NASCAR CUP SERIES
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
GO BOWLING AT THE GLEN
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS CHEVROLET TEAM GOES BACK-TO-BACK AT WATKINS GLEN

Chevrolet’s 11th Consecutive NCS Road Course Win

· The win is Larson’s second NCS victory of 2022; his second at Watkins Glen International; and his 18th career victory in 284 NASCAR Cup Series starts.

· Chevrolet has now recorded wins in 15 of the past 16 NASCAR Cup Series road course races, including a streak of the past 11.

· Chevrolet drivers took four of the top-five, six of the top-10 in final running order.

· Larson’s victory marked the Camaro ZL1’s 14th win in 25 NCS races this season.

· The winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history, Chevrolet now has 828 all-time NASCAR Cup Series victories.

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (August 21, 2022) – One thing that remained consistent during NASCAR’s annual trip to Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International was seeing the reigning NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Champion, Kyle Larson, in victory lane. After driving the No. 88 JR Motorsports Camaro SS to victory lane in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) race at the 2.45-mile, 7-turn New York circuit, Larson went on to sweep the weekend; piloting his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to the team’s second win of 2022.

“Proud of our guys,” said Larson. “Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen and get some more bonus points going into the Playoffs, which we haven’t had many of those this year. Hopefully this will build on some momentum and we can keep racking up some more points.”

Defending his race winning title at Watkins Glen didn’t come without a fight. After waiting out a lengthy lightning delay at the start of the race, Larson helped lead the field to the green alongside his Hendrick Motorsports’ teammate and pole sitter Chase Elliott. With pit strategy playing a vital role in track position throughout much of the race, the 30-year-old California native worked his way back up to the top-10 to complete stage two, positioning the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet team up front to battle for the win in the final stage. With a late-race caution in the closing laps, Larson lined up on the inside of Elliott for the restart with just five laps remaining. Taking the green for the race to the finish, Larson was able to power his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to the lead and never look back, crossing the finish line first for the 18th time in his NCS career.

“I knew that was my only opportunity to get by him (Chase Elliott),” said Larson. “I felt like our cars were pretty equal today. Had a lot of fun after the green flag cycle trying to chase him down.”

Larson’s victory extended Chevrolet’s impressive streak of wins on the series’ road course circuits, with the bowtie brand now sitting at 11 consecutive NCS road course triumphs. Even more, a Chevrolet-powered machine has taken the win in 15 of the past 16 NCS road course races, dating back to Chase Elliott’s win at Watkins Glen in 2019. The winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history, Chevrolet has now recorded wins in 14 of the series’ 25 races thus far this season, with momentum on the bowtie brand’s side as the end of the NCS regular season is now just one week away.

Larson’s victory was celebrated by a strong Chevrolet showing at the conclusion of the 90-lap race, with Chevrolet drivers taking four of the top-five and six of the top-10 in the final running order. Larson’s win came after having to hold off fellow California native and notable road course master, AJ Allmendinger, who drove the No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1 for Kaulig Racing to a runner-up finish. After clinching the 2022 NCS Regular Season Championship title during stage one of the race; Chase Elliott went on to lead a race-high 29 laps en route to a fourth-place finish for his No. 9 Kelley Blue Book Camaro ZL1 team. Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Princess Cruises Camaro ZL1, was fifth; Tyler Reddick, No. 8 KCMG Camaro ZL1, was seventh; and Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL1, rounded out the Team Chevy top-10.

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Saturday, August 27, at Daytona International Speedway with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at 7 p.m. ET. Live coverage of the NCS regular season finale can be found on NBC, the NBCSports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1; and CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript:

THE MODERATOR: We are joined by crew chief Cliff Daniels and our winning driver Kyle Larson.

We’ll open it up for questions.

Q. Kyle, post-race AJ said it sucked losing to you twice. What did it feel like to beat him twice on a road course?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, obviously when he came out in second behind me, you get nervous again. I hadn’t really seen him much all day so I didn’t know how good he was. But I felt like my car today was much better than my car yesterday, so I had more confidence out in front of him today than yesterday, too.

Was able to gap him pretty well through the esses. I haven’t looked at data, but matched him pretty well everywhere probably but the bus stop, maybe a little bit in turn six. But I felt like seven and the esses I could get away from him. That helped me protect from him getting close enough to dive bomb into there.

I figured day two he would be a little bit more aggressive behind me than yesterday. Thankfully our car was good enough I could gap him.

Q. Cliff, did your strategy plans change after the rains came?

CLIFF DANIELS: Not necessarily. We had kind of looked at it two different ways with rain mileage or in the dry. You could really two-stop the race. It was more of a fuel race than a tire race. We kind of had a fuel number we wanted to hit either way.

What is interesting is what the 17 did, where they were one of the first ones to take dry tires, made up a lot of time that way. They pitted so early I knew they were going to have to make a third pit stop to the field. They actually did a great job. I’m curious to know the details of how they executed it, but I think they did fuel only before the end of stage one, they cycled through ahead of us. That’s a pretty interesting way to do it. Credit to them for kind of seeing that.

I believe all four of the Hendrick cars, we had seen and communicated very similar that we wanted to two-stop the race either way. Our plan the whole time was to two-stop the race. We knew with starting in wet conditions naturally you can get a dry line. There’s going to be the excitement of guys really going fast once they put on dry tires. It’s a lot to ask to make three pit stops against guys that can manage doing it in two.

Unfortunately we fell off a little bit hard at the end of our stint on the wet tires, which put us a little more vulnerable to the field. He did a good job on some of the restarts getting back up there. We knew our car had pace with dry tires.

I know that was a long-winded answer to what you asked, but that was kind of the scope of our day.

Q. Kyle, obviously contact with Chase there going into turn one. What was your perspective on that? Do you feel you have to have a conversation with Chase after the way things played out?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I had the restart before, I kind of got put in a bad spot because he had the dominant position on me with the nose ahead. Every time I was in the right lane yesterday in Xfinity, I was in the same spot, I would always get pinched into the curb. A lot of times I got passed by the time we got to turn two.

I figured it was probably going to be the last restart of the weekend. I told myself if I had a nose ahead of him before we got to the braking zone, I was going to have to try my best to maintain that, not let him get a nose ahead of me, pinch my corner off, end my chance of winning.

I had a good restart. I got in there hot. Did what I had to do to win. Again, I’m not necessarily proud of it, especially with a teammate, but I feel like I had to execute that way to get the win.

Q. You’ve had contact this year already going back to Auto Club, which was your other win. What do you feel like your relationship is with Chase generally speaking?

KYLE LARSON: I feel like we’ve been in a good spot. We were able to talk after the incident at Auto Club, moved on past that pretty quickly.

I haven’t seen an interview. I haven’t seen anything about Chase today. I think at Auto Club it was more of an accident. Today it was hard racing at the end on a restart.

I’m sure it will warrant some sort of conversation, but I don’t know. So we have a quick week this week with testing at Martinsville, Saturday night race at Daytona. It’s a much shorter week. Look forward to getting back on track.

Q. Kyle, some conversations can happen about this. How do you get it all straightened out so you’re on the same page going into the Playoffs?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I don’t know. I haven’t talked to anybody really yet. We’ve just been taking pictures and stuff. Yeah, I’m sure I’ll have a conversation with Jeff Gordon and Rick and probably Jeff Andrews. I’m sure Chase, as well.

I think it’s risky taking the left lane here at Watkins Glen. It’s definitely the preferred lane as the leader, but as each restart gets further on in the race, whether it be at the end of the stage or end of the race, you’re putting yourself in a vulnerable position to get used up on exit.

You’ve seen it a lot of different times in the years past. You take note of that. Like I said, I did what I felt like I had to do to get the win and get some bonus points that we kind of desperately need as we head on into the Playoffs.

Q. Yesterday you said your goal is to get to second in points by the end of the season. Winning a race does a lot towards that. How confident are you right now in terms of getting more wins once you get into the Playoffs?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, our cars have been really fast all year. I feel like all of Hendrick Motorsports has been really quick. Chase’s team has done an extremely good job all year, compared to the field really, of executing. I think that’s just really the one area that we’ve tried to focus on for a while now. It’s easy to say; it’s sometimes hard to do while you’re racing.

If we can continue to have days like today where we execute as good as we could, called a great race with pit strategy, we did a great job on our pit stops, every restart I think we moved forward, and we brought a fast race car again to the track.

If we can continue to do that as we go onto these next 11 weeks, I’m pretty confident that we can go contend for another championship.

Q. At one point you were racing with Kimi. What was that like?

KYLE LARSON: That was cool. By the time I got to him, he was really struggling. He looked like he was really loose in front of me. I was able to make quick work of him.

It’s just really cool for him to step out of his comfort zone and come play with us stockcar racers. It was more than just Kimi. The international drivers racing today was pretty cool. I think I passed every one of them at some point. It was fun watching them up ahead of me being really aggressive.

They’re as good as it gets when it comes to heavy braking, stuff like that. I could watch people up in front of them try to make a move on them, they wouldn’t be able to make the pass. That’s just their experience playing part today, and it was fun to be a spectator at points in the race.

Q. AJ was complimentary do you after the race. He said he believed you’re the most bad-ass racing driver on the planet right now. What does that make you feel?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, no, it’s cool. I’ve always had a lot of respect for AJ. He does a really good job in the Xfinity Series, but I feel like he’s one of if not the most underrated guys in the NASCAR, any series in NASCAR, of my career that I’ve had in stockcars.

You can just tell when drivers are really good. For AJ to put himself in position every single time on a road course, whether it be any series that he’s in, is amazing. As well as do as good of a job as he does in the Xfinity Series on ovals. I feel he really carries that car a lot of times.

You can compare him to his teammates, and he’s always outrunning them. I feel like that’s kind of a way to judge how good a driver is.

There’s no doubt in my mind if he was in equipment equal to mine, he would be winning races frequently. He continues to get better. I love getting the chance to race him.

It was a lot of fun to have him in my mirror these last two races, try to keep my nerves down enough to keep off the best road racer.

Q. How do you make sure this doesn’t carry over to the Playoffs where Chase is going to race you hard back as you’ve raced him? Is there any concern about that, coming down to a key moment, he has this memory in his head?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I don’t know. Honestly I think in my position you have to expect not getting any breaks cut my way. You have to weigh all that stuff out as you roll around under caution. That is all stuff that has crossed my mind.

I don’t know. I think and I hope it will be fine, but we’ll see. I didn’t end his day today, but I did probably take a win from him. Yeah, I don’t know. I mean, I think we’ve raced well in the past. The next 11 weeks, 10 weeks in the Playoffs, there’s more than just me to worry about.

But, yeah, I definitely know there may be moments throughout the Playoffs where I feel like we’re around each other a lot because we’re pretty equal on track and stuff. Yeah, there may be moments.

In my position, you kind of have to accept it.

Q. Cliff, it’s obviously been six months since you won a race. For a team that won 10 times last year, how tough is it to manage that?

CLIFF DANIELS: It’s been tough. A lot of that I’ve got to say starts with me, right? I’m the leader of the team, I help coach him, the pit crew, the road crew, all the guys at the shop. There’s a lot of different areas I have to cover.

I’m very I would say happy and pleased with the prep that we put into putting a fast race car on track, how to look at our strategy, all the different things until we get to the moment. In the moment, for whatever reason or another, all summer we’ve kind of been plagued like one little mistake here or there, a pit call or a pit stop, a restart or some little thing that has impacted our day, kept us from getting a good finish.

I take a lot of that to heart. We have a lot of very honest conversations within our team of what we have to do to make sure when you know you have one of the best drivers if not the best driver in the world, all the talent in our team that we had last year, all of the folks at Hendrick Motorsports giving us great cars and engines, all the things that they have given us, it really does boil down to execution.

I will say the Next Gen car has presented a completely different challenge for executing a race, managing tire falloff, strategy, a lot of things we wanted it to bring about. I certainly own the share of mistakes that I’ve made in that. We continue to kind of keep a tally in a healthy way to say here was a missed opportunity, here is what that looked like, here is the supporting evidence to look for the next time to not make that same mistake again.

Those are conversations that we have with him, within our team, of just how to be better and execute better. Very proud of the team today. Proud of him today because we needed kind of that token of confidence to say we brought another fast race car to the track this week, can we keep it up front, execute the race, have a shot at the end. If you have a shot at the end, you get a chance to capitalize, he did a great job today. Very thankful for that.

Q. Cliff, I’ll ask you this. How concerning was the weather? First off the excess water before they stopped the race, then all the downhill stuff.

CLIFF DANIELS: A little bit concerning. COTA knocked the edge off, the edge of uncertainty, the nerves around what racing a Cup car in the rain would look like. I know the Next Gen car is different, but it is still a 3500 pound stock car. Still have all the rain tires, all the things you have to go through.

Not a very high level of concern because we have a little bit of experience with it. He’s raced Xfinity in the rain. I’ve been a part of Xfinity races in the past in the rain. It was more about the question surrounding tires and fuel, which would be the same questions around executing a dry race.

I think in hindsight NASCAR did a good job of how they managed the start of the race. The rain tires seemed to do a good job, like we knew they would. Goodyear had done their homework on the tire. Once it dried out, our tires got punished, which is typically what we see.

I really didn’t see anything kind of out of what we expected. I don’t know if that helps answer.

Q. Cliff, looking at next week to Daytona, I was curious about the strategy games. A lot more strategy coming into effect with the summer race at Daytona than maybe Talladega or Daytona in February. How much was that strategy changed with the Next Gen car?

CLIFF DANIELS: I think it’s going to be very important as we’ve seen at the speedways. Certainly within the OEM groups, the guys do a good job of working together. I believe in our Chevrolet group; we’ve still got some non-winners that could make the Playoffs. You certainly want to help those guys any time we can.

Another big part of the strategy for us, when we’ve been aggressive on trying to get to the front, calling aggressive strategy, we get caught up in things that happen at a speedway race. Talladega in the spring, we called probably one of the calmest races, he would admit, drove one of the calmest races we have in a long time and stayed in the top four almost all day long.

Every speedway race is going to play out different. We’re going to try to be smart, be a good teammate to the Chevrolet guys, Hendrick guys how and when we can. Certainly we have to protect ourselves and make sure we have a shot at the end.

Q. What was it like from a driver’s perspective when it was pouring big-time? Was there water dripping in the race car at the time?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I mean, compared to what I remember of COTA last time, I don’t remember there really being any water inside the car last year. This year, yeah, there was a lot of like just dripping water inside the car. No, like, running water, which was nice (smiling).

Yeah, visibility, had we gone green while it was raining, probably would have been difficult like it was at COTA. It was nice they brought us down pit road and kind of waited for the rain to stop and blew that layer of thick wetness off the track. Visibility I didn’t think was that bad when we took the green and the track was drying up fairly quickly, too.

I thought I’d be a lot better in the wet than I was. I was a little bit bummed and glad that it did dry up as quick as it did because I was struggling in the wet.

I’ll have to look at data on why that is, how I didn’t manage it better because my tires I think were ate up at the end of that run where other guys that did the same strategy as us, but I was struggling bad and getting ate up.

Yeah, no, it was fun. I mean, it’s fun to get to do it every now and then. I thought the cars handled fine in the rain, too.

Q. If Chase had gotten the lead from you, how aggressive do you think you probably would have got in there trying to get that win?

KYLE LARSON: I don’t think I would have gotten close enough to him. We were pretty equally matched. Dirty air was still a thing today. In the esses, even when I would get a decent exit off of one, if I was within three or four car lengths of him or anybody into the esses all day, I was just really tight and kind of binding the car up with my steering wheel, not able to run as much throttle as normal.

That doesn’t allow me to stay close enough to him in the bus stop. He was really good in the bus stop, really good in the carrousel. I don’t think I would have ever gotten close enough to him to even try to put pressure on him and make a mistake or try and pass him.

Q. As we’ve gotten to the close of the regular season, how concerned have you been not just about winning again but entering the Playoffs without a lot of the Playoff points? Has that been a serious concern of your team?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, I mean, I don’t know if we’ve necessarily talked about it a whole lot. I think it’s definitely probably been on all of our minds.

Last year I think I had like 40-something points going into the Playoffs. Let’s see, this year I’ll probably have, if I run second in the regular season, like 23 depending on how next weekend goes.

Yeah, wins are important to get those bonus points. I haven’t won as many stages as I did last year, nearly as many stages as last year.

All those bonus points help. Even as I went into the Playoffs last year, was winning a lot, I think we entered the Round of 8 almost a full race ahead of the cutoff. That gives you a lot of comfort. Not that you have total comfort, but…

Yeah, so winning today, getting some bonus points, everything helps. Everything will benefit you as you go on as the Playoffs start.

Yeah, would like to have a good weekend next week and lock up that second place in points and start the Playoffs I would think as the second-seeded driver probably.

Q. On the other side of that, is it also sort of not really good, but with the way that the season has been so wide open, aside from Chase, nobody has really pulled away, does that give you a good feeling that you can still be in a good spot?

KYLE LARSON: Yeah, yeah, definitely. In years past there’s been, like, two or three guys that win all the stages, seem to win all the races, they kind of can distance themselves a little bit. This year it’s, like, there’s been no consistent guy up front. I feel like all the Playoff points have been evenly spread.

For me, who hasn’t felt like we’ve done a good job, we’re really still in a good spot on points, compared to our competition. So yeah, hopefully as the Playoffs come along, we can win some more stages, win some more races.

Obviously with winning races you advance to the next round. Even when you do that, you want to win stages and races to benefit yourself as you move on into the next round. It was good to get experience with points last year in our back pocket, but we aren’t there right now so we need to try and get as many points as we can.

THE MODERATOR: Kyle, thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL
GO BOWLING AT THE GLEN

CHASE ELLIOTT CLINCHES NASCAR CUP SERIES REGULAR SEASON CHAMPIONSHIP

Elliott Looking For Second Career NCS Championship

· With one race remaining in the NASCAR Cup Series regular season, Chase Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 team has officially clinched the 2022 NCS Regular Season Championship.

· This marks Elliott’s first NCS Regular Season Championship title in his seventh full-time season in NASCAR’s premier series.

· The 2022 season will mark Elliott’s seventh consecutive appearance in the NCS playoffs.

· Chevrolet – the winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history – has a manufacturer-leading 33 NCS Driver Championships and 40 NCS Manufacturer Championships.

DETROIT, Mich. (August 21, 2022) – While one race still remains to complete the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) playoff field, Chase Elliott is one step closer to battling for his second championship title in NASCAR’s premier series. At the track that delivered Elliott his first career NCS win in 2018, the 26-year-old Hendrick Motorsports driver is leaving Watkins Glen International as the 2022 NCS Regular Season Champion. A familiar face on top of the points standings through most of the season, Elliott entered the race weekend with a strong 116-point lead over second-place Ryan Blaney. Only needing a 61-point advantage at the end of upstate New York race weekend, Elliott was able to clinch the coveted NCS Regular Season Championship title one week early.

“Congratulations to Chase Elliott and the entire No. 9 Camaro ZL1 team on winning the NASCAR Cup Series regular-season championship,” said Jim Campbell, Chevrolet U.S. Vice President, Performance and Motorsports. “He has delivered consistent results all season. Chase, crew chief Alan Gustafson and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports crew are working together as one team, as they build momentum heading into the playoffs.”

Elliott and the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 team has proven to be a championship contender throughout arguably one of the most unpredictable seasons in NASCAR history. In 25 races thus far, Elliott leads the series in wins with four, top-10 finishes (17), laps led (688) and accumulated playoff points (25). While his first win of 2022 at Dover Motor Speedway solidified his berth into the NCS playoff field, it was the summer stretch that the No. 9 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 team became a championship threat. Elliott drove to a career-best and series-best streak of five consecutive top-two finishes, which began with his victory at Nashville Superspeedway (June 26, 2022). Within that time span, the 2020 NCS Champion collected three victories and two runner-up finishes, setting the Chevrolet driver up to cruise towards his first NCS Regular Season Championship in his seventh full-time season in the series.

Heading into the NCS regular season finale at Daytona International Speedway, a manufacturer-leading seven Chevrolet drivers have claimed spots in the 16-driver NCS playoff field by virtue of a win, including: all four Hendrick Motorsports drivers, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, William Byron and Alex Bowman; and first-time NCS winners Ross Chastain, Daniel Suarez and Tyler Reddick. With 25 races now complete, the bowtie brand has taken the NCS season by storm; leading its manufacturer competitors in wins (14), top-fives (59), top-10s (109), laps led (2,946) and stage wins (21).

Chevrolet – the winningest brand in NASCAR Cup Series history – is heading into the playoffs looking to make it a three-peat in NCS Driver Championship titles. Starting with Elliott’s first career NCS Championship in 2020; Kyle Larson and the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Camaro ZL1 team took the bowtie brand to back-to-back NCS Driver Championship titles in 2021. Also sitting as reigning NCS Manufacturer Champions, Chevrolet also currently sits atop the NCS manufacturer standings in pursuit of a series-leading 41st title.

The 2022 regular season for NASCAR’s premier series will come to a close next weekend with the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway. Under the lights on Saturday, August 27, the famed 2.5-mile Florida superspeedway will officially set the 16-driver NCS playoff field. Live coverage of the 400-mile race can be found on NBC, the NBC Sports Gold App, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

BELL BRINGS HIS TOYOTA HOME EIGHTH AT THE GLEN

WATKINS GLEN, NY (August 21, 2022) – Christopher Bell (eighth) was the highest finishing Toyota in Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Watkins Glen International.

Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Watkins Glen International
Race 25 of 36 – 220.5 miles, 90 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, Kyle Larson*

2nd, AJ Allmendinger*

3rd, Joey Logano*

4th, Chase Elliott*

5th, Tyler Reddick*

8th, CHRISTOPHER BELL

20th, DENNY HAMLIN

23rd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.

26th, TY GIBBS

32nd, KYLE BUSCH

35th, BUBBA WALLACE

36th, DANIIL KVYAT

*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

CHRISTOPHER BELL, No. 20 DeWalt Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 8th

How was your race today?

“The DeWalt Camry TRD struggled some today, but I feel like an eighth-place finish was good for us today for the car that we had and we’ll try to build on it.”

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.

Inclement Weather Creates Chaos at Start of 90-Lap Race

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (Aug. 21, 2022) — In a race that began in the rain with slick conditions at Watkins Glen, Brad Keselowski drove his Violet Defense Ford Mustang to a 19th-place finish.

Keselowski put together a qualifying effort of 15th on Saturday, his third-straight top-15 qualifying effort on a road course. After lightning and rain delayed the initial start, the field eventually got rolling in light rain as the skies cleared.

The Michigan native initially stayed on track longer than most with the rain tires, ultimately hitting pit road at lap 14 to switch to slicks. He went on to finish the 20-lap stage in 20th.

After rolling off 29th for stage two, Keselowski worked his way through the field in all green conditions to finish 20th at the end of the segment, setting up the final, 45-lap run to the finish. He rolled off 16th, and shuffled between there and 20th in the closing laps to ultimately bring home a 19th-place result.

The No. 6 team heads to Daytona International Speedway next weekend as the final opportunity to advance into the NASCAR Playoffs. Race coverage next Saturday night is set for 7 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Eighth Top-10 for Buescher in 2022 Season

WATKINS GLEN, N.Y. (Aug. 21, 2022) – Chris Buescher again put himself in solid position on a road course, earning stage points Sunday at Watkins Glen before going on to finish ninth in the Fastenal Ford Mustang.

The Texan earned his seventh top-10 starting spot of the season in Saturday’s qualifying session, lining up seventh for the start of the 90-lap race. Inclement weather played a huge factor as lightning and heavy rain delayed the initial start, ultimately causing the race to start in the rain.

Despite starting on rain tires, Buescher was the first to switch to slicks as he hit pit road just five laps in. The No. 17 team elected a two-stop strategy in the first stage as Buescher hit pit road from the third position with three laps left in the segment. He went on to finish 17th in the 20-lap stage.

Stage two brought dry conditions and sunny skies as Buescher rolled off ninth. The segment ran all green as Buescher finished seventh to earn stage points.

After staying out in the final stage break, Buescher fired off fourth at lap 43 as one of a handful of cars to employ similar strategy. He held onto the top five position for the next 12 laps until green-flag stops again were the storyline at lap 55. Two final restarts occurred in the last nine laps with Buescher coming from 10th to finish ninth. It marks his eighth top-10 of the season and fourth-straight on a road course.

The No. 17 team heads to Daytona International Speedway next weekend as the final opportunity to advance into the NASCAR Playoffs. Race coverage next Saturday night is set for 7 p.m. ET on NBC, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Burton and his Cup Series peers took the green flag on a wet track riding on rain tires after showers delayed the start of the race for nearly two hours.

Burton, who qualified 30th for Sunday’s 90-lap run on the 2.45-mile Watkins Glen International track, spun in the opening laps, pitted for tires and fuel on Lap 11.

After the track dried and teams switched to standard tires, he ended the second Stage in 25th place.

As teams employed various pit strategies, Burton moved up to 18th place in the opening laps of the race’s third segment before making a scheduled green-flag stop at Lap 53.

Returning to the track outside the top 30, he worked his way up to 28th place.

Burton and the No. 21 team now head to Daytona International Speedway for Saturday night’s Coke Zero Sugar 400, the 26th and final race of the Cup Series regular season.

About DEX Imaging
DEX Imaging is the digital document imaging division of Staples, the world’s largest business solutions provider. DEX sells and services the broadest selection of copiers, printers and data management solutions, such as HP, Konica Minolta, Canon, Kyocera and numerous others.

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DEX Imaging has been the recipient of virtually every industry award since the company’s inception, including the JD Power & Associates Award for Best Customer Experience, the prestigious ProTech Service award by Konica Minolta, the Diamond Premier Dealer Award by Kyocera, and the Elite DEALER Award by ‘ENX’ magazine. Other accolades include being named ‘Best Place to Work’ by numerous business journals in the markets DEX serves.

Wood Brothers Racing
Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glenn Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glenn’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Harrison Burton in the famous No. 21 racer.

August 21, 2022
By Holly Cain
NASCAR Wire Service

For the second-consecutive day Kyle Larson took his first lead of the race with five laps remaining and held off road course ace and fellow Californian A.J. Allmendinger for a trophy. Larson completed the rare weekend sweep at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International Sunday afternoon with a clutch win in the NASCAR Cup Series’ Go Bowling at the Glen.

Larson made a dramatic pass on his Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott on a restart with five laps to go on the historic road course. As the race leader, Elliott got to choose where to lineup alongside Larson for the green flag and chose to start on Larson’s outside, setting up the dramatic contention for position.

Larson maneuvered past Elliott in the wide-sweeping turn with both Allmendinger and Joey Logano able to get around Elliott as well. Allmendinger gave chase to Larson, but for the second day in a row, Larson, the driver of the No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet again proved too much.

It was the second-consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victory for Larson, 30, at Watkins Glen – finishing .882-seconds ahead of Kaulig Racing’s Allmendinger. It’s Larson’s 18th career win and second of the 2022 season for the defending NASCAR Cup Series champion.

Team Penske’s Logano finished third just ahead of Elliott, who could take some considerable consolation in officially securing the 2022 Regular Season Championship – his first – at the end of Stage 1 on Sunday.

Larson immediately addressed the winning move.

That was really my only opportunity (to go for the lead), I’m not proud of it,’’ Larson said, “But being in the inside lane, the right lane, being the leader, choosing the left lane, it definitely wins out. But when it gets late in the race, it’s definitely risky.

“I knew that was my only opportunity to get by him. I feel like our cars were pretty equal today. Had a lot of fun after rate green flag cycle trying to chase hi down. Kind of burned my stuff up a little bit.

“But the restarts kept me in it and kept our team in it. I’m proud of my guys. Good to get another win here at Watkins Glen and get some more bonus points going into the Playoffs, we haven’t had a lot here this year.’’

Larson said he anticipated having a conversation with Elliott and reiterated that he was only making a move, he felt necessary, to go for the victory. Something he thought Elliott would have done as well.

“We have a competition meeting tomorrow.,’’ Larson said. “I think if I was in his shoes, I would understand the risk that I’m taking, taking the left lane also. I’m not proud of it but I did what I felt like I had to do to get the win.’’

For his part after the race, Elliott said only, “Congratulations to Kyle and everybody on the 5 team and at Hendrick Motorsports for getting the win.’’

Elliott – who led a race high 30 of the 80 laps – again took the company line when asked what he would say to Larson, “Congratulations. … always good to see HMS win. The boss [Rick Hendrick] deserves all the great wins that come for this company.’’

Trackhouse Racing driver Daniel Suárez finished fifth, followed by Front Row Motorsports’ Michael McDowell, who led 14 laps.

Richard Childress Racing’s Tyler Reddick, Joe Gibbs Racing’s Christopher Bell, RFK Racing’s Chris Buescher and Petty GMS Racing’s Erik Jones rounded out the top 10.

German driver Mike Rockenfeller – a sportscar ace and former Rolex 24 at Daytona winner – posted the best finish (30th) among a series-high seven international entries at Watkins Glen.

Formula One world champion Kimi Räikkönen had a solid effort in his NASCAR Cup Series debut – running as high as eighth place in Stage 2 before pitting. His day in the No. 91 Trackhouse Racing Chevrolet came to an early end, however, when he was nudged off-track and into a tire barrier while racing among a large group of cars on the ensuing restart.

Räikkönen 41, of Finland, climbed out of his car and appeared fine physically. Although disappointed with the finish to what looked like a promising day, he said he was still overall happy with his debut in NASCAR’s big leagues.

“It was good fun, you know, and I felt more confident all the time and had some good battles and the car felt like it had a lot of speed in there, but that’s how it goes sometimes,’’ said Räikkönen, who officially finished 37th in the 39-car field.

With one race remaining in the regular season and one spot still to be settled for the 16-driver Playoff field, Team Penske’s Ryan Blaney holds a 25-point advantage over Joe Gibbs Racing’s Martin Truex Jr. for the final transfer position should no new winner emerge next week. They finished 23rd (Truex) and 24th (Blaney) on Sunday and both drivers are still looking for their first victory of the year.

Blaney heads into the regular season finale next week at Daytona International Speedway as the defending race winner. The Coke Zero Sugar 400 in Daytona Beach is set for Saturday night (7 p.m. ET, NBC, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio) with the 16 drivers qualifying for the 10-race Playoffs that begin Sept. 4 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

–30–

NASCAR Cup Series Race – 36th Annual Go Bowling at The Glen
Watkins Glen International
Watkins Glen, New York
Sunday, August 21, 2022

               1. (2)  Kyle Larson, Chevrolet, 90.

               2. (6)  AJ Allmendinger(i), Chevrolet, 90.

               3. (20)  Joey Logano, Ford, 90.

               4. (1)  Chase Elliott, Chevrolet, 90.

               5. (9)  Daniel Suarez, Chevrolet, 90.

               6. (3)  Michael McDowell, Ford, 90.

               7. (5)  Tyler Reddick, Chevrolet, 90.

               8. (38)  Christopher Bell, Toyota, 90.

               9. (7)  Chris Buescher, Ford, 90.

               10. (31)  Erik Jones, Chevrolet, 90.

               11. (29)  Cole Custer, Ford, 90.

               12. (24)  Kevin Harvick, Ford, 90.

               13. (8)  Austin Cindric #, Ford, 90.

               14. (11)  Alex Bowman, Chevrolet, 90.

               15. (21)  Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Chevrolet, 90.

               16. (28)  Ty Dillon, Chevrolet, 90.

               17. (12)  Austin Dillon, Chevrolet, 90.

               18. (13)  Justin Haley, Chevrolet, 90.

               19. (15)  Brad Keselowski, Ford, 90.

               20. (22)  Denny Hamlin, Toyota, 90.

               21. (18)  Ross Chastain, Chevrolet, 90.

               22. (4)  William Byron, Chevrolet, 90.

               23. (25)  Martin Truex Jr., Toyota, 90.

               24. (26)  Ryan Blaney, Ford, 90.

               25. (14)  Chase Briscoe, Ford, 90.

               26. (16)  Ty Gibbs(i), Toyota, 90.

               27. (32)  Corey LaJoie, Chevrolet, 90.

               28. (30)  Harrison Burton #, Ford, 90.

               29. (35)  Aric Almirola, Ford, 90.

               30. (33)  Mike Rockenfeller, Chevrolet, 90.

               31. (17)  Joey Hand, Ford, 90.

               32. (10)  Kyle Busch, Toyota, 89.

               33. (34)  Loris Hezemans(i), Ford, 89.

               34. (39)  Cody Ware, Ford, 88.

               35. (23)  Bubba Wallace, Toyota, Suspension, 83.

               36. (36)  Daniil Kvyat, Toyota, 58.

               37. (27)  Kimi Raikkonen, Chevrolet, Accident, 44.

               38. (19)  Todd Gilliland #, Ford, Rear End, 28.

               39. (37)  Kyle Tilley, Ford, Steering, 15.

Average Speed of Race Winner: 95.962 mph.

Time of Race: 2 Hrs, 17 Mins, 52 Secs. Margin of Victory: .882 Seconds.

Caution Flags: 5 for 11 laps.

Lead Changes: 12 among 9 drivers.

Lap Leaders: C. Elliott 1-3;M. McDowell 4-11;T. Reddick 12-13;C. Elliott 14-15;C. Briscoe 16-22;T. Gilliland # 23-27;J. Logano 28-42;M. McDowell 43-48;C. Elliott 49-58;C. Custer 59-65;A. Dillon 66-71;C. Elliott 72-85;K. Larson 86-90.

Leaders Summary (Driver, Times Lead, Laps Led): Chase Elliott 4 times for 29 laps; Joey Logano 1 time for 15 laps; Michael McDowell 2 times for 14 laps; Chase Briscoe 1 time for 7 laps; Cole Custer 1 time for 7 laps; Austin Dillon 1 time for 6 laps; Todd Gilliland # 1 time for 5 laps; Kyle Larson 1 time for 5 laps; Tyler Reddick 1 time for 2 laps.

Stage #1 Top Ten: 14,8,99,38,1,22,42,34,18,16

Stage #2 Top Ten: 22,18,34,9,42,15,17,5,41,20

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Watkins Glen NCS Post Race | Sunday, August 21, 2022

FORD FINISHING RESULTS

3rd – Joey Logano

6th – Michael McDowell

9th – Chris Buescher

11th – Cole Custer

12th – Kevin Harvick

13th – Austin Cindric

19th – Brad Keselowski

24th – Ryan Blaney

25th – Chase Briscoe

28th – Harrison Burton

29th – Aric Almirola

31st – Joey Hand

33rd – Loris Hezemans

34th – Cody Ware

38th – Todd Gilliland

39th – Kyle Tilley

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell Pennzoil Ford Mustang | Finished 3rd

“It was crazy and I am ecstatic about what we did. We got the stage win, and usually, if you get a stage win here you bury yourself, which we did. We were 27th at the start of the third stage. We passed a bunch of cars and got to 17th and then we got stuck around 15th or so. I have to give it to Paul (Wolfe), he put two tires on it and gave us some track position and then we had a couple of more good restarts and it ended up as a top-three. Pretty good.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang | Finished 6th

“It is disappointing. I don’t think we quite had enough for the 9 or the 5. I tried to hold them off as long as I could, they just had a bit of pace on me. They were pushing me hard enough that I was getting wide and making mistakes. I tried to make a move on that second-to-last restart there and got a pretty good run on the 5 and went to the inside and it just didn’t work out. We got jammed up on the bottom and everyone was smashing into each other and we lost a couple of spots. That was pretty much it at that point. It is just disappointing. We’ve gotta win to get into these playoffs. But I am proud of everybody at Front Row. We had a fast car and we were in the hunt. It just wasn’t quite enough.”

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang | Finished 9th

“We had a really good Fastenal Ford. I am so proud of everybody. Just didn’t need that caution at the end. We needed a green flag run. We were running down the next several ahead of us and we had tires. That was working for speed. I don’t know if I could have gotten to the lead with green flag runs but it definitely would have been better than we finished. It didn’t play out the way we needed it to, but still a really solid day.”