By Joe GrabianowskiOSWEGO, NY (Oct. 9, 2023) – Matt Janczuk joined Super DIRT Week Champions like Matt Sheppard, Dave Marcuccilli, and Kyle Inman on the all-time DIRTcar Sportsman Chevrolet Performance Feature winners list Monday afternoon.Janczuk, from Oneida, NY, has been chasing a Super DIRT Week championship for years with finishes of second and fifth in his last two runs at Oswego Speedway.“This is one of the things on the bucket list that I hadn’t checked off yet,” Janczuk noted.Janczuk captured the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award in Time Trials putting him in prime position to take a stab at the lead on Lap 1. When the green flag dropped on the 50-lap Chevrolet Performance Feature, Janczuk seized the opportunity to drive into the corner farther than 15-year-old pole-sitter Nicholas Root.He kept his foot down on the 602 Chevrolet Performance engine under the hood and powered into the lead.“This TEO Pro Car has been so good,” Janczuk said. “I couldn’t do it without my sponsors like Billy Whittaker Cars.”Thirty-six DIRTcar Sportsman poured into Turns 1 and 2 cleanly to start the race. However, on Lap 2 disaster struck mid-pack. Ryan Dolbear, Trevor Catalano, Jason Reome, and Jason Parkhurst Jr. careened into the Turn 4 wall blocking the track and necessitating a red flag.The race stopped and started several more times without a steady groove or serious incident but each restart gave drivers a chance to make ground.“The restarts were key,” Janczuk noted . “Nick (Root) was really good. I figured if I rolled the outside and be smooth he’d go through the hole and I’d beat him to Turn 1 but it didn’t always work out.”Not only did Janczuk come away with the victory but he was also the halfway leader awarding him a 602 Chevrolet Performace Engine in addition to his winnings.“What a testament to the team and all the fans for sticking it out,” Janczuk said. “Hats off to the track crew. I looked at the track yesterday and thought we were in trouble. What a great facility and thanks to DIRTcar for putting on the show. Man, what a race.”Jessica Power, from Kingston, ON, and Mike Fowler, from Fulton, NY, battled in and out of the top three before Zach Sobotka came charging in the final 10 laps.Unfortunately for Fowler, his championship run took a hit as the left front lost air late in the race. The No. 410 did everything to stay ahead of the pack but Fowler fell to 20th.After 50 laps of DIRTcar Sportsman action, Janczuk remained cream of the crop and stood on top of the Chevrolet Performance Feature podium. Root, from Geneva, NY, finished in his wake.Root started the week winning the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award. However, the driver and crew were concerned about a vibration. Putting all worries aside, Root planned his foot firmly on the accelerator to bring the field to green but Janczuk jumped him and never gave him another shot.“I had the expectations that Matt Janczuk was going to be one of the ones to beat,” Root said. “I had a really good car but I started to pick up that vibration again. I got some oil on the ground over there”The young racer was calm and collected despite the high stakes. Root survived and thrived at the extended 51st Super DIRT Week.“I have to thank my crew and all my sponsors. We’ve had a great year but now we’ll finish out this last race at Brockville, maybe Middletown, and see what we can do for the rest of the season.”The Hurricane Harvey 30 winner and Brewerton Speedway Track Champion Zach Sobotka crossed the line just behind the #30 of Root.Sobotka, from Parish, NY, drove from 11th to third in the 50 laps, left wishing weather didn’t shorten the race from its original 75 laps.“All those restarts gave me opportunities to make moves,” Sobotka said. “As soon as we hit 40 laps I knew it was time to start sending her into the corner. I just got up on the wall and never lifted. It just kept sticking for me. I don’t know how we could have made the car any better there. If we had more laps we could have caught them.”Another driver who made big moves was James Michael Friesen in the No. 72f. Friesen, from St. Catharines, ON, powered up 19 positions to claim the Penske Racing Shocks Hard Charger Award for $500.The DIRTcar Sportsman Series goes to Brockville Ontario Speedway to finish off its points championship. After that, all eyes are on the World Short Track Championship at The Dirt Track at Charlotte Oct. 26-28.Chevrolet Performance Feature (50 laps)  1. 33X-Matt Janczuk[2]; 2. 30-Nicholas Root[1]; 3. 38-Zach Sobotka[11]; 4. 33-Richard Murtaugh[4]; 5. 52-Jessica Power[5]; 6. 10%-Chad Edwards[18]; 7. 21C-Tanner Warner[7]; 8. Z8-JT Sperring[13]; 9. 35-Nelson Mason[15]; 10. 01-Zach Buff[6]; 11. 115-Dylan Madsen[14]; 12. 72F-James Friesen[31]; 13. FOX28-Tyler Stevenson[24]; 14. 64-Tyler Corcoran[22]; 15. 7M-Cody McPherson[27]; 16. B24-Brendan Gibbons[29]; 17. 18E-Gavin Eisele[35]; 18. 3A-Adam Hilton[8]; 19. 10-Karl Comfort[17]; 20. 410-Mike Fowler[3]; 21. 80-Dominic Roselli[20]; 22. 92-Andrew Buff[26]; 23. 38JR-Jason Parkhurst Jr[32]; 24. 5EJ-EJ Gallup[12]; 25. 28X-Stephen Marshall[23]; 26. 2-Taylor Doxtater[33]; 27. 1X-Willy Decker Jr[19]; 28. 95-Kearra Backus[34]; 29. 8-Kevin Chaffee[10]; 30. 29-Nick Heywood[30]; 31. 02-David Boisclair[9]; 32. 27-Jason Reome[21]; 33. 54T-Trevor Catalano[16]; 34. 31B-Ryan Dolbear[25]; 35. 23T-Scott Towslee[28]; 36. 66B-Jason Bruno[36]

Super DIRT Week is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Billy Whittaker Cars and Trux, CASE Construction Equipment, Chevrolet Performance and SIS Insurance. Other Super DIRT Week sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), A-Verdi, Area Auto Racing News, ASI Race Wear, Bart Contracting Inc, Best Western Plus-Oswego, Beyea Custom Headers, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, Bicknell Racing Products, ButlerBuilt, C&S Companies, CASE No.1 Engine Oil, City of Oswego, Clarion Hotel – Oswego, Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, Dig Race Products, Empire Golf Cars, Fast Line Performance, Fast Shafts, Firebull, Fox Factory, Gypsum Express, Hoosier Racing Tire, HYTORC of New York, Integra Racing Shocks, Intercomp, iRacing, Low-E Insulation, MSD, Oswego County, Penske Shocks, Racing Electronics, SRI / SCAS, Swift Springs, Toyota, Tracey Road Equipment, Velocita, VP Racing Fuels, and Wieland.  Special thanks to New York State.

Cadillac V-Series.R to carry over with two GTP cars in IMSA, one Hypercar in WEC

DETROIT (Oct. 9, 2023) — Cadillac Racing will roar into the 2024 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and FIA World Endurance Championship seasons with the same car count as 2023. The No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R and No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R will be on the grid for the nine-race IMSA Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) campaign that begins in January with the Rolex 24 At Daytona. The sister No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R will contest the eight-race FIA WEC season that begins in March in Qatar as Cadillac Racing’s sole Hypercar entry. Additional Cadillac Racing entries for the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans in June will be announced by the Automobile Club de l’Ouest.

“We’re very excited to dive into the second year of our Cadillac V-Series.R program. We are very proud of what we accomplished in the first year and we’ve learned so much racing in two series. We have a great foundation to build on,” said Laura Wontrop Klauser, GM sports car racing program manager. “Having 2024 as a carry-over year will allow us the opportunity to focus entirely on the car and understanding it better instead of having to balance car learning with new team and new series learning as we did in 2023.” Cadillac sits atop the IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Manufacturer standings and is a close second in the IMSA GTP Manufacturer Championship entering the Petit Le Mans season finale Oct. 14 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. Cadillac entries have recorded two victories, five other podiums and two pole starts through eight races. The GM luxury brand has compiled 29 wins since 2017 in IMSA and WEC prototype competition and 68 overall in North American sports car racing. The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac V-Series.R, with co-drivers Pipo Derani, Jack Aitken and Alexander Sims, leads both the IMSA GTP Driver/Team Championship and IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup GTP Driver/Team standings.  Cadillac is fourth in the WEC Manufacturers’ Championship following the Six Hours of Fuji on Sept. 10 in its maiden trip through the WEC calendar. The season concludes Nov. 4 with the Eight Hours of Bahrain at the Bahrain International Circuit. Cadillac Racing made a resounding return to Le Mans after a 21-year absence with the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R earning a podium finish and the No. 3 Cadillac V-Series.R placing fourth in the centenary race. The Cadillac V-Series.R is Cadillac’s third-generation prototype racecar and represents the fifth generation of the brand’s storied V-Series production vehicle lineup that includes the Cadillac Escalade-V and track-capable CT4-V Blackwing and CT5-V Blackwing. Cadillac Racing highlights Cadillac total wins in all classes/series since 2000: 68Cadillac total podiums in all classes/series since 2000: 221  IMSA GTP (5)  IMSA DPi (84)  FIA WEC (1)  World Challenge (126)  American Le Mans Series (5)Cadillac Manufacturer Championships in all series: 8   IMSA DPi (2021, 2018, 2017)   Pirelli World Challenge GT (2014, 2013, 2012)   SPEED World Challenge GT (2007, 2005)IMSA DPi Driver Championships: 2021, 2018, 2017IMSA DPi Team Championships: 2021, 2018, 2017IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Manufacturer Champion: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Driver Championships: 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017IMSA Michelin Endurance Cup Team Championships: 2018, 2017Pirelli World Challenge GT Driver Championships: 2015, 2014, 2013, 2012SPEED World Challenge GT Driver Championship: 2005

NASCAR CUP SERIES CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY R.C.BANK OF AMERICA ROVAL 400 TEAM CHEVY RACE WIN RECAP OCTOBER 8, 2023 Allmendinger Claims the Victory at the Charlotte ROVAL; Byron and Larson Advance to Round of Eight

·       Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger scored the first playoff upset of the season – taking his No. 16 Celsius Camaro ZL1 to the victory in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.  ·       A four time winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Allmendinger has now recorded 14 career road course victories at the NASCAR national level, with three coming in NASCAR’s premier series.   ·       Allmendinger delivered Chevrolet its series-leading fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory in the series’ sixth appearance at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.  ·       Chevrolet continues to lead the series with 16 NASCAR Cup Series victories this season, and 849 all-time victories in NASCAR’s premier series.  ·       Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson advanced to the NASCAR Cup Series Round of Eight. With the playoff standings reset, Byron maintains the top position of the standings, with Larson in the fourth position, heading into the next round.

CONCORD, N.C. (Oct. 8, 2023) – AJ Allmendinger drove his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Camaro ZL1 to the first playoff upset of the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) season – taking the win in the Bank of America ROVAL 400 at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. The 41-year-old California native put his road course skills on display early in the final stage of the pivotal postseason race – enduring five late-race restarts and leading the final 33 circuits en route to his third career NCS victory. Allmendinger became the seventh different driver from the fifth different Chevrolet team to reach victory lane in NASCAR’s premier series this season – delivering the manufacturer its 16th NCS triumph of 2023.  “You don’t know when you’re going to do it again. I love all the men and women at Kaulig Racing so much,” said an emotional Allmendinger. “My mom and dad, all my family and friends – those people see how much anguish and how much I put it on my shoulders when we’re struggling. It just means the world.”  Allmendinger had to hold-off a late race charge by a pair of fellow Team Chevy drivers, including playoff contender William Byron. Already solidifying his spot in the next round with his win at Texas Motor Speedway, Byron and the No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 team continues to prove to be a championship contender – collecting top-two finishes in all three races in the Round of 12. The 25-year-old North Carolina carries momentum into what is already slated to be his strongest round in the postseason – having a win on his resume at each of the next three tracks.

“Just proud of the whole team, said Byron. “The Z by HP Camaro was awesome. We definitely improved a lot as the race went on. Just good momentum. We’ve got to keep it rolling. I’d like to finish one-two-two in the next round, too. That would be ideal, but we just have to keep performing like this and we’ll be where we want to be.”

Entering the ROVAL weekend in a ‘must-win’ situation to advance into the next round, Richard Childress Racing’s Kyle Busch stayed in contention all race long. The 38-year-old Nevada native collected top-10 finishes in both stages before ultimately taking the checkered flag in the third position in his No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL1 – bringing Chevrolet to its fifth podium sweep of the season.  Despite a challenging weekend, Kyle Larson became the second Team Chevy driver to advance into the Round of Eight. An incident early in Saturday’s practice session forced the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 team to a backup car and a starting position at the rear of the field for the 400-mile race. Scoring a top-five finish in Stage Two, the former series champion ended the race in the 13th position – earning enough points to continue in the championship title battle. With the playoff standings reset, Larson will join Byron in the top-four of the standings as the series enters the next round.

“It was a stressful weekend, but the No. 5 team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports did a great job working hard on this backup car late last night,” said Larson. “I felt like our car was really good today. We were just pretty conservative there at times. I just didn’t want to make a mistake like I did last year and take ourselves completely out of it. It was just stressful there the final stage, but we were able to get in, which was the goal.”

The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of Eight will get underway at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the South Point 400 on Sunday, October 15, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the NBC, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

KAULIG RACING POST-RACE WIN PRESS CONFERENCE TRASCRIPT:  THE MODERATOR: We’ve now been joined by our Bank of America Roval 400 race-winning team. Quite a treat to have everyone here with us at one time. We’ve been joined by Chris Rice, who’s the president of Kaulig Racing; the race-winning driver, AJ Allmendinger; race-winning crew chief, Matt Swiderski, and at the very end of the table we have team owner Matt Kaulig. Congratulations to all of you. To kick us off, we’ll start with AJ. You had a great lead there at the end or toward the end, but also a lot of cautions, a lot of restarts. Take us through some of those final restarts and what was going through your mind? AJ ALLMENDINGER: Yeah, just with the new restart zone, just kind of unique as you kind of throttle up, we’re all going to be kind of bouncing off each other. It’s so narrow through there and everybody is trying to get it. When Ty got me kind of on that initial restart, it showed me what I did wrong, so it helped me a lot on the next couple of restarts of what to do. I thought the 54 might be the best car on longer runs there. I felt like if Kyle was behind me, like we had Kyle cover on the long runs because I had ran around him the whole race, and I knew the 24 had just kind of been lying back there 4th to 6th all day. I was just trying to get the lead and try to get a big enough gap because the only thing that we really struggled with was rear tires at the end of a long run, and that’s kind of what we were fighting. Those restarts may have helped the tire life, but I would always have a good-sized — enough of a lead that I thought I could pace myself and then you’d have to go through the restarts again.The biggest thing was trying to change it up just enough to time it right, and it’s track position-based, so I knew if I could get in the lead, it was going to make it a difficult challenge for them to get around me, and that was just always the focus on those restarts. Q. Chris and Matt, during the post-race celebration, AJ made it very clear how emotional he was because of all the anguish, the pain, everything he goes through, trying to help you guys grow. From your perspective, how much more impactful is it for you when you do see him have those emotional moments, especially on a track where he’s dominated in the Xfinity Series?CHRIS RICE: Before Matt talks, I’ll tell you, I’ve never met a race car driver so passionate about what he does, in and outside the race car, and I never met a race car driver that cares about an owner like he does. I’ve met a lot of race car drivers, and I’ve talked to a lot of race car drivers in my life, but I’ve never met somebody like AJ Allmendinger. I think he got run through the ringer so many times and nobody ever dug into his life and how he is and how he acts enough to understand him.I’ll tell you over the last month, he’s been very key and pivotal to everything we’re doing at Kaulig Racing. He knows everything we’re doing at Kaulig Racing, and he supports 98 percent of it I would say. He shouldn’t support it all because that’s what makes you better. With that being said, when you see the emotion out of me, it’s for everybody at Kaulig Racing, but it’s for him, it’s for Tara, it’s for his new kid, his son Aero, because five years ago, six years ago I called Matt Kaulig and said, let’s give AJ Allmendinger — actually Matt called me and said, let’s go get the best road course racer in the world and try to go win road course races, and we called AJ Allmendinger. He showed up in a Nebraska shirt. He didn’t know what he was going to do. He had no idea. We didn’t have a hotel room for him when he went to Watkins Glen. We got him disqualified two races in a row, and he still came back. He drove home from Daytona when he missed a race and he still came back. That’s the AJ we love, and when he gets emotional and he fires the crowd up, it’s about that. When he fusses us out about winning and not winning and what we’re going to do, how we’re going to get better, he called me when our Xfinity cars were terrible this year, and he said, do you know how bad you suck? I said, really? Yes, I do. I think I told Claire wherever she’s at, it’s unacceptable, and that’s because of this guy.For him to win and for him to be upset, we love it because we know how much he loves us. MATT KAULIG: I’d say I’m super proud of AJ Even standing in Victory Lane and looking at AJ celebrating and doing what he does, I’m just super proud of him. It makes me not emotional, but I’m just super proud of this team and what they’ve done. I don’t know if I’d say we — I don’t know what our expectations were actually this year, but I’d say we struggled, and I know these guys feel like they’re way better than we’ve actually performed, but even being able to get into Victory Lane today I think puts — is really big for this team and for AJ and for Matt and for Chris. So it’s really cool. Really proud. That’s how I felt actually just looking at AJ while he was celebrating, while he was doing all the interviews and while he was getting all the pictures taken. This guy has meant the world to me, meant the world to our team, and that’s how I feel. Q. First, over those final five laps, you had your head in your hands a lot watching that. What were the emotions going through you through those final cautions, and how much were you breathing over those final laps?CHRIS RICE: I wasn’t. I felt like I had let everybody down. I don’t know.I don’t get upset much. I smile a lot. That’s what it’s about. But I feel like I’ve let everybody down. I done a horrible job when we started the Cup team. Matt Swiderski believed in what we were doing, and I felt like I let everybody down. Everybody in Ohio, I let AJ down, and for AJ to dominate — it wasn’t just he showed up and led the last lap. He dominated the entire race.The pit crews have worked really hard at stepping up, and I didn’t breathe that much, and honestly, I spent a lot of time by myself. It’s an open mic thing, and I told Squid, and he could just hear me talking, I finally said, I’ll just shut up, and he said, no, keep talking, it helps me. I go to bed every night thinking about how can we make everybody better, and today shows that Matt Kaulig belongs in NASCAR. AJ Allmendinger belongs in a Cup car. Can we win every week? No, absolutely not. But can we contend? Yes, and that’s what I was thinking about, and I wasn’t breathing. Thank goodness for my health. Thank goodness for getting my health together because I think I spent the last 10 laps not breathing. Q. AJ, for those final laps, knowing how this season has been, the frustration that’s gone on with it, how were you keeping yourself mentally staying, okay, I’ve got Ty looking for his first win, William there behind you, Kyle trying to get to the Playoffs, as well. How do you keep yourself pumped up and knowing that, hey, I can win this?AJ ALLMENDINGER: Yeah, I try to study a lot of — not just the racetrack and things like that, but knowing where everybody is at in the Playoffs and what they’re racing for because you’re still going for a Cup win. Everybody is going to be aggressive, but there’s a different aggressive level and there’s desperation and there’s things like that. I’ve loved racing against Ty over the last, what, four years now, 2020 or whenever he started in the Xfinity Series. I feel like me and him get along great. Us going back and forth was a lot of fun.But with that said, you know what he’s lacing for, his first Cup win. It’s hard to do this. It’s freaking hard. I know there’s certain teams and certain drivers that get a lot of opportunities to go win Cup races, but there’s also a lot of drivers and teams that don’t. I knew Ty — I thought we raced fairly clean for knowing what we were battling for. I knew Kyle had to win to make the playoffs. I kept looking up at the board to see where he was at points-wise. Obviously I knew William was probably going to the next round. He’s going to be aggressive but maybe not desperate-aggressive. That was kind of what was playing in my head on who I was racing around. At the end of the day, for me, it’s about if I give everything I have, I make no mistakes and William gets around me and beats me, yeah, it sucks, but I go home and I look in the mirror and say, yep, better team, better driver beat me that day. The one thing I did not want to do was be that guy that made a mistake and let him by me, and that’s something that — this is what we all want, to be put in those pressure cooker moments, and if — these guys know. I struggle to believe in myself every day. It’s an ugly place sometimes. I always say I have the best life possible, and that’s why I’m miserable every day because it’s wake up, what the hell are you going to do to be better today. God, it’s ugly sometimes, but it’s the way I am. I won’t ever change. Those are the moments that I dream of, of knowing, hey, you got the best of the best in the world behind you, it’s on you to not let them by. I felt like I made a couple real small mistakes with the 24 behind me, the rear tires were starting to go, but those last seven, eight laps, that’s as perfect as I can drive a race car. Win or lose, but especially win, that’s the stuff that you walk in, you walk around with your chest out just that little bit because it’s very rare that I do that, but just walk around a little bit knowing when it’s time, I can be as perfect as possible. Q. AJ, going into this race, was there anything that you did differently in preparation or just kind of your confidence level with how strong you’ve been on road courses?AJ ALLMENDINGER: Yeah, me and squad talked about that if we won we might not make Vegas because we’re going to be hung over the whole week, so we really focused on that and where we were going to go — we’ll be in Vegas. I’m not sure we’ll be at the racetrack. So that was pretty much — CHRIS RICE: We’ve done that before and didn’t make it to the track. AJ ALLMENDINGER: That was our plan was trying to plan out Vegas if we won.No, you know, we know on the road courses, that’s our best opportunity to win a race. We’ve been good at other racetracks, and you ran inside the top 10 and things like that, but we know these are the races that we can shine. I felt like Squid and I and the engineers and really all the men and women at Kaulig Racing but really us, we focused on — what did we start, three, four weeks ago working on the sim and that’s all we worked on. It’s like, okay, Texas coming up, we don’t care. We’re going to focus on winning the Roval. I feel like that’s kind of what we did, and Squid, he’s got a tough job. He’s got to deal with me on the radio screaming at him constantly, how to be better, things like that. But that’s what I love about him is there’s no animosity after a race. There’s no ups and downs with him. He knows how much I care and how much I want us to be better. I think that’s — we put that effort in the last four weeks, and we unloaded yesterday, and the thing was fast, and we talked about it. We made small adjustments, he made great adjustments during the race, especially — every team has to be, but in our situation, you’ve got to be almost perfect in a race like this to win it. I felt like all of us, we were. Q. Going back to the restarts there, those last two, Kyle specifically, what’s the relationship that you guys have with each other, and obviously you knew what he was racing for. You kind of touched on that a little bit, but especially that penultimate restart he was able to clear Ty to move into second. How did that factor into how you had to defend against him specifically?AJ ALLMENDINGER: Yeah, I mean, good or bad to say, but I knew the guy I wanted behind me was Kyle because we were quicker than him, and I knew if I could get Kyle to second, I could probably just drive away. Kyle has been fantastic to me my whole career. But when I started driving for these guys, especially when we — in 2020 with the pandemic and not having any practice, Kyle Busch is a guy that I can call whether I’m racing against him in an Xfinity race or Cup race or whatever and I just say, hey, man, I need some advice or how do you drive this place or things like that, and he will call you back and for an hour explain every detail. There’s never a doubt in my mind that he’s telling me the truth. Like you know that he’s just going to do that, and I have that respect, and I have the same respect if he asks me a question about talking to him about it. I knew he was going to race hard. I knew what he was racing for. But I also didn’t think he’d come clean me out or anything on a restart like that. It was just about trying to lead into Turn 1 and not really give an opportunity to let him get to my bumper, and I knew once we could get through a couple of corners I could clear him and start driving away. That was always my focus, but yeah, I definitely was trying everything I could to get Kyle to second on the restart just to know that like that could give me enough of a gap to kind of settle in and drive away. Q. For Matt, yesterday AJ said that he wants to be in — that he’d prefer to be in the Cup Series full-time. We don’t know about his future next year. Obviously you guys are about trophy hunting. Why is it not a clear-cut decision to keep AJ in the Cup Series next year if that’s what you guys are about is winning races?MATT KAULIG: We do want to win races and we love AJ We haven’t all decided — actually we just haven’t announced yet exactly what we’re doing. I think we’re pretty clear on what we’re doing, we just haven’t announced anything. I actually defer most of these questions to Chris. Q. All right, Chris, will AJ Allmendinger be racing full-time in the Cup Series next year?CHRIS RICE: Wait for the announcement. MATT KAULIG: I don’t know if he can do it. I don’t know if he can win trophies. AJ ALLMENDINGER: Me? We have like, what, 20, 21 banners from me in the shop? CHRIS RICE: So when he wins, we’ve got to work tomorrow. When he won in Xfinity we could party. We don’t get to party with him. He won at Indy, we woke up the next day and he was green because he had been throwing up. We can’t do that now. We’ve got to think about our life and have a little fun. We’ve got to work tomorrow. AJ ALLMENDINGER: Sounds like a personal problem. Q. Looking at it from afar, why is it not a clear-cut decision when you have a talented driver who obviously can win at the Cup level?CHRIS RICE: It is a clear-cut decision, we just haven’t announced it yet. Q. Chandler Smith, is he going to be returning to the Xfinity Series program next year —AJ ALLMENDINGER: We’re celebrating a win here. CHRIS RICE: I got you. You should talk to his agent. Q. Has he asked for a buyout?CHRIS RICE: You should talk to his agent. AJ ALLMENDINGER: We also won a Cup race today, so that’s pretty cool. CHRIS RICE: I didn’t know we could win. Talk to his agent. Q. AJ, you just talked about how the intensity level that you carry yourself with and how you’re never going to change. I remember you talking after 2018, 2019 about how there was burnout associated with that, too. So I’m curious, how do you live with that sort of red line, and what is the sweet spot that you have to find to center yourself or whatever it needs to be for you to be at your peak optimal performance?AJ ALLMENDINGER: I’m first married to a unicorn, so Tara — CHRIS RICE: And she looks good. AJ ALLMENDINGER: Thanks. She’s gorgeous, yes, that’s part of the unicorn masterpiece of Tara. She supports me and puts up with all the ups and downs, and she’s just always there for whatever, comfort, leave me alone, whatever it may be. A lot of it comes from the whole organization, but these two guys really, and then over the last year and a half — I mean, I guess we call it two years now that we’ve ran, what, six races, seven races in ’21? So it’s things like that that — my goal has always been no matter what team I drive for, whether it’s the owner or crew chief, men and women, pit crew, all that, they understand how much I care. That’s the only thing I’ve ever cared about is for them — if they walk away and say, what do you think of AJ, they can say he’s an A-hole and he bitches too much, but damn, we know he cares. They know I’m going to lay everything I’ve got. I’ve been better — it’s really because of Matt and Chris, they allow me to be like that, and then when they see it kind of maybe going to the dark level of that, we go do something fun and they bring it back and we kind of start over again. But that’s it. This organization over the last five years — and I’ve said this before, but they’ve saved my life. Not just living day-to-day but the happiness of day-to-day because if 2018 would have been it, I did some cool things, but there’s always a, God, I wish I could have done some more.But because of them, I’ve won on every type of oval in Xfinity, got to kiss the bricks at Indy — CHRIS RICE: Twice. AJ ALLMENDINGER: We’ve just done a lot of really special things, and because of that, they’ve allowed — they’ve saved my happiness. Now if they wake up tomorrow and they’re like, hey, you’re old and you’re done, I can actually just be happy with everything that’s happened now in my career, and without them, I wouldn’t have had that. I would have always had that little bit of misery of not doing as much as I wanted. Q. Then as a follow-up for Chris but really any of you guys can answer. Because Chris has worked and been around so many racers your entire life, have you had to rewrite the rules for how you manage a driver when it comes to AJ because AJ is such a unique character?CHRIS RICE: A hundred percent. I mean, I have to not only manage him right, I’ve got to calm Squid down on Mondays, and that’s Matt Swiderski, his crew chief. Yeah, so you have to read every person, right. I think I told you this this morning. You’ve got to understand what you’re dealing with. We have five drivers or four drivers, Justin Haley, AJ, Daniel Hemric and Chandler Smith and Derek Kraus is our simulator driver plus he drives some Xfinity for us, and you’ve got to learn how to treat them all. I can’t treat Daniel Hemric and AJ Allmendinger the same. They’re just two totally different people, and they actually probably became best friends over the last couple of years.I think AJ worries more about Daniel’s career than Daniel does, and I think Daniel worries more about AJ’s career than he does. Yeah, what I’ve learned with AJ is you leave him alone when it’s time to leave him alone, but you also get in his ass when it’s time to get in his ass. He takes it. That’s the way it is. But the key to AJ is he knows we have his back no matter what. If you think about a stat, he’s won a NASCAR race over the last five years. He’s won in NASCAR in either the Xfinity Series or Cup Series, he’s won one race over the last five years. He’s won every single year he’s signed a contract for Kaulig Racing. That’s why we have his back. Q. Your post-race celebration up in the grandstands, I’m looking at a photo here, you were surrounded by every driver, uniform, sweatshirt, tee-shirt, hat possible. They were all loving on you, and then there’s this one guy that has an AJ Allmendinger shirt on, as well, just in case you missed him. But that was a crazy scene. What was it like being out there with those fans, and what made you think to do that?AJ ALLMENDINGER: I actually told Chris that I was going to do it. He said yesterday when I talked to him, said, what time are you getting to the track. I told him. He said, well, I might be going for a run. I said, yeah, the only run I’m planning on running is running into the crowd after we’re done racing. I think you see my emotion, and that’s real. It’s raw. I don’t want to be crying on TV, but it comes down to that’s how much I care. You know, I hope fans respect that. You don’t have to be a fan of mine, but I hope you respect how much I care and how much winning a race — the thing I hate most is watching somebody win a race and it’s because they win too much and they get out of the car, and they’re like, yay, and you’re like — they go, next, like okay, that’s how you know you win too much. Don’t get me wrong, I’d like to be like that. Yeah, it’s just raw emotion. You just want to go up there and celebrate. I think maybe part of it was the first couple of races I won with Kaulig Racing I didn’t celebrate with anybody. It was the pandemic. Turned around, I was like, hey, all right. Good job, AJ Hell, Atlanta, they weren’t even allowed in Victory Lane. I was just trying to have fun with it. It’s things — like I said, especially kids. You don’t have to be my fan, but I think we all love this sport. There’s a reason why we’re all in this sport, and it’s because at some point in your life, and a lot of it was when we were kids, you fell in love with it, for whatever reason why. To me to go up there and celebrate, especially when there’s kids up there, that’s memories — maybe it’s a kid that’s never been to a race and didn’t really care. Next thing you know they’re celebrating next to a driver. It’s pretty special. I don’t think about it in the time, but you just want to celebrate with everybody. It was cool — I told everybody coming to the start-finish line after, I said, all the men and women that are here, come celebrate with me on the front straight away, and then you go up there, and it’s just about making memories and having fun. Like I said, you don’t ever know if you’re going to win another Cup race, so you’ve got to celebrate like it’s your last. That’s why I celebrate, because you never know when it’s your last. I spent many years not even come close to winning. You’re never going to see me get out of the car, do the, hey, and walk away. It’s raw emotion. Q. AJ, your emotions are all over the place. You talk about how difficult it is for you and also how much you love it. I guess you guys already know what you’re doing and you’re not going to tell us, but I’m curious, you’re about a month into fatherhood. Let’s say you’re Jimmie Johnson and you can do anything you want and money is not a factor. What do you want to do, AJ?AJ ALLMENDINGER: I just want to keep racing with the Kaulig Racing Chevy. I’m not going anywhere. This will be the cars that whenever I’m done driving — Matt and Chris have given me the option of you keep doing this while you’re having fun and you’re enjoying it, and I’ve given them also the rule, keep me in the car as long as you want, as long as I’m bringing something to the race team. The moment I’m not, then it’s fair. I wouldn’t say we go our separate ways, but we do something different. But yeah, I love what I’m doing. When you see me not having fun, it’s because I want us to be better. More importantly, I want me to be better because that’s what I put on my shoulders is to be better for all of us, to make us better. That’s why you see so much emotion come out of me. Q. Matt, this is your second full-time season and your first Cup win as a full-time car owner. I know you have won a Cup race before, but is it harder than you thought it was going to be?MATT KAULIG: Yeah. I mean, I almost talk about it as being almost impossible. That’s actually how Chris and I talk about it. It’s like, these things are impossible to win just because the talent level of — the talent level of everybody on the teams, the drivers, the crew chiefs, the engineers, it’s the highest level of motorsports. It’s a really, really hard almost impossible thing to do. With AJ and with our team, we’ve actually now done it twice. You know, our goal, honestly, when I got into the sport eight years ago, nine years ago, our goal was to maybe try to win an Xfinity race, like one. It was a pretty surreal moment even standing there watching everybody run out to — like AJ said, to the start-finish line and congratulate AJI just stood on the pit lane or pit road or whatever and just watched everybody, and it’s a really surreal experience to say what all the men and women and drivers and everybody else at Kaulig Racing have done and experienced. We just won our second Cup race, and just how proud I am of Chris, how proud I am of AJ and of Matt, and again, all the men and women at Kaulig Racing for what they’ve accomplished over the last several years. But it’s just a really surreal experience, and I’m really proud of them. I’m proud of them for them. You know, as the laps were winding down when it was 15 to go and 10 to go and you were seeing everything play out today, I was just standing behind the pit box just thinking that and watching that. I’ve got my name all over it, there’s Kaulig Racing, there’s Kaulig companies everywhere, and there’s Leaf Filter, my company that I started in 2005 that’s all over the cars, and seeing all of our sponsors and seeing all the employees that have worked for us now for literally years, just really proud of them and proud for them of what they’re accomplishing. Really, really grateful. Q. AJ, this race seemed like there was a lot more action throughout the field, more natural cautions in the last two. Is that a result of racetrack, being an elimination race, desperation? What were your thoughts on that?AJ ALLMENDINGER: Yeah, I think obviously the stage breaks, they kind of bunch the field back up, and you’ve got the saying cautions breed cautions. But I think some of it’s the racetrack, as well. Especially in the infield, it’s easy to make a mistake and slap the fence, and it’s easy to get into somebody, and with where we’re at in the year, drivers, we’re all racing for something, whether it’s a championship, it’s trying to make it to the next round. It’s the best position possible in points, or you’re searching for a ride, everybody is kind of probably on edge. It’s a long season. I think that’s a lot of the reason you see so much aggression level, and then especially at the end of the race with all those cautions, it’s just going to — everybody is going to start taking and no gives. I think that’s probably a big reason of why. Q. Probably two of the most challenging road courses that you run on are here and at Indy, and you’ve won both. In a lot of ways, if it’s a tough race course, I guess you’re the guy that’s ready for the challenge. How do you describe being able to master both of those?AJ ALLMENDINGER: Well, it takes a great race car for sure. It takes everything kind of working out the right way. I’ve grown up road course racing. Part of what I love about it is I feel like I can — a driver can make a little bit of a different. It still takes an amazing race car to go out there and do it. I thought last year here we had a real shot to win the race, and it just didn’t play out the way we wanted it to, but a lot of it — a lot of the credit goes to Squid just because he works so hard at the shop kind of in the leadership role of overseeing the Cup program and kind of trying to figure out which direction we need to go. Obviously Chris has got — overseeing everything, but with Squid, we’ve had some road courses this year early in the year especially where we probably struggled a lot. Chicago was a race that we completely missed it and just struggled. But I feel like over the last few, we’ve had a lot of speed. Indy we missed it early in the weekend and put us behind, and the race just didn’t play out the way we wanted it to. Watkins Glen I thought maybe we had one of the cars to beat, just couldn’t get up front.So yeah, when we have a good race car and we do the things that we know we’re capable of doing, we know we can at least be up front at any type of racetrack, but as I said, we can go out there and win the race. THE MODERATOR: Thank you, guys, for spending some time with us. Congratulations again.

ENNIS, TX (October 8, 2023) — Veteran Funny Car driver Terry Haddock took the win light over Top Fuel driver Mitch King tonight during the inaugural Texas Invitational match race to kick off the opening weekend of the 3^rd annual Stampede of Speed. Haddock outran fellow Funny Car competitor Jeff Diehl on Saturday in the opening round of the Texas Invitational to set up the monster tilt with King for the Texas Invitational championship belt. King advanced to the final by outrunning a tire smoking Buddy Hull on Saturday. After the win Haddock was thrilled to have put on an exciting show for thousands of concert goers as well as drag racing fans.

 Terry Haddock (second from left) celebrates with the Texas Invitational championship belt and his crew, photo by Werner Communications

“Any win is awesome, and I am super proud of my guys,” said Haddock, surrounded by his crew. “I am super grateful and thankful to the Meyer family for putting this event together. They are trying to grow the sport of drag racing and we need more people like them out here. This Stars of Texas event with the concerts, bull riding, drag racing is just awesome. We had so many people come up to our Funny Car that had never seen anything like it and now they are fans. This was a great two days of racing and music. I can’t wait to get to the Texas Fall Nationals.”
 
“I like racing Mitch King and those guys as well as Jeff Diehl and Buddy Hull. This was a great group of drivers to show off for the fans on Saturday and Sunday. When you can run a Funny Car against a Top Fuel dragster and do something different that’s a lot of fun. It was cool at the top end to see a Top Fuel dragster make the turn and pull up beside us. This was a great time,” added Haddock.
 
The Texas Invitational was a new addition to the already packed line up of the Stars of Texas Music Festival weekend. On Saturday fans were treated to a star-studded line-up of 90s country music stars capped off with great sets from Texas country legends Sawyer Brown and Clay Walker. Throughout the day fans were treated to junior bull riding and a variety of vendor booths. Between sets fans were thrilled by drag races and an awesome country music themed drone show. On Sunday more country music filled the sky with headliner Midland capping a fun-filled day that included a beautiful lantern release by thousands of the fans in attendance. There was also a beer expo, Jambo’s BBQ contest, and more bull riding.
 
“The first three days of the Stampede of Speed exceeded all our expectations with bigger crowds, great weather and so much exciting action on and off the track,” said Christie Meyer Johnson, co-owner of the Texas Motorplex. “This event will only get better next year with more acts, racing and satellite events. Our goal is to make this the destination event in October for racing, music and family fun for fans from across the country.”
 
The Stampede of Speed will continue for seven more days with highlight events including the Champions’ Dinner on Wednesday, October 11 and the Pre-Stage FanFest on Thursday, October 12 in downtown Waxahachie. The 39^th annual NHRA Texas Fall Nationals will start on October 12 as well and run through championship Sunday on October 15. For a complete schedule and ticket information fans can visit www.stampedeofspeed.com.
 

October 8, 2023

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang emerged from a rough-and-tumble race on the ROVAL at Charlotte Motor Speedway with a 24th-place finish.

Burton started the 109-lap race on the 17-turn, 2.28-mile track from 31st place. He worked his way up to 25th by Lap 17, pitted a lap later and ended the first 25-lap Stage in 28th place.

It was like rinse and repeat in the second Stage as he worked his way back up to 26th, made a stop then ended that segment again in 28th.

In the third and final portion of the race he got up to 20th place with 15 laps remaining. The Motorcraft/Quick Lane team elected to pit for fresh tire at that point. Burton restarted 27th, and after dropping back initially he regained the lost ground and wound up 24th at the checkered flag.

Burton and the No. 21 team now turn their attention to next Sunday’s South Point 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

NASCAR CUP SERIES CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE BANK OF AMERICA ROVAL TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT OCTOBER 8, 2023 Allmendinger Claims the Victory at the Charlotte ROVAL; Byron and Larson Advance to Round of Eight

·       Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger scored the first playoff upset of the season – taking his No. 16 Celsius Camaro ZL1 to the victory in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.  ·       A four time winner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course, Allmendinger has now recorded 14 career road course victories at the NASCAR national level, with three coming in NASCAR’s premier series.   ·       Allmendinger delivered Chevrolet its series-leading fourth NASCAR Cup Series victory in the series’ sixth appearance at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course.  ·       Chevrolet continues to lead the series with 16 NASCAR Cup Series victories this season, and 849 all-time victories in NASCAR’s premier series.  ·       Hendrick Motorsports teammates William Byron and Kyle Larson advanced to the NASCAR Cup Series Round of Eight. With the playoff standings reset, Byron maintains the top position of the standings, with Larson in the fourth position, heading into the next round.

AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Celsius Camaro ZL1 – Race Winner QuotesYou’ve won some big races in your life; why was this one so emotional?“Because you don’t know when you’re going to do it again. I love all the men and women at Kaulig Racing so much. First of all, hi to my beautiful wife and my new baby boy. I usually give these checkered flags away but I’m going to have to wrap this around Aero. My mom and dad, all my family and friends – those people see how much anguish and how much I put it on my shoulders when we’re struggling. It just means the world. I hate crying right now, but it’s a freaking Cup race, man. You don’t know when it’s ever going to happen again. Let’s go!” Does all the anguish make these moments worth it?“And more. This is why you do it. This is the only reason you do it. You fight. All the blood, sweat, tears, everybody at Kaulig Racing has just been such – I wouldn’t say a down year, but an up-and-down year. It’s our second year in the Cup Series. I can’t thank Celsius enough for coming on board. All of our partners – Nutrient Ag Solutions, Action Industries, Leaf Filter, Chevy, and ECR for everything that they do for us. Matt Kaulig, Chris Rice, Sparco and Arai Helmets, and Corby Concepts – everybody that allows me to do this. Especially Matt and Chris, I freaking love you guys so much.”  TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER1st      AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Celsius Camaro ZL12nd     William Byron, No. 24 HP Camaro ZL13rd      Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL18th      Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL19th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL110th    Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1  The NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs Round of Eight will get underway at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway with the South Point 400 on Sunday, October 15, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the NBC, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES: Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1Finished: 10th How do you come to terms with this playoff run and the fact that it’s ending here today? “We knew coming in that it was going to be tough. We put together a heck of a day for us on road courses this year in this No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevy. Lately, we’ve just been lacking speed and I can’t get over the curbs. There’s a lot of reasons. We’ve reverted on some of that through Watkins Glen (International) and to here (Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course) and it’s really paid off. I’m excited with the gains we’ve made. We came out of the box super strong in 2022 – won the first road course race in the Next Gen car. And then it just slowly kind of stepped back all the way until mid-season this year.  I can’t wait to get to work in the morning, to Las Vegas (Motor Speedway) and every race after that.” Austin Dillon, No. 3 Huk Performance Fishing Camaro ZL1Finished: 14th “I’m proud of everyone on the No. 3 Huk Chevrolet team for their effort today. We finished the race, what is more than we could say about the previous two weeks. Our Chevy was too tight on the right-hand turns all day, but by making adjustments on pit road throughout the day we got better at the end. It was a good recovery by our team. We got turned around mid-race and when the No. 4 car barreled into the No. 7 car who got into us. Overall, proud of the effort of this team.” Kyle Larson, No. 5 Valvoline / HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1Finished: 13th“It was a stressful weekend, but the No. 5 team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports did a great job working hard on this backup car late last night. I felt like our car was really good today. We were just pretty conservative there at times. I just didn’t want to make a mistake like I did last year and take ourselves completely out of it. It was just stressful there the final stage, but we were able to get in, which was the goal.” Did you know that if Kyle (Busch) won, it was going to be a dog fight, and was the team keeping you updated of the points during the race? “Yeah, I had my eyes on the No. 8 (Kyle Busch), for sure. I was nervous on the restarts. I just assumed that the No. 54 (Ty Gibbs) and the No. 16 (AJ Allmendinger) would crash or something, and then he’d get in the lead and throw a wrench in everything. It worked out and I’m just happy to get through this round. I didn’t execute nearly good enough. We’re going to some great tracks for us in this next round and hopefully we’ll make it to Phoenix.”  Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL1 Finished: 3rdWhat more did you need, especially in that final run? “Just more overall grip. Those last couple of restarts, we were just fighting with traction up off the corners and with front-turn to be able to turn into the corners. We gave it a valiant effort. That was about what we thought we would get out of here, at least what I thought. We wanted to come in here and win. This team is capable of running and they gave me a great car today. The Lenovo Camaro was fast. We had good speed in it, just wasn’t able to hold on with the tires as long as I wanted to. We’ll take that. It rides on my shoulders anyway with the previous two weeks – not getting anything out of Texas (Motor Speedway) and not getting a whole lot out of Talladega (Superspeedway). Just bad circumstances, but we’ll fight on another day.”  William Byron, No. 24 HP Camaro ZL1Finished: 2ndThere were points where you looked like you were gaining on AJ Allmendinger. What more did you need? “Yeah, just one final run to get within a car-length there. The air buffer is kind of tough there with three to four car lengths. But once you get within one, you can kind of manipulate his car a little bit, so I was hoping for that. It’s been a great year for the No. 24 HP Chevy team and we’ve been great on all the road courses. I had that one shot with probably eight laps to go. AJ (Allmendinger) just did a good job blocking the chicane there. He didn’t miss his marks and it was too early to make a dive bomb to him.  Just proud of the whole team. The Z by HP Camaro was awesome. We definitely improved a lot as the race went on. It was good to have Z by HP on the car – a new partner for us, so that was really fun. Just good momentum. We’ve got to keep it rolling. I’d like to finish one-two-two in the next round, too. That would be ideal, but we just have to keep performing like this and we’ll be where we want to be.” Mike Rockenfeller, No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Camaro ZL1Finished: 29th “Well that was definitely not the result that we wanted, but thanks to the team for the hard work. We didn’t have the pace, but then also we got caught up in the incident here in the last chicane. That definitely ended our race hopes, but yeah, it was a great experience to be back at the ROVAL. Everybody on our No. 42 team fought well, especially on pit lane. The boys kept us on the lead lap and that was pretty much all we could do. Thank you a lot to Jimmie Johnson and Maury Gallagher for giving me the call, and I wish Carson (Hocevar) and the Sunseeker Resort team well in the rest of the races this year.” Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in the final stage. Finished: 36th “We’ve kind of struggled all year on road courses. We haven’t really had a good day on one this season, so I need to get better on my end – figure out what to do and how to race on them. With this car, I’ve never really had a great day on road courses, so it’s frustrating. The car is just different to drive on road courses, so just have to get better. Hopefully for next year, we can figure out what to do, get some more simulator time and dial it in.”

TEAM CHEVY RACE NOTES:  STAGE ONE: ·       Trackhouse Racing’s Daniel Suarez posted the third-fastest lap in Saturday’s qualifying session to lead Chevrolet to the green-flag in the NASCAR Cup Series Round of 12 elimination race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. ·       After being forced to a backup car after an accident in Saturday’s practice session, Kyle Larson gained 15-positions in the opening 20 laps. Larson reported that his No. 5 Camaro ZL1 was tight in turns three-four and five-six as the field approached the first round of green-flag pit stops. Sitting in the 21st position, crew chief Cliff Daniels called Larson to pit road for four tires and fuel with five laps remaining in Stage One. ·       Entering the elimination race below the playoff cutline, crew chief Phil Surgen elected a pit strategy for track position in the opening stage. With much of the field coming to pit road for scheduled green-flag stops, Ross Chastain cycled up to the third position to collected eight points in Stage One. ·       Chastain led Chevrolet to five top-10 finishes in Stage One: 3rd      Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL16th      Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Aguas Frescas Camaro ZL17th      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL18th      Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL110th     AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Celsius Camaro ZL1 STAGE TWO:·       Pitting prior to the end of Stage One, Daniel Suarez cycled back to the top of the leaderboard as the leaders came to pit road – ultimately taking a spot on the front-row to lead the field to the start of Stage Two. ·       Restarting from the third position, Chase Elliott quickly took over the top position in the opening laps of the stage. Leading 15 circuits in the stage, Elliott hit a milestone feat in his NASCAR Cup Series career – scoring 5,000 laps led in NASCAR’s top series. ·       Elliott continued to pace the field as another round of green-flag pit stops got underway in the closing laps of the stage. Crew chief Alan Gustafson called Elliott to pit road when a caution came out. Narrowly missing the commitment line, Elliott maintained his track position as the race leader, ultimately going on to take the Stage Two win. ·       Team Chevy Stage Two: Top-101st      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL15th      Kyle Larson, No. 5 Valvoline / HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL16th      Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL110th     Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL1 FINAL STAGE / POST-RACE NOTES: ·       Finding his way to pit road during the stage break, crew chief Gustafson called for a four-tire and fuel stop on the No. 9 Camaro ZL1 with Elliott taking the green-flag for the final stage from the 26th position. ·       Pitting prior to stage end, strategy from atop the pit box put Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Camaro ZL1 team on the front-row for the start of the final stage. Taking the green-flag with 56 laps to go, Busch took the lead entering turn one – going on to lead six laps before a battle for the lead ensued with fellow Chevrolet driver AJ Allmendinger. ·       The four-time NASCAR Xfinity Series Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course winner made a pass for the lead – quickly pulling his No. 16 Camaro ZL1 to a 2.4 second lead with 45 laps remaining. Continuing under green-flag conditions, Allmendinger brought his Chevrolet to pit road for four tires and fuel – reentering the field with 38 laps to go. ·       Faced with a handful of cautions, Allmendinger continued to maintain the top position during each restart battle. The restart with 10 laps to go saw Team Chevy playoff contender Kyle Busch lineup alongside Allmendinger. Making contact as the pair led the field to the green-flag, Allmendinger ultimately came away with the lead exiting turn one. ·       Allmendinger was able to hold-off a hard charging William Byron and Kyle Busch to score a playoff upset – taking the checkered flag for his third career NASCAR Cup Series victory.

(10/9/23) Hanford, California … The high-powered NARC 410 Sprint Car Series, presented by NAPA Auto Parts, will invade Kings Speedway on Friday, October 13th for the rescheduled Morrie Williams Memorial race.  The highly-anticipated show, which features a pair of 20-lap feature events, was originally scheduled for September 30th, but was rescheduled due to uncooperative track conditions due to a water well issue.

The Morrie Williams Memorial is raced in honor of iconic California car owner Morrie Williams. Williams fielded an incredibly successful team that won NARC 410 Sprint Series titles in 2006, 2008, 2012, and 2017 with drivers Jonathan Allard and Bud Kaeding.  Established in 2020, the event runs twin main events, with an overall champion crowned at night’s end. The first feature lineup is based on the standard NARC 410 Sprint Car Series format. In contrast, the second main event is a complete inversion of the finishing order of the finish from the initial one. So, a driver that finished towards the back of the opening main could win the concluding feature. Past overall champions include Tim Kaeding (2020), Justin Sanders (2021), and Corey Day (2022).

“We are glad that we could get this race rescheduled and back on the calendar, especially this late into the season,” said Ashley Smith, longtime crew chief for the Williams Motorsports #0 team and Morrie’s son-in-law.  “This is a very special event and I think the twin feature format is always very entertaining.”

Friday’s show will also include the Kings of Thunder 360 sprint cars.

Who to Watch

Defending Morrie Williams Memorial winner Corey Day already has two 410 Sprint Car scores at Kings in 2023. He is coming off a remarkable World of Outlaws West Coast Swing, including winning the Gold Cup Race of Champions at Silver Dollar Speedway for his first Outlaw win. The Clovis teenager also turned heads at the Knoxville Nationals by making the main event. “We’re leading points with NARC by a good margin, and going back to Hanford gets me excited with how consistent and good we’ve been there,” stated Day, “hopefully, we can extend our lead a little bit.”

2023 Dirt Cup winner Justin Sanders enters the Morrie Williams Memorial second in championship points and is looking to earn his second career overall title in this special race. Running the Mittry Motorsports #2X, the Aromas racer was fourth at the 49er Gold Rush Classic at Placerville Speedway and the runner-up at the Gold Cup to Day, with an impressive stint against the Outlaws in California.

Two-time defending NARC 410 Sprint champion Dominic Scelzi has been very fast at this event in years past and is third in the series points table. The Fresno phenom won the second feature in 2020 and the first one in 2021, as well as the Peter Murphy Classic finale in May. Scelzi is coming off a third-place performance in Hanford against the Outlaws at the Tom Tarlton Classic on September 15th.

2019 NARC champ D.J. Netto will make a big hometown stand to win his first Morrie Williams Memorial. Netto was the 2021 Dave Helm Memorial winner at Kings for his lone 410 triumph at the facility. He was an impressive second at the Kings of Thunder 360 event on September 14th, a week ago.

Jonathan Allard is expected to make his long-awaited 2023 debut with the NARC series. The three-time series champion, originally from Chico and now calling Waimauku, Auckland, New Zealand home, has four Kings Speedway wins since 2001, including last year’s Morrie Williams Memorial second main event. Allard drove for Morrie Williams from 2005-2013,

The Bates-Hamilton Racing #42X team is ready to get back to NARC 410 Sprint Series competition. Driven by Justyn Cox, earned two seventh-place results at Kings with the series in the spring. The Roseville racer is a force to be reckoned with, as he won the Dennis Roth Classic in April at Thunderbowl Raceway. He also has found a lot of speed in the summer by winning back-to-back 360 features at Placerville Speedway in early August.

Bud Kaeding is another former Williams Motorsports pilot and earned the team their last NARC 410 Sprint Car Series title in 2017. The third-generation Campbell native drove for Morrie Williams from 2014-2019 and has come very close to capturing his first NARC win of the current campaign and no doubt is a threat this weekend.

Also, look out for more stars of the NARC 410 Sprint Car Series circuit, including Chase Johnson of Penngrove, Oakley youngster Dylan Bloomfield, Benicia’s Billy Aton, and Tucson transplant Nick Parker. Several other Central Valley challengers, such as Fresno veteran Craig Stidham, Tipton’s Dawson Faria, and Gauge Garcia of Lemoore, will be on tap, among others.

Fan & Competitor Info

Kings Speedway is located at the Kings Fairgrounds at 801 S 10th Avenue in Hanford, CA.

Ticket prices are $25.00 for Adults, $20.00 for Seniors/Military (with valid I.D.)/Students (7-17), and Kids (6 and Under) are FREE. For online ticket purchases, log on to https://tinyurl.com/8m2jr6m7.  Additional information is available at www.racekingsspeedway.com.

Pit Gates open at 1:00 pm, Front Gates at 4:00, Hot Laps at 5:00, and Racing is scheduled to kick off around 6:00. Be sure to visit Pete’s Pub after the Front Gates open and take advantage of special deals on food and beverages before the races start.

The NARC racing format includes qualifying, four 8-lap heat races, an exciting six-lap trophy dash, a 12-lap last chance race, and two 20-lap NAPA Auto Parts-sponsored Morrie Williams Memorial main events.

The NARC 410 Sprint Series, presented by Napa Auto Parts, is the leading 410 Sprint Car tour west of the Rocky Mountains. Since 1960, they have enthralled countless thousands of fans from tracks up and down the Pacific Coast. For more information, visit their website at www.narc410.com or social media pages.

The Morrie Williams Memorial can be viewed live on Floracing.com, along with every NARC 410 Sprint Car Series race.

The NARC 410 Sprint Car Racing Series is also sponsored by Hoosier Racing Tires, Floracing.com, and NAPA Auto Parts. Associate and product award sponsors include Automotive Racing Products (ARP), Beacon Wealth Strategies-Raymond James Financial, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, Bullet Impressions, D & D Roofing, Diversified Machine Inc., Johnstone Supply, Kaeding Performance Center, Kimo’s Tropical Car Wash, KSE Racing Enterprises, Lifeline LLC, Maxim Racing Products, Mettec Titanium, Pyrotect, Safecraft Safety Equipment, Saldana Racing Products, Schoenfeld Headers, Scelzi Enterprises, SCI Racing Products, Starr Property Management, Sunnyvalley Bacon, System 1 Ignition, Ultra Lite Brakes, Williams Roofing, Wilwood Disc Brakes, and Winters Performance Products.

NARC 410 SPRINT CAR SERIES 
CHAMPIONSHIP POINT STANDINGS
(AFTER 17 EVENTS IN 20-RACE SERIES – 10/8/23)

1. Corey Day, Clovis – 2239
2. Justin Sanders, Aromas – 2192
3. Dominic Scelzi, Fresno – 2190
4. Justyn Cox, Roseville – 2165
5. Bud Kaeding, Campbell – 2159
6. Dylan Bloomfield, Oakley – 2098
7. Billy Aton, Benicia – 2028
8. Chase Johnson, Penngrove – 2028
9. Nick Parker, Tucson, AZ (R) – 2017
10. Tanner Holmes, Central Point, OR – 1483
11. Joel Myers Jr., Sebastopol – 1465
12. DJ Netto, Hanford – 1453
13. Shane Golobic, Fremont – 1381
14. Cole Macedo, Hanford – 1354
15. Burt Foland Jr., San Jose (R) -1220
16. Colby Copeland, Roseville – 1207
17. Joey Ancona, Concord (R) – 1023
18. Kaleb Montgomery, Templeton (R) – 1010
19. Karl Hoffmans, Australia – 816
20. Andy Caruana, Australia – 799

Upcoming Events:
October 28th – The Dirt Track at Kern County Raceway Park (Bakersfield) – Halloween Spectacular
November 4th – Stockton Dirt Track – 40th Annual Tribute to Gary Patterson

November 5th – Championship Celebration at the Brookside Country Club in Stockton, CA.

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (October 8, 2023) – A podium finish Saturday at Virginia International Raceway in his #16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang secured Chris Dyson’s third consecutive Trans Am by Pirelli National Series Championship. One race remains on the 2023 schedule, but Dyson now has an unassailable lead in the points standings. Simply scoring a 9th-place finish would have ensured the title, but while the race was dominated by 17-year-old guest driver Connor Zilisch, Dyson raced both hard and smart all the way through the 100-mile sprint, engaged in what the broadcast’s winner’s circle commentator called “the race to watch” for the other two podium positions with Austrian guest driver Ragginger and Justin Marks, the driver who has provided Dyson’s strongest head-to-head competition over the course of the season. After a back-and-forth battle with the pair Dyson passed Marks for third place with two laps remaining. His pursuit of Ragginger for second place came up less than three-tenths of a second short. “Those guys sure didn’t make it easy for me,” Dyson said after climbing from his car. “It was a hell of a fight! These cars are so amazing to race and especially at a fast and flowing track like VIR. Today was fantastic out there with Justin and Martin. I am pretty sure we had a P2 car but traffic was the wild card and no one was giving an inch. But it was clean and fair racing. A lot of trust and respect between the three of us. This third championship, it hasn’t quite sunk in yet. But I am so proud of the team’s efforts. We worked very hard for this one and to clinch the Drivers and Team Championships this way, with such a memorable race, it’s very meaningful to me.” Dyson’s three-peat of National Trans Am Series titles puts him in elite company. Prior to Dyson, only Tommy Kendall (1995-1997) and Ernie Francis, Jr. (2017-2020) had ever achieved that milestone in the series’ over half-century history.  Next Up: Circuit of the Americas The Trans Am Series’ next event is November 5-8 at Circuit of the Americas in Autin, Texas. COTA is the final round of the 2023 Trans Am by Pirelli season. “It will be great to be at COTA with championship decided,” Dyson said. “We will be totally focused on winning the race.” Dyson noted that the team will bring both the five-year-old GYM WEED Mustang that has carried him to his three championships as well as the new car the CD Racing team has been developing over the course of the season. “We have never paused our R&D on all fronts, and while we will most definitely celebrate today, pretty soon the attention turns to the future. You can never stand still in racing. COTA should give us a sense of where we stand looking ahead to 2024.”VIR Rebroadcast Schedule A 60-minute feature on the VIR race will be broadcast this Thursday at 9:00 p.m. ET to MAVTV’s 22 million North American linear households and 175 million connected devices. For more on Chris Dyson Racing, visit chrisdysonracing.com

WISELY DONE: Zeb Wise Rolls to First World of Outlaws Victory in Port Royal’s Nittany ShowdownAngola, IN driver holds off Friday’s winner – Tyler Courtney – to complete Hoosier sweep of weekendPORT ROYAL, PA (October 7, 2023) – Zeb Wise is continuing along a path to Sprint Car stardom.Only a few weeks ago, the Angola, IN native finalized his first All-Star Circuit of Champions (ASCoC) title. But even with 13 ASCoC wins and a championship under his belt, a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car win had eluded him. Until Saturday night.Entering the World of Outlaws vs. PA Posse battle as an Indiana invader, Wise earned the pole for the 30-lap Feature at Port Royal Speedway. The 20-year-old slipped to second early before rallying to move by a Pennsylvania legend and held off one of his closest friends to make his first trip to Victory Lane with The Greatest Show on Dirt and pocket $15,000.As with any first time World of Outlaws winner, emotion spilled over after the checkered flag. In only his 23rd career Feature start with the Series, Wise drove the Rudeen Racing #26 to his first win. And not only did Wise collect his first victory, he also brought Kevin Rudeen’s team their first Series triumph since 2011, 4,418 days ago, when Sam Hafertepe Jr. topped a World of Outlaws visit to Skagit Speedway.“It’s been a long road,” Wise said. “I remember my first few Outlaw races. One of them was actually here, and I had no clue what I was doing. I was definitely out in left field. And coming back here as many times as I’ve been here, I’ve gotten really comfortable here. And this is always a place I love coming to but always seemed to struggle at… Last night we didn’t really have a good showing. We came back and were really strong out of the gate, so I’m just very proud of our team.”Wise’s win completed an Indiana invader sweep of the weekend at “The Speed Palace” as fellow Hoosier and ASCoC competitor – Tyler Courtney – topped Friday’s portion of the Nittany Showdown. Wise also became the third first time World of Outlaws winner this season, joining Brady Bacon and Corey Day. With Wise’s triumph, 152 different drivers have now won a World of Outlaws Feature, and Wise is the 12th to do so from the state of Indiana.The path to Victory Lane was by no means an easy one. After winning the Toyota Racing Dash, Wise started the main event on the pole, but it was Lance Dewease rolling by Wise on the bottom to lead the first lap.After Dewease grabbed the top spot, the Fayetteville, PA native established a solid gap between himself and Wise in the early going, and the margin stabilized around one second. As Dewease rolled the bottom and middle aboard the Macri Motorsports #39M, the distance between the two stayed roughly the same through much of the first half of the race. It was just before the halfway mark when Wise began to flex his muscle.Wise started to build momentum by ripping the cushion through Turns 1 and 2 to create a massive run down the back straightaway. On the 16th lap, that line allowed Wise to close on Dewease’s tail tank. Three laps later, Wise used the high side to blast by Dewease exiting Turn 2.“I knew Lance wasn’t going to go to the top in (Turns) 1 and 2, but he was just high enough on entry where it was really hard for me to get into the corner good enough to clear him off of (Turn) 2. I got close multiple times and just didn’t want to show my nose too early and put us in a bad spot for later. So, I kind of took my time, and I knew we had a really fast race car. Even right after Lap 1 when I was in second, I figured we’d have a shot at it for sure.” Wise might’ve had the lead with only 10 laps to go, but the race was far from over. Dewease surged back to his inside over the next couple laps in a bid to regain the lead. And when those efforts came up short, a new challenger arose.All the way from the 10th starting spot, Tyler Courtney passed Dewease on the 25th circuit as the Indianapolis, IN native was eying a weekend sweep. Wise had to fend off Courtney to secure an All-Star title with Rudeen Racing, and he’d be forced to hold off the same driver with his first World of Outlaws win on the line.Courtney began to close in aboard the Clauson Marshall Racing/NOS Energy Drink #7BC, trimming Wise’s lead from a second nearly down to half a second in two laps. But with two laps to go, Wise pieced together a strong enough trip around the half mile to pull slightly ahead and make for a comfortable final lap as he locked up a win he’ll never forget with his close friend following him to the line.“It’s really cool,” Wise said. “Me and Tyler have an awesome relationship. Obviously, we were teammates a handful of years back. It makes it even more special to be able to battle toe to toe like this it seems like every night. He was way ahead of us last night. But tonight I looked up and saw he was in third of fourth on one of those restarts and figured he was going to be coming. It’s really cool for us to be able to go head-to-head like this and have fun.”Courtney came home second, narrowly missing a weekend sweep after his Friday victory. While he would’ve liked to go back to back, he was happy to run second to Wise and see him reach the major career accomplishment.“Every time I’d get to him with my wing that far back I would kind of just lose my nose just a little bit right at the entry of the corner just kind of slip by grip a little bit,” Courtney said. “I tried the middle there coming to the checkered, and I should’ve moved up there about five laps before that. But I had made all my ground there on the bottom and felt like if I could hit my marks I was better than him down there, but it wasn’t meant to be tonight. It’s cool to see him win. He’s had a hell of a year. I know how special those first ones are.”And rounding out the top three was Shark Racing’s Logan Schuchart as he led the way for the World of Outlaws regulars. The result marked Schuchart’s 14th Series podium of the season as he methodically worked his way forward from eighth.“We just slowly but surely moved the wing back and were able to run through the middle,” Schuchart said. “It wasn’t like you could just pound the fence or anything, so I don’t know what the cars were doing behind me or even the cars up front. I just felt like I had to pull the wing back, float through the middle, and just work on each car that was in front of us lap by lap. Slowly, we just kind of picked them off.”David Gravel and Lance Dewease completed the top five.David Gravel grabbed his 13th Simpson Performance Products QuickTime of the year and 110th of his career.CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat Race One was claimed by Zeb Wise. NOS Energy Drink Heats Two through Four were topped by Brad Sweet, Logan Schuchart, and Brian Brown.Danny Dietrich won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.After an early Feature crash, Donny Schatz was awarded the Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head back to the heartland next weekend for a Kansas doubleheader. First up is a stop at 81 Speedway in Wichita, KS on Friday, October 13. The next night is a trip over to Kansas City’s Lakeside Speedway for the Micro-Lite Harvest Rumble. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the racing live on DIRTVision.RESULTS:NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 26-Zeb Wise[1]; 2. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[10]; 3. 1S-Logan Schuchart[8]; 4. 2-David Gravel[9]; 5. 39M-Lance Dewease[2]; 6. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[5]; 7. 24-Rico Abreu[15]; 8. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 9. 1T-Tanner Holmes[16]; 10. 19-Brent Marks[11]; 11. 49-Brad Sweet[3]; 12. 21-Brian Brown[6]; 13. 45-Jeff Halligan[14]; 14. 91-Kyle Reinhardt[18]; 15. 23-Devon Borden[7]; 16. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[19]; 17. 9P-Parker Price Miller[17]; 18. 11T-TJ Stutts[25]; 19. 5-Spencer Bayston[13]; 20. 20G-Noah Gass[26]; 21. 5W-Lucas Wolfe[23]; 22. (DNF) 48-Danny Dietrich[21]; 23. (DNF) 47K-Kody Lehman[27]; 24. (DNF) 13-Justin Peck[12]; 25. (DNF) 1-Hunter Schuerenberg[20]; 26. (DNF) 15-Donny Schatz[22]; 27. (DNF) 83JR-Michael Kofoid[24]

By Matt Skipper

FAIRBURY, IL (Oct. 7, 2023) – Bobby Pierce’s return to Fairbury Speedway Saturday night could be equated to Taylor Swift’s lyrics of “the air was cold, but something about it felt like home.”

Aside from being in his home state, there’s something about Fairbury that’s like home for the Oakwood, IL native. He picked up his 14th win of the 2023 World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model season during the FALS Frenzy and his 16th win overall at the Illinois bullring – also his second in less than a month there.

The victory comes after his Friday night win at Brownstown Speedway. And like the race at Brownstown, Pierce started on the outside pole for the Feature.

However, this time he started alongside his closest championship competitor, Chris Madden, for the 50-lap match up.

When the Feature commenced Madden pulled ahead and Pierce found himself having to duel with fellow-Illinois native Brian Shirley for second. The two battled side-by-side for a couple laps before Pierce slid up the track in Turn 2, allowing Shirley to charge ahead.

Perfecting his line around the bottom, Shirley snuck underneath Madden a lap later and edged ahead of him for the lead on Lap 5. The two dueled for a few laps with Madden high and Shirley low, before “Smokey” reclaimed full command of the lead.

Having seen the low line work, Madden switch to the bottom, putting a car length between he and Shirley.

Pierce was not running the bottom. Much like the track, there’s something about the high side that’s like home for him.

Using the momentum built off the high side of Turn 2, Pierce threw his #32 underneath Madden going into Turn 3 to take the lead for split second on Lap 9. Madden dove back underneath him and the two drag raced down the front straightaway. Through the next corner, Madden pulled ahead, but Pierce wasn’t giving up on his high side hustle.

On Lap 14, again, using his torpedo launch off Turn 2, he found an opening to the outside of Madden, who was also to the outside of Shirley, down the backstretch and powered by the two with an exciting three-wide pass.

Pierce never surrendered the lead once he was clear of the two leaders, but a late-race caution provoked some nerves for the “Smooth Operator.” While he was leading, Germfree Rookie of the Year contender Nick Hoffman – another Fairbury expert – was on the move behind him, getting to second on Lap 45.

“It was a little nerve-racking,” Pierce said. “You never know when a caution will come out and if someone has saved more tire than you. You go into Turn 1 to make a good corner with that gap to second place, and I pushed going into Turn 1 and I saw (Hoffman’s) nose, but I had a good exit off of (Turn) 2 and took care of it.

“The car was great, but the most nerve-racking part was going through lap traffic and a couple times I got pinched and I couldn’t get around. It was a great racetrack, so you had a car on the bottom, middle and top and it was kinda hard on some guys but that made for an exciting race there for a little bit. Shirley, Madden and me were all side-by-side and it made for a great race. I knew that Madden was trying to not let me or Shirley by, so he had to protect both lines at once. But it made for a fun race and I’m glad to get the win.”

Hoffman ended up in the runner-up spot, his fifth podium finish this year. He tapped into his Modified experience – which earned his 10 wins at Fairbury – to help make it happen.

“The Modified experience was that we raced after the Late Models normally,” Hoffman said. “I’m glad the track was not worked on before we raced, so that the track would slow down, and we could race around each other more. Nine times out of 10 this place gets fast, and you have to ride around the top and a little bit of moisture on the bottom, but the top would prevail. It did that a little bit tonight, but you could make speed through the middle and the bottom. Bobby was so good, and he’s been like that the entire year. This helps us carry momentum into (Senoia Raceway), but we weren’t quite as good as Bobby was tonight.”

Madden was able to recover to finish third, a result that still left him with a smile.

“It was a great race,” Madden said. “They did a phenomenal job giving us a good place to race here. We had to make a few adjustments there and we’re still building the notebook and we definitely went too far with a few things and definitely learned a lot tonight, so we’ll keep working at it and we’ll get a win here soon.”

Three-time Prairie Dirt Classic champion Brandon Sheppard came home in fourth, and Brandon, FL’s Kyle Bronson withstood the competition to finish fifth.

Brent Larson earned the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award, going from 22nd to 13th.

Pierce now has a 156-point lead over Madden before going to tracks that don’t feel like home to him in the south. Only five races remain on the 2023 schedule for him to try and claim his first World of Outlaws title in his first year with the Series at the World of Outlaws World Finals (Nov. 1-4).

NEXT RACE: The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models head to Senoia Raceway for the Billy Clanton Classic on Saturday, Oct. 14, and then Rome Speedway for the World of Outlaws ARP Southeast Showdown on Sunday, Oct. 15.

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

CASE Late Model Feature (50 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[5]; 3. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 4. B5-Brandon Sheppard[10]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[9]; 6. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 7. 16-Tyler Bruening[13]; 8. 24-Ryan Unzicker[7]; 9. 96V-Tanner English[15]; 10. 32S-Chris Simpson[11]; 11. 97-Cade Dillard[17]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 13. B1-Brent Larson[22]; 14. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[12]; 15. 11-Gordy Gundaker[20]; 16. 99-Mckay Wenger[21]; 17. 25-Shane Clanton[18]; 18. 30-Todd Cooney[16]; 19. 14W-Dustin Walker[23]; 20. 25F-Jason Feger[4]; 21. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[24]; 22. 89-Mike Spatola[6]; 23. 8L-Jeffrey Ledford[19]; 24. B12-Kevin Weaver[14]

OSWEGO, NY (Oct. 7, 2023) – Luke Horning added his name to two championship crowns Saturday night at Oswego Speedway.The Gloversville, NY driver scored his first Super DIRT Week DIRTcar Pro Stock title and his first DIRTcar Pro Stock Series championship.“I’ve been wanting this one for a while,” Horning said. “I can’t believe [the World Short Track Championship] came before this. But, man, what a season. Twenty wins (overall). Five on the Series. Won everything but the Valley.”“Cousin Luke” entered the night as a favorite after winning one of Thursday night’s Qualifying Heats but had to come seventh to do so in 25 laps (shortened from 50 due to weather).Leading the field to green were SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Award winner Jay Casey and Fratto Curbing Outside Pole winner and DIRTcar CEO Brian Carter.In their first trip through Turns 1 and 2, Casey launched ahead of the field while Carter faded. Shane Playford split the orange #6C and Jason Casey three-wide to steal second in the first turn.Playford kept his momentum alive down the backstretch and used it to rocket alongside Casey into the next turn. By the exit of Turn 4, Playford completed his quick march from fourth to the lead.Before he could try to build upon that, Johnny Rivers Jr. lost his right front wheel going into Turn 3 and brought out the caution on Lap 1.When the race resumed, Playford sprung ahead of the field, towing Devon Camenga along with him. Behind them, Horning was on the move.The blue #2H moved into third by Lap 4. Then, Jaws music.Camenga kept the pressure on Playford lap after lap with the two drivers hugging the low line every corner. However, Horning wasn’t afraid to try something different. He was one of the first drivers to move to the top, finding a good launch off Turn 4 each lap.A couple tenths here. A couple tenths more. And then a strong enough run bolted Horning by Camenga into second-place on Lap 11.The next lap, a caution brought the field back together. Now, Horning was right alongside Playford.When the green flag flew again, Horning hurdled his car into the first turn and soared around the outside of Playford. The two drag raced down the back stretch and into the next turn. Continuing to master the top lane, Horning powered ahead of Playford to officially take the lead on Lap 13.From there, Horning was untouchable. He drove away to a nearly six second lead by the time the double checkered flags hit the air. First Super DIRT Week win, check. First DIRTcar Pro Stock Series title, locked.“I was getting to those guys and I could tell Devon was a little bit faster than Shane and I was like, I could really roll over there while they were slowing down,” Horning said. “I just needed a good restart to clear. Devon got tight and that’s how I got by him.”With his victory, Horning became the sixth consecutive different driver to win the Super DIRT Week DIRTcar Pro Stock Feature. He joins, Nick Stone, Chad Jeseo, Josh Coonradt, C.D. Beauchamp and Rob Yetman in that group.Shane Playford and Devon Camenga rounded out the podium, both earning career best finishes.“I mean, this guy (Horning) has been doing it forever, he deserves it,” Playford said. “He’s deserved it plenty of times. I just didn’t have the gear right for this track. I was hoping it would slick up a little bit. But it hit the chip way too early and that didn’t help me at all… My car was awesome. I just didn’t have the power.”For Camenga, the race was his Super DIRT Week debut.“It’s so cool, first time ever being here,” Camenga said. “It’s such a great crowd, I know the weather has been iffy all week. I couldn’t be more proud of my guys and all the people supporting me back home.”Chucky Dumblewski won the Penske Racing Shocks Hard Charger Award, making his way from 15th to fourth.Other special award winners were Horning (Dig Race Product Halfway Leader), Rivers Jr. (Velocita USA Last Car/Finisher Award) and Charles Mcspirit (Integra Racing Shocks Last Car on Lead Leap Award).In the DIRTcar Pro Stock Series championship standings, Horning leaves as the new champion, Pete Stefanski finished second, Chad Jeseo third, Shawn Perez Jr. fourth and Johnny Rivers fifth.UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Pro Stock Series will conclude its 2023 season at the World Short Track Championship, Oct. 26-28, at The Dirt Track at Charlotte (a non-points event). For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every lap of the World Short Track Championship live on DIRTVision.DIRTCAR PRO STOCK RESULTS: DIRTcar Pro Stock 25 (25 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning[7]; 2. 6-Shane Playford[4]; 3. 110-Devon Camenga[5]; 4. 7D-Chucky Dumblewski[15]; 5. 2-Pete Stefanski[8]; 6. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[11]; 7. 25-Chad Jeseo[9]; 8. 76K-Kyle Hoard[13]; 9. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[16]; 10. 324-Jason Casey[3]; 11. 322-Jay Casey[1]; 12. 4-Dean Charbonneau[10]; 13. 6C-Brian Carter[2]; 14. 57-Charles Mcspirit[14]; 15. 55-David Stickles[12]; 16. 5B-Ian Bressette[17]; 17. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr[6]

Super DIRT Week is brought to fans by many important sponsors and partners, including: DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Billy Whittaker Cars and Trux, CASE Construction Equipment, Chevrolet Performance and SIS Insurance. Other Super DIRT Week sponsors include: ARP (Automotive Racing Products), A-Verdi, Area Auto Racing News, ASI Race Wear, Bart Contracting Inc, Best Western Plus-Oswego, Beyea Custom Headers, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, Bicknell Racing Products, ButlerBuilt, C&S Companies, CASE No.1 Engine Oil, City of Oswego, Clarion Hotel – Oswego, Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, Dig Race Products, Empire Golf Cars, Fast Line Performance, Fast Shafts, Firebull, Fox Factory, Gypsum Express, Hoosier Racing Tire, HYTORC of New York, Integra Racing Shocks, Intercomp, iRacing, Low-E Insulation, MSD, Oswego County, Penske Shocks, Racing Electronics, SRI / SCAS, Swift Springs, Toyota, Tracey Road Equipment, Velocita, VP Racing Fuels, and Wieland.  Special thanks to New York State.

NASCAR CUP SERIES CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE BANK OF AMERICA ROVAL TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT OCTOBER 7, 2023

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HP CAMARO ZL1, met with the media ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Media Availability Quotes: Have you and Rudy (Fugle, crew chief) had conversations about whether you’re going to try to flip the stages or stay out and try to get points, especially with how chaotic the final stage was last year? “For sure. I think the strategy has been a big topic this week. Switching back to the stage breaks, I think that’s going to bring in a new element and we’ve got to see what this tire wear is like with this tire at this race track. Definitely some questions on that, but I know that our goal is just to obviously win the race, and then if we can get a stage win or two, would be nice. You’re really looking at a 40-point day as a max here.” You’ve had success at Atlanta (Motor Speedway). With Atlanta being added to the playoffs next year, do you kind of embrace the unpredictability of the first round, or is that something you feel a little tenuous about? “Yeah, definitely nervous about it. I’ve won two races there and I’ve crashed out the other two. So it’s very hit-or-miss and hopefully next year we can have two good races. Obviously there will be more emphasis going into those races next year. This year when you went to Atlanta (Motor Speedway), it was a great chance to get some points, but not really planning outside of that. It definitely throws a wrench into the playoff format. I think that having two road courses as well, it’s going to really put an emphasis on, to me, the special teams races of our season. Road courses have typically been kind of an afterthought outside of this track, the ROVAL. I think it’s going to put an emphasis on those and obviously an emphasis on being good at Atlanta, which we already are, but we need to limit those DNF’s.” To your point that there’s no pressure on the line for qualifying, sometimes you can qualify better because for some reason with the stress relieved just a little bit? What makes qualifying here hard?“For us, it’s definitely going to be less stress. But once we get to the race track, we’re trying to win the race, so it’ll be stressful because of that. Qualifying here is tough because you can lock-up tires and miss corners. There’s a lot of shifting, so it’s tough to get it all right. I feel like you can hit 90 percent of the track right and miss 10 percent, and that can be worth two or three-tenths. Last year, I looked at my qualifying and I qualified second here. I just missed a little bit in (corners) seven, eight and nine, the back chicane, and that was worth two-and-a-half tenths. Had a great lap going up until that point. It’s definitely a tough place.” Having won at Texas Motor Speedway, how much confidence does that give you going into Las Vegas Motor Speedway, which could be the pivotal race in the next round? “Yeah, it’s definitely the pivotal race because as we’ve seen – if you can win that race and advance, you give yourself a good chance to prepare for Phoenix (Raceway). So with winning Texas (Motor Speedway), we’ve given ourselves a couple of weeks to prepare for Las Vegas (Motor Speedway). I feel like all of that stuff has checked-out pretty good. I think our setup is strong there. We’ve made some good decisions and we’ve had time to really decide; go to the simulator and figure out what we want to race there. We’ll get a chance to make sure we’re on the right track when we run this week and kind of run through our teammates’ setups, but so far so good there. The history there has been good for us with winning the race there earlier this year. It would be great to win there just because you won’t have to stress near as much.” Paul Wolfe said that was ‘the’ race because, as you said, you’ll have plenty of time to prepare for Phoenix Raceway. Is there somebody who’s like a (Joey) Logano that’s waiting in the weeds that could just pull out that win and advance that we might not be thinking of? “I don’t know – I’m not really worried too much about the other people in the playoffs. I think for us, it’s just trying to focus on what we do best. I’m not trying to rank guys or try to figure out who’s got what. But we’ll certainly see when everyone unloads off the truck at Las Vegas (Motor Speedway); what they have and you kind of adjust from there. Typically, you can see with lap averages and then it’s all about pit crew execution and driver execution. Unloading fast off the truck with good balance is one of the three, and then I think you really test the race team to figure out the other two – how the driver contributes and how the pit crew contributes. Last year was very unpredictable. I feel like this year, it’s a little more set and stone with who’s fast, but I would say any of the eight that make it are probably well qualified to win there.” When you look at that next round, not only Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but also Homestead-Miami Speedway and Martinsville Speedway – those three tracks, you’ve had success on and been pretty consistently fast on. How are you feeling entering the Round of Eight?“I would say, good. I would say the best about the beginning of the round because we obviously had a dominate race there (Las Vegas Motor Speedway) – scored max points in the spring and we were a top-two car.. us and the No. 5 (Kyle Larson). And then I think as the round trickles down, I think the end of the round, I’m a little more apprehensive about because of how we ran in the spring at Martinsville (Speedway). We had an issue there with the clutch, but we were not super competitive there. We were great in practice, but not in the race. I feel confident at all of the tracks, but I would say less confident as the round goes. So hopefully over the course of the next two or three weeks, I can kind of gain some confidence and gain some certainty in what we have there. I would say Vegas and Homestead are definitely really good tracks for us.” When you look at how you guys have ran and kind of assuming that you’re going to run well – looking at the fact that you’ve got all of these bonus points and you’re going to have a little bit more of a safety net than some other guys.. is your path to Phoenix Raceway and the Championship Four relatively straightforward in your mind?“It’s definitely us against ourselves. I feel like it’s us executing races. It’s us putting together good performances.. top-five performances that we know that we’re capable of. But yeah, with that being said, the points are really close.  Yeah, to be honest with you, I haven’t really looked a lot past Las Vegas. I think, honestly, I’ve thought a lot about this weekend right now. And then Vegas has really been a focus for us and then we’ve got a little bit of Homestead trickling in as we get prepared for that. It’s really hard with this deal to really not just think week-to-week.” Anytime you get to a cut-off race, there’s going to be some aggressive drivers that need to race their way in or point their way in. In any point of the race, are you concerned that their aggression level may be up and that it could take out somebody that’s not even involved in the situation?“No.. I mean I just match the aggression. I’m just going out there to race and try to win. If they try to move me, they’ll probably get it back.” Looking ahead to next year, there will be two road courses in the playoffs. How do you feel about that?“You know, I think selfishly for us, those road courses have been good for us. I’m kind of excited to see Watkins Glen (International) in there after this year, and I think that will translate into next year.  But yeah, I mean I think it’s definitely different. I feel like road courses have been important for us for awhile and they’re just gaining more and more importance as we get them later in the season. There was talk about this going back to the oval. Having another ROVAL I think will just put more importance on your road course programs.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE BANK OF AMERICA ROVAL TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT OCTOBER 7, 2023

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1, met with the media ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at the Charlotte Motor Speedway Road Course. Media Availability Quotes: THE ROVAL IS UNIQUE. IS THE DRIVING STYLE MORE SIMILAR TO A STREET RACE?“Aside from Chicago, I haven’t really done any street racing. It’s much different than Chicago. This place, it’s a lot crammed into not a lot of space is how it feels. It’s like you’re racing in a parking lot or something. This is just tight and it’s hard to find a rhythm. It’s definitely unique. But we’ve been coming here for a few years now, so there is a little bit of normalcy in the track and the course. It’s a challenge. With road-racing it’s extremely important to find a rhythm in, and this is a hard place to do that.” ON ADDING ANOTHER WILD-CARD ROUND NEXT YEAR IN THE PLAYOFFS.“I think (Denny Hamlin) was pretty spot-on. They don’t ask my opinion, and I don’t really want them to ask my opinion. I can get behind what Denny said about that because it does put you in a tough spot and there’s so much out of your control when you go to those speedway races. You can put the perfect day together and end up crashed or whatever it may be. Watkins Glen to me isn’t as much of a wild-card race, but certainly adding another speedway race… that Talladega round has always been the craziest round and the most unpredictable around. You don’t know what’s going to happen any week, but certainly that is a bigger question mark than others. I don’t necessarily love that personally, but it’s not my decision and we’re all going to have to deal with it when it comes time. It’s kind of just there.” IS BEING IN THE OWNER CHAMPIONSHIP THE SAME KIND OF PRESSURE FOR YOU AS IF YOU WERE GOING FOR THE DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP?“I’ve said this multiple times throughout the course of however many weeks we’ve been going at it, I really don’t feel any different. My approach each week has been just like as if I was part of the show from a driver’s standpoint. It’s just really not any different. There’s a lot on the line on the owners’ side to the teams. It’s a really big deal. Thankful that between Josh (Berry), Jordan (Taylor) and Corey (LaJoie) and myself, we were able to get the car in on the owners’ side. Like I said, that’s a meaningful thing. I’ve been just as motivated for that as I would have been if I had made the drivers’ side. We’ve enjoyed the challenge of the first few weeks and hope we can continue to advance through the rounds. It’s a good opportunity, and there’s still a lot of racing left this year. We’d like to continue to improve like we have been and get back up in the mix.” WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON ADDING STAGE BREAK CAUTIONS BACK FOR THIS RACE, AND IS THERE A WAY TO BALANCE GETTING ENOUGH STAGE POINTS WHILE NOT SACRIFICING TRACK POSITION?“I wasn’t surprised to see them come back. We saw those races go caution-free. That’s not going to fly. That’s just part of the deal. Whether it’s TV or NASCAR or whatever it may be, we weren’t filling the quota so something’s gotta change and that was the easiest way to kind of fix it. To be honest, I’d rather do the stage cautions than have them throw some random cautions. I think that’s better and it’s a more fair way to go about it. That being said, I think it’s fine. This time of year, getting those stage points is such a crucial thing for those guys in the points that it really makes that decision extremely tough. It can make or break your day, right? If you have a shot to win the event, there’s no way you’re going to be able to take the points… certainly not in the second stage and probably not in the first stage with this car. If you think you have a shot to win and you short those stages and you give up all your stage points then you have a late-race caution or a restart doesn’t go your way and you lose the race and now you’ve got no stage points and you didn’t get the win, you could be in big trouble. It makes for tough decisions. Unless you’re in a must-win situation and for the guys who need points, I don’t see how you can give them up. Last year we saw guys who shorted stages that were up toward the front get some stage points because track position is so crucial and everyone feels like they have to do it. We’ll see. It’s always a big question mark. Fortunately I don’t have to make that call.” DO YOU FEEL LIKE THE RHYTHM YOU WERE LACKING EARLIER IN THE YEAR HAS BEEN FOUND, AND THAT’S THE REASON YOU’RE RUNNING BETTER?“I definitely feel like we’ve been better. I think we’ve been working in the right direction, and I’ve been pushing in the right direction, maybe just not quite as much as we need to. But we’ve been putting together some good races and we’ve been executing some good events, which is a good thing. So I definitely feel like we have improved throughout the year. Looking back on it, I don’t think being out and my injury is the reason for that. As I learn more about my season and myself and how things have unfolded, I feel like my struggles and the things I’ve fought through this year I was starting to fight through last year, too. I kind of picked up where I left off last season, and I was going to have those things to work through regardless. Obviously that was another bump in the road that I would have rather not gone through. We’re working through it and trying to stay in the fight. We’ll keep doing that each week and try to make that happen.” HAVE YOU EVER HAD A MOMENT WHERE YOU FELT COMPELLED TO PUT IT ON YOUR SHOULDERS TO OVERCOME IT?“There have been a lot of those. I feel like I’ve made a lot of mistakes over the years. Here is a great example. I drove straight into the wall there on a restart. I was so mad. I felt like we had a really good car and a great shot at winning the race. At that point in time, I thought I had thrown it away. I wanted to do all I could do to try and get back up through there and make up for my mistake. Most of the time at this level of racing when you make a mistake, you don’t have an opportunity to make up for it. I was fortunate that day to have enough time to do something about. Most of the time you have to wait seven days, and that’s tough. That’s one of the toughest things about it is that you usually have to wait a week. But you always try to make up for any mistake you’ve made.” HAVE YOU EVER HAD TO GIVE A TALK AND TELL THEM THAT YOU’LL MAKE SOMETHING UP?“I’m sure there have been instances where that’s happened. But I feel like the best way to do that is to go and show them… I’m giving you 100 percent and I’m trying to make up for my mistake – to where they know you’re doing your part. That’s the most important thing. If they know I’m out there giving it my all, then to me that’s all you can ask for. That’s all I ask for out of them. We’re all going to mess up. You just try to be accountable for that when it does happen, and I feel our team does that. That’s a part of competing and everybody doing their jobs and making sure that we show up each week reset and ready to go and prepared for the next challenge.”

Sunshine” becomes second Hoosier to tame Port Royal with The Greatest Show on DirtOn a night that rain clouds were threatening to wash out the race, Sunshine broke through. But it wasn’t the literal sun gleaming on Port Royal Speedway Friday at the Nittany Showdown. It was the driver who goes by the bright nickname – Tyler Courtney.The native of Indianapolis, IN started fourth in the 25-lap Feature, drove the Clauson Marshall Racing (CMR) #7BC to the lead in 12 laps, and pulled away on the path to his first World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car victory in more than two years. Back in July of 2021, Courtney claimed his first win with The Greatest Show on Dirt in grand fashion by topping the Kings Royal at Eldora Speedway. “Sunshine” had to wait 811 days, but that second triumph finally arrived at “The Speed Palace.”In Victory Lane, Courtney erupted with emotion. His celebratory shouts filled the air as he climbed atop the CMR machine and sprayed a can of NOS Energy Drink. At long last, Courtney again found himself a World of Outlaws winner. “When it takes you two years to win another Outlaw race, that just shows how tough it is to win an Outlaw race and how special it is to win these races,” Courtney said. “Jake (Argo), Luke (Vaughn), Camron (Burley), they bust their tails. We’ve obviously had an up and down year, but to close out the year I feel like we’ve been pretty consistent here to end the year. We ran up front with the Outlaws at Williams Grove and Port Royal now. This is just awesome, man.”The night made Courtney the 15th different driver to win a World of Outlaws main event at Port Royal and only the second from the state of Indiana, the other being Spencer Bayston (2021). The 29-year-old also became the 18th competitor to top a race with the Series in 2023.A fourth place effort in the Toyota Racing Dash slotted Courtney outside the second row in the lineup for the Feature. Right when the green flag dropped, Courtney made it known that he was hungry for a win. The NOS Energy Drink #7BC rocketed from fourth to the runner-up spot on the opening circuit by driving right between Carson Macedo and Logan Schuchart.After taking over second, the pursuit began as Courtney locked his sights on the race’s pole sitter and early leader – James McFadden. As they navigated the opening portion of the race, McFadden managed to put a little distance between himself and Courtney. The Roth Motorsports pilot grew his advantage up to as much as a second and a half. But when lapped traffic came into view, Courtney began to erase the margin. A 1.6 second lead on Lap 6 was slashed nearly in half on the next circuit. Two more laps later, and the gap between the two dipped under half a second. Then on the 12th lap, Courtney made his move.Heading into Turn 1, Courtney threw a slide job at McFadden and cleared him. The Australian rallied on the exit of Turn 2 with a crossover to slip under Courtney and reclaim the top spot. In the next set of corners, McFadden went to the cushion while Courtney went to the bottom. The low side proved to the right choice as Courtney rolled by McFadden and cleared him down the front straightaway.“We did everything that we wanted to do there for the Feature,” Courtney explained. “I was able to get my wing back there just about halfway and kept inching her back as we went. Man, the more I got it back the better we were.”After taking the lead, Courtney quickly began to build a gap. Two laps after moving ahead of McFadden, Courtney’s advantage ballooned over a second as he began to slice through traffic.A potential challenger to Courtney arose in the form of a fast-charging David Gravel. The Big Game Motorsports pilot moved around McFadden for second on Lap 17. While Gravel was over two seconds behind Courtney when he took the runner-up spot, thick traffic ahead of him gave Gravel hope.But it was hope that was quickly extinguished when Courtney put a pair of lapped cars between himself and Gravel. And once he did so, the margin began to grow quickly. On Lap 22, Courtney crossed the line four seconds in front of Gravel. And then a few laps later, Courtney took the checkered flag comfortably for his second career World of Outlaws win.“It’s just unbelievable man,” Courtney said. “Winning Outlaw races is really, really hard, and this one feels good. Coming home second was David Gravel for his Series-leading 31st World of Outlaws podium of the year. The Watertown, CT native is staying hot with his fourth runner-up in the last seven races as he looks to chip away at Brad Sweet’s point lead. Gravel chopped the gap down to 82 markers.“Cody (Jacobs) kept working on this thing and gave us a really good race car there in the A-Main,” Gravel said. “It felt like in the beginning to the middle of the race we were really, really good, and I felt like probably one of the best cars. And I felt like at the end we just kind of ran out of grip, and Sunshine was running a really good pace, and I never really good close to him.”Rounding out the top three was early leader – James McFadden. The result made the Roth Motorsports driver the eighth to reach double digit World of Outlaws podiums in 2023 as he notched his 10th. “I didn’t know where to run there for the first bit,” McFadden said. “Normally at Port Royal, you pound the top of (Turns) 1 and 2 and float around (Turns) 3 and 4. I felt okay doing that, and then Tyler went by us like we were standing still, so he whooped our butts tonight. But that’s about as good as I’ve ever felt at Port Royal. Happy to be competitive, just need to be a little better”Logan Schuchart and Lance Dewease completed the top five.A 22nd to 14th drive netted the KSE Racing Hard Charger for Rico Abreu.In Low-E Insulation Qualifying, Brad Sweet earned his third Simpson Performance Products QuickTime and the 72nd of his career. CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat One went to Brad Sweet. NOS Energy Drink Heats Two through Four were topped by David Gravel, Tyler Courtney, and Logan Schuchart.James McFadden won the Toyota Racing Dash.Giovanni Scelzi topped the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Sye Lynch after slipping from fifth to 11th, narrowly missing his second career World of Outlaws top 10.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars conclude the Nittany Showdown at Port Royal Speedway with a $15,000 to win finale on Saturday, October 7. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch all of the action live on DIRTVision.RESULTS:NOS Energy Drink Feature (25 Laps): 1. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 2. 2-David Gravel[7]; 3. 83-James McFadden[1]; 4. 1S-Logan Schuchart[2]; 5. 39M-Lance Dewease[11]; 6. 49-Brad Sweet[6]; 7. 9P-Parker Price Miller[8]; 8. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 9. 13-Justin Peck[9]; 10. 11-Cory Eliason[10]; 11. 42-Sye Lynch[5]; 12. 48-Danny Dietrich[18]; 13. 23-Devon Borden[12]; 14. 24-Rico Abreu[22]; 15. 5-Spencer Bayston[15]; 16. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[21]; 17. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[17]; 18. 26-Zeb Wise[16]; 19. 19-Brent Marks[20]; 20. 83JR-Michael Kofoid[13]; 21. 45-Jeff Halligan[23]; 22. 20G-Noah Gass[27]; 23. 15-Donny Schatz[25]; 24. 11T-TJ Stutts[24]; 25. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[19]; 26. 9-Kasey Kahne[14]; 27. 47K-Kody Lehman[26]

By Matt Skipper

BROWNSTOWN, IN (Oct. 7, 2023) – Bobby Pierce continued his historic run with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series Friday night at Brownstown Speedway, displaying another “smooth operation.”  

The Oakwood, IL won the Hoosier Dirt Classic, his 13th Series win of the year, and extended his points lead with the World of Outlaws World Finals (Nov. 1-4) less than a month away.  

Pierce began the night by scoring the Simpson Quick Time Award and then won CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat #1. 
 
When it came time for the 40-lap Feature, Ryan Gustin lined up on the pole with Pierce to his outside. However, Gustin was out of contention early after suffering an issue on Lap 2. 

Batavia, OH’s Adam Stricker took the lead at the start of the race and led the first seven laps. Pierce kept Stricker within striking distance and perfected a slider on Lap 8 to take the lead.

Once out front, he never relinquished the lead. But cautions didn’t make it an easy cruise to the checkered flag, opening the chance for more drivers to challenge. One of those drivers was Gray Court, SC’s Chris Madden – Pierce’s closest points competitor. 

“Smokey” gave Pierce a scare on a restart, diving underneath the #32, but Pierce was too strong around the top. Once he found his rhythm, Pierce pulled away.  

With the win, Pierce builds confidence heading into Saturday night’s program at Fairbury Speedway and the southern tracks next week.  

“During the first Heat Race, it was a little tricky” Pierce said. “We had to guess on what the track was going to do after the Heats. I told my dad ‘The tacky spots are tacky, and the slick spots are slick.’ So, we went ahead and tightened it up. I was a little nervous on the tire choice because everyone else was almost the same, and we had one tire that was different than the rest of the field. I think that’s why I got tight, but an awesome car, awesome effort by my team again. I can’t thank those guys enough.”  

Madden finished second – his second runner-up in a row with the Series. However, he now trails Pierce by 150 points with six races remaining.  

“We had a good race,” Madden said. “Started fourth, worked to second, and had a solid car all night long. You can’t pass a guy following around, so we had to set the car up to be better in the middle, but we were close. Just a little bit more, and we would have been right there. Another second, so it was a great night for my team.” 

Completing the night’s podium was New Waverly, TX’s Tyler Erb, who also earned the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award after starting back in 16th place.  

“It was a good race,” Erb said. “The track had a lot of character which doesn’t make the Heats very good, but the Feature was where I had to ran the top of Turns 1 and 2 and all over in Turns 3 and 4. I had to be careful with the tires when I ran down low, but all in all it was really good.” 

St. Charles, MO’s Gordy Gundaker finished fourth – his first top-five since May – and Stricker held on to finish fifth. 

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models make their return to Fairbury Speedway on Saturday, Oct. 7, with the running of the FALS Frenzy. 

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

RESULTS: 
CASE Late Mode Feature (40 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. 44-Chris Madden[4]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb[16]; 4. 11-Gordy Gundaker[5]; 5. 68-Adam Stricker[3]; 6. 40B-Kyle Bronson[10]; 7. 97-Cade Dillard[8]; 8. 25-Shane Clanton[14]; 9. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[20]; 10. 96V-Tanner English[23]; 11. 9-Nick Hoffman[18]; 12. B1-Brent Larson[17]; 13. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[19]; 14. 76-Shelby Miles[11]; 15. 30-Todd Cooney[9]; 16. 71R-Rod Conley[21]; 17. B5-Brandon Sheppard[7]; 18. 32S-Chad Stapleton[25]; 19. 33AJ-Austin Lay[26]; 20. 3S-Brian Shirley[12]; 21. 15-James Rice[13]; 22. 1G-Devin Gilpin[22]; 23. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[6]; 24. 33-Jesse Lay[27]; 25. 14W-Dustin Walker[24]; 26. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 27. 88-Greg Johnson[15] 

Santa Ana, California – Hot on the heels of its successful 25th Anniversary season, the NMRA Ford Nationals series is slated for another exciting run of events in 2024, which kicks off at a historic new track and runs through to its storied World Finals. Along the way, NMRA plans a host of special features celebrating the 60thbirthday of the Ford Mustang. “This year we celebrated a major milestone for NMRA, but just like our racers, we aren’t ready to slow down or rest on our laurels,” said Steve Wolcott, President and CEO of NMRA. “We couldn’t be more excited to launch the 2024 season at legendary Gainesville Raceway and keep our pedal to the floor until the Ford event of the year in Bowling Green.” The NMRA Ford Nationals kicks off at historic Gainesville Raceway in Gainesville, Florida, in late February with the storied NMRA Spring Break Shootout, which is one of three standalone events highlighting Mustang’s 60th birthday. The following month, NMRA racers join forces with their NMCA counterparts in mid-April at Rockingham Dragway in Rockingham, North Carolina, for the NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals. In early May, NMRA rejoins NMCA for the Race for the Rings at World Wide Technology Raceway in Madison, Illinois. Returning to Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, Ohio, in early June, the NMRA Ford Homecoming will emphasize Mustang’s milestone with special features and celebrities. In mid-July, NMRA and NMCA turn up the heat at the NMRA/NMCA Power Festival held at US 131 Motorsports Park in Martin, Michigan. As is tradition, NMRA will close out its season in Bowling Green, Kentucky, at Beech Bend Raceway with the epic NMRA World Finals + Intergalactic Ford Festival. “Last season was special, but we plan to keep that momentum going in 2024,” Rollie Miller, General Manager & National Event Director at NMRA, said. “Not only are we starting the season at a world-class facility, but we add the exciting new Street Bandit 10.10 class to our championship roster as well as a host of special features throughout the season. It will be another great year of action for Ford fans.” With a mix of championship drag racing, index classes, street-car action, a huge car show, a massive manufacturer’s midway, and a range of special features, the NMRA Ford Nationals offers must-see events for Ford fans across the country. For more information about the NMRA Ford Nationals series, visit NMRAdigital.com

2024 NMRA Ford Nationals Schedule February 22-25, 2024 30th Annual NMRA Spring Break ShootoutGainesville Raceway, Gainesville, FL April 11-14, 2024 16th Annual NMRA/NMCA All-Star Nationals Rockingham Dragway, Rockingham, NC May 2-5, 202419th Annual NMRA/NMCA Race for the RingsWorld Wide Technology Raceway, Madison, IL June 6-9, 202424th Annual NMRA Ford HomecomingSummit Motorsports Park, Norwalk, OH July 18-21, 20244th Annual NMRA/NMCA Power FestivalUS 131 Motorsports Park, Martin, MI September 26-29, 202426th Annual NMRA World Finals + Intergalactic Ford FestivalBeech Bend Raceway Park, Bowling Green, KY

World Series Of Pro Mod Winner Will Pilot Paton Racing Dragster At NHRA Finals

WYNNEWOOD, Okla. (October 6, 2023) – Elite Motorsports, the largest professional team in drag racing, will make its first foray into Top Fuel at the upcoming In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals in Pomona, Calif. Spencer Hyde will pilot the Elite-sponsored Top Fuel entry in a dragster owned by Todd and Tony Paton.  Hyde, an accomplished drag racer from Ontario, Canada, won the Drag Illustrated World Series Of Pro Mod presented by J&A Service earlier this year at Bradenton Motorsports Park in Bradenton, Fla. The talented young driver is excited to make his NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series debut after experiencing success behind the wheel of the Paton-owned Top Fuel machine at a couple of match races over the summer. While he’s garnered significant achievements in several drag racing series, this will be the first time for him to compete at an NHRA-sanctioned event.  “I’ve raced Pro Modified mostly with the PDRA in the Pro Boost class,” said Hyde. “In February, I completed my Top Fuel License in Gainesville, Fla. with Todd and Tony Paton and the Paton Racing Team. My plan was actually to run the GatorNationals this past March with the Paton Racing Top Fuel Team but my new buddy Courtney Enders worked her magic and helped clinch me a spot in the Drag Illustrated World Series of Pro Mod race and that turned out to be a pretty awesome deal for our team!” Indeed the World Series Of Pro Mod was a pretty awesome event for Hyde as he raced his way to victory from the No. 32 qualifying spot. It’s clear that he had no trouble making the transition from Pro Mod to Top Fuel. When he was making his licensing passes in Gainesville, Hyde powered the Paton Racing Top Fuel dragster to an impressive pass of 3.80 seconds at 324 mph, the second-quickest pass ever made in the machine. Moreover, during a Top Fuel match race this summer in Empire, N.Y., he reset the track record. Competing behind the wheel of an 11,000-horsepower Top Fuel dragster has been a dream for Hyde since he was young. Growing up with family ties to the sport, he knew he wanted to race one day and he started pursuing this path at only 14 years old. “I started in Jr. Dragsters in 2006,” said Hyde. “In Canada, I grew up around snowmobiles and motorcycles. My parents wouldn’t let me race either of those but I had a buddy who raced Jr. Dragsters. I started going to the track with him. One thing led to another and 18 years later we’re Pro Mod and Top Fuel racing.” The stars aligned for Hyde when a casual conversation during the Menards NHRA Nationals in Topeka, Kan. led to his partnership with Elite Motorsports.  “I was hanging out with the Elite team earlier this year in Topeka and Bobby Lagana happened to be in the pit,” recalls Hyde. “He recognized me from when I was in Gainesville getting my license. He helped the Paton team when we were there, so we were chatting about it. Richard was kind of listening in and I told him I was looking for funding to go to an event and Pomona was one that they were pushing me to do. That’s when he said, ‘I’ll back you for Pomona.’” Todd Paton, the owner and occasional driver of the Top Fuel entry in which Hyde will compete is confident that Hyde will make the most of his first NHRA event. “We are really looking forward to this,” said Paton. “Spencer did well in his licensing laps. In his first full pass, he did better than my career best in the car, so we are pretty impressed with him. He took to it like a pro. We are looking forward to seeing what he can do behind the wheel at an actual NHRA event. Partnering with Elite will cause a lot of buzz in the pits and I’m looking forward to that too. I think it will catch a lot of people off guard to see their name on a Top Fuel car. I’ve always been one who enjoys the drama that goes along with drag racing so I think it will be entertaining in more ways than one. I’ve known the folks at Elite for a long time and I’m excited to get to work together on this.” The In-N-Out Burger NHRA Finals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip will take place November 9-12 in Pomona, Calif. ***

Photos

Rendering of the Top Fuel dragster to be driven by Spencer Hyde at the NHRA Finals. (Photo credit: Elite Motorsports)

Spencer Hyde warming up his Paton Racing Top Fuel dragster. (Photo credit: Diversified Media)

Accomplished drag racer Spencer Hyde will pilot the Elite Motorsports Top Fuel dragster at the NHRA Finals. (Photo credit: Diversified Media)

CONCORD, NC (Oct. 6, 2023) – VP Racing Fuels, Inc. has extended its partnership with the World of Outlaws and DIRTcar Racing in a multi-year deal to continue as the Official Fuel of World Racing Group.

Regarded worldwide as the leader in fuel and performance fluids, VP Racing Fuels has been the Official Fuel since 2018, providing industry-leading fuels for a number of World Racing Group’s series.

“We are ecstatic to build upon our relationship with World Racing Group (WRG),” said Chris Wall, Senior Director of East Coast Race Fuel Sales for VP Racing. “For many years, WRG has been a special experience among VP’s Official Fuel notorieties. Dirt circle track racing is part of VP’s DNA, and to partner with a portfolio of series that are premier to this form of racing is exceptional.”

Among the series in that portfolio include, the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series, World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series, Super DIRTcar Series, DIRTcar Summer Nationals and DIRTcar Racing.

“We’re pleased to continue our partnership with VP Racing Fuels for several years to come,” said Brian Carter, World Racing Group CEO. “They’ve set the standard for what racers expect from the best racing fuels and have gone beyond what’s expected to accommodate them.”

VP Racing Fuels also has a large presence during the biggest dirt race in the northeast, Super DIRT Week 51 at Oswego Speedway. The event is ongoing this week, leading to the prestigious Super DIRTcar Series Billy Whittaker Cars 200 on Sunday, Oct. 8.

For more information about VP and its products for racers, enthusiasts, and general consumers, visit vpracingfuels.com.

OSWEGO, NY (Oct. 5, 2023) – For the first time in his career, Matt Williamson will bring the DIRTcar 358 Modified field to the green Saturday in the 43rd running of the Salute to the Troops 150.

The six fastest drivers from Thursday’s Time Trial sessions have locked themselves into the Salute to the Troops 150. Williamson is joined by Zachary Payne, Erick Rudolph, Dalton Slack, Tim Sears Jr. and Derek Webb in the first three rows of Saturday’s main event for a shot at the $20,000 grand prize.

Later in the evening, both Williamson and Payne went on to win their respective Heats, as well as Rudolph, picking up the additional $1,000 bonus checks as part of the Thursday Night Thunder program.

TIME TRIALS

Coming into October, Williamson – the 33-year-old Big Block Modified ace from St. Catharines, ON – has triumphed twice in Super DIRT Week’s crown jewel, the Billy Whittaker Cars 200, but has never been to Victory Lane in the year’s biggest 358 Modified event despite over a decade’s worth of attempts. In fact, he’s never been on the pole of any Super DIRT Week Feature event.

He changed all that Thursday afternoon, laying down a lap of 21.965 seconds around the dirt-covered, 5/8-mile of Oswego Speedway – the only sub-22-second lap recorded out of all 78 cars to participate in Time Trials – and picked up the $1,000 SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award.

“It’s cool – between the Big Block and the Small Block, I’ve never put it on the pole,” Williamson said. “It’s cool momentum; hopefully we can get some luck on our side and be good on Saturday.”

Starting to his outside on Saturday – a new face to the 358 Modified front row at Oswego, Zachary Payne. The 22-year-old from Stanley, NY, turned a lap of 22.098 seconds, good enough to earn him the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award.

“I could never imagine us being in the top six,” Payne said. “We joked about it yesterday. We knew we had a fast car, and I had to just run one really good lap, and I did.”

A graduate of the Sportsman Modified ranks, Payne has been a constant presence in weekly Big Block Modified action this year, scoring a Feature win in July at Land of Legends Raceway. As one of numerous racers pulling double duty at Oswego with the Big Blocks and 358s, he was all smiles after his first big success of the week.

“I couldn’t be any happier and prouder of our team,” Payne said. “We’ve been working for this the last couple years now. To even be in the top six with the other guys in there is just crazy.”

HEAT RACES

Heat 1 – Mat Williamson

After the Feature win Wednesday at Brewerton and the Pole Award Thursday afternoon, Mat Williamson showed exactly why he’s been the most dominant 358 Modified in the field this week with a flag-to-flag win in Heat #1.

The former Super DIRTcar Series champion drove 20 clean laps around Oswego untouched in his final tune-up before leading the Salute to the Troops 150 to the green on Saturday.

“We’ve certainly got a good car; we’re not in the wrong direction by any means,” Williamson said. “We’re gonna work hard, and we’re gonna try and stay on top of the racetrack.”

Heat 1 (20 Laps): 1. 6-Mat Williamson[1]; 2. 9S-Matt Sheppard[5]; 3. 3RS-Dalton Slack[2]; 4. 44-Stewart Friesen[8]; 5. 22-Brandon Walters[4]; 6. 98H-Jimmy Phelps[3]; 7. 91-Felix Roy[7]; 8. 3-Chris Mackey[19]; 9. 9C-Brian Calabrese[14]; 10. 18R-Brad Rouse[10]; 11. 19-Tim Fuller[13]; 12. 215-Adam Pierson[11]; 13. 91D-Billy Decker[12]; 14. 713-Tommy Collins[21]; 15. 25P-Michael Parent[16]; 16. 38-Kevin Stevens[9]; 17. 74-Dave Flannigan Jr[22]; 18. 63-Jarrett Herbison[18]; 19. 1NY-Gregory Atkins[23]; 20. 16-Aaron Jacobs[26]; 21. 37S-Gary Lindberg[6]; 22. 2J-Robert Bublak[20]; 23. 5H-Amy Holland[17]; 24. 14S-Brian Swarthout[24]; 25. 26-Michael Mandigo[25]; 26. 427-Carter Gibbons[15]

Heat 2 – Zach Payne

Following his Outside Pole Award-worthy performance in time Trials earlier in the day, Payne led all 20 laps of Heat Race #2 untouched – the first of his 358 Modified career at Super DIRT Week.

Thinking about the day he had as a whole, Payne was still over-the-moon with the success in his second 358 Modified venture to Oswego.

“I don’t know if it’s really set-in yet,” Payne said. “It might tomorrow, next week, next month, I don’t know. I’m just doing what I’m told right now and doing my best.”

Heat 2 (20 Laps): 1. 7Z-Zachary Payne[1]; 2. 49-Billy Dunn[6]; 3. 3J-Marc Johnson[3]; 4. 83X-Tim Sears Jr[2]; 5. 9-Tyler Meeks[5]; 6. M1-David Marcuccilli[4]; 7. 8H-Max McLaughlin[10]; 8. 12-Darren Smith[13]; 9. 83-Danny Johnson[8]; 10. 21A-Peter Britten[14]; 11. 32R-Ronald Davis III[12]; 12. 84Y-Alex Yankowski[11]; 13. 31-Lance Willix[15]; 14. B2-Bob Henry Jr[19]; 15. 28-Jordan McCreadie[7]; 16. 18W-Scott Webb[16]; 17. 01C-Chris Raabe[17]; 18. 27W-Nick Webb[21]; 19. 11S-Steve Lewis Jr[22]; 20. 01-Robert Gage[23]; 21. 21R-RJ Tresidder[20]; 22. 50-William August[24]; 23. 115-Montgomery Tremont[26]; 24. 21JR-Jeffrey Reis[25]; 25. 29-Matt Caprara[9]; 26. 24-Zach Aubertine[18]

Heat 3 – Erick Rudolph

In what was likely the most dominant performance given in a Heat Race all night, Erick Rudolph led wire-to-wire for the win in Heat Race #3.

The veteran racer from Ransomville, NY, stretched his led out to almost five seconds at its largest before second-running Larry Wight slowed and brought out the caution in the closing laps, taking it pit-side where the crew made adjustments underneath the hood.

Back to green with two laps left, and Rudolph aced the restart to bring the field around to the checkered and score the win.

“All practice is was two laps at a time, then Time Trials was two laps at a time, so this was the first time we ran it any more than a couple laps,” Rudolph said. “We didn’t really do much; we were just more curious to see what it was gonna do in a longer run.”

Heat 3 (20 Laps): 1. 25-Erick Rudolph[1]; 2. 35-Mike Mahaney[4]; 3. 4*-Anthony Perrego[8]; 4. 60-Jackson Gill[7]; 5. 66-Tim McCreadie[10]; 6. 66W-Derek Webb[2]; 7. 70A-Alex Payne[13]; 8. 19C-Brandon Carvey[9]; 9. 14B-Jack Lehner[3]; 10. 8-Rich Scagliotta[11]; 11. 26R-Corey Cormier[5]; 12. 21C-Taylor Caprara[12]; 13. 58M-Marshall Hurd[14]; 14. 28T-Michael Trautschold[17]; 15. 92-Andrew Buff[19]; 16. 4V-Billy VanInwegen Jr[18]; 17. 28H-Brett Hearn[15]; 18. 99L-Larry Wight[6]; 19. 28F-Alan Fink[21]; 20. 15X-Justin Stone[16]; 21. 02-Roy Bresnahan[20]; 22. 4SL-Bob Hentschel[23]; 23. 5-Tanner Siemons[22]; 24. 117JR-CJ Castelletti[24]; 25. 39-Ryan Bartlett[26]; 26. (DNS) 18S-Sean Beardsley

UP NEXT

The 358 Modified action continues Friday, Oct. 6 at Oswego Speedway, with Last Chance Showdown events to lock-in six more drivers into Saturday’s Feature. Get a ticket at the gate or on SuperDIRTWeek.com, and stream live on DIRTVision.

PRO STOCK FLEXING: Casey, Carter on Front Row; Horning, Playford win Qualifying Heats

OSWEGO, NY (Oct. 5, 2023) – The stage is set for an exciting DIRTcar Pro Stock 50 after Thursday’s Time Trials and Qualifying Heats saw triumphs from drivers who’ve yet to win the prestigious race.

Jay Casey was the first to celebrate, earning the SRI Performance/Stock Car Steel Pole Award, followed by DIRTcar CEO Brian Carter grabbing the Fratto Curbing Outside Pole Award. Then, Luke Horning and Shane Playford ended the night as Qualifying Heat winners.

None of them have won the DIRTcar Pro Stock 50 before, and that stat continues through the other top six qualifiers: Jason Casey (third), Shane Playford (fourth), Devon Camenga (fifth) and Johnny Rivers Jr. (sixth). The coveted race has seen five different winners in its last five events and is shaping up to see a potential sixth consecutive different winner.

“It’s great,” Casey said about his 25.490 second pole winning effort. “We put a lot of effort into this and here we are.

“The last (lap), I put it in pretty hard in Turn 3 and came out of (Turn) 4 pretty high, but it had grip up there and the car went pretty good.”

He ended up second in the first Qualifying Heat behind Horning. It was a sign of what he expects to see from the 50-lap race, saying “We’re going to battle. Anyone of these guys can do it.”

His previous career-best start was sixth last year, but then went on to finish 19th. In nine Super DIRT Week starts (four at Syracuse, five at Oswego), Casey has one top-10 finish – an eighth at Oswego Speedway in 2018.

Casey’s son, Jason Casey, will start behind him in third – another career-best performance.

“I was kind of hoping I was going to stay in second, the front row, but following him to the green is going to be good,” Jason Casey said. “I’m excited. Hopefully we can keep both cars up there.”

Jason was sitting second on the leaderboard until Carter’s last lap of the day. The “Texas Tornado” picked up a few tenths in his second qualifying lap and won the outside pole for Saturday’s Feature. It’s a career-best effort and his first time starting in the top six.

“Oh my God, it means the world to me,” Carter said. “I have a fast race car and I’m going to keep gaining on it. It is a really important event to me and important to these guys. It’s a great group of drivers that I’m friends with and we’re going to have a good time on Saturday.”

When the night moved into the Qualifying Heats, Horning and Playford took their turn to celebrate.

In the first 10-lap Heat, Jay Casey took the lead early, but Horning wasn’t letting him get away. It only took two laps for “Cousin Luke” to sneak under the #322 machine and dart to the lead. Horning led the rest with Casey finishing second and Camenga third.

Thursday’s track conditions are what he’s hoping to see Saturday.

“It was a lot of fun,” Horning said. “I like a track like this. I don’t think the lap times were quick, but I like it when the track is slow like this. It slows down the cars, you have to finesse… We were able to roll the middle, get some bite and move to the top if we had to. It was a very even racetrack and that’s what we need, a wide racetrack.”

Horning will start seventh in Saturday’s Feature – where he’d already qualified earlier in the day.

Carter was set to start on the pole of the second Qualifying Heat but elected to start at the rear. That helped Playford start pole and pull away with the lead at the start of the race. He led all 10 laps but had Pete Stefanski breathing down his neck every corner.

“I think most of it was me watching the TV and seeing he was there,” Playford said. “I don’t think I made one good lap. I knew he was going to be there. It was fun.

“I saw Luke running the bottom in the first one. Obviously, seen what he did. I assumed once I got the lead, if I could stay on the bottom and not wash out too bad, I could keep it.”

Stefanski, the two-time DIRTcar Pro Stock champion, had to settle for second, but will start eighth in Saturday’s Feature. He was the first to show early speed this week, setting the overall fast time in Wednesday’s practice.

And while Stefanski has already picked up a couple Super DIRT Week titles, he’s yet to win one at Oswego Speedway.

Chad Jeseo, who finished third in the second Qualifying Heat, is the only driver in the field with a DIRTcar Pro Stock 50 title at Oswego (2021).

Is a sixth different champion on the horizon? Find out Saturday, Oct. 7, at 4pm (ET). For tickets, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.

DIRTcar Pro Stock Time Trial Results:
Qualifying (2 Laps): 1. 322-Jay Casey, 00:25.490[6]; 2. 6C-Brian Carter, 00:25.619[16]; 3. 324-Jason Casey, 00:25.671[10]; 4. 6-Shane Playford, 00:25.748[4]; 5. 110-Devon Camenga, 00:25.773[9]; 6. 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr, 00:25.827[12]; 7. 2H-Luke Horning, 00:25.832[7]; 8. 2-Pete Stefanski, 00:25.917[11]; 9. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr, 00:25.931[1]; 10. 55-David Stickles, 00:25.939[3]; 11. 76K-Kyle Hoard, 00:26.039[14]; 12. 25-Chad Jeseo, 00:26.083[15]; 13. 7D-Chucky Dumblewski, 00:26.240[2]; 14. 4-Dean Charbonneau, 00:26.408[13]; 15. 7C-Caden Dumblewski, 00:26.515[5]; 16. 57-Charles Mcspirit, 00:29.355[8]

DIRTcar Pro Stock Qualifying Heats Results:
Heat 1 (10 Laps): 1. 2H-Luke Horning[4]; 2. 322-Jay Casey[1]; 3. 110-Devon Camenga[3]; 4. 324-Jason Casey[2]; 5. 09J-Shawn Perez Jr[5]; 6. 76K-Kyle Hoard[6]; 7. 7D-Chucky Dumblewski[7]; 8. 7C-Caden Dumblewski[8]

Heat 2 (10 Laps): 1. 6-Shane Playford[2]; 2. 2-Pete Stefanski[4]; 3. 25-Chad Jeseo[6]; 4. 4-Dean Charbonneau[7]; 5. 55-David Stickles[5]; 6. 57-Charles Mcspirit[8]; 7. 6C-Brian Carter[1]; 8. (DNS) 14J-Johnny Rivers Jr