas, 1008; 3. Justin Ashley, 915; 4. Steve Torrence, 862; 5. Josh Hart, 689; 6. Leah Pruett, 673; 7. Shawn Langdon, 657; 8. Doug Kalitta, 624; 9. Austin Prock, Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist dragster, 602; 10. Clay Millican, 583 FUNNY CAR – 1. Robert Hight, Auto Club of Southern California Chevy Camaro SS, 1150; 2. Matt Hagan, 1022; 3. Ron Capps, 956; 4. John Force, PEAK/Blue Def Platinum Chevy Camaro SS, 904; 5. Bob Tasca III, 797; 6. J.R. Todd, 708; 7. Cruz Pedregon, 686; 8. Alexis DeJoria, 659; 9. Tim Wilkerson, 574; 10. Jim Campbell, 457.

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Another Western Swing Semifinal for Justin Ashley at Seattle

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

KENT, WA (July 31, 2022) — Justin Ashley and the Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster powered by Vita C Energy started the Western Swing with a semifinal finish in Denver and they capped the three race stretch with another semifinal today at the NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways outside of Seattle. The third-year pro and team owner went into race day as the No. 7 qualifier and defeated Austin Prock and Steve Torrence before dropping a wild semifinal against Tony Schumacher. Ashley will leave the Northwest Nationals sitting third in the points with three races left before the Countdown playoffs begin after Labor Day.

“I am really proud of these guys,” said Ashley, at the end of a long day. “We didn’t accomplish what we wanted to this weekend, but I thought we ran really well. The real number for us was 47. These guys turned this car around in this weather in 47 minutes. I am really proud of this team. We will regroup and move on to Topeka.”

Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster powered by Vita C Energy, photo by Auto Imagery

In the first round Ashley and Prock left side-by-side, but the Phillips Connect Toyota dragster powered by Vita C Energy had enough power to get out in front and race away for the win. Ashley’s winning elapsed time of 3.782 seconds outran Prock’s 3.796 seconds. In the battle between two NHRA Rookies of the Year Ashley moved his head-to-head record to 5-0 against Prock with today’s round win. Ashley earned lane choice in the quarterfinals over four-time Top Fuel champion Steve Torrence.

Facing the four-time and reigning Top Fuel champion Torrence in the quarterfinals Ashley stepped up his game posting another 3.78 second run in on a track that was over 130 degrees. The two-time winner already this season pulled away from Torrence, who was smoking his tires, for another quick and clean run to advance to the final four.

The Pacific Raceways’ racing surface continued to heat up and Ashley drew eight-time Top Fuel champion Schumacher for his third race of the day. Both drivers launched hard, but Ashley smoked the tires almost immediately. He saw Schumacher also get into trouble and Ashley tried to pedal his 11,000 horsepower Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel dragster, but as he tried to wrestle his race car under control it crossed the centerline disqualifying his run and handing the win to Schumacher. It was a dramatic end of a successful team effort for Ashley and his Davis Motorsports backed team.

“It just went up in smoke,” said Ashley, from the top end after the semifinal run. “That is what happens sometimes when you are racing as hard as we are. I just tried to give it a ride after I saw Tony having some trouble in the other lane. I wanted to give our Phillips Connect team a shot.”

The new experience of racing all three Western Swing races and making his first appearance at Pacific Raceways gave Ashley the opportunity to talk about his marketing partners like Bendix, Velociti, Sensata Insights, Lucas Oil, and KATO Fastening Systems to a packed house of fans. The team will head to Topeka in two weeks looking to close the gap on the Top Fuel points leaders.

Qualifying Results

Q1: 4.048 sec, 247.11 mph; Qual. 9

Q2: 3.853 sec; 319.75 mph; Qual. 6

Q3: 3.851 sec; 319.98 mph; Qual. 7

Bonus Points:

Race Results

First Round

Justin Ashley, Phillips Connect Toyota dragster powered by Vita C Energy, 3.782, 325.30 mph def. Austin Prock, Pittsboro, Ind., Montana Brand dragster, 3.796, 326.32 mph

Second Round

Justin Ashley, Phillips Connect Toyota dragster powered by Vita C Energy, 3.785, 322.42 mph def. Steve Torrence, Kilgore, Texas, Capco dragster, 6.333, 95.40 mph

Semifinals

Tony Schumacher, Austin, Texas, Maynard Family Foundation dragster, 4.485, 258.37 mph def. Justin Ashley, Phillips Connect Toyota dragster powered by Vita C Energy, DQ-Centerline

Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Ten – Top Fuel

1. Brittany Force 1083

2. Mike Salinas 1008

3. Justin Ashley 910

4. Steve Torrence 862

5. Josh Hart 689

6. Leah Pruett 673

7. Shawn Langdon 657

8. Doug Kalitta 624

9. Austin Prock 602

10. Clay Millican 583

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Semifinal Appearance for Pruett and Dodge//SRT at Northwest Nationals to Close Out NHRA Western Swing

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Top Fuel pilot Leah Pruett drove her Sparkling Ice +Caffeine Dodge//SRT dragster to a semifinal appearance after qualifying No. 12 at the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Northwest Nationals near Seattle
Pruett closes out the NHRA three-event Western Swing sixth in the Top Fuel standings after her win at the Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals near Denver, a No. 1 qualifier position and quarterfinal appearance at the Sonoma Nationals, and this weekend’s semifinal appearance at the Northwest Nationals
TSR Funny Car driver Matt Hagan remains second in the championship standings after a trio of challenging race weekends wrapped up at Pacific Raceways with a No. 10 qualifier position and a third consecutive early exit
Cruz Pedregon qualified his Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car No. 4 for eliminations at the Northwest Nationals but bows out early and leaves the Seattle-area event seventh in points

July 31, Kent, Washington — Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) pilot Leah Pruett closed out the National Hot Rod Association’s (NHRA) three-event Western Swing by taking her Sparkling Ice +Caffeine Dodge//SRT Top Fuel dragster from the No. 12 seeded position to a semifinal appearance at the Northwest Nationals near Seattle, Washington.

Pruett drove to a 3.897-second elapsed time pass in the final qualifying session to secure the spot on the eliminations ladder that paired her with No. 5 qualifier Antron Brown for the opening round. She kicked off eliminations by beating Brown on the tree by 0.003 seconds, then battling it out the entire length of the track before the Dodge//SRT dragster turned on the win lights with Pruett’s quickest run of the weekend, a 3.781-second pass at 325.69 mph to defeat her opponent’s 3.796 sec./320.81 mph effort.

In the quarterfinals, Pruett had another close battle with No. 4 qualifier Doug Kalitta whom she chased down with a (0.080-second reaction time) 3.818 sec./322.42 mph run to better his (0.075-second RT) 3.827 sec./316.67 mph pass and take the round win with a 0.0041-second margin of victory. That set up a semifinal match-up with Brittany Force against whom a loss of traction at the start of the lap sent Pruett’s chances to challenge the current Top Fuel points leader up in smoke and ended what has been a solid three week campaign for her TSR team.

Pruett’s performance over the three-event Western Swing included a big win at the Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals near Denver, a No. 1 qualifier position and quarterfinal appearance at the Sonoma Nationals, and with the addition of Sunday’s semifinal appearance at the Northwest Nationals she sits solidly sixth in the Top Fuel championship standings with three events remaining in the regular season.

TSR teammate Matt Hagan came into the Western Swing second in the Funny Car championship standings after a strong start to the year that included three wins aboard his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat. After initially kicking off the series of three consecutive events with a No. 1 qualifier position at the Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals, the team has since encountered a few challenges.

Following a pair of uncharacteristic first round exits at Denver and Sonoma, Hagan had hoped to drive from his 12th place qualifying position at Pacific Raceways to four quality elimination runs on Sunday beginning with a showdown against No. 3 qualifier John Force. The Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat launched first and took the early lead but started to lose power just as Force began to lose traction. By then it was too late for Hagan as his opponent pedaled it enough to make it to the finish ahead of him. Despite the third consecutive opening round loss, Hagan remains solidly in second place behind category points leader and eventual event winner Robert Hight.

Fellow Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat driver Cruz Pedregon put in another solid qualifying effort to put himself No. 4 on the eliminations ladder and set up for a first round pairing with No. 9 seed Tim Wilkerson. While his opponent had a quicker start, Pedregon’s Snap-on Tools HEMI®-powered Funny Car took over the lead in the first few feet until it began to haze the tires and drop cylinders. While Wilkerson also had traction issues, he was able to make his way to the finish first and brought Pedregon’s race day to a premature end. Despite the setback, Pedregon is seventh in Funny Car points and firmly among the top ten positions with expectations of making the “Countdown to the Championship” playoffs.

The NHRA will take a one week break before returning to competition for the 14th of 22 events on the 2022 schedule at the Menards NHRA Nationals Presented By PetArmor at Heartland Motorsports Park in Topeka, Kansas.

ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES:

Leah Pruett, Sparkling Ice +Caffeine Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster

(No. 12 Qualifier – 3.897 seconds at 314.39 mph)

Round 1: (0.090-second reaction time, 3.781 seconds at 325.69 mph) defeats No. 5 Antron Brown (0.093/3.796/320.81)

Round 2: (0.080/3.818/322.42) defeats No. 4 Doug Kalitta (0.075/3.827/316.67)

Round 3: (0.141/6.295/107.05) loss to No.1 Brittany Force (0.087/3.823/325.61)

“This was one of the largest learning curves that we’ve had in a long time. We came out on the good side of things. Qualifying No. 12 wasn’t ideal, but a problem kept arising that would happen every two or three races. Saturday night before eliminations, this Sparkling Ice team spent about four hours dedicated to finding our out of control shaft issue, with an outlier we couldn’t put our finger on. By 11 p.m., we found a very large issue, so we addressed it going into race day with things unknown. We were able to put down a solid .78 run with lane choice for the second round. We have a better performing race car than we’ve had all year even though we didn’t make it to the finals. There was a huge piece of the puzzle that was missing and we found it here in Seattle.

“It’s very difficult to do something like that one the Western Swing, but we did, so we have more confidence than ever going into finalizing our spot in the top 10 and keeping the points going. I did not do my best job in the semifinal. We put on a different blower and the car ended up being better than we thought it was, so we were overpowered. We didn’t finish the best way we wanted to, but everyone on the team has a great mindset. We had a great Western Swing and we only missed running in three rounds. Our parts attrition has been fantastic and attitudes are great. I personally learned a lot of dynamics of doing a great job on the tree. I didn’t get to fully use some of the apparatuses I have in the toolbox to practice on the road, so I’ll be spending these next two weeks dialing myself back in. We have a race car that’s performing better than ever now and will be more consistent. It makes the drive home for the team even better when you’ve had a successful Swing like this.”

Matt Hagan, Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car

(No. 10 Qualifier – 4.031 seconds at 311.20 mph)

Round 1: (0.062-second reaction time, 4.633 seconds at 186.00 mph) loss to No. 3 John Force (0.073/4.277/277.66)

“The Western Swing wasn’t very kind to us. It was tough having three first-round losses in a row. I think we have some problems with our fuel management system, where we are dropping cylinders. That’s something that is uncommon for us, so we have to use this next week off to take a look at some things. We’ll look at what we’ve changed from the beginning of the season to now and go back to where the car is running on all eight cylinders again. We have to get back on top of where we were and how we were doing it. Our Dodge Power Brokers crew wants to perform well in qualifying to set us up for a great day on Sunday. The car had a cylinder out at the step and it was one of those rounds that could have gone either way and today, things didn’t go our way. I always love racing John (Force). He’s a character and I like getting up on the wheel for him because I get excited to race him. He’s one of those guys you just want to beat because he’s John Force. I’m looking forward to the week off to see my family and get back to the farm. The week off will allow us to hit the reset button and get focused to race in Topeka.”

Cruz Pedregon, Pedregon Racing Snap-on® Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

(No. 4 Qualifier – 4.002 seconds at 315.56 mph)

Round 1: (0113-second reaction time, 4.622 seconds at 181.64 mph) loss to No. 9 Tim Wilkerson (0.087/4.459/214.83)

“We qualified in the No. 4 spot with a four flat and we felt good going into race day against Tim Wilkerson. We had some solid qualifying runs at 4.07 [seconds], 4.05 and a 4.0, so heading into race day in the early morning we felt like the track was going to be good. Unfortunately, we went out there, spun the tires, and it really ended our weekend prematurely. We’re disappointed that that was our end result, but we’ll go back and regroup. We’re going to debut a new car this coming weekend at the ‘Night under Fire’ special match race in Norwalk (Ohio) next Saturday. It’s a completely new car so we look forward to getting that dialed in with some test runs to get it ready for Topeka. We’re optimistic with a lot of big races coming up. We’re looking forward to continuing our qualifying efforts and carrying that through the next few race days.”

NHRA CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS:

Following the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways

FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)

1. Robert Hight 1250 (6)

2. Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat): 1022 (3)

3. Ron Capps: 956 (2)

4. John Force: 904

5. Bob Tasca III: 797 (1)

6. J.R. Todd: 708

7. Cruz Pedregon (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat): 686

8. Alexis DeJoria: 659

9. Tim Wilkerson: 574

10. Jim Campbell: 457

TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)

1. Brittany Force: 1083 (5)

2. Mike Salinas: 1008 (3)

3. Justin Ashley: 910 (2)

4. Steve Torrence: 862

5. Josh Hart: 689

6. Leah Pruett (Dodge Power Brokers): 673 (1)

7. Shawn Langdon: 657

8. Doug Kalitta: 624

9. Austin Prock: 602

10. Clay Millican: 583

DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News

Fans can follow all the NHRA action this season at DodgeGarage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag-racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise. For more information, visit www.dodgegarage.com.

@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram

The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers on the track. Fans can see action from the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers, competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.

Dodge//SRT

For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge shifts into high gear with muscle cars and SUVs that deliver unrivaled performance in each of the segments where they compete.

Dodge drives forward as a pure performance brand, offering SRT versions of every model across the lineup. For the 2022 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world, and the Dodge Durango SRT 392, America’s fastest, most powerful and most capable three-row SUV. Combined, these three muscle cars make Dodge the industry’s most powerful brand, offering more horsepower than any other American brand across its entire lineup.

In 2020, Dodge was named the “#1 Brand in Initial Quality,” making it the first domestic brand ever to rank No. 1 in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS). In 2021, Dodge brand ranked No. 1 in the J.D. Power APEAL Study (mass market) — making it the only domestic brand ever to do so two years in a row.

Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.

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Burton Finishes Third at Indy

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

July 31, 2022

Harrison Burton, aboard the No. 21 DEX Imaging Mustang, struggled in the middle stages of Sunday’s Verizon 200 on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, then steered his way through two chaotic late-race restarts to score a Cup-career-best third-place finish.

“We tried to stay out for Stage points and more people stayed out than we thought and got buried there,” Burton told reporters after the race. “Then I made a mistake and got into [Cole] Custer.

“I was spun out at one point. I was all over the place.”

Then he got a break when the team’s pit strategy put him in position to make a late-race charge.

“It was a tough day for me and then got some new tires there before the last caution and started picking guys off and just got in a good place for those restarts…” he said. “The big thing was being on the inside for those restarts and kind of plugging the middle and missing the chaos.”

Burton started the race from 13^th place and was in the top 10 after one circuit around the 2.439-mile, 14-turn track.

He ran around the top 10 for the remainder of the opening 15-lap Stage and ended that segment in ninth place, earning two bonus points.

He steered his DEX Imaging Mustang to pit road for service during the ensuing caution period and rejoined the race in 25^th place. He made his next pit stop with three laps remaining in the second Stage and that put him 30^th for the next restart.

The third segment of the race saw crew chief Brian Wilson and the DEX Imaging crew employ the pit strategy that put Burton in position to move forward in the race’s final laps.

The final stop came with 19 laps left to run.

As others ahead of him pitted he moved up to 19^th place and was running there when the caution flag flew for debris on the track with five of the scheduled 82 laps left to run.

On the restart, as drivers ahead of him began bouncing off each other, he worked his way to ninth place when another incident sent the race into Overtime.

The final restart saw him once again steer through spinning cars to take third place, which he maintained over the final two laps to get the first top-five finish of his Cup career.

Burton and the No. 21 team now head to Michigan International Speedway for the FireKeepers Casino 400.

###

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chevy racing–nhra–washington–post race

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

CHEVROLET RACING IN NATIONAL HOT ROD ASSOCIATION FLAV-R-PAC NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS PACIFIC RACEWAYS IN KENT, WASHINGTON JULY 31, 2022
Team Chevy adds to Western Swing victory total• Robert Hight ties career best with sixth Funny Car win in 13 races this season• Troy Coughlin Jr. adds to family legacy with his first Pro Stock victory• No. 1 qualifier Brittany Force extends Top Fuel points lead, sets track speed record • Chevrolet drivers earn six wins, five runner-up finishes in pro classes on Swing

KENT, Wash. (July 31, 2022) — Whether it’s the 59th time on the winner’s stage or the first, thrusting a Wally to the sky is a satisfying and emotional moment.
Robert Hight, who collected his sixth Funny Car victory of the season and 59th of his career, welcomed first-time Pro Stock winner Troy Coughlin Jr. to the stage following the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways.

An interview with Funny Car winner ROBERT HIGHT, driver of the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS:
THESE MOMENTS OF PERSEVERANCE. HOW MUCH SWEETER DOES IT MAKE IT?“It’s unbelievable. To have six wins at this point in the year, I am blown away. Today, to have low ET every single round, I’m so proud of my guys.”
YOU KNOW HOW BAD JR TODD WANTED THAT AND HOW GOOD THEY ARE.“It’s good to see JR’s car running good. He’s a great driver and good guy. Except for one little hiccup we had in Sonoma in the semifinals, we came really close to getting another final and sweeping this Western Swing. That’s really what this team wanted to do. I’m blown away that at this point in the year we already have six wins. But coming up we have a Countdown and if we don’t do equally as good in the back half, we’re not going to win a championship. That’s the goal for this Auto Club Chevy team. It’s amazing the caliber of drivers, former champions, none of these rounds get any easier. Up until a couple of races ago, this Auto Club Chevy we didn’t have a hot weather setup. We were good when the conditions were good. But Jimmy (Prock) and Chris (Cunningham) and the whole team have pulled together, and we had low ET every round today. All these teams out here today earned their keep working in his heat. We appreciate all the fans sticking it out in the heat. It’s so good to be back in Seattle.”
YOU’RE NOT TAKING THE NEXT WEEKEND OFF. YOU’RE GOING TO NORWALK TO PUT ON A SHOW AND HAVING A CHANCE TO LEARN.“Without a doubt. We’re going to make the most of it next Saturday at the Night Under Fire in Norwalk (Ohio); one of the greatest shows in the country. We’re going to make some runs during the day for testing and then try to win another race. We treat that just like an NHRA race. We get a couple of days off and then we’re back at it at Topeka, so no rest for the wicked.”
YOU’VE TIED YOUR ALL-TIME HIGH FOR RACE WINS AND STILL HAVE NINE RACES TO GO.“There are a lot of great cars out here. Last time we were here, John (Force) and Austin (Prock) both won and I think we lost early. I was really hoping we were going to get a double up with Brittany (Force). I thought that that car was going to get it.”An interview with Pro Stock winner TROY COUGHLIN JR., driver of the JEGS.com Chevrolet Camaro SS:
WINNING YOUR FIRST PRO STOCK WALLY. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO YOU?“It’s something else. I’ve watched my uncle Jeg win a ton of these races in the class of Pro Stock. My dad has won five or six. The monkey is off your back, but you want to keep going.”
YOU’VE BEEN SUCCESSFUL IN SPORTSMAN CLASSES. NOW YOU CAN ADD PRO STOCK TO YOUR RESUME.“That’s absolutely humbling. I’ve been surrounded by some wonderful people with great equipment, so I’m definitely really blessed and can’t wait to keep going.”
FINAL ROUND, YOU KNOW ERICA HAS THE BEST CAR OUT HERE. DO YOU LOOK OVER OR DO YOU THINK I THINNK I’VE GOT HER?“The margin of victory was triple zero one, so I don’t think I could have made that decision. I was just trying to get there.”
RANK THIS ONE WITH ALL THE OTHERS.“This one you can’t even rank it’s so special. We come out here to Seattle, it’s a wonderful place to race, the fans are amazing. It’s great to be back here. I’ll never forget this. The flight home is going to be sweet.”

CHEVROLET FROM THE COCKPITTOP FUEL:BRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, FLAV-R-PAC/MONSTER ENERGY CHEVOLET DRAGSTER: “It was a great weekend for this Flav-R-Pac team running at the first-ever Flav-R-Pac Northwest Nationals. I’m very proud to be teamed with a company like Flav-R-Pac. I was excited to see their colors painted all over the drag strip this weekend. “We had an awesome weekend. We qualified No. 1 and had a final round appearance. We stayed in the points lead, and that’s the most important thing. We’ll head to Topeka next.”
AUSTIN PROCK, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONTANA BRAND/ROCKY MOUNTAIN TWIST CHEVROLET DRAGSTER: “This Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team got beat in a close race today. We made a bunch of ground this weekend, though, just came up short in the first round. It wasn’t the Western Swing we anticipated but I know we’re moving forward. We’ve got a week to polish this hotrod up and come out swinging in Topeka.”
FUNNY CAR:JOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK/BLUEDEF PLATINUM CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: “Good weekend for this PEAK Chevy. We got to running well, had to do some driving but we got the job done, went some rounds. Really good weekend for Frank Tiegs with Flav-R-Pac, his car went No.1 and made it to the finals, they’re running well and I think everyone was expecting them to win it. In the points lead with plenty of races left to get the job done but Robert got it done today with that Auto Club team. Austin was looking good over there with Montana Brand too.”
PRO STOCK:GREG ANDERSON, KB RACING, HENDRICKCARS.COM CHEVROLET CAMARO SS: “There were a lot of positives this weekend, no question. We definitely picked up our performance, we got ourselves back in the fight with the HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and now we can contend for wins again. That’s a huge positive.”

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RCR NCS Post Race Report: Indy

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet Team Show Speed and Determination at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course

“We started 29th today in our No. 3 BetMGM Chevrolet and my team worked all day long to salvage a good finish. It’s tough coming from behind at a road course because it’s so easy to get caught up in the messes. We worked really hard throughout the race to improve the handling of our BetMGM Chevy. We made an air pressure adjustment toward the end of the race and our car came to life. We were running lap times as fast as the race leader, and we were in position to earn a top-10 finish but it was mass chaos at the end of the race. We ended up in some messes there at the end. We’re looking forward to getting to Michigan to take home a win.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Team Dominate at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course and Take Home Their Second Victory of the Season

“What a day! We qualified on the pole and our car was crazy fast. This team has worked so hard and they brought me a dominant car. Thank you to everyone at RCR and ECR for making this possible. My pit crew and spotters were on top of it all day and my crew chief, Randall Burnett, made all the right calls. Road courses have been so good for us and I’m just really glad we were able to capitalize on our speed and bring home another win. To be able to get another victory and do it here in Indianapolis, I’m just thrilled. This is one really special place to race, and really excited that I got to kiss the bricks. I’m so excited that we got 3CHI a win in their hometown, too. Just such a special, special day and this No. 8 3CHI team is going to celebrate.”-Tyler Reddick

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KALITTA MOTORSPORTS GR SUPRA GOES TO FINAL ROUND IN SEATTLE

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

J.R. Todd Makes His First Final Round Appearance of 2022

KENT, Wash. (July 31, 2022) – With the NHRA Drag Racing Series making its final stop on the ‘west coast swing,’ the Kalitta Motorsports Funny Car team made the most of the extreme heat in the race track and the air temperature. J.R. Todd drove his Toyota GR Supra Funny Car to the final round and ultimately lost by only three one-thousandths of a second to Robert Hight.

In Top Fuel competition, Justin Ashley drove his Toyota dragster to the semi-finals, but his car smoked the tires ultimately ending his day. The Toyota dragsters of Doug Kalitta, Shawn Langdon and Steve Torrence were eliminated in round two while Antron Brown fell out in the first round.

Toyota Post-Race Recap

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series

Pacific Raceways

Race 13 of 22

TOYOTA TOP FUEL FINISHING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Final Result	Round-by-Round
Justin Ashley	Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Semi-Finals	W. 3.782 vs. A. Prock (3.796) W. 3.785 vs. S. Torrence (6.333) L. 5.131 vs. T. Schumacher (4.485)
Steve Torrence	Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Round 2	W. 3.794 vs. R. Smith (No Time) L. 6.333 vs. J. Ashley (3.785)
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Round 2	W. 3.837 vs. A. Laughlin (3.856) L. 3.827 vs. L. Pruett (3.818)
Shawn Langdon	DHL Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Round 2	W. 3.796 vs. M. Salinas (No Time) L. 3.797 vs. T. Schumacher (3.827)
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	Round 1	L. 3.796 vs. L. Pruett (3.781)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR FINISHING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Final Result	Round-by-Round
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	Final Round	W. 3.955 vs. B. Alexander (3.990) W. 3.980 vs. B. Tasca III (7.751) W. 3.984 vs. BYE L. 3.978 vs. R. Hight (3.975)
Alexis DeJoria	Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	Round 2	W. 3.964 vs. J. Campbell (4.045) L. 5.142 vs. R. Hight (3.960)
Ron Capps	NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	Round 1	L. 4.674 vs. R. Hight (3.914)

TOYOTA QUOTES

J.R. TODD, DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Kalitta Motorsports

Final Result: Final Round

What can you say about the progress of this race team and today’s final round appearance?

“This DHL team has really been working hard to get our GR Supra to the point of consistently going rounds and today we were able to do that. Really proud of our whole team and all the effort these guys put into today and this whole weekend. It’s hot out here and it was hot on the race track, but they never gave up. I would have loved to have gotten the win, but it was a close race and we know we’re right there knocking on the door. We’ll get one soon.”

How has this team been able to continue slowly improving performance week after week?

“It seems like it came together there in Q3 and then again in first round. Todd and John just keep picking away at it and trying stuff. I also have to give a shout out to the track here at Pacific Raceways and NHRA for this track. They’re doing a hell of a job with the track temp and the track is hanging in there. The fans sitting in those aluminum seats, they’re the brave ones out here. Thanks for spending your hard-earned money to come out here and watch us try to put on a good show.”

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

Final Result: Semi-Finals

What happened in the semi-finals when you struggled down the track and crossed the center line?

“Just went up in smoke and that’s what happens when you’re racing. Just tried to give it a run and I saw Tony (Schumacher) having some trouble in the other lane. Just tried to give our Phillips Connect Toyota a shot so we tried to pull some of that Vita-C Energy we needed. Real proud of the guys this weekend. I thought we ran well and the real magic number is 47. These guys turned this car around in this weather in 47 minutes and really proud of them. We’ll regroup and move onto the next one.”

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chevy racing–nascar–indy–post race

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

NASCAR CUP SERIES

IMS ROAD COURSE

VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES

JULY 31, 2022

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 RACE RESULTS:

POS. DRIVER

1st TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1

7th AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 GOLD FISH CASINO CAMARO ZL1

13th RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER / GO-GURT CAMARO ZL1

15th ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1

16th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1

18th COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 FRATERNAL ORDER OF EAGLES CAMARO ZL1

19th JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:

POS. DRIVER

1st Tyler Reddick (Chevrolet)

2nd Austin Cindric (Ford)

3rd Harrison Burton (Ford)

4th Todd Gilliland (Ford)

5th Bubba Wallace (Toyota)

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, August 7, at the Michigan International Speedway with the FireKeepers Casino 400 at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1 – Race Winner

What a drive for Tyler Reddick today, the dominant driver here at Indy, his son Beau coming in for a hug, and the crew sprinting up pit road to get to Tyler to celebrate. Second win of the year for this race team and a win at Indianapolis. I’ve got to know your thoughts when you saw the 1; he went through the access road. Were you as shocked as everyone else to see him all of a sudden passing you for the lead?

“I was like, uh-oh. But that was a scenario that had been talked about. If you get bottled up, what do you do? Take the access road.

I couldn’t believe he got ahead of me. I was kind of waiting to see if he was going to have a penalty because I didn’t want to move him out of the way and make his race worse than what it was. Yeah, I was really surprised by that; but hey, we made it work. Hats off to Ross (Chastain) for trying to do that, but really glad it didn’t end up working out because I’d have been pretty pissed off.”

You made the announcement you’re moving from RCR. How did this team rally to get back to this point where you could come together and win races again?

“Well, we just know what we’re capable of, and we did that at Road America. Certainly it was a little bump in the road, but we went out and won a race fair and square a couple weeks ago. And if we change nothing, we keep working really, really hard, we find a way back to Victory Lane.

Just really glad to be able to do it here in Indianapolis. This is one really special place to race, and really excited to kiss the bricks here in a little bit and really excited we got 3CHI their win in their hometown.”

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 15th

“We struggled today with our FOCUSfactor Chevy. Road courses have definitely been an area where we need to work and we thought we’d be a little better this weekend. Just didn’t qualify well, started at the back and fought the handling most of race. The guys stayed after it, we used the car up and salvaged a 15th-place finish. We’ll take it and move on to Michigan. I think we’ll have a good race next weekend and I’m looking forward to going home and racing in front of family and friends.”

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 27th

You were looking for a spot there at the end. What were you thinking, taking the access road and getting off course there?

“Just trying not to be in the corners there in Turn 1. I thought we were four wide, and couldn’t go any farther right, and decided to take the NASCAR access lane out there.”

Was that something you and the team had talked about earlier, like that’s a great option and it may not cost us anything?

“No, no, just pure reaction there for our Worldwide Express Chevy. I took it in practice on exit, overshooting Turn 1. You know where they’re at and in 12 you have to go around the loop there, and there is around the pole. Just wanted to not get hit and merged back on where I merged.”

TY DILLON, NO. 42 FERRIS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 34th

You got majorly surprised it looked like. What did you feel?

“All I saw was a blue flash and that’s about the hardest I’ve been hit by anything. First, I’m just grateful to God that I’m OK and these cars are safe enough to take a shot like that.

We were having a good run with our No. 42 Ferris Camaro ZL1 and I was just blindsided, really. I’m all good. It’s been a tough year, but I’m never going to quit. We’re going to keep getting better. We’ve been running good, just things are happening. You’ll have days like that, you’ll have times like that. You just never give up and go onto the next one.”

TEAM CHEVY RACE QUICK NOTES

Stage One:

· Tyler Reddick – the series’ most recent road course winner – captured his second career NASCAR Cup Series pole win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

· Reddick led the first 12 laps of the 15-lap Stage One, with Crew Chief Randall Burnett bringing the No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1 down pit road for their first scheduled stop with three laps to go in the stage.

· William Byron led Chevrolet to the end of Stage One in the third position. Team Chevy Stage One Top-10 Results:

3rd William Byron, No. 24 Acronis Camaro ZL1

5th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

7th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

Stage Two:

· The 20-lap Stage Two saw three different lead changes, with pole sitter Tyler Reddick leading the second most laps (12) to that point of the race.

· Chase Elliott recorded his second top-five stage finish of the day in Stage Two, driving his No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 to a fourth-place finish.

· Team Chevy Stage Two: Top-10 Results

4th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

5th Ty Dillon, No. 42 Ferris Camaro ZL1

9th Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL1

Post-Race Notes:

Tyler Reddick goes back-to-back in NASCAR Cup Series road course wins, capturing his second NCS win of 2022 in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

The win is Reddick’s second career victory in 96 NASCAR Cup Series starts.
Reddick is now the sixth repeat winner of 2022.
Reddick’s victory marks Chevrolet’s 10th-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series road course win since the manufacturer’s milestone 800th NCS win at Circuit of The Americas in May 2021.
With 22 NASCAR Cup Series races complete, the Camaro ZL1 now sits at a manufacturer-leading 13 wins this season.
The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 827 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories.

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TYLER REDDICK GETS SECOND WIN OF 2022 IN INDIANAPOLIS

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

NASCAR CUP SERIES

IMS ROAD COURSE

VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD

TEAM CHEVY RACE WINNER QUOTE & NOTES

JULY 31, 2022

Chevrolet’s 13th NCS Win of 2022; 10th-Consecutive Road Course Win

· Tyler Reddick goes back-to-back in NASCAR Cup Series road course wins, capturing his second NCS win of 2022 in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

· The win is Reddick’s second career victory in 96 NASCAR Cup Series starts.

· Reddick is now the sixth repeat winner of 2022.

· Reddick’s victory marks Chevrolet’s 10th-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series road course win since the manufacturer’s milestone 800th NCS win at Circuit of The Americas in May 2021.

· With 22 NASCAR Cup Series races complete, the Camaro ZL1 now sits at a manufacturer-leading 13 wins this season.

· The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 827 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories.

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1, Race Winner Quick Quote:

Q. What a drive for Tyler Reddick today, the dominant driver here at Indy, his son Beau coming in for a hug, and the crew sprinting up pit road to get to Tyler to celebrate. Second win of the year for this race team and a win at Indianapolis. I’ve got to know your thoughts when you saw the 1; he went through the access road. Were you as shocked as everyone else to see him all of a sudden passing you for the lead?

TYLER REDDICK: “I was like, uh-oh. But that was a scenario that had been talked about. If you get bottled up, what do you do? Take the access road.

Q. You made the announcement you’re moving from RCR. How did this team rally to get back to this point where you could come together and win races again?

TYLER REDDICK: “Well, we just know what we’re capable of, and we did that at Road America. Certainly it was a little bump in the road, but we went out and won a race fair and square a couple weeks ago. And if we change nothing, we keep working really, really hard, we find a way back to Victory Lane.

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WANTED IT MORE: McKinney Outduels Hoffman for First Modified Prairie Dirt Classic Victory at Fairbury

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

Harrison out of Last Chance race to finish fourth, Weisser goes 14th-to-fifth

FAIRBURY, IL – July 30, 2022 – From Summit Modified races, the FALS Super Nationals, to the FALS Cup points championship, Mike McKinney had won just about every marquee DIRTcar UMP Modified race on the Fairbury Speedway schedule, except one. The Prairie Dirt Classic had evaded his grasp throughout his career, but now, it’s finally his.

“I wanted it more than anybody here, I can promise you that,” McKinney said. “It doesn’t matter who we beat, I just wanted to win this race. I’m glad it’s on our list now.”

Though his determination seemed unmatched, McKinney was forced to fend-off another driver with equal drive to win Saturday night – the newly crowned five-time DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals champion, Nick Hoffman.

The two waged a war of epic proportions throughout the final 15 laps of the 40-lap main event, swapping the lead twice in that span and bringing the crowd to the feet as they zoomed around the quarter-mile oval.

In the end, Hoffman came up just one spot short. For the second time this season, McKinney had gotten the best of the winningest Summit Modified driver.

“Mike just hit six perfect laps to beat me,” Hoffman said. “He did a great job.”

Their lane choices acted as weapons in their bullring battle for $5,000 – McKinney firing on the high side, right against the wall, while Hoffman swung down low, hugging the extreme bottom lane.

Hoffman had to drive from 11th on the starting grid after a rough Qualifying result on Friday set him back in his Showdown Feature. But with 15-to-go, Hoffman had just made the pass for second and was coming after leader McKinney.

Caution was displayed just two laps later, erasing McKinney’s half-second lead and putting Hoffman right on his bumper for the restart. The green dropped and Hoffman immediately challenged McKinney to his inside, taking the lead for the first time on Lap 28.

“Up until about 15-to-go, I thought I was gonna finish fifth in that race,” Hoffman said. “I just couldn’t get breaks and didn’t feel great in the car either. But some lanes opened-up and I was able to get to the lead.”

Hoffman led through Lap 34, when the caution was displayed for the final time. Though Hoffman got a great jump on the restart, McKinney hit his marks on the cushion, reeling the leader in and making the pass back for the lead with four-to-go.

“The harder I was running, the better it actually got,” McKinney said. “We had that last restart with six-to-go, and it took me a couple laps to get into a rhythm and get wound-up. Finally, I was able to shoot the gun and drive back by [Hoffman].”

Hoffman gave it everything he had on the bottom in the final laps to close on McKinney, but it proved fruitless. McKinney rounded Turn 4 for the final time and beat Hoffman to the line by .361 seconds to score a dramatic victory in the 32nd annual Prairie Dirt Classic.

“Getting out of the car and seeing all those people, it’s exactly what I thought it would be,” McKinney said. “It feels damn good.”

Though Mike got the biggest slice of Victory Lane glory, his father and crew chief David shared a part in the shining moment as well. The two took on a brand-new gameplan and joined the new Longhorn Chassis Modified program for the start of the 2021 season, putting in a ton of time and energy into learning how to master the new car. Though it wasn’t easy at first, David has helped accelerate Mike’s learning curve with the setup help, and together, they’ve finally bagged one of Fairbury’s most prestigious events.

“Sometimes I nail it and he can drive it with one hand,” David said. “Sometimes I miss it and he says, ‘I’ll make up for it.’

“How good is it for father and son to spend time together and race. I wouldn’t do it with anybody else, and he’s the same way.”

Though it doesn’t happen often in Summit Modified competition, Hoffman conceded to McKinney for the second time this season. He was bested by McKinney a few weeks earlier at Shadyhill Speedway in Indiana, and this time around, just didn’t feel as comfortable as he normally does out front at Fairbury.

“I just felt terrible everywhere in Turns 3-4,” Hoffman said. “I ran the bottom most of the race, but I tried the middle with a couple guys and just couldn’t make any speed off of 4. Normally, I feel like I get from Turn 4 to the flag stand better than anybody. I just didn’t feel that way tonight.”

Outside of the top-two, Tyler Nicely came home third after running up front all night. Six-time Summit Modified champ Mike Harrison came all the way out of a Last Chance Showdown event (17th on the Feature starting grid) to finish fourth, while Allen Weisser charged from 14th to round-out the top-five.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature 40 Laps | 00:33:14.718

1. 96M-Mike McKinney[2]; 2. 2-Nick Hoffman[11]; 3. 25-Tyler Nicely[3]; 4. 24H-Mike Harrison[17]; 5. 25W-Allen Weisser[14]; 6. 45-Chase Holland[6]; 7. 22-Josh Harris[9]; 8. 8-Kyle Steffens[10]; 9. 12H-Jason Hughes[16]; 10. 777-Trevor Neville[24]; 11. 8A-Austin Holcombe[7]; 12. 28M-Frank Marshall[1]; 13. 5-Steven Brooks[18]; 14. 37-Michael Ledford[22]; 15. 35W- Ethan Weber[12]; 16. 88S-Alan Stipp[23]; 17. 21D-Danny Schwartz[5]; 18. 5CS-Curt Spalding[19]; 19. 18L-Michael Long[4]; 20. 54-Zachary Hawk[21]; 21. 130-Chase Allen[13]; 22. 1S-Brian Shaw[8]; 23. 00-Ethan Dotson[20]; 24. 8K-Levi Kissinger[15]

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PERFECT SCORE: Sheppard Nets Third Prairie Dirt Classic Win at Fairbury

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

The New Berlin, IL driver led all 100 laps to earn $100,000 between winnings and lap money

FAIRBURY, IL – JULY 30, 2022 – Brandon Sheppard knew less than 10 laps into Saturday’s Prairie Dirt Classic his ability to read Fairbury’s surface would pay off well. And pay off big.

As the New Berlin, IL driver saw a cushion building on the track’s high banks, he felt right at home.

The reigning World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series champion used his experience at the Illinois track to quickly take the lead—one he wouldn’t relinquish en route to his third Prairie Dirt Classic win, along with a $100,000 overall payday.

While he never relinquished the lead, “Rocket Shepp” didn’t go unchallenged. Fellow Illinois competitor Bobby Pierce chased Sheppard for more than 20 laps, trying to slide past the former champion and grab his first win in the prestigious event.

As Pierce gained momentum, heartbreak struck the Oakwood, IL driver. A brake issue sidelined Pierce to a 19th-place finish.

From there, Sheppard cruised to victory despite surviving several late-race restarts. He was grateful to lead all 100 laps as he dealt with changing track conditions throughout the race.

“With all that track prep and stuff, and the way that they did it, I felt like the cushion would be there,” Sheppard said. “The bottom was still pretty hard. It was wet down there, but I didn’t feel like it was going to keep up with the cushion if I could run it right.

“It was definitely tricky. It was rough around there after they tilled it, like a rut all the way around about a car lane off the top. It was tricky, and the transition from blowing the cushion over top of that, it was definitely tricky. I was about to turn over a couple of times, I thought, but it paid off, it was a crazy race, and we were very fortunate to lead all of the laps.”

Sheppard’s third Prairie Dirt Classic win earned him and Rocket1 Racing $100,000 after he grabbed the $50,000 check for the win and the $500 bonus per lap led – which for him was all 100.

He also adds his name to a list of Illinois legends who have won the event three times. Sheppard joins Shannon Babb and Bob Pierce as the only Prairie State drivers to win the event more than twice.

“It honestly means the world to me to win this race,” Sheppard said. “This place is like home for me. All the fans, and the people, and the atmosphere is electric. They’ve taken me in like it’s home, and it’s two hours away from the house, but it’s definitely turned into my favorite track.”

Sheppard’s Prairie Dirt Classic win is his 80th career World of Outlaws CASE Late Model victory—and third of the 2022 season.

Mike Marlar crossed the line second, his fifth straight top five in World of Outlaws competition.

The 2018 Series champion felt he was close to grabbing the win but didn’t have enough to get by Sheppard.

“Coming into this weekend, we had a little bit of a streak there, but I was like, ‘Dude, there’s 81 cars at this little bullring, and that’s asking a lot to come out of here with a good finish,’” Marlar said. “Not only did we have a good finish, we had a shot lots of times at [Sheppard], he just didn’t do anything wrong, and I needed just a little bit to pass him, but we were really close.”

Tanner English, the World of Outlaws Rookie of the race, crossed the line third for his second podium finish of the season.

The Benton, KY driver was resilient after dropping back to 10th in the first 50 laps.

“I fell back to about 10th there early on, and I just kind of waited around and just tried to hit my marks and go where they weren’t, and the car kept getting better,” English said. “I kind of stalled out there with about 50 to go, and we just kind of rolled there and caught people when they made mistakes.”

English moved into second in the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models points standings and now leads in the race for Rookie of the Year—two points ahead of Max Blair, who finished eighth.

Tyler Erb finished fourth after hovering in the top five for most of the race. The New Waverly, TX driver stated he was happy with his performance overall.

“I didn’t want to kill my stuff at the drop of the green, so I just tried to maintain as long as I could,” Erb said. “When Bobby [Pierce] passed me, it was kind of the sign that I needed to move up and maintain his pace. He got to [Sheppard] really quick, and I was like, man, if there’s still 70 laps left, or 40 or whatever, if I could just ride with him until the last 20 or 30, I could give myself a chance.”

Ryan Gustin rounded out the top five. The Marshalltown, IA driver used a different line than he’s used to, as he rolled the bottom patiently throughout the race.

“We’ve been doing some different things to the car where it’s a lot easier to driver here lately,” Gustin said. “You don’t have to go up there and live and die by the cushion. I just tried to be patient there. I kind of wanted to go hard at the beginning to make sure I didn’t get put a lap down or anything like that.

“The track went through a lot of different changes tonight, and it kind went the bottom, middle, top, diamond line, slider line, it was all over the place, which makes for good racing for sure.”

Brandon Sheppard felt at home at Fairbury Speedway, scoring another Prairie Dirt Classic win. His experience at the track paid off well and paid off big.

“It’s always racy, and my car’s really good here, and I have a good feel of this place,” Sheppard said. “It’s been good to me for sure.”

UP NEXT: The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet return to Wisconsin for the $50,000-to-win USA Nationals Aug. 4-6 at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, WI.

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BACK-2-BACK: David Gravel Dominates for Second-Straight Weedsport Win

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

Fifth Win of 2022 for Big Game Motorsports Closes Championship Gap to Sweet

WEEDSPORT, NY – July 30, 2022 – David Gravel and Big Game Motorsports are quickly becoming one of the hottest teams at the perfect time with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

The Watertown, CT native crushed the field on Saturday night at New York’s Weedsport Speedway, earning his second-straight win at the track as Empire State Challenge Weekend kicked off. The 30-year-old owned a monstrous 8.034-second lead at one point in what was arguably the most dominant performance of the 2022 season.

Starting from the outside pole, Gravel settled into second as Donny Schatz controlled the opening 12 laps of the 30-lap affair. He quickly made his presence felt in the Huset’s Speedway, Jackson Motorplex, Billion Automotive #2, pouncing on an overwhelmed #15 in lap traffic on the 13th circuit.

He cruised to the lead on Lap 13 and never looked back, ultimately surviving for a 2.970-second margin of victory following the final restart with three laps remaining. It’s his 74th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win and his fifth of the season, with three of those coming within the last eight races over two and a half weeks.

The gap to Brad Sweet’s championship advantage dwindled from -54 to -46 points, but more importantly, Gravel and his Big Game crew are gaining some big momentum ahead of high-paying events like the Ironman 55 (Aug. 5-6), Knoxville Nationals (Aug. 10-13), Jackson Nationals (Aug. 18-20), Skagit Nationals (Sept. 1-3), and Gold Cup Race of Champions (Sept. 8-10).

“My guys gave me an unbelievable car,” Gravel said in Victory Lane. “That’s probably the best car I’ve had all season and it came at one of the toughest tracks we race at. Cody [Jacobs], Trey [Bowman], and Zach [Patterson] are busting their butts right now. We had a little time off to regroup and it’s paying off. After feeling so stale and average there for a long time, it feels good to be in the contention almost every night again.”

Scoring his 10th podium finish of the season was 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz with a runner-up effort. The Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Ford Performance, Carquest Auto Parts #15 led the opening 12 laps from the outside pole, but lap traffic was the final straw that let Gravel slip by the Fargo, ND native. He settled for a P2 finish, extending his stretch of stellar finishes at the Weedsport, NY oval.

“I don’t know if we were gonna get by him, I think he was in another league,” Schatz said on the final caution. “I felt decent at the start but kept losing and losing him once he got me in traffic. That yellow gave us an opportunity, but there was nothing to capitalize on. I need to figure out how to get the grip at the end of races, we used to be able to do that but it’s a different day and tires are different.”

Continuing his magical stretch of home state performances against the World of Outlaws was Paulie Colagiovanni with a third-place effort. The Cicero, NY native was a close runner-up finisher at Ransomville last year and finished third at Weedsport on Saturday, earning his second podium finish in his seventh-career start. The potential is most certainly there for the #10 pilot to threaten for his first-career Series win on Sunday night.

“This one has been circled on the calendar all year long and I’ve been thinking about it all week,” Colagiovanni told a thrilled New York crowd. “We struggled with our setup earlier this season when we ran against them at Volusia, but we’re hooked up now. I think we can provide some stiff competition for these Outlaws tomorrow night.”

Rounding out the top-10 at Weedsport on Saturday night was Brad Sweet, Jacob Allen, Carson Macedo, Larry Wight, Spencer Bayston, James McFadden, and Danny Varin.

NOS NOTEBOOK (WEEDSPORT SPEEDWAY, 7/30/22)

David Gravel’s 74th career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win brings him two away from tying Brad Sweet for 11th on the All-Time Win List. His fifth win of the 2022 season ties him with Brent Marks for the third most on tour behind Sheldon Haudenschidl (8) and Carson Macedo (7).

Carson Macedo started the night in a familiar fashion by topping My Place Hotels Qualifying at 14.310 seconds around Weedsport Speedway. The Jason Johnson Racing #41 is up to eight QuickTime Awards this season, a Series best mark with the World of Outlaws in 2022.

NOS Energy Drink Heat Race wins went to Jacob Allen (43rd career), Sheldon Haudenschild (77th career), and Donny Schatz (502nd career). David Gravel topped the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash, earning his fourth pole position of the year. Brock Zearfoss won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown, becoming the 10th driver to win the LCS on multiple occasions in 2022.

“Lightning” Larry Wight of Paulie Colagiovanni earned KSE Hard Charger honors with a 17th-to-7th drive in the #99L. It’s his third World of Outlaws top-10 finish in only seven starts with the Series.

UP NEXT (Sun) – The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series prepares to make its only stop in The Empire State next weekend with a New York’s Weedsport Speedway hosting shows on Saturday and Sunday, July 30-31. Fans can BUY TICKETS HERE, or watch every lap LIVE on DIRTVision.

NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (30 Laps) – 1. 2-David Gravel [1][$10,000]; 2. 15-Donny Schatz [2][$5,500]; 3. 10-Paulie Colagiovanni [7][$3,200]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [4][$2,600]; 5. 1A-Jacob Allen [6][$2,350]; 6. 41-Carson Macedo [5][$2,150]; 7. 99-Larry Wight [17][$2,100]; 8. 5-Spencer Bayston [15][$1,950]; 9. 83-James McFadden [9][$1,900]; 10. O1-Danny Varin [8][$1,850]; 11. 1S-Logan Schuchart [11][$1,400]; 12. 11K-Kraig Kinser [12][$1,200]; 13. 79-Jordan Thomas [10][$1,000]; 14. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [19][$950]; 15. 9-Kasey Kahne [13][$900]; 16. 5H-Chris Hile [18][$900]; 17. 20G-Noah Gass [14][$900]; 18. 7S-Robbie Price [23][$900]; 19. 2X-Dave Axton [21][$900]; 20. 98-Joe Trenca [20][$900]; 21. 28F-Davie Franek [16][$900]; 22. 88-Floyd Billington [24][$900]; 23. 7NY-Matt Farnham [22][$900]; 24. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [3][$900]. Lap Leaders: Donny Schatz 1-12; David Gravel 13-30. KSE Hard Charger Award:99-Larry Wight[+10]

NEW Championship Standings (After 44/77 Races) – 1. Brad Sweet (5,948); 2. David Gravel (-46); 3. Carson Macedo (-104); 4. Sheldon Haudenschild (-124); 5. Donny Schatz (-186); 6. Logan Schuchart (-192); 7. Spencer Bayston (-332); 8. James McFadden (-352); 9. Jacob Allen (-514); 10. Brock Zearfoss (-656).

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BRITTANY FORCE PUTS FLAV-R-PAC DRAGSTER INNo. 1 SPOT SATURDAY AT NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

KENT, Wash. (July 30, 2022) – Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac / Monster Energy Chevrolet dragster team secured their first No. 1 at Pacific Raceways during the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals, their primary sponsor’s first title race. Austin Prock landed the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster in tenth while John Force and PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy Camaro SS at No. 3 and Robert Hight and Automobile Club of Southern California are No. 5.
Brittany Force and the Flav-R-Pac dragster had a hard time getting off the line in their second qualifying try. Force is shut off almost immediately and coasts to a 12.566-second pass at 62.56 mph. The Top Fuel points leaders eliminated doubts of a wavering tune up in their final session laying down a stellar 3.753-second pass at 327.35 mph to jump from No. 13 to the No. 1 spot. It is her fifth No. 1 this season, first at Pacific Raceways and 37th of Force’s career. She’ll race against Jim Maroney in the first round of eliminations.
“That was really important to be able to make a killer run and get this Flav-R-Pac dragster down the race track. We struggled Q1 and 2. In Q1 we got greedy and then in Q2 our automatic shut off malfunctioned. We went back, fixed the problem and had answers for both runs. Luckily on our third run we really laid it down. Very similar to last weekend in Sonoma, one run down in qualifying and then came out race day and got the job done,” Force said. “I wasn’t expecting that in the heat third run but Grubby said he wanted to push and get into the top. It was pretty outstanding for this Flav-R-Pac team.We ended up going No.1 at this Flav-R-Pac sponsored race so we think the boss is happy.”
The PEAK Chevy Camaro had to shut off early on its first pass of the day allowing John Force to cross the line at only 4.679-seconds at 174.39 mph. For third final qualifying pass at Pacific Raceways, Force would go 4.026 at 310.55. They stay No. 3 off their Friday night run of 4.001 at 311.92 to face Matt Hagan first round.
“In the top of the qualifying ladder, good place to be for this PEAK Chevy,” Force said. “Brittany is over there in the Flav-R-Pac dragster landing it in the No. 1 spot at her sponsor’s race. Putting on a show for Frank Tiegs and all the Flav-R-Pac employees and customers we have here with us. Going to be a good day tomorrow trying to get this PEAK Funny Car in the winner’s circle.”
Robert Hight and the Auto Club Chevy team picked up their performance Saturday at the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways to jump into the No. 5 spot. On their first run on Saturday, the Auto Club Chevy had a clean solid 4.003-second pass at 231.24 mph that would earn them three bonus points for being quickest of the session and ultimately land their No. 5 qualifying spot. In the final qualifying session of the Northwest Nationals, Hight would handle the Auto Club Camaro to a 4.035 at 297.94.
“My crew chiefs, Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham, they wanted to run 3.99 on that first run today and that just shows the kind of power we have in this combination. They’ve all worked really hard, all these Auto Club guys to get us where we are now,” said Hight who will run against Ron Capps first round. “Looking forward to tomorrow, going to take it one run at a time and get this Auto Club Chevy back in the winner’s circle.”
Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / RMT dragster don’t have a full pull but make a huge improvement in the second qualifying session going 4.034-seconds at 231.24 before clicking it off. Crew chiefs Joe Barlam and Rahn Tobler tuned the Montana Brand / RMT dragster to a a solid 3.870 at 312.21 to put Prock in the No. 10 spot to compete against Justin Ashley in the first round.
“It was another day of learning for this Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist team. We’ve improved each session here at the Flav-R-Pac Northwest Nationals,” Prock said. “I feel confident that we will have a competitive car come race day tomorrow. Looking forward to going some rounds and finish this Western Swing out strong.”
NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series action at the Flav-R-Pac NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways continues with eliminations at 10:30 a.m. on Sunday. Television coverage of the event continues on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with a second qualifying show Sunday at 2:30 p.m. ET. Eliminations will be aired on FOX Broadcasting Network Sunday at 4:00 p.m. ET.
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TOYOTAS TAKE ALL TOP-10 QUALIFYING POSITIONS IN SEATTLE

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

Torrence and DeJoria Score Second-Fastest Spots in Pacific Northwest

KENT, Wash. (July 30, 2022) – All five Toyota Top Fuel dragsters qualified within the top-seven for Sunday’s NHRA event at Pacific Raceways in Washington. Steve Torrence claimed the number two qualifier slot followed by Doug Kalitta (fourth), Antron Brown (fifth), Shawn Langdon (sixth) and Justin Ashley (seventh).

In Funny Car, all three Toyota GR Supra Funny Cars also qualified in the top-eight with Alexis DeJoria claiming the number two qualifier position followed by J.R Todd (seventh) and Ron Capps (eighth).

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series

Pacific Raceways

Race 13 of 22

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Brittany Force*	*Flav-R-Pac Top Fuel Dragster*	*1^st (3.753)*	*J. Maroney*
Steve Torrence	Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	2nd	R. Smith
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	4th	A. Laughlin
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	5th	L. Pruett
Shawn Langdon	DHL Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	6th	M. Salinas
Justin Ashley	Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	7th	A. Prock

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Bob Tasca III*	*Ford Performance Funny Car*	*1st*	*G. Densham*
Alexis DeJoria	Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	2nd	J. Campbell
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	7th	B. Alexander
Ron Capps	NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	8th	R. Hight

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

TF Qualifying Result: 2nd

What were you talking with Shawn Langdon about following your Q2 run?

“We were talking about Super Comp stuff. This is what we do because we do it, but he (Shawn Langdon) races Super Comp and my old man is in Topeka. I think it may have pushed a head gasket out. We were running pretty good down through there and then we were just bantering back and forth. He said I took him at the line by two or three hundredths, but he’s way better at that stuff than I am. I’m just holding on trying not to run over anything or anybody.”

SHAWN LANGDON, DHL Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 6th

Do you feel your car has been waking up in recent weeks and this weekend in Seattle?

“They’ve been doing a good job and with the heat up here, we’re just trying to make good runs down the track. Made a good run on Friday and that’s where we’ve been struggling a little bit and getting behind the eight ball. This DHL team did a great job getting good runs yesterday and today.”

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

TF Qualifying Result: 7th

How do you feel about the weather conditions for tomorrow’s race and your performance?

“Right now it’s just about how strong this team has performed and in weather like this, it’s important to be consistent. To go up there as a driver and be comfortable in the race car and to go up there and run a 3.85 twice in a row really speaks volumes of this team. We’re excited and we’re looking forward to race day. We have a lot of folks from Phillips Connect here and all of our sponsors. It’s time for race day.”

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

FC Qualifying Result: 2nd

How important is this number two qualifier spot for tomorrow’s race?

“We’re definitely not in Sonoma anymore. It’s a hot track out here in Seattle, but a beautiful, beautiful place. Great fans. We qualified number two with our Bandero Toyota GR Supra and it carried through from Friday night and really happy about that. We got some bonus points Friday. We tried to step it up this last run, but just dropped a hole early and ended up smoking the tires at the top end. But hey, we’re back and we’re back in the top-three again and qualifying really well. We’ve got a great car and I’m excited to race tomorrow. I got to come out early and spend some time with the Seattle Seahawks and meet the head coach, Pete Carroll. I did fan girl a little bit because I’ve seen him win championships and that guy’s a badass. He’s about the same age as my dad and super healthy. Good luck to that team! That was a great opportunity – thanks to Toyota.”

How do you feel heading into the Countdown in a few weeks with your recent performance?

“The Countdown is coming up and this a great time for our team to get hot. You don’t want to peak too early and you don’t want to peak too late. It’s the right time right now. I believe we’ve solidified a good spot in the Pep Boys All-Star Callout and just feeling good. We’re excited about tomorrow and we’ll see what happens.”

J.R. TODD, DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Kalitta Motorsports

FC Qualifying Result: 7th

Is this team making progress as we head towards the Countdown?

“Our back half numbers are right there at the top, we’re just giving up a lot early. We’re kind of experimenting here today with it being a light field so hopefully that gives us some momentum going into the later part of the season where we need to make it count. This DHL Toyota GR Supra definitely isn’t qualifying where we want it to be, but anything can happen. First round tomorrow is going to be in the morning so that will make things more interesting.”

###

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 48,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 43 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14^th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

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Beach Wins Clash of Titans at 75th Peoria TT

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (July 30, 2022) – JD Beach (No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) solidified his claim as the leading TT rider in all of Progressive American Flat Trackby earning a second consecutive victory at the World Famous SC2 Peoria TT presented by Country Saloon on Saturday at the Peoria Motorcycle Club in Peoria, Illinois. While Beach ultimately went wire-to-wire to victory, the contest was in fact quite a tense affair with two-time Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle champion Briar Bauman (No. 3 Indian Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750) glued to Beach’s rear wheel pretty much throughout. A five-rider freight train formed at the start, with Beach holding the lead ahead of Jarod Vanderkooi (No. 20 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750), Bauman, Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750), and Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT). Bauman was the first to slip past ‘VDK,’ blasting ahead as they exited the race’s opening corner, while Mees and Daniels would do the same over the next few minutes. Bauman only really showed Beach his front wheel on a single occasion. That said, he was perfectly positioned at nearly every moment to capitalize on any mistakes that might possibly befall Beach on the dry and notchy track. However, the Yamaha ace proved remarkably resilient under fire, especially considering he was still riding at less than 100% after hurting his ankle at the Mission Port Royal Half-Mile a couple weeks back. Beach took the checkered flag 0.492 seconds ahead of Bauman to improve his overall series TT record to five wins in his last six attempts. He said, “When I hurt my ankle at the last race, I couldn’t even walk to leave the track. Coming into Peoria, there are so many fast guys here, and I was sitting on my butt for two weeks. I just have to thank my family, who made sure I didn’t do anything because I’m not good at sitting around. “The whole Estenson team worked so hard. Today was a little hectic, but to get this win again here and get two in a row… To imagine Henry (Wiles) got 14 in a row here is just insane. It feels so good. I’m pumped.” The continuation of Bauman’s midseason surge further tightened the title fight. So too did Daniels’ third-place finish, a result that only came following a protracted battle with reigning champion Mees for the position. If not for his continued woes at leaving the starting line, the rookie might have had more of a say in the final outcome. Still, he had to be satisfied with standing on the box in his first premier-class race at his home track. Bauman is now just three points behind Mees (188-185), while Daniels is only another 13 points back. Beach, too, has new life, closing to within 30 points of Mees (159) after securing his second win of the season. The challenge of 14-time Peoria TT winner “King Henry” Wiles (No. 17 Willy Built/Lyndy Roofing Co. Kawasaki Ninja 650) never fully materialized. Wiles showed respectable speed throughout the day but faded back to ninth before making a late climb to an eventual sixth, finishing behind Vanderkooi in the Main. Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750) came home in seventh, one spot ahead of Mission Production Twins Challenge entrant Jesse Janisch (No. 33 Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson XG750R), who executed a spirited climb up the order early before running out of steam. Ben Lowe (No. 25 Rackley Racing/Mission Foods Indian FTR750) and Bronson Bauman(No. 37 Latus Motors Racing Harley-Davidson XG750R) rounded out the top ten. Mission Production Twins presented by Vance & Hines Before he was a full-fledged Mission Production Twins presented by Vance & Hines title fighter, Jesse Janisch (No. 33 Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson XG750R) originally made his name as a Peoria TT expert. In fact, that reputation actually landed him last year’s opportunity to earn his current ride – a ride that subsequently launched him into championship contention. While he’s clearly grown beyond the specialist tag, Janisch proved yet again he’s one of the very best there is at the legendary venue. He was in full-on imperious form, winning the drag race to Turn 1 and promptly building up a sizable gap before even completing a single lap. Janisch’s fellow Semi winner, Johnny Lewis (No. 10 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650), was outflanked by Dan Bromley (No. 62 Vinson Construction/Viper Air Yamaha MT-07) in the first corner and then spent the next couple of minutes looking for a way back through. By the time Lewis retook second, Janisch already had more than two seconds in hand. That advantage only continued to stretch even when Lewis had clear air in front of him. Janisch ultimately piled on more than 14 seconds worth of padding before he wheelied his way down the front straight to a 12.192-second margin of victory. The triumph was Janisch’s fourth professional win at the circuit, the first three coming aboard single-cylinder machinery. Afterward, he said, “That was awesome. I’m so much more comfortable with the bike and team this year. Last year, I came here and was just trying to stay quiet and be polite and ride the thing. This year, we’re obviously working good with the team and making changes, trying to learn me and the bike better. The Vance & Hines guys are amazing.” The victory also provided Janisch a bit more breathing space in the championship fight. That said, defending class champion Cory Texter (No. 1 G&G Racing/Yamaha Racing Yamaha MT-07) did what he does so well, minimizing the damage on the days in which he’s at a disadvantage in order to fight back another day. Texter held Cole Zabala (No. 51 Memphis Shades/Corbin/Vinson Yamaha MT-07) at bay to finish fourth, crossing the line just over a second back of podium finishers Lewis and Bromley. As a result, Janisch now leads Texter 199-188 with seven races remaining to decide the back-and-forth championship battle. Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER The four-race win streak of Kody Kopp (No. 12 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-FFE) finally came to an end, but even so, the Red Bull KTM Factory Racing win streak now stands at five.And that’s because Kopp’s teammate, Max Whale (No. 18 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-FFE), finally collected his first victory of 2022 after leading the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER class in Main Event victories with five a season ago. However, both KTM pilots found themselves behind Estenson Racing’s Trevor Brunner (No. 21 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F) off the line. Whale struck first, railing up the inside of Brunner as they powered onto the front straight a minute-and-a-half into the contest. The Australian would then proceed to rip open a couple seconds at the front as Kopp desperately attempted to find a way through himself. Instead, he found himself victimized by the charging Morgen Mischler (No. 13 American Honda/Progressive Insurance CRF450R) and dropped to fourth as Whale continued to break away at the front. Mischler would eventually exploit a big bobble on Brunner’s part to slide into second with around a minute to go and then close rapidly on the leader. What once seemed to be a certain win became considerably less so, but Whale responded to Mischler’s late push to hold on for a 0.831-second win. While Whale was awarded last year’s win at Peoria, it only came due to a DQ ahead of him. So technically this was his second in succession at the famed race even if it felt like a first to him. He said, “It’s been a long seven weeks since (getting hurt at) the Red Mile. And to come back finally with a win… It feels like it’s been years since I won a race. That was so much fun. I found a line that worked early on and just stuck to it. It’s unreal to get a win at Peoria, and the crowd here is awesome. I’m stoked.” Mischer’s runner-up represented his first-ever TT podium and saw him narrow Kopp’s title advantage for the first time in five races (even if it still stands at two full races, 220-170). The podium was completed by Brunner, who ultimately kept Kopp corralled behind him for full race distance, which meant the title leader would equal his worst finish of the season in fourth. Rookie Chase Saathoff (No. 106 American Honda/Progressive Insurance CRF450R) pulled off a last-lap pass on Ferran Cardús (No. 377 Roof Systems of Dallas/Bullet Strong Racing Honda CRF450R) to edge the Spanish champion for fifth by 0.008 seconds at the flag. The SC2 Peoria TT presented by Country Saloon will premiere on FS1 on Sunday, August 7, at 11:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m. PT, including exclusive features, cutting-edge aerial drone and onboard footage, and expert commentary. Next Up: Progressive AFT will hit the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally for the second in a string of four consecutive race weekends with the Progressive Black Hills Half-Mile presented by Saddleman at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, South Dakota, on August 6. Visit https://store.americanflattrack.com/ebooking/ticket/view/id/3696/ to secure your tickets today. You can catch the livestream of all the weekend’s racing activities on FansChoice.tv. FansChoice.tv provides free-to-view livestreaming of Practice and Qualifying. FansChoice.tvsubscribers will then be able to watch the drama unfold from Opening Ceremonies through the Semis, Main Events, and podium celebrations. FansChoice.tv offers two subscription options, granting unlimited access to premium AFT content. Monthly subscriptions start at just $7.99, while a six-month subscription is available for $44.99. For more information on Progressive AFT visit https://www.americanflattrack.com. To score the latest gear for the Progressive American Flat Track fan, visit our official merchandise store at https://store.americanflattrack.com.

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Late-Race Spin Spoils Solid Run by Sheldon Creed and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Team at Indianapolis

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

“This Richard Childress Racing team did a great job today. Our Whelen Chevrolet needed rear grip early in the race and my crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz made changes that really improved the handling. Our pit crew was really good all day long. We were in position to score another solid finish, a top-five or maybe even better, and just got turned around. It stinks but we’ll bounce back next week at Michigan.”
-Sheldon Creed

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics / Ace Doran Chevrolet Team Tally Solid Top-10 Finish at Indianapolis

“We had a solid day today in our Bennett Transportation & Logistics / Ace Doran Chevrolet. After practice and qualifying yesterday afternoon, we were feeling pretty confident. When we fired off, we struggled with rear lateral grip and it started coming to me at the end of Stage 1. We just continued to struggle with that for the entire race. My team made some adjustments that helped with the lateral in high speed corners as we got into Stage 2 but we just didn’t have the car to get all the way up front. I’m glad we were able to bring home a solid top 10. I’m looking forward to getting to Michigan next weekend.” -Austin Hill

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Rossi Win Completes Honda Sweep of Indianapolis in 2022

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

Alexander Rossi leads a Honda 1-2 result at the Gallagher Grand Prix
Christian Lundgaard finishes second in best run of his rookie season
Today’s Honda win completes a sweep of all three NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this year at the Indianpolis Motor Speedway

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (July 30, 2022) – Alexander Rossi dominated the second half of today’s Gallagher Grand Prix on the road course at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as the Andretti Autosport driver headed a 1-2 finish for Honda and completed a sweep of NTT INDYCAR SERIES races at the famed “Brickyard” in 2022. Rossi led a race-high 44 laps in the 85-lap contest to record his first win of 2022, and his eighth career victory.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Christian Lundgaard completed the 1-2 Honda result today, his best result in his rookie Indy car season. Teammate Graham Rahal finish seventh in another strong outing. Colton Herta led 17 laps, setting up a possible 1-2-3 finish for Honda, but dropped out after 42 laps with an apparent transmission/driveline issue. Scott Dixon gained a dozen positions in the race to finish eighth, taking him to fourth in the series championship standings.

Gallagher Grand Prix Honda Race Results
1st Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda
2nd Christian Lundgaard-R Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
7th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
8th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
10th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
11th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
14th David Malukas-R Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
15th Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
16th Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda
18th Devlin DeFrancesco-R Andretti Autosport Honda
19th Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda
20th Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
22nd Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
24th Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda [did not finish – mechanical]
25th Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda [did not finish – fuel]
R – Rookie

Quotes
Alexander Rossi (#27 Andretti Autosport Honda) race winner: “It’s been an amazing weekend, right from Practice 1, the car performance was there. Everything we had going for us, from the balance to the Honda power and driveability, we knew we had a car to win. It was just a matter of us going out there and doing it. I’m so thankful for the continual belief I’ve received from the whole Andretti Autosport organization this year, just an incredible weekend for us.”

Christian Lundgaard (#30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda) Finished second, best INDYCAR result in his rookie season: “Honda one-two! It really should have been a one-two-three, but this feels amazing. It’s just awesome to be up here, to be on the podium at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway! I think the team just deserves every bit of this achievement and this performance. I’m just super happy for the team. For me, as a driver, of course I’m happy with this podium, but I think the team just deserves it so much after all their hard work. I’m just incredibly pleased.” 
Wayne Gross (Manager of Trackside Support, Honda Performance Development) on today’s Honda victory on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course: “Congratulations to everyone at HPD, Andretti Autosport and of course Alexander Rossi. With Colton [Herta] and Alex, we won both Indy road course races here this year, plus the 500 with Marcus [Ericsson]. This has been a pretty special place for us this year! Thanks to everyone involved, and let’s keep pushing through the final quarter of the season.”

Fast Facts
Today’s results complete a sweep for Honda at NTT INDYCAR SERIES races at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2022.

Honda’s Colton Herta began the streak in May, as the Andretti Autosport driver bested the field despite constantly changing weather conditions and a wet/dry/wet track to win the GMR Grand Prix on May 14.

One week later, Dixon claimed pole for the 107th running of the Indianapolis 500, and his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Marcus Ericsson scored Honda’s 15th victory in the Memorial Day Weekend classic.

Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES now heads to the temporary street circuit Big Machine Music City Grand Prix in Nashville, Tennessee, and the conclusion of a run of five races on four consecutive race weekends.

Honda Racing social media content and video links from Indianapolis can be found on Instagram (www.instagram.com/hondaracing_hpd), Twitter (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).

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POWER PUTS CHEVY ON THE PODIUM AT INDY ROAD COURSE

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

GALLAGHER GRAND PRIX

INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

TEAM CHEVY RACE RECAP & QUOTES

LEAVES INDIANA WITH NINE-POINT LEAD IN THE STANDINGS

INDIANAPOLIS

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA (July 30, 2022) – Will Power put his No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet on the podium for the Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway (IMS) Road Course. With the strong run to third, Power leaves with nine-point lead in the standings with four races remaining in the 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series Season. It is the 92^nd career podium for Power.

Following close behind Power in the final order was teammate Scott McLaughlin driving the No. 2 Gallagher Insurance Chevrolet to finish in the fourth position. The second year Team Penske driver is seventh in the point standings.

Capturing the fifth spot in the final order is two-time Series’ champion Josef Newgarden, giving Chevrolet powered drivers three of the top-five finishing positions. Newgarden sits third in the standings.

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Bitcoin Racing Team with BitNile, crossed under the double checkered flags in sixth position. Pole winner Felix Rosenqvist finished ninth in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet to give Team Chevy five of the top-nine in the finishing order. Alexander Rossi was the race winner and Christian Lundgaard completed the podium.

Chevrolet continues to lead the NTT INDYCAR Series Manufacturer standings 1086 points to 999.

Next on the calendar is the Music City Grand Prix on the Streets of Nashville on August 7, 2022 and will be broadcast on NBC 3:00 p.m. ET

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 4TH, FINISHED 3RD:

TELL US HOW THIS DAY WENT AND WHAT MORE YOU MIGHT HAVE NEEDED? “Yeah man, it was a crazy start and some pretty questionable driving there at the beginning. It was a great recovery for us, and we kept out of trouble and then we were able to get to third. What a day.”

FOURTH TO THIRD SEEMS ROUTINE, BUT YOU WERE DOWN AS FAR AS 16TH: “It definitely was a rough start. I got pushed around in Turn One, I got pushed into Pato (O’Ward), which spun him. Then Helio (Castroneves) went for a big move and pushed me on the curb. It was a great recovery. You can never expect a normal day in INDYCAR!”

YOU HAD SOME COMMENTARY ABOUT THE DRIVING OF THOSE AROUND YOU AT THAT TIME. “It was just one of those things. Everyone is very aggressive. It’s so hard to win in this series. It’s the toughest series in the world, and everyone fights for position. You just have to keep it clean. Great job today by the Verizon 5G guys. It’s amazing that we can go all the way back there and recover to third, and thanks to Chevy for such great fuel mileage.”

YOU’RE LEADING THE CHAMPIONSHIP THROUGH YOUR CONSISTENCY. “That was the goal from the very beginning… to play the long game, and we’ve been doing that. We’re doing what we know, and that’s what I’ve been doing. I know this game so well, and I know it can change very quickly. But you take what you can get every day and every race.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 GALLAGHER INSURANCE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15TH, FINISHED 4TH:

“It was as good as we could have hoped. P4 after qualifying 15th, with a great start and we were able to press on and get going. Very proud because Team Chevy gave us great fuel mileage and we were able to just control it to the end.”

I’m pretty pumped. We needed one of those. To get from 15th to fourth in the Gallagher Chevy in the Gallagher Grand Prix was fantastic. The car was good. I was pumped. I was trying to push this guy (teammate Will Power)… I was like, ‘C’mon, let’s go!’ I had a bit of a blister on my right-front but he controlled it really well. We just missed out on the podium but a top-five was a great day for us.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 5TH, FINISHED 5TH“Good day for our PPG Team Penske Chevrolet. I am just glad to be back out there on the track and get this race under my belt. We were able to come away with a solid top-five finish and make up some points, which is a pretty solid day. We had great strategy and Team Chevy brought some great power today, which allowed us to stay up front. Overall, a really good day for our PPG team.”

RINUS VEEKAY, BITCOIN RACING TEAM WITH BITNILE, QUALIFIED 8TH, FINISHED 6TH: “Pretty happy actually. Got in the mess at the start with everyone where I think Pato (O’Ward) spun to the inside, which you don’t see that often. It was a bummer because I think I chose the wrong side and lost some positions there. I think I went from like sixth or seventh to 13th or 14th. So, that didn’t really help but for the rest of the race, good pace. Again, not much luck at the yellow with me pitting just before. That would have brought me much more of an advantage if it didn’t go yellow. I’m pretty happy, because that is stuff we cannot control that didn’t go our way. But everything we could control was great.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, QUALIFED POLE, FINISHED 9TH:

“Today was a tough race. I gave it everything. The first stint on blacks was pretty poor; good in the beginning and then we started losing ground. I feel like the car felt good, but we just didn’t have any pace so we just kept losing positions. The Andretti cars just left us in the distance.

“We started out in like P12 or P13 after the first sequence and from there on there was nothing really happening as we were just doing the same lap times as others on the reds. The car felt good, but I think we had some issue like a dragging brake as we kept losing ground on the straights and it felt a bit abnormal so we will have to look into that.

“We have to nail the details on days like this, and it seems like today we didn’t. To come away with P9, though, were were able to collect some good points. We’ll have a look at everything and go to Nashville.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED , FINISHED 12TH:

“What looked to be like it was going to be a good day, turned out to be really tough for both cars. I got hit during the start which damaged the car and I kind of had to nurse it until the end. We basically went all the way to last place and had to shift strategy-wise. The car wasn’t far off, but this wasn’t a good race for us today.”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER CHEVROLET, JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING , QUALIFIED 19TH, FINISHED 14TH: “It was quite a tough race. We ended up 14thh and ran out of fuel over the line so I lost one position. It was tough, especially in the first half. When the track was low-grip, it was taking awhile to get the car to work, and I was struggling to get past other cars. We had good pace in clean air but I was always stuck behind someone. Once we ended up getting some free air in that last stint-and-a-half. The pace was quite strong, actually. We were catching Pato (O’Ward) but then I had to go into fuel-saving mode… eco-friendly and tried to save it. It was a bit unfortunate. I almost caught him but then almost didn’t finish. But it was a great result to end with. We needed to find a bit of pace earlier in the weekend. We struggled for pace when it was low-grip conditions. Overall I’m happy with P14 from P19. It wasn’t too bad.”

CONNOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 10TH, FINISHED 17TH:

“I made a mistake today in pits, stalling the car. The team gave me a really great car, it was really fast. I can admit when I make a mistake and it was a real shame. We will try to bounce back next week. I am thankful the car was fast as it was.”

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING, QUALIFIED FINISHED 21ST: “We moved up in the race with the No. 4 K-Line car, so that was good not to finish where we started because we were toward the back after a tough qualifying. We made improvements to the car from the start of the weekend, figured a few things out and was able to collect some spots. It was a decent race overall for us. We’re making some progress on our road-course car. We’re trying to work on showing up for these races and knowing where we need to be in that window. We head to Nashville next weekend and I’m really excited. It was a fun track last year and it will be a fun party in Country Music Town. It should be a lot of fun.”

KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 SEXTON PROPERTIES CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING – FINISHED 23RD: “It was actually a fun race; we were just on the wrong strategy. We started off on the red tires, which didn’t work out for anyone except Scott McLaughlin and he went long on them. We just didn’t really have the pace on the black tires. From there we went to an old set of reds because it was all we had left. We were the only ones to use reds in practice. We got hit in Turn Nine… that ultimately gave us too much damage to have any pace for the rest of the race. It ultimately put us a lap down with an extra pit stop due to an issue with the rear-right tire from that incident. It was an unfortunate day, but we made improvements this weekend. We’ll take the positives from it, and that was definitely one of them. We’ll go on to Nashville and another street course. Fingers crossed we’ll be good there.”

PRESS CONFERENCE INTERVIEW WITH WILL POWER:

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Wrapping up the Gallagher Grand Prix here at the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. We are joined by the now-once-again points leader in the NTT INDYCAR Series, Will Power, driver of the Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, his 92nd career podium today, which ties him with Dario Franchitti for seventh all time, seventh podium of the season and retakes the points lead and now has a nine-point advantage over Marcus Ericsson.

Congratulations on another podium. You got the points lead again. You’ve got to feel pretty good coming out of here.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I do, yeah. Considering the start of the race, yep, great recovery, man. Great recovery. It’s amazing some of the runs we’ve had this year. But yep, just kept my head and did what I could in the situation. I had to get a big fuel number and go as fast as I can.

Very good day. Good day for the team all around.

THE MODERATOR: Outside of Iowa and here, I know you were begging for starts of races up front because it didn’t happen there for a while where you didn’t have to make up big ground like you did at Mid-Ohio, and so far so good the last three races.

WILL POWER: Yeah, that’s right. It’s always hard starting fourth or the outside row at this track. You get — I don’t know, you get freight trained. So it’s tough going into 1. We didn’t make the most of that, but we definitely made the most of the rest of the race.

THE MODERATOR: Final restart and all that, at least towards the end, did you have anything for Rossi?

WILL POWER: No, not with the fuel number I had to get. I had to get a big fuel number because we pitted five laps before everyone.

THE MODERATOR: And played catch-up a little bit after that because of chasing the fuel?

WILL POWER: Yeah, pretty much all the way to the end we were on a number that was definitely holding us back. We had definitely a lot of pace in hand.

THE MODERATOR: We welcome all of you joining us on Zoom. We’ll get to your questions in a matter of moments. Let’s begin with questions in person.

Q. Will, you kind of said you made what you had today and you referenced in your post-race interview that you’ve been playing the long game all season. Are you pleased with where the long game has gotten you with four races to go?

WILL POWER: Yeah, definitely. It’s not necessarily the long game, it’s just that sort of attitude switch where you know these races are long, the season is long, and you’ve got to make the most of every situation, even if you’re fighting for like 12th. If that’s your day to finish 12th, well, finish 12th, not 24th.

Yeah, it’s certainly working very well.

Q. You also kind of referenced outside that there’s a point at which it switches now in the last four races. Did you have to sort of race points for a week or two here now? How do you look at the rest of the way?

WILL POWER: That totally depends on the situation, how you qualify, who’s in front of you, where you’re running, and where the guys that you are fighting or you believe will be the people or the drivers that you have to fight at the end. It becomes a little more obvious with three to go.

The next couple races you’ve got to know, okay, this is definitely the lead guys that we’re racing. We’ve got to cover them on strategies and such.

Yeah, it’s still not completely clear. A lot of guys still clustered up — I think there’s probably still five guys are out in the game, so still a long way to go.

Q. Otto told us Thursday that he feels like it’s going to go down to Laguna obviously but with five guys. Do you expect the same thing? Are you keeping your eye on anybody in particular or do you feel like it’s going to be five guys all the way to the end?

WILL POWER: I mean, that’s impossible to predict, but it’s still pretty close right now. It will always — it feels like it’s always going to go down to the last race. I expect to be having a fight at Laguna. Yeah, we’ll see how it plays out. Impossible to predict in this series. There’s just too many fast guys, good teams, good drivers, everything. It’s just try and pick a winner each week and try and pick a pole sitter. Impossible.

THE MODERATOR: Just 46 points separating the top 5 right now as an illustration of how tight it is.

Q. It’s been a while since you’ve been this deep into the season as the points leader. It happened a lot early in your career. Do you think that experience is beneficial to you to know what it takes to get through the day-to-day pressure that’s going to come with that?

WILL POWER: Absolutely. So different to what it was back then. Just know the game so well. Mentally just miles ahead mentally in every respect than I was back then.

Yeah, just a tremendous amount of experience in this series.

Q. Also, I hate to use the term “wild card,” but because of its unpredictable nature, do you see next week’s race at Nashville as being one of the ones that could cause somebody to go over the cliff?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I hope no one does go over the bridge (laughter), but it could be like Toronto where it could be an absolute crazy race, but it could also be very green. You just can’t predict. You don’t know. We don’t know.

Obviously last year, yeah, with track blockages, this sort of thing, it was pretty crazy, but sometimes a race gets into a flow and it goes. But honestly I think if it goes yellow, it’s going to breed more yellows for sure. That’s when people go for the big moves.

Yeah, we’ll see what happens.

Q. What was it like racing behind the Great Dane today?

WILL POWER: I could only see him as a dot in the distance. He took off. He was too fast.

Q. Will, you and Pato and Sato both pitted underneath the first yellow. You’re here in third, Pato finished 12th and Sato was 15th. What was the major differentiator? Was it tire strategy or something else that worked well for you?

WILL POWER: I think it was our pace on the fuel mileage we had to get. Definitely we were able to make some hay just getting big numbers that we had to get. We had a great car. Car was really fast. Yeah.

Q. It seems like something wild happens to you pretty much every other race this season, whether it be qualifying or in the race, and you were able to bounce back from that so well. Just wondered if it’s kind of crept into your mind yet that you feel like the favorite in the championship based off that because you’re able to come back from some of these crazy situations?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, to this point we’ve had a fantastic year, obviously leading the points right now. Just got to keep doing what I’m doing. I know the game so well, been in it so long. We have great potential to win the championship, but there’s four other guys that also do. It’s going to be hard fought to the end.

I’m enjoying it. I really am.

Q. Will, a couple laps in when you’re in 16th, what’s going through your mind? What’s your approach in a situation like that?

WILL POWER: Well, at that point you’re starting to think of what can we do, if there’s an alternate strategy, then the yellow comes and you’re like absolutely, all right, I think the guys understand, and we talked about it before the race, like we’ll pit, and try and make it on two more stops from there. Yeah, big fuel number, and that was a great call.

Yeah, never got upset or — just yep, that’s what it is. That’s how it rolls in this series. Just kept going.

Q. Obviously you knew you had a chance to take over first place in the standings; is that something on your mind during the race? Is that something you try not to think about? What’s your perspective on that?

WILL POWER: You’re just focusing on the race. You are aware of championship contenders if you’re around one or you do understand if there’s one — somebody racing behind you that you’re competing for the championship, you’ll definitely do your absolute best to keep him behind, but if it’s someone else, you’ve got to save big fuel, you might not fight him as hard.

Q. Will, you talked a while ago about seeing a dot in front of you, ahead of you, as opposed to maybe getting up on somebody’s tailpipe. When did that settle into your brain that third was going to be the best you could do today? How do you actually settle that into your brain?

WILL POWER: Well, when it all reset and all those guys pit, I had to pit before it went yellow. When we reset, it was, okay, we don’t have to get as big a fuel number now, and we’re P3, so if I can finish P3, that’s a great day.

Q. Will, this maturation process, you’re more settled, you keep talking about experience. How much of that is on the track and also off the track? Beau is getting a little older, the family man thing —

WILL POWER: Yeah, it is on both sides. It simply feels like the older you get, the more relaxed you get, just understand how life is. Life is not easy, it doesn’t flow that way like you expect when you’re younger that everything should just go right, but it simply just never does. That’s just the way it is. You get more relaxed about that.

Q. Do you enjoy moments like this a little bit more as you get older?

WILL POWER: Oh, yeah, yeah, I’m loving the racing. It’s a privilege to feel nervous before a race because there’s going to be a time that you don’t get to do that for decades. Some people never get to do that.

Q. You get to go into full dad mode.

WILL POWER: Yeah, exactly.

Uncategorized

Burton Qualifies 13th at Indianapolis

August 1, 2022 ARP Trish

July 30, 2022

Harrison Burton and No. 21 DEX Imaging team earned their best road-course starting spot of the season with a 13^th-place effort on Saturday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Burton took that berth with a lap at 98.418 miles per hour around the 14-turn, 2.439-mile course inside the Speedway.

His speed in qualifying represented an increase from the practice session earlier in the day when he posted a best lap of 97.608 mph on the 10^th of the 12 laps he ran in the session.

He was sixth fastest among drivers who ran 10 consecutive laps. His average speed from Laps 2-11 was 96.387 mph.

Sunday’s 82-lap Verizon 200 at the Brickyard is set to get the green flag just after 2:30 p.m., with TV coverage on NBC.

Stage breaks are set for Laps 15 and 35.

###

About DEX Imaging
DEX Imaging is the digital document imaging division of Staples, the world’s largest business solutions provider. DEX sells and services the broadest selection of copiers, printers and data management solutions, such as HP, Konica Minolta, Canon, Kyocera and numerous others.

COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGES:
Reducing Operating Costs
Reducing Paper Consumption
Increasing Productivity

DEX Imaging has been the recipient of virtually every industry award since the company’s inception, including the JD Power & Associates Award for Best Customer Experience, the prestigious ProTech Service award by Konica Minolta, the Diamond Premier Dealer Award by Kyocera, and the Elite DEALER Award by ‘ENX’ magazine. Other accolades include being named ‘Best Place to Work’ by numerous business journals in the markets DEX serves.

Wood Brothers Racing
Wood Brothers Racing was formedin 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glenn Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glenn’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Harrison Burton in the famous No. 21 racer.

ARP Racing News

Category Archives: Uncategorized

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NOS NOTEBOOK (WEEDSPORT SPEEDWAY, 7/30/22)

BRITTANY FORCE PUTS FLAV-R-PAC DRAGSTER INNo. 1 SPOT SATURDAY AT NHRA NORTHWEST NATIONALS

TOYOTAS TAKE ALL TOP-10 QUALIFYING POSITIONS IN SEATTLE

Beach Wins Clash of Titans at 75th Peoria TT

Late-Race Spin Spoils Solid Run by Sheldon Creed and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Team at Indianapolis

Rossi Win Completes Honda Sweep of Indianapolis in 2022

POWER PUTS CHEVY ON THE PODIUM AT INDY ROAD COURSE

Burton Qualifies 13th at Indianapolis

July 30, 2022

Racer News and Results