Four Cadillac DPi entries to tackle the challenging road course for first time since 2019

DETROIT (June 29, 2022) – Cadillac Racing is looking forward to returning to Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for the first time since 2019 to compete July 3 in the Chevrolet Grand Prix. NBC will telecast the 2-hour, 40-minute race live at 3 p.m. ET. Four Cadillac Racing DPi entries will race on the fast 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course, with practice sessions scheduled for July 1 — Canada Day — and qualifications July 2.

Renger van der Zande, co-driver with Sebastien Bourdais of the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R, was runner-up in a Cadillac DPi in 2018 at the racetrack near Toronto that opened in 1961. The 2020 and ’21 races were not contested because of the COVID-19 pandemic. “It’s one of the most amazing tracks in North America. Racing is not about bravery, but here in North America some of those tracks it is about bravery and this one is,” said van der Zande, who co-drove with Bourdais to third place June 26 in the six-hour race on the 3.4-mile, 11-turn Watkins Glen International road course.

Chevrolet GP links * Media resource guide: Story ideas, notes, track statistics, driver profiles and more. * 2022 media guide: Historical statistics, tech transfer to production cars, why we race and more. * Course map

Reigning IMSA DPi champion Pipo Derani raced to a fourth-place finish in 2019 in his lone DPi outing at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park. “It’s a track that’s very fast. Shorter than Watkins Glen, but for a driver it’s a pleasure to drive it. It’s one that requires big commitment, so I’m looking forward to heading back to that track, which we haven’t been to in a few years,” said Derani, who will share driving duties with Olivier Pla in the No 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R. “I think it produces good racing, especially with traffic. It’s very narrow and fast and decisions need to be made within a split second. Apparently, there are a few parts of the track that have been resurfaced, so it will be even quicker than it was before.” The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R won the 2017 race at CTMP in the first year of the prototype class. Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn will drive the No 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R, which is third in the DPi championship standings with three IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races remaining. Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook will drive the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R. In addition to the race airing air live on NBC, Peacock will stream flag-to-flag coverage in the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions at IMSA.com, with the race also broadcast on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.Cadillac DPi roster for Chevrolet Grand PrixNo. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R (Cadillac Racing)Renger van der Zande, Sebastien BourdaisVan der Zande and Bourdais co-drove the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R to the victory on the Belle Isle street circuit June 4 and the streets of Long Beach on April 9 – starting from the pole both times. … Belle Isle was the 17th IMSA victory for van der Zande and ninth for Bourdais. … Bourdais set the qualifying lap record time in both events. He also set the lap record time in earning the pole for the March 19 Twelve Hours of Sebring and for the May 15 Grand Prix at Mid-Ohio. … Bourdais is a four-time INDYCAR champion. … Bourdais and van der Zande competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier this month. … They co-drove to third place June 26 in the six-hour race at Watkins Glen International.Car chief-Phil BinksLead engineer-John HennekRace strategist-Peter BaronNo. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R (Cadillac Racing)Earl Bamber, Alex LynnFirst-year entry in expanded Cadillac Racing DPi program. … Bamber and Lynn co-drove to a runner-up finish on the streets of Long Beach on April 9 after starting second. They placed third June 4 on the Belle Isle street circuit… They, along with Neel Jani, co-drove to victory March 19 in the Twelve Hours of Sebring. … Bamber salutes his home country with a silver fern design on the sides of his helmet — a quasi-national emblem used for various official New Zealand symbols. … Lynn competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier this month.Car chief-Jamie CoatesLead engineer-Danielle ShephardRace strategist-Michael Harvey

No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R (Action Express Racing)Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla, Mike ConwayPla made his debut in the No. 31 Cadillac on June 4 at Detroit. … Derani and Tristan Nunez co-drove to third place on the Laguna Seca road course after starting sixth. They followed with a third-place finish May 15 at Mid-Ohio. … Derani and Nunez, joined by Mike Conway, started second and finished third in the March 19 Twelve Hours of Sebring. … The three-driver team started seventh and finished fourth in the Rolex 24 At Daytona to open the season. … Derani and Felipe Nasr were the 2021 IMSA DPi Driver Champions and Whelen Engineering/Action Express Racing was the Team Champion. … Derani and Pla were teammates for the second consecutive year for the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier this month.Car chief-Bill KeulerTechnical director/lead engineer-Iain WattRace strategist-Tim KeeneNo. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R (JDC-Miller MotorSports)Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook, Loic DuvalVautier and Westbrook co-drove to third place on the streets of Long Beach on April 9 after starting fifth. Vautier and Westbrook, joined by Loic Duval, drove to second place in the March 19 Twelve Hours of Sebring and opened the ’22 season by starting second and finishing third at the Rolex 24 At Daytona. … Westbrook is a London-trained chef. … Vautier and Westbrook competed in the 24 Hours of Le Mans earlier this month, with Westbrook earning a podium finish.Car chief-Josh KerriganLead engineer-Rick CameronRace strategist-John Church

Cadillac Racing DPi-V.R Canadian Tire Motorsports Park results 2021-2017 2021: No race2020: No race2019: Fourth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr          Sixth (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor         Eighth (No. 84 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start eighth – Stephen Simpson, Simon Trummer         Ninth (No. 85 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start ninth – Tristan Vautier, Misha Goikhberg         11th (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa         32nd (No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 10th – Will Owen, Victor Franzoni2018: Second (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor          Third (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 11th – Eric Curran, Felipe Nasr          Fourth (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 10th — Felipe Albuquerque, Christian Fittipaldi2017: First (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start eighth – Dane Cameron, Eric Curran         Sixth (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Christian Fittipaldi, Joao Barbosa         Seventh (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Ricky Taylor, Jordan Taylor How high will it go? A Cadillac Escalade-V – VIN #001 – will be auctioned July 1 at Barrett-Jackson in Las Vegas, with 100% of the hammer price to benefit the Detroit chapter of Pensole Lewis College of Business and Design, an HBCU. The 2023 Escalade-V — the industry’s most powerful full-size SUV that goes on sale late this summer – expands the V-Series lineup. Now in its fourth generation, Cadillac’s V-Series represents ultimate performance, the epitome of Cadillac’s engineering capability, with unrivaled sophistication and comfort for everyday driving. In adding Escalade-V to the lineup, the V-Series family continues to expand, while consistently combining power, luxury, thoughtful technology and athletic refinement for the discerning enthusiast.

The 2015 Series Champion continues his quest for the World of Outlaws Team Championship at River Cities Speedway

GRAND FORKS, ND– June 29, 2022 – Shane Clanton’s resume in dirt Late Model racing is long and distinguished. That’s why the Zebulon, GA driver, can seize any opportunity before him, even if it means changing plans mid-season.

Clanton triumphantly returned to the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series last month, hitting a stride in Series competition with four top fives and six top 10s—most recently finishing third at Jacksonville Speedway. 

As The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet power into River Cities Speedway on July 15, the “Georgia Bulldog” hopes to hold onto that momentum. He stated the most significant reason his team has taken a step forward is the work done before they get to the track. 

“I think we were prepared,” Clanton said. “We were ready to do it, and when we got here, we were gung-ho.”

The momentum in May and early June with the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models also helped him score a $40,000 victory at Belleville Speedway’s 1/4-mile track. It was a massive win for Clanton’s team, especially in the current economy. 

“All of us need a lot of money to go up and down the road, so any kind of win that you get, especially a big one, it helps out tremendously,” Clanton said. “The morale is up, [Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55] hurt us a little bit, but hopefully, we can translate what we did a couple of weeks ago.”

Like many teams in 2022, Skyline Motorsports deals with changes, including new crew members.

Wyatt Eichelberger joined Clanton as his crew chief after DIRTcar Nationals in February—bringing more national tour experience to the team. He chased the World of Outlaws CASE late Models tour with 2021 Rookie of the Year Tyler Bruening, Clanton’s teammate. 

The 2015 Series champion stated Eichelberger’s importance to his team since making the switch has been invaluable.

“Wyatt has been phenomenal,” Clanton said. “He stepped up to the plate when I needed a crew chief, and he’s become one. He wanted a bigger role in the team, and he’s definitely stepped up to the plate. If it wasn’t for him, I don’t know where I’d be right now.”

When traveling to a World of Outlaws race, you’ll see not only Shane Clanton hanging around the pit area. Shane’s wife Michelle and their two kids are also at the track supporting him. His family is one of the reasons he decided to return to the Series, especially after seeing what’s on the schedule once Labor Day weekend arrives. 

“I looked at the schedule, and I could be home eight more weeks than what I was over there,” Clanton said. “I got two little ones and a wife that needs me sometimes to be at home. 

“Traveling is a big deal, and I’ve done this a long time, and you do get tired of the road. So, as much as I can stay home, the better off I’ll be.”

Clanton finds himself in a unique situation as the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models hit their summer swing in the Upper Midwest. While he’s too far behind to catch Dennis Erb Jr. for the driver’s title, he still has a chance to win the team points for Skyline Motorsports.

With Clanton taking over for Bruening, they’ve essentially shared duties as the full-time team for Skyline Motorsports, which is currently third in team points—170 points behind Erb. 

“We definitely want to get more top fives and the championship is still available for the car owner,” Clanton said. “I’m doing all I can. I know Dennis [Erb] beat us pretty bad [Saturday] night, but all he has to have is two bad runs, and we’re back in it. 

“I know we’re going to some good tracks that I normally run good at up in Grand Forks [River Cities Speedway] and them places, so we’re looking forward to it.”

Clanton hopes to pad his resume when the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models return to River Cities Speedway on Friday, July 15—a track he’s found success at, winning in 2017.  It’s another place the “Georgia Bulldog” can continue his stride toward a team championship for Skyline Motorsports. 

Following the race at River Cities, the World of Outlaws will venture to I-94 Sure Step Speedway on Saturday, July 16, and then Red Cedar Speedway on July 17. For tickets to both, click here.

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

Points leader Pierce takes DNF, rookie Freeman posts career-best finish

SUMNER, IL – June 28, 2022 – In Red Hill Raceway’s return to racing for the first time in nearly 18 years Tuesday night, Tyler Erb made the most of his first DIRTcar Summer Nationals appearance in two seasons, dominating the evening for his fifth career Hell Tour victory.

On paper, the box scores show he led all 30 laps, green-to-checkered. But this was anything but a cakewalk victory for the 25-year-old from New Waverly, TX, as he held off a hungry field of multiple Summer Nationals champions behind him to collect the $5,000 check.

From the outside pole, Erb grabbed the lead on Lap 1 and began a wild chase with Summer Nationals points leader Bobby Pierce around the 3/8-mile. They reached lapped traffic only eight circuits in, creating an interesting obstacle for the leaders to navigate.

“I’d run hard, feel like we got a comfortable lead, and then hit lapped cars immediately – which kinda makes it hairy,” Erb said. “I’d try to wait, wait, then when I’d get to a lapped car, just pass them as fast as I can and not follow them for a lap or two.”

Erb defended through the halfway point with Pierce stalking closely behind him until Lap 16, when Pierce slowed coming out of Turn 4 and spun around; a small flame coming from under the hood. The reigning champion was pushed back to the pits, done for the night, scored in 13th-place.

That opened the door for four-time champion Brian Shirley to stake his claim for the lead, though he was largely unsuccessful. Over the final fourteen laps, Shirley gave Erb a few challenges for the top spot, but ultimately came up just one spot short.

“Randall [Edwards, crew chief] would show me a lead, then he’d close-up, show me a bit of a lead, then close-up,” Erb said. “With five-to-go, I swear I must’ve passed a lapped car or [Shirley] must’ve hit a hole, and he showed me a big lead, and the next lap I came by, he showed me [Shirley] was right on my butt.”

Shirley’s best chance came in the final laps, where Erb got held-up by a big pack of slower cars in multiple lanes right in front of him, slowing his pace enough to allow Shirley to close rapidly. Erb carefully navigated through them and even survived a last-ditch swipe at the lead out of Turn 4 by Shirley to hang on for the win.

“With five to go, the lapped cars were literally four-wide in front of me,” Erb said. “That was probably the sketchiest part of the whole deal. I just didn’t want to get tangled up with them.”

Summer Nationals rookie standout Payton Freeman came from eighth to finish third – a new personal best on the tour. Four-time champion Shannon Babb ran inside the top-five all night and came home fourth, while 2010 champion Jason Feger rounded out the top-five.

UP NEXT

The Summer Nationals Late Model action continues Wednesday night at Benton Speedway in Benton, MO – returning for the first time since 1997. If you can’t be at the track, watch every lap live on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature 30 Laps | 00:16:45.654

1. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 2. 3S-Brian Shirley[3]; 3. F1-Payton Freeman[8]; 4. 18-Shannon Babb[5]; 5. 25-Jason Feger[4]; 6. 15- Christian Hanger[9]; 7. 31AUS-Paul Stubber[12]; 8. 14G-Joe Godsey[7]; 9. 0-Deshawn Gingerich[18]; 10. 30-Mark Voigt[16]; 11. 17-Lee Williams[19]; 12. 23NZ-Mick Quin[14]; 13. 32-Bobby Pierce[1]; 14. 86-Kyle Beard[6]; 15. 15F-Richard Frost[11]; 16. 44X-Devin McLean[24]; 17. 26M-Brent McKinnon[10]; 18. 81J-Jack Riggs[13]; 19. 11K-Shannon Kuhn[21]; 20. 14R-Jeff Roth[22]; 21. 4D-Doug Tye[23]; 22. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[17]; 23. (DNS) 89-Ashton Winger; 24. (DNS) 44-Blaze Burwell

EIGHT IS GREAT: Hoffman Wins Eighth of Season at Red Hill Debut

Not only did Red Hill Raceway reopen its gates to the public for the first time in nearly 18 years Tuesday night, but it now has an honorable distinction of hosting two generations of UMP Modified stars on its front-stretch Victory Lane.

Nick Hoffman grew up watching father Darrell Hoffman race and win multiple times on the big 3/8-mile red dirt oval in the late 1990s through the early 2000s. Fast forward to 2022, and Nick himself now stands exactly where one of his racing heroes did with his trip to DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals Victory Lane for the eighth time in 10 races Tuesday night.

“A lot of times, he’d come over here and run, or we’d go down to Paducah and run a little bit,” Hoffman said, reminiscing on the days in the grandstands watching his father. “At this time, I would’ve been five, six, seven years old. I remember bits and pieces of this place.”

In short, Hoffman led all but one lap en route to his 64th career Summit Modified triumph. It was a dominating performance in which no driver challenged him once he got the lead throughout the 20-lap main event.

Several cautions were spread throughout the race, but Hoffman held strong out front by changing restart lanes.

“I restarted on the top almost every single time, except that last one where I moved out to the top to get a better run down the hill,” Hoffman said. “I just tried to change it up a little bit with it being a single-file restart; It makes it a little bit tougher being the leader.”

UP NEXT

The Summit Modified action continues Wednesday night at Benton Speedway in Benton, MO – the second track debut in two days for the Modifieds. If you can’t be at the track, watch every lap live on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature 20 Laps | 00:26:46.562

1. 2-Nick Hoffman[3]; 2. 8-Kyle Steffens[6]; 3. 37-Everett Bradham[4]; 4. 1S-Brian Shaw[10]; 5. 95X-Marty Lindeman[7]; 6. 55-justin Jones[15]; 7. 95-Ed Roley[1]; 8. 36-Kenny Wallace[9]; 9. 7-Willie Gammill[8]; 10. 69L-Josh Lemke[5]; 11. 66- Michael Fox[18]; 12. 77-Jim Shipman[20]; 13. K9-Will Krup[22]; 14. 81-Logan Mounce[14]; 15. 24L-Lacey Risley[21]; 16. 88- Bill Dugger[11]; 17. 130-Chase Allen[13]; 18. 79D-John DeMoss[12]; 19. 71-Rick Frasure[16]; 20. 92-Kenny Carmichael[2]; 21. 16C-John Clippinger[19]; 22. 71X-Dave Beck[17]; 23. 30-Mike Beatty[25]; 24. (DNS) 50-Tyler Weiss; 25. (DNS) 99D- Nathan Deisher

THOMAS MERRILL TO DRIVE SECOND CD RACING TRANS AM ENTRY

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (June 28, 2022) – Chris Dyson has good reason to be optimistic about his chances this weekend at Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin’s Road America racetrack. Not only is the reigning Trans Am by Pirelli Series champion the defending Road America TA race winner, Dyson also has a pair of IMSA American Le Mans Series race wins there (in 2003 and 2012) and in 2015 at the classic four-mile circuit piloted a Bentley Continental GT3 to victory in the Pirelli World Challenge. “It’s not just that I love racing at Road America because we’ve been successful there,” Dyson said. “It’s just a great driver’s track. It’s fast and very challenging in any car you drive there. And I’ve been coming to Elkhart since I was very young to watch my Dad race. It’s a place that really sparked my imagination. I’m excited every day I get to spend at Road America. And I know I’m not alone in that respect.” Dyson isn’t expecting a cakewalk at Road America – far from it. Coming off 1-2 sweeps at Lime Rock Park and the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, this weekend the CD Racing team will be facing probably the strongest opposition it has faced so far this season. This 28-car Trans Am field includes some additional potent entries in the headline TA class where Dyson competes in his #20 ALTWELL Ford Mustang. NASCAR veteran Paul Menard will be back in the second Franklin Road Apparel Camaro for the first time since winning at Charlotte in the second race of the season (the only time a CD Racing driver hasn’t stood at the top of the podium this year). Veteran racer Boris Said is entered in Pancho Weaver’s Dodge Challenger, which Kaz Grala put on the pole last weekend at Mid-Ohio. Grala is entered in a second Weaver Dodge. Weaver’s engines are well known for their big power, a quality that suits Road America’s hills and long straightaways.”This is going to be a great weekend for the TA category,” Dyson said. “As we showed last year, when a few more aces show up at Road America, the quality of the show goes up. This weekend we have some great cars and drivers out there to mix it up.” Thomas Merrill to Stand In For Masaood at Road America Matthew Brabham, who drove CD Racing’s #21 allgram Ford Mustang into the winner’s circle last weekend will be back at Mid-Ohio this weekend, driving for Andretti Autosport in the Indy Lights race. Substituting this weekend for regular driver Humaid Masaood (who has previous business commitments) is TA2-class standout Thomas Merrill, who will be doing double duty at Road America. Merrill, who is locked in a tight battle with Rafa Matos for the TA2 championship point lead, has won the past two races in that class. “In between winning the TA2 races at Lime Rock and Mid-Ohio, Thomas finished second in his class at the 24 Hours of Le Mans,” Dyson noted. “Our TA-class cars are a step up from the Mustang he drives in TA2, but Thomas is a very talented driver and I am certain he’ll be just as competitive in our car this weekend as he will be in his TA2 car. Some of the guys on our team have worked with Thomas in other series, and he impressed them with his talent and hard work. Also, big thanks to Mike Cope, Thomas’s TA2 car owner, for letting us put Thomas in the allgram Mustang this weekend.” “I’m grateful to Humaid and Chris for giving me this opportunity,” Merrill said. “CD Racing fields great cars and I look forward to doing my very best for the team.” Dyson to Drive in Road America NASCAR Xfinity Race Merrill won’t be the only driver doing double duty at Road America. Dyson is entered in the Henry 180 NASCAR Xfinity race, driving Emerling-Gase Motorsports’ #35 Concord American Flagpole Chevrolet Camaro. “I have to thank my good friend Andy Lally for recommending me to the team, which was looking for someone with road-racing credentials in big cars,” said Dyson, who in addition to his extensive Trans Am experience three years ago drove in the 2019 Mid-Ohio Xfinity race. “I was able to run in the top 10 until we got crashed out on a late-race restart. It was a good learning experience and since then I’ve had three more seasons of relevant Trans Am experience. Emerling-Gase Motorsports has a good car, and Brian Keselowski is a terrific crew chief. This is going to make for a very busy Saturday afternoon – our Trans Am race shortly after the Xfinity race ends – but I’m really looking forward to it.” Dyson is pleased to be bringing Concord American Flagpoles, whose livery is on CD Racing’s USAC sprint and Silver Crown cars, on board for the NASCAR race. “The whole Xfinity car is in Concord American Flagpole colors,” Dyson said. “It’s white with red and blue shooting stars. It’s particularly great to be able to show these colors on America’s birthday.” Video Coverage of Road America  The Road America NASCAR Xfinity race starts at 1:30 pm CT (2:30 ET) on Saturday, July 2. It will be broadcast on the USA network, with radio coverage on the Motor Racing Network (MRN).  The Road America TA race will be streamed live and free on the Trans Am Series by Pirelli YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/c/TheTransAmSeries) The 25-lap (100-mile) TA-class race takes the green flag Saturday, July 2 at 4:45 pm CT (5:45 pm ET). Modern Wellness with ALTWELL ALTWELL provides purposefully curated and flavored products to help improve your overall wellness, sleep, relaxation and balance. We know that can be a different experience for everyone, so we prioritize being able to serve the unique needs of our customers. We’re committed to helping you live each day with comfort and calm. That’s why all ALTWELL products are crafted with product quality and consumer satisfaction in mind. GYM WEED FEEL GOOD.  WORK OUT.  GYM WEED by ALTWELL. 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Team back at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park with C8.R for the first time DETROIT (June 28, 2022) – For the first time since 2019, Corvette Racing and the rest of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is back at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park for Sunday’s Chevrolet Grand Prix.

Absent from the team’s calendar since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2.459-mile, 10-turn road course just outside of Toronto will see the mid-engine Chevrolet Corvette C8.R for the first time. It will be the fourth generation of Corvette to compete at CTMP since the Corvette Racing program first raced there in 2000 with the Corvette C5-R. Since that time, the team has claimed 11 victories at the track – second-most among all venues behind only Sebring. Three of those came in Corvettes driven by Canadian and Corvette Racing legend Ron Fellows, who is co-owner of Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

CORVETTE RACING MEDIA INFORMATION Corvette Racing media information is updated and available ahead of this weekend’s Chevrolet Grand Prix. Materials include: · IMSA race advance and quotes· Corvette Racing CTMP stats and figures· Corvette Racing Fast Facts· Driver biographies

Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor are part of a six-car field in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO category, which is part of a 14-car grid in the overall GTD category. The pairing will look to rebound from a disappointing race in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen two days ago. The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Corvette C8.R finished sixth in the GTD PRO class and 11th among GTD category runners. Both drivers have victories to their credit at CTMP in Corvette racecars. Garcia won the GT Le Mans (GTLM) category in 2014, driving a Corvette C7.R with Jan Magnussen. Taylor was victorious the following year in a Corvette Daytona Prototype for Wayne Taylor Racing.  Garcia also is a former pole-winner at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (2016) and set the fastest GTLM race lap in 2015. The Chevrolet Grand Prix at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is scheduled for 3:05 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 3. The race will air live on NBC and stream live on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.comoutside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air on-track sessions beginning with Saturday morning’s practice at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I would have loved to go to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and raced the C8.R in full GTLM spec. That would have been really good to feel and see how the C8.R was around that track. We knew the C7.R was so good, and I believe this car would have been even better. This is always a track I’ve always loved. It’s always tight racing, and traffic is intense. Strategy is important with such a short lap time because it’s very fast. You need to be on top of things, play it smart and be ready to react to everything around you. It can go either way. But CTMP always brings a really good show and good racing. We’re looking forward to getting back there. It’s a track where I’ve done many, many laps in the past. I don’t think things will be way different. Coming from The Glen, I think we’ll be ready to get right into things at CTMP.”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Going to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park is something we’ve missed. Canada always has an amazing group of fans who are so passionate. The last time they saw Corvette Racing, it was with the C7.R. So they haven’t seen our new car, and we’re excited to show it off there. What we’ve seen so far with the C8.R is that it suits every type of racetrack. We saw last year at Watkins Glen how successful it was at a high-speed track, and that’s kind of what CTMP is. I think our car will suit the track well, and I know we bring an amazing amount of Corvette fans there. They’ll definitely love seeing it.”

2022 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO (After five of 11 Events)Driver Standings1. Mathieu Jaminet/Matt Campbell – 1,6712. Ben Barnicoat – 1,5733. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 1,5704. Alex Riberas/Ross Gunn – 1,4885. Cooper MacNeil – 1,396 Team Standings1. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 1,6712. No. 14 VasserSullivan – 1,5733. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 1,5704. No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 1,4885. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 1,396 Manufacturer Standings1. Porsche – 1,6712. Lexus – 1,6033. Chevrolet – 1,5804. Aston Martin – 1,5585. Mercedes-AMG – 1,504 CORVETTE RACING AT CTMP: By the Numbers• 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 24 years of racing: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette• 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at CTMP since 2000 – Corvette C5-R (2004), Corvette C6.R (2005-13) and Corvette C7.R (2016-2019). The Corvette C8.R will race at the track for the first time this week.• 7: Number of drivers who have won races at CTMP for Corvette Racing. Johnny O’Connell (six), Jan Magnussen (five), Oliver Gavin (four), Ron Fellows (three) and Olivier Beretta (two) each have multiple wins there with the team.• 7: Pole positions for Corvette Racing drivers at CTMP. Oliver Gavin leads with three with Antonio Garcia (2016) being the most recent.• 11: Class victories at Corvette Racing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park – all since 2001.• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001• 25: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen• 121: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 113 in North America and eight at Le Mans• 258: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999• 11,080.25: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its 20 previous trips to Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. That represents 4,506 laps• 344,740.36: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon and more than halfway back! Corvette Racing at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park (wins in bold)2000No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Andy Pilgrim – 2nd in GTS (Fellows pole, fastest race lap) 2001No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 1st in GTSNo. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 3rd in GTS 2002No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 1st in GTSNo. 4 Corvette C5-R: Andy Pilgrim/Kelly Collins – 2nd in GTS (Pilgrim fastest race lap) 2003No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 1st in GTSNo. 4 Corvette C5-R: Oliver Gavin/Kelly Collins – 7th in GTS (Gavin pole) 2004No. 3 Corvette C5-R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GTSNo. 4 Corvette C5-R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GTS (Gavin pole, fastest race lap) 2005No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 2nd in GT1No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 1st in GT1 2006No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Johnny O’Connell – 4th in GT1No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 2007No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 1st in GT1No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 (Gavin pole, fastest race lap)No. 33 Corvette C6.R: Ron Fellows/Andy Pilgrim – 3rd in GT1 2008No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Johnny O’Connell/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT1 (O’Connell pole)No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 2nd in GT1 (Beretta fastest race lap) 2009No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Johnny O’Connell – 1st in GT2No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Oliver Gavin – 3rd in GT2 2010No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Johnny O’Connell – 5th in GT2No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 4th in GT2 2011No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Olivier Beretta/Tommy Milner – 6th in GTNo. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GT 2012No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GT (Magnussen pole)No. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 10th in GT 2013No. 3 Corvette C6.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTNo. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 1st in GT 2014No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 1st in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 7th in GTLM 2015No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM (Garcia fastest race lap)No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM 2016No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 3rd in GTLM (Garcia pole)No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 2nd in GTLM 2017No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 4th in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 8th in GTLM 2018No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 2nd in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 3rd in GTLM 2019No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Jan Magnussen/Antonio Garcia – 7th in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Marcel Fässler – 8th in GTLM

Inside Line Promotions – ALGER, Wash. (June 28, 2022) – Dominic Scelzi enjoyed another successful trip to the Northwest last week when he garnered a podium during the 50^th annual Jim Raper Memorial Dirt Cup at Skagit Speedway. 

Scelzi, who captured the event title the previous year, kicked off the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series event last Thursday by setting quick time during qualifying out of the 43 drivers. He then advanced from eighth to fifth place in a heat race to rank second in points. A 16-car inversion lined Scelzi up on the inside of the eighth row in the main event. 

“The only time we struggled all weekend was the Thursday main event,” he said. “We never were able to get rolling. There were two open reds and a bunch of cautions. We’d go green and jump up top and someone would jump the cushion and we’d have to slow up. We’d dive down low and someone would slow down to the hit the bottom. We never got in a rhythm and didn’t get to put a bunch of laps together. It was unfortunate we didn’t have a better night to capitalize on our quick time, but at the end of the night we were tied for fifth in points.”

Scelzi placed 12^th for only his seventh time of being outside the top 10 all season. 

The team kicked off Friday’s action by timing in 16^th quick in qualifying. 

“We went out super late, but we recovered by going 16^th quick and then we went fifth to second in the heat race,” Scelzi said. “That started us sixth in the feature and we got up there quickly to battle for the lead. I think we passed Trey (Starks) for the lead three times. The first time we got by him the yellow came out. The second time we got by him he got us back. The third time a yellow came out again. I couldn’t seem to stay past him, but at the end of the day we were right there and ran second, which gave us good points going into Saturday.”

Scelzi’s runner-up result was his 18^th top five of the season. He ranked third in overall points following the two preliminary nights. That locked him into the pole shuffle on Saturday. Scelzi won twice to advance into the final. 

“In the pole shuffle I beat (Justin) Sanders on the outside and was able to get down to the bottom,” he said. “With Tyler (Courtney) I did the same thing in the final round, but I didn’t have enough room to chop him into turn one. He got back underneath me to win the pole shuffle. I felt it was an advantage to start up there on the outside in the feature. He beat me to the flagstand, but I was able to rip by him in turns one and two. He slid me in turns three and four, but I got around him. If we wanted to win it we had to lead the first lap. With the way the track was, being so top dominant, you had to lead right away.”

Scelzi led the first 24 laps of the 50-lap main event, earning him $24,000 in bonus money with $1,000 for each lap led.

“We went unchallenged for 24 laps,” he said. “We got to traffic and it was really tough. Tyler slid me and I tried to turn down the hill. We drag raced him into turn three and I wasn’t able to clear him. I followed him around for about 10 laps and slid him into turns three and four. As I slid him the yellow flag was coming out for the planned stoppage. For the amount of traffic we were in I saw our chances sort of slip away with that red, but that was part of it. For the last 15 laps I don’t feel we got better or worse, but I was starting to struggle getting through the hole in turn four. It allowed Kerry (Madsen) to slide me and I wasn’t able to get back by him so we ended up third.

“We came away with a $42,000 payday and led 24 laps and we were in contention to win the Dirt Cup again. As disappointing as it was to leave without the win and the big check, we showed our speed all weekend. I’m already looking forward to next year. I want to take the crown home.”

Scelzi will take this weekend off before returning to action on July 8 at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, Calif., and July 9 at Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif., with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series. 

QUICK RESULTS –

June 23 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 1; Heat race: 5 (8); Feature: 12 (15).

June 24 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – Qualifying: 16; Heat race: 2 (5); Feature: 2 (6).

June 25 – Skagit Speedway in Alger, Wash. – King of the Hill: 2; Feature: 3 (2).

SEASON STATS –

29 races, 5 wins, 19 top fives, 22 top 10s, 26 top 15s, 26 top 20s

UP NEXT – 

July 8 at Keller Auto Speedway in Hanford, Calif., and July 9 at Petaluma Speedway in Petaluma, Calif., with the King of the West-NARC Fujitsu Series

MEDIA LINKS –

Website: http://www.GaryScelziMotorsports.com 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/DominicScelzi41 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Scelzi41 

SPONSOR SPOTLIGHT – Red Line Oil 

Red Line Synthetic Oil provides technical support and more than 100 quality products, including motor oils, gear oils, assembly lubes, fuel additives and WaterWetter to the automotive, motorcycle, marine and industrial markets. For more information, visit http://www.RedLineOil.com. 

“Red Line Oil is hands down the best oil in the racing industry,” Scelzi said. “They have supported my family for as long as I can remember and have been a big part of my career.”

Scelzi would like to thank Red Rose Transportation, Inc., Scelzi Enterprises, Whipple Superchargers, System 1, Fuel Delivery Services, Inc., Red Line Oil, FK Rod Ends, Schoenfeld Headers, Roth Motorsports, K&N Filters, Brown & Miller Racing Solutions, NAPA Auto Parts, Todd Jorgensen, Sparco, Allstar Performance, Meridian Steel, Auto Meter, Kenny’s Components and Worldwide Bearings for their continued support.

INSIDE LINE PROMOTIONS –

Inside Line Promotions specializes in affordable public relations and media management for motor sports drivers, teams, sponsors, tracks, series, events, organizations and manufacturers. ILP Founder Shawn Miller leverages professional journalism with new media technologies and social networking to improve your exposure and the return on investment for your sponsors. 

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (June 28, 2022) – Progressive American Flat is destined to deliver fireworks at the Mission New York Short Track presented by Mad Max Indian Motorcycle as the series arrives at Weedsport Speedway in Weedsport, New York, for an Independence Day weekend showdown on Saturday, July 2. It’s been an explosive season to date in the Mission SuperTwins presented by S&S Cycle classwith renewed parity and unpredictability. Still less than halfway through the campaign, the premier class has already witnessed five different winners across two manufacturers and three teams, while nine different riders and four different makes have been represented on the podium. As much as some things may have changed, reigning champion Jared Mees (No. 1 Indian Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750) remains atop the pecking order, holding both the points lead and bragging rights as the only rider to score more than one win this season. Mees enters the New York Short Track with two prior wins at the 3/8-mile circuit, including a critical victory that helped kickstart his late-season flurry to take back the crown a year ago. That said, he’s been under intense pressure on multiple fronts, not the least of which coming from the Estenson Racing Yamaha duo of Dallas Daniels (No. 32 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT) and JD Beach (No. 95 Estenson Racing Yamaha MT-07 DT), who went 1-2 the last time the series visited a Short Track. Daniels is only growing in strength and looks more and more like a genuine title threat each successive week. Beach isn’t far behind and still has some of his best tracks ahead. Two-time class champion Briar Bauman (No. 3 Indian Motorcycle/Progressive Insurance FTR750) is still very much in the mix as well. Currently ranked third in the points, Bauman is in something of a wins drought by his high standards, going winless since reigning supreme in the ‘22 season opener. Furthermore, that opening-night triumph stands as his only victory over the last 15 races, dating back to just before last year’s New York Short Track. Bauman is motivated, talented, and determined, not to mention a past winner at Weedsport, which could make him an extremely formidable contender this weekend. Of course, there’s also last weekend’s winner, Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750), who appears to be finding his footing at just the right time. He leads a group of ‘22 podium finishers ranked just behind the top four that also includes Bronson Bauman (No. 37 Latus Motors Racing Harley-Davidson XG750R), Jarod Vanderkooi (No. 20 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750), and Davis Fisher (No. 67 Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing Indian FTR750). And don’t forget about Sammy Halbert (No. 69 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750), who will be making one of his select appearances this season at Weedsport. Halbert showed plenty of pace at Laconia and split the wins with Mees here a year ago, and thus, should not be underestimated. Mission Production Twins presented by Vance & Hines The Mission Production Twins presented by Vance & Hines championship is fast taking shape as a two-man race featuring points leader Jesse Janisch (No. 33 Vance & Hines Harley-Davidson XG750R) and defending champ Cory Texter (No. 1 G&G Racing/Yamaha Racing Yamaha MT-07). They’ve been nearly perfectly matched with both owning a pair of wins, while Janisch holds a slight podium advantage (6-5) to go along with his one-point title lead. Janisch has been on an incredible roll, racking up five consecutive finishes of first or second, while Texter finally unleashed his most convincing effort of the season last weekend at Lima. With Janisch out of the series completely before getting an opportunity to ride as a sub late last year and Texter in the midst of his farewell season, either rider would make a most deserving and compelling champion. A wild card will be thrown into the mix this weekend as 2020 class champ James Rispoli (No. 43 Wally Brown Racing/Haversack KTM 890 Duke) will be back in action. The WBR KTM 890 Duke proved itself a race winner straight out of the gate at the Red Mile. It’ll be interesting to see how it fares this weekend on a Short Track. Several other riders could have their say as well, including the on-form Billy Ross (No. 109 Mission Foods/Roof Systems Harley-Davidson XG750R), Cameron Smith (No. 34 Thee Cathy Gray/Al Barker Yamaha MT-07), Ben Lowe (No. 25 Mission Foods/Roof Systems Yamaha MT-07), and Johnny Lewis (No. 10 Moto Anatomy X Powered by Royal Enfield 650). Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER Kody Kopp (No. 12 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-FFE) has been nearly unstoppable in the two most recent Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER races, barely providing his rivals a turn in the spotlight as he’s conquered practices, qualifying sessions, Semis, and Main Events alike. Kopp now owns over half of the season’s race wins (four of seven) and is threatening to build up an unassailable points gap if his challengers don’t find a way to counter him and soon. Morgen Mischler (No. 13 American Honda/Progressive Insurance CRF450R) stands as the only rider within even a two-race margin of Kopp. The Honda ace is due for a bounce-back effort after logging an eighth and seventh during Kopp’s last two dominant outings. Fortunately for Mischler, he won here a year ago and could desperately use a repeat performance right about now. Mischler’s teammate, Dalton Gauthier (No. 79 American Honda/Progressive Insurance CRF450R), is ranked third and also stands as a former winner of the New York Short Track. While Kopp, Mischler, and Gauthier are the only winners in the field thus far this season, a number of others have what it takes to join those ranks, including Trent Lowe (No. 48 Mission Foods/Al Lamb’s Dallas Honda CRF450R), Max Whale (No. 18 Red Bull KTM Factory Racing 450 SX-FFE), Trevor Brunner (No. 21 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F), and Chase Saathoff (No. 106 American Honda/Progressive Insurance CRF450R). There will be plenty to keep fans entertained off the track as well, including numerous vendors, a variety of food and beverage options, and the Kids Zone. Chasing Neon will entertain with its eclectic mix of live party music that ranges from country to classic rock and everything in between, while Rich the Magic Man will be performing the illusions that have made him Rochester’s most amazing and engaging magician for over 30 years. Finally, the evening will be topped off by a Independence Day weekend fireworks display. Visit https://store.americanflattrack.com/ebooking/ticket/view/id/3764/ to reserve your tickets today. General Admission Grandstand tickets are available for just $25 in advance with kids 12 and under free when accompanied by an adult. Premium General Admission, VIP Experience,and Indoor Box Suite ticketing options are also available for purchase. Paddock Access Upgrades are also available for purchase, which provide all-day access to the pits where fans can scope out the world’s fastest dirt track motorcycles and get up close and personal with the stars of the sport. Gates will open for fans at 3:30 p.m. ET/12:30 p.m. PT with Opening Ceremonies scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m. ET/4:00 p.m. PT ahead of the day’s Main Event program. You can catch the livestream of all the weekend’s racing activities on FansChoice.tv. FansChoice.tvprovides free-to-view livestreaming of Practice and Qualifying. FansChoice.tv subscribers will then be able to watch the drama unfold from Opening Ceremonies through the Semis, Main Events, and podium celebrations. FansChoice.tv offers two subscription options, granting unlimited access to premium AFT content. Monthly subscriptions start at just $7.99, while a six-month subscription is available for $44.99. The Mission New York Short Track presented by Mad Max Indian Motorcycle will premiere on FS1 on Saturday, July 9, at 11:30 a.m. ET/8:30 a.m, PT, including exclusive features, cutting-edge aerial drone and onboard footage, and expert commentary. 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. How to Watch: FOX Sports and FansChoice.tv are the official homes for coverage of Progressive American Flat Track. For the 2022 season, all races will premiere in one-hour telecasts on FS1 during highly desirable weekend time slots. The complete schedule can be viewed at https://www.americanflattrack.com/events-foxsports. FansChoice.tv provides livestreaming coverage of every Progressive AFT round at http://www.FansChoice.tv

Batavia, OH (June 27, 2022) – Celebrate family, Independence, and Freedom with four days of racing action at three facilities. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will visit Florence Speedway on Thursday, June 30th, Portsmouth Raceway Park on Friday, July 1st, and Muskingum County Speedway on Saturday and Sunday, July 2nd and 3rd. On Thursday, June 30th, race teams will vie for a $15,000 top prize in the postponed 36th Annual Ralph Latham Memorial at Florence Speedway in Union, KY. The pit gate will open at 3:00 PM ET on Thursday, with the main and back gates opening at 5:30 PM ET. Hot laps begin at 6:30 PM ET with time trials to follow. In addition to the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Modifieds will compete for $1,500-to-win. With five back-to-back winners in the event’s history, a local fan favorite, Josh Rice hopes to up that number to six. Tickets are available online at https://florence.getmytix.net/tickets or by calling the track office at (859) 493-0034. On Friday, July 1st, Portsmouth Raceway Park will host the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series for the annual Independence 50 presented by Able Air with a complete program of: Time Trials, Heat Races, B-Mains, and a 50-lap, $12,000-to-win main event. The Modifieds and Limited Late Models will serve as support divisions on Friday at the Portsmouth, OH track. The pit gate will open at 2:00 PM at Portsmouth Raceway Park. The general admission gates will open at 4:00 PM, with on-track action beginning at 7:00 PM. The Elite Munitions Freedom 60 will be the largest weekend in Muskingum County Speedway history with two days of action from the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, on Saturday and Sunday in Zanesville, OH. Saturday’s program will feature three – 20 lap qualifying features paying $3,000 each to the winner, that will line up Sunday’s B-Mains and 60-lap, $30,000-to-win A-Main event. The pit gate opens at 2:00 PM ET with the general admission gates opening at 4:00 PM ET and on-track action beginning at 7:00 PM ET on both days. In addition to the edge of your seat action produced by the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series, Saturday will also feature Open Wheel Modifieds, Sport Mods, and Mod Lites. Modifieds, Mod Lites, and Four-Cylinders will serve as support classes on Sunday. Muskingum County Speedway will also have the largest display of fireworks the area has to offer on Sunday. Advanced tickets may be purchased at: https://www.myracepass.com/events/383907/tickets/ The Championship points battle is really heating up as the reigning series champion, Tim McCreadie has been slowly chipping away at Brandon Sheppard’s point lead over the last few weeks. With only 10 points separating third and fourth, Tyler Erb and Ricky Thornton Jr, Earl Pearson Jr isn’t far behind in fifth. Ashton Winger currently leads the battle for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Year with Garrett Alberson just 60 points behind. Track Information:Florence Speedway:Phone Number: 859-485-7591Location: 12234 US Hwy 42, Walton, KY 41094Directions: I-75 to exit 180, then 9.2 miles SW on US 42Website: www.florencespeedway.com Portsmouth Raceway ParkPhone Number: 740-354-3278Location: 25648 State Route 73, West Portsmouth, OH 45663Directions: 0.5 mile south of US 52 on SR 73, then right just before bridgeWebsite: www.portsraceway.com Muskingum County SpeedwayPhone Number: 740-754-9199Location: 7985 Frazeysburg Road, Dresden, OH 43821Directions: I-70 to exit 155, then 10.1 miles north on SR 60 (WSR)Website: www.muskingumcountyspeedway.com Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Purses:Florence Speedway Thursday Purse: 1. $15,000, 2. $6,500, 3. $3,500, 4. $3,000, 5. $2,500, 6. $2,400, 7. $2,300, 8. $2,200, 9. $2,100, 10. $2,000, 11. $1,600, 12. $1,400, 13. $1,300, 14. $1,200, 15. $1,050, 16. $1,000, 17. $1,000, 18. $1,000, 19. $1,000, 20. $1,000, 21. $1,000, 22. $1,000, 23. $1,000, 24. $1,000. = $57,050 Portsmouth Raceway Park Friday Purse: 1. $12,000, 2. $6,000, 3. $3,500, 4. $2,800, 5. $2,500, 6. $2,300, 7. $2,200, 8. $2,100, 9. $2,050, 10. $2,000, 11. $1,600, 12. $1,400, 13. $1,200, 14. $1,100, 15. $1,050, 16. $1,000, 17. $1,000,18. $1,000, 19. $1,000, 20. $1,000, 21. $1,000, 22. $1,000, 23. $1,000, 24. $1,000. = $52,800 Muskingum County Speedway Saturday Purse (x3): 1. $3,000, 2. $1,500, 3. $1,000, 4. $800, 5. $700, 6. $600, 7. $500, 8. $400, 9. $350, 10. $300, 11. $300, 12. $300, 13. $300, 14. $300,15. $300 = $10,650 Muskingum County Speedway Sunday Purse: 1. $30,000, 2. $15,000, 3. $7,000, 4. $6,000, 5. $5,000, 6. $4,500, 7. $4,000, 8. $3,500, 9. $3,000, 10. $2,500, 11. $2,300, 12. $2,200, 13. $2,100, 14. $2,000, 15. $1,800, 16. $1,700, 17. $1,600, 18. $1,550, 19. $1,500, 20. $1,500, 21. $1,500, 22. $1,500, 23. $1,500, 24. $1,500 = $104,750 Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Tire Rules:Florence Speedway – June 30thLeft Rear/Fronts – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1350Right Rear – Hoosier (29.0) 1350 NRM, (29.0) 1350 NRMW, (92) LM40*Must use the same set of 4 tires for Time Trials, Heat Races, and B-Mains.*For the A-Main, competitors may use a new right rear tire.*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain starting position. Portsmouth Raceway Park – July 1stLeft Rear/Fronts – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1300Right Rear – Hoosier (29.0) 1300 NRM, (29.0) 1300 NRMW, (29.0) 1425 NRM, (29.0) 1425 NRMW*Must use the same set of 4 tires for Time Trials, Heat Races, and B-Mains.*For the A-Main, competitors may use a new right rear tire.*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain starting position. Muskingum County Speedway – July 2ndLeft Rear/Fronts – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1300Right Rear – Hoosier (29.0) 1300 NRM, (29.0) 1300 NRMW*Must use the same set of 4 tires for Time Trials, and A-Mains.*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain starting position. Muskingum County Speedway – July 3rdLeft Front – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1300Left Rear/Right Front – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1300, (28.5) 1425Right Rear – Hoosier (29.0) 1300 NRM, (29.0) 1300 NRMW, (29.0) 1425 NRM, (29.0) 1425 NRMW*For the B-Mains, competitors may use 4 new tires.*For the A-Main, competitors may use 4 new tires.*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain starting position.

Hell Tour returns to old venues Red Hill, Benton and Paducah

SUMNER, IL – June 27, 2022 – Another six-race-week is on the docket for the third week of competition in the 37th DIRTcar Summer Nationals Hell Tour.

Loaded with annual staple venues and the return of some old favorites, the Late Models and DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals competitors will be tested with a variety of track sizes and rigorous travel schedule over the next six days.

Multi-State Week schedule

Tuesday, June 28 – Red Hill Raceway (Sumner, IL)
Wednesday, June 29 – Benton Speedway (Benton, MO)
Thursday, June 30 – Fayette County Speedway (Brownstown, IL)
Friday, July 1 – Paducah International Raceway (Paducah, KY)
Saturday, July 2 – Clarksville Speedway (Clarksville, TN)
Sunday, July 3 – Lincoln Speedway (Lincoln, IL)

Tickets for each event will be available at the gates on race day. If you can’t make it to your favorite track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision – online at DIRTVision.com or with the DIRTVision mobile app.

Here are the drivers to watch for and the storylines to follow this week:

POINTS TAKE SHAPE – After eleven-straight races through the first two weeks, four-time and reigning Summer Nationals Late Model champion Bobby Pierce maintains a 90-point lead in the standings over Jason Feger. Pierce, of Oakwood, IL, skipped the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series’ appearance Sunday night at Jacksonville Speedway to prepare for the upcoming Multi-Sate Week, indicating a potential run for his fifth tour championship.

Jason Feger, of Bloomington, IL, has taken over second in points after posting one of his best finishes of the season Saturday against the Outlaws at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, chasing winner Dennis Erb Jr. for most of the 55-lap finale before Pierce passed him late. Ryan Unzicker, of El Paso, IL, has dropped to third in points, most recently passing 14 cars in his drive from 23rd to ninth against the World of Outlaws Saturday night in Pevely. Both drivers are projected to be on the roster during Multi-State Week.

Fellow four-time Summer Nationals champion Brian Shirley boosted himself to fourth in points after notching back-to-back victories, starting with the Illinois-Iowa Week closer at Sycamore Speedway on June 19 and winning again two nights later at Missouri’s Springfield Raceway. Shirley, of Chatham, IL, and the Bob Cullen Racing team are expected to be in attendance throughout Multi-State Week.

COOLING OFF – For the first time since September 2020, Nick Hoffman has finished second or worse in two consecutive Summit Modified Features.

The four-time and defending champion from Mooresville, NC, was bested by winner Rick Conoyer and runner-up Will Krup in Friday’s portion of the St. Louis Firecracker Faceoff at I-55 and broke a camshaft in the engine while coming to the checkered on Saturday, leaving him with a DNF in 16th-place.

However, he still holds a giant lead in the standings, 131 points ahead of second-place Kyle Steffens. With seven wins in nine starts, he’s now only five wins away from maxing-out his win total for the fourth-straight year, as only a driver’s best 12 finishes are taken into account in championship points.

GUESS WHO’S BACK – He’s been out of action for the past three seasons, but this week, National Dirt Late Model Hall-of-Famer Terry English returns to the seat of a DIRTcar Late Model this Friday and Saturday night.

Terry, the 2002 DIRTcar Late Model national champion and father to 2021 Hell Tour regular Tanner English, will pilot a 2016 Rocket XR1 Chassis in the Summer Nationals shows at the newly reopened Paducah International Raceway (July 1) and Clarksville Speedway (July 2). The car has sat in their Benton, KY, shop since Tanner competed with it in the 2019 Gateway Dirt Nationals but has since been revitalized and adorned with Terry’s famed No. 96 decal on the door panels.

Terry has five Summer Nationals victories to his credit – his most recent coming at Illinois’ Highland Speedway on June 17, 2008.

OLD FRIEND – This week, the Summer Nationals will see a familiar face return to the Late Model roster.

2021 DIRTcar Late Model Rookie of the Year Ashton Winger, of Hampton, GA, is expected to start his week with the Summer Nationals Tuesday at Red Hill Raceway and follow it up with a visit to Benton Speedway in Missouri on Wednesday.

Winger completed the entire 2021 Hell Tour schedule with his own equipment but will bring the G.R. Smith-owned Gambler Transport Motorsports Rocket XR1 #89 to the track this week – a car he’s been at the controls of since the racing season began in January.

WHAT’S OLD IS NEW – Three of the six tracks on the docket this week have not hosted a Summer Nationals race in at least nine years.

Red Hill Raceway’s grand re-opening takes place this Tuesday, June 28, with the Summer Nationals and Summit Modified stars in attendance at the revived facility in Sumner, IL. No race car of any type has graced the dirt of the 3/8-mile oval since the last time it hosted competition in 2004 (officially closed in 2005), but Midwest racing promoter Jeremy Sneed has since purchased the property and put life back in it, now ready for its first Summer Nationals show since 2000.

Benton Speedway in Benton, MO, sat dormant from 2014 until last fall, when owner Rob Russell reopened the property for racing once again. The Late Models are scheduled to make their first appearance at 3/8-mile oval for the first time since 1997 on Wednesday, June 29, while the Modifieds will make their debut.

Paducah International Raceway in Paducah, KY, hosted a Summer Nationals event every year from 1996-2013. The half-mile oval was later closed in 2016 and again in 2018 but has since reopened under new owners Adam and Brittany Elliot, who have breathed new life and a weekly racing program back into the track. The track is set to host its 19th Summer Nationals event and fourth Summit Modified event this Friday, July 1.

Lexington, OHIO – June 27, 2022 – The Showtime Motorsports Franklin Road Apparel team enjoyed mixed fortunes at Mid Ohio on Sunday with rookie driver Tyler Ankram scoring a highly creditable P15 on his first visit to the track in the No. 4 Chevrolet Camaro. Teammate Cameron Lawrence in the No. 6 car endured the misfortune of rough contact during the race.  Round 7 of the 2022 Trans Am presented by Pirelli Championship season could only be described as a messy race with numerous cautions and two black flags, with the Franklin Road driver missing out on a top ten finish. Al Unser Jr. in the commentary box noted that cautions breed cautions and while Misha Goikhberg appeared to leave the door open for Cameron to pass, he slammed it shut when the former Champion made his move.   “We put a lot of work in here with TA2 this weekend and the result was a rough race,” said Franklin Road supremo Ken Thwaits. “Once again Cameron and Misha had contact during the race. [The damage] starts from the left all the way to the back of the rear quarter panel. I don’t get it.” “We were ninth and cruising at the halfway mark but that was it for us. We made this trip, did all the preparation and our team puts in every ounce of effort to perform on track. These events in the race are pushing the boundaries of racing incidents.” “Tyler Ankrum’s goal was to learn the track because he’s coming back here to race Trucks. He learned what to do and he learned what not to do. We ended up 15th after a spin so mission accomplished for him. They’re happy and it’ll be guns blazing when they get in their NASCAR Truck race here.”   In spite of not getting a clear run in qualifying, Cameron nevertheless maintained his customary speed to put himself in P11 on the grid in a time of 1:25:516 while debutant Tyler Ankram put the No. 4 car in P20 with a time of 1:26:375. We also got a chance to look ahead to next weekend’s action at Road America where Ken has an awesome surprise for fans. He went on, “For Road America, Paul Menard will be back! We will unveil the new black and yellow No. 5 car this week. From the TA side we’re pretty stoked with what we did yesterday. Our biggest goal has been to get to Tomy Drissi and we did that. Every race is different and I don’t take anything for granted but yesterday we just out ran him.”   This year there is terrific television coverage of the Trans Am racing and the details are as follows:   TV BROADCAST: TA2 – Jul 02, 7:30p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network TA2 (Encore Presentation) – Jul 03, 11:30 a.m. ET on CBS Sports Network TA/XGT/SGT/GT – Jul 03, 2:00p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network TA/XGT/SGT/GT (Encore Presentation) – Jul 04, 1:00 a.m. ET on CBS Sports Network Fans can find the Franklin Road Apparel Trans Am clothing here: https://www.franklinroad.com/search/trans+am/ Visit the team’s website for Showtime Motorsports showtimemotorsports.net. Learn more about the Showtime Motorsports team partner, Road Apparel, at franklinroad.com and keep up to date with the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli at gotransam.com. #GoTransAm Check out the Showtime Motorsports Facebook page: facebook.com/showtimemotorsp/ and @ShowtimeMotorsp on Instagram.

1 MONTH ALERT: World of Outlaws to make rare July Port Royal stop before Summer NationalsPORT ROYAL, PA (June 27, 2022) – The World of Outlaws versus PA Posse battle continues this summer with a rare July stop at Port Royal Speedway and then the Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals at Williams Grove Speedway.The record stands at 1-1, so far, this season with World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series competitor Jacob Allen’s win at Lincoln Speedway and PA Posse member Brent Marks’ Morgan Cup victory.There will be three more rounds of their battle in one week with Port Royal on Wednesday, July 20 and the two-day show at Williamson Grove on Friday-Saturday, July 22-23. One driver could leave the week $40,000 richer with Port Royal paying $10,000-to-win and the doubleheader at Williams Grove paying $10,000-to-win on Friday and $20,000-to-win on Saturday.The race at Port Royal will also be a milestone event as it’ll be the first time since the half-mile track’s Series debut in 1979 that it will host a July World of Outlaws race.WORLD OF OUTLAWS @ PORT ROYAL – Wednesday, July 20 Track: Port Royal Speedway To Win: $10,000 Location: Port Royal, PA Track Record: 14.866 sec. set by Brian Brown on 10/18/18 Last Winner: Spencer BaystonTickets: https://bit.ly/3xXfdYFNotables: The last time the World of Outlaws visited Port Royal Speedway, Spencer Bayston, driving for Pennsylvania-based CJB Motorsports, brought everyone in the house to their feet with a dominating victory. It was his second career Series win and his first with CJB in just his fourth start with the team. The Lebanon, IN driver has already proven this season he’ll be a threat to defend that win, having already picked up two victories, including one at the half-mile Bristol Motor Speedway.Ten-time Series champion Donny Schatz, driver of the #15 Sprint Car for Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, has the most Series wins of all drivers at Port Royal with four. His last win at the track was in 2019. Since 2019, Anthony Macri, of Dillsburg, PA, has established himself as king of Port Royal, picking up 19 wins in total at the track. However, he’s yet to win there against the World of Outlaws. If he can pull off a win this year, it would be his first Series win overall.CHAMPION RACING OIL SUMMER NATIONALS @ WILLIAMS GROVE – Friday-Saturday, July 22-23 Track: Williams Grove Speedway To Win: $10,000 (Friday) / $20,000 (Saturday) Location: Mechanicsburg, PA Track Record: 16.111 sec. set by Shane Stewart on 10/2/20 2021 Winner: Brent MarksTickets: https://bit.ly/3OpDNZnNotables: Brent Marks, of Myerstown, PA, holds two significant win records entering this year’s Champion Racing Oil Summer Nationals. He is the defending Summer Nationals winner and is the most recent World of Outlaws winner at Williams Grove, having won the Morgan Cup in May – being the lead competitor for the PA Posse.Two rising World of Outlaws stars who have recently become aces around the half-mile paper clip-shaped track are Carson Macedo and Sheldon Haudenschild. Macedo picked up two Series wins at the track last year, including one at the National Open. And Haudenschild won the opening night of the Summer Nationals last year. Both have already been two of the biggest trophy collectors this season with Macedo currently having six wins and Haudenschild currently having eight – including a crown jewel win at the Huset’s High Bank Nationals.Like with Port Royal, 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz has the most Series wins at Williams Grove of all active drivers (21). Behind him is PA Posse star Lance Dewease with 14, but overall the Fayettville, PA driver has more than 100 wins at the track.Current Series points leader Brad Sweet will continue his hunt for his first win at Williams Grove.If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action from both tracks live on DIRTVision – either online or by downloading the DIRTVision App.

June 27, 2022

After a long day – and night – of racing at Nashville Superspeedway Harrison Burton and the No. 21 DEX Imaging Mustang crossed the finish line of the lightning- and rain-delayed Ally 400 in 25^th place.

Burton lined up 26^th for the start of the 300-lap, 400-mile race on the 1.3-mile concrete oval. He was running 27^th when a lightning strike brought the cars to pit road on Lap 41.

When racing resumed, he ran as high as 21^st before ending the first 90-lap Stage in 23rd place. 

Back under green, Burton broke into the top 20 just past the 100-lap mark and was running 19th when the caution flag flew for rain at Lap 119. 

The skies cleared briefly, and Burton was running 22^nd when lightning and then rain led to a caution flag at Lap 140 and eventually a red flag.

When other drivers ahead of him made pit stops just before racing resumed, Burton stayed on the track and moved to 10^th for the restart.

He was able to hold most of the ground he gained by the team’s strategy move and ended the second Stage in 14^th place. 

For a time in the third segment of the race Burton ran among the top 15. As a round of green-flag pit stops kicked off at Lap 248, the DEX Imaging team elected to run long. Burton moved up to ninth place as other ahead of him made stops, but the caution flag that the team needed to make the strategy work flew one lap too late.

Just as Burton was making his stop, the caution flag flew for a loose wheel on the track and he was relegated to 26^th place with 30 laps to go.

He was unable to recover from the setback and finished 25^th.

Burton and the No. 21 team will return to Road America for the Kwik Trip 250 on July 3.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (June 27, 2022) – Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team are leaving Nashville Superspeedway with the coveted custom guitar trophy in hand after taking the checkered flag in the rain delayed Ally 400. The second win of 2022 for the Georgia native didn’t come without a fight. With an issue on pit road forcing Elliott to come from deep in the pack early in the race, Elliott’s team was able to quickly get their Chevrolet-powered machine dialed back in as a front runner in the final stage. With pit strategy playing a vital role throughout the race, Alan Gustafson (crew chief) chose track position during the final late-race caution, giving Elliott a front row spot for the restart with four laps to go. In a battle with second-place Kurt Busch to the end, it was the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 that came out on top marking Elliott’s 15th-career victory in NASCAR’s premier series. 

“Just so proud of our team,” said Elliott “We kind of had a setback there about halfway and we were able to get our NAPA Chevy dialed back in and get back in the mix. We were able to work on it a little bit after the penalty and got it going a little better. My team just stuck with it. Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. They have been working really hard over the winter and through the spring to keep up. The engines have been running great and obviously great support from Chevrolet.”

The win at the 1.33-mile Tennessee concrete oval is the ninth trip to victory lane for the Camaro ZL1 in the season’s 17 points-paying races; a number that is more than double its manufacturer competitors. The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet leaves Nashville Superspeedway with 823 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins. Chase Elliott entered the race weekend on top of the NCS driver points standings; and with a win and his now 11th top-10 finish this season, the Hendrick Motorsports driver continues to hold the top spot for the 13th-consecutive week with a 30-point lead over fellow Chevrolet driver Ross Chastain. 

Elliott led a strong bowtie presence in the top-five of the race that kicked off the 10-race stretch to the end of the series’ regular season. Elliott’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, Kyle Larson, posted his seventh top-five finish thus far this season, driving his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to a fourth-place finish. Ross Chastain rounded out the Team Chevy top-five in fifth, giving the No. 1 Jockey Camaro ZL1 its eighth top-five finish of 2022 on Trackhouse Racing’s home turf. 

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, July 3, at Road America with the Kwik Trip 250 presented by JOCKEY Made in America at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on USA Network, the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

THE MODERATOR: We’re going to continue now with our post-race press conference for today and tonight’s Ally 400. We’ve now been joined by our race winner, Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet for Hendrick Motorsports. Congratulations on the win, Chase. We appreciate you spending some time with us.

Q. How tough was it to maintain your focus during all those stops and starts and delays?

CHASE ELLIOTT: You know, it wasn’t too bad. I feel like we’ve had that a good bit over the last few years since they implemented the lightning thing. I didn’t think it was too difficult.

Q. How special is this considering your closeness to Nashville, your dad racing at the fairgrounds?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, look, I wish we were at the fairgrounds, for example, but I’m glad we’re at least in the market. This is a cool town. It’s a great place to be. It’s a great place to race. It’s a town that I think embraces us, and we embrace the people that are here, and they stuck it out. Heck, the crowd was still pretty good I thought for it to be 11:00 at night or whatever and having started this thing six or seven hours ago.

Yeah, I thought we had a good crowd. Appreciate everybody sticking around, and it is close to home for me, so — it’s hard to win anywhere, but when you win kind of close to home like that, it is pretty special.

Q. What about after last year’s disappointing race?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I think the biggest thing was we just struggled here last year, so to have a struggle race here a year ago and then to be able to come back and be as competitive as we were in the second half of the race, I am the most proud of that piece of the puzzle, I think.

Just to kind of reset and be able to reevaluate and get back going the right direction here.

Q. I know you were talking relative to the fairgrounds a couple years ago saying snoozefest here, but you’ve been through a couple of races here now. How do you feel like this track has stacked up as far as that, especially tonight?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I didn’t think the race was terrible tonight. At least we could get up off the bottom and move around, which I thought was encouraging. I was even more surprised that we still moved up after the sun went down. I thought at that point it was going to be really one lane, and it really wasn’t. You could still be in at least a couple different lanes. It was way more racy than I thought it would be.

But it still doesn’t mean I prefer this over the fairgrounds and what that could be.

I don’t want people to get a sour taste about that. It’s just that racetrack and the history of that racetrack and its location is just something that we’re never going to replicate again. For the most part all these facilities that we have are 45 minutes to an hour outside whatever said market is we’re trying to reach. If it’s Michigan or here or Atlanta is 30, 45 minutes south of the city. All these places we go, Homestead is an hour outside Miami. All these places we go you’re drawing from an area that is 45 minutes to an hour away. With the fairgrounds you’d be drawing from an area that is 15 blocks away or so.

Correct me if I’m wrong on that, but it’s a hell of a lot closer than it is here, and that’s just not something that in today’s society, you’re never going to build a racetrack in a city like that again. That’s why I think as an industry we need to take advantage of that. We don’t need to let that place die. I know they built that big soccer stadium right next door, but use that as positivity because the infrastructure is now there to house all the people. Now they have ideas and ways to get people in and out.

It’s too good of a place, too good of an opportunity for us to not be utilizing that in my opinion. I think it would be the best location and best event of the year if they could pull that off.

Q. Was your fear at the time that since you were going to be racing here that you may not be racing there, when actually it is possible you might?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yes, for sure. I still worry about that a little bit. But it sounds like they’re at least working on it. Unfortunately I can’t do a ton other than just voice my support for it.

I understand all the different sides of the puzzle there, and I respect that. But selfishly for us, I think it would be a great event.

Look, they’re already racing there. Folks seem to be doing just fine with the races that are going on, and you’d be talking about one big event there a year for us to come and be a part of it.

I think the positives outweigh the negatives, and I think there’s a way to be respectful in doing so of the folks that live in the area and be able to do it in a positive light.

Q. Chase, is it enjoyable to win a race where you have some problems, you kind of go off the radar screen, the JGR cars led 250 of 300 laps, so they were kind of going, all right, one of us is going to snag this thing and then you end up winning. Is it fun to win kind of off the radar?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, look, it’s fun to win regardless I feel like. But yeah, I was really proud of a couple things. One, proud of having the past month and a half, two months that we’ve had been horrendous. I’ve crashed about 10 times and we’ve had a lot of stuff happen to end up having bad finishes, and you never want that, especially when it’s — well, any time, whether it’s in a string of races or not, you don’t want that, period. So proud to be able to bounce back from a really rough stretch.

And then proud to have struggled as bad as we did — as bad as we were at the beginning of the race, to be able to adjust on it, take advantage of the opportunities we had to try to fix it and then to hit on it and be able to execute on it after we hit on it to be able to finish the event strong is not an easy thing to do.

Our team I feel like they do a great job when everybody is pulling in the same direction and is executing and doing their jobs to the best of their ability. I feel like we’re as good as anybody, and tonight I felt like they really show cased their talents, not just on pit road with their pit stops being really solid but Alan and Tom making really good adjustments and just staying on top of everything, so it was a good team win.

Q. As far as the points, you got stage points, you obviously get a big chunk for winning. You’re now plus 30 over Chastain, 31 over Blaney, 47 over Kyle. How do you look at that gap with nine races to go?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Well, I mean, I feel like no gap is safe. We had a pretty big one there at one point, and that can go away in a hurry.

Look, you just have to keep bringing strong race cars to the racetrack. You have to keep putting yourself in position to win. When you’re battling up front and you have shots to win, the points thing is going to take care of itself. You might be faced if you can achieve the first part of that, you might be faced with a situation here or there where you have to decide whether or not you want to get stage points or whether or not you want to try to go for the race win, and those things are — that’s just part of the world we live in now with stages.

But more so on road courses, I guess, than anything. The best way to look at it is just trying to be fighting for wins, and if we’re doing that, I think the points thing will kind of take care of itself.

Q. The restart where you picked up like five positions in like a half a lap or a lap, I asked Alan about that and he said that was the point at which I thought we’ve got the car to win this race, we’ve got to win this race. Your perspective on that, and when you made that move did you know that was when you had the car to win?

CHASE ELLIOTT: I felt like — honestly there, I felt like our balance was good at least when we had our penalty and we went to the back, and I was able to run some different lanes that I had not had the ability to run prior to that. When that ability showed up for me, I thought, okay, now I think we’re in the ballpark.

Then as the race went on, the restart thing, like you put anybody in the right situation and you can look like a hero. I don’t think there’s anything special I did. You can take a car that isn’t balanced as well as what ours was tonight and have the right lane choice and the right guys get bottled up at the right time, and you pass three or four of them.

So I don’t necessarily think that was the turning point for me. I feel like it was more just a balance thing and feeling like we had got it really close. Then from there just trying to execute and have good restarts up front and have good pit stops.

Q. You can give yourself some credit, though. It looked like a video game type move.

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, it worked out. I feel like a lot of guys do that when people get bottled up off the corner and you have a head of steam. The lanes just kind of opened up for me, so it wasn’t anything spectacular on my end. I just kind of went where the options were.

Q. Following up on the points thing, beyond just having the lead in the points standings, you’re also now tied for playoff points lead with Byron and Chastain with 13 playoff points. Do you feel like you’re positioned pretty well? With all this talk about guys are going to fall out in the first round who we’re not expecting, it seems like you’re getting a little bit of a cushion.

CHASE ELLIOTT: Well, you want more than that for sure. I don’t think any cushion is safe in the playoff thing unless you have six or seven wins like some guys have over the last couple years. At that point then you’re probably feeling much better about it.

But I don’t think two and just a couple stage wins is going to give you the confidence to make dumb decisions in the beginning of the playoffs.

Look, I think everybody is vulnerable when the playoffs start. Especially as the rounds progress. We have seen guys with those big cushions not make the last round. So I don’t think anything is guaranteed. You certainly want to hedge your bet in that direction as much as you can, and every win helps that, every stage win helps that. That’s something I want to achieve.

We’ve never really put ourselves in a position like that to where we have a big cushion and we’re able to kind of cruise through rounds. I feel like we’ve always had to scratch and claw for each found, which is fine, and I’m okay with that, but it would be nice to rack up some wins and hedge your bet more so for a potential bad day or something out of your hands.

Q. Chase, now that we’ve had two races in Nashville, where exactly does this race rank among the competitors in terms of races that are coveted and the drivers want to win? Obviously Nashville doesn’t really have the recent history in NASCAR since there was a long gap between 1980s and last year, so it’s not necessarily like the Southern 500, the 600 in Charlotte, what have you, but it’s pretty quickly become a destination race. There’s a lot of hype around it. Obviously the market is big, kind of like Las Vegas is almost. Obviously everyone also wants the Gibson guitar when you win this race. Where exactly does it rank?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I mean, I think it just depends on what your personal thoughts are on the city or whatever, but I’ve enjoyed coming to Nashville. It’s been one of my favorite towns for a number of years. I have raced at the fairgrounds and had some special memories over there.

Yeah, it’s special to me because of that. But I don’t really know where it ranks amongst everyone. For me, every win is important and special to me because they’re really hard to get. I don’t take any of them for granted, so they’re all big in my opinion. They’re too hard to win to not appreciate them in a pretty high regard.

Q. Before the 2022 season you had zero wins on concrete. Now you won at Dover and Nashville. What with the Next-Gen setup and concrete tracks have you kind of found that you’ve found this recent success on concrete tracks?

CHASE ELLIOTT: You know, to be honest with you, I don’t know that it has anything to do with the Next-Gen thing. I feel like we’ve had good runs in the past at Bristol and Dover, and not necessarily here, but at least at Bristol and Dover, to where we’ve had shots at winning and haven’t.

But look, you get the right day, the right circumstance and the right car balance and everything goes your way, you can — I feel like our team can have a shot. Fortunately today was that way for us and we were able to get it done.

Q. How much say, thought, anything, do you have in staying out or pitting on that last caution?

CHASE ELLIOTT: I mean, I let Alan do his thing. He lets me do my thing, so I’m going to let him do his and just have confidence in that. It doesn’t do me any good to not.

When I start questioning his decisions, I feel like is when we start going down a road that is not favorable for success. He has had a lot of respect for me and let me do my job and let me approach things a pretty unique way and kind of be me, so I’ve always respected him in return and let him do his thing and just had confidence in whatever that decision is.

Q. When you walked in he was answering a question about how he keeps the team motivated and the driver motivated during those long weather delays. He said because the car had been so off at the start that the team was no problem, but that he did need to have a talk with you. What do you do during the delays, and how did that talk go between the two of you?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, it was straightforward. I think really we just talked about our balance, honestly. We just talked about where we were at the start of the day, what we did in practice on Friday, how we landed in the position we landed in to start the event, why we chose that and why it wasn’t working.

We tried to diagnose that to the best of our abilities, make a decision on which way we wanted to go, and we did that, and fortunately it was the right decision.

Just had dialogue about the car. I feel like when you get in those situations or whatever it may be, look, if it’s not going to make you go any faster it’s probably not worth talking about. Talking about those things and how we ended up where we did is a fruitful thing to do in that time period.

That’s what we did. I think probably what a lot of people do. It wasn’t anything spectacular or really special, but we were able to just kind of talk through some of that and go back in a direction that worked for us, and unfortunately the condition changing and our adjustments ended up in a really good spot.

Q. Did you feel okay or were you like, today is terrible?

CHASE ELLIOTT: No, I felt okay. At the beginning of the race, no. I felt like we were really, really off. Then after we had our penalty, like I was — I’m sorry, yeah, whatever it was. Yeah, our extended stay on pit road, how about that. We started in the back. So after we started in the back and I was able to run some different lanes that I hadn’t been able to do throughout the day, at that point I felt like, okay, we have something to work with again, our car is driving like I remember it driving on Friday, and from there we just kind of went to work and tried to execute the event the best we could.

Q. After the race, Kurt Busch was really beating himself up about the last restart. He said he kind of went soft. He said he wished he had thrown some fenders. Were you surprised that he didn’t mix it up, or could he have even mixed it up in that position?

CHASE ELLIOTT: I feel like you’re always going to look back and want to do something a little different. But I feel like Kurt and I raced each other with a lot of respect. Obviously we’re going for the win; we’re going to be aggressive. I thought he was. We went off into Turn 1 and we were both sliding up the track and then at that point I was able to get — I got position on him off of 2, and from there I was just trying to manage my lanes, and if he was going to go in a lane that I thought might be really advantageous to him I probably would have shut it off on him anyway.

No, I thought we raced each other with respect, raced hard, and on those restarts when that one guy gets free, it’s going to be very difficult for that second-place guy to time up a run without a mistake or something on a short run like that to the end.

I thought he did a good job, and it was respectful from my end. I don’t know what else you could really ask for there.

Q. With about 40 to go on that restart with the 18, you were on the inside, he chose the outside. He had the lane choice, and you were able to get by him. What were you able to do or can you take me through that, and what worked for you at that point to be able to take the lead and control the race at that point?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, the 18 did it to the 19, the restart prior to that. I felt like the opportunity was there to do it, if the circumstances go your way, and fortunately they did. Once we got the lead there, it was just trying to control my gap to him, run my race, manage my tires the best I could and not lose the lead. Then hope that a caution didn’t come out. I hate that it did, but it did, and fortunately it worked out for us.

Q. Then after that last caution before the pit stops, were you already thinking of what you would be doing, and I’m assuming you would have taken the high side and had the 18 on the inside? If he had stayed out it would have been the two of you on the front row again; were you already thinking about how you would have played or would you have gone to the outside for the restart?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I was thinking the outside. I felt like there was a difference in used tires versus fresh tires. I got the lead from him on fresh tires. He got the lead from Martin on fresh tires, too, so that was the reasoning in why I did what I did.

Q. How surprised were you to see those cars pit behind you then?

CHASE ELLIOTT: I wasn’t. Typically they’re going to do the exact opposite of what you’re doing. I feel like everybody gave Alan a lot of crap for the 600 a few years ago or whatever, but those people behind you are going to do the exact opposite of what you do. I don’t know why that doesn’t get through everyone’s head, especially at a racetrack that has some tire wear. You’re in a very vulnerable position at that point. And two, like if the caution had come out two or three more times, we probably wouldn’t have won because those guys would have kept cycling themselves forward.

So you get a caution twice and before you get the white flag, and next thing you know you’re sitting with a guy right behind you with four fresh tires with one lap on them, so then at that point you’re wishing you pitted.

Those situations are just impossible to get right. You knowing how the outcome is going to go is absolutely — it’s unachievable, so you try to make the best decision you can make and hope the cards go your way.

Q. How comfortable are you feeling with this car? Certainly we’ve seen nobody has really been able to be consistently strong too many weeks. Obviously you had five straight top 10s at one point which is the longest streak of the season. What’s your comfort level with this car and trying to build the consistency, and how are you dealing with it when it’s different as opposed to past year when you had a higher comfort level?

CHASE ELLIOTT: Yeah, I think the difference is that the line to get it right is more thin than I think it has been in the past. So just finding comfort in living in a tighter tolerance is difficult to do.

Even though some days you might be comfortable, it’s still really easy to step outside that. Look at Charlotte. I felt like I was not being very aggressive, and next thing you know I made a mistake I hit the wall and our day is over. It wasn’t like at that point in time you’re trying to do anything crazy in a 600-mile race, or at least I didn’t think I was, and you can get yourself in a lot of trouble in a hurry in these things. Just trying to figure out where you can live and live there comfortably, how to ratchet up your performance at that right time if that is something inside your car that you can pull out of it, and if it’s not, taking what’s there for you and not driving over your head, because like I say, this thing is pretty unforgiving in a lot of ways.

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

THE MODERATOR: We’re now going to roll into our post-race press conference here at Nashville Superspeedway, and we’ve been joined by today’s winning crew chief Alan Gustafson for today’s Ally 400. Alan, before we roll straight into questions, it has been a long day. From a crew chief standpoint you guys had a lot of things to navigate, from lightning holds to actual rain and red flags and then just the racing part of it. Just from your seat today, tell us a little bit about what that looked like before having the opportunity to celebrate with your team in Victory Lane.

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, I think for us we were super optimistic coming in. We had a pretty good car on Friday practice and qualified decent and had some track position. I felt good about it and didn’t start the race very good, and the car wasn’t driving great.

I had a lot of work to do and started to work on the car, then had a pit stop issue which kind of got us behind but ultimately helped because we had an opportunity to work on the car a little bit more and from then on I think the car was in a good position and driving really well so we were able to make up ground.

The rain delays and lightning delays, certainly there’s nothing we can do about that. We just had to work through it and stay focused and use that to our advantage to have a plan to move forward and execute.

Yeah, once we got back through that rain, our car was really good and competitive, and we executed well.

I think from then on, it was kind of the tale of two races for us. We were the Bad News Bears at the start and then at the end we got it right and were really good.

Q. My question is with the tire wear, how did it wear comparing the day part of the race to the night part of the race, and how much did that influence your call to stay out for Elliott?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, the tire wear wasn’t really an issue for us. Our tire wear was good. The falloff was less certainly at night. You could see the lap time falloff was less, and that played into the end.

I think regardless in that circumstance, we were probably going to stay out, but certainly the fact that the falloff was less as the track cooled down contributed some.

Q. What was the penalty for?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Did we get a penalty?

Q. That’s what Chase keeps saying.

ALAN GUSTAFSON: No, I think we just went to the back on our own accord.

Q. You had a long — made some changes on pit road?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Well, we had the potential loose wheel so we backed him up in the stall, tightened the wheel to make sure it was okay and obviously we were going to be at the back at that point in time so we came in and worked on the car a little bit more handling-wise, chassis-wise.

Q. He said you guys were able to make a lot of changes during the rain —

ALAN GUSTAFSON: We had changed — I can’t remember if — I thought that pit stop issue was before the rain. It was before the rain. No, we had made all of our changes to that point, and then ultimately never got too much chance to show it. We went to the back and we were like 16th at the rain delay.

Q. So he’s completely confused —

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, a little bit but we won’t call him out too bad.

Q. So you guys stay out, all the guys racing for the win come in. Did the nine other guys staying out put the separation —

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Absolutely, yeah, that was the difference. I think the 18 for sure — the 19 was really good. The 18 was really good. The 18 was really fast on the short runs, so if he lines up anywhere near us on new tires it’s game over.

Yeah, he just — my expectation was he wasn’t going to get that close and I felt like there was going to be tough — there typically is, there’s enough chaos in front of you that you just can’t go anyway, so that’s what we were hoping for.

Ultimately there was — I guess you said nine or whatever, ten, there were — when I saw, there was four or five legit good cars, guys that weren’t going to be easy to pass. When I saw that, I felt better.

You never know.

But then you can’t just say, oh, Kyle. You’ve got to switch your focus to Kurt. He’s no slouch; the guy is a great race car driver. He just won at Kansas, and that team has been doing really well. So you’ve got Kurt and you’ve got Kyle Larson and Ryan, all those guys super good drivers and good teams. Had to execute regardless.

Q. You get points in both stages, you get some more playoff points with the win. You’re still in position of course to get the 15 for the regular season championship. What does this win do in moving towards that goal, other than not getting the stage wins you kind of got everything tonight.

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, that’s the position we’re in right now. I think most of the guys, whatever, the 12 certainly that have won are focusing on that. That’s kind of the key now is to get as many playoff points as you can so you position yourself as best as possible when it reracks because anything can happen. There’s still a lot of time between now and then.

We’re obviously working to win every race, but when you’re there, yeah, the points are — points and playoff points are the focus.

Q. Is that a goal to the point where that’s part of your strategy planning every week, or do you just stay on offense and just hope for the best?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, I wish it was a bit more glamorous, but that’s kind of what I try to do every week. If you’re leading the points or wherever you’re at, you’re trying to win, and you’re trying to win stages and you’re trying to lead laps and have the best car possible.

Yeah, are we in a position to maybe take a few more gambles now than we would have if we were somebody else? Certainly, but I don’t think it’s significantly different.

Q. Alan, I don’t mean to drudge up bad memories when you’re kind of riding the high of a victory —

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Of course you don’t. So let’s not do it. Next. Are you going to ask me about Charlotte?

Q. Yes. So you know what the scenario was. Was that in the back of your mind when that caution came out and you had to make the decision whether to stay out and hope everyone else behind you — hope enough other drivers stayed out and be able to stay out front or come in and risk everyone else staying out?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, I mean, it’s how you — anything you do in life is based on your experiences, right, everything you do. So certainly that factors into the decisions I make. Unfortunately the bad ones are the ones that always get brought up, but all the good ones factor into my decision making process, too.

I don’t know, did I think about Charlotte? Do I think about Charlotte? Do I get reminded about Charlotte? Yes, I do, unfortunately. Was it a huge influence on what we had to do here? Not really.

Q. Were there any other times in the past where you elected to stay out and it worked out? Just so we don’t keep drudging up bad memories.

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, a lot of them. I can’t think off the top of my head. Probably the coolest one was with Mark Martin at Loudon, whenever that was.

Q. 1832?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: I don’t know, there’s certainly ones that I’ve stayed out and won. I won a race with Kyle at Phoenix staying out, so yeah. I could go through the Rolodex here, but there’s quite a few that’s happened. I won Dover with Chase staying out. How about that one? We’ve got a few.

Q. There was a restart where Chase passed like five cars in half a lap. Can you give us your perspective on that?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, I felt like that was kind of the moment in the race I was like, all right, we should win this race. Ultimately I didn’t feel like we were going to pass the 19 — sorry, 18 and 19 at the time on equal ground, so I wanted to get off sequence with them there, and when I did, not as many people pitted as I had hoped so we were a little bit further back, and he got back to what you’re referencing, fourth or fifth, in no time. I was like, this gives us a huge advantage.

I think it’s a testament to how good the 19 was. It really took us a long time to pass him, but then certainly we got past him, were able to track Kyle down in pretty quick order there. Yeah, that was a big deal. Restarts typically aren’t our forte and our strength, and Chase did an amazing job of that, and that was really kind of the first indication — I knew we were getting better, you just don’t know how good you are because we weren’t really in the best track position, and that was the first indication, I was like, all right, this thing is pretty good.

Q. Chase isn’t really known for that kind of aggression. Did that take your breath away a little bit?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: As far as, yeah, you’re like, here we go. Like you said, he’s not conservative at all, but he’s just a guy, he’s a very calculated driver and doesn’t put himself in bad positions. When I knew he had that much confidence in the car, then I knew it was that good.

Q. I know you’ve talked about points, but this gives you 13 playoff points and you’re tied with Byron and Chastain now for first, which I know is — you’ve still got nine races to go in the regular season, but where does that position you? Does it give you some confidence for the championship hunt?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, I just think it’s too early. Look, it’s good. You want to be the best at everything. You want to be the first in all the metrics that matter, and certainly that’s what we strive to do. But it’s just early. It’s just a long way to go. I don’t know that the landscape is right now how it’s going to be. We’ve just got to keep winning, accumulating points and put ourselves in the position to score as many points as possible and try to win the regular season and just stack them up. You don’t know. Certainly the Gibbs cars have been running a lot better, and who knows where it’s going to go in the future. We’ve just got to do everything we can to stay on top.

Q. I know it was in comparison to the fairgrounds when you had fears of a snoozefest here. What kind of racing do you feel like this track has given you guys, and was tonight exciting in that way?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: I like boring races that we lead every lap, so I’m probably the wrong guy to ask. That’s up to you guys to decide. I want to make it as boring as I possibly can.

Q. There’s been so much talk about this car can go to widely variant types of tracks compared to what you guys used to do. Obviously you won at Dover, you win here at concrete. Was this the same car? Were things able to carry over or was this a car that was run on the Bristol dirt or something?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: I have no idea to be honest with you. I don’t know. They’re all — we don’t look at them the way we used to and categorize them for certain types of tracks. It very well could have raced anywhere. I have no idea.

Q. Do you feel you are — where do you feel you are in understanding this car and able to calculate what to do in terms of adjustments or look ahead as opposed to just trying to react?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Yeah, I mean, it’s still early. We’re still learning things. I feel like we came here with a little bit different philosophy from what we’ve been running. We had the off weekend to kind of work through it, so this isn’t our typical package. It’s slightly different. It’s fairly different from Dover. I don’t know if it was better or worse, but it ran well.

Yeah, I think everybody — my fear is everybody, there’s not a ton of adjustment in the car, so everybody is going to kind of drive down into the bottom right corner. It’s just eventually everybody is going to get to a very, very similar place through experience and guys that are good at what they do.

I don’t know that we’ve tapped everything, all the opportunity to get the car to drive good or get an advantage, so we’ll keep working on it, but I hope that we can keep opening up new ways to get performance out of the car, because if not I think everybody is going to get pretty close pretty quickly.

Q. Is it too early to see trends, or is everything just bouncing from week to week and nothing makes sense yet?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: Well, I think everybody can draw their own trend line they want to. To me it’s not — just like there was tonight, there’s probably a legit pick your number, eight or so cars that can win the race, and the team that executes that the best and puts themselves in position at the end wins. I don’t feel like there’s really been a dominant car in a race all season really that I can think of.

Q. With the two long delays, how do you keep the team motivated and focused and the driver, as well?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: So the team, we just kind of came off a rough start, so everybody was pretty honed in. You just feel like you had just taken a beating so you were pretty much ready to avenge that.

For Chase, I felt like I needed to instill a little confidence in him that the car was improving and we were getting where we wanted to be. It didn’t take much, but I talked to him a little bit and just said, hey, with the way the car is driving, the way the lap times are and as ground as we made, even the restart when we went to the back before the rain delay, we had made some pretty good ground. I was like, look, we’ve got a really good shot here. We’ve got to stay focused. He’s pretty easy. It’s not hard.

But yeah, I didn’t want him to — I know he’s in the car and driving hard and things happen and it’s super easy to get frustrated and super easy to think things are going to go bad, and where he’s at obviously based on what he’s talking about he doesn’t know the whole story all the time.

I just wanted to make sure that he knew that hey, I was pretty confident we were going the right direction, we were going to be in position to do what we needed to do.

Q. He said on Friday he was saying how (indiscernible) uses his positive thinking —

ALAN GUSTAFSON: I love that. We talked about that a little bit today.

Q. He does not think he’s a positive thinker, so how is it not hard for you to rebuild his confidence?

ALAN GUSTAFSON: I don’t feel like I was rebuilding his confidence. I was just basically trying to say, hey, we’re not going to screw it up anymore, go do your job. That was kind of it. So my philosophy as a crew chief has always been the same. My goal is to always make the driver the weak link. If he’s the weak link, then I’ve done my job, the team has done their job.

With him it’s not an easy thing to do because he’s a pretty strong link and obviously other guys that I’ve worked with. So that’s what I try to do. That was a little bit more of what I was describing is I was trying to say to him, hey — the word I was going to use I’m not going to use. We’re done messing up and we’re going to get after it, so stick with us, bring your A game, all will be good.

THE MODERATOR: Alan, thank you for spending some time with us. We appreciate it. You are free to go.

The New Berlin, IL driver earned his 79th Series triumph, passing Josh Richards for most wins all-timeJACKSONVILLE, IL– JUNE 26, 2022 – In 2012, Brandon Sheppard etched his name into the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models history books—claiming his first Series win at Belle-Clair Speedway behind the wheel of his family-owned #B5 car. Behind the wheel of that same car, 10 years later, Sheppard earned himself another piece of World of Outlaws glory.  The New Berlin, IL driver, led the final 13 laps of Sunday’s Wild Man Kelly Classic at Jacksonville Speedway to earn his 79th career Series win—breaking the tie with Josh Richards for most wins all time. It’s a celebration the “Rocket Shepp” wouldn’t forget, as he rose from his car in Victory Lane, raising two fists into the air as the crowd let out a thunderous roar. After finding previous success at the track, Sheppard knew he’d have a car to beat at his home state venue. “Our car has been really good at Jacksonville every time we come here,” Sheppard said. “I’ve won the past two DIRTcar Summer Nationals races here. So, we were definitely excited to get the B5 out. “To break it out and win means the world to me and my family. There are so much and so many people that go into the B5 behind the scenes. It means the world to me to win, and to get the record in the B5 is pretty awesome.” Sheppard started fifth in the 40-lap Feature and slowly worked his way through the field, passing Shane Clanton for second on a Lap 19 restart.  He inched his way closer to Babb each lap before throwing a slider in Turn 4 to beat the Illinois veteran to the start-finish line—a pass worth $10,000. “I was really getting through both corners a little better than he was,” Sheppard said. “I showed him a little bit of the nose in the bottom of [Turns] 1 and 2 and pressured him a little bit.  “Then I got back up on top, and he bobbled once in 1 and 2, and I got close, and then he bobbled in three and four, and then I was able to get a good run and slide him. It was an awesome race.”   `            `Babb settled for second after leading the first 27 laps. The Moweaqua, IL driver, stated he had a good car, but the bobble in Turns 3 and 4 cost him his chance at a victory.  “It was just a good pass on [Sheppard’s] part,” Babb said. “I bobbled and opened the door for him, and he took advantage of it.  “It’s always a lot of fun coming here to Jacksonville to race with them guys. We were just pleased to death to be on the front row and lead some laps. We definitely haven’t had the best start to this year, but we’re getting things rolling, and it’s going upwards.” Clanton rounded out the podium, his fourth World of Outlaws top five of the season. While the Zebulon, GA driver, came up short for the win, he stated he had fun racing up front with Sheppard and Babb.  “This place is pretty fun to drive that cushion like that,” Clanton said. “Actually, you can run up on the wall a little bit. Overall, it was a good night, just didn’t quite have enough.” Tanner English, Sunday’s Fox Factory Hard Charger, finished fourth after starting 12th. While he stated he’s happy with his top-five finish, he knows the importance of putting an entire night together. “I dug myself a hole in Qualifying and I just had to dig out of it all night,” English said. “We had a good Heat Race. I was probably one of the only cars to pass anybody in the Heat Race. I don’t know how many people we passed [in the Feature] but it was a bunch. The car was pretty good, but like I said I just need to qualify better.” Jason Feger finished fifth, his third top five finish of the weekend. The Bloomington, IL driver worked his way through the field, before fading after something broke on his car.  “We don’t get to race here very much, but it seems we put on one heck of a show,” Feger said. “It was a little top dominant, and I had a really good car early, but right before the Lap 27 yellow, something was going on, and I couldn’t figure it out. “We had a piece of body bracing get loose, and it was underneath the right rear tire. I can’t believe it messed me up that bad, but it slowed me up just enough to where I was hanging on out there.” Dennis Erb Jr. finished ninth, extending his points lead for the third time this weekend. He leads by 148 points over Max Blair, who finished 11th.  Brandon Sheppard’s triumphant Victory at Jacksonville Speedway is a moment he’ll cherish for the rest of his career, celebrating with family and friends in Victory Lane. Sunday proved no matter what car he’s driving, a win on an Illinois bullring goes through the “Rocket Shepp.” UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models kick off their Northern swing with a trip to River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks, ND on Friday, July 15.  If you can’t make it to the track, watch all the action live on DIRTVision – either online on with the DIRTVision App. CASE Construction Equipment Feature (40 Laps): 1. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 2. 18-Shannon Babb[2]; 3. 25-Shane Clanton[1]; 4. 81E-Tanner English[12]; 5. 25F-Jason Feger[10]; 6. 11-Gordy Gundaker[3]; 7. 19R-Ryan Gustin[8]; 8. 15D-Justin Duty[16]; 9. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[15]; 10. 1-Josh Richards[17]; 11. 111V-Max Blair[7]; 12. 89-Ashton Winger[11]; 13. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[6]; 14. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[9]; 15. 99B-Boom Briggs[14]; 16. T6-Tommy Sheppard Jr[22]; 17. 77-Preston Luckman[20]; 18. B1-Brent Larson[21]; 19. 15-Kolby Vandenbergh[18]; 20. 38J-Jake Little[13]; 21. 11T-Trevor Gundaker[23]; 22. F1-Payton Freeman[19]; 23. 18M-Jimmy Miller[24]; 24. 3S-Brian Shirley[4] FOX FACTORY HARD CHARGER: Tanner English [+8].

The World of Outlaws Case Construction Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: Case Construction Equipment (Official Construction Equipment), DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider) VP Racing Fuels (Official Racing Fuel); contingency sponsors include Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, Fox Factory (Hard Charger Award), MSD, My Place Hotels, Penske Racing Shocks, Quarter Master, Slick Woody’s (Quick Time Award), Swift Springs, and Wrisco–Wieland Metal Services (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including Dirt Car Lift, Capital Race Cars, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, FIREBULL, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, K1 Race Gear, Racing Electronics, Reliable Painting, Rocket Chassis, and Sea Foam.Founded in 1978, the World of Outlaws®, based in Concord, NC, is the premier national touring series for dirt track racing in North America, featuring the most powerful cars on dirt, the World of Outlaws NOS® Energy Drink Sprint Car Series and the World of Outlaws Late Model Series. Annually, the two series race nearly 140 times at tracks across the United States and Canada. CBS Sports Network is the official broadcast partner of the World of Outlaws. DIRTVision® also broadcasts World of Outlaws events over the Internet to fans around the world. Learn more about the World of Outlaws.

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Team Dig Hard to Earn Top-15 Finish at Nashville Superspeedway

14th

20th

14th

“We got in a deficit early today at Nashville Superspeedway, but this Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road team climbed our way out of it. We were too loose to start the race, and that got us behind in Stage 1. We went a lap down but earned our lap back. From there, crew chief Justin Alexander made some great strategy moves to gain track position. Unfortunately, by the time we got up front our Chevy was too tight in the same places on the track that we were too loose earlier in the race. On a restart with four laps remaining, we knew that there would be a high likelihood of crashing. I just hugged the bottom of the track and dug. We raced from 18th to 14th. We were still just too tight at the end to make anything else happen.  It’s not what we wanted, but we dug hard.” -Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Team Finish 18th at Nashville Superspeedway

18th

16th

13th

“We finished on the upside today at Nashville Superspeedway, especially considering how our day was going to go with the damage that we got right before halfway. Our 3CHI Chevrolet had a high capability in it, and we saw that early on. Our race was looking very promising in Stage 1, but we made mistakes along the way. Our restarts in the first half of the race today put us behind, and ultimately played a roll in us running into the back of the No. 23 car on pit road. The damage we had from that collision put us in a very tough spot for the rest of the race, so to get an 18th-place finish out of our day with how it was looking mid-race, we should be satisfied. We’ll take it, move on, and get ready for Road America.” -Tyler Reddick

NASCAR CUP SERIES NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY ALLY 400TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES JUNE 26, 2022   TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER1st      CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL14th      KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 5th      ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1 11th    ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 14th    AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS / TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 15th    DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 TOOTSIES ORCHID LOUNGE CAMARO ZL1  TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS.  DRIVER1st      Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)2nd     Kurt Busch (Toyota)3rd      Ryan Blaney (Ford)4th      Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)5th      Ross Chastain (Chevrolet) The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, July 3, at Road America with the Kwik Trip 250 presented by JOCKEY Made in America at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on USA Network, the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.                                                                                                                                           TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Race WinnerWHAT WERE YOU THINKING WHEN THAT LAST CAUTION CAME OUT?“I was figuring that it was coming, but was hoping not. Ryan (Blaney) gave me a great shove and I appreciate him doing me a solid there in getting us out front. Just so proud of our team because we kind of had a setback there about halfway and we were able to get our NAPA Chevy dialed back in and get back in the mix. It was a long day, a fun day. Thank you guys so much for hanging out. Just so proud of our team. We have had a pretty rough month and month-and-a-half, so just nice to get going back in the right direction. Getting a win is always huge, but to do it in a really cool city like Nashville is even better. Looking forward to that guitar.” HOW DID THIS CAR COME TO LIFE AFTER THE RAIN DELAY?“We were able to work on it a little bit after the penalty and got it going a little better. My team just stuck with it. Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. They have been working really hard over the winter and through the spring to keep up. The engines have been running great and obviously great support from Chevrolet. I look forward to getting home and seeing my family; seeing mom and dad and hopefully enjoy it this week. These things are hard to come by and you have to enjoy them. You never know when or if ever you will get another one. So, super thankful and looking forward to next week.” KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4thEARLIER IN THE RACE YOU DIDN’T SOUND LIKE YOU HAD A LOT OF SPEED IN IT. WHAT DID YOU GUYS DO TO IT? THAT WAS AMAZING. “It was definitely better once the sun went down. I don’t know whatever changes they made to it, so proud of my guys for working hard and persevering. Didn’t have a lot of things work out for us there as we got caught a lap down and we had to take the wave around and drove from twenty-something to 10th there before the last caution. We stayed out and netted out a top-five. So proud of my No. 5 HendrickCars.comteam and proud of Chase Elliott too. That’s great for Hendrick Motorsports and everybody there. Everybody has been working hard and trying to figure out how to go faster and they were definitely the best of the four of us all weekend. Cool to see that he closed it out.” THIS WEEK YOU HAD TO WORK REMOTELY WITH CLIFF (DANIELS). DID THAT WORK OUT WELL OR WERE THERE ANY HICCUPS WITH THAT AND DID YOU HAVE A CHANCE TO CATCH UP WITH HIM DURING THE DELAY?“Yeah, all of us were virtually on together in the hauler and tapped into where he was, and we can talk. Adam and Kevin did a great job this weekend in leading this team. As far as Cliff, it really shows you how well he has prepared our team to face moments like we will these next four weeks. Everything I think ran really smooth. I am not sure how it went behind the wall with the crew and stuff, but from my seat it seemed like it went pretty smooth. I am sure there will be things we will tweak on and make even smoother, but I was overall pleased for the first time in my Cup career without my primary crew chief.” ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 JOCKEY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th YOU CAME DOWN AND GOT SOME TIRES AND YOU CAME BACK TO THE SAME SPOT YOU WERE WHEN YOU HIT PIT ROAD. TAKE US THROUGH YOUR NIGHT. “An incredible night for the No. 1 Jockey Chevrolet Camaro. Trackhouse Racing brought two incredibly fast cars and that was the right call to pit, but we just didn’t know that 10 people were going to stay out. If a few less stay out, we have got a shot. We got through traffic the best of all of us that pitted, so proud of that and proud of the effort. Incredible job on pit road tonight by our pit crew in picking up spots each and every stop all night. We just needed a little more to run with those top four, but we were definitely a top-five car. In the Cup Series, that is all I can ask for.” ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th“We definitely had our ups and downs today, but nice to rebound and get an 11th-place finish. We fought the handling of our FOCUSfactor Chevy early in the race and I felt like we were making the right adjustments to have a good day before the rain delay. Once we restarted, after 10-15 laps, the handling would go away and it was just hard to drive. We’ll keep learning and working to get better. Overall, a good finish that we’ll take with us in to next week at Road America.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS/TRACKER OFF ROAD CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 14th“We got in a deficit early today at Nashville Superspeedway but this Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road team climbed our way out of it. We were too loose to start the race, and that got us behind early. We went a lap down but earned our lap back. From there, crew chief Justin Alexander made some great strategy moves to gain track position. Unfortunately, by the time we got track position our Chevy was too tight in the same places on the track that we were too loose earlier in the race. On a restart with four laps remaining, we knew that there would be a high likelihood of crashing. I just hugged the bottom of the track and dug. We raced from 18th to 14th. We were still just too tight at the end to make anything else happen. It’s not what we wanted, but we dug hard.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY MUSIC CITY CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 51; Finished 36th “It’s frustrating to not be able to finish the Ally 400. Greg (Ives, Crew Chief) and everyone on the No. 48 team works so hard on these race cars and it’s unfortunate I wasn’t able to go compete for a win. We were just in the wrong place at the wrong time today. Greg threw the kitchen sink at the car and then we made two laps before getting wrecked, so it was tough to not be able to see if we would have found something on that stop. Huge thank you to everyone at Ally for putting on a great event this weekend. Ally goes all in on what they do and I’m glad they are all in on the No. 48 team.” TEAM CHEVY QUICK NOTESStage One:·       42 laps into the NASCAR Cup Series Ally 400 at Nashville Superspeedway, the race went under red flag conditions due to a lightning hold. ·       Following resumption of the race, a caution flew on lap 51 for an accident involving Alex Bowman. The No. 48 Ally Music City Chevrolet team brought their Camaro ZL1 to the garage for repairs, but expiration of the DVP clock forced Bowman to be done for the day. ·       Under that same caution, William Byron brought his No. 24 Valvoline Camaro ZL1 to the garage with steering issues. The No. 24 Chevrolet team was able to make repairs to his Camaro ZL1 and return to competition. ·       The 90-lap stage one saw two Chevrolet drivers score stage points in the top-10:Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 (6th)Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 (8th) Stage Two: ·       Precipitation brought the caution out on lap 119, with pit strategy coming into play throughout pit road. In that round of pit stops, the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet pit crew gained Tyler Reddick four spots on pit road, the most of the top-10. ·       Another lightning hold and rainfall brought the race to its second red flag at lap 138. The race was under red flag conditions for two hours, eight minutes and 35 seconds. The 300-lap race restarted at the halfway point with 150 laps to go. ·       Team Chevy Stage Two Top-10: Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1Ross Chastain, No. 1 Jockey Camaro ZL1 Post-Race Notes: ·       The win is Elliott’s 15th-career victory in 238 NASCAR Cup Series starts. ·       It also marks the sixth win of 2022 for Hendrick Motorsports; and the organization’s 286th all-time in NASCAR’s premier series.  ·       Elliott is now the fifth driver this season to become a repeat winner. ·       Elliott’s triumph is the ninth of the season for the Camaro ZL1, more than double its manufacturer competitors. ·       The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 823 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories.

NASCAR CUP SERIES

NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY

ALLY 400

TEAM CHEVY RACE WINNER NOTES & QUOTES

JUNE 26, 2022

CHASE ELLIOTT CAPTURED CHEVROLET’S NINTH WIN OF 2022 AT NASHVILLE

Camaro ZL1 Takes Three of the Top-Five

Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team scored their second win of 2022 at Nashville Superspeedway. 

·       The win is Elliott’s 15th-career victory in 238 NASCAR Cup Series starts. 

·       It also marks the sixth win of 2022 for Hendrick Motorsports; and the organization’s 286th all-time in NASCAR’s premier series.  

·       Elliott is now the fifth driver this season to become a repeat winner. 

·       Elliott’s triumph is the ninth of the season for the Camaro ZL1, more than double its manufacturer competitors. 

·       The winningest brand in NASCAR, Chevrolet now has 823 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories.

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1, Race Winner Quick Quote: 

WHAT WERE YOU THINKING WHEN THAT LAST CAUTION CAME OUT?

“I was figuring that it was coming, but was hoping not. Ryan (Blaney) gave me a great shove and I appreciate him doing me a solid there in getting us out front. Just so proud of our team because we kind of had a setback there about halfway and we were able to get our NAPA Chevy dialed back in and get back in the mix. 

It was a long day, a fun day. Thank you guys so much for hanging out. Just so proud of our team. We have had a pretty rough month and month-and-a-half, so just nice to get going back in the right direction. Getting a win is always huge, but to do it in a really cool city like Nashville is even better. Looking forward to that guitar.”

HOW DID THIS CAR COME TO LIFE AFTER THE RAIN DELAY?

“We were able to work on it a little bit after the penalty and got it going a little better. My team just stuck with it. Thanks to everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. They have been working really hard over the winter and through the spring to keep up. The engines have been running great and obviously great support from Chevrolet. I look forward to getting home and seeing my family; seeing mom and dad and hopefully enjoy it this week. These things are hard to come by and you have to enjoy them. You never know when or if ever you will get another one. So, super thankful and looking forward to next week.”

Avedisian Leads All 30 Laps in CB Industries #84 to Beat Crouch/Denney/McIntosh

JACKSONVILLE, IL – June 26, 2022 – In her 43rd attempt, Jade Avedisian finally broke the barrier and claimed her first-career National Midget victory on Sunday night at Jacksonville Speedway.

The 15-year-old rising star has enjoyed success with USAC and POWRi, but her most memorable moment to date now belongs with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota. The Clovis, CA native earned the outside pole of Sunday’s Feature and dominated the whole thing, leading from start to finish in the CB Industries #84.

Climbing out of the car to a standing ovation from the Jacksonville, IL crowd, the young lady was left speechless following the biggest win of her career.

“I don’t even know what to say right now,” Avedisian thought. “I was telling myself please just don’t plug it in the fence on that last lap. I can’t thank this team enough for never giving up on me. I tore u a lot of stuff this week, but we’re walking away with a big win. This is a surreal feeling. I’ve always wanted to stand on top of a Midget and celebrate like that.”

In controlling all 30 laps of Sunday’s show, Avedisian joins Gavan Boschele and Taylor Reimer (pending a Cannon McIntosh appeal) as the first three winners in the brief history of the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota.

Brenham Crouch of Lubbock, TX recorded his Xtreme Outlaw career-best with a second-place finish aboard the Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports #97. He started on the pole of the 30-lapper, but fell to second off the start and found himself enamored in a race-long war with Cannon McIntosh for the runner-up bid as they allowed Avedisian to sneak away.

Also earning his first podium finish with the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets was Jacob Denney, who drove the Mounce/Stout #61 to an impressive third-place effort in his debut effort with the Series.

Cannon McIntosh, who is currently appealing the penalties assessed from his Millbridge victory, capped off his Illinois SPEED Week championship with the POWRi National Midget League by finishing fourth at Jacksonville. Local hero Jake Neuman of New Berlin, IL closed out the top-five in his Xtreme Outlaw debut.

Rounding out the top-10 on Sunday was Zach Daum of Pocahontas, IL, Bryant Wiedeman of Colby, KS, Joe B. Miller of Millersville, MO, Kaidon Brown of Sydney, NSW, and Jace Park of Overland Park, KS.

Xtreme Outlaw Midget Feature Results (30 Laps) – 1. 84-Jade Avedisian; 2. 97-Brenham Crouch; 3. 61-Jacob Denney; 4. 08-Cannon McIntosh; 5. 3N-Jake Neuman; 6. 9M-Zach Daum; 7. 01-Bryant Wiedeman; 8. 51B-Joe B. Miller; 9. 97-Kaidon Brown; 10. 87-Jace Park; 11. 25K-Taylor Reimer; 12. 08X-Trey Gropp; 13. 56-Mitchell Davis; 14. 7U-Kyle Jones; 15. 83-Dominic Gorden; 16. 5-Gavan Boschele; 17. 19M-Ethan Mitchell; 18. 26-Chance Crum; 19. 72J-Sam Johnson; 20. 40-Chase McDermand; 21. 21K-Karter Sarff; 22. 21E-Emilio Hoover; 23. 06-Rylan Gray.

UP NEXT (August) – The inaugural Xtreme Outlaw campaign will take a summer break before resuming with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on August 5-6.

at NHRA Summit Racing Equipment Nationals

• Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Top Fuel pilot Leah Pruett drove her Dodge Power Brokers dragster to their strongest eliminations performance of the season to date by advancing to the semifinals at the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Summit Racing Equipment Nationals near Norwalk, Ohio
• From her 15th place starting spot on the eliminations ladder, Pruett upset No. 2 qualifier Justin Ashley and beat No. 7 Steve Torrence on her way to her first semifinal appearance of the season
• With this weekend’s performance, Pruett and the Dodge Power Broker dragster moved into the Top Fuel championship standings’ top-ten as the team prepares for the western swing that begins in Denver, Colorado, with the Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals July 15-18.
• TSR Funny Car pilot Matt Hagan qualified his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat among the top-five positions on the eliminations ladder for a ninth time this season 
• Hagan’s second quarterfinal finish of the year wasn’t quite enough to keep him atop the Funny Car points standings but he remains in second place x points behind rival and event winner Robert Hight within 
• Defending Funny Car winner at Norwalk, Cruz Pedregon qualified his Snap-on® Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat in the top half of the eliminations ladder for the tenth time this season and advanced to his team’s eighth quarterfinal appearance of the year

June 26, 2022, Norwalk, Ohio — Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Top Fuel pilot Leah Pruett recorded her strongest performance of the season to date aboard her Dodge Power Brokers dragster with a semifinal appearance at the 15th annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Summit Racing Equipment Nationals near Norwalk, Ohio, the tenth of 22 Camping World Drag Racing Series events this season.

After four qualifying runs put her 15th on the ladder, Pruett kicked off eliminations by upsetting No. 2 qualifier Justin Ashley with her quickest pass of the weekend. She lined up her Dodge Power Brokers dragster against Steve Torrence in the quarterfinals, was quicker on the launch, and put in another solid run to stay ahead of her competitor at the finish line with a 0.0172-second margin of victory to advance.

Pruett’s opponent for her first semifinal appearance of the season was No. 3 qualifier Mike Salinas who had the slight advantage off the start as she lost traction right at the hit of the throttle. While disappointed by the loss, her performance this weekend put her back into the top-ten in the Top Fuel standings and has her looking forward to getting her 11,000 horsepower Dodge//SRT HEMI®-powered machine back on track in July for the first of three western swing events that begin with the Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.

In Funny Car action, the category points leader heading into the weekend, TSR driver Matt Hagan, qualified his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat among the top-five positions on the eliminations ladder for a ninth time this season. His lap of 3.917 seconds at 329.91 mph put him fifth on the qualifying timesheet and set up a first round match-up with No. 12 seed Tim Wilkerson. 

Looking to repeat his 2018 winning performance at Summit Racing Equipment Motorsports Park, Hagan staged his HEMI-powered Funny Car next to No. 12 seed Tim Wilkerson for the opening round and made a solid pass to advance while his opponent lost traction at the start.

The Dodge Power Broker Funny Car moved on to the quarterfinals where Hagan faced off against No. 4 qualifier Bob Tasca III, but saw his ride lose traction early in the run which brought the day to an earlier end than has been the case after advancing to the final round six times in ten events this season to date. The quarterfinal result, combined with Hagan’s closest championship rival Robert Hight’s eventual event win at Norwalk, meant a drop to second place in the standings but just 21 points behind the new points leader.

Winner of last year’s Funny Car Wally trophy at Norwalk, Cruz Pedregon was looking to defend that performance as he qualified in the top-half of the Funny Car eliminations ladder for a tenth consecutive event this season by taking his Snap-on® Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat for a 3.960 seconds lap to put him in the eighth spot. Pedregon also earned an extra bonus point in qualifying for recording the third quickest elapsed time lap in the first session of the weekend.

In his opening elimination round pairing with No. 9 seed Chad Green, Pedregon hit the throttle first and never looked back with a 3.972-second lap that wasn’t far off his qualifying time. That set up a quarterfinal battle against No. 1 qualifier Ron Capps in which Pedregon’s 3.982 sec./323.50 mph run wasn’t quite enough to beat his opponents 3.974/327.59 winning effort. The team’s eighth quarterfinal performance of the season keeps Pedregon fifth in the Funny Car standings.

The NHRA returns to action July 15-18 near Denver, Colorado, where Dodge//SRT and Mopar will mark their 33rd season as title sponsors of the Dodge Power Brokers Mile-High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway, the longest continuous event sponsorship in motorsports history.

ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES:

Leah Pruett, Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel Dragster 

(No. 15 Qualifier – 3.862 seconds at 313.58 mph)

Round 1: (0.058 -second reaction time, 3.776 seconds at 327.98 mph) defeats No. 2 Justin Ashley (0.050/3.852/317.49)

Round 2: (0.062/3.798/325.61) defeats to No. 7 Steve Torrence (0.075/3.802/327.51)

Round 3: (0.076/6.062/135.36) loss to No. 3 Mike Salinas (0.063/3.822/296.89)

“Advancing to the semifinal was a long time coming and it didn’t come easy. Even though we were consistent in qualifying with our 0.86’s, we kept trying to go faster and the car was going slower. This entire year, the car has been very conversational and very reactive to what we ask it to do. This whole weekend, it was not cooperating. We were trying to throw more at it and it kept slowing down. It hung on there through the first two rounds. I’m very proud of all of my guys bolting this Dodge HEMI together. They are quality men with quality parts and great decision making skills. I’m proud of myself for being up on the wheel. 

“My takeaways are yes, we get excited about some round wins, but we didn’t get overzealous. We are highlighting how we got to this point and we will also be highlighting why we smoked the tires in the semifinal. We didn’t think we were too far over center, but we got a better handle on going rounds. Being in the top ten right now, we are good at clinching onto what we know and moving forward with momentum. We will do the same thing with the points. This was very needed on all parts – for morale, attitudes and performance of the car. It was an awesome weekend to do it in our Dodge Power Brokers dragster as we brokered it to the semifinal.”

Matt Hagan, Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car  

(No. 5 Qualifier – 3.917 seconds at 329.91 mph) 

Round 1: (0.070-second reaction time, 3.948 seconds at 322.65 mph) defeats No. 12 Tim Wilkerson (0.058/8.509/104.92)

Round 2: (0.064/4.876/173.45) loss to No. 4 Bob Tasca III (0.046/3.941/327.27)

“Having qualified fifth this weekend, we had a good race car. We are just trying to gather more data in the heat. Dickie Venables (crew chief) always has a great handle on what he’s doing and the decisions to make next. I know he’s always got a great game plan. Once we get out to Denver, we’ll be doing the Dodge Drive Event on Wednesday and Thursday, so we’ll have a long and productive weekend to start the western swing. 

We’ll be changing up our entire combination and use the one we had last year when we won at Bandimere. We will take what we learned here and tuck it away until we get to another hot race track with similar conditions and we can apply the knowledge we learned this weekend in the Dodge Power Brokers Funny Car. All in all, it’s tough when you’ve been on such a roll to go out in the second round a couple of times in a row, but that is drag racing. We will keep digging and growing and building our data to move forward.” 

Cruz Pedregon, Pedregon Racing Snap-on® Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat

(No. 8 Qualifier – 3.960 seconds at 281.30 mph) 

Round 1: (0.063-second reaction time, 3.972 seconds at 316.75 mph) defeats No. 9 Chad Green (0.117/4.056/302.55)

Round 2: (0093/3.982/323.50) loss to No. 1 Ron Capps (0.038/3.974/327.59)

NHRA CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS STANDINGS:

Following the Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals at Bristol Dragway

FUNNY CAR (season wins in parentheses)

1.   Robert Hight 929 (4)

2.  Matt Hagan (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat): 908 (3)

3.  Ron Capps: 829 (2)

4.  John Force: 655

5.  Cruz Pedregon (Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat): 561

6.  Bob Tasca III: 517

7.  J.R. Todd: 509

8.  Alexis DeJoria: 490

9.  Tim Wilkerson: 443

10. Chad Green: 408

TOP FUEL (season wins in parentheses)

1.  Mike Salinas: 821 (3) 

2.  Brittany Force: 809 (3)

3.  Steve Torrence: 712 

4.  Justin Ashley: 711 (2)

5.  Austin Prock: 513

6.  Josh Hart: 509 

7.  Shawn Langdon: 467 

8.  Clay Millican: 462

9.  Doug Kalitta: 459

10. Leah Pruett (Dodge Power Brokers): 417

DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News

Fans can follow all the NHRA action this season at DodgeGarage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag-racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise. For more information, visit www.dodgegarage.com.

@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram

The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers on the track. Fans can see action from the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers, competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.

NORWALK, OH (June 26, 2022) — Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team had a breakout weekend at the NHRA Summit Equipment Nationals racing to a runner-up finish, jumping to sixth place in the Top Fuel point standings and building much needed momentum as the tour heads to the back half of the season. Hart powered his 11,000-horsepower R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster to the No. 4 position on the qualifying ladder on the strength of his 3.744 second Friday night qualifying pass. Hart parlayed that excellent position into wins over Spencer Massey, Austin Prock and Brittany Force on race day before dropping a close final to points leader Mike Salinas.

In his third career final round and first final of the 2022 season Hart felt that his R+L Carriers team needed to get back to the basics and take a page from their success last year.

Josh Hart final round with R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster, photo by Auto Imagery

“I would say we have definitely turned a corner,” said Hart, who also has two semifinal finishes this season. “I am just going back to what I did last year and just trying to have fun. I believe all good leadership comes from the top. The owner of R+L Carriers told me I was forgetting an important thing. I was forgetting to have fun. That is what we did this weekend. We went out and had fun.”

The first round win over Massey was secured before Hart hit the throttle with Massey jumping the tree and red-lighting. The R+L Carriers dragster made its second quickest run of the weekend with a solid 3.756 second pass to get its first win light of the day.

In the quarterfinals Hart with a great light and the power to hold on for a hole shot win. His 3.813 second pass got him to the finish line stripe first against Prock’s quicker 3.808 run. Hart’s stellar .038 reaction time was the difference maker. Prock had the lead at half track, but then he dropped a cylinder and Hart drove back around him for the win. It was the first time Hart and Prock had faced each other in eliminations and the win moved Hart to the semifinals against Prock’s teammate Force.

Fans outside Josh Hart pits area during Norwalk Nationals, photo by Auto Imagery

Once again Hart grabbed a starting line advantage and never trailed for the win. Hart made his quickest pass of race day to reach his third career final round. The 3.750 second pass gave the driver from Ocala, Florida, lane choice over Salinas. The back-to-back wins over Prock and Force did not phase the independent team owner.

“I don’t care who is in the other lane,” said Hart. “It is easy to get wrapped up on the big names with unlimited budgets. We are not quite there yet. I just have to run my own race and do my thing in my lane.”

Shortly after the semifinal runs a short rainstorm blew through Norwalk delaying racing and Hart’s momentum for approximately three hours. The NHRA Safety Safari did a masterful job of prepping the track for the finals and Hart versus Salinas closed out the professional show. A fourth win light would have moved Hart into fifth place in the Top Fuel point standings. Salinas was first off the line and he posted a 3.706 second run against Hart’s 3.786 second effort.

While Hart did not collect the win his weekend was a success considering how impactful the time he spent with representatives from R+L Carriers was. In addition to having the R+L Hometown Showcase mobile display on site Hart hosted hundreds of R+L employees and guests at the track.

“We had over 400 people here through R+L Carriers. It was just a great weekend signing autographs and talking to them about career opportunities. It has been amazing,” said Hart. “It is kind of a blessing and a curse (to have so many guests). That stuff doesn’t bother me. I was very blessed to have those people around me and it actually calms me down. With R+L Carriers it is a genuine product that everyone uses so it is easy to talk about it.  Really believe in the product.”

Hart and the R+L Carriers team are only four points out of fifth place as the tour heads to Denver, Colorado for the NHRA Mile High Nationals at Bandimere Speedway.

Qualifying Results

Q1: 3.888 sec, 299.80 mph; Qual. 10

Q2: 3.744 sec, 322.58 mph; Qual. 4

Q3: 4.403 sec, 184.77 mph; Qual. 4

Q4: 3.823 sec, 315.49 mph; Qual. 4

Bonus Points: 0

Race Results

First Round

Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., R+L Carriers dragster, 3.756, 323.50 mph def. Spencer Massey, Haltom City, Texas, Commercial Metal Fabrication dragster, DQ - red-light 

Second Round

Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., R+L Carriers dragster, 3.813, 323.66 mph def. Austin Prock, Pittsboro, Ind., Montana Brand dragster, 3.808, 321.81 mph

Semifinals

Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., R+L Carriers dragster, 3.750, 328.94 mph def. Brittany Force, Yorba Linda, Calif., Monster Energy dragster, 3.783, 329.02 mph

Final Round

Mike Salinas, San Jose, Calif., Valley Services, dragster, 3.706, 333.58 mphdef. Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., R+L Carriers dragster, 3.783, 325.37 mph

Camping World Drag Racing Series Top Ten – Top Fuel

1. Mike Salinas                                          821

2. Brittany Force                                      809

3. Steve Torrence                                     712

4. Justin Ashley                                         711

5. Austin Prock                                         513

6. Josh Hart                                               509

7. Shawn Langdon                                   467

8. Clay Millican                                          462

9. Doug Kalitta                                          459

10. Leah Pruett                                         417