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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
-

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

By
Official Release
-

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

By
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.

Silver Hare Duo Powers to the Finish at Watkins Glen

By
Official Release
-

Connor Zilisch Rallies Late from 31st to 11th After Cut Tire Foils Podium Bid;
Maurice Hull Makes Steady Forward Progress To Score 22nd-Place Finish

Overview:
Date: Sept. 10, 2022
Event: Franklin Road Apparel Classic (Round 10 of 12)
Series: Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli
Division: TA2
Location: Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International
Layout: 3.4-mile, 11-turn road course
Format: 30 laps or 70 minutes
Weather: Sunny, mid-70s
Race Winner: Connor Mosack of Team SLR

Silver Hare Racing:

● Connor Zilisch – Started 4th, Finished 11th (Running, completed 30/30 laps)
● Maurice Hull – Started 32nd, Finished 22nd (Running, completed 30/30 laps)

Connor Zilisch, driver No. 5 Silver Hare Racing/KHI Management Chevrolet Camaro:

“Another bad stroke of luck. We were running third, passing for second on (Thomas) Merrill in turn six. We were side-by-side and he kind of came down into me. We touched a little bit, but I must’ve hit his exhaust, or something hit my right-rear tire and cut it down just right. I had no damage, the wheel wasn’t damaged, it just cut the tire right on the sidewall. Unfortunate way to lose a podium position right there, but still we were able to come from 31st to 11th on that last restart, so still proud of that. Overall, I think our long-run pace is what really kept us there. We were able to do consistent laps on those long runs throughout the race. I was able to keep up with (race-winner Connor) Mosack and Merrill and I felt like I had plenty to run with them. I went to make a pass and just got unlucky. A tough way to end the day with that kind of a result, but still happy to be able to bring it up to 11th. We’ll move on to VIR and, hopefully, get ourselves a good result there.”

Maurice Hull, owner/driver, No. 57 Waukegan Farms/Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro:

“It was a good race. I came home with all of my fenders in perfect shape. We passed people, we avoided wrecks, we were very fortunate. There was carnage in front of me and around me, people were wrecking in front of me and behind me, there was a lot of torn-up stuff. Meanwhile, I just kind of ran my race. I had good people around me after a while. I had a good race with Doug Winston. I had a good race with Doug Peterson. Raced all those guys clean and they raced me clean, but there were a lot of people who were not so lucky. Both Silver Hare cars were good this weekend. I think we drove solid races. Connor was just unfortunate. He had a podium locked down, for sure, but just had a tire cut down. He made a great run back through the field after that, and I witnessed it. It was really amazing. Good car control.”

Next Up:

The TA2 competitors of the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli have another month-long reprieve before the season’s penultimate round Oct. 6-8 at Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton, Silver Hare Racing’s home track. The Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour on the 3.27-mile, 18-turn road course begins with an open test session late in the afternoon on Thursday, Oct. 6, and a second open test session on Friday morning, Oct. 7, followed by practice and qualifying Friday afternoon. The weekend culminates with the 30-lap, 75-minute race on Saturday, Oct. 8. Coverage will be livestreamed via SpeedTourTV.com and the SpeedTourTV page on YouTube.

About Silver Hare Racing:

Silver Hare Racing is a fulltime competitor in the TA2 division of the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli. The multicar team has won the TA2 Masters class championship three times (2018, 2019 and 2020) with driver and team co-owner Maurice Hull. Under the leadership of Hull’s wife, co-owner and team manager Laura Hull, Silver Hare Racing provides a variety of services that includes private testing and arrive-and-drive programs. The team offers six, professionally built and maintained TA2 chassis from Howe Racing and operates from a state-of-the-art facility in High Point, North Carolina. For more information, please visit SilverHareRacing.com.

CHEVROLET NCS: Tyler Reddick Records Second Pole of 2022 at Kansas

By
Official Release
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NASCAR CUP SERIES
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
HOLLYWOOD CASINO 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 10, 2022

TYLER REDDICK RECORDS SECOND POLE OF 2022 AT KANSAS SPEEDWAY
Five Camaro ZL1’s to Start in Top-10

· Tyler Reddick clocked-in a lap of 29.899 seconds, at 180.608 mph, to capture the pole position for tomorrow’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway.

· This marks Reddick’s third career pole in 102 NASCAR Cup Series starts.

· Reddick’s pole gives Chevrolet its eighth NASCAR Cup Series pole win of 2022; and 731st all-time in NASCAR Cup Series history.

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 GUARANTEED RATE CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript:

YOU GOT YOURSELF A SECOND PEDAL CAR HERE. TALK ABOUT THAT LAP YOU PUT DOWN OUT THERE.

“It was good enough. My lap in the first round was certainly a little better. Based off of what I was hearing; everybody was running about the same. I guess in that second round, Ross (Chastain) wasn’t able to put down the exact same lap, so had a little bit of wiggle room. I just tried to maximize our speed and hit it right in turns one and two. I felt like I still could have been a little bit more aggressive, but understanding what we needed to get done, it was just a matter of duplicating the lap from before. We were able to do that and win a pedal car for my kid, so I’m excited about that.”

YOU WERE ON THE FRONT ROW IN THE SPRING. HOW CONFIDENT DOES ALL OF THIS MAKE YOU GOING INTO TOMORROW?

“It’s reassuring. Again, 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. I’m really glad that we’ve been able to learn from a lot of those experiences. It’s made us stronger; it’s made us better as a team. I feel really good and excited about it. Starting first is great any weekend, but to be able to have that first pit stall selection is going to be key. I’m looking forward to it.”

FIRST ROUND, YOU RAN A 29.8 SECOND LAP, AND IN THE SECOND ROUND, YOU WERE ONE OF MAYBE TWO OR THREE THAT MATCHED WHAT YOU RAN IN THE FIRST ROUND. WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO BE ABLE TO KEEP THAT CONSISTENCY UP CONSIDERING THE WEATHER CHANGING, THE SUN COMING OUT A LITTLE BIT IN BETWEEN? WHAT CAN YOU TAKE FROM THAT TO LEARN GOING INTO TOMORROW?

“Having a consistent car is really important. This place is a track where you’ll have some fall off, but not a lot, so a car that doesn’t swing tight or loose will be important. All of those things, it’s about as perfect of a situation as you’re going to get out there in qualifying today. In practice for us, we didn’t have a lot of traffic, so we had a really good read on what our car will do. But from here on out the rest of the weekend; you’re going to be in traffic at some point, whether it’s later, in fifth and fifth on back. I feel really good about the speed our car has shown. Handling-wise, it’s just about right where I would want it for a place like this so I can move around a little bit and get up by the wall. It pretty much checked all of our boxes today. We can obviously make some small adjustments, but we’re not having to do anything crazy. We’re pretty happy with what we have.”

BRISTOL, IN THE SPRING, YOU SAW HOW CRAZY THINGS CAN GET IN THE CLOSING LAPS. HOW PRECARIOUS DOES IT MAKE THAT TRACK SINCE IT’S A CUT-OFF RACE IN THE PLAYOFFS?

“I’ll be honest.. I’m not expecting anything crazy there. I really don’t. Just the trend of how this car has been on the short tracks – Martinsville, Richmond – there’s a lot of grip. We don’t really have to pedal the car at all. We were actually working on Bristol a little bit today. At first, I was surprised like ‘wow, this has got a lot of grip’. It feels like you’re out of the gas about as much as you would be on a 1.5-mile track and then I realized you can just start connecting the dots. We went to Richmond and Richmond was a certain way; and Martinsville was, too.

I really don’t know. I think the speeds are going to be high enough there where I just don’t think someone is going to be able to move somebody out of the way like that without going to the extent that we saw, for example, Joey Logano do to William Byron earlier in the year at Darlington. You’re pretty much going to have to go in there and hope that you hit the guy because if you don’t, you’re going to just go flying up into the wall and crash. It could be chaotic.. I don’t know. It’s the type of place where things stack up. You could have some action, but I don’t think it’s going to be the type of race where people are going to be moving each other out of the way because I just don’t think you’re going to be able to get there.”

DENNY (HAMLIN) WAS IN HERE EARLIER AND HE SAID HE THINKS TYLER (REDDICK) WOULD LIKE TO PLAY OUT HIS CONTRACT AT RCR AND THAT’S WHAT HE ALWAYS INTENDED. IS THAT YOUR INTENTION IF THE RUMOR MILL GOES TO FRUITION AND SOMETHING HAPPENS WITH KYLE BUSCH AT RCR?

“If it does, then I’ll figure out what to do. But until then, I’m just going to keep doing my job and the task at hand. That’s what we did today. We got a pole. We were fast in practice in a lot of different measures.

If I was pretty bored during the week, didn’t have a lot going on and wasn’t spending a lot of time trying to prepare; it would be easy to get distracted and give that some of your mind and some of your attention. But for me, thankfully, I stay really busy with my team. We have a lot on our minds; right here, doing stuff like this, bringing fast race cars. So we don’t even have time to let that into my head.”

WHEN GROUP A WAS RUNNING THEIR QUALIFYING SESSION, IT DIDN’T SEEM UNTIL (CHRISTOPHER) BELL’S LAP THAT PEOPLE FIGURED OUT THAT YOU NEEDED TO MIGRATE TO THE TOP TO GET THE SPEED THERE. I ASSUME THAT WAS YOUR PLAN ALL ALONG. DO YOU THINK THAT IS WHERE THE SPEED IS GOING TO BE ON SUNDAY?

“It certainly will be for large amounts of this race. I think it has the potential, under green flag cycle, to move around off of that wall. The fastest car here in the spring was Kurt Busch and he was able to really do a good job of running on that top seam. It’s going to lay rubber with 30 plus cars out there, all running in the majority of the same area of the racetrack. So I think it’s going to open up that opportunity for other lanes to come into play because it’ll just be less rubber on it.

Certainly when we have cautions, the track cleans up and we’ll go out there with brand new tires; all of the rubber will come off the race track and kind of reset. But I definitely think it has the opportunity to where you’re going to be moving around. More so than anything, clean air is always going to be key. Everyone knows that at this point. You’re not going to be able to follow somebody into the corner, two or three-car links off of them, and run the same lap as the car ahead. You’re going to have to move around, so having some versatility is going to be important tomorrow.”

DID YOU NOTICE ANY DIFFERENCE FROM THE NEW TIRES FROM THE SPRING?

“I’ve paid some attention to that. Just from what I know from the little bit we played with it when I drove the wheel force car a long time ago; you can definitely get the car a little bit more unsettled. You have a little bit more of a window to work with it on the tire before you just crash. I don’t know if that’s actually a good thing or not, but everyone has kind of adjusted for it and worked on the cars.

Between that and the temperature differences, it’s pretty much been about what I expected it to be.”

YOU’RE TWO CAREER NASCAR CUP SERIES WINS WERE BOTH ON ROAD COURSES. YOU HAD A GOOD FINISH LAST WEEKEND AT DARLINGTON. WHAT GETS YOU OVER THE HUMP ON THE OVAL?

“I think it’s the very same thing that we were able to do on the road courses.. and that’s just execute all day long. I would say that – at one point when I came into the Cup Series – I had more speed on the ovals and I had to figure the road courses out. I think road courses have a higher chance of playing out naturally. We’ll see more cautions and more things happen on ovals I feel like. And because of that, we’ve had more opportunities to make mistakes. We’ve made them and that’s kept us from getting the job done.

But we’ve been close a few times. A lot of second-places, which are painful. But thankfully we have some wins, some top-three’s. We’re right there, it’s just a matter of putting the whole day together.”

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.

Chevrolet Captures 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES Manufacturer Championship

By
Official Release
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Title is Seventh for the Chevrolet INDYCAR Program

DETROIT (Sept. 10, 2022) – Chevrolet has won the NTT INDYCAR SERIES (NICS) Manufacturer Championship for the seventh time since it returned to the Series in 2012.

The Chevrolet 2.2-liter, twin-turbocharged, direct-injected V6 INDYCAR engine has produced 12 poles and ­­­11 wins in 16 events heading into Sunday’s season finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

“Preparation, teamwork and great execution were key this season to every pole, every win and now Chevrolet’s seventh Manufacturer Championship,” said Jim Campbell, U.S. Vice President Performance and Motorsports for Chevrolet. “Thank you to Team Penske, Ed Carpenter Racing, Arrow McLaren SP, AJ Foyt Racing, Juncos Hollinger Racing, Paretta Autosport, our Chevrolet Competition and Propulsion engineers, and our technical partners for their combined efforts that resulted in delivering Chevrolet’s NTT INDYCAR Series Manufacturer Championship.”

In the 11 seasons of the Chevrolet 2.2-liter V6 INDYCAR engine, Team Chevy drivers have amassed 106 wins of the 181 races to date – an impressive 58.6%. This season, Chevy-powered drivers have won 69% of the races and 75% of the NTT P1 Awards.

The 2022 Manufacturer Championship clearly demonstrates the never-give-up attitude of Chevrolet engineering, its teams, the GM Propulsion Group and its technical partners. Chevrolet proudly fielded 11 full-time entries during the 17-race season. Despite having less than half of the total car count, the Chevy teams and drivers maximized all the available support, engineering tools and simulator time to continue performance growth that translated to tremendous performance.

All of Chevrolet’s full-time teams contributed valuable time and effort toward the seventh NICS Manufacturer Championship. Team Penske, with drivers Will Power, Josef Newgarden and Scott McLaughlin; Ed Carpenter Racing, with drivers Rinus VeeKay and Conor Daly; AJ Foyt Racing, with drivers Dalton Kellett and Kyle Kirkwood; and Juncos Hollinger Racing, with driver Callum Ilott, were instrumental in Team Chevy’s success.

“Winning Chevrolet’s seventh NTT INDYCAR Series Manufacturer Championship has been a true team effort by our Chevrolet engineers, Chevy-powered race teams, Chevrolet Propulsion engineers and technical partners at Ilmor Engineering and Hitachi Automotive Systems,” said Mark Stielow, Director Motorsports Competition Engineering. “The performance delivered by Chevrolet’s 2.2-liter twin turbo, direct-injected V6 engine has proven throughout the season to be the consistent combination of reliability, drivability and power for our teams to win races and this championship.”

Since 2012, in addition to the seven Manufacturer Championships, Chevrolet has won six driver championships with Ryan Hunter-Reay (2012), Power (2014), Scott Dixon (2015), Pagenaud (2016), Newgarden (2017 and 2019). Three Chevrolet drivers are in contention to win the crown in 2022.

Additionally, the Chevrolet 2.2-liter V6 engine powered drivers to win the Indianapolis 500 with Tony Kanaan (2013), Juan Pablo Montoya (2015) Will Power (2018) and Simon Pagenaud (2019).

Previously, Chevrolet competed in Indy-style racing as a manufacturer of V8 engines from 1986-93 and 2002-05, powering 111 wins, one manufacturer championship in 2002, seven Indianapolis 500 wins and six driver championships.

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.

Ford Performance NASCAR: Kansas Cup Qualifying (Logano Qualifies on Row 1 for Ford)

By
Official Release
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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Hollywood Casino 400 Post Race | Sunday, September 10, 2022

FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
2nd – Joey Logano (P)
8th – Austin Cindric (P)
10th – Chris Buescher
13th – Chase Briscoe (P)
14th – Kevin Harvick (P)
17th – Ryan Blaney (P)
18th – Harrison Burton
23rd – Michael McDowell
26th – Brad Keselowski
29th – Cole Custer
32nd – Todd Gilliland
33rd – JJ Yeley
34th – BJ McLeod
36th – Aric Almirola
(P) indicates playoff-eligible driver

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang — QUALIFIED 2nd

AS YOU LOOKED AT TYLER’S (REDDICK) LAP, COULD YOU HAVE DONE ANYTHING DIFFERENTLY? “I haven’t seen his lap but I thought we had a pretty good lap. 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.”

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