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CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES AT PORTLAND: SCOTT McLAUGHLIN WINS FOR CHEVY

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
PORTLAND, OREGON
TEAM CHEVY RACE-WINNER QUOTES

SEPT. 4, 2022

PORTLAND (Sept. 4, 2022) – Scott McLaughlin sent Chevrolet and Team Penske to victory Sunday at the Grand Prix of Portland as the No. 3 Chevy-powered entry won for the third time this season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

McLaughlin dominated in the No. 3 Freightliner Chevrolet to lead a 1-2 Penske finish for Team Chevy’s fourth 1-2 finish of the season. McLaughlin finished 1.1792 seconds ahead of championship leader Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet heading into next weekend’s finale at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 FREIGHTLINER TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, RACE WINNER: “I don’t think the car really felt good in that first stint but as the race went on, it got a little bit worse. I just had to really concentrate on where I wanted the strengths of the car to be and work with those and make the best of the weaknesses. The Freightliner Chevy all weekend has been fast. It’s been right there where we needed. This team – the Thirsty Threes – got the job done in the pits, and I’m really proud of them. We did exactly what we needed to do this weekend, which was win and get max points to keep ourselves in the championship fight. Yeah we’re a longshot. I don’t care because we have a shot so I’m looking forward to it.”

COULD YOU IMAGINE YOURSELF HERE TWO YEARS AGO? “Roger (Penske) and Tim (Cindric) gave me the opportunity to come over here and I was thankful for that. It was my next step and my next challenge. I took it all very seriously and knew it was going to be hard. I thought I could one day I could win, but the ultimate is to win a championship and the (Indy) 500. I’m not going to stop until I get one of those or both. It’s a long way to climb but you have to have goals. It’s the same for everyone out there. You have to dream big and try to get it done.”

THE CHAMPIONSHIP IS STILL ALIVE: “I’m a big golf guy and the big media spot is actually at Pebble Beach so I’m really excited for that! I wanted to be in the championship fight so I can go to Pebble. It’s working out and we’re going there! I’m so excited. I think Greg (Penske) told me I could play Pebble so all good as long as I can bring some friends!”

YOU HAD ENOUGH ENERGY TO DO A FRONT SOMERSAULT! “It’s become my thing now. I don’t think I look very good doing it, but it’s a thing. Everyone has their own thing when they win and I have that. It’s a lot of fun! I’m really proud of the Freightline Chevy guys. The car was unreal and I’m really proud of the pitstops. It was a full-team effort. We came here with the belief that we could do this weekend and win like we did and get pole, and we did. I’m really proud of that.”

ON THE RESTART WITH WILL POWER AND SCOTT DIXON BEHIND: “Those are two guys you don’t really breathing down your neck. I’m really proud of the restart. I’ve worked very hard the last couple of years to learn the tire and get it ready for those restarts. Thankfully we held on. It was pretty dicey behind me. I saw in the mirrors that Will almost got taken out. It was pretty wild but that’s why we love INDYCAR racing, right?”

ON THE POINTS HEADING TO LAGUNA SECA: “It ain’t over so let’s press on!”

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.

Pedersen Dominates Portland for First Win; Title in Sight for Lundqvist

PORTLAND, Ore. (Sunday, Sept. 4, 2022) – Benjamin Pedersen finished the job Sunday in the Indy Lights Grand Prix of Portland, while Linus Lundqvist still has a bit of work to do to reach his ultimate goal.

Danish driver Pedersen, who grew up in Seattle, earned his first career Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires victory to complete a dominant weekend at Portland International Raceway in the No. 24 Global Racing Group with HMD car. The win came in the 32nd career Lights start for Pedersen, who started from the pole and led both practice sessions at this event.

“Definitely a dream,” Pedersen said. “We were fastest in every session this week. I don’t think I’ve ever done that before, but at a home event where I grew up, in Seattle, only a couple hours from here, a bunch of local support. It’s just so awesome. I’ve loved every minute.

“I’m so relieved, so thankful.”

Matthew Brabham finished second in the No. 83 Andretti Autosport car, .9651 of a second behind Pedersen, to sustain his faint championship hopes. Championship leader Lundqvist needed to leave this race with a 109-point lead to clinch his first Indy Lights title, but he is 103 points ahead of Brabham after finishing third in the No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing car.

The season ends with a doubleheader on Saturday, Sept. 10 and Sunday, Sept. 11 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca. Lundqvist only needs to lead by at least 54 points after the Saturday race to lock up the championship. The deal is nearly sealed.

While Lundqvist almost certainly will hoist the 2022 championship trophy next weekend in picturesque Monterey, California, this weekend in the scenic Pacific Northwest belonged to Pedersen. He capped his magic carpet ride by leading all 35 laps of the race.

The only thing that slowed Pedersen on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile road course was two caution periods for separate incidents. But Pedersen never was challenged on either restart in a command performance.

Brabham inherited second after showing the wisdom of a series veteran during a three-way joust for second place on Lap 6 immediately after a restart.

Danial Frost, Christian Rasmussen and Brabham darted around each other for position on the first full lap after a restart. Brabham wisely backed off while Rasmussen and Frost went side by side into the fast Turn 11. The two cars touched, and Frost’s No. 68 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing car speared into the tire barrier while Rasmussen’s No. 27 Road to Indy/Stellrecht car was forced across the grass to the escape road.

Frost was unhurt after his race-ending crash, while Rasmussen continued and finished seventh.

That fracas elevated Brabham to second and Lundqvist to third, where they held station for the rest of the race. Lundqvist never mounted a challenge to Brabham over the closing 28 laps, finishing 5.4 seconds behind his closest championship rival to earn his ninth podium finish in 12 starts this season.

“It’s all right,” Lundqvist said. “You always want a little more, you want to win every race if you can, but we just didn’t really have the pace this weekend. Benjamin has been on it since session one. Congratulations to him. It’s always a good feeling to get that first win under your belt.

“But from our side, it was all right. Happy to get away with a podium. We’ll take the points. Obviously, it would have been nice to finish ahead of Brabham and be finished with it, but we’ll see. We still have a good gap, and we’re going to Laguna with some good energy.”

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.

RIGGS WINS SOUTH BOSTON SPEEDWAY LATE MODEL TITLE; SELLERS SWEEPS BOTH RACES TO CLOSE THE GAP IN THE NATIONAL TITLE CHASE

Layne Riggs of Bahama, North Carolina, surrounded by team members (front, left) is congratulated by South Boston Speedway General Manager Chase Brashears (front, right) Saturday night after winning the 2022 South Boston Speedway NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car Division championship. Photo Courtesy Joe Chandler/South Boston Speedway

By Joe Chandler
Director, Public Relations
South Boston Speedway

SOUTH BOSTON, VA……It came down to the final points night and the last two races of the season. When all was done, Layne Riggs emerged with his first career South Boston Speedway NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car Division championship.

Meanwhile, Peyton Sellers gained ground on Riggs in the quest for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship.

Riggs finished second to Sellers, the defending South Boston Speedway and NASCAR national champion, twice as Sellers swept the twin 65-lap NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series Late Model Stock Car Division races that headlined Saturday night’s Halifax County Farm Bureau Championship Night event at South Boston Speedway.

The Bahama, North Carolina resident entered Saturday night’s twinbill with a 20-point lead over Sellers and a 22-point edge over Jacob Borst of Elon, North Carolina. The pair of runner-up finishes was more enough to give Riggs, a 10-time winner at the speedway this season, the track championship.

“It feels great to win this championship,” Riggs said. “At the beginning of the year I didn’t expect it would happen. But wins started coming, and I felt we were a dominant enough car to win every weekend. We deserved to win this championship. I really hate that we couldn’t seal it with a win.”

The magic Sellers has known at South Boston Speedway in recent seasons returned over the final two nights of the season. He won three of the season’s final four races to cap his season at the .4-mile oval with four victories.

It wasn’t enough for the Danville, Virginia resident to claim a record-tying seventh career South Boston Speedway NASCAR track championship and a fifth consecutive South Boston Speedway title.

“Man, this was an amazing night,” Sellers said of the sweep. “We executed perfectly. Everybody said you’re worried about points, and I said all we can do is go win the race. Everything else would have to fall into place. We came up a little short.”

While Sellers lost the battle for the South Boston Speedway championship, he was able to further close the gap on Riggs in the chase for the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series national championship.

Riggs, entered Saturday night’s event leading Sellers by just eight points in the NASCAR national standings and leading Sellers by just two points in the Virginia NASCAR state standings.

“We gained some good points tonight,” Sellers pointed out. “We’ve just got to go out and do what we know to do and that’s just stay focused and try to win races.”

Sellers dominated Saturday night’s pair of 65-lap NASCAR Late Model races. He led flag-to-flag in winning the opening race as he sped across the finish line six seconds ahead Riggs. Landon Pembelton of Amelia, Virginia finished third with Borst and Parker Eatmon of Sims, North Carolina rounding out the top five finishers.

With an inverted start among the top 10 finishers of the first race, Sellers started tenth in the nightcap but needed only nine laps to get to the front of the field, Once Sellers passed Borst for the lead on the ninth circuit he never relinquished the lead, finishing 1.6 seconds ahead of Riggs in taking the win and the sweep.

Borst finished third with Thomas Scott of Efland, North Carolina and Chris Denny of Timberlake, North Carolina completing the top five finishers.
For the night, Sellers led 122 of the total 130 laps.

KYLE BARNES TAKES HOME THE BUDWEISER LIMITED SPORTSMAN TITLE WITH PAIR OF THIRD-PLACE FINISHES
Kyle Barnes would have liked a better result in Saturday night’s twin 30-lap Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division races, but a pair of third-place efforts allowed him to win his first career South Boston Speedway Budweiser Limited Sportsman Division championship.

Barnes of Draper, Virginia entered Saturday night’s twin 30-lap races having won eight of his 11 starts at South Boston Speedway and holding a 30-point lead over Jason Myers of Hurt, Virginia.

Myers finished second in both races, cutting into Barnes’ final margin, but it was not enough to prevent Barnes from winning the championship.

The night belonged to Eric Winslow of Pelham, North Carolina. Competing in the division at South Boston Speedway for the first time this season, Winslow swept the twinbill, with Myers taking second place in both races and Barnes finishing third in both races.

Zach Peregoy of Clarksville, Virginia finished fourth in both races. Tristen Barnes of Draper, Virginia rounded out the top five finishers in the first race and Andrew Amos of Callands, Virginia finished fifth in the second race.

Winslow started on the pole and led the entire distance in the first race and led all but one lap in the second race.

SCOTT PHILLIPS LANDS FIRST CAREER SBS SOUTHSIDE DISPOSAL PURE STOCK DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIP
Scott Phillips of Halifax, Virginia has been trying for several years to win the South Boston Speedway Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division championship. Saturday night Phillips landed the big prize.

Entering Saturday night’s 25-lap Southside Disposal Pure Stock Division race, Phillips had finished second six times and was still looking for his first win of the season. He started the night with 10 Top-Five finishes and held an eight-point edge over Johnny Layne of Halifax, Virginia, who entered the event with four wins this season.

Layne finished second to winner Nathan Crews of Long Island, Virginia and Phillips finished fourth. Despite Layne finishing two positions in front of him, Phillips did enough to win his first South Boston Speedway title.

Crews, running a partial schedule of races this season, earned his seventh victory in eight starts at South Boston Speedway in the 25-lap race. He passed Layne, the pole winner, on the opening lap and never lost the lead. He sped across the finish line 1.822 seconds ahead of Layne in taking the win.

Layne claimed the runner-up spot, with Bruce Mayo of Halifax, Virginia, Phillips, and B.J. Reaves of South Boston, Virginia rounding out the top five finishers.

JASON DeCARLO HANGS ON TO CAPTURE THE SBS VIRGINIA STATE POLICE HEAT HORNETS DIVISION TITLE
Jason DeCarlo of Chase City, Virginia knew he needed to either finish in front of two-time former division champion Kevin Currin of Chase City, Virginia or right behind Currin in Saturday night’s 20-lap Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division race if he was to lock up his first career South Boston Speedway Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division championship.

DeCarlo did not have the best performance Saturday night, but it was good enough as he finished fourth while Currin finished fifth, a result that earned him the South Boston Speedway Virginia State Police HEAT Hornets Division championship.

Steven Layne of Nathalie, Virginia took the checkered flag first in the 20-lap race, but his car failed a post-race inspection by track NASCAR officials, resulting in disqualification.

That turn of events gave apparent runner-up Kendall Milam of Keeling, Virginia the win. The victory was his second of the season.

Dillon Davis of Nathalie, Virginia was listed as the runner-up in the final results, with Landon Milam of Keeling, Virginia, DeCarlo and Currin rounding out the top five finishers.

Cameron Goble of Ringgold, Virginia won the pole for the race and led the first 16 laps before being sidelined in a mishap.

TYLER WRAY SPEEDS TO VICTORY IN THE 20-LAP MILLS FAMILY PRACTICE CHAMP KARTS RACE
Tyler Wray of Eden, North Carolina edged runner-up Dustin Phillips of Dunn, North Carolina at the finish line to win the 20-lap race for the Mills Family Practice Champ Karts.

Wray, the pole winner, wrestled the lead away from Trey Masengill of Dudley, North Carolina on the second lap and held on to edge Phillips for the win.

Tony Arnold of Creedmoor, North Carolina, Danny Willis Jr. of South Boston, Virginia and Tommy Elliott of Virgilina, Virginia completed the top five finishers.

COMING UP AT SOUTH BOSTON SPEEDWAY
The Solid Rock Carriers CARS Tour will make its annual stop at South Boston Speedway on Saturday afternoon, October 22 for what will be the final racing event of the 2022 season at South Boston Speedway.

The competitors of the CARS Tour Late Model Stock Car Division will battle it out in a 125-lap race. In addition, the CARS Tour Pro Late Model drivers will compete in a 100-lap race.

The first race of the day will get the green flag at 2 p.m.

Advance adult general admission tickets are priced at $15 each and may be purchased online on South Boston Speedway’s website, www.southbostonspeedway.com, through Friday night, October 21. Advance tickets may also be purchased by calling the speedway office at 434-572-4947 or toll free at 1-877-440-1540 during regular business hours.

Tickets at the gate on race day will be $20 each. Seniors ages 65 and older, military, healthcare workers, and students (with ID) can purchase tickets for $15 each at the gate on race day.

Other events at South Boston Speedway this fall include the Country Roads Truck Show on Saturday afternoon, September 17. Classic cars and trucks, low-riders, big rigs, ATVs and more will be on display. That event is managed and promoted by Thorpe Money Enterprises and not South Boston Speedway.

In addition, South Boston Speedway will host the SoBo Drifts Powered By Barlow’s Tire on Saturday, October 29 from 2 p.m. to 7 p.m. More details regarding that event will be announced in the near future.

RCR NXS Post Race Report: Darlington-2

Sheldon Creed and the No. 2 Whelen Team Finish Runner-Up After Hard Fought Battle at Darlington

Finish: 2nd
Start: 3rd
Points: 13th

“I put together really good restarts and I was able to get the lead, I needed that to stay green. Noah (Gragson) and I were kind of even there late in that run, he’d be a tenth better and then I’d be a tenth better and it would go back and forth. I just wanted it to stay green. Obviously, the caution came out and I just needed to have another good restart. I was good, I was really tight for like five laps, then I would get really loose after that but I was good. The pace we were running there with eight laps left, I was just way too loose in Turns 1 and 2. We were all racing really hard there at the end, I was hoping they were going to get racing behind me and that would kind of let me go but it didn’t happen. I just had to race Kyle (Larson) really hard there, I wasn’t going to give up. I’m just happy we had a really fast race car. The guys showed up with a really good car this weekend and it was exactly what we needed, everyone was on it. We stayed in it the whole time and just raced really hard for the win, and I can’t really ask for more in a situation like that. I’m proud of my team and I’m looking forward to Kansas Speedway next weekend to finish one spot better.” -Sheldon Creed

Austin Hill Grabs 15th Top-10 Finish in Rain-Delayed Race at Darlington Raceway

Finish: 10th
Start: 4th
Points: 6th

“Before the rain delay, we were fighting a loose balance on our Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet. We talked during the delay about what we were going to do to make it better. I felt like it fired off better when we restarted and we worked our way up to the top-five but as the run went along, we again started losing rear grip. Our biggest issue all night was in Turns 3 and 4. When I tried to run the bottom it would bog down too much. I’d spin the tires really easy when I tried to put the throttle down and I felt like I was burning the right rear off of it. We made it a little better at the start of that last restart there with 15 to go but we started losing rear grip again. We ran top-five for most of the day but it’s a little frustrating to finish 10th. We’re going to go back to the drawing board and keep working on it and try to be better once the Playoffs start. We’ll just keep working at it.” -Austin Hill

Monster Energy Racing: Riley Herbst NXS Race Report from Darlington

Accident Ends Herbst’s Race Early at Darlington
Monster Energy Driver Unable to Escape Multicar Incident at Outset of Stage 2

Date: Saturday, Sept. 3
Event: Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 (Round 24 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Darlington (S.C.) Raceway (1.366-mile oval)
Format: 147 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/57 laps)
Start/Finish: 8th / 34th (Accident, completed 56 of 147 laps)
Point Standing: 8th (651 points, 313 out of first)
Race Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 1 Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Overview:

Riley Herbst and the No. 98 Monster Energy team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) saw an abrupt and early end to their day in Saturday’s Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. After starting eighth and finishing sixth in Stage 1, having made an impressive save to keep his Ford Mustang from making contact with the outside wall after getting shoved up the racetrack on lap four, the 23-year-old from Las Vegas was penalized for speeding while exiting pit road during the stage break. He restarted 21st when the race went back to green on lap 54 to start Stage 2. On the very next lap, Herbst slid into the inside SAFER Barrier exiting turn two while trying to avoid a two-car incident in front of him. His racecar sustained left-front damage that the team was unable to repair under the allotted NASCAR Damaged Vehicle Policy time limit.

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

“It was 100-percent my fault. I ran sixth (to end the first stage) and I have to do what I can do and I didn’t do that. I sped off pit road and put us in the back. And when you run in the back, accidents happen like that off (turn) two, and then you get collected into it. I don’t know, it’s tough, but at the end of the day, I was in control of our good track position. I had one of the best racecars I’ve ever had, especially here at Darlington. It was so much fun in this heat, sliding around. But I threw it all away by speeding on pit road and you can’t do that.”

Notes:

● Herbst finished sixth in Stage 1 to collect five bonus points.

● Noah Gragson won the Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200 to score his ninth career Xfinity Series victory, his fourth of the season, and his second at Darlington. His margin over second-place Sheldon Creed was .794 of a second.

● There were five caution periods for a total of 39 laps.

● Twenty-five of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● AJ Allmendinger remains the championship leader after Darlington with a 51-point advantage over second-place Ty Gibbs.

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Kansas Lottery 300 on Sept. 10 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. The race starts at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Pedersen Drives to First Career Lights Pole in Portland

PORTLAND, Ore. (Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022) – Benjamin Pedersen continued his march toward his first career victory in Indy Lights Presented by Cooper Tires by winning the pole Saturday for the Indy Lights Grand Prix of Portland.

Pedersen turned a lap of 1 minute, 3.6698 seconds in the No. 24 Global Racing Group with HMD entry for his first pole in the series. He also had the quickest laps in both practice sessions this weekend on the 12-turn, 1.964-mile permanent road course.

Danish driver Pedersen, who grew up in Seattle, will start Sunday’s 35-lap race (1:05 p.m. ET, Peacock Premium and the INDYCAR Radio Network) alongside teammate Danial Frost, who ran 1:03.7830 in the No. 68 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing car.

“I’m so happy to get this first pole at what feels like home,” Pedersen said. “I grew up in Seattle, so I really appreciate all of the support.

“I’ve been working so hard for this for a long time, so (we have) a lot of momentum right now. Now the next focus is to win the race.”

Pedersen has finished second in three races this season.

“(I want) a good start,” he said of his plan to begin this race. “I don’t want to think quite yet how (the treacherous Turn 1) is going to map out, but I’ll just try to check out and try to do my own race. Yeah, I’m excited.”

The fastest four drivers qualified within two-tenths of a second of one another. Twelve drivers will take the green flag.

Frost will try to score his second series victory. His first came in May on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Andretti Autosport’s Christian Rasmussen qualified third in the No. 28 Road to Indy/Stellrecht entry at 1:03.8546.

Series leader Linus Lundqvist (No. 26 HMD Motorsports with Dale Coyne Racing) will try to clinch the season championship in Sunday’s race by starting from the fourth position. His qualifying lap was 1:03.8606.

Lundqvist, a winner of five races this season, will have the title secured heading to next week’s season-ending doubleheader at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca if he leaves Portland with at least a 109-point lead. He enters Sunday’s race ahead of Matthew Brabham by 108 points.

Brabham qualified sixth in the No. 83 Andretti Autosport entry at 1:04.2610. He will start alongside teammate Sting Ray Robb in the third row. Robb qualified the No. 2 Sekady car at 1:03.9390 on his 21st birthday.

Hunter McElrea and Brabham each have two race wins this season, Frost and Rasmussen have one each.

Flinn Lazier, the son of 2000 INDYCAR SERIES champion Buddy Lazier, will make his series debut in the No. 15 Abel Motorsports entry from the 12th position.

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.

Gragson triumphs in a three-way sprint to the finish at Darlington

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

In a breathtaking display of talent and tenacity, Noah Gragson prevailed over Sheldon Creed and Kyle Larson to capture his fourth win of the season at Darlington Raceway in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Sport Clips Haircuts VFW Help A Hero 200.

With only three laps to go, Creed was leading with Gragson in second place. But Larson, in third, passed Gragson and set his sights on Creed. Then, on the last lap, Creed brushed the wall which damaged his right front tire and Larson got loose beneath him.

Gragson seized the opportunity and had just enough time to drive his No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet to the front and score his ninth career victory in the series and his second win at Darlington.

It was JR Motorsports’ 10th trip to Victory Lane this year and the most in a single season for the organization.

The dramatic finish came after a rain delay that lasted 2 hours, 37 minutes and 22 seconds. The wait, however, was quickly forgotten as Gragson, Creed and Larson had fans on their feet while the three drivers battled for the top spot.  

“All you fans, was that cool — did we put on a show for you guys?” Gragson yelled after climbing out of his car.  

He shared his perspective and his winning strategy as the race wound down.  

“Sheldon Creed was really fast. I watched, during that rain delay, him running the top in 1 and 2, and I knew there was a lot of speed there. So I went up there and I found something, and Sheldon pinched me off, and the 17 (Larson) got by me when it was like three to go, and I was like, ‘Oh, they’re going to get into each other — they’re racing too hard.’ (Sheldon’s) got nothing to lose. He’s racing his tail off, and Kyle’s going for a win.”

Creed had to settle for second place and saw the chance to grab his first win in the series and advance to the Playoffs slip away with only two races left in the regular season.

We were all racing really hard there at the end, “Creed said. “I was hoping they were going to get racing behind me and that would kind of let me go but it didn’t happen. I just had to race Kyle (Larson) really hard there; I wasn’t going to give up.

“I’m just happy we had a really fast race car. The guys showed up with a really good car this weekend and it was exactly what we needed, everyone was on it. We stayed in it the whole time and just raced really hard for the win, and I can’t really ask for more in a situation like that. I’m proud of my team and I’m looking forward to Kansas Speedway next weekend to finish one spot better.”

Larson lost some momentum and had to settle for a fifth-place finish, behind Justin Allgaier in third and AJ Allmendinger in fourth.

Ty Gibbs, Christopher Bell, Josh Berry, John Hunter Nemechek and Austin Hill rounded out the top 10 finishers at Darlington. AJ Allmendinger currently leads the point standings by 51 points over Ty Gibbs.

The Xfinity Series heads to Kansas Speedway next weekend for the Kansas Lottery 300 at 3 p.m. on the USA network.

Results:

Xfinity-results-at-Darlington-September-202222224_STATPACK

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES: PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY: QUALIFYING RECAP – SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN ON POLE

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND
PORTLAND INTERNATIONAL RACEWAY
PORTLAND, OREGON
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING RECAP
SEPTEMBER 3, 2022

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN PUTS CHEVY ON POLE FOR GRAND PRIX OF PORTLAND

Third NTT P1 Pole Award of season for driver of No. 3 Freightliner Team Penske Chevrolet

PORTLAND, Ore – Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Freightliner Chevrolet, led a Chevrolet 2,2 V6 powered one-two-three in qualifying for the Grand Prix of Portland. His Team Penske teammates, Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet, and Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet qualified second and third respectively

However, Newgarden will take a six-spot grid penalty just prior to the green flag to the eighth starting position as a result of an engine change to the fifth engine for the season,

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, qualified sixth to give Chevrolet four drivers in the Firestone Fast Six. Christian Lundgaard and Alex Palou (both Honda) completed the six drivers competing for the pole.

Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, qualified seventh to give Chevy power five of the top-seven in the final qualifying order.

The Championship battle continues Sunday as Power takes the green as the points leader

The Grand Prix of Portland is scheduled to at the green flag at 3:30 pm ET (12:30 pm PT Local) on NBC with coverage on Peacock and INDYCAR Radio.

DRIVER QUOTES:

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 FREIGHTLINER TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, POLE WINNER: “Credit to everyone at Team Penske. We weren’t great here last year but we’ve come back here with three hotrods. We’re all pushing each other – Will (Power), Josef (Newgarden) and myself. To get pole is obviously a great thing. The Freightliner Chevy feels good. The Chevy power is great. I’m looking forward to the race tomorrow.”

RACING FOR A CHAMPIONSHIP VS. HELPING TEAMMATES: “We know the rules. We’re Penske drivers. We know that when we get employed what we need to do. When the team wins, we all win. For me, I’ve just got to focus on what I’m doing. If I can be at the front and take points off others by winning the race, that’s exactly what we want to do. Until I’m mathematically out of it, I want to keep going hard and keep trying to win races. I’m feeling really good in the car. We’re building on to really good things for next year. I’m really proud of this group. These guys and these gals work very hard and I’m very proud of them. It’s a really big testament to them.”

CONFIDENCE COMPARED TO PORTLAND A YEAR AGO: “I’m just a different man, I guess in some ways. This time last year, I was a little bit confused to where I wanted to be in terms of the car setup. We finally clicked toward the end. I’m really proud. This Freightline Chevy feels good. I feel good in the car, and I can’t wait until tomorrow.”

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED SECOND: “I just messed it up, plain and simple. We had a great lap going. This Hitachi car has been phenomenal this weekend– all our cars at Team Penske have been. It’s a big effort from all the engineering staff and the mechanics. They really put a big emphasis on this weekend and tried to get ahead last week. We did an amazing job with that. I just totally whiffed on Turn Seven on my quick lap there, so I dropped maybe two-tenths. That’s the different but Scott did a great job. He’s been on it all weekend, same as Will. All three of us have been on top of each other, which has been great for this team. We’re in a great spot for tomorrow. I’m really disappointed in myself. I wish I had executed that lap a little better tomorrow.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED THIRD: “I grabbed my front rollbar and when I went to bring my hand back up… I pushed it too far, brought my hand back up and shifted up a gear going into (Turn) Four, so I had to go down two gears instead of one. The bar went too far which created a bunch of understeer. I felt like we had a pretty good chance to get pole there. That’s on me. I should have just left it.”

HOW MUCH CONVERSATION WILL THERE BY ABOUT HOW THE RACE WILL START: “This is the worst first corner in the whole series. I don’t know what the answer is to creating a bit more of a spread among the field. I think INDYCAR said they want us to go really wait, but watching the junior categories I don’t know if that’s good. It’s really packing everyone in tight. It’s hard to say. You’re at the mercy of all the guys behind you and just hoping they do the right thing. It’s such an inviting corner. As we’ve seen in the races this weekend, in the first turn of the junior categories there has been a lot of mayhem, even for the pole-sitter. That’s something like luck of the draw almost.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED SIXTH:

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – QUALIFIED SEVENTH: “I messed up Turn Seven on the last lap, so I think we probably would have gone through otherwise. It was a good recovery from practice. We struggled in practice and were down in P21 so P7 is something we’ll take going into the race. It’s obviously frustrating missing out by a hundredth to the Fast Six. It was my mistake so that’s fine. I’m sure we can win the race from there.”

Use of the red tires: “I think our reds look pretty good so hopefully that will play to our advantage. It’s too early know. We’ll see in warmup how it develops.”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 BITCOIN RACING WITH BITNILE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 12TH: “Qualifying third in our group at the beginning was really good. My goal was to get into the Fast 12 with the pace we’ve shown in practice, but you always want more. Definitely we don’t want to be down the charts in the Fast 12. It felt like the whole feeling of the car totally changed from one run to the other so we’ll look into that. The team gave me a great car to comfortably make it to the Fast 12. I think we should have been pretty close to the Fast Six or maybe in there. It’s tough but we’ll give it all tomorrow.”

On the start mid-pack: “Just don’t get hit! That’s the goal. Hopefully I can get a start where I can slot into the inside somewhere. When cars crash or spin or whatever, they always go to the outside. We’ll try to get into the inside and focus on what I can do. I can’t affect what other guys can do. We had a pretty good qualifying today and we have a good clue on what we need tomorrow.”

KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 SEXTON PROPERTIES AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 13TH: “I think that’s alright. It puts in a position to have more red tires than anyone else. Obviously the reds are the better tires right now for qualifying but I think they will be for the race as well. That’s been notorious for this place. It benefits us in that way. Of course we wanted to get into Fast 12. I think we had been quick enough but I think we’re better in the warmer conditions. Yesterday we were really quick when it was really hot, and tomorrow is supposed to be a lot warmer than today. Obviously it’s very overcast and the track temps are down. We tend to be a little bit better when they’re warmer. I think that’s pretty solid for what we have right now. We’re going into tomorrow with some extra tires and a decent starting spot.

“It’s not a bad starting spot. It’s in the mix of some things especially going into Turn One like we’ve seen in the past. Hopefully we keep our nose clean and we can come out on top in this No. 14 machine because we’ve been pretty solid this weekend.”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 14TH: “It’s just that tight. I didn’t optimize the first lap. I struggled in Turn Two, which is a corner I’ve been struggling in the whole weekend and didn’t get the exit. I tried to get it on the next lap and it was better, but I couldn’t get the tire to hold for the rest of the lap. It’s super-tight. That’s just the way it is. It’s a shame to be knocked out but we have good pace compared to some. We’ll see what we can do tomorrow.”

On the start: “I won’t do what I did last year, which was use Romain (Grosjean) as my braking point! That didn’t work so well last year. But when you’re in the middle, it’s going to be a crash-fest. Hopefully I can come out of there OK.”

CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE ED CARPENTER RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 20TH: “We just didn’t have enough today. It’s tough with these group sometimes, with the separation and differences between them. Overall, I don’t think our run was bad, it’s just super close here. It’s great to be in such a competitive series. When you are next to two guys that are literally fighting for the championship and you’re right with them, not transferring, it’s crazy! Today we weren’t on the right end of it so we will work on it for tomorrow.”

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE AJ FOYT RACING CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED 25TH: “We definitely tightened the gap up from where we were in practice this morning to the field. So we found some good time in qualifying but it wasn’t enough. We’ll have our work cut out for us in the race. We’ve been making steady improvements through the weekend so we need to carry that into the warmup and into the race.

Josef Newgarden
Scott McLaughlin
Will Power
Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Welcome to Portland International Raceway, wrapping up qualifying. It’s 1-2-3 in qualifying for Team Penske with Scott McLaughlin leading the way.

We’re now joined by five-time winner this season, just a couple points out of the championship, Josef Newgarden qualifying second. He’ll start seventh.

How close were you at the end of the day?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Super close. I just didn’t execute my last lap very well. Had two big mistakes. So definitely caught us out. Didn’t give ourselves a good opportunity to get the pole there.

It was a good, strong run for everyone at Team Penske. I think we’re all pretty satisfied with that. Three cars in the top three. We’ve been that way all weekend for the most part.

It’s a testament to our team. They’ve done a great job. We were here last week. They work hard, all the engineers and mechanics. Very gratifying for everybody to have this speed on our cars.

THE MODERATOR: The testing you did here a week ago, it seems to be paying off big-time for this team.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I would say so. It’s paid dividends up to this point. Tomorrow is what matters, so we’ll see how beneficial it really was at the end of the weekend. So far we’re pleased with what we got out of it.

THE MODERATOR: General thoughts about starting further back than what you expected to, maybe what you can expect going into turn one tomorrow.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t know what to tell you honestly. It’s different every year. Hopefully it’s nothing too bad. It can be chaotic here and we’ll just have to wait and see.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. How important is it for you to be starting where you are, given the likes of Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson are out of position for the race?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it’s so hard to say. I don’t know. I mean, more times than not this year is been good to start in the back. I think it’s impossible to say if it’s good or not, being where we’re at, until we get to the end of tomorrow.

I feel like our cars are fast which is a key ingredient to putting together a good race. That brings a lot of confidence.

Q. How different was the track with it being cloudy and cool? Do you think you still have a good car for tomorrow with it being warmer?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I think we actually had more of an advantage yesterday when it was hot, oddly enough. We felt like we were going to be good when it cooled off. Seems like it brought everyone more close together.

Definitely very different balances. Judging off yesterday and today, that’s promising for us.

Q. Starting back in eighth instead of where you qualified today, is there anything you can do, do you prepare for this race differently starting where you are instead of the second row?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t think so. Not yet. Not off the top of my head. We’re going to run a similar race to what we’d do if we were up front in the first row.

Yeah, not off the top of my head. These races change very quickly dependent upon what happens. Until we see what happens, it’s going to be hard to really strategize around the unknown.

You just got to be flexible.

Q. Starting on the outside versus the inside, I’ve heard guys saying the inside is a better place to be. Do you feel there’s anything to that?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, again, it’s hard to know. I would think it would be better to be on the inside, but depending on where you are where the crash is happening, it could be good or bad, inside or out.

I’m not sure. I’m just hoping we get a clean run through turn one, regardless, though.

Q. I think Will said that he feels like turn one is the toughest in the series. Do you feel like that’s correct?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s definitely the most unpredictable, I can tell you that. When it goes according to plan, it’s fine. More times than not, that doesn’t happen.

Yeah, it’s for sure the most unpredictable.

Q. Your thoughts on the fact even though it would be a long struggle for him to fight for the championship, how possible is it for a guy 54 points out to get in the mix of it over two races?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think it’s wide open, if you’re asking me. That’s my opinion. I’ve seen this thing change completely one race to the next. I wouldn’t rule anything out at this point.

I think Scott’s well within the championship fight, looking at his points situation. I think he’s a championship contender through and through. He has been all year.

I wouldn’t rule anything out. I think we all have to be on our game. At the end of the day we feel really good about being together and having fast cars. I think the team has done an amazing job to give us these great cars to fight with. Should give us an opportunity as a team to push forward tomorrow.

Q. Can all three of you sweep the top three positions in the championship?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Anything is possible. Absolutely. I mean, of course it’s possible. Of course. There’s no doubt.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Anything is possible, Bruce.

WILL POWER: It can happen.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We’re good, man.

Q. Would you say one of the keys to your resurgence as a team this year has been qualifying?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, not just qualifying. I think it’s been a team effort through and through.

When you look at the individuals within the team, I’m talking everybody, whether it’s the 3, the 12, the 2, across the board, the engineers, the mechanics, there’s just a deep amount of talent. I think it’s only been strengthened. When you look at the talent across the board, the way we’re interacting, it’s only been strengthened this year. It’s raised the whole program.

I think that’s why you see Team Penske as a whole being very lifted this year because it’s good across the board. That’s due to all the hard work from everybody.

Q. Josef and Will, how scary is turn one going to be considering where you are in the points?

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t know. It could be (indiscernible) or scary. We’ll see.

Q. Will, you watch the USF2000 races. Add any extra fear?

WILL POWER: Those guys are starting real late. I don’t think that’s a key. (Indiscernible) was taken out twice, two races in a row, lost the championship. If they don’t want to crash, out of 12.

Q. (No microphone.)

WILL POWER: Yeah, yeah, I mean, just means that people got green through 12, lift, spread things out, most of the field.

Yeah, such a bad corner. Such an inviting, wide corner. Not ideal for the second-to-last race of the season.

THE MODERATOR: We’re joined by Scott McLaughlin, a three-time pole winner this year. As well, we are joined by Will Power, who bumps up to the front row with a sixth front row start here in 2022.

Scott, your thoughts about pole number three this season.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, really happy day. I knew coming in we had pretty strong race cars for Team Penske. It was just really going to be if we all do a good job getting to the Fast Six, then we’re battling each other. That’s sort of what happened.

I set our session up because we did one lap less on our red tire in Q1 which really helped. I did a pretty solid lap on my first flyer. Having that little fresher tire helped.

I think my car got a little bit worse as the quallie went on. We managed to cue it up for turn three and managed to do a good enough lap for pole.

Freightliner’s home race here in Portland. I went and saw them during the week. That was cool. Everyone is pumped. A lot of people here.

THE MODERATOR: There’s a race within the race with you and Will Power. You now have the lead.

WILL POWER: I didn’t even know that.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I didn’t tell you (laughter).

WILL POWER: I didn’t even know that was a thing.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: That’s cool. Anytime you beat Will in qualifying, it’s a good thing.

THE MODERATOR: More questions.

Q. Will, when Scott came over here, there was such expectations for him after what he did in Australia. This year he’s living up to those. To add a driver the caliber of him to the lineup you’ve had to face throughout your career, how much does that make your job even more difficult?

WILL POWER: Yeah, always at Penske, you have tough teammates. I have to say, this is probably the best group of drivers that have been there, the toughest, which we really push each other along.

Yeah, it’s a strong combination. As you can see in the championship, really the whole season, yeah, it shows what having drivers push each other does.

Q. Scott, when you were racking up wins and titles in Australia Supercars, what was your recollection and thought of Will Power, what a legend he is here in INDYCAR? What it’s like now to have him as your teammate in a championship battle?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Will is the only one on the team which actually understands me, which is a fantastic thing. Our relationship is quite good because of that (smiling).

When I was growing up watching Will, in the Team Australia Champ Car, street surface, he was a second quicker than anyone around Surfers Paradise. Some of the laps, what he’s done across the sport of INDYCAR, it’s crazy. That’s why he’s the all-time polesitter, leading the championship.

Yeah, like Will said, I think we’ve got a really good group at Penske in terms of pushing each other. Not only that, we get along. There’s a trust level. We trust each other’s feedback. We ask each other, What do you think of this, did you get a good lap. We’re continually pushing each other. I think that’s what a team needs.

I think we’ve got a really good balance, competitive, but respectful balance there. Yeah, I think that’s what’s really helping. Plus all three cars, the crew and everyone is working together really nice. Just a good vibe right now.

It does help when you’re fast, yes. But I think as a group, we are just really bonding. I can’t see it slowing down. We’re going to just keep working. There’s a lot of motivation there to continue to do that.

Q. Will, Scott Dixon starts 16th and Marcus Ericsson is 18th. Does that ease your mind at all or is it still…

WILL POWER: It’s a very tight championship. If you watched INDYCAR, which you have a lot, you can never feel just safe that you’ve qualified well because it can just switch. As you saw last year, Palou and Dixon were pretty much at the back, and they came to finish first-second or first-third.

It all depends if there’s a yellow at the start. If there is no yellow at the start, which would be a miracle, if they start where they’re talking about, if there’s not a yellow, it doesn’t push it towards that two-stop strategy. You don’t get guys at the back topping off, making it a difficult race.

If it goes green, it becomes more of a straightforward race, a track position race. Makes it harder for those guys back there.

We’re hoping it stays green. That’s best for us.

Q. Have y’all given input about what should happen with the start?

WILL POWER: We gave them input at the Christmas meetings. We suggested that they start on the back straight. I’m not sure where the starting extremely late came from.

I could understand you don’t get the tow effects, getting up to speed to get a tow effect. If you had half the field in turn 12 when you went green, that’s half the cars that are spreading out. Might be better to go really early.

THE MODERATOR: I think we might hear something by the end of the day. Stand by on that.

Q. Off topic slightly. Last night I noticed there’s an Aussie Rules Football game on.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Which one? Was it the final?

Q. Maybe.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: My team lost this morning so I’m not too happy about that. We were leading points but we lost it.

This has pumped me back up a little bit.

WILL POWER: I never met someone who watches so much sport. He watches soccer. You watch rugby?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: American football.

Q. Did either one of you play that growing up?

WILL POWER: I played Rugby League. I never played AFL. I don’t even know the rules of AFL. It’s a much better game, rugby.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I played Rugby Union when I was younger. I was getting bashed up. I needed to focus on my racing career, so I gave that up.

Q. How beneficial was the test that you had at Portland?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I think just being able to rock up here with a philosophy that you believe in, then just massaging it throughout the weekend has been vital.

We weren’t stellar here last year as a team. We called this test early in the year that we were going to come here. So, yeah, hopefully we get to Laguna and our cars aren’t too bad, we made the right choice coming here, focusing on that.

Yeah, it’s been vital in terms of being able to get a nice base, then like I said massaging it and getting better as a driver, pushing the limits.

I think going 1-2-3 in qualifying was a good test of that.

Q. Will, when things were a bit tougher for Penske, the captain’s moral of hard work equals rewards. The hard work is now starting to pay off for Team Penske, isn’t it?

WILL POWER: Yeah. Honestly, like, nothing much has changed on the road and street course side of things. The thing that we worked on hardest was the Indy 500.

Honestly, last year we just had a lot of kind of weird, unfortunate circumstances that resulted in the team not getting many wins. This year just seems like we’re executing on all fronts, in the pits, on strategy, obviously car setups.

Really we haven’t found something magical. It’s just doing solid work. Probably having Scott in his second year helps as well, another guy giving feedback, good data with his driving. As a group, as a whole, we’re stronger on all aspects, but nothing magical was found. We didn’t really go into last season saying we were off the pace. We just had kind of a bad year.

Q. Will, you said you felt like turn one here was either the toughest or most unpredictable that you run in the series. What is it about this turn that’s made it so tough to get through green without major incidents?

WILL POWER: Yeah, it’s a super wide straight that leads into a first-gear corner. It’s similar to Indianapolis. Honestly, at Indianapolis road course the same thing happens. But, yeah, this one in particular.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I think it’s just grass at Indy.

WILL POWER: Yeah, there’s a bit of grass to go off.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: There’s no grass here.

WILL POWER: You have cement.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Invite the people to just bomb their way through. Now that the chicane is harder to get through. I saw VeeKay in front of me going in, came out behind me. There’s no advantage now.

WILL POWER: Yeah. Someone is going to get a good run, I’ve got a good run. There’s always room on the inside. They’re used to braking on the very outside of the track. It’s super wide. Obviously your 90 degrees is going to be much sharper. You’re going to have to brake much earlier than you have been. I think that’s most of the issue.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We banged on about it for two weeks. Oh, I found grip. Go down to the inside. You might do something. I might do something like that.

WILL POWER: You don’t know, yeah. You can’t tell other people, Just be careful. It could be yourself (laughter).

Q. Scott, I know it seems like from seeing a couple tweets from you, interviews, you’ve taken some motivation people feeling like you’re counted out of this, even though you’re still alive. Is that kind of an actual thing that you feel like is driving you right now or something you’ve been acknowledging but not taking it to heart?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: It’s exactly that. Basically for me and my Twitter, I just take the piss out of everything.

Mathematically I’m still in it. When you say there’s only five contenders, it’s wrong. The best part about it right now that we’ve got for INDYCAR, what we should be celebrating, is how close it is between Josef, Will.

I don’t count myself out of it, no. I think anything can happen. If I win tomorrow, who knows what happens. We’ll find out. It’s going to be fun.

Q. What kind of gap do you have to chisel down for mom and dad to make it out to Laguna next weekend?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I don’t know. They said they might make it out. I don’t think they will. I think dad is hanging out at home. I think he’s just going to watch at home on TV. He sees more there anywhere.

Q. Scott, you have your own dynamic with Josef as one of the Bus Bros. You’re dynamic with Will is different. He’s the senior driver, elder statesman. What is your relationship like? He’s won a championship before, so has Josef. His longevity, it’s very impressive. Do you kind of look up to him a little bit as the team leader?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, I think, absolutely. He’s definitely the oldest one.

But, no, he’s a very nice fella. We have plenty of laughs. Like I said before, we all get along. In the bus, hang out. We always park next to each other. Me and Josef do this Bus Bros thing. It wasn’t like we were trying to separate ourselves.

Yeah, look, it’s one of those deals where I think I’ve got great teammates to lean off. I couldn’t have asked for two better blokes to help me get better through the off-season.

There were times I rang Will after a race, I said, I don’t know what I’m doing.

He’s like, No, come in, every rookie season is hard, things change, things will go up and down but it will click.

That’s a testament to the bloke he is, the bloke Josef is. There’s no hiding. We’re competitive. We probably do hide a couple things from each other, but at the same time it’s just that competitiveness. There’s respect. I think we all have that for each other.

Q. (No microphone.)

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: No. I think my dog is his favorite.

WILL POWER: Yeah, the dog (smiling).

Q. I noticed the two of you do speak a different language. Do you get caught on that?

WILL POWER: What is that?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: He says we speak a different language when we’re together.

WILL POWER: I guess we talk a bit Aussie when we’re together.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: He laughs.

WILL POWER: I’ve been over here so long, it’s refreshing to hear Australian things.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Heaps.

WILL POWER: I’ve got heaps of grip, man (laughter).

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We’re having fun. Having a laugh. Sweet.

THE MODERATOR: Thanks.

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Logano grabs pole for Cook Out Southern 500 at Darlington

Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Joey Logano won the NASCAR Cup Series pole Saturday with a 168.521 mph lap at Darlington Raceway. He will lead the field to green for the Cook Out Southern 500 Sunday evening in the first race of the Playoffs.  

That makes the Team Penske driver two for two, after also winning the pole at Darlington in May. It was his 24th career pole in the series.

“It’s obviously nice to start up front,” Logano said. “We got a taste of what that first pit stall means here at Darlington and it’s nice, for sure. It’s nice to be able to get that, but it’s just a start. 

“We still have a full 500 miles to go,” he continued, “but, like I said, that first pit stall will pay a dividend throughout the whole race, so we’ll fire off and see what we’ve got tomorrow. 

“Going off of practice from the spring to the race the first time, the track was much different in the race than it was in the practice. You’ve got to kind of assume some of it is gonna happen again tomorrow, so we’ll try to adjust on our car a little bit for race trim. I think we need a little bit there, but I don’t think we’re that far off. If we get a little bit more turn in our car, we’ll be right there.”

Christopher Bell, with a 168.469 mph lap, will start beside him on the front row in his JGR Toyota followed by William Byron, Tyler Reddick, and Kyle Busch to complete the top five. Austin Cindric, Kyle Larson, Bubba Wallace, Ryan Blaney and Michael McDowell rounded out the top 10 in the qualifying session.

Chase Elliot, who enters the Playoffs in the top spot, qualified a disappointing 23rd and he was not alone. Several other Playoff contenders had mediocre runs including Denny Hamlin (11), Ross Chastain (12), Austin Dillon (13), Alex Bowman (16), Kevin Harvick (18), Chase Briscoe (19), and Daniel Suarez (36).  

Notes: Daniel Suárez failed pre-race inspection three times Saturday morning and did not make a qualifying attempt. He will have to start the race at the rear of the field and will also have to serve a pass-through penalty in his No. 99 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet.     

You can tune into the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs opening race at Darlington Raceway on Sunday evening at 6 p.m. ET on the USA Network, NBC Sports App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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McLaughlin Wins NTT P1 Award; Penske Rules Portland Qualifying

PORTLAND, Ore. (Saturday, Sept. 3, 2022) – Scott McLaughlin led a Team Penske power play during qualifying for the Grand Prix of Portland, capturing the NTT P1 Award to lead a 1-2-3 performance by the team.

McLaughlin drove to his third career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole – all this season – with a top lap of 58.2349 seconds in the No. 3 Freightliner Team Penske Chevrolet.

New Zealand native McLaughlin is one of seven drivers eligible for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship with two races remaining, 54 points behind teammate and leader Will Power. A driver must be within 54 points of the leader after this event to stay eligible for the title Sunday, Sept. 11 at the season-ending Firestone Grand Prix of Monterey at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

“When the team wins, we all win,” McLaughlin said. “For me, I’ve just got to focus on what I’m doing. If I can be at the front and take points off others and win the race, that’s exactly what we want to do. Until I’m mathematically out of it, I want to keep going hard and keep trying to win races.”

McLaughlin earned his first career victory from pole at the season opener in late February on the streets of St. Petersburg and finished second after claiming his second career pole in August on the streets of Nashville. Live coverage of the 110-lap race at PIR starts at 3 p.m. ET Sunday on NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Two-time series champion Josef Newgarden qualified second at 58.3129 in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, but he will start eighth in the race Sunday due to a six-spot grid penalty for an unapproved engine change after the race Aug. 20 at World Wide Technology Raceway. Newgarden is second in the championship, trailing Power by three points.

Power qualified third at 58.4254 in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet but will start on the front row next to teammate McLaughlin.

The dominance by Team Penske may have been paved by a private, multiteam test session Friday, Aug. 26 at the 12-turn, 1.964-mile PIR road course during which Power was quickest, Newgarden third and McLaughlin fifth overall. Last year at this race, Power qualified 14th, McLaughlin 15th and Newgarden 18th.

“Credit to everyone at Team Penske,” McLaughlin said. “We weren’t great here last year, but we’ve come back here this year with three hot rods. We’re all pushing each other.”

Rookie of the Year points leader Christian Lundgaard was the quickest non-Penske driver, qualifying fourth at 58.4482 in the No. 30 Mi-Jack Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Lundgaard earned a third consecutive spot in the Firestone Fast Six this season as RLL continued its second-half resurgence.

Reigning series champion and 2021 Portland race winner Alex Palou qualified fifth at 58.5075 in the No. 10 Ridgeline Lubricants Honda. Palou is fifth in the standings, 43 points behind Power.

Fellow title contender Pato O’Ward rounded out the Firestone Fast Six with a top lap of 58.6090 in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. O’Ward is seventh in the championship, 58 points behind Power.

Five of the seven drivers in contention for the Astor Challenge Cup advanced to the Firestone Fast Six. Chip Ganassi Racing teammates Scott Dixon and Marcus Ericsson were the exceptions, halting after the first round.

Six-time series champion Dixon, 14 points behind Power in third, qualified 16th at 58.2628 in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. Ericsson, 17 points behind Power in fourth, ended up 18th at 58.3064 in the No. 8 PNC Bank Honda.