The doubleheader weekend, March 17-18, will feature a $135,000 overall purse with a $20,000-to-win finale

Ringgold, GA – Feb. 17, 2023 – The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series will make its first Georgia stop of the year at Boyd’s Speedway for the inaugural Shamrock 100, March 17-18.

Boasting a $135,000 overall purse, the two-day event will see a field of elite drivers duel for a $10,000 payday on Friday and a $20,000 top prize on Saturday.

The 3/8-mile track hosted the premier Late Model series for the first-time last September, producing two of the most thrilling races of the year. With its new date in March, the Shamrock 100 is poised to do the same.

TICKETS: CLICK HERE

Event Highlights:

GEORGIA BOYS: Georgia will be represented well at the Shamrock 100 with 2015 World of Outlaws CASE Late Model champion Shane Clanton, of Zebulon, GA, and 2023 Rookie of the Year contender Payton Freeman, of Commerce, GA.

While not with the World of Outlaws, both drivers have a victory at track. Clanton won there with the Southern Regional Racing Series in 2008 and Freeman won there in 2022 with the Iron-Man Southern Late Model Series.

Both drivers were at the World of Outlaws’ debut at Boyd’s in September but will be looking for their first top-10 finish with the Series at the track in March.

THE CHAMP IS HERE: Reigning Series champion Dennis Erb, Jr., of Carpentersville, IL, will continue his year-long drive for a second consecutive title at Boyd’s.

He’s made five starts at the Georgia track and earned his career best finish at Boyd’s with the World of Outlaws in September. After a 10th-place the first night with the Series, he finished fifth the final night.

DRIVE FOR FIVE: Four-time World of Outlaws champion Brandon Sheppard will continue his trek for a fifth Series title, he’s ran at twice with a national touring series. In his first start at the track he finished 15th and in his second he finished eighth.

Like many of the tracks on the Series schedule this year, he’ll make his first appearance at Boyd’s with his own car as Sheppard is piloting the Sheppard Riggs Racing #B5 Longhorn Chassis Late Model.

PREVIOUS WINNERS:
Jimmy Owens – Sept. 23, 2022
Ryan Gustin – Sept. 24, 2022

EVENT INFO: CLICK HERE

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500 TEAM CHEVY OEM PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT FEBRUARY 17, 2023

Jim Campbell, U.S. vice president of performance and motorsports for Chevrolet, was part of a panel discussion that met with the media along with representative peers from Ford and Toyota on Friday am. The following is the transcript from Campbell’s portion of the interview:  WHAT’S NEW FOR YOU HEADING INTO 2023 AND WHAT ARE YOU MOST LOOKING FORWAD TO WATCHING? “Yeah, 2022 was a big year obviously for the series with the new car and for Chevy a lot of success with the Cup car with 19 wins, 24 wins with Xfinity and a couple of manufacturer’s championships. But we didn’t win the driver’s championship as these guys took that position, so obviously some goals ahead for this year. We have a lot of long time teams with Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing, and then Trackhouse coming from the Ganassi side. Great partners and just great to see the extensions with Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez and Ross Chastain. Obviously, we now have a lot of young drivers that are hitting their stride. We kind of turned our driver lineup over, over the past five or six years and the young drivers are now coming back from multiple years and hitting their stride.  Obviously adding Noah Gragson, welcoming AJ (Allmendinger) back to the Cup Series and then bringing two of the winningest drivers in the series and ones that know a couple of things about championships in Jimmie Johnson and Kyle Busch. So, its going to be an exciting year. On the Truck Series side, KBM, Kyle Busch’s truck team is now going to be a great addition and we have some really terrific drivers coming into that series. Xfinity as well.  Looking forward to the season and I have a couple of my colleagues here, Jim Danahy, our VP of Engineering and Eric Warren who is our director of all our NASCAR programs. I am not sure if Pat Suhy is here, he is probably in the garage right now.” REGARDING DEVELOPING HYBRIDAZATION, ELECTRIFICATION “I think the guys kind of said it but low carbon fuel is something we are working across many of the series on.  In every series we are working on what are those steps to hybridization or are they going to do some testing in the electrification space. We have a lot to learn, as we do on the production side. In IMSA, we are running in the GTP category and we have a hybrid, in INDYCAR we have a hybrid coming next year, and I think every series has a hybrid consideration and I think there is going to be some testing in the EV space where we are really going to learn. And we do have to learn, not only technically, but from a market facing and fan side. So, that’s where we are at and obviously as a company we have a foot in both camps and we have an amazing portfolio of internal combustion engine vehicles. And we are introducing a whole host of EVs. We have the Bolt and Bolt EV and we have the Silverado EV work truck, which will start in production in March, and we have a Blazer EV and Equinox EV.  We will bring the retail truck for the Silverado in November, the RST, which we showed. We have a lot of great internal combustion engines, so we have a foot in both camps and we just have to work with the series and the teams around when is the right place to bring that in, plus the sustainable fuel. The low carbon fuels are important.” REGARDING THE PIT STOP STRATEGY IN THE DUELS LAST NIGHT AND YOUR REACTIONS TO THAT “I would just say that at this speedway, one thing is for sure, drafting with others is the only way to stay in the pack and winning. If you want to do it on your own, you are going right to the back as we know. You saw different manufacturers drafting with one another and you saw moments when the manufacturers kind of got together. You have to draft, I think to stay up near the front. That is the key. And obviously the Duels kind of showed two things, we didn’t win either of them, but we did show speed I believe, particularly in the second one. Obviously in the qualifying we got a couple of guys on the front row, so there is some speed there. We do have to work together to some degree. Whether its your own manufacturer teammates or others, you do have to have people to draft with to get to the front.” CHEVY HAS HAD SUCCESS AT THE BIG TRACKS LATELY, BUT NOT THIS RACE, IS THERE A MESSAGE OR A HUNGER TO YOUR TEAMS TO CLOSE THE DEAL AT THIS PLACE “Oh, for sure. We have won this race 24 times and the last time we won it was with Austin Dillon in 2018 as you know, and with that said, Chevy drivers won 3 of the 4 speedway races. Both Talladega races and then Austin won the transfer race at Daytona. So we won 3 of the 4 there and we won both of the Atlanta races, however you want to categorize the Atlanta track. We have shown that we can do it, but we have got to do it here. You are exactly right, so we are definitely hungry for that. This is the weekend to go from 24 to 25 if we can get organized and get it done.” REGARDING A SALARY CAP FOR TEAMS “Not much more to add. The details matter and this is right now between the teams and the series. If it ends up going that way, the details matter.” HOW ARE THINGS IN THE SUPPLY CHAIN FOR YOU AS OPPOSED TO LAST YEAR? “Better. Its better, but there are still some stress areas. It’s better than it was a year ago, but broadly speaking, the same comment would go for our overall automotive business. Last two years very tight, two years ago was chips for semiconductors, very tight. Last year was chips and other supply chain considerations where we got some pinch points. Its getting better, but its not completely normal and I would say the same thing goes for the racing side.” HOW MIGHT F1 INVESTMENT IMPACT ANYTHING WITH YOUR CUP TEAMS AND RELATIONSHIPS THERE AND WHAT YOU MIGHT BE ABLE TO PROVIDE? “I would say for us, we are early in the process. Just this past week we submitted our expression of interest to the FIA, so there are a number of steps before we would be considered to be in the series. So, we still have a ways to go on our side, but this would be complimentary and we use performance and racing as a place to really learn on the track and develop employees.  Obviously, you get the benefits on the business side as well because when you win races you lift the opinion of the brand. So, I would just say we are early in the process, but this would be complimentary and we believe in the platform as a way to bring value to our company, but also to promote our brands and driver business.” GIVE US YOUR IMPRESSION OF DANIEL SUAREZ AS A DRIVER PRO AND A PERSON “We really value what Daniel has brought to Trackhouse and Chevrolet. He got his first win the Cup Series with Trackhouse and Chevy and I love what he is doing in bringing new fans to the sport and he does it every day through his social media efforts. He does it at select tracks where he invites friends in who have never been to the race, and as a result, we have a chance to grow the sport. I love what he is going and thrilled that he had an extension announcement with Trackhouse. Love what he is doing and I think what you will see when we introduced the Blazer EV, last year, if you saw it in the introduction video that we did, Daniel Suarez is there. And you will see him in the way that we introduce and promote our vehicles that are coming to market. So, love Daniel and all of our drivers. We want to use all of our drivers in a way to build excitement, enthusiasm and interest in not only our performance on track but what is happening back in the showroom and market. Daniel is a great example of that.  Going back to the question on driver development, I think Chase Elliott was signed at 14 by Rick Hendrick. I don’t think he bought him from anybody else and that was a straight hire at 14. I remember getting the call from Rick when he signed him and he has gone on to do some great things. We do have a lot of seats in the Chevy fold, which is great. A lot of drivers who are driving everywhere in the series are coming to Chevy, because we have opportunities as you go up. So we will probably see 63% in the Cup side and somewhere around two-thirds in the Xfinity Series. So for drivers that want to move north, we have got opportunities for them. And in addition, I don’t know if you caught last night, but a woman named Katie Hettinger, don’t know if you know her. She won at New Smyrna in a pro late model in the World Series of Asphalt, first female winner, with Chevy. She is one of our development drivers that Eric and Jim have in our program. Watch for Nick Sanchez out of Rev Racing and obviously now coming to the Truck Series now with Danny Stockman and KB and that team. Rajah Caruth, with GMS, he was pretty quick yesterday in practice, so we are excited. There is more to do for sure, but I am really excited that Chevy has a lot of seats and drivers that want to go north in the series.”

February 17, 2023

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Mustang rode a Ford train to a ninth-place finish in the first of two Bluegreen Vacation Duel qualifying races at Daytona International Speedway on Thursday’s night.

Burton’s finish earned him the 19th-place starting spot for Sunday’s 65^th-annual Daytona 500.

Burton, in the Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Mustang, lined up fifth for the start of the 60-lap, 150-mile Duel after posting the ninth-best time in pole qualifying on Wednesday night.

He dropped back a bit in the opening laps but was back among the top five by Lap 13 and ran in the top five until the Ford drivers headed to pit road at the race’s midpoint.

Burton settled in sixth place after returning to the track as the Ford pack played their strategy just right and held the lead through the pit stop cycle.

Burton ran in sixth place until the final two laps, where he dropped three positions to ninth but emerged with a Mustang with no damage heading into the two practice sessions and then the Daytona 500.

The caution-free race was won by Ford’s Joey Logano while Burton was one of seven Mustang drivers in the top nine at the finish. 

“We were playing the conservative game all day,” Burton told reporters after the race. “We wanted to keep our 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imagining Ford Mustang in one piece. 
 
“That was the biggest thing, really. The risk versus the reward for this race isn’t there unless you’re going to win it…. I tried to be smart and tried not to flip on the backstretch this year. 
 
“I’m trying to learn from mistakes, but it was a decent day.”
 
Burton said the true indicator of the speed and handling of his Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Mustang won’t show until the upcoming practice sessions, when the No. 21 team will tune their car for the Daytona 500.
 
“We had a pretty ill-handling car just from qualifying,” he said. “We tried to go for a fast qualifying lap and did that, but that kind of hurts you in this race.”

No adjustments were allowed between qualifying and the Duels.
 
“We’ll get the car driving better,” Burton said. “I’ll be more aggressive on Sunday and hopefully be up front at the end of that thing.”

The first Cup practice session is scheduled to start at 5:35 p.m. on Friday, with the second and final practice getting the green flag at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.

The 65th-annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to start just after 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, with Stage breaks at Laps 65 and 130. 
 
FOX Sports 1 will carry the TV coverage of the practice sessions, with FOX broadcasting the Daytona 500.
 

After a near perfect night for Brandon Overton, Pierce sneaked by on the final lap to claim his fifth World of Outlaws victory

By Nick Graziano

BARBERVILLE, FL – Feb. 16, 2023 – Brandon Overton was checking every box to have a perfect night at Volusia Speedway Park on Thursday, even holding the lead when the white flag pointed in his direction. Then came Bobby Pierce.

For the first time all night, Overton saw a car pass him with less than half a mile to go until the checkered flag. After Overton slid himself through the first turn, Pierce sailed underneath the #76 machine and powered ahead down the backstretch.

Hoping to rebound from two bad nights at Volusia with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series in January, and eager to bring home a golden gator trophy to his girlfriend, Pierce fended off Overton through the final corner as he ran to the finish line.

“The last time we were [at Volusia] for the World of Outlaws races, you know, I didn’t have good showings and couldn’t complete our nights, so we’ve been kind of building on that,” said Pierce, of Oakwood, IL. “We’ve ran all the Features, so far, made all the laps, and it was just fine tuning the race cars after that.

“We needed this win to make up points with [the World of Outlaws]… We got this first night out. If we can knock out another one that would be a big points jump that we’ll gain.”

The victory, coming during the first night of World of Outlaws CASE Late Model action at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, is Pierce’s second DIRTcar Nationals win ­– first with the World of Outlaws – and fifth Series win overall.

However, Overton didn’t initially leave much hope for anyone to steal the win away from him with the early trajectory of his night. He set Quick Time in Low-E Insulation Qualifying, won the CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat Race and drew the pole for the 30-lap Feature. Then, he drove away from the 29-car field in the caution-free race.

Pierce drew the fourth starting position, but said he’d rather have a bottom row starting spot. However, he didn’t waste time getting to the bottom lane at the start of the Feature, cruising to second-place by Lap 4.

Current Big Gator championship points leader Tim McCreadie, who started a row behind Pierce in sixth, also made a quick charge to the front. He powered to fourth on the first lap and then second the next lap. His time in the runner-up spot was short lived, though, as Pierce came through to steal it.

The two stayed within striking distance of Overton, even closing in after the halfway point when he got caught in traffic. But once Overton found clean air, he gapped Pierce by more than a second.

With five laps to go and a healthy distance between first and second, Overton’s perfect night was minutes away from being complete. Pierce wasn’t ready to give up, though.

By running the top lane, and getting some assistance from slower cars in front of Overton, Pierce closed within a car length of the #76 car with three laps to go. When flagger Dave Farney showed them the double popsicle sticks, Pierce was on Overton’s bumper going into Turn 1. He stayed there down the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4.

Looking low before turning into the first corner on the final lap, Pierce was eager to make his move.

Overton slid up the track with a slower car hugging the bottom, opening the door for Pierce to rocket underneath him and get enough grip off the bottom to pull ahead down the backstretch.

Both drivers threw their cars into the final corner, exiting sideways off Turn 4 but Pierce held the advantage at the line with the checkered flag waving.

“I guess now thinking back, when I went to the top that flustered him up,” Pierce said. “I think his crew guys told him I had ran the top and was pretty good, because after that he kept moving up a little and I just kept poking in there on the bottom and I was getting better the lower I got. It was slimy so it had to come in.

“There at the end… one of my crew guys, he’d told me I won here before, just do what I do and a couple times when I messed up I just thought of that really.”

Overton admitted he made the wrong move going into Turn 1 on the final lap, stating it was a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.

“Should’ve just stayed on the bottom, I made a wrong move,” Overton said. “I tried to arc out and tried to float across and Bobby (Pierce) was down there and blew by me. Just kind of got aggravated. I knew he was closing in… you stay on the bottom, he drives around you on the top or do what I did and he drives around you. It is what it is, we had a good car.”

McCreadie didn’t have enough to enter the battle and had to settle for third – his worst finish of the week. With the DIRTcar Late Models the first three nights of DIRTcar Nationals, he finished second, first and first. His third-place run also helped him further extend his Big Gator points lead to a 25-point advantage over Hudson O’Neal.

Chris Madden, who is the current World of Outlaws CASE Late Model points leader, earned the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award for the race, making his way from 23rd to 15th.

Both points battles continue Friday, Feb. 17, during the $12,000-to-win Feature. The Big Gator championship will be decided at the conclusion of Saturday’s $20,000-to-win main event.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series continues its 2023 season at Volusia Speedway Park, Friday, Feb. 17. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

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

RESULTS
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[6]; 4. 18-Chase Junghans[2]; 5. 1-Hudson O’Neal[7]; 6. 17M-Dale McDowell[3]; 7. 49-Jonathan Davenport[10]; 8. 111-Max Blair[9]; 9. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[14]; 10. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[16]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[11]; 12. 99-Devin Moran[15]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson[17]; 14. 8S-Kyle Strickler[8]; 15. 44-Chris Madden[23]; 16. 8-Brian Shirley[5]; 17. 19R-Ryan Gustin[20]; 18. B5-Brandon Sheppard[25]; 19. 11-Gordy Gundaker[12]; 20. 9-Nick Hoffman[13]; 21. 10-Mike Norris[21]; 22. 18D-Daulton Wilson[18]; 23. 1ST-Johnny Scott[24]; 24. B1-Brent Larson[29]; 25. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[22]; 26. 96V-Tanner English[26]; 27. 25-Shane Clanton[28]; 28. 22*-Payton Freeman[27]; 29. 5-Mark Whitener[19]

After a near perfect night for Brandon Overton, Pierce sneaked by on the final lap to claim his fifth World of Outlaws victoryBy Nick GrazianoBARBERVILLE, FL – Feb. 16, 2023 – Brandon Overton was checking every box to have a perfect night at Volusia Speedway Park on Thursday, even holding the lead when the white flag pointed in his direction. Then came Bobby Pierce.For the first time all night, Overton saw a car pass him with less than half a mile to go until the checkered flag. After Overton slid himself through the first turn, Pierce sailed underneath the #76 machine and powered ahead down the backstretch.Hoping to rebound from two bad nights at Volusia with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series in January, and eager to bring home a golden gator trophy to his girlfriend, Pierce fended off Overton through the final corner as he ran to the finish line.“The last time we were [at Volusia] for the World of Outlaws races, you know, I didn’t have good showings and couldn’t complete our nights, so we’ve been kind of building on that,” said Pierce, of Oakwood, IL. “We’ve ran all the Features, so far, made all the laps, and it was just fine tuning the race cars after that.“We needed this win to make up points with [the World of Outlaws]… We got this first night out. If we can knock out another one that would be a big points jump that we’ll gain.”The victory, coming during the first night of World of Outlaws CASE Late Model action at Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals, is Pierce’s second DIRTcar Nationals win ­– first with the World of Outlaws – and fifth Series win overall.However, Overton didn’t initially leave much hope for anyone to steal the win away from him with the early trajectory of his night. He set Quick Time in Low-E Insulation Qualifying, won the CASE No.1 Engine Oil Heat Race and drew the pole for the 30-lap Feature. Then, he drove away from the 29-car field in the caution-free race.Pierce drew the fourth starting position, but said he’d rather have a bottom row starting spot. However, he didn’t waste time getting to the bottom lane at the start of the Feature, cruising to second-place by Lap 4.Current Big Gator championship points leader Tim McCreadie, who started a row behind Pierce in sixth, also made a quick charge to the front. He powered to fourth on the first lap and then second the next lap. His time in the runner-up spot was short lived, though, as Pierce came through to steal it.The two stayed within striking distance of Overton, even closing in after the halfway point when he got caught in traffic. But once Overton found clean air, he gapped Pierce by more than a second.With five laps to go and a healthy distance between first and second, Overton’s perfect night was minutes away from being complete. Pierce wasn’t ready to give up, though.By running the top lane, and getting some assistance from slower cars in front of Overton, Pierce closed within a car length of the #76 car with three laps to go. When flagger Dave Farney showed them the double popsicle sticks, Pierce was on Overton’s pumper going into Turn 1. He stayed there down the backstretch and through Turns 3 and 4.Looking low before turning into the first corner on the final lap, Pierce was eager to make his move.Overton slid up the track with a slower car hugging the bottom, opening the door for Pierce to rocket underneath him and get enough grip off the bottom to pull ahead down the backstretch.Both drivers threw their cars into the final corner, exiting sideways off Turn 4 but Pierce held the advantage at the line with the checkered flag waving.“I guess now thinking back, when I went to the top that flustered him up,” Pierce said. “I think his crew guys told him I had ran the top and was pretty good, because after that he kept moving up a little and I just kept poking in there on the bottom and I was getting better the lower I got. It was slimy so it had to come in.“There at the end… one of my crew guys, he’d told me I won here before, just do what I do and a couple times when I messed up I just thought of that really.”Overton admitted he made the wrong move going into Turn 1 on the final lap, stating it was a “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situation.“Should’ve just stayed on the bottom, I made a wrong move,” Overton said. “I tried to arc out and tried to float across and Bobby (Pierce) was down there and blew by me. Just kind of got aggravated. I knew he was closing in… you stay on the bottom, he drives around you on the top or do what I did and he drives around you. It is what it is, we had a good car.”McCreadie didn’t have enough to enter the battle and had to settle for third – his worst finish of the week. With the DIRTcar Late Models the first three nights of DIRTcar Nationals, he finished second, first and first. His third-place run also helped him further extend his Big Gator points lead to a 25-point advantage over Hudson O’Neal.Chris Madden, who is the current World of Outlaws CASE Late Model points leader, earned the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award for the race, making his way from 23rd to 15th.Both points battles continue Friday, Feb. 17, during the $12,000-to-win Feature. The Big Gator championship will be decided at the conclusion of Saturday’s $20,000-to-win main event.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series continues its 2023 season at Volusia Speedway Park, Friday, Feb. 17. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.RESULTS Feature (30 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 2. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 3. 39-Tim McCreadie[6]; 4. 18-Chase Junghans[2]; 5. 1-Hudson O’Neal[7]; 6. 17M-Dale McDowell[3]; 7. 49-Jonathan Davenport[10]; 8. 111-Max Blair[9]; 9. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[14]; 10. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[16]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[11]; 12. 99-Devin Moran[15]; 13. 40B-Kyle Bronson[17]; 14. 8S-Kyle Strickler[8]; 15. 44-Chris Madden[23]; 16. 8-Brian Shirley[5]; 17. 19R-Ryan Gustin[20]; 18. B5-Brandon Sheppard[25]; 19. 11-Gordy Gundaker[12]; 20. 9-Nick Hoffman[13]; 21. 10-Mike Norris[21]; 22. 18D-Daulton Wilson[18]; 23. 1ST-Johnny Scott[24]; 24. B1-Brent Larson[29]; 25. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[22]; 26. 96V-Tanner English[26]; 27. 25-Shane Clanton[28]; 28. 22*-Payton Freeman[27]; 29. 5-Mark Whitener[19]

Corvette, Camaro and Silverado Completes Pace Vehicle Lineup for 2023 Daytona Speedweeks DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 16, 2023) – A trio of Chevrolet high-powered vehicles is set to pace in the season-opening races at Daytona International Speedway.  The 2023 Corvette Z06 will lead the NASCAR Cup Series to the green flag in the 65th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 19, marking the 15th time Chevrolet has paced the “Great American Race”.

·       The Corvette Z06 is powered by the all-new 5.5L LT6, creating 670 horsepower, making it the highest-horsepower naturally aspirated V-8 in any production car. ·       Equipped with the Z07 Performance Package, the Corvette Z06 features a carbon fiber rear wing, aerodynamic ground effects, carbon ceramic brakes and other performance features for maximum track capability.

Chevrolet has recorded 49 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories at Daytona International Speedway, including a series-leading 24 in the Daytona 500.  “We felt that it was important to highlight the crown jewel of our performance vehicle lineup for the 65th running of the Daytona 500 with the Corvette Z06,” said Todd Christensen, Director of Motorsports Marketing and Activation for Chevrolet. “As the winningest manufacturer in NASCAR Cup Series history, we are honored to pace the season-opening race weekend and help celebrate the start of NASCAR’s 75th anniversary.”  Completing the 2023 Daytona Speedweeks Presented by AdventHealth pace vehicle lineup:  • Silverado 1500 RST in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series NextEra Energy 250 at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, February 17. • Camaro SS 1LE in the NASCAR Cup Series Bluegreen Vacations Duels at Daytona at 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, February 16; and on Saturday, February 18, the ARCA Menard Series BRANDT 200 Supporting Florida FFA at 1:30 p.m. ET, followed by the NASCAR Xfinity Series ‘Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300’ at 5 p.m. ET.

Sent on behalf of Indian Motorcycle MINNEAPOLIS (FEBRUARY 16, 2023) – 2022 was a historic year for Indian Motorcycle Racing, capturing an unprecedented triple crown with championships across three different racing classes, including MotoAmerica® Mission® King of the Baggers® (KOTB), Super Hooligan® National Championship (SHNC) and Progressive Insurance® American Flat Track Mission SuperTwins classes. Now America’s First Motorcycle Company enters the 2023 racing season intent on defending its triple crown and raising the bar yet again with its factory racing program. Running three No. 1 plates, Indian Motorcycle Racing welcomes back reigning champions Tyler O’Hara and Jared Mees, along with KOTB and SHNC factory rider Jeremy McWilliams. The company has also announced more than $405,000 in combined privateer contingency for KOTB, SHNC and AFT. Founded by racers who developed America’s first motorized bicycles, fueled by a desire to go faster and win races, Indian Motorcycle has been racing, and winning, for 122 years. From founder Oscar Hedstrom’s endurance racing dominance at the turn of the century, to O.C. Godfrey winning the first Mountain Circuit race at the famed Isle of Man in 1911, to Burt Munro’s land speed records or the Wrecking Crew’s domination in flat track in the 1950s and, more recently, it’s six consecutive AFT Championships from 2017-2022, the list of history-making racing milestones is unparalleled. Now the innovative American motorcycle company prepares to defend a triple crown. “Racing and an overriding spirit of competition has been a driving force for Indian Motorcycle for more than a century, and that competitive fire continues to drive us forward to this day,” said Gary Gray, Vice President – Racing, Technology and Service for Indian Motorcycle.“We’re incredibly proud of the success we had in 2022 with three different championships, but it’s only going to get tougher in 2023, with our competition gunning for us more than ever. But that challenge is what motivates us and pushes us to get better every day, and we’re chomping at the bit to go racing in 2023.” MotoAmerica® KOTB & SHNC For 2023, Indian Motorcycle and S&S® will pit a two-man factory race team that will take on double duty across the King of the Baggers® and Super Hooligan® classes. Proudly running the No. 1 plate in both classes, dual-threat champion Tyler O’Hara enters his fourth year aboard the Indian Challenger and his second year piloting an Indian FTR. Pitting alongside O’Hara in both classes is veteran Moto GP racer Jeremy McWilliams, whose technical knowledge and extensive experience at racing’s highest levels proved invaluable to the team’s success in 2022. In the 2022 Mission King of the Baggers® class, the team’s success was driven by O’Hara’s versatility, the expertise of the S&S® crew, and the consistency and reliability of the Indian Challenger. Through seven rounds aboard his Indian Challenger, O’Hara captured five podiums, including a Daytona win, and two fourth-place finishes. With the No. 1 plate and an expanded 14-round KOTB series, O’Hara will be the man to beat. But the competition will be tougher than ever, as Harley-Davidson® continues to increase its significant investment in the series, adding even more bikes and riders to the King of the Baggers® grid for 2023. “The odds were definitely against us in 2022, and that’s what made climbing that mountain and ending up on top all the more special to our entire Indian Motorcycle-S&S® team. We grinded week in and week out to rise to that challenge and in the end, we got the job done,” said O’Hara. “But now we start over and the climb begins again. This team is truly a family, and we could not be more motivated to defend the championship and successfully rise to the challenge again in 2023.” In addition to its factory efforts, Indian Motorcycle is offering up to $83,000 in KOTB privateer contingency and up to $41,000 in SHNC Contingency. 2023 Indian Motorcycle KOTB Privateer ContingencyChampionship: $20,0001st: $30002nd: $10003rd: $5002023 Indian Motorcycle SHNC Privateer ContingencyChampionship: $5,0001St: $30002nd: $10003rd: $500AFT Mission SuperTwinsPiloting the Indian FTR750 for his seventh-consecutive year, reigning Progressive Insurance® Mission SuperTwins Champion Jared Mees enters 2023 with eight AFT Grand National Championships to his name – just one shy of the historic record of nine held by Scottie Parker. A record that many have assumed would never be matched or broken, Mees is looking to do just that as he chases his ninth. As Mees chases history, he’ll rely on his trusted team led by Crew Chief Kenny Tolbert, Assistant Mechanic Bubba Bently and Suspension Technician Jimmy Wood. Mees will also receive support from Rogers Racing, SDI Racing, Drag Specialties®, Twigg Cycles, Mission® Foods, Monster Energy®, Bell® Helmets, Service Pro, Öhlins® Suspension, Klotz® Oil, Klock Werkssm, RK Chain®, Corbin®, Seats, Engine Ice®, RMR Construction, Motion Pro®, VP Racing®, Vertex Pistons, Pro Plates and DBI Motorsports. In addition to its AFT factory efforts around Mees, Indian Motorcycle is offering the sport’s most robust privateer contingency, equating to more than $280,000. 2023 Indian Motorcycle AFT Privateer Contingency:Championship: $25,0001st: $7,5002nd: $2,5003rd: $1,5004th: $1,0005th: $7506th: $3507th: $2508th: $150 9th: $12510th: $100

NHRA, 2021 Gatornats Top Fuel Champion Josh Hart host car show, autograph session, live music and more

OCALA, FL (February 16, 2023) — The 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series will start at historic Gainesville Raceway for just the second time in nearly seven decades with the Gatornationals, March 9-12. In advance of this epic event the NHRA is joining Ocala, Florida, based Top Fuel driver and 2021 Gatornationals Top Fuel winner Josh Hart in hosting the inaugural Gatornationals FanFest on Wednesday, March 8, from 6:00 p.m. until 9:00 p.m. at Burnyzz Speed Shop (1 Aspen Road, Ocala, Florida). The free to attend event will feature a car show, live music, food trucks, and a driver autograph session from 7:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. that will include former Gatornationals winners and current NHRA professional drag racing stars. Proceeds from the event will be donated to Racers For Christ.

“We are excited to host this kick-off event with the NHRA to start the Gatornationals,” said Hart, multi-time Top Fuel winner. “Our goal is to have as many former Gatornationals winners and current drivers as possible for the free autograph session and to continue to grow this event to highlight the Gatornationals. This is one of the most historic motorsports events in the country and we are excited to have it in our backyard and celebrate with everyone from Ocala and around central Florida. I want to thank everyone at Burnyzz Speed Shop for supporting this great first time event.”

Drivers and former Gatornationals winners who have committed to attending include four-time Top Fuel winner and NHRA legend Don “Big Daddy” Garlits, two-time Funny Car winner Frank Hawley, 2021 Top Fuel winner Josh Hart, 1998 Funny Car winner Cruz Pedregon, 2013 Top Fuel winner Antron Brown, 2011 Funny Car winner Mike Neff, 2015 Top Fuel winner Spencer Massey, Top Fuel’s Justin Ashley, 2022 NHRA Rookie of the Year Camrie Caruso, Pro Stock Motorcycle rider Ryan Oehler and Ida Zetterstrom Sweden Top Fuel driver. With almost a month until the event more drivers and winners are sure to commit and fans can follow NHRA social media as well as Burnyzz Speed Shop social media for more driver and winner commitments.

Transcript: Laura Wontrop Klauser discusses Cadillac’s Hypercar debut at Sebring

GM sports car racing program manager Laura Wontrop Klauser and other OEM principals participated today in a media Q&A via Zoom hosted by the FIA World Endurance Championship ahead of Cadillac Racing’s Hypercar debut in the season-opening 1000 Miles of Sebring on March 17. Transcript of her Q&A:

What were the main takeaways from Daytona and how is your preparation progressing for Sebring?“Daytona was nice to have sort of a 24-hour dress rehearsal for Le Mans within in a race in itself, and we were hoping to have gone away with the trophy. I’d say the main takeaways were we are very pleased with our vehicles, we think we have a strong package but we need to find some more pace. There is a lot of development between now and the Sebring race kicking off the WEC season, continuing to fine-tune the vehicle, understand what it’s good at, what we need to do to get better, working through all of the details. The good news is we have 24 hours of data to do that, but there is not that much time to take the data and work with it.” Talk about your experience with a pretty good BoP in GTP in IMSA and your level of confidence that will continue with a rather wider task.“There has been a lot of thought put into how to set all this up for success. In terms of how the regulations are written for the LMDh platform and even what we share with LMH in terms of different targets like mass and power targets, there has been a lot of preparation put into making sure the cars by design – if you follow the regulations, which we all have to – are very close to each other right out of the box. I think that’s what we saw in IMSA at Daytona where we took the baseline settings for the vehicles and we all were able to race together. I think we saw some great racing during the race. Applying that as we move into WEC, where you have both platforms together – LMDh and LMH – it’s using those same concepts of making sure the baseline is very close so that you don’t have to worry about cars being wildly different and how they create performance and being able to compete together. There’s also some differences between the platforms that there has been a committee that has worked through issues, which has representation from all the manufacturers involved in the programs, so that we’ve been able to identify anything we felt would make a big difference between the two platforms for the regulations and work through that. I’d say that everyone has put as much possible effort as they could in to getting this right and I’m excited to see what happens at Sebring. I’m looking forward to seeing all of us on track together and then working with the ACO as we move forward into the season and, of course, IMSA as well on its side and the collaboration between the two series.” Do you have to re-homologate the car for the WEC?“It’s one homologation. Our car is homologated. There are differences in scrutineering systems for IMSA and the WEC, so we will have some different electronics depending on where we’re racing to make sure that we’re legal and simple things like where the Michelin sticker goes on the car depending on which series you’re in. For the most part, they are the same cars and that is what appealed most to us about this opportunity to be a part of this platform. One car can race both series, which means you can race all over the world in two series.” How much did the Rolex 24 help you in preparing for the WEC?“Daytona, as a track, is very different from Sebring and then the other circuits that we’ll be going to the rest of the WEC season. While any time you turn the car on you learn there are still things you continue to learn, especially as we race at Sebring. Many of us have tested there but it will be nice to do the proper racing as well and see what we still need to know about the car. Sebring is one of the best places in the world to find out how reliable your vehicle is, so it will be exciting to see what things look like at the end of the races.” Cadillac hasn’t tested in Europe ahead of the WEC. Will that be a disadvantage and why did you make that decision?“We would have liked to do some testing in Europe. The main reason we didn’t is we were very hardware constrained and shipping has become quite challenging in terms of lead time, so we could not sacrifice the car being in a container being shipped for extra days or weeks when we had a very aggressive test schedule that we were trying to accomplish in a short period of time. Now that we have gone racing, we’re going to see if we can get some testing scheduled in Europe in the spring. It’s always good to test on pavement that is similar to where you’re racing, so that would be key on our list of something to get done. If we cannot, we’ll do our best to work around it because that’s what we do in racing – we adapt to our situation. We’re trying to find elements of tracks in the U.S. similar to what you see in Europe or different things we can understand on the car so that when we get to Europe we’re ready to go.” Do you see that as a handicap going forward?“In a perfect world we would have had some European testing. As complicated as these cars are and as complex as this puzzle that we’re all trying to figure out, I don’t think it is something that is going to completely put us out of the running. It’s just one item that we wish we would have gotten to and we’ll just have to work around.” Do you think the BoP now is transparent and there isn’t a game to play?“This is by far the most regulated and transparent situation we’ve ever been in since I’ve been involved. We’re at a point where I think most of us are focused on making sure the hardware and al the integration of the hybrid systems is working properly and the performance part, because of how tight the regulations are, is something that we know where the car needs to be and then we’re making sure all the parts of the car support us being where we need to be.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY BLUEGREEN VACATIONS DUELS AT DAYTONA TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES FEBRUARY 16, 2023

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL DUEL 1 RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER10th    William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL111th    Ross Chastain, No. 1 AdventHealth Camaro ZL112th    Erik Jones, No. 43 Guns N’ Roses Camaro ZL113th    Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Camaro ZL114th    Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Carvana Camaro ZL115th    AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Nutrien Ag Solutions Camaro ZL116th    Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger / Cottonelle Camaro ZL117th    Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL118th    Chandler Smith, No. 13 Quick Tie Inc. Camaro ZL121st    Ty Dillon, No. 77 Ferris Camaro ZL1

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL DUEL 2 RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER3rd      Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL15th      Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Celsius Camaro ZL16th      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL111th    Noah Gragson, No. 42 Wendy’s Camaro ZL112th    Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Camaro ZL114th    Justin Haley, No. 31 Cirkul Camaro ZL116th    BJ McLeod, No. 78 Power Slap Rumble Camaro ZL117th    Conor Daly, No. 50 BitNile.com Camaro ZL18th    Austin Hill, No. 62 Bennett Transportation/Beard Camaro ZL19th    Kyle Busch, No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1

The NASCAR Cup Series will take the green flag for the 65th running of the Daytona 500 on Sunday, February 19, at 2:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.   TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES: Jimmie Johnson, No. 84 Carvana Camaro ZL1 – Finished 14th in Duel 1; Qualified on speed for the Daytona 500“My first race in the Next Gen car is done and we finished 14th in the Duel. Wish that we finished a little bit better, but we got a ton of great reps for the No. 84 Carvana Chevy team. I have new over-the-wall guys, a new spotter, new crew chief, a new team – to have this behind us is really good and I think it was a really successful day. I wish that our strategy was a bit better for the cars we were running with, but we have 500 miles on Sunday to figure that out.”                                                 Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 – Finished 3rd“I had a pretty good run going; Austin (Hill) blocked that and then that kind of stalled the top. Then from there, we got really lucky because whoever got loose made a great save up there because I thought we were all wrecked. It was good to get back to third there and get a good start for Sunday. We will try and make our No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevy drive a little better; keep the same pace and I think we will be alright.” Noah Gragson, No. 42 Wendy’s Camaro ZL1 – Finished 11th“I feel really good about our No. 42 Wendy’s Chevy Camaro. We just tried to stay out of trouble; didn’t want to go to a backup car. Just really tried learning about different positioning I could have behind the wheel in the draft and in different scenarios. We got in a couple pit stops, which was good to learn how these guys do their pit stops and what I could do better.  Overall, it was just a solid race, solid preparation for the Daytona 500.” Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Camaro ZL1 – Finished 12th Suarez on the contact with Kyle Busch:“It was unfortunate. You never want that to happen. I felt like a few laps before that, they told me on the radio that we needed to start making time. The No. 5 (Kyle Larson) was being more aggressive to me, pushing me. I thought the No. 8 (Kyle Busch) was actually dragging his brakes because I could push him so easily. I guess he wasn’t, but I was getting so much energy from the No. 5 that I was just pushing too hard. I felt like the No. 5 was pushing pretty hard to me, and I was just pushing the No. 8 too hard. When they gave me the message to take it easy on the corners, I was going to do that. But I spun him out on the straightaway, so I was not expecting that.  It’s unfortunate. It’s definitely not the way we had that planned.” Conor Daly, No. 50 BitNile.com Camaro ZL1 – Finished 17th; Locked-in a spot for the Daytona 500Conor Daly, you said it was a one in a million shot that you would make the Daytona 500. You’re in. I saw you sit there, look out. What were you thinking at that moment when you got out of the car just now?“Well, we were inherently unlucky for the last 36 hours, but we got lucky. I wish I could have said that I drove it in on pure pace, but it was just crazy. When we went out there, the car was bouncing around. I had no idea what was going on. I thought the drivetrain was broken, and Tony just made it better every time. We got lucky with the yellows to try to get some experience, but it is pretty crazy. This race, I’ve watched it for so many years and so much crazy stuff can happen, and thankfully we were on the right side of the craziness. It’s pretty amazing.” Austin Hill, No. 62 Bennett Transportation/Beard Camaro ZL1 – Finished 18th “I was on the top and saw someone about lost it, can’t remember who, but I knew it was getting dicey. Going down the backstretch I actually rolled out of the throttle a little bit, but I had guys behind me and it wasn’t like I could jump out of the throttle. I saw the wreck started happening and dirt started coming across the race track.  When the dirt was going across the track I kind of lost sight of where the cars were that were wrecked and the next thing I knew was I was trying to get on the brakes pretty hard and I don’t know if I got in the dirt and it got me loose or the 15 tagged me, I have no idea. Either way I started going toward the outside wall and I got a lot of damage. I think the right front blower was broke and there was no way to fix it and it just ended our night.  It’s a bummer because we knew where the 50 was and we knew that he was multiple laps down and all we had to do was beat him. When we were single file, we were like, ‘hey, we are just going to run here’.  We were going to try and get some experience and learn the draft and see what the Cup cars do differently from the Xfinity cars. As soon as they got two wide through the tri-oval, I should have just bailed completely and lost the draft and not worried about it. I didn’t react fast enough and then the wreck started and we ended up in it. There is no reason why we shouldn’t be in the 500 from where the 50 was running and really it was just being dumb on my part and there is just no reason for that. I was the one holding the steering wheel and I should have just seen what was happening and just let those guys do their thing and we just fall back. Even if we fall laps down, it doesn’t matter as long as we stay in front of the 50. It stings, but we get to race on Saturday in the Xfinity car and I am really excited about that with RCR and hope we can go win that race.” Kyle Busch, No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1 – Finished 19th What did you feel inside the race car?“Just a lot of pushing and shoving for a few laps straight. Doing everything you can to try and hang on, and do the best you can to make sure that you keep it straight. Just finally overloaded the left-rear and hooked it to the right.  Hate it for all my guys. They built a fast N.8 3CHI Chevy Camaro. It was really fun to drive. It drove great the whole time. Everything was super easy, super simple. But we have a long ways to go. I don’t understand, but it is what it is.  Thanks to 3CHI, BetMGM, Lenovo, Chevy. The guys have a lot of work to do, unfortunately. I hate it for them, but we’ll be back on Sunday.”  Do you feel like you have to have a conversation with any other drivers?“No.. I just don’t understand why, but it is what it is. There’s no changing it.”

February 16, 2023

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging team were among the elite 10 in pole qualifying for the Daytona 500 Wednesday night, winding up ninth fastest in the second and final round of time trials.

That puts Burton in fifth place for the start of the first 150-mile Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying race Thursday night.
 
Wednesday’s pole qualifying session marked the first appearance on the Daytona track this week. Burton, one of the first to make a qualifying run, posted a lap at 180.014 miles per hour in the opening session. He was 10^th fastest and earned an advance to the second session. He was the first driver to make a run in the second go-round and toured the 2.5-mile track at 179.748 mph.
 
“We definitely have a fast race car,” Burton told reporters after qualifying. “The guys at the shop worked really hard at trying to get us a good qualifying spot. 
 
“It’s important, even for the Duels, to have track position, so we’ll see how we can play it. It’s kind of what you do with it once you get it that matters, but I’m proud of our guys. 
 
“We have a fast Ford Mustang, and I’m excited for Motorcraft and DEX and the Wood Brothers. It could be a really great year for us, so I’m excited to go and try to get after it.”
 
The first of two 60-lap Bluegreen Vacations Duel qualifying races is set to get the green flag at 7 p.m. on Thursday followed by the nightcap at about 8:45 p.m.
 
Those races will determine the third starting position on back for Sunday’s Daytona 500.
 
The first Cup practice session is scheduled to start at 5:35 p.m. on Friday, with the second and final practice getting the green flag at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday.
 
The 65th-annual Daytona 500 is scheduled to start just after 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, with Stage breaks at Laps 65 and 130. 
 
FOX Sports 1 will carry the TV coverage of the preliminary events, with FOX broadcasting the Daytona 500.
 

McCreadie extends his Big Gator points lead going into the final three Late Model events of Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models, Feb. 16-18

BARBERVILLE, FL (Feb. 15, 2023) – The DIRTcar Late Models concluded their 2023 Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals with a triple-header night of Feature racing on Wednesday.

Out of the three 20-lap, $5,000-to-win, Features, two new winners for the week emerged with Brandon Overton and Chris Madden, while Tim McCreadie claimed his second straight victory.

The 52 drivers in the field drew numbers to determine which Feature they would be in. Then, Qualifying and a redraw set the field for each.

Overton started the night by setting Quick Time for Feature #1 and Tim McCreadie set Quick Time for Feature #2. There was no change in the starting lineup after the re-draw for both Features. Then, Chris Madden set the quickest lap in Feature #3 but the #4 pill was drawn, inverting the top-four qualifiers.

Feature #1
Brandon Overton didn’t waste time launching ahead of the 18-car field when the first green flag of the night hit the air.

While he soared through the first corner, Bobby Pierce, who started third, lost grip going through Turn 1 and fell backwards. His misstep came at the benefit of Ashton Winger who went from fifth to second.

Overton’s charge was put on hold after two laps when a car spun in Turn 1, bringing out the first caution of the night. When the race resumed, Winger tried to give Overton a scare, staying on his bumper the first time back around but Overton put on his running shoes and pulled away.

There seemed to be no catching Overton until a caution on Lap 16, bringing the field back to his bumper. However, showing his experience as a two-time DIRTcar Nationals Feature winner, Overton, again, mastered the restart and gapped the field.

The Evans, GA driver claimed his third golden gator trophy and first of the week.

“We’ve had a fast car all week,” Overton said. “My crew, they’ve been busting their butt.

“We’ll take it. It’s awesome to get another win here at Volusia in front of this crowd.”

Feature #1 Results (20 Laps): 1. 76-Brandon Overton[1]; 2. 12-Ashton Winger[5]; 3. 111-Max Blair[2]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 5. 8-Brian Shirley[9]; 6. B5-Brandon Sheppard[4]; 7. 1ST-Johnny Scott[10]; 8. 19R-Ryan Gustin[7]; 9. 36-Logan Martin[17]; 10. 130-Chase Osterhoff[13]; 11. 99T-Dylan Thompson[14]; 12. 14W-Dustin Walker[15]; 13. 5-Mark Whitener[11]; 14. 48-Colton Flinner[12]; 15. 6S-Blake Spencer[16]; 16. 96V-Tanner English[8]; 17. 25-Shane Clanton[18]; 18. 9-Nick Hoffman[6]

Feature #2
After picking up his first golden gator trophy of the week Tuesday night, Tim McCreadie tried to pick up where he left off at the start of the second DIRTcar Late Model Feature of the night.

The multi-time national touring series Late Model champion was the first car into Turn 1, but Daulton Wilson had no interest in letting him run away with another win. Running the top lane of the track, Wilson worked his way around McCreadie for the lead off Turn 2 on Lap 2.

Wilson gapped McCreadie’s #39 Longhorn Chassis by a few car lengths before getting caught in lap traffic on Lap 9. While stuck behind Kyle Strickler, McCreadie mastered the bottom lane like he did Tuesday night and snuck under Wilson off Turn 4 to reclaim the lead.

The Watertown, NY driver pulled away from the pack until he found himself having to navigate heavy traffic with five laps to go. That allowed Wilson and third-place Devin Moran to put themselves within striking distance.

However, with Wilson and Moran wagging war for second in the closing laps, McCreadie was able to pull away without a challenge and score his second straight DIRTcar Nationals Feature win of the week, extending his Big Gator championship points lead.

“[Wilson] drove right by me and drove off and I thought, ‘damn,’ we’re going to run second,” McCreadie said. “Lap traffic kind of held him up and allowed me to get by. Then, they held me up and I figured he’d be right there. One lap car got me over the cushion. We were lucky after that.”

Feature 2 Results (20 Laps): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 2. 18D-Daulton Wilson[2]; 3. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[4]; 5. 10-Mike Norris[7]; 6. 89-Mike Spatola[6]; 7. 99G-Hunt Gossum[14]; 8. 114-Jordan Koehler[9]; 9. 11-Gordy Gundaker[15]; 10. 97-Cade Dillard[11]; 11. 11B-Stacy Boles[5]; 12. 15-Donny Schatz[16]; 13. 17SS-Brenden Smith[12]; 14. 8S-Kyle Strickler[17]; 15. 12D-Doug Drown[10]; 16. 25B-Mike Benedum[8]; 17. 14G-Trevor Gundaker[13]

Feature #3
The theme of polesitters walking away with the win was thrown out the window in Feature #3 with a multitude of lead changes throughout the 20-lap race.

Blair Nothdurft stole the lead from Tyler Bruening on the first lap. Two laps later, Chris Madden also slid by Bruening to take second.

Brent Larson brought out the caution on Lap 4 and parked it for the night. When the race resumed, Madden tried to throw his #44 into the first turn under Nothdurft but nearly found himself at a 90-degree angle as he slid up the track. Nothdurft pulled ahead while Madden fell to sixth.

As Nothdurft led, Hudson O’Neal was making moves around the high side of the track, sliding across Bruening’s nose off Turn 4 to steal second on Lap 7. The Rocket1 Racing house car began its hunt for the lead and Madden was also finding his way forward again, moving into third on Lap 10.

Another caution flew on Lap 11 due to Ricky Thornton Jr. suffering a flat right rear.

Nothdurft chose the bottom lane upon his entry into Turn 1 on the restart and chose wrong. O’Neal threw his car against the cushion on the top lane and propelled himself ahead of the #76N car off Turn 2 to take the lead.

However, his moment of glory was short lived when another caution fell on Lap 15. Frank Heckenast Jr. suffered a flat right rear tire, and he wasn’t alone. Due to a piece of sharp debris on the track, he, along with O’Neal, Nothdurft, Thornton again, and Jimmy Owens, saw their chance at the win taken away by cut tires.

Their misfortune became Madden’s benefit as he inherited the lead. When the race resumed, he launched ahead of second-place Boom Briggs and pulled away by over two seconds to claim his first win of the week – fourth overall at DIRTcar Nationals.

“We had a great race car,” Madden said. “I screwed up there in (turns) one and two and jumped the cushion trying to go for the lead. But we had a great race car…

“It got really technical there at the end. It was really slick. There was a grip spot leaving (turn) four. My tires got a little hot there at the end. We got a little push. Overall, we’ll take this win and work on it and keep pushing.”

Feature 3 Results (20 Laps): 1. 44-Chris Madden[4]; 2. 99B-Boom Briggs[8]; 3. 1-Hudson O’Neal[3]; 4. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[11]; 5. 18-Chase Junghans[12]; 6. 20-Jimmy Owens[13]; 7. 30-Todd Cooney[14]; 8. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 9. 16-Tyler Bruening[1]; 10. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[2]; 11. B2-Brian Booze[16]; 12. 22*-Payton Freeman[7]; 13. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[15]; 14. 54-David Breazeale[17]; 15. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 16. 17M-Dale McDowell[9]; 17. B1-Brent Larson[10]

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500 QUALIFYING RECAP AND QUOTES FEBRUARY 15, 2023

ALEX BOWMAN GIVES CHEVROLET 11TH CONSECUTIVE DAYTONA 500 POLE   ·       Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, clocked-in a lap of lap at 181.686 mph to capture the pole for the 65th running of the Daytona 500.  ·       The feat marks Bowman’s third career pole in the “Great American Race”; and the six consecutive year the 29-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver has sat on the front row of the crown jewel event.  ·       Bowman’s pole gives Chevrolet its 11th consecutive pole – and 31st all-time – in the Daytona 500.  ·       Chevrolet has swept the Daytona 500 front row 21 times in the event’s history, including 11 of the past 13 years.

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 15, 2023) – An all-Chevrolet front row will lead the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) to the green flag of the 65th running of the Daytona 500 after Hendrick Motorsports teammates, Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson, drove their Camaro ZL1’s to the top of the speed charts. Bowman powered his No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 to a lap at 181.686 mph to take his third career pole in the “Great American Race”. The feat delivered Chevrolet its 11th consecutive pole – and 31st all-time – in the crown jewel event.

The 29-year-old Arizona native is no stranger to the top of the speed charts at Daytona International Speedway. With the pole win, Bowman has taken a spot on the front row of the Daytona 500 for the sixth consecutive year, extending his series record as the only driver to accomplish that feat.   Laying down a lap at 181.067 mph in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1, Larson will join his teammate on the front row, marking the 21st time in the event’s history that Chevrolet has swept the Daytona 500 front row.  In his return to the driver’s seat in NASCAR’s premier series, career Chevrolet driver Jimmie Johnson secured his spot in the 40-car field for the Daytona 500. Johnson and the No. 84 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Camaro ZL1 team is one of two open cars that was able to qualify for Sunday’s race on time.  Next up for the NCS will be the two 60-lap, 150-mile Bluegreen Vacation Duels at Daytona to determine the remaining starting lineup of the Daytona 500. FS1 will telecast the Duels on Thursday, February 16, at 7 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript:  THE MODERATOR: Our Daytona 500 polesitter, Alex Bowman.We’ll take questions for Alex. Q. Is this talked about, the streak, the importance of keeping this streak alive, wanting to maintain a spot in the front row?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, for me it’s a really interesting thing to be a part of because I have so little to do with it, right? Like obviously once you get five, man, it would be really cool to have six. Next year I’ll be like, Man, it will be really cool to have seven.At the same time it’s way more about my guys and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Just appreciative for all their hard work, the time and effort, whether it’s the engine shop or all the guys in the car shop. There’s a ton of effort that goes into trying to qualify well here. Most of it’s on their end. So definitely really appreciative. Q. They mentioned on the telecast it looked like you were going on a different line, higher through the corners. Is that true? That seems like a driver initiative to get more speed.ALEX BOWMAN: I don’t really feel like I tried to do anything different than the other guys. Just try to kind of let the race car go where it wants and not bind it up.As a driver, really all you can do is get the best launch you can, hit your shift points right, try to run the best you can, not mess it up.Yeah, glad I didn’t mess it up. I was kind of just letting the race car go where it wanted to. Q. You say you have so little to do with this. Does it ever get old after six times in a row?ALEX BOWMAN: It’s really good to see it here. Yeah, I mean, it doesn’t get old by any means. It’s so special to be a part of. Just really thankful for the opportunity.Definitely want more, but I think it’s on that guy sitting over there. I petition that he’s got to do the media availability tomorrow for three hours of calls. I think that’s going to be on him (smiling). Q. Everybody wondered what it was going to be like having a new face come in atop the pit box after the success you had with Greg. What has this been like working with Blake?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, man, he’s just really annoying. He texts me all the time. Pretty awful.No, it’s been really fun. Enjoyed working with him a lot. It’s been cool to get to know each other more. We have common interests with the open-wheel dirt stuff. Just spending some time together during this off-season. Obviously trying to be ready to go for this season has been a lot of fun.We started off well at the Clash. Obviously tonight. But there’s a long season to go. I’m really looking forward to it. Q. You get trophies for the pole. Do you keep all the trophies anywhere?ALEX BOWMAN: I think I have the pole trophies, but I don’t have the second-place trophies because you get a trophy for the front row as well. Yeah, they’re in my office. They’re all together.Yeah, it’s a cool one to have, right? It says Daytona 500 on it. It’s a trophy. It may not be the big one, but it’s still not a bad one to have. Q. You did so much simulator work. Did you do tons and tons of laps at Daytona? Could that possibly be why you’re so good in qualifying here?ALEX BOWMAN: You can’t tell everybody my secret like that (smiling). I can’t believe you’d call me out.No, I don’t even know if the simulator has Daytona. If it does, well, it did for the road course stuff. But, yeah, I’ve never run speedway sim stuff.I would love to be able to sit here and take a little bit of credit. I feel like my launch was okay and my shifts were good.Man, it’s really on the team guys. They get the job done. Q. What did Rick have to say to you?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, he’s just excited. I think Daytona 500 qualifying means a lot to him. It’s something he’s very prideful of. Our record speaks for itself on that.We’ve talked about it quite a few times this off-season, it’s been a long time since Hendrick Motorsports won the Daytona 500. We got to make that change on Sunday, for sure. We’re doing all we can to make that happen. Q. Do you get a bonus for the pole or anything?ALEX BOWMAN: No, no. I get added workload. I don’t get any bonus. Nothing. I get a trophy and three more hours of work tomorrow (smiling). Q. Is there pressure at some point being on pole, now it’s time to win it?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, for sure. Every year. Man, now it’s time to finish, like make it to the end. Last year I think I sat on the back straightaway for four laps before they could figure out how to get me to pit road with four flat tires.Yeah, it’s such a hard race to finish. We’ve crashed early, we’ve crashed in the middle, we’ve crashed late. Obviously I don’t have the answer to that. I haven’t figured out how to finish it yet.I know we have a really fast race car and a great group of guys that are capable of doing great. But, man, it’s been tough. We want to finish this race and finish it well. Q. Do you approach the Duels any differently from the past five years?ALEX BOWMAN: It’s hard to say. Last year I think the state of who had cars and all that was really worrying kind of across the board. This year it just really depends on how it drives, right? Obviously we’re here to get the front row. We’re in qualifying trim. You can’t really change much.We’ll see how it drives in the draft. If it drives well, we’ll race hard. If it’s sketchy and I’m going to crash the thing, obviously you want to protect it. Yeah, going to do all we can to keep it up front and see how it drives. Q. Is that the first time both your dogs were in Victory Lane for you?ALEX BOWMAN: Yeah, for sure. I have to thank Jess. She went and got Finn and Roscoe. It’s not a win. They don’t go to many races. Any time they’re here, it’s special. I’ve never had them in Victory Lane. It was cool to do that. Roscoe didn’t bite anybody that I know of so we’re good.Yeah, it was cool to get to do that for sure. KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript THE MODERATOR: We are now joined by Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet.We’ll take questions for Kyle. Q. Are you going to need to steal some setup secrets from Bowman? Even when all you Hendrick cars are so good in qualifying, seems they have something a little bit extra.KYLE LARSON: I don’t know. I think it’s just because he’s taller, he can push the gas further (laughter).No, I don’t know, just hats off to their team. We were able to edge them out last year. I don’t remember what lap times were last year, but they clobbered us all this year.Hats off to the 48 team and everybody at Hendrick Motorsports because everybody has a hand in all of our cars going as fast as they do in qualifying here. Q. You’ve been good in qualifying here, particularly since you came over to Hendrick. You said yourself that racing at superspeedways has never treated you well. You said you’re going to spend some time with Tyler studying tape. Is that what it’s going to take? Are you trying to figure anything out to change your fortune going into Sunday?KYLE LARSON: I don’t know, I mean, you always study before every race. I don’t know. We do it every week. We go over every race. Same as for Daytona and Talladega both, we go and try to probably dive deeper than normal. More of the same tomorrow.But I would like to kind of see how the good guys set themselves up throughout a run to be up towards the front or wherever they need to be to miss wrecks and stuff.It’s just a difficult style of racing that, I don’t know, I just haven’t had the best of time in my career. I used to always say it’s bad luck, but I don’t necessarily feel that way any more.Yeah, just try to, as you do with every racetrack, just get better. Q. The fact that Hendrick Motorsports has been so dominant so often for so long for this race, how do you even begin to describe that?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I don’t know. I’m new, pretty new, to Hendrick still. I don’t obviously get involved in car stuff.Yeah, they’ve got something figured out for sure. I mean, there’s other teams outside of Hendrick Motorsports that use Hendrick engines. The cars are more similar these days, where they’re not kind of hand-built in the shop.There’s obviously tricks and stuff that they’ve learned along the way that still apply to I’m assuming these cars. It’s pretty neat. It’s pretty cool to see the success that they’ve had on qualifying day.Rick gets really excited about that. I know he’d be even more excited if one of the four of us could end up in Victory Lane on Sunday. Q. Is it also more impressive when you think there’s so little you can change on these cars, and they still are just as dominant as they were with the previous car?KYLE LARSON: Yeah, yeah, I mean, I guess I kind of touched on that a little bit.Again, I don’t know. You’ll have to ask Blake about car stuff. He’s worked on the old ones and the new ones. I don’t know what makes them go fast. He comes from a different team. He might spill all the beans to you here soon. Q. You were on the phone with Rick. What did he have to say to you? This has to be a big feather in your cap to be on the front row again.KYLE LARSON: Yeah, no, he was just really happy, as he has been for whatever, 16 times or so, for qualifying (smiling).No, just quick congratulations. Happy to see him tomorrow, get to hang out with him some this week. Haven’t got to see him much this off-season. Excited to see Rick tomorrow.

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT FEBRUARY 15, 2023

RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. JTG DAUGHERTY RACING CAMARO ZL1, Daytona 500 Media Availability Transcript:   WHAT IS THE KEY TO GETTING TO THE DAYTONA 500? “I wish I knew exactly, because I would do it every time. I think a lot of it is fast car, track position, and instincts. I would say those three things. I think there have been multiple times where you look at the guys that are always at the end of the speedway races, its instincts of ‘hey, things are looking bad so’ and you back out of it. I think that helps, but mainly just keeping your track position.” DOES IT MAKE YOU NERVOUS AND YOU ARE RACING WITH A LOT OF GUYS WHERE ITS THEIR FIRST TIME EVER IN THIS RACE? “Yeah, definitely.  Do I think they will figure it out, yeah, they will figure it out pretty quick. But, I feel for them because going from the Duel and having to make it in, that is a lot of pressure. And the way these cars are…..I feel like our old cars, you could kind of do things on your own and make some passes, but with this car, you definitely need two or three buddies to kind of help propel you past someone. You know, if the car that they are racing is in front of them, in our old school cars you could kind of lag back and get a run or side draft them and probably clear them and pull back in front of them. Now, I feel like if you do that, you are going to have to have some people behind you to help propel you past them. Man, I don’t know. Its going to be nerve-wracking for them and you know, we are pretty comfortable doing it. We have done it all last year with the second Daytona, the Talladega races; and just showed up, qualified and raced.   Our crew guys are definitely used to it, but it is wild for those guys that haven’t ran this.” HOW COOL IS IT FOR YOU TO SEE ALL THESE NEW PEOPLE LIKE CONOR DALY, TRAVIS PASTRANA, JUST TRYING THEIR HAND AT THIS?Yeah, I think its neat. I think this car gives one-off teams and opportunity to show up knowing ‘hey, we have the same chassis, same body, same parts and pieces’, right? Obviously you still have to put it together, still have got to have a good engine and things like that. But, it definitely opens the door for more one-off type starts from people to give our sport a shot. I think that is a good thing, definitely a good thing. I know Pastrana, it might not seem like he takes things serious, but he takes things super serious when he does it. Its cool to have him back and you know, I was at Roush when he was there in the Xfinity Series. So, I know he loves racing…he loves it. It will be cool to see him out there.” IF YOU HAD TO PITCH THE DAYTONA EXPERIENCE TO SOMEONE WHO HAS NEVER WATCHED A RACE OR HAD NEVER SEEN ONE IN PERSON, WHAT WOULD YOU SAY TO THEM ABOUT THIS EXPERIENCE? “Well, I know a lot of people use and say its like our Super Bowl. Which it is, but I think we hold quite a few more people than the Super Bowl. Which is nice, around here at Daytona. So, I think it’s a week-long experience basically. It’s a full week of you get races Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.  It’s not just one thing, right? It’s not like you are hanging out all week and then you get a race on Sunday. Its prestigious qualifying tonight and we have a lot riding tonight on who gets the front row. And then we have our qualifying races on Thursday. Its our biggest race of the year and one that everybody wants to win and I don’t think you will see……I like to think we take every race seriously, but it seems like with the crew guys the intensity level, the laser focus, is always a step or two higher here at Daytona for the 500.  We come back now in August, and everybody is a lot more relaxed.  Everybody is tensed up here knowing that you have one shot to win the Daytona 500.  You look at the careers of people in our sport that accomplished a lot, but never won the 500.  It shows how tough it is.” WHAT IS THE MINDSET AND INTENSITY WHEN YOU COME DOWN TO THE FINAL 25 LAPS  “The final 25 is important. Looking back at stats, looking back at running positions, stuff that we study, right? Your track position from about 30 laps to go on, doesn’t change a whole lot, other than a crash. So, you are not going to drive through the field to get the lead. So you have to….our mindset going in is with 30 laps to go you have to be in position to where you need to be with five to go. Last year we put ourselves in that position. We were leading within 20 to go. I don’t know what lap we took the lead on, but I know the lap we got crashed on was like four to go.  Those laps leading were nerve-wracking. We were inside 20 to go and we were leading the race, actually we were inside 10 to go and still leading. Like we were riding around in a single file line, but I was nervous. Knowing somebody is going to make a move and you have got to be ready to defend.   Or if they do successfully get by you, like what happened on the restart with four or five to go, the 2 and the 12 got by us, and the 6 was behind me.  So I went from being on defense, to being on offense and I was like, ‘how am I going to get back to the lead’. The scenarios change so fast, and you have to be able to adapt and go back and forth and make those right moves. But it’s tough, it’s fun.” WHERE DO YOU STAND AS FAR AS IF ITS LUCK OR SKILL TO SUCCEED HERE? “Yeah, its both. You definitely have to have luck. But I feel like you can create your luck and you can use your gut instincts which help with those lucky breaks. I remember a few races here, and even a few races that we won at Daytona and Talladega, where we lost our track position and we were trying to get back to the front and there was a point where I was like, ‘man, I don’t feel good about this’. I back out of it, and I was up to about 20th and I back out of it and go to about 35th or 30th or something and get myself away from the pack and sure enough there is a big crash a lap or two later and we miss it. Was that luck? I don’t feel like that was luck. Kind of saw that coming, right? But you have got to have both.” ARE THERE SOME VETERANS THAT YOU SEE AHEAD OF YOU OR IN YOUR REAR VIEW MIRROR AND YOU SAY THAT YOU DON’T NEED TO BE NEAR THEM? “No, I don’t feel like there is one certain person where I am like, hey, don’t get around them. We are all capable of winning these races and we are all capable of doing the job. We can make mistakes, but I think every situation is different. And depending on who is behind them, and who is pushing who, middle lane, top lane, kind of what the scenario is, even how their car is driving, you can take somebody that is super good at speedway racing and if their car is not handling and its super loose, then you don’t really want to be around them. Because its tough to control. So, yeah, I don’t think there is one person where you don’t want to be around them but at the same time you kind of have to….the car you didn’t want to be in front of last year, was the 6. He spun the 21, flipped him, he spun us.  But then again, we are all learning a new car. I would take the same scenario that we had last year where we are on the front row of a restart with five to go and the 6 behind us. I would still take that, even though he spun us last year. I don’t think he is intentionally going to do that again, right?   So, I think its just circumstances. How somebody’s car is driving, and how yours is driving when you are getting pushed.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT FEBRUARY 15, 2023

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CAMARO ZL1, Daytona 500 Media Availability Transcript:  Inaudible.“I think it’s great. It gives us consistency and gives us all to focus on making us all faster. That’s what really is our goal: to continue to work together and improve and get to a point where we can be multiple race-winners a year. That just further solidifies that, and we probably have the most stable driver lineup out there, so that’s nice.” What’s Alex (Bowman) like as a teammate?“He’s great. Alex has always been a good friend of mine, and we’ve always worked well together. I think he’s always brought good assets to the table, and that’s been good for all of us.” On qualifying Wednesday night.“Good. We always seem to bring a lot of qualifying speed. It’s all about trying to keep that mojo going and get another pole for Mr. Hendrick. That’s the goal every year down here. Personally my goal is to win the race – win the Duel and win the race on Sunday. That’s all of our goals because we’ve been down here a few years and we haven’t gotten that win. That’s what is at the forefront of our minds.” Does it bother you that there has only been one Chevy win in the last eight Daytona 500s?“It’s not a good stat, for sure. It could be better. We’ve had speed here. We know the deal. It’s a lot of good fortune but you have to have enough bullets for the fight at the end to put up a good chance at it. For us, we need more chances at the end. We need as many Chevys at the end that we can have. That comes down to strategy, it comes down to decisions as a driver, making sure we don’t make any dumb decisions that put ourselves at jeopardy. I want as many Chevys at the end as possible because it’s going to make my job easier.” How closely do you guys work together?“I think I have a good trust level with some of the Chevy guys. I’ve worked well with Austin Dillon in the past. I don’t know Kyle Busch as well on superspeedways, so I’m going to have to learn him a little bit and his style. The Hendrick guys, we’ve always worked well together. The goal is to get all four of us Hendrick guys to the end and then the other key partners as well. That’s the goal. We’ll try to work with the Trackhouse guys, too. Personally, I just want to make good decisions. I feel like I’m a good plate racer but I have to make good decisions and be patient. The extra 100 miles that this race has and all the meaning that it has is what kind of creates that impatience and those early wrecks. I haven’t caused an early wreck but I’ve been part of quite a few. I’m ready for that to end and get to Stage Three, take a deep breath and have 10 laps to go and try to win the 500.” When you talk about having to learn Kyle, how does that process work?“I know him well from other forms of racing and other racetracks, but I don’t know the style he has on these tracks. So we’ve never been in a conversation about it before the race. We’ll have that chance now to talk to each other now to talk to each other and be like, ‘What’s your preference, do you like to ride, do you like to race for the stages’ and try to figure out where his head is at with that. I assume we’ll all try to work together.” What will it be like racing against Jimmie Johnson and not have him as a teammate?“It’s weird for sure. I’ve always seen him in that 48 so I think seeing the 84 in a different brand and different team… It’s cool that he’s still a Chevy guy because I think that’s the neat part. He’s still in the family so we still share notes, we can still be open with each other. That’s cool. It’s kind of bittersweet but I think he’ll have a great time over there.” Have you had any conversations with him?“Just in passing this week. When he was off doing IndyCar stuff, it was hard to keep up because we were always racing at the same time. We had more conversations last year when I did that ride-along with him at Indy. We still try to keep up since he lives in Charlotte.” With a bunch of guys in new rides this year, does that change how you approach those cars?“It’s like going to school and seeing people in different outfits. You make mental notes so it’s kind of getting used to that and that acclamation period of (Tyler) Reddick is in the 45, it’s not Kurt (Busch)… all those things. It all happens in the first couple of weeks and then you start to figure out what happens from there.” How do you prepare for those final laps of the 500?“I wish I had more chances at that. I need to get to the end. That’s the goal this year. I think watching races back and seeing what guys do and what moves they make. The biggest decision is where you restart with the choose now. The choose is going to be crazy on superspeedways. I think you’re going to see a lot of dynamic changes there. It’s going to help the lines go forward on the first lap. There’s a lot of energy in that first lap. Denny (Hamlin) and I at Talladega, we worked together on the front row. He got down in front of me and I pushed him. That was a really good strategy, even though we weren’t teammates. It worked. So you try to be tactical.” Does that favor the Chevys especially early in the race because there are more cars?“It’s all effort-dependent. It’s how much effort the guys in the line want to put forward to make the line go. It’s all about making sure everyone in the line is contributing. That’s the biggest thing. It doesn’t matter what team or person it is; they just have to make the line go forward. So keeping the gaps close and pushing when needed, that’s the key.” If you were to get shuffled out of line, how hard is it to get back up front?“Really hard. The package we have is two-wide. Three-wide is hard. Hopefully three-wide is a thing this year. But as we saw last year, I got shuffled at one point in the Talladega fall race. I needed to win that race and I couldn’t get back there, as much as I wanted to unless I just shot off the apron and spun someone out and caused a wreck. The goal is to try and keep that track position. That’s the key.” What are you going to try to glean most from the Duels?“The Duels are important because there are points now. Trying to start the year with 10 extra points is huge. If you get two good stages in the 500 and then you have the Duel, that could be 30 points. That’s the key, is trying to put yourself in that position to get all those points.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT FEBRUARY 15, 2023

TY DILLON, NO. 77 SPIRE MOTORSPORTS CAMARO ZL1, Daytona 500 Media Availability Transcript:  How has your offseason gone?“I got a nice recharge and just getting acquainted with a team has been really easy and I’m just pumped for this year.” What has that process been like?“This one has been the easiest. I think the honesty and transparency in which Spire is led by and operated by has made it a really easy transition and easy for me to get focused in on what I needed to work on in the offseason instead of worrying on everything else, and just kind of refocusing my mind and my energies. I think every year is a new opportunity and I think the best part is I really enjoy the people I’m working with. I think that’s something that keeps you very positive.” What does it mean to have guys from different disciplines of motorsport attempting to qualify along with the return of Jimmie Johnson?“It’s definitely a pretty thick field that’s stacked with great talent from all different disciplines. It’s always the Daytona 500, it’s always good drivers in this. I think you look at the Cup Series in general, there’s no gaps anymore. It’s great cars and great drivers all the way through the field now and you better be prepared to go out and make the most of it.” What are your expectations for 2023, going to a new team and seeing where things lay out?“Our expectations are high. I think everything is there for me to have my best season in Cup, and getting acquainted with Spire Motorsports this offseason from the top down has been awesome. We have realistic, focused goals to go out and accomplish this year that will get us to where we want to be as a team and as a driver. I think it’s very realistic that we can be a team that people are quite surprised by by the end of the year and say ‘oh, they never fell off and were a team that contended all year and put themselves in a great position.’ Obviously, we’d like to go out and win races and championships and that’s going to be our goal every time we suit up on Sundays. The pure vision is to grow our team and be better than we were last year in all facets. Hopefully, I can be a vital cog to that.” How much time have you spent with Corey LaJoie building that relationship?“Corey and I have been pretty good friends, probably closer than most of the other drivers the past couple of years. We do quite a few things together. I’ve know Corey pretty well and just getting to work with him is just a bonus. We spent a lot of time together in the GM simulators, working with each other and already communicating those barriers of kind of meeting your new friend for the first time weren’t really there. We were able to jump into the work part of it and be honest with each other with how we drive and what we’re looking for. As far as the relationship, it’s been really fun to get going. We’re getting into the real thing and the real season and I’m looking forward to seeing how our relationship grows and we continue to ultimately make Spire Motorsports as a whole better.” Any plans for truck or Xfinity this year?“Right now, we have one nailed down for Xfinity to run the 3 at Darlington. There’s possibilities for more.” You didn’t make the race in LA. Was that something you didn’t count on?“If you look at our performance in LA from a 5,000-foot view, we didn’t make the race so obviously that wasn’t what we wanted. But from where we unloaded and where Spire was as a team last year at that race, we really closed in the box. By the time we got to the B Main, we were competitive enough that I think if we caught one more caution we would have had a really good shot at being in the race and being very competitive in the Main. For everybody out there that doesn’t get to see the whole story, we really closed in the box so that was really positive leaving LA. We’re going to have to do that throughout the year to get this program better. We’re going to have to close the box at some tracks to get better, make the most out of every performance. Coming here to Daytona, it’s an opportunity to go out and perform really well, get our year started off on the right foot and I think we’re going to do great things this year at Spire.” How do you maximize every opportunity?“You maximize every opportunity by your preparation and your efficiency and getting the most out of each day a day at a time. You can’t look too far ahead. For us, I think it’s about making the days that we might have a 25th-place car, making that the worst we finish is 25th and capitalizing on every opportunity we can. In our situation, we have to be efficient in every way we operate and when the other guys make mistakes we have to capitalize. That’s where I’ve thrived in my career. It’s won me races in all levels, so I’m confident in my ability to do that and I’m very confident in the guys working on my race car. We will grow race after race and it’s just staying consistent, not getting discouraged and kind of stay process-oriented so letting every race be a development to the place where we want to get and that’s winning races and being in the championship and not ever lose that mindset.” Who’s that kind of that main person that keeps you moving forward?“That’s where the team aspect comes into hand. Obviously as a driver you’re thrust into a leadership role, so there’s a lot that falls on me to stay positive and consistent as a person on and off with my work ethic and my communication. Then there’s going to be times when our crew chief is going to take that role and he’s going to have to pump us up. Our guys will lead us in times, too, as a group and keeping us moving. Everyone has to have that same focus so when one of us maybe has a weak day the other is bringing us all up. The whole team has to be on the same page. That’s the key to success.” Are you going to have opportunities to run in the 7 truck this year?“There’s opportunities. We have to find some sponsorship to do it. I’d love to run some truck races but nothing yet.” Do you circle these spectacle races as your guy’s opportunity to really shine?“Everybody says that. Obviously, there’s a chance, a great opportunity. Corey did really well at superspeedways. Landon had the best finish for Spire Motorsports last year at Daytona. The team has always been successful, which is always great. But I don’t like to set up your whole season as these are the only opportunities to win. I think we focus on every other track as opportunities to win as well. I don’t like to put all my eggs in one basket. You have to go perform every single weekend and believe you have a shot at every racetrack. And I think we really do this year. This shouldn’t be a one and done approach to this race. We should really be looking at this race to get our season started on the right foot, not getting ourselves behind just by thinking this is all we have.” What can you take from last year and all you have learned about this Next Gen car to Spire?“A lot of laps, a lot of time in simulator and learning a lot of different things within the team last year helped to bring over knowledge. Just in conversation with the guys at Spire things that they hadn’t looked at yet. Just a different opinion and hopefully throughout the year I can continue to bring an added ingredient to what’s been a successful growth in the race team.” Where do you find yourself right now?“Really peaceful. I think a lot of that has come from strong leadership in Spire Motorsports. This offseason we had meetings about goals and expectations and we all sat in the same room together, so everything is very clear when you can sit and look eye to eye and say this is who we are, this is what we want to achieve and we’re all on the same page. When that doesn’t come down directly, and in past that hasn’t come directly in that same form, there creates doubt in confidence and then you start doubting yourself. This year honestly has probably been mentally one of my most refreshing. I’m probably the most excited and full of energy to go into a race season than I’ve ever been. Just because the transparency that we operate at Spire already and the belief that they’ve given in me, especially my teammates and my crew chief. So I know they believe in me, I believe in them and I’m really pumped. This has been my best offseason yet and hopefully it transforms into my best season yet.” How much of a benefit is it to Spire to have you and Corey with all your experience?“I think I’ve only run two more races than Corey so we both have over 200 race experiences. That’s not something to just shy away from. It’s a lot of experience and people should listen to drivers who have been around this long. Obviously, it takes some talent and skill and you’ve learned something. That’s what has been probably my most favorite thing about being at Spire is that they believe in me and they understand that me being the series isn’t a fluke and being here for 200 races there’s a lot to learn. They’ve given a lot of confidence in myself and Corey as well. We know they believe in us as drivers and that was a major thing for us.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT FEBRUARY 15, 2023

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 84 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB CAMARO ZL1, Daytona 500 Media Availability Transcript:  Is this like riding a horse and getting back on it?“We’re going to find out! There are nerves. I know how much effort our group has put into my car and all three cars and the effort. So I feel really good about that. So there is some level of anxiety due to the fact that you don’t get a practice lap. I hope it starts! Just the basic stuff that can haunt you with a racecar, I just hope all of that is in order. Todd Gordon has done a great job of leading. The help from Dave Elenz (Erik Jones’ crew chief) and Luke Lambert (Noah Gragson’s crew chief) and their groups to put three really strong cars out there is so appreciated. I hope we have a strong qualifying effort tonight to make tomorrow much more stress-free.” What do you notice about the car?“Driving it at Phoenix, there is a much different experience driving the car in the way you create speed, the way the car rides at the bump stops, the ride quality of the vehicle. The sim session that I had getting ready for here – although it’s silly to do a sim for Daytona running by yourself – I did notice that the content in the track due to how the cars ride on bump stops is really rough. That was not the case my last time here. Mentally I’m going to be ready for that getting-up-to-speed lap, how close I get to the wall, how much the car will be on the stops bouncing around and what that might be like. I’ve been advised many times to remember that it’s a sequential box and that I keep pulling gears, and third gear is actually back here – it’s not forward. I think some guys made that mistake last year and downshifted and blew engines. So just trying to stay disciplined on that. The last thing I have to be aware of and remember is that there are five gears and not four. In the simulator, I made that mistake and ran around in fourth gear for one of my qualifying laps.” Will it all come back in one lap?“Single-car is such a different element than the draft. Sure, a rep will help just to understand things. The steering system is much different in the car I drove, and I noticed that at Phoenix and also in the sim. So sure, there will be some take-aways, but anything to carry-over to the race I won’t get much out from that.” Are you having fun on the ownership side or is it a challenge?“It’s been a blast. I really have enjoyed it. There is pressure and stress and anxiety with anything you do in life, and there certainly is plenty of that. But I feel like the excitement of building something, the support that I have in the partnership with Maury (Gallagher), the competition department, the people in the front office, the people building cars… We’re a small group and the excitement that we’re building something for the future and all that’s in and around that has been fun. There have been long days and long hours. I wish we had a few more months to get ready for the 500 but we just don’t. Everything happened so late last year that our most precious commodity is time. I know every race team says that, but we’re even in less supply of it than others. But it’s been a great journey. I’m excited to go racing and really keep building this thing.” Erik Jones talked awhile ago that you were asking him and Noah for advice. How different is that going to younger guys?“It’s probably awkward for them, but for me I genuinely need some help. I just don’t know this car. I felt things at Phoenix that I didn’t expect to feel with the car and the way it drives on bump stops and the sequential gearbox and trying to find the most efficient and quickest way shift, how and when you downshift. The steering system was much more sensitive and different than I thought. The yaw window in sliding the car was way different than I anticipated. I always liked to drive a loose car and I spent a career of driving loose cars. You can’t drive this one sideways. It just doesn’t happen the way it creates downforce. So I’ve been doing a lot more learning from them, and I hope I haven’t freaked them out.” What’s the best thing they’ve told you so far?“The first thing that comes to mind is Noah wants a six-pack. I know that has nothing to do with racing but if I see his stomach again for his progress report on his diet and his fitness plan, I’m going to lose my stuff! He’s been so much fun. Both are super-talented but absolutely go about their days differently. I’ve really enjoyed working with both of them.” How is Erik Jones’ workout coming? The first workout, he thought the warmup was the workout…“(Laughing) He’s fully committed. That’s the one thing that I see both through Erik and Noah. Their personalities are different and the way they go about things are different. But their desire to be the best they can is very much the same between the two of them. I feel like Josh Wise and the program he offers is not only great for these guys physically and from a driving perspective but also some big lessons in mental health, being able to create a sustainable lifestyle, being healthy and just all the other aspects that come to it that someone in their 40s can share, and he’s able to share that with a large group of young drivers coming up through. As I tried to help Erik buy into the program, I went and spent some time with Josh and got a much better understanding of the program he has. Hats off to Josh and Chevrolet with what they’ve created there. I think Erik is pretty good now.” You’ve never had to worry about time and personnel at Hendrick. How do you balance your time now?“I don’t think I’ve figured it out, but now I know why Chad (Knaus) always looked tired and now I know why his fuse was so short! He’d always tell me to get out of his office because he had (stuff) to do. Now I get it! I just do on such a deeper level. The Hendrick organization and the pros that are in there make it look easy, and it’s not. I have such a better appreciation and understanding of what it takes to be a manager in this world or an owner or whatever my title might exactly be. There’s a lot going on, and credit to everyone who makes it look easy.” What was your takeaway from the last two years (in IndyCar)?“I don’t know where to start. I think I could probably answer it better in a year or two when I have a little experience with this new role. The last two years have been a growing opportunity for me that’s led to this opportunity. When I left NASCAR, there was no chance I was ever going to come back as an owner. It was never in the cards for me. I thought in the back of my mind that I’d come back and drive. The experience I had working with Chip and Chip Ganassi Racing and how my office found and maintained the Carvana relationship and other partnerships on the car, there was a big growth period in there for me that has walked into this relationship I have with Maury.” In talking about compartmentalization, have you spoken to Richard Petty about that?“I haven’t on that topic, but you bring up a great point. He’s been doing this for so long and wearing so many hats at different times. I didn’t have a chance to race against him but I’ve watched him compartmentalize so well in different settings that I should lean on him for that. I’ve been surprised by how much he still works, how active he is at the shop, how frequently he’s been at the shop, I’ve been really impressed. One thing I can say that’s never wavered since I’ve been engaged with him at this level is his reminders that we need to win races. It’s at least four times per conversation. How much that man wants to win and loves to win is amazing.” Inaudible.“I think on paper it’s similar. There’s a lot at stake here for me. Personally between my two ears, I’m sitting here with seven championships and 83 wins. Yes, it would absolutely suck to not make the race. But the pressure I had on myself in 2002, life would have seemed like it would have ended if I hadn’t made that race. I am in a different place although this is the first step for me as an owner and being a part owner of this car that I’m running in. We qualified on pole in ’02. I don’t think that’s in the cards for us today but who knows? Maybe lightning will strike twice.” On Kevin Harvick’s contributions to NASCAR entering his last season.“I think Kevin has offered so much in so many ways. He’s not only a fierce competitor but is someone who grew up in the sport and grew up in it and cares for it. He’s always taken the time to understand the point he wants to make and is confident in the point that he makes. He’s looked through the ownership lens, as we all know and certainly the driver lens. He’s been with multiple organizations and different leaders. He’s a very well-rounded, intelligent driver/businessman. I have a ton of respect for what’s accomplished inside and out of the car.” On the 75th anniversary season of NASCAR.“I can say that I recall watching the 50th celebration and how much it meant to everyone in the sport. I was watching as a fan, and there was a feeling I had watching of a NASCAR family and how special the 50th celebration was. I say that with anticipation of what 75 is going to be like, and I’m proud to be part of it. I’m so happy to be back in a car to experience it first-hand. On another layer is taking what we do here and going to France in June and driving a NASCAR-style vehicle and talk about the 75th year to the broader auto racing fanbase. I’m really excited to be back and be a part of it.” Your part in that history is pretty significant.“In my 19 years, a lot of crazy things happened. I could never have predicted any of it. I’m fortunate, blessed and all of it. I still look back and I can’t believe we had five (championships) in a row. In the moment, it happened so quick and we’re so focused on the next thing that some of it doesn’t feel like it happened. I look back on it and shake my head.” Do you feel like a rookie again, having to make races and learn the car?“Here, yes the car is different and yes it will draft differently, but the fundamentals of the draft are still very similar. Plate racing is the wild card. It’s intentional for me to come be part of the Daytona 500 and the most impactful race. I think I really have a shot to win. If I survive and get through the first two stages, there’s really a shot that I have to win this race. To go to Fontana with the same expectations would be ridiculous. It’s a different car. I haven’t been in these cars for two years. It’s a whole different environment, and it’s going to take time to catch up to where the drivers are now with the sense, the feel, understanding the balance, the understanding of the 20-minute practice, qualifying, the balance you look for to apply for the race, the pit stops… that whole thing just takes reps. I’m only a year removed from the new car but that’s still a lot. The other races I run, I’m going to have to adjust to that.” Why do you feel that there’s a little more opportunity to win here?“Sure, there’s a lot of change with the car. But the race itself is maybe 25 percent different than it was before. If you go to a non-plate track, it’s 100 percent different. The fundamentals of the draft outweigh the mechanical differences in the vehicle. Working the draft and working the lanes, that whole aspect is always going to be there regardless of the car.” Do you think you have to show your competitors anything or prove that you still have it?“That’s a great question. I don’t think there’s a ton to that. … In the draft you’re really playing the numbers game and which lane has energy and momentum in it and if it’s going. You kind of lose sight of who you’re around. Come the end of stages and the end of the race, that dynamic changes. I’ll probably get used up in those situations, so I guess I should be aware of that. If you’re showing progress, you don’t give people a choice but to follow you. That was the philosophy I had when I was a regular. I didn’t care who it was. If they were going forward, I’m going to jump behind them and go.” There are a number of new faces that you haven’t raced against before. How much do you have to learn there?“There’s always a learning process. I haven’t made it to that part yet, largely because we haven’t had drafting practice. I’m most focused on how different the car is going to drive… the bump stop package, the way you run the cars, the attitude. There’s a much different ride quality perspective there. I’m more worried about keeping my car straight than the others right now.” Are you more focused on speed as that’s an easier way to get in? What’s it do for you in terms of the Duels and how does that compromise the handling, or is it not as big a penalty?“The box is tighter for sure. We’re definitely focused on getting the work done tonight.” How strange will it be racing against the 48?“From watching TV and seeing the 48, in my head it’s Alex (Bowman)’s ride. It’s Alex. Someone brought up a point that I haven’t stopped on a different stop sign even though I left for two years. It was still an IMSA car with a 48 stop sign and an IndyCar with a 48 stop sign. I’m going to remind my spotter to remind me. We’re going to know where the 48 car is, and he’s going to have to talk me by that.” What did you take away from the Garage 56 test here?“It was the first time we had Jenson (Button) in the car and also Jordan Taylor’s participation and being in the car. Jordan brings so much from all the GT experience he has. He spotted some stuff that maybe we hadn’t focused on yet from either driving or balance characteristics or creature comforts inside the car. It was great watching Jenson climbing out of the car after the first time. He was speechless for awhile and his eyes were so big. He asked how it can have so much power and so little grip! I was like, ‘Well, welcome to NASCAR!’ It’s a fun group to be around. We leave here Sunday and we’re doing a 24-hour test at Sebring, so all four of us will be there. The whole operation will be there. We did a 12-hour simulation here, and we’re doing a 24-hour simulation on Monday and Tuesday.” Is it odd seeing how the four different drivers can take away something different each time in the car?“It is wild. Everyone is super-sensitive about what they sense and feel, and what their minds focus on. To watch Jenson evolve because he’s never driven a vehicle like this before. They’ve always been formula cars. By the end, he had a great sense of the car’s potential and ability. As he pulled it back, he was still two steps over what the car was capable of. Once we got him back in the window, he was like, ‘OK… here’s where the grip is.’” What is it that keeps you in racing?“It’s what I know and what I love. I really wanted to experience other cars and other tracks before that door closed for me. I feel like I’m in a sport, fortunately where if you want, you can extend that run. The grind of having 19 years in Cup took its toll on me and I just wanted to drive other cars and try other things. Some thought it was crazy and some thought it was maybe foolish or wild that I would try and do IndyCar. But that was for me. That’s what the last two years have been and really what I intended this year to be was just to fill that fun bucket and experience bucket. It’s taken on a serious note with the ownership side and certainly an opportunity I didn’t anticipate having in front of me. But it’s one I’m really excited about.” On the Chicago street race.“I just think road and street course races are amazing. After the two years in IndyCar and growing up in San Diego and going to Long Beach, I love street races. I want to be in the NASCAR street race.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT FEBRUARY 15, 2023

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 TRACKHOUSE RACING CAMARO ZL1, Daytona 500 Media Availability Transcript:  Q. How are you grasping the way you’ve become a big name now? ROSS CHASTAIN: Growing. I have a lot of growing up to do at 30 years old. I feel like I’m just getting started, so… Trying to learn from my mistakes.  Q. What was your reaction to them saying we’re going to clamp down and make sure the Hail Melon is not going to be happening in the future? ROSS CHASTAIN: I’m proud of what it accomplished for us. I’m glad that we were able to do it in a meaningful way in a race that mattered, the life-changing aftermath of going and fighting for a championship and coming up 235 feet short, something I’ll always be proud of. But I’m okay with them not letting us do it anymore.  Q. If you could put your popularity or Q rating on a scale of 1 to 10, what do you think it was before that move and what did it go to after that? ROSS CHASTAIN: I am incredibly unqualified to answer that question. That would be a question for all of y’all. I’ll turn the microphone to y’all.  Q. (No microphone.) ROSS CHASTAIN: Not 3 to 9, but more for sure.  Q. Justin Marks said one of the things that he needs to keep an eye on this year is managing expectations because at the end of last year they were sky high among the fans, what Trackhouse can do. How important is it in your mind to kind of keep the expectations managed to a degree that you want success but you could have a better season this year growing as a team? ROSS CHASTAIN: Well, I think last year, my experience, I had a new car, the unknown of a new car and new team to lean on. I had confidence that my group from the 42 transitioned into Trackhouse in the 1 car was going to be good. I know I have less confidence right now because this series is so humbling, this sport is so competitive, especially at this level nothing is guaranteed. I feel like I have more work to do now than I did a year ago to sustain what we were able to accomplish last year.  Q. How inspiring is Justin Marks? Whenever you talk to the guy, you want to run through a brick wall for him. ROSS CHASTAIN: Look, we got done with Phoenix, I took a moment and some days to really try to soak in what just happened, how close we were. I didn’t really want to talk about the details much, outside of the competition, what we could do to make our car better. Justin goes and paints a 235-foot section in front of our shop with ‘235’ painted on the road. Every day I drive in and out I have to drive across that. That’s the difference between Joey Logano and us, winning a championship, us losing. At first I didn’t really understand it. The more I drive over it, I grip the wheel a little bit there and it drives me to be better. Justin has that way about him. We’re totally different in that aspect of the way our brains work.  Q. Also the fact he’s such a big thinker. He thinks way beyond what a lot of other people think right now what this sport can be like, Trackhouse can be. ROSS CHASTAIN: I’m along for the ride. I’d rather be on his team than against him, that’s for sure, because he’s continuing to push us forward as an entire sport.  Q. Daniel Suarez got signed to a multi-year deal with Trackhouse. Can you talk about the status of your contract and have they discussed an extension with you? ROSS CHASTAIN: Yeah, look, Daniel was the first driver of Trackhouse. I’ve learned a lot from him. I didn’t really know him that well going into it. I’m super excited and happy for him. But I’ve got nothing on my front to talk about.  Q. What does it mean to you to have Daniel back since you built a relationship and he’s done exceptionally well? ROSS CHASTAIN: Yeah, I think for both of us coming out of 2021, him being the first year with Trackhouse, my time at CGR, it’s pretty wild what we’ve been able to accomplish. Two guys they wouldn’t have had that on their bingo card, but Justin Marks did. Coming from me, start-and-park efforts, it’s not that long ago in the Truck Series, mid 30s in the Cup Series, just a couple years ago, it’s cool to get to do it with another guy like Daniel. We’re kind of progressing together. What’s selfishly so cool for me is I’m doing it with my people. That’s what really makes it that much more special now that we’ve accomplished some pretty cool things.  Q. How bad do you want to win at California Speedway? With that being the last time potentially racing there, what would it mean to get that trophy? ROSS CHASTAIN: Yeah, I still hope they change their mind again on that and keep it, build another short track somewhere else or put us in another stadium. For me, I’ll have to narrow in on practice last year and the crash we had off of turn four. It was the biggest of my career, something that, look, I don’t mean to be morbid, but I think 20 years ago I don’t walk away from it the way I do this time in 2022. This car saved my life. That track could have taken it all from me. It’s not lost on me. I have a respect for this car and a respect for that track. I have a little bit of fear for it, too. I’m glad that I do because it earned my respect real quick that day.  Q. Did you get your bell rung? ROSS CHASTAIN: Oh, yeah. Q. A lot of people came out after the fact saying they had concussions. ROSS CHASTAIN: I’m not qualified at all to speak on the true physical from inside my body what happened. I know that I walked away from that crash, and that car saved my life. I’m forever thankful for that. That’s what makes that track special now, is that mark in turn four, the bump in turn four that I hit which caused me to get loose, overcorrect, turn the wheel too far to the right, lift off the gas, it caught, I hit the wall head on.I remember it for the fact that I was able to take a second, catch my breath, get checked out, drive the next day. I don’t think 20 years ago that happens. I’m so thankful for this car that NASCAR rolled out to provide that for me. Then it goes deeper into Trackhouse building a safe seat and the seat belts we use; what they recommended I use. The boys and girls at Trackhouse take that stuff serious and get all that stuff measured out exactly to hold me in that seat. That’s the reasons I want to go win at California, just selfishly, not necessarily because it’s the last race, but for those memories I have there.  Q. What are your thoughts about Kevin Harvick and his career? What sticks out to you? ROSS CHASTAIN: Yeah, well, first I was at his first win. I was in the grandstands. That’s a cool memory. I was actually a Gordon fan, so I was rooting for the Rainbow Warrior car. I was convinced my young eyes thought the 24 won. But Kevin won. So now to be competitors with him, to go to battle with him, fight for wins in the different series, we’ve been side by side in pretty much a lot of different tracks, a lot of different race cars. We’re racers, so we say things when we get out of the car hot and heated. We think things about each other. At the end of the day you have to look at his body of work, what he’s done. That doesn’t make it any easier, though, that I want to beat him. Nobody’s going to take it easy on him this year. We want to beat him worse now than ever.  Q. As a native Floridian, what does this event mean to the entire state? ROSS CHASTAIN: It’s huge. You come over to this area, any other time than when the events are happening, race weekends, it’s a lot easier to get around town. It’s really cool to see hotels full, restaurants full. I can people watch with the best of them. It’s so cool to see people just migrating in. This place has more events than just NASCAR. The Daytona 500 is by far the biggest, but hearing or just learning over time from the folks here at Daytona and NASCAR the economic impact of this place on the surrounding areas and economy is just in numbers bigger than I can really grasp. To think about what it started on as a race half on the beach, half on the highway, growing into what it is now, it’s just so cool for me as a fan. Now I get to compete in it, it’s even crazier.  Q. (No microphone.) ROSS CHASTAIN: Me and B.J. have. I knew B.J. because he came through the short track late model ranks a few years ahead of me. As he was winning races in super late models, I was not yet racing. When we got into local tracks, we knew B.J.’s name. He was off doing NASCAR truck stuff at the time. I’ve went to B.J. for advice a lot over the years. He’s been there to help me in a lot of good times and a lot of really bad times as well. We had that natural bonding because we didn’t know each other early on but we knew the same people. I’ve went to him when I had questions.  Q. From an economic impact standpoint, the success of last year, you personally for watermelons, the farming community, have you thought about that? What are the goals or aspirations to impact that? ROSS CHASTAIN: First and foremost is smash a watermelon on national TV when we win a race. Let’s just start there (laughter). It’s just the way. No matter what is going on in the world, sports are an escape for lot of us, me included. If somebody is watching at home, at a restaurant, walking by a TV that’s muted, they don’t have to know anything about it other than that guy just won and now he’s smashing a watermelon. What is that about? Actually I kind of want a piece of watermelon now. That is the whole goal of that. I’m not shy about it. It’s our family’s livelihood, it’s my family’s livelihood. Even if it’s not our watermelon, a rising tide raises all ships. Shining a bright light on agriculture, how there is such a small percentage of this world’s population in charge for feeding all of us is something I could use as a platform to talk about now. Getting into more of the details, there’s a lot left to be desired on my side from how I can truly help ag, more on the ground floor of in the fields, get my hands dirty with some programs, then just getting food to the people that need it. There are people not too far from us right now at Daytona International Speedway that might be hungry. There are things that I can do to help that. So we’re working through some of that now to just get food to the people that need it.  Q. Branding the watermelon as the official produce of winners? ROSS CHASTAIN: Hey, that’s a good slogan. We can put a slogan on anything in NASCAR. You don’t have that trademarked yet?  Q. Not yet. ROSS CHASTAIN: I might beat you to it (laughter).  Q. (No microphone.) ROSS CHASTAIN: B.J. McLeod is a winner. He’s a bad ass. He is. He physically is, but he can drive a race car. I have spent probably just as much time racing with him in the 30s, 30th-place position in the Cup Series, as I have racing up front with the guys that are winning races. I’ve got a unique perspective of B.J. both knowing of his name growing up as a guy that had won races a couple years before I got into each class, but just knowing him as the good guy. He looks so bad to the bone, but he’s the nicest. I think he’s the nicest Cup Series drivers we’ve got in the garage.  Q. How are the family farms? The fall was rough for a lot of people. ROSS CHASTAIN: The fall, my uncle and cousins, they lost their fall crop in the hurricane. Spring is good. Everything is growing like crazy. We’ve got good water and good dirt. A little good weather to go with it, we’ll be okay.  Q. In a good year, how many watermelons does the family produce? ROSS CHASTAIN: Yeah, so we don’t count ’em individually, but we grow about 400 acres. That’s one crop a year.  Q. (No microphone.) ROSS CHASTAIN: It is. We already started looking at walls at all different kinds of tracks. Daniel, I don’t mean to specify Daniel, but drivers tried it for Phoenix in the simulators. I never did any of that. I got pretty lucky that it worked, I’ll be honest. I’m proud of me having the idea. I’m glad that my brain thinks that way. I’m glad that I thought about it off turn four and I acted on it in turn three coming back around that lap. Yeah, I’m glad we don’t have to do it. We were already looking at the Clash at the Coliseum.  Q. Would it work here? ROSS CHASTAIN: We’ll never know, right? That’s the beauty of it. I’m the only guy that gets to say they did it successfully. Let’s not forget, though, that I watched some other competitors try it in recent years, and I learned from them.  Q. In 25 years, NASCAR will be a hundred. That move will probably be replayed 25 years from now. To know it’s that historic, how do you feel about that? ROSS CHASTAIN: Yeah, it still doesn’t seem real. I hope in 25 years they can get the video cleaned up where it doesn’t look like a really bad, like, edit. It looks like I got edited in. Hopefully. Yeah, I watch it and it still doesn’t seem real.  Q. What are you trying to get out of Thursday? ROSS CHASTAIN: So the cars I believe are going to be hard to drive in the Duels. Probably harder because we’re coming out of qualifying with no practice at all. We want them to qualify good, so we want them right down next to the ground. When we go faster in the draft, they’re going to hit the ground harder, bounce around. It’s up to Phil Surgen and my smart boys and girls at Trackhouse to make my car good in both. We’ve definitely put an effort into qualifying. We want to qualify good, then we’ll work on our race trim Friday and Saturday.  Q. Why the effort? You’re getting two spots in. It can help you for the Duels. ROSS CHASTAIN: Pride, man. We eat, sleep and breathe just beating other people. We’re proud when we do it. It’s been so cool to watch my crew massage on these race cars knowing that every other race team in the series has the same car, but I have no doubt that my guys, they’re working harder, and they’re continuing to push forward to make my car faster. As a racer, that’s all we want, we just want to go fast. Yeah, there’s really no perks when you step back and look at it. Probably be smarter to build a nice, good-handling race car, but we want it to go fast. It’s going to feel good in a few hours here, whenever I pull here on track, and it does go fast.  Q. (Question about contract.) ROSS CHASTAIN: I get a two-year deal and we all ask about it after the first year (laughter). Look, Daniel is the first driver at Trackhouse. He’s the guy that started it. So following in his footsteps would be an honor. But super happy for him. Today is for him, and I’ve got nothing to say for me.  Q. Conversations on the way yet? ROSS CHASTAIN: Today is all about Daniel, man. It’s all about him. It’s crazy that I can now step back and look at that in a way. It’s pre-season. Everybody’s friends with everybody right now. Give us a few races, I might not be saying such nice things about Daniel (laughter). It’s just so cool to see our two paths, although they’re so different, we’re from two separate countries, but to come together at Trackhouse, to be able to push each other the way we have, he pushes me a lot of ways. Seeing him get this deal done, it’s so cool as a racer to actually root for somebody else. I haven’t always had that mentality in my career.  Q. Was your team against his team in the paint ball? ROSS CHASTAIN: It was not. We named two team captains. One of my engineers, his was one of his mechanics, that don’t like to speak in front of people, don’t like to be in the spotlight. We purposely pushed them into the spotlight, made them build up their teams. It was a mix of all the road crews from pit crews, mechanics and engineers that travel every week. I was able to shoot my engineer with a paint ball gun and it felt so good. I also got bruises on my legs when I was pinned down on the ground in the corner by my engine tuner Harry. I got to shoot Michael, and Harry Holcomb got to light me up. It was not 1 versus 99, it was a lot of vendettas enacted on and we were able to let out a lot of anger with each other.  Q. Where was that? ROSS CHASTAIN: East of Charlotte. Over in the country somewhere. I didn’t know the town name we were in. There wasn’t much around. But there was a lot of paint ball, plenty of CO2, we burned through some paint. It was a lot of fun. We were covered in mud. It was really wet and muddy, but we brought like war paint. We had our faces painted. I had forgot, I actually should wear padded clothes, thick sweatpants. I wore thin jogging pants, super thin. They went right through. I had bruises all over. I think more people were looking for me than I was looking for other people. They got some of their anger out on me. It was so cool.  Q. What is the challenge this year to not step back, to try to fulfill the expectations? ROSS CHASTAIN: Look, last year was the arrival of Trackhouse, Daniel and myself. I had a new car and a new team to lean on for kind of the unknown and be confident in the unknown, that we would come out strong. But we didn’t know.  I honestly feel less confident sitting here today than I did one year ago. I know that might sound odd, it’s something I’ve been working through with my coaches. I feel like there’s more things I need to do to be better to sustain what we arrived last year and did. It’s really not something that we’re just going to stay here because we had success last year. This series and this sport is really humbling. There’s only one winner every week and a lot more losers. I have more desire inside to prove to myself that I can sustain this for a long time than I did last year. I know I had more confidence last year.  Q. What would constitute a successful season in your eyes? ROSS CHASTAIN: Be competitive. Probably six or seven years ago I quit putting numbers on my goals. I write them down, but I just leave out the numbers and the top fives and the wins and stuff. It’s really just real simple: it’s just be competitive. It’s about the pride. It goes back to qualifying night. Why does it matter? Because we want to be the best.  Q. Denny Hamlin was miffed about what happened at the Clash. Mentioned it in a podcast. Do you have any comment? ROSS CHASTAIN: I haven’t listened to the podcast.  Q. Said he got hit by the 1. No big surprise there. He was sarcastic about it. ROSS CHASTAIN: Yeah, I didn’t listen to it, so I’m not sure.  Q. Back to the confidence. Do you feel that would have gone down at all if you scored a win during the Playoffs? It’s been since Talladega that you’ve been to Victory Lane. Does that matter? ROSS CHASTAIN: I’m not confident in our ability. We put ourselves in position to win a lot of races last year. The lack of confidence is that I might not be good enough, that I might not be able to execute when it comes time. Continuing to be the best race car driver I can be is where I work to build that confidence back up. It’s not really a numerical value of race finish or anything. It’s just can I execute when it matters.  Q. Is that something you’ve always dealt with, Truck, Xfinity, smaller teams? ROSS CHASTAIN: No. I think I was more confident years ago coming up. In my Cup career since 2017, I was really not confident the first race, and then I was really confident for the second. I finished 20th in the first and I finished last in the second one. You kind of go forward to bigger groups of time, and I would say when I was running a consistent 33rd place or 30th place in Cup, I was more confident than I was winning races last year because I didn’t know what I didn’t know. I didn’t know how hard it was really going to be. I could see it and I thought I would just make that move or I would go inside or I would go to the top or I would have my car handle a certain way when I was in 30th. Now that I’m up there in the top half of the field, it’s harder than I ever could have imagined.  Q. Does the success of the 1 team overshadow to a lot of people what the 99 team was able to do last year? ROSS CHASTAIN: I don’t think so. I think we look at it as Trackhouse. We look at it as what we were able to do together. I think Martinsville and the championship definitely stand out. Other than that, the raw speed, the 1 and 99 were really similar. So funny because Daniel is such a good qualifier, he can just put together a lap, go extract so much out of the car, that a lot of times I was just chasing him for qualifying. I realized part way through the season that’s my benchmark. At some of the road courses it would be within 2/10ths of a second. That might seem like a not or might not. I know at Sonoma we were within thousandths of each other. Felt so accomplished I was able to put together a lap at Sonoma where tires were out second round and we were able to qualify right next to each other. Ultimately he goes on and wins it.  Q. Kevin Harvick, his final year, what has your relationship with him been like, what have his contributions to the sport been? ROSS CHASTAIN: Checkered I guess we could say for him and I. Back up a little bit. I was at his first win at Atlanta. I was a Gordon fan, so I was rooting for the 24. You fast forward, running at Darlington, that’s my first time really getting to know him. I knew of him. He knew of me I think. Probably seen me around. I obviously knew who he was. You go forward from Darlington; I’ve never been so happy that a legend in our sport was wrong in what he said after the race. I went to him at times for advice more than people will ever know. He’s just an under-the-radar guy that helps us. We can bond about a little Ron Hornaday story, too, both living the Hornaday life for a while in our younger years. Ron taught me a lot, would reference Kevin a lot, things he had made mistakes in, things he did right and wrong. So I learned a lot from Ron, as well, which is a big part of molding Kevin.  Q. How is your relationship with Kevin now? ROSS CHASTAIN: It’s really good, yeah. Ever since I lived with Ron, it’s helped. Then once we got through the Darlington stuff, it was better.  Q. When did you live with Ron? ROSS CHASTAIN: 2013. 10 years ago, yeah.  Q. You had a place on the couch? ROSS CHASTAIN: No, he gave me a room. I think everybody had a full bedroom. I don’t buy into the couch thing. The house is massive. Nobody was sleeping on no couch. There was beds. I was in the fish room.

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT FEBRUARY 15, 2023

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CAMARO ZL1, Daytona 500 Media Availability Transcript:  Talk about re-signing with Hendrick Motorsports.“It means a lot obviously to have Mr. Hendrick and Ally have that much faith in me for that long is really special, so glad it’s signed and done before the season started and we can get that out of the way and just focus on going and winning races. The constant questions about it every week definitely are not my favorite thing, so glad to have it done and over with and excited for what the future holds.” When you were injured last year, did you have any concerns on what’s going to happen next in your career?“Absolutely. You go through days when you feel like I did you just want to be able to live your life normally let alone driving a race car for a living. Wasn’t a lot of fun; was a lot of hard work to come back but glad I’m feeling good now and ready to go.” Did anything at the Clash bother you at all?“Nothing bothered me as far as my concussion went but definitely those stack-ups like you may as well be crashing and hitting walls just how stiff the cars are on those small impacts. I don’t know what the answer is there.” Were you disappointed that here you were first race and it wasn’t any more improved?“It’s hard to say; that’s such a unique environment the way we run into each other there and the way everybody stacks up it’s tough. Yeah, you’d like it to be better. If you took the old cars there, I don’t think half the guys who finished would have finished. It’s just different and part of adapting to this race car.” Is it more controlled here? The nature is to push each other, but is it more controlled than the Clash?“You certainly don’t have the stack-ups and those impacts as hard as you did at the Clash, so definitely different and hopefully it’s better here.” What do you have to do to finish?“If I knew the answer to that questions we would have finished already so I’m going to do my best to make it happen and hopefully we can. It’s been tough. We’ve had a lot of really fast race cars down here and hopefully we can put ourselves in a better position to finish the job on Sunday. Some guys have been able to figure out how to be really good at speedway racing and consistently be there at the end, so obviously there is something to it. Just have to figure that out on my end as well.” How nice is it to have Ally along for another few years?“It’s really cool. For Ally to have that much faith in us to sign back up for that long is really cool. Excited. Just have to go win some races now.” Will there be any extra bragging rights if you qualify or finish ahead of Jimmie in his old number?“No, I don’t think so. It’s just the same deal, racing everybody. It’s really cool to see Jimmie come back but just focus on our deal.” Talk about this season and being ready to get behind the wheel.“I’m excited, ready to go. Have done enough media days already so ready to get behind the wheel of a race car and do my real job.” Does it seem strange to not have practice before pole qualifying?“I think the hardest part for me is going to be getting the launch right. You definitely don’t have an idea of what you actually have before qualifying, but I think it will be fine. It’s the same for everybody, so I don’t think it’s an advantage or disadvantage.” What if you were one of these six non-charter teams trying to get in?“Obviously, it’s stressful. I came down here not locked in twice and it’s really stressful to be part of that, but it’s the same for everybody. We just have to go do our job.” How much pride do you take in your five front-row starts here?“It’s really cool. I’m not a huge part of that, I just have gotten to drive some really fast race cars down here. It’s cool to be part of that and have my name attached to that and we’ll make it six tonight.” What does it take to change your luck on Sunday?“A lot of times I feel like we just put ourselves in bad positions. Hopefully we can do a better job of staying out of the mess and make it to the end for once.” Do we need another short track?“It depends on how the short track package is. Our intermediate racing is the best racing we have right now, so why take one away?” What does your extension do for Hendrick Motorsports as a whole?“We obviously have a really good group between the four of us. We all bring something different to the table and I feel like having that and building on that for the foreseeable future is really cool. It’s a great group and I think it’s a positive thing.” What has been your relationship been like with Kyle (Larson) especially since he’s been in house for three years?“It’s been fun to get to learn with him. Obviously, I’ve leaned a lot of him with the sprint car and the midget stuff, so just trying to do the best job I can there and learn quickly. Also, just being friends with him; we’ve traveled a lot to different places. It’s been really neat.” What does NASCAR’s 75th anniversary mean to you?“It’s just cool to be a small part of it. Obviously, so many great moments, great drivers, great history of the sport. It’s just really cool to be a small part of it. My common answer for favorite moment has been the Terry Labonte-Dale Earnhardt stuff at Bristol.” How do you view racing in the Daytona 500?“Speedway racing is tough. I think a lot of the time the guy that causes the crash doesn’t end up in the crash, which is kind of interesting. So you’re almost better off to be that guy than not be. It’s hard to make it to the end. I haven’t figured out how to do it yet. I’ve been caught up in a lot of crashes. The magnitude of the event is really huge. It’s cool to be a part of it and hopefully we can end up toward the front.” What would a win mean to you?“It would mean a ton. Obviously, it’s the Super Bowl of our sport so we’re going to do all we can to make it happen.” Is there a priority at Hendrick Motorsports to get a spectacle win like this?“For sure. I think it’s been a long time since we’ve won a 500 so just trying to get that trophy back at Hendrick Motorsports means a lot.” The team had to most wins last season. How do you keep that up in ’23?“The biggest thing is everything is developing and changing pretty constantly, so just trying to stay ahead of the curve on that. A lot of things are changing going forward so just trying to learn quicker than the next guys. Can’t take what you took the last time at a racetrack and think you’re going to be competitive. It’s changing pretty rapidly.” What has the process been working through those changes from last year to this year with a new crew chief as well?“It’s been really cool working with Blake (Harris). It’s been fun to see a new perspective and I’m looking forward to this year.” Is it easy to get a negative mindset about this race when you don’t win it?“I don’t think I really have a negative mindset. It’s just a tough race to make it to the end of, so just trying to figure out how to make that happen is the hardest thing for me and it’s not really black or white. It’s trying to figure out what works for you, what areas of the race to push in, it’s really subjective to how you feel on the ebbs and flows of the race. Trying to figure it out better than the next guy.” How is it working with Blake, meshing with each other’s styles?“Working with Blake has been really cool. He’s all-in on everything. Excited to get kind of normal races going and see how it goes. Just getting communication rolling has been important to us. It was good to get reps in (at the Clash). Obviously, that’s a unique event but to have it go well and the communication be going well was really important. We made the right adjustments at the halfway break and we were really strong for the second half of the race. Having that communication lead to the right adjustments was good and a good confidence-builder going forward.” Is there any one race besides Daytona that you have your finger pointed at?“Phoenix. I’m really excited for Phoenix. It means a lot to me and hopefully we can go have a good run there.” What are you looking for in the Daytona 500 when you’re getting down to those final laps?“It’s tough. I haven’t made it to the final laps clean. I’ve typically been in a crash. I feel like the big one can happen at any point. Just trying to put ourselves in position to have a chance at winning. It definitely gets pretty intense and we’re typically caught up in it, so hopefully we can avoid it this year.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

TONY KANAAN 

NEWS CONFERENCE TRANSCIRPT 

INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY

INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA

FEBRUARY 15, 2023

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. In case you missed it on social media this morning, Tony Kanaan, the 2013 Indy 500 Presented by Gainbridge champion and the 2004 INDYCAR SERIES champion announced that this May will be his final 500 and final NTT INDYCAR SERIES race.

Stop me if you’ve heard this before.

TONY KANAAN: Yeah, it was Jimmie’s fault the first time (laughter).

THE MODERATOR: That’s right. On a much more serious note, it’s an end of an era when it comes to racing in INDYCAR, certainly when it comes to this great race that has been going on for over a decade now.

Open it up for your general thoughts, Tony.

TONY KANAAN: Thank you.

I don’t know. It’s kind of weird. Lauren asked me this morning, if I was prepared. What does that mean? You know what I mean? You talk about a race that you guys, I mean, I see everybody here in this room knows the story, so I don’t think I need to repeat the story. But I started when I was six years old with my dad. This has been the place that I wanted to be. I’m fortunate enough that I was able to accomplish everything I did.

To wake up this morning, we were talking before the interview started, that I didn’t think it was a big deal because I think it was kind of obvious. I’m 48. People keep saying I’m bald, I’m old, my nose is growing because it is the only thing that will never stop growing in your body, and your ears. My friends are making fun of me.

The post went out. We’ve been preparing this for quite a while with the Arrow McLaren team. Lauren and her team have been pretty awesome. I actually held up pretty good.

9:02 my phone started to blow up. That’s when it actually hit me.

It’s been a wonderful day since. It’s been a wonderful journey. Somebody said, Do you think you’re going to regret? Lauren asked me all those tough questions this morning.

I don’t think ‘regret’ is the right word to say. I’m going to miss it every day of my life. I miss it now. Mario Andretti drives a two-seater just because.

I’m fine. I think I’m fine. We’re kicking off the hundred days to Indy Friday.

THE MODERATOR: Friday.

TONY KANAAN: Kick off a hundred days of crying Friday (smiling). We’ll see what happens.

End of May, I think it’s going to get more difficult from now on. I’m at peace in my decision. I have a great team behind me. I think I had a great career. I have a really good shot of winning this thing. If I win, might be sitting here again next year. You never know (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: Get us to the nitty-gritty, car number, sponsor. What does this look like?

TONY KANAAN: I want to go back a bit and talk about the history of McLaren actually. For people that know, my story with Senna in Brazil, he’s been my idol, the guy that was actually responsible for getting me a job in 1993 before he passed. For everything he’s done in his career was with McLaren. I don’t think you guys have any idea.

It’s the same thing, we say, some people around the world, they have no idea to come to the Indy 500. Watching the Indy 500 on TV is one thing, but to come here and witness what happens, it’s completely different.

It’s the same thing. The Brazilians are crazy. I have to say the day that I got my contract that I was signing that said McLaren up there, I was like… At this point of my career, it’s pretty cool.

No. 66. Bruce McLaren and McLaren won their first race in 1966. Mark Donohue was here in ’72. My first go-kart number was No. 6. I picked that. My entire go-kart career, I won five championships of that.

One of the races that I couldn’t race the 6, I raced 66. When Zak told me the story, the number, it’s just perfect. That’s what we’re rocking on. I love it. I can’t wait. I’m excited we have also a lot of sponsors. One of our biggest sponsors is SmartStop. They’re jumping in as a main sponsor. Excited about that.

Storage is something that my wife loves, so hopefully we’ll stop paying for that and we can get as a deal. If I win the 500, I can get a couple storage for free. They have 181 storage units, so we can get a couple. Lauren will be happy (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: Lauren says it’s for all your stuff.

TONY KANAAN: Doesn’t matter for what it is. She likes storage.

I like my stuff at home. She doesn’t like everything at home (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: The No. 66, SmartStop Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. Pretty cool.

TONY KANAAN: It is. We can’t forget all the other partners that are here.

Arrow is here. Big props to NTT, a part of Arrow McLaren this year. Obviously they’re a series sponsor. They’ve been with me for 10 years, since we won the 500. I remember the night before the 2013 Indy 500, I was at dinner, doing a sponsor dinner. On the table on the side was John McCain and the NTT folks. They were sponsoring Briscoe’s car, but also they do the belt buckle for the winner. I didn’t know them.

We met and they said, Hey, can we show you something. This is the belt buckle we’re going to give the winner.

I said, Well, save it, it’s mine.

We go in the next day, that relationship started. Unfortunately John passed away a few years ago, but they’ve been great. They’re going to be in Felix’s car this year. They’re a great sponsor of this series. I can’t thank them enough. I’m really proud of that.

7-Eleven has been with me for 20 years. Joe DePinto and his team, obviously they were a big part of my entire career. 90% of the race I won in this series and the championship was that green car.

I’m excited. I’m really excited. I can’t wait to see what’s next. I probably going to come and bug Mark Miles and his team and Jay Frye here. I live five, ten minutes from here.

Anything I can do? Can I warm the Corvette up? The Corvette needs a ride. Hey, Doug…

THE MODERATOR: We know you’re serious when you say that.

TONY KANAAN: I’m not kidding (laughter).

THE MODERATOR: We kind of joke, whether this is retirement 3.0.

TONY KANAAN: Dario loves it. He texted me, Is this number five or number six? He’s just jealous because he never came back. He’s not really good in the head (laughter).

THE MODERATOR: That’s another show.

When do you know?

TONY KANAAN: You don’t. You’re never ready for this. But you got to weigh your options. I went from a full-time to a part-time. You’re 48. You had a great career. As much as you don’t want to go, it’s there. If you’re smart, you make the right decisions at the right time.

I came to this sport to win everything I could and to do the best I could. I would hate to be coming to this place just to participate. So you weigh your opportunities.

Last year was a really good one. When I finished that race, I was ready, if nothing, because it was a two-year deal that I announced my retirement two years before. The question was asked, Do you think you can do it again?

I think I can do it again for 10 more years the way I take care of myself. But that’s not the point. Am I going to get the chance to do at the right place again, to win it.

Zak called and I look at the results. The two teams that dominated was the one that I was in and the one that I was calling. So you can’t refuse that.

So, yeah, no, I mean, no, I’m not ready, but it’s not a sad story. It’s a really cool one. It’s nice to see how many people appreciate, which I kind of get surprised. You never think about how you set examples. You have your 15-year-old kid saying that, Proud of you. The story, you can inspire so many people, the fans.

What INDYCAR made me, I’m an INDYCAR driver, and I always will be.

THE MODERATOR: It is a remarkable story. The story of your career, the all-time Ironman record, the INDYCAR championship where you remarkably were the first driver to complete every lap of every race, still astonishing, to the emotional win here in 2013 for the Indianapolis 500. When you started, could you have dreamed of stuff like that happening to you?

TONY KANAAN: No. Of course not. I mean, if I was going to follow what people told me when I was 13, on April 8th of 1988, when my dad passed, that I had to go back to school to become somebody because that dream was over. I was probably going to be, I don’t know, an accountant, a lawyer, something. I just put my head down and I said, I’m going to chase my dream. Whatever is going to come out of it is going to come out of it. But at least I will sleep at night thinking, You know what, I did what I wanted to do.

I’m not the type of guy that I think my accomplishments, I don’t tap myself on the back or anything. They are there, they’re real. It’s awesome. I mean, yeah, do I look at my BorgWarner every once in a while at home? Yes, of course I do. Do I come to the museum? I think it’s pretty cool.

I never start doing this to count accomplishments. I think it became a lot bigger when you can make a difference, you can set examples, you can inspire the young kids that don’t think they can make it.

No, I didn’t dream of it. I like it. I enjoy it. I’m proud of it. But that’s definitely not what drives me.

THE MODERATOR: Let’s open it up for questions.

Q. How important is it for you this year in your final ride to be with a team that finished second last year? You finished third last year. Not a lot of drivers get the opportunity to win it in their final one. That’s got to be special. You came here in 2002 for your first 500. You’ve grown a family there. Think about over the last 20 years how special this city and racetrack has been to you, some of your thoughts that come to mind.

TONY KANAAN: Let’s tackle the second question first.

I met my wife here. This place, I have to do a reality check every time I leave Indianapolis. Anything that happens here for me, it different than the real world like I call it. We went to buy a car yesterday. We got out of the dealership, I didn’t even pay for the car yet. Just take it. That’s just Indy for you.

You go to places, people, they really appreciate what you’ve done. That’s it for this city. I mean, I think as much as I hate the winters, I’m miserable, I love this place. Today, I mean, thank you, Indy, so cool to me (smiling).

This is what we decided to grow our family. We have four kids. They love this place. We love this place back. I mean, INDYCAR, like I said, it’s been my life.

We all share a passion. Nobody in that office across the street or even the office here — they love what they do. Nobody works here just because it’s a job. We can always get a job. We could even get paid more.

But the relationship in the past few years with Mark Miles, with Jay. I mean, how much Jay changed the drivers’ communication with INDYCAR. Mark with his ideas. Then Roger comes in, right? We can’t forget about Tony and his family, but Roger comes in, you look at this place. It’s cleaner than my house, and all the things.

It makes you feel proud. Makes you feel like you made the right choice. It’s not that I knew. It’s awesome. It’s awesome to be part of it. It’s awesome to enjoy this and to give it back to the community. I think there is always something to be done for this city. I’ve been part of plenty of things that the city has. Always will be.

We have a great community.

Then your first question was?

Q. Third last year.

TONY KANAAN: Third last year. Well, I mean, that was another question. My wife asked me so many questions this morning, it was not even funny. I’m like, What’s wrong with you?

You got to put more effort into this one, is it different?

I said, That would be so unfair. Why would I? I left everything I had out there. The day that I hate the most was the Monday after, 23 of them, apart from the one I won.

No, I have a chance. I have a team that finished second, third and fourth last year. I have a boss that he didn’t hire me just to do me a favor to retire in a good car. The mindset is still there. I’m still waking up at 4:30 in the morning working out as hard as I can. I still will be.

You never know. My helmet will be in the truck. If something happens, I’m going to be ready the same way I was for the past. I don’t know. Since the day I was born, my dad always told me, You’re driving a go-kart, you have to be physically and mentally ready to drive a Formula 1 or an INDYCAR because you never know when the opportunity is going to come.

It’s no different. It would be no different. I mean, I’m probably going to be wearing sunglasses, a hat, crying like a baby on driver intros. That is expected. It’s emotional enough when you’re not retiring just to be part of this energy and this day, this race, let alone knowing it’s your last time you’re doing it. Once you put the helmet on, it’s game on.

It’s going to be emotional when I get out of the car, regardless of position I finish. If I win, awesome. If I don’t, I still think this entire place will be supporting me for it.

I win either way (smiling).

Q. 1996, you land in Columbus, Ohio, barely spoke a word of English. You’re part of the fabric of INDYCAR, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. If you look back on that journey, how enormous it is, make a hell of a book or movie, can you reflect on how it all changed for you from your dad, Italy, Formula 1, now where you ended up on a crazy journey.

TONY KANAAN: I mean, man, this is going to be a long answer if I don’t think this through.

I mean, if you think about it, yeah, it was a dream, but we all have dreams that sometimes we can’t fulfill. We just learn how to live with it, right?

I come to America, I spoke literally zero English. I had a piece of paper that Rubens had wrote for me: I’m hungry, the translation, where is the bathroom, good morning, a couple words I could actually say, which was the worst thing because if I say good morning to you, you’re going to reply and I’m not going to understand anything.

Then I meet Steve Horne, which is my mentor. He actually phoned me last week and said, It’s your last one, I’m coming.

He’s the guy that taught me a lot over those years. He was my mentor. He was the guy that taught me how to respect the ovals.

No disrespect, you were there. The first three years I sucked on the ovals, for real. Go back ’98, ’99, my first two seasons in INDYCAR, look at my starting place in Milwaukee. We had more cars than actually could start the race. I only did because, unfortunately, Dan Gurney was struggling with his team and they blew an engine in qualifying. I was dead last. We parked 15, 20 laps into the race.

You fast forward a couple years later, most wins I have is ovals. We dominate them. That tells you something, right?

So a short answer to that: Nothing in my life came easy. To master this place wasn’t easy either. To master the ovals, which is something I grow up not doing it, overcome everything else. I know that’s my life. That’s what was presented to me, and that’s what I had to do.

I’m not going to sit here for people to feel sorry or to appreciate more or less. Everybody has their destiny. To me, could I imagine all that? No. Could I imagine I’ll be running for this long in INDYCAR? Once I made it, fine. Then it took me 12 years to win this race. Probably that was going to be my last year 10 years ago when Jimmie and I and Kalkhoven, we had no sponsors, nothing. That changed my life. 10 years later I’m here deciding I don’t want to do this any more.

There’s so many variables, so many things that we could sit down and talk about. Yes, is it worth a book? Probably. Maybe a documentary? Probably. Probably have more time now, Lauren says no. By the way, I think it’s funny when obviously we’re closing this chapter in INDYCAR, but I’m still racing three different series this year. I’m still going to 12 INDYCAR races. Actually this retirement thing, when you race INDYCAR, you can give the excuse that you have 17 weekends, people cannot bother you. Now I have a lot of time to do a lot of things.

Anyway, back to what you’re saying. No, I couldn’t imagine. It’s been a great journey and a lot of people that helped. I’m glad that I’m going out on my own terms.

Q. You mentioned Steve Horne. Your first win came with Steve. 500-mile races have kind of defined your career. Your first and last race will be a 500-mile distance.

TONY KANAAN: You’re right. I like that.

Q. What about 500-mile races appeals to Tony Kanaan?

TONY KANAAN: I don’t know that answer. Obviously, like I said, I said I wasn’t very good at the ovals. I’ve learned a lot to be very patient and how to play the race.

It’s funny that you say that because the 1999 Michigan 500 was supposed to be – we’re fooling ourselves – the replacement of this place, which we all knew was silly. I won that. But it didn’t feel like winning this.

The race, you have to understand the dynamic of this race. You can get caught in so many things. You can be leading right away. You can be like, This is…

The worst thing is to be leading at lap 20 because you have 180 laps to go. I actually prefer not to. That’s something that to me what is about it, I don’t know the right answer for you. I just think I can study the race better than some other people.

Q. Can you talk to us a bit about joining McLaren, kind of the atmosphere around that. You’ve got Felix and Pato, but you also have Alex who won the 500 before. How excited are you to be joining the team with those guys?

TONY KANAAN: It’s funny because Alex and I didn’t hit off at all when he first came to the series. We actually didn’t like each other. We’re really good friends, even before I signed with McLaren.

The team, I mean, I see a lot of people willing to make this team grow. We have grown quite a bit since last year. It’s a lot. Managing people, it’s hard. I think Gavin has a lot of work on his hands with Zak. They have the right mentality. Sam is still there. We’re growing, right?

There is a lot of eyes on us. Despite the fact that people are expecting us, you have four guys, two Indy 500 winners on a team, we have to perform. So the team is working on that.

As far as the guys, it was funny, we went to dinner at Thermal, I was there, got to know Pato a little more. I felt like I was talking to my 15-year-old kid the entire dinner. He’s showing me, Look at this text, look at this picture.

Oh, man, this reminds me…

Then he remind me of Dan, as well. He’s asking me a million questions. In your time, what would you…

I’m like…

I’ve known Felix when he was at Ganassi, and Felix is still Felix.

Can you give me a ride?

Yes. You don’t have a car?

Yes, I have a car, but I don’t know where I parked it.

That’s Felix for you. He did not know. We had to drive around the parking lot. He had the alarm key, pressing it.

What kind of car is it?

I don’t know.

Felix, it’s on the key, it’s a brand.

I think we’re going to hit it off. He and Pato are really close. Rossi is more of the wiseguy and quiet, but has a funny sense ever humor, which is cool. It mingles well. I’m enjoying it a lot.

I’m known as not having any problems with my teammates. But we have a good bunch.

Q. A couple weeks ago you told us you felt like you weren’t going to know whether this was going to be your last one.

TONY KANAAN: I couldn’t tell you. It was going to spoil it (smiling).

Q. You said earlier it’s just time. Can you take us a little bit more into the thought process of why now and why announcing ahead of the race instead of taking a chance and seeing what might come for you in 2024.

TONY KANAAN: That’s a good question.

Well, let me put it this way. We’re in the sport that you have to perform. Unfortunately or not, we’re all judged by our last result. That can drive you up or can drive you down, right?

Let’s be real here. If I hadn’t done what I did last year, probably would have been my final one. That’s why I didn’t make any announcement. That was exactly what I thought.

Then you go out and you fight for the lead and you fight for the win until the last lap, then you’re on a high. People actually are demanding, Why don’t you come back? Then you get an invitation from a very good team to do it.

Chances are you’re playing with the odds here, you don’t know what’s going to happen. I didn’t want to wait. I said, You know what, if I win, Zak is going to have a problem, but also I can look around and say, All right, well, I said it was the last one. I’m happy with that. I’ll just come back here the following year to grab my Baby Borg in front of everybody and say, Guys, have fun.

That’s why. I’m 48, although we keep saying we’re young. I’ve been doing part-time races for the last four years now. Let’s face it, I’m not going to get a full-time job in a top team right now. We have some young guns, these kids are unbelievable. I know people kept saying that for years and years. The old guys are still performing, which is good for us. Every time Helio wins, trust me, as much as I hate the guy, but we fought our entire lives, it’s good, because it shows we can still do it.

The time is coming. It’s not something that, Now if I win, I’ll get a full-time ride in 2024 at McLaren. I mean, who could they have there? I look at Penske, all the teams now.

That’s why. I think it’s in the wall and it’s fine.

Q. To clarify, there’s maybe some shadow of a chance we see you again after the 2023 500?

TONY KANAAN: I’m joking. As much as people make fun of me, I think even if I win, I think it will be a good way to go home.

Q. You’ve got four kids, they’re getting older. What was the discussion like with them? All they know is dad the INDYCAR driver. Also Lauren.

TONY KANAAN: You guys, that’s the funniest thing because she hates that I say that. She’s like, Why? She’s the one that question. Completely the opposite of any other person, any other wife, who would say.

Probably she doesn’t want me home. That’s probably why (smiling).

She’s the one that question. She’s the one that says, No, you have more. No, you have more.

I got out of the car last year, I was okay. I mean, I wasn’t like mad. I thought I had it, especially with my restarts. I’ve never saw a person so mad. She could not… She couldn’t get it off.

I’m like, Just stop.

Anyway, so she’s not the one. The conversation was just the one that I actually explained. I see it. I see it up there. With the kids, Leo, which is 15, and Deco that is eight. I didn’t make a big deal out of it. I don’t want them to be sad. They love it. They see race cars. Max and Nina, they’re six and four. They see race cars, it’s like, Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.

Honestly, we going to keep coming here regardless. As long as Jay and Mark gives me a pass and them a pass, we’re going to be here.

I’m not retiring for real. I have 19 races this year still to go that I actually I am racing. Another 12 INDYCAR races that I’m coming to do something for NTT, for INDYCAR.

That conversation didn’t happen. It was just like, Hey, we’re just going to do something different. We’re probably not going to drive that type of car anymore, but…

We didn’t make a big deal out of it.

Q. What is next? Is there a chance of you racing IMSA, being a race control steward, a driver coach, stunt driver, NHRA like Tony Stewart? What do you foresee happening in 2024?

TONY KANAAN: That’s a good question.

I had an encounter with Jay Frye in Detroit one year. I’ve actually experienced the other side of Jay, I shouldn’t have done that, that was totally my fault. I don’t want to be a race steward. I don’t want to take Max’s job either because he’s going to cry that I make his kid starve, he can’t sell enough steering wheels in his life. I’m judging a guy that he’s probably really good at his job and I’m not.

Look, I have plenty left. Whatever. I will drive anything. I don’t have any plans. I do have some commitments with my team, with Arrow McLaren. I do have a contract this year with all the other series.

2024, it’s wide open right now. I would love to be involved in INDYCAR, for sure. Anyway, we can figure something out. But racing-wise obviously we won the 24 hour at Daytona. I’m wearing that watch with my ring. It’s kind of a tradition. I don’t wear it any other time.

But, yeah, I mean, I’ll do whatever. You know what I mean? It has a wheel, a steering wheel, four wheels, an engine, I’ll be driving. But I haven’t made any plans past this year.

Q. Could you name your favorite race or the one that you think is underappreciated that you didn’t win.

TONY KANAAN: That’s easy.

Q. Your greatest drive in INDYCAR.

TONY KANAAN: St. Pete, it was 2005, the 1-2-3-4. I passed Briscoe for the lead. We hit, then just blew by me. That race I was going to win easy. I finished second. Dan won, I finished second, Dario third, Bryan fourth. It was the first 1-2-3-4 in history.

It felt like a win for me because I had three of my best friends on the podium, despite what happened afterwards. I’m not counting because of time. We never thought that was going to happen.

It felt like a win. My best friend at the time won, I had my two other best friends on the podium. Sometimes you have to learn how to accept you finished second that race. That was probably one that I would say it didn’t feel like a win but it felt like a win.

Q. Looking back at last year, how much did how well you ran at Indy and the third-place finish, how much do you think of that earned you the call from Zak? What did he tell you about it? If you didn’t have that performance last year, do you think this decision would have been made already?

TONY KANAAN: I think if I hadn’t had that performance, the decision was made 100% by me and by the entire paddock, I would say (smiling).

Well, I think Zak — to be fair, we tried to make it work with Chip. Chip just couldn’t make it as far as the sponsor. Jimmie was leaving. The deal was a three-year deal. That was that. Then when Zak called, I said, Zak, look, we got to wait a little bit. I think I owe that to Chip. We did that.

It was obvious that it was not going to happen. I said, Hey, Zak, do you want to talk?

Zak and I, people don’t know this, but we raced against each other in 1993 in Europe. Zak says we chatted a lot. I spoke zero English. I don’t know how we chatted, I don’t remember, but we did, kind of did.

So that was it. Then honestly it was funny because the conversation was a WhatsApp text saying, I’m ready.

Me too.

The next one was, Do we have a deal?

I said, Yes.

That was it. We didn’t discuss anything else. He sent me the deal, I signed it, sent it back. It was very simple. That’s how it happened.

But, yeah, if it wasn’t for the result, I don’t think I would be here today saying I’m racing my last one. I’d probably be here doing something else.

Q. What about setting up your own team, regardless of what kind of championship? You mentioned two or three times your age, 48. A very famous American, Ernest Hemingway, once said, You are as old as you feel. Maybe you’re 48, but maybe you feel like 28.

TONY KANAAN: Four kids at home, they make me feel young.

What was the first question?

Q. Your future involvement in motorsports. Any possibility you would set up your team, any kind of championship?

TONY KANAAN: I actually own an eSports team that gives me the feeling I don’t know if I really want to own a real team ever.

You never know. I mean, I love racing. I love challenges. If the opportunity presents, 100%. I know for a fact my wife will not let me spend any of my money, our money – her money, sorry – in a race team. But if the opportunity presents, I’ll consider.

Anything that is involved in racing and INDYCAR, I’ll be willing to consider, for sure.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll wrap it up for now. Countdown is on now.

TONY KANAAN: Friday we’ll be here.

THE MODERATOR: A hundred days out. Can’t wait.

TONY KANAAN: I want to thank Mark Miles and Jay for coming. I know they took time out of their busy schedule.

I think they came here to make sure that’s what I’m doing (laughter).

THE MODERATOR: Thanks, T.K.