Boehm, Smithson Score Touring Car Americas Wins in HPD Civic Si, Type R TCR
Kevin Boehm takes his HPD Civic Si to a pair of victories and TCA points lead
Scott Smithson earns his third TCR win of 2020 in Civic Type R TCR
Victor Gonzalez scores two TCR podiums, as Honda drivers earn six on weekend

AUSTIN, Texas (Sept. 20, 2020) – Continuing to gather late-season momentum, Honda team and drivers racing the three Civic race cars available from Honda Performance Development – the Type R TCR, Type R TC and Si – scored three wins, three poles and six podiums at the SRO Motorsports Touring Car Americas penultimate event of 2020 this weekend at the Circuit of the Americas.

Kevin Boehm opened a strong weekend at COTA by piloting his Civic SI to wins on Friday and Saturday, while the DXDT Racing Honda Civic Type R of Scott Smithson dominated Saturday’s TCR race, winning by more than 11 seconds for his third victory of the season.

Boehm, who previously earned a sweep of the Road America weekend, won his fourth race in a row on Friday with a flag-to-flag win; and then backed it up by besting the field by more than 22 seconds in a Saturday romp. He finished fourth in Sunday’s finale of a triple-header weekend, but did enough to take the series points lead heading into the October 1-3 season finale in Indianapolis.

“With these front-wheel drive cars, the trick is to find a way to make it turn, we finally found a way to make it turn really well,” Boehm said. “We have the car in a real ‘sweet spot’ right now. Everything seems to be coming together at once, and it doesn’t get any better than this.” 

Jonathan Newcombe backed up his Honda stablemate in his VGMC Racing Civic Si, claiming his second podium finish of the season with a third-place result on Saturday.

In the TCR races, Smithson led the Honda contingent early in his Civic Type R TCR, using a last-lap pass to place second in Friday’s lid lifter. He spun while leading on Saturday, but shook it off and stormed to his third win of the year in Sunday’s closer, coming home more than 11 seconds ahead of his nearest competitor.

“We had a rough start to the weekend, but the team was able to get my car back together and give me a great machine today,” Smithson said. “It’s taken me a little time to get used to a front wheel drive car, but thanks to DXDT and Honda for getting me here!”

Victor Gonzalez earned a pair of podium finishes in his VGMC Racing Honda Civic Type R TCR, placing third on Saturday and Sunday.

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

Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock seal Silver Class SRO Motorsports GT Title
Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo finishes second overall in both weekend races

AUSTIN, Texas. (August 30, 2020) – The #93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo took Silver Class honors in Rounds 9 and 10 of 2020 SRO Motorsport GT World Challenge America series, as the driver pairing of Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock won Saturday’s and Sunday’s races at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

The wins sealed the season championship in the Silver category for the Blackstock and Hindman, giving the Acura NSX GT3 Evo a GT class championship for the second consecutive season, as the pair finished second overall in both races around the demanding Texas road course.

“They [race winners Martin Fuentes and Rodrigo Baptista] didn’t put a wheel wrong the whole race and drove a heck of a race,” said Blackstock after finishing 6.7 seconds behind the leader on Saturday. “We will go back to the drawing board and hopefully put some setup changes on for tomorrow and go back at it.”

The #93 duo were reunited with the defending Pro/Am champion entry from a year ago as the #80 Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo returned to the track for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic began. Defending Pro-Am champion Kyle Marcelli was joined in the cockpit of the #80 for the weekend by Zaid Ghandour, making his first start in the Racers Edge NSX.

On Sunday, Hindman an Marcelli saw as much of each other on the track as they did in the garage as the duo went literally wheel-to-wheel in the early stages of the race. The two Acuras battled with former Champ Car World Series drivers Jan Heylen and Ryan Dalziel for position prior to the mid-race driver change, which saw the #93 of Blackstock emerge in fourth place.

Blackstock wasted no time in making up ground, climbing into second with eight laps to go and coming to within seven seconds of the front running Ferrari at the end of the day.

“Overall, we are happy with two podiums this weekend,” Blackstock said. “So thankful for the Racer’s Edge team, they worked their tails off this weekend to get us on the podium. We’ll take the points and look forward to Indy.”

The class wins this weekend are the 10th and 11th in the Silver and Pro-Am categories through 10 rounds of GT World Challenge America competition for the Acura NSX GT3 Evo, which won team championships in both IMSA GTD and SRO GT in 2019. The car, sold and supported by HPD in North America, runs in both Sprint and Endurance GT3 competition around the world.

Next
The SRO GT teams will wrap their season October 2-4 on the infield road courase at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway as the SRO Motorsports campaign ends with Rounds 11 and 12 at the 2.439-mile road circuit.

Social media content and video links from this weekend’s Acura Motorsports activity at Circuit of the Americas are available on HPD’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD). 

NASCAR CUP SERIES BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES SEPTEMBER 19, 2020
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER4th      TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHILDRESS VINEYARDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE7th      CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE9th      RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 BUSH’S BEANS CAMARO ZL1 1LE12th    AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE14th    MATT KENSETH, NO. 42 CREDIT ONE BANK CAMARO ZL1 1LE TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Kevin Harvick (Ford)2nd     Kyle Busch (Toyota)3rd      Erik Jones (Toyota)4th      Tyler Reddick (Chevrolet)5th      Aric Almirola (Ford) UNOFFICIAL CURRENT PLAYOFF RANK (Following Round 3 of 10 / Entering into the Round of 12)POS.   DRIVER (* = Chevy Contender)        1st      Kevin Harvick (Ford) – 3,067 points2nd     Denny Hamlin (Toyota) – 3,048 points3rd      Brad Keselowski (Ford) – 3,035 points4th      Joey Logano (Ford) – 3,022 points5th      *Chase Elliott (Chevrolet) – 3,021 points6th      Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota) – 3,016 points7th      * Alex Bowman (Chevrolet) – 3,009 points8th      * Austin Dillon (Chevrolet) – 3,005 points9th      Aric Almirola (Ford) – 3,005 points10th    Kyle Busch (Toyota) – 3,004 points11th    Clint Bowyer (Ford) – 3,004 points12th    * Kurt Busch (Chevrolet) – 3,001 points
The NASCAR Cup Series seasons continues at Las Vegas  Motor Speedway with the South Point 400 on Sunday, September 27th,^, at 7:00 p.m. ET to kick off the Round of 12 for the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs. Live coverage can be found on NBCSN, the NBC Sports Gold app, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHILDRESS VINEYARDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 4th“Our No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet Camaro was a fast one tonight, and we had a great finish to show for it at Bristol Motor Speedway. It took a couple adjustments to get our car to where I needed it to be, but our communication as a team on what adjustments to make has been a big focus for us over the past few weeks and that paid off during tonight’s race. I fired off a little loose on the bottom and tight on the top, so our team had a decision to make on what to focus on. I felt that the top the better groove for our car, so we chose to work on loosening up our Chevrolet a little bit throughout the night and got it in a really good spot for the final stage. Those adjustments made it so I was able to cut through traffic during that last stage and race our way into the top five for the last 100 laps or so. I think I may have pushed my front tires a little bit too much on that final run, but this was a really good night for our team. We’re chasing wins in these remaining races while also working on building a strong notebook for next year, and this is a solid step in the right direction for both of those goals.”
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 7th“Definitely excited to move on in the playoffs. I thought the NAPA team had a solid race tonight. It’s unfortunate the way the pit cycle went there, but I felt like we were close. Not sure if we were as good as the 4 and 18, but I thought we were close to them. I am proud of the effort and I hope this next round is good for us. It’s definitely not going to get any easier as it goes. Nice to get the stage point and stage win and we will try again in Vegas.”
RYAN PREECE, NO. 37 BUSH’S BEANS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 9th“That was a really fun night at Bristol Motor Speedway. This year has obviously had its challenges for us, and we’ve worked so hard to try and make the strategy play in our favor and get JTG Daugherty Racing the finish we deserve and it feels really good to be able to put it all together. Our BUSH’S Beans Chevrolet was really good on the long run, and Trent and the guys did some great work on pit road to get our handling where we needed it to be to maintain those fast laps at the end of the long run. The cautions finally fell our way and we were able to capitalize on it. Every week for the rest of the season is so important to keep focusing on the positives and get as many good finishes as we can and to be able to get BUSH’S Beans as top-10 finish at their home track is something we’re all proud of.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 12th“We did what we had to do tonight in our Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road/ E-Z-GO Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. We advanced to the Round of 12 in the NASCAR Playoffs. We started off really strong, but our Chevy ended up getting extremely tight in Stage 2. We recovered from that and were running in the top 10 when Harvick slowed on the track to make a green-flag pit stop. I got on my brakes as hard as I could to avoid hitting him, but a lapped car was in the middle of the track and I had nowhere to go. My RCR team did a great job making repairs, but we were never able to catch the break we needed to get back into the top five. Our car was fast overall tonight, though, and I’m looking forward to seeing what we can accomplish during the remainder of the season. We’ll go to Las Vegas next week and try to get a win.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 15th“It was a good day, we had a loose wheel and we battled after that, but our stage points are what really helped the Monster Energy Chevy tonight. That gave us the cushion we needed to absorb the problem that we had. All-in-all we advanced and that’s what we expected to do and that is what we have to continue to do. We will do it through teamwork and execution. The next round we have a mile-and-a-half Superspeedway and then the Roval. We’ve just got to be on our toes, keep adjusting and adapt to all the things that are coming our way in the next round.”
ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 16th“That was pretty eventful. We had a really good car all night. Our Axalta Camaro was really fast. Probably going to end up somewhere in the top five, at least the top 10. We just had a tire issue under green there in the last stage and had to pit. Unfortunately, we were not in our window to pit. Once the caution did come out, we weren’t able to take the wave around. We were just kind of trapped there and unfortunately couldn’t recover from that. I think we finished 16th. So awesome to advance to the next round. Proud of my team. This is the strongest we have been going into the Round of 12. I feel like we have some great tracks for us coming up. This is the most consistent we have been as a race team. I am bummed we lost our streak of top-10 finishes, but we have plenty more opportunities throughout the year to have great cars and contend for wins. Wish we would have ended up a little better, but we are ready for Vegas.” TY DILLON, NO. 13 GEICO CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 18th“Our Germain Racing team battled all night long. It was a really good night for our GEICO Camaro ZL1 1LE. Everyone on our team executed throughout the entire race, from Matt (Borland) making good calls, the pit crew having great stops and Chris (Monez) on the spotter stand helping me navigate traffic. We all worked hard and it paid off. The car was its best at the end of the race, which is all you can ask for as a driver. I’m proud of our effort and we will keep digging to finish strong.” 
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 CASH APP CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 22nd“We had a pretty fast No. 43 Cash App Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE tonight – probably the best car we’ve ever brought to Bristol (Motor Speedway), so that was a positive. We got a stage point in the Stage 1. I thought the guys were doing a really good job throughout the night. Our Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE was on the tight-side a little bit. We didn’t really seem to help it, but we didn’t really hurt it all either – kind of just stayed the same balance from the start of the race to the finish. A little frustrating, but super frustrated that we just can’t seem to get some luck on the strategy side. Unfortunate that we got trapped three-laps down, or whatever it was, and you’re just stuck, especially that late in the race. We’ll go onto the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and see if we can turn it around.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Sidelined by accident on lap 232; Finished 38thABSOLUTE HEARTBREAK FOR WILLIAM BYRON, WHO WILL NOT ADVANCE TO THE ROUND OF 12. HE’S OUT OF THE CAR. THEY’RE TRYING TO ASSESS EXACTLY ALL THE DAMAGE ON THE NO. 24 CAR, BUT IT IS GOING TO END HIS EVENING. WHAT HAPPENED, WILLIAM, ON THE TRACK? EVERYTHING WAS GOING FINE AND THEN WHAT HAPPENED?“I think the No. 51 car (Joey Gase) checked up in the middle of the straightaway. As fast as we were running the top, I was right behind the No. 95 (Christopher Bell) and I had literally nowhere to go. You can’t stop in the middle of the straightaway when everybody is so committed to the top like that. Just ridiculous that that’s what takes us out. I thought honestly we had a shot to run top-five or seven. The car was really, really good. We just needed a couple good pitstops. We were running probably ninth or tenth there. Just super disappointing – I’ve got to go back and watch that because that was kind of ridiculous.” 
GIVE US A LOOK AT THE INCIDENT THROUGH YOUR PERSPECTIVE.“Yeah, we were running tenth, I believe, and trying to get a couple of stage points. We had gotten a few in the first stage. Our car was really good, just needed a little bit of track position I feel like. Probably went the wrong way on the last adjustment – tried to get myself turning a little better and it got too free. (inaudible) Really the incident, the No. 51 (Joey Gase), I think it was green and black car, was coming off the corner and the No. 95 (Christopher Bell) and I were both running the top. The No. 51 just checked up in the middle of the straightaway and had nowhere to go. And the No. 95 slammed on the brakes to try to not hit him and I slammed into him because I was on his bumper. So, just a terrible situation, but not really sure why that happened or what really transpired for him to stop like that. But, go back on SMT like we can now and look at what happened and move on.”  DESCRIBE THE EMOTIONS OF WHAT YOU’VE GONE THROUGH THE LAST MONTH WITH THE WIN AND THE WAY YOU FALL OUT TONIGHT.“I think they’re two separate things. It would have been worse if we just completely ran horrible this first round, but I think outside of Richmond, we were going to have two top-seven finishes. I feel like we were well capable of finishing in the top-five tonight. It was only halfway through the race and we were going to finish top-10 in both stages, probably, and move on from there. So, yeah I don’t really know – things like that, I don’t know, you’ve just got to be more aware I guess than that to check up like that. But I don’t know – I don’t know what happened that would cause that really.” HOW DO YOU EVALUATE THIS SEASON? OBVIOUSLY, YOU GOT YOUR FIRST-CAREER WIN AND THERE’S STILL SEVEN RACES LEFT THIS YEAR. HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THIS SEASON, EVEN THOUGH YOU’RE OUT IN THIS FIRST ROUND?“Yeah, I think it’s been a great season. I think that we’ve performed well. I think we would have liked to perform better, based on how we ended last year. But we got a win and I feel like really the last five or six weeks, we’ve had all top-10 runs, besides Richmond, which is our worst track. I don’t know – hopefully continue being fast the next few weeks.” 

GREENWOOD, NE (September 18, 2020) – Current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Point Leader Jimmy Owens continued his spectacular 2020 racing season by winning Friday Night’s preliminary 30-lap event at I-80 Speedway. Owens took the lead from Tim McCreadie on lap 27 and went on for his 11th series win of the season. Brandon Overton who led early in the race finished in third followed by Devin Moran and Darrell Lanigan.Overton led for the first nine laps of the race before the only caution flag in two nights of feature racing changed the complexion of the race. On the restart McCreadie cleared Overton for the lead. McCreadie pulled away from both Overton and Owens as he encountered lapped traffic, allowing his two nearest pursuers to close the gap. Owens was finally able to track down McCreadie, taking the lead with three laps to go. Owens made his way to Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 75thtime in his career, setting himself up for a good starting spot in Saturday’s $30,000-to-win finale. “I was moving around quite a bit on the track and we were in the catbirds seat for once, running in second. Timmy was just a sitting duck up there; he didn’t know where to go. I was able to move around enough to get this Ramirez Rocket up front. This should give us a lot of momentum for tomorrow night. This win says a lot for our crew, they busted their tails all week to get ready to come out here. We had to work for three days straight to get everything ready to come out here. It’s like a 16-hour drive out here and everybody pulled together and here we are.” McCreadie was more than satisfied with his second place finish. “It’s so hard to lead here. It’s such a big track and wide, the grooves come and go. Brandon’s out there leading away, I thought he wouldn’t change up much. On the restart it looked like that little bit of dust off of two cleaned up to where it wasn’t dirty any more. We were good for a while once we got the lead, I didn’t find the line on the track until I was passed. We work hard every night to try to get better. We took a stab at it tonight. I don’t know how we will run tomorrow, but the car’s pretty comfortable.” Overton led the first seven laps of the race before yielding to McCreadie. He was seeking his 20th overall win of the season, but came home in third. “On the restart that top there in one and two and three and four started to clean up. There was a fine line there, then Jimmy moved up and got by me. He got me going into three and I just got up there too late. Our car was good, it was way better than last night. We should be locked into tomorrow night with a good starting spot.”   The winner’s Ramirez Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Vic Hill Racing Engine and is sponsored by Reece Monument Company, Tommy Pope Construction, Boomtest Well Service, General Tire, Red Line Oil, Ohlins Shocks, Champion Spark Plugs, and Midwest Sheet Metal. Completing the top ten were Ricky Thornton, Jr., Ryan Gustin, Kyle Strickler, Josh Richards, and Brandon Sheppard.

Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
Optima Batteries I-80 Nationals – Presented by General Tire
Friday, September 18th, 2020
I-80 Speedway – Greenwood, NE

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Brandon Overton / 14.529 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Tim McCreadie / 14.554 seconds

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer):  1. 76-Brandon Overton[6]; 2. 29V-Darrell Lanigan[5]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[1]; 4. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[8]; 5. 04-Tad Pospisil[4]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[3]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[7]; 8. 53-Andrew Kosiski[9]; 9. 98J-Jason Rauen[2]; 10. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[10]; 11. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[11]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer):  1. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 18J-Chase Junghans[2]; 3. 20-Jimmy Owens[6]; 4. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 5. 71-Hudson O’Neal[4]; 6. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[3]; 7. 43-Jeremy Grady[9]; 8. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[8]; 9. 62-Justin Zeitner[7]; 10. 14J-Jake Neal[10]; 11. L88-Larry Clawson[11]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[6]; 3. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 4. 1C-Chad Simpson[2]; 5. 8-Kyle Strickler[5]; 6. 777-Jared Landers[3]; 7. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[7]; 8. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[8]; 9. 29D-Spencer Diercks[9]; 10. 3C-Mike Collins[10]; 11. 10C-Junior Coover[11]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 32S-Chris Simpson[1]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[6]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[4]; 4. 19R-Ryan Gustin[5]; 5. 44M-Chris Madden[7]; 6. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 7. 81E-Tanner English[8]; 8. 98-Ben Schaller[9]; 9. 14M-Reid Millard[10]; 10. 25-Shane Clanton[2]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 777-Jared Landers[2]; 2. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[3]; 3. 2S-Stormy Scott[1]; 4. 16-Tyler Bruening[4]; 5. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[7]; 6. 62-Justin Zeitner[8]; 7. 98-Ben Schaller[9]; 8. 98J-Jason Rauen[5]; 9. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[12]; 10. 14M-Reid Millard[10]; 11. 10C-Junior Coover[13]; 12. (DNS) 25-Shane Clanton; 13. (DNS) 14J-Jake Neal

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[1]; 2. 81E-Tanner English[5]; 3. 44M-Chris Madden[3]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 5. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 6. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[7]; 7. 53-Andrew Kosiski[8]; 8. 29D-Spencer Diercks[9]; 9. 3C-Mike Collins[11]; 10. 43-Jeremy Grady[6]; 11. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[10]; 12. L88-Larry Clawson[12]

NHRA^® Team Report

NHRA U.S. Nationals – Gatornationals

Pre-Race Report

As a five-time number one qualifier and previous winner of the Gatornationals, Cruz Pedregon and team are headed to Florida with their sights set on a strong showing. The Snap-on Dodge^® will be decked out in its Snap-on 100^th scheme, that was recently featured on a magazine cover, while a new body and paint scheme are being prepped for October.

In the magazine’s article, Cruz says, “I feel like we’re on the brink of breaking out of the rebuilding mode that I’ve been in for several years now.” He shares that he’s got one of the most solid teams he’s had in a decade and feels like the team “stacks up well” in facing the competition.

Working with Nick (Casertano) and Eric (Lane), Cruz says he, the team and the Snap-on Funny Car are ready to take on the rest of what’s been a challenging year for drivers, teams and fans. 

“When you’ve got good people on your side, you know those incremental improvements you make each race are the result of their hard work under circumstances none of us could have imagined,” he says. He adds that he’s grateful to the sponsors, his team members and fans for continuing to make the sport of drag racing one of the best to be a part of saying, “We still have our eyes on winning and love having the fans along with us on TV, online and in the stands for the ride.”

While Cruz’s Dodge^® is still sporting the Snap-on 100^th paint scheme, he’s hoping fans will take and post pictures of the car with the hashtag #Snapon100. 

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

To see the latest Cruz news, like his Facebook page, where you can also check out his Vlog “Kickin’ It With The Cruzer.” Follow Cruz on Twitter and Instagram, and like the Snap-on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter pages for all things tools, racing and Cruz.

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY BRISTOL, TENNESSEE SEPTEMBER 19, 2020
BRISTOL: RACE #29It’s a historic race with Playoff implications on the line – it’s ‘America’s Night Race’ at Bristol Motor Speedway. For the third time this season, the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) returns to the ‘World’s Fastest Half-Mile’ for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday, September 19, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The pressure is heightened as the 500-lap, 266.5-mile event at the .533-mile Tennessee venue will serve as the third race in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs and the cut-off race for the Round of 16. This weekend’s event marks the first time in NASCAR history that Bristol Motor Speedway has hosted a post-season event. 
Joining the NASCAR Cup Series, the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series will visit Bristol Motor Speedway to make it a three-day race weekend. The weekend’s schedule kicked off with the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics for the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors on Thursday night, which served as the first race in the Truck Series’ seven-race Playoff stretch. Bristol Motor Speedway will also be the host of the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season finale with the Food City 300 on Friday, September 18, at 7:00 p.m. ET as drivers vie for the last chance to compete for the championship title. With momentum on his side, JR Motorsports and Chevrolet driver Justin Allgaier enters the weekend coming off of a doubleheader sweep at Richmond Raceway, giving the team their 50th and 51st victories in the series. 
A limited number of fans will be allowed to take in the action in-person for the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Cup Series’ events, adhering to all safety measures and protocols in place. To-date, the NCS All-Star Race that took place in July at Bristol Motor Speedway has had the largest crowd in any sporting event this year since the pandemic restrictions took place in March. With approval for up to 30,000 fans in attendance, Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race has been sold out at ‘socially-distanced capacity’. 
ROUND OF 16: THE CUT-OFF RACEFor the first time in NASCAR history, Bristol Motor Speedway will be the host of the third race of the Playoffs, serving as the elimination race for the first of four rounds and cutting the championship field down from 16 to 12 drivers. Bristol will become the fifth different track to serve as the third race of the Playoffs, joining Talladega Superspeedway (2004-2005), Kansas Speedway (2006–2010), Dover International Speedway (2011-2017) and the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course (2018-2019). Heading into the Bristol race weekend, here are where the Team Chevy Playoff Contenders sit in the points standings:  Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Tracker Off Road Camaro ZL1 1LE – 6th in Standings (2,094 points)Victories: 1 (Texas Motor Speedway) Top-Fives: 4; Top-10’s 9; Laps Led: 135; Average Finish: 15.9Stage Top-Five’s: 5; Stage Top-10’s: 16; Stage Points: 78At Bristol: Top-Five’s: 1; Top-10’s: 3; Average Finish: 17.385 Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE – 7th in Standings (2,086 points)Victories: 2 (Charlotte Motor Speedway and Daytona Road Course)Top-Fives: 11; Top-10’s: 16; Laps Led: 646; Average Finish: 12.8Stage Wins: 6; Stage Top-Five’s: 20; Stage Top-10’s: 38; Stage Points: 217At Bristol: Top-Five’s: 3; Top-10’s: 4; Average Finish: 12.667 Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE – 8th in Standings (2,085 points)Victories: 1 (Auto Club Speedway)Top-Fives: 3; Top-10’s: 10; Laps Led: 389; Average Finish: 16.3Stage Wins: 4; Stage Top-Five’s: 14; Stage Top-10’s: 31; Stage Points: 184At Bristol: Top-Five’s: 1; Top-10’s: 2; Average Finish: 22.667 Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE – 11th in Standings (2,065 points)Top-Fives: 4; Top-10’s: 15; Laps Led: 111; Average Finish: 13.2Stage Wins: 1; Stage Top-Five’s: 6; Stage Top-10’s: 24; Stage Points: 101At Bristol: Wins: 6; Top-Five’s: 12; Top-10’s: 21; Average Finish: 14.871 William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 1LE – 13th in Standings (2,058 points)Victories: 1 (Daytona International Speedway)Top-Fives: 3; Top-10’s: 10; Laps Led: 97; Average Finish: 15.9Stage Wins: 2; Stage Top-Five’s 9; Stage Top-10’s: 24; Stage Points: 117At Bristol: Top-10’s: 1; Average Finish: 17.2 
BOWTIE BULLETS·       Current Chevrolet drivers that have recorded wins at Bristol Motor Speedway include:Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, has 6 wins (’02, twice in ’03. ’04, ’06, & ’18).Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, has 2 wins (’10 & ’17).Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE, has 4 wins (’05, ’06, ’13 & ’15)
·       Of 119 NASCAR Cup Series events held at “The Last Great Colosseum”, Chevrolet has scored 210 top-five’s, 437 top-10’s and have led 23,701 laps.
·       Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE, leads all active drivers in top-five finishes with 15.
·       Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 1LE, leads the series’ active drivers in top-10 finishes at Bristol Motor Speedway with 21. Since 2014, Johnson also leads all drivers with an average finish of 8.85. 
·       Of the NCS active drivers, Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE, ties for the most starts at Bristol Motor Speedway with 39. His March 2002 victory at Bristol made him one of just five drivers to score their first career NASCAR Cup Series win at the track.  BRISTOL SCORECARDNASCAR’s premier series has made 119 appearances at the high-banked, all-concrete Tennessee short track. With eight different manufacturer’s finding their way to victory lane at Bristol Motor Speedway in NASCAR’s history, Chevrolet leads the way with 45 wins, giving the Bowtie brand a winning percentage of 37.8%. Chevrolet’s first win at Bristol Motor Speedway was captured by Charlie Glotzbach in the 1971 event, which also set the current race record at 101.074 mph.  In addition to the win category, of nine different manufacturers that have won the pole at Bristol Motor Speedway, Chevrolet has scored 39 poles, more than any other manufacturer. Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet driver Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE, currently holds the track qualifying record from his April 2019 pole win, clocking in at 131.713 mph with a lap time of 14.586 seconds. Of his 10 career-starts, Elliott also leads all active NASCAR Cup Series drivers in average starting position with 6.889.  STARTING LINEUPFor the remainder of the 2020 NCS season, the starting lineups will be determined by a competition-based formula, combining the following metrics from the previous race event: 15% of a fastest lap time position, 25% of the driver’s final race finish position, 25% of the owner’s final race position and 35% of the Owner points position.  Here are Team Chevy’s top-20 starters for Saturday Bass Pro Shops Night Race: 5th      Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / Tracker Off Road Camaro ZL1 1LE6th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 1LE8th      Alex Bowman, No. 88 Axalta Camaro ZL1 1LE13th    Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1 1LE15th    William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1 1LE17th    Tyler Reddick, No. 8 Childress Vineyards Camaro ZL1 1LE19th    Matt Kenseth, No. 42 Credit One Bank Camaro ZL1 1LE TUNE-INNBCSN will telecast the 500-lap, 266.5-mile Bass Pro Shops Night Race live at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, September 19th. Live coverage can also be found on the NBC Sports Gold App, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.  QUOTABLE QUOTES:AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 6th IN STANDINGSWHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY? “Anything can happen at Bristol Motor Speedway. It’s a short track and you can get caught up in things fast. Our goal as a team is to be consistent and to try and score Stage points early. I think Stage points will play a big part of advancing out of each round in the NASCAR Playoffs, and with Bristol being the cutoff race there’s a lot on the line.” WHAT’S GOING TO BE YOUR TOP PRIORITY FOR THE BRISTOL RACE WEEKEND? JUST FINISHING OR GOING FOR A WIN? “I think you’ve got to keep going for wins. Darlington and Richmond were both good races for us, but we have just as much potential at Bristol. We had a solid run here back in May, and I really think this team has the capability to back that up.”  DID YOU FEEL LIKE YOU WERE OVERLOOKED COMING INTO THE PLAYOFFS A LITTLE BIT? “I get overlooked some, probably more than most, and I don’t know why.  I always feel like I perform pretty well in pressure situations, and RCR as a whole can step up.  I have total belief in the 3 team and probably more belief this year than I’ve ever had because we’ve brought consistent speed to the track. We might not have gotten every finish that we should have gotten this year, but we’ve gotten a lot of good finishes. It’s been one of my best years statistically and just the ability behind the cars are better. Chevy has stepped up.  Eric Warren, RCR, all of the mechanics and everybody that puts work in do a really good job. I think the smaller group has been good for us, with less distractions at the track.  As a whole, our group really works together well.” CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 7th IN STANDINGSDOES SUCCESS AT PREVIOUS RACES AT BRISTOL THIS SEASON GIVE YOU AN EDGE?“I’m not sure that it gives us an edge, but it does give us a good starting spot from a setup perspective so I look forward to that. I think we have a good base line, so to speak, to start the race which is encouraging. Hopefully we can make the right adjustments throughout the race to be good at the end of 500 laps.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 8th IN STANDINGSBOWMAN ON BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Bristol is a good track for us, just as long as we have the track position we need. If you get down on track position early, it can be difficult to bounce back. We ran pretty strong in the All-Star race over the summer, which gives the team some momentum going into the final race in the Round of 16.” BOWMAN ON THE TEAM’S MOMENTUM: “Following last weekend’s race in Richmond, we have some really good momentum going into Bristol. Richmond has always been a tough track for this team but coming out of Saturday night with a ninth-place finish, was like a win. We are doing what we need to do, as a team, in order to continue pushing our way through the playoff rounds.” KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 11th IN STANDINGS“I think this is awesome to have a Bristol race in the playoffs. I think Bristol has always been deserving of being in the Playoffs. Even though it’s one of those Crown jewel, marquee events; it’s as big as the Southern 500 was a couple weeks ago at Darlington. I mean, it’s the Bristol night Race! A lot of people are focused on playoffs and it’s the cutoff at same time. The set-ups for Bristol have changed a lot, pretty rapidly. Some of my consistent results there; I finished second to my little brother when I first started with Chip Ganassi racing, I won there in 2018 with Stewart Haas. Those set-ups just aren’t there anymore. We’ve had to evolve and adapt. This particular race with the Playoff situation puts things into the drivers hands. If he says you’re two points to the good; you want look in the mirror and make sure you’re clear. If he says your two points behind and somebody’s on your front bumper out ahead, well, that’s where you’ve got to take matters into your own hands. That’s what this opportunity is for everybody to advance through the rounds. It’s a short track and drivers need to take things into their own hands.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 13th IN STANDINGSBYRON ON HIS MINDSET FOR BRISTOL: “I have confidence for this weekend at Bristol after our performance in the spring race and the All-Star Race. We ran well in both races this year, plus all four races that I’ve run there with Chad (Knaus) on the pit box have been good. We’ve just had circumstances out of our control. I think Hendrick Motorsports as whole runs well at Bristol, too. Chase (Elliott) showed that with his All-Star Race win in the summer. That just means we have a good notebook to utilize for our setup. Overall, I have confidence for this Saturday’s race. We just need to focus on the details, execute all race and we’ll accomplish what we need to.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CHILDRESS VINEYARDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 19th IN STANDINGSOVER THE COURSE OF THESE FINAL EIGHT RACES, WE RETURN TO A COUPLE OF TRACKS YOU’VE NOW BEEN ABLE TO MAKE A CUP START AT, INCLUDING THIS WEEKEND AT BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY. HOW ARE YOU AND THE TEAM LOOKING TO IMPROVE FROM YOUR LAST RACE AT BRISTOL?“We had a really good Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE during the spring race at Bristol Motor Speedway. We started near the back of the field due to how line-ups were determined at the time, but we were making some good adjustments on our car and starting to pick our way up through the field. Unfortunately, it was just a wrong place-wrong time situation when we got caught up in the wreck with the No. 47 car and a few others during the first part of that race. Bristol is a tough track and one where you have to be aware of those moves people will make entering the backstretch, especially since that seems to be where a lot of the wrecks happen. So that is something I’ll be paying attention to, but we had a solid piece entering that race and were making good adjustments before our day ended early. We’ll definitely be looking back at our notes from that time to get a feel for what we want to do entering this weekend’s event with our No. 8 Childress Vineyards Chevrolet.”

September 20, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy team had some good luck and some bad in Saturday’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, but in the end, not enough good fortune to advance to the Round of 12 in the Cup Series Playoffs.   

DiBenedetto started Saturday’s 500-lapper, the final race in the first Playoff round, from 16^th place. He moved up to 12^th place then took the lead by taking just two tires during a caution period at Lap 30. He ran among the top five for more than 60 laps, but the caution flag he needed for the two-tire strategy to work never flew. At a disadvantage tire-wise, he ended the Stage in 12^th place.

DiBenedetto and the Menards/Dutch Boy team again experienced equal doses of good and bad luck in the second Stage. On the 61^st lap of the second Stage, DiBenedetto had to make a green-flag pit stop because of a loose wheel.
 
He rejoined the race in 29^th place, three laps down, but good luck was riding with him. His fresher tires allowed him to regain one of the laps under the green flag, then he regained another lap by taking the wave-around when fellow Playoff driver William Byron wrecked in the closing laps of that Stage. Then when the caution flag flew to end the stage, DiBenedetto was in the free pass position and was able to return to the lead lap for the start of the final segment of the race.
 
A penalty for speeding on pit road sent him to the rear of the field for the restart, but he worked his way forward and was running seventh, a lap down, with less than 100 laps to go.
 
Still, the win he needed to advance in the Playoffs remained a long shot. DiBenedetto held his position until the bad luck returned in the form of a cut tire with just under 10 laps remaining.
 
A green-flag pit stop put him back three laps and left him with a 19th-place finish and elimination from the Playoffs.
 
DiBenedetto said after the race that the team’s perseverance at Bristol gives him hope for a strong finish to the 2020 season.
 
“Tonight shows the fight that we have as a team, rebounding like that,” he said. “I just hate that we miss the next round.
 
“We had some not-so-good races, bad luck tonight, you name it, but we’ve got a lot of season left.  We still have a lot of positions in points to fight for, and we have fast race cars like you see tonight, so we still have a lot of stuff left and hopefully a lot of good things to come.”
 
Eddie Wood said it just wasn’t in the cards for his family team to advance in the Playoffs.
 
“It was a long shot going into Bristol,” he said. “We ran pretty good. The car was tight early in the race, but adjustments got it better.
 
“We needed some luck on our side and got some at times in the race. But luck goes both ways and we saw that with a cut tire at the end.
 
“We’ll move on and make the most of these next seven races.”
 
DiBenedetto and the No. 21 team now head to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where they finished second earlier this season.
 

GREENWOOD, NE (September 17, 2020) – Kyle Strickler outran Shane Clanton to the checkered flag to win his first career Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event on Thursday Night at I-80 Speedway. Strickler passed Clanton on lap 11 and then edged Clanton by just .045 seconds at the finish line. Josh Richards came from the 10th starting spot to finish third with Chris Madden and Jimmy Owens rounding out the top five drivers. Clanton grabbed the lead at the start of the 30-lap event while Strickler dropped back several car lengths behind him. Stickler managed to find a groove that worked well for him and he slowly started to close the gap on the Georgia veteran. Strickler was finally able to track down Clanton and pass him on lap 11.  Clanton began to lose contact with Strickler, but in the last two laps was able to make up several car lengths. Coming out of the final corner Clanton dropped to the inside of Strickler but came up one car length short of victory as the checkers flew. The 37-year-old North Carolina driver became the 19th different winner this year on the tour. “On that last lap I thought please no flat right rear tire. My hat is off to Shane, he could have really sent her in there and cut in front of me, but he raced me clean and I appreciate that. I knew if I got into one and come off of four clean we would be really good. Man, everybody on this team deserves it so much. All my guys back home, my wife and my kids are watching on tv, my mom and my dad and friends are watching. Thanks to everybody who has helped me get here.” Clanton came up just short of his first series win of the year. “If I would have went to the bottom a few laps before the end, maybe I could have cleared him off of four on the last lap. Overall, it was good night, and we led some laps. I thought we did pretty well to maintain a fast pace. Strickler just snuck by me on the bottom and then I don’t know if I just started to let up or become more timid. I was just trying to save my stuff for 30 laps.” Richards survived a torrid battle for third place. “We had a phenomenal car. I can’t thank these guys enough for not giving up. We’ve had a lot of speed the last couple of weeks. We didn’t qualify the greatest, we were a little snug, the track was little greasy. It was a little narrow earlier and then it widened out and you can race all over it.” The winner’s Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Bilstein Shocks, G Style Transport LLC, Donaldson Grading, Wehrs Machine, Tim Cat Performance, and Andy’s Towing. Completing the top ten were Devin Moran, Ryan Gustin, Tim McCreadie, Brandon Overton, and Billy Moyer.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
Optima Batteries I-80 Nationals – Presented by General Tire
Thursday, September 17th, 2020
I-80 Speedway – Greenwood, NE

Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Devin Moran / 16.603 seconds 
Fast Time Group B: Kyle Strickler / 16.484 seconds (overall)

Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 29V-Darrell Lanigan[2]; 2. 04-Tad Pospisil[1]; 3. 44M-Chris Madden[4]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[7]; 5. 9-Devin Moran[6]; 6. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[5]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[8]; 8. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 9. 43-Jeremy Grady[9]; 10. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[11]; 11. 29D-Spencer Diercks[10]; 12. 112-Tyler Smith[12]

FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 19R-Ryan Gustin[3]; 3. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[2]; 4. 56-Chris Spieker[4]; 5. 20-Jimmy Owens[6]; 6. 1T-Tyler Erb[7]; 7. 98J-Jason Rauen[5]; 8. 81E-Tanner English[8]; 9. 14J-Jake Neal[10]; 10. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[9]; 11. L88-Larry Clawson[11]

Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 3. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 4. 8-Kyle Strickler[6]; 5. 32S-Chris Simpson[5]; 6. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 7. 777-Jared Landers[7]; 8. 62-Justin Zeitner[8]; 9. 98-Ben Schaller[10]; 10. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[12]; 11. 10C-Junior Coover[11]; 12. 6D-Dylan Schmer[9]

Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (Top 18 from Heat Points Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 2. 18J-Chase Junghans[4]; 3. 71-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 6. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 8. 1C-Chad Simpson[11]; 9. 53-Andrew Kosiski[8]; 10. 3C-Mike Collins[9]; 11. 14M-Reid Millard[10]

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[2]; 2. 1S-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 1C-Chad Simpson[8]; 4. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 6. 81E-Tanner English[7]; 7. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[10]; 8. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[11]; 9. 14M-Reid Millard[12]; 10. 14J-Jake Neal[9]; 11. 76B-Blair Nothdurft[13]; 12. 04-Tad Pospisil[1]; 13. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[4]; 14. 10C-Junior Coover[14]

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[2]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[4]; 3. 777-Jared Landers[5]; 4. 62-Justin Zeitner[6]; 5. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 6. 98J-Jason Rauen[1]; 7. 53-Andrew Kosiski[7]; 8. 98-Ben Schaller[9]; 9. L88-Larry Clawson[13]; 10. 29D-Spencer Diercks[11]; 11. 3C-Mike Collins[10]; 12. 43-Jeremy Grady[8]; 13. 6D-Dylan Schmer[12]; 14. 112-Tyler Smith[14]

NASCAR CUP SERIES BASS PRO SHOPS NIGHT RACE BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT SEPTEMBER 17, 2020
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference to discuss his outlook going into the race weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway, the pressure that comes with racing during a cutoff race, and more. Transcript: HOW DO YOU HANDLE THE TRACTION COMPOUND ON SATURDAY, ESPECIALLY WITH WHERE YOU ARE IN THE PLAYOFFS? DO YOU HAVE TO PLAY IT VERY CONSERVATIVELY OR DO YOU JUST RACE AND HOPE YOU DON’T SLIDE ON IT?“I think the biggest question right now is actually the weather. With Sally moving through, we hope that the Truck race gets in on time and we have the Xfinity race, as well. The thing about the summer race at Bristol is that you have the races before the Cup series race, so it helps burn in the traction compound. Even if they spray more, it still has a more consistent feel. So, this year, the spring race, it had a race before it. But at the All-Star race, there was no race at all and the Cup cars went out there right away, and it was like you were on ice. So, I’m hopeful for more consistent August/September track conditions, which will then lead the notes to what we’ve done in years past at this race. So, for us, we’re just hoping the weather cooperates and the race track ends up very close to the same as it usually ends up as.”
IS THERE ANYTHING THAT YOU FOUND THAT YOU WERE ABLE TO DO RACING ON THE BUBBLE AND ADVANCING THAT YOU FEEL ARE THE KEYS TO SUCCESS?“Fast cars and fast pit stops – that makes it easier. It’s just not getting too far ahead of yourself and executing as a team. With most likely a competition caution at lap 30, then the stage breaks at 125 and 250, there’s three opportunities to get points – stage one, stage two and the end. If we go out there and do our job, we’ve got a gain those points in the stages so that way the end of the race isn’t as much of a nail-biter as it should be.”
YOU’RE SO GOOD AT BRISTOL. DOES THAT LEND SOME SORT OF CONFIDENCE IN YOU OR HAVE THINGS CHANGED WHERE WITHOUT PRACTICE, IT’S DIFFERENT? BRISTOL, YOU JUST GO BACK TO IT BEING BRISTOL TO YOU, RIGHT?“Yeah, I feel like anytime you can go to a track that you’ve had past success at, it lends to just better feelings, it lends to going through the checklist items in an easier fashion. So, our confidence is high going into the race. We have our homework done and now we go and race. There are some other tracks where you’re like – we didn’t run so well at Kansas, let’s just say earlier this year, and we’ve got more questions so to speak going into the race. So, Bristol, we’re ready to rip and ready to go with the Monster Energy Chevy. We’ve got seven points to the plus and that’s just kind of how we’ve been all year – we’ve been right around that tenth-place position all year.”
HOW MUCH DO YOU WANT TO KNOW DURING THE RACE, KNOWING THAT BRISTOL IS A BLINK OF AN EYE, AND HOW MUCH WILL YOU JUST SAY ‘TELL ME WHEN I ASK FOR IT’ KIND OF THING?“There’s so many guys in the mix, so wherever the points end up at the end of each stage, I’ll just want the plus or the minus. As we’re getting closer to the final 100 laps, that’s when you have to make those decisions to race the guys straight up for points and play more of a defensive role if you have to.”
SEVEN POINTS – HOW DO YOU LOOK AT THAT GAP RIGHT NOW? DO YOU PLAY OFFENSE? DO YOU PLAY DEFENSE? A COMBINATION OF THE TWO? JUST WHAT KIND OF STRATEGY DO YOU LOOK AT GOING INTO A RACE WITH JUST A SINGLE DIGIT CUSHION?“So far in the Playoffs in 2020, we haven’t finished worse than 13th in any stage and we haven’t finished any better than 5th. So, that’s the good news and bad news all mixed in together. And so we just go there and do our job to get points in the stages. We know it’s going to come down to the final little bit on who’s above the line and who’s not, and you can’t worry about it too much. You race off the talent of the crew, the pit strategy, the pit crew guys themselves – everybody has to do their job right now because it’s the Playoffs, it’s what you do. It’s what we do and it’s what we’re prepared for.”
ARE YOU FEELING CONFIDENT JUST KNOWING THAT THE CUTOFF RACE IS IN BRISTOL? DESPITE ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN, GIVEN YOUR PAST EXPERIENCE THERE, DOES THAT KIND OF BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE GOING INTO THAT EVENT?“Yeah, I enjoy Bristol. It’s a track that I look forward to going to and I get amped up for. I’m ready for the challenges that Bristol brings. The night race, getting back to the PJ-1 traction compound question, you hope that it all gets burned in and that the outside lane comes into play. But each time we go back to Bristol, there’s just these little weird things that the track is doing that SMI might not tell NASCAR. NASCAR might not tell SMI. And then there’s the Goodyear tire that shows up with different stager values, even though it’s the same tire code. So, there’s a lot of little things at Bristol all the time. But with this being a cutoff, you have to just go in there and do it. Get the job done, don’t shy away from the pressure. Even after this round, you have to go to the Roval and advance through it to get to the round after that. And then you have to go to Martinsville to go through that round if you’re going to have a shot at the championship. This Playoff format is genius for the anxiety level for all the drivers and teams.”
FROM THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN, RICHMOND SEEMED PRETTY TAME FOR A SHORT TRACK. DO YOU THINK THAT THE ANXIETY WILL BE ELEVATED GOING INTO BRISTOL, JUST BECAUSE IT IS A CUTOFF RACE?“The anxiety will be higher, the nerves of course, and just the overall ambiance and excitement. But in all reality, everybody’s got so much riding on the line and everybody’s got to protect their race car, get the points that they can, not run into somebody and get a fender rub. That’s what led to Richmond’s, I guess, lack of excitement and that could end up happening at Bristol. Which then that’s a question of, well wait a minute, maybe we need to move this race back to August when goes aren’t necessarily worried about points as much and let the rough edges drag, dump somebody or wreck some cars and not have to pay such a big points penalty. That’s the difference in Playoff racing – everybody is making sure they’re getting every point possible and, therefore, they’re driving more cautiously.”
THE NEXT ROUND BEGINS AT LAS VEGAS AND THAT’S ONE OF THE RACES THAT WERE HELD BEFORE THE PANDEMIC AND THE PAUSE. TYPICALLLY, YOU HEAR DRIVERS AND CREW CHIEFS TALK ABOUT HOW MUCH THINGS HAVE CHANGED IN THAT PERIOD OF TIME. HAVE THINGS CHANGED AS GREATLY BECAUSE OF THE CHALLENGES THIS SEASON OR HOW DIFFERENT WILL VEGAS BE THIS TIME COMPARED TO THE VEGAS RACE THAT WAS HELD BEFORE THE SEASON WAS PAUSED?“First things first is that this race is in 100-degree temperatures, where the spring race is in usually 60 to 70-degree temperatures. So that’s a huge difference all in its own. Then you get into the real nuts and bolts of 2020 and that’s where we haven’t had practice. That’s when more things are done on simulation models and engineering models for the baseline setups. That seems to have fallen into some teams’ hands and it seems to have handcuffed other teams. We can say that even within the same garage area, as far as Gibbs – we’ve got Denny Hamlin with a ton of wins and my little brother (Kyle Busch) with none. Guys like (Kevin) Harvick have a ton of wins and all the rest of Stewart-Haas has one. So, it works some ways to be a position, other ways it doesn’t work out as well. Even like Penske, with (Brad) Keselowski running well and (Ryan) Blaney is right on the line of being eliminated. So, it’s hard to really say. What happened back in March seems like two years ago and then also things trend in tech inspection, as well, on things that were going on in March versus what’s happening here in September.”
PEOPLE TALK ABOUT THAT NEXT ROUND. THE FEELING IS YOU NEED TO WIN AT LAS VEGAS BECAUSE OF THE UNCERTAINTY OF TALLADEGA AND THE ROVAL. IS THAT ALMOST THE WRONG APPROACH TO TAKE AND LOOK AT IT AS OPPORTUNITIES INSTEAD OF WILD CARD RACES?“Yeah, there’s a hundred different philosophies or different ways to look at it. Each team has their own agenda. There’s definitely the championship front-runners. There’s the guys that need to throw the hail marys and try to gamble on a pit stop. You’re going to see some of that at Bristol with this cutoff race. Guys might just do two tires and stay out and try to muscle their way to the end. There could be that same thing at Vegas, where you come in just for fuel only and try to top it off even though you can’t even make it to the end, but you try to use that strategy to get some points or to get a win. So, it’s really hard to really play out all the scenarios. You’ve just got to race with what your strengths are. And some teams have different strengths in different areas.” IS BRISTOL A TOUGH TRACK TO GET THE BASELINE SET-UP RIGHT, ESPECIALLY WHEN YOU’RE STARTING 13^TH AND YOU’RE AROUND THE GUYS THAT YOU NEED FOR STAGE POINTS IN STAGE 1?“It seems like it’s tougher with the spray (traction compound) and how much they spray or where they spread. That’s been the biggest adjustment. It’s hard to really get into the full jargon of the level of detail of what an engineer has to do to match a race track surface; but then when you throw in inconsistencies from the track and the spray that they’re using and how much chemical versus how much water they mixed in. Or, how rain is hitting the track right now. In years past, to win Bristol you would set-up for lap 250. You would set-up for halfway. And you would just try to get through the first half of the race the best that you could. But you can’t do that anymore with it being the Playoffs and with Stage points. So, you’ve got to go hard right away, but you’ve got to build in that adjustability to be able to be that guy at the end that can win as well.” CONSIDERING THE PANDEMIC, HOW MUCH INPUT HAVE YOU HAD WITH (CREW CHIEF) MATT MCCALL THIS WEEK, GOING INTO THIS RACE?“My phone says I have a new operating system that I can download, but I’m scared to do that because I have so many digital meetings and so many calendar items of this department and that department. Hendrick Engines was checking in on some of the horsepower levels. There are these new departments of communication and open line; I mean, it’s all hands on-deck right now. And so, we’re staying on top of it the best way that we can. I even asked the shock department yesterday to have shocks that can have compression and rebound adjustable shocks in case we are off on our set-up and we have to go aggressive with changes. And the only time that you’re able to really do that is if you’re the last car on the lead lap on a pit stop or something. You’ve got to be ready for all case scenarios right now.”

Batavia, OH (September 17, 2020) – The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be back in action at I-80 Speedway, in Greenwood, NE for 3 full events, with the Al Belt Custom Homes I-80 Nationals on September 17th – 19th.

Thursday, September 17th and Friday, September 18th will feature two complete shows – paying $7,000-to-win. Thursday will also feature a full show for the Malvern Bank Stock Cars. Friday, the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be joined by the Malvern Bank Modifieds with a full show. 

On Saturday, September 19th, there will be B-Mains, a 20-lap, $2,000-to-win Non-Qualifiers race and the 80-lap, $30,000-to-win Al Belt Custom Homes I-80 Nationals. Saturday’s Lucas Dirt events will be lined up from the best points night from Thursday or Friday, with the top 18 drivers locked into the A-Main. In addition, Saturday will also feature a full show for Malvern Bank SLMR.

Tickets are available online at www.i-80speedway.com (All seating will be General Admission). Hot laps are set to begin at 6:45 PM CDT each day. To make purchases over the phone, please call the speedway office from 8:30 AM-5:30 PM CDT at 402-342-3453.

For anyone unable to make it out in person, all three nights will be available on LucasOilRacing.tv with a yearly subscription. 

Track Information:Phone Number: 402-342-3453Location: 13909 238th St Greenwood, NE 68366Website: www.i-80speedway.com

Tire Rule for I-80 Speedway: September 17th – 18thLeft Front – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1350, (90) LM20, (90) WRS2Right Front – Hoosier (90) WRS2Left Rear – Hoosier (90) WRS2
Right Rear – Hoosier (92) LM40
*Must use the same set of 4 tires for Time Trials, Heat Races, and B-Mains.
*For the A-Main, competitors may use 2 new rear tires.
*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain starting position.

September 17th – 18th Event Purse:
1. $7,000, 2. $4,000, 3. $3,000, 4. $2,000, 5. $1,500, 6. $1,000, 7. $900, 8. $800, 9. $700, 10. $600, 11. $580, 12. $560, 13. $540, 14. $520, 15. $500, 16. $490, 17. $480, 18. $470, 19. $460, 20. $450, 21. $440, 22. $430, 23. $410, 24. $400

Tire Rule for I-80 Speedway: September 19thLeft Front – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1350, (90) LM20, (90) WRS2Right Front – Hoosier (90) WRS2Left Rear – Hoosier (90) WRS2Right Rear – Hoosier (92) LM40 *Must use the same set of 4 tires for B-Mains and Non-Qualifiers Race.*For the A-Main, competitors may use 4 new tires.
*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain starting position.

September 19thNon-Qualifier Purse: 
1. $2,000, 2. $1,800, 3. $1,600, 4. $1,500, 5. $1,400, 6. $1,300, 7. $1,200, 8. $1,100, 9. $1,075, 10. $1,050, 11. $1,025, 12. $1,000, 13. $975, 14. $950, 15. $925, 16. $900, 17. $875, 18. $860, 19. $850, 20. $840, 21. $830, 22. $820, 23. $810, 24. $800

September 19thAl Belt Custom Homes I-80 Nationals Purse:
1. $30,000, 2. $18,000, 3. $10,000, 4. $7,000, 5. $6,000, 6. $5,000, 7. $4,600, 8. $4,400, 9. $4,200, 10. $4,000, 11. $3,900, 12. $3,800, 13. $3,700, 14. $3,600, 15. $3,500, 16. $3,400, 17. $3,300, 18. $3,200, 19. $3,100, 20. $3,000, 21. $2,900, 22. $2,800, 23. $2,700, 24. $2,600, 25. $2,575, 26. $2,550, 27. $2,525, 28. $2,500

September 15, 2020

After weeks of focusing on the points standings, first as they worked to make the Cup Series Playoffs and then to advance to the Round of 12, Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy team can pretty much forget about points, at least for one night.

DiBenedetto’s only real hope to advance to the second round of the Playoffs is to win Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway, the final race of the first round of the Playoffs. 

In DiBenedetto’s favor is that Bristol is his best track. Driving for another team last fall, he finished second to Denny Hamlin after leading 93 laps late in the race. And he won the All-Star Open there in July aboard the Wood Brothers’ No. 21 Mustang.
 
“If there is one track to be in a must-win situation that I would choose it would definitely be Bristol,” DiBenedetto said. “I think we have a good shot at it. It is one that I am excited about and have circled off in this round…
 
“And I have some unfinished business, I guess, after last year as well.”

DiBenedetto said his Menards/Dutch Boy team has given him the cars he needed to make his first Playoff appearance and his team’s second, and he believes the same effort will go into the Mustang he’ll drive in Saturday night’s 500-lapper.
 
“All these guys on the Wood Brothers Racing team, I’m proud of them,” he said. “They’ve been working really hard… Menards, Motorcraft, everybody at Ford has been putting a lot of effort into this thing.  
 
“Going to Bristol is obviously an exciting race and one that we feel good about and have a lot to build on.
 
“I think we can go there and perform.”
 
Eddie Wood said he’s optimistic as well going into Bristol, but he’s also looking at the big picture of his team’s season.
 
“We’re in a spot where we have to win to advance, but it’s pretty much been that way since the Playoffs started,” he said. “No matter how it goes Saturday night, I’m still very proud to have made the Playoffs.”
 
There will be no qualifying or practice prior to the start of the Bass Pro Shops NRA Night Race, which is set for just after 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time with TV coverage on NBCSN.

Inside Line Promotions – DODGE CITY, Kan. (Sept. 15, 2020) – Dominic Scelzi scored his career-best result at Dodge City Raceway Park and he tied his season-best outing with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series on Saturday during the Boot Hill Showdown finale.

Scelzi recorded a seventh-place showing, which was his fourth top 10 of the season with ‘The Greatest Show on Dirt.’

The start of both nights mirrored each other with Scelzi qualifying 13 ^th quickest and starting fifth in a heat race. He finished in that position on Friday to lock into the 13^th starting position for the A Main.

“The first night the track was pretty locked down and hard to pass,” he said. “You couldn’t get off the bottom. Running around the bottom guys would get tight and I’d pass them that way. I got to eighth and we had to restart on the outside. I got tight and fell back to 11^th.

“The second night it was a little bit slicker. We were able to get a spot in the heat race, which started me 10^th in the feature. I got a really good start and was able to rip around the guy who started inside of me to be in ninth. Then I passed Jacob Allen by rolling the bottom in turns three and four to get into eighth. Tim Kaeding blew a right rear tire with a couple of laps to go so that moved us to seventh. We were right there on Donny (Schatz) and the guy in front of Donny, but it was really hard to pass.”

Scelzi’s seventh-place result was his third top 10 in the last seven races with the series.

The team plans to race this Friday and Saturday at Huset’s Speedway in Brandon, S.D., during the DeKalb/Asgrow Power Series Nationals presented by Casey’s General Stores with the Midwest Sprint Touring Series and the Midwest Power Series.

Scelzi placed second with the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions in August and he finished 11^th and seventh, respectively, during World of Outlaws races at Huset’s Speedway earlier this month.

“I really like the place; it’s super racy,” he said. “When they get the surface right it’s two lanes all night. I’m looking forward to getting there for two good sized 360 races. We ran well there with the All Stars and ran well with the Outlaws so I want to take some money out of that place this weekend.”

Colton Herta leads Andretti Autosport podium sweep as Honda drivers finish 1-5
Alexander Rossi, Ryan Hunter-Reay complete the podium
Honda extends Manufacturers’ Championship points lead as series enters home stretch

LEXINGTON, Ohio (September 13, 2020) – Honda drivers and teams – led by the Andretti Autosport trio of Colton Herta, Alexander Rossi and Ryan Hunter-Reay – dominated the second half of the Honda Indy 200 doubleheader at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, sweeping the top five finishing positions in Sunday’s second 75-lap NTT INDYCAR SERIES race of the weekend.

With seven wins in 11 races this season, Honda continues to lead the IndyCar Manufacturers’ Championship, with an unofficial total of 911 points to 824 points for Chevrolet, as the company seeks a third consecutive manufacturers’ title in 2020. Today’s race was the second podium sweep for Honda this season, as Takuma Sato led a 1-4 finish for Honda drivers at last month’s Indianapolis 500.

Scoring his first win of 2020, but the fourth Indy car win in just the second year of his career, Herta led 57 of the 75 laps today, resisting an early challenge from fellow Honda driver and championship points leader Scott Dixon, then maintaining a narrow, but consistent advantage over his teammates Rossi and Hunter-Reay to the finish. For Andretti Autosport, the 1-2-3 sweep was the first for the team since the 2005 Honda Grand Prix of St. Petersburg.

Finishing second and third, respectively, Rossi and Hunter-Reay fought for position throughout the day, but running identical strategies and with clean pit stops for both, ran in virtual lock step once Rossi passed his teammate during the opening stint of the race. Graham Rahal came from 12th on the grid to finish fourth, while Marcus Ericsson gained 10 positions in an impressive run in the opening laps to complete the top five finishers for Honda.

While dueling with Rossi and Hunter-Reay following the first round of pit stops, championship leader Dixon survived a spin exiting turn one to recover in 19th. He then spent the rest of the day working his way through the field to finish 10th and maintain an unofficial lead of 72 points in the Drivers’ Championship battle after 11 of 14 races.

Next
Following this weekend’s Honda Indy 200 doubleheader at Mid-Ohio, the NTT INDYCAR SERIES takes the next two weekends off, before resuming October 2-3 for the Indy Harvest GP, the final doubleheader and penultimate race weekend of 2020, on the road course of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Honda Racing social media content and videos from the Honda Indy 200 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course will be available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Quotes
Colton Herta (Andretti Autosport Honda) Started first, finished first; first win of 2020 and fourth career win: “I’m so happy. We’ve been knocking on the door [of a victory] almost every weekend. We’ve had the pace, but for some reason or another, something has gone wrong. But we finally put everything together. Got the pole this morning, the entire Capstone Andretti crew produced a stellar car and a Honda/Andretti 1-2-3, so happy to be powered by Honda. Now we just need to be finishing on the podium on every other weekend. It seems like we’re only on the podium when we win. So if we can fill in those other races with seconds and thirds, I’ll be very happy then.”

Alexander Rossi (Andretti Autosport Honda) Started 10th, finished second: “I’m just so happy for Andretti Autosport, Michael [Andretti] and everyone on the team. It’s been a terrible year for us, so to have a good day today, huge hats off to Colton and the ‘88’ guys, and for the team to sweep the podium for the first time since 2005 is very cool. We’re just focusing on race wins at this point, and really trying to build a good foundation for next year. I think we’re doing that right now, so this is definitely a step in the right direction. It’s great to be running up front again.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay (Andretti Autosport Honda) Started eighth, finished third: “The race was all right. Alex [Rossi] and I both had a great start, and fought the whole way. The guys did a great job in pit lane, and it was nice to have a solid day. The team needed it. We’ll pick up from here and hopefully keep this momentum rolling.”

Graham Rahal (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) Started 12th, finished fourth: “I think we had the pace [to win], and our Fifth Third Bank guys did a great job. I’m extremely pleased with the way the weekend went, it was a strong two days. I think we’ll be very competitive at [the next race] at Indy, I expect we’ll be in contention [for the wins] there. It was great to have the crowd [the circuit was allowed] here. Thanks to everyone who came.”

Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started third, finished 10th; unofficially leads drivers’ championship by 72 points with three races remaining: “We tried to set up the car so that the tires would remain strong throughout a long run, so our cold [tire] pressures were really low. We struggled on the restarts as a result, so I got a little aggressive, hit the ‘overtake’ button on the exit of Turn One and just had way too much Honda power there, so it just spun the tires and spun the car. Total rookie mistake, and I’m so bummed for the team, it’s a mistake I shouldn’t have made. Fortunately, we were able to fight our way back up to 10th, but it should’ve been a much better [championship] points day.”

Allen Miller (Race Team Principal, Honda Performance Development) on today’s seventh Honda win of 2020: “What a great day for Honda at Mid-Ohio, the home race for all of our Ohio associates. Honda power was on full display for everyone to see today. Congratulations to Colton [Herta] and everyone at Andretti Autosport for their dominating 1-2-3 podium sweep. Graham [Rahal] produced another excellent performance and showed that he is coming on strong in the final races of the season; and Scott Dixon fought his way back through the field. Just a great day for everyone, and we hope all our fans can return in full force here next year.”

CHEVROLET NTT INDYCAR SERIES HONDA INDY 200 DOUBLE HEADER MID-OHIO SPORTS CAR COURSE LEXINGTON, OHIO TEAM CHEVY RACE TWO RECAP SEPTEMBER 13, 2020 TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER6^th       Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 DXC Technology Team Penske Chevrolet7^th        Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet8^th       Josef Newgarden, No. 1 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet9^th       Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet11^th     Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Sonax Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet13^th     Max Chilton  15^th     Oliver Askew, No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet                    TOPE FIVE UNOFFICIAL FINISHING RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER                                                             1^ST      Colton Herta (Honda)2^nd      Alexander Rossi (Honda)3^rd       Ryan Hunter-Reay (Honda)4^th       Graham Rahal (Honda)5^th      Marcus Ericsson (Honda) Josef Newgarden continues to cut into the lead in the championship race. Coming into the Mid-Ohio Doubleheader the defending and two-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion, Newgarden trailed ScottDixon by 96 points. After a podium on Saturday and eighth place today, the spread is now 72 points heading to the Harvest GP Doubleheader on the Indy road Course Chevy had four in the top-nine with Simon Pagenaud finishing 6^th, Will Power finished 7^th, Newgarden 8^th and Pato O’Ward finished in 9^th place. Team Chevy drivers hold three of the top-five positions in points: Newgarden-2^nd; O’Ward-3^rd and Power-5^th.  The NTT IndyCar Series season continues on October 2-3 with the INDYCAR Harvest GP Doubleheader at the Road Course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for races 12 and13 ot the season. p.m.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES:
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 DXC TECHNOLOGY TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 6^th:“I think we finally broke our curse. We had a good race today and we’ll take a sixth-p andlace finish in the DXC Technology Chevrolet. Saturday’s result was a real shame – it definitely didn’t show the pace that we had here. I think we’ve had a good car all weekend long and I think today we maximized what we had. We definitely still have some work to do but we are happy with the direction we are headed with the car and that’s a good sign for us heading back to Harvest Grand Prix at Indianapolis.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 7^th:“It was actually a pretty solid race for the Verizon Chevrolet. We had some radio issues so I really wasn’t sure what position we were running in all the time so I really just followed my teammates and pitted when they did. It was pretty smooth sailing from there but we really couldn’t make up a lot of ground. Obviously it was a pretty disappointing result in qualifying today and that was totally my fault. Considering that and the radio challenges during the race, we come away actually feeling alright with a seventh-place result and a pretty good weekend overall with the win on Saturday.”
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 1 PPG TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – Finished 8^th:“We were just a little too average today. We didn’t really have superior pace and our starting position didn’t help us out. We tried to make some hay in the beginning and the caution didn’t really work in our favor for what we were planning strategy-wise. We were just kind of stuck where we were all day, to be honest. We just need to work on getting a little more race pace. I think that’s what we were lacking. On the car itself, we needed a little better grip and a little more balance. Everything else was solid. I think Team Chevy came with a great engine today. We had what we needed from them and obviously the support from PPG is always great here at Mid-Ohio, so we just need to work on ourselves a little next time out.”
PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 9^th:“We started 21st and made our way up a few places at the start, but then everything kind of went sideways from there. We came into the pits for the first stop and guys were getting released, which put us into a position where we couldn’t turn into the box quite as tight as we wanted to. This meant the fuel probe couldn’t quite connect and we couldn’t get fuel into the car. This led to us having to go all the way to the back and pit for more fuel. We had to make everything up on track after that. We had such strong pace and I truly think if we had started up front, we would have been better. I made a very stupid mistake in qualifying that really put us on the back foot and I tried to earn back as much as I could today by giving it everything I had. At the end of the day, a top 10 finish isn’t bad from where we started.” RINUS VEEKAY, No. 21 SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET- Finished 11^th:“That was a very tough race! Maybe because of the rainy conditions this morning, the track was different. My car felt nothing like yesterday! I had to dodge some cars at the start and did not really move forward like other guys did. It wasn’t the greatest race, but P11 is not terrible! We’ve got the Indy road course again – and again! I had my best road course finish there so I am ready to go back!” MAX CHILTON, NO. 59 GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET – Finished 13^th:“It wasn’t quite the top 10 that I wanted, but to start back in 18^th and make up five positions throughout the race and do it legitimately is something to be proud of. We out-raced and out-paced some strong cars out there and I did two of the best overtakes I’ve done all year around the outside of a high speed corner. I’m very happy with the job we did today. We kept good pace and good fuel mileage and I feel like we managed the race really well. I don’t think we could’ve done much more during the race, the only thing would’ve been to qualify slightly higher up. Regardless, I know that top-10 for myself and the Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet is coming this year.” OLIVER ASKEW, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – Finished 15^th: “The No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP team made good progress during the weekend. Today was the first time I had to fuel save this year, which was an adjustment, but I felt like I gave it my all. Looking forward to getting back to the Indianapolis Road Course, where we qualified in the Fast Six earlier this year. I think the entire team has a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to capitalizing on that.” CONOR DALY, NO. 20 U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 16^th: “Today was tough in qualifying. We just didn’t get the right lap in at the right time and we just missed having another lap by a couple of seconds. Starting on the back foot, that’s hard. We took a gamble with the setup which was actually good for me to try. We were in the wrong place at the wrong time for everything that happened on track, it was a shame. However, there were some positives; yesterday, we qualified 4th which was really good. We are still learning together as a team, hopefully we can put what we learned here towards the Harvest Grand Prix.” CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 4 TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 19^tht: “So I definitely think we made the No. 4 Tresiba Chevrolet better overnight from race one to race two. This morning obviously was unfortunate with the spin in the wet so we started last and around here at Mid-Ohio it’s so hard to pass. The guys did a great job in pit lane. We were able to hit the fuel number we needed to get to the end of the race, so on that side of things I think we checked some boxes, learned some things, learned a little bit about the car as we head to the doubleheader at the Harvest Grand Prix back on the Indy road course. We’ll take what we learned from there in July, what we learned from here, put it together and hopefully come up with a good package off the truck.”  DALTON KELLETT, NO 14 K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET – Finished 21st: “The only thing you can do on a day like today is take the positive and learn from what went wrong. The team made some good changes from qualifying to the race.iFor the first half of the first stint, the car felt really good, we were on pace with the guys around us. Our speed was pretty competitive on the alternate Firestones. Just a little mistake on my part on the downshift, it got loose into [Turn] 1 and I couldn’t save it. When I backed it into the gravel, we damaged the underwing pretty bad so it was a big loss in downforce. The rest of the race was more of an exercise in keeping the car on the track and trying not to get in the way of the leaders and the cars that weren’t damaged and kind of chugging along. It’s one we’ll have to file away and come back stronger for the Harvest GP.” 

September 13, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Quick Lane team find themselves in a must-win Playoff situation heading into next Saturday’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway after a 17^th-place finish at Richmond Raceway.

DiBenedetto started Saturday’s 400-lapper at Richmond from 16^th place but struggled early with the handling on his Quick Lane Mustang.

He finished 17^th in the first Stage and 19^th in the second, but he lost a lap when he came just a few laps shy of making a two-pit-stop strategy work in his favor in the second stage.

Still, DiBenedetto was able to run in the free pass spot for a long stretch at the start of the third and final segment of the race.

Unfortunately, the lack of caution flags took away any opportunity to rejoin the lead lap, and he wound up finishing outside the top 15. 

There were only three yellow flags all night, one for the competition caution and two for stage breaks.
  
So, Benedetto and the Quick Lane team head to Bristol 25 points below the Playoff cutline. The bottom four drivers in the standings after Bristol will be eliminated from title contention, so the only plausible way for DiBenedetto, 15^th in the standings, to make the Round of 12 would be to win at Bristol since a win in any round guarantees an advancement to the next round.

DiBenedetto, who was racing at Richmond for the first time since joining the Quick Lane team, said the lack of practice there put him and the team at a disadvantage.
 
“No practice really bit us,” he said, adding that his Greg Erwin-led crew was able to tune the No. 21 Mustang and make it competitive after a slow start. “We made a fair amount of adjustments and got it driving, not perfect, but OK.

“We rode in the lucky dog spot for the longest time but couldn’t ever get a caution. That trapped us behind the Eight Ball, and we couldn’t get the finish we deserved.”
 
DiBenedetto said that while winning at Bristol will be a tall order, he believes he and his team are capable of pulling it off.
 
“We have good race cars, and if we get it just right we have a shot at it,” he said.