July 20, 2025 — TORONTO, ONT

• Rinus VeeKay finishes second in Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto—his first podium with Dale Coyne Racing and Honda
• Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson earns first-career NTT INDYCAR SERIES podium with P3 result
• Andretti Global trio goes fourth, fifth and sixth in Canada

It was a double podium finish for Honda on the streets of Toronto, as Rinus VeeKay and Kyffin Simpson scored their first Honda podiums of their career in the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto.

VeeKay has had a strong start to his first season with Honda and Dale Coyne Racing. A previous race winner in NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition, VeeKay has found himself back at the front of the field, scoring a career-high seven top-10 finishes thus far in 2025. Today’s second place finish is the Dutch driver’s first trip to the podium in 2025, and the first podium finish for the team since 2023.

Just behind VeeKay was Chip Ganassi Racing’s Kyffin Simpson. The 20-year-old scored his first-career IndyCar podium, driving his Journie Rewards #8 Honda from 13th on the grid to third—making him the biggest mover in today’s race.

The Andretti Global trio of Colton Herta, Marcus Ericsson and Kyle Kirkwood finished fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. While Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal crossed the line P7—giving Honda four of five teams with results inside of the top seven positions.

Scott Dixon finished 10th for Chip Ganassi Racing after starting seventeenth, while his teammate and championship leader Alex Palou saw his championship lead slip slightly—to 99 points over P2—with a 12th place result.

Honda has won 11 of 13 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races in 2025, and holds a 205-point margin in the manufacturers’ standings as a result, 1223-1018.

Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto Race Results

2nd Rinus VeeKay	Dale Coyne Racing Honda
3rd Kyffin Simpson	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
4th Colton Herta	Andretti Global Honda
5th Marcus Ericsson	Andretti Global Honda
6th Kyle Kirkwood	Andretti Global Honda
7th Graham Rahal	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
10th Scott Dixon	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
12th Alex Palou	Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
14th Marcus Armstrong	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
19th Felix Rosenqvist	Meyer Shank Racing Honda
21st Louis Foster-R	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
22nd Devlin DeFrancesco	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda – Not running, retired
23rd Jacob Abel-R	Dale Coyne Racing Honda – Not running, contact

R – Rookie

Quotes

Rinus VeeKay (#18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda) finished second: “That was awesome, we really had a great day. The team made a lot happen on strategy, and we had some pace too. It was really unknown before the race what was going to be the good strategy. We had a lot of yellow towards the middle portion of the race and that really helped us. It ended up being the right decision for us to go with the two-stop, which not a lot of guys did. I have to thank Honda for the fuel mileage to make it possible and the great drivability to help us keep the rear tires in good shape. Great work by the Dale Coyne Racing crew, we’ve had some good results this year but this P2 is by far the best.”

Kyffin Simpson (#8 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) finished third: “First podium! It’s just incredible. It was a crazy race, an absolute roller coaster. It looked like it was going to be a not-so-fun day at the start and then thankfully everything turned around. Huge job by the #8 Chip Ganassi Racing Journie Rewards Honda team. It’s great to get the first podium here in Journie’s hometown. We have some more races coming up here, so let’s go get some more!”

Kelvin Fu (Vice President, Honda Racing Corporation USA): “Even though it wasn’t a win, it was a great day for our Honda-powered podium finishers, and with seven Hondas in the top 10. Really happy for Rinus and Dale Coyne Racing on his first Honda podium and for Kyffin Simpson and the Chip Ganassi Racing team on Kyffin’s first-career podium. These results have been because continued hard work for everyone trackside, and in the factory and with our teams. Also, I want to thank Toronto and the Ontario Honda Dealers for hosting such a great race with an amazing crowd here.”

Next
The NTT INDYCAR SERIES goes back to the west coast for the Java House Grand Prix of Monterey, at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca July 25-27.

The 26-year-old leads every lap of the 42nd running of the Kings Royal

ROSSBURG OH (July 19, 2025) – Anthony Macri will forever be known as King Anthony XLII.

The Kings Royal might be an Ohio’s crown jewel of Sprint Car racing, but this year it belonged to the Pennsylvania Posse.

“Posse-Posse” chants roared from grandstands as Macri rolled into Eldora Speedway Victory Lane on Saturday night. The Dillsburg, PA native had just finalized a masterful performance at “The Big E.” He led all 40 laps of the 42nd running of the Kings Royal on his way to racing royalty and $200,000 in riches.

It was a nearly flawless drive. He leaned on the cushion where he’s most comfortable for a majority of the race but could move the Macri Motorsports No. 39M wherever he needed to negotiate traffic. The Knight Before winner, Rico Abreu, climbed to second and closes on Macri multiple times but could never construct a serious charge.

Macri took the checkered flag with a comfortable advantage and forever cemented himself as a King. And in fitting fashion, it was none other than Don Kreitz Jr. serving as Royal Sovereign. The legendary Pennsylvanian became King Don III when he won the 1986 Kings Royal, and he crowned another PA legend in the making.

“I’m about to cry,” said an emotional Macri. “This is honestly really special to be able to start where we started, me and my parents and everyone that put all the time and the effort into this thing. Never in a million years did I think I’d be standing up here winning a crown jewel that’s worth $200,000. This is badass.”

Saturday’s triumph made him the 23rd overall different Kings Royal champion and the third from Pennsylvania, joining Kreitz and Brent Marks (2022). It’s the richest win of Macri’s career as he joined Jac Haudenschild, David Gravel, Logan Schuchart, and Buddy Kofoid as the fifth competitor to win a Sprint Car race paying at least $200,000 to the winner. It was also Macri’s first victory at “The House that Earl Built,” and he couldn’t have chosen a better time.

But more important than any stat to Macri is his story. He wasn’t always the cream of the crop for the PA Posse. His early journey in racing brought many bumps in the road, but he refused to quit. Now, he’s a King forever.

“Never give up no matter how much stuff you tear up,” Macri said. “There was time when I wanted to quit and didn’t think I was going to be a good race car driver at all, but I stuck through it. Man, this is where the tears come out. It’s just I stuck through it. Never give up.”

Coming home second was Friday’s winner Rico Abreu. The St. Helena, CA native was one spot away from writing the final chapter of a storybook weekend. Abreu swept The Knight Before program and looked well on his way to running Macri down after taking over second but stalled out late as the laps dwindled. Despite a little disappointment from coming up a spot shy of his first Kings Royal crown, Abreu was all smiles after the race.

“I just have to thank my guys. They worked on this thing all weekend,” Abreu said. “We were in the top five every night, got a win last night. I just want to tell all the fans what an incredible experience to see all of you guys here. This place is packed. Sprint Car racing is just so fun right now, so badass. There’s so much energy, and it’s just cool to be a part of it.”

Kyle Larson took the Silva Motorsports No. 57 to a third place finish for the second night in a row. He briefly rose as high as second with a great restart but didn’t quite have the speed to contend with the two ahead. King Kyle XXXVII wound up a little short of becoming a two-time Kings Royal champion.

“It was a good car and a tough track, really, really slick,” Larson said “You kind of had to work on your technique a lot out there. At points I thought I started to figure it out, but I was just not as good as those two in front of me. They were really good. Congrats to Macri. That’s an awesome win.”

Brian Brown and David Gravel completed the top five.

Gravel came from 19th to earn his fifth place finish which also gave him KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors.

Rico Abreu claimed his second straight Simpson Quick Time and fifth of 2025 in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

Heat Races belonged to Rico Abreu (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Ashton Torgerson (Real American Beer Heat Two), Danny Dietrich (WIX Filters Heat Three), Brian Brown (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Four), Anthony Macri (Toyota Heat Five), and Kasey Jedrzejek (NOS Energy Drink Heat Six).

The SPA Technique Pole Award went to Jedrzejek.

Logan Schuchart won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Sheldon Haudenschild.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to Pennsylvania for three battles against the PA Posse. First is the Bricker’s Bash at York Haven, PA’s BAPS Motor Speedway on Wednesday, July 23. Then the scene shifts to Mechanicsburg, PA’s Williams Grove Speedway for the C&D Rigging Summer Nationals on July 25-26 with a $20,000-to-win finale. After Pennsylvania, it’s north to New York to Weedsport Speedway on Sunday, July 27 for the only “Empire State” stop of the year. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

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

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 39M-Anthony Macri[2]; 2. 24-Rico Abreu[6]; 3. 57-Kyle Larson[8]; 4. 21-Brian Brown[3]; 5. 2-David Gravel[19]; 6. 69K-Ryan Smith[9]; 7. 41-Carson Macedo[16]; 8. 1S-Logan Schuchart[21]; 9. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[5]; 10. 48-Danny Dietrich[4]; 11. 21H-Brady Bacon[14]; 12. 21T-James McFadden[13]; 13. 83-Michael Kofoid[23]; 14. 14-Spencer Bayston[15]; 15. 10-Ryan Timms[20]; 16. 15-Donny Schatz[22]; 17. 14BC-Corey Day[10]; 18. 26-Justin Peck[18]; 19. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[1]; 20. 13-Daison Pursley[12]; 21. 7S-Chris Windom[24]; 22. 17GP-Tim Shaffer[11]; 23. 7N-Darin Naida[17]; 24. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[7]

BRANDON, SD (July 19, 2025) – Hudson O’Neal won his first career Silver Dollar Nationals presented by MyRacePass on Saturday night at Huset’s Speedway, earning $75,000 in the richest first-place prize in the 15-year history of the event. His father, Don, won the inaugural race in 2011 at the now-closed I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Nebraska. O’Neal led all 67 completed laps of the originally scheduled 80 laps and was declared the winner after officials called the race due to rain that fell over the track and became too intense to continue. The race was then declared official shortly thereafter. Branndon Shappard, who took the second spot on lap 55 from Jonathan Davenport, finished in second, followed by Bobby Pierce, Davenport, and Ricky Thornton, Jr. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the fourth time this season and for the 33rd time in his career, the 2023 Series Champion picked up the second most significant win of his career, second only to a $100,000 payday at Kokomo Speedway in 2023, as he became the 11th different winner of the Silver Dollar Nationals. “This is unbelievable. You know, to be a race car driver is something you always dream of – to be in a position to win big races, to win crown jewel races. The Silver Dollar Nationals – I have never won it before; my dad won the inaugural one back at I-80. It’s so cool to be standing here at Huset’s Speedway and call myself a Silver Dollar Nationals winner. I am about speechless,” said the Martinsville, Indiana native. “It’s not the way we necessarily wanted to win, but we’ll take the rain all day whenever we’re out front leading like that. Whenever I caught lapped traffic, especially down here at turns three and four and just above the bottom in one and two, I just couldn’t bring myself to go out there and pass the lapped cars. I knew those guys in front of me couldn’t move either, and I’m sure they were trying their best everywhere. I was just trying not to give the race away. I’m not going to move out of there; if somebody’s going to pass me, I’ll make them pass me somewhere else. I was able to get by a couple of lapped cars, and then we caught a lot of cautions at the right time, which was a big help.” Sheppard, who was attempting to equal Davenport’s event record with three Silver Dollar Nationals wins, finished as the runner-up for the second straight night, earning $25,000 for his efforts. “I don’t know if we would have gone back to green, it would have changed anything. Hudson was really good, and we all know how important it is to get out front at this place; especially because you can build momentum so well here, it makes it really hard to pass the leader for sure. So, congrats to him (O’Neal), congrats to Bobby, and thanks to all of the fans for sticking it out tonight. It was a solid weekend for us; we definitely wanted to win, but overall it was a good weekend. We’re not going to hang our heads — we’ve got a fast race car, and we’re looking forward to the rest of the year.” Pierce who won the Silver Dollar Nationals in 2019 rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third. “It is what it is. Hudson ran a really good race, congrats to him. Congrats to Brandon, and I don’t know if 13 laps would have changed anything. It was follow the leader forever, and then the track finally got good, and then came the rain.” The winner’s SSI Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Big River Steel, Wheeler Metals, Merrill Bonding Company, Sub-Surface of Indiana, Professional Concrete, Cutting, and Drilling, West Side Tractor Sales, Dyno One Inc., O’Neal’s Salvage and Recycling, Indiana USSSA Fast Pitch Softball, Bob and Tammy Burton, Midwest Sheet Metal, Houchens Insurance Group, BobCat of Batesville, and Sunoco Race Fuels. Completing the top ten were Garrett Alberson, Dan Ebert, Brandon Overton, Dennis Erb Jr., and Devin Moran. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary 15th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals Presented by MyRacePass | Night 3Saturday, July 19, 2025Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, SD Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Hudson O’Neal | 13.571 seconds (Overall)Fast Time Group B: Garrett Alberson | 13.908 seconds Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 3. 79-Donald McIntosh[2]; 4. 22*-Drake Troutman[4]; 5. 76-Brandon Overton[6]; 6. 17SS-Brenden Smith[5]; 7. 20-Trevor Anderson[7]; 8. 04-Tad Pospisil[8]; 9. 15C-Curt Schroeder[9]; 10. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[10]; 11. 93L-Cory Lawler[11] Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 2. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 3. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[4]; 4. 01J-Jacob Hobscheidt[5]; 5. 74X-Ethan Dotson[7]; 6. 6-Clay Harris[2]; 7. 01-CJ Horn[6]; 8. 51W-JT Wasmund[9]; 9. 24L-Bill Leighton[10]; 10. 22C-Charlie McKenna[11]; 11. 5S-Dylan Schmer[8] Cool-It Thermo-Tec Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 4. 93-Carson Ferguson[3]; 5. 19M-Spencer Hughes[5]; 6. 35D-Dylan Sillman[8]; 7. 85-Josh Leonard[6]; 8. 85JR-Braxten Leonard[10]; 9. 8-Lane Brenden[9]; 10. 15M-Shane DeMey[7]; 11. 10-Junior Coover[11] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[3]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson[8]; 5. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[4]; 6. 60-Dan Ebert[6]; 7. 18-Jesse Sobbing[5]; 8. 17SR-Brody Smith[7]; 9. 4TW-Tim Ward[9]; 10. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[11]; 11. 87-Curt Kranz[10] Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 74X-Ethan Dotson[2]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 3. 6-Clay Harris[4]; 4. 17SS-Brenden Smith[3]; 5. 01-CJ Horn[6]; 6. 20-Trevor Anderson[5]; 7. 51W-JT Wasmund[8]; 8. 24L-Bill Leighton[10]; 9. 04-Tad Pospisil[7]; 10. 22C-Charlie McKenna[12]; 11. 26JR-Corey Zeitner[11]; 12. 15C-Curt Schroeder[9]; 13. 5S-Dylan Schmer[14]; 14. 93L-Cory Lawler[13] UNOH B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 19M-Spencer Hughes[1]; 2. 60-Dan Ebert[4]; 3. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 4. 18-Jesse Sobbing[6]; 5. 35D-Dylan Sillman[3]; 6. 85-Josh Leonard[5]; 7. 4TW-Tim Ward[10]; 8. 17SR-Brody Smith[8]; 9. 8-Lane Brenden[9]; 10. 15M-Shane DeMey[11]; 11. 85JR-Braxten Leonard[7]; 12. 87-Curt Kranz[14]; 13. 10-Junior Coover[13]; 14. 99D-Darrel DeFrance[12] 15th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals Presented by MyRacePass | Night 3 Feature Finish (67 Laps): Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Pay1 – 1 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $75,9002 – 3 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $25,7003 – 6 – 32 – Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – $10,0004 – 4 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $10,2005 – 5 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $9,1006 – 2 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $7,7007 – 20 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $6,8008 – 19 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $5,7009 – 8 – 28 – Dennis Erb Jr – Carpentersville, IL – $4,50010 – 12 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $5,00011 – 18 – 19M – Spencer Hughes – Meridian, MS – $4,50012 – 7 – 1T – Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – $3,70013 – 9 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – Dawsonville, GA – $4,30014 – 21 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $4,20015 – 16 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – $4,10016 – 11 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $4,00017 – 22 – 76N – Blair Nothdurft – Renner, SD – $3,20018 – 10 – 3S – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $3,10019 – 23 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – $3,70020 – 24 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $2,90021 – 17 – 74X – Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – $2,80022 – 14 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $3,40023 – 13 – 22* – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $2,60024 – 15 – 01J – Jacob Hobscheidt – Plattsmouth, NE – $2,500 Race Statistics  Entrants: 44Victory Fuel Pole Sitter: Hudson O’NealMD3 Lap Leaders: Hudson O’Neal (Laps 1-67)Hellraizer Jacks Halfway Leader: Hudson O’NealWieland Feature Winner: Hudson O’NealMargin of Victory:  0.821 secondsColtman Farms Racing Cautions: Daniel Hilsabeck, Drake Troutman, Jacob Hobscheidt, Ethan Dotson, Clay Harris (Lap 2); Debris (Lap 13); Carson Ferguson (Lap 29); Cory Lawler, Tyler Erb, Brian Shirley, Dalton Wilson (Lap 57); Daniel Hilsabeck (Lap 59)Series Provisionals: Cory LawlerFast Time Provisional: Brenden SmithEmergency Provisional: n/aTrack Provisional: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Hudson O’Neal, Brandon Sheppard, Bobby PiercePenske Shocks Top 5: Hudson O’Neal, Brandon Sheppard, Bobby Pierce, Jonathan Davenport, Ricky Thornton Jr.PEM 4th Place Feature: Jonathan DavenportDMI Rearends 5th Place Feature: Ricky Thornton Jr.Wilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Dan EbertWehrs Machine 11th Place Feature: Spencer HughesDeatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Donal McIntoshMD3 24th Place Feature: Jacob HobscheidtHoker Trucking Hard Charger of the Race: Dan Ebert (Advanced 13 Positions) MD3 Most Laps Led: Hudson O’Neal (67 Laps)Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Hudson O’NealMidwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jonathan DavenportO’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Dan EbertPro Fabrication Headers Fastest Lap of the Race: Hudson O’Neal | Lap 12 | 12.683 secondsSlicker Graphics Slickest Move of the Race: Hudson O’NealFresh Roof Hard Luck Award: Devin MoranOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Jason DurhamARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Bobby Pierce | 13.212 seconds Time of Race: 45 minutes 51 seconds Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Pay1 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 6355 – $294,3002 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – 6340 – $314,9503 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 6065 – $243,9754 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 5960 – $215,0495 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 5810 – $135,4506 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 5785 – $193,3007 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 5505 – $115,3008 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – 5150 – $94,4259 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – 4840 – $79,17510 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – Dawsonville, GA – 4765 – $67,60011 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – 4595 – $61,45012 – 19M – Spencer Hughes – Meridian, MS – 4335 – $59,70013 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – 4300 – $53,72514 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – 4205 – $53,40015 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – 3730 – $39,050

Toyota continues #2Fast2Tasty Challenge streak

KENT, Wash. (July 19, 2025) – For the sixth time this season, and the 64th time in his historic career, Doug Kalitta earned the No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel, leading the pack for Sunday’s NHRA Northwest Nationals at Pacific Raceways. The 2023 world champion posted a blistering 3.671 elapsed time in Friday night’s lone qualifying session to take the top spot for tomorrow. Closely behind Kalitta is his teammate, Shawn Langdon, who sits second in the ladder, with Justin Ashley in sixth and Antron Brown in ninth. 

Langdon also captured the Top Fuel win in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge on Saturday, his fourth of the season and the ninth for Toyota in Top Fuel. Toyota has been victorious in all challenge events this season in either Top Fuel or Funny Car.

In Funny Car, J.R. Todd earned the No. 3 seed after posting a 3.901 time on Friday as he aims for another win tomorrow to couple his triumph in Epping. Ron Capps will start tomorrow as the No. 4 seed in the category, also looking for his second win this season to go with his Bristol win last month.

Eliminations of the NHRA Nationals from Pacific Raceways begin tomorrow at 1:30 p.m. EST with live TV coverage beginning at 4:30 p.m. EST on FOX.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series

Pacific Raceways

NHRA Northwest Nationals

Race 11 of 20

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	1st	Bye
Shawn Langdon	Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	2nd	C. Ferre
Justin Ashley	SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	6th	S. Reed
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	9th	C. Millican

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponent
Austin Prock*	Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Funny Car	1st*	D. Winefsky
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	3rd	C. Pedregon
Ron Capps	NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	4th	H. Green

*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

TF Qualifying Result: 1st

What would a win tomorrow mean after the qualifying you had so far this weekend?

“Yeah, that’s what the goal is for sure. Shawn (Langdon) winning the Mission Foods challenge was a good way to start for our team. We’re running well, qualifying well. Will definitely have our heads down and try to go rounds and get to that final. It’ll happen sooner than later and hopefully will tomorrow!”

SHAWN LANGDON, Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 2nd

How important are wins like the #2Fast2Tasty Challenge as we near the Countdown?

“Definitely important for the team. Brian (Husen, crew chief), all the Kalitta Air guys have done a great job giving me such a great Kalitta Air Toyota Top Fuel Dragster all year and it showed today. Obviously, Doug (Kalitta) made a great run there (Q4) and after Doug’s run, I saw Brian get down in there and I was pretty excited about that. We’ll definitely take the win into tomorrow with a lot of confidence.” 

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

FC Qualifying Result: 3rd

How are you feeling heading into tomorrow?

“The car has made it down the track every round, so that’s been good. We’re getting more and more consistent, and qualifying in the top-five is always a big plus. Would’ve been nice to hold onto No. 1, but at the end of the day, I’d rather have the hat you get for winning the race rather than the one you get for No. 1 qualifier. Tomorrow will be a whole new day. Probably somewhere similar to what the earlier conditions were like today, so that’s good. We have some notes to go off of. Will take it one round at a time and hopefully can come out of here with a win!”

(7/19/25 – Andrew Kunas) Watsonville, CA … Justin Sanders continued his winning ways Saturday night, getting his sixth NARC King of the West sprint car victory of the season, but it was probably one of the most special of his career as it came at the 15th Annual Howard Kaeding Classic at Ocean Speedway.

Sanders had to contend with traffic, and a determined Shane Golobic, to pick up his third career win in the event, but this year’s event carried much more emotional weight as it was the first Howard Kaeding Classic without the man the race honors, as Howard had passed away earlier this year.

“Glad to get the first two HK’s while HK was here, so that’s pretty special and that’s something I’ll remember for a long time down the road,” Sanders said about his first HK win without the late patriarch of the Kaeding Family in attendance.

Sanders started the pole for the 30-lap feature and led all but one lap, but it was not easy for last year’s NARC champion. Sanders was challenged early by Washington state visitor Jesse Schlotfeldt, who briefly passed him only for Sanders get back by on the same lap and continue in the top spot when Schlotfeldt got into the loose clay at the top of Turn 4. Schlotfeldt then had to surrender second place and the leave the track during the next caution due his muffler coming off the car.

Sanders continued to lead, but soon traffic became a factor and Shane Golobic, the 2023 Kaeding Classic winner, went after Sanders for the lead. With 20 laps down, Golobic threw a slider in Turns 3 and 4 and made it stick, taking the lead and leading Lap 21, but Sanders returned the favor on other end of the track to regain the lead on the 22nd lap.

As the track began to take rubber, Sanders again had to contend with slower car and Golobic closed back in. Sanders struggled with slower cars, but Golobic couldn’t take advantage as Sanders made late key passes around a couple of slower cars to maintain the lead at the end, taking the checkered flag aboard the Yuba Sutter Aviation-sponsored Mittry Motorsports No. 2x Fisher-powered KPC.

The win was a Howard Kaeding Classic record $10,000 to win with many sponsors pitching in and other money raising efforts adding to it, and that followed Sanders’ $5,000 win in Friday’s NARC race at Ocean Speedway. His 28th career NARC King of the West win tied him with Steve Kent on the all-time win list.

“Once I saw (Golobic) down there, I knew it was going to be tough,” Sanders said. “Shane got a run on me and I happened to get squared up and I got a run and slid him back for $10,000. I just it ran it as hard as I could. I don’t know if we had the best car tonight, but we had a good car. I wish Max Mittry and (car owner) Demo Mittry could be here (to see the win).”

Sanders praised his team for their work, and also praised everyone who showed their support for the Howard Kaeding Classic and raising more money for the teams to race for during the special weekend.

A night after getting upside down, Golobic would’ve liked to have won but otherwise was happy to settle for a runner-up finish aboard the NOS Energy-sponsored Matt Wood Racing No. 17w Kistler-powered KPC. Also a night after going over, Ryan Bernal bounced back himself with a podium finish aboard the NOS Energy-sponsored Josh Ford Motorsports No. 73 1Way-powered Triple X after battling with Landon Brooks, who finished fourth aboard the Lipper Construction-sponsored Bates-Hamilton Racing No. 21L Kistler-powered Maxim.

Sean Becker, who flipped upside down in his heat race earlier but still transferred out of it, finished fifth in the main event aboard the D&J Construction Rental-sponsored Bjork Construction No. 7b Shaver-powered Maxim. Kaleb Montgomery, Tyler Thompson, Tanner Carrick, Nick Parker and Dominic Scelzi rounded out the Top 10. Joey Ancona earned the Williams Roofing Hard Charger nod, coming from 22nd to finish 13th.

Sanders won the Beacon Wealth Strategies Trophy Dash to secure the pole position for the main event, with Parker starting to his outside. Heat races earlier in the evening were won by Carrick, Tim Kaeding, Golobic and Schlotfeldt. D.J. Netto won the Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier, taking Dylan Bloomfield, Ancona and Jake Andreotti with him to the feature.

Nick Parker was the fastest in Automotive Racing Products Qualifying, pacing the 29-car field in split qualifying with a time of 10.879 seconds to best the second flight. Tanner Carrick topped the first flight of qualifying with a lap of 10.946 seconds.

NARC’s “Cooler Weather Tour,” a stretch of races occurring at tracks along the California coastline expecting to feature comfortable temperatures, continues with the series’ annual visit to Santa Maria Speedway on July 26th. It concludes with the 65th Johnny Key Classic at Ocean Speedway on August 2nd.

The Northern Auto Racing Club is the premier 410 winged sprint car series in the western United States. Since 1960, the traveling organization has thrilled fans at dirt tracks up and down the West Coast and crowned a “King of the West” champion. For more information on the NARC 410 sprint car series, including race results, points standings, and upcoming events, go to www.narc410.com. You can also follow on various social media platforms.

Hoosier Racing Tires Feature (30 laps): 1. 2X-Justin Sanders[1]; 2. 17W-Shane Golobic[6]; 3. 73-Ryan Bernal[7]; 4. 21L-Landon Brooks[3]; 5. 7B-Sean Becker[12]; 6. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[13]; 7. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[8]; 8. 83T-Tanner Carrick[5]; 9. 15-Nick Parker[2]; 10. 41-Dominic Scelzi[17]; 11. 17-Colby Copeland[9]; 12. 29-Bud Kaeding[15]; 13. 88A-Joey Ancona[22]; 14. 10-Dominic Gorden[18]; 15. 88N-DJ Netto[20]; 16. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[21]; 17. 121-Caeden Steele[11]; 18. 21-Jesse Schlotfeldt[4]; 19. 72W-Kurt Nelson[14]; 20. 12J-John Clark[19]; 21. 12-Jarrett Soares[16]; 22. 7P-Jake Andreotti[23]; 23. 10X-Jace Park[10]; 24. 0-Tim Kaeding[24]

METTEC Titanium Lap Leaders: Justin Sanders 1-20 & 22-30, Shane Golobic 21

Williams Roofing Hard Charger: 88a Joey Ancona, 22nd to 13th (+9)

Automotive Racing Products Fast Qualifier (29 cars): 15 Nick Parker, 10.879 seconds in Flight 2. Flight 1 fast time: 83t Tanner Carrick, 10.946 seconds

Brown & Miller Racing Solutions Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 83t Tanner Carrick, 2. 17 Colby Copeland, 3. 121 Caeden Steele, 4. 3 Kaleb Montgomery, 5. 12j John Clark, 6. 88a Joey Ancona, 7. 83v Dylan Bloomfield, 8. 25z Jason Chisum. First five finishers transfer to Feature.

Kimo’s Tropical Carwash Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 0 Tim Kaeding, 2. 73 Ryan Bernal, 3. 21L Landon Brooks, 4. 29 Bud Kaeding, 5. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 6. 7p Jake Andreotti, 7. 31 Kyle Beilman. First five finishers transfer to Feature.

WEDG High Performance Karts Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 17w Shane Golobic, 2. 35km Tyler Thompson, 3. 15 Nick Parker, 4. 72w Kurt Nelson, 5. 10 Dominic Gorden, 6. 88n D.J. Netto, 7. 2k Gauge Garcia. First five finishers transfer to Feature.

Winters Performance Heat 4 (8 laps): 1. 21 Jesse Schlotfeldt, 2. 2x Justin Sanders, 3. 10x Jace Park, 4. 7b Sean Becker, 5. 12 Jarrett Soares, 6. 34b Glenn Bryan, 7. 14 Mariah Ede. First five finishers transfer to Feature.

Beacon Wealth Strategies Raymond James Trophy Dash (6 laps): 1. 2x Justin Sanders, 2. 15 Nick Parker, 3. 21L Landon Brooks, 4. 21 Jesse Schlotfeldt, 5. 0 Tim Kaeding, 6. 83t Tanner Carrick, 7. 17w Shane Golobic. Finish determined first seven starting positions of Feature.

Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier (10 laps): 1. 88n D.J. Netto, 2. 83v Dylan Bloomfield, 3. 88a Joey Ancona, 4. 7p Jake Andreotti, 5. 31 Kyle Beilman, 6. 25z Jason Chisum, 7. 34b Glenn Bryan, DNS – 2k Gauge Garcia,14 Mariah Ede. First four finishers transfer to Feature.

Photography: John Force Racing / Auto Imagery / Gary Nastase

PROCK WINS ANOTHER 2FAST/2TASTY, QUALIFIES NO. 1Brittany Starts Northwest Nationals from No. 3 Spot for HendrickCars.com

SEATTLE, Wash. (July 19, 2025) – Austin Prock and his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS were the picture of efficiency Saturday at Pacific Raceways where they won the Mission Foods 2Fast/2Tasty Challenge for the second straight year and, in so doing, sprinted to the top of the qualifying order for Sunday’s 36th NHRA Northwest Nationals in 3.879 seconds at 336.40 miles per hour. The defending event champion and current point leader, Prock needed every bit of the event’s quickest preliminary time to get past Matt Hagan, whose runner-up effort of 3.887 seconds was good enough to propel him to the No. 2 starting position.  “We collected (bonus) points in three out of the four sessions,” said the reigning series champion, “and we executed that final round perfectly. We got the Mission 2Fast/2Tasty win and stole the yellow hat (awarded to the No. 1 qualifier).” The youngest son of crew chief Jimmy Prock will launch his bid for a third straight tour victory against rookie Dylan Winefsky.   “We’re actually ahead of last year’s pace with race wins,” said the reigning Funny Car Champion. “We’re doing a good job of holding our own right now. We’ve got a 130-something point lead now with four races left (before the points are adjusted for the playoffs), so you can’t say that you’re not looking at that already. “We’ve just got to keep our heads down and keep turning on win lights and, if we do that, I think we’ll have a good shot at wearing that regular season champion’s hat.” While Prock will start from No. 1 for the fourth time this year and for the 19th time since taking the reins of the Cornwell Chevy from three-time World Champion Robert Hight, his Top Fuel teammate, Brittany Force, will begin her bid for a 19th tour victory from the No. 3 qualifying position on the strength of the 3.703 at a track record-setting 340.47 mph she and her HendrickCars.com dragster posted Friday night. The 39-year-old’s Friday run was just a couple ticks off the official NHRA national record of 341.59 mph she set earlier this year at Charlotte, N.C. She also broke the 340 mph barrier in raising the track record to 341.42 mph at New England Dragway in Epping, N.H. She remains the only Top Fuel driver to have eclipsed 340. Although she didn’t improve her performance Saturday, the second youngest of John Force’s drag racing daughters did stop the timers in 3.839 seconds at 333.00 mph in Q3, earning a pair of qualifying bonus points, and a 3.761 at 336.57 mph in Q4, sending her into Sunday’s first round match with former European champion Ida Zetterstrom with a lot of confidence.  “Overall good start to our weekend,” she said, “especially with laying down that 340-pass last night. Three solid runs for our team in qualifying but we need to start gaining some traction. We’re getting closer to the Countdown, and we need to step it up tomorrow. We’re looking for a long day, turning on four-win lights and moving up closer to that No.1 spot.” Jack Beckman had a couple of anxious qualifying moments in the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy SS which entered the final session not in the field. A 3.972 second effort on his final attempt got the 2012 Funny Car World Champ into the starting field in the No. 10 position, his worst placement since coming on board at JFR last August. He’ll oppose Bob Tasca III in round one without the benefit of lane choice.  “Our PEAK Chevy is obviously capable,” he said. “We were too slow in the first session last night and we were too quick in the second session today and we never made it past sixty feet. “We finally figured out what the car needed, and we went out in the third session and it spun the tires at 230 feet, so we felt like we should be okay going into the final session,” said the 37-time pro tour winner, “but anytime you put nitro in the fuel tank, all bets are out the window. “Then I sat in the car through an oil down cleanup and that’s when you must believe in your guys. Faith is believing in something you don’t know about; I believe in stuff I do know about, and I know that the PEAK Squad is bad butt and we’re going to be in good shape tomorrow.” Prock’s 2Fast/2Tasty win was his ninth outright (he and J.R. Todd were declared co-winners last year at Pomona, Calif.) and his second this year. With the victory, he moved into a second-place tie with Beckman in season points behind only Hagan.  “Great end to the day, for sure,” Prock said of the 2Fast/2Tast result, “but there’s a lot to be said about that Dodge car next door,” he said. “Matt Hagan and that team are doing an incredible job and they sure are fun to race.   “You know, him and Robert always had a good, nice, clean rivalry going; a lot of great races, and I feel like Matt and I are continuing that. It’s always fun racing them, but glad we came out on top.”

July 19, 2025 — Toronto, ONT, Canada

• Colton Herta goes back-to-back in the 6ix, scoring pole for the second straight year on the streets of Toronto
• Alex Palou, Marcus Armstrong complete Honda 1-2-3 at the front of the grid
• Honda advances five cars to Firestone Fast Six round of qualifying

Colton Herta scored pole position in Toronto for the second-straight year, leading a Honda 1-2-3 in qualifying for the Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto race.

Herta will be looking for his second-straight win at Toronto, following a stellar performance last year in which the young Californian led 81 of 85 laps to take the victory. Honda would sweep the top seven positions in last year’s Toronto race.

Championship leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing made it a front-row lockout for Honda, qualifying second—his first top-10 start on the Canadian street circuit. Just behind Palou was Meyer Shank Racing’s Marcus Armstrong, matching his career-best qualifying effort with third.

Honda transferred five cars into the Firestone Fast Six, with Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Graham Rahal and Herta’s Andretti Global teammate, Kyle Kirkwood, qualifying fifth and sixth respectively.

Additionally, every Honda team transferred at least one car into the Top 12 round of NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying today in Toronto: Chip Ganassi Racing’s Palou (P2) and Scott Dixon (P11); Rahal Letterman Lanigan’s Rahal (P5) and Louis Foster (P7); Meyer Shank Racing’s Armstrong (P3); and Dale Coyne Racing with Rinus VeeKay (P9). Andretti Global, impressively, transferred all three of their cars with Herta (P1), Kirkwood (P6) and Marcus Ericsson (P8).

Honda is looking for their 12th win in 13 starts in the 2025 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season. The year has been largely dominated by Alex Palou with seven victories, including the Indianapolis 500 and last time out at Iowa Speedway. Palou holds a commanding 129-point lead in the championship standings. Kyle Kirkwood has been the man to beat on street circuits, picking up two of his three wins this year on the streets—at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach and the Detroit Grand Prix. While Scott Dixon broke through for his first win of 2025 at the Honda Indy 200 at Mid-Ohio earlier this month. Dixon is a four-time winner already on the streets of Toronto, and will be looking to add a fifth to his name.

Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto Honda Qualifying Results

•  1st Colton Herta
•  2nd Alex Palou
•  3rd Marcus Armstrong
•  5th Graham Rahal
•  6th Kyle Kirkwood
•  7th Louis Foster-R 
•  8th Marcus Ericsson
•  9th Rinus VeeKay
• 11th Scott Dixon
• 14th Kyffin Simpson
• 17th Felix Rosenqvist
• 26th Devlin DeFrancesco
• 27th Jacob Abel-R

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

R – Rookie

Quotes
Colton Herta (#26 Andretti Global Honda): “Another a great day for Honda and for us at Andretti. A really solid lap and performance, I think the car was spot on. Our Gainbridge Honda was really fast. What a good place to get a pole. It feels so rewarding to get one here at this track because you can’t really make a mistake. I’m excited to have a good race tomorrow and hopefully win.”

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda): “Great qualifying! On the front row, really happy. It’s a brand-new Honda engine for us this weekend, and so far, it’s just as fast as the ones we’ve had all season—or even faster! It’s my first ever top-10 start here at Toronto and starting on the front here is huge. It’s going to make our start a little bit easier and hopefully a little bit cleaner. Looking forward to tomorrow!”

Marcus Armstrong (#66 Meyer Shank Racing Honda): “It was a good day in the office. The lap felt pretty average if I am being brutally honest, so tomorrow could be even better. The race tomorrow is going to be a completely different story compared to qualifying. In Iowa I manifested being on the podium before the race, and that’s what happened. So, see you on the podium.”

Where to Watch

• The Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto will air live on Fox Sunday July 20 at 12 PM ET.

With rain canceling all on-track activity for the NASCAR Cup Series Saturday at Dover Motor Speedway, the starting lineup for Sunday’s Autotrader 400 was set by the rulebook. Josh Berry will start 14th in the No. 21 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang Dark Horse. “It’s really cool to have Advance Auto Parts on board this weekend,” Berry said earlier in the day during a press availability. “Obviously the tie-in with the Weekly Series national championship I won in 2020 – that was the first Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship – so it’s super cool to have them on the car this weekend. It reminds me of those times that I look back on very fondly.” Dover has played a meaningful role in Berry’s racing journey. He made his Cup Series debut at the Monster Mile in 2021 and returned the following season to capture a NASCAR Xfinity Series win. “This is a place I’ve always enjoyed coming to,” said Berry. “I’ve had really good results here in the Xfinity Series – getting that win and two second places with JRM – so I’m excited to be here this weekend and hopefully we can continue that on with the 21 car on Sunday.” And for Berry, the trophy that comes with a Dover win still stands out. “It’s an awesome trophy. It’s right there front-and-center in my living room.” With a solid starting spot and a history of success at Dover, Berry and the No. 21 team are ready to take on the Monster Mile. Coverage of Sunday’s 400-lap race begins at 2 p.m. ET on TNT, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

NASCAR CUP SERIES DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES JULY 19, 2025

With precipitation forcing the cancellation of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Dover Motor Speedway, the starting lineup for tomorrow’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 will be set by the rulebook, putting Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team on the pole.

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

Media Availability Quotes:  Chase, what does starting on the front row mean for you and the team? “It’s definitely a different pole than normal. Saturday has definitely not been a strong suit, so we had to blaze a little different trail to get a pole. At the end of the day, it’s a testament of hard work throughout the year and a good stretch of races, right? It earns you the metric that puts you in a position if it were to rain.  It’s a little different vibe, but we’ll take it. We’ll try to take advantage of that first pit stall tomorrow. It’s always a big deal. It’s not something we have a whole bunch, so we’d like to get in the habit of getting that more often. Hopefully, we’ll have a good day.”  Obviously a new tire for this weekend. What’s the feeling of not having any laps from that tire before the green flag?“At the moment, I don’t really know because I haven’t spent any time on it. I think all we can really do at this point is just try and dissect any similarities that the tire this weekend might have to a change that we’ve maybe already seen throughout the year. Really just make your best guess off of the information that you have in front of you with that. I feel like that stuff is always a little bit of an educated guess when you’re coming to these places for the first time. Hopefully, we hit that right and can have a good day and get going. I’m sure the track being fresh like it is right now and the Xfinity drivers fixing to go run — I’m not sure if we’re expecting any more rain overnight or not, but hopefully there’ll be some rubber down before we start tomorrow. I think that would certainly help concerns as the race gets going, but we’ll see. Last year, we were cording tires within just a handful of laps in practice. It could be an interesting day. We’ll find out.”   Do you feel maybe like the guinea pig being on the pole without practicing qualifying with this? Not to the extreme of the Bristol fiasco where everybody was losing tires so quickly, but do you feel like you’re sort of like it’s a lab rat waiting to feel the green with this? How does the debriefing conversations take place when you’re on the pole like this?“We didn’t get on track, so I don’t really know that we have anything to debrief, honestly, unless we want to talk about our travel getting up here (laughs). But outside of that, I don’t really think we had a whole bunch going on. I don’t really know other than I just was talking about maybe thinking back to some other races that we’ve had a similar tire; try and take an educated guess on something that we’ve already seen or hope pieces of the puzzle are looking at us somewhere that we can try and pick apart. But outside that, I do feel like it is a little bit of a risk kind of being out front. If you are able to get through one and two well and get clear when you have clean air like that, you’re kind of in the best position to make the most lap time, right? And a lot of times when you’re running fast on a green track on a fresh tire, that typically can lead to issues. So we’ll just have to see… see what this race is like today and how much rubber is left over before we start tomorrow. Kind of eyeball that before we start the race and find a silver lining in there somewhere. Hopefully I’ll be the first one back around to the rubber when everybody gets done running through it one time, so we’ll look at it that way.”  Here at Dover, you’ve had 14 starts and 10 of those you’ve had top-fives. What is it about this place that you like so much? And what is it about this track that you just tend to find that piece of consistency from start to finish in races?“Yeah, that’s been a popular question throughout the day. I honestly don’t know why the track has suited me throughout my career. Kind of right from the rip, I enjoy coming up here. I ran a truck race here early on in my career, and a few Xfinity races when we raced up here twice a year at that time. So yeah, all those races were just enjoyable. The track is challenging. It’s one of those places that can certainly reach out and get you if you don’t watch it. I’ve always just tried to respect this place as best as I know how and hope that it shows me some respect back, and that’s kind of always been my approach.”  I’m not sure if you’re aware, but 24 straight races here, the pol sitter hasn’t gone on to win. I’m just wondering, does that give you any expectations? “Thanks a lot… I really appreciate that (laughs).   I mean, no. I guess just hope it’s not 25. That’s about all I can do right now. We’ll try to try to break the streak.   We obviously haven’t put rubber down here since spring of last year, and with the rain and stuff now, are you worried that these conditions are going to make the track a lot different from what you’re used to and kind of shake out your groove?“I mean, it’s certainly a concern, I think, as you start the race. When you just have unknowns with the tire, I think kind of to expand on some of the earlier questions — yes, I think that there’s definitely an element of concern and just the fact that you don’t have those answers, right? And I think as a race team, you always want to try to have all the answers you can get in front of you before you start the race. Unfortunately, this is just a circumstance where we’re just simply not going to have that before tomorrow. So it’ll be a little bit of a trial-and-error run throughout the race, and hopefully the error is not too large that we can’t overcome if there is one. Be smart, take advantage of that first pit stall, try to go to work and put together a full race.” 

NASCAR CUP SERIES DOVER MOTOR SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES JULY 19, 2025

Kyle Busch, driver of the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Dover Motor Speedway.

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

Media Availability Quotes:  Can you talk about the initiative at Dover Air Force Base this week?“Yeah, Cheddar’s has a special promotion for red, white, and blue. We wanted to give honor to the service members that are over here at Dover Air Force Base, with Dover being the next race on the Cheddar’s calendar. And so, Cheddar’s has painted their car red, white, and blue for this weekend, also in honor of veterans that have or do work at Cheddar’s. There are 67 names on the decklid this weekend, and we’re here to honor those, but also paid a visit over to the military base to help honor some more that were over there.”  What was your take from the visit?“It’s always enjoyable to be able to go and spend some time with our service members — their passion for the sport and watching us go around the racetrack on Sunday’s. It was really, really cool to just spend some time with them; sign some autographs and take some pictures. There was a foreign exchange student group that was there as well, too, that got to spend some time checking out the race car and looking around on that. It was a really good piece by Cheddar’s. We appreciate them serving lunch for everyone, as well. They made it a good time for everyone.”   Throughout your career here (at Dover Motor Speedway), you’ve had a bunch of wins, but you’ve also had a bunch of DNFs. Here at the Monster Mile, just how hard is it to stay out of trouble? “That question started really rough, by the way (laughs). I mean, I would probably venture to say that I’ve had a bunch of wins at a lot of tracks and also a bunch of DNFs at a lot of tracks. So I think you have feast or famine just about everywhere.  You know, here at Dover, winning three times has certainly been the highlight, and we’ve had some really, really good runs as well, too, of being close to winning. I remember that time when I was so close with the 5 car and finishing second at Jimmie Johnson… right up his tailpipe and was told to leave him alone and let him win the race (laughs). So, you know, it’s just been a great track for me over the years. Same as Richmond, Bristol, a bunch of places. It’s a great place to race. It’s fun. It’s really challenging, but yet lends itself to really good drivers and really good cars.  Looking at the weekend last year, Dover was obviously one of your best runs of the season. You got the pole and you finished top-five. Is there anything that can be taken from that, even though it was an April race compared to July now, the new tire compound… there are a lot of differences, but is there anything you can take from last year’s run to help you?“I would say that you take everything that you did use last year because it was good for you, and you try to just look at all of that and try to replicate that as much as you can without knowing anything about the tire with no tire test being here, no wheel force test being here, anything like that. We’re all sort of up in the air on exactly what that’s going to be. So you might as well just copy and paste last year; go out there on the racetrack and hope that it suits your race car again this year like it did last year.”  You’re the winningest active driver here at Dover with three wins. That means you got three ‘Miles the Monster’ trophies. I’m curious what it was like, if you can reflect back, what it was like winning that first trophy here, and if that ‘Miles the Monster’ trophy is one of the more sought after as a driver? “I think it’s so hard to win races anymore, honestly, that you just take any one that you can get. It doesn’t matter if it’s here at Dover, Martinsville, Phoenix or wherever. You certainly will just want to win the race. There’s definitely some cool trophies that are out there, Dover being one of those with the cool Monster trophy that you get. That’s a special piece. I always looked up to that trophy. I was able to win a couple of Truck ones, a couple of Xfinity ones, but then finally was able to capture the big one with a Sunday win for my first time. They’re all special and they all mean a lot, but this place is very tough, especially in that era going up against Jimmie Johnson. It was really hard to get those trophies as he was hoarding them all.”   Last year there was a lot of talk about after this race, should people get rid of the mirrors? Should NASCAR take the mirrors away from you guys because this is a track where aero-blocking is so prevalent, as Denny (Hamlin) did to (Kyle) Larson last year. What’s your stance on the mirror… do you want it in the cars? Do you want to get rid of it?“I mean, us talking about it isn’t going to change anything, right? But I would say that if you run the mirror, you don’t get a spotter. If you want a spotter, then you don’t get the mirror, the camera. So, pick one.”  What would you pick?“I would pick the spotter over the mirror.”  With NASCAR combining now the practice session for everybody getting out there for 50 minutes, is that a benefit to have everybody on track at the same time, and even when it comes to being able to evaluate where everybody stacks up?“I must be really stupid because I was scratching my head on why. What are we doing? But then I thought — well if it rains, which I guess we’re worried about some sort of weather that’s not here, that one group gets practice and the other doesn’t. So if the track is just open, everybody can go. So if you miss out, you miss out. It’s your own fault. So I think that’s really the only reason why it happened that way.  We don’t have enough tires. We have probably 10 minutes of tire and we have a 50-minute sessions. So you’re going to have to be mindful of just — if you go out and run five laps and come in and look for an adjustment, go out and run five laps, come in and look for an adjustment. But if you want to go out there and make a long run, like we all typically do at all of these big places, then you’re going to go until you feel like you shouldn’t go any further and you’ll be done on your first set, your only set.”  You’ve had two good finishes in a row. How much are you looking at the points with six races left in the regular season?“Yeah, I mean, you’re obviously looking at it every week. I think we leave probably the fifth race of the year looking at points like where we’re at and what are we doing? But honestly, points take care of themselves when you run good. Results are what matters. Being able to get stage points and being able to get good finishes will all equate to higher point totals and you not having to look at the sheet. So obviously with a ‘win and you’re in’, you really don’t have to pay any attention to it. That’s certainly on our radar right now. We’ve had a couple of good weeks where we’ve made up some of the deficit. I feel like there is potential and opportunity for us to continue that way, and we want to continue to climb that way and put ourselves above the cut for making the playoffs.”

Photography: John Force Racing / Auto Imagery / Gary Nastase

BRITTANY RACES TO 340.47 MPH IN SEATTLE QUALIFYINGProck, Beckman Among Those Frustrated by Conditions at Pacific Raceways

SEATTLE, Wash. (July 18, 2025) – On a track that yielded nothing but frustration to all but a handful of Top Fuel and Funny Car teams during Friday’s highly-anticipated late night qualifying session at Pacific Raceways, Brittany Force and her HendrickCars.com dragster provided fans at the 36th NHRA Northwest Nationals with a moment to remember. On a concrete-and-asphalt surface on which few before her had reached the finish line under power, the two-time Top Fuel World Champion stopped the timers in 3.703 seconds at a barrier-busting and track record-setting 340.47 miles per hour that briefly placed her in the provisional No. 1 qualifying position. The fact that she eventually wound up third in the provisional order behind Doug Kalitta and Shawn Langdon, who ran behind her and to whom she and her team demonstrated what was possible, did little to dampen the 18-time winner’s enthusiasm after the first day of qualifying.  “Running so late at night, it was dark inside that car,” said the former NHRA Rookie-of-the-Year, “but when that amber came on, I stepped on it and it was going. I saw some cars get in trouble ahead of us, so I just wanted a clean solid run to the finish line. “For whatever reason, I actually could hear my guys on the radio,” she recalled. “They said ‘340 miles per hour,’ so that’s pretty outstanding. Awesome for the fans here in Seattle and I’m just so just excited to be able to do that in HendrickCars.comcolors on a track where my dad (16-time Funny Car Champion John Force) and our entire team has had so much success.” The only to have won as many as 300 competitive rounds in drag racing’s signature category, Force will try to improve on her performance and position in three final qualifying sessions Saturday. Brittany’s JFR teammates, reigning World Champion Austin Prock and former World Champion Jack Beckman, were among those who ended Friday in frustration on a track that was particularly hard on the Funny Car contingent that ran ahead of the dragsters. An indication of how difficult conditions were for the shorter wheelbase nitro-burners is Prock’s No. 3 position in the provisional qualifying order with a time of 5.580 seconds at 160.46 mph in a Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS that previously has covered the 1,000-foot distance in 3.793 seconds at a national record 341.68 mph. “Tough track conditions,” acknowledged the defending champion in the Northwest Nationals. “Just having one run at 9:15 at night and not having a stab at it (before that) really put everybody on a bad foot to get started. “However, we’re still sitting third,” he said. “I gave it a little pedal job and earned a qualifying bonus point, which is kind of embarrassing that 5.58 will get you apoint – but I’ll take it.    “Looking forward to tomorrow,” said the point-leader. “I like these three-run days. It kind of gets you in the groove and gets you in several different conditions that you’re going to race in on Sunday. I think we can still get ‘the pole’ if conditions are good tomorrow.” If Prock was unhappy with his 5.58, Beckman was even more so after crossing the finish line at just 84 mph after an 8.402 second effort in the PEAK Antifreeze and Coolant Chevy SS in which he has won twice already this year. “It’s frustrating,” said the 37-time Funny Car winner. “It’s the first time I’ve been here for one scheduled Friday session and three Saturday sessions. Nobody did anything wrong. You can’t fault the crew chiefs, the track, the facility or the prep crew out there. “It’s just (that) the temperature and dew point got close together when the sun went down and it made our margin of error extremely small out there,” explained the cancer survivor and U.S. Air Force veteran. “You could still run quick, but it seemed to be even tougher for the Funny Cars to fire a dart anywhere near the bullseye and the crew chiefs are still looking (to see) where we missed it. “The car was really quick early and in trouble early,” said the 2003 NHRA Super Comp World Champion who took over the reins of the PEAK Chevy last August. “That’s a tough one, but I know we will regroup. We have three shots at it tomorrow and I think there’s still enough room for us to get the top spot. I think it’s just going to be data collecting on Saturday and trophy hunting on Sunday.”

(7/18/25 – Andrew Kunas) Watsonville, CA … Justin Sanders emerged victorious after one of the wildest NARC sprint car main events of the season Friday, taking the opening night feature of the Howard Kaeding Classic at Ocean Speedway.

Sanders inherited the lead with eight laps completed when early leader Bud Kaeding was bit by the treacherous cushion in Turn 1 and was sent flying off the track. Sanders led the rest of the 30-lapper for his NARC-leading fifth race of the season, but had to fend off Bud’s brother Tim Kaeding along the way and wait through several cautions and red flags before finally taking the checkered flag.

It was the second NARC win at Ocean Speedway this season for Sanders, who also captured the May 16th event at the Watsonville clay oval. Sanders won last year’s Howard Kaeding Classic, his second HK win overall, but while Saturday’s finale remains, it was special for Sanders still to take the win on the first night of a now two-night event that previously had honored the patriarch of the Kaeding Family as a special event guest since 2011. This year’s event, however, took on special meaning with Howard passing away during the off-season.

Out front after Bud Kaeding’s misfortune, Sanders early on was challenged by Tim Kaeding, but found his groove and managed his way around the challenging top side of the race track. Despite the many cautions and red flags, of which there were five, Sanders still had to deal with slower traffic on occasion. Sanders managed to hold off a determined Tim in the closing laps for the win aboard the Yuba Sutter Aviation-sponsored Mittry Motorsports No. 2x Fisher-powered KPC.

The $5,000 victory went with Sanders’ other NARC Ocean win, a pair of wins at Silver Dollar Speedway, and a Dirt Cup preliminary at Skagit Speedway. Friday’s Howard Kaeding Classic opener was probably the one that required the most patience out of Sanders this season.

Tim Kaeding, racing in memory of his grandfather, finished second aboard the Emadco Disposal-sponsored Williams Motorsports No. 0 Maxwill-powered Maxim. Kaeding, one of California’s most accomplished sprint car racers following his grandfather Howard and father Brent, thanked teams and fans for their support of the event this weekend. Kaeding though will now be focused on bettering his position by one spot on Saturday in an event he has not won before and will want to add to his already impressive resume.

Behind Sanders and Kaeding, there were constant battles for and shuffling of positions throughout the Top 10. Dylan Bloomfield turned in one of his best finishes of the season after starting eighth. He battled with former NARC champion Sean Becker to move into fourth place and late in the race he battled with and passed another former NARC champion in D.J. Netto to move into third, and finished there aboard the Silva’s All Natural Beef-sponsored Vertullo Racing No. 83v Kistler-powered Maxim.

After being bit by the Turn 1 cushion and spinning out, Bud Kaeding went to the work area before returning to the track and racing his way back up to finish 12th. Bud, also one of California’s most accomplished sprint car racers following his father and grandfather, is a two-time Howard Kaeding Classic winner but will be looking for a special third HK win on Saturday.

Netto, who entered the event with the NARC points lead, finished fourth aboard the Penny Newman Grain-sponsored Netto Ag No. 88n Rider-powered KPC. Kaleb Montgomery, another driver who raced hard throughout, came from 13th and made late passes to secure fifth place aboard the Luxon Real Estate-sponsored Montgomery Racing No. 3 Speedway-powered Maxim.

Becker, after starting tenth, bounced back from a crash last Saturday at Petaluma Speedway and finished sixth, followed by Nick Parker and the 14th starting Tyler Thompson. Tanner Carrick earned the Williams Roofing Hard Charger nod, coming from 18th to finish ninth. Dominic Gorden came back from a trip to the work area to round out the Top 10.

Bud Kaeding won the Beacon Wealth Strategies – Raymond James Trophy Dash to secure the pole position for the feature event, with Sanders starting outside him. The Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier was won by Jesse Schlotfeldt, who took Dominic Scelzi, Billy Aton and Jason Chisum with him to the feature race. Heat races earlier in the evening were won by Bud Kaeding, Gauge Garcia, Shane Golobic and Tim Kaeding.

Bloomfield paced the 30-car field in Automotive Racing Products Qualifying with a time of 10.763 seconds around the ¼-mile clay oval, topping the second flight in a split field. That narrowly bettered Landon Brooks, who paced the first flight with a 10.768-second lap.

(Photos by Gary Watterworth)

Hoosier Racing Tires Feature: (30 Laps): 1. 2X-Justin Sanders[2]; 2. 0-Tim Kaeding[3]; 3. 83V-Dylan Bloomfield[8]; 4. 88N-DJ Netto[4]; 5. 3-Kaleb Montgomery[13]; 6. 7B-Sean Becker[10]; 7. 15-Nick Parker[9]; 8. 35KM-Tyler Thompson[14]; 9. 83T-Tanner Carrick[18]; 10. 10-Dominic Gorden[15]; 11. 10X-Jace Park[11]; 12. 29-Bud Kaeding[1]; 13. 88A-Joey Ancona[16]; 14. 2K-Gauge Garcia[6]; 15. 21L-Landon Brooks[5]; 16. 121-Caeden Steele[19]; 17. 25Z-Jason Chisum[24]; 18. 14E-Mariah Ede[12]; 19. 17W-Shane Golobic[7]; 20. 73-Ryan Bernal[17]; 21. 21-Jesse Schlotfeldt[21]; 22. 26-Billy Aton[23]; 23. 7P-Jake Andreotti[20]; 24. 41-Dominic Scelzi[22]

METTEC Titanium Lap Leaders: Bud Kaeding 1-8, Justin Sanders 9-30

Williams Roofing Hard Charger: 83t Tanner Carrick, 18th to 9th (+9)

Automotive Racing Products Fast Qualifier (30 cars): 83v Dylan Bloomfield, 10.763 seconds in Flight 2. Flight 1 fast time: 21L Landon Brooks, 10.768 seconds.

Brown & Miller Racing Solutions Heat 1 (8 laps): 1. 29 Bud Kaeding, 2. 15 Nick Parker, 3. 10 Dominic Gorden, 4. 73 Ryan Bernal, 5. 21L Landon Brooks, 6. 21 Jesse Schlotfeldt, 7. 25z Jason Chisum, DNS – 72w Kurt Nelson. First five finishers transfer to Feature.

Kimo’s Tropical Carwash Heat 2 (8 laps): 1. 2k Gauge Garcia, 2. 10x Jace Park, 3. 3 Kaleb Montgomery, 4. 2x Justin Sanders, 5. 121 Caeden Steele, 6. 26 Billy Aton, 7. 31 Kyle Beilman. First five finishers transfer to Feature.

WEDG High Performance Karts Heat 3 (8 laps): 1. 17w Shane Golobic, 2. 7b Sean Becker, 3. 35km Tyler Thompson, 4. 83v Dylan Bloomfield, 5. 7p Jake Andreotti, 6. 72jr Chris Nelson, 7. 41 Dominic Scelzi, DNS – 34b Glenn Bryan. First five finishers transfer to Feature.

Winters Performance Heat 4 (8 laps): 1. 0 Tim Kaeding, 2. 14 Mariah Ede, 3. 88n D.J. Netto, 4. 88a Joey Ancona, 5. 83t Tanner Carrick, 6. 12 Jarrett Soares, 7. 12j John Clark. First five finishers transfer to Feature.

Beacon Wealth Strategies Raymond James Trophy Dash (6 laps): 1. 29 Bud Kaeding, 2. 2x Justin Sanders, 3. 0 Tim Kaeding, 4. 88n D.J. Netto, 5. 21L Landon Brooks, 6. 2k Gauge Garcia, 7. 17w Shane Golobic, 8. 83v Dylan Bloomfield.

Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier (12 laps): 1. 21 Jesse Schlotfeldt, 2. 41 Dominic Scelzi, 3. 26 Billy Aton, 4. 25z Jason Chisum, 5. 12j John Clark, 6. 12 Jarrett Soares, 7. 31 Kyle Beilman, 8. 34b Glenn Bryan, 9. 72jr Chris Nelson, DNS – 72w Kurt Nelson.

 SAPULPA, OK (July 28, 2025) — Sam Hafertepe Jr. is one of the best 360 Sprint Car drivers in the country anywhere he goes, but nowhere does that ring true more than Sapulpa, OK.

Friday night was Hafertepe’s eighth appearance at Creek County Speedway since the start of 2024 and his fifth win during that span. Three of those have come against the American Sprint Car Series, including back-to-back editions of the Don Swope Classic.

The five-time Series champion led the field to green thanks to his Honest Abe Roofing Dash victory and edged in front of Sean McClelland to slot into the early lead. The ASCS Sooner Region points leader held strong in second ahead of the National Tour travelers in the opening laps until Blake Hahn slipped by on the bottom and into the runner-up position.

Hahn has 1.8 seconds to make up to Hafertepe when he got to second on Lap 6, but that margin was washed away when Brady Baker went over the banking in Turn 1 to bring out the first caution of the night two laps later.

Hafertepe wasn’t going to give Hahn the opportunity to pounce though, as he nailed the restart and immediately put a second between himself and the field.

Another yellow came out two laps prior to halfway for the spinning car of Austyn Gossel, giving Hahn and the rest of the frontrunners another shot at Hafertepe. After spending most of the first half on the cushion in the same lane as Hafertepe, Hahn went low on the restart to try and counter the No. 15H but had nothing for him.

Hahn’s next mission was to put himself in position to capitalize on any slip-ups by Hafertepe once he caught slower traffic, which comes into play quickly around the tight 1/4-mile. There were no such mistakes though, as Hafertepe sliced and diced his way through the field while keeping his nose clean and Hahn behind him.

Hafertepe looked to have the trophy in the bag until two to go, when Baker took a tumble to set up a dash to the checkered flag. One more solid restart by Hafertepe put him out of reach for Hahn to try a Hail Mary, and he rode the cushion for two more circuits on his way to his sixth Series win of 2025.

While Hahn was never able to take over the top spot, Hafertepe admitted he was close enough to keep him on his toes all race long.

“Honestly, it was kind of the most worrisome race I’ve ran, Blake’s so good around here,” Hafertepe said. “I started to get tight in a lot of areas, beating the hell out of the wall down the back chute. I was like ‘man, if I keep doing that, Blake’s going to get by us, we’re going to knock the ladder out or something.’ At this place, you can’t ever count Blake out, he’s so good here. He’s a smart racer, and I just knew at the end, I was like ‘man, I’m going to slow down a little, try not to get tight.’ I don’t know if it was better or not, but we got the win and that’s all that matters.”

Hahn’s runner-up effort was his third-straight National Tour podium at Creek County dating back to his win on the opening night of last November’s Fuzzy’s Fall Fling, and he believes he was only a few well-placed lap cars away from two wins in three starts.

“Feel like we had a really good car maybe to contend for the win, just didn’t have the lap traffic fall exactly how I needed it to,” Hahn said. “These races are won through traffic, to be able to get to traffic, you’ve got to be able to roll through them good. I just got caught up by a couple guys and was able to let Sam get away from me there. With the track being so top-dominant, it was just really hard to get by.”

Matt Covington drove from seventh to third for his third podium of the year as he continues to try to make 2025 the sixth multi-win season of his career with the Series.

“We were good in the Feature, the car was pretty comfortable,” Covington said. “I didn’t like seeing Blake go to the bottom on the last restart because that’s kind of where I wanted to be, I had passed some cars down there. It’s tough to beat the 52 and the 15H about anywhere we go, so we’re not complaining with third.”

Alex Sewell was the highest-finishing Sooner Region regular in fourth, while Kyle Clark came home fifth for his second National Tour top five.

UP NEXT: The American Sprint Car Series heads east for the next two stops of the season at Windy Hollow Speedway (Friday, July 25) and Benton Speedway (Saturday, July 26). Tickets for Windy Hollow are available in advance by clicking here, while tickets will be available at the gate on Saturday at Benton.

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

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[1]; 2. 52-Blake Hahn[3]; 3. 95-Matt Covington[7]; 4. 8-Alex Sewell[4]; 5. 9$-Kyle Clark[12]; 6. 2B-Garrett Benson[5]; 7. 1-Sean McClelland[2]; 8. 8R-Ryker Pace[9]; 9. 71T-Christopher Townsend[10]; 10. 88R-Ryder Laplante[18]; 11. 17W-Harli White[8]; 12. 88-Terry Easum[16]; 13. 45X-Kyler Johnson[19]; 14. 10-Landon Britt[13]; 15. 15D-Andrew Deal[21]; 16. 16G-Austyn Gossel[24]; 17. 29-Emilio Hoover[20]; 18. 2J-Zach Blurton[11]; 19. 42-Caleb Saiz[25]; 20. 17-Connor Lee[17]; 21. 26M-Fred Mattox[15]; 22. 36-Jason Martin[23]; 23. 71-Brady Baker[22]; 24. 5S-Danny Smith[14]; 25. 16S-Steven Shebester[6]

LEWISTOWN, IL – July 18, 2025 – After 15 years of anticipation, Joe B. Miller does not have to wait any longer to celebrate his first career national dirt Midget win.

In the Xtreme Outlaw Canton Clash opener at Spoon River Speedway on Friday night, the Millersville, MO driver made the last-minute decision to pilot Thomas Meseraull’s No. 7X Engler Machine and Tool Midget towards a flag-to-flag win with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota.

Miller got the best of Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports driver Gavin Miller at the start of the 25-lap Feature as he took the lead off the high side of Turns 1-2 on the opening lap. 

Behind the Missouri driver, Land of Lincoln natives Karter Sarff, of Mason City, IL, and Chase McDermand, of Springfield, IL, joined the podium positions through the first quarter.

As McDermand passed Sarff for second, he chased down Miller through the bottom lane as the leader attempted different lanes on each lap to see what gave enough momentum to hold back the No. 40 Toyota.

When Miller got caught in the wake of lapped traffic with five laps to go in the Feature, he had to improvise to block McDermand from harvesting momentum for a race-winning pass.

Miller held a 0.4-second gap with a lapped car to the middle lane that cut McDermand’s chance of trying a different lane, helping Miller finish leading every lap and solidify his first career Xtreme Outlaw Midget win around the 3/8-mile high banks.

“I kept trying to watch and see if they kept having the top dirtied up,” Miller said. “I knew some of those guys would be moving, and I didn’t know where to be, so I kept watching the lapped cars and seeing if the top was getting cleaned off, but I felt like I could keep enough momentum until about five laps to go, then I just kind of used them as a pick or block.”

McDermand finished the night in second place as he earned valuable points in his second-place Series standing and notes to carry into Saturday’s finale at his home state racetrack.

“First of all, I’m glad that we got a solid run,” McDermand said. “Just finally glad to be able to get another podium. We’re slowly gaining on this thing, but Joe could carry a little bit more momentum through the corner with a little bit higher exit, and if I got a little bit too high on exit, I would lose a little bit of ground. It’s like I got to him, but couldn’t really capitalize with the way the track was on the bottom there.”

Denney brought his No. 67 JBL Audio KKM Midget to a third-place finish as he maintains the Series points lead by 74 points over McDermand with the 10th race of the season completed in 2025.

“The shredders got too slick too quick to make speed down the straightaways compared to the bottom there,” Denney said. “It kept pulling me down the straightaway as I was sitting there spinning my tire, so I got in line for a minute and was searching around trying to find something different to carry more speed than just running the bottom. But that’s all we could do tonight. It was a good points night, super consistent still.”

Denney’s KKM teammates occupied the remaining top five as Gavin Miller took fourth place, and reigning Series champion Cannon McIntosh finished the night in fifth.

Recap Notes:

Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Jacob Denney

Toyota Heat 1 Winner: Joe B. Miller

CASM Safety Products Heat 2 Winner: Karter Sarff

High-Point Driver: Jacob Denney

Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger Award: Kameron Key (+5)

Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Jake Neuman

Up Next: The Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota goes racing at Spoon River Speedway alongside the Midwest Open Wheel Association Sprint Cars on Saturday night for the finale of the Xtreme Outlaw Canton Clash on July 19.

The Californian led flag to flag to secure his 12th Eldora win

ROSSBURG, OH (July 18, 2025) – Rico Abreu loves Eldora Speedway, and Eldora Speedway loves Rico Abreu.

They could probably hear the “RICO-RICO” chants down in Dayton that erupted from the Eldora grandstands on Friday. The St. Helena, CA native had just finished off a clean sweep of The Knight Before with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars by delivering a commanding performance. He led every single one of the 30 laps around “The Big E” to claim Friday night of Kings Royal weekend for the second year in a row and bank $25,000.

There was no removing the wide grin on Abreu’s face as he rolled into one of Sprint Car racing’s most hallowed Victory Lanes. Eldora is his favorite racetrack. It’s an Ohio oval filled with so much important history of the sport he loves. The fans admire him. He may like no place more on earth than the front straightaway stage at “The House that Earl Built.”

“Just hats off to these guys,” Abreu said. “All you fans, you guys are what makes this sport so exciting. I drive my ass off for you guys. I just really appreciate these events and the build up to them. It gets really intense out there. You’re racing against the greatest drivers of all-time, Kyle Larson, David Gravel, Brad Sweet, Carson Macedo, these are the fastest cars in the country right now. I just owe it all to this team.”

Friday’s triumph gave Abreu a dozen career wins at the iconic 1/2 mile, and five of them have come with The Greatest Show on Dirt. Exactly a quarter of Abreu’s 20 career World of Outlaws wins have come at Eldora.

Now for Abreu, the focus shifts to the week’s ultimate prize, Saturday’s 42nd running of the Kings Royal. It’s Eldora’s Sprint Car crown jewel. The winner will bank a record $200,000. Abreu wants to sit atop the throne for the first time.

“We just take this team one race at a time,” Abreu said. “We’ve been really competitive this year, and to get our 10th win of the year here at Eldora Speedway in front of the best damn fans in the world is just really special to me. It becomes so emotional, this place, just the energy it creates. I just see all the fans so happy, and it’s really rewarding to me.”

The runner-up spot went to Carson Macedo who used a strong move on a late restart to get to second. The Lemoore, CA driver continued what’s been a good week in the “Buckeye State” as he won Tuesday’s Brad Doty Classic at Attica and wound up with another podium.

“I just feel like I got really good starts,” Macedo said. “That was really my race and kind of how I was able to progress through the field. My engine fires off really well, and I feel like that helps me a lot to get off the line and make moves.”

Things got spicy for the final position on the podium as two of the sport’s best in Kyle Larson and David Gravel threw haymakers in the closing laps. Larson narrowly edged ahead of Gravel coming to the checkered, but things weren’t done there. The two former Kings Royal champions displayed a bit of displeasure in Turns 1 and 2 on the cooldown lap, and resulting contact left Larson turned around on the back straightaway. Gravel then circled back around and parked alongside the Silva Motorsports No. 57 to exchange a few words.

“It was good,” Larson said of the battle. “Two hard racing drivers right there, so I hope the fans enjoyed it. I know it was tight from my seat. Sometimes you come out ahead and sometimes you don’t. I got in front of him and beat him once again last lap.”

Gravel, who came home fourth aboard the Big Game Motorsports No. 2, had some harsh words in the aftermath.

“He’s been running me the same way for the last couple weeks, and it started at Huset’s,” Gravel said. “He’s got a vendetta towards us. We can keep playing that game, but eventually it’s not going to be good. He should be a professional. He thinks our team is not professional, and he should be the ultimate professional. He’s not driving like that on the racetrack. We’re friends, but I guess right now we’re not.”

Michael “Buddy” Kofoid completed the top five after driving from 25th, which earned him KSE Racing Products Hard Charger honors.

Rico Abreu earned his fourth Simpson Quick Time of 2025 in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

Heat Races belonged to Carson Macedo (NOS Energy Drink Heat One), Emerson Axsom (Real American Beer Heat Two), Rico Abreu (WIX Filters Heat Three), and Kyle Larson (TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Four).

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Parker Price-Miller.

Ashton Torgerson won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Zach Hampton.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars will compete for a record $200,000 in riches at the 42nd running of the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway on Saturday, July 19. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

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

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[1]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[7]; 3. 57-Kyle Larson[6]; 4. 2-David Gravel[2]; 5. 83-Michael Kofoid[25]; 6. 55V-Kerry Madsen[12]; 7. 27-Emerson Axsom[8]; 8. 49-Brad Sweet[22]; 9. 23-Garet Williamson[15]; 10. 7S-Chris Windom[28]; 11. 19-Brent Marks[9]; 12. 1S-Logan Schuchart[24]; 13. 14-Spencer Bayston[13]; 14. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[19]; 15. 21-Brian Brown[17]; 16. 5-Brenham Crouch[18]; 17. 15-Donny Schatz[26]; 18. 17B-Bill Balog[27]; 19. 99-Skylar Gee[30]; 20. 10-Ryan Timms[10]; 21. 23D-Chase Dietz[16]; 22. 2C-Cole Macedo[29]; 23. 87-Aaron Reutzel[3]; 24. 6-Zach Hampton[5]; 25. 27H-Steven Snyder Jr[11]; 26. 71-Parker Price Miller[4]; 27. 9-Kasey Kahne[20]; 28. 39M-Anthony Macri[23]; 29. 1A-Ashton Torgerson[21]; 30. 14BC-Corey Day[14]

BRANDON, SD (July 18, 2025) – Jonathan Davenport led all 40 laps to win the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series presented by FloRacing Friday night event at Huset’s Speedway. Davenport had to hold off a charging Brandon Sheppard after a caution with six laps to go for his first-ever win at Huset’s, worth $10,000. The race was the second of three nights of action in the 15th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals Presented by MyRacePass. Sheppard, who restarted fifth after the race’s only caution with 34 laps scored, moved to the outside of the track after seeing most of the race run around the bottom of the 1/3-mile oval, to finish second by 0.194 seconds. Ricky Thornton Jr. rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third. Devin Moran, who won the Thursday night race, finished fourth, with Hudson O’Neal rounding out the top five drivers. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the sixth time this season and for the 89th time in his career, the 3-time series champion led by as much as 3 seconds until the late race caution. With the win, Davenport is now just 10 points behind Thornton heading into Saturday night’s $75,000-to-win finale. “I’m not one to sugarcoat things, but that was pretty dull until Brandon (Sheppard) got on the wheel. I wasn’t really sure where to go; Cory (Fostvedt) was pointing me up, but I wasn’t sure if it was down there or somewhere else, so I was just trying to block. It got pretty rough on the bottom, but overall, we were just good enough to hang on,” said the Blairsville, Georgia native. “It’s really tough out there. I mean, we just ran 38 laps on the bottom before I started to move around, and I really didn’t move up there. These guys—Brandon, Ricky, and Devin—are going to try to move around, not just ride in line waiting for the caution to come out. I was trying to make my line as wide as I could, so congratulations to them. I know Brandon is going to race me clean—that’s just one thing about this place being so narrow. I will have to go back and watch the video, and I’m sure he got a couple of runs on me. But as I went back down to the bottom, there’s just not enough room to slide somebody. If we could get them to widen this place out and take that berm down even more, this place would race awesome.” Sheppard’s late race heroics just about paid off in the final five laps with his fifth-to-second-place run. “At that point, you don’t know what’s going to happen. From my perspective, it’s been a one-lane track at the bottom the whole race. I knew at some point it would move up. It actually developed a few ruts, and I think that kept the bottom wet enough for us to stay fast down there. While we were racing, it was just blowing enough crumbs up top that we never had an early caution to lay it down and really pack it in, allowing others to run up there, especially those forced to do so by starting on the outside. When we went green, you don’t have anything left to lose – send it in there, and it felt really good. I knew there were only six laps to go, so I pushed it as hard as I could for those six laps, but we just came up a little short. “I know I got the car about as good as we’re going to get it. We changed tires right before we headed out on the track, and I think we made the right call. Clearly, the bottom was the place to be during the first half of the race. When JD fired on that restart, I fired with him, then I ran into him and knocked the nose out, and I was a little too tight after that. Overall, I think it was still a good night. Hopefully, we can get a win tomorrow night.” The winner’s Double L Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Clements Racing Engine and sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions, Dyna Gro Seed, ASC Warranty, Mark Martin Automotive, and Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas. Completing the top ten were Garrett Alberson, Dennis Erb Jr., Daulton Wilson, Drake Troutman, and Brandon Overton. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary 15th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals Presented by MyRacePass | Night 2Friday, July 18, 2025Huset’s Speedway – Brandon, SD Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Brandon Sheppard | 12.899 secondsFast Time Group B: Garrett Alberson | 12.756 seconds (Overall) Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 99-Devin Moran[2]; 2. 1-Brandon Sheppard[1]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[5]; 4. 18D-Daulton Wilson[6]; 5. 79-Donald McIntosh[7]; 6. 17SR-Brody Smith[4]; 7. 18-Jesse Sobbing[3]; 8. 8L-Matthew Larson[8] Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 3. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[3]; 4. 74X-Ethan Dotson[5]; 5. 6-Clay Harris[7]; 6. 19M-Spencer Hughes[4]; 7. 3S-Brian Shirley[6]; 8. 49C-Brock Carlson[8] Cool-It Thermo-Tec Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 58-Garrett Alberson[1]; 2. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[2]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[4]; 4. 1T-Tyler Erb[3]; 5. 60-Dan Ebert[6]; 6. 8-Lane Brenden[5]; 7. 10-Junior Coover[8]; 8. 15M-Shane DeMey[7] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 4 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 71-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 3. 93-Carson Ferguson[4]; 4. 93L-Cory Lawler[3]; 5. 17SS-Brenden Smith[6]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[5]; 7. 07-Ben Sukup[7] Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 6 Transfer): 1. 79-Donald McIntosh[1]; 2. 60-Dan Ebert[2]; 3. 6-Clay Harris[3]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[11]; 5. 17SS-Brenden Smith[4]; 6. 22-Daniel Hilsabeck[8]; 7. 19M-Spencer Hughes[7]; 8. 18-Jesse Sobbing[9]; 9. 8-Lane Brenden[6]; 10. 10-Junior Coover[10]; 11. 8L-Matthew Larson[13]; 12. 49C-Brock Carlson[15]; 13. 17SR-Brody Smith[5]; 14. 07-Ben Sukup[12]; 15. 15M-Shane DeMey[14] 15th Annual Silver Dollar Nationals Presented by MyRacePass | Night 2 Feature Finish (40 Laps): Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Pay1 – 3 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $10,0002 – 5 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – $5,5003 – 4 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – $3,6004 – 1 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $2,7005 – 8 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $2,5006 – 2 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $2,3007 – 6 – 28 – Dennis Erb Jr – Carpentersville, IL – $2,2008 – 13 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – $2,1009 – 9 – 22* – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $2,05010 – 10 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – $2,00011 – 7 – 32 – Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – $1,60012 – 17 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – Dawsonville, GA – $1,40013 – 19 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $1,20014 – 21 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $1,00015 – 11 – 76N – Blair Nothdurft – Renner, SD – $95016 – 14 – 1T – Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – $92517 – 18 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – $90018 – 23 – 19M – Spencer Hughes – Meridian, MS – $87519 – 22 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – $85020 – 16 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – $82521 – 12 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $80022 – 20 – 3S – Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – $80023 – 15 – 74X – Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – $80024 – 24 – 18 – Jesse Sobbing – Malvern, IA – $800 Race Statistics  Entrants: 31Victory Fuel Pole Sitter: Devin MoranMD3 Lap Leaders: Jonathan Davenport (1-40)Hellraizer Jacks Halfway Leader: Jonathan DavenportWieland Feature Winner: Jonathan DavenportMargin of Victory: 0.194 secondsColtman Farms Racing Cautions: Carson Ferguson (Lap 34)Series Provisionals: Spencer HughesFast Time Provisional: Jesse SobbingEmergency Provisional: n/aTrack Provisional: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Sheppard, Ricky Thornton Jr.Penske Shocks Top 5: Jonathan Davenport, Brandon Sheppard, Ricky Thornton Jr., Devin Moran, Hudson O’NealPEM 4th Place Feature: Devin MoranDMI Rearends 5th Place Feature: Hudson O’NealWilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Dennis Erb Jr.Wehrs Machine 11th Place Feature: Bobby PierceDeatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Clay HarrisMD3 24th Place Feature: Jesse SobbingHoker Trucking Hard Charger of the Race: Brendon Smith (Advanced 7 Positions)MD3 Most Laps Led: Jonathan Davenport (40 Laps)Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Brandon SheppardMidwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Jonathan DavenportO’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race:  Donald McIntoshPro Fabrication Headers Fastest Lap of the Race: Jonathan Davenport | Lap 2 | 12.952 secondsSlicker Graphics Slickest Move of the Race: Brandon SheppardFresh Roof Hard Luck Award: Carson FergusonOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Cory FostvedtARP Engine Builder of the Race: Clements Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Garrett Alberson | 12.907 secondsTime of Race: 11 minutes 29 seconds Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Pay1 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 6145 – $284,0002 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Chandler, AZ – 6135 – $305,8503 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 5805 – $168,0754 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 5780 – $210,0495 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 5600 – $127,7506 – 1 – Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 5555 – $167,6007 – 76 – Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 5315 – $109,6008 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – 4995 – $90,3259 – 93 – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – 4715 – $75,77510 – 79 – Donald McIntosh – Dawsonville, GA – 4600 – $63,20011 – 22 – Daniel Hilsabeck – Earlham, IA – 4445 – $57,45012 – 19M – Spencer Hughes – Meridian, MS – 4160 – $55,20013 – 60 – Dan Ebert – Lake Shore, MN – 4105 – $46,92514 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – 4045 – $49,20015 – 93L – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – 3595 – $35,350

CHEVROLET IN THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES

1.786-mile, 11-turn Exhibition Place street circuit
Toronto, Ontario
Friday Practice Report
July 18

Chevrolet-powered drivers made up six of the top ten spots on the combined practice sheet for the opening practice for the Indy Toronto on the 1.786-mile, 11-turn Exhibition Place street circuit, with Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Gallagher Team Penske Chevrolet leading the way to Team Chevy. The New Zealander was joined in the top ten by Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, Callum Ilott in the No. 90, Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, David Malukas in the No. 4 Clarience Technologies/A.J. Foyt Racing Chevrolet and Christian Lundgaard in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Kyle Kirkwood, the winner of two of the first three street circuit races of the year, was the quickest driver.
Power led the first 40 minutes of practice, where all 27 cars were eligible to participate, and all drivers utilized the Primary (Black) Firestone Firehawk Racing Tires exclusively. His best lap was 61.9059 seconds (103.861 mph), and Josef Newgarden in the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet and Pato O’Ward in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet joined the 2016 Toronto winner, making it Chevrolet-powered cars with three of the four best times on the preferred tires.
Power, at 61.8538 seconds (103.948 mph), was the quickest in the first 15-minute group, which consisted of drivers primarily using the Alternate (Green) Firestone Firehawk Racing Tires, with fellow Chevrolet-powered driver Lundgaard going second best.
The dusty race track continued to take rubber in the second 15-minute session, with McLaughlin going almost a half-second quicker at 61.3411 seconds (104.817 mph), with Callum Ilott in the No. 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet joining the Kiwi McLaughlin in the top five.

Tune-In Alert

Saturday
· NTT INDYCAR SERIES Practice #2 – 10:30am (ET)/9:30am (CT)/8:30am (MT)/7:30am (PT) – FS1/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
· NTT INDYCAR SERIES Qualifying – 2:30pm (ET)/1:30pm (CT)/12:30pm (MT)/11:30am (PT) – FS1/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218

Sunday
· NTT INDYCAR SERIES Warm Up – 8:30am (ET)/7:30am (CT)/6:30am (MT)/5:30am (PT) – FS1/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218
· Ontario Honda Dealers Indy Toronto (90 laps) – noon (ET)/11am (CT)/10am (MT)/9am (PT) – FOX/INDYCAR Radio Network/SIRIUSXM 218

Friday practice combined timesheet:

Coming together as a team and a series

One Chevrolet-powered team had a long three days, after one of Juncos Hollinger Racing’s transporters caught fire, forcing the team’s crew, their competitors, their partners and the series to come together to help them make the race this weekend.

Sunday evening at 7 pm: The transporter carrying Sting Ray Robb’s No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet, suffered a fire on the trip back from the Iowa Speedway to the team’s shop in downtown Speedway, Indiana, which caused fire, smoke and water damage to the equipment and cars.
Sunday, starting at midnight through Monday: Between friends and the team, three trailers were dispatched to begin bringing back damaged items, which the non-competition team members set out on tables to dry and start assessing what was salvageable.
Monday – The crews for the No. 76 and No. 77 joined together to rebuild the No. 76, while they assessed the damage to Robb’s car.
Tuesday – Both crews’ attention turned to the No. 77, rebuilding the car, which suffered crash damage in the second race at Iowa Speedway.
Wednesday – The transporters, including the Juncos Hollinger Racing INDY NXT by Firestone trailer, began the trip north to Toronto.

Team owner Ricardo Juncos:

“We had the situation with the trailer on fire, and it was a huge amount of work overload for everyone at the team. But, we knew that we needed to work, with no options and things like that could happen. So, it was actually was good to see the whole team spirit with that moment, when things like that happen. I’m really, really happy with them because what I saw as a team owner, it was a mega. Mega! The chemistry, everybody helping each other, at that time was just one team pushing forward, and it was amazing to see. So, that’s one side

“On the other side, is all the support from INDYCAR. Every single team called us, called me right away, offering trailers, equipment, and whatever. From Roger Penske to the last team owner. Then the series itself, Dallara, Chevy, I mean, you name it. Even, a lot of fans as well, and that was really, really good to see as a team owner.”

Driver Sting Ray Robb:
“I’m appreciative (of the crew), but I’m more impressed. Honestly, I’ve seen when these kinds of things happen and it knocks its team out completely. But they showed up Monday morning at 8.m. and they were there until about midnight, putting everything back the way it should be. My car still smells like a smoke bomb went off in it, but everything is as it should be.

“Largely in part to the fire department doing their job when they got the call and the state trooper doing his job to call the fire department ahead of time and everyone that was involved, I think they’re the reason that we’re here today. So, to the first responders, thank you and then to the team, thank you.”

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES):

ARROW MCLAREN

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“I think we have rolled off in a better position than where we have been in the past. We just need some time to pepper it in and get it there for Qualifying. I am definitely not unhappy with what we’ve arrived with considering our performance here last year. Let’s see what we can do tomorrow.”

Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“A difficult first practice session. It’s not a track that we’ve historically been great at, so we’re going to try to maximize the weekend and our package to get what we can out of it. I think we got better through that session, which is promising. We’ll continue to get better, and hopefully we can make our way forward through the rest of the weekend.”

Christian Lundgaard, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:
“Friday practice done here in Toronto. The No. 7 Arrow McLaren SmartStop Chevrolet looks awesome, so hopefully we can generate a good result for them this weekend. We’ve got a bit of work to do as the car is very tough to drive. Some of the faster cars are able to extract some lap times that we couldn’t. There’s a lot of work to be done, and we’ll see what we can do for Practice 2 tomorrow.”

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet:
“It was very slippery out there today but the PPG Chevy was solid. The weather should cool off a bit over the next two days and we don’t have many support series here to lay down additional rubber, so it’s hard to gauge how much we learned today. It’s going to be a very interesting race with tire strategy, which is one of the things that makes this series so much fun.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Gallagher Team Penske Chevrolet
“Really happy with how that first session went. This is a tough place, but the Gallagher crew and Team Chevy have brought a very competitive package here this weekend. I think the way the tires reacted today have given everyone something to think about. Tire strategy starts on Friday because of the limited number of sets your allotted.”

NTT INDYCAR SERIES News Conference
Friday, July 18, 2025
Kyle Kirkwood (for context)
Will Power
Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Wrapping up practice today and joined by a couple of the fastest in practice.

THE MODERATOR: Will, you’ve won three times here at Toronto. Good to be atop the leaderboard so far this weekend?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it’s a very difficult track. Like Kyle said, it was surprisingly low grip. Really hard to really change anything on the car. Yeah, the greens, you literally had that one prep lap and one lap to go. Yeah, it will be interesting.
Massive new bump at the end of the straight into three. It actually hurts. Right in the braking zone, boom.

THE MODERATOR: I’ve heard winters are tough here in Toronto.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: They repaved something. The bridge used to go there. For some reason they put a strip of pavement just in that section.

THE MODERATOR: Exit of three?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Entry.

WILL POWER: I think they honestly need to grind it tonight. It will hurt racing. Very apprehensive to go up the inside. They should grind it.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with questions.

Q. How great is it to return to an event where it’s bustling with fans, you’re in a big city, there’s a great vibe? We came off what was two really good races, but nobody really saw ’em.

WILL POWER: Yeah, man. I was going to say, I was sitting there, I looked at the grandstands, they were full. I was really impressed.
Yeah, and the autograph session. How many people were there when we left? The line was massive. Yeah, good attendance so far. Very good.

Q. As a professional athlete, does it get the adrenaline going when you know there’s a lot of people out there that love to see what you do?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Just proves we’re in a high-performance, high-stakes sport that people like watching, right? Re-proves that to you. Nonetheless, exciting to have people out here.

Q. Canada is the only race we come to internationally. With the crowd turnout that we’ve seen here and kind of the talks that we’ve had for the last couple weeks, does this race really showcase that INDYCAR can go into other international markets to race?
WILL POWER: Yeah, absolutely. I think we’d be very well-received in Europe. Japan, we always get a massive crowd. Went to Australia. Yes, could totally do it.

Got to make sense financially. But yeah, I think they’d be surprised. When we raced in Europe in Champ Car in ’07… People were very interested in open-wheel cars over there.

I think it would be very good markets for us, I believe. Obviously they’re trying to nail it over here, North America. I’ve just seen the series grow and improve. I’ve been in it 19, 20 years. Only got better every year.

Q. For the rest of this weekend, it should cool down a little bit. Do you expect the graining of the tires for the rest of the weekend?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: I’m not sure. That’s a great question. Not sure why it was like that. We clearly had a very soft street course tire. Given the nature of that session where it was pretty low grip, maybe that just has something to do with it.Nonetheless, it’s on our minds for the rest of the weekend and obviously for the race.

WILL POWER: Yeah, no, obviously the track grips up and temperature matters. At the end of the day, they’re just too soft. I think incredibly soft. Sure it will be a three-stop race unless something strange happens.
Yeah, it will actually be interesting in qualifying, to be honest, what compound you use.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: You only went a 10th quicker later in the session when you assume you could go faster on primes.

WILL POWER: I would have said, yeah. Threw on new primes, you’d be right there.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Faster.

WILL POWER: I think so.

Q. Tomorrow do you maximize track position in qualifying or do you save tires that you want for the race?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, at the end of the day, like, no one’s going to use more than one set of the greens. You just don’t have enough tires.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: In the race, what do you do for qualifying? Do you use primes for qualifying, is that what you’re saying?

WILL POWER: You have to save three sets of new tires for the race. I mean, I can’t see anyone else coming to any other conclusion. You’re saying take a risk and use them in qualifying.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: If they were faster, that would be very interesting. Some people use new all the way through qualifying.

WILL POWER: You could do it, but they went off pretty bad. Mine degraded a lot.
KYLE KIRKWOOD: I did a second run on them and they definitely fell off.

Q. Will, you got a lot of experience here at this track. Is this the slickest this track has been on a Friday?

WILL POWER: It’s hard to say. Definitely on the track walk yesterday it looked really dusty. I don’t know. Like, I can’t remember to be honest. It’s been so many times I’ve been here. It’s always this way first session. I guess if you had a couple more support series, it would help.
Yeah, it will progress. Lap time isn’t that bad, 61s. Got to 59s last year.

Q. Will, I understand you’re in a contract year. How important is it for you to get a result here this weekend?

WILL POWER: Yeah, man, every race, every session. It just matters, you know? Can you believe the year I’m having, in a contract year? Two engine failures in two race weekends. Just one of those things. Not bad luck. It just happens at times.

Yeah, we’ll see. Just keep pushing. Still got five races to have great results. I
I’ve had great cars everywhere. We’re quick. Can only smile about it because
I’ve been in the sport a long time.

I just know these sort of things come round. It’s very typical of life that a bad year would play out when you’re trying to get a contract.
Yeah, man, but I love it here. I do. I really hope I’m back next year.

Q. Will, you mentioned the bump in the braking zone going into three, the need to grind that. What would that discussion look like with the series to make that happen?
WILL POWER: Actually, I don’t know. I think to Joe Hodge. Used to be able to go to Jay Frye and ask him, but I’m not sure now who it is.
Man, it’s nasty. Gave me a headache. It was that hard. I don’t know. Was it that hard for you?

KYLE KIRKWOOD: It wasn’t extremely harsh. The bottom is hard.

WILL POWER: That’s what I mean.

KYLE KIRKWOOD: Just depends where you hit the brakes right? Everyone is going to be hitting it there.

WILL POWER: I think it will hurt passing.

Q. Will, in his recent wins here, Scott Dixon always jokes this feels like his hometown course because Canada is part of the Commonwealth. Does that carry over for you, as well?

WILL POWER: Didn’t even register. I did think the other day, I wonder with your passport and so on, if you got denied, Well, I’m in the Commonwealth. You could let me in.

Yeah, I don’t know what the immigration rule is here. Yeah, didn’t really register. If I win, I’ll mention it.

Chevrolet on the Streets Of Toronto

Chevrolet wins on the Streets Of Toronto: 13

2019 – Simon Pagenaud – Team Penske
2017 – Josef Newgarden – Team Penske
2016 – Will Power – Team Penske
2015 – Josef Newgarden – Ed Carpenter Racing
2014 Race #2 – Mike Conway – Ed Carpenter Racing
2014 Race #1 – Sebastien Bourdais – KV Racing Technology
2012 – Ryan Hunter-Reay – Andretti Global
1993 – Paul Tracy – Team Penske
1991 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing
1990 – Al Unser Jr. – Galles Racing
1989 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing
1988 – Al Unser Jr. – Galles Racing
1987 – Emerson Fittipaldi – Patrick Racing

Chevrolet poles on the Streets Of Toronto: 12

2019 – Simon Pagenaud – Team Penske
2018 – Josef Newgarden – Team Penske
2017 – Simon Pagenaud – Team Penske
2016 – Scott Dixon – Chip Ganassi Racing
2015 – Josef Newgarden – Ed Carpenter Racing
2014 – Race #1 – Sebastien Bourdais – KV Racing Technology
1993 – Emerson Fittipaldi – Team Penske
1992 – Bob Rahal – Rahal Hogan Racing
1991 – Michael Andretti – Newman Haas Racing
1990 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske
1989 – Emerson Fittipaldi – Patrick Racing
1988 – Danny Sullivan – Team Penske

Chevrolet podiums on the Streets Of Toronto: 36

Chevrolet podiums on the Streets Of Toronto by driver: Danny Sullivan (5), Helio Castroneves (4), Michael Andretti (3), Sebastien Bourdais (3), Emerson Fittipaldi (3), Tony Kanaan (2), Josef Newgarden (2), Simon Pagenaud (2), Will Power (2), Bob Rahal (2), Al Unser Jr. (2), Mario Andretti (1), Eddie Cheever (1), Mike Conway (1), Luca Filippi (1), Ryan Hunter-Reay (1), Felix Rosenqvist (1), and Paul Tracy (1)

Chevrolet podiums on the Streets Of Toronto by team: Team Penske (13), Galles Racing (5),, Ed Carpenter Racing (4), Newman Haas Racing (4), Chip Ganassi Racing (3), Dragon Racing (2), Patrick Racing (2) Andretti Global (1), Arrow McLaren (1), KV Racing Technology (1), and Rahal Hogan Racing (1)

Chevrolet laps led on the Streets Of Toronto: 1109

Chevrolet laps led on the Streets Of Toronto by driver: Al Unser Jr. (182), Michael Andretti (153), Emerson Fittipaldi (123) Josef Newgarden (113), Will Power (97), Simon Pagenaud (84), Sebastien Bourdais (79), Helio Castroneves (74), Scott Dixon (56), Paul Tracy (54), Danny Sullivan (50), Ryan Hunter-Reay (36), Scott McLaughlin (28), Tony Kanaan (19), Rinus VeeKay (18), Mike Conway (7), Mario Andretti (6), Jordan King (6), Pato O’Ward (3), Luca Filippi (2), JR Hildebrand (1), Charlie Kimball (1), Spencer Pigot (1) and Felix Rosenqvist (1)

Chevrolet laps led on the Streets Of Toronto by team: Team Penske (519), Galles Racing (182), Newman Haas Racing (159), Chip Ganassi Racing (74), Patrick Racing (74), Ed Carpenter Racing (64), Andretti Global (36), Dragon Racing (20), Arrow McLaren (4), A.J. Foyt Racing (1), Carlin (1) and Panther Racing (1)

Manufacturer History on the Streets Of Toronto

Wins (with competition):

13 – Chevrolet (2019, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 Race #2, 2014 Race #1, 2012, 1993, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988, 1987)
10 – Honda (2024, 2023, 2022, 2018, 2013 Race #1, 2013 Race #2, 2001, 1999, 1998, 1996)
4 – Ford (2000, 1995, 1994, 1992)
1 – Toyota (2002)
1 – Mercedes (1997)
1 – Cosworth (1986)

Earned Poles (with competition):
12 – Chevrolet (2019, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2014 Race #1, 1993, 1992, 1991, 1990, 1989, 1988)
11 – Honda (2024, 2023, 2022, 2013 Race #2, 2013 Race #1, 2012, 2001, 2000 1999, 1998, 1996)
2 – Ford (1995, 1994)
2 – Cosworth (1987, 1986)
1 – Toyota (2002)
1 – Mercedes (1997)

** 2014 Race #2 – Helio Castroneves (Team Penske Chevrolet) started from the pole on driver points after qualifying was rained out**

Historical Chevrolet in the INDYCAR SERIES information

INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturer Championships (since 1979)

Chevrolet-Powered Wins in the Twin-Turbo 2.2L V6 Era (2012-present)

Chevrolet-Powered Wins (All-time)

SB Motorsport Wraps Up 9th Year at Goodwood Festival of Speed Six hill runs, epic crowds, lots of tyres, and time well spent with fans and sponsors. That’s a wrap on another year at Goodwood Festival of Speed, and what a weekend it was. This marked our 9th year running the Nissan GT-R up the hill, and the car didn’t put a foot wrong. As always, it felt solid and ran faultlessly across all four days. We got six runs in over the weekend, and every one was as fun as the last. This year, we were testing out the Yokohama Advan Neova AD09 tyres for the first time, and they were seriously impressive. Loads of grip and feel great on the GT-R. The atmosphere was unreal, with 200,000 people coming through the gates. The support from the crowd never disappoints; it’s a big part of what makes this event so special. Around the paddock, we had some great chats with people stopping by the car and spent time with a few of our long-time sponsors. Always good to catch up face to face. We also had the chance to support K&N with two signing sessions and giveaways over the weekend, It was great to meet so many people there. On top of that, we swung by to catch up with the teams at KW Automotive, Dodson, and ASNU, all key partners who make this happen stuff happen for the team. If you weren’t there, chances are you might’ve caught the action on Sky Sports F1, who broadcast it live on Saturday and Sunday, or on the daily livestreams from Sky Sports and Goodwood on YouTube, going out to millions of viewers around the world. We’re proud to be part of something as iconic as Goodwood. It’s a proper highlight on our calendar, and we’re already looking forward to the next one. Thanks to everyone who came out, tuned in, or showed support; we appreciate it.

Six hill runs, epic crowds, lots of tyres, and time well spent with fans and sponsors.

If you weren’t there, chances are you might’ve caught the action on Sky Sports F1, who broadcast it live on Saturday and Sunday, or on the daily livestreams from Sky Sports and Goodwood on YouTube, going out to millions of viewers around the world. We’re proud to be part of something as iconic as Goodwood. It’s a proper highlight on our calendar, and we’re already looking forward to the next one. Thanks to everyone who came out, tuned in, or showed support; we appreciate it.

The 10-time Series champion has mastered the iconic Ohio oval through the course of his career

ROSSBURG, OH (July 17, 2025) – A major piece of Eldora Speedway lore is a story surrounding the charismatic Earl Baltes, and Donny Schatz is no exception.

Well before he was even close to earning the first of his now 10 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car championships, the aspiring racer made the mistake of downplaying Eldora with a camera on and a microphone in front of him.

“Back in the days when we had TNN doing the coverage, Steve Evans was a commentator,” Schatz recalled. “When we went to Bristol that first time, Steve Evans wanted to compare Eldora and Bristol, and honestly, there was no comparison. That Bristol place was an insane amount of banking, insane speed. It had so much bank that if there was a car next to you, it was a different elevation up, and you couldn’t see them out the right side at all.

“So, Steve Evans, he came and asked me a question about what I thought of it. And I’m like, ‘Man, I don’t know what to say.’ Anyway, I just said it makes Eldora look like a wussy track. I was young and wasn’t very refined with what came out of my mouth or pretty much anything at the time. Man, did Earl take offense to it. He singled me out at the next drivers meeting. He went after me and called me a joker and said that I’d never won at his racetrack.”

Welcome to Eldora, Donny.

But like most stories involving track founder Baltes, that moment was merely a bump in the road on the path to profound friendship between him and the Schatz family. And that “joker” Baltes called out wound up finding his way to Eldora Victory Lane on more than a few occasions.

The Rossburg, OH oval has become one of the largest pieces of Schatz’s sure-fire Hall of Fame résumé. He’s won 19 times at the iconic 1/2-mile dirt track, including six Kings Royal crowns, just one shy of Steve Kinser’s record for the most and a record he could equal this weekend (July 18-19) at the 42nd running of the crown jewel. Another highlight is topping the 2002 Historical Big One.

One of the ways Schatz stands out at Eldora is his maneuverability. He’s become known for being able to find speed in any of the many lanes Eldora offers, especially in the slick, where several struggle. That expertise didn’t come overnight. The Fargo, ND legend worked and worked, determined to be able to go where few are willing to go for pace.

“When the big races came around in the summer, everything got slick and that’s when the money was up,” Schatz said. “We really focused on trying to work on the slick stuff. There were times when there’s a car on the top and car on the bottom, you didn’t have much of a choice. You had to try to run through. It’s not like we ever just focused on the middle; we just tried getting our car stuck.”

Schatz’s Eldora success is special to him beyond the history and prestige the track already holds. It’s amplified by the fact he’s done most of his winning there while driving for the same man who now owns the track, Tony Stewart.

“Smoke” purchased “The House that Earl Built” in 2004, and Schatz began driving for Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing in 2008. Since joining forces, Schatz has taken the No. 15 on 16 trips to Eldora Victory Lane, including all but one of his Kings Royal crowns. Through that time, Stewart has continued to push Eldora to new heights in many ways and carry on the legacy established by Baltes. Both Schatz and Stewart have progressed and evolved their interests over the years, and Eldora unites them.

“Tony’s got great people in everything he’s ever been involved in,” Schatz said. “He’s obviously got great people at Eldora. Even though times change and people change, he still has great people there. It’s kind of funny; it’s one of those places where you’d think we’d go there and get a good parking spot or something, but when this truck rolls in, they make sure if they’re going to be hard on someone, they’re hard on this one. It’s almost like a competition to show him that we don’t care who you are, we’re going to do the best we can by anybody. He’s done a tremendous job with it. It’s crazy to see how the races have grown. The crowds have grown.”

The latest measurement of growth will be this weekend as The Greatest Show on Dirt invades Eldora for the 42nd running of the Kings Royal. Saturday’s winner will take home a record $200,000 in riches. Even with some 2025 struggles, expect Schatz to be in the running for another trip to the throne.

Six of Schatz’s last seven Eldora visits have resulted in podiums, including five runner-ups. The tricky 1/2 mile still suits Schatz perfectly. He’s still got the fire. He’s still got the drive. He wants to be crowned King once again.

“When you look back at the guys that have won it, Steve Kinser, Jac Haudenschild, Sammy Swindell, they’re all guys that I looked up to as a young driver,” Schatz said. “When you think of the Kings Royal, you think of that great big throne and the cape and the crown and the scepter and all those things. I remember the first time I won it. I was so excited. It’s kind of like someone giving you a hat, and you’ve got to give it back after the pictures are over, and I was like, ‘You guys aren’t getting this stuff back.’ And they were like, ‘Oh no, we’re getting it back.’ So, I said, ‘Over my dead body you are. I’m putting this on the wall at home. I’m keeping this. Yeah, I had to pay for it. I got in trouble.”

Schatz goes after a record-tying seventh Kings Royal crown this weekend (July 18-19) at Eldora Speedway. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

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

TULSA, OK (July 17, 2025) — This Friday at Creek County Speedway, the American Sprint Car Series (ASCS) family salutes one of its closest friends and one of Tulsa’s biggest dirt track racing supporters in the fifth annual Don Swope Classic.

Swope, a carpenter by trade, was one of the most respected workers and loved friends of the construction team that transformed the Tulsa Expo Center into the venue that has held the marquee Chili Bowl Nationals and Tulsa Shootout events.

After working as part of ASCS founder Emmett Hahn’s crew at the iconic motorsports events for many years, Swope passed away from cancer in 2020 at the age of 66. In his honor, the Don Swope Classic memorial event was spawned in 2021, and today continues to honor his local legacy with the presentation of the big check, case of libations and pair of overalls — as Swope regularly wore around the racetrack.

“Swope was the go-to for anything we ever needed,” said Chili Bowl Nationals announcer and publicist Bryan Hulbert. “He worked for Emmett and Fuzzy Hahn at Expo since the early days on the carpenter crew. He helped out at Creek (County Speedway) even in the early days when it was being built. He built a lot of the stuff that we used at Creek for years.

“Swope was there anytime we needed him. The thing about him is he would quite literally give you the shirt off his back. And we joke with him because he always wore overalls, so we said, ‘Well, he won’t give you the shirt, but he’ll give you the overalls.’”

Swope first appeared around the racetracks of Oklahoma, racing six-cylinder Modifieds at places like Creek County, during the time when Hahn was also in his driving career. However, as Hahn explains, it wasn’t until several years later that he befriended Swope and discovered his talent outside the racetrack.

“When we remodeled our house about 10 years ago, he and another guy spent almost a year doing a complete makeover on our house, and that’s when I really got to know him,” Hahn said. “He was there every day.”

Swope was also known for taking care of all Chili Bowl Nationals and Tulsa Shootout staff and officials in an RV compound behind the west end of the building, known to those as “the outback.” As Hahn says, it was a space for staff to come and get a cooked meal from Swope and a break from the non-stop racing.

“At Chili Bowl and Shootout and everything, when it came to me needing something done, he was just my right arm,” Hahn said. “If I needed steps made up here to this or a door over here on this… I’d just call him and forget it because he’d just get it done.

“Without Swope there, The Outback is just not what it used to be. Without Swope, it’s just not the same.”

Don’t miss the American Sprint Car Series stars salute Don Swope at Creek County Speedway this Friday, July 18, in the fifth annual Don Swope Classic. Tickets for the event will be sold at the gate on race day.

If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.