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Rasmussen Closes Season at Laguna Seca with Second Victory

By
Official Release
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MONTEREY, Calif. (Sunday, Sept. 11, 2022) – Christian Rasmussen finished his rookie season with a flag-to-flag victory in the Indy Lights Grand Prix of Monterey Race 2 on Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Rasmussen, from Denmark, earned his second victory of the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires season in the No. 28 Road to Indy/Stellrecht entry fielded by Andretti Autosport. He started from the pole and led all 35 laps after finishing second in the first race of the weekend doubleheader Saturday.

“It was awesome to end the season like this,” Rasmussen said. “It’s been a tough one for us. We started out at St. Pete running out of fuel from a win. It’s been a tough season. To end it like this on a high note, with second place in race one and first place in race two, is awesome.”

Rasmussen entered the 2022 Indy Lights season after winning the Cooper Tires USF2000 Championship in 2020 and the Indy Pro 2000 Presented by Cooper Tires title in 2021. His other victory this season came in June at Road America.

“We’re looking to come back next year,” Rasmussen said. “Hopefully we can continue on what we ended on here and hopefully compete for a championship next year.”

Sting Ray Robb finished second today, .8893 of a second behind teammate Rasmussen, in the No. 2 Sekady car to complete a strong final weekend of the season. Robb earned his first career victory Saturday.

Matthew Brabham completed a podium sweep for Andretti Autosport in the team’s No. 83 car, passing 2022 season champion Linus Lundqvist for that spot with a brave, side-by-side move in the famous “Corkscrew” turn on Lap 4.

Lundqvist celebrated his first full day as an Indy Lights champion by finishing fourth in the No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing car. Swedish driver Lundqvist clinched the title by finishing sixth Saturday and ended up with a 575-483 edge over runner-up Robb in the final standings.

Jacob Abel finished fifth in the No. 51 Abel Speedwagon car, backing up the fourth-place finish Saturday that tied his career best in the series.

Hunter McElrea finished seventh to clinch the series’ Rookie of the Year title despite problems with the push-to-pass system in his No. 27 Andretti Autosport entry. McElrea ended up fourth in the standings with 460 points, 20 ahead of rookie runner-up Rasmussen.

Rasmussen squirted ahead of the field at the start and controlled the gap to Robb, who started third, for the entire race. The margin between the two drivers varied from .6 of a second to about 1.2 seconds throughout the race, usually hovering around the one-second mark.

Robb tried to make a final charge on the last lap around the 11-turn, 2.238-mile road course, but Rasmussen kept his nerve and his speed for victory.

MONTEREY, Calif. – Results Sunday of the Indy Lights Grand Prix of Monterey Race 2 Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires event on the 2.238-mile WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, with order of finish, starting position in parentheses, driver, laps completed and reason out (if any):

  1. (1) Christian Rasmussen, 35, Running
  2. (3) Sting Ray Robb, 35, Running
  3. (5) Matthew Brabham, 35, Running
  4. (2) Linus Lundqvist, 35, Running
  5. (8) Jacob Abel, 35, Running
  6. (4) Benjamin Pedersen, 35, Running
  7. (6) Danial Frost, 35, Running
  8. (9) Hunter McElrea, 35, Running
  9. (11) Nolan Siegel, 35, Running
  10. (12) Christian Bogle, 35, Running
  11. (13) Flinn Lazier, 35, Running
  12. (10) Kyffin Simpson, 35, Running
  13. (7) Ernie Francis Jr., 35, Running

Race Statistics
Winner’s average speed: 101.566 mph
Time of Race: 46:16.3888
Margin of victory: 0.8893 of a second
Cautions: 0
Lead changes: 0

Lap Leaders:
Rasmussen, Christian 1 – 35

Indy Lights Point Standings: Lundqvist 575, Robb 483, Brabham 471, McElrea 460, Pedersen 443, Rasmussen 440, Frost 382, Abel 355, Simpson 312, Francis Jr. 299, Bogle 298, James Roe 219, Antonio Serravalle 204, Ryan Phinny 77, Lazier 54, Manuel Sulaiman 48, Siegel 42

About Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires

Celebrating 35 years, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires develops drivers and teams to compete in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Past champions include INDYCAR SERIES champions Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Paul Tracy and Cristiano da Matta. In 2021, 20 drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES were Indy Lights graduates, including rising stars and race winners Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward and Rinus VeeKay. The 2022 season consists of 14 races in the United States. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Indy Lights, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions are owned by Penske Corporation, a global transportation, automotive and motorsports leader. For more information on Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, please visit www.indylights.com. For more information on INDYCAR and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, please visit www.indycar.com.

About Cooper Tire

Cooper Tire, a subsidiary of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ: GT), specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of passenger car, light truck, medium truck, motorcycle and racing tires. Cooper is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio, with manufacturing, sales, distribution, technical and design operations located in more than one dozen countries around the world. For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com, www.facebook.com/coopertire or www.twitter.com/coopertire.

About Goodyear

Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs about 72,000 people and manufactures its products in 55 facilities in 23 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate.

CORVETTE RACING AT FUJI: No Monza Repeat in Japanese Debut

By
Official Release
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OYAMA, Japan (Sept. 11, 2022) – Try as it might, Corvette Racing couldn’t replicate its Monza magic on Sunday as it finished fifth in the GTE Pro class of the Six Hours of Fuji for the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy, coming off a victory together in the previous WEC race in Italy, soldiered through a difficult day in the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R during the team’s first race at Fuji Speedway.

Milner, Tandy and the rest of the team had a tough time coming to grips – figuratively and literally – with the unfamiliar Fuji circuit and track surface.

The Corvette team found itself in a hole early as the No. 64 had to serve a drive-through penalty for exceeding track limits just shy of the 30-minute mark. Tandy rejoined the track undeterred and managed to gain a spot up to fourth with an inside dive on the No. 91 Porsche – which also was called in for a similar penalty – at the first corner just shy of the one-hour mark.

The tire management of the Corvette progressed nicely for the remainder of Tandy’s stint compared to the other GTE Pro runners. Another stroke of misfortune struck, however, as the Corvette ran out of fuel on pitlane as Tandy headed for his first stop. After some assistance from the Corvette Racing crew, the No. 64 took on fuel and left-side tires for Tandy’s second stint.

The struggles continued with Tandy reporting a severe lack of rear grip and a tire issue through the back half of his run.

Milner drove the middle two stints and took on four tires for each run in an effort to claw back into contention. Unfortunately the continuing struggles with pace and grip plus a caution-free race limited any ground that he and Tandy could make up at the end.

Corvette Racing closes its first-year WEC campaign with the Eight Hours of Bahrain on Nov. 10-12.

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “Today was not our best day on many fronts, for sure. It was a frustrating day I think for Nick, frustrating for our engineers and frustrating for me all in our own ways. We’ll give ourselves some time after the race to decompress and think about those lessons and take them with us to Bahrain. In general, we had some struggles through practice and we improved the car for Nick through FP3 and qualifying. We were still behind the eight-ball a little bit, and in the race we saw some residuals from that. I was pretty slow the first couple of laps of my stint just because I was realistically driving a new car from what I had from the practice sessions. The second stint was a bit better but for me not as good as it needed to be. In the grand scheme of things, no thing that one person did or one group did had an ultimate effect on today; it was a collection of many things. We’ll isolate the mistakes and at the same time highlight the positives and find the things we did well. We’ll take our lumps from today and focus on Bahrain to be more prepared, be faster and make less mistakes. Hopefully that’s enough and we can have a good race there.”

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “The story of the race wasn’t so great. Really since Friday morning, it’s been a struggle. I think the characteristics of this track and the track surface just don’t suit our car. You’re never going to have the fastest car at every track you go to; that’s not how racing works. So what we have done is learned a lot. If we could start the race again tomorrow, there are things we absolutely would change but you only learn things from experience. This is something we can take forward. We’re not going to win every race. What we need to do is capitalize on days where the car is competitive. We had some issues but this was the one take because this was our least competitive showing from a pace perspective. This shows again the things we need to focus on in practice and in simulation when we are coming to a new track. And it shows that racing is difficult. It shows that the day we had Monza is just as big as we thought it was at the time. This weekend shows just what a good job we did there and how tough it can be if the stars don’t align.”

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in nearly 80 countries with nearly 2.7 million cars and trucks sold in 2021. 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.

Power Sets Career Pole Record on Eve of Laguna Title Showdown

By
Official Release
-

MONTEREY, Calif. (Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022) – Will Power wrote a new chapter of INDYCAR SERIES history one day before he could enter his name in the sport’s annals as a series champion for the second time.

Power broke Mario Andretti’s all-time record with his 68th career pole Saturday during NTT P1 Award qualifying for the Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey.

Power, 41, from Toowomba, Australia, drove to his series-leading fifth pole this season in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, burnishing his legend and starting from the perfect position as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship leader entering the season finale Sunday at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

“It’s such a big day tomorrow that I can’t celebrate much because I’ve got to be so focused on tomorrow,” Power said. “Tremendous milestone. To be out there with an iconic guy like Mario is amazing. When I think about the era he raced in, how dangerous it was and how much more of a risk it was, it just blows my mind I’m there with Mario.”

Said Andretti: “Awesome. I know how much I loved qualifying, and I can see he’s the same. Trying to reach and trying to do the lap you know you cannot repeat. That’s what puts you on pole. It (losing record) was coming. It’s beautiful. It’s great for the series and the sport. Records are made to be broken, and it’s with a good man.”

Power’s best lap in the Firestone Fast Six was 1 minute, 11.6127 seconds. Rookie Callum Ilott will join him in the front row of the 95-lap race Sunday (2:40 p.m. ET, NBC; 3 p.m. ET, Telemundo Deportes on Universo and INDYCAR Radio Network) after qualifying a career-best second at 1:11.6320 in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet.

The pole gave Power more than just a big piece of history. He also will be awarded one bonus point when the race starts tomorrow, which could be pivotal as he looks to preserve his 20-point lead over Team Penske teammate Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon of Chip Ganassi Racing and win a second season championship to accompany his 2014 title. Marcus Ericsson (-39) of CGR and Scott McLaughlin (-41) of Team Penske also are eligible to win the championship Sunday.

Power was the only member of the title-contending quintet to advance to the Firestone Fast Six, creating an even clearer path for his championship hopes on the 11-turn, 2.238-mile track where passing is difficult due to the challenging layout and low-grip, highly abrasive surface.

McLaughlin was the best of the rest among the title contenders, qualifying eighth at 1:11.6916 in the No. 3 XPEL Team Penske Chevrolet after going off track in Turn 4 during the second round of qualifying. Ericsson qualified 10th after spinning in the famous “Corkscrew” turn during the second round, ending up with a best lap of 1:12.1359 in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.

Dixon and Newgarden will have plenty of work to do to win the Astor Challenge Cup on Sunday after neither driver advanced from the first round.

Six-time series champion Dixon will start 13th after his best lap of 1:12.1722 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Dixon and every other driver besides Newgarden in the first qualifying group of the first round were forced into a one-lap showdown for position when Newgarden triggered a red flag, lost his two quickest laps and chance to advance by clouting a curb in the “Corkscrew” and spinning off the course.

Two-time series champion Newgarden will start 25th in the 26-car field in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.

Among the other four drivers in the Firestone Fast Six, Alexander Rossi qualified third at 1:11.7698 in the No. 27 NAPA AUTO PARTS/AutoNation Honda, with Andretti Autosport teammate Romain Grosjean fourth at 1:11.7858 in the No. 28 DHL Honda.

Alex Palou, whose reign as series champion has one more day, qualified fifth at 1:12.1625 in the No. 10 NTT DATA Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Pato O’Ward rounded out the Firestone Fast Six at 1:12.4542 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

Ilott was the top rookie qualifier but already is eliminated from Rookie of the Year contention. The two drivers competing for that honor, David Malukas and Christian Lundgaard, qualified seventh and 16th, respectively. Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver Lundgaard leads Dale Coyne Racing with HMD driver Malukas by five points in the standings.

A 30-minute warmup session at noon ET Sunday will precede the race, with live coverage on Peacock Premium and the INDYCAR Radio Network. Spanish-language telecast will be on Telemundo Deportes on Universo.

Team Chevy’s Power sets all-time INDYCAR pole record

By
Official Release
-

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
FIRESTONE GRAND PRIX OF MONTEREY
WEATERTECH RACEWAY LAGUNA SECA IN SALINAS, CALIFORNIA
TEAM CHEVY NTT P1 AWARD WINNER QUOTES – WILL POWER
SEPT. 10, 2022

Power sets all-time INDYCAR pole record with 68

Points leader breaks tie with Mario Andretti, seeks to wrap up second title in season finale

CAN YOU TAKE A MOMENT TO THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU ACHIEVED TODAY?

“Tremendous milestone. To be up there with an iconic guy like Mario is amazing. When I think about the era that he raced in, how dangerous it was and how much more a risk it was, it just blows my mind that I’m there with Mario. It’s great to have Mario here. Someone I respect tremendously and was a massive fan of growing up. I want to swap a helmet with him, put his in my collection if he would do it.”

WHAT ALLOWED YOU THIS YEAR TO WIN ALL THE POLES TO GET TO THIS MOMENT?

“Really focusing in on certain races that we knew we had a good shot at pole.”

NOW THE FOCUS TURNS TOWARD TOMORROW. WHAT IS THE MINDSET?

“We put ourselves in a great position to lead the first lap to get one point and hopefully lead the most laps to get more points. Competitors with better tires but we have track position for right now, so we’ll have a good think about it tonight and see how we attack that one. But it will be a long day. I’ll do my best. “

Mario Andretti, who held the record with 67 poles:

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THIS MAN?

“Awesome. I know how much I loved qualifying and I can see that he’s the same. It’s just trying to reach and just try to do the lap that you cannot repeat and that’s what puts you on pole.”

DID YOU KNOW THAT THIS MOMENT WOULD EVENTUALLY COME?

“Absolutely. It’s great fort the series, great for the sport. Records are made to be broken. It’s with a good man. Will Power throughout his career has been a really good qualifier. He deserves this. He’s worked for it and he’s the best when it comes to qualifying.”

WHAT IS IT THAT SETS A DRIVER APART IN QUALIFYING?

“How badly do you want it? If I had the specific formula I’d bottle it and sell it. It’s just a matter of really wanting it and just doing that lap that you know you can’t repeat. That’s how records are made.”

ABOUT CHEVROLET

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in nearly 80 countries with nearly 2.7 million cars and trucks sold in 2021. 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.

Tyler Reddick tops practice and qualifying, wins Busch Light Pole at Kansas

By
Angie Campbell
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Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Tyler Reddick was last but not least in NASCAR Cup Series qualifying Saturday at Kansas Speedway. His lap of 29.899 seconds at 180.608 mph in the No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet earned him the Busch Light Pole Award.

“It’s reassuring,” Reddick said. “The last few times we’ve been here, we’ve had a car capable of leading, and we’ve been able to do that. It’s just been a matter of putting together the whole day, which is something we’ve fought at times throughout the year. Starting first is great any weekend, but being able to have that first pit stall is going to be key.”

It’s Reddick’s second pole this year and his third career pole in the series. He outpaced Team Penske’s Joey Logano who will start second in Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 for the second Playoff race in the Round of 16.

“I haven’t seen his lap but I thought we had a pretty good lap,” Logano said. “Our car was tighter than the first run. It was still good the first run. I hated to adjust on it too much and I probably steered Paul (Wolfe) a little bit in the wrong direction there and didn’t really adjust enough. I am so proud of the Shell Pennzoil team.

“We picked up a lot from practice and laid down a couple of quick laps there. A couple of front row starts in a row. That first pit stall is pretty big here though. I wish we had that. But we will go at them from where we are at.”

The top five drivers are all in the Playoffs with Alex Bowman starting in third, Christopher Bell in fourth and Ross Chastain in fifth. Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson, Austin Cindric, William Byron and Chris Buescher, respectively, rounded out the top 10 in qualifying.

Kansas – Starting positions for drivers in the Playoffs:

1 – Tyler Reddick

2 – Joey Logano

3 – Alex Bowman

4- Christopher Bell

5 – Ross Chastain

7 – Kyle Larson

 8- Austin Cindric

 9 – William Byron

11 – Austin Dillon

13 – Chase Briscoe

14 – Kevin Harvick

15 – Daniel Suarez

17 – Ryan Blaney

20 – Kyle Busch

22 – Chase Elliott

25 – Denny Hamlin

Complete Starting Lineup:

Kansas-12228_STARTROW

Gragson capitalizes late to win rain-shortened Xfinity event at Kansas

By
Andrew Kim
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A pass for the lead with 15 laps remaining in the second stage followed by a two-lap dash to the conclusion of the stage netted Noah Gragson and the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro team a rain-shortened victory in the Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 10.

The 24-year-old Gragson from Las Vegas, Nevada, led three times for 20 of 93-shortened laps, including the final 18, as he managed to retain the lead through two late restarts prior to the conclusion of the second stage, including a two-lap dash to the eventual finish over teammate Justin Allgaier and Ty Gibbs. When the second stage concluded on Lap 90, NASCAR directed the field to pit road on Lap 93 due to a weather delay. With the precipitation increasing and more rain approaching the track, NASCAR made the call to deem the race official and award Gragson his fifth Xfinity victory of the season and second in recent weeks after he won last weekend’s event at Darlington Raceway.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Friday, Brandon Jones notched his fifth career pole position, third of the season and second in recent weeks after posting a pole-winning lap of 174.695 mph in 30.911 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Ty Gibbs, winner of last year’s Xfinity event at Kansas who posted the second-best qualifying lap at 174.520 mph in 30.942 seconds.

Prior to the event, names like Jesse Iwuji (who replaced Kyle Weatherman for the main event despite Weatherman practicing and qualifying for the main event), Joey Gase, Josh Williams, CJ McLaughlin, Brennan Poole, JJ Yeley, Kris Wright, Stefan Parsons and Brandon Brown dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. Ryan Vargas also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car after he wrecked his primary car during Saturday’s qualifying session.

When the green flag waved and the race started, the field quickly fanned out to three lanes entering the first turn as Brandon Jones fended off teammate Ty Gibbs to lead the first lap. As the field continued to fan out through the second lap, AJ Allmendinger was in third ahead of Richard Childress Racing’s rookies Sheldon Creed and Austin Hill with JR Motorsports’ competitors Sam Mayer, Noah Gragson and Justin Allgaier following in pursuit.

Four laps later and following an early battle with his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Gibbs moved his No. 54 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota Supra into the lead over Jones’ No. 19 Menards Toyota Supra.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Gibbs was leading by nearly three-tenths of a second over teammate Brandon Jones followed by Allmendinger, Gragson and Allgaier. Teammates Hill and Creed battled for sixth while Sammy Smith, Sam Mayer and Daniel Hemric occupied the top 10. Riley Herbst was in 11th followed by Ross Chastain, Ryan Sieg, Josh Berry and Brett Moffitt while Landon Cassill, Myatt Snider, Anthony Alfredo, Jeb Burton and Bailey Currey were in the top 20.

Ten laps later, Gibbs extended his advantage to more than a second over teammate Brandon Jones while third-place Gragson trailed by nearly four seconds. Behind, Allmendinger and Allgaier battle for fourth while Sammy Smith, Hill and Mayer were in sixth, seventh and eighth. Meanwhile, Creed, coming off his career-best run at Darlington Raceway, had fallen back to ninth while Brett Moffitt was in 10th.

At the Lap 30 mark, Gibbs, who was carving his way through lapped traffic, stabilized his advantage to nearly two seconds over teammate Brandon Jones while Gragson remained in third place and trailed by more than three seconds. By then, Sammy Smith moved his No. 18 Pilot Flying J Toyota Supra into fourth place followed by Allgaier while Allmendinger, Hill, Moffitt, Mayer and Herbst were in the top 10. Creed was back in 12th behind Josh Berry while Hemric, Cassill and Chastain battled in the top 15.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 45, Gibbs rocketed his way to his fifth stage victory of the 2022 season. Gragson, who navigated his way around Brandon Jones for the runner-up spot nearing the Lap 40 mark, settled in second followed by Jones, Sammy Smith and Allgaier while Moffitt, Hill, Allmendinger, Berry and Herbst were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, the leaders led by Gibbs pitted for the first time and Gibbs retained the lead after exiting pit road first followed by Gragson, Sammy Smith, Allgaier, Brandon Jones and Hill.

The second stage started on Lap 51 as Gibbs and Gragson occupied the front row. At the start, Gibbs and Gragson dueled for the lead entering the first turn while Hill, who restarted in the top six, fanned out to three lanes in his No. 21 United Rentals Chevrolet Camaro as he moved up the leaderboard and battled Gragson for the runner-up spot. At the front, Gibbs retained the lead as Allgaier settled behind teammate Gragson and Hill before attacking Hill for third place. Meanwhile, Sammy Smith, who restarted third, fell back to sixth.

Four laps later, Moffitt, who recorded a strong top-six result in the first stage, scrapped the outside wall in Turn 1 while running in the top 10 as he dropped back to 13th while the event proceeded under green.

Through Lap 60, Gibbs was leading by more than a second over Gragson’s No. 9 Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet Camaro while teammate Allgaier’s No. 7 Brandt Chevrolet Camaro trailed by more than three seconds. Hill and Brandon Jones occupied fourth and fifth while Cassill, Berry, Sammy Smith, Allmendinger and Chastain were running in the top 10.

Ten laps later, the caution flew when Jeremy Clements, whose team awaits the verdict of appealing their encumbered victory at Daytona in August and currently sit outside of the Playoff picture, spun his No. 51 Chevrolet Camaro below the apron entering Turn 4 while trying to enter pit road. During the caution period, a majority of the field led by Gibbs pitted while names like Hill, Moffitt and Ryan Sieg remained on the track. 

When the event restarted under green on Lap 75, Hill assumed an early advantage while Moffitt, who restarted on the front row and on the outside lane, spun the tires, which caused the field to jam up and fan out through the frontstretch and entering the first turn. Shortly after, Gragson rocketed his way into the lead in the backstretch. During the following lap, Allmendinger made his way into second followed by Brandon Jones, Allgaier and Gibbs while Hill continued to lose more spots on the track while on old tires.

Then with eight laps remaining in the second stage, the caution returned due to rain reported on the track. At the moment of caution, Gragson was the leader followed by teammate Allgaier, then Gibbs, Brandon Jones and Sammy Smith. By then, Moffitt, Hill and Ryan Sieg had fallen back to 15th, 17th and 19th.

With two laps remaining in the second stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, teammates Gragson and Allgaier dueled for the lead through the first turn until Gragson managed to pull ahead of Allgaier through the backstretch while Gibbs used the outside lane to bolt his way into third place.

During the final lap of the second stage, Gragson maintained the lead while Gibbs battled Allgaier for the runner-up spot in front of Jones. While the on-track battles behind the leaders continued for a final full lap, Gragson managed to cycle his way back to the frontstretch with the lead and record his 13th stage victory of the 2022 season. Behind, Allgaier edged Gibbs to settle in second despite getting body-slammed by Gibbs approaching the start/finish line. Brandon Jones and Chastain settled in the top five while Allmendinger, Berry, Sammy Smith, Mayer and Moffitt settled in the top 10. 

Under the stage break, the field led by Gragson was brought to pit road and the race was red-flagged on Lap 93 due to a weather delay.

Then as the rain continued, NASCAR deemed the race official and Gragson, who awaited any news in the garage, was awarded his fifth Xfinity Series victory of the season. The victory was Gragson’s 10th of his Xfinity career and his first in the series at Kansas as he sets his sights to the Playoffs and for his first NASCAR national touring series championship. The victory was also the 11th of the season for JR Motorsports.

“[The race] was tough,” Gragson, who still managed to display his victorious trademark by climbing the fence on the frontstretch, said on USA Network. “I don’t know if we had the fastest car there at the beginning in the first stage. I felt like if [the race] would’ve went green, we could’ve kept working on [the car], working on it. We had a pretty fast car there, but I’ll take’em any way we get’em. [Allgaier] was fast. [Gibbs] was, obviously, the fastest car all day. Extremely grateful. Super thankful.”

Teammate Allgaier concluded the event in the runner-up spot while Gibbs, Brandon Jones and Chastain finished in the top five. Allmendinger, Berry, Sammy Smith, Mayer and Moffitt were awarded top-10 results.

There were six lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 18 laps.

With a single regular-season event remaining in the schedule, Noah Gragson, Ty Gibbs, Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Josh Berry, rookie Austin Hill and Brandon Jones have clinched spots for the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs based on winning once throughout the regular-season stretch while Sam Mayer and Riley Herbst have also clinched spots for the Playoffs based on points. Daniel Hemric, Landon Cassill, and Ryan Sieg occupy the remaining vacant spots to the Playoffs based on points. Rookie Sheldon Creed trails the top-12 cutline to make the Playoffs by 13 points, Brandon Brown trails by 100, Anthony Alfredo trails by 101 and Myatt Snider trails by 177.

Results.

1. Noah Gragson, 20 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Justin Allgaier

3. Ty Gibbs, 66 laps led, Stage 1 winner

4. Brandon Jones, five laps led

5. Ross Chastain

6. AJ Allmendinger

7. Josh Berry

8. Sammy Smith

9. Sam Mayer

10. Brett Moffitt

11. Sheldon Creed

12. Austin Hill

13. Landon Cassill

14. Ryan Sieg

15. Daniel Hemric

16. Riley Herbst

17. Brandon Brown

18. Anthony Alfredo

19. Myatt Snider

20. Kris Wright

21. Jeremy Clements, one lap down

22. JJ Yeley, one lap down

23. David Starr, one lap down

24. Josh Williams, one lap down

25. Rajah Caruth, one lap down

26. Stefan Parsons, one lap down

27. Derek Griffith, one lap down

28. Howie Disavino III, one lap down

29. Dillon Bassett, one lap down

30. Joey Gase, one lap down

31. Mason Massey, two laps down

32. Garrett Smithley, two laps down

33. Ryan Vargas, two laps down

34. CJ McLaughlin, two laps down

35. Bayley Currey, three laps down

36. Jesse Iwuji, four laps down

37. Brennan Poole – OUT, Transmission

38. Jeb Burton – OUT, Engine

The 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series regular-season stretch is set to conclude next Friday, September 16, at Bristol Motor Speedway, where the 12-car Playoff field will be determined. Coverage for the event is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

Creed salvages 11th-place run at Kansas, eyes Xfinity Playoff berth at Bristol

By
Andrew Kim
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Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Rookie Sheldon Creed maintained his hopes of remaining eligible to make the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoffs with an 11th-place run in the rain-shortened Kansas Lottery 300 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, September 10.

The 2020 Camping World Truck Series champion from Alpine, California, survived a roller coaster event in Kansas that started off on a positive note when he rolled off the grid in third place after posting the third-fastest qualifying lap on Friday. Through the first 10 laps, however, Creed had fallen out of the top five as he was mired in an on-track battle with teammate Austin Hill for sixth place. He was then scored in ninth place by Lap 20 while continuing to lose spots on the track while wrangling with handling issues to his No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Camaro.

Despite the early handling issues, Creed managed to settle in 14th place following the first stage’s conclusion on Lap 45. He went on to conclude the second stage scheduled on Lap 90 in 11th place in front of teammate Hill, which was where he would ultimately end up in the final scoreboard when NASCAR ruled the event official on Lap 93 of 200 due to increasing precipitation.

With his 14th top-15 result of the season and his seventh in nine recent events, Creed, who came into Kansas trailing the top-12 cutline to make the Playoffs by 16 points, accumulated three points as he trails the cutline by 13 points behind Ryan Sieg, who finished 14th.

“I had a lot more confidence in [the car] that I thought what we had today,” Creed said on USA Network. “We fired off [the race] there. I thought we were really good and then, I don’t know, went to really bad when the track started building rubber. I tried so many different things. [I] Just couldn’t get anything to work or make speed. I don’t know where we missed it. [We] Just weren’t as good as thought as we were. Looks like we gained three points. [I] Wished we could’ve finished this one. Maybe play [pit] strategy. I don’t think we had the speed to win today, but maybe, could’ve played it differently and got a better finish and maybe, got a bigger gap to [Ryan Sieg] and us.”

Creed’s current status in vying for a spot to the 2022 Xfinity Playoffs comes amid a roller coaster start to his first full-time campaign in the Xfinity circuit, where he replaced Myatt Snider to pilot the No. 2 Chevrolet Camaro for Richard Childress Racing following three full-time seasons in the Truck Series. Despite commencing the season in sixth place at Daytona International Speedway in February, Creed could only record five additional top-10 results through the following 16 scheduled events. Mired within the early top-10 results were nine results outside of the top 20, five DNFs and a four-race suspension handed to Creed’s crew chief Jeff Stankiewicz, car chief Kris McCabe and team engineer Sam Bowers due to a dropped ballast during a practice session at Martinsville Speedway in April.

Since July, the tides began to turn in favor of Creed, who led 16 laps and finished 12th at Atlanta Motor Speedway before he recorded a pair of fifth-place results at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and at Pocono Raceway, respectively. Then during last weekend’s event at Darlington Raceway, Creed was within striking distance of claiming his first Xfinity victory at Darlington Raceway before he was overtaken by Noah Gragson on the final lap after losing his momentum while scrapping the outside wall to the finish and settled in a career-best second place.

Ultimately, Creed went from recording an average-finishing result of 20.6 through the first 16-scheduled events to an average-finishing result of 11.3 during the previous 10 events, including his 11th-place result at Kansas. With his focus set for next weekend’s regular-season finale at Bristol, Creed’s bid to make the Playoffs comes down to either winning at Bristol or gaining 13 points on Ryan Sieg.

“We’re just gonna go and do our best,” Creed added. “We’re gonna show up with the best car that we can and treat it like we’re going to the Final Four [round]. We just need to go and be on our A game at Bristol. We need to go practice good, we need to qualify good, we need to get max stage points and give ourselves a shot at the win at the end.”

Creed’s final bid to make the 2022 Xfinity Series Playoffs is set to occur at Bristol Motor Speedway on Friday, September 16, which marks the final regular-season event of the season. The event is scheduled to commence at 7:30 p.m. ET on USA Network.

Lundqvist Seals Indy Lights Title; Robb Dominates in First Win

By
Official Release
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MONTEREY, Calif. (Saturday, Sept. 10, 2022) – It was a day of firsts for the Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires championship Saturday, as Linus Lundqvist clinched his first season championship and Sting Ray Robb cruised to his first career Indy Lights victory.

Lundqvist, 23, from Stockholm, Sweden, finished sixth in the No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing entry to win the drivers’ championship with one race to go. Lundqvist, who entered the race with a 103-point lead over Matthew Brabham, only needed to start this 35-lap race to seal the first drivers’ title for HMD Motorsports.

“I can’t really put it into words, to be honest,” Lundqvist said. “So many emotions, not just from this year but from everything leading up to this moment.

“The biggest win of my career, my life. Super important. Hopefully we can make something happen for the future, but for right now, I’m just enjoying this.”

Robb, 21, from Payette, Idaho, earned his first career victory after starting from the pole in his 33rd career Indy Lights start. His No. 2 Sekady car fielded by Andretti Autosport crossed the finish line 11.0674 seconds ahead of the No. 28 Road to Indy/Stellrecht car driven by teammate and rookie Christian Rasmussen. Fellow rookie Hunter McElrea finished third in the No. 27 car to complete a podium sweep by Andretti Autosport for the third time this season.

“That was pretty stellar,” Robb said. “I don’t know how much better that could be. I can’t thank God enough. This was an amazing day. The team is just awesome.”

Robb left no doubt about his dominance of this race. He held off teammate Rasmussen in Turn 1, and steadily drove away to lead all 35 laps. Robb turned the quickest lap of the race, and his margin of victory was the largest of the season by nearly four seconds.

“I was just having fun out there,” Robb said. “I had the car that I could just stay out front and keep consistent. I had 130 seconds of push-to-pass at the end. They gave me a great car.”

Robb jumped from fourth to second in the standings, 100 points behind champion Lundqvist, with the victory.

Rookie Jacob Abel finished fourth in the No. 51 Abel Speedwagon entry, tying his career best set last weekend in Portland. Benjamin Pedersen, who earned his first career Lights victory in Portland, rounded out the top five in the No. 24 Global Racing Group with HMD car.

The second race of the doubleheader and final race of the season starts at 1 p.m. ET Sunday, with live coverage on Peacock Premium and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

About Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires

Celebrating 35 years, Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires develops drivers and teams to compete in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES and the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge. Past champions include INDYCAR SERIES champions Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Paul Tracy and Cristiano da Matta. In 2021, 20 drivers in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES were Indy Lights graduates, including rising stars and race winners Colton Herta, PatoO’Ward and RinusVeeKay. The 2022 season consists of 14 races in the United States. The NTT INDYCAR SERIES, Indy Lights, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and IMS Productions are owned by Penske Corporation, a global transportation, automotive and motorsports leader. For more information on Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires, please visit www.indylights.com. For more information on INDYCAR and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES, please visit www.indycar.com.

About Cooper Tire

Cooper Tire, a subsidiary of The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company (NASDAQ: GT), specializes in the design, manufacture, marketing and sale of passenger car, light truck, medium truck, motorcycle and racing tires. Cooper is headquartered in Findlay, Ohio, with manufacturing, sales, distribution, technical and design operations located in more than one dozen countries around the world. For more information on Cooper, visit www.coopertire.com, www.facebook.com/coopertire or www.twitter.com/coopertire.

About Goodyear

Goodyear is one of the world’s largest tire companies. It employs about 72,000 people and manufactures its products in 55 facilities in 23 countries around the world. Its two Innovation Centers in Akron, Ohio, and Colmar-Berg, Luxembourg, strive to develop state-of-the-art products and services that set the technology and performance standard for the industry. For more information about Goodyear and its products, go to www.goodyear.com/corporate.

Monster Energy Racing: Riley Herbst NXS Race Report from Kansas

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Official Release
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Herbst Finishes 16th in Rain-Shortened Race at Kansas
Monster Energy Driver Clinches Spot in 12-Driver NASCAR Playoffs

Date: Saturday, Sept. 10
Event: Kansas Lottery 300 (Round 25 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/110 laps)
Start/Finish: 12th / 16th (Running, completed 93 of 93 laps)
Point Standing: 9th (673 points, 330 out of first)
Note: Race was called 107 laps short of its scheduled 200-lap distance due to rain.
Race Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Overview:

Riley Herbst finished 16th in the rain-shortened Kansas Lottery 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. The driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing started 12th in the 38-car field and proved to be a top-10 contender in the race, finishing 10th in the first stage to pick up a valuable bonus point. Herbst hovered in and around the top-10 for the majority of the second stage until a caution on lap 71 sent him to pit road for a scheduled, four-tire pit stop. But with weather threatening, some teams rolled the dice and opted to stay out, jumbling the running order. When the race returned to green on lap 76, Herbst was mired in a pack of cars. In the remaining green-flag laps before rain inundated the 1.5-mile oval, forcing NASCAR to halt the race and call it official, Herbst clawed his way to 16th.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“I definitely think we were going to end up better than we did end up. Just frustrated with the outcome. But nothing you can really do about the rain. We’ll shake it off and move on to Bristol.”

Notes:

● Herbst clinched a spot in the 12-driver NASCAR Playoffs. This is his third straight playoff appearance. He qualified for the 2020 postseason as an Xfinity Series rookie.

● Noah Gragson was declared the winner of the Kansas Lottery 300 after rain cut the race short of its scheduled 200-lap distance. It was Gragson’s 10th career Xfinity Series victory, his fifth of the season and his first at Kansas.

● There were four caution periods for a total of 18 laps.

● Only 20 of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● AJ Allmendinger remains the championship leader after Kansas with a 38-point advantage over second-place Ty Gibbs.

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the regular-season finale on Friday, Sept. 16 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The Food City 300 starts at 7:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. The seven-race playoffs begin the following week with the Andy’s Frozen Custard 300 Sept. 24 at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth.

Toyota Racing NXS Post-Race Recap — Kansas 9.10.22

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Official Release
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SUPRA PLAYOFF DRIVERS CAPITALIZE ON RAIN-SHORTENED KANSAS RACE
Gibbs and Jones Score Valuable Points with Top-Five Results

KANSAS CITY (September 10, 2022) – The Toyota GR Supras of Ty Gibbs (third) and Brandon Jones (fourth) scored top-five finishes in Saturday afternoon’s rain-shortened NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Kansas Speedway. Both drivers led laps and Gibbs earned a stage win as the series prepares to set their Playoff field next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway. Rookie Sammy Smith (eighth) also claimed a top-10 finish.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Kansas Speedway
Race 25 of 33 – 300 miles, 200 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Noah Gragson*
2nd, Justin Allgaier*
3rd, TY GIBBS
4th, BRANDON JONES
5th, Ross Chastain*
8th, SAMMY SMITH
27th, DEREK GRIFFITH
30th, JOEY GASE
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

TY GIBBS, No. 54 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 3rd

What happened in the closing laps of the race before the red flag between yourself and Justin Allgaier?

“We have a very fast Reeser’s Toyota Supra. I feel like we were just got into a weird restart line, but when the three guys stayed out, I just picked the wrong one. I thought it was the right one and it wasn’t. Then we went back racing and off of (turn) four I made contact with Justin (Allgaier). I felt like I hit the wall hard, and I didn’t, and I got mad then whipped it down and hit him in the door; and the stupid part is it hurt my car more than it hurt his. I feel like his car is okay, but they’re going to have to put a door on it when they get back to the shop and that’s just inexcusable for me, and I’m very disappointed in my actions and I apologies to them. I thought it was worse honestly than it was when I watched on TV it wasn’t. So, I apologize to Jason (No. 7 crew chief), Justin and Dale (Earnhardt Jr., car owner) and the whole group, the whole seven group, and I just can’t be doing that stuff. It was my fault, I just felt like I hit the wall harder than I did, and I came back down and hit him and I just can’t be doing that.”

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Menards/Klearvue Cabinetry Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

Are you pleased with your result from today’s race?

“Certainly a solid day. If you look at the results from yesterday’s practice, probably thought we were going to win the race today based just off speed that we had there. Still really good today and stage points were critical. Got a lot of stage points and a really good finish and good pit selection at Bristol next week too. A lot of momentum that we carry over into next week. Going to have to step it up because man, those JRM cars are hard to beat right now. I think we’re close. Not talking big, big things. Just need to get more overall speed out of our Supras and we’ll be right there with them.”

Is this the right time for your team to start to peak going into the Playoffs?

“It is, I think this is the right time to slowly start making your way there. You don’t want to do it too soon and use all your juice up, by the time you get in the Playoffs. But this has been making it real easy on us with the win at Martinsville earlier this year. We’ve been able to play some strategy and play some games if we had to in order to win stages and it hasn’t always put us in great positions, but I think that’s the nice buffer when you have a win so early in the season.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 48,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 43 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

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