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Team Penske NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report – Atlanta Motor Speedway

By
Official Release
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Team Penske NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Report
Track: Atlanta Motor Speedway
Race: EchoPark 250
Date: March 20, 2021

No. 22 CarShop Ford Mustang – Austin Cindric
Start: 1st
Stage 1: 6th
Stage 2: 22nd
Finish: 13th
Status: Running
Laps Completed: 163/163
Laps Led: 6

Driver Point Standings (ahead of second): 1st (+46)

Notes:

  • Austin Cindric and the No. 22 CarShop Ford Mustang team battled to a 13th-place finish after the car sustained early damage in the EchoPark 250 Saturday night at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Before the CarShop Ford suffered a wounded right front fender on lap 39, Cindric led six laps, as he continued his streak of leading laps in every NASCAR event he has raced this season. The driver of the No. 22 Mustang continues to lead the driver point standings, 46 markers ahead of second place.
  • Saturday’s starting lineup was set per the NASCAR rule book, which gave Cindric the pole position. The defending Xfinity Series champion jumped out to an early lead but over the long run, the handling of the No. 22 CarShop Mustang began to run extremely loose. Cindric ran in 13th place when the third caution flag of the night was displayed on lap 35, which set up a one-lap sprint to the Stage 1 conclusion.
  • Coming to the flag at the end the segment, frantic action resulted in a multi-car incident. Unfortunately, Cindric could not avoid the scattered and slowing cars in front of him and the right front fender of CarShop Ford sustained damage. Cindric was able to finish the first 40-lap stage in the sixth position, as he earned five stage points. Cindric brought the No. 22 Mustang to pit road for repairs, major adjustments and four tires before restarting in the 33rd position.
  • During the second stage of the race, the handling woes continued for Cindric and the No. 22 CarShop team. The Mooresville N.C. native radioed to his team that the No. 22 still lacked drive. Cindric was able to make up some track position and finished the second stage in the 22nd position. During the stage caution, Cindric returned to pit lane for adjustments, four tires and fuel while the CarShop Mustang restarted 20th on lap 88.
  • Cindric raced his way to 15th by lap 96 and series of cautions slowed the pace, which allowed the field to pit for its last set of tires on lap 133. The CarShop Ford Mustang team slowly improved the handling for Cindric throughout the event and he raced his way up to the 13th position at the conclusion of the EchoPark 250.
  • Cindric will be back in action on Sunday afternoon as he makes his second NASCAR Cup Series start for Team Penske in the No. 33 PIRTEK Ford Mustang. Live coverage of the Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 will begin at 3:00 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN and Sirius XM NASCAR Radio.

Quote: “Yeah, obviously getting damage there in stage one definitely didn’t help our chances today, but we struggled off the bat and I’m not sure that helped us. It was just a fight all day today. Hopefully, we learned some things. The good news is we’ve got a second race here to learn even more, so I feel all right about it. It definitely helps us with the notebook moving forward. In the closing laps I saw 10th place and I drove really hard to get there and blew the tires off of it and that was that. That was the closest I was gonna be able to get and that’s how it went.”

Katherine Legge, Christina Nielsen and Bia Figueiredo Earn Top Five Finish at Sebring 12 Hours for Team Hardpoint EBM

By
Official Release
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Photo credit Porsche

The No. 88 Richard Mille/Champion Porsche 911 GT3 R Narrowly Missed a Podium, While Earl Bamber, Rob Ferriol and Trenton Estep Persevered For a Top 10

SEBRING, Florida (March 20, 2021) – Team Hardpoint EBM’s No. 88 Richard Mille/Champion Porsche 911 GT3 R just missed out on the podium in Saturday’s 69th running of the Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring, and the No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R team car persevered to add a second top-10 finish in the second round of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship GT Daytona (GTD) season.

Katherine Legge had the No. 88 Porsche in third place as the clock expired but was issued a late drive through penalty by race officials for contact with a competitor. Following conversation from the team to race control, Legge served the penalty with just two laps remaining and, along with teammates Christina Nielsen and Bia Figueiredo, finished fifth at the checkered flag.

The all-female driver lap completed 320 laps around the 3.74-mile Sebring International Raceway, finishing just 52.944 seconds behind the class winner after 1,196.8 miles.

Nielsen, co-driving the season in the No. 88 Richard Mille/Champion Porsche 911 GT3 R with Legge, began the race ninth on the grid and remained in that same position after her opening double stint. Figueiredo, making her return to IMSA competition after a year away from racing, climbed as high as fourth during the pit stop cycle four hours into the race.

The all-female driver line-up held consistently among the top seven through the afternoon but began to pick up the pace as the temperatures cooled and the sun began to set. Legge’s final stint began with just over two hours, 30-minutes to go in the race and in seventh place.

Legge was fourth when the race restarted after a full-course caution with just 17 minutes to go, making a pass for third just two laps later before serving the penalty and falling to fifth.

The No. 99 GridRival/Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R driven by team co-owners Earl Bamber and Rob Ferriol and joined for the endurance race by Trenton Estep ran into trouble early in the race.

Contact with a GTLM car changed the alignment and handling during Ferriol’s opening stint, which led to front-end damage and a pit-road splitter change by the Team Hardpoint EBM crew. With just over eight hours remaining and pushing hard to make up the lost laps, Bamber had contact that required a return to the paddock for repairs. The No. 99 Porsche spent one-hour, 20-minutes under the team’s tent while the crew made the extensive fix before returning to action.

Once back on track with nearly seven hours remaining in the race, the No. 99 machine remained on pace – but was unable to make up ground to the leaders. The team ultimately salvaged a 10th place finish after completing 280 laps.

Legge and Nielsen return to action in the No. 88 Richard Mille/Champion Porsche 911 GT3 R alongside Ferriol and Bamber’s No. 99 GridRival/Team Hardpoint EBM Porsche 911 GT3 R at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course for round three of the IMSA WeatherTech Championship and the first two-hour, 40-minute sprint race of the season after two endurance racing classics to open the season at Daytona and Sebring.

Katherine Legge, No. 88 Richard Mille/Champion Porsche 911 GT3 R: “I’m really proud of the whole crew at Team Hardpoint EBM and this Richard Mille/Champion Porsche team. We worked really hard all week to make this car better and at the end we felt we deserved a podium, it just wasn’t meant to be. But our program is all about perseverance and we have a lot to build on moving forward. Christina and Bia did fantastic in their stints and our Porsche was really quick at the end of the race.”

Bia Figueiredo, No. 88 Richard Mille/Champion Porsche 911 GT3 R: “First of all, I’m super thankful to Team Hardpoint EBM, Katherine and Christina for inviting me to this race. I took last year off becoming a mom, and having a chance to come back here, I love this series. I was wondering if I was going to be slower after becoming a mom, and there’s no difference at all! I had a lot of fun and the performance was there. We struggled in practice to get up to speed and find a setup, even in qualifying, so if you’d have told me yesterday we’d finish in the top five, that’s mega. We could visualize the podium, but five seconds later the drive-through message came through and disappointed all of us. There’s not much we can do about that, but I’m very thankful for the crew for all of their hard work. It was great. I’m super happy an thankful for our performance this weekend.”

Christina Nielsen, No. 88 Richard Mille/Champion Porsche 911 GT3 R: “We had a good car for the night, which gave Kat and opportunity to fight for the podium. It was a little bit more challenging during the day, but that’s the Porsche. It’s got to come to you and it did. It was nice to see that our engineers were on board with the setup there. It was just a great job by Team Hardpoint EBM and my teammates Katherine and Bia. It’s been a pleasure working with everyone and I think considering how short of a time we had to gel together I think it was quite impressive. This last moment unfortunately defines the final results, but I don’t want that to be the one thing that takes away all the good stuff that we produced.”

Earl Bamber, No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R: “We had a tough week. We had damage in practice and we were recovering from that. We had a quick car, Rob was doing a fantastic job and was one of the quickest cars on track at the time. His incident set us back and we were trying to recover with a damaged car and I got caught up with another guy. That was sort of our day. It was awesome for the 88 to be fighting there for a podium at the end of the day. It’s the closest we’ve come. We’re still building and learning as a team and we’ve got a long way to go, but I think it’s positive.”

Trenton Estep, No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R: “All in all, it was a great weekend. These guys at Team Hardpoint EBM are unbelievable and they’ve given me this opportunity to drive this awesome Porsche. Granted, we didn’t have the best of luck on our side this weekend, but I had fun and my stints were clean. Thankfully I didn’t get into too much trouble. I learned a lot throughout the whole experience and it was a good weekend.”

Rob Ferriol, No. 99 GridRival Porsche 911 GT3 R: “The name of the game in all of these long races is perseverance. I give immense credit to the 88 car. Kat, Christina and Bia drove a phenomenal race with no mistakes, kept their heads down and kept pushing. To see them bring home a top five finish is really cool for me personally, I’m proud of all of them. I think there was a podium there. They can stand proud. I have to give all the rest of the credit to the crew on our 99 car. Earl and I didn’t make their lives very easy today. They had to put the car back together a couple of times, and finally one big time. All that said, to still be able to come home P10, finish the race, take the checker and see the guys proud of their work and that car coming home, that’ll have to be enough for us until Mid-Ohio.”

About Team Hardpoint EBM:
Hardpoint Motorsports was founded by Rob Ferriol in 2018 with the vision of combining his experience as a successful entrepreneur with his passion for racing. Team Hardpoint EBM is a joint venture between Team Hardpoint and Earl Bamber Motorsport formed in late 2020 to combine the resources of EBM and co-owners Earl Bamber and Will Bamber and the early success of Team Hardpoint. Headquartered at VIRginia International Raceway, the team’s 2021 plans include a full-season effort in the IMSA WeatherTech Sports Car Championship in a Porsche 911 GT3 R and a multi-car effort in the IMSA Porsche Carrera Cup North America. More information on Team Hardpoint EBM can be found at www.hardpoint.com or through its strong social media presence on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Allgaier prevails to win Xfinity Series race at Atlanta

By
Angie Campbell
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Justin Allgaier celebrates with the checkered flag after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series EchoPark 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 20, 2021. Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images.

Justin Allgaier had the dominant car when it mattered most, holding off Martin Truex Jr. to capture the EchoPark 250 Xfinity Series race win at Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday evening.

Truex won the first two stages and led 103 laps but a pit road speeding penalty resulted in Truex having to restart at the back of the field on Lap 118 and ultimately cost him the victory.

Allgaier took advantage of the mistake and though Truex was able to work his way back to the front, he came up short and had to settle for a runner-up finish.

It was his first win this season, his first victory at Atlanta and his 15th career win.

“We have had a rough go at it,” Allgaier said. “Today was more about digging deep and persevering. I knew Martin was going to be coming at the end of the race there.

“It’s really special. I’m just proud of the guys. We had great pit stops all day and made great adjustments all day. At the end, we put ourselves in the right spot.”

“We didn’t start out the day like we wanted to—these guys persevered behind it,” Allgaier continued. “They pushed and made great adjustments on pit road—(crew chief) Jason Burdett and all the guys on the team did a great job. My wife and daughter are here. They may not be able to come out here (to Victory Lane), but I get to go celebrate with them. Just proud of the effort that we put in today.

“Martin had a great race car. They definitely had the car to beat at the beginning. We made good adjustments, and that’s what it came down to at the end.”

It was Truex’s first Xfinity Series race since 2010.

“We got back up there, but obviously, we were kind of out of tires at that point, champion who was racing in the series for the first time since 2010. “Got close, and then the last 10 (laps), the right rear was completely smoked off. Just had to use too much to get there.

“Thanks to (sponsor) Stanley and everyone else at JGR for letting me go do this. It was fun until I screwed it up. Just came up a little short at the end there.”

Harrison Burton, Noah Gragson and AJ Allmendinger rounded out the top-five. Riley Herbst, Michael Annett, Justin Haley, Daniel Memric and Ryan Seig finished sixth-10th, respectively..

After the race, Gragson and Daniel Hemric, who finished ninth, were involved in an altercation. The incident stemmed from an incident on pit road when Gragson backed into Hemric’s car.

Hemric confronted Gragson after the race and punches were thrown before they were quickly separated by NASCAR officials. Gragson was later called to the NASCAR hauler. If NASCAR decides to penalize Gragson for his actions, it will likely be announced next week.

Austin Cindric leads the points standings with 277 points followed by Hemric (-46), Burton (-65), Allmendinger (-83) and Justin Haley (-84).

The Xfinity Series will have the next two weeks off, returning to competition on Friday, April 9 at Martinsville Speedway.

Official Results:

1. Justin Allgaier
2. Martin Truex Jr.
3. Harrison Burton
4. Noah Gragson
5. AJ Allmendinger
6. Riley Herbst
7. Michael Annett
8. Justin Haley
9. Daniel Hemric
10. Ryan Sieg
11. Myatt Snider
12. Jeremy Clements
13. Austin Cindric
14. Landon Cassill
15. Santino Ferrucci
16. Josh Williams
17. Alex Labbe
18. Tommy Joe Martins
19. Jeffrey Earnhardt
20. Timmy Hill
21. Colby Howard
22. Jesse Little
23. Cody Ware
24. Bayley Currey
25. Jeb Burton
26. Jade Buford
27. David Starr
28. Kyle Weatherman
29. Joe Graf Jr
30. Blaine Perkins
31. Ryan Vargas
32. Mason Massey
33. Brandon Brown
34. Matt Mills
35. Dexter Bean
36. Gray Gaulding
37. Brandon Jones
38. Josh Berry
39. Chad Finchum
40. Brett Moffitt


Toyota Racing NXS Post-Race Recap — Atlanta 3.20.21

By
Official Release
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TRUEX, BURTON DRIVE TO TOP-THREE FINISHES IN ATLANTA
Truex nearly drives to victory in first Xfinity Series race in 10 years

ATLANTA (March 20, 2021) – Martin Truex Jr. (second) and Harrison Burton (third) drove to top-three finishes in their Toyota Supras in the NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday evening.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Race 6 of 33 – 250 miles, 163 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, Justin Allgaier*
2nd, MARTIN TRUEX JR.
3rd, HARRISON BURTON
4th, Noah Gragson*
5th, AJ Allmendinger*
9th, DANIEL HEMRIC
15th, SANTINO FERRUCCI
20th, TIMMY HILL
22nd, JESSE LITTLE
27th, DAVID STARR
32nd, MASON MASSEY
37th, BRANDON JONES
39th, CHAD FINCHUM
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

MARTIN TRUEX JR., No. 54 STANLEY Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd

Good return to the Xfinity Series, but did the penalty cost you?

“I’m not sure to be honest with you. We got back up there, but was kind of out of tires at that point. We got close, but the last 10 laps the right rear was really smoked off. I just had to use too much to get there, but I just want to thank everybody at STANLEY and JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) for letting me do this. It was fun until I screwed it up. I hate it for these guys, but just came up a little short at the end there.”

Can you recap your day and how hard were you driving that Supra?

“Harder than I needed to once I got in the back. Thanks to STANLEY and everybody at Toyota for allowing me to do this, everybody at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) for allowing me to do this. It was a lot of fun. I definitely hurt our chance at winning when I sped on pit road. Not making excuses, but this tach is a lot different than what I’m used to and it was really hard to see it. With all that said, still a pretty fun day and to come back to second, just ran out of rear tires at the end of the race there. Got to second and then just ran out of juice. Needed another pit stop and maybe another set of tires and we could have done something. All in all, it was a fun day.”

HARRISON BURTON, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd

How was your car handling as the track changed and your tires were wearing out?

“It was a fun day and fun running up front all day. Battled some adversity and got really loose in the middle of stage two there. Worked real hard to get the car better and finally got our Supra really fast in one and two and not quite fast enough in three and four. Our strength all day was just running the bottom in three and four, I could really out-wrap people. Eventually I just lost that and had to come off the bottom over there. One and two was the best we were all day, just had to give up three and four to do it. Just have to find the happy medium, but we have something to work off of and finally have some momentum rolling.”

DANIEL HEMRIC, No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th

What happened with the pit stop and then post-race between yourself and Noah Gragson?

“Pretty simple. He (Noah Gragson) had no idea what was going on out on the race track. We come down pit road and the guy pitted behind us when you accelerate when I was pulling into my box and it made me have to steer around the guy going to the 9’s (Gragson) box. I backed up and yes, it messed up both of our pit stops. I backed up and he decided to put it in reverse and cram into the right-front fender and knock a hole in our Poppy Bank Toyota Supra nose. We had to pit again and fix it. That was completely deliberate and it was absolutely ridiculous. Where I come from, you get your eye dotted when you do stuff like that.”

You said Noah Gragson backed up into your Supra?

“Oh yeah, crammed it into reverse and backed up. Punched a hole in the nose of our car. Punched a hole in our car and I got one punched in his eye. We’re even.”

Where did the problem with Noah all stem from?

“We had both struggled. He had issues in the crash early, and we just struggled with speed with our Poppy Bank Toyota Supra. We were working on it constantly. Dave Rogers (crew chief) was working on it to get it closer to where I needed to be. I came to pit there during that caution and I went to pull into my box and we had a guy who went to leave at the same time in the box behind us, and created me to have to go long, pull in the 9 (Noah Gragson) box and back up. I guess he was oblivous to what was going on and what my situation was, so by time the 9 got in his box, he crammed it in reverse and purposely drove the back of his car through the front of my Supra. If you punch a hole in my Supra, you are liable to get punched in the eye for that and that’s what happened.”

You have to keep racing each other this year, so what happens going forward?
“Like I said, there’s a hole in the front of my car and he got popped in the eye, so from where I stand we are in pretty good shape.”

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.

Ford Performance NASCAR: Herbst and Sieg Post Top-10 NXS Finishes in Atlanta

By
Official Release
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Ford Performance Post-Race Recap
NASCAR XFINITY Series – EchoPark 250
Atlanta Motor Speedway | Saturday, March 20, 2021

FORD FINISHING RESULTS:
6th — Riley Herbst
10th — Ryan Sieg
13th — Austin Cindric

FORD PERFORMANCE QUOTES

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang — DID YOUR MUSTANG GIVE IT EVERYTHING YOU WANTED IT TO TODAY? “Man, I think so. I was just struggling a little bit on the short runs there. I feel like if we could have maintained on those restarts and not had to get shuffled back and work our way up through the field on the long run, we could have been in victory lane because I thought our Monster Energy Ford Mustang was really really fast. I’m looking forward to coming back here in July.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 CarShop Ford Mustang — YOUR RACE TURNED ON THE LAST LAP OF STAGE ONE, DIDN’T IT. “Yeah, obviously getting damage there in stage one definitely didn’t help our chances today, but we struggled off the bat and I’m not sure that helped us. It was just a fight all day today. Hopefully, we learned some things. The good news is we’ve got a second race here to learn even more, so I feel all right about it. It definitely helps us with the notebook moving forward.”

YOU WERE 11TH AND EYEING A TOP 10 FINISH. WHAT HAPPENED IN THE CLOSING LAPS? “I saw 10th place and I drove really hard to get there and blew the tires off of it and that was that. That was the closest I was gonna be able to get and that’s how it went.”

Oscar Teran Takes Trans Am Pole at Charlotte

By
Official Release
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Drivers battle cold temperatures at Charlotte Motor Speedway

CONCORD, NORTH CAROLINA (20 March 2021) – The Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli drivers battled unseasonably low temperatures at Charlotte Motor Speedway during Saturday’s qualifying for the series newest championship, the Trans Am ProAm Challenge.

The 16-minute combined session started with TA2® drivers Sam Mayer and Ty Gibbs outpacing the faster TA class around the cold 19-turn Roval. But as the Pirelli tires came to temperature on Oscar Teran’s 850-horsepower No. 3 Breathless Racing Ford Mustang, the Panama local edged out Mayer for overall pole position with a fast-time of 1:20.196-secods, just .112-seconds ahead of the up-and-coming NASCAR driver.

“I am feeling great after that run,” Teran said. “The team has worked a lot on the car since our test yesterday. It took some time to warm up the tires, so we had to be careful on the first few laps, but then we were able to give it full gas to take the pole. Our goal for tomorrow is to finish the race and a podium would be great too.”

Mayer set the benchmark early, clocking his personal best time on Lap 3 (1:20.308-seconds) in the No. 8 M1-SLR/Fields Chevrolet Camaro. After losing the top spot at the halfway mark, Mayer scrambled to reclaim the position, but a black flag halted his progress and ended the session prematurely.

“Our session was nice, short and sweet,” said Mayer. “We only ran three laps and had speed right away out of the car which was good. It’s going to be a good race. We are going to be the dominate one to beat, so hopefully we end up with the win.”

Mike Cope Racing drivers will make up the second row. Gibbs qualified with the third-fastest overall time of 1:20.760-seconds in the No. 26 Mike Cope Race Cars.

Exiting the final chicane onto the front-straight, Corey Heim lost control his No. 99 Mike Cope Race Cars making contact with the barrier. He emerged unscathed, and is set to start from fourth on the grid after having clocked a fast lap time of 1:22.447-seconds before the incident.

“I just tried to push it too hard at the end and lost it,” said Heim. “It’s my first time here, and I am still getting used to the car and track. As a driver, you always want to be better, be faster. Fourth place is not where we wanted to end up, but we will regroup tonight and be quick tomorrow.”

ECC Motorsports made a last-minute driver change for the No. 44 ECC/AnchorBolt&Screw Chevrolet Corvette, swapping out AJ Henriksen for the team’s part-time national driver Adam Andretti, who took fifth with a quick time of 1:24.012-seconds.

On her final lap, Natalie Decker (No. 04 Nl29 Technologies Audi R8) edged out long-time Trans Am driver Mark Brummond (No. 24 GarageDoorDoctor/DynamicAutoTune BMW M4 GT4) by just .024-seconds to claim her first pole-position start of the season in the SGT class.

The first Trans Am event at Charlotte in more than two decades will likely see a lot of passing, as the grid will be bolstered by several hard chargers on Sunday.

Silver Hare Racing drivers Harrison Burton and Brandon Jones did not qualify as they were at Atlanta Motor Speedway preparing for Saturday’s Xfinity NASCAR race. The pair will return for Sunday’s Trans Am ProAm Challenge but will start from the back of the field.

TeamSLR owner Scott Lagasse Jr. elected to save tires for Sunday’s 100-mile feature and did not run Conner Mosak in Saturday’s qualifying session. Mosak will start from the back of the field tomorrow with Burton and Jones.

Simon Gregg, who was quickest in Friday’s afternoon test, turned laps in qualifying, however, a faulty transponder on the No. 59 The Peter Gregg Foundation Chevrolet Camaro did not record times.

Partnering with SCCA, Trans Am launched the crossover program during the off season. Making an easy path for road racing teams to crossover to Trans Am is the primary focus of the new ProAm Challenge, with the 2021 schedule and rules package providing flexibility for teams and drivers to chase both their ProAm Challenge and their SCCA Road Racing goals in the same year.

Charlotte Motor Speedway is the only stand-alone ProAm Challenge event, as the Sonoma Raceway round will be held in conjunction with the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli West Coast Championship season opener in April. National drivers participating in these rounds will not earn points toward their class title chase.

The combined class feature at Charlotte Motor Speedway for the Trans Am ProAm Challenge will go green on Sunday at 11:25 a.m for 45 laps (or 75 minutes) of high-pace American Muscle racing. Follow live Timing and Scoring at www.GoTransAm.com/livetiming.

Kyle Busch dominates Atlanta Truck Series race for 60th win

By
Briar Starr
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HAMPTON, GEORGIA - MARCH 20: Kyle Busch, driver of the #51 Cessna Toyota, celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Fr8Auctions 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 20, 2021 in Hampton, Georgia. (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

Kyle Busch took home his 60th career Truck Series victory on Saturday afternoon at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Busch started second and led the majority of the race by leading 102 of the 130 laps before grabbing the checkered flag.

“It’s just a great opportunity to race in great stuff with KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports), Cessna Beechcraft. This Toyota Tundra was awesome. I can’t say enough about my guys, everybody at Kyle Busch Motorsports,” Busch said.

Stage 1:

When the race started, it was all Kyle Busch Motorsports up front with John Hunter Nemechek and Busch swapping the lead multiple times. Early on, two-time champion Matt Crafton led the first three laps before Busch took the lead. Busch led through the competition caution on Lap 15 and continued to lead until the last lap of Stage 1. Nemechek then passed Busch off Turn 4 and would grab the stage victory. Busch, Austin Hill, Stewart Friesen, Ross Chastain, Derek Kraus, Crafton, Zane Smith, Sheldon Creed, and Johnny Sauter completed the Top 10.

Stage 2:

Stage 2 was a carbon copy of Stage 1 with Nemechek once again winning the stage. During the stage break, there were four drivers that were penalized. Derek Kraus was penalized for a crew member over the wall too soon, Friesen was penalized for an uncontrolled tire and Tyler Ankrum and Austin Wayne Self were penalized for being too fast on pit road.

Stage 3:

As the final stage started to wind down, pit road began to heat up with the final round of green-flag pit stops that occurred with 33 laps to go. Race leader Busch didn’t make his pit stop until three laps later with 30 laps to go. Around 23 to go when the pit stops were complete, Busch cycled back to the top of the leaderboard and maintained the lead for the remainder of the race to win his sixth Truck Series Atlanta win.

“It’s great to get back to Victory Lane. It’s cool to get back to Victory Lane in Billy Ballew’s (former NCWTS team owner) backyard here in Atlanta. We carried the Billy Ballew Motorsports decal today. If you need a deal on a sweet used car, go see him in Dawsonville. All of the Chase Elliott fans want to go there, but tell them that I sent ya,” Busch said.

John Hunter Nemechek won both stages and ended up finishing third for his third top-five of the 2021 season.

“Solid performance by our No. 4 Kyle Busch Motorsports team,” Nemechek said. “Overall, I feel good in our performance, just disappointed to come home third. Kyle (Busch, Team Owner) was really fast today. We had our ups and downs there toward the end, but kind of ran in the top three all day was a solid performance. Overall, won both stages and solid points day for us, continuing to move forward to Bristol Dirt next week.”

There were three cautions for 16 laps and eight lead changes among four different leaders.

Official Results following the FR8 Auctions 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway:
  1. Kyle Busch, led 102 laps
  2. Austin Hill
  3. John Hunter Nemechek, won both stages, led 21 laps
  4. Johnny Sauter
  5. Sheldon Creed
  6. Zane Smith
  7. Ross Chastain
  8. Matt Crafton
  9. Brett Moffitt
  10. Stewart Friesen
  11. Grant Enfinger
  12. Carson Hocevar
  13. Derek Kraus, 1 lap down
  14. Parker Kligerman, 1 lap down
  15. Ryan Truex, 1 lap down
  16. Ben Rhodes, 1 lap down
  17. Todd Gilliland, 1 lap down
  18. Tyler Ankrum, 1 lap down
  19. Tanner Gray, 1 lap down
  20. Spencer Davis, 1 lap down
  21. Hailie Deegan, 1 lap down
  22. Josh Berry, 1 lap down
  23. Austin Wayne Self, 2 laps down
  24. Chase Purdy, 2 laps down
  25. Jordan Anderson, 2 laps down
  26. Tate Fogleman, 2 laps down
  27. Cory Roper, 3 laps down
  28. Danny Bohn, 3 laps down
  29. Codie Rohrbaugh, 4 laps down
  30. Timothy Peters, 4 laps down
  31. Dawson Cram, 4 laps down
  32. Bret Holmes, 4 laps down
  33. Spencer Boyd, 5 laps down
  34. Ryan Ellis, 6 laps down
  35. Chandler Smith, 6 laps down
  36. Bill Lester, 7 laps down
  37. Akinori Ogata, 7 laps down
  38. Jennifer Jo Cobb, 13 laps down
  39. Raphael Lessard, OUT, Transmission
  40. Norm Benning, OUT, Too Slow

Up Next: The Camping World Truck Series will visit Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday night, March 27, for the first-ever Bristol Dirt Race.

Toyota Racing NCWTS Post-Race Recap — Atlanta 3.20.21

By
Official Release
-

BUSCH SCORES 60th TRUCK SERIES WIN
Tundra sweeps top-four finishers, scores fourth straight victory to start 2021 season

ATLANTA (March 20, 2021) – Kyle Busch drove to his first Truck Series win of the season and 60th of his career at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon. Tundra drivers swept the top-four finishing positions and have won the first four Truck Series events to start the 2021 season.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Atlanta Motor Speedway
Race 4 of 23 – 130 Laps, 200.2 Miles

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, KYLE BUSCH
2nd, AUSTIN HILL
3rd, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
4th, JOHNNY SAUTER
5th, Sheldon Creed*
8th, MATT CRAFTON
10th, STEWART FRIESEN
11th, GRANT ENFINGER
13th, DEREK KRAUS
16th, BEN RHODES
20th, SPENCER DAVIS
28th, DANNY BOHN
35th, CHANDLER SMITH
37th, AKINORI OGATA

*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Cessna Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 1st

What does winning, especially the way you did today, do for you mentally?

“It’s just a great opportunity to race in great stuff with KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports), Cessna Beechcraft. This Toyota Tundra was awesome. I can’t say enough about my guys, everybody at Kyle Busch Motorsports. They do such a great job with a lot of hard work. Without their preparation and dedication, we wouldn’t be as successful as we’ve been as an organization. It’s great to get back to Victory Lane. It’s cool to get back to Victory Lane in Billy Ballew’s (former NCWTS team owner) backyard here in Atlanta. We carried the Billy Ballew Motorsports decal today. If you need a deal on a sweet used car, go see him in Dawsonville. All of the Chase Elliott fans want to go there, but tell them that I sent ya.”

Marty Lindley, your crew chief, you brought him to KBM. He got his first win today. What does he bring to this team?

“It’s just a part of good people, having good people. Coach (Joe Gibbs) always says you have to have good people to have success. We’ve had great people, and we’ve had good people too and it’s just a matter of evolving. This sport is ever-changing. Six months from now the setups will be different again. It’s cool to have fresh ideas, different concepts and things that we can continue and try and continue to improve. It’s good to see John Hunter (Nemechek) come home with another top-three today with him racing for a championship this year, that’s important. Certianly, I want to give a shoutout to Samantha (Busch) and Brexton (Busch) at home. Brexton is racing tomorrow, so he didn’t make it this weekend, so good luck buddy. Thank you to Rowdy Energy, Murphy USA for being on board today.”

Did you think win 60 in the Truck Series was attainable?

“Yeah, obviously I thought we had a great truck at the start of the race. We just kept working on it all day. We were loose to start and we got it a lot better there. That final stage, we just took off and it was super fast, super good. Can’t say enough about everybody at Kyle Busch Motorsports – thank you. Thank you to Cessna Beechcraft, TRD, Toyota and Rowdy Energy, Murphy USA. Billy Ballew, if you need a used car in the Dawsonville area, I know that’s Chase Elliott country, but tell them that Kyle Busch sent you.”

What contributions has Marty Lindley made to Kyle Busch Motorsports thus far?

“It’s all about great people. You win with great people in this sport and we’ve had great people and we still have good people. Just bringing Marty (Lindley, crew chief) on has been a refresher if you will. Six months from now, setups may not be the same and so just having some of those fresh ideas and some of those different concepts that we can apply to our Tundras to make sure we can go out there and continue to win and have good days like we did with John Hunter (Nemechek) and myself and race for that championship.”

Did you leave Las Vegas wanting to win in this series that much more?

“Yeah, absolutely. Anytime I’m in my truck I want to be able to go out there and score the victory. With good competition and good competitors, it’s not easy. With John Hunter (Nemechek) coming on board, at Vegas he was super fast and did everything right, no mistakes. We’ll go back and regroup and make sure that 4 (Nemechek) truck can stay in front of that 16 (Austin Hill) truck the rest of this year.”

AUSTIN HILL, No. 16 United Rentals Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing Enterprises
Finishing Position: 2nd

Second for the second year in a row in Atlanta. You could match Kyle Busch’s speed, but was it just early in the run where you gave some up?

“Yeah, when we had that last restart. I was trying to save my tires a little bit. I didn’t want to kill them right off the bat. When it was go time, I started matching Kyle’s (Busch) lap times. We had a green flag pit stop, got out in second. The pit crew did an awesome job today, but yeah, I kind of gave that gap up and I could never close it. I was matching his lap times, but I need to be a little bit quicker. Our United Rentals Toyota Tundra was really fast today. We had to fight a little bit of adversity today with restarts and stuff that happened on the race track. We had to rebound, but all in all, a solid day. I wish we were racing here again because I love Atlanta Motor Speedway. It’s my home track. I can’t thank the fans enough for coming out and watching today. It was awesome to have you guys back. I just wish I could have got the job done. This is a fun place to run.”

What more did you need on the final long run to catch Kyle Busch?

“The biggest thing was when we had that last restart and we had the long run, I didn’t race the 4 (John Hunter Nemechek) has hard as I should have. I kind of let him go instead of racing for that second spot and I let them kind of get out and I was saving tires just trying not to slip the right-front or right-rear, just trying to keep the tires on it. Right when I started going and we were about to pit, the last 10 or 15 laps, I was really trying to go. I could run what Kyle (Busch) was running and every now and then I would run a little faster, but I just got too far of a gap on that restart and that’s really what cost us there at the end of the race. When we all had our pit stops, my pit crew did awesome, I got out in second and actually closed on Kyle a little bit after those pit sequences. I would run a little faster than he would, he would run a little faster than me and we were just kind of going back and forth. Traffic played a bit factor in today. All in all, it was a solid day for our United Rentals Toyota Tundra. Just stings a little bit. I want to win here so bad. I wish we were coming here again. I wish we raced here at least twice a year. Such a fun place to come to. You’re slipping and sliding, you’re up on the wheel each and every lap so it’s so much fun. Thank the fans for coming out. Just needed a little more at the end there. I needed to fire off a little harder there and not let them get so far out. I can beat Kyle, I just didn’t today. I ended up being second to him.”

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK, No. 4 Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 3rd

What did you need to catch the top-two in today’s race?

“Needed a little bit of a different adjustment there at the end. We were off a little bit, I felt like, all day. Overall, not terrible. Just proud of all my guys here at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports). This Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra was fast all day. I don’t know what happened there on that green flag pit stop, but I’ll have to go back and study some. I don’t know if I gave up too much getting to pit road or what. It seems like that’s where we ended up getting beat and then it kind of transferred to the race track and made it even bigger. Overall, proud of the performance, great points day and won both stages. Came home third. All we can do is keep clicking away at these top-threes and our wins are definitely coming.”

Was the tire fall-off what you expected on the longer green flag runs?

“I know I ran the truck race here last year, but we had damage early and really didn’t get to understand that. I haven’t been here in a truck in probably four years or three years, something like that and actually have been decent. It’s a little bit different getting back to the Truck Series and having less sets of tires and what not, but overall, fun day and solid performance.”

Couldn’t quite out-do the boss today, but how was your run overall?

“I felt like we were strong in stage one and stage two. I felt like we could hang with Kyle (Busch), and then we got around in him in lap traffic at the end of the stages. Solid points day overall for our Mobil 1 Toyota Tundra. I can’t thank everyone at KBM (Kyle Busch Motorsports) enough and all of our partners for supporting this deal. Overall, I’m happy with the day, but I’m disappointed. I was hoping to beat Kyle today, but I didn’t have anything for him there at the end. I’ve got to go study some green flag pit stop stuff and get better there. It’s always a work in progress. We will be back next week at Bristol dirt and hopefully go get us a win there.”

JOHNNY SAUTER, No. 13 Vivitar/RealTree Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 4th

Can you describe your race and the adjustments that had to be made both on pit road and behind the wheel?

“We just got behind there, we had a fuel can issue or something on those first stops so we had to go to the back. I knew in the first 15 laps that we has a really good Vivitar Toyota. We just had to bide our time and get track position back. I think we were close to the top-10 by the end of the second stage. Just had really good long run speed. Really proud of Joe (Shear, crew chief) and everybody at ThorSport. Thank Toyota, TRD, Vivitar – this is the kind of run that you need, especially when the year started out the way that it had. We had speed, got a little bit of work to do, but a long ways from where we were in Las Vegas. Just proud of everybody.”

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in the U.S. and North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands. During that time, Toyota has created a tremendous value chain as our teams have contributed to world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks in North America, where we have 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama (10 in the U.S.), and directly employ more than 47,000 people (over 36,000 in the U.S.). Our 1,800 North American dealerships (nearly 1,500 in the U.S.) sold nearly 2.8 million cars and trucks (nearly 2.4 million in the U.S.) in 2019.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

Kyle Busch Dominates the Fr8Auctions 200 at Atlanta Motor Speedway

By
Official Release
-

HAMPTON, Ga. (March 20, 2021) – Kyle Busch dominated the last 30 laps and finished more than four seconds ahead of the field to win the Fr8Auctions 200 on Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

It was his 60th Camping World Series Truck race victory.

“It’s always cool to get back to victory lane,” Busch said. “And it’s good to see John Hunter come home with a top-3 today, too. Obviously him racing for a championship, that’s important.”

John Hunter Nemechek, as the standings leader, started on the pole. The 23-year-old was coming off a win in Las Vegas on March 5 where he held off his team owner, Busch. It set up another showdown between the two Toyotas in Atlanta.

At least until Busch began to pull away from the field in the final stage. Nemechek finished third.

“I was hoping to beat Kyle, but I didn’t have anything for him at the end,” Nemechek said with a little laugh.

Austin Hill also made a significant move down the stretch, carving his way up to second, but there was no overcoming the gap to Busch. The runner-up finish was Hill’s best of the season.

“That last restart we had, I was trying to save my tires a little bit,” Hill said. “I didn’t want to kill them right off the bat. I started matching Kyle’s lap times and we had the green-flag restarts and got out in second. The pit crew did an awesome job today, but I gave that gap up and I could never close it. I needed to be a little quicker.”

The Winston Ga., native, who wore a UGA mask for his post-race TV interview, lamented this being the lone AMS stop for the trucks this season. Only the Cup and Xfinity Series return in July for the track’s second weekend of the 2021.

“All in all, a solid day,” Hill said. “I love Atlanta Motor Speedway, my home track. Can’t thank the fans enough for coming out. It was awesome to have you guys back. I just wish we could have gotten the job done and wish we could come back. This is a fun place to run.”

Johnny Sauter was fourth and Sheldon Creed, the only Chevy among a slew of Toyotas at the top of the standings, was fifth.

Zane Smith, Ross Chastain, Matt Crafton, Brett Moffitt and Stewart Friesen rounded out the top 10. Crafton (2015) and Moffitt (2018) are former winners at Atlanta. The 2020 winner, Grant Enfinger, was 11th.

It was just the fourth race of the 2021 season. Ben Rhodes won the first two at Daytona, on the super speedway and then the road course, in February.

Fr8Auctions announced a new initiative with Our Motorsports and driver, Brett Moffitt

By
Official Release
-

Fr8Auctions announced a new initiative with Our Motorsports and driver, Brett Moffitt, for today’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. If Moffit drives the No. 02 Fr8Auctions Chevrolet Camaro SS to victory lane at the Echo Park 250 race this afternoon, Fr8Auctions will make a $50,000 charitable donation to the Brave Like Wyatt Foundation, a Georgia-based 501(c)3 non-profit foundation that offers financial support to families of children listed for pediatric transplants and coordinates donation drives to benefit families who are inpatient at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Atlanta-based Fr8Auctions and owner Marcus Barela have been a major supporter of the Brave Like Wyatt Foundation since its inception last year.

“Brett (Moffitt) and Our Motorsports are off to a great start to the 2021 season and are knocking on the door for their first race win,” said Barela. “A career first Xfinity Series win today by Brett would be a big deal and help a lot of families in need.”

Moffitt is the only driver doing double duty today, driving in both the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series races at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

“It would be a great honor to win today for Fr8Auctions and Brave Like Wyatt in their home market,” said Moffitt. “The Our Motorsports No. 02 team continues to make great progress each week, so a win today would be doubly sweet.”

About Brave Like Wyatt:

Brave Like Wyatt, LLC coordinates donation drives to benefit families who are inpatient at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. We have donated toys, pantry items and laundry detergent so families can have free snacks and can take care of basic needs like washing their clothes. We also participate in quarterly dinners to feed the inpatient families on the Cardiac Unit by supporting the Feed The Heart program and the patients and families on the Aflac Cancer and Blood Disorders Unit. 

About Fr8Auctions:

Fr8auctions has served the resale industry with the largest selection of merchandise in the country for over 15 years. Our merchandise is sold biweekly during a live auction in Atlanta, GA with thousands of pallets from major retailers, freightlines, and original manufacturers. We are building the resale community one pallet at a time! For more information, visit: Fr8Auctions.com

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