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Tony Stewart claims first-ever SRX win at Knoxville

By
Briar Starr
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For the first time in his driving career, Tony Stewart brought home the checkered flag Saturday night at Knoxville Speedway after drawing pole position. The Indiana native had to fend off battles from Hailie Deegan, Michael Waltrip, and Ernie Francis Jr. to earn his first win at Knoxville.

“It’s the first time I’ve ever been in victory lane at Knoxville as a driver, are you kidding me?” Stewart said to CBS Sports. “This is where I watched Donny Schatz and Steve Kinser, the greatest of the greats in Sprint Car racing. I’ve never seen one coming backwards like this, but this is a place I always wanted to be for sure. So this is pretty cool.”

After making some rule changes earlier in the week, SRX Racing Series officials reduced the main feature from 75 laps to 50 laps and cut the heat races from 15 minutes to 12 minutes.

Stewart grabbed the checkers early on winning the first heat race but the field was inverted for the second heat race. In the second heat race, dirt late model racer stand out, Scott Bloomquist, scored the victory with Eddie Francis Jr., Michael Waltrip, Tony Stewart and Hailie Deegan rounding out the top five.

After the two heat races were completed, next up was the 50-lap main feature. Stewart was on the pole based on a random draw.

Four cautions occurred early in the main event due to multiple incidents. The first yellow was for debris with 46 to go and then the next two yellows were brought out by the “Local All-Star” Brian Brown. Brown caused two yellows as his machine spun around twice. During the first incident, he spun by himself while the second spin was caused by contact with Willy T. Ribbs.

The final yellow of the night flew with Ribbs spinning on the backstretch and bouncing off of Helio Castroneves.

Following the yellow, Scott Bloomquist was poised to pull away from the field with his dirt experience. Unfortunately, he slid up the track and lost several positions, ultimately falling back to eighth. It was during that moment that Stewart took the lead.

Shortly thereafter, Waltrip led with 39 laps to go and held on to the lead for 10 laps before Stewart resumed the top position with 29 to go. As Stewart was setting the pace, the field was slowed once again for a caution with 18 to go as Bloomquist was spun in Turn 4 by Castroneves.

Despite the late-race yellow and multiple challenges from Waltrip and Deegan, Stewart held on to win his first-ever Knoxville dirt race and his first SRX victory. Hailie Deegan, Ernie Francis Jr., Helio Castroneves and Michael Waltrip rounded out the top five.

Deegan, who competed in her first SRX race, came home second to Stewart as she replaced Tony Kanaan in what was called “The Replacement” car.

“My goal coming into this race was to prove to everyone that I deserved to be here. I feel like we did that tonight, running second to Tony Stewart, that’s a huge accomplishment for me,” said Deegan, a three-time winner in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West – one of which came on dirt Feb. 28, 2019 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Dirt Track. “I feel like we just ran a clean race, we just wrapped the bottom, stayed consistent, ran my line and finished second.”

Meanwhile, Ernie Francis Jr, a winner in the Trans-Am Series rounded out the podium finish with a third.

“Not too bad for my second-ever dirt race,” Francis said. “We were just kind of riding around there trying to save the tires as much as I could. The car wasn’t as good in the feature as it was in the heat races, so I was just trying to keep the back end underneath me and just try to save it as much as I could, try to keep my position and I really had an awesome battle with Hailie out there. I was trying to get to the back of Tony’s bumper to try and get by him, but you can’t be happier than this. It was an awesome race. The car’s a little beat up, but I can’t wait to get to the next one.”

Next week, five-time USAC Silver Crown Series Champion Kody Swanson and former NASCAR driver Scott Speed will join the field.

Official Results following the Camping World SRX Series at Knoxville Raceway.

  1. Tony Stewart
  2. Hailie Deegan
  3. Ernie Francis Jr
  4. Helio Castroneves
  5. Michael Waltrip
  6. Bobby Labonte
  7. Marco Andretti
  8. Brian Brown
  9. Scott Bloomquist
  10. Willy T. Ribbs
  11. Bill Elliott, 11 laps down
  12. Paul Tracy, OUT, Crash

Up Next: The Camping World SRX Racing Series continues its summer stretch by heading to Eldora Speedway next Saturday night. It will be broadcast live on CBS.

Kyle Busch captures 100th Xfinity Series win at Nashville

By
Angie Campbell
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Kyle Busch scores his 100th NASCAR Xfinity Series victory at Nashville Superspeedway. Photo by Don Dunn for SpeedwayMedia.com.

Kyle Busch scored his 100th NASCAR Xfinity Series victory Saturday at Nashville Superspeedway holding on through three late-race restarts to bring his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 54 Toyota to victory lane.

It was a repeat of last week’s race at Texas Motor Speedway as Busch had to fend off JR Motorsports driver, Justin Allgaier, who finished behind Busch for the second week in a row.

Busch has more than doubled Mark Martin’s 49 wins for the most all-time victories in the series.

“I remember growing up as a kid and watching Mark Martin win every week, in that 60 car, just the domination he had. And he‘s No. 2 with 49 wins. It’s just been phenomenal years to have (and) be associated with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota.

“It was way racier than I remember Nashville being,” Busch continued. “At the end, I knew if we could clear those guys and I could hit my marks I could pull away.”

He also had a message for his fans and critics, saying, “Wanted to give a huge shout out to Rowdy Nation out there, we appreciate you, Rowdy Nation. I saw a lot of you standing up when Allgaier took the lead then a lot of you sat back down when I took the lead. So, an awesome day for Rowdy Nation.”

It was, understandably, a frustrating experience for Allgaier.

“Running second sucks, I’m not going to lie to you,” he said. “When we took the lead from Kyle I thought we were good, we were able to drive away. But then all those restarts at the end, he just held me down really hard in the middle of (Turns) 3 and 4 and we got loose and I think that was the difference-maker. After that, we just didn’t have the speed after that.

“Again, just proud of my guys – to bring two fast race cars two weeks in a row to have a shot at it and have it come down to late in the races is a big deal. We’ll keep digging.”

Harrison Burton finished third followed by Josh Berry in fourth and AJ Allmendinger rebounded from a pit penalty to finish fifth. Brandon Jones, Jeb Burton, Noah Gragson, Austin Hill and Riley Herbst rounded out the top 10.

Cindric continues to lead the championship points standings and has a 90-point advantage over second place, Allmendinger. Jeremy Clements is in the final spot, 48 points ahead of Brandon Brown. There are 11 regular-season races remaining before the Playoffs begin.

The Xfinity Series heads to Pocono Raceway on June 27 and will be broadcast on NBCSN, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

Toyota Racing – NXS Nashville Post-Race Report – 06.19.21

By
Official Release
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KYLE BUSCH SCORES 100th XFINITY SERIES WIN
Busch drives to the victory in NASCAR’s return to Nashville

NASHVILLE (June 19, 2021) – Kyle Busch scored his 100th NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Nashville Superspeedway on Saturday afternoon. Busch has won all three of his Xfinity Series starts this season and the No. 54 has scored five victories this season with Busch earning three and rookie Ty Gibbs scoring two wins.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Nashville Superspeedway
Race 15 of 33 – 250.04 miles, 188 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, Justin Allgaier*
3rd, HARRISON BURTON
4th, Josh Berry*
5th, AJ Allmendinger
6th, BRANDON JONES
9th, AUSTIN HILL
13th, DANIEL HEMRIC
14th, WILL RODGERS
24th, DAVID STARR
27th, JESSE LITTLE
36th, STEFAN PARSONS
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

KYLE BUSCH, No. 54 M&M’s Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 1st

You are back in victory lane in Nashville. Congratulations on the milestone.

“Thank you very much. Awesome day. Thanks to JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing), Toyota, M&M’s. Obviously, being a part of M&M’s all these years – M&M’s stayed with me and for them to be here with me for the 100th Xfinity win is awesome. I can’t say enough about Interstate Batteries, Rowdy Energy, Cessna, Xfinity, and the fans, Stanley, Rheem, everybody. Interstate Batteries again, Norm (Miller), he’s my boy. It’s so cool to get 100 here, and get done what we needed too. I didn’t want this to go on much longer. It’s all good. It’s been a true testament to all of the people I’ve worked with. This group here is really, really special and doing great things and I’m just glad to be a part of it.’

Did you ever think you would get to 100 Xfinity wins when you started?

“I don’t think you ever think of those things. I think one day you just hope that you can make it, and then when you make it, you are like okay, let’s go win some more races, and lets go win a championship. Being around for as long as I’ve been around, it’s a great opportunity in this position and to get this many wins is really, really cool. There’s a lot of great people over the years that have gotten me to this point, whether it be Hendrick Motorsports or Joe Gibbs Racing, most of it has obviously come with JGR for as long as I’ve been there. That just makes it all worth while and I wouldn’t say it has all came full circle. It would be nice to keep going, but everybody’s tired of me being here, so we hit the century mark and we will see if we can get 102. I don’t know what the plan is for next year yet.”

How was the restarts down the stretch?

“I don’t know. I knew if we could get out front and go that our car was faster and we could get away. It was just a matter of beating (Justin) Allgaier. Allgaier was really good and doing a great job on those restarts down low and getting his car to carve the corner and accelerate and getting alongside of me and then using the side draft to his advantage to get by. I slipped off the bottom one time and he got by. Definitely made me work for it. He is in the Final Four each year, so one of the best guys out here to be battling with. To have our other three JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) teammates up there most of the day. Bummer that the 18 (Daniel Hemric) got caught up in that wreck. The 20 (Harrison Burton) and 19 (Brandon Jones) did good there in the end. I’m looking forward to seeing those guys bring home some wins.”

Got a special place for this trophy?

“I’ve got the rest of the guitar trophies that I’ve earned over my career hanging over my office. This one will go right with it. It will look good.”

What a battle it was at the end of the race?

“Yeah, it was. A little bit too much, I guess. Overall, I knew that our car was really good and really fast. If we could just get clear of those guys, I could run my own line and hit my own marks, I would have the opportunity to drive away. My car was a little bit better on the longer runs. We would fire off fine, but after we got about 10 laps in, it would really just keep going, much faster than the rest of the guys. Great car. Everybody at Joe Gibbs Racing, thank you. Toyota, Mark Cronquist, everyone at the engine shop, I haven’t mentioned his name in an awful long time. He deserves it, and M&M’s of course for their participation and sponsoring us my last couple years in Xfinity racing and being able to get this 100 mark. It’s really, really special. It’s a great day for all of the teams I’ve worked for over the times. One of the crew chiefs that I had in my ’05 season and ’06 season from Hendrick Motorsports, came over and said hello. It’s really nice to have worked with all of those guys and have got to where I’m at today.”

What did you see with tire wear?

“I don’t think we had much tire wear this time around. The resin or whatever they did to the race track to get the tire to adhere and put rubber down was very helpful, very useful. It definitely did exactly what they were looking for and was able to persevere tire life. We weren’t really wearing tires out that I have seen. I think there was a guy that had a flat due to excessive brake heat with how heavy you are on the brakes here and how fast you can go down the straightaways and how tight these corners are and how much you slide through the corners. Overall, I feel like the tire was probably in my opinion a little bit on the conservative side. That’s kind of the way it always tends to be. Better to be that way than one of the uglier races we’ve had, years, years ago, blowing tires out.”

What allowed the leader to pull away from the field?

“Clean air. Dover is the same way. You look at these concrete racetracks and in my opinion the tire level to the grip level is very, very peaky, so as you are running up the grip level and the peak, it just falls down on the backside. So, when you are catching somebody, if the guy is right on that peak, there’s nothing else for you to get to be able to run faster than that guy. Dirty air plays a role. I felt like I should have been able to run Austin (Cindric) down. I was a tenth or half-a-tenth faster than him for a couple of laps and then he would get a couple of tenths faster than me and I would run him back down. It was kind of an accordion effect there of not being able to close the gap. Good cars, when they get out front, are just going to be hard to catch.”

Was the track like you remembered it?

“It really was. It was actually really racey, way racier than I remember Nashville being in the past. We used to come here, and it would always be bottom lane and if you ever got off of the bottom you were pretty much getting passed. That’s what it kind of looked like in the end, but in the beginning and the middle part of the race, you could move around and enter way high and come down to the middle or you could stay high, be wherever you want to be. Way wider than I remember it being.”

Tough Cup practice for the Toyotas. Can you get better for tomorrow and can today help tomorrow?

“I don’t know. I thought about the same thing myself. How can we correlate what we are doing on the Xfinity side and being so good and being so fast in Xfinity to being able to put that stuff in the Cup car, but it just doesn’t connect like that. It’s not that simple. Flat out, we suck. Tomorrow’s going to be a rough day.”

Do you just reflect what you have been able to accomplish in such a short time?
“Not really. It’s going to be negative of course, but if you look back on the last 10 years with all of the rule changes, hell, I thought we could make that number 150 by now, or 160, 170, whatever, but with everything that kind of went down and it’s 100 now. Technically, they probably kept me here a while longer. I would have been done a long time ago. Reflecting it, looking back on it, it’s cool absolutely. I remember the 60 car of Mark Martin would just dominate every weekend. I would wonder to myself, could anyone run with this guy? And that was 49 wins. I just can’t fathom to myself what 100 really means. It would certainly be something to look back on when it’s all said and done and I’m in my rocking chair somewhere.”

Did Brexton (Busch, son) shower you with Rowdy or water?

“That was water. That stuck gets a little sticky in the heat. It’s very hydrating though. You should try it.”

Are you going to run the Xfinity Series anymore?
“I haven’t necessarily had those discussions with Joe (Gibbs, team owner) or Pern (Dave Alpern, President), but from my understanding, there may not be anything sold for next year, so this might be it. Two more.”

Are you good with that?

“I’m good with that.”

Which are the Xfinity wins that mean the most to you?

“I don’t even know. I’ve forgot more than I did. I would say win number one was cool. Anytime you win your first one, so that was good. That was 2004 Richmond. There was a few that I missed that would have been really cool. At Charlotte in my first one, I finished second, that would have been cool. Damn, (Matt) Kenseth. Those Cup guys, they shouldn’t run Xfinity. I don’t know why they do. The 49th one, passing Mark (Martin). Mark was there, that was cool. Loudon, I believe that was my 100th NASCAR win, so that was cool. Some of the dominating ones we had. I believe we led all of the laps at IRP (Indianapolis Raceway Park). Just stuff like that and being able to have some really dominating days and the 13-wins season in ’10. I think that was ’10, that was really, really cool. Hard to pin-point more than that. The ones that were part of the Bristol sweep were really cool, getting the triple twice.”

What made you want to do the bow?

“I think the bow would have been the first race. I think I did the bow in the Lowes car in Charlotte when I won there. That would have been 2004. I did the bow that day, so it started really, really early.”

Why do you do it?

“I grew up in Las Vegas. Vegas is known for its shows and anytime a show was over, all of the performers would come out and do a bow to the crowd, so that was kind of my thing to the crowd after the show and putting on a big performance.”

Have you maintained the relationships with previous partners, and have they said anything to you about this milestone you have now achieved?

“A couple of them I have. Jim Sexton from Z-Line. He texted me and emailed me a few years ago. I hadn’t heard from him in a little bit, but Rick Dreiling from Dollar General. Him and I have remained really good friends. He’s been a huge supporter of mine over the years. I talk to him every now and then. Robert Nimlok from Lowes. He was the CEO of Lowes when I was driving the Lowes car. Him and I have remained in touch. There is definitely a few of them that I wouldn’t say I remain close to, but at least acquaintances.”

HARRISON BURTON, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 4th

How was that last restart for you?

“It was kind of chaotic and we just weren’t fast enough today. I was really confident with our car. I thought we were a third-place car and we tried to make changes and it got worse. Just challenging. I think we had a tire going down at one point and we adjusted to that and then when we adjusted to that, we were playing catch up. I’m happy with our finish today. We finished better than we ran, so whenever that happens, you can’t be to upset and just move on to the next one. I think we’ve got a good finish and good stage points. It feels good to me to get the rhythm back going and get headed towards the front again.”

On that final restart, that was wild. What was going through your mind on the backstretch?

“It was wild, right? I was happy we got to second, I’m not happy we lost it. Just a really tough day for us all day really. We struggled quite a bit. We got behind on adjustments. We had a tire going down and made a big change because I thought we were just horrible and as soon as we left pit road it was like “uh oh,” now we know why we took a big swing to the worst. Just one of those days where we fight and claw all day and got a good finish and got good stage points, I think we were fourth in both stages. Just proud of my DEX Imaging Supra team. We kept digging and working and we got a good result out of it.”

When you saw all the craziness at the end there, what did you think about those restarts as far as line choice? How did you make that choice? It looked like it was almost equal between the two lines.

“It really was and a lot of times it just depended on what lane your car was better in, right? We were pretty decent on the bottom. We got at the end of the race where we were probably a third-place car, a second or third-place car, and we got it at the end of the day where we put ourselves in position and that’s all you can ask for. It was a lot of fun and happy with the result.”

It looked a little dicey out there. What was it like from the driver seat?

“Dicey. It was a good race and fun to be a part of. Gosh, frustrated. We had a really fast car in our DEX Imaging Supra was phenomenal in practice and I felt pretty confident we were going to be the car to beat Kyle (Busch) today and made some changes early in the race that helped us, and we were going in the right direction and then we had a tire going down and made a big change. We fell to eighth during that long green-flag run and I think we just had a slow leak there, so we made a change to that. We’re wrecking lose all the time and then come on pit road and make a big change, need some more speed and you leave, and you know you’re about to be really tight because it swings the other way. We weren’t as bad as I thought we were going to be making a change in the wrong direction like that. Just not quite the potential of the car. Frustrated, but happy because we finished third and got good stage points. We really finished better than we ran. Whenever those days come around, you can’t be to upset. Need to find a way to break into that first and second spot more often.”

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Menards/Delta Faucets Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Finishing Position: 6th

Talk about your sixth-place finish today and the ending of the race.

“I feel like all day we had a Supra that could compete, possibly for a win, I don’t know, it was a little up in the air for a bit. My restarts were not my strong suit today. My long run speed was where we were so dominate. I started coming through the field real nice and made some really good passes, so I’ve got great notes for when I come back here to pass, just have to figure out how to, not sure aggressive is the right word for it, but how to just fire the car off in the corner a little harder on the restarts just to maintain track position. I think there are some things that can definitely help us, I just need to get to the shop and look at it better, but all and all, this was a phenomenal day. Never even seen this track before, so to come here and legitimately be able to run top three all weekend has been pretty fun for us, so looking forward to the next couple of races.

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 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota has created a tremendous value chain and directly employs more than 47,000 in North America. The company has contributed world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama that begins production in 2021.

Through its 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.

Kyle Busch earns 100th NASCAR Xfinity Series win in “Tennessee Lottery 250”

By
Official Release
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LEBANON, TENN. (June 19, 2021) – In an already historic weekend of racing, Kyle Busch added another layer to Nashville Superspeedway’s lore and to his growing legend within motorsports.

Busch won his 100th career NASCAR Xfinity Series race Saturday, taking the “Tennessee Lottery 250” at the 1.33-mile concrete track.

It is Busch’s second career Xfinity Series victory at Nashville and fifth overall at the track, along with two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series wins and one ARCA Menards Series triumph.

Busch, driving the No. 54 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing, survived a series of restarts in the race’s final stretch and finally powered past Justin Allgaier in a green-white-checkered overtime finish.

Busch is 51 wins ahead of second-place Mark Martin (49 victories) on the Xfinity Series’ all-time victory list.

“I remember growing up as a kid and watching Mark Martin win every week,” said Busch, who led 122 of the race’s 189 laps. “It’s just been phenomenal years to have be associated with Joe Gibbs Racing and Toyota.”

Allgaier, who led 11 laps in the race’s final stage, held on for second, 1.110 seconds behind Busch at the finish line. Harrison Burton finished third, Hendersonville, Tenn., native Josh Berry was fourth and A.J. Allmendinger placed fifth.

Allgaier looked to play spoiler to Busch’s party several times in the race’s final stretch, as multiple restarts had Busch and Allgaier battling at the front of the field and even exchanging a bump or two.

“I felt like we put ourselves in a good position,” Allgaier said. “Unfortunately, I didn’t get the push I needed to [at the end].”

Busch completed the slightly extra distance of 251.37 miles in 2 hours, 20 minutes, 48 seconds, averaging 107.118 mph. Eight caution flags took up 46 of the race’s 189 laps.

“It was way racier than I remember Nashville being,” Busch said. “At the end, I knew if we could clear those guys and I could hit my marks I could pull away.”

Xfinity Series points leader Austin Cindric won the first stage and led 53 laps overall but ended up 32nd after a multi-car crash along the frontstretch.

“I thought I was clear and got checked into the grass and a pretty hard hit,” Cindric said. “Winning the first stage was great. Just not our day.”

Among other notables, Noah Gragson placed eighth, NASCAR Cup Series regular Tyler Reddick finished 15th, and Natalie Decker finished 26th.

Nashville Superspeedway’s NASCAR tripleheader weekend concludes on Sunday with the inaugural, sold out “Ally 400” NASCAR Cup Series race (2:30 p.m., NBCSN).

About Dover Motorsports, Inc.

Dover Motorsports, Inc. (NYSE: DVD) is a promoter of NASCAR sanctioned motorsports events whose subsidiaries own and operate Dover International Speedway in Dover, Del., and Nashville Superspeedway in Lebanon, Tenn. The company also plays host to the Firefly Music Festival, produced by AEG Presents. For more information, visit www.DoverMotorsports.com.

RCR Post Race Report – Tennessee Lottery 250

By
Official Release
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Myatt Snider and the Crosley Furniture Chevrolet Team Showcase Never-Give-Up Attitude at Nashville Superspeedway

Finish: 31st
Start: 8th
Points: 14th

“My Richard Childress Racing team continues to bring strong Chevrolets to the track each and every week, but we have a monkey on our back right now. Our bad luck has to end at some point. Our Crosley Furniture Camaro had so much speed throughout practice, qualifying and the early stages of the race. We definitely had a top-10 car, without question. Unfortunately, our car lost power under the caution during the first stage break. I tried resetting everything inside the car, we changed the battery on pit road and it still didn’t fix the issue. We had to take our No. 2 machine to the garage and all the guys at ECR Engines and RCR worked hard to get us back out there. The cautions didn’t fall our way once we returned, but Andy Street took the opportunity to try some things to help us in future weeks. I wouldn’t want to battle with any other group of guys and sooner or later our finishes will show the results we deserve.” -Myatt Snider

Ford Performance NASCAR: Herbst Posts Top 10 Finish at Nashville

By
Official Release
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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR XFINITY Series — Tennessee Lottery 250
Nashville Superspeedway | Saturday, June 19, 2021

Ford Finishing Results:
10th — Riley Herbst
16th — Ryan Sieg
32nd — Austin Cindric

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 Car Shop Ford Mustang — “I wish we would have been able to regain our track position there a little bit better. That’s probably the only thing we could have done to avoid getting wrecked there. I drove all the way down to the grass and got right-reared and went head-on into the wall. It’s unfortunate for our Car Shop Ford Mustang. We obviously had some speed early and were kind of trying to recover. We got out of the groove there for a while and thought we were making some gains. We learned a lot today, but it’s a shame. Every time we get up to a 100-point points lead, we end up getting wrecked. It’s frustrating, but that’s racing. There’s nothing you can do.”

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang — “It was a long day. We came from the back twice. I felt like we had a pretty decent long run race car, it’s just that we couldn’t get the long run at the end and cycled too tight at the last restart. It’s cool to get a 10th-place and some good points for the playoffs. We’ll head to Pocono.”

ANYTHING YOU CAN POINT TO FOR THE SPEEDING PENALTIES TODAY? “I don’t know. I guess you try to be perfect and when you try to be perfect you can step over the line a little bit.”

RYAN SIEG, No. 39 CMR Construction and Roofing/A-Game Ford Mustang — YOU WERE BATTLING FOR A TOP-10 FINISH AND THEN A LOT HAPPENED THE LAST 20 LAPS TO TAKE THAT AWAY. WHAT HAPPENED? “The 9 just got down on our door and we were just a little too free, but that’s how we had to race to be good at the end. We just drove it in a little hard and got washed up and you know he’s gonna ride my door. I tried to stay off of him, but, all in all, it was a good day. We just didn’t get the result that we deserved. We’ve made gains the past four or five weeks on the car. It drove really good all day, so we’ve been fine-tuning our setups and getting some positives.”

CHEVROLET NTT INDYCAR SERIES-ROAD AMERICA JOSEF NEWGARDEN PUTS CHEVY ON POLE AT ROAD AMERICA

By
Official Release
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CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
REV GROUP GRAND PRIX ROAD AMERICA
ELKHART LAKE, WISCONSIN
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING RECAP
JUNE 19, 2021

JOSEF NEWGARDEN, NO. 2 HITACHI TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET WINS SECOND CONSECUTIVE NTT P1 AWARD, THIRD AT ROAD AMERICA, 13TH OF CAREER
TEAM PENSKE TEAMMATES WILL POWER AND SIMON PAGENAUD ALSO ADVANCE TO FIRESTONE FAST SIX; WILL START 4TH AND 6TH RESPECTIVELY

ELKART LAKE, WISCONSIN (JUNE 19,2021) Josef Newgarden captured his second consecutive NTT P1 of the season, but determined to turn this one into a W. After leading the majority of Race Two on the Streets of Belle Isle, two-time NTT INDAYCAR Series champion fought for the win, but couldn’t hang on and had to settle for the runner-up finishing position behind the wheel of his familiar No. 2 Hitachi Chevrolet.

“We knew this morning this was what we were going to do,” Newgarden said. “I didn’t know where everyone else was at, but this was my plan in the morning. Everybody was on board with it. Just happy to see it work out. I’m a little surprised more didn’t do that. You need to mix it up. It was going to be hard to make used tires work.”

Joining Newgarden in the Firestone Fast Six were Team Penske teammates Will Power and Simon Pagenaud. After a virtual chess match through out the session, Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Chevrolet, secured the fourth starting position, and Pagenaud will roll off his No. 22 Menards Chevrolet in sixth.
The most recent winner on the NTT INDYCAR Series circuit, Pato O’Ward. No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, will have to start from 10th on the grid after wrestling with balance during Round 1 and Round 2.

Oliver Askew, subbing for Rinus VeeKay in the No. 21 Direct Supply Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet after VeeKay injured his collarbone in a bicycle training accident, turned in a very respectable 16th place qualifying effort for tomorrow’s race.

Kevin Magnussen, also a super-sub in the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet for Felix Rosenqvist as he works to be cleared to drive following a hard hit in Detroit Race No. 1, got a total of 18 laps, his first in an INDY car, before qualifying. His learn-as-you-go program netted him the 21st starting position and valuable experience on how to improve his career-first drive in the AMSP Chevrolet.

NBCSN will telecast the REV Group Grand Prix live at noon ET Sunday, June 20. The 55-lap/220.5-mile race will also be broadcast live on INDYCAR Radio Network affiliates, Sirius 211, XM 205, Indycar.com, and on the INDYCAR Mobile app powered by NTT DATA.

Other Team Chevy Drivers qualified for Road America as follows:
Will Power, No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet – 4th
Simon Pagenaud, No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet – 6th
Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet, 10th
Sebastien Bourdais, No.14 ROKIT AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet – 11th
Conor Daly, No. 20 US Army Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet – 15th
Oliver Askew, No. 21 Direct Supply Ed Carpenter Racing – 16th
Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet – 17th
Kevin Magnussen, No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet – 21st
Max Chilton, No. 59 Gallagher Carlin Chevrolet – 22nd
Dalton Kellet, No. 4 K-Line AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet – 24th

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.

Deft Tire Choice Helps Newgarden Win NTT P1 Award at Road America

By
Official Release
-

ELKHART LAKE, Wis. (Saturday, June 19, 2021) – Josef Newgarden’s cagey tire strategy paid off Saturday with the NTT P1 Award for the REV Group Grand Prix presented by AMR at Road America.

Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden was the only driver in the Firestone Fast Six who elected to use new Firestone primary “black” tires for the entire final round of qualifying instead of used primary tires or the grippier, but less durable Firestone alternate “red” tires. That paid off with a best lap of 1 minute, 46.0186 seconds in the No. 2 Hitachi Team Penske Chevrolet on the 14-turn, 4.014-mile course.

It was the second pole of the season and second straight for Newgarden, who finished second in Race 2 of the Chevrolet Dual in Detroit last Sunday after winning the NTT P1 Award. Newgarden, from Nashville, Tennessee, earned his 13th career NTT INDYCAR SERIES pole after leading the morning practice and learning an important lesson for the three-round qualifying session.

“We knew this morning this was what we were going to do,” Newgarden said. “I didn’t know where everyone else was at, but this was my plan in the morning. Everybody was on board with it. Just happy to see it work out. I’m a little surprised more didn’t do that. You need to mix it up. It was going to be hard to make used tires work.”

Colton Herta will join Newgarden on the front row in the 55-lap race Sunday after qualifying second at 1:46.2616 in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda.

Live coverage of the race starts at noon (ET) Sunday on NBCSN and the INDYCAR Radio Network. It’s the ninth of 16 races this season in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES.

Jack Harvey will start third after a best lap of 1:46.7206 in the No. 60 AutoNation/Sirius XM Honda. 2014 series champion Will Power will join Harvey on the second row after qualifying fourth at 1:46.8237 in the No. 12 Verizon 5G Team Penske Chevrolet.

Alex Palou, just one point behind championship leader Pato O’Ward, will start fifth after a best lap of 1:46.8633 in the No. 10 NTT DATA Honda. Simon Pagenaud was one of three Team Penske drivers in the Firestone Fast Six and will start sixth at 1:47.1274 in the No. 22 Menards Team Penske Chevrolet.

O’Ward will need to charge from almost midway through the field if he wants to earn his third victory this season in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. O’Ward was eliminated after the second round of qualifying and will start 10th after a best lap of 1.46.1069.

“We just haven’t found the right balance since practice one,” O’Ward said. “We were OK with the cooler temperatures this morning, but any time it gets a little bit warmer, we’re not in the window.”

Another title contender, six-time and reigning series champion Scott Dixon, will need to work even harder than O’Ward to race to the front Sunday. Dixon will start 13th in the No. 9 PNC Bank Grow Up Great Honda after he was eliminated in the first round of qualifying. Dixon is third in the championship, 36 points behind O’Ward.

Dixon lost about 15 minutes of track time in the morning practice due to repairs of his chassis undertray in the pits after he ran over debris in the fast, sweeping Carousel corner.

“It’s frustrating with how compact these weekends are, and if you lose any kind of sequence of it, the roll-on effect is pretty big,” Dixon said. “It is what it is; you can’t do anything about it. It was something on the track, something I couldn’t avoid in a corner that I couldn’t really avoid.”

Josef Newgarden secures Road America IndyCar pole

By
Briar Starr
-
Photo Courtesy of James Black

Hoping to rebound from a disappointing runner-up finish last week at Belle Isle, Team Penske’s Josef Newgarden scored the pole for the second time in the 2021 NTT IndyCar Series season. Newgarden laid down a lap of 1:46.0186 to win his 13th career pole.

“I’m surprised more (drivers) didn’t come with us,” Newgarden said.

“All weekend, we have been talking about how aggressively the tires have been falling off. To me, it was the right decision). We stuck to our plan, our car was fast. Team Chevy has done a good job like always all year and we just need to keep our speed for tomorrow.”

Newgarden was part of the second group in qualifying and was the fastest among that group, which helped him advance to the Top 12. His No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet’s speed was enough to move into the fast six along with Jack Harvey, Colton Herta, Simon Pagenaud, Alex Palou and Will Power.

As the checkered flag flew for the session, the top spot changed a couple of times, but the pole position ultimately went to Newgarden. Herta placed second, with Harvey third, Power fourth, Palou fifth and Pagenaud rounding out the fast six.

Harvey qualified third for the second time this year and for the first time since the Indianapolis Grand Prix. However, he is looking to turn around his results with finishes of 19th and 16th at the two Belle Isle races and 18th place in the Indy 500.

“Practice one and two, we left a bunch on the table,” Harvey said. “I thought if we did a really good job (in qualifying), we could transfer to the fast six. A solid P3 here is pretty awesome. Maybe we could have done a few things better in the fast six to get a little bit closer to Josef (Newgarden), but I’m really happy to qualify third. Everybody at Meyer Shank Racing has worked really hard. We’ve had some unfortunate results, but I think the mental discipline the team has is what’s keeping us going.”

Right behind Harvey is Will Power who qualified fourth after setting a time of 1:46.8237. He is also looking for better results on Sunday as the Aussie only has one podium this year and could have won one in the Saturday Belle Isle race had it not been for an ECU failure.

“Really happy to get up there in the top six,” Power told IndyCar radio. “I probably should have used those black (tires) for the final round instead of the second round. I didn’t believe the red (tires) would drop that much, but they did. Still P4, you can do something from there.”

Official Starting Line Up for Sunday’s REV Group Grand Prix at Road America.

  1. Josef Newgarden
  2. Colton Herta
  3. Jack Harvey
  4. Will Power
  5. Alex Palou
  6. Simon Pagenaud
  7. Romain Grosjean
  8. Ryan Hunter-Reay
  9. Alexander Rossi
  10. Pato O’Ward
  11. Sebastien Bourdais
  12. Ed Jones
  13. Scott Dixon
  14. Graham Rahal
  15. Conor Daly
  16. Oliver Askew
  17. Scott McLaughlin
  18. Marcus Ericsson
  19. James Hinchcliffe
  20. Takuma Sato
  21. Kevin Magnussen
  22. Max Chilton
  23. Jimmie Johnson
  24. Dalton Kellett
  25. Cody Ware

The NTT IndyCar Series will take the green flag Sunday at 12:45 p.m./ET on NBCSN. Coverage can also be heard on IndyCar radio.

CHEVY NCS AT NASHVILLE: Post-Practice Notes and Quotes

By
Official Release
-

NASCAR CUP SERIES
NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY
ALLY 400
TEAM CHEVY POST-PRACTICE NOTES & QUOTES
JUNE 19, 2021

NASCAR CUP SERIES PRACTICE AT CHARLOTTE MOTOR SPEEDWAY: TEAM CHEVY TOP-10
1st WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
2nd KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE
3rd CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
4th RICKY STENHOUSE JR., NO. 47 KROGER/NATURE VALLEY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
5th TYLER REDDICK, NO. 8 QUARTZ HILL RECORDS CAMARO ZL1 1LE
6th KURT BUSCH, NO. 1 MONSTER ENERGY CAMARO ZL1 1LE
7th ROSS CHASTAIN, NO. 42 CLOVER CAMARO ZL1 1LE
10th ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY NEON LIGHTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE

NASCAR CUP SERIES: TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 IN DRIVER STANDINGS POST-PRACTICE MEDIA AVAILABILITY HIGHLIGHTS:

WILLIAM BYRON, NO. 24 LIBERTY UNIVERSITY CAMARO ZL1 1LE – Fastest in NCS Practice
THOUGHTS AFTER PRACTICE:
“We were OK. I think, honestly, just trying to figure out the entry and exit. It’s so flat. It’s honestly similar to how Pocono was when I went there my first year in 2018. Just have to continue and progress. I think everyone is going to get better, especially with that being the first time that we had all been on the racetrack in these cars.”

WHEN DOES IT START FEELING EASIER FOR YOU AND WHEN IS IT LIKE, ‘I KNOW HOW TO MAKE THESE LAPS’?
“It felt easy for me lap one just because I was in the truck race last night. So, I had some experience around cars; had some track time. Obviously, things didn’t finish the way we wanted to with the engine issue. But I felt like we were running pretty well and learned some things there. We’re just trying to get better. I feel like the truck was just a little bit different, just because you don’t use as much brake. But you also have to get into the throttle more than the Cup car. Just having to get in the gas more in the truck was different. This thing has a lot more power and you can kind of be a little bit more patient on exit.”

YOU AND DENNY (HAMLIN), IS THAT WHAT IT’S GOING TO TAKE TO WIN TOMORROW?
“Yeah, I guess. I feel like you’re going to see a similar race to Chicago a couple of years ago with the low downforce, just because this place is low on grip. It’s hot, the rubber is really laying down, which I think has a lot to do with the resin. I personally feel like they should lay down the resin everywhere with how black as this place is right now. I feel like it’s closer to a few years ago when the track would lay rubber. The tires are sticky, the track is sticky and it’s making you have to move around a lot.”

KYLE LARSON, NO. 5 VALVOLINE CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 2nd fastest in NCS Practice
INAUDIBLE
“I don’t have much experience here in the past; still trying to figure it out. It’s really easy to overdrive your corner. The shape of it seems like a 1.5-mile track and it’s almost a 1.5-mile; but once you get to the corners, they’re pretty tight. Like I said, it’s really easy to overdrive and you have to be way more patient than you think.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON JUST HAVING A WIN STREAK LIKE THIS?
“It’s been a good streak. It’s been fun to win these last few weeks and win on the dirt track stuff, too. Still have a lot of racing left this year and hopefully we can rack up a lot more wins.”

YOU SAID ON THE RADIO THE TYPE OF CONFIDENCE YOU HAVE IS WHEN YOU STRAP INTO THE RACE CAR AND EVERY WEEKEND, YOU FEEL LIKE YOU CAN WIN. IS THAT THE FIRST TIME YOU’VE REALLY HAD THAT SENSATION IN YOUR CUP CAREER?
“No, I mean 2017 I think I felt probably the same then, too. We were up front almost every weekend in Cup and I was having a good season in sprint cars and midgets, too. I would say this year feels close to that year; probably a little bit better on the Cup side and probably a little bit better on the dirt side, as well. But I wouldn’t say this is the first time.”

THOUGHTS ON POCONO NEXT WEEKEND:
“It will be fun to do a doubleheader; get to do two Cup races in one weekend will be new for me. I like Pocono (Raceway) a lot, too. It’s a different style race track and it takes a rhythm to get around there, even though it’s such a big place. I feel like I’ve done well there in the past. It would be good to go there and get a couple wins.”

WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY?
“It’s a cool track. You go out there and, on the straightaways, you think you can just rifle it off into the corner because it seems like a 1.5-mile track. But then you get to the corners and they’re a lot shorter than normal and it’s really easy to overdrive your entry. Just getting used to the patience I think it takes to get around here is tough, but I feel like our car was pretty decent there in practice. We’ll keep inching up on it and hope to be good on Sunday.”

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE ROLL YOU’VE BEEN ON THE LAST MONTH?
“Yeah, it’s just been good. It’s fun to be competitive and I hope I can continue to run up front. Our team has been doing a great job; our pit crew has been doing awesome. We just have to keep working hard. This sport is tough, so we have to keep our heads down and keep digging.”

CHASE ELLIOTT, NO. 9 NAPA AUTO PARTS CAMARO ZL1 1LE – 3rd fastest in NCS Practice
WHAT WERE YOUR FIRST REACTIONS TO THE TRACK?
“Really similar to what I remember from testing here. I did a number of tests here back probably five or six years ago. But it’s kind of what I remember; really similar, standard concrete racetrack for the most part.”

INAUDIBLE
“I don’t know what it would have been like without it, so that’s tough to say. But the track has taken a lot of rubber. Even at the start of the truck race last night I thought it was really dark and it had already taken a lot. That’s the best way to get the groove to move up, if it does darken up and it seems like it’s done that. How much higher we can go, I’m not sure. But the groove is wider than I thought it would be, so that’s good.”

IS IT GOOD TO HAVE EDDIE (D’HONDT) BACK?
“Yeah, it’s good to have Eddie (D’Hondt, spotter) back; the familiar voice. For him and his family to be through all of that is good for him.”

“It felt like we never missed a beat, really. So, it was good.”

DOES THINGS EVEN OUT WITH THE REST OF THE FIELD HAVING A SHOT AT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS BECAUSE NOBODY HAS RACED HERE BEFORE?
“Yeah, I would say so. There are unknowns and there are things that I think we all guessed on coming here. I think it has probably been a while for everybody since we all tested here. I know this was a facility that everyone used, but things have changed since then, for sure.”

THOUGHTS ON THE TRACK AFTER GOING OUT IN PRACTICE?
“Standard, concrete oval, really for the most part. I feel like it was just how I remembered here the last time I tested; aside from the groove is a little wider and I think that’s just because there’s a lot more traffic on the track than what was ever here than when we were testing. Usually when you’re testing, there’s usually only one, two or three cars, so you never really get a lot of rubber laid down. There’s already been a race last night and there’s a lot of guys kind of moving around to try and find different parts on the track to run. Really about exactly what I thought it would be, aside from the groove being slightly wider. Everyone always migrates to the fast lane, wherever that may be.”

IS IT NICE TO HAVE THE DRIVER DYNAMIC THAT HENDRICK MOTORSPORTS SEEMS TO HAVE RIGHT NOW?
“Yeah, everything has been good. I feel like, just in general, like I’ve been saying over the past couple of months – Hendrick Motorsports is just in a good place. We’re all open and honest; just trying to get better. I think we’re all pushing each other to be better, which is a good thing, and we’ll continue to try to move forward.”

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.

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