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Podium Finish for Round 3 Racing in Dramatic Barber Endurance Race

By
Official Release
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Leeds, Ala. (6 March 2021) – After two days of highs and lows, Round 3 Racing (R3R) kicked off the World Racing League (WRL) race weekend at Barber Motorsports Park by taking a GP2 class podium finish on Saturday.

The nine-hour race opened the double-header weekend that will feature 16 hours of endurance racing at the Alabama road course.

The No. 601 Team Cooper Tires Porsche Boxster of Mike Gilbert, Mo Dadkhah and Loni Unser led the trio of Porsche entries, finishing third in the GP2 class. The No. 604 Sentinel Porsche Boxster was close behind, finishing fifth with Christian Maloof, Michele Abbate and James Candelaria behind the wheel.

The podium close to the first day of racing capped a dramatic build up to the race event. In Friday’s opening practice session, the No. 604 Sentinel entry began to smoke. After a thorough inspection, the team decided that the issue required a new motor.

As the crew got to work, bad luck struck as the No. 601 Team Cooper Tires Porsche Boxster was plagued by the same issue. Utilizing all the backup resources at the track, the R3R team was forced to take the No. 601 to Atlanta for an overnight engine change.

With just one hour to spare, the team hustle was rewarded as the No. 601 made it back to the track to take the green flag with Mike Gilbert behind the wheel.

Gilbert pushed the Boxster to the top of the running order in the opening corners of the first lap. Keeping the car in the top two spots, Gilbert clocked a flying lap of 1:42.884-minutes on Lap 38 before handing the car over to Loni Unser on Lap 57.

Unser showed skill beyond her 23-years of age as she kept her eyes ahead during her three-and-a-half hour stint. A race marked by yellow flag conditions saw Unser navigate six of the 14 caution periods. Keeping the car clean was critical to keep the Porsche Boxster pit stop strategy intact, as Dadkhah swapped positions with Unser on Lap 147. Control of the No. 601 to the checkered flag was up to race starter Gilbert as he got back into the car in fourth. Careful maneuvering saw Gilbert break into the top three where he set the team’s fastest lap of the race on Lap 255 and secured the podium finish to close the Cinderella story day.

“This was an unbelievable day and it’s all about the crew,” said Gilbert. “Brad (McCall) and Buz (McCall) found and bought a motor last minute. AJ, Brian and Dusty drove three hours to Road Atlanta to put it in overnight, they got back here last minute to prep the car but got us on the grid with two minutes to spare. By turn five on the first lap, we were in first place. This is all about the hard work of the Round 3 Racing crew. There is absolutely nothing we could do without them. Racing doesn’t matter if you don’t have a car that’s on the track, those guys are amazing.”

The comeback story continued for the No. 604 Sentinel Porsche Boxster. A clean race and carefully executed pit stops kept the Porsche entry in contention heading into the final sprint of the race. Maloof, Abbate, and Candelaria raced to a fifth place finish to open the weekend.

“The Sentinel car was really a pleasure to drive,” said Maloof. “We had to do our practice during the race but the car was confidence-instilling which allowed me to push the car harder as the race went on. Thankfully, I was able to find about eight seconds between the first lap of the day and the end, even as the tires went off the car was just so stable and so consistent. The R3R crew put together a phenomenal car in such little time.”

The No. 702 Hagerty Porsche Cayman entry of Sarah Montgomery, Brad and Buz McCall had a strong start as Montgomery made quick progress through the GTO field to gain two positions in the first lap. Montgomery continued to fight with her competitors making her way up to sixth place before bringing the No. 702 Porsche to pitlane. After filling the car with fuel, a battery malfunction forced Montgomery to return to the track six laps down. Maximizing the remainder of her stint, Montgomery laid down quick laps before handing over the car to the experienced Buz McCall.
Just as McCall was settling into race pace, the No. 702 Hagerty machine made contact with the barrier at the exit of Turn 14. The incident caused terminal damage to the Porsche, ending it’s weekend early.

“I came up behind a competitor at the exit of Turn 14 and I was being patient so I could pass them down the front straight but all of a sudden the car stepped out from under me making a quick turn to the right where I was just a passenger,” said McCall. “I don’t think anything broke in the car, but I wasn’t on the brakes or shifting and I didn’t hit anything so it is kind of a mystery what caused it. I certainly didn’t have enough time to react but I did have enough time to close my eyes..I feel terrible for Sarah (Montgomery) and Brad (McCall). It is not a very good start to our season but this could be repaired, and we’ll get ready for the next race.”

The Porsche Boxsters will complete the weekend in the World Racing League Barber 7 Hour race Sunday, March 7th with the green flag at 8AM CT. The Round 3 Racing entries will feature live in-car streaming during the endurance race with the No. 601 Team Cooper Tires Porsche Boxster stream available at https://youtu.be/XJ7QPVXGYE8.

Luke Lambert to call 300th Cup race as crew chief at Las Vegas

By
Andrew Kim
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Photo by Matt Hazlett/Getty Images.

A significant milestone start is in the making for Luke Lambert, crew chief for Chris Buescher and the No. 17 Roush Fenway Racing Ford Mustang team in the NASCAR Cup Series. By participating in this Sunday’s Cup event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Lambert will call his 300th event atop the pit box in NASCAR’s premier series.

A native of Mount Airy, North Carolina, Lambert grew up as a race fan and briefly competed in go-karts before attending North Carolina State University. During his college education, he worked as a driver and mechanic as part of the university’s Wolfpack Motorsports program.

Following his graduation from NC State University in 2005, Lambert joined Richard Childress Racing. He started as a mechanical engineer before assuming the eventual role as race engineer, where he was a part of RCR’s No. 31 Chevrolet team driven by veteran Jeff Burton.

Midway through the 2011 NASCAR Cup Series season, Lambert was named crew chief for Burton and RCR’s No. 31 Chevrolet team, where he replaced veteran Todd Berrier. Lambert’s debut as a crew chief occurred at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July, where Burton finished 35th following an engine failure.

Lambert remained as Burton’s crew chief for the final 17 Cup races of the 2011 season. Together, they achieved a best on-track result of second place at Talladega Superspeedway in October, two top-five results, five top-10 results and a 20th-place result in the final standings.

After spending the 2012 season in the Xfinity Series, where he guided veteran Elliott Sadler to four victories and a runner-up result in the final standings, Lambert returned to the Cup Series in 2013 and reunited with Burton as his crew chief. Working with Burton in all but two of the 36-race schedule, the combo achieved a best on-track result of third place at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in July, two top-five results, four top-10 results and another 20th-place result in the final standings.

Lambert remained at RCR and as crew chief for the No. 31 Chevrolet team in 2014, but he was paired with veteran Ryan Newman when Burton scaled back as a part-time competitor. While Lambert and Newman did not record a single victory throughout the 2014 Cup season, they were one of the most consistent teams on the track as they achieved five top-five results and 16 top-10 results throughout the entire season. In addition to making the Playoffs, they made it all the way to the Championship Round, where Newman went on to finish in a career-best second place in the final standings. 

Lambert returned for a third full-time season in the Cup Series as crew chief for RCR’s No. 31 Chevrolet team with Newman remaining at the team. In late March 2015, Lambert was suspended for six races and fined $125,000 as a result of NASCAR discovering illegal modifications made to the tires on Newman’s car at Auto Club Speedway, which also cost Newman and RCR 75 driver/owner points. Despite the early suspension, Lambert and Newman went on to achieve a pair of season-best third-place results, five top-five results and nine top-10 results. While Newman made the Playoffs, he was eliminated from title contention following the Round of 12 and went on to finish 11th in the final standings. By the time the 2015 season concluded, Lambert also surpassed 100 starts in the Cup Series.

In 2016, Lambert and Newman only achieved a season-best result of third place at Kentucky Speedway in July, two top-five results, 10 top-10 results and an 18th-place result in the final standings after missing the Playoffs.

On March 19, 2017, at Phoenix Raceway, a late caution enabled Lambert to make a decisive pit strategy call to keep Newman out on the track with the race lead on old tires. During an overtime attempt, the strategic call paid off as Newman held off Kyle Larson to win and deliver the first NASCAR Cup career victory for Lambert. In addition, the Phoenix victory snapped a 127-race winless drought for Newman and a 112-race winless drought for Richard Childress Racing.

In total, Lambert and Newman achieved one victory, seven top-five results and 13 top-10 results in 2017. They made the Playoffs for the third time in four seasons, but were eliminated following the Round of 16 and settled in 16th place in the final standings.

Following the 2018 Cup season, where Lambert and Newman achieved nine top-10 results and a final points result of 17th place, Newman departed RCR for Roush Fenway Racing while Lambert was paired with Daniel Hemric, who was assigned to drive RCR’s No. 8 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in 2019. By then, Lambert had also surpassed 200 starts in the Cup Series.

Participating in all but one of the 36-race schedule in 2019, Lambert and Hemric achieved a pole, one top-five result, two top-10 results and a 25th-place result in the final standings. In addition, Hemric was able to achieve the 2019 Cup Rookie-of-the-Year title.

For the 2020 season, Lambert departed RCR and joined Roush Fenway Racing to serve as crew chief for Chris Buescher and the No. 17 Ford Mustang team in the Cup Series. In their first race together, Buescher recorded a strong third-place result in the season-opening Daytona 500. They, however, went on to record an additional top-five result and an additional seven top-10 results before concluding the season in 21st place in the final standings.

This season, Lambert and Buescher have achieved results of 31st, 11th and 19th through the first three Cup scheduled races. They are ranked in 15th place in the regular-season standings.

Through 299 previous appearances in the Cup Series, Lambert has achieved one victory, one pole, 26 top-five results and 80 top-10 career results.

Catch Lambert’s milestone start in the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, March 7, at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

Allmendinger nabs a win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

By
Michelle Lippold
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AJ Allmendinger celebrates after winning the NASCAR Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 300 at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 06, 2021. Photo by Abbie Parr/Getty Images

The NASCAR Xfinity Series held their event today at Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Alsco Uniforms 300. Throughout the race, it seemed as if there were several cars that were capable of dominating and winning the race however only one driver got it done. AJ Allmendinger, driving his No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet, took advantage of a late-stage caution to get the lead and stay there taking the checkered flag.

Allmendinger stated after the race, “First off, it’s great to have you all back in the grandstands, that’s the most important thing. Without you and all of you at home we can’t do this, thank you so much for showing up and packing this place.” He continued, “I’m just emotional, this could be the last win, I don’t know. I hope not, I think we can do a lot more.”

Daniel Hemric brought his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 home in second place, also having a great race.

Hemric said, “First off, I’m so proud of the rebound of my pit crew this week.” Adding, “You hate to give one away like that but you know we wanted to have more speed to lead laps and win stages and we did that today. I lined up the shot there I just got beat. Congratulations to A.J.”

Brandon Jones didn’t have the win but came in at a respectable third in his Joe Gibbs Racing No. 19 Toyota.

Stage 1

Stage 1 would only have one caution for the spinning car of Stefan Parsons. Hemric and Austin Cindric had really strong cars. Cindric led a good majority of the stage but, had to make a last-lap pass to win it which he did.

Stage 2

Stage 2 was rather chaotic at times having three cautions. Cindric cut a tire but was saved from losing a lap when the caution came out for Riley Herbst and Ty Dillon when they got together. Hemric dominated this stage and went on to win it with ease.

Stage 3

The Final Stage saw several great battles on the track, Hemric, Allmendinger, B.Jones, and Cindric were swapping the lead but it would be Allmendinger bringing home the prize. He took the lead with 62 laps to go and pretty much never looked back.

Hemric, B. Jones, Cindric and Noah Gragson would round out the top five. Michael Annett, Josh Berry, Justin Haley, Harrison Burton, and Jeb Burton finished sixth through 10, respectively.

Cindric leads in the Xfinity Series points standings with 191 points, second is Hemric with 170 points, third is Brandon Jones with 140 points, fourth is Ross Chastain with 133 points, and rounding out the top five is Justin Haley with 128 points.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads next to Phoenix Raceway on March 13.

Toyota Racing NXS Post-Race Recap — Las Vegas 3.6.21

By
Official Release
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HEMRIC, JONES CONTINUE STRONG STARTS IN LAS VEGAS
Daniel Hemric, Brandon Jones score their third consecutive top-five finishes

LAS VEGAS (March 6, 2021) – Daniel Hemric (second) and Brandon Jones (third) drove their Toyota Supras to top-five finishes in the Alsco Uniforms 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Saturday evening.

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 4 of 33 – 300 miles, 200 laps

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, AJ Allmendinger*
2nd, DANIEL HEMRIC
3rd, BRANDON JONES
4th, Austin Cindric*
5th, Noah Gragson*
9th, HARRISON BURTON
13h, SANTINO FERRUCCI
26th, JESSE LITTLE
28th, CHAD FINCHUM
31st, TY DILLON
36th, STEFAN PARSONS
37th, TIMMY HILL
*non-Toyota driver

TOYOTA QUOTES

DANIEL HEMRIC, No. 18 Poppy Bank Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 2nd

You were so close again. How was your race today?

“First off, so proud of the rebound for my pit crew this week. I’m so proud of everyone on this Poppy Bank Toyota Supra. The JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) Supras were so fast. You hate to have one get away like that, but we wanted to come here and lead laps and win stages and we did that today. We wound up with a shot and just got beat. Congratulations to AJ (Allmendinger) — just got beat.”

How strong was your race car today?

“This was probably, there’s no probably about it, this was the best Poppy Bank Toyota Supra we’ve had all year. We’ve had good finishes, but by far the most speed we’ve had. We come here to win these races for sure. Disappointed to have one get away like that and get beat, but AJ (Allmendinger) did an incredible job. Felt like our cars were fairly equal. I would be a little better than him on one part of the run and he would be better than me at one part of the run. I just took off on the splitter there on the last couple short runs. I’ll tell you, we came a long way. Dave (Rogers, crew chief) wasn’t very thrilled and I wasn’t very thrilled last week after we left Homestead, but we did the right things this week. Close and if we keep doing that, we’ll win plenty this year.”

BRANDON JONES, No. 19 Menards/Turtle Wax Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 3rd

Where would you have wanted to be better in today’s race?

“I think we’re bringing incredible Supras to the race track every week and it’s showing. This is the most consistent that we’ve started out a year with a lot of top-fives already to kick it off. It’s a ton of momentum to keep leading into these mile-and-a-halves. We all know how well this car runs in Phoenix so I’m looking forward to getting back to that race track next week. I think I was missing a little bit of both front turn and rear grip. I’m so good on those restarts and the 16 (AJ Allmendinger), he just threw a huge block and kind of upset our air a little bit. All in all, this was a fabulous weekend. Got good stage points and a good ending position. On to our best track.”

HARRISON BURTON, No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 9th

Can you talk about what happened between yourself and Austin Cindric?

“Not really, I don’t know. I made a block that I thought I had plenty of time on and apparently not. I don’t know, it’s hard to say. I literally just got out of the car. I would like to see it. It happened so fast and I don’t really know. Just really disappointing because we had so many issues and fought through them and got to where I thought we were a third-place car at the end. Then just had an unfortunate deal there. I’ll look at it and see, I’m not real sure what happened. I do know that I’m proud of our team for working really hard and getting better as the race went on.”

SANTINO FERRUCCI, No. 26 HydraVes Technologies Toyota Supra, Sam Hunt Racing
Finishing Position: 13th

Great finish today, Santino. How was the race as a whole?

“We rolled out of the trailer and took the green and we started really strong, but then we started to get really loose, like super-duper scary loose and we just held on to it until the end of stage one. Andrew (Abbott, crew chief) on the box just put like six turns of wedge into the thing, completely reset the balance of the car for stage two and we just turned into a rocket ship. The HydraVes Supra was so quick, so, so quick and we just held on, ran our race to stage three and finished out strong racing some JR Motorsports cars.”

Two races down headed into Phoenix this weekend, what did you learn today that you can translate over to that track?

“You just learn that these races are so long. It doesn’t really matter what happens in stage one or two. It’s just important to keep the car clean and to listen and work with everybody and get it set right. Once you get it set right, you can come from anywhere to do well. I think our communication as a team, as a whole, from Homestead to Vegas was just miles different. I’m just looking forward to more of that.”

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: Cindric Keeps Top 5 Streak Alive with 4th-Place Run in Las Vegas

By
Official Release
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Ford Performance Post-Race Recap
NASCAR XFINITY Series – Alsco Uniforms 300
Las Vegas Motor Speedway | Saturday, March 6, 2021

FORD FINISHING RESULTS:
4th — Austin Cindric
38th — Ryan Sieg
40th — Riley Herbst

FORD PERFORMANCE QUOTES

AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 22 Carquest Auto Parts Ford Mustang — WHAT HAPPENED WITH YOU AND HARRISON BURTON? “He just threw a block on the frontstretch and at that part of the racetrack the cars really unloaded. I was just driving hard. At the end of the day, it was probably pretty avoidable on both parties, but obviously he was able to keep it off the wall and get a top 10. Either way, that wasn’t really the catalyst for my day. We cut a tire down when we were one of the best cars and it took us the entire race to get back to fourth, so we needed 100 more miles and maybe we would have had a shot with our Carquest Ford Mustang. All good on my end, just bad luck.”

RILEY HERBST, No. 98 South Point Ford Mustang — “It just sucks. People spin in front of you. It’s happened probably the last three weeks where people have started wrecking in front of me and there’s no place for me to go, so something has got to change. This is an absolute shame.”

THIS IS YOUR HOMETOWN. HOW MUCH WERE YOU REALLY WANTING TO PERFORM HERE TODAY? “Not just that, I just wanted to get a good race. Last week we got fenced. The week before people wrecked in front of us just like this week and it’s just a shame. I just want to run a full race without somebody wrecking in front of me.”

Our Motorsports Looks to Tackle Sin City with Tyler Reddick and Brett Moffitt

By
Official Release
-

Our Motorsports announced earlier this week that they have acquired the No.23 for the rest of the 2021 NASCAR Xfinity Series season. The team will be adding the No.23 alongside the No.02 effort which Brett Moffitt is entered in for the entirety of the 2021 season. 

This weekend, Tyler Reddick steps into the No.23 Chevy with a returning sponsor for Our Motorsports with Quartz Hill Records highlighting Ben Gallaher’s new single – “Every Small Town”. Tyler will be starting from the 40th starting position Saturday in his Quartz Hill Records / Ben Gallaher Chevy.

Meanwhile, Brett Moffitt and the No.02 Our Motorsports Chevy will start from the seventh starting position this Saturday in the Alsco Uniforms 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The No.02 team enters the weekend fifth in owners’ points standings.

Driver Brett Moffit: 

“Three races in, it’s been really cool to see how far our team has come. We’re competing with major teams and competing for wins every week. Now that we’re really getting into the heat of the season, we look forward to the challenge of getting into a rhythm and doing it every week. If we keep bringing cars like we have to the first three races of the season, we’ll get our weekend on the top of the results, and I can’t wait for the entire Our Motorsports team to be rewarded for all their hard work.” 

Past Results at Las Vegas for Our Motorsports: 

Last year, Moffit piloted the No.02 for both races in Las Vegas. The team earned a 15th place finish in the spring race and a 14th place finish in the fall.

Tune in: 

The NASCAR Xfinity Series and Our Motorsports take on Sin City Saturday for the Alsco Uniforms 300 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Fans can catch the action on FS1, MRN/Sirius XM NASCAR, and other local radio affiliates at 4:30pm and by following Our Motorsports on social media. 

Toyota Racing NCWTS Post-Race Recap — Las Vegas 3.5.21

By
Official Release
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JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK SCORES FIRST TOYOTA WIN
Toyota sweeps the top-five finishers in Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS (March 5, 2021) – John Hunter Nemechek scored his first NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports and Toyota on Friday evening at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as he becomes the 36th different driver to win in a Tundra. It is the seventh career Truck Series victory for Nemechek. For the fourth time in Toyota history, Nemechek led a Tundra sweep of the top-five finishing positions in this evening’s race (World Wide Technology Raceway – April 2006, Talladega Superspeedway – October 2009, Las Vegas Motor Speedway – September 2014).

Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap
NASCAR Camping World Truck Series
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Race 3 of 23 – 134 Laps, 201 Miles

TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS
1st, JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
2nd, KYLE BUSCH
3rd, AUSTIN HILL
4th, STEWART FRIESEN
5th, MATT CRAFTON
9th, CHRISTIAN ECKES
10th, BEN RHODES
15th, JOHNNY SAUTER
17th, DANNY BOHN
19th, CHANDLER SMITH
24th, BJ MCLEOD
32nd, DEREK KRAUS

TOYOTA QUOTES

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

You won the race and beat the boss. How was that finish for you?

“I just can’t thank everyone at Toyota, Jack Irving (TRD), Kyle Busch, Uncle Eric (Phillips, crew chief) for this opportunity. It means a lot to me. Mobil 1 on board, coming back to the Truck Series, that was the plan, that was the goal. We came into this year with the hashtag here for wins and we are here for wins. I definitely think experience paid off tonight. We did an amazing job. I can’t thank Fire Alarm Services, ROMCO, all of our partners for all of there help. Thank you fans for being here. It’s awesome to have you guys back. I can’t wait to go celebrate.”

Once you were clear, what were you thinking?

“He was faster than me in stage two, so I really didn’t know. It was all about using our truck to the best we could possibly do, wrapping the bottom and taking the dirty air away. He had to run up and it created more lap time for him. Overall, it was an awesome victory. I wish my wife Taylor was here. Thank you for all of the support, my family, everyone involved. She had to stay home because we are about to be on baby watch. It’s awesome.”

What does it mean to get your first Truck Series win driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports?

“It’s an awesome day. The goal here for us was to come here and win. We’ve been close the last two weeks and we have fast race trucks. I can’t thank everyone enough – Jack Irving (TRD) from Toyota, Mobil 1, Fire Alarm Services, Kyle (Busch, team owner) for giving me this opportunity. The opportunity to come here and race in the Truck Series for Kyle Busch Motorsports is an amazing opportunity and we’re capitalizing on that. We want to be the dominant one this year and we want to win as many races as we can. It’s awesome to get it kicked off here in Vegas and beat the boss.”

How crazy were the restarts during the race?

“They definitely were. Overall, it was an amazing day. Our restarts were on point all day. Just a lot of fun and that’s all we can ask for. We’re here to have fun, we’re here for wins and we’re doing it.”

KYLE BUSCH, No. 51 Cessna Toyota Tundra, Kyle Busch Motorsports
Finishing Position: 2nd

What was missing at the end of the race to contend with John Hunter Nemechek?

“We just didn’t have enough in our Cessna Tundra. They were a little bit better than us so not sure what differences they had. I was just really tight and really rough over the bumps, trying to get through the bumps. Looking at the splitter wear, it was really rough on the splitter and wearing through it. We were battling some little things, but overall our truck was still fast. It was cool to come home one-two.”

Having your team truck win, does that help take away the sting of not winning yourself?

“Certainly, it does. Anytime you finish second to a team truck, you know how good the equipment is and it’s nice to see the equipment getting full potential and running up front. I’m exciting to have John Hunter (Nemechek) this year. When we had the opportunity to talk last year and to bring him in and to have Eric Phillips (crew chief) back on board, that was going to be a winning combination I felt like and here we are already reaping the benefits. I hate I finished second obviously, I want to win, but as a team owner, I get paid the same whether they win or I win and it’s nothing so I’m all good.”

AUSTIN HILL, No. 16 Ibaraki Toyopet Toyota Tundra, Hattori Racing Enterprises
Finishing Position: 3rd

What was missing to contend with the Kyle Busch Motorsports Tundras tonight?

“You can see right there, our left front (tire) is corded really bad. We had a good night. We finally got on the right track. Those first two races didn’t go the way we wanted them to so this is a good way to bounce back, but it always stings a little bit when you come to a place that you’ve had success at and you don’t get the job done. Scott (Zipadelli, crew chief) and everybody back at the shop, they did a really good job bringing a really fast Toyota Tundra. All in all, we just came up short tonight. We just got too tight when the tires started cording and started chattering the left front. Can’t thank everybody at Ibraraki Toyopet enough for coming on board. Everything that all these guys do in Japan for us is a really big deal with everything going on. It’s really cool to see that. We’ll bounce back and go to Atlanta, a place that we’ve had some good runs at as well and see if we can get the job done there as well.”

STEWART FRIESEN, No. 52 Halmar International Toyota Tundra, Halmar-Friesen Racing
Finishing Position: 4th

What was missing at the end of the race for your team?

“We just lacked a little grip on the restarts. It was good and great night for the Halmar International group. Halmar has been awesome behind us and one of the best sponsors in the business. Thanks to Chris Larson and everybody at Halmar International, everybody at TRD (Toyota Racing Development) for the help. We were close with our Tundra. We’re back in the top-five racing. From where this team was a year ago to where we are is really awesome. Got some momentum, good points day and just lacked a little grip on the restarts.”

MATT CRAFTON, No. 88 Menards/Slim Jim Toyota Tundra, ThorSport Racing
Finishing Position: 5th

Can you take us through your race tonight?

“Just the restarts killed me to be totally honest. I could get to the 16 (Austin Hill) there at the end. I could get to his bumper and I could push him for a second and then he would get out on me. We just didn’t have the two lap run speed that we needed. We needed some long green flag runs and I think we would have been a lot better off. This Menards Toyota Tundra, not too terrible. Just keep working on it. Atlanta, we’re going over there in a couple weeks and that’s my favorite race track that we go to on the circuit so really, really looking forward to that one.”

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.

John Hunter Nemechek dominates Las Vegas en route to victory

By
Briar Starr
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John Hunter Nemechek celebrates in victory lane after winning the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series Bucked Up 200 at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images.

Despite a final stage littered with six cautions, John Hunter Nemechek held off team owner and teammate Kyle Busch, to score his first victory under the Kyle Busch Motorsports banner.

Nemechek started third and led 94 laps of the scheduled 134 to score the seventh Truck Series victory of his career at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“Coming back to the Truck Series, that was the plan, that was the goal. We came into the year with the hashtag ‘here for wins’ and we are here for wins,” said Nemechek. “I definitely think experience paid off tonight.”

Stages 30/30/74 made up the 134-lap race distance. Only one truck went to the rear, the No. 02 of Kris Wright, due to unapproved adjustments.

Stage 1: Lap 1 – Lap 30

The first yellow of the night didn’t take long to fly. In fact, the yellow came out on Lap 1 for the No. 04 of Cory Roper, who spun in Turns 3 and 4 to slow the field.

From there, the rest of the stage was caution-free, but there would be some noticeable incidents. On Lap 9, the No. 42 of Carson Hocevar came to pit road as Hocevar suffered a flat tire. Thirteen laps later, the No. 19 of Derek Kraus was on pit road after losing power.

Despite these incidents, Nemechek dominated the first stage and took the stage victory. Sheldon Creed, Matt Crafton, Kyle Busch, Stewart Friesen, Christian Eckes, David Gilliland, Ben Rhodes, Chandler Smith and Grant Enfinger completed the Top 10.

Stage 2: Lap 36 – Lap 60

Shortly after the restart for Stage 2, Busch reported that he had no oil pressure in his No. 51 Toyota Tundra. However, the Las Vegas native kept plugging along and passing trucks for position. Meanwhile, Zane Smith in the No. 21 was on pit road for a flat tire and then penalized for too fast on pit road.

At Lap 48, Busch took the lead away from Nemechek and went on to win the second stage. Nemechek, Friesen, Crafton, Rhodes, Hill, Enfinger, Gilliland, Eckes and Akrum were the Top 10.

Stage 3: Lap 67 – Lap 134

As the green flag flew for Stage 3, there were multiple cautions that filled the stage. A couple of them were for hard hits. The first was on Lap 70 when the No. 44 of Conor Daly hit the Turn 1 wall, ending his night early. Thankfully, the IndyCar veteran would walk out of the Niece Motorsports entry unscathed. The second caution was brought out when a big crash erupted on Lap 98 as the No. 24 of Raphael Lessard was cleared too early going into Turn 1 and was spun by the No. 17 of David Gilliland. Due to the incident, Lessard and Gilliland collided, collecting several trucks including Hailie Deegan, Ryan Truex and Bret Holmes.

The final caution of the night came out with 10 laps to go. The No. 26 of Tyler Ankrum and the No. 75 of Parker Kligerman wrecked each other on the backstretch causing another late-race restart with six laps to go.

On the restart, Busch gave Nemechek a big push going into Turn 1 which allowed the Mooresville, North Carolina native to pull out front. After the push, Nemechek checked out and won by .686 seconds over Busch for his first NASCAR victory in two years.

With Nemechek scoring the victory, Joe Nemechek and John Hunter became the first NASCAR family to score a NASCAR career win at the same track. Joe won the Busch Grand National Series (now the Xfinity Series) race back in 2003.

There were nine cautions for 48 laps and nine lead changes among five different drivers.

Official Results following the Bucked Up 200 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway

  1. John Hunter Nemechek, won Stage 1, led 94 laps
  2. Kyle Busch, won Stage 2, led 16 laps
  3. Austin Hill
  4. Stewart Friesen, led four laps
  5. Matt Crafton
  6. Zane Smith
  7. Grant Enfinger
  8. Parker Kligerman
  9. Christian Eckes
  10. Ben Rhodes
  11. Brett Moffitt, led 13 laps
  12. Todd Gilliland
  13. Austin Wayne Self
  14. Johnny Sauter
  15. Danny Bohn
  16. Sheldon Creed
  17. Chandler Smith
  18. Tate Fogleman
  19. Dawson Cram
  20. Spencer Boyd
  21. Chase Purdy
  22. Carson Hocevar, 1 lap down
  23. Kris Wright, 2 laps down
  24. B.J. McLeod, 2 laps down
  25. Jordan Anderson, 2 laps down
  26. Hailie Deegan, 4 laps down
  27. Jennifer Jo Cobb, 4 laps down
  28. Raphael Lessard, 4 laps down
  29. Jesse Iwuji, 5 laps down
  30. Derek Kraus, 8 laps down
  31. Norm Benning, 11 laps down
  32. Tyler Ankrum, OUT, Crash
  33. Tyler Hill, OUT, Crash
  34. Cory Roper, OUT, Crash
  35. Bret Holmes, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
  36. Ryan Truex, OUT, Damage Vehicle Policy
  37. David Gilliland, OUT, Crash
  38. Conor Daly, OUT, Crash

Up Next: The NASCAR Camping World Truck Series will visit Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, March 20 and is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET, live on FOX Sports 1 and MRN Radio.

Coin Cloud Announces $100k Dogecoin Giveaway for Las Vegas NASCAR Race

By
Official Release
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World’s Leading Digital Currency Machine Company Follows Up on Milestone of Being First to Offer Dogecoin Nationwide 

LAS VEGAS, March 5, 2021 — Coin Cloud, the world’s leading Digital Currency Machine (DCM) company, has announced the giveaway of $100,000 in Dogecoin, the social media darling of the digital currency world. The sweepstakes celebrates the return of a Dogecoin-sponsored race car at NASCAR for the first time in 7 years at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway for the Alsco Uniforms 300, a NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) stock car race.  

To mark this occasion, Coin Cloud is putting its support behind the #Dogecar. If Dogecoin-sponsored Car 99 wins first place in the race, Coin Cloud will give away $100,000 in Dogecoin. The prize money will be awarded to 10 lucky Twitter followers at $10,000 apiece, based on current market value. 

To enter the $100K Dogecoin Giveaway, follow @CoinCloudATM on Twitter, retweet the giveaway post and comment #DOGECAR. 

“Much coin! So speed. Very vroom!” said the Doge when asked to comment. The language of the popular Doge internet meme is well known to its fans. Short phrases in multi-colored Comic Sans font, surrounding the face of a Shiba Inu dog, have become as recognizable as Grumpy Cat. When a couple of programmers joked about a fake altcoin based on the meme in 2013, the response was overwhelming. So they actually created it, and suddenly the joke became a viable digital currency.    

“Dogecoin goes viral for a few days every year or so, whether because Elon Musk tweets about it or somebody gets behind a marketing campaign,” explains Chris McAlary, founder and CEO of Coin Cloud. “The demand lately has been huge, our retailers are seeing a buzz around dogecoin at our machines.” 

Coin Cloud has offered the buying and selling of Dogecoin for the better part of 4 years. Dogecoin’s latest popularity surge started with a TikTok creator challenge last summer, and received a significant boost in January when a Reddit group pushing GameStop stock turned its attention to the cryptocurrency.  

In a perfect storm of social media stardom, it got a final lift thanks to tweets from not just Tesla CEO Elon Musk, but also investor and entrepreneur Mark Cuban, rapper Snoop Dogg and rock star Gene Simmons of KISS, among other influencers. 

The image of the Dogecoin is no stranger to NASCAR, either. This weekend’s Xfinity Series race in Las Vegas marks the third time Dogecoin-sponsored cars have hit the track. But Car 99, driven by Stefan Parsons, is the first Dogecoin appearance since 2014, when Reddit users again took control. The Dogecoin community on Reddit made history by raising $55,000 to sponsor driver Josh Wise of the Phil Parsons Racing team. By a fascinating twist of fate, team owner and former driver Phil Parsons is Stefan’s father. 

“With all the synergy around this event, including the race being held in Las Vegas where Coin Cloud is headquartered, made it a no-brainer to get involved,” McAlary says. “We really hope the Dogecar wins, because this currency has been the ‘Underdoge’ for long enough. It deserves a bigger spotlight.” 

Coin Cloud is the only nationwide operator of 100% two-way digital currency machines. Every one of its over 1500 machines is located in retail locations across 45 states empowering customers to buy and sell Bitcoin and 30+ other digital currencies with cash. The free companion Coin Cloud Wallet mobile app, OTC trading and live US-based customer service complete the Coin Cloud ecosystem. 

About Coin Cloud 

Cash Cloud, Inc. DBA Coin Cloud is the world’s leader in Digital Currency Machines (DCMs). Manufactured in the USA, Coin Cloud has automated, digitized, and transformed the way people access cash in the mobile wallet economy. As a partner with many of America’s leading retail chains, Coin Cloud is the fastest-growing cash vendor of digital currencies. The company is a licensed Money Services Business (MSB) with FinCEN and has established an industry-leading compliance program, eliminating risk for retail partners in 45 states and Brazil. The team at Coin Cloud is dedicated to bringing digital currency to all. Find out more at Coin Cloud.

CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES: 2021 FELIX ROSENQVIST CONTENT DAY TRANSCRIPT

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Official Release
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CHEVROLET RACING IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
2021 INDYCAR PRE-SEASON CONTENT DAY
TEAM CHEVY DRIVER MEDIA TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 5, 2021

FELIX ROSENQVIST, NO.7 ARROW MCLAREN SP CHEVROLET:

THE MODERATOR: Felix Rosenqvist, last but certainly not least. Felix is driver of the No. 7 Arrow McLaren SP Chevrolet. A new spot for him.
Felix, last year you got the first win in INDYCAR. That was a box checked. What’s the box you want to tick this year with the new team?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, it was good to get that win out of the way, for sure. It’s not so many goals to tick off the list, except two big ones: that’s the championship and the 500. Certainly not easy things to do. Naturally that becomes the next target.
I think as a team this year we kind of want to break into the top spot of the big four, as we hopefully can call it now. I think that’s everyone’s ambition. You never really know how it’s going to go sitting here, but we’re all pretty confident. We made some steps. Yeah, we’ll look forward to see where we are in Barber.

THE MODERATOR: Let’s open it up for questions.
Q. How did you feel testing? What were the fundamental differences between how the team operates, but also how they set up the cars? Even though I realize the cars are spec, there seems to be quite a big variation in teams to what the default setup is. Have you found a substantial difference?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s certainly been a difference. It’s always different philosophies in different teams. Already in Barber, I got a taste of that. I think it’s probably not in the place where I want it to be yet. I think Laguna felt pretty good, and it’s definitely getting nearer where I want the car to be.
It’s a spec series. You’d be surprised how different the car can feel if you put in different kind of setup philosophies into it. It’s the same chassis, almost the same engines between Chevrolet and Honda, but the dampers I think is a pretty big place where you can make a difference on the car, on how it handles. That’s probably the biggest difference you’re going to see between teams.
Yeah, our car is certainly really fast. I think it’s been fastest like every test we’ve done, or second in Barber. I haven’t really been there yet. I think I’m still kind of looking to break into the last couple of 10ths. We know the car is fast, and that’s the main thing.

Q. Given your previous experience in other series, learning new tracks, would you highlight the Nashville track as one of the ones that you would expect to excel given your speed at learning new courses?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I think it could be a good one for me, for sure. I think that kind of reminds me a little bit about the Formula E days where you have a new track for everyone that everyone needs to learn in a very short time. It’s a street track. Hopefully a fun track. It looks like it.
Yeah, hopefully that can be a benefit to me. But these days in INDYCAR, everyone’s really good at getting up to speed. There won’t be any shortcuts anywhere once practice is done. I think everyone is pretty much going to be there.
That’s definitely one I really look forward to anyways. Regarding if I have an advantage or not, I think that’s going to be a really cool event.

Q. Your teammate Pato O’Ward, what is it like now for you in this new environment working together with him?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s been really good actually. Me and Pato get along really well. We’re a two-man team or two-car team, which is obviously a different dynamic than having three or four cars. I think it’s really important that you need to work in the same direction, you need to be able to share everything between you and not really hold any doors closed in terms of information or any ego trips or anything like that. I feel like we’re really good like that. I feel the whole team is really good like that.
It’s a very tight team that’s only focused on INDYCAR. There’s nothing else going on. We have two cars and that’s it. That’s everyone’s focus.
Yeah, Pato has been great fun. He’s a really good energy source to the whole team, including to me. He’s a happy guy. He has lot of energy. That just shows that, yeah, it gives a lot back to the team.

Q. Do you think you are a happy guy, too? Do you think can you find room to develop and take further wins because there will be less attention to you?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: I mean, I don’t think that stuff matters so much. I think the main thing is that I’m in a team where I feel like I have a good future with. We have good plans for the future, what we want to do in terms of car setup and so on. I feel like we have, yeah, good stuff in the pipeline for what’s about to come.
INDYCAR these days is pretty tricky. You cannot do a lot of testing and stuff. Every step you make is going to take a bit of time. But I feel like I’m really in a good place for this season and next year. I feel like I’m in a team where I feel really happy, yeah, just can’t wait to get going.

Q. One of the big storylines going into the 2021 season is all these drivers coming from elsewhere. You made that leap a couple of years ago. Back to 2019, what did you know about INDYCAR before you came to the series? Did it meet or surpass what you were expecting?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, I mean, I wish I could talk to myself now back in ’19. It’s a tough series. I haven’t done anything else that is as difficult. I know many other people that came from F1 says the same thing.
You look at it from the outside, you think it’s going to be like a simpler form of racing. But the simplicity is actually what makes it hard. There’s not so much to do on the cars. The tracks are pretty rough and brutal physically and on the cars. Driving style-wise, it’s pretty raw.
Coming in from F1, for Romain, or Jimmie in NASCAR, I think it’s going to be very different and very tough. But I believe all of them, they’re winners. They will figure it out eventually. I think even Romain has looked really quick in testing, as well.
But, yeah, I mean, that’s only part of it. Then comes the whole racing part of it which is super different with yellows. We don’t have blue flags. You have to take into consideration all the lap traffic. That’s a big thing that I had to learn when I came here in ’19.
In general I think it’s a great championship. It’s good fun. Proper racing.

Q. Are those the types of things you would have told yourself, technical, procedural stuff?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, just everything, man. Yeah, blue flags, the changes from track to track, how you set up the car, how you need to really dial in the car every session, just how aggressive you need to be in the races because otherwise you’re going to lose a spot immediately. Ovals, we haven’t even talked about that. That’s obviously not something Romain will do, Jimmie either. Yeah, that’s probably the most tricky thing of all.

Q. Every driver makes a team move based on many different reasons, specific to the driver. You’ve left the team that won the championship last year and moved to a different team. How intense is the motivation to kind of make that move work?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yeah, obviously it’s my ambition to make it work. Otherwise I wouldn’t do it. I’m confident it’s the right move. I’m really impressed by Ganassi’s operation. It’s a super good team. They did a lot of things.
When I started talking to Arrow McLaren SP, I think their interest in me is how much they’ve improved in the last couple of seasons, what they have in the pipeline, direct relationship to McLaren, things like that. It makes a difference.
I think with a couple of years, this team is going to be really, really strong. That’s something I wanted to be part of. I’ve been in INDYCAR now for two years, and I was ready to kind of find where I want to be, find a family where I feel at home. I feel like I have the right tools to go and finish my goals, which is to win the championship and the 500.
Yeah, I feel like I’m in a good spot for that.

Q. You’ve not really felt how the team works over a race weekend. What have your initial feelings been? You mentioned the McLaren element. Interesting model the team uses with different elements helping to drive the team forward. How has your experience been? How confident has that made you looking at the season?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: It’s a lot of new things happening at the team, which is really exciting. But I think the team is also clever enough to not let it become a Formula 1 team, so to say. You can always copy things from F1, but it would never work in INDYCAR because it’s such a different platform. There’s many people that tried it before. They hired Formula 1 engineers, think that they’re going to blow everyone away, and it just never works.
I think that’s why it’s really good to have the knowledge from the people that’s been at the team for a long time in an INDYCAR, like Taylor leading the team. He’s the one who can judge that whole balance between how much new stuff are we going to do and how much are we going to keep to the basics and the roots.
What impressed me, though, is there’s a lot of — when it comes to the engineering side, there’s very high efficiency in the team. Whatever data comes in, that data will then be directed down to a millions of different things. There’s a lot of time saving, in that makes sense, in the team. I think some of the partnerships with Arrow and McLaren have made the team efficient on the engineering side. That really impressed me when I came here. That was on a very high level.
Again, there’s a lot of new stuff. Everything kind of needs to settle. I think last year it was just how are we going to do this. This year things are falling a bit more into place. So definitely following the plan.

Q. You worked hard on the 500. Juan Pablo is coming into the team. How confident are you and how happy are you he’s aboard for the 500?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Juan Pablo is someone you cannot count out. He was joining us at a test in Laguna. He was super fast. He had a lot of valuable comments, as well, about the car to the engineers. I kind of wish he was with us for the whole season because he’s a fun guy to have along.
I think every time I get the chance to work with someone like that, learn a lot. You think, This guy has been to F1, he’s won 500s, championships. It’s for a reason. So when he’s talking, you listen. Yeah, really valuable to our team.
Hopefully we can get him along for full-time next year.

Q. I heard you say about the Formula E. Came to my mind that this format on racing in Formula E, you have very close sessions between all the day. Do you think this help in any way to prepare in this pandemic situation, these close sessions, you need to avoid all the crashes, don’t make mistakes in that short time?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Yes, I mean, I think most racing categories are kind of following the same trim. Before we went into the pandemic, I would say INDYCAR and F1 were the only ones where you had, like, three practices, a lot of practice before the race weekend starts. This kind of feels like more back to basic. It’s more equal to Formula E, as you said, but even to everything else I raced where you normally only get one or two practices, then you’re off to qualifying.
But I think it’s good. It’s the same for everyone. It might hurt the rookies a little bit. INDYCAR did a pretty good job last year to give them some extra time in some new places. But, yeah, I think it’s a good way to move the championship in the right direction and makes everything a bit more compact.
Pandemic or not, I think it’s a fun thing also from a preparation standpoint and also physically. It’s a big physical challenge to just show up and get it done in two days. It’s a lot of driving in a short time.

Q. Obviously Montoya has worked with McLaren before. He’s only with you for the Indy 500. What do you think he can bring to the team for the rest of the season?
FELIX ROSENQVIST: He already brought us a lot with test day we did in Laguna. He’s doing a lot of hard work with aero stuff like that. At the end of the day he was going for proper runs. His feedback was very accurate, pretty similar to mine and Pato’s. I felt like he gave something more because he had experience. He’s actually driven this car without the Aeroscreen. That experience means a lot for us to listen to and learn.
I think especially on the ovals, I’m really curious to hear what he can say. If there’s anything setup-wise he can advise us to go in a specific direction. That’s the fun thing with INDYCAR. Even if you have all the resources in the world, guys like Juan Pablo can still be the key to make a breakthrough on making the car faster because it’s just really back to basics.
Sometimes, yeah, you don’t need to look that far to go forward where you think you need to spend millions, like in Formula 1 for example, everything is about the money. INDYCAR you can actually go really quick with a small budget.
I think the hard thing in INDYCAR is to be quick every weekend, knowing track conditions, how is this track going to be different from that. Everyone can get it right every now and then. That’s a cool thing. It’s just about getting it right all the time.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you, Felix.
FELIX ROSENQVIST: Thank you.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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.

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