Castrol Edge Mustang Solid Despite Lack of Breaks in 82-Lap Race
SPEEDWAY, Ind. (Aug. 13, 2023) – Track position was the name of the game in Sunday’s road course race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, as Chris Buescher drove to an 11th-place finish in a race that saw just one break in the action.
“It was not quite the day we wanted in our Castrol Edge Ford Mustang,” Buescher said following. “I felt like we were a little stronger than practice, but we got into the race and didn’t really get a lot of movement.
“The one restart we did have, somebody came in there really hot and got it all jammed up and we kind of pin-balled around. So, took a few good licks there and hopefully, everything was good afterwards. It’s valid to say that with no more cautions, it made it really hard to do much on the day. Proud of our group for sticking after it. We’ll take a little bit of a reset, then get back after it.”
The Castrol Edge Ford began the day from the 17th starting position following Saturday’s qualifying session. The only caution of the day flew at lap two, resetting the field for the only time all afternoon.
From there, varying pit strategies were the only action as Buescher ended the opening 15-lap stage in 21st. He first pitted in that stage break, then ran out the laps to the end of stage two, finishing 11th.
He later hit pit road under green at lap 48 from the 10th spot, and worked back up to just outside the top-10 from there, ultimately crossing the line 11th.
Up Next
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to its second-straight road course as Watkins Glen hosts racing action next Sunday. Coverage is set for 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
SPEEDWAY, Ind. (Aug. 13, 2023) – Brad Keselowski earned stage points Sunday afternoon on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and went on to finish 20th in the Socios.com Ford Mustang.
In total, the race was paused just once for a caution on lap two, but otherwise ran under all green-flag conditions, with no stage break pauses on road courses in the Cup Series in 2023. Keselowski qualified 22nd in Saturday’s session, but employed some early strategy on Sunday to flip that.
He was one of a couple of cars to hit pit road under the first yellow, taking fuel only, but enough to stretch to the end of the opening stage. The strategy carried over to the 20-lap stage two, where Keselowski crossed the line fourth, earning more valuable stage points.
At that point he pitted at lap 36, and again cycled back into the top five late, but hit pit road one last time with 18 laps remaining from the 10th position, before going on to finish 20th.
Up Next
The NASCAR Cup Series heads to its second-straight road course as Watkins Glen hosts racing action next Sunday. Coverage is set for 3 p.m. ET on USA Network, with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
A major shakeup to the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series Playoff field was made at the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course venue as Michael McDowell raced his way into this year’s postseason championship battle after scoring a dominant victory in the third annual running of the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on Sunday, August 13.
The 38-year-old McDowell from Glendale, Arizona, led three times for a race-high 54 of 82-scheduled laps in an event where he started fourth and quickly made his presence known after assuming the lead from pole-sitter Daniel Suarez on the sixth lap and following the event’s only caution period on the second lap.
After proceeding to win the first stage and gain valuable stage points towards his push above the Playoff cutline, McDowell benefited through a 77-lap green flag run to the finish with mixed pit strategies to lead Laps 36 to 48 before reassuming it for good on Lap 53 upon pitting for the final time with 34 laps remaining. From there, the Arizona veteran managed to preserve his car through each of the speedway’s 14 turns and fend off a late charge from Chase Elliott to win for the second time in the Cup Series level and add his name to this year’s Playoff picture.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, August 12, Daniel Suarez notched his first Cup pole position of the 2023 season and the third of his career after posting a pole-winning lap at 99.814 mph in 87.968 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Tyler Reddick, the reigning Brickyard winner who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 99.649 mph in 88.113 seconds.
Prior to the event, Brodie Kostecki, the current points leader of this year’s Supercars Championship season who was making his inaugural NASCAR presence driving the No. 33 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Richard Childress Racing, dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after wrecking his primary car during Saturday’s qualifying session. William Byron also dropped to the rear of the field and was assessed a pass-through penalty upon taking the green flag due to his No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 failing pre-race inspection three times, an issue that prevented him from posting a qualifying lap on Saturday.
When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Suarez rocketed ahead from the field amid crossing the new restart zone in between Turns 13 and 14 and retained the lead through the frontstretch while the field fanned out. Through the first braking zone in Turn 1 before entering Turn 2, Suarez maintained the lead ahead of Reddick while Chase Elliott and Michael McDowell battled for third through Turns 3 to 6 in front of Kyle Larson and Kyle Busch. As the field continued to fan out and jostle for early positions, Suarez maintained the lead through a brief straightaway exiting Turn 6 before entering another braking zone in Turn 7 and navigating from Turns 8 to 14. As Suarez proceeded to lead the first lap over Reddick, Byron served his pass-through penalty.
A lap later, the first caution of the event flew when Joey Logano ran over the curb in between Turns 5 and 6 and bumped into Justin Haley, which sent Haley off the course and into the guardrails and tire barrels in Turn 6 as Haley was left with significant damage to his No. 31 LeafFilter Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. By then, Kamui Kobayashi, a multiple World Endurance champion and former 24 Hours of Le Mans winner who was making his NASCAR debut for 23XI Racing, was in 37th despite starting 28th after getting hit by Andy Lally and spinning in Turn 2.
During the first caution period, select names that included Brad Keselowski, Mike Rockenfeller, Kamui Kobayashi, Byron, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Ty Dillon pitted while the rest led by Suarez remained on the track.
When the race restarted under green on the fifth lap, Suarez retained the lead through the restart zone and through the frontstretch while Michael McDowell challenged and overtook Reddick for the runner-up spot. As Logano spun entering Turn 1 after running into the rear of teammate Ryan Blaney while rookie Ty Gibbs got turned by Shane van Gisbergen, the event remained under green flag conditions as Suarez continued to lead from Turns 2 to 13 while the field behind scrambled and jostled for positions. Then through Turns 13 and 14, McDowell, who was announced to remain at Front Row Motorsports for the 2024 season, battled and overtook Suarez to assume the lead in his No. 34 Horizon Hobby Ford Mustang through the frontstretch and the first braking zone in Turn 1.
The following lap, McDowell maintained the lead by a tenth of a second over Suarez as Reddick, Elliott and Larson followed suit in the top five. With Kyle Busch in sixth, Christopher Bell, Shane van Gisbergen, Alex Bowman and Chase Briscoe were in the top 10 while Martin Truex Jr., Ryan Blaney, Chris Buescher, Bubba Wallace and Austin Cindric occupied the top 15.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, McDowell was leading by four-tenths of a second over Suarez followed by Reddick, Elliott and Larson while Busch, Bell, Bowman, Briscoe and van Gisbergen were in the top 10. Behind, Truex was in 11th ahead of Blaney, Buescher, Wallace and Cindric while Todd Gilliland, AJ Allmendinger, Corey LaJoie, Harrison Burton and Austin Dillon occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Ross Chastain was in 21st ahead of Denny Hamlin, Jenson Button, Erik Jones and Andy Lally while Ty Gibbs, Josh Bilicki, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Brodie Kostecki were scored in the top 30. By then, Byron was in 33rd in between Mike Rockenfeller and Kobayashi, Logano was down in 35th and Aric Almirola was running 37th in front of teammate Ryan Preece.
Two laps later, Harvick pitted his No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang under green. Jenson Button and Andy Lally pitted during the following lap while Blaney, Cindric and Gilliland followed suit on pit road during Lap 14 while McDowell continued to lead ahead of Suarez. Amid the pit stops, Button was penalized for speeding on pit road.
At the conclusion of the first stage period on Lap 15, McDowell, who came into the event three points below the top-16 cutline to race his way into the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs, claimed his first Cup career stage victory. Suarez settled in second while Elliott, Reddick, Larson, Kyle Busch, Bell, Bowman, van Gisbergen and Truex were scored in the top 10.
With the event remaining under green just past the Lap 15 mark to start the second stage period, Chase Briscoe and Buescher peeled off the track to pit their respective entries. On the following lap, Brodie Kostecki, Reddick, Allmendinger and Byron also pitted. McDowell would then surrender the lead to pit by Lap 17 followed by Suarez, Larson, Bowman, Chastain, Ty Gibbs and Mike Rockenfeller while Elliott assumed the lead. Elliott proceeded to lead a lap before he pitted by Lap 18 along with Kyle Busch and LaJoie. By then, Rockenfeller and LaJoie were both penalized for speeding on pit road.
Back on the track and by Lap 20, Bell, who assumed the lead on Lap 18, was leading by more than four seconds over van Gisbergen followed by Truex, Wallace and Austin Dillon while Hamlin, Harrison Burton, Keselowski, Kobayashi and Ty Dillon were scored in the top 10. Meanwhile, Suarez, who exited ahead of McDowell on pit road following his green flag pit stop, was in 12th ahead of McDowell while Elliott, Larson, Kyle Busch, Reddick and Bowman were running 14th through 17th, respectively.
At the Lap 25 mark, Bell continued to lead by more than 15 seconds over Austin Dillon while Hamlin, Keselowski and Suarez trailed in the top five ahead of McDowell, Elliott, Ty Dillon, Larson and Kyle Busch. With Reddick, Bowman, Briscoe, Buescher and Blaney running in the top 15, Truex, who pitted on Lap 22, was in 17th while van Gisbergen and Wallace, both of whom pitted on Lap 23, were back in 20th and 21st.
A lap later, the leader Bell pitted his No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry for his first service of the event. This allowed Austin Dillon to move into the lead followed by Hamlin and Keselowski despite all three still having to make at least their first pit stop of the day while Suarez and McDowell cycled and followed suit in the top five. Dillon would then pit his No. 3 Cowboy Chanel Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 by Lap 28, which moved Hamlin into the lead. By then, Larson, who was running eighth, missed the corner in Turn 12 and fell back to 12th while blending back into the racing groove.
On Lap 30, trouble struck for Allmendinger after he got turned by Blaney through Turn 14 while both were battling for 16th place, a move that prompted Allmendinger to issue a potential payback to Blaney, as he managed to proceed without drawing a caution. By then, Hamlin, who has yet to pit, retained the lead ahead of Keselowski while Suarez, McDowell and Elliott were in the top five.
At the conclusion of the second stage period on Lap 35, Hamlin, who nearly missed the turn entering Turn 7, fended off Suarez, McDowell and Keselowski to capture his fifth Cup stage victory of the 2023 season in his No. 11 Yahoo! Toyota TRD Camry. McDowell and Suarez followed suit in second and third along with Keselowski, who missed the turn in Turn 12 and allowed both McDowell and Keselowski to cycle past him, while Elliott, Kyle Busch, Reddick, Bowman, Briscoe and Larson were scored in the top 10.
With the final stage commencing under a continuous green flag period with 47 laps remaining, McDowell reassumed the lead through Turns 12 and 13 as Hamlin and Keselowski both pitted after both were successful in stretching their fuel tanks and gaining valuable stage points. With Hamlin and Keselowski pitting, Elliott cycled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 up to second followed by Suarez while Kyle Busch and Reddick were scored in the top five.
At the halfway mark with 41 laps remaining, McDowell was leading by nearly six-tenths of a second over Elliott followed by Suarez, Busch and Reddick while Bowman, Briscoe, Larson, Truex and Bell were in the top 10. Behind, van Gisbergen was in 11th followed by Buescher, Cindric, Blaney and Wallace while Austin Dillon, Ty Gibbs, Chastain, Byron and Kostecki occupied the top 20. Meanwhile, Harvick was in 24th ahead of Kobayashi, Keselowski and Hamlin were back in 26th and 27th, Button was scored in 30th, Rockenfeller was in 35th behind Logano and Allmendinger was back in 37th.
With 37 laps remaining, Harvick and Andy Lally pitted under green. By then, Josh Bilick, who spun off the course, was back in 30th while McDowell stabilized his advantage to more than seven-tenths of a second over Elliott as third-place Suarez trailed by more than a second.
A lap later, another cycle of green flag pit stops slowly commenced as names including Briscoe, Larson, Cindric, Blaney, Brostecki, Gilliland and Jenson Button pitted while Suarez bumped Elliott entering Turn 12 to move into the runner-up spot. McDowell then surrendered the lead to pit under green with 34 laps remaining along with Suarez, Elliott, Reddick, Buescher, Truex and Ty Gibbs. Amid the pit stops, Suarez endured a slow pit service after the air gun hose got stuck under the front tire of his No. 99 Freeway.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, which resulted in Suarez’s car having to be jacked for a second time as Elliott and McDowell overtook him on pit road.
With 30 laps remaining, Bell assumed a brief lead before he pitted under green. McDowell would cycle back into the lead during the following lap as Wallace pitted his No. 23 MoneyLion Toyota TRD Camry, which allowed Elliott, Suarez, Reddick and Hamlin to move up into the top five.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, McDowell was leading by nearly three seconds over Elliott followed by Suarez, Reddick and Hamlin while Keselowski, Bowman, Briscoe, Truex and Larson were running in the top 10 ahead of Bell, van Gisbergen, Buescher, Cindric and Blaney. By then, Kyle Busch, who was running 11th, pitted under green after flat-spotting his tire on his No. 8 3Chi Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 while missing a braking zone in Turn 12 while Stenhouse bumped and sent Button’s No. 15 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for a spin entering Turn 8 while both were battling for 30th.
Five laps later, McDowell stabilized his advantage to nearly three seconds over Elliott followed by Suarez and Reddick, both of whom trailed by more than nine seconds, as Bowman cracked the top five. As a result, Keselowski fell back to sixth while Briscoe, Hamlin, Truex and Larson occupied the top 10. By then, Gilliland, McDowell’s teammate at Front Row Motorsports, was scored in 38th after getting into the wall in Turn 12 without drawing a caution.
Two laps later, Keselowski, who was running in the top 10 a lap prior, pitted his No. 6 Socios.com Ford Mustang under green. Another two laps later, trouble struck for Kobayashi after he got hit and sent for a spin by Stenhouse, who made earlier contact again with Button, entering Turn 1. With Kobayashi continuing under green, McDowell continued to lead by more than two seconds over Elliott and more than seven seconds over third-place Suarez.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, McDowell retained the lead by more than two seconds over Elliott while third-place Suarez trailed by more than six seconds followed by a hard-charging Reddick. With Bowman running in the top five, Briscoe, Truex, Larson, Bell and van Gisbergen followed suit in the top 10.
With five laps remaining, McDowell stabilized his advantage to more than two seconds over Elliott while Suarez, Reddick and Bowman remained in the top five. By then, Allmendinger went off the course and ran his car through the gravel through Turn 4, but the event remained under green as Allmendinger blended back onto the racing surface. As the laps continued to dwindle, McDowell, who also navigated his way through lapped traffic, retained his lead to more than two seconds over Elliott.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, McDowell remained as the leader by more than a second over a hard-charging Elliott, who now had McDowell close within his sights after clearing his way through lapped traffic. As Elliott continued to gain slight ground on McDowell’s advantage from Turns 1 to 6, he then tried to close in on McDowell’s rear bumper through two braking zones from Turn 7 and Turn 12, but it was not enough as McDowell, who retained the lead through 14 turns for a final time, was able to cycle his way back to the frontstretch and beat Elliott by nine-tenths of a second to triumph for the second time in his Cup career and punch his ticket into the Playoffs.
With the victory, McDowell, who became the 13th different competitor to be guaranteed a spot for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning, achieved his second career victory in NASCAR’s premier series and his first since winning the 2021 Daytona 500, thus giving him two crown-jewel victories in NASCAR. The victory was the fourth overall for Front Row Motorsports owned by team owner Bob Jenkins, the fifth of the season for the Ford nameplate and the first for new full-time crew chief Travis Peterson as McDowell became the 18th different competitor to win at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, third to do so on the track’s road course layout.
Photo by Adam Lovelace for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Man, this is such a dream come true,” McDowell said on NBC. “I’m so thankful to everybody at Front Row Motorsports. Man, we had a fast Ford Mustang. Everybody at Roush Yates Engines Shop, [CEO] Doug [Yates]. These guys gave me everything today. We had the fastest car. We executed and we did what we needed to do. Just so thankful to still be grinding it out in the Cup Series. To put on a performance like that, I don’t know if it was dominant, but it felt pretty dominant to me.”
“I was really trying to pace myself,” McDowell added. “I figured there would be a late-race caution. I didn’t want to burn my stuff up. I was just trying to maintain that gap. Then when I got into traffic [and Eliott] started closing, I had to push it. I just can’t believe it. It’s been a grind and I’m so proud. I thought we could point our way in [to the Playoffs], but after the car that we had yesterday in practice, I thought man, we got a good shot at winning if we could just get track position and maintain it. I can’t believe it. Winning the Daytona 500 was one of the coolest moments you could ever have, but going to Victory Lane without your family, that was tough. We cherry-pick. My family comes to the races we think we can win. We thought we could win this one. Just so proud.”
While McDowell celebrated both a race victory and a Playoff berth, Elliott and Suarez were both left disappointed, but still optimistic, over their top-three results at Indianapolis. For Elliott, who lost ground on the Playoff cutline amid wrecking early during the previous scheduled event at Michigan International Speedway, the runner-up result was his second of the season, but not enough for him to narrow the gap between himself and the cutline as he is now tied with teammate Alex Bowman for 19th place in the regular-season standings while trailing the cutline by 80 points.
“[I needed] Just to be a little better through the back half over there and get off of [Turn] 14 a little better just to have myself in a better spot getting into [Turn] 1,” Elliott said. “Just really appreciate the effort, man. Our Napa Chevy was really good. Just needed just a little bit more and came up a bit short. But congrats to Michael, man. He did a good job. Ran a great race and stayed mistake-free, and that’s what you’ve got to do to win. [The race] was great. It felt good. Ready to go for 77 [laps] more.”
For Suarez, the late pit road issue involving an air gun hose getting stuck underneath his car during his final pit service under green evaporated his hopes of regaining ground on McDowell for the victory, but the third-place result marked his third top-five result of the 2023 season. Currently, Suarez is situated in 17th place in the regular-season standings and trails the cutline by 28 points.
“We win and we lose as a team, and that’s all I can say,” Suarez said. “The guys brought a very fast race car. I felt that maybe we were one adjustment behind in the first run with the back of the car, but then we made it a little bit better. But I felt like I was always one step behind [Elliott McDowell], and then at the end, I felt that when my car came alive again, we had that [pit road] issue. Just a little bit heartbreaking, but that’s part of the sport. All we can do is continue to push, continue to build race cars like this, and I’ll keep on winning races. I mean, definitely, we can perform, I think, ever better [next weekend]. I’m pretty sure we’re gonna go back and analyze everything, and come back stronger next week.”
Reddick, the reigning Brickyard winner, came home in fourth place while Alex Bowman finished fifth despite still being 80 points below the top-16 cutline towards the Playoffs. Briscoe Truex, Larson, Bell and Shane van Gisbergen completed the top 10 on the track.
Notably, rookie Ty Gibbs finished 12th behind Buescher, Byron rallied from his pass-through start of the event by finishing 14th behind Blaney, Wallace came home in 18th in front of Hamlin and Keselowski, Harvick finished 23rd in his final start at Indianapolis, Allmendinger ended up 26th, Logano capped off his long event in 34th and Kyle Busch ended up 36th.
In addition, Brodie Kostecki and Kamui Kobayashi finished 22nd and 33rd in their Cup Series debut, respectively, while Mike Rockenfeller and Jenson Button finished 24th and 28th, respectively.
There were 10 lead changes for seven different leaders. The race featured a single caution for three laps. In addition, all 39 starters finished the event, with 22 finishing on the lead lap.
With two regular-season events remaining of this year’s Cup Series schedule, Martin Truex Jr. continues to lead the regular-season standings by 60 points over teammate Denny Hamlin.
William Byron, Martin Truex Jr., Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Chris Buescher, Ross Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Christopher Bell, Michael McDowell and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. are currently guaranteed spots for the 2023 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace occupy the remaining vacant spots in the Playoffs based on points, with Wallace occupying the 16th and final vacant spots by 28 points over Daniel Suarez, 49 over Ty Gibbs, 80 over both Chase Elliott and Alex Bowman, 87 over AJ Allmendinger and 105 over Austin Cindric.
Results.
1. Michael McDowell, 54 laps led, Stage 1 winner
2. Chase Elliott, one lap led
3. Daniel Suarez, six laps led
4. Tyler Reddick
5. Alex Bowman
6. Chase Briscoe
7. Martin Truex Jr.
8. Kyle Larson
9. Christopher Bell, 11 laps led
10. Shane van Gisbergen, one lap led
11. Chris Buescher
12. Ty Gibbs
13. Ryan Blaney
14. William Byron
15. Austin Cindric
16. Austin Dillon, one lap led
17. Ross Chastain
18. Bubba Wallace
19. Denny Hamlin, eight laps led, Stage 2 winner
20. Brad Keselowski
21. Harrison Burton
22. Brodie Kostecki
23. Kevin Harvick, one lap down
24. Mike Rockenfeller, one lap down
25. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., one lap down
26. AJ Allmendinger, one lap down
27. Ty Dillon, one lap down
28. Jenson Button, one lap down
29. Corey LaJoie, one lap down
30. Andy Lally, one lap down
31. Ryan Preece, one lap down
32. Josh Bilicki, one lap down
33. Kamui Kobayashi, one lap down
34. Joey Logano, one lap down
35. Erik Jones, one lap down
36. Kyle Busch, two laps down
37. Todd Gilliland, two laps down
38. Justin Haley, two laps down
39. Aric Almirola, three laps down
Next on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is another road course event as the series travels east to Watkins Glen International in New York for the Go Bowling at The Glen. The event is scheduled to occur next Sunday, August 20, at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
Harrison Burton and the No. 21 DEX Imaging Mustang finished 21st in Sunday’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
Burton lined up 24th for the 82-lap run over the 2.439-mile 14-turn course inside Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
He moved into the top 20 by Lap Seven and was running 18th when the first Stage ended at Lap 15.
As drivers began making their first green-flag pit stops the DEX Imaging team opted for a two-stop strategy for the 200-mile race. Burton cycled into the top 10 before making his first pit stop at Lap 24.
The only caution flag of the race flew at Lap Two, and there were no cautions for Stage breaks as is standard for road courses. Burton had moved back to 25th place when the second Stage ended at Lap 35, and was in 21st place by Lap 44.
He made his second and final pit stop with 33 laps to go. He returned to the track in 28th place and was back in 21st with 16 laps to go. He moved into 20th place for an eight-lap stretch then fell back to 22nd with five laps to go.
He regained one position on the white flag lap and ended the race in 21st.
Next up for Burton and the No. 21 team is another road course race, at Watkins Glen International, next Sunday.
About DEX Imaging DEX Imaging is the digital document imaging division of Staples, the world’s largest business solutions provider. DEX sells and services the broadest selection of copiers, printers and data management solutions, such as HP, Konica Minolta, Canon, Kyocera and numerous others.
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DEX Imaging has been the recipient of virtually every industry award since the company’s inception, including the JD Power & Associates Award for Best Customer Experience, the prestigious ProTech Service award by Konica Minolta, the Diamond Premier Dealer Award by Kyocera, and the Elite DEALER Award by ‘ENX’ magazine. Other accolades include being named ‘Best Place to Work’ by numerous business journals in the markets DEX serves.
Wood Brothers Racing Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glenn Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glenn’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Harrison Burton in the famous No. 21 racer.
AJ Allmendinger qualified 26th for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
Allmendinger drove up to 25th before the caution came out on lap two. Staying out under caution, Allmendinger restarted from 23rd on lap five and was able to drive up to 19th on the restart when the No. 22 spun. The No. 16 Chevy continued to move up through the field, reporting on lap 11 that he needed more turn in both directions while running 17th. Allmendinger made it as high as 12th place during green-flag pit stops, where he went on to finish the opening stage.
On lap 15, Allmendinger came down pit road for a scheduled green-flag pit stop. As the field continued to cycle through, Allmendinger ran 17th on lap 27. On lap 30, the No. 16 spun as a result of contact with the No. 12. Allmendinger came down pit road for four fresh tires under green and finished the stage in 38th place, one lap down.
Allmendinger slowly worked his was through the field, making it up to 23rd before pitting under green on lap 63. Allmendinger came off pit road in 33rd and made it up to 26th where he finished in the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
“I’m proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing for the improvement we made after qualifying yesterday. Our Dyno-Gro Seed Chevy had speed, but we got caught up in an unfortunate incident and never had the chance to get back into it with the race running green. We’re disappointed in our finish, it’s not a representation of the car we had today.” – AJ Allmendinger
Justin Haley qualified 15th for the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard.
On lap two of the race, the No. 22 jumped the curb of turn six, sliding into Haley and sending the No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1 into the tire barrier. Haley was forced to pit twice and make repairs under the damaged vehicle policy (DVP) clock. The field went back to green on lap six, and Haley sat 39th one lap down, where he finished the stage.
Haley made his next pit stop under green on lap 34 for four tires and fuel, still sitting 39th where he would finish the second stage, as the race remained green.
On lap 42, Haley radioed that he was just not fast enough due to the amount of damaged he sustained. Haley pitted again on lap 60 after telling his team the rear end of the No. 31 Chevy was moving around quite a bit. The race stayed caution free until the end, and Haley was scored 38th.
“It was a disappointing start to the day that continued to be an uphill battle. I thought I had position on the No. 22, but he jumped the curb and sent me into the tire barrier. Unfortunately, our No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Chevy just lacked speed from the heavy damage, and we never could get back on the lead lap. Hopefully we can turn our luck around next week at Watkins Glen, another road course I really enjoy.” – Justin Haley
Pennzoil 150 presented by Advance Auto Parts
AJ Allmendinger, No. 10 Leaf Home Water Solutions Chevrolet Camaro
AJ Allmendinger qualified on the pole for the Penzoil 150 presented by Advance Auto Parts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
Allmendinger led the first lap of the race but fell to second on lap two, reporting the front end of his No. 10 Leaf Home Water Solutions Chevy was tight, lacked grip, and was loose off the corner. Allmendinger sat in second place when the caution came out, followed by the red flag, on lap eight for lightening. Before the field restarted, teams put wet-weather tires on. Before the drop of the green on lap 11, Allmendinger came down pit road to under caution to put slick tires on. He restarted 29th, falling back on the restart to 33rd before charging up to 11th by lap 15. As more leaders came down pit road, Allmendinger cycled through to regain the lead on lap 19 where he went on to finish the opening stage.
On lap 20, Allmendinger had a six-second lead over the car in second place, but he quickly reported on lap 22 that he still needed a little more turn. Under caution on lap 26, Allmendinger told the team his racecar was still tight. The No. 10 Chevy came down pit road under caution on lap 28 for four tires, fuel and an adjustment to free up the car. Allmendinger restarted lap 60 in seventh place and quickly took over fifth on the restart, making his way up to second before lap 31. From second place, Allmendinger reported his Chevy was still tight and one lap later, Allmendinger regained the lead, going on to win the second stage.
Allmendinger came down pit road under green on lap 43 for four tires, fuel and an adjustment and exited pit road in eighth place. The caution came out on lap 43, and Allmendinger stayed out under caution to restart from sixth on lap 46. By lap 47, Allmendinger had taken over second reporting on lap 52 that he had no grip. Continuing to battle the handling of his race car for the remainder of the race, Allmendinger went on to finish third.
“Congrats to Ty [Gibbs] and the 19 group. He did a great job; he earned it. I thought I was fighting a losing battle. We fought lack of grip all day and our Leaf Home Water Solutions Chevy just wasn’t quite quick enough this weekend. I’m proud of everyone at Kaulig Racing, and we’re going to keep working to get better.” – AJ Allmendinger
Daniel Hemric, No. 11 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro
Daniel Hemric qualified fifth for the Pennzoil 150 presented by Advance Auto Parts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.
By lap six of the opening stage, Hemric dropped back to seventh, losing the most time in turn seven. The red flag was displayed on lap eight due to lightning. Once the red flag was lifted, all teams were required to put on rain tires before the restart. The restart on lap 12 was single file, and Hemric restarted sixth. While many other teams made green-flag pit stops around lap 15, Hemric stayed out, taking the lead with four laps to go in the stage. With the cars behind him having put on slick tires, he was passed with two laps to go in the stage. Hemric was still able to finish third in stage one, earning eight stage points.
Hemric pitted on lap 22 for slick tires and fuel. After he pitted, he was 18th and attempted to regain his track position before the caution flag came out on lap 27. Reporting that his left rear was starting to give up, Hemric came down pit road under the caution for four tires, fuel and adjustments to help the balance. The field returned to a double-file restart, where Hemric restarted as the ninth car on the inside lane with 10 laps to go in the stage. Hemric made it up to eighth with three laps to go in stage two before spinning on track. He quickly recovered to finish the stage in ninth.
In the final stage, Hemric came down pit road for a green-flag pit stop on lap 42 for four tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment before the next caution came out on lap 44. He restarted as the fourth car on the inside lane with 16 laps to go in the race. After being hit by the No. 24 in turn seven, along with teammate, Chandler Smith, Hemric was forced to come down pit road on lap 47 to assess the damage. Once back on track, he was unable to get back on the lead lap and went on to finish 27th.
“I’ve had a hard time just getting a finish at Indy, and today was another tough result. I’m proud of the speed that we showed at times though, and I feel like it gave us more of a direction of what I need in the car when we go to road courses. There are a couple more opportunities to go to road courses throughout the rest of the year and an opportunity to keep fighting and clawing next week at Watkins Glen.” – Daniel Hemric
Chandler Smith, No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro
Chandler Smith qualified 18th for the Pennzoil 150 presented by Advance Auto Parts at the Indianapolis Road Course.
During the opening lap, Smith fell to 22nd, but regained two spots by lap five. That same lap, raindrops started falling, and the red flag came out for lightning on lap eight. Once the red flag was lifted, the field made a mandatory pit stop for wet-weather tires under yellow. Crew chief, Bruce Schlicker, gambled and told Smith to come down pit road the moment it opened during the caution to change back to slick tires, and after doing so, the No. 16 relaunched from 34th on the single-file restart on lap 12. Smith ran faster lap times on slick tires than most of the field on wet tires for the remainder of stage one, and because almost everyone pitted under green due to the rapidly drying track, Smith finished eighth at the conclusion of stage one on lap 20.
Smith moved up to sixth before a stopped car brought out the yellow again on lap 27. He pitted under yellow for tires and fuel and restarted fifth in line on the right side on lap 31. He battled hard with multiple cars on the cusp of the top 10 for the next few laps and made contact with the No. 26 on lap 34 while in 13th, causing a minor tire rub on the right front. It subsided, and over the next five laps, Smith took advantage of mistakes from cars in front to move up to seventh, which is where he’d finish stage two on lap 40.
The No. 16 came down pit road at the end of lap 41. The pit crew changed tires and added fuel, while ensuring the tire rub would not return. Three laps later, the caution came out again for another stopped car. Smith stayed out and restarted third on the left side with 16 laps to go. On the restart lap, down the straightaway and into the turn seven left-hander, Smith went inside on teammate Daniel Hemric, but both cars were hit by the No. 24 from five rows back. Smith, like Hemric, sustained heavy damage and pitted for repairs. He came back out 30th at the tail-end of the lead lap, but quickly went a lap down and reported that his right-front tire was going down. He pitted again with 11 to go for right-side tires and more damage repair, falling two laps down to 33rd. With four laps remaining for the leader and Smith still two laps down, he suffered a suspension issue, and was forced to bring the car back to the garage, relegating him to a 34th-place finish.
“That was not the finish we wanted, but I’m proud of the fight in our No. 16 Quick Tie Products team. We went off-strategy once the rain delay came and went and gave ourselves a real shot at a good result. Unfortunately it just did not pan out for us.” – Chandler Smith
About Kaulig Racing™
Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started and has won back-to-back regular-season championships. Before becoming a full-time NCS team, Kaulig Racing made multiple starts in the 2021 NCS season and won in its seventh-ever start with AJ Allmendinger’s victory at “The Brickyard” for the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team expanded to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 with Justin Haley piloting the No. 31 Camaro ZL1, and an all-star lineup featured in the No. 16 Camaro ZL1. Haley will continue to drive the No. 31 full-time in 2023, alongside AJ Allmendinger, who will drive the No. 16 Camaro ZL1. The team will continue to field three, full-time NXS entries; the No. 10 Chevrolet driven by an all-star lineup, the No. 11 Chevrolet driven by Daniel Hemric, and the No. 16 Chevrolet driven by Chandler Smith. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.
Date: Aug. 13, 2023 Event: Verizon 200 at the Brickyard (Round 24 of 36) Series: NASCAR Cup Series Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway (2.439-mile, 14-turn road course) Format: 82 laps, broken into three stages (15 laps/20 laps/47 laps) Race Winner: Michael McDowell of Front Row Motorsports (Ford) Stage 1 Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota) Stage 2 Winner: Michael McDowell of Front Row Motorsports (Ford)
SHR Race Finish:
● Chase Briscoe (Started 13th, Finished 6th / Running, completed 82 of 82 laps) ● Kevin Harvick (Started 38th, Finished 23rd / Running, completed 81 of 82 laps) ● Ryan Preece (Started 30th, Finished 31st / Running, completed 81 of 82 laps) ● Aric Almirola (Started 33rd, Finished 39th / Running, completed 79 of 82 laps)
SHR Points:
● Kevin Harvick (6th with 677 points, 153 out of first) ● Aric Almirola (24th with 406 points, 424 out of first) ● Ryan Preece (25th with 409 points, 427 out of first) ● Chase Briscoe (31st with 322 points, 508 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Briscoe earned his sixth top-10 of the season and his first top-10 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts on the road course at Indianapolis. ● Briscoe’s sixth-place result bettered his previous best finish on the road course at Indianapolis – 23rd, earned in last year’s race. ● Briscoe finished ninth in Stage 2 to earn two bonus points.
Race Notes:
● Michael McDowell won the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard to score his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his first of the season and his first on the road course at Indianapolis. His margin over second-place Chase Elliott was .937 of a second. ● McDowell was the 14th different winner in the 24 NASCAR Cup Series races run this season. ● This was Ford’s 725th all-time NASCAR Cup Series victory, its fourth of the season and its third straight. Chris Buescher drove his Ford to the win July 30 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and last Monday at Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn. ● This was Ford’s first NASCAR Cup Series victory on the road course at Indianapolis. ● There was one caution period for a total of three laps. ● Only 22 of the 39 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap. ● Martin Truex Jr., remains the championship leader after Indianapolis with a 60-point advantage over second-place Denny Hamlin.
Sound Bites:
“Today was a solid day. From a speed standpoint, we had a top-three car. We just could never get the track position when it goes green like that. There are just no opportunities. I feel like we did everything right from a strategy standpoint, trying to play our cards right. Just a difference from starting 13th versus starting in the first two rows. I felt like that’s what cost us there. I knew yesterday when I didn’t make the final round that it was going to be very hard to win. It proved itself today. Just kicking myself knowing I had a great shot at it. But overall, I’m proud of our team. We really needed a good run like this. I feel like we really learned something.” – Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Go Bowling at The Glen on Sunday, Aug. 20 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Ford Performance Notes and Quotes NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at The Brickyard | Sunday, August 13, 2023
Ford Finishing Results:
1st – Michael McDowell 6th – Chase Briscoe 11th – Chris Buescher 13th – Ryan Blaney 15th – Austin Cindric 20th – Brad Keselowski 21st – Harrison Burton 23rd – Kevin Harvick 28th – Jenson Button 30th – Andy Lally 31st – Ryan Preece 34th – Joey Logano 37th – Todd Gilliland 39th – Aric Almirola
MICHAEL MCDOWELL VICTORIOUS AT THE “RACING CAPITAL OF THE WORLD”
Michael McDowell registered the second win of his Cup career with today’s victory.
This also marks the fourth series win for Front Row Motorsports.
Today’s win is Ford’s 725th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
McDowell was the overall lap-leader with 54 of 82 laps.
McDowell earned his first-career stage win in Stage 1.
He clinched a spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs with the victory.
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Horizon Hobby Ford Mustang (Start-Finish Interview) – YOU ENTERED THIS WEEKEND NEEDING POINTS, BUT YOU CAME OUT WITH THE WIN. HOW DID YOU MANAGE SUCH A DOMINANT PERFORMANCE? “I didn’t. It was a total team effort. Our car was so fast. I just knew I had to execute and not make any mistakes. We lost the lead there in that first cycle but got it back on the second. We did everything we needed to do to have a fast Horizon Hobby Ford Mustang. So thankful, man. Such a grind – to finally be in victory lane. To do it at Indy, on a road course – it’s so special.”
THE FIRST REQUEST YOU HAD AT THE START-FINISH LINE WAS YOUR FAMILY. HOW SPECIAL WAS THAT MOMENT FOR YOU TO BE ABLE TO CELEBRATE WITH THEM? “It’s special. There’s not a cooler moment than winning the Daytona 500. But to do it and not have my family there, it was tough. So, I always cherry pick the races they come to. They can’t come to all of them, but they come to the ones that we think we can win. Today, we did it.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang – YOU WERE IN THE FIGHT, AND STAYED CONSISTENTLY IN THE TOP-10. “Today was a solid day. From a speed standpoint, we had a top-three car. We just could never get the track position when it goes green like that. There are just no opportunities. I feel like we did everything right from a strategy standpoint, trying to play our cards right. Just a difference from starting 13th versus starting in the first two rows. I felt like that’s what cost us there. Part of it: Kicking myself. I knew yesterday when I didn’t make the final round, that it was going to be very hard to win. It proved itself today. Just kicking myself knowing I had a great shot at it. But overall, I’m proud of our team. We really needed a good run like this. I feel like we really learned something.”
IS THIS A CONFIDENCE BOOST FOR YOU AND THE TEAM HEADED INTO NEXT WEEK’S ROAD COURSE? “For sure. Truthfully, the road courses haven’t been very good to us, really ever since the Next Gen car. This is the most competitive that I’ve been. That’s the best feel I’ve had. Hopefully we can translate that into next week.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Castrol Edge Ford Mustang – “It was not quite the day we wanted in our Castrol Edge Ford Mustang. I felt like we were a little stronger than practice, but we got into the race and didn’t really get a lot of movement. The one restart we did have, somebody came in there really hot and got it all jammed up. We kind of pin-balled around. So, took a few good licks there and hopefully, everything was good afterwards. It’s valid to say that with no more cautions, it made it really hard to do much on the day. Proud of our group for sticking after it. We’ll take a little bit of a reset, then get back after it.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – “Decent progress today with our Discount Tire Ford Mustang. Felt like we leveled-out, called a great race – just didn’t have quite enough to get into the Top-10 there. Pretty physical race. I mean, going all green like that on a pretty warm day. It was good. Makes you feel like you exercise and prepare for a reason. I’m not content with it, but I think we maximized our day fairly well.”
JENSON BUTTON, No. 15 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang – WHAT’S BEEN YOUR NASCAR EXPERIENCE THIS YEAR? “Good. It’d be nice just to get a finish. The pace is there. It’s just that I made mistakes today. The car was working well. Yesterday was frustrating just because we didn’t have any pace. Today, the guys did a really good job of finding a setup that worked for me. I could brake later, so I could make a lot of moves. I can’t imagine how many cars I actually overtook during the race. But at the end of the first pit-stop, I was speeding into pit-lane. So, I had to do a drive-through. Kills your race – about 30 seconds in pit-lane. So, it sets you back a lot, and then when I made a move on someone – I think [Ricky] Stenhouse Jr. – he spun me around and it costed me a bit more time. It wasn’t great. Then pushing to the end to chase down Kevin [Harvick], I locked up and went straight across the grass in Turn 1. So, had to do a stop-and-go. It was messy. But, the pace was there. It was really good. I think we had the third or fourth quickest lap of the race? So, went really well. Just a disappointing result. I enjoyed it. Lots of overtaking, wheel-to-wheel banging as you could probably see by the car.”
NASCAR CUP SERIES INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY R.C. VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE REPORT AUGUST 13, 2023
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RESULTS: POS. DRIVER 2nd Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 3rd Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway.com Camaro ZL1 5th Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 8th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 10th Shane van Gisbergen, No. 91 Enhance Health Camaro ZL1
TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL RESULTS: POS. DRIVER
Michael McDowell (Ford)
Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
Daniel Suarez (Chevrolet)
Tyler Reddick (Toyota)
Alex Bowman (Chevrolet)
The 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season continues at Watkins Glen International with the Go Bowling at the Glen on Sunday, August 20, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on the USA Network, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
Elliott on his second-place finish and what more he needed for the win:
“We just needed to be a little better through the back-half of the race, and get off of (turn) 14 a little better to have myself in a better spot getting into Turn One. Just really appreciate the effort. Our NAPA Chevy was really good, we just needed a little bit more. We came up just a bit short, but congrats to Michael (McDowell) – man, he did a good job, ran a great race and stayed mistake-free, and that’s what you have to do.”
What’s that like chasing him (Michael McDowell) down like that, knowing in one mistake, you can have it?
“Yeah, I just lost too much ground under that pit cycle. I was just trying to pace myself for the long haul – it kind of had that green flag feel. And I thought I did that, just need to do a better job getting through traffic.”
Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway.com Camaro ZL1
Finished: 3rd
“I felt like the No. 99 Freeway.com Chevy was very strong today. We just lacked a little bit of speed the first-half of the race. We made a mistake as a team during the last pit cycle, which was probably the most important one. But we will continue to build and get better. We’ll continue to build race cars like this and hopefully we’ll have another shot next week at Watkins Glen (International).
It was a pretty intense battle with Tyler (Reddick) there towards the end. How were you able to protect your spot?
“Yeah, I felt like Tyler (Reddick) was a little bit better in some areas, and I was better in some areas. I was pushing very hard the first three-quarters of that run, and then by the end, I didn’t have a lot left. I was trying to keep pace, but that’s part of it. I needed to push hard to catch those guys. We were catching them – I felt like the entire run, we were catching them.”
This is your best finish on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. What positives can you take from this?
“I think the speed that we had today was definitely very promising. I think that my entire team did a great job. We’ll try again next year.”
Bowman on this top-five finish at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course:
“A top-five finish is good after the last couple of months. Just proud of the whole No. 48 Ally Chevy team. We fell off a little too hard there in the end of the run before that, but that last run we were really fast. We had a little mechanical issue there at the end, but we were able to hang onto fifth. Always want more, but it was a good, solid day for us.”
Define the race today:
“It was how road course racing used to be. We didn’t have a million restarts to run over each other, which was nice. I think we had a fast race car. A caution there at the end would have been nice to have a shot at it, but at the same time, the best team won. Congrats to the No. 34 guys and we’ll try to get one the next couple of weeks.”
Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1
Finished: 8th
“I just made that mistake into turn 12. Flat-spotted my left front, which I felt like it could have affected my right-hander but thankfully, it didn’t. There were more right-handers than lefts, but all the left-handers I had no grip. So I was really tight. Just kind of had to get through that run. I gave up a few positions right before green flag stops. We cycled ahead of the 20 and the 91. It was a tough race. I wish I wouldn’t have made that mistake, maybe I would’ve ended up third or fourth. Glad we were able to salvage a top-10 out of it. Bummed that I made a mistake like that, and we didn’t have any cautions to make up for it. It is what it is, just got to clean it up a bit.”
How do you feel?
“I’m a little bit bummed. I made a mistake in turn 12 there and locked up. Went from fourth to tenth, then the race went green from then on. I don’t know. I’ll have to see the gaps. If I didn’t make that mistake, maybe I’d finish third or fourth. I’m bummed about that, but all in all, it could have been worse. I just have to clean up a little bit. All in all a good day. It was just a long green flag run. When things get spread out, it’s really hard to pass. The 20 and the 91 were better than I was in the end, but it was just going to be hard to pass.”
You mention no cautions during the race. It was around 100 minutes straight (of green flag racing). That doesn’t happen in Cup racing anymore. How tough was it behind the wheel? It was pretty warm as well.
“It was hot. It was way hot. Temps were hot, and then your body starts cramping up a bit. Your body starts getting heavy in turns one and seven. Kind of cramp up a little bit. I was thankful the checkered came out soon. I would’ve liked it to get bunched up or have a pit sequence to shake the strategy up a little bit to get a better finish, but all in all, I’ll take the eighth. We’re trying to gain the points we can to move up a little bit before the Playoffs. Any bit of Playoff points we can get. Just keep fighting for that and try and close out this season on a strong note.”
Shane van Gisbergen, No. 91 Enhance Health Camaro ZL1
Finished: 10th
It seems like the common trend I’ve been hearing is that race was fun. Can you elaborate on that a little bit?
“It’s just a battle of good drivers. It was with Kyle Larson and Christopher Bell there. Unfortunately, they came out in front of me on that last pit stop. Great to get another Top-10 for the Enhance Chevy, and Project 91. We had fun all weekend. Hopefully can come back and do it all again.”
It was rough right from the start. How was this challenge at Indy different than Chicago?
“It’s hard here because everyone’s on it. Everyone knows the track and there’s a lot more room for error. Everyone’s racing aggressively. I can’t thank the Project 91 guys here enough for the Enhance Chevy. So much fun to be back. Hopefully can do more. Had an awesome battle with Kyle (Larson) and Christopher (Bell) there. They got the better of me at the end, but battling with those guys was great.”
What did you learn about racing with the Cup guys? You were in the middle of it all.
“It’s aggressive, but it’s fair. I put a block on the 48, and the next corner he just moved me. I guess I deserved that. The racing was fun. I really enjoyed it. All the battling when you go through a move on someone, they give you room. They expect it back. Really cool.”
How would you sum up your entire week?
“It’s been an amazing week. I can’t thank Justin Marks and the Trackhouse team enough for giving me this opportunity. I learned a lot in the Truck on Friday night, and to get to come here and race again. Although a top-10 is awesome, expectations are high because of the last race. I just have to realize a top-10 is still pretty good.”
Austin Dillon, No. 3 Cowboy Channel Camaro ZL1
Finished: 16th
“We had a fast Cowboy Channel/Carolina Cowboys Chevrolet this weekend at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. We didn’t qualify where we needed to, but we weren’t too worried because we knew we had a fast car and a good strategy in place. It was great to run in the top-10 for a lot of the race. I thought we had a top-10 finish coming our way but we just got too tight at the end of the race. We were wheel-hopping more and more. It’s okay, because we hung in there. I wish we could have freed our Chevy up, but it’s hard to do when you’re running that well.”
STAGE ONE:
· Six Chevrolet drivers led the NASCAR Cup Series to the green flag from top-10 starting positions in today’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course – led by polesitter Daniel Suarez and the No. 99 Freeway.com Camaro ZL1 team.
· At the drop of the green flag, Suarez took his Camaro ZL1 to the top position – leading the opening five laps of the event.
· The first caution of the race came quickly on lap two with an incident involving Team Chevy’s Justin Haley. The Indianapolis native brought his No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1 to pit road as his team went to work on the Kaulig Racing Chevrolet – making quick repairs to end the stage only one lap down.
· The end of Stage One at Lap 15 saw polesitter Suarez picking up second-place stage points to lead the Bowtie brigade at the end of the stage. Team Chevy’s six-fastest qualifiers maintained top-10 positions in Stage One:
2nd Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway.com Camaro ZL1
3rd Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1
9th Shane van Gisbergen, No. 91 Enhance Health Camaro ZL1
STAGE TWO:
· With no stage breaks on road courses, the race remained under green flag conditions to start the 20-lap Stage Two. The first pit cycle of the race began on lap 18 with the lead pack beginning to hit pit road for four-tires and fuel, including Team Chevy’s top-two runners Suarez and Elliott.
· Rejoining the field in the top-15 on the leaderboard, the running order continued to cycle through with then-race leader (Denny Hamlin) opting to stay out for stage points. Suarez continued to lead Chevrolet at the end of Stage Two in the third position – posting back-to-back top-five stage finishes.
· Team Chevy Stage Two: Top-10
3rd Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Freeway.com Camaro ZL1
5th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1
· One lap into the Final Stage, Denny Hamlin (Stage Two winner) came down pit road to conclude to field’s pit cycle – putting Chase Elliott and the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team in the second-position.
· Elliott and fellow Team Chevy driver Daniel Suarez continued to maintain positions in the top-three as the race reached the mid-way point, with the final scheduled pit cycle expected to begin around the 48-52 lap range.
· Elliott and Suarez brought their Camaro ZL1’s down pit road for a scheduled four tires and fuel stop. Issues ensued for the No. 99 Chevrolet pit crew resulting in a long stop, but still sustaining the third position once the lead-lap pit cycle was complete.
· The No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 team took over the runner-up position after the final green flag pit cycle with Elliott chipping away at the 3.8-second deficit of the leader with 29 laps to go.
· Elliott continued to close in on race leader Michael McDowell in the closing laps – ultimately taking the checkered flag in the second position, just 0.937 seconds behind the race winner.
· Elliott led Team Chevy to five top-10 finishes in the event – three of which took the checkered flag in the top-five.
· In 24 points-paying NASCAR Cup Series race this season, Chevrolet continues to lead the series in wins (12), top-fives (53), top-10s (102), stage wins (18) and laps led (2,407).
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.
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.
REDDICK EARNS STRONG TOP-FIVE FINISH IN INDIANAPOLIS Three Toyotas in the top-10
SPEEDWAY, Ind. (August 13, 2023) – Tyler Reddick (fourth) led Toyota in a calm race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. After a caution on the opening laps, the drivers ran 77 consecutive green flag laps to close out the event. Reddick was joined in the top-10 by points leader Martin Truex Jr. (seventh) and Christopher Bell (ninth).
Kamui Kobayashi had a strong run throughout the day. He battled through contact to finish nearly all the laps and brought home his Toyota Camry TRD in 33rd.
Toyota Post-Race Recap NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Race 24 of 36 – 200 miles, 82 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Michael McDowell*
2nd, Chase Elliott*
3rd, Daniel Suarez*
4th, TYLER REDDICK
5th, Alex Bowman*
7th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
9th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
12th, TY GIBBS
18th, BUBBA WALLACE
19th, DENNY HAMLIN
33rd, KAMUI KOBAYASHI
*non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 SiriusXM Radio Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
Does this run help you build for the Playoffs?
“We definitely had really good pace in the second half of the race. We just didn’t have the best start and weren’t quite as fast in the first half and got behind it. We short-pitted them, but we had a slow stop, and wasn’t in position to lunge them off of pit road, and that was kind of the story. We didn’t have a chance to get back around Daniel (Suarez). We could drop off about 10 car lengths and get right back to his bumper. Our SiriusXM Toyota Camry TRD was better, but not good enough to complete the pass. I think AJ Allmendinger with much fresher tires had to push really hard to get around Daniel, so that is the story of it – just unfortunately, hard to pass.”
CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 Rheem/PSC Industries – Johns Manville Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th
Can you talk about your race and the strategy?
“Yeah, that is kind of how it played out. I don’t know – after the last couple of weeks I’m really happy we put a complete race together for this Rheem Camry team. Hopefully, we can build on that, do a little better in Watkins Glen and carry that into the Playoffs.”
You were one of the later ones to pit. Why was that?
“We were just trying to split the tires – put an equal stint on each set tires. The falloff wasn’t there, and the guys that pitted first, got out first. Everyone else needed to have a little more fall off. Whenever you are the first one to pit, you don’t want your tires to fall off, and then they didn’t, and we just had a couple of guys get in front of us and that was it.”
KAMUI KOBAYASHI, No. 67 Toyota Genuine Parts Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 33rd
What did you think of the day?
“First of all, I was waiting for a caution. It never happened. I definitely enjoyed it. Thank you. 77 laps, no caution is pretty long – I think I learned a lot. We had some good speed, as well. I got hit by someone, but this is NASCAR. But the racing in the field was great. It’s a really cool championship – I had a great experience here. Thank you to all of the support from Toyota, Toyota Gazoo Racing North America. This is a dream come true.”
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.
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NASCAR CUP SERIES INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT AUGUST 13, 2023
RICK HENDRICK, OWNER OF HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS; GAVIN WARD, RACING DIRECTOR FOR ARROW MCLAREN; and KYLE LARSON, DRIVER OF THE NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1, met with the media after unveiling the paint schemes for the Chevrolet’s he will drive in the 2024 Indianapolis 500 and Coca-Cola 600. Press Conference Transcript:
THE MODERATOR: We’ll go ahead and get started here, what is soon to be afternoon at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Great to see everyone.
Certainly exciting news a few months ago, the announcement of the partnership between Hendrick and Arrow McLaren. Today unveiling the cars as we’re a step closer to the Hendrick 1100 coming up next May, both here in Indianapolis and in Charlotte.
I’d like to recognize a few folks that are with us here today, Mark Miles, President and CEO of Penske Entertainment Corp. Mark, thanks for being here. As well as some folks, friends here at General Motors as well. Great to have Jim Campbell here, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President Performance and Motorsports, and Dr. Eric Warren, Chevrolet Executive Director Global Motorsports Competition. Thanks, guys, for being here today.
Oh, and we have an Indianapolis 500 champion here as well, 2013 Indianapolis 500 winner Tony Kanaan, who’s with Arrow McLaren these days. Tony, thank you for being here as well.
On stage today we welcome Gavin Ward on the far left. He’s the Racing Director at Arrow McLaren INDYCAR. In the middle Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet, and of course next May the No. 17 HENDRICKCARS.COM Arrow McLaren Chevrolet. And of course on the far right, Mr. Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports and Chairman of Hendrick Automotive Group.
Mr. H, we’ll begin with you. You’re making this look easy, this partnership. I know it’s not. It’s never easy on something like this. Just talk about how big of an undertaking this has been and your experience thus far as we look ahead to May next year.
RICK HENDRICK: You know, just trying to figure out how it’s going to work, but I’ll have to give Arrow McLaren the credit because they had a plan and we looked at it. We’re starting to execute. Today was one of those days.
Kyle’s been in the simulator some, and hopefully we’ll be here in October for the rookie deal, and so the sponsor was no problem. We’re just real excited to think we can partner with a world class team that has tremendous speed and reputation. I feel very, very fortunate.
Number one, I felt I wanted to own the car, but I had to have a partner to make it work. So Gavin and his team, everybody there, Zak, have been so helpful. We feel like we’ve been together longer than six months, but it’s an exciting time and something all of us have dreamed about.
Of course Kyle put a lot of pressure on me, and I’m used to that with cars, but it’s all good. We’re real excited. Do it with Chevrolet too. Never raced anything but a Chevrolet, so we can do that. Again, we’re real honored to be able to even come participate in this event. So we’re excited.
THE MODERATOR: Gavin, we’ll turn to you. Maybe you talk about the process a little bit more as we make this dream a reality. Sim runs that Mr. H talked about, seat fitting and so on, where do you stand right now?
GAVIN WARD: We’ve got the seat fit down. We’ve done some laps in the sim. We’re getting ready, as Mr. H mentioned, do some first real running here in October.
But our goal is just to build up and get as much prep and seat time as we can, just to hit the ground running and be as prepared as possible come May.
THE MODERATOR: Absolutely. Kyle, first of all, congratulations. You got in, what, 4:00 a.m. or so, fresh off of Knoxville.
With each step, this becomes more of a reality. How do you manage the anticipation, the excitement of all this, knowing full well you’ve got another job here before with the NASCAR Cup Series?
KYLE LARSON: Obviously I’m extremely excited, but at the same time, I’m so busy racing and trying to take care of my family that I haven’t — like it hasn’t really set in yet that it’s truly a reality. When you have days like today and you unveil the car, all those little steps, it definitely makes it seem more real.
But I’m sure once things slowdown in the off-season and I have a lot of time to sit around and think about the upcoming season is when it’s really going to hit. I’m sure that’s when all the nervousness will start to creep in, but as well as the excitement.
I look forward to prepping even more. I definitely, obviously, look forward to October and getting to do the rookie orientation. I am — I have thought about that a little bit, so I am nervous when I do think about that. But I think once I get in the car, a lot of those nerves will hopefully go away after a few laps, and it will feel like home, just like all the other race cars I drive.
THE MODERATOR: One more before we open it up for questions. Anything surprise you about the process here, about INDYCAR thus far?
KYLE LARSON: Not really. I think just kind of how easy it’s all been, as far as like going to fit the seat and all that. I thought it would be a full day process, and it was like an hour. It’s like really? We’re done? So it’s just stuff like that.
I know it’s going to get way more in depth as we get more into it. They were obviously so focused on what they had upcoming, getting ready for the Indy 500 with the teams that they were running, and it was nice to get to come here, kind of listen to some radio communication, just to get to see all their hospitality, stuff like that, in May.
Just getting eyes on stuff a year in advance will hopefully make things a little less overwhelming for next year. So I thought that was really important to come to a practice day and also get to come to the race for a little while, just to get reminded of how crazy this place becomes with all the people and the ceremonies and all that.
I think getting eyes on it all was good, and it will hopefully knock some of the edge off next year.
THE MODERATOR: Two more people I want to recognize. Say hi to Doug Bowles, President of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and of course Greg Walter, the Executive Vice President and GM at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Thanks for coming.
Q. Mr. H, you’ve always been a stock car guy, but what does the Indianapolis 500 represent to you?
RICK HENDRICK: I think Daytona and the Indy 500, and I got to do the 24 Hours of Le Mans, so I’m kind of getting my bucketful here. I never dreamed I’d go to Daytona in a stock car, so we’re coming up on 40 years next year. This is such an unbelievable place, that and Charlotte, doing the 600 and this race. It’s going to be unbelievable.
We all talked about it. Kyle wanted to do it. We’re just very fortunate that Arrow McLaren were able to put it together for us. So I can’t wait to have that car in the museum.
Q. Also, early in your career you had an Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year drive for you, Tim Richmond. Did he ever tell you tales and stories about what it was like?
RICK HENDRICK: Tim Richmond told me a lot of tales (laughter).
You know, he just said it was cool. His talent is a lot like Kyle. He can race anything, drive anything. But, no, he never spent much time telling me about this race.
Q. And this is for Gavin and Kyle. The fact the GM Technical Center is in Huntersville, how big of an advantage will that be for Kyle to work on the simulator?
GAVIN WARD: It’s already been an advantage. That’s a great question. Just walking across the road for Kyle. We’re down there all the time working at the GM Performance Center on our program. Yeah, it makes it pretty handy when we’ve got a day or got some time and can get Kyle over there.
KYLE LARSON: When I’m in town, I work out there in the morning. I spend a lot of time at the Chevy Center, may just be in the gym, but it’s nice. You work out and walk downstairs and hop in the simulator.
That facility is state of the art too. It is truly amazing. They did an amazing job with it. And, yeah, it’s right next door to HMS as well. It’s all right there, everything I need. Yeah, I look forward to spending more time there, just to try to prep as much as possible.
Q. Rick, have you been down the road before in putting together an INDYCAR program, or is this the first time it’s really gotten serious?
GAVIN WARD: Jeff and I, Jeff Gordon and I talked about it, but he wasn’t really keen. He was so focused on driving the Cup car. But this is the first time that we really got serious with it.
So Roger and I have talked about it for years. I actually had a sticker on his car a couple years back. But no, this is the first real effort that we said, hey, let’s go do it.
Q. Kyle, what is your impressions of being in INDYCAR when you’ve been in the simulator thing, and where have you done laps?
KYLE LARSON: I did Mid-Ohio, and it was — I would say like when I first got in it, I thought I would be out of control and go in the grass, all this stuff. I was like, okay, I feel like I’m doing all right, like I felt like I got into a rhythm.
They were just, the engineers and stuff were staying pretty quiet. They would chime in like, hey, you know, everything looks good. Just keep working on your braking zones and stuff. Okay, more brake pressure, whatever, go a little deeper. Yep, that’s a little better. And I’m like, well, how much more do I need? They’re like, well, you need about a thousand more pounds of brake pressure. I’m like what?
So the max brake pressure there is like 2,800 pounds. That’s insane. I’ve never pushed anything that hard. Like for instance, here into turn one we’d be like 800 pounds of brake pressure max. So trying to get your brain wrapped around slamming the pedal that hard and releasing it quickly but also like maintaining some was just super difficult for me. I couldn’t ever figure it out. I felt like I regressed once I got closer to the max brake pressure stuff.
Then, yeah, Felix Rosenqvist, he showed up and was way faster than me, so it was starting to get frustrating. It was just eye opening to see data, right? Like I’ve always heard about the downforce cars and braking and all that, but I’ve never seen the telemetry of what they’re doing behind the wheel. So that was definitely interesting. To see how consistent they can be while pushing that hard was pretty wild, definitely eye opening.
Like I’ve said in other interviews, no matter the result from this whole experience, I’m going to come out of it a better race car driver. I already have, I think, just in the short amount of time I spent in the simulator.
It’s definitely having the support that I do from the teammates at Arrow McLaren as well as Chevrolet and drivers who have raced INDYCAR stuff before as well as stock cars. I’ll have a lot of people to lean on to soak up a lot of knowledge. So very, very thankful for that.
Q. I have two questions again. One for Gavin, one for Mr. Hendrick. Gavin, also, NASCAR and INDYCAR are two totally different cars. Is there anything from the engineering point of view you can take to your advantage into the INDYCAR business? And the question to Mr. Hendrick, before you started the cooperation with Arrow McLaren, did you ever play with the idea to set up your own INDYCAR team besides your NASCAR operation?
GAVIN WARD: I’ll start here. I mean, yeah, obviously very different race cars, but at the end of the day, still run on four tires. Really there’s a lot in common with any type of racing, I think. Probably the most in common thing is they’re all driven by a talented team of human beings hopefully.
Yeah, we’re already kind of exploring how we can work together to raise the bar in both programs, and that’s been quite exciting.
RICK HENDRICK: Any time that you spend time in any racing environment, downforce power — of course we can’t do much to our cars. Basically just a little spring shock and tire air, that’s about it.
But these cars, just watching them, I think the fact that our teams have been together and we’ve watched the — Kyle’s watched the Indy race, listened to the radio, and Gavin’s going to listen to the radio today and how these guys communicate. So every time we’re together, there’s something that we see.
We’ll probably get more out of what they’re doing than they’re going to get out of what we’re doing, but the big deal is the cooperation. And when people work together, nothing is as good as communication with smart people. Everybody’s open minded. We know what we don’t know, and we’re not trying to get in the middle of what they know.
Like he said, the Tech Center’s right there, and Eric’s here today and Jim and responsible for building that place. We’ve got all the tools and all we need. We just need a little time in the car.
We’re taking this one step at a time, and it’s just fun talking to racers and talking about what makes a difference in what they do and they’ll see what we’re doing. So the communication is really good. We’ll come away from this, all of us will be better off.
Q. Gavin, ahead of this hopeful ROP for Kyle in October, what other simulation plans, tests, whether it be on an oval or a road course, do you guys have in line to get Kyle ready and prepared for that October test?
GAVIN WARD: We’re building up that plan. So we’ll kind of communicate that once it’s all kind of finalized. Yeah, just in general, trying to maximize everything we can to get up and running as best as possible.
To sort of get back into that last question as well, what Kyle was sort of saying, no matter what the results are out of this, he’ll be a better race car driver. I love that because that’s kind of how I see it for the team. No matter how we do on this, and we’ll put our everything in to make it a success, we’ll come out as better race teams. That’s the mentality that I love and preach, so it’s nice to hear that.
Q. Am I right to assume that you guys would probably have to go to a track like Texas or somewhere like that to run a shorter oval test before coming to IMS, or will he be able to come here on the oval?
GAVIN WARD: Come here straightaway, but I think we definitely wouldn’t rule out other oval testing before coming here next year. So that’s definitely something we’re looking at.
THE MODERATOR: One final question. I got a text from someone in the room. Kyle, can you rate your drivers coach.
KYLE LARSON: Tony (laughter). Honestly I was very happy to hear — I didn’t realize that Tony was sticking around to be a specialty adviser for Arrow McLaren. We have past experience working with each other, being teammates at the Rolex 24 Hour with Chip. Tony and I are the same size. We use the same insert. Well, he’s got way bigger muscles than me, but besides that, we’ve got, I think, a lot in common.
No, I think he’s going to be able to help me a lot. He’s a past champion of the event, won a number of INDYCAR races. He’s just so experienced. I’m going to be leaning on him the most for sure. He’s so easy to talk to and work with that he’s going to help me and get me steered in the right direction very quickly.
GAVIN WARD: You were surprised how well the seat fit. That’s because you basically just fit Tony.
KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I said make it like this.
THE MODERATOR: We’ll go ahead and wrap it up. Congratulations on the unveil today, guys.
Countdown to 287 days to the 180th running of the Indianapolis 500, presented by Gainbridge and the Coke 600 as well and the Hendrick 1100. Thanks, everyone.
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.
