Skill-based slots replace the traditional games of luck by giving players a chance to utilize their skills for payouts. In short, contrary to traditional games, skill-based slot machines do not necessarily depend on luck for the outcome. Instead, they allow you to showcase your gambling skills and play the game more successfully in case you have acquired the necessary know-how
This has become a vital feature for several gamblers in the current world since most of them do not perceive the traditional slot machines to be exciting. Instead, a significant number of younger gamblers want casinos that have first deposit bonuses to enable newcomers to begin their gaming journey more smoothly. After receiving the initial deposit bonus, gamblers are ready and willing to play a certain game for days and enhance their skills quickly. They need slots to incorporate elements of proficiency into the entire gaming experience.
Now that you know what skill-based slots machines are let us look at how they work. To begin with, you need to understand that, like any other slot machine, the new format also relies on spins and reels. This is perhaps the simplest aspect of the game, and it requires a significant share of luck if you want to succeed while playing these slots.
These games have another part that is more important for you to understand. The skill-based slot machines come with some bonus rounds, and you are required to prove you are worth the game by showing a certain kind of skill for payouts.
Examples Of Slot Games With Skill Elements
Lucked and Loaded by Synergy Blue: This is an FPS that takes on the art of a gun arcade game. With a gun controller, you will earn points by shooting hostile aliens. In this game, every level has a boss that rewards players with many huge payouts after taking the enemies down. A health bar is added to this challenge, and it reduces every time the player gets hit by an enemy. The player’s health is also affected by hitting an innocent character with blue outlines. While playing this game, you can acquire a significant return to your bets by shooting as many aliens as possible.
Danger Arena by GameCo is an attractive action slot game that gets you gunning down an enemy robot within an amazing 3-D stage. While playing this game, you have a very short time to beat a certain number of robots and get a cash payout. By clearing the stage of enemies, you get rewarded with large cash prizes. This game’s interesting feature is power-ups that give you different abilities, such as a wall to protect you from enemies.
Beat Square Tournament by Konami: It is a casino equivalent of the famous arcade game Jubeat. In this game, you get a chance to play the notes of specific music by pressing one or more of the 16 LCD panels. While playing the beat square tournament from Konami, your scores are determined by the timing of your panel presses, where an effective hit gets a bigger score.
Tips And Tricks To Playing Skill-Based Slot Machines
Skill-based slots have become very popular among gamblers in the current world, but they are not easy to play unless you have the appropriate skill. Here are some tips you can use to help you enhance your knowledge in playing skill-based slots.
If you want to participate in slots that require skills to play you can work on your gaming strategy, make sure you begin with a small deposit and hone your skill-based slot capabilities until you get ready to invest more. This means that your overall winning probabilities grow smoothly as you continue playing and enhancing your abilities, and with time you become an expert in playing skill-based slot games
How The Skill Machines Compare To Online Slots
The basic playing principle for skill-based slots and online slots is similar. The only significant difference is that skill-based slots come with a little bit nice tweak, hence the main reason why playing skill-based slots has become very popular among gamblers across the globe. Here is a detailed insight into how skill machines compare to online slots.
Online slots are primarily based on RNG (random number generator), a system that creates a random number with no specific logic. In simpler terms, while playing the common slot machines, you cannot predict the number in advance. Therefore, these games are based on pure luck. You can play these games forever and still won’t succeed in predicting the next combination.
On the other hand, skill-based slots also have a random number generator, but some additional rounds allow you to win more by showcasing your game skills. These bonus rounds add an amazing gamification element, enhancing overall gaming experience excitement.
Worth noting skills are not the only factor that defines your winning chances while playing skill-based slots. You need to understand that your gaming expertise will only take you far but does not guarantee a win. When it comes to casino gambling, each platform is established to give the house advantage over the players.
Summary Of Article
Although traditional slots will always remain popular among players, the younger generation is demanding advanced features and prefer their games to be based on proficiency and knowledge instead of luck alone. Due to the changing needs of players, casinos decided to launch skill-based slot machines that offer gamblers a bigger level of independence and winning potential. This article has intensively discussed the definition of skill-based slots, how the skill-based slots work, examples of slot games that require skills, tips for playing skill-based slots, and how skill machines compare to the online slots.
With every kind of game or sport, making sure your skills and knowledge are sharp can lead you to winning, as said many times in history, “practice makes perfect”.
Both types of slots come with a number of pros and cons. Hence it is up to you to analyze your gambling requirements and the overall playing strategies. Give skill-based slots a try today to have the best gaming experience.
2022 NHRA Pomona WinterNationals, Lucas Oil Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com Nationals
Dodge//SRT and Mopar’s 2022 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Camping World Drag Racing series season gets rolling with two Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Cars driving to semifinal appearances at the 62nd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com at Auto Club Raceway in Pomona, California
Three-time Funny Car champ Matt Hagan powered Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) to their first semifinal appearance aboard the No. 3 qualified Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat
Cruz Pedregon drove his Snap-On Tool Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car from No. 4 seeded position to a semifinal appearance
Leah Pruett took her Dodge Power Brokers dragster for a solid first round drive for TSR’s inaugural Top Fuel elimination effort
February 20, 2022, Pomona, California — Tony Stewart Racing (TSR) Funny Car driver Matt Hagan hit the throttle on the 2022 National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) Camping World Drag Racing Series season by driving his Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat from his No. 3 qualifying position to the semifinals at the 62nd annual Lucas Oil Winternationals presented by ProtectTheHarvest.com. Also driving to a semifinal appearance at Auto Club Raceway at Pomona, California, was the Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat piloted by Cruz Pedregon from a fourth place seeding.
Hagan launched his season with a strong qualifying performance to secure the No. 3 spot on the eliminations ladder. He earned the fledgling TSR team’s first Funny Car round win aboard the Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat with a 4.071 seconds pass at 260.31 mph that saw the three-time Winternationals winner have to peddle it at the 660-foot mark but still turn on the win light. The team regrouped quickly and came back strong in the second round against No. 6 seed Bob Tasca by posting their quickest run of the weekend with a 3.885-second elapsed time run at 328.94 mph to beat his opponent’s 3.984 sec./325.77 mph effort.
The semifinal match pitted Hagan against the No. 2 qualifier Robert Hight and saw the TSR Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat take the early lead with a 0.048-second reaction time to his opponent’s 0.059-second start. Unfortunately, a dropped cylinder hampered Hagan’s on track progress and brought the team’s first outing to a close.
Meanwhile, Pedregon powered his Snap-on Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat from the No. 4 spot on the ladder through eliminations with a first round win over Terry Haddock and a solid second round victory after a side-by-side drag race with Alexis DeJoria to advance to the semifinals. Paired with No. 1 qualifier Ron Capps for the next elimination round, Pedregon put in a good lap with a 3.918 sec./309.77 mph pass but it wasn’t quite enough to challenge Capps’ 3.881 sec./331.28 mph run.
Tony Stewart Racing Top Fuel pilot Leah Pruett was pleased with the first official qualifying laps of the season for the new team aboard her Dodge Power Brokers dragster to put her in the top half of the eliminations ladder with a best run of 3.768 seconds at 326.63 mph. From the No. 7 position and with lane choice over No. 10 seed Antron Brown, Pruett wheeled her HEMI®-powered machine to a solid pass at 3.748 sec./328.86 mph with a 0.118-second reaction time. However, as their first elimination run wasn’t quite enough to overtake Brown’s quicker 0.057-second start and 3.724 sec./ 327.66 mph lap and turn on the win lights for the team’s first round, the TSR team will now put their focus on preparations for the next national event.
The Dodge//SRT Mopar contingent will now head to Phoenix, Arizona, for next weekend’s NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park on February 25-27.
ADDITIONAL NOTES and QUOTES:
Leah Pruett, Dodge Power Brokers Top Fuel Dragster
(No. 7 Qualifier – 3.726 seconds at 328.54 mph)
Round 1: (0.118-second reaction time, 3.748 seconds at 328.86 mph) loss to No. 10 Antron Brown (0.057/3.724/327.66)
“If you would have told me three months ago that we would qualify the Dodge Power Brokers dragster No. 7 for the Winternationals, make it down the track nearly every time, have a healthy running engine combination with a reactive car, and a team that gels together very well, I would take that 10 out of 10 times. We are still sorting our power range and developing our baseline and I am learning to race under different circumstances. I had a less than impressive start, very atypical of the consistent quick times I had in qualifying. I will be working on managing my happy throttle foot while we fine tune our high HEMI horsepower performance.”
Matt Hagan, Dodge Power Brokers Charger SRT Hellcat Funny Car
(No. 3 Qualifier – 3.886 seconds at 313.07 mph)
Round 1: (0.072-second reaction time, 4.071 seconds at 260.31 mph) defeats No. 14 Chad Green (0.072/4.124/282.13)
Round 2: (0.057/3.885/328.94) defeats No. 6 Bob Tasca (0.052/3.984/325.77)
Round 3: (0.048/4.026/317.64) loss to No. 2 Robert Hight (0.059/3.861/332.10) cylinder out
“I am really proud of Tony (Stewart) Leah (Pruett) for putting this all together in such a quick fashion. I’m also super proud of my guys to be able to get a rhythm going today, since we’re all in a new position. We only had an hour to turn the car around, so we still had to check headers, weigh and scale in that time. Today is obviously not the result we wanted, getting eliminated in the semifinals. I know what we are capable of and I know what we can do to get that fixed. We’ll go onto Phoenix and be just as strong there. I’m really proud of my lights, I was murdering the tree all weekend. That gives me confidence as a driver, but it also gets in other drivers’ heads. We want to win every race we can, but I was pretty happy with this Dodge Power Brokers car for the first outing. You learn from your mistakes and move forward. Drag racing has the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. You lose more than you win, but when you win, it’s great. I’m looking forward to that first win with this team.”
“Putting Pomona behind us and rolling into Phoenix right away helps the team get back into the groove of things; making a run, taking it apart, putting it back together and dragging it back up to the starting line and just getting back into the rhythm. That rhythm helps builds confidence in my team and lets me just focus on what I have to do on the starting line with the Dodge Power Brokers Hellcat so we can turn on more win lights.”
Cruz Pedregon, Pedregon Racing Snap-on® Tools Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat
(No. 4 Qualifier – 3.906 seconds at 325.22 mph)
Round 1: (0.128-second reaction time, 3.954 seconds at 323.43 mph) defeats No. 13 Terry Haddock (0.118/6.011/120.36)
Round 3: (0.082/3.918/309.77) loss to No. 1 Ron Capps (0.067/3.881/331.28)
“I’m happy with today’s semifinal performance. Semifinal finishes and runner-ups, we’re going to have a few of those [this year]. It was some good competition and (Ron) Capps had a really good car. (My crew chief) JC (John Collins), I could tell by the look on his face he was about to put it through there. What a great job these guys have done. We didn’t quite have the performance these other guys did, but when it counted, we started to creep up on it. A little bit of glare out there. I missed the tree a little tiny bit and against guys like Capps, you can’t miss the tree at all. He was right there. For the Snap-on Tools Dodge team, Russells Petroff and everybody that helps us, the semifinals is a great start.”
DodgeGarage: Digital Hub for Drag Racing News
Fans can follow all the NHRA action this season at DodgeGarage, the one-stop portal for Dodge//SRT and Mopar drag-racing news. The site includes daily updates and access to an online racing HQ, news, events, galleries, available downloads and merchandise. For more information, visit www.dodgegarage.com.
@DodgeMoparMotorsports on Instagram
The @DodgeMoparMotorsports Instagram channel continues to share content capturing Dodge//SRT Mopar drivers on the track. Fans can see action from the NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series and NHRA Sportsman grassroots racers, competing in classes such as Factory Stock Showdown, Stock and Super Stock, as well as additional motorsports series.
Dodge//SRT
For more than 100 years, the Dodge brand has carried on the spirit of brothers John and Horace Dodge. Their influence continues today as Dodge shifts into high gear with muscle cars and SUVs that deliver unrivaled performance in each of the segments where they compete.
Dodge drives forward as a pure performance brand, offering SRT versions of every model across the lineup. For the 2022 model year, Dodge delivers the drag-strip dominating 807-horsepower Dodge Challenger SRT Super Stock, the 797-horsepower Dodge Charger SRT Redeye, the most powerful and fastest mass-produced sedan in the world, and the Dodge Durango SRT 392, America’s fastest, most powerful and most capable three-row SUV. Combined, these three muscle cars make Dodge the industry’s most powerful brand, offering more horsepower than any other American brand across its entire lineup.
In 2020, Dodge was named the “#1 Brand in Initial Quality,” making it the first domestic brand ever to rank No. 1 in the J.D. Power Initial Quality Study (IQS). In 2021, Dodge brand ranked No. 1 in the J.D. Power APEAL Study (mass market) — making it the only domestic brand ever to do so two years in a row.
Dodge is part of the portfolio of brands offered by leading global automaker and mobility provider Stellantis. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.
Mopar
This year marks the 85th anniversary of Mopar.
A simple combination of the words MOtor and PARts, Mopar offers exceptional service, parts and customer-care. Born in 1937 as the name of a line of antifreeze products, Mopar has evolved over nearly 85 years to represent both complete vehicle care and authentic performance for owners and enthusiasts worldwide.
Mopar made its mark in the 1960s during the muscle-car era with performance parts to enhance speed and handling for both on-road and racing use. Later, Mopar expanded to include technical service and customer support, and today integrates service, parts and customer-care operations in order to enhance customer and dealer support worldwide.
Complete information on Mopar is available at www.mopar.com. For more information regarding Stellantis (NYSE: STLA), please visit www.stellantis.com.
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#2: Austin Cindric, Team Penske, Ford Mustang Discount Tire, Victory Lane, Celebration
Mustang Wins Daytona 500 For Second Straight Season as Next Gen Era Gets Off to Perfect Start for Ford Performance
Austin Cindric opened the Next Gen era by driving his Team Penske Ford Mustang to victory in the 64th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway.
This marked Ford’s second straight Daytona 500 victory and fourth in the last eight years.
The win is Ford’s 17th Daytona 500 triumph overall.
DAYTONA BEACH, FL, February 20, 2022 – The NASCAR Next Gen era has gotten off to a perfect start for Ford Performance as rookie Austin Cindric gave Mustang its second win in as many starts by capturing the 64th Annual Daytona 500 Sunday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway.
After Joey Logano drove his Team Penske Mustang to a win in the car’s debut event two weeks ago in the Clash at the Coliseum, Cindric did the same in the 500 as he won in his first start as driver of the No. 2 Ford.
“I knew I had the car to do it, but there’s so many things that have to play out correctly and putting yourself in position,” said Cindric. “Sometimes you have to force people to help you and I definitely didn’t expect any help throughout the day. I did get some from the Fords, and I think Ford has done an incredible job with this new car and it’s obviously shown the first couple races. I’m just proud to be able to hold off those runs at the end of the race and it means the world to me to be able to sit here and say I’m a Daytona 500 winner.”
Cindric found himself as the leader when caution came out on lap 196 of the scheduled 200-lap event, resulting in a two-lap overtime finish. He got some help on the restart from teammate Ryan Blaney and maintained the lead as the field took the white flag, signifying the final lap. It stayed that way until they came off turn four, but Cindric was able to take the checkered flag first as cars bounced off the wall and each other across the finish line.
“It is a dream,” said Mark Rushbrook, global director, Ford Performance Motorsports. “To see how well this Next Gen car raced today after more than two years of development is great for the sport. But then to have that Ford teamwork and see everyone working together was really special. It’s a long season, but to win the Clash at the Coliseum and now the Daytona 500 for a second year in a row is a great way to start.”
Mustang, which has been recognized as the world’s best-selling sports car each of the last two years, is in its fourth season competing in the NASCAR Cup Series. It has now won 36 races in 109 career starts.
Cindric is the 14th different driver to win the Daytona 500 with Ford, which has now won “The Great American Race” four times in the last eight years.
About Ford Performance Ford’s racing program is part of the Ford Performance organization based in Dearborn, Mich. It is responsible for major racing operations globally, including NASCAR (Cup Series, Xfinity Series, Camping World Truck Series), IMSA Michelin Pilot Challenge, FIA World Rally Championship, Virgin Australia Supercars, Formula Drift, NHRA Funny Car, off-road desert racing, and sportsman drag racing. In addition, the organization also oversees the development of Ford’s racing engines, as well as the outreach programs with all Ford Clubs and Ford enthusiasts. For more information regarding Ford racing’s activities, please visit www.fordperformance.com, www.facebook/FordPerformance, Ford Performance on Instagram and @FordPerformance on Twitter.
About Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (NYSE: F) is a global company based in Dearborn, Michigan, that is committed to helping build a better world, where every person is free to move and pursue their dreams. The company’s Ford+ plan for growth and value creation combines existing strengths, new capabilities and always-on relationships with customers to enrich experiences for and deepen the loyalty of those customers. Ford designs, manufactures, markets and services a full line of connected, increasingly electrified passenger and commercial vehicles: Ford trucks, utility vehicles, vans and cars, and Lincoln luxury vehicles. The company is pursuing leadership positions in electrification, connected vehicle services and mobility solutions, including self-driving technology, and provides financial services through Ford Motor Credit Company. Ford employs about 184,000 people worldwide. More information about the company, its products and Ford Motor Credit Company is available at corporate.ford.com.
Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops / TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Team Earn Stage Points at Daytona International Speedway Despite Challenging Day
Finish: 26th Start: 36th Points: 21st
“The DAYTONA 500 is one of my favorite races of the year and Daytona International Speedway is one of my favorite tracks, so I always come to Florida with big goals for this race. The week started off strong. Justin Alexander and everyone on the team prepared a very fast Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Off Road Chevrolet Camaro ZL1. We settled in and were racing conservatively so that we could be in position for the win, but it wasn’t in the plans for today. We got a little bit of damage to the nose early on that impacted handling, but we made repairs during pit stops to help fix the problem. Midway through the race, the engine started to sound funny and we lost a lot of speed. Our ECR team ran diagnostics under race conditions, but there’s only so much you can do when there is something internal going on. We dropped two valve springs, but we hung on the best we could and settled for 25th. It’s not the day we hoped for, but things happen in racing and our overall engine program and race program is strong. We’re ready to move on and go to Auto Club Speedway next week.”
Austin Dillon Strong Run for Tyler Reddick and the No. 8 3CHI Chevrolet Team in DAYTONA 500 Despite Early Exit From The Great American Race
Finish: 35th Start: 15th Points: N/A
“We had a really fast 3CHI Chevrolet all week so we felt confident heading into the year’s DAYTONA 500. We started the race 15th and were logging consistent and safe laps and try to put ourselves in the best position possible to be there at the end of the race. My crew chief, Randall Burnett, and the team worked hard throughout the race on both strategy and mechanical adjustments. I thought we were in a pretty good position, but we had a part break which caused me to spin and wreck on the frontstretch. It was a tough way to end the day, but there’s a learning curve with these Next Gen cars and we’re all discovering and studying a lot right now. The entire team and everyone at RCR and ECR worked really hard to make these cars fast, and we’ll continue to put in the work needed to get us to Victory Lane this season. I’m looking forward to getting to the West Coast and giving it my all this season.” -Tyler Reddick
In a late war of attrition between the young guns and the veterans, rookie Austin Cindric captured the main spotlight to commence a new season of NASCAR competition by winning the 64th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday, February 20, and capturing his first NASCAR Cup Series career victory after fending off the field during an overtime attempt.
The 2020 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion from Mooresville, North Carolina, led four times for 21 laps, including the final eight, to fend off challenges from teammate Ryan Blaney, ex-teammate Brad Keselowski and Bubba Wallace on the final lap to grab his first win in his eighth career start in NASCAR’s premier series and in his first event driving the No. 2 Ford Mustang for Team Penske as a full-time Cup Series rookie candidate.
The starting lineup was determined through two single-car qualifying rounds on Wednesday, February 16, followed by the Bluegreen Vacations Duels on Thursday, February 17. Kyle Larson, the reigning NASCAR Cup Series champion, started on pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 181.159 mph and was joined on the front row with teammate Alex Bowman, who qualified at 181.046 mph. Brad Keselowski and Chris Buescher, both of whom represent the newly named Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing, occupied the second row after each won their respective Duel events.
Prior to the event, George Spencer, the engineer for Chase Briscoe and the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford Mustang team, and JD Frey, the car chief for Daniel Hemric and the No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team, were ejected from the event due to their respective cars failing pre-race inspection twice. In addition, Hemric was assessed a drive-through penalty at the start. Joey Logano also dropped to the rear of the field in a backup car along with Jacques Villeneuve, who dropped to the rear due to an engine change.
When the green flag waved and the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season commenced, Larson jumped with an early advantage and moved in front of teammate Bowman from the tri-oval through the back straightaway while running on the inside lane. The outside lane, however, proved to be the fastest, preferred lane for a majority of competitors as Keselowski received drafting help from Ford teammates Austin Cindric, Chris Buescher and Michael McDowell to move into the lead entering Turns 3 and 4.
When the field returned to the start/finish line, Brad Keselowski, making his first start as a driver/co-owner of the No. 6 Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing Ford Mustang, led the first lap ahead of Cindric and Buescher while Larson settled in fourth ahead of Michael McDowell, the reigning Daytona 500 champion. By then, Hemric served his drive-through penalty through pit road.
By the fifth lap, a majority of the competitors were running in a long single-file line on the outside lane as Keselowski was leading Cindric, Buescher, McDowell and Kyle Busch. Christopher Bell, Martin Truex Jr., Kurt Busch, Bubba Wallace and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. were in the top 10 while rookie Harrison Burton was the lead car on the inside lane in 14th place while receiving drafting help from names like Chase Elliott, Daniel Suarez, Aric Almirola and Denny Hamlin.
Two laps later, the momentum for the competitors running on the inside lane gained momentum towards the ones running on the outside lane as Kyle Busch, who darted to the inside lane, moved his No. 18 M&M’s Toyota TRD Camry to the front of the pack followed by teammate Bell. Soon after, Busch was engaged in a side-by-side battle with Keselowski’s No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang for the top spot.
Through the first 10 laps of the event and with the field continuing to engage in close-quarters racing through multiple lanes, Keselowski, who fought back on the outside lane to retake the lead on Lap 8, was leading followed by Cindric, Buescher, McDowell and Stenhouse while Kyle Busch fell back to sixth ahead of Erik Jones, Bell, Larson and Truex. By then, Hemric was lapped behind the field.
Five laps later, Jacques Villeneuve was lapped by the field as Keselowski continued to lead a bevy of competitors running towards the outside lane while Kyle Busch was the lead car for multiple competitors running on the inside lane.
By Lap 20, Keselowski remained out in front on the outside lane ahead of Cindric, Buescher, McDowell, Stenhouse and a majority of the competitors while Kyle Busch continued to serve as the lead car on the inside lane with drafting help from his Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Bell and Truex along with 23XI Racing’s Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace.
Seven laps later, the battle for the lead reignited between Keselowski and Kyle Busch as Busch received drafting help from his Toyota teammates on the inside lane to return to the lead.
Through the first 30 laps of the event, Kyle Busch remained as the leader of the field by a narrow margin over teammate Keselowski while Bell, Cindric, Truex, Buescher, Kurt Busch, McDowell, Wallace and Denny Hamlin were in the top 10. By then, Greg Biffle, making his return to the Cup Series following a five-year absence, took his No. 44 NY Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the garage due to an engine issue.
By Lap 35, a majority of the field moved to the inside lane as Kyle Busch continued to lead ahead of Bell, Truex, Kurt Busch, Wallace, Hamlin, Chase Elliott, Ryan Blaney, Keselowski and William Byron.
A few laps later, the first round of green-flag pit stops commenced as names like Cindric, Blaney, McDowell, Kevin Harvick, Joey Logano, Cole Custer, David Ragan, Aric Almirola and Chase Briscoe pitted. During the following lap, a majority of competitors led by Kyle Busch pitted. Then during the following lap and with another wave of competitors pitting, Villeneuve spun near the pit road entrance, but he proceeded without making contact with the wall as the race continued to run under green. In the midst of the pit stops, Ty Dillon was penalized for speeding on pit road.
Then on Lap 40, the first caution of the event flew when Kaz Grala lost a right-rear wheel of his No. 50 Money Team Racing Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 2. At the same time, Briscoe got bumped by Cindric entering Turn 1 and spun his No. 14 Mahindra Ford Mustang, though he continued without sustaining any significant damage. Under caution, some like Larson and Bowman pitted.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 45, Kyle Busch and Joey Logano occupied the front row ahead of Hamlin and Harrison Burton. At the start, Busch jumped ahead through Turns 1 and 2, but Logano used the outside lane to his advantage as he received a push from Burton’s No. 21 Motorcraft/DEX Imaging Ford Mustang to challenge Busch for the lead.
Through the first 50 laps of the event, Kyle Busch was leading ahead of teammates Hamlin and Bell while Byron and Kurt Busch were in the top five. By then, Elliott, rookie Todd Gilliland, McDowell, Logano and Ross Chastain were in the top 10.
Shortly after, the caution returned when Justin Haley lost a right-front tire from his No. 31 LeafFilter Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Turn 1. Under caution, some like Noah Gragson, Harvick, Custer, and Almirola pitted while the rest led by Kyle Busch remained on the track.
On Lap 56, the race proceeded under green as teammates Kyle Busch and Hamlin occupied the front row. At the start, Busch, who restarted on the outside lane, jumped with another strong advantage before moving in front of teammate Hamlin’s No. 11 FedEx Toyota TRD Camry to retain the lead. Behind, Byron challenged Logano for third place with drafting help from Harrison Burton. During the following lap, Byron moved his No. 24 AXALTA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead through the back straightaway as he also moved in front of Busch’s No. 18 Toyota.
Then with the field engaged in close-quarters racing through double lanes, Harrison Burton received a push from Truex to challenge Byron for the lead.
By Lap 60, Burton was leading ahead of Keselowski before Truex mounted his No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota TRD Camry alongside Burton’s car in Turn 1 in a bid for the lead.
Two laps later, however, the caution flew for a multi-car that started when Harrison Burton, who was challenging Truex for the lead, got bumped and turned off the front nose of Keselowski entering the back straightaway as he made contact with Byron, Kyle Busch, Hamlin and Bell. While Byron slid and pounded the inside wall head-on, Burton’s No. 21 Ford went airborne and landed upside down on the roof before flipping back on all four wheels and coming to rest with a destroyed race car. Also involved were Ross Chastain and Alex Bowman. Despite the incident, Burton emerged uninjured as his strong start to the race came to an early end along with Byron, Hamlin and Chastain.
The multi-car wreck concluded the first stage scheduled for Lap 65 under caution as Truex claimed the first stage victory of the season. Keselowski settled in second ahead of Todd Gilliland, Stenhouse, Logano, Austin Dillon, Kurt Busch, Erik Jones, Larson and Elliott.
Under the stage break, some including Kurt Busch, who received minor damage from the multi-car wreck, pitted early. Not long after, the remainder of the field led by Truex pitted for service.
The second stage started on Lap 71 as Erik Jones and Ryan Blaney occupied the front row. At the start, Jones and Blaney dueled through the first two turns until Blaney received a push from teammate Cindric to clear Jones for the lead and retain the top spot when he returned to the start/finish line.
By Lap 75 and with the field fanning out to double lanes, Blaney continued to lead ahead of teammate Cindric and Jones, both of whom battled dead even for the runner-up spot. Chris Buescher and Stenhouse were in the top five ahead of Kevin Harvick, Daniel Suarez, Keselowski, Larson and Gilliland.
Fifteen laps later on Lap 90, Blaney remained as the leader ahead of teammate Cindric, Buescher, Harvick and Keselowski as the field settled in a long single-file line towards the inside lane.
At the halfway mark on Lap 100, Blaney was leading ahead of teammates Cindric, Buescher, Harvick, Gilliland, Custer, McDowell, Ty Dillon and Briscoe as Ford competitors occupied nine of the top-10 spots. Almirola, Logano, Larson, Gragson, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Tyler Reddick, Erik Jones, Truex, Wallace and Kyle Busch were running in the top 20 ahead of Kurt Busch, Daniel Suarez and Elliott, all of whom were running under three seconds behind the leader. Hemric, Corey LaJoie, Austin Dillon were in 24th, 25th and 26th followed by Landon Cassill, Codey Ware, David Ragan and Jacques Villeneuve, all of whom were on the lead lap.
Shortly after, names like Austin Dillon, Hemric, LaJoie, Cassill, David Ragan and Corey Ware pitted under green as Blaney continued to lead the field. During the pit stops, Cassill nearly clipped two of Cody Ware’s crew members while trying to exit his pit stall.
Then on Lap 107, a wave of competitors led by Blaney pitted, but Keselowski and Buescher managed to exit pit road ahead of Blaney. During the next lap, another wave led by Truex pitted. In the midst of the pit stops, Briscoe slid past his pit stall while Elliott stalled his No. 9 NAPA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 on pit road. In addition, Suarez was busted for speeding on pit road and forced to serve a drive-through penalty through pit road.
By Lap 110, Keselowski returned to the lead followed by Buescher, Blaney and the field. A few laps later, Custer pitted for a second time due to not getting fuel in his car during his first stop.
Through Lap 120, Keselowski continued to lead ahead of Buescher, Blaney, Harvick and Gilliland while Larson, who was running within the top 10, formed a line on the outside lane in his bid for the lead followed by Stenhouse, Logano and Truex.
Then five laps later, Larson motored his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 to the lead, but Keselowski fought back on the inside lane after receiving a push from ex-teammate Logano. As Larson drifted back into the top 10 while receiving no drafting help, Keselowski retained the lead ahead of Logano, Truex, Wallace and Cindric.
Then approaching the final lap of the second stage, Briscoe blocked Keselowski in an attempt to remain on the lead lap. Entering Turn 1, Keselowski moved to the inside lane in an attempt to pass Briscoe, but the rest of the field drafted with Briscoe as Logano moved his No. 22 Shell/Pennzoil Ford Mustang into the lead followed by Truex and Wallace. Then entering the tri-oval, Truex made his move beneath Logano and edged Logano to claim the second stage victory on Lap 130. Logano settled in second followed by Wallace, Keselowski, Stenhouse, Cindric, Buescher, Harvick, Larson and Gilliland.
Under the stage break, the field returned to pit road for service and Keselowski exited with the lead followed by Cindric, Larson, Wallace and Harvick. During the pit stops, McDowell was penalized for speeding on pit road. In addition, Logano made a second trip to pit road to have the lug nuts on his car tightened.
With 63 laps remaining, the final stage started. At the start, Keselowski quickly moved in front of Cindric to retain the lead and gain momentum. Behind, Wallace was in third while Harvick gained a run on the outside lane.
Soon after, Keselowski led a seven-car breakaway from the field followed by Cindric, Wallace, Erik Jones, Blaney, Buescher and Briscoe while Harvick fell back in a side-by-side battle with Gragson, who was piloting the No. 62 Beard Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in his Cup debut.
Down to the final 50 laps of the event and with the majority of the field running on the inside lane while the rest settled on the outside lane, Keselowski was leading ahead of Cindric, Wallace, Jones and Blaney.
Just then, the caution flew when Tyler Reddick got bumped and turned off the front nose of Villeneuve entering the frontstretch and came across the path of Truex, Kurt Busch and Logano, with the former sustaining front-nose damage while the latter two spinning towards the tri-oval grass as Stenhouse also sustained damage. In the aftermath of the wreckage, Logano and Reddick needed assistance from wreckers to get their stuck cars out of the grass, which dropped them out of lead lap contention.
Under caution, the field pitted for a potential final round of fresh tires, fuel and adjustments as Cindric exited with the top spot following a two-tire pit stop ahead of Wallace, Blaney and Jones, all of whom took fuel only, while Keselowski exited in fifth place with two fresh tires.
With 41 laps remaining, the green flag waved. At the start, Cindric retained the lead ahead of teammate Blaney and Jones while Wallace got shoved out of the top five while making an attempt for the lead on the outside lane.
During the following lap, Cindric was out in front of a four-car breakaway followed by Blaney, Jones and Keselowski while Briscoe, Wallace and the field closed in through Turns 3 and 4.
Another three laps later, Kyle Busch shoved Bubba Wallace’s No. 23 McDonald’s Toyota TRD Camry to the lead on the outside lane as Cindric fought back on the inside lane with drafting help from Blaney’s No. 12 Menards Blue DEF Ford Mustang.
With 35 laps remaining and the field engaged in a duel and close-quarters racing, Wallace, who had Kyle Busch pushing him on the outside lane, battled Cindric, who had teammate Blaney pushing him on the inside lane, for the lead. By then, the top-15 competitors were separated by half a second.
Five laps later, Wallace and Cindric continued to duel dead even for the lead. Soon after, the inside lane gained a brief advantage as Cindric cleared Wallace to assume full command of the lead followed by Blaney, Erik Jones, Keselowski and Briscoe while Wallace was back in sixth alongside McDowell’s No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang.
Another five laps later, the outside lane regained their momentum as Kyle Busch shoved Wallace back to the lead ahead of Cindric. Soon after, Wallace and Kyle Busch cleared the field and moved in front of Cindric’s No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang. By then, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. started to formulate a run for the lead on the outside lane with drafting help from Chris Buescher’s No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang.
With 20 laps remaining, the battle for the lead and the win continued to intensify as Wallace and Stenhouse engaged in a heated duel for the top spot. While Stenhouse’s No. 47 Kroger Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 had drafting help from Buescher, Wallace continued to fight back on the inside lane with drafting support from Kyle Busch.
Two laps later, the outside lane prevailed as Stenhouse started to lead a multi-car breakaway followed by Buescher, Larson, Gilliland, Harvick and Erik Jones. The field soon settled in a long single-car line on the outside lane as Wallace was mired back in 11th.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event and with fuel in question for the front-runners, Stenhouse, who was told he had enough fuel to finish, continued to lead. Then just as the intensity started to crescendo with the competitors fanning out to double lanes, a multi-car wreck erupted just past the start/finish line when Harvick, who got caught up in an accordion effect with Buescher and Larson, slipped sideways off the front nose of Larson’s No. 5 Chevrolet and clipped Gragson, who pounded the inside wall head-on in front of Larson, which destroyed his car. Also involved were Erik Jones, Elliott and rookie Todd Gilliland, who also impacted the inside wall head-on. The wreck was enough for NASCAR to pause the race for approximately five minutes before the field proceeded under caution.
When the race proceeded under green with six laps remaining, Stenhouse and Cindric engaged in a heated battle for the lead before Cindric started to pull away on the inside lane with drafting help from Blaney. As the field returned to the start/finish line, Stenhouse got turned off the front nose of Keselowski and bounced off of Wallace’s No. 23 Toyota before spinning and slapping the outside wall as Buescher got collected in the carnage. The wreck evaporated Stenhouse’s hopes of winning his first Daytona 500 as he was unable to continue.
The late incident involving Stenhouse was enough to send the event into overtime. At the start, Cindric jumped with an early advantage and immediately moved in front of teammate Blaney from the outside to the inside lane to retain the lead. Through the back straightaway, Keselowski received a push from Briscoe to try to close in on Cindric on the outside lane.
When the white flag waved, Cindric was still leading by a narrow margin over teammate Blaney, Keselowski and the field. Through the first two turns and the back straightaway, Cindric continued to maintain his ground on the inside lane with teammate Blaney settling behind him while Keselowski continued to lurk but not close on the outside lane.
Then entering Turns 3 and 4, Cindric started to pull away followed by Blaney and Wallace while Keselowski could not gain drafting help from Briscoe. Entering the frontstretch and the tri-oval, Briscoe then squeezed himself past Keselowski towards the outside wall as Blaney and Wallace mounted a final challenge on Cindric for the win. As Blaney made a move to the outside of Cindric, Cindric blocked Blaney while making slight contact with his Penske teammate. That opened the door for Wallace to pounce, but at the finish line, Cindric edged Wallace by 0.036 seconds to win as another multi-car wreck erupted behind, among which were involved included Blaney and Keselowski.
With the victory, Cindric, who won in NASCAR’s first points-paying event with the new Next Gen stock cars, became the 41st different competitor to win the Daytona 500 and the ninth to notch a first Cup career victory in the 500 as he delivered the 17th 500 triumph for the Ford nameplate, the first for crew chief Jeremy Bullins and the third for Team Penske and team owner Roger Penske, who turned 85 years old. In addition, Cindric became the 199th different competitor to win in NASCAR’s premier series and the 37th different competitor to achieve a victory across NASCAR’s top three national touring series (Camping World Truck, Xfinity and Cup).
Photo by Patrick Sue-Chan for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Oh my god!” Cindric exclaimed on FOX. “You know what makes [winning] better. A packed house! A packed house at the Daytona 500! I’ve got so many people to thank, first and foremost. Roger Penske, happy birthday! Oh my gosh! [I] Appreciate Ryan [Blaney] being a great teammate. Obviously, he wants to win this one. I’m so pumped for Discount Tire, Menards, Ford, everyone who works so hard with this Next Gen car through this whole process. I am so excited. This makes up for losing a [Xfinity] championship last race I did.”
“I’m surrounded by great people,” Cindric added. “That’s all there is to it. I know there’s gonna be highs and lows being a rookie in a field of drivers this strong. I’m just grateful for the opportunity. [I’m] Excited to climb the mountain we got ahead of us on this No. 2 team. We’re in the Playoffs! That’s one good box check, but oh my gosh! What an awesome group of fans. What an awesome race car. Just really thankful.”
Behind Cindric was Wallace, who nursed his car with a damaged right-front fender to tie his best Daytona 500 result with a runner-up result while Briscoe made a late charge to finish third, which marks his first top-five result in the Cup circuit. Blaney fell back to fourth despite getting consumed in the final lap accident while Aric Almirola commenced his final full-time Cup season in fifth place.
“What could have been, right?” Wallace said. “Just dejected, but the thing that keeps me up is just the hard work that we put into our speedway stuff. The hard work from everybody at 23XI [Racing]. Proud of them. Can’t thank them enough. I knew this was a big move last year for me to go out and be competitive. We’re showing that. There’s always a first race into the season. You’re getting through everything, but when you come out of the gates like that, it’s empowering. It’s encouraging, so thanks to everybody back at the shop. McDonald’s almost got them another [win], back-to-back superspeedway wins. That would’ve been awesome, especially with them being in the 500. Just short…Great Speedweeks, though. We come home second. I’m gonna be pissed off about this for a while. I was happy on the first second-place we got a couple years ago. This one sucks when you’re that close, but all in all, I’m happy for our team. Happy for our partners and on to California.”
“I needed to be able to get to Brad [Keselowski to win],” Briscoe said. “He was having to drag so much brake for me to be able to help him that I wished I was more help. I felt like if I could’ve just locked on, I could’ve gotten him up there. To be sleeping on couches and volunteering at shops six or seven years ago, and now to have a chance to win the Daytona 500 at the end, to finish third and start the year off with these Mahindra Tractors folks and HighPoint.com, all the people that get us to the race track. We wanna be a Playoff contender this year and having a good run here is a good start. [I] Wished we could’ve had one more lap. You never know what could happen, but yeah, super cool to finish third.”
“Coming to the restart there for the green-white-checkered, I really had those thoughts like, ‘Man, this is gonna be a storybook ending coming down here for my last full-time season with this team,” Almirola said. “Having Shane [Smith, President and CEO of Smithfield] and so many people from Smithfield here. I felt like I was in a great spot. It still hurts. It’s an awesome feeling. I’m gonna miss that, coming down the white flag lap, feeling like you have a shot to win the Daytona 500. That’s an incredible feeling. Just so proud of Ford for getting to Victory Lane…This is incredible to come here and almost feel like we had a shot at getting it done. Dang it. So close.”
Kyle Busch, McDowell, Ragan, Keselowski and Elliott finished in the top 10 as 15 competitors finished on the lead lap.
Truex settled in 13th behind Daniel Hemric, Daniel Suarez ended up in 18th ahead of Kurt Busch and Logano finished 21st ahead of Villeneueve. Stenhouse, Harvick and Larson were scored in 28th, 30th and 32nd after having their opportunities to win the 500 spoiled due to the late carnage.
There were 36 lead changes for 13 different leaders. The race featured seven cautions for 37 laps.
Following the first event of the 2022 Cup Series event, Austin Cindric and Brad Keselowski are locked in a tie for the lead in the regular-season standings by five points ahead of Martin Truex Jr., seven over Bubba Wallace and 13 ahead of Chase Briscoe and Ryan Blaney.
Results.
1. Austin Cindric, 21 laps led
2. Bubba Wallace, 12 laps led
3. Chase Briscoe
4. Ryan Blaney, 36 laps led
5. Aric Almirola
6. Kyle Busch, 28 laps led
7. Michael McDowell
8. David Ragan
9. Brad Keselowski, 67 laps led
10. Chase Elliott
11. Ty Dillon
12. Daniel Hemric
13. Martin Truex Jr., 11 laps led, Stage 1 & 2 winner
14. Corey LaJoie
15. Landon Cassill
16. Chris Buescher, one lap down
17. Cody Ware, one lap down
18. Daniel Suarez, one lap down
19. Kurt Busch, two laps down
20. Cole Custer, two laps down
21. Joey Logano, three laps down, one lap led
22. Jacques Villeneuve, three laps down
23. Justin Haley, three laps down
24. Alex Bowman, four laps down
25. Austin Dillon, four laps down
26. Kaz Grala, five laps down
27. BJ McLeod, five laps down
28. Ricky Stenhouse Jr. – OUT, Accident, 16 laps led
29. Erik Jones – OUT, Accident, three laps led
30. Kevin Harvick – OUT, Dvp
31. Noah Gragson – OUT, Accident
32. Kyle Larson – OUT, Accident, one lap led
33. Todd Gilliland – OUT, Accident
34. Christopher Bell – OUT, Accident
35. Tyler Reddick – OUT, Accident
36. Greg Biffle, 65 laps down
37. Denny Hamlin – OUT, Accident
38. William Byron – OUT, Accident, one lap led
39. Harrison Burton – OUT, Accident, three laps led
40. Ross Chastain – OUT, Accident
With the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season underway, the competitors will be embarking on a three-race West Coast swing over the next three weeks, beginning with the return of Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, following a one-year absence. The event is scheduled to occur on Sunday, February 27, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.
Ford Performance Notes and Quotes NASCAR Cup Series Daytona 500 | Sunday, February 20, 2022
FORD FINISHING RESULTS 1st – Austin Cindric 3rd – Chase Briscoe 4th – Ryan Blaney 5th – Aric Almirola 7th – Michael McDowell 8th – David Ragain 9th – Brad Keselowski 16th – Chris Buescher 17th – Cody Ware 20th – Cole Custer 21st – Joey Logano 22nd – Jacques Villeneuve 27th – BJ McLeod 30th – Kevin Harvick 33rd – Todd Gilliland 39th – Harrison Burton
AUSTIN CINDRIC DRIVES NEXT GEN MUSTANG TO DAYTONA 500 VICTORY
Austin Cindric drove his No. 2 Ford to victory today for his first Daytona 500 win.
Ford’s win in the Daytona 500 is its second straight and fourth in the last eight years.
Ford has won the Daytona 500 17 times overall by 14 different drivers.
Of Team Penske’s 85 NCS wins with Ford, 58 have come since rejoining Ford in 2013.
Today’s win is Ford’s 712th all-time in NASCAR Cup Series competition.
Cindric is the 87th different driver to win a Cup race with Ford, and the first new winner since Michael McDowell won the Daytona 500 (2021).
MARK RUSHBROOK, Global Director, Ford Performance — “This has been such a great week with the Duels and the strong Ford Performance and everybody working together to get the two wins Thursday night in the Duels and then the Truck win on Friday night and now to come here for the Daytona 500 and all of our Ford teams and drivers working together. To have so many cars in the top-10 and Austin Cindric with the win it is just fantastic for all of Ford Motor Company”
NOT A BAD DEBUT FOR THE NEXT GEN MUSTANG: “It is a dream. After over two years of working on the Next Gen car. To have that car come here, for the sport, to debut and be so great and have good racing and the cars look great. Then to have that Ford teamwork, working together, which is everything we do with engineering through the week and strategy through the weekend and it all played out on track today, just the way we wanted it to.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – VICTORY LANE INTERVIEW – “Oh, my God. Do you know what makes it all better? A packed house. A packed house at the Daytona 500.
“Oh, my God. I’ve got so many people to thank. First and foremost Roger Penske, happy birthday. Oh, my gosh. Appreciate Ryan being a great teammate. Obviously, he wants to win this one, but I’m so pumped for Discount Tire, Menards, Ford. Everybody works so hard with this Next Gen car, through this whole process, and damn, I am so excited.
This makes up for losing a championship last race I did.
HOW DID YOU ADAPT SO QUICKLY TO GET IT DONE WHEN IT COUNTED ON THE LAST LAP? “I’m surrounded by great people. That’s all there is to it. I know there’s going to be highs and lows, being a rookie in a field of drivers this strong. I’m just grateful for the opportunity, excited to climb the mountain we’ve got ahead of us on the 2 team.
“But we’re in the playoffs. That’s one good box checked. My gosh, what an awesome group of fans, what an awesome race car. Just really thankful.”
BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang – “I thought down the backstretch we were gonna win the race and just the 12 and the 2 got a really good push from the 23 and basically cleared our lane and then our lane kind of broke up there at the end. It was really close, just green-white-checkers.”
WHAT HAPPENED WITH HARRISON FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE? “I was just pushing and it just turned sideways and spun immediately out. I don’t know what happened there. It was a shame to see it. I hate it for him. I was trying to help him win the stage and certainly didn’t want to see him spin out.”
WHAT ABOUT WITH THE 47? “The same thing. I was just pushing. We weren’t even all the way up to speed, so I feel like it was a crazy time to be pushing, but obviously the results say different.”
DID YOU FEEL YOU DID ANYTHING OVERLY AGGRESSIVE? “Whenever somebody spins out obviously there’s somebody over aggressive, but in the moment I didn’t.”
DID YOU FEEL YOU LEFT EVERYTHING ON THE TABLE TODAY? “We did. I hate that the 17 got torn up. I was trying to give Stenhouse a push there and I thought we could settle it amongst us three and clear with the top lane, but it didn’t come together.”
WHAT’S IT LIKE TO SEE YOUR OLD CAR IN VICTORY LANE? “I’m happy for them. There’s a great group of people over there and they deserve all their success.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards/Blue DEF/PEAK Ford Mustang – YOU PUSHED AUSTIN THROUGHOUT THE RACE. “Yeah, the last lap I got good pushes on the bottom from the 23 and then I was able to get Austin in front and off of four where we were good enough to make a move I got blocked and I ended up getting fenced. I’m happy for Roger Penske, winning the 500 on his birthday. I’m happy for Jeremy Bullins and everyone that works on that 2 car. It’s just one of those things. It didn’t work out. We still ended up fourth, but I don’t know another perfect position we could have put ourselves in to win the race. It just didn’t work out.”
DID YOU HAVE AN IDEA WHAT YOU WANTED TO DO ONCE YOU TWO GOT CLEAR? “I made the decision of I wasn’t gonna make a move until I was 100 percent sure that one of our two cars was gonna win, and one of our two cars were going to win and one of them ended up winning. I was committed to him until I was 100 percent sure that one of us was gonna win and one of us did.”
DID LAST YEAR’S FINISH AND THE WAY IT ENDED FOR PENSKE PLAY INTO YOUR THINKING? “I wanted to try to win the race for Roger Penske. Whether that was me or another car, that’s what I was doing and I didn’t want to make a move too early because that throws a big chance out the window. That’s about it.”
THE BLOCK BY HIM. WAS THAT FAIR OR FOUL? “I don’t know. Congrats to him, I guess. You’ve got to throw a block in that situation.”
ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – “I honestly thought I was in a really good position. I knew it was gonna get kind of dicey and haywire there with the leaders and I thought that they would kind of shove each other around and come disconnected and I would have a bunch of momentum coming from behind. We’d seen that in the Duels and other races, so I hate to come up short. I had a really good feeling going into today. I just felt like it was kind of gonna be one of those storybook type deals where the last Daytona 500 I thought we had a shot at going to Victory Lane and just came up a little bit short. Dang, that’s fun. That’s fun.”
DID YOU ALLOW YOURSELF TO THINK DURING THE RED FLAG THAT THIS COULD BE THE STORYBOOK FINISH YOU WERE TALKING ABOUT? “Absolutely. Yeah. I thought so. We were coming there to the end and I thought for sure like, ‘Man, this is setting up nicely to have that kind of storybook ending.’ Yeah, I believed it. I really did. I believed it in my heart that it was gonna happen and I still felt like I was in a really good position off of turn two on the white flag. I’m like, ‘Man, if they let us race back and there’s no crash, we’ve got a shot to win this thing.’ We came out fifth, but it was still fun. I’m proud of our team. Thanks to Smithfield and everybody involved – Mobil 1, Ford. It’s cool to get Ford in Victory Lane. We swept the week, so I’m proud of everybody and now we go to California and start the season.
HOW DO YOU LEAVE THE DAYTONA 500 FROM A MEMORY STANDPOINT? “It’s emotional, honestly. Man, it’s a great feeling to be in the thick of it coming down to the end at the Daytona 500. You dream about those things as a kid and I remember sitting up in those grandstands, so it’s special. I hate losing though.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang – “It’s crazy. You dream when you grow up racing just being in the Daytona 500 and I never in a million years thought I would ever get an opportunity to even run in one. To be restarting sixth with a green-white-checkered was pretty surreal in the first place, but I just couldn’t get to Brad. I kept trying to get there and I just couldn’t. He was having to drag so much brake to get back to me. I just wasn’t much help to him, to be honest with you, and then Kyle got me really good into three and I had such a run that I had to take it. I wish it was Talladega because I felt like if the start-finish line was a little further down I may have had a shot at that thing, but really cool to start our year off with Mahindra Tractors with a third-place finish in the Daytona 500. It’s cool for one of my best friends to win the race. It’s pretty cool.”
DAVID RAGAN, No. 15 Select Blinds Ford Mustang – “For some reason the outside lane just didn’t get the surge that maybe we got two restarts prior. I saw Brad back just a little bit and I was kind of surprised it was that clean on the white flag lap and then coming through three and four no one lifts and everyone is real aggressive. The first thing that I saw was the 12 car come across the racetrack and we all started kind of squeezing down and then I felt Michael McDowell come across my left-front fender and that kind of ran us into the wall. It was right at the start-finish line. That’s unfortunate to tear up a lot of race cars for that reason, but you’re going for the win in the Daytona 500 and no one is gonna lift and everyone is gonna do what they’ve got to do. I couldn’t be more proud of our effort. We really did a perfect job executing the whole race long. We made some adjustments. We just kept fighting and tried to be careful and get aggressive when it counted, so happy to come home with a top 10, but you’re disappointed to have a torn up race car. Select Blinds, Jacob Companies, Envision, everybody that made this possible. It was a lot of fun and I’m sure we’ll come back one day.”
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang – “I was not exactly where I wanted to be. I would have liked to been a row or two up. It’s hard to win from sixth, but I had my Ford teammate in front of me, Aric Almirola, and saw that everybody was pushing hard. You can’t see too much through the back window of the car, so you’re just kind of pushing and hoping it all works out. I thought we were gonna get to the finish line, so as I was crossing the line I just got hooked in the right-rear and went straight in the wall. That was unfortunate because we had a pretty clean race. That’s not what we wanted. We wanted to come back here and challenge for the win, but we were close to being in that position again – being in that top five coming to the white, but we just needed to be a few more spots further forward. All in all, it was a great race. I thought the Next Gen car did really well and put on a good show. The pack stayed together quite a lot – more than I thought from the Duels and practice, and we had a fast Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang. All in all, other than a destroyed race car, we had a decent day going and it would have been nice to get across the line without destroying the car, but glad to come out of here with a top 10 or a top five, I’m not sure where we ended up and get ready for California.”
TODD GILLILAND, No. 38 First Phase Credit Card Ford Mustang – “That was like the one wreck that I thought I had missed from the beginning. I was going low. I was on the apron and the 43 was trying to miss it, too, and it looked like he got hit and hit my right-rear and right-reared me into the fence. That’s racing here at Daytona. They were joking in the infield care center that this place takes a lot more than it gives. I feel like I was having a really good day until then, though, so we’ll take the positives out. I still think this was a pretty good first points Cup race, so we’ll keep moving on.”
YOU WERE RIGHT THERE WITH 10 TO GO. WERE YOU HAPPY WITH YOUR POSITION? “I was super happy with where I was at. I thought I was in a great position. LIke MIchael always says, he wants to be third on the last lap. I felt like I could have easily been right where I wanted to be, so our car wasn’t the fastest out there today, but I feel like I made a lot of good moves in the draft. I was always hopefully going forward in the correct lane, so I just think overall I learned a lot and could have been in a great position at the end.”
JACQUES VILLENEUVE, No. 27 Hezeberg Engineering Systems Ford Mustang – WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS EXPERIENCE? “It was amazing. It was a handful. The car was more difficult to drive than I expected. It was tight. It was loose and that was not expected after testing, but just getting the draft was complicated – especially at the start because everybody just jammed and hit the brakes and that was it. That’s frustrating. It’s really hard to get back in the pack.”
DID THIS RACE LIVE UP TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT WOULD BE? “It was amazing. All the energy. The concert. The show, not just the race, the whole atmosphere. It was really, really amazing.”
WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET BACK IN THIS CAR AND RUN MORE NASCAR EVENTS? “I want to do more, obviously. I’ve always wanted to do more and more racing. Right now, there was only this race planned, but we’ll see how it pans out. We got a good result. The car is intact and maybe we can get some sponsors and go racing again.”
HARRISON BURTON, No. 21 Motorcraft/Quick Lane Ford Mustang – “I’m fine. I’ve hit a lot harder before, that’s for sure. It’s just unfortunate. I hate it for the Wood Brothers group. They brought a really fast Ford Mustang down here and ended up on our lid, so that’s never good. I’d like to look back and see what happened. I don’t know, I just got pushed and didn’t take it the right way – the car didn’t take it the right way or got pushed in the wrong spot. I’m not sure. I couldn’t really tell. I was looking out front to see what I had to do next to side draft the next guy that was on me, so just a bummer. I don’t really know what we could have done different, but we’ll move on and get better from it.”
HOW STRONG WERE YOU PUSHED BY BRAD AND DO YOU FEEL IT WAS TOO MUCH? “I don’t know if it was too much. I just think it might have been in the wrong spot. It’s hard. These bumpers don’t line up as good as the old ones did. Through the testing I always found that dead center was the best, so when I was pushing Joey or whatever you want to push in the center of the bumper. I couldn’t tell. I haven’t watched a good video of it yet, so don’t take what I say to the bank. Obviously, I’m not questioning Brad’s ability, but I think he just got a little wide on my right side and kind of shot me on the inside there. We were working good together up to that point. There were a couple moments where I was having to save it kind of sideways and obviously just one too many and we ended up upside-down.”
WHAT DID THE CAR FEEL LIKE UPSIDE-DOWN? “I don’t know. I’ve never had another one upside-down, so I don’t have any reference. Obviously, it got real light and blew over right. I don’t know if it was the diffuser that did it or what, but once I got backwards I just blew right over. As far as the cockpit and everything is safe. I didn’t get hit hard at all. Luckily, all good there and we’ll move on.”
WHAT DO YOU TAKE FROM SPEEDWEEKS? “We take confidence from it. At the end of the day everyone knew we were here. We were leading when we crashed. Our Wood Brothers group brought a fast Ford down here and we were showing it. Stage points really matter and as a rookie it’s big to get them, so I felt like I wanted to push for those, but obviously I’d love to be out there racing still. I don’t know what I could have done different. It’s kind of hard to be in the lead and say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to be up here.’ You feel like that’s the safest spot, so just have to watch. It’s easy to say, ‘Oh, I just got a bad push and spun,’ but I feel like the people that always get better are ones that can look at themselves and learn from it, so that’s what I’m gonna try and do and try and get better.”
WAS THERE ANY INTRUSION OF THE ROOF OR ANYTHING WHEN YOU WENT UPSIDE-DOWN? “The roof line itself is lower, but they’ve got us lower in the car as well, so I’d say my head is in about the same spot as it was in my Xfinity car. I didn’t notice any intrusion or anything. I thought it maintained its shape pretty well. Obviously, it’s gonna move and bend some, but I didn’t notice any intrusion there. I think, so far, it was a good testament of the car being safe.”
WALLACE SCORES SECOND-PLACE FINISH IN DAYTONA 500 Toyota drivers lead 51 laps in the Great American Race
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (February 20, 2022) – Bubba Wallace (second) was the top-finishing Toyota driver in the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday. Kyle Busch (sixth) joined Wallace in the top-10, while Martin Truex Jr. won the first two stages before coming home in 13th.
Toyota Post-Race Recap NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Daytona International Speedway Race 1 of 36 – 500 miles, 200 laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS 1st, Austin Cindric* 2nd, BUBBA WALLACE 3rd, Chase Briscoe* 4th, Ryan Blaney* 5th, Aric Almirola* 6th, KYLE BUSCH 13th, MARTIN TRUEX JR. 19th, KURT BUSCH 34th, CHRISTOPHER BELL 37th, DENNY HAMLIN *non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
BUBBA WALLACE, No. 23 McDonalds Toyota Camry TRD, 23XI Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd
What are your emotions like after finishing second in tonight’s Daytona 500?
“Yeah, first of all, that’s pretty damn cool to win the 500 in I think the first attempt, maybe not — but (first) full season for him, so congrats to Austin (Cindric). What could have been, right? Man, need to talk about some happy stuff here. Just dejected, but the thing that keeps me up is just the hard work that we put into our speedway stuff and the hard work from everybody at 23XI, proud of them, can’t thank them enough. I knew this was a big move last year for me to go out and be competitive, and we’re showing that. It’s always the first race of the season and you’re getting through everything, but when you come out of the gates like that, it’s empowering, it’s encouraging. So thanks, everybody, back at the shop, McDonald’s, almost got them another one — back-to-back superspeedway wins. That would have been awesome, especially with it being the 500. But just short. I thought our Toyota teammates did good work until they got picked off one, two, three throughout the race, so we just had to survive.
Great Speedweeks, though. We’ll come home second. I’m going to be pissed off about this one for a while. I was happy on the first second place we got a couple years ago. This one sucks when you’re that close, but all-in-all, happy for our team, happy for our partners, and on to California.”
How did you almost do that with a car that wasn’t 100%? “The tow got knocked out and I was worried about that, but I was also worried about a flat tire. Bootie (Barker, crew chief) came over and just wanted me to confirm that everything was okay and that it wasn’t going to rub with the tow knocked out. I was like okay, here we go, we have to go get it. I had a lot of confidence those last 10 laps. I thought we had it in the bag when we were like sixth-to-fifth. I thought it was our night, but maybe I jumped the gun too much. I’m just proud of everyone at 23XI Racing to just continue to work hard, continue to impress and show up ready to battle. Our speedway stuff has been so strong for years. It’s fun to be a part of. We will go on to California. It was just a good week here. McDonald’s on the car, I thought we were going to get them back-to-back speedway wins. That would have been sick. They’ve done a lot for me in my career. Toyota, DoorDash, Root, Dr. Pepper, Columbia, Draft Kings, Wheaties, everybody here. It’s just special. It’s special when you have the right people around you to help you succeed. It’s nights like this that you appreciate. We will go on and punch a pillow or something – hug my dog when I get back to the bus, but we will be ready for California.”
KYLE BUSCH, No. 18 M&M’s Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 6th
How was your race?
“Overall, a good day and a good effort. I’m pleased with how far we came from behind to get a decent finish there. We were tore up a lot most of the race so that was a good finish.”
How much did the damage you got earlier in the race affect your Camry?
“It definitely slowed us down a little bit. Any time you get damage it’s not optimum but otherwise we were able to hang in the draft well and race around some of the other guys that were fast, but there were definitely guys that were faster than us and they were noticeable.”
DENNY HAMLIN, No. 11 FedEx Express Toyota Camry TRD, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 37th
What did you see happen that took you out of the race early?
“It looked like the two cars on top. The 6 (Brad Keselowski) was pushing the 21 (Harrison Burton) and you could see the 21 was kind of getting out of control there, so you know the mindset was that you’ve got to back off but I think the 6 was just insistent on pushing him at all costs and eventually turned the 21 around. Tough, you know, considering it was just for the stage. We were kind of boxed in there where I noticed that something was going to happen, but I was boxed in, I was behind a teammate and I wanted to try to help. Again, just too aggressive pushing right there when they weren’t lined up and in control.”
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About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 48,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 43 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
NASCAR CUP SERIES DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY DAYTONA 500 TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES & QUOTES FEBRUARY 20, 2022
TOP TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL RACE RESULTS: POS. DRIVER 10th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 11th TY DILLON, NO. 42 BLACK RIFLE COFFEE COMPANY CAMARO ZL1 12th DANIEL HEMRIC, NO. 16 HERITAGE POOL SUPPLY GROUP CAMARO ZL1 14th COREY LAJOIE, NO. 7 BUILT.COM CAMARO ZL1 15th LANDON CASSILL, NO. 77 FOX NATION CAMARO ZL1 18th DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 TOOTSIES ORCHID LOUNGE CAMARO ZL1
The NASCAR Cup Series season continues next weekend at Auto Club Speedway with the Wise Power 400 on Sunday, February 27, at 3:30 P.M. ET. Live coverage can be found on FOX, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.
TEAM CHEVY POST-RACE NOTES AND QUOTES:
TY DILLON, NO. 42 BLACK RIFLE COFFEE COMPANY CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 11th YOU GUYS CAME CLOSE TO A TOP-10, BUT BROUGHT YOUR CAR HOME IN ONE PIECE AND A SOLID FINISH. HOW WAS THIS FOR A START TO YOUR SEASON? “Yes, that was our goal today. Race smart and race when we needed to in order to get to the finish. I am really proud of these guys because we accomplished what we wanted; to get in position late in the race and have a shot at a good finish. It’s a great start for this team and we are looking forward to Fontana and the rest of the season.”
DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 TOOTSIES ORCHID LOUNGE CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 18th “Our day was O.K. We had a fast No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Chevy, we just got behind there with the speeding penalty. The No. 42 (Ty Dillon) kind of pushed me to the grass and then we had a loose wheel. It wasn’t a clean day, but we’ll move onto Auto Club (Speedway).”
RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER / IRISH SPRING CAMARO ZL1 – Finished 28th “We put ourselves in the perfect position really for us to come down to leading the Daytona 500 with five laps to go. All and all, our No. 47 Kroger/Irish Spring Camaro just got pushed in the wrong spot. We did everything we could today to put ourselves in the right position. We’ve got to be happy about that and move on.”
KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 190; Finished 32nd “It’s disappointing. I had a run there on the No. 4 (Kevin Harvick). I didn’t realize how close he was to the No. 17 (Chris Buescher). I got to him right as he was getting to him and it got him out of shape. I hate that I did that. It’s so hard to see in front of him, especially on the straightaway like that.” “I didn’t realize how close he was to him and it just got him all jacked up. I hate that it ended our day, as well as a bunch of others. Our No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevy was fast and hopefully we can see a Chevy win here with Ricky (Stenhouse Jr.) out front.”
TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 3CHI CAMARO ZL1- Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 152; Finished 35th “We had a really fast 3CHI Chevrolet all week and felt really good after our team worked hard to make adjustments during today’s race. We had a part break which caused me to spin and wreck on the frontstretch. With the shortage of parts for these new cars, that definitely puts more work on my team and that’s tough. I’m looking forward to getting to the west coast and improving our performance. The entire RCR team and everyone at ECR worked really hard to make these cars fast.”
WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 AXALTA CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 63; Finished 38th “It looked like the bottom lane was pushing well; nice, balanced and controlled. The outside lane was getting a little squirrely the last lap or so. I noticed that, but there’s nothing you can really do. You’re just trying to push your guy out front. It was (Martin) Truex Jr. in front of me and Kyle Busch. We were doing a good job of kind of managing that gap on the bottom. I think the No. 21 (Harrison Burton) just got loose, slid down the track and I slid to the inside wall. There was nothing we could really do. I think we were definitely going to finish in the top-five in that Stage. Our No. 24 Axalta Camaro seemed really fast. It’s disappointing, but we’ll go onto California (Auto Club Speedway) and we’ll be fast there.”
ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 1 ADVENT HEALTH CAMARO ZL1 – Sidelined by damage sustained in an accident on lap 63; Finished 40th TALK ABOUT WHAT YOU SAW THERE. “They were just wrecking and I saw a car upside down. Just wrong place, wrong time for our No. 1 Advent Health Chevrolet. Bummer.”
HOW CAREFUL DO YOU THINK EVERYONE WAS BEING? BRAD KESELOWSKI HAD A STRONG PUSH THERE AND IT JUST DIDN’T WORK. “Yeah, everybody I was around was pretty calm. I saw the tandem up front. Everything looked fine. I was blind to what happened, so I don’t really know what went wrong.”
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.
ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN - JULY 04: Chase Elliott, driver of the #9 NAPA Auto Parts Chevrolet, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Cup Series Jockey Made in America 250 Presented by Kwik Trip at Road America on July 04, 2021 in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. (Photo by Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (Feb. 20, 2022) – Hendrick Motorsports and driver Chase Elliott have reached a five-year contract extension that will keep the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion with the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 team through the end of the 2027 racing season.
The agreement was signed Saturday afternoon at Daytona International Speedway in advance of today’s season-opening DAYTONA 500 (2:30 p.m. ET on FOX).
Elliott, 26, has never missed the Cup Series playoffs in his six full seasons at NASCAR’s top level. The Dawsonville, Georgia, native earned rookie of the year honors in 2016 and secured his first Cup title in 2020. He has already won 13 career points-paying races, including two in 2021 when he appeared in the Championship 4 for the second consecutive season.
In February 2011, Elliott signed with Hendrick Motorsports as a 15-year-old high school freshman and has since been successful at every level of competition. He won his first NASCAR national series title in 2014 (Xfinity Series) and is now a second-generation Cup Series champion following his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who earned the top honor in 1988.
“I feel so fortunate to be in this position,” said Chase Elliott, who will drive the No. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in today’s DAYTONA 500. “I have a great team with leadership from Alan (Gustafson, crew chief) and the support of the best car owner and racing organization in the world. For me, there’s a lot of pride in driving for Hendrick Motorsports and having the opportunity to win races and compete for championships. We are capable of accomplishing a lot more and it starts today.”
In addition to his performance on the track, Elliott has been voted by fans as the NASCAR Cup Series’ most popular driver in each of the last four years. In 2017, he established the non-profit Chase Elliott Foundation, which provides support and financial assistance to well-qualified charitable organizations with an emphasis on helping others live healthier, happier lives. It has raised thousands of dollars in support of Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta and other important causes.
“Chase is a champion on and off the track,” said Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports. “His talent inside the race car is undeniable, and he’s just scratching the surface of what he can do. This is a young man who is mature beyond his years, comes from an incredible family, and is humble, hardworking and never takes anything for granted. As long as Chase is driving, we want him right here with Hendrick Motorsports. This is an exciting way to start the season, and we look forward to many, many more together.”
Elliott’s previous contract with Hendrick Motorsports ran through 2022.
ABOUT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS: Founded by Rick Hendrick in 1984, Hendrick Motorsports is the winningest team in NASCAR Cup Series history. At the sport’s premier level, the organization holds the all-time records in every major statistical category, including championships (14), points-paying race victories (280) and laps led (nearly 75,000). It has earned at least one race win in a record 37 different seasons, including an active streak of 36 in a row (1986-2021). The team fields four full-time Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 entries in the NASCAR Cup Series with drivers Alex Bowman, William Byron, Chase Elliott and Kyle Larson. Headquartered on more than 100 acres in Concord, North Carolina, Hendrick Motorsports employs approximately 600 people. For more information, please visit HendrickMotorsports.com or interact on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.
PLANO, Texas (February 20, 2022) – Toyota is proud to debut ‘Countless’, a new commercial featuring two-time Cup Series champion Kyle Busch, 2017 Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin.
The piece highlights all of Toyota’s incredible accomplishments in its 15 seasons in the top level of NASCAR, including 162 race wins and three championships. However, for Toyota – it’s not all about the on-track achievements; it’s about the memories made and the ‘countless’ celebrations along the way.
Produced by North Carolina-based What Not Films, which was behind Toyota’s previous motorsports commercial efforts – ‘Sign the Line’ and ‘The Dream,’ ‘Countless’ will make its television debut as part of the Daytona 500 broadcast this afternoon before beginning regular commercial rotation at the series’ second race of the season at Auto Club Speedway.
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 48,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 43 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.
Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.
