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Team Penske NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report – Martinsville


Team Penske NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report
Track: Martinsville Speedway
Race: Cook Out 250
Date: April 11, 2021

No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 6th
Stage 1: 2nd
Stage 2: 16th
Finish: 6th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 250/250
Laps Led: 0
Driver Point Standings (ahead of second): 1st (+42)

Notes:

  • Austin Cindric and the No. 22 Menards/Richmond team finished the rain-delayed Cook Out 250 in the sixth position Sunday afternoon at Martinsville Speedway. With yet another top-10 finish on the year, the driver of the No. 22 Ford Mustang continues to lead the driver point standings, 42 markers ahead of second place.
  • Friday night’s starting lineup was once again set per the NASCAR rule book, which gave Cindric the sixth starting position. During the first 60-lap stage, the defending Xfinity Series Champion ran inside the top five in the caution-filled segment, but as the run progressed, Cindric’s Mustang built tight. Despite the tight conditions, Cindric was able to race his way to the second position at the conclusion of the initial stage. Crew chief Brian Wilson called his driver to pit road at the stage caution for four tires, fuel, and adjustments.
  • With a mixture of pit strategy throughout the field, Cindric restarted the second stage 16th. The Mooresville N.C., native was running in the top 10 by lap 78 and had some of the fastest laps on track. The sixth caution of the race was displayed shortly after for weather, but the persistent rain forced NASCAR to postpone the Cook Out 250 until Sunday afternoon, with Cindric scored eighth.
  • Once the race resumed on under sunny skies, Cindric quickly raced his way to the fourth position and finished the second stage 16th. Wilson elected to stay out during the stage caution which allowed his driver to restart seventh. Over a series of cautions, Cindric eventually made it back to the runner up position.
  • The 11th caution was shown with 75 laps remaining allowing Wilson to call his driver to pit road for the final set of tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment. Cindric restarted eighth but got trapped on the outside lane losing track position. He was able to battle back to the sixth position where he took the checkered flag.

Quote: “We picked right up where we left off Friday night. We had a great Menards Richmond Ford Mustang. I can’t help but think today was a missed opportunity with the way things shook out. There were some slower cars that took up the first few rows on one of the final restarts after we got a set of tires and I chose the wrong lane, got caught behind the wrong guys and lost a lot of spots. That pretty much buried us and we were able to drive back up through but not enough. I thought we were good enough to contend for a win today and I think we showed that but you have to have the track position here. I am a little disappointed but it was good to have a fast race car at an important track in the playoffs.”

Ford Performance NASCAR: Cindric Finishes 6th to Lead Ford in Xfinity Series Race at Martinsville

Ford Performance Post-Race Recap
NASCAR XFINITY Series – Cook Out 250
Martinsville Speedway | Sunday, April 11, 2021

FORD FINISHING RESULTS:
6th – Austin Cindric
23rd – Ryan Sieg
29th – Riley Herbst

FORD PERFORMANCE QUOTES

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 Menards/Richmond Ford Mustang — Finished 6th

“We picked right up where we left off Friday night. We had a great Menards Richmond Ford Mustang. I can’t help but think today was a missed opportunity with the way things shook out. There were some slower cars that took up the first few rows on one of the final restarts after we got a set of tires and I chose the wrong lane, got caught behind the wrong guys and lost a lot of spots. That pretty much buried us and we were able to drive back up through but not enough. I thought we were good enough to contend for a win today and I think we showed that but you have to have the track position here. I am a little disappointed but it was good to have a fast race car at an important track in the playoffs.”

Toyota Racing NXS Post-Race Recap — Martinsville 4.10.21

FOUR JOE GIBBS RACING TOYOTAS IN THE TOP-10 AT MARTINSVILLE
Hemric leads the Toyota charge with a third-place finish

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 11, 2021) – All four Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota Supras scored top-10 finishes in the Cook Out 250 at Martinsville Speeedway on Sunday afternoon.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Martinsville Speedway
Race 7 of 33 – 250 miles, 131.5 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Josh Berry*
2nd, Noah Gragson*
3rd, DANIEL HEMRIC
4th, TY GIBBS
5th, BRANDON JONES
7th, HARRISON BURTON
17th, BRANDON GDOVIC
20th, STEFAN PARSONS
22nd, DAVID STARR
28th, MATT JASKOL
30th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DANIEL HEMRIC, No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd

What are your thoughts about your third-place finish?

“It’s kind of bittersweet to be honest with you. This Poppy Bank Toyota Supra was so fast and it was cool to get that second stage win. Dave Rogers (crew chief) and the guys are bringing incredible cars to the race track. We got back there after stage two and trying to take advantage of the full day and somebody checked up in the middle of one and two – knocked the hood up and I couldn’t see once I got within a half-a-car of somebody. It took me probably too long to get used to that and we finally started making progress and got up there with better cars. Kind of caught me off guard as to how much better our speed was compared to other cars at the end. Had to use my stuff up to get there. Once we got to third, we were better than the 8 (Josh Berry) and the 9 (Noah Gragson), just had to use our stuff up to get there.”

TY GIBBS, No. 54 AutosByNelson.com Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th

How was your race overall?

“We were just a little tight. I messed up there at one point, it was my fault. Then I hit the 9 (Noah Gragson), we were dorking around there for a little bit. After I hit him and got kind of loose, it killed my momentum and kind of made me a little tighter. My fault. But overall, decent day, led laps. I feel like if I hadn’t hit him and knocked the nose in, we probably could have maybe got a third or a second or maybe even a first. Can’t complain. Had a good day and learned a lot today. It was a good time and Martinsville is fun. It tested my patience out.”

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Toyota Racing Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 5th

Can you describe how the race played out for you?

“We were all just talking about what it would have taken to win the race. It was difficult, especially when you would lose a little bit of track position. Our car definitely changed a bunch going from night to day. A little bit on the freer side, more of what I expected and the track seemed greasy. There at the end, we got that long green flag run and it seemed like the track was taking a decent amount of rubber and it seemed like that was causing some of that feel that we were getting. All in all, really good effort and I think we learned a bunch. We’ve got one more race here this year so let’s take this and try to make that one better and close the deal out.”

HARRISON BURTON, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 7th

You looked great in the night portion, but it looked like you struggled a bit today. How would you rate your race overall?

“We were really good on Friday night in our DEX Imaging Supra. I thought we were going to win the race, and it just got away from everybody. We just didn’t have that same lap time today. We really struggled with tight late in the race, just plowing through the right front tire and having to park the car in the center of the corner. Tough day. You have high expectations any time you go back somewhere you’ve won in the past. For it to not work out is a tough one, but at the end of the day, it’s a part of the game and we will have to rebound and be better.”

About Toyota

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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.

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CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES: TWO-DAY PRE-SEASON IMS TEST RECAP-JOSEF NEWGARDEN SETS BLISTERING PACE

JOSEF NEWGARDEN TOPS CHARTS AFTER TWO-DAY NTT INDYCAR SERIES TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY
Two-time Series’ Champion led the field of 32 cars testing with scorching lap of 226.819 m.p.h.

INDIANAPOLIS (April 9, 2021) – Josef Newgardern, in the cockpit of the No. 2 Shell Fuel Awards Team Penske Chevy, ran 130 laps of the two-day open test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in preparation for theAT 105th running of the Indianapolis 500. Despite losing over five hours on Thursday to rain, Newgarden and his team maximized the time wisely to leave with the No. 2 burning brightly at the top of the scoring pilon.

Five of the top-nine drivers on the speed chart were Chevy powered.

The only incident came 11 minutes into testing on Thursday when 2020 Rookie-of-the-Year Rinus Veekay met the Turn One wall He suffered a broken finger on his left hand, but after being fitted with the appropriate brace, the driver of the No.21 Sonax Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet has been cleared to drive at the season opener on April 18, 2021 at Barber Motorsports Park, Leeds Alabama.

DRIVER QUOTES:
JOSEF NEWGARDEN . NO.2 SHELL FUEL REWARDS TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET — POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “It’s just nice to be back…its nice to have a couple of days to work even though the first day was as completed as we would have liked. It’s just nice to be back here with four cars and having Scott join the program, we are going to be able to make a lot of headway quick with the amount of resources we have. I think the Shell Fuel Rwards Chevy is beautiful and I’m loving driving it so far. We need to learn as much as we can and then carry that momentum into May when the real work begins.”

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN, NO. 3 SHELL PENNZOIL TEAM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Once we get laps, I think we…when you roll up to the gate for the first time it’s amazing. But not now because of the rain. Rolled out for the first time we had a good lap but massive help with the tow. Then we focused on doing some stuff with what I learned from that tow. We’ve been good, the tires have been really strong and we’ve been consistent. Rick Mears has been great. Just been there for me to lean on. He simplifies the more technical stuff for me Tells me great stories on preparing for it. Yeah, its been great so far.”

SIMON PAGENAUD, NO.22 MENARDS TEM PENSKE CHEVROLET – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Yeah great great to studious day for us. We just went through different aero configuration on the racecar but overall it’s always such a it’s good to be back could be back in the Speedway. Obviously it is place a phenomenal place for racing and for our team. It is our number one priority to win here so Chevy power seem strong and I was very very excited you to finish the day in the Menards No; 22 today so we could shape. So far program is a is on time for what we wanted to do.”

MAX CHILTON, NO.59 CARLIN CHEVROLET – POST TW0-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: “A really positive day at IMS. The Carlin team has worked harder than ever this past winter. I can definitely see the change in the car, especially if you look at the no-tows, so that’s a really good sign of speed. I could sense we’d be quick right away. We still have to work on running in traffic, but we’ve got plenty of time in May to work on that. My new engineer Luke [Mason] and I are working together really well, and I think the whole Carlin team is coming together. So overall, a positive day at the Speedway.”

JUAN PABLO MONTOYA – NO. 86 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “Today was a good day and we learned a lot. It was great to be back in the car with Arrow McLaren SP and very useful for me to start getting back into traffic before the actual Month of May. I still have a lot to do personally to get better, but the test was a great opportunity to bond with the engineers and team. We have good speed in the car but still a lot to learn.”

PATO O’WARD – NO. 5 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “I think we had a solid test. We tested a lot of different things that should help us when we come back for the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500. The No. 5 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet feels good and I think we’ve made improvements over where we were last year in the race. It was good to get :500 weekend is normally like. I think we should have a good starting point to be competitive this May.”

FELIX ROSENQVIST – NO. 7 VUSE ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET – – POST TWO-DAY INDYCAR OPEN TEST AT INDIANAPOLIS: : “I thought today was good, we got a lot of laps done and had a pretty good car for most of the day. We fell off a little bit at the end, running in traffic with a little too much understeer, but we got to try a lot of good things with the team. These test days really let the team get into gear a little bit better. We are going to be back here pretty soon and it was nice to get on track in :Indianapolis again.”

POST TEST TRANSCRIPTS:

Juan Pablo Montoya
Arrow McLaren SP
Josef Newgarden
Penske Racing
Press Conference

THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everybody. We have Juan Pablo Montoya standing by and we expect to have Josef Newgarden, as well. Juan Pablo finished third on the speed chart, pretty successful day with Arrow McLaren SP.
How was your day today, Juan Pablo?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It was good. I think yesterday was a little shocking getting back in the car. Today was good. We worked through a lot of things. We found a lot of good things and a lot of bad things, like you always do.
It was nice to get back a little bit in the draft. A lot to catch up again, learn, understand again what you need to do, the timing. But everything just starts coming back.
It’s funny, getting up to speed yesterday was, Ooh. Today you don’t even think about it. This afternoon even better. The first few runs with traffic is like, Ooh. Then you start relaxing, getting in the flow of things. We did some pit stops at the end.
Everyone at Arrow McLaren SP has been doing a very good job. It was fun so far. I think this test was very, very useful.

THE MODERATOR: Yesterday you never really had to do a rookie orientation, refresher program. You had to go through that yesterday, didn’t you?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Yes. I was joking to the engineers, said I’m going to run 214.9, 215.1. My second lap was 215.1, then 214.9, 215.2. I’m going, We need to be below 215 (laughter).
THE MODERATOR: You have to go slow before you can go fast.
If you have a question for the two-time Indy 500 champion, go ahead.

Q. I wanted to ask, appeared to be that your car could go pretty much anywhere on the track. When you dropped back, you were able to slice back through the field. Is that because the aerodynamics, the aero changes, are so good, or because your particular car, the 86, is so strong at the moment?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I felt okay. I didn’t feel as good as you said. It’s great that it looks like that. I did pass few cars and everything, I could move, I could change, I felt pretty decent at parts.
The thing is, remember, every run you do, you change something. You don’t keep the same car, keep doing things. You always trying to improve the feeling, improve the car to maybe be more consistent in clean air, more consistent in the draft, things like that.
As you go through those things, there’s some runs that you go out there, you’re just in the way, and you hate it. I said like three times today, Hell, I’m not doing this. Actually the word wasn’t ‘hell’ but I’m using the polite word. I said, I’m not doing this and I bailed.
One of them actually bailed and really scared the hell out of me in three and four. I lifted and I didn’t even do turn one. I went in the deceleration lane. I’m not doing this (laughter).

Q. Do you feel as well as being fast that your car was actually handling quite well in traffic? Could you kind of like run directly behind someone or do you still need quite a lot of clean air?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: You always need a lot of clean air. Even before this, even the old cars, you need a lot of clean air. With these cars, I think for me personally you still notice the difference.
It’s a shame, yeah, I mean, that we didn’t — some people tried the ‘push to pass’, they did the other test. But it would make racing quite more wild, I think. I know some people don’t want wild.

THE MODERATOR: Also joining us here in the Zoom room, we welcome in the two-time NTT INDYCAR Series champion, Josef Newgarden, as well.
Josef, tell us about your day. Quickest in that session, 226.819 miles per hour.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it was a pretty good day.
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: Are you driving?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: No, not yet. I’m still in the parking lot. Where are you?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: I’m in the garage working. We got meetings and things. We love meetings.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Are you trying a new approach this year?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No, I’m trying to avoid the meetings, but they still make me go.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it was a pretty good day. I was happy enough with the car. I think we still need some work, for sure.
But just to get an initial read on where we’re at, obviously there’s a lot of new parts, differences to the last couple years. So we’re just trying to assess what we need to really work on now these last couple weeks before we get back here in May.
Pretty happy. I felt the Shell Fuel Rewards car looked good. Had some decent speed, which is always nice to see, but doesn’t mean much when it comes to race day. We’ll see how we shake out as we get to the meat of things in the month of May.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll continue with questions.

Q. Juan, wondering how this year’s car compares to 2015 and 2000?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: How does it compare? How does the car compare? This is engineer right here (laughter).
They’re a little harder to drive, I think. I think the difference between clear air and dirty air is a little bigger. I think the changes from what INDYCAR did, from what everybody says, it’s a little harder as before, but not that bad. Put it that way.
Q. What about an extra hundred horsepower?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: After running today, I would be a big fan of that ‘push to pass’, to be honest.

Q. Josef, how was the Chevy today?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Good. I think Chevy has done a great job, as evidenced with Juan as well. I think the McLaren boys are quick. I think we feel pretty good about things.
I think they’ve definitely made improvements, and we needed to in the off-season. We all did. Us as a team, I think Chevrolet, we all got together and looked where we were weakest. I think there was a little bit to go around on all sides. They’ve really stepped up.
We put in a lot of effort. I think we found some good stuff. It’s getting hard nowadays. These gains you’re looking to find are so small. I think they’ve managed to find a decent chunk, which is impressive with how far along we are. Very encouraged with Chevrolet.

Q. With the aero changes they were working on in the off-season, bringing them in for the 500 to increase passing, did you notice a difference between last year’s aero package compared to this year’s?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yes, definitely. It’s easier to follow. It’s still tough. You’ll still get a big front wash in traffic. 10 cars back, it’s always going to be difficult. But I think they’ve made the ability to follow better. That balance separation between clean air and dirty air is definitely reduced.
Some of them are tricky to drive, some of these parts. I think you’re seeing some split camps here along pit lane. Not everybody is running the same stuff. That’s been interesting to watch. There’s more downforce on the car. I think the balance shift in traffic is less.
Yeah, the ability that we’re going to have to race compared to last year will be better.

Q. Any restaurant recommendations for Nashville?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Man, there’s plenty. If you’re into coffee, Barista Parlor. Hot chicken, Hattie Bs. The Southern is very good. There’s a lot of good spots. Those are a few.

Q. Juan, this is your first time with the Aeroscreen now. How long did it take you to get used to it? Your thoughts on it so far?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: It wasn’t too bad to get used to it. I thought it would be a little more intrusive. It’s definitely a pain in the butt to get in and out of the car, and it’s a lot hotter. I know like here it hasn’t been that bad in the oval. I did a test in Laguna. In a road course, you don’t get a lot of air. That was kind of shocking.
Yeah, I mean, it’s kind of weird because, like, you’re really in a little bubble. It feels a little bit once you’re driving like a sports car.
But you’re with a closed visor, I still don’t get why you have to run — I don’t think you have to. I think you probably do, but I’m used to sports cars. Same thing you’re with the visor open so you get a little more air.
It’s good. It’s fine. I think from the safety point of view, it’s a great thing. It’s a matter of getting used to it more than anything else.

Q. Some of the guys last year talked about it was harder to find a limit with the open cockpit. Did you find it harder to find a limit in your car today?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: No, because I come from a sports car and a closed cockpit car. For me, it’s the same thing. It doesn’t really change that much. I think for the guys that are used to the open cockpit, might be a little harder.
I’ve driven a lot of closed cars. Last four years, I’ve mainly been driving sports cars, P2 cars. Feels about the same.

Q. Josef, how much did you notice any differences in the car today from the test last October?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: When were we here? I thought it was the beginning of November.

Q. When you tested these configurations.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: It’s identical to the final config that we ran in November. From then it’s the same. Literally the last that config that we ran is what you can put on the car, at least the maximum amount. It’s pretty similar to what we tested, I mean, the same.

Q. The weather conditions play a role today with traffic?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, I think it was a pretty easy day. It was pretty ideal conditions. Not too hot. Certainly not too cold. A little bit windy. That was probably the most difficult part about the day, was the wind, the movement of the car. Pretty standard for this place. You’re always kind of fighting that depending where it’s coming from. It’s always playing a factor.
Weather wasn’t an issue. It was a pretty easy day, for the most part, to be honest.

Q. I noticed the turn two trap speed chart, seems like the guys at the top of the speed chart were good there. Is that one of the more important corners to get right at this track?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I think that was probably the most difficult corner as far as wind today. For most of the day you had a tailwind going into two, you had the side wind on the track. It could catch you out. It was difficult in traffic to get it right. Someone was having a big tow, it was one of the tougher corners to get right. That’s probably why you saw the cars that were quick and good, they were typically pretty good through two, as well.

Q. I know yesterday probably had to be a little bit of a frustrating day. What kind of energy and excitement do you get from a day like this where you have eight, nine cars running in packs? Does a day like this on the track really invigorate you to get this season started here?
JUAN PABLO MONTOYA: For me personally, I think it’s definitely a huge thing. I know yesterday we didn’t run as much as we could. In a way, I’m pretty happy it worked out that way. We did the refresher. We did installation up in the morning. I had a look at everything the other guys were doing, just to relax with the guys and everything. It wasn’t too bad.
At the end of the day we managed to get the refresher done. It was good. It was good because it still feels like this place is fast. When you do it often, you lose the appreciation of how fast you go. It was nice to get a night’s sleep on it. Yesterday when I was done, I was like, This place is quick. Today it was like, Aah, it’s normal. So it was nice.

JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, obviously for someone like Juan, this test is great. Even for all of us that have been regulars here, this is a great test to have, to give a warmup for the month of May. It felt like the month of May, to be honest with you, typical day to start out.
Yeah, pretty happy we got this peek into the future.
THE MODERATOR: We want to say thank you to Juan Pablo Montoya for stopping by. Appreciate you doing so after a couple busy days. The month of May will be here before we know it.
We’ll continue with Josef Newgarden.

Q. A couple of the engineers and a few of the other drivers were conjecturing that with the package the way it is, it’s going to be two cars, the second-place car will kind of have an advantage. They think anything further back than two cars you might have five cars running in a pack, but the fifth-place car and fourth-place car don’t have much of a shot. Does it feel that way to you?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: I mean, certainly last year that was the case. I think you have a better opportunity this year looking at the amount of downforce we have, the balance shift in and out of traffic. I think you have a better opportunity to fight for the win in the third or fourth car in line.
I think more than that, you are a quick car during the race, you somehow find yourself in the back, I think you have a better opportunity of making your way forward. Those two elements will automatically help the show. But you don’t want to have it so easy where we’re packed up the entire field the entire time. I think that’s something that you would want to avoid.
It’s a balancing act. I think it will be a lot better than last year as far as the ability to race up front. Time will tell. But I think you’ll have a better show.

Q. In Happy Hour we saw some pretty good passing and some dicing around out there. Some of the drivers said the dicing was a little bit by design. When you have these test sessions, do you go in with the mindset of trying different things to see how they work so when you’re back here when it matters you’ll know what it’s going to do?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, I mean, definitely. We’re constantly trying to assess everything. Today we were spot checking some qualifying stuff early on. We got into race running, just tried to focus on how our cars were in race traffic.
At the end of the day that’s going to be probably the most important thing. Yeah, when we’re out there running, it’s for real. There’s people that drop back every now and then. That’s not real passes. As far as the way we’re running in line, we’re trying to simulate it as much as the race.
It’s very much the real deal what people are seeing.

Q. Considering you’re one of the more we’ll say older statesmen now at Penske Racing. These days you’ve just had at Indy, how valuable are they for someone like Scott McLaughlin?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Tremendously. Scott has been so much fun to be around because he’s truly a rookie in INDYCAR. Everything that he does is like the coolest thing ever. So to see that perspective again after having been here myself for 10 years, it’s just really fun. It’s really fun to see that through his eyes.
But it’s a very valuable day. He’s soaking everything up. Every moment he’s getting better. He’s doing a really good job trying to take time, ask a lot of questions, pay attention to every detail. He’s really switched on. He’s a smart race car driver. He’s doing all the right things to figure out how to be good in this category.
I think you can come to expect that. I think he will be very competitive this year. So, yeah, valuable day for him, for sure.

Q. For Roger, what do you think this means to him, building up to what could be a great month of May this year by comparison to what we had last year?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Certainly, Roger has a lot of pride in this place, and he should. This is an amazing facility. He is a very deserving captain to lead this ship. I think we’re all pretty happy that he’s at the helm of it.
He’s beaming to be out here every day. He’s always excited, excited for what we’re doing as a team, but more excited for what the Speedway is doing. There’s no one that wants fans here more than Roger, I can tell you that. I think if we get a semi-filled up crowd, he’s going to be a very happy man. We’re all going to be very happy.
This place was built for fans. That’s what this track is all about. We get to the month of May, have some people in the stands, it’s going to be good for everybody.

Q. To Barber, how important is it to get points on the board early on and kick-start the season in the most positive way?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it’s always important. I always tell people, I tell the team, Let’s get on the board today. We don’t need to win the race, but we need to score some points, have a good showing, set ourselves up for a good year.
That’s what we try to do. That’s what we’re going to try to do next weekend.

Q. Did you get a feel for how the Chevy and Honda balance power is at the moment? I realize it’s difficult in these conditions to judge. We all know what happened last year. You guys were powerful but didn’t have the fuel economy.
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, it’s hard to say. It looks a lot more even this year, is what I would say at the moment. Someone could obviously be miles ahead by the time we get to the month of May. It’s possible. But I would say it looks a lot more even right now than where we were at last year.
We’re all excited about that. I think Chevrolet has done a great job. It’s going to provide an interesting show for everybody.

Q. Did you check out how far you could go on a tank of fuel, turbo boost level, fuel rich level?
JOSEF NEWGARDEN: Yeah, we didn’t do a lot of economy stuff today. We just did it — I didn’t run through any mixtures. I think there’s still some questions to be answered in the month of May. We were trying to check off some bigger team item stuff.
Chevy has more manpower than just us at Team Penske. Not sure what they’re up to. We’re going to debrief with them after a test like this. We’re pushing. I think we’re going to be in a good spot looking at the initial information.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Josef Newgarden.

Ed Carpenter
Ed Carpenter Racing
Press Conference
THE MODERATOR: Good afternoon, everyone. Thanks, everybody, for tuning in, Zooming in, if you will, after the first half of the day, day one of the Indy 500 open test. Certainly an interesting day for Ed Carpenter Racing, Conor Daly, P1 in the 47 car, top speed of 222.714 miles an hour. Ed second quick in the 20 machine. His Rookie of the Year from last year, Rinus VeeKay, with an interesting day as well.
We’ll begin things with Ed. How would you describe day one today for the IMS Indy 500 open test?
ED CARPENTER: Not the way we had exactly hoped it would go. You never want to lose one of your three cars kind of in the first 10 minutes of the session. That was a bit of a bumpy way to start the test.
We do have three cars, so Conor and I carried on. We were able to get a little bit of work done. By the time Rinus’ yellow and cleanup was done, we had about 90 minutes of track activity, but probably only 45, 50 minutes of that by the time you get installs done.
We were able to get a couple changes in really just to establish a baseline. There’s a lot to do now tomorrow, a lot of new parts to test. We were able to test some of them last fall. There’s a lot to work through to be ready for when we come back for Indy 500 prep.

THE MODERATOR: How is Rinus doing?
ED CARPENTER: I think he’s okay. Disappointed. Obviously not the way he wanted to start either. It’s easy to be upset about things like that. The conditions were a little tricky with the wind. It’s an inexperience thing still. He’s got a year under his belt, but it was a truncated year.
He did so well at Indy last year, but got a little bit ahead of himself today. Didn’t quite have a feel for his balance, got a little bit too aggressive in one.
I know he’ll bounce back. He’s shown that he can bounce back from unfortunate circumstances in the past. I know he’ll be ready when he gets back out there.

THE MODERATOR: We’ll open for questions.
Q. Is there anything you could really take away from today, given it was kind of a truncated day for you guys? If you can get the car back on the road for Rinus tomorrow, do you expect him to run, given that he’s injured his finger?
ED CARPENTER: It’s my understanding that he’s cleared. I know the guys took that car back to the shop. If we can get that car together, it’s possible he runs tomorrow.
I don’t know that we would pull out his backup, just because it will be the race car for Barber, St. Pete and Texas. It’s all a little tight to going racing, the risk, potentially another excursion.
If the guys can get that other car back together, possibly. I don’t really know. I was focusing on what I was doing with my car, debriefing with Conor. A lot of guys had gone back to the shop to evaluate all that, see where they were.
I’m waiting to hear from Tim Broyles, our team manager, on that. One of the good things about being a driver today, I don’t have to worry about everything, I can focus on what we have going on track and what we have to accomplish tomorrow yet with my run plan.

THE MODERATOR: How much did the weather play a factor in what you had planned today?
ED CARPENTER: The day was definitely short. Felt like May watching the radar already. Yeah, I mean, we certainly had a lot more we wanted to do. We really just did a baseline, made one small adjustment to kind of adapt for conditions. Have a lot to do yet.
Essentially we each just got a baseline run in. I only did nine laps. Happy the car has had some pace, we were able to get a good draft. At the same time it doesn’t really mean anything after just a brief period of running, and not everybody out there yet.

Q. I know you were planning on two full days. Do you feel like one full day, as long as we don’t get any more weather, will be enough to accomplish everything? Will you be able to squeeze everything in to tomorrow that you would have hoped for over two days?
ED CARPENTER: We’ll do the best we can. You would always take more time if you could get it. At the end of the day, for the most part, everyone is going to have the same opportunity to have the same amount of track time.
Don’t worry about it too much. Weather and changing schedules is something we’ve all gotten quite adept at over the past year. Looks like it’s going to be a better weather day tomorrow. The six hours will go quick.
Some of the things we wanted to do, it would have been nice to have our session, lunch break, go back out and do some longer changeover types of things that we may have to scrap till we come back.
If we can be efficient, we can still get through everything we wanted to, at least the big items.

Q. You had a handful of changes to the car as far as the aerodynamics are concerned. You’ve had a little bit of time to look at those things. How important is the setup two days to getting like you feel like you’re really ready to go once we get to May?
ED CARPENTER: Well, certainly if you come out of this test and have success and are able to get a good baseline, it will springboard you into a quick week of practice leading into qualifying.
In a perfect world, we would feel really happy with our cars, how they’re running in traffic. With the speed we have out of our Chevy engines, worst-case scenario, we have a good idea of what we need to improve on coming out of this test coming back.
Either way we’ll have things we want to improve on. Hopefully we come out of it with good speed and feeling good about how the cars are handling in traffic. We’ll fine-tune it for practice leading into qualifying and the race.

Q. We have an oval event before Indy this year with Texas. How relevant is that going to be in terms of what you do with your setup leading into the month of May, as well?
ED CARPENTER: I mean, setups are quite different from Texas to Indy. I think probably — I mean, I like that we have an oval before. It’s nice to be able to get two races under our belt for me.
But compared to when Indy was the first oval, especially having three in a row with Barber, St. Pete and Texas, it presents a little bit of a challenge with car rotation and spares potentially and things like that. We’ve known the schedule for a long time and have a good plan. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal.

Q. Were you able to do enough running in traffic to get a sense if there’s any improvement with the changes made to the cars?
ED CARPENTER: No, not yet. I got a one-car tow, but it was about seven seconds out, so not really a good enough read to start to fully establish that.
We had some of the parts on, not all of them. There are a lot of different configurations out there. Definitely need more time. There’s really no group that formed in the short amount of time we had. Still plenty to learn. But I’m sure we’ll get through that tomorrow.

THE MODERATOR: Ed, what is the rest of your night looking like? On dad duty?
ED CARPENTER: Yeah, Ryder has a class here till 7:30. I’ll be watching that, maybe answering some emails. We’re supposed to have a team owners call at 7, but that got pushed till 8 because cars are on track later. Wait for him till 7:30, go home and get some dinner, get the boys a shower, I might take one myself, rinse and repeat.

THE MODERATOR: Nothing confirmed yet about when we’re going to start back up tomorrow morning. For those of you joining us, we’ll pass that information along as soon as we get it.

Ed, thanks so much. Have a great evening. Tell everybody we said hi.
ED CARPENTER: Will do. Thanks.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. 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 www.chevrolet.com.

Tips to Maintain Your Car that You Rarely Use

Photo by Paul Cisneros on Unsplash

People nowadays purchase a car for fun or for a season which they don’t drive more often. They drive it occasionally, like festive seasons and on weekends only. However, the way you store your car while you’re not driving plays a crucial role in how it performs when you take it out. Ensure you keep your vehicle in good shape to make it ready for use anytime. If you follow some of these tips to maintain your rarely driven vehicle, you can keep it ready for the road anytime.

Stick to the Mechanical Rule

Base your maintenance on the timing but not mileage. Check and follow the recommendation of your owner’s manual and at 110 Car Maintenance Tips to keep your car in top shape. Despite your car not accumulating the needed mileage, you still have to regularly check the oil and additives because they are still sitting and aging even when your vehicle isn’t on the road. You can also base your maintenance on the calendar and avoid the mileage.

Don’t Let Your Car Lie for too long

Ensure you turn your car every few days, even if you’re not hitting the road. This will keep everything in your engine lubricated by keeping fluids through cycling your engine. It will also ensure your battery stays fresh and prevents liquids from pulling in certain areas of your vehicle. This is the best way to keep your vehicle in good condition, especially if you normally leave your home once a week. It will enable the car to start whenever it’s needed. While you do need insurance, you can often get lower prices for cars used less than 50 miles a day.

Take Care of Your Brake Fluid

Like the engine, brakes are also an important component of your car. Brakes help you to avoid rear-end collisions which might lead to crashing. Your brakes should be among your top priority because they take care of you while driving.

You need to check your brake fluids regularly and, if need be, change the fluids. Brake fluid can attract moisture, which is not great for your car. Moisture can lead to corrosion and even rusting, which can lead to the failure of your brakes. Accidents related to brakes can be highly avoided. Ensure you visit Pedders to help you with the brake system when you notice any fault play in your brakes. Ensure you annually replace your brake fluids to keep yourself safe.

Keep Your Car Clean

The last thing you would want to deal with is the falling leaves and sticks that collect your vehicle over time. Leaves and sticks can be harmful to your car if you don’t clean them immediately. When mixed with moisture, they can turn into tannic acid that can gradually eat your paint and degrade both plastic and rubber seals.

Ensure you clean your lying car once in a while. After cleaning, you can also find suitable car covers and protect your car from any external damage. Ensure you keep your vehicle off from the scorching sun and the dropping sticks or leaves.

Finally

Maintaining your less-driven car lies within your hands. You can either make it last longer by taking care of it regularly, even if you’re not using it, or wait until you’re heading outside. Simple maintenance programs such as regular cleaning, changing fluids, and waxing your car can protect it from harsh weather conditions and make it run greatly.

Xfinity Series race at Martinsville postponed to Sunday finish

Photo by James Gilbert | Getty Images

By Staff Report  – NASCAR.com 

Nagging rain has forced NASCAR officials to postpone Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series Cook Out 250 to a Sunday finish at Martinsville Speedway.

The race will resume Sunday at noon ET with coverage on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio. Brandon Jones is scored as the leader with 91 of a scheduled 250 laps complete.

RELATED: Race leaderboard | Martinsville schedule

Noah Gragson won Stage 1 of the race, and the second stage was near its halfway mark when a rain shower halted the event at 9:32 p.m. ET. Track-drying efforts continued until storms intensified late in Friday evening. The start of the race was also delayed roughly a half-hour due to an early evening shower at the track.

The race at the 0.526-mile track marks the seventh Xfinity race of the season and the first in the 2021 Dash 4 Cash program. Justin Allgaier, AJ Allmendinger, Harrison Burton and Gragson are the four drivers competing in the race within a race. The highest finishing driver among those four takes the $100,000 prize. The winning driver also advances on to compete for the prize with the three highest finishing drivers running for Xfinity points in the next event at Talladega Superspeedway on April 24.

Burton, who won last fall in the first Xfinity race here since 2006, started on the pole with Allgaier lined up along side of him. Burton led the first 53 laps at Martinsville. Allmendinger had an issue early in the race and had to pit under green, leaving him a lap down.

Newgarden Tops 226 mph To Lead Second Day of Indy 500 Open Test

INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, April 9, 2021) – Josef Newgarden has won the NTT INDYCAR SERIES championship twice in the last four years, so he freely admits winning the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is the biggest box left to check in his racing career.

If the speed chart from the second day of the Indy 500 Open Test on Friday at Indianapolis Motor Speedway is any indication, that dream could become reality this May.

Newgarden, from Nashville, Tennessee, was the fastest driver today and overall from two days of testing, turning a top lap of 226.819 mph in the No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet under mostly sunny skies on the 2.5-mile oval. That easily eclipsed the top speed from the rain-hampered first day Thursday, 224.427 by Sebastien Bourdais in the No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet.

“It was a pretty good day,” Newgarden said. “I was happy enough with the car. I think we still need some work, for sure, but to just get an initial read on where we’re at is good. Obviously, there are a lot of new parts and differences to the last couple of years, so we’re just trying to assess what we need to really work on these last couple of weeks before we get back here in May. But I’m pretty happy.”

Indy 500 winners and INDYCAR SERIES champions dominated the top of the speed chart. Two-time and reigning Indy 500 winner Takuma Sato was second at 226.369 in the No. 30 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda, with two-time Indy winner and 1999 CART champion Juan Pablo Montoya third at 226.123 in the No. 86 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet.

Six-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion and 2008 Indy 500 winner Scott Dixon was fourth at 225.906, while Graham Rahal rounded out the top five at 225.644 in the No. 15 Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing Honda.

RLL was the only team to power two drivers into the top five today, and Rahal was the fastest driver without the benefit of an aerodynamic tow in traffic, at 221.949. Sato won the 104th Indianapolis 500 last Aug. 23, with teammate Rahal third.

The speed limit increased today in more favorable conditions and larger, more aerodynamic packs. The top 12 drivers laid down laps faster than Bourdais’ chart-topper Thursday.

Passing raindrops and track inspections only briefly interrupted the nine-hour session. Rookie Scott McLaughlin turned 195 laps in his No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet, more than any driver and just five laps shy of the full 500-mile race distance.

Up next for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES is the 2021 season opener, the Honda Indy Grand Prix of Alabama presented by AmFirst on Sunday, April 18 at Barber Motorsports Park in Birmingham, Alabama. NBC and the INDYCAR Radio Network will provide live coverage starting at 3 p.m. (ET).

The 105th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge is scheduled for Sunday, May 30 at IMS.

IMS Open Test
Results of Session
Practice 3

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 2 Newgarden, Josef D/C/F 00:39.6792 226.819 –.—- –.—- 60 121
2 30 Sato, Takuma D/H/F 00:39.7534 226.396 0.0742 0.0742 47 60
3 86 Montoya, Juan Pablo D/C/F 00:39.8013 226.123 0.1221 0.0479 43 68
4 9 Dixon, Scott D/H/F 00:39.8395 225.906 0.1603 0.0382 65 126
5 15 Rahal, Graham D/H/F 00:39.8859 225.644 0.2067 0.0464 40 157
6 47 Daly, Conor D/C/F 00:39.8868 225.639 0.2076 0.0009 119 137
7 12 Power, Will D/C/F 00:39.9112 225.501 0.2320 0.0244 51 162
8 60 Harvey, Jack D/H/F 00:39.9527 225.266 0.2735 0.0415 139 140
9 5 O’Ward, Pato D/C/F 00:39.9790 225.118 0.2998 0.0263 108 156
10 06 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 00:39.9868 225.074 0.3076 0.0078 105 128
11 22 Pagenaud, Simon D/C/F 00:39.9999 225.001 0.3207 0.0131 104 184
12 28 Hunter-Reay, Ryan D/H/F 00:40.0091 224.949 0.3299 0.0092 119 134
13 26 Herta, Colton D/H/F 00:40.1422 224.203 0.4630 0.1331 42 164
14 20 Carpenter, Ed D/C/F 00:40.1524 224.146 0.4732 0.0102 144 146
15 10 Palou, Alex D/H/F 00:40.1545 224.134 0.4753 0.0021 20 112
16 7 Rosenqvist, Felix D/C/F 00:40.1835 223.973 0.5043 0.0290 112 126
17 18 Jones, Ed D/H/F 00:40.1956 223.905 0.5164 0.0121 15 104
18 3 McLaughlin, Scott (R) D/C/F 00:40.2131 223.808 0.5339 0.0175 151 195
19 27 Rossi, Alexander D/H/F 00:40.2440 223.636 0.5648 0.0309 117 136
20 45 Ferrucci, Santino D/H/F 00:40.2650 223.519 0.5858 0.0210 85 137
21 16 De Silvestro, Simona D/C/F 00:40.2760 223.458 0.5968 0.0110 50 92
22 29 Hinchcliffe, James D/H/F 00:40.2760 223.458 0.5968 0.0000 87 127
23 48 Kanaan, Tony D/H/F 00:40.3404 223.101 0.6612 0.0644 38 99
24 24 Karam, Sage D/C/F 00:40.3415 223.095 0.6623 0.0011 71 81
25 98 Andretti, Marco D/H/F 00:40.3923 222.815 0.7131 0.0508 113 138
26 14 Bourdais, Sebastien D/C/F 00:40.4263 222.627 0.7471 0.0340 119 125
27 59 Chilton, Max D/C/F 00:40.4935 222.258 0.8143 0.0672 3 114
28 8 Ericsson, Marcus D/H/F 00:40.5159 222.135 0.8367 0.0224 147 188
29 51 Fittipaldi, Pietro (R) D/H/F 00:40.5509 221.943 0.8717 0.0350 135 144
30 4 Kellett, Dalton D/C/F 00:40.8727 220.196 1.1935 0.3218 63 97
31 52 Ware, Cody (R) D/H/F 00:41.2017 218.438 1.5225 0.3290 25 58
(R) Rookie Total Laps: 3956
(C)hassis: D=Dallara | (E)ngine: C=Chevy, H=Honda | (T)ire: F=Firestone

Day 2 Rookie Orientation/Refresher Results
Results of Session
Practice 2

Rank Car Driver Name C/E/T Time Speed Diff Gap Best Lap Total Laps
1 06 Castroneves, Helio D/H/F 00:40.7241 220.999 –.—- –.—- 27 29
2 59 Chilton, Max D/C/F 00:40.7376 220.926 0.0135 0.0135 28 28
3 86 Montoya, Juan Pablo D/C/F 00:41.1100 218.925 0.3859 0.3724 29 35
4 51 Fittipaldi, Pietro (R) D/H/F 00:41.1654 218.630 0.4413 0.0554 13 26
5 16 De Silvestro, Simona D/C/F 00:41.1686 218.613 0.4445 0.0032 19 30
6 29 Hinchcliffe, James D/H/F 00:41.2154 218.365 0.4913 0.0468 5 21
7 24 Karam, Sage D/C/F 00:41.3675 217.562 0.6434 0.1521 7 17
8 18 Jones, Ed D/H/F 00:41.3897 217.445 0.6656 0.0222 16 23
9 52 Ware, Cody (R) D/H/F 00:41.4281 217.244 0.7040 0.0384 20 29
10 4 Kellett, Dalton D/C/F No Time No Speed 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
11 14 Bourdais, Sebastien D/C/F No Time No Speed 0.0000 0.0000 0 0
(R) Rookie Total Laps: 238

Paretta Autosport Makes First Laps at IMS

Simona De Silvestro, driver of the No. 16 Paretta Autosport Rocket Pro TPO entry

Simona De Silvestro Quick Out of the Box

INDIANAPOLIS (Friday, Apr. 9) – The Open Test at Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the 105th Running of the Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge commenced yesterday in preparation for the May race.

The first practice day was typical of April with scattered showers interrupting the on-track activity of the 32 NTT INDYCAR SERIES entries on hand, generating a day of a lot of waiting around.

But Thursday was still momentous for Beth Paretta, owner of Paretta Autosport, and her driver, Simona De Silvestro, nicknamed “Iron Maiden”.

It was momentous for Paretta because it was the culmination of a six-year journey to see her Indy car take a lap anywhere, let alone at the famed 2.5-mile oval of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

And it was momentous for De Silvestro because it marked her return to INDYCAR competition after six years. It’s been 11 years since the popular Swiss driver won the Rookie of the Year award at the Indianapolis 500. Although her team is new and unique, it also might produce the best chance she’s ever had in the Indianapolis 500, set for Sunday, May 30. De Silvestro shone as she turned the seventh fastest lap of the day a 218.927 among all drivers.

So although the first day the No. 16 Paretta Autosport Rocket Pro TPO Chevy-powered entry only made 51 laps, for Paretta, De Silvestro and the rest of the largely-female crew, it was a day of great pride and promise.

It was also a day of great promise for women in general, as the entry is the first in the series’ “Race for Equality and Change” program to broaden diversity and equality in the sport. Paretta Autosport is the first female-forward team to tackle the Indianapolis 500 in its 105-year history.

Teams are back on track today turning more laps and in this morning’s refresher driver session, Simona was fifth fastest of nine drivers with a speed of 218.613 as she gets more and more comfortable back at The Brickyard.

INDYCAR Open Testing was streamed live on NBC’s Peacock Premium network in the U.S.

Quotes follow:

Beth Paretta, Team Owner/CEO, No. 16 Paretta Autosport Rocket Pro TPO entry
“Great first day out at IMS. Everything went really well. We were able to, after the rain delay, get some meaningful laps on the track. It’s a test as much for Simona as it is the whole team. This is a new group of people working together and every bit of practice helps because we’ve got a lot of busy days ahead of us and important days ahead of us and today was a great day.”

Simona De Silvestro, Driver, No. 16 Paretta Autosport Rocket Pro TPO entry
Regarding Thursday testing:
“It was really good to get in the car today and just get the feel for it. It definitely feels pretty fast coming back to the Speedway. I’m really happy with the car. It feels really comfortable. We just did our steps we needed to do and it was good getting to work with the team, understanding what everything is going on and also getting the feel back for it. So, I think it was a good day and tomorrow we can start working and getting more and more comfortable out there.

Regarding Friday morning testing:
“It was a good session to finish our refresher and it felt pretty good out there. Hopefully, the weather will stay okay today that we get a few more laps in, but, yes, pretty happy about how it started.”

For more information and future announcements, please visit www.parettaautosport.com or the team’s social media channels.

About Paretta Autosport
Paretta Autosport is a new team competing in the NTT INDYCAR SERIES. With a technical alliance with Team Penske, it will attempt to qualify and compete in the 2021 Indy 500 and beyond. More than racing, Paretta Autosport is an initiative to encourage and mentor girls and women to pursue careers in STEM-related fields. The team will incorporate women in key roles: mechanics, engineers, marketing, business operations, and more. Created by female automotive and motorsports executive Beth Paretta, the team is part of the INDYCAR series’ “Race for Equality and Change” initiative.

At Paretta Autosport, the competitive spirit drives us. We work hard and always strive for better: for ourselves, for our team, and for others. For more information go to www.parettaautosport.com.

Destiny Homes Announces Multi-Race Sponsorship with Brett Moffitt and Our Motorsports

STATESVILLE, N.C. (April 9, 2021) – Destiny Homes will be the primary sponsor on Brett Moffitt’s No. 02 Our Motorsports Chevrolet for multiple races in 2021, beginning with tonight’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The Iowa-based company will also adorn the No. 02 Chevrolet as the primary sponsor at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway on May 8, Dover (Del.) International Speedway on May 15, and additional races later during the 2021 campaign.

As one of the largest and fastest growing homebuilders in the Midwest, Destiny Homes continues to build their brand around one of NASCAR’s most successful drivers from their home state by sponsoring Moffit for the fourth consecutive season.

“We are really excited to expand our partnership with Brett Moffitt into the 2021 season,” said Dan Sparks, president of Destiny Homes. “We have been blessed to be a part of winning multiple races with Brett since our first race together in 2018 and we hope to be a part of his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win this year. Our brand has grown over the past several years and we believe our involvement in the sport with Brett has helped us to meet the needs of the housing demand throughout our communities.”

The foundation was poured in 2018, when Moffitt piloted his Destiny Homes sponsored truck to victory lane at Iowa Speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series. That was the first race Destiny Homes sponsored Moffitt, a Grimes, Iowa native, and it proved to be successful.

“It’s a great feeling to have a brand like Destiny Homes continuing to partner with my race team year after year,” said Moffitt. “We had a couple of great runs with Destiny Homes on our No. 02 Chevy last year, including Kansas where we finished seventh just after winning the truck race earlier in the day. Hopefully, we can take them back to victory lane this season.”

ABOUT DESTINY HOMES
Destiny Homes started in Des Moines, Iowa in 2009 and has since built homes for nearly 1,000 families in central Iowa, with prices ranging from $189,000 to over $1,000,000.

At Destiny Homes, there is no shortage of dedicated and experienced professionals ready to serve the families who put their trust in them to build a new home. The hard-working staff at Destiny Homes has over 150 years of combined experience in helping families achieve homeownership.

Destiny Homes’ passion is that every essential worker in the current economy has the opportunity to own a new home. It goes beyond sticks and bricks; it’s about helping customers achieve homeownership which in turn keeps the economy strong. Destiny Homes is proud of their focused effort in helping families achieve affordable homeownership and how that process strengthens the communities where we live, work and play.

For more information visit their website at www.BuyDestinyHomes.com

Toyota Racing – NCS Martinsville Quotes – Martin Truex Jr. – 04.09.21

Toyota Racing – Martin Truex Jr.
NASCAR Cup Series Quotes

MARTINSVILLE, Va. (April 9, 2021) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Martin Truex Jr. was made available to media via videoconference prior to the Martinsville event today:

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry, Joe Gibbs Racing

Should we read more into these next five races since they are at Playoff tracks?

“I don’t know, obviously, every race is important, being that they are Playoff tracks is definitely important. I don’t know that you can look and say here are the guys that are going to do good in the Playoffs just because they run well the next few weeks. A lot changes in between now and then. I look forward to hopefully running well and hopefully getting a few more wins and building a notebook for the Playoffs is definitely an important thing.”

Do you have any sort of standards that you would like to see as the garage potentially opens back up to sponsor guests?

“No, honestly hadn’t put much thought into it. Just waiting to see what’s going on first. For now, I don’t know of anything changing. I haven’t been told anything. We will cross that bridge when we get there.”

How did you learn to tackle Martinsville or start liking Martinsville?

“It’s a tough place. It’s a place once you figure out some things with your cars and how you like for them to feel. If they don’t change the tires too much, you can kind of take that and run with it and build on it that success. For us, it’s just been really figuring out what I needed in my car and making it do the things I needed it to do. We’ve been able to kind of do that here these last few trips pretty consistently. Just hope that we can make that happen again. It’s a tricky little place. It looks like Martinsville would be a pretty easy track just because it’s pretty small and flat corners and things like that, but it’s real technical and a lot goes on with the way the rubber gets down in the corners on the concrete and that can change things really drastically, so we will see when we get there this time around, but the last few races we were really strong, and I felt like we had a shot to win both of them. Of course, we won the spring race, so looking forward going up to Martinsville, and hopefully we can continue that success.”

Can you learn anything from watching the Xfinity race?

“I think you can definitely learn. It’s one of the places where you can see where the rubber lays down, things like that, at nighttime, so we will be watching for sure and see what it looks like.”

How much is patience a key element with how your approach Martinsville?

“I would say it’s important for sure, especially on restarts. For whatever reason, if you get hung outside, it’s pretty frustrating. That or pit road penalties, things like that happening can be pretty frustrating to make passes. Patience is key. It’s a long race. You need to be around at the end. That’s the key to short tracks always.”

How much can rain alter the track?

“It just depends on what happens. Last year, we went there, and I believe the Xfinity cars were not there – we were the first cars on track and that first run the rubber on the track was really hard on the tires. We saw guys run up towards the front at the end, and we were one of them, but we fell back to 15th I think that first run. It was pretty bad. It will definitely change things up, but once we get going in the race, it’s not a big deal either way.”

What are the differences in driving Martinsville at night versus the day?

“Really, not that much different. They light it up pretty good, so not a whole lot different. I think the biggest change is probably how the rubber lays down into the concrete in the corners and what is the track temperature going to be. Typically, during the day the suns out, and that can make it pretty slick. At nighttime, a little more gripped up, more traction in the corners for the most part, usually a little more tire wear as well.”

Have you seen your team have momentum this year?

“I have a good feeling about things. Last year, we had a good season, but it was a little bit up and down. We had some tough weeks, and some really good ones, and a lot of really close second and third-place finishes. A lot to build on. I feel like we’ve hit the ground here with more confidence and understanding the no practice and how it all works, and the guys are doing a good job hitting the setups better when we start the race, so that’s been a really good thing. I guess the biggest surprise for me at Bristol not having a lot of dirt experience, was not knowing what to expect, so I didn’t have high expectations going into there. I just wanted to go there, have fun and enjoy myself. We definitely did that. It was cool to win the Truck race. Unfortunately, got the flat tire on the green-white-checkered in the Cup car, but strong run all day. I had a lot of fun and look forward to doing it again.”

Is there anything you are doing differently this season?

“Not really, I would just say better prepared for not having practice is the biggest thing. James (Small), my crew chief – last year was his first year, so just continuing to build on what we did last year and understanding things better has been a big key.

Are there any adjustments you would like to see on future Cup Series dirt events?

“Not really anything big. I think the only thing was we need to figure out how to keep the dust down more. I think our races are so long, typical dirt track races are probably 50 laps or something, and by the end of that race it was a real change with the dust. Trying to figure that out, but really that was the only thing. I thought everything else went well and it was lot of fun.”

How do you feel about where your team is at this point of the season?

“I feel really good about where we are. I feel like we’ve been strong everywhere, especially since we’ve been to a lot of different types of racetracks so far. We’ve been pretty strong at just about all of them. I’m feeling good about where we are. It’s still early. There is a lot of things that are going to change, and we have to continue to work to find things to make our cars faster and continue to work hard and make sure that we are not making mistakes and do all the little things right which is always a challenge. I feel great about it. I feel like we have a championship winning team, no doubt about it. We are ready to get after it and see if we can get it done.”

Does the change from grass to concrete at Martinsville matter at all?

“I don’t think it does. I think your sight line is really the curb around the racetrack, so I don’t think you will change anything at all from what it looks like on TV.”

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