Capps leads three Supras in the top half in Funny Car action

BRAINERD, Minn. (August 20, 2022) – Justin Ashley earned his fourth top-three starting position in the last six events as the New York-native closed the four qualifying passes with a strong 3.679 sec. pass at over 334mph. He was joined in the top-five by reigning Top Fuel champion Steve Torrence (fourth) and last weekend’s Top Fuel winner Antron Brown (fifth).

In Funny Car, all three Toyota GR Supra Funny Cars qualified together inside the top-half of the field with Ron Capps in fourth, J.R. Todd in seventh and Alexis DeJoria in eighth. Todd was also top speed of the weekend in Funny Car thus far, reaching 333.91 mph.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series

Brainerd International Raceway

Race 15 of 22

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Brittany Force*	Monster Energy Top Fuel Dragster	1st (3.654)	Bye
Justin Ashley	Phillips Connect Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	3rd (3.679)	K. Baldwin
Steve Torrence	Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	4th (3.694)	M. Salinas
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	5th (3.701)	C. Millican
Billy Torrence	Capco Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	9th (3.726)	A. Prock
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	10th (3.732)	T. Schumacher
Shawn Langdon	CMR Roofing & Construction Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	11th (3.737)	L. Pruett

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Matt Hagan	Mopar Dodge Charger Funny Car	1st (3.843)	Bye
Ron Capps	NAPA AUTO PARTS Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	4th (3.885)	J. Force
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	7th (3.897)	J. Campbell
Alexis DeJoria	Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	8th (3.916)	B. Alexander

(*non-Toyota driver)

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

TF Qualifying Result: 3rd

Really consistent performance out of your race car. How are you feeling going into race day?

“We’ve got a really good race car right now. The thing is there is a lot of guys out here with really good race cars and the conditions are right, right now. They are really good. It’s the first race in a while that we’ve conditions like this. Race day is going to be the same thing, but the same time it is a whole new day. The margin for error is so small. Our Phillips Connect Toyota team is doing such a great job, week-in and week-out, of continuing to improve so we can put ourselves in this position. We love there going out and running 334 mph and a high 3.60, but tomorrow is the day that it counts.”

Shark #1S Chases Third-Straight Jackson Nationals Title Tonight on DIRTVision

JACKSON, MN – August 20, 2022 – Logan Schuchart and Shark Racing already knew that all eyes were pointed towards them entering the 44th annual AGCO Jackson Nationals, and they certainly gave the people something to watch in Saturday’s afternoon opener.

After leading the opening 16 laps, the Hanover, PA native all of a sudden saw the lead slip from his grasp when Carson Macedo snuck below him and took the top spot away with eight laps left. The DuraMAX Oil, Drydene Performance Products #1S quickly adapted from defense to offense and charged back at the Jason Johnson Racing #41 on the final restart.

It came down to the 25th and final circuit when Schuchart timed lap traffic perfectly and stormed around the outside of a boxed-in Macedo on the bottom. He made it stick for another two corners and beat the Lemoore, CA racer to the stripe by 0.435-seconds, earning his fourth-career win at Minnesota’s Jackson Motorplex.

His second World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win of the season comes at a crucial time as Schuchart pursues a record-setting third consecutive title at the Jackson Nationals tonight on DIRTVision. He made it clear that the #1S is the car to beat with $25,000 on the line this evening.

“I’m just glad we were able to get that one back,” said a relieved Schuchart. “The #41 is one of the best cars out here, so it’s always rewarding to beat them heads up like that. These races are won in the garage, and it’s so much better when you show up at a place and can unload with so much confidence as we do here. I feel like we have the car to beat tonight, the driver just needs to do his job.”

Ahead of tonight’s main event, Schuchart capitalized on the opportunity to both protect and attack at the Jackson 3/8-mile surface.

“You just have no idea where to go when you’re leading like that,” he added. “I felt like I was a sitting duck and thought we were gonna lose another win while leading. It’s good to be running about fourth or fifth when the rubber comes into play. I just knew I needed to try something different so I started running it harder into turns one and two. Carson is too smart to mess up, so I knew I had to be extra aggressive if I wanted it.”

Earning the short end of the stick in the thrilling finish on Saturday afternoon was Carson Macedo, who saw his ninth World of Outlaws win of 2022 slip through his fingers on the final circuit. His 17th podium of the year aboard the Albaugh #41 did allow the 25-year-old to sneak back into title contention as he sits -96 points behind Brad Sweet.

It was a case of what goes around comes around for the Lemoore, CA native, who was on the opposing end of last-lap glory two weeks ago with his own late-race heroics at I-55.

“A lot of people on DIRTVision are probably wondering why I didn’t try to move up or block that lane with the lapper, but I just felt so locked down that I thought I was making good enough laps to hold on,” Macedo noted as explained his thought process. “If I would’ve moved up top and he drove by me in the rubber, then I would’ve been an idiot, too. It is what it is. We definitely had a car capable of winning and I was every bit as good as him, but he made the right move when it mattered most. We’ll give it another shot tonight.”

Scoring his fifth podium of the season and putting two Bobby Allen-owned entries inside the top-three was Jacob Allenaboard the Pells Tire Service, Low-E Insulation #1A. The Hanover, PA native fell from first to fourth by Lap 4 but rallied late in the running by sneaking around Donny Schatz to earn his 17th career podium with the World of Outlaws.

“You obviously want to win these, especially from the pole, but I’m glad it could be Logan if it wasn’t me,” Allen spoke on his teammate. “My car was great all day, but I just had a bad start and could never be conservative enough with my tires. I was definitely nervous because I felt like I found the rubber first and I was crossing my fingers a tire wouldn’t let go.”

Closing out the top-five at Jackson was Donny Schatz in fourth place aboard the Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Ford Performance #15, and Sheldon Haudenschild in fifth place aboard the Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink #17.

Rounding out the top-10 on Saturday afternoon was Fresno, CA’s Giovanni Scelzi in sixth, Watertown, CT’s David Gravel in seventh, Alice Springs, NT’s James McFadden in eighth, Dillsburg, PA’s Anthony Macri in ninth, and Higginsville, MO’s Brian Brown in tenth.

NOS NOTEBOOK (Jackson Motorplex, 8/20/22)

Logan Schuchart’s second World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win of the season makes him the 11th driver with multiple wins in 2022. It’s the 32nd win of his career with The Greatest Show on Dirt.

Carson Macedo opened the day with a NEW TRACK RECORD in My Place Hotels Qualifying, circling Jackson Motorplex in 12.572 seconds. The Jason Johnson Racing #41 has earned nine of 47 QuickTimes this season, compared to only eight QuickTimes through the first 298 starts of his World of Outlaws career.

Winning NOS Energy Drink Heat Races on Saturday afternoon were Carson Macedo (77th career), Logan Schuchart (101st career), Giovanni Scelzi (22nd career), and Jacob Allen (45th career). Allen topped the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash, earning his third pole position of the season.

Tim Kaeding, of San Jose, CA, earned his first KSE Hard Charger Award of the year with a 24th-to-12th drive aboard the Lunstra Motorsports #3. Brady Forbrook, son of Hall of Fame crew chief, Guy Forbrook, made his World of Outlaws debut and quickly qualified for his first-career Feature.

Championship leader Brad Sweet (11th) missed the top-10 for only the seventh time this season, allowing David Gravel (-60 points) and Carson Macedo (-96 points) to close the gap with only 23 nights remaining this season.

UP NEXT (TONIGHT) – A busy day of racing continues this evening at Minnesota’s Jackson Motorplex as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series host the $25,000-to-win Jackson Nationals. The program is slated to begin with Hot Laps at 7:30pm CT and a unique format to follow. Fans can BUY TICKETS HERE, or watch every lap LIVE on DIRTVision.

NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (25 Laps) – 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart [2][$10,000]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo [4][$6,000]; 3. 1A-Jacob Allen [1][$3,500]; 4. 15-Donny Schatz [3][$2,800]; 5. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [5][$2,500]; 6. 18-Giovanni Scelzi [6][$2,300]; 7. 2-David Gravel [10][$2,200]; 8. 83-James McFadden [11][$2,100]; 9. 39M-Anthony Macri [18][$2,050]; 10. 21-Brian Brown [7][$2,000]; 11. 49-Brad Sweet [9][$1,600]; 12. 3-Tim Kaeding [24][$1,400]; 13. 7S-Robbie Price [19][$1,200]; 14. 9-Kasey Kahne [8][$1,100]; 15. 24-Rico Abreu [20][$1,050]; 16. 7-Justin Henderson [15][$1,000]; 17. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [14][$1,000]; 18. 20G-Noah Gass [23][$1,000]; 19. 5F-Brady Forbrook [13][$1,000]; 20. 24T-Christopher Thram [22][$1,000]; 21. 1AU-Marcus Dumesny [16][$1,000]; 22. 17X-Kevin Thomas [12][$1,000]; 23. 5-Spencer Bayston [21][$1,000]; 24. 10-Matt Juhl [17][$1,000]. Lap Leader(s): Schuchart 1-16, 25; Macedo 17-24. KSE Hard Charger Award: 3-Tim Kaeding[+12]

NEW Championship Standings (After 52/75 Races) – 1. Brad Sweet (6,598); 2. David Gravel (-60); 3. Carson Macedo (-96); 4. Sheldon Haudenschild (-138); 5. Donny Schatz (-170); 6. Logan Schuchart (-202); 7. James McFadden (-350); 8. Spencer Bayston (-396); 9. Jacob Allen (-600); 10. Brock Zearfoss (-694).

NASCAR CUP SERIES WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL GO BOWLING AT THE GLENT EAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT AUGUST 20, 2022   CHASE ELLIOTT TAKES THE POLE POSITION AT WATKINS GLENChevrolet Sweeps Front Row; Takes Six of Top-10 Starting Spots ·       Turning a lap of 70.477 seconds, at 125.147 mph, Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Camaro ZL1 will lead the field to the green in tomorrow’s NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen. ·       This marks Elliott’s third pole of 2022; second career pole at Watkins Glen International; and 12th all-time pole in 246 NASCAR Cup Series races. ·       Elliott’s pole is the seventh NASCAR Cup Series pole of 2022 for Chevrolet; its manufacturer-leading 16th pole at Watkins Glen International; and its 730th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series history. ·       Dating back to Chase Elliott’s Watkins Glen win in August 2019, Chevrolet has recorded wins in 14 of the past 15 NCS road course races, including a streak of the past 10.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript:FOUR POINTS TO GET THE NUMBER ONE SEED IN THE PLAYOFFS AND THE REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP. WITH THAT POLE POSITION, HOW’S THE MINDSET LOOKING AT TOMORROW? “Yeah, honestly my mindset and my focus right now is really just about trying to give ourselves a shot to win tomorrow. The the best way to achieve the most points is to go out there and be the first one to cross the line there at the end of the day. That’s really where our heads are at and where our goals lie; trying to execute a perfect race tomorrow. Obviously that’s a really hard thing to do. We would love to keep our track position all day. I understand that’s a difficult thing to achieve, but it’s not impossible. We’ve seen it done before. We’ll try to put together a good day, try to stay mistake-free and make the most of a good qualifying effort.” LAST YEAR, YOU TALKED ABOUT THE FLAT-SPOTTING PART, WHICH WAS THE REASON FOR THE LOSS. WITH THE NEW CAR AND THE BIGGER BRAKES, IS IT EASIER OR TOUGHER TO FLAT SPOT THE TIRES? “I would imagine it will be easier to do. Lock-up has been a bit more widespread this year, I feel like, at some of the other road courses than what we’ve seen here in the past. Last year, for me, was just a stupid mistake in the scenario that I did that. Nonetheless, I think you’ve seen more lock-up generally this year than what we have here in the past just overall at other tracks.” AS SOMEONE THAT HOLDS THEMSELVES TO A VERY HIGH STANDARD; YOU HAD THE SUCCESS ON THE ROAD COURSES THIS SEASON, BUT NO WIN. HOW MUCH DOES THAT WEIGH ON YOU, IF AT ALL? “It honestly doesn’t. Don’t get me wrong, I would love to win in general anywhere, whether it’s a road course, an oval or wherever it may be. I’m not sure that it’s been any added stress. We just want to get better. Like I tell you guys all the time, we just want to improve. Especially when you go somewhere, you think you’re off a little bit in a certain area and you want to move forward. You never want to go backwards; so as long as we’re moving forward, I think we’ll get to where we want to be.” YOU MENTIONED THE PACE OUT THERE WITH THESE CARS. DID THAT COME AS A SURPRISE TO YOU GUYS AND DO YOU THINK IT HAS THE POTENTIAL TO SORT OF ALTER THE COMPLEXION OF THE RACE A LITTLE BIT FROM PREVIOUS YEARS HERE?“Potentially, but it’s always been a pretty track position-oriented event anyway. It’ll probably just be a bit more so in that direction. I don’t know, lap time-wise, what we ran last year. I don’t remember, but I know we were just carrying a lot of throttle. It seems like more than I remember carrying here in the past. Typically with that is it’s going to be difficult to setup passes and get yourself in position.  We had a good lap there and you want to try and make the most of a good opportunity there starting out front. I know it’s a hard thing to do to keep that track position all day, but it’s not impossible. If we can achieve that, great.. and if not, we’ll stay in the fight and try and give ourselves a shot there when it matters.” ALL FOUR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CARS QUALIFIED IN THE TOP-11. DID ALL FOUR OF YOU EXPECT TO HAVE THE SPEED THAT YOU HAD TODAY OR IS THAT A SURPRISE AT ALL? “Not necessarily a surprise. I feel like everybody at Hendrick Motorsports is committed to being good in all categories and road racing is one of them. So, I’m not surprised to see that. Our organization is super driven. The boss is here today and he continues to come and support us; be here and show his enthusiasm and drive to want to succeed. I think that rubs off on the rest of us. I think we all have our own wills and wants to do good, but it’s always nice to see him here and nice to grab the pole with him in town. And obviously William (Byron) got the pole for the Xfinity Series race in a special car, too. Happy to see that.” SEVERAL INTERNATIONAL DRIVERS IN THE FIELD. AS SOMEONE LIKE YOURSELF THAT’S GOOD ON ROAD COURSES AND TAKES A LOT OF PRIDE IN ROAD COURSE RACING; HOW COOL IS IT TO SEE THE DIFFERENT ROAD COURSE RACERS AND INTERNATIONAL DRIVERS THAT ARE IN THIS RACE? “Yeah, like I’ve referenced a bunch; I think whoever’s idea that was over at Trackhouse I think deserves a lot of credit. And even beyond that, whoever put it together in the manner that they did in making it just very well done.. it looks professional, it is professional. He’s coming over, he’s in a good car. I just think it’s exciting that these guys are coming over and showing interest in what we have going on here. I think that’s the best way to gain respect around the world.. to have these drivers that do other things come and get involved. Just immerse themselves in what we do here, understand the challenges, and what it takes to be good. I think that’s always going to be a good thing.  I hope it continues and I hope they keep doing it. I hope everybody that is here from other disciplines has a good time this weekend; enjoys themselves, is challenged by it and is excited to do it again.” I WOULD HAVE TO IMAGINE THIS IS A VERY SPECIAL PLACE FOR YOU.. BEING THAT YOU SCORED YOUR FIRST CAREER WIN HERE. WHAT WOULD IT MEAN TO LOCK-UP THE REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP HERE, AS WELL? “This is always going to be a special place to me because achieving that first win was such a big deal for myself, our team and I think to our entire group. It’s always going to be a special spot whether we do well or not. It will always feel different.  And two, it’s a beautiful part of the country. It’s a very underrated part of the country, I think. It’s very nice up here and I enjoy visiting even beyond the on-track stuff.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL GO BOWLING AT THE GLEN TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING AUGUST 20, 2022   Turning a lap of 70.477 seconds, at 125.147 mph, Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Camaro ZL1 will lead the field to the green in tomorrow’s NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen. ·       This marks Elliott’s third pole of 2022; second career pole at Watkins Glen International; and 12th all-time pole in 246 NASCAR Cup Series races. ·       Elliott’s pole is the seventh NASCAR Cup Series pole of 2022 for Chevrolet; its manufacturer-leading 16th pole at Watkins Glen International; and its 730th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series history.  TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 STARTING LINEUP:  POS.   DRIVER1st      CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL12nd     KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL14th      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1 5th      TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 KCMG CAMARO ZL1 6th      AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 ACTION INDUSTRIES CAMARO ZL1 9th      DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 PRINCESS CRUISES CAMARO ZL1  TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:  POS.  DRIVER1st      Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)2nd     Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)3rd      Michael McDowell (Ford)4th      William Byron (Chevrolet)5th      Tyler Reddick (Chevrolet) USA Network will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 21. Live coverage can also be found on the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1, Pole Winner Quick Quote:THAT WAS A PRETTY IMPRESSIVE LAP, CHASE. “Thank you. Our No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Chevrolet has been solid. I feel like we had some work to do there from where we were in practice. I felt like there were a couple parts of the track I want to put together better, it’s just really hard to hit it all. It’s just so fast, the pace is so high. And this car here, I feel like from what I remember and how much throttle you’re carrying, a little bit carries with you a long way. I’m really proud of our team. Appreciate Kelley Blue Book and Chevrolet. We have a great looking paint scheme this week and we always enjoy having them on the car. We’ll try to give them a good run tomorrow.” OTHER POST-QUALIFYING QUOTES:KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN, NO. 91 RECOGNI CAMARO ZL1 – Qualified 27th KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN WITH A VERY IMPRESSIVE RUN IN QUALIFYING. YOU GOT 20 MINUTES OF PRACTICE HERE IN THE CUP SERIES AND 10 LAPS IN QUALIFYING. WHAT WAS THAT EXPERIENCE LIKE? “Obviously, I wish there would have been more laps. I felt like there was a lot of potential. I’m just not sure which lines to take and there weren’t enough laps to put everything together. But yeah, it was fun. It’s quite a lot like I expected after the simulator. There’s always a difference; the fine details aren’t shown in the simulator, but at least I knew the track. I needed to be a bit better in a few places; and in some places I was pretty OK.” WHAT WILL YOU DO TONIGHT? WHAT WILL YOU GO AND LOOK AT TO GET READY FOR THE RACE TOMORROW? “I have no idea yet. There are too many things, too many options. I think we just have to make sure that we know, more or less, the rules and not make any silly mistakes on that side. We’ll see what we can do with the car. We have a little bit of an idea from where we started, to where we went and maybe somewhere halfway. We’ll try to improve. We improved from the practice session to qualifying, and we’ll try to do the same in the race.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES

WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL

GO BOWLING AT THE GLEN

TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

AUGUST 20, 2022

JUSTIN MARKS, FOUNDER AND OWNER, TRACKHOUSE RACING; AND KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN, NO. 91 RECOGNI CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of Trackhouse Racing’s debut of PROJECT91 this weekend at Watkins Glen International. Press Conference Transcript: 

KIMI, COMING BACK TO NASCAR AFTER 11 YEARS, WHAT WAS THE BIGGEST FACTOR THAT BROUGHT YOU TO THIS OPPORTUNITY TO MAKE A NASCAR CUP SERIES START? 

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: “Justin (Marks) contacted me last year at some point and then we kind of left it alone for a while. Then we had another discussion and then met with us in Switzerland. I think everything worked out well. It made to sense. The timing was right.. the kids are still on holiday from school, so we could come as a family for the trip. I think all of the small things here and there worked out; and obviously, seeing that Trackhouse Racing has been good this year and winning races, we should have a chance to do OK. If we do or not, I don’t know, but at least we’ll try and give it our best.”

WHAT WERE YOUR TAKEAWAYS FROM GETTING TO DO THE DRIVER ORIENTATION TEST LAST WEEK? 

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: “I’ve been to the track once when I was here last time. I think it was good to get some laps to have some idea of how the cars are. Obviously, the Cup cars are quite a bit different than it used to be at that time. It wasn’t the same car that I’m going to race here, but for sure it’s helpful to get some kind of an idea of how things work.”

WHY DO THIS? IS IT TO JUST SAY YOU’VE RACED A CUP CAR? IS IT JUST PURE FUN? ARE YOU LOOKING TO DO MORE AFTER THIS? 

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: “There’s no plans for anything after this. Obviously, I want to have fun, but also do as well as we can. As I said, I think we’ve prepared as well as we could with how the rules are.. not just here in NASCAR, but where I come from. The testing is obviously a tricky part and if you haven’t done it, you don’t get many laps. But at least we did some and NASCAR gave us a little chance to try the car. We’ll see what comes out of it. 

But there’s no plans for the future. I want to have fun, but also do as well as we can”

THE RESTARTS IN NASCAR TEND TO HAVE A LOT OF CONTACT.. I’M SURE THEY’VE TOLD YOU THERE WILL BE A LOT OF CONTACT. ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO THAT OR ARE YOU APPREHENSIVE ON JUST HOW MUCH CONTACT YOU SHOULD HAVE AND HOW MUCH YOU SHOULD ACCEPT? 

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: “I think any form of motorsports has contact. Obviously when you have single-seater cars, you try to avoid it more because if you damage the wing, your race is compromised. In stock car racing, it’s a bit more forgiving because it doesn’t effect it much. We’ll try to stay out of any issues.. that’s the big key in any racing. There might be some or there might not, but it’s a part of racing.”

WHAT ARE YOU MOST INTRIGUED ABOUT WITH THIS WEEKEND? 

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: “It’s a new experience. I don’t know how it’s going to go, but I think it’s just a nice challenge. Like we said already, we’ve had limited running of the car and we’ll have a very short practice here, so that will be tricky. It’ll be quite a challenge, but it’s also exciting. We’ll see where we stack up. There are very fast guys here that have been doing this for years, so it will be very hard. But we’ll see what we can do.”

AT THE END OF THE DAY, WHY DOES A WORLD CHAMPION DO SOMETHING LIKE THIS.. WHERE EVEN WITH THE TESTING, YOU’VE HAD LIMITED TIME IN THE CAR AND YOU’LL HAVE LIMITED TIME ON THE TRACK, SO IT DOES NOT GIVE YOU AS GOOD OF AN OPPORTUNITY TO SHOWCASE EVERYTHING THAT YOU CAN DO. WHY TAKE THAT RISK, IN ONE SENSE, FAILURE? 

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: “I don’t see any risk.. why not? What do I have to lose? If I do bad in a NASCAR race or bad in any race, I don’t care.. I do it for myself. A good or bad end result, it could happen even if I did 20 races. They all could be bad for many different reasons. 

I don’t see any negative. I think it’s great what Justin (Marks) and the team is doing giving a chance for all of us from Europe. It’s not as known.. obviously over the years, NASCAR is more known there, but I’m sure there are a lot of drivers that would like to have a chance to try it. It’s not very easy, so maybe it will open some doors in the future for more chances to try and get more Europeans into the sport.” 

IT LOOKS LIKE YOU’RE STAYING IN THE MOTORHOME LOT WITH YOUR FAMILY. WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT THE NASCAR CULTURE AND THE VIBE IN THAT SENSE COMPARED TO F1?

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: “It’s a lot different than when I was here the last time. I like it.. it’s very relaxed and completely different. I think the schedule is a lot different than it was last time. What happened to many sports after COVID was that they figured out that we really don’t need to spend as many days over the weekend at the track. Obviously, in hindsight, it would be better for me if we had more practice, but that’s how it is. 

I really like it. It’s very relaxed.. a nice, family atmosphere. It’s a lot more of a family atmosphere here than in F1, so I like it. So far, it’s been great.”

JUSTIN, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE OVERALL PATH AND THE FUTURE OF PROJECT91 AND WHAT WE CAN SEE WITH THE PROGRAM MOVING FORWARD? ARE THERE ANY PLANS FOR THE REST OF THIS YEAR OR NEXT YEAR? 

JUSTIN MARKS: “This is the only event for PROJECT91 this year. This is really our opportunity to sort of build this program; see how it impacts the operations of the company to field a part-time third car. I’ve been telling people; we haven’t hired one person for this project. There’s just been a lot of people at Trackhouse that have been doing time-and-a-half to get this to go. This is really just about what it looks like to field a part-time third car, as far as on the operations of the company, moving forward. This will be on the only event this year. 

The road courses are kind of the ideal places to bring guys like Kimi in.. just because of the experience on the road courses. I think it’s a quicker learning curve and they can get up to speed a lot more quickly than to go to ovals. 

So with that being said; ultimately PROJECT91 is a program that operates at all of the road courses during the season and then potentially some of the major events, like the Daytona 500, Coca-Cola 600, or something like that. I think at some point, you get so many races that you have to look at just actually fielding a third full-time car. But I think for PROJECT 91, it’s a six to eight race program potentially next year and beyond. It’s a brand extension of Trackhouse. I think we can get really unique on the content side, on the merchandise side and just create great stories. That’s sort of where I’d like to see it go.”

WATKINS GLEN WAS THE SITE OF THE US GRAND PRIX FOR FORMULA 1 FROM 1961 TO 1980. IF YOU GO DOWN TO SENECA LODGE, YOU CAN STILL SEE THE VICTORY WREATHS FROM THAT F1 ERA. KIMI, SINCE YOU HAVE YOUR FAMILY WITH YOU, HAVE YOU LOOKED AT ANY OF THAT HISTORY THAT EXISTED HERE WITH FORMULA 1? JUSTIN, BECAUSE OF THAT HISTORY HERE, DID THAT ENTER INTO YOUR DECISION OF HAVING KIMI HERE TO MAKE HIS CUP DEBUT WITH PROJECT91? 

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: “We came here yesterday. Obviously I know a little bit of the history of F1 being here and have seen some old videos from it. But from that, I haven’t really seen much yet. The kids are interested in doing other things.. they’re a bit too young for that. But I certainly know the history. It’s a great place and a nice area. It sort of feels like the middle of nowhere, but I enjoy that. It’s good to be here.”

JUSTIN MARKS: “As far as Watkins Glen, there were a couple of factors that went into this one. We needed time to be able to get this team ready and it needed to match up with Kimi’s schedule. I think, more than anything, it was convenient for him and his family to be able to make this trip and Watkins Glen fell in a good time for them. I didn’t want to debut PROJECT91 in the playoffs. That was not interesting to me. 

And then as far as Watkins Glen; this is a track where obviously there’s a lot of history. The fan base is huge. It’s a great event for the sport, so there’s already typically a spotlight on it just because of the history and the quality of the races. It’s a track where I think if he starts to learn the race car in the race and we have a good race going, that you can make passes and you can create a good event. This event typically doesn’t get “mickey, mousey” like Indy did and some of these other events. 

I think there were a lot of factors that went into it that just made this the ideal place.”

KIMI, WHEN YOU TESTED LAST WEEK AT VIR, DANIEL (SUAREZ) WAS THERE WITH YOU. WHAT’S IT BEEN LIKE TO HAVE THAT SUPPORT SYSTEM BETWEEN DANIEL AND ROSS (CHASTAIN) TO LEARN AND ADAPT TO THE NEXT GEN CAR? 

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: “Obviously, it’s useful. Any help is good with limited time in the car. They have a lot more experience. When we ran the simulator, they were both there, so it was good to see what they do and how it goes. 

Yeah, it’s been nice. Daniel (Suarez) has spent his free time to help, so I really appreciate that. I’m happy that they’ve been very open to go to if I have questions and try to help.”

JUSTIN, WHAT ARE YOUR REASONABLE EXPECTATIONS OF THIS RACE? DO YOU THINK PROJECT91 WOULD HAVE EVER BEEN POSSIBLE WITH THE OLD CAR VERSUS NOW DOING IT DURING THE FIRST YEAR OF THE NEXT GEN CAR? 

JUSTIN MARKS: “I definitely think it was possible. But I think what this car represents is a lower barrier of entry for drivers from other disciplines because this car is much more consistent with other road racing cars globally. So the transition to learn the car for someone like Kimi is just a lot more simple. 

And for expectations; the speed is going to be there, the preparation is going to be there, the fitness is going to be there, all of that. I think where the heavy lift is just understanding procedurally how the race goes; making sure there’s no drama in the pits, on the restarts and things like that. I think anything is possible.. I really do believe anything is possible. We have to run a good strategy and get a little bit lucky. But what he has shown at the test, what he has shown in the simulator and some of the other things that we’ve done; I don’t have any issues with the pace, preparation or anything like that. I think it’s going to be right on par. So if we do a good job for him as a team, I think that we can have a very good day.”

KIMI, A LOT OF THE DRIVERS RECENTLY HAVE VOICED THEIR EXCITEMENT OF RACING AND MEETING YOU. ARE THERE ANY DRIVERS IN NASCAR THAT YOU FEEL THE SAME ABOUT, EITHER MEETING OR RACING? 

KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN: “I think, generally, it’s just nice to race whoever it’s going to be. It’s always exciting when you race against people that you haven’t raced against before. They’re very professional. The rules are slightly different than what I’m used to, but I’m happy to be here and meet the guys. I remember from the last time; they’re very relaxed, easy-going and it’s easy to talk to other drivers. It’s a bit different than what I’m used to from where I come from.”

Richard Childress Racing at Watkins Glen International … Richard Childress Racing has two NASCAR Cup Series victories at Watkins Glen. Robby Gordon won the 2003 event, his third victory with RCR over the span of three seasons. Kevin Harvick captured the 2006 event at the New York road course, edging Tony Stewart for the victory, his first win at Watkins Glen. Dale Earnhardt also won three poles (1990, 1992, 1996). RCR drivers have racked up eight top-five and 22 top-10 finishes in 77 starts at Watkins Glen. 

RCR in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Watkins Glen International … RCR has captured one victory in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition at Watkins Glen: Kevin Harvick (2007). Harvick dominated the race, leading 49 of 82 laps and led a 1-2 finish for the Welcome, N.C., based team with Jeff Burton scoring a second-place finish. RCR owns nine top-five and 22 top-10 finishes at the 2.45-mile road course. 

Introducing the Carolina Cowboys … Driven by the same passion for performance that guides his race team, Richard Childress’ latest endeavor brings Professional Bull Riding to the Carolinas. The Carolina Cowboys represent Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in the PBR Team Series, an elite new league featuring the world’s top bull riders in games that began in July 2022. The team is operated by Richard Childress Racing with 2018 Daytona 500 Champion Austin Dillon serving as General Manager. The fourth game of the inaugural PBR Team Series season is scheduled for this weekend, August 19-21, in Nashville, Tennessee.

Don’t miss the Carolina Cowboys … The Carolina Cowboys’ inaugural “Cowboy Days” Home Stand is scheduled for September 9-11 at Wake Forest’s Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Friends of RCR have the opportunity to save 15% on tickets by entering code RCR15. To purchase tickets, click here: https://www.ticketmaster.com/pbr-professional-bull-riders-tickets/artist/2859854?venueId=369555

Catch the Action … The NASCAR Xfinity Series Sunoco Go Rewards 200 at The Glen at Watkins Glen International will be televised live Saturday, August 20, beginning at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network and the NBC Sports App. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 

Follow Sunday’s Action at Watkins Glen … The NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen at Watkins Glen International will be televised live on Sunday, August 21 beginning at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network and the NBC Sports App. The race will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 

LOCUST GROVE, AR (August 19, 2022) – Jonathan Davenport continues to show why he the #1 ranked dirt late model driver in the country – leading all 30 laps in Friday’s preliminary feature to earn the pole position for Saturday’s 30th Annual COMP Cams Topless 100 Presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series and COMP Cams Super Dirt Series co-sanctioned race will pay $50,000 to win, a record for the event. Spencer Hughes will start alongside Davenport on the front row of the crown jewel event by virtue of finishing second to the three-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series National Champion in Friday’s preliminary feature. Hughes was just 0.178 seconds behind the winner at the checkers, earning his best career finish with the series. Neither Davenport nor Hughes have ever won the race which began in 1993. Jimmy Owens, a 2-time Topless 100 champion finished in third followed by Tyler Erb. The current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader and 2008 winner Tim McCreadie roundedd out the top five. Davenport took the lead at the start of the race and looked to be in total control for the first five laps until he started to encounter traffic in front of him. That would allow Hughes to close the gap and draw within two car lengths of Davenport just before the only caution of the race flew with eight laps scored. On the restart, Davenport again pulled out to a healthy lead. Hughes was able to get within striking distance in the waning laps, but Davenport was able to hold his line and never wavered as he went on to pick the win.  “It was a very good view from where I was sitting at tonight,” said Davenport. “Who knows if it is going to be a tire game tomorrow night. This race kind of surprised us last year with how slick it got. We will have to conserve a little bit tomorrow night. Tonight, I just backed the pace way, way up. I knew I couldn’t get by Daulton [Wilson] right there unless he made a big mistake. I was hoping that Spencer and Jimmy couldn’t get by me unless I did.” Hughes gave it his best shot at Davenport and came home in second. “I didn’t want to see that caution. I got back to him there when he first caught lapped traffic and I felt like we might have had a shot to at least show him our nose a little bit. He did a great job tonight and we put ourselves in a good position for tomorrow night. We have been pretty good here the last couple of weeks, but we haven’t been able to put a whole night together, maybe tomorrow night we can do it.” Owens earned the third starting position for Saturday’s finale. “This is one of our better race tracks here. We were able to qualify good and win our heat race and come home with a strong third-place finish tonight. Maybe we can get this Ramirez Motorsports car further up- front tomorrow night. We were in the Rocket tonight, we have won races this year in both the Rocket and the Longhorn, it’s just been finding something to beat that 49 bunch. It’s been pretty tough to do.” The winner’s Lance and Darla Landers-owned, Double L Motorsports Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions, Spartan Mowers, ASC Warranty, Bilstein Shocks, VP Race Fuels, Midwest Sheet Metal, Mark Martin Automotive, and Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas. Completing the top ten were Earl Pearson Jr., Dale McDowell, Brandon Overton, Ricky Thornton Jr., and Garrett Alberson. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary COMP Cams Topless 100 Presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions – Night 1Friday, August 19th, 2022Batesville Motor Speedway – Batesville, AR Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Jonathan Davenport / 14.280 seconds (overall)Fast Time Group B: Spencer Hughes / 14.569 seconds Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[2]; 3. 93-Mason Oberkramer[4]; 4. 1ST-Johnny Scott[3]; 5. 45-Kylan Garner[5]; 6. 32P-Preston Farmer[6]; 7. 53-Eckie Harrison[7]; 8. 37-Joseph Long[8] Summit Racing Equipment Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 3. 1-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 4. 1G-Bryan Glaze[5]; 5. 66-Hayden Ross[4]; 6. 24H-Dustin Holmes[8]; 7. (DNF) 65H-Dewaine Hottinger[6]; 8. (DNF) 7P-David Payne[7] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 777-Jared Landers[2]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 4. 10G-Garrett Smith[8]; 5. 7-Ross Robinson[4]; 6. 26R-Cole Farmer[7]; 7. 19M-Colby Moore[5]; 8. 16-Geoff Aitken[6] Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 11-Spencer Hughes[1]; 2. 97-Cade Dillard[2]; 3. 2-Tyler Stevens[3]; 4. 12-Scott Crigler[5]; 5. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[4]; 6. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[6]; 7. 11K-Jon Kirby[7]; 8. 15-Blake McClain[8] Wrisco Industries Heat Race #5 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 2S-Stormy Scott[2]; 2. 17M-Dale McDowell[3]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 4. 14M-Morgan Bagley[6]; 5. 1R-BJ Robinson[4]; 6. 90-Brian Rickman[5]; 7. 995-Manny Falcon[7]; 8. L51-Travis Ashley[8] Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 3. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[2]; 4. 71-Hudson O’Neal[5]; 5. 86B-Kyle Beard[4]; 6. 86-Rick Rickman[6]; 7. 17-Jeremy Tharp[7]; 8. 7S-Jeff Sloan[8] FAST Shafts B-Main #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1ST-Johnny Scott[1]; 2. 10G-Garrett Smith[3]; 3. 45-Kylan Garner[4]; 4. 66-Hayden Ross[5]; 5. 32P-Preston Farmer[7]; 6. 26R-Cole Farmer[9]; 7. 19M-Colby Moore[12]; 8. 37-Joseph Long[13]; 9. 7P-David Payne[14]; 10. 53-Eckie Harrison[10]; 11. 1G-Bryan Glaze[2]; 12. (DNS) 24H-Dustin Holmes; 13. (DNS) 65H-Dewaine Hottinger; 14. (DNS) 16-Geoff Aitken; 15. (DQ) 7-Ross Robinson[6] UNOH B-Main #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 12-Scott Crigler[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 3. 14M-Morgan Bagley[2]; 4. 1R-BJ Robinson[5]; 5. 90-Brian Rickman[8]; 6. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[4]; 7. 86B-Kyle Beard[6]; 8. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[7]; 9. 11K-Jon Kirby[10]; 10. 86-Rick Rickman[9]; 11. 995-Manny Falcon[11]; 12. 15-Blake McClain[13]; 13. 17-Jeremy Tharp[12]; 14. 7S-Jeff Sloan[15]; 15. (DNS) L51-Travis Ashley COMP Cams Topless 100 Presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions Night 1 Finish (30 Laps):

Entrants: 48Lap Leaders: Jonathan Davenport (30 Laps)Wrisco Feature Winner: Jonathan DavenportArizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/aBrandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/aMargin of Victory: 0.719 secondsStop-Tech Cautions: Daulton Wilson (Lap 8)Series Provisionals: n/aFast Time Provisional: n/aSeries Emergency Provisionals: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Jonathan Davenport, Spencer Hughes, Jimmy OwenPenske Shocks Top 5: Jonathan Davenport, Spencer Hughes, Jimmy Owens, Tyler Erb, Tim McCreadieOptima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race: Garrett Alberson (Advanced 6 Positions)Hot Rod Processing Most Laps Led: Jonathan Davenport (30 Laps)Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Tim McCreadieSunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Jimmy OwensO’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Spencer HughesDirty Girl Racewear Fastest Lap of the Race: Jonathan Davenport (Lap 1 – 15.074 seconds)DirtonDirt.com Tough Break of the Race: Ross RobinsonOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Jason Durham (Jonathan Davenport)ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Tyler Erb (14.0915 seconds)Time of Race: 10 minutes 41 seconds COMP Cams Topless 100 Presented by Nutrien Ag Solutions – 100 Laps | Line-up

FAST Shafts B-Main 1 15 Laps | Top 3 transfer to A Feature | Line-up

UNOH B-Main 2 15 Laps | Top 3 transfer to A Feature | Line-up

About Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt SeriesFounded in 2005, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series showcases the talents of the top dirt late model drivers from across the country. In 2022, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will sanction 65 events across 18 states, including some of the biggest marquee events in the industry, providing dirt slinging, sideways, door-to-door racing action lap after lap.  The series receives national exposure through a television package filmed, produced and edited by Lucas Oil Production Studios. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series events will be streamed live on MAVTV Plus, with broadcasts on MAVTV Motorsports Network.   The in your face excitement of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series is second to none in motorsports. For more information, including the latest news, tour schedule, driver information, and more, visit the official website at: www.LucasDirt.com.2022 Official Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Marketing Partners

The Zebulon, GA driver earned his 48th career Series victory at Williams Grove Speedway

MECHANICSBURG, PA– August 19, 2022 – Shane Clanton took advantage of a lesson learned Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway. 

After pushing up the track on Lap 1 of his Heat Race, he logged the moment, learned from it, and used it against his competitors in the Feature.

While Ryan Gustin pushed up the track in Turn 2, Clanton held his line low and blasted past “The Reaper” to take the lead.

From there, Clanton, of Zebulon, GA, led every lap to score his second World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Series victory of 2022.

“When you turn into the corner, if you turn in too low, you just shove and go across the racetrack, and [Gustin] went flying across it,” Clanton said. “I just entered hard enough into the turn to get below him in Turn 2, and that was all I needed.”

While the “Georgia Bulldog” led every lap to earn the $10,000 prize, his 48th career Series triumph almost slipped away in the race’s second half. Second-place Max Blair cut a second off Clanton’s lead before a caution reset the field with 10 laps left. 

“I got too high in Turn 2 over here messing with a lap car trying to drive harder to get by him,” Clanton said. “I was seeing where I could make ground better than just running with them because they were killing me down the straightaways just because they were laying out so hard getting into the corner. 

“I couldn’t drive in clean air like I needed to, so I just needed to find a different place, and I just messed up that lap.”

Max Blair held on for second – his sixth podium finish of 2022. The Centerville, PA driver closed on Clanton before the yellow flag and said he may have had something for him if the caution hadn’t come out. 

“Maybe if the yellow don’t come out, we got a race for the win there,” Blair said. “He was definitely better than I was early and late. I think there was a stretch in the middle that I think we could run with him.

“It feels good to be on the podium. If you get to go out there enough, good things will happen.”

Gustin settled for third after drawing the pole for the Feature. 

While the Marshalltown, IA driver stated he was happy to finish on the podium with a brand-new Rocket XR1, he also felt he let another win slip away. 

“I just felt like I gave it away there,” Gustin said. “It looked like there was more out there to grab and get you going, but there was absolutely nothing out there.”

Rookie of the Year leader Tanner English finished fourth in his first appearance at Williams Grove Speedway. The Benton, KY campaigner said he felt like he was hanging on to a top-five run for most of the race. 

“In the beginning, we ran the bottom, and I thought it was going to come to me a little bit,” English said. “But the top never slowed down enough, and I never could keep up with them down there, so I didn’t really have nothing for them. I was lucky just to hang in there and get fourth.”

English gained points in the championship standings on Dennis Erb Jr., who finished seventh. He’s now 158 points behind the Carpentersville, IL driver. However, English lost points to Max Blair in the Rookie of the Year battle. He leads Blair by 16 points with 17 races remaining. 

Rick Eckert, from York, PA, rounded out the top five. The 2011 Series champion stated his car wasn’t tight enough to contend for the win.

“I needed to be a little tighter,” Eckert said. “You needed to be tight to be able to run that cushion like the top three did. I tried to get off the cushion, and I did for a few laps after the restart, which is when I got [English], and on the next restart, I got stuck on the outside, and he got back by me.”

Shane Clanton’s lesson at Williams Grove showed him the path to victory and gave him momentum for the rest of the triple header weekend.

“[Sharon’s] a good racetrack for me too,” Clanton said. “It ain’t near as big as a half-mile, but our car is real good and real balanced right now, and I think we can carry it anywhere we go.”

UP NEXT: The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet return to Sharon Speedway in Hartford, OH, for the Battle at the Border on Saturday, Aug. 20. Then, they travel to Tri-City Raceway Park in Franklin, PA, on Sunday, Aug. 21

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

CASE Construction Feature (40 Laps): 1. 25-Shane Clanton[2]; 2. 111V-Max Blair[4]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[3]; 5. 0E-Rick Eckert[5]; 6. 66JR-Eddie Carrier Jr[14]; 7. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[6]; 8. 1-Josh Richards[9]; 9. 15K-Dale Hollidge[7]; 10. 43A-Jason Covert[11]; 11. 45-Kyle Hardy[19]; 12. 66C-Matt Cosner[8]; 13. C9-Steve Casebolt[21]; 14. B1-Brent Larson[18]; 15. 1K-Gene Knaub[20]; 16. 11-Gordy Gundaker[17]; 17. 14-Tyler Horst[24]; 18. 32-Coleby Frye[15]; 19. 9Z-Mason Zeigler[10]; 20. 32J-Shaun Jones[22]; 21. 99B-Boom Briggs[23]; 22. 2J-Justin Weaver[12]; 23. 59-Chad Julius[16]; 24. 2-Dan Stone[13] F

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 19, 2022) – Top Fuel points leader Brittany Force in the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac dragster and Funny Car points leader Robert Hight in the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS sit in the No. 1 qualifying spots Friday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway. In a hugely competitive Top Fuel field, Austin Prock has the Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist dragster in 10th while John Force and the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy are 11th. Brittany Force and the Monster Energy team drove into tire smoke in their first qualifying attempt at Brainerd International Raceway for only a 4.422-second pass at 174.19 mph. After a rain delay and under a Minnesota sunset, David Grubnic and Mac savage tuned Force to a blistering 3.685 at 333.49, putting the Monster Energy team one step closer to earning their sixth No. 1 of the season. “This Monster Energy team was very happy with that second run, especially after not making it down there in the first one. When the rain came we got a little nervous about getting it a second session in tonight, since there’s no lights. NHRA got it cleaned up quickly and Grubnic came in and said it was a great race track so our plan before the rain was a little different after the rain came in,” Force said. “I love night racing. Nothing cooler than watching drag racing at night. Seeing the header flames, it was my favorite thing as a kid in the grandstands. We saw what was capable ahead of us and we knew we could get it done. David Grubnic and Mac Savage, they wanted to get the car down there and run in the 60s and we ran exactly what we wanted. I love this race track, we always lay down good numbers and we’ve had success here before so we’re hoping to get it done again.” Robert Hight and the Auto Club Chevy had no problems coming out of the box to run 3.897-seconds at 328.22 mph, the second quickest run of the first qualifying session. Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham tuned the Auto Club Chevy to a 3.865 at 330.31 in the second session to rocket to the No. 1 spot. If it holds, Hight will earn his fourth No. 1 of the season, 75th of career. “First off, NHRA did an amazing job drying the track and giving us great conditions to make some great runs. This is a breath of fresh air after where we’ve been with the humidity and heat. This is great conditions, and it looks like we’re going to have it all weekend so the fans are in for a treat, there is going to be a lot of side-by-side close races,” said Hight who is chasing his third No. 1 qualifier at Brainerd International Raceway. “This Auto Club Chevy, we made two runs in the 3.80s today. You have to be happy about that. Our track specialist, Lanny MiGlizzi, he’s been telling us numbers that are good enough to run our best all year. The air just makes it hard, a little muggy. Great job to my guys. Two consistent runs, this is exactly what we need to be doing this time of year, making consistent runs, because we’re heading into crunch time. I’m excited where we’re at for this point in the season.” Austin Prock and the Montana Brand / RMT dragster experienced overall improvement during their Friday qualifying efforts. With two solid runs, the first a 3.760-second pass at 326.79 mph that was quickest of the first session and earned them three valuable bonus points and the second a 3.752 at 323.35 that has them nestled in the No. 10 spot, the Montana Brand / RMT team is heading in the right direction. “Good day in this Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist pit. We started out low of Q1 with a much needed clean quick run. I can’t tell you how great it felt to see a smile on all of my guys’ faces. It lit a fire inside all of us,” Prock said. “We followed up with another clean run. Was slower than we wanted but everything repeated. Parts look great and we can begin to lean on this thing. I’m excited for tomorrow.” John Force and the PEAK Chevy started Friday in Minnesota having to shutoff early going only 5.061-seconds at 148.30 mph in the first qualifying session. There was improvement in the second session with a 4.121 at 242.98 after Force lifted just before the finish stripe. “A little bit of a tough start for this PEAK Chevy. We didn’t quite make it down there today but there’s still tomorrow, two more runs and conditions all weekend are supposed to be good,” Force said. “I’m not worried. Danny Hood, Tim Fabrisi, they’ve gotten this car figured out and we’ll be good.” The Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals will continue with qualifying Saturday at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. local time. Eliminations will begin Sunday at 11 a.m. Television coverage of the event continues with a second qualifying show Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations will air Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX Broadcasting Network. -30-

AUSTIN PROCK, 26, Montana Brand / Rocky Mountain Twist DragsterQualifying:10th; 3.752-seconds; 323.35 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+3 (quickest Q1)BRITTANY FORCE, 36, Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac DragsterQualifying:1sr; 3.685-seconds; 333.49 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+3 (quickest Q2)JOHN FORCE, 73, PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SSQualifying:11th; 4.121-seconds; 242.98 mphBonus Qualifying Points: 0ROBERT HIGHT, 52, Auto Club of Southern California Chevy Camaro SSQualifying:2nd; 3.931-seconds; 323.81 mphBonus Qualifying Points:+2 (2nd quickest Q1)

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY MADISON, ILLINOIS TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING RECAP AUGUST 19, 2022 MADISON, ILLINOIS (August 19, 2022) – Friday was the day Will Power worked toward throughout his stellar NTT INDYCAR Series career.   The 2014 Series champion and 2018 Indianapolis 500 winner pulled up on to the track surface from pit lane with laser focus and laid down two monster laps to capture the NTT P1 Award at World Wide Technology Raceway.  With an average speed of the 182.727 mph, the driver of the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet cemented his place in INDYCAR history by tying the legendary Mario Andretti with 67 career poles – the most in INDYCAR history. “I would never have ever been able to do this without Verizon and Penske,” an elated Power said. “I’ve had such a fantastic career and they’ve given me such a great opportunity and I cannot thank them enough. Of course Chevrolet too because a lot of those poles were with the Chevy engine.” To date, 42 of Power’s 67 pole positions have been in a Team Penske car powered by the Chevrolet 2.2-liter V6 INDYCAR engine. Friday’s pole was the fourth of the season for Power, his fourth at WWT Raceway and the 11th of the season for Chevrolet in 15 events. Marcus Ericsson (Honda) will share the front row with Power. Penske teammates Josef Newgarden, No. 2 PPG Chevrolet, and Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Odyssey Battery Chevrolet, will start from Row Two. The Bommarito Auto Group 500 is set to start at 6:30 p.m. ET/5:30 p.m. CT. USA Network and the broadcast from INDYCAR Radio are set to come on-air at 6 p.m. ET/5 p.m. CT.

DRIVER QUOTES: WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POLE WINNEREARLIER THIS SEASON WILL POWER WAS SAYING ‘OH, I DON’T THINK I’M GONNA GET THERE TO TIE MARIO.’ YOU’RE THERE. YOU’VE GOT NUMBER 67.“Amazing. And I would never have ever been able to do this without Verizon and Penske. I’ve had such a fantastic career and they’ve given me such great opportunity and I cannot thank them enough. Of course Chevrolet too because a lot of those poles were with the Chevy engine.”DID BEING THE CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER AND BEING ABLE TO LEARN OFF YOUR TWO TEAMMATES’ RUN HELP YOU GET NUMBER 67 TODAY?“I think the only thing was to know the laptime to go for. I’m still kind of shaking because I tried to go wide open in (turns) Three and Four. It got halfway around wide open then it wasn’t gonna make it. So I downshifted and kind of floated out toward the wall but there was nothing left on the table, put it that way. On the second lap, I was loose in One and Two then tried to go again as much as I could in Three and Four. But man… just amazing, amazing year so far. And this is a this is a big victory in a way for me to reach the 67 number and equal such a legend of the sport in Mario Andretti. I just can’t believe that I’m right there with Mario because there’s been no one like him.”AND IT’S ANOTHER POINT ADDED TO YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP. YOU WERE RUNNING FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS EVERY YEAR FOR A DECADE EXCEPT LAST YEAR. DID YOU THINK YOU’D HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE AT THIS POINT IN YOUR CAREER TO GO FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP?“I did. I did because we had such potential in a lot of those years. I worked very hard this year and am really good mentally and I’ve got such a good group around me this year. I mean, I’m just I love the group, the crew that I have. They’re a really good, positive group and they’re great guys. So they’re as much to do with this championship as I am… more to it.”ON THE SUCCESS HE’S HAD THIS SEASON:“This year. Yeah, it’s definitely something I worked on in the offseason. Just understanding the potential that I had year after year is to try and harness that and not let them go. And that’s what we’ve done. Which means at times I settled for a second position, which isn’t my favorite thing, but it is what you have to do to win a championship.”YOU HAD A COUPLE OF WOW MOMENTS AND STILL GOT THE POLE:“Yeah, it was. It was it was on the edge because I thought I’m gonna have to go wide open in (turns) Three and Four, which I tried to get all the way to halfway through and then it kind of went around and then I kind of floated wide so then quickly downshift. And then I went into One and had a big moment in the middle but just kept after it knowing that if I can repeat that I could get a pole.” JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 3RD:“If I could have done a better first lap, I think for sure (it would have been pole). The car was really capable there as you saw on the second lap. I just did not get that first lap good enough. I wish I could have a redo, but you can’t. You have to go out and put your best foot forward when it’s time. I had a great car. PPG and Team Chevy… the speed was there. I wish I could have a redo. I’m excited. We have speed here this weekend. We just have to put that to best of use for tomorrow.“I wish I had maximized my car. I obviously didn’t do a very good first lap, and I knew it. We had a pole car in there again but not getting that first lap in there is what’s going to hurt us. I feel good for tomorrow. I think we have a great car. I just hate missing it. Man… we definitely had a good enough car to put it on pole. We’ll try do that better next time around, but I’m excited for tomorrow with PPG.” SCOTT McLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 ODYSSEY BATTERY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 4TH: “Josef is one of the best on ovals that I’ve ever seen, so as a teammate it’s difficult. When you go out first, you’re getting a balance for everything and feeling it out for the guys. At the end of the day, I felt like we did a really good job with the Odyssey Battery Chevy. I felt really strong. As long as we didn’t go backward in qualifying, we were going to have a good run. This sets us up well for tomorrow, so we’ll see how it goes.” PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 7TH: “I think I was a little too conservative on my run. We had maybe a couple more tenths of a mile an hour, but I don’t think we had one more like the guys at front. Seventh isn’t horrible. It’s a track position race. It will require good pit stops, good in- and out-laps and a good racecar, obviously. For the race, things will be different because it will be race running and there will be traffic. It’s quite different from the morning where you really don’t know what to expect. The problem is, as we saw with Felix, that if you get to greedy the track can bite. It was more important to put in those two laps solidly rather than taking a big risk.” CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 16TH: “This is our first weekend here together as a team with Ed Carpenter Racing. It’s weird to think… I’ve been with this team for a long time, and this is our first race together here. It’s one of my favorite tracks without a doubt. From where we started our first practice session today to where we are now is a huge step forward. There’s a lot of positive there. It will be a tough battle. The race is going to be challenging, but we’ve made a huge step forward with our car. To pick up a couple of tenths from practice to qualifying is big. It’s not what we wanted, but if we can start inside the top-15 it gives us a decent chance for tomorrow.“We made a good step forward from practice. To pick up two tenths from practice to qualifying is a lot, the ECR guys have done a great job working with me. This is my first time here with this team, so it’s been a learning curve for all of us to get what I want out of it. We’re getting better and better every run and we did it again in qualifying. It’s obviously not where we want to be yet, but I do love this track. It’s one of my favorites. We can race forward!” KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 BOMMARITO AUTO GROUP AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 20TH: “Decent qualifying. We showed up today after our test last week with pretty different track conditions. We don’t feel like we’re as strong as what we were at the test. But in general, I think we had a solid qualifying I think that should put us mid pack or thereabouts. There’s definitely more in it, but we’re just still working with the car to get it in its happy place like it was at the test last week, which has definitely taken some tuning. Unfortunately, on weekends like this, you don’t get a bunch of tires to really figure it all out and enough time and enough clean track to nail everything down. It takes a couple sessions to really pinpoint exactly what you need. So we’re still working with it, but I think we have a very good heading coming into tomorrow’s race. Historically, the Number 14 car has been better in race conditions than it has in qualifying so we have that going for us.“We were playing with the car a lot, and we don’t have enough tires to exactly figure it out in practice. It required me to definitely bang on my tools and rely on those for that second lap. The first lap was OK, the second lap was a little better. But if I had the confidence I think we should have been a little quicker. Bommarito stepped up and joined us for this weekend. It’s really cool because we have a home crowd here with St. Louis and Bommarito Automotive Group. They’ll have about 1,000 people up there in that Turn Four suite. It’s cool to have the primary sponsor on the side of our No. 14 AJ Foyt machine.” RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITCOIN RACING WITH BITNILE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 23RD: “I expected a little more out of the car, but I really pushed as hard as I could. We were really at the edge of the tire, even more so than last year. We’ve been struggling a little bit today, but this is a track where you can pass a lot of cars. Especially on restarts, there are a lot of things happening. Last year, I came from 24th and was almost up to the Top 10. You can definitely pass and we can do work from the back.” DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 24TH: “Not exactly the qualifying that we were looking for today. This is a tough track to pass so I was hoping we were a little further up the grid. It seems we had a bit more understeer than expected going into the end of the run. Last year this was where we scored our best finish. Overall, we feel like the race platform that we have is better than where we were at the end of last year and at the start of the test a couple weeks ago. So optimistic for the race and just have to be smart on track and in pit lane, make some moves and move up from where we’re starting.” ED CARPENTER, NO. 33 ALZAMED NEURO ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 25TH: “I’m pretty frustrated that we haven’t been able to solve our issues. It gets exacerbated by being the first to qualify constantly because it goes off of entrant points, but that’s the rule. We’ll be starting pretty far back, but we’ll see if we can do something with it.” NTT INDYCAR SERIES News ConferenceWill Power THE MODERATOR: Will Power, you just happened to pick up career pole 67, Will Power. This is his fourth pole here, fourth of the season. A little history perspective: last time we saw an INDYCAR SERIES driver, Will, pick up 67, when Mario did, you go all the way back to August 1st, 1993. It’s a mark that has stood for some time.Watching you celebrate this thing, the smile…WILL POWER: Yeah, something I’ve had my eye on for a while. I think when I got to 60, I was like, This could be possible. Yep, it’s definitely a big box to tick.But, yeah, now focusing forward on the race. That’s really the big thing on my mind, is having a good day. Yeah, everyone’s at the front, so it’s just going to be…It’s pretty typical of INDYCAR, right? It’s just going to go down to the last race. The way I see it, even on points right now, it’s that close, it can just flip. It’s going to be about who can finish ahead of who. Simple as that.THE MODERATOR: Questions.Q. Will, there’s been times you and I have talked, back when you were at 60, 61 poles, you said, I don’t know if I’ll be able to get there. Did you honestly feel that way? Now that you’ve reached your goal, is it just a huge sense of relief?WILL POWER: When I got the double pole at Iowa, that’s when it became really realistic. The year before I had one pole. I think the year before that I had three. It was getting increasingly harder to get pole position. I was kind of thinking, This is going to be pretty hard to beat.But the double pole at Iowa was real key. Yep, great team, great engine, great crew. That’s what I’ve had. I’ve been lucky.Q. (No microphone.)WILL POWER: No, I’m not feeling any relief because I’m so focused on the race and the championship. I can think about that later and feel good about it. Right now it’s just so important to have a good car in the race and race well, yeah, have a solid day.Q. Will, how excited are you to come to St. Louis to compete in a race that means so much here in the city?WILL POWER: Yeah, I think this is a really good event for us. It’s promoted really well. Always get a big crowd. They do a really good job of presenting it.It races well also. Can be a bit mixed up with fuel races and so on. Yeah, it’s one of my favorite tracks, favorite ovals. I really enjoy it. I enjoy it a lot.Q. You’ve won the pole at Portland, coming up next. Can 68 happen there?WILL POWER: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, next two races after this, next two qualifying sessions, have to be very good qualifying sessions. Yeah, that totally is going to be the goal.But, yeah, not even thinking about that right now. Just thinking about tonight.Q. How do you expect the second lane to run?WILL POWER: Yeah, I’m really hoping that the second lane brings that in. I’m hoping that second lane practice brings the lane in.I think it will be a bit better than Texas because it hasn’t got the coating. Maybe it’s not enough cars. But, yeah, we’ll see. Man, the race would be so good if we could do that, people actually run there in the first 20 laps. It will just be a completely different race to what it was.Hoping it works.Q. How much of it is confidence driven, when drivers see guys going up, versus rubbering up the track up there?WILL POWER: Exactly that. They see people running reasonably fast on the outside lane, if that happens to be the case in the practice, it will give people confidence to go there and know it’s rubbered in. When they come into practice, yeah, hopefully it works.Q. How much of this race becomes a fuel conservation race as opposed to others?WILL POWER: Yeah, the second lane, it’s actually got more grip up there because it’s not polished. It just needs rubber. I think if we can get it in a bit, when the 30 minutes is up, everyone else comes out, people actually go up there.Yeah, the fuel race, if there is some yellows at the beginning, people will try to make it on a three-stop. That’s when it becomes a bit of a fuel stop. It really depends on when the yellows for that, otherwise it’s a four-stopper.Q. (No microphone.)WILL POWER: Not something I take note of or even look at those things.Q. If you go all the way to the inside of four, that is the points race. The top six guys are all up there battling. What does that really say about this points race that you’ve got everybody right up there at the top of the grid?WILL POWER: Yeah, it just shows no one’s letting up, no one will until the end.Yep, pretty tight battle to the end. It will be very interesting to see how it unfolds. All you can do is just do your best. Do your best. Can’t control some things, so see what happens.Q. Now that you’ve tied Mario, which you wanted to do, what do you want to do next?WILL POWER: I need to tie Michael in wins. That’s one win away.Q. Need to tie Helio in 500s.WILL POWER: I can almost guarantee that is not going to happen before I’m done. That’s a pretty good run if you could do that.THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Will. Thank you. Enjoy the rest of the night.

Marcus Ericsson completes career-best INDYCAR qualifying run, will start on the outside of the front row in Saturday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500
Teammates and championship contenders Alex Palou and Scott Dixon qualify fifth and sixth for Honda and Chip Ganassi Racing
Devlin DeFrancesco leads rookie field with 10th-place qualifying run

MADISON, Ill. (Aug. 19, 2022) – In the best qualifying performance of his nearly four-year NTT INDYCAR SERIES career, Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson qualified second today for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway and will start on the outside of the front row in the 260-lap twilight contest.

Third in the Drivers’ Championship standings, just 12 points out of first, Ericsson heads a Chip Ganassi Honda effort that saw teammates Alex Palou and Scott Dixon qualifying fifth and sixth, respectively. Dixon is currently second in the championship standings, just six points out of first with three races remaining; while defending champion Palou is fifth, 33 points back.

Takuma Sato, winner of the 2019 race here, will start eighth for Dale Coyne Racing, while Devlin DeFrancesco led the rookie contingent with a 10th-place qualifying effort as Andretti Autosport Hondas qualified ninth through 12th. In all, Honda drivers posted 11 of the top 15 qualifying speeds in the 25-car starting field.

Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Honda Qualifying Results
2nd Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
5th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
6th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
8th Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
9th Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda*
10th Devlin DeFrancesco-R Andretti Autosport Honda
11th Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda
12th Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
13th David Malukas-R Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
14th Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda
15th Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
17th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
18th Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda
19th Christian Lundgaard-R Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
21st Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

R – Rookie
* qualified 9th, but will start 18th due to a penalty for an “unapproved engine change”

Quotes
Marcus Ericsson (#8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) will start second, career-best INDYCAR start: “I’m feeling great! The #8 Bryant Heating & Cooling Honda was really good out there, the team has done a really good job all day really. We rolled off really strong in practice; then we tuned on it for qualifying and we did a really good run. It’s my best-ever qualifying result in my Indy car career so I’m happy about that! Of course, it would be nice to be on pole, but we’ll try again and I think we’ll have a really strong package in the race tomorrow.”

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Honda) will start fifth: “I’m super happy. This is my [career] best oval qualifying that isn’t the Indy 500. Starting top five is always a good place, and we [Honda and Chip Ganassi Racing] have three cars in the top six to try and fight for a race win tomorrow. First of all, though, I need to finish the race. We didn’t finish the race last year and then I need to try and get as many points as possible. We’re in the championship fight and maybe it’s not my best place to gain points on the leaders, but starting up front we can make it happen tomorrow!”

Fast Facts
This weekend’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 will mark the 14th Indy car race to be held in the St. Louis area, and the seventh at the repaved and updated 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway oval. The 260-lap event is the fifth and final oval race of the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season.

World Wide Technology Raceway has been the scene of several significant Honda Racing INDYCAR milestones since it returned to the series schedule in 2017.

In 2018, a second-place finish for Alexander Rossi and third for Scott Dixon was enough for Honda to clinch the 2018 INDYCAR Manufacturers’ Championship, the first in an ongoing streak of four consecutive manufacturers’ titles for the company.

One year later, Takuma Sato won a thrilling night race, besting Ed Carpenter in a tense closing-lap battle. Honda went on to win a second consecutive Manufacturers’ Championship that season.

Dixon scored his 50th career win in 2020 at World Wide Technology Raceway, in the opening race of a double-header weekend. He went on to claim his sixth NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship at the end of the season; with Honda winning a third consecutive Manufacturers’ title. Earlier this month, Dixon recorded his 53rd career victory in Nashville, moving him to sole possession of second on the all-time Indy car winners list.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500 WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY MADISON, ILLINOIS TEAM CHEVY NTT P1 AWARD WINNER QUOTE – WILL POWER AUGUST 19, 2022

WILL POWER PUTS CHEVY ON POLE AT WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY TIES MARIO ANDRETTI FOR MOST POLES IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES HISTORY Team Penske’s Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet, had a historic run for the NTT Pole Award for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway by tying Mario Andretti for the most poles in NTT INDYCAR Series. Power now sits at 67 poles: EARLIER THIS SEASON WILL POWER WAS SAYING OH, I DON’T THINK I’M GONNA GET THERE TO TIE MARIO. YOU’RE THERE. YOU’VE GOT NUMBER 67. AMAZING, “Amazing. And I would never have ever been able to do this without Verizon and Penske just I’ve had such a fantastic career and they’ve given me such great opportunity and I cannot thank them enough and of course Chevrolet too because a lot of those polls were with the Chevy engine” DID BEING THE CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER AND BEING ABLE TO LEARN OFF YOUR TWO TEAMMATES RON DID THAT HELP YOU GET NUMBER 67 TODAY,“I think the only thing was to know the lap time to go for and I’m still kind of shaking because I tried to go wide open it 3 and 4.  I it got half way around wide open then I knew it wasn’t gonna make it. So I  downshifted and kind of floated out towards the wall but there was nothing left on the table. Put it that way on the second lap and it loosened in one and two and then try to go again as much as I could in three and four. But man just amazing, amazing year so far. And this is a this is a big victory in a way for me to reach the 67 number and equals such a legend of the sport and Mario Andretti so I just can’t believe that I’m right there with Mario because he’s a legend.” AND IT’S ANOTHER POINT ADDED TO YOUR CHAMPIONSHIP., YOU ARE RUNNING FOR CHAMPIONSHIPS EVERY YEAR FOR A DECADE EXCEPT LAST YEAR, NOT SO MUCH IT YOU THINK YOU’D HAVE ANOTHER CHANCE AT THIS POINT IN YOUR CAREER TO GO FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP?“I did I did because we had such potential and a lot of those years and worked very hard this year and really good mentally and I’ve got such a good group around me this year. I mean, I’m just I love the group, the crew that I have, they’re really good positive group and they’re great guys. So they’re as much to do with this championship as I am maybe more to do with I” ON THE SUCCESS HE’S HAD THIS SEASON:“This year. Yeah, it’s, it’s, it’s definitely something I worked on in the offseason, just understanding the potential that I had year after year is to try harness that and not let them go. And that’s what we’ve done. Which means at times I settled for a second position, which isn’t my favorite thing, but it is what you have to do to win a championship.” YOU HAD A COUPLE OF WOW MOMENTS AND STILL GOT THE POLE:“Yeah, it was. It was it was on the edge because I thought I’m gonna have to go wide open in three four, which I tried to get all the way to halfway through and then it roll bottomed and then I kind of floated wise so then quickly downshift. And then I went into one then had a big moment in the middle of one, but just kept after knowing that I’d done a six if I can repeat that. I couldn’t get a pole.

Hot Laps at 12pm CT on Saturday Afternoon, $25,000/Win Finale Begins 7pm CT on Saturday Night

JACKSON, MN – August 19, 2022 – More heavy rains hit the Jackson, MN area on Friday afternoon and prevented the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series from racing at the 44th annual AGCO Jackson Nationals once again.

Initially the second of two preliminary nights, that show is now postponed until Saturday afternoon to serve as the lone lead-up to the $25,000-to-win finale on Saturday night. It creates a doubleheader at the Jackson Motorplex with Hot Laps scheduled to begin at 12pm CT prior to the big nightcap at 7pm CT.

Saturday afternoon’s program will now utilize the standard World of Outlaws format, but the Jackson Nationals finale will still offer a unique format (appearance points only) that will be finalized shortly. The pits will open at 10am tomorrow with the grandstands opening at 11am. The grandstands and pits will be cleared following the completion of the first show.

For those with a three-day pit pass, you may bring it to the track tomorrow and receive a refund from Thursday/Friday’s rainout. Those with one-day passes will be good to go for Saturday’s afternoon show. If you purchased any online general admission tickets, those will automatically be refunded. Any buyers at the box office can mail in their tickets for a refund.

Following this weekend, The Greatest Show on Dirt completes The Second Leg of the Northern Tour at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND on Friday, August 26, and Red River Valley Speedway in West Fargo, ND on Saturday, August 27. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

SCANDINAVIAN SPEED STARS RETURN! FIA/FIM European FinalsSanta Pod RacewayThu.08 – Sun.11 September 2022  A renewed Scandinavian invasion spices up the entry list for Santa Pod Raceway’s European Finals, 8^th to 11^th September.   Typically, 16 or 17 countries would be represented at Santa Pod’s big European Championship races. Then Covid and Brexit conspired to strangle the inflow of overseas teams. Suspended for two years, the two- and four-wheeled championships were relaunched in 2022, only for some governments to attach exacting financial conditions to the temporary import/export licences now required for racing teams to haul their vast inventories back and forth between countries. This has stunted the resumption of travel, particularly from Britain’s north-eastern neighbours. Negotiations to solve those issues – which ultimately should benefit motorsport in all forms – have revived the influx of teams from drag racing’s Nordic hotbed.   A select trio of Top Fuel Dragsters headlines the show. Two Finns and a Swede will battle for 300mph supremacy in the world’s fastest, loudest racing cars. Finland’s Antti Horto clocked fresh career-bests (3.808sec, 318.75mph) over Top Fuel’s 1,000-foot course while winning Santa Pod’s opening European round in May. Sweden’s Susanne Callin first breached the 300mph barrier as a teenager 20 years ago and now drives Santa Pod’s own Slick Tricks machine. Facing them is 2022’s rookie Top Fuel sensation, Ida Zetterström, already the European elapsed-time record holder at 3.782sec and a race-winner this month at Tierp, Sweden. Like Horto and Callin, Zetterström began her racing life as a child driving Junior Dragsters, but unusually branched out on to two wheels to become Scandinavian champion on an ultra-hairy Super Street Bike.   Just as loud and almost as fast, a field of four Fuel Funny Cars will pit Sweden’s Patrik Pers against Britain’s Kevin Kent, Steve Ashdown and Jason Phelps. The Funnies share the same supercharged, injected, nitro-burning powerplants as the Top Fuelers, but cloak them in lightweight, one-piece bodies which once resembled road-going production models. A video of Jason Phelps shattering the peace at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in 2016 has accumulated 3.8 million Facebook views.   Twenty entrants from half-a-dozen countries are expected to contest Pro Modified, a race which combines rounds of the European championship and the Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship. Pro Mods compete over the classic quarter-mile and are drag racing’s fastest ‘doorslammers’ – full-bodied cars with functioning doors and sprung chassis – using three V8 engine types. Jan Ericsson’s Camaro from Sweden is a supercharged methanol-burner. The defending (2019) European champion set a European record (5.724sec) while winning Santa Pod’s May opening round. Seven-time British champion Andy Robinson is his UK equivalent. Estonian Andres Arnover’s Mustang is turbocharged and pipped Ericsson to the top speed honours (250.99mph) at the May race. Britain’s turbo leader Nick Davies is nearly as fast, at 249.05mph. Sweden’s Roger Johansson is the acknowledged master of the ‘atmo’ powerplant – unblown, petrol-burning, nitrous oxide-snorting, with colossal cubic capacities above 14 litres. Bobby Wallace is Britain’s young pretender to the ‘atmo’ throne. Racers from France, Switzerland and the Netherlands will join the action.   All-continental fields will contest the Pro Stock and Top Methanol categories, including A/Fuel nitro-burning dragsters.   On two wheels, Top Fuel Bike renews the rivalry between Europe’s two quickest, fastest wheel-driven motorcycles. British veteran Neil Midgley now campaigns the Puma machine which, under previous rider Fil Papafilippou, set the European ET mark at 5.662sec, while Sweden’s Rikard Gustafsson holds the speed record at 250.55mph.   Super Street Bike – the type of machine once ridden by Top Fuel Dragster’s Ida Zetterström – has produced breathtaking performances this year. The long reign of Britain’s Steve Venables as class leader has been rudely overturned by Hungarian Dániel Donát Lencés, whose 6.6sec/225mph performances have obliterated established standards. These machines ride on street-legal tyres, not drag racing slicks, and are not equipped with wheelie bars.   Pro Stock Bikes and ground-pounding nitro Super Twins complete the motorcycle programme.   The FIA/FIM European Finals takes place from Thursday 8^th to Sunday 11^th September at Santa Pod Raceway, near Wellingborough NN29 7XA. Full event information can be found at https://santapod.co.uk/european-finals.php and a variety of ticket options, starting at £35 per day, is available at https://santapodtickets.com/p/europeanfinals. Children aged 5-15 are £5 per day.  

Sportsman Chevy Performance 75 winner won SummerFAST opener at Weedsport, back in action Thursday at Land of Legends

OSWEGO, NY – Aug. 18, 2022 – DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Series points runner-up. Second-most Feature wins of any driver in the division. Third-place in the Mr. Sportsman Modified Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship. And ultimately, NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week champion.

Zach Sobotka had the biggest year of his career in 2021.

He soon backed it up with another headline trip to Victory Lane in the South of the Border Showdown at South Carolina’s Lake View Motor Speedway in February, and looked to be riding high on the momentum before the start of the 2022 regular season. The win was another shining moment for the 22-year-old from Parish, NY – one that was soon overshadowed by devastation.

On the evening of February 28, a large fire erupted at the back of Northern Coat & Blast – the Sobotka family business and race shop – destroying both sections of the building and much of its contents. He and the team were able to save both race cars, two air jacks, and his Super DIRT Week trophy, among others, but most everything else had been lost to the flames.

With only the cars and tools remaining on the pit box in the trailer, Sobotka and his family-run team were left with the remains of a charred building and their 2022 racing season in question.

When news of the incident appeared days later, an outpour of support from friends, family and the entire Northeast racing community immediately helped the team get a jumpstart on the road to recovery.

“There were so many people that helped us,” Sobotka said. “Nobody could even guess the number of people that helped donate to us or offered to donate their time or shop space. Anything you could think of – people offered to donate it.”

They were soon contacted by former DIRTcar Big Block Modified racer and current 360 Sprint Car pilot Jason Barney – proprietor of 87Speed in Brewerton, NY – who offered up the shop space to Sobotka that allowed he and the team to continue preparing for the regular season.

“It wasn’t perfect, but it kept us racing,” Sobotka said. “He was one of the main reasons that we were still able to keep going.”

Through hard work and the generosity of his peers, the shop and family business have since been restored. They were able to recuperate their tools and parts supply over the past several months, which has translated into six Feature wins in local DIRTcar-sanctioned competition thus far, including a last-lap pass for the win in Monday night’s SummerFAST speedweek opener at Weedsport Speedway.

“Now that we’re working out of our shop, we’re getting our tools back and working on the car every night,” Sobotka said. “We’re able to have the proper maintenance, and it’s definitely starting to get better.”

Northeast dirt racing has officially passed the halfway point of the season, and only 47 days remain before the start of the 50th Running of NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week (Oct. 3-9). Sobotka will star in his first title defense against what is expected to be another 100-plus car field in the Sportsman Modified division, aiming to become only the third driver in event history to win the Sportsman Feature more than once.

“It would mean a lot to be able to recover from what we’ve been through over the winter,” Sobotka said. “To be able to come back like that from the first half of my season going the way it did.”

Last October, Sobotka made an incredible drive from 19th on the starting grid to win Northeast Sportsman immortality at Oswego Speedway. Though it seemed like a lofty goal to everyone including himself before the drop of the green, he defied the odds and passed his way to the front with laps to spare.

“When we went out for the Feature, my dad leaned into the car in staging and he goes, ‘Well, we’re probably not going to win this thing. But just get up there as far as you can and we’ll move on from it,’” Sobotka said with a smile.

Though his ultimate goal is the Sportsman Modified 50th Super DIRT Week trophy, Sobotka isn’t letting the pressure of going back-to-back on the Northeast’s biggest dirt racing stage get to him.

“No matter what ends up happening at Super DIRT Week this year, we know – me, my crew, my family – that we’ve definitely bounced back from that whole situation,” Sobotka said. “But to be able to win the 50th one, that’d be something special.”

Catch Sobotka and the rest of the DIRTcar Sportsman Modified field at Oswego Speedway for the 50th Running of NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week, Oct. 3-9. Get your tickets in advance at the link below or watch each of the five days live on DIRTVision.

Sportsman Chevy Performance 75 winner won SummerFAST opener at Weedsport, back in action Thursday at Land of Legends

OSWEGO, NY – Aug. 18, 2022 – DIRTcar Sportsman Modified Series points runner-up. Second-most Feature wins of any driver in the division. Third-place in the Mr. Sportsman Modified Hoosier Racing Tire Weekly Championship. And ultimately, NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week champion.

Zach Sobotka had the biggest year of his career in 2021.

He soon backed it up with another headline trip to Victory Lane in the South of the Border Showdown at South Carolina’s Lake View Motor Speedway in February, and looked to be riding high on the momentum before the start of the 2022 regular season. The win was another shining moment for the 22-year-old from Parish, NY – one that was soon overshadowed by devastation.

On the evening of February 28, a large fire erupted at the back of Northern Coat & Blast – the Sobotka family business and race shop – destroying both sections of the building and much of its contents. He and the team were able to save both race cars, two air jacks, and his Super DIRT Week trophy, among others, but most everything else had been lost to the flames.

With only the cars and tools remaining on the pit box in the trailer, Sobotka and his family-run team were left with the remains of a charred building and their 2022 racing season in question.

When news of the incident appeared days later, an outpour of support from friends, family and the entire Northeast racing community immediately helped the team get a jumpstart on the road to recovery.

“There were so many people that helped us,” Sobotka said. “Nobody could even guess the number of people that helped donate to us or offered to donate their time or shop space. Anything you could think of – people offered to donate it.”

They were soon contacted by former DIRTcar Big Block Modified racer and current 360 Sprint Car pilot Jason Barney – proprietor of 87Speed in Brewerton, NY – who offered up the shop space to Sobotka that allowed he and the team to continue preparing for the regular season.

“It wasn’t perfect, but it kept us racing,” Sobotka said. “He was one of the main reasons that we were still able to keep going.”

Through hard work and the generosity of his peers, the shop and family business have since been restored. They were able to recuperate their tools and parts supply over the past several months, which has translated into six Feature wins in local DIRTcar-sanctioned competition thus far, including a last-lap pass for the win in Monday night’s SummerFAST speedweek opener at Weedsport Speedway.

“Now that we’re working out of our shop, we’re getting our tools back and working on the car every night,” Sobotka said. “We’re able to have the proper maintenance, and it’s definitely starting to get better.”

Northeast dirt racing has officially passed the halfway point of the season, and only 47 days remain before the start of the 50th Running of NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week (Oct. 3-9). Sobotka will star in his first title defense against what is expected to be another 100-plus car field in the Sportsman Modified division, aiming to become only the third driver in event history to win the Sportsman Feature more than once.

“It would mean a lot to be able to recover from what we’ve been through over the winter,” Sobotka said. “To be able to come back like that from the first half of my season going the way it did.”

Last October, Sobotka made an incredible drive from 19th on the starting grid to win Northeast Sportsman immortality at Oswego Speedway. Though it seemed like a lofty goal to everyone including himself before the drop of the green, he defied the odds and passed his way to the front with laps to spare.

“When we went out for the Feature, my dad leaned into the car in staging and he goes, ‘Well, we’re probably not going to win this thing. But just get up there as far as you can and we’ll move on from it,’” Sobotka said with a smile.

Though his ultimate goal is the Sportsman Modified 50th Super DIRT Week trophy, Sobotka isn’t letting the pressure of going back-to-back on the Northeast’s biggest dirt racing stage get to him.

“No matter what ends up happening at Super DIRT Week this year, we know – me, my crew, my family – that we’ve definitely bounced back from that whole situation,” Sobotka said. “But to be able to win the 50th one, that’d be something special.”

Catch Sobotka and the rest of the DIRTcar Sportsman Modified field at Oswego Speedway for the 50th Running of NAPA Auto Parts Super DIRT Week, Oct. 3-9. Get your tickets in advance at the link below or watch each of the five days live on DIRTVision.

Watkins Glen International Watkins Glen, New YorkAugust 21, 2022  NASCAR CUP SERIES RACE #25 – WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONALTwo regular season races remain to determine the final driver that will complete the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series playoff field. NASCAR’s premier series shifts its attention from short track racing to the 2.45-mile, 7-turn road course of Watkins Glen International this weekend. Chevrolet looks to keep its road course success rolling at the multi-elevational upstate New York circuit, with the manufacturer eyeing its 11th consecutive NCS road course win.  NASCAR’s premier series first competed at Watkins Glen in August 1957, with Buck Baker driving Chevrolet to victory lane in the inaugural event. Since the series’ debut at the circuit, a Chevrolet-powered machine has recorded a series-leading 20 victories. While the bowtie brand looks to keep its NCS road course win streak alive, the manufacturer is also looking to go four-in-a-row at the New York circuit. Chevrolet’s three-peat at Watkins Glen started with Chase Elliott and his monumental first career NCS win in the August 2018 event. The 26-year-old Georgia native followed up that win when the series returned to the track in 2019, driving his No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to back-to-back wins. Watkin Glen’s most recent NCS winner came from reigning champion Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team (August 2021), marking Larson’s second of three road course wins on the season.  ALL EYES ON THE BOWTIEChevrolet drivers and teams have proven to be the ones to beat when the NASCAR Cup Series takes on the left- and right-hand turns of the series’ road course circuits. Dating back to Chase Elliott’s Watkins Glen win in August 2019, Chevrolet has recorded wins in 14 of the past 15 NCS road course races, including a streak of the past 10. With road course circuits having a larger presence on the series’ schedule in recent years, the continued off track work and preparation that Chevrolet drivers and teams put in have paid dividends towards the manufacturer’s road course dominance.  “We are proud of the competitive performance that our drivers and teams have demonstrated to deliver Chevrolet 10 consecutive NASCAR Cup Series road-course victories,” said Dr. Eric Warren, Chevrolet Director of NASCAR Programs. “From time spent in the simulator to our partnership with the Ron Fellows Performance Driving School, Chevrolet strives to provide opportunities and resources for its drivers to continually improve their skills behind the wheel. With six drivers from four different Chevrolet teams contributing to this streak of victories, the on-track results are a testament to the work our drivers are putting in on and off the track to enhance their road racing abilities.” A look at Chevrolet’s road course success in NASCAR’s premier series:

·       Chevrolet has recorded wins in 14 of the last 15 NASCAR Cup Series road course races, including a streak of the past 10.        > The win streak dates back to May 2021 when Chase Elliott delivered Chevrolet its milestone 800th all-time win in NASCAR’s premier series at Circuit of The Americas.  ·       Six drivers from four different Chevrolet teams have contributed to the manufacturer’s 10 consecutive NCS road-course wins:

Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet:(Circuit of The Americas; May 2021)(Road America; July 2021) Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet:(Sonoma; June 2021)(Watkins Glen; August 2021)(Charlotte ROVAL; October 2021)

Chevrolet All-Time Wins Leadersat Watkins Glen International 4  Jeff Gordon (’97-’99, ’01)4  Tony Stewart (’04-’05, ’07, ’09)2  Chase Elliott (’18-’19) 1st Chevy Win @ WGI: Buck Baker, Aug. 4, 1957Most Recent Chevy Win @ WGI: Kyle Larson, Aug. 8, 2021

AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet:(Indianapolis Road Course; August 2021) Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet:(Circuit of The Americas; March 2022) Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet:(Sonoma Raceway; June 2022) Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet:(Road America; July 2022)(Indianapolis Road Course; July 2022) ·       Chevrolet has 61 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins on road courses – starting with Buck Baker at Watkins Glen International in 1957. There have been 154 road-course races in Cup history dating back to 1949. ·    Three of the five first-time NASCAR Cup Series winners in 2022 are Chevrolet drivers, with all three recording their first career NCS wins on a road course circuit:      Ross Chastain – Circuit of The Americas (March 2022)     Daniel Suarez – Sonoma Raceway (June 2022)     Tyler Reddick – Road America (July 2022) ·    All behind the wheel of a Chevrolet, Chase Elliott has recorded seven road-course victories in his NASCAR Cup Series career, the most of all active NCS drivers.   > Elliott ranks third on the NCS all-time road course wins list behind NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (nine wins, all with Chevrolet) and Tony Stewart (eight wins).   > Elliott’s victories have been recorded at five different road courses, a series record.

TWO RACES, ONE SPOT REMAINSPlayoff pressure continues to intensify as just two opportunities remain for drivers to either win or point their way into a playoff spot and the chance to compete for the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series Championship title. For the first time in the series’ history, 15 different drivers have made their way to victory lane this season; and with only 16 spots in the playoff field, the “win and you’re in” approach could potentially become irrelevant with two races remaining in the series’ regular season.  Items to note of Chevrolet drivers on the current playoff grid heading into Watkins Glen:  ·       Following last weekend’s race at Richmond Raceway, 10 drivers officially secured their spots into the 2022 NCS playoff field, with five coming from the bowtie brand. Drivers that have clinched met either of the two following requirements:         Any driver with multiple wins: Chase Elliott (4 wins), Ross Chastain (2), William Byron (2) and Tyler Reddick (2).      One-time winners that mathematically cannot be eliminated: Kyle Larson ·       A familiar face atop the NCS playoff grid throughout the season, Chevrolet’s Chase Elliott could potentially clinch the 2022 NCS Regular Season Championship at the track that gave him his first career NCS win. Elliott needs to leave Watkins Glen with a 61-point lead over second-place. With Elliott currently sitting at 116-points over second-place Ryan Blaney in the driver points standings, his first career NCS Regular Season Championship Title is at arms reach.  PROJECT91 READY FOR COMPETITION DEBUTTrackhouse Racing has taken the NASCAR world by storm, scoring its first win in NASCAR’s premier series in just the organization’s second season. Now sitting at three wins and both of its drivers currently in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff field, Trackhouse Racing will debut its latest venture at Watkins Glen this weekend: PROJECT91.  Trackhouse Racing’s Founder and Owner, Justin Marks, developed PROJECT91 with the ultimate goal of international reach through fielding a third entry – on a limited schedule – with renowned international drivers behind the wheel. 2007 Formula One World Champion Kimi Räikkönen will be piloting the No. 91 Recogni/iLOQ Camaro ZL1 this weekend at Watkins Glen to become the first driver to join PROJECT91.  Räikkönen has one title (2007), 21 race wins and 103 podium finishes in his Formula One career, with 2021 being his final year of competition in the series. While this weekend will mark his first career start in NASCAR’s premier series, Räikkönen has previously competed in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, recording starts at Charlotte Motor Speedway in May 2011.  BACK TO WORK AT THE GLENComing off their final off weekend of the season, the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) gets back on the road, joining the NASCAR Cup Series for a doubleheader race weekend in upstate New York. Saturday’s Sunoco Go Rewards 200 at The Glen marks the fifth road course circuit of 2022 for the series.  In the four races featuring left- and right-hand turns for the NXS this season, Chevrolet has made its way to victory lane three times, all with the “King of the Road”, AJ Allmendinger, behind the wheel. Allmendinger’s most recent win at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course marked his series-leading ninth career NXS road course victory. Scoring a double digit NXS road course win at Watkins Glen would be extra special for the 40-year-old Kaulig Racing driver as the New York circuit is also the place that delivered him his first career win in NASCAR’s premier series. That monumental feat came with the No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet team in 2014, which also gave Allmendinger his first appearance in the playoffs.  Of the 27 races that Watkins Glen has hosted for the NXS, Chevrolet has made its way to victory lane 10 times, including a streak of eight consecutive wins.. dating from a win by Terry Labonte in 1994 through Ron Fellow’s triumph in 2001.   CHEVROLET’S NCWTS PLAYOFF CONTENDERS LEAD THE CHARGE AT RICHMONDThe NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) playoffs are in full swing, with last weekend’s 250-lap race under the lights at Richmond Raceway marking race two of three in the Round of 10. Chevrolet’s two playoff contenders led the bowtie brigade to two top-10 finishes at the Virginia short track. GMS Racing’s Grant Enfinger led the charge for Chevrolet at Richmond, piloting his No. 23 Chevrolet Silverado RST to a fourth-place finish for the team’s fifth top-five finish of 2022. While Enfinger has already advanced to the NCWTS Round of Eight following his win in the playoff opener at the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Enfinger showcased consistency throughout the race, capturing valuable stage points following top-five finishes in both stages. Carson Hocevar rounded out the Team Chevy top-10, driving his No. 42 Niece Motorsports Silverado RST to the team’s 10th top-10 finish of the season. The finish didn’t come easy for the young Chevrolet driver, with Hocevar enduring a late-race incident before battling back to salvage a 10th-place finish. Hocevar will enter the NCWTS Round of 10 elimination race at Kansas Speedway below the cutline, but just three points out of the eighth position. The NCWTS will return to action at Kansas Speedway on September 9, where the 1.5-mile venue will host the series’ playoffs Round of 10 elimination race. The 134-lap, 201-mile race will reduce the playoff field from 10 drivers to 8 in the pursuit to the championship title. BOWTIE BULLETS·       Active Chevrolet drivers that have scored a win at Watkins Glen International: Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 2 (2018, 2019)Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – 1 (2021)AJ Allmendinger, No. 47 JTG Daugherty Racing Chevrolet – 1 (2014)  ·       Chevrolet has recorded wins in 14 of the last 15 NASCAR Cup Series road course races, including a streak of the past 10. In that timespan, six drivers from four different Chevrolet teams have contributed to those wins. ·       In 38 NASCAR Cup Series races held at Watkins Glen International, Chevrolet has recorded a manufacturer-leading 20 wins, including the past three. That streak started with Chase Elliott’s first career NCS win (2018), with the Georgia native going back-to-back in 2019. Elliott’s teammate, Kyle Larson, is heading to Watkins Glen as the most recent NCS winner at the circuit (2021). ·       Hendrick Motorsports leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins (eight) and pole wins (seven) at Watkins Glen International, all recorded behind the wheel of a Chevrolet.  ·       Chase Elliott has recorded seven road course victories in his NASCAR Cup Series career; the most of all active NCS drivers. Elliott ranks third on the NCS all-time road course wins list behind NASCAR Hall of Famers Jeff Gordon (nine wins) and Tony Stewart (eight wins). Elliott’s victories have been recorded at five different road courses, a record in series’ history. ·       Of the five first time NASCAR Cup Series winners in 2022, three have come from the bowtie brigade. The most recent is Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick, who drove his No. 8 Camaro ZL1 to the win at Road America. Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain and Daniel Suarez also captured their first career win in NASCAR’s premier series this season, both of which were recorded on road course circuits (Chastain – COTA; Suarez – Sonoma).  ·       Chevrolet heads into the Watkins Glen race weekend with a manufacturer-leading 13 NASCAR Cup Series wins in 24 points-paying races. The bowtie brand also continues to lead its manufacturer competitors in NCS top-fives (55), top-10s (103), laps led (2,904) and stage wins (21). ·       Seven Team Chevy drivers have combined 21 NASCAR Cup Series stage wins: Tyler Reddick 2 – Fontana x2Alex Bowman 1 – Las VegasRoss Chastain 4 – Las Vegas, Darlington, Charlotte, Pocono, RichmondWilliam Byron 3 – Phoenix, Atlanta, TalladegaDaniel Suarez 2 – COTA, CharlotteChase Elliott 3 – Martinsville x2, Charlotte, Atlanta x2 Kyle Larson 3 – Bristol, Sonoma, Pocono ·       Chevrolet leads the driver points standing in both the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Chase Elliott remains in the top position in the NCS standings with a 116-point lead over second; and AJ Allmendinger continues to lead the NXS standings by 19 points. Chevrolet also remains atop both the NCS and NXS manufacturer points standings. ·       With its 40 NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships, 33 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Championships, and 827 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet continues to hold the title of winningest brand in NASCAR.   FOR THE FANS·       Fans can visit the Team Chevy Racing Display in the Fan Midway at Watkins Glen International. ·       Fans can check out an assortment of Chevrolet vehicles including: 2023 Corvette Stingray Convertible, 2020 Camaro LT1 Coupe, 2022 Equinox RS, 2022 Blazer RS, 2022 Traverse RS, 2022 Tahoe Z71, Silverado ZR2, 2022 Silverado 1500 Crew High Country.  TEAM CHEVY QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSIONS AT THE DISPLAY:Saturday, August 20·       Jeremy Clements: 9:00 a.m.·       Jeb Burton: 12:00 p.m. ·       Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill: 12:45 p.m. ·       Josh Berry & Sam Mayer: 1:00 p.m. Sunday, August 21·       Ross Chastain: 11:00 a.m. ·       Ty Dillon: 11:30 a.m. ·       Corey LaJoie: 11:45 a.m.  Chevrolet Display Hours of Operation:  Friday, August 19: 8 a.m. – 6 p.m. Saturday, August 20: 8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.  Sunday, August 21: 8 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. TUNE INUSA Network will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series Go Bowling at The Glen at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 21. Live coverage can also be found on the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.  USA Network will broadcast the NASCAR Xfinity Series Race at Watkins Glen at 3 p.m. ET on Saturday, August 20. Live coverage can also be found on the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. QUOTABLE QUOTESROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1What makes Watkins Glen different from the other road courses?“Watkins Glen is higher in grip than most places. It seems simple, but it’s actually more technical because there is so much grip. It’s simple when it comes to the turns but that means all of the inputs are much more important. It will be hard to pass so there’s a high risk of contact when it comes to passing.”           What have your interactions with Kimi been like?“He’s talked more in the time I’ve met with him in person, than I’ve ever heard him in all of the interviews I’ve seen (laughs) and I’ve watched him for a very long time.”           What do you enjoy about Watkins Glen?“The history of the track carries it. You look back at how many drivers have driven there, not just in NASCAR, but all forms of motorsports. The beginnings of the Watkins Glen racing scene and where they used to race on the streets and over by the lake, that’s cool. Thinking about how many world class drivers went down the frontstretch, turned up through the esses and went through the bus stop. I hope one day to run the boot. I know we won’t do that in NASCAR, but I hope to do it one day and extract that last little bit of lap time out. The boot layout would be on my bucket list.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1How do you prepare for a racetrack like Watkins Glen International?“A lot of time in the simulator, going over notes and watching old races. We try to make sure we are putting in the work beforehand. We’ve been working really hard on our road course program the last few years. Watkins Glen is a really fast, aggressive track. You can gain a lot by getting after it on the braking zones and it’s just a high-speed place with all of the grip in the pavement.” Another road course race this weekend. Another wild card?“Yeah, for sure. The road courses have turned into wildcard races. Taking care of your stuff, trying to make it to the end of these things becomes a demo-derby out there. This is going to be one of those ones that if you stay on track, you’re going to have a pretty good run. I have a lot of optimism going into Watkins Glen this year, though, because our road course program has been solid and we’ve put a lot of work in during the off season.” KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1Larson on the difference going from the NASCAR Xfinity Series car to the NASCAR Cup Series car: “At Road America, the braking points were pretty similar, which was surprising. I thought the Cup car would brake much deeper. I hope it’s the same this weekend at Watkins Glen (International) because it would really, really help getting into a rhythm quickly for the entire weekend.” CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1Daniels on the benefit of Larson running the Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen International: “I think him getting the track time is great – not really because of his skill and abilities, but for him to understand the grip level. I know he is going to be fast in the Xfinity car and I know he is going to be fast in our car, but having the extra time to understand the grip level and other nuances of the track that’s different from a year ago. We do have recent test data to go off of and feedback from those tests – but nothing replaces actual track time and the condition of the track and how we approach it.” CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1Elliott on racing at Watkins Glen: “Watkins Glen (International) was where I got my first win so it’s of course a place that holds some great memories for me. We’ve had a good amount of success there as a team and I feel like this year we’ve come a long way in our road course program with the new car. This is a track that I feel like we can really go and have a good run and get some momentum back heading into the playoffs.” ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 9 KELLEY BLUE BOOK CAMARO ZL1Gustafson on this weekend’s race at Watkins Glen: “Certainly the last three years have been good for our team at Watkins Glen (International). We’ve been really competitive there and we feel like this is another opportunity for us to go out there and have a good race. Our focus will be winning and ultimately trying to get some more playoff points. That’s the key. This is a track we should be able to do that at. Hopefully that will come to fruition and put us in a good position for the playoffs.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1 Byron on why he enjoys racing at Watkins Glen:“Honestly Watkins Glen (international) is one of the most fun race tracks we go to as a driver because it’s so fast. It’s not like a lot of the other road courses we go to that have much slower zones and such aggressive braking. Watkins Glen almost really feels like a superspeedway for road courses. I got to test there earlier this year in the Next Gen car and I think it’s just as fun of a road course in these cars compared to last year’s. I’m excited that I get extra track time this weekend there too with being able to run Xfinity on Saturday. It will make for a full day, but I think it will be beneficial to get those extra laps before Sunday’s race in similar race conditions. Plus, I want to be able to get Mr. Hendrick a win in the No. 17, especially since they’ve been so close this year already.” RUDY FUGLE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1Fugle on the preparation by the No. 24 team for Watkins Glen: “I think our race last year at Watkins Glen (International) went well but I always think there’s room to improve. Since then, we have really worked on improving not only our road course racing notes but especially now with the Next Gen car and getting up to speed there. We’ll be utilizing the same tire Sunday that we have for most of the other road course races this year, so we have a good notebook built up on how they will react over a run. We also were able to test there earlier this year and had a lot of positive feedback while we were there. I think we’re more prepared for this race than we have been earlier this year on road courses. The main difference is how much faster this track is compared to the other road courses on the schedule. Downforce really plays a factor and so does handling, but I think that’s where our testing notes will really come into play.” TY DILLON, NO. 42 ALLEGIANT CAMARO ZL1With momentum on your side after two impressive runs in a row, what makes you believe you can carry this into Watkins Glen?“I personally enjoy road course racing and always see these types of tracks as an opportunity to put together some great runs at. Momentum is a real thing that can help serve as a big morale booster during this part of the season, and we are going to keep building on ours with everyone on my No. 42 Allegiant team.” RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 SUGARLANDS / BALL PARK BUNS CAMARO ZL1“I feel like our chances at Watkins Glen may be better because it’s one of my better road courses I go to. We’ve had a decent trend on finishes at road courses and I feel good going there. It’s fun seeing all the fans that come out for this race all around the track. It’s getting to be the end of summer and they are enjoying the best weather. We’re focused on putting together a good race because we want to have a solid race to go into Daytona.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 Bowman on his expectations heading to Watkins Glen: “We have had good runs on road courses this season, but each track has its challenges, so I look at them one at a time. Hendrick Motorsports has had a lot of speed on road courses, and I have run a few extra races. Whether it was in the No. 7 Spire truck or the No. 17 Chevy Camaro in Xfinity, I had the opportunity to get more time on road courses, which I think has helped me this season. I will prepare like I have every week and make sure I give Greg (Ives, crew chief) all the feedback he needs to get the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in the right place and we will go compete on Sunday.” GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1Ives on the strength of Hendrick Motorsports at road courses this season: “We have had speed every time we have raced at a road course this year and it goes to show how talented our team is back at the shop at building exceptional race cars. We had a No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 capable of winning at Circuit of The Americas and had a great car at Road America, so I know we will have another great car this weekend at Watkins Glen International. Alex (Bowman) continues to do his homework and our team is matching his effort as we get ready to head up to New York and try to get Hendrick Motorsports a win on a road course this year.” KIMI RÄIKKÖNEN, NO. 91 RECOGNI CAMARO ZL1 How did Justin Marks convince you to do this?“At first I wasn’t really looking into this in a serious way. Obviously, we had more talks about how it would work, where the race would be and all sorts of things. It was just one race so it made sense for all of us as a family. I enjoyed it when I had my few races there (2011). Hopefully I’ll have a good race and good fun. There are new cars there and I have never been at the track and things like that, but I am sure we can figure it out quickly.” Will your Formula One and road course experience be an advantage Sunday?“I don’t think so. It’s a new track for me and the cars are completely new. F1 cars are completely different. Looking at how these new cars are in NASCAR it compares more to Australian V8s. We will go and see how it is. I’m sure we will do fine.” DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 PRINCESS CRUISES CAMARO ZL1 How nice is it to be locked in the playoffs?“It is nice, but I am going to be honest, in my mind I am already in the playoffs. I have had that mindset over the last six weeks. I believe it is not possible to go into the playoffs and flip the switch and say, ‘okay, we are in the playoffs, now we have to push hard’. I don’t think it works like that and you kind of have to start building that up. And I feel like that is what we have been doing, especially with the 99 team. That shows on the track because the last two months we have had race cars capable of finishing in the top five every single week.” You should be one of the favorites on Sunday?“I agree. We have been really fast at every road course this year. Ross won at COTA and we won Sonoma, both of us were in the top five at Road America and we were second and third in overtime at Indy. I expect to be just as fast Sunday at Watkins Glen.” How will your new teammate Kimi Räikkönen do on Sunday?“I think he is going to be fast. The speed is there and the racing part is going to be a process because it doesn’t matter how much you practice in the simulator; doesn’t matter how many tests you do – the racing part is the racing part. It’s different and he doesn’t know all these drivers. He doesn’t know how they race, he doesn’t know how aggressive they are, so that part is going to take a little bit. You can bring the best driver in the world and it is going to take some time in the racing part. I think (as far as) the speed, I think he is going to be good.” Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics Manufacturers Championships:Total (1949-2021): 40First title for Chevrolet: 1958Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15) Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021 Drivers Championships:Total (1949-2021): 33First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)Most Recent: Kyle Larson (2021) Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021 Event Victories:Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)                2022 STATISTICS:                                                                                                    Wins: 13Poles: 6Laps Led: 2,904Top-five finishes: 55Top-10 finishes: 103Stage wins: 21Tyler Reddick (Fontanax2)Alex Bowman (Las Vegas)Ross Chastain (Las Vegas), (Darlington), (Charlotte), (Pocono), (Richmond)William Byron (Phoenix), (Atlanta), (Talladega)Daniel Suarez (COTA), (Charlotte)Chase Elliott (Martinsvillex2), (Charlotte), (Atlantax2)Kyle Larson (Bristol Dirt), (Sonoma), (Pocono) CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:Total Chevrolet race wins: 827 (1949 to date)Poles won to date: 729Laps led to date: 244,240Top-five finishes to date: 4,193Top-10 finishes to date: 8,658                                                                                                          Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date:                    General Motors: 1,161           Chevrolet: 827           Pontiac: 154           Oldsmobile: 115           Buick: 65            Ford: 817                                                                    Ford: 717           Mercury: 96           Lincoln: 4            Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467           Dodge: 217           Plymouth: 191           Chrysler: 59            Toyota: 167

What: Lucas Oil NHRA NationalsWhen: Friday, Aug. 19-Sunday, Aug. 21Where: Brainerd International Raceway in Brainerd, MinnesotaTV: FOX will telecast eliminations live at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 21                                                                       Chevrolet nitro teams aim to fine-tune performance levelTeam Chevy drivers lead Top Fuel, Funny Car standings heading into Brainerd

DETROIT (Aug. 18, 2022) – Entering the penultimate race of the regular season – the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals in Brainerd, Minnesota – the John Force Racing drivers are hitting their stride.

In the past four National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) races, the Chevrolet Funny Car contingent of John Force and Robert Hight has recorded two wins, two runner-up finishes and four semifinal appearances. That stretch included the teammates facing each other four times in the semifinals. Hight, who has tied a career high with six victories through 14 races, is the runaway Funny Car points leader in the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS and clinched a spot in the six-race Countdown to the Championship. Force is only six points out of third place in the regular-season standings and has locked up a Countdown berth to chase his 17th world championship.

Team Chevy   points leaders Top Fuel – Brittany Force (4 wins; 1 runner-up finish; 5 top qualifiers) Funny Car – Robert Hight (6 wins; 2 runner-up finishes; 3 top qualifiers) Pro Stock – Erica Enders (6 wins; 2 runner-up finishes; 3 top qualifiers)

As Force, 73, has said numerous times, “I’m not finished yet.” While the Chevrolet drivers in Funny Car and Top Fuel will compete at Brainerd International Raceway this weekend, Team Chevy Pro Stock teams will rejoin the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series schedule Sept. 2-5 in Indianapolis for the U.S. Nationals for the final event before the Countdown.“I’ve got a lot of history at Brainerd, done well there,” said Force, who has 11 wins and eight No. 1 qualifier honors at the racetrack. “Last weekend, we came in second, had some luck and made some mistakes, but we’re in a good spot. This PEAK team, we’ve got our spot to chase a championship, that’s what it’s all about.” Brittany Force, driving the Monster Energy/Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet dragster, has also enjoyed success over the past four events that included the Western Swing with a split decision in the final rounds at Sonoma and Seattle and two top qualifier honors. Force, with a career-high tying four wins in the 14 races, continues to reside atop the Top Fuel standings. She holds the track Top Fuel speed record of 334.9 mph, set in August 2021. FOX will telecast eliminations live at 3:30 p.m. ET Sunday, Aug. 21.CHEVROLET FROM THE COCKPITTOP FUELBRITTANY FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONSTER ENERGY/FLAV-R-PAC CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (four-time winner this season; points leader; clinched Countdown berth; holds track Top Fuel speed record): “Our Monster Energy team heads to Brainerd this weekend and we plan to get back on track after a tough weekend in Topeka. We’ve had success at Brainerd International Raceway in the past with track records, a No. 1 qualifier and a win. We have two races until the Countdown begins and this weekend, we are making sure we’ll be ready when it all kicks off.” AUSTIN PROCK, JOHN FORCE RACING, MONTANA BRAND/ROCKY MOUNTAIN TWIST CHEVROLET DRAGSTER (runner-up at Pomona): “After a few tough weekends, I’m really looking forward to Brainerd. We have hit the reset button in our pits and are going to conditions we are most familiar with. The brain trust at JFR have been putting their heads together to make the Montana Brand/Rocky Mountain Twist dragster a real threat this week and I believe it’s going to pay off. I’m going to be on my game and drive with heart like I know how to do and we are going to see how we fair. We have all the parts of the puzzle to end up with a Wally. We owe it to our crew that has been busting their tails week after week and would love to celebrate in a big way this weekend.” FUNNY CARJOHN FORCE, JOHN FORCE RACING, PEAK ANTIFREEZE AND COOLANT CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (No. 1 qualifier and Charlotte four-wide winner; runner-up at Sonoma and Topeka; fourth in points; 11-time winner at track; clinched Countdown berth): “I’ve got a lot of history at Brainerd, done well there. Last weekend, we came in second, had some luck and made some mistakes, but we’re in a good spot. This PEAK team, we’ve got our spot to chase a championship, that’s what it’s all about. Can’t win a championship without winning some races. We’ve come close the last couple weeks, time to capitalize, get the job done. We’ll be good.” ROBERT HIGHT, JOHN FORCE RACING, AUTO CLUB OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA CHEVROLET CAMARO SS (six-time winner this season; points leader; clinched Countdown berth; holds both ends of track Funny Car records, set in 2017): “This Auto Club team is staying strong. We know the competition is tough out here, one weekend can change a lot. We’ve stayed consistent, and we know we need a couple more wins to win the championship this year. I want the (career) 60th (win) but I know it’s going to take win number 62 or 63 to really get the job done. We’re on track and we just need to get keep at it. I haven’t won much in Brainerd, so I think I’m due to visit the winner’s circle there this weekend.”

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 18, 2022) – Brittany Force and the Monster Energy / Flav-R-Pac Chevrolet dragster have made a habit of outpacing the rest of the pack in the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. With just two races before points reset for the Countdown to the Championship, Force is hoping for a win at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway to help seal her regular season championship. Force and the Monster Energy team come into the Lucas Oil Nationals as the Top Fuel point leader, on the strength of four 2022 wins. If she maintains her position through the next two events, she will become the first driver other than Steve Torrence to win the regular season championship since 2016. “Our Monster Energy team heads to Brainerd this weekend and we plan to get back on track after a tough weekend in Topeka,” said Force who had a rare first-round exit last weekend, her first since the Gatornationals in March. “We’ve had success at Brainerd International Raceway in the past with track records, a No. 1 qualifier and a win. We have two races until the Countdown begins and this weekend, we are making sure we’ll be ready when it all kicks off.” A victory at Brainerd International Raceway this weekend will give the 2017 champion her second at the facility, she celebrated in the winners circle in 2016. Force has also captured the Top Fuel No. 1 qualifying spot more recently in 2019 and set the track speed record at 334.90 mph in 2021. The Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals will begin with four qualifying sessions Friday at 2:15 and 6:00 p.m. and Saturday at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. local time. Eliminations will begin Sunday at 11 a.m. Television coverage of the event begins with two qualifying shows, Friday at 8:00 p.m. E.T. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations will air Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX Broadcasting Network.

BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 18, 2022) – Robert Hight and the Automobile Club of Southern California Chevrolet Camaro SS are hoping to add to a career best season as they head to the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, the 14th of 22 events on the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season. Bidding to become just the fourth driver to win as many as four NHRA Funny Car championships (after John Force, Kenny Bernstein and Don Prudhomme), Hight is the Camping World points leader on the strength of six wins this year in the Jimmy Prock and Chris Cunningham prepared Auto Club Chevy Camaro SS. Hight is poised to become just the sixth Funny Car driver to win as many as seven races in a single season. Force has done so on seven different occasions while the others, Don Prudhomme, Kenny Bernstein, Ron Capps and Jack Beckman have done it only once. “This Auto Club team is staying strong. We know the competition is touch out here, one weekend can change a lot,” Hight said. “We’ve stayed consistent, and we know we need a couple more wins to win the championship this year. I want the 60th but I know it’s going to take win number 62 or 63 to really get the job done. We’re on track and we just need to get keep at it. I haven’t won much in Brainerd, so I think I’m due to visit the winner’s circle there this weekend.” Hight, the current track record holder at 3.793 seconds and a national record 338.00 mph (Aug. 18, 2017), has raised the trophy just once at Brainerd International Raceway in 2015. He hopes to celebrate his birthday (Saturday) by adding a second which would boost his career total to 60, third among Funny Car drivers behind only John Force and Ron Capps. The three-time champion has started from the No.1. spot twice in Brainerd, 2017 and 2018. The Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals will begin with four qualifying sessions Friday at 2:15 and 6:00 p.m. and Saturday at 1:30 and 4:30 p.m. local time. Eliminations will begin Sunday at 11 a.m. Television coverage of the event begins with two qualifying shows, Friday at 8:00 p.m. E.T. and Sunday at 1:30 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 (FS1). Eliminations will air Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX Broadcasting Network.