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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

By
Official Release
-

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)

By
Official Release
-

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

By
Official Release
-

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.”

Joe Graf Jr. | RSS Racing Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Preview

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RSS Racing | NASCAR Xfinity Series
Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course | Pennzoil 150

Fast Facts

No. 38 RSS Racing Team:

Driver: Joe Graf Jr.

Primary Partner(s): No. 38 G-Coin® Ford Mustang

Manufacturer: Ford Mustang

Crew Chief: Steve Addington

Spotter: Joe Campbell

Engine: Roush-Yates Engines

Driver Championship Point Standings: 22nd

Team Championship Point Standings: 25th

Notes of Interest:

Settling In: After spending the last three seasons with SS GreenLight Racing with Jeff Lefcourt (2020 – 2022), Joe Graf Jr. moved to RSS Racing during the offseason where he’ll spend the majority of the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season competing for the Sugar Hill, Ga.-based team.

In addition to RSS Racing, Graf will also compete in a limited NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule driving the No. 19 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Welcome Aboard: Joe Graf Jr. and RSS Racing welcome G-Coin® as the primary partner of the team’s No. 38 Ford Mustang for Saturday afternoon’s Pennzoil 150.

Indianapolis marks the 22nd race of the 2023 Xfinity Series season and 17th race overall from 2021 to 2023 where G-Coin®, a product that brings gold into the digital age, making it accessible and giving it true utility will be the primary partner.

G-Coin is serving as a primary partner in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Joe Graf Jr. at RSS Racing for the third time this season.

Sponsor Intel: G-Coin® (gcoin.com) is a digital title to real physical gold, where 1 G-Coin® equals 1 gram of a 99.99% pure, ethically sourced Responsible Gold™ kilobar.

G-Coin® allows for easy savings and sending of real gold with zero transaction fees and near instantaneous settlement times.

With G-Coin®, users can now effortlessly buy, sell, and monitor the value of their gold from the convenience of their smartphone.

Download the app from Google Play or the Apple App Store and Go for Gold!

Thanks For Your Support: With a little more than 63 percent of the 2023 Xfinity Series season complete, Joe Graf Jr. and RSS Racing would like to thank their associate marketing partners: ArmsList.com, AVOID, Bass Reaper Bait Company, Bucked Up Energy Drink, CoverSeal, EAT SLEEP RACE Apparel, fgrACCEL, G-Coin®, GTECHNIQ, JACOB Companies, Lefcourt Brothers Racing, Love Motorsports, Model Electronics and ShopRite for their continued support.

Catch Him On The Dial: Before Joe Graf Jr. straps into his No. 38 G-Coin® Ford Mustang on Saturday, the RSS Racing driver will be featured on “The Frontstretch” on SiriusXM Satellite Radio Channel 90 with host Pat Patterson on Saturday morning, August 12, 2023, at approximately 10:00 a.m. ET.

Graf will also spotlight a commercial featuring G-Coin® in several spots throughout the weekend, including the full four-hour program on Sunday, August 13, 2023.

Joe Graf Jr. Xfinity Series Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Speedway Stats: Saturday afternoon’s Pennzoil 150 will mark Graf’s second Xfinity start at the 2.439-road course.

In his previous effort, Graf delivered a track-best of 26th after starting 29th for SS GreenLight Racing with Jeff Lefcourt during the 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series season.

Joe Graf Jr. Xfinity Series Road Course Stats: At NASCAR Xfinity Series tracks classified as a road course, Graf has competed in 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series races with an average starting position of 30.8 and an average result of 26.9.

Michigan International Speedway | Cabo Wabo 250 Race Recap: In the most recent NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Michigan International Speedway, Graf hunted his second top-10 finish of the season.

After qualifying his No. 38 Gtechniq Marine Ford Mustang 28th, a strong start to the race for Graf and the RSS Racing team was thwarted when he was hit by another competitor which caused extensive damage to the front-end of his Ford Mustang.

Graf was able to salvage the remainder of the race with a 27th-place result at the checkered flag.

Sneaker Mania: Along with the adrenaline of the Motorsports competition, Joe Graf Jr. also has a vogue for hype sneakers. In his current collection, he owns and wears at least 90 limited edition sneakers – and his collection continues to grow monthly.

The current estimated value of his collection tops $100,000.

From the Pit Box: Industry veteran Steve Addington is Joe Graf Jr.’s crew chief.

He will be crew chief for his 285th NASCAR Xfinity Series race as crew chief on Saturday and his second at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix.

In his previous 284 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, he has collected 11 wins, 10 poles, 68 top-five and 118 top-10 finishes.

Hello From The Other Side: Graf Jr. has two teammates at RSS Racing.

Veteran Ryan Sieg will drive the No. 39 CMRroofing.com Ford Mustang, while younger brother Kyle Sieg will drive the No. 28 US RSS Racing Ford Mustang.

Ryan Sieg is set to make his 323rd career Xfinity Series start overall and fourth at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

Kyle Sieg is poised to make his 39th career Xfinity Series start and first at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

Follow on Social Media: For more on Joe Graf Jr. visit JoeGrafRacing.com, like him on Facebook (Joe Graf Jr.), follow him on TikTok (@JoeGrafJr), Twitter (@JoeGrafJr) and Instagram (@joegrafjr).

For more on RSS Racing, please like them on Facebook (RSS283839) and follow them on Instagram (@rss283839) and Twitter (@RSS283839).

Joe Graf Jr. Quoteboard:

On The Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course: “I have been working really hard to improve my road racing craft and I hope I’m able to showcase that with a solid result in Saturday afternoon’s race.

“I haven’t raced at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course since 2020, but I remember the race being a lot about track position and car control. My goal during practice is to rekindle myself with the layout and get a good zone and then try to leave nothing on the table for qualifying.

“From there, it’s about bringing home a top-20 finish or better for our No. 38 G-Coin® team. I was a bit disappointed about Michigan last week considering how fast our car was, so a top-20 finish would be a great rebound for our RSS Racing team and definitely give us some much-welcome momentum for Watkins Glen next weekend.”

On The 2023 Season: “As we press on during the second half of the NASCAR Xfinity Series, it is important for me to utilize what I have learned with the RSS Racing and Joe Gibbs Racing teams and apply that behind the wheel.

“We started the year off really strong but then fell a little bit. We’re slowly but steadily trying to put ourselves in a good position for the end of the summer and into the fall.

“I just need to continue to stay focused, communicate with my team and utilize the knowledge that I’ve gained over the past three years to recover and have my best Xfinity Series season yet.”

Race Information:

The Pennzoil 150 (62 laps | 151.22 miles) is the 22nd of 33 NASCAR Xfinity Series races on the 2023 schedule. Practice begins on Saturday, August 12, 2023, from 9:30 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. Qualifying is set to immediately follow practice beginning at 10:00 a.m. The 38-car field will take the green flag later that afternoon, shortly after 5:30 p.m. with live coverage on the USA Network, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Radio and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90. All times are local (Eastern).

About RSS Racing:

RSS Racing fields multiple entries in the NASCAR Xfinity Series led by mainstay driver Ryan Sieg.

RSS Racing has competed in NASCAR events since 2009 from its headquarters in Sugar Hill, Ga.

Meyer Shank Racing Expands INDYCAR Program, Signs Tom Blomqvist

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Castroneves joins MSR ownership group as a minority partner, will focus on fifth Indianapolis 500 victory in 2024 with MSR

Indianapolis, Ind. (11 August 2024) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) will expand its NTT INDYCAR SERIES program starting with the 2024 season, signing a promising young talent and making a new addition to the ownership group.

The team has signed Tom Blomqvist, who won the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship as well as the 2022 and 2023 Rolex 24 At Daytona with MSR, to a multi-year agreement to pilot the team’s first of two full-season entries starting in 2024.

Four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves will remain with the team for the 2024 season and beyond as the affable fan favorite takes on a new role with MSR.

Castroneves will join the Meyer Shank Racing ownership group as a minority partner. After winning a record-tying fourth Indianapolis 500 victory with MSR in 2021, Castroneves will continue his ‘Drive for 5’ with the Ohio-based team in 2024 and will enter the 108th Running of the Indianapolis 500 as the third entry for MSR.

“We are thrilled to bring Tom (Blomqvist) over to our INDYCAR program full-time starting next year, and to be able to keep Helio as a key part of our program moving forward and go for a fifth Indianapolis 500 victory next year,” said Mike Shank. “I feel like all the planets aligned for us to be able to do this, so I’m really grateful for us to be making this next step as a team. Helio brings so much to what we do overall as a team, both in terms of our competition package and all of his experience, as well as how he’s able to engage with our partners. So having him transition to this role is really exciting for everyone involved.”

The move from IMSA to INDYCAR marks a return to open-wheel competition for Blomqvist, who first forged his name in European competition with outstanding campaigns in Formula Renault and the highly competitive Formula 3 championships. His career then saw him move to DTM ahead of making his Formula E debut in 2017. Most recently, Blomqvist’s accolades include an LMP2 second place finish in the 2021 24 Hours of Le Mans on his way to taking a runner-up result in the 2021 FIA World Endurance Championship.

In addition to Blomqvist’s role with MSR in major wins at IMSA’s 24 Hours At Daytona and Motul Petit Le Mans, he has also been an integral part in the team’s development of the all-new Acura LMDh Prototype hybrid in 2023. The British racer ran an astounding single-lap effort to deliver Acura the first-ever IMSA GTP class pole at Daytona, and added to the tally of success with a victory alongside Colin Braun last month at Canadian Tire Motorsport Park.

Blomqvist made his INDYCAR debut filling in for the recovering Simon Pagenaud in Toronto, but his race unfortunately came to an early end after he was taken out in a first turn, first lap accident that put him out of the race.

“Firstly I would like to say a huge thank you to Mike and Jim and all the partners – AutoNation, SiriusXM, Arctic Wolf, Clopay and Cleveland-Cliffs – for believing in me and giving me this opportunity,” said Blomqvist. “It’s been a good ride the last two years in IMSA, but I’ve been itching to make the step up to INDYCAR and this is an opportunity I’m eager and motivated to make the most of. INDYCAR is an incredibly competitive series and I’m under no illusions in how difficult this championship can be, but I am extremely motivated to make the most of this exciting new challenge.”

Meyer Shank Racing has placed great value in Castroneves’ abilities on and off the track. The four-time Indianapolis 500 winner will stay onboard with Meyer Shank Racing full-time, serving as driver mentor, team ambassador and partner of MSR’s growing list of sponsors which include AutoNation, SiriusXM, Arctic Wolf, Clopay and Cleveland-Cliffs. The Meyer Shank Racing ownership group now includes Mike Shank, Jim Meyer, Liberty Media, and now Castroneves.

“First I want to thank Mike, Jim and Liberty for accepting me as part of the ownership group,” said Castroneves. “Throughout my career I’ve been very fortunate to surround myself with an amazing group of people and this journey will be my next chapter and I can’t wait for that. Don’t get me wrong, I still have a lot of fuel to burn inside in terms of driving and I will do that at the Indy 500 as I continue my pursuit of the Drive for Five.”

Meyer Shank Racing is still finalizing plans for it’s second full-season entry in 2024 and will announce soon.

Tiger Tari’s Positive Lessons Continue With Star Spangled Racing’s Lamborghini Super Trofeo Effort at Road America

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ELKHART LAKE, Wisconsin (August 11, 2023) – Tiger Tari’s Road America rounds of the Lamborghini Super Trofeo season mirrored his season to date, with incredible highs and steady improvement ripped away through bad luck and misfortune.

Tari and his Star Spangled Racing/NTE Sport team left the doubleheader weekend on August 4-6 with a sixth and a 10th place finish, but led a lap in the LB Cup class under the pit cycle and drove as high as third place on the track before his weekend ended early thanks to unfortunate contact.

The highlight of the weekend was when he found his No. 17 Star Spangled Racing with NTE Lamborghini Huracan Super Trofeo EVO2 at the top of the LB Cup class in the midst of the mandatory pit stops. Though the top spot was short lived, Tari had driven to third and held the position after everyone’s stops had been completed.

Even that came with some drama, as Tari’s radio communication with the team was compromised in the race. Tari made the call to pit on his own after noticing the pit window open, and then left alone again after the stop. Light contact to the rear of his car in the middle of a corner caused a spin and the podium finish evaporated.

“Road America is such a fun track, but there is more elevation change than there looks on tv,” Tari said. “Not having a radio is a real disadvantage, especially on the starts and restarts. You can’t see the starter’s stand and the flag until you crest the hill, so I had to wait and judge it by the other cars around me. It probably cost me at least one position on every start or restart, and I had to push to get that back.”

Tari had again driven to fifth during Sunday’s race after starting eighth, avoiding other people’s incidents and marching up the sheets. That evaporated with 13 minutes remaining in the 50 minute race. Locked in a battle with a fellow LB Cup competitor heading into Canada Corner, Tari was hit hard in the rear by a Pro class contender.

The contact resulted in a drive through penalty for the Pro driver, but both cars were undrivable after the incident. Tari’s No. 17 suffered significant damage to the rear, and will need to be repaired to make the next round at Virginia International Raceway.

“The end of that race was terribly unfortunate,” Tari said. “I’ve been snake bit this year trying to finish races, but I’m really happy with my driving. I continue to get faster, and even though I expect more from myself I have to remember that I haven’t even been doing this for a full season.”

Indeed, Tari’s debut came one year ago at Road America after participating in SCCA and World Endurance League racing. He had never so much as sat in the car prior to his debut, and even then – because he shared the car with a co-driver, and also experienced some mechanical issues – had only about four full laps at Road America.

Because of that, each of the first half of the 2023 season saw Tari visiting new-to-him race tracks. At the tricky WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, Tari opened with a fourth-place finish and went even quicker in race two before a spin on old tires ended his race one lap down. Watkins Glen was very similar, getting quicker in race two before a flat tire ended his day early.

Beginning at the next race at VIR, Tari gets an opportunity to repeat a track – one that he earned a podium on a season ago.

“I’m looking forward to being able to settle in at VIR,” Tari said. “It’s been a very up and down year, but I finally get to eliminate the variables. I know the car pretty well by now, and I know the track. I can take what I learned last year and focus forward this week. It will be really fun.”

Tari exits Road America eighth in the LB Cup seaon-long championship, and part of the Lamborghini Palm Beach’s dominating effort in the dealership standings.

Tari’s Star Spangled Racing Lamborghini is carrying Lamborghini Palm Beach, PSA Systems, Clean Claims, Home Repair Network Limited and Terra Gaucha Brazilian Steakhouse on the car during the 2023 season.

The Lamborghini Super Trofeo season, including Tari’s No. 17 Star Spangled Racing Lamborghini Huracan, returns to action at VIR for a doubleheader August 25-27.

About Star Spangled Racing:

Based in Jacksonville, Florida, Star Spangled Racing was established in 2020 by first-generation American Tiger Tari. Star Spangled Racing accelerated quickly, moving from club and endurance events into professional racing just two years later with a Lamborghini Huracan GT3 Evo in the 2022 IMSA WeatherTech Championship GT Daytona (GTD) class in a partnership with NTE Sport. Tari extended his driving career by finishing the season in the LB Cup class of Lamborghini Super Trofeo during the 2022 season. More information can be found at www.starspangledracing.com.

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