LAS VEGAS, NV (April 14, 2024) — The first four-wide race of the season is in the books and Josh Hart and the R+L Carriers Top Fuel team made strides at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. After four qualifying sessions Hart made continually quicker runs and entered race day at the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals as the No. 12 qualifier. The first round quad was comprised of Brittany Force, Billy Torrence and Jasmine Salinas. It was a tough group of competitors, but Hart felt the two runs on Saturday set his R+L Carriers team up for success.

 Josh Hart and R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster raced to the second round at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

When all four 12,000 horsepower Top Fuel dragster rolled into their assigned lanes it was Hart in lane two flanked by Force in lane one and Torrence in lane three. Hart was first off the line with a .073 reaction time and at half-track Force had driven past him but he held off Torrence and Salinas to advance to the second round. His win came at a cost as his engine expired at the finish line in a quick ball of flames. His winning time of 3.957 seconds at 275.96 mph was his quickest pass of the weekend and set him up with another race against Force along with Doug Kalitta and Steve Torrence.
 
“I think the thing that sticks with me the most is this team is so much better than the results we have seen so far this season,” said Hart. “Everyone is working their tails off, but we are just having to really battle. That is what makes this sport so hard and so satisfying. I know we will start seeing more positive results and I am looking forward to getting to Charlotte. We had an expensive first round, but we got this R+L Carriers racecar put back together and we made our best run of the weekend. That is a testament to how good this team is.”
 
In the second round Hart left the starting line just a tick behind Kalitta and Torrence and his R+L Carriers Top Fuel dragster made an improved run that was smooth right down the middle of his lane. Unfortunately, Kalitta and Torrence held him off at the finish line stripe posting winning elapsed times of 3.751 and 3.777 seconds just in front of Hart’s best of the weekend 3.796 seconds at 328.78 mph. At the end of the day Hart held his position in the Top Ten and crew chief Ron Douglas left the track with positive data and determination for improvement at the next four-wide race in two weeks at zMAX Dragway.
 
“We are moving in the right direction with this new combination, but nothing moves fast enough,” said crew chief Ron Douglas. “We are fixing issues on every run and these last three runs here in Las Vegas were more steps in the right direction. The key is being able to duplicate good runs and not tear our stuff up.”
 
For the second year in a row Hart advanced out of the first quad at the unique four-wide race in Las Vegas. The young driver has developed a pattern of building on his four-wide success at the Charlotte national event racing to the final quad every year he has competed at the track location just north of Charlotte. Hart will be back on track for two qualifying runs in two weeks.
 
Qualifying Results
Q1: 7.180 sec, 84.57 mph; Qual. 14
Q2: 4.543 sec, 180.19 mph; Qual. 14
Q3: 3.834 sec, 324.59; Qual. 9
Q4: 3.828 sec, 324.36 mph; Qual. 12
Bonus Points:

Race Results
First Round

1. Brittany Force, Yorba Linda, Calif, (.095), 3.750, 335.90 mph

2. Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., R+L Carriers dragster, (.073), 3.957, 275.96 mph def.

3. Billy Torrence, Kilgore, Tex., Capco dragster, (.112), 4.094, 219.44 mph

4. Jasmine Salinas, Brownsburg, Ind., Scrappers Racing, (.133), 4.666, 162.33 mph

Second Round

1. Doug Kalitta, Ypsilanti, Mich., Mac Tools dragster, (.076), 3.751, 336.65 mph

2, Steve Torrence, Kilgore, Tex., Capco dragster, (.074), 3.777, 333.00 mph 

3. Brittany Force, Yorba Linda, Calif, (.098), 3.776, 331.94 mph

4. Josh Hart, Ocala, Fla., R+L Carriers dragster, (.081), 3.796, 328.78 mph def.

Mission Foods Drag Racing Series Top Ten – Top Fuel
1. Justin Ashley           351
2. Shawn Langdon      328
3. Steve Torrence       300
4. Doug Kalitta             290
5. Billy Torrence          249
6. Tony Stewart          206
7. Tony Schumacher   204
8. Antron Brown         203
8. Brittany Force         203
10. Josh Hart              163
 

NASCAR CUP SERIES TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY AUTOTRADER ECHO PARK AUTOMOTIVE 400 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT APRIL 14, 2024

·       Chase Elliott became Team Chevy’s fourth different winner of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, taking the manufacturer to its series-leading sixth victory in nine points-paying races.  ·       The victory marked Elliott’s first NASCAR Cup Series win of the season, and the Team Chevy driver’s 19th all-time victory in 295 starts in NASCAR’s premier series.  ·       The victory is Chevrolet’s series-leading 18th NASCAR Cup Series victory at Texas Motor Speedway, with Elliott extending the manufacturer’s NCS win streak to four-straight at the 1.5-mile Texas oval.  ·       Elliott led Chevrolet to a season-high six top-10 finishers in the NASCAR Cup Series’ ninth points-paying race of the season – earned by drivers from four different Chevrolet organizations.  ·       Elliott’s victory capped off a weekend sweep for Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway, with Team Chevy’s Kyle Busch earning the victory in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race and Sam Mayer claiming the victory in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race.  ·       Chevrolet’s trio of victories at Texas Motor Speedway marks the manufacturer’s third tripleheader weekend sweep of the 2024 NASCAR season – extending its record as the only manufacturer to accomplish the feat thus far this season.  ·       With 24 races complete across NASCAR’s three national series this season, Chevrolet has a winning percentage of 66.7% with 16 victories (NASCAR Cup Series – six wins; NASCAR Xfinity Series – four wins; NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series – six wins). ·       The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Talladega Superspeedway with the GEICO 500 on Sunday, April 21, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10:  POS.   DRIVER1st      Chase Elliott, No. 9 Hooters Camaro ZL13rd      William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL15th      Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Kubota Camaro ZL18th      Austin Dillon, No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Camaro ZL19th      Kyle Busch, No. 8 Zone Camaro ZL110th    Carson Hocevar, No. 77 Premier Security Camaro ZL1

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES: CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 HOOTERS CAMARO ZL1Finished: 1stChase Elliott, the 42-race drought is over. You did everything just right. How does it feel?“Oh, man, couldn’t feel any better. First off, thanks to everybody that came out today. You guys are unbelievable. Hooters has been a partner of ours for a number of years now. It’s been a dream of mine to pay respect to the late Alan Kulwicki. Driving this car to a victory and do a Polish victory lap – just really crazy how things came full circle there in that moment. It was pretty emotional for me. He beat dad back in the day. Here we are sharing his sponsor and having an opportunity to win today. Man, couldn’t be more grateful for this journey and kind of the path that hasn’t always been fun, but certainly have enjoyed working with our guys. We’ve been working really hard and really well together. Like I said, hasn’t always been fun, but we’ve enjoyed the fight together.” You mentioned you have been fighting together. Today it was a fight on the racetrack. That race looked like it was crazy to drive. How intense was it on the track?“It was just crazy. This place is so sketchy. I haven’t seen a replay of Denny (Hamlin) and us. I didn’t feel like I did anything super crazy there any more than anybody’s ever done to me. Just had to run forward. I want to look at it. I didn’t feel like I did anything to crash him. I think just the circumstances. But nonetheless, apologies to him, if so. Couldn’t be more proud of our team. Thanks to our partners at NAPA, Chevrolet. Everybody at Hendrick Motorsports. Had a big week last week. Boss, thank you for sticking with me. Really, really proud of this. Appreciate all the folks back home that have stuck with me and helped us get back on track.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 Finished: 2ndTELL US ABOUT THE CLOSING LAPS OF THAT AND WHAT HAPPENED ON THE BACKSTRETCH WITH YOU AND CHASTAIN. “I just had a big run. Ross (Chastain) and I race really well, and I didn’t want to wreck him there, but he blocked me late, which is understood. It’s racing at the end, but I was already there and unfortunately, we made enough contact to where it got him squirrelly and it happened. So, I hate that that happened, but it’s the last lap and I had the run so I am going to just take the run. I didn’t expect it, but I don’t want to do that to a fellow Chevy guy, and we always race really well.  Happy for Chase (Elliott) and those guys. They did a great job; executed really well and had a good car. Our No. 24 Liberty University Chevy, we struggled all day and had to fight tooth and nail all day just to keep our track position. We just had a few restarts go our way at the end.”   DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 KUBOTA CAMARO ZL1Finished: 5thLOT OF OVERTIME RESTARTS AND YOU HAD TO FIGHT YOUR WAY TO GET UP THERE. WHAT WAS THIS RACE LIKE FOR YOU?“It was tricky. I thought we were going to be pretty strong, and we were pretty good in the first run. Then in the first green-flag cycle, I don’t know what happened to the car because we were super loose. And then after that, we started making adjustments and we got the car better. We started making progress and we got a penalty, and we went to the back again. We started making progress and we had another bad pit stop. It was just not a very clean day at all. It was a good result at the end of the day because the strategy worked out good, and we got a couple of good restarts. But we have some work to do. We have to continue to in order to move forward.” AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BASS PRO SHOPS CAMARO ZL1Finished: 8th “Just happy for the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops Chevy team. That was a big finish for us, and I am proud of the fight that our guys showed. To come home with eighth is big because we had struggled with the handling of the car. We made some good calls to get us some track position, and we had some good restarts at the end to get us a good finish. Man, after this year, this feels like a win and hopefully we can build off of this.” DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 31 SOUTH POINT HOTEL AND CASINO CAMARO ZL1Finished: 17th“Thanks to Michael Gaughan, everyone at South Point, and all of our supporters at Kaulig Racing for sticking with us. It’s not been thrilling or exciting the last few weeks, but at the end of the day we’ve managed a couple times this year to finish better than we raced. That’s what we did here today. I’m proud of Trent [Owens] for making the call to take two tires there and getting some track position. I need to do a better job on restarts; we had a couple go our way there at the end, especially that last one. I’m proud of the fight from this No. 31 team today.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage TwoFinished: 37th Could you tell what happened? “Really what started it was what happened on pit road and getting buried back there. We should have been up in the top-10. But yeah, we were just racing those guys really hard. I was in a really bad spot to have a guy crash and have to climb into the brake pedal. The No. 22 (Joey Logano) saw it before I did, just because of how we were all stacked up. I had to climb into the brake pedal a little bit harder than I wanted to, and it just spun out as soon as I did.  Definitely a bummer. We had a really fast No. 48 Ally Camaro there in the beginning of the first stage. We were going through the field pretty well. We just had that deal on pit road that put us in the back, and then that happened.”  Are you feeling OK? “Yeah, it was pretty minor, damage-wise. Just how we got hit, there was no good way to fix it.” AUSTIN HILL, NO. 33 UNITED RENTALS CAMARO ZL1Sidelined by a mechanical issue in Stage Two. Finished: 38th“Really hate our race ended early today at Texas Motor Speedway. Our United Rentals Chevrolet was pretty solid and track position and clean air were so important. The strategy that Keith (Rodden, crew chief) called should have worked out in our favor with the amount of cautions that flew once we went to the garage. The No. 33 team tried to fix the mechanical issue, but unfortunately, there was something wrong in the steering. The most important thing was not to wreck the car before our next race together. Driving the Cup car is so different compared to the Xfinity car though, so I was learning on the fly. I would have loved to finish the race and see where we could have ended up. Overall, just proud of this Richard Childress Racing crew and we will come back again soon. Appreciate United Rentals and RCR for the opportunity to run this race.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY AUTOTRADER ECHO PARK AUTOMOTIVE 400 TEAM CHEVY ACCIDENT QUOTE APRIL 14, 2024

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident in Stage Two Could you tell what happened? “Really what started it was what happened on pit road and getting buried back there. We should have been up in the top-10. But yeah, we were just racing those guys really hard. I was in a really bad spot to have a guy crash and have to climb into the brake pedal. The No. 22 (Joey Logano) saw it before I did, just because of how we were all stacked up. I had to climb into the brake pedal a little bit harder than I wanted to, and it just spun out as soon as I did.  Definitely a bummer. We had a really fast No. 48 Ally Camaro there in the beginning of the first stage. We were going through the field pretty well. We just had that deal on pit road that put us in the back, and then that happened.”   Are you feeling OK? “Yeah, it was pretty minor, damage-wise. Just how we got hit, there was no good way to fix it.”

Arizona driver becomes sixth different winner in first six races of 2024

FARMER CITY, IL (April 13, 2024) – The signs were there. Mid-pack runs turned to podium finishes, and it seemed it was only a matter of time before Ashton Torgerson broke through to Victory Lane.

On the night following a runner-up finish at Farmer City Raceway, the 17-year-old national Midget series rookie from Glendale, AZ, proved he had the skill to be one spot better, taking the green from the pole and leading all but one lap en route to his first career Feature win with the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota.

The win gained other accolades as well, as Torgerson continued the parity streak in becoming the sixth different winner in the first six races of the season. It also counted as his second win of the year with the co-sanctioning POWRi National Midget League and, with the help of Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) teammates Cannon McIntosh and Ryan Timms, gave the Indiana-based team a sweep of the podium.

After taking the checkered, Torgerson gave praise to the KKM team, which he joined as a driver in March. Torgerson first made his debut with the Xtreme Outlaw Series in May 2023 with Tanner Thorson Racing, and notched his first podium in the car, but expressed that his time at KKM thus far has been of utmost importance.

“This year, with Keith, I just feel super comfortable and keep getting better each time,” Torgerson said. “I can’t thank Keith and the whole crew enough for getting me this comfortable.”

From the pole on the starting grid, Torgerson jumped out to the early lead and quickly encountered pressure from fifth-starting Chase McDermand. The two traded passes for the lead before Torgerson gained enough momentum on the top side to zoom past McDermand for good on Lap 5.

As the race neared halfway, Timms had already entered the podium from 11th on the starting grid, and on Lap 11 made the pass on McDermand to take second. He began to cut into Torgerson’s lead and had it down to a half-second before the race’s only yellow flag was displayed on Lap 18.

Torgerson knew his car was fast, but also knew of the competition he had directly behind him.

“Under the yellow, I was listening to the [driver radio] and they said, ’67 of Timms,’ and I was like, ‘Well, I know he’s gotta be fast,’” Torgerson said. “I knew he’d be quick, and I knew I had to hit my marks, or he’d be there to capitalize on it.”

On the restart, Timms lunged at an opportunity to make the pass, trying a slide job in Turns 3 and 4, but was unable to get enough speed to slide in Torgerson’s path. As Torgerson began to pull away in the closing laps, Timms encountered pressure from behind from teammate McIntosh.

“I changed my line in (Turns) 3 and 4; I was entering in on it and turning down and it gave me a lot of speed going into 1,” Timms said. “I was slowly catching [Torgerson], but it allowed Cannon to catch me.

“We got side-by-side and there was kind of a single-file line on the bottom of lapped cars, and it was kind of narrow to try and race each other, and he got by me.”

McIntosh used the slower cars ahead of him to his advantage, completing the pass on Lap 28 by going around Timms on the outside through Turns 3 and 4 while Timms stayed low behind the lapped cars.

“I think we were both catching the leader and Ryan made a couple mistakes and I was able to get by him,” McIntosh said. “Ultimately, just ran out of time to have a chance to run Ashton down.”

McIntosh pinned the throttle in pursuit of Torgerson out front, but his time expired. The Oklahoma racer crossed the stripe in second over Timms, expanding his points lead over Timms by 10 up to a total of 27 points.

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets will get nearly a month off before returning to action in a two-race swing through Kansas – Friday, May 10 at Humboldt Speedway and Saturday, May 11 at 81 Speedway.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 67K-Ashton Torgerson[1]; 2. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[3]; 3. 67-Ryan Timms[11]; 4. 56D-Mitchell Davis[13]; 5. 40-Chase McDermand[5]; 6. 97-Gavin Miller[8]; 7. 56-Tyler Edwards[9]; 8. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[2]; 9. 97K-Kale Drake[4]; 10. 43-Gunnar Setser[22]; 11. 7U-Zach Daum[6]; 12. 21K-Karter Sarff[12]; 13. 13-Elijah Gile[18]; 14. 55-Trevor Cline[7]; 15. 1K-Brayton Lynch[15]; 16. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[14]; 17. 14S-TJ Smith[17]; 18. 66-Jayden Clay[25]; 19. 5U-Peter Smith[20]; 20. 98-Luke Drotschie[16]; 21. 71-Jade Avedisian[10]; 22. 57-Mark McMahill[23]; 23. 10C-Dalton Camfield[24]; 24. 16C-David Camfield Jr[19]; 25. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[26]; 26. 17C-Devin Camfield[21]

PEVELY POWERHOUSE: Donny Schatz Drives Away to I-55 World of Outlaws VictorySchatz takes the lead early and builds a commanding lead on his way to third win at the Pevely, MO oval (Trent Gower Photo)PEVELY, MO (April 13, 2024) – Donny Schatz is undeniably one of the best to ever drive a Sprint Car. And the 10-time World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car champion gave yet another example of why on Saturday night.The Greatest Show on Dirt invaded Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 for the second straight night, and Schatz gave the huge crowd a show. The Fargo, ND driver started fourth for the 40-lap finale, took the lead on Lap 11, and stretched his advantage to nearly five seconds at one point before taking the checkered flag for his second win of 2024.The trip to Victory Lane felt especially rewarding after a 20th place Qualifying effort left him and the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing team playing catch up early in the night.“If you were near my trailer after Qualifying, you probably heard some choice words, so I apologize for that,” Schatz said. “It just shows the heart of this team. It’s such a double-edged razor blade somedays. We dug out of a huge hole tonight and got a win at a racetrack we typically don’t run good on. We threw two kitchen sinks at it tonight. This place is demanding, and we haven’t been to Victory Lane here in a long time and didn’t really know what the track was going to do. I just went where everybody wasn’t, and it actually felt pretty good.”Schatz upped his World of Outlaws win total to 313. The victory was his third at I-55 and first since 2015. It also marked his 50th top-10 finish at the Pevely, MO bullring – making it the fifth track where he’s reached the impressive feat. Win number two of 2024 makes it 26 consecutive seasons of multiple World of Outlaws checkered flags.The 40-lap main event got off to a wild start. Michael “Buddy” Kofoid led the field to green with Logan McCandless – making only his sixth Series appearance – to his outside. McCandless slipped up down the front straightaway allowing the second row of Bill Balog and Donny Schatz to his inside. In the first set of corners, Kofoid got tight which let Balog roll by him down the back straightaway to take the lead and pace the opening circuit.An early restart saw near disaster at the front of the field. Kofoid used a huge run to attack Balog for the lead exiting Turn 2. Balog slid up, and Kofoid used evasive action to avoid making contact with the Anderson’s Maple #17B. Behind the top two Schatz stuck the bottom and rolled right by Kofoid to snag the runner-up spot.Over the next few laps Kofoid challenged Schatz in an attempt to regain second, but Schatz fended him off and set his sights on Balog. The “North Pole Nightmare” kept a solid advantage, but Schatz began to close in as traffic thickened ahead.On the 11th circuit, Balog found himself caught up behind a lapped car which opened the door for Schatz. The pilot of the Carquest #15 fired a slide job in Turns 3 and 4 and cleared both Balog and the slower car.Balog stayed right with Schatz throughout the next couple circuits. But it didn’t take long for Schatz to establish a rhythm and begin to look like prime Donny Schatz. He put a pair of lapped cars between himself and Balog and began to pull away.From there, Schatz sliced his way through the tail of the field with precision. If they were running high in front of him, he went low. If they were low, he went high. If they were in the middle, he could choose either the top or the bottom. Schatz’s lead bloomed to as much as 4.6 seconds.Carson Macedo took the second spot from Balog on Lap 25 and looked to bring a battle to Schatz. As the race dipped inside 10 laps remaining, the Jason Johnson Racing pilot began to take chunks out of the margin. He cut it below two seconds on Lap 36, but it was too little, too late as Schatz rolled to his third I-55 win.“Sometimes it’s probably better to be in the position where you’re in that second row not knowing what the racetrack is going to do,” Schatz said. “And I think that was a huge thing tonight. The #41 there he was pretty good on the bottom early, and I couldn’t ever really get down there. I was worried about the hole off of (Turn) 2. Hats off to the whole Carquest team. It was actually a pretty fun race. Normally when we come here it’s up near the fence. And tonight, we could roll around on the fence, on the bottom, kind of anywhere. So that felt really good.”Macedo’s runner-up gave him back-to-back podium efforts with the JJR crew. He’s still yet to miss the top-10 since the finale of DIRTcar Nationals in early February. Another strong Albaugh #41 machine led Macedo to another solid outing, his sixth top three in the last eight I-55 races.“I feel like we had a strong race car there throughout that whole race,” Macedo said. “I was able to move around a lot in traffic. Philip Dietz did an incredible job there. I feel like we made some good adjustments in the Dash and got even better there in the Feature, which feels really good.”Rounding out the top three was Buddy Kofoid and the Roth Motorsports crew. The pairing continues to build momentum with their third podium in the last four races. A win seems imminent for the Penngrove, CA native. After the race, a contrite Kofoid offered apologies for some late contact with David Gravel.“First off I just want to apologize to David and his whole crew,” Kofoid said. “Obviously, that was not my intention. I feel really bad about that. I know saying that isn’t going to change anything… We were good all day. Good weekend for our Roth Motorsports/Mobil 1, Toyota guys. I don’t know if we were good enough to win, but I felt like I kind of made a couple of mistakes early and then got going in the middle and end, but it wasn’t quite enough to get there.”David Gravel and Bill Balog completed the top five.A 23rd to 11th drive gave Austin McCarl the KSE Racing Hard Charger.Carson Macedo claimed his third Simpson Quick Time of the year and the 36th of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Three, and Four went to Carson Macedo (116th Heat Race win of career), Giovanni Scelzi (44th of career), and Landon Crawley (second of career). Milton Hershey School Heat Two belonged to David Gravel (247th of career).Garet Williamson won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars make their only appearances of 2024 in Kentucky and Indiana next weekend. First, the tour invades Kentucky’s Paducah International Raceway for the first time since 2012 on Friday, April 19. Then it’s the annual stop at Haubstadt, IN’s Tri-State Speedway on Saturday, April 20. For tickets to Paducah, CLICK HERE. For tickets to Tri-State, call (812) 768-6025.If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.FEATURE RESULTS:NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 15-Donny Schatz[4]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[1]; 4. 2-David Gravel[6]; 5. 17B-Bill Balog[3]; 6. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[7]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[9]; 8. 87-Aaron Reutzel[19]; 9. 70-Kraig Kinser[12]; 10. 2KS-Chase Randall[16]; 11. 88-Austin McCarl[23]; 12. 23-Garet Williamson[21]; 13. 7S-Landon Crawley[8]; 14. 29-Logan McCandless[2]; 15. 22-Riley Goodno[13]; 16. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[15]; 17. 122-Joe B Miller[14]; 18. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[25]; 19. 23B-Brian Bell[10]; 20. 37-Ayden Gatewood[18]; 21. 20G-Noah Gass[24]; 22. 6-Bill Rose[17]; 23. 95-Matt Covington[20]; 24. 24T-Christopher Thram[22]; 25. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[11]For complete results, CLICK HERE.

WHAT TO WATCH FOR: Xtreme Outlaw Midgets Debut at Farmer City for Illini 100 CONCORD, NC (April 9, 2024) – The April racing schedule for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota continues with a visit to another track brand-new to the Series – Farmer City Raceway for the annual Illini 100. Standing as one of the most prestigious dirt track racing events in the state of Illinois, the Illini 100 has traditionally been billed as a Super Late Model and DIRTcar UMP Modified event. But in 2024, the event welcomes Midget racing to the card for the first time, joining the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series and the MARS Modified Championship. The stars of Midget racing’s newest national tour take on the 1/4-mile bullring for back-to-back nights of racing this Friday and Saturday, April 12-13. Preceded by an evening of practice on Thursday, April 11, Friday’s program kicks off the racing action with a 25-lap, $4,000-to-win main event, leading up to a 30-lap, $5,000-to-win finale on Saturday. Both nights will be sanctioned in conjunction with the POWRi National Midget League, marking Rounds 1-2 of competition in the Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series. This 10-race miniseries awards a $2,500 check to the driver with the most points accumulated after all events are complete in addition to checks for each of the drivers in the top-five of final points. Tickets for this weekend’s events are on sale in advance for $5 off at the links below and will also be on sale at the gate on race day. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision. BUY FRIDAY TICKETSBUY SATURDAY TICKETS Here are the drivers to watch and storylines to follow this weekend: HOT STREAK – Through the first four races of 2024, no driver owns more top-five finishes than the current Series points leader, Cannon McIntosh. The 21-year-old has not finished outside of the top five yet and boasts the win in the season-opening weekend in Du Quoin last month. He led laps in both Features last weekend at US 36 Raceway and Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex en route to his second pair of top-five finishes, boosting his lead in the points standings to 47 over Keith Kunz Motorsports teammate Ryan Timms. Farmer City will be a track brand-new to McIntosh this weekend. The 1/4-mile bullring has never hosted a national Midget series event, and the young Oklahoma racer will be among the favorites to become its first winner. BOUNCE BACK – Zach Daum has climbed back from large points deficits before and now prepares to do it again after a weekend gone bad in Missouri. A sixth-place finish last Friday at US 36 kept him in the thick of the battle for the points lead but internal mechanical failure struck him early in the program Saturday at Sweet Springs, taking him out of competition and leaving him with his first DNS of the season. That cost him almost 200 points in the standings as he fell from 16 points out of the lead in second-place, down to eighth-place where he now sits 215 points behind McIntosh. Despite his misfortune, the 32-year-old returns to racing in his home state of Illinois this weekend with a fresh power plant inside the Trifecta Motorsports No. 7U. While he starts a climb back in the Xtreme Outlaw standings, he’ll start fresh with the first race of the Challenge Series with POWRi, of which he was the champion in 2023. SHARK’S TANK – Karter Sarff is back on the Xtreme Outlaw Series roster for the third weekend in-a-row as he prepares to take on one of his home-state tracks at Farmer City. Sarff, 21, of Mason City, IL, has made his presence felt early this season, knocking off the Series regulars last Friday at US 36 for his third career Xtreme Outlaw win. He followed that up with an eighth-place effort the next night at Sweet Springs, vaulting him up to fourth in the points standings. Fitting for the first race of the 2024 Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series, Sarff enters Farmer City representing the POWRi side its defending national champion – an honor he clinched in the final race of the season last October. CHAMP RETURNS – Jade Avedisian returns to the Xtreme Outlaw Series roster this weekend after spending a week on the asphalt in Sonoma, CA, for the opening round of the Toyota GR Cup. The reigning Series champion from Clovis, CA, will return to the Keith Kunz Motorsports stable for both races in Farmer City following finishes of 14th and fourth in the season opener in Du Quoin last month. Like most others in the field, Avedisian does not have any laps in a Midget at Farmer City but has been strong on the banked bullrings in the past with wins at Jacksonville Speedway, Southern Illinois Raceway and Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55. BACK IN THE SADDLE – Gavin Miller has healed from surgery and has been cleared to compete this weekend, returning to the seat of the KKM LynK/Toyota No. 97 after missing the past two races. Miller, 17, of Allentown, PA, posted finishes of second and 11th in the season opener last month and sat fourth in points – a great start for the championship hopeful. However, a crash in a Micro Sprint event in California two weeks later took him out of action due to an injury suffered in the incident and put teammate Kale Drake in the seat of his No. 97 for races at US 36 and Sweet Springs. Drake, 18, of Collinsville, OK, took the opportunity and ran with it, bagging a Heat win and a seventh-place result in the Feature at US 36 before scoring his first national Midget series win with a last-lap pass on teammate Taylor Reimer the next night at Sweet Springs. While Miller reassumes his normal driving duties in the No. 97, Drake has earned the right for more seat time and will also pilot a KKM car of his own at Farmer City, making seven total KKM cars on the roster this weekend – comprised of himself, Ryan Timms, Cannon McIntosh, Luke Drotschie, Ashton Torgerson, Jade Avedisian, and Gavin Miller. THIS WEEKEND AT A GLANCE When and where Friday-Saturday, April 12-13 at Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, IL On the internet Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota Twitter – @Xtreme_Outlaw Instagram – @XtremeOutlaw Facebook – @XtremeOutlawSeries.WRG Live broadcast DIRTVision – DIRTVision.com. Annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/month. Current championship points standings (view full standings)Cannon McIntosh: 872 points (Keith Kunz Motorsports #71K)Ryan Timms: -47 points (Keith Kunz Motorsports #67)Chase McDermand: -59 points (CMR-Mounce/Stout Motorsports #40)Karter Sarff: -82 points (Karter Sarff Motorsports #21K)Taylor Reimer: -90 points (Keith Kunz Motorsports #25K)Ashton Torgerson: -163 points (Keith Kunz Motorsports #67K)Hayden Reinbold: -180 points (Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports #19AZ)Zach Daum: -215 points (Trifecta Motorsports #7U)TJ Smith: -239 points (Mounce/Stout Motorsports #14S)Trevor Cline: -257 points (Cline Racing #55) Toyota Feature winners (4 drivers) 1 win – Thomas Meseraull (Engler Racing), Cannon McIntosh (Keith Kunz Motorsports), Karter Sarff (Karter Sarff Motorsports #21K), Kale Drake (Keith Kunz Motorsports #97) Toyota Feature laps led (4 drivers) 36 laps – Cannon McIntosh 35 laps – Joe B. Miller27 laps – Thomas Meseraull12 laps – Taylor Reimer 11 laps – Karter Sarff4 laps – Tyler Edwards1 lap – Kale Drake Whitz RC Racing Products Quick Time Awards (2 drivers) 3 awards – Ethan Mitchell 1 award – Cannon McIntosh Heat Race winners (16 drivers) 2 wins – Tyler Edwards, Chase McDermand1 win – Ryan Timms, Thomas Meseraull, Shane Cottle, Gavin Miller, TJ Smith, Cannon McIntosh, Jade Avedisian, Nick Hoffman, Ashton Torgerson, Kale Drake, Zach Daum, Karter Sarff, Kyle Jones, Taylor Reimer High-points honors (4 drivers) 1 honor – Cannon McIntosh, Tyler Edwards, Chase McDermand, Karter Sarff Last Chance Showdown wins (6 drivers) 1 win – Taylor Reimer, Gunnar Setser, Austin Torgerson, Gavin Miller, Shane Cottle, Ethan Mitchell DIRTVision Hard Charger Awards (4 drivers) 1 award – Will Armitage, Ryan Timms, Ryan Timms, Hayden Reinbold Podium finishes (9 drivers) 2 podiums – Zach Daum, Ryan Timms, Cannon McIntosh 1 podium – Thomas Meseraull, Gavin Miller, Kale Drake, Taylor Reimer, Karter Sarf, Chase McDermand Top-10 finishes (23 drivers) 4 top-10s – Cannon McIntosh, Chase McDermand 3 top-10s – Zach Daum 2 top-10s – Shane Cottle, Ryan Timms, Karter Sarff, Taylor Reimer, Kale Drake, Ashton Torgerson 1 top-10 – Gavin Miller, Joe B. Miller, Thomas Meseraull, Jade Avedisian, Will Armitage, Mitchell Davis, Trey Marcham, Rylan Gray, Hayden Reinbold, TJ Smith, Ethan Mitchell, Gunnar Setser, Todd McVay, Kyle Jones 2024 Schedule & Winners – Race No. Day, Date / Track / Location / Winner (Total Wins) 1. Fri, March 15 / Southern Illinois Center / Du Quoin, IL / Thomas Meseraull (1) 2. Sat, March 16 / Southern Illinois Center / Du Quoin, IL / Cannon McIntosh (1)3. Fri, April 5 / US 36 Raceway / Osborn, MO / Karter Sarff (1) 4. Sat, April 6 / Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex / Sweet Springs, MO / Kale Drake (1)

The Smooth Operator leads 48 laps en route to his first win in 2024 with the World of Outlaws CASE Late ModelsFARMER CITY, IL (April 13, 2024) – If there is one thing you can expect when visiting Farmer City Raceway in the 2020s, Bobby Pierce will be the driver that all dirt Late Model drivers are chasing.The reigning World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models champion opened up the notebook for the 60-lap Feature race through tires – giving his #32 Longhorn Chassis the ability to use each lane of the quarter-mile race track and helping him earn his 19th career Feature win with the Series.The Feature commenced with Gray Court, SC driver Chris Madden leading the field to the green flag until three cautions in the first five laps plagued the field in the early portion.From there, the caution never saw the skies for the rest of the Feature – allowing drivers to make ground around the treacherous Illinois bullring.That final restart saw Pierce make ground on the leaders immediately – passing by Friday night winner Nick Hoffman and having to maneuver the high and low lanes to get by Madden in the tight race for the lead.Pierce got by Madden by using the low line on Lap 12 and never relinquished the lead for the rest of the event.The short track had lapped cars play an important factor in deciding the night’s Feature winner. Pierce used this to his advantage by using a mix of the high and low lines of the race track to gain the race lead from Madden off of Turn 4 – a cleaner look to how he attempted to pass Hoffman on Friday night.From there, Pierce navigated the lap traffic like he was playing a video game on easy mode – lapping up to ninth place when he took the checkered flag to win his second Illini 100 Feature race. The win also marks Pierce’s sixth straight podium finish in every World of Outlaws CASE Late Models Feature at Farmer City.For Pierce, the difference was a last-minute change of tires before he rolled the car up to the grid because he noticed the Xtreme Outlaw Midgets Feature made the race track slick.“I made a last-second call on the tires,” Pierce said. “My dad was like ‘Are you sure?’ and I said yes because the Midgets slicked up the track. It just worked out for us, I loved to see the race go caution-free the rest of the way once we got going. That really helped us out there.“Growing up here, watching races as a young kid and I remember watching Late Models around here and thinking ‘Man, these guys are crazy for running the cushion like that.’ So, it’s pretty cool to get another win here.”Hoffman took home a second-place finish – looking to continue building momentum while acknowledging the difficulty of racing lapped cars while chasing Pierce in the process.“At the start, we were frustrated because we couldn’t even get a lap in,” Hoffman said. “Then, we basically went the distance from there. Looking at the lap traffic, you had to look at their tendencies and where they were gonna move around. You can’t be too aggressive, but you have to find some ground because you know they are coming from behind. I had a decent lead over third so I was just doing what I needed to do to not be in a bad spot or hit the Yuke tires too hard or something stupid.”New Waverly, TX driver Tyler Erb climbed his way through the field to finish inside the podium – losing patience with the lapped traffic while he worked on his chances to pass Hoffman for second place by the end of the Feature.“Our cars are fast,” Erb said. “I’m trying to be better, and if we could’ve gotten through lap traffic a little better, but it’s part of not winning our Heat. It’s our fault, our cars were fast, we’re qualifying and Heat racing good. We just need to win those Heat races so we can be in a better position in the Feature. All in all, our car was really f-ing good, and thanks to everybody that helps us.”Florida native Kyle Bronson brought the heat to Farmer City by picking up his second top-five of the 2024 season with a fourth-place result.Current Series points leader Brandon Sheppard was rounding out Saturday night’s top-five finishers. Beginning the night with a tough qualifying effort and Heat race, the New Berlin, IL driver had to climb 18 positions from his 23rd starting spot to finish fifth – awarding him the Fox Factory Hard Charger Award.“I don’t even know what to say,” Sheppard said. “For a lack of better words, I effin sucked to begin the night. We changed a bunch of stuff tonight, got the car back to how I raced it last year and it was really good. It’s small stuff that I’ve got to do better at, and I have no idea what it is yet.“At this point, it’s about making the qualifying and early night program better. We have to get that dialed in if we’re going to win the championship. There’s no other way around it. These Longhorn guys and Sheppard Riggs Racing crew are trying and it’s all hands on deck to get back to where we need to be. We gotta keep our heads up, keep the team pumped because nights like these are a testament to the team. I’m putting in 100% effort.”UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models are heading Southbound towards Tennessee for a night at Thunderhill Raceway on Thursday, April 18.This leads up to a trip to Alabama for two nights at the Talladega Short Track, April 19-20. For more information and tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, you can watch every World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model race live on DIRTVision.CASE Late Model Feature (60 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 2. 9-Nick Hoffman[3]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[10]; 4. 40B-Kyle Bronson[5]; 5. B5-Brandon Sheppard[23]; 6. 44-Chris Madden[1]; 7. 1-Tim McCreadie[7]; 8. 97-Cade Dillard[9]; 9. 25-Jason Feger[6]; 10. 97C-Cody Overton[13]; 11. 16-Tyler Bruening[22]; 12. 81-Jason Riggs[8]; 13. 111-Max Blair[17]; 14. 3S-Brian Shirley[25]; 15. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[11]; 16. 19-Dustin Sorensen[12]; 17. 84-Myles Moos[15]; 18. 22*-Max McLaughlin[19]; 19. B1-Brent Larson[21]; 20. 6JR-Parker Martin[16]; 21. 19R-Ryan Gustin[24]; 22. 20-Jimmy Owens[14]; 23. 33-Frank Heckenast Jr[20]; 24. 174-Ethan Dotson[26]; 25. 4GG-Tripp Gerrald[18]; 26. 18-Shannon Babb[2]

The World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series is brought to fans across the country by many important sponsors and partners, including: CASE Construction Equipment (Official Construction Equipment), DIRTVision (Official Live Broadcast Partner), Hoosier Racing Tire (Official Tire), iRacing (Official Online Racing Game), Racing Electronics (Official Radio Supplier), Simpson Performance Products (Preferred Safety Gear Partner), SIS Insurance (Official Insurance Provider), Toyota (Official Vehicle), and VP Racing (Official Racing Fuel). Contingency sponsors include: Arizona Sport Shirts/Gotta Race, ARP (Automotive Racing Products), Cometic Gasket, COMP Cams, Evolve Transporters, Fox Factory (Hard Charger Award), MD3, MSD, Penske Racing Shocks, Quarter Master, Swift Springs, and Wieland Metal Services (Exclusive Racing Aluminum); along with manufacturer sponsors, including, Behrent’s Performance Warehouse, Bilstein, Capital Race Cars, Dirt King Simulators, FAST 1 Speed Shop, FIREBULL, Gorsuch Performance, Integra Shocks, Intercomp, Reliable Painting, Rocket Chassis, and Sea Foam.

Prock earns his third No. 1 qualifier position in the season’s first four races

LAS VEGAS (April 13, 2024) – Austin Prock continued his red-hot ways Saturday, leading John Force Racing in the final day of qualifying for Sunday’s 4-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Having switched to Funny Car for the first time in his career to start this season, Prock continues to dominate qualifying in the class, earning his third No. 1 qualifier in the first four races of the season. He’s also moved into the No. 1 position in the Funny Car points standings. The Lansing, Mich., native then doubled up by winning this week’s edition of the Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, a season-long series of races-within-a-race that was worth an extra $10,000 for Prock and his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car crew. Prock now hopes to make it two winning weekends in a row, as he won his first-ever NHRA “Wally” Funny Car winner’s trophy in last Sunday’s race in Phoenix. “It gives you a lot of confidence coming into Sunday morning running like we are,” Prock said. “So I’m chomping at the bit to get into the first round tomorrow and hopefully we can go three more (rounds to win).” Because it is the 4-Wide Nationals, there are only three rounds of eliminations as opposed to the usual four rounds at traditional two-lane races. Prock had two outstanding runs Saturday. In the morning session, he moved up from the provisional No. 2 qualifier to No.1 with a run of 3.904 seconds at 321.42 mph. Then in the final qualifying session of the weekend, Prock recorded a run of 3.915 seconds at 326.95 mph. “It’s really cool to get the first (#2Fast2Tasty), that’s pretty special,” Prock said. “It’s pretty crazy. I’ve been in a handful of these things and never been able to get it done but we did the job today. “I just had a new aim, a new focus and it worked with two pretty stellar lights (at the starting line) today and we need to keep that up tomorrow for sure because we’re going to have the best conditions that we’ve seen all weekend. The track’s going to be the most even and you’re going to see a lot of great runs. “We always love competing and it does help that you kind of get in that zone. Hopefully, I didn’t waste any of it today for tomorrow, so we’ll see. “This team’s had a lot of success here in the past and they’re showing it again. So I’ve just got to keep being a sponge, keep learning and keep doing the best I can and I know this team’s going to give me an awesome car.” Prock faces Jeff Diehl, Blake Alexander and Alexis DeJoria in the first round on Sunday.——————————— But Prock’s accomplishments Saturday weren’t all for John Force Racing. Team owner John Force qualified No. 2 with two stout runs himself. In the morning, the driver of the PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car covered the 1,000-foot drag strip in 3.938 seconds at 328.06 mph. Then in the afternoon session, Force improved on his previous ET with a run of 3.908 at 326.79 mph. “Prock ran good and did his job,” Force said. “Brittany qualified up there and I’m up there finishing second for PEAK and Chevy, that’s always important. … No one knows the 4-wide better than me. I won the inaugural one in Charlotte.” Force’s first-round quad matchup will be with Matt Hagan, Cruz Pedregon and Jason Rupert.——————————— In Top Fuel, Brittany Force will start fifth in Sunday’s eliminations. In a unique Saturday morning session, Force was one of three female drivers – the others were Krista Baldwin and Jasmine Salinas – that faced each other. Force moved up from the provisional No. 5 to No. 3 with a dominating run of 3.799 seconds at 332.26 mph. Force came back with an even stronger outing in Saturday afternoon’s final session, piloting her Monster Energy Top Fuel dragster with a run of 3.787 seconds at 333.66 mph. But she still got shuffled back from No. 3 to the No. 5 starting position, where she will start Sunday’s eliminations from. Force will face Billy Torrence, Jasmine Salinas and Josh Hart in the first round of eliminations. “I feel good,” Force said. “Looking at our ladder, we’re sitting in a good position, qualified No. 5. We even stepped it up a little bit on that last run which was huge for this team. “We’re looking for three rounds tomorrow, that’s all we need. Four-wide is a lot to focus on but we know what to do, we’ve won here before and we need to execute tomorrow.” Speaking of tomorrow (Sunday), the weather conditions are expected to take a dramatic drop. The last two days have been in the mid-80s, but Sunday’s forecast calls for temps barely above 70 and gusty winds. That could bring about a dramatic change for race setups. But that’s good, as cooler temps make race cars go faster. “That’ll change things up a little bit, but it should make things a little easier,” Brittany Force said. “We need our car to go down there every single lap. We usually struggle in the heat, so the fact that we did so well and qualified No. 5, it makes me very curious about how things will go down tomorrow. “We’ll definitely be there, we’re going to step it up and see what we can do in the cooler conditions.” John Force is happy and excited at how his team is doing overall. They are the hottest organization in the sport right now. “Taking a world champion, Robert Hight, out of the seat – it was his choice because of personal stuff – but putting Prock in, I was worried sick how it would go, even though I knew the kid could drive. “He didn’t have much seat time in a Funny Car, but he stepped right up to the plate with his dad, Jimmy (the team’s crew chief), and his brother, Thomas (assistant crew chief). And, boy, they look really good. So I’m excited with that. Brittany’s car’s coming around with a lot of changes made. We’re four races in. Let’s see where this goes.”

LAS VEGAS, NV (April 13, 2024) —- After four rounds of qualifying and preparing for the unique Las Vegas NHRA Four-Wide Nationals,  Ricky Hord powered his Chevrolet COPO Camaro to the No. 1 qualifier with two strong runs today at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Hord earned his first career Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown No. 1 qualifier on the strength of his third-round pass of 7.939 seconds at 172.54 mph. The run moved the driver from Orlando, Fla., into the top spot around provisional No. 1 David Janac. Hord will lead a tough Factory Stock field into eliminations in front of No. 2 qualifier Mark Pawuk and his Dodge Drag Pak, the Gatornationals winner and Winternationals runner-up. After he had secured the quickest run of the weekend Hord was all smiles talking about the accomplishment.
 
“It’s a good feeling and we’ve been working really hard the last couple of seasons,” said Hord, who is a relative newcomer. “This is only my third season running any kind of car let alone a Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown car. It felt good to come out and run well. We had some issues in Pomona and the car was kind of all over the place, so it felt good to come back and make ‘A to B’ passes in every run at the four wide. To be the No. 1 qualifier is awesome.”

 Ricky Hord runs to the No.1 Qualifier at the Las Vegas Four-Wide NHRA Nationals, photo courtesy of Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

The complexity of racing four-wide was not lost on Hord or the rest of the class. Heading into tomorrow’s eliminations, concentration and patience will be keys to success if a driver is looking to see three win lights in Las Vegas.
 
“It’s hard to stage four cars at the same time anyways and you have some guys that have never done it before,” said Hord. “I’ve only done it twice now so it’s a little bit of a trip to look around and try to figure out how everything works. It will make for an exciting race day. I want to thank everyone on my team for all their hard work. Keeping up with the information to run in four different lanes isn’t easy but it makes it pretty fun.”
 
Hord will be looking to chase the Flexjet $1,000 bounty from Stephen Bell who won the Winternationals during the final qualifying session today and enters the race as the No. 6 qualifier. Bell added the win to his runner-up finish and along with Pawuk would be considered favorites to take home a second win of the year.
 
“The four-wide nationals is just pretty interesting because you don’t have to be the best you just want to be one of the first two guys to the finish line,” said Bell. “If you are one or two in the first couple of rounds you are doing well and then you have the final which is a free-for-all. I’m just going to try to get in the car and do my job tomorrow. I’ve got the best crew with Aaron and Greg Stanfield. We have a lot of fun and I’m just happy for everyone on my team that we got one win and we get the chance to go after another one tomorrow.”
 
David Janac was the provisional No. 1 qualifier after Friday’s lone session posting a time of 7.984 seconds at171.27 mph. Right behind Janac and his Janac Brothers Chevrolet COPO Camaro sits fellow Camaro racers Scott Libersher, Ricky Hord and Lee Hartman. Mark Pawuk was the best Dodge Drag Pak sitting sixth after the first session running 8.034 seconds at 171.86 mph.
 
Final eliminations will take place tomorrow starting at 10 a.m. PST from The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
 
 
First Round Match-ups
 
No. 1 Ricky Hord vs. bye vs. bye vs. bye
No. 2 Mark Pawuk vs. No. 7 Raymond Nash vs. No. 11 Anthony Troyer vs. bye
No. 3 David Janac vs. No. 6 Stephen Bell vs. No. 10 Doug Hamp vs. bye
No. 4 Scott Libersher vs. No. 5 David Davies II vs. No. 8 Tony Scott vs. No. 9 Lee Hartman
 
2024 FLEXJET NHRA FACTORY STOCK SHOWDOWN SCHEDULE
May 17-19                   24th annual Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals, Chicago
June 7-9                      23rd annual NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals, Bristol, Tenn.
June 27-30                  18th annual Summit Racing Equipment NHRA Nationals, Norwalk, Ohio
Aug. 15-18                  42nd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals, Brainerd, Minn.
Aug. 28-Sept. 2           70th annual Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals, Indianapolis
Sept. 12-15                 39th annual Pep Boys NHRA Nationals, Reading, Pa.
Sept. 27-29                 13th annual NHRA Midwest Nationals, St. Louis

 

LAS VEGAS, NV (April 13, 2024) – Two weeks ago a severe rain shower that included a brief hailstorm halted the Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Dragstrip at Pomona. Points leader and No. 1 qualifier Mark Pawuk, Stephen Bell and David Davies II remained in competition and completed the race today at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals. Flexjet 2023 championship runner-up Bell emerged victorious outrunning Davies in a classic Chevrolet versus Dodge final round. Bell took a starting line advantage and never trailed in the race posting a winning time of 7.984 second at 172.41 mph over Davies’ 12.098 second run that was hampered by tire shake off the starting line.

 Stephen Bell, winner of the NHRA Winternationals, photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

“It’s just an absolute dream come true to get out here and race with your friends and be competitive,” said Bell, at the top end of The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. “Man, outside of marrying my wife and having my three beautiful children winning a Wally is right up there with one of the greatest days of your life. So, no complaints here.”
 
The two-week delay in getting to the winner’s circle was always in the back of Bell’s mind. In 2023 Bell won the Norwalk Nationals and was runner-up twice in a solid run for the championship. He opened the 2023 season with a runner-up finish at the NHRA Gatornationals. With the win today he moved into the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown points lead and will carry the Flexjet $1,000 bounty into tomorrow’s Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals event.

 Stephen Bell and his Chevrolet COPO Camaro (foreground) take off on the way to victory at the rain delayed NHRA Winternationals, photo credit Auto Imagery/Gary Nastase

“In the back of my mind, there was just always something on my mind the past two weeks,” said Bell. “About half the time I couldn’t remember what it was, you know. We’ve always been able to complete races, whether it was Monday or whatever it was so, in the back of my mind, I was just like, something was always bothering me. I finally realized it was the race I still needed to finish. It was way cool to win the Winternationals in Las Vegas. This was just incredible.”
 
In the semifinals Davies got the jump on the starting line against Mark Pawuk and never trailed in the drag race winning on a hole shot. For his effort Davies also collected the Flexjet Bounty of $1,000 to defeat the Gatornationals winner. On the track Davies’ reaction time of .030 combined with his elapsed time of 7.983 seconds at 172.50 mph was enough to get him to the finish line in front of Pawuk’s quicker 7.958 seconds elapsed time. Davies advanced to his first career final in the Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series.
 
“We had a tough weekend and I am really happy with the effort from my whole team,” said Davies. “Our generator went out on our trailer yesterday and then we lost a motor in the second qualifying session. We had to get a new generator here at 7 a.m. today and replace our motor. The win over Mark was huge and that is a big boost of confidence to get a win like that. Mark is a tough, tough competitor. We just got a little aggressive the final, but I have a lot of confidence in our Mission 22 Dodge Drag Pak team.”
 
Bell was racing a competition bye in semifinal, and the driver of the Stanfield Engines Red Chevrolet COPO Camaro overpowered the track and drove down the right lane with a time of 12.881 seconds. He will give up lane choice to Davies in the final.
 
During the original race there were several huge races in the opening rounds including Scott Libersher taking a solid starting line advantage and leading 2023 championship runner-up Bell until 1,000 feet when Bell chased him down for the win. Bell posted low E.T. of the event on the run with a blistering 7.799 seconds at 173.38 mph run in his red Chevrolet COPO Camaro. Two pairs later, Tony Scott Jr. had 0.005 reaction time combined with an 8.252 second at 149.65 mph run to try and take out Gatornationals winner Mark Pawuk and win the Flexjet $1,000 Bounty. Unfortunately for Scott, Pawuk’s Dodge Drag Pak had more power at the top end and defeated Scott’s Chevrolet COPO Camaro to advance to the quarter finals with a winning run of 7.875 seconds at 179.16 mph.
 
In the second round Davies made his best run of the weekend, 7.828 seconds at 175.82 mph to advance to the semifinals outrunning No. 3 qualifier David Janac. No. 1 qualifier Pawuk earned a competition bye and he stepped his performance up with a 7.831 second run at 175.21 mph. Bell and Doug Hamp were racing with the chance to secure a guaranteed appearance in the final round. Bell made the most of his run getting off the line first with a 0.029 reaction time and posting a 7.800 second pass, the quickest run of the session.  
 
The Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series will complete the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals tomorrow and then return to action at the Gerber Collision & Glass Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, May 17-19.
 
Flexjet Bounty Program
Gatornationals (Gainesville, FL)
$1,000 bounty collected by Mark Pawuk, defeated Stephen Bell (Norwalk winner)
 
Winternationals (Pomona, CA)
$1,000 bounty collected by David Davies II, defeated Mark Pawuk (Gatornationals winner)
 
2024 Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Results
Gainesville – Mark Pawuk, winner; Stephen Bell, runner-up
Pomona – Stephen Bell, winner; David Davies II, runner-up
 

Antron Brown wins Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge in Top Fuel

LAS VEGAS (April 13, 2024) – Through sunny skies at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, reigning Top Fuel champion, Doug Kalitta, captured the No. 1 qualifying spot for tomorrow’s eliminations in the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals. The Michigan native laid down a blistering 3.738 elapsed time, a 336-mph top speed, in the first qualifying session Saturday afternoon – earning his 54th career No. 1 qualifier position.

Defending Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals winner, Antron Brown was victorious in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty challenge Saturday afternoon by defeating Kalitta, Shawn Langdon and Tony Stewart. Brown’s 3.792 elapsed time in the final qualifying session put him No. 6 for tomorrow. This is the second time Brown has won the challenge, and he couples this victory with the Pep Boys All Star Callout win at Gainesville to start the season.

In Funny Car, points leader, J.R. Todd put down his best run of the weekend, a 3.930 elapsed time, late Saturday afternoon to propel him to the No. 3 spot going into Sunday. Alexis DeJoria will be ninth when tomorrow’s eliminations begin and Ron Capps is 11th.

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	S. LangdonS. Torrence
Billy Torrence	CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	4th	B. ForceJ. HartJ. Salinas
Antron Brown	Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	6th	C. MillicanT. StewartK. Baldwin
Shawn Langdon	Kalitta Air Careers Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	8th	D. KalittaS. Torrence
Steve Torrence	CAPCO Contractors Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	9th	D. Kalitta S. Langdon
Justin Ashley	SCAG Power Equipment Toyota Top Fuel Dragster	10th	T. SchumacherS. ReedT. Totten

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

Name	Car	Qualifying Position	First Round Opponents
Austin Prock	Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro Funny Car	1st*	B. AlexanderA. DeJoriaJ. Diehl
J.R. Todd	DHL Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	3rd	D. WilkersonR. CappsD. Richards
Alexis DeJoria	Bandero Tequila Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	9th	A. ProckB. AlexanderJ. Diehl
Ron Capps	NAPA Auto Care Toyota GR Supra Funny Car	11th	J. ToddD. WilkersonD. Richards

*= Non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DOUG KALITTA, 

TF Qualifying Result: 1st

How does this No. 1 qualifying position feel going into race day tomorrow?

“We definitely feel good heading into race day. My guys stepped it up with the 3.738 in that first session today which was plenty strong for the conditions, and I’m feeling really confident with what we have going on. I think on our last run, we pushed it a little too much to see what we could do. The track feels plenty good in all the lanes so it should be a good day for tomorrow. So much for the advantage of being the low qualifier, but I’ll definitely be up for those three guys – it should be a fun deal. Alan (Johnson, crew chief), Mac (Savage, assistant crew chief) and all my guys will take a look at that ladder and realize we definitely have to get down the track and be on our A Game so it should be fun. It was a little cooler today, but in general, it didn’t really feel like it was. I’m sure it was, but it’ll be a little cooler tomorrow which should play into our hand performance wise. This is always an interesting place to race; there’s always a lot of challenges here, but it’s one of my favorite tracks. I haven’t won here a lot, but it’s a beautiful facility.”

ANTRON BROWN, Matco Tools Toyota Top Fuel Dragster, AB Motorsports

TF Qualifying Result: 6th

Can you talk about the win in the Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge today and the momentum it brings?

“For sure, a lot of momentum. I think we’re going in the right direction, just need to keep building and get quicker and quicker. When we go out there, I mean, that track, is getting better and better even though the sun is coming out. We thought we needed to run a 3.750 time there, but we just didn’t want to kick ourselves in the foot. So, we stepped it up and did a little bit. Expected like a 3.780 time there. Tomorrow is going to be a whole different ballgame. Our fellas out there, I felt like we were in a good position. Felt Shawn (Langdon) right on the side of us. Something happened to him right around the end of the track, inching and inching, and just drown a little bit around him at the end. It’s so incredible how tight this class is and the way the Kalitta Motorsports cars are running. But yeah, when you have Doug Kalitta, the champion, Shawn Langdon, a previous champion and then you have Tony Stewart, ‘Smoke,’ make it to the final round. I mean, the top eight cars in this Mission Foods #2Fast2Tasty Challenge, they’re all cars that can win on any given day. Going into tomorrow, this gives us a little more confidence, but you know, we have to keep working forward to go forward to be competitive to win this race as it’s going to be triple-A throwdown with the cooler conditions. The track is going to get better, and when it does that, someone is going to run a 3.680 to 3.700 flat and that’s the range you’re going to have to be in to go out there, be competitive and get the job done.”

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

FC Qualifying Result: 3rd

Moving up each session and making your best run at the end of the day, the team seems to be working hard and the results are coming.

“Yeah, the guys are working hard and have been doing that all season long. There’s no quit in these guys. Yeah, that’s nice, a 3.930 was something we were shooting for earlier in the weekend, but it’s nice to see that show up on the scoreboard to move us up in the standings. The Four-Wides are such an unknown, it really doesn’t matter where you qualify when you’re racing three other cars out there. But it is nice to have lane choice going into tomorrow and hopefully we can turn on four win lights for everyone out here supporting us with DHL, Revchem, Sealmaster. Want to thank everybody for sticking with us.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY AUTOTRADER ECHO PARK AUTOMOTIVE 400 TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING REPORT APRIL 13, 2024

·       For the third consecutive race, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 team will lead the NASCAR Cup Series field to the green-flag in tomorrow’s AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway.  ·       Larson posted a fastest-lap of 28.366 seconds, at 190.369 mph, in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to claim his 19th career NASCAR Cup Series pole.  ·       The feat marked yet another milestone achievement for Hendrick Motorsports with Larson delivering the Chevrolet organization its 250th all-time pole in NASCAR’s premier series.  ·       This marks Larson’s third consecutive pole win of the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season, also extending Chevrolet’s pole streak to four-straight in the series – a run that dates back to his teammate William Byron’s pole at Circuit of The Americas (March 24, 2024).  ·       The pole marks Chevrolet’s 16th all-time NASCAR Cup Series pole at Texas Motor Speedway, and the manufacturer’s 747th all-time pole in NASCAR’s premier series – both of which are series-leading records.  ·       FS1 will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series AutoTrader EchoPark Automotive 400 at Texas Motor Speedway on Sunday, April 14, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 STARTING LINEUP:  POS.   DRIVER1st      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL16th      William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1

Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 – Pole Win Media Availability Quotes TAKE US THROUGH YOUR POLE-WINNING LAP HERE AT TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY. “Yeah, it was a pretty intense qualifying session. I felt like the track was really slick in practice, and then having to kind of talk to yourself before you make your lap, knowing that you have to commit even more than you did in practice to go fast is difficult. And then yeah, just the lap itself – the first round and second round both, there were moments where you have grip, and then moments where you’re like man, I’m going to crash. It’s pretty intense from behind the wheel, but always great when you can accomplish a pole and feel like you beat your confidence a little bit.” WHAT’S IT LIKE RIGHT NOW, GOING THROUGH THIS PHASE OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS HITTING SO MANY DIFFERENT MILESTONES ACROSS ALL THE DRIVERS? OBVIOUSLY YOU WEREN’T THERE AT THE START, BUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS WILL PROBABLY BE AROUND FOR A LOT LONGER WITH A LOT MORE MILESTONES TO COME. BUT IN THIS MOMENT NOW, OVER THE LAST EIGHT OR NINE MONTHS, WHAT’S THAT LIKE TO BE A PART OF THAT LEGACY? “Yeah, it’s pretty neat. Whenever you can kind of be ‘the guy’, I guess, to know that your name is going to be next to that milestone number – it’s pretty special. You know, like when I was able to be a part of win 269, like you feel the excitement; the happiness from Rick (Hendrick) and everybody that’s been a part of the organization for a long time. And then, even being out there on the opposite side of things – with William (Byron) winning 300 last year here at Texas, I was obviously super bummed because I was dominating the race and lost, but at the same point, I was really happy for the team. Even last week, I’m obviously bummed I didn’t win, but super, super happy for the team. Especially this year, being the 40th anniversary season for Hendrick Motorsports, there’s these milestones that are all kind of coming up right now. It’s just cool to get the 250th Cup Series pole, and I feel like I’m contributing to the record books at Hendrick Motorsports.” NOT JUST FOR HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS, BUT ALSO FOR THE DRIVE FOR DIVERSITY PROGRAM – 52 POLES NOW FOR ALL OF THEM, BUT A LOT OF DIFFERENT MILESTONES FOR THAT PROGRAM, AS WELL. WHAT’S IT LIKE TO SEE THAT PROGRAM NOW FINALLY SEEING THE FRUITS OF ITS LABOR AND THE SUCCESS THAT IT’S HAVING FROM ALL OF THAT INVESTMENT TO THE PROGRAM? “Yeah, I think I kind of touched on it maybe last week. Same thing.. it’s just really cool to see it all paying off. I think now, you’re seeing it pay off because these drivers are in really good equipment. You need good equipment in this sport, but it takes a large investment and they’ve been able to do that here lately. It seems like the last few years have helped get their drivers in some good stuff.  Yeah, it’s awesome and I definitely always cheer those drivers on. When they can get a pole or get a win, it’s definitely good for the program.” BETWEEN NOW AND WHEN YOU HAVE TO GO OVER TO THE DIRT TRACK, ARE YOU FOCUSED ON THE RACE TOMORROW? IS THERE A LOT OF DEBRIEF, OR ARE YOU ABLE TO TAKE A NAP? DO YOU HAVE TO GO OVER AND DO ANY ADMINISTRATIVE STUFF AS A HIGH LIMIT SERIES OWNER? “No.. no, we’ll have our debrief here in a couple of minutes to talk about today. I think I have maybe an autograph session here in a little bit.. just normal stuff. Everything is pretty well handled on the High Limit side. When it’s race day, I’m just a driver. I’ll go say ‘hi’ to all of them, but no, there’s nothing I need to do on the administrative side. And then same thing with the No. 57 sprint car.. like everything is pretty well handled there. I just show up; go to the driver’s meeting, hop in the car for engine heat, go race and cross my fingers and hope I do good.” I’VE HEARD PEOPLE MENTION THAT PIT STALLS AND STARTING POSITIONS ARE EVEN MORE IMPORTANT HERE IN TEXAS. IS IT IMPORTANT TO YOU, AND HOW EXCITING IS IT TO DO AS WELL AS YOU DID IN QUALIFYING GOING INTO THE RACE? “Well I think in the Next Gen stuff, qualifying is very important because of just track position and it being much harder to pass than it used to be. As far as pit stalls and stuff, this is one of the easier pit roads, I feel like. It’s wide and the stalls are not too small, so it’s not too bad, as long you as you don’t get stuck. Like say you qualified bad and you have to pick a stall in between two good cars and you’re also a good car.. like Kyle Busch will probably have a rough day on pit road tomorrow.  But yeah, you try to put an emphasis on qualifying for sure these days.” GOING BACK-AND-FORTH BETWEEN A CUP CAR AND A SPRINT CAR IS ROUTINE FOR YOU, BUT HOW ABOUT GOING BACK-AND-FORTH BETWEEN THE INDYCAR AND THE CUP CAR.. IS THAT MORE DIFFICULT, BASICALLY BECAUSE OF THE DIFFERENT CHARACTERISTICS OF THE CAR? “Well I mean I don’t really think it is that different anymore. I’m not sure.. I just think maybe with my experience of just driving different cars – I’m just guessing, but maybe I just adapt quicker than others might bouncing back-and-forth. But this week, the track was so gripped up in Indy that you’re just kind of driving around the track. It wasn’t ever sketchy-feeling, and hopefully it never gets that way.  But no, I don’t know.. it’s fine. I think the biggest thing for me, going from a Cup car to an IndyCar, is just remembering what all the buttons and stuff on the steering wheel do. That’s really the biggest thing, so far. Like every time I get in, I’m like – OK, what’s this weight jacker, left versus right, do.. moving the bar forward versus rearward, like what does that do. I just have to get reminded of that it seems like every time I get back in it.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES TEXAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY AUTOTRADER ECHO PARK AUTOMOTIVE 400 TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT APRIL 13, 2024

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Texas Motor Speedway.  Media Availability Quotes:  I JUST TALKED TO JIMMIE JOHNSON ABOUT HOW THE PLAYOFFS HAVE CHANGED SINCE HE WAS A FULL-TIME DRIVER IN NASCAR. NOW IT’S MUCH MORE COMPLICATED TO STRING TOGETHER CHAMPIONSHIPS LIKE HE DID. WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON IT – ARE YOU HAPPY WITH THE WAY THINGS ARE AT? DO YOU THINK IT’S BEST THE WAY THAT THEY HAVE IT NOW, VERSUS THE WAY THAT THEY HAD IT THEN? “It’s just the format that I’ve always raced in, so I don’t know any different. That’s how we’ve always done it. The first year I was in Trucks, they didn’t have the playoff points, and then a lot of people said they created the playoff points because of us and having that motor issue at Phoenix that ultimately took us out. We had a dominate year and we got to the end, and we were in an even playing field with the eighth seed and we got eliminated. I think the playoff points are a good thing, but I don’t know any different. I think it’s just the format and the nature of it is very intense.. very stressful. But I think that’s what you want in sports, really.. to have something that really challenges everyone. So, I feel like the way it is brings out those dramatic moments. If I were a fan, that’s what I would like to see. As a competitor, you do have to take it with a grain of salt, knowing that really it’s about Phoenix. So, you’ve just got to prepare that way; know that’s the case and try to bring your best stuff then. I’ve seen talk about doing a three-race format for the championship. If that’s the direction that they went, I wouldn’t be opposed, but I’m just going to race in whatever format it is and I’m not going to worry about what I can’t control.” THIS RACE HAS BEEN PRIMARLY RAN IN THE FALL AND NOW IT’S MOVED UP TO THE SPRING. HOW MUCH OF A DIFFERENCE IS THERE GOING TO BE IN THE RACING? “Yeah, I mean the biggest difference is that I can’t watch the Masters (laughs), so that’s about it. Really, it’s kind of back to how it was my first couple of years in Cup – I guess we would race here twice a year, but we would come here around this weekend. The track is just a little bit cooler. The last few times we’ve been here, it’s been scorching hot.. I mean ridiculous, like 100-plus, and a day race. So, I’m sure this will be a lot more pleasant for the fans watching in the stands because that race in the fall was definitely brutal, and I just think it will be a better overall thing for everyone. But for us with track temps and everything – I mean I don’t think it changes a whole lot. The track was really greasy when it was 100-plus to start, but then we gained grip. I feel like it’ll probably just have more grip to start. This place is treacherous, and it just has a lot of different traits than a lot of 1.5-mile tracks.” WHAT WAS YOUR BIGGEST TAKEAWAY FROM LAST WEEKEND? WHAT’S YOUR BEST MEMORY OR SOMETHING THAT FOLLOWED IT? IT WAS JUST SO BIG FOR THE SPORT..“Yeah, for me, it felt like a full circle moment – just with all the history at Martinsville with being in the No. 24, having Jeff (Gordon) there and talking to Rick (Hendrick) on the phone. And then going to celebrate with him (Rick Hendrick) on Monday. We did a little photo op at his house, which it was awesome to see him. It’s been a few weeks. And I think just the history that Hendrick Motorsports has and just seeing all the people there. It was just a full circle moment I think, and it was just really a family atmosphere to have everyone there to celebrate. It was just awesome. I’m glad that we could win. I was really glad to see all of us running so well. Those cars were awesome looking, and I felt like the ruby red schemes were always like in or around the top-six. And then at the end, we all just kind of had a sea of red at the front. So that was pretty neat. You don’t see that often in modern day Cup racing.. to have three cars in the top-three like that, and four of us in the top eight, so it was just pretty amazing.” YOU MENTIONED THE MASTERS.. HAVE YOU BEEN TO AUGUSTA AND WATCHED IT LIVE? DO YOU PLAY GOLF, AND IF SO, WHAT’S YOUR HANDICAP? “Yeah, I have. I haven’t been that into golf lately, but I did play this week a little bit. But I love the Masters. I’ve been once or twice, and it’s just a very special place. Just has that kind of history behind it and that aura when you walk in. It’s really cool. It’s comparable to some of the racetracks that we go to that have a lot of history. I think it’s just a special event. I like how fan friendly it is and everything.  I was around an eight handicap, but I’m probably like a 10 or a 12 right now because I haven’t played in months.”  WHAT WAS IT LIKE LAST WEEKEND.. MR. HENDRICK COULDN’T BE THERE AT THE TRACK, SO WHEN YOU GUYS GOT BACK TO THE SHOP AND THINGS RAMPED UP FOR THE CELEBRATION, WHAT WAS THAT LIKE? “It was really cool. Got a chance to see him at his house, and just seeing him and Linda (Hendrick) and how excited they were. Linda was taking photos on her phone, and she was just so excited. So, it was really neat to share that with them. And just like I said, the history of our company and everything that they’ve accomplished – it was something that we haven’t done before, so that was cool.” YOU’RE DOING PRETTY DARN GOOD THIS YEAR. YOU’VE SHOWN IN THE PAST THAT YOU CAN DO THAT. I ASKED YOU LAST YEAR ABOUT BEING A FAVORITE AND YOU SAID YOU DIDN’T THINK YOU WERE, BUT ALL LAST WEEK ON SOCIAL MEDIA AND IN THE MEDIA, PEOPLE WERE SAYING THAT YOU’RE THE GUY TO WATCH THIS SEASON TO MAKE THE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR AND POSSIBLY WIN THE CHAMPIONSHIP. DOES ANY OF THAT, THIS EARLY THIS SEASON, EVEN PLAY INTO YOUR FACTORING? “Not really. Like I said, with this format, I feel like it’s the nature of the beast. You have to keep accumulating the playoff points and try to get to the end of the season with your best performances. I mean for us, it’s great to win races. It’s awesome to lead some of those categories, but we have a lot of work to do. The days that we’ve been on, we’ve been really on. And then we’ve had a few solid days, as well. But we just have to execute every week. That’s really what I want to put together is consistent weeks, and we’ve started to do that the last three. We just want those bad days to be ninth or 10th, and those good days to still have the wins. It’s just a tough sport. Everyone is really good. We don’t know what we’ll have when we unload here. We feel like we have a good idea, but you never know what the weekend is going to be like.”  YOU STARTED OFF LAST YEAR VERY SIMILARLY TO THIS YEAR.. REALLY, REALLY HOT. WHAT IS IT ABOUT THIS NEXT GEN CAR THAT SEEMS TO FIT YOUR DRIVING STYLE BETTER? IT SEEMS LIKE YOU AND RUDY (FUGLE) ARE REALLY, REALLY CLICKING, AND THERE’S A LOT OF TALK THAT YOU GUYS ARE THE NEXT JIMMIE JOHNSON AND CHAD KNAUS. “Yeah, so I’ve thought a lot about that because I’ve seen some talk about that. I do think the Next Gen car has been a good reset for us. But when Rudy (Fugle) came in 2021, we won the third race of the year on a 1.5-mile track, and then we had like 13 or 14 straight top-10s. We’ve had speed since he’s come on board and we’ve had that chemistry, and I thought there were a lot of races that we could have won that year in 2021 that we didn’t close the deal all the way through the playoffs. The Round of Eight, we had like a 3.0 average finish.  The Next Gen car was just a good reset for us – to go in and have a clean slate, and we really attacked it head-on. There was a little bit of discomfort early on when we were testing the car because we just weren’t sure how it was going to go. But we just kind of used that, took that challenge, and we had speed at the first few tests that we had at Charlotte. And then the short-track test at Phoenix, as well, we had pretty good speed, and then we just hit the ground running when we started with that car.  And then I think you just work with what you have. The Next Gen car has continued to evolve. The competition is closer than ever, so I feel like attention to detail has been really where we could put our focus. Just feel like we’ve adapted to it, but like I said, when he (Rudy Fugle) came onboard and we started to click, we had a lot of success and we just had to use this car as kind of a platform to keep that going.” THOSE NEW TOYOTA’S CAME OUT – WHAT’S YOUR IMPRESSION RUNNING AGAINST THOSE GUYS? “I just worry about the Chevy I’m in. I don’t care.. we just race against our competition and just try to make the most of it. I mean obviously they have a lot of speed. They had pretty good speed at Las Vegas, but they were really good at Phoenix and the short-tracks, and we had a lot of work to do. Feel like you never know what’s going to happen here. I mean the Ford’s could be strong. We could be really good again. You just don’t know, so you just have to go out there and see.” WHO’S AN UP-AND-COMING DRIVER THAT YOU BELIEVE HAS THE BRIGHTEST FUTURE? “I don’t know.. it’s so hard to tell until they get to the Cup level and kind of put the work in that it takes to be good. But I don’t know.. there’s a few out there. I think Corey Heim is doing a good job. I think he has a good approach, a good mindset. He races clean, but races hard. He gets the positions he needs to, but doesn’t make a lot of mistakes.” LOOKING AHEAD AT TALLADEGA, CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THAT RACE? “Yeah, I mean anytime you go to Talladega, it’s pretty unpredictable. You don’t know what’s going to happen. Our drafting has been pretty good, but you don’t want your luck to run out, in a sense, so you just have to be a good pusher. You have to be able to get pushed well; do all the little things right. I think we know in the Cup Series who the drafters are, and there’s a few out there to try and work with and be around.  Just try to have a solid weekend. You can’t really control the result there, but you can try and get good stage points, and try to be a good drafter and learn because that race in the playoffs is huge.”  IT SEEMS THAT THE MORE YOU WIN, THERE ARE MORE COMPARISONS TO JEFF GORDON. AS YOU CONTINUE IN YOUR CAREER AND WIN MORE, HOW DO YOU GO ABOUT ESTABLISHING ‘WILLIAM BYRON’, THE BRAND?“Yeah, I mean we’re already working towards it. I was put into Jeff’s (Gordon) car and that was a lot of pressure, and we had to kind of make it our own. I feel like Jeff is a great mentor and a great asset for our team, and we use him a lot in different ways and talking off the track. But he made it known when I got in the car, that it’s my own and we kind of built the team that way – with the people and all that we have on our team.  I get that question a lot, but it’s just about trying to focus on what we can do. Hopefully the fans like that. It seems like we’ve gotten a lot of support lately, so hopefully the old No. 24 fans can kind of adapt and grow with us.” 

“The Thrill From Mooresville” sweeps the night at Farmer City Raceway and earns his third career World of Outlaws CASE Late Models Feature win 

FARMER CITY, IL (April 12, 2024) – The checkered flag waited over an empty straightaway for the victor. Nick Hoffman’s NOS Energy Drink No. 9 Late Model was the first car in its line of sight entering Turn 3, but not cleanly. He pushed up the track, allowing Bobby Pierce to sneak underneath. 

Who would it be? Pierce? He tried to slide ahead off Turn 4. But no, Hoffman was not letting his day end like this. With all four wheels off the track, in the loose dirt, making his own lane to the outside of Pierce, Hoffman edged the champion by 0.072 seconds to be the victor at Farmer City Raceway for the Illini 100 opener. 

The victory – his third with the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models and second this year – came after nearly giving up on attending the event. Early Friday morning, Hoffman had two blown tires on his hauler while making the trip to Farmer City. 

Running on two hours of sleep and cans of NOS Energy Drink, the Mooresville, NC driver overcame the issue and piloted his Tye Twarog Racing Late Model to a career performance. He set the Dirt King Simulators Hottest Hot Lap of the night, earned the Simpson Quick Time Award, won his Heat Race and then won the 40-lap Feature. 

“Last night, at 2 a.m., I blew two tires off my trailer, and I thought about going back home,” Hoffman said. “I’m running on two hours of sleep, but luckily, we’re sponsored by NOS Energy Drink, so it got us through the day. Swept the night and it’s pretty wild. I always joke and say you never win Hot Laps, but tonight, I did it all and that’s pretty damn cool.” 

The only thing he didn’t win was the Bilstein Pole Award in the redraw, which went to Robeline, LA’s Cade Dillard. 

He led the pack of 26 cars to the green flag, but Hoffman passed him for the race lead by the end of the second lap. 

The Feature continued to stay under the green flag for 30 laps until two cautions struck with 10 laps to go, mounting the pressure on Hoffman to complete the night with a win. 

Sitting behind him on the restart was Oakwood, IL native Bobby Pierce, who fought through the top-10 to place himself in a position to win the $10,000 prize. 

The final laps saw Hoffman do all he could to hold off “The Smooth Operator,” keeping a gap between the two drivers. However, Pierce stayed enough in tow of the No. 9 that when the opportunity to win arose, he could strike. 

That moment came on the white flag, as Hoffman made a bobble in Turns 3 and 4, opening the door for Pierce to make his move. The two drivers collided on the front stretch, with Pierce about sideways by the finish line and Hoffman on the horse track of the raceway. 
 
Hoffman held enough of an advantage to score his first World of Outlaws win at Farmer City.  

“The race car was great all night and didn’t have to tune on it too much,” Hoffman said. “I won a lot of races here in my Modified and turned tons of laps here in both a Late Model and Modified. It was pretty good there, didn’t wanna make it that exciting for sure. I wasn’t gonna do it like what I did to (Chris) Madden at Volusia. 

“I knew (Pierce) was gonna try sliding me there, and I screwed up through (Turns) three and four there and hammered down to the finish line. I was impressed the scoring loop ran all the way down to the horse track because I was all the way off the track and still picked me up. Pretty wild. Not the way we wanted to win there, but I did what I had to do.” 

Pierce finished second, originally thinking he had won the Feature. Despite coming up short, he was happy with how the car performed through the abundance of lap traffic he had to navigate – giving the reigning Series champion something to look forward to for Saturday night’s $20,000-to-win event. 

“The car was really good,” Pierce said. “It allowed us to come up from sixth and I rallied to third quick before I got pushed off and fell back a bit so I had to work to get them all back. At that point in time, we were really fast, but it was a challenge. (Farmer City) is always really challenging, always up on the wheel and it’s a Illinois bullring for sure. You gotta be up on the wheel the whole race, a big ole cushion in Turns three and four. 

“Nick never made a mistake there and until the last corner, I didn’t expect a good chance to come. I wasn’t even close! When he bobbled and got up on the cushion and got stuck up on it, I saw it out of the corner of my eye, so I gassed it and got ahead of him, and I expected him to come down and get me on the front. I don’t know how he made it work. I thought I won because I couldn’t see him because he was so far off the track. I guess they made the right call with the transponders and congrats to him. He drove a heck of a race out of that very last corner.” 

Dillard completed Friday night’s podium finishers in third, hoping to have had a better shot at fighting Hoffman and Pierce for the win by the end of the Feature. 

“I felt like once we got in the lap traffic, that was probably the only chance we had at (Hoffman) there,” Dillard said. “I wasn’t gonna drive into him, but I did not want the last caution to fly there. We were a little bit free at the end and we’ll work on it and try to be a little better tomorrow.” 

New Waverly, TX driver Tyler Erb finished the night in fourth place, and 2006 World of Outlaws CASE Late Models champion Tim McCreadie finished the night fifth – debuting his new Rocket1 Racing ride with the World of Outlaws. 

Gray Court, SC driver Chris Madden scored the Fox Factory Hard Charger award from his 11-place climb to finish 12th from his initial 23rd starting spot in the Feature. 

Continuing to lead the points standings is New Berlin, IL driver Brandon Sheppard – who now holds a 22-point gap over Madden in second place. 

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models return once more to Farmer City Raceway to conclude the Illini 100 on Saturday, April 13. The night’s 60-lap Feature will pay $20,000-to-win, totaling a full 100 laps over the two days of racing. The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets presented by Toyota join the Late Models for 30 laps and giving $5,000 to the night’s victor. For tickets, CLICK HERE 

Timms’ win, McIntosh’s fifth-place finish cuts points gap down to 17

FARMER CITY, IL (April 12, 2024) – Ryan Timms took a big step in pursuit of his first national Midget series championship Friday night, winning the opening round of racing at Farmer City Raceway.

The 17-year-old rising open-wheel talent from Oklahoma City, OK, owned the night, setting the fastest lap time in his Qualifying group, winning his Heat Race from fourth, passing for the lead in the Feature on Lap 10 and leading the rest of the way for his first win of the season with both the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota and the POWRi National Midget League.

Timms’ win makes him the fifth different winner in the first five races of the 2024 Xtreme Outlaw Series season, joining Thomas Meseraull, Cannon McIntosh, Karter Sarff and Kale Drake as Victory Lane occupants.

Early in the program, Timms noted the speed of the Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM), LynK/Toyota #67 and took advantage of it immediately, jumping off to a fast start in the 25-lap main event.

“After the Heat Race, I had a lot of confidence going into the main,” Timms said.

Kale Drake – Timms’ teammate – jumped to the early lead at the drop of the green and led the opening circuits ahead of Chase McDermand and Ashton Torgerson. Timms quickly found the top lane to his liking and devised his plan to start making passes.

“Once we went into (Turns) 3 and 4, I was able to just rail the top and I saw how much of the gap between me and the lead cars closed,” Timms said. “I knew we were gonna be passing for the lead soon.”

After getting by Torgerson for third, Timms threw his first big slide job on McDermand, diving deep into Turn 3 on the bottom and sliding up in front of McDermand to take his line away out of Turn 4.

“It’s a lot wider in (Turns) 3 and 4 and it was really hooked-up on the bottom to the middle getting into 3, so I could just sail it in wide-open,” Timms said. “I could be five-to-six car-lengths back and I could clear the guy. I knew that was where I was gonna be able to pass guys.”

Three laps later, Timms pulled the slide job again in 3 and 4, this time on his KKM teammate Drake for the lead.

Now in control of the field, Timms pinned the throttle, opening up a 1.5-second advantage on the field before a caution period restacked the field with only seven laps remaining.

On the Lap 19 restart, Torgerson took the green from third with McDermand in front of him. Torgerson stuck to the top side and zoomed past McDermand off Turn 4 to take second at the line. McDermand tried to take the spot back with a slider of his own the next lap in Turn 3, but Torgerson crossed him over to retain second place out of Turn 4.

“I saw [McDermand] running kind of the lower line down there in (Turns) 3 and 4, and I felt like I was probably one of the faster cars up there in 3 and 4,” Torgerson said. “I just knew that if I hit my line up there, it’d be pretty hard for him to get around me.”

With 20 laps down and five remaining, one final yellow flag was displayed, putting Torgerson on Timms’ rear bumper for the restart. Despite his teammate Torgerson’s speed behind him, Timms stuck to his preferred groove at the drop of the green and held the lead.

“I just stuck to running the bottom, and I knew if anyone was going to pass me, it was gonna be in (Turn) 3,” Timms said. “I’d run it in wide-open getting into 3 and 4 around the top and I’d be looking to my inside to see if anyone was sliding me so I could turn and get a run down the hill, but that never happened.”

Though he was unable to get close enough to Timms to challenge for the led, Torgerson said he felt like he should have been.

“A little bit longer, I think we might’ve had something for him,” Torgerson said.

Timms crossed under the checkered flag and bagged the $4,000 check and his first career victory with in the Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series with Torgerson second, McDermand third, Zach Daum fourth and Cannon McIntosh completing the top five.

With the win, Timms chopped his points gap down to only 17 points – a 30-point gain on leader McIntosh. McDermand also slimmed his gap to McIntosh down to 42, still riding third in the standings.

UP NEXT

The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets and POWRi National Midgets are back in action at Farmer City alongside the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models for another round of racing on Saturday night, April 13. Tickets are available at XtremeOutlawSeries.com; stream available on DIRTVision.

ABBREVIATED RESULTS (view full results)

Feature (25 Laps): 1. 67-Ryan Timms[4]; 2. 67K-Ashton Torgerson[3]; 3. 40-Chase McDermand[1]; 4. 7U-Zach Daum[5]; 5. 71K-Cannon McIntosh[10]; 6. 97-Gavin Miller[9]; 7. 9-Kevin Thomas Jr[6]; 8. 56-Tyler Edwards[7]; 9. 19M-Ethan Mitchell[16]; 10. 56D-Mitchell Davis[14]; 11. 19AZ-Hayden Reinbold[17]; 12. 21K-Karter Sarff[11]; 13. 4K-Kayla Roell[21]; 14. 14S-TJ Smith[12]; 15. 1K-Brayton Lynch[15]; 16. 5U-Peter Smith[18]; 17. 66-Jayden Clay[24]; 18. 13-Elijah Gile[19]; 19. 55-Trevor Cline[23]; 20. 57-Mark McMahill[22]; 21. 73W-Luke Wackerlin[25]; 22. 43-Gunnar Setser[8]; 23. 97K-Kale Drake[2]; 24. 98-Luke Drotschie[13]; 25. 71-Jade Avedisian[20]

BIG GAME BEATDOWN: David Gravel Leads Every Lap for I-55 Victory

The point leader picks up his third victory of the season in impressive fashion  

PEVELY, MO (April 12, 2024) – Nothing is slowing David Gravel right now. And that held true again on Friday night.

Lapped traffic couldn’t slow him. Cautions that erased his lead couldn’t slow him. Even a slide job that briefly cost him the lead couldn’t slow him at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55. 

Gravel started on the front row of the Feature and drove a masterful 40 laps on his way to a World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car victory at the Pevely, MO bullring. The Watertown, CT native sliced the Big Game Motorsports machine through heavy traffic and held off one strong challenge from Michael “Buddy” Kofoid to secure his third win of 2024.

“What a car we had tonight,” Gravel said. “I was nervous early on. Qualifying didn’t go very good, but we were still able to get a good Qualifying effort there. Cody (Jacobs) kept working on it, and in the Dash I knew we had something really good. It feels good to win one here. I haven’t won here since like 2016. It’s been way too long.”

The win marked the 91st of Gravel’s career with The Greatest Show on Dirt, equaling him with Brad Sweet for ninth on the all-time win list. It also was his 33rd since joining Tod Quiring’s Big Game team, making the organization the team he’s won the most often with in World of Outlaws competition. Gravel now owns a pair of I-55 checkered flags, and the track is the 19th in which he’s won at multiple times in Series competition.

Gravel started the race in the second position as Toyota Racing Dash winner – Giovanni Scelzi – led the field to green. Right away Gravel flexed his muscle by powering around Scelzi on the top to secure the top spot and lead the opening lap.

As they worked through the opening circuits Gravel committed to the low line while Scelzi worked to build momentum on the top. Scelzi kept the KCP Racing #18 glued behind Gravel, but Buddy Kofoid began to reel them both in quickly. On the sixth lap Kofoid slipped under Scelzi to take over the runner-up spot.

Up ahead Gravel began to negotiate heavy lapped traffic. Kofoid started to close in for the top spot, but the race’s first caution on Lap 9 gave Gravel a clear track again.

On the restart Gravel moved to the topside, and Kofoid fired a slider at him aboard the Roth Motorsports #83. The Penngrove, CA native couldn’t quite clear Gravel as Kofoid settled back into second down the back straightaway. It only took a few laps before Gravel neared the tail of the field, but it was déjà vu as the yellow lights again flashed right when the leaders were staring at heavy traffic.

The next restart served up Gravel’s biggest challenge of the night as he again went for the cushion in Turn 1. Kofoid tossed another slide job and cleared him with this attempt. As they exited Turn #2, Gravel aimed the Huset’s Speedway #2 low and drove back by Kofoid down the back straightaway.

When the race entered the second half, Gravel truly began to show what his machine was capable of. He dipped and dived his way through traffic, stretching his advantage to nearly three seconds at times. Behind him, a war between Kofoid, Scelzi, Bill Balog, and Carson Macedo broke out for positioning inside the top five. The group swapped many sliders and crossovers as they jockeyed for spots while Gravel drove away.

A late caution with seven laps remaining gave Kofoid and the rest of the frontrunners one last shot at Gravel, but he wasted no time pulling ahead on the final restart. Kofoid and Macedo went to battle for second as Gravel drove away to the win and his fifth consecutive top-two finish.

“It’s a lot of fun to drive this #2 car right now. I feel like we’ve kind of been there the whole year other than Cotton Bowl when we got into a crash and had to come to the work area,” Gravel said. “Everything has been going really good. We’re just going to stay focused, put our heads down, and keep working.”

Kofoid fended off Macedo’s late challenge to claim the runner-up spot, marking his best finish of his rookie season. The 22-year-old is now on a roll of seven straight top 10s with a 6.29 average finish over that span. Kofoid found that the race’s cautions came during inopportune moments that might’ve prevented him from mustering a better challenge for the win.

“I feel like we were every bit as good as them (Gravel), maybe more towards the end,” Kofoid said. “Lapped traffic is kind of where I thrive and where our car seems to be really good right now. We’d get to traffic and get to him, and then the yellow would come out. It kept repeating itself a few times. I think we definitely got a lot better throughout the night. I went from being very uncomfortable to having a chance to win.”

Completing the top three was Carson Macedo and the Jason Johnson Racing team. Macedo hasn’t missed the top 10 since the final night of DIRTcar Nationals in early February as he continues to build momentum. The Lemoore, CA native owns podiums in five of the last seven World of Outlaws races at I-55. He used some strong restarts to climb from the fifth starting spot to second at one point before settling for third.

“I think plugging the bottom was kind of my goal there,” Macedo said of his restarts. “I felt like a lot of guys would kind of sling around the top, and if I could hit it down there right and not grab that little lip and get my front end over, I could execute down there pretty nice, get down the back stretch, and beat them into Turn 3. Hats off to Philip Dietz, Adam Zimmerman, and Robby McQuinn. They worked hard all night.”

Bill Balog and Giovanni Scelzi completed the top five.

A 24th to 12th drive in his first Series start of the season gave Noah Gass the KSE Racing Hard Charger.

Giovanni Scelzi claimed his second Simpson Quick Time of the year and the 13th of his career.

NOS Energy Drink Heats One, Three, and Four went to Giovanni Scelzi (43rd Heat Race win of career), Carson Macedo (115th of career), and David Gravel (246th of career). Milton Hershey School Heat Two belonged to Donny Schatz (522nd of career).

Logan McCandless won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars finish up the weekend at Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55 on Saturday, April 13. For tickets, 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. 2-David Gravel[2]; 2. 83-Michael Kofoid[3]; 3. 41-Carson Macedo[5]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[4]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[1]; 6. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[6]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[11]; 8. 15-Donny Schatz[7]; 9. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[13]; 10. 122-Joe B Miller[12]; 11. 70-Kraig Kinser[17]; 12. 20G-Noah Gass[24]; 13. 88-Austin McCarl[18]; 14. 24D-Danny Sams III[22]; 15. 7S-Landon Crawley[14]; 16. 23B-Brian Bell[15]; 17. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[10]; 18. 23-Garet Williamson[9]; 19. 29-Logan McCandless[21]; 20. 99-Skylar Gee[23]; 21. 21R-Gunner Ramey[16]; 22. 24T-Christopher Thram[19]; 23. 73-Scotty Thiel[20]; 24. 87-Aaron Reutzel[8]

Austin Prock earns provisional No. 2 spot in Funny Car, while John Force is right behind in No. 3. Brittany Force is No. 5 in Top Fuel

LAS VEGAS (April 12, 2024) – Continuing the momentum gained from two wins last weekend at Phoenix, John Force Racing got off to a strong start in Friday’s first day of qualifying for the NHRA 4-Wide Nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In Funny Car, Austin Prock captured the provisional No. 2 qualifying position, while team owner John Force grabbed the No. 3 spot. Meanwhile, Brittany Force took the provisional No. 5 qualifying spot in Top Fuel. “We’re coming back stronger this year,” Brittany Force said of the collective JFR effort. “It was a tough season for us last year. We’re not done qualifying, there’s still more out there, but qualifying 2, 3 and 5 is a pretty good place to be.” Driving the Cornwell Tools Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car, Prock was second-quickest (4.015 seconds/317.34 mph) after Friday’s first round of qualifying. In the second round, he briefly grabbed the No. 1 spot (3.947 seconds/321.42 mph) before Bob Tasca III passed him by. “It’s a great start to the day,” Prock said. “We have to keep pecking away at No. 1. We’re having fun out here.” Prock has two more chances Saturday to retake that No. 1 spot from Tasca and any other challengers for king of the Funny Car hill. “We were second-quick both sessions,” Prock said. “Q1 we made a little bit of a mistake and it probably cost us low ET in the second session. We couldn’t push quite as hard as we wanted to but did good enough to run second-quick, so that’s four more points for this Cornwell Tools machine. “We’re the Funny Car points leader now, so hopefully we can hang onto that throughout the weekend.” Prock has been the most successful qualifier in Funny Car this season. In his first NHRA race ever in a Funny Car, he earned No. 1 honors in the season-opening race at Gainesville, Fla., and again last week in Phoenix. He finished runner-up at Gainesville and then earned his first Funny Car “Wally” winner’s trophy at Phoenix, joining team owner John Force, who won the weather-delayed final round of Pomona (which was rescheduled and relocated to Phoenix). Speaking of Force, he failed to qualify (4.579 seconds/183.59 mph) in Friday’s first round, leaving him and his PEAK Antifreeze & Coolant Chevrolet Camaro SS Funny Car team needing to roar back with a stronger effort in the day’s second round. And roar back, Force did, with an effort of 3.962 seconds/313.73 mph, seeing him jump up to the provisional No. 3 qualifying position. “I’m excited for PEAK, Monster, Cornwell and of course, Chevrolet,” Force said. “We’re on a roll here. But trust me, I had my hands full on that last round. “I was down sideways in the lights. It got loose but I was able (to hold it), because I’ve learned from making that mistake, get it off that center. I got it off and made it to the light. So, it was a good day for me personally and a good day for the entire team.” In Top Fuel on Friday, Brittany Force was the No. 8 provisional qualifier in the first round (4.804 seconds/155.04 mph). But in the second round, the driver of the Monster Energy Top Fuel Dragster had a significantly better run of 3.820 seconds at 326.56 mph, moving her up to the No. 5 spot on the qualifying ladder. “Our first run was unfortunate,” Brittany Force said. “It’s not what we were aiming to do. We didn’t have enough in the car, we slowed it down, and it went out there and drove into smoke again. “So we stepped it up in Q2, went straight down there and ran an .82. That was great. So it’s a great spot to be in. We get two more runs in the other two lanes Saturday, so I’m looking forward to that.” One other item of note: Saturday’s two final Funny Car qualifying sessions will also be part of the season-long Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge. Force and Prock will square off against each other along with Funny Car points leader J.R. Todd and Dan Wilkerson in one quad segment of the Challenge, while the other quad features Alexis DeJoria, Cruz Pedregon, Paul Lee and Blake Alexander.

LAS VEGAS, NV (April 10, 2024) – The NHRA Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals will be packed with Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown action this weekend at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, April 12-14. The fan favorite class featuring Chevrolet COPO Camaros, Ford Cobra Jets and Dodge Challenger Drag Paks will battle it out across four lanes for the first time in Las Vegas and just the third time in class history. In 2022 and 2023 the factory stock hot rods raced at famed zMAX Dragway outside of Charlotte, North Carolina with Bill Skillman and Lenny Lottig taking home the NHRA Wally trophies for their winning efforts, respectively. This weekend a tough group of Dodge, Chevrolet and Ford competitors will be lining four-wide to see who will race to the winner’s circle on Sunday in the third race of the NHRA Flexjet Factory Stock Showdown Series.
 
Before the four-wide champion is crowned there is still some unfinished business to handle as points leader Mark Pawuk, 2023 series runner-up Stephen Bell and David Davies will be racing to finish the rain delayed NHRA Winternationals. The trio of drivers’ race day was cut short in March by a rain and hailstorm that forced the abrupt conclusion of the historic west coast race and moved the final two rounds to The Strip. Pawuk and Davies will square off in one semifinal and Stephen Bell will have a bye run into the final. The final two rounds of the Winternationals will be run on Saturday in conjunction with the final two rounds of Las Vegas qualifying.
 
“This is my first chance to double up and I am really looking forward to this weekend in Las Vegas,” said Pawuk, the points leader and driver of the Empaco Dodge Drag Pak. “I would love to keep my win streak going with two wins in Las Vegas, but it will be tough. David and Stephen are great competitors and great guys. I appreciate Flexjet sponsoring the series and I know David will give me a great race in the semis. I still have the Flexjet bounty, so I want to hold onto that for a few more races. This race will be interesting because this is an altitude race. Everyone will have to have a new engine combination so it will be interesting.”

CONCORD, NC (April 9, 2024) – The April racing schedule for the Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota continues with a visit to another track brand-new to the Series – Farmer City Raceway for the annual Illini 100. Standing as one of the most prestigious dirt track racing events in the state of Illinois, the Illini 100 has traditionally been billed as a Super Late Model and DIRTcar UMP Modified event. But in 2024, the event welcomes Midget racing to the card for the first time, joining the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Model Series and the MARS Modified Championship. The stars of Midget racing’s newest national tour take on the 1/4-mile bullring for back-to-back nights of racing this Friday and Saturday, April 12-13. Preceded by an evening of practice on Thursday, April 11, Friday’s program kicks off the racing action with a 25-lap, $4,000-to-win main event, leading up to a 30-lap, $5,000-to-win finale on Saturday. Both nights will be sanctioned in conjunction with the POWRi National Midget League, marking Rounds 1-2 of competition in the Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series. This 10-race miniseries awards a $2,500 check to the driver with the most points accumulated after all events are complete in addition to checks for each of the drivers in the top-five of final points. Tickets for this weekend’s events are on sale in advance for $5 off at the links below and will also be on sale at the gate on race day. If you can’t be there to watch in person, stream every lap live on DIRTVision. BUY FRIDAY TICKETSBUY SATURDAY TICKETS Here are the drivers to watch and storylines to follow this weekend: HOT STREAK – Through the first four races of 2024, no driver owns more top-five finishes than the current Series points leader, Cannon McIntosh. The 21-year-old has not finished outside of the top five yet and boasts the win in the season-opening weekend in Du Quoin last month. He led laps in both Features last weekend at US 36 Raceway and Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex en route to his second pair of top-five finishes, boosting his lead in the points standings to 47 over Keith Kunz Motorsports teammate Ryan Timms. Farmer City will be a track brand-new to McIntosh this weekend. The 1/4-mile bullring has never hosted a national Midget series event, and the young Oklahoma racer will be among the favorites to become its first winner. BOUNCE BACK – Zach Daum has climbed back from large points deficits before and now prepares to do it again after a weekend gone bad in Missouri. A sixth-place finish last Friday at US 36 kept him in the thick of the battle for the points lead but internal mechanical failure struck him early in the program Saturday at Sweet Springs, taking him out of competition and leaving him with his first DNS of the season. That cost him almost 200 points in the standings as he fell from 16 points out of the lead in second-place, down to eighth-place where he now sits 215 points behind McIntosh. Despite his misfortune, the 32-year-old returns to racing in his home state of Illinois this weekend with a fresh power plant inside the Trifecta Motorsports No. 7U. While he starts a climb back in the Xtreme Outlaw standings, he’ll start fresh with the first race of the Challenge Series with POWRi, of which he was the champion in 2023. SHARK’S TANK – Karter Sarff is back on the Xtreme Outlaw Series roster for the third weekend in-a-row as he prepares to take on one of his home-state tracks at Farmer City. Sarff, 21, of Mason City, IL, has made his presence felt early this season, knocking off the Series regulars last Friday at US 36 for his third career Xtreme Outlaw win. He followed that up with an eighth-place effort the next night at Sweet Springs, vaulting him up to fourth in the points standings. Fitting for the first race of the 2024 Xtreme Outlaw-POWRi Challenge Series, Sarff enters Farmer City representing the POWRi side its defending national champion – an honor he clinched in the final race of the season last October. CHAMP RETURNS – Jade Avedisian returns to the Xtreme Outlaw Series roster this weekend after spending a week on the asphalt in Sonoma, CA, for the opening round of the Toyota GR Cup. The reigning Series champion from Clovis, CA, will return to the Keith Kunz Motorsports stable for both races in Farmer City following finishes of 14th and fourth in the season opener in Du Quoin last month. Like most others in the field, Avedisian does not have any laps in a Midget at Farmer City but has been strong on the banked bullrings in the past with wins at Jacksonville Speedway, Southern Illinois Raceway and Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55. BACK IN THE SADDLE – Gavin Miller has healed from surgery and has been cleared to compete this weekend, returning to the seat of the KKM LynK/Toyota No. 97 after missing the past two races. Miller, 17, of Allentown, PA, posted finishes of second and 11th in the season opener last month and sat fourth in points – a great start for the championship hopeful. However, a crash in a Micro Sprint event in California two weeks later took him out of action due to an injury suffered in the incident and put teammate Kale Drake in the seat of his No. 97 for races at US 36 and Sweet Springs. Drake, 18, of Collinsville, OK, took the opportunity and ran with it, bagging a Heat win and a seventh-place result in the Feature at US 36 before scoring his first national Midget series win with a last-lap pass on teammate Taylor Reimer the next night at Sweet Springs. While Miller reassumes his normal driving duties in the No. 97, Drake has earned the right for more seat time and will also pilot a KKM car of his own at Farmer City, making seven total KKM cars on the roster this weekend – comprised of himself, Ryan Timms, Cannon McIntosh, Luke Drotschie, Ashton Torgerson, Jade Avedisian, and Gavin Miller. THIS WEEKEND AT A GLANCE When and where Friday-Saturday, April 12-13 at Farmer City Raceway in Farmer City, IL On the internet Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota Twitter – @Xtreme_Outlaw Instagram – @XtremeOutlaw Facebook – @XtremeOutlawSeries.WRG Live broadcast DIRTVision – DIRTVision.com. Annual FAST PASS for $299 or monthly FAST PASS for $39/month. Current championship points standings (view full standings)Cannon McIntosh: 872 points (Keith Kunz Motorsports #71K)Ryan Timms: -47 points (Keith Kunz Motorsports #67)Chase McDermand: -59 points (CMR-Mounce/Stout Motorsports #40)Karter Sarff: -82 points (Karter Sarff Motorsports #21K)Taylor Reimer: -90 points (Keith Kunz Motorsports #25K)Ashton Torgerson: -163 points (Keith Kunz Motorsports #67K)Hayden Reinbold: -180 points (Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports #19AZ)Zach Daum: -215 points (Trifecta Motorsports #7U)TJ Smith: -239 points (Mounce/Stout Motorsports #14S)Trevor Cline: -257 points (Cline Racing #55) Toyota Feature winners (4 drivers) 1 win – Thomas Meseraull (Engler Racing), Cannon McIntosh (Keith Kunz Motorsports), Karter Sarff (Karter Sarff Motorsports #21K), Kale Drake (Keith Kunz Motorsports #97) Toyota Feature laps led (4 drivers) 36 laps – Cannon McIntosh 35 laps – Joe B. Miller27 laps – Thomas Meseraull12 laps – Taylor Reimer 11 laps – Karter Sarff4 laps – Tyler Edwards1 lap – Kale Drake Whitz RC Racing Products Quick Time Awards (2 drivers) 3 awards – Ethan Mitchell 1 award – Cannon McIntosh Heat Race winners (16 drivers) 2 wins – Tyler Edwards, Chase McDermand1 win – Ryan Timms, Thomas Meseraull, Shane Cottle, Gavin Miller, TJ Smith, Cannon McIntosh, Jade Avedisian, Nick Hoffman, Ashton Torgerson, Kale Drake, Zach Daum, Karter Sarff, Kyle Jones, Taylor Reimer High-points honors (4 drivers) 1 honor – Cannon McIntosh, Tyler Edwards, Chase McDermand, Karter Sarff Last Chance Showdown wins (6 drivers) 1 win – Taylor Reimer, Gunnar Setser, Austin Torgerson, Gavin Miller, Shane Cottle, Ethan Mitchell DIRTVision Hard Charger Awards (4 drivers) 1 award – Will Armitage, Ryan Timms, Ryan Timms, Hayden Reinbold Podium finishes (9 drivers) 2 podiums – Zach Daum, Ryan Timms, Cannon McIntosh 1 podium – Thomas Meseraull, Gavin Miller, Kale Drake, Taylor Reimer, Karter Sarf, Chase McDermand Top-10 finishes (23 drivers) 4 top-10s – Cannon McIntosh, Chase McDermand 3 top-10s – Zach Daum 2 top-10s – Shane Cottle, Ryan Timms, Karter Sarff, Taylor Reimer, Kale Drake, Ashton Torgerson 1 top-10 – Gavin Miller, Joe B. Miller, Thomas Meseraull, Jade Avedisian, Will Armitage, Mitchell Davis, Trey Marcham, Rylan Gray, Hayden Reinbold, TJ Smith, Ethan Mitchell, Gunnar Setser, Todd McVay, Kyle Jones 2024 Schedule & Winners – Race No. Day, Date / Track / Location / Winner (Total Wins) 1. Fri, March 15 / Southern Illinois Center / Du Quoin, IL / Thomas Meseraull (1) 2. Sat, March 16 / Southern Illinois Center / Du Quoin, IL / Cannon McIntosh (1)3. Fri, April 5 / US 36 Raceway / Osborn, MO / Karter Sarff (1) 4. Sat, April 6 / Sweet Springs Motorsports Complex / Sweet Springs, MO / Kale Drake (1)

CONCORD, NC (April 9, 2024) – Federated Auto Parts will have a prominent presence throughout the 2024 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car season, sponsoring five events across five states.

The premier auto parts company will be the title sponsor for the events at Lincoln Speedway (May 8), Wilmot Raceway (July 12-13), Merced Speedway (Sept. 14), Sharon Speedway (Sept. 28) and Dirt Oval 66 (Oct. 18-19).

This is in addition to its continued sponsorship of Federated Auto Parts Raceway at I-55, which hosts the World of Outlaws in April and in August for the prestigious Ironman 55. The two-day Ironman event (Aug. 2-3), has become a marquee stop on the World of Outlaws tour, boasting large paydays and some of the most exciting racing all year around the 1/3-mile bullring.

With that, their sponsorship spans across the country, reaching fans in California, Illinois, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. And in February, Federated Auto Parts was title sponsor of DIRTcar Nationals in Florida for the second straight year.

“We’re excited to continue our support of the World of Outlaws and dirt racing by reaching fan across the country at some of the World of Outlaws’ biggest events this year,” said J.R. Bishop, director of event marketing & member services for Federated Auto Parts. “We share the World of Outlaws’ passion for creating a healthy and thriving dirt racing community, and by having Federated Auto Parts’ branding on these events, it is a perfect way to support that cause while introducing new fans to the company.”

Federated Auto Parts joined the World of Outlaws in 2023, becoming the title sponsor of the Federated Auto Parts DIRTcar Nationals and several other events throughout the year. Their iconic orange and blue colors will also be on Logan Schuchart’s  No. 1S Shark Racing Sprint Car throughout the season.

For tickets to the Federated Auto Parts sponsored events, visit WorldofOutlaws.com/tix.