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Toyota Racing NCS Post-Race Recap – Darlington 5.8.22

By
Official Release
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BELL LEADS TOYOTA WITH A TOP-10 FINISH IN DARLINGTON
Toyota Drivers Fall Victim to Numerous Accidents at South Carolina’s ‘Lady in Black’

DARLINGTON, S.C. (May 8, 2022) – Christopher Bell (sixth) scored a top-10 finish to lead Toyota in the NASCAR Cup Series race at South Carolina’s Darlington Raceway on Sunday afternoon. In addition to Bell, Denny Hamlin (21st), Martin Truex Jr. (24th) and Kyle Busch (33rd) took turns leading laps in the 293-lap event but would all fall victim to various on-track incidents that ended their races early.

Toyota Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Darlington Raceway
Race 12 of 36 – 400.2 miles, 293 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Joey Logano*
2nd, Tyler Reddick*
3rd, Justin Haley*
4th, Kevin Harvick*
5th, Chase Elliott*
6th, CHRISTOPHER BELL
21st, DENNY HAMLIN
24th, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
27th, BUBBA WALLACE
28th, KURT BUSCH
33rd, KYLE BUSCH
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

Finishing Position: 6th

How were you able to recover from the final pit stop to a top-10 finish?

“This SiriusXM Camry was excellent as these No. 20 cars are every time we go to the race track. Last week at Dover, it felt like we had a car capable of winning and had unfortunate circumstances take us out of it. And then you know kind of the same thing today. That yellow was the big unfortunate moment whenever the yellow came out and kind of flipped the strategy. Overall, really proud to be at Joe Gibbs Racing and proud for all of our partners on this 20 car. Maybe one of these days we’ll be up there.”

BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 MoneyLion Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing

Finishing Position: 27th

What happened that took you out of the race?

“Just checked up in front of me and didn’t have enough time. You’re in the wood off of (turn) two there. Just trying to figure out what I did to piss off the racing gods. Another great car and another great finish that was going to be there and a disappointing result. Just frustrating. Thanks to MoneyLion. For sure, was going to have a top-10 car. That’s what we’ll put on the debrief, but the results don’t show that.”

KURT BUSCH, No. 45 McDonald’s Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing

Finishing Position: 28th

What happened that took you out of the race?

“I saw smoke and a car sideways. I thought I was through on the top side and got hit from behind. Everybody’s just ripping and gouging. It’s almost the last set of tires. We just had no luck today. No luck on pit road. The short run speed wasn’t there, but we were good on the long run, but just didn’t make it happen with the McDonald’s Toyota.”

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

Finishing Position: 33rd

What happened that took you out of the race?

“Just the 6 (Brad Keselowski) blew a right-front tire coming off of turn two. I had nowhere to go and just got collected up in something not of our doing. It’s frustrating. We had a good M&M’s Camry and it was nice to be able to run in the top-five and lead some laps there. Just felt like we were trying to debate on the setup there between the short run versus the long run and where we wanted to be good and what all was going to pay dividends at the end of the day.”

Why did you leave the race car on pit road rather than driving to the garage?

“I just couldn’t make it turn.”

#

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.

Verstappen fends off Leclerc to win inaugural Miami Grand Prix

By
Andrew Kim
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Max Verstappen took another swing towards Charles Leclerc’s advantage in the drivers’ standings after fending off Leclerc during an 11-lap shootout to win the inaugural Miami Grand Prix at Miami International Autodrome on Sunday, May 8.

The 24-year-old Dutchman, who qualified in third place behind Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc and Carlos Sainz, muscled his Red Bull Racing RB18 past Leclerc’s Ferrari F1-75 for the lead on Lap 9 of 57. From there, he made a one-stop pit strategy on Lap 26 work to his advantage as he led the remainder of the event. Despite the field being bunched for an 11-lap shootout following a Lap 41 on-track incident involving Pierre Gasly and Lando Norris, Verstappen managed to fend off Leclerc around the newly-designed 19-turn circuit around Hard Rock Stadium to etch his name as the first Formula One winner in Miami.

The Miami victory marked Verstappen’s second consecutive victory in recent weeks after winning the Emilia Romagna Grand Prix at Imola Circuit in late April. It also marked his second F1 victory in the United States after he won the United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas, last October. By winning for the third time in 2022 and for the 23rd time of his Grand Prix career, Verstappen, driving for Red Bull Racing, trails Leclerc and Ferrari by 15 points in the drivers’ standings in his pursuit to defend his world championship.

“It was an incredible Grand Prix,” Verstappen said. “Very physical as well, but I think we kept it exciting until the end. I’m incredibly happy with winning here at Miami. It was an incredible Sunday for us. A race like this is incredibly satisfying. I really think we had good pace on the medium tyre. That basically made the race because that’s where I opened up my gap because once we got on the hard tyres, we were very evenly matched. We were always trading lap times. Of course, I was not very happy that the safety car came out, but of course, these things happen at the end. You cannot do anything about it…It’s been really good. We’re closing the gap [in the championship standings]. Just a shame of our retirements [at Bahrain and Australia]. I could’ve been a lot better already in the championship, but we’ll keep hunting.”

Leclerc, who qualified on pole position on Saturday and led the first nine events of the event, settled in second place for the second time this season.

“It was a very difficult race physically,” Leclerc said. “We struggled quite a bit with the medium tyres, especially in the first stint and got overtaken. [Verstappen] made our race a bit more difficult from that moment onwards. On the hard [tyres], we were very competitive and towards the end, I thought I could get Max at one point, but today, they had the advantage in terms of pace. It was fun…We need to keep pushing. Upgrades will be very important throughout the year and I hope now we can do a step up from next race onwards. It’s been tight since the beginning of the season and that’s what we like to see.”

Meanwhile, Carlos Sainz rallied from sustaining back-to-back DNFs during the previous two Grand Prix events and from wrecking during Friday’s practice session by fending off Sergio “Checo” Perez for third place as he grabbed his third podium result of the season and the ninth of his career. Sainz’s result marked the third time this season where both Ferrari competitors stood on the podium at the conclusion of a Grand Prix event. Perez, who dealt with power issues throughout the event and who locked up his tyres on Lap 52 while trying to pass Sainz, settled in fourth place.

“I had to manage it and I fought through it, especially with Checo [Perez] at the end on the medium tyre,” Sainz said. “It was very difficult to get behind, but we managed to keep the podium, which is a decent result. It wasn’t easy at all. It’s been a tough race with the tyres. The car was sliding a lot. At the end, we got what we deserved. We just had a decent P3 and we can built it up from here. I want more, but it’s not bad.”

Finishing behind both Red Bull and Ferrari competitors were the Mercedes’ competitors of George Russell and Sir Lewis Hamilton, with Russell extending his string of top-five results through the first five scheduled Grand Prix events and in his first full-time season with the Silver Arrow team. Russell’s top-five result occurred after he managed to overtake teammate Hamilton on Lap 54.

Valtteri Bottas, who was running in the top five throughout the event until he went wide in Turn 17, fell back to seventh place for his fourth result in the points as an Alfa Romeo competitor through the first five events. Alpine’s Fernando Alonso crossed the finish line in eighth place, but was penalized five seconds for making late contact with Pierre Gasly as he was demoted to 10th place. This elevated teammate Esteban Ocon, who also rallied from wrecking during Friday’s practice session and starting at the rear of the field when he did not post a qualifying time on Saturday, to eighth place. Meanwhile, Alexander Albon benefitted from the late 11-lap shootout and a series of carnages ensuing around him to finish in ninth place and collect a couple of points for Williams Racing.

The first competitor who finished outside of the top-10 points-paying results was McLaren’s Daniel Ricciardo followed by Aston Martin’s Lance Stroll, AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda and Williams Racing’s Nicholas Latifi.

Mick Schumacher, who was in position to record his first points of the season during the 10-lap shootout, fell back to 15th place after making late contact against Aston Martin’s Sebastian Vettel, which sent Vettel airborne while Schumacher damaged the front wing of his Haas VF-22. Vettel, who started the event in pit lane along with teammate Lance Stroll due to fuel temperature issues, retired in 17th place.

Kevin Magnussen, Schumacher’s teammate at Haas who was running outside of the top 10 in the closing laps, retired in 16th place on the final lap after making late on-track contact with Stroll.

Lando Norris retired in 19th place after spinning and making contact with the barriers between Turns 8 and 9 following contact with Gasly’s AlphaTauri AT03 on Lap 40, which punctured Norris’ right-rear tyre drew a safety car on the track. Meanwhile, Gasly would also retire in 18th place prior to the 11-lap shootout and following his share of on-track contacts.

Rookie Guanyu Zhou retired in 20th place, dead last, due to an early technical issue to his Alfa Romeo C42.

Results:

1. Max Verstappen, 26 points

2. Charles Leclerc, 18 points

3. Carlos Sainz, 15 points

4. Sergio Perez, 12 points

5. George Russell, 10 points

6. Lewis Hamilton, eight points

7. Valtteri Bottas, six points

8. Esteban Ocon, four points

9. Alexander Albon, two points

10. Fernando Alonso, one point

11. Daniel Ricciardo

12. Lance Stroll

13. Yuki Tsunoda

14. Nicholas Latifi

15. Mick Schumacher

16. Kevin Magnussen, +1 lap

17. Sebastian Vettel, +3 laps

18. Pierre Gasly – Retired

19. Lando Norris – Retired

20. Guanyu Zhou – Retired

With his runner-up result, Charles Leclerc continues to lead the drivers’ standings by 19 points over Max Verstappen, 38 over Sergio Perez, 45 over George Russell, 51 over Carlos Sainz and 68 over Lewis Hamilton.

In addition, Ferrari continues to lead the constructors’ standings by six points over Red Bull Racing RBPT, 62 over Mercedes, 111 over McLaren Mercedes, 126 over Alfa Romeo Ferrari and 129 over Alpine Renault.

Next on the 2022 Formula One schedule is Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for the Spanish Grand Prix, which will occur on May 22.

RFK, King’s Hawaiian Announce Partnership for Keselowski, No. 6 Team

By
Official Release
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Iconic Bread Company to Serve as a Primary Partner for Keselowski in 2022

CONCORD, N.C. (May 8, 2022) – RFK Racing and King’s Hawaiian have announced an exciting partnership that will see the iconic bread company partner with Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 team for the remainder of the 2022 season. RFK and King’s Hawaiian will collaborate on compelling activation programs to engage the NASCAR community, and King’s Hawaiian will also serve as the primary partner on the No. 6 car for two upcoming races.

“We’re thrilled to announce this partnership with such a fun and reputable company,” said Steve Newmark, President of RFK Racing. “I think I speak for many across our sport and country that the King’s Hawaiian brand immediately brings to mind quality and great taste, and we can’t wait to promote their classic offerings and new products to our entire fanbase.”

King’s Hawaiian – known for its famous soft, and fluffy dinner rolls with just the right touch of sweetness – has partnered with RFK to get NASCAR fans excited about the launch of its newest products, Original Hawaiian Sweet Pretzel Slider Buns and Original Hawaiian Sweet Pretzel Hamburger Buns. The new products, which are the perfect balance of sweet and salty, and irresistibly soft and fluffy, join the existing King’s Hawaiian product portfolio featuring rolls, sliced bread, hamburger buns, hot dog buns, mini-subs and sliders.

“We are thrilled to partner with RFK Racing to announce the launch of our newest innovations, Pretzel Slider Buns and Pretzel Hamburger Buns, and introduce fans to a new weekly tradition, Slider Sunday with King’s Hawaiian,” said Samantha Guerreiro, Vice President of Marketing at King’s Hawaiian. “On Sundays, millions of fans across the country tune in to the sport with their friends and family – and we are inviting them to sweeten up their watch parties by serving up some sliders on King’s Hawaiian bread in celebration of Slider Sunday.”

Their debut with the No. 6 comes the weekend of May 15 at Kansas Speedway, the site of two of Keselowski’s 35 NASCAR Cup Series wins. Kansas is one of 11 tracks on the Cup circuit where Keselowski has multiple wins, and it stands as one of his top-performing tracks statistically with an 11.5 average finish. In addition to wins in 2011 and 2019, Keselowski has 13 top-10s overall at the 1.5-mile track in 24 starts.

King’s Hawaiian’s second primary race comes in the summer at Nashville Superspeedway, where last year the Cup Series visited for the first time in its history. It sits about 40 minutes outside of the Music City in Lebanon, Tennessee, and last season Keselowski finished 23rd at the 1.33-mile track.

The Kansas race is set for 3 p.m. ET on FS1 on Sunday, May 15, while the race at Nashville will air on NBC on Sunday, June 26 at 5 p.m. ET for the network’s debut at the halfway mark of the Cup schedule.

About King’s Hawaiian
Founded more than 70 years ago in Hilo, Hawaii, by Robert R. Taira, KING’S HAWAIIAN is a family-owned business that for three generations has been dedicated to providing irresistible, original recipe Hawaiian foods made with Aloha Spirit. A priority for the company is sharing the Hawaiian Way – a uniquely Hawaiian approach to hospitality based on graciousness, generosity, and a commitment to making everyone feel a part of the KING’S HAWAIIAN ‘ohana’ (extended family). KING’S HAWAIIAN makes the #1 branded dinner roll in the United States, along with other great Hawaiian foods including hamburger buns, hot dog buns, sandwich bread and more. The company operates baking facilities in Torrance, California, and Oakwood, Georgia. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.KingsHawaiian.com, or find KING’S HAWAIIAN on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

About Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing
RFK Racing, in its 35th season of competition in 2022, features an ownership lineup pairing one of the sport’s most iconic names, Jack Roush, along with NASCAR Champion, Brad Keselowski, and Fenway Sports Group owner John Henry. Roush initially founded the team in 1988 and it has since become one of the most successful racing operations in the world, propelling him to be the first NASCAR owner to amass three hundred wins and capturing eight championships, including back-to-back NASCAR Cup titles in 2003 and 2004. Keselowski, a former owner himself in the NASCAR Truck Series, joins the ownership fold while piloting the iconic No. 6 Ford, and brings to the team a championship mindset himself having won the 2012 NASCAR Cup Series Championship. In 2007, Roush partnered with Henry, who also owns Major League Baseball’s Boston Red Sox and English Premier League’s Liverpool F.C., to form Roush Fenway Racing. The Fenway group also added the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins to its portfolio in 2022. Off the track, RFK is a leader and proven winner in NASCAR marketing solutions, having produced multiple award-winning social media, digital content and experiential marketing campaigns. Visit rfkracing.com, and follow the team on all social platforms @rfkracing.

Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc on Pole Position for the first-ever Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix

By
Official Release
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  • Charles Leclerc will start tomorrow’s Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix from Pole Position after setting the fastest time in his Ferrari
  • A capacity crowd attended the first-ever qualifying day in Miami Gardens to witness an exciting battle for the front row of the grid accompanied by dramatic support races and world class off-track entertainment
  • Music artists Post Malone and Zedd entertained fans from Hard Rock Beach Club
  • VIP celebrities attending qualifying included former First Lady Michelle Obama and film director George Lucas; legendary actor Michael Douglas presented Leclerc with the Pirelli Pole Position Award
  • Opening round of the all-female W Series Miami presented by Hard Rock won by Jamie Chadwick

MIAMI GARDENS, Fla., After an exciting qualifying contest, Charles Leclerc will start on Pole Position for tomorrow’s inaugural Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix after beating his team-mate Carlos Sainz by just 0.19 seconds. His time of 1m 28.796s was the quickest lap of the track so far this weekend and was set by the Monaco-born driver on his final lap of the qualifying hour.

A capacity crowd packed into the newly-built Miami International Autodrome to witness a thrilling battle for supremacy in the hot South Florida sunshine. In the final ten minutes of qualifying, Verstappen looked set for pole with the quickest time of the session on his first run — ahead of the two Ferraris. But as the top three emerged from the pits for their second attempt in Q3, the Dutchman made a mistake, handing the initiative to the Italian team.

Leclerc took advantage of his rival’s error to set a blistering pace around the 5.41km track and snatched Pole Position away from his opponent. The jubilant Ferrari fans inside the circuit then had more to cheer when Sainz also improved his time to demote Verstappen to third by an incredible five thousandths of a second. Mexico’s Sergio Perez took fourth to lock out the second row of the grid for the Red Bull team. Behind them, one of the stars of qualifying was Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas who clinched fifth, one place ahead of seven-time World Champion Lewis Hamilton.

After he jumped out of his Ferrari, Leclerc was presented the Pirelli Pole Position Award from Hollywood actor Michael Douglas and was quick to thank the Miami crowd for their support: “It’s incredible to be here in the US and to see how much the sport has grown over the past few years and to see so many people in the grandstand — it definitely motivates us. And there are also a lot of Ferrari fans, so it’s amazing. I feel at ease with the car, it feels great to drive,” said Leclerc. “Tomorrow will be a tight race and it is good to have Carlos by my side. The pace is there for both our cars so hopefully we can keep our positions until the end tomorrow to bring home a strong result for our team.”

Saturday’s qualifying hour kicked-off at 4pm E.T. local time and ran trouble-free, devoid of the red-flag stoppages that had appeared in the previous three practice sessions partly due to drivers become more familiar with the nuances of the challenging anticlockwise Miami International Autodrome. With track temperatures reaching a scorching 128 degrees F on Saturday, those behind the wheel needed a cool head to tackle the sport’s newest venue.

The only absentee from qualifying was Frenchman Esteban Ocon. He had crashed his Alpine at the narrow Turn 13/14 section of the lap in the morning’s third free practice and the repairs required to fix the left-hand side of his car meant he had to skip qualifying. Despite that one small interruption to proceedings, the rest of the session ran without any issues and it was the Red Bull of Sergio Perez that topped the FP3 timesheets ahead of Leclerc.

Both Mercedes drivers struggled in that session and running on the medium compound tyre they were 15th (Hamilton) and 17th (George Russell) respectively, with Russell eventually qualifying 12th place for tomorrow’s 57-lap race. Despite the result, the Mercedes team were honoured to be joined by a number of VIPs in their garage, including former First Lady Michelle Obama and the legendary Star Wars film creator George Lucas.

Aside from the F1® action, there was plenty of other on-track events to keep the capacity crowd entertained throughout the day. In the morning there was a special parade to showcase the glorious automotive history of Ferrari and its standing in Formula 1®. Organised by Ferrari USA, there included many rare and historic models — including a Ferrari GTB California and an SP Monza. The cars formed up on the starting grid before performing a single demonstration lap. Two of the cars were driven by Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix Managing Partner Tom Garfinkel and Ambassador Mario Andretti.

In a busy schedule there were also two races, including the season-opening round of the all-female W Series Miami presented by Hard Rock. In a dramatic race, double champion Jamie Chadwick grabbed the lead on the final lap to claim her seventh win in the series. The British driver had taken the lead at the start after pole sitter Nerea Marti was slow away. On the opening lap Alice Powell struck the wall at Turn 8 to bring out the Safety Car — which was converted to a red-flag to repair the barriers.

At the restart, Chadwick withstood immense pressure from second-placed Emma Kimilainen. In the final minutes of the race, the Finnish driver passed Chadwick for the lead at Turn 11 and looked set to take victory when the Safety Car was deployed for a second time. In a thrilling last-lap dash to the flag, Chadwick reclaimed the lead to make a perfect start to her title defence. In the day’s other race, US-driver Sebastian Carazo put in a dominant drive to triumph in the Porsche Sport Sprint Challenge America by Yokohama.

Away from the on-track spectacle, the crowds were entertained by a star-studded line-up on stage at the Hard Rock Beach Club. The rapper/singer Post Malone brought his contemporary hip-hop sound to the Miami International Autodrome just prior to qualifying and the award-winning, electro-house legend Zedd round-up up the day’s entertainment with a DJ set at this weekend’s hottest beach club in Miami Gardens.

About the Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix

Scheduled to make its debut on 6-8 May, 2022, the Formula 1® Crypto.com Miami Grand Prix is the sport’s newest race on the Formula 1® calendar. Located in Miami Gardens, Florida, the world’s top drivers are set to compete on a brand-new circuit located within the complex of the Hard Rock Stadium, the home of the legendary Miami Dolphins NFL team. The 5.41km Miami International Autodrome features 19 corners, three straights and has an estimated top speed of 320km/h.

The race will also provide an additional tourist boost and economic impact to local businesses in the greater Miami region. Formula 1® and South Florida Motorsports are working closely with the local community to provide an allotment of discounted tickets for the residents of Miami Gardens, ensuring they have the opportunity to experience the thrill of the sport. Additionally, South Florida Motorsports have launched a programme to support both local businesses and the community to ensure they get the full benefits of the race being held in Miami Gardens. This includes a STEM education programme through F1 in Schools, as well as the opportunity for local restaurants to be part of the race weekend.

About Formula 1®

The FIA Formula 1® World ChampionshipTM was inaugurated in 1950, unifying the sport of Grand Prix motor racing as the world’s most prestigious motorsport competition. Through more than 70 years it has grown to become the world’s most popular annual sporting series. In 2016 it was watched by 400 million unique television viewers from over 200 territories. The 2021 season will run from March to December and spans 23 races in 21 countries. Formula 1® is a subsidiary of Liberty Media Corporation (NASDAQ: LSXMA, LSXMB, LSXMK, BATRA, BATRK, FWONA, FWONK) attributed to the Formula One Group tracking stock. For more information on Formula 1® visit: formula1.com

Justin Allgaier finds Lady Luck at Darlington and breaks one-year winless streak

By
Angie Campbell
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Photo by David Yeazell

Justin Allgaier returned to victory lane at Darlington Raceway Saturday afternoon in his JR Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet and ended a 34-race winless drought.

Coincidentally, the last Xfinity Series trophy he raised was also at the track known as Too Tough to Tame, where Allgaier, apparently, is the exception to the rule.

It doesn’t hurt to be part of a winning team either. JRM has won the last three races in the series with Noah Gragson victorious at Talladega Superspeedway and Josh Berry at Dover Motor Speedway.

Allgaier led 76 laps of the Mahindra ROXOR 200 and grabbed his fourth top-five finish this year but gave much of the credit to his No. 7 crew who kept him in contention all day with fast pit stops.

“This team right here — the pit stops today were killing it,” he said. “They were awesome. This Hellman‘s Camaro was so fast. Just a testament to the 7 guys, but everybody at JR Motorsports — they‘ve been working so hard. It‘s showing with our finishes, not just our 7 team, but all of us.

“We‘ve been doing this way too long, and you know how great it feels to get back to Victory Lane.

“And by the way, it was awesome racing my teammates. That was probably the coolest part, racing my teammates all day, so hats off to those guys.”

His teammate, Gragson won the first two stages and led 45 laps during the race for his eighth top-five result of the season.

“A 1-2 finish for our company, that was great,” Gragson said. “We had great points today. Two stage wins and a second place. I wanted that win. I was ripping the top. I went on a bike ride this morning with Justin Allgaier, right at sunrise. He said, ‘Man, I’m going to run the bottom,’ and I knew he was going to run the bottom.

Photo by Ted Seminara

“We ran at the fence all day. He got the win. Hopefully, we’re selling T-shirts out on the concourse for ripping the top. I don’t know if anyone was higher than us, and there’s barely a scrape on the right side.”

Riley Herbst finished third, John Hunter Nemechek was fourth and JRM driver, Sam Mayer, rounded out the top five. Landon Cassill, Brandon Jones, AJ Allmendinger, Austin Hill and Daniel Hemric finished sixth – 10th respectively.

Up Next: May 21 at Texas Motor Speedway for the Texas 250 at 1:30 p.m. ET on FS1.

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RCR NXS Post Race Report: Darlington

By
Official Release
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Sheldon Creed and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Show Speed Before Early Race Exit at Darlington Raceway

Finish: 38th
Start: 10th
Points: 15th

“I’ve always loved Darlington Raceway so we really thought this was the weekend our luck would turn around in the Whelen Chevrolet. I’ve won two NASCAR Truck Series races here and we started off the weekend great. We didn’t get a chance to qualify, but we were pretty good in practice. Our car was driving really well at the start of the race but we had to retire early with a mechanical issue. It’s a bummer but we’ll regroup and come back strong at Texas Motor Speedway.” -Sheldon Creed

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics Team

Finish: 9th
Start: 12th
Points: 10th

“I feel like we had some positives today at Darlington Raceway in our Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet. The biggest issue we faced was managing the tires because we were sliding the front tires when it fired off. I didn’t want to completely burn the fronts off so I couldn’t push it as hard as I wanted to on a restart. It was a lot easier to lose positions because I didn’t want to hurt the front end. We kept working on it and kept getting it better all day. On one of the stops, we got the rear out of the racetrack too much. I struggled in Turns 3 and 4 trying to run the wall. I’ve always ran the bottom and I couldn’t get comfortable running right up against the fence in 3 and 4. We’re going to keep working at it and try to get a little better and running the fence. All in all, it was a solid day but it’s still a little frustrating because you want to win races, so we still have some work to do.” -Austin Hill

Toyota Racing NXS Post-Race Recap — Darlington 5.7.22

By
Official Release
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DARLINGTON TOP-FIVE FOR SAM HUNT RACING AND NEMECHEK
Two Toyota GR Supras Tally Top-10s at the Track ‘Too Tough to Tame’

DARLINGTON, S.C. (May 7, 2022) – After winning last night’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Darlington Raceway, John Hunter Nemechek got behind the wheel of the Sam Hunt Racing No. 26 GR Supra and claimed a fourth-place finish in Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race. Brandon Jones (seventh) also claimed a top-10 finish at the treacherous South Carolina track.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Darlington Raceway
Race 11 of 33 – 200.1 miles, 147 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Justin Allgaier*
2nd, Noah Gragson*
3rd, Riley Herbst*
4th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
5th, Sam Mayer*
7th, BRANDON JONES
16th, TY GIBBS
30th, RYAN TRUEX
33rd, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 26 Stillhouse Vodka Toyota GR Supra, Sam Hunt Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

How do you feel about your race today and another top-five finish for Sam Hunt Racing?

“We unloaded yesterday and had a really fast Stillhouse 1111 Toyota GR Supra. This Sam Hunt Racing machine was quick. All the guys gave me a great car here. Had to start back because we didn’t get to qualify and we were able to get into the top-10 I think in the first stage, made some adjustments, got it better. And then I thought we were going to have a shot at the win there until the caution came out and lost a few spots on pit road there. The pit crew did awesome for not running up run every week and maintaining most of the time. So shout out to the Sam Hunt Racing guys. I think that’s three or four or five starts in this car and I think three out of the five are top five finishes so pretty proud of everyone in the organization.”

After two strong races at Darlington, what does this do for your overall momentum?

“I feel like it’s good no matter what series you’re running in. I feel like the XFINITY car can translate over to the truck and truck and translate over to the XFINITY car and I feel like I learned a lot last night in the truck race. Had a really good Toyota Tundra TRD PRO and that carried over into today. Our Toyota GR Supra was really fast. Just needed track position to start off. We battled our way through the field and made the right adjustments I felt like and had a shot there until the caution came out and just lined up wrong. Chose restarts wrong but we’ll learn from it and now we’ll go race I think seven or eight more weeks straight in the truck series trying to pick up some more wins.”

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Menards/TurtleWax Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 7th

How was your race today overall?

“Yesterday we were pretty snug in practice and then we fired off today really loose so I know we didn’t do much different and the weather was kind of similar so I don’t know where it all kind of switched for us today. But we rebounded I think and we still stayed in the fight pretty well there and continue to at least keep pushing back up through there kind of early on. We’d fall back and then we’d find a little speed there. So all in all, it wasn’t terrible for sure. I think that we can definitely continue to build on this and keep going here and momentum is still kind of strong in my opinion. Even after Dover and everything today, I feel like we’re still kind of in the right direction as far as how fast we’ve been here in the past couple weeks. So looking forward to many more here in the next couple of weeks.”

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About Toyota

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NASCAR: Riley Herbst Finished 3rd to Lead Ford in NXS Race at Darlington

By
Official Release
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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Mahindra ROXOR 200 Post Race| Saturday, May 7, 2022

FORD FINISHING RESULTS
3rd – Riley Herbst
11th – Ryan Sieg
25th – JJ Yeley
27th – David Starr
32nd – Kyle Sieg
36th – Joe Graf Jr

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang – HOW SOLID WAS THIS CAR TODAY? “I thought it was fairly good from spring last year we finished probably a lap down in 19th, so to come here and finish third and to honestly have a top-five car is just a testament to Stewart-Haas Racing and everyone at Ford Performance and Monster Energy. This wasn’t one of my favorite racetracks, and I still think we need about a tenth a lap to try and win these races here in Darlington, but we’re getting closer and it’s good.”

ANOTHER SOLID FINISH. “Yeah, it was good. We were pretty good the first stage. The second stage we were even better and then I messed up on the restart and spun the tires and finished the second stage in ninth or tenth. I was pretty bummed out about that and luckily we were able to get our track position back to kind of where we ran all day in the fourth or fifth spot and ended up third. Another top five and another top 10 is just what we need – consistency – and I think we’re doing a pretty good job.”

YOU GOT A LOT OF STAGE POINTS TODAY. “I think it was good. Obviously, I’m still bummed because I had an opportunity to get two fifths or a fifth and a sixth and now I had a fifth and a ninth, so that’s four points there I kind of gave up. Obviously, it’s bad to look back on, but four points is four points.”

WHAT ABOUT COMING TO DARLINGTON AND THIS RACE. IS IT A LITTLE SCARY? “I wouldn’t say scared, but it hasn’t been one of my best tracks recently just because I’ve struggled on how hard it is to race here, so good runs like this help. Hopefully, we can have another one in the fall.”

YOU WERE ON THE INSIDE OF ROW 2 ON THE FINAL RESTART. WHAT WAS YOUR PLAN? “I was just thinking not to spin my tires and I did spin my tires. I had to gather it back up and get going down the back straightaway and ultimately we ended up where we should have ended up – third. All in all, pretty good.”

CORVETTE RACING AT SPA: Tough Day for No. 64 Corvette

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Official Release
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Rain, bad luck conspire against Milner, Tandy in fourth-place run

SPA-FRANCORCHAMPS, Belgium (May 7, 2022) – Misfortune and Mother Nature worked against Corvette Racing on Saturday as an early-race advantage turned into a fourth-place class finish for the No. 64 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R at the Six Hours of Spa.

Tommy Milner and Nick Tandy finished a lap down in the FIA World Endurance Championship’s GTE Pro class but had hopes for much more early on. Nevertheless, the team will take all the information it gained from this weekend into its next event – the 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Saturday’s race was a disjointed one, to say the least, with a mix of 11 full-course yellow or safety-car periods, plus three red-flag stoppages. All totaled, there were less than three hours of green-flag time in the race.

Tandy started third in class and was in a position to gain track position and potentially the lead by going a lap longer than the rest of the GTE Pro field before his first stop for fuel and tires. An untimely safety-car period for a heavy prototype crash and a subsequent red flag closed the pit entry and exit just before the Corvette could make it into pitlane, which meant Tandy had to stop for a five-second emergency service for fuel.

Not only did that cost Corvette Racing a shot at the lead, it also meant a loss of more than a lap of track position. Due to the sporting regulations, Tandy wasn’t allowed to leave the pitlane until the field made a full lap past the pit exit after race officials lifted the red flag. Heavy rain showers arrived at the track during the stoppage as the GTE Pro field went to grooved wet-weather tires.

More rain halted the race twice more as Tandy stayed in the Corvette past the halfway point. He swapped over to Milner a little after three hours running but with the No. 64 C8.R back on the lead lap. More rain fell on the circuit to cause another red flag with about two hours and 40 minutes left. As the track began to dry during the next hour, Milner began to lose performance as the fully grooved rain tires grew hot and lost grip.

He stopped with an hour and 45 minutes left for a driver change and newer rain tires for Tandy, who eventually went on slick tires 30 minutes later under another full-course yellow with Milner closing for the final hour.

The next event for Corvette Racing is the 24 Hours of Le Mans on June 11-12 with two Corvette C8.Rs set to compete in GTE Pro.

TOMMY MILNER, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTE PRO: “It’s a little unfortunate for us. The pace of the car, as we saw in qualifying and practice, was pretty good. We basically got punished for stretching our fuel on the first stint… just unlucky in reality. I don’t think we really ever got back from that situation. It’s nothing that anyone else did or that we did. It’s just the way the rules are. But it was fun. I really enjoyed my laps around Spa. The Corvette was very good. The race conditions were very difficult but we had fun.”

NICK TANDY, NO. 64 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FOURTH IN GTE PRO: “It was an interesting race. We started well and made our way to second position. We were trying to stretch the fuel out a bit to give us some options on strategy. In the end, it hurt us with a safety car and red flag. Obviously we were out of fuel so we had to pit. The rules state that if you pit under red, you have to wait a lap which put us behind. Through good work, strategy and taking a risk on tires, we made that lap back and got on the back of things. But we were always that step behind from then on in. We maximized what we could in the end. It’s good practice to see all these scenarios work out ahead of Le Mans. It wasn’t our day today. The luck didn’t fall our way but we learned a lot and got decent points in the championship.”

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 80 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.

Joey Logano Wins Pole for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series Race at Darlington

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Official Release
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FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS:
1st – Joey Logano
7th – Ryan Blaney
12th – Aric Almirola
13th – Chase Briscoe
16th – Michael McDowell
18th – Chris Buescher
19th – Austin Cindric
23rd – Brad Keselowski
25th – Harrison Burton
27th – Todd Gilliland
28th – Cole Custer
31st – Cody Ware
32nd – JJ Yeley
35th – Kevin Harvick
36th – BJ McLeod

KEVIN HARVICK, No. 4 Rheem Ford Mustang – NOTE: Harvick cut a left-rear tire during practice and did not make a qualifying attempt while repairs were made. “It’s really just kind of a guess. How long the tire was going flat. Trying to decide did the tire come apart or was it going low. You’re kind of guessing as to what was what to analyze your handling characteristics of the car. So it’s definitely a lot of guessing at this point. Fixing the diffuser, not having a backup car, no spare parts or anything like that. You have to round all that stuff up from somebody else and put that stuff on your car and repair those couple of pieces that were damaged. They got all that done. The big key is just trying to figure out how to analyze your car and not knowing what the circumstances were with the tire.”

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – PIT ROAD INTERVIEW – YOU DIDN’T KNOW WHAT YOU HAD BEFORE QUALIFYING. WAS THAT A SURPRISE LAP? “At this point in the season everything is a surprise, you’ve just got to adapt quickly and today the guys did a great job giving me something I could wheel and it felt good and able to lay down a really good one and two there. My three and four was decent. I thought I probably left a little there, but, overall, it’s so cool to have this car up front. This is my first quarter midget. This is where it all started for me, so to go to where it all started and start on the front row here at Darlington is really, really special. All the way from Silver City in Meridan, Connecticut. This is a pretty neat thing for me.”

WHAT DOES THIS DO FOR TOMORROW? “I hope there are a lot of pit stops here. It helps with the pit stall selection, obviously. There’s nice little advantage up there at stall one, but it’s a long race. This is definitely a long one. You have to have some long run speed in your car as well, so hopefully we’ll have that.”

POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang – DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE MORE ON THE EDGE HERE WITH THE NEW TIRE OR NOT? “I think it’s the same stuff that we’ve been fighting when you go to low grip racetracks like Fontana and it has some bumps, some tire wear. You have those things and we don’t all have everything quite figured out yet. We’ve had 15 minutes of practice at a time and we can’t change anything that’s substantial to fix it, so we’re learning at a very slow rate in comparison to what we’ve done in the past when we’ve had three practices and changed springs and bars and changed all this stuff, where we can’t do that anymore. It takes longer to figure things out and I think that on top of the car really doesn’t do a good job being sideways like the old car wanted to be sideways. This one doesn’t really like it, so when you start to get in trouble it’s gone. The challenges when you come to a low-grip racetrack, where the car is yawed out more, makes it ever more challenging for the drivers to get a hold of that.”

HOW IS THE NEXT GEN CAR COMING ALONG SINCE THE CLASH? “It’s coming. We’re still developing and learning things as we go, whether it’s as a sport or as an individual team. We’re all kind of figuring out what makes it go fast and then I think all things considered it’s gone really, really well. You look at the situation our sport was in as far as getting parts and the lack of time with the car, it was a recipe for disaster. It really could have gone the other way fairly easily, but I think everyone in the industry has done a good job of getting cars to us, racing and doing everything we need to do and putting on good races. The races have been pretty entertaining.”

IS THIS A CASE TODAY OF THIS CAR STILL BEING UP AND DOWN, WEEK TO WEEK, AND TRACK TO TRACK? “It’s kind of hard to say. Darlington is such a unique racetrack. There’s only one Darlington. We really haven’t gone to many bigger racetracks yet. We went to Fontana and that’s a unique one. Vegas is probably similar to Kansas in some ways, but it’s kind of hard to say for sure on how that all works. I’d say we’ve been racing better on the short tracks. Take Dover out of the question, but the rest of them, yeah, so it’s hard for me to give a clear progress report. I can give something maybe in general, but it’s kind of tough to say, ‘Hey, are we better at short tracks than mile-and-a-halves right now?’ It seems pretty equal.”

ON HIS THROWBACK SCHEME. “I think my car looks cool this week, at least it is to me. I don’t know if it’s cool with anyone else, but, for me, the quarter midget scheme is like the coolest thing because I think it says so much to kids about chasing your dream. My dream when I drove this paint scheme as a kid was to be a Cup driver and win a championship and to have that paint scheme is so special to me this weekend and having it on the front row it’s a full circle thing. Having Silver City Quarter Midget Club on the back and all the fun stories that go along with the scheme to me is really neat, so having that start on the front row on Mother’s Day, that’s a pretty neat story.”

IS THIS THE BEST CAR YOU’VE HAD THIS SEASON OR IS IT TOO SOON TO TELL? “We fired off pretty good off the truck and the speed continued throughout the run it seemed like, so probably one of the best ones we’ve had so far this year.”

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