NASCAR CUP SERIES
IMS ROAD COURSE
VERIZON 200 AT THE BRICKYARD

TEAM CHEVY POLE WINNER

TYLER REDDICK TO LEAD THE FIELD TO THE GREEN IN INDIANAPOLIS

Fifth NCS Pole Win of 2022 for Camaro ZL1

· Tyler Reddick clocked-in a lap of 88.354 seconds, at 99.378 mph, to capture the pole position for tomorrow’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course.

· This marks Reddick’s second career NASCAR Cup Series pole, both of which have been captured on a road course.

· Reddick’s pole gives Chevrolet its fifth NASCAR Cup Series pole win of 2022; and 728th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series history.

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. (July 30, 2022) – The last time the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) turned laps on a road course circuit, Tyler Reddick drove his No. 8 Richard Childress Racing Camaro ZL1 to victory lane for the first time in his NCS career (Road America, July 2022). Today, the 26-year-old California native picked up right where he left off, capturing the pole for tomorrow’s Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course. Reddick laid down a lap of 88.354 seconds, at 99.378 mph, in his No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1 to capture his second career pole win in NASCAR’s premier series. Reddick’s pole winning lap was almost three tenths of a second faster than the second-fastest driver, proving the No. 8 3CHI Camaro ZL1 will be a strong contender to go back-to-back in road course wins.

“I could have done a better job, but it was really nice to know that we really did such a good job; everyone at RCR and the ECR power under this hood,” said Reddick. “Just this whole group on the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet team did a really good job of preparing the last couple of weeks for this race.”

Reddick’s pole win marked the fifth for the Camaro ZL1 in 2022; and a manufacturer-leading 728th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series history. The bowtie brand has proven to be a force to be reckoned with on road course circuits, with Chevrolet currently sitting at nine consecutive NCS road course victories. A streak that started with Chase Elliott’s victory at Circuit of The Americas in March 2021, six drivers from four different Chevrolet teams have added to the Chevrolet NCS road course win count and the manufacturer looks to take that number to double digits this weekend.

NBC will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at 2:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 31. Live coverage can also be found on the NBCSports Gold App and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1 – Press Conference Transcript:

WALK US THROUGH YOUR FAST LAP OUT THERE?

“Well, it certainly seemed like a pretty good lap, but definitely not a pole lap. Right away, we were hustling to cool the car down and cool the brakes down so we could re-run. But it ended up being a good enough lap and it stood up against the nine other competitors. I definitely had a little bit of concern missing it a little bit in turn four and just a little bit in the braking zone.

I’m glad it was a good enough lap. Certainly you always try and run the perfect lap. We didn’t quite do that, but it was good enough to win the pole.”

YOU’RE COMING OFF YOUR FIRST NASCAR CUP SERIES VICTORY AT ROAD AMERICA AND NOW YOU’RE SITTING ON THE POLE HERE IN INDIANAPOLIS. HOW MUCH CONFIDENCE DOES THAT GIVE YOU KNOWING THAT YOU’VE WON AT A ROAD COURSE; WON A ROAD COURSE IN THIS CAR; AND YOU’RE SITTING ON THE POLE AT INDIANAPOLIS?

“I certainly have a little bit more confidence. A lot of the confidence that myself and my whole team has comes from the work that we put in. The confidence that we have and displayed today comes from that, but certainly it’s good to know that we’re doing the right things and we’re on the right track.

We’ll see how tomorrow goes. We’re going to have a really good pit stall selection and have the opportunity from the start to control the race. Hopefully we’ll be able to do that and keep it up front all day.”

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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Verizon 200 Qualifying | Saturday, July 30, 2022

Ford Qualifying Results:
2nd – Austin Cindric
3rd – Chase Briscoe
5th – Joey Logano
6th – Ryan Blaney
7th – Michael McDowell
9th – Todd Gilliland
12th – Brad Keselowski
13th – Harrison Burton
14th – Aric Almirola
16th – Chris Buescher
18th – Kevin Harvick
24th – Cole Custer
27th – Joey Hand
33rd – Cody Ware
34th – Loris Hezemans
37th – Josh Williams

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – “It’s certainly an important weekend for us at Team Penske, but it would be pretty cool to run up front and try and get a win for Roger at the Brickyard. It’s a long race ahead, but obviously a good place to start, a good pit stall for the boys, so a good foundation with a long race ahead.”

HOW WAS YOUR LAP IN THE FINAL ROUND OF QUALIFYING? “When you get beat for pole I guess you’d rather be a chunk slower than a little bit slower because I feel like there’s a little bit I could have done better, but not a chunk. I felt like our Ford Mustang was fast all day and I’m proud of that effort. We’re trying a few new things this weekend and I’m looking forward to seeing how they play out in the race.”

TODD GILLILAND, No. 38 Ruedebusch Development & Construction Ford Mustang – “It’s been a good morning, but we still have a long day ahead of us. It takes everything and my guys did a good job with the setup of the car. I was telling them it’s much easier to drive than Road America, so it’s all about progress. We’re learning a lot from the 34 team as they’re running really well. Overall, a pretty good start to the day.”

HOW DO YOU TRANSLATE THIS INTO THE RACE AND KEEP THAT TRACK POSITION ALL DAY? “That is the crazy part about shifting your expectations. Even when we got into the second round you really have to shift into going to get the pole, but I feel like a road course is even more so of when your car has speed and there are so many turns that it kind of just adds up to having good speed. It makes me feel confident about the race tomorrow and, like I said, my car feels really driveable. Overall, I’m pretty happy with it. There are still gonna be some tough decisions tonight, but, overall, it’s probably our best race car going into a race this year.”

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Horizon Hobby Ford Mustang – “We got both cars in the top 10. I think that’s the first time we’ve done that on a road course, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow. This is not our first time making it to the second round at a road course. I think three out of the four we’ve moved on and honestly I didn’t put in a really good lap, it was kind of a messy, sloppy lap so I wish I could have a re-do, but I think we’ll be there tomorrow when it counts.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – “I had a good first lap, but my second lap I overshot turn one. I just went for it. I felt like I was in contention to maybe get a pole and so I sent it in there pretty hard and missed turn one, and then you’re just fighting from behind. It’s a long lap from there all the way around to try to make up for a mistake, but it was a good pickup from practice.”

THREE TEAM PENSKE CARS IN THE TOP SIX TO START TOMORROW. YOUR THOUGHTS? “Absolutely. It’s a good start and hopefully we can continue that. It’s always special to win here. When your boss owns the track it probably adds a little bit to that, but a top-five qualifying effort is nice and we’ll try to pick it up a little from there.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang – “In practice I was a little bit worried. I didn’t really feel like I had the speed I needed. I felt like everything I had was what I had and I was still only 13th-quick and didn’t feel like the car was really that great. I still don’t necessarily feel like the car is quite where I need it to be, but definitely the speed kind of surprised me there in qualifying. We’ve got a really good starting spot for tomorrow. We’ve got a good pit stall selection, so all of those things will help. We’ve just got to put it all together. We’re kind of in a unique spot where we have to kind of go for points and it might not be the best strategy to win the race, so hopefully the race will come our way and we can catch some breaks along the way and hopefully be kissing the bricks at the end of it.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Indianapolis Advance | Saturday, July 30, 2022

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Menards/Moen Ford Mustang, is still looking for his first victory of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season. He stopped by the infield media center at Indianapolis Motor Speedway this morning to talk about his hopes for tomorrow’s race.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Moen Ford Mustang — YOUR FOUNDATION IS HOSTING A SECTION OF FANS IN HONOR OF ALZHEIMER’S AND BRAIN AWARENESS. CAN YOU TELL US ABOUT THAT? “I’m really excited to be able to do that. We’ve worked with the Alzheimer’s Association in the past and they’ve been great to work with and that’s really what our charity was founded on years ago, so it’s great to have them out. It’s great that Indianapolis let us kind of set up a booth and fans could buy a package to come to the race. I get to meet a lot of them tomorrow, which I’m very excited about the fans who have supported our charity and supported our cause for a very long time really ever since it started, but it’s a neat event. My family has been a big part of it since the foundation got up and started. I’m excited to meet all those fans that bought that package and all going to support the Alzheimer’s Association. It’s gonna be a really fun day tomorrow.”

WHAT IS THE STATUS OF YOUR CONTRACT? AREN’T YOU UP PRETTY QUICK, TOO? “Really, at the end of the day I’m smiling about it, so stay tuned.”

IF ROGER GIVES YOU A CHOICE WOULD YOU RATHER RUN THE OVAL OR ROAD COURSE HERE IN A CUP CAR? “It’s special no matter what course we run, I think. I’ve enjoyed running on the oval. I enjoyed running on the road course last year. I personally wouldn’t mind seeing it maybe switch up every few years – a couple years. I don’t think running the road course makes this place any less special. I mean, you’re still racing at Indianapolis and you understand the history behind this place. I’m just really fortunate to be racing here and then to be racing for Roger here. That makes it even more special, so either one, but I wouldn’t mind seeing it switching up every two or three years and that might happen.”

CAN ANYTHING BE DONE TO DECREASE THE FORCE ON THE DRIVER IN CRASHES WITH THIS NEXT GEN CAR? “That’s been a topic of conversation and it’s definitely come up the past week with Kurt getting hurt and hopefully he’s on the right path to getting back. It’s something that was kind of brought up in our meetings between drivers and NASCAR in the offseason, understanding where they were when they designed this car for intrusion – safety upgrades for sure, but I think the car is so rigid and stiff in the front and back and even the sides that some of these hits are harder on the driver even though they might show that they’re better on paper. So, it’s something I’ve noticed. I think everyone will tell you that they’ve noticed that some of these hits that you really wouldn’t think twice about last year’s car, you definitely feel them a lot more in this car. I’m sure they’re working on it. That’s NASCAR’s area to try to improve and the teams all we can do is give them feedback and try to help that process along. I’m sure they’ve got a plan for the offseason and I think all the drivers really want to help out with giving our feedback and just trying to make it better all around.”

WHAT ARE THE CHALLENGES GOING TO BE AT MICHIGAN WITH THIS NEW CAR? “I think it’s gonna be a lot different than last year. It was almost like s speedway race last year, essentially, with the high downforce stuff. This year going back I feel like it’s gonna be more of a look of what we had a few years ago with the other car, kind of lower downforce. I’m not really sure what to expect. I’d love to tell you all what I expect going to these tracks for the first time with this new car, but I don’t know. Hopefully, the track we get up in the old PJ1 and keeps the track wide for this car. I think it’ll help, so it’s really hard to tell but I’m excited to get back there. It’s obviously a big weekend, just like this weekend for us with Ford being right in their backyard. I think it’ll be a good race, that’s for sure, with this car. We’ve seen it this year. This car puts on really good shows at mile-and-a-half and two-mile tracks and I expect nothing less.”

GOING BACK TO RICHMOND FOR A SECOND TIME, WHAT DID YOU LEARN THE LAST TIME TO BE BETTER? “I thought we learned a lot at the spring Richmond. We sat on the pole and led some laps. That’s a big day for me at that place, just trying to continue to get better there. It figures, right when we start to figure out Richmond they take it out of the playoffs, which is pretty funny, but I think we learned a lot just kind of how that race developed. That place, I feel like I’ve got it half figured out now of kind of being good early in the race and good in qualifying and just need to figure out the second half of the race when that track kind of changes. You take all those notes and figure out, ‘OK, where did the track change?’ You can usually do a pretty good job of looking around this lap the track changed. Why did it change and what did we do? Maybe we missed making a change or wanted the wrong thing at that time, so all of that stuff you go back and look at. I’ll go back and look at it next week to kind of prepare for Richmond and hopefully do a little bit better job there.”

WHAT IS YOUR COMFORT LEVEL IN THE POINTS WITH MARTIN GETTING CLOSER TO YOU AND CHASE PULLING AWAY IN THE REGULAR SEASON POINTS RACE? “That one is probably definitely out the window. He’s put together a really good past month-and-a-half and we haven’t. He’s kind of pulled away significantly from the whole field and then our race with Martin, I mean he’s closed the gap up pretty good. He’s been running pretty well, so it’s two-fold. I mean, the easiest but hardest thing to do is win, and I could stop talking about it, but we’ve been trying all year. Hopefully, we can get it done and not have to worry about it, but you just have to be in the back of your head of realizing that you’re still points racing Martin – we are – for the final. You don’t want to be on the bubble if there’s no new winners, and obviously you want to try and win the race, so it’s a balancing act, especially the two road courses that we have. Do you pit? Do you take the stage points to try to keep a good gap to the 19, or if you think your car can win do you try to cycle to the lead? So, it’s kind of situational, I feel like. We talk about all these scenarios throughout the week and in our pre-race meetings, but at the end of the day the main focus is trying to win the race and just doing all you can to try and make that one happen.”

HOW INVOLVED ARE YOU GOING TO BE IN DECIDING WHETHER TO GO OPPOSITE OF TRUEX OR FOLLOW HIM, OR IS THAT THE CREW CHIEF’S ROLE? “Jonathan and I talk a lot about that. You have all of these plans before the race, but a lot of it is kind of where you qualify. If you’re qualified towards the front and you think your car is really fast and you have a chance to win, you might stay on that strategy and try to stay up towards the front and just cycle back to the front all the time. We’ve done that strategy before at Sonoma, getting stage points, but you end up with a top five day because you stay out of the mess and you stay up front. So, at the end of the day it’s Jonathan’s call and what he thinks is best, but he trusts me enough to where I have input too. If I think, ‘Hey, I don’t know if we can win this race, let’s maybe try to get all the stage points we can.’ He trusts me and I trust him. A lot of those discussions are throughout the race of kind of what’s happening in the moment, but you do make all these plans throughout the week – he and I and our engineers — of what we’re thinking baseline and then you can modify plans off of that.”

SOME OF THE DRIVERS HAVE WORN MOUTHGUARD ACCELEROMETERS TO GIVE NASCAR FEEDBACK. HAVE YOU TRIED THAT OR DONE ANYTHING TO HELP THAT PROCESS? “I haven’t done the mouthguard. I know some guys have. I don’t know what they’ve said about it, but I think that’s just getting data. You’re getting data. The data on the car they have, but they’re trying to get data on what the driver hits are. I know Indy Car they use accelerometers in their earpieces, in their ear molds, and I’ve heard good and bad things about that talking to our Indy Car guys. It can be weird in your ear and if you hit your headrest a certain way one is gonna be a lot higher than the other, but the mouthguard thing, I don’t want to wear a mouthguard while I’m racing. That’s just plain and simple. I know it’s smaller, it’s a retainer, but I really don’t want to have that in my mouth while I’m out there racing. Hopefully, we can figure something out. I think the in-ear piece, they’re already in there. You could put something in your ear molds to at least get you some sort of an idea of what drivers are going through.”

DID YOU IMAGINE THERE WOULD BE A YEAR OF POSSIBLY 17 WINNERS IN A SINGLE YEAR? “Yeah. Honestly, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet. You look at all the great teams and drivers who could win in this series and I’m surprised it has not happened yet, and it could happen this year. It’s just one of those things. That’s why you’ve seen people be so aggressive at the end of these races for wins. You have to do it, especially when you have so many winners. You cannot pass up your opportunity. I mean, I don’t like roughing people up or moving people out of the way, you have to get physical with it. You can’t afford to not be physical and give up a shot to win a race. It’s just one of those things where people are so aggressive nowadays, well, you have to be. It’s one of those situations to where if you don’t, you might not ever get that chance again and you might miss out on the playoffs. I’m shocked there hasn’t been 16 winners yet, but I’m sure it will happen. If not this year, at some point.”

DO YOU VIEW MICHIGAN AND DAYTONA AS YOUR BEST SHOTS FOR A WIN? “Not really. I look at any week and I feel like this group can go out and win any week. It’s just a matter of putting all the pieces together. I know we won at those two places last year, but completely different scenarios, different car at both of the tracks. At Daytona, these things draft way different. At Michigan, they’re gonna drive way different than what they did last year, so I don’t view those as two of the best weekends. I feel like this is a great weekend for us and the four other races after that. I don’t really look at favorite tracks I think we have a better shot to win at. I try to keep the mindset of we can go out and win any week.”

THROUGH 21 RACES WITH THE NEXT GEN CAR. WHAT’S YOUR PERSONAL EVALUATION OF IT? “I feel like there are some things we can definitely improve on it. I mean, you know that’s gonna be a thing when you have anything new. There’s always things you can do better with it and kind of learning pains of this car, whether it’s team side to NASCAR side on what they can do better to make the racing even better, which I think it’s put on pretty good racing this year, but there are some situations to where I wish this car was a little bit better. I’ll give it a solid B-plus. I feel like they can get to an A, for sure. Just the racing side of it, I don’t care how these cars drive by themselves. I mean, any driver will tell you that they drive how they’re gonna drive and we’ll get around that, but it’s all about how they race in traffic. I think there are things that we’ve been talking about with NASCAR and they’ve been testing some stuff out, whether it’s taking the diffuser off of it at a short track and things like that, so hopefully we can get something figured out to keep improving it and I’m sure we’re gonna do it. We did it from the offseason. To be honest with you, when we were testing in the offseason I was pretty nervous about this year of being able to put on any good races because I thought they struggled in the offseason in all those tests in traffic and things like that, and we’ve made big improvements since then, so I think after you get a whole year under your belt you can really go in and dive in and figure out how to make it even better.”

Ty Dillon, No. 42 Ferris Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Dillon at Indianapolis Motor Speedway: With the NASCAR Cup Series making its inaugural visit to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course last season while not competing full time in the series, Ty Dillon will embark on his first start at the 2.436-mile, 14-turn course.

Despite not competing at the track one year ago, Dillon has participated in four Cup Series races on the prestigious oval track, earning four top-21 finishes. The North Carolina native has also raced in six NASCAR Xfinity Series events, posting one win (2014), two top-five, and four top-10 results.

• Mow Tyme: Ferris will serve as primary partner on Dillon’s Chevrolet Camaro for Sunday’s race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Ferris, a brand of Briggs & Stratton, is a leading commercial and industrial turf care equipment provider. The red and black colors will adorn the No. 42 for the second time during the 2022 season, previously partnering with Dillon for the All-Star Open at Texas Motor Speedway in May.

As an industry leader, Ferris has built a reputation for accomplishing more work with ease, through innovation, uncompromising performance, and quality features. Ferris makes extremely durable equipment with patented full suspension systems and ergonomic controls and backs them up through world-class dealers.

• Double Duty: In order to gain additional reps on a new circuit, Dillon will pull double duty with participating in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race. The 30-year-old will pilot the No. 6 Black Hole Ammo Camaro for JD Motorsports, marking his second start with the South Carolina-based team. - About Briggs & Stratton: Briggs & Stratton, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is focused on providing power to get work done and make people’s lives better. Briggs & Stratton is the world’s largest producer of gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment, and is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of commercial lithium-ion batteries, power generation, pressure washer, lawn and garden, turf care and job site products through its Briggs & Stratton®, Simplicity®, Snapper®, Ferris®, Vanguard®, Allmand®, Billy Goat®, Murray®, Branco® and Victa® brands. Briggs & Stratton products are designed, manufactured, marketed, and serviced in over 100 countries on six continents. For additional information, please visit www.basco.com and www.briggsandstratton.com.
• From the Drivers Seat: You haven’t competed at the Indianapolis Road Course yet. What are your expectations heading into the weekend?

“Yeah, I wasn’t able to race at Indianapolis last season, so I have no real experience on the road course yet. I’ve put in a lot of hours on the simulator this week to try and prep as much as possible. I also hope racing in the Xfinity Series race will help our effort on Sunday. I really enjoy road course racing, so hopefully it’s a solid weekend for our No. 42 team. Ferris is back on board with our group and it’s always an honor to represent their brand.”

Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Jones at Indianapolis Motor Speedway Grand Prix Circuit: The NASCAR Cup Series makes its way to Indianapolis Motor Speedway this weekend to race on the 2.439-mile road course. In the series first appearance on the road course last season, Erik Jones and the No. 43 team started the race from the 28th position and with a strong run, earned a solid seventh-place finish.

With three road course races complete this season, Jones’ best finish came earlier this season at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas where the team earned a ninth-place finish.

Following 21 races this season, Jones and the No. 43 team have notched two top-five finishes and seven top-10 finishes with 72 laps led.

• Media Availability: Jones will take part in the NASCAR Cup Series media bullpen on Saturday morning, July 30, 2022, at 9 a.m. ET.
• Focused on Winning: FOCUSfactor will serve as the primary partner on Jones’s Chevrolet Camaro for Sunday’s race at New Hampshire Motor Speedway.
• About FOCUSfactor: FOCUSfactor is sold at America’s leading retailers such as Costco, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, The Vitamin Shoppe and Amazon.com. FOCUSfactor, America’s leading brain health supplement, is a nutritional supplement that includes a proprietary blend of brain supporting vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients. In December 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued US Patent 8,329,227 covering FOCUSfactor’s proprietary formulation “for enhanced mental function”. The issuance of the patent marked one of the few times a patent has been issued for a nationally branded nutritional supplement. FOCUSfactor is clinically tested with results demonstrating improvements in focus, concentration and memory in healthy adults.
• From the Driver’s Seat: What are your thoughts heading into Indianapolis?

“The Indy Road Course should be good. It’s always fun for me to go up to Indy. It’s not far from where I grew up and it feels closer to home than anything else we get to do other than Michigan, so it’s cool to go up there. Usually we have some friends and family that come down for that race, but it’s just cool to get to race at Indy. Obviously, the road course has been a new challenge for us going there instead of the oval. Last year we ended up running really well there and finished seventh. Hoping to have a similar run again, but the road courses for us have been kind of up and down this year. I think we’ve worked on a lot of stuff between Road America and now to try to get ourselves better and more prepared. I’m excited to get to Indy, be close to home and have a chance to go and run well.”

ABOUT PETTY GMS:

Petty GMS competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, operating the No. 42 Chevrolet for Ty Dillon and the No. 43 Chevrolet for Erik Jones. The newly formed team brought together two storied organizations in December 2021. Over the last decade, owner Maury Gallagher built a victorious team, capturing two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championships, one ARCA Menards Series title, and two ARCA Menards Series East championships, as well as 65 wins and 235 top-five finishes across six series. Richard Petty, a member of the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2010, serves as Chairman of Petty GMS. Petty, known as “The King,” accumulated 200 wins and was the first of three drivers to win seven championships in the Cup Series. For more information, visit www.pettygms.com.

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