In-race contact impacts both DXDT and AWA Corvettes in tough street fight LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 12, 2025) – Two separate rounds of contact ruined the days of the two Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs at the Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday in a rough-and-tumble race on the streets of southern California.

AWA’s Matt Bell and Orey Fidani finished 13th in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s GT Daytona (GTD) class with the No. 13 entry, the highest-finishing Corvette. Meanwhile, the No. 36 DXDT Racing Corvette of Tommy Milner and Robert Wickens placed 15th after a late-race pitstop to repair damage with the Z06 GT3.R running sixth at the time. The DXDT Corvette – equipped with a hand-controlled electronic brake system from Bosch – was one of the biggest stories of the Long Beach weekend. It enabled Wickens to make his first start in the WeatherTech Championship, and for a while it looked like it could be a dream result.  Wickens began eighth but picked up a spot before what was to be the team’s only pitstop with a little more than an hour left in the 100-minute race. A quick exchange and full-service stop had Milner back out in 10th place. The Corvette factory driver wasted no time in moving through the field by advancing four spots in less than 15 minutes before settling into sixth place. He made a clean pass on the inside of the tight Hairpin Turn that leads onto the front straight but appeared to get locked up with another car out of the corner, which pulled away the Corvette’s left-rear bodywork. Series officials required the DXDT team to pit the Corvette with 16 minutes left in the race. AWA”s race took a big hit – literally – much earlier. Fidani started 11th after his best qualifying effort in his second year with the No. 13 Corvette and was solidly in 10th place before another GTD car tried to divebomb him, which pushed the AWA entry into the tire barriers.  The team lost a lap with a resulting pit stop to inspect the Corvette, which suffered minor bodywork damage that still impacted the balance of the No. 13 for the balance of the race. Undeterred, Fidani and Matt Bell drove their way back onto the lead lap by the end of the race. The Corvette Z06 GT3.R’s next race in IMSA is May 9-11 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in Monterey, California.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-RACE DRIVER QUOTESMATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Not the race we were hoping for. Obviously Orey’s start and the first part of stint was phenomenal. I think that was his best performance in the car, and that gave us all a lot of confidence that we could go forward in the second half of the race. Unfortunately a rogue maneuver from one of our competitors put Orey in the wall and a lap down. That ruined our race. The team did a great job on the strategy to get us back on the lap, which in a 100-minute race is almost impossible. So great job by them reacting to that. We were still at the very rear of the field, and it’s hard to come through around here. I managed to gain one place but unfortunately that’s all I could do. It’s a shame, really.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Things started off well. It looked like it was going to be a positive day until it wasn’t. Unfortunately I got sent off into the wall which put us down a lap. We managed to get that lap back but it just wasn’t enough today. It’s tough but we’ll go onward and upwards into Laguna.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “A frantic first couple of laps there out of the pits. I was fighting with a lot of cars that came out of the pits with me and fighting with cars that did the one-lap overcut. So there was a lot going on there. Honestly, it felt like those first 10 laps felt like 50 laps with how much stuff happened, but we were able to come out ahead of them and then focus on the next two cars in front. The pace of the Corvette was strong, for sure. I think we had kind of what we thought from the beginning – we had a car that could compete for the win. Maybe we weren’t quite as quick as the Porsche but in any case we had a quick car. I caught the two Mercedes and all that was fine. Then I came up on the 96 BMW and it was just good racing. As has been the case all year long, we just don’t have the straight-line speed and the drive off the corner that almost everybody else does. So racing is difficult for us. “I think he got balked big time into Turn Eight and I had a nice run on him going into Nine. I stayed close to him through there and then just was peeking around in 10. We were strong there, I could tell already and was in pretty good position to make a difficult pass, no question, in the Hairpin. I thought my braking point was fine. My entry speed was okay. I think, as is the case there, it’s hard to go two-by-two and he turned in because he needs to. I don’t think he did anything wrong really. We just made side-to-side contact and I think we just kind of got hooked together. I’ll have to see video to know for sure, but that’s what my feeling is. “Unfortunately, that was a big problem for us. We had to come in and fix it. It’s unfortunate for the DXDT team… kind of seems like this is how their year has gone a little bit so far. They’ve been really promising for a good part of the race and then something kind of hurts them a little bit toward the end, and that happened again today.”Removing that and looking back on the weekend, I think there’s a lot of positives about what happened… getting Robbie in the car and comfortable in this hectic environment. There’s no more hectic environment than a Long Beach Grand Prix weekend with one day of practice and qualifying and then racing. From my perspective, I think he did an excellent job this weekend in the most difficult conditions at the most difficult track that he’s gonna experience this year. To me there was nowhere where he lacked anything. He had pace, he has the racecraft. He’s for sure is gonna want more and more time and experience. I think he’s going to have a darn successful year this season.”

ROBERT WICKENS, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m disappointed with the result, but I am proud of what we achieved. It definitely wasn’t the end to the weekend that we wanted. Qualifying dictated the weekend for us, unfortunately. We knew it was going to be a track-position race. Qualifying was not what we deserved; we know we had more speed than that, but it is what it is. This is a competitive championship, and we did what we could in the race. “I kept the car clean and gave it to Tommy, and he got out in P10. I think our driver change wasn’t quite what it needed to be. We lost some track position, but then Tommy drove his heart out. He got us up to P5 and was making things happen. It was awesome to see. Unfortunately we had to come in and make a repair after Tommy took fifth. I think that was a little harsh, but there is nothing you can do when race control gives you a black flag for repairs. “There are a lot of positive takeaways from the weekend. We proved we belong here, that we can be competitive. The Bosch hand-control system worked flawlessly, DXDT Racing gave us a great Corvette. The car was very good all weekend and I feel like we had one of the cars to beat. We just couldn’t maximize it, and that is what hurts right now.”

LAS VEGAS (April 12, 2025) — Rookie Funny Car driver Spencer Hyde raced to the win today in the Funny Car Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hyde powered the Head Inc Funny Car to the winner’s circle on a tricky track that saw him post solid elapsed times in in his Funny Car also backed by Hyde Construction, Red Line Oil and Dordan Mechanical. Hyde qualified for the specialty race on the strength of his semifinal finish at the historic NHRA Winternationals two weeks ago. In the final quad Hyde outran Cruz Pedregon, Matt Hagan and Chad Green to collect the $10,000 cash prize and three important championship points. His efforts throughout qualifying also netted him No. 3 qualifier, the highest starting position of his career.

Spencer Hyde with winners check for Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge,
photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

“Winning today’s Mission 2Fast2Tasty Challenge was pretty cool,” said Hyde, driver for Jim Head Racing. “We had a little rough start to the season. We didn’t qualify in Gainesville, didn’t qualify in Phoenix, but we put that behind us for a great outing in Pomona going to the semifinals to get into this race. This weekend we were low of two or three of the sessions and we won this deal. I am pretty happy with that. I am getting more comfortable in the car and getting some big, clean runs is huge.”

Hyde’s winning elapsed time of both races today 3.968 seconds at 318.54 mph in the final and 3.985 seconds at 314.61 mph in the first round were quickest of all the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge quads. In the final Hyde was pulling away from the field when his engine expired just before the finish line. With cash and points on the line Hyde kept his foot on the throttle securing the win.

Spencer Hyde and the Head Inc Funny Car raced to victory in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge race,
photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

“That’s the first time I blew up at the finish line,” said Hyde. “That was exciting. I have a really good group of guys back in our Head Racing pits. It might have dropped a hole out there. I don’t know. It started sounding a little weird, and I didn’t see anybody, so I kept my foot in it, so hopefully the body is not hurt too badly. The guys can get it fixed up and ready for tomorrow. Winning today was a pretty awesome deal.”

As a rookie driver Hyde was asked about his mental approach in his first final round environment. Hyde has won races in a variety of classes including the highly competitive and challenging Pro Mod class. He also has competed in Top Fuel at the NHRA national event level. He was open about how he looks at racing in the Funny Car class as a rookie.

Hyde with Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge trophy at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway,
photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

“I tried to think of the final as a qualifying round, even though I knew it was a race,” said Hyde.  “I just went up there thinking it was just another qualifying round. It’s the same thing I do for the first round of any race.  I try and not let race day get in your head. You have to go up there and do your thing. I’m still getting comfortable in this Funny Car.” 

Hyde also receives support from a number of companies in the US and Canada. The rookie driver is quickly becoming a rising start on the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. This weekend he was a featured driver on the NHRA Nitro stage and also visited a number of suites for private autograph sessions.

“We are lucky to have the support of Head Inc an d Hyde Construction along with Red Line Oil,” said Hyde. “We also get support from Dordan Mechanical, Brysonwood Homes, Engineered, Racing Services, RR Sand & Gravel, Permanent Paving, ARB LABS, OpenPath, and RACERSCLUB. Everyone of these companies contributes to every win light. I really appreciate all their support.”

In the opening round of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge Hyde finished first outrunning Cruz Pedregon, Daniel Wilkerson and Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals eventual No. 1 qualifier Paul Lee. Hyde’s winning time of 3.985 seconds gave him lane choice in the final quad. 
Tomorrow in the first round of the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals. Hyde, the No. 3 qualifier, will face No. 6 Hunter Green, No. 11 Dave Richards and No. 14 Buddy Hull. Final eliminations will start at noon PST and the race will be broadcast on FS1. For more information or tickets visit www.nhra.com.

First Round Results

First Quad
1. Matt Hagan, (RT) .070, 4.127 sec, 275.45 mph
2. Chad Green, (RT) .086, 4.196 sec, 272.06 mph
3. Bobby Bode, (RT) .074, 4.938 sec, 163.43 mph
4. Jack Beckman, (RT) .080, 5.609 sec, 126.71 mph

Second Quad
1. Spencer Hyde, (RT) .112, 3.985 sec, 314.61 mph
2. Cruz Pedregon, (RT) .150, 3.990 sec, 319.14 mph
3. Daniel Wilkerson, (RT) .092, 4.450 sec, 196.62 mph
4. Paul Lee, (RT) .082, 5.691 sec, 110.01 mph

Final Round Quad
1. Spencer Hyde, (RT) .102, 3.968 sec, 318.54 mph
2. Cruz Pedregon, (RT) .149, 4.002 sec, 325.37 mph
3. Matt Hagan, (RT) .081, 4.210 sec, 245.76 mph
4. Chad Green, (RT) .088, 4.559 sec,  207.66 mph

No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R paces contingent with fourth place at Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 12, 2025) – The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R advanced three positions from its starting spot to lead the Cadillac Racing Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) contingent with a fourth-place finish in the 50th Grand Prix of Long Beach. The No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R picked up two positions to place sixth, while the sister No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R gained three spots to place seventh in the 11-car lineup for its best showing in three IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races this season. Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber – along with Frederik Vesti for the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring – have combined to gain 12 positions in the past two races and finish just off the podium both times in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R.

Most GTP cars visited pit lane during a full-course yellow 20 minutes into the 100-minute race for energy and the mandatory driver change. Quick work by the Action Express Racing crew got Bamber, who spelled Aitken behind the wheel of the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R back on the 1.97-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit in fourth place. Bamber, who was making his 75th IMSA start, remained within striking distance of the pole-winning No. 24 BMW M Team RLL entry in third place over the final 54 laps, closing to .580 of a second with 20 minutes left. Bamber recorded his best lap time on three consecutive laps, including 1 minute, 13.229 seconds with 11 minutes on the clock. But with limited overtaking spots on the tight circuit, Bamber was resigned to the spot just off the podium. The No. 6 Porsche Penske Motorsport entry won the race. Long Beach and Detroit on June 1 are the only 100-minute and street course races on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule. Of note: The qualifying time for the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R was reinstated a few hours after the official time sheet was posted Friday. The No. 31 GTP initially incurred a penalty for working on the car (changing tires) in qualifying and the lap times were disallowed. According to IMSA: The regulation was improperly applied and in short order rescinded.  Media resources: Photos for editorial use | Cadillac Racing IMSA 2025 statistics | All-time statistics

Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing and Cadillac Whelen will participate in a test with one GTP car each next week at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in preparation for the May 9-11 race. Cadillac Racing swept the front row in qualifying in 2024 and finished second and fifth. Jordan Taylor-Louis Deletraz placed fourth and Ricky Taylor-Filipe Albuquerque finished sixth with another manufacturer. Action Express Racing first-year endurance driver Frederik Vesti will sit in for Earl Bamber in the No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R at the Laguna Seca test and 2-hour, 40-minute race. Bamber will co-drive with Sebastien Bourdais and Jenson Button the No. 38 Cadillac Hertz Team JOTA V-Series.R the same weekend at Spa-Francorchamps. Said Vesti: “The preparation for Laguna Seca has already started and the test days will be part of that. How can we improve? What can we do to perform better on that circuit? I’m looking forward to getting back in the car.”

What they’re saying No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.RFilipe Albuquerque: “Overall, I would say a hard weekend. We were not strong in qualifying and in the race we moved up but based on the mistakes of the other guys. P6 is a surviving result for us. Not really happy about the performance. On our side, we just need to learn the car and be more competitive.” Ricky Taylor: “It was our first sprint race of the year and got through with no damage. I think the team learned a lot again. Unfortunately, I feel like we’re just a half a step behind each time we go on track, and every time we leave the track we say we wish we had one more session. I think that was the case again this weekend. I think if we had found what we found in qualifying a half a session earlier we would have qualified better and we would have put ourselves in better position for the race. At the end, I think we showed pace at times. Had we been in the mix, we could have salvaged maybe a top five. I think there’s progress and we’re looking forward to Laguna, which is longer race where we can strategize more and do our thing.”No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R Jack Aitken: “The start was a little hectic as always at a street circuit, but I kept the position and was hanging on to the coattails of the cars in front of us. The pace was pretty strong and when it came to that early yellow we decided to get the driver change and stop out the way early and try and make it to the end from there much like the rest of the field. I think if we’d been in a situation where there was another pit stop sequence, we might have been in in a position to challenge the guys in front. But passing on track is nearly impossible here, so Earl did a great job bringing it around and managing the fuel. Top five on a weekend when we didn’t look our strongest, I think it was a good result. It’s solid points and got a clean car at the end of it, so it’s good work for the championship.”  Earl Bamber: “I think the team did a fantastic job. Whenever you start here seventh and finish fourth, with a clean car or not a mark on it, I think that’s a pretty good day. I’m gutted for the team that we just missed a podium. I had one chance at it, but I thought he’d probably force me in the wall but he gave me the room, and he would have the inside for the next corner anyway. A great team result, great work in the pit lane. Now we just need to look ahead to Laguna for these guys. It’s a great working with Jack, Fred in for the next one, so I think sooner or later we’re going to get some podiums and we’ll get a win.” No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R Louis Delétraz: “Good points today. Not the result we want, but we had a clean race, no mistakes. We kept learning and improving, so that’s a positive. We will take all that to Laguna Seca and go get some silver because it’s time for it.” Jordan Taylor: “For the race, we could have taken some risks for strategy. But once that first yellow came out, it kind of took that out of play. The name of the game from there was trying to not making mistakes and trying to capitalize on other people’s mistakes. Not our best weekend, but we go to test at Laguna next week, so hopefully we can learn some things there for the rest of the year.”

Earns 60th career No. 1 qualifier in hopes of a repeat Four-Wide Nationals win

LAS VEGAS (April 12, 2025) – In the final quad of qualifying, Doug Kalitta put down a 3.730 elapsed time to take home Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win and the No. 1 qualifier in Top Fuel for tomorrow’s Four-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The qualifying result for Kalitta is his 60th career No. 1 qualifying position, and second of the 2025 season, as he goes for a repeat win in the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals. The Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win by Kalitta keeps Toyota and Kalitta Motorsports’ challenge win streak alive to begin 2025 as Shawn Langdon won the first two events of the season.

Antron Brown earned the Top Fuel No. 3 seed after a 3.787 time in the last session, followed by Steve Torrence in fourth, Justin Ashley in eighth and Langdon in 11th to round out the Toyota Top Fuel Dragster lineup for Sunday. 

In Funny Car, J.R. Todd led the GR Supra Funny Car contingent, earning the No. 4 seed for Sunday’s eliminations. The result is Todd’s best qualifying effort so far in the 2025 season as he goes for career win No. 22 on Sunday. Ron Capps earned the 10th seed with a clutch 4.055 run in the final session to get him into the field. Bobby Bode will start as the 13th seed tomorrow.

Eliminations from The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway begin tomorrow at 3 p.m. EST, with live TV coverage on FS1 at 6:30 p.m. EST.

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series

NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Race 4 of 20

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponents
Doug Kalitta	Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	1st	J. AshleyC. Millican
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	3rd	J. SalinasS. LangdonS. Palmer
Steve Torrence	CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	4th	T. StewartR. PasseyS. Chrisman
Justin Ashley	SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	7th	D. KalittaC. Millican
Shawn Langdon	Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	10th	A. BrownJ. SalinasS. Palmer

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponents
Paul Lee*	McLeod Racing Funny Car	1st*	D. WilkersonB. Tasca IIIC. Green
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	4th	J. Beckman M. HaganB. Bode
Ron Capps	NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	10th	A. ProckC. PedregonJ. Rupert
Bobby Bode	DC Motorsports GR Supra Funny Car	13th	J. ToddJ. BeckmanM. Hagan

*= Non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DOUG KALITTA, Mac Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, Kalitta Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 1st

How cool is this Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge win, the third for Kalitta Motorsports so far this year?

“Yeah, we have a great team that Connie (Kalitta, team over) has put together. Brian (Husen, Shawn Langdon’s crew chief), Alan (Johnson, crew chief), all of the guys. We’re trying, it’s tough out here! Tony (Stewart) had a great reaction time against us on that one (last qualifying run). They’re all hungry to knock us off. Just super excited. Mission Foods does a great job out here with the NHRA. We appreciate them. Mac Tools, Toyota. They sure help me a lot on my car. Hats off to everyone that helps us, and we’ll see what happens for tomorrow. We won last year, so might as well get after it again tomorrow.”

J.R TODD, DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car, Kalitta Motorsports

FC Qualifying Result: 4th

How would you assess these two days of qualifying and what is your view for tomorrow?

“We made four really good runs (in qualifying) all weekend. Spun the tires down the track in Q3, but all-in-all, my DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car has been really consistent so far this weekend. That’s kind of been the name of the game this season, just creeping up on the tune up with Dickie (Venables, crew chief) coming onboard and changing the setup of the car. Kind of taking it run-by-run and learning as we go. I feel like he’s getting a better handle on it as we’re four weekends in now. That consistency is what it’s going to take to win tomorrow.”

April 12, 2025 — LONG BEACH, CA

• Kyle Kirkwood took pole in a dominant performance for Honda’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES teams
• Colton Herta lines up second, locking out the first row for Andretti Global
• Honda-powered cars go 1-2-3-4-5 in Honda’s home race

Kyle Kirkwood will lead the field to green for the 50th running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach as part of a Honda sweep of the top five starting positions in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES field.

This result is Kirkwood’s second pole at Long Beach, in 2023 he also started at the front of the field and led 53 laps en route to his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory—part of a Honda 1-5 sweep at the checkered flag.

Kirkwood will line up alongside his Andretti Global teammate, Colton Herta, on the front row. Championship leader and winner of the first two races of the 2025 season, Alex Palou, and 2024 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach polesitter, Felix Rosenqvist, will make up the second row. While the third Honda-powered Andretti Global car of Marcus Ericsson rounds out the top five for Honda at their home race.

Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Honda Qualifying Results

•  1st Kyle Kirkwood
•  2nd Colton Herta  
•  3rd Alex Palou  
•  4th Felix Rosenqvist  
•  5th Marcus Ericsson
•  7th Marcus Armstrong
•  14th Scott Dixon   
•  16th Graham Rahal  
•  17th Kyffin Simpson   
•  20th Louis Foster-R   
•  23rd Devlin DeFrancesco 
•  25th Rinus VeeKay  
•  26th Jacob Abel-R 

Andretti Global Honda
Andretti Global Honda
Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Meyer Shank Racing Honda
Andretti Global Honda
Meyer Shank Racing Honda
Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
Chip Ganassi Racing Honda
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda
Dale Coyne Racing Honda
Dale Coyne Racing Honda

R – Rookie

Quotes
Kyle Kirkwood (#27 Andretti Global Honda) qualified first: “Amazing day for Honda and Andretti Global. A front row lockout for us in the #27 and #26 cars and just a great day for Honda power—top five here at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. This is a huge result for us as a team, a huge result for Honda, and it gives us a great starting spot to give ourselves the best chance of winning here tomorrow. Should be a great one!”

Colton Herta (#26 Andretti Global Honda) qualified second: “Happy to be starting on the front row for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. I think we have some really strong cars here at Andretti Global and locking out the front row gives us a great shot tomorrow.”

Alex Palou (#10 Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) qualified third: “Not number one today, but P3 for tomorrow. It’s a top five with all Honda, that’s pretty amazing. It’s a solid qualifying for us. You always want more, and we felt like we were going to be fighting a little bit more, but it was good! It was fun out there and to fight. We just missed it a little bit. Great job by Honda locking out the top five and for us, starting third, it’s a great opportunity to decide on a strategy and have a clean race and move up. The #10 DHL Honda has been amazing so hopefully we can get the win tomorrow.”

Honda at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

• Honda has scored 17 victories on the streets of Long Beach—starting with Jimmy Vasser in 1996 and most recently with Scott Dixon just last year.
• Other Honda-powered winners at Long Beach include Alex Zanardi (1997-98), Juan Pablo Montoya (1999), Paul Tracy (2000), Helio Castroneves (2001), Michael Andretti (2002), Dario Franchitti (2009), Ryan Hunter-Reay (2010), Mike Conway (2011), Takuma Sato (2013), James Hinchcliffe (2017), and Alexander Rossi (2018-19), Colton Herta (2021) and Kyle Kirkwood (2023).

Where to Watch

• Television coverage of Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach starts at 1:30 PM PT / 4:30 PM ET on Fox. Complete, flag-to-flag race coverage also will be available on the INDYCAR Radio Network, and SiriusXM INDYCAR Nation (Channel 160).

NASCAR CUP SERIES BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING REPORT APRIL 12, 2025

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 STARTING LINEUP:POS.     DRIVER1st – Alex Bowman2nd – Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 3rd – Kyle Larson8th – AJ Allmendinger 9th – Carson Hocevar10th – Justin Haley

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

·       For the second time this season, Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team will lead the NASCAR Cup Series to the green flag from the pole position. Posting top-10 speeds on the final practice leaderboard, the 31-year-old Tucson, Arizona, native went on to lay down a best lap of 14.912 seconds, at 128.675 mph, in his Chevrolet to earn the pole position for tomorrow’s Food City 500.  ·       The pole – Bowman’s seventh all-time in his NASCAR Cup Series career – marks his second in the division at “The Last Great Colosseum”, with the Hendrick Motorsports driver also earning the pole in the series’ most recent visit to the Tennessee venue in Sept. 2024.  ·       Bowman’s pole-winning effort marked Chevrolet’s fifth NASCAR Cup Series pole of the 2025 season; the manufacturer’s 41st all-time at Bristol Motor Speedway; and its 758th all-time in NASCAR’s top division – all of which are series-leading feats.  ·       Four different Chevrolet organizations earned top-10 qualifying efforts for tomorrow’s 500-lap race, with Hyak Motorsports’ Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and the No. 47 Chevrolet team earning their season-best qualifying effort of second to give Chevrolet a sweep of the front-row. Joining their fellow Chevrolet teammates in the top-10 includes Hendrick Motorsports’ Kyle Larson in third; Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger in eighth; and Spire Motorsports’ Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley in the ninth and tenth positions, respectively. 

Chevrolet’s all-time NASCAR Cup Series statistics at Bristol Motor Speedway:  Wins: 47Poles: 41Top-Fives: 222Top-10s: 464Chevrolet’s season statistics heading into the ninth race of the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series Season Wins: 2Poles: 5Top-Fives: 16Top 10s: 36Stage Wins: 5

Alex Bowman, No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet – Pole Win Press Conference Quotes  Do we have any clue what we’re about to experience going into tomorrow, or are you and us all as clueless as we were going into last spring?“I think all signs point to a race like this spring. We started practice with rubber already on the racetrack from the Xfinity cars, and peeled it right up, and sawed the tires right off. So, yeah, confusing why we’re doing it again when we didn’t do it in the fall. I don’t think the weather — obviously it’s really cold today, but I don’t know. It’s going to be warmer tomorrow, so maybe that changes it. It’s really difficult to say. I think it’s going to be like that, but we’re going to find out together, I think.” What did you see as the key on your qualifying lap? Was it going out early and having the cooler conditions, or something you found on track?“Honestly, it really wasn’t the best lap for me. I kind of over-slowed entry to (turn) three, I thought. So, yeah, just probably going out early. Typically, this place trends that the later cars are faster. But, you know, obviously today’s scenario with tires are vastly different than what the racetrack is doing. So, yeah, hard to say. Certainly was watching the clouds there at the end… there were some big clouds coming. The 24 and the 11, guys that tagged the wall at the very end, I knew they were going to be good. So, yeah, happy that it held on.” Alex, you said it’s a little bit of Deja vu towards last spring. There are a lot of new guys in this field. Jesse Love, for instance, making his first start. What is the conversation to a guy like that who, one, hasn’t been in a Cup car at this level on this track before, and two, has to deal with these tire wear issues?“Yeah, so I think we’re all much more prepared than we were last spring. We all saw it in practice last spring, and we were like, ah, it won’t be that way. We see that in practice in a lot of places. Martinsville, Dover, a lot of places you cord tires really quickly, and then it goes away in the race. So, obviously we found out quickly during the race that it wasn’t going to be that way. But, you know, a guy like Jesse that hasn’t run a Cup car before, I feel like the Xfinity car has way more tire fall-off anyway. And you have to be way more mindful of how you build those tires up on those cars. So I think he’ll be fine. I’m sure he watched the spring race, as did everybody last year. So, yeah, I mean I think everybody knows how to approach it now and is going to try to manage the tires the best they can. I was happy with my car and how it held on to tires in practice, so I’m excited for having a shot at it tomorrow.” Can you give me a sense of what you as a driver have to do in terms of managing the tires for this race, potentially tomorrow, compared to what you did in the car last fall when you didn’t have to worry about it? What more are we going to see you guys do, or can you give us a sense of what more you’re going to have to do inside the car that we can’t see?“Yeah, I mean honestly, in the spring last year, we rode around at what felt like half speed all day, and I thought I was going to get out of the car and everybody was going to be mad because we didn’t run hard all day. Everybody loved it because there was so much chaos. So in the fall, we just ran hard all day. You run hard every lap, and that’s kind of what Cup racing has become these days… how hard you have to run the car. There are some places you have to manage, but for the most part, you’re ten-tenths every lap. I think tomorrow, it’s really going to depend on when the cautions come out and what they do. Like you look at the end of that spring race, and we didn’t get any cautions for a lot of things that could have been cautions, probably. But at the beginning of the race, we were getting cautions all the time. So there’s two ways to predict that, right? If you save too much and you keep getting all these cautions, you’re just giving away track position. But if you don’t get the cautions and you run too hard, you’re killed on that, too. So it’ll be interesting to see what the mindset is there and what the reality that we live in is tomorrow, as far as what the tires do with it being a little warmer and where we go. So I think the biggest thing is it’s going to be a ton of learning on the go because as much as we all think we know exactly what it’s going to do from practice, we probably really don’t have a clue, and we’re going to have to learn as we go.” Can you give me a sense of what do you do between now and tomorrow’s race? I know there’s always homework to do for any driver, but does it change because of the uncertain or what it’s likely to be tomorrow, or does it make it easier because you say it’s learning on the go and you watch some sports on TV or something?“Yeah, I don’t think they ever let us get away with ‘go watch some sports on TV’, at least for me. I’ve got to try really hard to run remotely good. But yeah, I think for me, probably look at the guys that ran really well in the spring, that finished well, and how they managed the race. I think at the end of the race, we were one of them. But throughout the majority of the race, we saved too much and kept getting those cautions. So it’ll be interesting to see where that winds up. But yeah, probably look at the guys that were good in the spring, and then if there’s not tire wear, you feel like you wasted a couple of hours. But we’ll see.” When you have to find out about the tire wear during the race, what’s that like? What is it for the fans like racing when you’re having to… do you have to pay more attention? And the guys will be working on the pit box like crazy.  But what’s it like for you when it’s like that? Yeah, for me, it’s fun, I would say. Just something different, right? Different than the normal every week, run ten-tenths every lap. I feel like it gives drivers more opportunity to play a hand in how your day goes, just based on little things you can do. But sometimes, obviously, you have a car to make those opportunities, and sometimes you don’t. So yeah, I enjoy that side of things. And yeah, I’m just probably as curious as all you guys are. I don’t really have the answer. I’m really curious on how it’s going to go. I’d say everybody’s going to ride around the first run, and if people start falling off a cliff with tire wear, we’ll all know it’s coming. And if the tires don’t wear out, then we’ll just progressively run harder throughout the course of the day.”  Chase Elliott said that last race he felt that it was relentless. He never could let up. When you’re having to learn during, and you like that, is that still going to be pretty relentless, or it’s just a puzzle for you? “Yeah, I guess I wouldn’t have described it that way. The spring race, to me, was a lot of riding around and chilling out and being sad that the caution came out because you couldn’t save the tires for 40 laps. And then, obviously, it paid off for us in the end. But yeah, I thought that was more of a mental game than anything, and just trying to know how to load the race car and feel the car to build it in the right direction and to take care of your stuff.”  I talked to Blake Harris and he basically said you’re executing at a very high level right now. He said you spend as much time in the shop as he does, just about. What kind of commitment does it take to excel at the level you guys are performing right now?“Yeah, that’s Blake (Harris) being nice. He’s in the shop way more than me (laughs). But yeah, I try to hang out with the guys a little bit during the week when they don’t have me doing anything. I get some free time. I live pretty close to the shop, so it’s easy to take one of the dogs over there and go hang out, sit around the setup plate. But yeah, I mean just trying to be successful. Obviously, we saw that in the playoffs last year that we all bought in and worked really hard and found success, and just trying to keep that going. Obviously, it’s been a rough two weeks on the 48 team. Last week, I did not execute at a high level. I drove the race car into the fence at a high rate of speed. But I think just trying to be better every week and work as hard as it takes to continue to run well.” Some drivers relish having managed tires in these kind of races where it’s on them. Where do you fall on that spectrum?“I love it. I think it’s great. I think that really comes from when I first came to stock car racing. You know, you ran the same tire for the whole race. The very first race was Greenville Pickens. We rolled around in 24th all day, and then drove through the field like it was nobody’s business at the end, and almost won the thing. I think we ended up second or third. From then on, I’ve loved tire management. I think it’s fun. It’s a fun mental game to play, and yeah, hopefully you’re on the good side of it. You don’t always get it right, but I do enjoy it.”  What is the art of saving tires?“I mean, I guess I just drive slower than everybody. I do that most weeks, but on weeks like this, it pays off. I don’t know. We’ll see tomorrow. I think it’s interesting when guys cord their tires and which tire they cord and how that makes them fall off. It’s interesting how the progression goes. So just trying to probably cord the correct tire; manage your builds and save yourself as long as you can. I wasn’t in the front of the field much in the spring until the end, and those guys — it was kind of funny how one guy would go lead and start to slow down, and another guy would go lead. Nobody wanted to lead and set the pace, so we’ll see how it goes.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES ACURA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH STREETS OF LONG BEACH LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT APRIL 12, 2025 SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN AND TEAM PENSKE REPRESENTED CHEVROLET IN THE FIRESTONE FAST SIX AT LONG BEACH Scott McLaughlin and Team Penske qualified sixth in the Firestone Fast Six, representing Chevrolet in the fight for pole at the 50th Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach.Team Chevy was represented by six in Round 2, including AJ Foyt Racing’s David Malukas, Arrow McLaren’s Christian Lundgaard, Pato O’Ward and Nolan Siegel, McLaughlin, and Ed Carpenter Racing’s Alexander Rossi.Team Chevy kicked off Saturday with a first practice session, where the Bowtie brand was represented by five in the top-10, including Siegel, Will Power, Newgarden, Malukas, and Lundgaard.Sunday’s Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach race day starts with warmup, live on FS1, at noon ET. The 90-lap, 177.12-mile main event takes the green flag live on FOX at 4:30 p.m. ET. Additional coverage throughout the weekend can be found via INDYCAR Radio and SiriusXM Channel 218. Firestone Fast Six Results:6th     Scott McLaughlin (1:07.0393) Second Practice Top-10 Results:1st      Nolan Siegel (1:07.1169)4th     Will Power (1:07.3407)6th     Josef Newgarden (1:07.3828)8th     David Malukas (1:07.4808)10th   Christian Lundgaard (1:07.6419)

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING  David Malukas, No. 4 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:“Overall, really, really happy with how things ended up turning out. We kind of had our heads twisted on setup changes from Practice 1 and Practice 2, but going into qualifying, we didn’t hit it perfect. There was a bit of understeer in the car, but we did an incredible job getting the car where it needed to be. Scraped through in Q1 and going into that Fast 12, we had a very fast car for the short four corners I did. Unfortunately, luck is always a big play into it, and we had a really unlucky red. They didn’t give us the extra lap in the end. We couldn’t really show what we had, so I ended up with a P10 in the end. We can work from there. It feels very confident that we finished P10, but we know we have a fast car, and it could’ve been a lot better. There’s always the other scenario where you got lucky and you’re in P10 and you’re not fast. Heads are forward and we know that results are not in qualifying. Results are in the race, so we’ll get it done.” Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:“We struggled all the way through the weekend. Made some pretty big changes in the car going into qualifying. It felt really good. Honestly, I think we made some solid strides. The car was very capable of advancing. I just had a slight bauble in (turn) eight, and I clipped the wall the wrong way. It unfortunately ended our session.” How confident are you for tomorrow?“I feel really good about being able to move forward. I think the car is in a really good spot at the moment. We’re not really going to change anything going into tomorrow’s warm up, and we’re going to do what we got to do to advance. Hopefully, it’s entertaining.”Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:“No doubt about it, I think we had enough to transfer there, or at least a shot to try and get to the Fast-Six. Glad Christian’s (Lundgaard) alright. But, bummer for me. I think bummer for Nolan (Siegel) as well. He didn’t get his lap in to be able to move on. I think we all had the pace to be in there. We can fight from ninth. This track is really sensitive to track position but we’re no strangers to starting not in the front row in Long Beach. This hasn’t been necessarily our best place in the past, so we’ll see what we can come up with tomorrow. It’s five laps longer than last year. I say they should have done 10 laps because the two-stopper’s still very much in play. So, I think that’s what you’re going to see the leaders do, and we’ll see what we come up with.” Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:“I only did a run on the used primary, and then we put the new (alternate). Made some changes from Q1 and did half a lap and was really happy. Unfortunately, didn’t get to finish it. But, we have good pace, and I’m glad that we have good pace. It’s just frustrating to not get to show that. I think that we probably could have transferred and have the pace to do that, and it would have been nice to actually make it happen. But we’ve got another day tomorrow, so that’s when it counts.” Brian Barnhart, General Manager, Arrow McLaren:On Christian Lundgaard…“The lap times dropped a lot quicker than we thought they would, and we needed to continue to push and finish that lap. And, Christian, we’re just trying to ensure that we transferred. We were in P5 and it was going be really close, and just clipped the tire barrier at turn nine and ended the day. “We were actually just sitting talking about all three cars starting close together, because it groups everybody kind of mid pack. So, we’ll look at it as a group, figure out if we can make sure we cover everybody’s bases, maybe split strategies, and adjust as we can. Still got some unknowns on whether the alts are going to make it a full stint. We’ll see how it plays out.”  Alexander Rossi, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:“It has been a rough day and a half in Long Beach. We didn’t start strong in Practice 1, but the whole team is constantly working to improve as the sessions go on. We are relieved after qualifying, considering where we were to start the weekend! Christian (Rasmussen) had a good lap as well so there is a lot of potential for both cars tomorrow.” Christian Rasmussen, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:“We were lagging a little bit of fronts. We’ve just been kind of chasing the car all weekend. Really been struggling with it. I think we took a step forward in this session, which was positive, but there’s still a little bit to find. They’ve done a good job getting the car in the right direction, there’s just a little bit more to go.” How has Alex (Rossi) been in guiding you as a two-time winner here in Long Beach?“It’s been massive, especially on a weekend like this where we kind of start off on the back foot. It’s good to have his experience to kind of lean on and work from. It’s not where I want to be. It’s definitely that qualifying this year has been the Achilles’’ Heel. We’ve been moving forward in the races but we don’t qualifying super well. So, I need to work on that. I think (we can move forward) as well. In the races, the racecar has been pretty good, so hopefully, we’ll have a good race car and move forward a little bit, and see where we end up.” Robert Shwartzman, No. 83 PREMA Racing Chevrolet:“Unfortunately, it didn’t go our way today. The first set of tires felt good, it felt like we were quite competitive. On the second set, unfortunately, we had an issue with the pit limiter engagement right at the last corner when it exited it. It compromised the main push lap and then for the second push, there was just not enough time. So I didn’t manage to do any laps on that set. The track was improving and generally everybody improved on the second set. So, I believe we could have had a battle for entering the top 12, but it is what it is. Now we have to start from towards the back and see what we can do tomorrow.” Callum Ilott, No. 90 PREMA Racing Chevrolet:“I know it doesn’t show it in the results but I think we showed a really big Improvement from where we were before. In qualifying on each set I couldn’t get both clean laps, so it was tough to get into a rhythm. Honestly I think we had a little bit more. But we are making solid improvements. I’m pretty happy and the work is paying off slowly, we just have to keep pushing. It’s going to be a long race probably with quite a bit of tire degradation on the alternates in particular.” Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet:“This is a very tight series where inches and tenths of a second make a difference. It’s hard when you’re on your fast lap and get held up in Turn 10. You’ve already used up your alternates and that exit off the hairpin is crucial to the following lap. We know there is speed in the No. 2 Astemo Chevrolet. Unfortunately, we are behind a bit following qualifying, but we will rally tomorrow. The car’s too good.” Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:“Yeah, just stuffed it up a bit on my first lap in the fast six. Not a lot of tire left to make a run at it after that. Proud to carry the Chevy flag there and we will have a strong DEX Imaging Chevy to fight with tomorrow. I love racing here and would the stoked to get the win in the 50th anniversary of Long Beach. It’s a premier race on our calendar, for sure.” Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:“I don’t know how much I missed out by. Almost need to go on the first lap, I guess, but then just it’s hard to have a good out lap, then you have got to gap and let people go and then people stop at the hairpin. But no excuses, man. I mean, we’re quick at practice. Every single practice this year, we’ve been fast. Every single one, and we haven’t gotten the top-12 yet. So, you can make as many excuses you want. We just have got to get it done when it counts on the soft tires, and maybe we should have just run two sets. It’s hard to do that when you’re in the top-three in practice. We will go out tomorrow and see what we got. I think we will ok.” “It was very difficult to get a smooth run. Just the way this track is, unfortunately.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES APRIL 12, 2025

Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series’ practice and qualifying session at Bristol Motor Speedway.

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

Media Availability Quotes:  First of all, sorry for your loss this week. Within the last hour, you posted a picture on social of you and I’m guessing your grandmother and grandparents. Can you just tell the story and the significance about that photo, and why it was important to share that with the world?“Yeah, I mean, those were photos that I’d never seen before. They were going through my grandparents’ house and found a bunch of photos that they sent to me last night and this morning, so those were photos that I had never seen or I had forgot about. But, you know, I thought that was important for me to look at or post today. She fell when I was getting ready to qualify for Phoenix, and my grandpa called me. I didn’t know he knew how to use the phone, and my grandma fell getting the mail on the way to watch us qualify. I just know she won’t miss another qualifying session or watch another race. She was one of my biggest supporters.  But, yeah, I like to post things that mean stuff to me, obviously. I do all my own social just because, you know, it’s easy to lose things or lose photos or anything, so putting that out there, it makes it easier to know where that photo is going to be.” So do you remember that moment from the photo?“I remember a handful, but yeah, that one specifically,  I remember always wearing my Dale Jr. shirts at that point. That was my favorite shirt to wear because it looked like his race suit. So, you know, it looks really similar to the shirts you see us wear now. You know, it looks like the suit. So that was at Disney World, which we’d go a thousand times. We stopped going there because it was either you go to Disney World or you pay for your tires when I started racing. But that was a really fun week and trip that I hadn’t seen photos of in a very long time.” To get into racing, this will be the last race before you get a weekend off, and after that, there isn’t a weekend off the rest of the season. Drivers talk about — hey, I just as soon be in the car every day of the year. What will be the challenge after this Easter break of racing every weekend, whether it’s for you, the team, or everything in general? “I feel like everybody’s so used to it. For us, I think it would be important to have that reset and then be able to go and hopefully we can refire really strong and get the finishes I feel like we’ve been striving for and feel like we could get or are capable of getting. If we get on a roll, I don’t think any of us are going to want to stop or take a break and break up that momentum. So I think it’s a good time for everybody to get a reset and then hopefully have a really big push and make that be the second half of the year.” Following up on that, you look at your recent results. Do you look at the results or do you look at performance? How would you assess this little stretch right now?“Well, yeah, you look at the results, but then when the results aren’t good, you’ve got to look at the running average or where we’re at and wonder why. And luckily, Jeff Dickerson is the most understanding guy of all time basically and he’s the one that is just like — man, we’ve just got to finish the race because I don’t know what to tell you how to finish. You blow a tire, you blow this, you do this. It’s kind of all things out of our control-ish, right? Just kind of freak things that are just toppling on each other. But we’re running good, so I think that was the biggest thing that he said is just don’t get so caught up in the results right now because we’re not a 30th-place race car. We’re not slow. He’s like, man, right now we’re just trying to find new ways to finish 30th. So it’s just out of the get-go. We’re over this. We’ve gotten out of the way. He reminded me there were times last year where we weren’t great and other guys had misfortune, so we finished good. So I think it’s sustainable for us long-term, for sure, to be fast and wonder what’s kind of keeping us from finishing good, rather than be slow and not sure why we’re finishing okay. Let’s keep all of us hungry and excited and keeping our group together, right? If you get five 30th-place finishes in like eight races, you start looking at crew guys, crew members and everything. Our group is so strong. We’re so good on pit road. We’re good on the racetrack throughout the race at some point that, and we know everybody on our group’s plenty capable of the potential of finishing really good. It’s just we just got to be able to, you know, take advantage of the adversity. And as my dad would remind me when I was a kid racing is they are character building moments and our No. 77 team’s going through that right now.” You’ve had flashes here at Bristol of really good things. You’re a short track guy, came up that way. But what is the challenge here compared to, I guess, what you grew up doing and what we would call a traditional short track, so to speak? “Yeah, I mean, you’re going so fast, right? The dirty air is a factor. You know, compared to that, the banking’s a lot. The track compound is always a confusion, right, of if it’s going to be on the bottom and what you’re going to get. You never really 100% know when the top’s going to burn in and when it’s not. It’s a little easier to predict for the Cup races because it’s 400 or 500 laps that you can kind of guess what the pattern’s going to be just because you run enough laps. But, you know, I remember when I ran trucks here, it always was a question mark if it was going to be burned in by the end of the race or at the start, and you saw that yesterday without any practice or anything. It started to move up the racetrack at, like, the last 10 laps or something. So, yeah, it’s always a difficult deal here of just track position and balancing it out, and everybody being super, super good and moving around or trying to. I got to run here in a late model when I was about 14 or whatever, so it’s still got a little bit of feel to that when I was 14 racing here.” Your No. 77 team really had a lot of stability over the off-season, but on the whole, when you look at what Spire Motorsports is doing and growing, how has just the influence or the leadership of guys like Rodney, Travis, Michael, even though they’re not directly working with your team, organizationally, do you feel like that’s lifted you or at least let you have some new ideas to work on your own path? “I’m sure a little bit there. You know, for me on my craft, I’m very stubborn and like to go my own direction, do my own things, and I think that’s been healthy for us. You know, Michael (McDowell) has his process. Justin (Haley) has his process. I have mine. But apart from the race cars, where I see a lot of impact on our program is the unsung heroes. You know, it’s the Matt McCall’s, you know, the Dax’s, and a handful of others, right, that are in the competition space. You know, Ryan Sparks not being on a pit box and overseeing the whole program. It’s those three guys and the others that are sitting at home or sitting in the race shop right now that have really impacted the No. 77 more. Travis and Rodney, they’re working on their own stuff. They still work together, but it’s the job of Matt, Ryan, and everybody else to figure out what Rodney and Travis are doing and communicate that to the 77 car and vice versa and ultimately, you know, have all three cars be fast.” Earlier today, Jesse Love was in here talking about his Cup debut and how he doesn’t know what he doesn’t know. So I was curious, do you remember the first time you started a Cup race here? I was only your fourth start and you finished 11th. I was curious, what was that process like for you adapting to this track and 500 laps?“Yeah, I remember I ran the truck race, and it was different, right? You know, I got to come in the fall race, and I had a Cup deal signed to go full-time the next year. We just ran third or fourth in the truck race, and I was like plus 30 to make the final four on points. So I showed up with not looking at any data, any SMT for Cup, because I was so focused on the truck deal to make that race. I remember showing up thinking, you know, I’m just going to go out here and figure it out. I don’t think I looked at one piece of information. I didn’t sleep and, you know, mainly just breezed through that whole weekend and had a really, really good time with those guys and Luke and everybody. I remember being super cool, confident and an ego at an all-time high, probably, per se. And then we ran like fifth, so that didn’t help me or help bring me back down to earth. And then we had a loose wheel and finished 11th.  But yeah, I remember being really excited with it being the Bristol night race. My first few Cup races I did — I got to do the Gateway, obviously a cool track and unique. But I got to do the Southern 500, and the Bristol night race as my second and third ever Cup start. So super cool tracks to fire off and get going. I was not pumped, but it was Luke’s favorite race, and he made me super confident that we were going to be good. I don’t think he expected us to be that good, but it was a lot of fun driving by a lot of heroes of mine and everything. I still remind Rodney that that was the race that went like six laps down on speed. So I remind him of that, and so it’s fun to rag on him a little bit.”  You’ve improved every time you’ve gone to Talladega. Is there something that you’ve worked on to get better because with that place, sometimes it’s just luck on the draw? “They’ve wrecked more, probably. I normally just sit around.. my average running position is like 33rd, and then I finish is like 14th because they crash, and I just avoid it. That’s kind of been the superspeedway strategy I’ve gone with because it’s really difficult with the way this package is right now. Last year or sure at superspeedways, our cars, even if I could have got the lead, it was just way too draggy, and I wouldn’t be able to hold on. You’d get shuffled out really quick. So if I felt like the best we could be was the high single digits, low teens, I could bank on a crash at the end and having our car safe and being fourth or fifth in line. Maybe they crash the line, and I win the race. We kind of did that at Daytona again as we improve our cars. At Atlanta, I was able to make a lot of moves and pace, but you can kind of draft on your own and make moves. But at Talladega and Daytona right now, it kind of just gets gridlocked, and I just feel like you’re sitting in line waiting to crash almost at times. I kind of play into the role of, even if you miss the wreck and get a flat tire, you might go a few laps down. I try to pick a strategy rather than just hope on something, so I just kind of just go with the we’re going to wait until the green-white-checkered that always seems to come and then do a race. But this time at Talladega, I don’t know what I’ll do. I’ll probably try and get track position more because I think our cars are improving, but we’ll just kind of see how that goes.” Do you think guys will be chomping at the bit to get back to competition after being off for a week? “Yeah, I mean, maybe… I don’t know. I’ve always looked at superspeedways like they’re another off week almost because you don’t really prep. The preparation and what we look at is so different than anything else. You’re not stressed for qualifying. You’re not stressed on practice. You’re not talking about your race car. You get Friday and Saturday basically off, and Sunday is just about saving fuel and picking the right line and working with your teammates really late in the race or really late in the stages. So, yeah, I don’t know. I’ve always looked at it like it’s almost an off week, per se, compared to the amount of work that goes into the rest of the races.” Obviously the results this year haven’t been based on your guys’ speed, but when we watch the race, we usually see you at the front of the pack. Some of your run-ins over the last few weeks have come in the mid-pack. Can you describe just how difficult it is, you know, when you’re having to race in the mid-pack in a race?“Yeah, I mean it’s a dogfight in the middle, but it’s more so just because everybody’s really close in mid-pack or in the low teens. All cars are good and they know how close they are to getting clean air. You’re only a few spots from getting that. It reminds me of, you know, what you see in sprint car racing now is — the leader will fire off and take off, but the second you catch lap traffic, the whole pack starts to come back into it. And then, if they’re behind lap cars or anything, you start seeing them really race… throwing sliders and then all of a sudden you’re four or five cars on top of each other. It’s kind of similar to what we have right now. Aero-wise is I don’t think too far away from that type of sprint car race you’d see from High Limit or anything else. You know, the top few spread out and it starts building a little closer gap as you get to the high single digits. And then all the teens are on top of each other because they’re all on just bad air.”  People have been around for years and kind of get used to things, but the track has changed, or being a young driver and probably kind of just learning it as you go — how much during the race, during the weekend, do you even know what to expect with the track here?“Yeah, I mean, I know last year at this time, none of us knew what we were going to have. Where this time now, you’re expecting the worst or even worse than that or somewhere in between. So, you know, for us, I know we’ve planned for all type of scenarios as you can.  Yeah, the spring race last year, I don’t think anybody expected that, but it’s been seen before. You know, I remember watching on TV, in 2008 or whatever it was, at Indy when they had this issue or times before that. But, yeah, it’s just part of it. Now it’s in the notebook, right? Now it’s in the playbook that this could happen or something similar to that that you have to prepare for. I know when I got my pre-race notes from my spotter, Tyler Green, he almost had three races worth of notes because he had somewhere in between how it was in the spring and the fall race.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY DRIVER QUOTES APRIL 12, 2025

Jesse Love, driver of the No. 33 C4 Energy Chevrolet and No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing, met with the media onsite at Bristol Motor Speedway to preview his doubleheader race weekend and his first career NASCAR Cup Series start in Sunday’s Food City 500.

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

Media Availability Quotes:  What are the personal goals you hope to get out of making your debut this weekend? “Yeah, I’m not a big goal person, really. I try to focus more — like when I was younger, running like ARCA and stuff, I think I prioritized winning a lot… always the end result, in a sense. I’ve kind of gotten away from that over the last probably two to three years now and kind of focus more on the execution part of it and the job that I do. So I always feel confident that if I, you know, do my very best job, I will leave the racetrack with a good result, with a chance to win, and that could be completely different this weekend.  You know, if I do a phenomenal job — realistically I’m probably not going to have a chance to win the Cup race, right? So for me, my goals, if I was only focused on winning, winning, winning, I feel like I’d be doing myself a bad doing, wrong doing… blanking on the word there. But you know, I think that I’m just focused on leaving the racetrack, having run all the laps and feeling like I did a good job and I think if I do that, then I can have a result that will really satisfy me and the team.” And then secondly, why Bristol? Why a place like Bristol to make your debut?“Yeah, it’s one of the better racetracks for me… kind of more my wheelhouse. I don’t really enjoy the flat track stuff a whole lot. I really enjoy the tracks with a lot of banking, a lot of grip, moving around, running the wall, getting on the top, bottom, the middle… kind of wherever there’s grip and a clean racetrack. I like to search around and I can do that here. I’m comfortable with the racetrack and have enough laps here. I took enough detailed notes over the years. When I come here, I’m having to learn a whole new race car. I didn’t really get do any testing, right? So I can eliminate one of the factors of learning, which is learning the racetrack, right? Still picking up, you know, things here and there throughout the weekend, but because I’ve been here enough, I can come here for the Cup race and not have to learn a racetrack and a car at the same time.”  What did you do to prepare for this moment?“I ran a lot of laps in the simulator. I think I probably ran about probably 2,000 laps this week on the simulator, whether it be the DiL at the GM Tech Center or whether it be even iRacing with Scott Speed. So just ran a lot of laps… trying different things. You know, one thing I did this week was I ran a couple 500 lap races by myself on iRacing, just to kind of condition myself to the mental drain it’s going to take to run 500 laps. Obviously, it’ll be the longest race in my life. Never ran a 24-hour race before, right? So this is going to be different for me in a lot of ways.  The fitness level I actually feel pretty confident about. I’ll go to the care center after the race and get an IV. Have a bus for the first time this weekend, so I don’t  have to travel back and forth to the hotel and can kind of go right to bed. And, you know, I feel like the fitness side of it is going to be fine. Obviously, I had to step up my game kind of leading up to this race a little bit. But more importantly, I feel like getting the mental side of it, you know, squared away, and I think the biggest part of that for me is, again, running 500 laps. Like in Xfinity races in the beginning of last year, I remember getting out of the car and being like, there’s no way I can run a Cup race right now. And honestly, every race this year I’ve been able to get out and be like — man, I wish this race a little bit longer. And if I had to go, you know, another double after this, that I could do it. So I’m in a much better fitness space now, and it’s going to be a challenge for sure on the mental side of it with how draining that’ll be. But I feel like I’ve put the processes in place to be okay.”  Have you leaned on Kyle Busch at all? Certainly, you have the best underneath your roof, so I’m kind of curious if you asked him at all. “Yeah, absolutely. I mean, it’d be dumb of me to not go ask some questions and pick his brain when I can. And he’s been helpful, for sure. I always feel like Kyle (Busch) has been open book. I will say, you know, Kyle’s probably the toughest competitor in the garage, and I do notice a little bit of a difference when I’m asking him questions when I’m not racing against him versus when I am racing against him, right?  So, again, it’s really cool to pick a guy’s brain like that. And I’ve been able to ask a lot of people questions, you know. I’m really close with all the Cup drivers on the Front Row side of things, like Todd, Zane, and Noah. And even asking questions like — what’s your procedure like getting in the pit box, right? Again, I just go in the neutral when I come out of pit stall because we’re an H-pattern, right? Never had to deal with a sequential shifter, so that was interesting. Kind of a few different people had a few different answers for me, and then I kind of figured out what I would enjoy and like the most in the car. And then I got to wrap that in the simulator, too. So, yeah, a bunch of questions asked to a lot of different people.  Justin Allgaier has been a huge help for me, as well. He does all the wheel force testing and he’s in the simulator doing a lot of stuff for GM, too, so he’s been open book for me, as well. Obviously, he loves to talk too, so I’m able to get a lot out of him. And just a lot of people, even about, you know, what throttle pedal should I run? Asking guys like Denny Hamlin and people that have a lot of experience, right? What they like  and what they found works best for them. So I’ve kind of honestly feel like I’ve kind of crossed all my T’s and dot all my I’s coming in here, and obviously asking all the people in the garage has helped me do that.” First, you told me in advance of this week that you don’t want to come in too high on the excitement level, so how do you manage that? Keep a level head, but you only make your Cup debut once, so still let yourself appreciate the emotions and how special this weekend is…“Yeah, I was driving up here and I kind of got all my emotion out on the way up here. Driving up here is like very mountainous and it was like driving to Baylands, which is where I grew up racing quarter midgets. It was kind of a similar, I guess, like terrain and route. So that was a pretty cool emotional experience for me. I remember when I was, you know, five, six, eight years old running quarter midgets with my dad, you know, driving up this windy path one way or one lane road up to the go-kart track and then now doing the same thing going to a Cup race. That was a really cool full circle moment for me.  And I feel like the best way to go about it, for me at least, is try to keep the emotions at a minimum; not be overly excited, not be overly emotional about anything, and then after the race I can kind of soak it all in, right? But, you know, there’s definitely nerves and things like that, but I’ve worked my whole life so that I can be nervous on a Sunday. So I feel like I’m really grateful that I get to feel this way about a Sunday race for the first time and I feel like I’m trying to embrace it. So at the same time, try to go into the race somewhat neutral in a head space..  not let too many things distract me and just try to do a good job. And then after the race, I feel like I can kind of soak it all in. So that’s kind of my mindset.  I feel like in the Xfinity stuff, I can kind of be a little more outgoing and a little more excited about this weekend because I really feel we have a good shot to win the Xfinity race this weekend. But on the Cup side of things, just try to be level-headed and execute the best that I can.” It’s not racing full-time on Sundays yet, but does this at least in some ways feel a little bit like a culmination of all the blood, sweat, and tears that it took to get to this point?“Yeah, that was part of the reason I got to get my emotions out on the car ride up here, and I feel like once I got all that out, now I have a little more of a clear head. But yeah, I mean there’s been so many sacrifices from my friends and my family and, you know, even myself throughout my whole career to have the chance to race on a Sunday. And obviously now that day has come, so that’s a really cool moment for me. But, you know, I feel like I’m just kind of embracing all the emotions as they come. I feel like all the emotions are real, they’re  valid and still a really cool thing. But I feel like because I’m kind of present in the moment and understanding of, you know, trying to keep those emotions in check and not get too wrapped up in the moment, that I feel like I’m kind of pretty calm going into this weekend.  Again, I don’t have a lot of expectations. The only expectation I have is that I execute what the car is capable of and what I’m capable of. And I think if we do that, we can have a good showing.”  What’s the allure of Bristol Motor Speedway? You’ve been able to race here four times already between ARCA and Xfinity, but the history of this place and the feel of racing in what is this arena, what’s that like as someone who is still fairly new to the sport and this place particularly?“Yeah, I think that like the biggest bummer is that it’s not a night race for the Xfinity stuff this year.  Do we come here twice in the Xfinity car? We do? Okay, well at least the second one’s a night race, so scratch that. But no, I feel like the night race here last year was probably the favorite race, the coolest race of my life, just getting a race against Dale Earnhardt Jr.; getting a race at Bristol under the lights and obviously a bunch of fans in the stands. I just love the Xfinity package here. It’s obviously really fun to drive. You really get to move around and have to be present and see how the racetrack changes. But I just love coming here for obviously the fact that the track is fun to drive. A lot of times we go to places that have a lot of, you know, aura or a lot of allure, and it’s cool, but the racetrack isn’t necessarily fun to drive, right? So what makes this place cool is that it has all of those things, but it’s also is a really cool technical, fun racetrack. I think that it just kind of checks all the boxes and it’s a lot of fun to come here. And obviously there’s a lot of history about the place, too.”  What are you curious to experience on Sunday?What am I curious about? That’s a good word… You know, I feel like — so I kind of got to do this in trucks. I ran three truck races when I was 18, and it was cool for me because at that time when I was running those truck races, I thought I was going truck racing the following year, so it was a cool thing for me because I was like — okay, I’m going to write down all these notes and try to be detailed about it in the off season or throughout the rest of the year before the next truck race. Like write down a bunch of things I got to get better at, right? Which at the time for me was that I had to get better at restarts. Got to figure out how to drive a looser truck faster and not only be going on the tight side. A couple other things, too, like pit stops. So, same thing for the Cup race, right? I’m going to go into it and probably leave here with a bunch of notes in my notebook going — okay, I got to get a lot better at X, Y, and Z, and then try to, you know, bridge the gap. If there is another one this year, or next year if I’m doing it full-time or whatever it may be, try to just bridge those gaps, right? I also think it’s going to make you better on the Xfinity side for sure, too.  You know, I was talking to Noah about it on the phone the other day and he was like — I mean, you’re racing against all these guys, right, that can come down to your level and be a Xfinity champion or win a Xfinity race, right? The whole Xfinity field can’t win Xfinity races, but primarily the whole Cup field can win Xfinity races. I’m just looking forward to like seeing the depth of the field and how hard you run for 30th, you know? It’s super easy for me to run inside the top-10 of a Xfinity race, right? It’s like climbing Mount Everest for me to go run top-10 this weekend. So, I’m looking forward to seeing like the, I guess, the depth of the field. And then obviously, I don’t know what I don’t know, as well. So, there’s a lot of things that I don’t know what I’m going to be curious about, but I’ll figure that out pretty quickly in the race. It will probably be a couple of things like pit road and restarts and then aggression level, right? Those are three things that I’m going to try to figure out when I leave the racetrack, you know, how to bridge that gap.  And obviously there’s been a little bit of like due diligence on my end, too, of kind of trying to be self-aware on what my shortfalls are right now so that when I get in the Cup race, I can kind of hopefully step up to that level hopefully before I have to leave the racetrack. So, yeah, there’s a lot of things I’m curious about and a lot of things that I know that I’m going to have to figure out in the moment.” I know you talk about leaving the motions behind you on the trip up. What is this like for your family and how is it hard not to get too excited because I’m guessing they’re probably wound up and they kind of get fed into that? What’s it like for the family? “Yeah, obviously everyone that knows me knows I’m really close to my family and really care deeply about them. For me, like I said, I had that emotional roller coaster on the way up here. So, thankfully, I feel like I had that so now I can kind of put it aside, in a sense, now that I have to go and perform. But, you know, it’s been tough for me because I have to do what’s best for, like, what’s going to make me run the best on Sunday. Some people will ask me, like, how excited are you… blah, blah, blah, blah. I almost have to try to put on a face in a sense because it’s hard for my family, my sponsors and friends to understand what I’m having to go through, which is like I can’t be over the moon excited, emotional and things like that, even though they may be, because I have to go perform on Sunday, right? And if I’m in that headspace, then I probably won’t perform as well. But they understand that. They understand the game and how the game’s played. First rule of playing the game is knowing that you’re playing a game. So, I feel like I have to do what’s best to help me run better on Sunday, and after the fact, then I feel like I can give in and give those people what I want to give them and what they want, as well.” What are your future plans, like, in terms of what is your timeline to wanting to move to Cup? Is it a year or two? Are you in a rush to get there?“Beats the hell out of me (laughs). I don’t really know… I mean, yeah, the sooner the better for obvious reasons, but I don’t really know. I feel like, you know, I have opportunities and all that, which is great. But quite honestly, I won’t have those opportunities if I don’t perform, right? So, I feel like I’ve found a good headspace right now, which is like — yeah, you know, be really grateful that I have those opportunities, but I also will lose them quickly if I don’t perform. So, just try to stay in the same headspace that I’ve been in, which is, you know, try not to care about that too much and if I do a good enough job, then those things will happen naturally. And I feel like the last week, and then kind of Homestead, too, Darlington to Homestead, right? I feel like it’s not quite up to par to where I need to be, so I feel like I’ve tried to make a little bit of a mental shift over the week to get ready for this weekend and try to just start being like a top two to three car every week and not just like a top five to six car.”  You said you did a lot of laps on iRacing, a lot of laps on the sim. How do you think that will compare to when you get in the car today and how do you think that feel that you either had or you think you’re going to have will compare to the feel you know in your Xfinity car?“I don’t know. I think it’s important not to, you know, get married to one thing, right? Yeah, the Cup car on iRacing does not feel like the Cup car in the actual DiL simulator at GM, and I’m sure the DiL simulator at GM isn’t going to feel 100% like real life, right? But there’s still certain small things that you kind of pick up on, right? I mean, physics is physics and that’s kind of how we look at it with Josh Wise and Scott Speed. Typically the fastest guy is the one that messes up the physics the least, so trying to just kind of have an open mind. You try to prepare really hard for this stuff but you don’t want to get married to one thing. So I feel like, you know, I’ve gotten comfortable with that… gotten used to that, in a sense. It’s more so like your only job out there is to go out there and put it on the limit tire and then, you know, you’re trying to exploit that the best that you can, right? So depending on your balance and certain things, you’re going to move shapes around. You’re going to move how you apply the brake and let off the gas and things around like that too. So honestly, like I’ve done all this prep, right? But I’m not going into the car for practice and being like — okay, I’m going to drive it just like I drove on the simulator, right? Kind of going out there and you have your first prediction, which is basically where you lift and turn off the wall. And then everything after that is pretty much a reaction to what you’re feeling. And then you use all those, you know, 2,000 laps or so this week to help you react in an optimal manner.”

You never forget your first win. 

In Jacob Denney’s case, his memory will be of keeping veterans at bay to win his first career Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota Feature at Farmer City Raceway Friday night. 

“It means a lot,” Denney said. “This track is pretty gnarly. I was questioning myself before I went out there. I was like, ‘That’s a big ole cushion, I don’t know if I’ll be able to ride it.’ On the first lap, I went straight in there and I was like, ‘Alright, I’m sticking to my guns now.’” 

Thomas Meseraull and Denney led the field of 26 Midgets to the green flag, with Denney taking the lead on the opening circuit by using the top side of the 1/4-mile track. 

Denney kept command in the early stages while Zach Daum and Meseraull battled for second place. Daum ended up winning the battle and then turned his attention to Denney, who found himself caught in traffic. 
 
Denney’s hindrance became a crisis when he struggled to get by two slower cars and Daum found a lane to pass them all and take the lead by the halfway point of the Feature. 

While Daum ran low, Denney took his chances with the cushion to build momentum and chase the Series’ inaugural champion. That led to the two racing side by side and Denney reclaiming the lead on Lap 16 before the first red flag of the event for Luke Wackerlin flipping off of Turn 4. 

After the race resumed, more drama occurred behind the Ohio native as his Keith Kunz/Curb-Agajanian Motorsports teammates Cannon McIntosh and Gavin Miller collided going into Turn 1 and sent Ethan Mitchell flipping. 

When the race resumed with five laps to go, Denney continued to cruise around the top to hold off Daum and drive his JBL Audio No. 67 to a $4,000 payday. 

“I knew what it was like to go down to the bottom of (Turn) 3 and miss it by a country mile and lose more time,” Denney said. “Daum is probably the hardest to beat on the bottom, so I just stuck up there and it was really good up there. It wasn’t like we were slow, I feel like we had a lot of speed, so I stuck with it and got it done.” 

Daum finished the season opener with a second-place result for his first Series race aboard the Pat O’Dell-owned No. 5D Toyota. 

“The top was treacherous, especially (Turns) 1 and 2 in particular,” Daum explained in his choice to run the bottom lane. “I think they could run the curb a lot harder than everyone else, and I’m just not that guy. I kept working on getting it to rotate on the bottom really well, and it was good down there. I’ll think about it tonight and see what to change for tomorrow, just fine tune it, and I think we’ll be OK.” 

Karter Sarff followed Daum’s shadow by using the bottom lane to finish third at Farmer City. 

“We just had a really maneuverable car,” Sarff said. “I figured the top was the long way around with how far the cushion was up there from the Late Models, and the Late Models couldn’t get far down quite enough to burn off the bottom, so I figured it’d be good down there. I’m super happy with the night with how we started. We didn’t get to qualify, started last in the Heat, and ended up making a bad night a good night, so just pumped to be on the podium.” 

Friday’s Quick Time Award winner Corbin Rueschenberg finished fourth, and Springfield, IL’s Chase McDermand cemented the top five in his first Series start as an owner/driver. 

RECAP NOTES: 

Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Corbin Rueschenberg 

Toyota Heat 1: Zach Daum 

CASM Safety Products Heat 2: Brandon Carr 

TJ Forged Heat 3: Thomas Meseraull 

Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger: Tyler Edwards (+9) 

Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Daniel Adler 

Up Next: The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets join the World of Outlaws Late Models and MARS Modified Championship to tackle Farmer City Raceway one final time for the Illini 100 on Saturday, April 12. 

FARMER CITY TICKETS

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

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 67-Jacob Denney[2]; 2. 5D-Zach Daum[5]; 3. 21K-Karter Sarff[8]; 4. 26-Corbin Rueschenberg[3]; 5. 40-Chase McDermand[6]; 6. 9U-Kameron Key[13]; 7. 5U-Michael Faccinto[11]; 8. 67K-Colton Robinson[14]; 9. 55-Trevor Cline[16]; 10. 98K-Brandon Carr[7]; 11. 56E-Tyler Edwards[20]; 12. 97-Gavin Miller[9]; 13. 72-Alex Karpowicz[12]; 14. 63-Cale Coons[15]; 15. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[4]; 16. 50-Daniel Adler[18]; 17. 16C-David Camfield Jr[26]; 18. 16TH-Kevin Newton[19]; 19. 94-Hayden Wise[22]; 20. 12-Corbin Gurley[23]; 21. 17C-Devin Camfield[24]; 22. 20-Cody Weisensel[25]; 23. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[10]; 24. 51-Zach Boden[17]; 25. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[21]; 26. 7X-Thomas Meseraull[1]; 27. (DNS) 56X-Mark Chisholm 

FARMER CITY, IL (April 11, 2025) – Ethan Dotson and ASD Motorsports joined forces last May with one goal in mind – win races at the highest level of dirt Late Model racing.

They did just that Friday at Farmer City Raceway, as the Bakersfield, CA native became the 103rd different winner in the history of the World of Outlaws Late Models.

“There were a lot of times I thought about quitting,” Dotson said in Victory Lane. “Super glad I didn’t. Grateful for everybody that helped me along the way. There’s a lot of good people that, without them, I wouldn’t be here.”

Dotson’s charge to victory started in the ninth spot while Jason Feger and Ryan Gustin led the field to green in the Feature. A rash of early yellows plagued the start of the race, including one for Feger after he spun out of the lead in Turn 4 on the opening lap.

A poor restart for Gustin handed the lead over to Devin Moran while Drake Troutman waited in the wings for his chance to pounce from second. Soon after, Moran would become the second race leader to have trouble, as Tristan Chamberlain spun on Lap 14 and left Moran with nowhere to go, forcing the No. 99 to the rear for his involvement in the caution.

That put Troutman on top for the restart with Ricky Thornton Jr. and Dotson in tow. The No. 74X nailed the restart from the outside of Row 2 to get alongside Troutman before pulling ahead in the battle of the MD3 Rookie of the Year contenders.

With eight circuits remaining, Troutman’s solid night came to an end when he cut a right-rear tire and brought out the caution. That gave the field one more shot at Dotson, and while Thornton remained on Dotson’s tail throughout the final dash to the checkers, Dotson didn’t let him get close enough to make a move.

As if a World of Outlaws win could ever come at a bad time, Dotson’s triumph came right when the ASD Motorsports crew needed a morale boost. The team got off to a solid start at Volusia Speedway Park, but failed to finish better than ninth in March between Smoky Mountain Speedway and Swainsboro Raceway. With the win, Dotson now finds himself atop the rookie standings and fourth in the overall points.

“I kind of had some bad stuff, I wrecked the car and we kind of just kept racing it,” Dotson said. “It just put us behind, we were chasing our tail and stuff. Just finally got one of my good cars that I wrecked back and everything just went as planned.”

Thornton continued to establish himself as one of the hottest drivers in the country on Friday, as his second-place run was his fourth-straight runner-up in Late Model action and 14th podium of 2025.

“Ethan was really good,” Thornton said. “I should have picked the top on one restart that I didn’t. Troutman got in way slower than I thought and I about wrecked both of us. That let Ethan drive around both of us, and he was really good in traffic too. I feel like we can work on our stuff, get a little bit better for tomorrow. Honestly, we didn’t change anything all night. Our car’s really good, driver needs to be a little bit better.”

Rounding out the podium was the local hero Brian Shirley with his best World of Outlaws finish of the season. “Squirrel” knew he had to get his season back on track at home after a seven-race top-10 drought, and he put his local knowledge to good use to bring the No. 3S home third.

“I definitely felt comfortable in the car,” Shirley said. “Wasn’t sure who was behind me, I just knew where the track would end up there. It always ends up around the wall in Turns 3 and 4. Tried to give myself a shot without costing myself a spot.”

Brandon Sheppard and Tyler Erb picked up their best results of the year with the Outlaws in fourth and fifth, respectively.

RACE NOTES:

Daniel Adam set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Ricky Thornton Jr. won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Ryan Gustin won TheGreatestStoreOnDirt.com Heat 1.

Devin Moran won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Jason Feger won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Garrett Alberson won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Shannon Babb and McKay Wenger won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.

Jason Feger won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Dennis Erb Jr. drove from 22nd to 11th for the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Ethan Dotson was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Ricky Thornton Jr. won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Brandon Sheppard was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Tyler Erb was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Nick Hoffman was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Max Blair was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Kyle Bronson was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Ryan Gustin was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

UP NEXT: The Illini 100 wraps up with a 60-lap, $20,000-to-win Feature at Farmer City Raceway on Saturday, April 12. For tickets, click here.

Feature (40 Laps): 1. 74X-Ethan Dotson[9]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[6]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[13]; 4. 1-Brandon Sheppard[12]; 5. 1T-Tyler Erb[10]; 6. 32-Bobby Pierce[15]; 7. 25-Jason Feger[1]; 8. 9-Nick Hoffman[11]; 9. 111-Max Blair[7]; 10. 40B-Kyle Bronson[20]; 11. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[22]; 12. 19R-Ryan Gustin[2]; 13. 58-Garrett Alberson[4]; 14. 2-Cody Overton[23]; 15. 16-Tyler Bruening[16]; 16. 22*-Drake Troutman[5]; 17. 19-Dustin Sorensen[25]; 18. 96-Tanner English[21]; 19. 75-Daniel Adam[14]; 20. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[26]; 21. 9M-Tim McCreadie[24]; 22. 99W-Mckay Wenger[18]; 23. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 24. 12-Ashton Winger[8]; 25. 18-Shannon Babb[17]; 26. 20-Jimmy Owens[19]

The Jason Johnson Racing pilot gets his first win since the season opener after a wild duel

PEVELY, MO (April 11, 2025) – I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park just doesn’t miss.

Friday’s Federated Auto Parts Spring Classic opener at the Pevely, MO oval served up the latest piece of evidence. Fans were treated to a 40-lap thrill ride as the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars put on a show. Action over every inch of the bullring. Huge slide jobs. Countless crossovers. You couldn’t ask for more.

The battle for the top spot might’ve been the most intense action on track. Logan Schuchart led early and built a cozy lead, but once Carson Macedo reeled him in, the duel began.

The two swapped sliders. They countered with crossovers. They gave the crowd a masterful display of Sprint Car racing. A late caution set up a green-white-checkered restart, and Macedo had just enough to hold on by a few tenths of a second to get the win with his Jason Johnson Racing team.

“Wow, that was one of the funnest races I’ve run in a while,” Macedo said. “The whole race was really good. A lot of slide jobs. A lot of moving around. Battling the 1S (Schuchart), the 2 (David Gravel), the 2C (Cole Macedo), the 48 (Danny Dietrich) in the beginning. Really, I felt like I was in a battle the entire race. It was a lot of fun. Hats off to Philip Dietz. What an incredible Albaugh 41 car tonight. It was incredible to drive. Robby McQuinn and Adam Zimmerman, they work really hard, and it feels good to reward them with a win.”

The victory brought Macedo to 49 in his career with The Greatest Show on Dirt. His next will make him the 18th competitor to reach 50. I-55 is now home to a trio of the Lemoore, CA native’s wins as this one adds to the pair he bagged in 2022. The 1/3 mile is the is the seventh track where he’s collected at least a trio of checkered flags.

It was a battle all the way to the finish line for Macedo’s second triumph of 2025 and first since the season opener. Schuchart made him work and kept him on his toes as he chased late in the Shark Racing No. 1S.

“Logan was really good in traffic,” Macedo said. “I didn’t know what was better, sliding myself in (Turns) 3 and 4 and getting to the grip or running the top. I think at the end it just got so far to get to it and ledged up once you got to it, it would kill my run down the frontstretch. I tried to go to the top with like seven or eight to go and absolutely plugged it in the fence pretty hard. Then I was nervous I was getting a flat, so I started sliding myself. I knew with the green-white-checkered I needed to get up and make some momentum. Just a great race, a lot of fun.”

Schuchart matched his season best result with a runner-up finish after leading 26 laps in the Federated Auto Parts No. 1S. The Hanover, PA native is up to five podiums this year. Schuchart felt some ill-timed yellows were likely the deciding factor in him having to settle for second instead of celebrating in Victory Lane after the intense battle with Macedo.

“I definitely wanted to stay in traffic whether it was when we were leading or once he got to traffic,” Schuchart said. “I feel like every time I was ready to pull the trigger the yellow would come out. I felt like we were really good once we got going. He did a great job on the restart to get a run at me. I knew we were faster. I felt like we had the better car once we got going, just every time we got to traffic the yellow would come out. Just proud of my guys. They did a great job.”

David Gravel and the Big Game Motorsports team stood on the final step of the podium. The defending Series champion still hasn’t missed the top five in 2025, and the No. 2 has parked on the podium in 11 of the 14 races this year. He leads the standings by 76 markers over Macedo.

“The top was very dominant there, and then it got really, really thin around the top and just promoted a lot of slide jobs,” Gravel explained. “I’m just proud of my guys. They gave me a good race car to end up third there. I was struggling in the middle of that race and kind of found the bottom at the end there in (Turns) 3 and 4.”

Sheldon Haudenschild and Bill Balog completed the top five.

A 21st to eighth run earned Garet Williamson the KSE Racing Hard Charger.

Carson Macedo claimed his first Simpson Quick Time of the Year in Honest Abe Roofing Qualifying.

NOS Energy Drink Heats One and Four belonged to Carson Macedo and Austin McCarl. TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Two went to Logan Schuchart, and WIX Filters Heat Three went to Danny Dietrich.

Logan Schuchart topped the Toyota Dash.

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Danny Dietrich.

Garet Williamson won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Cole Macedo.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars close out the Federated Auto Parts Spring Classic on Saturday, April 12 at I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

For the complete 2025 schedule, CLICK HERE.

If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[3]; 2. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 3. 2-David Gravel[8]; 4. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog[9]; 6. 15-Donny Schatz[18]; 7. 83-Michael Kofoid[11]; 8. 23-Garet Williamson[21]; 9. 88-Austin McCarl[7]; 10. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[5]; 11. 7S-Chris Windom[13]; 12. 87-Aaron Reutzel[10]; 13. 48-Danny Dietrich[2]; 14. 2C-Cole Macedo[4]; 15. 26-Justin Peck[23]; 16. 99-Skylar Gee[20]; 17. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[12]; 18. 6-Zach Hampton[16]; 19. 88T-Tanner Thorson[15]; 20. 28M-Conner Morrell[19]; 21. 55V-Kerry Madsen[14]; 22. 22M-Rees Moran[17]; 23. 2KS-Cory Eliason[24]; 24. 71-Parker Price Miller[22]

For complete results, CLICK HERE.

FRIDAY RECAP – Las Vegas 1Race 4 of 20

Photography: John Force Racing / Auto Imagery / Gary Nastase

PROCK NO. 4, BECKMAN NO. 5 IN PROVISIONAL QUALIFYINGTrack Record Holder Brittany Force Struggles on First Day of 4-Wide Nationals

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (April 11, 2025) – A 90-degree day and a 130-degree racetrack proved challenging for both drivers and crews Friday at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway where, on Day 1 of qualifying for the seventh NHRA 4-Wide Nationals, reigning Funny Car World Champion Austin Prock was the provisional No. 4 qualifier and point leader “Fast Jack” Beckman No. 5. Two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force, the LVMS track record holder for both elapsed time and speed and a winner on the same track last fall, lost traction early on both Friday attempts and will go into Saturday’s final two sessions qualified only 13th in her Graham Rahal Performance dragster. “Out of the box we made a pretty respectable run,” Prock said of his opening 3.972 in the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS. “The track was really tricky today. It was above 90 degrees ambient temperature, and the track was up in the 130-degree range. So, in difficult conditions, I was proud of that first run. “Second run, it left out of control fast and just got away from me,” said the national record holder for speed at 341.28 miles per hour. “So, we’ve got some homework to do. We’ll come back tomorrow, and we should make two nice runs.” Meanwhile, because he was only fifth quickest in the first session, Beckman failed to earn a qualifying bonus point for the first time all year. He had posted a top three time in 10 straight sessions before Friday.  “We were still a top five car,” Beckman said. “We started in lane four and opened up with a nice, straight run down the drag strip (at 3.988 seconds). And even though conditions were hotter and there was not as much traction in the second session, the PEAK squad had enough data, we turned the knobs up and went to 3.972, second quickest run of the session. That was good for two more bonus points, and we’re sitting where we need to be right now.” Beckman had high praise for NHRA’s Safety Safari crew which is responsible for track preparation and maintenance. “The fact of the matter is that the four-wide is a little different animal,” he said.” With two-wide, the track crew gets a ton of time to prep two lanes. Well, they’ve got the same amount of time to prep four lanes, and they did a magnificent job. “A track that hot, you can only get it so good,” explained the man who earned John Force Racing’s 300th Funny car victory when he won last month at Pomona, Calif. “But I don’t know that lane four (the lane in which he began the qualifying ritual) is going to be our lane of choice. “But I am so proud of our team and what we were able to run in that lane,” said the man whose PEAK Chevy is flying the Graham Rahal Performance colors this weekend, as is Brittany’s dragster. “Black cars look awesome,” Beckman said. “And this car looks awesome. I’d like to park it in the winners’ circle Sunday but, between now and then, we have a lot of running to do. We have to gather some data, and we have the Mission Foods 2Fast/2Tasty Challenge tomorrow, but for PEAK and Chevy, I’m smiling.” “I’m very excited to be teamed up with Graham Rahal Performance this weekend as a primary sponsor here in Las Vegas and as an associate for the remainder of the season,” Brittany said of the GRP partnership. “We all want to do well for Graham Rahal and everyone involved at GRP,” said the four-time winner at LVMS. “We struggled today (on two shut-off runs), so we’ll have to get after it tomorrow. We need to get ready for race day so we can get two GRP cars in the winner’s circle on Sunday.” Like Beckman, Brittany also will be racing Saturday in the 2Fast/2Tasty Challenge, hoping to reverse the order of finish against Clay Millican, to whom she lost in the semifinals at Pomona.

No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R paces three-car roster in seventh

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 11, 2025) – Cadillac Racing will aim for its seventh victory in the Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday from the seventh, ninth and 11th starting positions on the Grand Touring Prototype (GTP) grid. The No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R paced the three-car lineup in the 15-minute qualifying session with two-time Long Beach winner Filipe Albuquerque recording a best lap of 1 minute, 12.964 seconds on the 1.97-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit to place seventh.

The sister No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R, driven by Louis Deletraz, posted a best lap of 1:13.015 for ninth of the 11 cars. The No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R, runner-up in the 2024 race in a 1-2 Cadillac Racing sweep, incurred a penalty for working on the car during qualifying that carried a loss of its qualifying times. Jack Aitken and Earl Bamber will start from the rear of the field for the second consecutive race, though at Sebring International Raceway last month Action Express Racing drove through the field to lead 155 laps and finish fourth. The No. 24 BMW M Team RLL earned the pole for the 100-minute race with a lap of 1:11.539. Long Beach and Detroit on June 1 are the only 100-minute and street course races on the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship schedule. Last April, Cadillac secured a 1-2 finish to add to its Long Beach victory total since joining IMSA prototype competition in 2017 (2022, 2021, 2019, 2018 and 2017). There was no race in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The green flag flies at 2:05 p.m. PST (5:05 p.m. EST) with live coverage on USA Network, Peacock and IMSA’s YouTube channel for international viewers. Media resources: Photos for editorial use | Cadillac Racing event guide | Cadillac Racing all-time stats

Overall Cadillac Racing prototype victories at Long Beach2024 — No. 01 Cadillac V-Series.R; start third – Sebastien Bourdais, Renger van der Zande2022 — No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R; start first – Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais2021 — No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R; start first – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr2019 — No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R; start fourth – Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa2018 — No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R; start fifth — Filipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa2017 — No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R; start first – Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor1-2 finishes2024, 2022, 2021Poles2024, 2022, 2021, 2017 What they’re saying No. 10 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.RFilipe Albuquerque: “I think we went to qualifying still sorting out the car. It’s been pretty hard for us; we’re still fighting our way to better to understand the Cadillac. Qualifying maybe was not our forte, maybe in the race will be. The race is open, it’s always chaotic and we’ll do a nice strategy for that.”No. 31 Whelen Cadillac V-Series.R Jack Aitken: “It was a mixed day for us because in practice the BMWs look very strong here, like they were last year but I think of the rest of the manufacturers we were looking very good. It was very tight and then we came into quali and unfortunately I think others made a bit of a step forward and we just didn’t, so it was a tough session. We tried to keep chipping away at it, but I didn’t really put everything together. I think we’re unfortunately a little bit behind at the moment, so we’ll do what we can tomorrow. There are still some options on strategy. There is always attrition on these streets circuits and I’m sure it will try to be on the right side of that.” No. 40 Cadillac Wayne Taylor Racing V-Series.R Louis Delétraz: “Obviously, not the result we wanted and a tough qualification for Cadillac overall. We did try some things, and we definitely did learn some things as well. The race tomorrow will not be easy starting from the back, but we’ll fight hard. There is a lot of strategy on street tracks. We’re learning every lap we are doing and I’m positive we will be in the race tomorrow and fighting for some good things.”

Contact limits Wickens’ progress in GTD session; AWA’s Fidani quickest Bronze driver

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 11, 2025) – DXDT Racing’s Robert Wickens and the No. 36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R will start from the fourth row in class following GT Daytona (GTD) qualifying Friday for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Grand Prix of Long Beach. Wickens, driving the No. 36 Corvette equipped with Bosch’s new-generation electronic braking system alongside Tommy Milner, set a lap of 1:18.411 (90.354 mph) in the 15-minute session ahead of Saturday’s 100-minute race. That lap was 0.3 seconds slower than his fastest lap in qualifying, but that time was disallowed after the No. 36 brought out a red flag in practice earlier in the day. Wickens’ Corvette also suffered contact from a slower car in qualifying that resulted in suspension damage that limited the performance of the Z06 GT3.R. It halted the positive momentum from the day’s final practice where Wickens and Milner had the fastest and third-fastest time in GTD, respectively. Reigning Rolex 24 At Daytona GTD class winner AWA will start 11th in class Saturday after Orey Fidani’s qualifying run in the No. 13 Corvette. Fidani was the quickest Bronze-rated driver in the session at 1:19.387 (89.243 mph) – nearly seven-tenths of a second quicker than his qualifying lap from 2024.

He and Matt Bell finished sixth in class a year at Long Beach. It launched the team into a strong debut season with the Corvette program, which culminated in the Bob Akin Award for Fidani as the highest points-scoring Bronze driver in GTD. The award landed AWA an invitation to this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Long Beach weekend is Wickens’ first race in a Corvette Z06 GT3.R and the first running alongside the rest of the GTD field. He and Milner combined for 74 laps and 145.63 miles of valuable data – alongside AWA’s 67 total laps – for Corvette Racing engineers to analyze for Saturday’s 100-minute race. In addition to the IMSA race, two Corvette Z06 GT3.Rs will contest a pair of 40-minute sprint races in SRO Motorsports’ GT America series. Ross Chouest qualified ninth in the No. 50 Corvette for Chouest Povoledo Racing, and Blake McDonald was 11th in the No. 11 Corvette for DXDT Racing. Chevrolet and the Corvette brand have been a fixture at Long Beach since the Corvette Racing program first visited Long Beach in 2007. In 17 visits, Corvette GT cars have captured eight victories with two additional in the Corvette Daytona Prototype era. Combined with results from the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Chevrolet boasts a total of 22 victories in the Grand Prix’s two premier events. The Grand Prix of Long Beach for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship is scheduled for 2:05 p.m. PT on Saturday, April 12. The race will air live on USA Network starting at 5 p.m. ET with full streaming coverage on Peacock. IMSA Radio also will air the live call of the race at IMSA.com along with XM 206 and SiriusXM Online 996.

CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R POST-QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTESROBERT WICKENS, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – QUALIFIED EIGHTH IN GTD: “Not great. Obviously, I’m learning the series, the drivers to be around, the drivers not to be around. I don’t know. I was on my first push lap, there was a yellow Ferrari in front of me, he aborted his lap in the exit of Turn Nine and went full driver’s right before Turn 10. I took my racing line on my push lap and he just drove into the side of my car, bent the right rear suspension, then I had to do the whole qualy with a damaged car. It sucks. Obviously on the first push lap, you need to get a strong banker lap in with these qualys. You don’t know if there is going to be a red flag or a yellow or anything. The lap was going to be pretty strong and the car felt great, and then unfortunately after the damage the balance kind of wasn’t there. We put an okay time in, then it gets taken away from a mistake that I made in practice. It sucks. We deserve better. I feel bad for Tommy, for everyone at DXDT Racing. I wanted to have a good, smooth qualifying session. I was just baffled with what happened with that Ferrari and honestly, I wasn’t expecting it. I was fully convinced he was letting me pass because he was in the marbles on the right-hand side. And I guess, he wasn’t. He turned in and drove into my right rear.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – QUALIFIED 11TH IN GTD: “I’m very happy with qualifying. It just seems the more I get in this car, the better I seem to be doing, so I’m just going to build on the good results from today and push in the race and see where we get. So far everyone has been behaving pretty well with the traffic. This is a tough place to race at. It’s very narrow and when you are on cold tires you have to worry about the car stepping out and hitting the walls. So the plan is to take it easy the first couple of laps, get some heat in the tires and then send it!”

Friday press conference transcript following first IMSA practice sessionCorvette Z06 GT3.R drivers Robert Wickens and Tommy Milner met with members of the media Friday morning after the first practice for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s Grand Prix of Long Beach. The two recapped the one-hour session in DXDT Racing’s No. 36 Corvette Z06 GT3.R, the preparations ahead of the race and the continued progress of the Corvette with Bosch’s state-of-the-art hand-control braking system.

ROBERT WICKENS, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.RRob, take us through the first session on-track for you.“The first session was definitely not the session I had envisioned or dreamed. It was honestly a pretty shaky start. We had some issues on my installation check at the start of the session, which we got resolved, but we missed probably the first 20 minutes or so of FP1. And when you only have 60 minutes of the first practice, you want to try to utilize everything you can. So I think a lot of it was probably just myself, but I just felt like I was rushed kind of the whole time. I had a hard time kind of just settling down and finding a rhythm. But Tommy drove the car, put in a great lap. And then when I got in at the end of the session, I had a great reference lap on the dash to kind of understand how to extract lap time from this Corvette Z06 GT3.R around Long Beach. And it’s kind of the exact reason why I was so happy to have a teammate like Tommy here this weekend. I know after this practice when we’re done here we can look at some data and we can calm down and come up with a strong approach to try to find time and improve. It’s my first time here in a GT3 car, it’s only technically my third day and in the Corvette, so I feel like I’m still a little rusty. The last time I did a race was Road Atlanta last year, so a lot of my competitors here have already done the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring; they already have 36 hours of racing experience under the belt and I’m just still getting through rough stuff a little bit but we’re going to keep pushing and keep working hard. I’m excited for the second practice this afternoon.” Robbie, can you just talk a little bit, if you could, about how the systems are coming together for you with the Bosch system?“This track is kind of the ultimate challenge for hand controls given how tight some of the corners are. The fountain and obviously the Hairpin, so something I’ve never experienced with racing with hand controls is kind of having to deal with so much like steering angles around these tight corners. I was relatively prepared to know what to expect into the Hairpin, but when you experience it in real life… I’ve done iRacing sessions and other stuff where you understand there’s a lot of steering involved to get through the Hairpin, and I drove it in an IndyCar, so you also understand. But once you live it with hand controls going through the Hairpin, when you turn so much and you realize that you can’t reach the brake paddle that I was initially using and I need to switch hands to continue to slow down the car, it’s going to take some time to continue to get lap time. I think that’s honestly probably one of my biggest time losses to Tommy that I could see inside the car in that session. But the Bosch electronic braking system is working flawlessly. It’s giving me confidence. It’s definitely not the reason why I was struggling for pace in that session. I think it’s just going to take some time to get up to speed and hopefully get a good look at data, look at some on-board videos and do some self-coaching and with the help of Tommy beside me, we’re going to find some more speed for second practice.”

Robbie, obviously you’ve had test sessions in the Corvette with the hand control system, but this was your first day on track, not in a testing capacity with others on track. How was that for you? Did that change your approach at all?“It did. It was hectic. It’s kind of like what I touched on. I felt like I was just kind of flustered the whole session. When I did my two days in Sebring, there were only maybe three other cars on track the whole two days, so we pretty much had the entire track to ourselves. This was my first time obviously experiencing the speed difference of a GTP versus a GTD car. Then with our issues that we had at the start of the session, when I finally went out for my installation lap I felt like everyone else already had hot tires and I was just like a nuisance on the track so that was an adjustment. Then once Tommy got in and set a good baseline time for the car and everything, I think we all settled down a little bit. It’s a busy track out there when all of us are out there.” Now that you’ve had some seat time in testing capacity and practice capacity, can you talk a little bit about the feel of the system? Obviously it’s going to be wildly different compared to what it was in the TC car because it’s a different beast, but you said you were happy so far.“From the feeling of it, I know exactly where I feel like the threshold is on the brake and I feel like I understand how much I need to brake for each corner. I just need to try and figure out how to extract performance from the Corvette, and I think that’s kind of the beauty of this Bosch EBS – it’s just integrated into this car so well that I don’t even really… there’s no quirkiness or I feel like I’m not driving around any issues. It’s just I hit the brakes and the car slows down, which is pretty much exactly what you want it to do.” Can you maybe take us through the rest of today, what the schedule is, you know, the next practice session, maybe assume that you’re going to get back to the bulk of the time?“The rest of the day we’re going to finish up here, get back to the truck, look at some data and some video, and harass my teammate Tommy on how to drive one of these cars quicker. Honestly, the car balance felt like it was going to be in a really good spot. With it being a temporary circuit with no room for error, I’ll set up to err on the side of caution. I just need to figure out how much more I can push, if I need to brake later, harder, more entry speed, kind of stuff like that. Then, hopefully a bit of lunch. We get an hour and a half in FP2 instead of an hour, like we had this morning. So I’ll focus a little more on getting settled into the car and then keep working away on driving the Corvette.” Can you give us a walkthrough of a lap at the Long Beach Grand Prix from your own perspective?“First off, it’s great just to be back. I’ve had the privilege of racing here in IndyCar in 2018 and then being here every other year that IndyCar’s been here with the coaching roles that I do with Andretti Global and IndyCar. So I feel like I’ve experienced this culture for so many years, but to be putting on a fire suit and sitting in the car again, I feel like I’m home where I belong. It’s just such an amazing event, the track obviously has so much history, the 50th anniversary this year… I think everyone wants to win to kind of be a part of that milestone. Regardless of the category, whether it’s been Formula 1 races, CART races, IndyCar races, Champ Car races, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races, I think every driver wants to win here because just being on the podium, it’s just an historic place. The track is amazing. It’s raw, it’s unforgiving and you have to commit to put the lap in. For me, I think that’s the next step, I felt like I got to a point in that first session, where without risking the car, I needed to kind of see a lap of data to understand how to go quicker. So I’m just really excited for Practice Two here coming up in a little bit and try to make it a big step forward.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 36 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.RNow over to Tommy, a four time winner here at the Grand Prix. How much did that help you in this session?“Certainly having been a racer helps me in situations when things are a little bit rushed, just to get settled in quickly. I’m very fortunate to have spent so much time with Corvette Racing over the years and spent a lot of time in the Z06 GT3.R. I know the last two or three years now I’ve missed this race but didn’t feel like it hopping this Corvette and then getting comfortable again.” Milner on Wickens’ first session…“For somebody who’s in his third day in this GT3 car, I know his standards for himself are super high, but to come here for the first time to Long Beach in a long time, driving basically a car new to himself and be a second off the pace in about 10 minutes of practice is quite impressive. He’s talking from the position of who he is. He wants to be the fastest. And that’s why, for me, I’m excited to be here this weekend with him and his journey. But also just having a teammate as competitive as Robbie is awesome, rewarding and exciting for me. It’s been easy talking to him about driving this Corvette because it’s like talking to any other teammate that I’ve ever had in my career. So he sounds a little bit down right now. But I can tell you for 10 minutes in the car here at Long Beach, that’s a good place to start from, for sure.” Robbie, so much of being a race driver is second-nature, instinctive feel. How long does it take for a lot of these things you need to do in the car to become instinctive?“From a hand-control perspective, it’s definitely instinctive now. I guess it is like using your feet… understand that, you know, your right foot applies the throttle and sometimes with race drivers your left foot applies the brakes. So I’m still trying to get up to speed with understanding the ABS system and if the car likes it a lot or less or whatever the case is. So I’m still trying to figure out a bit of that muscle memory of how hard do I have to squeeze my brake to kind of achieve that happy threshold for braking performance. I think definitely it’s driving with my hands that has been second nature now for quite a while, but I’ve said it every time – I feel like every time I’m driving a race car, I’m continuing to learn something and continuing to perfect my driving ability with my hands. Obviously I’m jumping into a different car with a slightly different control system. There’s going to be a level of adjustment but for the most part, I feel like I’m in a pretty good starting spot. I think that’s down to a lot of the design work. It was such an evolution from what I used in my TCR car, and we needed to learn in TCR to be where we are now, 100 percent. The first time I drove the Corvette at Sebring, I was all blown away by how comfortable I was with the brake system straight away and how much feeling I had. Even here, I’m not worried of figuring out how to apply the brake or apply the throttle. I know all that, and it all feels great. It’s just trying to extract pace from the car now.” Can you give us a walkthrough of a lap at the Long Beach Grand Prix from your own perspective?“It’s such a high-commitment racetrack. Obviously, any mistake here typically ends in a concrete wall. So it’s a place that requires a lot of comfort and confidence in the car. It’s one of the best street tracks that I’ve ever raced in my life. Just got a good flow and rhythm to it. It ends up being pretty good for multi-class racing with some passing opportunities to let the faster GTP cars go by. The first section has lots of character and has a lot of nuance to it to find lap time. It has the pretty unique corner there with the fountain in turns Two and Three. Then you go to two of the more difficult corners on the racetrack in turns Four and Five where there are curbs here at the apex in some places. For us it’s quite difficult to use all of those. So for me, it’s just a lot of fun. You know, it’s a place where when the car gives you the confidence, you can really hustle around here, and I think that’s what makes the Long Beach Grand Prix circuit so much fun for us as drivers. And then you add all that with just the atmosphere of the fans being on top of you and being close here on Shoreline Drive… the whole event itself is one of the races that I’ve missed the last couple of years. Now that I’m back, it reminds me of how special this place is.” In your experience, how much does the track change and evolve from what was this morning’s session? What do you want to just see here when you go back out?“Yeah, certainly it’s a big part of this weekend. Typically we’re one of the first series on the racetrack. So parts that are dusty and doesn’t have a whole lot of rubber laid down… after our next session, once the IndyCar guys come on track a little bit as well, it just adds grip to the racetrack and makes the first session or two for us a little bit tricky because you start finding lap time as time goes on. It’s always not entirely clear if that’s you making gains with your driving or with car setup or it’s just the track itself getting faster. So this weekend is challenging. It’s a compressed schedule, and playing catch-up with the racetrack and continuing to improve yourself in the car while the track is improving is just always a moving target. So that’s another aspect of this weekend and this race that makes it challenging but also rewarding when you have success.” Do you learn anything from the way Robert approaches this racetrack? I realize you might have some differences in the car, but what about the way he looks at data? Are you able to pick up any things that will help do his driving?“Certainly. I’ve been very lucky throughout my career with Corvette Racing to have very talented teammates, and with every single one of them, you learn something about their driving style, about their preparation, how they look at data, things like that. And this will be the most important thing for me. The first thing I’m going to do is I’m going to be the first one to take a look at data with Robbie. But already from the experience that I’ve had with him, we rode together after the first test that I did with this hand-control car in between the Daytona Roar and the Rolex 24. Just talking to him, understanding how his brain works a little bit, there’s always things to learn and pick up, and someone with the talent that he has, I’m always keeping my mind and my ears open to understand what makes him as good as he is. So I’ll be stealing as many secrets as I possibly can this weekend.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES ACURA GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH STREETS OF LONG BEACH LONG BEACH, CALIFORNIA TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE REPORT APRIL 11, 2025 WILL POWER LEADS NTT INDYCAR SERIES FIRST PRACTICE IN LONG BEACH WITH TEAM CHEVY Will Power, driver of the No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet, led first practice on the Streets of Long Beach, with his lap from the Group 2 setting pace overall at 1:07.3227 seconds on the 1.968-mile street course.Team Chevy was additionally represented in the top-five of Group 2 by Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden (third). Newgarden additionally finished third in the first 45-minute session with his fastest lap of 1.07.7858, followed by Arrow McLaren’s Nolan Siegel in fourth (1:07.8607) and Newgarden’s Team Penske teammate Scott McLaughlin in fifth (1:07.9007).Pato O’Ward, driver of the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet, finished fifth in Group 1, with his lap of 1:07.9477.Saturday’s action on the Streets of Long Beach sees Team Chevy open with a second practice at 11:30 a.m. ET on FS1 followed by qualifying and the Firestone Fast Six at 2:30 p.m. ET on FS2. Additional coverage throughout the weekend can be found via INDYCAR Radio and SiriusXM Channel 218. First Practice Top-10 Results (Combined):1st      Will Power (1:07.3227) First Practice Top-10 Results (45-minute session):3rd     Josef Newgarden (1:07.7858)4th     Nolan Siegel (1:07.8607)5th     Scott McLaughlin (1:07:9007)

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING  Conor Daly, No. 76 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:“Honestly, it was just nice to be back at Long Beach. I think this is place is awesome, and the crowd today here on a Friday is like nothing I’ve seen in my life. Shoutout to the crowd for being here and supporting us. We got through a lot of changes, and definitely need a few more, but we’re learning so much as a group on the fly. I think every day is a good learning experience for us. We had some decent pace for us in our group, so we’ll see what we can do tomorrow.” Sting Ray Robb, No. 78 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:“I think that we were okay on the black (primary) tires. The green (alternate) tires were shocking compared to what we had at St. Pete. I don’t know what to expect with them yet for the race but definitely have some learning to do. I think we’ll be making a lot of changes overnight. We have a lot of tools at our disposal that I we’ll get better with. I think we’ll get in the right direction, so that’s good. It’s nice to look at the groups and know that we’re okay already and still have a lot of room to go. I’m excited about tomorrow. I think we’ll roll off much better in the morning and figure out what we can do from there.” Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:“It was pretty good. We went early just so that we could make sure we got a decent run because we wanted to see what the tire did. Unfortunately, just caught a little bit of traffic. I felt like what I felt was good. The DEX Imaging Chevy felt good. I love this place. I love Long Beach, it just hasn’t been as kind to me in the past. We’re all good.”

Josef Newgarden, driver of the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet, met with members of the media after the first practice session. Transcript: Q. Josef, going back to Thermal, obviously not the pace that all three of you guys from Team Penske wanted. Did that ring some alarm bells coming into this weekend or does it feel like back to business as usual and that was sort of an anomaly?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think anomaly is a good way to put it. Yeah, feels like business as usual here. THE MODERATOR: Obviously we’re joined by Josef Newgarden, sixth quick overall, third in that very first session, the 45-minute session, driver of the No. 2 Astemo Team Penske Chevrolet, finished fourth here last year. Former champion here, as well. Your thoughts on a nice start to the weekend for you. JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Very good. I think our car was pretty solid rolling off just like St. Pete. Kind of speaks to our global positioning from a street course standpoint. Obviously we track this stuff. We’re trying to create good race cars across the board, which you have to have in this series. You sort of have a base position on a street course style, road course style and then ovals alike. I think our street course car has been in a really good window, felt really solid today, and happy about where we’re at and coming into the weekend. I think we can really put something good together if we stay on it. Q. What was the differences of the feel between last year and this year with the hybrid system?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Good question. Not a lot, to be quite honest, as far as from a general standpoint. It still feels like Long Beach. I think a lot of the driving technique that you’re doing is quite similar. You’re just adding in the hybrid utilization that we’ve kind of used for half the season last year. So you’re using it a lot. You’re regenning under braking, but this hybrid system is extremely friendly within regen, so it’s comfortable under braking. There’s nothing evil about it. It’s pretty easy to drive. You’re just trying to make sure that you’re optimizing how much charge you’re allowed to use per lap. We have an allocated amount of energy, and you just want to optimize that for lap time and make sure that you’re using all of it. So that’s the big difference. But as far as driving here, it feels like Long Beach of the last 10 years in a good way. Flows a lot the same that it did last year, too. Q. With it being the 50th race here at Long Beach, how much does it mean to you to be a part of this field and just to be part of the celebration of this race?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it’s incredible. I love being an INDYCAR driver, and one of the great things about being an INDYCAR driver is you get to race at Long Beach. It’s certainly good for our community, and I think it’s great for this community. You see great excitement when you’re here and people ask you how does this event feel different to others, and you certainly notice the energy difference at this race than you get at other places. It’s quite a joy to be a part of it. I think the entire team has kept it alive and made it flourish for so many years, certainly with Jim and their entire group, they’ve done such a great job. Very, very proud to be a part of it as an INDYCAR driver, and hopefully we have another 50 years up the road. That would be really great. THE MODERATOR: I thought there was a buzz today. JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Man, we say that every year, and I think in a lot of ways the last three years they’ve just increased the capacity and size. It was no different this time around. It just felt bigger than last year. I don’t know how we can keep saying that year after year. It looked like race day today. It was super cool. I think that’s the great thing about motorsports, though, right now. There’s an excitement. There’s a cool factor to it. If you just want to talk about trends, I think motorsports is a trend right now, especially with young people, and it’s really fun to see that. You’re just seeing this resurgence. I’ve been talking about this in a couple different interviews. I don’t want to say it’s bizarre, but it has been unique to see over the last two years the amount of kids that I see at the racetrack that are bringing their parents. It’s not the other way around. I meet parents that are my age and they’re going, I know nothing about this, but my six-year-old loves it and loves you and loves INDYCAR. It used to be the other way around. It was, hey, whatever, I used to love INDYCAR back in the ’80s and now I’m here and I’m trying to bring my kids. But it’s the other way; the kids are bringing the parents. It’s very, very cool to be a part of. I think we can continue that and grow it and we’re in a really good position to do it, so it’s just a fun time to be a part of motorsports. Q. Team Penske has had a lot of success here at this track. What would you say they do differently than other teams to give you the edge?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think it’s our execution. When you look at Team Penske, it’s really about not beating yourself in a lot of ways. This is a complex sport, and all the details matter. We always talk about details. I describe racing in INDYCAR like solving a puzzle each weekend. The puzzle is different every track and every weekend we go to, and it’s just a matter of who figures it out first. So you’ve got to get a lot of details right to win the race and do that. But you can also forget the simple things and you can beat yourself on race weekends, and I think at Team Penske we do try and do — we try and keep it at the forefront of our minds that we need to get the basics right. It sounds silly, but it’s like, is the car fully fueled; are our pit stops kind of just where they need to be; do we know what we’re doing strategy-wise; is everything tight. It’s just the little things that people take for granted. I think we try and not beat ourselves, and so that execution quality is where Team Penske over the years, 50 plus years, has set themselves apart. We try and excel in other areas, too, but I think keeping the basics as a priority has served our company very well. Q. You’ve had a couple of weeks since the Thermal Club and you weren’t able to advance out of the first round, and Team Penske struggled out there in qualifying. What has been done to prevent that from really happening again? Obviously the goal is to make it into the Fast Six, but how much has that been a motivator the last couple of weeks?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: There’s no doubt, Thermal was a disaster as far as Team Penske. We had a tough weekend. The good thing is we’re just getting going, though. A lot of people have been asking about how is the year, and we’re two races in. We had an excellent St. Pete. Our cars were in a good window. Team did a great job. Then Thermal was the complete opposite. We were just sort of nowhere. I think we sort of found our way towards the end, back half of the way. We diverged between the race cars and I think we found a direction. So that would be the answer to — going back in the future, I think we have a direction to come back with. So yeah, we can’t erase what happened. We can’t go back. It was a tough weekend. Just did not go very well. But I don’t think it’s an indicator of the rest of the year in a lot of ways. Q. Can you tell us a little bit about what you learned this session with your beautiful primary tires and your alternates?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It may be a four-stop race. Marcus was answering the question, I’m like, three-stop? Three-stop would be good, if you could do it. Yeah, we’re going to see. I think in a lot of ways the complexion will be similar to St. Pete, and the consensus coming out of St. Pete I think will carry over to here and you’ll see the same sort of commitment or execution at this race. The primary tire is very robust and certainly feels like a really solid tire. I was super happy with the car right out of the box and very comfortable and pretty easygoing across multiple stints and then I think the alternate has some good speed that you can extract but it’s got a very tight window and doesn’t have a lot of durability. So I think anyone that can figure out how to add durability to that is going to be doing something magical. I don’t know that anyone is going to find a combination that makes it work necessarily, but that’s what adds the excitement. You’re going to pick and choose now, and you’re going to see what people do in the race. It’s early in the weekend. If the track just continues to grip up, which is historical Long Beach, every single session this place just gets faster. It’s just a little easier on the tires. It’s hard for me to predict the future today. Maybe we get to the race and someone can make the alternate work and run a strategy where you run the alternate late in the race. I don’t think that’s going to be preferred at this moment, but you just never know. Q. Are you liking how much of a factor that race strategy, specifically tire strategy, has been playing this season? Would you rather it just be left up to the animals on track to go maximum attack the whole time?JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I like the variedness. We kind of get that in a lot of different ways in INDYCAR. The tires is just another component of that. It goes up and down. Sometimes we have a very consistent tire. Sometimes we have an alternate like we have this weekend where they’re quite fast for a lap but they degrade heavily. It never bugs me. It comes back to my analogy that racing in INDYCAR is like solving a puzzle, and that puzzle is never the same. Year over year even, same track, the puzzle changes. I don’t mind it. I think there’s certainly a uniqueness to this current puzzle with the tires, and it’s added some excitement. Certainly when you look at Thermal, there was a lot of ways you could approach it. You’re learning on the fly. At Thermal we kind of went into Saturday feeling one way about the tires and then even Sunday morning we felt the same way about them as we did Saturday, and then we got out of the warmup in Thermal and we thought, oh, no, we might have just made a mistake just from what we learned with the tires and then we put ourselves in a bad position going into the race. It just keeps you on your toes. I think it’s certainly exciting for us. It makes us do our jobs really well, and I think it can add excitement to the track, so I love it.

Fri.18-Sun.20 April 2025 Of 312 drivers and riders entered for Santa Pod Raceway’s Easter weekend Festival of Power, 55 are women and girls. Drag racing’s gender-equality profile distinguishes it from other forms of motorsport which struggle to field female participants, and the profile applies to all classes on the track, from Junior Dragster and Dragbike competitors right up to the stars of Top Fuel. The Top Fuel Dragster match race heading the Festival of Power programme is a prime example – female versus male, head-to-head in ground-shaking, 300mph racing machines. Sweden’s Susanne Callin and Britain’s Liam Jones will limber up for the FIA European Championship which starts in May in a tussle for early-season primacy. Callin was once Europe’s first 300mph teenager, then spent 14 years away pursuing family life before returning to the track in 2019. Her daughters step up from the Junior Dragster ranks this season. All compete under Santa Pod’s Slick Tricks Racing banner. Jones, Britain’s foremost Top Fuel racer of the past decade, returns to action after a break piloting a car sporting the livery of Bro Joe, a new coffee brand. The Yorkshireman and his Norwegian partner, Maja Udtian, are a unique couple: both are 3-second, 300mph Top Fuel stars, and former rivals on the track. Indeed, Maja’s career-best figures, 3.806sec/316.55mph, are marginally quicker and faster than her partner’s, a gap he’ll no doubt want to close early on. By contrast, the opening round of the Funny Car Cup is an all-male affair. ‘Funny Car’ is a misnomer: there is nothing amusing about these machines. They share the same nitro-burning, 10,000-horsepower engines as their Top Fuel counterparts, but crammed into a short wheelbase beneath a lightweight, replica body. They are notoriously hard to handle. A pair of Texans take on a British duo, one a seasoned Funny Car handler, the other an accomplished dragbike racer making his four-wheeled debut. Last year, Texan Terry Haddock tuned a Swedish driver to Europe’s first 300mph Funny Car speed achieved over today’s 1,000-foot racing distance. Now the Swedish car has a new British owner, and Haddock will drive as well as tune it, as he does at home in America’s NHRA series. Fellow Texan John Hale drives a colourful machine dubbed One Bad Texan (they love their car names, not numbers, in drag racing). Steve Ashdown flies the flag for Britain in The Undertaker, having won the Funny Car Cup in 2022. The Funny Car novice, Dale Leeks, is a British dragbiker with an American championship under his belt, earned last year in the Xtreme Dragbike Association’s Pro Xtreme division. Keeping up the decibels, though of a different timbre, the Jet Car Challenge is a smoke-flame-thunder annual favourite at the Festival of Power, while uproarious Pro Mods launch 2025’s Motorsport UK British Drag Racing Championship. Supporting the programme are full UK national championship rounds for cars and motorcycles. Paddock access is free and open – a close-up view of the pitside action is all part of the show. The Festival of Power is an event for all the family – championship drag racing on the track and all manner of entertainments alongside. The Festival takes place over Easter weekend, from Friday 18^th to Sunday 20^th April (not Easter Monday). Tickets are bookable only online or by phone – visit https://santapodtickets.com/ or telephone the Box Office at 01234 782828. Full event information can be found at https://santapod.co.uk/festival-of-power.php.

OCALA, FL (March 8, 2025) — Josh Hart has never relied on luck throughout his racing or business career. The fifth year professional Top Fuel driver of the R+L Carriers dragster has been meticulous in his planning and building of his team going back to his rookie season in 2021. The owner of Burnyzz Speed Shop in Ocala, Florida, has used the same mindset that grew that company into a horsepower powerhouse to build his Top Fuel team heading into the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals, April 11-13 at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “You can’t rely on luck getting you win lights,” said Hart, a multi-time Top Fuel national event winner. “You have to work hard and put in the time to get results. Sometimes things will go your way, but out here you have to be at your best, every run. We have been making strides this season that I feel will pay off during this four-wide race.” Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team are eager to take on Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals, photo credit Krista Zivcic PhotographyOver the off-season Hart added Jason McCulloch and Joe Barlam to his crew chief line-up alongside veteran tuner Ron Douglas. The trio of crew chiefs that Hart refers to as his “Three Musketeers” set about building a sustainable tune-up that could carry the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team to the NHRA Mission Foods world championship. Two weeks ago, at the historic NHRA Winternationals Hart posted some of his quickest elapsed times in over a year and raced to the quarterfinals. At the conclusion of the race Hart could see progress and was looking forward to the first four-wide nationals of the season. “We showed that we have a tune-up now that can run low numbers and that is great to see,” said Hart. “I think we will be able to step it up even more in Las Vegas and really get some momentum going. This team has been working very hard, and we are seeing the results. I never lost faith in any of my guys. We are one team, and we will be ready to go this weekend.” Hart will be competing in the Mission #2Fast2Tasty Challenge thanks to his quarterfinal efforts at the Winternationals. During the first qualifying session on Saturday, he will be running against fellow quarterfinalists Shawn Langdon, Tony Stewart and Doug Kalitta. With additional cash and championship points on the line Hart will be looking to start turning on win lights on Saturday. Hart has had success in the four-wide racing format, racing to the final quad at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals in 2023 and advancing to the second quad last season. The flurry of activity does not bother the calm and collected Hart. “I just do my usual routine when we are racing four-wide,” said Hart. “The key is to be patient and just not worry about what other drivers are doing. It will be a lot of fun and the fans in Las Vegas are great.” Hart and the R+L Carriers team will be in action for two qualifying runs on Friday and two on Saturday. Final eliminations for the 16 quickest Top Fuel dragsters will begin at noon PST on Sunday, April 13. The race will be broadcast nationally on FS1 and fans can get more information on the race and tickets at www.nhra.com.

FARMER CITY, IL (April 8, 2025) – The kickoff to racing season in Illinois is finally here, and Farmer City Raceway is set to play host to the World of Outlaws Late Models once again for this weekend’s Illini 100.

The first 1/4-mile bullring on the 2025 schedule has earned a reputation of side-by-side, door-banging racing and unforgettable finishes, and this year’s edition of the springtime tradition is set to provide even more thrills.

The weekend gets underway with a practice night on Thursday, April 10, before a pair of full programs on Friday and Saturday, April 11-12. Friday’s show wraps up with a 40-lap, $12,000-to-win, Feature before the 60-lap, $20,000-to-win, finale on Saturday night.

Joining The Most Powerful Late Models on the Planet on the program will be the season-opening races for both the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota and the MARS Modified Championship powered by Summit Racing Equipment.

Here are the top storylines entering the weekend:

WELCOME HOME: The “Land of Lincoln” is home to several members of this season’s full-time roster, and they’re all looking forward to their first chance of the year at a strong showing in front of their home crowd. Given recent history at Farmer City, they have good reason to be excited.

The last time a driver from somewhere other than Illinois won a World of Outlaws race at Farmer City was nine years ago, when Josh Richards got the job done in 2016. Since then, the list of drivers who have gone to Victory Lane at one of their home tracks includes Brandon Sheppard, Brian Shirley, Mike Spatola, Bobby Pierce and Nick Hoffman – who lived in Belleville, IL prior to moving south to Mooresville, NC.

For Pierce, a weekend on home soil could provide the perfect opportunity to build on his 30-point advantage on top of the standings. His three World of Outlaws wins in the last four seasons are merely the tip of his Farmer City iceberg. In his last 10 Feature starts at the track between World of Outlaws, DIRTcar Summer Nationals and MARS competition, Pierce has finished outside of the top five once and has a 3.1 average finish over that span.

While Hoffman’s first Late Model start at Farmer City came two years ago, his track record since then is nearly flawless. “The Thrill From Mooresville” has never finished worse than second in three World of Outlaws nights. That mirrors his numbers with the DIRTcar Summit Racing Equipment Modified Nationals, as he has also never finished off the podium in four Hell Tour starts at Farmer City.

However, neither of them have been turning laps around the bullring for as long as Brian Shirley, who made his first Summer Nationals appearance at the track in 2003 and debuted with the World of Outlaws a few years later in 2006. “Squirrel” won on Illini 100 weekend for the first time in 2017 before backing it up in 2019, and he’s added two wins each with the Hell Tour and MARS in the years since.

JOINING THE CLUB: One name missing on the list of Illinoisans with a World of Outlaws win at Farmer City is Carpentersville, IL’s Dennis Erb Jr.

The 2022 Series champion has partaken in 15 World of Outlaws races at the track since 2006. His fifth-place run that year was his first of four top fives, with the other three coming since 2019. While Erb has yet to add the Illini 100 trophy to his collection, he still knows how to win at Farmer City, as evidenced by Summer Nationals wins in 2009 and 2015 as well as a pair of Northern Allstars triumphs in 2004.

While Erb’s 2025 campaign may have gotten off to a slow start, a season-best sixth-place effort in the Saturday program at Swainsboro Raceway showed that things could be headed in the right direction for the No. 28 team. Erb finds himself in a logjam in the middle of the points table, with 42 points separating six drivers between seventh and 12th, so a solid weekend in familiar territory could vault him up several spots in the championship chase.

KEEPING PACE: The rest of the field has their sights set on breaking the Illinois stranglehold on Farmer City, and one of the leading candidates to do it is Ryan Gustin.

Gustin may be entering the Illini 100 without a Farmer City win, but that hasn’t fazed him yet this year – his wins at Volusia Speedway Park and Swainsboro were the first World of Outlaws victories of his career at both tracks. Gustin will need to keep the No. 19R at the front to avoid losing ground to Pierce and Hoffman at a track they both excel at, but “The Reaper” has done that in the past at Farmer City. His first trip to the track resulted in a podium effort with MARS in 2020, and he has a World of Outlaws top five to his credit from 2023.

What Gustin isn’t looking for, though, is a repeat of last year, when he finished 16th and 21st in two nights of action.

FRESHMAN PHENOMS: This season’s MD3 Rookie of the Year Award battle is shaping up to be a season-long tussle between some of the brightest young stars in the sport, and the next chapter is set to be written this weekend.

Drake Troutman’s Swainsboro podium has him atop the rookie standings for the first time this season. The Hyndman, PA driver made his Farmer City debut in 2021 in a DIRTcar UMP Modified on the Hell Tour and came home fifth. Troutman’s first Late Model start at the track came in last year’s Illini 100, highlighted by a top-15 run on Friday night.

Ethan Dotson also made his first Farmer City Late Model starts at this event one year ago, making the Feature on both nights with Chris Bragg Racing a month before joining ASD Motorsports. And like Troutman, he’s also shown plenty of prowess in a Modified, winning in his only Farmer City start with the MARS Modifieds in 2023.

Peru, IL’s Daniel Adam sees this weekend as a chance to make his presence known in the rookie battle, as he relocated from North Carolina a year ago to position himself in the middle of the Illinois Late Model hotbed. In addition to a Summer Nationals top 10 last June, Adam was a frequent visitor to Farmer City on Friday nights last summer.

Hailing from the opposite side of the Mississippi River in Urbana, MO, Dillon McCowan has also been fast in his limited appearances at Farmer City. He finished second in a local show in 2023 in his first trip before bringing the No. 8 car home sixth with the Summer Nationals in 2024.

Rounding out the rookie class are Jake Timm and Austin Smith, both of whom are making their Farmer City debut this weekend.

DEFENDING THE FARM: Anytime the World of Outlaws full-timers roll into Illinois, they know they’ll have to wrestle the trophy away from some of the toughest regional competition in the country.

Reigning Series champion Sheppard has been racing at Farmer City since the dawn of his Late Model career at age 14, and it’s been one of his favorite places to wheel a race car ever since.

The New Berlin, IL native has three World of Outlaws wins at the track to his credit, although it’s been a while – the last one came in 2019. He’ll look to end that drought this weekend and grow his margin as the winningest driver in Series history.

Three-time and defending DIRTcar UMP Late Model national champion Jason Feger won 16 times across the region in 2024 on his way to the title, including one at Farmer City on May 31. The Bloomington, IL gasser finished top 10 on both nights of the Illini 100 last year and has his sights set on finally picking up a win in one of the state’s biggest races.

No one has won more races at Farmer City as of late than Fairbury, IL’s McKay Wenger. The No. 99 team won six times in 10 starts at the bullring last season and is on the hunt for his best World of Outlaws run since a seventh in the 2021 Prairie Dirt Classic.

Other staples of the Illinois scene expected to be in contention include Spatola, Shannon Babb, Frank Heckenast Jr., Ryan Unzicker and many more.

WHEN AND WHERE:
Thursday-Saturday, April 10-12 at Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, IL

CURRENT POINT STANDINGS:
1. Bobby Pierce (1164 points)
2. Ryan Gustin (-30)
3. Nick Hoffman (-30)
4. Drake Troutman (-70)
5. Max Blair (-94)
6. Ethan Dotson (-98)
7. Cody Overton (-108)
8. Tim McCreadie (-110)
9. Tanner English (-120)
10. Dennis Erb Jr. (-140)

FEATURE WINNERS (5):
Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 2
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 2
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 2
Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 1
Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 1

HEAT RACE WINNERS (18):
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 6
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 5
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 5
Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 3
Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 3
Ricky Thornton Jr. – Chandler, AZ – 3
Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – 3
Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – 2
Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 2
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 2
Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 1
Cody Overton – Thomson, GA – 1
Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – 1
Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 1
Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – 1
Chris Madden – Gray Court, SC – 1
Garrett Smith – Madison, GA – 1
Ashton Winger – Hampton, GA – 1

LANDA PRESSURE WASHERS LAST CHANCE SHOWDOWN WINNERS (17):
Tyler Bruening – Decorah, IA – 3
Michael Leach – Sun River, MT – 2
Brandon Overton – Evans, GA – 2
Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – 1
Dustin Sorensen – Rochester, MN – 1
Cody Overton – Thomson, GA – 1
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 1
Brian Shirley – Chatham, IL – 1
Tyler Erb – New Waverly, TX – 1
Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 1
Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 1
Kyle Bronson – Brandon, FL – 1
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 1
Ashton Winger – Hampton, GA – 1
Jackson Hise – Ocala, FL – 1
Trey Mills – St. Augustine, FL – 1
Austin Smith – Cedartown, GA – 1

PODIUM FINISHERS (11):
Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 5
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 4
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 3
Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 2
Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 2
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 2
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 2
Cody Overton – Thomson, GA – 1
Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 1
Ricky Thornton Jr. – Chandler, AZ – 1
Ashton Winger – Hampton, GA – 1

FOX FACTORY HARD CHARGERS (8):
Cody Overton – Thomson, GA – 1
Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 1
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 1
Dennis Erb Jr. – Carpentersville, IL – 1
Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 1
Brandon Sheppard – New Berlin, IL – 1
Ethan Dotson – Bakersfield, CA – 1
Dustin Sorensen – Rochester, MN – 1

SIMPSON RACING PRODUCTS QUICK TIMES (5):
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 3
Ricky Thornton Jr. – Chandler, AZ – 2
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 1
Chris Madden – Gray Court, SC – 1
Tanner English – Benton, KY – 1

BILSTEIN POLE AWARD (5):
Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 2
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 2
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 2
Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – 1
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 1

FEATURE LAP LEADERS (9):
Bobby Pierce – Oakwood, IL – 70
Ryan Gustin – Marshalltown, IA – 66
Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 44
Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – 41
Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 41
Ricky Thornton Jr. – Chandler, AZ – 18
Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 17
Nick Hoffman – Mooresville, NC – 16
Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 11
Ashton Winger – Hampton, GA, – 1

2025 WORLD OF OUTLAWS LATE MODELS SCHEDULE & WINNERS
Friday, Jan. 24 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Ryan Gustin (1)
Saturday, Jan. 25 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Garrett Alberson (1)
Thursday, Feb. 13 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Garrett Alberson (2)
Friday, Feb. 14 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Devin Moran (1)
Saturday, Feb. 15 / Volusia Speedway Park / Barberville, FL / Jonathan Davenport (1)
Friday, Mar. 14 / Smoky Mountain Speedway / Maryville, TN / Bobby Pierce (1)
Friday, Mar. 21 / Swainsboro Raceway / Swainsboro, GA / Bobby Pierce (2)
Saturday, Mar. 22 / Swainsboro Raceway / Swainsboro, GA / Ryan Gustin (2)
Thursday, Apr. 10 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL (Practice)
Friday, Apr. 11 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL
Saturday, Apr. 12 / Farmer City Raceway / Farmer City, IL
Friday, Apr. 25 / Talladega Short Track / Eastaboga, AL
Saturday, Apr. 26 / Talladega Short Track / Eastaboga, AL
Thursday, May 1 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI
Friday, May 2 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI
Saturday, May 3 / Mississippi Thunder Speedway / Fountain City, WI
Thursday, May 15 / Raceway 7 / Conneaut, OH
Friday, May 16 / Marion Center Raceway / Marion Center, PA
Saturday, May 17 / Marion Center Raceway / Marion Center, PA
Sunday, May 18 / Bedford Speedway / Bedford, PA
Friday, June 20 / I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park / Pevely, MO
Saturday, June 21 / I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park / Pevely, MO
Monday, June 23 / Independence Motor Speedway / Independence, IA
Thursday, June 26 / I-94 EMR Speedway / Fergus Falls, MN
Friday, June 27 / River Cities Speedway / Grand Forks, ND
Saturday, June 28 / Norman County Raceway / Ada, MN
Sunday, June 29 / Nodak Speedway / Minot, ND
Thursday, July 3 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN
Friday, July 4 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN
Saturday, July 5 / Deer Creek Speedway / Spring Valley, MN
Friday, July 11 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH
Saturday, July 12 / Sharon Speedway / Hartford, OH
Friday, July 25 / Fairbury Speedway / Fairbury, IL
Saturday, July 26 / Fairbury Speedway / Fairbury, IL
Monday, July 28 / Wilmot Raceway / Wilmot, WI
Thursday, July 31 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Friday, Aug. 1 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Saturday, Aug. 2 / Cedar Lake Speedway / New Richmond, WI
Wednesday, Aug. 13 / Highland Speedway / Highland, IL
Thursday, Aug. 14 / Spoon River Speedway / Lewistown, IL
Friday, Aug. 15 / Maquoketa Speedway / Maquoketa, IA
Saturday, Aug. 16 / Maquoketa Speedway / Maquoketa, IA
Friday, Aug. 22 / Arrowhead Speedway / Colcord, OK
Saturday, Aug. 23 / Arrowhead Speedway / Colcord, OK
Friday, Sept. 12 / Needmore Speedway / Norman Park, GA
Saturday, Sept. 13 / Senoia Raceway / Senoia, GA
Friday, Sept. 26 / Tri-City Speedway / Granite City, IL
Saturday, Sept. 27 / Tri-City Speedway / Granite City, IL
Friday, Oct. 3 / Humboldt Speedway / Humboldt, KS
Saturday, Oct. 4 / 81 Speedway / Wichita, KS
Friday, Oct. 10 / Boothill Speedway / Greenwood, LA
Saturday, Oct. 11 / Boothill Speedway / Greenwood, LA
Wednesday, Nov. 5 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Thursday, Nov. 6 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Friday, Nov. 7 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC
Saturday, Nov. 8 / The Dirt Track at Charlotte / Concord, NC

ARTICLE: https://worldofoutlaws.com/latemodels/what-to-watch-for-illinois-invasion-up-next-for-world-of-outlaws-at-illini-100/

EVENT INFO: https://worldofoutlaws.com/latemodels/schedule/event-info/?event=4547659
TRACK INFO: https://www.farmercityracing.com/