Shark Racing Finishes 1-2, Separated by 0.050-Seconds in Photo Finish

CHICO, CA – September 10, 2022 – Almost exactly two years to the day (Sept. 11, 2020) Shark Racing finished 1-2 in Jacob Allen’s first-career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win, they did it again; this time by topping the $25,000-to-win Gold Cup Race of Champions, giving the fan-favorite the biggest win of his life.

To make things more dramatic, Allen beat his uncle, his teammate, and his best friend Logan Schuchart, by a mere 0.050-seconds as the checkered flag waved at Chico, CA’s Silver Dollar Speedway.

The Pells Tire Service, Low-E Insulation #1A officially controlled all 40 laps at the 68th running of the prestigious event, but that is a deceiving box score. Allen, amid his ninth year on tour at 28 years old, fought off challenges from champion Brad Sweet at first, then winning machine Carson Macedo, and ultimately his running mate in the DuraMAX Oil, Drydene Performance Products #1S.

It came down to the 40th and final lap as Schuchart closed on Allen and showed him his nose coming to the white flag. With traffic blocking his path into the final corner, Allen found himself in no man’s land through the middle and quickly losing grip as Schuchart stuck to the bottom. As the #1S rocketed off the corner, the #1A found grip up high and the drag race to the line began.

They never touched, but Allen hit the wall and pulled a wheelstand as he crossed the finish line ahead of Schuchart by a jaw-dropping 0.050-seconds to score a win that left him speechless.

“I don’t know what to say,” Allen noted trying to compose himself. “As a team, Logan and I always dream about running 1-2. Having a finish like that is just so damn awesome. I didn’t know who won at first, I was just waiting for Mike [Hess] to say #1A or #1S. I can’t believe it. I just won the Gold Cup and it was a Shark Racing 1-2 and that’s back-to-back Gold Cups for our team. Wow.”

He took every restart and every lap traffic bout in stride, never wavering as he ventured away from his stereotypical low-line and throttled around the outside of the 1/4-mile. The victory brings Allen to five-career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series wins with four of those coming in 2022.

“You guys doubt me a little bit, but we’re figuring out how to set up these cars and I’m getting better as a driver,” Allen added. “It’s okay if people don’t want to believe in me, but as a team, we believe in each other and that’s what makes this happens.”

Perhaps the happiest second-place finisher in World of Outlaws history, Logan Schuchart couldn’t stop smiling on frontstretch following the spectacular finish with his nephew and teammate – even though his pursuit of back-to-back Gold Cup titles was stopped by the slimmest of margins.

“I honestly didn’t know who won it,” Schuchart said. “I’m so pumped, though. This is about the coolest outcome we could ever ask for. It’s awesome for two PA boys to be racing for the win at Gold Cup, the most prestigious race on the West Coast. I’m so proud of Jacob, his team, my team, and everyone involved in Shark Racing. You can’t ask for much more than this.”

Following the pair of Shark Racing entries to the stripe was Carson Macedo with a third-place effort in the Jason Johnson Racing, Albaugh #41. It’s his 23rd World of Outlaws podium finish of the season as the Lemoore, CA native looks to cut into his 96-point championship deficit with only 12 races remaining in the 2022 campaign.

“This place was really racey tonight,” Macedo said. “My guys gave me a car to win, but I just felt like every time we would get to the tail of the field a caution would come out. I needed more traffic to get up there with those guys. It was pretty cool to watch that photo finish right behind them at the line, though.”

Closing out the top-five in Saturday’s finale was Sheldon Haudenschild in fourth aboard the Stenhouse Jr. / Marshall Racing, NOS Energy Drink #17, and Brad Sweet, who momentarily led on Lap 23, finishing fifth in the Kasey Kahne Racing, NAPA Auto Parts #49.

David Gravel took sixth aboard the Big Game Motorsports, Huset’s Speedway #2, and Spencer Bayston came home seventh in his CJB Motorsports, TrueTimber #5 to give the World of Outlaws a top-seven sweep over the California locals.

Rounding out the top-10 in the 68th Gold Cup was 16-year-old Ryan Timms with his third top-10 in four Series starts, Donny Schatz with a KSE Hard Charger performance from 21st to ninth, and Fremont, CA’s Shane Golobic driving the Kevin Kozlowski-owned #57 as the highest finishing local competitor.

NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (40 Laps) – 1. 1A-Jacob Allen [1][$25,000]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5][$10,000]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo [3][$6,000]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [9][$5,000]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet [2][$4,000]; 6. 2-David Gravel [11][$3,500]; 7. 5-Spencer Bayston [8][$3,200]; 8. 5T-Ryan Timms [4][$3,000]; 9. 15-Donny Schatz [21][$2,800]; 10. 57W-Shane Golobic [6][$2,500]; 11. 88N-DJ Netto [20][$2,300]; 12. 17M-Kalib Henry [12][$2,250]; 13. 22-Ryan Bernal [13][$2,200]; 14. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [15][$2,100]; 15. 2XM-Max Mittry [14][$2,050]; 16. 83-James McFadden [7][$2,000]; 17. 24-Chase Johnson [18][$2,000]; 18. 14-Corey Day [24][$2,000]; 19. 83JR-Kerry Madsen [19][$2,000]; 20. 83T-Tanner Carrick [16][$2,000]; 21. 21-Mitchell Faccinto [10][$2,000]; 22. 38B-Blake Carrick [22][$2,000]; 23. 83V-Sean Becker [17][$2,000]; 24. 92-Andy Forsberg [23][$2,000]. Lap Leaders: Jacob Allen 1-40. KSE Hard Charger Award: 15-Donny Schatz[+12]

UP NEXT (Fri) – The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series will host its ninth and final race of the year in California this Friday, September 16 at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, CA with a $21,000 prize available in the Tom Tarlton Classic.

(Sept. 11, 2022) – Try as it might, Corvette Racing couldn’t replicate its Monza magic on Sunday as it finished fifth in the GTE Pro class of the Six Hours of Fuji for the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy, coming off a victory together in the previous WEC race in Italy, soldiered through a difficult day in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R during the team’s first race at Fuji Speedway.Milner, Tandy and the rest of the team had a tough time coming to grips – figuratively and literally – with the unfamiliar Fuji circuit and track surface.  The Corvette team found itself in a hole early as the No. 64 had to serve a drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits just shy of the 30-minute mark. Tandy rejoined the track undeterred and managed to gain a spot up to fourth with an inside dive on the No. 91 Porsche – which also was called in for a similar penalty – at the first corner just shy of the one-hour mark. The tire management of the Corvette progressed nicely for the remainder of Tandy’s stint compared to the other GTE Pro runners. Another stroke of misfortune struck, however, as the Corvette ran out of fuel on pitlane as Tandy headed for his first stop. After some assistance from the Corvette Racing crew, the No. 64 took on fuel and left-side tires for Tandy’s second stint. The struggles continued with Tandy reporting a severe lack of rear grip and a tire issue through the back half of his run. Milner drove the middle two stints and took on four tires for each run in an effort to claw back into contention. Unfortunately the continuing struggles with pace and grip plus a caution-free race limited any ground that he and Tandy could make up at the end. Corvette Racing closes its first-year WEC campaign with the Eight Hours of Bahrain on Nov. 10-12.

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Today was not our best day on many fronts, for sure. It was a frustrating day I think for Nick, frustrating for our engineers and frustrating for me all in our own ways. We’ll give ourselves some time after the race to decompress and think about those lessons and take them with us to Bahrain. In general, we had some struggles through practice and we improved the car for Nick through FP3 and qualifying. We were still behind the eight-ball a little bit, and in the race we saw some residuals from that. I was pretty slow the first couple of laps of my stint just because I was realistically driving a new car from what I had from the practice sessions. The second stint was a bit better but for me not as good as it needed to be. In the grand scheme of things, no thing that one person did or one group did had an ultimate effect on today; it was a collection of many things. We’ll isolate the mistakes and at the same time highlight the positives and find the things we did well. We’ll take our lumps from today and focus on Bahrain to be more prepared, be faster and make less mistakes. Hopefully that’s enough and we can have a good race there.”

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “The story of the race wasn’t so great. Really since Friday morning, it’s been a struggle. I think the characteristics of this track and the track surface just don’t suit our car. You’re never going to have the fastest car at every track you go to; that’s not how racing works. So what we have done is learned a lot. If we could start the race again tomorrow, there are things we absolutely would change but you only learn things from experience. This is something we can take forward. We’re not going to win every race. What we need to do is capitalize on days where the car is competitive. We had some issues but this was the one take because this was our least competitive showing from a pace perspective. This shows again the things we need to focus on in practice and in simulation when we are coming to a new track. And it shows that racing is difficult. It shows that the day we had Monza is just as big as we thought it was at the time. This weekend shows just what a good job we did there and how tough it can be if the stars don’t align.”

Ballou P2 after leading early, Thomas Jr. runs third in cap to debut weekend

LEWISTOWN, IL – Sept. 10, 2022 – Two wins in two days; three in the last three races. Jake Swanson and Team AZ Racing are firing on all cylinders.

With another victory with the Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car Series pres. by Low-E InsulationSaturday night at Spoon River Speedway, Swanson – the 29-year-old wheelman from Anaheim, CA – completed a sweep of the Series’ Illinois weekend and made up a big chunk of ground in the chase for the inaugural season points championship.

“Two races in a row – I don’t think I’ve ever swept a weekend in my life,” Swanson said. “I’m pumped about that, but three Xtreme Series races in-a-row is massive. I’m blown away.”

Coming into the weekend, Swanson sat fifth in the standings, 116 points out of first place. After the win at Jacksonville Speedway Friday night and again at Spoon River on Saturday, he now rides third, 53 behind leader Shane Cockrum. Add-in his victory at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 in June, and that makes three wins for him in the last three Series races.

“If we had a good weekend, we were gonna be like, ‘Alright, let’s focus on a championship,’” Swanson said. “Really, the $20,000 [points championship check] is what we’re after. Obviously, [the weekend] couldn’t have played out any better.”

Taking the green from inside Row 2, it didn’t take long before Swanson had the lead. Polesitter Robert Ballou led the first three trips around the 3/8-mile oval before Swanson made the move to his inside coming out of Turn 2 and sealed the pass as they raced into Turn 3.

It was a maneuver Swanson said he’d struggled to get right in the past, but worked it to perfection Saturday night.

“Lately, we’ve been really good squaring-off [the corner]; the thing leaves from center-off so much better,” Swanson said. “I felt like that was our biggest issue last year, and sometimes at the beginning of this year. We fixed some stuff and really got that dialed in.”

Now with the lead in-hand, it became Swanson’s race to lose. After a quick caution and red-flag combo shy of the halfway point, he checked out, building up a near three-second lead on Ballou as they entered the home stretch.

Once Swanson hit lapped traffic, Ballou was able to close-in on him slightly, but never close enough to make a move.

“When there was that caution with about 10 laps to go, it felt it took like 10 laps for my racecar to get going,” Ballou said. “I could catch [Swanson] after about four or five laps, but I was overdriving the car, and you make mistakes when you do that.”

Just when all hope seemed to evaporate, the yellow flag was displayed. Wesley Smith looped around in Turn 2, erasing Swanson’s lead and giving Ballou and a hungry Kevin Thomas Jr. one final chance.

In the end, Swanson kept the field at bay and drove across the stripe to collect his second $5,000 check in two days.

“Really cool racetrack to be able to run two lines like that and finesse the bottom and rip the top,” Swanson said. “One of the most fun places I’ve been to the last two weekends. These were really great racetracks, and I hope we can come back more.”

Though Ballou was able to hang on for a strong runner-up finish, he said was dissatisfied with his car’s handling throughout the 30-lap event.

“From Lap 1, I knew I was in trouble, and I was just kinda hanging on,” Ballou said. “I finally figured I could overdrive the car and get it to be decent, but you can’t win races overdriving your racecar.”

Rounding out the podium, Kevin Thomas Jr. bagged a third-place finish to cap-off his debut weekend with the Xtreme Outlaw Sprints. Coming from fourth on the starting grid, he made the move for third on Anton Hernandez on Lap 11 and chased Ballou for the rest of the way. He tried several times to make a move to his inside but was unable to muster the speed to execute a pass.

“I tried to slide him once, and didn’t feel like I got a good enough run,” Thomas said. “I didn’t want to crash both of us, so I left a little bit of room.”

Like Swanson, Thomas enjoyed both tracks on the Illinois swing and the new challenges they brought along.

“It was fun to get to Jacksonville and here to Spoon River to kind of do something different,” Thomas said. “That was a lot of fun.”

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car Series pres. by Low-E Insulation returns to action with a two-day event at Atomic Speedway in Waverly, OH, Oct. 7-8. Tickets are available at the gate on race day, or if you can’t be at the track, stream every lap live on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 21AZ-Jake Swanson[3]; 2. 12-Robert Ballou[1]; 3. 15K-Kevin Thomas Jr[4]; 4. 2B-Anton Hernandez[2]; 5. 66-Shane Cockrum[10]; 6. 6-Mario Clouser[8]; 7. 17GP-Max Adams[16]; 8. 20-Alex Bright[6]; 9. 52-Isaac Chapple[7]; 10. 77M-CJ Leary[12]; 11. 28-Kory Schudy[5]; 12. 33M-Matt Westfall[9]; 13. 44-Wesley Smith[11]; 14. N2-Nic Harris[17]; 15. 28M-Brandon Mattox[13]; 16. 11-Colton Fisher[18]; 17. 1JR-Steven Russell[20]; 18. 8-Tyler Roth[22]; 19. 8D-Will Armitage[21]; 20. 24-Landon Simon[14]; 21. 56-Mitchell Davis[19]; 22. 29-Mitch Wissmiller[15]

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY

WEATHERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA

MONTEREY, CALIFORNIA

TEAM CHEVY POST QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTES

SEPTEMBER 10, 2022

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER:

CAN YOU TAKE A MOMENT TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ACHIEVED TODAY?

“Tremendous milestone. To be up there with an iconic guy like Mario is amazing. When I think about the era that he raced in, how dangerous it was and how much more a risk it was, it just blows my mind that I’m there with Mario. It’s great to have Mario here. Someone I respect tremendously and was a massive fan of growing up. I want to swap a helmet with him, put his in my collection if he would do it.”  

WHAT ALLOWED YOU THIS YEAR TO WIN ALL THE POLES TO GET TO THIS MOMENT? 

“Really focusing in on certain races that we knew we had a good shot at pole.”

NOW THE FOCUS TURNS TOWARD TOMORROW. WHAT IS THE MINDSET?

“We put ourselves in a great position to lead the first lap to get one point and hopefully lead the most laps to get more points. Competitors with better tires but we have track position for right now, so we’ll have a good think about it tonight and see how we attack that one. But it will be a long day. I’ll do my best. “

Mario Andretti, who held the record with 67 poles:

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS MAN?

“Awesome. I know how much I loved qualifying and I can see that he’s the same. It’s just trying to reach and just try to do the lap that you cannot repeat and that’s what puts you on pole.”

DID YOU KNOW THAT THIS MOMENT WOULD EVENTUALLY COME?

“Absolutely. It’s great fort the series, great for the sport. Records are made to be broken. It’s with a good man. Will Power throughout his career has been a really good qualifier. He deserves this. He’s worked for it and he’s the best when it comes to qualifying.”

WHAT IS IT THAT SETS A DRIVER APART IN QUALIFYING?

“How badly do you want it? If I had the specific formula I’d bottle it and sell it. It’s just a matter of really wanting it and just doing that lap that you know you can’t repeat. That’s how records are made.”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 2^ND

 “This shows what we can do with what we have in a certain way. I mean, we started the season with two and a half sets of dampers and one of them is for ovals. We finished with, I think, three and a half, and they’re not much different to the first one. We just bought another version of the first set and adapted them a little bit.

Our terms of development this year have been what we had to start with, and again, just fine-tuning it. Whether it’s me and the driving and the experience, we’ve just been chipping away and trying to do a good job with that, and yeah, it’s been tough, especially with no teammate to kind of have anything to use very well, learn from. To get to this stage and have a result like this, I think they’re all super chuffed, and yeah, amazing job.

At the end of the day even if it’s just one lap at the end, it’s great to do it, finish it like this, and I think gives us so much more motivation in the off-season when they get some time to really digest everything and work on it.

PATO O’WARD, MO.5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 6^TH:

“It was a decent day for us. We got into the Firestone Fast Six and then made the wrong tire choice and was just on the wrong tire to do that run, which put us P6, but it’s not a bad position to start tomorrow. It’s a tire degradation race. Track position is important. It will be interesting to see who chooses a three-stopper or four-stopper, and we’ll let it rip from there.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 XPEL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 8^TH:

YOU GUYS HAD A QUICK CAR, WHAT HAPPENED OVER THERE IN TURN FOUR SCOTT?

“Yeah, trying a bit hard.  We missed the balance all weekend in the Xpel Chevy and unfortunately we made just a little mistake there. Just trying to find the limits and get confidence in this car. I am really proud of the guys because we were nowhere in practice and they really shook this one down and gave us a great car. They did a great job and I think we have something to play with tomorrow. We have some tires up our sleeve and we are in a decent starting spot.”

HOW MUCH OF YOUR FOCUS TOMORROW WILL BE TRYING TO FINISH SECOND IN THE POINTS AS OPPOSED TO HELPING WILL POWER OR JOSEF NEWGARDEN WIN A TITLE?

“Look, we all drive for Team Penske. When the team wins, we win. We will do what we need to do to get the best result for the team. Whether that is Will (Power) winning the championship or us trying to get 1-2-3 or 1-2. We will do what we need to do. I am very happy with this organization and proud to have signed on and proud to represent all these partners and we just want to do a good job for all them.”

 FELIX ROSENQIST, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET. QUALIFIED 9^TH: 

“In Round 1, Group 2, we did 71.3 second lap and tried to do the same in Round 2, but we were missing four tenths of that lap, so I’m not really sure what happened. Just kind of lacking grip a little bit, something on tire warmup or something I could have done different, but a top 10 is pretty solid. I would have been happy with a little bit higher starting position here, but I think I have a good opportunity tomorrow.”

 RINIS VEEKAY, NO, 21 BITCOIN RACING TEAM WITH BITNILE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 14^TH: We definitely got better from practice to qualifying, but we should have advanced. A car came out in front of me on my second lap, so even though my time should have improved, it didn’t. It’s a bummer, but we definitely moved in the right direction. We should be in good shape for the warm up tomorrow and we’ve got some good things to try for the race.”

CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET. QUALIFIED 15^TH: “Our qualifying session was a bit chaotic. To produce one lap and just get about a tenth and a half away from transferring was actually a good step forward for us. Last year we struggled here, I’m proud of the team for working really hard on this BitNile car. We’ll just get after it in the race. It’s going to be really interesting with the tire degradation, we have a set of reds that are saved. We’ll see what happens. We were close, definitely close!”

KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO.14 SEXTON PROPERTIES AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 17^TH: 

“So, with qualifying finished, we were one of the few to do red red and it paid off for us because we were in the lead in the first half of qualifying. With the red coming out, we almost got super lucky there. Ultimately, we qualified I think P9 in our group. Not exactly where we want to be, but I think we found some pace between practice one, practice two and qualifying. We are constantly progressing, and we will go into the final practice tomorrow morning hopefully with a good race car and the big thing here is making the tires last.  If we can do that, we have a lot of people starting around us that should be up front as well and hopefully we can just move forward from there.”

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET,QUALIFIED 24^TH:

“Our last qualifying of the year and not where we want to be in qualifying P24. We have closed the gap from where we were at the start of the weekend, so I am happy we found some little bit of time on those new tires and we had banked on going red red but I wasn’t really able to find a gap in that first run because we started at the back of pit lane and just at the mercy of that accordion effect.  So then on that second set, it was really tight coming in and its pretty much hand over hand and grabbed the clutch coming in and I didn’t quite get it into pit lane speed.  Then we sat there and changed tires with the car running so when I launched, I accelerated over pit lane speed, and we got docked there. We had to do a drive through and that probably didn’t help us. It just wasn’t enough to transfer there by seven tenths or so. But the real question tomorrow is how well we keep the tires under us for the long run. That is the name of the game here with how abrasive the track surface is.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 25^TH:

“I just made a mistake, it’s a real shame. I think we have the fastest car in the field right here, so, yeah, it’s a bummer, it’s a bummer for everybody. It’s not over but it’s not ideal, what just happened here. It is what it is.”

SIMONA DESILVESTRO, NO. 16 THUN SWITZERLAND PARETTA AUTO SPORT CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 26^TH: 

It was a tough day. We got stuck behind people that were gapping and we just didn’t put a (good) lap in which was a bummer. This morning I felt it was going to be a good day and we were going to have been a good qualifying result. Anyways, it is what it is and we’ll go out there tomorrow and do our best.

September 10, 2022

Harrison Burton and the No. 21 Menards/Masterforce team got off to a good start to the race weekend at Kansas Speedway.

Burton was 10^th fastest in practice for Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400, with a best lap at 176.835 miles per hour. He posted that on the second of the 28 laps he ran in Saturday’s session.

In qualifying, Burton was faster than in practice, touring the 1.5-mile track at 177.521 mph, but wound up 18^th in the starting line-up.

Sunday’s 400-mile, 267-lap race is scheduled to start just after 2 p.m. (3 p.m. Eastern Time) with TV coverage on USA Network. Stage breaks are planned for Laps 80 and 165.
 

Alexander Rossi to start third, Romain Grosjean fourth in final NTT INDYCAR SERIES race of 2022
Championship contenders Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon to start 10th and 13th
Honda drivers Christian Lundgaard and David Malukas carry series Rookie of the Year battle into the final race

MONTEREY, Calif. (Sept. 10, 2022) – Andretti Autosport’s Alexander Rossi and Romain Grosjean topped Honda’s effort today in qualifying for Sunday’s season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey, while championship contenders Marcus Ericsson and Scott Dixon will start 10th and 13th, respectively.

Both Rossi and Grosjean advanced through the first two rounds of “knockout” qualifying; with Rossi claiming third in the “Fast Six” final round, while Grosjean will start alongside in fourth.
Dixon, 21 points away from scoring his seventh drivers’ title – with 53 points on offer tomorrow – will start 13th after just missing advancing out of the first qualifying round. His Chip Ganassi teammate, Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, will start 10th and is 40 points out of the lead.

In the tight battle for series Rookie of the Year honors between two Honda drivers, David Malukas will start seventh and his rookie rival Christian Lundgaard will line up 16th. Lundgaard carries a five-point lead into tomorrow’ championship finale.

Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey Honda Qualifying Results
3rd Alexander Rossi Andretti Autosport Honda
4th Romain Grosjean Andretti Autosport Honda
5th Alex Palou Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
7th David Malukas-R Dale Coyne Racing with HMD Honda
10th Marcus Ericsson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
11th Simon Pagenaud Meyer Shank Racing Honda
12th Helio Castroneves Meyer Shank Racing Honda
13th Scott Dixon Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
16th Christian Lundgaard-R Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
18th Colton Herta Andretti Autosport Honda
19th Graham Rahal Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
21st Jack Harvey Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
22nd Takuma Sato Dale Coyne Racing with RWR Honda
23rd Jimmie Johnson Chip Ganassi Racing Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes
Scott Dixon (#9 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) tied for second in the championship going into tomorrow’s season finale; will start 13th: “Because of the red flag [for Josef Newgarden’s spin], we only had a single lap at the end [to set a qualifying time] and unfortunately, some slower traffic kept me from getting my tires up to proper temperature. We missed [advancing to second-round qualifying] by less than a tenth of a second, which is always frustrating because we definitely had the speed in the car today, it felt really comfortable. For the race tomorrow, strategy is going to be the key, it’s going to be a struggle to complete a full fuel run without the tires going off on this slippery, very low-grip track. There may be more cautions as well. Everything’s to play for, so it may be even more exciting than usual here tomorrow.”

Alexander Rossi (#27 Andretti Autosport Honda) will start third: “Overall, a really good day for the whole Andretti Autosport Honda team. I’ve started, second, third and third here previously, so hopefully we can close out the year – and my time with Andretti, NAPA and Honda – on a high note and get a great result for them this weekend.”

Romain Grosjean (#28 Andretti Autosport Honda) will start fourth: “We’re starting nine places up from where we started last year (to finish third), so that should make my life a little bit easier in tomorrow’s race! Qualifying went well, the changes we made to the car [since practice] all seemed to work and I feel really positive about our weekend so far. I definitely want to have a good race tomorrow, so we can go into the winter break with a bit more confidence than we had in recent races.”

Fast Facts
Honda comes to this weekend’s 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca with two of its drivers in contention for the series championship.

Scott Dixon, a two-time winner this year and six-time series champion, comes to the classic central California road course third in the drivers’ title standings, 20 points away from a record-tying seventh title. His Chip Ganassi Racing Honda teammate, Indianapolis 500 winner Marcus Ericsson, is fourth, 39 points out of the lead.

In the contest for series Rookie of the Year honors, the coveted award will go to one of two Honda drivers. Rahal Letterman Lanigan driver Christian Lundgaard leads with 293 points heading to Laguna Seca. But fellow Honda racer David Malukas is only five points back, driving for Dale Coyne Racing with HMD.

Sheldon Creed and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Team Earn 11th-Place Finish in Rain-Shortened NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway

11th

3rd

13th

“I had a lot of confidence in our Whelen Chevrolet before the start of the race today at Kansas Speedway. When we fired off at the beginning of the race, I thought we were really good and then we weren’t good when the track starting building rubber. I tried running at the bottom, top and middle and tried different lines. I just couldn’t get anything to work or make speed. I don’t know where we missed it there because we weren’t as good as we thought we would be. It looks like we gained three points, so that will make things interesting in Bristol. I’m proud of everyone at RCR and ECR. I wish we could have finished this one. Maybe we could have played things differently and got a better finish and maybe got a bigger gap in the points back to the No. 39 car.”  -Sheldon Creed

Austin Hill and the No. 21 United Rentals Chevrolet Team Earn 12th-Place Finish at Kansas Speedway

12th

6th

6th

“We ran well today at Kansas today. We led some laps and I think we were capable of finishing better than where we did. Our United Rentals Chevrolet was tight all day and unfortunately with the rain we didn’t have a chance to work on it in the second half of the race and make the balance better. I’m really looking forward to Bristol Motor Speedway next week and getting some positive momentum when we start the NASCAR Playoffs.” -Austin Hill

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY WEATERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA IN SALINAS, CALIFORNIA TEAM CHEVY NTT P1 AWARD WINNER QUOTES – WILL POWERSEPT. 10, 2022 Power sets all-time INDYCAR pole record with 68Points leader breaks tie with Mario Andretti, seeks to wrap up second title in season finale CAN YOU TAKE A MOMENT TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ACHIEVED TODAY?“Tremendous milestone. To be up there with an iconic guy like Mario is amazing. When I think about the era that he raced in, how dangerous it was and how much more a risk it was, it just blows my mind that I’m there with Mario. It’s great to have Mario here. Someone I respect tremendously and was a massive fan of growing up. I want to swap a helmet with him, put his in my collection if he would do it.”   WHAT ALLOWED YOU THIS YEAR TO WIN ALL THE POLES TO GET TO THIS MOMENT? “Really focusing in on certain races that we knew we had a good shot at pole.” NOW THE FOCUS TURNS TOWARD TOMORROW. WHAT IS THE MINDSET?“We put ourselves in a great position to lead the first lap to get one point and hopefully lead the most laps to get more points. Competitors with better tires but we have track position for right now, so we’ll have a good think about it tonight and see how we attack that one. But it will be a long day. I’ll do my best. “ Mario Andretti, who held the record with 67 poles:WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS MAN?“Awesome. I know how much I loved qualifying and I can see that he’s the same. It’s just trying to reach and just try to do the lap that you cannot repeat and that’s what puts you on pole.” DID YOU KNOW THAT THIS MOMENT WOULD EVENTUALLY COME?“Absolutely. It’s great fort the series, great for the sport. Records are made to be broken. It’s with a good man. Will Power throughout his career has been a really good qualifier. He deserves this. He’s worked for it and he’s the best when it comes to qualifying.” WHAT IS IT THAT SETS A DRIVER APART IN QUALIFYING?“How badly do you want it? If I had the specific formula I’d bottle it and sell it. It’s just a matter of really wanting it and just doing that lap that you know you can’t repeat. That’s how records are made.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES KANSAS SPEEDWAY HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT SEPTEMBER 10, 2022

TYLER REDDICK RECORDS SECOND POLE OF 2022 AT KANSAS SPEEDWAYFive Camaro ZL1’s to Start in Top-10

·       Tyler Reddick clocked-in a lap of 29.899 seconds, at 180.608 mph, to capture the pole position for tomorrow’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.   ·       This marks Reddick’s third career pole in 102 NASCAR Cup Series starts. ·       Reddick’s pole gives Chevrolet its eighth NASCAR Cup Series pole win of 2022; and 731st all-time in NASCAR Cup Series history.

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 GUARANTEED RATE CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript:YOU GOT YOURSELF A SECOND PEDAL CAR HERE. TALK ABOUT THAT LAP YOU PUT DOWN OUT THERE.“It was good enough. My lap in the first round was certainly a little better. Based off of what I was hearing; everybody was running about the same. I guess in that second round, Ross (Chastain) wasn’t able to put down the exact same lap, so had a little bit of wiggle room. I just tried to maximize our speed and hit it right in turns one and two. I felt like I still could have been a little bit more aggressive, but understanding what we needed to get done, it was just a matter of duplicating the lap from before. We were able to do that and win a pedal car for my kid, so I’m excited about that.” YOU WERE ON THE FRONT ROW IN THE SPRING. HOW CONFIDENT DOES ALL OF THIS MAKE YOU GOING INTO TOMORROW?“It’s reassuring. Again, the last few times we’ve been here, we’ve had a car capable of leading and we’ve been able to do that. It’s just been a matter of putting together the whole day, which is something we’ve fought at times throughout the year. I’m really glad that we’ve been able to learn from a lot of those experiences. It’s made us stronger; it’s made us better as a team. I feel really good and excited about it. Starting first is great any weekend, but to be able to have that first pit stall selection is going to be key. I’m looking forward to it.” FIRST ROUND, YOU RAN A 29.8 SECOND LAP, AND IN THE SECOND ROUND, YOU WERE ONE OF MAYBE TWO OR THREE THAT MATCHED WHAT YOU RAN IN THE FIRST ROUND. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ABLE TO KEEP THAT CONSISTENCY UP CONSIDERING THE WEATHER CHANGING, THE SUN COMING OUT A LITTLE BIT IN BETWEEN? WHAT CAN YOU TAKE FROM THAT TO LEARN GOING INTO TOMORROW?“Having a consistent car is really important. This place is a track where you’ll have some fall off, but not a lot, so a car that doesn’t swing tight or loose will be important. All of those things, it’s about as perfect of a situation as you’re going to get out there in qualifying today. In practice for us, we didn’t have a lot of traffic, so we had a really good read on what our car will do. But from here on out the rest of the weekend; you’re going to be in traffic at some point, whether it’s later, in fifth and fifth on back. I feel really good about the speed our car has shown. Handling-wise, it’s just about right where I would want it for a place like this so I can move around a little bit and get up by the wall. It pretty much checked all of our boxes today. We can obviously make some small adjustments, but we’re not having to do anything crazy. We’re pretty happy with what we have.” BRISTOL, IN THE SPRING, YOU SAW HOW CRAZY THINGS CAN GET IN THE CLOSING LAPS. HOW PRECARIOUS DOES IT MAKE THAT TRACK SINCE IT’S A CUT-OFF RACE IN THE PLAYOFFS?“I’ll be honest.. I’m not expecting anything crazy there. I really don’t. Just the trend of how this car has been on the short tracks – Martinsville, Richmond – there’s a lot of grip. We don’t really have to pedal the car at all. We were actually working on Bristol a little bit today. At first, I was surprised like ‘wow, this has got a lot of grip’. It feels like you’re out of the gas about as much as you would be on a 1.5-mile track and then I realized you can just start connecting the dots. We went to Richmond and Richmond was a certain way; and Martinsville was, too.  I really don’t know. I think the speeds are going to be high enough there where I just don’t think someone is going to be able to move somebody out of the way like that without going to the extent that we saw, for example, Joey Logano do to William Byron earlier in the year at Darlington. You’re pretty much going to have to go in there and hope that you hit the guy because if you don’t, you’re going to just go flying up into the wall and crash. It could be chaotic.. I don’t know. It’s the type of place where things stack up. You could have some action, but I don’t think it’s going to be the type of race where people are going to be moving each other out of the way because I just don’t think you’re going to be able to get there.” DENNY (HAMLIN) WAS IN HERE EARLIER AND HE SAID HE THINKS TYLER (REDDICK) WOULD LIKE TO PLAY OUT HIS CONTRACT AT RCR AND THAT’S WHAT HE ALWAYS INTENDED. IS THAT YOUR INTENTION IF THE RUMOR MILL GOES TO FRUITION AND SOMETHING HAPPENS WITH KYLE BUSCH AT RCR?“If it does, then I’ll figure out what to do. But until then, I’m just going to keep doing my job and the task at hand. That’s what we did today. We got a pole. We were fast in practice in a lot of different measures.  If I was pretty bored during the week, didn’t have a lot going on and wasn’t spending a lot of time trying to prepare; it would be easy to get distracted and give that some of your mind and some of your attention. But for me, thankfully, I stay really busy with my team. We have a lot on our minds; right here, doing stuff like this, bringing fast race cars. So we don’t even have time to let that into my head.” WHEN GROUP A WAS RUNNING THEIR QUALIFYING SESSION, IT DIDN’T SEEM UNTIL (CHRISTOPHER) BELL’S LAP THAT PEOPLE FIGURED OUT THAT YOU NEEDED TO MIGRATE TO THE TOP TO GET THE SPEED THERE. I ASSUME THAT WAS YOUR PLAN ALL ALONG. DO YOU THINK THAT IS WHERE THE SPEED IS GOING TO BE ON SUNDAY?“It certainly will be for large amounts of this race. I think it has the potential, under green flag cycle, to move around off of that wall. The fastest car here in the spring was Kurt Busch and he was able to really do a good job of running on that top seam. It’s going to lay rubber with 30 plus cars out there, all running in the majority of the same area of the racetrack. So I think it’s going to open up that opportunity for other lanes to come into play because it’ll just be less rubber on it.  Certainly when we have cautions, the track cleans up and we’ll go out there with brand new tires; all of the rubber will come off the race track and kind of reset. But I definitely think it has the opportunity to where you’re going to be moving around. More so than anything, clean air is always going to be key. Everyone knows that at this point. You’re not going to be able to follow somebody into the corner, two or three-car links off of them, and run the same lap as the car ahead. You’re going to have to move around, so having some versatility is going to be important tomorrow.” DID YOU NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE FROM THE NEW TIRES FROM THE SPRING? “I’ve paid some attention to that. Just from what I know from the little bit we played with it when I drove the wheel force car a long time ago; you can definitely get the car a little bit more unsettled. You have a little bit more of a window to work with it on the tire before you just crash. I don’t know if that’s actually a good thing or not, but everyone has kind of adjusted for it and worked on the cars.  Between that and the temperature differences, it’s pretty much been about what I expected it to be.” YOU’RE TWO CAREER NASCAR CUP SERIES WINS WERE BOTH ON ROAD COURSES. YOU HAD A GOOD FINISH LAST WEEKEND AT DARLINGTON. WHAT GETS YOU OVER THE HUMP ON THE OVAL? “I think it’s the very same thing that we were able to do on the road courses.. and that’s just execute all day long. I would say that – at one point when I came into the Cup Series – I had more speed on the ovals and I had to figure the road courses out. I think road courses have a higher chance of playing out naturally. We’ll see more cautions and more things happen on ovals I feel like. And because of that, we’ve had more opportunities to make mistakes. We’ve made them and that’s kept us from getting the job done.  But we’ve been close a few times. A lot of second-places, which are painful. But thankfully we have some wins, some top-three’s. We’re right there, it’s just a matter of putting the whole day together.”

Title is Seventh for the Chevrolet INDYCAR Program 

DETROIT (Sept. 10, 2022) – Chevrolet has won the NTT INDYCAR SERIES (NICS) Manufacturer Championship for the seventh time since it returned to the Series in 2012.

The Chevrolet 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V6 INDYCAR engine has produced 12 poles and ­­­11 wins in 16 events heading into Sunday’s season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. 

“Preparation, teamwork and great execution were key this season to every pole, every win and now Chevrolet’s seventh Manufacturer Championship,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance and Motorsports for Chevrolet. “Thank you to Team Penske, Ed Carpenter Racing, Arrow McLaren SP, AJ Foyt Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Paretta Autosport, our Chevrolet Competition and Propulsion engineers, and our technical partners for their combined efforts that resulted in delivering Chevrolet’s NTT INDYCAR Series Manufacturer Championship.”

In the 11 seasons of the Chevrolet 2.2-liter V6 INDYCAR engine, Team Chevy drivers have amassed 106 wins of the 181 races to date – an impressive 58.6%. This season, Chevy-powered drivers have won 69% of the races and 75% of the NTT P1 Awards.

The 2022 Manufacturer Championship clearly demonstrates the never-give-up attitude of Chevrolet engineering, its teams, the GM Propulsion Group and its technical partners. Chevrolet proudly fielded 11 full-time entries during the 17-race season. Despite having less than half of the total car count, the Chevy teams and drivers maximized all the available support, engineering tools and simulator time to continue performance growth that translated to tremendous performance. 

All of Chevrolet’s full-time teams contributed valuable time and effort toward the seventh NICS Manufacturer Championship. Team Penske, with drivers Will Power, Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin; Ed Carpenter Racing, with drivers Rinus VeeKay and Conor Daly; AJ Foyt Racing, with drivers Dalton Kellett and Kyle Kirkwood; and Juncos Hollinger Racing, with driver Callum Ilott, were instrumental in Team Chevy’s success.

“Winning Chevrolet’s seventh NTT INDYCAR Series Manufacturer Championship has been a true team effort by our Chevrolet engineers, Chevy-powered race teams, Chevrolet Propulsion engineers and technical partners at Ilmor Engineering and Hitachi Automotive Systems,” said Mark Stielow, Director Motorsports Competition Engineering. “The performance delivered by Chevrolet’s 2.2-liter twin turbo, direct-injected V6 engine has proven throughout the season to be the consistent combination of reliability, drivability and power for our teams to win races and this championship.”

Since 2012, in addition to the seven Manufacturer Championships, Chevrolet has won six driver championships with Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), Power (2014), Scott Dixon (2015), Pagenaud (2016), Newgarden (2017 and 2019). Three Chevrolet drivers are in contention to win the crown in 2022. 

Additionally, the Chevrolet 2.2-liter V6 engine powered drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 with Tony Kanaan (2013), Juan Pablo Montoya (2015) Will Power (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2019). 

Previously, Chevrolet competed in Indy-style racing as a manufacturer of V8 engines from 1986-93 and 2002-05, powering 111 wins, one manufacturer championship in 2002, seven Indianapolis 500 wins and six driver championships.

NASCAR CUP SERIES

KANSAS SPEEDWAY

HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400

TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT

SEPTEMBER 10, 2022

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Kansas Speedway. Press Conference Transcript:

YOU’VE GOT ONE TOP-10 HERE IN 11 STARTS AT THE CUP LEVEL. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS TRACK THAT’S DIFFICULT TO GET A HANDLE? 

“I don’t know.. I wish I knew. It has been a difficult place for me in the past, but this year has been different. Last time here, we were running top-five when I had a flat tire. I felt like we were going to have a shot to fight Toyota for the win, but we didn’t make it to that point.

I feel like the Next Gen car has changed a lot; the history in previous races, results and stuff like that. In the past, it hasn’t been a great place for me. But I truly believe that right now is quite different. I feel like we are going to be contending for the win this weekend.”

WITH BEING A FORMER CHAMPION, YOU’VE GOT POST-SEASON EXPERIENCE. WHAT’S THE EXPERIENCE BEEN LIKE SO FAR IN THE CUP SERIES AND WHAT’S IT LIKE BEING ON THE BUBBLE OR HOW DO YOU AVOID THINKING ABOUT THAT ASPECT AT THIS POINT?

“Really, I think the secret is not to think about it. At the end of the day, there is a lot of stuff going on around the playoffs; a lot of pressure, a lot of media obligations, a lot of stuff going on. But at the end of the day, when we put the helmets on and we go to race, it’s exactly the same thing. It’s no different than the first Kansas race in the spring to the Kansas race right now in the playoffs. You have to try to be smart; try to control what you can control. At the end of the day, I can only control one car and that is the No. 99 team. I cannot control what everyone else does or doesn’t do. I have to be smart, control what I can control and put all of my energy and effort into maximizing the results for the No. 99.”

AFTER LAST WEEKEND’S RACE, YOU WERE A BIT OUTSPOKEN ABOUT THE NO. 20 CAR.. SAYING YOU OWE HIM ONE FOR WHAT HAPPENED DURING THAT RACE. A WEEK LATER, HAS ANYTHING CHANGED IN TERMS OF YOUR MINDSET OR DO YOU STILL STAND BY WHAT YOU SAID AFTER THE RACE? 

“No, nothing has changed. But once again, that’s a perfect example of I have to control what I can control. Last week, I couldn’t control what the No. 20 was going to do. I feel like we were very, very lucky that we were able to finish the stage and continue with minor damage. The car wasn’t the same.. the toe and the right rear tire was messed up after that. 

But you make decisions as a racecar driver. You have to live with those and that’s the way he races. Something that is very, very general in the Cup garage is that you’re going to race people and you have to expect those people to race you the same way back. If that’s 100 percent clean, with a little bit of respect but aggressive, that’s the rule of the game and I feel like it’s going to be no different this time. I’m not thinking about it too much, but I definitely won’t forget what happened last week because it could have been way, way worse. I feel like I got very lucky.”

YOU HAD A LOT OF SPEED AT DARLINGTON LAST WEEKEND. HOW DOES THAT TRANSITION TO HERE AT KANSAS BECAUSE THERE ARE SIMILARITIES.. UP AGAINST THE FENCE, THAT SORT OF THING. HOW DOES THAT TRANSITION TO HERE AND YOUR DEGREE OF OPTIMISM WHEN YOU LOOK AT THIS RACE THIS WEEKEND?

“I’m very excited. Nobody pays attention to the No. 99 team like I do or my team does. But we’ve been extremely strong. At Daytona, we were in the position to win it before the rain. We probably should have won that race. 

In Darlington, whatever happened, happened. I made a mistake (on pit road) and that cost us a lot, but we were in contention to fight for the win once again. This weekend, honestly, is going to be no different. I think the No. 99 team right now is in a very, very good place. We’re just continuing to get better. At the beginning of the year, we were a very young, new team; new people working together. Right now, we are just jelling more and more. I’m excited for everything that we’re doing. The results on paper, they don’t look that great right now. But I’ve been extremely pleased with the speed that we’ve had. I’m really looking forward to continuing that.”

WHAT’S GOING TO BE THE BIGGEST DIFFERENT BETWEEN THE RACE HERE IN THE SPRING AND THE RACE TOMORROW?

“That’s a good question. I think that the biggest difference will be all of the developing that the teams have done. If you think about it, in the spring, the No. 45 team won the race in a very, very strong way in the final stage; and I don’t think there was a better car than the No. 45 in the final stage. If that team brought the exact same car to this race, I don’t think he’d be able to run in the top-20. The teams have gotten so much smarter and they’ve done so much developing in just a few months. It’s crazy to me and that just continues to grow. 

I feel like the biggest difference would be the development that we’ve done in the last few months. I was expecting the race to be hot, but it probably won’t be that way. It’s actually a little chilly. With that being said, we may be racing with the same temperatures as we did a few months ago in the spring. So I think the biggest difference would be all the developing that the teams have done throughout the last few months.”

NEXT WEEK AT BRISTOL.. OBVIOUSLY YOU GUYS HAVE RAN THERE, BUT ON DIRT, SO IT’S A BRAND NEW RACETRACK IN A WAY. WHAT KIND OF CHALLENGES OR UNKNOWNS ARE THERE WITH THIS CAR BEING ON THE CONCRETE THERE?

“That’s a very good question. The only racetrack that we’ve been that is similar to Bristol – but not the same by any means – is Dover. Nobody really knows what to exact at Bristol. It’s a racetrack that is by itself. It’s completely different than anything else and it’s a tough place. With 20 minutes of practice; if you miss it during the week, you’re going to have a long weekend and a long 500 laps. 

I love Bristol. It’s actually one of my favorite racetracks and I’m really looking forward to the challenge. It would be nice to have a strong weekend here in Kansas and go to Bristol a little bit more relaxed when it comes to points. Like I said, I’m not really thinking about it too much once I’m in the race. But during the week, there are a lot of conversations about that. I think the preparation we do during the week is going to be important because nobody really knows what is going to work in Bristol, just because it’s so different than everything else that we’ve done.”

FROM A COMPETITOR’S POINT OF VIEW, WHAT’S YOUR PERSPECTIVE TO SEE WHAT THE UNCERTAINTY THAT KYLE BUSCH HAS GONE THROUGH THIS SUMMER AND TO SEE SOMEONE OF HIS CALIBER TO HAVE THAT UNCERTAINTY FOR SUCH A LONG TIME? YOU’VE GONE THROUGH SOME DIFFERENT THINGS – NOT SAYING THEY ARE THE SAME THINGS AT ALL – BUT I’M GUESSING YOU PROBABLY HAVE A MORE UNIQUE PERSPECTIVE THAN I WOULD OR ANYBODY ELSE WOULD?

“I’ve unfortunately been in those situations in the past. Racing at this level is very consuming. You have to work 24/7 to be competitive; with your team, preparation both physically and mentally, looking at data. When you’re in a situation where you don’t really know where you’re going to land next year – team, contracts, all that kind of stuff – at the end of the day, in my mind with my experience, were distractions. Once you get to a race, you put the helmet on and you forget everything else and you get to drive. But everything else that happens during the week is not as good.. the preparation, the meetings, all those things. There is ‘X’ amount of time a day that you have to put into all of these discussions and negotiations that you aren’t putting into the competition. So, it’s never a good thing, especially for Kyle (Busch). He hasn’t had to experience that in many years. It’s definitely not the best situation, but you learn to deal with it.”

IN THE TWO 1.5-MILE RACES – CHARLOTTE AND HERE – THE TOYOTA’S WERE PRETTY DOMINANT.. FIVE OF THE TOP-SIX, TOP-TWO AND THREE OF THE TOP-FIVE AT CHARLOTTE. SINCE YOU GUYS HAVEN’T BEEN ON A 1.5-MILE TRACK SINCE THE COCA-COLA 600, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO TRY AND MAKE UP THAT GAP AND HAVE YOU BEEN SPENDING A LOT OF TIME ON THE SIMULATOR? 

“Do you remember who was the best car in the Coca-Cola 600 (laughs)? 

I think everyone has worked really hard. What Toyota has been able to do in the last few months has been very good. They weren’t as good a few months ago and now they have a pretty good package with whatever they were able to figure out. 

Everyone at the Chevy camp has done a very, very good job just continuing to develop. I feel like we started the year as, I would say, the leader group in some of the racetracks. Some of these guys were playing catch-up, like Toyota, they are right there with us.. and at times, even a little bit better. But I feel like we continue to get better. I think that in Darlington, we showed some pretty good speed. We showed that we can fight with them. I personally felt like I was going to give them a fight. It was going to be a track position race, but I don’t feel like they were much better than me. And I feel like hopefully, here in Kansas, is going to be similar. We can fight in a level field. I guess time will tell.

I feel very confident. Everyone at Chevrolet and GM have done an amazing job. Trackhouse Racing with the No. 99 and No. 1 teams, we’ve been working together very, very hard to continue to move forward. I feel confident in where we are right now to continue to fight.”

YOU KNOW WHAT IT’S LIKE TO FIGHT FOR AND WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP IN A NASCAR NATIONAL SERIES. CAN YOU COMPARE AND CONTRAST WHAT YOU’RE GOING THROUGH NOW TO WHAT YOU WERE GOING TO THEN? HOW MUCH MORE STRESSFUL, IF IT IS? ALSO, DOES HAVING WON THE XFINITY TITLE GIVE YOU A BETTER IDEA OF WHAT YOU’RE IN FOR DURING THE NEXT EIGHT OR NINE WEEKS?

“That’s a good question. If you really think about it, it’s the same thing. It’s exactly the same thing. The process is the same, the system is the same, what you have to go through is the same. The only part that is very different is the level of competition. Everyone is better and everything is more difficult. But the system – the pressure and the stuff that you have to do, how you have to be smart and how you have to pick and choose your battles – is the same thing. I feel fortunate that I have that experience in the past.. to live, experience and learn from that championship battle in 2016. It’s been fun. If it wasn’t because of that, right now would probably feel a little bit more like ‘OK, what is next.. what is going to happen next’. At least I’ve been there before. 

But like I said, it’s quite different when it comes to the competition. I’m really looking forward to continue doing what we’ve been doing. We have to control what we can control. The No. 99 team has been doing an incredible job. Everybody is very calm; everybody is very relaxed. We are taking one day at a time and I feel like we’re going to be in good shape. I truly believe that. I feel like the playoffs are coming at a very, very good time for Trackhouse Racing.”

PLACERVILLE, CA (Sept. 10, 2022) – For the second consecutive year, Placerville Speedway is becoming the base for regional California firefighting efforts, including a fire rescue camp, and thereby forcing the postponement of the Sept. 17 Bonney Plumbing 49er Gold Rush Classic to 2023.

The thoughts of the entire World of Outlaws family are with the firefighters and all of those affected by the fires throughout the area.

The Tom Tarlton Classic at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, CA — one of the most exciting races in 2022 — remains scheduled for Friday, Sept. 16, and will now be the final World of Outlaws race this season in California.

Those who already purchased tickets to the 2022 Bonney Plumbing 49er Gold Rush, originally scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 17, will be able to use them for the 2023 event at Placerville. The date of the 2023 race will be announced by the end of the year. Ticketholders unable to make the 2023 race can request a refund when the 2023 date is announced.

The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series West Coast Swing continues tonight at Silver Dollar Speedway for the $25,000-to-win Gold Cup Race of Champions, live on DIRTVision.

right leads 28 of 30 laps, Cockrum drives 18th-to-sixth JACKSONVILLE, IL – Sept. 9, 2022 – Jake Swanson could smell the blood in the water. Directly in front of him, leader Alex Bright was getting tighter and tighter every lap. With two left on the board, he knew it was time to make the move. With a deep dive into Turn 3, he slid up in front of Bright and took away his line and the lead before crossing under the white flag, nearly neck-and-neck at the line. Bright tried a slider of his own through Turns 1-2, but Swanson kept his foot in it as he hit the high-banked Jacksonville Speedway cushion and fended-off Bright’s last-ditch effort. In the end, it was all Swanson needed to gap Bright and drive across the finish line to score his second Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car Series presented by Low-E Insulation Feature win of the inaugural season. “It was a close one, but I gambled a little bit and tried to make sure I beat him around the outside,” Swanson said. “I actually buried it in the curb a little bit harder than I wanted to, and I squeezed the throttle pedal harder and tried to make sure that it didn’t bike-up or get tight. I knew if I snagged the nose, I was done for.” It’s been long and winding road for the 35-year-old from Anaheim, CA, who now becomes only the second driver in Xtreme Outlaw history to win more than once. He’s come a long way since his days in the Midget ranks and early Sprint Car starts, and reflected on his time in the seat with Team AZ Racing, traveling around to compete against drivers from across the country. “It really is an honor to drive all over the country and race,” Swanson said. “To be on a circuit like this and be able to win at this level is pretty awesome.” Swanson took the green flag from outside Row 2, directly behind Bright. Bright took the lead on the first lap and proceeded to lead the next 27 circuits of the 1/4-mile oval. Though he looked fast out front in the early going, Bright soon found himself in a struggle, losing the handling with half of the race left. “I knew I was in trouble before two-to-go; I started to struggle with about 15-to-go,” Bright said. “I was just trying to hold on, not make mistakes, still running hard. But I didn’t wanna give it up on doing something stupid, either.” Even though the car was getting tight, Bright still looked strong on the restarts, which contributed to his ability to keep the lead. And his competition noticed. “I knew [Bright] was getting tighter and tighter,” Swanson said. “He was getting really good restarts. He was going so early that I would have a hard time getting ahold of something. It was hard for me to smash the pedal and get going. It felt like I was spinning the tires, and I would lose more time. “If I could make sure that I carried speed into Turns 1-2, [Bright] would get tight and I’d be able to make that ground back up as long as I got a good restart.” After fending-off relentless pressure from Robert Ballou behind him, Swanson was left with five laps on the board for the race’s final restart; one car in front of him. That’s when he devised the plan. “I knew I was running out of time, but there were a couple spots where I could see down there on the bottom,” Swanson said. “If I could just get some momentum and get close enough to [Bright], I could stick something down there and at least break his momentum. “If it slid him, I’d break his momentum and if it hooked the bottom, I could drag race him to the next corner and hopefully slide him there. That’s what we ended up doing.” Bright had a plan for the last restart as well – a conservative one – and said that looking back, he realized he should’ve pushed harder. “I think with about five-to-go, I needed to just throw the ‘don’t-make-mistakes’ card out the door and just start running it as hard as I could,” Bright said. “For how we had the car, I think that was my only option. I didn’t see it until Swanson got by us, but at that point, it was too little, too late.” Though he didn’t get the win, Bright still finished P2 and made up a big chunk of points in the championship standings on leader Shane Cockrum. With Cockrum having to come from 18th to finish sixth, Bright was able to cut the gap down from 47 points to 16 with five races remaining. Doing well miles away from his home in Collegeville, PA, gives he and the Hummer Motorsports crew a big dose of confidence. “Running back in Pennsylvania, we don’t really get cushions, we don’t run on the small tracks like that,” Bright said. “So, to come out here and run as good as we did for 28 of the 30 laps, I guess it wasn’t so bad.” Rounding out the podium was the only other two-time Xtreme Series winner, CJ Leary. The Greenfield, IN-driver came from seventh in his first Series appearance since Lake Ozark Speedway in June. Though the night started out unfavorable, Cockrum was able to come back from 18th to finish sixth and retain his points lead, though smaller now. He earned the TJ Forged Hard Charger Award in his drive, picking up 12 spots of position in 30 laps. UP NEXT The Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car Series presented by Low-E Insulation heads to Lewistown, IL, for another track debut on Saturday, Sept. 10, at Spoon River Speedway. Buy a ticket at the gate or stream all the action live on DIRTVision. ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results) Feature (30 Laps): 1. 21AZ-Jake Swanson[4]; 2. 20-Alex Bright[2]; 3. 77M-CJ Leary[7]; 4. 2B-Anton Hernandez[6]; 5. 15K-Kevin Thomas Jr[9]; 6. 66-Shane Cockrum[18]; 7. 33M-Matt Westfall[8]; 8. 12-Robert Ballou[3]; 9. 56-Mitchell Davis[17]; 10. 6-Mario Clouser[5]; 11. 28-Kory Schudy[14]; 12. N2-Nic Harris[11]; 13. 8D-Will Armitage[12]; 14. 1JR-Steven Russell[15]; 15. 16-Anthony Nicholson[19]; 16. 44-Wesley Smith[13]; 17. 2A-Austin Archdale[21]; 18. 17GP-Max Adams[10]; 19. 24-Landon Simon[20]; 20. 52-Isaac Chapple[16]; 21. 28M-Brandon Mattox[1]; 22. 52F-Logan Faucon[22]

Team will dig into its bag of tricks to work forward in Six Hours of Fuji OYAMA, Japan (Sept. 10, 2022) – Corvette Racing will start fifth among GTE Pro runners Sunday morning in Japan as it tries for a second straight victory in the FIA World Endurance Championship. Nick Tandy set a lap of 1:37.127 (105.074 mph) in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R that he will share with Tommy Milner in the Six Hours of Fuji. Only 0.756 seconds separates all of the GTE Pro entries, an interesting prospect for another thrilling race in the category.

Tandy and Milner won in their last time out at the Six Hours of Monza, which was the first victory for Corvette Racing as a full-time FIA WEC entrant. With Fuji being a much more technical circuit that Monza – another new track for the Corvette program – the bulk of the three practice sessions were spent developing and fine-tuning chassis and aero setups, plus evaluating different tire compounds with an eye toward the race. Both Milner and Tandy were happy with the long-run prospects of the Corvette after the final practice leading into qualifying. Fuji is the Corvette program’s 32nd venue during its nearly 25-year run of racetracks around the world with Bahrain still to go in the WEC’s season finale. The Six Hours of Fuji for the FIA World Endurance Championship is scheduled for 11 a.m. JST Sunday /10 p.m. ET Saturday from Fuji Speedway in Japan. The race will air live on MotorTrend from 9:30-11 p.m. ET on Saturday and the final hour and post-race from 3-4:30 a.m ET on Sunday. Live streaming coverage of the race an on-board feed from the No. 64 Corvette will be available on the MotorTrend Plus app. Radio Le Mans’ RS1 channel will stream play-by-play and race commentary from 9:30 p.m. ET on Saturday through 4:30 a.m. ET on Sunday.

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – QUALIFIED FIFTH IN GTE PRO: “Since Free Practice One, we’ve been at a pace deficit that has been similar throughout all the sessions. We’ve been improving the car, but it seems like something fundamentally with the circuit, how the car is working on the tires and other factors aren’t suiting us on single-lap performance. Looking at qualifying, things were better again from Free Practice Three, which was better from Free Practice Two. But of course, everyone else also is going faster. It’s kind of frustrating because we are improving and the Corvette is better to drive, but we are lacking a little bit of single-lap pace. “Of course this a new track to us and the one where Tommy and I have the least amount of experience on the WEC calendar. There’s something else kind of happening where our car and the tire combination isn’t working with the track surface. We can look again and come up with a few ideas for the race.“Typically we are better in race pace in this WEC season than we’ve been in qualifying. We haven’t had a pole outside of Le Mans, but we manage to run at the front once the race gets going. There is still a long race to come. The thing with WEC is that you do have to double-stint tires, and up to two hours on a set of tires here is going to be a challenge for every team. Let’s see what happens.”

Allen and Golobic Lock-In for Saturday’s $25,000/Win Finale at Silver Dollar

CHICO, CA – September 9, 2022 – The second night of the 68th Gold Cup Race of Champions saw the return of a familiar face to Victory Lane at Silver Dollar Speedway.

Completing a California sweep of the split-field preliminary programs, Lemoore’s Carson Macedo stood on top at the Chico, CA 1/4-mile for the third time in his career. He’s won all three of his Gold Cup prelims with a different team – Tarlton Racing in 2014, Kyle Larson Racing in 2019, and Jason Johnson Racing in 2022.

To secure Friday’s Feature win – unofficially his 12th with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series in 2022 – Macedo was forced to fight off a resurgent Jacob Allen, who presented a career-best Silver Dollar Speedway effort.

Macedo led the opening 15 laps from the pole position, but seventh-starting Jacob Allen quickly found himself in contention aboard the Shark Racing, Pells Tire Service, Low-E Insulation #1A. The Hanover, PA native, who had amassed a stunning average finish of 24th through his first 12 starts in Chico, drove by Macedo on the low-line and led laps 16-18.

The Jason Johnson Racing, Albaugh #41 rebounded on the ensuing restart, however, and ripped command of the lead back from Allen as he throttled the tricky cushion. From there, the 26-year-old star easily ran off into lap traffic and won Friday’s preliminary by 2.117-seconds.

“I didn’t expect that honestly,” Macedo said of Allen driving by him. “He was so good on the bottom, I was taken aback for a minute. These big mufflers are so quiet that you kind of hear things and don’t know where they’re coming from really. I had to get back into the seat and rip the top really hard. I’m glad it paid off and I’m excited knowing that we can improve tomorrow and make this thing better.”

An added element in the moment is that Macedo earned his first-career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series win right here at Silver Dollar Speedway almost eight years to the day. It also marks the first-ever win for Jason Johnson Racing at the Chico, CA 1/4-mile.

“This place is special to me and always will be,” Macedo added. “I got my first World of Outlaws win here and now I gave Jason Johnson Racing their first win here. I know how much Philip has wanted to win here, so I’m excited I can finally give them that. Hopefully we can be up here when it counts tomorrow.”

Finishing a career-best second-place after leading three laps past halfway was Jacob Allen. The Shark Racing pilot continued his remarkable turnaround by nearly winning at a track that has haunted him ever since he became a full-time World of Outlaws competitor in 2014. He’s now gone from a 24.0 average finisher to a lock-in driver at the Gold Cup Race of Champions.

“Man, I’ve ran second to Carson like two or three times lately,” Allen added. “We just need to get a little bit better and I need to capitalize some more. Our decision-making has been awesome, though, and I think that is showing in our results. It’s not easy going against the best in the world every night, but we’re doing it.”

Closing out the podium in his first-ever appearance at Silver Dollar Speedway was Lebanon, IN native Spencer Bayston. The 23-year-old leading contender for Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year ended up third aboard the CJB Motorsports, True Timber, Signing Day Sports #5.

“I knew my first time here would be tough and technical, but wow it was in a big way,” Bayston noted on the track. “I didn’t feel too good around the bottom, but it was so touchy up top, I biked so many times. I’m happy with our first outing here. This year is all about learning and experiencing these tracks. Excited to see what we can do tomorrow.”

Shane Golobic, of Fremont, CA, finished fourth-from-eighth to secure high point honors and lock-in for tomorrow’s $25,000-to-win Gold Cup finale. The usual pilot of the NOS Energy Drink #17W, Golobic hopped in the Kevin Kozlowski-owned, Paul Silva-wrenched #57W and nearly completed a perfect night in Chico.

Rounding out the top-10 on Friday was non-wing ace Ryan Bernal in the fifth spot, Lincoln, CA’s Blake Carrick in sixth, David Gravel in seventh-from-22nd with the KSE Hard Charger Award, Max Mittry in eighth during his World of Outlaws debut, Australian Kerry Madsen in ninth, and Hanford, CA’s DJ Netto in tenth.

NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (30 Laps) – 1. 41-Carson Macedo [1][$10,000]; 2. 1A-Jacob Allen [7][$6,000]; 3. 5-Spencer Bayston [4][$3,500]; 4. 57W-Shane Golobic [8][$2,800]; 5. 22-Ryan Bernal [10][$2,500]; 6. 38B-Blake Carrick [3][$2,300]; 7. 2-David Gravel [22][$2,200]; 8. 2XM-Max Mittry [2][$2,100]; 9. 83JR-Kerry Madsen [9][$2,050]; 10. 88N-DJ Netto [17][$2,000]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz [13][$1,600]; 12. 24-Chase Johnson [11][$1,400]; 13. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [6][$1,200]; 14. 11K-Kraig Kinser [16][$1,100]; 15. 7S-Robbie Price [5][$1,050]; 16. 88-Austin McCarl [12][$1,000]; 17. 42X-Tim Kaeding [14][$1,000]; 18. 5B-Colby Copeland [15][$1,000]; 19. 45-Jake Morgan [19][$1,000]; 20. 2S-Jayce Steinberg [24][$1,000]; 21. 19T-Tucker LaCaze [20][$1,000]; 22. 21M-Michael Ing [23][$1,000]; 23. 51-Shane Hopkins [18][$1,000]; 24. 21S-Jesse Schlotfeldt [21][$1,000]. Lap Leaders: Carson Macedo 1-15, 19-30; Jacob Allen 16-18. KSE Hard Charger Award: 2-David Gravel[+15]

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (September 9, 2022) – Progressive American Flat Track announced today the expansion of the final two race weekends of the season to conclude the 2022 campaign in epic double-doubleheader fashion.

The inaugural Drag Specialties Cedar Lake Short Track will feature a unique twist on the doubleheader format, fitting two full points- and purse-paying Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle Main Events into a single evening on Saturday, September 24 at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wisconsin.

Following the conclusion of Opening Ceremonies, Mission SuperTwins will kick off the Main Event program with Round 15 of the premier-class championship. Later that evening, the Mission SuperTwins competitors will return to the track, joined by the participating Mission Production Twins Challenge entrants, to cap off the day’s activities with Round 16.

Flag-to-flag coverage of both Mission SuperTwins Main Events will feature in the one-hour FS1 broadcast of the Cedar Lake Short Track scheduled to premiere on Sunday, October 2, at 10:30 a.m. ET/7:30 a.m. PT.

The Mission Volusia Half-Mile Finale presented by Daytona Dodge at Volusia Speedway Park in Barberville, Florida, will then conclude the 2022 season with a conventional two-day doubleheader, featuring Round 17 on Friday, October 14, and Round 18 on Saturday, October 15. The weekend will also represent the final two-thirds of the Progressive Triple Crown, which will pay the Mission SuperTwins rider who collects the most combined points across the Progressive Laconia Short Track and twin finale a $25,000 prize.

The additions to the year-end slate further raise the stakes for what was already destined to be a thrilling conclusion to a historic season. With four Mission SuperTwins title fighters representing two different manufacturers separated by just 29 points and 100 points still up for grabs, this year’s championship battle remains far too close to predict.

Visit https://store.americanflattrack.com/ebooking/ticket/view/id/3901/ to reserve your tickets for the Drag Specialties Cedar Lake Short Track.

Visit https://store.americanflattrack.com/ebooking/ticket/view/id/3697/ to reserve your tickets for the Mission Volusia Half-Mile Finale presented by Daytona Dodge. Tickets for Friday, October 14 on sale soon.

For more information on Progressive AFT visit https://www.americanflattrack.com. To score the latest gear for the Progressive American Flat Track fan, visit our official merchandise store at https://store.americanflattrack.com.

The Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car Series will make its debut at Devil’s Bowl Speedway for a doubleheader season finale, Oct. 28-29

MESQUITE, TX (Sept. 9, 2022) – The inaugural championship for the Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car Series presented by Low-E Insulation will conclude where the World of Outlaws began – Devil’s Bowl Speedway.

The Texas Non-Wing Nationals will be a two-day event at the historic Texas track, Friday-Saturday, Oct. 28-29, paying $5,000-to-win on Friday, and $10,000-to-win on Saturday, along with rewarding $20,000 to the first Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Car champion.

It’ll also mark the Series’ first trip to Texas.

“I’m excited we’re able to bring such a historic moment for this new series to a historic track like Devil’s Bowl Speedway,” said Casey Shuman, Xtreme Outlaw Series director. “We’ve had a great debut year with exceptional races at each event. The Texas Non-Wing Nationals is a great opportunity to give fans an epic championship finale.”

The Xtreme Outlaws Sprint Cars debuted at Volusia Speedway Park in February with CJ Leary and Thomas Meseraull picking up the first two victories. Since then, there have been five different winners in six events, with a doubleheader in Illinois up next – Friday, Sept. 9, at Jacksonville Speedway, and Saturday, Sept. 10, at Spoon River Speedway.

A doubleheader at Atomic Speedway, Oct. 7-8, will set the stage for the championship finale at Devil’s Bowl. Currently, Shane Cockrum holds the top stop, but Alex Bright and Matt Westfall are still less than 70 points back.

The World of Outlaws ran its inaugural race at Devil’s Bowl in 1978 with Non-wing Sprint Cars, bringing the event back to its original “Outlaw” roots.

“This will be a special event for the track and Sprint Car fans with the Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Cars bringing Outlaw Non-wing racing back to the speedway,” said Lanny Ross Edwards, Devil’s Bowl Speedway promoter. “On top of that, we’re thrilled to host the Series’ historic championship finale.”

Friday night’s Feature will be 25 laps and Saturday’s Feature will be 30 laps around the half-mile track, with the championship celebration to follow. Also, the Xtreme Outlaw Sprint Cars will welcome the ASCS Elite Non-Wing Sprint Cars to the field.

Brad Sweet and Ryan Timms Lock-In for Saturday’s Finale at Silver Dollar

CHICO, CA – September 8, 2022 – The Gold Cup Race of Champions is back, and back in a big way.

On Thursday, Silver Dollar Speedway kicked off the 68th edition of the iconic event with new promoters bringing back old traditions and injecting a much-needed boost as they return to Crown Jewel status with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series.

The first of two preliminary programs delivered all you could ask for in a thrilling 30-lap Feature. Three different drivers combined to offer five official lead changes throughout a breathtaking race on the choppy, tricky, and treacherous Chico, CA 1/4-mile.

Ultimately, Kyle Larson – the “L” in SLC Promotions at Silver Dollar – chalked up the win in his one and only night at Gold Cup this week. He won’t be back for Saturday’s finale with NASCAR obligations taking precedent, but he had the time for Thursday’s opener and made the most of it; returning to Victory Lane at the same place where his first-career World of Outlaws win came in 2011.

Leading the final six laps, the 30-year-old dubbed “Yung Money” for his stunning ability to shine on the biggest stages as a teenager was forced to fight off the new kid on the block, who is quite frankly now deserving of that title himself. At 16 years old, Ryan Timms, of Oklahoma City, OK, has become arguably the hottest topic in Sprint Car Racing this year.  He nearly won his second-ever World of Outlaws race in August, and he almost beat Kyle Larson on Thursday at his own game.

The duo exchanged the lead several times through the middle stages, but it was the final restart on Lap 24 that decided it all. Timms had survived an attack before, but this time Larson chucked the Kevin Kozlwoski-owned #57 through turns one and two to clear the Randy Timms-owned #5T and drove off to a 1.983-second margin of victory.

“I knew my only opportunity was going to come if Ryan didn’t get a great launch on the restart,” Larson admitted. “I knew that I would have to slide across quicker that second time, and thankfully it stuck. This place was awesome tonight, it was treacherous. It made sliders really sketchy and you’d be off the throttle sliding across super fast. It felt great when I hit it right, but it was tricky every single corner.”

“He is really, really good,” Larson added on Timms. “I know most of these young kids nowadays can rip a cushion like that. I saw him on the front row of the lineup and figured he would be a tough guy to beat tonight. It was crazy coming through the pack. I think if he hit those restarts a little better it was his to win.”

A second-place finish gives Ryan Timms already two runner-up finishes in World of Outlaws competition through three weeks against The Greatest Show on Dirt. He’s locked in for Saturday’s $25,000-to-win finale of the Gold Cup Race of Champions, where a victory would make him the youngest winner in the Series’ storied 45-year history.

“I really thought when he slid me and I got around him that it was my break,” Timms said on the initial restart he beat Larson. “It seemed like it was just better to be in second than first in some way tonight, so you could attack differently. It stings, but losing to him isn’t the worst thing in the world. It’s a lot better than I expected, really.”

Closing out the podium after a ferocious drive from 11th to third was James McFadden in the Roth Motorsports #83. The Australian will find himself on the front row of a Gold Cup Heat Race on Saturday with hopes of a win locking him into the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash.

“Even by yourself you had your hands full tonight, “McFadden said on the track. “It was so treacherous up there. I wish we didn’t get those restarts because I felt like I was way better all bunched up in traffic. We sucked early and dug ourselves a hole, but these guys worked really hard and got this Roth #83 back where it belongs.”

Brad Sweet, who finished fourth and collected 386 points on the night, is the unofficial high point man with brother-in-law Kyle Larson (395) not returned for Saturday. “The Big Cat” will have a chance at the pole position on Saturday as he continues to pursue his first-career title at the Gold Cup.

Kalib Henry, in his sixth-ever World of Outlaws Feature, led a lap while mixing it up with Timms and Larson after he started on the pole position. The Citrus Heights, CA native ended up in fifth-place to put his #17M in a good position ahead of Saturday’s finale.

Rounding out the top-10 on Thursday was Sheldon Haudenschild in sixth from 16th, Andy Forsberg in the seventh spot, Sean Becker with a KSE Hard Charger runs from 24th to eighth, Mitchell Faccinto with another ninth-place effort, and Tanner Carrick in the 10th position.

NOS Energy Drink Feature Results (30 Laps) – 1. 57-Kyle Larson [8][$10,000]; 2. 5T-Ryan Timms [2][$6,000]; 3. 83-James McFadden [11][$3,500]; 4. 49-Brad Sweet [7][$2,800]; 5. 17M-Kalib Henry [1][$2,500]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild [16][$2,300]; 7. 92-Andy Forsberg [3][$2,200]; 8. 83V-Sean Becker [24][$2,100]; 9. 21-Mitchell Faccinto [14][$2,050]; 10. 83T-Tanner Carrick [9][$2,000]; 11. 29-Willie Croft [19][$1,600]; 12. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [13][$1,400]; 13. 14-Corey Day [17][$1,200]; 14. 1S-Logan Schuchart [5][$1,100]; 15. 53-Jessie Attard [21][$1,050]; 16. 2K-Kaleb Montgomery [18][$1,000]; 17. 33-Dylan Bloomfield [6][$1,000]; 18. 12J-John Clark [22][$1,000]; 19. 20G-Noah Gass [15][$1,000]; 20. 5V-Landon Brooks [10][$1,000]; 21. 55D-Dawson Hammes [23][$1,000]; 22. 18T-Tanner Holmes [4][$1,000]; 23. 19-Colby Thornhill [20][$1,000]; 24. 2X-Justin Sanders [12][$1,000]. Lap Leaders: Ryan Timms 1-8, 10-13, 18-24; Kalib Henry 9; Kyle Larson 14-17, 25-30. KSE Hard Charger Award: 83V-Sean Becker[+16]

ROSSBURG, OH– September 9, 2022 – Two drivers took their first step toward conquering “The World” Thursday night at Eldora Speedway. 

After 107 cars entered night one of the 52nd World 100, Jonathan Davenport and Hudson O’Neal stood tall earning $12,000 preliminary Feature victories and gained valuable momentum toward Saturday’s main event. 

GROUP A Preliminary Feature- Jonathan Davenport

One night after finishing fourth in the Dirt Late Model Dream, Jonathan Davenport wasted no time returning to Eldora Speedway’s iconic Victory Lane. 

The Blairsville, GA driver stormed past Jimmy Owens on Lap 6 of Thursday’s Group A Feature to claim the $12,000 prize on night one of the 52nd World 100. 

The four-time World 100 winner said his team made changes throughout the day, helping his car return to its winning form. 

“I think we’re one adjustment away from being perfect,” Davenport said. “We changed quite a few things today. We just couldn’t get a good balance on it. 

“I wish the racetrack was like that last night. We might have been right back up here. It’s a phenomenal job, by my guys, Jason, Vinny, and Tyler. We all put our heads together and constantly changed on this thing. We changed things on the car, and it messed the balance up a bit, and I think we got it back there pretty good.”

Owens, a two-time World 100 winner, finished second after leading the race’s first five laps. 

The Newport, TN driver stated he was happy with his car but needed to make a few more adjustments to stay with Davenport.

“I was just discussing with my guys about how we can get a little more stable in the corners,” Owens said. “I felt like we were good, but the 49 has been phenomenal all year. Another great year for those guys. Hats off to them. 

“We got some work to do, and maybe we can make some improvements for the big race.”

Defending World 100 winner Brandon Overton finished third, while Chris Madden and Johnny Scott rounded out the top five. 

Group B Preliminary Feature- Hudson O’Neal

Hudson O’Neal had one goal in his World 100 preliminary Feature—get in clean air quick. 

The Martinsville, IN driver, accomplished that goal immediately, thundering around Shane Clanton in Turn 2 to take the lead. 

O’Neal dominated the Group B Feature at Eldora to earn the $12,000 triumph.

“I got a really good start there, and I knew I just needed to get the lead there and get to clean air as fast as I could,” O’Neal said. “The first [Feature] went caution-free, so I figured the second one would, too.

“The air plays such a big factor here. I swear it felt like I slowed down two seconds when I caught lap traffic.”

Clanton, from Zebulon, GA, crossed the line second after winning a Heat Race earlier in the night. 

The “Georgia Bulldog” stated he’s optimistic about the rest of the weekend.  

“Our car was good, we had a good starting spot, and I hope we can do it again tomorrow,” Clanton said. “This Capital Race Car is pretty good right now. Hopefully, we can just keep it up.”

Chris Ferguson rounded out the podium one night after making an early exit in the Dirt Late Model Dream. 

The Mount Holly, NC driver was forced to switch to a backup car and stated he was thrilled with how well the car ran.

“I just want to give a special thanks to my crew for all the hard work,” Ferguson said. “The car was really good. I could just kind of hang with Shane and Hudson but couldn’t get momentum going like we needed to. 

“I’m tickled to death; this is the first time I’ve raced this car here since 2018.”

Tim McCreadie finished fourth, and Garrett Smith rounded out the top five. 

UP NEXT: The DIRTcar Late Models return to Eldora Speedway on Friday, Sept. 9, for night two of the 52nd World 100, as drivers will battle in twin 25-lap split-field Features paying $12,000-to-win. 

TICKETS: https://bit.ly/3epLMIw

Follow live coverage and updates of everything at Eldora Speedway on all of DIRTcar’s social media channels and DIRTcar.com. 

A Feature 1 (25 Laps): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[3]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[2]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[5]; 4. 44-Chris Madden[4]; 5. 1ST-Johnny Scott[1]; 6. 1-Brandon Sheppard[8]; 7. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 8. 157-Mike Marlar[7]; 9. 11H-Spencer Hughes[9]; 10. 8-Kyle Strickler[23]; 11. 1T-Tyler Erb[10]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[16]; 13. 58-Garrett Alberson[14]; 14. 23-John Blankenship[12]; 15. 22S-Gregg Satterlee[15]; 16. 88-Trent Ivey[11]; 17. 42H-Tyler Carpenter[19]; 18. 83F-Jensen Ford[17]; 19. 25F-Jason Feger[20]; 20. 5-Mark Whitener[18]; 21. 31K-Kye Blight[13]; 22. 21K-Dakotah Knuckles[24]; 23. 99-Camaron Marlar[22]; 24. 10-Joseph Joiner[21]

A Feature 2 (25 Laps): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[2]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 3. 22-Chris Ferguson[4]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[3]; 5. 10S-Garrett Smith[8]; 6. 9-Devin Moran[9]; 7. 7-Ricky Weiss[6]; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce[10]; 9. 9Z-Mason Zeigler[19]; 10. 19M-Wil Herrington[7]; 11. 11R-Josh Rice[15]; 12. 2S-Stormy Scott[11]; 13. 46-Earl Pearson Jr[18]; 14. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 15. 18-Shannon Babb[14]; 16. 97-Michael Chilton[12]; 17. 17-Zack Dohm[13]; 18. 16-Tyler Bruening[23]; 19. 18C-Chase Junghans[17]; 20. 21-Billy Moyer Sr[21]; 21. 23H-Cory Hedgecock[16]; 22. 11K-Austin Kirkpatrick[24]; 23. C9-Steve Casebolt[22]; 24. 57-Zack Mitchell[20]

ROSSBURG, OH– September 8, 2022 – Late Model drivers across the country will see a significant change in 2023.

On Thursday afternoon at Eldora Speedway, Hoosier Racing Tire announced a new Dirt Late Model tire starting next season. The tire will be used in all Super Dirt Late Model racing, including the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series and DIRTcar Late Model divisions.

World Racing Group CEO Brian Carter was among the officials there at the announcement. He stated he thinks the change will be a positive one for Late Model racing going forward.

“It’s been in the works for quite a while now,” Carter said. “It’s a collaboration between all of the sanctioning bodies and Hoosier and the racetracks to try and consolidate the supply chain to help Late Model racing be sustainable for a long time.

“It should make it simpler for the teams, a lot less tires to carry, and should help the local racers, too. It’s a great step forward for Late Model racing.”

Current World of Outlaws CASE Late Models points leader Dennis Erb Jr. agreed with Carter on the consolidation.

“I think it’s a good idea to get them down to a few compounds and make it easier to go all different places and not have to worry about carrying a bunch of different tires and getting tires ready,” Erb said. “Hopefully, that will make things a little bit easier.”

Four-time defending DIRTcar Summer Nationals champion Bobby Pierce said it saves him time trying to figure out what tires he needs to run, but knows there will be some adjusting.

“It’s very nice to have everybody on the same exact rule,” Pierce said. “That way, you go race wherever you want and not have to worry about the tire rule. That’s always something we have to figure out.”

World of Outlaws CASE Late Models Rookie of the Year contender Gordy Gundaker is also on board with cutting down the number of compounds. He stated that it helps the drivers who aren’t used to running different tires in different regions.

“It’s going to be great for everybody,” Gundaker said. “Now you can go race anywhere in the country and have the right tires. That’s one of the biggest reasons why we didn’t really travel a lot over the past couple of years because once we leave the Midwest, you have to get 1300s, 1350s, and 1425s. It’s a wide range, and it’s tough for a guy like me to justify going for a weekend and buying all those tires.

“Them coming together and unifying the rule, I think, is great for all of us.”

World of Outlaws CASE Late Model drivers will get their first crack at the new tire when the Series opens its season in January at Volusia Speedway Park for the Sunshine Nationals (Jan. 18-21).