LAS VEGAS (April 13, 2025) — The Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals are a unique national event experience for the thousands of fans in attendance and the NHRA professional teams. For Jim Dunn Racing and driver Buddy Hull this weekend’s Four-Wide Nationals showed the team is moving in the right direction in a crowded Funny Car field. Through two days of qualifying on Friday and Saturday the KGC Construction Dodge Charger Funny Car was solidly positioned to race on Sunday while a handful of full-time teams battled to get into the 16-car qualified field. At the end of qualifying Hull was the No. 14 qualifier and he was slotted into a competitive quad comprised of No. 3 qualifier rookie Spencer Hyde, No. 6 qualifier rookie Hunter Green and No. 11 qualifier Dave Richards.

“I feel good about our chances in the first quad. We match up well with all three of the other Funny Cars and the four-wide format has shown anything can happen,” said Hull at the conclusion of qualifying. “This whole Jim Dunn Racing team has been making improvements every race this season and we can run with anyone I feel.”


In the first quad Hull and the KGC Construction Funny Car were lined up in lane four and as all four Funny Cars rolled into pre-stage the chance for two Funny Cars to advance to the next round was a toss-up. All four 12,000-horsepowered Funny Cars took off together with Hull cutting his best reaction time of the season a solid .097, second quickest of the quad. The KGC Construction Funny Car was charging down the fourth lane and as the finish line closed in its smoked the tires on a tricky track robbing Hull of valuable horsepower and he could not catch up to Richards to secure the second spot and a chance to advance to the second round.

“We had a really good quad and we were looking forward to that round,” said Hull, from the Jim Dunn Racing pit. “Everything was perfect, till it wasn’t, you know. The KGC Construction Funny Car left good. It was haulin’. Everything showed great on the computer. And then, unfortunately, you know, we just smoked the tires like a lot of teams. That’s just part of drag racing. If that wouldn’t have happened, we were going to advance the next round, but that’s just drag racing. We have good data for the next race which is a big positive.”

The spectacle of the Las Vegas Four-Wide Nationals is one element that Hull really enjoys. Putting on a show for the fans with four 12,000-horsepower Funny Cars is something that is unique to NHRA drag racing and Hull is proud to be a part of the show. His experience racing other forms of drag racing has helped him acclimate himself to the sometimes chaotic and wild starting line scene.

“I have a system that I use when I go up there to make sure that I’m focused,” said Hull. “I don’t struggle with it. I’ll be honest with you, it’s all good to me. I think it adds a dynamic for the fans, I think for the fans to see four cars side by side, you know, 40,000 plus horsepower. I think it’s probably one of the coolest things on the earth.”

The Jim Dunn Racing Funny Car will be back on track for more four-wide action at the Charlotte Four-Wide Nationals at zMax Dragway, April 25-27. There will be two qualifying sessions on Friday, April 25 and two qualifying sessions on Saturday, April 26. For tickets or more information on the NHRA Four-Wide Nationals visit nhra.com.

Qualifying Results
Q1: 4.173 sec, 278.00 mph; Qual. 10
Q2: 4.326 sec, 233.36 mph; Qual. 13
Q3: 6.421 sec, 106.07 mph; Qual. 13
Q4: 4.115 sec, 301.27 mph; Qual. 14
Bonus Points: 0

Race Results
First Round
Spencer Hyde, Stratford, Ontario, Head Inc. Funny Car, (.089), 3.994, 320.43 mph and Dave Richards, Wellington, Fla., Bluebird Turf Funny Car, (.128), 4.163, 292.96 mph def. Buddy Hull, Dallas, Tex., KGC Construction Funny Car, (.097) 5.157, 155.19 mph and. Hunter Green, Midland, Tex., Bondcoat Funny Car, (.116), 6.732, 94.59 mph 

Mission Foods Drag Racing Series – Funny Car Points
1. Jack Beckman    307
2. Paul Lee        293
3. Austin Prock    292
4. Matt Hagan        289
5. Chad Green        225
6. Dan Wilkerson    213
7. Ron Capps        196
8. Cruz Pedregon    191
9. Bob Tasca III        185
10. J.R. Todd        178
11. Bobby Bode    149
12. Alexis DeJoria    144
13. Dave Richards    142
14. Blake Alexander    133
15. Spencer Hyde    125
16. Buddy Hull        124

NASCAR CUP SERIES BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAYTEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORTAPRIL 13, 2025

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS: POS.     DRIVER1st – Kyle Larson6th – William Byron 7th – Ross Chastain9th – AJ Allmendinger10th – Austin Dillon

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

·       Kyle Larson conquered the “World’s Fastest Half-Mile” for the third time in his NASCAR Cup Series career – taking the checkered flag in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. The victory – Larson’s second win of the 2025 season and his 31st all-time in the division – marks Chevrolet’s series-leading 48th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory at Bristol, and the manufacturer’s second in now five races at the track in the Next Gen era.  ·       Larson’s journey to becoming the series’ third repeat winner of the 2025 season came in yet another dominating performance at “The Last Great Colosseum” – driving his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet to a sweep of the stage wins and 411 of 500 laps led en route to the triumph. The 32-year-old Elk Grove, California, native came just short of completing the Tennessee triple, with the Chevrolet driver picking up the win in Saturday’s Xfinity Series race and a runner-up finish in Friday’s Truck Series race.  ·       Alex Bowman and the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet team were setting themselves up for a strong ending to the series’ ninth points-paying race of the season – collecting the pole win and a pair of top-four stage finishes. Running second at the start of the final stage, Bowman started to experience potential engine problems that ultimately forced the team to retire early from the race.   ·       Larson’s triumph at the Tennessee short-track marked Chevrolet’s third NASCAR Cup Series win of the 2025 season, each of which have been recorded on a distinctly different track configuration. Among that list includes William Byron’s win at the 2.5-mile superspeedway of Daytona International Speedway, as well as Larson’s win at the 1.5-mile intermediate oval of Homestead-Miami Speedway.  ·       Joining Larson inside the top-10 of the final running order were five drivers from four different Chevrolet organizations including Larson’s Hendrick Motorsports teammate, William Byron, in sixth; Trackhouse Racing’s Ross Chastain in seventh; and Kaulig Racing’s AJ Allmendinger and Richard Childress Racing’s Austin Dillon taking the ninth and 10th positions, respectively.  Chevrolet has earned at least four top-10 finishes in now six of the nine points-paying NASCAR Cup Series races thus far this season, with five of those events seeing representation by three or more different Chevrolet organizations in those results.

Chevrolet’s all-time NASCAR Cup Series statistics at Bristol Motor Speedway:  Wins: 48Poles: 40Top-Fives: 23Top-10s: 469Chevrolet’s season statistics with nine NASCAR Cup Series races complete:  Wins: 3Poles: 5Top-Fives: 17Top 10s: 41Stage Wins: 7

UP NEXT: The 2025 NASCAR Cup Series season continues in two weeks at Talladega Superspeedway with the Jack Link’s 500 on Sunday, April 27, at 3 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Post-Race Driver Quotes:Kyle Larson, No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 1st AS YOU CROSSED THAT START/FINISH LINE, YOUR CREW CHIEF CLIFF DANIELS SAID, ‘THIS ONE IS FOR JON’.  HOW SPECIAL IS THIS WIN TODAY KYLE?“Yeah, it’s special. You know, Jon Edwards meant a lot to the 5 team, and a lot to the NASCAR Industry, too. Just good to get a win for him. Obviously, we don’t want to be winning for him and his spirit, we wish he was here in person with us. But he is no longer here, so it’s just going to be fun to celebrate and I know he is smiling down on us. We had a damn good weekend, as he would say. A lot of fun, and I can’t say enough about the team. The car they brought again here to Bristol was amazing and just makes it fun for me.” YOU MAKE IT LOOK EASY, BUT I SAW YOU ALMOST OUT OF BREATH AS YOU CLIMBED OUT OF THE CAR. HOW CHALLENGING IS THAT FOR YOU AS A DRIVER?“It’s fun. I love this place because it is just so high paced and with traffic; just dicing it up and picking the right lines at the right time while conserving your tires. It’s like a 500 lap sprint car race. It just suits me and my style with quick decision making. I just love this place. I think a lot of us do here in this series. Just had another good race.” William Byron, No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports ChevroletFinished: 6th “Overall, it was just a long day having to come from the back. It didn’t seem like many people could pass, but I felt like we could slowly work our way forward. Bristol Motor Speedway has sort of been a tough place for us, so just trying to get our footing back and put some consistent runs back together, and I felt like we did that today with the No. 24 Axalta Chevy. I was really happy about that. We were close to the top-five, but we just needed a little bit more.”  AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Kaulig Racing ChevroletFinished: 9th “Overall, really good race for our No. 16 group. I’m proud of the team and how we executed this weekend. We had a pretty consistent car, we were able to run in the top 12 all day so I’m really proud of that. We’ve had good momentum over the last few weeks that we’ll take into the off week and get ready for Talladega.” Austin Dillon, No. 3 Richard Childress Racing ChevroletFinished: 10th “We really came on strong there at the end. Our No. 3 Get Bioethanol Chevrolet was just too tight to start the race, and then when it kind of moved up, we had something to race, for sure. I wish we could have made our way forward a little sooner because I think our Chevy had runs in it that were capable of a top-five finish. But overall, that was big for us right there.”

(4/12/25 – Andrew Kunas) Chico, CA … Fans at Silver Dollar Speedway were treated to a NARC 410 Sprint Car thriller and instant classic on Saturday night, as Justin Sanders fended off heavy traffic and a determined Tanner Holmes to win the Mini Gold Cup and a $10,000 payday.

Sanders, who led the final 19 laps of the 40-lap race after taking the lead from Tim Kaeding, encountered slower traffic in the closing laps, allowing Holmes to close in rapidly. On the final lap, in the second turn of the quarter-mile bullring, Sanders drifted up as he tried to navigate around slower cars with Holmes getting a run around the top.  The two cars making light contact with Sanders getting into the loose clay at the top, allowing Holmes to move by.

Holmes, however, then had to deal with the slower cars, who were running in his preferred top and middle lines through the final two corners. Holmes made contact with one while Sanders, who favored the very bottom on that end of the racetrack, used it to get back by Holmes off of turn four to steal the win aboard the Yuba Sutter Aviation sponsored Mittry Motorsports No. 2x Fisher-powered Maxim.  This finish sent the Silver Dollar Speedway crowd into a frenzy.

“I kind of floated up,” explained Sanders. “I knew that was the 21 car was coming. That motor rips so I could hear it behind me. Tanner got by me, and I can’t believe he didn’t run the bottom in three and four, and maybe that won us the race. He was running the middle, maybe to block a slider. We’re happy to get this win. They’re so hard to come by. We had a great car.”

Despite contact with the slower car, Holmes finished second aboard the American Rock & Rent sponsored Tarlton Motorsports No. 21 Kistler-powered Maxim and the driver from Jacksonville, Oregon received approval from the fans for his late efforts.

“It felt like all weekend we were searching and searching,” said Holmes, “and finally we put together a great second half.”

“I just made a mistake on my part (at the end),” Holmes continued. “If I could do it over, I’d do it over, but I’m proud of these 21 guys and we were right there at the end.”

Kaleb Montgomery raced in the Top 10 throughout the headliner and made late moves to get on the podium aboard the Hansen Machine sponsored McColloch Racing No. 17 Don Ott-powered Maxim. He made a late race pass for third around D.J. Netto.

Netto, who won the season opening race at Stockton, ran as high as second before finishing fourth in the Penny Newman Grain sponsored Netto Ag No. 88N Rider-powered KPC. Tyler Thompson finished fifth aboard the HAM Construction sponsored Main Motorsports No. 35km Kistler-powered Maxim.

Tanner Carrick, Shane Golobic, Tim Kaeding, Sean Becker, and Ryan Bernal rounded out the Top 10. Bernal earned the Williams Roofing Hard Charger nod, moving up seven positions to finish tenth.

Bud Kaeding won the Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier. Heat races were claimed by Montgomery, Holmes, Netto and Landon Brooks.

Tyler Thompson set overall fast time in qualifying with a 11.698 second lap around the ¼-mile clay oval.

Hoosier Racing Tires Feature (40 laps): 1. 2x Justin Sanders (3), 2. 21 Tanner Holmes (2), 3. 17 Kaleb Montgomery (3), 4. 88n DJ Netto (4), 5. 35km Tyler Thompson (5), 6. 83t Tanner Carrick (8), 7. 17w Shane Golobic (11), 8. 0 Tim Kaeding (7), 9. 7b Sean Becker (13), 10. 73 Ryan Bernal (7), 11. 83v Dylan Bloomfield (15), 12. 41 Dominic Scelzi (12), 13. X1 Chance Grasty (14), 14. 29 Bud Kaeding (21), 15. 21L Landon Brooks (7), 16. 10 Dominic Gorden (16), 17. 7p Jake Andreotti (23), 18. 121 Caeden Steele (9), 19. 94th Braden Chiaramonte (24), 20. 92 Andy Forsberg (10), 21. 7 Ashton Torgerson (18), 22. 26 Billy Aton (19), 23. 2xm Max Mittry (22), 24. 2k Gauge Garcia (20).

Williams Roofing Hard Charger:  Ryan Bernal, +7 (17th to 10th)

Mettec Titanium Lap Leaders: Tim Kaeding 1-21, Sanders 22-40.

ARP Fast Qualifier (32 cars): Tyler Thompson, 11.698 seconds

Brown & Miller Racing Solutions First Heat Race (8 laps): 1. 17 Kaleb Montgomery (2), 2. 121 Caeden Steele (1), 3. 35km Tyler Thompson (4), 4. X1 Chance Grasty (5), 5. 2k Gauge Garcia (7), 6. 29 Bud Kaeding (3), 7. 94th Braden Chiaramonte (6), 8. 73x Kyle Beilman (8).

Kimo’s Tropical Car Wash Second Heat Race (8 laps): 1. 21 Tanner Holmes (2), 2. 92 Andy Forsberg (1), 3. 7b Sean Becker (3), 4. 83v Dylan Bloomfield (5), 5. 0 Tim Kaeding (4), 6. 12j John Clark (7), 7. 5k Blaine Cory (6).

WEDG High Performance Karts Third Heat Race (8 laps): 1. 88n D.J. Netto (2), 2. 41 Dominic Scelzi (3), 3. 83t Tanner Carrick (4), 4. 73 Ryan Bernal (6), 5. 7 Ashton Torgerson (1), 6. 2xm Max Mittry, 7. 7w Dennis Scherer (8), 8. 76 Jennifer Osborne (7).

Winter Performance Fourth Heat Race (8 laps): 1. 21L Landon Brooks (1), 2. 17w Shane Golobic (2), 3. 2x Justin Sanders (4), 4. 10 Dominic Gorden (5), 5. 26 Billy Aton (7), 6. 7p Jake Andreotti (6), 7. 14 Mariah Ede (8), 8. 5s R.C. Smith (7).

Beacon Wealth Strategies Trophy Dash (6 laps): 1. 0 Tim Kaeding (1), 2. 21 Tanner Holmes (8), 3. 2x Justin Sanders (6), 4. 88n D.J. Netto (7), 5. 35km Tyler Thompson (4), 6. 17 Kaleb Montgomery (5), 7. 21L Landon Brooks (2), 8. 83t Tanner Carrick (3).

Winters Performance Last Chance Qualifier (12 laps): 1. 29 Bud Kaeding (1), 2. 2xm Max Mittry (2), 3. 7p Jake Andreotti (3), 4. 94th Braden Chiaramonte (5), 5. 12j John Clark (4), 6. 7w Dennis Scherer (7), 7. 14 Mariah Ede (8), 8. 73x Kyle Beilman (11), 9. 76 Jennifer Osborne (9), 10. 5k Blaine Cory (6), 11. R.C. Smith (10).

The Shark Racing driver leads every lap on his way to topping the Federated Auto Parts Spring Classic at I-55

PEVELY, MO (April 12, 2025) – Friday night left Logan Schuchart with a bad taste in his mouth.

He knew he had the best car. He knew how close he came to standing in Victory Lane. But several ill-timed cautions forced he and the Shark Racing crew to settle for second. Their first win of the year pried from their grasp by Carson Macedo.

Schuchart wasn’t about to suffer the same fate Saturday.

A stacked field of 60 World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars rolled into I-55 Federated Auto Parts Raceway Park. It would be tough to be at the front of a roster that strong two nights in a row, but Schuchart and company were up to the task.

A Toyota Dash win gave the Hanover, PA native the pole for the 40-lap Federated Auto Parts Spring Classic finale, and that was all he needed. Schuchart drove out to an early advantage. Macedo made an early charge to second and looked to give Schuchart a case of déjà vu, but Schuchart was having none of it. The 12-year Series veteran held off the Lemoore, CA native for his first victory of the 2025 campaign.

“It means a lot,” Schuchart said. “These things are so hard to win. Only having one win last year wasn’t in our cards, wasn’t how I thought our season would go. We definitely started out of the box this season strong. Very happy about the way things are going. I was really excited to get to I-55. It’s a track where we’ve ran good in the past, a lot of podium finishes and second place finishes. I knew that we’d have a good chance to win with the way the car has been going.”

The first win of the season gave Schuchart 43 in his World of Outlaws career. It was his second I-55 checkered flag and first since conquering the 2018 Ironman 55. The Pevely, MO bullring becomes the 12th track in which Schuchart is a multi-time winner. It was also a special moment for Kyle Pruitt as he secured his first World of Outlaws win as a crew chief.

It was a methodical race for Schuchart as the track evolved over 40 laps, but he made all the right moves on his path to Victory Lane.

“I thought if we could just get the lead, I thought I could control the race and just be smart in traffic and use my experience to know not to put yourself in bad spots, not to try to pass lapped cars where you don’t need to,” Schuchart said. “I actually had my wing back pretty far at the beginning of the race. I felt good running the top and started watching lapped cars, how they would pull off the corner and kind of went lower in (Turns) 1 and 2 there and felt like it started to get a little sticky. (Turns) 3 and 4 was definitely there first, and as the race went on I just kind of pushed the wing back forward a little bit to loosen myself up.”

Coming up just a spot short of a weekend sweep was Carson Macedo in the Jason Johnson Racing No. 41. He’s been on the podium in six of the last eight races and has trimmed David Gravel’s lead atop the standings down to 64 markers.

“Hats off to the Shark Racing team on getting the win,” Macedo said. “I thought our Albaugh 41 car was really close again tonight. Right out of the gate we were pretty good. Philip Dietz, Robby McQuinn, and Adam Zimmerman, they did a great job. They really gave me a great car all weekend. For us to start eighth in the Dash and still run second in the Feature says a lot.”

A season best showing from Donny Schatz saw him bring the Tony Stewart/Curb Agajanian Racing No. 15 home third. The podium coupled with an 18th to sixth charge on Friday made for a productive weekend for the 10-time champion.

“My guys are doing a phenomenal job,” Schatz said. “Last night was big. We got ourselves through the field quite aways. Tonight, we made that much more improvement. It makes you want to get on to the next race sooner than later.”

Rico Abreu and Aaron Reutzel completed the top five.

A 25th to 14th run gave Hunter Schuerenberg the KSE Racing Hard Charger.

NOS Energy Drink Heats One and Four belonged to Aaron Reutzel and Tanner Thorson. TheGreatestStoreonDirt.com Heat Two went to Bill Balog. WIX Filters Heat Three went to David Gravel.

Logan Schuchart topped the Toyota Dash.

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Rico Abreu.

Ryan Timms won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

The Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race went to Zach Hampton.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars invade Knoxville Raceway on April 18-19 for the Premier Chevy Dealers Clash. For tickets, CLICK HERE.

For the complete 2025 schedule, CLICK HERE.

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

FEATURE RESULTS:

NOS Energy Drink Feature (40 Laps): 1. 1S-Logan Schuchart[1]; 2. 41-Carson Macedo[4]; 3. 15-Donny Schatz[5]; 4. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 5. 87-Aaron Reutzel[3]; 6. 2-David Gravel[6]; 7. 17B-Bill Balog[7]; 8. 88T-Tanner Thorson[8]; 9. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[11]; 10. 55V-Kerry Madsen[10]; 11. 26-Justin Peck[15]; 12. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[9]; 13. 83-Michael Kofoid[18]; 14. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg[25]; 15. 14-Spencer Bayston[14]; 16. 2C-Cole Macedo[13]; 17. 6-Zach Hampton[12]; 18. 7S-Chris Windom[24]; 19. 10-Ryan Timms[21]; 20. 21-Brian Brown[17]; 21. 88-Austin McCarl[20]; 22. 23-Garet Williamson[22]; 23. 2KS-Cory Eliason[16]; 24. 24T-Christopher Thram[23]; 25. 48-Danny Dietrich[19]

FARMER CITY, IL (April 12, 2025) – Brandon Sheppard and Rocket1 Racing are undoubtedly one of the most successful pairings in the history of dirt Late Model racing.

But ever since they reunited over the winter, the conversation surrounding them hasn’t been about how often they were winning. It was about when they would win again.

The answer to that question? Saturday night at Farmer City Raceway.

Sheppard hadn’t won a race since the 2024 Gateway Dirt Nationals, and his last outdoor win came in a preliminary Feature at last year’s Prairie Dirt Classic. The Rocket Chassis house team hadn’t celebrated in Victory Lane since Tim McCreadie won the Topless 100 last August. And Sheppard hadn’t won the Illini 100 since 2019.

The five-time and reigning World of Outlaws Late Models champion brought all those streaks to an end with 60 flawless laps around one of his favorite tracks.

“I’m so happy, man,” Sheppard said following the 88th win of his World of Outlaws career. “Everybody has been talking us down. Do you miss Longhorn, do you miss this, do you miss that? No. I’m not back because I never left.”

Sheppard’s race began in the 11th starting spot, while Bilstein Pole Award winner Cody Overton led the field to green alongside second-starting Drake Troutman. Troutman took the early advantage and went to work on building a gap in hopes of becoming the second rookie in as many nights to win their first World of Outlaws race.

A clean-and-green start to the Feature meant slower traffic quickly became a factor, but Troutman masterfully maneuvered his way through to hold onto the top spot. Behind him, Overton, Brian Shirley, Bobby Pierce and Devin Moran found themselves under a blanket as they dueled for second.

With 25 laps complete, Shirley got to the outside of Troutman in Turns 1 and 2 and briefly grabbed the lead, but Troutman found enough grip on the bottom in the next set of corners to wrestle the position back.

Moran spun in Turn 4 to bring out the first and only caution of the race, erasing Troutman’s gap to the field. On the restart, he would have a different Illinois driver to deal with, as Sheppard had made his way around Shirley and up to second before the pace slowed.

When the race went back green, Sheppard rode the cushion for all it was worth and blasted off Turn 4 and into the lead. Less than five laps later, Sheppard’s gap to the field was already over three seconds. From there, “B-Shepp” put the No. 1 on cruise control, slicing his way through traffic on the way to the checkered flag.

“That was Farmer City right there baby,” Sheppard said. “That was elbows-up, get it on, cushion right up against the wall. That was the Farmer City we like to see for sure.”

While Sheppard was driving off into the sunset, Pierce was busy battling Troutman for second in the laps following the restart. Pierce prevailed and kept Sheppard in sight in traffic, but came up one spot short of a third-straight Illini 100 victory.

“Really love racing here, such an up-on-the-wheel track,” Pierce said. “When I saw Brandon catching lap cars, I thought I was going to have a chance at catching him. Right when I saw him catching those lap cars, he went right through them like a hot knife through butter. He did a great job getting through them. That was my only chance.”

Troutman brought the No. 22* home third for his third podium of the season, enough to take the lead back in the MD3 Rookie of the Year standings by 34 points over Dotson.

“We’ve been so dang close, I just wish we could pull one off,” Troutman said. “That’s part of it, these two are by far the best guys in Illinois. They’re tough to beat, and I saw them up on the boards after that caution and knew I was kind of a sitting duck.”

Shirley ended up fourth for his second top five of the weekend while Dustin Sorensen picked up his best finish of the season in fifth.

RACE NOTES:

McKay Wenger set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Brian Shirley won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Brian Shirley won TheGreatestStoreOnDirt.com Heat 1.

Cody Overton won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Devin Moran won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Drake Troutman won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

Ryan Gustin and Tyler Erb won the Landa Pressure Washers Last Chance Showdowns.

Cody Overton won the Bilstein Pole Award.

Dennis Erb Jr. drove from 26th to 13th for the FOX Factory Hard Charger Award.

Drake Troutman was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

Bobby Pierce won the WELD Racing Second-Place Finisher Award.

Brian Shirley was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Dustin Sorensen was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Ricky Thornton Jr. was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

Ryan Unzicker was the VP Racing Fuels Eighth-Place Finisher.

Garrett Alberson was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

Tyler Bruening was the COMP Cams 10th-Place Finisher.

Kyle Bronson was the Cometic Gaskets 12th-Place Finisher.

UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws Late Models head south to the Talladega Short Track for the Alabama Gang 100 on Friday and Saturday, April 25-26. For tickets, click here.

Feature (60 Laps): 1. 1-Brandon Sheppard[11]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[7]; 3. 22*-Drake Troutman[2]; 4. 3S-Brian Shirley[4]; 5. 19-Dustin Sorensen[5]; 6. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[16]; 7. 2-Cody Overton[1]; 8. 24-Ryan Unzicker[6]; 9. 58-Garrett Alberson[9]; 10. 16-Tyler Bruening[14]; 11. 96-Tanner English[19]; 12. 40B-Kyle Bronson[20]; 13. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[26]; 14. 19R-Ryan Gustin[17]; 15. 1T-Tyler Erb[18]; 16. 18-Shannon Babb[13]; 17. 25-Jason Feger[10]; 18. 9-Nick Hoffman[23]; 19. 9M-Tim McCreadie[8]; 20. 12-Ashton Winger[12]; 21. 111-Max Blair[25]; 22. 74X-Ethan Dotson[24]; 23. 60-Dan Ebert[15]; 24. 99-Devin Moran[3]; 25. 89-Mike Spatola[21]; 26. 99W-Mckay Wenger[22]

After finishing on the podium in Friday night’s World of Outlaws Illini 100 Feature, Karter Sarff knew he could leave the weekend with a trophy. 

He completed the goal on Saturday night with a performance that saw him battle against multiple drivers for his first Xtreme Outlaw Midget Series presented by Toyota win at Farmer City Raceway.

Sarff started the Feature on the pole with Thomas Meseraull on his outside at the drop of the initial green flag.

The Mason City, IL driver led the first five circuits until Jacob Denney took over the lead on the sixth lap by using the familiar high line that helped him win on Friday.

Sarff fell to third on Lap 10 when Trifecta Motorsports’ rookie Kameron Key passed him for second place, forcing the No. 21K to defend his position from reigning Series champion Cannon McIntosh and Springfield, IL’s Chase McDermand.

“The Shark” smelled blood in the water when Key and Denney slipped up on a restart with 10 laps remaining – retaking the lead and never looking back.

Behind Sarff, Key had to defend his position from McIntosh’s No. 71K until a clip of the Turn 4 cushion sent McIntosh flipping with four laps remaining.

On the final restart, Sarff stuck to the high side of the ractreack to hold off Key for his seventh career Xtreme Outlaw win. The triumph moves him up to fourth in all-time Feature wins – tying 2023 Series champion Jade Avedisian.

“I really had to stay up on the wheel,” Sarff said. “You had to run the curves super hard, and if you let up a little bit, it’d bite you. I’m super happy with the whole night, and everything went our way. Last year, it wasn’t too good for us here, so to come back, run third, and win the next night is pretty awesome.”

Key ended his first trip to Farmer City Raceway with a second-place finish to complete his debut weekend with the Series.

“It was really interesting,” Key said. “I went into it thinking it was just gonna be follow the leader on the bottom, and then the racetrack changed so much. It got crummy in the middle, and you could hold speed through there, you could rip the top and still roll the bottom. You had your choice of what you wanted to run, and I moved around everywhere trying to find stuff and keep my nose clean, stay out of trouble, and we found our way to the front.”

Meseraull dropped to seventh in the early stages of the Feature with ill-handling at the start. However, he found a chance to reset behind the wheel of his No. 7X at the halfway mark that pushed him up the field to finish the weekend with a podium result.

“At the start, you have a full load of fuel, the car was tight, and it wasn’t that good on the bottom,” Meseraull said. “I really had to ride it out, let the bottom slow down a little bit, and that allowed the top to speed up. I was sending it on the top to try and go forward. I think we had a bent wheel that we didn’t realize was bent, but I’m real happy about the night.”

Denney finished fourth, and McDermand ended the night with his second consecutive fifth-place finish to cap off the Illini 100.

RECAP NOTES:

Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Karter Sarff

Toyota Heat 1 Winner: Thomas Meseraull

CASM Safety Products Heat 2 Winner: Jacob Denney

TJ Forged Heat 3 Winner: Chase McDermand

Summit Racing Equipment Hard Charger: Tyler Edwards (+10)

Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Zach Boden

Up Next: The Xtreme Outlaw Midgets return to racing in Oklahoma and Kansas, with the Series making its debut at Creek County Speedway on Thursday, May 8, Humboldt Speedway on Friday, May 9, and 81 Speedway on Saturday, May 10.

TICKETS

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

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

Josh Berry and the No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Mustang Dark Horse are set to start 11th in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway. It was his fifth start of 11th or better in the nine races so far this season.Berry took that spot with a lap at 127.427 miles per hour around Bristol’s .533-mile, high-banked, concrete oval on Saturday afternoon. That was a significant better number than he posted in practice earlier in the day, where he was 36th on the speed chart with a best lap at 123.491 mph. That came on the third of 35 laps he ran Sunday’s 266.5-mile, 500-lap race is set to get the green flag just after 3 p.m. with TV coverage on FS1. Stage breaks are planned for laps 125 and 250.

Photography: John Force Racing / Auto Imagery / Gary Nastase

BRITTANY, PROCK NO. 2 STARTERS AT VEGAS 4-WIDEPoint Leader Beckman Starts from No. 5 Position at The Strip at LVMS

LAS VEGAS, Nevada (April 12, 2025) – After a disappointing first day that left her 13th in the provisional qualifying order, two-time Top Fuel World Champion Brittany Force reasserted herself on Saturday with a pair of 3.70 second runs that propelled her Graham Rahal Performance dragster into the No. 2 starting position for Sunday’s seventh NHRA 4-Wide nationals at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Reigning Funny Car World Champion Austin Prock also improved his performance Saturday and also will start from the No. 2 position in his Cornwell Tools Chevrolet SS, three spots ahead of John Force Racing teammate and point leader Jack Beckman. “It’s been a good weekend overall for JFR,” Prock said. “The Cornwell Tools/HendrickCars.com Chevrolet has been fighting us a little bit – fighting me in the driver’s seat and fighting the crew chiefs up in the lounge, but it’s coming along. The last run we jumped all the way up to No. 2 with a 3.948. We’re right behind, chomping at (No. 1 qualifier) Paul Lee’s heels.” Runner-up to No. 1 qualifier Doug Kalitta in Saturday’s Mission Foods 2Fast/2Tasty Challenge, her 3.754 not quite good enough to cover his 3.730, Brittany is seeking her fifth win at LVMS, more than at any other track in the series. She will oppose No. 15 qualifier Terry Totten and No. 7 and 10 qualifiers Shawn Reed and Josh Hart in Sunday’s first round.  After failing to reach the finish line under power Friday, the second youngest of John Force’s racing daughters sped to a time of 3.778 to start her Saturday, the quickest run of the first session. “That was a killer run for us,” said the 17-time tour winner who, like Prock, is trying to win for the second straight time at LVMS. “We struggled Friday, and we so want to make everyone at Graham Rahal Performance proud. I’m looking forward to tomorrow. We did really good Saturday and definitely stepped it up.” Beckman, who two weeks ago won JFR’s 300th Funny Car title, faces the most difficult first round challenge when he opposes four-time world champion Matt Hagan, J.R. Todd and Bobby Bode. “Our PEAK Chevy all year long had gotten qualifying bonus points, ten straight sessions,” Beckman said of the car that this week, like Brittany’s dragster, is flying the GRP banner. “But today we had a little hiccup. We actually didn’t make it down the track two runs in a row. “But, the last time that happened was the Pomona Finals in 2024 and we ended up in the winners’ circle. So, for PEAK, Chevy, HendrickCars.com, Cornwell Tools and for this weekend with GRP, our goal is to double-up in Funny Car and Top Fuel.” Prock, seeking his first win of the season after and eight-victory campaign a year ago, will face Jason Rupert, Cruz Pedregon and Ron Capps in his first round match.  “I’m looking forward to (race day),” Prock said. “This race car is headed in the right direction and I think we can do some damage (in eliminations).”

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

First Round Results

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Toyota Post-Qualifying Recap

NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series

NHRA Four-Wide Nationals

The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Race 4 of 20

TOYOTA TOP FUEL QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

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

TOYOTA FUNNY CAR QUALIFYING POSITIONS 

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

*= Non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

TF Qualifying Result: 1st

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

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

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

FC Qualifying Result: 4th

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

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

April 12, 2025 — LONG BEACH, CA

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

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

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

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

Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach Honda Qualifying Results

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

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

R – Rookie

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

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

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

Honda at the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

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

Where to Watch

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

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

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

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

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

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

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

MEDIA RESOURCES: Photo Gallery | Race AdvancesChevrolet Newsroom

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

You never forget your first win. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RECAP NOTES: 

Smith Titanium Quick Time Award: Corbin Rueschenberg 

Toyota Heat 1: Zach Daum 

CASM Safety Products Heat 2: Brandon Carr 

TJ Forged Heat 3: Thomas Meseraull 

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

Honest Abe Roofing 16th Place Finisher: Daniel Adler 

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

FARMER CITY TICKETS

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

RACE NOTES:

Daniel Adam set the Dirt King Simulators Fastest Hot Lap.

Ricky Thornton Jr. won the Simpson Quick Time Award.

Ryan Gustin won TheGreatestStoreOnDirt.com Heat 1.

Devin Moran won STAKT Products Heat 2.

Jason Feger won Keyser Manufacturing Heat 3.

Garrett Alberson won Jarrett Rifles Heat 4.

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

Jason Feger won the Bilstein Pole Award.

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

Ethan Dotson was the MD3 Rookie of the Race.

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

Brandon Sheppard was the ARP Fourth-Place Finisher.

Tyler Erb was the MSD Fifth-Place Finisher.

Bobby Pierce was the Swift Springs Sixth-Place Finisher.

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

Max Blair was the Lifeline USA Ninth-Place Finisher.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Sheldon Haudenschild and Bill Balog completed the top five.

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

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

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

Logan Schuchart topped the Toyota Dash.

The SPA Technique #1 Redraw went to Danny Dietrich.

Garet Williamson won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown.

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

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

For the complete 2025 schedule, CLICK HERE.

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

FEATURE RESULTS:

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

For complete results, CLICK HERE.