August 28, 2023 — MADISON, IL

• Scott Dixon uses strategy, fuel mileage to score his second consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES win of 2023 at the Bommarito Automotive Group 500
• Honda clinches 2023 Drivers’ Championship as title chase comes down to Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Dixon and Alex Palou
• David Malukas stars at World Wide Technology Raceway for the second year in a row with a third-place finish

Starting deep in a 28-car field, Scott Dixon once again demonstrated why he is one of the best Indy car drivers of his generation, conserving fuel while maintaining a race-winning pace to take the victory in Sunday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 at World Wide Technology Raceway.

Starting 16th, Dixon was able to complete the 260-lap contest in his Chip Ganssi Racing Honda on just three pit stops, one (or more) less than the rest of his competition to claim his second consecutive win of 2023 by the comfortable margin of 22.2 seconds over second-finishing Pato O’Ward. 

Combined with the retirement of Josef Newgarden following late race wall contact, the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship is now down to a duel between Ganassi Honda teammates:  6-time champion Dixon and 2021 series champion Alex Palou, who finished seventh today.  The pair head into the final two races of the season separated by 74 points, with 108 points on offer in the remaining events.

Following up on his second-place finish here in 2022, an impressive David Malukas for Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda home third today, for his second career IndyCar podium.

Bommarito Automotive Group 500 Honda Race Results        

1st Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
3rd David Malukas	Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
6th Colton Herta	Andretti Autosport Honda
7th Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
10th Marcus Ericsson	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
11th Romain Grosjean	Andretti Autosport Honda
15th Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Autosport Honda
16th Conor Daly	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
17th Christian Lundgaard	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
18th Linus Lundqvist-R	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
19th Devlin DeFrancesco	Andretti Autosport Honda
20th Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
21st Sting Ray Robb-R	Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
23rd Helio Castroneves	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
26th Takuma Sato	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda [Did not finish – contact]

R – Rookie

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship (unofficial, after 15 of 17 rounds)

Honda                  1299 points [10 wins]
Chevrolet             1256 points [4 wins]

NTT INDYCAR SERIES Drivers’ Championship Standings (unofficial, after 15 of 17 rounds)
1. Alex Palou, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda               565 points [4 wins]
2. Scott Dixon, Chip Ganassi Racing Honda              – 74 [2 wins]
2. Josef Newgarden, Team Penske                              -125 [4 wins]

Quotes
Scott Dixon (#9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) race winner, 2nd consecutive IndyCar victory of 2023; his 55th career win: “It’s all these guys on my team. Chip [Ganassi, team owner] steers the ship and I’m just so proud of everyone on this team.  Starting where we did [16th], we had to go for an alternate strategy.  How about that Honda mileage?  They gave me a [fuel mileage] number, and we had no problem at all hitting it lap after lap.  This win was driven by Honda today, but a massive thanks to everyone on the #9 team for making it happen.  We’ll continue to give it our all in these next two races, and see how the championship plays out.” 

David Malukas (#18 Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda) finished 3rd today for his 2nd career IndyCar podium result; finished 2nd here last year: “It was a really good day for us.  We had a race-winning car today, we were right there with [pole starter Josef] Newgarden right there at the start.  We put our head down, but our race strategy just didn’t work out.  Obviously [race winner Scott] Dixon had the right strategy.  We tried to fuel save, but were just losing too much time [on track].  So we changed strategy and, because our car was very good, we were able to recover for third.”

Kelvin Fu (Vice President, Honda Performance Development) on today’s victory by Scott Dixon at World Wide Technology Raceway: “As we like to say, ‘that did not suck’. It’s nice to clinch the Drivers’ Championship with two races remaining.  We’ll leave it up to Alex [Palou] and Scott [Dixon] to duke it out to the end.  Congrats as well to David Malukas on his second career podium finish, both here at St. Louis.  It was another exciting run for David and the Dale Coyne team. But at the end of the day, it was another amazing drive by Scott, it definitely showed you why he is still the king.  We’ve now won this year on every type of track the series has – road course, street circuit and oval – which is what makes INDYCAR so cool.  Thanks to all the men and women back at HPD, and looking forward to the last two weeks of the season.”

Fast Facts

• Honda continues to lead the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship, with 10 victories and 10 poles in 15 races this season. The company is seeking its fifth NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturers’ Championship in the last six years in 2023.
• After winning seven of the nine most recent 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES events, Honda continues to lead the Manufacturers’ Championship standings, with an unofficial 43-point lead [1299-1256].
• This is Dixon’s second win at Gateway in the last four years. His most recent previous win here – his 50th career Indy car win – came in 2020.  Dixon went on to claim his sixth NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship at the end of that year.

Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES started its stretch run of three consecutive races to close out the 2023 season. The series now heads to the Pacific Northwest for next weekend’s Bitnile.com Grand Prix of Portland, September 1-3 at Portland International Raceway.

DAVENPORT, IA (Aug. 25, 2023) – Three months ago, Zach Daum was picking up the pieces of his mangled racecar from the track, watching his name fall further down the points standings. Fast forward to Friday night at Davenport Speedway, and the defending champion is celebrating his fourth Feature win of the season.

It’s been a giant turnaround for Daum, the 32-year-old open-wheel racing veteran from Pocahontas, IL. A self-built operation got him through the first quarter of the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota schedule, but with less success than he would have liked. After weeks of persistence, Daum was tapped to fill an empty seat in the Oklahoma-based Trifecta Motorsports stable in early June, and nothing’s been the same since.

Four Toyota Racing Feature wins since the big switch has vaulted Daum from ninth in the Series championship standings, where he once stood 278 points behind the leader, up to fourth where he now rides 97 points back with nine races left on the calendar.

Daum took the next step in pursuit of back-to-back Xtreme Outlaw championships with the win Friday night in the POWRi National Midget League co-sanctioned event, and hasn’t lost hope of his ultimate goal.

“I don’t know if we’ve got a shot at it,” he said. “I’m racing like we do.”

One year ago, Daum came up one spot short of victory in the MyPlace Hotels Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking, and said Friday’s run felt similar to his experience last year.

“We Qualified like absolute hell, slow as hell in Qualifying, but we just race good here,” Daum said. “I know why we have race speed; we just don’t have Qualifying speed. We were just downing ourselves after Qualifying and had to dig ourselves out of a hole. Starting eighth in a Heat Race is awful.”

Daum was able to rebound from his unfavorable Qualifying effort, advancing to fourth by the checkers in his Heat to secure a ninth-place starting spot for the Feature. While polesitter Ryan Timms checked out up front early on, Daum was busy making moves, running his signature line on the track.

“The first couple laps, I was trying to make sure the grease was blown off the bottom early and I could get a lane underneath where all those guys were,” Daum said. “I went from ninth to, I think, fifth in two laps.”

From eighth on the grid, Cannon McIntosh had also sped his way to the front, advancing five spots on the opening lap.

“I jumped up and made a move and was able to rip by about five guys there,” McIntosh said.  “Some guys got caught up behind other guys, and I did my best to keep my momentum up and have the most speed I could out of Turn 4.”

By the halfway point, Daum had made the pass on McIntosh for third and set his sights on the leaders in front of him. First in line – Hayden Reinbold, who was in the midst of a career-best run when Daum got by him on Lap 19 after a neck-and-neck battle.

By this time, Timms had all but sealed the victory, holding a two-second advantage on Daum and Reinbold, when he slowed and pulled to the infield under green. The Keith Kunz Motorsports crew soon inspected the car and found a large gash in the side of the oil tank, ultimately ending his night.

Daum had taken second by that point and inherited the lead for the final restart. However, he did not get a great launch and gave the lead up to McIntosh behind him as they crossed the stripe on Lap 26. With some bottom-lane speed, Daum was able to power back around McIntosh on Lap 27 and lead the field back around to the checkers.

“I knew we had a fast car, I was just trying to make sure we could run our race,” Daum said. “[Track crew] went out and farmed the whole thing and I kinda figured those guys would move to the middle to the top and I could maintain speed where I was at. It ended up working out for us.”

McIntosh crossed the stripe runner-up to bag his first podium with the Series in seven races. After such a dominant stretch to start the season, the young Oklahoman had been caught in a rut of finishes outside the top-five, but said he felt his efforts Friday start to turn it around.

“I think it’s just the car and myself not meshing very well, and not having that overall speed that we needed,” McIntosh said about his mid-season results. “Whether one night it’s me, or one night it feels like the car, the overall package just hasn’t been where it needs to be.

“Tonight, I feel like we were closer, but still not where we fully want to be. I think that’s where we just gotta keep working at it and we’ll close that gap.”

Reinbold held on for third, locking in his first career podium finish in a national Midget series event. The 19-year-old driver for Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports was coming off a solid stretch with the Series through Pennsylvania two weeks ago and put it in the spotlight Friday night.

“[My crew] just keep giving me fast cars, I keep doing better and improving, and we keep getting better results here and there,” Reinbold said. “I feel like we could’ve had a shot at winning it if the caution didn’t come out.”

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets are back in action at Davenport Speedway for the finale of the Quad Cities 150 on Saturday, Aug. 26. Tickets are available at XtremeOutlawSeries.com/Schedule. If you can’t make it out to watch in person, stream the event live on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 7U-Zach Daum[9]; 2. 08-Cannon McIntosh[8]; 3. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[2]; 4. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[6]; 5. 25K-Taylor Reimer[13]; 6. 97-Gavin Miller[7]; 7. 71-Jade Avedisian[5]; 8. 3N-Mitchell Davis[12]; 9. 97K-Cooper Williams[11]; 10. 31B-Kyle Beilman[4]; 11. 26R-Corbin Rueschenberg[3]; 12. 13-Elijah Gile[15]; 13. 67-Ryan Timms[1]; 14. 40-Chase McDermand[14]; 15. 2H-Nick Hoffman[16]; 16. 81-Dakota Gay[18]; 17. 17B-Austin Barnhill[10]; 18. 21K-Karter Sarff[17]; 19. 44-Branigan Roark[19]

The Shark Racing pilot takes the lead with three to go and holds on for second River Cities triumphGRAND FORKS, ND (August 25, 2023) – River Cities Speedway is known for delivering thrilling finishes. And the Grand Forks, ND bullring produced yet another one on Friday night.Sheldon Haudenschild controlled the majority of the 40-lap World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Feature. But a shark fin rose from the water in the final laps as Logan Schuchart closed in. The driver of the Shark Racing #1S snatched the lead coming to two laps to go and drove away from Haudenschild to steal a victory in the Gerdau Presents The 2nd Leg of The Northern Tour.For Schuchart, who lost in a close finish at River Cities in 2020, the triumph served as a form of redemption.“Happy we were able to win like that,” Schuchart said. “I watch highlight videos over the winter time. The Outlaws love to show a race here a few years ago where Kyle (Larson) passed us on the last lap, so it feels good to get one kind of like that. Hopefully they add that to their highlight reel.”Schuchart moved up to four wins this season with The Greatest Show on Dirt. It also put him at 39 for his career as he’s only one away from becoming the 19th driver in Series history to reach 40. Schuchart became the seventh different competitor to own multiple World of Outlaws wins at River Cities as he also topped a 2019 visit.When the green flag dropped it was Donny Schatz and Sheldon Haudenschild leading the field. An opening lap red flag necessitated a second attempt, and Haudenschild rocketed around the outside to the lead when the race got underway, and Schuchart settled into third behind the lead duo.During the opening portion of the race the leaders stayed mostly in line as they clicked off the early laps. A restart following a red flag with 26 laps to go gave Schuchart an opportunity at taking a step toward the front, which he took advantage of. As the green lights came back on, Schuchart accelerated perfectly out of Turn 4 and used the momentum to slide Schatz for second. Schatz wasn’t able to counter with a crossover allowing Schuchart to secure the spot. After taking over runner-up, Schuchart began to stalk the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing #17. As they crossed the halfway mark, Schuchart wasn’t necessarily gaining on Haudenschild, but he also wasn’t letting him escape. Lapped traffic proved to be more problematic for Schuchart as he preferred the bottom groove where the slower cars were while Haudenschild ripped the top around them.“I felt like I could run the bottom pretty good,” Schuchart explained. “I was hoping some lapped cars would kind of slow him down, but lots of times when lapped cars aren’t feeling comfortable they go to the bottom side of the racetrack. So, a lot of lapped cars weren’t really getting in his way. They were just kind of letting him run his line.”As the race dipped inside 10 laps to go, Schuchart suddenly found the speed he needed. The Hanover, PA native stayed committed to the low line and began to close in on the tail tank of the NOS Energy Drink #17. On Lap 36, Schuchart used a big run off of Turn 2 to show Haudenschild a nose and put him in a defensive mode. Haudenschild responded to switching to the bottom, and that was all Schuchart needed. Schuchart promptly moved to the top and got a big run coming to the finish line with two laps remaining. The Drydene/Duramax machine squeaked around Haudenschild’s outside to lead the 38th circuit. And with the lead secured, Schuchart never looked back on his way to parking in River Cities Speedway Victory Lane for the second time.“I just tried to run hard laps. I could get close to him, but I could never really make anything happen,” Schuchart said. “When he kind of went to the bottom there the last few laps I just really got a run on him.”Haudenschild still held on for a strong second place finish – his eighth World of Outlaws podium of the season. The result marked the fifth time in which he’s led laps at River Cities but come up short of the checkered flag. Haudenschild admitted seeing Schuchart’s nose made him adjust and potentially cost him the race. But overall, he left feeling satisfied having contended so strongly for the victory.“That was probably a little better situation to be running second there at the end,” Haudenschild noted. “He was able to show his nose in the bottom of (Turns) 1 and 2 and kind of got me thinking, and I probably should’ve just kept running up where I’d been all night and kept my momentum up. It just feels good to be racing for a win. It’s been a little bit of a struggle bus here.”Behind Haudenschild was Donny Schatz to complete the top three. The finish added to Schatz’s remarkable résumé at River Cities as he notched his 22nd podium in 31 races with the World of Outlaws at the North Dakota oval. The pilot of the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing #15 felt that they were missing a little something with the car to be able to move around like Schuchart and contend for the win.“It (the bottom) was there the whole race. I just couldn’t get down there,” Schatz said. “I just can’t stay there in my tracks, so we’ve got a little work to do with that. We were okay, just kind of married to that top. It kind of gave away the start there, and Sheldon got the run kind of like what we did in the Heat and the same thing in the Dash. I think being on the inside kind of cost us a little bit. We still had 40 laps to get it done but didn’t.”Brad Sweet and Carson Macedo completed the top five. Finishing a spot ahead of Macedo extended Sweet’s points lead by two markers up from 50 to 52.It was also Sweet claiming the Simpson Performance Products QuickTime Award for the second time this year and 71st time of his career.After flipping, a trip to the Federated Car Care Work Zone, and returning with no nose wing, Brock Zearfoss still managed to earn the KSE Racing Hard Charger with a 22nd to 10th run.CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One went to Brad Sweet (231st Heat Race win of career). NOS Energy Drink Heats Two through Four were topped by Donny Schatz (519th of career), James McFadden (45th of career), and Sheldon Haudenschild (95th of career).Donny Schatz claimed the Toyota Racing Dash.Tim Estenson won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Jack Croaker after an opening lap crash ended his hopes of a strong outing.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make their final appearance in North Dakota for the year with a trip to West Fargo’s Red River Valley Speedway on Saturday, August 18 for the Gerdau Presents the Duel in The Dakotas. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the action live on DIRTVision.RESULTS:NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[2]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[1]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet[5]; 5. 41-Carson Macedo[11]; 6. 5-Spencer Bayston[7]; 7. 3-Tim Kaeding[16]; 8. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[14]; 9. 9-Kasey Kahne[3]; 10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[22]; 11. 2-David Gravel[10]; 12. 21T-Cole Macedo[15]; 13. 83-James McFadden[8]; 14. 7S-Robbie Price[6]; 15. 8H-Jade Hastings[20]; 16. 17B-Ryan Bickett[24]; 17. (DNF) 11M-Brendan Mullen[12]; 18. (DNF) 14T-Tim Estenson[21]; 19. (DNF) 0-Nick Omdahl[19]; 20. (DNF) 1T-Tanner Holmes[23]; 21. (DNF) 83JR-Michael Kofoid[9]; 22. (DNF) 20G-Noah Gass[18]; 23. (DNF) 8-Jack Croaker[13]; 24. (DNF) G5-Gage Pulkrabek[17]

The Oakwood, IL driver extended his points lead to 126 over Chris Madden, who finished second

DAVENPORT, IA – August 25, 2023– Entering Friday night at Davenport Speedway, Bobby Pierce was undefeated in three World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series Features contested in Iowa. But he had to make the right tire choice to keep that streak alive.

His decision to run a harder tire paid off, as he passed Chris Madden on Lap 20 to earn his second consecutive My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking win.

Madden, the pole-sitter, grabbed the early lead in the 35-lap battle, sliding in front of Cade Dillard in Turn 2 on the first lap.

After a caution slowed the field on Lap 5, Madden aced the restart, staying ahead of 2015 Series champion Shane Clanton. However, that’s when the race’s longest green-flag run began, and Pierce started climbing toward the front.

The Oakwood, IL driver stayed in third for 10 laps before his Longhorn Chassis gained momentum on the outside. He passed Clanton for second on Lap 17 and wasted no time closing on Madden’s #44.

On Lap 20, the “Smooth Operator” made his move, driving around Madden on the top of Turns 3 and 4, nosing ahead of the Gray Court, SC driver, as the two crossed the start/finish line. 

From there, not even a Lap 27 caution could stop Pierce as he held on to score his second $10,000 prize of the weekend and fourth consecutive World of Outlaws win in the Hawkeye State.

Pierce said he was worried his tires wouldn’t hold up as he battled a harder track surface than on Thursday.

“In the first 10 laps, the 3’s were definitely eating me up,“ Pierce said. “But then I had to get on the gas to get going. My 4 probably looks worse than their 3’s because I had to abuse it to get it to go. 

“I don’t know if we would’ve won on a 3. I think [Madden] was pretty good. Clanton was pretty good. And starting third, it would’ve been hard passing Chris. But I figured if I kept him in my sights with the 4, and those 3’s started to fade, as long as my four didn’t tear up, I thought I’d be alright. I think the last four laps, I was hanging on.”

The win is Pierce’s 10th Series win of 2023, becoming the first driver to score double-digit victories in a season since four-time Series champion Brandon Sheppard earned 14 triumphs in 2020.

He credits his team’s ability to keep pushing after dealing with mechanical issues during Sunshine Nationals at Volusia Speedway Park in January.

“We didn’t know how this would go,” Pierce said. “I’m glad we stayed on the tour. I know back at Volusia, we were bummed out when those first two nights didn’t go our way. We stayed on it. I was really looking forward to running it and getting to these new tracks and stuff like that. I got to give a huge shout-out to my crew and Longhorn, Bilstein, and Vic Hill Engines. 

“The car’s been good, and it’s given me a little extra edge than what I’ve had. And the older I get, the more experienced I get. It’s another good point night, obviously, with the win. And that’s the goal. We’re trying to build this points thing before we get back down South.”

Pierce extended his lead on Madden to 126 points after “Smokey” crossed the line second.

Even though he went with a softer tire than Pierce, Madden said he was content with how his new Longhorn Chassis ran on its second night out.

“We had a different tire combination than he had,” Madden said. “I really couldn’t run that top where he was. But overall, I think we had a great night, and we’re getting there. We’re just building on a brand-new chassis change here. I’m very satisfied with the direction we went tonight. And I hope we’ll be one spot better on [Saturday].”

Sheppard rounded out the podium with his second third-place finish of the weekend. The New Berlin, IL driver said his car was better on longer runs, as he could maintain his tires despite going with the NLMT3 option.

“My car has been really balanced,” Sheppard said. “I could move all over the racetrack. I think a lot of these guys have been overheating some tires a little bit. So, in five or 10 laps, their tires start to fade, and my car stays after it. We’ve found some stuff that we like a little bit, but we’re still lacking a little in Qualifying. But overall, we’re close, but we’re just missing them wins. We just have to keep plugging away.”

Defending Series champion Dennis Erb Jr. finished fourth, and Clanton rounded out the top five. 

The Fox Factory Hard Charger, Ryan Gustin, finished sixth after moving up nine spots.

Nick Hoffman was the Germfree Rookie of the Race, finishing 12th.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models head back to Davenport on Saturday, Aug. 26, for the final night of the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking along with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota. The Late Models will battle for $30,000 in an 80-lap finale. FOR TICKETS: CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the tracks, you can watch every World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model race live on DIRTVision.  

CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series Feature (35 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 2. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 3. B5-Brandon Sheppard[8]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[11]; 5. 25-Shane Clanton[4]; 6. 19R-Ryan Gustin[15]; 7. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 8. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 9. 96V-Tanner English[14]; 10. 97-Cade Dillard[2]; 11. 25F-Jason Feger[13]; 12. 9-Nick Hoffman[9]; 13. 16-Tyler Bruening[19]; 14. 25S-Chad Simpson[17]; 15. B1-Brent Larson[24]; 16. 18-Shannon Babb[10]; 17. 31-Kye Blight[12]; 18. 11-Gordy Gundaker[23]; 19. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[5]; 20. 29-Spencer Diercks[16]; 21. 111-Matt Lux[18]; 22. 30-Todd Cooney[20]; 23. 49-Jake Timm[21]; 24. 51-Matt Furman[22] FOX FACTORY HARD CHARGER: Ryan Gustin [+9]

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500

WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY

MADISON, ILLINOIS

TEAM CHEVY RACE REPORT

AUGUST 27, 2023

• Pato O’Ward raced his No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet to a second place finish in today’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500.
• This is O’Ward’s fourth runner-up finish and seventh podium of the 2023 season. 
• Chevrolet drivers have led 1,176 of 1,924 laps to date at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR) since the 2017 INDYCAR return. 
• Team Chevy drivers have scored 306 podiums in the V6 2.2-liter twin turbo direct injected era so far, along with 22 of those podiums so far in the 2023season and 14 podiums at WWTR since 2017 return. 
• Scott McLaughlin led the NTT INDYCAR Series field to the green flag, his first NTT P1 Pole Award on an oval and fifth of his INDYCAR career, as well as the sixth pole award at World Wide Technology Raceway for the Bowtie brand and 126th earned pole award for Chevrolet since 2016 in the V6 2.2-liter twin turbo injected era
• Alexander Rossi, driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, and Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Odyssey Team Penske Chevrolet, joined O’Ward in the top-five finishers of today’s race.
• Chevrolet drivers have won five races so far this year, including McLaughlin for Barber, Newgarden for Texas, Indy 500, Iowa 1 and Iowa 2, and 111 wins since 2012 in the V6 era. 

MADISON, Illinois (August 27, 2023) — With the opening practice of the race weekend starting eight and a half hours late after several rounds of severe weather at World Wide Technology Raceway Friday, coupled with grid penalties for several of the top-contenders in the point standings, as well as the addition of an alternate tire compound to be used in the race, no one was sure how the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 would play out.

Championship contender Josef Newgarden, No. 2 PPG Team Penske, took the lead from his front row starting spot at the green, and started his quest for another victory on the 1.25-mile ova. Newgarden maintained his place in or near the front through multiple pit stops and two caution periods, until lap 211 where he made contact with the turn two wall ending his afternoon. 

Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, started third on the grid and battled in the top-three throughout the 260-lap race, but didn’t have quite enough for race winner Scott Dixon. A mildly disappointed O’Ward finished second to give Chevrolet their 22nd podium of the year. 

The NTT INDYCAR Series races to the penultimate event of the 2023 season, next near Portland, Ore. at Portland International Raceway for the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland Sunday, Sept. 3, 2023. The green flag waves live at 3 p.m. ET on NBC, with additional coverage available through Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM channel 160.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:

Pos.  Driver

2nd    Pato O’Ward

4th    Alexander Rossi

5th    Scott McLaughlin

8th    Felix Rosenqvist

9th    Will Power

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“I was just trying to catch up. I knew we were going to lose to someone in fuel save, mostly likely (Scott) Dixon or somebody even if the yellow comes out, we were still behind. So I was just trying to get through cars as quickly as I could after I pitted, and it didn’t work out. I got into the marbles, just a touch too high. I was trying, trying to catch up and ended up not being a good move. That’s where we landed. The team did a good job. Really proud of our group with the PPG car, and can’t thank the team enough for all of their efforts this weekend. It just didn’t work out.” 

Can you go to Portland saying I did everything I could do?

“Yeah. Look, we put together a good car and a good race, and it just didn’t work out so we’ll go to the next one.” 

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“I’m content with how our Odyssey Battery Chevy ran today. It wasn’t a great day, but we were solid and grabbed some points. In hindsight, taking the grid penalty here may have been the wrong choice. We based it off how racy the track was last year, and we didn’t get that today. The tire marbles were significant and that made it a one-groove racetrack. But getting my first oval pole position was a big step for me and this team. We have two good tracks for us left on the year, so our goal is to get a win.”

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske: 

“I could not be prouder of everyone on the No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevy. Last night was very long with the damage they had to fix, and it looked like we may be able to sneak a top-five finish if we get a caution late in the race. Unfortunately, that didn’t work out but very proud of the effort. Two races left and two more chances to get a win on the year. We can do it.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Scott Dixon did Scott Dixon today. When they were telling me on the radio, the No. 9 car is trying to make it until the end, he’s going to make it until the end. I was mentalized that we were second in true running, and man, the lappers just don’t help any. I feel like I do my dues whenever I’m not having a good day, and I don’t screw the leaders’ race. It’s just miserable to be behind because they block to protect and it’s what it is. I’m happy with the result today. It’s another second place in the books for 2023. There’s two to go, so hopefully we’ll get that elusive No. 1 we’re trying to look for in this season and keep on pushing. I’m happy with the strategy today, I was happy with my car, but it was Scott Dixon.

You’re fourth in the points going into the last two races, this team looks like it’s on its stride…

“Yeah, I’m in acceptance. If we get it, we get it. If we don’t, we’ll come back next year and push, right? That’s ultimately what it is and what it’s going to be. You can’t always win all of them. There will be some of them where you think you’re going to win, and then the racing gods have other plans. For now, I’m happy with how we recovered, and we’ll keep searching for it.” 

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 6 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

”Given the circumstances, we actually had a really good race. We had good speed. Strategy didn’t really play out well, and also we had Nick, our front right tire changer had a problem with his back, so we had a teammate step up as a replacement. He did really well getting thrown into the race like that but when you have a change like that to the crew, it’s never optimal, so we lost a bit of time in the pits. This track is such small margins, so if you don’t do a perfect race, you’re not going to be in the top five. P8 is pretty good for what we had, and the car felt good. Good job to Pato and Alexander.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“That’s two weeks in a row they’re leaving everyone guessing. I think we were sniffing a podium. That’s all you can ask for. Overall, a really good day for Arrow McLaren. Happy with that. It’s tough to race around here. I applaud INDYCAR for what they did in terms of bringing the alternate tire; that certainly brings a differently element. You just can’t follow cars, and I just feel bad for the people here. You can’t get any better than the conditions here today, and you still really can’t race. We need to look into it. But ultimately, a great day. Happy to be back in St. Louis, and two more to go.” 

Ed Carpenter, No. 33 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“Today got off to a rough start, I was trying to work my way to the outside and made contact with the 55 car. I feel bad that it happened and I will talk to Ben. I am bummed that we started the race off so many laps down. We had a better car than we have had in awhile here and I am proud of the team for continuing to fight.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20. Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“All in all, a good day for the points. Our pace in clear air was as fast as some of the leaders. I felt really good about the car in clean air, but in traffic we were just stuck all day. The guys did a great job in the pits cycling through that process, and like I said, most importantly we came away with some good points.” 

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

Pretty good race! Really good strategy by the team. It was a long one. I struggled a little bit to make passes happen in the train of cars. I wish I could’ve moved a bit through traffic, I struggled a little bit with that. I sat back most of the time and we made the right calls in strategy! For myself and Ryan (Hunter-Reay) to finish P11 and P14, it’s pretty good. I did not think this would happen after qualifying. Thanks to the BITNILE.COM No. 21 crew for great stops and strategy. Two back-to-back P11’s, we’re pretty pleased with that. On to the BITNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland!”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“It was the result we needed to get. The last set, we gambled on the strategy. I honestly think that was more my call than Larry’s (Foyt). Larry wanted to pit and nobody was set up, and everybody in front of us pitted. I figured let’s go for track position. We’ve been off sequence since the start of the race. We did have a couple of extra laps in the tank, so maybe we’ll get lucky again. I want to say that it worked in our favor without a doubt. The last set of tires, we had a massive vibration in the front which is very uncommon for Firestone. I actually hit the wall car enough to bend the rear toe link really good. We finished the last 25 laps without an issue, so I guess it was okay.” 

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“We had a regular start. The initial launch was good, really good. And then as usual, people were braking into Turn 1, and I was maintain the gap. If anything, I was catching the car ahead of me a bit, but before I knew it on the entry I got plowed from behind and spun into the wall. It’s really unfortunate we were out of the race due to someone else’s fault and they’re still in the race. Just pretty unfortunate, but all I can do is to keep positive energy and work as hard as I can. It just really sucks in the moment.” 

Callum Ilott, No. 77 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

Quote

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“Unfortunately, we got a penalty on the second stop during our race when we were running P7. It’s a big shame because the car was in a good place. It was a pretty difficult race, because it was difficult to overtake here at (World Wide Technology Raceway). Anyway, it’s a shame – it is what it is. We’re still learning, and now we’re focused on the next one.” 

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN INDYCAR CHEVROLET – Post-Race Press Conference:

THE MODERATOR: Wrapping up today’s race, we are joined by Pato O’Ward, coming home second today, leading 18 of the laps. Seventh podium of the season, 20th career podium, fourth runner-up finish here in 2023. And David Malukas, first podium of the season, second of his career, second here at World Wide Technology Raceway, as well.

Pato, your thoughts on coming home second here on the oval?

PATO O’WARD: Good points obviously. It’s another second in the books for us this 2023. Yeah, Scott Dixon decided to do a Dixon today. Whenever they told me, He’s going to try to make it without stopping again, the guy’s going to do it for sure.

THE MODERATOR: How does he do it?

PATO O’WARD: Well, he just does it. He’s just Scott Dixon, you know? I feel like that’s what he’s best known for.

THE MODERATOR: Saving fuel?

PATO O’WARD: Yeah. He knows how to do it better than anybody with a great combination that he has with his team and car and everything. It’s a bummer that we weren’t even close to kind of even race him.

But, yeah, I’m happy with today. I’m super happy with the strategy. I don’t think we would have been able to make that three-stopper work.

Yeah, boys were stout in the pits. Super happy with the car. Yeah, a bit annoyed with all the lappers. I’m sure David and Scott are, as well. It’s nothing new, but it has to change. Like, they’re just…

Q. What effect did you think the different tire compound had on the race today?

PATO O’WARD: It brought in some pretty horrendous marbles onto the racetrack, which made the second lane almost impossible to use. I don’t think I was the only one.

Were you struggling with that, too?

DAVID MALUKAS: Yeah, it was pretty treacherous.

PATO O’WARD: I think not that the blacks don’t create marbles, but definitely this alternate tire was a special add-on to that. It made it pretty hard. The difference in grip wasn’t that big of a difference.

Q. Would you be in favor of being on those the rest of the ovals going forward?

PATO O’WARD: I think two different tires for the ovals is actually pretty cool. I just think if they want good racing, we can’t be in single file. Then even the lappers can be racing with the leaders.

Just get out of the way, yeah.

Q. You’re both among the younger drivers in the series, the future of the series. Does it amaze you sometimes when you see that Scott Dixon is still able to do all of these great things? He’s been in the series since 2001.

PATO O’WARD: He’s a six-time champion for a reason. Yeah, you just don’t run out of talent. You just don’t. You don’t forget it either. So the guy is going to be good until he decides to retire.

I think he’s got another 10 years, yeah.

DAVID MALUKAS: I hope not (smiling).

Q. Just the way he’s able to masterfully use that fuel saving strategy, maintaining a big gap, how do you do that?

PATO O’WARD: Starts with S, ends with N. That’s what it is.

DAVID MALUKAS: I was just trying to figure out what that meant.

PATO O’WARD: Scott Dixon (smiling). You tweaking, bro? What you doing?

DAVID MALUKAS: I just spaced out (smiling).

If I knew, then maybe we would be able to replicate it. But we don’t know how he does it yet, so…

Q. You both mentioned traffic issues. If there were something like more downforce where you could easily drive beside them, would that help the issue?

PATO O’WARD: No. Just move. Like, you’re getting lapped, move.

Q. Is the single-file nature of it the crux of the problem?

PATO O’WARD: No. Because if they were fast enough, we wouldn’t be catching them.

DAVID MALUKAS: I think what he said earlier with marbling, if you can do whatever possible to reduce marbles and we can actually use the second lane, then the lap cars won’t be as much of an issue.

PATO O’WARD: Texas, you don’t need them to move because you have a second lane. But you have nothing to do here.

I feel it’s more of a gentleman’s agreement, but nobody follows it. I feel like I’ve followed it pretty much my all my career. If I’m not having a good day, I’m not going to screw your race.

Hopefully that comes in return whenever I am having a good day and they’re not, which has been a few cases. Definitely it’s not everybody. But the consistent lappers, it’s like, Dude…

Q. Heavy marbles make it harder for them to move out of the way safely?

PATO O’WARD: No, just slow down in the straightaway and somebody pass by. It’s super simple.

Q. Pato, how was it having to qualify again on race day morning, then get into the race in the afternoon? Does that change a lot of the dynamic for the team?

PATO O’WARD: I didn’t think it was too bad actually. I enjoyed it. I think it was all right.

Obviously I’m not the one that’s preparing the car. I’m not the one that’s going to be preparing the car if something happens.

I think it does bring in a bit of an extra stress because of just how tight the schedule was from qualifying to the race. Especially around this place, if you get greedy, it will bite really quick.

It’s just finding a fine balance. But I didn’t think it was an issue.

Q. Going into the final two races, Portland and Laguna, very different to where you are today. Portland has been a surprise going through the first turn. Any thoughts looking ahead to that?

PATO O’WARD: I guess just be flexible to the chaos, the right calls. 

Garcia, Taylor, No. 3 C8.R team take season’s second IMSA victory at VIR ALTON, Va. (Aug. 27, 2023) – Corvette Racing claimed victory at Virginia International Raceway again as Jordan Taylor and Antonio Garcia drove the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to a win in the Michelin GT Challenge on Sunday.

Corvette Racing took the VIR triumph for the third time in four years as the Garcia/Taylor duo won for the second time in four years in the GT-only event for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship. Sunday’s result was critical as Corvette Racing and Chevrolet remained in the hunt for the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO championship with two races to go. Sunday marked the second win for Corvette Racing in IMSA this season and it’s 126th worldwide victory – 114 coming in IMSA competition.

The race was one largely between two cars. Garcia, who qualified in the Corvette on Saturday, began the race third but moved to second place behind the pole-sitting No. 14 Lexus after the second lap. It stayed that way in class – and mostly in the overall order – for the next two-and-a-half hours. Garcia brought in the C8.R for its first stop at the 54-minute mark with the Corvette team adding fuel and taking fresh Michelin tires. The team elected to change drivers with Taylor going the rest of the way as the pair of leading cars committed to a two-stop strategy. Taylor was the first of the two leaders to pit for the final time with 57 minutes to go. Excellent pit work by the Corvette Racing crew – a quick tire change and fuel fill – proved crucial as Taylor got around Ben Barnicoat as the Lexus left the pitlane after stopping a lap later than the Corvette. With a 3.7-second gap in-hand, Taylor set off for the final 54 minutes needing to save fuel while keeping the No. 14 at bay. He did just that in crossing the finish line by a little more than two seconds. Corvette Racing’s next event in IMSA is the Battle of the Bricks on Sept. 15-17 from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – RACE WINNER: “This is the perfect weekend for sure. Road America looked like a perfect weekend, too, before we lost the race. So this is the perfect turnaround. Even here, we didn’t look as competitive here as we did at Road America but the team did an amazing job. I was lucky enough to be up there with the Lexus at the start to keep some pressure on them. I knew they were strong, but that’s what we had to do. When the yellow came, Jordan obviously kept the pressure and it was time to do something different on the last stop like we always try to do. That undercut definitely help. I don’t know if that put pressure on them. They stalled coming out of the pits, so that was another two or three seconds. That buffer is kind of nice to be able to control your pace. If you have to save fuel, it’s not close enough for them to make a move. Jordan was fantastic today. It was very stressful for me! I’m not used to seeing that in the end! I prefer to be in the car, but you know when Jordan is in that he will do an amazing job. I’m glad he ended this weekend the way he did.”On what it took to win: “I would say consistency. Yesterday we tried to do something different in qualifying because everyone seemed to be so close. That probably gave us an indication about how to set up the car for today. The morning warm-up was pretty good. I’m glad that during the first stint the car was where it needed to be. I was able to go up to second, and I knew the Lexus was very, very strong. In a way, we managed to stay in contention with not a lot of time behind them. We had to be there putting pressure and eventually someone would make a mistake. It wasn’t us today, and then Jordan drove really, really well for the rest of the race. It’s another great example of consistency and a good race from Corvette Racing.”On the satisfaction of winning after Road America: “It’s very satisfying. It’s the best turnaround after what happened at Road America where we felt everything was done and everything slipped away. It’s a massive turnaround. We were not as competitive as we were at Road America, but again you can’t give up. You just need to be prepared, be consistent and put pressure on everybody. In the end, one little mistake in GTD PRO makes the difference. Today we weren’t the ones to make mistakes.”On Taylor moving away in 2024 and getting at least one more win together: “It’s one more win with hopefully two more to go! So let’s make Indianapolis and especially Petit Le Mans the last two wins this year.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – RACE WINNER: “This win is down to Corvette Racing calling that strategy to get us track position. When they told me the fuel number, I was definitely worried but the car was so good in fuel-save mood that it helped me save the tires. I know the announcement (about going to GTP in 2024) has come out, but I’m glad to give these guys one back.More on the win: “We were pushing the whole race even on the first cycle to close the gap to the Lexus to see if we could make them make a mistake. When the second yellow came out, I wasn’t sure what was going to happen. Those guys really restart strong so I thought we were kind of out of it. But the Corvette guys made an amazing call to short-fill on the last stop to get us out front and get the track position. It was down to saving fuel and managing tires from there. I was counting down the laps from about 25 to go, so I was very happy to see that checkered flag.”On the next two races with Corvette: “It’s been an amazing run. This one is definitely for all the Corvette Racing fans out there. Since the announcement, the outpouring from the fans from the Corvette side has been the best part, just to see the appreciation and respect on my decision to move away. Corvette Racing will always be my family no matter where I am, what I drive and what I do. Deep in my heart, I’m a Corvette guy.”How special is this win? “This will definitely be one of the most special wins I’ll ever have. This was a classic Corvette Racing victory. We didn’t have the fastest car. Antonio was able to stay in contention in that first stint, and we made some gains on fuel-savings in that first stint to get closer to the Lexus for when I was in the car. In that last pit cycle, the guys made an amazing call on the short-fill to get that track position. They gave me a fuel number to hit to get to the end, and it was my job to save that amount and not lose any laptime. We nailed it. The fuel reserve came on, but it must have been tight because I couldn’t do a burnout in the end! This win goes to Corvette Racing.”On if the undercut strategy would have worked if the 14 didn’t stall: “If they had beaten us out, there’s no way I would have gotten by him unless he made some mistakes. In this series these days, one mistake can lose you the victory. We’ve seen that this year. We probably lost two or three this year that we could say that we could have won. They’re probably going to say the same thing after this one… that they could have won had they not stalled. Today was our day. It was a very deserving victory and down to our guys making that call.”The attempted pass on the 14 on the second restart into T14: “I didn’t have a ton of confidence going in there. The lap before I braked kind of late and had a bunch of ABS interaction and almost hit the back of him. That lap, I knew I was going to be off-line so I wasn’t 100 percent confident that I’d make the corner. He did the exact same thing to me last year where I had a similar run. I knew he was going to go deep. At that point in the race, I knew that had we gotten track position then it would have transformed the race for us but I also didn’t want to throw away the race with an hour-and-a-half to go. I knew there was a lot of racing to go. We hadn’t done a full stint yet to see where all the cars were on tire deg. I knew we had a lot to play for, and it wasn’t worth taking that big risk.”On seeing the 14 come out of pitlane after the last stop: “The engineers just told me to push on the out-lap, so I knew it was all down to my out-lap, my in-lap and the short fill and calculating how much we needed to jump them. They told me when he was leaving the pits, and it was quite early so they didn’t say he stalled; they said he’s leaving so I thought he’d be pretty far ahead of me by the time I got there. I crested the hill and saw he was still at pit-out, and I had so much momentum that I knew for sure I was going to go by him. I’m not sure what he was doing, but he drifted all the way across the racing line. He for sure saw me, so I’m not sure what that was about. But I wasn’t going to lift. I would have driven through him if I had to at that point to get the lead.“It was a sigh of relief because I didn’t know I had to save fuel at that point. But they told me after that what the fuel number was, and the stress crept in until I kind of found a rhythm of hitting that number with my lift points and finding the laptime. Once I got into a rhythm, I felt pretty good. With about 15 laps to go, I felt pretty confident that the tires weren’t dropping too much.”

August 27, 2023

After a strong run in the first half of Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, Harrison Burton and the No. 21 DEX Imaging Mustang were swept up in a Lap 95 “Big One” crash that relegated them to a 28th-place finish.

Burton started the regular season finale from third-place after a Cup-career-best qualifying effort. He held his spot for the first 15 laps then remained in the top 10 through the first 25 laps before dropping to 14th at the end of the first 35-lap Stage.  

After a pit stop at the conclusion of the Stage, Burton restarted 17th and ran inside the top 20 for the most part until a round of green-flag pit stops near the end of the second Stage. Crew chief Brian Wilson elected to stay on the track while others pitted, a move that saw Burton cycle into the lead on Lap 84 before making his stop.

The strategy worked as Burton was able to maintain the top spot through Lap 87. He battled back to the lead onlap 89, then was running around the 10th place on the final lap of the Stage when drivers began wrecking ahead of him.

A total of 16 cars, including Burton’s Mustang, received damage in the crash, and he had to be pushed back to the pits after a red-flag period.

Rejoining the race in 29th place, two laps in arrears, Burton soldiered on through the final segment of the race. After a pit stop at Lap 160, Burton picked up two spots in an Overtime finish to take the checkered flag in 28th place, three laps behind.

Burton and the No. 21 team now turn their attention to the final 10 races of the season, beginning with next week’s Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

 

DAVENPORT, IA (Aug. 26, 2023) – Over five months worth of work. Twenty-one Features. Hundreds of laps. And now, finally, Gavin Miller is an Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota Feature winner.

Miller, the 16-year-old Midget rookie from Allentown, PA, had come close to his first career win with the Series multiple times this year but was unable to seal the victory. Four past podium finishes with no wins to show for it was getting old for he and Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) car chief Brandon Selph, and the duo finally came up with the right combination Saturday night at Davenport Speedway to score the win in the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking finale.

“We’ve definitely had a lot of ups-and-downs,” Miller said. “[Selph] never gave up, I never gave up, and I think that’s why we work so well together.

“He gave me a great car tonight. I’ve gotta thank him, thank my family, Keith [Kunz] and Pete [Willoughby] – thanks to all of them.”

What’s more, Miller came all the way from 11th in 18 laps to take the lead and hold on from there for the POWRi National Midget League co-sanctioned Feature win, making him the deepest-starting Feature winner in Xtreme Outlaw competition this season.

His speed-sauce was nothing more than the wet dirt on the bottom around the 1/4-mile oval.

“I saw there was a lot of moisture on the bottom, so I got down there before everybody else,” Miller said. “First person to find that is usually gonna go right to the front, and I happened to find it.”

When polesitter Jade Avedisian jumped out to the early lead in her preferred line, it appeared as though the top lane was going to reign supreme. The young Californian led the first 17 laps of the race until Miller took it from her with a burst of speed on the bottom out of Turn 4, beating her into Turn 1 and hugging the infield tires to secure the spot.

“I went to try to clear him into Turn 1, and we were neck-and-neck, and then he got a great launch off the back straightaway, and that was it,” Avedisian said.

From his perspective, Miller knew the bottom was the place to race, even to make the pass for the lead. He went by high-flying teammate Ryan Timms the lap before to take second before taking the top spot from Avedisian the same way.

“I knew Ryan hadn’t quite seen me yet, and I knew he wasn’t gonna go sniff the bottom,” Miller said. “He was just gonna slide [Avedisian] and get her out of the way. He didn’t really see me on the bottom, and I just swept right by them.”

“I saw him on the bottom, and I knew the bottom was good,” Timms said. “I figured since [Cannon McIntosh and I] were battling and breaking each other’s momentum, [Miller] just got a great run on the bottom and once I got going around the top, the bottom wasn’t gonna be quicker. But sure enough, it was.”

Though he began pulling away from the field as the closing laps neared, Miller was not out of the woods yet. One final restart awaited him with three laps remaining, which he met without struggle. Miller hit his marks and brought the field back around to the checkers to bag the $5,000 grand prize and his third national Midget series victory of the year.

“It feels great,” Miller said. “Last bunch of races, we’ve been top-five or top-six. It feels great to finally get this one done.”

Timms crossed the stripe second after winning the battle with Avedisian and Xtreme Outlaw points leader Cannon McIntosh after the final restart, earning him a bit of redemption after breaking while leading during Friday night’s main event. Avedisian crossed in third to complete an all-KKM podium and keep her points deficit to McIntosh in the 20s with only eight races remaining.

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets are back in action next Friday-Saturday, Sept. 1-2, at Paragon Speedway in Paragon, IN. Tickets will be on sale at the gate on race day. If you can’t make it to the track to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 97-Gavin Miller[11]; 2. 67-Ryan Timms[2]; 3. 71-Jade Avedisian[1]; 4. 08-Cannon McIntosh[4]; 5. 7U-Zach Daum[5]; 6. 40-Chase McDermand[3]; 7. 26R-Corbin Rueschenberg[12]; 8. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[7]; 9. 21K-Karter Sarff[9]; 10. 3N-Mitchell Davis[14]; 11. 25K-Taylor Reimer[8]; 12. 97K-Cooper Williams[13]; 13. 25-Jacob Denney[6]; 14. 13-Elijah Gile[19]; 15. 31B-Kyle Beilman[16]; 16. 17B-Austin Barnhill[10]; 17. 33-Branigan Roark[17]; 18. 81-Dakota Gay[15]; 19. (DNS) 7X-Thomas Meseraull; 20. (DNS) 6B-Andy Baugh; 21. (DNS) 2H-Nick Hoffman

Chris Madden cuts Bobby Pierce’s points lead to 116 with fourth-place finishDAVENPORT, IA – August 26, 2023 – Brandon Sheppard knew he’d face many challenges when he started Sheppard-Riggs Racing in 2023. And on Saturday at Davenport Speedway, the four-time World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series champion overcame one of those obstacles.After going winless in the first 28 races of 2023, the New Berlin, IL driver scored his first Series win of the season in the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking finale. Chris Madden led the field to the green in the 80-lap Feature, but four cautions slowed the field in the race’s first quarter—the fourth coming on Lap 16. That’s when the Gray Court, SC driver had his first challenge. On the Lap 16 restart, Series points leader Bobby Pierce slid under Madden in Turn 1 and nosed out ahead of the #44 on the backstretch. Madden withstood that challenge, driving back around Pierce to keep the lead. Pierce then hounded Madden for the next 20 laps, keeping pace with “Smokey” as they battled around the 1/4-mile bullring,  Eventually, the long green-flag run played into Pierce’s hands, as he pulled even with Madden on the bottom as they clicked off Lap 35. But the next time around, the “Smooth Operator” found the burst of speed he needed, nosing ahead of Madden to complete Lap 36.The Oakwood, IL driver pulled away, seeming destined for a weekend sweep until everything changed on Lap 58. Pierce’s right rear tire went flat, bringing out the caution and handing the lead to defending Series champion Dennis Erb Jr., who had just passed Madden for second.  Erb’s lead was short-lived, though. With the Carpentersville, IL driver choosing the outside lane, Sheppard found the opening he needed on the bottom. When the two Illinois drivers returned to the start/finish line, Sheppard’s momentum allowed him to inch past Erb’s #28 as he wrestled the lead away. From there, not even a late-race restart could keep Sheppard’s #B5 out of Victory Lane, as he held on to win his first World of Outlaws Feature with Sheppard-Riggs Racing and first in a Longhorn Chassis. “It feels awesome,” Sheppard said. “My team’s been working really hard. Everything has been starting to come our way a little bit. We’ve been starting to show consistency in the past couple of months, and Longhorn has been super easy to work with. It’s been a trying year with a bunch of ups and downs, but nobody’s given up on me one bit or questioned me one bit. It just feels good, and it means the world to be standing here.” The $30,000 triumph is Sheppard’s 82nd World of Outlaws victory, and his fourth Series win at Davenport Speedway. It’s a win, “B-Shepp” said, came down to how well he conserved his tires, along with the knowledge of past races at the track. “If you could roll the bottom right, which we could all weekend, I knew if it ever came in, we were going to be there,” Sheppard said. “I was able to keep my speed up good at the beginning of the race and not kill my tire. Not slip it too much up top, and not fall back. Once we were able to start moving around a little bit, that’s when I knew my tire wasn’t going to get hurt, and I could go wherever I needed to.  “I knew at the end of the day that the bottom is the place to be, and the top was just a little too dirty for me to be too tempted to go up there.  So, I went with my gut. And sure enough, Dennis went up there to race guys on the outside, and we were able to win the race.” Tanner English finished second, his third podium in his last five World of Outlaws races at the track. The Benton, KY driver, who started 10th, used the same strategy that led him to victory in 2022, conserving his tires and keeping up his momentum on the bottom. But, he ultimately fell short. “We were conserving the whole race and trying not to spin the tire,” English said. “I had that in the back of my mind the whole time. Just trying to conserve. We went with a hard tire this year, not the softer option like last year. This tire game is different now. But we were right there, and I can’t say enough about this team.” English’s second-place finish also continues his streak of solid runs in long-distance races. In the five World of Outlaws races that were 60 laps or more, he’s finished on the podium four times.  “I wish every race was 100 laps,” English. “We’d spend more money on tires and motors, I think. But these long races are what I like. I like to conserve and be there at the end. And it just plays into my favor a little bit. I’m more conservative of a driver, and that’s where they pay the big money.”   Ryan Gustin, from Marshalltown, IA rounded out the podium after starting 11th. The “Reaper” made a late-race charge in the final 20 laps, moving from seventh to third on the outside lane.  “I saw everybody cut left on a restart, and I figured I didn’t have anything to lose,” Gustin said. “It was getting blacker and blacker up there. But on the flip side of things, that bottom got so, I think they got them tires pushed in or something where it was so short around the bottom where I had to carry a lot of speed.  “I thought we maybe had them there, but it just wasn’t meant to be. Hats off to Brandon and Tanner. They drove a hell of a race.” Madden crossed the line fourth after falling as far back as sixth. He has two top fives in three nights racing a new Longhorn chassis.  He also gained on Pierce in the battle for the championship, cutting the lead to 116 points with eleven races remaining. Pierce rebounded to finish ninth after the flat tire.  Brian Shirley rounded out the top five—his seventh of the season. Todd Cooney was the Germfree Rookie of the Race, finishing 13th. He was also Saturday’s Fox Factory Hard Charger, moving up 10 positions. UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models return to Wisconsin on Friday, Sept. 1, for the Milton Hershey School Back to Class Showdown at Mississippi Thunder Speedway in Fountain City, WI. Then, the Series returns to Deer Creek Speedway in Spring Valley, MN, for the Labor Day Duel.  Both Features will pay $20,000-to-win. If you can’t make it to the tracks, you can watch every World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model race live on DIRTVision.   CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Feature (80 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 2. 96V-Tanner English[10]; 3. 19R-Ryan Gustin[11]; 4. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 5. 3S-Brian Shirley[9]; 6. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 7. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[16]; 8. 25S-Chad Simpson[13]; 9. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 10. 40B-Kyle Bronson[7]; 11. 97-Cade Dillard[6]; 12. 16-Tyler Bruening[17]; 13. 30-Todd Cooney[23]; 14. 25-Shane Clanton[8]; 15. B1-Brent Larson[21]; 16. 9-Nick Hoffman[5]; 17. 25F-Jason Feger[12]; 18. 14W-Dustin Walker[24]; 19. 32S-Chris Simpson[19]; 20. 32B-Cody Laney[18]; 21. 111-Matt Lux[20]; 22. 18-Shannon Babb[14]; 23. 11-Gordy Gundaker[22]; 24. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[15] FOX FACTORY HARD CHARGER: Todd Cooney [+10].

The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: CASE Construction Equipment (Official Construction Equipment), CASE No.1 Engine Oil™ (Official Oil and Lubricant), DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Simpson Performance Products (Preferred Safety Gear Partner), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), Toyota (Official Vehicle), and VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel); contingency sponsors include Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, Fox Factory (Hard Charger Award), Low-E Insulation, MSD, Penske Racing Shocks, Quarter Master, Swift Springs, and Wieland Metal Services (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, Capital Race Cars, FIREBULL, Germfree, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, Racing Electronics, Reliable Painting, Rocket Chassis, and Sea Foam.

The Hanover, PA driver puts on a clinic to reach 40 career World of Outlaws winsWEST FARGO, ND (August 26, 2023) – The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars don’t near the ocean for a few more days. But that didn’t stop a shark from surfacing far inland this weekend in North Dakota.On Friday Logan Schuchart won in dramatic fashion aboard the Shark Racing #1S at Grand Forks, ND’s River Cities Speedway. Then on Saturday the Hanover, PA native didn’t need a late race pass to find his way to Victory Lane. He simply dominated at West Fargo, ND’s Red River Valley Speedway to complete a weekend sweep in “The Peace Garden State.”Schuchart led from green to checkered in the non-stop 30-lap Feature to top the Gerdau Presents the Duel in the Dakotas for his first Red River Valley triumph. From the moment they unloaded, Schuchart knew they’d be a force through the night.“The car felt good right out of the box tonight,’ Schuchart said. “We made some very small, minor changes. The track stayed pretty quick. I thought it was an awesome racing surface. If we started fourth or fifth or sixth in that area, I feel like we still would’ve had a really good shot at winning the race. I just tried to pick my spots. Move when lapped cars were in the way and go to the top if I needed to. I could even run the middle of (Turns) 3 and 4 there at the end. This car was just awesome this weekend.”The win marked a major milestone for the 30-year-old as he reached 40 career World of Outlaws victories – becoming the 19th driver to reach the feat. The sweep was also Schuchart’s first back-to-back trips to Victory Lane with The Greatest Show on Dirt since 2020. He’s up to five wins in 2023, the fifth straight year he’s hit that number.Schuchart’s path to the checkered flag was paved in large part with his triumph in the Toyota Racing Dash. That sat the Drydene/Duramax machine on the pole for the NOS Energy Drink Feature. When the green lights flashed, Schuchart immediately showed his muscle by darting ahead on the opening circuit.While Schuchart pulled away early, the first lap also signaled the beginning of what would be a race-long war for second. It began with David Gravel and James McFadden going wheel-to-wheel before Gravel secured the spot.Only five laps in to the main event was when Schuchart encountered traffic which would persist throughout the race’s entirety with no yellow flags slowing the pace. While a few slower cars allowed Gravel and the battle for second to close in, Schuchart would always pull back ahead after a lap or two.In the second half of the race, the jockeying for the runner-up position intensified as Giovanni Scelzi and Buddy Kofoid reeled in Gravel. The trio traded sliders and crossovers on the racy surface as the laps wound down. Up front, Schuchart cruised with a comfortable advantage and ultimately crossed the finish line with nearly a three second advantage.“We got out in front, and I just wanted to set a good, clean pace, not push the issue too far and not put myself in bad spots,” Schuchart said. “I tried to just hit my marks, and I thought it would make it pretty tough for someone to run up to us and blow by us. I can’t say enough about our team working so hard.”Behind Schuchart it was David Gravel crossing the line in second when the dust settled on a fierce battle. The runner-up restored some confidence after he and the Big Game Motorsports team endured four straight finishes outside the top 10 entering the night. Gravel upped his Series-leading podium total to 26 for the season. It was an especially tricky result to come by as Gravel felt an early issue and had to hang on with a wounded machine for most of the race.“About Lap 10 something let go in the motor when I was all over Logan, and I was like you’ve got to be kidding me. After these last two weeks, I’m going to DNF here,” Gravel explained. “And luckily it held on, so once that happened I was just in survival mode and was pretty much quarter to half throttle trying not to kill the thing and make it to the end. There was still like 18 or 19 to go. I kept looking, and it got down to seven to go. I thought I just had to make it. I saw Gio kept throwing it in on me and kept showing me to run the bottom. But the slower I went, the worse the motor ran, so I had to kind of keep one pace and try to not hurt the motor anymore.”Standing on the final step of the podium was Buddy Kofoid and his Roth Motorsports crew after starting the Feature in fifth. It marked his seventh World of Outlaws top three of the season and third since joining Roth. The Penngrove, CA native had plenty of speed and left feeling hugely confident in the direction of he and the #83JR crew.“I feel like that’s one of the better cars I’ve had since we’ve been with Roth,” Kofoid said. “I feel like we were a second place capable car. It would’ve been nice if I could’ve got ahead of some of them earlier if we had a yellow. I don’t how good Logan was, but I feel like where I was my car was just very impeccable. I owe it all to these Roth Motorsports guys.”Gio Scelzi and James McFadden completed the top five.A sixth place run allowed Brad Sweet to slightly extend his points lead over Carson Macedo, who came home eighth. Sweet’s advantage now sits at 56 markers, but Gravel’s runner-up moved him closer to Macedo for second. The distance between those two is now only 10 points.After claiming the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown, Tanner Holmes also went on to take KSE Racing Hard Charger Honors with a drive from 19th to 12th. The Jacksonville, OR native was also the recipient of the Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race after mechanical issues in Qualifying put them behind early in the night.David Gravel earned the Simpson Performance Products QuickTime Award for the ninth time this season and the 106th time of his career.CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One went to James McFadden (46th Heat Race win of career). NOS Energy Drink Heats Two and Three were topped by Logan Schuchart (116th of career) and Buddy Kofoid (12th of career).UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars are bound for the Pacific Northwest for four races in five nights. First, it’s three nights (August 31-September 2) at Skagit Speedway (Burlington, WA) for the Sage Fruit Skagit Nationals with $26,000 going to the winner of the finale. Then on Monday, September 4 it’s a one-day stop at Elma, WA’s Grays Harbor Raceway. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the action live on DIRTVision.RESULTS:NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 2. 2-David Gravel[2]; 3. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[5]; 4. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[4]; 5. 83-James McFadden[3]; 6. 49-Brad Sweet[7]; 7. 15-Donny Schatz[6]; 8. 41-Carson Macedo[9]; 9. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[13]; 10. 5-Spencer Bayston[12]; 11. 9-Kasey Kahne[11]; 12. 1T-Tanner Holmes[19]; 13. 20G-Noah Gass[14]; 14. 21T-Cole Macedo[15]; 15. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[20]; 16. 14T-Tim Estenson[8]; 17. 3-Tim Kaeding[16]; 18. 7S-Robbie Price[10]; 19. 11M-Brendan Mullen[17]; 20. 17B-Ryan Bickett[18]; 21. 6-Bill Rose[21]; 22. 17M-Zach Omdahl[24]; 23. (DNF) 0-Nick Omdahl[22]; 24. (DNF) 2K-Kevin Ingle[23]

PORT ROYAL, PA (August 26, 2023) – Hudson O’Neal battled his way to the lead with seven laps to go and pulled away in the final laps to win the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned Rumble by the River on Saturday Night at Port Royal Speedway. O’Neal earned $50,000 from the $150,000 feature purse for the Rocket1 Team.  O’Neal’s winning margin of 1.808 seconds was the largest lead anyone had held during the 50-lap event. Mike Marlar came home in second as he passed Jonathan Davenport with two laps to go. Davenport was third with Matt Cosner and Brandon Overton completing the top five. Brandon Overton jumped to the lead at the start of the race as he and O’Neal, who started alongside Overton on the front row tucked into the second spot. Those two ran first and second for the first 16 laps of the race until Davenport was able to secure the second spot on lap 17. Davenport then moved to the lead on lap 21 as the first caution flew with that lap was scored. On the restart Davenport had to contend with O’Neal, Marlar and Overton in a tightly contested battle for the race lead. With O’Neal and Marlar all over Davenport another caution came out with 27 laps complete. All eyes were on the current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader Ricky Thornton, Jr. who was slicing through the field after starting in 25th for having to go to back-up car. Thornton moved to fifth by lap 36 and trailed only Davenport, Marlar, O’Neal, and Devin Moran.  Thornton would not be around at the finish as he slowed on the track under a caution with ten laps to go after just reaching second past Marlar in the running order. Thornton’s night ended after a spectacular run from the tail of the field as he would be pushed back to the pit area after stopping in the middle of the back straightaway with mechanical issues. Davenport was still on the point with Marlar and O’Neal behind him on the single-file restart. O’Neal then got past Marlar and set his sights on Davenport. With seven laps to go O’Neal made his move for the lead getting by Davenport and then going on to win his seventh Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series event of 2023. Marlar passed Davenport at the white flag to pick up the second position at the finish. O’Neal described his hard-fought victory in Lucas Oil Victory Lane. “It’s awesome. I had to get up on the wheel I was just so tight against that cushion I was afraid to run it. It just came down to the last ten laps and I knew I had a shot at it if I could run it hard enough if I could get enough of a run down the straightaways. The crew gave me a great race car all weekend, we were able to get back into victory lane last night and I knew coming into today we had a great piece we just needed to play our cards right.” Marlar earned $20,000 for his third straight Big River Steel Podium finish. “It was a good race you know we just talked to the man who preps the track he does a phenomenal job on the racetrack really; we owe him a lot of thanks for the awesome racing we saw all weekend. It was fun for sure. My car was balanced really good, but it won’t wheel spin good so when I wheel spin on the cushion, I am just a little wrong there somehow and that’s how a lot of these races are getting won. We are so close it depends on how it all plays out. We got one or two more laps before those cautions; I think we could have got the lead and I would have been gone.”  Davenport’s third-place finish earned the 3-time Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series champion $10,000 as he led a race high 24 laps. “Those guys were just a little better than me I thought I was o.k. and then Mikey could run a little bit lower than I could and Hudson could just run around the cushion a little bit better than I can. I gave it all we had. I tried to not tear it up too bad. I just wish it would have been a 40 lapper tonight.”  The winner’s Mark Richards Racing, Rocket Chassis is powered by a Durham Racing Engine and sponsored by Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Ace Metal Works, Gunter’s Honey, Petroff Towing, Rocket Pre-Owned Motors, WR1 Sim Chassis, O’Neal’s Salvage and Recycling, Sunoco Race Fuels, Integra Racing Shocks, and Performance Grading. Completing the top ten were Tim McCreadie, Devin Moran, Cody Overton, Garrett Alberson, and Logan Roberson. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary Rumble by the RiverSaturday, August 26, 2023Port Royal Speedway – Port Royal, PA Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 3. 15K-Cody Overton[2]; 4. 111B-Max Blair[5]; 5. 93-Cory Lawler[7]; 6. 11-Spencer Hughes[8]; 7. 99B-Boom Briggs[6]; 8. 59-Chad Julius[9]; 9. 66-Justin Kann[4] Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 10-Michael Norris[2]; 3. 89-Logan Roberson[4]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[3]; 5. D19-Dillan Stake[5]; 6. 32J-Shaun Jones[6]; 7. 21-Chad Myers[7]; 8. 10S-Dave Stamm[9]; 9. (DNS) 7T-Drake Troutman Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[3]; 3. 66C-Matt Cosner[4]; 4. 22F-Chris Ferguson[2]; 5. 2J-Justin Weaver[8]; 6. 0-Andrew Yoder[5]; 7. 2JR-Jeff Rine[6]; 8. 25K-Kody Lyter[9]; 9. 32-Travis Stickley[7] AP1 Insurance Heat Race #4 (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 2. 0R-Rick Eckert[1]; 3. 45-Kyle Hardy[3]; 4. 20-Trever Feathers[4]; 5. 2T-Kyle Lee[6]; 6. EZ1-Ron Fink[9]; 7. (DNS) 86-Austin Berry; 8. (DNS) 63-Nathan Long; 9. (DNS) 24-Dylan Yoder Lucas Oil Heat Race #5 (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[3]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[6]; 5. 06-Mike Lupfer[4]; 6. 9M-Hayes Mattern[5]; 7. 2-Dan Stone[7]; 8. 3-Timothy Wilson[8] Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 48-Colton Flinner[3]; 3. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 4. 119-Bryan Bernheisel[4]; 5. 22-Gregg Satterlee[6]; 6. 4-Gary Stuhler[5]; 7. 11T-Trevor Collins[8]; 8. 1Z-Logan Zarin[7] Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 111B-Max Blair[1]; 2. 22F-Chris Ferguson[3]; 3. 2J-Justin Weaver[6]; 4. 7-Ross Robinson[2]; 5. D19-Dillan Stake[5]; 6. 11-Spencer Hughes[7]; 7. 2JR-Jeff Rine[12]; 8. 0-Andrew Yoder[9]; 9. 93-Cory Lawler[4]; 10. 99B-Boom Briggs[10]; 11. 21-Chad Myers[11]; 12. 66-Justin Kann[16]; 13. 59-Chad Julius[13]; 14. 10S-Dave Stamm[14]; 15. 25K-Kody Lyter[15]; 16. 32J-Shaun Jones[8]; 17. (DNS) 32-Travis Stickley UNOH B-Main Race #2 (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 22-Gregg Satterlee[6]; 3. 20-Trever Feathers[1]; 4. 2-Dan Stone[10]; 5. 119-Bryan Bernheisel[3]; 6. 9M-Hayes Mattern[8]; 7. 2T-Kyle Lee[4]; 8. 3-Timothy Wilson[12]; 9. 06-Mike Lupfer[5]; 10. 11T-Trevor Collins[11]; 11. 4-Gary Stuhler[9]; 12. EZ1-Ron Fink[7]; 13. (DNS) 1Z-Logan Zarin Rumble by the River Feature Finish (50 Laps):

Race Statistics Entrants: 52Terminal Maintenance & Construction Pole Sitter: Brandon OvertonLap Leaders: Brandon Overton (Laps 1-20); Jonathan Davenport (Laps 21-44); Hudson O’Neal (Laps 45-50)Wieland Feature Winner: Hudson O’NealArizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: Hudson O’NealBrandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: Hudson O’NealMargin of Victory: 1.808 secondsGorsuch Performance Solutions Cautions: Chris Ferguson, Mason Zeigler (Lap 27); Michael Norris (Lap 36); Ross Robinson (Lap 40); Rick Eckert (Lap 45)Series Provisionals: Spencer Hughes; Ross RobinsonFast Time Provisional: n/aSeries Emergency Provisionals: n/aTrack Provisional: Jeff RineBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Hudson O’Neal, Mike Marlar, Jonathan DavenportPenske Shocks Top 5: Hudson O’Neal, Mike Marlar, Jonathan Davenport, Matt Cosner, Brandon OvertonTodd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Matt Cosner (Advanced 11 Positions)Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Devin MoranDeatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Tyler ErbEarnhardt Technologies Most Laps Led: Jonathan Davenport (24 Laps)Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Hudson O’NealMidwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Max BlairEtchberger Trucking Fastest Lap of the Race: Brandon Overton (Lap 1 – 19.677 seconds)MD3 Tough Break of the Race: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Danny White (Hudson O’Neal)ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Durham Race EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Ricky Thornton, Jr. (18.365 seconds)Time of Race: 36 minutes 12 seconds The Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY COKE ZERO SUGAR 400 TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP AUGUST 26, 2023

·       In the 26-race NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Chevrolet collected a manufacturer-leading 13 wins – recorded by five drivers from four different Chevrolet teams.  ·       Since the debut of the 16-driver playoff field and elimination rounds to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2014; at least five Chevrolet drivers were represented in the playoffs each season.

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER4th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 Llumar Camaro ZL16th      Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Arena Camaro ZL17th      Kyle Busch, No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL18th      William Byron, No. 24 Raptortough.com Camaro ZL110th    Corey LaJoie, No. 7 NEGU Camaro ZL1  TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:POS.  DRIVER1.        Chris Buescher (Ford)2.        Brad Keselowski (Ford)3.        Aric Almirola (Ford)4.        Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)5.        Joey Logano (Ford)  The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs begin next weekend at Darlington Raceway with the Cook Out 400 Sunday, September 3rd, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on USA Network, MRN and Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES:  Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1Finished 17thYou are back in the playoffs and now can concentrate on next week at Darlington, how does that feel?“That feels really good to hear – in the playoffs again. I have to go back to 2021 and missing it in my first real attempt in a quality Chevrolet. Missed it with CGR in the No. 42 car and that hurt. But now I get to have the day off tomorrow and be ready Monday morning to walk into that Tech Center and continue to prepare for Darlington. We have already been preparing, we have already been running in the DiL, working with Josh Wise and the Wise Performance Group that GM uses to prepare the drivers.  And Trackhouse has been preparing the cars. It feels good and feels good to bring this one home clean and put it right back in the rotation. There is one small donut on it, but it feels good right now.  Life is good.” Austin Dillon, No. 3 BREZTRI Camaro ZL1Finished 33rdSidelined by damage sustained in an accident on the last lap of Stage Two.“We just had a suspension fail on the left-front from a little contact. It’s so frustrating. You try and go have a little fun out there and get some stage points, but really it pays nothing for that. I’ve won races not racing for those. We made some decent moves, and then some not so great moves. I have to go back and look to figure out why we didn’t keep ourselves toward the front, just in front of that. But that happened at the front, so I don’t know – other than just lifting coming to the checkered there in Stage Two, I don’t know what we could have done differently.” Is it just a result of being too aggressive, too early, from some others?“Yeah, I think everybody is pushing and shoving a little bit. The No. 20 (Christopher Bell) got to the No. 54 (Ty Gibbs) and turned him. It’s part of it if you push in a corner.” How do you attack the next 10 weeks?“Progress. Look for the simple wins.” Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Camaro ZL1Finished 27th“Yeah, there are some good tracks for us in the playoffs and just ready to get started and hopefully get some momentum going.  You guys had good speed at Darlington in the spring, how does that make you guys feel?“Yeah, I mean you just hope you have got the same speed this time around that you had earlier this year. We were really strong and I would like to get off to a good start.” Kyle Busch, No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1Finished: 7thWhat do you expect during the playoffs?“Yeah, just put it all together and make these races happen. Tonight, we had a lot of that up-and-down, as well – going to the back, coming to the front, going to the back. I was really proud of the No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro. The RCR Chevy and the ECR engines that we had – they were good, they were fast. I just needed some help behind me at times. We got it – led some lanes, led some laps. And then there at the end, we were just trying to make some more happen with those guys at the end. It was just too short of a run to get up towards the front where we wanted to. But overall, proud of the effort. We know we just have to cross our T’s, dot our I’s and be a little bit more perfect, and not let some things happen during the races that have taken us out. A lot of it hasn’t been our fault, hasn’t been our doing, but just circumstantial. Better luck, I guess. I used it all up about eight weeks ago.” Chase Elliott, No. 9 Llumar Camaro ZL1Finished: 4th“I feel like we had an OK chance there, but Brad (Keselowski) and the No. 17 (Chris Buescher) just worked so well together there and they were able to stay locked-on. They were so locked-on there.. they just had a strangle-hold on the top lane. Unfortunately I just couldn’t get to Kevin (Harvick) and stay there like that, and just make the bottom lane work. I kind of bottled it up there and just couldn’t get enough momentum going forward.  But it was a valiant effort and I appreciate the effort from everybody – from the No. 9 team, Team Chevy, Hendrick Motorsports. I thought we all worked really well together tonight. Obviously we came up a little short, but nonetheless – I hate the way the season has gone, but proud to get the car into the owner’s championship. It’s a big deal to get in on the owner’s side, so hopefully we’ll try and go make some noise on that front, and just keep progressing and pushing to be better for next year. We’ll be better through all of this down the road.” Chandler Smith, No. 13 Quick Tie Products, Inc. Camaro ZL1Finished: 15th“I think we had a good solid weekend. We were up front in both races, maybe didn’t get the result we probably deserved based on our speed in the Xfinity race. But we moved on to the Cup race, ran up front, showed decent speed, and hopefully got a lot of TV time. I’d call that a success.” AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1Finished: 29th“I can’t thank my guys enough for the No. 16 Action Industries Chevy we had today. This was the best speedway car we have had, it handled well and had a lot of speed. We got caught up in a wreck running near the front of the field and that ultimately ended our day, but I’m proud of all the effort, we’ll keep making gains and hopefully get some finishes to show it.” William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1Finished: 8thYou’re entering the playoffs as the top-seed in the NASCAR Cup Series. Can you keep this going in the playoffs?“Yeah, it feels good. Just thank you to everyone at Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports, our whole No. 24 RaptorTough.com team. We had a solid night. In the pack, we were just struggling to advance forward, just kind of one move behind all of the time. But it’s good to get a top-10 and going into Darlington with some momentum. That’s a really good racetrack for us, I feel like. We have a couple little things to work on at Darlington, just to get a little bit better, but I feel like the first round sets up well. We just need to have a solid first couple of races and put ourselves in a good spot. It feels good. It looks like we’re tied with Martin (Truex Jr.) for playoff points. That’s a lot better position than we’ve been in the past, so we’ll try to take advantage of that. Last year, I think we were in the teens for playoff points, so I feel good about. The good thing is we can still get some more in the first round, so hopefully we can maybe get a stage win or a victory in the first couple races and see how it plays out.” Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1Finished: 21st“We had a super-fast No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet. We stayed clean and raced in the top five for a while there. Unfortunately, nothing transpired for us at the end.” Josh Berry, No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Camaro ZL1Finished: 22nd“It was a decent finish for the No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevy team. We picked the wrong lane on the last restart and gave up some spots. But overall, we learned a lot and brought the car home in one piece. At Daytona, that’s always not a bad thing.”  Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1Finished: 18th“It was just an OK day for the No. 43 Allegiant Chevy team. Just never really got in a good position to capitalize. We got a little flipped around on our last pit stop there and lost way too much ground to the second pack that pit. We were just too far back, too far late in the race and couldn’t really go anywhere with it. It’s a bummer. Obviously the end of our playoff hopes, but we’re going to 10 good tracks for us here coming up and hopefully we finish out strong.  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Boost by Kroger / Entenmann’s Camaro ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on the last lap of Stage Two. Finished 34thAre you OK and what happened? “Yeah, I’m good. I just wish I would have stayed high there. I saw the No. 20 (Christopher Bell) spin the No. 54 (Ty Gibbs) – just pushing at the wrong spot of the racetrack, which I’ve done here before. Just part of it. I was having a blast. Our No. 47 Entenmann’s Kroger Camaro was really, really fast. I felt like we worked our way from the very back to the very front and got ourselves some good track position, so I was really happy. I was having a blast. It was a lot fun racing three-wide and pushing each other. I felt like everybody was doing a good job of putting on a good race for the fans. It just looked like Christopher just got him maybe a little too hard, a little too soon. He should have probably waited until we got on the straightaway, but that’s part of it. I had fun, at least.” We saw more three-wide racing today compared to the other superspeedway races with this car. Are you guys just learning how these cars work better in the draft, or is it just the intensity of the regular season ending? “No, I mean everyone thought they wanted the bottom lane for some reason. I feel like with this race car, the middle and the top lanes, the cars just perform better. It seemed like everybody that moved to the bottom was getting too tight off turn four and off of two and having to lift, so it brought the top lane and the middle lane in. The No. 8 (Kyle Busch), 16 (AJ Allmendinger), 31 (Justin Haley) and myself – we ran from the back to the front in that third lane. We made it all the way to the front until we got our track position. But yeah, I’ve always felt like these cars run better on the top.” How do you feel about the next 10 weeks?“I feel good. We’re going to take it week-by-week. I feel like Darlington was a good racetrack for us, and that’s what we’ve been focused on was Darlington before we ever got here to Daytona. I feel really good about where we are as a race team. It was awesome to come back to Daytona and having a car that I felt like was capable of winning, and hopefully we can go to Darlington with that same mentality.” Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Arena Camaro ZL1Finished: 6th“If we had the opportunity to win, take it. If not, obviously help the No. 9 (Chase Elliott). I feel like we worked together well, just didn’t work on that opportunity. It’s a bummer the last restart just didn’t work out. I feel like we could have been in a little better spot prior to that caution. But the No. 6 (Brad Keselowski) and the No. 17 (Chris Buescher) are phenomenal at being able to push each other. Hopefully we can figure out how to get our stuff there. But it’s not lack of effort from anybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Just appreciate everybody on this No. 48 Ally Chevy team. Wish we could have come out a little bit better.” Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway.com Camaro ZL1Finished 20thI know this may have been disappointing, what more did you need to get it done tonight?“I feel like the car had good speed and we showed that in coming from the back.  We came from the mid-20s in stage one and I think finished fifth in stage two. We just didn’t execute well in stage three and stage three is the most important one. We had a lot of conversations about setting ourselves up for that final stage and things played out in a way that we didn’t react properly. Unfortunately, we were not able to make up the difference. It is what it is, and I felt like we did an okay job in the first three quarters of the race, but in the last quarter and most important, we didn’t. I can’t thank everyone enough. Trackhouse, all the sponsors, Freeway.com, Worldwide Express, Coke-Cola, and so many people that help us out to be in this position. Quaker State and Comm Scope. It’s been a lot of fun and we have ten more races to go out there and continue to fight.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY COKE ZERO SUGAR 400 TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP AUGUST 26, 2023

Five Chevrolet Drivers Set to Compete for 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Championship

·       In the 26-race NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Chevrolet collected a manufacturer-leading 13 wins – recorded by five drivers from four different Chevrolet teams.  ·       Since the debut of the 16-driver playoff field and elimination rounds to the NASCAR Cup Series in 2014; at least five Chevrolet drivers were represented in the playoffs each season.

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER4th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 Llumar Camaro ZL16th      Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Arena Camaro ZL17th      Kyle Busch, No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL18th      William Byron, No. 24 Raptortough.com Camaro ZL110th    Corey LaJoie, No. 7 NEGU Camaro ZL1  TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL RESULTS:POS.  DRIVER1.        Chris Buescher (Ford)2.        Brad Keselowski (Ford)3.        Aric Almirola (Ford)4.        Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)5.        Joey Logano (Ford)  The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs begin next weekend at Darlington Raceway with the Cook Out 400 Sunday, September 3rd, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on USA Network, MRN and Sirius/XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Boost by Kroger / Entenmann’s Camaro ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on the last lap of Stage Two. Finished 34thAre you OK and what happened? “Yeah, I’m good. I just wish I would have stayed high there. I saw the No. 20 (Christopher Bell) spin the No. 54 (Ty Gibbs) – just pushing at the wrong spot of the racetrack, which I’ve done here before. Just part of it.  I was having a blast. Our No. 47 Entenmann’s Kroger Camaro was really, really fast. I felt like we worked our way from the very back to the very front and got ourselves some good track position, so I was really happy. I was having a blast. It was a lot fun racing three-wide and pushing each other. I felt like everybody was doing a good job of putting on a good race for the fans. It just looked like Christopher just got him maybe a little too hard, a little too soon. He should have probably waited until we got on the straightaway, but that’s part of it. I had fun, at least.” We saw more three-wide racing today compared to the other superspeedway races with this car. Are you guys just learning how these cars work better in the draft, or is it just the intensity of the regular season ending? “No, I mean everyone thought they wanted the bottom lane for some reason. I feel like with this race car, the middle and the top lanes, the cars just perform better. It seemed like everybody that moved to the bottom was getting too tight off turn four and off of two and having to lift, so it brought the top lane and the middle lane in. The No. 8 (Kyle Busch), 16 (AJ Allmendinger), 31 (Justin Haley) and myself – we ran from the back to the front in that third lane. We made it all the way to the front until we got our track position. But yeah, I’ve always felt like these cars run better on the top.” How do you feel about the next 10 weeks?“I feel good. We’re going to take it week-by-week. I feel like Darlington was a good racetrack for us, and that’s what we’ve been focused on was Darlington before we ever got here to Daytona. I feel really good about where we are as a race team. It was awesome to come back to Daytona and having a car that I felt like was capable of winning, and hopefully we can go to Darlington with that same mentality.” Austin Dillon, No. 3 BREZTRI Camaro ZL1Finished 33rdSidelined by damage sustained in an accident on the last lap of Stage Two.“We just had a suspension fail on the left-front from a little contact. It’s so frustrating. You try and go have a little fun out there and get some stage points, but really it pays nothing for that. I’ve won races not racing for those. We made some decent moves, and then some not so great moves. I have to go back and look to figure out why we didn’t keep ourselves toward the front, just in front of that. But that happened at the front, so I don’t know – other than just lifting coming to the checkered there in Stage Two, I don’t know what we could have done differently.” Is it just a result of being too aggressive, too early, from some others?“Yeah, I think everybody is pushing and shoving a little bit. The No. 20 (Christopher Bell) got to the No. 54 (Ty Gibbs) and turned him. It’s part of it if you push in a corner.” How do you attack the next 10 weeks?“Progress. Look for the simple wins.” Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1Finished 17thYou are back in the playoffs and now can concentrate on next week at Darlington, how does that feel?“That feels really good to hear – in the playoffs again. I have to go back to 2021 and missing it in my first real attempt in a quality Chevrolet. Missed it with CGR in the No. 42 car and that hurt. But now I get to have the day off tomorrow and be ready Monday morning to walk into that Tech Center and continue to prepare for Darlington. We have already been preparing, we have already been running in the DiL, working with Josh Wise and the Wise Performance Group that GM uses to prepare the drivers.  And Trackhouse has been preparing the cars. It feels good and feels good to bring this one home clean and put it right back in the rotation. There is one small donut on it, but it feels good right now.  Life is good.” Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrickcars.com Camaro ZL1Finished 27th“Yeah, there are some good tracks for us in the playoffs and just ready to get started and hopefully get some momentum going. You guys had good speed at Darlington in the spring, how does that make you guys feel?“Yeah, I mean you just hope you have got the same speed this time around that you had earlier this year. We were really strong and I would like to get off to a good start.” Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway.com Camaro ZL1Finished 20thI know this may have been disappointing, what more did you need to get it done tonight?“I feel like the car had good speed and we showed that in coming from the back.  We came from the mid-20s in stage one and I think finished fifth in stage two. We just didn’t execute well in stage three and stage three is the most important one. We had a lot of conversations about setting ourselves up for that final stage and things played out in a way that we didn’t react properly. Unfortunately, we were not able to make up the difference. It is what it is, and I felt like we did an okay job in the first three quarters of the race, but in the last quarter and most important, we didn’t. I can’t thank everyone enough.  Trackhouse, all the sponsors, Freeway.com, Worldwide Express, Coke-Cola, and so many people that help us out to be in this position. Quaker State and Comm Scope. It’s been a lot of fun and we have ten more races to go out there and continue to fight.” Kyle Busch, No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1Finished: 7thWhat do you expect during the playoffs?“Yeah, just put it all together and make these races happen. Tonight, we had a lot of that up-and-down, as well – going to the back, coming to the front, going to the back. I was really proud of the No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro. The RCR Chevy and the ECR engines that we had – they were good, they were fast. I just needed some help behind me at times. We got it – led some lanes, led some laps. And then there at the end, we were just trying to make some more happen with those guys at the end. It was just too short of a run to get up towards the front where we wanted to. But overall, proud of the effort. We know we just have to cross our T’s, dot our I’s and be a little bit more perfect, and not let some things happen during the races that have taken us out. A lot of it hasn’t been our fault, hasn’t been our doing, but just circumstantial. Better luck, I guess. I used it all up about eight weeks ago.” Chase Elliott, No. 9 Llumar Camaro ZL1Finished: 4th“I feel like we had an OK chance there, but Brad (Keselowski) and the No. 17 (Chris Buescher) just worked so well together there and they were able to stay locked-on. They were so locked-on there.. they just had a strangle-hold on the top lane. Unfortunately I just couldn’t get to Kevin (Harvick) and stay there like that, and just make the bottom lane work. I kind of bottled it up there and just couldn’t get enough momentum going forward. But it was a valiant effort and I appreciate the effort from everybody – from the No. 9 team, Team Chevy, Hendrick Motorsports. I thought we all worked really well together tonight. Obviously we came up a little short, but nonetheless – I hate the way the season has gone, but proud to get the car into the owner’s championship. It’s a big deal to get in on the owner’s side, so hopefully we’ll try and go make some noise on that front, and just keep progressing and pushing to be better for next year. We’ll be better through all of this down the road.” Chandler Smith, No. 13 Quick Tie Products, Inc. Camaro ZL1Finished: 15th“I think we had a good solid weekend. We were up front in both races, maybe didn’t get the result we probably deserved based on our speed in the Xfinity race. But we moved on to the Cup race, ran up front, showed decent speed, and hopefully got a lot of TV time. I’d call that a success.” AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1Finished: 29th“I can’t thank my guys enough for the No. 16 Action Industries Chevy we had today. This was the best speedway car we have had, it handled well and had a lot of speed. We got caught up in a wreck running near the front of the field and that ultimately ended our day, but I’m proud of all the effort, we’ll keep making gains and hopefully get some finishes to show it.” William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1Finished: 8thYou’re entering the playoffs as the top-seed in the NASCAR Cup Series. Can you keep this going in the playoffs?“Yeah, it feels good. Just thank you to everyone at Chevrolet, Hendrick Motorsports, our whole No. 24 RaptorTough.com team. We had a solid night. In the pack, we were just struggling to advance forward, just kind of one move behind all of the time. But it’s good to get a top-10 and going into Darlington with some momentum. That’s a really good racetrack for us, I feel like. We have a couple little things to work on at Darlington, just to get a little bit better, but I feel like the first round sets up well. We just need to have a solid first couple of races and put ourselves in a good spot. It feels good. It looks like we’re tied with Martin (Truex Jr.) for playoff points. That’s a lot better position than we’ve been in the past, so we’ll try to take advantage of that. Last year, I think we were in the teens for playoff points, so I feel good about. The good thing is we can still get some more in the first round, so hopefully we can maybe get a stage win or a victory in the first couple races and see how it plays out.” Justin Haley, No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL1Finished: 21st“We had a super-fast No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevrolet. We stayed clean and raced in the top five for a while there. Unfortunately, nothing transpired for us at the end.” Josh Berry, No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Camaro ZL1Finished: 22nd“It was a decent finish for the No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevy team. We picked the wrong lane on the last restart and gave up some spots. But overall, we learned a lot and brought the car home in one piece. At Daytona, that’s always not a bad thing.” Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1Finished: 18th“It was just an OK day for the No. 43 Allegiant Chevy team. Just never really got in a good position to capitalize. We got a little flipped around on our last pit stop there and lost way too much ground to the second pack that pit. We were just too far back, too far late in the race and couldn’t really go anywhere with it. It’s a bummer. Obviously the end of our playoff hopes, but we’re going to 10 good tracks for us here coming up and hopefully we finish out strong.

ALTON, Va. (Aug. 26, 2023) – Corvette Racing and driver Antonio Garcia weathered intense heat Saturday to qualify on the second row for Sunday’s Michelin GT Challenge at Virginia International Raceway – the second of two GT-only races this season for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Garcia posted a best lap of 1:45.133 (111.972 mph) in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R to qualify third. It was a close and intense 15 minutes with the top seven cars within 0.667 seconds – almost a mirror of the final practice where the five fastest cars had just 0.172 seconds between them… with Garcia part of that group. Saturday was another scorcher of a day at VIR with air temperatures approaching 100 degrees by the start of qualifying and high humidity. Sunday’s peak ambient temperature is expected to be about 10 degrees lower than Saturday. Corvette Racing is hoping to improve on last year’s runner-up finish and record its seventh class victory at the highly challenging 3.4-mile, 17-turn circuit. Garcia and teammate Jordan Taylor were overall winners in 2020 and finished second the last two years. Garcia and Taylor won earlier this year at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park in GT Daytona (GTD) PRO, their lone win so far this season. They’ve been on the class podium in four other races. Returning to Victory Circle also would keep championship hopes alive for the No. 3 Corvette drivers, their team and Chevrolet. The group is second in points and badly in need of victories in any of the remaining three rounds to challenge for the GTD PRO Drivers, Teams and Manufacturers titles. The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled for 2:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 27. The race will air live on USA beginning at 2 p.m. ET and stream live on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.comoutside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning with Friday morning’s practice at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED THIRD: “These were tricky conditions. The track is warm, and it was difficult to gauge the lap and the grip together with the setup we decided to go with in qualifying. We probably didn’t do the correct thing. The car wasn’t doing as I was expecting, so that led to a few mistakes. Instead of leaving the car the way it was to try and do something different, we ended up losing time to how it felt in FP2. It’s only qualifying but we should be there for the race. We are still close.”

2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO (After eight of 11 events)Driver Standings1. Ben Barnicoat/Jack Hawksworth – 2,8102. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2,6413. Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon – 2,5944. Klaus Bachler/Patrick Pilet – 2,5875. Alex Riberas/Ross Gunn – 2,468 Team Standings1. No. 14 Vasser Sullivan – 2,8102. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 2,6413. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 2,5944. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 2,5875. No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 2,468 Manufacturer Standings1. Lexus – 2,8102. Chevrolet – 2,6413. Mercedes-AMG – 2,5944. Porsche – 2,5875. Aston Martin – 2,479 CORVETTE RACING AT VIR: By the Numbers• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 25 years of racing: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette• 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at VIR since 2012 – Corvette C6.R (2012-2013), Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and the mid-engine Corvette C8.R, which races at VIR for the final time in IMSA competition this year• 4: Overall VIR race wins for Corvette Racing – 2016, 2017, 2020 and 2021. Antonio Garcia was part of the first three• 5: Class wins at VIR for Corvette Racing, the most among IMSA entrants. Tommy Milner and Oliver Gavin won in ALMS GT competition in 2012, and Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen won overall in 2016 and 2017. Garcia and Jordan Taylor drove the C8.R to a win in 2020 with Milner and Nick Tandy victorious in 2021.• 9: Number of VIR victories for Chevrolet since 2002 covering both ALMS and the Rolex Series; that’s the most among manufacturers• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001• 27: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Monza, Portimão, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen• 34: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999. Ben Keating and Nico Varrone joined that list with their participation – and victory – in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the World Endurance Championship• 126: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America, eight at Le Mans and one in the FIA WEC• 279: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999• 6,183.57: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its nine previous trips to Virginia International Raceway. It surpassed 6,000 miles after 30 laps in last year’s race• 359,619.37: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon and more than halfway back! Corvette Racing at VIR (wins in bold)2012No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 8th in GT (Garcia fastest race lap)No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GT (Clinched ALMS GT title) 2013No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GT (Clinch GT team, manufacturer titles)No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GT 2014No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 7th in GTLM (Taylor replaced Magnussen – injury)No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 9th in GTLM 2015No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 6th in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 8th in GTLM 2016No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLM (Magnussen pole)No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 9th in GTLM (Gavin fastest race lap) 2017No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM 2018No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTLM 2019No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM 2020No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1st in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C8.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 4th in GTLM  2021No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C8.R: Tommy Milner/Nick Tandy – 1st in GTLM (Milner pole) 2022No. 3 Corvette C8.R: Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 2nd in GTD PRO (Taylor fastest race lap)

PORT ROYAL, PA (August 25, 2023) – Hudson O’Neal and Brandon Overton each won a 25-lap preliminary A-Main on Friday Night at Port Royal Speedway. O’Neal led wire-to-wire in the first 25-lap main event for his fifth Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season. Rick Eckert, the current track points leader at Port Royal came from fifth to take second with current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series points leader Ricky Thornton Jr. rounding out the Big River Steel Podium in third after he had started eighth. Cody Overton came home fourth followed by Tim McCreadie. Brandon Overton was able to fend off the challenges of both Jonathan Davenport and Mike Marlar to win the second 25-lap main event. Michael Norris was fourth with Chris Ferguson rounding out the top five drivers in the nightcap. O’Neal, who enters the weekend second the championship points standings behind Thornton set himself up for a good starting spot in Saturday’s heat race. “I thought I was making a lot of time difference going to that top; there was a time there when a lapped car slowed way up in front of me and I just misjudged how much faster I was getting off the corner. I was happy to see no cautions out there. If we had a caution, it might have played out differently. We had a good race car all night long, it qualified good, and it heat raced good. It’s refreshing to come out and get a win, it’s been a long couple of months.”  Eckert, a member of the National Dirt Late Model Hall-of-Fame came home in second-place behind O’Neal. “That second place was very important, we really haven’t qualified well here all year. We heat race really good, and we hadn’t feature raced very good. Mark Richards gave me some hints for the feature. It drove way better in the feature than I have been. I think our car is pretty close for tomorrow night’s big race realistically until we got to heavy traffic I was coming back to Huddy, and he just manned up on that cushion and I am an old guy. I was trying not to do it and finally I guess I had no choice.”  Thornton, who on Thursday Night at Georgetown Speedway rallied from sixth to win came from the outside of row four to finish third in the caution-free race. “In the grand scheme of things, you just wanted to run in the top six tonight in this feature to put yourself in a good position for tomorrow. I took off there and I didn’t think I was going to be very good; I fell back to about tenth or so. I just started running a little harder and the car got a lot better. The biggest thing for me here is to try to pace, but not pace too much where you can’t do anything early and get way behind.” O’Neal’s Mark Richards Racing, Rocket Chassis is powered by a Durham Racing Engine and sponsored by Valvoline, Seubert Calf Ranches, Ace Metal Works, Petroff Towing, Rocket Pre-Owned Motors, Gunter’s Honey, WR1 Sim Chassis, O’Neal’s Salvage and Recycling, Sunoco Race Fuels, Integra Racing Shocks, and Performance Grading.  Completing the top ten in the first feature were Daulton Wilson, Ross Robinson, Earl Pearson Jr., Mason Zeigler, and Justin Kann.

Brandon Overton got his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win since January, but he had to work for this one. “It’s about time something went my way. The caution come out as soon as JD [Davenport] passed me and let us get back out front. I might have not had the best car. I said the way we have been going it’s like we’ll take it and keep on working. I was starting to wonder whether I was going to win another race. He [Davenport] slid me so obviously I wasn’t going into three hard enough. As soon as he passed me, he went to the top to try and protect. I just wasn’t good no matter where I went. That’s how it is sometimes.” Davenport gave Overton all he wanted for the lead as he came home in the runner-up spot. “It just wasn’t meant for us to win tonight. We had a really good car; Brandon obviously was a little better than us through the middle. We just have to work on it to get it better for tomorrow night, but once the middle started dying the top starting coming in. I was driving pretty hard there and the caution came out and I then got squeezed on the back straightaway and I lost quite a bit of ground there. I just could never get the timing right when I would catch Brandon. I would catch him at the wrong part of the corner.”  Marlar, who took third the previous night at Georgetown rounded out the Big River Steel Podium for the second night in a row. “I hit a hole wrong in three and got really sideways, luckily, we got it straightened up there. It was good racing there. We raced all over the racetrack. If not for those cautions, we would have been out there; it really would have been an awesome race. You could have thrown a blanket over the top three at the finish for sure.” Brandon Overton’s Wells and Sons Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Garnto Southern, Muscle Factory, Victory fuel Flavored Electrolyte Water, R.W. Powell Construction, Penske Racing Shocks, Convenient Lube, Dirt Mafia, Boswell Oil, H&A Development, EZ-GO, and Earnhardt Technologies. Completing the top ten were Garrett Alberson, Devin Moran, Kyle Hardy, Colton Flinner, and Logan Roberson. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary Rumble by the River – Prelim Night 1Friday, August 25, 2023Port Royal Speedway – Port Royal, PA Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Hudson O’Neal | 18.110 seconds Fast Time Group B: Brandon Overton | 18.007 seconds (overall) Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 1H-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 39-Tim McCreadie[5]; 3. 18D-Daulton Wilson[3]; 4. 66-Justin Kann[2]; 5. 06-Mike Lupfer[4]; 6. 4-Gary Stuhler[7]; 7. D19-Dillan Stake[6]; 8. 86-Austin Berry[8]; 9. 63-Nathan Long[9] Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 2-Dan Stone[2]; 2. 0R-Rick Eckert[3]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 4. 11-Spencer Hughes[4]; 5. 2JR-Jeff Rine[5]; 6. 7-Ross Robinson[6]; 7. 24-Dylan Yoder[7]; 8. 32J-Shaun Jones[8]; 9. 10S-Dave Stamm[9] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 15K-Cody Overton[1]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[3]; 3. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[2]; 4. 22-Gregg Satterlee[4]; 5. 66C-Matt Cosner[5]; 6. 2J-Justin Weaver[6]; 7. 11T-Trevor Collins[8]; 8. 93-Cory Lawler[7] AP1 Insurance Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[3]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[4]; 4. 111B-Max Blair[5]; 5. 22F-Chris Ferguson[2]; 6. 9M-Hayes Mattern[6]; 7. 3-Timothy Wilson[7]; 8. 59-Chad Julius[8]; 9. EZ1-Ron Fink[9] Lucas Oil Heat Race #5 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 3. 89-Logan Roberson[4]; 4. 48-Colton Flinner[7]; 5. 20-Trever Feathers[6]; 6. 2T-Kyle Lee[9]; 7. 21-Chad Myers[8]; 8. 58-Garrett Alberson[5]; 9. 0-Andrew Yoder[3] Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 Finish (8 Laps, All Transfer): 1. 10-Michael Norris[1]; 2. 1Z-Logan Zarin[2]; 3. 7T-Drake Troutman[4]; 4. 45-Kyle Hardy[3]; 5. 119-Bryan Bernheisel[5]; 6. 32-Travis Stickley[7]; 7. 99B-Boom Briggs[6]; 8. 25K-Kody Lyter[8] Rumble by the River Prelim Night 1 Group A Feature Finish (25 Laps):

Rumble by the River Prelim Night 1 Group B Feature Finish (25 Laps):

Race Statistics  Entrants: 61 Group A Terminal Maintenance & Construction Pole Sitter: Hudson O’NealGroup B Terminal Maintenance & Construction Pole Sitter: Brandon OvertonGroup A Lap Leaders: Hudson O’Neal (Laps 1-25) Group B Lap Leaders: Brandon Overton (Laps 1-25) Group A Wieland Feature Winner: Hudson O’NealGroup B Wieland Feature Winner: Brandon OvertonArizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: n/a Brandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: n/a Group A Margin of Victory: 4.182 seconds Group B Margin of Victory: 0.338 seconds Group A Gorsuch Performance Solutions Cautions: n/aGroup B Gorsuch Performance Solutions Cautions: Drake Troutman (Lap 12); Ron Fink (Lap 15)Series Provisionals: n/a Fast Time Provisional: n/aSeries Emergency Provisionals: n/a Track Provisional: n/a Group A Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Hudson O’Neal, Rick Eckert, Ricky Thornton, Jr.Group B Big River Steel Podium Top 3: Brandon Overton, Jonathan Davenport, Mike MarlarGroup A Penske Shocks Top 5: Hudson O’Neal, Rick Eckert, Ricky Thornton, Jr., Cody Overton, Tim McCreadieGroup B Penske Shocks Top 5: Brandon Overton, Jonathan Davenport, Mike Marlar, Michael Norris, Chris FergusonGroup A Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Ross Robinson (Advanced 10 Positions) Group B Todd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Garrett Alberson (Advanced 17 Positions) Group A Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Ross RobinsonGroup B Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Devin MoranGroup A Deatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Dillan StakeGroup B Deatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Max BlairGroup A Earnhardt Technologies Most Laps Led: Hudson O’Neal (25 Laps) Group B Earnhardt Technologies Most Laps Led: Brandon Overton (25 Laps) Group A Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Hudson O’NealGroup A Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Garrett AlbersonMidwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr. O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: n/a Group A Etchberger Trucking Fastest Lap of the Race: Hudson O’Neal (Lap 2 – 19.194 seconds) Group B Etchberger Trucking Fastest Lap of the Race: Brandon Overton (Lap 1 – 19.490 seconds) Group A MD3 Tough Break of the Race: Austin BerryGroup B MD3 Tough Break of the Race: Drake TroutmanGroup A Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Danny White (Hudson O’Neal) Group B Outerwears Crew Chief of the Race: Kent Fegter (Brandon Overton) Group A ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Durham Race EnginesGroup B ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Clements Racing EnginesGroup A Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Rocket ChassisGroup B Miller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Mike Marlar (17.822 seconds) Group A Time of Race: 10 minutes 04 seconds Group B Time of Race: 19 minutes 14 seconds  Rumble by the River Saturday Line-Ups

Rumble by the River Saturday Preliminary Points

August 25, 2023

Harrison Burton, in the No. 21 DEX Imaging Mustang, has qualified a Cup-career-best third for Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway, the final race of the 26-race regular season.

Burton earned that spot with a lap at 181.404 miles per hour in Friday’s qualifying session.

He was sixth in the opening round of qualifying, with a lap at 181.068 mph, which put him in the final qualifying round.

There was no practice prior to qualifying.

Friday’s effort was Burton’s second top-five start of the season. The first, a fifth-place, came at Atlanta Motor Speedway last month. 

With a win in Saturday’s race, any Cup regular driver not already assured of a berth in the 10-race Playoffs can join the elite 16 that will compete for the series championship. 

The Coke Zero 400 is scheduled to get the green flag just after 7 p.m. Saturday with TV coverage on NBC. 

Stage breaks are planned for Laps 35 and 95.

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY COKE ZERO SUGAR 400TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT AUGUST 25, 2023

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1, met with the media prior to the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway. Media Availability Quotes:  HAVE THERE BEEN CONVERSATIONS AT TRACKHOUSE ABOUT DRAFTING AND HELPING YOUR TEAMMATE? “I am there for my amigo all the time man.  We have already had those conversations and have had them with GM and Chevrolet, and we know the bigger picture of the bowtie and what is important. We can do a lot of good for the 1 car and help people where we can. Tomorrow night will be a key moment to do that.” WHEN WERE THE CONVERSATIONS WITH GM AND WHAT WAS SAID IN THERE? “Monday, and just getting everybody together to talk and just hear what people’s plans are and philosophies. There are a million ways you can go about this race. I know for me, and I can’t speak for anybody else, but my mind kind of sways with the wind on what I think is going to work.  You look at statistics and the history of it and you can read it one way, and you can read it the complete 180 of what is successful here. It was just getting us in a room and hearing everybody out.” HOW DO YOU BALANCE THE NEEDS FOR THE ENTIRE ORGANIZATION AND ALSO YOUR PERSONAL AMBITIONS TOO? “Personally, I am in Darlington already.  I don’t hate to stay it because it’s the truth. We have put effort in, and we think we have a car that can go and be competitive and play the race out as it comes.  I have learned to not come here with any grand plan, but yes, if there is a stage point or a win, then I am going to go for it. I have said it before and I plan on being backwards in the grass at 200 miles an hour and if I don’t hit anything too hard and I can get back to pit road, with minimal damage to the bottom of the car, I will still have a shot to win. So, I don’t get upset when stuff happens at these places anymore. I used to be so on edge through the Truck Series and then I heard an old veteran say that and it made a lot of sense, and it made my weeks leading up to these races a lot easier.  So, mentally, we have already been preparing for Darlington.” HOW DO YOU FEEL BEING A PART OF THIS PRESSURE COOKER PLAYOFF YEAR AFTER YEAR? DO YOU ENJOY THAT? “I actually do think about that because I was a fan, and I did follow the points whenever it was five points for a position and season-long points.  And you got points for being last and you have all this other stuff. And now it’s easy to see over the past weeks we have fallen from being the points leader, to being 100 points out now. I don’t think with 11 races to go we would have a realistic shot to win a championship. So, I love it because it gives us a real shot. It gives Chase (Elliott) a shot, Alex (Bowman) a realistic shot and guys that are hundreds of points back and have missed races, would never have a shot. So, I love it because it allows for me to have a shot. I have had the points lead, lost it, and given up over a 100 points. We wouldn’t have a shot without it.” IN THE LAST THREE MONTHS YOU HAVE ONE TOP FIVE AND THREE TOP TENS. IN THE PLAYOFFS, THAT IS NOT GOING TO BE ENOUGH AS YOU KNOW. WHAT IS YOUR LEVEL OF CONFIDENCE THAT YOU GUYS CAN PICK IT UP FROM HERE? “Yeah, I see the stats and we have looked at it. We looked at it with GM just this week of just how the season played out compared to last year and its just a very glaring thing when you look at finishing position. But there is a lot more to be said for average running position and I am not finishing where we are running. The pace can be argued (that it) was better last year, but running position was similar. There are a lot of things and details that you can dig into and see, and we just did that this week. Honestly, it made me feel okay because I know where we can be better. I know that I can be better at finishing these races and I have got to tell you that I was a whole lot more nervous sitting up here last time I was at this desk announcing our contract extension and new contract than I am right now going into the playoffs. That is a really cool feeling. Those were nerves and pressure for another reason in getting it out and another worst kept secret, second worst kept secret that we had this year.  I had more pressure sitting up here then than I do now with Darlington, Kansas and Bristol coming up this month.” WHAT ARE YOUR EXPECTATIONS FOR THIS RACE AND IS IT DIFFERENT THAN THE DAYTONA 500?  “I think Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) was just up here and he argued that it set his playoff field in February. And he got to win the Daytona 500.  That is nothing to not look at in coming here in February and it’s a great reminder for everybody that you can just set your season to a permanent win for the year if you win the Daytona 500.  That is a lifetime achievement like Ricky was able to accomplish. But here, what do I expect? I expect all of it. I expect everything, all the highlights we are going to see, all the highlights we know. I don’t expect a ton of cars to be running at the end and that probably may be the only thing I can confidently say I expect. Everything else I can expect – all of it. For me, I can only control my variables. Things I can directly control are saving fuel, getting on and off pit road, staying with my group that we pit with the best I can, staying in the pit stall long enough while Brooke our gas man fuels the car to get the right amount of fuel in it each stop, so we don’t have to take more fuel late. Those are the things that I can control.” WHAT DID YOU LEARN LAST YEAR IN GOING THROUGH ALL THE PLAYOFF ROUNDS AND GETTING ALL THE WAY AS FAR AS YOU DID IN THE PLAYOFFS THAT YOU CAN TAKE WITH YOU THIS SEASON? “Yeah, a lot. I learned a lot and learned a lot about myself and our group at Trackhouse. Because I had questions of if we could step up. There were some similar comments to what Jeff said last year about some stats that were looking a little lower. And we went to those races like Darlington, and we were fast, and we did what we needed to do. We kept air in the tires at the Texas race where everybody was blowing tires.  My group did everything right not to blow a tire.  We weren’t the fastest car, but we did the things we needed to do to survive and advance. Survive and advance. Its no different now and I can’t let the Nashville win or everything that has happened since the playoffs last year affect the fact that I know we need to just go week by week. And then the Roval haunts me. That wreck, partway through that race, should have taken us out. We were by some gift given another chance and we took full advantage of it in that Round of Eight. So, minimizing those mistakes. We did so good those other nine races and the Roval stands out as the one, and I got away with it. But yeah, all that plays into the count. There is a corner that I won’t crash at, at the Roval this year. I have worked really hard, not saying it won’t happen, but in turn two at the Roval, I should go slow enough through there this year that I won’t crash because that could have been really bad.” GIVEN WHAT YOU EXPERIENCED AT DARLINGTON IN THE SPRING, WHAT WILL YOU CARRY FORWARD NEXT WEEK THAT WILL BE DIFFERENT? “What happened in the spring, caused me not to win and I don’t like to lose.  So, I am not going to do that again, but I am still going to go race.  And (Kyle) Larson and I have had some great battles this year. We were side by side a couple of times late in the race at Watkins Glen and then at the end of the race it wasn’t me that was running into everybody at the end. I was watching my camera laughing.  The rear-view camera. Because I was like, ‘yes, it’s not me. It’s them’.  So, I did have some sleepless nights afterward.  So, I learned a lot from that too and talking to Mr. Hendrick was some really cool conversations and he was great, and he had some great advice. I live by some of the words that he was nice enough to give me that early morning we talked. I will never forget that conversation, good or bad. I don’t like the reason that it came about, but I liked that talk and I listened. I have taken what he said to heart, and I am better for it.”

DIRTcar Sportsman Regional play has concluded, with four different winners finishing on the top of the leaderboard in each region, launching the division into its Championship Series.

Andrew Buff (Central Region), Nick Heywood (Eastern Region), Cody McPherson (Western Region), and David Rogers (Northern Region) took home the top prize in the points battle for their respective division.

Buff scored a win at Land of Legends in Canandaigua, NY, on June 24, after starting on the outside of row one before jumping out in front to lead all 30-laps. Four days later, he headed to Can-Am Speedway in La Fargeville, NY where he recorded a fifth-place finish. His two solid performances gave him a 10-point advantage over second place Tyler Corcoran, making him the Central Region champion.

“It’s definitely huge (winning the Region),” Buff said.  “You have to stay on top of it and try to not have bad nights and have consistent finishes.”

The Latham, NY driver has continued with that same winning consistency transitioning over into DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series competition. After a repeat win at Land of Legends on Aug. 16, and then another at his home track, Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, four days later, Buff has built attention-grabbing momentum moving towards the end of the season.

“We’ve really been consistent over the past couple months here with a lot of these races coming up, it’s all about the Time Trials,” Buff said. “You have to start the night off well; get yourself in the redraw to put yourself in position in the Feature. It really just comes down to the consistency of doing that. And, staying on top of everything during the week and planning ahead.”

Veteran driver Nick Heywood was the winner in the Eastern Region, edging out Derrick McGrew Jr. by two points. His visits to Bear Ridge Speedway and Glen Ridge Motorsports Park, two tracks he had never previously visited, netted him a top-five finish and a top-10 finish.

“There was a lot of really good cars,” Heywood said. “Bear Ridge had their weekly contenders; those guys are tough. The Buff brothers, Derrick McGrew Jr., are all really good at Glen Ridge. To come in the first time and be an outsider and be able to keep up with those guys is a feat in its own, and we were fortunate enough to be able to do that.”

While he wasn’t able to commit to running every Championship Series race due to off-track commitments, Heywood will attempt to make every remaining race starting at Can-Am Speedway on Sept. 8.

Defending Super DIRT Week Chevy Performance 75 winner Cody McPherson had a near flawless run, notching three wins in four starts. He credits his continued cycle of winning with staying locked in in his approach to racing.

“I try not to think too much when I show up to a race and just do the same thing every time,” McPherson said. “It doesn’t matter where I am or what event it is, I just want to win. That’s the whole goal. There was a lot of good talent in the West Region. But we just try to show up and do the same thing every time and see what happens.”

McPherson scored a fifth-place finish during the Championship Series matchup at Ransomville Speedway on August 22 and will continue battling for wins in the upcoming matchups before heading back to Oswego Speedway, Oct. 2-8, to defend his title at Super DIRT Week 51.

Over in Northern Region Series action, La Fargeville, NY native David Rogers reigned supreme at at the conclusion of competition, using his home track advantage to come out on top of the points battle by 12 points over runner-up Tyler Corcoran.

“It just a good feeling to know that when the Series comes to town, you’re at the top of your game,” Rogers said.

Recently a new father for the second time, Rogers will be selective going forward about what races he puts on his schedule. He’ll battle again for another win when the Championship Series makes a visit at Can-Am Speedway, on Sept. 8, and will then go westbound to Weedsport Speedway for the Sept. 9 showcase.

He does have end of the year plans to make it to Oswego Speedway for Super DIRT Week 51, Oct. 2-8, and for the World Short Track Championships at the Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, North Carolina, Oct. 26-28.

Rogers scored a win on the opening night of the 2022 World Short Track event.

“Backing off my race schedule a little bit and being more prepared when I show up to the racetrack has helped,” Rogers said. “(Being successful) has just been because of being well prepared, I think, when those big shows do approach. And just kind of having fun with it.”

The Championship Series for the DIRTcar Sportsman started at Land of Legends Raceway on Aug. 16 and will run through the fall to the World Short Track Championship in October. Along the way, the Series will stop at Oswego Speedway for the Chevrolet Performance 75 during Super DIRT Week 51 on Sunday, Oct. 8.

The Sportsman Classic at Weedsport Speedway on Sept. 10, the Hurricane Harvey 75 at Brewerton Speedway on Oct. 4, Super DIRT Week and the World Short Track Championship will be available to watch live on DIRTVision.

MORE: Chevrolet Performance Adding More Incentives For Super DIRT Week DIRTcar Sportsman Drivers

UP NEXT: The next stop on the DIRTcar Sportsman Championship Series schedule is Can-Am Speedway on Friday, Sept. 8, for a 30-lap, $2,000-to-win, spectacular.

Championship Series Full Schedule:
Wednesday, Aug. 16 / Land of Legends Raceway / SummerFAST
Sunday, Aug. 20 / Glen Ridge Motorsports Park
Tuesday, Aug. 22 / Ransomville Speedway / Summer Nationals
Friday, Sept. 8 / Can-Am Speedway / John Burr Memorial-Showdown in September
Sunday, Sept. 10 / Weedsport Speedway / Sportsman Classic
Friday, Sept. 22 / Albany-Saratoga Speedway / Malta Massive Weekend
Wednesday, Oct. 4 / Brewerton Speedway / Hurricane Harvey 75
Sunday, Oct. 8 / Oswego Speedway / Super DIRT Week 51
Saturday, Oct. 14 / Brockville Ontario Speedway / Fall Nationals
Thursday-Saturday, Oct. 26-28 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / World Short Track Championship

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY COKE ZERO SUGAR 400 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT AUGUST 25, 2023

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 BOOST BY KROGER / ENTENMANN’S CAMARO ZL1, met with the media prior to the NASCAR Cup Series qualifying session at Daytona International Speedway. Media Availability Quotes:  You’re locked into the playoffs with your win here in February, so you don’t have to race for your season like other guys do. It would be hard to not have a sense of confidence after that win, so with all that in mind, how hard do you plan on pushing it tomorrow night to try to do the Daytona sweep? “Yeah, I mean that’s what we’re here for is to be back in victory lane; get my second Summer race win here. For us, we’re looking at the playoff points that we could take to the playoffs – either by stage wins or obviously another five points winning the race. Those are the benefits that we can take out of Daytona and the things that we’re looking for. How we do that? I’m not sure yet. On one hand, this race generally is kind of crazy. Obviously last year was a little bit different with kind of one incident taking everybody out of the race, but not really anybody’s fault.  I don’t know.. I know the cars that have to win, have to make it to the end of the race, right? So they don’t really care about stage points. I mean there’s a couple that care about stage points, so hopefully that leaves us racing the ones that are already locked-in for maybe some stage wins or something. Just going to see how it plays out and kind of adjust our race lap-by-lap, stage-by-stage, and see where we shake out.” You won your two Xfinity Series Championships the old-school, season-long way. You’ve also been in a couple of these elimination-style format years. Now that we’ve done this for a decade or so, how do you kind of weigh the pros and cons of the way we used to do it versus the way we do it now? “Yeah, I don’t know. It’s exciting. I think it keeps the fans engaged the way we have it. But with that being said, it’d still be a great points battle right now going in with 11 races left. I think it would still be a really good championship battle. I’m watching the tour championship right now and looking at the way they eliminate guys and set themselves up for a golf tournament at the end of the season – it’s handicapped, but they have four guys that go for a championship at the end of the year.  I think every sport has done something to make it exciting.. make their playoffs a little more intense over the years. I enjoyed the Nationwide Series Championships. I loved that it was a season-long deal. But at the point I’m in now, I’m looking forward to the playoffs and the opportunity to race for a championship that way.  Yeah, I don’t know. I’ve not been leading going into the playoffs to really have a strong feeling one way or the other, I guess.” Five playoff points to win the race.. maybe two more for the two stage wins. Do you view this race as binary for you – it’s either put ourselves in the position to win the race and get the five points, or because people are trying to survive, it’s a chance to get the two points? “Yeah, we talked about that in our meeting this week at the shop. You look at the cautions in this race and you look at how many finish this race, and it’s not near as many as other speedway races, it seems like. But again, kind of like I said earlier, I feel like there’s a lot of guys that know that they have to make it to the end of the race to have an opportunity to make the playoffs. I’m hoping that gives us a way to kind of get some track position – stay upfront, battle for those stage wins. Seven points would go a long ways for us in the Round of 16 and so on.  For me, that’s really what we’re focused on and I hope that’s how it plays out – that it won’t be so chaotic at the end of those stages and we’re battling for those stage wins and ultimately the win at the end of the day.” You’re looking at the first two rounds and you’re saying – ‘I can definitely win at Bristol. I can definitely win at Talladega.’ And if the stars align, you move onto the Round of Eight. Do you think those are your two best shots?“Yeah, I think going into the first round, I really like all of the racetracks. I love Darlington, Kansas and Bristol. I still feel like we’ve been so close at Bristol, so many times, and I would love to get my first win there this year and then obviously move on.  For me, I’m focused on the first round. I did not know Talladega was in the second round, honestly. I have no idea what’s in the second round (laughs). But for us, just really kind of honed in on Darlington right now. I feel good about where our car is for Daytona. My guys have been kind of looking at Darlington this week and trying to prepare for that. We were good at Darlington earlier in the year. We had kind of a misfortune with a flat left-rear tire that we lost time under green pitting. I feel really good about where we are as a team. I don’t think we have to win in the first round to make it through by any means, so we’ll go do our jobs each and every week – try to be perfect and let others make mistakes to move on through that round.” Where do you feel like your team is now? Your team got your win so early in the season and now, all these months later and the playoffs starting, where do you feel like you guys are? “It’s going to be real in a week, right? Or I should say after tomorrow, it’s real. I feel like we’ve grown a lot as a team. We’ve gotten better in certain areas of our race team throughout the year and really things have stuck out where we need to be better, and I feel like we’ve corrected some of that. I still feel like we have some issues that we’re still working on and trying to clean up. Some of that is me as a racecar driver – getting to pit road, things on pit road, some race strategy calls that we’ve probably been a little bit off on. And then car speed.. we’ve struggled on that at some racetracks.  I like the information that we have and the things that we’ve learned lately, and I feel like that’ll put us in a good spot going forward. But I like where we are. It’s real now. We’ve made the playoffs. We have one more kind of relaxed, kind of freebee race, and then it’s gametime.” You’ve talked about having that relaxed attitude and this is really the last race for that. Have you guys started to kind of pivot and get ready to have that different kind of attitude and get that more serious, or is that going to be when you get to Darlington? “We’re serious every week. It’s just the reality is that next week is everything matters. Like when we have a bad Saturday, it matters. We’ve had some bad Saturday’s, as far as qualifying goes, and it set us back. It hasn’t been super detrimental. I think a bad Saturday in the playoffs is difficult to overcome. So I think for us, it’s we know there’s no mulligans once we start next week. We’re done with the driving range.. done goofing off (laughs). We’ll step-up on the first tee next week and make sure that we’re ready to go.” Obviously you want to go all the way, but realistically, how deep would you be satisfied to go or is that off the table – it’s all or nothing?“No, it’s not ‘all or nothing’. I think for me – say we were eliminated in the first round, we could still finish fifth in points, right? So there’s a ton left to race for, no matter what happens in the first round. I think for us, in 2017, we finished 11th in points. We had a really good shot at finishing ninth in points after getting eliminated in the third round, I believe. So for us, there’s a lot to race for no matter what happens in that first round.” This is the first time since February when you won the Daytona 500 that you’re coming back to Daytona. What are the emotions like? You’re back in the media center for the first time since that winning press conference? “It was a lot more fun coming back in here after that (laughs).  But yeah, it’s been special. Our pilot let us fly over the track – we did a circle around the track before we landed, so that was pretty cool. Going over to the museum and seeing the car in there, checking all the things out in there, was special. And then unveiling our Walk of Fame there out in front of the museum. This race is so big when you win the Daytona 500, and you do a lot of things throughout the season based off of winning this and it’s been fun. I’ve enjoyed every second of it – being able to promote our team, promote our win, promote the sport. For me, it doesn’t get old.  It’s been nice to come in here and kind of take it all in – look around, walk through the garage. It was so chaotic after the race. You’re trying to celebrate. You’re trying to somewhat get some sleep knowing you have to get up the next morning early. So it’s been nice to kind of come in here, know that you’ve accomplished something great as a race team. Now that that’s over, we can try to get another one.” Obviously you have incentive to win this race and win the stages. You have points on the line, and also a rare sweep, which hasn’t been done all that many times. But can you allow yourself awareness of what’s going on around you and try not to effect who gets in the playoffs and who doesn’t?“Definitely something that you think about. You don’t want to be the reason somebody gets in over somebody else, right? Points-wise and other cars, you will definitely – or at least I will – be a little more cautious around some of those cars that are right there on the cutoff line for points. Some Chevy guys are racing for a win. You have buddies that are trying to make the playoffs and things like that. So you try to be respectful of those guys, but know that we still have a job to do and try to take some points away from other people, as well.” How did it feel putting your hands and feet in the concrete, and what does it mean to you, personally, to be part of that Walk of Fame at Daytona? “It was cool. Yeah, I mean I’ve never at any construction sites, I’ve never put my hands or feet in the concrete. I don’t think I’ve done that as a kid (laughs). But no, that was really cool. And then I’d say it gets more real every time something happens or you go into the museum and see your face on the wall there with all of the other winners of the Daytona 500 and knowing that’s going to stay there. Just like the Walk of Fame out there – to know that’s going to be there, I guess until they decide to tear it up (laughs), is really special. I feel like that’s what the Daytona 500 is, right? It’s something that sticks with you in your career for the longevity of it, and I think no other race does that, except for winning a championship in the sport. So that was one that we’re super proud of, but that’s also what makes it so important and so special to everybody. For me, I’m glad that we accomplished that already, and now coming back to Daytona, we’re more relaxed, but also more confident. That’s something nice to go along with it, as well.”

DAVENPORT, IA (Aug. 24, 2023) – One evening of practice in, and the stars of the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota, in conjunction with the POWRi National Midget League, are ready to do battle at Davenport Speedway.

The Series is coming off a two-week pause in the action following Appalachian Midget Week – a miniseries points championship won by one of the hottest drivers on the Xtreme Outlaw roster as of late, Chase McDermand.

McDermand, 23, of Springfield, IL, continued the momentum flow from the two-win week in Pennsylvania by topping the overall speed chart in Thursday night’s practice sessions at Davenport with a best lap of 14.146 seconds around the 1/4-mile – .085 under the Midget track record of 14.229, set last year by Cannon McIntosh.

That same night of McIntosh’s track record establishment, McDermand went to Victory Lane with the Xtreme Outlaws for the first time in his career. He’ll get two chances to win Davenport again as the My Place Hotels Quad Cities 150 presented by Hoker Trucking continues Friday and Saturday night (Aug. 25-26) alongside the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series.

“I think we definitely have a car capable of doing that,” McDermand said of his thoughts on winning Davenport again. “We’ve just gotta stay on top of the track with the Late Models. They tend to do a little bit different things to the track compared to the type of cars that we usually race with. We’ve just gotta focus on the track and make sure that we’re making changes for what the track is allowing.”

This weekend, several of Midget racing’s toughest competitors not regularly found on the Series roster are expected to race at Davenport, including Thomas Meseraull, Ryan Timms and Jacob Denney. Despite their skills, McDermand said he’s not fazed.

“We’ve been fast enough to where we’ve just gotta worry about ourselves and put ourselves in a good spot from the beginning of the night until the end,” McDermand said. “That’s all I’m worried about.”

Also taking part in practice was defending Series champion Zach Daum, who clocked in a ninth-quickest lap on the chart at 14.987. Riding high on the back of three Toyota Racing Feature wins this season, Daum said he and the Trifecta Motorsports team were experimenting with the Blackjack Express, Stanton/Spike #7U during practice.

“You don’t get to test very often, so we were just throwing something at it that we thought would work, just not under the circumstances,” Daum said. “It did what we thought it would do, given the circumstances we went out in.”

After a sound showing during Appalachian Midget Week – posting finishes of second, eighth and fourth in the three-race stretch – Daum and his new friends at Trifecta have shrunken their deficit in the championship standings down to 103 points; a far cry from where Daum once stood, 278 points behind leader McIntosh.

“We’ve just gotta keep fine tuning the package; that’s all we’re doing,” Daum said. “Realistically, we still haven’t raced that much together. We’re maybe 10-12 races into our tenure together. Luckily, I have a decent idea of what I want in a racecar and Bobby [Milliser, crew chief] has a good idea of a setup.”

The Series’ all-time winningest driver, Jade Avedisian, was second-quickest overall with a best lap of 14.162. She and the Keith Kunz Motorsports stable will work to close their seven-point gap in the standings to McIntosh this weekend.

McIntosh, the current Series points leader, turned in a third-best lap time of 14.254. He’s aiming for redemption at Davenport from last year, where a mechanical failure sidelined him Friday, and on Saturday, finished 10th in the Feature.

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets go racing with the POWRi National Midget League at Davenport Speedway Friday night, Aug. 25, in a $4,000-to-win program. Tickets are available at XtremeOutlawSeries.com/Schedule. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

PRACTICE RESULTS (of cars that took time)

1. Chase McDermand (14.146)
2. Jade Avedisian (14.162)
3. Cannon McIntosh (14.254)
4. Hayden Reinbold (14.307)
5. Taylor Reimer (14.354)
6. Gavin Miller (14.504)
7. Corbin Rueschenberg (14.681)
8. Thomas Meseraull (14.738)
9. Cooper Williams (14.812)
10. Zach Daum (14.987)
11. Elijah Gile (15.020)
12. Dakota Gay (15.036)
13. Nick Hoffman (15.804)