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Should you buy an electric or hybrid van?

By
SM
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If you’re in the market for a new van, you may be considering an eco-friendlier option. With the petrol and diesel ban coming in 2030, many drivers may be considering getting ahead of the game and adopting a greener vehicle now. Vans are much more adaptable than a car too and can suit a range of drivers. Whether it’s for business or personal use, choosing the right van is key. If you’re thinking of making the switch to a van that is better for the environment, you could consider either a fully electric van or a hybrid vehicle, depending on your van requirements. Let’s take a look at whether you should buy an electric or hybrid van now. 

What is an electric van? 

Electric vans work in the same way as electric cars. Instead of a traditional combustion engine, electric vans are powered by an electric motor. The electric motor is powered by rechargeable batteries, which you can charge at home. Electric vans are limited to their electrical range provided by the batteries, but thanks to innovations in electric cars in the past few years, many vans nowadays have electric ranges of over 200 miles on a single charge. There’s no tailpipe involved, so there are no harmful emissions released into the environment, which can be one of the biggest selling points for buyers.

Electric vans can be more expensive to buy, but the running costs are considerably lower than those of a petrol or diesel van. If you are looking into getting an electric van, you can also benefit from government grants or van finance deals to help reduce your costs. Prioritizing van security is crucial, especially as you make environmentally conscious choices. Trusted providers such as Protectavan offer tailored solutions that not only align with your eco-friendly commitment but also guarantee your van’s safety and security.

What is a hybrid van?

A hybrid van is one that combines two means of propulsion to power the vehicle. Most often this is a petrol engine and an electric motor. Unlike electric vans, there are actually three different types of hybrid vans to consider. They tend to be full hybrids, mild hybrids, and plug-in hybrids. Full and mild hybrids recharge the electric battery through regenerative braking and tend to have smaller electric batteries than PHEVs. Plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEV) can be charged at home like an electric van. PHEVs tend to have longer electric ranges as the batteries are bigger and if you only travel around 30 miles a day, you may never need to use the petrol engine at all! 

Which is better? 

To determine which is better, you may need to consider a few lifestyle factors. The electric range of fully electric vans will always be better than hybrid so it can depend on how many miles you travel each day. If you use your van each day for a few short journeys, you could be more suited to a hybrid van. If your main reason for getting a new van is the environmental benefits, fully electric vans will always come out on top. This is because they don’t release any harmful pollutants, but hybrid vans still do due to the petrol or diesel engines involved. If you don’t know which is best for you, you could consider the benefits of each type of eco-friendly van first. 

What are the benefits of electric vans?

There are a number of benefits to owning an electric van that are attractive to buyers.

Environmentally friendly

Petrol and diesel engines release harmful pollutants into the environment which contribute to global warming. Electric vans don’t release any emissions and help to improve human health and environmental health. 

Lower running costs

Electric vans are considerably cheaper to run than petrol or diesel vans. This is because the cost of electricity is lower than that of fuel prices. It also tends to be cheaper to maintain electric vans as they have fewer moving parts and maintenance costs are reduced.

Government incentives

You can take advantage of the government incentives which make it easier to buy an electric van. You can get up to 20% off the list price of a new electric van from the UK government. Electric vans can also be exempt from congestion charges and benefit from free parking in some towns and cities. 

Advantages of buying a hybrid van

If you’re not ready to go fully electric, you may be more suited to getting a hybrid van. 

Less impact on the environment

Hybrid vans aren’t as environmentally friendly as fully electric vehicles, but they are considerably better for the environment than petrol or diesel alternatives. Diesel cars and vans release the most harmful pollutants into the environment so you could consider choosing a petrol hybrid van. 

Financial benefits

Hybrid vans are also exempt from many congestion charges and lower annual tax bills. There are also a number of hybrid finance deals available to help spread the cost of owning a hybrid van and make them more affordable. 

Higher resale value

Hybrid cars and vans tend to depreciate slower than other models. This means you could benefit more when it comes to selling your van. More people are turning to hybrid vans and their popularity is growing so the resale value of your van can be higher than those of a petrol or diesel van.

Byron scores a dominant victory in Truck return at Martinsville

By
Andrew Kim
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William Byron celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Blu-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 at Martinsville Speedway on April 07, 2022 in Martinsville, Virginia. Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images.

From the rear of the field to the front and straight to Victory Lane, William Byron made a triumphant return to the winner’s stage in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series after surviving a carnage-filled event to dominate and win the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 at Martinsville Speedway on Thursday, April 7.

The 24-year-old Byron from Charlotte, North Carolina, led three times for a race-high 94 of 200 laps, including the final 84, as he fended off Johnny Sauter, Kyle Busch and the field through the final 36 laps to claim his first Truck victory in six years while piloting the No. 7 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Silverado RST for Spire Motorsports, which recorded its first victory in the Truck circuit.

With on-track qualifying initially scheduled for Thursday canceled due to inclement weather, the starting lineup was determined through a calculated formula factoring in the results from the previous event along with the fastest laps and points positions. With that, Zane Smith, winner of the previous Truck event at Circuit of the Americas, started on pole position as he shared the front row with Kyle Busch, who was making his third of five scheduled Truck starts. 

Prior to the event, Modified competitor Dillon Steuer dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments to his No. 20 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST. 

When the green flag waved and the race started, Zane Smith fended off Ben Rhodes and Kyle Busch to retain the lead for a full lap as he led the opening lap. Behind, Rhodes, who attempted a three-wide move at the start, moved in front of Busch for the runner-up spot while Chandler Smith and John Hunter Nemechek settled in the top five.

Seven laps into the event, the first caution flew when Kris Wright and rookie Jack Wood collided on the frontstretch, with the latter ramming into the former that was spinning. 

When the race restarted under green on Lap 13, Zane Smith and Rhodes briefly dueled through the first two turns until Smith cleared the field through the backstretch while Stewart Friesen moved up to third place. Just then, the caution returned when the No. 40 Niece Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST piloted by Dean Thompson came to a stop on the frontstretch, which soon after came on fire inside the cockpit as the driver hopped out. Eventually, the fire situation was enough to terminate Thompson’s run early.

Ten laps later, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Zane Smith retained the lead while Friesen and Rhodes battled for second in front of Kyle Busch and Chandler Smith. Behind, Christian Eckes was up in sixth place followed by Grant Enfinger and John Hunter Nemechek, who was losing spots on the track.

Through the first 30 laps of the event, Zane Smith was leading by more than a second over Friesen followed by Rhodes, Kyle Busch and Chandler Smith while Eckes, Enfinger, Nemechek, Derek Kraus and Matt Crafton were in the top 10. 

Three laps later, Johnny Sauter and Hailie Deegan made contact while battling for 22nd place entering the frontstretch, which resulted in Deegan sustaining a tire rub, but the race proceeded under green.

Nearing the Lap 40 mark, the caution returned when Spencer Boyd stalled his No. 12 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado RST near the exit of the backstretch due to a loss of fuel pressure.

Under caution, some led by Kyle Busch pitted while the rest led by Zane Smith remained on the track. During the pit stops, Matt Crafton was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Tate Fogleman was penalized for pitting outside of his pit box.

With six laps remaining in the first stage, the race restarted under green. At the start, Zane Smith retained the lead once again while Rhodes challenged Friesen for the runner-up spot. As the field scrambled for positions behind, Smith continued to lead. 

When the first stage concluded on Lap 50, Zane Smith claimed his third Truck stage victory of the season. Friesen fended off Rhodes to retain the runner-up spot while Nemechek, Enfinger, Eckes, Kraus, Tanner Gray, Chase Purdy and Tyler Ankrum were scored in the top 10.

Under the stage break, some led by Zane Smith pitted while the rest led by Ben Rhodes remained on the track.

The second stage started on Lap 60 as teammates Rhodes and Eckes occupied the front row. At the start, Rhodes, competing on worn tires, cleared the field on the inside lane through the backstretch and retained the lead while Kyle Busch and Eckes battled for second. Just as Busch prevailed, Carson Hocevar went to work on Eckes for more followed by Ty Majeski, Matt DiBenedetto, Johnny Sauter and William Byron.

By Lap 70, the caution returned when Boyd stalled his truck for a second time in the event, this time between Turns 1 and 2.

At the Lap 75 mark, the race restarted under green. At the start, Rhodes fended off Kyle Busch to retain the lead once again while Byron, who moved into the top five, battled and overtook Hocevar for third place in front of Eckes.

On Lap 78, the caution returned when Lawless Alan spun following contact with Tate Fogleman in Turn 2. Under caution, some led by Busch and Byron pitted while the rest led by Rhodes remained on the track.

When the race restarted under green on Lap 85, Rhodes fended off Hocevar to retain the lead while Eckes, Ty Majeski and Matt DiBenedetto battled in the top five and in front of sixth-place Zane Smith. 

At the Lap 90 mark, Rhodes extended his advantage to more than a second over teammate Eckes while Hocevar, Majeski, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Matt DiBenedetto, Parker Kligerman, Enfinger and Colby Howard were in the top 10. By then, Byron was in 13th while Busch was mired outside of the top 20.

When the second stage concluded on Lap 100, which marked the halfway point of the event, Rhodes, who managed to complete the event’s first half without pitting once, claimed his third stage victory of the season. Teammate Eckes settled in second ahead of Hocevar, Zane Smith, Nemechek, Majeski, DiBenedetto, Kligerman, Enfinger and Taylor Gray.

Under the stage break, some led by teammates Rhodes and Eckes pitted while the rest led by Byron and Chandler Smith remained on the track. During the pit stops, Hocevar overshot his truck while pitting. Following the pit stops, Zane Smith, who led the first 55 laps, was penalized for speeding on pit road. 

With 92 laps remaining, the final stage started under green. At the start, Byron retained the lead ahead of Chandler Smith and the field through the first two turns and the backstretch. Shortly after, however, the caution flew when Kaden Honeycutt, who replaced Matt Jaskol in the No. 46 G2G Racing Toyota, got sideways after making contact with Austin Wayne Self. He then made contact against the trucks of Tanner Gray and Blake Lothian before getting hit by Dillon Steuer and coming to rest sideways in Turn 2.

Eight laps later, the race restarted under green. At the start, Byron fended off Chandler Smith to retain the lead while the field fanned out to three lanes through the backstretch. 

Another five laps later, the caution flew again when Kris Wright and Dillon Steuer wrecked in Turn 4.

With 73 laps remaining, the race proceeded under green. At the start, Byron rocketed away with another strong restart while Chandler Smith and Johnny Sauter dueled and battled for second, with the latter prevailing. Meanwhile, Kyle Busch was in fourth while Matt Crafton and Stewart Friesen battled for a spot in the top five.

Six laps later, the caution flew again when Rhodes, who was racing in the top 10, attempted to make a bold move on teammate Eckes for position, and then made contact that sent Eckes into Friesen’s No. 52 Halmar Toyota Tundra TRD Pro. As a result, Friesen, who was in seventh place, spun in Turn 3, though he continued without sustaining any significant damage.

When the race restarted with 62 laps remaining, Byron launched ahead with another strong start to retain the lead while Sauter settled in second ahead of Chandler Smith, Kyle Busch, Crafton, and Nemechek.

Down to the final 50 laps of the event, Byron was leading by nearly a second over Sauter followed by Kyle Busch, Chandler Smith and Crafton while Nemechek, Ty Majeski, Rhodes, Enfinger and Kraus were in the top 10. Zane Smith was up in 11th place followed by Eckes, Ankrum, Kligerman, DiBenedetto, Chase Purdy, Carson Hocevar, Friesen, Hailie Deegan and Lawless Alan.

Six laps later, the caution flew when Jesse Little spun entering Turn 2 off the front nose of Tate Fogleman, which he was then hit by Bret Holmes as Kris Wright rammed into the side of Little in a billow of smoke. Under caution, some like Zane Smith, DiBenedetto, Hocevar, Colby Howard and Deegan pitted while the rest led by Byron remained on the track.

With 36 laps remaining, the race restarted under green. At the start, Byron retained the lead followed by Sauter and Kyle Busch while Nemechek battled and overtook teammate Chandler Smith to move into fourth place on fresh tires. Behind, Crafton was in sixth ahead of Rhodes, Enfinger, Kraus and Majeski. 

Six laps later, Byron stabilized his advantage to less than a second over Sauter while Busch, Nemechek and Chandler Smith trailed by less than two seconds. Shortly after, Chase Purdy limped to pit road with a flat tire.

With 20 laps remaining, Byron extended his advantage to more than a second over Sauter while Busch, Nemechek and Chandler Smith remained in the top five. Rhodes was in sixth ahead of Crafton, Enfinger, Majeski and Zane Smith while Kraus, Ankrum, Eckes, Friesen and DiBenedetto were in the top 15. 

Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Byron, who carved his way through lapped traffic, continued to lead by more than a second over Sauter followed by Kyle Busch and Nemechek while Rhodes was in fifth in front of Chandler Smith.

With five laps remaining, Byron remained the leader by more than a second over Sauter while third-place Kyle Busch trailed by two seconds. Behind, Nemechek and Rhodes trailed by less than three seconds while Chandler Smith trailed by more than four seconds.

When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Byron stabilized his advantage to more than a second over Sauter. Remaining uncontested at the front, Byron was able to navigate his way around the paperclip-shaped short circuit for a final time and claim the checkered flag for his first grandfather clock trophy.

In addition to claiming his first NASCAR national touring series victory at Martinsville, Byron recorded his eighth career victory in the Truck Series and first since winning the 2016 finale at Homestead-Miami Speedway when he drove for Kyle Busch Motorsports. Byron also recorded the first Truck victory of the season for Chevrolet.

“It was a lot of fun,” Byron said on FS1. “Great crowd here at Martinsville. I’ve never won a race at Martinsville. [I] Struggled here when I was in late models. Just awesome to get the win tonight. Great truck. HendrickCars.com, Chevrolet. Thanks to Spire [Motorsports]. All the guys back at their shop, they don’t have a lot of guys, but they do alright. It was fun to work with [crew chief] Bono [Manion]. [I] Had a little help from [Cup crew chief] Rudy [Fugle]. He knows the truck really well. Yeah, just awesome. Thanks to Mr. [Hendrick] for letting me come do it. Pretty awesome. I’m excited.”

Sauter, the 2016 Truck Series champion who competes on a part-time basis between ThorSport Racing and G2G Racing, settled in second place for his highest on-track result since finishing second at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in February 2020.

“It was fun,” Sauter said. “It’s been a while. Just so proud of everybody at ThorSport. This is our first in-house chassis, in-house body complete. I called for an adjustment early in the race to just tighten it up a little bit and at the end it was just too much. This is the way it’s supposed to be. This is what this whole deal is about: to go for wins. To start shotgun on the field and finish second, that’s a solid day. I knew it was gonna be good. I knew on Lap 2, we had something we could race with. I’ve been doing this long enough to know. I wish I didn’t call for that adjustment. Who knows, you think that’s enough but all in all a solid night. The goal was to win and we just came up one spot short.”

Kyle Busch came home in third place in his third of five Truck starts this season while Nemechek and Rhodes finished in the top five. 

Chandler Smith, Crafton, Enfinger, Zane Smith and Tyler Ankrum completed the top 10 on the track. Ty Majeski, Christian Eckes, Stewart Friesen, Derek Kraus and Matt DiBenedetto finished in the top 15 wile Hocevar and Hailie Deegan, who confronted Lawless Alan following the event, finished 17th and 19th.

There were nine lead changes for six different leaders. The race featured 11 cautions for 71 laps.

With his fifth-place result, Ben Rhodes leads the regular-season standings by four points over Chandler Smith, 21 over Zane Smith, 25 over Stewart Friesen and 44 over both John Hunter Nemechek and Christian Eckes.

Results.

1. William Byron, 94 laps led

2. Johnny Sauter

3. Kyle Busch, one lap led

4. John Hunter Nemechek

5. Ben Rhodes, 47 laps led, Stage 2 winner

6. Chandler Smith, two laps led

7. Matt Crafton

8. Grant Enfinger

9. Zane Smith, 55 laps led, Stage 1 winner

10. Tyler Ankrum

11. Ty Majeski

12. Christian Eckes

13. Stewart Friesen

14. Derek Kraus

15. Matt DiBenedetto

16. Parker Kligerman

17. Carson Hocevar

18. Colby Howard

19. Hailie Deegan

20. Lawless Alan

21. Tanner Gray

22. Tate Fogleman

23. Timmy Hill

24. Bret Holmes, one lap down

25.  Chase Janes, one lap down

26. Taylor Gray, two laps down

27. Jesse Little, two laps down

28. Blake Lothian, two laps down

29. Chase Purdy, three laps down

30. Kris Wright, five laps down

31. Austin Wayne Self – OUT, Brakes

32. Dillon Steuer – OUT, Accident

33. Spencer Boyd – OUT, Electrical

34. Kaden Honeycutt – OUT, Accident

35. Jack Wood – OUT, Accident

36. Dean Thompson – OUT, Electrical

Next on the 2022 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series schedule is the series’ second annual running of the Pinty’s Truck Race at the Bristol Motor Speedway Dirt Course, which will occur on April 16 at 8 p.m. ET on FS1.

Hardpoint Returns To Long Beach in Porsche 911 GT3 R For IMSA WeatherTech Sprint Race With Katherine Legge, Rob Ferriol

By
Official Release
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Long Beach Street Race is the First Sprint Cup Race on the IMSA WeatherTech Championship Calendar for 2022

LONG BEACH, California (April 7, 2022) – Hardpoint and full-season drivers Rob Ferriol and Katherine Legge climb back behind the wheel of the No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R this weekend on the streets of Long Beach for the first Sprint Cup race of the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship season.

The 100-minute race can be seen live at 5 p.m. ET (2 p.m. PT) on USA Network or streaming commercial free on Peacock on Saturday, April 9. Ferriol and Legge will be joined by an additional 14 GT Daytona class cars, with six additional cars in both the GTD Pro and Daytona Prototype International classes also competing during the race.

No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R Event Notebook

  • Long Beach is the first Sprint race on the 2022 calendar following the Rolex 24 At Daytona and the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring. Ferriol and Legge will co-drive the No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R all year, joined by Stefan Wilson at the final two endurance races at Watkins Glen and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta.
  • Long Beach is a homecoming of sorts for Legge, who made her American racing debut on the street circuit in 2005 in Formula Atlantic. Driving for the late Kevin Kalkhoven, Legge shocked the field and became the first female driver to win a race under what was then the Champ Car umbrella.
  • Hardpoint made its Long Beach debut a season ago with a ninth-place finish in the team’s second-ever street race. That finish didn’t tell the whole story, however. Starting 15th in class, Ferriol made up four positions on the track before handing the car to Legge. Once behind the wheel, she ran the second-fastest lap of the race and made up two more positions against her fellow pros despite a pit stop slowed by a poorly placed tire of the car in front of the Hardpoint Porsche.
    
  • Hardpoint is currently eighth in the IMSA WeatherTech GT Daytona (GTD) team standings, with Ferriol and Legge ninth in the driver points. The Long Beach round will not count toward the full season standings however, as it is solely a part of the IMSA Sprint Cup point battle that begins this weekend.

Hardpoint Quote Board

Rob Ferriol, Owner and Driver, No. 99 Porsche 911 GT3 R: “Long Beach is going to be an interesting and welcome challenge for us after the two long endurance races to open the season. Last year, we had a quick car and some bad luck. We know we need to be on the gas from the start, but the Hardpoint crew has risen to every challenge we’ve given them this season. The challenge of Long Beach is that it’s a short race and traditionally it’s known as a tough place to pass. But last year both Kat and I were able to make up some positions in our respective stints, so if we can make the most of the condensed schedule we have a lot of confidence in our No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R.”

Katherine Legge, Driver, No. 99 Porsche 911 GT3 R: “It’s no secret that I love going to Long Beach and have some fond memories racing there. Last year, we had a stint at the end of the race where we were among the quickest cars on track, so there’s some optimism again coming into this weekend. It’s a tough schedule though, and a short race, so we’re going to have to be on it from the start. The team knocked it out of the park last year and have been fantastic through the opening endurance races, so we feel strongly that we can put it all together in this street 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. More information on Hardpoint can be found at www.hardpoint.com or through its strong social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

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 ADVANCE
APRIL 7, 2020

Team Chevy Hoping for Street Dreams at Long Beach
Chevrolet IndyCar teams aim to continue strong start to 2022 season

DETROIT (April 6, 2022) – Chevrolet’s collection of teams in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES head west this weekend as the Bowtie brand looks for its third straight race victory and pole position NTT P1 award to start 2022.

The Acura Long Beach Grand Prix is the second street course of the INDYCAR season in three events. Eleven entries powered by Chevrolet’s 2.2-liter, twin-turbo V6 engine will around the 11-turn, 1.968-mile circuit in southern California. It’s a track where Chevrolet has competed since 2012 and seeks its fifth victory there.

Fortunately, momentum is on the Chevrolet side. Team Chevy swept the first two races of the season for the first time since 2016 – the last time a Chevy-powered entry won at Long Beach.

Scott McLaughlin of Team Penske won at St. Petersburg and claimed pole position there to open 2022. Three weeks later, Penske’s Josef Newgarden won at Texas Motor Speedway after Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist claimed the P1 Award for pole.

“It’s hard to think of a better start to our season,” said Rob Buckner, Chevrolet Program Manager for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. “It’s encouraging to see the performance of our Chevrolet teams on both a street circuit and oval. That’s down to the work between our teams and our engineers to get the most of these packages at two tough venues.

“As we go to Long Beach, there are a number of challenges compared to our last street race at St. Petersburg. The flow and track layout seem to promote a higher level of interaction between cars at Long Beach and some pretty high speeds. The tarmac goes from mostly concrete to a few asphalt sections, so that’s a consideration for car setup and engine calibration. Above all, there is the measure of risk versus reward at Long Beach. If we can put all those together, it will be another great weekend for Team Chevy.”

Four different drivers claimed previous Long Beach victories with Chevrolet power including Will Power of Team Penske, which has taken pole position four times at Long Beach since 2012.

Chevrolet also swept the podium in 2016 and 2015, when Team Chevy captured the top seven places in the race.

While at the Long Beach GP event, Team Chevy fans can enjoy all that the Chevrolet display, located inside the convention center, has to offer. Included in the display activities will be two Q & A sessions with some of the star Chevrolet drivers. On Friday at 11:00 am local time, AJ Foyt Racing drivers Dalton Kellett, Tatiana Calderon and Kyle Kirkwood with chat with fans in the display.
Saturday at 2:45 pm local time, Team Penske drivers Josef Newgarden, Scott McLaughlin and Will Power will make an appearance to talk with fans.

The Chevrolet Motorsports Display opens at 8 a.m. Friday through Sunday and is located in the Long Beach Convention Center. Numerous Chevrolet vehicles and other highlights include:

• The 2023 Corvette convertible 3LT
• Additional Chevrolet products such as Blazer RS, Trailblazer RS, Camaro 2SS 1LE, Silverado Trail Boss and
• A Corvette Racing C8.R showcar and LT6.R engine
• An opportunity to receive a 2022 Chevrolet t-shirt

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.

TEAM CHEVY QUOTES
JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE: d Long Beach has been good to us .Two seconds (place finishes) the last two years hurts a bit. I would like to get a win there. We’ve been close before so, we’ve just got to figure out how to close the deal. That’s as simple as that. If we have a weak place, we’re going to make it a strong place, and I feel like Long Beach has been getting there slowly for us. It’s definitely become a strength, and we just need a little bit more to close the deal and feel like we can do that this weekend.

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 PPG CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE: The first two races is what INDYCAR is all about. This is why everyone loves it, why it’s becoming the world’s most competitive motorsport series. Proud to be a part of it, but it’s all about now. It was a great win at St. Pete and a strong run at Texas but had to get right back on the horse and get ready for what’s ahead at Long Beach and a few other things. I have had a lot of sim time, and more to come. It’s going to be hard, but I’m there.

DALTON KELLETT, NO. 4 K-LINE INSULATORS CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING: “I’m excited to be back at a street circuit this weekend. Long Beach is one of the classic events in the IndyCar calendar. It’s a great track to drive and the event as a whole, both on TV and at the track, is really exciting for the fans. The layout has a good mix of tight and open corners and there are some opportunities to pass. From a technical perspective, I think we have a couple good setup directions from St. Pete that we will be looking at here. Continuing with the goal of focusing on qualifying, we’ll be working up to that throughout the first two practices, so we can put ourselves in the best position for a good start to the race.”

PATO O’WARD, NO. 5 McLAREN VUSE CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN RACING SP:
“I always have enjoyed coming to Long Beach. I haven’t quite had the preferred weekend there in the past so I hope that the third time’s the charm! We have a lot to look forward to this weekend, especially getting back to work with the team and turning our championship around as we look to challenge at the front.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO. 7 McLAREN VUSE CHEVROLET, ARROW McLAREN RACING SP:
“It’s good to be back in Long Beach. There were a lot of emotions last year here for the team, but I think it was one of our stronger tracks in general; especially from my side. I thought we had a really good package at the end of the year. It’s good to be back and race at another street course. We’ll see if we can get the season going a little bit, as it’s been a disappointing start for all of us, but we’re ready to turn this ship around. I’m excited to go back West again.”

TATIANA CALDERON, NO. 11 ROKIT CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING: “It’s been a long time since St. Pete and I can’t wait to be back in the car after a long month away! It’s going to be my first time in Long Beach and I have also never been to L.A. so there’s lots of on and off track discovering to do over the week. The track looks super fun to drive and it seems most drivers love it so I can’t wait to see how it feels in reality! I have done a lot of simulator work, watched plenty of onboards in preparation for it with the team, so hopefully this will help us get up to speed quicker in Free Practice. I think I learnt a lot in the first race weekend, I had plenty of time to digest everything from St. Pete and there is plenty of work to be done. I expect another big challenge this weekend but one I definitely relish.”

WILL POWER, NO. 12 VERIZON 5G CHEVROLET, TEAM PENSKE: “I love where this No. 12 Verizon 5G team is to start the year. We’ve come out of the gates really strong – as has all three Team Penske cars – and there is just a good vibe going around right now. So, it’s nice to head into Long Beach with a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence. The series has done a great job in promoting all the races on the schedule, but Long Beach is still just behind the Indianapolis 500 with all of its history and prestige. I know the fans are going to come out in big numbers to see us this weekend, and they will see a good show. Both of my teammates have already won this year so Long Beach sounds like a great place to get mine.”

KYLE KIRKWOOD, NO. 14 ROKIT CHEVROLET, AJ FOYT RACING: “I really love street courses. Long Beach will be all new to me this year with the Road to Indy never going while I was a part of the series. I have comfort up against walls and I feel that getting up to speed quick is one of my attributes, so I don’t think lack of experience will hurt us this weekend. We’ve shown great pace in the first two events this year with no justified result, hopefully third time is a charm for us this weekend in Long Beach.”

CONOR DALY, NO. 20 BITNILE CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING: “Long Beach is one of the most fun weekends of the year. I really, really love the track. We have put in hours and hours on the simulator, working on how we can improve there and have a good rebound from last year. We made a lot of progress on the sim and we really appreciate our partners at Chevrolet allowing us to put in those hours! I can’t wait to get back to Long Beach and get the BitNile car on track. We’re ready to right the ship and turn our luck around this weekend!”

RINUS VEEKAY, NO. 21 ALZAMEND NEURO CHEVROLET, ED CARPENTER RACING: “We have some unfinished business in Long Beach! Last year, we had a tough weekend and ended the season with a mechanical issue. We know we can do a lot better! We found a lot of information over the winter that we can use, I can’t wait to see what we’ve got. I love the event; I love the track. I am very excited to go to the west coast and rock around the streets of Long Beach!”

CALLUM ILOTT, NO. 77 DYNAMIC EDGE CHEVROLET, JUNCOS HOLLINGER RACING: “To go back to Long Beach, which is where we finished off our trio of races at the end of last year will be a good experience for me to see where we are. Obviously, we hope to have made a lot of development with the No. 77 JHR Chevrolet since then, so I am excited to see what we can achieve. I am looking forward to the sun and a great race in front of the fans.”

BY THE NUMBERS: CHEVROLET IN INDYCAR
· 1: Chevrolet’s position in the INDYCAR Engine Manufacturer standings after two races
· 2: Consecutive victories by Chevrolet to open the 2022 NTT INDYCAR SERIES. Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin won the pole and race at St. Petersburg. Penske teammate Josef Newgarden won the race at Texas Motor Speedway after Arrow McLaren SP’s Felix Rosenqvist claimed pole position
· 2: Long Beach podium sweeps for Team Chevy (2015, 2016)
· 4: Wins for Chevrolet IndyCar teams at Long Beach
· 6: Different Chevrolet drivers to win races dating back to the start of 2020. Scott McLaughlin was the most recent at St. Petersburg
· 6: Number of Manufacturer Championships in the NTT INDYCAR Series since 2012
· 6: Number of Team Chevy Driver/Entrant championships since 2012
· 9: Wins from pole by Will Power with Chevrolet power since 2012, most by any driver
· 13: Consecutive seasons with at least one win by Will Power, including past 10 with Chevrolet
· 25: Wins by Will Power since 2012. All have come with Chevrolet, giving him the most of any driver with same manufacturer
· 39: Pole starts by Will Power since 2012 in a Chevrolet-powered car, most of any driver
· 97: Chevrolet victories in NTT INDYCAR SERIES since 2012
· 109: Earned poles by Chevrolet since 2012
· 167: NTT INDYCAR SERIES races as V6 engine supplier since 2012 return to INDYCAR

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.

The 44th HSR Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta to Host the Inaugural Gene Felton Memorial Challenge

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Official Release
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Late Road Racing Great to be Annually Honored in HSR Stock Car Race for the Lanier Technical College Gene Felton Trophy

SEBRING, Florida (April 7, 2022) – One of the oldest vintage and historic racing events in the U.S., the 44th running of the Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) Mitty at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta, April 28 – May 1, will introduce a new feature race to honor driving star Gene Felton and a special perpetual trophy reflecting the late road racing champion’s support of Lanier Technical College. The announcement of the new annual race at The Mitty was made today during the drivers meeting at the season-opening HSR Spring Fling event at Sebring International Raceway.

The inaugural “Gene Felton Memorial Challenge” will feature a pair of races for HSR Group 8 Historic Stock Cars with the winner determined by total points from the two events. In addition to receiving a special race winner’s trophy, a plaque bearing the driver’s name will be put on The Lanier Technical College Gene Felton Trophy. Based on hardware from Felton’s vast collection, the permanent trophy commemorates the driver’s long association with the Lanier Technical College, where he helped interns in the Motorsports Vehicle Training program get hands-on racing experience.

A former Grand Marshall at The Mitty and a member of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, Felton died in 2020 at the age of 84 from a non-covid related illness.

Felton’s racing achievements were many, including 45 career victories in the professional ranks of IMSA on board production-based cars and four consecutive Kelly American Challenge Series championships. After a horrendous crash during practice for a Trans-Am race at the Riverside International Raceway in California broke his neck in 1984, Felton returned to his car-building roots with Gene Felton Restorations, maintaining vintage NASCAR stock cars and production-based race cars in the garage behind his house in Roswell. He continued to get behind the wheel and won many a vintage race.

“In so many ways, Gene Felton represents everything that HSR is about,” said HSR President David Hinton. “He was a record-setting and tireless competitor that truly lived to race and clearly loved every aspect of the sport that all of us love so much. To be able to have a race in his honor every year at the HSR Mitty is a true privilege.”

Felton’s plaudits include co-driving to victory in the Rolex 24 at Daytona with two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Terry Labonte and car owner Billy Hagan. After winning the GTO class pole at Le Mans in his first appearance at the famed French 24-hour race in 1982, Felton drove to a second-place finish with Hagan. He launched his pro career with two stunning victories in Camel GT races at the Daytona International Speedway in 1972 and 1973, beating a host of Porsches and Corvettes on board a Camaro he built during spare time from his cosmetics supply business.

The Gene Felton Memorial Challenge will be the focus of a fund-raising effort in support of MVT students. Donations can be made at or by sending checks to the Lanier Technical College Foundation, 2535 Lanier Tech Drive, Gainesville, Georgia 30507. “As long as donors write ‘Gene Felton’ in the memo line of the check or in the comment box online, the funds will be specifically allocated to help MVT program students,” said John M. Leverett, Motorsports Vehicle Technology Program Director and Instructor.

As a teenager, Felton went to the Lakewood Speedway on the south side of Atlanta to watch NASCAR’s earliest heroes of the 1950s, which inspired his own career. In addition to road racing in IMSA and the SCCA, he competed in NASCAR during his early career.

Felton’s best result in the NASCAR came in a Grand American race at Road Atlanta in 1971. Like this year’s inaugural Gene Felton Memorial Challenge, the NASCAR event featured a pair of races under a points format. Forced to start at the back of the field in the second race due to an equipment problem, Felton drove his Camaro up to second place at the finish behind Tiny Lund, impressing the former Daytona 500 winner as well as veterans Bobby Allison and Buck Baker, drivers he passed along the way.

A lone entry in NASCAR’s Cup series came at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in 1976, where Felton finished the 500-mile race while running in 16th place. A frequent winner behind the wheel in vintage events, he was invited to drive a Chevrolet Nova he restored that was previously driven by seven-time Cup series champion Dale Earnhardt at the Goodwood Festival in England in 2009.

This week’s season-opening HSR Spring Fling runs through Friday at Sebring International Raceway. Tickets are available exclusively at the track.

About HSR: Now an International Motor Sports Association (IMSA) property, Historic Sportscar Racing (HSR) was formed in the mid-1970s with an event at Road Atlanta. There was one goal then and it remains true today: to celebrate the race cars from the past. As a “time machine” of sights and sounds, HSR provides a venue for competitors and spectators alike to share in the wonderful history and excitement created by the cars that competed at race tracks around the world. HSR currently sanctions eight vintage and historic racing events at some of the world’s most renowned race tracks, including Road Atlanta, Sebring International Raceway, Daytona International Speedway and more. The complete schedule and full event information can be found on HSR’s website at www.HSRRace.com. Look for the HSR Channel on YouTube and follow HSR on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/HSRrace/ and on Twitter and Instagram at @HSR_race. A dedicated website for the Classic 24 Hour at Daytona presented by IMSA is available at www.Classic24hour.com.

RaceDayNFT, Pocono Raceway Reach Partnership Agreement

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Official Release
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  • Pocono-specific items to be available prior to track’s July 22-24 NASCAR weekend
  • Visit the marketplace at com for the latest additions throughout the season.

LONG POND, PA. (April 7, 2022) – RaceDayNFT and Pocono Raceway have reached a partnership agreement to feature ‘The Tricky Triangle’ in the innovative digital marketplace for race fans.

Pocono-specific items will be available prior to the track’s July 22-24 NASCAR weekend, featuring NASCAR Camping World Truck, Xfinity and Cup Series races plus an ARCA Menards Series race.

RaceDayNFT is a digital collectible marketplace for fans to buy, sell and trade NFTs. An NFT (non-fungible token) is a digital collectible (such as a video or image) that is officially licensed and recorded on the blockchain to demonstrate proof of ownership.

“We’re honored to partner with RaceDayNFT and look forward to the drop of our Tricky Triangle offerings,” said Pocono Raceway President Ben May. “RaceDayNFT provides another opportunity for Pocono fans to get engaged with us, have some fun and collect a unique piece of memorability about their favorite track.”

In partnership with GigLabs, Speedway Motorsports created RaceDayNFT.com, the original motorsports NFT marketplace for race fans in 2021.

Unique NFTs at other speedways have included virtual die-cast cars, ticket packages, charity tokens, commemorative tickets and more. Pocono Raceway’s NFT collection will be available on the marketplace in the coming weeks.

RaceDayNFT.com is built on the environmentally friendly Flow Blockchain, home of other leading sports NFT projects including NBA Top Shot, NFL ALL DAY and UFC Strike.

GigLab’s proprietary NFT Bridge platform operates the RaceDayNFT.com NFT marketplace. NFT Bridge helps brands remove the complexity of smart contracts, blockchain integration, NFT design and management and event services.

Visit RaceDayNFT.com for more details.

RCR Event Preview – Martinsville

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Official Release
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Richard Childress Racing at Martinsville Speedway … In 180 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, RCR has seven victories, five by Dale Earnhardt (1985-fall, 1987-spring, 1988-spring, 1991-spring, and 1995-fall). Ricky Rudd won the 1983 fall race at Martinsville, which was RCR’s first Cup Series win on an oval. Kevin Harvick won the 2011 spring race at Martinsville, his first victory at the .526-mile paved speedway. The team owns 30 top-five and 64 top-10 finishes entering Saturday night’s race. Team owner Richard Childress made his first start at Martinsville Speedway on April 10, 1972 and reeled off four top-10 finishes sprinkled across the 1976-1978 seasons.

Xfinity Series Stats at Richmond … RCR has one NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Martinsville Speedway. Kevin Harvick captured the 2006 event followed closely by teammate Clint Bowyer. Harvick and Bowyer combined to lead 207 of the event’s 250 laps enroute to a 1-2 finish. Bowyer also captured his first career Xfinity Series short-track pole position.

Catch Friday’s Action … The Call 811 Before You Dig 250 at Martinsville Speedway will be televised live on Friday, April 8 at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Follow Saturday’s Action in Martinsville … The Blu-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 will be televised live on Saturday, April 9 beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 and will be broadcast live on the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

This Week’s Get Bioethanol Camaro ZL1 at Martinsville Speedway … In 16 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Martinsville Speedway, Dillon earned his best finish in April 2016 at the half-mile short track. He scored a fourth-place finish, rallying back from a 29th-place starting position. Dillon also owns a fifth-place finish at the .526-mile speedway (April 2017). He has made four NASCAR Truck Series starts at Martinsville, earning his best finish of third in October 2011.

Delivering Performance On the Track and For the Planet … Austin Dillon will race the Get Bioethanol Chevy in Martinsville, showcasing the performance benefits of racing with earth kind and engine smart bioethanol blended fuel, Sunoco Green E15. Whether it’s delivering cleaner and cooler high octane on the racetrack or a more affordable option for spring break road trips, plant-based bioethanol makes a positive impact on our planet. Learn more about bioethanol at getbioethanol.com.

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:
How do you feel about short tracks like Martinsville Speedway?
“I’m really excited for Martinsville Speedway. Martinsville is a place where you can really race hard. It’s a short track. It’s one of those places where you go through so many emotions during the course of the race. Someone might bump you and that give-and-take can get frustrating. It’s a short little paperclip, with hard-braking corners. We’ve had some solid runs there, and I think that we can go back and do it again. We have Get Bioethanol on the car, and everyone on our team will be pumped up when we get there. Martinsville is a race we circle on the schedule every year because we know we have a shot to win. We raced at a similar short track at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum earlier this year and Tyler and I both ran well. It was a good start to the season for us with this Next Gen Chevy. We finished third and based on that, I think we’ll be able to back that up with a strong run this weekend at Martinsville.”

This Week’s 3CHI Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Martinsville Speedway … Tyler Reddick will take on Martinsville Speedway, also known as ‘The Paperclip,’ for the fifth time of his NASCAR Cup Series career on Saturday under the lights. Reddick made his first Cup Series start at the Virginia track in 2020 starting 14th and finished 16th. At the spring race last season, Reddick grabbed his career-best track finish of eighth in the No. 8 Chevrolet. During his time competing in the NASCAR Truck Series, Reddick made six starts at Martinsville. He had two top-five finishes and three top 10s to his name. His best finish of fifth (twice) came at both races in 2015.

3CHI Stands with Ukraine, Donates Proceeds in Support … This weekend at Martinsville Speedway, Tyler Reddick will pilot the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet with a special decklid in support of the ongoing crisis in Ukraine. The decklid features the colors of the Ukrainian flag with the words “Stand with Ukraine.” 3CHI is making this donation because they want to do their part to help, as an organization and in association with Richard Childress Racing, and to inspire others to step forward. 3CHI will donate 10 percent of online sales this weekend on 3CHI.com toward Ukraine relief efforts to the Ukrainian Red Cross.

3CHI Blazed the Trail for Another Industry First … 3CHI and Richard Childress Racing created another first with their partnership for the 2022 NASCAR season. 3CHI began with roots as a CBD producer and quickly became a pioneer in science-based hemp and cannabis innovation. The company was the first to commercially develop and market Delta 8 THC, and today, 3CHI is an industry leader with unsurpassed product quality and purity as verified by top independent labs and benchmark organizations. 3CHI products are sold in a majority of the United States, and the company produces and markets a variety of gummies, tinctures, lotions, edibles and vape products. All 3CHI products meet federal requirements for full legal compliance, with a commitment to promoting responsible adult use. See 3CHI.com for more information.

TYLER REDDICK QUOTES:
What’s the mindset heading to Martinsville Speedway this Saturday?
“With the speed that we had at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum for The Clash in the beginning of the season, we are very intrigued and curious to see how the speed that we had at a short track that is very similar to Martinsville’s shape and banking translates to the bigger of the two racetracks. With this new car, we saw that, at Richmond in particular, that with a similar tire, it raced a lot more like last year’s car than we’ve seen at other races. I’m assuming that the tire isn’t much different, I haven’t heard anything about the tire yet. If that remains fairly close then I would think that the race will play out a lot like the races did with the last car, too. Richmond is always a long race filled with lots of opportunities to make a mistake that really changes the outcome of your day, that’s how it will be this weekend at Martinsville, too. Hopefully our setup is right for Saturday, and we can take the things we learned from Richmond and put them into our plans. Track position and staying up front all day long is going to be very important. Outside of that, we just need to keep executing clean races and make the most out of our days.”

How do you feel your season is going so far?
“There have certainly been a lot of highs and lows this season. Being so close to that first win has been tough but also has just added more motivation. My team and everyone at ECR have been working around the clock on these new cars to bring us fast Chevys every single week and they have. Everyone has been working so hard on the ins and outs of the car as well as strategy, setup, everything. We have consistently brought strong and fast cars to every racetrack. Sometimes luck hasn’t been on our side, but I know that if we continue to execute the right way and work on improving certain elements, our time is coming. Looking back, we’ve been able to run up front for most of the races and we’ve also been able to fight back from a lot of deficits. Richmond last week showed that. None of us were necessarily happy with how the car was running but we were able to salvage a 12th-place finish and stay in it the best we could. I’ve learned a lot as a driver about this new car and I know everyone at RCR has, too. This season is long, and we’ve got so much racing left to do. I’m proud of our results this far and know we will achieve even better ones.”

This Week’s Whelen Engineering Chevrolet Camaro SS at Martinsville Speedway … Sheldon Creed will be making his first Martinsville Speedway start in the NASCAR Xfinity Series on Friday night. He has two top-10 finishes in five Truck Series starts at Martinsville with a best finish of eighth in 2020. He is 12th in the NASCAR Xfinity Series drivers standings, 27 points outside of the top 10.

About Whelen Engineering … Whelen Engineering is a family-owned company with a pioneering spirit and a passion to protect the lives of those who protect and serve others. The company mission is to provide industry-defining safety solutions around the world, while creating a community of problem-solvers who are inspired to push boundaries and continue our legacy of delivering ground-breaking innovation. As a global leader in the emergency warning industry, Whelen has been trusted to perform since 1952, when George Whelen III invented the first rotating aviation beacon. Whelen now encompasses two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Connecticut and New Hampshire with over 750,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing space and the largest design staff in the industry. Every part of every Whelen product is proudly designed and manufactured in America. We embrace quality as our foundation, we celebrate innovative engineering in every product we produce.

SHELDON CREED QUOTES:
The race at Martinsville is relatively short (250 laps) and track position is very important. That is a challenge with a limited amount of practice before qualifying.
“You’ve got to be up front at the beginning and you’ve got stay relatively close to the front pretty much the whole race because the race is so short and it is so hard to pass there. That will be our goal. Hopefully we have the speed to do it and can run up front all day. I’ve had good races there in the past and felt like I should have won there in the Trucks in 2020. I’ve had speed, led laps and been in the top five a lot there, I just feel like the finish never goes our way. I’m looking forward to getting back there and being able to click off a top-five.”

How challenging is pit road at Martinsville?
“Martinsville’s pit road is tough but I wouldn’t say it’s the hardest that we go to on the circuit. Phoenix is tough just because the boxes are different and then you have the long corners. Pit road at Martinsville is tough but not quite that challenging.”

Is it easy to lose your temper at Martinsville?
“It is easy to lose your cool at Martinsville, not so much if you’re running inside the top 10 though. If you get outside the top 10 and start getting bumped around, it can get pretty frustrating.”

This Week’s Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet Camaro SS at Martinsville Speedway … Hill will be making his first Martinsville Speedway start in NASCAR Xfinity Series competition on Friday evening. He scored a second-place in the 2021 Truck Series race at Martinsville and owns three top-10 finishes in 11 starts at the paperclip-shaped oval. Hill enters the Martinsville event ninth in the series drivers standings. With his victory in the season-opening event at Daytona, Hill has clinched a spot in the 2022 NASCAR Playoffs.

About Bennett Family of Companies … McDonough, Ga.-based Bennett Family of Companies is a woman-owned, Women’s Enterprise Business Council (WBENC) certified, diversified transportation and logistics company. Through its 12 affiliated operating companies, the Bennett Family of Companies delivers integrated transportation and supply chain management solutions worldwide. The company will use race experiences to recruit and retain hundreds of truck drivers for their organization in 2022. For more information, visit www.Drive4Bennett.com.

AUSTIN HILL QUOTES:
How big of a factor is taking care of your brakes at Martinsville?
“There’s a balance to taking care of your brakes at Martinsville Speedway. The first few times I went to Martinsville it seemed like the brake pedal would get a little soft, but we were also running in a little bit warmer weather. I’m planning to use the brake pedal a lot. Even though it is a short race you can still burn the brakes off it if you’re not careful so we have to be mindful of that. You definitely want to have brakes to use when you need them.”

Is track position more critical at Martinsville than at any other track?
“I think track position is very critical. Last year in the Truck race we lost some track position but I was able to work my way back up. If you have a car that’s good enough, you can do it, but it makes life a lot easier when you run inside the top five all day. Hopefully we have a fast Bennett Transportation and Logistics Chevrolet and we can stay out of harm’s way. It can get wild at the end of these races at Martinsville so we just want to stay out of all the mess and melee that’s going on and have a solid top five day.”

CHEVY NCS AT MARTINSVILLE: Team Chevy Advance

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Official Release
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TEAM CHEVY ADVANCE
BLUE-EMU MAXIMUM PAIN RELIEF 400
MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
RIDGEWAY, VIRGINIA
APRIL 9, 2022

RACE #8 – MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY
Celebrating its monumental 75th anniversary, Martinsville Speedway gears up for an historic weekend as the host of all three NASCAR National Series for the second of three-consecutive short-track races. The action-packed weekend marks the only time this season that all three series will compete under the lights at the same venue as Chevrolet teams have their eyes set on winning the prestigious grandfather clock. The bowtie brand returns to Martinsville Speedway as defending winners after Chevrolet claimed the victory in all three series during NASCAR’s last appearance at the venue in October 2021.

The NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) will take on the .526-mile paperclip in the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 on Saturday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The 400-lap event marks the first of just four night races on the 2022 schedule for NASCAR’s premier series. Chevrolet has captured the victory at Martinsville Speedway 58 times to lead all manufacturers. In the series last appearance at the track, Alex Bowman piloted his No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet to victory, his third-career NCS short-track victory and his first at Martinsville Speedway.

Chevrolet drivers in the NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) will take the green for the Call 811 Before You Dig 250 Powered by Call811.com on Friday, April 8, at 7:30 p.m. ET. The Camaro SS swept both race wins in the series at Martinsville Speedway last season. The spring 2021 race saw Josh Berry, the short-track phenom who was competing a part-time schedule for JR Motorsports in 2021, lead a race-high 95 laps to capture his first-career NXS victory. In the series return to the venue in the fall, Noah Gragson wheeled his Chevrolet-powered machine to victory lane, a win that secured his spot in the Championship 4.

The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) will start the three-race weekend with the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 on Thursday, April 8, at 8 p.m. ET. The 200-lap race will be the only appearance by the series at the Virginia-based track this season. The 2021 Martinsville race for the series saw GMS Racing claim the victory, marking Chevrolet’s 257th all-time NCWTS win. NASCAR Cup Series regular, William Byron, will be take on the NCWTS behind the wheel of the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Silverado. The 24-year-old Charlotte native is no stranger to the series. Byron ran a full season in the NCWTS in 2016, capturing seven wins that season to set a NASCAR record for a first-year driver. In 25 starts in the series, Byron has also recorded 11 top-five’s, 16 top-10’s and three pole wins.

ALL-TIME NCS WIN LEADER AT MARTINSVILLE
In the 146 NASCAR Cup Series races that have been held at Martinsville Speedway, Chevrolet has made its way to victory lane a record-58 times to top all manufacturers. Chevrolet team, Hendrick Motorsports, leads all organizations in NCS wins at Martinsville with 26 victories, including holding the title as the most recent winner at the venue following Alex Bowman’s win in the fall 2021 event. Other drivers that have contributed to Hendrick Motorsports triumphs at Martinsville include: Jeff Gordon (nine), Jimmie Johnson (nine), Darrell Waltrip (four), Geoffrey Bodine (one), Dale Earnhardt Jr. (one) and Chase Elliott (one).

CHEVROLET REMAINS ON TOP IN STANDINGS
Heading into the eighth points-paying race on the season, Chevrolet remains on top of the driver and manufacturer points standings in both the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series. 2020 NCS Champion, Chase Elliott, leads the bowtie brigade into the NCS driver standings, tied for the top position. Chevrolet drivers occupy two of the top-five and four of the top-10 heading into the Martinsville race weekend.

The winningest brand in NASCAR also continues to lead in the NASCAR Cup Series manufacturer standings. The Camaro ZL1 has recorded four wins thus far this season with four different Chevrolet drivers, the most of all manufacturers. The bowtie brand also continues to top all manufacturers in top-five’s (20), top-10’s (32), laps led (786) and stage wins (7).

Following the Richmond race weekend, Chevrolet remained in the top position of the NASCAR Xfinity Series driver and manufacturer points standings. Five of the top-six and seven of the top-10 of the driver points standings are occupied by Camaro SS drivers. Chevrolet’s most recent winner in the series, AJ Allmendinger, took over the top spot in the driver standings following his fourth top-five finish of the season at Richmond.

DALE EARNHARDT JR. BACK BEHIND THE WHEEL
Career Chevrolet driver and NASCAR Hall of Famer, Dale Earnhardt Jr., is set to make his only appearance behind the wheel during the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series season this weekend at Martinsville Speedway, piloting the No. 88 Hellman’s Fridge Hunters Camaro SS. Dale Earnhardt Jr. has made 35 NASCAR Cup Series starts at the .526-mile venue, claiming one win (2014), 13 top-five’s and 18 top-10’s in his NCS career. Since retiring from full-time competition in 2017, Earnhardt Jr. has raced four times in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, with this weekend marking his first appearance at Martinsville Speedway since retirement.

BOWTIE BULLETS
· Active NASCAR Cup Series Chevrolet drivers who have won at Martinsville Speedway:
Alex Bowman (2021)
Chase Elliott (2020)

· In 146 events at Martinsville Speedway, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers in wins (58) and pole awards (53). The bowtie brand has also recorded 269 top-five’s, 511 top-10’s and led 28,078 laps at the .526-mile paperclip.
· Heading into the eighth race of the 2022 season, Chevrolet leads all manufacturers in NASCAR Cup Series wins (4), top-five’s (20), top-10’s (32), laps led (786) and stage wins (7).

· Five Team Chevy drivers have combined seven NASCAR Cup Series stage wins:
Tyler Reddick 2 – (Fontanax2)
Alex Bowman 1 – (Las Vegas)
Ross Chastain 1 – (Las Vegas)
William Byron 2 – (Phoenix)(Atlanta)
Daniel Suarez 1 – (COTA)

· With its 40 NASCAR Cup Series Manufacturer Championships; 33 NASCAR Cup Series Driver Championships; and 818 all-time NASCAR Cup Series wins, Chevrolet holds the title of winningest brand in NASCAR.

· Chevrolet leads in the driver points standing in both the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series. Chase Elliott is tied for the top spot in the NCS standings; and AJ Allmendinger leads in the NXS standings by 20 points. The bowtie brand also sits atop both the NCS and NXS manufacturer points standings.

TUNE IN
FS1 will telecast the NASCAR Cup Series Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at 7:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 9. FS1 will telecast the NASCAR Xfinity Series Call 811 Before You Dig 250 Powered by Call811.com at 7:30 p.m. ET on Friday, April 8. FS1 will telecast the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 200 at 8 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 7. Live coverage of all three events can also be found on MRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

QUOTABLE QUOTES
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 GOPRO CAMARO ZL1
WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON TRACKHOUSE RACING’S SUCCESS IN 2022?
“There have been smiles this year. You’ve probably heard some of us talk about it, but it is different. For the same building and most of the same employees, it’s different. This car gives us a lot of things to smile about and we’ve been fast.”

WHAT HAS IT BEEN LIKE TO BE PART OF THE TRACKHOUSE TEAM THAT HAS MADE SUCH A LEAP IN 2022?
“I’ve been grateful and I keep telling the boys and girls that at Trackhouse (Racing). Thank you for giving me fast cars because nobody’s car is comfortable to drive right now. We’re spinning out; I’ve wrecked. I’ve over-corrected. But as we’ve went through each race, they’ve made it tolerable. Just that extra little bit where I can start to hustle it. I have to keep reminding myself – come off of 100 percent because they are hard to drive. You see guys, we’re all spinning out and bottoming out. It’s been a grateful feeling for me that they’re giving me cars with speed. Our car at Auto Club was fast and I plugged it in the wall, head-on, off turn four. I can’t be doing that.”

AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 GET BIOETHANOL CAMARO ZL1
“I’m really excited for Martinsville Speedway. Martinsville is a place where you get in there and can really race hard. It’s a short track. It is one of those places where you go through so many emotions during the course the race. Someone might bump you and that give-and-take can get frustrating. It’s a short little paper clip, with hard-braking corners. We’ve had some solid runs there, and I think that we can go back and do it again. We have Get Bioethanol is on the car, and we’ll be pumped when we get there. It’s a place we circle on the schedule every year because we know we have a shot to win. I haven’t gotten that Martinsville clock yet, but we raced at a similar short track at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum earlier this year. It was a good start for us in this Next Gen Chevy. We had a top-three finish and based on that, I think we’ll be able to show up when it comes to Martinsville.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
LARSON ON RACING AT MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY:
“I love racing at Martinsville, but I haven’t been that fast there in the past – at least fast enough to win. I always go there with enthusiasm, with the mindset to continue to work hard and evolve and to become better. Hopefully we can battle for the win.”

CLIFF DANIELS, CREW CHIEF, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
DANIELS ON PREPARING FOR THE FLAT SHORT TRACK:
“The closest track we’ve raced this year is the (Los Angeles Memorial) Coliseum where we ran the Clash. Still, it’s very, very different compared to Martinsville. We try to piece together from that data point, from the Phoenix test, the Phoenix race and from Richmond. None of those are like Martinsville, but we can base our approach on the differences of those tracks compared to Martinsville in years past.”

TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1
WHAT’S THE MINDSET HEADING TO MARTINSVILLE SPEEDWAY THIS SATURDAY?
“With the speed that we had at the LA Coliseum for The Clash in the beginning of the season, we are very intrigued and curious to see how the speed that we had at a short track that is very similar to Martinsville’s shape and banking translates to the bigger of the two racetracks. With this new car, we saw that, at Richmond in particular, that with a similar tire, it raced a lot more like last year’s car than we’ve seen at other races. I’m assuming that the tire isn’t much different, I haven’t heard anything about the tire yet. If that remains fairly close then I would think that the race will play out a lot like the races did with the last car, too. Richmond is always a long race filled with lots of opportunities to make a mistake that really changes the outcome of your day, that’s how it will be this weekend at Martinsville, too. Hopefully our setup is right for Saturday, and we can take the things we learned from Richmond and put them into our plans. Track position and staying up front all day long is going to be very important. Outside of that, we just need to keep executing clean races and make the most out of our days.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR SEASON IS GOING SO FAR?
“There have certainly been a lot of highs and lows this season. Being so close to that first win has been tough but also as just added more motivation. My team and everyone at ECR have been working around the clock on these new cars to bring us fast Chevys every single week and they have. Everyone has been working so hard on the ins and outs of the car as well as strategy, setup, everything. We have consistently brought strong and fast cars to every racetrack. Sometimes luck hasn’t been on our side, but I know that if we continue to execute the right way and work on improving certain elements, our time is coming. Looking back, we’ve been able to run up front for most of the races and we’ve also been able to fight back from a lot of deficits. Richmond last week showed that. None of us were necessarily happy with how the car was running but we were able to salvage a 12th-place finish and stay in it the best we could. I’ve learned a lot as a driver about this new car and I know everyone at RCR has, too. This season is long, and we’ve got so much racing left to do. I’m proud of our results this far and know we will achieve even better ones.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 LLUMAR CAMARO ZL1
ELLIOTT ON THE TEAM’S PERFORMANCE IN 2022:
“I feel like we’ve been solid at times. Other than Vegas, I felt like there’s been signs of pace for us. We just haven’t put a whole day together yet. We’ll keep doing our thing and continue to move forward. That’s really all you can do. This deal pays in November. We’ve got a long ways to go, and I feel like we have a great team, and that’s the part of the year we want to be prepared for most. We want to win and we want to gain as many bonus points as we can, don’t get me wrong, but a lot of racing to be done.”

ALAN GUSTAFSON, CREW CHIEF, NO. 9 LLUMAR CAMARO ZL1
GUSTAFSON ON HEADING TO MARTINSVILLE IN THE NEXT GEN CAR:
“Martinsville is super unique and that’s what I like about it. I really like going there. With this new car, it’s just going to be a huge difference for us to get it to do what the old car did setup-wise, so that’s going to be a learning curve for us.”

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1
BYRON ON HOW HE APPROACHES RACING AT MARTINSVILLE:
“I think Martinsville has always been a good track for us especially with two top-five finishes last year. We just need to hit on the things that are crucial there and work on it. With the shape of the corners and the rhythm it takes, I feel like I have an eye for what a car should look like to get around there just from coming to so many races growing up. I think some of that translates to inside the car when you’re thinking through what lines to take and how to pass somebody. Growing up short-track racing helps too. Similar to Denny (Hamlin), I grew up racing around the Southeast and running a lot of late model races. I’ve gone back and done some of that this year and that helps reaffirm how I race at tracks like this.”

RUDY FUGLE, CREW CHIEF, NO. 24 RAPTORTOUGH.COM CAMARO ZL1
FUGLE ON HIS THOUGHTS OF RACING 400 MILES AT MARTINSVILLE:
“I’m excited to race under the lights this weekend at Martinsville, especially for 400 laps. I’m excited to have a little bit of a shorter race honestly. I like that style. It’s a bit more up my alley of racing from the other series. You really have to try to get all the work done early. You won’t have as much time to recover from mistakes now, so you really have to minimize those. Realistically the way we race these races is we race to the end of stage one, we race to the end of stage two and then to the race end. It makes them all shorter races essentially. With every call you make, and even how you start the race, you can’t be as far off and need to make better decisions early on. I like those situations and the pressure it brings. I welcome that challenge.”

TY DILLON, NO. 42 CHEVYLINERS.COM CAMARO ZL1
WHAT HAS YOUR EXPERIENCE BEEN LIKE WITH THE NEXT GEN CAR SO FAR? WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON THIS NEW MODEL?
“I love it. Anytime there is a massive change, it opens the door for massive opportunity. That is the way that I choose to look at it. I don’t like to get stuck on change and why it shouldn’t work, but why it is going to work. It has been a lot of fun to drive. There are a lot of nuance things that I still don’t know why it feels a certain way or why it does certain things, but that is something over time that we will learn and build a notebook on. Time is only going to tell when you’ve had so many years of experience in a certain style and build of a car. There are so many new components of the car and as a driver, you become more connected to the car with more laps that you have in it. I’m growing in it, we are all growing in it, and it’s only a matter of time before it feels second nature to drive it.”

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 FOCUSFACTOR CAMARO ZL1
HOW ARE YOU ADAPTING TO THIS NEW CAR? DOES IT FIT YOUR DRIVING STYLE?
“You are constantly learning. Every time you hit the racetrack, you are going through figuring out what this car likes from a driver standpoint – of what you can do as a driver to make it better, what you need to ask for to make it better. People are having to drive a tighter racecar at this point. No one is super comfortable with driving it free and figuring out what the limits are. But that is part of a new car and learning through it. Overall, I feel pretty comfortable with it. I do feel like it suits my driving style, especially on short tracks and so far, the mile and a half as well. I’ve been pretty happy with the race car and how it’s drove to this point.”

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
BOWMAN ON HIS CURRENT MOMENTUM:
“We have had three back-to-back top-10 finishes, which is getting us closer to our goal of being consistent. Having a great race at COTA and then following that up with an eighth place at Richmond boosts the confidence of everyone on the team, not just myself. Greg (Ives) and the rest of the guys at the shop work really hard to give me the best Ally Chevy they can put together and it’s showing. Going back to Martinsville, a place that I won late last year, is something that keeps us looking in the right direction. I think we can go down there and repeat our success from last season.”

GREG IVES, CREW CHIEF, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1
IVES ON HIS APPROACH TO MARTINSVILLE AND THE WAVE OF CONFIDENCE THE TEAM HAS:
“Martinsville has been a great racetrack for Hendrick Motorsports. You always want to go there and perform well. It definitely boosts our confidence coming off our recent win there at the end of last year in addition to how we have been performing at short tracks recently. We are going to go there with a solid race car and a strategic plan. Barring any mistakes, I feel like we have what it takes to go out and contend for another win.”

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 GOPRO CAMARO ZL1
DO YOU THINK HAVING A TEAMMATE THIS YEAR HAS BEEN THE KEY TO TRACKHOUSE SUCCESS?
“I think it’s a combination of things. Definitely having a teammate helps. That’s part of the success. Having that information and sharing that information; knowing exactly what they’re going to do and what we’re going to do. But I think that probably the biggest improvement from last year is the people. Having our own people working towards the speed and having a lot of support from Chevrolet. I think that’s the combination. I feel very, very fortunate to be in this position. We have everything that is required to go out there and be successful. Now, it’s up to us to do the job.”

GRANT ENFINGER, NO. 23 CHAMPION POWER EQUIPMENT SILVERADO RST
“Martinsville is always an intense race from all angles. As a driver, you have to manage your brakes, tires, fenders, and emotions. GMS Racing has shown some great success at that track in years past, and I personally love the short tracks, so I am really looking forward to this race. My No. 23 Champion Power Equipment team has made some great strides and we are ready to take it to the next level this weekend.”

JACK WOOD, NO. 24 CHEVYLINERS.COM SILVERADO RST
“I’m looking forward to returning to Martinsville for the second time with my No. 24 team. The truck schedule has been all over the place to start out the year, going to different types of disciplines each week, so I am excited to get back to some short track racing. I feel confident heading back this weekend because we showed a lot of speed last year, but just never really got the track position that we needed to do anything with it. Hopefully the weather will allow us to qualify so we can have a good spot to roll off from, and the goal will be to stay up there as much as possible.”

Chevrolet NASCAR Cup Series Statistics

Manufacturers Championships:
Total (1949-2021): 40
First title for Chevrolet: 1958
Highest number of consecutive titles: 13 (2003-15)

Years Won: 1958, 1959, 1960, 1961, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2021

Drivers Championships:
Total (1949-2021): 33
First Chevrolet champion: Buck Baker (1957)
Highest number of consecutive titles: 7 (2005-11)
Most Recent: Kyle Larson (2021)

Years Won: 1957, 1960, 1961, 1973, 1976, 1977, 1979, 1980, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1990, 1991, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2001, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2021

Event Victories:
Record for total race wins in single season: 26 (2007)

2022 STATISTICS:
Wins: 4
Poles: 1
Laps Led: 786
Top-five finishes: 20
Top-10 finishes: 32
Stage wins: 7
Tyler Reddick (Fontanax2)
Alex Bowman (Las Vegas)
Ross Chastain (Las Vegas)
William Byron (Phoenix), (Atlanta)
Daniel Suarez (COTA)

CHEVROLET IN NASCAR CUMULATIVE STATISTICS:
Total Chevrolet race wins: 818 (1949 to date)
Poles won to date: 724
Laps led to date: 242,122
Top-five finishes to date: 4,158
Top-10 finishes to date: 8,587

Total NASCAR Cup Wins by Corporation, 1949 to Date:

       General Motors: 1,152
       Chevrolet: 818
       Pontiac: 154
       Oldsmobile: 115
       Buick: 65

       Ford: 813                                                         
       Ford: 713
       Mercury: 96
       Lincoln: 4

       Fiat Chrysler Automobiles: 467
       Dodge: 217
       Plymouth: 191
       Chrysler: 59

       Toyota: 163

Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Petty GMS Event Preview: Martinsville Speedway

By
Official Release
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Petty GMS at Martinsville Speedway

  • Continuing the Legacy: While Petty GMS continues in its inaugural season, both the Petty and GMS organizations have a storied history at Martinsville Speedway.

NASCAR Hall of Famer Richard Petty leads the NASCAR Cup Series in wins at the Virginia short track with a total of 15 wins (1960, 1962, 1963, 1967 sweep, 1968, 1969 sweep, 1970, 1971, 1972 sweep, 1973, 1975, 1979), marking the most any driver in the series has won at a single track.

Maury Gallagher’s GMS Racing has earned four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series checkered flags at the track affectionally known as “the paperclip” – two with Johnny Sauter (2016, 2018), one with Chase Elliott (2017), and one with Zane Smith (fall 2021).

- Tune In Alert: The green flag will wave for the Blue-Emu Maximum Pain Relief 400 at Martinsville Speedway on Saturday, April 9 at 7:30 p.m. ET. FS1 will carry the live television broadcast, while the Motor Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 will provide radio coverage of the 400-lap event.

Ty Dillon, No. 42 ChevyLiners.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Dillon at Martinsville Speedway:

  • Dillon has competed in eight NASCAR Cup Series events at Martinsville Speedway, finishing inside the top 22 positions in six of those starts. The North Carolina native has also participated in six NASCAR Xfinity Series races, earning two top-five results.
  • Run with the Best: ChevyLiners.com will serve as primary partner on Dillon’s Chevrolet Camaro for Saturday night’s race at Martinsville, marking the third consecutive event that the grey and mustard colors of Chevrolet Accessories have adorned the No. 42 machine. - About ChevyLiners.com: When it comes to floor protection for your Chevrolet, be sure to run with the best. For ultimate interior protection, Premium All-Weather Floor Liners by Chevrolet Accessories are the solution. Offering precision coverage around interior trim, driver pedals, seat tracks, and door sills, they’re constructed of quality materials that provide optimum carpet and interior trim protection, isolating debris and moisture while remaining removable for cleaning.
  • From the Drivers Seat: What has your experience been with the Next Gen car so far? What are your thoughts on this new model?

“I love it. Anytime there is a massive change, it opens the door for massive opportunity. That is the way that I choose to look at it. I don’t like to get stuck on change and why it shouldn’t work, but why it is going to work. It has been a lot of fun to drive. There are a lot of nuance things that I still don’t know why it feels a certain way or why it does certain things, but that is something over time that we will learn and build a notebook on. Time is only going to tell when you’ve had so many years of experience in a certain style and build of a car. There are so many new components of the car and as a driver, you become more connected to the car with more laps that you have in it. I’m growing in it, we are all growing in it, and it’s only a matter of time before it feels second nature to drive it.”

Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Jones at Martinsville Speedway:

  • Jones has competed in 10 NASCAR Cup Series races at Martinsville Speedway, posting an eighth-place finish in the fall of 2021. The 25-year-old also has five starts in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, collecting two top-five and four top-10 finishes.
  • Sharp Focus: FOCUSfactor will serve as primary partner on Jones’s Chevrolet Camaro for Saturday night’s race at Martinsville. As the anchor sponsor on the No. 43 machine, FOCUSfactor’s blue and green colors have been on display for every race so far this season.
  • In the Booth: Jones will join Adam Alexander and Austin Dillon in the television booth for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Virginia short track on Friday evening. Tune in to FS1 at 7:30 p.m. ET to hear Jones provide driver insights to the broadcast. - About FOCUSfactor: FOCUSfactor is sold at America’s leading retailers such as Costco, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, The Vitamin Shoppe and Amazon.com. FOCUSfactor, America’s leading brain health supplement, is a nutritional supplement that includes a proprietary blend of brain supporting vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients. In December 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued US Patent 8,329,227 covering FOCUSfactor’s proprietary formulation “for enhanced mental function”. The issuance of the patent marked one of the few times a patent has been issued for a nationally branded nutritional supplement. FOCUSfactor is clinically tested with results demonstrating improvements in focus, concentration and memory in healthy adults.
  • From the Drivers Seat: How are you adapting to the Next Gen car? Does it fit your driving style?

“You are constantly learning. Every time you hit the racetrack, you are going through figuring out what this car likes from a driver standpoint – of what you can do as a driver to make it better, what you need to ask for to make it better. People are having to drive a tighter racecar at this point. No one is super comfortable with driving it free and figuring out what the limits are. But that is part of a new car and learning through it. Overall, I feel pretty comfortable with it. I do feel like it suits my driving style, especially on short tracks and so far, the mile and a half as well. I’ve been pretty happy with the race car and how it’s drove to this point.”

ABOUT PETTY GMS:

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

SOCIAL MEDIA:

To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow Petty GMS on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES: LONG BEACH GP

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Official Release
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CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
GRAND PRIX OF LONG BEACH
STREETS OF LONG BEACH
ZOOM CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
APRIL 6, 2020

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET MET WITH MEDIA ON THE NTT INDYCAR SERIES PRE-RACE ZOOM CONFERENCE. FULL TRANSCRIPT:

THE MODERATOR: The NTT INDYCAR SERIES continues this weekend with the running of the Acura Grand Prix of Long Beach. Our guests today are looking to make some more memories in the historic streets of Southern California.

Josef Newgarden, the driver of the number 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet.

Josef has won pole there along with back-to-back second place finishes, a couple of podiums coming off a dramatic win at the XPEL 375 at Texas Motor Speedway.

Good afternoon Josef, coming off a big win at Texas. What’s the mood like with the 2 crew heading back to Long Beach this week?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s really good. Thanks, Dave. It’s good to see everybody. I’m excited to get back racing this weekend. We’ve had two weeks off. Two weeks is a little long for us. I like a weekend off every now and then, but two is too lengthy. We’re really excited.
The mood is very good within the team. Not just the 2 car, but Team Penske in general. We’ve been really pleased with the start of our year. As everyone does, they work pretty hard in the offseason to try and improve. This series is so tight now that you just can’t miss any little detail, and I feel like all the teams and drivers are pushing to the maximum these days. It’s no different for us at Team Penske.
To have the effort pay off so quickly into the season for us has been encouraging. The mood is really good. On the 2 car we’re excited to get going again a little bit since St. Pete. I was pretty encouraged going into the St. Pete, and we were fighting a couple of things and didn’t quite have the start we wanted on a street course, so I’m hoping we can rectify that a bit coming into Long Beach.

THE MODERATOR: Real quick follow-up, a couple of strong runs for you at Long Beach last couple of times you’ve been there. Can you put a finger on why?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t know. We always get that question, and I like everywhere we go. Truly there’s not a track that we go to that I’m ever sad or disappointed to go to, and Long Beach has been good to us.
Two seconds the last two years hurts a bit. I would like to get a win there. We’ve been close before so, we’ve just got to figure out how to close the deal. That’s as simple as that.
If we have a weak place, we’re going to make it a strong place, and I feel like Long Beach has been getting there slowly for us. It’s definitely become a strength, and we just need a little bit more to close the deal and feel like we can do that this weekend.
THE MODERATOR: Maybe that will come this weekend for sure.

Q. Josef, I was asking you about there’s been some comments I guess about the kind of third F1 race coming into the states and how that might impact INDYCAR in the future, and I know you’re someone who has always kind of got a great overview of what’s going on generally. What’s your kind of opinion on how that might impact INDYCAR in a positive or negative way?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think the momentum from the Formula 1 side is undeniable. It has been for the last couple of years. We’re seeing the effect of that. It’s just continuing to impact here in the United States probably more than anywhere else in the world. I think in a lot of ways it’s good to see.
What I love about this effect is we’re drawing in so many new fans into motorsports that typically wouldn’t give it a look, and I think that can only be positive for us on the INDYCAR side, to be quite honest. If you are interested in Formula 1 and that captivates you, I don’t see any reason why if we get you exposed to INDYCAR racing, why you wouldn’t be captivating about that as well, if not more.
I’ve always been in the camp that if you are a motorsports fan, you’re typically a fan of everything. Maybe that’s not the classification for everybody that’s being part of this influx into Formula 1, but I think because our style of racing is so similar and there are so many parallels between the two series that we can really engage with the surge of fans that they’re growing.
Yeah, I love it. I love Formula 1. I love INDYCAR a little bit more, but I think both of them have plenty of room to grow together, and that’s not a bad thing for us.

Q. Josef, for yourself, how beneficial was it to you to kind of get off the mark in terms of getting a victory in Texas so early in the season given that you have your new race engineer?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Well, Texas was good in a couple of different ways. You know, one being that St. Pete was not swimming for us. It did not go very well right off the bat, which was a huge disappointment in a lot of ways just because I felt so confident going into St. Pete. I felt like we didn’t have a lot of preparation coming into the season, but the small amount of prep work that we did had gone so well that there was nothing for me to believe that St. Pete couldn’t get off to a great start.
There’s a lot we could dive in on that specific weekend, but ultimately, it just wasn’t a great result, and when we rolled into Texas, we just tried to reset and see what we could produce at that specific race. We had great cars. It was a great effort from the whole team, and I think you saw the strength of that across the board with all three of us.
To be able to capitalize that early is important in any season, and I think more so for this season specifically on the 2 car because of how much turnover we’ve had.
We always have a great crew on the 2 car, but it’s very different this year. Probably 60%, 70% turnover on just the people that we’re working with, so we’re trying to gel and engage with each other so quickly in the season, and to get a win that early is very positive.
Now, the counterpoint to that is it’s great to get that win, but it’s still very early in the year. I don’t think that necessarily projects what the entire season is going to look like, so we have to stay on the ground and make sure that we’re working just as hard this weekend as every weekend that we go into and stay level and hopefully we can keep it up.

Q. And in terms of this weekend, are you kind of expecting more of the same in terms of performance from Texas, or are you approaching it differently because it’s a different characteristic of track, right? We’re back to a street circuit.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: From a data point standpoint, sorry to just repeat words, but if you look at St. Pete, I’m very encouraged about what we have going into Long Beach. I think we can be good across all disciplines, which is so critical in this championship. We can’t have just good cars on a certain kind of oval or a street course, for instance. We’ve got to be good across the board. I think our street course package absolutely has a lot of new strengths to it.
I look at St. Pete as on one hand it was a disappointment, but on the other hand it was an incredibly encouraging race for us. Scott was fantastic and him winning the event and Will being so close running with him as well, I think it shows the strength of our team and our cars. I don’t see why we can’t replicate that at Long Beach.
It’s always difficult in this series, but I think we’ve got really good cars underneath us, and I don’t see why we can’t as a team be similar to the way we performed at St. Pete.

Q. First one for Josef. Obviously, Long Beach, as Dave said at the top, it’s been a really good place for you as far as finishing-wise.
Talking to some Andretti guys here in Indy, and they attempted a test last week. They mentioned the tire compound is different this year on the street courses. Kind of threw them for a loop a little bit.
Was that contributing maybe a little bit to your pace in St. Pete compared to your teammates struggling on the different tire compounds? How much do you go for data compared to St. Pete now going into Long Beach over past Long Beach data that you’ve had?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yes, the compound is different on the street course, and I’m sure some teams are wrestling with it more than others. It’s always something you have to stay on top of. There are small changes every year, whether it’s the track or the tire.
To answer your question, though, no, for me that was not a contributing factor. Has nothing really to do with the tire differences, but I think across the board there’s a lot of strengths to take from St. Pete with our race car, as you saw with Scott and Will.
We’ll take those data points and apply them to Long Beach, but I don’t believe a tire difference between year-over-year will affect what we’ll be looking at when we specifically look at St. Pete to Long Beach. It will be more setup-specific stuff that we’ll try to carry over.

Q. Among your wins in INDYCAR, and even Indy Lights, you have won 36 times, but once you’ve gone back-to-back. What’s so challenging in INDYCAR of winning two straight races? I know the parity is big. The talent across the board is bar none. Arguably better than anywhere across the world.
What have you found is a challenge as far as going from one week winner to not winning the next week? Is there something there to be said?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think you said it. Honestly, it’s the parity. I don’t know another racing championship in the world that has the parity that INDYCAR does. Obviously, I’m biassed being a part of it, seeing how the paddock functions.
When I first got into the series in 2012, that was not as present. It was getting better from the previous years, certainly from the ’01 to 2011 era. There was a jump forward right away when I started in 2012, but from that point all the way until now it’s just gotten tighter and tighter.
The tolerances are really small as far as where you can find an edge performance-wise on your competitors. All the teams have raised the levels and their understanding of the car is pretty uniform across the board when you look at the series.
So it’s just so difficult to get a tiny edge on the competition. Doesn’t matter what time you’re with, what driver you are. I think that’s the ultimate reason why it’s so hard to go week after week and you secure a win. I mean, any little thing can ruin your weekend now, or just a small hiccup can take victory away from you. It’s just incredibly difficult to rattle off wins.
I think nowadays, the gold standard is kind of three or four wins. It’s still possible someone could win more races than that, but it’s just extremely difficult with how much parity there is.

Q. One more for you before one for Alex. You’ve been close at Long Beach. Indy is obviously Indy. Everyone wants to win at Indy, but Long Beach is right in too.
How much do you covet the trophy, a Long Beach trophy, to put on your mantel there? For you, Josef. You’ve been close.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I would love a trophy. I think it would be great. They’re all beautiful and special. I guess they’re like children. You don’t choose a favorite. They’re all special. I would love it. It would be great. Long Beach is an awesome place. I would love to win there.
THE MODERATOR: To your previous point, I’m going to go back to the start of last year. I think there have been ten different winners in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES since the start of last year. It’s in the span of, what, 18 races now, and you are looking at one of the guys who have done it.

Q. Pretty much have the same questions for both guys. I’ll start with Josef first. The fact that F1 is coming here for a third race. I have talked to a few of your peer drivers. Some are in favor of maybe going into F1’s backyard, maybe running a few INDYCAR races in Europe, maybe South America. What’s your thoughts about should INDYCAR essentially go play in F1’s backyard if they’re coming into your backyard?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s not an easy question to answer. There’s just a lot more to it than just in my opinion. There’s a lot more to it than just going and running a race in Europe.
If you are asking me as a race car driver, I would love to go run an INDYCAR at SPA or BrandsHatch GP or Suzuka would probably be my ultimate pick if we went anywhere. I have fantasy tracks and dreams of doing that, and I would love to expose more of the world to INDYCAR racing.
Running a race in Spain would be stellar. We have such great international talent that I would personally love to showcase that more so. Not just for the driver within the series, but to show the world what INDYCAR racing is all about.
I do think there’s more to it. When you really try and talk about making those type of moves, we’re primarily a U.S.-based championship because of the fact that most of our partners are U.S.-based or at least their focus is U.S.-based. I don’t think it’s quite as simple, but I think at the end of the day trying to figure out a way to run some international events is still needed.
I mean, that’s my opinion that I would love to go to a couple of different tracks. I wish we still had Surfers Paradise. That was one race I grew up watching and dreamt about going to, and I never had the opportunity. If something like that would come back up where we could have an opportunity in Europe somewhere or England or go back to Japan, I’m going to be all for it.
I don’t know if that needs to be our cure for any illness right now, and not that we have that, but I don’t feel like that’s a cure for anything. It’s just something that I personally would love to do.

Q. Josef, have you thought about if the opportunity would arise, you might consider going to F1? Josef.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, Formula 1 has always been a sport that — at least a form of racing that I followed. I watched everything growing up. For me it was INDYCAR, it was Formula 1, and NASCAR. I watched all three primarily. I watched sports car racing too, but those three religiously.
I knew everything about all of those three series, and I still do. I watch everything very intimately, so I know exactly what’s going on in Formula 1 and NASCAR and the sports car world. I just love racing, so it would be very difficult I think to turn down the right opportunity to compete in a form of motorsports like F1 just because I’m one of those drivers that I don’t think drivers are very different personally.
I think everyone would have the same answer. If you have the opportunity to run everything, you probably would. Just it would be such a treat to be able to try Formula 1, INDYCAR, NASCAR, pretty much everything.
Yeah, it’s hard to say at this point in my career. I don’t know if that opportunity would ever come up, and if it was the right one, but, no, I think personally for me it would be fun to give it a go.

Q. For Josef, I’m just curious, Long Beach has been a pretty good track for you recently with two second place finishes. Is there something that you are looking for out of the car or a level of comfort you need with the track to get to the top of the podium?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think Long Beach is indicative of a lot of the street courses. You are always looking for confidence in the car specifically the big break zones, T1, T9. Always jump out first. Yeah, it’s the confidence that you need from the race car and a street course to go quick, at least in my opinion.
That’s very true to a lot of places, like I said, and that’s what we’re working on. We’re trying to find that confidence that you can be committed and make sure you nail a qualifying lap and be committed the entire race. That’s pretty much the key trait.

Q. This is for Josef. If you can just talk about the strong start that Team Penske is off to. A couple of wins, obviously, and Will second in points, and maybe how that can give you as a team a little momentum or a little surge of confidence heading into a place like Long Beach.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Like we’ve talked about, it’s a good start, but that’s never the norm for the rest of the year. We don’t know what the middle of the season or the end of the season is going to bring, so we’re just trying to stay ready and focused on the next race.
I think for Long Beach we definitely have good momentum, but that shifts so quickly in this sport. We’re just going to stay focused on the task and hopefully we can keep it up. Especially as we get into the month of May where it’s most important to carry some momentum.

Q. Quick question for Josef. A couple of them. First one is, are you on baby watch yet?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I am on baby watch. I’ve been on baby watch the last week, but I’m on it. It’s like I have the Santa Tracker. It’s like that, but for a baby. Hopefully he stays on time, and I don’t get caught out this weekend.

Q. I was going to ask, what’s the plan if that were to arise?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Not good. It’s not a happy plan. I’ll probably be unless there’s some dire issue, I’ll probably be staying and racing, unfortunately, but let’s see what happens. I think we’re going to be okay. I believe in a positive attitude and mindset, and I think it’s all going to work out as it should.

Q. Then I just kind of wanted to touch a little bit on the 2024 test of the engine that you had last week. Obviously, hybrid. It wasn’t a part of it, but all in all seemed like it was pretty positive from the feedback.
I mean, can you kind of talk about a little bit of what you felt and experienced and maybe how it compares to what we have currently?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It felt pretty seamless to me. At least plugging in the engine and just going. I mean, there wasn’t a lot of drama to getting it on track, so I think that speaks to Chevrolet and specifically with looking at the timeline that they’ve had with that engine. I think they did a really good job rolling it out and just having really no issues right away.
Loved the power increase. I think that’s definitely the right direction. It’s what we’re wanting. More difficult car to drive. Just more speed and difficulty putting the power down.
The hybrid component was not tested, so I don’t really have much to say towards that, but I think the engines that we did run were pretty much ready to rock as they are. You could put them in the car probably next week, and we could go racing. I think that’s really good news.
We’re in this phase right now where INDYCAR is trying to stay diligent and make sure that they make the right decisions for the future, and it’s an exciting time. I’m very excited for this new package as we get to 2024, and we want to make sure we get all the details right.
What’s going to accompany it? What’s the final details of the engine specifically? How is everything else integrated around that? There’s a lot of unknown answers, but that’s why we have this time to work on it and to make sure we get it right.

Q. Do you feel like with the increased power that we could still have no power steering with these cars? Do you feel like maybe there needs to be some help or assistance on that with the increased power?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I don’t think we need power steering because of the power increase. That’s not going to be detrimental. The overall weight of the car is going to be the crutch for that, but I’m sure everyone unanimously, if not unanimously, probably close to it, does not want power steering.
It’s not part of the DNA of INDYCAR racing, and it’s not something we really want to change, so I think everything else associated with the engine, the overall weight of the chassis, will play into that much more.

Q. I have a quick one from Josef. I just wanted to on the start of the season. I mean, last year it took a long time for you to get your first win. You were the only Team Penske driver who was really in title contention. Now all four of you are in the top four.
How do you explain that? Where does that come from? Do you think that going back from four to three cars has something to do with that?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Honestly I thought it was so funny last year we kept getting. We were getting bombarded. The first eight races people were, like, ‘what’s wrong with you guys?’ How have you not had a win? It was just becoming comical because our performance was actually pretty good. We had good performances, and they just weren’t translating.
We had an issue here, an issue there, and we could never really rattle off a complete victory. Because that went on for whatever it was. I think it was seven or eight events. Everyone just assumed that there was a really big issue within our team. There wasn’t.
For me the performance was always there, especially in the 2 car. We showcased that in the middle of the season and almost had a good rally to win the championship, but just didn’t quite get there.
To speak to this year, we’ve had a lot of effort that’s gone into this offseason. We knew that we had some deficiencies all around and across the board. I felt like we were capable of winning the championship last year, but even when you have that capability, you can still have deficiencies that you have to improve on.
Indianapolis was number one for us. That was probably the biggest struggle that we had all year. It’s pretty glaring. We definitely had a problem there.
Then across the board you think we’ve just cleaned up a lot of areas where we could have improved as a team, and that’s why you are seeing all three cars come out of the gates pretty strong.
We didn’t know that was going to happen. You don’t know until you run the first couple of races and see where you stack up, but I think so far the evidence suggests that the work we’ve put in has been in the right direction. The real test is going to be Indianapolis. That’s the one place that we struggled the most, and so when we go into the month of May it’s going to be interesting to see if the work has really paid off for that specific track.

Q. Do you feel more confident about Indianapolis compared to last year and with last year in mind?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I do. I strongly do. The problem is I went into last year’s month of May feeling like we had done everything we could to be at the top of our game and at the top of the board, and it was quite frankly the opposite.
It happens sometimes. We took some directions. We made some decisions that obviously weren’t the right ones. We’ve just doubled down again. We’ve reassessed everything. We’ve tried to look under every stone that we already looked under just to make sure that we’re looking at it correctly.
Hopefully this year it’s going to come back around the way that we hope to see it. I think Texas was a good indicator for us. We seemed to have good speed with our cars. Now we just have to translate that to the super speedway package. I think the possibility of us having a better run there is much higher as I look at it right now.

Q. My question goes to Josef. Penske, your team, is right now in the first position of the championship. Your teammates are first and second. What is the atmosphere in the team considering these results?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s very good. Thanks for the question. At the moment it’s very good. We just have to focus on keeping it that way, but Scott is off to a great start. I can sense a lot more confidence in him this year.
I think we’ve got him more comfortable with the car, and he has been doing just a stellar job. He was really doing a great job all last year. It was pretty easy to see from inside our racing team. Maybe not as much externally, but you could see how good he was going to be.
I think he will be able to ride that momentum for a good time now. Will has had a really good start to the year too, and I think he is pretty pleased with it.
Everyone is very encouraged. It’s early days. You can have two really good races and then all of a sudden everything can go bad. That’s just how quickly things can happen in INDYCAR, so we’re just trying to stay on the ground making sure that we’re just focusing on one race at a time, and hopefully we can keep up this effort.

Q. Do you think that the three of you will compete for a championship at the end of the year, Josef?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I hope to. I hope it’s us in the 2 car. We’ve been in the hunt here every year for the last five years, it seems like. We just have to give ourselves a little better chance at the end. I feel like 2020 there was a lot of obstacles. 2021 there was less obstacles, but they were still present.
This year if we can get a better head start and avoid some of the pitfalls that we’ve had in the past, then I don’t see why we can’t be in the conversation.
Being in the conversation is the way that it starts. You’ve got to be there at the end with an opportunity to win it, so I think if we can put ourselves in position, then this team knows how to execute and get it done.

Q. I just have a couple for Josef quickly. With the race not being the season finale like last year like it is being so early on in the season this year, how do you feel that that changes the approach for the drivers and the teams?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Obviously, the pressure of the championship is there. I don’t know that that changes much. The intensity is always high in this series. You have to execute whether it’s a championship day or not, so I think in a lot of ways it’s the same. I don’t know how that is going to change the mental approach.
If you look at someone like Alex’s situation for them the priority was just getting the right amount of points. If you win the race, great, but the mental side is different when you are in the championship fight. Maybe that’s going to be the small change from last year to this year.
You know, it’s early in the season. You can still take a bit more risk. You might see that. You might see some more moves that are maybe on the risky side that you wouldn’t take in the final race.
But as far as the prep and trying to be quick, we’re going to do all the normal stuff that we did last season. Just trying to make the car as comfortable as possible. Confidence is key. Cars have got to be solid on the brakes, and you have to feel like you have the car underneath you on a street course to really be able to attack. I think in a lot of ways all that stuff is going to be the same.

Q. With past seasons that’s normally not an issue. Herta came from 14th to win last year. How does Long Beach kind of compare in that way with being able to pass guys, especially with other street courses where it’s a little more difficult to?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think the ability to pass is there if you have the speed. Colton put that on display last year. It also depends on the scenarios. If there’s a big tire offset that traditionally brings a lot more passing, depending how everyone is shuffled on both the primary and the alternate tire.
Fuel can always add into the equation. If it turns into a fuel race and not everybody is on that strategy, that can add to increase the passing.
A lot of it is dependent on how the race forms. We can also have a pretty straight forward day. We’ve seen that at Long Beach before where everyone is on the same program, and there’s not as much passing. I think if we get enough tire offset, which the chance of that happening now with this new compound from Firestone is higher. I think passing for sure is very possible there as we’ve seen with INDYCAR pretty much everywhere.

Q. The first one is for Josef. Since 2017 when the Long Beach Grand Prix had except one year you were always on the podium. Not to mention you hold lap record here since 2018.
2017 was a special year for you because this year was the first time you finish on the podium in Long Beach as well as the first time in your INDYCAR career of back-to-back races you won.
Considering the pressure to accomplish two consecutive wins like this year — Texas and potentially Long Beach — and the challenge conquering Long Beach first time, what can be the most crucial things for you, Team Penske, to prevent Andretti and Honda from making a four-peat in Long Beach?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Andrew, so do I — I hold the lap record at Long Beach in 2018? Did you say that?

Q. You ran the fastest lap.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah. I didn’t think I did.
Q. This is the fastest lap. This is the fastest lap in Long Beach history in INDYCAR.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I didn’t know that. All right. That’s cool. No, I like it. I like you’re telling me because I have no idea about that, but I guess that’s a cool stat.
Long Beach, I have had an interesting history at this track. I remember my second race in INDYCAR. I had a pretty tough day there in turn one. I was up against Dario, and I ended up in the fence. It was a really, really tough second race at the track.
I’ve had some really good days, and last year was almost a really, really good day. The difference makers for us is going to come down to drivability. On a street course we’ve made big inroads on the Team Chevy side for just improving drivability, improving our fuel mileage, and certainly keeping our robust power.
Those three elements are really what we work on at Team Chevy, and the durability side is critical on the street courses. I think the improvements we’ve made this offseason, that was part of why we were better at St. Pete, and I think that will carry over to Long Beach.
Then on the chassis side we have some changes too. I won’t delve into them too aggressively, but we’ve made changes. We’ve made the car more comfortable. I think we’ve made the car more secure where we can push and feel confident in what it’s doing.
All of those things combined are what we’re going to need to topple Honda and Andretti and also Ganassi. Everybody. I think it’s going to take a lot to overcome all our competitors, as it’s just so tight. It’s hard to choose one or two cars. It would be easy to just look at Colton and say he is going to be the main competition.
I don’t know that that’s the case. I think Alex will be very quick. I think Dixon. There’s a lot of competitors that we’re going to be facing. Those elements that I talked about are going to make the difference for us to be the best.

THE MODERATOR: He was doing his homework, Josef. 2018 lap at 1:07.6.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I had no idea.

THE MODERATOR: Helio has you on the qualifying lap, but one lap in a race. There you go.
Earlier Eric mentioned the new tire compound for the reds. How do you feel about it? Do you think the extra speed is worth how quickly they fall off?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I like the disparity between the compounds. I like when you really are struggling on one versus the other, and you are in a scenario where you can attack someone when they’re really starting to struggle.
It’s tough when you are on the other end and you are being attacked and you are struggling, but I love that difference that we get with the compounds where it’s a big spread.
I think it is larger. We saw that at St. Pete. There is a difference. I don’t know how it’s going to react at Long Beach, just like Alex. We’ll have to wait and see how the weekend plays out. I think it’s go good.
I think the difference is always a good thing for racing, and it’s our job so figure out how to get the most out of them, and they’re a little bit softer, a little trickier to get right, but that’s our job so figure out, like I said.

Q. Do you have to change your pit strategy to allow for the different tire compounds?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: We’ll get a good read on these through the weekend. We’ll start to get a feel on Friday how they work and then same thing on Saturday, and then really Sunday morning for the warmup we’ll get a really good idea on what we think is going to be a more durable tire or maybe they’re not durable at all, so we don’t know.
As soon as we have that warmup on Sunday, everyone is going to be talking and trying to figure out what the right strategy is. I just don’t know what that’s going to be yet, so when once I drive the car, then I can give you an update.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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