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Zane Smith cruises to dominant Truck victory at Kansas

By
Andrew Kim
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Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

A late-race caution with 13 laps remaining and an eight-lap dash to the finish could not stall Zane Smith’s dominant run in the Sunflower state as he went on to claim his third NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victory of the season in the Heart of America 200 at Kansas Speedway on Saturday, May 14.

The 22-year-old Smith from Huntington Beach, California, led four times for a race-high 108 of 147 laps as he rocketed away from Ty Majeski, John Hunter Nemechek and the field during an eight-lap shootout to the finish to become the first three-time winner of this year’s Truck season.

With on-track qualifying occurring on Saturday, John Hunter Nemechek notched his third pole position of the season after posting a pole-winning lap at 176.644 mph in 30.570 seconds. Joining him on the front row was teammate and rookie Corey Heim, who qualified at 175.965 mph in 30.688 seconds.

Prior to the event, Tate Fogleman and Matt DiBenedetto dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to their respective trucks. In addition, Stewart Friesen started at the rear of the field after he was unable to participate during Saturday’s practice and qualifying sessions amid a delayed flight from New York. As a result, NASCAR Cup Series competitor Bubba Wallace practiced and qualified Friesen’s truck in fifth place while Friesen arrived in time for the event.

When the green flag waved and the race started, teammates Nemechek and Heim battled dead even entering the first three turns until Nemechek gained a huge run on the outside lane to pull ahead and lead the first lap ahead of Heim, Zane Smith, Ty Majeski and the field.

Two laps later, Nemechek and Smith engaged in a tight battle for the lead while Majeski battled and overtook Heim for third place. By the fourth lap, Smith moved his No. 38 Speedco Ford F-150 into the lead.

Through the first 10 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading by more than a second over Heim. Meanwhile, Nemechek was back in third place while Majeski and Chandler Smith were in the top five. Behind, Derek Kraus was in sixth followed by Ben Rhodes, Tanner Gray, Matt Crafton and Colby Howard while Carson Hocevar, Chase Purdy, Riley Herbst, Tyler Ankrum and Christian Eckes were in the top 15. Hailie Deegan was in 16th ahead of rookie Jack Wood, Stewart Friesen, rookie Dean Thompsons and Grant Enfinger.

Shortly after, Blaine Perkins spun across the backstretch after making contact with Tate Fogleman, but he was able to nurse his truck back to pit road without sustaining any damage and the event remained under green.

By Lap 20, Zane Smith was being challenged by Heim for the lead. While Heim gained a huge run in Turn 3 to take the lead, Smith pulled a crossover move to issue another challenge for the top spot. Heim, however, gained another strong run through Turns 2 and 3 to assume the lead for good on Lap 22 amid lapped traffic.

At the Lap 25 mark, Heim extended his advantage to more than a second over Zane Smith while Majeski, Chandler Smith and Nemechek occupied the top five. 

When the first stage concluded on Lap 30, Heim streaked his No. 51 JBL Toyota Tundra TRD Pro across the start/finish line and claim his first career stage victory. Behind, Majeski overtook Zane Smith for the runner-up spot while Chandler Smith, Nemechek, Kraus, Rhodes, Crafton, Tanner Gray and Hocevar were scored in the top 10. By then, Friesen was up in 15th place while DiBenedetto was mired in 21st.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Heim retained the lead ahead of teammate Nemechek, Zane Smith, Tanner Gray, Rhodes and Ankrum. 

The second stage started on Lap 36 as Heim and Zane Smith occupied the front row. At the start and with the front-runners locked in a tight battle through double lanes, Heim and Zane Smith dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Heim received a strong push from teammate Nemechek’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro to clear the field and assume the lead. 

During the following lap, however, Zane Smith reassumed the lead and slowly pulled away as the field behind jostled for positions. 

By Lap 40, Zane Smith was leading by eight-tenths of a second over Nemechek while Heim, Rhodes and Gray were in the top five. Behind, Friesen worked his way up to seventh behind Majeski while Hocevar, Colby Howard and Ankrum were in the top 10.

Ten laps later, Zane Smith continued to lead by less than two seconds over Heim while Nemechek, Rhodes and Majeski remained in the top five.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 60, Zane Smith, who was leading by more than two seconds, claimed his fourth stage victory of the season. Heim settled in second followed by Nemechek, Majeski, Rhodes, Hocevar, Gray, Kraus, Howard and Friesen.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Rhodes assumed the lead ahead of Zane Smith, Heim and the field.

With the race reaching its halfway mark on Lap 67, the final stage started. At the start, Zane Smith muscled his way back to the lead ahead of Rhodes, Nemechek and the field with the competitors jostling for positions and fanning out to multiple lanes.

With 55 laps remaining, Zane Smith stabilized his advantage to more than three seconds over Heim while Rhodes, Nemechek and Majeski were in the top five. Meanwhile, Eckes was in sixth followed by Hocevar, Kraus, Purdy and Ankrum while Friesen was in 11th ahead of Chandler Smith, Colby Howard, Matt DiBenedetto and Hailie Deegan. Crafton was in 16th ahead of Grant Enfinger, Tanner Gray, Riley Herbst and Dean Thompson.

Eleven laps later, the caution flew for an incident involving Kris Wright in Turn 2. At the moment of caution, Zane Smith was leading by more than three seconds over Heim.

Under caution, the leaders returned to pit road for service and Heim reassumed the lead followed by Zane Smith, Rhodes, Nemechek, Majeski and Eckes.

With 39 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Zane Smith and Heim made contact with the former assuming the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch while Nemechek and Eckes moved up to second and third. Meanwhile, Heim slipped back to fourth in front of Friesen and Rhodes.

Down to the final 30 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading by more than two seconds over Nemechek while Eckes, Majeski and Chandler Smith, who rallied from losing a lap to the leaders, were in the top five. Friesen was in sixth ahead of Heim, Rhodes, Kraus and Howard.

Shortly after, Heim’s strong run was spoiled after he made contact with the outside wall in Turn 1 and made a trip to pit road, thus losing a lap to the leaders.

With 20 laps remaining, Zane Smith continued to extend his advantage to more than four seconds over Nemechek while Majeski, Chandler Smith and Eckes were in the top five. 

Just then, the caution flew with 13 laps remaining when Dean Thompson spun in Turn 2. The incident all but evaporated Zane Smith’s advantage of more than six seconds over Nemechek and the field.

Under caution, some like DiBenedetto, Lawless Alan, Ankrum and Colby Howard pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track.

Down to the final eight laps of the event, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Zane Smith rocketed with the lead while Nemechek, who struggled at the start on the outside lane, slipped out of the top five as Majeski moved into the runner-up spot. 

When the field returned to the start/finish line, Zane Smith was leading ahead of Majeski, Enfinger, Eckes and Chandler Smith while Nemechek was mired back in sixth place.

With less than five laps remaining, Zane Smith stabilized his advantage to nearly seven-tenths of a second over runner-up Majeski and more than two seconds over third-place Enfinger.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Zane Smith continued to lead by more than a second over Majeski. Having no competition coming close to his fast truck, Smith cycled his way back to the finish line as he capped off a dominant run with another victory of the season.

With his third victory of the season, all occurring in his first campaign with Front Row Motorsports, Smith also claimed his first win at Kansas and his sixth career victory in the Truck circuit.

“Just an unbelievable truck,” Smith said on FS1. “We, honestly, struggled there in the first stage. I feel like I made the mistake last week with adjusting too much in the heat of the day and wasn’t right in the night [conditions]. We just executed greatly with this truck. This was our Vegas truck. I feel like this would’ve been an image of Vegas what we’ve seen tonight if I didn’t get damage early in the race there. What a track record with Speedco and Love’s [Travel Stops]. Just so cool. That was one of my easier ones I’ve ever had to win, but that late-race restart scared me a little, but good thing I didn’t have another one there because I am stuck in fourth [gear].”

Finishing in a career-best runner-up spot was Ty Majeski, who also achieved his third top-five result of the season as he is currently campaigning in his first full-time season in the series with ThorSport Racing. Majeski’s second-place run occurred in his 28th series start.

“We were really close,” Majeski said. “We kept easing on the adjustments all night. Getting the balance better every run. Track was freeing up and we were just a little bit too free. We kept making small changes. The sun went down, I think we under-adjusted a little bit for that last stop. Just couldn’t attack it. Just a little bit too free. Overall, a really, really fast American Racing Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. We’ve been really hitting it off this year. It’s been a ton of fun. Being in the shop every day with these guys and working with them. We have a great relationship and there’s a lot of great things coming. We’re right there.”

The third-place result was the second in a row in recent weeks for Enfinger, who is currently competing on a full-time basis with GMS Racing.

“[Crew chief] Charles [Denike], tonight, made some really good calls ‘cause we were terrible when we unloaded, terrible in qualifying,” Enfinger said. “I could drive it at the beginning of the race, but we were slow. [Denike] did a great job adjusting on it all night. I feel like he hit on something. The last two adjustments made a big difference.”

Chandler Smith came home in fourth place and Eckes completed the top five while Nemechek, who led the first three laps and who was coming off a win last weekend at Darlington Raceway, fell back to sixth place.

“[I] Spun the tires, didn’t get a good push from behind,” Nemechek said. “It’s on me. I spun the tires and that was pretty much it. That’s all she wrote. [I] Had a decently fast Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro tonight. We missed it. [Zane Smith] was definitely the dominant truck and he should’ve won the race. I feel like we should’ve finished second or third, but got to work on restarts, come back and we know what we need to do here coming back for the Playoff race. Proud of the guys. Proud of the effort. Still on a top-six streak here. Just got to continue on.”

Matt DiBenedetto, Kraus, Crafton and Rhodes finished in the top 10.

There were nine lead changes for five different leaders. The race featured four cautions for nine laps.

With the first half of the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular-season stretch complete, Ben Rhodes leads the regular-season standings by 20 points over John Hunter Nemechek and 21 over Zane Smith. Currently, Zane Smith, Rhodes, Nemechek and Chandler Smith are tentatively locked into the 2022 Truck Playoffs based on winning at least once throughout the season while Ty Majeski, Stewart Friesen, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes, Grant Enfinger and Matt Crafton are above the top-10 cutline based on points. Tanner Gray trails the top-10 cutline by 20 points, Derek Kraus trails by 37, Tyler Ankrum trails by 45, and Matt DiBenedetto trails by 66.

Results.

1. Zane Smith, 108 laps led, Stage 2 winner

2. Ty Majeski, one lap led

3. Grant Enfinger

4. Chandler Smith

5. Christian Eckes

6. John Hunter Nemechek, three laps led

7. Matt DiBenedetto

8. Derek Kraus

9. Matt Crafton

10. Ben Rhodes, four laps led

11. Colby Howard

12. Riley Herbst

13. Chase Purdy

14. Stewart Friesen

15. Carson Hocevar

16. Tyler Ankrum

17. Hailie Deegan

18. Tanner Gray

19. Lawless Alan

20. Tate Fogleman, one lap down

21. Tyler Hill, one lap down

22. Dean Thompson, one lap down

23. Austin Wayne Self, one lap down

24. Jesse Little, two laps down

25. Kris Wright, two laps down

26. Jack Wood, three laps down

27. Timmy Hill, four laps down

28. Ryan Huff, four laps down

29. Trey Hutchens, four laps down

30. Josh Reaume, five laps down

31. Spencer Boyd, seven laps down

32. Blaine Perkins, eight laps down

33. Corey Heim, 10 laps down, 18 laps led, Stage 1 winner

34. Matt Mills – OUT, Axle

35. Jesse Iwuji – OUT, Too slow

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ lone visit of the season at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth, Texas, which will occur on Friday, May 20, at 8:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

Herta Controls Chaos To Win Wild, Treacherous GMR Grand Prix

By
Official Release
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0K3A6661.JPG

INDIANAPOLIS (Saturday, May 14, 2022) – Colton Herta won one of the wildest races in recent NTT INDYCAR SERIES history, controlling the chaos of changing weather conditions, ever-evolving tire strategies and numerous incidents to take the checkered flag for the GMR Grand Prix on Saturday on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

Herta, from Valencia, California, earned his first NTT INDYCAR SERIES victory of the season and his seventh career win in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda after starting 14th. The win was the first of the season for a Honda-powered driver.

The race, originally scheduled for 85 laps but slowed by numerous incidents and the arrival of rain near the midway point, reached its two-hour time limit during a caution period.

“This is the hardest race I think I’ve ever done,” Herta said. “Wet to dry, dry back to wet. Thank you so much for the Hoosiers for sticking around. I know you’re used to this weather, so thank you very much. Love you guys.”

Simon Pagenaud climbed from the 20th starting position to finish a season-best second in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM Honda. NTT P1 Award winner Will Power placed third in the No. 12 Verizon Team Penske Chevrolet, tying his season best and climbing into the series points lead.

Marcus Ericsson drove from 18th at the start to end up fourth in the No. 8 Huski Chocolate Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, with Indianapolis native Conor Daly finishing a season-best fifth in the No. 20 BitNile Chevrolet.

“I’ve never been in a race like that in my life,” Daly said. “That was the craziest thing I’ve ever experienced.”

The box score indicated there were 10 lead changes among six drivers and eight caution periods for 31 laps, but that doesn’t begin to describe what unfolded on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course. This was a test of speed, strategy and survival that will live in the memory for a long time.

Rain sprinkles caused the race start to be declared wet, with all drivers on Firestone grooved tires. But it took Herta and Takuma Sato only two laps to realize there was enough traction to switch to the slick, grippy Firestone alternate “red” tires. The rest of the field quickly followed suit, with all 27 drivers changing to alternate slicks by Lap 5.

For the next 30 laps, this appeared to be a highly competitive but conventional NTT INDYCAR SERIES road course race, with three incidents triggering caution periods and mixing up the running order. But the strategic mind games began when Dalton Kellett spun off course in Turn 6 on Lap 36 in the No. 4 K-LINE/AJ FOYT RACING Chevrolet.

Leaden, threatening clouds approached IMS from the west, with the airwaves between pit boxes and drivers crackling with strategic chatter.

Rookie Devlin DeFrancesco, Alexander Rossi and reigning series champion Alex Palou decided to pit for Firestone rain tires during that caution as light rain began to fall to varying degrees in different locations of the massive facility, with a handful of others following suit to switch to rain tires during another caution that started on Lap 42.

This dice roll came up snake eyes because the rain began to let up on Lap 45, when Herta passed Ericsson for the lead in Turn 4.

By Lap 52, the rain began to fall again at varying levels around the track, creating more head games for teams and drivers. During a caution period on Lap 60 with intermittent rain falling, all the contending cars came to the pits for Firestone alternate slick tires.

Two laps later, those plans became a soggy mess when hard rain began to fall. All the contenders tiptoed back to the pits for Firestone rain tires except for Pato O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin and Romain Grosjean, who stayed out on alternate slicks.

The race restarted at the end of Lap 66, and Herta – on rain tires – easily devoured the slick-shod O’Ward to take the lead for good with an inside pass into Turn 1 after the field took the green.

Later that lap, the daring strategy of staying on slicks unraveled for McLaughlin. Struggling for grip, he spun in his No. 3 Snap-on Tools Chevrolet. O’Ward also spun out of second place on Lap 69 in his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP.

Herta gradually pulled away from Pagenaud over the closing laps, as teams kept their eyes on the race clock and the skies. Herta led Pagenaud by 3.8256 seconds on Lap 72, and the race effectively ended when Juan Pablo Montoya went off course after making contact with the wall in his No. 6 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

“It was treacherous at the end,” Pagenaud said. “You’ve got to say congrats to Colton because it was really tough to finish the race. We made the right calls on the tires. It was tricky. It was really tricky to decide.”

Pagenaud Scores Second in Thrilling Wet and Wild GMR Grand Prix

By
Official Release
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#26: Colton Herta, Andretti Autosport w/ Curb-Agajanian Honda #60: Simon Pagenaud, Meyer Shank Racing Honda #12: Will Power, Team Penske Chevrolet podium

3x Indy Road Course winner makes hard charge from 20th to second at IMS

Indianapolis, Ind. (14 May 2022) – Simon Pagenaud continued his strong record of success at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Saturday after scoring a second place finish and Meyer Shank Racing’s (MSR) first podium finish of the 2022 INDYCAR season.

With rainfall increasing throughout the duration and seven total yellow flags slowing down race, tire selection, strategy and smart thinking were keys to finishing the race.

Starting from 20th, Pagenaud was solely focused on moving forward and with inclement weather in the forecast, the Frenchman was even more confident heading into the race which he had claimed victory on in 2019 also in the rain. With INDYCAR declaring a wet race start, Pagenaud started on rain tires but quickly made the change over to Firestone alternates on Lap 4.

Strategy was an important factor as rain began to fall, but grip remained on the track. Six caution periods slowed down the field ahead of heavy rainfall around lap 60 when Pagenaud eventually made the decision to pit for rain tires.

Steady maneuvering and smart thinking through one more caution period pulled Pagenaud to second though the closing laps of the race. With visibility near impossible, Pagenaud steered clear of the rooster tail of the lead car ahead. Ultimately, Pagenaud added a fourth podium finish (wins in 2014, 2016 & 2019) to his Indy road course resume and gave MSR its second career podium finish at the IMS road course (third place in 2019).

Castroneves was on a similarly strong charge through the first three quarters of the race making his way into the top ten by lap 40 after starting 21st. Racing steady in eighth through the first six caution periods Castroneves matched Pagenaud’s strategy to pit for rain tires on Lap 60.

The final 20 minutes of the race Castroneves was caught is a slew of traffic with cars sliding across the track. The tough closing moments yielded a 14th place finish for Castroneves in the No. 06 MSR Honda.

Meyer Shank Racing Driver Quotes:

Simon Pagenaud:
“I’m super proud of the team, it was a very tricky race. It was probably one of the trickiest races I’ve ever driven in. We had to make the right decisions on the tires with the rain at the beginning of the race and then switching to the slicks and then back to the rain tires. I had amazing discussions with my strategist, Mike Shank. It’s so rewarding when it’s so difficult. I wish I could have gotten first, but I just couldn’t see at the end behind Colton (Herta). Thank you Meyer Shank Racing, AutoNation, SiriusXM, Arctic Wolf and Honda for an amazing race today.”

Helio Castroneves:
“What a day we had today. We started from the back in the 06 and it was an adventure to stay out of trouble the entire race. When the rain came in we were about top eight, we had great pace and we were keeping it clean. Unfortunately the rain was so bad and for me, the vent of the car was blowing so much water that my visor was getting so wet – I had no vision. On every restart I was very worried that I was going to hit someone, or someone was going to hit me. It was a great day for the team with the 60 car which finished second, congrats Simon. Now we look forward to the 500 which is going to be the big one.”

Toyota Racing – NCS Kansas Quotes – Christopher Bell – 05.14.22

By
Official Release
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Toyota Racing – Christopher Bell
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

KANSAS CITY (May 14, 2022) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Christopher Bell was made available to media prior to the Kansas Speedway race this Saturday:

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

This is your third pole at Kansas. What are you going to do with another pedal car?

“I don’t even know where my other two are, so I’m going to have to figure that out and add to the collection.”

It’s your third pole this year. What do you need to finish the race in first?

“We have everything we need to win the races, that is for sure. Our cars are super-fast. I feel like I’ve been driving pretty well, especially the last couple of weeks specifically. We just have to maintain our track position. We’ve really struggled on pit road and that’s one of the reasons why we are not contending for wins. If we can get our pit road struggles underhand, then we are going to be a contender for sure.”

How much do you think your program has improved?

“It’s been good. We’ve definitely been a lot more consistent this year and I think a lot of that is just Adam Stevens (crew chief) figuring out what I need in the race car to be successful. Last year, we didn’t have qualifying and very few – I guess we had a few races with practice and qualifying, but now, when you have practice every week and qualifying every week, there is just many more data points, so that Adam can hone in on what I need to be successful. We would hit it every now and then last year and be competitive, but we would have moments when we were off, and it seems like we are hitting on all cylinders, and he is able to consistency give me what I need in the car.”

How antsy are you to get back to victory lane?

“I just try to focus on doing my job as good as I can. It’s very much a team sport. I’m only as good as my mechanics, engineer, my crew chief and they’ve been allowing me to succeed by giving me great equipment. Same thing – we have had a lot of pit road issues, but we are all a team. I’ve made my fair share of mistakes on the racetrack, and I’ve never heard anyone on the pit crew come over and tell me that I screwed up. I try to just focus on what I do best and do as good of a job that I can.”

Do you view yourself as a leader of this team now?
“That’s one thing that – you look at the different teams across the garage, and you have different situations. For me and my situation, I let the crew chief lead the team. Whenever I’ve been most successful in my racing career in general, it’s whenever I have very good crew chiefs at managing the teams. When you go back to the start of my career at Keith Kunz Motorsports, Keith Kunz was that guy. Then moving to Kyle Busch Motorsports, I had Bond Suss in the late models and Rudy Fugle. They are just excellent at controlling their team and being the leader of the team. I don’t feel like that I have the personality to lead the team. I need to have a leader and being paired up with the crew chiefs that I have – I mentioned Rudy, Bond, Keith, and then you have Jason Ratcliff and Adam Stevens. They have been excellent at that. I let them lead the team and follow their direction and focus on doing my job as good as I can.”

Three dirt guys lead the field tomorrow. How do you battle and claim your real estate?

“It’s going to be tough to pass. Once everyone gets to the top, it’s going to be tough to pass. Fortunately, I start in front of them, so hopefully that gives me a little bit of an advantage. You are going to have to really execute all of the details. You need to get off pit road first, have the best restarts. The track is going to race a little bit different tomorrow, because when the tires are good and the track gets cleaned up after yellows – we are going to be at the bottom, so the guys that can time that the best and maximize the time of the bottom and get up to the top at the right time is going to be the guy that succeeds. Later on in tires, when we all migrate to the top, it’s going to be tough to past but you are going to have to make sure you execute before that.”

#

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Ford Performance NASCAR: Cindric Tops Ford in Kansas Cup Quaifying

By
Official Release
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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Kansas Qualifying | Saturday, May 14, 2022

Ford Qualifying Results:
4th – Austin Cindric
7th – Aric Almirola
10th – Ryan Blaney
12th – Chase Briscoe
16th – Cole Custer
23rd – Kevin Harvick
25th – Michael McDowell
26th – Harrison Burton
27th – JJ Yeley
29th – Cody Ware
30th – Brad Keselowski
31st – Todd Gilliland
32nd – BJ McLeod
34th – Joey Logano
35th – Chris Buescher

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards/Monster Ford Mustang – “It was pretty decent and fun to kind of follow the track around and see where grip goes. It’s kind of what makes this place unique, especially this part of the weekend. Tomorrow, we’ll definitely be wrapping the fence for sure. If we were doing it in qualifying, we’ll be doing it in the race. Obviously, I’m glad to have some speed in our Menards/Monster Ford Mustang. I want the pole, but it’s a good starting spot.”

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – “This place is fun. I always enjoy coming to Kansas. It’s been a good track for me over the years. I’ve always run up front and qualified up front. I think we’re in good shape. I felt pretty good about our car in race trim. We needed a few tweaks on it, but we’ll see. I think the race is gonna be a lot different than what we had today in practice. It was hot and sunny and tomorrow it looks like it’s gonna be a lot cooler.”

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Wabash Ford Mustang – “It was nice to make it to the final round. I just didn’t quite have the speed that the other guys got. It was kind of tight in the first round and got too free in the second. Hopefully, we can find a middle ground.,”

Chris Buescher and Joey Logano both had left rear tires go down at different times during today’s practice session and did not make a qualifying attempt.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Castrol GTX Ford Mustang – “We just blew a left-rear. We’re not really sure of the cause yet. There’s a handful of us wondering what exactly, but the track here is pretty smooth. We were pretty good with our Castrol GTX Mustang and was just running laps and caught us off guard into one. Unfortunately, we’re gonna be going to a backup. We’ve got a lot of work to do. Everybody on our team did a really nice job ahead of time bringing a good race car. It looks fantastic. The backup is gonna look just as good and be just as good. I’m confident in that, but we’ve got a lot of work to do tonight.”

HOW MUCH OF A SETBACK IS THIS? “It’s not good. I think we’re in a position now where we’re not sitting here worried about if we have enough parts, not that we’re in a great spot there, but we’ve got a race car in the garage. It’s pretty close, so we just have to kind of tweak some of our stuff in. Brad and I, a lot of our interior stuff stays very similar, so it’s not gonna be a major undertaking. I think it could be for some teams. It’s a big project and it’s gonna be a long night for everybody.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Verizon Ford Mustang – HOW MUCH INDICATION DID YOU HAVE THAT SOMETHING WAS GOING WRONG? “Not enough. As soon as I turned down off into the corner I could feel it shaking and I knew it was bad, but it just swaps ends so fast when that left-rear blows out. We’ve seen that happen a few times today unfortunately, so it’s unfortunate for us. The old Verizon Mustang will have to come from the rear, but we’ll be all right and we’ll fight through it, I’m sure. I think we were pretty decent on lap times before that on the long haul at least, so if we keep the tires on it I guess we’ll be all right.”

PAUL WOLFE, Crew Chief, No. 22 Verizon Ford Mustang – ANY THOUGHTS ON WHAT IS CAUSING THIS ISSUE? “It’s just hard to tell. Obviously, we saw a lot of cars have issues in the first practice. I put a little air in it just trying to be conservative, but obviously maybe there’s something else in the setup. We’ll have to look at all that and see if we need to adjust for Sunday. It’s unfortunate. The guys brought a good car again after last week, but this is the ups and downs of the sport and all the guys will work hard today, tonight and whatever we’ve got to do and be ready for tomorrow.”

CHEVY NCS: Tyler Reddick Scores Front Row Starting Spot at Kansas

By
Official Release
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NASCAR CUP SERIES
KANSAS SPEEDWAY
ADVENTHEALTH 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING NOTES
MAY 14, 2022

Tyler Reddick Scores Front Row Starting Spot at Kansas
Three Camaro ZL1’s Claim Top-10 Starting Spots

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL TOP-20 QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 BETMGM CAMARO ZL1
3rd KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
8th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
11th ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1
13th WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1
14th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 UNIFIRST CAMARO ZL1
15th JUSTIN HALEY, NO. 31 LEAFFILTER GUTTER PROTECTION CAMARO ZL1
17th TY DILLON, NO. 42 CHEVYLINERS.COM CAMARO ZL1
19th DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 COMMSCOPE CAMARO ZL1
20th COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 GAMER TRUCKING INC. CAMARO ZL1

TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
1st Christopher Bell (Toyota)
2nd Tyler Reddick (Chevrolet)
3rd Kyle Larson (Chevrolet)
4th Austin Cindric (Ford)
5th Kurt Busch (Toyota)

· Following Group A and B practice sessions, Tyler Reddick was third-fastest overall, clocking in a best lap of 30.845 seconds/175.069 mph in his No. 8 BetMGM Camaro ZL1.

· The conclusion of round one of Group A qualifying saw Tyler Reddick on the top of the leaderboard with a lap of 30.388 seconds/177.702 mph. Also advancing to the final round of qualifying and a chance for the pole position was Kyle Larson, who was fourth in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1.

· Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, was second-fastest in round one of Group B qualifying with a lap of 30.340 seconds/177.983 mph to advance to the final round.

· In the final round of qualifying, Tyler Reddick secured a front row starting spot for his No. 8 BetMGM Camaro ZL1 team, recording a lap of 30.192 seconds/178.855 mph.

· Other Chevrolet drivers that captured a top-10 starting spot include Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 (3rd), and Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1 (8th).

· This will mark Reddick’s seventh top-10 starting spot of 2022; and his first in six-career NCS starts at Kansas Speedway.

· Larson’s third-place qualifying run gives the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 their ninth top-10 starting spot in 13 races this season.

· FS1 will telecast the NASCAR Cup Series Wise AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway live at 3 p.m. ET tomorrow, Sunday, May 15. Live coverage can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 BETMGM CAMARO ZL1, Qualified 2nd:

“Any car you drive here, you can’t really drive it flat across (turns) three and four, especially that high. I’m just so used to it getting a little tight landing into three. I just lifted a little bit too much and as soon as I got there, I kind of hated myself for lifting as much as I did. I could have run a little faster lap through three and four. But all-in-all, our No. 8 Bet MGM Chevrolet has been great.”

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 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.

Colton Herta outlasts Mother Nature for first IndyCar victory of 2022 at GMR Grand Prix

By
Andrew Kim
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Photo by Chris Jones (Penske Entertainment).

Colton Herta survived a chaotic, tricky and slick run in the midwest by notching his first NTT IndyCar Series victory of the season in the rain-shortened GMR Grand Prix at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on Saturday, May 14.

The 22-year-old Herta from Valencia, Santa Clarita, California, led three times for a race-high 50 of 75 shortened laps and benefitted for a late pit stop for slick tires to overtake Pato O’Ward during a Lap 66 restart and fend off the field by Lap 73 when the caution flew due to an on-track incident. During the caution period, the event was reaching its two-hour time limit and running on a 21-minute clock session due to the wet, foggy conditions amid a delayed start that also shortened the event by 10 laps from the original 85 planned. With the event concluding on Lap 75, Herta was able to navigate his way around the circuit under two cautious pace laps to claim his first triumph of the season following a string of misfortunes.

With on-track qualifying occurring on Friday, Will Power secured his 64th career pole position after posting a pole-winning speed at 125.854 mph in one minute, 9.7664 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Alex Palou, who logged a qualifying speed at 125.777 mph in one minute, 9.8090 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race commenced amid a delayed start due to inclement weather, Power led the field ahead of Palou, Josef Newgarden and the field entering the first two turns as the field jumbled behind. Through Turns 4, 5 and 6, Power maintained the lead. Then in Turn 7, Alex Palou moved into the lead and Pato O’Ward moved into the runner-up spot as Newgarden and Power were both overtaken. Soon after, O’Ward overtook Palou entering Turn 12 and went on to lead the first lap.

During the following lap and as O’Ward was leading, teammate Felix Rosenqvist cycled his No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet into second place while Palou, Power and Conor Daly were in the top five. 

Following the third lap, O’Ward surrendered the lead to pit early while teammate Rosenqvist moved into the lead. By then, names like Alexander Rossi, Josef Newgarden, Will Power, Rinus VeeKay pitted. Soon after, Palou, Romain Grosjean, Callum Ilott, Juan Pablo Montoya, Hello Castroneves, Dalton Kellett, David Malukas, Jimmie Johnson and Marcus Ericsson also pitted.

Through the first five scheduled laps, Colton Herta, who made a bold save while slipping sideways as he pursued O’Ward earlier through the infield, cycled his No. 26 Gainbridge Dallara-Honda into the lead followed by O’Ward and Rosenqvist. Shortly after, the first caution flew when Palou spun his No. 10 American Legion Dallara-Honda in Turn 10.

When the race restarted on the ninth lap, Herta maintained the lead ahead of O’Ward, Rosenqvist and the field. 

On Lap 16, the caution flew when contact between Rossi and Newgarden resulted with Newgarden’s No. 2 PPG Dallara-Chevrolet getting turned off the front nose of Jack Harvey through Turn 12 as he took his car to the garage and dropped out of race-winning contention. Under caution, some like Marcus Ericsson, Kirkwood and Palou pitted while the rest led by Herta remained on the track.

On Lap 20, the race restarted under green. At the start, Herta retained the lead ahead of O’Ward and Rosenqvist while Takuma Sato muscled his way into fourth place over Power. Following the first three turns, however, the caution returned for a two-car wreck involving Rinus VeeKay and Devlin DeFrancesco, where the former got loose, went off the course, came back across the circuit sideways and was hit by the latter.

Four laps later, the race resumed under green as the skies darkened. At the start, Herta retained the lead ahead of Arrow McLaren SP’s O’Ward and Rosenqvist while Sato retained fourth place ahead of Power, Rossi and the field. 

Through the first 30 laps of the event, Herta was leading by more than seven-tenths of a second over O’Ward while Rosenqvist, Sato and Power were running in the top five. Challenging Power for a top-five spot was Rossi while Harvey, Scott McLaughlin, Romain Grosjean and Callum Ilott occupied the top 10. Simon Pagenaud was in 11th followed by Scott Dixon, Helio Castroneves, Graham Rahal and David Malukas while Christina Lundgaard, Dalton Kellett, Tatiana Calderon, Juan Pablo Montoya and Ericsson were in the top 20. Meanwhile, Jimmie Johnson was in 21st ahead of Kirkwood while Palou was mired in 24th place.

Three laps later, O’Ward returned to the lead as Herta pitted under green. By then, names like Takuma Sato, Scott McLaughlin and Dalton Kellett pitted. Then during the following lap, Herta pitted as teammate Rosenqvist inherited the lead. Along with O’Ward, names like Rossi, Grosjean, Ilott, Power and Pagenaud pitted.By Lap 35, Rosenqvist surrendered the lead to pit along with Castroneves, Rahal, Montoya and Malukas.

Not long after, Kellett made contact with the tire barriers between Turns 5 and 6 and stalled his car as the caution flew. Prior to the caution, Dixon limped his No. 9 PNC Bank Dallara-Honda to pit road under a slow pace after running out of fuel. At the moment of caution, Ericsson was scored the leader followed by Kirkwood, Herta, Rosenqvist and O’Ward.

During the caution period, the precipitation steadily increased around the circuit. Despite the wet circuit, the race restarted under green on Lap 41. At the start, disaster struck for O’Ward, who got loose while making a move on Herta in Turn 1 and spun as his No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Dallara-Chevrolet was then his by teammate Rosenqvist, whose front nose was destroyed. The incident, which also involved Sato spinning, drew another caution as the field surpassed the halfway mark on Lap 43. In the midst of the carnage, Ericsson retained the lead ahead of Kirkwood, Herta, McLaughlin and Harvey.

Under caution, some like Kirkwood pitted while the rest led by Ericsson remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 45, the field fanned out to multiple lanes as Ericsson retained a narrow advantage over Herta. Through the infield backstretch, however, Herta reassumed the lead followed by McLaughlin as the field continued to scramble for positions. 

At the Lap 50 mark, Herta extended his advantage to more than a second over McLaughlin while Harvey, Grosjean and Pagenaud were in the top five. Power was in sixth followed by O’Ward while Ilott, Castroneves and Conor Daly were in the top 10. By then, Ericsson was mired back in 13th while Dixon, who raced his way back on the lead lap during the previous restart, was lapped and back in 21st.

During the following lap, some like Ericsson pitted under green while the rest led by Herta remained on the track. On the track, Grosjean spun in Turn 7 after getting hit by Harvey.

On Lap 57, the caution flew when Jimmie Johnson spun in Turn 10. Under caution, the lead lap competitors pitted as McLaughlin edged Herta to assume the lead. Soon after and with the precipitation intensifying, some like Herta, Dixon, Rossi, Palou, Power, Pagenaud, Harvey, Daly, Castroneves, Montoya and Ilott pitted for a second time for wet tires. In the process, O’Ward moved up to second place behind Herta.

Soon after, the event became a timed event with IndyCar given 20 minutes to have the event completed since the event was reaching its two-hour time limit amid the wet conditions and the delayed start. In the process, the field led by McLaughlin continued to run on the circuit under a cautious pace behind the pace car. Just then, the leader McLaughlin spun through Turns 10 and 11 under the final 17 minutes as O’Ward cycled back to the lead. 

When the race restarted under green with approximately 14 minutes left and on Lap 66, Herta gained a huge run on O’Ward prior to the first turn to reassume the lead as O’Ward fended off Pagenaud to retain the runner-up spot. Soon after, however, the caution flew when McLaughlin spun and stalled his car between Turns 2 and 3.

Under caution and with 10 minutes of the event remaining, Herta continued to lead ahead of O’Ward, Pagenaud, Power and Daly while Montoya, Ericsson, Castroneves, Ilott and Sato were in the top 10.

Then as time continued to expire, O’Ward spun under caution, which allowed Pagenaud and Power to move up to second and third while O’Ward fell back to fourth. Meanwhile, Herta remained as the leader as time continued to expire.

With approximately six minutes left, the race proceeded under green on Lap 70 while O’Ward pitted. At the start, Herta retained the lead ahead of Pagenaud and Power while Daly and Montoya were in the top five. 

With under five laps minutes, Herta was leading by more than two seconds over Pagenaud while third-place Power trailed by more than seven seconds. In the process, Daly retained fourth ahead of Ericsson, who overtook Montoya, while Sato, Rosenqvist, Castroneves and Ilott were in the top 10.

With two minutes left and as the race continued to run under green amid the wet conditions, Herta extended his advantage to nearly four seconds over Pagenaud while Power, Ericsson and Daly were in the top five.

Shortly after, the caution flew on Lap 73 when Montoya wrecked in Turn 11. The incident and caution were enough for the remaining time of the event to expire as Herta, who endured an up-and-down start to the season, was able to cautiously navigate his way around the 14-turn circuit for a final time and claim the checkered flag on Lap 75 for his first victory of the season. 

With his first IndyCar victory of the 2022 season, Herta notched his seventh career win in the IndyCar circuit, his first at Indianapolis and first since winning the final two scheduled events of the 2021 season. The Indy victory, which was a first of the season for Andretti Autosport and for Honda, was enough to boost Herta up five spots in the championship standings to sixth place.

“[Pitting for slick tires] sure helped us a lot,” Herta said on NBC. “We gained a lot of positions there. Man, this is awesome. That was the hardest race I think I’ve ever done. Wet [tires] to dry [tires], dry back to wet. Thank you so much to the Hoosiers [fans] for sticking around. I know you’re used to this kind of weather, so thank you very much. I love you guys. ”

Finishing in the runner-up spot was Pagenaud, who notched his first podium result in his first season with Meyer Shank Racing and first since the 2021 Indy 500. Meanwhile, Power settled in third place for his fifth consecutive top-four result through the first five scheduled IndyCar events. Power’s podium result was enough for him to assume the points lead.


“I couldn’t see, couldn’t drive at the end,” Pagenaud, who started 20th, said. “That was unfortunate. The car felt really good in the wets, but I just couldn’t see. I was looking for lights on the sides to find a braking point, but it was treacherous at the end…It was really tough to finish the race. An amazing job from everybody at Meyer Shank Racing. We made the right calls on the tires. It was really tricky to decide, but overall, it was a great race. It was a really good job.” 

“It was just so hard to decide, whether to go to wets or slicks there when it was raining on one side of the track and it was dry on the other,” Power added. “Stoked with third. Really happy to get the Verizon 5G Chevy on the podium after a mayhem day. I tried to be smart, sit back and didn’t want to take any too big of a risk…You could pick the wrong tire and it can be a terrible day, but in every situation, I just try to be as smart as I could, not take a big risk. It’s usually not fun not racing for a win, but it wasn’t the condition to try to do that, especially with the points battle.”

Ericsson came home in fourth place followed by Conor Daly while Rosenqvist, Sato, Ilott, Lundgaard and Dixon finished in the top 10.

In the midst of the on-track chaos, Rossi finished 11th, Castroneves settled in 14th, O’Ward fell back to 19th behind Grosjean and Palou and McLaughlin finished 20th. Johnson finished 22nd while Montoya, who was in position for a top-10 run prior to his late incident, ended up 24th.

There were 10 lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured eight cautions for 31 laps.

With his third-place result, Will Power leads the championship standings by 16 points over both teammate Scott McLaughlin and Alex Palou, 30 over teammate Josef Newgarden, 37 over Scott Dixon, 38 over Colton Herta and 42 over Pato O’Ward.

Results.

1. Colton Herta, 50 laps led

2. Simon Pagenaud

3. Will Power

4. Marcus Ericsson, 10 laps led

5. Conor Daly

6. Felix Rosenqvist, four laps led

7. Takuma Sato

8. Callum Ilott

9. Christian Lundgaard

10. Scott Dixon

11. Alexander Rossi

12. David Malukas

13. Jack Harvey

14. Helio Castroneves

15. Tatiana Calderon, one lap led

16. Graham Rahal

17. Romain Grosjean, one lap down

18. Alex Palou, one lap down

19. Pato O’Ward, one lap down, five laps led

20. Scott McLaughlin, one lap down, five laps led

21. Devlin DeFrancesco, two laps down

22. Jimmie Johnson, two laps down

23. Rinus VeeKay, two laps down

24. Juan Pablo Montoya – OUT, Contact

25. Josef Newgarden, 15 laps down

26. Kyle Kirkwood – OUT, Contact

27. Dalton Kellett – OUT, Contact

Next on the 2022 NTT IndyCar Series schedule is the 106th running of the Indianapolis 500 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The starting lineup for the event will be determined through two qualifying sessions between May 21-22. The main event will then occur on May 29 with the event’s coverage to occur at 11 a.m.  ET on NBC.

Wagner Wins Weather-Shortened Mid-Ohio Mazda MX-5 Cup

By
Official Release
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IMSA Weathertech Mid-Ohio 2022

LEXINGTON, Ohio (May 14, 2022) – Reigning Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup Champion Gresham Wagner (No. 5 Spark Performance) won the race through Mid-Ohio’s Thunder Valley before actual thunder forced IMSA to end the race just shy of the half way point on Saturday.

Jared Thomas (No. 96 JTR Motorsports Engineering) crossed the line less than half a second behind Thomas with nine laps in the books moments before the race was red flagged for lightning in the area. Matthew Dirks (No. 76 McCumbee McAleer Racing) converted his front row start into his debut series podium finish with his run to third at the line.

The field of 29 Mazda MX-5 Cup machines took the green flag under sunny skies for the opening race of the double-header weekend to mark rounds five and six of the 2022 championship season. A clean start ensued as runners jostled for position in the opening segment of the scheduled 45-minute race.

With some previous race winners and championship contenders starting the race deep in the pack, scores of passes saw the order continue to change from lap to lap. But just nine laps into the race, the caution flag flew for lightning in the area with a red flag shortly thereafter.

With less than 30 minutes left on the clock and a mandatory 30-minute wait time for conditions to clear per the IMSA weather safety protocol, officials waved the checkered flag to signal the end of the race.

“I think the race was just kind of starting to develop when it got stopped,” said Wagner. “There was no rhyme or reason to the move that won it, it was just good luck that it happened before the red flag. I’ve lost races to full-course yellows and strange random occurrences. I’m a tough competitor and like tough competition, so this isn’t the most fulfilling win, but I was in first place at the right time so will take it!”

“It is a bit weird to end the race early, and everyone wishes we could have run it out fully but sometimes these things happen,” said Thomas. “You win some and lose some this way, just one of those deals with some weird circumstances. But we will take it and move on to tomorrow!”

“It was kind of a weird way to get my first podium, Dirks said. “I wasn’t expecting the red flag so I wasn’t as aggressive maybe at that stage, but the car was really good and I had a great push from my teammate Justin Piscitell (No. 89 McCumbee McAleer Racing) at the start. Thanks to my crew chief for the car. It was really good and I felt like I was just saving it for later.”

Michael Carter (No. 05 Carter Racing Enterprises) and Piscitell completed the top five.

The Hard Charger Award went to Sam Paley (No. 28 McCumbee McAleer Racing) who started the race from the back of the field, but picked up 19 positions and finished 10th.

Due to the shortened race distance, series officials announced that drivers will receive half of the usual points scored.

Dirks is provisionally on pole for Sunday’s Round Five race and shares the front row with Thomas. The race will go green at 11:15am ET and be live streamed on RACER.com.

About: The Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich® Tires is the signature spec series for Mazda Motorsports. The series has been operated by Andersen Promotions since 2017 and is currently sanctioned by IMSA. Mazda-powered grassroots champions can earn Mazda scholarships for this pro-level series. The Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup champion is awarded $250,000 as the top rookie nets $80,000.

Find out more at http://www.mx-5cup.com.

Cadillac claims pole start for 2-hour, 40-minite Mid-Ohio race

By
Official Release
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Sebastien Bourdais earns third pole of season in No. 01 V-Performance Academy DPi-V.R

LEXINGTON, Ohio (May 14, 2022) – Cadillac claimed its third pole start in five IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races as Sebastien Bourdais recorded a best lap of 1 minute, 10.439 seconds in the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R on the 2.258-mile, 13-turn Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

The No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R will lead the field to the green flag for the 2-hour, 40-minute Grand Prix of Mid-Ohio on Sunday, May 15. The will air live on USA Network and stream on Peacock starting at 2 p.m. ET. IMSA Radio will broadcast the race at IMSA.com along with XM 207.

“We had to push really hard really early on the green flag because it was drizzling and I wasn’t sure the lap was going to be good enough, but I nailed a good one,” said Bourdais, who presented Cadillac Racing its first pole in five races at Mid-Ohio since 2018. “The boys did a really good job of giving us some fast cars we got that Cadillac up there. We’re definitely hoping for a clean start and keeping the Cadillac up front throughout the race.”

Earlier this season, Bourdais reset the track records in qualifying on the pole at Sebring International Raceway and the streets of Long Beach, California. He and co-driver Renger van der Zande went on to win at Long Beach. Last May, the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R set the race record lap time of 1:12.188 (112.605 mph).

The sister No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R will start on the outside of Row 2 as Alex Lynn posted a best lap of 1:10.995. Tristan Nunez registered a best lap of 1:11.053 in the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R and will start fifth. Tristan Vautier drove the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R to a best lap of 1:11.083 and will start sixth.

The No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R, co-driven by reigning DPi champion Pipo Derani, has finished second the past two years at Mid-Ohio – by a combined margin of less than one second – in the 2-hour, 40-minute races. Derani and Nunez enter the race off a third-place finish May 1 at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Cadillac DPi entries have won two of the four IMSA races this season, including podium sweeps at Sebring and Long Beach, and collected eight podium finishes overall.

Cadillac Racing from the cockpit

No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R

Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais

Bourdais drove in the qualifying session (start first, 1:10.439): “We had to push really hard really early on the green flag because it was drizzling and I wasn’t sure the lap was going to be good enough, but I nailed a good one. The boys did a really good job of giving us some fast cars we got that Cadillac up there. We’re definitely hoping for a clean start and keeping the Cadillac up front throughout the race.”

No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R

Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn

Lynn drove in the qualifying session (start fourth, 1:10.995): “I think overall it was a positive day for us getting P4. Congrats to the sister car for pole position. I think we made big improvements on our side of the garage. We are in a nice position for tomorrow and both myself and Earl are looking forward to a fun race.”

No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R

Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez

Nunez drove in the qualifying session (start fifth, 1:11.053): “I’m not happy with the result; you always want to be further up the grid for the race, especially at a track like this where track position is so key. But the car is quick and I think we had the car for a top three, but unfortunately with the traffic in trying to get a lap I think I might have lost my quick lap with tire life. For me, personally, I’m just feeling more and more comfortable with this car. It’s confidence-inspiring for me to go into this race. I’m feeling really good about tomorrow. We made it happen last race by ending up on the podium from the back and I have no doubt that we can do even better than that tomorrow.”

No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R

Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook

Vautier drove in the qualifying session (start sixth, 1:11.083): “It’s tight. What’s hard is the balance of the car is not out of the window and we’re very close. It’s just frustrating to be P6. I cannot look back and say here’s where I lost it. I feel like I got the most out of it, so that makes it tough. Execution is going to play a lot in the race. We’ll focus on that and try to find a bit more speed.”

About Cadillac
A leading luxury auto brand since 1902, Cadillac is growing globally, driven by an expanding product portfolio that features distinctive design and technology. More information on Cadillac appears at www.cadillac.com. Cadillac’s media website with information, images and video can be found at media.cadillac.com.

Toyota Racing – NCS Kansas Quotes – Kyle Busch – 05.14.22

By
Official Release
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Toyota Racing – Kyle Busch
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

KANSAS CITY (May 14, 2022) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Kyle Busch was made available to media prior to the Kansas Speedway race this Saturday:

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

You welcomed your daughter this week. Can you talk about what life has been like adjusting to two children?

“It’s been great. I’m just really thankful for all the blessings that we’ve had over the years – struggles and trying to get where we are today. It’s really meaningful to be able to welcome home our baby girl. Lennix is doing well. Mom (Samantha Busch) is adjusting and doing well, so working on that man-to-man coverage with children. I’m sure that’s going to change as she gets older but enjoying every moment of it thus far.”

Does having the child make you have a different mindset coming into this weekend?

“No, I would say that I feel as though there is a personal life and a racing life, personal life and career, however you want to segregate that. I try to separate those as much as I can. Being able to have that at the track sometimes blends over, but to me, I wouldn’t say having a baby girl makes all of the struggles of the last couple of years go away. We are in a performance-based business and being in a performance-based business means you need to perform and do well and you need to win races. That is still at the forefront.”

What remain the challenges with this car or are you to the point where you are fine tuning?
“I think we are all still learning it. I came here and did the wheel force test, and it went well. The temperature was nothing like it is today, and conditions are completely different. Just each week you try to learn and try to figure out some tricks of the trade or some little things that this car likes or doesn’t like. I felt like we had a decent package for what we had last week at Darlington, and I think what we have here will be pretty good based on how Vegas went and how the test went here.”

Do you think the track will run more like your win in 2016 or your win here last year?

“I would say it’s going to be a blend, but probably more similar to last year. In testing here, there was not a lot of off-throttle time. You are on the throttle a lot. You have a lot drag in these cars, so you are slow on the straightaways. The car has pretty good grip and you can make time being in the gas through the turns. As the track changes or widens out, I feel like the race is going to end up a lot at the top, but this car is really, really bad in directly following the car in front of year. You are going to need somewhere else to go if everyone is at the top. How are you going to pass? So, you are going to have to try something else to make moves on guys. We will see how that goes.”

You’ve had a love-hate relationship with this track. Do you think it will be more track or car you are fighting this week?

“I would say it’s been – you said love-hate, I would go more hate-love. It started out bad and has been good lately. We will hopefully keep that going in our favor. This place was trickier for me with the old asphalt, but since they repaved it, it seems to have come into more where I’m understanding of it. I feel like we’ve got a good shot at continuing that – that good run tradition – and doing well this weekend.”

If Lennix wants to pursue racing, does it matter what her gender is?

“To me it’s exactly what I said with Brexton, if she wants to, by all means, sure go for it, give it a try. I think her mom (Samantha Busch) would say otherwise. ‘Let’s not have another amount of years spent at the racetrack, raising another race car driver.’ That’s still to be determined with Brexton. I think Bobby Labonte’s kid was older when he decided he didn’t want to do it. Matt Martin was older when he decided he didn’t want to do it, so you just never know. We will see what happens.”

You announced this documentary this week. Why did you want to do it?

“I was approached by a group of guys who thought I had an intriguing story and that they wanted to put it out there on how I kind of came in and through the tough times of the 2007-2008 timeframe, 2011 timeframe to the injury of 2015 to winning a championship and winning a championship again in 2019. So, from the highs to the lows to the trials and tribulations, all of that sort of stuff. It’s an interesting piece. It kind of puts it all together. They say it’s long. I think it’s like 100, 110 minutes or something like that, so it’s a little long on the film front, but I don’t think it still tells the whole complete story. You need a lot longer than 110 minutes. I tried to talk them into a Netflix series, but that didn’t’ go anywhere, but I’m excited for it. It’s great. I appreciate it. I’m looking forward to everyone seeing it. I don’t think it’s anything that the avid NASCAR fan doesn’t know, but some causal fans might get a little bit of a better understanding on who I is.”

Do you think this car will put on a good show at Charlotte?

“I don’t know how to answer that question. It’s important that we put on good shows every single week and have great races, that’s a really hard one to have a really great race on and have side-by-side action and have close knit, tight knit racing the entire time, because let’s be honest, it’s a four-and-a-half to five-hour race. 600 miles is a long time. Anytime that you are putting yourself in a side-by-side predicament that’s taking a chance and until it comes down to that final pit stop is when the race really starts. There will be times where we are running around and trying to bide time and save ourselves and our equipment. Unless you want to call it the Coca-Cola 60, it’s going to be hard to sell a 600 as intriguing.”

With four mile-and-a-half races in the Playoffs, how important is getting it dialed in the next few weeks?

“I think we have talked about it as long I’ve been in the sport just with having five or six mile-and-a-half racetracks in the Playoffs through years. Charlotte moving into the ROVAL the last couple, you don’t have that one. It’s important but with our schedule in our sport and this car it’s more important to be more diverse anyways. You’ve got to be good everywhere.”

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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.

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