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34th Annual Motorsports Hall of Fame of America Induction Ceremony Presented by Toyota Racing Features Past and Present Stars, Industry Leaders and Racing Legends from all Facets of Motorsports

MSHFA photos by Thomas R. Miller Photography
  • Roger Penske, Donnie Allison, Larry Dixon, Jr., Lyn St. James, Mike Helton and More to Present Equally Accomplished Class of 2022 for Induction
  • Sold Out 34th Induction Ceremony Presented by Toyota Racing Crowning Event of Two-Day Class of 2022 Celebration in Daytona Beach March 7 and 8
  • Two-Time Indianapolis 500 Winner and 2009 Motorsports Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) Inductee Al Unser Jr. Honorary Chair of 34th MSHFA Induction Ceremony Presented by Toyota Racing
  • 1985 Indianapolis 500 “Spin to Win” Panel Discussion and Q&A with Race Winner and 2012 MSHFA Inductee Danny Sullivan and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles Just Added to 34th Induction Celebration Schedule
  • Tuesday Night Gala and Monday Afternoon “Spin to Win” Panel Livestreamed on MSHFA Facebook Page; Additional Inductee and Guest Interviews Air on MSHFA YouTube Channel in Live and Complementary Streaming Coverage Hosted by Ryan Myrehn from Tuesday Night Gala

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (March 6, 2022) — Past and present stars, top industry leaders and racing legends from all facets of the sport arrive in Daytona Beach early this week to honor the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America’s Class of 2022 in a two-day celebration culminating with the sold out 34th Induction Ceremony presented by Toyota Racing at the Shores Resort and Spa, March 8.

The Motorsport Hall of Fame of America (MSHFA) Class of 2022 includes the designer of the 1965 World Champion Cobra Daytona Coupes, Peter Brock (Sports Cars), record-equalling four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves (Open Wheel), the only person in history to win NHRA Top Fuel championships as a driver and crew chief, Dick LaHaie (Drag Racing), the Davidsons & Harley, founders of Harley-Davidson (Historic), “The Henry Ford of race cars,” NASCAR builder Banjo Matthews (Business), the first woman to receive the Ken W. Purdy Award for Excellence in Automotive Journalism, Autoweek cofounder Denise McCluggage (At Large), NASCAR cofounder and championship-winning team owner Raymond Parks (Historic), “The Cat in the Hat” who has masterminded more than 300 NASCAR wins, Jack Roush (Stock Cars) and motorcycle racing innovators who have won NHRA drag racing titles, AMA Supersport and Superbike titles, two Daytona 200s and more, Terry Vance & Byron Hines (Motorcycles).

Several members of the Class of 2022 will be presented for induction into the MSHFA by an equally accomplished lineup of legends who are Hall of Famers already or are on the shortlist of future Hall of Famers.

Fresh off sweeping the Daytona 500 and Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg season-opening NASCAR and NTT IndyCar races, Roger Penske (MSHFA Class of 1995 and pictured at top right in collage below) will present Castroneves for induction. Donnie Allison (MSHFA Class of 2011 and pictured at top center in collage below) will do the honors for his friend, car builder and team owner Matthews, while Larry Dixon, Jr. (pictured at top left in collage below) – fresh off his own MSHFA induction in the Class of 2021 – will present fellow NHRA Top Fuel Champion LaHaie. McCluggage will be lauded by Lyn St. James, an accomplished sports car driver herself and the 1992 Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year.

With two-time Indianapolis 500 winner Al Unser Jr. (MSHFA Class of 2009) presiding over the Class of 2022 as the evening’s Honorary Chair, Tuesday’s Ceremony presented by Toyota Racing brings the two-day 34th MSHFA Induction Celebration to a close in an expanded schedule of what is now four must-attend events.

The MSHFA Museum at Daytona International Speedway (DIS) is the site of the Heroes of Horsepower Reception presented by Firestone at 7 p.m. EST on Monday, March 7. Another sold-out event, this more casual get together allows guests to enjoy a strolling dinner while taking in the spectacle of the MSHFA Museum. The evening’s highlight is the unveiling of the nine new inductees’ bronze plaques that will be displayed permanently in the Hall.

Another event central to the annual induction process is the Inductee Breakfast presented by American Honda that will take place on Tuesday, March 8 at 9:30 a.m. EST in the Rolex 24 Lounge in the DIS Stadium. The Inductee Breakfast features the formal induction of each year’s Historic category nominees that in 2022 includes the founders of iconic motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson and NASCAR pioneer Parks.

Members of the famous Davidson and Harley families will both present and accept the honor on behalf of their ancestors while Mike Helton, NASCAR’s Vice Chairman, will present NASCAR pioneer Parks for induction.

An all-new and recent addition to 2022’s Induction Celebration is a special 1985 Indianapolis 500 “Spin to Win” panel discussion and Q&A with race winner and 2012 MSHFA Inductee Danny Sullivan and Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Doug Boles (pictured at top right in collage above). Scheduled for Monday, March 7 at 3 p.m. EST at the Shores Resort and Spa, the discussion will recount Sullivan’s 1985 victory and share some never-before-told stories on the famous spin that didn’t stop him from winning that year’s race (pictured at bottom in collage below). The event is open to all guests and ticket holders for 34th Induction Celebration events.

David Hobbs (MSHFA Class of 2009) returns as the 34th Induction Master of Ceremonies and once again will be ably assisted by longtime motorsports broadcasting pro Marty Reid throughout the two-day celebration (pictured together at right in collage above).

The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is offering three different livestreams of the 2022 Induction Celebration. Both the Tuesday Night Gala and Monday afternoon “Spin to Win” panel will be livestreamed on the MSHFA Facebook page at www.facebook.com/MotorsportsHOF. Monday’s “Spin to Win” show begins at 3 p.m. EST while Tuesday’s 34th Induction Gala, presented by Autoweek, goes live at 7:45 p.m. EST. A second livestream on the MSHFA YouTube Channel at the same 7:45 p.m. EST start time Tuesday night runs in tandem with the main Autoweek feed on Facebook and includes complementary and inductee and guest interviews with host Ryan Myrehn (pictured at left in collage above).

For more information, visit the MSHFA at www.mshf.com or contact MHSFA President George Levy at (248) 895-1704 or glevy@mshf.com. For museum tickets call 1-800-PIT-SHOP.

The Motorsports Hall of Fame of America is on Facebook at www.facebook.com/MotorsportsHOF/ and Instagram and Twitter at @MotorsportsHOF.

About the Motorsports Hall of Fame of America: The MSHFA is the only hall that honors all American motorsports: cars, motorcycles, airplanes, off road and powerboats. Its mission is to celebrate and instill the American motorsports values of leadership, creativity, originality, teamwork and spirit of competition. Founded by Larry G. Ciancio and Ronald A. Watson, it held its first induction in 1989. Watson spent the next 30 years tirelessly building it into the nation’s premier such hall until his passing in 2019. The original museum in Novi, Mich., relocated to Daytona Beach, Fla., in 2016 and greets more than 100,000 guests a year. MSHFA is operated by the nonprofit Motorsports Museum and Hall of Fame of America Foundation, Inc.

RCR NXS Post Race Report: Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Sheldon Creed and the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet Team Rebound from Pit Road Penalty to Earn Seventh-Place Finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Finish: 7th
Start: 8th
Points: 14th

“I had a lot of fun today in the No. 2 Whelen Chevrolet at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. I ran all the laps, which was the main goal. My No. 2 Whelen Engineering Chevrolet was fast and I was taking my time in the first stage. We got caught up in someone else’s mess, so that was frustrating and set our day up right there. We restarted on the front row and I thought that was going to be decent. I knew we were going to lose a couple of positions but I got hit going into Turn 1 and lost a lot of spots. I knew we had speed because we stayed with that lead pack on old tires and were actually better than some of them. In Stage 3, I was able to drive well inside the top 10, but ended up getting a speeding penalty on pit road. That’s my mistake and something that I need to clean up. Other than that, our Chevrolet Camaro SS was really fast and our ECR Engines were really strong. I have a couple of things to work on myself but I think I’m up to speed in the Xfinity car now. To come from a lap down and still finish seventh, I’m happy with that.” -Sheldon Creed

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet Team Have Strong Showing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Before Late-Race Incident

Finish: 32nd
Start: 15th
Points: 10th

“We had a really strong Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, so I wish we could have finished out the race to show everyone exactly how fast these RCR Chevrolets are. Unfortunately, we ended up in a wreck that took us out of the race. I hit right-front first and then it kind of wall-slapped with the right rear. It’s one of those things that knocks the breath out of you just for a split-second, but I’m fine. I just feel bad for my guys. That’s two weeks in a row that we’ve got taken out and it was none of our doing. We didn’t do anything wrong. We had really good short run speed so I actually thought our Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet was in position to challenge for the win. It’s disappointing that we didn’t get to the end of the race and find out. We had plenty of power with our ECR Engine and all the guys on the pit crew did a fantastic job.” – Austin Hill

Herbst Salvages 14th-Place Finish at Las Vegas

Circa Sports Driver Rebounds After Getting Collected in Late-Race Accident

Date: Saturday, March 5
Event: Alsco Uniforms 300 (Round 3 of 33)
Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series
Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile oval)
Format: 200 laps, broken into three stages (45 laps/45 laps/110 laps)
Start/Finish: 3rd / 14th (Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
Point Standing: 7th (94 points, 50 out of first)
Race Winner: Ty Gibbs of Joe Gibbs Racing (Toyota)
Stage 1 Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)
Stage 2 Winner: Noah Gragson of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet)

Overview:

Riley Herbst was on his way to a top-10 finish until he was collected in an accident late in the Alsco Uniforms 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Ten laps short of the 200-lap distance around the 1.5-mile oval, Herbst deftly avoided a spinning Ryan Truex and Austin Hill. Yet despite making his way around the duo that crashed in turn four, Herbst’s No. 98 Circa Sports Ford Mustang was struck by another car accelerating low on the racetrack despite NASCAR displaying the yellow caution flag. The impact sent Herbst across the track and into the frontstretch retaining wall. Nonetheless, he was able to wheel his racecar back to the pits where crew chief Richard Boswell directed repairs. Without losing a lap, the Circa Sports crew got Herbst back onto the racetrack, where the Las Vegas native was able to salvage a 14th-place finish at his hometown track.

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

“We were just really tight all day long. Hopefully, we can get better. We were going to execute our gameplan, which was to just finish and get another top-10, but we got caught up in that last wreck so we finished 14th. We were past the wreck and then the yellow came out and I think some people thought it wasn’t out and they kept racing and that’s when we wrecked. I guess we still finished, but it’s frustrating with just how tight we were all day.”

Notes:

● Ty Gibbs won the Alsco Uniforms 300 to score his fifth career Xfinity Series victory, his first at Las Vegas and his first of the season.

● There were 11 caution periods for a total of 65 laps.

● Only 14 of the 38 drivers in the Alsco Uniforms 300 finished on the lead lap.

● Noah Gragson leaves Las Vegas as the championship leader with a 17-point advantage over second-place Ty Gibbs.

Next Up:

The next event on the Xfinity Series schedule is the United Rentals 200 on Saturday, March 12 at Phoenix Raceway. The race starts at 4:30 p.m. EST with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Toyota Racing NXS Post-Race Recap — Las Vegas 3.5.22

GIBBS CLAIMS FIRST XFINITY SERIES WIN OF 2022
Vegas Proves Successful for Gibbs’ GR Supra

LAS VEGAS (March 5, 2022) – Ty Gibbs claimed his first NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) victory of the 2022 season in Saturday’s race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In a race riddled with numerous caution flags and a 40-plus minute red flag for snow, Gibbs was able to drive his GR Supra to the win.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 3 of 33 – 300 miles, 200 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, TY GIBBS
2nd, Noah Gragson*
3rd, Daniel Hemric*
4th, Josh Berry*
5th, Justin Allgaier*
10th, BRANDON JONES
12th, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
22nd, JOEY GASE
31st, RYAN TRUEX
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

TY GIBBS, No. 54 Monster Energy Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 1st

How were you able to pull off the win today with all the adversity?

“First of all, I want to say all glory to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. I want to say thank you to him. And I want to second of all, I want to apologize to the 39 (Ryan Sieg) for the contact that I made. It wasn’t my best decision and I’m sorry to their whole group. Ryan’s family, they worked so hard, so I want to apologize to them. But let’s put this thing on red baby. Let’s go.”

What happened in the closing laps of the race after the final restart and what does this win mean to you?

“It was awesome. I want to say thank you to Justin Allgaier for my push too. That helped me a lot. You know, I had a fun time racing with the JR cars. Hopefully we can keep it going and go out and win some more races. I want to say thank you to Monster Energy, Toyota, my GR Supra was so fast. This is awesome. And let’s go Vegas.”

#

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.

Ford Performance NASCAR: Las Vegas Xfinity Series Post-Race Quotes

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Alsco Uniforms 300
Saturday, March 5, 2022

FORD FINISHING RESULTS
14th – Riley Herbst
16th – Kyle Sieg
20th – JJ Yeley
24th – CJ McLaughlin
29th – Joe Graf Jr.
37th – Ryan Sieg

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Circa Sports Ford Mustang — “We were just really tight all day long. Hopefully, we can get better. We were going to execute our game plan, which was to just finish and get another top 10, but we got caught up in that last wreck so we finished 14th. I guess we still finished, but it’s frustrating with just how tight we were all day.”

IT LOOKED LIKE YOU WERE PAST THE WRECK. WHAT HAPPENED? “We were past the wreck over here and then the yellow came out and I think some people thought it wasn’t out and they kept racing and that’s when we wrecked.”

RYAN SIEG, No. 39 CMRoofing.com/A-Game Ford Mustang – “We were riding along there at the beginning and he (Ty Gibbs) came along and packed air underneath us. He got us loose once and then pretty much cleaned us out on the second tap. The suspension was rubbing all over the shocks, so we had a suspension issue right there out of four. I tried to hang onto it and stay out of the wall and just come to pit road because we were pretty much done.”

Ty Gibbs grabs his first win of the season at Las Vegas

Photo by Ron Olds for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Ty Gibbs claimed his first NASCAR Xfinity victory of the season at Las Vegas Motor Speedway Saturday night in the Alsco Uniforms 300. It was an exhilarating race that included 11 cautions plus a 42-minute red flag for rain and a bit of snow.

The 19-year-old grandson of NASCAR Hall of Famer and team owner, Joe Gibbs, took the lead on the final restart in his No. 54 Toyota and led the final six laps to score the win. The race ended under caution on the final lap freezing the field and sending Gibbs to victory lane.

His win, however, was not without controversy.

On Lap 4, Gibbs made contact with Ryan Sieg bringing out a caution as Sieg’s No. 39 Ford hit the outside wall. Sieg was upset after the incident and hinted at possible retaliation.

“It’s tough, but it is what it is,’’ Sieg said. “He’s definitely going to have to learn his lesson, you know what I mean.’’

When the race restarted, Sieg pulled up beside Gibbs and it looked as though he was going to take the opportunity to show his displeasure. Instead, Sieg spun out and the cars of Sheldon Creed and Brett Moffitt were caught up in the aftermath. Sieg went to the garage and was finished for the day but Creed and Moffitt recovered with top-10 finishes.

During his interview after the race, Gibbs apologized, saying, “I want to apologize to the 39 (Sieg) for the contact I made, it wasn’t my best decision and I’m sorry to the whole group, Ryan’s family they work so hard.

“I want to say thank you to Justin Allgaier for my push, too,’’ he continued. “I had a fun time racing with the JR (Motorsports) cars, too, so hopefully we can keep it going and win some more races.”

JR Motorsports’ Noah Gragson had the dominant car for most of the race, winning both Stage 1 and 2, and was in the lead on the final restart. But Gibbs was able to pull ahead with help from Justin Allgaier who was lined up behind him and Gragson had to settle for second place. It was Gragson’s third top-five finish of the year and he leaves Las Vegas first in the driver standings by 17 points over Gibbs.

“I just kind of got beat at our own game there. Restarts just came up short,’’ Gragson said after the race. “Just needed to be better. Congrats to them and we’ll keep working hard. Thankful to this team led by Luke Lambert and we’ll come back stronger next week. Obviously, I wanted to be in Victory Lane, but it could be a hell of a lot worse.”

Daniel Hemric, Josh Berry and Allgaier finished third to fifth, respectively, as Landon Cassill, Sheldon Creed, Brett Moffitt, AJ Allmendinger and Brandon Jones rounded out the top-10 at Las Vegas.

There were 17 lead changes among nine drivers during the Alsco Uniforms 300 and 11 cautions for 65 laps.

Next up for the Xfinity Series is the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway on March 12.

CHEVY NCS AT LAS VEGAS: Kyle Larson Scores Front Row Starting Spot at Las Vegas

NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-QUALIFYING NOTES
MARCH 5, 2022

KYLE LARSON PUTS CAMARO ZL1 ON THE FRONT ROW AT LAS VEGAS
Five Team Chevy Drivers Qualify in the Top-10

TOP-10 TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL QUALIFYING RESULTS:
POS. DRIVER
2nd KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1
5th CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1
7th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 BETMGM CAMARO ZL1
9th RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 SUNNYD CAMARO ZL1
10th AUSTIN DILLON, NO. 3 BREZTRI CAMARO ZL1

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

· Kyle Larson made a lap of 29.668 seconds, at 182.014 mph, in his No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 to capture a front row starting spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Pennzoil 400 Presented by Jiffy Lube at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

· It’s the 29-year-old Hendrick Motorsports Driver’s eighth top-10 starting spot in 12 races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

· It also marks his 39th front row starting spot in his NASCAR Cup Series career.

· FOX will telecast the NASCAR Cup Series Wise Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway live at 3:30 p.m. ET tomorrow, Sunday, March 6. Live coverage can also be found on PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 HENDRICKCARS.COM CAMARO ZL1, POST-QUALIFYING PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT:

FOR THE PAST THREE WEEKS, YOU’VE BEEN THE FAVORITE TO WIN THE RACE. DOES THAT EVER WEIGH ON YOU?
“I like being the favorite. That means you’ve done a good job. But I don’t pay too much attention to it. I don’t really think that matters a whole lot because odds makers don’t really know as much as all the teams and drivers do, as far as what cars are stuff are good at each track. But either way, it’s good. It’s good to qualify on the front row here at Las Vegas (Motor Speedway) and hopefully we can have another solid run; execute a great race and try and fight for another win.”

SOME TRACKS THAT YOU GUYS RACE AT, PEOPLE HAVE GREAT STARTING POSITIONS AND THEY ACT LIKE IT’S NOT REALLY SUCH A BIG DEAL BECAUSE OF HOW THE RACE PLAYS OUT. IS THAT A BIGGER DEAL HERE AT LAS VEGAS, TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO START UP FRONT?
“I think it’s important at every race track; probably more important than I used to think. Last year, we got to run up front a lot. We had great pit stops and executed races very well to maintain that track position; where I maybe didn’t have that in the past. Having well-executed races and maintaining that, you get a sense for how much easier the races go by. You’re doing a lot less fighting and putting yourself in hairy situations and stuff like that. Starting up front is just the beginning to that. Like last week, we had to go from the rear and it was a fight to get to about the middle portions of the second stage to where we could then try and maintain that. We had one hiccup on pit road and lost some spots again. But yeah, starting the race up front is, in my opinion, definitely really important.”

WHEN YOU CAME IN EARLIER, YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO CATCHUP WITH CHASE (ELLIOTT) LATER. HAS THAT HAPPENED YET?
“Yeah, I got to talk to him and we got to go over what happened from each of our vantage points. It was good to have a conversation and good to hopefully move along from it. It went well; honestly better than I anticipated. He’s a great teammate and I’m going to do my part to be a great teammate each and every week. Hopefully we never have any incidents happen again like what happened last week.”

DID YOU FIND THAT HE WAS UNDERSTANDING?
“Yeah, I felt like he was. I was encouraged by that. Like I said, he’s always been a great teammate. We’re both young and we’re both going to be fighting for wins together. So, hopefully nothing like that happens again.”

BEFORE THE DAYTONA 500, YOU PREDICTED A BIG YEAR FOR TYLER REDDICK AND HE’S LOOKED PRETTY GOOD SO FAR. WHY DID YOU THINK THAT?
“I think it was just a combination of a lot of things. I’ve grown up with Tyler (Reddick). I’ve known Tyler since he was like five. I’ve always seen his talent and I feel like – yes, the testing was a big part of it. But the way the rules packages have gone with a little more horsepower and less downforce, I feel like that’s going to suite him very well. And it’s proven to be that way, so far. I think it’s just a combination of a lot of things. But yeah, he was by far the fast car last week. He was around me a lot in practice today and I felt like he was really good again. I would look to him to be strong again tomorrow. Speaking of odds makers and stuff, I’m sure there are probably going to be a lot of people putting some money on him.”

REPEAT WINNERS DON’T HAPPEN OFTEN HERE. WHAT DO YOU THINK IT’S GOING TO TAKE TO REPEAT YOUR WIN HERE FROM LAST YEAR?
“Well, I don’t know. I feel like I’m not really technically repeating anything because I lost the second time we came to Las Vegas (Motor Speedway) last year. I don’t know – it’s just like any other race. I think the repeat thing doesn’t matter. You have to have a fast car, execute a good race; both you and your team. It’s hard to go back-to-back each week, back-to-back each time. I think our team is strong enough to hopefully do it.”

DID THE WIND PLAY A FACTOR?
“I don’t know. I felt like in (turns) three and four, with the wind blowing that direction, the first run I made it was a little inconsistent for me to get to the bottom. But once I just kind of calmed down my entry and slowed down a little bit more, I was able to hit my marks better. It’s just something you have to adjust to as a driver.

“I was behind Kyle (Busch) when he crashed and that was crazy. It turned around backwards so fast. I don’t know if the wind had anything to do with that, something broke, he hit a seam or what. It was wild.”

IT WAS A TIRE THAT WENT DOWN. HIS LEFT REAR.
“OK, that makes sense because it turned around backwards so fast and it had me nervous for a little while.”

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.

Ford Performance NASCAR: Cindric and Briscoe Qualify Top 5 for Las Vegas Cup Race

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Pennzoil 400 Qualifying | Saturday, March 5, 2022

FORD QUALIFYING RESULTS
3rd – Austin Cindric
4th – Chase Briscoe
6th – Joey Logano
11th – Ryan Blaney
15th – Brad Keselowski
19th – Harrison Burton
20th – Aric Almirola
22nd – Michael McDowell
24th – Cole Custer
25th – Kevin Harvick
27th – Chris Buescher
30th – Todd Gilliland
33rd – Cody Ware
35th – BJ McLeod
36th – Garrett Smithley

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – “We had a lot of wind and changing conditions. I definitely feel like I learned a lot for today. I feel like I learned more about the car honestly this week than I did at Fontana – just a bit more of a stable surface and more predictable, so I learned the right things to be able to put down a good lap and get improvement from practice, so I did my part. Four hundred miles tomorrow.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang – “It’s good. Outside of Indy I think this will be the first time I’ve started in the top five, so it’ll be cool to be able to start up front. We’ve had really good speed all year long. The Clash, I felt like we were one of the two best cars. Daytona is kind of what it is and last week we were really really good, too, so hopefully we can capitalize on that good starting spot and just continue to get those stage points and do those things that are gonna help us as the season goes on. Having a good starting spot is certainly a lot of it and we’ll see if we can take advantage of that here tomorrow and just keep this thing up front.”

HOW CHALLENGING WAS THE WIND TODAY? “I didn’t think it was as bad as Fontana. I definitely noticed it in practice a little more than qualifying. I don’t know why it was worse for me in practice, but I thought it’s definitely manageable a lot more than Fontana.”

CHEVY NCS AT LAS VEGAS: Daniel Suarez Press Conference Transcript

NASCAR CUP SERIES
LAS VEGAS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
PENNZOIL 400
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2022

DANIEL SUAREZ, NO. 99 CommScope CAMARO ZL1, met with the media in advance of the NASCAR Cup Series practice and qualifying session at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Press Conference Transcript:

I WAS CURIOUS DANIEL AFTER THE RACE LAST WEEK, I WAS LISTENING TO ONE OF YOUR COMMENTS “WE DIDN’T DESERVE TO WIN” BUT I THOUGHT YOU DROVE A HECK OF A RACE, HAD A HECK OF A RACE CAR. I’M CURIOUS WHY YOU DIDN’T FEEL YOU DESERVE TO WIN? YOU PUT YOURSELF IN A POSITION TO WIN?

“Yeah, I mean I think that I didn’t really have a clean race. I just needed one more lap you know being in the top five to know exactly what to do there. That was my first time in the top five the entire day and I thought things were working one way and they were actually working a different way. Probably I shouldn’t have said we didn’t deserve to win, but we are not 100 percent prepared for that. The rear (inaudible) of the car broke early in the race and it took us half of the race to figure it out. We had unbelievable pit stops. I feel that my car was capable of running the top five, top-10. I feel like there was still a little bit missing to be able to win the race. We’re going to get it for sure. I just felt that we were a little bit behind. Not much, just a little bit. That was the difference in winning and not winning.”

HOW MUCH DOES THAT BUILD YOUR CONFIDENCE, HOWEVER, IN THE TEAM AND WHERE YOU GUYS ARE HEADING AND WHAT’S HAPPENING WITH THIS NEXT GEN CAR AS FAR AS PARODY?

“Definitely a lot. I mean every time you get the opportunity to have a shot at winning, you get more confident. You get hungrier and that happens not just for me as a driver, but for the entire team. My engineers, my crew chief, my pit crew on Monday night I got to meet with most of them and they were ready to race again on Tuesday. We are very excited. I have an amazing team. All of them, they want to win, be competitive. And when you know that you can, you just show up to the racetrack even more excited. I’m very fortunate to be in this position. I think that we’re going to be able to do some fun things this year.”

DO YOU FEEL THE NEXT GEN, WE’VE HAD 19 DIFFERENT TOP-10 FINISHERS IN THE FIRST TWO RACES? DO YOU THINK THAT IT IS INDEED BROUGHT THE PARODY THAT YOU GUYS DO HAVE A LITTLE BIT MORE OF A CHANCE, A TEAM LIKE TRACKHOUSE TO BE THE GIBBS AND THE HENDRICKS, BEAT THE PENSKES?

“Without a doubt. I think what NASCAR did with this Next Gen car is something that, on my opinion, we’re already seeing the results. We are going to look back in a few years from now, five years from now and we are going to be very, very thankful we did this thing called Next Gen car. It just brought opportunity for new players in the game. I don’t think that if it wasn’t for the Next Gen car, I don’t think that Trackhouse would be here, I don’t think 23XI would be here. I’m sure that there’s more team owners that are maybe thinking about it now that there is a Next Gen car. So yeah, answering that question I think that the competition and the way that we are competing with the Nex Gen car is way more (inaudible) than before.”

HAVE YOU KIND OF REPLAYED THE FINISH OF THAT RACE LAST WEEK IN YOUR MIND, ESPECIALLY THE LANE CHOICE THERE AT THE END? THERE’S BEEN SOME CHATTER ON CHOOSING THE INSIDE.

“Yeah, I mean only like 137 times. That’s exactly what I meant with having a little bit more reps running up front. I run in the top-10 for a good amount of the race and then we had the (inaudible) issues going to the back and then we came back to the front. I never had clean air, so I didn’t know what that felt. In the first half of the race I knew that with new tires people were running the bottom for a few laps and I thought that was going to be the case by the end of the race. And after watching the race, that wasn’t the case. I was able to almost make a pass for the lead corner one and two on the bottom. Normally three and four is even stronger in the bottom than one and two. That was a decision that I made and that is a decision I am going to live the rest of my life with. Unfortunately it didn’t work out . if I can do everything again, I would have done things a little bit different. I still think that the five car was quite a bit stronger than me, so I don’t know if I was going to be able to hold him off but probably I was going to have a higher chance. But like I said just having reps up front. It was my first time with clean air the entire day. It’s easy to say now but I think that’s going to be one of the first opportunities that we’re going to be running up front and hopefully I can have a little bit more experience next time running up front so I can take advantage of the opportunity.”

AND THE WIND TODAY, HOW MUCH OF A FACTOR IS IT GOING TO BE AND WITH IT NOT BEING WINDY TOMORROW DO YOU JUST KIND OF HAVE TO LIVE WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT CAUSE YOU’VE GOT TO BE SET UP FOR TOMORROW?

“You know every time that we talk about track conditions, windy not windy, I always try to think that it’s exactly the same for everyone. Everyone is playing with the same rules. Today, yeah, it’s going to be challenging, but also the fact that Next Gen car has never been here in Las Vegas as far as I know is going to be a challenge by itself. So, we have a lot of work to do. We only have 35-minutes of practice, so we are going to try to learn as much as we can. Be smart about it, make a plan. Go to qualifying try to put the 99 Chevy Camaro as close to the front as possible, hopefully the pole. That would be nice and go play tomorrow.”

DANIEL, WHAT’S IT FEEL LIKE TO RUN UP FRONT AGAIN AFTER SO LONG?

“It feels great. I was talking to Julie about this not too long ago that how life is a roller coaster sometimes. I was part of really, really good teams in the past. I always felt like there was something missing. Not just with myself, but there was something missing and for some reason I don’t know if it was my experience or voice or whatever that may be that changes were not happening. Then 2020 was probably one of the most difficult years of my life and career. Then I slowly started to go where I wanted to go. You know with Trackhouse Racing being competitive again. It definitely feels good. It feels very good especially having he experience that I have in 2020. That was very, very tough. I felt that not every driver out there has an opportunity like the one I have right now. It’s fairly simple to get to a good team, with a good name team, but it’s difficult to build a good team around you. Good everything. Good crew chiefs, engineers, pit crew, mechanics, that’s a difficult part. Unfortunately, it took me a while to figure out. I have had to learn pretty much every step of my career by myself. In a way, it’s been the hard way. But it’s been a process and I think that I am so fortunate and so blessed to have the team that I have right now. It’s pretty amazing to have a team strong. A team that has confidence in you and a team that believes that we can go out there this coming weekend to have a shot at winning. That’s pretty amazing and I’m just lucky to have Trackhouse on my side to do that every weekend.”

WHEN YOU GOT TO TRACKHOUSE DID YOU FEEL THAT THING THAT WAS MISSING, DID YOU FEEL THAT IT HAD BEEN FILLED?

“It’s a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. If you ask me, do I think I had everything filled in the beginning of last year when I joined Trackhouse, the honest truth is no. Do I think that Trackhouse was going to give me the tools to find everything that I needed, yes. It’s a process. You have to be either very good or very lucky to land into a team that’s already great. Many times you have to build it. Many times it can take you your entire career to find that or sometimes it is already like that. In my case, it has been a process to find that and learning and knowing what I need, what I don’t need. Having a lot of confidence in my crew chief, Travis Mack has been a huge step. He has done a tremendous job building the 99 team that we have today, and you know I honestly think that the team that I have right now is probably the best team I ever had in Cup. I’m talking about everything. Engineers, crew chiefs, pit crew, like complete team. It’s pretty amazing and I am very, very proud to be in the level I am right now with experience and with all the experiences with this team right now. I’m just trying to enjoy the moment as much as I can.”

I SAW A QUOTE YOU SAID “I CAN TELL YOU THAT I’M GOING TO WORK VERY, VERY HARD TO GET TO VICTORY LANE VERY, VERY SOON. WHAT IS WORKING HARD MEAN? WHAT DOES THAT MEAN TO YOU?

“It’s a combination of many things you know. If you were asking me that question two years ago, I was going to tell you go work out, work physically and trying to watch some film as many hours as possible. But right now, I have learned and realized that it goes just way more than that. Trying to work with your team and trying to realize what we could have done different and better. I look back in California and we left a lot on the table. I did, the car did a little bit. We had a good car, but I believe that we are going to have such a better car this weekend and probably everyone is going to say that, but to our plan and the way that we are growing as a team I feel like we just keep getting better. Learning as we go and learning is a process and I understand that but I think that you know working hard and smart is going to be very important. Doing that with a team like the one I have is going to be important and really fun at the same time.”

IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU ARE WORKING ON COMMUNICATION. REALATIONSHIP BUILDING.

“Yes and no. It’s a process. I have work already for a year with Travis Mack my crew chief, my main engineer Jose Blasco-Figueroa. I have been working with him for a couple years, I have known him for 15 years. Dustin, one of my other engineers is super smart. One of the smartest guys I know. It’s just the (inaudible) working together. Maybe yeah you can call it communication, but it’s a little bit of working together with the new car. Everyone is going to get better. There’s no question about it. Everyone is going to keep getting better as we go. The difference is going to be who can clean up all the little things a little bit better and I just think that we are in the good side of things. Working towards our goal, being competitive and win races.”

About Chevrolet
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Ford Performance NASCAR: Joey Logano Las Vegas Media Availability

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Pennzoil 400 Advance | Saturday, March 5, 2022

Joey Logano, driver of the No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang, has won the Pennzoil 400 twice (2019-2020) at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and comes into this weekend’s race second in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings – only five points behind Team Penske teammate Austin Cindric for the overall lead. Logano stopped by the infield media center before today’s practice and qualifying session to answer questions from the media.

JOEY LOGANO, No. 22 Pennzoil Ford Mustang – WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE NEXT GEN CAR AFTER TWO RACES? “I thought it’s gone pretty smooth so far. There’s gonna be learning curves. I think that’s something we all expected. There’s gonna be issues we’re gonna have to work through as an industry because some of it just you don’t know what you don’t know until you get out there. There’s probably gonna be more things that come up as we keep racing at different racetracks. We’ve gone to the smallest track you can possibly go to and almost the biggest one, and now a mile-and-a-half and also Fontana has a bumpy, worn-out surface. So, we’re going to different types of racetracks that we’re gonna keep finding out new things about the car that could be better. That’s just part of having a brand new car, an underdeveloped car because we’re just getting after it. We’re just starting to figure this thing out and we don’t have much time to figure things out while we have a whopping 30 minutes today (laughing). We don’t really have much time or really the ability to change a lot on the race car on the race weekend, so it keeps it interesting, but I think some of the obvious things that have been out in the news of things that can be better have been addressed or trying to find ways to fix them. As long as we can keep doing those things, I think we’ll work the bugs out soon.”

THE FLAT TIRE SITUATION IS ONE OF THOSE THAT NEEDS TO BE WORKED ON. DID YOU SEE THAT AS A POTENTIAL PROBLEM COMING AND DO YOU SEE A SOLUTION TO THE PROBLEM? “Yes, we saw it coming. We saw it at tests when those cars have flat tires. What’s the solution? I don’t know. My solution is make a AAA truck that can go out there and change your tires for you, instead of towing the thing in and scraping the underbody off. That’s still my crutch fix is just go out there and at least put some kind tire on, put a donut tire on so you can get back to pit road and have your pit crew put your set back on so you can go. Obviously, I got the bad end of that stick at Daytona with a car that wasn’t even crashed and I was stuck three laps down, so that one is probably the number one thing we need to find a fix for, and I don’t think it’s that simple of a fix. Obviously it’s not because we would have fixed it by now, but in the meantime we need to look for crutches, in my opinion, since you asked for it – find something to at least get us by until we can come up with a reasonable fix that works for everybody. To me, that’s just how can we get the cars back without more damage and without losing time.”

DO YOU REALLY FEEL LIKE A SOLUTION COULD BE JUST POPPING SOMETHING ON REAL QUICK SO YOU LOSE ONLY ONE LAP OR TWO INSTEAD OF THREE? “Absolutely, yeah. If you had a crew that was ready for it that can go out there and have a gun or a set of tires essentially and be able to change them quickly and go, maybe I would have only lost one lap at Daytona instead of three and not got the back bumper knocked off by a tow truck that couldn’t even push it through the grass. I mean, that’s how stuck they are. When the tow truck is spinning his tires, that’s back. We either need four-wheel drive on the tow truck or we need to figure out how to change the tires and get back quicker. That’s my opinion. Everyone’s got one. I’m sure mine doesn’t matter a whole bunch, but that’s at least my one thing that I think might can help.”

DO YOU FEAR WITH A NEW CAR THAT MAYBE SOME OF YOUR ADVANTAGE IS GONE? WHAT IS YOUR COMFORT LEVEL COMING BACK HERE? “I think no one has an advantage anymore. Nobody knows to a lot of these points we were just talking about and having a lack of practice. Nobody really knows if they’re gonna be good or not. I think it’s funny when I get that question. How are you gonna run this weekend? No clue. I used to have an idea, to your point, as we go to Vegas. ‘Yeah, that’s one of my best tracks. I should be really good.’ I’ve got new clue how we’re gonna run. The good thing is though that it’s still a race car. It’s still got four tires. It still goes fast. It’s still Vegas and a lot of the things I’ve done in the past are probably gonna work with this car as a driver, but with setup and all that’s gonna be completely different. How you race was way different in Fontana last week. I had to unlearn a lot of things last week, especially on restarts because this car can do things that our old car just could not do, so it’s been interesting and a lot of fun, but it’s hard to say if you’re gonna be any good or not anymore.”

DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM FONTANA THAT WILL HELP HERE IN TERMS OF THE BUMPS? “Here, there aren’t as many bumps, but the one set of bumps there is is really big and bigger than what Auto Club was last week. We’ve learned some things. I don’t think we have it figured out and, like I said, this is a different type of bump than what we had last week, so it’s a compromise of how good do you want to be the rest of the track and pay a penalty over the bump or vice versa. It’s tricky to know what that answer is because we haven’t raced with it here yet, so I’m not sure I know exactly where we want to be yet and we’re not sure we know how to fix it in the most efficient way.”

CAN THE LINE BE CHANGED THERE? “Yeah, you can go around it, but you’ve got to go race, too. On restarts, if you go into the corner two or three-wide, sometimes you’re forced to go in the lane you may not want to be and that might be directly right over the bump, so you have to be ready for it and with these cars and watching last week, they swap ends pretty quickly and that bump can cause that probably pretty easily.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON PRACTICE TIME? “As long as its the same for everyone I’m OK with it. Part of me was like, ‘Man, I wish we had more practice.’ But the other part is does it really make the race any better if we had more practice? That’s the question we’ve got to ask. Selfishly, as a racer you want to keep working on your car and doing things, but everyone else is getting it, does it really matter? If you look at the race last week, and really the races the last couple of years since COVID with no practice, the racing I’d argue might be better without practice. It makes it very challenging and the prep side big and even harder this year because, to the point earlier, we have a refined car that we’re not sure how to go fast with yet, but it’s still the same for everyone. Everyone has the same opportunity, so I say run it. The heck with practice.”

TALLADEGA IS JUST QUALIFYING WITH NO PRACTICE. ARE THERE OTHER RACES THAT COULD ADOPT THAT SAME SCHEDULE? “Maybe, eventually. I think it’s good to go out there for some kind of laps. Like what we’re doing isn’t that bad and it’s all really condensed. It’s tough because you don’t get a night to think on your car and come up with some adjustments you want to do for the next day. It’s like, ‘OK, here’s our 10 minutes before we’ve got to be in line. What do you want to do with it?’ And all you have are sway bar arms and air-pressure and height and wedge and toe. OK, we’re not making that big of a change. We really don’t have that big of a decision to make. We’re not trying to come up with big setup changes as far as the whole package. Obviously, you’re married to the springs you’ve got when you start, so you’re just kind of doing little things from there.”