UNION, KY (August 13, 2020) – Mike Marlar passed race leader Brandon Overton on the final lap to win Thursday Night’s Sunoco North-South Shootout at Florence Speedway. Marlar’s late race dramatics earned him his first Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series win of the season. He became the 16th different driver to win on the tour this year. Overton finished .529 seconds behind Marlar at the checkers. Zack Dohm closed on the top two in the final laps to take third with Jimmy Owens and Tim McCreadie completing the top five drivers. In a race slowed by only one caution flag, Owens was dominate for most of the race until Overton and Marlar caught him with five laps to go. Overton squeezed by to take the lead on lap 47 but a daring last lap pass propelled Marlar by Overton to pick up his first-ever late model victory at Florence. Marlar was elated in Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 14th time in his career. “I knew there was a little patch around the outside and I didn’t want to do a crossover move. I was afraid we would rub, and I really didn’t want to pass him [Overton] down there like that. With the way everybody was racing there at the end I just took advantage of what was happening. We rubbed a little bit earlier in the race. You never want that stuff to happen. It was an awesome race.” “We took off a little bit there in the spring, but have been back for about a month now. I have to thank my car owner Ronnie Delk and my crew guys, Josh and Jerry and Little Brian with Integra Shocks and Derek and Nick Jones with Rockets Convenience Fuels. We have always enjoyed coming to Florence. We have run second so many times here in a late model. We’ve had success in a modified at Florence but have never won here in a late model. When you race with the Lucas Oil Series it’s the best competition in the country. Racing is a humbling sport and whenever you win it is always nice.” Overton came up just short of his fourth LOLMDS win of the season. “I had a tire going down at the end. That was just good hard racing with Mikey, yes we rubbed a little bit, but we were both going for the win. We changed a lot on the car from last night. We haven’t run with these Lucas tire rules for a while it’s totally different than what we have been used to recently. We really picked it up tonight and we came close.” Dohm ended up rounding out the podium in Victory Lane. “I wish we had about ten more laps. We’re going to get one of these Lucas Oil races soon if we keep running like we have. This Longhorn Chassis has been spot on. We have been able to pick up some good wins recently and we would like to get that big check on Saturday for sure.” The winner’s Rocket Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Delk Equipment Sales, Rockets Convenience Plus, Brucebilt Performance, PPM Racing Products, and Can-Am Automotive. Completing the top ten were Josh Richards, Stormy Scott, Tyler Erb, Dale McDowell, and Josh Rice.
Dixon Keeps Honda On Top in Second-Day Practice for the Indianapolis 500
- Scott Dixon, Honda lead the second day of practice for next weekend’s race
- Takuma Sato, Marco Andretti complete top three sweep for Honda
- Honda drivers led by Jack Harvey also dominate “no tow” speeds
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (August 13, 2020) – Taking advantage of a healthy “tow” from several cars on track ahead of him, Scott Dixon took his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda to the top of the time sheets Thursday at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in the final hour of practice for next weekend’s Indianapolis 500. Dixon became the first driver this week to top 226 mph as speeds increased around the famed 2.5-mile Brickyard oval with his one-lap speed of 226.102 mph.
After leading the way for most of the day, Takuma Sato ended second quickest at 225.693 mph, with Marco Andretti rounding out the top three for Honda and Andretti Autosport with a lap of 225.249 mph. Alex Palou led the rookie contingent and ended the day fifth overall with a speed of 224.971 in his Dale Coyne Racing with Team Goh Honda. Colton Herta made it five Honda drivers in the top six with a best lap of 224.648 mph.
Jack Harvey ran 13th-overall with a speed of 223.828 mph in his Meyer Shank Racing Honda, but led the field in “no tow” speed, for laps without cars in front to assist straight-line speed. His lap of 222.124 mph led another Honda sweep of fastest “no tow” speeds, with Colton Herta second at 221.895 mph and his Andretti Autosport teammate Ryan Hunter-Reay third at 221.777 mph. Fastest in opening day practice on Wednesday, James Hinchcliffe posted the fifth-fastest no tow lap of 221.241 mph.
Honda Racing social media content and videos from practice and qualifying from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway 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.
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Practice activities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway continue tomorrow with “Fast Friday”, the final full day of practice prior to qualifying on Saturday and Sunday, to set the field of 33 starters for the August 23 Indianapolis 500.
Quotes
Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) Fastest in practice today: “We had a pretty decent day. We kind of got lost at the start, but we think we found the issue with that. Once we came back on track around mid-day, the PNC Honda was really fast, and a lot easier to drive. It also seems to be pretty good in traffic. Tomorrow the [turbocharger] boost gets turned up [for the final day of practice and qualifying] and it’s going to be a big jump. I expect to see some pretty big speeds tomorrow, especially in tows. Everyone will be trying to get a clean [no traffic or tow] lap [to simulate qualifying conditions], but that’s going to be tough to find.”
Takuma Sato (Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda) 2nd fastest: “I think I’m pretty happy going into ‘Fast Friday’ tomorrow. We have a strong Honda engine, so if you can have a good [chassis] balance, then you can trim [downforce] and gain a lot of lap speed. But it will be highly unlikely you can trim [the downforce] all the way down. I expect now we’ll go at least the same speed, or faster, than last year into Turn One. It’s going to be challenging.”
Chevy racing–indycar–indy 500–practice day 2
CHEVROLET RACING NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDIANAPOLIS 500 INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEEDWAY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA TEAM CHEVY PRACTICE DAY TWO RECAP WITH DRIVER QUOTES AUGUST 13, 2020INDIANAPOLISINDIANAPOLIS – Day two of practice for the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 has been competed as the 17 Chevy powered cars worked on their race asetups. With Fast Friday next on the schedule, the focus will turn to qualifying as the boost is upped to the level utilized on Saturday and Sunday qualifying to set the starting line-up. Unfortunately, there was one on-track single car incident. Fernando Alonso made contact with the wall with less that two hours left in practice. The team will have a car prepped and ready to go on Friday for the two-time Formula One champion. Until the incident, Alonso was the fastest Chevy for the second consecutive day.
Practice continues from 11 a.m.-5:30 p.m. Friday for all drivers, with live coverage on INDYCAR Pass on NBC Sports Gold. Cars will receive increased turbocharger boost – generating extra horsepower and higher speeds – on “Fast Friday” practice in preparation for Crown Armed Forces Qualifying Weekend on Saturday and Sunday, which will set the field for the race Sunday, Aug. 23. DRIVER QUOTES:NO. 1 JOSEF NEWGARDEN, SHELL V-POWER TEAM PENSKE” CHEVROLET:“”It was another good day. No drama, which is good. This place is all about keeping up with the schedule. It is very easy to get lost running so many miles, so many sets of tires. The Shell car is pretty fast. Team Chevy has done a great job for us o far. I am excited to turn up the boost tomorrow. To see how fast we can go. That’s where we have to shift our focus. These first two days were about the race. Tomorrow is about qualifying. We will see how we are there.” NO. 3 HELLIO CASTRONEVES, PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:“It was another great day of developing the No. 3 Pennzoil Chevy. We worked again on the race setup and running a bit more in traffic. We feel great. We feel really strong. We know tomorrow there’s going to be a lot more horsepower and so we will turn our focus to that so when we get to Saturday we are ready.” NO. 4 CHARLIE KIMBALL, TRESIBA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET:“Solid day of work here at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I think we still have some things to work on on the race car as well as getting ready for qualifying. Tomorrow we get more horsepower, more boost and get ready for Fast Friday and qualifying, but the first two days have gone really well. Really pleased with the Tresiba Chevy crew for AJ Foyt Racing. These guys have done a great job preparing the car and continuing to keep it up to spec, so I feel really positive going into the weekend as well as next weekend.” NO. 5 PATO O’WARD, ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:“I think today we made some really good strides. We’ve been really working on the race car, and we have made some very good, positive improvements. I think it was a good day knowledge-wise for me and setup-development for race day. Tomorrow is Fast Friday, so time to turn up the engines and see how fast Arrow McLaren SP and Team Chevy can go.” NO. 7 OLIVER ASKEW, ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:“We are still building up to it. We ended up top 10 on the timing board, but that doesn’t really mean anything to us. Those are just tow laps that people get. The most important thing is that the car feels good in traffic. I think we have a good baseline now. I’m looking forward to qualifying trim tomorrow, the extra boost. We are completely in qualifying mode now. We can look back on the experience today when we put the race setup back on Sunday afternoon. Ultimately on Friday, I think it is a really important day to put finishing touches on the car. I’m very confident that Arrow McLaren SP and everyone on the engineering staff is going to look at all the data and make sure we have the best possible package on race day.” NO. 12 WILL POWER , VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:“We went through a few different philosphies and changes. I think we’re in a good spot. I look forward to getting out there tomorrow and seeing how we are speed-wise for qualifying to see where we stack up. We’re going to run qualifying runs tomorrow for the Verizon 5G Edge Chevy and will just keep working at it to find more speed.” NO. 14 TONY KANAAN, ABC SUPPLY AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET: “It was a good day. I mean we were trying to find the perfect balance for the perfect race car which – finding perfection – it’s tough sometimes, so we made big changes. Changes that take an hour, an hour and a half to go back and forth and if they go right, it’s good but if they go wrong, you don’t have time to go back and it’s one of those days. But I was pretty pleased with our basic setup. We’re just trying to reach the next level so that’s in the books now. We’re going concentrate for qualifying tomorrow and Saturday then we’ll go back and revisit on Sunday. SO now it’s turning on to qualifying mode and see what’s going to happen tomorrow.”
NO. 20 ED CARPENTER, U.S. SPACE FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET:“All in all, it was a much better day than yesterday! It was one of those day where you almost need to ignore the speed charts when everyone is getting a big tow to put up a number. We made a lot of progress on race running with how I feel in traffic and doing long runs. That was productive. Still not totally sure what speed we have in the U.S. Space Force Chevrolet, but we’ll sort that out tomorrow! There’s room for improvement, but overall I’m pleased with the progress from yesterday to today. We’re heading in the right direction!” NO. 21 RINUS VEEKAY, SONAX ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET: “We had a really good second day of practice! We got in a lot of real traffic running before Fast Friday. I’m looking forward to that! Extra power! The SONAX Chevy felt really good. Yesterday, I was fast on my own but struggled a little bit in traffic. Today, we ended the day on a high. It felt amazing. I could really pass people and move my way through the pack. The ECR team made incredible progress. We’re strong, we’ll see how tomorrow goes!” NO. 22 SIMON PAGENAUD, MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET:“It was a great day. We went through a roller coaster of emotions when we couldn’t get the balance the way we wanted. We reset ourselves to where we were happy and then made a slight adjustment with it and I am extremely happy now. We had a great run in traffic – a good run and it feels like it should feel. So I am very excited for race day. I know other people will catch up, but we are ahead of the program right now. That is a big positive. I am super happy to represent the team well with the equipment I have. That is where I wanted to be today.” NO. 24 SAGE KARAM, WIX FILTERS DRYER REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET:“We tried some changes overnight and some things worked but others didn’t. We had a good car Wednesday when we finished up. And we went back to those settings in the middle of the day. And then made more changes in the right direction. The WIX Filters Chevy felt good at the end today. We didn’t get to do everything we wanted to today, but the car felt strong on that last run. We weren’t concerned about lap times today. We didn’t get in big drafts, just got comfortable in the race car. On Friday, we’ll crank in more boost and power for qualifying. It will be interesting on Friday with the extra horsepower. Fast Friday is a day that a lot of the drivers aren’t too sure about with their cars. Since we started today with certain settings, we didn’t get to complete all of the changes we wanted. We’ll probably work on those changes on Friday morning and then move onto qualifying setups. Overall, I’m happy with the direction of the race car.” NO.41 DALTON KELLETT, K-LINE USA AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET: “We had a great day working on our race setup. We’ve just been chipping away slowly at how we want the balance and downforce level to be for race running. At the end we did a couple long runs and keeping with the pack. The car feels pretty racy, feels pretty quick. I think across the three teams everyone’s pretty happy so all in all I’m pleased with how the day went. We didn’t do any qualifying runs, we’re saving that for tomorrow so we’ll have to see how it goes when we crank up the boost and trim things out tomorrow. It’s going to be exciting. Looking forward to my first Fast Friday!” NO. 47 CONOR DALY,U.S. AIR FORCE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEEVROLET:“Today was another step forward for us. Cole (Pearn, engineer) and I are figuring out what I need and what he wants to do. We’re definitely close to where we want to be, but that becomes a difficult area to work in. Cole doesn’t have the experience yet and I really don’t have the experience to know exactly what we need. We’re trying to mess around with some things and figure out what we can do next to make it even better. I like where the U.S. Air Force Chevy is at. It’s fast. We don’t want to out-engineer ourselves, we’re going to keep our heads on straight and keep on trucking.” NO. 59 MAX CHILTON,GALLAGHER CARLIN CHEVROLET:”We started out our second day of testing for the Indianapolis 500 fairly strong. We were one of the first cars out on track when practice opened this morning and we had some really solid no-tow times, but we had an engine issue after about an hour of running that greatly reduced our time on track. We went back to the garage and had to change the engine, but the guys did a great job getting the No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet back out this afternoon before the session ended. Even with the issues today, the car felt really good when we went back out at the end of the day and I’m actually feeling pretty good about where we are heading into Fast Friday.” NO. 66 FERNANDO ALONSO, RUOFF ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:ALONSO WAS INVOLVED IN A SINGLE CAR INCIDENT LATE IN PRACTICE: “We just lost the grip of the car and at this place, the walls are very close. Just the way it is, unfortunately it happened again today. Hopefully it just happens today and not on Sunday, August 23. You learn every lap you do around this track and we will learn from this one. Hopefully tomorrow we can start again. It has been going okay, more or less, so far this week so hopefully we can keep it up the good work and have no more issues. I didn’t check but it shouldn’t be too bad. I will rely on the Arrow McLaren SP team and we will be fine.” NO. 67 JR HILDEBRAND, SALESFORCE DRYER REINBOLD RACING CHEVROLET:“There was a lot of stuff for us to get through in just one day. We might check back in on a couple of things in the morning before moving towards our qualifying setups. Additional added turbo boost will throw some wrinkles in the items for Friday. I think if the conditions are good, cooler, I think the speeds will be really high. The weather looks a little dodgy for Friday. All in all, I feel really good about the way the guys have the car going. It’s not easy with our little two-car draft compared to Andretti with six or seven cars together. But we knew we needed to be smart today with the proper things we worked on. We know we have a little bit more to work on and there were not many cars that could drive around people today. That might be the expectation for the race too. The strategies might be go fast early on a stint and then hold on or take a consistent run through a whole stint. I’m not sure how you handle it right now. With the August heat conditions, the new aeroscreen and the new Firestone compounds, there are a lot of variables right now. But we’ll learn more throughout the weekend. I feel pretty good right now with the race settings.” NO. 81 BEN HANLEY,DRAGON SPEED USA CHEVROLET
CHEVROLET RACING VIDEO: Daytona Road Course PrepFeaturing Alex Bowman and Jordan Taylor at Chevrolet Racing Simulator
| · Alex Bowman Q&A Session· Jordan Taylor Q&A Session(Transcripts available below)· Chevrolet Simulator B-roll (individual shots)· Chevrolet Simulator B-Roll(Bowman, Taylor Together) |
chevy racing–nascar–daytona–kurt busch
NASCAR CUP SERIES GO BOWLING 235 AT THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT August 13, 2020
KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference and discussed the challenges of the 2020 season in general, the focus of the team, how no practice has been an added factor, his thoughts on the upcoming Daytona Road Course race, and more. Full Transcript:
WE ARE COMING INTO THIS WEEKEND AT THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE, MAKING HISTORY. HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO BREAK IN THIS ROAD COURSE IN A NASCAR CUP SERIES CAR?“With unprecedented times here in 2020, I think the call from NASCAR to make this unprecedented move is brilliant. With Watkins Glen not able to host a race in upstate New York, and to have the road course available for us down in Daytona; with no practice and no qualifying and just jumping straight into the race, why not? We’ve done everything in 2020 so far to overcome all these hurdles. I think the fun-factor this weekend has got everybody’s anxiety-level up; but also the challenge that’s right in front of us because it’s basically a wild card-style race, where you could see a driver and a team that don’t normally make the Playoffs, punch their ticket.”
HOW DO YOU LOOK AT YOUR CHANCES THERE? YOU ARE A SEASONED VETERAN. A WHEEL MAN. YOU HAVE SIX TOP-10 FINISHES IN THE LAST EIGHT ROAD COURSE RACES.“I look at this the same way as all through this year. The challenges are so different and the factors of all of these things that we’re looking at for the first time, reminds me of when I was making my first start at Sonoma in a Southwest Tour car, part of NASCAR’s ladder system back in the day. And I was so intimidated by it. I didn’t know what to expect. And my team owner said hey, just try to stay on the asphalt and you’ll be okay. You know, that’s a lot of what we’ve been trying to juggle in 2020. Just keep it simple and you’ll be in position for better things to happen. So, it’s going to be a good challenge. There are probably only going to be two pit stops. And there’s not going to be much that you’re going to change on the car. So, you’ve just got to keep all four tires on the asphalt. Don’t flat-spot them. And don’t wear out the rear tires too quickly with all the horsepower.”
EVERYBODY KNOWS HOW MUCH YOU LOVE TO RACE AND HOW MUCH YOU ARE FOCUSED ON WINNING, BUT IT SEEMS LIKE THIS YEAR YOU’VE GOTTEN SOME PATIENCE. YOU SEEM SO UPBEAT EVEN IF YOU HAVEN’T HAD A RECENT WIN. WHERE DOES ALL THAT COME FROM? IT CERTAINLY PLAYS OUT WELL FOR THE REST OF THE SEASON TO HAVE THAT KIND OF ATTITUDE.“There are quite a few factors. Most importantly, my wife Ashley. She’s a very patient person and somebody that has a nice sense of calm around her. And when the season started off and then we had this delay, we’ve really had to hunker down and protect ourselves and be in this bubble together. And that’s the challenge that 2020 has brought us. And then once racing resumed, with all the craziness and not know what to expect, no practice. We need to build up our points base. If we can build up our points base and get some solid top 10’s under our belt, that’s going to give us a cushion when we get in these summer months, when and if we are back to practice or qualifying or crazier things can even pop up. So it’s just been about consistency this year. Even just being that leader at Ganassi right now with Kyle Larson’s incident earlier this year and trying to get Matt Kenseth up to speed, and just trying to be that stable ground. And it’s been a challenge for me to do that; I enjoy it.”
I WAS INTERESTED TO HEAR YOU SAY TWO PIT STOPS. DO YOU FEEL LIKE PEOPLE WILL RACE THIS ON FUEL MILEAGE? OTHERS SEEM TO THINK TIRES ARE GOING TO BE SO IMPORTANT. YOU’D HAVE TO PIT AT THOSE STAGE BREAKS AND THEN POTENTIALLY ONCE DURING THE FINAL STAGE.“Yeah, that’s our first instinct; in talking with (crew chief) Matt Mccall, is to spend the least amount of time on pit road. That’s how road course races are won. But, with stage points being available and possibly a stage win, we’ll see how that plays out. I’m on a conference call later this afternoon to really go through what we’ve learned on the simulator and what they’ve learned from their modeling on lap time drop-off and then that leads to fuel mileage. So, we don’t quite have all the answers just yet, but again you’ve just got to be ready for anything. Who knows?”
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR SEASON AS A WHOLE? YOU ARE KIND OF SOLID, POINTS-WISE, IN THE PLAYOFFS, BUT HAVEN’T NECESSARILY BEEN CHALLENGING UP-FRONT. ARE YOU PLEASED? WHERE DO YOU THINK THE TEAM NEEDS TO MAKE CHANGE TO CHALLENGE FOR MORE TOP 5’S?“I feel like we’ve had a season that I never would have expected, of course with the situation we’re all in. But with the top 10’s that we’ve accumulated with the No. 1 car, I think we’re tied for third most. But we’re missing those top 5’s, and missing those laps led. It’s so hard to break through right now against (Kevin) Harvick, (Denny) Hamlin, (Brad) Keselowski; (Ryan) Blaney should have more wins right now.
“And we had a good opportunity at Texas. We came down pit road. We knew we needed two tires or fuel only and we got beat off pit road by RCR. Both the No. 3 (Austin Dillon) and the No. 8 (Tyler Reddick) behind us and they came out ahead of us. And that put us in that sucker hole of position three on those restarts towards the end and we just didn’t quite have the muscle to get by those guys. So, we were close. We’ve been in position a couple of times, but we haven’t been in position enough. So, we’ve just got to keep chipping away at what we believe is our weak areas. Some of that’s pit road and some of that’s the short run speed.”
CONSISTENTLY, YOU CAN TAKE A 15TH PLACE CAR AND GET A TOP 10 FINISH OUT OF IT. WE’VE SEEN THAT THIS YEAR. YOU’RE ALSO OLD-SCHOOL ENOUGH TO HAVE WORKED ON CARS AND UNDERSTAND CARS. DOES THAT ABILITY THAT YOU HAVE, AND YOUR BROTHER HAS, HELPED YOU AT TIMES WHEN THERE IS NO PRACTICE. KYLE (BUSCH) HAS REALLY RELIED ON PRACTICE IN THE PAST. HAS YOUR SKILL LEVEL HELPED YOU EXECUTE TO A HIGHER LEVEL THIS YEAR?“Well, it’s actually something that Kyle, my little brother, and I are confused about. We’ve been flying together a lot and talking together a lot because we are in our own bubble as a family, and we’re still very puzzled. I mean Kyle Busch is the defending champion of NASCAR and doesn’t have a win yet. I don’t have a win yet. And the only thing that we’ve been able to look at each other and just stare right into each other’s eyes and go, you know what? We miss practice. We miss that feel in the car to know that this is not the right way to go; this is the right way to go. And we haven’t been able to capitalize on that with no practice. So, it’s been tough. It’s a challenge. But yeah, I know what it takes to set the pre-load and the sway bar and as far as different movement in the rear end with yaw, it’s again, just got to find the right combination while the race track is rubbering in. Some of these race tracks, we’re the first series to hit the track, and then sometimes we’re the last group to hit the race track and it’s all rubbered in and different. So, lots of variables and that’s where you’ve got to find that perfect combination.”
TRADITIONALLY, YOU’VE BEEN SIGNING ONE-YEAR DEALS WITH GANASSI. AS CRAZY AS THE PANDEMIC HAS MADE LIFE IN GENERAL, HAVE YOU HAD ANY DISCUSSIONS YET WITH CHIP AS TO WHAT YOUR FUTURE MIGHT LOOK LIKE? “No, no discussions at all. I’m very happy with where things sit and the trajectory of where things will be in 2021, and we’ll go from there.”
EVEN WITH THE PANDEMIC IN MIND, WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES IT MAKE TO RUN DAYTONA WITH NO PRACTICE OR QUALIFYING WHEN DRIVERS HAVE NOT RUN THIS COURSE?“Yeah, it’s going to be pretty wild. Just driving a little bit on iRacing and the simulator with Chevrolet, having a mindset of driving the car at 80 percent pace has seemed to have provided the most stability in laps times and in as far as tire wear and just finding a rhythm. That’s the key thing. You have to find a rhythm and we’re all going to be doing it as they drop the green flag and as there are 39 other cars around us and who knows? Thunderstorms are in the forecast and we may as well throw rain tires on our cars in 2020 just to say we checked that off the box.”
Rachel Meyer Collects Second Win of 2020
Aug 13, 2020 | Featured, Julie Nataas, Race Results, Rachel Meyer
Rachel Meyer and Julie Nataas competed at the 2020 NHRA Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series North Central Regional event in Indianapolis this past weekend and had a record-breaking weekend, including taking home the event win and runner-up.
The Randy Meyer Racing Team entered the Indy Summer Spectacle event with Rachel Meyer behind the wheel of the NGK Spark Plugs dragster, only the second time in 4 years that Rachel has driven the Top Alcohol Dragster normally driven by Megan Meyer. Rachel ran a quick 5.22 ET at 280 mph for the opening session of qualifying, the first time for Rachel to reach the 280 speed. Her teammate, Julie who was driving for VP Racing Fuels, had severe tire shake in the first session and had to click it off early. Julie went on to run a 5.34 ET during the second session to make the 8-car field.
Rachel solidified her lead in qualifying with a 5.17 ET at 285.5 mph during the second session, setting a new personal record for both time and speed, and she is now the fastest female and second fastest driver in the entire NHRA Top Alcohol Dragster class.
“It was awesome. It was a rush, I loved how excited it made me feel after every pass driving this car and I was even more excited after that pass. Going down the track I knew it was on a great pass.,” Rachel said.
Both girls did not improve in the third session, and headed into first round from the first and sixth positions. Rachel got the win over David Jordan running a 5.26 ET at 279 mph, the quickest and fastest pass of first round, and Julie also got the win over Shawn Cowie running a 5.38 ET before winning against Duane Shields in the semi-finals with an improved 5.29 ET.
Owens Gets Fourth Career Ralph Latham Memorial Win at Florence
UNION, KY (August 12, 2020) – Jimmy Owens continued his solid 2020 racing season by picking up the victory in the 34th Annual Ralph Latham Memorial race on Wednesday at the Florence Speedway. It was Owens’ fourth win in one of the track’s most prestigious races. The current Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Championship Point Leader extended his lead to 400 points over second place with the win. Clanton wound up in second followed by Ricky Weiss who finished third. The Optima Batteries Hard Charger of the Race, Tim McCreadie, came from 19th to finish fourth. Hudson O’Neal debuted with the brand-new PCC Race Team, came home in fifth. Owens was dominant in the first 36 laps of the race that went caution free until back-to-back cautions flew for debris on the track and then a multi-car accident involving several drivers. Clanton, in his first season with the LOLMDS now has three runner-up finishes in 2020. Owens’ margin of victory over Clanton was 0.643 seconds. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 8th time this season and 72nd time in his career, Owens extended his point lead over Jonathan Davenport, who finished 14th in the final rundown. “We knew we had a really good car at the start of the night. To kick off the weekend like this is a big morale booster for the team. It’s just an awesome deal. We have had good steady consistent runs this year. We’ve got some good momentum for the rest of the week now.” Clanton finished second to Owens in the Clash at the Mag in June, took the runner-up spot again to the 3-time series champion. “I was just saving some tires and was hoping for a caution early on. We got a good restart there and got by him [Owens], but I just couldn’t get all the way back to the top in time to stay there. It’s tough to come to a place where you’ve struggled so much. We have changed a lot of things in the two weeks and it seems to have helped.” Weiss charged through the field to finish in third. “I just put the guys behind in qualifying. We were able to salvage a good night out of it. Coming from the back we just had too much ground to make up. That caution sure helped, but we learned a lot for the rest of the weekend.” The winner’s Ramirez Motorsports Rocket Chassis is powered by a Vic Hill Racing Engine and 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 Tyler Erb, Mike Marlar, Scott Bloomquist, Kyle Bronson, and Brandon Overton.
Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series
Race Summary
Ralph Latham Memorial
Wednesday, August 12th, 2020
Florence Speedway – Union, KY
Lucas Oil Time Trials
Fast Time Group A: Devin Moran / 15.454 seconds (overall)
Fast Time Group B: Jimmy Owens / 15.591 seconds
Penske Race Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 9-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 25-Shane Clanton[3]; 3. 11R-Josh Rice[2]; 4. 2S-Stormy Scott[4]; 5. 40B-Kyle Bronson[6]; 6. 33J-Jesse Lay[7]; 7. 1B-Ross Bailes[5]; 8. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[8]; 9. 626-Brian Mullins[9]
FK Rod Ends Heat Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 22F-Chris Ferguson[1]; 2. 49G-Billy Green[6]; 3. 76-Brandon Overton[2]; 4. 39-Tim McCreadie[4]; 5. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[5]; 6. 12J-Jason Jameson[3]; 7. 56C-Colton Horner[8]; 8. (DNS) 18D-Daulton Wilson; 9. (DNS) 83F-Jensen Ford
Simpson Race Products Heat Race #3 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 0-Scott Bloomquist[2]; 3. 7W-Ricky Weiss[6]; 4. 94M-Jason Miller[4]; 5. 28X-Tyler Carpenter[7]; 6. 51M-Joey Moriarty[3]; 7. 1V-Vic Hill[5]; 8. 17T-Tim Vance[8]; 9. (DNS) 11J-Drew Armstrong
Ohlins Shocks Heat Race #4 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20-Jimmy Owens[1]; 2. 17D-Zack Dohm[4]; 3. 1T-Tyler Erb[2]; 4. 49-Jonathan Davenport[5]; 5. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[7]; 6. 22L-Skyller Lewis[8]; 7. 28-Mike Simpson[9]; 8. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[3]; 9. (DNS) 81E-Tanner English
MyRacePass Heat Race #5 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 14-Josh Richards[2]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 3. 17M-Dale McDowell[4]; 4. 18L-Trevor Landrum[5]; 5. 83-Scott James[3]; 6. 79-Kyle Hardy[6]; 7. 21H-Robby Hensley[7]; 8. 20B-Todd Brennan[8]; 9. 8A-Curt Addison[9]
Sunoco Race Fuels Heat Race #6 Finish (10 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 50-Shanon Buckingham[3]; 2. 8-Kyle Strickler[2]; 3. 1-Earl Pearson Jr[1]; 4. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 5. 1M-Connor Meade[7]; 6. 16-Tyler Bruening[5]; 7. 21P-Kirk Phillips[8]; 8. 32S-Chad Stapleton[6]
Tiger Rear Ends B-Main #1 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 39-Tim McCreadie[2]; 2. 40B-Kyle Bronson[4]; 3. 2S-Stormy Scott[1]; 4. 21-Billy Moyer Jr[5]; 5. 33J-Jesse Lay[7]; 6. 56C-Colton Horner[11]; 7. 1V-Vic Hill[12]; 8. 28X-Tyler Carpenter[6]; 9. 12J-Jason Jameson[8]; 10. 1B-Ross Bailes[10]; 11. 17T-Tim Vance[15]; 12. 626-Brian Mullins[16]; 13. 20C-Duane Chamberlain[13]; 14. 94M-Jason Miller[3]; 15. 51M-Joey Moriarty[9]; 16. (DNS) 11J-Drew Armstrong; 17. (DNS) 83F-Jensen Ford; 18. (DNS) 18D-Daulton Wilson
FAST Shafts B-Main #2 Finish (12 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 3. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[4]; 4. 83-Scott James[5]; 5. 16-Tyler Bruening[9]; 6. 79-Kyle Hardy[8]; 7. 1M-Connor Meade[6]; 8. 21H-Robby Hensley[11]; 9. 21P-Kirk Phillips[12]; 10. 28-Mike Simpson[10]; 11. 20B-Todd Brennan[14]; 12. 32S-Chad Stapleton[15]; 13. 8A-Curt Addison[17]; 14. (DNS) 81E-Tanner English; 15. (DNS) 18L-Trevor Landrum; 16. (DNS) 22L-Skyller Lewis; 17. (DNS) 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr
Hinchcliffe, Honda Head Opening Day Indianapolis 500 Practice
- James Hinchcliffe leads Honda top-four sweep in first day of practice
- Marco Andretti, Scott Dixon and Ryan Hunter-Reay complete top four for Honda
- First of three practice days prior to Indianapolis 500 qualifying this weekend
INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (August 12, 2020) – James Hinchcliffe led the way in “Opening Day” practice at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, heading a Honda sweep of the top four speeds in the first day of track action in preparation for the 104th running of the Indianapolis 500. Hinchcliffe’s Andretti Autosport teammates Marco Andretti and Ryan Hunter-Reay ended the day second and fourth, respectively, while Scott Dixon slotted into third in his Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
Running a partial-season program in 2020, Hinchcliffe posted an average speed of 224.526 mph around the 2.5-mile Indianapolis oval in the second of two “full field” practice sessions to top the time charts for the day. Dixon led the morning session with a speed of 224.047, which ended up as third-fastest on the day. Hunter-Reay, third overall at 223.341 mph, also led the “no tow” rankings with a traffic-free lap of 220.725 mph.
Jack Harvey ran seventh-overall with a speed of 223.178 mph in his Meyer Shank Racing Honda. The only Honda-powered rookie in the field, Alex Palou, completed all four phases of the required “Rookie Orientation” by mid-day, and went on to record the 8th-fastest overall speed of 223.128 mph in the full-field afternoon session as Honda drivers claimed six of the top eight positions on the speed chart for the day.
Practice activities at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway continue through Friday, with qualifying action to set the field of 33 on the historic 2.5-mile oval scheduled for Saturday and Sunday.
Honda Racing social media content and videos from practice and qualifying from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway – and 104th running of the Indianapolis 500 on August 23 – 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
James Hinchcliffe (Andretti Autosport Honda) Fastest in opening-day practice: “It’s always nice ‘rolling off the truck’ here with a car that has good pace. Huge credit to everybody at Honda and Andretti Autosport; we’ve got a bunch of quick cars. It’s got good single-car pace, it has good pace in traffic. You can’t ask for much more for a first day. We have a lot of work to do still. There are lot of things we want to change and get through. Each car [in the six-car Andretti team] has got their list of things [to try]. But today was a nice, clean start for us.”
Scott Dixon (Chip Ganassi Racing Honda) 3rd fastest: “We had a decent start in the No. 9 PNC Bank Honda. We were trying to get through some [setup choices] that we have on the list [to test]. It’s a pretty extensive list, especially with the condensed schedule. It’s a totally new car for me this year with [engineer] Mike Cannon and with a few off-season projects. I definitely think the team and Honda are going in the right direction. First practice, we’re just trying to get the car comfortable in traffic. So far, that seems to be pretty good. The aeroscreen, when we first tested it, seemed to affect the car a little different aerodynamically. I’d say today it actually felt more normal. No real difference [from the previous full open cockpit], and the vision is good.”
DiBenedetto, Menards/Dutch Boy Team Ready To Hit The Road (Course) At Daytona
August 12, 2020
Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Menards/Dutch Boy team, like all their peers in NASCAR’s Cup Series, will be in uncharted territory this weekend as the series races for the first time on the 14-turn, 3.6-mile road course at Daytona International Speedway.
Like most other races in COVID-19 pandemic times, there will be no practice or qualifying prior to the start of Sunday’s 65-lap Go Bowling 235.
DiBenedetto, who will start the race from ninth place, has had some strong runs on road courses throughout his career. He said he is looking to capitalize on his road-course skills, while being mindful of his position in the Playoff standings. With four regular-season races left to run before the start of the championship-deciding Playoffs, DiBenedetto has a 57-point cushion over the cutoff line.
“I’ve always had the approach of trying to race smart, especially this weekend,” he said. “You don’t want to make any stupid mistakes, so racing smart will be very key, especially on a new race track a lot of us are unfamiliar with.”
He said that in many ways his approach to the Daytona road course race is no different than for other tracks.
“I’ve been called patiently aggressive,” he said. “I think that’s maybe a cool and good description that I like and try to live by,” he said. “I guess that’s sort of my style – be smart and be aggressive when you can when it counts and drive hard.”
DiBenedetto said he, crew chief Greg Erwin the rest of the Menards/Dutch Boy crew have learned a lot about each other despite the external challenges they’ve faced this year. He says that’s starting to pay off.
“The first part of the year we as a team were really kind of getting acclimated with each other,” he said. “All the COVID stuff that made it a little tougher because of no practice and no qualifying and all that.
“But we’ve gotten into a good rhythm. We’re working together great, so the strength of our team is definitely there.”
The Go Bowling 235 is set to get the green flag just after 3 p.m. on Sunday with TV coverage on NBC.
chevy racing–nascar–daytona–bubba wallace
NASCAR CUP SERIES GO BOWLING 235 AT THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT August 12, 2020
BUBBA WALLACE, NO. 43 CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference regarding today’s announcement of a multiyear sponsorship with Columbia Sportswear, which enlists Wallace as a brand ambassador and includes a primary sponsorship of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet. Other topics discussed were the important things in his future, getting prepared for the Daytona Road Course race, how the team has progressed from a year ago, and more. Partial Transcript:
DOES THE SPONSORSHIP WITH COLUMBIA SPORTSWEAR MEAN THAT YOU’RE STAYING AT RPM? WHAT IS THE BREAKOUT BETWEEN IT BEING A PERSONAL SERVICES DEAL AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR RICHARD PETTY AND FOR COMPETITION?“We’re in the middle of Silly Season still and for both parties, my team and RPM are still trying to figure out ways to finalize deals and get everything together. This definitely solves a big piece of the puzzle and working together. So, nothing’s set in stone yet. It’s still all being worked out and ironed out. Hopefully we’ll have that announcement coming soon.”
WHAT IS THE BREAKOUT REGARDING PERSONAL SERVICES?“It’s a two-part way. It’s definitely a personal services of mine, and also bringing funding to the race cars to allow us to keep being competitive and keep racking those top 10’s and putting together those good runs. We have four races left to the Playoffs, a big hill to climb, but this is definitely going to knock us up a notch to go out there and compete and give it our all.”
WHEN YOU LOOK AT TRYING TO DECIDE YOUR FUTURE, WHAT’S IMPORTANT TO YOU? IS IT MONEY? IS IT STABILITY? IS IT LOYALTY? WHAT ARE YOU CONSIDERING?“All those things considered the first thing is to deal with RPM. I can’t believe it has already been three years. And the first thing I said is it feels like family. And, to this day, I feel like family; and that’s been very important to me. It’s easy to kind of get caught-up in just being a driver and showing up at the race track and getting the job done and going home and it’s kind of a wash and repeat. And here, its family. It’s being in contact with everybody and part of the team. It’s obviously being close with Richard. You have that family aspect. That goes along with that I’m a family guy. I love my family here, so to have that feel is definitely important. And, obviously you want to be competitive. I came into this sport wanting to win races and be a household name on the track, so we have a lot of work to do as a team and together, to get there. So again, we’re figuring out all our options and figure out the best solution for both of us to go out and be competitive on the race track.”
YOU TOLD NBC SPORTS THAT YOU HAVE A CONTRACT OFFER FROM CHIP GANASSI RACING. WHAT IS THE DECIDING FACTOR BETWEEN GOING WITH THEM AND GOING WITH RPM OR LOOKING AT OTHER ORGANIZATIONS? AND, WHAT IS YOUR DEADLINE?“Yeah, my deadline is usually I think the Thursday or Friday before climbing in the car at Daytona. So, we’re well ahead of that deadline right now. And so, it’s good to be having these conversations and all options that are on the table, again, we’re still in the heart of it and in the thick of it. But, we’re working out everything as we go.”
WITH ROAD COURSES, YOU GUYS LIKE A LOT OF CREATURE COMFORTS IN THERE THAT ARE DIFFERENT THAN THE OVALS. CAN YOU EXPLAIN HOW YOU’RE GOING TO GET TO THAT WITHOUT HAVING ANY LAPS ON TRACK, AND REALLY FEEL LIKE YOU’RE READY TO RACE WHEN THE GREEN GOES?“I don’t know if any of us are going to feel like we’re ready to race. So, it’s going to be exciting for sure. I’m glad I’m not on the front row for this one to drive off in there and find my marks. And, I don’t want to be like Brad at the Roval two years ago and overshoot the corner. So, we just have to be mindful. I’ve spent, this is the most time I’ve spent preparing for a road course and going to the SIM. I’m actually heading up to jump on the SIM immediately after this call. I’m just trying to prep myself for as much as I can to be ready for putting corners together. It’s crazy how, just from watching the 24 Hours, you kind of learn which way this kind of track goes. Obviously turning left immediately after the Start/Finish Line, going through the infield there. And then you kind of visualize, like man, I used to park here in the road course parking lot. So, it’s going to be cool to kind of be racing all around that. It’ll be exciting for the fans putting it all together. But again, I’ve tried to spend so much time prepping for this; so hopefully it works out for us in the end.”
IS THERE ONE THING YOU NEED TO GET RIGHT IN THE COCKPIT, YOU PERSONALLY, EVERY TIME?‘I think as long as we’re comfortable and usually my guys do a top-notch job, an A+ job, every time of not really having mistakes. I know without practice it’s easy to forget something. But each and every week I show up and the belts are the same, the steering wheel height is the same, seat mounts, everything is the same. My guys do a great job back at RPM, so we’re all good.”
WHAT IS YOUR FEELING ABOUT WHERE THE TEAM STANDS NOW COMPARED TO A YEAR AGO AT THIS TIME? HAVE YOU SEEN MORE CONSISTENCY THAT YOU’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR?“Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think we are leaps and bounds ahead of last year. And, I think that’s important to build off of. I remember an old-school motto was ‘suck less than your last race’. So, that’s how we kind of went about it. And then, moving forward this year and having Jerry (Baxter, crew chief) come in and have Jerry learn the ins-and-outs of the Cup series has been very important and very influential and positive for us. Making those bold strategy calls, stay out, take two tires, whatever it may be to keep us in the game; even talking with the pit crew. They are appreciative of Jerry and how he keeps them in the game. Whether if we have a bad day and we’re fighting a penalty lap, and taking strategy there; or, it’s like Vegas earlier this year when we were running 20th with about four or five (laps) to go, stayed out, and ended-up sixth. It’s just those types of things that produce good racing and good momentum, and we’ve carried that. You look at Michigan, we had a really good car and a really solid weekend. Sunday didn’t go as well as Saturday, but still, having those little highlights of success like you mentioned continue to build momentum for us moving forward. So, we’ve got some tough races coming up on the schedule, but with the team behind me right now, we’re ready to tackle anything.”
FOR THE SEASON AS A WHOLE, HOW HAS YOUR SPONSORSHIP INTEREST COMPARED THIS YEAR VERSUS IN PAST YEARS? ARE YOU GETTING YOUR CHOICE OF SPONSORS AND COMPANIES AND HOW ARE YOU MAKING THOSE DECISIONS?“Yeah, I’ve been in racing and motorsports for 17 years now. And we may not have been looking for sponsorship right off the bat, but I’d say ever since 2010, a good ten years now, we’ve been looking for sponsorship. I was always told when, and they’ll come. And we won a couple, we won a few in the Truck Series and still fighting sponsorship issues. I haven’t won much since then. But we’ve been doing things. We’ve been winning off the race track. I think that’s helped being much bigger than an athlete, standing up for human beings. It’s something that we often don’t get to do just because we’re put on a pedestal. With the spotlight that I put myself into, being vocal about what’s going on the world, has created opportunities for new partners. Look at Columbia here. A brand new partner, a part of the sport, a part of RPM, a part of the Bubba Wallace brand. We’re doing good things off the race track that helps our on-track performance. So, we will just continue those ways. This doesn’t even compare to how the little bit of sponsor momentum we’ve had in years past. This is an incredible opportunity for me; one the best years in my racing career from that standpoint. We’re building up on a great future here, getting these partnerships and deals in place; to set the team, the partner, and myself up for great success and we’ll continue to do that.”
OVERALL, HOW ARE YOU DOING RIGHT NOW? YOU’VE CERTAINLY GONE THROUGH A LOT. EVEN SIX WEEKS AGO YOU WERE TIRED, HAVING GONE THROUGH THE WRINGER OF THE ROLE OF ACTIVISM, AND NOW THERE’S STILL THE COMPETITOR ASPECT GOING ON AND NOW WITH YOUR FUTURE. THERE IS A LOT ON YOUR SHOULDERS. HOW ARE YOU HANDLING IT?“I definitely feel a lot more upbeat. Like I said, there’s a lot of positive momentum on our side. Big things being worked on behind the scenes like this (Columbia Sportswear) that we’re excited to share with people. It’s part of it. You go through the wringer. It makes you a better person at the end of the day. Maybe it’s a new outlet for you to explore, like I said about being outspoken about things that are going on in the country and in the world, and you want to be a part of it. And that’s how I’ve felt. I didn’t know what to expect. You know me, I’m always just the ‘do it and figure out everything after’; and so that’s just a part of Bubba Wallace in everyday life and we’ll continue to go on. I’m always ready for whatever is thrown at me. I try to handle it in the best way I can. I’ll get beat-up and worn down about it and you’ll hear about it because I wear my heart on my sleeve. But all in all, we’re refreshed. We got that week off and had a great vacation, Amanda and I, we tried to decompress and turn off my phone and just get away. It was a good to refresh and refocus on what we need to do on the race track as well as off the race track.”
HAS THERE BEEN A LOT OF TALK AS FAR AS SOCIAL ACTIVISM THAT YOU’RE INVOLVED IN THAT WE DON’T SEE ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS? DO YOU FEEL LIKE BEHIND THE SCENES THAT THERE IS STUFF GOING ON IN THE INDUSTRY WHERE PEOPLE ARE TAKING WHAT THEY SAID A MONTH OR TWO AGO AND TRYING TO PUT WORDS INTO ACTION?“Yeah, for sure. I had a great lunch with Brandon Thompson and NASCAR Diversity Affairs there, and we were talking some really good things of how we can just make our sport better for everybody. Diversity training is coming into place and we’re trying to get that going. And that’s going to be a lot of fun and a good process to see how it works out. From the sports-side, good things are coming. And from the personal side, as well, I’m excited to be still working out and getting my foundation up and running and having my sister be a part of that. So, I know we’re basically right on the goal line of finalizing things up with that. To be able to dive into the communities, the conversations that we’ve had, we’ve even had them with Columbia about my foundation. It’s just so tough with COVID-19 going on right now, to really be in-person and reach out to the communities to get them, whether is a part of the sport or just educate them on things that are going on in the world. So, there are a lot of good things away from the race track, away from racing, that deal with the issues that go on in the world that are being worked out as well.”
WE WERE SUPPOSED TO BE AT WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL THIS WEEKEND. WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON NOT GOING TO THE GLEN THIS YEAR?“I’m all right with it. It hasn’t been one of my best race tracks. But I think this, with everything going on with COVID, I know NASCAR has been up to their necks in trying to figure out what the schedule is going to be. So, I definitely don’t envy them right now. But kudos to them for coming up with an alternative. And it’s something new. It’s new for NASCAR. I know the road course has been around for years and years and being able to watch that on TV right before our season kick-off at Daytona. So, for us to go in there with no practice, I remember when I was asked about hey, we need a solid answer if you’re okay with no practice. And I was like, okay, what does everybody else think about this? The final verdict was no practice. Drive off into Turn 1 and figure out where you go after that. So, it’ll be cool. It’ll be a different alternative to definitely have fans tune-in for that and to be able to watch all the action on NBC, so it’ll be cool. None of us really know what to expect. But, to have a good race and try to continue on momentum from there. Like I said earlier, I’ve prepped a lot; a lot more than I have in the past to be good here and be successful here. So, hopefully it goes hand-in-hand.”
2020 Corvette Stingray To Lead Field To Green Flag of 104th Indianapolis 500
INDIANAPOLIS, Wednesday, Aug. 12, 2020 – A Torch Red 2020 Corvette Stingray coupe will serve as the Official Pace Car for the 104th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, continuing Chevrolet’s tradition of leading the field to the green flag. The Pace Car will be driven by GM President Mark Reuss.This year, the race will be held outside of May for the first time – Sunday, Aug. 23 – with live NBC coverage at 2:30 p.m. (ET). This marks the 17th time a Corvette has served as the Pace Car, starting in 1978, and the 31st time a Chevrolet has led the field dating to 1948 when a Fleetmaster Six convertible held the honor. No other brand or vehicle has served as the “500” Pace Car more often than Chevrolet and the Corvette, respectively. “It’s truly an honor to have the opportunity to be behind the wheel of the mid-engine Corvette Pace Car at such a historic race as the Indy 500,” said GM President Mark Reuss. “The 2020 Corvette Stingray is the result of a close collaboration between the Corvette Racing and production engineering teams, setting a new benchmark for supercars around the world.” The Torch Red 2020 Corvette Stingray Pace Car features:· All-new mid-engine LT2 6.2L V8 engine· 8-Speed Dual Clutch transmission· Z51 performance package· Corvette accessory spoiler and ground effects package· Carbon Flash exterior accents and badge package· GT2 Bucket Seats· Unique Indy 500 Livery With 495 horsepower, the Torch Red Corvette Stingray can accelerate from 0-60 in 2.9 seconds, capable of 194 mph. It has been named MotorTrend Car of the Year for 2020. “This is a continuation of our outstanding partnership with Chevrolet,” Indianapolis Motor Speedway President J. Douglas Boles said. “We’re so grateful for all that Chevrolet has contributed to the success of our events. The Torch Red 2020 Corvette Stingray is a world-class machine rich with speed, performance and excitement, perfectly suited to pace the ‘500’ field.” Chevrolet has a storied history at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Chevrolet was founded in 1911, the year of the inaugural 500-mile race, and company co-founder Louis Chevrolet, along with brothers Arthur and Gaston, competed in early Indy 500s. Arthur competed in the 1911 race and Gaston won in 1920. Nine drivers with Chevrolet engines have combined to win “The Greatest Spectacle in Racing” 11 times, with Rick Mears, Emerson Fittipaldi, Arie Luyendyk, Al Unser Jr., Helio Castroneves, Tony Kanaan, Juan Pablo Montoya, Will Power and most recently Simon Pagenaud driving to Victory Lane with bowtie power. Pagenaud won the 2019 Indianapolis 500 from the pole driving the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet. In 2018, Ed Carpenter won the pole and Power the race in Chevrolet-powered machines. Josef Newgarden won last year’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship driving the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. Pagenaud finished second in the standings. Visit IMS.com for more information about this year’s schedule. The race will be televised live on NBC for the second consecutive year, with the pre-race show starting at 1 p.m. The Pennzoil INDYCAR Radio Network will provide live coverage of the race to its affiliates and on Sirius 211, XM 205, indycar.com and the INDYCAR Mobile App powered by NTT DATA.
chevy racing–indycar–indiapolis 500–Drivers and leadership
CHEVROLET RACING NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDIANAPOLIS 500 INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEEDWAY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA TEAM CHEVY TEAM ZOOM CONFERENCE DRIVERS AND LEADERSHIP TRANSCRIPTS ARROW MCLAREN SP DRIVER AND LEADERSHIP TRANSCRIPT AUGUST 12, 2020
ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET DRIVERS FERNANDO ALONSO, PATO O’WARD AND OLIVER ASKEW JOINED ORGANIZATION LEADERSHIP ZAK BROWN, SAM SCHMIDT, TAYLOR KIEL AND GIL DE FERRAN ON ZOOM MEDIA CALLS IN PREPARATION FOR THE INDIANAPOLIS 500. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
THE MODERATOR: Fernando, back at Indianapolis, lots of preparation leading into this, then obviously was delayed because of the pandemic. How excited are you to be back in Indianapolis, a track you have a really special connection with?FERNANDO ALONSO: Definitely very excited. I think it’s going to be a little bit different without fans. Yeah, for me it’s going to be the first race with empty grandstands. I know the guys have been racing lately with no fans. It’s going to be a shock I’m sure on race day.But, yeah, looking forward. I think we did a nice preparations with the circumstances, we didn’t have any test day, any simulator or anything like that, compare other 500s.At the same time I saw a very well-prepared, organized team, very hungry of success, doing something good this month. Looking forward. Yeah, tomorrow first day on the car.
THE MODERATOR: Oliver, this is an oval track you’ve had some success at, winning the Freedom 100 last year. How does the Road to Indy prepare you for racing in your first Indianapolis 500? How excited are you to get out for your first practice tomorrow?OLIVER ASKEW: Yeah, the Road to Indy has been tremendous for my career and many others in this paddock racing at the 500 this year. My experience last year at the Freedom 100 is enabling me to go into this next couple weeks having somewhat of an understanding of the track. Obviously we’re going to be going a lot quicker. It seems to have helped me so far this year at a lot of the tracks, having experience at these circuits we go to in INDYCAR.Like Fernando said, Arrow McLaren SP has been putting in so much work for this race. I think we’re going to have three really fast cars this weekend and next weekend. Really looking forward to the experience.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll go ahead and open it up to questions.Q. Fernando, how dramatic of a difference does, say, 13 months make? Last year everything that could have gone wrong did. Now you’re on a team that’s among the top teams in the INDYCAR Series, a teammate fourth in the standings. You probably have three cars that are capable of winning the Indianapolis 500. How big a difference is that for you to be able to compare and contrast this year opposed to last year?FERNANDO ALONSO: Well, hopefully you’re right and we are fast enough that we can compete for the win. At the moment one day before the practice, we have optimistic feeling last year and we have optimistic feeling this year as well.I think we need to wait and see where we are on the speed of the pace of the car. But, yeah, it makes a difference the team itself, how Arrow SP is well-prepared, the experience in the series. Is going to be a big difference compared to last year that we were not prepared enough for the challenge.I’m with reasonable confidence that there’s going to be a good event for us. But we take it step by step. We know there are a lot of things to do from our side. We will miss some experience. All three drivers, we’re rookies for the 500. We need to rely and we need to work very close to the team and learn every day, make it step by step, concentrate a little bit more on the race this year.Qualifying, we are already 53 cars. Maybe that eases the pressure and stress on the first couple of days, and we can concentrate on race day.
Q. How impressed have you been with the season that Oliver and Pato have had so far?FERNANDO ALONSO: I was very impressed definitely. I think I was watching all the races from TV with attention because I knew that the test day we had in April was canceled. The simulator days that we had programmed were canceled. I knew it was very limited time for me on the car before the 500. I wanted to know how the team was performing every weekend.I mean, was very impressive what both did. I remember the Indy GP, Oliver was super fast, on pole. Then Pato with the points he achieved every Sunday. Probably even more that skip away in some unlucky moments. I knew that they are very talented, very brave.Is going to be a huge boost for the team to have these two young drivers, talented drivers, bringing fresh ideas, fresh in terms of car performance, and I’m looking forward to work with everybody.
Q. Who is your engineer? Are you working with Craig Hansen? He’s been a bit of a wizard in his career with Sebastien Bourdais.FERNANDO ALONSO: Yeah, he’s the man.
Q. He’s going to be the guy you work with the whole month?FERNANDO ALONSO: Yeah.
Q. Fernando, you mentioned how impressed you’ve been with the start of Pato and Oliver’s seasons so far. How important, given the fact you mentioned you haven’t maybe had a whole lot of seat or simulator time, lost a day of practice, how important was it for you being able to get up to speed and them having as much success as they have had so far this year for the engineers and the team, the data, to make sure the cars are ready when you unload?FERNANDO ALONSO: Well, as you mentioned now, it is a huge challenge. I’m aware of that. I’m aware of maybe not being among the favorites because we lacking the experience of the 500. The team is not new, but this collaboration is only a few months in the way.I think it’s going to be things that we need to learn within days, in the practice, into qualifying, and next week. Personally, yeah, I was following the races, tried to learn as much as I could from home, tried to ask the engineers what may surprise me watching television and I didn’t understand completely on Mondays, they were trying to help me with understanding. I was making questions why we did that, why we didn’t stop here, there. It was a constant communication.At the same time I was training at the simulator at home. I think these couple of months of pandemic, of the virus, make huge step on eSports, things that I was very active, like the Le Mans Virtual that has been the biggest racing sporting event to date. Not only I have been busy preparing the race, because I joined the team with Barrichello and some other friends, but stakeholder of motorsport games who put on these great event with many technical challenges. At the end more than 14 million viewers, which is an amazing thing for the E gaming.Right now, talking to you, even in INDYCAR, why not in the future to have this great event with motorsport games to have also individual 500 with another 14 or 20 million viewers because this race is something unique.
Q. Oliver and Pato, we haven’t gotten on track yet, but do you have a sense yet of specifically how adding Fernando to the engineering, all the other aspects of the infrastructure that you have already thrived under so far, how that will make a difference and improve things for you over the next couple weeks?PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I think it just raises the game for everybody. One, having a driver with Fernando’s caliber is huge, not just for the team but for Oliver and I that we’re learning. He’s got so much experience with so many different cars. Even though we’re all rookies, the experience that we’ve had in the past definitely will help in many different ways.I think there’s lots of experience behind the team. We know that we’re going to have very good cars. Like Fernando said, we have to wait and see exactly where we’re going to fall. But I think we all have faith in what the team is going to give us. We know that they’re going to give their best to give us the tools to ultimately try and win the Indy 500. That’s all the work that has been going into it the past lots of months. In us drivers, as well, we’re looking forward to it.I think it’s a really cool thing to have him here, but as well as just someone that knows what he’s doing, having an extra car out there to test different things definitely helps us use our time more efficiently.OLIVER ASKEW: It continues to amaze me the amount of knowledge and the personnel that we have on this team right now, especially this weekend with three cars now. There’s some new people, people who have been more involved than they have been in the past.Yeah, as Pato said, it’s going to be really fun to have Fernando on the team. We both looked up to him for a long time. We look forward to experiencing how he works, his work ethic around the engineers and throughout these next couple weeks. It’s going to be interesting for us. I’m sure we’re going to learn a lot from him.
Q. Fernando, apart from Dakar, our best opportunity to see you compete this season has been in eSports events. How important has the whole sim racing become, especially in a year like this when the fans can’t get to these events like Le Mans and Indy?FERNANDO ALONSO: Well, as I said before, I think this virus shows how important is sim racing and how important became the eSport world. I think not only drivers, but fans, promoters, sponsors, different series, they’ve been enjoying a growth of maybe three or four years, even 10 years, only in two or three months. That shows many people it was a good timing to open the eyes of an unlimited possibility that we have with the eSports and the gaming.I’m happy that many people discover this direction. As I said before, especially in the iconic races, the Le Mans 24 hour, when I saw that 14 million people watched the race, 55 country, 200 top drivers from the real world were competing, I think that opens the door for many, many possibilities.The Indy 500, as I said before, should be one of those embracing this thing because I think the fans love the show. You see things, teammates, there are another atmosphere inside the virtual world that I think the fans love that.
Q. Fernando, we know how meticulous you are in your preparation. The big change this weekend is likely to be the Aeroscreen. What have you been able to learn from the team and the data you’ve gathered so far? What can you say about the Aeroscreen, how it will affect the racing next weekend?FERNANDO ALONSO: On the personal side, I only try last weekend on the seat of the factory, they put it on the car. I had a first look at it. It seem okay on the driving visibility and things like that.My teammates, I think the overall comment of INDYCAR, it gets quite warm in the car, quite hot. The ventilation is not the same. They are trying to figure out the ways to improve that. Hopefully we see some improvements and updates for this weekend.Then, yeah, on the car itself, there are some downsides in terms of the aerodynamics, in terms of drag. But is the same for everyone. We just need to adapt to that.In a way it’s a challenge for the engineers as well, this 500. Even if the car starts the same as last year, I think they still need to find and balance this Aeroscreen implementation. We are ready to work on that. We all start from zero in a way. Let’s see if we can find the best direction as soon as possible.
Q. How are you approaching the event mentally this year? You signed the deal with Renault to go back to Formula 1. Are you approaching this as the last chance for a little while to try to win the race? Do you think it’s possible in the future you can keep coming back?FERNANDO ALONSO: It’s a good question. I think I approach the race, as you said, knowing the next two years is going to be impossible to come. I will have to miss qualifying weekend if I wanted to do so. I will not be any more with McLaren next year in F1. That will not work either. I know at least for two years I will not be here.Look, this is the way it is at the moment. I’m here ready to enjoy the event, ready to give my best, and help the team as much as I can. Let’s see in the future what are the possibilities. If you eventually win one day the race, maybe that opens the possibility for different things.
Q. Fernando, with everything going on because of COVID-19, it’s no secret that INDYCAR does give its fans generous access to the drivers in the pit area, paddock, which can be a shock to those not native to the series. Do you think having a quieter track, empty track, will make it easier to focus on getting the job done, maybe lift some pressure off your back?FERNANDO ALONSO: No, I don’t think so. I think it was the magic part of the 500, the fans, around the garages, the interaction you have with them. I will miss a lot that part. Especially the race is here in the U.S., they are all very special. Racing at Daytona, Sebring, there is always this close contact with the fans. That will be really missed.It’s not releasing the pressure. Probably my life outside the car will be a little bit easier so I don’t need to run away. Sometimes I can go to the bathroom with no tight phone cameras pointed at me. Apart of that, I think when you close the visor and you are racing, it will be the same pressure.As I said, being in this huge place with these huge grandstands, not having a full, packed grandstand on Sunday is going to be a little bit difficult. But we will put a good show on television where we will make somehow big thanks to the fans and celebrate with them even on a distance.
Q. Regardless of what happens come August 24th, let’s fast forward to the day after the 500, what’s next for you? Is it as simple as putting on the Renault suit and carrying on?FERNANDO ALONSO: Look, last year when I stopped F1 in 2018, then 2019, last year, it was too much. It was too active. I was racing from January, the 24 Hour of Daytona, then Sebring, then was testing, then Spa, 24 Hours of Le Mans, Indy, the preparation of the car. I had the full attack season.This 2020 I wanted to relax a little bit. Doing the Dakar in January, then full focus on the Indy 500. The second part of the season just relax, charge the batteries. 2021, coming back to F1, I knew it could be very demanding.Arrive the virus, then we have a quiet season more than we wanted, everybody. But in my case I just planned to do the Indy 500. Is what I’m doing. But from Monday, 24th, is going to be again quiet season preparing myself physically, mentally, couple of simulator days with Renault, maybe attending two or three Grand Prix just to see how they work on track. But, yeah, quite easy second part of the year.
Q. Fernando, seven months without competing. How are you fit and mental? With this seven months, the challenge is more difficult than the Dakar?FERNANDO ALONSO: Has been long time, yes, without sitting in a racecar. But I think everybody is struggling with that. We were missing our racecars even if you are on a normal drive or just one event driver. I don’t think that I have a huge disadvantage there.Physically I’ve been training a lot. I’ve been a little bit sick March, April. Yeah, I used that time to get recover well and have a lot of bicycle and gym, try to do things on the lockdown.Then on the preparation, on the challenge, I don’t think that is more difficult than Dakar because that was a completely unknown territory for me. Every kilometer is new. You have to adapt to different things that obviously I was completely rookie. Here I have disadvantage, yes, compared to the others. I’m not as experienced as some others. I know that. But this race is so special that sometimes the place choose who is going to win that Sunday.I’m confident that we do things well, maybe luck goes to our side this time. There are many factors here, many yellows, many things that may happen in the race that are out of your control. So you have to be there.I think the Indy 500 is such a special race that you have to keep trying because eventually one day you will get everything right.
Q. What is your reaction to no fans in the stands at the 500? How have you been mentally and emotionally preparing for the 500 without that energy from the fans this year?PATO O’WARD: I think in a way we’ve had a chance to see fans in Road America. I don’t think we’ve had like a full blackout season. But in Road America I was telling the team, my family and everything, whenever you get there, the energy of having fans is so much better. You see the people are, like, super happy to be there. You feel the energy. You feel everything. Whenever it’s closed doors, it’s so different.So I think for the guys that have seen the Indy 500 or I guess raced in it for many years before this year, I’m not going to be able to really compare, but I know that the 500, it is the event to be at in terms of amount of people, the energy, just everything.I know once race day comes, everything is empty, we’re definitely going to miss it, for sure.OLIVER ASKEW: I feel pretty calm about this next couple weeks. We have way more preparation now than we’ve had over the past couple races where we pretty much show up and roll out of the trailer and go racing.This is going to be more of a traditional approach, more of what I’m used to. We can take our time a little bit. I’m just looking forward to seeing how these next couple weeks come to us and learning as much as possible.Like I said earlier, I’ve had some experience here in Indy Lights in the Freedom 100. For the fans, the fans made that day and that event complete. I think that’s what made that day probably the best racing day and experience I’ve ever had in my life.Having fans here this year would definitely have topped that for the Indy 500. We know that everyone is watching at home. We’re looking forward to putting on such a great show for them.
Q. Pato, first time at Indy 500, how does it feel to be the first Mexican driver in so many years?PATO O’WARD: It’s very humbling, to be honest. I think it’s a really cool opportunity to be able to try and do the best for my country, for my people, as I’ve always tried in every single race that I compete in.It’s going to be really nice to be representing Mexico. Hopefully we give a good race and a good show for everybody back at home and to all the fans watching.Q. Being a rookie at the 500 can be intimidating. How does it feel to be a rookie, being teammates with someone like Fernando Alonso? What would be his role with you during these two weeks?OLIVER ASKEW: Being a rookie here can definitely be daunting. With the extra boost this year, I think it’s an extra 50 horsepower, so we’re going to be quite a lot quicker than the past. We’re expecting the corners to be a little bit more difficult. I’m sure we’re going to have to run a little more downforce in qualifying than years past.But, yeah, I’m glad that this year we’re able to run a couple more ovals before the Indy 500. Traditionally the Indy 500 would be the first oval of the year. I think that’s definitely helped the rookies. Texas and Iowa in their own ways are a little more difficult than this track. This track brings its own challenges.For Fernando, like I said before, it’s an absolute honor to have him on the team. I know we’re all really looking forward to working with him. Just, yeah, really glad he’s able to race here with us. I’m sure he’s going to lead the team and teach us a lot, Pato and I, quite a bit. Yeah, looking forward to the next couple weeks with him.
THE MODERATOR: Welcome to the Arrow McLaren SP pre-event press conference. We have the leadership of the team here. We have Sam Schmidt, co-owner of Arrow McLaren SP. We have Zak Brown, CEO of McLaren Racing. We have Taylor Kiel, managing director of Arrow McLaren SP. Gil de Ferran, sporting director of McLaren Racing and working with INDYCAR program.Why don’t we go ahead and start off with Sam. We’re a few months later than usual getting ready for the Indy 500, but what does it mean to you after the year we’ve had to finally be ready to race at Indianapolis?SAM SCHMIDT: What a relief. Very disappointing that we can’t (indiscernible) heartbeat of Indy 500. This is an epic 104-year history. We have to have it. It’s part of our blood. It’s what makes it breathe. This race is the reason I’m here as a team owner, period.We’re looking forward to doing it. Yes, our guys are pretty much meeting (indiscernible) at this point especially without having the ability to have on-track testing.The team is amped up. We’ve had an extra three months to prepare these cars. Yeah, can’t wait to get to the track tomorrow and be fully immersed in the process. I wish fans could see what Roger has done because he’s done a phenomenal job around here.
THE MODERATOR: Zak, this is almost a year in the making, Arrow McLaren SP getting to the Indy 500. What does it mean to McLaren to be back at the track and have another shot ate the this year with Fernando?ZAK BROWN: We’re very excited, extremely excited to be back. The combination of Arrow McLaren SP, it’s great to be back for a variety of reasons. Obviously last year didn’t go according to plan. We did that with Fernando. It’s good to be back with him. I think we’re coming back in a much more competitive environment, teaming up with SP. Equally as excited about Pato and Oliver, our collective three-driver lineup is exciting as any driver lineup out there.I think everyone in Indianapolis, we got a bunch of people out from England, a lot of great partners, new partners. As Sam said, disappointed we’re not able to do it in front of live fans, but very happy we’re able to do it. I know there will be millions of people watching around the world.I’m looking forward to getting out next week. I think Gil is there with a fresh haircut (laughter). Let’s go racing.
THE MODERATOR: Taylor, obviously not been a normal season by any means. The team has worked hard to adapt to the circumstances. Once again we have another thing to adapt to with a slightly condensed schedule. What is the team doing to prepare and get ready to be on track tomorrow?TAYLOR KIEL: Yeah, we’ve obviously been working very hard under the ever-changing conditions. It seems like things change day-to-day. Kudos to the team. They’ve been very flexible throughout the entire process. We’ve had to adapt our ways of working down to the bare basics.We’re certainly putting the time in, are prepared and ready to go. Indy 500 in August is certainly unique, but what isn’t here in 2020? We’re just excited to be here. We feel good. We feel ready to go. We’re ready to race.
THE MODERATOR: Gil, you’ve kind of overseen on the technical side the strategic partnership between arrow SP and McLaren, forming Arrow McLaren SP. How has that led us to where we are today getting ready for the Indy 500?GIL de FERRAN: I think, like Taylor touched on, also Zak, this has been a huge amount of effort from people on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s nice to be here now. You can’t see me smile with the mask, but it’s nice to be here now with all the uncertainty behind us, getting ready to go.Certainly putting two very diverse groups of people together, there is a lot. I think we need to learn about each other. We knew that from the beginning. This is certainly a role that we working together. So far if I was to assess how things are going and looking back at the results this season, I would say things are going fairly well.We got to be humble. We got to realize that we got a lot of very strong competitors here. Just keep our heads down, our feet to the ground, tackle these next few days here in practice one by one.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up to questions.Q. Zak and Gil, in a lot of ways what a difference a year and three months makes. Last May we were here, the McLaren effort wasn’t able to get into the race. Now the Arrow McLaren SP finally has a driver in fourth place in the INDYCAR standings. You probably have three drivers capable of winning the Indianapolis 500. Contrast and talk about how different it is to be on a team this year that has the kind of tools that you have.ZAK BROWN: As the guys said, it’s extremely competitive, so we’re very excited. I think we do have three cars that should be capable of winning the race. That being said, it’s so competitive I think you can broaden that to 15 cars, maybe even as much as half the field.That being said, we got bit pretty hard last year. Let’s make sure we have good practice, good qualifying. We do have two rookies in addition to a guy who hasn’t done it a lot, as great as he is.I think we do need to kind of keep our head down. I think if we do the right things and everyone executes, we can have three cars there at the end. For that basis, it’s super exciting.GIL de FERRAN: Yeah, to me it’s clear when we started talking even last year to the guys here in Indianapolis, the depth of the talent here and the experience was very apparent to me. There’s no question that it’s been a positive thing for us to be in this partnership. It’s been all good.As you said, we have two rookies that are doing fairly well. We have a few podiums already this year. One of the guys is in fourth place. This is not about counting or chickens, it’s about the road that we’re on together. There’s still a long way to go here.
Q. Zak, the effort from Alonso’s perspective, to be able to come over here at a highly unusual time, continent to continent. What is he able to do to keep himself in race shape?ZAK BROWN: Yeah, Fernando, as we all know, is an immense talent. I’ve not seen someone more prepared to go motor racing as far as how they go racing. Talked to Fernando earlier. He knows he needs to be there at the end. I think he’ll take quite a methodical approach as he does to the race, be well-prepared. I don’t have any concerns over Fernando’s ability to step in and get with the program.GIL de FERRAN: If I might add, I think Zak touched on it, but Fernando is all about preparation. He has been that way ever since I met him. He send me a text the other day: I just spent eight hours on a bicycle (laughter). He’s fully prepared I think physically and mentally.
Q. Zak, how beneficial is it for you as a team and personally having Fernando back in Indy, given that you have two relative rookies in the series?ZAK BROWN: Yeah, I think it’s great to have him back. While he doesn’t have a tremendous amount of experience around Indianapolis, he has a tremendous amount of experience, as we’ve been speaking about, his approach to a race weekend.I think what Oliver and Pato will learn from Fernando is how he approaches a race. I’m sure they’ll learn something about Indianapolis itself, but it will be more of his experience of what a two-time world champion and all the things he’s accomplished, how he approaches a race weekend.Our rookies are rookies. The more experience they can get, the better. So I think the combination of the driver lineup, plus their speed and competitiveness, should make it exciting. Looking forward to Taylor and Gil and the whole team putting these three cars out there this week.
Q. Taylor, how has McLaren helped in the preparations for the race this year? Obviously Schmidt Peterson Motorsport is the side of the operation that has the oval experience. From an outsider’s perspective, it’s not blatantly obvious what McLaren are actually bringing to the equation. What has been going on behind the scenes between the two? I’m sure the engineering prowess.TAYLOR KIEL: Gil, you take that and I can expand on it.GIL de FERRAN: I can. However, I got to be careful with what I say because we don’t want to give away our secrets.I think to your point, what we bring mostly to the table is depth of engineering. Ultimately we have a lot of systems and technologies that have been developed over many decades across in the UK. I think a lot of these technologies are also applicable to frankly any form of motorsports, but particularly here in INDYCAR. We are walking, as I said, on a long road together trying to lift the tide here.TAYLOR KIEL: I think we’ve touched on it before, but I think I’m a huge proponent of new thoughts, new ideas, different ways of looking at solving a problem. I think our two organizations have come together and meshed really well to solve problems that we face every day but with a new outlook and some fresh perspective. I think that in itself has been a huge help for us here in 2020.
Q. Zak, what have you seen through the start of this INDYCAR season that has either most encouraged or most satisfied you as far as the results that you guys have gotten from this partnership with McLaren from a year ago to now?ZAK BROWN: Yeah, I think there’s a lot that we’re pleased with how it’s going. It’s ultimately producing results on the track. As the guys were just speaking about, COVID, when we started integrating our know-how and technologies to Taylor and the team, we were also finishing a season getting ready to test and trying to do that on the fly. It’s not that easy.I think when COVID put the brakes on things, one of the things that it did benefit us is I think it gave an opportunity for our two teams to get to know each other and collaborate in a slower environment, if I want to I guess call it that. I’m very pleased with that.The relationship that I have with Sam and Ric, the owners of Arrow McLaren SP, is great. Ashleigh, who runs the commercial side, working alongside Phil, our partners are happy. We’ve brought quite a few partners to the table. It’s quite a nice effort that’s come together really well at the start of the year which is not an easy thing to do.To have almost won a race, podiums with both drivers, more good weekends than bad weekends, here we are at Indy, couldn’t be more pleased with where we are from when we got started.
Q. Taylor and Gil, how important has it been to have so much success both in the qualifying process and in actual race, from both Pato and Oliver heading into this weekend being able to provide Fernando with data, the added plus of having so much early season success from those two guys?TAYLOR KIEL: I mean, our pace out of the box so far this year has been good. There’s still room for improvement there. But I think kudos to Oliver and Pato for being able to get on the horse and ride right away under extremely difficult circumstances.They’ve certainly been impressive, but also likewise it takes a great team behind you to make that happen. Our engineering staff, our mechanics, everybody that gets these cars to the racetrack, have done a phenomenal job. Likewise operationally pulling in the McLaren group, being able to work out the kinks very early so we could hit the ground running has been a massive help.Yes, it is hugely important for us to be able to unload the cars and hit the track quick, especially with the way the schedules are. I expect no different here at Indianapolis. I think that Fernando is going to bring a level of expertise and being able to close that feedback loop that we haven’t had in quite some time.I’m excited to see all of that work together here in about 24 hours.GIL de FERRAN: Yeah, I was thinking about it when everybody was talking. Look, I’m pleasantly surprised with our performance. I don’t know if you recall, but when this whole thing started, I was very aware of the fact that we’re on a long journey here. We signed two rookie drivers with very little experience in INDYCAR, but they’ve clearly shown a lot of potential and a lot of talent. Certainly my expectations personally were quite a bit lower than where we’re at today.I’ve been pleasantly surprised. Both guys have shown a great deal of speed. As Taylor said, our integration has been getting certainly from my perspective very high marks.Also, as usual, we see it, we talk a lot about opportunities for improvement. There’s still plenty of them. In time hopefully we will tackle. There’s still a long road ahead of us. But I’ve been pleasantly surprised with the performance of the drivers and the results that we’ve been getting so far.
Q. Sam, your impressions about Fernando? You have the chance to know him in previous years. Now your relationship with him is different as one of your drivers. How do you describe him, his way of working and approaching the race?SAM SCHMIDT: (Indiscernible) engineering staff, pit stop winners last year, we’ve been building for this moment for quite some time. Somebody you know is a true professional, two-time world champion. That says it all. It’s a great opportunity for these two young guys to be able to ride on his coattail for about 10 days.I’m happy to be here for this time period in every way, whether we’re running it without fans, the way we’re running the program, et cetera. We had a conversation, a couple conversations, in 2017 in passing. I don’t know him that well. What we’ve seen in just a few days is (indiscernible) approaching this race like he wants to win. I can’t wait to see him in action.
Q. Gil, do you feel with Fernando’s vast experience, also two years of attempting to race at Indy, your role as adviser for him is still crucial or do you feel your work this year will be more focused towards getting Pato and Oliver comfortable?GIL de FERRAN: Well, I guess I established the relationship with Fernando, now your point goes back to 2017. There’s no way that will go away because once you establish a good relationship, the guy is your friend and that’s it, end of story.I think from a professional perspective, I’m planning to be on his radio. The relationship there, it’s a little bit different. But if I step back for a second, to be quite honest with you, I’ll be equally happy if any of our three drivers did well this race.Certainly within the team there’s no favorite. I think Taylor can attest to that. Very open environment. We discuss everything. Every lesson, every piece of information, wherever it comes from, to make sure we lift the team.Taylor is on Pato’s radio, I’ll be on Fernando’s radio. We’re a team here. If one or three of our three drivers do well, we’ll all be happy.
Q. Zak, the point about how much it’s changed the infrastructure of McLaren to have you guys increasing your participation in this race, how many people actually are dedicated to the INDYCAR side of the things back at the MTC?ZAK BROWN: As Gil has said, I think we want to be a little bit careful with giving too much detail. What I would say is it’s a good, strong handful of fully dedicated, 100% INDYCAR, that have their own space at the MTC, then they have a variety of tools and additional people they can pull on.At the end of the day what we’ve provided is additive to Arrow SP before it became Arrow McLaren SP, which is exciting. When we first came in in ’17, we teamed up with Michael. Other than a little bit of influence from the team, primarily from Gil from a relationship, Michael ran that effort. We feel like we’re definitely much more hands on in this effort, which is great.We’re racers. We want to go racing. Have a lot of people over there with a variety of accents, primarily British. It will be good. I’m looking forward to seeing it all, as I’ve not been to an INDYCAR race yet. I’m very much looking forward to seeing it live myself.
Q. Zak, looking at obviously what transpired the last two years, now coming into this season, can you take me through some of the lessons that were learned from what happened last year, what you’re going to be doing with those lessons learned for this season?ZAK BROWN: Yeah. Obviously I think I’ve spoken quite a bit about it. I think the biggest lesson we learned is don’t do what we did last year. I don’t want to rehash, but there were a lot of obviously mistakes that you make when you don’t qualify for a race. You’ve got to get it pretty wrong for a team like McLaren and a driver like Fernando Alonso to not make the show.Really it was a lot of little mistakes, predictable. Saw a lot of them, unfortunately didn’t kind of react fast enough, that ultimately compound.If I look at the end result, it really started with our first test, which we have a variety of issues at that we should have had enough time to be well-prepared for. Then when we had these issues, we didn’t respond to them quickly enough, urgently enough.When you don’t solve those issues, you continue to have them, a car gets crashed, you don’t have your spare ready for a variety of reasons, all of which has been documented in some silly headlines, unfortunately. They’re not quite as silly. There’s an explanation behind each one went wrong, but we got it wrong.I think teaming up with Sam and Ric and the team, a lot of these rookie mistakes we made, they’re as well-prepared, as you said, especially oval experience, INDYCAR team.I think that’s the biggest mistakes we made, is we came collectively almost as a bunch of rookies, and that didn’t work well. I think we’ve come in in a much better way, long-term view to the sport. That’s what we’re doing differently, without getting into the finer details of each item.
Q. Gil, the team obviously extremely strong this season in INDYCAR. You spoke about being on the radio with Fernando. Bringing a guy like Fernando Alonso into a team like this with two young, up-and-coming drivers, tell me what you think Fernando might be able to bring and offer these young drivers.GIL de FERRAN: Well, look, I guess the way I think about this is if I was in that position, right? I guess I was a driver once upon a time. I would say, having had for example the opportunity to work with Sir Jack Hewitt for many years, it was something that was hugely beneficial, particularly early in my career.Being a complete racing driver is not just about how fast you can go. There are many, many, many, many things that you have to learn how to do well to be able to win championships on a consistent basis and race year after year, which is something that Fernando has done pretty much his whole life.In my mind, I think it was Zak that said it earlier, seeing how I think Sam and Taylor also touched on it, a guy that has had such an accomplished career, seeing how he goes about his business, not just steering to the right, to the left, how you touch the brakes, so on and so forth, but every aspect of being a racing driver, I think it can only be a positive.I can’t see how they couldn’t come out of this experience better than they were before.
Q. What has been the biggest takeaway assuring that this year’s 500 will go much better?GIL de FERRAN: I’ll touch on that.Look, I guess the fact that we’re here today in a partnership with a team that has over 50 people and have been doing this for many, many years now. They have won races before, has a great deal of talent and experience within their roster should tell you everything that you need to know.I think Zak touched on this at the end of his previous answer on this topic. That’s it really. I’m not too sure there’s much more to say than that.
Q. Zak, Fernando had an unfortunate exit from the 500 last year. Is he extra determined to have more success to getting in there this season?ZAK BROWN: Yeah, I think Fernando is as dedicated as ever in his desire to win the Indy 500. I think that he’s getting back to Formula 1 next year will mean that potentially this is the last time he has to win the Indy 500 in the near future, therefore he’s never wavered during this time of COVID, is the race on, off, what date. He cleared his calendar post Paris-Dakar to come compete and hopefully win the Indy 500.He’s been very focused on that. He’s excited to get back in the car this week.GIL de FERRAN: I have a question for you, Asher? Are you racing yet?ASHER: I have my second win my last race, so yeah.GIL de FERRAN: Congratulations. In a few years, we’ll talk, okay?ASHER: Okay.
Q. Gil, even though you’re in the technical area, you have two young drivers now, you’re bringing a Formula 1 champion into the Indy 500, seeing what you’ve been doing this year, I feel you are top contenders to win this race. Will you let them race, let him disregard team orders?GIL de FERRAN: Thank you for being as confident as you are. Have to focus on doing well and prepare well for the race.Look, hopefully these preparations will go well. If we’re in a position in the front, we have all drivers involved, I think the policy is usually the same: you have to let them race, but race with respect. I think people want to watch a 500 that is hard fought. That’s what this race is all about, whether it’s between teammates or not.You seen that in the past. I can’t remember exactly where, I think it was between Will and Montoya when they were teammates. They were fighting all the way till the end. That is what the 500 is all about. For me, I think the drivers understand that, they respect each other, and hopefully if we’re in this position, which would be very nice, those certainly are my thoughts.
Q. Gil, following last year, the moment you turned around and walked away from Indy, what would you say is the first or biggest decision you had to make to make sure nothing like that happened again?GIL de FERRAN: Well, look, nothing is guaranteed in life, either successes or failures. I always go through this review process in my own head with everything that I do, frankly. Something I’ve been doing for many years, is to analyze everything we do on a daily basis. In my mind, that’s the only way you can move forward, even within the operations and engineering, whatever task is at hand. I think you always have to review very carefully.Ultimately that was a very painful one that we had to review. But we grouped everyone together, we talked about it, dissected in every single way that you can possibly imagine. I think we became stronger because of it. We learned our lessons. As Zak mentioned earlier, this eventually led to this partnership.
Q. Zak, Lando Norris is massively popular, had some success in the virtual races. Any possibility that he could come over to INDYCAR?ZAK BROWN: Lando, it’s great racing with him. He loves other forms of motorsport. He’ll drive anything. He’s one of those guys.I think realistically, given how early he is in his F1 career, how unlikely it is that there won’t be a scheduling conflict between Monaco and Indy, because they need to be two weeks apart, not one week apart. I think on that basis, unfortunately he’s probably years away.I think he’d love to do it. I think he’d be great at it. I think he’s got a lot of time. He’s very young still to come over to Indy. We shouldn’t get our hopes up for the next first half of this decade, but who knows thereafter. He’s got a long way to go in his career.
Q. Has he shown any interest?ZAK BROWN: He’ll race anything. If I called Lando tomorrow and said, Do you want to do the Indy 500? He’d say yes. Logistically we want to be able to get that to work out. Yeah, it’s very clear Lando likes everything from karts to INDYCARS to sports cars to Formula 1 cars. No doubt he’d like to do it.THE MODERATOR: Thank you, everybody, for joining today.
Three Days of Sunoco Race Fuels North/South Events
BATAVIA, OHIO (August 11, 2020) – The stars of the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series will be at Florence Speedway, competing in three separate events, over four days. After Wednesday’s Ralph Latham Memorial, the Sunoco North/South Shootout – Presented by Lucas Oil will take place on Thursday, August 13th, paying $10,000-to-win, as a prelude to the 38th Annual Sunoco North/South 100 – Presented by Lucas Oil on August 14th-15th, paying $50,000-to-win.
Florence Speedway is also excited to announce a bonus for Thursday August 13th’s North/South Shootout, a $2,034 fast time award in memory of Doug Lee. Lee was a big supporter of racing locally and his friends have come together to give this award in his honor.
Series drivers, along with local and regional standouts, will compete in two rounds of heats on Friday with passing points being awarded for the heats to set the stage for Saturday’s B-Mains and North/South 100. The 30-lap, $2,000 to win non-qualifiers race will cap off the weekend. Open Wheel Modifieds will also be in contention each day.
Thursday’s North/South Shootout will see the pit gate open at 3 PM EDT, with the main and back gates opening at 5:30 PM EDT. On track action will get underway at 6:30 PM EDT, with hot laps and time trials, racing set to begin at 7:30 PM EDT.
On Friday, for the prelim night of the Sunoco North/South 100, the pit gate opens at 3 PM EDT, while the main and back gates open at 5:30 PM EDT. Hot laps start at 6:30 PM EDT, with racing one hour later, at 7:30 PM EDT. The pit, main, and back gates will all open at 3 PM EDT for Saturday’s North/South 100. Hot laps are set to begin at 7:00 PM EDT, with racing at 7:30 PM EDT.
Advance tickets for the Ralph Latham Memorial, Sunoco North/South Shootout, and/or the Sunoco North/South 100, are available at: http://florence.getmytix.net/tickets
For decades, Sunoco’s fuels have been associated with racing excellence. As the largest manufacturer of racing gasolines in the world, Sunoco has a 40-year track record of winning performances. With an expanded product line, Sunoco offers drivers more choices than ever before. To find your nearest dealer visit www.racegas.com and use our fuel finder to locate Sunoco HCR Plus or any of the other blends that fit your needs. You can also call 800-RACEGAS to speak with an engineer to help you decide on which one of our blends is best for your application. For the performance your engine is designed to deliver, consistently choose Sunoco Race Fuels. For more information, visit: sunocoracefuels.com Jimmy Owens leads the Lucas Oil Championship Standings heading into the weekend. Jonathan Davenport currently trails Owens by 300 points. Rounding out the top five are: Josh Richards in third, Tyler Erb in fourth, and Tim McCreadie in fifth.
Chevy racing–indycar–indianapolis 500–simon pagenaud
CHEVROLET RACING NTT INDYCAR SERIES INDIANAPOLIS 500 INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEEDWAY INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA TEAM CHEVY DRIVER ZOOM CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET AUGUST 10, 2020
SIMON PAGENAUD, NO. 22 MENARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, MET WITH MEMBERS OF THE MEDIA ON A ZOOM CALL. FULL TRANSCRIPT:
Q. Simon as we’re headed into the month of August, qualifying coming up on the horizon as the defending pole winner and the defending Indy 500 winner, what are your thoughts? PAGENAUD: Yes, it is finally time to get to Indianapolis. This been my number one priority for several years now and it’s it’s an honor to come back being the reigning champion is a very special feeling. It’s obviously a mythical race the biggest race in the world in a lot of people opinion. But in my opinion for sure and coming here being the defending champion just allows you to you know, feel a lot less personal pressure just allows me to be a lot more focus on doing the right thing and not worrying about the result and I do believe when you don’t worry about result things come together better. So so I’m very excited about this this chance to go back to the Speedway and and just focus on on the performance and being in the moment. So very excited the team’s been preparing really well as you know, anyways, I called Team Penske the speed lab and they’re very impressive at building racecars with a lot of speed and that’s what you wanted to Speedway. So huge confidence going in. We don’t know what tomorrow is about that’s for sure but obviously we have really good foundation and an amazing team behind us or for three drivers actually for all four with Helio (Castroneves), so it’s exciting to get back to to the speedway and it’s August but it feels like May, so I can’t wait to be there actually tomorrow great.
Q. What is the Indy 500 going to be like without fans? Talk about how much you’ll miss having them around. How different will it be for you? PAGENAUD: Well, yeah, it’s you know, it’s been a big news last week and it but I felt very sad for the fans and felt very sad for Roger Penske as well, you know who is passionate about the race and he’s been doing so much work at the Speedway to please the fans and to make it an even more impressive event that you know, he’s my team owner but it’s also the series owner and the speedway owner. So it felt sad for him that you know, it was going to be a different race here. But you know, we have the chance to display what we do and display it in the best manner with NBC Sports Network and you know we’ve with that a an amazing race last year with Rossi and hopefully there is a battle that’s just as exciting for the fans but it definitely is going to feel different the energy is going to be different. It’s going to feel flat. No no reason, but to to think differently it won’t feel as energetic. It won’t feel like like, you know, it’s like it’s it’s going to be very different but it is the biggest race in the world and the fastest race in the world been very excited to get going and to please people with this competition. That’s really what I’m looking forward to right now.
Q. With all the simulation I wanted to ask you about whether your four driving syles between the four you guys have they gotten further apart because of the additional demands of the aero screen or have you actually come closer together? How close are you form setups? PAGENAUD: Well, I don’t think it’s changed all that much in terms of delta between each other. I think we’re all trying to figure out what the car needs and as a team, I think we all working to try and understand how we could make the tires with the best way this added weight to the car and it certainly added stress to the tires and obviously as you can imagine on a Speedway with this kind of speed the centrifuge all forces when you add weight to the front of the car changes the behavior around the corner or the radius of the car around the corner. So those are things that we all noticed and we’re going to have to work with it in the next few days. The fact that it’s a condensed schedule is a bit stressful because we don’t know what to expect very much yet. So it’s we’re going to have to make decisions quickly and be sure that it’s the right decision. Because we won’t have as much time as usual to go back to the pads and set the car up precise me, so it would be be more like a Pocono weekend. It’s going to be a yeah, it’s going to be a some interesting but still I think it hasn’t really changed all that much. It’s just about who hits the set of the best.
Q. Simon what has been the most difficult for you this season? PAGENAUD: I think it’s the unexpected quite frankly Ricardo. It’s you know, we don’t know what tomorrow is about. We don’t know, you know, like a week ago. We were racing in Mid, Ohio and all of a sudden we’re not and you know you prepare yourself. You can regimen of training nutrition hydration preparation for an event and then it has been canceled. It’s it’s not easy to switch your mind to the next thing when you had a goal in mind but for Indianapolis personally Ricardo, it’s my number one goal and he always has been since 2016 end of 2016. That’s my number one goal and that’s my main focus every year. So that’s the race. I look forward to the most that honestly we work with the most focus on and I know it’s happening this weekend and the next one. I’m very excited about it. So just want to get there and get going strap in my car and get to feel good to feel what it’s like.
Q. You talked about how little time you may get in the car that might be compounded by the weather forecast for this week. Unfortunately, whether sort of forecasted for every day, so how much time do you feel like you need in the car to really feel comfortable for qualifying and just kind of setting yourself up for success in two weekends?PAGENAUD: I don’t quite know yet, but I think you’re right. I think you know, we all know that there’s change to thunderstorms a mile to the preparation. But at the end of the day, you know, it’s going to be the same for everybody. So, you know, the best is going to win and that’s that’s key to the keys right there the keys to being the best. So every decisions we’re going to make we’re gonna have to make sure that it’s the right one to me. I put even more emphasis on the communication with my engineer understanding what my teammates are trying also to try to understand the whole process. But at the end of the day, I need to focus on exactly what I need and and clear-cut decisions. That’s really all it’s all about. And if we have very little testing and be the same for everybody we all going to end up racing at the end and you know, it’s I welcome my experience up to this point. I think I think experience could be a big help this year.
Q. How is the extended wait to defend the 500 affected your stress and or anticipation level and how you approach the first how you approach the first few months of the season.PAGENAUD: Yeah, it’s it’s been a long wait. That’s for sure the anticipation I would say. Yeah, it’s been a serious anticipation on my part just because I love that race. I love the event and I want to go back. I just want to it’s my favorite race and not only because I want it is my favorite race. It’s the favorite feel I get throughout the entire year in the race car, and I’ve learned to learn and learn to love it and it sucks when you don’t get to do what you love. So, you know, I was very worried we weren’t going to race this year. So I’m relieved that we are going to get to race, but it’s a pain that we won’t have any fans. That’s for sure. But we get to do what we love we get to show what we love once again, and to me to me, that’s everything so I go I can’t wait for tomorrow wake up get to the airport and and then talk to my engineer tomorrow afternoon.
Q. Last year you had the whole month of May to really build up some momentum and get into a rhythm. Just the disjointed part of this season make it difficult for you to sort of find anywhere them or build momentum will feel really confident. Heading into start on Wednesday.PAGENAUD: It is different for sure. Its up and downs and up and downs. It’s a bit of a roller coaster this year. You know, I thought going into Mid-Ohio. I felt some sort of momentum going and I was like, that’s perfect timing just before Indy and it suddenly stopped and it was it was abrupt. I did not expect that. I wasn’t ready for it to be canceled quite frankly. It took a few days for me, to stop training on the simulator for a road course and just switch to oval but but thankfully like I said earlier and many times. It’s my number one priority is always been Indy. So that’s the one I’ve been looking forward to the most and if there was only one race this year that I would be okay with just being Indy. So, you know, it’s it is a different year. It’s kind of weird quite frankly. I don’t have the right words probably but it’s just a roller coaster up and down emotions.
Q. How much is mental preparation? How much does that play into this?PAGENAUD: To me plays a lot. It is what helps me calm down, you know, like for example, this is rollercoaster of emotion. I’ve done a lot of work trying to make things, you know stable and trying to know where I’m going mentally speaking and trying to influence my subconscious as much as possible. So yes to me, I believe 85% of the drivers performance is is the mental side of things. So I work a lot on that and it’s been working well for me so far.
Q. Simon good afternoon, my friend wanted to ask you about the opportunity to take the Borg order to France in your trip home after winning the 500 last year. What was your biggest takeaway from that? Is there a moment from that trip that still sticks with you here A year later. PAGENAUD: Yes. Yes a lot of moments actually, but the first one that came to my mind is those pictures and seeing the Borg with the Effel Tower in the background, you know, we had a huge press conference with all the media coming to see the Borg Warner in a nice hotel and we chose that hotel because it had the Effel Tower in the background and it was such a weird photo because the Borg Warner is not supposed to be in France. So it’s you know, first of all, it was awesome that Borg Warner and IndyCar wanted to do that for me as a champion. It was a very special great gesture and taking it to my hometown. So just so you know just to Picture This we’re talking about 6,500 people. That’s my hometown it from one end to the other hand of the tail. It’s two minutes by car. That’s it. And you know, and you know, I know everybody so and you know everybody from school. I know everybody from the hospital and everybody from the grocery store the the flow people. I mean, it’s just incredible and everybody were just so excited about it that I sign autographs for more than four hours. It was awesome. So it’s just the fact that you know, there’s a my world here in the US and I’ve been very welcome here and my career has taken off here in the US and been very blessed and I was able to take my world in the US to my world in France and to combine them were very emotional moments. Very emotional.
Q. You are one of eight former winners in this year’s race having that designation of being a winner for the rest of your life. How important to you is that distinction going into, you know, coming back to the track. PAGENAUD: its massive its massive. It’s you know, I actually had a conversation with Haley my wife last night. I was like, you know, it’s you know, it’s those moments when you just relax, you sit on the couch. And you say Hey, you know, I feel really good going in this year because I don’t have that pressure of knowing if I ever will put my name on that race or if I will have a chance to experience winning it so, you know when you’ve done it, it’s such a relief. It’s such a satisfying knowledge, you know, it’s it’s looking back at what you’ve done and your trophies and knowing that you’ve climbed the highest peak in racing. So to me, that’s very special. It’s it’s a chance also now to raise a lot more free so I can just focus on myself a lot more and not worry about the outcome as much and to me it’s always been something. I think it’s for any athlete is something difficult to do to be able to part the outcome and not think about it while you’re race and I think that athletes that struggle to do that struggle more than others. So now I don’t have to worry about this at all. I can just go forward and that’s that’s that’s something I’m really excited about.
Q. Why don’t guys often win back-to-back 500 you don’t see that real often and second part of that is why will you?PAGENAUD: I would answer to the first one is that just as hard as it is to win it once you know, it’s not because you want it once that you’re going to win it twice and it’s not because you’ve won it that you’re entitled to win it again, and I think you know, we all say it but that race does seem to choose a winner. Now you can do everything you can to win it. You can you know, make sure that you put everything in order. That you can make all the right decisions and bring your A-game on that day that you can do all that stuff. But at the end of the day something might take it away from you and it is the way it is. It’s only once a year. So all I can tell you Brant is that it is probably very hard to do it, especially consecutively. It’s probably almost impossible, but I believe in my chances and you know, I’m not thinking too much about last year. I’m just trying to go into this race. And like I said earlier just making sure that we iron everything and we don’t leave any details any stone unturned. That’s really my main focus this year and make sure that the race car suits me so I can do something like I showed you I can do last year. So that’s really my goal.
Q. What is the feeling going into the Indianapolis 500 this year with Roger owning the track . PAGENAUD: I’m very proud to know Roger quite frankly. I think he’s a he’s a monument of racing is a monument of business in general and him, you know, I think it’s just the story. That he has is just incredible. If you think about the first time we all went to the Indy 500 and if you ever thought about buying the speedway and if you end up doing it in your life is quite an incredible, but it’s that kind of man. You know, he’s that kind of man that can do the impossible. You can make it happen and I’m very proud to be going to Speedway as as his driver as as my car owner. I would say and I want to make him proud by winning. Frankly, I would like to be the driver to win his first Indy 500 as a team or as an owner of the speedway, but like I said, there’s a lot ahead of us just very excited about the future of IndyCar and the Speedway and have seen firsthand. Some of the Improvement is made to the Speedway. It’s very unfortunate. The fans are not going to see it because there’s a lot that has been done already and enhancement of the places is going to be incredible in the future. So very very excited for the fans to see what it’s like in the future.
Q You will miss the crowd in this Indy 500. PAGENAUD: Yes. Yes. It’s you know last year. I said it that’s I use the energy of the crowd is, you know, I’m a very very spiritual person as pragmatic as I can be with the race car. I am a very spiritual person for those who know me personally, they will tell you that but I I use the energy of the crowd to prepare me and give me give me wings. This year will be different, you know test sessions are not that exciting when there’s no fans in in the grandstand. But but the exciting part is to drive the race car at this track and when you know the history of the place when you know, the previous winners and the stories that have been going on for more than a century and you’re part of that. So so, you know as a driver, I just feel blessed I get to go back and I get to race it. It’s it’s quite quite a great feeling
Racer’s Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo Goes Flag-To-Flag For Sunday Sonoma Win
Racer’s Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo Goes Flag-To-Flag For Sunday Sonoma Win
Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock lead every lap in dominant Sunday victory
Racers Edge Acura NSX GT3 Evo wins poles for both Somona GT events
SONOMA, Calif. (August 9, 2020) – The Racers Edge Motorsports #93 Acura NSX GT3 Evo showed its power on a sunny Sonoma weekend as the Silver Class driver pairing of Trent Hindman and Shelby Blackstock won Sunday’s SRO Motorsport GT series race in wire-to-wire fashion.
The striking red-and-white Acura NSX ruled Friday qualifying, winning the poles for Saturday’s and Sunday’s races around the 2.499-mile Sonoma Raceway. The team used the top starting spot to take a huge lead in Saturday’s race before a penalty blunted its charge, but there was no such drama on Sunday as Hindman and Blackstock dominated all 51 laps.
Hindman led Sunday’s event and was running away from the field before the driver change window opened up, only to see the advantage erased by a lengthy caution period for contact between two GT Sports Club competitors. Undaunted, Hindman sprinted away from the field on the Lap 13 restart and built a sizeable lead heading into the mandatory driver change pit stop.
A flawless driver change saw the Racer’s Edge team widen its advantage over the Mercedes of Colin Braun, and Blackstock spent the rest of his afternoon expanding the lead on his way to the checkered flag. The victory was the third of the year for the #93 team and its first since it swept the opening weekend at Circuit of the Americas.
Unfortunately, a pit-lane issue ended the team’s run to Victory Lane in Saturday’s opener. Having held the lead from the drop of the green flag, the team pitted too early to make its mandatory driver change, resulting in an 87-second penalty. The miscue dropped the team to sixth in the final results, although the duo did earn a victory in the Silver class.
The Racer’s Edge team played one car short this weekend in Sonoma as the defending series Pro/Am champion #80 Acura NSX GT3 Evo driven by Martin Barkey and Kyle Marcelli was unable to compete due to complications with travel restrictions brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. The team is hoping to be back in action for Rounds 7 and 8.
The win this weekend is the fourth in six GT World Challenge races for the Acura NSX GT3 Evo, which won team championships in both IMSA GTD and the SRO GT World Challenge series in 2019. The car, sold and supported by HPD in North America, runs in both Sprint and Endurance racing competition around the world.
Social media content and video links from this weekend’s Acura Motorsports activity at Sonoma Raceway are available on HPD’s Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/HondaRacingHPD) and on Twitter at (https://twitter.com/HondaRacing_HPD).
Next
The GT World Challenge Series will journey back across the country for Rounds 7 and 8 of the 2020 season, which take place at the 4.048-mile permanent road course at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, August 28-30.
Quotes
Trent Hindman (#93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo): I am really proud to be part of this Racer’s Edge Motorsports crew. They gave us a fantastic Acura NSX GT3 and Shelby did a hell of a job in the race and with the qualifying.”
Shelby Blackstock (#93 Racers Edge Motorsports Acura NSX GT3 Evo): “We WON race 2!! Every part of today’s race was executed to perfection! Started from the pole, Trent [Hindman, starting driver]
had a killer first stint, the Racers Edge Motorsports team produced an amazing pit stop, getting our total pit delta down to .8 of a second! Thank you boys!! Let’s keep it going!”
34th Annual Lucas Oil Ralph Latham Memorial – Presented by E3 Spark Plugs Kicks off Four Days at Florence Speedway
BATAVIA, OHIO (August 10, 2020) – On Wednesday, August 12th, race teams will vie for a $12,000 top prize in the 34th Lucas Oil Annual Ralph Latham Memorial – Presented by E3 Spark Plugs, to kick off four days of competition at Florence Speedway.
Pit gate opens at 3 PM EDT, on Wednesday, for the Ralph Latham Memorial, with the main and back gates opening at 5:30 PM EDT. On track action will get underway at 6:30 PM EDT, with hot laps, and time trials, racing set to begin at 7:30 PM EDT. In addition to the Lucas Dirt Series, Modifieds will also have a complete show with a 20 lap A-Main paying $1,000-to-win.
With five back-to-back winners in the event’s history, last year’s Series Champion, Jonathan Davenport looks to add his name to that list.
Advance tickets for the Ralph Latham Memorial, North/South Shootout, and/or the North/South 100, are available at: http://florence.getmytix.net/tickets
Jimmy Owens leads the Lucas Oil Championship Standings heading into the weekend. Jonathan Davenport currently trails Owens by 300 points. Rounding out the top five are: Josh Richards in third, Tyler Erb in fourth, and Tim McCreadie in fifth. Track and Event Information:Florence Speedway
Phone Number: 859-485-7591Location: 12234 US Hwy 42, Walton, KY 41094Directions: I-75 to exit 180, then 9.2 miles SW on US 42Website: www.florencespeedway.com
Florence Speedway Tire Rule:August 12thLeft Rear/Fronts – Hoosier Rib (28.5) 1350Right Rear – Hoosier (29.0) 1350 NRM, (29.0) 1350 NRMW, (92) LM40*Must use the same set of 4 tires for Time Trials, Heat Races, and B-Main.*For the A-Main, competitors may use 2 new rear tires.*Flat tire must be replaced with a used tire of the same compound and construction to retain starting position.
chevy racing–nascar–daytona–chase elliott
NASCAR CUP SERIES GO BOWLING 235 AT THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT August 10, 2020
CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE, met with media via teleconference, and discussed the challenges for the new Daytona Road Course race without any on-track practice, the benefits utilizing iRacing and the Chevrolet simulator to prepare, his opinion of the new Choose Rule, racing at Bristol, and more. Full Transcript:
A LOT OF THE CHATTER IS ‘WHAT’S WRONG WITH CHASE ELLIOTT’, BUT YOU HAVE THREE STRAIGHT TOP-10’S, SO ARE YOU STRUGGLING, OR NOT?“Well, at least there’s chatter about us. I guess that’s better than not. Yeah, I think we’re struggling a little bit, for sure. I think on one hand, historically the Pocono, Indy, Kentucky, and Texas tracks have been, I would say, historically poor for me, personally. Maybe not from a stat sheet or whatever in some cases, but I think those tracks have been a problem a little bit in the past. So, I’m not as surprised to struggle with those places. But certainly, I thought we would do a little better at Kansas and thought we would be maybe a little better at Michigan. I feel like our success came early there at Michigan. We had some really good runs there in my rookie year and then in that second year. But really, since then I feel like we’ve even struggled there.
“So yes, I do. I feel we’re not performing as we should. Not performing as we expect. Not performing to our full potential, you know? Whether that’s me or whatever it is, I certainly expect more of all of us, myself included. So yes, I think we’re off.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO BRISTOL, THAT’S MORE OF AN EQUALIZER WHEN IT COMES TO RACE TRACKS, BEING A SHORT TRACK, NOT AS MUCH AERO INVOLVED. DO YOU HAVE A LOVE/HATE RELATIONSHIP WHERE YOU’VE LED A LOT OF LAPS BUT HAVEN’T ALWAYS GOTTEN THE FINISH THAT YOU DESERVE; AND YET YOU DID WIN THE ALL-STAR THERE? ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO GOING TO THE NIGHT RACE AT BRISTOL NEXT MONTH?“Yeah, I’m definitely excited to go to Bristol. Coming off a win there is great. And like you said, I feel like we’ve had some really good runs there in the past; not always the results to show it, but yeah, I look forward to going. I do think that even the short track side of things I think it can exploit all of your struggle spots, whatever that may be. For whatever reason, the All-Star race went really well, and that’s really, I feel like, been the only race that we’ve performed like I know we can; heck, over the past month and a half. So yeah, I’m looking forward to going there although we all know that a good run there in the past does not guarantee you a good run next time. But I’m certainly looking forward to trying again.”
LOOKING AHEAD TO THIS WEEKEND AT THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE, WITH THE 2020 SCHEDULE BEING CRAZY AND THE RESTART AND EVERYTHING ELSE, WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO OUT OF THIS PARTICULAR WEEKEND IN A FIRST-TIME RUN ON A ROAD COURSE AT DAYTONA?“I think this weekend is going to be a big time challenge for everyone. I think the one guy that I look at that really has a leg up is Kyle (Busch), having come off that 24-hour event (Rolex 24) this year. In fact, I think if we all knew that we were going to be doing this road course, you probably would have seen all of us trying to get in that 24-Hour race this year to go and do it. But you never know with things like that. I think it’s going to be a challenge. I think it’s going to be a fun challenge for everyone. I’ve never entered a race like that where you literally just have no idea what to expect. Road racing, in my opinion, is a lot about brake-markers and a lot about visual aids and these nuances around the track that you can see with your eyes to help with your hands and your feet do the right things at the right times. Heck, I have no idea where I need to stop on Turn 1 on Sunday; or (Turn) 2 or (Turn) 3 and all the way back around to the Start/Finish Line.
“So, I think that’s going to be super, super difficult for everybody. And it’s going to be one of those things where you have to creep up on it and it’s a hard guess. You know, we can run in the SIM’s and iRacing and all those things until we’re blue in the face. But ultimately that doesn’t, in my opinion, give you the visual aids that you need to do the right things at the right times. The only way to get that is (with) laps around the race track and 65 laps is not really a ton of time to figure those things out. So, learn and learn fast and try not to make any big time mistakes in doing it.”
YOU ARE ONE OF THE DRIVERS ON SATURDAY DURING THE MICHIGAN RACE THAT USED THE CHOOSE RULE TO YOUR ADVANTAGE. CAN YOU TAKE US THROUGH THE PROCESS OF HOW YOU MADE DECISIONS AND WHAT YOU THOUGHT OF EVERYTHING AND ANY TWEAKS THAT NEED TO BE MADE GOING FORWARD?“I think the rule is good. I thought that it opened up options. To me, the biggest thing about it is the way you come off pit road doesn’t determine your destiny, which I think is the right thing. It eliminates the games leaving pit road. And too, I think in a lot of ways, it almost puts a little more stock in your pit stop because although it doesn’t necessarily determine whether or not you’re going to be odd or even, but it does allow to pick ahead of a car or two if you are able to beat those people off of pit road. So, it doesn’t take any of the importance out of having a fast pit stop because choosing before the next guy is still important, but it does allow you to pick. And, I think if things work out for you, great. And like I’ve said before, if you choose the wrong lane, there’s nobody else to blame it on but yourself. So, I think that’s really the way it should be, and I like that we’re doing that now.
“And, I can’t say that I had some super-smart, genius way, of picking lane, but on a couple of those restarts there, it worked out and I had the right pusher. Brad (Keselowski) gave me a great push there on Saturday. That was why we got the lead. And then out front, obviously Kevin (Harvick) was still very fast. Do I think he was going to be really hard to hold off those last 10 or 11 laps? Absolutely. But it gave us an option that we might not have had otherwise.”
WITH SO MUCH CONTRACT TALK THIS PAST WEEK AND ESPECIALLY THE TALK ABOUT WHO IS GOING TO END UP IN THE NO. 48 CAR, WHO DO YOU PERSONALLY WANT TO SEE REPLACE JIMMIE JOHNSON NEXT YEAR IN THAT CAR?“I’d love for Jimmie to stay. How about that? I think Jimmie is a great guy and I enjoy having him as my teammate; so, I’m lobbying for him.”
HOW MUCH TIME HAVE YOU GOTTEN ON THE SIMULATOR ON THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE OR HAVE YOU DONE ANY IRACING OR GOTTEN ANY SORT OF PRACTICE WHATSOEVER? AND WHAT CONCERNS YOU ABOUT THE COURSE, GOING IN COLD?“I think a lot of it I mentioned there at the beginning; so, I don’t want to double-up on the same comments. But, pretty much everything I said there to start. I’ve run some laps on iRacing. When I messed around with it on iRacing, it didn’t have that chicane there on the front straightaway, which they added; or I guess it’s there and will be there for the race weekend. So yeah, I’m planning on going to the Chevy SIM this week and just try to get some laps. I really think you have to be really smart about how you take that information and apply it to real life because although you can make laps, and maybe get yourself familiar with the course, those visual aids on IRacing or the Chevrolet SIM, are never going to be exactly right.
“The sponsor logos change on the wall every time you go. You might have a section of grass that isn’t green, or it is dead, that you might use as a brake point. All those things are just so dynamic that I think it’s hard to take that to a simulator to real life. So, when I go to the SIM, I’m going to just try to take a super step back, like generalized approach, and try to learn the big things about the course and the layout; but I think it’s going to be really hard to fine tune. And I almost think you’re better off not trying to fine tune because I would rather have no information than to gather wrong information going into an event like that cold turkey.”
ON THE DAYTONA ROAD COURSE REPLACING WATKINS GLEN THIS YEAR, WHAT’S YOUR TAKE ON NOT GOING TO THE GLEN SINCE YOU’VE WON THERE THE PAST TWO YEARS?“Obviously we’ve had a good couple of years up there so it would have been nice to go back and try again. But ultimately, I get it. And, I’m glad to see that they’ve put a road course on the schedule that was feasible and an option to do. So, I certainly don’t have anything bad to say about it, honestly. I understand the reasoning behind it and I appreciate NASCAR’s flexibility in being able to change things up and get a road course on the schedule in place of a road course. It’s really, honestly, about all we could ask for, I think. And, I think it will be a really big challenge for all the drivers which, I think, is good. We’re supposed to be challenged and we’re supposed to be the top of our sport of stock car racing. So yeah, I don’t see anything wrong with it.”
WILL YOU REACH OUT TO ANY OF THE GUYS WHO HAVE RACED THE ROLEX 24 TO TRY TO GET SOME IDEAS AND SOME HINTS OF WHAT TO DO? THEY ALL SEEM TO SAY THE BIGGEST ISSUES WILL BE IN THE BRAKING ZONES.“Yeah, I think so. And, I think we need to exploit the Chevrolet-side of things with the Corvette program and the Cadillac programs that they do there on the IMSA-side of things. We have a lot of access to that. So absolutely. I plan on doing that some. Those cars are very different from our cars and they are very high-performance and stop way better and corner faster and all those things, so it is different. But, road course racing, I think, we’ve seen guys come over from that world and come to stock car racing and have a lot of success because I think a lot of the fundamentals of road racing are probably, although I’ve never driven one of those cars, but seeing how they’ve come over and had success, I would have to think they are fundamentally similar in braking and when to be on the brakes and when to be off the brakes and when to do the max braking and when to not, I think are probably all a similar mindset. It’s just going to be your distances and your gaps and things are going to be way different. So just kind of figuring that out, I do think they can offer some good insight to maybe little things around the race track that we can use to our advantage.”
FORD PERFORMANCE SWEEPS MICHIGAN AND ROAD AMERICA
BROOKLYN, MI – August 10, 2020 – Ford Performance and Roush Yates Engines won at Road America with Austin Cindric and swept the double header at Michigan International Speedway with Kevin Harvick. Cindric’s win marked his fourth win in the 2020 season and the ninth win for Ford Performance in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Harvick’s wins marked three in-a-row in the NASCAR Cup Series for Stewart-Haas Racing and six in-a-row at MIS for Ford Performance teams and Roush Yates Engines. |
| “What an incredible weekend!” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “The weekend started off with an impressive run and win by Austin Cindric at Road America then ended with Kevin Harvick sweeping Michigan! Winning at Michigan has always been special for our team and the Ford family. It feels great to be able to keep the Heritage trophy in Dearborn.” |
| The NASCAR Cup Series had an action-packed weekend with a double header at Michigan International Speedway. Harvick dominated on Saturday afternoon, winning both stages and the FireKeepers Casino 400. Harvick‘s fast Ford Mustang was out front the majority of the afternoon, leading a race-high 92 of the 161 laps. |
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| As the laps wound down, the competition began to heat up. There were five restarts in the final 30 laps, including an overtime finish, that forced Harvick, “The Closer”, to close out the win just 0.284 seconds in front of Ford Performance teammate Brad Keselowski. Ryan Blaney also had a strong day, leading 27 laps, top five finish in both stages, and finishing P4. Joey Logano led 18 laps while finishing P8. |
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| “This was just an awesome car to drive today,” Harvick said. “I think the confidence is high when we come to Michigan anyway. It‘s a race track that‘s been really good to us and for whatever reason just fits our style of cars, everything we do with our cars at Stewart-Haas Racing.” |
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| Sunday’s Michigan race was more of the same, with Harvick winning stage two and the race. Harvick led a race-high 90 of 156 laps. This was his sixth victory of the season, his fifth at Michigan and the 55th of his Cup Series career, tying him with Rusty Wallace on the series’ all-time win list. |
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| Harvick had to hold off a hard charging Denny Hamlin in the closing laps of the Consumers Energy 400 on Sunday. “It was a big challenge.” said Harvick. “Our Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang got really tight there in three and four. I could run really good through one and two still, but I was just tight on that other end all day. So, I’ve just got to thank all my guys. They did a great job all weekend on pit road. Great pit calls. Just got to thank Haas Automation, Mobil 1, Hunt Brothers, Jimmy Johns, Fields. Everybody who helps put this No. 4 car on the track and everybody at Stewart-Haas Racing and Roush Yates Engines for awesome power underneath the hood this weekend.” |
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| For Sunday’s race, Logano finished P5, Aric Almirola P6, and Matt DiBenedetto had a great run, finishing P7. Clint Bowyer also led 43 laps while winning stage one. |
| On Saturday afternoon the NASCAR Xfinity Series took on Road America, a 4.048-mile road course in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Cindric dove into Turn 1 taking the lead after the green flag dropped and led the opening eight laps before cars were called to pit road due to lightning in the area. After more than an hour of delay, teams returned to their cars. |
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| The entire race was filled with ever changing weather conditions that made pit road strategy crucial. Heavy rain showers during the race forced teams to change to rain tires, but once the sun came out it was a race back to the slick tires. |
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| The race win came down to a three-lap shootout between Cindric and AJ Allmendinger. Cindric came out on top, achieving his fourth win of the year while leading a race high of 19 laps. Chase Briscoe fought hard and was in contention to win all day while finishing P3, his sixth top-five in the last seven races. |
| Ford leads all manufacturers with 13 NASCAR Cup series wins and nine Xfinity series wins. Stewart-Haas Racing and Harvick lead the owner and driver points standings in NCS and Cindric along with Team Penske lead the owner and driver points standing in the NXS. Both the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity series will head to Daytona International Speedway to run the road course for the first time ever! Reference the full 2020 schedule on Roushyates.com. 27 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 401 WINS – 357 POLES! |
Late Restart Lifts DiBenedetto To A Seventh-Place Finish At Michigan
August 9, 2020
A late-race charge following a pit stop propelled Matt DiBenedetto and his No. 21 NewFordTech.com Mustang to a seventh-place finish in Sunday’s Consumers Energy 400 at Michigan International Speedway. It was DiBenedetto’s seventh top-10 finish of the season, and coupled with the seven points he earned from a fourth-place finish in Stage One, he now has a 57-point cushion in the Playoff standings with four regular-season races left before the start of the Playoffs.
DiBenedetto started Sunday’s 312-mile race from sixth place as the line-up was set by a partial inversion of the finishing order from Saturday’s race at Michigan, where he finished 15th.
Taking advantage of the track position he started with and some major overnight adjustments to the NewFordTech.com Mustang, DiBenedetto quickly drove up to third place then ended the first 40-lap Stage in fourth place, earning seven points.
In Stage Two he dropped out of the top 10, finishing in 12th place, but was soon back in the top 10. He raced his way back up to third place but had dropped back to 10th place when the race’s final caution flag flew with 19 laps remaining.
DiBenedetto was one of two drivers in the top 20 to head to pit road, and he fell back in line in 19th place then moved up six spot by taking the less-preferred inside line when it came time to choose. When the green flag dropped to start a 15-lap dash to the finish, DiBenedetto used his skills in traffic on restarts to quickly gobble up seven more positions before eventually losing one, which left him in seventh place.
DiBenedetto said he and crew chief Greg Erwin could never get the NewFordTech.com Mustang handling just like he wanted, but they kept working at it and made the most of the day.
“We were really struggling [Saturday], and our team worked super-hard and made some good improvements so we could at least run further up there,” he said. “We didn’t play a lot of defense all day and had to drive the thing for all it was worth…
“We hung tough. We had a monster restart there at the end and were able to drive our way up there and get a good finish.
“It felt really good to get to go on offense there at the end.”
DiBenedetto said he likes NASCAR’s new choose rule, which has been implemented at tracks other than road courses and superspeedways. It lets drivers choose which lane they will be in for restarts.
DiBenedetto said that after studying the way the choosing works, he’s decided to let his spotter Doug Campbell make the call on which lane to choose.
“It puts a lot of pressure on Doug, but I feel better with that decision in his hands,” he said.
DiBenedetto also said he’s cautiously optimistic about his Playoff chances but knows there is a lot of racing left in the regular season.
“You always want more points,” he said. “I feel good about how we’ve been running. We’ve been racking up some solid points, but you never know what can happen in these races.
“If we keep on doing what we’re doing, hopefully the rest will take care of itself.”
DiBenedetto and the No. 21 team return to work next Sunday for the first-ever Cup Series race on the road course at Daytona International Speedway.
Long-awaited HEMI®-powered Win for Capps at Indianapolis
Comes at Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals Presented by Pennzoil
· Third-seeded Ron Capps takes Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) HEMI-powered Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car to winner’s circle at the Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals presented by Pennzoil
· Capps’ win at Indianapolis is the first of his 26-year career at Lucas Oil Raceway and was the only remaining track where he hadn’t yet come away with a trophy
· Ninth consecutive Funny Car final round appearance for a DSR Dodge SRT Hellcat entry dating back to September 2019
· DSR is now one wally trophy away from an unprecedented NHRA milestone 350 national event wins
· No. 1 qualifier Tommy Johnson Jr. takes the lead in Funny Car standings despite disappointing quarterfinal loss
· DSR Dodge fleet of Funny Cars now 1-2-3-4 in the championship points race
· No. 3 qualifier Leah Pruett drives Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye dragster to a third semi-final appearance of the year and is third in battle for Top Fuel championship title
Aug. 9, 2020, Brownsburg, Ind. – There was only one track in Ron Capps’ storied 26-year career where a national event victory had eluded him, but the Don Schumacher Racing (DSR) veteran Funny Car driver finally checked the historic Indianapolis dragstrip off that list by driving his HEMI-powered Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat to the winner’s circle at the Dodge NHRA Indy Nationals presented by Pennzoil.
“Leave it to 2020 to get my first win at Indianapolis,” said Capps of the emotional and long-awaited victory. “For a driver to be able to say that he’s won at every track on the (NHRA) circuit is pretty incredible and it shows you the talent that I’ve had around me since I started my career.”
“For Dodge to jump in and to win a Dodge race for them and Pennzoil, means something,” adds Capps. “This is hallowed ground and I really started to wonder if I would ever win here. It may not be the U.S. Nationals, but maybe we broke the yolk. This is still a place that has so many great memories and such a great rich history.”
After qualifying third, Capps drove his HEMI-powered ride through eliminations with wins over Tim Wilkerson, Blake Alexander, and Bob Tasca, earning lane choice along the way over his final round opponent, J.R. Todd and then his first win of the year. It was Capps’ first final round appearance since his 2019 win at Brainerd.
Capps’ 64th career Funny Car victory, second only to John Force (151) on the all-time win list, was earned at the third Indianapolis-based event since the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Mello Yello Drag Racing Series’ returned to racing following a four-month hiatus due to the on-going pandemic, and saw the 2016 world champion bounce back from a pair of disappointing first-round losses to DSR teammates in the first two events.
“The last two weeks were hard with these two races here,” says Capps who jumped up two positions to fourth place in the championship points battle. “After the break, we came back and knew that we were on limited time to make a run in the points. We came back from the hiatus and I didn’t get a whole lot of laps in the car. We didn’t get to do a whole lot of testing like some other teams did. The one saving grace is that I’ve got a great team and (Rahn) Tobler gives me a great car so that helped. I just haven’t had a whole lot of confidence mainly because we haven’t had a whole lot of runs. We’ve been knocked out first round so this helped me a bunch. This was a feel good weekend on many different fronts; my confidence is back and Tobler found his racecar.”
With the win, DSR extends a streak of nine consecutive final round appearances for one of their Dodge Charger SRT Hellcats that dates back to September 2019 (Charlotte), and puts the team just one victory away from an unprecedented NHRA milestone of 350 national event wins.
The DSR Dodge Charger foursome is also now 1-2-3-4 in the Funny Car championship points standings with each driver having earned a Wally (trophy) of their own this year to date (and one rain postponed final (Indy 2) between Matt Hagan and Jack Beckman yet to be run during the U.S. Nationals.)
Taking over the lead in the championship chase from teammate Beckman is Tommy Johnson Jr. who came into race day with a win (Phoenix) and his second No. 1 qualifier position in three races aboard his MD Anderson Dodge, but fell short of adding more points to his lead after a quarterfinal loss to Paul Lee.
Seeded second for eliminations, Hagan and his Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Redeye remain third in the standings after a first round win over Beckman but encountering a setback in the quarterfinals with a loss to Bob Tasca.
After advancing to the final round of eliminations in three of four national events this season, Beckman’s difficulties in qualifying put him at a disadvantage for the first time this year with a 15th place on the eliminations ladder. His first-round loss dropped him into second place in the Funny Car championship battle from his position as points leader which he had held since the start of the season.
In Top Fuel competition, Leah Pruett drove her demon-red, black and chrome Mopar Dodge SRT Hellcat Redeye dragster from a No. 3 seeded position on the eliminations ladder through to a semifinal match up against Steve Torrence after victories over Shawn Langdon and Pat Dakin. It was her third semifinal appearance this season and while she is still chasing a win this season, Pruett is third in the Top Fuel rankings.
The next scheduled events on the ever-changing calendar are the NHRA Southern Nationals, slated to take place in Atlanta, Ga, on Aug, 28-30, followed by the prestigious NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis on Sept. 3-6.
NOTES and QUOTES:
Jack Beckman, Infinite Hero Foundation Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 15 Qualifier – 4.621 seconds at 179.90 mph)
Round 1: (0.045-second reaction time, 4.293 seconds at 219.01 mph) lost to No. 2 Matt Hagan (0.066/3.993/296.50
“I’ve never been done on Sunday at 10:40 in the morning. It’s a surreal feeling with an early start to get beat first round. We’re not gonna ‘woulda, coulda, shoulda’ this. We pushed hard both qualifying runs and it was just a little too aggressive. It put us in the unenviable position of running a teammate who had qualified good and had better data than us. That’s drag racing. On a perfect day, you beat four people and they hand you a trophy and it’s damn near impossible. We will pick up the pieces for our next race. I’m not sure when and where that is. These are unprecedented times. We will be back to the form we were in late last year and early this year and we will make an absolute run at that championship.”
Matt Hagan, Mopar Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 2 Qualifier – 3.982 seconds at 320.81 mph)
Round 1: (0.066-second reaction time, 3.993 seconds at 296.50 mph) beat No. 15 Jack Beckman (0.045/4.293/219.01)
Round 2: (0.087/4.881/195.17) lost to No. 7 Bob Tasca (0.074/4.034/311.70)
“We still had a really good race weekend. We qualified No. 2 and went some rounds and took out (Jack) Beckman, the points leader. We definitely closed the gap to the top and the DSR Funny Cars are still 1-2-3 and (Ron) Capps had a good day. The points are tight. We have a strong car and sometimes it gets hot and greasy and we make a lot of power and it can be more challenging to reel that in. The crew did a great job, again. (Crew Chief) Dickie (Venables) continues to do a great job running this car and we put on a great show for our partners at Dodge and Mopar and Pennzoil this weekend at the Dodge Nationals, and we’ve had a hell of a streak dating back to last season. We have a consistent and fast race car and I’m ready to go whenever they tell us to come back.”
Tommy Johnson Jr., MD Anderson Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 1 Qualifier – 3.976 seconds at 318.54 mph)
Round 1: (0.084-second reaction time, 3.955 seconds at 322.81 mph) beats No. 16 Alexis DeJoria (0.088/4.363/209.92)
Round 2: (0.070/4.689/178.50) lost to No. 9 Paul Lee (0.092/4.140/270.70)
“That was very surprising. I wasn’t expecting that second round. We’ve had such a flawless race car going down the track each lap and it caught me off guard when it pulled them loose out there. It seemed like it was on a good run and just drove into smoke. It’s both surprising and frustrating, but you can’t get too disappointed. You lick your wounds and move on, learn from this and be better. We’ll figure out why and address that. To qualify No. 1 again and come out of here with the points lead is a positive.”
Ron Capps, NAPA Auto Parts Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 3 Qualifier – 3.987 seconds at 317.05 mph)
Round 1: (0.078-second reaction time, 4.056 seconds at 273.61 mph) beat No. 14 Tim Wilkerson (0.086/4.413/203.25)
Round 2: (0.069/3.990/320.51) beat No. 6 Blake Alexander (0.088/4.036/318.99)
Round 3: (0.045/4.065/316.30) beat No. 7 Bob Tasca (0.089/9.713/77.18)
Round 4: (0.065/4.110/294.63) beat No. 5 J.R. Todd, (0.074/10.318/80.06)
“This track makes you run it. This is not the kind of track where you roll up to it, stab the gas and go straight down the track. It’s got little nuances that make it really unique. You look at the Indy 500 and there’s things some drivers master and you look at Daytona and there’s things that some drivers have mastered there. You really have to know this track. Rahn Tobler and I work really well together through those nuances. Both lanes have different things that you have to prepare for and they can certainly hurt you.
“First round, the car moved around on me and that was the reason it smoked the times at the other end but we got lucky. In the final round it did the same thing and started moving me around a little bit and it spun a bit and that’s the reason we ran a 4.11 otherwise we should have run a 3.99 again. We’ll take the win. It was live TV and we didn’t get to warm the car up. We just got up there, strapped in and had no time to think about anything.
“This trophy is going to my wife who has been coming to this racetrack with me for 26 years and has ridden that emotional roller coaster with me getting close and not winning. On top of it her birthday is always at the Indy (U.S. Nationals) race and all those years she’s rod along with me and seen the emotional wreck I’ve been not winning and knowing how much it means to me, I just called home and she was crying. It just means so much to us.”
Leah Pruett, Mopar Dodge//SRT Top Fuel Dragster
(No. 3 Qualifier – 3.840 seconds at 318.02 mph)
Round 1: (0.074-second reaction time, 3.749 seconds at 325.53 mph) beats No. 14 Shawn Langdon (0.055/3.839/304.19)
Round 2: (0.133/3.829/313.07) beats No.10 Pat Dakin (0.066/3.905/312.71)
Round 3: (0.084/3.861/316.60) loss to No. 14 Steve Torrence (0.078/3.819/320.51)
“Another semifinal finish here in Indy for this Dodge Redeye team. We grabbed some points during qualifying and we keep advancing along with the top cars. Unfortunately, we brought a knife to a gun fight in the semis. There was more out there on the track then we anticipated. We’ll regroup and we have a ton of momentum with this team. We got Cory’s (McClenathan) car on track this weekend. Wherever our next race is at, I feel like we’ve got a very good race car. The car is doing what we ask it to. Our DSM parts and pieces are performing well. We need to make the right steps and keep charging hard.”