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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes – NCTS LOIRP Post-Race Quotes (8.11.23)

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Official Release
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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
TSport 200 Qualifying | Friday, August 11, 2023

TY MAJESKI DRIVES F-150 TO FIRST TRUCK SERIES WIN OF SEASON IN PLAYOFF OPENER AT LUCAS OIL INDIANAPOLIS RACEWAY PARK

  • Ty Majeski helped Ford to its fifth NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory of 2023.
  • Majeski led 179 of 200 laps, completing a sweep of the race after wins in the first two stages.
  • This is Majeski’s first victory and second Top-10 in two appearances at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Ty Majeski
5th – Zane Smith
9th – Matt Crafton
16th – Ben Rhodes
21st – Logan Bearden
27th – Conner Jones
31st – Hailie Deegan

TY MAJESKI, No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 – WHAT DOES THIS WIN MEAN FOR YOU AND THE TEAM? “We didn’t win last week, and the message coming back is that we win and lose as a team, right? The speeding penalty and then obviously missed the strategy, and these guys crawled behind us, right? When you give races away like that, it’s how you recover from them. This team is really resilient. We have a good group around us. We assembled a good group, and I love working with Joe [Shear Jr.]. We’ve had a lot of fun. We’re just a couple of short track guys having fun on the NASCAR stage. It’s pretty cool.”

THE RESTARTS, ESPECIALLY FROM THE TOP, SEEMED TO BE A MAJOR CONTRIBUTING FACTOR TO YOUR VICTORY. “Yeah, you know the track had less grip than last year. Last year, the bottom was working well for me. I could get it turned and get it rotated off the bottom well. But, this year there was just a lack of grip. We were six, seven tenths off all night, and it just took a little bit of a different restart strategy to maintain the lead. I just threw a pretty good bomb there on that one restart and was able to cross them over – clear sailing.”

YOU WON BOTH STAGES AND RECEIVED MAXIMUM POINTS. WHAT KIND OF STATEMENT IS THIS INTO THE PLAYOFFS? “We’re peaking at the right time. This is exactly when we peaked last year, and it looks like we’re trending in the same direction. Hopefully this is just the start of our playoff run. We want to go and win Milwaukee, right? That’s my home race. Go win Kansas. We’ve had great trucks at all those places. Obviously, Milwaukee we’re going back to for the first time but Kansas, it’s been a good track for us. Bristol and Homestead we’ve won, and Phoenix we’re in the mix to the end. That’s the end goal. Hopefully we can get Road Ranger, Soda Sense and all our supporters back to Phoenix. That would be pretty special.”

ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Boot Barn Ford F-150 – “We came to our truck right before the race and had a flat right-rear before we even got going. We knew we were going to have to fight through some adversity before we even got going, but proud of our night. Our pit crew did an awesome job on our Boot Barn Ford. We experienced positive changes and worse changes throughout the night, but was happy there somewhat during that final run. Just wish we would have fired off a little better to maintain our track position. I wish we wouldn’t have fallen off so hard there at the very end. It’s the long pursuit of never being perfect. We’ll work on it. It was still a solid run of keeping our short track streak of good finishes alive.”

MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Generac/Menards Ford F-150 – “We just couldn’t fire off. We were really bad on the short run. The first run, we were battling and good on the short run. But as the night went on, we were just really bad on the short run, and then in the long run we were actually pretty good. I just wish we had about another 30 laps to go because we were running that group down in front of us pretty quickly. But all-in-all, not a terrible night. Top-10 is okay. I definitely had a little bit of a better truck if we had a longer run.”

Toyota Racing – NCTS Indianapolis Post-Race Report – 08.11.23

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Official Release
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SAWALICH DELIVERS CAREER-BEST RESULT IN INDIANAPOLIS
Heim grows points advantage with 10th straight top-10 run

CLERMONT, Ind. (August 11, 2023) – William Sawalich (sixth) led Team Toyota with a career-best result at Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday evening. The 16-year-old Toyota Development driver has now earned top-10 finishes in three of his first four Truck Series starts.

Points leader Corey Heim (eighth) continued his impressive streak with his 10th top-10 finish in a row, and 14th top-10 in 16 starts this season. With the finish, Heim extended his advantage to the Playoff cutline to 47 points heading into Milwaukee.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series
Indianapolis Raceway Park
Race 17 of 23 – 200 Laps, 137 Miles

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Ty Majeski*
2nd, Christian Eckes*
3rd, Layne Riggs*
4th, Carson Hocevar*
5th, Zane Smith*
6th, WILLIAM SAWALICH
8th, COREY HEIM
15th, TANNER GRAY
17th, JAKE DREW
20th, TAYLOR GRAY
26th, TYLER HILL
29th, CHRIS HACKER
30th, STEWART FRIESEN
32nd, DEAN THOMPSON
34th, TYLER ANKRUM
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

WILLIAM SAWALICH, No. 1 Starkey/Soundgear Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage

Finishing Position: 6th

Can you talked about what you learned and another career-best result?

“The ARCA race – I really learned a lot from that. It was a little hotter, a little slicker. Once it cooled off, the track definitely picked up grip – especially front grip. We fired off a little tight in stage one, but we fixed it. We had a really fast pit stop – I think we picked up five spots, so I was really happy with that. TRICON Garage gave me a really fast SoundGear Toyota Tundra TRD Pro.”

COREY HEIM, No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro, TRICON Garage

Finishing Position: 8th

Can you talk about your race and outlook heading into Milwaukee?

“I don’t think it was a bad effort overall. Obviously, we want to win – but we are points racing to try to get to Phoenix. We did just that today. Hopefully, we extended our lead a little bit and head to Milwaukee, which is going to be tough for us as a team, but proud of TRICON Garage and Toyota Racing for their efforts. Definitely a contending Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro tonight – the 98 (Ty Majeski) was just by far the best. We have a little bit of work to do, but I think we have some good tracks coming up for us.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 45 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 24 electrified options.

CHEVROLET NCS AT INDIANAPOLIS ROAD COURSE: Daniel Suarez Media Availability Quotes

By
Official Release
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NASCAR CUP SERIES
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY R.C.
VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
AUGUST 11, 2023

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 FREEWAY.COM CAMARO ZL1, met with the media prior to the NASCAR Cup Series race weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. Media Availability Quotes:

I’m told you just finished up doing something pretty cool. Can you tell us about that?

“Yeah, as some of you guys know, my fiancé Julia (Piquet), her father raced here at Indianapolis (Motor Speedway) back in 1992. He had a big accident and he destroyed his legs pretty much. Julia and I just met with Terry, who was the doctor that actually saved his legs. And not just his legs, but many other drivers that year and some more over the years, as well. It was very special, especially for Julia, to get to meet him because she has had a lot of conversations with her dad about that day because actually she was born the same day. She was born the day that her father had the accident, 12 hours later. So yeah, it’s very crazy. Drew was the one that put all of this together, my PR, so it was pretty cool. Actually he was here, as well. You can tell how old he is (laughs). But yeah, it was definitely a great moment. For me, I always love meeting new people, but it was a very special moment for Julia and I was able to enjoy her excitement.”

You have a couple of races left of the regular season. You’re getting close to pointing your way in, but obviously getting a victory is going to take the pressure off. You’re a good road course driver, so what do you think your prospects are of winning here?

“Honestly, I think our chances are as good as anyone’s out there. I feel very good about it. Last year, we were running up front in this race – in the top five for most of the race. So I have good expectations for this race. Personally, I’m not really paying much attention to the points right now. I’m just trying to focus on one race at a time. Obviously once in a while, it’s impossible not to look at the points because everyone is talking about it.. everyone is posting about it. But no, I feel pretty good about it and I believe that we’re going to be very strong the next couple of weeks, especially here at the Indianapolis (Motor Speedway Road Course) and at Watkins Glen (International). Obviously Daytona (International Speedway) is a free card for everyone.

I feel good about it. I think a win here in Indianapolis, it would be like a dream. This place is like none other. Every time you go through the tunnel and you see what’s in front of you, it’s quite special. I remember it like it was yesterday, the very first time that I drove through the tunnel. I still get goosebumps like the very first time, so it would be very, very special to get a win here and I think we’re fully capable of doing it. Like I said, I think our chances for this weekend are as good as anyone’s and I can’t wait to start the weekend tomorrow.”

Inaudible… How do you expect your performance to be at Watkins Glen (International)?

“Yeah, I mean you’re right – honestly I’m not even thinking about Watkins Glen (International) at this point, but if we win both, that would be pretty amazing. Honestly I think that we can do it. I think that it would change our year around in a heartbeat, and I don’t see that being impossible at all. We just have to stay present – do our thing, have fun and I believe that we’re going to be in contention. I think we’re going to have a good time and hopefully we can be kissing some bricks on Sunday afternoon.”

Inaudible…

“Maybe a little bit, but I don’t think it’s going to take long for the racetrack to make those transitions. I think that tomorrow is going be the same because we only have 20 minutes of practice and qualifying. But for Sunday, maybe the first 10 minutes is going to be different, but then we’re going to start applying the rubber off our tires. The way I see those things is that it’s going to be the same for everyone. I think it’s one of those things that you know about it, that it’s going to change, and you try not to focus too much about it because you know that it’s going to be very temporary.. the transition of it. But the good thing is that the race track is going to be clean and most likely very racy.”

Turn One here has obviously been ‘calamity corner’ the last couple of years. NASCAR has backed the restart zone up between turns 13 and 14 before you get to the frontstretch. Do you think that will change anything trying to spread you guys up a little bit more down the frontstretch before you get to Turn One?

“Yeah, definitely.. definitely. I think that, in my opinion, that’s going to fix 70 to 80 percent of the problem. We can thank the drive council for that one (laughs). We pushed very hard for that – to do it here and hopefully in the future at Circuit of The Americas, as well.

I think it’s very important. You guys want to watch a race.. you guys want to watch a real race. Nobody wants to watch a crapshoot in corner one. That’s not real racing. I was re-watching the race from last year and at one point, we were like six wide in corner one.. that’s impossible. I don’t think you can go six wide on a bicycle race in there without contact, so it’s not real. It was about time to get rid of that because it was starting to become a little bit of a joke, in my opinion. So I’m happy that NASCAR was open to listen to this option and they were open to a change. Sometimes you’re always concerned about – OK, does NASCAR really want to change these, or do they care about the show only? But NASCAR was very good about it. Yeah, it’s entertaining, but we don’t want to look bad either. So I thought it was a great decision and really looking forward to seeing how it works.

I do believe that you’re still going to have a couple of guys, maybe, that still try to do some crazy things. But there’s more racing, more normal. I think if we restart back there, I think the field is going to be more spread out.”

You said it fixes 70 to 80 percent.. what are the other issues and how do you fix what’s left to completely avoid the carnage that we’ve seen down there?

“Yeah, I say 70 to 80 percent just because we haven’t seen it yet and that’s just my guess. And also, if you have a couple of guys that have a good run, you can still be three or four wide over there and it can lead into a wreck. But what we have seen in the past of cars pushing each other five wide or six wide, like what I call embarrassing racing or like bumper cars, I don’t think we’re going to see that again. I think that’s pretty much 98.7 percent of the equation. But still, I think there’s going to be good racing. I think there’s going to be a little bit of contact.. it’s going to be a little physical. But I don’t think we’re going to see the crazy bumper cars that we’ve seen in the past here, at COTA and some of these places.”

For this track, what section do you find technically the hardest to navigate, and what is the best passing zone?

“So the most difficult part of the track.. that’s a very good question. I think that the more technical part is between corner, I would say from seven all the way to 12. I would say those are the most technical.. the more technical part. When it comes to passing zones, obviously corner one and corner seven. I think those are the best passing zones. I think actually corner 12 can be a passing zone, but it’s a little more tricky.. along with corner 13, as well. But they are a little more risky. I would say that corner one and seven are the more straightforward, just because you have a longer straightaway so you can do different things with brakes and things like that.

But overall, here at Indianapolis (Motor Speedway Road Course), it’s an amazing racetrack. I personally love it. I love coming here and it would be very special to have a good run here and getting a win on Sunday. Hopefully we can do it.”

I know it’s a very busy weekend schedule for both series, but have you had a chance to spend some quality time with Pato O’Ward?

“No, I haven’t even talked to him. We messaged a couple of weeks ago, but no I haven’t even talked to him. I arrived yesterday afternoon and I already had dinner plans. This morning, I was very busy the entire morning. And then I’ve been doing appearances and media stuff for a sponsor, so I haven’t even had the opportunity to talk to him. I don’t even know where he qualified.. I think he qualified in the top-five, right? Top-Six? I think he qualified well. I’m going to catchup with him for sure tomorrow. This is the crazy thing.. we’re so close and too far, as well. We’re in the same place, but also he’s very busy with his schedule and I’m very busy with my schedule. But I’m very sure we’re going to catchup tomorrow before his race. That’s going to be fun. I’m pretty sure he’s going to be strong here. Last year, I remember talking to him – he was very strong on the short runs, but he was struggling a little bit on the long runs. Hopefully they’ve got that one figured out.”

If you go back to Daytona (International Speedway) in 2021, Trackhouse Racing was a one car team. They’ve got a team owner that’s very ambitious, and now here we are in 2023, Trackhouse Racing is big-time and may be getting even bigger. What’s it like to see how far this team has come in such a short period of time?

“I hope it continues that way. Justin Marks is an amazing racecar driver and an amazing team owner. He’s very, like you mentioned, he’s very ambitious. There’s no limits and I really like that. He loves to think outside the box and I think that’s what’s gotten Trackhouse Racing to this point, and I don’t think we’re at the limit. I think the future of Trackhouse is still very, very bright and there’s a lot more things that are going to continue to happen. Right now, we have two cars full-time, but Shane (van Gisbergen) is kind of that guy that’s going in and out, and I wouldn’t be surprised if more things happened with Shane or with someone else. I think Justin – his gears are always clicking and he’s always thinking ahead, and I like that about him. I think we have an amazing race team – great people, great sponsors, great drivers, great overall. We have something good going on, we just have to continue to build and continue to get better because I feel like this year has been good, but not great. So we still have some work to do and we know what we have to do.”

You were talking about Indianapolis being a very special place. Would you want to see it go back to the oval or stay on the road course?

“You know, I have mixed feelings with that. I love road course racing. I love Indianapolis. But I love the oval, as well. The oval – that’s Indianapolis. That’s the history of this place. I think winning on Sunday, it would be unbelievable. But I think winning on Sunday on the oval – I don’t know why, but I feel like it would have a little bit of a different feel. I could be wrong. I hope I get to experience both. But whatever happens in the future, if we go back to the oval or not, I know I’m going to enjoy it so much because I love both so much. I’m looking forward to those opportunities. Honestly, selfishly talking, I hope we can do two races or one and one – one next year on the oval and the following year road course, and then oval again. I think that would be amazing just because I love both so much. When we changed from the oval to the road course, I was super excited. And right now, if we get to change again, I would be excited, as well. I just like the change and I don’t think that you can go wrong with either. I think the race track is just unbelievable and it has so much opportunity and it’s just so special to be here. I just wish we were coming more often. This is an amazing place.”

 
 

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Majeski wins Truck Playoff opener at IRP; snaps yearlong winless drought

By
Andrew Kim
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Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.

After enduring a winless drought throughout the regular-season stretch, Ty Majeski commenced the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs with an emphatic statement after notching a dominant victory in the TSport 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park on Friday, August 11.

The 28-year-old Majeski from Seymour, Wisconsin, led twice for a race-high 179 of 200-scheduled laps in an event where he started on the front row and quickly assumed the lead by the fourth lap. Proceeding to sweep both stage periods and fending off several restart challenges, including from ones by Playoff rivals Christian Eckes and Corey Heim, Majeski capitalized on a restart with 52 laps remaining to muscle his No. 98 ThorSport Racing Ford entry away from the field and claim the Playoff opener victory by more than three seconds over Eckes.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, August 11, Playoff contender Christian Eckes secured his second Truck pole position of the 2023 season after posting a pole-winning lap at 107.918 mph in 22.884 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Playoff contender Ty Majeski, who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 107.739 mph in 22.922 seconds.

Prior to the event, the following names that included Playoff contender Zane Smith, Lawless Alan, Matt Mills and Logan Bearden dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective trucks. Tyler Ankrum also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup truck.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Eckes muscled ahead with an early advantage on the inside lane followed by Majeski and Corey Heim as the field fanned out through the first two turns. As the field continued to fan out and jostle early for positions, Eckes proceeded to lead the first lap in his No. 19 NAPA Chevrolet Silverado RST while Majeski and Heim battled for the runner-up spot.

Through the second lap and as the field continued to jostle early for positions, Eckes maintained the lead by a tenth of a second over Majeski with Heim following pursuit. By the third lap, however, Majeski drew himself even against Eckes in an early battle for the lead. He continued to duel with Eckes for the following lap until Majeski muscled ahead from the outside lane. Another lap later and at the fifth lap mark, Heim moved into the runner-up spot over Eckes as he began his pursuit on Majeski for the lead.

At the Lap 10 mark, Majeski was leading by nine-tenths of a second over Heim followed by Eckes, Carson Hocevar and Grant Enfinger while rookie Jake Garcia, rookie Nick Sanchez, rookie Rajah Caruth, Matt Crafton and Layne Riggs were in the top 10. Behind, William Sawalich was in 11th ahead of Tanner Gray, Colby Howard, Ben Rhodes and Stewart Friesen while Jake Drew, Dean Thompson, rookie Daniel Dye, Chase Purdy and Connor Jones battled in the top 20. Meanwhile, Zane Smith was mired in 21st ahead of Matt DiBenedetto.

Nearing the Lap 14 mark, the first caution of the event flew for a multi-truck wreck involving Greg Van Alst, Landen Lewis and Hailie Deegan in Turn 3.

When the race restarted on Lap 21, Majeski received a push from Eckes on the inside lane to emerge ahead by a hair before Eckes and Heim took Majeski three-wide in Turn 1. With Majeski and Heim breaking away from the field entering the backstretch, Heim gained the advantage on the outside lane through Turns 3 and 4 as he assumed the lead in his No. 11 Safelite Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for the following lap, though Majeski kept pressuring him for the lead. Majeski and Heim would then battle dead even for the proceeding laps until Heim muscled ahead by Lap 23. As Heim fended off Majeski for the lead, Eckes retained third while Hocevar and Enfinger were in the top five.

Nearing the Lap 30 mark, the battle for the lead intensified as Majeski made several attempts to draw even with Heim through the turns and the straightaways from the inside lane, though Heim managed to remain ahead while running on the outside lane. While both continued to battle nearly dead even for the lead, Eckes was under pressure by Hocevar for third place as Enfinger retained fifth ahead of Garcia, Riggs, Caruth, Sanchez and Tanner Gray.

By Lap 40, Majeski, who pulled the slide job on Heim in Turn 1 to assume the lead a lap earlier, was leading by two-tenths of a second in his No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 over Heim followed by Eckes, Hocevar and Enfinger while Garcia, Riggs, Sanchez, Caruth and Tanner Gray were in the top 10. Behind, Zane Smith was up to 11th ahead of Rhodes, Jake Drew, Sawalich and Crafton while Thompson, Purdy, DiBenedetto, Taylor Gray and Deegan were running in the top 20.

Six laps later, contact was made on Lap 46 as Garcia, who was trying to overtake Enfinger for fifth, got loose, slid up the track and forced Enfinger to scrape the outside wall through Turns 1 and 2. Both, though, continued to run in the top 10 as Majeski extended his advantage to two seconds over Heim.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 60, Majeski, who ran into the rear bumper of rookie Daniel Dye in Turn 1 to get him loose and lap him several laps earlier, claimed his fifth stage victory of the 2023 Truck season. Heim settled in second followed by Eckes while Riggs, Garcia, Hocevar, Enfinger, Caruth, Tanner Gray and Zane Smith were scored in the top 10. By then, 23 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap while Rhodes, Sanchez, Crafton and DiBenedetto did not score any stage points from the first stage period.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski pitted for service. Following the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead after exiting first followed by Heim, Hocevar, Enfinger and Tanner Gray while Eckes exited sixth after losing three spots on pit road.

The second stage started on Lap 70 as Majeski and Heim occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski rocketed ahead with the lead from the outside lane as the field fanned out entering Turn 1. Through the backstretch, Majeski retained the lead over Heim while Enfinger was in third ahead of Hocevar and Eckes amid the field still fanning out and jostling for positions.

At the Lap 75 mark, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Heim while Enfinger, Hocevar and Eckes remained in the top five. Behind, Sawalich was in sixth followed by Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Zane Smith and Riggs while Jake Drew, Sanchez, Crafton, DiBenedetto and Caruth occupied the top 15 on the track.

Ten laps later, Majeski extended his advantage to more than two seconds over Heim while third-place Enfinger trailed by more than three seconds. Meanwhile, Hocevar and Eckes remained in the top five while Playoff contenders Rhodes and Zane Smith were in eighth and ninth. By then, the remaining Playoff contenders that included Sanchez, Crafton and DiBenedetto were mired in 11th, 13th and 16th, respectively.

At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Majeski continued to extend his advantage as he was leading by more than three seconds over Heim while Enfinger, Eckes and Hocevar continued to run in the top five. Behind, Sawalich, Tanner Gray, Zane Smith, Rhodes and Riggs were in the top 10 as 23 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap. Notably, Sanchez and Crafton were in 11th and 12th, DiBenedetto was mired in 15th ahead of Garcia and Shane van Gisbergen, the debutant winner of the NASCAR Cup Series event at the Chicago Street Course who was making both his Truck and oval debut for Niece Motorsports, was in 22nd behind Jack Wood.

Ten laps later, Majeski, who lapped van Gisbergen a few laps earlier, retained the lead by more than five seconds over Heim while third-place Enfinger trailed by more than six seconds. As Eckes and Hocevar remained in the top five, Zane Smith moved up to seventh over Tanner Gray while Sanchez cracked the top 10 ahead of Crafton.

Another five laps later, the caution flew when Chris Hacker, a Noblesville, Indiana, native got loose and spun entering the backstretch as he barely managed to keep his No. 30 UBPN/Morgan & Morgan Toyota Tundra TRD Pro off the wall before continuing. Hacker’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 120 to finish under caution as Majeski captured his sixth Truck stage victory of the 2023 season and second of the night. Heim settled in second while Enfinger, Eckes, Hocevar, Sawalich, Zane Smith, Tanner Gray, Riggs and Sanchez were scored in the top 10. By then, 20 of 36 competitors were scored on the lead lap while Playoff contenders Crafton, DiBenedetto and Rhodes were scored outside the top 10.

Under the stage break, the lead lap field led by Majeski returned to pit road for service. Following the pit stops, Majeski retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Heim, Enfinger, Zane Smith, Sawalich, Eckes and Hocevar. Amid the pit stops, Heim was sent to the rear of the field for a safety violation after a crew member fell over his pit box while trying to retrieve a tire due to his pit stop. In addition, Enfinger made another pit stop to address missing lug nuts to his No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST.

With 73 laps remaining, the final stage started under green as Majeski and Zane Smith occupied the front row. At the start, Majeski and Smith dueled for the lead until Majeski managed to rocket ahead from the outside lane through the first two turns and the backstretch. As the field fanned out and jostled for late positions, Eckes moved up to second while Hocevar, Sawalich and Riggs battled behind Smith. Amid the racing, Tanner Gray, who was running in the top 10, was black-flagged by NASCAR for a restart violation as he changed lanes prior to reaching the start/finish line to restart the event.

Shortly after and just as Tanner Gray was serving his penalty through pit road, the caution returned with 70 laps remaining when Dean Thompson got squeezed towards the outside wall through the backstretch. As Thompson’s truck was slowly sliding to a halt, he was then T-boned by Spencer Boyd as both competitors were left with heavy damage to their respective trucks.

Following an extensive caution period, the event restarted with 60 laps remaining. At the start, Majeski muscled ahead of Eckes from the outside lane to retain the lead as the field fanned out through the first two turns. With Majeski leading by nearly half a second during the proceeding laps, Eckes retained second while Zane Smith, Riggs and Hocevar were in the top five. The caution, however, returned with 59 laps remaining when Hailie Deegan spun off the front nose of Landen Lewis and rear-ended her No. 13 Ford Performance Ford F-150 into the outside wall in Turn 1 as her event came to a late end.

During the proceeding restart with 52 laps remaining, Majeski and Eckes dueled for the lead through Turn 1 as Eckes tried to muscle ahead from the inside lane. Eckes, however, slid up the track entering the backstretch, which allowed Majeski to regain the advantage and reassume the lead as the field jostled for positions throughout the following lap. With Majeski leading with 50 laps remaining, Eckes retained second ahead of Hocevar while Riggs and Zane Smith battled for fourth in front of Sawalich. In the midst of the battles towards the front, ThorSport Racing’s Rhodes and Crafton battled for seventh.

With 40 laps remaining, Majeski was leading by more than a second over Eckes followed by Hocevar, Riggs and Zane Smith while Sawalich, Caruth, Heim, Crafton and Sanchez were running and battling in the top 10. Behind, Rhodes was in 11th ahead of Enfinger, DiBenedetto, Garcia and Purdy while van Gisbergen, Jake Drew, Tanner Gray, Taylor Gray and Jack Wood were mired in the top 20.

Ten laps later, Majeski continued to lead by more than two seconds over Eckes while Riggs, who moved up to third place, trailed by nearly four seconds ahead of Hocevar and Zane Smith. Behind, Sawalich and Caruth retained sixth and seventh while Heim was still scored in eighth ahead of Sanchez and Crafton.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, Majeski stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over runner-up Eckes while third-place Riggs continued to trail by more than four seconds. By then, seven of 10 Playoff contenders were running in the top 10 while the remaining Playoff competitors that included DiBenedetto, Rhodes and Enfinger were mired in 11th through 13th, respectively.

With less than 15 laps remaining, Majeski retained the lead by nearly three seconds over Eckes and more than four seconds over third-place Riggs. Majeski would continue to lead by more than two seconds over Eckes with 10 laps remaining as Hocevar and Zane Smith remained in the top five ahead of Sawalich.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Majeski was leading by more than three seconds over Eckes and more than four seconds over third-place Riggs as the laps continued to dwindle.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Majeski remained as the leader by more than three seconds over Eckes. With Eckes not gaining ground to mount a final lap charge for the win, Majeski, who also had a clear racetrack in front of him, managed to cycle his way around the circuit for a final time and return to the frontstretch victorious for the first time in 2023.

With the victory, Majeski notched his third career victory in the Craftsman Truck Series, all occurring throughout the Playoffs, and his first since winning at Homestead-Miami Speedway in October 2022. He also became the 14th different competitor to win at Indianapolis Raceway Park as he recorded the third victory of the season for ThorSport Racing and the fifth for Ford.

By winning the Playoff opener at Indianapolis Raceway Park, Majeski became the first competitor to transfer to the Round of 8 as he continues his pursuit for his first NASCAR Truck Series championship.

“Man, that was awesome. How about that, Indy?! Yeah!” Majeski said on FS1. “So cool. [Owners] Duke and Rhonda Thorson put the support into this race. They wanted [Indianapolis Raceway Park] to come back and they’re a huge reason behind that. Just so proud of everybody. Obviously, a heartbreaking loss last week at Richmond, but we win and lose as a team. This is so cool. Proud of the effort, but this is just the start of our Playoff run.”

Eckes, the pole-sitter who led three laps, settled in the runner-up spot for the second time this season and leaves Indianapolis Raceway Park with a 39-point advantage above the top-eight cutline to commence the Playoffs while Layne Riggs achieved a career-best third-place result in his sixth career start in the Truck Series and first with Spire Motorsports.

“I thought our NAPA AutoCare Chevrolet was really good there,” Eckes said. “[Majeski]’d fire off a little bit better, then would be just a little bit better throughout. They’ve kind of been the classes of the field on these style of races from the last two years. We got a little bit of homework to do on this style stuff, but overall, just really proud of my guys for bringing what we had.”

“[Tonight]’s huge,” Riggs said. “I feel like this proves that I deserve to be here every weekend. I love truck racing, I love NASCAR racing. I wanna do it more. It’s a rare occurrence when I can do this. It was a really good truck tonight. Thank you so much to everybody. I hope I can be at one soon.”

Hocevar came home in fourth place while Zane Smith ended up fifth as both competitors leave Indiana above the cutline.

William Sawalich, rookie Rajah Caruth, Heim, Crafton and DiBenedetto finished in the top 10. Notably, Playoff competitors Nick Sanchez, Grant Enfinger and Ben Rhodes finished 11th, 12th and 16th, respectively, while Shane van Gisbergen ended up 19th in his Truck Series debut.

There were three lead changes for three different leaders. The race featured five cautions for 41 laps. In addition, 18 of 36 starters finished on the lead lap.

Results.

1. Ty Majeski, 179 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

2. Christian Eckes, three laps led

3. Layne Riggs

4. Carson Hocevar

5. Zane Smith

6. William Sawalich

7. Rajah Caruth

8. Corey Heim, 18 laps led

9. Matt Crafton

10. Matt DiBenedetto

11. Nick Sanchez

12. Grant Enfinger

13. Jake Garcia

14. Chase Purdy

15. Tanner Gray

16. Ben Rhodes

17. Jake Drew

18. Jack Wood

19. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap down

20. Taylor Gray, one lap down

21. Logan Bearden, one lap down

22. Daniel Dye, one lap down

 23. Matt Mills, two laps down

24. Lawless Alan, two laps down

25. Bret Holmes, three laps down

26. Tyler Hill, three laps down

27. Connor Jones, four laps down

28. Landen Lewis, four laps down

29. Chris Hacker, five laps down

30. Stewart Friesen, 17 laps down

31. Hailie Deegan – OUT, Accident

32. Dean Thompson – OUT, Accident

33. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Accident

34. Tyler Ankrum – OUT, Electrical

35. Colby Howard – OUT, Suspension

36. Greg Van Alst – OUT, Accident

*Bold indicates Playoff contenders

Playoff standings.

1. Ty Majeski – Advanced

2. Corey Heim +47

3. Christian Eckes +39

4. Carson Hocevar +35

5. Zane Smith +29

6. Grant Enfinger +24

7. Ben Rhodes +4

8. Nick Sanchez +2

9. Matt Crafton -2

10. Matt DiBenedetto -3

With the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs underway, the second Round of 10 Playoff event is set to occur at the Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin, which will mark the series return to the venue since 2009. The event is scheduled to occur on August 27 at 4 p.m. ET on FS1.

McElrea Holds Off Teammate Roe for First Win of Season at IMS

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INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, Aug. 11, 2023) – Hunter McElrea drove to his first INDY NXT by Firestone victory of the season Friday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, leading all 35 laps from pole.

But this was far from a stroll on Easy Street.

McElrea, from New Zealand, held off Andretti Autosport teammate James Roe by .4370 of a second to earn his third career victory in the INDYCAR development series and his first since July 2022 at Iowa Speedway.

Roe, who trailed by nearly seven seconds with seven laps remaining, earned his first career podium finish in the No. 29 Topcon car after starting second. His previous best was fourth last Sunday at Nashville.

SEE: Race Results

“That was the hardest race of my life,” McElrea said. “From about Lap 15, I burned my rears (tires) off. I think we probably favored the qualifying car a bit much this weekend. I think it was a bit self-inflicted, but it (car) was a handful. I was hanging on for dear life.”

McElrea jumped to second in the championship standings, 33 points behind leader Christian Rasmussen, who finished sixth in the No. 6 HMD Motorsports with DCR car. Four races remain this season.

Rookie Reece Gold finished third in the No. 10 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing machine, his best result since earning his first career victory in June at Detroit.

Jacob Abel rallied from the eighth starting spot to finish fourth in the No. 51 Abel Motorsports entry. Kyffin Simpson rounded out the top five in the No. 21 HMD Motorsports with CGR car.

The race between McElrea and Roe on the final lap was the second tight duel for the race winner on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course.

Andretti Autosport teammate Louis Foster passed Roe for second early in the race and began his pursuit of McElrea. Foster closed to within .594 of a second on Lap 21 and caught McElrea on Lap 23. The two drivers went side by side on the back straightaway, with McElrea holding the lead into Turn 7.

On Lap 27, Foster tried to dive under McElrea for the lead in Turn 10, but McElrea closed the space, with the cars making contact and Foster hitting the curbing hard at the apex of the corner. That contact bent the suspension on Foster’s No. 26 Copart/USF Pro Championship car, and Roe and Gold quickly passed Foster’s slowing car.

The damage forced Foster to retire on Lap 29.

“I was watching him, and he was sliding around more than I was,” Foster said of McElrea. “We had more push-to-pass, as well. I went for a move, and he turned in on me, and I got damage. It’s unfortunate. We’re teammates. I would have expected a bit more space being given. I would have given more space myself.”

Said McElrea: “I had nothing for Louis there. I hate to see that. He should have been fighting for the win the whole way. He was very fast. It’s tough, man. I respect him a lot. It’s hard racing.”

McElrea led by 6.7817 seconds over Roe with seven laps remaining. But Roe gained huge chunks of time, around one second per lap, until the white flag.

Roe locked his front tire in Turn 1 on the final lap while chasing, giving McElrea the gap he needed to hang on for the win.

“I went conservative to start on push-to-pass,” Roe said. “Louis got by me; I knew he was quick. I saved push-to-pass. I didn’t use it for 20 laps. The deg (tire degradation) was pretty big here this weekend. I burned a lot of the tire off.

“When I went to use the push-to-pass there at the end, I didn’t have the tire to match the amount of the push-to-pass that I had. But, hey, a podium here. We’ve been on a run recently. We were super fast in Nashville, and here we go.”

The next race is the INDY NXT by Firestone OUTFRONT Showdown on Saturday, Aug. 26 at World Wide Technology Raceway. It’s the last oval race of the season.

INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix Race Results

INDIANAPOLIS – Results Friday of the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix INDY NXT by Firestone event on the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any):

  1. (1) Hunter McElrea, 35, Running
  2. (2) James Roe, 35, Running
  3. (5) Reece Gold, 35, Running
  4. (8) Jacob Abel, 35, Running
  5. (3) Kyffin Simpson, 35, Running
  6. (9) Christian Rasmussen, 35, Running
  7. (12) Danial Frost, 35, Running
  8. (6) Josh Pierson, 35, Running
  9. (13) Kiko Porto, 35, Running
  10. (10) Jamie Chadwick, 35, Running
  11. (19) Colin Kaminsky, 35, Running
  12. (7) Nolan Siegel, 35, Running
  13. (15) Christian Bogle, 35, Running
  14. (14) Ernie Francis Jr., 35, Running
  15. (16) Rasmus Lindh, 34, Running
  16. (17) Francesco Pizzi, 33, Running
  17. (4) Louis Foster, 28, Contact
  18. (18) Jagger Jones, 15, Mechanical
  19. (11) Victor Franzoni, 9, Mechanical

Race Statistics:
Winner’s average speed: 113.037 mph
Time of Race: 00:45:18.6916
Margin of victory: 0.4370 of a second
Cautions: None
Lead changes: None

Lap Leaders:
McElrea, Hunter 1 – 35

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes – NCTS LOIRP Qualifying Quotes (8.11.23)

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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
TSport 200 Qualifying | Friday, August 11, 2023

Ford Qualifying Results:

2nd – Ty Majeski
8th – Zane Smith
13th – Matt Crafton
18th – Conner Jones
21st – Ben Rhodes
25th – Hailie Deegan
26th – Logan Bearden

TY MAJESKI, No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 – “I think we’re okay. The track is going to change a lot tonight. It’s a lot slower than last year. So, we had to make a lot of changes in about 15 minutes, trying to get the balance where we wanted it. Overall, we should have a good Road Ranger Ford F-150 for tonight.”

ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Boot Barn Ford F-150 – “It was definitely an improvement from where we were last year. I feel like we chased it a little bit in practice and then in qualifying, we were really bad. Plus, it’s tough at short tracks in general… I feel like anywhere we go, but especially worn-out short tracks like this where you have one racetrack in the daytime and then when we race at nine o’clock tonight, it’s something way different. It’s really hard finding a balance with that, but Chris Lawson does a great job with knowing where too much is too much and when we should probably leave it alone. I feel like we’re in that area where we’ll be alright for tonight. Like I said, it’s definitely an improvement from where we qualified last year. My night is already easier.”

WHAT KIND OF RACING DO YOU EXPECT WITH COOLER TRACK TEMPERATURES? “I think there will be more grip overall – or at least I hope. I think that’s what we’re sort of struggling with right now. Last year, we had that. We were really loose – ten times as loose as we are now – but then in the race we were all good. Excited to see what we have tonight in our Boot Barn Ford F-150.”

MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Generac/Menards Ford F-150 – “It wasn’t really what we wanted. I tried something on the first lap – didn’t work. Not many people were picking up on the second lap, and we picked up a tenth and a half on the second. So, I screwed up on the first one, just trying something different. But, we have a very good race truck. We buried ourselves a little deeper than we should have, but all-in-all, we’ll be alright.”

Chevrolet IndyCar at Indianapolis Road Course: Team Chevy Firestone Fast Six Report

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CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
GALLAGHER GRAND PRIX
INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE
INDIANAPOLIS, INDIANA
TEAM CHEVY RACE ADVANCE

AUGUST 11, 2023

CHEVROLET QUALIFIES TWO IN THE TOP-SIX FOR SATURDAY’S GALLAGHER GRAND PRIX AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY ROAD COURSE

  • Alexander Rossi and Pato O’Ward of Arrow McLaren INDYCAR will represent Chevrolet in the second row of the starting grid for Saturday’s Gallagher Grand Prix, qualifying third and fourth respectively in Firestone Fast Six qualifying.
  • Arrow McLaren teammate Felix Rosenqvist will round out the top-10 in starting positions for the Bowtie brand, starting 10th.
  • Rosenqvist led Team Chevy by finishing second in the first Gallagher Grand Prix practice with his fastest lap of 1:09.9267. Rossi followed in fourth with his lap of 1:10.1333.
  • Scott McLaughlin (Team Penske, third), Callum Ilott (Juncos Hollinger Racing, fourth), Rinus VeeKay (Ed Carpenter Racing, sixth), and Agustin Canapino (Juncos Hollinger Racing, ninth) finished in the top-10 of final practice that wrapped Friday track action at Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULT:
Pos. Driver
3rd Alexander Rossi
4th Pato O’Ward
10th Felix Rosenqvist

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 FIRST PRACTICE RESULT:
Pos. Driver
2nd Felix Rosenqvist
4th Alexander Rossi
6th Scott McLaughlin
8th Pato O’Ward

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 FINAL PRACTICE RESULT:
Pos. Driver
3rd Scott McLaughlin
4th Callum Ilott
6th Rinus VeeKay
9th Agustin Canapino

Green flag for the 85-lap, 207.32-mile 2023 Gallagher Grand Prix waves the green flag live from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course Saturday, Aug. 12 at 2 p.m. ET on USA Network. Additional coverage of the race can be found on Peacock, INDYCAR Radio, and SiriusXM Channel 160.

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (QUOTES)

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Frustrating day for all of Team Penske, not just the Hitachi Chevrolet. It has been a strange year for us when it comes to qualifying. I’m sure we will have good pace tomorrow and hopefully we can catch a break with a caution or two to get some track position. We just need to be a better hold on qualifying moving forward, particularly over the off-season. It’s something we’ve been working on but we still need to keep improving.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Not too bad today for the Gallagher Chevy. We will roll off P10 after the penalties tomorrow. The car isn’t the fastest but I think we’ve made some sort of inroads, but we’re still trying to look for a little balance here on the Indy road course, compared to all the other road courses. I think we got a really good race car, just a matter of qualifying at outright pace. So keep working, keep trying to find things. I think there is still a lot more work to be done but still start at the top 10.”

Will Power, No. 12 Chevrolet at Team Penske:

“Definitely a little disappointed in our qualifying results. It was just quite difficult for us to put a good lap together. I think we do have good Verizon Chevrolet here – we did when we raced here in May – and there are a lot of good cars and drivers starting back where we are so it will be a very interesting race. It’s a tough track and it should be tough. This is INDYCAR and you just can’t leave anything on the table.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“In Practice, we made a few changes to go in the right direction. We’re still not where we have to be and we’d still like to make it better. From when we raced here back in May to now in August this place has completely changed. Some of the drivers who are usually near the front aren’t today. I feel like we have had some very good Qualifying sessions here in the past but we have sometimes struggled to capitalize. It was a different story earlier this year in May when we did well. I hope we can get ourselves starting from there and hopefully make it go a little bit better.

Firestone have brought a different red tire and it hasn’t been the same, so it’s been tough to judge where that line is. Historically, this has been a red race – in May, it was a coin toss whether it was used blacks or used reds. Now, the tire is behaving really differently and I’m trying to cater to that, but it’s not quite in the window yet.

Tomorrow, we have to make things a little easier on ourselves by making the car better.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Chevrolet at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR:

“Qualifying today was good for us. It’s our best Qualifying of the year, the team did a really good job. This is the first track that we’re seeing twice in the season, so starting from where we do on a familiar track; I’m happy with that. We will see what we can do tomorrow, we know we have a great car. It is of course disappointing to feel like we’re missing out a little bit, being close to the Front Row, but with a great car for tomorrow we can get a great result.”

Ryan Hunter-Reay, No. 20 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“Qualifying is always super close here. Unfortunately, we just got a little loose on our run and had a little bit of rear instability. A few tenths of a second would make all the difference in the world. We’ll keep searching for some grip in warm up and hopefully move forward in the race tomorrow.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Chevrolet at Ed Carpenter Racing:

“I was pushing so hard, it’s so hard to get it right! My lap time was way down, but it looked like we were going to get through on that last lap. The entry of Turn 10, previous lap it was fine. Last lap, it was too loose and I lost three-tenths or something. It’s a bummer. At this point in the season, advancing for us would mean a lot. It would have been very nice, but unfortunately, there was that one moment.”

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Obviously just with the qualifying, you’re two-and-a-half tenths off of advancing and you’re P11, so it’s tight here at Indy. We’re just two-tenths off in practice from being in the top five, so yeah, that’s all we need.”

Benjamin Pedersen, No. 55 Chevrolet at AJ Foyt Racing:

“Unfortunately not the result we were hoping for as a team for both cars. We were trying a lot of different things in practice one to get the car ready and unfortunately with both cars we couldn’t quite get it right for qualifying but we have one more practice today to try and figure out what will be a good package for the race and see what we can come up with to finish the day as strong as possible.”

Agustin Canapino, No. 78 Chevrolet at Juncos Hollinger Racing:

“We finished P24 and will start there for tomorrow. Of course, it’s not the position we wanted but on the personal side, I’m happy because I qualified with the best car of the team. Tomorrow we will have the chance to finish in the top-20, perhaps top-15, and we will try to do it.”

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

WWE Superstar Ricochet To Ride in Fastest Seat in Sports at IMS

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INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, Aug. 11, 2023) – WWE Superstar Ricochet will ride in the Fastest Seat in Sports at the Gallagher Grand Prix on Saturday, Aug. 12 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, leading the full field of drivers to the green flag of the NTT INDYCAR SERIES road course race.

Ricochet will star in the WWE Fastlane on Saturday, Oct. 7 at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, which will be streamed live exclusively on Peacock in the United States.

One of the world’s most innovative high-flyers, Ricochet uses his whiplash-inducing speed and unfathomable aerial mastery to take on opponents of any size.

After dazzling the international scene for more than a decade, Ricochet emerged in NXT in 2018, capturing the NXT North American Championship, and later won the 2019 Dusty Rhodes Tag Team Classic alongside Aleister Black. He landed on Monday Night Raw the following year, dazzling the WWE Universe in sensational clashes against the likes of AJ Styles. In early 2022, Ricochet added to his trophy cabinet by winning the Intercontinental Championship.

During the 2023 WWE Draft, Ricochet was drafted to Monday Night Raw and appears on USA Network every Monday at 8 p.m. ET.

INDYCAR’s Fastest Seat in Sports is a high-speed, high-octane, super-charged thrill ride in a custom INDYCAR SERIES car with a special back passenger seat. At almost every race on the schedule, the car advances the field of drivers to the start/finish line to signify the beginning of the race, with a special passenger in the guest seat. Previous participants in the Fastest Seat in Sports include Lady Gaga, NBA champions Steph Curry and Kawhi Leonard, Olympic gold medalists Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Lilly King, actors Simu Liu and Channing Tatum, and many others.

The NTT INDYCAR SERIES represents the ultimate challenge in racing, with drivers competing at speeds of 200+ mph across a demanding set of ovals and road and street courses. The full schedule can be viewed here.

Rahal Earns First Pole Since 2017 To Lead RLL 1-2 at Indy

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INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, Aug. 11, 2023) – Graham Rahal earned his first NTT P1 Award in six years, powering to the pole Friday for the Gallagher Grand Prix on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in a 1-2 tour de force for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing.

Rahal turned the top lap of 1 minute, 10.1132 seconds in the No. 15 Code 3 Associates Honda during the Firestone Fast Six. It was his fourth career INDYCAR SERIES pole and first since June 2017 at Belle Isle in Detroit.

The site of Rahal’s long-awaited pole also was significant due to the contrast of emotions from when he last competed at the Racing Capital of the World, in May. Rahal celebrated with his wife, Courtney, and their two young daughters on pit lane today, a welcome change from their heartbreaking despair when Rahal was bumped from the 107th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge during qualifying.

“It means a lot,” Rahal said. “Everybody has seen it: We’ve had to work ridiculously hard to get back. This isn’t a win, but it feels like it for us. It’s just nice to feel competitive; it’s nice to be able to push and get something out of the car. You ask for it, you demand it, and it’s there. It feels really sweet.”

Rahal’s teammate Christian Lundgaard qualified second at 1:10.2286 in the No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda as the team owned by 1986 Indianapolis 500 winner Bobby Rahal, late night TV icon David Letterman and business magnate Mike Lanigan took the top two spots in qualifying for an NTT INDYCAR SERIES race for the first time since April 2019 at Barber Motorsports Park, when Takuma Sato won the pole and Rahal started second.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what we can do tomorrow,” Toronto race winner Lundgaard said. “The team is strong. I certainly think we can do something great tomorrow. We’ve got two opportunities on splitting strategy and seeing what works best. I’m definitely hungry for another win, but at this point, I’m really happy for Graham to get his pole.”

Live coverage of the 85-lap race on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile starts at 2 p.m. ET Saturday on USA Network, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Three teams – RLL, Arrow McLaren and Andretti Autosport – comprised the competitors in an ultra-competitive Firestone Fast Six session. Just .2889 of a second separated the six drivers, the third-tightest margin in the format’s history.

2016 Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi qualified third in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet at 1:10.2932, tying his season best set on the oval at Texas. Teammate Pato O’Ward was fourth at 1:10.3453 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Devlin DeFrancesco was another one of the stars of the three rounds of qualifying. He earned a career-best starting spot of fifth at 1:10.3938 in the No. 29 TRUBAR/Jones Soda Honda fielded by Andretti Steinbrenner Autosport after driving into the Firestone Fast Six for the first time in his two-year NTT INDYCAR SERIES career.

Romain Grosjean rounded out the Firestone Fast Six at 1:10.4021 in the No. 28 DHL Honda fielded by Andretti Autosport.

Narrow time margins were a theme of the three-round session, as rookie Marcus Armstrong qualified seventh at 1:10.2106 in the No. 11 IU Simon Cancer Center Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing. He missed a spot in the Firestone Fast Six by .0008 of a second, the second-closest miss in this qualifying format’s history.

Jack Harvey completed a magical day for RLL, qualifying eighth at 1:10.2228 in the team’s No. 30 Kustom Entertainment Honda.

Championship leader Alex Palou qualified ninth at 1:10.2974 in the No. 10 The American Legion Honda fielded by Chip Ganassi Racing. It’s his second-lowest qualifying performance on a road or street course this season, with only 15th at Toronto lower. But any sting for Palou may be eased because his closest rival in the title hunt, Josef Newgarden, qualified a season-low 19th at 1:10.6150 in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.

Palou leads Newgarden by 84 points – a gap of 1.5 races – with four races remaining.

“Confident for tomorrow, but obviously a bit bummed not being in the Fast Six,” Palou said. “We’re starting P9 tomorrow, right? So, it’s not a bad starting position. We can do a lot from there, especially being such a long race with the strategy.”

Newgarden, who has won four races this season – all on ovals, wasn’t the only star to be eliminated in a wildly unpredictable first round of qualifying. He was joined by Long Beach and Nashville race winner Kyle Kirkwood (starting 15th), six-time series champion Scott Dixon (16th), reigning series champion Will Power (17th) and St. Petersburg winner Marcus Ericsson (18th).

Gallagher Grand Prix Qualifying Results

INDIANAPOLIS – Qualifying Friday for the Gallagher Grand Prix NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 2.439-mile Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course, with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine, time and speed in parentheses:

  1. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 01:10.1132 (125.232 mph)
  2. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 01:10.2286 (125.026)
  3. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevrolet, 01:10.2932 (124.911)
  4. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevrolet, 01:10.3453 (124.819)
  5. (29) Devlin DeFrancesco, Honda, 01:10.3938 (124.733)
  6. (28) Romain Grosjean, Honda, 01:10.4021 (124.718)
  7. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 01:10.2106 (125.058)
  8. (30) Jack Harvey, Honda, 01:10.2228 (125.036)
  9. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 01:10.2974 (124.904)
  10. (6) Felix Rosenqvist, Chevrolet, 01:10.4389 (124.653)
  11. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevrolet, 01:10.4782 (124.583)
  12. (06) Helio Castroneves, Honda, 01:10.5207 (124.508)
  13. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 01:10.4398 (124.651)
  14. (60) Linus Lundqvist, Honda, 01:10.4570 (124.621)
  15. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 01:10.4869 (124.568)
  16. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 01:10.5006 (124.544)
  17. (12) Will Power, Chevrolet, 01:10.5237 (124.503)
  18. (8) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 01:10.6348 (124.307)
  19. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevrolet, 01:10.6150 (124.342)
  20. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevrolet, 01:10.7249 (124.149)
  21. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevrolet, 01:10.6461 (124.287)
  22. (20) Ryan Hunter-Reay, Chevrolet, 01:11.0083 (123.653)
  23. (18) David Malukas, Honda, 01:10.8687 (123.897)
  24. (78) Agustin Canapino, Chevrolet, 01:11.0611 (123.561)
  25. (51) Sting Ray Robb, Honda, 01:11.5658 (122.690)
  26. (77) Callum Ilott, Chevrolet, 01:11.1027 (123.489)
  27. (55) Benjamin Pedersen, Chevrolet, 01:11.2971 (123.152)

Meyer Shank Racing Posts Top Road Course Qualifying Run of 2023 at Indianapolis

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#06: Helio Castroneves, Meyer Shank Racing Honda

Indianapolis, Ind. (11 August 2023) – Making a second trip back to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course this season, Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) continued it’s strong run at the 2.439-mile road course during qualifying on Friday.

Friday’s qualifying session for the Gallagher Grand Prix saw Helio Castroneves (No. 06 AutoNation / Cleveland-Cliffs Honda) and Linus Lundqvist (No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda) combine to post MSR’s best two-car road course qualifying of the 2023 NTT INDYCAR SERIES campaign.

Just a few hours after MSR announced Castroneves joining the team’s ownership group as a minority partner and continue his Drive for 5 with an Indianapolis 500 only entry in 2024 with MSR, Castroneves went out and led his squad, transferring to the Fast 12.

The four-time Indianapolis 500 champion posted a best time of 1:10.3196-seconds in first round of qualifying to finish fourth in the session and punch his ticket for the 12-car second outing. The Brazilian was in the top four in the 10-minute Fast 12 at the halfway point before settling for a season-best 12th with a time of 1:10.5027-seconds.

Competing in his second weekend as a stand-in for the injured Simon Pagenaud, Lundqvist narrowly missed advancing into the Fast 12 and will start on the inside of the seventh row for Sunday’s race. Lundqvist started an impressive 11th in the previous INDYCAR round in Nashville for MSR and will look to continue that pace on Saturday.

Although showing pace in qualifying, the No. 06 Honda of Castroneves will receive a six-spot grid penalty for tomorrow’s race for a fifth unapproved engine change following the Nashville weekend.

The Gallagher Grand Prix gets underway at 2:00pm ET on Saturday August 12th with live broadcast coverage on USA Network and Peacock. SiriusXM will also host live IndyCar Radio coverage on XM Ch. 160.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Helio Castroneves:

“I think I overcooked the tires on my first flying lap and then when I went out on the second lap, the rears weren’t as planted as I needed them to be. I don’t know that we had enough for pole, but we may have been able to get into the Fast Six with the car we had today. Overall I feel like we have a very strong chance in the race tomorrow. Unfortunately we have the six place grid penalty for the engine change, but we will work our way back up in the race tomorrow.”

Linus Lundqvist:

“Very close qualifying session here at Indy. First of all, I am very happy to be back for my second-ever INDYCAR weekend. There are still plenty of new things for me to learn. The package that we had roll off the trucks was competitive and I think we had it in ourselves to move on to the Fast 12 and maybe even the Fast Six. Unfortunately, we couldn’t put it all together and that’s a little on me, but we’ll tune that for tomorrow. We’ll see what the weather does, but I think we’ll have a fast race car tomorrow.”

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