DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (August 27, 2024) – An unexpectedly tight Grand National Championship battle arrives at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Illinois for the Springfield Mile I & II presented by Drag Specialties on August 31-September 1, the penultimate weekend of the 2024 Progressive American Flat Track season, sanctioned by AMA Pro Racing. Reigning Mission AFT SuperTwins champion Jared Mees (No. 1 Rogers Racing/SDI Racing/Indian Motorcycle FTR750) entered the preceding Arrowhead Brass Sturgis TT eying a realistic pathway to clinching an unprecedented tenth Grand National Championship this weekend at the iconic event he co-promotes with his wife, Nichole. However, an incident that took place while Mees was attempting to charge his way up through the field resulted in a disqualification in Sturgis along with a significantly closer points chase. Mees now leads second-ranked Brandon Robinson (No. 44 Mission Roof Systems Indian FTR750) by just six points and third-placed Briar Bauman (No. 3 Rick Ware Racing/KTM/Parts Plus KTM 790 Duke) by just 12. Further complicating Mees’ march to history is the fact that both Robinson and Bauman have stood atop the podium at Springfield – Robinson in doubleheader fashion on August 31 and September 1 of 2013 and Bauman the last time the Mission AFT SuperTwins lined up at the venue less than a year ago. However, the champ is far from defenseless in his mission to retain the #1 plate. One of the sport’s all-time great milers, Mees has repeatedly proven himself up to the task when under pressure, as evidenced by his record-tying nine championships, and at Springfield specifically, where he boasts an incredible eight victories. Of course, Mees, Robinson, and Bauman won’t be on track alone. Several potential spoilers could play an outsized role in swaying the championship standings one way or the other at a track that lends itself to incredibly close and unpredictable racing. Ten of the most recent twelve Springfield Miles have been decided by under a second. And of those twelve, half have seen three riders finish within a second of victory, four with four riders in contention, two with seven or more, and one that featured ten riders crossing the stripe at the checkered flag separated by less than a second. During that span, Davis Fisher (No. 67 Rackley Racing/Bob Lanphere’s BMC Racing Indian FTR750) and Bronson Bauman (No. 37 Fastrack Racing Mission Foods KTM 790 Duke) have finished on the podium and within a second of victory at Springfield, while Brandon Price (No. 92 Memphis Shades/Sody Ent/OTBR Yamaha MT-07) and Jarod Vanderkooi (No. 20 JMC Motorsports/Fairway Ford Ohio Indian FTR750) have finished within a second of the win. Meanwhile, rookies Trevor Brunner (No. 21 Mission Foods/Zanotti Racing Indian FTR750), Declan Bender (No. 70 GOMR/BriggsAuto.com/Martin Trucking Indian FTR750), and Max Whale (No. 18 Latus Motors Racing/Liqui Moly Harley-Davidson XG750R) are primed to join that list as they return to Springfield armed with the experience of engaging in last year’s huge pack war for victory aboard 450s. Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER By scoring his sixth win of the ‘24 season, Kody Kopp (No. 1 Rick Ware Racing/Parts Plus KTM 450 SX-F) has put himself in strong position to clinch the Parts Unlimited AFT Singles presented by KICKER title early for the third year in succession. To do so, he need only end the weekend with 25 points in hand (perhaps 26 depending on how tiebreakers continue to shake out). At the moment, his advantage stands at 34 points over Chase Saathoff (No. 88 JPG Motorsports Honda CRF450R) and 40 over Tom Drane (No. 59 Estenson Racing Yamaha YZ450F). While the margin separating first from second and third in the championship chase is considerable, that doesn’t reflect the recent reality on track, where Kopp, Saathoff, and Drane have taken two wins apiece over the last six races. Expect that same sort of competitiveness to continue at Springfield with the likes of Trent Lowe (No. 48 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R), James Ott (No. 19 1st Impressions Race Team Husqvarna FC450), Tarren Santero (No. 75 Vinson Construction/P&M Motorcycles Honda CRF450R), Evan Renshaw (No. 265 American Honda/Mission Foods CRF450R), Tyler Raggio(No. 55 Raggio Racing/Sluggo Racing KTM 450 SX-F), and Jared Lowe (No. 63 BigR/Little Debbie Racing Honda CRF450R) liable to turn this into a ten-rider barnburner for the top step on the podium. There will also be plenty of off-track activities for fans to enjoy throughout the weekend, including the CAT Command Trailer, numerous vendors, expansive food and beverage options, and dedicated motorcycle parking. All tickets are $10 off if purchased prior to Wednesday. If you act fast, Infield Standing RoomOnly tickets remain just $20 (kids 12 and under $5), Reserved Grandstand tickets are $35, and Premium Reserved Grandstand are $45. Fans also have the opportunity to enjoy a VIP Experience by selecting a special ticket option that provides access to a premier reserved seat in front of the start/finish line and includes food, beverage, and a Pit Pass for $150. Pit Pass Upgrades are also available for purchase for non-VIP tickets, which provide all-day access to the pits where fans can scope out the world’s fastest dirt track motorcycles and get up close and personal with the stars of the sport. Fans who purchase Saturday and Sunday tickets will receive a $5 discount at checkout. To reserve your tickets today, visit: Mission Springfield Mile I & II: https://www.tixr.com/groups/meespromotions/events/springfield-i-and-ii-89223Mission Springfield Mile I: https://www.tixr.com/groups/meespromotions/events/springfield-mile-i-89224Mission Springfield Mile II:https://www.tixr.com/groups/meespromotions/events/springfield-mile-ii-89225 Gates will open for fans at 10:00 a.m. ET (7:00 a.m. PT) both days, with Opening Ceremonies set to begin at 2:30 p.m. ET (11:30 a.m. PT) on Saturday and Sunday. You can catch the livestream of all the weekend’s racing activities on FloRacing. Motorsports fans can subscribe to FloRacing to enjoy over 1,000 live motorsports events in 2024. FloSports is available by visiting https://flosports.link/aftor by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Chromecast. FOX Sports coverage of the Springfield Mile I & II presented by Drag Specialties, featuring in-depth features and thrilling onboard cameras, will premiere on FS1 on Sunday, September 8. The Springfield Mile I will air at 7:00 a.m. ET (4:00 a.m. PT) with the Springfield Mile II scheduled for 11:00 a.m. ET (8:00 a.m. PT). For more information on Progressive AFT visit https://www.americanflattrack.com.

GREENWOOD, LA (Aug. 27, 2024) – Before the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models conclude their 2024 season at the World of Outlaws World Finals, they’ll set the stage for the final war of stars with two high-paying debuts.

First, the Series will visit Boothill Speedway in Greenwood, IL, for the first time on Friday, Sept. 27, and then venture to Rocket Raceway Park in Petty, TX, on Saturday, Sept. 28. Both events will pay $15,000 to win and feature a $65,000 overall purse.

Along with the Series debuting at both tracks, it’ll also be the first time the two tracks host a national Late Model series. However, some of the full-time World of Outlaws drivers do have experience at Boothill and Rocket.

Reigning Series champion Bobby Pierce won at Boothill with the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series in March and Louisiana native Cade Dillard has four wins at the track, most recently in September 2023.

During the March Comp Cams event, 2024 World of Outlaws MD3 Rookie of the Year contender Tristan Chamberlain also competed in the race and finished 10th.

Dillard and Dustin Sorensen – current MD3 Rookie of the Year leader – are the only current full-time Series drivers with a win at Rocket Raceway Park. However, their wins came in a Modified.

The last major Late Model race at Rocket was the Comp Cams Super Dirt Series event last year, which Dillard finished second in.

If you can’t make it to the tracks, you can watch both races live on DIRTVision.

EVENT INFO
Date – Friday, Sept. 27
Location – Greenwood, LA

Times (CT) –
Pit Gate Opens: 4 p.m.
Grandstands Open: 5 p.m.

Tickets – Available at track.

EVENT INFO
Date – Saturday, Sept. 28
Location – Petty, TX

Times (CT) –
Pit Gate Opens: 5 p.m.
Grandstands Open: 6 p.m.

ORRVILLE, OH (Aug. 27, 2024) – Ohio will welcome the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series for the final time this year with a doubleheader weekend to conclude September.The Series will make its highly anticipated return to Wayne County Speedway, in Orrville, on Friday, Sept. 27, and then venture back to Dave Blaney’s Sharon Speedway, in Hartford, on Saturday, Sept. 28.Wayne County Speedway becomes a prime stop on the tour again for the first time since 2020. Sheldon Haudenschild, who grew up about 15 minutes from the track in Wooster, won that event – his first Series win at his home track.The World of Outlaws Buckeye Brawl event will see the World of Outlaws stars go up against Ohio’s best local talent, such as Brandon Spithaler, Trey Jacobs, Leyton Wagner – the current 410 Sprint Car points leader at the track – and more.Then, the World of Outlaws return to Sharon Speedway for the Federated Auto Parts Showdown – the Series’ second visit to the 3/8-mile dirt track this year. During the Series’ last visit in May, David Gravel held off 10-time Series champion Donny Schatz and Carson Macedo to score his first Series win at the track.The weekend will also start the road to the World of Outlaws World Finals (Nov. 6-9) as there will only be 10 races left until the championship determining weekend.If you can’t make it to the tracks, you can watch all the action from both races live on DIRTVision.EVENT INFO Date – Friday, Sept. 27 Location – Orrville, OH Track Record – 13.808 sec. by Spencer Bayston on April 21, 2018Times (ET) – Pit Gates Open: 2 p.m. Grandstands Open: 4 p.m. Hot Laps & Qualifying: 6:30 p.m.Tickets – Available HERE.Last Race Video Recap (Sept. 25, 2020) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKUtGve0F8YPrevious World of Outlaws winners at Wayne County – 2020 –Sheldon Haudenschild on Sept. 25 1985 – Steve Kinser on Aug. 6 1984 – Bobby Davis, Jr. on June 9 1981 – Steve Kinser on June 14 1979 – Steve Kinser on July 29EVENT INFO Date – Saturday, Sept. 28 Location – Hartford, OH Track Record – 12.704 sec. by Danny Holtgraver on Aug. 20, 2013Times (ET) – Pit Gates Open: 2 p.m. Grandstands Open: 4 p.m. Hot Laps & Qualifying: 6:30 p.m.Tickets – Available HERE.Last Race Video Recap (May 18, 2024) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJ2whoFW-T0Previous World of Outlaws winners at Sharon – 2024 – David Gravel on May 18 2023 – Donny Schatz on May 20, Brad Sweet on Sept. 23 2022 – Brad Sweet on Sept. 24 2021 – Dave Blaney on May 22 2007 –Steve Kinser on June 1 2006 – Jac Haudenschild on May 20 2005 – Jason Meyers on June 3 2004 – Danny Lasoski on June 4, Steve Kinser on July 28 2003 – Steve Kinser on July 30, Steve Kinser on July 30 2002 – Danny Lasoski on May 31, Joey Saldana on July 31

TF Sport looking for season’s best FIA WEC result in series’ lone American stop DETROIT (August 27, 2024) – TF Sport and the Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R program come full-circle this weekend as the FIA World Endurance Championship returns to Circuit of The Americas for the first time since 2020 at the six-hour Lone Star Le Mans.

Two of the TF Sport-run Corvettes are set for Sunday’s race around the 21-turn, 3.4-mile circuit in Austin. It’s the lone visit to the U.S. for the FIA WEC and the pair of first-year GT3.Rs that are part of the LMGT3 class.  However, it isn’t the first race for the Corvettes at COTA this season as the Corvette swept both rounds of GT World Challenge America.  Despite a difference in weather conditions – May vs. September and tires – Pirelli vs. Goodyear – there are significant lessons that can carry over to the WEC round.  From an engineering perspective, suspension and other points in chassis setup – with validations from Chevrolet’s Driver in the Loop simulator – should provide a solid baseline for when TF Sport arrives at COTA and hits the track for Friday’s first practice.

CORVETTE RACING MEDIA INFO Corvette Racing media information is updated and available ahead of the Lone Star Le Mans for the FIA World Endurance Championship. Materials include Corvette Racing event advance and quotes, Corvette Racing stats and figures, Corvette Z06 GT3.R racecar comparisons, Corvette Racing Fast Facts, factory driver biographies and Corvette Racing photography, among other items.

The squad has previous success at COTA with a GTE-Am class win in the last FIA WEC event at the track in 2020. Corvette factory driver Charlie Eastwood was part of the winning lineup and was part of the program’s first test with the Corvette Z06 GT3.R roughly a year ago. Eastwood will continue in the No. 81 Corvette alongside full-season teammates Tom Van Rompuy and Rui Andrade – each of which will compete at COTA for the first time. So will all three members of the No. 82 Z06 GT3.R lineup: while Hiroshi Koizumi, Sebastien Baud and factory driver Daniel Juncadella, who also tested the Corvette for the first at COTA last August. The Lone Star Le Mans is scheduled for 1 p.m. CT on Sunday, September 1. MotorTrend TV will air live television coverage with streaming coverage on the FIA WEC app and the MAX app in the U.S. Radio Le Mans also will stream audio coverage of Saturday’s final practice and qualifying, plus Sunday’s race.

TF SPORT PRE-EVENT DRIVER QUOTESCHARLIE EASTWOOD, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “In general it’s a fantastic track. It’s undergone some repaving so it will be interesting to see what happens with that. I have fond memories of COTA. The last time we were there in WEC we won the race, which was a great result. It also was the very first place I got to drive the Z06 GT3.R a year ago in the heat of the summer, which is what we’re going to have. I think it will suit the car very well. Degradation will be a key – in the middle of summer in Austin it’s not going to be cool at all – so managing that from the outset will be important. I’m looking forward to it. Brazil wasn’t a great result but we showed some strong pace, which at the minute is what we need to show. We’ve got a bit of confidence going in.”The three sectors are three different racetracks, for sure. The first is super-high speed. You really have to have a good aero platform to get through. It’s still seven corners but they’re almost all high-speed so you need a good car under you. The middle sector is super-tricky with really long apexes and really late apexes. Then going to the final sector you still need a really good car under you. There is a lot of speed so the deg will be high. It’s a really tricky track to get it fully hooked up. It’s a super-long lap with a lot of high-speed corners with a lot of corners… it’ll test both the car and the drivers. Hopefully we can put everything together for a good result.”

RUI ANDRADE, NO. 81 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “I’m very excited to race in COTA for the first time. The track is incredible and to race a Corvette in the USA is such an amazing opportunity. The season hasn’t been easy for us but we are taking steps forward, and in Brazil we saw some good steps in performance. I can’t wait to hit the track and give it our all to try and chase some trophies.”

DANIEL JUNCADELLA, NO. 82 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “COTA will be quite a special event for me. I’ve never raced at COTA but I did my first test there in a Corvette GT3 last August. So it’s cool to close out my first proper year of driving Corvettes at COTA. With it being the home WEC race for the Corvette should be a good event. The track is cool. Watching on TV, you always think it’s not super-exciting because there is so much asphalt runoffs there. But when I drove there last year, I was quite impressed by the combination of high-speed corners, the fast changes of direction and elevation. It’s quite interesting and I really enjoyed it, even though I only drove maybe 20 or 25 laps. So it should be cool. It will be difficult to manage the heat so that will play a big role in terms of strategy and how we manage the tires. These are a couple of good ingredients to make the race quite exciting for everybody. Hopefully we can navigate those and get our best result for the season.”

2024 FIA World Endurance Championship PointsLMGT3 Drivers Standings1. Aliaksandr Malykhin/Joel Sturm/Klaus Bachler – 1002. Morris Schuring/Richard Lietz/Yasser Shahin – 753. Augusto Farfus/Darren Leung/Sean Gelael – 744. Alex Riberas/Daniel Mancinelli/Ian James – 555. Alessio Rovera/Francois Heriau/Simon Mann – 4920. Charlie Eastwood/Rui Andrade/Tom Van Rompuy – 1122. Daniel Juncadella/Hiroshi Koizumi/Sebastien Baud – 10 LMGT3 Teams Standings1. No. 92 Manthey PureRxcing – 1002. No. 91 Manthey EMA – 753. No. 31 Team WRT – 744. No. 27 Heart of Racing Team – 555. No. 55 Vista AF Corse – 4915. No. 81 TF Sport – 1117. No. 82 TF Sport – 10 CORVETTE RACING AT COTA: By the Numbers• 3: Generations of Corvette Racing entries at COTA since 2013 – Corvette C6.R (2013), Corvette C7.R (2014-2019) and the mid-engine Corvette C8.R – which raced at COTA for the first time in WEC competition in 2020 – and Z06 GT3.R, both of which are eighth-gen Corvettes• 4: Class wins at COTA for Corvette Racing entries in two championships: IMSA and GT World Challenge America. Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen won twice in ALMS GT/WeatherTech Championship GTLM. Tommy Milner and Alec Udell won in GT World Challenge America earlier this year in the first wins for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R• 8: Wins this year for the Corvette Z06 GT3.R including two earlier this year at Circuit of The Americas• 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001• 27: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Monza, Portimão, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen• 51: Number of drivers in Corvette Racing entries since 1999. DXDT Racing’s Bryson Morris joined the list at Road America in GT World Challenge America• 71: Years since Corvette was introduced to the world on Jan. 17, 1953 in New York City. A total of 300 cars were produced that year• 135: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 116 in IMSA, nine at Le Mans, three in the FIA WEC and seven in GT World Challenge America• 302: Event starts by Corvette Racing entries since 1999, starting with that year’s Rolex 24 At Daytona. No. 300 came in early August at Road America in IMSA• 3845.40: Number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing in its eight previous events at Circuit of The Americas. That represents 24 trips across the Texas Panhandle.• 387,712.20: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon and more than halfway back! Corvette Racing at Circuit of The Americas2013 – IMSANo. 3 Corvette C6.R: Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen – 1st in GTNo. 4 Corvette C6.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 11th in GT 2014 – IMSANo. 3 Corvette C7.R: Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen – 9th in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 10th in GTLM 2014 – FIA WECNo. 65 Corvette C7.R: Tommy Milner/Jordan Taylor/Ricky Taylor – 7th in GTE Pro (FIA WEC entry) 2015 – IMSANo. 3 Corvette C7.R: Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen: 6th in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner: 8th in GTLM 2016 – IMSANo. 3 Corvette C7.R: Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen: 3rd in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner: 5th in GTLM 2017 – IMSANo. 3 Corvette C7.R: Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen: 1st in GTLMNo. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner: 7th in GTLM 2020 – FIA WECNo. 63 Corvette C8.R: Jan Magnussen/Mike Rockenfeller: 6th in GTE Pro 2024 – GT World ChallengeNo. 63 Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Tommy Milner/Alec Udell – 1st,1st in ProNo. 08 Corvette Z06 GT3.R: Bryan Sellers/Scott Smithson – 6th, 11th in Pro-Am

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

DAYTONA, FL – August 26, 2024 – Harrison Burton won the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, marking his first win in the NASCAR Cup Series and 100th win for Wood Brothers Racing.

“Congratulations to Leonard, Len, Eddie, Jon, Jeremy, Harrison, and everyone at Wood Brothers Racing on the race win at Daytona,” said Doug Yates, President and CEO of Roush Yates Engines. “Reaching 100 wins in the Cup Series is a monumental achievement for the Wood Brothers and a reflection of the passion, dedication, and talent this family has brought to our sport. It’s an honor to be a part of their journey and to see them reach such a significant milestone.”

“I cried for the whole cool down lap.  It’s just been the hardest three years of my life. There’s no denying. It’s just been rough and these guys have rallied behind me when it matters the most. Going to every single race with the same mentality of trying to win because we could get number 100. We kept saying that in our meetings that we had a chance to get No. 100 for the Wood Brothers and that’s something that you can’t take lightly. We as a group have that place in history now forever for the 100th win for the Wood Brothers and, to me, that just means the world,” commented Burton.

“This is beyond words,” remarked Eddie Wood, CEO and co-owner of Wood Brothers Racing. “This has been such a long time coming, the hundredth win. We’ve been with Motorcraft Quick Lane and Ford Performance for over twenty years and you just can’t put that into words. Edsel Ford, all his family, Jim Farley – there’s just so many people in our world to make this happen. It’s just unbelievable.” “Ford and Motorcraft Quick Lane have stuck behind us for over twenty years now,” said Len Wood, COO and co-owner of Wood Brothers Racing. “To get our 100th win is so special, and we couldn’t do it without those people. It’s great to get a win here at Daytona. This is the place you want to be, right here.”

“The Wood Brothers are family to us at Ford and to see them get their 100th win means so much to all of us who have followed them through the years,” said Mark Rushbrook, Global Director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “When you think of Ford and its NASCAR program, you think of the Wood Brothers. Their loyalty to us for the last 74 years is unmatched and we couldn’t be prouder.”

Seven Ford Performance drivers started Saturday night’s race from the top-10 with Front Row Motorsports teammates Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliland sweeping the front row, Team Penske’s Joey Logano in 3rd, Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Ryan Preece in 4th, Josh Berry in 5th, and Chase Briscoe in 6th, along with Team Penske’s Austin Cindric in 8th. The field remained 3-wide for the entire first stage with several drivers swapping the lead back and forth. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Josh Berry won Stage 1, earning his first stage win of the season. After pit stops during the stage break, Team Penske’s Joey Logano took the lead and didn’t look back, winning Stage 2. After several late-race cautions, the race went into overtime. Harrison Burton started on the outside of the front row alongside Kyle Busch. Burton was able to make the race-winning pass on the last lap, finishing 0.047 seconds ahead of second place Kyle Busch.

Four Ford Performance drivers finished in the top 10: Rick Ware Racing’s Cody Ware in P4, Roush Fenway Keselowski (RFK) Racing’s Brad Keselowski in P8, and teammate Chris Buescher in P10.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series also raced at Daytona on Friday. Stewart-Haas Racing’s Riley Herbst finished in P4 and RSS Racing’s Ryan Sieg finished in P5.  The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series both compete this weekend at Darlington Raceway in Darlington, SC.

39 CHAMPIONSHIPS – 467 WINS – 434 POLES

CHICAGO (August 26, 2024) — Funny Car driver Chris King grew up attending the Toyota NHRA U.S. Nationals as a fan and then a crew member on Lucas Oil Series sportsman teams. The magnitude of participating in the “Big Go” for the first time as a nitro Funny Car driver with a competitive team is starting to sink in with the full-time Chicago firefighter as he prepares for his third race of the season. King will once again be behind the wheel of the Competition Products/Howards Cams Funny Car that he owns and is tuned by veteran crew chief Bob Peck, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, August 30 – September 2.

Chris King is ready for historic US Nationals Labor Day Weekend

“I get goosebumps thinking about racing at the U.S. Nationals,” said King. “This is the biggest race of the season, it is the 70^th Toyota U.S. Nationals and I will be competing against the best of the best. I feel like I am in the best position heading into a race I have ever been in. When I got out of the race car in Norwalk, I couldn’t wait to get back into it for the U.S. Nationals.”

During the Summit Racing Equipment Nationals King qualified No. 15 and gave J.R. Todd and the DHL Toyota Funny Car team a solid race in the first round. The Competition Products/Howards Cams Funny Car has continued to improve throughout the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season in limited appearances. Between races King and Peck have been adding parts and working on a tune-up that will set them up for success at the U.S. Nationals and beyond.

“I am being realistic about our program, but we have a Funny Car that can run 4.10s and we will plan on doing that right out of the trailer in Indy,” said King, who started his Funny Car career in Denver in 2021. “We can chip away at that time over the next four sessions, and I feel like we can have a Funny Car that can make low four second or high three second runs. It is exciting to think about. Every driver wants to win the U.S. Nationals. I am not being cocky, but Indy is a place that if you can make the show, magic can happen on Monday.”

King has enjoyed long-time support from Competition Products and Howards Cams throughout his career and this year he added Fire Department Coffee to his marketing program, which only makes sense considering he is an active firefighter. The marketing relationships King has fostered combined with his growing status as a fan-favorite continue to motivate him to build a program that aspires to be on tour full-time.

“Every race we attend I try and make new fans and deliver for all our sponsors,” said King. “We will be doing two pre-event fanfests and I will be on the ropes signing autographs for anyone who wants to come by our pits. This event is so special, and I want to really make a good impression. This team works hard to look professional and compete on the track. We are going to throw down some good elapsed times and hopefully we will surprise some people. Drag racing is one sport where you really can work your butt off and see results because anything can happen when two 12,000-horsepower Funny Cars line up beside each other. I have been working on my lights and Bob has been working on the tune-up.”

In the 70-year history of the Toyota U.S. Nationals the list of winners includes dominant mega- teams and independent operations. This year King will be looking to make the field of 16 Funny Cars and see if he can capture some of the Indy magic that will write his name in to the history books.

Qualifying will begin on Friday night, August 30 and teams will have two more qualifying sessions each day on Saturday and Sunday. The quickest 16 Funny Cars will square off on Labor Day, Monday, September 2, looking to turn on four win lights and hoist the iconic Wally trophy at the end of the day. The race will be broadcast live throughout the weekend on FS1 and FOX. For additional event information visit www.nhra.com.

No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R seeking season-defining result in WEC ‘home’ race

DETROIT (Aug. 26, 2024) – Cadillac Racing returns to Circuit of The Americas this week, aiming to deliver a season-defining result in its FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) homecoming. The six-hour Lone Star Le Mans – the sixth round of the eight-race season — also marks the WEC’s return to the racecourse in Austin, Texas, after a three-year absence. The race was a fixture on the calendar from 2013-2017. Green flag is scheduled for 1 p.m. CDT Sunday.

Media resources* Preview in French* Cadillac event guide* Cadillac ’24 WEC stats* Driver candid photos* Pink Cadillac Day* That iconic engine sound GM COTA highlights* Cadillac DPi-V.R sweeps podium in 2017 IMSA race.* Chevrolet Corvette DP sweeps podium in 2016 IMSA race.* Chevrolet Corvette DP wins 2013 Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series race.* Johnny O’Connell wins 2016 Pirelli World Challenge race in Cadillac ATS-V.R GT3 and the 2013 race in a Cadillac CTS-V.

Sebring International Raceway hosted the last WEC race in the U.S. in March 2023, which was also the debut of the Cadillac Racing Hypercar program. The No. 2 V-Series.R turned heads with a fourth-place finish. GM Motorsports has had successful runs at the 3.426-mile road course, including the Cadillac DPi-V.R sweeping the podium in the 2-hour, 40-minute (73 laps) IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race in 2017.This year, Earl Bamber and Alex Lynn will pilot the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R, which is the only Hypercar entry to qualify in the top four in each of the past three races (second at Spa-Francorchamps and Le Mans, fourth at Brazil). Eighteen Hypercars are entered.“I love the fact that we have such passionate fans in America, and I think they’ll enjoy seeing the WEC there again,” said Bamber, a New Zealand native who lives in Atlanta. “I think there is going to be a lot of America at the event. It’s some of the best racing in the world right now, especially in Hypercar and I think for fans going to COTA, seeing this field will be a great spectacle.”

Different vantage point Ride along in the No. 2 Cadillac V-Series.R during the Lone Star Le Mans at 1 p.m. CDT Sunday. WATCH

Bamber is a two-time winner at COTA, including co-driving to an LMP1 victory in 2017, and both drivers tested at COTA in July prior to completion of full-course resurfacing. Portions of the course that incorporates 113 feet of elevation change were repaved earlier this year. Cars will run counterclockwise on the 20-turn (11 left, 9 right) track that opened in 2012 and draws inspiration from some renown international circuits.

An uphill run into the hairpin Turn 1 is the venue’s signature corner. Turns 3 through 6 take cues from Silverstone’s high-speed Maggotts-Becketts-Chapel complex and Turns 12 through 15 are a nod to Hockenheim’s stadium section. “COTA is a very technical track, very difficult to get right,” Lynn said. “It really is amazing behind the wheel, and to watch from grandstands and viewing banks.” Race day is Pink Cadillac Day, which is celebrated annually on September 1 to honor the iconic 1950s car. Cadillac is embedded in pop culture, being featured in more than 400 movie scenes and referenced in more than 300 songs. A special pink Cadillac prototype racecar will complement the exciting lineup of Cadillac V-Series vehicles on display during the weekend.What they’re saying

Earl Bamber: “I love the fact that we have such passionate fans in America, and I think they’ll enjoy seeing the WEC there again. The fans make the American races. You go to Sebring you see them camping for a whole week. The same at Road Atlanta and Daytona. I think we’ll get a big turnout at COTA and Austin is a fantastic city to go to as well. I think there is going to be a lot of America at the event. Fans will see titanic battles. There is action all over the place all the time. I think it’s some of the best racing in the world right now, especially in the prototype class, and I think it will be a great spectacle for the fans. The teams are upping the level and it’s feeling more and more like a Formula One paddock when you walk through the paddock. (about the circuit) The track is super challenging and it’s going to be hot, so it will be a real endurance race for the cars and the drivers behind the wheel. After the test there, we’ll be well-prepared, and we’ll be able to lean on our American colleagues as well from what they know. I think it will be one of the highlights of the program. A lot of people talk about the climb leading into the first corner, but actually I like the last sector with a really fast, long right-hand corner and the other fast corner to finish the lap. Overall, I think it is going to be grueling, a challenge for the teams for strategy and I think it’s going to race really well so looking forward to it.”

Alex Lynn: “Being back in the U.S. is really cool and important for us as GM. We want to win one of these races and stand on the podium again and that’s our goal. Because it was so hot (during July 2023 test) the grip was so low that actually it was alright. I hope it is a bit higher grip this time with the resurface, but I think that’s the thing with COTA is that when it’s so hot the grip becomes super low, so that actually wasn’t that difficult. COTA is a very technical track, very difficult to get right. There is a lot of lap time to be found with drivers exploiting the curbs. We don’t drive there a lot, so it’s a tough track to nail. But it’s a challenge we all enjoy. Sector 1 is by far my favorite. You’ve got that huge hill to Turn 1, then the big downhill sweeping into what is really a recreation of Maggots and Becketts from Silverstone. It really is amazing behind the wheel, and to watch from grandstands and viewing banks. Austin in itself is such a cool place too. Racing in the U.S. is cool, but that city just adds to it. The people there are so welcoming and for that reason I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love going there.”(July test days) “The test in Austin went well. The circuit had not been repaved before we tested, though it has been repaved since with the new F1 tarmac. That won’t be too much of a surprise with how our car will react. I believe our car works well on European tarmac tracks like Qatar and Imola, which recently were repaved FIA-grade tracks.”

POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (June 26, 2024) – Defending Trans Am Series champion Chris Dyson capped a dominating weekend in #16 GYM WEED Ford Mustang with a flag-to-flag from pole position win in Sunday’s 100-mile sprint race at Watkins Glen International. It was Dyson’s third pole and second win this season and his third career Watkins Glen Trans Am victory. He took both ends of the 2021 doubleheader on his way to the first of his three straight Trans Am titles. “This was a great day for us,” Dyson said after climbing from his car at the Winners Circle, surrounded by his family and CD Racing teammates. “The guys gave me a phenomenal race car. The work we put in last week in testing really paid off.  And it’s really wonderful to be able to share this with my family.” Not that it was an easy race for Dyson. He grabbed the lead going into the first turn and held it through two yellow-flag restarts, but Dyson’s 0.767 margin over Paul Menard at the checker was his widest of the race. While racing under the green flag Dyson never held more than a 3/10ths-second lead over Menard at the start/finish line. Most laps the gap was less than 2/10ths. “Paul and I raced each other hard but clean all day,” Dyson said. “Paul is an experienced veteran and he has a very fast car. He pressed me the whole way. I never blocked him, but I knew I had to drive a perfect race, including on those restarts. He tested me almost every lap in Turn 1, but we both gave each other racing room. I knew if I made even the slightest mistake and gave Paul an opening, he’d go for it.” Dyson made no mistakes and Menard never got a shot at the lead. This weekend marked Dyson’s 25th career victory and put him 4th on the list of all-time Trans Am winners. Matos’ Defends TA2-Class Lead With Podium Finish Rafa Matos’ closest competitor for the TA2 championship, Thomas Merrill, won Saturday’s race at Watkins Glen. But a late race charge to third place in his Concord American Flagpole Ford Mustang meant that three-time 2024 race winner Matos maintained his substantial lead in the TA2 title race. “We didn’t quite have a winning car today,” Matos admitted after the race. “But it was good enough to get us onto the podium, so we didn’t lose much to Thomas, who drove a great race.” Matos’ dominant position in the season-championship standing is in part due to his consistent top finishes. In the six races the two-time TA2 class champion hasn’t won this season, he’s only finished off the podium once. Next Up: Canadian Tire Motorsports Park The Trans Am series will be racing this weekend at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park for the first time since before Chris Dyson began contesting the series full-time in 2018. But the legendary Ontario circuit, formerly known as Mosport Park, has figured large in Chris Dyson’s career and in the history of Dyson Racing, with multiple IMSA American Le Mans Series wins at the venue to their account. “Mosport is a place that just takes your breath away as a driver,” Dyson noted. “It is very fast and very demanding. But also very rewarding to lap quickly. The team and I have loved racing there over the years and reconnecting with our Canadian fans. It has been a while since we have competed there (2015’s Pirelli World Challenge) and I’m excited to be coming back. The TA and TA2 classes will race together for the first time this season at the Canadian circuit. “The speed differential between the TA and TA2 cars is significant,” Dyson said. “Managing lapped traffic will be an additional challenge for drivers in both classes. And at this track there is little margin for error.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND

PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

PORTLAND, OREGON

TEAM CHEVY POST RACE RECAP

WITH QUOTES AND TRANSCRIPTS

AUGUST 25, 2024

AT PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

JOSEF NEWGARDEN FINISHED THIRD TO GIVE CHEVROLET TWO ON PODIUM FOR BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND

• Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet, scored his third win of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR Series season with today’s win at Portland International Raceway (PIR)-his second on the 1.964-mile/12-turn road course
• Power led 101 of the 110 laps; it is his sixth podium of the season and the 104^th of his career
• This victory is the 44^th of Power’s career and the first time since 2018 the two-time Series’ champion and Indianapolis 500 winner has scored three-plus victories in a season
• Two of his 2024 victories have been since INDYCAR introduced hybrid technology to the Series schedule at the Mid-Ohio race (Iowa Race 2 and today)
• Power leaves Portland second in the point standings, 54 points down to leader Alex Palou
• Josef Newgarden, No. 2 TireRack.com Team Penske Chevrolet, finished third to give Chevrolet two spots on podium
• Pole winner Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Phoenix Investors AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet, kept his string of top-10 finishes alive with an eighth place finish today
• Team Chevy drivers scored four of the top-eight finishers today with Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Freightliner Team Penske Chevrolet, racing his way from the 20^th starting position that was the result of six-place grid penalty
• Today’s win is the third for Chevrolet at PIR, the ninth win of the 14 races run to-date in 2024-four including the Indianapolis 500 with the tried and true 2.2 liter V6 configuration and five since the INDYCAR hybrid technology integration, and 120 victories since the Bowtie Brand returned to INDYCAR competition in 2012
• With three races remaining in the season, Chevrolet leads the Series’ Manufacturers Championship standings 1,236 to 1,110 points 
• The Hy-Vee Milwaukee Mile Doubleheader weekend August 30,31-September 1 is next on the calendar for Team Chevy in the NTT INDYCAR Series

TEAM CHEVY TOP-8 RACE RESULTS:

Pos.  Driver

1^st     Will Power

3^rd     Josef Newgarden

7^th     Scott McLaughlin

8^th     Santino Ferrucci

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)

ROBERT BUCKNER, CHEVROLET ENGINEERING PROGRAM MANAGER FOR THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES:

“Congratulations to Will Power and the No. 12 Chevrolet team on their dominate win at Portland International Raceway. With just three races to go in the season, Will made a strong statement today that he is going to fight for this championship. I am very proud of the effort that has been put forth by our Chevrolet engineering group working with our teams to stay in this fight. After facing some unknowns with the mid-season introduction of the hybrid technology scoring our ninth victory today is a perfect example of the effort put forth to finish strong. “

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON BUSINESS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, WINNER:

On today’s race…“Just working hard. I’m enjoying the craft. Feel very lucky to be in this series and with this team. Days like this are hard to do. So many good drivers, so many good teams. To execute like that feels very good.” 

Talk about that dominance and your crew doing such a fantastic job…

“They picked the strategy really well. I just did my job and got them fuel numbers. Kept my eye on (Alex) Palou behind me. I could see the gap opening on Palou’s but I knew we had a better car. It was just a matter of getting through that traffic. That last stint, we were on new tires. We were very strong.” 

Heading back to the Milwaukee Mile next week, you’ve won there and did very good in the test as well. This could be a strong finish for you in the remaining three events…

“It could be very strong. I’ve been very strong on all the ovals this year. Won at Iowa, could’ve won last week. It was close but looking forward to it.” 

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 TIRERACK.COM TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 3^RD:

“Good day for us, Team Penske. Obviously, a great team win for Will (Power). We could use that after the last weekend we had. It’s really great. He’s our highest car, so we need to make sure we finish this thing off right. I think the No. 2 car was great today. Finishing third is a great result. You always want more. I want to win every race we’re in. It’s stinks to not win it, but it was a good result for our team. Having TireRack.com on this weekend was great. They’ve been a great partner of ours especially with acquisition from Discount Tire. So, it’s fun to have them on the INDYCAR program. Team Chevy doing a great job today with two on the podium.

“It was pretty good. I think second was probably our potential. I think Will (Power) had everybody covered today. Hard to say that we were going to challenge him. Maybe if we started first and we could make something happen there, but I think top-three, second place, that’s where we were at today, so it was a really good result for the No. 2 car. TireRack.com, it was their first race sponsoring the No. 2 car. You always want a victory when someone new is on board. It was a good day. I’m happy Will got the win. He has been fast all weekend, and obviously, he’s still gunning for this championship. Definitely a car we want to finish up front, so this is a great day for us. I always want more, and I don’t like finishing third, but a good day for Team Penske.” 

There’s a lot of question marks and a lot of unknowns on what would be the preferred tire for today. Did it change throughout the race as what you thought may be the preferred tire? 

“Not for us. I was kind of waffling on it after the first stint thinking okay, is it going to be the red? Is it going to be the primary? But I wasn’t sure at that point. But going into it, I felt like the red was a little stronger for us and that ended up being the case. So, I think that was probably the preferred tire for our car and we managed with what we could. Lap traffic was hard today. We just couldn’t make much happen in that middle stint and that’s probably what slowed our progress in getting to the No. 10. Good, clean day. It could’ve went about as we expected. Just a touch short.” 

Championship aside, we head to two ovals to finish out the year. As the oval king, are you looking forward to getting to go to a couple of ovals? 

“I’ll be honest, I was more excited about here. I really was. I wanted us to get a win here on the road course and we had a good showing. I think we had the potential, but I like everywhere. It’s not just ovals that get me excited. It’s places like this. The biggest thing is we’re coming to the final stretch, right? Three races to go for us and I think we need to have a solid finish. We’re still in the championship fight with our team. We’ve got two good things to cheer for coming to the end of the season, and to wrap things up on a good note.” 

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 FREIGHTLINER TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7^TH:

On today’s race-a charge from 20^th to 7th

“I’m buggered. I’m tired. It was a hard charge but our Freightliner Chevy was good and the Thirsty Three’s were rapid on the pit stops. Really proud of the crew. I said to my wife who’s watching at home, hello Karly. I said top-seven today would be like a podium. I’m proud of that one and can’t wait to get home and then head to the final three races where on ovals we’ve proven we’ve been pretty good this year. We’ll see how we go.” 

You were really confident earlier in the weekend, and when you have a car like that you know you can get to the front. How does that impact how aggressive you are throughout the race? 

“You just have to trust once you get clearer, you can hit the lap time. You can’t make mistakes either, so it’s a credit to my crew that they kept me level headed throughout the whole race. There were a couple of times you get heated as you do, but overall, just disappointed with yesterday. That one is on me. Can’t do that on a championship run, but hey, we’re still in it until we’re mathematically out of it. I don’t care, I’m still in it. So, press on.” 

SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 14 PHOENIX INVESTMENTS AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH:

“The weekend was incredible, to start on pole with Will (Power). Obviously, he got me on the inside of turn one. I braked a little early. First time for everything, but we’ll learn. The team did a phenomenal job, we just didn’t quite have the pace we that we thought we would today. Obviously, with the heat coming up, we were just all over the track and it was super greasy. It’s unfortunate but I mean, I had fun. It’s a long race to go green for as long as it was. We had great stops. Our pit crew did phenomenal. I can’t thank Sexton Properties, Phoenix investors, Chevrolet, everybody enough. To get the pole this weekend for us is a huge milestone. We get to sit in the front box for the dual at Milwaukee which will be a lot of fun. A big advantage for us. On to the ovals.” 

Back to turn one at the start, how did you approach that? Was there a conversation with Will Power about how you guys would handle the start into the first turn? 

“I kind of told Will (Power) where I was going to go and I try and if I got the jump, I could get in front of him, I would and I would kind of string him along, pull him down into turn one. He was going to the inside and just block, and give me into two, I just didn’t expect him to brake as early as I did. I definitely didn’t mean to either. It was really cool to talk with him, too, and get some advice on what to do. He’s such a good dude and I’m really happy for him and for the No. 12 team to win. It’s great for them and the championship. He was very helpful. A lot for me to learn there and I can’t wait to race him again a little bit more in the next few.” 

Silly Season seems like it’s been going on for two and a half years in INDYCAR. It never stops. How does a weekend like this bode for your future, and talks with AJ Foyt Racing or perhaps other teams? 

“Obviously, it’s huge. To qualifying on pole, it’s a drivers’ thing and we obviously got the car right, working with the engineers, it’s a team effort at the end of the day to do that. To put that lap in and everything, and to race as well as we have been all year, I think it’s our eighth top-ten. We’ve just been so consistent. I obviously want to stay here at AJ Foyt (Racing) and we’re going to work on that with Larry (Foyt) over the next couple of weeks to see it’s a possibility. To build what we have, to be coming back to the tracks again next year with the continuity of the same engineers and team, mechanics. It’s getting better all around. We’ll be starting more up front and hopefully, we can get some more poles and can translate those into wins.” 

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 ASKROI ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11^TH:

“I had a good start and pretty good pace. The No. 21 askROI.com Chevrolet felt really good, actually a lot better than in warm up yesterday so we made some really good changes. We maximized what we had with everything we had going on. I am pretty proud of the team and of myself. Almost got another Top 10, but still pretty happy. Great job by everybody and on to the next one!”

ALEXANDER ROSSI, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 12^TH:

“It was a long day, and that was a lot of effort to finish 12th. But at least we finished, as it had been a few races since we did that. The team did a great job in the race with what we had, maximizing strategy and stops, so it is positive to finally get some points on the board before heading to some tracks where we should be pretty strong at next week.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 15^TH:

“Obviously, a very hard weekend for the whole team, including ourselves in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. There are a lot of things to look over to see where the issue is. The reality is, this is unacceptable. We’ll see where we can can improve for the coming races to close out the year better than just fighting for 15th.”

STING RAY ROBB, NO. 41 PRAY.COM AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18^TH: 

“Long day here in Portland. We went forward quite a bit. A small mistake on the last stop cost us a few spots, but overall, I think it was a fairly maximized day for the pace that we had. For the conditions, I think that we had a fairly decent car. We made a call at the beginning of the race to trim compared to the cars around us. I’m not sure how I ended up. I think we gained a little, lost a little. Overall, pretty happy with the result. Got some good points out of it and we’re moving forward to two tracks that I think we’re going to do well at.” 

NOLAN SIEGEL, NO. 6 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, FINISHED 21ST:

“It was a very, very long race and it felt like we didn’t really have a whole lot to get by anyone. Then, I made a few mistakes where things just compounded for a pretty disappointing race for us. We will look into it and move on, but we are definitely not satisfied with the weekend. We need to do better, and luckily, we have two more coming up.”

CHRISTIAN RASMUSSEN, NO. 20 GUY CARE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 26^TH”

“A day that could have been. The pace in the No. 20 GuyCare Chevrolet was pretty good and I think we could have had a Top 12 today. Unfortunately, sometimes people don’t look where they are going and I got hit. We had to come in and change the front wing and that put us a lap or two down. It was kind of over from there. Looking beyond that, it was a pretty good weekend. Super close qualifying, we were right there with everybody, then good pace in the race and making moves.”

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT

Will Power

Josef Newgarden

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Joined now by the 2024 champion here at Portland, Will Power. His third win of the season, second here in Portland. Jumps back into second place in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES points championship. 44th career win. Sixth podium of the season. The 104th of his career.

I know it’s much more than this, but to simplify it, it kind of all began and ended in turn one, the opportunity to pass Santino there. How huge was that?

WILL POWER: Turn one, Santino and I talked about the start, he was not going to block or anything. He braked earlier than expected, because I braked earlier. I was going to let him lead. Yeah, he’s a good teammate. Very fair. I have to thank him for helping me out there.

But yes, from there it was a pretty I guess straightforward race of playing the game with in and out laps against Palou. I think we definitely had a better car on reds. We could pull a good gap. I think black tires at the beginning, that got a bit tough.

Yeah, man, a good day. Went green for a long time. Kind of mentally drained. I don’t have that many words. But yeah, it’s good stuff.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll begin with questions.

Q. Would you be willing to go on the Masked Singer?

WILL POWER: Masked Singer? No, definitely not good enough for that. I’ll do some karaoke.

Q. This win brings you 54 points within Alex. Him finishing second, you trimming 12 points off of your gap to him, how winnable does this still feel going into the final three oval races?

WILL POWER: I would say if he had finished ahead of us, it would almost be over. It just kept it alive. Ultimately, one DNF for him, one win for me, you’re right there. Certainly within 20 points. That makes it very possible it could happen.

Yeah, I said going into this race we simply have to win. We simply have to at least finish ahead of him, but ultimately win to keep this thing alive. That’s what we did.

It’s going to be the same every week. It’s going to be the same every race from here out. Just got no choice but to be ahead of him or it’s over.

Q. Would you envision over these final three races the team putting all of its eggs in your basket to try to get you a championship or will you still be racing your teammates for race wins at Milwaukee and Nashville?

WILL POWER: I think if we have the cars to win, and we want to win the championship, yes, that’s probably what we should do with three to go. We should probably, yeah, be looking at how can we get the 12 car in the best possible position. Really that’s our only chance. We got three really good drivers – four really if you include Santino – that are capable of running at the front.

Yeah, that can take up a lot of positions. I’m the head of that group, we win the race, that starts to make things look possible.

Yeah, we’ll talk about that when we get to Milwaukee, see if that’s a possibility.

Q. A doubleheader at Milwaukee that we haven’t raced on in nearly a decade, a track at Nashville that you may only raced on once in your career, how unknown is what we’re getting into over these final three races?

WILL POWER: Yeah, quite unknown. You don’t even know, like, can you pass at Milwaukee? Will qualifying be a big deal? How will this play out? I don’t even think we’ve run on the tire we’re going to run. Yeah, a very, very interesting three races that you really don’t know where everyone’s going to stack up.

All the ovals we went to this year, we’ve had history on, very good setups and data for. Milwaukee, we tested there a couple times now. But it’s really difficult to tell till you get in the race situation to know how good your car really is.

Q. About the 75th lap or so, it looked like Alex wanted to get racy with you. Were we seeing that correctly?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I had traffic. I was at the mercy of the pace of the car in front. I saw that gap just shrink really quickly. I think he pulled into the pits or I passed. However that played out. As soon as I got clear track, I knew I could put quite a bit of time into him. Especially at the end of the stint, it seemed like his car used the tire more than ours. On reds we were simply better. Our car was really good on red tires.

Yeah, kind of equal I’d say on blacks. He even looked like he dropped off on blacks. It was really a lot to do with traffic management. If it was a clear track for me, I always felt I could pull a gap on him.

Q. Last weekend was not what you wanted. Your blood pressure was considerably higher. How do you deal with those ups and downs?

WILL POWER: I get mad very quickly, but I get over it very quickly. I mean, I’ve grabbed Scott Dixon at Road America, then got into the car and said, Sorry, man. It’s all good. Like, got into the medical car a few seconds later.

I just am like that. When I’m mad, it looks worse. My bark is worse than my bite. I’m like not that (smiling). I forgive very quickly and easily and move on. I know everyone in this series is trying to do the same thing. We’re all lucky to be here.

Last week I saw a lot of points just… A great race really. I would have to say the most fun I’ve had in years on an oval finished in a bad way. I enjoyed the race, I had so much fun, then it finished like that. Kind of disappointed. Late restart. I think if we went earlier, it wouldn’t have happened.

Yeah, one day later I’m wake surfing with Josef, laughing. Talking to Malukas and joking. Yeah, it’s just how I am.

Q. You said at the beginning of the race that Portland had a special place in your heart because it was the first place you ever tested. How does this win and being able to continue that championship fight rate for you?

WILL POWER: Man, anytime I win in this series, I feel so lucky. Like it feels like it’s so impossible and hard to win. I was thinking through the race, No way I’m going to win this. He’s going to get me. But you do your absolute best.

When you get a win, it’s a very good feeling. It’s very, very satisfying. It takes so much, it really does. To get through all those rounds in qualifying, to qualify right at the front, that is so difficult in this series. Then to execute completely on a race day with so many good guys and teams around you, it really is a big deal just to get on a podium in INDYCAR.

Every win I get now, it’s so special. It really means a lot. It’s adding to my win list. It’s not like I’m racing for another decade, put it that way. Yeah, I work really hard at my craft, so it’s very satisfying. I know all the guys on the car really deserve it. Best pit crew in pit lane. They have been the quickest the last couple years. They are again this year. That’s a hard situation to come upon. To be in that situation, to be a good driver in a great team, having the opportunities to win. Bloody winning a race is a big deal.

Q. Anything specific about Portland itself?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, it’s the first track I ever drove at in the U.S. First time I ever drove an INDYCAR. I still remember it driving down the back straight, I had the thought, Man, I could be paid to do this. That was with big horsepower days, too. Yeah, I still remember that thought, driving down that back straight. I remember that day, I do. I remember driving that car. It had understeer. Stalled it a couple times trying to leave the pits. It was good memories. A long time ago. Almost 20 years ago. I think it’s 20 years ago. Crazy, cool.

I do love it. Yeah, I mean, I have that memory for this place. I’m glad we came back here, we started racing here again. It was a cool place when I got to race here in Champ Car.

But I love all the tracks. When I walk in the paddock, it’s like it would be really tough for me to walk away from this sport. It really would. The feeling of being a part of something, trying to accomplish something with a group of people, yeah, I think you’d be pretty lost. If I stopped, I’d be very lost with what to do.

I love racing. I love the paddock. I love the people. Feel lucky to do it.

Q. When you were going down that back straightaway, did you have any thought you’d be doing this for this long?

WILL POWER: No. Yeah, no way that I thought I would have driven for the best team in the U.S., won on ovals, won the Indy 500. All those things. Won a championship. Yeah, not a chance.

I worked very hard always, was very determined. It’s something that unfolds very slowly. It’s not a big shock that it happened now. When you reflect on it when you came here all those years ago, it was a dream. What I’ve done, I’ve lived out my dream, absolutely. I’ve just lived it out.

You need to reflect sometimes and appreciate that when you get mad or disappointed about something that happens. You’re really lucky to be here.

I enjoy doing appearances now. I enjoy media, all that stuff. It’s all great stuff. I give the young guys a hard time if they complain about it. Man, you could be working in an office, you could be working construction, you’re lucky you’re in this very small group of people that get to do this for a living, so enjoy it.

Q. How similar or different does this title fight feel compared to 2022?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it’s very different. Like, it’s a must-win situation almost right now. Can take a little bit more risk. You probably have a little less pressure ’cause you’re not the one sort of defending this points lead.

Believe me, it’s nice to have the points lead. It’s much better to be in his position by a longshot. Yeah, different year. I kind of learnt from his championship last year, the style of ’22 wouldn’t have worked that year. You had to win. That’s what this year is.

This year was a year of a lot of mistakes from a lot of drivers. Last two races. Toronto, think about it, if I didn’t try that move on Scott. If Malukas and I didn’t have that issue, cause that yellow, suddenly you’re looking pretty good. Everyone has let some big points go. Palou at Iowa. It’s been one of those years where a ’22 sort of year would win it, yeah.

Q. If you’ve let yourself think about this at all, what would a third championship mean to you?

WILL POWER: Oh, yeah, tremendous, tremendous in many different ways. To win in this series, at this time, it’s so difficult. You get a third championship from a deficit of 54 points at this point, come back from a deficit like that, yeah, that would be amazing. It would be absolutely amazing. To finish on all ovals, as well, kind of going back to my early days, sort of unfinished business there.

Yeah, it’s a tough climb from here, but not impossible.

Q. Consistency is a thing that wins the championship, but also there’s the consistency from the guys that deliver that car to you. How hard is this run to the final group of races for them?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it is very much about the consistency of pit stops, car preparations, the guys that build the engines. All those things are going to play a part. Yeah, kind of a grueling season in that they have to pack up now, rebuild a car, rebuild three cars before we go to Milwaukee. It’s the same for every team, yeah.

I mean, it’s absolutely a team sport, I can tell you that. Just having been in this for so long, like I said, to get the ingredients of the fastest pit crew, the best team, the best engine, and being one of the best drivers, to get that combination is so difficult. You look through the whole field, all those guys are capable of winning.

So yeah, got to feel fortunate to be a part of a team like Penske where you’re given those ingredients.

Q. Do you feel maybe the Dixon factor, considering he’s won at Nashville before, can that have an effect on the championship if they let him loose to cover for Palou?

WILL POWER: Yes. Having tested there with Dixon, Dixon is very good at Nashville. I said that before. I could see him winning that race, see him being very competitive. He could play a part, absolutely, in a scenario where we must win, you’re probably going to be fighting Dixon.

Q. The key message still is what you’ve been saying, stay ahead of Alex at all times?

WILL POWER: Yeah, that’s our only shot. That is our only shot. We must be continually finishing ahead of him and see where it falls.

Q. This is your first three-win season since 2018. What’s made the difference to regain the winning form?

WILL POWER: It’s never just one thing, to be honest. I think Chevy made a gain last year. Just with that, you’ve got more chance to qualify in the top six. Qualify in the top six, you certainly have more chance of a win.

If I look at 2022, there were a lot of, like, races where I went from 16th to third, got a lot of podiums, a lot of second places. Had I qualified slightly better, those potentially could have been wins. It’s just putting yourself in that position, having the car.

Yeah, you are constantly working on that stuff. One year you’re a little conservative. Next year you see Palou win with a bit more aggression, so you become a bit more aggressive. I never stop digging and looking.

I actually came into this season with the mindset I must win multiple races. It’s been a long time since I have. Yeah, that’s basically a lot of factors go into it.

Q. Is there anything with your specific race craft that you’ve changed or maximized on now better than previously?

WILL POWER: No, not really. No, I race pretty similar. A couple mistakes this year that I really reflect on that is uncharacteristic of sort of the 2022 year.

No, I have the same mentality. I’m very calm in the car always. Rarely do I get flustered or say something on the radio. I’m less calm out of the car if something happens, but…

Yeah, you just change small things. Built this big toolbox of skills over the years, worked on the mental aspect a lot, which just comes with age, to be honest. No particular thing.

You have your goals coming into a season, but you are just walking that tightrope of aggression versus consistency. If you look at Dixon, 99% of the time he will not go for a move that’s sort of in a 50/50. He will weigh on the cautious side. That’s won him championships. Palou is further to the aggressive. But he walks that tightrope really well of aggression versus reward.

Yeah, I’m always playing on that one side or the other. ’22 I was too conservative. ’23 I had a bad year. This year maybe I’m a little bit over-aggressive at times. But that’s the game you play. You got to hit that sweet spot. It’s tough.

Q. You have this interesting ability to have a really bad race, get mad, cool down, but come back and funnel what was bad into something positive. What is it? Is it a thing?

WILL POWER: Ultimately I came here, like, I have to qualify really well because of the first corner. But ultimately I have to win to keep this thing alive. Yeah, that’s what I did.

Yeah, no, it may look like that, but that’s not really get mad and do anything. You just focus in. I try to do that every weekend.

Yeah, those couple of 18th places were just from bad restarts actually. I mean, yeah, both of them were in restarts on a short oval.

Q. Recently we had news confirming David Malukas heading to Foyt. Some believe he could be moving into your car at some point in time in the future. Won more races than any of your teammates this year. Share some thoughts about wanting to continue.

WILL POWER: I want to continue. I’m not retiring. I’m not. I’m just simply not retiring. Yeah, I know people probably like to spread that around, rumors or whatever, in the hope that they can take my seat. Yeah, I’m staying here for a while. I’ll get better every year, man. I get better every year. I feel like that.

Q. We haven’t had a lot of kids from Down Under doing big things on the Road to Indy for a while. Lochie Hughes heading to INDY NXT. Any thoughts about that?

WILL POWER: I really want to help him get to INDYCAR. I think he’s very good. He’s very focused, determined. Yeah, we spoke I think at Iowa. He didn’t have many races after that. He asked me how to approach a championship. The long or short of it is, man, all you can focus is on what you can control, nothing else. Forget about the rest. Focus in. It’s your ticket to ultimately INDYCAR, but definitely Indy Lights.

I want to help him get to the INDYCAR. I want to see another Australian get a good seat and succeed here in America. He’s good. He deserves it.

THE MODERATOR: Busy between Miles and Lochie.

WILL POWER: Yeah, tough one. I want to see them both succeed. I think Miles will be fine. I think ultimately he’s got Penske’s help. He’s pretty good. Lochie needs more help. It’s very tough from where he is.

You’ve seen Indy Lights champions move on. It’s been good, yeah.

THE MODERATOR: Joined now by the third-place finishing driver, Josef Newgarden. His best-ever finish here at Portland, fifth podium of the season, 57th of his career. Now tied with Sebastien Bourdais for 18th on the all-time INDYCAR SERIES list.

Josef, your general thoughts about this afternoon?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it was a good day for us. I think in a lot of ways close to our potential. Looking at it from, like, a far distance, it looked like we were a second-place car today. I think third is really close to what we could have achieved.

I think we probably had something for Alex, but not for Will. I think Will was probably lights out the best today. A great result for our team. Obviously Will is still going for this championship. It’s a great result for him to be up front.

For us, you always want more. I want to win every race I’m in, so I don’t like finishing third. It’s a good weekend, good, solid weekend. Proud of the team. Proud of having Tire Rack on our car.

True story. Fun story. I’ve been a customer of tirerack.com since I was a kid. It was always my preferred site to go to when I was trying to figure out specifications for tires. It’s funny to come full circle now that I am 33 to and have them on the car. Pleased we can take this to the last few races of the year and finish strong.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll start with questions.

Q. Josef, much calmer post race today than last week. Was it that pedestrian on the track or still a pretty busy race today?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it wasn’t super action packed today. Not quite like Gateway, right? Gateway was probably a little more intense in a good way. Today was a little bit more calm. It wasn’t enough to mix it up. We didn’t have a yellow get thrown in there to kind of mix things up.

I think the top guys were pretty strong in their own right so they stayed stationary once we settled in after that first stint.

You can’t have the greatest show every weekend. This is probably a little less than what we experienced last week at Gateway. Still a fun fight. I always enjoy trying to get these races right. The fuel saving, the way you choose when you’re pitting, all that sort of stuff, it all matters and still fun to get it right on a day like today.

Q. Was it hard to keep the right pace and hit your numbers?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Definitely. It’s always tough. The car is not easy to drive on the edge, do it consistently every lap without making mistakes or a wrong decision. It’s a tough day. It’s not like we were all just cruising around.

Yeah, maybe a little more settled and processional than we would have liked. A little more action probably would have been good for the fans. Still a tough day to get this right.

Q. Josef, you started on red tires today. What do you think about your tire strategy? Do you think it worked very well?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it was a good day. Like I said, I think it’s about what our potential was. The only way we finish higher is if we start higher. Need to start on pole or second place, lead from the beginning if we want to be higher up.

It’s going to be tough to match Will today. He had a 10th or two on us. I think Alex was really tough to beat, too. If we had track position on them, maybe we make something happen. I think it was going to be hard overall.

From where we started, pleased with the progress we made. I don’t want to finish third, but I think we maximized what we could today.

Q. Josef, you were strong at the test. How much are you looking forward to returning to Milwaukee and Nashville? How do you expect the two tracks to race?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I’m excited, for sure. I like Milwaukee. I’ve been there a couple times in the past before we left for a little hiatus. I always thought it was fun. I hope we can produce a good race.

Nashville is completely unknown to me. I’ve never been on the track. Out there to watch some testing. Really don’t know what that one’s like.

I have high hopes we can find a good package for both places. I think Gateway was really pretty phenomenal as far as the combination. It’s not easy. It’s not an exact science. I think if we could bottle a good racing package where there’s usability on multiple lanes, we would take it everywhere.

Sometimes it’s a little bit of guesswork, trial and error. You have to kind of go places a time or two to figure it out in this new package. We’re trying to figure it out, with the extra weight, hybrid, aero, tire configuration.

I have high hopes we can have a good race package for Milwaukee and Nashville. Overall I love oval racing, too, so excited to finish the season strong.

August 25, 2024

Harrison Burton outdueled veteran Kyle Busch on the final lap of an Overtime finish of Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway to score his first career Cup Series victory and the 100th for his Wood Brothers team.

The win earned Burton and the Wood Brothers a berth in the 10-race, championship-deciding Playoffs, which begin after next week’s Southern 500 at Darlington Raceway.

The historic win for the Wood Brothers, who got their first Cup victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway in 1960 with Speedy Thompson at the wheel of the iconic No. 21 Ford, was their first since Ryan Blaney won at Pocono Raceway in 2017. The Woods have now won races at the Cup level for seven straight decades and have won NASCAR races for eight straight.

Saturday’s win also was the first since a third generation of Woods joined the ownership of the team founded by the late Glenn Wood and operated with his brothers Leonard, Ray Lee, Delano and Clay. Then a second generation, Glenn’s sons Eddie and Len and daughter Kim Wood Hall steered the team before being joined by the next generation of Jon Wood, Keven Wood and Jordan Wood Hicks. And in the winner’s interview in the media center Saturday night, a fourth generation Wood, Bailey joined the group on the podium.

The milestone victory came at Daytona, where the Woods have won five Daytona 500s and 11 more in the track’s second race, long known as the Firecracker 400.

Burton, who became the 19th driver to win a Cup race for the Woods and the 89th to win in a Ford, said getting the 100th win had been a topic of many a conversation at team meetings this year.

“That’s something you can’t take lightly,” he told reporters at Daytona. “We as a group have that place in history now forever for the 100th win for the Wood Brothers.

“To me, that just means the world.”

And he said he hopes there’s more to add to the team history before he leaves the team at season’s end.

“We’re not going to roll over and die,” he said. “We’ve had a rough year, but this is the shot in the arm we’ve needed, and we’re going to go to Darlington set on kill.”

Eddie Wood said in the winner’s interview that there are many people responsible for the team reaching this milestone.

“I don’t really have the words,” he said. “I just want to thank everybody that supported us. Harrison, he’s done such a great job tonight. I mean, missing those wrecks. It just seemed like they’d run a little while, then have another crash. He was so close. Just a matter of I’m not even going to say an inch, that one wreck, the early one. Seemed like about a quarter of an inch.

“It just means so much to our team to finally get the other win…We’ve got a wall in front of our museum that’s got 21 winners, 21 different drivers that’s won races in our cars. We get to put him up next week.”

Wood said he’s especially grateful for the support of Ford Motor Company, which is the only manufacturer the Woods have ever been associated with. And that support has been there even in the lean years, he said.

“Timing is everything, they say, but there was a phone call from Edsel Ford back in 2008,” Wood said. “We were really struggling. He said, ‘I’m going to have a gentleman call you tomorrow that’s going to help you.’

“That man’s name was Jim Farley, who is now the CEO of Ford Motor Company. That’s how far back things go.

Our family raced Ford Motor Company products since the beginning,1950. I think that’s one of the things I’m really, really proud of.”

Burton, who started from 20th place Saturday night, ran in the top 10 for much of the event but had to dodge several multi-car crashes to be in position to battle for the win at the end.

On the final restart, he lined up on the outside, with part-time Cup driver Parker Retzlaff, who was making just his second career Cup start and driving for a part-time team, on his bumper. On the inside line were two veterans – Busch and Christopher Bell.

Busch took the lead initially, then, like Burton, Retzlaff rose to the occasion and pushed Burton’s DEX Imaging Mustang Dark Horse into the lead on the final lap. From there Burton recovered from a bump from Busch that pushed him below the yellow line and kept the veteran at bay for the final yards to the finish line.

Crew chief Jeremy Bullins, who now has 10 Cup victories including the 2017 win at Pocono with Blaney, said Burton made all the right moves to survive the wrecks then prevail in Overtime. “He earned this one,” Bullins said.

The victory was a popular one in the garage, especially for those in the Blue Oval camp.

Austin Cindric posted on X: “I think I’m wearing my @woodbrothers21 hat all week. Good things happen to good people. I am so proud of @HBurtonRacing.”  

Burton and the Wood Brothers team now head to Darlington Raceway for Sunday’s Cookout Southern 500.

 

AWA Corvette builds on Akin Award lead with seventh-place GTD finish ALTON, Va. (August 25, 2024) – Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports suffered an uncharacteristic tough day at Virginia International Raceway as mechanical gremlins impacted both of the team’s Corvette Z06 GT3.R entries during the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR. The No. 4 Corvette of Tommy Milner and Nicky Catsburg finished eighth in GTD PRO, a spot ahead of teammates Alexander Sims and Antonio Garcia in the No. 3 Z06 GT3.R.

The result for AWA’s No. 13 Corvette Z06 GT3.R was a bright spot as Orey Fidani and Matt Bell finished seventh in GTD. Adding to that was the No. 13 Corvette’s position as the highest-finishing car in IMSA’s Bob Akin Award standings for the second time this year. After a run of trouble-free races during the summer, separate issues plagued the No. 3 and No. 4 GTD PRO entries. Catsburg lost time when the Corvette wouldn’t restart after a pit stop with an hour to go. He and Milner did finish on the lead lap and were buoyed by the race’s only full-course caution with a little more than 30 minutes to go but couldn’t advance up the order. Garcia started second and ran third at the time of the No. 3 Corvette’s first pit stop at the 49-minute mark. Sims rejoined fifth and was getting up to speed before the car lost power on the backstretch. Following a couple of attempts to reset the power cycle, the team brought Sims back to the garage to replace the power steering pump. Sims also was at the wheel when the No. 3 suffered a suspension issue with 45 minutes to go. In GTD, Fidani drove the No. 13 Corvette for the first 47 minutes and gained a spot in class before handing off to Bell. The No. 13 went from 13th at the time of the stop to its final position in the final two hours, including a hectic fight through the field after the yellow with high track temperatures and high tire degradation. With the result, Fidani grew his lead in the Akin Award championship with the highest points-scoring Bronze driver at the end of the season earning an automatic entry to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, August 25. The race will air live on USA starting at noon ET with live streaming on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.comoutside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning with Friday afternoon’s opening practice at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 206 and SiriusXM Online 996.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS POST-EVENT DRIVER QUOTESALEXANDER SIMS, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “Today is what it is. No one wants to have issues, but that was the reality today. As has been common this year, we showed decent pace and were holding our own in third with Antonio. I think the pit cycle was going to be pretty favorable for us on strategy. As far as I understand it, we would have effectively been first in that middle stint once all the pit cycles were finished. I felt pretty comfortable out in front of the Aston Martin, and we were holding our own. That’s when the car cut out on me, and the power steering failed. After a few laps, I understood why these are designed to have power steering. This isn’t a formula car in terms of the steering weight where you could get through it. But after four or five laps, I knew it wasn’t going to last. I just tried to give the guys enough time to at least preempt what we needed to do in the garage, but it was a big change and set us way back. That’s the way it goes, unfortunately. The suspension issue was pretty bizarre. There was no contact on my side, and Antonio looked like he had a completely clean race. We need to understand the two issues, and try to react and come back stronger.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “A bit of gut punch today for the whole team. Having quite a few races with no issues, and then today with both cars having both problems is going to make quite a few people on this team unhappy. We’ll go back to look at it, figure out what happened and improve the car for the future. But yeah, a tough day for us.”

AWA POST-EVENT DRIVER QUOTESMATT BELL, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was another great IMSA battle and a great IMSA race. We made all the right calls at the right times. Tire deg and tire management was a huge part of this race. We had to be smart and give up pace at certain times but also know when to push and know when to go for it. I got great information and great support from everyone on the pit stand – everyone from AWA and Corvette Racing really helped out. This was as much as any of the other races – if not more – a real team effort to come through the pack like that. It’s a big credit to everyone on this program. I just had to try and make it work.”

OREY FIDANI, NO. 13 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R: “It was quite a hot with the air conditioning off. It was a little tough for me at the start as I didn’t go on brand new tires. I went on older tires and struggled with understeer. It seemed to get a little better as the fuel burned off and I was able to get some pace. But it was tough. Matt did a great job to get us up the order at the end.”

SHEPHERD, MT (August 24, 2024) – One year ago, Jake Bubak pocketed $12,012 for winning Big Sky Speedway’s Harvey Ostermiller Memorial under the ASCS Frontier Region banner.

With the race joining the American Sprint Car Series National Tour calendar in 2024, Bubak had a field full of the best 360 Sprint Car drivers in the nation to fend off, but none of them could stop him from taking his second win in a row in the event.

“It was challenging, I’m glad I started on the front row,” Bubak said following his fifth National Tour win. “With this car the last two months, we’ve been really solid. We ran well at the 360 [Knoxville] Nationals. I knew we could compete with these guys.”

Bubak won his second Dash in as many nights to claim the pole for the 30-lap Feature. The bottom lane was dominant early, as Bubak made a beeline for the inside berm in the first set of corners along with the rest of the top five.

Jason Martin started second and was the first to try the top side on Lap 2. He briefly caught Bubak’s rear bumper before slipping up in Turn 3, allowing Bubak to drive away to a half-second advantage.

Half a lap later, Martin’s quest for his first podium finish since Dodge City Raceway Park on June 1 came to screeching halt when he got upside down in Turn 2. The incident gave the second spot to Zach Blurton, who kept pace with Bubak in the laps following the ensuing restart.

While Blurton was busy plotting a move on Bubak, Frontier Region point leader Phil Dietz was busy holding off two of the National Tour’s biggest stars in Seth Bergman and Sam Hafertepe Jr. for the third spot. He held on until Lap 12, when Bergman powered around Dietz’s outside exiting Turn 4 and Hafertepe followed him through three laps later.

With seven laps remaining, Bradley Fezard came to a stop while running 19th to bring out the caution. A perfect restart allowed Bubak to keep the lead, but trouble for Kory Wermling and Brandon Anderson two laps later ereased his advantage once more.

On what would be the final restart of the race, Bubak was off like a rocket through Turns 1 and 2 and drove away to a 1.5-second win at the checkered flag.

The Feature was marred by strong winds thoughout the race, something Bubak believes was critical to him securing the victory.

“The wind affected the track so much,” Bubak said. “The track was in good shape, I think without the wind it would have been really fun. Just the way it would blow you off the end of Turn 2, it was pretty difficult and just best to be in the lead at that point.”

Runner-up Blurton went through the first 16 races of the season without a top five, but has now picked up two podiums in eight days, completely flipping his outlook on the remainder of the season.

“Last night, we just struggled so so bad and I thought maybe the weekend before was just a fluke,” Blurton said. “I’m looking forward to next weekend and the rest of the year. I almost wish we could start the year back over with what we know now.”

While Bergman came up two spots short of sweeping the weekend in Billings, the third-place run extended his lead over Hafertepe to 103 points entering the second half of the Montana swing at Electric City Speedway next weekend.

“Sam’s a great race car driver, he’s got a great team, definitely doesn’t make it easy,” Bergman said. “We’re doing our job too to try and stay on top here, and to have weekends like this where you don’t finish off the podium is what we’ve got to do if we want to see this championship through.”

Hafertepe finished one spot behind Bergman in fourth to minimize the harm in the title chase, while Kyler Johnson drove from 17th to fifth to collect the Triple X Hard Charger Award and his first top five since the second race of the year at Red Dirt Raceway.

UP NEXT: The ASCS National Tour concludes its trip to Montana at Electric City Speedway in Great Falls with the Montana Roundup on Friday and Saturday, Aug. 30-31. Tickets are available for purchase in advance here, while those unable to make it to the track can catch every lap live on DIRTVision.

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 27B-Jake Bubak[1]; 2. 2J-Zach Blurton[4]; 3. 23-Seth Bergman[5]; 4. 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr[9]; 5. 45X-Kyler Johnson[17]; 6. 2C-Hank Davis[8]; 7. 2JR-Kelly Miller[16]; 8. 95-Matt Covington[13]; 9. 72-Phil Dietz[3]; 10. 5H-Harli White[14]; 11. 28-Joe Perry[6]; 12. 01-Rich Bailey[12]; 13. 88-Terry Easum[7]; 14. 6G-Bryan Gossel[21]; 15. 15D-Andrew Deal[18]; 16. 10-Landon Britt[19]; 17. 37-Trever Kirkland[10]; 18. 44-Damon McCune[22]; 19. 55B-Brandon Anderson[15]; 20. 938-Bradley Fezard[11]; 21. 16G-Austyn Gossel[20]; 22. 9K-Kory Wermling[23]; 23. 36-Jason Martin[2]

Carson Macedo grabs third win in four races, closes on Schatz in the pointsWEST FARGO, ND (August 24, 2024) – Carson Macedo and Jason Johnson Racing are getting hot.On Friday Macedo pieced together an impressive drive from sixth to victory at River Cities Speedway. On Saturday when the stage shifted to West Fargo, ND’s Red River Valley Speedway, Macedo made things a little easier on himself. There would be no need to drive from the third row as he earned the pole of the 30-lap Feature. And the Lemoore, CA native put together a nearly perfect race to punctuate a perfect night. Macedo earned Simpson Quick Time, won the first NOS Energy Drink Heat Race, topped the Toyota Racing Dash, and sealed the deal by leading every lap of the Feature. The performance earned Macedo and JJR a weekend sweep in North Dakota and their third victory in the last four races.“I just felt extremely good,” Macedo said. “Philip Dietz knocked it out of the park again. He’s done an incredible job this weekend. Robby McQuinn and Adam Zimmerman putting the whole package together and working really hard. It just feels good to get a win here.“We’ve got a lot of momentum. It just feels good to be running up front, contending for wins, and then closing it out and getting the job done. The 41 is just fast right now. When your race car is fast and things are clicking, it seems like things just go your way. I remember Jason Meyers telling me at one point, ‘When the iron is burning, it burns hot. When it’s cold, it’s tough to get out of that wintertime.’”The weekend sweep marked Macedo’s first back-to-back wins since April of 2022. He’s up to 41 career World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car victories, equaling him with fellow full-timer Sheldon Haudenschild for 20th on the all-time win list. A night after claiming his second River Cities checkered flag, he grabbed his second Red River Valley trophy, making it the 11th track where he’s a multi-time winner. He also closed to within four points of Donny Schatz for second in the standings.Macedo rolled right out to an early advantage when the green flag flew for the finale. He established control early and made it clear it was going to be difficult to pass him. In only two laps, his lead grew to a second and a half. Even when he first encountered traffic, Macedo showed no signs of slowing. The Albaugh No. 41 sliced through slower cars and clicked off laps. The gap between himself and second-running Sheldon Haudenschild expanded to north of two seconds by the halfway point.But you can’t ever count out Haudenschild. He’s known for incredible feats behind the wheel and looked to achieve another by erasing Macedo’s huge advantage and stealing the victory.The lead dropped back under two seconds on Lap 21 as Macedo met some struggles navigating traffic. And then a close moment nearly cost him. Two lappers collided just ahead of Macedo exiting Turn 4 forcing him to slow down considerably. The contact allowed Haudenschild to pull right up to Macedo, but he couldn’t find a path around him.The yellow flag flew with four laps remaining as Donny Schatz slowed with a flat tire. The caution was just what Macedo needed as the clear track allowed him to drive away and complete the statement win.“The track turned out to be really wide and racy,” Macedo said. “I was surprised. It took a while to get worked in early in the night and then was fast through the Heat Races. It was just a great track and a lot of fun.”Haudenschild brought the Stenhouse Jr.-Marshall Racing/NOS Energy Drink No. 17 home second as he continues to build momentum. The Wooster, OH native has strung together four consecutive podiums. The recent stretch of consistency has lifted Haudenschild from seventh to sixth in points.“We ran him back down,” Haudenschild commented. “Lapped traffic was hectic. He did a great job getting through them. Then I kind of had to pick my way back through them. It’s frustrating as a driver having this good of a car and to not pick up a win this weekend. But hats off to (Kyle) Ripper, Steve (Kinzer Dussel), and Luke (Vaughn). They’ve been putting the work in, and we’re getting better each week I feel.”Michael “Buddy” Kofoid came home third to round up the podium with Roth Motorsports. The effort capped a strong weekend for the Series rookie as he landed in the top three on both nights. Kofoid is buildings some momentum with his home tracks in California on the horizon.“It was a great weekend for us,” Kofoid said. “I feel like we’re back to how I felt my best here and even in general. I always love coming here. I was a little apprehensive when I saw how wet it was, but it turned out really good.”Bill Balog and Giovanni Scelzi completed the top five.A 19th to ninth drive earned Garet Williamson the KSE Racing Hard Charger.Carson Macedo earned his 10th Simpson Quick Time of 2024 and the 43rd of his career in Sea Foam Qualifying.NOS Energy Drink Heats One and Three belonged to Carson Macedo and Sheldon Haudenschild. Milton Hershey Heat Two went to Andy Pake.Carson Macedo topped the Toyota Racing Dash.Garet Williamson won the Micro-Lite Last Chance Showdown. Scott Bogucki earned the Smith Titanium Brake Systems Break of the Race.UP NEXT: The World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Cars head to South Dakota for the rescheduled Huset’s Hustle presented by Folkens Brothers Trucking finale on Friday, August 30 before the BillionAuto.com Huset’s High Bank Nationals presented by Menards on August 31-September 1 with a $100,000-to-win finale. For tickets, CLICK HERE.If you can’t make it to the track, catch every lap live on DIRTVision.FEATURE RESULTS:NOS Energy Drink Feature (30 Laps): 1. 41-Carson Macedo[1]; 2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild[3]; 3. 83-Michael Kofoid[7]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog[5]; 5. 18-Giovanni Scelzi[8]; 6. 64-Andy Pake[2]; 7. 1S-Logan Schuchart[4]; 8. 2-David Gravel[12]; 9. 23-Garet Williamson[19]; 10. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss[14]; 11. 15-Donny Schatz[10]; 12. 7S-Landon Crawley[9]; 13. 24T-Christopher Thram[13]; 14. 70-Kraig Kinser[17]; 15. 17GP-Justin Henderson[16]; 16. 6-Max Guilford[21]; 17. 13-Mark Dobmeier[15]; 18. G5-Gage Pulkrabek[11]; 19. 8-Jack Croaker[24]; 20. 27-Weston Olson[20]; 21. 52-Adam Sobolik[23]; 22. 14T-Tim Estenson[18]; 23. 11M-Brendan Mullen[22]; 24. 10-Scott Bogucki[6]For complete results, CLICK HERE.

“The Reaper” goes undefeated at Atomic Speedway on Saturday night through 50 laps of racing

CHILLICOTHE, OH (August 24, 2024) – Ryan Gustin gave an ode to Scott Bloomquist by channeling his inner “Dirt Track Dominator” on Saturday night at Atomic Speedway.

Topping the scoring pylon in each appearance on the 3/8-mile racetrack, the Marshalltown, IA driver led all 50 laps through a wave of challenges from multiple World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models competitors.

He began the night by grabbing the Dirt King Simulator Hottest Hot Lap, then picked up his 11th Simpson Quick Time Award.

In Heat 3, Gustin led every lap to lock himself a spot in the Feature Redraw. He made the most of his luck by drawing the #1 chip for his second Bilstein Pole Award of the 2024 season.

Firing on all cylinders at the commencement of the 50-lap Feature, Gustin ripped the high line to escape New Berlin, IL driver Brandon Sheppard, Robeline, LA driver Cade Dillard, and Oakwood, IL driver Bobby Pierce.

In the battle for the top five, Sheppard followed Gustin until contact with the lapped car of Dennis Erb Jr ripped the left rear quarter panel off his No.B5 Longhorn Chassis, then Dillard caught a piece of Erb to damage his right rear quarter panel. Sheppard and Dillard kept on rolling with the damage lingering on their cars.

Gustin got away on the restart as Sheppard held his own with the damage to his car. Dillard had to retire his No.97 machine with a smack of the Turn 4 wall that sent a dagger into his hopes of salvaging a rebound result at Atomic after a DNF on Friday night.

While leading, Gustin ripped the rear spoiler off his No.19R Infinity Chassis and began to dangle until the caution flew for debris from Sheppard’s left rear quarter panel falling off.

When the green flag flew once more with 14 laps to go, Pierce sent his No.32 Megan’s Mission machine deep into Turn 1, then slid up on Sheppard to force him off the track to claim second place in a move that caused implications the season-long points battle.

Sheppard dropped to seventh place, Chatham, IL driver Brian Shirley took third, and fellow championship contender Nick Hoffman inherited fourth place.

While Gustin had aero troubles with the loss of his spoiler, he maintained the gap on Pierce through the remaining circuits around the Chillicothe, OH racetrack for his fourth win of the season in the Fireball 50.

In Victory Lane, he celebrated with Scott Bloomquist’s infamous “hang loose” signal and a point to the sky to the man who meant a lot to Gustin as a mentor and friend. He also dedicated the win to his son, Bradyn, who turned 12 on Saturday.

“It means the absolute world to me,” Gustin said. “It’s been rough, I’m sure we made him proud up there tonight. We were handicapped pretty bad when you lose a spoiler like that. I thought we were done, but the only way to win was to drive like a madman like we did for the last (14) laps.

“Tim (Douglas) was telling me I had a pretty big lead before lap traffic, but its hard when you got guys that can catch up pretty fast to you. Cautions definitely helped us for sure to get us going again, but anytime you can win with no spoiler is a testament to how good these Infinity Chassis are and these Jay Dickens Engines run flawlessly. It’s also my son’s birthday today so I wanted to get one for him.”

Pierce finished second to finish the weekend by closing the distance to Sheppard in the Series championship hunt to 54 points with seven races left in the season. Pierce is in a tie with Hoffman for second place but has the tiebreaker over Hoffman for finishing higher than him in the Feature.

“I love the finish,” Pierce said. “It’s good to end the weekend with a first and second, but I didn’t like how I got there. When I passed Sheppard, he got off the track and I know he wouldn’t have fell off the track if he had more room there. I did kinda come up into his line. It’s such a tricky deal when the top has so much speed and you’re trying to make passes here.

“Besides that, we held on and didn’t fall off which was one of my main concerns. The track was so treacherous and both corners had it’s characteristics. Turns 1 and 2 was like running at Bristol with potholes. The last two corners were normal to how the track is, but had a dip with a slick spot in Turn 4. I gotta hand it to Gustin, he was fast and turning like he was going for qualifying laps each time. We gotta work on it, see what’s wrong, but we’ll take it.”

Shirley finished third for his fifth consecutive podium finish in August with the World of Outlaws CASE Late Models. While he was inside the thick of the drama at the front of the field, Shirley kept his nose clean to finish the night with a podium result.

“The track was really demanding,” Shirley said. “It was one of those deals where we were good, but not the greatest. I just had to bide my time, get by guys when I could on the restarts, and lucky enough for things to fall our way to end up third.

“Nights like tonight, when our car is 85-90%, it shows that we can be patient and take what you can get. That’s what it boiled down to, I was really trying to do all I could on restarts and take what’s in front of us.”

Hoffman finished fourth with an 18-place climb from a 22nd-place starting spot to receive Saturday night’s Fox Factory Hard Charger Award. Batavia, OH driver Adam Stricker finished the night with a fifth-place result to end his weekend with the Series.

RECAP NOTES:

Dirt King Simulator Hottest Hot Lap: Ryan Gustin

Simpson Quick Time Award: Ryan Gustin

Heat Race Winners: Bobby Pierce, Cade Dillard, Ryan Gustin, Brandon Sheppard

Last Chance Showdown Winner: Freddie Carpenter

Bilstein Pole Award: Ryan Gustin

Fox Factory Hard Charger: Nick Hoffman (+18)

Up Next: The World of Outlaws CASE Late Models head south towards Georgia and Alabama for Senoia Raceway on Saturday, Sept. 14, and the completion of the Alabama Gang 100 at the Talladega Short Track on Sunday, Sept. 15.

For more information about the upcoming events in the 2024 World of Outlaws CASE Late Models season,CLICK HERE.      

If you can’t make it to the track, watch every lap of the World of Outlaws CASE Construction Equipment Late Models season on DIRTVision – through your computer or mobile device.

CASE Late Model Feature (50 Laps): 1. 19R-Ryan Gustin[1]; 2. 32-Bobby Pierce[4]; 3. 3S-Brian Shirley[10]; 4. 9-Nick Hoffman[22]; 5. 68-Adam Stricker[7]; 6. 19M-Spencer Hughes[5]; 7. B5-Brandon Sheppard[2]; 8. 20TC-Tristan Chamberlain[12]; 9. 40B-Kyle Bronson[15]; 10. 19-Dustin Sorensen[11]; 11. 16-Tyler Bruening[18]; 12. 71C-RJ Conley[16]; 13. 17-Zack Dohm[13]; 14. B1-Brent Larson[24]; 15. 22*-Max McLaughlin[20]; 16. 71R-Rod Conley[19]; 17. 90-Michael LeFevers[25]; 18. S21-Seth Daniels[8]; 19. 1-Tyler Erb[6]; 20. 11-Jared Hawkins[14]; 21. 97-Cade Dillard[3]; 22. C4-Freddie Carpenter[17]; 23. 28-Dennis Erb Jr[23]; 24. 97JR-Cody Overton[9]; 25. 57B-Caiden Black[21]

PORT ROYAL, PA (August 24, 2024) – Jonathan Davenport grabbed the lead on the second lap and maintained it throughout, securing victory at the Rumble by the River presented by UNOH.edu on Saturday night at Port Royal Speedway. Davenport’s win netted him $50,000 out of the $150,000 feature purse in the Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series-sanctioned event. Ricky Thornton Jr. finished second, with Max Blair, Devin Moran, and Tim McCreadie rounding out the top five. Moran led the opening lap from his pole-stating spot, but Davenport made a move in turn two to take over the lead on the second circuit. The first caution of the race flew on lap four when Friday night’s winner, Garrett Alberson, slowed on the track as his night would end on the hook. On the restart, Davenport fought off Hudson O’Neal for several laps until Thornton and O’Neal made contact, battling for second coming off of turn four on lap 19. A few laps later, O’Neal slowed with a flat tire, drawing a caution. During lap 33 of the race, Davenport was leading with Thornton close behind when Boom Briggs spun out in front of them. Both Davenport and Thornton had to take evasive action as the caution came out for Briggs’ stalled car. Two laps later, the final caution was caused by Mike Marlar, who had moved up from 18th place but lost his brakes and hit the turn two wall. Marlar would ultimately retire from the remainder of the race. From then on, Davenport and Thornton chased each other around the top of the racetrack. Thornton managed to get within half a second of Davenport, but contact with the wall on each end of the track derailed Thornton’s chance at the win. In Lucas Oil Victory Lane for the 81st time in his career, the three-time series champion picked up his second $50,000 Arizona Sports Shirts Crown Jewel Cup win of 2024, following his Show-Me 100 victory in May. With the win, Davenport also moved back into second place in the championship standings. “It feels great to win this event. I tried to stay as low as possible for as long as possible. There at the end we got behind a lapped car and he was blowing just enough grit, and I didn’t have a really good clean line where I wanted in one and two. I pushed a little bit and got into the wall. I’ve got to thank my dad I’m thinking of him he’s probably not doing too well. In fact, I know he’s not doing too well, he is in the hospital. Hopefully he had enough strength to stay up and watch me he don’t get to come out on the road near as much as he used to. I am thankful for all he has done for me,” said the Blairsville, Georgia native. “We’ve just been tuning on this thing quite a bit. You know you’ve got to keep up with these young guys. It seems like everywhere we go now, if there’s just a little bit of grip around the top, that’s where we’ve got to be. I just want to thank all of these fans for coming out tonight. It was a great crowd tonight.” Thornton finished 4.234 seconds behind Davenport at the finish. “I definitely didn’t need those cautions. I felt like it took me five or six laps to get going again after those restarts. A few of us started to slow down a little bit after that, and I could slowly reel up to him [Davenport], and then we’d get to lapped cars, and I could get by the first or second one, and then a yellow would come out. He never really had to move around. I started playing with the middle down in three and four, and I knew I could maintain it a little bit. I was giving it all she had in the last ten laps. I hit the wall in turns one and two and then three and four, and I was like, alright, just finish it.” The highest-finishing Pennsylvania driver was Max Blair, who rounded out the Big River Steel Podium in third but could never get close enough to challenge Davenport and Thornton for the race lead. “It’s what I had the last part of the race. I was just way to tight getting in and it really affected me on the restarts because I couldn’t be very aggressive for a couple of laps or so. I about gave third away to Devin on the last lap too. I am pretty happy with third. I love this place I wish we could race here a lot more than we do.” The winner’s Lance and Darla Landers, Double L Motorsports, Longhorn Chassis is powered by a Cornett Racing Engine and sponsored by Nutrien Ag Solutions, Dyna Gro Seed, Bob Cat of Batesville, Mark Martin Automotive, ASC Warranty, Mega Plumbing of the Carolinas, VP Fuels, Bilstein Shocks, Midwest Sheet Metal, and Lucas Oil Products. Drake Troutman, Hudson O’Neal, Ross Robinson, Carson Ferguson, and Daulton Wilson completed the top ten. Lucas Oil Late Model Dirt Series Race Summary The Rumble by the River Presented by UNOH.edu | Night 2Saturday, August 24, 2024Port Royal Speedway – Port Royal, PA Allstar Performance Time TrialsFast Time Group A: Devin Moran | 18.241 seconds (overall)Fast Time Group B: Jonathan Davenport | 18.279 seconds  Penske Shocks Heat Race #1 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 99-Devin Moran[1]; 2. 111-Max Blair[2]; 3. 2T-Kyle Lee[3]; 4. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[4]; 5. 06-Mike Lupfer[6]; 6. 77-Tyler Dietz[5]; 7. 4S-Danny Snyder[8]; 8. 17Z-Seth Zacharias[7]; 9. EZ1-Ron Fink[9] Summit Racing Products Heat Race #2 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 71-Hudson O’Neal[1]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[2]; 3. 93F-Carson Ferguson[3]; 4. 66C-Matt Cosner[4]; 5. D19-Dillan Stake[5]; 6. 66-Justin Kann[6]; 7. 5-Chad Julius[8]; 8. 80D-Greg Diehl[7] Earnhardt Technologies Heat Race #3 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 20RT-Ricky Thornton Jr[1]; 2. 1C-Alex Ferree[2]; 3. 7T-Drake Troutman[3]; 4. 93-Cory Lawler[6]; 5. 22-Gregg Satterlee[4]; 6. 0Y-Andrew Yoder[5]; 7. 25K-Kody Lyter[7]; 8. 15-Scott Flickinger[8] Simpson Race Products Heat Race #4 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 49-Jonathan Davenport[1]; 2. 20-Jimmy Owens[4]; 3. 7-Ross Robinson[3]; 4. 119-Bryan Bernheisel[2]; 5. 1Z-Logan Zarin[5]; 6. 2-Dan Stone[6]; 7. 11-Jason Schmidt[7]; 8. 21-Chad Myers[8]; 9. (DNS) 11C-Trevor Collins Lucas Oil Heat Race #5 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 18D-Daulton Wilson[1]; 2. 1-Tim McCreadie[3]; 3. 2J-Justin Weaver[4]; 4. 15K-Jamie Lathroum[2]; 5. 0-Rick Eckert[6]; 6. 9M-Hayes Mattern[5]; 7. 32J-Shaun Jones[7]; 8. 4-Gary Stuhler[8] Lucas Oil Heat Race #6 Finish (8 Laps, Top 3 Transfer): 1. 48-Colton Flinner[2]; 2. 6-Clay Harris[4]; 3. 157-Mike Marlar[6]; 4. 24-Dylan Yoder[5]; 5. 99B-Boom Briggs[1]; 6. 91-Coleby Frye[3]; 7. 17SS-Brenden Smith[7]; 8. 63-Nathan Long[8] Fast Shafts B-Main Race #1 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 66C-Matt Cosner[2]; 2. 25Z-Mason Zeigler[1]; 3. D19-Dillan Stake[5]; 4. 22-Gregg Satterlee[6]; 5. 93-Cory Lawler[3]; 6. 06-Mike Lupfer[4]; 7. 77-Tyler Dietz[7]; 8. 4S-Danny Snyder[10]; 9. 5-Chad Julius[11]; 10. 17Z-Seth Zacharias[13]; 11. 15-Scott Flickinger[15]; 12. EZ1-Ron Fink[16]; 13. 80D-Greg Diehl[14]; 14. 66-Justin Kann[8]; 15. 0Y-Andrew Yoder[9]; 16. 25K-Kody Lyter[12] UNOH B-Main Race #2 Finish (10 Laps, Top 2 Transfer): 1. 119-Bryan Bernheisel[1]; 2. 0-Rick Eckert[5]; 3. 2-Dan Stone[7]; 4. 99B-Boom Briggs[6]; 5. 9M-Hayes Mattern[8]; 6. 32J-Shaun Jones[11]; 7. 24-Dylan Yoder[3]; 8. 4-Gary Stuhler[14]; 9. 11-Jason Schmidt[10]; 10. 21-Chad Myers[13]; 11. 63-Nathan Long[15]; 12. 15K-Jamie Lathroum[2]; 13. 1Z-Logan Zarin[4]; 14. (DNS) 91-Coleby Frye; 15. (DNS) 17SS-Brenden Smith; 16. (DNS) 11C-Trevor Collins The Rumble by the River Presented by UNOH.edu | Night 2 Feature Finish (50 Laps): Pos – Start – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Pay1 – 2 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – $52,3002 – 5 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Martinsville, IN – $28,3003 – 7 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – $10,7004 – 1 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – $10,2005 – 10 – 1 – Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – $9,3006 – 17 – 7T – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – $6,9007 – 3 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – $7,0008 – 14 – 7 – Ross Robinson – Georgetown, DE – $4,7009 – 15 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – $4,30010 – 11 – 1C – Alex Ferree – Saxonburg, PA – $3,60011 – 4 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – $5,60012 – 16 – 2J – Justin Weaver – Clearspring, MD – $3,20013 – 12 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – $3,50014 – 22 – 0 – Rick Eckert – York, PA – $2,50015 – 8 – 20 – Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – $3,20016 – 20 – 119 – Bryan Bernheisel – Jonestown, PA – $2,30017 – 19 – 66C – Matt Cosner – Ridgeley, WV – $2,20018 – 23 – 99B – Boom Briggs – Bear Lake, PA – $2,60019 – 6 – 48 – Colton Flinner – Allison Park, PA – $2,00020 – 24 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – $2,50021 – 25 – 93 – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – $60022 – 18 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – $4,20023 – 13 – 2T – Kyle Lee – Mercersburg, PA – $2,00024 – 21 – 25Z – Mason Zeigler – Chalk Hill, PA – $2,00025 – 9 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – $4,200 Race Statistics  Entrants: 50Victory Fuel Pole Sitter: Devin MoranLap Leaders: Devin Moran (Lap 1); Jonathan Davenport (Laps 2-50)Wieland Feature Winner: Jonathan DavenportArizona Sport Shirts Crown Jewel Cup Feature Winner: Jonathan DavenportBrandon Ford TV Challenge Feature Winner: Jonathan DavenportMargin of Victory: 4.234 seconds Dave Warren Powersports Cautions: Garrett Alberson (Lap 4); Debris (Lap 14); Debris (Lap 16); Hudson O’Neal (Lap 24); Boom Briggs (Lap 33); Mike Marlar (Lap 35)LOLMDS Series Provisionals: Boom Briggs; Brenden SmithFast Time Provisional: n/aLOLMDS Emergency Provisionals: Cory LawlerTrack Provisional: n/aBig River Steel Podium Top 3: Jonathan Davenport, Ricky Thornton, Jr., Max BlairPenske Shocks Top 5: Jonathan Davenport, Ricky Thornton, Jr., Max Blair, Devin Moran, Tim McCreadieTodd Steel Buildings Hard Charger of the Race: Drake Troutman (Advanced 11 Positions) PEM 4th Place Feature: Devin MoranWilwood Brakes Lucky 7th Place Feature: Hudson O’NealDeatherage Opticians Lucky 13th Place Feature: Clay HarrisMD3 Most Laps Led: Jonathan Davenport (49 Laps) Sunoco Race for Gas Highest Finisher: Ricky Thornton, Jr.Midwest Sheet Metal Spoiler Challenge Point Leader: Ricky Thornton, Jr.O’Reilly Auto Parts Rookie of the Race: Drake TroutmanColtman Farms Fastest Lap of the Race: Jonathan Davenport (Lap 6 | 19.194 seconds)Slicker Graphics Slickest Move of the Race: Jonathan DavenportMiller Welders Hard Luck Award: Garrett AlbersonOuterwears Crew Chief of the Race: Cory Fostvedt (Jonathan Davenport)ARP Engine Builder of the Race: Cornett Racing EnginesMiller Welders Chassis Builder of the Race: Longhorn ChassisDirt Draft Fastest in Hot Laps: Tim McCreadie (18.4265 seconds)Time of Race: 37 minutes 55 seconds Big River Steel Chase for the Championship Presented by ARP Point Standings:Pos – Car # – Competitor – Hometown – Points – Pay1 – 20RT – Ricky Thornton Jr – Martinsville, IN – 5635 – $368,6492 – 49 – Jonathan Davenport – Blairsville, GA – 5410 – $299,1503 – 99 – Devin Moran – Dresden, OH – 5395 – $306,5054 – 71 – Hudson O’Neal – Martinsville, IN – 4905 – $165,7035 – 1 – Tim McCreadie – Watertown, NY – 4890 – $198,4256 – 58 – Garrett Alberson – Las Cruces, NM – 4715 – $133,4257 – 18D – Daulton Wilson – Fayetteville, NC – 4605 – $150,5258 – 157 – Mike Marlar – Winfield, TN – 4565 – $131,6259 – 20 – Jimmy Owens – Newport, TN – 4345 – $91,02510 – 111 – Max Blair – Centerville, PA – 4300 – $101,30011 – 7T – Drake Troutman – Hyndman, PA – 3895 – $82,22512 – 7 – Ross Robinson – Georgetown, DE – 3785 – $76,05013 – 6 – Clay Harris – Jupiter, FL – 3780 – $53,87514 – 99B – Boom Briggs – Bear Lake, PA – 3355 – $46,02515 – 17SS – Brenden Smith – Dade City, FL – 3265 – $32,85016 – 93 – Cory Lawler – Hanover, PA – 3075 – $18,67517 – 93F – Carson Ferguson – Lincolnton, NC – 3055 – $50,775

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY COKE ZERO SUGAR 400 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT AUGUST 24, 2024

·       Battling to keep their championship title hopes alive, Kyle Busch and the No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1 team came just .047 seconds from the victory – ultimately taking the checkered-flag in the runner-up position after a chaotic overtime restart for the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway.  ·       After losing the regular season points lead at Michigan International Speedway last weekend, Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 team earned crucial points in both stages. Running fourth with less nine laps to go, Larson was caught up in a multi-car wreck that took his chances away from his first career victory at the “World Center of Racing”. Making repairs to ultimately cross the finish line in the 21st position, Larson will head into the series’ regular season finale at Darlington Raceway sitting in the second position in the standings and 17 points behind current points leader Tyler Reddick.  ·       Amidst the battle for his second career regular season title, Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team were collected in a multi-car incident while running mid-pack during Stage Two. Suffering too much suspension damage to continue, the former series champion was forced to retire early from the race – moving the Team Chevy driver to the third position and 18 points from the points lead.

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10:  POS.   DRIVER 2nd Kyle Busch7th Parker Retzlaff9th Daniel HemricWITH 25 NASCAR CUP SERIES RACES COMPLETE:Wins: 11Poles: 7Top-Five Finishes: 42Top-10 Finishes: 91Stage Wins: 13

UP NEXT: The 2024 NASCAR Cup Series regular season concludes at Darlington Raceway with the Cook Out Southern 500 on Sunday, September 1, at 6 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE QUOTES: Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1Finished: 12th You’re 27 points below the cutline. How do you feel going into Darlington?“I look at it like we have another chance to go win the Southern 500. That’s what I’m focused on this week. The points, they give them out at the stages and end of the race. If you run good, they give you a lot of them. I just get excited for a chance to go win the Southern 500.” When you get in an incident early like that, drive around and hope for the breaks you need to get back to the front, are you thinking about the points situation? “I was just hoping it would stay running, keep the water in it and be able to keep up with the pack. Looking at the car, it was amazing it did. The whole splitter is off of it; dragging the ground. Yeah, it’s pretty incredible that we were even able to finish. I thought the radiator was going to be gone. We’re fortunate to finish, but yeah, as I’m riding around – mainly in Stage Two when I dropped back from the pack and was going to be the free pass, I thought through all of it then. And then the whole final stage, it was all about trying to execute and maximize what we could.” Kyle Busch, No. 8 Cheddar’s Scratch Kitchen Camaro ZL1Finished: 2nd“It’s just frustrating. We’ve led races here at Daytona going into the last restart and haven’t been able to pull off a victory. Not sure what it is; what I’m doing wrong or what it is that I’m missing. It seems like the energy broke up off of turn two and the No. 20 (Christopher Bell) got crooked and wasn’t on my rear bumper the way we needed to be. The outside lane just went by. I wanted to get up in front of the No. 21 (Harrison Burton) because I knew the momentum was coming there. But I knew the No. 20 was a better friend. It just didn’t work out.” You did everything right tonight. How do you square this one?“Just finished second. It’s all good. We were really, really, really lucky tonight to miss a few of those crashes. All good. Just real proud of everybody; Randall (Burnett, crew chief), all the guys at RCR and ECR. They did a great job and brought a fast car. Was hoping we could get those free No. 8 specials on Monday for everybody; get some chicken tenders rolling, but wasn’t meant to be. We’ll take this. We’ve got a good little stretch here going with these last three weeks, and hope we can do what we need to do next week.” Can you go on and win the Southern 500 next week?“Yeah, I mean, we want to. We ran good there the first time I ran with these guys early last year. But early this year, we struggled mightily. We’ll just have to go with hopefully a really good package that works and get our job done.” Daniel Hemric, No. 31 Cirkul Camaro ZL1Finished: 9th“Speedway racing. It was chaotic. I thought we lined up pretty well there for the green-white-checkered and tried to formulate something going into (turns) three and four. I made a move to separate and I got shoved. Luckily, I got a big shot coming to the line to even get back forward and get spots back into the top-10. All-in-all, it was a decent day for the No. 31 Cirkul Chevy team. Appreciate Cirkul and all they do for us; all the people we have here supporting us. Looking forward to going to one of the coolest race tracks in the country next weekend.” Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger/BIGGIE Muffins/ Capri Sun Camaro ZL1Finished: 33rd “I was just running the middle there. Kind of saved our car all day. Actually made our way to the front a little quicker than I thought we were going to be able to. That caution kind of killed us. We’d been saving a ton of fuel. In the spot we were in, I felt like we were going to gain some track position on that green flag pit stop. Obviously, we didn’t get that, and were mired back there in 20th, and so we got the third row in the middle there, and it looked like the No. 2 just turned the No. 34 and then we piled in there. Just part of it.” “I felt like we got towards the front. We were really setting ourself up for that green flag pit stop. We were saving a ton of fuel. When the caution came out, it kind of screwed our strategy up. Being 20th and coming in and not really gaining anything on your pit stop, so it kind of put us in a bad spot. Kind of had to make our way up through there and put ourselves in the middle. I didn’t really like being in the middle but I had to make some moves. I think we got somewhere close to the top 10, and looked like the No. 2 turned the No. 34 and we just piled in. We were hoping for a green flag pit stop, because that’s what we were really setting up ourselves for. Hopefully jump a lot of cars and jump into the top-10 that way. But, didn’t happen.” Parker Retzlaff, No. 62 Funkaway Camaro ZL1Finished: 7thWhat does this finish mean to you?“Yeah, it was definitely a good run for the No. 62 Funkaway Chevy team. I’m happy with a top-10 finish. I came in here today saying I wanted a top-15. Coming out of turn four there, knowing I was third or maybe fourth to the No. 20 (Christopher Bell), I knew I had a shot. I’m happy we gave this team a shot. We had an amazing car. Thank you to Darren (Shaw, crew chief) and everyone at Beard Motorsports; the Beard family for everything they’ve done and the support of Funkaway. I’m happy about it, but I still want more.” Talk about the emotion of this sport. “It’s just been my dream to be here in the Cup Series at Daytona. It was my first one and I feel like I gave myself a shot. Coming so close and not getting it just hurts a little bit.” What was it like there at the end?“It was just really aggressive. Everyone was pushing as hard as they can. It just very aggressive, but that’s how this racing gets and that’s why you see wrecks like you do. You have to be lucky and miss the wrecks, but also have a fast enough car to be there at the end.” Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in a multi-car incident during Stage Two. Finished: 36thWhat happened from your perspective? “Yeah, I honestly have no idea. I just think that everybody was kind of playing games. Nobody wanted to lead, and it just kind of puts everyone in a tough spot. We were all just kind of stacked up there. Somebody was switching lanes, it looked like, and got out of shape. It’s a bummer. It was so early in the race. I would just like an opportunity to get a little deeper into it and just see where things shook out. We’ve been pretty lucky these last couple of trips down here to Daytona. It’s just unfortunate, but we’ll try to have a good weekend at Darlington.” Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Coca-Cola Zero Sugar Camaro ZL1Sidelined by damage sustained in an incident on pit road. Finished: 40th “I was doing my pit stop just like every single weekend. The No. 11 (Denny Hamlin) was right behind me and the No. 21 (Harrison Burton) was right in front of me, so unfortunately I got boxed in. We know that every single time we do a pit stop, we drop a little bit of fuel and that’s completely normal. Unfortunately, the No. 11 was leaving his pit stall right behind me, and because he was waiting for me to leave, his exhaust fired up the little fuel I dropped. Because I was still parked there, that went up the back of my car where the fuel cell is and it just grabbed it. It was a very unfortunate situation. I don’t know what we could have done differently. Just sad that we’re out of the race this way, but I’m glad I’m fine and the entire team was fine. The other crazy thing is that I was able to feel the heat, but because I don’t run a rearview mirror and only run the rearview camera, I couldn’t see it. The rearview camera is connected to the rear bumper, so I could see the smoke, but I couldn’t see the fire. I could feel the heat, but I couldn’t see how big it was.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND

PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

PORTLAND, OREGON

TEAM CHEVY ALL CHEVY FRONT ROW

FULL PACKAGE

AUGUST 24, 2024

WILL POWER QUALIFIES SECOND TO LOCK-IN ALL CHEVROLET FRONT ROW FOR THE BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND 

• Santino Ferrucci put his No. 14 Phoenix Investors AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet on pole for the BiTNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland with a lap of 58.2046 seconds
• It is Ferrucci’s career-first NTT P1 Award, and the first pole for AJ Foyt Racing since Detroit, 2014
• Will Power, INDYCAR’S all-time pole winner, qualified second to lock-in an all-Chevy power front row behind the wheel of his familiar No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet with a lap of 58.3120 seconds
• Two Team Chevy drivers-Ferruci and Power-progressed to the Firestone Fast Six to run for the pole
• Josef Newgarden and Romain Grojean also represented the Bowtie brand in the Fast 12
• The schedule on Saturday concluded with a final 30-minute practice at 5:15 PM PT
•  The session was completed without incident
• Ferrucci had a solid session finishing ninth in the final order
• Sunday’s race will be live of USA and Peacock starting at Noon PT, 3:00 PM ET plus INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 218..

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULT:

Pos. Driver

1^st    Santino Ferrucci (58.2046)

2^nd    Will Power (58.3129)

7^th     Josef Newgarden (58.41.63)

8^th    Romain Grojean (58.4494)

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING-QUOTES

SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 14 PHOENIX INVESTORS AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER:

How special is this moment?

“I mean, this is definitely one of the greatest days of my career. In qualifying, too, it’s so tight. This series is so incredible talented. To be doing this today is such a feat for us and the team, and shows how hard we’ve been working. I can’t thank everybody enough for believing in me.

“Man, I think it’s no secret how hard we’ve been working this year, how hard I’ve been working, Larry (Foyt), our entire staff. I mean, my first career pole in an INDYCAR and I’m not known for being the best qualifier and today, we just felt it. We unrolled off the trailer amazing. It’s been a year of hard work and progression. We’ve showed some real speed at certain times and it feels great to put it together, man. I can’t just thank this entire team enough, Sexton Properties, Phoenix Investors, everybody that’s involved, Chevrolet. We brought it.”

Starting on pole, how do you keep it up front in the race tomorrow?

“We’ve been so good in race craft, that’s actually the least of my worries. The racing’s so good for us. We’ve been struggling everywhere else on the weekend, so to knock this out of the park, I’m excited.” 

You’ve been strong on ovals in past, but to get this first career pole on a road course, how does that feel to you?

“Everything. I’ve got some more bargaining power for next year. I mean, I love it. What Larry (Foyt) and I have been building at this team, I’m so proud of him, so proud of what we have accomplished, and I just can’t wait for the future. I think this is a glimpse of what we’ve got. This is the last road course of the year, and, trust me, I want to get on that podium so bad, stand on that top step, and a road course would be a way to make it happen.” 

LARRY FOYT, AJ FOYT RACING TEAM PRESIDENT:

“It’s just awesome. I mean, the trajectory where we’ve been headed as a team, it’s just been great. We’ve added so many great people to our group. Santino (Ferrucci) is just getting better all of the time. This is just a testament to everything we’re doing. Thanks to affiliation with Penske. Certainly, a huge help. Those guys are awesome, but our guys just really delivered today and Santino drove the wheels off. It’ll be good to call dad. It’ll be a fun call for a change. I hope the Sextons are watching and the Phoenix livery is beautiful this weekend. It’s great, just great.” 

We know what one half of the team is going to look like from the driver perspective with David Malukas. What does this do to help solidify Santino’s position in the team?

“He’s done a super job this year. Can’t say enough about how he’s helped elevate the team. It’s just really good. I hope he can enjoy this. It’s really great for the morale of the whole group.” 

What have been some key moments along the way with this team whether it’s key personnel, milestones, etc.?

“You get a good group together, everybody pulling in the same direction, and that’s what it really takes. INDYCAR is so tight. You can be up one weekend and down there next. If you’ve got a group that really likes working together and putting in the extra effort, that’s just what we’ve been doing. From guys like Michael Cannon joining the team to the Penske affiliation, Chevy power, everything just comes to this. It feels great.” 

MICHAEL CANNON, AJ FOYT RACING TECHNICAL DIRECTOR:

“I’m just so blessed to work with so many really good drivers, really great drivers, a lot more great drivers and these great engineers. This has been a 19-month project getting here and I can’t thank Larry (Foyt) enough for giving me this opportunity to build a racing team, Roger Penske and his group, Ron and all the guys there with all of the help they’ve been giving us, it’s made a world of difference. We’ve turned this team completely around from tail end Charlie to pole. This is magnificent.”

Many on the team were here when you showed up to help with this resurgence. Celebrating this moment, what does that mean to you?

“Everything. It means everything. I hope AJ (Foyt) is watching. I hope he’s proud of us. It was what I was hired to do. A lot of us came in here given a blank slate, not necessarily a blank check but a blank slate. To pull this off is remarkable. It’s one of the best days of my 42 years of racing that I can remember. Just truly remarkable, so proud of (this crew), and I’m so glad I could do this for Larry and AJ (Foyt).” 

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON BUSINESS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED SECOND:

“I made one mistake in turn 12. I dropped the wheel off which lost me a bit over a tenth, so (Santino Ferrucci)’s lap was very, very good. He did a great job. All stoked to get through the Fast Six. I really wanted pole because it helps so much not getting caught up in that first corner. But, it’s great to be on the front row with somewhat of a teammate. Obviously, with Santino, we share information some, so we can start about the start. Ultimately, just have to keep finishing ahead of (Alex) Palou. He’s right there. Obviously, I can be a bit more aggressive than he can on the start. I have less to lose than he does, so we’ll just focus on trying to win the race.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 TIRERACK.COM TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED SEVENTH:

“We heard your radio discussing the limiter concern that you had on your lap. How big of a difference do you feel that it made?

“Pretty small, but when you’re talking in the grand scheme of things of couple of hundredths of a second making the difference in the cut, you know… We haven’t seen the data yet, but regardless of that, we probably needed to be a little bit quicker to be safe and not have to even worry about something like that. But that on that particular lap, we had a limiter spike for whatever reason. I’m disappointed. Our car was really good. This team is really good. Luke (Mason) did a really good job on the set up. It’s fun to have TireRack.com on board. They’re new for us this weekend. Obviously, we have a great partnership with Discount Tire, so to bring Tire Rack as well is really great on our INDYCAR program. But I’m disappointed because I really wanted to transfer there, I wanted a shot at the pole. Hopefully, Will (Power) can get that job done. As you can see, our cars are quick. We’ll have to focus on the race with the No. 2 car.” 

Obviously, INDYCAR qualifying is intense but it seems like this weekend, the field is so close. How intense are these sessions as a driver?

“It’s insane. I don’t know how to describe it any more. We have essentially a new car we’re working with. It’s five races old, we’re 100 pounds lighter. It’s hybridized, so it’s a completely different use case and somehow everyone is within a tenth or two of a second. It’s unbelievable how tight it is. You can’t make one little misstep whether it’s me driving the car or us with the setup. Any little detail just can’t be missed. It’s hard. I don’t think there’s anything more competitive on the planet. It’s been that way with INDYCAR but it seems to ratchet up each year.” 

ROMAIN GROJEAN, NO. 77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED EIGHTH:

“P8 in qualifying, and think we’re going to start P6 with engine penalties in front, so pretty good job. Not an easy weekend with the start, but we’ve done some great work to get better in qualifying. A few ideas for the race. Weather for tomorrow is going to be a lot different, so we just need to try to analyze that the best and get a good race car.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 FREIGHTLINER TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 14^TH: NOTE – will take a six position grid penalty for unapproved engine change

“Our car was good now, I just didn’t find the gap where I should have. Pretty disappointed for everyone on the Freightliner Chevy. Our car was quick. You just can’t afford to just be, even if the car is a second in front of you, it’s disturbs it enough to slow it down. I’m bummed with that because we have a car good enough for pole, but I’m just going to have to do it the hard way.” 

What did the reds feel like there? Did they take a lap or two to come in there?

“It was pretty normal to every other track. It’s not a problem with that. It’s a matter of just getting it in the right gap.” 

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 askROI ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 15^TH:

“This is a tough one. We really feel that we have a much better car than 15th, but it’s so hard to get the gaps right during qualifying and then not knowing what other cars around you are going to do. Last year though, I started 13th and had my best finish of the season, so we will try to move our way forward tomorrow and continue our streak of Top 10s!”

CHRISTIAN RASMUSSEN, NO. 20 GUY CARE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 17^TH:

“I think everyone knows it’s that tight. You have to be on the absolute limit to even transfer. A tenth of a second, I mean, in practice it was a matter of ten spots, a tenth of a second. It’s crazy tight. Unfortunately, we were just on the wrong side of that, and I think we have a strong car this weekend. We didn’t really show our pace in the practices, but this is more like it. Hopefully, we can move forward a little bit in the race and finish the season off strong.” 

Last race of the season, what does that mean mentally for you?

“I want to race, that’s what I’m here for, but right now I’m focusing on this weekend and doing the best I can, give us a best spot in the championship – that’s what we’re all thinking about. It’s not going to be anything super crazy this weekend, just kind of a safe, strong weekend.” 

ALEXANDER ROSSI, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 18^TH:

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 23^RD:

“I don’t know what went on with the reds. The blacks, the car didn’t feel horrible on the blacks, it just felt like it never switched on the reds. I don’t know if it what how we brought them in or having to back down when some of the guards in front… We were a little bit off sequence. That was obviously a handful. Just no pace in it at all. Couldn’t really get it out of the car. There’s not much more I could’ve done or would’ve been spinning. It’s a bummer because I thought we had a chance for at least a Fast Six and for the pole. We just couldn’t get the car to switch on on the reds.”

NOLAN SIEGEL, NO. 6 ARROW MCLAREN CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 24^TH:

“Pretty strong pace-wise in practice, and we were in a good spot to transfer, then I thought we had pretty clean run and the balance in the car was fine. It didn’t feel like anything went wrong, we were just lacking pace. Obviously, none of us transferred so not a stellar day. We’ll have to find a little bit more and keep searching. I think our race pace is a little bit better than qualifying pace, at least, but was hoping to have a stronger qualifying session for the last road course qualifying of the year, for sure.” 

You went 20th to seventh at World Wide Technology Raceway so you know how to slice and dice your way through the field. What kind of different challenges on a road course does that present?

“It’s very different than to oval racing. I don’t know how much strategizing there will be in this race. I think that it’s generally easier to make passes on road courses or at least it has been. Gateway raced pretty well. I don’t know. We’ll see. I’ve never done an INDYCAR race here at Portland, so I’ll be learning. I’ll see what I can do, and hopefully this track races as well as Gateway did last weekend.” 

STING RAY ROBB, NO. 41 GOODHEART VET/PRAY.COM AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 25^TH:

”Qualifying was great for the team, seeing Santino in P1 was very exciting . We’re going to his car to try it out in the warmup and see what happens there. Hopefully that will improve it for us and I think that we’ll be in a good spot.”

CONOR DALY, NO. 78 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 27^TH:

“It is what it is. It’s just frustrating because I think the team made a great step forward in the car. Just don’t have the experience to take advantage of it, and we can’t afford to make silly mistakes either. I think we’ll be fine, I do believe that. Obviously, the work is really hard for us. But I appreciate everyone trying to get me up to speed with just one session. Honestly, you just have to make something happen. We’ll try and stay out of trouble and try to strategize our way forward and use the speed of the car that we’ve got. It is what it is. I’m personally frustrated because I want to be better for these (Juncos Hollinger Racing) guys. It’s almost impossible to really know what I don’t know.”

POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

Santino Ferrucci

Larry Foyt

Will Power

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Santino Ferrucci for AJ Foyt Racing with his first career NTT P1 award.

Santino, congratulations. Tell us about this. What are the emotion months like?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, it’s pretty awesome. It’s my first career pole in the series. To come on a road course like Portland where it’s so tight, it’s so competitive. It just felt great.

That lap felt amazing. We rolled off the trailer really good coming here. We knew we had a strong car. So it’s really nice to put everything together for myself and for the team.

Yeah, super stoked as well. New sponsor on the car this weekend, Phoenix Investors. They were all down there in the pits with us when it happened, so it was a blast.

THE MODERATOR: You were already P1, but pushing towards the end. The unknown is what you’re fearful of. You weren’t backing down at the end at all, were you?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: No, definitely not. It’s always about who crosses the line last year. I’ve watched enough Fast Sixes to know that. We field for three laps, so I was going to use them all, regardless if we ran out or not.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Larry, could you talk about what this means for the organization.

LARRY FOYT: Well, it’s huge. I think you can just see how happy everybody is because a couple years ago it was a struggle. We’ve just kept building this team, kept adding better people. It’s led to all this.

Having some consistency with Santino, man, everyone is just really happy. This whole year, even fighting for a top 10 in the championship was a huge step up. The qualifying pace, don’t say you’re not a good qualifier, can’t say that (smiling).

We have such a good group working together from the engineering, mechanics, and a hell of a driver. So it feels great.

Q. How much does the Penske alliance put you in this position today?

LARRY FOYT: It’s great. They’ve been super to work with. I’ve learned a lot. So can’t thank them enough for everything that they’ve done to help us achieve that, get to where we’re headed. Awesome organization to be with.

Q. Santino, you said this gives you some bargaining power for next year. Are you going to get a contract out of Larry by the end of the day? What’s your situation?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: When is warm-up? How long do we have (laughter)?

No, it’s good. I don’t think it’s any secret that I very much found a home here with Larry and AJ Foyt. I want to stay. That’s kind of in the cards here. Obviously there’s a lot that needs to happen, still a pretty big off-season.

Getting pole today definitely doesn’t hurt (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: AJ Foyt’s first P1 award since Belle Isle in 2014. This has to feel good, Larry.

LARRY FOYT: Yeah, I was in my 30s (smiling). It does feel great. We had a good car from when we unloaded. Santino said the car was really good. We thought we had a shot at top six, but we really didn’t think the pole. Just a hell of a lap he put in there.

Q. You felt this was a place you could target for a strong result. What about this track, permanent road course package, made for this? Did you feel like a pole was possible or did this take you a little by surprise today?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I said Portland would be a good one for us just based off of how we did at Barber and Laguna. We kind of understood why we were so quick there in the race. It was just putting it together here in Portland. Obviously they’re three totally different tracks.

When we unloaded on Friday, we knew we had a really good car. Then it was fine-tuning it really into today. I kind of figured we’d be able to get into the top 12. The Fast Six I knew was going to be really difficult.

The new tire runs for us we’re not super sparkly. The second tire runs is where I kind of knew we had something. So in my head, when Larry told me we had advanced into the Fast Six, I knew that if I just stayed calm and hit my marks, we could really be a threat to contend for a pole.

I didn’t think we would get it, but I thought we would at least be on the front row. I’m beyond thrilled to lead the field to green tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Larry, any chance you’ve heard from the boss yet?

LARRY FOYT: No. I’m going to go give him a call right now and give Marlene Sexton from Sexton properties a call. None of this would be possible without them. This will be a fun call (smiling).

Q. When the Fast Six starts, we see everybody pile out onto the track. You stayed in your pit stall for quite a few minutes. Was it just a matter of that’s the way you wanted to do it to build a gap or did it have more to do with the heat cycle on the reds?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: There were a couple of strategy things involved. I think I’ll say a lot has to do with the fuel situation here in Portland. Just we’ve run a lot today. We really only had one run. Just wanted to make it count.

Yeah, that was kind of the plan.

Q. We had the announcement about Malukas. Santino, when we know what you’ve accomplished, how this program has grown together, the ability to not get demoralized, down, continue to rally when you’re facing an unknown situation for next year…

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think it’s been a very interesting two years. I think me and Larry have worked really well together. That news is honestly a huge steppingstone for the team. There’s a lot behind for that. Obviously for me it’s a bit of an unknown.

Things like today help. The Indy results that we’ve had during the 500 help. Being 10th in the championship helps. We’ve really brought it together.

Regardless of news, I never really found it demoralizing if that makes sense just because of how much we’ve been able to accomplish in the last two years. I don’t see it as a negative. I see it as a massive positive for something like that to come along.

Yeah, no, it’s exciting for the future. I can’t wait to see what unfolds.

Q. Larry, any thoughts other than that?

LARRY FOYT: Yeah, this whole season is a big tribute to a lot of what Santino brings to the table. Fighting for us to get top 10 in the championship, first time in two decades that this late in the season we’re fighting for that. That’s a big testament to a lot that he’s done.

We have a great relationship. I’m sure things will work out the way they should.

Q. Santino, in the Fast Six, you had last year’s polesitter Graham Rahal, Alex Palou, Will Power. Does that make what you accomplished today, taking pole, any more satisfying?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: To be honest, when we made it into the Fast Six, I was like, Who’s in it?

They said, Will.

I was like, Oh, damn.

It’s so hard to compete against everybody here. Everybody’s so talented. On any given day as a driver, as an athlete, if you get everything right, it’s a chance and an opportunity to excel. We had the car. Today was the day for me in qualifying to nail the lap, to get it right, especially when it counts.

Honestly the Fast 12 was more pressure than the Fast Six just because it’s so hard. I mean, you’re going against so many more people. Once you’re in the Fast Six, the math in my head was you’re in the Fast Five. Once you’re in the Fast Five, it’s only two more spots to third. If you nail your lap, it’s front row.

To take the pole, I didn’t really think about it (laughter).

Q. Were folks communicating to your ear with 30 seconds to go that you were on top or did you not know you had pole or were sitting on the fastest time until the session was over with?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I knew I was first starting the final lap, when I came onto the frontstretch just because we have telem in the car and stuff like that. I knew I was good. With one more lap to go, it’s whoever does the last lap normally gets the pole.

I just kind of put my head down. I felt like the car was in a perfect position. I just drove as hard as I could. When I got on the back straight out of seven, that’s when I keyed up the radio ’cause they have more telemetry than anybody else. I was asking them if I’m going to make it. Knew we were quick. I knew it was a hell of a lap. I just didn’t know how good.

At the line, we kind of knew. We were just waiting for Palou. Yeah, once we came down pit road, we had it.

Q. What is it like when you look down with a lap to go and you’re sitting on top? Was it surprising? How do you keep your emotions in check?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Kind of made me hungry, I’m not going to lie. When you see it there and you know you got more lap time that you can wring out of the car and yourself as a driver, I saw that. I saw I was already negative on the dash. I just wanted to push as hard as I could to see what I could actually do without the threat of what’s the worst that’s going to happen. You’re still going to end up in the Fast Six. At that point there’s no pressure to not push. That’s kind of where I was at mentally.

Q. Larry, there’s been a lot of attention on the Penske deal. A lot of people you brought into the team over the past few years. Might you want to talk about those people and reaction to all this happening, the importance of some of the hires you made.

LARRY FOYT: Well, for sure. I mean, we’ve been fortunate to bring in some really great people that have helped all the way from Michael Cannon to a lot of the other engineers, Adam, James. The whole stand. C.J., has been here a long time. A lot of people have stuck with us through the hard times, and as well a lot of new people have come in and been a great addition.

It’s just a great group that are working hard together. Definitely the Penske alliance has been great. They’re a great company to work with. We go back so far. AJ and Roger go way back. Obviously Tim Cindric. Working with him and Ron has been great. I’ve learned a lot. Certainly has been a benefit to help us get to where we’re headed.

No, can’t say enough about everyone on the team. That alliance has been very helpful, as well.

Q. Santino, is this your first pole since British F3 in 2014?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think this is my first one in a minute. At least that I can remember (smiling). It will be nice to lead the field to green, to have no one in front of us.

I’ve been off pole a couple of times. But yeah, it’s definitely fun.

Q. Will was saying you two could strategize for tomorrow. Does it help to have someone who is sort of a teammate to you alongside you?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: It’s definitely going to make it interesting. At the end of the day we are kind of our own team. We’re fighting our own championship. The championship doesn’t really matter as much to me as getting a win. That’s kind of my goal.

If we can help out some of our Penske alliance friends, to help Will with the championship in any way with how we do things, then yeah, we’re obviously going to. It’s what teammates do, how things kind of work.

By no means am I going to start and pull over and let him take the lead into one.

Q. Can you assess the rise that you and the team have had over the last 12 months?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, yeah, it’s been a huge help. There’s so much more that goes into it between just the alliance and working with everybody. Our engineering staff is unreal. We have some really overqualified guys here. They’ve worked together so well.

It’s one of those things to where it’s kind of created a perfect storm for us to where everybody has just gelled seamlessly. The car, we found good setups throughout the year. We found a lot of speed at a lot of different tracks, a lot of different disciplines. We were good at Laguna, Barber. We were average at Road America.

Coming into Portland with the last road course, I knew if we put everything together correctly… Everyone working with Chevrolet and some of the other things that we get as being a Chevy team really prepped us well for this event and it shows.

This is definitely a glimpse into the future for the team, I believe.

THE MODERATOR: As we wrap up qualifying, we’re joined now by Will Power. His fourth front row start of 2024.

You were the first one to congratulate Santino. You knew what this kind of moment meant for him, right?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I’m good friends with Santino. We go-kart together, go to dinner, so on. I was upset that I didn’t get pole, I really wanted it here, I wanted it badly. I was kind of a little bit upset.

Couldn’t be happier for Santino. He’s driving extremely well. And Foyt, it’s a great partnership for those guys. It’s good stuff, man. Good stuff. A fiercely competitive field. As you’ve seen, you never know who is going to get pole, you never know who will be the top six, you never know who is going to win the race.

THE MODERATOR: Obviously a Chevy sweep on the front row. Points championship still very much alive. Starting second, a nice boost heading into tomorrow’s race.

WILL POWER: Yeah, very nice to be on the front row. Of course, you have Palou right there. I can certainly be aggressive with him because he has a lot more to lose than me. Just got to keep finishing ahead of him. I’ll drive like Verstappen. Give him a little bit of pressure (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions for Will.

Q. Looking at the championship, do you still see it as a realistic opportunity for you?

WILL POWER: Yeah, man, still very, very possible. Very possible. It’s almost a little less than a quarter of the races to go, four races. A lot of points, a lot of stuff can happen.

I would have to say if he finishes ahead of me tomorrow, starts to look very, very tough. We have to have a good day, at least finish ahead of him, see where we come out in points there. Then doubleheader at Milwaukee, a lot on offer. Our goal is to get as close as we can to him by Nashville.

Q. After all that happened last week, have you cleared that up with the team? Is that sorted going into the rest of the season?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, whatever. I’m over that stuff real quick. Just one of those things that was unfortunate. We had a very good car and a very good night.

Yeah, moved on very quickly, focusing on this event to get the best possible result. See what we can do tomorrow.

Q. How do you see Santino as a prospect, and Foyt as well? They have the potential to start taking points away from you. At the same time they’ve also got the potential to finish ahead some of your rivals as well. How do you see all that playing out?

WILL POWER: Well, yeah, they could be a great asset to us, taking points from Palou. Obviously, yes, they can take points from us, but that’s just the name of the game. They got a good driver in Santino, obviously a good car with the partnership we have.

Yeah, like I said before, I couldn’t be happier for Santino to get a pole. He works hard, deserves it.

Q. Looking at the final stretch of races with the three oval races to come, you have to feel a little bit more confident than Alex considering Alex hasn’t had an oval victory.

WILL POWER: Yeah, based on our oval form this year, we should be more confident than he is. You never know in this series, though. I think Dixon is very strong at Nashville. Milwaukee, we haven’t been there, so we don’t know.

Ultimately we have to finish ahead of him every weekend. It’s the only way. Anything can happen in this series. Look at last week. I mean, I led so many laps, had the quickest car, and I finished 18th just because of a restart. Same with Toronto the race before. I was running the top four or five, had an incident, gave myself a drive-through.

A lot can go down and change quickly. We’ll see how this plays out.

Q. Looking at the race tomorrow, a lot of the other championship contenders are caught in the awkward midfield area, which is not a place to be at Portland.

WILL POWER: Yeah, definitely a tough place to be at the start of the race, no question. We’ll see, yeah. Can even be tough where I am honestly. Really you want to be a leader. That’s why I was mad after I didn’t get pole. Man, I need that, get a jump in front of the whole field, take off.

Yeah, but they have the lead to go early which strings it out more than it used to, so that will help. Yeah, we’ll see what happens.

Q. Do you feel this weekend can erase what happened last weekend? How confident are you to catch some important championship points tomorrow?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it certainly can erase last weekend with a race win. That would help tremendously. I know Palou is a very tough customer. He doesn’t make mistakes. He’s very good in the race. We’ve got our work cut out for us to finish ahead of him because it’s almost essential that we do.

We’ll work on our car in warm-up and try to get the best possible race car that we have, yeah, see where we stand.

Q. How important is it to start in the first row for tomorrow? How do you feel about that?

WILL POWER: I think the only guy that feels completely safe is P1. Even starting on the outside of the front row can be a little tough at times because the inside row goes, if you can’t block out third place.

Yeah, we’ll see. Anything can happen. Can’t really plan on it. Just the key is to get through that first turn in a reasonable position.

Q. Do you feel you could be P1 after the second session?

WILL POWER: Yeah, like in the Fast Six, could I have been P1? Is that what you mean?

Q. Yes.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I made a mistake. The lap he did was really good. He did a really good lap. It was going to be tough to beat that.

But I actually lost like a 10th and a half on the 10 and 12 curb when I made a little mistake there. It was doable, but man, he put a bloody good lap together. It’s impressive.

Q. You said you can talk with Santino about the start, and also you can be more aggressive than Alex can be. What can you and Santino work together on ahead of the start? What kind of plan can you put in place? When you say you can be more aggressive, what does that mean?

WILL POWER: Well, we can take more risk with strategy. I mean, I race as clean and fairly as possible. Never want to win a championship in a way where you’ve taken someone out. Of course not. But I can race him a little harder because it’s not just me that he’s racing. If we both went out, it would be bad because there’s a lot of people coming as well around my points.

Yeah, yeah, my goal is I just got to stay ahead of the guy. I have to finish ahead of him, it’s as simple as that. It’s the only way I’m going to have a shot at the championship.

NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT AUGUST 24, 2024

JUSTIN MARKS, FOUNDER AND OWNER OF TRACKHOUSE RACING, AND SHANE VAN GISBERGEN, DRIVER FOR TRACKHOUSE RACING, met with the media at Daytona International Speedway to announce that Trackhouse Racing will field three full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2025, with van Gisbergen behind the wheel of the No. 88 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1.  Press Conference Quotes:  Justin Marks:“A great day for the company, obviously. Being able to announce that we’re expanding to a third full time Cup series entry in 2025. The most exciting thing about it, for me, is that we’re able to announce that Shane Van Gisbergen is going to be the full time in the Cup Series for us next year for Trackhouse as we expand from two cars to three. These moments are always special, especially since 48 months ago this was a Tennessee Limited Liability Company with 500 dollars in the bank and sort of an idea. Me and Ty trying to figure out how to do it. For us to come in as a one car team in 2021 and make the acquisition of Ganassi, expand into two teams, win seven races the next year two and a half years after that, and have some great, great partners come on and sort of continue this amazing journey of building a great company here, this is obviously a huge moment. Really, really thrilled and excited that Shane put the trust in us and made a huge commitment and leaving a very successful career in Australia and New Zealand and move to a new country and start over and put his faith and trust in us, means a lot to us. He put in a tremendous amount of work. Great human being. Very, very talented racecar driver and someone with an incredibly bright future. We’re very excited to have him here. It’s also what’s kind of unique about this is that this is a neat moment for Project 91. Project 91 was a program to bring incredible talent from around the world to the NASCAR Cup Series and see if we could do something special with it. Obviously, with Shane going to Chicago and being the first winner in 60 years on debut in Project 91 and then make the move over, make the commitment to the Xfinity Series this year, and a bunch of Cup races, and then be able to turn that into a full time Cup Series ride in 2025, is just a really cool moment and story of Project 91. So, we’re very excited. We’re thrilled that he’s accepted the offer and made the commitment and looking for big things in 2025.” Shane van Gisbergen:“Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. It’s been a pretty awesome 18 months, I guess, now. It’s been a huge life change as Justin said. Everything he’s said will happen has happened. I never thought it would happen this quick, and I’m very glad we’ve done the learning this year in Xfinity. Kaulig Racing has been great to work with, and also a lot more races to finish the year now. It’s been a huge learning experience, but just excited to get full time in the Cup Series next year. Working with Trackhouse has been fun this year the way everyone goes racing, the attitude in the place, it just resonates from the top with Justin and Ty, the leadership there. You just feel it through the place. It’s a really cool team to be a part of. Hugely excited about it. Have a lot of work to do and it’s not going to be easy, that’s for sure. But, I’ll keep pushing and hopefully fit in pretty good next year. Can’t wait.” Justin, talk about as you look at Trackhouse Entertainment Group and how you get all of the different regions now of the world represented under that banner…“That’s definitely an element to the story here that we take a lot of pride in. We’re going to be full time Cup racing with three cars and three drivers that were born in three different countries, which I think is a pretty amazing thing for this sport. It’s pretty amazing for where motorsports is today, and we’re thrilled and honored to be stewards of international diversity. The top level of motorsports. I’ve said this a couple of times now, with our MotoGP lineup next year and our Cup Series lineup next year with Trackhouse has a roster of athletes that represent Mexico, New Zealand, the USA, Spain and Japan which is a pretty incredible thing for a motorsports company. We take a lot of pride in that. We just continue to tell a great story, try to get really great people in the house with diverse backgrounds, great stories to tell, compelling personalities, and at the end of the day just really, really dedicated, hard workers.” Shane, for you, coming over here and you’re racing over here with those you haven’t met before. When we were in Chicago, you were trying to read the names on the back of the windows to try and remember who you were trying to race in that corner. Talk about a year later now that you’ve been around these guys, how much you’ve learned, and also some of the respect you see between yourself and some of the other drivers…“It goes both ways. Didn’t you have to Google me when Justin brought my name up? It’s a different world, and it’s you’re still car racing but it’s a completely different sport. But like I said, learning so much this year and got two recent examples of people I guess that came through – Marcos Ambrose and Juan Pablo (Montoya) – similar backgrounds and Juan did three or four races in Xfinity and then full time into Cup. Marcos took it the slower route, so we’re kind of in between. I think the way we’ve done this is the right way with all of the processes and even though the Xfinity car is very, very different to a Cup car, I think it was 100% worth it. Learning all of the tracks, all of the places, the terminology, metric vs. imperial, that’s been tough. But, you know, it’s a massive learning era, but I’ve just got to keep building on it and keep improving every week. Had a little set back in Xfinity, I guess, losing our crew chief, but we’ve got to get that momentum built up. I’m still fully focused on getting a result in the Playoffs and keeping that momentum into next year. Pretty exciting times.” Justin, one more element to this in expanding the team, you have to dig deep and started thinking what’s going to be the number. How do you take this into the next level and something that has relevance?“Before we unveil the number, one of the things for Trackhouse, numbers are important. I mean, numbers are important and they’re a big part of the branding in this sport. Numbers represent history, and they represent legions of fans and historic drivers and historic moments in this sport. We don’t take our number choices lightly, and when we chose the No. 99 car to begin with, there was a responsibility that came with that. That was wins with Carl Edwards, wins with Jeff Burton and a lot of great drivers. Same thing with the No. 1 with Kurt Busch and Jamie McMurray, and when we think about the numbers and our history and the number, it’s important for us to honor that history and to add to the winning legacy of that number. We’ve done with the No.1 and we’ve done with the No. 99 and we intend to do it with the new one.” Justin, talk a little bit about the process of this, wanting to do the right thing, talking to the Hendrick group, talking to Jeff Gordon, talking to the Earnhardt’s…“I called Carl Edwards in the end of 2020 and said we’re starting this Cup team, and we want to run the No. 99 number, and I want to tell you we’re doing this and obviously get your endorsement of it and get your support for it. We did the same thing with the No. 1, and we’ve done it with the No. 88 in talking to the folks at Hendrick and to Dale (Earnhardt) Jr. who I was just texting an hour and a half ago. It’s important for us to have the endorsement. A great exchange with Dale Jr. saying look, it’s not my number. I added to legacy of it. It’s important to me personally, but he was proud to see it in good hands. And that’s something that’s super, super important to me and this company.” What was the trigger that said all of a sudden, we need to do this? Did you have a goal, like last year, if we get to this certain time, we’ll pull the trigger on a third team, or was this just the time was right?Marks: “I’ve always thought that three teams is a really strong number of teams to have in this sport. It just gives you 33% more of an opportunity on the racetrack every weekend. Frankly, it’s four-car teams are reserved for really, really big companies in this sport, and it’s tough to make four cars work. I think three was kind of always sort of the number for us from day one if things went our way and we could grow from one car to two, that three was kind of the goal. An opportunity be able to come up to expand to a third car for this year, so we took it.” Shane, for you, the pressure is there. When you won in Chicago you said this was your ultimate goal. Next year, you’re going to be a full time Cup driver. Pressure, do you feel pressure? Are you motivated, excited, happy, anxious?“All of the above, but that’s why we do it. Those feels are good things because it means you care so much about it, right? All this year, I’ve been nervous getting in the car. Anxious. How it’s going to go. How am I going to be? That’s an awesome feeling and something I haven’t had for a few years, so it’s been really cool. It’s cool to be energized like that. Of course there’s going to be pressure. The Cup Series is pretty cutthroat as we’ve seen. A lot of guys, it’s pretty hard to make it. I just have to keep learning, do the best I can, and I’ll be fine.” Justin, can you confirm where you’re getting the charter from?“What would you guess? I would guess Stewart Haas Racing.“Probably not a bad answer.” Can you talk about the decision, or was it an easy decision? You had more drivers than you had spots, so you had to announce you were releasing Zane and keeping Shane…“I think when we decide the drivers, it’s a big picture, and we cast a wide net, sort of, of qualifications. It’s commercial support, fit in the company, personality, all of that. We don’t have four cars, we have three, so we have to make a decision. We’re excited about the decision we’ve made with SVG.” With all of your endeavors and connections in other motorsports arenas, is there a concentration of on where you’ll find the next driver to potentially bring to NASCAR? With a wide net, is there a target?Marks: “I don’t think we’re in the driver-looking business for right now for a while. We’re excited with Ross (Chastain), we’re excited with Daniel (Suarez), we’re excited with SVG. Really excited about resigning Raul Fernandez and bringing the (Ai) Ogura into the MotoGP thing. And we’ve got amazing talent who’s going to be racing full time next year in the Xfinity Series in Connor Zilisch. I think we’re in a pretty good spot right now. As the business expands and we’re able to expand to a third team and have these opportunities, it was important to make sure we put an emphasis and put ourselves in the best position to get the best talent in the house. I think we’ve done that, and now we can focus on what we’ve got and try to go win races.” Can you give a number, an exact number, on what you paid for the charter?“No.” In negotiations of the charter agreement, there’s been some debate whether to continue to invest in teams. Why not wait to acquire a third charter until the negotiations are final?“I don’t really have any stress that the fact the charter system is going to continue. I don’t really think that’s a risk, and when there is an opportunity to make a move and to expand… We had a lot of great commercial support around this program that we’ll announce later this season. There’s a lot of things falling in line. We had to take advantage of that opportunity when it was here before we lost it. It wasn’t really that difficult of a decision. The charter negotiations will continue. Those conversations will continue to happen. I think the charter system has been good for the sport. I think NASCAR will tell you the same thing. We don’t really have any stress about that system continuing.” Justin, the news came out that Zane Smith and Trackhouse were parting ways. Did this come down to a Zane or Shane decision. If it didn’t, describe what you made pick Shane for this seat over some other drivers who I’m sure were in consideration who may have had experience in NASCAR specifically?“The way I’ll answer this, this moment is about Shane van Gisbergen. This is a SVG moment. I’m going to keep it an SVG moment. I will tell you the reason we chose to go with Shane for this third car is that he… Yeah, there’s not a lot of experience in the Cup Series, some unknowns, a lot of hard work, but Shane checks a lot of boxes for a really, really compelling story and building great business for this sport. I think it’s the fact he’s incredibly talented. He’s really dedicated. There’s a reason why he was the first one to win on debut since Johnny Rutherford in 1963. That’s a big thing. Obviously, the Chicago Street Race is kind of in his wheelhouse, but the rate of adaptability of everything else, just the competition, the restarts, the pit stops, the way he prepared for that race, this is a superstar. This is somebody we were really excited about committing to knowing that’s a relatively unconventional path to a Cup car. But we wouldn’t be doing it if we didn’t think this guy couldn’t win lots and lots of Cup races and be a Playoff contender. It was honestly a pretty easy decision because he checked a lot of boxes for us and everyone in the company is really excited for it.” Shane, what has been the hardest part about your learning curve? Just trying to get up to speed? You come out and, in your debut, win. What has really challenged you along the way?“Turning left. It’s just there’s so many variables in this racing. You see even Kyle Larson, who is the best driver, he’s first one week, 20th the next. There are so many variables that make this sport a thing. I’m used to being on one line, the repetition the whole time, hitting my marks, where the race can change so much over the course of the day. When the weather changes, the rubber goes down, or ever the superspeedway racing is completely different. Probably just the amount of variables in this racing. You can prep all you want, but it’s having those instincts in how to react and having the best way to do it. Every race, I’m learning something. I seem to always start the races kind of slow, and by stage three, I’m on the pace kind of thing. Just every week, this time of year, going back to tracks I’ve been to before, hopefully I can show that improvement and keep getting better. As I said, every week, I’m like a sponge trying to learn stuff and get better and better.” Do you expect to run any Xfinity races next year?van Gisbergen: “Yeah, I hope so. Obviously, there will be speaking with Chris and the Kaulig team and there’s opportunities to do the road courses, but to me, that’s the easy stuff. I want to do more ovals with them and learn in both ways. Hopefully, we’ll race with them next year and win some road courses but hopefully, they’ll let me do some ovals and I can keep getting more experience.” Justin, Project 91, you mentioned the importance of it right off the top. Do you anticipate it continuing moving forward with a full three car roster, or do you feel that stretches the team too thin?“We’re having those discussions right now. I think that Project 91 is something that 100% in my mind, I’d love to continue. It’s just difficult to do it this year because we had so much on our plate with supporting other drivers in other programs, and just a lot of other business development stuff we’re working on. I would expect Project 91 to be back sooner rather than later. Obviously, it has to fit into the workflow of the company. We’re expanding our focus on running three competitive Cup cars next year. There’s a lot of interest in Project 91 both from drivers, and from commercial partners. I would 100% anticipate that to continue in some capacity.”

No. 3 Corvette qualifies second, Milner on inside of third row in GT-only fight ALTON, Va. (August 24, 2024) – Antonio Garcia will start on the outside of the front row Sunday after leading the group of Chevrolet Corvette Z06 GT3.R drivers in qualifying for the Michelin GT Challenge at VIR.

Garcia, in the No. 3 Corvette from Corvette Racing by Pratt Miller Motorsports, set a best qualifying lap of 1:43.346 (113.908 mph) in Saturday’s 15-minute qualifying session. That put him 0.140 seconds off the GTD PRO pole-winning time around the 3.27-mile, 17-turn Virginia International Raceway circuit. Tommy Milner in the No. 4 Z06 GT3.R was fifth in class at 1:43.745 (113.470 mph) and four-tenths of a second from the front row for the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship’s lone GT-only event. The Virginia driver was on the back foot early after being balked on his first flying lap by another car that ran ahead of both Corvettes. The Pratt Miller squad claimed six victories at VIR under the Corvette Racing factory banner through the end of last season, including last year’s win for Garcia and Jordan Taylor in the Corvette C8.R. The Z06 GT3.R already has two VIR wins this year as DXDT Racing swept both rounds of GT World Challenge America there earlier this year with Milner as one of its drivers. In GTD, Orey Fidani qualified the No. 13 AWA Corvette Z06 GT3.R 14th in class with a lap of 1:47.306 (109.704 mph). He and Matt Bell are coming off a season-best, fifth-place finish the last time out at Road America. A repeat – or besting that result – at VIR would solidify Fidani’s lead in the Bob Akin Award standings, with the highest points-scoring Bronze driver at the end of the year earning an automatic entry to the following year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans. The Michelin GT Challenge at VIR is scheduled for 12:10 p.m. ET on Sunday. The race will air live on USA starting at noon ET with live streaming on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.comoutside the U.S. IMSA Radio will stream the call of the race at IMSA.com with coverage also on XM 206 and SiriusXM Online 996.

CORVETTE RACING BY PRATT MILLER MOTORSPORTS POST-QUALIFYING DRIVER QUOTESANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – QUALIFIED SECOND IN GTD PRO: “It was a confusing session with people slowing down, so you were forced to slow down in order to start the next lap. I’m sure we were in everybody’s way most of the time. I tried to be clean and do the best I could. I’m happy with the position for sure. I wasn’t expecting this, and I wasn’t expecting such a long track to be so busy. But yeah, that’s the way it went.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE Z06 GT3.R – QUALIFIED FIFTH IN GTD PRO: “It was a frustrating qualifying session. I think if you asked everyone except the pole-sitter, they would probably agree. It was a messy qualifying. Realistically we’ve had too many of those as a series… too many sessions where people try and build gaps all the time and cause problems. My quick lap was OK. I’m not crazy unhappy with it, but it would have been nice to have had a normal qualifying progression where I could go for two laps and see what that would have been. The good thing is that it’s just GTD PRO cars ahead of us, which is good. But we do have our work cut out for us. This is a place where having straight-line speed is very beneficial, and in the current state of things we don’t have a lot of that. So we’ll need to be clever tomorrow with our strategy. We’re prepared for that and know what to expect. We’ll work on that overnight tonight and see what we can come up with for the race.”

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES

BITNILE.COM GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND

PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY

PORTLAND, OREGON

TEAM CHEVY ALL CHEVY FRONT ROW 

WITH QUOTES AND TRANSCRIPTS

FULL PACKAGE TO FOLLOW

AUGUST 24, 2024

WILL POWER QUALIFIES SECOND TO LOCK FRONT ROW FOR CHEVROLET

•  Santino Ferrucci put his No. 14 Phoenix Investors AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet on pole for the BiTNILE.COM Grand Prix of Portland with a lap of 58.2046 seconds
• It is Ferrucci’s career-first NTT P1 Award, and the first pole for AJ Foyt Racing since Detroit, 2014
• Will Power qualified second to lock-in an all-Chevy power front row behind the wheel of his familiar No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet with a lap of 58.3120 seconds
• The schedule on Saturday will conclude with a final 30-minute practice at 5:15 PM PT. All practice and qualifying sessions broadcast with Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 218. Sunday’s race will be live of USA and Peacock starting at noon PT, 3:00 PM ET.

WHAT THEY ARE SAYING

SANTINO FERRUCCI, NO. 14 PHOENIX INVESTORS AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER:

How special is this moment?

“I mean, this is definitely one of the greatest days of my career. In qualifying, too, it’s so tight. This series is so incredible talented. To be doing this today is such a feat for us and the team, and shows how hard we’ve been working. I can’t thank everybody enough for believing in me.

“Man, I think it’s no secret how hard we’ve been working this year, how hard I’ve been working, Larry (Foyt), our entire staff. I mean, my first career pole in an INDYCAR and I’m not known for being the best qualifier and today, we just felt it. We unrolled off the trailer amazing. It’s been a year of hard work and progression. We’ve showed some real speed at certain times and it feels great to put it together, man. I can’t just thank this entire team enough, Sexton Properties, Phoenix Investors, everybody that’s involved, Chevrolet. We brought it.”

Starting on pole, how do you keep it up front in the race tomorrow?

“We’ve been so good in race craft, that’s actually the least of my worries. The racing’s so good for us. We’ve been struggling everywhere else on the weekend, so to knock this out of the park, I’m excited.” 

You’ve been strong on ovals in past, but to get this first career pole on a road course, how does that feel to you?

“Everything. I’ve got some more bargaining power for next year. I mean, I love it. What Larry (Foyt) and I have been building at this team, I’m so proud of him, so proud of what we have accomplished, and I just can’t wait for the future. I think this is a glimpse of what we’ve got. This is the last road course of the year, and, trust me, I want to get on that podium so bad, stand on that top step, and a road course would be a way to make it happen.” 

LARRY FOYT, AJ FOYT RACING TEAM PRESIDENT:

“It’s just awesome. I mean, the trajectory where we’ve been headed as a team, it’s just been great. We’ve added so many great people to our group. Santino (Ferrucci) is just getting better all of the time. This is just a testament to everything we’re doing. Thanks to affiliation with Penske. Certainly, a huge help. Those guys are awesome, but our guys just really delivered today and Santino drove the wheels off. It’ll be good to call dad. It’ll be a fun call for a change. I hope the Sextons are watching and the Phoenix livery is beautiful this weekend. It’s great, just great.” 

We know what one half of the team is going to look like from the driver perspective with David Malukas. What does this do to help solidify Santino’s position in the team?

“He’s done a super job this year. Can’t say enough about how he’s helped elevate the team. It’s just really good. I hope he can enjoy this. It’s really great for the morale of the whole group.” 

What have been some key moments along the way with this team whether it’s key personnel, milestones, etc.?

“You get a good group together, everybody pulling in the same direction, and that’s what it really takes. INDYCAR is so tight. You can be up one weekend and down there next. If you’ve got a group that really likes working together and putting in the extra effort, that’s just what we’ve been doing. From guys like Michael Cannon joining the team to the Penske affiliation, Chevy power, everything just comes to this. It feels great.” 

MICHAEL CANNON, AJ FOYT RACING TECHNICAL DIRECTOR:

“I’m just so blessed to work with so many really good drivers, really great drivers, a lot more great drivers and these great engineers. This has been a 19-month project getting here and I can’t thank Larry (Foyt) enough for giving me this opportunity to build a racing team, Roger Penske and his group, Ron and all the guys there with all of the help they’ve been giving us, it’s made a world of difference. We’ve turned this team completely around from tail end Charlie to pole. This is magnificent.”

Many on the team were here when you showed up to help with this resurgence. Celebrating this moment, what does that mean to you?

“Everything. It means everything. I hope AJ (Foyt) is watching. I hope he’s proud of us. It was what I was hired to do. A lot of us came in here given a blank slate, not necessarily a blank check but a blank slate. To pull this off is remarkable. It’s one of the best days of my 42 years of racing that I can remember. Just truly remarkable, so proud of (this crew), and I’m so glad I could do this for Larry and AJ (Foyt).” 

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON BUSINESS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED SECOND:

“I made one mistake in turn 12. I dropped the wheel off which lost me a bit over a tenth, so (Santino Ferrucci)’s lap was very, very good. He did a great job. All stoked to get through the Fast Six. I really wanted pole because it helps so much not getting caught up in that first corner. But, it’s great to be on the front row with somewhat of a teammate. Obviously, with Santino, we share information some, so we can start about the start. Ultimately, just have to keep finishing ahead of (Alex) Palou. He’s right there. Obviously, I can be a bit more aggressive than he can on the start. I have less to lose than he does, so we’ll just focus on trying to win the race.”

POST QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

Santino Ferrucci

Larry Foyt

Will Power

Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Santino Ferrucci for AJ Foyt Racing with his first career NTT P1 award.

Santino, congratulations. Tell us about this. What are the emotion months like?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, it’s pretty awesome. It’s my first career pole in the series. To come on a road course like Portland where it’s so tight, it’s so competitive. It just felt great.

That lap felt amazing. We rolled off the trailer really good coming here. We knew we had a strong car. So it’s really nice to put everything together for myself and for the team.

Yeah, super stoked as well. New sponsor on the car this weekend, Phoenix Investors. They were all down there in the pits with us when it happened, so it was a blast.

THE MODERATOR: You were already P1, but pushing towards the end. The unknown is what you’re fearful of. You weren’t backing down at the end at all, were you?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: No, definitely not. It’s always about who crosses the line last year. I’ve watched enough Fast Sixes to know that. We field for three laps, so I was going to use them all, regardless if we ran out or not.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Larry, could you talk about what this means for the organization.

LARRY FOYT: Well, it’s huge. I think you can just see how happy everybody is because a couple years ago it was a struggle. We’ve just kept building this team, kept adding better people. It’s led to all this.

Having some consistency with Santino, man, everyone is just really happy. This whole year, even fighting for a top 10 in the championship was a huge step up. The qualifying pace, don’t say you’re not a good qualifier, can’t say that (smiling).

We have such a good group working together from the engineering, mechanics, and a hell of a driver. So it feels great.

Q. How much does the Penske alliance put you in this position today?

LARRY FOYT: It’s great. They’ve been super to work with. I’ve learned a lot. So can’t thank them enough for everything that they’ve done to help us achieve that, get to where we’re headed. Awesome organization to be with.

Q. Santino, you said this gives you some bargaining power for next year. Are you going to get a contract out of Larry by the end of the day? What’s your situation?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: When is warm-up? How long do we have (laughter)?

No, it’s good. I don’t think it’s any secret that I very much found a home here with Larry and AJ Foyt. I want to stay. That’s kind of in the cards here. Obviously there’s a lot that needs to happen, still a pretty big off-season.

Getting pole today definitely doesn’t hurt (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: AJ Foyt’s first P1 award since Belle Isle in 2014. This has to feel good, Larry.

LARRY FOYT: Yeah, I was in my 30s (smiling). It does feel great. We had a good car from when we unloaded. Santino said the car was really good. We thought we had a shot at top six, but we really didn’t think the pole. Just a hell of a lap he put in there.

Q. You felt this was a place you could target for a strong result. What about this track, permanent road course package, made for this? Did you feel like a pole was possible or did this take you a little by surprise today?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I said Portland would be a good one for us just based off of how we did at Barber and Laguna. We kind of understood why we were so quick there in the race. It was just putting it together here in Portland. Obviously they’re three totally different tracks.

When we unloaded on Friday, we knew we had a really good car. Then it was fine-tuning it really into today. I kind of figured we’d be able to get into the top 12. The Fast Six I knew was going to be really difficult.

The new tire runs for us we’re not super sparkly. The second tire runs is where I kind of knew we had something. So in my head, when Larry told me we had advanced into the Fast Six, I knew that if I just stayed calm and hit my marks, we could really be a threat to contend for a pole.

I didn’t think we would get it, but I thought we would at least be on the front row. I’m beyond thrilled to lead the field to green tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Larry, any chance you’ve heard from the boss yet?

LARRY FOYT: No. I’m going to go give him a call right now and give Marlene Sexton from Sexton properties a call. None of this would be possible without them. This will be a fun call (smiling).

Q. When the Fast Six starts, we see everybody pile out onto the track. You stayed in your pit stall for quite a few minutes. Was it just a matter of that’s the way you wanted to do it to build a gap or did it have more to do with the heat cycle on the reds?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: There were a couple of strategy things involved. I think I’ll say a lot has to do with the fuel situation here in Portland. Just we’ve run a lot today. We really only had one run. Just wanted to make it count.

Yeah, that was kind of the plan.

Q. We had the announcement about Malukas. Santino, when we know what you’ve accomplished, how this program has grown together, the ability to not get demoralized, down, continue to rally when you’re facing an unknown situation for next year…

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think it’s been a very interesting two years. I think me and Larry have worked really well together. That news is honestly a huge steppingstone for the team. There’s a lot behind for that. Obviously for me it’s a bit of an unknown.

Things like today help. The Indy results that we’ve had during the 500 help. Being 10th in the championship helps. We’ve really brought it together.

Regardless of news, I never really found it demoralizing if that makes sense just because of how much we’ve been able to accomplish in the last two years. I don’t see it as a negative. I see it as a massive positive for something like that to come along.

Yeah, no, it’s exciting for the future. I can’t wait to see what unfolds.

Q. Larry, any thoughts other than that?

LARRY FOYT: Yeah, this whole season is a big tribute to a lot of what Santino brings to the table. Fighting for us to get top 10 in the championship, first time in two decades that this late in the season we’re fighting for that. That’s a big testament to a lot that he’s done.

We have a great relationship. I’m sure things will work out the way they should.

Q. Santino, in the Fast Six, you had last year’s polesitter Graham Rahal, Alex Palou, Will Power. Does that make what you accomplished today, taking pole, any more satisfying?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: To be honest, when we made it into the Fast Six, I was like, Who’s in it?

They said, Will.

I was like, Oh, damn.

It’s so hard to compete against everybody here. Everybody’s so talented. On any given day as a driver, as an athlete, if you get everything right, it’s a chance and an opportunity to excel. We had the car. Today was the day for me in qualifying to nail the lap, to get it right, especially when it counts.

Honestly the Fast 12 was more pressure than the Fast Six just because it’s so hard. I mean, you’re going against so many more people. Once you’re in the Fast Six, the math in my head was you’re in the Fast Five. Once you’re in the Fast Five, it’s only two more spots to third. If you nail your lap, it’s front row.

To take the pole, I didn’t really think about it (laughter).

Q. Were folks communicating to your ear with 30 seconds to go that you were on top or did you not know you had pole or were sitting on the fastest time until the session was over with?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: I knew I was first starting the final lap, when I came onto the frontstretch just because we have telem in the car and stuff like that. I knew I was good. With one more lap to go, it’s whoever does the last lap normally gets the pole.

I just kind of put my head down. I felt like the car was in a perfect position. I just drove as hard as I could. When I got on the back straight out of seven, that’s when I keyed up the radio ’cause they have more telemetry than anybody else. I was asking them if I’m going to make it. Knew we were quick. I knew it was a hell of a lap. I just didn’t know how good.

At the line, we kind of knew. We were just waiting for Palou. Yeah, once we came down pit road, we had it.

Q. What is it like when you look down with a lap to go and you’re sitting on top? Was it surprising? How do you keep your emotions in check?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Kind of made me hungry, I’m not going to lie. When you see it there and you know you got more lap time that you can wring out of the car and yourself as a driver, I saw that. I saw I was already negative on the dash. I just wanted to push as hard as I could to see what I could actually do without the threat of what’s the worst that’s going to happen. You’re still going to end up in the Fast Six. At that point there’s no pressure to not push. That’s kind of where I was at mentally.

Q. Larry, there’s been a lot of attention on the Penske deal. A lot of people you brought into the team over the past few years. Might you want to talk about those people and reaction to all this happening, the importance of some of the hires you made.

LARRY FOYT: Well, for sure. I mean, we’ve been fortunate to bring in some really great people that have helped all the way from Michael Cannon to a lot of the other engineers, Adam, James. The whole stand. C.J., has been here a long time. A lot of people have stuck with us through the hard times, and as well a lot of new people have come in and been a great addition.

It’s just a great group that are working hard together. Definitely the Penske alliance has been great. They’re a great company to work with. We go back so far. AJ and Roger go way back. Obviously Tim Cindric. Working with him and Ron has been great. I’ve learned a lot. Certainly has been a benefit to help us get to where we’re headed.

No, can’t say enough about everyone on the team. That alliance has been very helpful, as well.

Q. Santino, is this your first pole since British F3 in 2014?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Yeah, I think this is my first one in a minute. At least that I can remember (smiling). It will be nice to lead the field to green, to have no one in front of us.

I’ve been off pole a couple of times. But yeah, it’s definitely fun.

Q. Will was saying you two could strategize for tomorrow. Does it help to have someone who is sort of a teammate to you alongside you?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: It’s definitely going to make it interesting. At the end of the day we are kind of our own team. We’re fighting our own championship. The championship doesn’t really matter as much to me as getting a win. That’s kind of my goal.

If we can help out some of our Penske alliance friends, to help Will with the championship in any way with how we do things, then yeah, we’re obviously going to. It’s what teammates do, how things kind of work.

By no means am I going to start and pull over and let him take the lead into one.

Q. Can you assess the rise that you and the team have had over the last 12 months?

SANTINO FERRUCCI: Man, yeah, it’s been a huge help. There’s so much more that goes into it between just the alliance and working with everybody. Our engineering staff is unreal. We have some really overqualified guys here. They’ve worked together so well.

It’s one of those things to where it’s kind of created a perfect storm for us to where everybody has just gelled seamlessly. The car, we found good setups throughout the year. We found a lot of speed at a lot of different tracks, a lot of different disciplines. We were good at Laguna, Barber. We were average at Road America.

Coming into Portland with the last road course, I knew if we put everything together correctly… Everyone working with Chevrolet and some of the other things that we get as being a Chevy team really prepped us well for this event and it shows.

This is definitely a glimpse into the future for the team, I believe.

THE MODERATOR: As we wrap up qualifying, we’re joined now by Will Power. His fourth front row start of 2024.

You were the first one to congratulate Santino. You knew what this kind of moment meant for him, right?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I’m good friends with Santino. We go-kart together, go to dinner, so on. I was upset that I didn’t get pole, I really wanted it here, I wanted it badly. I was kind of a little bit upset.

Couldn’t be happier for Santino. He’s driving extremely well. And Foyt, it’s a great partnership for those guys. It’s good stuff, man. Good stuff. A fiercely competitive field. As you’ve seen, you never know who is going to get pole, you never know who will be the top six, you never know who is going to win the race.

THE MODERATOR: Obviously a Chevy sweep on the front row. Points championship still very much alive. Starting second, a nice boost heading into tomorrow’s race.

WILL POWER: Yeah, very nice to be on the front row. Of course, you have Palou right there. I can certainly be aggressive with him because he has a lot more to lose than me. Just got to keep finishing ahead of him. I’ll drive like Verstappen. Give him a little bit of pressure (smiling).

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open it up for questions for Will.

Q. Looking at the championship, do you still see it as a realistic opportunity for you?

WILL POWER: Yeah, man, still very, very possible. Very possible. It’s almost a little less than a quarter of the races to go, four races. A lot of points, a lot of stuff can happen.

I would have to say if he finishes ahead of me tomorrow, starts to look very, very tough. We have to have a good day, at least finish ahead of him, see where we come out in points there. Then doubleheader at Milwaukee, a lot on offer. Our goal is to get as close as we can to him by Nashville.

Q. After all that happened last week, have you cleared that up with the team? Is that sorted going into the rest of the season?

WILL POWER: Yeah, I mean, whatever. I’m over that stuff real quick. Just one of those things that was unfortunate. We had a very good car and a very good night.

Yeah, moved on very quickly, focusing on this event to get the best possible result. See what we can do tomorrow.

Q. How do you see Santino as a prospect, and Foyt as well? They have the potential to start taking points away from you. At the same time they’ve also got the potential to finish ahead some of your rivals as well. How do you see all that playing out?

WILL POWER: Well, yeah, they could be a great asset to us, taking points from Palou. Obviously, yes, they can take points from us, but that’s just the name of the game. They got a good driver in Santino, obviously a good car with the partnership we have.

Yeah, like I said before, I couldn’t be happier for Santino to get a pole. He works hard, deserves it.

Q. Looking at the final stretch of races with the three oval races to come, you have to feel a little bit more confident than Alex considering Alex hasn’t had an oval victory.

WILL POWER: Yeah, based on our oval form this year, we should be more confident than he is. You never know in this series, though. I think Dixon is very strong at Nashville. Milwaukee, we haven’t been there, so we don’t know.

Ultimately we have to finish ahead of him every weekend. It’s the only way. Anything can happen in this series. Look at last week. I mean, I led so many laps, had the quickest car, and I finished 18th just because of a restart. Same with Toronto the race before. I was running the top four or five, had an incident, gave myself a drive-through.

A lot can go down and change quickly. We’ll see how this plays out.

Q. Looking at the race tomorrow, a lot of the other championship contenders are caught in the awkward midfield area, which is not a place to be at Portland.

WILL POWER: Yeah, definitely a tough place to be at the start of the race, no question. We’ll see, yeah. Can even be tough where I am honestly. Really you want to be a leader. That’s why I was mad after I didn’t get pole. Man, I need that, get a jump in front of the whole field, take off.

Yeah, but they have the lead to go early which strings it out more than it used to, so that will help. Yeah, we’ll see what happens.

Q. Do you feel this weekend can erase what happened last weekend? How confident are you to catch some important championship points tomorrow?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it certainly can erase last weekend with a race win. That would help tremendously. I know Palou is a very tough customer. He doesn’t make mistakes. He’s very good in the race. We’ve got our work cut out for us to finish ahead of him because it’s almost essential that we do.

We’ll work on our car in warm-up and try to get the best possible race car that we have, yeah, see where we stand.

Q. How important is it to start in the first row for tomorrow? How do you feel about that?

WILL POWER: I think the only guy that feels completely safe is P1. Even starting on the outside of the front row can be a little tough at times because the inside row goes, if you can’t block out third place.

Yeah, we’ll see. Anything can happen. Can’t really plan on it. Just the key is to get through that first turn in a reasonable position.

Q. Do you feel you could be P1 after the second session?

WILL POWER: Yeah, like in the Fast Six, could I have been P1? Is that what you mean?

Q. Yes.

WILL POWER: Yeah, I made a mistake. The lap he did was really good. He did a really good lap. It was going to be tough to beat that.

But I actually lost like a 10th and a half on the 10 and 12 curb when I made a little mistake there. It was doable, but man, he put a bloody good lap together. It’s impressive.

Q. You said you can talk with Santino about the start, and also you can be more aggressive than Alex can be. What can you and Santino work together on ahead of the start? What kind of plan can you put in place? When you say you can be more aggressive, what does that mean?

WILL POWER: Well, we can take more risk with strategy. I mean, I race as clean and fairly as possible. Never want to win a championship in a way where you’ve taken someone out. Of course not. But I can race him a little harder because it’s not just me that he’s racing. If we both went out, it would be bad because there’s a lot of people coming as well around my points.

Yeah, yeah, my goal is I just got to stay ahead of the guy. I have to finish ahead of him, it’s as simple as that. It’s the only way I’m going to have a shot at the championship.