Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Corvette Racing–Watkins Glen Post Race

CORVETTE RACING AT WATKINS GLEN: Third Straight Victory For Garcia, Magnussen
Win equals GT Le Mans championship leads; Gavin and Milner fourth after penalty

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 29, 2014) – In its 15 years of existence, Sunday marked Corvette Racing’s first event at Watkins Glen International. The team made its debut one to remember with a dominating GT Le Mans (GTLM) victory in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen for Antonio Garcia and Jan Magnussen in the No. 3 Chevrolet Corvette C7.R.

The duo led most of the day to earn their third straight class victory in the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship. In the process, Garcia and Magnussen moved into the lead of the GTLM driver’s championship, as did Chevrolet in the manufacturer standings and the No. 3 Corvette C7.R in team points.

“The Corvette C7.R team’s first race at Watkins Glen was exciting given the challenging track and intense competition that kept the pressure on all race,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance Vehicles and Motorsports. “Antonio and Jan drove a great race and the crew executed quick pit stops. We are thankful to come out of The Glen with a GTLM class win and the class championship lead.”

Garcia and Magnussen also won the third round of the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup – a four-race championship made of the TUDOR series’ four endurance events.

The Garcia/Magnussen combination led 154 of the 185 GTLM laps. Magnussen drove the opening stint and took the lead from the pole-sitting BMW on the first lap. Despite holding as much as a 30-second lead at various points, the final minutes were tense ones. A full-course caution with 25 minutes left brought the Corvette inside its fuel window for the rest of the race. A final yellow period just after the restart meant a final-lap dash that saw Garcia hold off the second-place Viper by 0.185 seconds.

Oliver Gavin and Tommy Milner finished fourth in their No. 4 Corvette C7.R after running second to their teammates for most of the day. A stop-and-go penalty inside the last hour for what race officials judged to be avoidable contact halted their podium charge.

The day wasn’t a complete loss. Gavin and Milner moved into the lead of the Patrón Endurance Challenge with just the 1,000-mile Petit Le Mans remaining at the end of the season.

The next round of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship is the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix presented by Hawk Performance from Canadian Tire Motorsport Park. The race, which Gavin and Milner won last year as part of the American Le Mans Series, is set for 2:05 p.m. ET on Sunday, June 13.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“The car was really good. I was running perfect. Jan (Magnussen) made perfect start and pulled a gap. Then we got a caution but we made the gap back up from zero to almost 20 seconds. Whenever I was able to go full-on we went up to almost a 30-second lead. Strategy-wise we were like two or three laps short (on fuel) I believe. We decided because the Viper … maybe they gambled a little bit more at the beginning so they were out of sequence to stretch their fuel to start with; they were good to go to the end. We decided to go too, and it was hard. To go through traffic, it was really difficult to save fuel. At the end we would have been OK to the end (without the last caution). That yellow obviously helped us a little bit more just in case. We weren’t really on it, but I believe Corvette Racing again did a perfect race. I think we led everything but qualifying.”

JAN MAGNUSSEN, NO. 3 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“I have to say I am so pleased for how things have gone for the team this year, with the No. 3 car especially, but how we have developed a new car and we keep finding better things to do with it. We are finding better race speed over one lap over the whole distance and making the Michelin tires last for the whole stint. We have a fantastic race car. It’s a very competitive category and you have to be on your game with everything you do. There is no room for any mistakes otherwise you lose it.”

(First race in the Corvette C7.R at The Glen) “I have been here before in other categories, the GRAND-AM GT and also the GRAND-AM DPs earlier. Driving the Corvette C7.R around here is just a fantastic feeling. It’s such a fast race track. It’s almost like there is a part missing of the corner – normally you would have a big braking zone downshifts and everything getting the car ready to rotate and then shoot out the corner. Here that little bit is gone so basically for every corner you barely touch the brake, downshift, back to full throttle. It’s all about the momentum here to build the speed, and that is where dealing with all the traffic was very important; you didn’t get bogged down too much because it would kind of ruin your rhythm. I think both of us did that really well today.”

OLIVER GAVIN, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“Certainly we made a step forward with the car after yesterday morning. We went back to basics with stuff, we changed a lot chassis-wise with the car. So was it the perfect setup? No because it was just really a bit of a stab at it, but it was good enough to race and be in the hunt. I genuinely think we should have had a second-place. Tommy (Milner) did a great job at the start and really got us in a fantastic position. It looked like we were going to be able to race cleanly for second.

(Race impressions) “On the double stint that I did, the first on the medium tire was good and I hung with Jan (Magnussen) pretty much. And then on the harder tire it was trickier. It made it a lot more difficult. But we were still there still in second-place looking like we were going to be able to fight for that and then Tommy (Milner) just got a crazy decision with the penalty. We went back and forth for a long time and it’s a great shame that it ruined our race. We went from second to fourth and I think we should have really had a second. That would have been a great result for the team and the guys. They worked so hard over the whole weekend.”

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 4 CHEVROLET CORVETTE C7.R
“First and foremost, I’m very proud of our guys. After Oliver (Gavin) and I were not very happy with the car in practice they put a lot of work into trying to fix the car and it seems like that we have done that. The car was certainly quite a bit better in the race. We were just kind of behind the eight ball – just needed some more practice time to kind of fine tune it, but I think we are back in the ballpark again. That is obviously really encouraging for going forward.
(Race impressions) The race was pretty good. I had a really fun start there. It was just a shame that I got a penalty for something that I don’t believe should have been a penalty. Obviously the race control saw it differently. We can only just move on and kind of put that behind us and be proud of what we achieved. Obviously a great job by the No. 3 car guys; they executed very well. Our guys did as well. We had great pit stops, great strategy calls… they did everything right.  We deserved a podium today, but we had it taken away.”

DOUG FEHAN, CORVETTE RACING PROGRAM MANAGER
“Today was emblematic of one of my key racing axioms – 25 percent great car, 25 percent great team and 50 percent good fortune. We had all those in our corner today, backed up by flawless pit stops and a great strategy by our engineers. With plenty of power from GM Powertrain, you add all that up and it’s a victory in our first visit to Watkins Glen International in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen. I couldn’t be more proud of our guys for standing on that top step. Everyone worked very hard to earn this one.”

Extreme Speed Motorsports

Extreme Speed Motorsports–Watkins Glen Post Race

After a promising warmup session this morning for Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) with the fastest times posted, the Sahlen’s Six Hours of the Glen race was filled with heartbreak and disappointment.  Despite a competitive effort by the Nos. 1 and 2 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development teams, any hopes of solid finishes today at Watkins Glen International were dashed by a combination of contact from an overzealous competitor, electrical and mechanical issues.

After six hours of hard TUDOR United SportsCar Championship racing, the ESM team finished in 10th and 11th places.

ESM team co-owner Scott Sharp started the race for the No. 1 Tequila Patrón HPD team from the fifth position in the Prototype class. He dropped to seventh in the opening lap shuffle and found a solid and consistent pace for his opening stint. Bad luck hit within the first hour, when Sharp pitted for fuel on Lap 26, he was charged with a pit lane speeding penalty. He served a drive-through penalty on Lap 29 and found himself in the midst of traffic in the form of the GT Daytona (GTD) class, the slowest class among the four competing today.

Shortly after returning to the field, Sharp was hit by an overly aggressive GTD car in the left rear. Sharp was forced to pit on Lap 34 for the team to inspect the prototype and find a broken brake duct. The team removed the damaged piece, assessed the rest of the damage and repaired what they could before sending Sharp back on track. While in the pits, he went a lap down on the field and dropped to 10th place.

Sharp improved his position and reached the sixth place by Lap 60, just in time for the first caution flag of the race. On Lap 62, Sharp pitted and Ryan Dalziel took over for his first stint.

Dalziel fought traffic but was able to move into the fifth position by Lap 75. He continued on his fifth-place run, worked to catch the leaders, hoped to catch a yellow flag and ultimately regain a spot on the lead lap. Without a yellow, Dalziel then pitted for a scheduled stop and driver change.

Sharp returned to the No. 1 machine at Lap 93 for his second stint. As a result of the hit earlier, the No. 1 machine was forced to change tires on each pit stop because of the left rear and possible domino-effect damage. Normally a tire change would be beneficial, but the longer they could run on the tire, the quicker the lap times. Sharp pitted for tires and fuel on Lap 121 and maintained his sixth-place run before the final driver change to Dalziel on Lap 148.

After serving a second drive through penalty for pit lane speeding charged to the No. 1 team, Dalziel kept a sixth-place run. Dalziel pitted again on Lap 156 after experiencing some mechanical issues. The team disassembled and inspected the rear end on pit road since the race car wasn’t shifting or performing as expected. The team diagnosed the problem as a gear selection issue. The gearbox was replaced and Dalziel returned to the field on Lap 177, losing nearly 38 minutes during the repair.

Dalziel completed his stint and race in the 10th position.

Ed Brown, co-driver of the No. 2 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) started from the seventh position and dropped to 13th in the opening race shuffle. He improved him position to 10th place by Lap 25.

Brown pitted on Lap 27 for the scheduled stop and driver change to Johannes van Overbeek. While entering the pit, Brown was charged with speeding and van Overbeek would serve the drive through penalty on Lap 30.

Van Overbeek began his charge to the front and reached eighth position by Lap 35, then sixth place by Lap 62. On Lap 67, the No. 2 machine stopped in Turn 9 with no power and Van Overbeek had to patiently wait for a tow back to pit lane.  While in the pit, the car was not reacting to any command as the team diagnosed the issue and the engine control unit (ECU) was replaced. IMSA officials sent the No. 2 car and crew back to the ESM paddock to complete the repair at Lap 76.

The No. 2 machine was repaired and van Overbeek drove it from the paddock to the pits at Lap 94, nearly 30 laps behind the leaders and 11th in class. Once back in the pits, the team called for a driver change to Anthony Lazzaro.

Lazzaro ran a clean stint from the 11th position until the driver change back to Brown on Lap 152. Brown completed the race for the No. 2 team for the last 40 laps. The No. 2 Tequila Patrón HPD team finished in 11th position.

The Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen was the third round of the four-race Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup. The Tequila Patrón-sponsored championship within a championship includes the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen and the season finale Petit Le Mans.  Watch as Ed Brown and Scott Sharp talk about the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance here.

Next up for Extreme Speed Motorsports is the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Presented by Hawk Performance at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in Bowmanville, Ontario, Canada, on July 11-13.

John Force Racing

John Force Racing–Route 66 Nationals Post Race

TEAM JFR RACE REPORT
12th of 24 races in the NHRA Mello Yello Series

17th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals

Route 66 Raceway

Joliet, IL

June 29, 2014

Photos courtesy of Ron Lewis Photography for media use only

* * * *

Final round results from Sunday’s 17th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals at Route 66 Raceway, twelfth race in the 2014 NHRA Mello Yello Drag Racing Series:

TOP FUEL – Antron Brown, Brownsburg, Ind., Matco dragster, 3.814, 317.34 mph, def. Brittany Force, Yorba Linda, Calif., Castrol EDGE dragster, 3.850, 320.89 mph.

FUNNY CAR – Matt Hagan, Christiansburg, Va., Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T, 4.098, 310.48 mph def. Tommy Johnson Jr, Avon, Ind., Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T, 4.147, 308.50 mph.

PRO STOCK – Vincent Nobile, Dix Hills, NY, Mountain View Tire Chevrolet Camaro, 6.655, 208.01 mph, def. Jason Line, Mooresville, N.C., Summit Racing Equipment Chevrolet Camaro, 6.637, 209.26 mph.

PRO STOCK MOTORCYCLE – Hector Arana III, Milltown, Ind., Lucas Oil Buell, 6.925, 193.93 mph def. Hector Arana, Milltown, Ind., Lucas Oil Buell, 6.946, 192.82 mph

* * * *

BRITTANY FORCE RUNNER-UP IN CHICAGO

JOLIET, IL — Brittany Force drove her Castrol EDGE Dragster to its second final Top Fuel appearance of the season at the O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 Nationals in Joliet, Illinois. Even though this 27 year-old is in her sophomore year strapped in the seat of a 10,000 horsepower Top Fuel car, she drove like a champion today and almost scored her first Top Fuel win for Castrol EDGE and John Force Racing.

In the final round, Brittany went up against former NHRA Mello Yello World Champ Antron Brown. She had lane choice over Brown and she knew he would be tough competitor. Brittany stayed focused, went through her routine and did her job as a driver as she had a great reaction time. Unfortunately, so did Antron, as Brittany’s .063 light verses Antron’s .064 wasn’t enough to hold off his 3.814 second run to her 3.850.

“Honestly, I don’t even know what happened on that last run, everything went by so fast, we didn’t have time to warm up, I got ready in the pits, and we pulled up there and I thought; okay, I’ll have a moment to get in and take a deep breath, and there were funny cars going down the track, and we were the next pair, so I jumped in, suited up and didn¹t have time to think about anything, so before I knew it, the tree was coming down and we were heading down there. I knew I had to cut a good light, because Antron (Brown) always has good lights, so that was my number one thing I wanted to do ­ make sure the crew guys know that I’m working hard and working on my tree, and I left on him, by a little bit, and I’m happy about that. I’m proud of every single one of these guys, because they’ve worked so hard this weekend, and even though we went out in the final, it’s still a great weekend. We had a consistent car ­ it went down the track every single round and I’m so proud of these guys. I’m excited ­ I’m pumped now for Norwalk,” said Brittany Force.

Brittany’s Castrol EDGE team, under the guidance of crew chief Todd Smith has produced a consistent, fast race car that is now a major threat. Combine the car’s performance to Brittany’s awesome driving skills and the Castrol EDGE Dragster is now a force to be reckoned with among the other Top Fuel teams but it takes an overall team effort, especially when you’re going rounds on race day and you’re crunched for time.

“We couldn’t have made it to the finals without a great effort by John Force Racing, and every member of the other three teams here helping our guys out and contributing to this thing. The turnaround is very quick ­ and we’re not as quick as we need to be but we’re improving and getting better, and so the other teams helping us was monumental,” said Todd Smith. “There are some great teams out there. Both nitro classes are really tough.  On race day, you just can’t slip up at all. We had a great day today, and the car has been good.  We’ve needed an ounce of luck, and didn’t get it in the final, but the guys performed well today, and did good, and I couldn¹t be happier.”

Along the way to her second final round Top Fuel appearance, Brittany faced Terry McMillen in the opening round. At the first hint of green from the Christmas tree, Brittany and McMillen’s dragsters leapt off the starting simultaneously, as both drivers had nearly identical reaction times. The Castrol EDGE Dragster went right down the track and posted a winning 3.828 second pass to McMillen’s tire smoking 9.608 second time.

Going into the quarter-finals, Brittany Force ran reigning To Fuel champion Shawn Langdon. Brittany was 0-2 against Langdon in prior events. Once again, the reaction times between Brittany and her opponent were nearly identical, as Brittany had .074 to Langdon’s .075. Again, both dragsters left the starting together but then Langdon’s slicks went up in smoke. For Brittany, her Castrol EDGE Dragster went right down the groove and got the win with her 3.940 second run.

In the semi-finals, Brittany raced J.R. Todd. Brittany was 1 – 0 against Todd in prior events. Todd took a starting line advantage and led almost to the finish line, the Castrol EDGE Dragster drove around Todd at the finish line stripe and got the win by a mere 0.0018 seconds which is approximately 10 inches.

“Looking at the ladder and the guys I’m going to be going up against; Shawn Langdon, Antron Brown, (Terry) McMillen, these guys have been out here forever, and they know what they’re doing. I use that to make sure that I do my job in the car. I jumped on the tree and got the car down there. There wasn’t a single round that felt smooth to me. It felt all over the place and was crazy but I hung on to it and got it down there and I’m excited. We went rounds this weekend and I couldn’t ask for anything more,” said Brittany Force.

The 2013 NHRA Rookie of the Year has moved up to the seventh place and has 638 points. With the Countdown to the Championship looming in the not so distant future, Brittany has some breathing room.

Traxxas, The Fastest Name in Radio Control, not only had a fast, but consistent race car to start and finish the weekend at Route 66 Raceway here in Chicago. Courtney Force was the only John Force Racing driver to make four consistent passes throughout qualifying. She qualified No. 5 overall with an average qualifying ET of 4.086 after four runs down the race track. She also posted top speed of the race weekend at 322.50 mph.

“We’re leaving Chicago on a positive note. Our Traxxas team did a great job. This car represents not only The Fastest Name in Radio Control, but it was the fastest out here this weekend. We had top speed of the meet at 322 mph so we’re looking forward to Norwalk,” said Force.

The 26-year-old driver went up against Bob Tasca II in round one on race day. She threw down a 4.138 ET at 312.93 to his 4.21 for the win, but gave up lane choice to the one and only 16-time NHRA World Champion and her father John Force in the second round.

“It was an interesting day all around, having to race Tasca in the first round. I think we both got screwed up on the lights. He put the top bulb out on me and messed with me a little bit and it happened to work. Luckily we were able to take the win even after the starting line mishap.

“We went on to the second round and had to face my dad, who has had a pretty good race car. We were able to take him down, only to be taken out by TJ in the semi-finals,” said Force.

Courtney had a small advantage off the line, but took the win when John Force’s Castrol GTX Ford lost traction. She posted a 4.151 to his 5.543 ET. She was interviewed at the top end about racing her dad and adding another round win to her name.

“You know what it feels great to have this Traxxas Ford Mustang team get down there. Traxxas is The Fastest Name in Radio Control and we were able to outrun the 16-time Champ. So it definitely feels good. They out- qualified us by one spot, but we got the car down there and got the win light. That’s’ all that matters,” said Force

In the semi-finals, Courtney faced Tommy Johnson Jr. She has only faced him once before, when she got the win over him at Topeka this year. This time was different story. Courtney’s Traxxas Ford Mustang hazed the tires and sent the team home.

“We had a consistent race car all weekend right up until the semi-final round. We smoked the tires, but obviously we were going after a good run and trying to get around Tommy Johnson Jr. It wasn’t enough. I pedaled it trying to get it down there, but he was already swinging through the finish line and had turned on the win light.

“Our day was cut short, but we kept our spot in the points. We didn’t slide back, which is always a positive thing when you’re leaving a race. We’re looking forward. No one went around us in points and we’re creating more of a gap between our team and the No. 11 spot in the points which is what we’re really focused on doing. Next weekend we’ll get back out there and hopefully have another consistent race car and I’ll try to do my job.

“I’m just very proud of this team. They worked hard. They did a great job all weekend and gave me a great race car. I really couldn’t ask for anything more as a driver so I can’t wait for next weekend at Norwalk,” said Force.

John Force broke a streak of defeats when he outran Alexis DeJoria in the opening round of this weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals.  Ironically, his first round competitor today was the same opponent that put John on the trailer last week. These two fiercely competitive drivers have faced each other fourteen times in the past. This time, it was the reigning NHRA Funny Car world champion to exact a little revenge as both he and DeJoria were fighting for second place in the NHRA Mello Yello point’s chase at the time.

As the Christmas tree barely blinked green, both drivers left the starting line, with John Force getting a slight advantage with a better reaction time. Side-by-side, the two Funny Cars thundered down the track and at the top end, it was John Force getting the win light with a 4.079 second run to DeJoria’s 4.089. It was one of the closest races in round one and it moved John into the quarter-finals.

“Me and Alexis had a good old drag race. She’s a tough competitor and that kid gave me a run for the money. We’re finding consistency in our hot rod, so we just want to keep going rounds,” said John Force.

Heading into the second round, John would face his daughter and fellow teammate Courtney Force in her Traxxas Mustang. John wasn’t going to cut her any slack, as both these driver are in the hunt for points and to make the Countdown to the Championship.

Both cars left the starting line very close to one another, but soon things would go wrong for the reigning NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car Champion. At the sixty foot mark, both Mustangs were dead even and it could have been anyone’s race. Then, at 300 feet down the track, the Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang started smoking its slicks and got out of shape. John did his best in trying to control his 8000 horsepower race car by pedaling it but it was to no good as Courtney sped away with a 4.151 second run to John’s losing 5.543 pass.

“The only thing Courtney and I talked about, instead of trying to go deep, and trying to kill her, was go shallow and go with lane choice. It makes her light terrible, but if you’re going to go deep, Courtney, just be honest, because I’ll go deep with you. But if we want to go with lane choice, and try to get the rounds, well, then let’s go shallow, and that way, it ain’t somebody, you know what I mean,” said John Force.

Even though John Force lost in the second round, he’s still optimistic and is already looking forward to getting strapped back in his Castrol GTX Mustang and doing battle again. He knows the starting line strategy is key in going rounds and winning races.

“I’m good and we’ve gone some rounds, you know, Robert, he always goes shallow. He don’t care. I always look good racing Robert, but it’s kind of bogus, it ain’t real. I gotta go deep, to even be in the game. Or I get laughed at, I even said to (Matt) Hagen: ‘You and (Jack) Beckman got after each other out there the last round, light goes, I said now you’re talking ­ you guys want to play that game, I’m ready’”, said John Force.

Mello Yello points leader Robert Hight started race day as the No. 3 qualifier and was facing Jeff Arend in the first round. When his Auto Club Funny Car left the starting line it was pulling hard and it pulled the tires loose on the veteran driver. Fortunately Hight expertly pedaled his Mustang Funny Car and was able to chase down Arend to get another first round win, 4.531 to 4.734 seconds.

“That first round was a handful. The hardest thing about pedaling one of these Funny Cars is being patient. You have to wait for the car to settle down and then ease back into it. I caught it pretty quick and then was able to get around Arend. It was so close at the finish line I wasn’t sure I got the win light,” said Hight a two time finalist at Route 66 Raceway.

In the second round Hight was giving up lane choice to veteran Ron Capps. Once again the Auto Club Ford Mustang was in the first pair of Funny Cars to take to the track. Running early is a strategic decision by crew chief Mike Neff who wants to give his crew the maximum amount of time between rounds and also not let too much heat get into the track. His confidence in his tune-up and his crew is evident in the team’s 27 round wins this season.

Unfortunately for Hight his Auto Club Mustang once again left strong but hazed the slicks just past half-track as Capps pulled away with a 4.179 second run.

“We have the points lead but we are not taking anyone lightly and losing in the second round hurts. We went to six finals in a row earlier this year and we want to get back to that kind of dominance. I am proud of my guys because we got some good info during the night sessions and we are figuring some things out for hot tracks. No one is hanging their heads around here,” said Hight.

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–IndyCar–Grand Prix of Houston Post Race

CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
SHELL PENNZOIL GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON
MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 29, 2014

CHARLIE KIMBALL LEADS CHEVROLET INDYCAR V6 CONTINGENT IN RACE NO. 2 AT GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON

HOUSTON, Texas – June 29, 2014 – Under blistering hot conditions at the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston, Charlie Kimball carried the Chevrolet IndyCar V6 banner by fighting his way to his third top-five finish of the Verizon IndyCar season in his No. Levemir Flex Touch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet.

His fourth-place finish in enabled him to move up one position in the overall standings to 15th.

Sebastien Bourdais, No. 11 Team Mistic KVSH Racing Chevrolet, also notched his third 2014 top-five finish in Sunday’s race coming home fifth. His performance elevated Bourdais up two spots in the standings from 10th to eighth.

Team Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya was looking to put his No. 2 Verizon Chevrolet into victory lane after coming close in Saturday’s race #1.   Montoya battled from 14th to the top-five but was shuffled out in heavy traffic late in the race. He finished 7th in the event, and remains fifth in points.

His Team Penske teammate and series point leader Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, suffered a suspension failure with just a few laps remaining and came away with a disappointing 11th place finish after making a valiant run to third place.  Power still holds the overall point standings by 39 markers over Helio Castroneves.

Castroneves, who placed No. 3 Pennzoil Ultra Premium Team Penske Chevrolet on the pole, led twice for race-high 47 laps. His dominating run ended on lap 48 when on-track contract damaged his car beyond repair.

The next race on the Verizon IndyCar Series will be on Sunday, July 6th at Pocono Raceway.  Live television coverage will start at Noon on NBC Sports and can be heard live on IMS Radio Network XM 209/Sirius 213 as well as IndyCar.com

DRIVER QUOTES:

CHARLIE KIMBALL, NO. 83 LEVEMIR FLEX TOUCH CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH: “The No. 83 Levemir® FlexTouch® Chevrolet was quick – I kind of like it in the Levemir® FlexTouch® green.  The Novo Nordisk guys did an awesome job in pit lane and the Chevy guys have been working really hard all weekend to give us an engine that’s drivable and gets good mileage.  Overall I’m really happy with a top-five finish and we just drove the wheels off of it when we could.”

SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS, NO. 11 TEAM MISTIC KVSH CHEVROLETE, FINISHED 5TH: HOW HOT WAS IT OUT THERE; YOU LOOK PRETTY SPENT? “That is the way I react to heat; I dehydrate pretty easily. I hung in there, but I just take my time on the way down.”

HOW WAS THE RACE CAR? “The car was pretty good. We had a different strategy. We started on primes (tires), and we lost a position or two but, at the end of the day, it was working out pretty nicely for us because we went all the way to the end of the window, and we ended up P4, so I was very happy. Then on reds (tires) we were slowly catching the leaders a little bit, and there was that first safety car that bunched everybody up, and I knew the first lap on the restart I was going to have an advantage on options. And I did, and I passed a couple of cars. Then when I got to Helio (Castroneves) Simon (Pagenaud) both went to the inside, I got to them, I moved to the right, and when I got a wheel a little bit over, then he decided to take that line as well. That is a real shame because that destroyed a chance for us to win, and destroyed a chance for him to put up strong points. It is what it is, but we’ll keep at it, and see when we can score a win with that Mistic machine.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 7TH: “That was a fun day. The No. 2 Verizon Chevy was really good. It was good on both the ‘red’ tires and ‘black’ tires. We were in position there at the end. The racing was really hard right there. That was a good learning experience for me and I’ll know how hard I can race the next time I’m in that situation. Very good points day for us. Now we go to Pocono where I have a lot of experience.”

RYAN BRISCOE, NO. 8 NTT DATA CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 8TH: “It feels good to come out of this doubleheader in Houston with a top 10 finish.  This series is just so competitive and it’s a fight to the finish at every race.  This one wasn’t any different and we were able to come from 15th and get an eighth-place finish.  It’s still not exactly where NTT DATA Racing wants to be but we’re getting closer.”

TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 10TH: “Not a bad day I guess, but we need to be more competitive and run toward the front with the Target cars. It was hot again today and you really had to be in shape for two straight days of racing in these conditions. There was some really exciting racing out there and hope the fans here in Houston enjoyed it today.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 11TH: “I had a great car today; passed a lot of cars. We had a great first pit sequence with the Verizon Chevy. We were in position for a good day, considering where we qualified. We were going to maximize our points and we had a parts malfunction with two laps to go. It’s the same part that malfunctioned on two other cars at the Grand Prix of Indianapolis. I feel bad for all the sponsors. We fought really hard all day with nothing to show for it. We have a nice lead in the points but we need to get back on track a little bit at Pocono.”

MIKE CONWAY, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA CHEVROLET, FINISHED 13TH:
“Going into the chicane on the first lap, Marco (Andretti) made a move in front of me and I couldn’t stop quick enough.  It clipped the front wing and I think it cut the tire too. So I had to pit immediately and that really killed the race for us.  I thought I could get away with it but it cut the tire.  My (left) thumb was okay during the race after spraining it Saturday.  It felt a little numb at times because I think the tape might have be a little too tight.  But it was okay.  I just tried to fight back and stay on the lead lap as long as I could.  It was hot in the car but I felt pretty good.  I was able to get some air coming into my visor during the yellows.  I had a close call with a piece of carbon that flew up from (Luca) Filippi’s car.  It hit the right mirror and almost me.  It was close to hitting me in the head.  That would have hurt.”

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA, NO. 17 KV AFS RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17TH: “To be honest it’s been a pretty rough weekend. It hurts more when you have an amazing car and just not able to use it. Yesterday was Ryan Briscoe and today was a mechanical issue on my out lap. We had to pit a few times to try and fix it and once we were back out there the Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc. – KV AFS Racing car was one of the quickest. Unfortunately we were six laps down and could only advance through the field by other driver’s mistakes, which is not where you want to be. I’m very proud of all my boys, they keep doing an awesome job. Days like this happen and we just have to regroup and look forward to Pocono next week.”

SCOTT DIXON, NO. 9 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 18TH:  “Well that was obviously not the day we wanted to have with the Target car. Race 1 in Houston for us was unkind and today Race 2 was the same way with spec master cylinder issues. It just wasn’t our weekend and we hope we’ll have the same turn around to our season in Pocono next weekend like we did last season.”

HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 PENNZOIL ULTRA PLATINUM INSURANCE TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – SIDELINED IN ACCIDENT ON LAP 49 – FINISHED 21ST:
YOU HAD JUST LOST THE LEAD TO SIMON PAGENAUD ON LAP 49. YOU HAD CONTACT WITH SEBASTIAN BOURDAIS. WHAT HAPPENED?
“I don’t know. When I lost the lead with Pagenaud, I was actually trying to attack him. And actually, I was attacking him and trying to pass him. So, right now I’m just trying to pass and see if I’m going to run out of room so I come back to try to do the apex and I had no idea he was there. Obviously when I’m attacking, I can’t have my eyes in the back. So, it’s absolutely ridiculous when the guy has to put the car over there. But anyway; it’s the rules of traffic. The guy that hits the guy in the back it’s always wrong. You’ve got to take care of it.

“Anyway, the car was awesome. Sorry but I’m frustrated a little bit. I am upset, yes, because we had a great car. It’s still like 30 laps to go. I wasn’t even panicking or anything like that. But it is what it is and I’ll move on and see what happens. But the Shell Pennzoil car was awesome. Chevy has great power and it’s just a shame that unfortunately we have drivers like that that does not use common sense. And that’s what we need to have. It is what it is. It’s always going to have ups and downs.”

YOU HAVE HAD A SORE FINGER SINCE LONG BEACH. IS IT BOTHERING YOU? HOW SIGNIFICANT IS THAT?
“Well, it is. I can see that it’s going to be swollen tomorrow; it’s going to be swollen in the next week, but there is nothing we can do in terms of that because it was so sudden what happened. I don’t even have enough time to take my hand off the steering wheel. But anyway, he finished my race and look what happened.”

Richard Childress Racing

Richard Childress Racing–Quaker State 400

NASCAR Sprint Cup Series
Quaker State 400 Post Race Report
Kentucky Speedway
June 28, 2014

Race Highlights:
Richard Childress Racing teammates Ryan Newman, Paul Menard and Austin Dillon finished third, 15th and 16th, respectively.
Newman ranks eighth in the Sprint Cup Series championship point standings, trailing current leader Jeff Gordon by 104 points, while Menard ranks 11th and Dillon is 18th.
Brad Keselowski earned his second victory of the 2014 season and was followed to the finish line by Kyle Busch, Newman, Matt Kenseth and Dale Earnhardt, Jr.
The next Sprint Cup Series race is the Coke Zero 400 powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway on Saturday, July 5, which is scheduled to be televised live on TNT beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time and is scheduled to be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Satellite Radio, channel 90.

Austin Dillon Finishes 16th in Cheerios Protein Chevrolet at Kentucky Speedway

Austin Dillon drove Richard Childress Racing’s No. 3 Cheerios Protein Chevrolet to a 16th-place finish in the Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday evening after starting from the 16th spot. Dillon noted a loose-handling condition from the start of the 267-lap event. The RCR team pitted for the first time when the caution flag was displayed on lap 28. Crew chief Gil Martin directed the team to service the yellow and white Chevrolet with four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment designed to help alleviate the handling conditions Dillon was facing. When green-flag racing resumed on lap 34, Dillon was scored in the 14th spot. During the ensuing run, he worked his way into the top-10 and eventually raced his way as high as seventh in the running order. He pitted for the final time on lap 216, taking four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment; placing him 14th for the lap-219 restart. The handling on Dillon’s No. 3 Chevrolet was extremely loose during the closing laps of the event, relegating him to a 16th-place finish in the Cheerios Protein Chevrolet.

Start – 16th       Finish – 16th    Laps Led – 0    Points – 18th

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:
“We were just too loose during the last run, which caused us to lose too much track position at the end. We were a solid top-10 car all day and I’m proud of our team’s efforts. The pit crew was solid all day.”

2011 CC Team Icon 27 NSCS Menards

Paul Menard Finishes 15th at Kentucky Speedway in No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet

Paul Menard drove Richard Childress Racing’s No. 27 Quaker State/Menards Chevrolet SS to a 15-place finish in Saturday’s 400-mile event at Kentucky Speedway. The Eau Claire, Wis., driver started 12th and raced in the top 10 for 89 laps of competition. Menard radioed that the car was quite a bit looser and needed more grip on the restarts. After a stop for four tires, fuel, track bar and air pressure adjustments, Menard felt more comfortable in the Chevrolet. From there, he raced inside the top 20 for the remainder of the 267-lap event with only three additional pit stops. The Slugger Labbe-led team made a split-second decision to come down pit road for two tires and fuel during the lap 216 caution. This pit stop put Menard in a position to race inside the top 15 with 47 laps remaining, and Menard was able to race his way to a 15th-place finish. Up next for the No. 27 team is Saturday’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Daytona International Speedway.

Start – 12th             Finish – 15th             Laps Led – 0                Points – 11th

PAUL MENARD QUOTE:
“Today was tough. We just couldn’t get the front end to turn all weekend like we needed. The Quaker State/Menards Chevy started out loose and was tight on the restarts. By the end of the race we were just way too tight. Slugger had a great call there at the end to come in for two tires and my pit crew had great stops for me all day. I’m looking forward to Daytona next week.”

2011 CC Team Logo NSCS 31 CAT

Ryan Newman Earns Best Finish of Season with Third Place at Kentucky Speedway

Ryan Newman and Richard Childress Racing’s No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS team had a stellar night in the Quaker State 400 presented by Advance Auto Parts at Kentucky Speedway on Saturday. After starting seventh, Newman and the Luke Lambert-led team raced in the top-10 for the entire 267-lap event. Utilizing several two-tire and four-tire pit stops to gain track position in the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race, the pit crew earned a total of five positions during stops. Such was the case on lap 78 when Newman was running sixth and pitted under caution taking fuel and four tires. He returned to action in fourth place, earning two spots on the stop. From that point on, he remained in the top-five pitting for the last time on lap 213. From there, Newman stayed in the top-three and crossed the start/finish line in third place at the 1.5-mile oval. This was his best-career finish at the track, and the best of the 2014 season. He remains eighth in the driver’s point standings as the series heads to Daytona International Speedway for another Saturday night race.

Start – 7th                   Finish – 3rd           Laps Led – 0              Points Position – 8th

RYAN NEWMAN QUOTE:
“We had a great weekend and race here at Kentucky Speedway. We qualified seventh and the car was good all night. Everyone wants to talk about the bumps when we race here, I like to talk about how to race over and through the bumps. We had great pit stops tonight, the crew was awesome and I am happy we finally got the top-five finish we’ve been chasing this year. It was great to have this happen after announcing the Caterpillar extension with RCR earlier this week, too. Let’s see if we can keep it going as we head to Daytona International Speedway this weekend.”

World of Outlaws

World of Outlaws–Brad Sweet Rebounds from Scary Wreck to Win at Beaver Dam Raceway

Brad Sweet Rebounds from Scary Wreck to Win at Beaver Dam Raceway
Sweet notches his fifth World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series win of the year as Kasey Kahne Racing cars finish one-two

BEAVER DAM, Wis. — June 28, 2014 — One night after a bad wreck that left his car in two pieces, Brad Sweet scored his fifth World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series win of the season at Beaver Dam Raceway.

“It feels pretty unbelievable,” Sweet said. “These guys never give up. They worked all night long – they still haven’t slept from last night. I was in the hospital at 6 a.m. getting X-rays and I didn’t even know if I was going to be able to race tonight. So to come out here and get the win is just unbelievable.”

Just 24 hours earlier at Burlington, Iowa’s 34 Raceway, Sweet was racing alongside Terry McCarl, when contact between the two sent Sweet into and then on top of the turn three wall. After hitting an object, the car sheared in two.

“We got a run on the outside and I think [McCarl] just decided, he had been running the bottom, that he was moving to the top and it’s just one of those racing deals,” Sweet said in an interview Saturday afternoon. “Normally, it probably wouldn’t have been too bad of a crash – it would have knocked the front end out or whatever, but just kind of a freak accident. Just lucky everything held up and we are able to race again tonight.”

With the exception of an injured ankle, Sweet was able to walk away from the accident. He said he was unsure how that ankle would affect him in the race car.

“I kind of thought we would come here and just coast around and try to collect some points and try to heal,” Sweet said later in victory lane. “But [my team] gave me such a good car, I got battling for the lead – I think adrenaline took over. My ankle is pretty sore but this is always good medicine, winning.”

After starting in the third position on Saturday night, Sweet, in his SurePoint Medical/SureTest Supplies car, battled polesitter Bill Balog, his Kasey Kahne Racing teammate Cody Darrah and Joey Saldana. Sweet fell back to fourth when the green flag flew. After getting around Saldana for third, Sweet took the second place position on lap 20. On lap 24 he got his opportunity to get around the leader, Balog, on the backstretch heading into turn three. After taking over the top spot, Sweet held on to it through cautions and lapped traffic. He ultimately led 17 of 40 laps.

“We can tear up a race car and come back the next night with a car that’s even better – that says a lot about our team,” Sweet said.

This was Sweet’s fifth win of the season and the seventh of his World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series career. He is currently sixth in the championship standings, 300 points out of the lead.

In front of a packed Beaver Dam Raceway, Balog and Darrah led the field to the green flag. Balog jumped out to an early lead with Darrah in second and Joey Saldana in third. As Saldana and Sweet battled for the third position, Darrah set his sights on Balog. On lap 14, Darrah made a pass in turn two and took over the lead as the cars hit the backstretch.

Saldana brought out a caution on lap 15 after spinning in between turns three and four. This moved Sweet into the third position as Donny Schatz closed in.

Balog found his way back around Darrah on lap 18 – a position he would keep until Sweet caught him on lap 24. After a bad restart on lap 28, Balog fell back, giving way to Schatz and Daryn Pittman who looked to reel in Darrah and Sweet. Darrah had one last chance to get around Sweet as the two encountered lapped traffic with four to go. Sweet however was able to successfully maneuver through the traffic and ultimately take the win. Darrah finished in second, Schatz in third and Pittman in fourth.

“I felt confident that we had a car that was good enough to win here tonight,” said Darrah, who led four laps in his Ollie’s Bargain Outlet car. “And then the restarts, I kept getting a stumble off of four and the first time I got enough position on the 17 to get by him. The second time I knew I was slow I cheated the corner figuring he was to the top but he was lower than I was and he got back in front of us. I jumped the curb and let Brad by us. Awesome job for Brad Sweet to come back from a night like last night.”

Darrah said second place was not the finish he wanted for his team, but that they would take it.

Schatz, who started in the fifth position in his STP/Armor All car, said the racetrack provided a challenge as the lines changed throughout the night.

“We had a good balanced car throughout the whole race,” Schatz said. “We probably needed a bit more lapped traffic but we just didn’t quite get it there. Brad got through there really good, Cody did. We did the best we could, third was it tonight.”

Schatz maintains a 64 point lead over Pittman in the race for the championship. Paul McMahan remains in third, 78 points out of the lead, while fourth place Joey Saldana is 102 points out of the lead.

Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wis. hosts the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series on Sunday evening. After a stop at Huset’s Speedway on Wednesday, July 2, the Outlaws travel south to Dodge City Raceway Park for the Boothill Showdown presented by Roto-Mix on July 4 and 5.

Summit Racing

Summit Racing–Anderson set for a little revenge on Sunday at Route 66 Raceway

Anderson set for a little revenge on Sunday at Route 66 Raceway

CHICAGO, ILL. (June 28, 2014) – Chicago’s Route 66 Raceway has been the setting for success for Summit Racing Pro Stock drivers Greg Anderson and Jason Line, and the 17th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals will be yet another opportunity for the powerful duo to shine. Anderson, who won the event in 2011, will be looking for his first title of the season and the 75th national event win of his career, and his quest will begin with a first-round match with a driver who had his number just one week ago.

Thankfully, Anderson is coming into raceday with a team behind him – including crew chief Rob Downing – that has been able to decipher what the challenging conditions in Chicago require to get down the racetrack.

“We ran well yesterday, and we had another great pass today in our Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro,” said Anderson. “We struggled a little bit with my car in the later sessions, but we have a good afternoon tune-up, and that’s what we’re going to need on Sunday.”

Anderson made a 6.612-second pass in his first qualifying run on Friday, tripping the speed timers at 208.91 mph. The pass was immediately good for the No. 4 position – a lofty spot for Anderson, who has struggled some in qualifying but is on a recent upswing as his team warms up to the hot summer months.

In the later session he slowed to a 6.626, but on Saturday morning it was back to business as he made the sixth-quickest pass of the session. A 6.625, 208.17 appeared on the scoreboards. The final round was good for a 6.648. Ultimately, Anderson landed eighth in the qualifying line-up and will race Dave Connolly in the first round of eliminations on Sunday in Chicago.

“I have a really interesting first-round match-up,” said Anderson. “Racing Dave will give me a chance to even the score from last weekend when he beat me in the semifinals. He won last weekend, but we have a different ending in mind this week. We’ll be first pair out, and I’m looking forward to it. That’s going to be a heck of a race.”

Mopar Racing

Mopar Racing–Mopar Scores No.1 Qualifiers Honors in Both Pro Stock and Funny Car at NHRA Route 66 Nationals

Mopar Scores No.1 Qualifiers Honors in Both Pro Stock and Funny Car at NHRA Route 66 Nationals

·         Allen Johnson earns third Pro Stock No.1 qualifier position of the season at 17th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals
·         Tommy Johnson Jr. drive to his first career three-second pass on route to his first No.1 Funny Car qualifier position of the year
·         Defending Pro Stock title holder, Jeg Coughlin Jr. qualifies Dodge Dart third and goes for a record sixth win at Route 66 Raceway

Joliet, Illinois (Saturday, June 28) – It was a strong qualifying effort for Mopar at the 17th annual Route 66 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Nationals near Chicago, that saw Allen Johnson earn his third Pro Stock No.1 qualifier honor of the season, and had Tommy Johnson Jr. drive his Funny Car to his first 3-second run for the pole position.

Allen Johnson followed up the Friday qualifying performance that put him atop the time sheets with an elapsed time run of 6.574-seconds (209.43 miles per hour), with two more strong passes in his “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Dart to give him a total of 11 all-important bonus points for his efforts and provide him his 34th career pole position.

“Conditions today weren’t as favorable as they were last night; it was a bit warmer and more humid but the track stayed awesome,” said Johnson, who second quick on his third run and then fastest on his final run. “Our Magneti Marelli Mopar team did a heck of a job with consistency and we were No. 1 in three out of the four runs, so that speaks volume of their talents.”

“We’re feeling more comfortable with the new car after having run in great conditions and bad conditions,” said Johnson who has three wins to date this season and two aboard the new Dodge Dart. “We’ve gotten good notes on it and we’re feeling very comfortable.”

Mark Hogan will be Johnson’s opponent in the opening round of eliminations on Sunday.

Defending winner of this national event, Jeg Coughlin Jr., remained third on the score sheets behind his Mopar teammate with his e.t. of 6.604 seconds (209.04 mph) in the JEGS.com Dodge Dart, and will be looking for his sixth win at Route 66 Raceway, where he already has more wins than any other NHRA driver. He’ll face Larry Morgan as his first opponent on the eliminations ladder.

“We’ve put one of our team cars (Allen Johnson’s Magneti Marelli Dodge Dart) on the pole and we’re No. 3, so I’d have to say we’re pretty pleased,” said Coughlin who has two wins and is second in Pro Stock standing, just one point ahead of his teammate. “Hopefully, Allen and I can race through the ladder tomorrow and meet each other in the final round. That’s always the plan and so far it’s set up that way with us being on opposite sides of the ladder. We’ll see how it goes; one round at a time.”

Fellow HEMI-powered driver, V. Gaines, who had two runner-up finishes early in the year, qualified his Dodge Dart 12th with his best e.t. run of 6.643 seconds (209.01 mph) and will see Shane Gray in the first round.

Tommy Johnson Jr. drove his Don Schumacher Racing Mopar machine to his first career 3-second pass, becoming the tenth Funny Car driver to do so. His 3.999-second run at 317.19 mph put the Make-A-Wish Dodge Charger R/T atop the qualifying sheets to earn his first No.1 qualifier honor of the season and the tenth of his career.

“The conditions out here are difficult,” said Johnson in reference to the heat and humidity that were still prevalent for the final Saturday night qualifying session. “To be honest, I didn’t think we could do it – but the guys were swinging for the fence. I’m extremely happy for all the guys on the team. Our crew chief John Collins and all the guys have been working for this for a long time.”

“Our car has been really consistent no matter what conditions we are running in,” added Johnson who took home his first Wally of the season two events ago at Bristol Dragway. “In the heat in Bristol, we were able to run really well and now to get out here where the conditions get good, we improved. Right now, my confidence in the team is really high. No matter what the conditions are tomorrow, I’m positive they have a tune up for it. The car is running well.”

The six bonus points he earned in qualifying helped put him third in the Funny Car standings just ahead of his DSR teammate Ron Capps heading into tomorrow’s first round where Johnson will meet Tony Pedregon.

Last weekend’s title winner, Capps will be seeded sixth for Sunday’s eliminations on the merit of his Friday evening 4.040 seconds (312.50 mph) run that had initially put him in the provisional third spot. He will put his Dodge Charger R/T to the test against Tim Wilkerson in the opening round.

Qualifying in the seventh spot was Jack Beckman with his 4.048 seconds pass at 315.64 mph which set him up for a first round match-up against his teammate Matt Hagan. It is the second time this season that the two HEMI-powered teammates are battling each other in the first round.

Hagan’s Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T was the quickest Funny Car in the third qualifying session, giving him three of the five bonus points earned in qualifying, but unfortunately that didn’t help improve his tenth place seeding. Hagan is still chasing his first title win of the year after finishing runner-up in the 2013 NHRA championship.

Summit Racing

Summit Racing–Line keeps the goal in mind heading into raceday in Chicago

Line keeps the goal in mind heading into raceday in Chicago

CHICAGO, ILL. (June 28, 2014) – Jason Line and the Summit Racing Pro Stock team banded together in difficult conditions and put both of their Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaros in the top half of the field at the 17th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals. Line, starting from the No. 4 position, will race Mark Martino in the first round of eliminations on Sunday at Route 66 Raceway, a facility where the two-time NHRA Pro Stock champion has three wins in five final rounds.

Line powered the blue Summit Racing Chevrolet Camaro to a 6.605-second blast at 209.14 mph in the first round of qualifying and jumped right into the No. 2 position. In the second session under the lights in Chicago, Line improved to a 6.604, 208.78.

Acknowledging that the humid conditions and hot racetrack were outside of their comfort zone, Line was enthused by the strong start and entered the second day of the event with optimism about the potential of the Summit Racing Camaros.

Line’s 6.625 in the first session on Saturday was fifth best, and in the final round of qualifying, he clocked a 6.626, 208.91 that was again fifth quickest of the lot. Meanwhile, KB Racing teammate Greg Anderson was right on his heels. Ultimately, Anderson qualified in the No. 8 position to earn his second top-half qualifying start of the year.

“These conditions are definitely not our forte,” admitted Line. “Taking that into consideration, I’d say we did really well as a team. The Summit Racing guys came here knowing that it would be tough – mostly because you never know what the weather is going to be – but thankfully we got four sessions in and made some really good runs. Greg certainly showed signs of improvement, and that makes us all happy.”

Line’s first-round meeting with Martino will be his first of the year. The last time the two have met during eliminations was one year ago when Line beat Martino in the first round here at Route 66 Raceway.

“The last run we made tonight was a good run, and that means I have a decent car,” said Line. “That makes you feel pretty good going into raceday. I’m looking forward to tomorrow and racing Martino. If we get past that round and then win another, we could meet up with my Summit Racing teammate Greg Anderson in the semifinals – we’d be happy to take that. It would definitely put a Summit Camaro in the final round, and that’s the goal. That’s always the goal.”

John Force Racing

John Force Racing–HIGHT, B. FORCE STILL NEAR TOP AND EAGER FOR RACEDAY

HIGHT, B. FORCE STILL NEAR TOP AND EAGER FOR RACEDAY

JOLIET, IL– Both Robert Hight and Brittany Force held onto their positions as category leaders but they will not go into race day as the top qualifiers at the 17th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals. Despite her best efforts to hang on to the number one qualifying position, Brittany Force will start race day from the fourth spot. Her Castrol EDGE Dragster did make four great runs this weekend which is important for Brittany and her crew as it is consistent performance that wins races on Sunday and not always the lowest time.

“I have been feeling bad the last couple of days but you have to suck it up out here. We ran consistent but we slipped back a little in qualifying. We are still No. 4 which is awesome and I am excited for tomorrow,” said Brittany Force.

This is Force’s ninth straight Top Eight start, pretty impressive for this sophomore Top Fuel driver. When compared to her freshman season behind the wheel of the Castrol EDGE Dragster, she only had five top half qualifying positions.

The 2013 Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award winner is focused on going rounds tomorrow and moving up in the NHRA Mello Yello Top Fuel Points chase and potentially getting the first Top Fuel win for Castrol EDGE and John Force Racing.

“I want to go some rounds with the Castrol EDGE Dragster. My guys have been working really hard all day and these two night sessions make for some short nights. We will be ready for Terry McMillen tomorrow for sure,” said Brittany Force.

Brittany was the provisional number one qualifying after last night’s session as her 10,000 horsepower Castrol EDGE Dragster blazed the track surface at Route 66 Raceway with a ground pounding 3.791 second pass at 324.51 mph.

Going into today’s sessions, Brittany managed to run a 3.918 second pass and then followed up with a much stronger 3.801 on the fourth and final session. These may not have been record setting runs but they reflect the team’s strategy to tune for race day conditions and not always try to rotate the earth by putting big numbers on the scoreboards in qualifying.

With Brittany facing Terry McMillen in the opening round tomorrow, she’ll be looking to even the score as she is currently 0-1 against him in a prior match up. Brittany will have lane choice over McMillen who qualified in the 13th spot.

In the first session Robert Hight and the Auto Club team smoked the tires at the top end but were not deterred from the goal in front of them. They were in the last pair with veteran Ron Capps who also hazed his Goodyears in the lane beside Hight.

“We were pushing a little hard in the first run today and the tires just broke loose at the top end. The goal was to see how hard we could run in the heat and then come back in the night session and try and put up a low ET,” said Hight.

In the night session Hight was again paired with Capps in the last pair. The points leader just saw Tommy Johnson Jr. grab the No. 1 qualifier position with a 3.999 second run and the Auto Club team was aiming to make a run to grab the top spot back. Hight’s Funny Car was charging but the number that lit up the scoreboard was a strong 4.038 second run that secured Hight’s spot as the No. 3 qualifier but did not move him around Johnson.

“The track has so tight you could throw just about anything at it. I think there were more threes out there but the goal is to get the car down the track without smoking the tires. The conditions tonight will not be out there tomorrow morning. I am glad we got a strong run in the first qualifying session and we learned a few things on the first run today. We will be ready for a long race day tomorrow,” said Hight.

With consistent runs and repeatable performance, John Force and the Castrol GTX High Mileage team qualified in the top-half of the field with a strong 4.036 second run at 316.90 mph. He will start race day from the fourth spot in the opening round and with lane choice over a driver he’s all too familiar with.

The driver he’ll face in the next lane will be Alexis DeJoria and the 16-time NHRA Mello Yello Champ is looking to even the score from his semi-final loss to her at last weekend’s NHRA New England Nationals.

Both drivers will be racing for the number two spot in the NHRA Mello Yello Funny Car points standings this Sunday. Only two points separate them and for John, he knows he has to get past DeJoria in round one.

“She’s a great kid and a great competitor. I love racing her so we’ll give the fans a great show,” said John Force.

John Force is 8-6 in prior match ups with DeJoria and has lost to her three times this season. However, John has lost to DeJoria in the last two races so he knows he’ll have be focused behind the wheel and the Castrol GTX High Mileage team will have the 8000 horsepower Mustang tuned up and raring to go.

Luckily for John Force, the mechanical gremlins that plagued his race car have vanished so far this weekend. The massive Goodyear slicks did spin on Friday’s opening session but crew chief Jimmy Prock and the rest of the team made some minor adjustments before the second run.

“We smoked the tires on the first pass and that’s why we didn’t try to go for it tonight on that final session. We knew there was a three second run out there but like Jimmy (Jimmy Prock, crew chief Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang) said, ‘we need to find consistency’ and if we run what we know and try repeat what we did earlier, then we know how to set the car up to run in the heat tomorrow. I’m excited knowing what Jimmy’s doing a great job in tuning my old hot rod,” said John Force.

It was a strong 4.049 second run at 316.38 mph on Friday night that had John solidly in the field. He would later come back and run a 4.036 second pass this evening that would move him up from sixth to fourth in qualifying.

“We ran 4.03 trying to get consistency in this car and it seemed to work. Both Robert’s and Courtney’s cars are running good so we’ll see what happens as there’s a lot of great cars out there,” said John Force.

After last weekend’s semi-final finish at New England Dragway, it appears the Castrol GTX High Mileage team has turned the corner and ready to go rounds and win races. One thing the winningest driver in NHRA history knows is not to get too cocky or over-confident going into Sunday and just take each race one round at a time.

John Force hasn’t won the Route 66 NHRA Nationals since beating fellow teammate and son-in-law Robert Hight in the final in 2006. Hopefully, this will be the weekend John Force will claim his 140th career victory.

The Traxxas Ford Mustang team came into Saturday in the top twelve from Friday after making two great runs and sat solidly in the No. 4 spot. Today, Force opened up with a pass down the race track at 4.136 seconds and 310.70 mph in the heat of the day. They closed out the second session with a 4.038 ET at a huge speed of 322.50 mph to make top speed of the weekend in the Funny Car category and go to the No. 5 spot. She will take on Bob Tasca III in the opening round tomorrow.

“We actually have a really consistent race car this weekend. It gets me pumped up for race day. We’re going to race a fellow Ford driver in the opening round, Bob Tasca II. I’m excited about this Traxxas team. My guys were excited to lay down this 4.03 tonight and staying in the top half of the field for both days of qualifying,” said Force.

The 26-year-old is 7-2 versus Tasca. They have met up in the first round five times, including the last three times they have met on race day. This will be their first meeting of the year.  She now has four consistent passes under her belt this weekend, which hasn’t happened at this specific race track in the last two years, and she has qualified in the top half of the field in the last six events.

“It definitely gets you pumped up when you feel like you have a consistent car. We got down the track all four passes. Consistency is key on race day so that’s what we need. Tomorrow is a new day. It’s definitely going to be different conditions for what we had all through qualifying. The sun is going to be out. We’re going to start running at 11 AM. We’re going to give it all we got and go for our first win here in Chicago,” said Force.

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–CHEVROLET SS DRIVERS COLLECT EIGHT OF TOP 12 FINISHING POSITIONS AT KENTUCKY

CHEVROLET SS DRIVERS COLLECT EIGHT OF TOP 12 FINISHING POSITIONS AT KENTUCKY
Ryan Newman Leads the Charge for Team Chevy Finishing Third

SPARTA, KY. – June 28, 2014 – Chevrolet’s Ryan Newman continued to build on a solid and consistent season at Kentucky Speedway by finally breaking through in the Quaker State 400 NASCAR Sprint Cup race to earn his first top-five finish of the season to come home third. The driver of the No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet SS led a contingent of Chevrolet power in the top-10, six teams strong.  Newman’s third-place run marks his best career finish at the 1.5-mile Sparta, Kentucky track, and his third top-10. The strong run kept Newman in eighth position on the chart, making him the second highest driver in the current standings without a win this season.

“It’s a big gain for us and our Caterpillar Chevrolet,” said Newman following the race.  “All the guys at RCR and ECR got us that first top five of the season. I’ve got to thank everybody from Caterpillar and Quicken Loans for the opportunity they’ve given us this year. It was a good run. The No. 2 (Brad Keselowski, race winner) was obviously the fastest car all night. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) got a little bit better there at the end. We were pretty solid. We never really changed the car. It felt like we were pretty neutral and didn’t want to screw it up. So, we ended up where we did.”

Dale Earnhardt, Jr. earned his ninth top-five finish at Kentucky Speedway by piloting the No. 88 National Guard Chevrolet SS to a fifth-place finish.  Jeff Gordon maintained his spot atop the standings with a sixth-place effort at Kentucky in the No. 24 Drive To End Hunger Chevrolet SS.

Kevin Harvick, No. 4 Budweiser Chevrolet SS ended the night with a seventh place run, followed by Kasey Kahne, No. 5 Great Clips Chevrolet in eighth.  Jimmie Johnson rounded out the Chevrolet power in the top-10 by earning a 10th-place finish in his No. 48 Lowe’s Chevrolet SS.  The six-time NASCAR Sprint Cup Series champion overcame a 25th place qualifying effort to give Team Chevy six of the top 10 finishers.

Notably, Stewart-Haas Racing teammates Tony Stewart and Kurt Busch finished 11th and 12th respectively.  Stewart overcame having to start at the rear of the field after changing a transmission in his No. 14 Rush Truck Centers Chevrolet SS, and earned his fifth top 10 finish overall.  Busch battled an ill-handling No. 41 Haas Automation Chevrolet SS to finish 12th.

Brad Keselowski (Ford) was the race winner, Kyle Busch (Toyota) was second and Matt Kenseth (Toyota) was fourth to round out the top five finishers.

Next weekend, the NASCAR Sprint Cup series will once again compete under the lights; but this time on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway.  The Coke Zero 400 will commence Saturday July 5th.

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD

KERRY THARP:  We’re going to start with our post‑race media with Ryan Newman.  Ryan had a third‑place finish tonight in the No. 31 car for us, and Ryan, just talk about driving that No. 31 Caterpillar Chevrolet, had a nice run out there tonight, running up front the entire evening, and that has to make you feel confident now as we’re kind of at the midpoint of the Chase and certainly next week at a track you’ve won at before.  Talk about your run.

RYAN NEWMAN:  Really just a good, solid run.  We had some really good pit stops, gained some track positions there.  Caught a little bit of a break when the caution came out when we were on pit road.  I think we went from fourth to second on that deal.  Just a good, solid night for the Caterpillar Chevrolet.  All the guys did a really good job strategy wise.  Kept our track position all night.  Really I think we had about a third‑place car.  We could have run with 18 at times, we could run with the 22 at times, but nobody really ran with the 2 car.  Good job for everybody at RCR and ECR, and we’ll keep digging.
Q.  Ryan, RCR has been really doing a lot to get their program back on the right track.  Is this the start of a turnaround?
RYAN NEWMAN:  Well, it was a good run for us.  I think Paul ran up front for a lot of the race.  Last I saw, he finished 15th.  But from when I saw he had run farther up for most of the race and he’s been our flagship for a top 5 so far this year.  It’s nice for us on the 31 side to get a top 5, and it’s something to build on for sure.  It doesn’t mean we’re going to go out and win the next race, but it gives us some confidence, and confidence is very powerful in our sport.
Q.  Were you comfortable all the way from the very start because a lot of the drivers came in here and all they wanted to talk about was bump, bump, bump, bump, and you did seem to have a really solid run all night long where you stayed where you were at.
RYAN NEWMAN:  All we talked about was bumps because that’s the only questions we got was about bumps.  Everybody who talked to me asked me what’s the track like being so bumpy and everything else and that’s the questions we answer.  We answer the questions you all give us.  It’s the character of this racetrack that it’s bumpy.  It doesn’t mean that we can’t race on it.  I think it was a pretty good race tonight.  Brad came up from whatever he was, sixth or eighth or whatever he was in that restart to win the race.  But it was more just a product of the questions you guys were asking us than it was what we wanted to talk about.
Q.  What’s been the biggest difference in your cars with the work that you guys have been doing?  What have you focused on?
RYAN NEWMAN:  Tonight it was everything.  I’d say the biggest gain we had tonight was our pit stops.  The guys gained spots, we did a good job.  Everything was nice and clean.  Strategy wise, Luke did a great job calling two tires when we needed to and not losing track position with four when other guys were taking two, and all that adds up.  Having that clean air and that track position is probably more powerful than anything we do with the race car at times, so that’s probably the biggest difference.  We’ve made some gains on the race part, don’t get me wrong, and the guys on the engine side are always working and there’s no doubt that the Hendrick guys have been the strongest this season.  Far above, at some trace tracks, but we proved tonight that we’ve made some gains.
Q.  You talked about Pocono and Indy.  Those are horsepower tracks.  Is that where you expect to see even more gains?

RYAN NEWMAN:  Pocono, Indy, Michigan, even places like Charlotte now are so much wide open because the cars have still got too much downforce on them that it’s very important to have good horsepower, and good horsepower will win you races.  We’re working on that part of it for Indy and for Pocono and for Michigan.  I think we’re not where we need to be, but that’s why we’re working on it, and we’ll see if we can make those gains before those races come.
Q.  If NASCAR was to say to you, what’s the one thing you would like us to do to these cars, you would tell them reduce the downforce?
RYAN NEWMAN:  The same thing I’ve said for the last four years, yeah, just take downforce down and put softer tires on them.  It’s got to be a combination of the downforce and the tires.  You can’t just leave the hard tires on it and take downforce off.  I took my crew chief to Kokomo Speedway Sunday night after Michigan, watched guys run midgets on dirt sideways turning to the right and saw one of the best races I’ve seen all year long, and they had no downforce and they had a huge power‑to‑weight ratio, 375 horsepower with 900‑pound race cars.  To me that’s the direction we should always go.  They put on a great race, not to say that we don’t, I just think that’s the direction we need to go to if we want to make it better.

KERRY THARP:  Ryan, congratulations, and continued best wishes, and see you at Daytona.

RYAN NEWMAN:  Thank you, guys.

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Kentucky–Post Race

NASCAR SPRINT CUP SERIES
QUAKER STATE 400
KENTUCKY SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY POST RACE NOTES AND QUOTES
JUNE 28, 2014

RYAN NEWMAN, NO. 31 CATERPILLAR CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 3RD
THIS IS YOUR BEST RUN OF THE YEAR. KNOW YOU WANTED TO WIN THIS THING, BUT DOES 3RD PLACE PUT A SMILE ON YOUR FACE AT THE END OF THE NIGHT?
“It’s a big gain for us and our Caterpillar Chevrolet. All the guys at RCR and ECR got us that first top five of the season. I’ve got to thank everybody from Caterpillar and Quicken Loans for the opportunity they’ve given us this year. It was a good run. The No. 2 (Brad Keselowski, race winner) was obviously the fastest car all night. The No. 18 (Kyle Busch) got a little bit better there at the end. We were pretty solid. We never really changed the car. It felt like we were pretty neutral and didn’t want to screw it up. So, we ended up where we did.”

IS THIS SOMETHING THAT YOU THINK YOU CAN REPLICATE AT FUTURE 1.5-MILE TRACKS?
“Well, we sure don’t come back here (laughs). So I hope it translates. And I think it will. I think we’ve got some stuff coming. Pocono and Indy are a couple of races that I really look forward to.”

DALE EARNHARDT, JR., NO. 88 NATIONAL GUARD CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 5TH
YOU WORKED YOUR WAY TO GET YOUR THIRD TOP-5 IN THE LAST 1.5-MILE TRACKS. THAT’S PRETTY IMPRESSIVE
“Yeah, I didn’t have any answers for why we were struggling yesterday. Steve (Letarte, crew chief) and the engineers got in the hauler and talked all night long, and all day today and put a great car underneath us. And the pit crew did an amazing job tonight. Those guys were gaining spots for me every stop. Even when we were taking four tires, we were beating a lot of guys off pit road. They’re just a great group and deserve a lot of credit, too. The National Guard Chevy was way better today; a lot more fun to drive. This place is a bit of a handful for me. I don’t think I’ve got it figured out just yet. And I don’t exactly know what I’m looking for and how I need the car to drive. So Steve and the guys did a good job in having to deal with me and trying to put a good car under me this weekend. It was a lot of fun in the race. The strategy was good on pit road. Steve’s fuel strategy gained us a lot of track position.”

KASEY KAHNE, NO. 5 GREAT CLIPS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 8TH
ON HIS NIGHT:
“We battled hard.  I had to fight we had some damage when the No. 1 (Jamie McMurray) stopped when another car was spinning.  I couldn’t get stopped I hit him, the No. 43 (Aric Almirola) hit him, just too many cars in one spot on the road.  We had a bad pit stop at the end that put us 18th and got back to eighth so I was really happy with the speed of our Great Clips Chevy just too many errors if you want to run up front.”

JIMMIE JOHNSON, NO. 48 LOWE’S CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 10TH
WAS THE PENSKE DOMINATION TONIGHT DEMORALIZING AT ALL? OR WERE YOU ABLE TO RUN YOUR RACE DESPITE WHAT THEY WERE DOING?
“We had issues that started on Friday.  We didn’t qualify well that had us in a terrible spot with track position.  I would work my way to the front and get in the top 10, top five and then come down pit road and because of our poor qualifying position we just didn’t have a good pit stall.  I was between the No. 10 (Danica Patrick) and the No. 18 (Kyle Busch) and they were both fast all night long.  I would lose five or six spots on pit road each time.  According to lap times what I heard in my ear I think we were a competitive car and we could have been up there and maybe had a look at those guys in some clean air.  But we just messed up on Friday and got behind the eight ball.”

TONY STEWART, NO. 14 RUSH TRUCK CENTERS CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 11TH
STARTED BACK IN THE BACK BUT BATTLED FOR A GOOD FINISH:
“Yeah I mean I would have liked to have been a little better than what we were there at the end, but I think we definitely had to fight our way up there through the day.  We never did anything trick to get track position.  We pitted every time the pits were open.  We didn’t do any less than anybody else did on any stop.  All in all I thought we had a pretty honest day there can’t complain about that.”

WAS IT ANY HARDER TO GET THROUGH TRAFFIC HERE THAN ANYWHERE ELSE?
“No, the race track was wide enough and guys were moving around enough that if your car was working you could get through there.  It’s just we just weren’t working good enough.  I was kind of stuck in one or two spots on the track and not in a wide enough spot to really do anything.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU GUYS ARE MAKING PROGRESS?
“Yeah, I think so across the board.  Kurt (Busch) and I talked about our cars right after the race and we both were fighting the same thing with our cars.  I think the No. 10 (Danica Patrick) and the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick) were fighting a different set of problems.  I think as an organization as a whole we were pretty good.  Danica (Patrick) was pretty good all night just got kind of off on the tire sequence there and I think that bit them.  I think all four of the cars were pretty good.”

MARTIN TRUEX, JR., NO. 78 FURNITURE ROW CHEVROLET SS – FINISHED 19TH
“We had a lack of grip and no rhythm tonight. We fought for every inch to finish 19th.  At the beginning of the race we didn’t have any rear grip. Once that got better we started to have trouble with our front-end grip.  Leaving our pit stall was also a problem tonight. We took a good hit from behind on one pit stop that caused damage to our Chevrolet and later in the race we were blocked in after taking two tires and hoping to gain on track position. We obviously wanted a better finish for World Vision but hopefully we’ll get another opportunity with them down the road.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 42 TARGET CHEVROLET SS – EXPERIENCED A TIRE ISSUE ON LAP 77 WHICH RESULTED IN CONTACT WITH THE OUTSIDE WALL

ARE YOU OKAY?
‘Yeah, I’m okay. Blew a right front (tire). This is the first time that’s ever happened to me in stock car racing. So, big hits. But is sucks. We were hoping for a good points day to pad our points were we are before we go to Daytona where it’s a real crapshoot. It’s disappointing to have two weekends that didn’t end up very well the last couple of races. Oh, well. That’s how it goes. We’ll try and go to Daytona and rebound and gain some more points.”

DID YOU HAVE ANY IDEA THAT WAS COMING?
“No, not really. I saw Denny (Hamlin) blew his right front and I’d been pretty tight. But I didn’t think we had any tire issues all weekend, so I was kind of shocked when he blew his right front. And then we were pretty tight on our run. I felt like I was using up my right sides; and run up in the grey a lot trying to get the top working. I told myself to get back down just in case there would be tire problems and I guess I just used up my tires too much.”

IT APPEARED THE SAME THING THAT HAPPENED WITH DENNY HAMLIN EARLIER HAPPENED TO YOU IS THAT ACCURATE?
“Yeah the same thing that happened to Denny (Hamlin) I think.  It looked like he blew a right-front (tire) and so did I.  I heard a big ‘pop’ and then it just went straight.  It sucks it happened, but I didn’t know we had any tire issues at all throughout the weekend.  I don’t know if the rain had an effect and washed the rubber off the track or what.  It sucks it happened but we will go to Daytona next week and try to get the Target Chevy into Victory Lane.”

ANY INDICATION IT WAS GOING DOWN?
“No I didn’t have any warning just was a little bit tight the whole race so far.  I didn’t really feel like I was abusing my right-front tire that bad, but apparently I was.  It just went.”

IT SEEMS REALLY ODD THAT YOU WOULD HAVE TWO ISSUES SO CLOSE TOGETHER ALMOST WITH THE SAME AMOUNT OF LAPS ON THE TIRES:
“Yeah, I was surprised to see Denny (Hamlin) blow a right-front because I didn’t think that many teams had tire issues at all.  I hadn’t heard anything.  Then it happened to us.  Hopefully, it doesn’t happen to anybody else out there tonight because those hits definitely hurt.  Oh well, we will go to Daytona and try and do better.”

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–IndyCar–Grand Prix of Houston Post Race

CHEVROLET RACING
VERIZON INDYCAR SERIES
SHELL PENNZOIL GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON
MD ANDERSON CANCER CENTER SPEEDWAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER POST RACE TRANSCRIPT
JUNE 28, 2014

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA LEADS CHEVROLET INDYCAR V6 CONTINGENT AT GRAND PRIX OF HOUSTON

HOUSTON (June 28, 2014) – Team Penske driver Juan Pablo Montoya, No. 2 Verizon Chevrolet, saw a fantastic chance at his first win since returning to the Verizon IndyCar Series slip through his fingers on the final restart of Race One of the Shell and Pennzoil Grand Prix of Houston double header.

Lined up in second place, Montoya was ready to make his move in his Chevrolet IndyCar V6 twin turbo powered car with time running short in the event. But before he could make a challenge for the lead in the first corner, the caution flew for the final time because of a spin behind him.  The race ended under caution as time expired.

With his fourth top-five finish of the year, Montoya moves up two positions in the point standings to fifth.

The event was scheduled to run a total of 90 laps but due to heavy rains that delayed the start, IndyCar officials elected to make this a timed race that would last one hour and fifty minutes.

Montoya’s Team Penske teammates Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, and Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Pennzoil Chevrolet maintained their 1-2 lead in the series standings despite a challenging day for both on track.  Power started in 18th position and was looking to overcome the deficit and treacherous conditions.  However, he was involved in an incident late in the race that he could not overcome and finished 14th.

Castroneves started on the outside front row and raced inside the top-five for most of the event.  The team decided to pit for tires on the final stop and he could not overcome the lost track position as many others decided to stay out and the team would finish ninth.

Other Chevrolet IndyCar V6 finishers were:
Sebastien Bourdais, No. 11 Mistic KVSH Racing Chevrolet, finished 4th
Helio Castroneves, No. 3 Pennzoil Ultra Platinum Team Penske Chevrolet, finished 9th
Ryan Briscoe, No. 8 NTT Data Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, finished 12th
Tony Kanaan, No. 10 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, finished 13th
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, finished 14th
Sebastian Saavedra, No. 17 Automatic Fire Sprinklers KV AFS Chevrolet, finished 15th
Mike Conway, No. 20 Fuzzy’s Vodka/Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet, finished 17th
Charlie Kimball, No. 83 Levemir Flex Touch Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, finished 18th
Scott Dixon, No. 9 Target Chip Ganassi Racing Chevrolet, finished 19th

Qualifying for Race No. 2 of the second doubleheader of the season is set for 10:00 a.m. on Sunday morning, June 29, 2014.

The 90-lap/153-mile race on the 10-turn/1.683-mile temporary circuit is scheduled to start at 3:00 p.m. ET with live coverage on NBCSN. The action will be carried live on IMS Radio Network XM 209/Sirius 213 as well as IndyCar.com

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA, NO. 2 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – FINISHED 2ND:
COULD YOU HAVE WON THAT RACE? “Yes, I had a good jump (on the restart) there. It is one of those deals; it’s racing. That’s what happens.  I had a shot once at passing. It was really close. I thought he wasn’t going to make it on gas, but congratulations to Carlos (Huertas). I think my Verizon Chevy was unbelievable today. This race, especially when it rains, is all about keeping it off the wall and running smart all day, and we did that. I liked passing Tony (Kanaan), I really enjoyed that. I’m starting to get there, and I’m pretty happy.”

AGAIN, IT CAME DOWN TO STRATEGY AND MAKING THE CALLS ON PIT ROAD
“Yeah, we were running pretty good, like seventh or something; and then we came in and put on black tires and that really hurt us. We suffered there a little bit, but in a way it forced us to do something different and it paid off. I was amazed with this timed race. There were like 35 minutes to go and I am counting 30 laps, you can’t make it. At this pace, you can’t make it. Why are they not stopping? I was kind of surprised nobody pitted. And I’m like oh, thank you.”

YOU GOT OUT OF THE CAR AND WENT IMMEDIATELY OVER TO CARLOS (HUERTAS, RACE WINNER) AND GAVE HIM SOME ADVICE. WHAT WAS THAT?
“No, I just told him congratulations. He’s a good kid; you know what I mean? And he did a good job today. He did what he had to do to win.”

YOU WERE TEASING HIM TELLING HIM TO ZIP-UP HIS DRIVING SUIT
“I’ll be honest with you. Our Verizon Chevy was really good today and I thought we had a chance to win, but at the end the tires went off. But I do tease him a lot. He had the suit all open and I’m like, you’ve got to look good (laughs).”
SEBASTIEN BOURDAIS:  NO. 11 TEAM MISTIC E-CIGS – KVSH RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED 4TH: ON HIS RACE:  “A very solid day for the KVSH Racing Mistic machine and the whole group. We did everything right and everything we had to do. We just got hurt by the yellows. The first yellow, when we switch to slick tires, a lot of things didn’t quite work out, but we seemed to come out of it strong, P2 behind Hinchcliffe. Unfortunately, another yellow came out and that really did it because we were good to go on fuel with one more stop and some of the other guys behind us stopped on an earlier yellow. But since it was a timed race, every time there was a yellow the race got shorter and shorter and they were not using as much fuel. So, a few of them stayed in front of us, but we salvaged a fourth which was a very solid result. Of course I am disappointed in a way because I think we could have finished higher, but I am pretty happy for the Mistic crew.”
HELIO CASTRONEVES, NO. 3 PENNZOIL ULTRA PREMIUM TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 9TH: “Obviously we were looking for a better day today after qualifying on the front row with the Pennzoil Chevrolet. With Brazil winning their World Cup match on penalty kicks I was really feeling good about the day. The rain, I think, through all of us for a bit of a loop. It was very wet to start and there were some corners that never dried. We just weren’t prepared for that. But we know we have a fast car in dry conditions. Hopefully we will qualify well again tomorrow and have a better ending.
TONY KANAAN, NO. 10 TARGET CHIP GANASSI RACING CHEVROLET –FINISHED 13TH:  YOU HAD AT LEAST A PODIUM FINISH, MAYBE MORE, BUT YOU WERE TURNED BY GRAHAM RAHAL GOING INTO THE LAST RESTART. YOU ARE NOT SHOWING ANY EMOTION. I KNOW YOU ARE STEAMING (ANGRY). HOW ARE YOU DEALING WITH THIS? WHAT HAPPENED?
“Well, you’ve got to be professional. I have a team to defend and a lot of good sponsors. So, I can’t do what I really want to do. What a shame. It was a great run by the Target Chip Ganassi boys. We fought all the way; all day long. And to be taken out like that I think it’s stupid. But he was having a good day, too and then ruined his day. I guess I wanted to believe the best. I wanted to believe he didn’t do it on purpose. Of course he came and apologized. But that still doesn’t take the frustration out of me.”

DID HE ACCEPT ALL THE BLAME FOR THAT?
“Yeah, he has to man, come on. He’s a humble guy. It’s just a shame. What am I going to say? Am I mad at him? Yes. Can I turn back in time? No. So, we’ve got to turn the page and move on to tomorrow.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, FINISHED 14TH: “Hard day today if we could have hung in there a little longer we could have been in good shape. I made a mistake there and I feel bad for the Verizon Chevy boys after I went into the wall. That’s racing. We’ll try it again tomorrow and go for better result.”

SEBASTIAN SAAVEDRA
NO. 17 AUTOMATIC FIRE SPRINKLERS, INC. – KV AFS RACING CHEVROLET, FINISHED: 15TH: ON HIS RACE: “It was a crazy race. I am very sad because the result does not show what an amazing car we had. We were very strong in the wet, making a lot of passes when the conditions were at there worst. With a great strategy and fantastic  pit stops by the Automatic Fire Sprinklers – KV AFS Racing crew we were able to get up front. Unfortunately at the end I got taken out by Ryan Briscoe while looking to have a top-five or better finish. I’m disappointed, we came from so far back in the field and worked so hard that we deserve a lot better. We have a good car and just need to re-group for tomorrow. Big congratulations on the Colombian 1, 2, 3 finish today and of course in the World Cup with Colombia winning their game, which is huge for my country…I wish I could be there!”

MIKE CONWAY, NO. 20 FUZZY’S ULTRA PREMIUM VODKA CHEVROLET, FINISHED 17TH:  ON HIS RACE: “The track was drying and we decided to pit (on lap 26) and put on the red Firestones slicks.  I wanted to make some time but I locked up the tires in turn 3. It was still a little wet on the outside.  And I got the car into the tire barrier.  The right front wing was wrecked and the car stalled.  The impact bent the steering column a bit and it twisted my left thumb pretty well too.  It is hurting but nothing serious.  It will be sore tomorrow.  I just feel badly for the ECR/Fuzzy’s team because the way the race finished up.  We could have been in the mix at the end. We need to get ready for Sunday’s race now.”

POST RACE PRESS CONFERENCE:
An Interview With:

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA

THE MODERATOR:  We’ll get started with today’s post‑race press conference.  We’re please to be joined by Team Penske’s Juan Pablo Montoya who finished second in today’s race.  We are very pleased to have three Colombians on the podium so they will be accepting questions in both Spanish and English.  Juan, a second‑place finish here.  This is Juan’s best finish since returning to the Verizon IndyCar Series.  His previous best finish this season was third at Texas.  So, Juan, the state of Texas has been very good to you.  How excited are you to get another podium finish here?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  It’s exciting.  Our Verizon Chevy was very good.  Yesterday was a difficult practice.  We really struggled in the morning.  I had a lot of braking issues, and we fixed them.  In the afternoon I felt like we made good gains.  Qualifying was good, and I was kind of mad we put black tires on the dump truck.  I was going on the radio going what are we doing, what are we thinking?  Everybody was passing us, so that wasn’t the best.  But it is what it is.
I was kind of amazed nobody took that caution.  When it’s a timed race, you look at it, I mean, why?  Why wouldn’t you?  You know what I mean?  You could make it to the end, and I passed Tony ‑‑ I really felt I was going to be racing with Tony for the win, and I passed Tony when I needed to pass him, and with Huertas, a couple of times I could have passed him, but I just don’t risk the car.  It’s pointless, and then we’re here and he won the race.

Q.  Juan, did you think that you were in the position for the win I guess before the caution, and then under caution what was your plan going to be if you had one lap was green?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I was going for it.

Q.  How do you go for it?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I felt like I had a hell of a restart.  Like oh, I’m there, I’m there, and caution came out, and I’m like, oh.  I thought the caution came out because he jumped the start a little bit, but it seems you can jump the start here.

Q.  Did you have any ‑‑ did you not know what Huertas had?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  No, I never thought he could make it to the end.  On the radio it was like ‑‑ I mean, those two haven’t pitted, they’re not going to make it, we’re good.  You’ve only got to protect from behind, and then they said, oh, I think you might want to try to pass Huertas, and I said, I think I’m out of tires.
It’s good.  We got another good finish.  It’s something we can build on.  I thought we had a pretty good car at the beginning of the rain and I was very cautious.  Here you’ve end of losing your place and taking your time than stuffing it in the wall or spinning or anything.  When we went to black tires I was running sixth or seventh or something and they went on like an anchor.  When it was completely dry, it was okay, but whenever it was damp it was like oil on the track, and everybody else was like beautiful.  It was kind of frustrating.

Q.  Juan, you had some complaints about restarts over at Texas and possibly here with Huertas jumping the restart like you just said, but you had a pretty good start on him.  Do you feel like there’s an inconsistency there with restarts?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  The line is in the middle of the corner, and when we passed the entrance we were wide open.  He wasn’t as fast ‑‑ he jumped it by 50 yards or something like that.  I don’t mind that.  In Texas it was like 300 yards and he was already wide open, I’m like, you know ‑‑ I talked to IndyCar, you were a little bit behind.  I said, look, if you think I’m trying to tag him, then penalize me, too, but two wrongs doesn’t make one right.

Q.  This is for both of you.  Juan, the winner and the third‑place finisher all say that you were their idol when they were coming up racing.  How do you feel ‑‑
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  They should have respected me and let me win.

Q.  How do you feel to know that you’ve kind of had this type of influence on a lot of the guys that are getting to the point where they can win races here in IndyCar?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  When I grew up, I had Guerrero, he was the only guy racing.  He made Formula 1, he made it in IndyCar.  He was on the pole in the Indy 500.  He was really good.  So for me, apart from Senna, I looked up to him.  So when I went up, karting and racing in Colombia was there, a couple people tried it but nobody ever thought you could make a career out of this.  I’ve been racing for so long at a top level, you know what I mean, I’ve been lucky enough to have a great career, great teams, people start realizing, I want my kids to do ‑‑ the same thing with golf.  Here Tiger Woods, everybody thinks they’ve got to practice when they’re five years old every day, 20 hours a day to hit golf balls and one day the kid turns 14, looks at a girl and throws away the golf club.  It’s definitely that kind of deal.

Q.  Colombia won their World Cup match right before this race ended.  Are we making too much of it?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  Oh, it’s going to be a huge day.  Three Colombians, I think the first time in the history of motor racing in the world that three Colombians are on a podium top at the IndyCar level, a top motorsport level, it’s unbelievable.  It’s really exciting.  On my team, I think they’ve got a good shot at the World Cup, as well.  They’re playing really well, and yeah, next match is against Brazil, so that’s going to be fun, having Helio as a teammate and kicking his ass.
CARLOS MUÑOZ:  I think right now we’re really lucky to be here in America, not in Colombia.  I think right now Colombia should be really crazy to go out in the streets and celebrate.  It’s been a big deal for us this year.  Today was a big day for Colombia, for the first time 1‑2‑3 on the podium in IndyCar in a motorsport race, and the first time we go to quarterfinals.  So should be a really fantastic day.  We show what Colombians are made of.  I think we show the bad image people have, because they don’t know about Colombians, they only know about one thing.  You know what I mean?  Finally we showed that we have plenty of talent in Colombia, not only in motor racing but there’s a lot of Colombians in other sports.

Q.  Carlos, did you ever think you’d be on a podium with Juan Pablo, and Juan, do you feel like an old guy?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I am old.  I don’t have to feel like.  Compared with them, yeah.

Q.  All these kids grew up idolizing you are now beating you.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I’m OK.  If I don’t do a good job I deserve to be beaten.  If I do a good job, I’m going to kick your ass.  It’s normal.  That’s what we’re here to do.  It’s about getting the job done, and I feel I’ve come up and proven that I can get the job done here, and every week it gets better and better.  We have really good days.  We keep building on it.  We keep getting better.  It’s just a matter of time, you know what I mean?  I think the wins are coming, and I think once it clicks, it’s going to click pretty well.  Finally starting to get the overtaking.  I felt I made a really good move on Kanaan today.  I was smiling in the car when I passed him.  Yeah, it was pretty cool.

Q.  Could both of you talk about how sloppy the race ended up being?  It seemed that obviously when you go to the slicks you’re going to have some sloppiness, but the driving today had a lot of moments that could have been avoided.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I don’t know, it’s just racing.  It’s hard because only the race line dries.  It’s very hard to make any moves because every time you get to somebody you’ve got to stay in line.  You can’t get into the damp and say, oh, here I go because you’re probably not going to make it.  I think every time somebody tried it, that’s what happened.

Q.  Juan, the last time that you raced in Houston you finished second.  Would you say that it’s a lot different now emotionally considering you’ve been away from IndyCar so long that it’s a lot better today?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I’ll tell you, the last time I finished second here, Jimmy Vasser was the guy who beat me and it really sucked and finishing second place really sucked.
Am I happy?  Yeah, I’m happy I finished second and I’ve shown that I can get the job done and everything, but it still sucks.  And I think that’s why I can get the job done.  I really want to win.  It’s all about performing, and I’ll tell you, this year right now in the IndyCar Series is really tough.  Our Verizon Chevy is really good, and even having such a good car, you’re off a little bit and you’re 15th.  You know what I mean?  It doesn’t take much to be nowhere.
It’s great racing, but you’ve got to be on your game every day.

Q.  Speaking about every day, what about coming back tomorrow?  Do you think each of you can get back on the podium, maybe you’ll get your win, and just how you feel physically going into tomorrow?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA:  I think the rain really helped everybody.  The only thing was like I have leather gloves, and they were all wet, but my hands are fine.  I’m sure tomorrow when we get in the car, you’re going to go, oh, that hurt.  Like your elbows ‑‑ like the elbows, the only thing you can feel all the time here from racing when you’re turning is your arms are bouncing, like hitting against the chassis.  Really, can we stop bouncing, please?

Extreme Speed Motorsports

Extreme Speed Motorsports– ESM Patrón Qualifies Fifth and Seventh at Watkins Glen

Extreme Speed Motorsports (ESM) approached Watkins Glen International with a new confidence following its mid-May test. The confidence continued this week as ESM qualified fifth and seventh for Sunday’s race: the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen, the sixth race of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship.

Both Tequila Patrón-sponsored Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) machines spent time at the top of the timing sheets during the three practice sessions. Scott Sharp and Ryan Dalziel left Watkins Glen International following Friday’s lone session with the No. 1 machine atop the charts.  Dalziel, Sharp and Johannes van Overbeek led the field at separate times on Saturday during the two practice sessions.

The No. 1 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) team of Sharp and Dalziel qualified fifth with a best lap of 1:39.005 (123.630 mph), which places the team on the inside of the third row. Sharp, the qualifying driver, is slated to drive the opening stint of the six-hour event.

The sister No. 2 Tequila Patrón Honda Performance Development ARX-03b (HPD) is starting in the seventh position. Van Overbeek lapped the 11-turn, 3.37-mile road course in 1:39.143 (123.458 mph) and will start Sunday on the inside of the fourth row, directly behind the No. 1 machine. Ed Brown is scheduled to drive the opening stint, followed by Anthony Lazzaro and then van Overbeek.

Chevrolet Racing

Chevy Racing–Camaro Z/28R at Watkins Glen

CAMARO Z/28.R AT WATKINS GLEN: Victory at Watkins Glen for Stevenson Motorsports
Second win for Liddell, Davis nets GS manufacturer championship lead for Chevrolet

·         Liddell holds on for 0.169-second victory

·         Davis sets fastest lap of the race

·         Camaros ran 1-2-3 for much of event

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (June 28, 2014) – Robin Liddell and Andrew Davis drove the new Camaro Z/28.R to victory for the second time season in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge with a dramatic victory in the Continental Tire 150 on Saturday at Watkins Glen International. The win unofficially moved Chevrolet into the lead of the Grand Sport (GS) manufacturer championship after six rounds.

It ended a dynamic two days for the Camaro Z/28.R. Eric Curran claimed pole position for CKS Autosport in the No. 01 Camaro. In addition to winning the race Saturday, Davis also set the fastest lap at 2:01.790 (x mph) in the victorious No. 6 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro Z/28.R.

“What an great event for the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28.R program,” said Mark Kent, Chevrolet Director of Racing. “Congratulations to Robin Liddell, Andrew Davis and everyone at Stevenson Motorsports on Saturday’s victory at Watkins Glen. The second win of the season was doubly important in terms of the GS championship standings. The progress of this first-year program is remarkable but a long season remains.”

Liddell held off a hard-charging B.J. Zacharias on the final lap to win by 0.169 seconds. The Liddell/Davis pairing scored the Camaro Z/28.R’s first victory in March at Sebring.

A trio of Camaro Z/28.Rs ran in the top three positions for most of the race. Matt Bell and Andy Lally went on to finish fourth in the No. 9 Stevenson Camaro with Curran and Aschenbach seventh. Ashley McCalmont and Bob Michaelian were 10th in the No. 00 CKS Camaro Z/28.R.

“Watkins Glen was an unqualified success for Team Chevy,” said Lisa Talarico, Chevrolet’s Program Manager for the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. “The Camaro Z/28.R showed great speed and balance in practice, qualifying and the race. The work done by the team at Chevrolet Racing, Pratt & Miller and our partners at Stevenson Motorsports and CKS Autosport has been fantastic all season and our efforts continue to pay dividends.”

Saturday’s race will air on FOX Sports 1 at 10 a.m. ET on Sunday, July 6. The next round of the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge is Saturday, July 12 at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park outside Toronto.

ANDREW DAVIS, NO. 6 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO Z/28.R
“I’m very excited and proud for this Stevenson Motorsports crew and everyone at Team Chevy and Pratt & Miller Engineering. It’s always special to win a race but to win another race at Watkins Glen is a great achievement – such a historic track. I can’t say enough about our Camaro Z/28.R. The crew guys did a great job. I was able to get a great restart after a botched start of the race. I got a great jump and was able to get in the lead before Turn 1. From that point, I had the best view in the house so I put my head down, focused on that view and tried to drive away from everybody because I wanted to give Robin the car in first. The guys did a great job and we achieved that.”

ROBIN LIDDELL, NO.  6 STEVENSON MOTORSPORTS CAMARO Z/28.R
“The support from Chevrolet and Pratt & Miller with this new Camaro Z/28.R has been fantastic. Two wins in the debut season is great. Today was an interesting finish to say the least. It was a massive scrap over the last three corners. The guys made some great pit stops – both the No. 6 and the No. 9. In terms of strategy, we called it perfectly. We didn’t gamble for any yellows. We did our stops as if it were going to be a green race, and we ran out of gas on the last lap essentially with a loss of fuel pressure. I’m really happy with the execution from the team. Thanks to Stevenson, Pratt & Miller and Team Chevy. The Camaro Z/28.R was a brilliant car all weekend.”

Richard Childress Racing

Richard Childress Racing–John R. Elliott Hero Campaing 300

NASCAR Nationwide Series
John R. Elliott Hero Campaign 300 presented by Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over
Kentucky Speedway
Friday, June 27, 2014

Race Highlights:
Paul Menard qualified third and was the top Richard Childress Racing qualifier for the John R. Elliott Hero Campaign 300 presented by Driver Sober or Get Pulled Over. Brian Scott qualified fifth, Ty Dillon eighth and Brendan Gaughan 12th.
Paul Menard earned a fourth-place finish with teammates Brendan Gaughan, Ty Dillon and Brian Scott earning a sixth, seventh and eighth-place finish, respectively.
Ty Dillon currently leads the RCR drivers in the Nationwide Series driver point standings in fourth, Brian Scott is fifth and Brendan Gaughan seventh.
Next up for the Nationwide Series is the Subway Firecracker 250 powered by Coca-Cola at Daytona International Speedway. Catch all the action live on Friday, July 4 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Time on ESPN2.

Brian Scott Collects Seventh Top-10 Finish of Season at Kentucky Speedway

Brian Scott and the No. 2 Shore Lodge Chevrolet Camaro team started the John R. Elliott Hero Campaign 300 presented by Driver Sober or Get Pulled Over in the fifth position at Kentucky Speedway. In the opening laps of the 300-mile race, Scott struggled to find front grip on his Camaro shuffling him back to 13th place at the halfway mark. Visiting pit road multiple times during the 200-lap event for adjustments, the Phil Gould-led team played pit strategy and took fuel only at the halfway mark. The team, then off sequence to the leaders, was fourth with 50 laps to go. The team battled a tight Camaro for the remainder of the race and crossed the finish line eighth. This marks the seventh top-10 finish for the Shore Lodge team and puts Scott fifth in the driver point standings. The NASCAR Nationwide Series heads to Daytona International Speedway next week for a Fourth of July special on Friday night.

Start – 5th        Finish – 8th     Laps Led – 0    Pts – 5th

BRIAN SCOTT QUOTE:
“I would’ve never thought we would finish where we did today. We had such a good Shore Lodge Chevrolet Camaro all weekend. As soon as the race started, we were all over the place. We really struggled today and my team did a great job with strategy to get us a top-10 finish.”

Ty Dillon Finishes Seventh at Kentucky Speedway

Ty Dillon drove the No. 3 Alsco/Red Kap Chevrolet Camaro to a seventh-place finish Friday night in the John R. Elliott Hero Campaign 300, recording the team’s 11th top-10 finish of the season. Dillon, who qualified eighth earlier in the afternoon, gave his team confidence by running inside the top-five for the first 41 laps. The 22-year-old, Welcome, N.C.-native floated back to 15th-place, twice, but managed to drive back inside the top-10 each time. For the remainder of the race, Dillon radioed he did not need adjustments to his No. 3 Camaro, but instead was searching for the right groove on the 1.5-mile race track. On lap 168, the caution flag dropped and left crew chief Danny Stockman with a decision for his driver to come to pit road, or stay out. His decision to change the four Goodyear tires paid off; Dillon moved up nine positions in the race’s final 27 laps and finished seventh. He was the first Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender to cross the finish line, and remains fourth in the driver point standings.

Start – 8th    Finish – 7th   Laps Led -0      Points – 4th

Ty Dillon Quote:
“We had one of the best race cars tonight we’ve had all season. I told Danny (Stockman) at the end of the race, if he keeps giving me cars like that, we’re going to win some races pretty soon. I was happy with his decision to make a pit stop there at the end. It gave me the right car to finish the way we did.”

Paul Menard Finishes Fourth at Kentucky Speedway

Paul Menard drove Richard Childress Racing’s No. 33 Libman/Menards Chevrolet Camaro to a fourth-place finish in Friday’s 300-mile event at Kentucky Speedway. The Eau Claire, Wis., driver started third and raced in the top three for 81 laps of competition. During the second caution of the night, Nick Harrison radioed for Menard to come down pit road for four tires, fuel, tape on the grill and a track bar adjustment. After 13 laps, Menard reported the Libman/Menards Chevy was handling better after the adjustments. The Richard Childress Racing driver would only race outside of the top-five during green-flag pit stops when he cycled to the 16th-position. Menard would race his way back in to the top three after the lap 177 caution and ultimately finish in the fourth position. Up next for Menard in the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro is Saturday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway on July 12th.

Start – 3rd             Finish – 4th             Laps Led – 3              Points – N/A

PAUL MENARD QUOTE:
“We’ve been here since Tuesday, so we’ve had a few days to get the Libman/Menards Chevy dialed-in. I think we had a second-place car, but got screwed up when the caution came out there and others were able to get fresh tires. My guys have been working hard and continue to bring fast cars to the track. I look forward to our next race together in Loudon.”

Brendan Gaughan Earns Fourth Top-10 of the Season at Kentucky Speedway

Brendan Gaughan and the No. 62 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro qualified 12th for the NASCAR Nationwide Series John R. Elliott Hero Campaign 300 at Kentucky Speedway. Gaughan began reporting on lap 15 that he was loose on entry and tight on exit. During the first caution on lap 43, crew chief Shane Wilson elected to take four tires, fuel, make air pressure and wedge adjustments. As teams started to make green-flag pit stops on lap 140, Gaughan moved up to the second position by staying out on track. The caution fell on lap 157 for debris and Gaughan visited pit road to make another chassis adjustment, restarting in seventh. The Las Vegas-native crossed the finish line in the sixth position at the 1.5-mile track. Gaughan and the No. 62 RCR team remain seventh in the driver point standings as the Nationwide Series heads back to Daytona International Speedway.

Start – 12th       Finish -6th     Laps Led – 0     Points – 7th

BRENDAN GAUGHAN QUOTE:
“Not a bad finish for the No. 62 South Point Hotel & Casino Chevrolet. I really wanted that top-five tonight and did not need that last caution. I am proud of the guys on this team for working hard during the stops tonight to improve the car.”

World of Outlaws

World of Outlaws–Schatz Scores Historic 154th Career World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series Win

Schatz Scores Historic 154th Career World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series Win
Takes over third on the all-time wins list from Mark Kinser

BURLINGTON, Iowa — June 27, 2014 — Only two other people have done what five-time champion Donny Schatz did at 34 Raceway Friday night – win 154 World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series features. In scoring his seventh win of the season, Schatz surpassed two-time champion Mark Kinser for third on the all-time wins list.

“It’s something you can’t really ever set your sights on – it’s something you just accomplish,” Schatz said. “I’m pretty lucky to be in this position and Mark Kinser is definitely a very good friend and a mentor to me. To be able to pass him on the list is something that means a lot.”

Only 20-time champion Steve Kinser and three-time champion Sammy Swindell have more wins than Schatz. Kinser has 577 wins while Swindell has 293.

“The two guys in front of me, I don’t know that I’m ever going to catch either one of them,” Schatz said. “But realistically I didn’t try to get to this point on the list. I’m just going out and having a good time and racing and enjoying myself. When you’re enjoying yourself, things just happen. We’re kind of over that milestone and now we can just enjoy the rest of it.”

Schatz scored the victory after a tenth place starting position. Through the 30-lap A Main, he methodically worked his through the crowd ahead, eventually taking the lead on lap 21.

“We qualified well where we went out,” Schatz said. “We just missed the Dash there and we had a great run in the heats. We had a good car in the heat we just tried to fine tune it and make it a little better and that they did, they got a better race car for me. We tried to stay out of trouble early, some guys were real aggressive, and going a lot harder and being kind of silly so I tried to stay away from that and stay out of trouble and use my car when we needed it. We had an awesome machine.”

Schatz’s seventh win of the season in his STP/Armor All car tied him with Daryn Pittman for most on the year. Schatz also extended his points lead over Pittman to 61 points.

Kerry Madsen and Steve Kinser led the field to the green flag with Sammy Swindell and Brad Sweet on row two. Schatz started in the 10th position with second place finisher Terry McCarl in 14th and third place finisher Bill Balog in fifth.

Madsen jumped out to a strong lead when the green flag flew and through early cautions and an ongoing shuffling of competitors behind him, managed to hang on to it. Farther back in the field Schatz began making his move to the front and by lap seven, he took the sixth position.

Up front Paul McMahan, Joey Saldana, Brad Sweet and Swindell all battled for the top positions.

As the caution flew for the third time on lap 12, McCarl cracked the top five for the first time as he set his sights ahead. When the green flag again flew, McCarl battled Sweet down the backstretch, when contact between the two on lap 14 sent Sweet into the barrier near the entrance of turn three. After hitting a large tire, Sweet’s car took a scary tumble that left the car torn in two. Sweet was able to walk away from the wreck.

When the race returned to green after an extended red flag, Madsen maintained his lead until the caution fell again on lap 20. Schatz, now all the way up to the second place position after getting around Saldana and then McMahan, took advantage of the opportunity. As Madsen led the field into turn one, he went high while Schatz looked low. The two drag raced down the backstretch and took similar lines into turns three and four. Schatz had the advantage as they entered onto the front stretch, officially taking over the lead on lap 21.

Battles ensued in the remaining nine laps with cautions flying two more times. As McCarl settled his TheSnowPlow.com car into second, Saldana and McMahan slipped back in the pack giving way to Brian Brown’s FVP car and Bill Balog. The two battled for the third place position, trading it several times in the closing laps. Ultimately it was Balog who took the position with McCarl in second and Schatz in first.

McCarl, who was the recipient of the night’s ASE Hard Charger Award after starting in the 14th position, had Sweet on his mind following the race.

“It was unfortunate I got into Brad – I didn’t see him there,” McCarl said. “We’re thankful Brad is OK.”

McCarl said 34 Raceway is one of his favorite tracks – a place he has been coming to since he was young. His father, he said, ran at the track in the early 1970s. Whenever he competes at 34, McCarl said he expects to run well.

“We started 14th, we had a great car – we just didn’t have anything for Donny there at the end,” McCarl said. “He’s a champion and obviously one of the best drivers if not the best driver in the world. So to be hanging there with him and be putting on a show for the fans is pretty big for our team. We’re just a low-buck, little family team out of Altoona, Iowa. So to compete with these guys is a big deal for us.”

Bill Balog, a Union Grove, Wis. native, said he and his Buesser Concrete team started the day unsure about the weather and uncertain whether or not they would make the trip to 34.

“I’m glad we came out,” Balog said. “The car worked great. Like I said, I’m just glad to be up here wand running good with the World of Outlaws this time.”

Balog, who plans to compete with the Outlaws as the series moves into Wisconsin Saturday and Sunday nights, said he thinks his car will be in good shape.

“It’s going to be great,” Balog said. “We’ve got a few nights on the motor. The car is just kind of sorted out I guess you could say. So I’m pretty excited about it going back up to Beaver Dam, one of our home tracks it should be a good time.”

World of Outlaws

World of Outlaws

Jimmy Owens Edges Scott Bloomquist on Second Night
of Lernerville Speedway’s Firecracker 100 Weekend

Stage set for Saturday’s $30,000-to-win World of Outlaws Late Model showcase
SARVER, Pa. – June 27, 2014 – Jimmy Owens of Newport, Tenn., turned back a furious late-race challenge from Scott Bloomquist of Mooresburg, Tenn., to capture Friday night’s 30-lap Firecracker 100 presented by GottaRace.com preliminary feature at Lernerville Speedway.

Making his first appearance at the four-tenths-mile oval in five years, Owens raced off the pole position to lead the entire distance. But he didn’t secure his first-ever triumph at Lernerville and the eighth World of Outlaws Late Model Series victory of his career until surviving a scare of his own doing and a strong last-lap bid from Bloomquist.

After Owens, 42, nearly slipped over Lernerville’s turn-two berm on lap 19 while holding a comfortable lead of over 2.5 seconds, he didn’t make another mistake. He stuck strong to the outside lane and held off Bloomquist to win by 0.510 of a second.

“We had an excellent car all night long,” said Owens, who earned $6,050 for his first WoO LMS victory since Nov. 2, 2012, at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in Concord, N.C. “The high side was gone (in the final laps) and I wanted to move down, but we were so successful up there you just hated to move. We just stayed with it and held on.”

Bloomquist, 50, settled for his second runner-up finish in as many nights. He chased the designer of Owens’s Club 29 chassis, Darrell Lanigan of Union, Ky., across the finish line in Thursday night’s Firecracker 100 preliminary feature.

Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., advanced from the seventh starting spot to finish third, nearly three seconds behind the victor. Two-time Firecracker 100 winner Jimmy Mars of Menomonie, Wis., moved forward from the ninth starting spot to place fourth and third-starter Chub Frank of Bear Lake, Pa., placed fifth for his third top-five finish in his last four WoO LMS starts.

Owens admitted following the race that his designs on victory flashed before his eyes when he got too high on lap 19, but he quickly realized he still had control of the event.

“I entered that corner just like always but them crumbs were up there and I just slid off the track a little bit,” said Owens. “I knew we had a pretty good lead when we didn’t lose the lead (on lap 19).”

Owens’s checkered flag assured him of a pole starting spot in a heat race during Saturday night’s Firecracker 100 finale. He feels good about his chances for winning the $30,000 top prize.

“We’ll give it a whirl and see what we can come up with,” Owens said of his plans for Saturday night.

Bloomquist placed himself alongside Owens as a Firecracker favorite after his second consecutive contending run.

“We were good,” said Bloomquist, who also assured himself a pole starting spot on Saturday night. “We fell a little short at the end, but the thing that makes me really happy is that tomorrow is a hundred laps and we were getting better.”

Lanigan had a rare off night on the WoO LMS, finishing 11th after starting 18th. It was his first finish outside the top 10 in 16 events this season, but he still extended his points lead to 164 points over Rick Eckert of York, Pa., who finished 17th after using a provisional to start the A-Main.

Just two caution flags slowed the feature – on lap 11 when Mason Zeigler of Chalk Hill, Pa., and Jared Miley of South Park, Pa., tangled in turn one, and on lap 24 when Russ King of Bristolville, Ohio, slowed on the track.

Fifty-five cars were signed in for the second straight night.

Lernerville regular John Garvin Jr. of Sarver, Pa., was the overall fastest qualifier in the split Ohlins Shocks Time Trials, turning a lap of 16.849 seconds.

Heat winners were Owens, Frank, Mike Marlar of Winfield, Tenn., Bloomquist, Tim Fuller of Watertown, N.Y., and Zeigler. The B-Mains were captured by Miley, Austin Hubbard of Seaford, Del., Davey Johnson of Latrobe, Pa.

Mopar Racing

Mopar Racing–Johnson Drives Mopar to Provisional Pro Stock No.1 at NHRA Route 66 Nationals

Johnson Drives Mopar to Provisional Pro Stock No.1 at NHRA Route 66 Nationals

·         Allen Johnson is provisional No.1 Pro Stock qualifier at 17th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet, Illinois, near Chicago
·         Defending Pro Stock title holder, Jeg Coughlin Jr. puts his Dodge Dart third in Friday qualifying and has most wins (5) of any active driver at Route 66 Raceway
·         Tommy Johnson Jr. continues hot streak as top Mopar and second quickest in Funny Car qualifying

Joliet, Illinois (Friday, June 27) – With either a Pro Stock or Funny Car title win at each of the last five National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) national events, Mopar teams and drivers seemed particularly motivated to keep that streak alive with their efforts in Friday qualifying for the 17th annual Route 66 NHRA Nationals in Joliet, Illinois, near Chicago.

Allen Johnson drove his “Magneti Marelli Offered by Mopar” Dodge Dart to the top of the time sheets in both Friday Pro Stock qualifying sessions to take the provisional No.1 qualifier position with the quickest elapsed time run of 6.574 seconds at 209.43 miles per hour.

“The track cooled off 25-30 degrees and this track is one of the best racing surfaces on the tour, and that parlayed into just really ‘getting after’ it down in first gear,” said Johnson who has two No.1 qualifier positions this season and hoping to hold on to his provisional one through Saturday. “The Mopar Magneti Marelli team just hit it perfect on that run. There was nothing left. We made two of probably the best runs we’ve made this year. We’ve been a little inconsistent from time to time so maybe we are starting our run of consistency.”

While weather conditions call for heat and humidity throughout the weekend, Johnson won’t be complaining.

“The HEMI (engines) seem to come to life in the humidity and we like these kinds of conditions. It’s going to be hot and muggy all weekend and we’ll take it.”

The defending title holder at Route 66 Raceway, Jeg Coughlin Jr. was close behind his Mopar teammate posting with the third quickest run of the day at 6.604 seconds (209.04 mph) in the JEGS.com Dodge Dart. Coughlin qualified third last year and went on to drive to his fifth win at this track, the most of any active NHRA driver for this national event.

Coming into this event, Coughlin and Johnson are second and third, respectively, in the Pro Stock championship standings with just 13 points separating them, and chasing their opponent and category leader Eric Enders-Stevens, who has a 187 point lead.

Fellow HEMI-powered driver, V. Gaines, who has two runner-up finishes so far this season, rounded out the top-12 provisional spots with an e.t. of 6.643 seconds (209.01 mph) aboard his Dodge Dart.

Funny Car title winners at the last two NHRA national events, Don Schumacher Racing drivers Tommy Johnson Jr. and Ron Capps, were the top Mopars in Friday qualifying with the second and third quickest runs overall.

Johnson earned a bonus point with his first pass and then bettered his time on the cooler evening track surface by posting a 4.038 second elapsed time run at 318.32 mph for a provisional No.2 qualifier position and two extra points.

Last week’s title winner, Ron Capps took his Dodge Charger R/T for a 4.040-second ride at 312.50 mph for the third spot on the timing sheets, while DSR teammate Jack Beckman joined him in the top-five by taking his HEMI-powered machine on an e.t. run of 4.048 seconds at 315.64 mph for the provisional fifth place position.

After the first session, Matt Hagan was second quickest in the Mopar Express Lane Dodge Charger R/T with a 4.095-second pass at 311.92 mph to take home two valuable bonus points. In his second attempt, Hagan was ahead of eventual provisional No.1 qualifier, Robert Hight (4.026/317.64) at the 300 ft. mark in the adjacent lane, but had to back off the throttle and settle for a tenth place provisional spot.

John Force Racing

John Force Racing–JFR TOPS IN FUNNY CAR AND TOP FUEL FRIDAY IN CHICAGO

JFR TOPS IN FUNNY CAR AND TOP FUEL FRIDAY IN CHICAGO

Hight, B. Force Provisional No. 1s in Funny Car, Top Fuel

JOLIET, IL– It was a banner night at Route 66 Raceway outside of Chicago as Robert Hight and Brittany Force led the way in qualifying at the 17th annual O’Reilly Auto Parts Rt. 66 NHRA Nationals in Funny Car and Top Fuel respectively. If Hight’s No. 1 holds it will be his second in a row and second of the season. For sophomore Top Fuel sensation Brittany Force it would be her third of the season and third in five races.

Hight and his Auto Club Ford Mustang Funny Car dominated the class posting the quickest ETs in both sessions and picking up six qualifying bonus points. Hight was enthused by his continued strong performance at the end of the day.

“The way my Auto Club Ford has been running yeah I believed we could get back in the No. 1 spot. I believed everybody would run a little better. It is pretty humid out here and I think people are missing the tune-up a little bit. This race track is so great that whatever you are throwing at it the race track is taking it away,” said Hight.  “(Crew chief) Mike Neff was very happy with that run. It puts us No. 1 after the first session and No. 1 tonight. That is six points today and tomorrow we are going to get all over this thing. We are going to get after it. We are either going to run a three or we are going to smoke the tires trying.”

“What we are doing now is we are really looking forward to the Countdown. We are lucky to get two night runs here in great conditions on a great race track. When the fall comes you are going to have some more good race tracks like this with really good conditions. We need to be the ones stepping up and running the three second runs and qualifying at the top.”

The progress Hight has seen in the past couple of race shows a shift in the focus of his team. It is a change that has the 2009 Mello Yello Funny Car champion excited about the future direction of his team.

“What we have been doing the last couple of weeks is really not Mike Neff’s forte. He is usually really steady and right around the No. 4 qualifier. He has changed his game a little bit with the points lead that we have. We are getting after it here and we are already taking some big swings,” added Hight, who has already won four times in 2014.

“That run earlier today was strong. If you look back to last weekend we ran three 4.06s in a row and then a 4.07 the first run today. That just shows you what kind of handle these guys have on this Auto Club Mustang. I joke that this Funny Car will go down a dirt road and run that kind of ET. It is just the handle Mike Neff has on it and when he has a handle on a car like this and the team is clicking it is a lot of fun to race right now.”

The partnership of Hight and Neff continues to get stronger and the results of that bond are showing up on the race track. Neff won here in 2011 and Hight has reached the final round here twice but has never reached the winner’s circle. The past five years a different JFR Funny Car driver has reached the final round but only Neff has taken a Mustang to the winner’s circle.

“He understands exactly what I am going through. He has been there and done everything. He clams me down. (Hight’s former crew chief) Jimmy Prock is a great crew chief but he has never been down a race track behind the wheel. Mike Neff can see both sides. He knows what a driver wants to hear. We are the same demeanor. He and John (Force) were total opposites when they were together. John is a total fire drill and Neff is laid back and relaxed,” explained Hight in the media center.

On the heels of Hight’s No. 1 performance Brittany Force drove her 10,000 horsepower Castrol EDGE Dragster to the provisional number one spot with a ground pounding 3.791 second pass at 324.51 mph. Brittany will have two more attempts to secure her third top starting position but she was awarded with three NHRA Mello Yello Bonus Points for her and the team’s stellar effort tonight.

“I was excited as it felt like a good run and I could also feel the car pull me to the centerline of the track. I never thought we’d be number one but we got the Castrol EDGE dragster down there and I jumped out on the other end and they said it ran a 3.79 and we we’re number one. I was so pumped and excited  but I was also keeping my fingers crossed that it would hold as there were some good teams that ran right after us that could have bumped up from the number one spot,” said Brittany Force.

The 2013 Auto Club of Southern California Road to the Future Award winner is well into her sophomore season driving one of the quickest accelerating vehicles on the planet and her confidence behind the wheel has dramatically improved.

“On every run, I get more experience and my confidence goes up. When my dragster started to drive towards the centerline, I simply kept a loose grip on the steering wheel and keep it as straight as I can. We got the car down there and I’m proud of that,” said Brittany Force

Even with constant last minute advise for her legendary father, Brittany has developed a pattern for just doing her routine and not getting frazzled whether she’s in the staging lanes or making a sub-four second pass down the drag strip.

“People will reach in to the cockpit and says things, including dad as he’s always given me advice but I’m in the zone. I just look down the track thinking about my routine, staying focused and what I need to do as a driver,” said Brittany Force.

For Todd Smith, the Castrol EDGE Dragster crew chief, he knew the weather and track conditions were getting better by the second during the evening qualifying session and wasn’t afraid to take advantage of them.

“We were swinging for the fence as the conditions kept improving as we were in the staging lane on that second session. To get the car to run good, it’s pretty much the same principle. We did make some changes for the weather by adding more clutch and more horsepower and it’s the proper application of the two,” said Smith.

On the first pass, the Castrol EDGE Dragster ran a 4.687 second at 158.28 mph but her 10,000 horsepower race car started to smoke the tires and Brittany had to abort the run as to prevent inflicting additional damage to the dragster.

However, that didn’t stop the Castrol EDGE team to evaluate the run and make the necessary changes to get to get the car prepared for the evening session.

“The evening session will probably be the best for us due to the weather conditions but we’ll get another two runs tomorrow. On Sunday, we’re going to be running in the middle of the day and that’s not comparable to the run we had tonight. However, getting four runs in is what we need to see what this car can do,” said Brittany Force

With three back-to-back races, it might be tough on some drivers but for Brittany Force, it seems to agree with her based on her team’s performance to get another pole position in the highly competitive Top Fuel class.

“If we could do these back-to-back races all the time, I’d love it. For me to be able to come right back out here and jump into my car I feel so much more comfortable. Always on the first day of qualifying at a race, I sit in the car while we’re warming it up and go through my routine. That’s what I always do to feel more comfortable and it’s that first run that makes me nervous but with back-to-back races, I feel less nervous and more relaxed and comfortable in the car and that’s what I love about it,” said Brittany Force.

Courtney Force brought her Traxxas Ford Mustang to Route 66 Raceway and laid down two great passes on the race track right out of the gate to put her in the top half of the field going into Saturday. She had a hole out and still posted a 4.124 ET at 301.47 mph on her first run. The Traxxas team followed up with a quick 4.047 ET at top speed of the day at 319.75 mph and put them in the No. 4 spot for now.

“We had two great sessions today. On our first session we had a hole out down there and it shredded the belt so it slowed us to 301 mph and it still ran a 4.12 so it definitely got me pumped up for the night run. We definitely were excited to see our Traxxas Ford Mustang lay down a 4.04 and it took us up to the top half of the field. It feels great. Ron Douglas has definitely got this thing going. It makes me excited for tomorrow. We’re going to have the same kind of conditions going into tomorrow night. It’s exciting to hopefully see some of these guys run in the 3.0’s. Hopefully I’ll be one of them,” said Force.

Route 66 Raceway is the site of Courtney’s first ever final, which happened during her rookie year in 2012. Last year, she and her Traxxas team led by Ron Douglas qualified in the No. 7 with a 4.042 ET at 315.78 mph, but they’re looking for the win this year.

After two qualifying runs, John Force and his Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang ended up in the sixth spot with a solid 4.049 second run at 316.38 mph. The improving weather conditions on the second qualifying session had the Castrol GTX High Mileage crew making last minute adjustments in the staging lanes in hopes of stepping up the cars performance and it paid off for them.

The 16-time NHRA Mello World Champion and his crew have also been working diligently on getting the 8000-horsepower Mustang’s performance consistent and qualified in the top-half of the field.

“On that first session, we didn’t get to the other end as Jimmy Prock (crew chief, Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang Funny Car) had the car too safe and it was weak. Coming into the night session, we really thought it would run in the threes. Mike Neff almost did with a 4.02 but we were being safe. And still ran an 4.04 so it shows you our tune up is way off when we think it’s going to run a 4.08, it ends up running a 4.04. So, we ought to pull it back to where we think it’ll go and pull it back more and that’s what Jimmy Prock is doing,” said John Force.

In the opening session, John Force’s Funny Car went about 100 feet out and then the massive Goodyear slicks brook loose and lost traction. John did try pedal his race car in hopes of trying to save the run but it was heading for the retaining wall and the seasoned driver made a wise move and backed off the throttle.

At last year’s O’Reilly Auto Parts Route 66 NHRA Nationals, John Force would end up qualified fifth with a strong 4.010 second run. Up to that point, it was his quickest career elapsed time. The Castrol GTX High Mileage Mustang team and the reigning world champ with get two more attempts to improve his qualifying position before Sunday’s Eliminations.

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