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INDIANAPOLIS (September 1, 2025) — Funny Car and Top Alcohol Dragster driver Joe Morrison wasn’t behind the wheel of either of his high horsepower race cars this week at the 71^st Cornwell Quality Tools NHRA U.S. Nationals but he was still turning on symbolic win lights for fans and his Right2Breathe Project. Morrison had a packed schedule, beginning with fan appearances on Thursday and racing all the way to today’s race day activities. The driver from New Jersey has competed at the prestigious drag race before but this year he put his focus on spending time with the fans and sponsors.

On Thursday night Morrison was one of the featured drivers at the Cruz Pedregon Racing Open House participating in a driver autograph session and fan meet and greet. The event has become the kick-off fanfest for the U.S. Nationals as thousands of fans enjoyed a classic car show and the chance to talk with drivers like Morrison and get autographs and photos. The event also raises money for the Indianapolis-based Riley’s Children’s Hospital.
Joe Morrison enjoyed his time at the Cruz Pedregon Racing Open House on Thursday night,
photo credit Werner Communications“I was excited to get the race started with the Cruz Pedregon Racing Open House,” said Morrison. “They had a great crowd, and they were raising money for an amazing cause. I saw a lot of the people from Thursday night at the races this weekend too.”

Throughout the race Morrison was active with the Kroger Health display and promoting the Right2Breathe Project. The Right2Breathe® Project is a dynamic, grassroots initiative focused on lung health education, awareness and screening. This campaign is hosted at various public venues, including automotive and sporting events across the United States. The U.S. Nationals screening event was Right2Breathe’s third venture of 2025 and will continue into the Countdown at multiple events later this season.

“The mission of Right2Breathe is very personal for me so being able to partner with Kroger Health at an event like the NHRA U.S. Nationals gives us a great platform,” said Morrison. “We were able to talk with hundreds of fans about their lung health. Having drivers come over for autographs and talking with fans was a big hit too. We do these events all over the country and being at NHRA national events is a great platform to talk about all our lung health efforts.”
Morrison thrilled the fans in the Top Eliminator Club on Saturday of the U.S. Nationals,
photo credit Werner CommunicationsOn Sunday Morrison hosted fellow NHRA competitors TJ Zizzo, Spencer Hyde and Chris King in the Kroger Health booth for an autograph session. The quartet of drivers signed autographs for fans and Morrison talked about the importance of early detection for COPD and asthma issues. The display featured several race cars as well as interactive displays for fans to better understand lung health issues.

On race day Morrison was on the American Rebel Light stage talking with fans about the Right2Breathe Project as well as giving fans insight into the racing action on track. Morrison will be driving the Paul Smith owned and tuned Funny Car with marketing support from long-time sponsors PennGrade1 and Glockner Oil at the NHRA Reading Nationals. At that event he will be doing double duty also racing in the Top Alcohol Dragster category.

“Race day is a magical day and while we weren’t on track today for the U.S. Nationals,” said Morrison. “Getting to talk to the Monday crowd from the American Rebel Light stage with NHRA announcer Hannah Rickards was another great opportunity to talk about Right2Breathe as well as who fans should keep their eye on once the race gets started.”

The NHRA Reading Nationals is the first of six playoff races for the NHRA Countdown. The event will begin for Morrison and the PennGrade1 Funny Car with two qualifying sessions on Friday September 12 at historic Maple Grove Raceway.

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Early Spin Derails Berry’s Night at Darlington

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

Josh Berry’s third-place starting position in the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway offered plenty of promise, but that promise disappeared almost immediately when a first-lap spin in Turn 2 left the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang Dark Horse battered in the opening race of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

Berry was able to drive the car to the garage, where the Wood Brothers Racing crew went to work on repairs. He said the car bottomed out several times before the spin.

“It was definitely unexpected,” Berry said. “We didn’t really fight that too bad in practice. I saw a replay of it (from the camera in Ross Chastain’s car) and you could tell that it bottomed out four or five times. You can’t save them when they’re like that.”

After spending more than 100 laps in the garage, Berry returned to the track in 38th position with little opportunity to recover. The team instead focused on securing a bonus point for the fastest lap of the night, and on Lap 114 Berry delivered with a speed of 169.351 miles per hour.

He carried on to finish 38th, collecting two points and leaving Darlington 16th in the Playoff standings, 19 points behind the cutoff line.

After two more races – at World Wide Technology Raceway and Bristol Motor Speedway – the bottom four drivers in the standings will be eliminated from championship contention. Despite the setback, Berry remains confident that he and the No. 21 team can rebound.

“It looked like a lot of people had a bad night, which we know how this goes,” he said. “We just need to avoid a bad night ourselves. I feel like we’re still within striking distance. If we just go have two good weeks, we’ll at least be in the mix once we get to Bristol.”

Berry and the Motorcraft/Quick Lane team now turn their focus to Sunday’s Enjoy Illinois 300 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

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Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA Hypercar entries aim to carry momentum into COTA

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

Cadillac primed to defend home turf DETROIT (Sept. 1, 2025) – What would be more satisfying than a Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA victory at its home race? An encore 1-2 finish, of course.
Following the dominating performance in the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) campaign in São Paulo, Brazil, the twin Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.Rs head to Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Central Texas with intentions of lassoing a third consecutive pole and repeating the dual podium celebration.

“Obviously, the team is on a complete high from the 1-2 in Brazil, so we’re hoping for more good things,” said Bamber, who has two victories at COTA (IMSA GTLM class in 2016 and WEC LMP1 in 2017). “And I think we’ve just got to keep pestering that top five with both cars and then chipping away. Closing that gap is going to be tough. But if we’re always in the top five and we’re always there, we know we’re going to be closing in points and scoring big points.”
Last year, in the WEC’s return to the circuit for the first time since 2020 when Nato co-drove to the overall victory, Cadillac Racing’s lone Hypercar entry driven by Bamber and Lynn qualified third and finished a season-high fourth.

Cadillac primed to defend home turfCadillac Hertz Team JOTA Hypercar entries aim to carry momentum into COTA DETROIT (Sept. 1, 2025) – What would be more satisfying than a Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA victory at its home race? An encore 1-2 finish, of course.
Following the dominating performance in the fifth round of the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) campaign in São Paulo, Brazil, the twin Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.Rs head to Circuit of The Americas (COTA) in Central Texas with intentions of lassoing a third consecutive pole and repeating the dual podium celebration.

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INEVITABLE: Kofoid Sneaks by Gravel for Third Huset’s Victory of 2025, Banks $25,000

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

The Series sophomore out duels the defending champion for his fifth win at Huset’s

BRANDON, SD (August 31, 2025) – Michael “Buddy” Kofoid did it again at Huset’s Speedway.

It’s starting to become a foregone conclusion that you’ll find the Penngrove, CA native parked in Victory Lane when big money is on the line at the Brandon, SD oval. A devastating defeat in the 2023 Huset’s High Bank Nationals due to mechanical troubles didn’t simply motivate he and Roth Motorsports. It fueled them with an absolute unwillingness to lose when the lights are brightest.

Rewind to June two years ago when a powerplant souring stripped away a probable $250,000 win at the 3/8 mile. Since then, Huset’s has hosted a trio of six-figure payday World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series races, and Kofoid has won all three. Labor Day weekend brought The Greatest Show on Dirt back to town for the L.G. Everist Huset’s Shootout presented by Myrl & Roy’s Paving and another solid paycheck. This time $25,000 was up for grabs, and the result was the same, another checkered flag in Kofoid’s hand.

The 23-year-old lined up third for the 40-lap finale and slipped to fourth on the opening circuit where he rode for a while. But then a pivotal Lap 13 saw Kofoid rip by both Ryan Timms and Carson Macedo to take over the runner-up spot.

Then began the pursuit of leader and defending World of Outlaws champion David Gravel. Kofoid stalked him in traffic and even snuck by at one point only to have Gravel rip back around in the next set of corners. A caution with 10 laps remaining made Kofoid think his chances were over, but he was far from done.

On Lap 36, Gravel left the door open down low and Kofoid capitalized. He rolled right on by and drove to yet another Huset’s win.

“I thought I had him (Gravel), and then I tried to sneak under a lapped car and he circled me, and I was like, ‘Man, that’s probably it,’” Kofoid explained. “I figured maybe he would be going to the bottom, and I just wanted to do the opposite of what he did in (Turns) 1 and 2, but I felt like the top was the place to be at the end in (Turns) 3 and 4. I was catching him little by little, and I don’t know if he saw me on the screen. And then I just went to the bottom last second and stuck it pretty good.

“This is one of my favorite tracks. Running good here and for some reason having an edge here definitely helps you like it more. It just has always been a really fun track for me. No matter if it’s slick or heavy, I feel like it puts on good racing. But I’m confident that we’ll be just as good hopefully everywhere else we go.”

Kofoid notched a pair of milestones with the victory. His 10th win of the season made him the 18th different driver to reach double digits in one year with the World of Outlaws. It was also his 20th overall Series triumph, making him the 34th to reach that mark and tying him with Greg Hodnett, Lance Dewease, and Rico Abreu on the all-time list. He’s now up to five overall World of Outlaws wins at Huset’s, ranking behind only Sammy Swindell (10), Mark Kinser (nine), and Steve Kinser (seven).

Gravel held on for the second spot after leading a majority of the race. The Watertown, CT native felt some disappointment after he felt a single slip up was the difference between a trip to Victory Lane and settling for runner-up. He and Big Game Motorsports have pieced together 13 consecutive top fives.

“I just got the right rear (tire) plugged in the cushion and got tight and couldn’t get off of it and got over the cushion off of (Turn) 2,” Gravel said. “Bummer for my guys. Definitely had a car capable of winning there. Buddy was stalking me a lot in lap traffic and got up in the seat. Man, I felt like I was good on the bottom of (Turns) 1 and 2, but the lappers were running low so I ran high, and it just cost me.”

The final podium position belonged to Carson Macedo aboard the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41. They closed out their strong month of August with their eighth finish of sixth or better in nine races. After Mother Nature threatened the night early, Macedo was simply happy to be able to hit the track and race.

“I think the track crew at Huset’s Speedway and everybody here at this place did a great job just to get the race in in the first place,” Macedo said. “I was sitting in the lounge earlier during that storm, and I really didn’t think we were going to race on the first place. We’re standing here on the front stretch, and we still had a pretty wide, racy track. I thought it was good enough to make passes. Buddy didn’t start on the front row and still won the race.”

Sheldon Haudenschild and Logan Schuchart completed the top five.

Schuchart wheeled from 17th for his result, enough to earn him the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger.

David Gravel earned his 18th Simpson Quick Time of the season and the 140th of his career in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

Heat Races belonged to David Gravel (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Buddy Kofoid (Real American Beer Heat Two), Mark Dobmeier (WIX Filters Heat Three), and Carson Macedo (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Four).

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to David Gravel.

Gravel also topped the Toyota Dash.

Christopher Thram won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Cole Macedo.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars return to New Mexico for the first time since 2022 with a weekend (Sept. 5-6) at Vado Speedway Park. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

INEVITABLE: Kofoid Sneaks by Gravel for Third Huset’s Victory of 2025, Banks $25,000

The Series sophomore out duels the defending champion for his fifth win at Huset’s

BRANDON, SD (August 31, 2025) – Michael “Buddy” Kofoid did it again at Huset’s Speedway.

On Lap 36, Gravel left the door open down low and Kofoid capitalized. He rolled right on by and drove to yet another Huset’s win.

Sheldon Haudenschild and Logan Schuchart completed the top five.

Schuchart wheeled from 17th for his result, enough to earn him the KSE Racing Products Hard Charger.

David Gravel earned his 18th Simpson Quick Time of the season and the 140th of his career in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to David Gravel.

Gravel also topped the Toyota Dash.

Christopher Thram won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Cole Macedo.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars return to New Mexico for the first time since 2022 with a weekend (Sept. 5-6) at Vado Speedway Park. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 2. 2-David Gravel[1]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[2]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[7]; 5. 1S-Logan Schuchart[17]; 6. 10-Ryan Timms[5]; 7. 13-Mark Dobmeier[4]; 8. 17B-Bill Balog[13]; 9. 15S-Kerry Madsen[10]; 10. 6K-Kaleb Johnson[15]; 11. 16-Riley Goodno[6]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[18]; 13. 83JR-Sam Henderson[8]; 14. 99-Skylar Gee[22]; 15. 96-Blaine Stegenga[23]; 16. 7S-Chris Windom[16]; 17. 23-Garet Williamson[25]; 18. 18-Emerson Axsom[24]; 19. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[11]; 20. 6-Zach Hampton[19]; 21. 64-Andy Pake[12]; 22. 28M-Conner Morrell[14]; 23. 2C-Cole Macedo[9]; 24. 24T-Christopher Thram[21]; 25. 45X-Landon Crawley[20]

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McFADDEN SURVIVES LATE DAMAGE, BAGS $10K LOUIE VERMEIL NARC FINALE!

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

(8/31/25 – Andrew Kunas) Calistoga, CA … James McFadden ended up with a second Louie Vermeil trophy in as many nights, but that very nearly didn’t happen as a last lap parts break left McFadden fighting to make it to the checkered flag and had the capacity crowd in a frenzy in Sunday’s NARC 410 sprint car feature at the newly reopened Calistoga Speedway.

The Australian ace, who led all 25 laps on Saturday’s Vermeil opener, looked like he was on his way to easily doing so again as he made a couple of key late race passes around slower cars to keep the pursuing Dominic Gorden behind him. However, a left front shock stud on McFadden’s car broke late on the final lap, leaving the left front tire not rolling in sync with the right side and lagging as he rounded Turns 3 and 4 of the big half-mile.

Gorden quickly closed in but McFadden stood on the gas off of Turn 4 and managed to keep the car straight enough and just hold off Gorden for the $10,000 top prize at the finish line. Letting off the gas after crossing the line, McFadden’s car finally gave in and he spun out in Turn 1. With the crowd showing its approval for him successfully saving the win, McFadden was towed to the front stretch to celebrate his seventh career NARC victory, and also at another track he had never been to before Saturday.

McFadden’s two wins this weekend were also the first by an Australian at the historic half-mile since Gary Rush in 1975. McFadden was made aware of it and felt honored, having grown up watching Rush in his home country. Acknowledging the timely checkered flag coming out just in time for him with the damage on his car, McFadden also said that sometimes it was better to be lucky than good. He did, however, praise the Tarlton family and team for their work. Sunday was McFadden’s sixth NARC win on the season aboard the American Rock & Rent-sponsored Tarlton Motorsports No. 21 TRD-powered Maxim.

McFadden’s sweep of the Louie Vermeil Classic came after McFadden and the Tarlton Motorsports team were not even scheduled to be at Calistoga’s grand reopening after being closed for six years. The team was at Skagit Speedway in Washington with the High Limit Racing series on Thursday and Friday nights, but a very tough time there led the team to decide a change in scenery was needed and the team hurried south to California for the Vermeil. The decision paid off with $5,000 and $10,000 paydays and a pair of “Louies” to put in the trophy case. They also got an additional $500 over two nights in lap leader money from METTEC Titanium. McFadden won four out of five nights during NARC’s Fastest Five Days in Motorsports in the Pacific Northwest in June before he and the Tarlton Motorsports headed east for the summer. Despite only running part of the schedule, McFadden’s six wins are tied for the most in NARC competition this season.

Gorden, almost got the wounded McFadden car at the line but settled for a strong second place finish aboard the Gary Silva Ranches-sponsored Fortitude Driver Development No. 10 Rider-powered Maxim. Former NARC champion and current points leader D.J. Netto padded that points lead with his second podium in as many nights aboard the Penny Newman Grain-sponsored Netto Ag No. 88n Rider-powered KPC. Backing up his Saturday runner-up finish, Shane Golobic finished fourth aboard the NOS Energy-sponsored Matt Wood Racing No. 17w Kistler-powered KPC. Indiana visitor Spencer Bayston bounced back from a DNF Saturday to finish fifth aboard the Works Limited-sponsored Kevin Kozlowski No. W Speedway-powered Schnee-Lawson.

Bud Kaeding earned the Williams Roofing Hard Charger nod, coming from 12th to finish sixth. Chance Grasty, Sean Becker, Dylan Bloomfield and Caeden Steele rounded out the Top 10.

Heat races earlier in the evening were won by D.J. Netto and Dominic Gorden. Spencer Bayston paced the 17-car field in Automotive Racing Products Qualifying with a time of 16.756 seconds around the big half-mile clay oval.

Hoosier Racing Tires Feature (25 laps): 1. 21-James McFadden[2]; 2. 10-Dominic Gorden[1]; 3. 88N-DJ Netto[4]; 4. 17W-Shane Golobic[7]; 5. W-Spencer Bayston[3]; 6. 29-Bud Kaeding[12]; 7. X1-Chance Grasty[6]; 8. 7B-Sean Becker[11]; 9. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[8]; 10. 121-Caeden Steele[10]; 11. 14-Mariah Ede[13]; 12. 12-Jarrett Soares[14]; 13. 12J-John Clark[15]; 14. 17-Colby Copeland[5]; 15. 26-Billy Aton[9]; 16. 11-Tyler Cato[16]; DNS – 92-Andy Forsberg.

METTEC Titanium Lap Leaders: James McFadden 1-25

Williams Roofing Hard Charger: 29 Bud Kaeding, 12th to 6th (+6)

Automotive Racing Products Fast Qualifier (17 cars): W Spencer Bayston, 16.756 seconds

Brown & Miller Racing Solutions Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 88n D.J. Netto, 2. X1 Chance Grasty, 3. W Spencer Bayston, 4. 83v Dylan Bloomfield, 5. 26 Billy Aton, 6. 7b Sean Becker, 7. 12 Jarrett Soares, 8. 12j John Clark, DNS – 92 Andy Forsberg.

Bud Kaeding earned the Williams Roofing Hard Charger nod, coming from 12th to finish sixth. Chance Grasty, Sean Becker, Dylan Bloomfield and Caeden Steele rounded out the Top 10.

METTEC Titanium Lap Leaders: James McFadden 1-25

Williams Roofing Hard Charger: 29 Bud Kaeding, 12th to 6th (+6)

Automotive Racing Products Fast Qualifier (17 cars): W Spencer Bayston, 16.756 seconds

Kimo’s Tropical Carwash Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 10 Dominic Gorden, 2. 17 Colby Copeland, 3. 21 James McFadden, 4. 17w Shane Golobic, 5. 121 Caeden Steele, 6. 29 Bud Kaeding, 7. 14 Mariah Ede, 8. 11 Tyler Cato.

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Allmendinger Leads Chevrolet with Top-Five Finish at Darlington Raceway

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

·        Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger led Chevrolet to the checkered flag with a fifth-place finish in the Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway – the team’s second top-five finish of the season. Three different Chevrolet organizations were represented in the top-10 of the final running order, including Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet team, who overcame damage during an opening lap incident to rebound for an eighth-place finish. Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar turned in his seventh top-10 of the season – driving his No. 77 Chevrolet to a ninth-place result.
·        With much of the playoff field plagued with problems throughout the opening race of the Round of 16, five Team Chevy championship contenders will head to World Wide Technology Raceway above the cutline – led by former champion, Kyle Larson, who drove his No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to a strong points day in the first two stages to build his cushion to now 38-points.
·        A trio of playoff contenders representing three Chevrolet organizations began their championship campaigns with top-10 qualifying efforts – led by the 2023 Southern 500 winner, Kyle Larson, who took the green-flag for the crown jewel event from the fifth position. Chaos ensued at the front of the field to bring the caution out on the opening lap, but all seven Team Chevy playoff contenders escaped without damage. The remainder of the opening stage went caution-free with the field seeing two sets of green-flag pit cycles. Remaining a steady fixture in the top-10 of the opening stage were Ross Chastain and Larson, who took the first green-white checkered flag in the fourth and sixth positions, respectively.  ·        Picking up right where he left off, Ross Chastain made the move up into the runner-up position when the second natural caution of the race fell on Lap 151. With a majority of the lead pack opting to hit pit road, the No. 1 pit crew powered off a stop to keep Chastain on the front-row for the restart. With a valiant effort to battle then-race leader, Chase Briscoe, for the top position, Chastain ultimately settled his Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet back into the second position near the halfway point of Stage Two. Battling overall loose conditions, Chastain held onto a position in the top-five before crew chief, Phil Surgen, called his driver to pit road during the green-flag cycle with 43 laps to go in the stage. As the field cycled through for the next green-flag run, it was playoff contenders Larson and Chastain that found their way back into the top-five before a pair of cautions flew during the closing laps of Stage Two. The duo went on to add onto an already strong points night with back-to-back top-six stage finishes.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS: POS. DRIVER
5th – AJ Allmendinger8th – Kyle Busch9th – Carson Hocevar

Chevrolet’s season statistics with 27 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:

Wins: 12Poles: 10Top-Fives: 53Top 10s: 114Stage Wins: 22

UP NEXT: The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 16 will continue at World Wide Technology Raceway with the Enjoy Illinois 300 on Sunday, September 7, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Allmendinger Leads Chevrolet with Top-Five Finish at Darlington Raceway

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race Advances Chevrolet Newsroom

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS: POS. DRIVER
5th – AJ Allmendinger8th – Kyle Busch9th – Carson Hocevar

Chevrolet’s season statistics with 27 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:

Wins: 12Poles: 10Top-Fives: 53Top 10s: 114Stage Wins: 22

Post-Race Driver Quotes: Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletFinished: 11th“We were the best Chevrolet for a lot of the night. We were racing around the No. 5 (Kyle Larson), which we haven’t been doing much this year, so that was step one if we want to do anything this year in the playoffs. We had to be faster and we were. I was proud to be up there fighting with him and racing around him because he and the No. 24 (William Byron) have been the benchmark a lot of the year. To carry the flag for Chevrolet a lot tonight is something to be proud of. We just had a fueling issue there at the end and it took us back.” Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 23rd“We started OK and then we just had issues throughout the race. We got too tight in that one run and just couldn’t overcome it. We kind of got it back going the other direction; made some passes and got up to around 18th. We hit pit road and the caution came out. It was just unfortunate. We just struggled with our No. 3 BPS/Winchester Deer Season XP Chevrolet and didn’t execute like we needed to. We just have to do better. But all-in-all, we’re not that far below the cutline. We just need to have a solid finish in the next two races of this round.” Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 19th“It was a good thing we were able to get those stage points early. I felt pretty average all night. We had a lot of stack-ups on the restarts. I’m not sure why, but we had a big one there in the final stage and we just struggled after that. I’m not sure if the splitter got bent up or what happened, but it just took all my problems and made it all worse. We also had radio issues and all sorts of other problems, so to have a bad race and still gain on the cutline is rewarding. Obviously, we want more on this No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team. It’s typically a good track for us, so I’m not sure, but we’ll regroup and hopefully rebound in the next two races.” Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 8th “The No. 8 Morgan & Morgan Chevrolet was a strong car tonight in Darlington. We got caught up in the wreck on the initial lap of the race, but thanks to the hard work of our pit crew, they got us back on track and we raced our way to the front of the field. We struggled on restarts, but our adjustments on pit stops kept us competitive and let us leave with a top-10 finish.” Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 17th“It was a long night for the No. 9 NAPA Chevy team. We clawed our way up into the top-10. We went long on that one run in the second stage. Everybody had gotten really aggressive shorting it, so we just thought we’d tried to run long and see what happened. As soon as we did that and got eight or 10 laps in, the caution came out. We came in and ended up having an issue on pit road and, unfortunately, it all kind of happened at the same time on that next cycle. We just had to put our heads down and grind it out. We just have to keep pushing at it. We just have to put our heads together and try to execute better at Gateway. Appreciate all the effort from everyone at NAPA, Chevrolet and Hendrick Motorsports. Everyone is working really hard, we just have to put our heads together and figure out how to go forward.” AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing ChevroletFinished: 5th“It feels awesome to get a top-five finish with our No. 16 Black’s Tire Chevrolet. Darlington (Raceway) has owned me, and I’ve worked hard trying to study this place. Our Black’s Tire Chevy was awesome all night. Trent Owens (crew chief) did a phenomenal job on the adjustments. We just kept fighting all race long. I’m constantly trying to learn around this place. My pit crew were absolutely phenomenal and that’s what got us near the front, and then we could just hold the track position. I’m just so proud of everyone on this team. It was a well-executed night all around. It just feels good to get around this place decent and come out with a strong finish.” William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 21st“We just struggled all night. I thought the short run was a struggle. I was hoping we’d be able to pay on the backend and have some long run pace, but we would just fall off a cliff. A lot of the time, the pit cycles would kind of save us where we could just pit right when we started to struggle, but the last run was really long. As good as we normally are here, it’s definitely a bummer. Appreciate All-Pro Auto Reconditioning, Chevrolet and everyone on this No. 24 team. We’ve definitely got some work to do. We’ll go to Gateway and try to be better there.” Michael McDowell, No. 71 Spire Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 33rd“Not the day we were hoping for with our Delaware Life Chevrolet; we had some decent pace during Stage Two, but just couldn’t put it all together and fell a lap down. After that we had an issue with one of our tires and just didn’t have enough race left to earn those laps back. We have some things to look into so we can figure out exactly what happened, but just not our day here in Darlington.” Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletFinished: 32nd“It was a tough day for the No. 88 WeatherTech Chevrolet team. Our car was very different from yesterday. Stephen (Doran, crew chief) didn’t give up on tuning on it, but we just couldn’t make it better. We tried something different with strategy, but got a caution at the wrong time and couldn’t rebound from it.”

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John Force Racing–SUNDAY RECAP – Indianapolis Race 14 of 20

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

Photography: John Force Racing / Auto Imagery / Gary Nastase

PROCK DOMINATES PLAYNHRA FUNNY CAR ALL-STAR CALLOUT, FORCE AND BECKMAN CAPTURE NO. 1 QUALIFIER SPOTSJohn Force Racing leads the way across the board Sunday at the Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Photography: John Force Racing / Auto Imagery / Gary Nastase

BROWNSBURG, IND. (Aug. 31, 2025) – John Force Racing collectively ran the table Sunday at the NHRA Mission Foods Cornwell Quality Tools U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, with Brittany Force and Jack Beckman earning the No. 1 Qualifier spots in Top Fuel and Funny Car, respectively, and Austin Prock grabbing the trophy and the $80,000 winner’s check in the PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout. Prock defeated Cruz Pedregon and Matt Hagan in the Callout with runs of 3.907 seconds and 3.910 seconds but saved his best run of the week for the final round against Ron Capps, whom he beat for last year’s U.S. Nationals title. Capps got the holeshot but the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS Funny Car was soon ahead and pulling away at the lights with a run of 3.873 seconds at 333.00 mph to Capp’s 4.048 and 302.01. The run also moved Prock to second in the qualifying order for Monday’s eliminations. “Driving for Cornwell Tools, you always want to take out your sponsor’s competitors. We raced Cruz this morning, so we had ‘Tools Wars’ this morning first round and then worked out to where we had a Tool War in the final against Ron Capps,” Prock said. “So anytime we turn on the win light, it’s exciting, but when you’re racing against one of your sponsor’s competitors, and you can turn on the win light, it tastes a little better. So, all the people at Cornwall Tools were definitely stoked that we got the job done.” The reigning 2024 NHRA Funny Car Champion also clinched the 2025 regular season championship, and with it a $150,000 bonus, running his Sunday total to $230,000. Prock will line up against No. 15 qualifier Julie Nataas (4.099, 279.85) in Monday’s first round of eliminations. Force earned her fourth No. 1 Qualifier of the season and fifth career U.S. Nationals low elapsed time (2019, 2021, 2022, 2024, 2025) with Friday’s night session run of 3.666 seconds at 339.79 mph. Her Cornwell Quality Tools Top Fuel Dragster also had passes at 3.779 seconds at 337.41 mph (Q3 Saturday afternoon) and 3.767 seconds at 338.85 mph (Q4 Sunday afternoon). “We feel ready and confident going into race day tomorrow,” Force said. “You can’t look at all the excitement that is Indy. For me, it’s just, it’s no different than when we were running in Brainerd last weekend, or two weeks from now when we’ll be running in Reading. Our focus is always one run at a time, and we want to win everywhere we go. It doesn’t matter what racetrack we’re at or what event is happening. We always want to win. “Now, the U.S. Nationals? Yes, this is a special one. This is on everybody’s bucket list. Everybody wants to win here, especially our Cornwell Quality Tools team.” Force will face No. 16 qualifier Ida Zetterstrum in Monday’s first round of eliminations. Beckman’s Friday night qualifying lap of 3.865 seconds at 332.26 mph in the Brute Force PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevrolet SS established the Funny Car benchmark throughout the extended five rounds of qualifying. In the PlayNHRA Funny Car All-Star Callout, the two-time NHRA Funny Car Champion took out Bob Tasca III in a close first-round matchup (3.951 seconds at 332.02 mph versus 3.972 and 322.43). He lost lane choice to Capps for the semifinals and had a strong run going until the the crankshaft broke right before the lights. Capps ran 3.912 seconds at 333.33 mph to Beckman’s 3.993 and 282.012. “We broke the crankshaft in half,” said Beckman. “I heard Jason Galvin announcing and it looked like maybe the car spun the tires because you saw one of the holes go dead. No, it was way worse than that. It snapped the crankshaft in half down there. But, if there’s a silver lining on that, it didn’t happen Monday on race day. So, we put another engine in it went out in the final round of qualifying and pushed hard trying to get bonus points. Our numbers looked great until it spun the tires, but we know exactly what we need to do for race day. And tomorrow’s going to be exceptionally quick first round because we’re starting an hour early (at 10 a.m. ET). Beckman will go up against No. 16 qualifier Justin Schriefer (4.103, 280.78) in the first round of eliminations. Track & TV SchedulesFinal eliminations are scheduled for 10 a.m. ET on Monday, Sept 1. Coverage of Monday’s elimination rounds begins at 12 p.m. ET on FS1 and shifting to FOX at 2 p.m. ET.

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Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES 1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway tri-ovalLebanon, TennesseeRace ReportAugust 31
LEBANON, Tennessee (August 31, 2025) – Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet won an exciting 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale, giving the Bowtie five trips to victory lane in the last seven races. Team Chevy dominated a chaotic race, leading 207 of 225 laps, with Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet joining his teammate on the podium and Conor Daly in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet finishing fifth.
Pole winner Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet dominated early, leading 116 of the first 126 laps until a mechanical issue ended his day early.
The No. 14 Phoenix Investors A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet, with Santino Ferrucci behind the wheel, was on the move early, going from 12th to fourth before a penalty sent him to the back of the field before finishing eighth, leading all drivers with 36 on-track passes.
Newgarden’s win is the 237th all-time for Chevrolet in the INDYCAR SERIES and the 127th since the introduction of the twin-turbo 2.2L V6 in 2012. Newgarden now has 32 career wins, all of them powered by Chevrolet, leading all Bowtie drivers. It was Newgarden’s 20th win on an oval and 14th trip to victory lane on a short oval (those 1.3-mile or under). Of Team Penske’s 246 wins, 124 have been Chevrolet-powered, including 87 since 2012. It was his first win at Nashville Superspeedway and the 14th different track that the 34-year-old has visited victory lane, extending his win streak to 11 years. McLaughlin’s daring last-lap pass rewarded him with his third podium of the season and the 22nd of his career. After a hard impact in Turn 2, David Malukas in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet, out of an abundance of caution, was taken to the hospital. He was released after all scans came back clear.

Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix Race Results:

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet won:
I’m just glad we got one without anything going wrong. For the No. 2 crew. Just happy to celebrate with this team. They deserve it. It’s rewarding for our team; they’ve done a great job. Obviously, Will won in Portland, which was a huge lift for everybody, and he really deserved it. I think he could have won this race today. It was a shame to see what happened to him. He’s a legend. It was great for our team, Astemo, and Team Chevy. Tough year, tough, tough year, but good to get a win here at the end.
How about doing it here at home in Nashville and the great crowd.
It’s pretty great. I think we should be racing in Nashville to end the year all the time. We don’t need to be going anywhere else. I don’t care if it’s this track or somewhere else. But, in the vicinity would be a good thing. It’s great to be at home. Pumped! Just pumped!

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet 3rd:
“I’m not exhausted. I’m fine. I’m just really gutted for my guys. I just got a little high there. Just trying to protect my entry and, just got too high. I can’t believe the DEX Imaging Chevy was okay. I think it was a little bent at the end, but I wanted a podium bad, and I just kept my foot in it. And the last lap, I just sent it, and I was like, if I hit the fence, I hit the fence. I don’t know. But the handle only went away little bit. But I just held it flat, and didn’t really care if we went in the fence or not. And thankfully, it stuck, and I was glad to get the boys a podium. But congrats to Josef. Congrats to the team Penske. It’s a great end to our year. We were good today. Just not good enough.”

Conor Daly, No. 76 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet 5th:
“Honestly, I was just hoping we were gonna finish it out there because I I didn’t know how good the reds would be, on a restart when they cool down. And Scott (McLaughlin) was proof. We both fired it into turn one on that last restart, and we nearly ended up both in the wall just with no grip. So, to hang on to a top five is really cool. Appreciate the All American Rejects for being a part of our car. And Chevrolet, honestly, thank you so much to Chevrolet all year. It’s just good to finish on a high note. This team deserved it after a tough start to the weekend. Just wish we could have finished it off on the podium.”
Callum Ilott, No, 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet 9th:
“It was a good race. We stabilised in the mid pack throughout the middle of the race, and we decided that the Alternate was good towards the end of the race. I did have a bit of vibration during one of the stints which was a bit scary. However, we were able to move forwards after the last stop with the newer tires and made some decent moves. The crew did a good job in the pits and Chevrolet did a great job with the engine, so overall a positive way to end the season.”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Phoenix Investors A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet 8th:“Honestly, my crew did a phenomenal job all day. This one’s on me, and under the caution – you know? I was in the mindset of Gateway, and I pitted off of turn three, instead of off of turn four. Gave us an end of the line penalty when we were running sixth early on in the race, and that would have made for an easy day.
“But, you know, we came back, finished eighth, passed probably 10 cars on one of those restarts. I mean, the guys did an incredible job over the wall, passed a bunch of people in pit lane as well. So a little hairy at the end there between a couple of competitors, and broke the front wing and finished off the last stint with the front wing all mangled too. So, honestly, it was a hell of a day.
“I had a really good feeling for the high line in the first half of the race. Once the front wing broke and I was kind of sure it was if something was wrong, it was a little bit more of a gamble for me. And when I got towards the end of the race, I was just trying not to take too many more chances than I needed to.
“I can’t wait until next year, and I want to thank Sexton Properties, Phoenix Investors, Vensure HR, ABC Supply, and Homes for our Troops. I mean, this whole team’s done a phenomenal job. Cannot wait to come back next year.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Java House Chevrolet 10th:
“It was going to be tough starting where we did. We stayed aggressive on strategy all day and got a respectable result. The No. 20 Java House Chevrolet was good all weekend, we just didn’t seem to have overall pace. Lots of positives to take from the year, lots of room to grow. We’ll start prepping for 2026 now.”
Robert Shwartzman, No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet 14th:
“That’s the final round finished. I don’t really have much to say after we lost the Rookie of the Year battle in the final few laps after my drive through penalty. I was defending for my position on the restart and got the penalty, so we lost out on the title and on a top ten finish as I was running eighth at the time. It’s a shame because the car was really fast and I was having a lot of fun, so I’m sure we could’ve finished in the top ten even though I did make a mistake in the final pit stop. Thanks to the team for the great car, it felt really good all weekend, it’s just a shame with the final result.”
Sting Ray Robb, No. 77 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet 16th:
“Year-end finale at Nashville Superspeedway. It was chaos. Seems like there was a lot of attrition out there. Some big hits for some of the leaders, which was pretty crazy to see, but that just shows you how competitive the series is and how tough the track was today. So, I’m really happy with this team.
“You know, they’ve worked so hard this year, and I’m very thankful to be a part of it and to come back to a place where I won a championship before it feels like home. So, I know that we got some learning to do, but, this is going be a season to build on for sure. And I think that, Conor did a great job this year. Congrats to him for today for another top five. That was really fun to see. We’ll put our heads back on after a couple week break and then see what we can learn and see how we can move forward.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet 17th: “We had a lot of pace. We qualified 7th yesterday with a really strong run, but then we had the engine change so we started 16th today. That put us in the thick of it in the race. This season we’ve had many days where there’s been a lot of potential, and we haven’t ended up finishing the weekend. I’ve made mistakes, other issues happened that were out of our control, we’ve just had bad luck. All in all, it was really important to build momentum for 2026. Today, to do a race distance, have a clean day, smooth day: that’s what we did.”
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet finished 21st:
“The Verizon Chevy was fast today, and it definitely showed there to start the race. I wish it had all played out differently so we could end the season with a strong result that I know our team was capable of. Really excited for Josef (Newgarden) to get the win, though.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet finished 24th: “We were moving today in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. All weekend it’s been such a joy to drive. Sadly, we ended up moving into the wall. That’s sometimes how it goes. These things are out of your control. All you can do is move on, keep on growing, keep on working on the things that we know we’ve been doing well, and also get better. Thank you to all the fans. Thank you to all of our partners who have been with us all year, and we look forward to 2026.” Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet finished 25th: “It’s been an amazing season with this team and credit to the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevy crew for giving it our all from start to finish. They gave me a fast car all weekend, and we could have clinched third in the standings with the pace we had. Unfortunately our day ended with an issue outside our control, and that was it for the season. We’re keeping our spirits high and know we’ve got more to accomplish in 2026. Thanks to our team partners and the Arrow McLaren fans who’ve been cheering us on all year long.” David Malukas, No. 4 Clarience Technologies A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet finished 26th: Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Splenda Stevia Chevrolet finished 27th:
I got away pretty good at the start. I got a good jump and got an opportunity to go to the high side, which is where I wanted to be. It seemed like I lost the rear end. I’m not sure why. I guess it was just very low grip. It was low grip up there and around I went.

NTT INDYCAR SERIES News ConferenceSunday, August 31, 2025Josef NewgardenJonathan DiuguidPress Conference
THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by the champion of the race, Josef Newgarden. First win of the season. 32nd career win, which ties him with Al Unser Jr. for ninth all time. Also joined by Penske Racing president Jonathan Diuguid.
Josef, better late than ever to get a win here in 2025. Your thoughts, to do it here in Nashville?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Very special. Never a bad time to show up and have a good day. I think the team really performed like you expect from Team Penske. I think we’ve had the same core that Team Penske’s always had throughout this whole year in a lot of ways. You saw it again today, just the men and women across the board.
Really didn’t matter which car. There was a point midway through the race, I came on the radio, Look at Will, looked amazing, incredible. He could have won the race today. I think Scott could have won the race.
That’s the cool thing about Team Penske. You walk into that building, it really doesn’t matter which car you’re looking at, I would be privileged to step in any one of them. I think they give you a shot to win the race.
It’s cool to be part of this team. We’ve got great leadership and depth across the board. I think that’s what carried us through this weekend to bring in this result.
THE MODERATOR: Jonathan, a nice finish for 2025, two at the podium, the win at Portland. A lot of good things happening towards the end.
JONATHAN DIUGUID: Yeah, obviously to win the last race of the season is a good stepping off point for next year, the best way you can end the championship or season.
It’s been a difficult year for us, but we’ve had strong performances the last few races. Like Josef mentioned, all three cars led laps today throughout different phases.
New downforce configuration this weekend. We didn’t know how it was going to pan out. When it came time to go, Scott and Josef was at the front, Will was up there earlier on. A really solid day for the entire group.
THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions.
Q. Josef, if you were sitting here a year ago, this would have been a normal thing. Felt like there’s a lot of relief after what has been the craziest year where nothing went right. Talk about this, a classic Newgarden feel to this victory.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t have a great answer for you. It doesn’t feel that different. Nothing went diabolically wrong. I tried to throw it in the bin there in the final pit stop. On the edge, but not over it (smiling).
Like a meteor didn’t come out of the sky today, which was nice. Other than that, it felt like a normal day in a lot of respects. It was not an easy race. I did not have the car where I wanted it at the start right away. I’m like, Okay, we’re nowhere where we need to be, let’s be patient.
We just did our thing like we always do: assessed everybody, hung there, went when we needed to go. We got the car in a really good spot in the end. I was like, Now we have a race-winning car. Let’s close the deal.
That whole sequence felt very normal to me. Just proud of the team. More than anything, when I show up and I’m ready to see the team rewarded for the effort. I really mean that. You have no idea what goes on. Some of you guys do know what goes on.
It is grueling to get to these races and to get through the weekend, put a car on the track that’s capable of winning, hitting all your marks every second of the race. It’s just so difficult to do.
To get that reward for the team… We had it in Portland, which was great for everybody. We had it today. That’s probably the highlight for me, just to see everybody rewarded for the effort and what they put in the end.
Q. (Question about many drivers with problems in the race.)
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I become so oblivious to it at this point, I’m not even looking for it anymore. If it happened, I would expect it, so…
Yeah, I was just driving today.
Q. John, two wins from the last three races. You said y’all aren’t really trying to do anything differently. The ingredients are there. Just needed to have clean runs. Speak to that. Seems proof that the formula is there.
JONATHAN DIUGUID: Yeah, no, Josef mentioned it before, we got a good, strong core. Didn’t mean that we didn’t have difficult conversations about where we needed to be.
Different issues with other cars, people making mistakes, it shows how tight the field is. We didn’t lift off the gas for these last few races, we pushed down further. I think that goes to show how we showed up today and how we raced on all three cars.
Q. Josef, we used to talk about how significant it was for you to win at Indy. You won there. Talked about winning here. It’s not the same, close, but where does it rank?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Oh, definitely up there. This was a hard race to win today. There was no gimmes. Got such depth across the board, everybody is so close as far as the competitive landscape, it’s just hard to find an advantage on anyone nowadays. This was a hard race to win.
It’s satisfying when you win a race in this environment. Then to win it at my hometown was really gratifying. I mean, I used to come here when was 12, 13 years old and I would watch stockcar races, INDYCAR races. I’d watch anything that came here. I sat in those stands, wherever I was able to go at the end of the race. Had no idea that I would have a racing career at that point in my life.
It’s cool to come full circle and to be so close to home. I love being here in Nashville, too, for the season finale. I like it for INDYCAR. It’s a great destination for us. Good for Nashville and certainly good for the series. I think we should continue that tradition.
I love this track. Whether it’s here, somewhere else in the future, as long as we’re in the Nashville vicinity, I’m going to be a happy guy.
Q. Talk about how much this means to you in terms of your confidence level going into 2026.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Honestly no difference. I think it’s probably more a team question. This season, tough year on the team. I think the schedule was tough this year. Everybody just kept working, kept their head down, kept doing their jobs. If anything, that’s what’s gratifying I think for us as a unit. It definitely can send us into the off-season and we can go to work.
At the end of the day we need to go to work. We need to have a better 2026, and we’re ready to do that.
Q. Obviously your team has been informed about the tire troubles of Pato O’Ward. What was going through your mind when you had this information? Did you feel it could happen to you as well?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I immediately got feedback from the team that we were doing a pretty good job at managing our temperatures. We seemed to be in line with our metrics. That gave me a lot of comfort.
I think we heightened our awareness to it after that. The guys were feeding me a lot of information after that to make sure I stayed in line. I wasn’t too worried because of what they were telling me.
Q. Penske started off the season, especially at the Indy 500, as a team who almost nothing went your way. How does this result revitalize the team going into 2026?
JONATHAN DIUGUID: I think Josef mentioned it. The INDYCAR season ends beginning of September. There’s long winter off months. Being able to finish with a win, it’s the last race that everyone went to. It’s hugely rewarding and a good springboard for 2026.
Q. Josef, when you saw Scott have his trouble after such a tumultuous season, what did that feel like in the cockpit where suddenly you’re in the lead, got a break that went your way?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I’ll be straight up with you, I was about to pass him. I didn’t care. I was like whatever. That’s a real answer for you.
Q. Obviously the end of the season has been much better than the beginning of the season for Team Penske. Was there a moment internally that was a pivot point in positivity?
JONATHAN DIUGUID: No, not really. Obviously our short oval package is quite strong. We were strong in Iowa, Milwaukee, strong here this weekend. The calendar helped us a little bit.
As Josef mentioned, we have to improve on some other types of circuits. Today it was about execution. That’s the biggest thing, showing the group and the team we could still do it. Just brings a level of excitement back.
Q. After such a difficult season, is it a relief to take victory at home, knowing you would have entered a winter with a winless year? What does that mean to you, winning at home?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Please don’t be mad at me. It really didn’t cross my mind. I wasn’t worried about any of that. For me, genuinely you got to focus on just doing the best job that you can, everything within your control. I think the same on the team side. If you do that, you leave, you do the best job you could, you can be satisfied to some degree leaving the track. That was my only focus.
I had a little bit of a mistake there at that last pit stop. If that had hurt us ultimately for the result, I would have been bummed by that because that was in my control. But that was the focus is what I’m trying to tell you. I just was trying to hit my marks as best that I could today. That’s all that was going through my mind.
Q. Up-and-down season. Did you take an extra moment to take this all in? The competition level in INDYCAR, these are hard to come by.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely. I mean, not yet, to answer your question. I’m ready to go home.
Q. Josef, busy off-season coming up with a baby on the way. How much are you looking forward to not racing, just getting back and being a dad and husband again for a little while?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, candidly I’m looking forward to it. I’d like to go away and start to miss it again. Sometimes that’s what you want, is to miss something. That’s my plan.
Q. You mentioned throughout the season keeping the faith a little bit, looking at each race and trying to take it individually. How do you think that helped you throughout the season?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, I think whenever there’s difficulty, I’m going to let Jonathan speak to this, it was a trying year for the team. I think for us just to stay focused. It’s one thing individually, but I think it’s even harder from a whole team standpoint to do that.
JONATHAN DIUGUID: What Josef was mentioning, when you’re not winning, you can question everything. You can question Josef’s performance to the pit crew to the car setup to reliability, everything that affected our year. We really have to sit down and focus on our processes, try to trust in what you believe is right.
I think what we’ve seen over the past couple races is that the processes work. We have a little bit more work to do to get back to the top of where we’re used to being. In general it’s easy to get sidetracked, get down on yourself, questioning everything.
That’s where the team excelled, we just sat and talked about the facts, how we need to improve together.
Q. Did you try to go whole doughnut there on the celebration?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I did, yeah. I was going to do that. I got the angle wrong. I’ll just leave is there. I wanted to go in the crowd. I thought that was cool if they opened the gate. I almost lied about it. I was just going to half slide. But I messed it up, unfortunately. I was going to burn that thing to the ground, too. That’s the saddest thing for me. Chevrolet probably wouldn’t have been happy about that. It’s probably good what happened, to be quite honest with you. I was going to go until it stopped.
Q. You said something like this was for the pigs. Can you explain that at all?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I said no one’s going to understand that.
Chad Gordon, my crew chief on the 2 car, he gave an incredible pre-race speech in Milwaukee. I think you’ll have to ask him about this. I don’t know that I’m going to relay this speech.
It involved pig farming. He had a stuffed pig today. It was for the pigs. Yeah, I don’t know how to elaborate much more on this. He gave a great team speech and we all felt it. We rallied behind that at the end of today. That’s about the only way I can surmise it for you.
Q. Was this about bacon or poop?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, no, no. It was with team moral.
JONATHAN DIUGUID: More wholesome than that.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Very wholesome.
Q. Does this win at all change how you will look back on this season?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Boy, that’s a good question.
I don’t know. No. I mean, probably not, if I really think about it. Mostly because I’ve seen the win potential in this team all year, I mean, so many different times. Whether it’s Indianapolis or it’s a place like Long Beach or St. Petersburg. Actually, I think the glaring weak point for us right now is road courses. But there’s been a lot of strength across the calendar.
This win, it’s not even like it’s validation. I saw the potential of it all year for the group. I don’t really feel differently about it being realized. I’m just happy for everybody. Happy that they’re able to enjoy it.
JONATHAN DIUGUID: Does keep your season winning streak alive.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I got to be honest, I didn’t care about that anymore. I really didn’t. I know we have that. But what does it matter? I used to be a big stats guy. I don’t care about stats anymore.
That doesn’t anymore, I guess is my point.
Q. Did you feel something wrong with the tires or do you feel like the tires are weaker? It was said maybe we have to talk with the company because the tires are wrong with all the competition.
JONATHAN DIUGUID: I think there were some tire issues today. Majority of the field got it right. The tires performed well all day, both the alternates and the primaries.
Not to say that they did anything wrong. Like Josef mentioned, we kind of did our homework and knew what we needed to do.
We’ve suffered with tire issues on short ovals from years ago, tried to understand what we needed to do. That’s what paid off today, not having a tire failure. But the degradation of our tires was quite low relative to everybody else.
Q. Josef, as you head into this off-season, you told us yesterday you would love a week or two, then be able to get back at it, you’ve used these off-seasons to evaluate your approach. Do you have any plans on using this off-season to look at or change anything up about how you go about trying to attack 2026?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Not at the moment.
Q. About 22 laps to go, you take the lead from Scott McLaughlin. The caution flies. What was your thought there?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: At that point we were in prime position to seal the victory. That was the only thing in my mind, was let’s close the deal here.
When you get an opportunity to close the deal in an INDYCAR race, you want to do that. Harder than it looks, to be quite honest with you. It’s like climbing a mountain to get to that point. You put yourself in position to say, Okay, we’ve run this day, we are here, let’s close the deal and get the result.
I knew for us, they’re giving me this scorecard, this is how many laps, this is what you need to do. I’m looking at my tools, looking at everything, planning how do I need to drive this last 12 or 13 laps when it goes green.
That’s what’s going through my mind. We’ve done all this work, gotten to this point, let’s close the deal and realize the victory.
THE MODERATOR: Anytime you can tie the great Al Unser Jr. in the stat sheet, that’s a pretty good year. Congratulations.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Thank you.

NTT INDYCAR SERIES News ConferenceSunday, August 31, 2025Scott McLaughlinPress Conference
THE MODERATOR: Third-place finishing driver today, Scott McLaughlin.
One of those races you look back and watch, a lot of action.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah.
THE MODERATOR: Your thoughts on finishing 2025 with a podium?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I had an absolute blast, man. That was so much fun. Restarts were intense. Yeah, it did string out a little bit, as it always does, mid to late stint. I think the exchanges and the restarts were phenomenal.
Yeah, obviously bittersweet for me. Third is great. I’m glad I sort of held on to that at the end. I felt like I could have held off Josef there. He was controlling his lane. I just turned a little late, got caught. Nearly saved it. Once you’re sort of out there, it’s hard to get it back.
Thankful I was able to straighten the wheel just before I hit the fence. The car was straight. I was able to push on, yeah.
Very good end to our season. Great team win. But I’m pissed off at myself.
THE MODERATOR: For? Could have been more?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I feel like it’s just been one of those years, haven’t quite put everything together. Had plenty of speed. Very lucky to get a podium today.
I have to give massive props to Kyffin Simpson. Probably the best oval race I’ve had. Felt like 2006 or something. Pinned around the outside, gave me some room. If he came up, I was in the fence hard. Big props to Kyff. Really, really happy to race him.
I thought the racing out there was really fair. I don’t know what happened to Malukas and Foster. Yeah, I thought it was a really good, proper goddamn INDYCAR oval race. Yeah, anyway, let’s get this going. I want to go to Broadway (smiling).
THE MODERATOR: Open it up for questions for Scott McLaughlin.
Q. In the long off-season is there a possibility we see you somewhere else, maybe in Europe?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I’m racing at Suzuka in a couple weeks in a Corvette. Working on a couple other things right now. Won’t be at Petit. It’s my daughter’s birthday, first birthday. I’ll actually be in Australia at the time spending a little bit of time there. Not racing anything, just going to hang by the beach, have a bit of fun.
I don’t know. Couple little forks in the iron, in the pot.
THE MODERATOR: Stokes. Iron in the fire.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Iron in the fire. There we go. Yeah, that’s where we’re at.
Q. Would you mind taking us through those final laps with you’re battles with Kyffin Simpson. What did you think when he overtook you in the closing laps?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I made sure as soon as he got in front of me, I kept that lane open as much as I could. I didn’t care if I was the only one up there. I used it until I couldn’t. Kept there, kept there.
I got a really good run off one, sort of psyched him to go to defend me. I wasn’t going to pass him on the inside into three. I wanted him to go so it cramped his entry. Then I was able to get a really good run through three, four. Basically just held it flat. It was one of those ones where if I’m in the fence, worst case probably sixth.
Like I said, that kid raced me with a lot of respect. He’s getting better and better every week. I really did enjoy racing him. Like I said, probably my best battle ever on an oval.
Q. We need some more of these bigger ovals on the schedule. They’re a lot of fun. This season for Team Penske as a whole, up and down. Talk about St. Pete to today, the roller coaster of a season you’ve had with the team. What does it mean to finish on the podium and take that momentum into the off-season?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I think we’ve had really good speed all year, as we’ve always said. Not quite Palou. He’s been standout. That’s on top of everyone. Massive props to him. Everyone needs to be better.
Certainly a different team, different look, different look inside. It’s got a great future. I see light at the end of the tunnel. Very excited for what’s ahead.
I think Roger is pumped and ready to go. Wants not only INDYCAR to be amazing, but our team, too. He’s pushing us. Yeah, it’s exciting.
Yeah, I’m glad to finish out the way it is. It’s nice to have a beautiful, long off-season. At the same time I kind of wish we had six or seven races left. It’s not realistic.
These big ovals are great. We need people to come to them. At the end of the day it’s on everyone to work yourselves, everyone be positive, get people coming to our races.
Very excited for the future of INDYCAR. I can’t wait to be a part of it. Hopefully we can, yeah, as a team grow and grow.
Q. What does this do for your confidence going into the off-season, having had a strong end to the season?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I don’t think I lost a heap of confidence throughout the year. It’s just nice to have a couple good results. Like I said, it’s bittersweet to end right now, knowing we were coming into our own a little bit, having strong results.
It’s kind of nice to have this off-season now. I felt like we just got our feet on the ground with people. Now we can really work this off-season to be better, work together, smoothen things out.
We know exactly where we need to be better. We have the people, the personnel, to improve. I’m very excited for that.
But yeah, it’s a long off-season. Is it a needed off-season? I think so. It’s going to be really nice for us. Yeah, I’m sad as a race car driver I’m not racing my car next week.
Q. It’s been a tough season across the board for everybody at Team Penske. A little bit of cause to celebrate when Will won a couple weeks ago. Roger finally I don’t want to say looked ecstatic, but he looked relieved when he left Victory Lane. How important was it to finally see the guy that runs everything to get a break?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I mean, I’m glad Josef won because I would have got a kick up the ass. Fantastic. I’m very happy for Roger. He’s been through a lot obviously. But he’s a great leader, someone that I respect immensely. Yeah, very happy for him to just get some results.
As we know, we are strong on ovals. We needed to be better at other places. Important we had a win here. Important that we won on an oval. Yeah, it’s just nice to give him some results and give him something to be happy with.
Q. When you had the moment out of turn two, how quickly did you go from being upset that you nearly lost it to the fact that you realized you’re not in that bad of shape?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I dropped the right rear. I tried to save it. Went up the track a little bit. Then I knew I was definitely gone. I tried to sort of pedal it a little bit and straighten the wheel when I hit the fence. Thankfully that saved it. I was pleased.
Entry of three, this thing is kind of still straight. For me it was just about cleaning the tires off. Benny, my engineer/strategist, was super good on the radio, kept me calm, which is sometimes hard to do.
Yeah, the restart, I think Conor Daly, he had alternates on, a mushy feeling tire. Softer, but felt a little bit loose on the restart. That’s why I lost out to Palou there.
Yeah, I’m sad I probably didn’t get to keep second because I think I had something there for Josef. Would have been fun.
Hey, we’re good. Keep pushing.
Q. Penske started off the season and especially at the Indy 500 as a team where almost nothing went your way. How does this result revitalize the team going into 2026?
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Like I said, it’s bittersweet to end right now because we’re on a bit of a momentum. Gives us a chance to reset, recuperate, smoothen things out within the team.
We’re in a great spot right now. Really genuinely see a lot of light at the end of the tunnel. Everyone is getting better. We’ve got to get better ourselves. But I’m really trusting and confident that the (indiscernible) gets better, get better for next year, start the season right in 2026. 2026? Jesus.
Q. You mentioned your battle with Kyffin. You were teammates in IMSA. You hear a lot of drivers talk about the best oval racing happens when you trust the driver that is alongside of you. Talk about your relationship.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Outside of the LMP2 thing, I haven’t raced Kyffin a ton, at least on an oval. I put a lot of trust in what Kyffin was doing. I raced him how I would race Alex Palou or Josef or anyone like that. He raced me like them. That’s a huge credit to him and his development. I know he’s put a lot of work in to be better, be stronger.
Obviously he’s in a Ganassi car, which is strong. We all know that. Still got to pedal the thing. He ran a really good race.
Yeah, man, I couldn’t believe how long we were side by side for, especially in P3, P4. I thought it would have run out, he would have washed it up. Honestly thought I was in the fence probably four or five laps to go. I thought he was going to wash up. I was sort of prepared for it.
Yeah, like stellar job by him. I’m no oval veteran. Like, I got a little bit more experience. It was nice to race a dude that genuinely respected the outside lane. Honestly, man, it felt like I was Helio and Sam Hornish. It was sick. It was really cool.
I was trying to give the fans something. When I went across the line, I could see everybody – probably cheering Josef – but thought they were cheering me (laughter).
We had a good time. Good kid.
THE MODERATOR: Great way to finish up 2025. Congratulations.
SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Cheers.

CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIESBorchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix1.33-mile Nashville Superspeedway tri-ovalLebanon, TennesseeRace ReportAugust 31
LEBANON, Tennessee (August 31, 2025) – Josef Newgarden and the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet won an exciting 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale, giving the Bowtie five trips to victory lane in the last seven races. Team Chevy dominated a chaotic race, leading 207 of 225 laps, with Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet joining his teammate on the podium and Conor Daly in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet finishing fifth.
Pole winner Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet dominated early, leading 116 of the first 126 laps until a mechanical issue ended his day early.
The No. 14 Phoenix Investors A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet, with Santino Ferrucci behind the wheel, was on the move early, going from 12th to fourth before a penalty sent him to the back of the field before finishing eighth, leading all drivers with 36 on-track passes.
Newgarden’s win is the 237th all-time for Chevrolet in the INDYCAR SERIES and the 127th since the introduction of the twin-turbo 2.2L V6 in 2012. Newgarden now has 32 career wins, all of them powered by Chevrolet, leading all Bowtie drivers. It was Newgarden’s 20th win on an oval and 14th trip to victory lane on a short oval (those 1.3-mile or under). Of Team Penske’s 246 wins, 124 have been Chevrolet-powered, including 87 since 2012. It was his first win at Nashville Superspeedway and the 14th different track that the 34-year-old has visited victory lane, extending his win streak to 11 years. McLaughlin’s daring last-lap pass rewarded him with his third podium of the season and the 22nd of his career. After a hard impact in Turn 2, David Malukas in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet, out of an abundance of caution, was taken to the hospital. He was released after all scans came back clear.

Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix Race Results:

Chevrolet wins at Nashville Superspeedway: 1
2025 – Josef Newgarden – Team Penske2002 – Alex Baron – Blair Racing
Chevrolet poles at Nashville Superspeedway: 2
2025 – Pato O’Ward – Arrow McLaren2005 – Tomas Scheckter – Panther Racing
Chevrolet podiums at Nashville Superspeedway: 7
Chevrolet podiums at Nashville Superspeedway by driver: Josef Newgarden (2), Alex Barron (1), Gil de Ferran (1), Sam Hornish (1), Scott McLaughlin (1), Pato O’Ward (1)
Chevrolet podiums at the Milwaukee Mile by team: Team Penske (4), Arrow McLaren (1), Blair Racing (1), Panther Racing (1)
Chevrolet laps led at Nashville Superspeedway: 272
Chevrolet laps led at Nashville Superspeedway by driver: Pato O’Ward (137), Josef Newgarden (114), Sam Hornish (99), Alexander Rossi (48), Tony Renna (35), Scott Sharp (16), Alex Barron (11), Scott McLaughlin (7), Will Power (5), Conor Daly (2), David Malukas (1)Chevrolet laps led at Nashville Superspeedway by team: Arrow McLaren (169), Team Penske (126), Panther Racing (103), Kelley Racing (51), Blair Racing (11), Juncos Hollinger Racing (2), A.J. Foyt Racing (1)
Manufacturer History at Nashville Superspeedway
Wins (with competition):
3 – Honda (2024, 2005, 2004)3 – General Motors (Chevrolet/Oldsmobile)2 – Chevrolet (2002, 2025)1 – Oldsmobile (2001)1 – Toyota (2003)
Poles (with competition):
2 – Honda (2024, 2004)2 – General Motors (Chevrolet/Oldsmobile)1 – Chevrolet (2005)1 – Infiniti (2002)1 – Oldsmobile (1)1 – Toyota (2003)

Uncategorized

Champion Alex Palou finishes second in Nashville, Louis Foster takes Rookie of the Year crown

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

August 31, 2025 — LEBANON, TN

Honda sweeps 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES titles
Palou, Honda wrapped up drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles in Portland
Louis Foster clinches Rookie of the Year in battle to the line

Alex Palou bolstered his incredible championship season with another podium finish in the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.

Palou led the charge for Honda this season, taking 8 of the 12 Honda-powered wins en route to the drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles. Palou’s wins included St. Petersburg, Thermal, Barber, the Indy GP, Road America, Iowa, and Laguna Seca, as well as a win at the 109th running of the Indianapolis 500. His podium today makes 13 podium finishes in 17 races in 2025.

Honda’s other four wins this season came at the hands of Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood—at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach, Detroit Grand Prix and World Wide Technology Raceway—as well as Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Scott Dixon at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio presented by the all-new 2026 Passport.

Kirkwood finished the year fourth in the championship standings, while Scott Dixon took home third place. All-in-all six Honda-powered drivers finished in the top-10 in the championship points standings including Felix Rosenqvist (P6), Colton Herta (P7) and Marcus Armstrong (P8).

Those 12 victories propelled Honda to their seventh championship in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and 11th in American Open Wheel competition. Honda’s previous titles came in 1996, 1998, 1999, 2001, 2004, 2005 and a four-year consecutive run from 2018 to 2021.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Louis Foster’s Rookie of the Year title is the fourth-consecutive Rookie of the Year win for a Honda-powered driver. The battle between Foster and Robert Shwartzman came down to just two points at the finish, 213-211.

This year is the first year since 2005 that Honda has won the Indianapolis 500 and swept all three IndyCar championships in the same season.

Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix Honda Race Results

2nd Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
4th Kyffin Simpson	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
6th Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Global Honda
7th Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
11th Colton Herta	Andretti Global Honda
12th Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
13th Rinus VeeKay	Dale Coyne Racing Honda
15th Marcus Ericsson	Andretti Global Honda
18th Devlin DeFrancesco	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
19th Marcus Armstrong	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
20th Louis Foster-R	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
22nd Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
23rd Jacob Abel-R	Dale Coyne Racing Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) finished second, 2025 champion: “I’m happy, but also a little sad that the season has just ended and that we couldn’t get the win as well to close it out. I tried really, really hard but I was not really comfortable with the car in the second lane, so that made it a bit tough when heading into traffic. I feel as though the #10 Honda was the fastest car when running in clean air. We had all the speed that we needed; it was just not the best at going through traffic. I’m still super happy with the P2 and of course to celebrate the championship today. I can’t thank this #10 team, that has been working so hard to make us so good on track, enough. I also can’t thank Honda enough—congratulations to everyone at Honda and HRC. Let’s do it again!”

Kyffin Simpson (#8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) finished fourth: “The #8 Honda felt great. We had great power and it was super strong all day. It felt like we could race against anyone in the field on that restart near the end. We were super strong from the get-go and I was able to capitalize on it. It was a great, great day for us, for Honda, and for Chip Ganassi Racing. I’m super happy about it!”

Kyle Kirkwood (#27 Andretti Global Honda) finished sixth: “It was a good day for the Hondas. Not quite a win here today, but very, very close. It was smooth sailing for us for most of the race until around lap 200, I got pinched onto the apron and it almost sent me into the wall. I was able to save it, but that cost us a handful of positions but that’s part of it. We’ll take a sixth place today, and we finished fourth in the championship, which is huge. Good day for us in the #27 Honda. We’ve secured the manufacturers’ championship for Honda, and this team has worked tirelessly to get us further up in the drivers’ championship than we’ve ever been. It’s certainly been a great season.”

Louis Foster (#45 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) Rookie of the Year: “This means a lot. This is the main thing that the team has been trying to achieve this year. Rookie of the Year was one of our biggest goals to accomplish and we managed to just scrape it right the end. It’s a great relief, honestly. I’m super, super happy that we’ve been able to do that and massive thank you to RLL and Honda. I think there’s a lot to learn still, but we’ve also learned a lot in return. There’s still more to come from me and the team. Next year and we’re going to work hard to try and achieve even more.”

Champion Alex Palou finishes second in Nashville, Louis Foster takes Rookie of the Year crown

August 31, 2025 — LEBANON, TN

Honda sweeps 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES titles
Palou, Honda wrapped up drivers’ and manufacturers’ titles in Portland
Louis Foster clinches Rookie of the Year in battle to the line

Alex Palou bolstered his incredible championship season with another podium finish in the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale at Nashville Superspeedway.

This year is the first year since 2005 that Honda has won the Indianapolis 500 and swept all three IndyCar championships in the same season.

Borchetta Bourbon Music City Grand Prix Honda Race Results

2nd Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
4th Kyffin Simpson	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
6th Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Global Honda
7th Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
11th Colton Herta	Andretti Global Honda
12th Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
13th Rinus VeeKay	Dale Coyne Racing Honda
15th Marcus Ericsson	Andretti Global Honda
18th Devlin DeFrancesco	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
19th Marcus Armstrong	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
20th Louis Foster-R	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
22nd Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
23rd Jacob Abel-R	Dale Coyne Racing Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes

David Salters (President, Honda Racing Corporation USA): “Indy 500 win, Drivers’ Championship, Manufacturers’ Championship, Rookie of the Year, 12 wins and 10 pole positions from 17 races—winning the first 10 in succession—what an absolutely superb achievement for Honda by our brilliant HRC associates. There is no greater pleasure than contributing to Honda Racing’s rich racing history and heritage. Our teams were brilliant, all contributed points towards the manufacturers’ championship, together with Chip Ganassi’s outstanding team at CGR and the prodigiously talented Alex Palou, we had a dominant season. The greatest achievement in a sporting series is to dominate, it happens rarely. Thank you to the challenging spirit of our Honda Racing associates, we dominated. We will pat each other on the back, hug, and enjoy the moment, then re-group and back to work. Thank you team HRC US—Bravo!”

Uncategorized

Lowe Takes Honda to Victory, Daniels Grabs Command of Title Fight in Consequential Springfield Mile II

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

Trent Lowe (48) leads Henry Wiles (911) and Brandon Price (92) during the Mission AFT SuperTwins Main Event Sunday at the Springfield Mile II presented by Drag Specialties event. [Photo: American Flat Track/Tim Lester] DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 31, 2025) – Trent Lowe (No. 48 American Honda/Progressive Insurance Honda Transalp) scored Honda’s first twin-cylinder premier-class victory in more than a quarter century in a momentous and pivotal Springfield Mile II presented by Drag Specialties, the penultimate round of the 2025 Progressive American Flat Track season, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing. Lowe dove past long-time leader Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) entering Turn 3 on the race’s final lap and then held off the Mission AFT SuperTwins title contender by a scant 0.026-second margin at the checkered flag. Despite that minor disappointment, it was still a huge day for Daniels at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois, when taking the bigger picture into consideration.  While seven riders finished within a second of the win, three of the race’s most significant figures weren’t included among them. Early leader Jeffrey Carver, Jr. (No. 123 Happy Trails Racing, Carver’s BBQ Kawasaki Ninja 650) was the first to pull out with mechanical issues. He was joined a few minutes later by AFT Singles champ Tom Drane (No. 59 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT), who was ensconced in the lead pack in his premier-class debut before being forced out with problems of his own. Moments later – and most consequentially of all – then-Grand National Championship leader Briar Bauman (No. 3 RWR/Parts Plus/Latus Motors Harley-Davidson XG750R) was black-flagged while racing up front as a result of smoke that billowed from his machine. Daniels’ runner-up, combined with Bauman being credited in 14th, completely alters the championship outlook with just a single race remaining. The Estenson Racing Yamaha rider now leads his Rick Ware Racing Harley rival by 13 points with only 23 points left in play. That means even if Bauman wins the finale, Daniels needs to finish just seventh or better in order to defeat him for the ‘25 Mission AFT SuperTwins crown. Despite that shift, this day belongs to Lowe, who delivered the Big Red SuperTwins program its first win since kicking off the initial development of a Honda Transalp-based racebike ahead of the 2024 season. It was also the first for Lowe, who had already made a strong impression in his first full premier-class season. The Indiana native’s win was the first for a Honda twin-cylinder since Rich King claimed victory at the 1998 Joliet Half-Mile aboard a Honda RS750. It was also the first such podium since King finished second at the Springfield Mile later that same year. Honda’s last win of any kind in the premier-class came back in 2016 with Jake Johnson riding a Honda CRF450R at the DAYTONA Short Track II. Afterward, Lowe said, “First and foremost, I want to thank my whole team. I’ve been a little bit of a pain, but there has to be a little bit of conflict in the pit area just to kind of get everything going. I’m serious, they’re serious. We all want to figure this out.  “I have to give a huge shout out to Mission Foods, Jerry Stinchfield, Mike Turner and the whole Turner family, Steve Watt, Kenny Coolbeth, Randy Triplett, Mike Lozano, the whole Maxwell Industries crew, and Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda… I’m just so thankful for this. These guys put so much into this. It just means a lot to finally get one here.” Meanwhile, Brandon Price (No. 92 HRP Racing/Duffs Speed Machine Yamaha MT-07) closed out a remarkable comeback weekend with a third to add to yesterday’s runner-up.  He was followed closely to the line by Declan Bender (No. 70 Memphis Shades/Luczak Racing Yamaha MT-07), Henry Wiles (No. 911 1st Impressions Racing KTM 790 Duke), and Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Harley-Davidson XG750R). Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing KTM 790 Duke) was the last rider to finish in the lead pack, just 0.548 seconds off the win yet relegated to seventh in the final order.

Lowe Takes Honda to Victory, Daniels Grabs Command of Title Fight in Consequential Springfield Mile II

Trent Lowe (48) celebrates his Main Event victory with the team and the checkered flag Sunday. [Photo: American Flat Track/Tim Lester] AFT Singles presented by KICKER With the 2025 championship already decided, the AFT Singles presented by KICKER category simply delivered a Springfield Mile classic. A huge pack of riders went bar-to-bar for ten minutes plus two laps, with 11 riders taking the checkered flag within a second of victory. But despite the extraordinarily close margin, victory once again belonged to the newly crowned class king, Tom Drane (No. 59 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F). The Australian cemented his reputation as a young master of the Springfield Mile, now boasting five wins in the last six AFT Singles Main Events contested at the venue (and that’s even after compacting yesterday’s 1-1-1 into a single victory). Other than a single, momentary stint outside the top five, Drane factored heavily at the front throughout, trading the lead with fellow front-row runners Trevor Brunner (No. 21 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R), Chad Cose (No. 49 1st Impressions Race Team Husqvarna FC450), and polesitter Kage Tadman (No. 288 1st Impressions Race Team Husqvarna FC450). Meanwhile, Jared Lowe (No. 63 Big R/Little Debbie Racing Honda CRF450R), Bradon Pfanders(No. 83 Hannum’s HD/Pfanders Racing KTM 450 SX-F), and Tyler Raggio (No. 55 Raggio/Sluggo/Unsettled Racing KTM 450 SX-F) poked at them from meters behind, with Walker Porter (No. 100 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R), Aidan RoosEvans (No. 26 FRA Trust/ATV’s and More Yamaha YZ450F), Hunter Bauer (No. 24 Vinson Construction/Reel Medics Yamaha YZ450F), and Ryder Reese (No. 244 Mission Foods Roof Systems) a double draft away from pulling the upset. Despite the seeming unpredictability of the contest, Drane calmly positioned himself where he needed to be on the final lap, pulling in behind late leader Brunner as the pack negotiated the race’s final two corners. The Estenson Racing star pulled out at just the right moment, soaring past in time to grab the checkered flag by 0.028 seconds over the Turner Honda pilot. “I’ve had a really good run here,” Drane said. “Ever since we first came here in ‘22, I’ve always done well here. I had a great bike underneath me, which really helped. Big thanks to my whole Estenson Racing Monster Energy team. They’ve put in a lot of work and given me a really fast bike. It’s been amazing. We’ve had a really good year.” Cose edged teammate Tadman once again for third, the two taking the stripe 0.086 and 0.150 seconds behind Drane, respectively. Raggio edged Lowe and Pfanders for fifth, while Porter, RoosEvans, and Bauer rounded out the top ten. Rookie Reese missed out on a third-career top ten despite finishing just 0.892 behind race winner Drane. Speaking of Drane, he now has seven race wins on the season and 18 for his career, putting him in position to tie Dallas Daniels and Kody Kopp for most single-season wins and Shayna Texter-Bauman for second in career AFT Singles Main Event wins in two weeks at the ‘25 season finale. Next Up: Progressive American Flat Track will conclude an epic 2025 Grand National Championship season with the Arby’s Lake Ozark Short Track presented by Arrowhead Brass at Lake Ozark Speedway in Eldon, Missouri, on Saturday, September 13. Visit https://www.tixr.com/groups/americanflattrack/events/lake-ozark-short-track-126438 to purchase your tickets now. For those that can’t catch the live action from the circuit, FloRacing is the live streaming home of Progressive AFT. Sign up now and catch every second of on-track action starting with Practice & Qualifying and ending with the Victory Podium at the end of the night at https://flosports.link/aft. FOX Sports coverage of the Springfield Mile I presented by Drag Specialties, featuring in-depth features and thrilling onboard cameras, will premiere on FS1 on Saturday, September 6, at 10:00 a.m. ET (7:00 a.m. PT). The Springfield Mile II presented by Drag Specialties will air the following Saturday, September 13, at  10:00 a.m. ET (7:00 a.m. PT)

Uncategorized

KALITTA, TODD SWEEP #2FAST2TASTY CHALLENGES IN U.S. NATIONALS QUALIFYING

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

Toyota drivers qualify in prime positions for Monday’s eliminations

INDIANAPOLIS (Aug. 31, 2025) – Kalitta Motorsports’ Doug Kalitta and J.R. Todd swept the nitro categories’ Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenges on Saturday during qualifying for the U.S. Nationals at Indianapolis Raceway Park. Kalitta claimed his fifth Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win, which crowned him the Top Fuel challenge champion of 2025, gaining valuable bonus points for the Countdown to the Championship that begins in two weeks. For Todd, it was his second challenge win of the season that joined his challenge triumph at Bristol in June. The wins by Kalitta and Todd completed Toyota’s streak of victories in all 13 challenge events this season in either Top Fuel or Funny Car.

Kalitta was also the quickest Toyota Top Fuel Dragster after the five qualifying sessions, earning the No. 4 seed and moving into second in the Top Fuel points standings ahead of tomorrow’s regular season finale. Shawn Langdon, Kalitta’s teammate and the Top Fuel points leader, enters tomorrow as the sixth seed and 47 points in front of Kalitta as he searches to win the inaugural Top Fuel regular season championship. Langdon also posted a 340.90 mph speed in Q4, which set the track speed record at Indianapolis Raceway Park.

In Funny Car, Ron Capps led the Toyota GR Supra Funny Car contingent, earning the No. 3 seed for tomorrow’s eliminations as he seeks his third U.S. Nationals win. Todd will be the No. 7 seed tomorrow and Julie Nataas starts tomorrow 15th.

Eliminations of the U.S. Nationals from Indianapolis Raceway Park begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST with live TV coverage beginning at 2 p.m. EST on FOX.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series

Indianapolis Raceway Park

U.S. Nationals

Race 14 of 20

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Brittany Force*	Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Dragster	1st	I. Zetterstrom
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	4th	T. Schumacher
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	5th	J. Ashley
Shawn Langdon	Applied Innovation/Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	6th	C. Millican
Steve Torrence	CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	7th	T. Stewart
Justin Ashley	SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	12th	A. Brown

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Jack Beckman*	Peak Chevrolet Funny Car	1st*	J. Schriefer
Ron Capps	Carlyle Tools Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	3rd	S. Hyde
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	7th	B. Tasca III
Julie Nataas	Airmine DC Motorsports Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	15th	A. Prock

*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 4th

How are you feeling entering tomorrow’s eliminations?

“Yeah, so we ended up fourth for tomorrow. Looks like it’s going to be a good spot to start in. Conditions will be cool at 10 a.m. (when eliminations begin), so hopefully, we should have a good car for tomorrow. The Mac Tools Toyota Dragster is running well, so we’ll see how it goes!”

You also claimed another #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win. How does it feel?

“Yeah, I’m super stoked with all of my guys. Alan (Johnson, crew chief) and Mac (Savage, crew chief) and all the Mac Tools Toyota guys. We couldn’t have done it without Mission Foods and everybody that supports this great effort out here. It’s just great to race on a Saturday, or Sunday, (in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge). It’s greatly appreciated all that they do for us and just real fortunate to pull this off.”

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

FC Qualifying Result: 7th

How nice is it to end Saturday with a #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win?

KALITTA, TODD SWEEP #2FAST2TASTY CHALLENGES IN U.S. NATIONALS QUALIFYING

Toyota drivers qualify in prime positions for Monday’s eliminations

Eliminations of the U.S. Nationals from Indianapolis Raceway Park begin tomorrow at 10 a.m. EST with live TV coverage beginning at 2 p.m. EST on FOX.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series

Indianapolis Raceway Park

U.S. Nationals

Race 14 of 20

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Brittany Force*	Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Dragster	1st	I. Zetterstrom
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	4th	T. Schumacher
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	5th	J. Ashley
Shawn Langdon	Applied Innovation/Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	6th	C. Millican
Steve Torrence	CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	7th	T. Stewart
Justin Ashley	SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	12th	A. Brown

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Jack Beckman*	Peak Chevrolet Funny Car	1st*	J. Schriefer
Ron Capps	Carlyle Tools Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	3rd	S. Hyde
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	7th	B. Tasca III
Julie Nataas	Airmine DC Motorsports Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	15th	A. Prock

*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 4th

How are you feeling entering tomorrow’s eliminations?

You also claimed another #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win. How does it feel?

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

FC Qualifying Result: 7th

How nice is it to end Saturday with a #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win?

“Wish it was Monday! Yeah, it’s good to get some bonus money, and bonus points are the biggest thing going into the Countdown. It’s great to have Mr. Gonzalez (Juan Gonzalez, CEO, Mission Foods) here from Mission Foods to give us a chance to put on a race for the fans on a Saturday. Want to thank them for coming out and supporting us. Yeah, that was wild. I was about to go when he (Austin Prock) did and next thing you know, the win light is on. We go up there and spin, but either way, the big picture is Dickie (Venables, crew chief) is saying ‘we’re working towards race day,’ and I’m kind of seeing what we can get away with. I like that mentality.”

Uncategorized

Seth Bergman Breaks Through at Electric City for First American Sprint Car Series Win of 2025

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

GREAT FALLS, MT (Aug. 30, 2025) — It’s been an uphill battle for Seth Bergman in 2025, but the reigning American Sprint Car Series champion endured the struggles and finally broke through to Victory Lane Saturday night at Electric City Speedway.

The reigning Series champion from Snohomish, WA, has not been silent about he and his team’s struggles through the first half of the year, notching only two top-five finishes and no wins in his first six Series races before diverting from the national schedule in late June. But after a return to the national 360 circuit last weekend — posting back-to-back runner-up efforts at fellow Montana oval Big Sky Speedway — Bergman let his improvements shine again on Saturday, leading the final 14 laps of the main event to win the finale of the Montana Roundup.

“Our team definitely needed this win,” Bergman said. “It feels good to be leaving a racetrack, for once this year, feeling good about it and getting a win.”

Despite the difficulties Bergman and his team have experienced with their new equipment this season, they never gave up or lost hope. It paid off in the end, awarding Bergman his first career Feature win at Electric Cit, the 26th of his national Series career and first since November 2024.

“It’s been such a struggle, and it’s been a while since we’ve won a race,” Bergman said. “There’s no way around it. It starts wearing on a driver and you start doubting yourself. Even though I’m very confident and confident in my abilities, after a while, it gets trying. So, you’ve really gotta dig deep and know you can still do it, and ultimately, give yourself good race cars.”

From the outside pole, Bergman settled in behind Series points leader Sam Hafertepe Jr. on the opening circuit and chased him around the 3/8-mile oval for the first 16 laps before a big opportunity presented itself on Lap 17.

When Hafertepe stumbled on the cushion in Turns 1 and 2, Bergman was right there to take advantage. He pointed the Oklahoma Chiller No. 23 low off Turn 2, drag raced Hafertepe side-by-side down the backstretch and threw a big slidejob on the Hill’s Racing No. 15H in Turns 3 and 4 to take the lead.

“I just made a mistake there,” Hafertepe, of Sunnyvale, TX, said. “It’s kind of unlike me to do that kind of stuff, but I did it tonight.”

“I knew I had to slide him really hard, and that was sketchy sliding to a parking curb, basically, off Turn 4,” Bergman said. “It’s hard to get in there really hard and then get your car angled and slowed up enough to where it doesn’t throw you over.”

Despite several restarts in the second half of the race, including a red-flag period after Blake Hahn crashed in Turn 4 while running second on Lap 25, Bergman was able to hold his ground out front and went unchallenged the rest of the distance.

“Once I got the lead, I knew I couldn’t slow my pace down,” Bergman said. “I just had to focus on being precise and landing on the curb in the right spots and making sure it didn’t throw me up.”

Jason Martin, of Liberal, KS, crossed the finish line second for his third-straight podium finish, complimenting his second win of the season he earned on Friday night. With that finish, the 2023 Series champion overtook Matt Covington for third in the championship points standings and now trails leader Hafertepe by 164 points with 12 races remaining in the chase for the Emmett Hahn Trophy.

“Can’t complain. We drove a lot of miles to take a little bit of money home, so that’s good,” Martin said. “It’s been a rollercoaster of a year, and I feel like we’ve got our confidence going, and Chase and I are working really, really well on this race car and it goes pretty good.”

Hafertepe was able to hold on to finish third after leading the opening 16 circuits. It was a return-to-form for the five-time Series champion after going three-straight races without a top-10 finish following his ninth Series win of the season two weeks ago at WaKeeney Speedway.

“I felt like we had probably the best car, and I just got to driving it a little too hard, and probably shouldn’t have been driving it that hard,” Hafertepe said. “I got tripped up on the curb there, and we bent a lot of parts on our race car. Lucky to finish. Really, just hanging on the rest of the race.”

Fourteen-year-old Ryder McCutcheon crossed the stripe in fourth place, garnering his first career national Sprint Car top-five result, while Matt Covington crossed fifth to complete the top five.

UP NEXT

The American Sprint Car Series is back in action in Kansas and Nebraska next Friday–Sunday, Sept. 5–7, starting with a double-Feature program Friday at Lakeside Speedway before visits to 81 Speedway on Saturday and Eagle Raceway on Sunday.

Tickets for all three events will be sold at the track on race day. If you can’t be there, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view all results)

Seth Bergman Breaks Through at Electric City for First American Sprint Car Series Win of 2025

“Our team definitely needed this win,” Bergman said. “It feels good to be leaving a racetrack, for once this year, feeling good about it and getting a win.”

“I just made a mistake there,” Hafertepe, of Sunnyvale, TX, said. “It’s kind of unlike me to do that kind of stuff, but I did it tonight.”

Fourteen-year-old Ryder McCutcheon crossed the stripe in fourth place, garnering his first career national Sprint Car top-five result, while Matt Covington crossed fifth to complete the top five.

UP NEXT

Tickets for all three events will be sold at the track on race day. If you can’t be there, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view all results)

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 23-Seth Bergman[2]; 2. 36-Jason Martin[3]; 3. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 4. 17W-Ryder McCutcheon[6]; 5. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 6. 71-Brady Baker[8]; 7. 2B-Garrett Benson[5]; 8. 00-Kory Wermling[19]; 9. 37-Trever Kirkland[18]; 10. 4L-Lane Taylor[10]; 11. 2J-Zach Blurton[16]; 12. 45X-Kyler Johnson[14]; 13. 12H-Elijah Gile[17]; 14. 28-Joe Perry[21]; 15. 38B-Bryan Brown[23]; 16. 2JR-Kelly Miller[4]; 17. 88R-Ryder Laplante[13]; 18. 16G-Austyn Gossel[12]; 19. 52-Blake Hahn[9]; 20. 10-Landon Britt[11]; 21. 88-Terry Easum[22]; 22. 24M-Ian Myers[15]; 23. 88C-Brogan Carder[20]

Uncategorized

Thornton Wins First Career Hillbilly Hundred

September 3, 2025 ARP Trish

Thornton Wins First Career Hillbilly Hundred

SARVER, PA (August 30, 2025) – Ricky Thornton Jr. led wire-to-wire, winning the 57th Annual Summit Racing Equipment Hillbilly Hundred presented by Arizona Sport Shirts on Saturday night at Lernerville Speedway. Thornton’s 13th Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season was worth $30,000 and marked his first victory in dirt late model racing’s oldest, ongoing race that began in 1967. Thornton faced a tough challenge from Jonathan Davenport after a lap 90 caution when the top two in the series championship points made contact in a side-by-side battle. Thornton was able to pull away from Davenport in the final nine laps to win by 1.397 seconds. Max Blair, who started 13th, rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third after passing Devin Moran right before the final caution of the race. Moran finished fourth. Brandon Overton earned the Hoker Trucking Hard Charger of the Race as he finished fifth after starting 21st. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 55th time in his career, Thornton has now won three of the last four Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series presented by FloRacing events. “I am glad that the first yellow came out. I really didn’t get a great start; I let JD get out in front of me. I felt like whoever got out front would be the one to beat, whether your car is better or not. We tried a bunch of different things today, and I felt we were a lot better. I still think we need to improve a lot once it finally cleans off, but overall, it was a really good night for us. You have to start the night off well with good qualifying, have a solid heat race, and a good start to the feature, said the Chandler, Arizona native who now resides in Indianola, Iowa. “I felt like I was kind of sliding myself into three and four, then they took away the top line, making it so I couldn’t get out there where they could hail Mary around me. I got to traffic and felt almost better around the bottom, and I think you slow your pace down so much when you get to a lapped car, so I needed to stay down there. On that last restart, I felt like I got a decent restart; I saw JD under me and thought, alright, drive it in hard into one and slide myself, and I got a run off of two. By the time I heard him, it was already too late, and I was into him. Obviously, I know he was going to be mad; you definitely don’t want to run a competitor off the track like that.” Davenport was seeking his third career Hillbilly Hundred victory. He took home $15,000 for a second-place finish and gave his viewpoint on the lap 91 restart. “I got a pretty good restart, and I was planning to slide him when I got into one, but just like a few other times when I’d get a run on him, Thornton was going to come all the way to the bottom. So I was either going to crash us both or do something else, and I didn’t want to do that. I moved back to the top and got a really good run. I doubt he saw me, but if he heard me, you know, whatever, he says he didn’t. It is what it is; as he said, whoever gets out in front is going to be really hard to beat.” Blair, who also finished third in the track’s signature event, the Firecracker 100, in June, worked his way methodically to a podium finish after starting on the inside of row number seven. “I love this place when it gets slippery like that. I need to improve in the heat races so I can start a little higher than 13th. We were really strong at the end of the race, so congrats to Ricky — he’s on a roll. It’s getting down to crunch time in this championship, and it’s cool to see him racking up all these wins. Hopefully, he can keep it up and go back-to-back.” The winner’s Koehler Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Ultimate Towing and Recovery, Hoker Trucking, Knight’s Companies, Coltman Farms Racing, Elite Ready Mix, Capital Waste, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, EMD Wraps, and Certified Inspection Services. Completing the top ten were Mike Marlar, Carson Ferguson, Tim McCreadie, Brandon Sheppard, and Tyler Erb. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary 57th Summit Racing Equipment Hillbilly Hundred presented by Arizona Sport Shirts | Night 2Saturday, August 30, 2025Lernerville Speedway | Sarver, PA Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Jonathan Davenport | 15.357 seconds (Overall)Fast Time Group B: Ricky Thornton, Jr. | 15.406 seconds Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 19M-Joseph Joiner[2]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 4. 111-Max Blair[3]; 5. 1Z-Logan Zarin[5]; 6. 9-Tim McCreadie[10]; 7. 24-Tyler Wyant[7]; 8. 10L-Gary Lyle[9]; 9. 14H-Haiden Cowan[8]; 10. 14R-Clay Ruffo[6]
Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 3. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[3]; 4. 555-Brock Pinkerous[4]; 5. 60-Dan Ebert[6]; 6. 77-Tyler Dietz[8]; 7. 76-Brandon Overton[5]; 8. 14-Dan Angelicchio[9]; 9. 55-Chris Schneider[7]
Cool-It Thermo-Tec Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 93-Carson Ferguson[3]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman[4]; 5. 1*-Chub Frank[6]; 6. 6-Clay Harris[5]; 7. J4-John Garvin Jr[8]; 8. 93L-Cory Lawler[10]; 9. 79-Donald McIntosh[7]; 10. B22-Bump Hedman[9]
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 2. 99B-Boom Briggs[1]; 3. 1C-Alex Ferree[3]; 4. 48-Colton Flinner[6]; 5. 1T-Tyler Erb[8]; 6. 66L-Levi Yetter[5]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 8. 29-Ken Schaltenbrand[9]; 9. 66-Justin Kann[7] Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 9-Tim McCreadie[3]; 2. 1Z-Logan Zarin[1]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[6]; 4. 60-Dan Ebert[2]; 5. 14H-Haiden Cowan[9]; 6. 14-Dan Angelicchio[8]; 7. 24-Tyler Wyant[5]; 8. 14R-Clay Ruffo[11]; 9. 55-Chris Schneider[10]; 10. 77-Tyler Dietz[4]; 11. 10L-Gary Lyle[7]
UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 6-Clay Harris[3]; 3. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 4. 1*-Chub Frank[1]; 5. 29-Ken Schaltenbrand[8]; 6. B22-Bump Hedman[10]; 7. 93L-Cory Lawler[7]; 8. 66L-Levi Yetter[4]; 9. 79-Donald McIntosh[9]; 10. J4-John Garvin Jr[5] 57th Summit Racing Equipment Hillbilly Hundred presented by Arizona Sport Shirts | Night 2 Feature Finish (100 Laps): Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Pay1 – 2 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $31,3002 – 1 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $16,1003 – 13 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $7,0004 – 3 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $6,5005 – 21 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $5,2006 – 7 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – $3,5007 – 10 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $3,7008 – 17 – 9 – Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – $2,5009 – 6 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $3,10010 – 18 – 1T – Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – $2,30011 – 8 – 99B – Boom Briggs – Bear Lake, PA – $2,20012 – 9 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $2,80013 – 23 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $2,80014 – 25 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – Dawsonville, GA – $2,60015 – 15 – 555 – Brock Pinkerous – Ellenville, NY – $1,80016 – 4 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $2,55017 – 5 – 19M – Joseph Joiner – Milton, FL – $2,40018 – 14 – 22* – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $1,65019 – 27 – 29 – Ken Schaltenbrand – Sarver, PA – $1,60020 – 20 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $2,25021 – 19 – 1Z – Logan Zarin – Hookstown, PA – $1,55022 – 11 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $2,20023 – 26 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – $2,20024 – 16 – 48 – Colton Flinner – Allison Park, PA – $1,50025 – 12 – 1C – Alex Ferree – Saxonburg, PA – $1,50026 – 22 – 40B – Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – $1,50027 – 28 – 77 – Tyler Dietz – Saxonburg, PA – $1,50028 – 24 – 1* – Chub Frank – Bear Lake, PA – $1,500 Race Statistics Entrants: 38Victory Fuel Pole Sitter: Jonathan DavenportMD3 Lap Leaders: Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Laps 1-100)Hellraizer Jacks Halfway Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Wieland Feature Winner: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Margin of Victory: 1.397 secondsColtman Farms Racing Cautions: Garrett Alberson, Daniel Hilsabeck (Initial Start); Colton Flinner (Lap 2); Kyle Bronson (Lap 15); Donald McIntosh (Lap 16); Joseph Joiner (Lap 18); Tim McCreadie (Lap 26); Ken Schaltenbrand (Lap 37); Cory Lawler (Lap 39); Hudson O’Neal (Lap 43); Ken Schaltenbrand (Lap 90)Series Provisionals: Donald McIntosh; Cory LawlerFast Time Provisional: n/aEmergency Provisional: n/aTrack Provisional: Ken Schaltenbrand; Tyler DietzBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Jonathan Davenport, Max Blair Penske Shocks Top 5: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Jonathan Davenport, Max Blair, Devin Moran, Brandon OvertonPEM 4th Place Feature: Devin MoranDMI Rearends 5th Place Feature: Brandon OvertonWilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Carson FergusonWehrs Machine 11th Place Feature: Boom BriggsDeatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Dan EbertMD3 24th Place Feature: Colton FlinnerHoker Trucking Hard Charger of the Race: Brandon Overton (Advanced 16 positions) MD3 Most Laps Led: Ricky Thornton, Jr. (100 Laps)Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Dan EbertPro Fabrication Headers Fastest Lap of the Race: Ricky Thornton, Jr. | Lap 1 | 17.615 secondsSlicker Graphics Slickest Move of the Race: Ricky Thornton Jr.Fresh Roof Hard Luck Award: Daniel HilsabeckOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Zack FrieldsARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Jonathan Davenport | 15.251 secondsTime of Race: 1 hour 5 minutes 27 seconds Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Pay1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – 7735 – $455,8502 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 7695 – $399,4003 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 7270 – $273,7494 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 7185 – $275,2255 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 6965 – $232,1006 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 6910 – $171,4507 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 6645 – $146,9008 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – 5980 – $115,1259 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – 5825 – $99,12510 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – Dawsonville, GA – 5705 – $86,15011 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – 5485 – $79,65012 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – 5240 – $76,87513 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – 5085 – $71,80014 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – 4460 – $47,225

Uncategorized

Pierce Completes Sooner State Sweep, Extends Win Streak to Four

August 26, 2025 ARP Trish

COLCORD, OK (August 23, 2025) – If it was up to Bobby Pierce, the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision would race in Oklahoma a little more often.

The “Sooner State” became the 32nd different state Pierce has competed in with his first trip to Arrowhead Speedway. A runner-up with the COMP Cams Super Dirt Series on Thursday night got Pierce dialed in for the next two nights of World of Outlaws racing, and the “Smooth Operator” was the man to beat for the rest of the weekend.

“People were saying online, I saw they’re like, ‘oh yeah, this is a Late Model track,’ and I agree,” Pierce said. “It’s nice and wide, like tonight, we used the whole racetrack top to bottom. It was a lot of fun when it’s like that. That’s what I like, when we have a nice, wide track and there’s multiple grooves you can kind of pick from. Had a little bit of cushion up there, a little mud line on the bottom, and it was kind of slick in the middle, but it threw some crumb up there.”

Unlike Friday’s drive to the win from fifth, a Heat Race win and a fortuitous Redraw gave Pierce the Bilstein Pole for Saturday’s 50-lapper. It didn’t come easy for Pierce early though, as second-starting Tim McCreadie made good use of the top to lead the first three circuits until Dustin Sorensen slowed to bring out the first caution.

McCreadie tried the bottom on the restart, leaving the cushion wide open for Pierce to drop the hammer on the restart. The No. 32 built up a big run off Turn 4 and went inside of McCreadie down the frontstretch, drifting up in front of McCreadie in Turn 1 to move into the lead. That gave Pierce the ability to set the pace the rest of the way, something he didn’t take for granted given the tire wear concerns throughout the week and the longer distance of Saturday’s finale.

“T-Mac shot out there early, got the lead on me,” Pierce said. “I didn’t let him go, but that caution came out three laps in, and I was like, ‘well, I’ll go now, try to get the lead, that way I can set my own pace,’ and I got around him on the restart. I just felt like the car was good. I could roll the corners, keep the tires under me and not wheelspin as much as I was the other night. My tires look pretty good, I feel like I could have went 100.”

The same could not be said for Pierce’s closest competitor, as McCreadie popped his right-rear tire while running second with eight laps to go to set up a late-race dash to the finish. No one had anything for Pierce though, as he cruised under the checkered flag 1.6 seconds ahead of the field for his fourth-straight World of Outlaws win and his 11th of the season.

The final yellow played right into Nick Hoffman’s favor, as the No. 9 went from fourth to second to end up on the podium for the 12th time in 2025.

“[Pierce] I feel like was just a tick better,” Hoffman said. “He could kind of maneuver a little bit better than I could. He got the top rolling early, was able to get out front, and then I just screwed around with [Brian] Shirley for too long there.”

Tyler Erb picked up FOX Factory Hard Charger honors for his 10th-to-third drive, enough for his best Series result since his win at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in May.

“Having two days to tinker with it, obviously we’ve never been here,” Erb said. “Tonight the racetrack was really good, it had a huge cushion that was dangerous and hard to run, and then the bottom had enough grip to kind of keep up. And the [Turns 3 and 4] are just so weird. Figuring out how to drive this place first of all and then tinkering with the car a little bit.”

Shirley made it four-straight World of Outlaws top fives in fourth, while Drake Troutman finished fifth for the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.

RACE NOTES:

Dennis Erb Jr. set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Cade Dillard won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Nick Hoffman won Real American Beer Heat 1.

Brian Shirley won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Bobby Pierce won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Tim McCreadie won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Ryan Gustin and Eli Ross won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.

Bobby Pierce won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Tyler Erb won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Drake Troutman was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Nick Hoffman won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Brian Shirley was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Drake Troutman was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Cade Dillard was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Ethan Dotson was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Cody Overton was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Chase Junghans was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

UP NEXT: A return to the southeast lies ahead for the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision with stops at Needmore Speedway (Friday, Sept. 12) and Senoia Raceway (Saturday, Sept. 13). Tickets will be available at the gate.

If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

Pierce Completes Sooner State Sweep, Extends Win Streak to Four

COLCORD, OK (August 23, 2025) – If it was up to Bobby Pierce, the World of Outlaws Real American Beer Late Model Series presented by DIRTVision would race in Oklahoma a little more often.

The final yellow played right into Nick Hoffman’s favor, as the No. 9 went from fourth to second to end up on the podium for the 12th time in 2025.

Tyler Erb picked up FOX Factory Hard Charger honors for his 10th-to-third drive, enough for his best Series result since his win at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in May.

Shirley made it four-straight World of Outlaws top fives in fourth, while Drake Troutman finished fifth for the MD3 Rookie of the Race Award.

RACE NOTES:

Dennis Erb Jr. set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Cade Dillard won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Nick Hoffman won Real American Beer Heat 1.

Brian Shirley won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Bobby Pierce won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Tim McCreadie won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Ryan Gustin and Eli Ross won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.

Bobby Pierce won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Tyler Erb won the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Drake Troutman was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Nick Hoffman won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Brian Shirley was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Drake Troutman was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Cade Dillard was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Tim McCreadie was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Ethan Dotson was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Cody Overton was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Chase Junghans was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

If you can’t make it to the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

Feature (50 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[4]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb[10]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 5. 22*-Drake Troutman[6]; 6. 97-Cade Dillard[8]; 7. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[9]; 8. 9M-Tim McCreadie[2]; 9. 74X-Ethan Dotson[16]; 10. 2-Cody Overton[12]; 11. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 12. 18-Chase Junghans[11]; 13. 96-Tanner English[19]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[5]; 15. 66-Eli Ross[18]; 16. 1R-BJ Robinson[13]; 17. B1-Brent Larson[15]; 18. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[7]; 19. 49-Jake Timm[14]; 20. 5-Jon Mitchell[24]; 21. 15-Clay Stuckey[26]; 22. 1X-Aaron Marrant[21]; 23. 86-Kyle Beard[22]; 24. 2C-Charlie Cole[25]; 25. 14M-Morgan Bagley[20]; 26. 19-Dustin Sorensen[23]

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NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT AUGUST 23, 2025

August 26, 2025 ARP Trish

Seven Team Chevy Drivers Set to Compete for 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race Advances Chevrolet Newsroom

·        Team Chevy’s Daniel Suarez and Justin Haley turned in a valiant effort for one last chance at a playoff berth – ultimately taking the checkered flag of the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway in a four-wide photo finish in the second and third positions, respectively. ·        The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series 26-race regular season saw Chevrolet collect a manufacturer-leading 12 wins – recorded by six drivers from three different Chevrolet organizations. With Hendrick Motorsports’ Alex Bowman securing the 16th and final position in the series’ playoff field, the Bowtie brigade will pace its manufacturer competitors in both driver and organization representation heading into the championship title hunt.
·        Back where the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season began, Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team started their fight for a playoff spot with a front-row starting position for the regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway. Playoff pressure produced aggressive racing from the drop of the green flag with the opening stage coming to a close with a multi-car pileup that collected a handful of drivers in a ‘must-win’ position that saw their title hopes come to a close including Team Chevy’s Kyle Busch and Ricky Stenhouse Jr.
·        Despite being sidelined in the Stage One melee, Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Chevrolet team capitalized on a 60-point cushion heading into the regular season finale to claim the 16th and final spot in the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs.
·        Already sealing their title run fate with a win, Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson and Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain cashed in on stage points – driving their Chevrolet-powered machines to a sweep of the stage wins.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS: POS. DRIVER
2nd – Daniel Suarez3rd – Justin Haley6th – Kyle Larson10th – Chase Elliott

Chevrolet’s season statistics with 26 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:

Wins: 12Poles: 10Top-Fives: 52Top 10s: 111Stage Wins: 22

UP NEXT: The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of 16 will get underway with the Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway on Sunday, August 31, at 6 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Post-Race Driver Quotes: Ross Chastain, No. 1 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletFinished: 15th“We had a really good No. 1 SafetyCulture Chevrolet tonight. I didn’t ask for an adjustment all night, and I wouldn’t ask for anything different for another 400 miles. That’s really, really cool to do that. The speedway package is a tight box, and we’ve migrated to a really good spot on the No. 1 team. I think from across the board, listening to Shane (van Gisbergen), he had some issues that I’ve had year’s past, so hopefully we’ll get the No. 88 Chevrolet headed in our direction.” How important is it to have two Trackhouse Racing drivers in the playoffs? “It’s super important. I want three, though. I’m proud of the effort by Daniel (Suarez) and the No. 99 team. He kept his cool tonight. I tried to push him at times; it didn’t work out and he made it up there on his own there at the end and gave himself a shot. It would be better with three, but we’re definitely proud of the effort tonight. We still have three cars going to compete for wins.” Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 24th “It was fun to head into a Daytona race locked into the NASCAR Playoffs and with a little bit less pressure on us. I hate that we couldn’t work with the No. 8 team more and help push Kyle Busch to a spot in the NASCAR Playoffs. We had a chance tonight, but the race didn’t play out to our favor. We had a tough decision when the caution flag came out with 11 laps to go. We could gamble and stay out, or pit and have plenty of fuel and fresh tires on the No. 3 BREZTRI AEROSPHERE® (budesonide, glycopyrrolate, and formoterol fumarate) Chevrolet if there were multiple restarts. We opted for the tires because traditionally there’s a good chance at a big wreck in the closing laps of these races. The wreck never came and we didn’t have enough laps to regain our position. We put ourselves in a bad spot, but we’ll clean that stuff up. We’ve got 10 weeks of NASCAR Playoff racing coming up.” Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 6th Describe what unfolded from your perspective. You were in the mix at the end at Daytona International Speedway… “Yeah, we’ve been in the mix a lot, I just haven’t gotten to finish a lot of them. It was a lot of fun tonight. We got a stage win. I made some mistakes there at the end of the second stage, but we had a shot there at the end. It just gets super intense. I’m glad the No. 48 (Alex Bowman) got locked-into the playoffs.” We have Darlington coming up. How do you get refocused now and start running for the championship?“Yeah, it’s good to get a couple good runs in the last couple of weeks and go to one of our better tracks (at Darlington Raceway) next weekend; keep the momentum going and get the playoffs started off right.” Justin Haley, No. 7 Spire Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 3rd“When the No. 5 (Kyle Larson) put the No. 60 (Ryan Preece) three-wide, the pack lost momentum, and I got too far out. By the time I realized it, I tried to check up, but then everyone came around me and I was just trying to find a lane. It was pretty tough, and obviously I don’t think the No. 5 wanted to push a new car to the win, so he was doing everything he could to win and that is respectable.” Kyle Busch, No. 8 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 33rd “The No. 8 Cheddar’s Chevrolet was fast and we were confident in our Richard Childress Racing Machine. We got wrecked late in the first stage and ended up in the garage. The whole team gave it their all and got us back on track so we were able to finish the race. I’m proud of our team and the work they did to keep us running, and now we’ll focus on Darlington.” Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 10thHow did tonight go for you, and what are you looking forward to next weekend at Darlington Raceway to kickoff the playoffs? “Yeah, we got Alex (Bowman) in, so that’s good. I think Ryan (Blaney) jumped us in points and so did Kyle (Larson), so unfortunately, we lost a couple of playoff points there. But nonetheless, it was still good to get a handful and some change (of points). We’ll go to Darlington and try to build on the race we had there in the spring.” William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 19th How was the communication with Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) back at home in Charlotte? “Thank you to everyone back at the shop. I thought Brandon (McSwain) did a really good job stepping in tonight. We’ve worked together for probably a decade, really, since the JR Motorsports days. He did a good job, and I’m sure all the work that Rudy (Fugle) was doing back at the shop helped Brandon, as well. Just really proud of the effort by this No. 24 Liberty University Chevrolet team. We had some gremlins there at the beginning of the race. We just had some weird stuff going on. Really nothing was wrong with the car, we just got in that early crash and thought we might have had some damage. But overall, our Chevy was good enough to compete for the win. I just wish I could take a couple decisions back in the final stage, and really, that caution hurt us because we were kind of mired in the back and it was hard to pass. I thought our weekend was smooth, all things considered. Just excited to get to Darlington. It’s one of our best racetracks, and I’m sure we’ll be fast there.” Austin Hill, No. 33 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 30th “Bummed out for our United Rentals team. Getting caught up in a wreck that early in the race is very disappointing, but so much is out of your control during superspeedway racing. We were in the outside lane and just had nowhere to go. With qualifying being rained out, we started 36th but made moves as soon as the green flag waved. Driving to 14th in five laps showed the speed our Chevrolet had. Hate that we couldn’t compete because I felt really good about our chances to get a top-10. The No. 33 team kept digging all night, trying to make the most of it. We’ll try again in a few weeks at Bristol.” Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Hyak Motorsports ChevroletSidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage One. Finished: 35th Stenhouse Jr. on the accident that ended the No. 47 Hyak Motorsports Chevrolet team’s race in Stage one: “I couldn’t really see anything. I got hit from about every direction after it happened. The No. 5 (Kyle Larson) got to the outside of the No. 22 (Joey Logano), which then in-turn, I think it put that row four-wide. I’m not sure what happened between the No. 22 and the No. 23 (Bubba Wallace). It was just really aggressive racing there. Our plan was to put our No. 47 Jack Link’s Duos Chevrolet towards the front and be at the front as much as possible. We got there, and I was in the position that I wanted to be in. I felt like we were going to get into turn one in probably fifth or sixth-place there and try to finish the stage out, but it didn’t happen.” Do you feel like you had a car that could win? “Our No. 47 Jack Link’s Duos felt really good. I was really stable. I felt like I had a little bit more speed, which was something I was excited about. I felt like I put my Chevy in a lot of good spots, and we went from the back to the front like we normally do.” Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletSidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage One. Finished: 36th Is there anything you could have done to avoid that wreck? “Being in front of it is really about all I could do, unfortunately. From where we were, there just really wasn’t any way to get around it. All of the hits just sort of compounded too much to be able to fix it. I hate it for the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet team. We’ve done a lot of good things lately. Tonight is going to be stressful to watch, but we’ll see what happens. Hope for no new winners, but if somebody wins, they deserve it. It’s unfortunate that we haven’t won yet this year. We’ve been so strong, especially lately. I would say from Michigan on, it’s been something fun to be a part of. It was all very out of our control. I hate that we tanked so bad the first run. The bottom lane just fell apart behind us. We had to overcome that, but we had gotten back to the back side of the top-10. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out.” Shane van Gisbergen, No. 88 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletFinished: 16th How much were you able to learn being able to complete the whole race tonight? “It was awesome. We set out and achieved what we wanted to do. I wasn’t quite a good enough pusher to help the No. 99 (Daniel Suarez). I would just get tight and bound up, and I couldn’t stay attached. But when we were out front, it was good. It was good to lead some laps and control some lanes. I learned a lot. We just have to keep building. It’s another solid result for this No. 88 Red Bull Chevrolet team.” Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Trackhouse Racing ChevroletFinished: 2ndYou had a fast Chevrolet here today. What else did you need there at the end? “We just needed one more spot. The No. 99 Coca-Cola Chevrolet team did a great job. We just probably needed to be in position a little bit earlier, but our Chevy was strong. We just lost a little bit of control in the final stage and that set us behind a little bit. The No. 12 (Ryan Blaney, race winner) was back there with us at one point. Overall, we had a good car all night, but it was just a little bit too late.”

NASCAR CUP SERIESDAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORTAUGUST 23, 2025

Seven Team Chevy Drivers Set to Compete for 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Championship

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race Advances Chevrolet Newsroom

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS: POS. DRIVER
2nd – Daniel Suarez3rd – Justin Haley6th – Kyle Larson10th – Chase Elliott

Chevrolet’s season statistics with 26 NASCAR Cup Series races complete:

Wins: 12Poles: 10Top-Fives: 52Top 10s: 111Stage Wins: 22

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Thornton Secures Victory in Wild Rumble by the River at Port Royal

August 26, 2025 ARP Trish

Thornton Secures Victory in Wild Rumble by the River at Port Royal

PORT ROYAL, PA (August 23, 2025) – Ricky Thornton Jr. took the lead from Chris Madden on lap 46 and then pulled away in the final laps to win the Rumble by the River presented by UNOH on Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway. Thornton not only won $50,000 but also received a $7,500 bonus from UNOH for leading the championship points at the end of the night, now holding a 10-point lead over Jonathan Davenport, who finished fifth in the 50-lap race. Madden, who led the most laps during the race, finished in second, while Devin Moran rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third. Brandon Sheppard took the fourth spot ahead of Davenport. Madden maintained a strong lead for the first 23 laps until Thornton, who started sixth, charged into the top spot on lap 24. Thornton then led until lap 37, when Madden executed a slider on turn two to reclaim the lead as Moran moved up to second place. Madden then led Moran and Thornton until a caution with 41 laps completed bunches the field for a single-file restart with nine laps to go. Thornton, who restarted in third, got by Moran on lap 45 and Madden on lap 46 to retake the lead for good, which he held to the finish line, winning by 1.7 seconds to complete a sweep of the weekend at Port Royal. Thornton won all three Lucas Oil races at Port Royal in 2025, as he also went to victory lane back in April at “The Speed Palace.” In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 12th time this year and for the 54th time in his career, Thornton had to earn his fourth career win at Port Royal. “I just hoped I got back to him (Madden). It almost sounded like he was firing a little bit before I was (on the restarts), so he would get a little bit of a run down the hill. The first time, he didn’t slide me, and you, I thought maybe he’s not going to slide me, so on the next restart, he slid me. It was either wreck or get wrecked there. I started driving pretty hard against the wall to get sideways and try to get by Devin, and at that point, it was really the right move. I knew Devin was going to run the wall for a couple of laps, but he wouldn’t really commit up there. He would get his right rear close to the fence, but you almost had to get the right front in the fence and just hold it on the floor and pray it doesn’t turn bad turns,” said the Chandler, Arizona native. “I got by Devin and slid past him there in three. He tried, I think, to drive it harder into the corner, and I believe that backfired on him instead of just slowing down to cross me like he did the time before. I reached second, and after that, I didn’t hit the throttle again until I got to turn one. I just wanted to make sure I caught up to Madden, and once I did, I aimed to position myself so he couldn’t cross me or beat me into one and slide me again. This time, he didn’t slide me, so I was ready for it—I entered in a way to ensure I could turn. He didn’t slide all the way across, so I stayed on the throttle around the wall. Once I was in front, I knew I had to drive as hard as I could and pray another yellow flag wouldn’t come out. Luckily, it worked out for us.” Madden, who finished second a week ago in the Topless 100, collected another $20,000 check for car owner Kale Green with his second-place run Saturday night at Port Royal. “We were racing for 50 grand and had a good restart. We drove into one there, and I had him cleared in the middle of the corner. He could have turned left or hit the brakes or whatever, but he slid into me in three and four, and I had to hit the brake. It is what it is. We had a great race at the end. Thornton got the job done, and we had a great race car tonight. Thanks to all the fans for coming out.” Moran, who moved into third place in the championship points ahead of Hudson O’Neal, completed the Big River Steel Podium in third. “Man, I’ve got a good car, so for some reason I can’t get that top run. I’ve tried and tried, but I just can’t make the speed up there like Ricky. However, I am starting to figure this place out a little more. I was good the first couple of times I came here, then I really struggled for probably two or three years. Now I feel like I’m in the top five, top three, top two. We just haven’t got that win, but we’ve got a good package, and I’m starting to get the hang of this place.” The winner’s Koehler Motorsports Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Hoker Trucking, Knight’s Companies, Coltman Farms Racing, Ultimate Towing and Recovery, Elite Ready Mix, Capital Waste, Bilstein Shocks, Sunoco Race Fuels, EMD Wraps, and Certified Inspection Services. Completing the top ten were Mike Marlar, Max Blair, Gregg Satterlee, Brandon Overton, and Hudson O’Neal. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary Rumble by the River presented by UNOH | Night 2Saturday, August 23, 2025Port Royal Speedway | Port Royal, PA Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Carson Ferguson | 17.822 seconds (Overall)Fast Time Group B: Chris Madden | 17.934 seconds Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 93-Carson Ferguson[1]; 2. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 4. N1-Michael Norris[7]; 5. 22G-Gregg Satterlee[6]; 6. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[2]; 7. 66-Justin Kann[10]; 8. 1Z-Logan Zarin[8]; 9. 000-Dale Murphy[9]; 10. 06-Mike Lupfer[11]; 11. 9-Hayes Mattern[5]
Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[3]; 4. 111-Max Blair[4]; 5. 09-Michael Leach[5]; 6. 6-Clay Harris[6]; 7. 2J-Justin Weaver[10]; 8. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[8]; 9. 24Y-Dylan Yoder[9]; 10. 24-Rick Eckert[7]
Cool-It Thermo-Tec Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 4. 79-Donald McIntosh[5]; 5. 15K-Wil Herrington[4]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[11]; 7. 48-Colton Flinner[7]; 8. 2-Dan Stone[8]; 9. 0Y-Andrew Yoder[9]; 10. 21-Chad Myers[10]; 11. 4-Gary Stuhler[6]
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 66C-Matt Cosner[3]; 3. 22F-Chris Ferguson[4]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[8]; 5. 27-Trever Feathers[6]; 6. D19-Dillan Stake[7]; 7. 4S-Danny Snyder[9]; 8. 93L-Cory Lawler[5]; 9. 80D-Greg Diehl[10]; 10. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2] Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 22G-Gregg Satterlee[1]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[3]; 3. 6-Clay Harris[4]; 4. 09-Michael Leach[2]; 5. 1Z-Logan Zarin[7]; 6. 2J-Justin Weaver[6]; 7. 66-Justin Kann[5]; 8. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[8]; 9. 24Y-Dylan Yoder[10]; 10. 000-Dale Murphy[9]; 11. 24-Rick Eckert[12]; 12. 9-Hayes Mattern[13]; 13. (DNS) 06-Mike Lupfer
UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 15K-Wil Herrington[1]; 2. 60-Dan Ebert[3]; 3. 48-Colton Flinner[5]; 4. 27-Trever Feathers[2]; 5. 4-Gary Stuhler[13]; 6. 2-Dan Stone[7]; 7. 4S-Danny Snyder[6]; 8. 93L-Cory Lawler[8]; 9. 21-Chad Myers[11]; 10. 80D-Greg Diehl[10]; 11. 0Y-Andrew Yoder[9]; 12. 18D-Daulton Wilson[12]; 13. D19-Dillan Stake[4] Rumble by the River | Night 1 Feature Finish (50 Laps): Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Pay1 – 6 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $58,7002 – 2 – 44 – Chris Madden – Gray Court, SC – $20,0003 – 4 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $12,5004 – 7 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $10,2005 – 5 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $9,7006 – 11 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – $6,0007 – 15 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $4,5008 – 17 – 22G – Gregg Satterlee – Indiana, PA – $4,0009 – 9 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $6,00010 – 3 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $5,90011 – 14 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – Dawsonville, GA – $4,20012 – 1 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $3,90013 – 10 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $5,20014 – 8 – 66C – Matt Cosner – Ridgeley, WV – $2,50015 – 25 – 24 – Rick Eckert – York, PA – $2,40016 – 20 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $3,00017 – 23 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – $4,40018 – 21 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $2,80019 – 16 – 7 – Ross Robinson – Georgetown, DE – $2,00020 – 13 – N1 – Michael Norris – Sarver, PA – $2,00021 – 12 – 22F – Chris Ferguson – Mt. Holly, NC – $2,00022 – 24 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $2,70023 – 19 – 25Z – Mason Zeigler – Chalk Hill, PA – $2,00024 – 18 – 15K – Wil Herrington – Hawkinsville, GA – $2,00025 – 22 – 48 – Colton Flinner – Allison Park, PA – $2,000 Race Statistics Entrants: 42Victory Fuel Pole Sitter: Carson FergusonMD3 Lap Leaders: Chris Madden (Laps 1-23); Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Laps 24-37); Chris Madden (38-45); Ricky Thornton, Jr. (Laps 46-50)Hellraizer Jacks Halfway Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Wieland Feature Winner: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Margin of Victory: 1.754 secondsColtman Farms Racing Cautions: Wil Herrington (Lap 9); Daulton Wilson (Lap 19); Wil Herrington (Lap 33); Daniel Hilsabeck (Lap 37); Chris Ferguson (Lap 41)Series Provisionals: Daulton Wilson; Daniel HilsabeckFast Time Provisional: n/aEmergency Provisional: n/aTrack Provisional: Rick EckertBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Chris Madden, Devin Moran Penske Shocks Top 5: Ricky Thornton, Jr., Chris Madden, Devin Moran, Brandon Sheppard, Jonathan DavenportPEM 4th Place Feature: Brandon SheppardDMI Rearends 5th Place Feature: Jonathan DavenportWilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Max BlairWehrs Machine 11th Place Feature: Donald McIntoshDeatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Garrett AlbersonMD3 24th Place Feature: Wil HerringtonHoker Trucking Hard Charger of the Race: Rick Eckert (Advanced 10 positions) MD3 Most Laps Led: Chris Madden (31 Laps)Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jonathan DavenportO’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Donald McIntoshPro Fabrication Headers Fastest Lap of the Race: Chris Madden | Lap 2| 20.200 secondsSlicker Graphics Slickest Move of the Race: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Fresh Roof Hard Luck Award: Daulton WilsonOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Zach FrieldsARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Mike Marlar | 17.913 secondsTime of Race: 14 minutes 35 seconds Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Pay1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – 7270 – $421,9502 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 7260 – $381,1003 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 6830 – $261,7494 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 6815 – $269,1755 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 6590 – $226,9006 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 6480 – $158,5507 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 6260 – $139,7008 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – 5730 – $115,1259 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – 5460 – $94,02510 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – Dawsonville, GA – 5390 – $82,65011 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – 5185 – $75,75012 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – 4950 – $73,27513 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – 4800 – $68,60014 – 19M – Spencer Hughes – Meridian, MS – 4335 – $59,70015 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – 4185 – $44,100

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Chevy Racing–INDYCAR–Milwaukee, Wisconsin Qualifying Report August 23

August 26, 2025 ARP Trish

CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 2501.015-mile Milwaukee Mile short oval
A solid day of qualifying for Team Chevy at the Milwaukee Mile saw drivers wearing the Bowtie nail down seven of the top ten spots on the grid for Sunday’s Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250. David Malukas in the No. 4 A.J. Foyt Racing Clarience Technologies Chevrolet just missed out on his first career pole, with Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Team Penske Chevrolet, Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Snap-On Team Penske Chevrolet, Conor Daly in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet and Christian Rasmussen in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Splenda Stevia Chevrolet joining him in the top ten.
As the 18th of 27 drivers to attempt to qualify on the historic 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile short oval, Malukas survived two lap efforts by eight drivers, including those who qualified 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th, before 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou, the last driver to qualify, grabbed his sixth pole of the season. Malukas, who is still looking for his first career pole, will start on the outside of the front row for the fourth time in his career, including the first race at the Milwaukee Mile in 2024. The 23-year-old from nearby Chicago, Illinois, has a huge family and friends contingent with him this weekend, including his middle school teacher. O’Ward, a winner at ‘The Mile’ last year, will start from the first two rows for the third race in a row and the sixth time this year. McLaughlin, the other 2024 winner in Milwaukee, will start beside O’Ward, which is also his sixth start in the first two rows this season. Newgarden, who will start seventh after Scott Dixon receives a grid penalty for changing an engine early, led the practice before the qualifying with a best lap of 161.066 mph. Four of the six fastest drivers were Chevrolet-powered. After just missing out on his first pole, Malukas was once again second quickest in final practice. His best lap speed was 154.871 mph and was one of five Bowtie-powered drivers in the top eight.
The Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 will air on FOX and the INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218 at 2 pm (ET).
Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 qualifying results:

Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 Starting Lineup

What They’re Saying
David Malukas, No. 4 A.J. Foyt Racing Clarience Technologies Chevrolet qualified 2^ndThat was Woohoo! That was on the limit. I am not going to lie! We were right there on the edge of those walls on the exit. Really happy with performance of that. We were doing so much studying in practice trying to learn strategies. I think from a speed perspective, we are right there. That is pretty much as close as we are going to get to maximizing our car, so, we will see what other people are going to do, but I already know that is really a good qualifying run.”
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet qualified 3^rd:“I feel like I missed a little bit in Turn 1, but this is a great starting position and much better than where we started last year. We’re going to try and double up and fight for a win. I’m really excited to go for it tomorrow.”
Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Snap-On Team Penske Chevrolet qualified 8^th:“Probably not what we wanted there. I mean, we had a good first run-in practice and didn’t quite have the, probably, the balance we were projecting, on that run. So I I’m not sure how good that’s gonna be, but, you know, the race is a different story. I think we learned a little bit on that first practice on what we need to do for tomorrow. But, you know, the name of the game is keeping the tires underneath you. This this track’s hard on tires, and we gotta go forward. So, proud to have Snap on onboard, Great local company that is a big company in the world and and would like to bring them a good race.”
Conor Daly, No. 76 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet qualified 9^th:“I had a missed shift out of four, and that is what killed us. I tried to go up to fifth gear, and it never went, so that is what killed us. It’s so bumpy, and it’s just so bumpy.  It has nothing to do with other than where I tried to select a gear.  That killed it, and that means you start the second lap bad when you end the first lap bad. So that is what it was.
“I’m 100 times more confident than I was after first practice last year.  We’ve already tried to move to the bottom and figure things out. The deg Is aggressive and that’s good.  You are going to see people hating life, and people, even at the front probably upset. It’s who is going to be least upset and I think that it is awesome. I think we are in for s good race.”
Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Splenda Stevia Chevrolet qualified 10^th:“Massive applause to the ECR Splenda Stevia crew here! That was a big turnaround from practice where we really struggled for speed. We found a lot here for qualifying! Really happy with that strong run.”
Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Java House Chevrolet qualified 13^th: “We didn’t have the same balance we had this morning, so we’ll need to look into that. Fortunately, this is one of the only oval races of the year where qualifying doesn’t matter quite as much. It will be an important final practice session this afternoon.”
Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet qualified 17^th:“Honestly, the No. 7 VELO Arrow McLaren Chevrolet felt good during Qualifying, but it felt like it was under-driven. I think there’s much more pace in the car. I think it’s a good race car, most importantly, and we know you don’t score the big points on Saturdays.”
Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet qualified 18^th:“I didn’t feel like we had the speed there.  I feel like when we have rolled off with that, the results have been there, this time it isn’t.  So, we kind of just rolled off slow.  It’s not a balance problem really, we just don’t have the grip to do what other cars are doing.  Not entirely sure why, but we will work on it.  We will see what happens in final practice.”
Sting Ray Robb, No. 77 Juncos Holliger Racing Chevrolet qualified 19^th:“Turn one was a little too comfortable. I think that I pushed a little bit too much on our warm-up lap, which, like, that’s kinda crazy to say, but, you know, I think that there’s still a good bit of time in there I think I have a great car underneath me. I’m okay with that session, but we are gonna have a good race.”
Robert Shwartzman, No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet qualified 21^st:“We tried something different with the setup ahead of qualifying to try and find some speed, and unfortunately, it did not work out as hoped. This leaves us towards the back of the order for the race on Sunday. It is important that we make the most of the session after qualifying to find the best racecar for us to move forward.”
Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 A.J. Foyt Racing Phoenix Investors Chevrolet qualified 23rd“I think we kind of just missed the setup. I missed something with the gearing as well, just on my side; I think I should have been holding fifth gear instead of downshifting twice. I think there’s just a couple of small things. I don’t think we had, obviously the pace of our teammate, but we have better pace than where we qualified. So, we’re gonna make some changes, see if we can’t fix the balance for the race and pass some cars tomorrow.”Callum Ilott, No, 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet qualified 25^th:“We tried something different with the setup ahead of qualifying to try and find some speed, and unfortunately, it did not work out as hoped. This leaves us towards the back of the order for the race on Sunday. It is important that we make the most of the session after qualifying to find the best racecar for us to move forward.”

NTT INDYCAR SERIES News ConferenceSaturday, August 23, 2025David MalukasPress Conference
THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up qualifying ahead of tomorrow’s Snap-on Milwaukee 250 here at the always challenging and fun Milwaukee Mile.
Currently joined by David Malukas, once again, in the No. 4 Clariance Technologies Chevrolet for AJ Foyt Enterprises with his second front row start of 2025, fourth time he’s started second in his career. Right before you sat down you thought that was a perfect lap you had, eh?
DAVID MALUKAS: They were two beautiful laps. I crossed that line, I wasn’t even looking at the time and I knew it was fast. Sometimes you just know it’s going to be good, and I crossed, and I was like, that was really beautiful. I really think that’s going to be the one.
I just had to wait until the end, and I saw him come out of 4, and I was like, oh, no, I was like put the ghost thing in there; I think he’s got it on this one. I saw the ghost, and I was like, yeah.
It’s still good. Going to be on the front row again here at Milwaukee. We have a good race car. We’ll see what we can do.
Q. I was going to ask about the race car. Obviously you feel good —
DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, this afternoon is going to be kind of all the answers. It’s just all so unfortunate because I was behind Palou in practice and he was so fast on passing people. It was like, man, this is — I feel like this happened — where was it, Iowa? A race earlier this year where it was just me and Palou in the front and just battling him again. It’s going to be a little bit like that again to start, and then obviously the beautiful chaos of Milwaukee is going to unfold and we’ll see where we end up after all of that.
It’s going to be a good race. We have some questions to get answered for this practice this afternoon, and I’m pretty sure we’ll be able to answer them.
Q. Is there any secret or key to what’s important to make a good lap here? And your teammate, how identical are the setups?
DAVID MALUKAS: You know, when it comes to setups with every single driver, everybody has their own preferences and they vary drastically. It’s very different, and we’re very much on different wavelengths on where we want the car. It’s hard to say from our perspective. It’s a different story.
When it comes to being quick here, it’s a short time. You have one practice session and you’re going straight go qualifying, and it’s about carrying momentum and finding the best line that works for you. I think out of the qualifyings that you’ll see on ovals, this is the track that differs the most on what lines people do use. You’ll see some people going in on that lower line, some people going high and some people try and find something that works more in the middle, and it depends on what car is best on what line.
Q. The warmup lap you had the fastest, I think. Do you think you went a little faster?
DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, (indiscernible) warmup 2 was (indiscernible) I was the fastest. It just goes into strategy on what we were thinking with tire deg. The tire deg is so bad, you can actually feel it within the few laps that we do in qualifying.
I think people were on different strategies in warmup and maybe trying to save some tires, but from our perspective we kind of wanted to go more full push from the beginning.
Q. Just talk about how chaotic this race is more than likely to be. Seems like 40 laps is the stint, tires are going to drop off. Walk us through what you expect coming up tomorrow.
DAVID MALUKAS: It’s going to be a tire deg race, and it’s going to be a lot of fun. From a viewing standpoint, the car when you put new tires on and you’re going out and doing some undercuts, it’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a fantastic race, and honestly, it’s one of those races that you don’t know where we’re going to be at until we get a yellow or until the race finishes, and we’re just going to go out there and try to be as fast as we can and try to pass as many people as we can.
Q. I know qualifying really seems to have been your big strength this year. What has clicked over one lap, and conversely, how do you start converting that into more race results?
DAVID MALUKAS: 100 percent. Going into the season, we’ve made gains from the start. We’ve learned so much. Like I said, it’s a younger crew, and I myself am 23. There’s a lot that I’m learning.
We’ve found a very good car when it comes to qualifying, and for road courses as well that one-lap pace and for qualifying here — we’ve had a lot of success in qualifying this season. It’s more just trying to focus on the road courses, on the races especially.
There’s a lot of answers that we still need to work on. We have a long off-season, so we’ll make sure to get those answers and figure it out, but from our side we’re very happy. If we look at where we were at the start of the season, it’s been a drastic change.
Q. What are some of the big things you feel you have learned across the year?
DAVID MALUKAS: Just a street course car (indiscernible) massive gains. We’ve been competitive in (indiscernible). That was the one thing we were struggling the most on, and we made drastic changes in qualifying.
The last thing is just trying to figure out our race pace. I think that’s the last puzzle to kind of complete everything, and then we can start fine tuning some things here and there and be competitive.
Q. The most important question, are Dorking in the Premier League yet?
DAVID MALUKAS: Still not. I’ve been trying so hard. I’m literally mid world championship trying to survive. I’m not going to lie, the championship is very difficult. I am struggling.
But I have really good players on there, but they’re just — one has a good season performance and then the next season I’m trying to talk with them and trying to praise them and lift them up a little bit.
Q. Last year Santino and James Schnabel turned into a really powerful combination. Santino had his best season in INDYCAR. I love seeing what you’re building this year. Speak to that a little bit; where will you go now? The two of you are producing at a pretty high rate.
DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, I think off of that point, it goes a lot of kudos to James Schnabel. He’s transformed Ferrucci, transformed me. In a season it’s crazy what performances he’s been able to accomplish and what he’s been able to do.
We sat down, had a lot of talks and felt it out. We built that chemistry from a personality standpoint and getting to know each other and learning what I want from the car, and he’s done an incredible job understanding what I’m needing and giving that to me.
Like I said, if I look back at the start of the season St. Pete and just — the first three months, it’s crazy how different things were. We were struggling to even make the top 10 in qualifying, and now we’ve had some Fast Six performances and now we’re here again on the front row at Milwaukee. It’s kudos to James.

CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIESSnap-on Milwaukee Mile 2501.015-mile Milwaukee Mile short ovalMilwaukee, WisconsinQualifying ReportAugust 23
A solid day of qualifying for Team Chevy at the Milwaukee Mile saw drivers wearing the Bowtie nail down seven of the top ten spots on the grid for Sunday’s Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250. David Malukas in the No. 4 A.J. Foyt Racing Clarience Technologies Chevrolet just missed out on his first career pole, with Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Sonsio Vehicle Protection Team Penske Chevrolet, Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 Snap-On Team Penske Chevrolet, Conor Daly in the No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet and Christian Rasmussen in the No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Splenda Stevia Chevrolet joining him in the top ten.
As the 18th of 27 drivers to attempt to qualify on the historic 1.015-mile Milwaukee Mile short oval, Malukas survived two lap efforts by eight drivers, including those who qualified 3rd, 5th, 6th, and 7th, before 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Alex Palou, the last driver to qualify, grabbed his sixth pole of the season. Malukas, who is still looking for his first career pole, will start on the outside of the front row for the fourth time in his career, including the first race at the Milwaukee Mile in 2024. The 23-year-old from nearby Chicago, Illinois, has a huge family and friends contingent with him this weekend, including his middle school teacher. O’Ward, a winner at ‘The Mile’ last year, will start from the first two rows for the third race in a row and the sixth time this year. McLaughlin, the other 2024 winner in Milwaukee, will start beside O’Ward, which is also his sixth start in the first two rows this season. Newgarden, who will start seventh after Scott Dixon receives a grid penalty for changing an engine early, led the practice before the qualifying with a best lap of 161.066 mph. Four of the six fastest drivers were Chevrolet-powered. After just missing out on his first pole, Malukas was once again second quickest in final practice. His best lap speed was 154.871 mph and was one of five Bowtie-powered drivers in the top eight.
The Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 will air on FOX and the INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218 at 2 pm (ET).
Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 qualifying results:

Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 Starting Lineup

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CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: Hoping to Move on Up

August 26, 2025 ARP Trish

Corvette program looking for seventh IMSA victory in GT-only contest

ALTON, Virginia (August 23, 2025) – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports will start fourth and fifth Sunday for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR, looking for additional speed to contend for a long-awaited first victory this season. Antonio Garcia led the team’s qualifying efforts Saturday at Virginia International Raceway in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R that shares with Alexander Sims.

A four-time winner at VIR, Garcia’s best lap was a 1:44.886 (112.235 mph) effort to take the outside of the front row. It also was just 0.005 seconds clear of teammate Nicky Catsburg in the No. 4 Corvette that he will pilot with Tommy Milner.
Catsburg’s result was especially satisfying given a precautionary engine change following Saturday morning’s final practice. The team suspected a faulty thermostat but elected to remove all guesswork and make the swap with enough time between sessions. While both qualifying drivers were pleased with their respective Corvettes, both sides of the Pratt Miller garage were looking for ways to close a nearly half-second gap to the GTD PRO front row. In GTD, DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette will start eighth in class after Alec Udell’s 1:45.453 (111.632 mph) best lap in qualifying. He and Robert Wickens will share the DXDT Corvette for the final time this year with two endurance races left in the season. AWA’s No. 13 Corvette of Orey Fidani and Matt Bell will start 13th in GTD in their push for another Akin Award victory in the team’s push for a second straight appearance at the 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET on Sunday and will air live on USA Network starting at 2 p.m. Live streaming on Peacock in the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. from 2 to 5 p.m. ET IMSA Radio will provide the audio call at IMSA.com, XM 206 and SiriusXM Online 996.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTESANTONIO GARICA, NO. 3 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The results are OK but the car was really good. There really wasn’t much more we could do than that. Maybe a tenth-and-a-half, if that. When you see you’re fourth-tenths off, you know you don’t have that. But the Corvette was good in this session and it felt good in practice. Let’s pray for that to be enough for tomorrow.”

NICKY CATSBURG, NO. 4 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The crew did an awesome job getting things ready in time. It’s never easy but the Corvette was excellent in qualifying, to be honest. We had super-nice balance. I don’t know what I would have changed on it. I felt like I nailed the lap but couldn’t really do much more than that. Four-tenths is too much to ask. But our car is really good so hats off to the guys. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “The car feels good. I’m happy with my pace overall as that was the quickest lap time I’ve put in across all the sessions so far this weekend. I’ve been doing better and better as I turn more laps. VIR is a challenging track but the team has done a great job getting us ready for race day and I think we’ll be competitive come tomorrow.”

ALEC UDELL, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Balance-wise, the car is good. I think we’re just fighting for a bit of grip; it’s probably the same for everyone. So it was just digging into a few options (Friday in practice). We made a bunch of setup changes so there was a lot of in-and-out in that session. I think we’ve got a good handle on where the car should be and just adapting to the conditions this weekend. That’s kind of where we are. It’s not where we thought we would be, I would say, unloading so we have got to dig into that a little bit more.”

CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: Hoping to Move on UpCorvette program looking for seventh IMSA victory in GT-only contest

Corvette Racing Media Resources Documents | Statistics | Photos | Factory Driver Bios | Chevrolet Newsroom

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Chevy Racing–Nascar–Daytona–Justin Marks & Connor Zilisch

August 26, 2025 ARP Trish

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT AUGUST 23, 2025

Justin Marks, Founder and Owner of Trackhouse Racing; Connor Zilisch, driver for Trackhouse Racing; and Dr. Eric Warren, Vice President, Global Motorsports Competition for GM Motorsports; met with the media onsite at Daytona International Speedway to announce that Zilisch has signed a multiyear agreement to drive for Trackhouse Racing full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2026.

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race Advances Chevrolet Newsroom

Press Conference Quotes:
Justin Marks: “We’re here to shock the world with an announcement that nobody saw coming. It’s a thrilling moment, humbling, an exciting moment for Trackhouse Entertainment Group to officially announce and welcome Connor Zilisch, who’ll be our third driver next year in a multi-year deal in the NASCAR Cup Series. He’ll join Ross Chastain and Shane van Gisbergen as his teammates. I don’t have to say how special he is and how humbled and excited that we are to have Connor join us at the Cup Series level. A number of years ago, when we started kind of thinking about the three-year, five-year and the long-term vision of this company, it became apparent as we got established in this series that we needed to start making investments in our future and start cultivating our future. And Connor really stood out. I watched him raise the Trackhouse Motorplex, watched him as he went to Late Models and then Trans Am, and then got an opportunity to be his teammate in the Trans Am race at VIR just to sort of see how he operates, and he won that race by about 45 seconds over the field. It was really kind of that moment that we felt like making an investment in Connor, giving him the tools and the opportunity to develop, was something that we really needed to do at Trackhouse. So, we’re really excited that Red Bull and WeatherTech are both going to anchor the program on his car next year, and we’re working very, very hard to give all three of our guys an opportunity to win, make our race cars fast, make our company competitive and a leader in the garage. I think if we do that, we’ve got a bunch of guys that that can win a lot of races, including Connor in his rookie year. So, Connor Zilisch, welcome, my friend.” Connor Zilisch: “Thank you. I’m honored to be joined by you two on the stage. You two believed in me before a lot of people did and gave me this opportunity to be sitting here today and have the opportunity to make that jump to the Cup Series. So, first of all, thank you to Eric and Justin. I was sitting in the Dick’s parking lot across the street earlier today and just kind of reflecting on the last 15 years of my life and what’s led to this moment and got me to this point. I never thought I would make it anywhere in racing. My parents have been behind me since day one, through every moment, the good, the bad. There were many times I questioned why I left school, left my friends, to make this commitment to go to the Cup Series and try and chase a dream of racing in motorsports. I never knew what was ahead of me. There were times, five years ago, where I thought I was just going to go to college and live the life of a normal kid and Kevin Harvick asked my dad, what’s your plan with this kid? And my dad was like, ‘Well, he’s going to race for another year two and then he’s going to go to college.’ And Kevin told my dad, ‘You can’t do that.’ So, thank you to Kevin. There are a lot of people that have been a part of this journey with me. I have way too many people to thank. Junior Motorsports, first of all, for giving me this opportunity this year to race with them. Dale, Kelley, you guys have given me a great home for the last six to 12 months and I’m very grateful for that. Pinnacle Racing Group, my ARCA team, they took a chance on me to put me into the national series in NASCAR and let me race in the ARCA Series with them. Silver Hare Racing before that in Trans Am gave me my first ride in a stock car. Back to even my karting days when I was with Gary Willis. We spent months in Europe together. He was basically my father for a good portion of my life. So, today is a really, really special day for me. I never thought this day would come, and that it certainly feels good.” Eric Warren: “I look at Connor now, he’s 19, I look at him like he was 14, the first day we talked to him. I specifically remember his father, Jim, and him sitting in with us, and it was just really inspiring to see his commitment, even at that point. And Josh Wise, I give him a ton of credit, Josh and his group with us have developed a lot of great young people and Connor from the very beginning, Josh was like, ‘This kid’s going to do something nobody else has ever done.’ And, so far, that’s been true. There’s been a lot of things that really inspired, not just us, but Connor is the one that’s done the work. If you look at what he’s done and everything he puts it. I see him every day at our Technic Center working out and couldn’t be more proud to be a part of it, honestly. He’s got a great head on his shoulders, but it’s honestly the work and the things that people don’t see. It’s not just a talent. He puts in the effort and really, really works at it. That’s really where his success comes from. So super happy for this day and look forward to what we’ll see in the future.” Connor Zilisch: “I do have to give a big shout out to Josh Wise. I joined the Chevy program in 2021 or 2022. And in the last three years, I’ve completely changed as a human in life, on the racetrack and off the racetrack. Josh has taught me so much, and I definitely owe a lot to him. So, yeah, very grateful that that. He took the chance to start that that program with Chevrolet and bring in those five young drivers and very fortunate that I was one of those five. That kind of kick-started and led to where I am today.” It’s rare for someone to start their full-time Cup career as young as 19 years old. What is it that sets Connor apart from other big racing prospects?Justin Marks: “I think it’s what everybody sees. It’s the level of maturity, the approach, the ability to deliver in big moments. When I get asked, which is sort of weird, but I get asked sometimes by young people, ‘What can I do to get noticed or to get an opportunity in racing?’ And I tell them it’s just you have to just win. You have to just have the ability to get it done when you got a fast racecar and when you have a winning opportunity you got to be able to close the deal. Connor’s done it. Just every car, he’s gotten in, he’s figured out a way to win. I think another one is the rate of adaptability. This sport won’t wait on somebody to figure things out. It’s such a fast-paced sport. You have to be able to get in a car, understand it right away, find its limits right away, and go deliver right away. And I think you saw that at Watkins Glen last year, first time in an Xfinity car and won the race. Earlier that year in the truck at COTA, first time in the truck, and put the thing on pole by a lot. Just to be able to get in and figure it out quickly. That’s really what it’s all about, because the Cup Series is a different sport than the Xfinity Series. Every week is such a challenge, and he’s going to be going to a lot of racetracks that he’s never seen in a Cup car before and with such a limited practice. He’s going to have to be able to figure out how to go fast really quickly. And he’s demonstrated the ability to do that so much in his career. And I think the other part of it, like I said, when I touched on is just maturity. Emotional maturity, approach, organization, and paying attention to the things that are important to success in his career. All of those things together, he’s demonstrated in a way that I’ve never seen a teenager be able to do it before. So, when you recognize that you’ve got that in a package, you know you have to run with it. And we’ve seen it. You know, Max Verstappen, and there’s been other drivers that that have gotten sort of thrown into the top level at a young age, and all those guys kind of demonstrate the same thing. So, we wouldn’t be doing this if we didn’t think that he was successful, if we didn’t think that he’d be able to win as a rookie. So, we’re thrilled to be able to have him.”
You’ve known this day was coming for a while, so I’m curious did you come in here trying not to cry or did this all of a sudden come up on you?Connor Zilisch “It’s cool. I knew the whole world knew already, but still to be able to say it and have my name next to the word Cup Series is really cool. So, I wasn’t going to try and hide from it, but it’s just a day that I’ve been dreaming of for a long time and I’m not going to let that kind of the idea that everybody already knows take away from the moment.” Are you lobbying for a number? Is there a number that you want?Justin Marks: “We’ve got some announcements that we’re going to make over the next couple of weeks. Obviously, there are questions around the program people, numbers, kind of all of that, and we’re going to have those moments when we can really celebrate them. But, right now, it’s about Red Bull, WeatherTech and Connor.”Connor Zilisch: “To add to that, Red Bull and WeatherTech this year has been a staple on my car and been such a big part of getting me to this point and making Justin signing me and putting me in the best equipment possible. So, yeah, to the entire WeatherTech family, it certainly means a lot to have their support. And I’ve been a Red Bull athlete for almost a year now, and probably the coolest sponsor. You watch videos of guys jumping from stratosphere and, you watch those YouTube videos as kids and you one day dream of being as cool as them and being a part of that legendary club, of being a Red Bull athlete. I’m really excited to have two of probably some of the coolest sponsors in our sport on my car next year.” Is there a point in your career when you realized you had made it or maybe to this moment come just right now sitting on this stage?Connor Zilisch: “I still haven’t made it to where I want to be, right? This is the start. I wanted to get to this point and give myself the opportunity to win championships at the highest level, but I wouldn’t say I’ve made it. But I’ve made it farther than a lot. So, that’s something to be proud of. And, yeah, it’s going to be grueling. The Cup Series is no joke, and that jump from Saturday to Sunday is bigger than probably any other sport in our country. So, yeah, I’m excited for the challenge and looking forward to just going out and learning and every Sunday giving my best effort and seeing where I stack up. I know it’s not going to be easy, but I’m just excited to be a part of the Cup Series. Have I made it? No, but I made it way farther than I thought I would.” The Cup Series, all the pressure, and all the commitments and all that stuff. How important is it to you to try to keep the person you are now?Connor Zilisch: “You get to Sunday and all of a sudden this becomes a job and you’re finishing position determines if you’re going to stay in the sport or not. And obviously that adds pressure and makes things more difficult, and it certainly adds to the fact that this is no longer all about having fun, but that’s what I’m going to try and do my best to keep every Sunday is to make sure that I’m enjoying it and enjoying the ride. This stuff, you can’t travel 38 weeks a year around the country and be miserable and expect to do well. So, yeah, you have to enjoy it. The good days are going to be special, and the bad days are you being a part of it. And that’s kind of just what you got to understand from the get-go. And, yeah, I’ll do my best. But there’s nothing that can really prepare you for this jump and only time will tell how it affects me. But I’m going to do my best to stand on my ground and stay true to who I am.” With Connor now and then SVG. Do you expect to win every road course race next year?Justin Marks: “Well, you can never expect to win. I mean, this series is very, very difficult. I would say that when we pull into the racetrack, everybody unloads feeling like they need to beat Trackhouse. I think the goal for us is to continue to invest in this sort of transition I’ve been talking about as a company. So that’s the case, all 38 weeks of the year. I mean, the goal for this business is to be a championship-winning organization, and we’re making a lot of moves internally right now to get ourselves there, because we’re competitors, we’re racers and we want to win every single week. I will say that the road courses are near and dear to my heart because it’s what I came out of, racing a bunch of years in IMSA and road racing. We’ve obviously got somebody that has demonstrated an incredible amount of skill at the road courses in SVG, but now we got two bullets in that gun, so I think it bodes well for us on the road courses. But we want to be able to do it every single week.” You’ve waited on this announcement. Were there any loose ends, or was it this just seemed like the right time for you to make this announcement?Justin Marks: “Well, obviously it takes time to get to get a deal done, right? So, we spent time in kind of getting to a place that we were both happy with. And as far as now, I don’t know if there was any real kind of rhyme or reason to it. It makes sense to do it at Daytona, just because it’s such an important part of the sport. Last year we sat right here in this room on this day and announced that Shane van Gisbergen was going to be joining the team. So, I came through the tunnel here when I was 19 years old for the 24 Hours of Daytona and Daytona’s been a huge part of my life ever since then. It’s been a huge part of, I think, everybody’s life that’s sitting in this room right now. So, it’s great to do it at the World Center of Racing and great to do it right in NASCAR’s backyard.” Do you view Connor as basically being a cornerstone of this team going forward?Justin Marks: “Yeah, I hope so. I think he represents a huge opportunity because of his maturity, because of his talent, and because of the fact that he’s got potential to be a champion in this sport, a multi-time champion in this sport. We have to do our job as a company. I mean, we have to put fast cars on the racetrack, we have to give him and his teammates an opportunity to go fast in the sport. So, I think as long as he stays focused and brings it every single week and we do our job building fast racecars and putting the right people around him, I think we’ll experience success together. I think we both would like for that to last a really, really long time. But it’s a very, very difficult sport. And, right now, Trackhouse is going through, like I said, this sort of transitional period where we’re looking at the company and envisioning kind of what the future looks like because it’s hard to beat Penske and Gibbs and Hendrick. But we want to be the team to do it. So, if we do our job and he does his job, I don’t see why we can’t have a lot of success together for a long time.” For somebody who’s still super young and still has such an early career, what’s some of the hardships and challenges that you’ve faced and overcome?Connor Zilisch: “It started probably 2020, 2021, when I was getting out of go karts and trying to make the jump into racing, full size cars, and my dad basically told me, ‘Look, I can get you to this point, but from here, you’re on your own.’ And it was tough to accept that. There were kids that I watched around me that had parents that could get them to the next level and I kind of had to go out and win races and find my way on my own. I always had their guidance and help, but at some point, you got to pay for this stuff somehow. I’m just very glad and fortunate that I had people around me who helped me. That’s why I say yes to every opportunity I get almost from the time I was 15 to 17. I never turned down an opportunity to get behind the wheel, whether it was racing on dirt, racing a Miata, racing Trans Am, Late Models. I always wanted to just be behind the wheel and get myself in front of more people because you never know who you’re going to meet, and that’s exactly how kind of things went with Justin and I. Someone came to me and asked me if I wanted to race a Trans Am car at VIR, and I said, yes, and you know, next thing I know I was teammates with Justin. That’s where things kind of started for us. So, it’s kind of been just who I am since I got out of a go kart, and I’m very glad that I had to work for it and I had to win races to get to the next level, because it makes sitting here today that much sweeter.”Justin Marks: “I think there’s a good lesson in that because one of the things that we talk about is taking advantage of the opportunity, delivering in the big moments. And when you’re in a position where you just you have to just let your talent speak for it, he delivered in that, and we looked at it and said, ‘You know, we’re going to make a commitment here, we’re going to make a financial commitment, we’re going to make an asset commitment.’ Eric Warren and Chevrolet did the same thing. They made a commitment because they just saw that there was something special here, because he just delivered so much. So, it’s great to be in this moment because the investment that we made, the investment that Chevrolet has made, we’ve seen that paid dividends with all the wins this year in Xfinity and we see the opportunity to do the same thing on Sundays.”

NASCAR CUP SERIESDAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPTAUGUST 23, 2025

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race Advances Chevrolet Newsroom

Uncategorized

2025 IndyCar Champion Alex Palou scores sixth pole of the season

August 26, 2025 ARP Trish

August 23, 2025 — MILWAUKEE, WI

Honda driver Alex Palou follows up championship clinch with sixth Honda-powered pole on the year
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, sets the fifth fastest time
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood seventh quickest as all three Honda winners this year qualify in the top-10

Alex Palou may have wrapped up the championship the last time out, but there was no slowing him down as he scored his sixth pole position of the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season at the Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250.

The Chip Ganassi Racing #10 driver has scored eight victories so far this season and has wrapped up his third consecutive drivers’ championship and fourth title in five years—and is chasing a record 10 wins in a single season.

Palou’s stellar year has also catapulted Honda to the manufacturers’ title, wrapping up that championship also with two races still to run. Honda teams and drivers have scored 12 wins in 15 races so far in 2025—including the Indianapolis 500.

Palou, along with Scott Dixon and Kyle Kirkwood have notched all 12 wins for Honda, and have also all notched top-10 qualifying speeds in today’s qualifying from the Milwaukee Mile. Honda is looking for their first win in Milwaukee since the series returned for a doubleheader last year.

Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon set the fifth fastest time in qualifying, but will roll off P14 following a penalty. While Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood set the seventh fastest time, and will start P6 for tomorrow’s race.

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal qualified eleventh fastest, just ahead of Dale Coyne Racing’s #18 Honda of Rinus VeeKay.

Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 Honda Qualifying Results

1st Alex Palou
5th Scott Dixon
7th Kyle Kirkwood
11th Graham Rahal
12th Rinus VeeKay
14th Marcus Ericsson
15th Devlin DeFrancesco
16th Marcus Armstrong
20th Kyffin Simpson
22nd Louis Foster-R
24th Jacob Abel-R
26th Colton Herta
27th Felix Rosenqvist

Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Andretti Global Honda
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Andretti Global Honda
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
Meyer Shank Racing Honda
Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Andretti Global Honda
Meyer Shank Racing Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes
Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified first: “Number one! It’s good, good for Honda! I think it’s been our best qualifying—it means the most to me this year. Getting the pole here at a place that I’ve personally struggled, last year we didn’t have the speed we needed, but this year it’s been amazing. The car has been super good, the balance has been super good, the power we have from Honda has been amazing. I cannot wait to be leading the grid tomorrow heading into turn one with our #10 Honda car.”

Kyle Kirkwood (#27 Andretti Global Honda) qualified seventh: “I’m very happy with our performance today. Honda gave us great power and a really drivable package—which is something that we needed. Year-over-year we feel a lot better than we did last year and progression is Honda’s middle name. I’m glad to see it and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”

Where to Watch

2025 IndyCar Champion Alex Palou scores sixth pole of the season

August 23, 2025 — MILWAUKEE, WI

Honda driver Alex Palou follows up championship clinch with sixth Honda-powered pole on the year
Palou’s Chip Ganassi Racing teammate, Scott Dixon, sets the fifth fastest time
Andretti Global’s Kyle Kirkwood seventh quickest as all three Honda winners this year qualify in the top-10

Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing’s Graham Rahal qualified eleventh fastest, just ahead of Dale Coyne Racing’s #18 Honda of Rinus VeeKay.

Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 Honda Qualifying Results

1st Alex Palou
5th Scott Dixon
7th Kyle Kirkwood
11th Graham Rahal
12th Rinus VeeKay
14th Marcus Ericsson
15th Devlin DeFrancesco
16th Marcus Armstrong
20th Kyffin Simpson
22nd Louis Foster-R
24th Jacob Abel-R
26th Colton Herta
27th Felix Rosenqvist

R – Rookie

Where to Watch

Sunday’s Snap-on Milwaukee Mile 250 from the Milwaukee Mile will air live on Fox at 1 PM CT / 2 PM ET.

ARP Racing News

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2025 IndyCar Champion Alex Palou scores sixth pole of the season

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