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Bubba Wallace Is More Than Just A NASCAR Driver

By
SM
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Photo by Andrew Boyd for SpeedwayMedia.com

William Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. is known as a great race car driver and also for being among the only few drivers who overcame the racial barrier to compete at motorsports’ highest level. Wallace has been reconigned with this accomplished for many years, however, there is so much more to him and yet no one talks about it.

Wallace is way more than just being a NASCAR driver, Wallace is a phenomenal racing driver. The accolades and achievements are proof of his tremendous abilities and skillset. But there is so much more to him. His ravishing personality, loving and respectful nature, and confidence in making a path for other black people to enter the sport.

Today, we will try to understand Bubba Wallace and his exceptional aspects of life.

A Glimpse at Bubba Wallace’s Career

At the age of nine, Wallace started racing in Legends Car Racing and Bandolero series. In 2005 he won 35 Bandolero Series races and in 2008 he became the youngest driver to win at Franklin County Speedway.

Later in 2010, Wallace began competing in NASCAR K&N Pro Series East. He was signed as a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR). From there, his career took off, and he became the youngest driver ever to win at the track. In the same year, he captured the K&N Pro Series East “Rookie of the Year Award”, the first African American to win the title.

  • An Important Part of Xfinity Series

In 2012, Wallace made his national series debut through Xfinity Series. He won his first career pole the same year. In 2015, Bubba Wallace left Joe Gibbs Racing and joined Roush Fenway Racing as a full-time driver. Before he was participating as a part-time racer only. Throughout the Xfinity Series, Wallace kept acing each game. In the majority of the games, he finished under 10th position.

  • A New Era – Truck Series

In 2013, Wallace became the first African-American to win in a NASCAR national series. Wendell Scott was the last African-American who won such a title in 1963. It was a whole gap of 50 years!

2014 marked his first non-short track victory with Kyle Busch Motorsports. Throughout the Truck Series, Wallace shone like a true star. He won many accolades and broke several records.

  • Success Changing the Life in Cup Series

Richard Petty Motorsports (RPM) signed Wallace as a replacement for Cup Series in 2017. It made him the first African-American to race in a Cup Series since 2006 Bill Lester. Later in 2018, Richard Petty Motorsports signed him as a full-time driver. It made Wallace the first African-American a full-time Cup Series rider after Wendell Scott in 1971.

In 2018, Wallace made it to Ebony Magazine’s Power 100 List. He joined the ranks with Antonio Brown, Stephen Curry, and Barack and Michelle Obama.

2019 marked Wallace’s 3rd position, giving him the recognition of “Highest Finishing African-American in the Daytona 500”. In 2021, Wallace became the first black driver to win a Cup Series.

Hank Aaron and Bubba Wallace Special Moment

Wallace is a great fan of the legendary Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron. Since his childhood, he has been following Major League Baseball’s star, Hank Aaron.

In 2018, when Wallace appeared for his Daytona 500 race, he had a special moment with the National Baseball Hall of Famer. The former Home Run King called Wallace before the match. Receiving a phone call from the idol is a miracle in itself.

At that time, Wallace was part of Richard Petty Motorsports, and when he realized that the call is from his favorite legend, Hank Aaron, he got excited about it. Aaron called to wish Wallace good luck and hope that the race will go great for him.

And the rest is history!

Wallace made history in Daytona 500, by becoming the first black man to finish second in the race. After all, he spoke with the iconic history-maker himself that day!

If you are not aware, Henry Louis “Hank” Aaron was himself a history maker. He was the first black man to become a Home Run King in MLB. He took the title of Home Run King from a white man.

What Makes Bubba Wallace Different & Unique?

Wallace is more than just a NASCAR driver and a racer. Above all, he is a human with a golden heart. He values people and respects every individual.

Wallace is a philanthropist. He founded the “Live to be Different” foundation. The foundation is dedicated to making the lives better for the unfortunate. In the second quarter of 2020, Wallace received Pocono Spirit Award by National Motorsports Press Association. The same year, he received the Comcast Community Champion of the Year award.

After the brutal murder of George Floyd, Wallace became the face of stock car racing for the Black Lives Matter movement. In 2020, he called on NASCAR to prohibit the display of the Confederate Battle Flag at the races.

During his Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relied 500 NASCAR race, his car had a special paint, honoring the Black Lives Matter movement. He actively preaches “Compassion, Love, and Understanding” for all.

His unbelievable athletic abilities have also paved a way for black racers in NASCAR. He is a pioneer and a beacon of hope for black people.

Bubba Wallace – A Beacon of Hope & Compassion

Wallace is a true gentleman. He believes in equality and hates discrimination. Wallace is an active advocate for the rights of the black man in every field of life. With such high moral values, viewing Wallace as just a NASCAR driver is wrong. He has a whole different identity apart from being a racing driver.

Author Bio:

Scott Trick is the founder of https://sportscardsauthority.com.  Scott has been collecting sports cards since the early 80’s.  He loves all sports and all cards and treats them like art.  His favorite players are Robin Yount, Hank Aaron, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Brett Favre.  It’s obvious he is from the Milwaukee area.

Leclerc dominates for second F1 victory of 2022 in the Australian Grand Prix

By
Andrew Kim
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Charles Leclerc made another statement in his bid to win the 2022 FIA Formula One World Championship after grabbing a dominant victory in the Australian Grand Prix at Albert Park Circuit on Sunday, April 10, from pole position. 

The 24-year-old Monegasque dominated from pole position despite being pressured by Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen from the start. When Verstappen fell out of the event due to a late mechanical issue, the race was all but wrapped up for Leclerc, who proceeded, defended his top spot through a number of safety car periods and cruised to the win over his rivals while also establishing the fastest lap of the event, thus claiming a single bonus point with the victory.

The Australia victory marked Leclerc’s fourth Grand Prix career win in his 83rd F1 start and the second of the season as he extended his championship lead in the drivers’ standings from 12 to 34.

“In Formula One, it’s the first [race] where we control a little bit the gap,” Leclerc said. “What a car today. I did a great job all weekend, but it was not possible without the car. This weekend, especially the race pace, we were extremely strong. The tyres felt great from the first lap to the last lap. We were managing the tyre really well. I’m just so happy. Incredible to win here. We are only at the third race, so it is difficult to think about the championship but we have a very strong car, a reliable car too. For now, we’ve always been there. Hopefully, it continues like this. If it does, we probably have chances for the championship. It’s great to be back in this position.

Finishing in second place and more than 20 seconds behind Leclerc was Sergio “Checo” Perez, who notched his maiden podium result of the season after having potential podium results in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia evaporated.

“[The start] was a bit tricky,” Perez said. “Getting my position, Lewis overtook me on the inside, he braked really late and had a really good Turn 1. My first stint was very poor in terms of degradation. We struggled quite a lot, but the hard, the Safety Car – we were unlucky where he lost two positions, which we recovered late there. It was a great result…Looking forward, we’ve been a bit unlucky the first two races.” 

Settling in the third and final podium spot was George Russell, who fended off teammate Sir Lewis Hamilton to claim his second career podium result and first while driving for the Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team.

“We got to be in it to win it,” Russell said. “[We] Capitalized from other’s misfortunes. We got a little bit lucky today twice, but we’ll take it. There’s so much hard work going on to get us back to the front. To be standing on the podium, it’s special. We are never going to give up. We got to keep on fighting. We were a long way behind and yet here we are, on the podium. I think it’s gonna take some time until we can fight with these boys in red [Ferrari] and blue [Red Bull].  They look pretty exceptional at the moment, but it anyone can [fight them], Mercedes can.”

McLaren’s Lando Norris and Daniel Ricciardo came home in fifth and sixth followed by Alpine’s Esteban Ocon. AlphaTauri’s Pierre Gasly settled in eighth place followed by Alfa Romeo’s Valtteri Bottas and William Racing’s Alexander Albon, who pitted for fresh tyres on the final lap to retain 10th place for a full circuit and record the first point of the season for himself and for Williams Racing.

The first competitor to finish outside of the points was rookie Guanyu Zhou followed by Lance Stroll, who received a five-second time penalty for weaving earlier on the track to remain ahead of Bottas. Haas teammates Mick Schumacher and Kevin Magnussen finished 13th and 14th, leaving Haas with no recorded points for the day, followed by AlphaTauri’s Yuki Tsunoda. Nicholas Latifi, the second driver for Williams Racing, finished 16th followed by Fernando Alonso, whose opportunity to finish in the points evaporated late after he pitted for fresh tyres while being shuffled towards the rear of the field, an issue that also affected Magnussen’s run in the top 10.

Following a dramatic victory in Saudi Arabia in late March, Max Verstappen suffered his second DNF through the first three scheduled events of 2022 after retiring on Lap 39 due to the engine on his RB18 catching on fire, where he was forced to park in Turn 2.

Sebastian Vettel, who was making his first start of the 2022 season after being sidelined for the first two events due to COVID-19, retired on Lap 24 after he got loose and spun in Turn 4 before making contact with the wall and ripping off the front wing of his Aston Martin AMR22

Coming off back-to-back podiums, Carlos Sainz Jr. retired in 20th place, dead last, after he lost his Ferrari F1-75 in Turn 9 on the second lap, where he then cut across the grass, slid off into the gravel and got stuck in the gravel as he was unable to continue despite being dodged by the field.

Results:

1. Charles Leclerc, 26 points

2. Sergio Perez, 18 points

3. George Russell, 15 points

4. Lewis Hamilton, 12 points

5. Lando Norris, 10 points

6. Daniel Ricciardo, eight points

7. Esteban Ocon, six points

8. Valtteri Bottas, four points

9. Pierre Gasly, two points

10. Alexander Albon, one point

11. Guanyu Zhou

12. Lance Stroll

13. Mick Schumacher, +1

14. Kevin Magnussen, +1

15. Yuki Tsunoda, +1

16. Nicholas Latifi, +1

17. Fernando Alonso, +1

18. Max Verstappen – Retired

19. Sebastian Vettel – Retired

20. Carlos Sainz – Retired

Following the third event of the 2022 F1 season, Charles Leclerc continues to lead the drivers’ standings by 34 points over George Russell, 38 over Carlos Sainz Jr., 41 over Sergio Perez, 43 over Lewis Hamilton and 46 points over Max Verstappen.

In addition, Ferrari continues to lead the constructors’ standings by 39 points over Mercedes, 49 over Red Bull Racing RBPT, 80 over McLaren Mercedes and 82 over Alpine Renault.

Next on the 2022 Formula One schedule is Imola Circuit for the third annual Emilia Romagna Grand Prix, which will occur on April 24.

Byron becomes first repeat Cup winner of 2022 with dominant Martinsville victory

By
Andrew Kim
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Photo by Andrew Boyd for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Having a fast and strong race car when it mattered from start to finish, including through a late overtime shootout, William Byron became the first repeat winner in the early stages of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series after scoring a dominant victory in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, April 9.

The 24-year-old Byron from Charlotte, North Carolina, led three times for 212 of 403 laps as he fended off a late challenge from Joey Logano through an overtime attempt to grab his second Cup victory of the season and his second grandfather clock trophy two days after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event at Martinsville, which marked his first NASCAR national touring series victory at the Paperclip-shaped short track in Ridgeway, Virginia.

With on-track qualifying occurring on Friday, Chase Elliott claimed his first pole position of the season after recording a pole-winning lap at 96.151 mph in 19.694 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Aric Almirola, who posted a fast qualifying lap at 95.641 mph in 19.799 seconds.

When the green flag waved and the race started amid a delay due to rain, Elliott launched his No. 9 Llumar Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the front and clear of the field entering the first turn. He then went on to lead the first lap ahead of Aric Almirola, Cole Custer and the field. During the opening lap, AJ Allmendinger served a drive-through penalty through pit road due to his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 failing pre-qualifying inspection three times on Friday.

Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Elliott was leading by more than a second over Custer followed by William Byron, Christopher Bell and Almirola while Chris Buescher, Kevin Harvick, Brad Keselowski, Kyle Busch and Kyle Larson were in the top 10.

Fifteen laps later, Elliott continued to lead by less than two seconds over Custer’s No. 41 Haas Ford Mustang while third-place Byron trailed by two seconds in his No. 24 Raptor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. By then and with Elliott still leading, Hendrick Motorsports became the first Cup team to lead 10,000 laps at a single track.

By the Lap 50 mark, Elliott, who was approaching lapped traffic, remained the leader by more than two seconds over teammate Byron followed by Custer, Bell and Almirola while Buescher, Harvick, Keselowski, Larson and Joey Logano were in the top 10. Rookie Austin Cindric trailed in 11th followed by Alex Bowman, Kyle Busch, Ryan Blaney, Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace, Chase Briscoe, rookie Todd Gilliland, Austin Dillon and Justin Haley. Tyler Reddick was mired in 21st ahead of Ross Chastain, Martin Truex Jr., Michael McDowell, Erik Jones, Denny Hamlin, Daniel Suárez, rookie Harrison Burton, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Corey LaJoie.

Twenty laps later, the battle for the lead intensified as Byron caught and pressured teammate Elliott for the lead, though the former could not find a way to navigate his way around his teammate. By then, Hamlin, who was in 25th place behind Michael McDowell and Erik Jones, was trying to remain on the lead lap.

When the first stage concluded on Lap 80, Elliott, who was able to navigate his way through lapped traffic while also putting McDowell, Hamlin, Daniel Suárez and Erik Jones a lap down, captured his first stage victory of the season. Teammate Byron settled in second followed by Custer, Bell, Almirola, Harvick, Blaney, Logano, Cindric and Kurt Busch.

Under the stage break, the leaders pitted and Elliott retained the lead after exiting pit road with the lead followed by teammate Byron, Bell, Almirola, Custer and Logano. Following the pit stops, Bubba Wallace was penalized for having a crew member jump over the pit wall too soon. In addition, Justin Haley and Brad Keselowski were penalized for having equipment over the wall too soon.

The second stage started on Lap 91 as teammates Elliott and Byron occupied the front row. At the start, Elliott took off with the lead while Byron and Custer battled for the runner-up spot. Behind, Bell and Logano dueled for fourth place in front of Almirola while Blaney moved up to seventh in front of teammate Cindric, Bowman, Harvick, Austin Dillon and Kurt Busch.

At the Lap 100 mark, Elliott was leading by more than a second over teammate Byron while Custer, Bell and Logano settled in the top five. Meanwhile, Hamlin and Erik Jones were battling for the 24th-place spot while both were scored two laps behind the leaders.

Twenty-five laps later, Elliott continued to lead by nearly seven-tenths of a second over teammate Byron followed by Custer, Bell, Logano, Almirola, Blaney, Cindric, Harvick and Austin Dillon. By then, Larson was in 11th ahead of Kurt Busch, Bowman, Briscoe, Kyle Busch, Truex, Chastain, Buescher, Reddick and Gilliland. Bubba Wallace was mired in 23rd behind Keselowski while Hamlin was pinned in 25th place, the second competitor a lap behind Erik Jones.

Through the first 150 scheduled laps, Elliott remained as the leader despite having his advantage decreased to four-tenths of a second over teammate Byron. By then, 22 of 36 competitors were scored on the lead lap while names like McDowell, Erik Jones, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Denny Hamlin, Harrison Burton, Daniel Suárez, AJ Allmendinger, Ty Dillon, Corey LaJoie and Justin Haley were lapped.

By Lap 165, Elliott stabilized his advantage to nearly half a second over teammate Byron. Behind, Team Penske’s Logano and Blaney moved into third and fourth while Custer was being pressured by Bell and Almirola for more.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 180, Elliott, who was navigating his way through lapped traffic, claimed his second consecutive stage victory of the event and of the season. Teammate Byron settled in second followed by Logano, Blaney, Custer, Austin Dillon, Almirola, Cindric, Bell and Harvick.

Under the stage break, the leaders returned to pit road and Byron managed to emerge out in front of teammate Elliott for the first time after exiting with the top spot followed by Blaney, Logan, Austin Dillon and Almirola. During the pit stops, Custer was penalized for hitting a loose tire while exiting his pit stall. In addition, Stenhouse was penalized for speeding on pit road.

With 208 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Byron retained the lead ahead of Elliott and Logano while Blaney followed in pursuit. Behind, Austin Dillon was in fifth followed by Bell, Almirola, Kurt Busch, Cindric and Larson. Way behind the field, a brief stack-up occurred that started with Larson and involved Harvick, Kyle Busch, Bowman, Chastain and Briscoe, with the latter two making contact with Bowman, Busch and Harvick. 

With less than 200 laps remaining and the race surpassing its halfway mark, Byron was out in front by seven-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott followed by Logano, Blaney and Austin Dillon while Bell, Almirola, Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Cindric were in the top 10.

Fifty laps later, Byron continued to lead by less than three-tenths of a second over teammate Elliott, who started to reel in on his Hendrick Motorsports teammate for the top spot, while Logano, Blaney and Austin Dillon stabilized themselves in the top five. By then, 22 of 36 starters were scored on the lead lap.

Another 25 laps later, Byron extended his advantage to more than a second over teammate Elliott while the third- and fourth-place competitors of Logano and Blaney trailed by less than two seconds. Austin Dillon, meanwhile, was still in fifth place while trailing by more than three seconds.

A few laps later, Logano made contact with Elliott as Logano moved into the runner-up spot followed by Blaney and Austin Dillon while Elliott, who was trapped on the outside lane, fell back to fifth place. By then, Allmendinger, who was two laps behind, pitted.

Nearing the final 110 laps of the event, green flag pit stops ensued as Kyle Busch pitted his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry. Shortly after, teammate Martin Truex Jr. pitted his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry, but he eventually returned to pit for a second time due to a flat right-front tire. Bowman also pitted along with Keselowski, Reddick, Bell, Elliott, Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace, Almirola, Harvick, Larson, Logano, Austin Dillon, Cindric, Byron and others. Following the pit stops, Bell was penalized for having a crew member over the pit wall too soon along with Larson, who sped on pit road.

With 91 laps remaining, Byron cycled back to the lead after Blaney pitted. Logano cycled back into the runner-up spot followed by Austin Dillon and Elliott while Blaney settled in fifth. 

A few laps later, the caution flew when Hamlin stalled his No. 11 Sport Clips Toyota TRD Camry through the frontstretch after running out of fuel.

Under caution, some like Elliott, Kyle Busch, Harvick, Erik Jones, Buescher, Bowman and Wallace pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.

With 80 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green as Byron and Austin Dillon occupied the front row. At the start, Byron fended off Dillon to retain the lead while Dillon managed to fend off Logano for the runner-up spot. Behind, a flurry of battles ignited within the pack as Blaney and Kurt Busch battled for fourth place in front of Almirola, who ran into the rear of Blaney’s No. 12 Advance Auto Parts Ford Mustang, while Chastain, Kyle Busch, Briscoe and Cindric duked for seventh place.

Fifteen laps later, Byron stabilized his advantage to nearly seven-tenths of a second over Austin Dillon followed by Logano, Kurt Busch and Blaney while Almirola, Chastain, Kyle Busch, Briscoe and Reddick were in the top 10. By then, Elliott was in 11th followed by Cindric, Erik Jones, Wallace, Bowman, Buescher and Harvick, who got bumped by Elliott earlier and trapped on the outside lane as he lost a bevy of spots.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Byron continued to lead by more than a second over Austin Dillon followed by Logano, Kurt Busch, Blaney, Chastain, Almirola, Kyle Busch, Briscoe and Reddick.

Twenty laps later, Byron stabilized his advantage to a little above one-and-a-half seconds over Austin Dillon while Logano, Kurt Busch and Blaney remained in the top five. 

With 20 laps remaining, Byron remained as the leader by less than two seconds over Austin Dillon while third-place Logano trailed by more than two seconds. 

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Byron was leading by more than two seconds over Austin Dillon followed by Logano, Kurt Busch and Blaney while Chastain, Almirola, Briscoe, Kyle Busch and Elliott were in the top 10. Cindric was in 11th ahead of Erik Jones, Wallace, Bowman, Harvick, Reddick, Keselowski and Buescher, all of whom were on the lead lap.

Just then, the caution flew with six laps remaining when Todd Gilliland locked up his front tires and hit the wall between Turns 3 and 4. The caution all but erased Byron’s advantage of more than two seconds over Austin Dillon as the field stacked up under a cautious pace. It also sent the event into overtime.

Under caution, some led by Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.

During the first overtime attempt, Byron and Logano occupied the front row followed by Austin Dillon, Blaney, Kurt Busch and Chastain. At the start, Byron dueled with Logano through the first turn until Byron managed to clear Logano’s No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang to retain the lead through the backstretch and entering Turns 3 and 4.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron continued to lead by a narrow margin over Logano while Austin Dillon followed in pursuit. Through the final circuit, Logano drew himself close to the rear bumper of Byron’s No. 24 Chevrolet, but he could not execute a bump-and-run move through Turns 3 and 4 as Byron managed to pull away and fend off Logano to claim his second victory of the weekend and add another grandfather clock to his trophy case. 

In addition to claiming his second victory of the season and second of the weekend at Martinsville, Byron claimed his fourth career win in NASCAR’s premier series in his 152nd career start. The victory was also the 27th at Martinsville for Hendrick Motorsports as HMS’ No. 24 car returned to Victory Lane at the Paperclip-shaped short track since Jeff Gordon won in November 2015.

“Man, it feels awesome,” Byron said on FS1. “I knew when that last caution came out, I thought everybody behind us would pit. Luckily, we stayed out. We were aggressive. We felt like we could re-fire on the tires and be OK. You got one of the most aggressive guys behind you and Logano. I chattered the tires in [Turns] 3 and 4 and left the bottom [lane] open, but [I] was able to block my exit and get a good drive off.” 

This one’s for my mom,” Byron added. “This same weekend last year, she had a mini-stroke and was diagnosed with brain cancer. It means a lot to have her here. It’s been a crazy year, but she’s doing great. Thanks, everybody for the support. Kind of felt like she was riding there with me. It’s cool to have her here and I’m definitely gonna enjoy this one.”

Logano, who was within striking distance of claiming his first victory of the season, settled in second place followed by Austin Dillon, who has not won in the Cup Series since winning at Texas Motor Speedway in July 2020.

“It was a good race down to the end,” Logano said. “[It was] Really hard to pass…That final restart there, I had a front row. That’s what you can ask for. Got cleared to second, and Willy [Byron] kind of messed up off of [Turn] 4 and let me get to him, and he did a really good job of brake-checking…He did what he was supposed to do, and kind of got me all stuffed up behind him, and I couldn’t accelerate off the corner and be as close as I needed to be down into [Turn] 3 to execute the ol’ bump-and-run. [I] Couldn’t get quite to him, but his corner entry was really strong, too, which I think allowed him to get in there pretty strong. Overall, the Shell/Pennzoil Mustang had a solid run. Just hate being that close to winning and not making it happen. But big points today, and it just stings. Second just sucks sometimes, that’s all.”

“Well, I’m a little bummed,” Dillon added. “I’d like to pride myself in when we get in those situations is being clutch. That was anything but that on that last restart. I spun the tires pretty good through the gears. Once I got back in line there, I had some grip and I feel like we had good forward drive all night long. I just felt like if we got through the gears, we’re gonna have a shot at them, but our Get Bioethanol Chevy was really fast. We’ve been working our tails off. I’m not gonna say we haven’t because we’ve been in the simulator. We’ve been working really hard to make these cars as good as possible. We wanna get [Richard Childress Racing] a win and that’s what we’re here racing for. Thank the good Lord for bringing us a good run. That was a lot of fun.”

Blaney and Chastain finished in the top five while Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch, Almirola, Briscoe and Elliott completed the top 10 on the track. 

There were five lead changes for four different leaders. The race featured four cautions for 36 laps.

With his 10th-place result, Chase Elliott leads the regular-season standings by three points over Ryan Blaney, 12 over teammate William Byron, 27 over Joey Logano, 42 over Ross Chastain and 51 over both Alex Bowman and Martin Truex Jr.

Results.

1. William Byron, 212 laps led

2. Joey Logano

3. Austin Dillon, one lap led

4. Ryan Blaney, five laps led 

5. Ross Chastain

6. Kurt Busch

7. Kyle Busch

8. Aric Almirola

9. Chase Briscoe

10. Chase Elliott, 185 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner

11. Austin Cindric

12. Alex Bowman

13. Erik Jones

14. Kevin Harvick

15. Chris Buescher

16. Bubba Wallace

17. Brad Keselowski

18. Tyler Reddick

19. Kyle Larson

20. Christopher Bell, one lap down

21. Cole Custer, one lap down

22. Martin Truex Jr., two laps down

23. Ty Dillon, two laps down

24. AJ Allmendinger, two laps down

25. Michael McDowell, three laps down

26. Harrison Burton, three laps down

27. Ricky Stenhouse Jr., three laps down

28. Denny Hamlin, three laps down

29. Daniel Suarez, four laps down

30. Todd Gilliland, four laps down

31. Justin Haley, five laps down

32. Corey LaJoie, six laps down

33. Cody Ware, nine laps down

34. JJ Yeley, 11 laps down

35. Josh Bilicki, 12 laps down

36. BJ McLeod – OUT, Handling

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series schedule is the series’ second annual Food City Dirt Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course in Bristol, Tennessee, on April 17, which marks Easter Sunday. The event is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. ET on FOX.

Cadillac sweeps DPi podium for second consecutive race

By
Official Release
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Bourdais, van der Zande drive to victory in No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 9, 2022) – The Nos. 01 and 02 Cadillacs started 1-2 for the 100-minute sprint on the streets of Long Beach and finished 1-2 to lead a Cadillac DPi-V.R sweep of the podium for the second consecutive year.

Sebastien Bourdais and Renger van der Zande co-drove the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R to a 3.761-second victory over its sister Chip Ganassi Racing-prepared No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R driven by Alex Lynn and Earl Bamber.
The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R co-driven by Tristan Vautier and Richard Westbrook earned its third podium finish in as many IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship races.

“Congratulations to Chip Ganassi and the team as Cadillac claims its second 1-2-3 of the season,” said Rory Harvey, Vice President (Global) Cadillac.

A Cadillac DPi has won every race at Long Beach dating to the inception of the class in 2017 (there was no race in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic). The victory was Cadillac’s 25th in DPi competition.

Bourdais, who reset the DPi track qualifying record Friday with a lap of 1 minute, 9.472 seconds in the 15-minute session in earning the pole award for the second race in a row, drove to a commanding lead in the opening laps. But being squeezed in the hairpin on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn circuit pushed the No. 01 Cadillac nose-first into the Turn 11 barrier and allowed Lynn to take the lead.

Bourdais, however, turned a 21-second gap into driving back into the lead by overtaking the No. 02 Cadillac on Lap 30. Like he did in qualifications, Bourdais broke the circuit DPi race record with a lap of 1:10.317 on Lap 16 in carving his way through the field.

“An amazing weekend for the 01 Cadillac. Just a magical car in qualifying and everything seemed to be in control at the start,” Bourdais said. “We started to hit traffic and I got on the inside of the hairpin and (another car) drifted to the right and put me more on the inside of the hairpin than I wanted. The front just basically took off and didn’t make the corner whatsoever. It just didn’t turn at all.

“My computer told me I had 21 seconds (to make up), and I was like, ‘Well, it’s over.’ I didn’t know how much damage there was to the car. Thankfully, it wasn’t really bad at all,” Bourdais said. “After that, you’re on fire because you’re so mad. We got the lead back.

“The words of the day are don’t make a Frenchman made,” said van der Zande, who took over the wheel during a Lap 40 pit stop and fended off challenges from Bamber on three restarts over the final 33 laps.

Lynn and Bamber, who were joined by Neel Jani to drive to victory in the 12-hour race at Sebring International Raceway last month, took the DPi championship lead by three points over Vautier and Westbrook.

Round 4 for Cadillac teams is the 2-hour, 40-minute race May 1 on the 2.238-mile, 11-turn road course at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca.

Cadillac Racing results:

No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais
Finish: First Start: First
Renger van der Zande: “Chip Ganassi Racing is a fantastic race team. Cadillac is a fantastic car. The combination makes it super successful so far. We had some DNFs because of mechanical failures in the first two races. The only way to move up is to win races, and that’s what we’re doing now. The car was amazing. (Bourdais) gave me the lead and from there on I won’t say it was easy but to control a race is kind of easy. I had great restarts and brought it home for victory. Super happy, super proud.”

Sebastien Bourdais: “(About the early wall contact) My computer told me I had 21 seconds (to make up), and I was like, ‘Well, it’s over.’ I didn’t know how much damage there was to the car. Thankfully, it wasn’t really bad at all. It just didn’t turn at all. After that, you’re on fire because you’re so mad. We got the lead back. (Making fuel number while trying to catch up) Just all those years in INDYCAR and saving fuel, especially here it’s usually a massive fuel saver. We have a lot of references on how to get the tires going and still make a good pace and save fuel. I put it to good use today.”

No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn
Finish: Second Start: Second
Earl Bamber: “First of all, fantastic result. Sebastien (Bourdais) did a phenomenal job today to carve back through the field and to grab the lead. My job was quite simple to bring it to the end. Amazing job to get such a result. Just what we needed to get back in the championship.”

No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R (JDC-Miller MotorSports)
Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook
Finish: Third Start: Fifth
Tristan Vautier: “We could see things were heating up between the 60 and 31 and we were kind of surprised but hoping it would happen. I think we had a fifth-place car today and finished third. We’ll take it and that’s how you make good moves in the championship. It was a long, difficult day. In the end, we made the most of it. It was a good day.”

Richard Westbrook: “Tristan did an amazing job. It was difficult to make that fuel number to commit to a one stop. We should be really happy. When Pipo (Derani) made the move on the 60 at the end, you have to be there to pick up those opportunities. I’m really proud of the team and they deserve this one. We got some good points and that’s how you win championships, and that’s our goal.”

No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R (Action Express Racing)
Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez
Finish: Fifth Start: Fourth
Pipo Derani: “It’s hard on a street track to recover on just pure pace. You don’t have much room to pass. I was able to do a few moves. But at the end, I was trying to go for P3. The Acura just pushed me wide and the No. 5 Cadillac overtook us. It was a good result for Cadillac. But, for us, it’s disappointing. We tried to come back from behind. I gave everything I had, and we came up short. That’s racing. We’ve got to regroup and see if we can do better next time.”

Tristan Nunez: “I felt like I had a much bigger failure than what actually happened. It ended up being something pretty silly. It was the master switch that must have gotten knocked from a bump going down the front straightaway, which threw me whirl because my hands were on the steering wheel and nothing really changed. It took a little trouble shooting to figure it out. We lost some positions and some ground on the leaders. Fortunately, we were in a good spot when it happened. It was just one of those days. Pipo had an amazing drive after that. We just had a little bit of bad luck here and there. But we’ll get them in Monterey.”
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.

Hardpoint Marches To Seventh Place IMSA WeatherTech Finish At Long Beach With Katherine Legge, Rob Ferriol

By
Official Release
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The No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R Improved Seven Positions In the Sprint Race on the Famed Street Circuit

LONG BEACH, California (April 9, 2022) – Hardpoint improved seven positions from start to finish of the short IMSA WeatherTech Championship Sprint Cup race on Saturday on the streets of Long Beach to take home a seventh-place finish. Rob Ferriol started the race before passing off to Katherine Legge with just over an hour to go in the 100-minute sprint at the Long Beach Grand Prix.

No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R Event Notebook

  • Hardpoint began Saturday’s Long Beach race 14th on the GT Daytona (GTD) class grid with Ferriol behind the wheel. The race distance was just 100 minutes, more than an hour shorter than the typical sprint race distance of two hours, 45 minutes on the WeatherTech Championship schedule.
  • Despite the time crunch, the team was able to make up seven positions during the race. The seven positions were second most of any team in the race, regardless of class.
  • The positions gained also came despite contact from a DPi-class car, which made contact with the front right of the Porsche midway through Ferriol’s stint. The contact changed the handling of the car during Legge’s run and put her in survival mode through the finish of the race.
  • With the finish, Legge and Ferriol unofficially sit seventh in IMSA’s Sprint Cup championship standings.
  • Hardpoint returns to action at WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca, April 29 – May 1. In addition to the GTD car driven by Ferriol and Legge, it will mark the return of Hardpoint’s IMSA Michlelin Pilot Challenge GS-class car, the No. 22 Racing To End Alzheimer’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport driven by Nick Galante and Sean McAllister.

Hardpoint Quote Board

Rob Ferriol, Owner and Driver, No. 99 Porsche 911 GT3 R: “We know coming to Long Beach, we’re coming for a street fight. It’s a street race and there’s no margin for error. We had a good car, I think we were one of the better Porsches. We had some contact with one of the prototypes coming through, which adjusted the handling a little bit. We stayed in it, Katherine got in and picked up a few more positions. We fought all the way to the end with a bit of a compromised car, picked up seven spots, and we’ll take that. We’ll learn some lessons and get ready for Laguna.”

Katherine Legge, Driver, No. 99 Porsche 911 GT3 R: “The team did a great job. We had a great pit stop and they executed perfectly. Unfortunately, we had a small issue from Rob getting hit. Rob and I were really just trying to keep it off the walls and finish the race, which is more than some others did. I think all in all it was a good result. We managed to keep it together and the team took a step forward. There are a lot of positives to take from a difficult race.”

About Hardpoint:
Hardpoint was founded by Rob Ferriol in 2018 with the vision of combining his experience as a successful entrepreneur with his passion for racing. Headquartered at VIRginia International Raceway, the team captured the 2021 Porsche Carrera Cup North America Pro-Am championship in its inaugural season and competes full-time in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in the No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R with co-drivers Ferriol and Katherine Legge, joined by Stefan Wilson for Michelin Endurance Cup races. In 2022, Hardpoint has added the No. 22 Racing To End Alzheimer’s Porsche 718 Cayman GT4 RS Clubsport driven by Nick Galante and Sean McAllister in IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge Grand Sport (GS). More information on Hardpoint can be found at www.hardpoint.com or through its strong social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

CORVETTE RACING AT LONG BEACH: Championship Lead in GTD PRO

By
Barry Albert
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Garcia, Taylor, No. 3 Corvette drive back to take third in wild sprint race

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 9, 2022) – Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor left the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach on Saturday with a third-place class finish and the championship lead after three rounds of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Garcia and Taylor recovered from a mid-race, drive-through penalty in the No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R for a second consecutive podium finish in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO class. The pairing parlayed the result into an early-season points lead in the category’s Manufacturer, Driver and Team standings heading to WeatherTech Raceway Laguna Seca in three weeks.

Taylor began from pole position after a sterling qualifying effort Friday. One of the biggest early keys to the race occurred at the drop of the green. Taylor perfectly timed his jump at the start and protected his lead down the long frontstretch and into the heavy braking zone into Turn One. From that point, he slowly and methodically opened a margin due to the strategic fuel and tire management.

Taylor made the No. 3 Corvette’s one and only pit stop with 61 minutes left. Garcia took over after what appeared to be a perfect tire change and refuel by the Corvette Racing crew – carrying on the good work from the victory at Sebring last month.

Unfortunately, the team had to serve a drive-through penalty for losing control of a portion of its pit equipment. Garcia fell back to fourth in class and a lap down, but the race’s first full-course caution only minutes later (for part of the track curbing coming up) allowed Garcia to gain back his lap and move back into podium position.

A pair of full-course cautions inside the final 30 minutes stymied any hope Garcia and the Corvette team had to move back into the lead.

Corvette Racing’s next event is the Hyundai Monterey SportsCar Championship from Laguna Seca in Monterey, Calif., on May 1.

ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTD PRO:“Knowing that you had the pace and everything ran really smooth, I think we should have won. But I do agree that it was fair that we had a drive-through. It’s a bit of a shame. We worked very hard. We know we are strong over a lap, but to race the other GTD cars is very tough. The way every car achieves a lap time is completely opposite to us. That makes it very difficult in order to gain back positions, especially here. Maybe if we had a full 30 minutes of green after the penalty, who knows what would have happened. We will take the result but it’s a shame for sure. That’s another one to add to my list of ways to not win at this race!”

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R – FINISHED THIRD IN GTD PRO:”All things considered, it was a pretty good save for a points day. Unfortunately because we had such a strong car and I think we had a winning car, it’s tough to swallow to not maximize the points. As a whole, we had a decent lead at the beginning of the penalty didn’t destroy our race as much as it could have. It was such a fluke of an accident. It’s unfortunate that it happened in the race. We’ll leave here with the championship lead, which is great. We’ll go to Laguna Seca with more that we’ve learned this weekend and build on that.”

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 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.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES: ACCURA LONG BEACH GP

By
Official Release
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CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH
STREETS OF LONG BEACH
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING RECAP
APRIL 9, 2020

LONG BEACH, Calif (April 9, 2022) – In one of the more interesting Firestone Fast Six qualifying session, Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet, emerged as the runner-up qualifier to lead Team Chevy for Sunday’s Accura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Giving Chevrolet a starter in row one and row two will be Felix Rosenqvist, No. 7 VUSE Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, will roll off fourth for the 85-lap race on the 1.968-mile/11-turn street course on the Pacific Coast in Lwoong Beach, California.

With seconds left on the clock, Romain Grojean met with a tire wall causing a red flag. Per the rulebook, competitors are guaranteed six minutes in the Fast Six session. So, for anyone of the six drivers who wanted to take one more hot lap, it would be allowed. Newgarded and his No. 2 Chevy team decided they were good, but two of the group did take a chance, but were unable to challenge for the front row. Rosenqvist improved his time slightly be still remained on the outside of row two.

Continuing their strong starts to the 2022 NTT INDYCAR Series season, points leader Scott McLaughlin, No. 2 Snap-On Team Penske Chevrolet will start ninth, while teammate Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet, who is second in the standings, will roll-off in seventh position to give the Team Chevy 2.2 liter V6 twin turbo direct injected engine four of the top-nine starters.

Colton Herta won the pole with Alex Palou, Alexander Rossi and Romain Grojean started third, fifth and sixth respectively to complete the Firestone Fast Six.

Chevrolet and the NTT INDYCAR Series continue the 2022 season at 3 p.m. ET on Sunday, April 10 from the Long Beach (Calif.) street circuit. The race will air live on NBC, the Peacock streaming service and SiriusXM IndyCar Nation (Channel 160). Live timing and scoring will be available at racecontrol.indycar.com.

DRIVER QUOTES
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI CHEVROlLET, TEAM PENSKE, QUALIFIED 2ND:
ARE YOU GOING OUT TO MAKE ONE MORE LAP? “I’m not sure what is going on. It looks like there are two seconds left. I’vnever seen tChis in the Fast Six, but maybe I don’t understand the rule well enough. Even with other people having the opportunity to go back out, I don’t think we would. I was pretty happy with my lap. It was the set we wanted to use. We had hot brakes and all that. I think that’s about what I had. I’m not going to go much quicker than that unfortunately. (Colton) Herta (P1 winner) hadslightly better tires than us. I used mine up a little too much in Q1 & Q2. I had to do three laps on each sequencing wise and how I had to do my lap. I wish I could have done just one lap on them, that would have improved our speed. We could have picked up a couple of tenths off these guys today. Pretty happy being in the Fast Six today. If we can hold 2nd or 3rd, it will be a good starting place for us. We will work on our race car. The Hitachi car felt good today, just a tad off for some reason. But we are always in a good place with Team Penske.

“We will work hard in the race, but Herta is going to be tough. Not only him, but Rossi and Grojean. You are seeing that with their entire team. We will put our best foot forward. I always have faith in Team Chevy and Team Penske that we can do the job. We will do our best to run strong against these guys tomorrow.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 McLAREN VUSE CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN RACING SP, QUALIFIED 4TH:
ON QUALIFYING:
“This was another good qualifying for the No. 7 Vuse Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet team. I ended up fourth and I’m pretty happy with that. We got three shots in the Firestone Fast Six and it didn’t seem to be able to go much quicker than what we got. We were there all of qualifying, but then in the Fast Six we couldn’t really follow the leaders but we will take fourth.

It has been a messy weekend with a lot of red and yellow flags and crashes. So it feels good to come through all this with a P4 in qualifying. It’s a great result for the team.”
WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE, QUALIFIED 7TH:
HOW TOUGH IS TRAFFIC OUT THERE IN QUALIFYING?
“It’s frustrating this weekend with traffic. It just sucks when they do it in the hairpin because it ruins the money lap. Man everyone backs up so much. P7 is alright. Can definitely do something from there. It’s better than where we started last year. Will work to get this Verizon 5G car on the podium or Victory Lane, At the least a top-five and a good points day. It’s just the accordion affect and there is just nothing you can do about it. It’s good if they do it on the backstretch it’s okay. You know you are going to have to abort that lap. But if they do it in the hairpin, you lose that lap and the next one after that. And there is nothing you can do when you are on someone else’s gearbox. In the car you can’t do much because you are in dirty air.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 PPG CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE, QUALIFIED 9TH:
TALK ABOUT YOUR QUALIFYING:
“It’s just a cluster out there with all of that traffic Our Snap-On Chevy is very fast.. I don’t know what Marcus (Ericsson) was doing. I tried to do the right thing and pull out of his way and then he just stopped and clustered the whole thing up. I don’t know. We are all looking for gaps out there, and you pull over for a guy and then he just stops in front of you. It is what it is. It’s unfortunate, but we have a fast car and there is no reason we can’t cup up through. We will see what we’ve got. I just feel bad for the guys. They’ve worked hard and we had a solid car that I think we had a chance to be up there with Herta and challenge the Andrettl guys.
“I’ll be bombing up through there for sure tomorrow. Just going to have a big crack at it. It will be fun for sure. As Danny Ric (Daniel Riccardo) says, just lick the stamp and send it.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP VUSE CHEVROLET, QUALIFIED, 11TH:
ON QUALIFYING:
“We definitely made a step forward. We’ve just had a really tough weekend so far. We couldn’t quite get the balance right, but it was a lot better here in qualifying. I think I left some on the table and was a bit too cautious. It is good that the car was better in qualifying but there is a lot of risk and reward during a Long Beach lap. I left some on the table there, but we will try to make it better for the race and see what we’ve got.”

KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 ROKIT CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING: QUALIFIED 12TH:
ON QUALIFYING:
“Just finished up qualifying here at the Long Beach Grand Prix. We had pretty good qualifying! Our goal was to get into the Top-12 and we made it into Q2. We transferred. Super happy with that. Of course we wanted more, but just didn’t have the pace to make it into the Fast Six. The car balance was good and we executed everything perfectly. We were just lacking a little bit of pace. Super happy with the performance and where we are starting tomorrow, We are surrounded by McClaren, and Penske, Ganassi and Andretti. We are there. We are in the mix. Hopefully the strategy plays out. The weather is supposed to be perfect tomorrow so really looking forward to it.

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 ALZAMEND NEURO CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING, QUALIFIED 15TH:
ON QUALIFYING:
“I am not really satisfied with qualifying, though we have improved a lot from last year! There was definitely a Top 12 in there, unfortunately we just missed the balance. We will analyze everything and work to get better tomorrow. We are a lot more competitive than last year and we did have a great race last year, until the car broke down! Mike Conway won for ECR from 17th, I can in from 15th!”

CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING, QUALIFIED 18TH:
ON QUALIFYING:
“We definitely made step forward today. We’re starting a bit higher up than we did last year with both cars. It is a bit of a shame that our time would have transferred us into the Fast 12 if we were in Group 1 instead of Group 2. That’s a good sign and shows how competitive our group was. We still need to take a step forward in grip, which we understand and will work on. We’re definitely in a better place than last year and we’ll see what we can put together for the race tomorrow.”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 DYNAMIC EDGE CHEVROLET, JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING. QUALIFIED 22ND:
ON QUALIFYING:
“Really tough session for us. Unfortunately we just didn’t get it right. We thought we made some improvements, but unfortunately conditions changed and we didn’t maximize it. We have a little bit of work to do now. A few puzzles to solve. The 11 crew is tight and quite tough but we will move on. We will do some studying and make some changes and give it a go tomorrow.”

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE INSULATORS CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING QUALIFIED 24TH:
ON QUALIFYING:
“Just finished up qualifying here at Long Beach. Not really where we want to be starting on the grid tomorrow. It’s a long race, and we know we had a good race car when we were here six months ago at the end of the season, so I feel very confident about that. Pretty happy with the progression we’ve made during the weekend. I think we are on the right trajectory and if we have to keep executing on those points and I think we can more up during the race tomorrow.”

TATIANA CALDERON, NO. 11 ROKIT CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING, QUALIFIED 26TH:
ON QUALIFYING:
“We just finished qualifying and every lap I am getting more familiar with the track and more comfortable in the car. It’s been too many red flags during practice. So hopefully we can get even more comfortable tomorrow during the race. I hope you will be watching tomorrow in the No. 11 Rokit Chevrolet car.”

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.

Monster Energy Racing: Riley Herbst NXS Race Report from Martinsville

By
Official Release
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Herbst Scores Steady Sixth at Martinsville
Monster Energy Driver Earns Fifth Top-10 of 2022

Date: Friday, April 8
Event: Call 811 Before You Dig 250 powered by Call811.com (Round 8 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Martinsville (Va.) Speedway (.526-mile oval)
Format: 250 laps, broken into three stages (60 laps/60 laps/130 laps)
Start/Finish: 11th / 6th (Running, completed 261 of 261 laps)
Point Standing: 11th (212 points, 130 out of first)
Note: Race extended 11 laps past its scheduled 250-lap distance due to a green-white-checkered finish.

Race Winner: Brandon Jones of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 2 Winner: Brandon Jones of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)

Overview:

Patience and strategy earned Riley Herbst a strong sixth-place finish in the Call 811 Before You Dig 250 powered by Call811.com NASCAR Xfinity Series race Friday night at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang started 11th and ended the first stage in 12th as Herbst wrestled a loose-handling racecar. Crew chief Richard Boswell made a key strategy call in the second stage, bringing Herbst to pit road for four tires and fuel on lap 101. The fresh tires gave Herbst the grip he needed to climb to ninth at the end of the stage and pick up two valuable bonus points. After another round of pit stops to begin the final stage, Herbst lined up second and took the lead at the drop of the green flag before settling into sixth place, maneuvering through two overtime restarts to maintain sixth in a green-white-checkered finish that delivered his fifth top-10 of 2022.

Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

“Our race wasn’t too bad. To come home sixth with another top-10, all in all it was a good day. That’s what we need to do here in 2022. Obviously, we wanted to win the $100,000 Dash 4 Cash money, and we do want to go win races, but we just have to progress.”

Notes:

● Herbst’s sixth-place finish equaled his previous best result at Martinsville. Herbst also finished sixth in October 2020.

● This was Herbst’s fifth top-10 in the last last five short-track races on the Xfinity Series schedule. He finished fifth last September at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, third the very next week at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, 10th last October at Martinsville, and fifth last Saturday at Richmond.

● Brandon Jones won the Call 811 Before You Dig 250 powered by Call811.com to score his fifth career Xfinity Series victory, his first at Martinsville and his first of the season. His margin over second-place Landon Cassill was .677 of a second.

● There were 16 caution periods for a total of 100 laps.

● Twenty-one of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap.

● AJ Allmendinger remains the championship leader after Martinsville with a 20-point advantage over second-place Ty Gibbs.

Next Up:

The Xfinity Series takes a weekend off for Easter before returning to action on Saturday, April 23 for the Ag-Pro 300 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The race starts at 4 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by FOX and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Cadillac sweeps front row in qualifying for Long Beach race

By
Official Release
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Cadillac sweeps front row in qualifying for second race in a row
Bourdais records track record in the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R

LONG BEACH, Calif. (April 8, 2022) – For the second consecutive IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship race, Cadillac swept the front row in qualifying.

For the second race in a row, Sebastien Bourdais earned the pole award in the No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R. For the second race in a row, Bourdais set the DPi track qualifying lap record.

“Now all we have to do is put it all together over 100 minutes,” said Bourdais of the April 9 race on the 1.968-mile, 11-turn temporary street circuit in downtown Long Beach.

A Cadillac DPi has won every race at Long Beach dating to the inception of the class in 2017 (there was no race in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic), and last year the No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R won from the pole to lead a Cadillac sweep of the top three finishers.

Bourdais drove the No. 01 Cadillac to a best lap of 1 minute, 9.472 seconds in the 15-minute session with a late-afternoon ambient temperature of 92 degrees. The previous qualifying lap record was 1:11.322, set in 2019. He also set the DPi track qualifying record for the 12-hour race on the Sebring International Raceway road course last month in claiming the pole start.

“That 01 Cadillac has been awesome to drive,” said Bourdais, who topped the practice time chart with a lap of 1:10.913 earlier in the day. “I just basically had to hit the potential of the car and get quite a good margin on the field. That was a great feeling. It’s testament to the team’s ability to give us some really fast race cars.”


Alex Lynn, driving the No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R that won the Sebring race, will join his Chip Ganassi Racing teammate on the front row. He recorded a best lap of 1:09.833.

Pipo Derani, who co-drove to victory in 2021 at Long Beach, posted a best lap of 1:10.001 and will start fourth. Tristan Vautier, who co-drove the No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R to a runner-up finish at Sebring, will start fifth after a best lap of 1:10.376.

USA Network will telecast the race at 5 p.m. ET April 9. Peacock will also stream the race live, and IMSA Radio will have the broadcast.

An interview with DPi pole winner Sebastien Bourdais (No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R):

TALK ABOUT HOW QUALIFYING DIFFERS IN A 12- OR 24-HOUR RACE BUT HOW MUCH IT MATTERS HERE.
“When you have 24 or 12 hours of racing, it seems a little futile. We have a 100-minute race with a busy field and a one-stopper, with difficulty to pass unless you get caught in traffic or make a mistake. It’s quite important and we’ve teed ourselves up for the best possible situation and scenario, but there’s still 100 minutes of racing to go and we’ve proved we don’t need 100 minutes to lose it. Let’s hope that we won’t do that tomorrow.”

TELL US WHAT IT TOOK TO MAKE IT HAPPEN TODAY AND WHAT IT WILL TAKE TOMORROW.
“I took a really good lap. I was really happy, and thanks to the boys at Chip Ganassi Racing. That 01 Cadillac has been awesome to drive. I just basically had to hit the potential of the car and get quite a good margin on the field. That was a great feeling. It’s testament to the team’s ability to give us some really fast race cars. I’m just looking forward to a different outcome because we’ve kind of shot ourselves in the foot quite a bit with mechanical issues – nothing to do with Cadillac but just kind of issues on our end. I’m really looking forward to picking up our game and put an event together, and I’m hoping it’s going to happen tomorrow.”

NEARLY TWO SECONDS UNDER THE TRACK RECORD, WHERE DID THE TIME COME FROM?
“It’s not like INDYCAR where you have a street course, road course, oval tire. Really, we’re running a road course tire on the street course. It’s a harder tire than it could be for places like this and the unusual high temperatures helped get the tires in that window for the car. The grip was amazing. Michelin has some really stable tires.”

IT WILL BE MUCH COOLER TOMORROW. HOW WILL THAT PLAY OUT?
“Back to normal. That’s the tough part. I think it really helped rubber up the track, and you can produce some really fast early lap times. From there, what happens I don’t think anybody really knows. I think, overall, I’m not super worried. I think it will just be easier on the rear tires. We have the bars in the car, we can change tire pressures for the second stint. It’s all about managing traffic, making sure you don’t get caught out in the big groups of GTs that are going to be around because it’s going to be 20 GTs nose to tail for the opening stint.”

Cadillac Racing lineup, starting position and notes:

No. 01 V-Performance Academy Cadillac DPi-V.R (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Renger van der Zande, Sebastien Bourdais
Bourdais drove in the qualifying session (start first, 1:45.166). Bourdais has earned the pole award at the two most recent races. Bourdais is a three-time winner at Long Beach in Indy car competition. … Van der Zande teamed with Kevin Magnussen to finish second in the 2021 race at Long Beach in the first season for the No. 01 Cadillac DPi-V.R.
Car chief-Phil Binks
Lead engineer-John Hennek
Race strategist-Peter Baron

No. 02 Cadillac Accessories Cadillac DPi-V.R (Chip Ganassi Racing)
Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn
Lynn drove in the qualifying session (start second, 1:09.833). The 02 Cadillac DPi-V.R won the race at Sebring after starting fourth. … First-year team in expanded Cadillac Racing entry for Chip Ganassi Racing. … … Bamber salutes his home country with a silver fern design on the sides of his helmet — a quasi-national emblem used for various official New Zealand symbols.
Car chief-Jamie Coates
Lead engineer-Danielle Shephard
Race strategist-Michael Harvey

No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R (Action Express Racing)
Pipo Derani, Tristan Nunez
Derani drove in the qualifying session (start fourth, 1:10.001): “We have a good car and we decided to kind of abort qualifying to have some tires for the race, and unfortunately the lap I did wasn’t enough and almost all the guys improved. I think they put up an amazing lap at the end. It’s one of those question marks; had I stayed a couple more laps could I have gone quicker? I believe so because the car has been so good. I think we missed an opportunity and we thought what we had was good enough because we never saw those kind of laps here. We have a good race pace and we’ll attack tomorrow.”

The No. 31 Cadillac DPi-V.R started from the pole and went on to win the 2021 race on the street circuit with Derani co-driving with Felipe Nasr. The team is coming off a third-place finish at Sebring. It opened the season with a fourth place at Daytona. … Derani and Nasr were the 2021 IMSA DPi Driver Champions and Whelen Engineering/Action Express Racing was the Team Champion.
Car chief-Bill Keuler
Technical director/lead engineer-Iain Watt
Race strategist-Tim Keene

No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R (JDC-Miller MotorSports)
Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook
Vautier drove in the qualifying session (start fifth, 1:10.376): “The car doesn’t feel bad, but we’re lacking pace to the 01 and 02 cars. We made some changes (after practice) for qualifying that made the car feel better that I think will give us a better race car for tomorrow.”

The No 5 Cadillac DPi-V.R enters the race weekend as the DPi championship points leader after third- and second-place finishes to start the season. … Vautier teamed with 2022 endurance event driver Loic Duval to place third in the 2021 Long Beach race. … The No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R won the 2018 and 2019 race at Long Beach.
Car chief-Josh Kerrigan
Lead engineer-Rick Cameron
Race strategist-John Church
Cadillac Racing DPi-V.R Long Beach results 2021-2017

2021: Overall winner (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr
Second (No. 01 Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Renger van der Zande, Kevin Magnussen
Third (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start third – Tristan Vautier, Loic Duval
2019: Overall winner (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fourth – Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa
Fifth (No. 84 JDC-Miller MotorSports Cadillac DPi-V.R) start seventh – Stephen Simpson, Simon Trummer
Sixth (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Pipo Derani, Felipe Nasr
Seventh (No. 50 Juncos Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start ninth – Kyle Kaiser, Will Owen
10th (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start 10th – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor
2018: Overall winner (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth — Felipe Albuquerque, Joao Barbosa
Third (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start sixth – Renger van der Zande, Jordan Taylor
Seventh (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Felipe Nasr, Eric Curran
2017: Overall winner (No. 10 Konica Minolta Cadillac DPi-V.R) start first – Jordan Taylor, Ricky Taylor
29th overall, seventh in class (No. 5 Mustang Sampling Racing Cadillac DPi-V.R) start second – Joao Barbosa, Christian Fittipaldi
32nd overall, eighth in class (No. 31 Whelen Engineering Cadillac DPi-V.R) start fifth – Eric Curran, Dane Cameron

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.

No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 Team Qualify in Sixth Position for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach

By
Official Release
-

Long Beach, Calif. (April 8, 2022) — In searing Southern California heat, Filipe Albuquerque gave it everything this afternoon, ultimately qualifying in sixth position for the 2022 Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. The Portuguese ace finished the session with a time of 1:10.576 at 100.385 mph.

Albuquerque felt that the car was good throughout the session, but a strategic decision to run fewer laps did not pan out the way the team hoped, with the track evolving late into the session. He will look to make headway into the pack ahead at the start tomorrow before full-time teammate Ricky Taylor takes over for the second stint.

“A bit of a disappointing qualifying session, especially coming from Free Practice 2,” explained Filipe Albuquerque. “We finished last, but I don’t think the result tells the whole story. I was happy with the car, but we made a slight mistake on strategy. We decided to do less laps, which led us to pit early, when the track was clearly still evolving. And that’s on us, that’s a mistake. I admit that the car was good. It looks like we were really bad, but the truth is that we’re going to go with the same car to the race. We have a good car to race and it’s promising for the race. Let’s see how it goes.”

“As for the start tomorrow, it’s tricky, starting from the outside. You can never plan the start. I just know that I’m going to do my best and try and make some overtakes, and we’ll see what comes out. But we never know. Last year was great. Who knows if this year is going to be any better? Or it could be random. We’ll see. It’s a surprise.”

Green flag for the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach will wave at 2:00 p.m. PT tomorrow, Saturday, April 9th with full coverage streaming on Peacock and coverage on the USA Network.

DPi STARTING GRID:

  1. Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing (No. 01 Cadillac DPi) Renger van der Zande & Sebastian Bourdais (101.980 mph)
  2. Cadillac Chip Ganassi Racing (No. 02 Cadillac DPi) Earl Bamber & Alex Lynn (101.453 mph)
  3. Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian (No. 60 Acura ARX-05) Oliver Jarvis & Tom Blomqvist (101.299 mph)
  4. Whelen Engineering Racing (No. 31 Cadillac DPi) Pipo Derani & Tristan Nunez (101.209 mph)
  5. JDC Miller Motorsports (No. 5 Cadillac DPi) Tristan Vautier, Richard Westbrook (100.670 mph)
  6. Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 (No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05) Ricky Taylor & Filipe Albuquerque (100.385 mph)

ABOUT KONICA MINOLTA

Konica Minolta Business Solutions U.S.A., Inc. is reshaping and revolutionizing the Workplace of the Future. The company guides and supports its clients’ digital transformation through its expansive office technology portfolio, including IT Services (All Covered), intelligent information management, managed print services and industrial and commercial print solutions. Konica Minolta has been included on CRN’s MSP 500 list nine times and The World Technology Awards recently named the company a finalist in the IT Software category. Konica Minolta has been recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys for fourteen consecutive years, and received Keypoint Intelligence’s BLI 2021 A3 Line of The Year Award and BLI 2021-2023 Most Color Consistent A3 Brand Award for its bizhub i-Series. Konica Minolta, Inc. has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability World Index for nine consecutive years and has spent four years on the Global 100 Most Sustainable Corporations in the World list. Konica Minolta partners with its clients to give shape to ideas and works to bring value to our society. For more information, please visit us online and follow Konica Minolta on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Twitter. The No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura ARX-05 effort and Wayne Taylor Racing is supported by an outstanding lineup of partners including Harrison Contracting, Acura Motorsports, Hammer Nutrition and CIT.

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