How to Find Your Dream Car?

By

-

July 25, 2022

motivid-org-7RY9A5Kz55Q-unsplash — Photo by MOTIVID .ORG on Unsplash

The market behind automobiles is gigantic. The worldwide revenue for the automotive industry is somewhere in the region of $2.7 trillion annually. And there are somewhere between 74 – 78 million vehicles sold across the planet every year.

In the states, there are about 17 million car sales per year, with Californians leading the pack with just under 900,000 automobile purchases per annum between them.

Finding a dream car can be difficult though. Many a buyer has rushed their decision only to regret it later as they are stuck with a lemon. Buyer’s remorse is a cruel thing when it is attached to a dream car purchase.

There is much excitement to be had when buying a new automobile. Thoughts will invariably turn to future journeys, perhaps with loved ones and friends, when dreaming about buying a car. It is important then, to know how to locate your dream car, and what pitfalls to avoid.

How can you find that dream car?

The key to finding your dream vehicle is knowing where to look, and what to be aware of. In the past, some car dealers had a certain reputation to be wary of. The automotive trade is, by and large, a very reputable one, but there are still a few bad apples out there.

It is, therefore a good idea to use resource websites for car dealers and look at reviews online. A site such as CarDealerReviews.org is designed to point buyers in the right direction and steer them away from dodgy car sellers.

If you are looking in the domestic marketplace for your car, it’s vital that you trust the source and read reviews. Many online dealers, especially JDM Sport Classics, only deal in the highest quality vintage, premium, or classic cars, so you know you are getting the best deal. But be sure to visit the dealership, and test drive any cars before you commit to a purchase.

What can a car dealer review site help with?

As the title implies, these types of websites can help you to find the best car dealers in your area, but they can do more than just this.

Help to avoid car seller scams

One of the concerns with some traders will be getting scammed. Reading reviews and advice can help to avoid some of the better-known scams such as financing and unnecessary extended warranties.

Help with buying tips

These sites will often have reviews of cars and other vehicles on them, but more importantly, they can give helpful buying tips. These can include help with credit scores for financing, or when the best time to buy a car is.

Other ways to find a dream car

If you are tired of the sales pattern you’ve been receiving in the shiny showrooms, or you are not yet certain of which make or model you are after, you might want to broaden your search.

There are plenty of options for someone searching for a dream automobile, and this includes going online.

There are plenty of options for someone searching for a dream automobile, and this includes going online. Consider Tunkhannock auto mart, where you can find special deals on a full lineup of your favorite Chrysler, Jeep, Dodge, and more.

Search eCommerce auto dealers

This is a growth area in the automotive market. Although eCommerce car dealers are not hugely common, there are plenty of operators out there.

The benefits of searching for a car this way are that you are not limited to a local area, and you needn’t travel miles scouring traditional dealerships.

Don’t ignore second-hand car dealers

While on the subject of dealerships, don’t dismiss the idea of a used vehicle. There is now an increasing demand for used cars and with good reason.

A new car will lose up to 10% of its value the moment you drive off. Over the course of the first year, it will lose up to 20% of its value in total. Used cars don’t depreciate so quickly. Also, your dream car might be a vintage model, and you won’t find that in a new car showroom.

Try car auctions

This can be an excellent way to buy a new car at a low price. The range of cars that go through auto auctions varies. But often dealerships will sell off cars that have been sitting around too long. Repossessed vehicles also turn up at some auctions, and they are a fertile hunting ground for vintage cars.

One downside is that you are unlikely to be able to take a car for a test drive, and if your bid wins, it is legally binding. So, take care, if you spot your dream car, bid with caution.

Scour the listings and eBay

Private listings offer another possibility. Online marketplaces such as eBay offer another type of auction. Although it might seem strange to search for a car on eBay, Oberlo points out that 11% of listings are automotive-related.

There have been more than 4.1 million cars sold on the auction site, and over 14 million unique visitors land in the automotive section each month. Whether this will bring you to your dream car is another matter, but there is no harm in searching.

Checking out your dream car before you purchase

Wherever possible, if you are buying a used car, get some checks made before you hand over your hard-earned money. Cutting corners here can see your dream car turn into an expensive nightmare.

Obtain a vehicle history report from Carfax or AutoCheck. Give the car a thorough examination, and ask for a test drive. If you aren’t mechanically minded or inexperienced in buying cars, ask a friend to come with you or preferably a mechanic.

Summary

Buying a car can be exciting, and if that car happens to be a dream vehicle you have long wanted, doubly so. Finding the right car can take time, but it is worth making the effort here.

Search for websites that review car dealers and offer buying tips. Understand what to look for, then choose the best route for you to go down. Carry out checks where necessary, and hopefully, you will soon be driving the highways in your dream car.

Elliott awarded Cup Series victory at Pocono; Hamlin, Kyle Busch DQ’d following post-race inspection

By

Andrew Kim

-

July 24, 2022

Photo by Kirk Schroll for SpeedwayMedia.com.

In a late turn of events, Chase Elliott was declared the winner of the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 at Pocono Raceway on Sunday, July 24, after NASCAR disqualified the initial results of race winner Denny Hamlin and runner-up finisher Kyle Busch.

The 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion from Dawsonville, Georgia, initially came home in third place behind Joe Gibbs Racing’s Hamlin and Busch. Two hours after Hamlin claimed the checkered flag on the track, however, the news of the disqualification involving Hamlin and Busch following the post-race inspection process was announced. This prompted NASCAR to award Elliott, who currently leads the regular-season standings, his fourth victory of the 2022 Cup season.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Denny Hamlin claimed his third pole position of the season after his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry posted a pole-winning lap at 169.991 mph in 52.944 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate Kyle Busch, whose No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry clocked in a fast qualifying lap at 169.498 mph in 53.098 seconds.

On Saturday, NASCAR assessed L1 penalties to Petty GMS Motorsports’ two entries piloted by Ty Dillon and Erik Jones after both were found to have violated NASCAR’s Rule Book pertaining to the Rocker Box Assemblies. As a result, both entires were docked 35 driver/owner points and their crew chiefs, Jerame Donley and Dave Elenz were suspended for Sunday’s event. With the team electing not to appeal the penalty, Joey Cohen served as Dillon’s interim crew chief while Danny Efland served as Jones’ interim crew chief.

Prior to the event, William Byron, Ross Chastain, Justin Haley, Erik Jones and Cody Ware dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective cars. In addition, the No. 45 23XI Racing entry normally piloted by Kurt Busch dropped to the rear of the field due to a back-up car and for a driver change as Xfinity Series competitor Ty Gibbs took over the ride. Gibbs filled in for Busch, who was not medically cleared to compete following his wreck during qualifying on Saturday.

When the green flag waved and the race started, Hamlin rocketed toward the front with an early advantage exiting the frontstretch, but Kyle Busch gained a huge run through the first turn and grabbed the lead. Then, entering the Long Pond straightaway, Hamlin scrubbed the outside wall as he was overtaken by Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson and Ryan Blaney. As the field fanned out through the Tricky Triangle’s three turns, Busch led the first lap as the field returned to the frontstretch. By then, Hamlin was back in fifth.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Kyle Busch was leading by two-and-a-half seconds over Chase Elliott followed by Larson, Hamlin and Blaney while Chris Buescher, Daniel Suarez, Martin Truex Jr., Bubba Wallace and Alex Bowman were in the top 10.

During the following lap, the first caution flew when rookie Austin Cindric slipped sideways and spun in Turn 3 as he barely tapped the inside wall toward the frontstretch and flat-spotted the tires on his No. 2 Keystone Ford Mustang. During the extensive caution period, Joey Logano, Justin Haley, Bubba Wallace, William Byron, Kevin Harvick, rookie Todd Gilliland, Aric Almirola, rookie Harrison Burton, Michael McDowell, Cole Custer, Josh Bilicki and JJ Yeley pitted while the rest, led by Kyle Busch, remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 12, Kyle Busch launched ahead on the outside lane, but he then went wide entering the first turn and lost both the lead and his momentum. With Busch losing the top spot and a bevy of spots, a three-wide battle for the lead occurred between Larson, Elliott and Hamlin through the Long Pond straightaway before Larson assumed the top spot with a strong move on the outside lane through the Tunnel Curve.

By Lap 15, Larson was leading by more than six-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott followed by Hamlin, Blaney and Suarez while Bubba Wallace, Kyle Busch, Christopher Bell, Chris Buescher and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10. Ross Chastain was in 11th followed by Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman, Martin Truex Jr. and Erik Jones while Corey LaJoie, Michael McDowell, Austin Dillon, William Byron and rookie Harrison Burton were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Kevin Harvick was mired in 23rd behind teammate Chase Briscoe, Aric Almirola was in 25th in front of Logano, Brad Keselowski was in 29th and newcomer Ty Gibbs was in 33rd.

At the Lap 20 mark, Larson continued to lead by nearly four-tenths over teammate Elliott while Hamlin, Blaney and Suarez were in the top five. Behind, Kyle Busch started to challenge Suarez for sixth place while Wallace, Bell, Buescher and Chastain were in the top 10. Shortly after, Austin Dillon pitted under green as part of a strategic move.

By Lap 27, Bubba Wallace, Bell, Buescher, Chastain, Tyler Reddick, Alex Bowman and Stenhouse pitted under green. Just as they all peeled off the track to pit, the caution flew when Aric Almirola got loose and spun his No. 10 Haas Automation Ford Mustang in Turn 3 as he flat-spotted his tires. Almirola’s spin was enough for NASCAR to conclude the first stage scheduled for Lap 30 to conclude under caution and Larson claimed his third stage victory of the 2022 Cup season. Teammate Elliott settled in second followed by Hamlin, Kyle Busch, Suarez, Blaney, Erik Jones, Byron, Martin Truex Jr. and Harvick.

Under the stage break, Burton, Logano, BJ McLeod, Cody Ware, Bell, Chastain, Wallace, Buescher, Gilliland, Stenhouse, Austin Dillon, Reddick and Custer remained on the track while the rest, led by Larson, pitted.

The second stage started on Lap 34 as Burton and Logano occupied the front row. At the start, the field fanned out to multiple lanes approaching the first turn as Bell, who restarted behind Burton, challenged Burton for the lead. When the field returned to the start/finish line, Bell assumed the lead while Wallace overtook Bell for the runner-up spot. By then, Logano was back in sixth as Kyle Busch and Chastain were in the top five.

During the following lap and as the field continued to scramble for positions, the caution returned when Josh Bilicki suffered a flat tire, spun and wrecked in Turn 1.

As the race proceeded under green on Lap 40, the field fanned out to multiple lanes again approaching the first turn as Bell’s No. 20 Rheem Toyota TRD Camry retained the top spot ahead of Harrison Burton’s No. 21 Motorcraft Ford Mustang and Wallace’s No. 23 DoorDash Toyota TRD Camry. Not long after, however, the caution returned when Hamlin, who was running in 18th, got loose and spun his No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry past the Tunnel Curve in Turn 2 as he was dodged by the field. During the caution period, some drivers, including Austin Dillon, pitted, while the rest, led by Bell, remained on the track.

As the race restarted under green on Lap 44 and with the field fanning out, Bell retained the top spot on the outside lane while Wallace and Kyle Busch battled for the runner-up spot. Just as the field made its way through the first turn and entering the Long Pond straightaway, the caution flew when Corey LaJoie got loose underneath Michael McDowell. This caused McDowell to slip and slap the outside wall while LaJoie pounded the wall and came to a rest sideways and with damage to his car. During the caution period, Erik Jones, Stenhouse, Haley, McDowell, Noah Gragson, Cody Ware and McLeod pitted while the rest, led by Bell, remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 48, Kyle Busch’s No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry received a push from Ross Chastain’s No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead ahead of teammate Bell as the field spread out through the Long Pond straightaway and entering the Tunnel Curve.

By Lap 55, Kyle Busch was leading by more than a second over teammate Bell followed by Wallace, Larson and Byron while Truex, Chastain, Reddick, Bowman and Blaney were in the top 10. Burton was back in 11th ahead of Suarez, Buescher, Elliott and Harvick while Logano, Hamlin, Erik Jones, Briscoe and Almirola were in the top 20. By then, Logano pitted under green.

Two laps later, Wallace and Burton pitted under green while Kyle Busch extended his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Bell and more than three seconds over third-place Larson. Bowman would also pit his No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 under green.

Just past the Lap 60 mark, Byron and Harvick also pitted under green along with Bell, Larson, Suarez and Elliott as Kyle Busch remained the leader by more than six seconds over teammate Truex and nearly seven over Chastain.

On Lap 65, Kyle Busch surrendered the lead to pit under green followed by Buescher as Truex assumed the lead. By then, Chastain had also pitted. Another two laps later, Truex surrendered the lead to pit along with Almirola as Blaney cycled to the lead. By then, Reddick had completed his pit stop.

Through Lap 75, Erik Jones, who overtook Blaney for the lead two laps earlier, was leading by six-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Blaney Austin Dillon and Ty Dillon while Stenhouse, Brad Keselowski, McDowell, Kyle Busch and LaJoie were in the top 10.

At the halfway mark on Lap 80, Erik Jones continued to lead by eight-tenths of a second over Hamlin followed by Blaney, Austin Dillon and Stenhouse while Kyle Busch, McDowell, LaJoie, Gilliland and Larson were in the top 10. Shortly after, Blaney, who led seven laps, pitted under green.

Two laps later, the caution flew when Ty Dillon, who had just made a pit stop under green, spun past the Tunnel Curve in Turn 2. During the caution period, Wallace and Blaney remained on the track while the rest of the field, led by Erik Jones, pitted.

With seven laps remaining in the second stage, the event proceeded under green. At the start, Wallace received a push from Kyle Busch on the outside lane to emerge with the lead followed by Busch while Blaney fell back to third in front of Erik Jones, Hamlin, Chastain, Larson, Suarez and Byron. Through the Tunnel Curve, Busch quickly cycled his way back to the lead as Blaney also overtook Wallace for the runner-up spot. Not long after, Chastain, Erik Jones and Hamlin all overtook Wallace for spots in the top five as Kyle Bush ran away from the field.

With three laps remaining in the second stage, Wallace, who was falling below the leaderboard on old tires, pitted under green as Kyle Busch was out in front by nearly a second over Chastain. Meanwhile, Blaney and Erik Jones battled for third in front of Hamlin.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 95, Kyle Busch clinched his second stage victory of the 2022 season. Chastain settled in second followed by Blaney, Erik Jones, Hamlin, Harvick, Byron, Suarez, Elliott and Larson.

Under the stage break, some of the drivers, led by Buescher, pitted while the rest, led by Kyle Busch, remained on the track.

With 60 laps remaining, the final stage started as Kyle Busch and Chastain occupied the front row. At the start, Kyle Busch retained the lead ahead of Chastain while Hamlin made a bold three-wide move on Blaney and Erik Jones through the Long Pond straightaway and entering the Tunnel Curve to move into third place. Shortly after, Byron rocketed his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 into fourth place as Jones and Blaney fell back to fifth and sixth in front of Harvick and Bell.

Ten laps later, Kyle Busch retained the lead by three-tenths of a second over Chastain while Hamlin, Byron, Bell, Harvick, Erik Jones, Suarez, Elliott and Larson were in the top 10. A few laps earlier, Blaney pitted under green after his No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang sustained a flat left-rear tire.

Nearing the final 40 laps, names like Chris Buescher, Reddick, Stenhouse, Harvick and Austin Dillon pitted under green while Kyle Busch held a narrow advantage over Chastain. Soon after, Elliott pitted along with Suarez, Truex, Larson, Byron, Erik Jones and Aric Almirola. Following the pit stops, Byron was penalized for equipment interference.

With 37 laps remaining, Kyle Busch surrendered the lead to Chastain as he pitted under green along with teammate Bell and Bowman. During the following lap, Chastain pitted under green as Hamlin cycled to the lead.

Two laps later, Buescher spun in Turn 3, but the race continued under green as the leader, Hamlin, pitted under green. Once the rest of the field, including Logano and Wallace, pitted, Chastain cycled to the lead ahead of Kyle Busch and Hamlin.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Chastain was leading by nearly a second over rival Hamlin while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by one-and-a-half seconds.

Then seven laps later, the caution flew when Blaney got loose in Turn 3, spun and pounded the inside wall head-on. During the caution period, names like Gilliland, Austin Dillon, Keselowski, Bowman, Chase Briscoe, Byron, Haley, Ty Dillon, Gragson and Stenhouse pitted while the rest led by Chastain remained on the track.

With 19 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Chastain and Hamlin dueled for the lead entering the first turn. Then through the first turn, Hamlin, who was still irritated over his share of run-ins with Chastain throughout the season and vowed payback, moved up the track and edged Chastain into the outside wall, causing him to pound the wall. While Hamlin ran away with the lead, Chastain, who lost his momentum, was then hit by Harvick’s No. 4 Busch Light Apple Ford Mustang and Bell scraped the outside wall as Chastain spun and clipped the inside wall. The wreck spoiled Chastain’s opportunity to win along with Harvick’s opportunity to grab a win and keep his Playoff hopes alive.

When the race proceeded under green with 13 laps remaining, Hamlin retained the lead with a strong start on the outside lane followed by teammate Kyle Busch while Elliott was in third followed by Bell and Reddick. Behind, Suarez was in sixth followed by McDowell, Truex, Larson and Erik Jones.

With 10 laps remaining, Hamlin continued to lead by nearly eight-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch followed by Elliott and Reddick while Suarez and Bell battled fiercely for fifth in front of McDowell, Truex and Larson. By then, Wallace rallied his way into 10th place.

Down to the final five laps of the event, Hamlin remained the leader by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch followed by Elliott, Reddick and Suarez.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hamlin led by nearly nine-tenths of a second over teammate Kyle Busch. Despite enduring a bumpy road to victory from start to finish, Hamlin was able to smoothly navigate his way around the Tricky Triangle’s turns and straightaways for a final time as he beat Busch by nearly a second to grab what would have been his third victory of the 2022 season and a record-achieving seventh victory at Pocono.

“It’s the team,” Hamlin, who shared a victorious moment with his daughter, Taylor, on the frontstretch, said on USA Network. “They just were able to come back with a great strategy there to get us back upfront from the mistake I made. I just wanted to be a local short-track racer in Virginia. That’s all I really cared about. I was able to get a great break from [the late] J.D. Gibbs. That’s why I’m driving the No. 11 for Joe Gibbs Racing. It feels good to win here at Pocono.”

Following the event, however, NASCAR disqualified the first and second-place cars of race winner Hamlin and runner-up, Kyle Busch, due to their cars failing the post-race inspection process. NASCAR later stated that an issue with the front fascia was found on both cars, which prompted the sanctioning body to strip the results of both Joe Gibbs Racing competitors.

With Hamlin and Busch disqualified, Chase Elliott, who initially finished in third place, was awarded the victory. As a result, Elliott notched his fourth victory of the year, becoming the first four-time winner of this season. It was his first at Pocono and his 17th career win in NASCAR’s premier series. This also marks the first time this season that an initial Cup winner was disqualified due to an issue stemming from the post-race inspection process.

“Yeah, unfortunately, we were doing our post-race inspections, which we do,” Brad Moran, NASCAR Cup Series managing director, said following the announcement. “There were some issues discovered that affect aero of the vehicle. The part was the front fascia. There really was no reason why there was some material that was somewhere it shouldn’t have been, and that does basically come down to a DQ. It is a penalty, both for the 11 of Denny Hamlin and the 18 of Kyle Busch have been DQed. Their vehicles are being loaded in the NASCAR hauler and they’re going to go back to the R&D Center [in Concord, North Carolina].”

Joe Gibbs Racing has been given until 12 p.m. ET Monday to file an appeal.

Tyler Reddick was promoted to second place while Suarez, Bell and Larson finished in the top five. McDowell, Truex, Wallace, Erik Jones and Austin Dillon completed the top 10. Notably, Ty Gibbs finished 16th in his Cup debut.

There were 15 lead changes for 10 different leaders. The race featured nine cautions for 37 laps.

With five regular season races remaining this season, Chase Elliott continues to lead the regular season standings by 105 points over Ross Chastain.

Chase Elliott, Ross Chastain, Joey Logano, William Byron, Denny Hamlin, Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Kyle Busch, Alex Bowman, Daniel Suarez, Tyler Reddick, rookie Austin Cindric, Chase Briscoe and Kurt Busch are currently guaranteed spots for the 2022 Cup Series Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the regular-season stretch. Ryan Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. are above the top-16 cutline based on points. Kevin Harvick trails the top-16 cutline by 83 points, Aric Almirola by 140, Erik Jones by 182, Austin Dillon by 206, Michael McDowell by 207, Bubba Wallace by 236, Justin Haley by 247, Chris Buescher by 266, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. by 287 and Cole Custer trails by 301.

Results.

1. Chase Elliott

2. Tyler Reddick

3. Daniel Suarez

4. Christopher Bell, 14 laps led

5. Kyle Larson, 18 laps led, Stage 1 winner

6. Michael McDowell

7. Martin Truex Jr., two laps led

8. Bubba Wallace, four laps led

9. Erik Jones, 11 laps led

10. Austin Dillon

11. Alex Bowman

12. William Byron

13. Aric Almirola

14. Brad Keselowski

15. Chase Briscoe

16. Ty Gibbs

17. Cole Custer

18. Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

19. Corey LaJoie

20. Joey Logano

21. Justin Haley

22. Ty Dillon

23. Harrison Burton, four laps down

24. Noah Gragson

25. Todd Gilliland

26. Cody Ware

27. Kevin Harvick

28. JJ Yeley, one lap down

29. Chris Buescher, two laps down

30. BJ McLeod, two laps down

31. Austin Cindric, six laps down

32. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident 16 laps led, Stage 2 winner (*Awarded after Kyle Busch’s disqualification)

33. Ryan Blaney – OUT, Accident, seven laps led

34. Josh Bilicki – OUT, Accident

35. Denny Hamlin – Disqualified, 21 laps led

36. Kyle Busch – Disqualified, 63 laps led

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ second annual event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course, which will also mark the series’ fourth road course event of this season. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, July 31, at 2:30 p.m. ET on NBC.

O’Ward Leads Chevrolet Top-Three Sweep in Iowa Race 2

By

Official Release

-

July 24, 2022

Team Chevy’s ninth win in 12 NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season

NEWTON, Iowa (July 24, 2022) – Chevrolet swept the podium Sunday in the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 at Iowa Speedway as Pato O’Ward won his second race of the year in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

O’Ward led a 1-2-3 finish for Team Chevy in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet as the Bowtie won for the ninth time in 12 INDYCAR races this season and extended its lead in the series’ Engine Manufacturer Championship.

Team Penske’s Will Power finished second in his No. 12 Verizon Chevrolet, followed by teammate Scott McLaughlin in the No. 3 Freightline Chevy.

Felix Rosenqvist rounded out Chevrolet’s top-10 finishers with a seventh-place result in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP entry.

O’Ward led 80 laps including the last 65 after Josef Newgarden crashed while running first in the No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet. Up to that point, Newgarden had led 148 laps and sought to go back-to-back at Iowa after winning Saturday’s race.

The victory by O’Ward was Chevrolet’s ninth in 12 races at the 0.894-mile short oval, and he is the manufacturer’s sixth different driver to win at the venue. Team Chevy also swept the Iowa podium for the fourth time (2013, 2014, 2016 and 2022). O’Ward set the fastest race lap as Chevrolet remained a perfect 12-for-12 in that category at Iowa.

Team Chevy and the NTT INDYCAR SERIES return next week to the Indianapolis Road Course for the Gallagher Grand Prix at noon ET on Saturday, July 30.

Pato O’Ward, Will Power, Scott McLaughlin Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: We’ll welcome in the first of the podium finishers, Scott McLaughlin coming home third. His fourth podium of the season, fifth of his very young NTT INDYCAR SERIES career.

It was up and down yesterday, up and down a little bit today. Finally found yourself on the podium.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, thanks. Really pumped to back up. Felt like we had a car to challenge for the podium yesterday. We managed to sort of pull it off today.

Midway through the race today, the car was a bit of a handful and I wasn’t too happy. (Indiscernible) got on the radio, calmed me down, as most of those guys on pit road do to us egomaniac drivers. Kind of brought us back to life.

Managed to get my head down, did some really good pit exchanges, managed to get ourselves into P4 there before the last caution. Then P3 on Dixon, which was a fun pass. I really enjoyed that. It was a really good exchange with him all race. Hope he enjoyed it. Probably didn’t enjoy it as much as me, but it was definitely a lot of fun racing with him.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Scott.

Q. This sport is about partnerships. Talk about Freightliner, the job that Hy-Vee has done here.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Absolutely. Anyone has seen my car this year, it’s been licorice all sort. Stuff going on everywhere. But I’ve had some fantastic partners on my car for a long haul. Freightliner this weekend, Gallagher next weekend at the Gallagher Grand Prix. They’re promoting that a massive amount as well.

To have Hy-Vee like this weekend, all year they’ve been with Rahal, Jack Harvey, they’ve got a great driver in Jack. I think this weekend has set the bar in terms of promotion for a race.

I think if you look at this facility in the years gone by, the crowd numbers aren’t nearly as big as what we’ve seen in the last little bit. I’m glad my first race at Iowa Speedway was this one. I couldn’t believe the vibe.

I jumped out had a little bop to Gwen Stefani a little bit before the race. I think it set me up pretty well for the race, to be honest. Blake Shelton after, big names. Hy-Vee want to go bigger and bigger. I think that’s fantastic. To have that money, that investment into our sport, is something we all should be grateful for. It gives us jobs, give us a future.

I’m proud to be in a time in INDYCAR where it’s so successful right now, TV numbers, partnerships, sponsorships. Celebrities coming to the races. It’s really cool, on its way up. Yeah, really pumped with it.

Q. You took to ovals pretty quickly. Now you’ve gone a few different types of ovals. How does this compare?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, this is up there. This is awesome. I wish we could race every weekend, to be honest. It’s just bad ass. You can throw it on the outside, run two lanes. You can take air off the guy behind you, guy will go behind you. It’s wicked, you know.

Texas was fun. It’s a bit more sort of like one-lane groove. Once we built that second lane, it was really good. Kind of like here, a bit faster, but scarier.

Indy is its own kettle of fish. Indy is INDYCAR.

Ovals for me, I’ve said it a number of times, I learned from a blank sheet of paper. Had great people around me, Will, Josef, Simon around me last year. Learned as it went.

Really, really pumped with how we’re going, our development throughout the whole season. We’re right there. Unfortunately we didn’t get those points yesterday, which would have been pretty vital. We would have been right there with the guys at the front. Didn’t happen.

I’m really pumped with our performance on the ovals.

Q. Physical condition, how difficult was this race given that you did 250 yesterday?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, look, yesterday I didn’t run the cool suit. I’m pretty sure Pato didn’t either. A driver preference. I had one of those go dead on me in a Supercar. I swore in my life I’d never wear one again. It was the worst experience of my career. I’d rather be really hot. Just had some strategies in terms of keeping me cool, ice baths or whatever before that race.

It was pretty hot. The biggest problem here is the forced air that we have is not a fan, it’s pure air from when you drive fast. When you slow down it gets really, really hot. The cautions, when you come into pit lane, that’s when it’s the hottest.

Today I felt pretty good. INDYCAR medical, and my safety team were fantastic. They gave me an IV drip last night when I asked for one. Filled me up, juiced me up. Feel good. I got a lot of energy right now. I can’t be unhappy about that.

Q. (Question about Supercars.)

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, look, that’s where my got my first win in Supercars. I won there in front of my home fans, which is amazing. Just had some tremendous sort of championship battles throughout the year.

To be honest, I watched the Supercars for the very first time there. That’s where the fire for me shined in terms — burned. I wanted to be a race driver from the first point I saw Supercar on the hill.

Sad, some of these tracks that are built in residential areas, it’s inevitable it’s going to happen. But especially in New Zealand and Australia.

Unfortunately that’s the way it goes. We got tremendous memories there that we should all be proud of and enjoy for years to come.

THE MODERATOR: Joined also by Pato O’Ward, second win this season, fourth over. All of this in his 50th career start, becoming an old man in front of our eyes. Second win on an oval, fourth podium of the season.

Your general thoughts about getting the win? Obviously great drive yesterday. Exceeded that one better today.

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, thanks. Great weekend for us. We knew we needed to execute this weekend, just to have a shot at the championship. We’ve let a lot of points go from us because of one thing or another.

We executed. The guys were great in the pits. I did my job in the car. I knew we had the pace to win one. The problem was just trying to get up to Josef. One thing is getting up to him, and one thing is passing him. I’m glad he’s okay. We took advantage of the opportunity that presented itself. I just walked away with it. I knew we had the pace to do it. It’s just about being in the right situation.

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Josef is amazing around here. What can you see from inside the team that makes him so good?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, obviously Will did an amazing couple of laps there, very close. In qualifying it’s not too different to what we’ve seen.

Yeah, in the race, Josef is just really smart in lap traffic. You got to be really strong, pick your pass, keep your momentum up, keep your tires up. That’s what I’m still learning. I wasn’t that great in traffic today to be honest. I think I can learn from that, watch some onboard and stuff.

He’s tremendous in lap traffic, picking the right lane. He’s just got that confidence around this place. Confidence is a huge thing on oval racing, especially a place like this.

Yeah, he’s got it nailed. Yeah, been here a few years.

Q. Yesterday you had the lug nut issue which kept you from contending for the victory. Today it looked like Josef was in pretty good stead to go back to back. How much does that show how this sport, anything can happen?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, look, I think you have to push the limit on everything these days in INDYCAR. The competitiveness. My guys yesterday, the stops have been tremendous all year. I think we were again fastest on pit road, or close to fastest on pit road today.

They did a stop. The stop before was a second faster than anyone in pit lane, that last exchange yesterday. They tried to go a little bit faster. You weren’t going to do it. Unfortunately they dropped the car too early, didn’t tighten the wheel.

Today I think there’s a little bit of a freak accident with Josef. You are pushing the limits. You are doing stuff. I think it was mechanical. I don’t think he lost that. But yeah…

THE MODERATOR: Congratulations, Scott, we’ll see you at the Indy road course.

We’ll continue with questions for Pato.

Q. The fact that yesterday you could have won the race if it hadn’t been for Josef…

PATO O’WARD: Are you telling me I wasn’t going to be able to beat him (smiling)?

Q. No. I said you put yourself in position today to beat him. If you could go over how good a race weekend your whole team had.

PATO O’WARD: We had a great weekend. Obviously we were there, we were there to take advantage of an opportunity that got presented to us. I think even with him not finishing the race, I think we still would have given him a hard time. There was still one more pit stop to go.

Yeah, I was positioning ourselves to do what we just did. Super proud of the boys in the pits. The car was fantastic. I knew it was just all about getting into the Penske sandwich because, yeah, Will was not making it any little easy on me. I knew Josef was going to do the same. It was one thing to get up there, but one thing to pass.

It just explains how hard it is, how difficult it can be whenever you’re going through the lap traffic, how you get some people, other people behind you are going to get them in a very different situation. That’s how you can lose or gain time.

You’re never going to perfect it, but trying to lose the least amount of time possible in that situation.

THE MODERATOR: Also joined by Will Power. Sixth podium of the season. 91 podiums in your career.

Your thoughts on a pretty good weekend for you?

WILL POWER: Yeah, great weekend points-wise. Would have loved to have got a win here. Tough competition, man. You can’t let up one bit.

Yeah, the car was really good. I probably could have been more aggressive in that second-to-last stint because it seemed like there’s a lot less deg. Must have cooled or the track took a lot of rubber or something. The track was really fast.

THE MODERATOR: Questions continuing for the top two.

Q. Pato, you’ve got eight podiums in your last 10 oval races. What do you attribute that to?

PATO O’WARD: I think the team has a great package in the ovals. I think that’s definitely our strong suit. We’re getting better in other areas.

But, yeah, just as a team I think we go to every oval believing that we can beat anybody and we’re going to have as good of a package as anybody else.

Yeah, going to other tracks is a little bit of a different story in terms of I think we’ve done a good job strategy-wise in ovals, whether it’s a superspeedway or short oval. We don’t seem to have that in road courses. So I think there’s some work to do there.

Yeah, great job by the team.

Q. Pato, top six in the championship, now separated by 44 points. Five races to go. Second or third place might not be what you need at the upcoming races. Describe how tight things are.

PATO O’WARD: I think the biggest thing is because everybody that’s fighting for the championship is having good weekends. No one is having bad weekends.

For us, we’ve thrown away and we’ve given away an easy hundred points just either whether it was a strategy or if it was I won’t mention the other ones. We’ve just thrown away a lot of points that would have put us in a way better position of where we are right now.

I have no other choice but to try and claw back. We can just be more risky than others. I really don’t care. Four, five and six for me doesn’t really change anything. I don’t care for sixth or fourth. We need to go for one and two because we’ve already got a four and a three.

The only way to do that is to win because you’re not going to get those points by being consistently in the top five. I think if you’re in the lead, it would be a different story, but we’re not.

Q. Pato, you were asked about your oval performances. Can you talk about your preparation? Anything you do, any particular part of your preparation that’s important coming to an oval race?

PATO O’WARD: For me, I think the biggest factor is just confidence and having a car you can attack with. It doesn’t only go for ovals, it goes for street courses. You have to put a lot of trust in the car if you want to extract a lap time.

Here in Iowa, it’s a tire deg race, it’s not a fuel race. It’s important to have a car that can last, but a car that’s good in traffic.

While you’re wanting to get through traffic as quick as you can, you need to kind of hold back just a teensy little bit because you can over-burn quite quick.

I don’t know if it’s one thing or another. I try and prepare physically as much as I can. In terms of video, I’ll watch a few minutes. Every weekend is different. All you can do, if you have a good feeling for it practice one, you just keep working at it.

Q. You have a reputation of being an aggressive driver. At Iowa it’s about saving your tires and patience. Do you think your performance this weekend shows how much of a rounded driver you’ve become or are?

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, I mean, I would hope I’m getting better. I think I am (laughter).

The more laps you do, you gain knowledge. I mean, these guys lap circles around me in terms of knowledge like Will, Scott and Josef. Whenever you’re up to fight with them, they were super quick, specifically the Penskes. The Penskes were extremely, extremely hard to fight with. Everything had to go perfect in order to either get them on a pit stop exchange or get them on the track.

Yeah, I think Iowa is just different because it’s a tire deg race. Other ones play more into the fuel, which I think personally is a lot more boring. That’s why Iowa is so good. It’s just because it really plays into you have to be smart. You have to be smart not just if you’re leading, but the leader also has to be smart because he’ll go through the traffic. I think that’s why the races here are so good.

Q. Pato, on the radio you were frustrated with lap cars in front of you, telling team that no one listens, let me do my own thing. How difficult is it to put that in the back of your mind and focus forward instead of remembering these guys are going to fight hard?

PATO O’WARD: I think what you have to do in that situation is just do what you know what to do. I think when you try and plan it too much, they were basically telling us where it was going to be I guess easier to pass some other guys. It’s just not the case. They just kept changing lanes. You can’t judge it. You just have to do what you — you kind of have to react to it once you’re in the corner already.

Every time I would prep into it thinking they wouldn’t go in that same lane, they did. It just kept moving me backwards rather than helping me. Yeah, I think sometimes too much information is just not going to help.

Q. Talk about your powerplant.

WILL POWER: I think Chevy’s done a great job this year giving us drivability and horsepower. It definitely showed this weekend, all the Chevy cars were really strong.

Yeah, just lucky to be involved with these guys. They’re very, very good at their job.

PATO O’WARD: Yeah, just a little bit to add on that. We’ve obviously dominated this weekend. It’s been an all-Chevy podium both days. Qualifying was also all Chevy. The power was there. The drivability was there. The reliability was there. Just very crucial part of the season to have that. Yeah, great to have them power us.

Q. Will, can you talk about the consistency over the weekend.

WILL POWER: Yeah, very consistent run this year really. I mean, had a lot of podiums a lot of top fours. I know we got good cars here, so it was a matter of just being mistake-free. I felt like we were going to finish in the top five. That’s exactly what happened.

Been trying to win around here for a long time. Been really wanting to win at this place, but keep coming up short. Yeah, really happy with the weekend.

Q. Do you put that down to the engine or the package in general?

WILL POWER: This weekend? The whole package. Car means a lot around this track. Car means more than engine. If you can’t get through the corners, you’re just not going to be fast. Simple as that.

Q. Will, patience was the key. How did you do that?

WILL POWER: Yeah, well, I was very patient at the start of the race. Just kind of driving to a pace to save the tire and kind of backing Josef up a little bit. Then that gave me more time, gave the guys coming around a lap to degrade a tire, you’re saving. Certainly chopped through the field very quickly when we got to those guys, so it worked.

Q. Will, if my math is right, there are 270 points possible going forward. You’ve been in a number of title fights. I think you’re only 22 points behind Ericsson. How are you going to capture this title?

WILL POWER: Yeah, just doing what I’ve been doing. Simple as that. We’ve been executing, not really doing anything special. Get on top of the qualifying thing because we cannot have what we had in Toronto. Definitely got the pace.

Yeah, putting it together for the next – how many left – five. It’s getting down to the wire, man. Better bring your A game or I’m going to take it from you young blokes.

PATO O’WARD: I think I’m still behind him, though. For sure, I was far back, man (smiling).

I’m coming for you.

THE MODERATOR: With that we’ll wrap things up.

WILL POWER: Don’t play with me. I’ve been in this game a long time (laughter).

THE MODERATOR: There we go. Good way to end it.

PATO O’WARD: Thank you.

WILL POWER: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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.

O’Ward Wins Iowa after Late Crash for Dominant Newgarden

By

Official Release

-

July 24, 2022

NEWTON, Iowa (Sunday, July 24, 2022) – Pato O’Ward won the Hy-Vee Salute to Farmers 300 presented by Google on Sunday at Iowa Speedway after dominant leader Josef Newgarden crashed out of the race with 65 laps remaining.

O’Ward drove his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet to a 4.2476-second victory over Will Power in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet. Scott McLaughlin finished third in the No. 3 Freightliner Team Penske Chevrolet, giving the Penske team two of the top three finishers.

“We knew that we had a great car,” O’Ward said. “So, it was all about just capitalizing and being there when it counted. The guys did a great job calling when we had to pit. It was very, very enjoyable.”

Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Scott Dixon finished fourth in the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, while his teammate and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson recorded the best finish of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career by placing fifth in the No. 48 American Legion Honda.

Series points leader Marcus Ericsson finished sixth in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda. He leads second-place Power in the standings by eight points with five races remaining this season.

O’Ward earned his second victory of the season – he also won May 1 on the road course at Barber Motorsports Park – and fourth win of his NTT INDYCAR SERIES career. The victory, coupled with his second-place finish Saturday in the HyVeeDeals.com 250 presented by DoorDash, helped O’Ward climb from sixth to fifth in the series standings. He is 36 points behind leader Ericsson.

“Hopefully we can win a couple more,” O’Ward said. “That would be fantastic. We’ve had a good year, but we’ve dumped two wins in the past couple of months. So, it’s definitely been a frustrating but rewarding few weeks. This is the perfect momentum we need.”

It looked like Team Penske might sweep the top two spots until Newgarden spun into the Turn 4 SAFER Barrier while leading on Lap 235 of 300 in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet. Newgarden, who won Saturday on the .894-mile oval, had led 148 of the first 234 laps and was 2.8384 seconds ahead of O’Ward before the stunning incident.

Newgarden was in cruise control before the crash, maintaining a steady gap to O’Ward. As he entered Turn 4 on the “Fastest Short Track on the Planet,” the left front wheel of his car lifted off the ground after an apparent mechanical problem in the rear of the car, sending Newgarden spinning into the SAFER Barrier. His car suffered heavy rear-end damage, but Newgarden walked away from the incident.

“It was a bit of a shock,” Newgarden said. “Man, I want to cry. So sad for my team. I don’t know what happened. It was a good run. I feel terrible for us. I don’t know; something went wrong there.”

Two-time series champion Newgarden was on track to lead the championship by 10 points when he crashed. Instead, he was credited with 24th place and is third in the standings, 34 points behind Ericsson.

After Newgarden’s unexpected exit from the race, O’Ward took the lead for good. The victory was secured when O’Ward, Power and the rest of the lead-lap drivers entered pit road for their final pit stops on Lap 239. O’Ward won the race off pit road and then deftly navigated lapped traffic over the closing 60 laps.

“The No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP guys in the pits were awesome,” O’Ward said. “That’s what gave us our win. Obviously, I did my job in the car to keep her safe and maintain.

“I knew we had the pace, but it’s just tough whenever you’re going through the traffic. The guys in front of me are handling it a different way than you do, so it’s just different every lap.”

O’Ward put himself into position to grab the unlikely victory by passing NTT P1 Award winner Power as Power turned his out lap after his second-to-last pit stop on Lap 195. O’Ward gained 2.953 seconds on Power during his in lap, stop and out lap for his penultimate stop on Lap 194.

Power led 80 laps, second only to teammate Newgarden’s 148 laps. O’Ward led 66 laps and averaged 140.681 mph in a race slowed by just two caution periods for 25 laps.

O’Ward will split $10,000 with his team and his charity of choice for the victory as part of the PeopleReady Force for Good Challenge.

A busy July continues for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES with the Gallagher Grand Prix on Saturday, July 30 on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course. It’s the fourth race in three weekends. Live coverage starts at noon ET on NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network.

Stewart-Haas Racing: M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 from Pocono

By

Official Release

-

July 24, 2022

STEWART-HAAS RACINGM&M’s Fan Appreciation 400

Date: July 24, 2022

Event: M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 (Round 21 of 36)

Series: NASCAR Cup Series

Location: Pocono (Pa.) Raceway (2.5-mile triangle)

Format: 160 laps, broken into three stages (30 laps/65 laps/65 laps)

Race Winner: Denny Hamlin of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Stage 1 Winner: Kyle Larson of Hendrick Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Stage 2 Winner: Kyle Busch of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

SHR Race Finish:

● Aric Almirola (Started 12th, Finished 15th / Running, completed 160 of 160 laps)

● Chase Briscoe (Started 13th, Finished 17th / Running, completed 160 of 160 laps)

● Cole Custer (Started 32nd, Finished 19th / Running, completed 160 of 160 laps)

● Kevin Harvick (Started 24th, Finished 29th / Running, completed 160 of 160 laps)

SHR Points:

● Kevin Harvick (10th with 565 points, 214 out of first)

● Aric Almirola (13th with 512 points, 267 out of first)

● Chase Briscoe (18th with 485 points, 294 out of first)

● Cole Custer (26th with 351 points, 428 out of first)

SHR Notes:

● Almirola earned his 11th top-15 of the season and his sixth top-15 in 20 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Pocono.

● This was Almirola’s seventh straight finish of 16th or better at Pocono.

● Briscoe earned his 14th top-20 of the season and his first top-20 in three career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Pocono.

● Briscoe’s 17th-place result bettered his previous best finish at Pocono – 21st, earned in the second race of last year’s doubleheader.

● Custer earned his eighth top-20 of the season and his third top-20 in six career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Pocono.

● The M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 marked Harvick’s milestone 775th career NASCAR Cup Series start.

● Harvick finished 10th in Stage 1 to earn one bonus point and sixth in Stage 2 to earn five more bonus points.

Race Notes:

● Denny Hamlin won the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 to score his 49th career NASCAR Cup Series victory, his third of the season and his series-best seventh at Pocono. His margin over second-place Kyle Busch was .927 of a second.

● There were nine caution periods for a total of 37 laps.

● Twenty-nine of the 36 drivers in the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 finished on the lead lap.

● Chase Elliott remains the championship leader after Pocono with a 100-point advantage over second-place Ross Chastain.

Next Up:

The next event on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard on Sunday, July 31 on the road course at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The race begins at 2:30 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by NBC and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

CHEVROLET NCS AT POCONO: Post-Race Notes and Quotes

By

Official Release

-

July 24, 2022

NASCAR CUP SERIES
POCONO RACEWAY
M&M’S FAN APPRECIATION 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE
JULY 24, 2022

TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-10 RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
3rd CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
4th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 SHEETZ CAMARO ZL1
5th DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1
7th KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1

TOP FIVE UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Denny Hamlin (Toyota)
2nd Kyle Busch (Toyota)
3rd Chase Elliott (Chevrolet)
4th Tyler Reddick (Chevrolet)
5th Daniel Suarez (Chevrolet)

The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next Sunday, July 31, at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course with the Verizon 200 at the Brickyard at 2:30 p.m. ET. Live coverage can be found on NBC, the NBCSports Gold App and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 3rd

A LITTLE BIT OF A SLOW START EARLY, BUT SLOWLY WORKED YOUR WAY UP. HOW MUCH OF A BATTLE WAS THAT?

“Yeah, definitely a bit of a battle for our NAPA team today. I’m pretty happy with third after that. I didn’t think we were all that good through the mid-portion of the race and I was struggling in traffic trying to get back up through there. We had some restarts go our way there towards the end and was able to get some spots back, which was nice. It was good to get a top-five, but certainly could be a little better.”

YOU SAID THAT YOU WANT TO FOCUS ON SOME OF THE TRACKS WHERE YOU FEEL LIKE YOU AREN’T YOUR BEST. THIS IS YOUR BEST FINISH HERE AT POCONO, WHAT DID YOU LEARN?

“I don’t know that I learned much of anything today, but just got fortunate there with the way the restarts and stuff went. I think we have room for improvement. We’ll go onto next week, try to build and be a little bit better.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 SHEETZ CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 4th

YOU GUYS WERE GOOD AT THE BEGINNING, MAYBE STRUGGLED A LITTLE THROUGH THE MIDDLE, AND GOOD AGAIN AT THE END. YOU MAXIMIZED YOUR DAY, DID IT FEEL LIKE THAT?

“Yeah, we definitely maximized our day in our No. 8 Sheetz Chevrolet that’s for sure. I think we only struggled a little bit at times in the race just with track position. It may look that way, but honestly our team did a good job and got better the further we went. If the cautions would have played out differently, I think we could have been in position at the end of the race.

All-in-all, we passed a lot of cars today and we did that well on the race track and on pit road. It was a great day for our team.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 5th

“It was a good day for our No. 99 CommScope Chevy team. I thought we had a top-five, top-10 car all day long. At the beginning, I thought we had a winning car. We made the right adjustments and all-in-all, it was a solid day all around for our team.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 7th

“I had one bad restart where I lost a bunch of positions and then you had to works s hard to get each position back.”

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th

YOUR FINISH DOESN’T REALLY TELL THE WHOLE STORY. YOU GUYS USED STRATEGY TO GET TO THE FRONT AND THEN HAD THE SPEED TO LEAD. WHERE DID IT GET AWAY FROM YOU?

“The mid part of the race we were really good and I was really happy with it. Just got tight at the end of the race. It cooled down a lot and we probably didn’t stay ahead of that enough. The FOCUS Factor Chevy was good. Frustrated. We had the speed, kind of all weekend, and then hacked up qualifying a little bit, had to start at the back and found our way back to the front and then just got behind. A good weekend in the fact we did have good speed. It’s been a minute since we’ve had that kind of speed and I was happy with that. It’s frustrating that we came home 11th. You want to come home better than that with a car like that. Just got behind. It was a big day. Dave (Elenz) was enjoying his time off today and Danny (Efland) was enjoying his time on the box today so we had a lot of different stuff going on. I don’t think that was any benefit to our situation, but a good day. We’ve got to keep pushing, got to keep going. We’ve got to win at the point so hopefully we can find ourselves in that spot.”

YOU MENTIONED THIS WAS AN OPPORTUNITY FOR YOU TO WIN. LOOKING AHEAD, WHERE DO YOU THINK IT MIGHT BE POSSIBLE TO GET A WIN?

“I think Michigan is going to be a good one for us. I think similar things that work here will work there car wise. I look at Daytona, obviously, is going to be a shot for us again. Those are probably the two I’ve really got circled coming up. The short track stuff has been a bit of a struggle, road courses as well so those aren’t going to be our friend. So, Michigan and Daytona for sure. I hope we have a shot. Would love to get one in Michigan, that would be pretty cool.”

ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 WORLDWIDE EXPRESS CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 34th

“It was something that has been owed to me for a few months now. I’m proud of the effort by Trackhouse Racing and everybody on this No. 1 Worldwide Express Chevy. It’s week in and week out that we keep bringing fast Chevy Camaro’s. Everybody at Advent Health, Moose Fraternity and Jockey – to keep bringing bullets like that and keep bringing fast cars is a testament to everybody at Chevrolet.”

TEAM CHEVY RACE QUICK NOTES

Stage One:

· Kyle Larson powered his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to the lead on lap 13, pacing the field until the caution flew for Aric Almirola on lap 27.

· The 30-lap Stage One ended under the caution, giving Larson his third stage win of 2022.

· Five Chevrolet drivers made up the Stage One top-10:

1st Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

2nd Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

5th Daniel Suarez, No. 99 CommScope Camaro ZL1

7th Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL1

8th William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1

Stage Two:

· Varying pit cycles in Stage One put Ross Chastain in the fourth position to lead Chevrolet to the start of Stage Two.

· Stage Two saw four cautions and eight lead changes, with Erik Jones leading the bowtie brigade in laps led with 11.

· Chastain took the checkered at the end of Stage Two in the second position, leading Chevrolet to six top-10 finishes in the Stage.

· Team Chevy Stage Two Top-10:

2nd Ross Chastain, No. 1 Worldwide Express Camaro ZL1

4th Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Camaro ZL1

7th William Byron, No. 24 RaptorTough.com Camaro ZL1

8th Daniel Suarez, No. 99 CommScope Camaro ZL1

9th Chase Elliott, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

10th Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

Final Stage / Post-Race Notes:

· Chase Elliott led Chevrolet to three top-five and four top-10 finishes at Pocono Raceway.

· Three drivers from three different Chevrolet teams were represented in the top-five of the final running order.

· With 21 NASCAR Cup Series races in the books, Chevrolet continues to lead in lead the series in wins (11), top-fives (52), top-10s (95), and stage wins (19).

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.

Toyota Racing NCS Post-Race Recap — Pocono 7.24.22

By

Official Release

-

July 24, 2022

HAMLIN’S TOYOTA TAKES CHECKERED FLAG AT TRICKY TRIANGLE
Camry TRD’s of Hamlin and Busch Tally Toyota One-Two Finish

LONG POND, Penn. (July 24, 2022) – Denny Hamlin drove his Toyota Camry TRD to his third win of the 2022 season and 49th of his career in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) race at Pocono Raceway. Hamlin’s Joe Gibbs Racing teammate, Kyle Busch led a significant portion of the race before following Hamlin to the checkered flag with a second-place finish. Toyota drivers Christopher Bell (sixth), Martin Truex Jr. (ninth) and Bubba Wallace (10th) also scored top-10 finishes. Ty Gibbs made his first career NCS start in Sunday’s race and finished in the 18th position subbing for Kurt Busch, who was not medically cleared to compete after a qualifying accident on Saturday.

Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Pocono Raceway
Race 21 of 36 – 400 miles, 160 laps

**UPDATED FINISHING POSITIONS BELOW FOLLOWING THE POST-RACE INSPECTION FAILURES ANNOUNCED FOR NO. 11 and NO. 18 CAMRYS.

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS

1st, Chase Elliott*

2nd, Tyler Reddick*

3rd, Daniel Suarez*

4th, CHRISTOPHER BELL

5th, Kyle Larson*

7th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.

8th, BUBBA WALLACE

16th, TY GIBBS

35th, DENNY HAMLIN

36th, KYLE BUSCH

*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Office Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 1st

With a spin on Saturday, the lap 1 contact today, a spin in stage 2 and the fuel concerns – how did you overcome all of that to get to victory lane for the seventh time at Pocono?

“It’s the team. They were able to come back with a great strategy there to get us back upfront from the mistake I made.”

Was the contact with Ross Chastain straight payback?

“I mean, what did you want me to do? What did you expect me to do? We got position on him, and he just ran out of race track.”

Is it now over between you and Ross Chastain in your book?

“We’re just going to keep racing hard until we get the respect back from these guys. It’s not just that, we’ve been wrecked four times. Twice while leading in the last 10 months and I’m at the end of it.”

This is win 49 and it ties you with your former teammate Tony Stewart. Did you ever believe you’d be at this point?

“No, never. I just wanted to be a local short track racer in Virginia. That’s all I really cared about, but I was able to get a great break from JD Gibbs and that’s why I’m driving the No. 11 for Joe Gibbs Racing. I’ve just got to say thank you so much to Toyota, FedEx, Shady Rays, the Jordan Brand, Coca Cola, Sport Clips – everyone who makes this possible. It feels good to win here at Pocono.”

How have you been able to win seven Cup races at Pocono?

“I’ve been blessed to be with a great race team my entire career and that’s carried me a long way. But today was definitely a team thing. This guy right here, Chris Gabehart (crew chief), just made some great strategy calls to make up the positions that I lost when I spun out. Wow, just a great team effort.”

What happened in the accident with you and Ross Chastain?

“We drove in deep and he (Ross Chastain) drove in deep and I’m not even sure if we made contact, maybe we did. He ended up running out of race track. He knew I was going to race him hard, what else do you want me to do after the wrecks that I’ve had and that’s what we did today.”

Is there a scorecard among drivers in these scenarios?

“You just race people the way you get raced in the end. It was egged on my his car owner on Twitter and said he can’t wait so it just fired me up over those incidents. We’re just going to continue to race hard and I’m going to race him the same way.”

What happened when you spun out in the opening laps?

“The resin didn’t match up with the tire heat that I had in the race car so it just slid across the race track. It certainly caught me by surprise and then it caught Kyle Busch by surprise on the next restart. Have to thank our sponsors, Sport Clips, FedEx, Toyota, TRD, Logitech, Shady Rays, Coca-Cola – I couldn’t do it without those names and they’ve been with me a long time. Relationships is what makes all this happen.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 2nd

What did you need to catch your teammate in the closing laps?

“The second-to-last run there where we had the 1 (Ross Chastain) car there trailing us, he was a little better than us. It’s hard to pass, but having the car trending loose on me, we made an adjustment for that with as many laps as there was going to be to go with that last pit stop, but we just over did it I guess and missed it on that last run unfortunately. I was just way too tight and didn’t have the roll speed that I needed through the corners. The guys did a great job and bust their tails for me every week and do a really great job for me on this M&M’s Camry. Appreciate all of them and their support and what they do. Obviously, wish we had a little bit more today and of course with the M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 race, it would have been nice to honor all the associates that were here in attendance to give them something to celebrate with us in victory lane. Just one spot short in qualifying and one spot short in the race. “

How much did the track change during the race and did you notice the change?

“I noticed that and maybe that was something I missed, but I just felt like as I ran, I lost grip and I think the race track was losing the spray, the additive that was down on the race track. So just losing grip there and trying to keep up with the race track you’re just trying to add grip to your car. That’s hard to do.”

What more did you need to beat Denny Hamlin today?

“We were trending loose there in that run where the 1 (Ross Chastain) car was trailing me and keeping up with me, so I figured that was our hindrance. We snuck it up a little bit and overjumped it too far and was way tight that whole last run. When the 1 and the 11 (Denny Hamlin) were out in front of us I was falling back from those guys. We were lucky to get a couple cautions there, lucky to keep pace like we did there at the end to the 11. We didn’t have a shot there, we were just too tight. Didn’t adjust right or didn’t call something right there, but thanks to all of my guys. Appreciate them and all of the guys at Joe Gibbs Racing for what they do. All of the hard work on the Toyota Camry I get to drive. M&M’s being the Fan Appreciation 400 – this was something special we wanted to go out and honor all of our associates and honor all of them. Came up one spot short in qualifying and one spot short in the race. It’s definitely frustrating. Hate it for all of them too. We’ll go to next week I guess.”

What can you learn from a day like today?

“If we left it alone there was too many laps to go. We would’ve trended loose and probably lost it loose. So, I don’t know. We need to go back to the setup sheets and look and see what was different for the 11 (Denny Hamlin) and their adjustments that allowed them to be that much better at the end. But, man, we’re talking half tenths. It’s all so close. Here at a race track like Pocono, if you’re not a half a second faster than the guy in front of you anyway, you’re going to have a hard time passing him regardless. Even if we would’ve had a tenth or a tenth and a half better than them at the end of the race and ran up to him and caught to him, I don’t know that I would’ve been able to maneuver around him.”

TY GIBBS, No. 45 McDonalds Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing

Finishing Position: 18th

Can you describe this day for you and what it’s meant?

“First of all, I want to say thank you to God for giving me this opportunity. Thank you to Michael Jordan and Denny Hamlin. Everybody at 23XI. The most important thing right now is about Kurt’s health and hopefully he can get back in this seat. He drives way better than me so he deserves this. He’s been awesome. He’s helped me out so much. I want to say thank you to him. We had a fast McDonald’s Camry TRD. I had a great time so Michael (Jordan), if you’re watching I want to say thank you. It’s a big pleasure to wear this on my shoulder and on my shoes. I had a great time and I learned a lot so it was awesome. Thank you to Monster Energy.”

What was the biggest surprise being in the Cup car for the first time?

“Just the dirty air and how bad that affects you. Just being able to make sure I was getting out far enough. I was a little bit tight all day, so just trying to get front turn and trying to get more center turn which would help me. It was a learning day. I felt like I learned a lot. I’m very thankful. It was close to almost a top 15. It was fun racing with Brad (Keselowski). Never thought I’d race with these guys. It was just cool being next to them on the track. So, to 10-year-old Ty that means a lot. I don’t think I would ever expect that.”

#

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.

Ford Performance NASCAR: McDowell’s Top-10 Leads Ford at Pocono

By

Official Release

-

July 24, 2022

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Pocono Post Race | Sunday, July 24, 2022

FORD FINISHING RESULTS

8th – Michael McDowell

15th – Aric Almirola

16th – Brad Keselowski

17th – Chase Briscoe

19th – Cole Custer

22nd – Joey Logano

25th – Harrison Burton

27th – Todd Gilliland

28th – Cody Ware

29th – Kevin Harvick

30th – JJ Yeley

31st – Chris Buescher

32nd – BJ McLeod

33rd – Austin Cindric

35th – Ryan Blaney

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Fr8Auctions.com Ford Mustang (Finished 8th)

“It was a good day. I had a couple good restarts that got us track position, then I had one really bad one where we got hit in the left rear and about spun out and went back to last. That hurt us really bad. My guys called a good race and we tried some different strategies to try to get track position. We stayed out on old tires but I felt like if I got a good restart and got into the top 10 I could hold on. We restarted 16th with no tires and drove up to eighth so I am really proud of that finish. It is still not the day you want. You don’t want to be eighth, you want to win the race, but we are doing a great job and I feel like we are getting close.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Duracell Ford Mustang – Accident Quote (Lap 135)

“I just got loose. It was one of those things. You get loose off three and think you can save it but you can’t. I just couldn’t save it. Gosh, I hate it for everyone on the 12 group. We finally got the car decent and we were running top five there and had a flat tire and had to come in and then I just tried too hard and it stepped away from me. I hate it for Menards and Ford and everybody. That was my mistake. We will go at it again next week.”

THAT LOOKED LIKE A BIG HIT: “Yeah, it wasn’t terrible but I have had softer before. It is just one of those things. It just stepped away from me. That corner is pretty tricky. I probably should have spun out about five other times today off the corner. It finally got me. I hate we tore the car up. Long day, that is for sure.”

Pato O’Ward grabs late victory in the second IndyCar doubleheader feature at Iowa

By

Andrew Kim

-

July 24, 2022

Photo by Chris Owens (Penske Entertainment).

A day after losing to Josef Newgarden, Pato O’Ward benefitted from a late incident involving Newgarden to win the Hy-Vee Salutes to Farmers 300 at Iowa Speedway on Sunday, July 24.

The 23-year-old O’Ward from Monterrey, Mexico, spent the majority of Sunday’s event in the top five and was running in the runner-up spot on Lap 235 when Newgarden, who dominated and was vying for a weekend sweep at Iowa, wrecked in front of him following a mechanical failure. Taking control by leading the final 66 laps, O’Ward made a restart with 51 laps remaining work to his advantage as he rocketed away from Will Power and the field to grab his second NTT IndyCar Series victory of the season and draw himself back into the championship picture.

With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup occurring on Saturday, Will Power, who started on pole position on Saturday, also started on pole for Sunday’s main event after clocking in a pole-winning lap at 178.013 mph in 18.0796 seconds, which marked his 66th career pole in the IndyCar Series. Joining him on the front row was teammate Josef Newgarden, who posted a fast qualifying lap at 177.904 mph in 18.0907 seconds and went on to win Saturday’s event at Iowa.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced, Power launched his No. 12 Verizon 5G Dallara-Chevrolet clear of the field and ahead of teammate Newgarden while Pato O’Ward, who started eighth, rocketed his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet to fourth place behind Takuma Sato. Through the first lap, Power led the first lap as O’Ward challenged and overtook Sato for third place.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Power was leading by half a second over teammate Newgarden’s No. 2 Hitachi Dallara-Chevrolet followed by O’Ward, Sato and Conor Daly while Scott McLaughlin, Jack Harvey, Felix Rosenqvist, Marcus Ericsson and Rinus VeeKay were in the top 10. Romain Grosjean was in 11th followed by teammate Colton Herta, Jimmie Johnson, Alex Palou and David Malukas while Simon Pagenaud, rookie Kyle Kirkwood, Ed Carpenter, Scott Dixon and Callum Ilott were in the top 20.

By Lap 20, Power stabilized his early advantage to six-tenths of a second over teammate Newgarden while O’Ward, Sato and Daly remained in the top five. Behind Rosenqvist challenged and overtook Jack Harvey for seventh while McLaughlin was in sixth.

Ten laps later, Power continued to lead by nearly four-tenths of a second over teammate Newgarden as the leaders started to approach lapped traffic. O’Ward and Sato remained in third and fourth while McLaughlin cracked the top five in fifth ahead of Daly and Rosenqvist. By then, Jack Harvey was back in 14th as he was overtaken by Colton Herta.

Just past the Lap 40 mark, Conor Daly and Simon Pagenaud pitted under green, with Pagenaud making multiple pit stops and spending multiple laps in his pit stall as he was encountering radio issues.

Back on the track on Lap 50, Power continued to lead by nearly six-tenths of a second over teammate Newgarden followed by O’Ward, Sato and McLaughlin while Rosenqvist, Ericsson, VeeKay, Grosjean and David Malukas were in the top 10.

Nearing the Lap 60 mark, names like Alexander Rossi, Alex Palou and rookie Christian Lundgaard pitted along with Devlin DeFrancesco, Dalton Kellett, Colton Herta and Jimmie Johnson. Helio Castroneves, Scott Dixon, Ed Carpenter and Ilott would also pit along with Grosjean, Ericsson, Rosenqvist and O’Ward.

By Lap 65, Power surrendered the lead to pit along with his Penske teammates Newgarden and McLaughlin. VeeKay also pitted as Sato cycled to the lead followed by Malukas and Kirkwood. Once Sato pitted approaching the Lap 70 mark, Power cycled back to the lead followed by teammate Newgarden while O’Ward was in third.

Through Lap 85, teammates Power and Newgarden dueled for the lead as they were also trying to make their way around the lapped car of Grosjean. Shortly after, Newgarden assumed the top spot as Grosjean and Herta were both lapped.

At the Lap 100 mark, Newgarden was leading by more than a second over teammate Power while O’Ward trailed in third place by more than four seconds. Meanwhile, Ericsson was in fourth while Jimmie Johnson, who led 19 laps and finished 11th at Iowa on Saturday, was in fifth. Scored in the top 10 were McLaughlin, Dixon, Rosenqvist, VeeKay and Herta while Ilott, David Malukas, Grosjean, Sato and Christian Lundgaard were in the top 15. Meanwhile, Palou was in 16th ahead of Conor Daly, Rossi, Kirkwood and Ed Carpenter while Graham Rahal and Helio Castroneves were in 23rd and 25th.

Twenty laps later, Newgarden extended his advantage to more than two seconds over teammate Power while O’Ward, Ericsson and Jimmie Johnson were in the top five. By then, the top-five competitors were the only ones on the lead lap, though Newgarden went to work to lap Johnson.

A lap later, the first caution flew when Kyle Kirkwood, who was overtaken by the leader Newgarden, wrecked his No. 14 AJ Foyt Enterprises Dallara-Chevrolet into the Turn 2 outside wall. During the caution period, the leaders led by Newgarden pitted and Newgarden retained the lead followed by teammate Power, O’Ward and Ericsson. Following the pit stops, Rinus VeeKay was given a “stop-and-go” penalty for speeding on pit road.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 132, Newgarden retained the top spot ahead of teammate Power while O’Ward and Ericsson briefly battled for third. During the following lap, however, O’Ward, who pulled away from Ericsson, engaged in a battle with Power for the runner-up spot.

By Lap 140, Newgarden was leading by six-tenths of a second over teammate Power while O’Ward settled in third ahead of Ericsson and McLaughlin. By then, Scott Dixon was in sixth ahead of teammate Jimmie Johnson.

At the halfway mark on Lap 150, Newgarden continued to lead by half a second over teammate Power followed by O’Ward, Ericsson and McLaughlin while Dixon, Johnson, Rosenqvist, Grosjean and Herta were in the top 10. Meanwhile, Alex Palou was in 11th ahead of Takuma Sato, Callum Ilott, Daly, Malukas and Ed Carpenter.

Twenty-five laps later, Newgaraden stabilized his advantage to more than eight-tenths of a second over teammate Power while O’Ward and Ericsson settled in third and fourth. By then, Dixon cracked the top five followed by Rosenqvist and Johnson while McLaughlin was back in eighth ahead of Grosjean and Sato.

Another 15 laps later, the battle for the lead between Team Penske’s Newgarden and Power started to slowly brew as Power was a second behind Newgarden, who was trying to navigate and lap David Malukas.

Nearing the Lap 195 mark, the front-runners started to pit under green. By the time the final 100-lap mark of the event occurred, Newgarden cycled his way back to the lead while O’Ward emerged as the new runner-up competitor ahead of Power.

Ten laps later, Newgarden was scored out in front by more than a second over O’Ward followed by Power, McLaughlin and Dixon while Ericsson, Johnson, Ilott, Rosenqvist and Grosjean were in the top 10.

Down to the final 75 laps of the event, Newgarden continued to lead by nearly three seconds over O’Ward while Power, McLaughlin and Dixon remained in the top five.

Then with 65 laps remaining, the caution flew when Newgarden, who led a race-high 184 laps, slipped sideways and backed his No. 2 Hitachi Dallara-Chevrolet hard into the outside wall in Turn 3 following a suspension failure as his hopes of sweeping the weekend at Iowa evaporated.

“Man, I wanna cry,” Newgarden said in the infield care center on NBC. “So sad for my team. I don’t know what happened. It was a good run. I feel terrible for us. The guys did a great job. I don’t know. Something went wrong there. Everything felt fine to me up until that point. I did have a vibration at the start of the stint, which is not abnormal. Totally unexpected. It caught me by surprised. This is racing. We’ll fight back. We got a great team here. We pick right back up. We don’t stop fighting.”

With Newgarden out of the event, O’Ward emerged as the new leader followed by Power, McLaughlin, Dixon and Ericsson.

During the caution, the leaders led by O’Ward pitted as O’Ward retained the top spot followed by Power, Dixon, McLaughlin, Ericsson and Johnson.

When the race proceeded under green wit 51 laps remaining, O’Ward took off with the lead by nearly eight-tenths of a second over Power while McLaughlin, Dixon, Johnson and Ericsson duked for spots in the top five.

Eleven laps later, O’Ward extended his advantage to more than a second over Power followed by McLaughlin, Dixon and Johnson while Ericsson, Grosjean, Herta, Malukas and Sato were in the top 10.

Down to the final 20 laps of the event, O’Ward was leading by nearly three seconds over Power followed by McLaughlin, Dixon and Ericsson while Johnson, Grosjean, Sato, Malukas and Felix Rosenqvist were in the top 10.

With 10 laps remaining, O’Ward continued to lead by more than five seconds over Power while McLaughlin, Dixon and Ericsson remained in the top five.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, O’Ward remained as the leader by more than four seconds over Power. Despite encountering lapped traffic, O’Ward, who had no late challenges from Power mounting behind him, was able to cruise his way back to the frontstretch and claim his second checkered flag of the 2022 IndyCar season.

With the victory, O’Ward claimed his fourth NTT IndyCar Series career victory, his second of the season and his first since winning at Barber Motorsports Park in May. The victory was the ninth of the season for Chevrolet and the second for Arrow McLaren SP.

“The No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP guys in the pits were awesome,” O’Ward said on NBC. “I think that’s what gave us our win. Obviously, I did the job in the car to keep her safe and just to maintain there. I knew we had the pace, but it’s just tough whenever you’re going through the traffic. The guys in front of you have it in a different way than you do, so it’s just different every lap. Super stoked. Super happy. We knew that we had a great car, so I think it was all about just capitalizing and being there when it counted. The guys did a great job calling when we had to pit and it was very, very enjoyable. It’s been a great weekend.”

“Hopefully, we can win a couple more [races],” O’Ward added. “That’d be fantastic. I think we’ve had a good year, but we’ve dumped two wins in the past couple months, so it’s definitely been a frustrating, but yet rewarding few weeks. This is the perfect momentum we need going into the month of September, August and close out the month of July at [Indianapolis Motor Speedway] road course next week.”

Power, who swept both poles of the weekend and finished third on Saturday, came home in the runner-up spot while McLaughlin, who ended up 22nd on Saturday, rounded out the podium in third place.

“A good day,” Power said. “You would love to get the win. [I] Led some laps and I think we were really fast. Just really cool to get the Verizon Chevy on the podium again and close out the points lead. Gotta get one of these wins soon. We’re there. We get qualifying sorted. Just enjoying it. Loving the racing. Love this track.”

“That last restart, I really had to sort of get it going and through it to the outside of Dixon,” McLaughlin said. “He’s a pretty hard guy to throw it around the outside of and had a lot of fun, a lot of respect for him. Good times. The Freightliner Chevy was fast. It looked awesome all weekend. Very proud of the guys to bounce back.”

Dixon finished fourth while Jimmie Johnson earned his maiden top-five result in the IndyCar circuit by finishing fifth.

“This is really a special day for me,” Johnson said. “For everybody that’s been on this journey with me in the IndyCar Series. So proud to have the American Legion on the car today in the race and to get my career-best finish with them. I really have to thank everybody at Carvana and taking this step with me. It took me getting on the ovals to get my best finishes and I was so happy to be able to do it here today. Tons of great support from Chip Ganassi Racing, all the teammates I have. Today was just a fun racy day out there.”

Ericsson, Rosenqvist, David Malukas, Grosjean and Sato completed the top 10 on the track.

There were seven lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured two cautions for 26 laps.

With his sixth-place result, Marcus Ericsson continues to lead the standings by eight points over Will Power, 34 over both Josef Newgarden and Scott Dixon, 36 over Pato O’Ward, 44 over Alex Palou and 86 over Scott McLaughlin.

Results.

1. Pato O’Ward, 66 laps led

2. Will Power, 80 laps led

3. Scott McLaughlin

4. Scott Dixon

5. Jimmie Johnson

6. Marcus Ericsson

7. Felix Rosenqvist

8. David Malukas

9. Romain Grosjean

10. Takuma Sato

11. Callum Ilott

12. Colton Herta, one lap down

13. Alex Palou, one lap down

14. Graham Rahal, one lap down

15. Devlin DeFrancesco, two laps down

16. Conor Daly, two laps down

17. Ed Carpenter, three laps down

18. Alexander Rossi, four laps down

19. Rinus VeeKay, four laps down

20. Jack Harvey, four laps down

21. Helio Castroneves, five laps down

22. Dalton Kellett, six laps down

23. Simon Pagenaud, 19 laps down

24. Josef Newgarden – OUT, Contact, 148 laps led

25. Kyle Kirkwood – OUT, Contact

26. Christian Lundgaard – OUT, Mechanical

Next on the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is the series’ return to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course for the Gallagher Grand Prix and as part of an IndyCar-NASCAR doubleheader feature, which will occur on Sunday, July 30, at noon ET on NBC.

Marco Andretti Wins 2022 SRX Championship and Chase Elliott Wins Season Finale at Sharon Speedway

By

Official Release

-

July 24, 2022

SRX: Sharon Speedway Post-Race Notes

Race Recap: With the SRX season finale Saturday night at Sharon Speedway and a championship on the line, Marco Andretti was able to battle back from an early race incident to secure the 2022 SRX Series Championship and Chase Elliott held off a late-charging Tony Stewart for the race win. Matt Kenseth finished third followed by Ryan Hunter-Reay and Bobby Labonte to round out the top five.

Elliott is now two for two in SRX competition adding the win at Sharon Speedway to his 2021 win at the Nashville Fairgrounds.

Ryan Newman finished second in the point standings, two points behind Andretti and Labonte retook third followed by Stewart in fourth. The top four in points were separated by only seven points at the conclusion to the 2022 season.

Post-Race Quotes:

Marco Andretti (Champion): “The cool thing about this is you get damage, you can still play and stay on the lead lap. I broke my wrist in that last incident, got my thumb caught in the wheel, so painful last couple of laps, but I just wanted to cover and finish right where I needed to finish, and we were able to do that. This thing was pretty robust tonight.”

Chase Elliott (Race Winner): “To sit there and race on dirt with one of my heroes in Tony Stewart and throw a couple of sliders with him, obviously this is a little different than the open wheel stuff, but knowing how good he is at this stuff and being able to dice it up and race with him. I actually thought he was better than me the run before and then I was able to watch him on the top and finally get a couple of things going there. Congrats to Marco (Andretti). Great crowd. Thanks everybody for coming out tonight. And thanks to the Blaney’s for having me up here.”

Tony Stewart (Finished 2nd in the Main Event): “I wasn’t very good in the heat races and I tried everything I’ve learned my entire life on dirt and pavement and a combination of both and couldn’t get going and couldn’t get enough points to get a good starting spot. Started ninth and worked out way up to fifth and then they had a little calamity on one of the restarts that got us to third and then we were in position to race for this thing and the win. Gave Chase (Elliott) a slide job in one and two and got the lead and got going, but the longer I ran the more my forward drive gave up and Chase was really good. He did a really good job at managing tires and making sure he didn’t make his rear tires mad, he did a better job than I did. I had to use mine up to get to the front and he just did a really good job of managing tires all night. Exciting race in general, extremely exciting race for the point championship having four of us in the running, well five of us mathematically, but literally four of us with a really good shot to win it. To have a champion sitting there with a brace on his wrist because he’s broke his wrist shows how hard and how much these guys want to win races and win championships with SRX. Just eternally grateful to Camping World and Marcus Lemonis and all of his staff. Good Sam was on my car all year. Just grateful we had great partners, we had TMS, VP Fuels, had a ton of great partners that came on board. An extremely talented group of guys to race with which made this year fun. It’s cool to see Ryan Blaney get to race with his dad tonight, got to do that with Chase and Bill Elliott last year. It was really fun at the end of this race tonight to run with Chase like that. Chase has been running midgets and ran a Sprint Car race on dirt, which makes my heart happy because that’s where my heart is, is dirt track racing, so to see him get a chance to come back and do that and see that he wants to learn that and get good at that is something that makes me proud. Super excited about the season. I think probably the biggest thing is I am so proud of our staff. We were very understaffed this year compared to last year and they did every bit of the same amount of the work if not more than last year with damage we had and gave us great race cars to drive each week. It’s probably, to those guys and girls who were here for six weeks working, it’s probably the longest six weeks of their life every year, but it makes all of us drivers extremely happy to know that when we come to the track we have great race cars to drive, so very grateful for that.”

Matt Kenseth (Finished 3rd in the Main Event): “This race was really fun. I really liked the race track. Last week I really struggled a lot, different style of dirt track and plus we got wrecked out. Here we got wrecked out in the heat and the guys did a good job fixing it. It was fun, just had to be real patient. I just kind of stayed on the bottom and looked for as much moisture as I could there. I never really ventured up top and tried to figure that out very good. The track was so slick that it seemed to work for me.”

On Racing SRX this Season:

“It was fun. It was a good experience. I learned a lot. I think all three weeks, I got wrecked out two of the three, and thankfully they were able to fix it for this one and we finished last week but with half car, so I would like a little less hitting and little less wrecking. Other than that, it was really fun. I had a great time at Nashville, Pevely was a great track and I had a good time here and it ended up ok.”

Ryan Newman (Finished 2nd in the Championship Point Standings): “Thanks for SRX and Camping World and everybody involved. It’s been an honor to be a part of this. Obviously, the outcome is not what we wanted, but to be second in the championship with some of the greatest drivers in the world is still pretty special. It wasn’t the end result that we wanted, but we did get an amazing result in Stafford and to have my daughters there in victory lane was so special for me and something that I will always remember. Happy to be a part of it and excited to hopefully get a chance to do it again.”

Bobby Labonte (Finished 3rd in the Championship Point Standings): “The race tonight, I thought we had a good start. We started sixth in the first heat and finished fourth. And then started at the back and finished third, so a good average and started third in the feature and was just steady, steady as it goes. Really the only thing I screwed up was on a restart I spun the right rear tire and lost two spots and then was done after that. I couldn’t get back around anybody.”

On Racing SRX this Season:

“As for the season, highlight was Nashville starting up front, leading and winning there was awesome, but we had a good run at South Boston, a decent run at Stafford, a good run at Pensacola and then we go to Pevely and didn’t have a good finish and then had a decent finish here and finished third in the points. Can’t thank everybody enough. It was always a lot of fun. My wife and I have been road tripping on this whole thing, and we’ve had a lot of fun along the way. We call it our summer fun and we enjoyed it. Can’t thank everybody enough for doing it and it’s hard to race against these guys because they are so good, but we were able to have a good one.”

Main Event Results at Sharon Speedway:

Finishing Position	Driver	Car Number
1	Chase Elliott	9
2	Tony Stewart	14
3	Matt Kenseth	5
4	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1
5	Bobby Labonte	18
6	Greg Biffle	69
7	Ryan Blaney	12
8	Ryan Newman	39
9	Marco Andretti	98
10	Paul Tracy	3
11	Tony Kanaan	6
12	Dave Blaney	10
13	Michael Waltrip	15

Heat 2 Results at Sharon Speedway:

Finishing Position	Driver	Car Number
1	Chase Elliott	9
2	Tony Kanaan	6
3	Bobby Labonte	18
4	Ryan Newman	39
5	Dave Blaney	10
6	Marco Andretti	98
7	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1
8	Paul Tracy	3
9	Tony Stewart	14
10	Michael Waltrip	15
11	Greg Biffle	69
–	Matt Kenseth	5
–	Ryan Blaney	12

Heat 1 Results at Sharon Speedway:

Finishing Position	Driver	Car Number
1	Ryan Newman	39
2	Michael Waltrip	15
3	Marco Andretti	98
4	Bobby Labonte	18
5	Tony Kanaan	6
6	Ryan Hunter-Reay	1
7	Chase Elliott	9
8	Tony Stewart	14
9	Greg Biffle	69
10	Dave Blaney	10
11	Paul Tracy	3
12	Matt Kenseth	5
13	Ryan Blaney	12

About SRX Racing:

Announced in July 2020, the Superstar Racing Experience (SRX) Series was founded by NASCAR Hall of Fame Driver Tony Stewart, NASCAR Hall of Fame Crew Chief Ray Evernham, George Pyne and Sandy Montag. The series made its debut on June 12, 2021, airing on CBS Primetime. Tony Stewart won the inaugural series championship. The series has seen a plethora of racing talent behind the wheel including Stewart, Bobby Labonte, Helio Castroneves, Ernie Francis Jr., Bill Elliott, Chase Elliott, Marco Andretti, Tony Kanaan, Hailie Deegan, Greg Biffle, Doug Colby, and more. The second season kicked off on June 18, 2022.

SpeedwayMedia.comOnline Resource for Motorsports Information

SpeedwayMedia.comOnline Resource for Motorsports Information

How to Find Your Dream Car?

How can you find that dream car?

What can a car dealer review site help with?

Help to avoid car seller scams

Help with buying tips

Other ways to find a dream car

Search eCommerce auto dealers

Don’t ignore second-hand car dealers

Try car auctions

Scour the listings and eBay

Checking out your dream car before you purchase

Summary

Elliott awarded Cup Series victory at Pocono; Hamlin, Kyle Busch DQ’d following post-race inspection

O’Ward Leads Chevrolet Top-Three Sweep in Iowa Race 2

O’Ward Wins Iowa after Late Crash for Dominant Newgarden

Stewart-Haas Racing: M&M’s Fan Appreciation 400 from Pocono

CHEVROLET NCS AT POCONO: Post-Race Notes and Quotes

Toyota Racing NCS Post-Race Recap — Pocono 7.24.22

#

Ford Performance NASCAR: McDowell’s Top-10 Leads Ford at Pocono

Pato O’Ward grabs late victory in the second IndyCar doubleheader feature at Iowa

Marco Andretti Wins 2022 SRX Championship and Chase Elliott Wins Season Finale at Sharon Speedway

SpeedwayMedia.comOnline Resource for Motorsports Information

Site Map

Archives

Popular Category