BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (Aug. 26) — The Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series returns to Beech Bend Raceway Park this weekend for a North Central Regional event at one of Division 3’s most historic and beloved facilities. Reigning D3 Top Dragster champ Mike Coughlin will lead a three-car assault from Team JEGS that features his nephew Troy Coughlin Jr. and niece Paige Coughlin, who will both compete in Super Comp. “Beech Bend Raceway Park has always been a favorite stop of mine dating all the way back to the 1970s when my brothers and I would go watch our dad (Hall of Famer Jeg Coughlin Sr.) race there,” Mike said. “With the amusement park right across the way from the drag strip, the place was a wonderland for kids like us, and I’ve noticed through the years there are many other drag racing families that feel the same way.” Mike raced to his third Division 3 title last year, adding a Top Dragster championship to two previous D3 titles in Top Sportsman. Although it’s been awhile since he’s found the winner’s circle at Beech Bend — he last won in 1989 in Super Comp — he still has a lot of enthusiasm for this weekend’s event, which runs Friday-Sunday. Mike Coughlin “We just had another double-header weekend in New England and this JEGS.com dragster continues to be a perfect ride,” Mike said. “We went to the semis in the first race and the quarterfinals in the other so we gained some good points there. Greg Cody, Tony Collier and Ryan Micke are so driven to win and they always have the car set perfectly for me. Every loss we’ve had has been super close and could’ve gone either way, so there’s nothing to complain about at all. “My hat’s off to (track owners) Dallas and Alfreda Jones for keeping their place so nice. It’s a real joy to race there and it’s a track where Team JEGS has enjoyed a lot of success, so we’re all ready to go.” With four trophies from Beech Bend, Troy Jr. is the most successful Coughlin actually competing this weekend in Kentucky. A two-time Lucas Oil regional champ in Top Alcohol Dragster, having won the North Central Region in 2018 and the Eastern Region last year, Troy Jr. claimed two Top Alcohol trophies here in 2019 and another one in 2018. He also won here in 2014 in the Super Gas class. Only Troy’s uncle Jeg Coughlin Jr. has more Beech Bend wins, having claimed victory five times in the Blue Grass State. “It’s going to be an historic couple of weeks for us racing in Bowling Green and Indianapolis on back-to-back weekends,” Troy Jr. said. “First up is Beech Bend and I couldn’t be happier to go back to a place where we’ve won so many times before, not just me but the whole family. “Justin (Beaver, tuner) and the guys at the shop have all the cars ready and we’re thrilled to continue our dream of drag racing together this year. Above all, racing for us is about family and no place says family like Beech Bend.” Troy Coughlin Jr. Rising star Paige, who is one of Troy Jr.’s three younger sisters, will be taking a long weekend away from her studies at Miami University of Ohio to attend this weekend’s race. As always, she’ll be looking for a victory in her JEGS.com dragster but she’ll also be tuning up for a huge Labor Day weekend in Indy where she’ll represent her family in the JEGS Allstars event, which she qualified for last season. “I’m very much looking forward to being back in the seat after taking a few weeks off to start school again,” Paige said. “Bowling Green has always been one of my favorite races on the divisional schedule and we have had good success there in the past. “The last few races I attended we were trying some new things with the car and my crew chief, Justin Beaver, and (crewman) Tony Collier have this car running really great. I am ready to put the car back in line and go racing and to have some fun with my brother T.J. and Uncle Mike.”

Batavia, OH (August 26, 2020) – Recently, the announcement was made by Knoxville Raceway that the remainder of their 2020 season (including the Lucas Oil Late Model Knoxville Nationals) had been canceled due to COVID-19. The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will now be back in action at I-80 Speedway for three full events, with the Al Belt Custom Homes I-80 Nationals on September 17th – 19th.

Thursday, September 17th and Friday, September 18th will feature two complete shows with 30 lap A-Main events paying $7,000-to-win. On Saturday, September 19th, there will be B-Mains to complete the lineup for the 80 lap Al Belt Custom Homes I-80 Nationals A-Main paying $30,000-to-win. There will also be a $2,000-to-win Non-Qualifier race. 

Tickets are now available online at www.i-80speedway.com (all seating will be General Admission). Three day tickets are on special until Wednesday, September 9th. Reserved camping is also available for the weekend, with a limited number of backstretch camping spots available. Racing action will begin at 7:15 PM CDT each day, support classes to be announced. To make purchases over the phone, please call the speedway office 8:30 AM-5:30 PM CDT 402-3423453.
The Kokomo Late Model Shootout at Kokomo Speedway has been canceled. Brownstown Speedway has stepped up and added a 40-lap, $10,000-to-win event on Friday, September 25th prior to the 100-lap, $15,000-to-win Jackson 100 on Saturday, September 26th.
I-80 Speedway Information:Phone Number: 402-342-3453Location: 13909 238th St Greenwood, NE 68366
Directions: Located off Interstate 80 at exit 420, Greenwood, NEWebsite: www.i-80speedway.com

Batavia, OH (August 26, 2020) – The Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series finally returns to Port Royal Speedway for the first time since 2018, after a weather cancellation in 2019 and postponement due to COVID-19, earlier this year. This will be the largest three-day purse in the history of the Port Royal Speedway for the late model division, with a total of $150,000 on the line.

Thursday, August 27th is $10,000-to-win for 30 laps; Friday, August 28th is $12,000-to-win for 40 laps; and 50 laps on Saturday, August 29th that will pay $15,000-to-win. The Lucas Dirt series will be joined by Limited Late Models on Thursday, who will be taking part in a pair twin-20’s – make-up features from earlier in the year, paying $1000 to win each. The Modifieds will be the support division on both Friday and Saturday, competing for $1000 to win in a 20-lap feature event Friday, with a 25-lap feature for a $1500 winner’s pay day on Saturday.

There will be no reserved seating offered and all tickets can be purchased day of at the speedway ticket offices. Regular season reserved seating will be honored for all three days of racing. Camping is available on a first come-first serve basis.

Port Royal SpeedwayPhone Number: 717-527-2303Location: 308 W. 8th St., Port Royal, PA 17082Directions: Two miles south of US Rt. 322 just off of PA Rt. 75 in Port Royal. Pit entrance on Fourth St., General Admission on Sixth and Eighth St.Website: www.portroyalspeedway.com Port Royal Tire Rule: Rumble by the River August 27th-29thLeft Rear/Fronts – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1300, Rib (28.5) 1425Right Rear – Hoosier (29.0) 1300 NRM, (29.0) 1300 NRMW, (29.0) 1425 NRM, (29.0) 1425 NRMW*Must use the same set of 4 tires for Time Trials, Heat Races, and B-Main.*For the A-Main, competitors may use 3 new tires.*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain starting position. 

August 25, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy head to Daytona International Speedway with a Playoff berth on the line in Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400.

DiBenedetto is 15^th in the Playoff standings with just a nine-point cushion on the cutoff line for being one of the 16 drivers who will start the 10-race, season-ending run for the 2020 Cup Series championship.

Races at Daytona and its sister track, Talladega Superspeedway, often are affected by “Big One” multi-car crashes, and surprise winners aren’t really that surprising given the uncertainties that come with racing in large packs at high speeds.

DiBenedetto said that given the Playoff implications, this Saturday night’s 400-miler likely will be even more of a crap shoot than usual.

“If I was a guessing man I would say probably quite a bit more chaotic and a whole lot of desperation because this is the last attempt or opportunity for a whole lot of people to make the Playoffs,” he said. “A lot of people can win at Daytona, so I would assume it might be quite chaotic.”

In his only start on the superspeedway at Daytona in the No. 21 Mustang, DiBenedetto showed that he and the team are capable of doing what he needs to do to earn a Playoff berth.

For 185 of the scheduled 200 laps of this year’s Daytona 500, he ran in the top five at times, then backed off when the bumping and blocking got especially aggressive.
 
But before he could make it to the checkered flag, he was swept up in a 19-car crash on the backstretch. He was able to return to the race and salvage a 19^th-place finish, but that’s the kind of outcome he’s hoping to avoid this time around.

“We will have to go to Daytona and do the best job we can,” he said, adding that he will be relying on his fellow Mustang drivers to work with him in the draft. “We have really good teammates, and the Fords are fast.”
 
Avoiding the expected chaos will be the challenge, and sometimes that is more a matter of matter of luck than skill at tracks like Daytona and Talladega.
 
“Sometimes it doesn’t really matter how smart you race and what you do and all the things you do right, even if you are running first or second,” DiBenedetto said. “A lot that is out of your hands at those places.”
 
There will be no practice or qualifying prior to the start of Saturday’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, which is set to get the green flag just after 7:30 p.m., with TV coverage on NBC.
 

Inside Line Promotions – WEST FARGO, N.D. (Aug. 24, 2020) – Dominic Scelzi posted his season-best World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series result last Saturday during the Red River Rumble.

Scelzi capped a two-race weekend with ‘The Greatest Show on Dirt’ in North Dakota by placing ninth at Red River Valley Speedway. It was his 23 ^rd overall top 10 of the season and second with the World of Outlaws.

“We were really, really good,” he said. “The guys in front of me were equally as good. It was about track position.”

Scelzi qualified ninth quickest and he finished fourth in a heat race to give him the 12^th starting spot for the main event.

“We went out really late and qualified ninth, which was really good,” he said. “Then in the heat race we had a run at Kyle (Larson) and I should have followed him instead of raced him. We lost a spot there. My whole game plan was if I could slide him and slow him down I knew (David) Gravel was behind me. If he and Gravel could get to racing maybe I could hold onto a dash spot. Unfortunately it didn’t work out, but you have to take the shot.

“In the feature I ran the bottom a little bit, but mostly focused around the top. It was so far around up there. Guys that could sneak around the bottom could make up more time. But if they missed it a little we were right there to capitalize. Sixth to 10^th place were all right there bumper to bumper. It was really good racing and we ended up ninth.”

The weekend began on Friday at River Cities Speedway in Grand Forks during the Second Leg of the Northern Tour. Scelzi timed in 17^th quickest and he gained a position in a heat race to place fifth. He continued to move forward in the A Main, advancing from 14^th to 11^th.

“I think it was pretty good,” he said. “We didn’t time in well and that was frustrating. We were okay in the heat and we were decent in the main event. I felt like we could have run anywhere between eighth and 12^th. I think we were a little on the free side. In the heat we were too snug and we tried to not go overboard and stay on the free side. It might have hurt us a little, but I don’t think we were bad.”

Two more World of Outlaws shows are on the horizon this weekend. Scelzi will make his debut at U.S. 36 Raceway in Osborn, Mo., on Saturday before he returns to I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb., on Sunday for the first time since his debut in 2015. He placed eighth and third, respectively, during a doubleheader at the high-banked oval.

The Lucas Oil Sponsored Streamliner Set One-Way and Two-Way Speed Average Records at Bonneville Speed Week

CORONA, Calif (August 24, 2020) – Lucas Oil Products, the California-based manufacturer and distributor of high-performance automotive oils and additives, completed a record-breaking run at Bonneville Speedweek at the Bonneville Salt Flats in Tooele County in northwestern Utah by successfully surpassing the AA/BFS (Blown Fuel Streamliner) two-way average and one-way last-mile records. Lucas Oil, which served as the official lubricant of the Speed Demon, was instrumental in preparing the vehicle to reach speeds of 481.576 miles per hour (mph) down the last-mile of the course and a two-way average of 470.015 mph thanks to the performance of the PLUS Racing Oil, Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer, L9 Racing Gear Oil, Synthetic SAE 140 Racing Gear Oil, Slick Mist Detailing Kit and Contact Cleaner.  “We are thrilled to be part of this great success story as the exclusive engine oil and additive supplier for the Speed Demon,” said Tom Bogner, Director of Motorsports, Lucas Oil. “Bonneville Speed Week is a challenging event for both man and machine. Many of the world’s fastest vehicles come out to run at unbelievable speeds and do so in the harsh conditions of the salt flats. I am so impressed with the Speed Demon team and proud to have Lucas Oil associated with the fastest streamliner at Bonneville.”

The Speed Demon collected its ninth HOT ROD Magazine trophy for recording the highest terminal-velocity speed at the end of Bonneville’s 5-mile course. Photo: John Baechtel

The veteran Speed Demon pilot, George Poteet, started the Bonneville Speed Week in good spirits after completing a five-mile speed of 469.298 mph on Wednesday – the Speed Demon’s then fastest time recorded on the Bonneville Salt Flats. This set the stage for Poteet’s record 470.015 mph run Thursday morning.

Lucas Oil provided the necessary oils and additives to ensure the Speed Demon’s twin-turbo big-block engine produced maximum speeds at Bonneville. Photo: John Baechtel

In the pits, the Speed Demon crew treated the streamliner’s 3,156 horsepower, 557 cubic inches, twin-turbo big-block engine with Lucas’ PLUS Racing Oil to minimize fuel dilution, resist oxidation and prevent fuel thinning out at high crank-case temperatures. Lucas’ Heavy Duty Oil Stabilizer was also used to provide the Speed Demon motor a higher degree of lubricity and reduce operating temperatures along with fuel consumption.  The Speed Demon transmission and rear differential utilized Lucas’ L9 Racing Gear Oilmixed with the Synthetic SAE 140 Racing Gear Oil for reduced friction and parasitic drag to give the record-breaking streamliner noticeable gains in power while operating in extremely salty conditions.

Despite running in harsh, salty conditions, Lucas Oil kept the Speed Demon  running and looking its best all week long. Photo: John Baechtel

Lucas Oil’s Contact Cleaner was used to keep the engine area clear of any salt and oil, thus eliminating any risk of engine fires. Lucas’ Slick Mist Detailing Kit added the final touches to the Speed Demon, giving it a show-room ready shine before heading out to break the AA/BFS one-way and two-way records in style. The performance by Poteet at this year’s Bonneville Speed Week resulted in the Speed Demon team collecting the AA/BFS record for 501 cubic inches or larger forced-induction engines in Streamliners. A record that was previously set 16 years ago by Tom Burkland when he reached a speed of 417.020 mph.

Honda takes top five at VIRginia International Raceway
Mat Pombo and Mike LaMarra score fourth place finish at VIR
Two top-ten finishes for Honda Civic Type R TCRs in the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix

ALTON, VA (August 23, 2020) –The LA Honda World Racing team scored their best finish thus far in the 2020 IMSA MICHELIN Pilot Challenge with #73 Honda Civic Type R TCR drivers Mat Pombo and Mike LaMarra scoring fourth at the Virginia Is For Racing Lovers Grand Prix.

Starting eighth in the hands of LaMarra, he and Pombo persevered through yellow flags and immense GS-class traffic. The pair spent much of the race swapping positions with their LA Honda World Honda Civic Type R TCR teammates Shelby Blackstock and Chris Miller before eventually crossed the line in the fourth position.

Delivering the best qualifying performance of the LA Honda World squad for the weekend, Miller rolled off the grid sixth in the #37 and spent much of the race battling his #73 teammate LaMarra before handing over to Blackstock with one hour and eight minutes left.

A great pit stop put the #37 in the hands of Blackstock back on track in third position. The Nashville native slipped back to fourth position following a restart before suffering contact with the #29 Hyundai, spinning him off the track.

The spin dropped him to eighth place, but Blackstock managed to move his way back to sixth in the final 10 minutes of the race.

Driver of the #77 Honda Civic Type R TCR, Ryan Eversley achieved a massive milestone this weekend, competing in his 100th IMSA Challenge Series race. Unfortunately, Eversley did not get to take his turn behind the wheel during the race. Eversley’s co-driver Taylor Hagler was caught up in an unfortunate first-lap incident that ended the pair’s day early.

HPD has three ready-to-race Civic models for touring car competition. The line starts with the affordable and reliable Civic Si TCA race car, then leads to the Civic Type R TC racer that puts legendary Type R performance on track, and culminates with the no-compromise, championship-winning Civic Type R TCR race car. Our unparalleled trackside support at every level from HPD engineers is a unique benefit that no other manufacturer can offer. Find out more about these cars and our touring programs at: https://hpd.honda.com/Motorsports/Touring

Honda Racing social media content and videos from VIRginia International Raceway are available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by CoForce Digital Media, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Next
The MICHELIN Pilot Challenge now travels to Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta September 4-6 for Michelin Endurance Challenge weekend. The race can be streamed live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

Sato Wins as Honda Dominates the Indianapolis 500
Takuma Sato prevails over Scott Dixon to score second “500” victory
Graham Rahal, Santino Ferrucci round out Honda 1-2-3-4 sweep
Honda scores 13th victory in an historic running of the Indianapolis 500

SPEEDWAY, Ind. (Aug. 23, 2020) – Takuma Sato passed a previously dominant Scott Dixon with just 15 laps remaining in today’s Indianapolis 500, and went on to score his second win at the famed “Brickyard” in a race dominated by Honda teams and drivers.

Although he led only twice for a total of 27 laps, Sato’s Rahal Letterman Lanigan Honda was fast when it counted, in the run from the last round of pit stops to the checkered flag. Exiting the pits in second to Dixon, Sato swept into the lead on lap 185, then held off several attempts by Dixon to repass as the pair worked their way through lapped traffic. The race was decided on Lap 196 of the scheduled 200, when Spencer Pigot crashed hard exiting Turn 4, leading the race to end under the caution flag. The win is the second at Indy for Sato, following his initial “500” triumph in 2017.

Prior to the final pit stops, Dixon had dominated the day in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, leading a race-high 111 laps as the championship leader sought his own second Indy victory. Starting in the middle of the front row in the 33-car field, Dixon took the lead at the Green Flag and went on to control much of the 200-lap contest, especially after Alexander Rossi, in a strong running Andretti Autosport Honda, crashed out of the race on Lap 143. Prior to his contact with the wall, Rossi led four times for a total of 17 laps as he and Dixon edged away from the field in the middle portion of the race.

But both Rahal Letterman Lanigan Hondas came on strong in the closing laps, with Sato’s teammate Graham Rahal closing the gap to the lead pair in the final laps to finish third. After a disappointing qualifying effort, Santino Ferrucci conducted an exciting late-race effort of his own, finishing fourth to complete a Honda 1-2-3-4 sweep at the finish.

Honda drivers claimed eight of the top-10 finishing positions, with James Hinchcliffe recovering from a clutch problem encountered in his second pit stop to finish seventh, with his Andretti Autosport teammate Colton Herta eighth. Jack Harvey had his best Indy finish to date with a ninth-place result for Meyer Shank Racing; while Ryan Hunter-Reay rounded out the top 10 in his Andretti Autosport Honda.

Next
The string of five consecutive NTT INDYCAR SERIES oval races continues next weekend as drivers and teams head 150 miles southwest to WorldWide Technolgy Raceway near St. Louis, Missouri for a pair of 200-lap races Saturday, August 29 and Sunday, August 30.

Honda Racing social media content and videos from this weekend’s pair of races 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 will be available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, YouTube video packages can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Quotes
Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) Started 3rd, finished 1st; second Indy 500 win; 13th victory for Honda at Indianapolis: “I think we had the best car. Only we were a lap short from Dixie [Scott Dixon] in terms of the fuel strategy, and [making fuel mileage to the finish] was a little tight. I couldn’t use max power to switch back and forth. And Dixon kept coming through Turn 4 [on the final green flag lap] and I was just able to hold him off. This is unbelievable. Everyone did a hell of a job. HPD and Honda gave us a lot of power and a lot of fuel mileage.”

Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Started 2nd, finished 2nd; led race-high 111 laps; increased his mid-season championship points lead to 84 over Josef Newgarden [335-251]: “This is a hard one to swallow. On fuel mileage, I really can’t see how [Takuma] Sato was going to make it [prior to the caution that ended the race]. We pitted a lap later, and the [fuel mileage] numbers they had to get, it was going to be very difficult. I thought they were going to throw a red flag [following a late-race crash by Spencer Pigot], which would have been interesting for the last four or five laps. Huge congrats to Takuma. He drove his pants off today. Rahal Letterman Lanigan, they were super fast, obviously finishing first and third. It was good day for Honda. I want to give a massive thank you to them. We’re very proud to be powered by HPD and Honda, and it’s nice to get some [championship] points. But it’s hard when the win slips away like that.”

Santino Ferrucci (Dale Coyne Racing with Vasser-Sullivan Honda) Started 19th, finished 4th: “It was just an incredible race. The SealMaster Honda was insane today. The guys worked really hard on pit lane, on the timing stand and the strategy was perfect.  I’m just really happy, after two incredibly long weeks of focusing on the car, we ended really good. During the first pit stop I got caught in neutral, and it was like a blessing in disguise. It set us way back, but the momentum we had just carried us. On the next restart [after a caution flag] we went from 25th right back into the top-10. It was where we needed to be and we just fought our way from there into the top-four.”       

Ted Klaus (President, Honda Performance Development) on today’s Indianapolis 500: “This was a very satisfying win. On behalf of every HPD team member and everyone back at HPD in Santa Clarita – who have all been pushing hard since last year’s race – thank you! Congratulations to Takuma Sato, Graham Rahal and the entire Rahal Letterman Lanigan team for their one-three finish today; to Scott Dixon and Chip Ganassi Racing for his dominant run to lead 111 laps and second-place result; and to all of our partner teams and their great drivers. Together we led all but 22 laps of today’s race, and scored an incredible 13th ‘500’ win for Honda.”

August 23, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Richmond team finished 17^th in Sunday’s second half of a Cup Series twin bill at Dover International Speedway, and that leaves them with a slim nine-point cushion over the Playoff cutline with one regular season race left to run.

DiBenedetto and the No. 21 team enter Saturday night’s Coke Zero 400 at Daytona International Speedway 15^th in the Playoff standings, just ahead of Jimmie Johnson and William Byron. Only one of the three of them is assured of a Playoff spot because any driver behind them in the standings but in the top 30 in points could win at Daytona and claim one of the two Playoff spots that remain up in play.
 
“I am going to sit and hope and pray all week that we can just come out of there clean and make the Playoffs,” DiBenedetto said.  We shouldn’t be this close to the bubble. It is frustrating.”

At Dover, DiBenedetto and the Menards/Richmond Mustang started Sunday’s Drydene 311 from the pole, as the line-up was set by inverting the top 20 finishing positions from Saturday’s race. He led the first 11 laps, but due to a loose handling condition was unable to maintain his spot at the head of the field. Still, he was able to finish the first Stage in seventh place and earn four bonus points.
 
From that point on, DiBenedetto and the team struggled to find grip, and he ended the second Stage in 16^th place.
 
In the final segment of the race, he essentially maintained his position in the running order. 

Although he fell a lap off the pace as the laps wound down, he took the wave-around during the race’s final caution period and regained the lost lap. Despite riding on older tires, he was able to maintain his spot until the checkered flag.
 
DiBenedetto said he’ll do what he can at Daytona to get the No. 21 team in the Playoffs.
 
“I have done a lot of superspeedway races, and I feel like I race really smart at them but it won’t help the fact that there are just so many variables at those places that you can’t control,” he said. “It is not the same kind of racing as anywhere else we go. 
 
“I would say the thing that pays off the most at Daytona is luck.”
 
Eddie Wood said that while he and his team didn’t come out of Dover with the results they’d hoped for, he did have reason to celebrate after Sunday’s race because Kevin Harvick delivered Ford Motor Company its 700^th Cup Series victory. 
 
“We’re happy for Kevin and the folks at Stewart-Haas Racing to win that milestone race for Ford,” Wood said. “We’re proud to have played a part in getting to 700, and we plan to do our part to run that number even higher.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDIANAPOLIS 500 INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA POST RACE RECAP AUGUST 23, 2020 Josef Newgarden leads 17 Team Chevy drivers in the 104th running of Indianapolis 500 (INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 23, 2020) – Josef Newgarden finished in fifth place to pace Team Chevy at the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500. The two-time and defending NTT IndyCar Series champion started 13th and ran in the top-10 for most of the afternoon. Pato O’Ward started 15th and quickly moved toward the front before finishing sixth. Helio Castroneves finished 11th in his quest to become just the fourth driver to win The Greatest Spectacle in Racing four times. Rookie Rinus VeeKay, who was Chevrolet’s top qualifier, ended up 20th, one lap off the pace after a pitlane penalty took him out of the top-five running where he had been running.  Tony Kanaan finished 19^th as the 2013 winner winds down his successful career, Seventeen drivers powered by Chevrolet’s 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V6 engine qualified for the 200-lap race on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval.  Although the race had to be postponed from the traditional month of May and there were no fans on premise as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the race had the same drama, same high level of competition and same surprises one has come to expect from the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.Takuma Sato clained his second Indy 500 victory followed by Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal filled out the podium. GM president Mark Reuss led the field to the green flag in a 2020 Corvette Stingray. It marked the 17th time a Corvette has served as the Indianapolis 500 Pace Car, starting in 1978, and the 31st time a Chevrolet has led the field, dating to 1948. No other brand or vehicle has served as the “500” pace car more than Chevrolet and the Corvette. Newgarden is second in the point standings, O’Ward sits third and 2019 Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud is fifth in the standings as the Series prepares for next week’s doubleheader weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill.  DRIVER QUOTES NO. 1 JOSEF NEWGARDEN, SHELL V-POWER TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5^TH: “It’s disappointing for sure. Our Shell V-Power Nitro Chevrolet was fast. It was really, really good. We were just taking our time. My boys in thepits were on it today. They made us up spots on every single pit stop. We put ourselves in position there at the end of the race, which is all you can ask for. We actually came in with Sato on that last stop and maybe we should have went one lap longer. But in the end, we were a little behind the eight ball on the final stint. We were working to unhandcuff ourselves. I’m proud of everyone though – they fought hard. I can’t thank Shell and Team Chevy enough for all the support they give us. We just didn’t have what we needed. We were in position, but couldn’t capitalize to take advantage of it. Congrats to Takuma on the win. Just wish we were up there battling him for it.” NO. 5 PATO O’WARD, ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6^TH:”The No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP team did everything we could to get to the front today. My crew did an amazing job in the pit stops. We were fighting up there with Dixon, Rossi and Takuma – great job to him. Towards the end we just didn’t have enough to get those in front of us. I think we juiced out the car and got everything out of it. We were right behind Josef in 5th for Chevrolet, so I think it was a good job for my first ever Indy 500. Obviously here the only thing that matters is winning. I’m excited to come back next year and try and get that win as this place is pretty special. For now, just collecting and move onto Gateway.” NO. 3 HELIO CASTRONEVES, PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11^TH: “I miss this thing so much. I know I didn’t finish in the top 10. One spot behind but let me tell you, what a great group of guys. They did a phenomenal job today. The No. 3 Pennzoil Chevrolet was not the strongest car out there, but we fought from 28^th all the way up to 11^th and we did everything we could. Obviously, we tried to take our chances with some of the yellows and it didn’t work out. It was very difficult to pass however and we hung on and a top 11 was the best we could do. Again, I miss everyone. This was awesome, but now on to the next page and on to Road Atlanta. NO. 12 WILL POWER, VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14^TH: “Obviously we made our way all the way up to eighth with really good restarts. And then I feel like I got too good of a restart, so I was almost touching Colton [Herta] in turn 4 and had to pull out to the outside. There is no draft there and about three guys blew by me and then I got pushed wide in turn one. And yeah and the bad stop didn’t help us there – my bad. But I wanted to thank Verizon and Chevrolet for everything. Chevrolet gave us a great engine. My guys worked really hard all month and I just really have to thank them for everything. We’re going to refocus for Gateway and work on that.” NO. 67 JR HILDEBRAND,          SALESFORCE DRYER REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 16^TH:“The car was a huge handful at the beginning of the race. I almost spun out on the first lap. It was a bummer because I found some passing lanes in the middle of the fuel stint. But I couldn’t get to those lanes when I wanted to. Unfortunately, the car was twitchy early in the race. And we went for a different fuel strategy and the boys got the car working better throughout the day. I felt I got the feel of the car better as the race went on today. We knew the track temps were going up and we needed to make adjustments with every pit stop. I was working the trim switches and various items to help the car roll into the corners better. We were good to go to the end on fuel and we might have picked up some additional spots if others had to pit. But with yellow to the checkered, that didn’t happen. I hope Spencer (Pigot) is okay. That was a huge hit at the end. I just missed a few of the crashes today. I was dodging a number of incidents. We made the right calls today with our strategy. But we just missed a few things that would have improved our finish. Overall, the DRR guys worked really hard this month and we gained more information when we return. At least we made up half the field going from 32^nd to 16^th today.”  NO. 59 MAX CHILTON,GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17^TH: “It was a long race, but it always is around here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I tried my best out there and the whole team did a great job today. We really worked on making the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet better throughout the race. Every pit stop we were changing something whether it was the front or rear wings and I was working with the weight jacker and the bars pretty much every lap. We had great pit stops all race and we tried to change up the strategy a little bit and at the end of the day we were a big climber. I think we were the fourth-highest climber of the day coming from 30^th up to 17^th, which isn’t bad at all and we brought the car home in one piece, which on a 500-mile race is extremely important when you want to be in it to win it at the end. We’ve struggled for speed all month, but today was a massive improvement and I’m excited to come back and try again for an even better result next year.” NO. 4 CHARLIE KIMBALL,TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVRLET, FINISHED 18^TH:“I was able to pass guys in the early part of the race, and I had a very good restart which gave us more spots. So we were moving up. The first five or ten laps of the stints were fast, but then the tires fell off and I couldn’t pass people. Ultimately, I made a mistake on pit lane with our third stop. I don’t know if the tires were worn or the brakes locked, but I slid by our pit box. Then I had to get in reverse and we lost two laps. I got our one lap back and almost the other lap too. And the #10 car stayed out and it prevented us from getting a rave around on the next yellow flag. At the end of the race, the WIX Filters Chevy was better, but I didn’t want to ruin other guys races and I moved out of their way. We ran out of time trying to get the lap back, because the car could run with guys on the lead lap. The DRR crew did a great job in the pits as always and we just had the one mistake today when I missed the pit. I feel badly for that one. We did learn a lot this month as a ‘one-off’ team at Indy.” NO. 14 TONY KANAAN, ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19^TH:I don’t know what to say… We had a solid car, made a lot of positions on track and also in the pits. We went from 23^rd all the way to 8^th, I believe, but at the end I had to match a fuel number to make it to the checkered without a splash and in order to do that I had to let a lot of cars go. I truly believe that we had a Top-10 car. We ran up there most of the race and it’s just disappointing that we had to settle for 19^th.” NO. 21 RINUS VEEKAY, SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20^TH: “Of course everything was new to me and I didn’t want to take too much risk at the start. We were running third! The team was doing an amazing job. The second pit stop, I came into the box and just hit the brakes a little too hard. I locked up my inside front and my biggest nightmare happened. I hit the crew guys, they work day and night for me so I feel terrible. I will make sure to apologize to everyone. I made one mistake, but it was a big one. Pit stops are something I’m not as familiar with yet, but that’s not an excuse. We had a great car. It got better and better and I was able to pass cars on the inside and the outside. I learned a lot, but not fully in a good way. I just want to thank the team for giving me such an amazing car, but I threw the race away. Also, I feel bad for my teammates Ed and Conor having a tough rce. There were a lot of bad crashes and I hope Spencer (Pigot) is fine.:  NO. 66 FERNANDO ALONSO,RUOFF ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21^ST:“It was a very eventful race for us, we didn’t have one lap of kindness let’s say. We were struggling from the very beginning with the balance of the car with a lot oversteer. We kept changing that balance in the pit stops, reducing the front flap, doing tire adjustments and then we started to be happy with the car. We were up to P15 around Lap 110, which is where we wanted to be. We spent half the race going from P26 to P15 and then we had a clutch problem on the car that we didn’t know how to solve. We finished the race without the clutch, so from that point on every pit stop we had to push the car, engage the gear and go. That cost us a lap and unfortunately, we kept that lap down until the end and we could not achieve anything more. “I’m happy to finish the race, cross the line and have one 500 miles in the pocket, that’s the positive thing. The negative is that we were out of contention very quickly with the clutch problem. Anyway, I think the Arrow McLaren SP team was fantastic during the race, the strategy and pit stops meant we were always gaining positions. I’m very proud of the work we’ve done over the last couple of weeks. We tried to race but luck was not with us today, but I’m proud of the effort from everyone in the team.” NO. 22 SIMON PAGENAUD, MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22^ND:  “It was a real shame to start as far back as I did. I really do think that Chevy brought an incredible race engine. It had so much power. It was so good. So I think if we started further up, we would not have lost as much time in traffic. I feel like we had one of the best cars. I didn’t see [Takuma] Sato, but congratulations to him. He’s an incredible driver around this place. It’s fantastic. I think he’s the most successful Japanese driver ever so congratulations to him and the Rahal team. We were just on the outside of Ryan Hunter-Reay and he just hit us in the front wing like we weren’t there. So we had to pit for a new front wing, and it went downhill from there. At the end of the race, we were running I think is the fastest laps of the race. The car was really, really good and it would have been good for the last shootout, but it wasn’t our year. We’ll come back next year and we’ll be strong. We have a good baseline to attack for next year and we’ll come back to try and get No. 2.” NO. 81 BEN HANLEY,DRAGON SPEED USA CHEVROLET, FINISHED 23^RD:”It’s a fantastic feeling to finish the Indy 500! All the odds seemed against us two weeks ago, but a huge effort by everyone from the DragonSpeed crew to INDYCAR, Chevrolet, and Firestone made it possible. We tried a switch in strategy late in the race that didn’t quite didn’t work out, but we are really happy with 23rdand what we’ve achieved as a team at Indy this year. As we hoped, we gained a lot of knowledge today and can’t wait to come back next year to apply it!” NO. 20 ED CARPENTER, U.S. SPACE FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET. FINISHED 26^TH:“Not the day we were hoping for. Our day ended after one corner. I don’t know that I could have done anything different, it didn’t feel like that aggressive of a move on my part. Evidently, the other driver’s spotter cleared him, which is crazy to me. Is it 2021 yet? 2020 is being a tough year right now. I am praying everyone is okay, I know Spencer (Pigot) took a big lick. A couple of our crew guys got whacked in the pit too, so I am also thinking about them. I am terribly disappointed that we weren’t able to show better for the U.S. Space Force and the U.S. Air Force. I feel extremely disappointed that we couldn’t do more, but that’s racing sometimes.” NO. 24 SAGE KARAM, WIX FILTERS DRYER REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24^TH:“I was able to pass guys in the early part of the race, and I had a very good restart which gave us more spots. So we were moving up. The first five or ten laps of the stints were fast, but then the tires fell off and I couldn’t pass people. Ultimately, I made a mistake on pit lane with our third stop. I don’t know if the tires were worn or the brakes locked, but I slid by our pit box. Then I had to get in reverse and we lost two laps. I got our one lap back and almost the other lap too. And the #10 car stayed out and it prevented us from getting a rave around on the next yellow flag. At the end of the race, the WIX Filters Chevy was better, but I didn’t want to ruin other guys races and I moved out of their way. We ran out of time trying to get the lap back, because the car could run with guys on the lead lap. The DRR crew did a great job in the pits as always and we just had the one mistake today when I missed the pit. I feel badly for that one. We did learn a lot this month as a ‘one-off’ team at Indy.” NO. 47 CONOR DALY, U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEEVROLET, FINISHED 29^TH: “I’m not entirely sure what happened. We were having a good run and it suddenly felt like my left front tire felt into a hole. It was very strange. I thought I had it saved and it was a shame to see Oliver (Askew) hit the wall as well. My mistake and I am just looking forward to Gateway now. I am so thankful for the U.S. Air Force. They are the most incredible partner I’ve ever had and I hate this for them.”NO. 7 OLIVER ASKEW, ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 30TH:,”First of all I need to thank the AMR Safety Team, Dallara, and INDYCAR for keeping us as safe as possible in these cars going these speeds. I’m sorry for the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP team, they’ve worked so hard all week, all month, all year building up to this event. So, to have a result like this is really sad for all of us but we will move on to Gateway next weekend. I was really happy with the pace we had and the aggressive strategies we were running. We were trying to make something happen with passing being at a premium at this race. Thanks again to the team for all their hard work.” NO.41 DALTON KELLETT, K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET: FINISHED 31^ST:“It’s obviously a different 500 experience without the fans and having the national anthem and flyover without the energy of our great race fans and it was bit sad to see that. But the start felt pretty good. I thought I was going to get the jump on Tony and Will but they showed my rookie status and got the jump on me, so now I know where to go next time. The car felt really good the first stint, we were just chipping away at it, working with the tools and dealing with a bit of understeer with the tailwind in Turn 2. The car felt really good in 3 and 4, making moves in traffic and was able to pass guys. On the second stint, the wind shifted a bit so I was getting a run out of 2 into 3 but got stuck behind Hanley who was running a bit off the pace. I kept trying to draft and get by him going into 3. I went pretty late and I didn’t know if his spotter didn’t let him know I was pretty low or he didn’t think I was going for it. I kind of popped and he came down almost immediately so I didn’t have time to back out of it and he skimmed my front wing and took all the air off it. After that I was just trying to save it and couldn’t quite get it turned enough to miss the wall. Pretty disappointed that was how it ended. We were having a really good month up to that point.”

NASCAR CUP SERIES DOVER INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DRYDENE 311 TEAM CHEVY PRESS POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES AUGUST 23, 2020 
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.   DRIVER3rd     JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE4th      WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE5th      ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 ACRONIS CAMARO ZL1 1LE9th      AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW / BEHR ULTRA SCUFF DEFENSE CAMARO ZL1 1LE13th    KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 1LE
TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:POS.  DRIVER1st      Kevin Harvick (Ford)2nd     Martin Truex Jr. (Toyota)3rd     Jimmie Johnson (Chevrolet)4th      William Byron (Chevrolet)5th      Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Daytona International Speedway with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 on Saturday, August 29, at 7:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBC, NBC Sports Gold app, MRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY NOTES AND QUOTES (INCLUDING JIMMIE JOHNSON’S THIRD-PLACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT): JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 3rdYOU GUYS DROVE FROM THE BACK THROUGH THE FIELD, TOOK TWO TIRES, GOT TO THE LEAD, BUT WASN’T ABLE TO HOLD ON. DID YOU AGREE WITH THAT CALL?“Yeah, I totally did. And I actually had a little bit of hope thinking that it would work thinking clean air would be so important and we were so fast the run before. There were a lot of laps on those left-side tires and it just didn’t pan out. But I really appreciate Cliff’s (Daniels, crew chief) courage to bet on me and give me a shot. We certainly improved our finish from where we were running at the time. So, all-in-all, a great call. Very proud of this Ally Chevrolet, everybody on this Ally team and all the hard work they’re putting in.” THE PLAYOFFS, IT GOT REALLY TIGHT AFTER THIS. YOU’RE HEADING TO DAYTONA – A SUPERSPEEDWAY. WHAT’S THE STRATEGY – HOW DO YOU GET INTO THE PLAYOFFS AT A SUPERSPEEDWAY?“I’m going to do my best to forget about it. There really isn’t any worrying that I can do this week to help me on a plate track. Studying, worrying – any of that isn’t going to make a difference. So, go down there, say a few prayers, maybe say a prayer per lap and see how that plays out I guess. We’ll race hard and if it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be.” WITH ALL THE SUCCESS YOU’VE HAD HERE, ARE YOU PROUD OF THIS LAST RACE AT DOVER?“I’m good with it. I want more – I absolutely want more. I know I’m capable of more and I know this team is. That’s our mission. I’m not gone forever – I’m just trying to slow down a little bit. I’ll be holding a steering wheel for years to come and it’s all about trying to win races.” WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 4th“It was like a completely different race car and completely different race for us today compared to yesterday. We had the Axalta Chevy doing the things we wanted it to do on most runs. It just felt good out there. I knew at the beginning of the race that we were keeping pace with the No. 19 the No. 11. As soon as we got the track position, we were able to stay up there. I think we were a little bit behind though since we really didn’t have a notebook from yesterday. I think if we had another race at it, we would run a bit better. Overall, this is good for our Axalta team. Now we’re going to Daytona where it’s going to be insane. I don’t think you can really points race. It’s going to be a race to be as aggressive as you can and hope things fall your way.” ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 88 ACRONIS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 5th“Man, I am so proud of everyone at Hendrick Motorsports. Three cars in the top-five today. For us to pull out a back-up car, the No. 88 team did a great job getting everything together and regrouping after yesterday’s issues. Very appreciative to end up in the top-five and get Acronis a good run. We needed to get things turned around and this is a good step in the right direction. I felt like we were a second-place car on the short run and probably shouldn’t have picked the bottom on that last restart. So appreciative to have a great run and a huge shout out to everyone at Hendrick Motorsports and Chevrolet. This was great.”
AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 DOW / BEHR ULTRA SCUFF DEFENCE CAMARO ZL1 1LE- Finished 9th“We had a good day at Dover International Speedway in the Dow Coatings Chevrolet, and that shows just how hard we all work at RCR. It feels good to come out of the Monster Mile with two solid runs. We started the race too free. A pit stop for right-side tires definitely tightened me up, but it went back at the end of the run, and I was just sliding around out there to end Stage 1. Our Chevy definitely had speed today, it was just too loose to do anything with it during portions of the race. Justin Alexander and all of the guys on the team did a good job at making adjustments. Towards the middle of the race we were knocking off some of the fastest lap times of the field. We went four-wide to make a pass and I got a little damage to my right-front, which made our No. 3 Dow Coatings Chevrolet really tight. It was still fast, though. I’m proud of a top-10 finish. We probably could have gotten a few more spots on that last restart, but the No. 2 car did a good job and had a good run. It was fun out there this weekend, and I want to thank everyone at Dow and Behr for their support.”
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 GEARWRENCH CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 13th“We have been consistent in our hunt for the playoffs all season. With today‘s finish, not what we hoped for, but we locked-in! I’m proud of everybody at Chip Ganassi Racing. Teamwork is what it’s all about. Thanks to GEARWRENCH, Monster Energy, Team Chevy and everyone that makes this team compete.” TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 CAT APP CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 17th“We started off with our No. 8 Cat App Chevrolet a lot better than yesterday. I was able to roll through the turns a lot smoother and just needed a bit more rear security. I thought maybe that issue would be cleared up as the track began to rubber up, but it just never tightened up quite as much as I needed it to. The adjustments that my crew chief, Randall Burnett, and the team made through Stage 1 and 2 helped fight that looseness, but I still needed even more stability to really carry speed into the corner like I needed to. At the end of Stage 2, we took a big swing on our adjustments, which did help solve the rear security issue, but took it almost to the other extreme and made it tight to turn. The day didn’t go how we wanted it to, but I’m proud of our team. No one gave up, and we worked hard all race long. This isn’t over for us yet. We still have one more chance to make the Playoffs at Daytona International Speedway, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.”
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 COLUMBIA PFG CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Finished 21st“Today was a little bit better day for our Richard Petty Motorsports No. 43 Columbia PFG Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. It was kind of the same balance as yesterday. Our Chevrolet handled the same, but we had a little bit more speed. Still not where we want to be – just could never get the rear-end underneath us. When we did, it was just way too much. We need to get some more adjustability in our car, but overall a good day for our Columbia PFG team. It was cool to see them on the race track and I’m excited for what’s next with them. We will keep everything going and continue the momentum into Daytona (International Speedway) next week.”
JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:  THE MODERATOR: We’re now joined by our third‑place finisher, Jimmie Johnson, driver of the No. 48 Ally Chevrolet.            Q. Jimmie, how do you approach this week racing your teammate for the last playoff spot? Not only are you guys teammates and you guys share information, but you’re going to a superspeedway where traditionally teammates work together.JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, it’s going to be a really interesting race in Daytona from that respect. But at the same time, it’s still Daytona, and in my opinion, “the big one” or all the wrecks that can happen is really going to determine who makes it into the playoffs.           We did the best that we could here over these two days, had two respectable results, closed the gap, but now it’s kind of in luck’s hands or in fate’s hands down in Daytona at the plate rate.            Q. In terms of information sharing, open book between you guys this week?JIMMIE JOHNSON: Oh, yeah, always has been. It was that way racing my teammates for championships; it’s certainly that way going into a playoff race.            Q. Jimmie, the last few laps of this race given what’s on the line, how much pressure were you feeling? How much on the wheel were you in those laps on two tires?JIMMIE JOHNSON: Not much pressure. I was so excited and so happy to have the view I did sitting there up front and have control of the restart. I knew when we hit the gas and the 4 car was able to stay with me, I was going to be in trouble. I needed to clear him into 1 and quickly I realized that my left sides were pretty exhausted and just didn’t have the grip we needed in them. We had a really good car and I really credit Cliff for making that brave call for two tires. I think we were one of the fastest cars if not the fastest car over the last two runs, just unfortunately clawing our way back in from losing track position, and we didn’t have the best stop two from the end, so we really just had to gamble.           I really appreciate his courage to do that. It netted a better finish. Certainly wish there was more there, but a great couple days here in Dover.            Q. Matt DiBenedetto is only +9, so there is a path now for the both of you to make it in, so maybe working together, the both of you can climb in. How do you feel about that?JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, it’s so hard to know how things will play out down in Daytona. If you get single file and it’s the old track with high tire wear, which it won’t be, you can work with a teammate and really try to create some opportunity, but if we’re all running in a big group, luck is going to play a bigger role in things for the majority of it. I mean, if you have a dominant car and you can lead the race and control the lanes up front, there’s an opportunity there, obviously, but I feel like luck and fate is going to kind of control the outcome of this.            Q. You talked about luck and fate. Does that mean your experience means nothing next Saturday?JIMMIE JOHNSON: It’s hard to say it would separate me. I look at this weekend and think my experience played into my hand and helped me gain points on the two cars that I needed to. To go to Daytona where you don’t really work on your cars, you’re in a draft, in a pack, there is some skill needed in the draft to make that work and to create opportunity, but I think it’s a smaller window of opportunity than what we have on a traditional race.            Q. What will your stomach be like this week?JIMMIE JOHNSON: I’ve been doing this too long to worry too much. Championship pressure, thankfully I’ve been through that a bunch of different times. Maybe that’s ‑‑ I guess actually maybe that’s where experience will play through for me this weekend and I’ll be able to keep my head on straight, think, keep my emotions in check and really race with a clear and open mind.            Q. With a run like you had this weekend and obviously today especially, I’m curious how much you needed this mentally because obviously we know what’s at stake for the playoffs at this point, but to have a solid run back‑to‑back days and to improve on this second day of the double‑header, how much do you feel like you and this team needed this as you approach the next 11 weeks?JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I mean, we definitely need it. Momentum really works for you in either direction, and to run good at Daytona, to run decent at Michigan, to take these two races this weekend, top 10 and a top 5, that’s all going the right way, and it helps me. It helps every one of us on the team.           Who I think it helps the most is really Cliff and my guys on this team that have been giving me everything they can week in and week out. I sense that they’re probably more concerned about me finishing strong than I am. I mean, they really ‑‑ we have a great relationship and a great bond, and they want to give me every chance to win going out.           I truly appreciate their point of view and what they’re doing for me, and I’ll keep willing it as hard as we can, and hopefully we can get it done.            Q. With as meaningful as this racetrack has been to you in your career, how does it feel to end your time at Dover, at least your full‑time career, with the runs that you had this weekend?JIMMIE JOHNSON: It feels good. This place is a blast to drive. I’ve always enjoyed coming here and making laps, and if the phone ever rings and I can pick the Cup race to come back and run, I would choose this track. We’ll see what happens out there in years to come.            Q. With next week potentially being your last NASCAR Cup Series race at Daytona, with the stakes that they are, is this one of the biggest Daytona races that you’ve had to deal with in your career?JIMMIE JOHNSON: Honestly, I haven’t thought about it in that respect. I’ve kind of felt like that race is going to be the pivotal race for us to make the playoffs or not, especially since I missed the Brickyard 400. Maybe someday down the road I’ll look back and think of these last trips to tracks and moments, but I’m just wired a certain way, and I think all competitors are. You keep looking forward and you don’t spend much time putting a lot of emotional value into things.           You know, I’ve been doing that all year long, and I’m running out of races so I guess at some point it’ll probably hit me, but right now it’s kind of business as usual and just focusing on the job ahead of me.            Q. Jimmie, you said you were excited on that final restart, but after the speeding penalty, you restarted 30th and then you slowly marched your way up to ninth. What was your mindset going into that second stage after such a costly penalty?JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, I felt like we were going to recover and have a decent finish, and I saw we put the 21 a lap down, so I was encouraged for the points situation there. And then I slowly caught the 24 and I could see that orange bumper on his car and felt like we minimized the bleeding to them, and just hoped for cautions. I knew the only way we’d have a shot to win was a couple cautions to bunch the field up, and hopefully a few good restarts to go with that and pit stops to get me the track position. So just praying for those late‑race cautions and we got them.            Q. How encouraged by the team’s fortune turning around, and would you say you attribute that to the 48’s new paint scheme?JIMMIE JOHNSON: We’re not superstitious, but just in case, we changed the color of the car, just in case there was something in that.           I really feel like it’s been here for us, and we’ve just been kind of affecting ourselves or hurting ourselves throughout the last couple of months and losing opportunities to perform and shine.           I still think we’re missing some pace and we don’t have dominant pace, but runs like today, to run in the top 5, to run in the top 10, we should have been doing this all year long and not having to worry about points going into Daytona. I’m pretty bummed about that, but when I look back at the DQ at Charlotte, got a goose egg in points there and then I missed the Brickyard 400. If we just score some points in those races, we’re in a much different position right now than we’re in.            Q. You mentioned how experience has served you well with handling the pressures of the playoff battle, but what are some of the ways that you’ve key pressed, kept calm and avoided the distractions that would otherwise serve as a distraction for you?JIMMIE JOHNSON: I feel as you get older and more experienced in anything you do, you learn what to worry about. When you’re young you worry about everything because you don’t want to overlook something that’s important. But I feel experience really buys you that knowledge, and you know where to focus your energy and not just wear yourself out worrying about everything all the time.            Q. I know even though you’ve had a year before with Chad on another team’s pit box, now that you guys are battling weekly for playoff spot, have you guys exchanged any pleasantries or talked any trash down the stretch?JIMMIE JOHNSON: No trash talking, but we did see each other a few times on pit road. Neither of us want to be in this position. I think we both know that here we are with one race left, and it feels like everything is on the line. But we’ve had 25 races ‑‑ I’ve had 24 versus their 25, to not put ourselves in this position.           You know, I think we both reflect back on the year and the moments that got away, and we’ll just go see how a restrictor plate race can settle this thing.            Q. On Friday you said it felt odd to be in this position fighting with your teammate for the final playoff spot. Now that you’ve finished these races, now that it’s come down to just you and William Byron and Chad Knaus who you had so much success with, how do you reflect on this going into Daytona knowing that in order to get to the playoffs you may have to knock out your former crew chief who you won your seven championships with?JIMMIE JOHNSON: We’ve kind of seen it coming, right, the last couple weeks. The thing that is very encouraging is we now have the 21 car there in the mix, so we both can get through, and we’ll just have to race smart and see how stages play out and then obviously the finish at the end of the race next weekend.           You know, at the end of the day for the 24 car, I wish them the best. They’re my teammates. That car and that number, Chad Knaus, William Byron, they’re friends, they’re teammates, and now that I know there’s a path in for both of us, maybe I’ll stop thinking so many bad thoughts about those guys and maybe we can both get in.            Q. The No. 48 team has had to go through a lot this season. We had the pause back in the spring, had to go through the driver change back at Indianapolis and of course now there’s this playoff push but you guys haven’t finished worst than 12th over the past four or five races. My question is how proud are you of the resiliency of this 48 squad?JIMMIE JOHNSON: Yeah, the resiliency that you see is what I feel and know and live with day‑to‑day with these guys. They are a great group of guys. They’re giving me everything that they have and I’m doing the same, and the bond and connection and energy and vibe on our team is real.           It’s nice to have it rolling the right direction for us. We’ve had some positive momentum a few times this year, and then something would derail us for a few weeks and we’d get it back going. It’s nice to have it going right now. These guys deserve it, and we certainly hope to close out the season strong.            Q. This past weekend has been basically the story of 2020: Denny Hamlin wins one day, Kevin Harvick wins the next. I know you’ve had seasons in the past where you’ve been the one that’s been dominant, but when it’s the same two guys each and every week, is it almost demoralizing for the rest of the field?JIMMIE JOHNSON: I don’t know. I’ve been there. I’ve been that guy, and I know how hard it is to get there. I know how hard it is to stay there. And I know how awesome it feels to be there.           My emotions are just jealous it’s not me or envious that it’s not me. I want to be that team. Those were the greatest moments, to walk into a track at the Cup level and know that there’s a pretty good chance you’re going to be the guy taking the trophy out. There is nothing that feels like that.           Those guys deserve it. They’ve worked really hard to be in this position, and my advice to them would be enjoy it. You just never know how long it’s going to last. They’re both doing a great job. The 4 has been able to link together a lot of years like this, and I again know how tough that is. So, I have more respect and appreciation for what they’re doing because I’ve been through that and know the challenges that come with it.
THE MODERATOR: Thanks, Jimmie. We appreciate you taking the time, and good luck next weekend in Daytona.

Austin Dillon Tackles The Monster Mile With Strong Top-10 Run In The No. 3 Dow Coatings Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

9th   6th  18th

“We had a good day at Dover International Speedway in the Dow Coatings Chevrolet, and that shows just how hard we all work at RCR. It feels good to come out of the Monster Mile with two solid runs. We started the race too free. A pit stop for right-side tires definitely tightened me up, but it went back at the end of the run, and I was just sliding around out there to end Stage 1. Our Chevy definitely had speed today, it was just too loose to do anything with it during portions of the race. Justin Alexander and all of the guys on the team did a good job at making adjustments. Towards the middle of the race we were knocking off some of the fastest lap times of the field. We went four-wide to make a pass and I got a little damage to my right-front, which made our No. 3 Dow Coatings Chevrolet really tight. It was still fast, though. I’m proud of a top-10 finish. We probably could have gotten a few more spots on that last restart, but the No. 2 car did a good job and had a good run. It was fun out there this weekend, and I want to thank everyone at Dow and Behr for their support.”-Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and No. 8 Cat App Team Fight Hard to Keep Playoff Hopes Alive at Dover International Speedway

18th   8th   17th

“We started off with our No. 8 Cat App Chevrolet a lot better than yesterday. I was able to roll through the turns a lot smoother and just needed a bit more rear security. I thought maybe that issue would be cleared up as the track began to rubber up, but it just never tightened up quite as much as I needed it to. The adjustments that my crew chief, Randall Burnett, and the team made through Stage 1 and 2 helped fight that looseness, but I still needed even more stability to really carry speed into the corner like I needed to. At the end of Stage 2, we took a big swing on our adjustments, which did help solve the rear security issue, but took it almost to the other extreme and made it too tight to turn. The day didn’t go how we wanted it to, but I’m proud of our team. No one gave up, and we worked hard all race long. This isn’t over for us yet. We still have one more chance to make the Playoffs at Daytona International Speedway, and I’m looking forward to the challenge.” -Tyler Reddick

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDIANAPOLIS 500 INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA POST RACE RECAP AUGUST 23, 2020 Josef Newgarden leads 17 Team Chevy drivers in the 104th running of Indianapolis 500 (INDIANAPOLIS, Aug. 23, 2020) – Josef Newgarden finished in fifth place to pace Team Chevy at the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500. The two-time and defending NTT IndyCar Series champion started 13th and ran in the top-10 for most of the afternoon. Pato O’Ward started 15th and quickly moved toward the front before finishing sixth. Helio Castroneves finished 11th in his quest to become just the fourth driver to win The Greatest Spectacle in Racing four times. Rookie Rinus VeeKay, who was Chevrolet’s top qualifier, ended up 20th, one lap off the pace after a pitlane penalty took him out of the top-five running where he had been running. 
Tony Kanaan finished 19^th as the 2013 winner winds down his successful career, Seventeen drivers powered by Chevrolet’s 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V6 engine qualified for the 200-lap race on the 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway oval. 
Although the race had to be postponed from the traditional month of May and there were no fans on premise as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic, the race had the same drama, same high level of competition and same surprises one has come to expect from the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.Takuma Sato clained his second Indy 500 victory followed by Scott Dixon and Graham Rahal filled out the podium.  GM president Mark Reuss led the field to the green flag in a 2020 Corvette Stingray. It marked the 17th time a Corvette has served as the Indianapolis 500 Pace Car, starting in 1978, and the 31st time a Chevrolet has led the field, dating to 1948. No other brand or vehicle has served as the “500” pace car more than Chevrolet and the Corvette. Newgarden is second in the point standings, O’Ward sits third and 2019 Indy 500 winner Simon Pagenaud is fifth in the standings as the Series prepares for next week’s doubleheader weekend at Gateway Motorsports Park in Madison, Ill.  DRIVER QUOTES NO. 1 JOSEF NEWGARDEN, SHELL V-POWER TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 5^TH: “It’s disappointing for sure. Our Shell V-Power Nitro Chevrolet was fast. It was really, really good. We were just taking our time. My boys in thepits were on it today. They made us up spots on every single pit stop. We put ourselves in position there at the end of the race, which is all you can ask for. We actually came in with Sato on that last stop and maybe we should have went one lap longer. But in the end, we were a little behind the eight ball on the final stint. We were working to unhandcuff ourselves. I’m proud of everyone though – they fought hard. I can’t thank Shell and Team Chevy enough for all the support they give us. We just didn’t have what we needed. We were in position, but couldn’t capitalize to take advantage of it. Congrats to Takuma on the win. Just wish we were up there battling him for it.” NO. 5 PATO O’WARD, ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 6^TH: “The No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP team did everything we could to get to the front today. My crew did an amazing job in the pit stops. We were fighting up there with Dixon, Rossi and Takuma – great job to him. Towards the end we just didn’t have enough to get those in front of us. I think we juiced out the car and got everything out of it. We were right behind Josef in 5th for Chevrolet, so I think it was a good job for my first ever Indy 500. Obviously here the only thing that matters is winning. I’m excited to come back next year and try and get that win as this place is pretty special. For now, just collecting and move onto Gateway.” NO. 3 HELIO CASTRONEVES, PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11^TH: “I miss this thing so much. I know I didn’t finish in the top 10. One spot behind but let me tell you, what a great group of guys. They did a phenomenal job today. The No. 3 Pennzoil Chevrolet was not the strongest car out there, but we fought from 28^th all the way up to 11^th and we did everything we could. Obviously, we tried to take our chances with some of the yellows and it didn’t work out. It was very difficult to pass however and we hung on and a top 11 was the best we could do. Again, I miss everyone. This was awesome, but now on to the next page and on to Road Atlanta. NO. 12 WILL POWER, VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14^TH: “Obviously we made our way all the way up to eighth with really good restarts. And then I feel like I got too good of a restart, so I was almost touching Colton [Herta] in turn 4 and had to pull out to the outside. There is no draft there and about three guys blew by me and then I got pushed wide in turn one. And yeah and the bad stop didn’t help us there – my bad. But I wanted to thank Verizon and Chevrolet for everything. Chevrolet gave us a great engine. My guys worked really hard all month and I just really have to thank them for everything. We’re going to refocus for Gateway and work on that.” NO. 67 JR HILDEBRAND,          SALESFORCE DRYER REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 16^TH:“The car was a huge handful at the beginning of the race. I almost spun out on the first lap. It was a bummer because I found some passing lanes in the middle of the fuel stint. But I couldn’t get to those lanes when I wanted to. Unfortunately, the car was twitchy early in the race. And we went for a different fuel strategy and the boys got the car working better throughout the day. I felt I got the feel of the car better as the race went on today. We knew the track temps were going up and we needed to make adjustments with every pit stop. I was working the trim switches and various items to help the car roll into the corners better. We were good to go to the end on fuel and we might have picked up some additional spots if others had to pit. But with yellow to the checkered, that didn’t happen. I hope Spencer (Pigot) is okay. That was a huge hit at the end. I just missed a few of the crashes today. I was dodging a number of incidents. We made the right calls today with our strategy. But we just missed a few things that would have improved our finish. Overall, the DRR guys worked really hard this month and we gained more information when we return. At least we made up half the field going from 32^nd to 16^th today.”  NO. 59 MAX CHILTON,GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17^TH:  “It was a long race, but it always is around here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I tried my best out there and the whole team did a great job today. We really worked on making the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet better throughout the race. Every pit stop we were changing something whether it was the front or rear wings and I was working with the weight jacker and the bars pretty much every lap. We had great pit stops all race and we tried to change up the strategy a little bit and at the end of the day we were a big climber. I think we were the fourth-highest climber of the day coming from 30^th up to 17^th, which isn’t bad at all and we brought the car home in one piece, which on a 500-mile race is extremely important when you want to be in it to win it at the end. We’ve struggled for speed all month, but today was a massive improvement and I’m excited to come back and try again for an even better result next year.” NO. 4 CHARLIE KIMBALL,TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVRLET, FINISHED 18^TH: “I was able to pass guys in the early part of the race, and I had a very good restart which gave us more spots. So we were moving up. The first five or ten laps of the stints were fast, but then the tires fell off and I couldn’t pass people. Ultimately, I made a mistake on pit lane with our third stop. I don’t know if the tires were worn or the brakes locked, but I slid by our pit box. Then I had to get in reverse and we lost two laps. I got our one lap back and almost the other lap too. And the #10 car stayed out and it prevented us from getting a rave around on the next yellow flag. At the end of the race, the WIX Filters Chevy was better, but I didn’t want to ruin other guys races and I moved out of their way. We ran out of time trying to get the lap back, because the car could run with guys on the lead lap. The DRR crew did a great job in the pits as always and we just had the one mistake today when I missed the pit. I feel badly for that one. We did learn a lot this month as a ‘one-off’ team at Indy.” NO. 14 TONY KANAAN, ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 19^TH:I don’t know what to say… We had a solid car, made a lot of positions on track and also in the pits. We went from 23^rd all the way to 8^th, I believe, but at the end I had to match a fuel number to make it to the checkered without a splash and in order to do that I had to let a lot of cars go. I truly believe that we had a Top-10 car. We ran up there most of the race and it’s just disappointing that we had to settle for 19^th.” NO. 21 RINUS VEEKAY,  SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 20^TH:  NO. 66 FERNANDO ALONSO,RUOFF ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21^ST: “It was a very eventful race for us, we didn’t have one lap of kindness let’s say. We were struggling from the very beginning with the balance of the car with a lot oversteer. We kept changing that balance in the pit stops, reducing the front flap, doing tire adjustments and then we started to be happy with the car. We were up to P15 around Lap 110, which is where we wanted to be. We spent half the race going from P26 to P15 and then we had a clutch problem on the car that we didn’t know how to solve. We finished the race without the clutch, so from that point on every pit stop we had to push the car, engage the gear and go. That cost us a lap and unfortunately, we kept that lap down until the end and we could not achieve anything more. “I’m happy to finish the race, cross the line and have one 500 miles in the pocket, that’s the positive thing. The negative is that we were out of contention very quickly with the clutch problem. Anyway, I think the Arrow McLaren SP team was fantastic during the race, the strategy and pit stops meant we were always gaining positions. I’m very proud of the work we’ve done over the last couple of weeks. We tried to race but luck was not with us today, but I’m proud of the effort from everyone in the team.”
NO. 22 SIMON PAGENAUD, MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 22^ND:  “It was a real shame to start as far back as I did. I really do think that Chevy brought an incredible race engine. It had so much power. It was so good. So I think if we started further up, we would not have lost as much time in traffic. I feel like we had one of the best cars. I didn’t see [Takuma] Sato, but congratulations to him. He’s an incredible driver around this place. It’s fantastic. I think he’s the most successful Japanese driver ever so congratulations to him and the Rahal team. We were just on the outside of Ryan Hunter-Reay and he just hit us in the front wing like we weren’t there. So we had to pit for a new front wing, and it went downhill from there. At the end of the race, we were running I think is the fastest laps of the race. The car was really, really good and it would have been good for the last shootout, but it wasn’t our year. We’ll come back next year and we’ll be strong. We have a good baseline to attack for next year and we’ll come back to try and get No. 2.” NO. 81 BEN HANLEY,DRAGON SPEED USA CHEVROLET, FINISHED 23^RD:”It’s a fantastic feeling to finish the Indy 500! All the odds seemed against us two weeks ago, but a huge effort by everyone from the DragonSpeed crew to INDYCAR, Chevrolet, and Firestone made it possible. We tried a switch in strategy late in the race that didn’t quite didn’t work out, but we are really happy with 23rdand what we’ve achieved as a team at Indy this year. As we hoped, we gained a lot of knowledge today and can’t wait to come back next year to apply it!” NO. 20 ED CARPENTER, U.S. SPACE FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET. FINISHED 26^TH: NO. 24 SAGE KARAM, WIX FILTERS DRYER REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 24^TH:“I was able to pass guys in the early part of the race, and I had a very good restart which gave us more spots. So we were moving up. The first five or ten laps of the stints were fast, but then the tires fell off and I couldn’t pass people. Ultimately, I made a mistake on pit lane with our third stop. I don’t know if the tires were worn or the brakes locked, but I slid by our pit box. Then I had to get in reverse and we lost two laps. I got our one lap back and almost the other lap too. And the #10 car stayed out and it prevented us from getting a rave around on the next yellow flag. At the end of the race, the WIX Filters Chevy was better, but I didn’t want to ruin other guys races and I moved out of their way. We ran out of time trying to get the lap back, because the car could run with guys on the lead lap. The DRR crew did a great job in the pits as always and we just had the one mistake today when I missed the pit. I feel badly for that one. We did learn a lot this month as a ‘one-off’ team at Indy.” NO. 47 CONOR DALY, U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEEVROLET, FINISHED 29^TH: NO. 7 OLIVER ASKEW, ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, FINISHED 30TH:,”First of all I need to thank the AMR Safety Team, Dallara, and INDYCAR for keeping us as safe as possible in these cars going these speeds. I’m sorry for the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP team, they’ve worked so hard all week, all month, all year building up to this event. So, to have a result like this is really sad for all of us but we will move on to Gateway next weekend. I was really happy with the pace we had and the aggressive strategies we were running. We were trying to make something happen with passing being at a premium at this race. Thanks again to the team for all their hard work.” NO.41 DALTON KELLETT, K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET: FINISHED 31^ST:“It’s obviously a different 500 experience without the fans and having the national anthem and flyover without the energy of our great race fans and it was bit sad to see that. But the start felt pretty good. I thought I was going to get the jump on Tony and Will but they showed my rookie status and got the jump on me, so now I know where to go next time. The car felt really good the first stint, we were just chipping away at it, working with the tools and dealing with a bit of understeer with the tailwind in Turn 2. The car felt really good in 3 and 4, making moves in traffic and was able to pass guys. On the second stint, the wind shifted a bit so I was getting a run out of 2 into 3 but got stuck behind Hanley who was running a bit off the pace. I kept trying to draft and get by him going into 3. I went pretty late and I didn’t know if his spotter didn’t let him know I was pretty low or he didn’t think I was going for it. I kind of popped and he came down almost immediately so I didn’t have time to back out of it and he skimmed my front wing and took all the air off it. After that I was just trying to save it and couldn’t quite get it turned enough to miss the wall. Pretty disappointed that was how it ended. We were having a really good month up to that point.”                    

TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDIANAPOLIS 500 INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA AUGUST 23, 2020 RACE #7 OF 2020 NTT INDYCAR SERES:It’s here. After months of uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic, but the dogged determination of the NTT INDYCAR Series – the Greatest Spectacle in Racing – the Indianapolis 500 is here. The traditional 33 car field is set for 200 laps/500 miles today, August 23, 2020 for the at the famed 2.5-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway.  Just over half of the field for the 104^thrunning of the Indianapolis 500, will be 17 Chevrolet powered cars fielded by seven organizations: AJ Foyt Racing – Tony Kanaan, Charlie Kimball, Dalton KellettArrow McLaren SP – Fernando Alonso, Pato O’Ward, Oliver AskewCarlin – Max ChiltonDragonSpeed – Ben HanleyDryer and Reinbold – Sage Karem and JR HildebrandEd Carpenter Racong — Ed Carpenter, Rinus VeeKay, Conor DalyTeam Penske – Helio Castroneves, Josef Newgarden, Simon Pagenaud, Will Power Fans have multiple options for listening and watching all of the on-track activities on race day.  The Indianapolis race coverage begins live on NBC at 1:00 p.m. ET plus IndyCar radio network affiliates, Sirius 211, XM 205, IndyCar.com and the INDYCAR Mobile app powered by NTT DATA. BOWTIE BULLETS

• With second row starting spot running fourth quickest time Rinus VeeKay, Ed Carenter Racing Team Chevy driver posted quickest time in history for a rookie
• Cole for Conor: Race engineer Cole Pearn, who led Martin Truex Jr. and Furniture Row Racing to the 2017 NASCAR Cup Series championship, has joined Ed Carpenter Racing to lead Conor Daly’s “500” program. The jump from stock cars to Indy cars is unusual but not without success. In 2015, Brian Campe helped Team Penske’s Juan Pablo Montoya win the “500.”
• Rick Mears is still with Team Penske as driver support and advisor, as well as Helio’s spotter. If you ask Helio, he will tell you Rick as seven 500 wins because he was Helio’s spotter for all three of his wins.
• ·Robert Wickens is the driver coach for Pato and Oliver at Arrow McLaren. Wickens was seriously injured two years ago and is confined to a wheel chair. He was an incredible driver and is a great influence and resource for the young drivers
• Since returning to INDYCAR manufacturer competition in 2012, Chevrolet has amassed 84 wins and 98 poles in 141 races along with six Manufacturer Championships
• Chevrolet has recorded six NTT IndyCar Series Manufacturer Championships since returning to manufacturer competition in 2012
• Helio aims for No. 4: Helio Castroneves again will attempt to join one of the most exclusive clubs in global motorsports – four-time winners of the Indianapolis 500 – this year in a Team Penske car. Castroneves’ third win came in 2009, and his chances to join A.J. Foyt, Al Unser and Rick Mears as four-time winners are dwindling at age 45 as he edges closer toward the end of his illustrious career. Can he get win No. 4?
• TK’s Last Lap continues: 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan will continue his final season of regular NTT INDYCAR SERIES competition in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” on Aug. 23, driving for A.J. Foyt Racing. Can Kanaan punctuate his final campaign, consisting of all of the oval races on the schedule, with an emotional victory at age 45?
• Safety revolution: This will be the first year in which the new Aeroscreen will be used in the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. The Aeroscreen, mandatory on all NTT INDYCAR SERIES cars starting this season, offers a revolutionary new level of driver protection and creates a sleek, jet fighter look to the open-wheel cars. The Aeroscreen’s IMS competition debut took place July 4 during the GMR Grand Prix on the IMS road course, but this will be the first time the safety device will be used in the Indy 500. The IMS oval debut of the Aeroscreen continues the Speedway’s legacy of automotive safety and technology development that started with the first Indianapolis 500 in 1911.
• Fernando is back: Two-time Formula One World Champion Fernando Alonso is back at IMS in a bid to become just the second driver to win the “Triple Crown” of motorsports – victories in the Monaco Grand Prix, 24 Hours of Le Mans and Indianapolis 500. Alonso, from Spain, will drive for Arrow McLaren SP while attempting to make his second start in “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing.” The motorsports world was shocked last season when Alonso was bumped from the starting field during the Last Row Shootout by driver Kyle Kaiser and upstart Juncos Racing. Can Alonso bounce back this year and make history by entering Victory Lane?
• Chevrolet earned six consecutive CART Manufacturers’ Cup championships from 1988-93.
• Chevrolet has recorded 12 driver championships, including four in the past five years.
• Chevrolet has recorded 195 wins in Indy-style racing, including USAC, CART, Indy Racing League and IndyCar Series since 1965
• Chevrolet’s initial win, under USAC sanction, was by Al Unser in the Pikes Peak Auto Hill Climb on July 4, 1965
• Chevrolet has 84 wins and 98 poles in 141 in IndyCar Series races since returning to manufacturer competition in 2012.

CHEVROLET INDY 500 STATS
Chevrolet has a storied history with Indianapolis Motor Speedway as an engine manufacturer, provider of the pace car, entrant and even drivers. Chevrolet was co-founded in 1911 by Louis Chevrolet, the year of the inaugural 500-Mile Race. He competed in the ‘500’ four times, with a best finish of seventh in 1919. His brother, Arthur, competed in the 1911 and 1916 races and his other brother, Gaston, won in 1920 and finished 10th in 1919. Louis Chevrolet was also the owner of the 1921-winning car driven by Tommy Milton. The Louis Chevrolet Memorial is located just west of the entrance to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum. Inscribed on the pedestal that holds a bust of Louis Chevrolet is his motto “Never Give Up.” 

BATESVILLE, AR (August 22, 2020) – Jimmy Owens continued his spectacular 2020 season on Saturday Night in the 28th Annual COMP Cams Topless 100 – Presented by Nutrien Ag. Owens held off a furious charge from Hall-of-Famer Billy Moyer on the final lap for the $40,000 victory. Moyer charged from 18th to briefly edge in front of Owens as the two exited turn number two on the final lap, but Moyer drifted out too high and hit the outside retaining wall. Owens pulled away for his third win in the event’s history. Moyer fell from second to fourth at the finish as both Earl Pearson Jr. and Tim McCreadie slipped by him. Owens made his way to Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 10th time this season and breathed a sigh of relief that the race was over. “I knew there was someone behind me. I didn’t know if it was the 39 car behind me or what. I didn’t know where to go on the track. He [Moyer] snuck around me and was by me. He must have gotten a little push off the corner and tagged the wall. I wasn’t worried too much about the tires until Timmy pitted for a flat because I knew he would come from the back. My hat is off to my crew, we had a great run all weekend.” Pearson moved into third on lap 77 and then to second on the final lap. He picked up $20,000 for his runner-up finish. “It was looking like they were going to have a heck of a finish between Jimmy and Billy.  We started sixth and finished second in this Lucas Oil car, so it was a good race for us. Billy got me on that restart. Jimmy’s on fire right now and it feels good to come home second to him. Jimmy is winning everything right now. Mooney did a heck of a job on the racetrack, especially with as many cars that were here and the heat. He did a really good job.” McCreadie came from the rear after a tire change and took home $10,000 for third. “I got together with another car and it cut the tire down. It must have pushed the body down into the tire. I probably should have pitted the yellow before. Dale McDowell helped me out because he told me what was happening during the caution. We passed a lot of cars. We’ve had two good weekends in a row now.”

The winner’s Ramirez Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Vic Hill Racing Engine and is sponsored by Reece Monument Company, Tommy Pope Construction, Boomtest Well Service, General Tire, Red Line Oil, Ohlins Shocks, Champion Spark Plugs, and Midwest Sheet Metal. Completing the top ten were Ricky Thornton Jr., Brandon Overton, Chris Madden, Josh Richards, and Tyler Erb.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series 
Race Summary 
COMP Cams Topless 100 – Presented by Nutrien Ag
Saturday, August 22nd, 2020
Batesville Motor Speedway – Batesville, AR

Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (15 Laps, Top 3 Transfer):  1. 1T-Tyler Erb[1]; 2. 9-Devin Moran[3]; 3. C8-Timothy Culp[2]; 4. 11J-Drew Armstrong[6]; 5. 36-Logan Martin[4]; 6. 14M-Morgan Bagley[5]; 7. 12M-Wendell Wallace[7]; 8. 86R-Rick Rickman[13]; 9. 22H-Daniel Hilsabeck[12]; 10. 92M-Chad Mallett[9]; 11. 78S-Steve Stultz[11]; 12. 71-Robert Baker[10]; 13. 93-Mason Oberkramer[8]; 14. 997-Travis Ashley[15]; 15. (DNS) 14G-Joe Godsey; 16. (DNS) 57-Mike Marlar; 17. (DNS) 14R-Jeff Roth

FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (15 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 21M-Billy Moyer Sr[2]; 2. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 3. 21XXX-Neil Baggett[4]; 4. 1BJ-BJ Robinson[3]; 5. 86-Kyle Beard[6]; 6. 12-Jamie Elam[9]; 7. 56C-Colton Horner[10]; 8. 13N-Derrick Nichols[12]; 9. 13-Joey Smith[13]; 10. 5A-Austin Vincent[11]; 11. 90-Brian Rickman[7]; 12. 7D-David Payne[16]; 13. 12C-Scott Crigler[8]; 14. (DNS) 16-Tyler Bruening; 15. (DNS) 26R-Ross Farmer; 16. (DNS) 48-Mike Myers

EPPING, N.H. (August 22) – After a fast-and-furious day of qualifying, the elimination fields for the JEGS SPORTSnationals have been set at historic New England Dragway. The event marks the first time a JEGS SPORTSnationals race has been contested in the NHRA’s Northeast Division, and nearly 400 sportsman racers have packed the facility in a strong show of support.   Heading into Sunday’s final eliminations, Frank Aragona Jr. (Comp), Scott Gove (Super Stock), Eric Merryfield (Stock), Michael Lubniesski (Top Sportsman) and Mike Coughlin (Top Dragster) lead their respective fields. Racers, including those in Super Comp, Super Gas, and Super Street, also made time trial runs Saturday before completing the first round of eliminations. Aragona is the three-time and reigning NHRA Comp world champion. He drove his J/AA roadster to a 7.388-second run to claim the top spot over Ronald Proctor and Richard Schonberger. Aragona was a semifinal finisher in the Northeast Division Lucas Oil Series event held Friday at New England Dragway.  Gove was the low qualifier for the Division 1 event on Thursday and repeated the feat on Saturday by driving his SS/AM Dodge Daytona to a 7.935-second run on his 9.00-second index. Gove is the only driver in the 43-car Super Stock field to run more than a second under his index and leads Edward Schrader, Mark Nowicki and Al Smyth. A total of 84 drivers made qualifying runs in Stock Eliminator, but none were quicker than Merryfield, who took his Dodge Challenger Drag Pak to the top spot with a 10.348-second effort. Gove, the low qualifier in Super Stock, just missed the pole in Stock with his A/SA ’69 Camaro. Bob Moran and Gary Walters round out the quick four. Lucas Oil Series winner Lenny Williams will begin his quest for a second title from the No. 6 qualifying spot.  Lubniewski set a fast pace in qualifying for the Vortech Superchargers Top Sportsman category with a quick 6.246 run in his Chevy Cobalt. Lubniewski is more than two-tenths of a second quicker than No. 2 qualifier Jeff Brooks, who ran 6.492. Brooks is coming off a win during Friday’s Lucas Oil Series event. John Benoit, the winner of the JEGS SPORTSnationals event earlier this summer at National Trail Raceway, will look to sweep both events when he begins Sunday’s action from the No. 3 qualifying spot. Three-time and reigning Division 3 champ Coughlin made an impressive showing for the JEGS Mail Order team when he drove his familiar yellow and black dragster to the No. 2 qualifying spot in the Vortech Superchargers Top Dragster class. A runner-up at the recent JEGS SPORTSnationals in his native state of Ohio, Coughlin drove to a 6.109 to push current championship leader Anthony Bertozzi to the No. 2 spot. Coughlin and Bertozzi raced in the final of the Columbus event last month. Al Kenny and Scott Hall round out the quick four in Top Dragster. The final elimination rounds for the JEGS SPORTSnationals will take place beginning at 9 a.m. Sunday.

August 22, 2020

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Monster Energy Mustang wound up with a disappointing 20^th-place finish in the opening race of a Cup Series double-header at Dover International Speedway on Saturday.

But he and the team have reasons to be optimistic heading into Sunday’s second half of the twin bill, which will see the Monster Energy logos on the hood of the No. 21 Ford replaced by the colors of Richmond Water Heaters.

For starters, DiBenedetto and the team will carry a 27-point cushion over the Playoff cutline into Sunday’s 311-mile race. And due to a starting line-up set by inverting the top-20 finishers from Saturday’s race, they’ll take the green flag from the pole on Sunday.

Recent history is on their side as well. In the three double-headers run already this season, DiBenedetto and the Menards/Richmond team have significantly improved their finishing positions from the first race to the second. At Darlington, a 14^th-place finish in the opener was followed by a ninth-place run. At Pocono they went from 13^th to sixth, and at Michigan they improved from 15^th to seventh.

Dover’s 311-mile opener saw DiBenedetto start from 14^th place and move up to 11^th in the opening laps, but he soon found himself dealing with a loose handling condition.

The Menards/Monster Energy team made adjustments, but the handling issues went to the other extreme, with the car becoming too tight.
 
With no caution flags after Lap Eight other than for the Competition Caution and for the end of the two Stages, the only opportunities to make major adjustments to the No. 21 Mustang were during green-flag pit stops. And the lack of caution flag also took away chances to play pit strategies to get back to the front.
  
“With it being a short race and no yellow flags, we were kind of stuck with what we had,” Eddie Wood said. “The good thing is they can work on the car before tomorrow’s race and we’ll get another chance to try to gain some points going into Daytona, where anything can happen.”
 
After Sunday’s Drydene 311 at Dover, only the Aug. 29 race at Daytona International Speedway is left to run before the start of the 10-race Playoffs.
 
Sunday’s race at Dover is scheduled to start just after 4 p.m. Eastern Time with TV coverage on NBCSN. 

Matt McMurray, Mario Farnbacher finish second in VIRginia International Raceway thriller
Acura claims Manufacturers’ Championship lead
Misha Goikhberg, Alvaro Parente run seventh in #57 Acura NSX GT3 Evo

ALTON, Va. (August 22, 2020) – The #86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo of Matt McMurry and Mario Farnbacher shone at VIRginia International Raceway at the Michelin GT Challenge, finishing second in an exciting battle for GTD class honors.

The first of two GT-only rounds of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, VIR showcased a thriller that saw the #86 Acura claim the second step on the podium and take the leads in the Drivers’, Teams’ and Manufacturers’ championships along the way. Following today’s race, Acura takes over the 10-manufacturer GTD division lead with 121 points to 120 for Lexus and 113 for BMW. In the battle for the GTD drivers’ title, Farnbacher and McMurry leave VIR with 115 points, to 113 for Jack Hawksworth and Arron Telitz with 110.

McMurray stuck his NSX GT3 Evo on the second row of the grid in qualifying, and moved from fourth to second on the first lap of the race. The yellow flag flew at the end of lap one, marking the first of three cautions that disrupted the opening 30 laps of the two hour, 40-minute endurance contest.

Still in second with 57 minutes to go, McMurray handed the #86 Acura over to co-driver Mario Farnbacher. The German driver quickly cycled through to second place during the ensuing pitstops, before locking up the brakes while going for the lead in the first turn, and falling back to fourth after a brief off-course excursion.

Farnbacher recovered spectacularly, setting the fastest lap of the race and passing the #74 Mercedes-AMG of Lawson Aschenbach for third, and then reeling in the second place #48 Lamborghini of Bryan Sellers in the final 10 minutes of the event. Farnbacher utilized GTLM traffic as a “pick” to make a successful move on Sellers and secure second place on the final lap.

The sister #57 Acura NSX GT3 Evo from Heinricher Racing with MSR Curb-Agajanian started eighth on the grid and battled hard through a hectic race to finish seventh at the line. Misha Goikhberg tackled the first one hour and forty minutes before Alvaro Parente brought the #57 home seventh following a competitive battle with Pat Long’s #16 Porsche and #44 Lamborghini of Andy Lally in the final hour.

Though Gradient Racing struggled early in the race, they recovered to get valuable track time and prepare for the next round of the GTD Sprint Cup Championship [for shorter races on the schedule]. Starting ninth in the hands of Till Bechtolsheimer, the #22 Acura found the wall early in the race, but lost only two laps for repairs and returning to the track. Both Bechtolsheimer and co-driver Marc Miller kept pace with the field, despite their wounded car, turning useful laps and collecting data.

Next
The Meyer Shank racing team will next be in action September 4-6 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the Michelin Endurance Challenge Weekend–the event that has replaced the 6 Hours of Watkins Glen on the schedule. Contesting only the Sprint Cup, Gradient Racing will return to competition September 25-26 at the Acura Sports Car Challenge at Mid-Ohio.

Acura Team Penske
IMSA’s Prototype category was not a part of the IMSA weekend at Virginia International Raceway, which featured the GTD and GTLM classes only. The Acura Team Penske ARX-05s will return to the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship for the next race on the schedule, September 4-6 at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta for the Michelin Endurance Challenge Weekend.

Acura Motorsports social media content and video links from the IMSA Road Race Showcase at Road America will be available on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and Twitter (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).  Produced by the CoForce Digital Media, the YouTube videos can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/HondaRacingHPDTV.  

Quotes
Mario Farnbacher (#86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo) started fourth, finished second: “Matt was super strong this weekend and that was actually the base for our success today. He improved quite a lot during the weekend, which was really nice to see how he has developed. He really didn’t make any mistakes so I am really proud of him. Also super happy with the team, they made great strategy calls especially during the first yellow to keep Matt out there. Unfortunately I locked up when I was behind (Bill) Auberlen so I had to push after that. There were some really awesome fights and really close battles with both Lawson (Aschenbach) and Bryan Sellers. I’m happy to be back on the podium, but somehow, at VIR I never stand at the top. Overall it was really good points which is why we are now provisional championship leaders. Hopefully we can maintain that through the next few races.”

Matt McMurry (#86 Meyer Shank Racing Acura NSX GT3 Evo) started fourth, finished second: “It’s great to get another podium. It’s not quite the win that we wanted but we got a lot of points this weekend and should now be in the championship lead. Everyone did an awesome job, strategy and pit stops were perfect today. Mario did some crazy laps and made some crazy passes to claw his way back up to second. Next up is Road Atlanta which is one of my favorite tracks.”

Anthony Alfredo and the ADS/Footing First Team Rally for Top-15 Finish at Dover International Speedway

13th   5th  10th

“I had a lot of fun today in the second race of our double-header weekend in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Dover International Speedway. We didn’t quite finish as well as yesterday; however, I think we deserved an even better finish. Our No. 21 ADS/Footing First Chevrolet was really fast today. Our day started off kind of hectic when we didn’t have any power steering to start the race. So, instead of starting fifth, we had to drop to the rear to start the race after making an adjustment. That definitely put us in a hole early on. Thankfully, we were able to make our way up inside the top 15 fairly quickly in the first two stages. We had a really long green flag run during the last stage. We struggled on the fire off, but our Chevrolet really came to us on that long run and had great speed on older tires. My crew chief Andy Street made the call to stay out on older tires as long as we could during that long green flag run. We were really hoping to catch a late caution because that would have put us in really good position late. Unfortunately, we never got that caution, so we stopped for fuel only. I was sliding all over the place just trying to maintain what we had on those older tires. We were able to bring our No. 21 ADS/Footing First Chevrolet home in the 13th position for another top-15 finish. Overall, it was another solid day for our team. I appreciate everyone at Richard Childress Racing for all their hard work. I can’t wait to go to Daytona International Speedway for my first time next week.”-Anthony Alfre

Austin Dillon And The Dow Coatings Chevrolet Team Lead Laps and Highlight Speed In Saturday Afternoon NASCAR Cup Series Race at Dover International Speedway

15th   32nd  18th

“We had a fast Dow Coatings Chevrolet today, and it felt good to race at Dover International Speedway with plenty of speed. We just need to work on the handling a little. I feel like I covered every inch of this place, experimenting and looking for the best line around the track for our tight-handling condition. We opted to stay out for the competition caution in Stage 1, and our gamble paid off with the race lead. Clean air was everything. We had a commanding lead early in Stage 1, but I just got too tight to hold the lead for the end of the Stage. When we pitted at the end of Stage 2, we were issued a speeding penalty and had to restart at the tail end of the longest line. That mistake is on me. We ran long before pitting at the end of the race, but a caution didn’t fall the way we hoped it would and we ended up finishing 15th. I’m sure we could have finished a few positions higher if more things would have gone our way today, but that’s the beauty of having another race at Dover International Speedway tomorrow. We’re going to work on it overnight and get it dialed in for tomorrow.”-Austin Dillon

Tyler Reddick and No. 8 Cat App Team Forge a Top-15 Finish at Dover International Speedway

13th   16th   17th

“Today was a good start to our doubleheader weekend at Dover International Speedway. Our No. 8 Cat App Chevrolet was fast from the start and just needed some tweaking on handling. The track built really tight at first today, but changed over the course of the race. I struggled with being too loose in the rear of our Camaro for the second half of today, which prevented me from trying a couple different lines on the track, so that’s something we’ll need to adjust on for tomorrow’s race. But the good news is we get a second shot to finish even better tomorrow and we definitely have a solid Cat App Chevrolet to work with. This is the best start to a doubleheader weekend that we’ve had this year, so I’m looking forward to getting back after it tomorrow.”