NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500 TEAM CHEVY ACCIDENT QUOTES FEBRUARY 18, 2023

Erik Jones, No. 43 Guns N’ Roses Camaro ZL1 Jones on the accident that ended his race early: “It was hard to tell. It looked like the No. 45 (Tyler Reddick) got turned around, but I couldn’t see how it happened. Regardless, we spun out there on the bottom when I was trying to get around it and then I got hit on the left side hard enough to take out the left rear and end our day.  It is what it is. We were up there; we were racing and we were doing all we could. We were just in the wrong spot at the wrong time. I wish we could have been a little ahead of him.”  Are you surprised the first on-track came at the end of Stage Two? “No, not really. Everybody was racing hard, but everybody was doing a good job of just keeping in line and doing what they needed to do. There were a couple of moments.. a couple of aggressive and bad pushes, but nothing that was too crazy. I don’t know what sprung that one off, but I thought everybody was doing a good job at that point. It started to get pretty aggressive up until that wreck and I was getting antsy about being up there and getting into something. We were kind of in a bad spot in the pack to get caught up in something. But yeah, I wasn’t surprised it took that long.” Obviously, it’s a superspeedway, so there’s not a ton you can take from this weekend. But what did you learn this weekend that you can apply for when we get to either Atlanta (Motor Speedway) or Talladega (Superspeedway) later on? “I thought our No. 43 Guns N’ Roses Chevy was good, it just needed some more speed. We had it driving pretty good, but just didn’t have it quite fast enough. I was having to carry a lot of throttle for too long to stay up and be aggressive with the pack with the pushes the way I wanted to, so we need to get a little more speed out of it moving forward. Hopefully we can find a way to do that.”

McCreadie awarded Big GatorBARBERVILLE, FL – (Feb. 18, 2023) – When the smoke settled, spectators were left in awe of another historic rocket sighting in Florida.They weren’t looking to the sky, though. The mesmerizing visual took place in Barberville, FL with the “rocket” landing on the front stretch of Volusia Speedway Park Saturday night.While hearts around the track took a breath to ease their rapid pace from the excitement, Hudson O’Neal climbed from his Rocket1 Racing machine, slapping his hands on the roof, and exhausted all the air in his body with every yell as confetti levitated around him.The 22-year-old from Martinsville, IN won his first World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model race during the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals finale and became the 100th different winner in World of Outlaws CASE Late Model history.“It’s cool,” O’Neal said. “I came really close to winning these World of Outlaws races and for some reason never can seal the deal on them. To do it in the fashion we did and to be able to do it, it’s cool. It’s just more to do with Mark (Richards, owner of Rocket1 Racing) and the history that he has with the Outlaws. It’s special. This is a day I’ll never forget, I promise you.”O’Neal’s space in Victory Lane was shared with 2006 World of Outlaws CASE Late Model champion Tim McCreadie, who clinched the 2023 Big Gator championship with his fourth-place finish. The Watertown, NY driver put together finishes of second, first, first, third and fourth to lock up his second Big Gator trophy.Like O’Neal, McCreadie also made history as he became the first driver in the event’s history to win two Big Gator titles in two divisions. His first came with the Super DIRTcar Series in 2018.“It’s pretty cool,” McCreadie said. “Not a lot of guys go out and venture to do something different. My whole career is about, ‘Hey, let’s go try and do something and have some fun with it and see if I’m good enough to overcome not knowing what to do with a different type of race car.’“Hasn’t always worked out, but to come down here (at Volusia Speedway Park) and get a couple of these (Big Gator trophies) with all these fans here, that’s pretty cool.”When the 50-lap, $20,000-to-win, Feature initially lined up, the easy bet seemed to be on McCreadie, who drew the pole. O’Neal, buried in 23rd after transferring in through a Last Chance Showdown, seemed far out of reach for a successful takeoff.At the drop of the green flag, McCreadie launched ahead of the field, while outside pole sitter Chris Madden slid back to fourth in the first corner, moving Brian Shirley into second and Brandon Overton in third.The first caution of the night came at Lap 3 for a slowed Mason Ziegler. In that short amount of time, O’Neal was already up to 12th-place.Once the race resumed, McCreadie left Shirley and Overton to argue over second place. Six laps later, he found the back of the field. The straightaway led he had over Shirley was cut to a few car lengths in two laps.Finally close enough to make a move, Shirley dove under McCreadie into Turn 1 on Lap 19, nosing ahead of him by the center of the corner. However, the #39 had the better run around the top of the track and gapped Shirley’s #8 car by a car length off Turn 2.O’Neal was up to eighth.By the halfway point of the race, Madden had found his groove again and moved into second. A caution on Lap 29 for Mike Spatola stopping in Turn 4 brought the current Series points leader to McCreadie’s rear bumper.At this point, the firing of the thrusters on O’Neal’s machine could be heard as he sat fourth in line on the restart.Shirley and Madden wagged a war for second before Shirley began to master the top and try to run down McCreadie for the lead. However, again, he failed. That opened the door for “The Mailman” Devin Moran to make his trek forward, bringing “Huddy” with him.While McCreadie was caught behind Jimmy Owens, Moran dove underneath the former Outlaw champion and snuck ahead of him to claim the lead on Lap 42. After another circuit around, O’Neal also worked his way underneath McCreadie to take second.Staying within reach of Moran, O’Neal moved to the top of the track while Moran hugged the bottom. When Moran had to wait on the throttle exiting Turn 4 with a lap car ahead of him, O’Neal hit the hyperdrive and blasted around the outside of the #99 to take the lead on Lap 45.Moran tried to keep pace, but O’Neal ran a perfect trajectory to the checkered flag.“To be honest, we took the green and I rode the middle and I felt like I could steer a little bit better than everybody could,” O’Neal said. “I started rolling around there and catching that middle and started driving by some guys stacked up on the bottom and the first caution came out [three] laps in and I looked up and I’m running 12th. I thought, ‘Oh man, starting 12th is a whole lot better than starting [23rd],’ and we had a lot of laps left.“There for a while I was passing them, and I stalled out about fourth or so there and I just thought I don’t know if I have anything for them or not. I used my stuff up hard trying to get there. I don’t know, man, sometimes things just workout. Tonight, was one of those nights.”In addition to the milestone marks of O’Neal’s triumph, he also won the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award, rocketing his way from 23rd to first, and became the fourth different driver to win for Rocket1 Racing.“It means a lot, we’ve always been a big supporter of the World of Outlaws,” Richards said. “(O’Neal) makes the fourth driver to win for us. Bart Hartman won World of Outlaws races for us. Brandon (Sheppard) and Josh (Richards) won World of Outlaws races over the years. He’s starting a new chapter for us.”That chapter will always be remembered as another unforgettable “rocket launch” in Florida.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series continues its 2023 season at Smoky Mountain Speedway, March 3-4. For the full 2023 schedule, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch all the action live on DIRTVision.RESULTSCase Construction Equipment Feature (50 Laps): 1. 1-Hudson O’Neal[23]; 2. 99-Devin Moran[8]; 3. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[20]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[1]; 5. 76-Brandon Overton[7]; 6. B5-Brandon Sheppard[18]; 7. 44-Chris Madden[2]; 8. 32-Bobby Pierce[5]; 9. 8-Brian Shirley[3]; 10. 111-Max Blair[9]; 11. 18D-Daulton Wilson[11]; 12. 40B-Kyle Bronson[15]; 13. 19R-Ryan Gustin[13]; 14. 12-Ashton Winger[28]; 15. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[25]; 16. B1-Brent Larson[22]; 17. 9-Nick Hoffman[27]; 18. 18-Chase Junghans[12]; 19. 11-Gordy Gundaker[26]; 20. 25-Shane Clanton[6]; 21. 99B-Boom Briggs[29]; 22. 22*-Payton Freeman[30]; 23. 96V-Tanner English[14]; 24. 20-Jimmy Owens[17]; 25. 17M-Dale McDowell[19]; 26. 99JR-Frank Heckenast Jr[24]; 27. 49-Jonathan Davenport[4]; 28. 76N-Blair Nothdurft[16]; 29. 89-Mike Spatola[21]; 30. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[10]

The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: CASE Construction Equipment (Official Construction Equipment), CASE No.1 Engine Oil™ (Official Oil and Lubricant), DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), Toyota (Official Vehicle), and 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), Low-E Insulation, MSD, Penske Racing Shocks, Quarter Master, Swift Springs, and Wieland Metal Services (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, Capital Race Cars, FIREBULL, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, Racing Electronics, Reliable Painting, Rocket Chassis, and Sea Foam.

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT FEBRUARY 18, 2023

AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 16 NUTRIEN AG SOLUTIONS CAMARO ZL1, was the fastest Chevrolet driver in the NASCAR Cup Series final practice. Press Conference Transcript:  AJ Allmendinger was the fastest Chevrolet in the NASCAR Cup Series final practice before the Daytona 500. AJ, tell us a little bit about your car and what you’re looking forward to tomorrow.“It was pretty easy to be the quickest Chevy… I think there was only three of us that went out there. It’s been good. We decided yesterday not to practice just to kind of fine tune everything. There were only a few things that we wanted to try. I felt like in the Duels, we never got the track position, but the car had pretty good speed in it. So, more than anything, it’s me just trying to learn the techniques of this car on the superspeedway because I didn’t run any of the (Cup) races on superspeedways last year.  Overall, I feel like it’s pretty good. It’s going to just be more about learning during the race tomorrow with 40 cars out there; how the car is reacting. It will be a little bit warmer than today. How the tires start to slide around and stuff with that many cars around you. I’m pretty happy with everything. We’ll be ready to go tomorrow. It’s really cool to have Nutrien Ag Solutions on the car; moving up to Cup with me. It’s been a great partnership with our race team for the past several years now, so for them to come to the Cup side with me means a lot. It’s really cool to have them here.” Based on what you’ve learned about the car so far, have you developed a strategy for tomorrow?“I think as we’ve all seen, it’s hard to get a third line working around here. In the past, I was always one of those guys that would kind of just sit back early on in the race and just let it develop. Some of it, at those times, maybe I didn’t quite have the speed to consistently run up front. So it was more about trying to time when to get up front and stay there at the end of the race.  With this car, I feel like you have to have more track position early on. So with 100 laps to go – I think 60 to 70 to go – you need your track position. It’s hard to try to get back up there. What I fought in the Duel was I felt like we were pretty decent, but it’s just hard to make moves. So I think trying to get up front however we do that and obviously trying to stay there, especially after halfway, is going to be really critical. The cars in traffic get aero-tight. Obviously we see when you’re pushing, if you push the wrong way, it’s tough. So it’s going to be a challenge tomorrow, but I think just trying to get up front early and hopefully stay there is probably the best thing.” You’ve done this before. You’re no stranger to this week, but it’s been five years. Is the emotion different coming back to the Daytona 500 now compared to where you were in 2018. “No, I mean I’m always nervous. As soon as I get here, I feel the nerves right when I drive into the tunnel. It’s like as you land and drive into the tunnel, the nerves and anxiety builds up a little bit, which is a great thing because it should be like that. This is a special race to be a part of. I don’t take it for granted. I hate superspeedway racing; but with that said, when they would drop the green every year over the last five years, there was a piece of me just missing it. I feel very fortunate and lucky to be in this position and have this opportunity again. The nerves have built up over the week. I’m sure I’ll struggle to sleep tonight and wake up tomorrow and basically hurry up to get to (driver) intros. There’s a lot that goes on in the morning for all the drivers, but hurry up and get to intros and get inside the car because the nerves will definitely be there. Once you start the engine, it’s go-time.” Both times you’ve ran third here, you started deep. You start deep again tomorrow.. is that a good omen? “The race is long enough; it doesn’t matter where you start. As I said, the track position is more critical, but if you have a fast car, you can still work your way up there. I think it’s more that you have to pick and choose when you do it because if you kind of go for it and you get kind of tossed to the back, it’s a lot harder to get back up there now. But yeah, if it’s meant to be and we make the right moves – there’s so much luck that goes into this too. You just try to make the right moves and if a wreck happens and you’re part of it, that is what it is. You just don’t want to be the cause of the wreck. That was always my mindset. We’ll be ready to go. I’m so pumped to be back here. This is a great race for all of us to be a part. We should all feel lucky enough that we get to do this.” When you approach three-wide situations, how do you really react to that knowing there’s not a lot of room for error? “Yeah, I mean these cars stall out really easy. So I think if you’re trying to start the third lane, you have to have a massive run. You can’t just pop out and hope a couple of guys go with you and make it work like the old car. This car, you have to make a run; have a big head of stem and generally know that guys will go with you. If you get stuck in the middle three-wide, you have to be careful, especially later in the tire run. But it’s all part of it.” When you compare the energy of the crowd here at Daytona versus other tracks, what do you find to be a lot more stimulating knowing the history of this track? “It’s one of the biggest races we have in the world.. the Daytona 500. I feel like if you’re not a motorsports fan, you can still say certain races and they get what it is. You say the Indianapolis 500, they know what that is. You say the Daytona 500, they know what it is. You know if you win the race that you become a part of a legendary group that has won the Daytona 500. You feel that in the crowd, too. The people here – even the people that are first timers that have never been here and are just learning what racing is – they know what the Daytona 500 is. You feel that energy as soon as you wake up tomorrow morning. This place is packed. It’s sold out – infield, grandstands. Not that drivers need any more reason to be pumped up to race the Daytona 500, but you feel the energy in the crowd and that just gives it a little bit more.” Simulations are great, but can you learn anything from watching previous finishes here? “Yeah, I’ve watched a lot of in-car and race footage from last year. Just trying to get an understanding of how the runs formulate and what you have to do to put yourself in the right position. But in the end of the day, it’s great to watch all of that and put that in the notebook and the mind, but you have to feel it. You have to be in that position. As we’ve seen many of times with this race, there’s no one way or another to win it. It’s great to be the first car leading off of turn four and we’ve seen people lose it that way. I felt like Austin (Dillon) did a great job last year because they had a big run on him and he did what he had to do to win the race. But yeah, you put all of those notes in your head; but at the end of the day, it’s different every time you’re a part of it. I’ve always said – you make what you think is the best decision in the moment and after, you can always nit-pick on whether it was the right decision. But you give yourself the best opportunity to make that decision. If it works out, it works out.” The past few days, several of us have had the opportunity to make single-car runs in the Racing Experience cars and figured out what you guys do behind the wheel is probably a little more difficult than what we give you credit for in the past. But how do you guys keep the cars settled without basically bouncing all over each other? “Well we’re paid not to wreck, so that’s the ultimate goal to try not to wreck (laughs) and it hurts if you do. It’s a challenge. You make a single-car run, a lot of people can do that wide open. It’s not hard to do. I will say in this car, it was a little more difficult. They bounce around a lot more in qualifying. But yeah, you get three- or four-wide, that’s why we’re supposed to be the best of the best.” Going back to the trust factor that we hear you guys talk about, with who you’re racing around..“We don’t trust any of each other.. let’s be honest (laughs). We know who is maybe a little safer and who’s a little more aggressive. But let’s not lie to each other, we don’t trust anyone out there.” It’s no secret with Kaulig Racing’s Xfinity program, the team’s been dominate at Daytona and Talladega in recent years. How much have you been able to carryover from the Kaulig Xfinity results to prepare for the first multi-car Cup Series run in the Daytona 500?“The Cup Series is such a challenge; it’s difficult. That’s the point of it. There are 40 of us out there and we’re the best of the best, and that’s why we’re in those seats. It’s a lot more challenging.  A lot of it also goes with ECR, Chevrolet and all of our partners that help us get to that point of why our stuff is so fast on the Xfinity and the Cup side of it. But yeah, it’s a lot more difficult.  I think in the Xfinity Series, part of it is – in complete honesty – there’s not as many good cars in the race, and because of that, you’re able to get a lot of cars that want to hookup with you because they know your car is fast and they just want to go with you. So sometimes it’s even easier to make moves. Although, by the end of my Xfinity side of it, the field figured out they didn’t want the Kaulig Chevy’s linked up together because – whether it was Justin (Haley), myself, and Ross (Chastain); or Ross and Justin; or Jeb (Burton), Daniel (Hemric) and Landon (Cassill) – part of the culture is that we’re all in it together to try and win the race. In the end of the day, sure, you want to be the guy that wins the race. But it sets the tone with Matt Kaulig and Chris Rice and on down the line, that we’re helping each other. I think we showed that constantly in the Xfinity Series. It’s a lot more difficult in the Cup Series. There are a lot of four-car teams that are all really good, so it’ll be a lot more challenging. But myself and Justin (Haley) work so well together, so if we’re upfront, we know we’re going to help each other. Of course we want to be the one that wins the Daytona 500, but if Justin wins and I follow him across the line, I’m taking just as much pride in that as if I’m winning. That’s still the culture and that’s what we’re going to try and do.”

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

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 84 CARVANA CAMARO ZL1, was the fastest car overall in the first practice session in advance of the Daytona 500. Press Conference Transcript –  While you’ve been away, there’s been a lot of wrecks in this race at the end. How do you see that.. have we evolved to almost anything goes in the last 10 laps or not? “I think the blocking is probably one of the biggest issues, and it’s also one of the most important things to get right to maintain track position. I think that’s what’s changed the most from the years that I’ve been a Cup driver is the late blocks and the aggression of the blocks. We’ve had variations of pushing and being able to slam draft, bump draft, whatever it might be. The cars still don’t really like that. I was able to do some of that tonight and get a feel for it. You still need a pretty delicate touch to pull it off. I think that’s what happened last night with the No. 8 car and the No. 99. Just too much energy and just gets the car toggling from side-to-side and around it goes.  I don’t think it’s intentional. I don’t think the crashes at the end of these races are that you’re not trying to crash someone. You’re trying to win, right? So you’re trying to block to protect; you’re trying to shove somebody to make your lane go. It comes from a good place, but sadly it tears up a lot of race cars.” Do you have any sense that people might help you more because if they push you to the win, it doesn’t impact the Playoffs? “I don’t think anybody is visualizing the win just yet. I think you’re still trying to figure out who you’re going to work with; who can receive a push, who can push well, who has speed. I certainly helped myself today by being in that fast Chevy pack and working with my old teammates. But when it comes to the last lap, it’s every man for himself. I don’t expect anyone to cut me any slack.” At Media Day, you hadn’t really been in the car, expect for your test out in Phoenix for a day or so. Now that you’ve had a race in this new car and have had practice in this new car, what do you think of it? Does it remind you of anything you’ve driven before in your career?“I would say 70 or 80 percent of it is still a stock car and still the draft here. So the large majority of it is familiar; the large majority of the experience. I’m remembering little details as I make laps and get into the zone that – yeah this works or doesn’t work. Turn four is always tricky. Pit lane entry, pit lane exit, blend line.. all the details are coming back and it’s still really there. That will help you run in the middle of the pack. But to win the race, you have to be on your game. That’s the part I’m still trying to refine and why I ran every lap I could just now. And I plan to again tomorrow and then still a ton of learning to come in the race itself.” Do you like the way the car feels?“It drives like a stock car. It doesn’t drive like an INDYCAR, thank god.. we know how that went (laughs).” I’m sure as a veteran, you’ve had plenty of young people in your time come up and ask for advice or tricks out on the track. Have you found yourself this week asking any of the younger drivers or current Cup drivers for advice? “Yeah, I’d say leading into Phoenix and then coming here. I did sim for both of them. I spent a lot of time in the shop with Erik (Jones) and Noah (Gragson), just asking questions. Noah was at the track in Phoenix, as well as Erik, obviously driving, so I’ve been able to really lean on those two. They’ve joked a little bit about the fact that they’re giving me so much and they thought it would be the other way around. But honestly with the new car and where the speed hides in this new style of car – setups, driving style, experience you need to really manhandle it – I’ve been all ears listening to them. They’ve both been very helpful.” What is something specific that a Noah Gragson can teach or tell Jimmie Johnson? “When we’re sitting there with our hands – doing all the hand talk that drivers do – in those conversations about like where the weight is sitting when you go back to the throttle; how the car might slide. This car seems to hop a lot when the rearend starts to slide across the track, which is new. I noticed that in the sim preparing for Phoenix that there was like a rear tire chatter and then the car would get loose. And I thought it was just something in the sim and maybe not the way the experience would be in real life, and then I got to Phoenix and found out that was the case. I think Conor Daly last night had the extreme that we all saw. I don’t know how he has feeling in his teeth still (laughs). So that would be one specific, kind of technical piece, that I’m trying to get used to.” Is this one of those cases of the more things change, the more they stay the same, in reference to you being on top of a speed chart in a Cup Series car? Is this a case of with it really being your first, true weekend in a Next Gen car, that you don’t necessarily have any ‘bad habits’ to unlearn because you haven’t really experienced all of this until now?“Yeah, I honestly think it’s too early to read far into this. It is plate racing. That was just a practice session. We didn’t make any mistakes and did some things right to end up where we did. The other races we’ll run – once we’re able to figure out what those races are – we’ll see how I stack up. If it’s a short track, a mile-and-a-half, road course, whatever it might be.. those are all different, unique challenges that come with it.  For plate racing, I think that we have a really good driving race car. I think the Hendrick cars have a bit more speed from anything I saw out there on track, which qualifying is pretty obvious for that. But it’s just still early and anything can still happen. I’m glad to be in here. I’m glad we’re at the top of the board and not at the bottom. I’m sure the headlines would read a little differently if we were on the other end of it.” You were side-by-side with the No. 48 out there. What was just the emotion of that.. was it weird or was it just another car?“Seeing him wasn’t weird, but having my spotter say the No. 48 car was outside of me was really weird. Two or three times, I had to remind myself because I really thought it was me when I’m hearing the No. 48. I’m like – yeah, I’m here.. why are you telling me the No. 48 is next to me (laughs). I have not driven the No. 48 car since I left that No. 48 car, so that part was different. But from a visual standpoint, I’m used to seeing Alex (Bowman) in the car and that part was fine. But through my ears, hearing about the No. 48, threw me off.” You mentioned still trying to figure out what the rest of your schedule is going to look like. From the ownership standpoint, is it important for you to have their answer in the races that you’re running, just to better understand the feedback from the drivers and what they’re going to need moving forward? “Yeah, there are many ways to look at the races I run. Right now, kind of our pecking order is of course finding sponsorship for the car. And then secondly, what is going to not hurt the team – from a work load standpoint, car count and aspects that go with that. And then it is to help the other two cars. Once we get six months into this and I think we can staff up accordingly, get our inventory right and kind of catch our breath from the busy offseason we’ve had – we can maybe shuffle the prioritization of those. The goal, ultimately, is to have the No. 84 car really help the other two cars. Help really drive technology and really be a performance reason as to why it’s on-track. We’re just not there yet, but that’s kind of in our 12 month forecast.” We got a look today at the Garage 56 Camaro. What do you think of that car, that project, that opportunity? “I’m thrilled to be a part of it and what a fun car. I’m sure you saw some of the specs for it – how much lighter the race car is, the downforce that’s on it, the carbon brakes, paddle shifting – it really is fun to drive. I’m so thankful to be part of the program. I literally leave here Sunday; drive in a rental car over to Sebring to do a 24 hour endurance test with the guys. It’s going to be a busy couple of days of driving.” What do you need to do to prepare for Le Mans?“Obviously, the testing that we’re doing is one piece of it. But the rules, flags, there’s a lot of things that are different in the way they officiate for that particular event. I have to go over before the race and spend a day in the simulator to learn where their flagman stations are, what their flags mean. There are some pit road procedures that I need to be aware of and pay attention to. So I’ll head over a few days early to go into their simulator to drive that.  And then at home, I’ve just been using my sim rig and doing a bunch on iRacing. I’ve been out in the Corvette GT car and I’ve put only prototypes out that are faster than me. I’ll put as many as they’ll give me.. it’s usually around 60-70 cars on track, just so they’re chasing me and overtaking me. Every time I’ve been in a sportscar race, I’ve been in the fastest division and have not had to worry about my mirrors, and I’m really concerned about that. I want to make sure I’m leaving a lane when I need to and know what’s coming behind me, and I’m using iRacing to do that.” With the thunderbirds, where does that experience rank for you? “Yeah, that’s probably near the top. I’ve never felt anything like that; the adrenaline, the acceleration. The first thing we did is we got off the runway and picked up the gear and did a performance turn to 10,000 feet. Instantly, I had to practice the heavy-g breathing that they talk to you about. It’s just wild. Just the weight of your body and the experience of pointing that thing in the sky; they roll it over and turn and all kinds of stuff.  It was great. I was really worried about getting sick and I’m happy to report that my ‘get sick’ bag was empty. I did not get sick during the ride, so that was super good. But I did take a little nap. We pulled 9.1G’s and I blacked out. I came to sitting in the back wondering where I was, what was going on. It was wild because I couldn’t hear anything and I’m looking around like – what am I doing in an airplane? And then I could hear somebody say ‘Jimmie.. Jimmie.. Jimmie’, and then it got loud and I’m like ‘yeah!’. They were like, ‘hey, you’re back.. I think you took a nap’. I said, ‘I believe I did.. I have no clue where I am or what I’m doing right now (laughs)’. That was wild.” Hearing about the No. 48 in your ear – did Earl say ‘new leader No. 84’ today? “He’s with Noah (Gragson).” Oh, you gave Earl up? “I did. It wasn’t an easy decision to make, but wearing my team owner hat and knowing the experience that Earl has and what he can share with Noah (Gragson). Noah started talking to me about Earl before we announced that I was going to be a part of the team. Neither Earl or Noah knew what was going on. I just sensed it was the right thing to do, so I was like – yeah, I don’t know what my racing is going to be next year.. you guys put that deal together. And then I was able to call them both and say – hey, now you get it.” Who spots for you? “Jesse Vaughan. He was, I believe, the backup No. 11 car spotter on the Cup side, and has done Truck, Xfinity and ARCA a bunch.”Does he know the rules, that he has to say ‘new leader, No. 84’?“No, I’m not going to put that pressure on him. That’s an Earl-thing. We’ll see what he says. He didn’t say that tonight, though. He says ‘dude’ a lot, which I can relate with that. I’m not sure where he’s from, but I’m used to hearing ‘dude’ (laughs).”

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

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

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

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

TICKETS: CLICK HERE

Event Highlights:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

EVENT INFO: CLICK HERE

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

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

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

February 17, 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

By Nick Graziano

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

February 16, 2023

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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