The most neglected part of the house is usually the garage door, and when it malfunctions, it can lead to highly concerning security issues. Thus, you must choose the exemplary garage door repair service that can repair and restore the garage door’s functionality. Find the right service partner in Mechanicsburg who can boost your home value by providing proper garage door repair. It is essential to learn how to select the perfect service provider.
Conduct effective searches
You have to compile a list of all the companies near your area that are easy to reach. You can also look online or ask for recommendations from friends, family, or neighbors who have already taken similar services. You have to invest your time in reading the reviews and ratings to gain a thorough inside reputation and reliability of their services. Also, choose a company that has provided satisfactory customer service for a long time.
Check credentials and licenses
A garage door repair service provider in Mechanicsburg should have a proper license, certificate, and insurance to ensure that they meet the industry standard. They should be able to provide you with adequate protection. Additionally, you can also look for affiliation with a professional organization. This process ensures they have credibility and are committed to providing quality services.
Look for experience and expertise
You must leave your garage door in the hands of an experienced individual. Instead, ask about their repair service and experience and provide samples of their past projects. Ask about the specific type and brand of door they primarily work with. Also, evaluate their success rate and check their expertise level to make an informed decision.
Ask for multiple quotes and estimations
You must get a fair deal when repairing your garage door. So, always ask for multiple quotations when you contact several repair services. Go through the details of the quotes and ask whether there are any hidden or additional prices that they will add later on. You must compare all the services and their prices to make a clear and transparent decision.
Warranty and guarantees
When it comes to garage door repair, you should also ask for the warranty coverage and guarantees they provide as a professional service provider. This would help you avoid unnecessary expenses in case a broken spring or malfunctioning door opener occurs after the service has been provided.
When does the garage door need repair service?
If you notice any unusual noise from the garage door, such as banging while trying to open or close it, it is time to book a professional repair service. It would help if you found the opener malfunctioning, rust, and bents on the door or increased opening and closing time. So, keep an eye on anything unusual so you can deal with it instantly without any delay.
Final words
Whenever you book a professional garage door repair in Mechanicsburg, PAfor your home security, you must maintain clear communication with the company, clarify all the terms and conditions, and understand every detail to avoid any surprises later on. Knowing about your service provider boosts your confidence and also gives you peace of mind, irrespective of major or minor repairs.
September 07, 2024: NASCAR races at the Atlanta Motor Speedway in Hampton, Georiga. (HHP/Harold Hinson)
HAMPTON, Ga. (Sept. 7, 2024) – A multi-car crash among race leaders with less than 20 laps remaining set up the trophy dash finish that allowed Georgia native Austin Hill to take the checkered flag in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 and sweep the 2024 NXS season at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Hill restarted third in his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet with just 13 laps remaining, took the lead one lap later and fought off hard charges from multiple drivers to cross the finish line 0.340-of-a-second ahead of Parker Kligerman’s No. 48 Big Machine Chevrolet. He lead only the final 12 laps.
The Winston, Ga., native swept Atlanta Motor Speedway’s NASCAR Xfinity Series races this season and has won four of the six series races since the speedway was reconfigured for the 2022 season.
“I was doing everything in my power to win the race,” said Hill. “I saw the 48 didn’t have much momentum. I figured that nobody was going to get a run to get back to us. This is such a special win. We had to work for that one. The car didn’t drive the best all day but we were there when it mattered.”
AJ Allmendinger (No. 16 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet), Talking Rock, Ga.’s Chandler Smith (No. 81 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota) and Marietta, Ga.’s Corey Heim (No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota) rounded out the top-five finishers. The balance of the top 10 were pole-winner Jesse Love (No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet), Sammy Smith (No. 8 JR Motorsports Chevrolet), Josh Williams (No. 11 Kaulig Racing Chevrolet), Atlanta’s Brandon Jones (No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet), and Ryan Truex (No. 20 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota).
The late-race restart was created after contact on Lap 144 between Cole Custer, Justin Allgaier and Taylor Gray, running second through fourth, created a multi-car incident that brought out the red flag. Ryan Sieg, Riley Herbst and others were also gathered up in the late-race melee.
Allgaier, the series points leader entering the Focused Health 250, was unable to complete the race and finished 30th while Custer, second in points, suffered the same fate and finished 31st.
Stage 1 Love led the field of 37 to the green flag while RCR teammate and eventual race winner Hill quickly moved up two spots to Love’s back bumper. After a caution on Lap 12, racing resumed four laps later with the RCR drivers chased by Allgaier, Chandler Smith, and Taylor Gray.
Allgaier dove low to make a bid for the lead on Lap 23 and accomplished the feat two laps later. He would maintain that lead for the balance of the 40-lap first stage. The rest of the top 10 were Hill, Riley Herbst, Sheldon Creed, Love, Sam Mayer, Jones, Cole Custer, Smith and Gray.
Stage 2 Tire strategies during pit stops under caution after Stage 1 found Allmendinger leading the field to begin Stage 2 on Lap 48 with Sammy Smith, Allgaier, and Herbst in his immediate tow.
The field settled down as the laps clicked off with Allmendinger, Smith, Custer, Herbst and Love making up top five. Early leaders Allgaier and Hill dealt with handling issues for the majority of the stage.
The caution flag waved on Lap 77 when Mayer’s day ended early, and spectacularly, after contact with another driver and then the wall caused a large fireball to burst from the rear of his No. 1 JR Motorsports Chevrolet. He would finish 37th.
Stage 2 finished under caution on Lap 80 with Allmendinger grabbing the coveted playoff point, his first of the season. The rest of the top 10 were Sammy Smith, Custer, Herbst, Allgaier, Love, Gray, Chandler Smith, Shane Van Gisbergen, and Hill.
Other notable finishers included: Sheldon Creed, fifth in NXS points entering the weekend, finished 25th, three laps down … NXS rookie Taylor Gray, who qualified second for the Focused Health 250 and finished in the top 10 in the first two stages, was collected in the Lap 144 incident and finished 28th … Tucker, Georgia native Ryan Sieg (No. 39 RSS Racing Ford) finished 32nd after getting gathered up in the late-race melee.
Please visit www.AtlantaMotorSpeedway.com or call 877-9-AMS-TIX for Sunday’s Quaker State Available at Walmart 400.
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With his No. 21 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet Camaro entry sporting a special gold scheme to celebrate the 50th anniversary of his sponsor Bennett Transportation & Logistics, Austin Hill generated a late golden performance on the track to win the Focused Health 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday, September 7.
The 30-year-old Hill from Winston, Georgia, led the final 12 of 163-scheduled laps in an event where he started fourth place and spent the first stage period racing upfront getting shuffled within the top-10 mark throughout the second stage period. After spending most of the final stage period methodically carving his way back to the front amid the draft, Hill capitalized on the final restart period with 13 laps remaining to overtake Chandler Smith for the lead during the following lap. He then fended off a pair of final lap challenges from Chandler Smith and Corey Heim to notch his third NASCAR Xfinity Series victory of the 2024 season, his fourth at his home track and his first series victory since late February.
With on-track qualifying that determined the starting lineup on Saturday, rookie Jesse Love notched his fourth Xfinity career pole position after posting a pole-winning lap at 173.646 mph in 31.927 seconds. Joining him on the front row was Taylor Gray, who clocked in the second-fastest qualifying lap at 173.489 mph in 31.956 seconds.
Before the event, the following names that included AJ Allmendinger, Jeremy Clements, Ryan Ellis and Brennan Poole dropped to the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments made to their respective entries.
When the green flag waved and the race started, Jesse Love and Taylor Gray dueled for the lead in front of two stacked lanes through the first two turns and the backstretch until the outside lane led by Love gained the advantage as Love muscled ahead with drafting help from teammate Austin Hill. As the field returned to the frontstretch, Love led the first lap in his No. 2 Samsara Chevrolet Camaro.
Over the next four laps and with the field briefly fanning out to three lanes before the majority of the filed settled in a long single-file line towards the outside wall, Love retained an early advantage ahead of teammate Hill and Justin Allgaier while Chandler Smith and Taylor Gray pursued in the top five. Behind, Sheldon Creed, Ryan Sieg, Cole Custer, rookie Shane van Gisbergen and Parker Kligerman were in the top 10 while Brandon Jones, Jeb Burton, Ryan Truex, Riley Herbst, Josh Williams, Sam Mayer, Sammy Smith, Corey Heim, Anthony Alfredo and Blaine Perkins were in the top 20 ahead of Parker Retzlaff, Brennan Poole, Kyle Sieg, AJ Allmendinger and Garrett Smithley.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Love continued to lead ahead of teammate Hill, Allgaier, Chandler Smith and Taylor Gray as the top-six competitors, including Creed, were separated by less than a second Meanwhile, the top 13 competitors were separated by within two seconds while the top 19 were separated by within three seconds.
A lap later, the event’s first caution flew when Ryan Sieg, a Playoff bubble competitor, coasted to a halt in the backstretch due to a wiring issue as he fell out of the lead lap category while needing a wrecker to have his No. 39 Sci Aps Ford Mustang entry nursed back to his pit stall. Amid Sieg’s issues, Anthony Alfredo also encountered early issues due to scraping the outside wall and damaging the right side of his No. 5 Our Motorsports entry. During the caution period, some led by Sammy Smith and including AJ Allmendinger pitted while the rest led by Love remained on the track.
When the race restarted under green on Lap 16, Sheldon Creed and Love dueled for the lead through the first two turns until Love muscled ahead from the outside lane with drafting help from Chevrolet teammates Hill and Allgaier. With Creed falling back to fourth place, Love proceeded to lead the following lap as the majority of the field migrated towards the outside wall and behind Love. Meanwhile, Parker Kligerman, who was running within the top-10 mark, was trying to form a drafting lane on the inside lane ahead of van Gisbergen, Sam Mayer and Jeb Burton before he quickly moved back up the outside lane and with the pack. Amid the shuffles and battles within the lead pack, Love proceeded to lead the Lap 20 mark.
At the Lap 25 mark, Allgaier, who spent the previous few laps dueling with Love for the lead from the inside lap despite having no drafting help, was out in front as he muscled his No. 7 Hellmann’s Chevrolet Camaro ahead of Love with the top spot and towards the outside lane. With Allgaier leading and the field behind slowly fanning out to two drafting lanes, Love was second ahead of teammate Hill, Creed and Cole Custer while Brandon Jones, Riley Herbst, Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. Shortly after, the top-nine competitors were separated by less than a second and the top 19 were separated by less than four seconds as Allgaier continued to lead by the Lap 30 mark.
Nearing the Lap 35 mark, the top 12 competitors were separated by less than two seconds as Allgaier remained out in front of Hill and Love while Herbst and Creed were scored in the top five ahead of Mayer, Brandon Jones, Custer, Chandler Smith, Taylor Gray, Ryan Truex and Corey Heim.
When the first stage period concluded on Lap 40, Allgaier edged a hard-charging Hill by 0.012 seconds to score his 14th Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Hill settled in second ahead of Riley Herbst, Creed and Love while Mayer, Brandon Jones, Custer, Chandler Smith and Taylor Gray were scored in the top 10. By then, 34 of 37 starters were scored on the lead lap.
Under the stage break, nearly the entire field led by Allgaier pitted while others led by Allmendinger and Sammy Smith remained on the track. During the pit stops, Josh Williams was penalized for speeding on pit road.
The second stage period started on Lap 47 as Allmendinger and Allgaier occupied the front row. At the start, both dueled for the lead entering the first two turns and the backstretch as the field fanned out to three lanes. With Cole Custer fanning out to boost his way up to fourth place, Allmendinger retained the lead from the outside lane over Allgaier as the former had Sammy Smith drafting him.
Just past the Lap 50 mark, Allmendinger was leading ahead of Sammy Smith, Custer, Herbst and Mayer while Allgaier, Love, Hill, Creed and Gray were scored in the top 10 ahead of van Gisbergen, Brandon Jones, Kligerman, Chandler Smith and Ryan Truex.
Ten laps later, Allmendinger retained the lead ahead of Sammy Smith, Custer, Herbst and Mayer while Allgaier, Love, Creed, Gray and Jones followed suit in the top 10 ahead of van Gisbergen, Hill, Kligerman, Chandler Smith, Corey Heim, Truex, Jeb Burton, Parker Retzlaff, Brennan Poole and Lawless Alan. With a majority of the field running in a single-file line towards the outside wall, Allmendinger continued to lead by the Lap 79 mark as the top 14 competitors were separated by three seconds.
Then with three laps remaining in the second stage period, the caution flew after Mayer was turned across the frontstretch’s outside wall by Gray as Mayer, who hit the wall, proceeded with right-side damage to his No. 1 High Rock Vodka Chevrolet Camaro. As Mayer’s damaged car continued to zip through the frontstretch, his car then had flames bursting out from behind and Mayer proceeded to pull his car below the apron and park in the backstretch before exiting uninjured.
The caution for Mayer’s incident was enough for the second stage period scheduled to conclude on Lap 80 to officially conclude under caution as Allmendinger notched his first Xfinity stage victory of the 2024 season. Sammy Smith settled in second ahead of Custer, Herbst and Allgaier while Love, Taylor Gray, Chandler Smith, van Gisbergen and Creed were scored in the top 10.
During the stage break, nearly the entire lead lap field led by Allmendinger pitted for service while select names including Leland Honeyman, Jeremy Clements, David Starr and Garrett Smithley remained on the track. Following the pit stops and amid mixed strategies, teammates Gray and Creed exited first and second on two fresh tires. Amid the pit stops, Creed was penalized for an uncontrolled tire violation while teammate Ryan Truex was penalized for pitting outside of his pit box. In addition, Hill ran into the rear of van Gisbergen after entering pit road.
With 76 laps remaining, the final stage commenced as Gray and Allmendinger occupied the front row. At the start, Gray and Allmendinger dueled for the top spot, with the former managing to retain the top spot. Amid the battles and with the field stacked to two lanes, Gray retained the lead with 70 laps remaining before teammate Chandler Smith would overtake him a lap later.
With 66 laps remaining, the caution returned for van Gisbergen getting into the outside wall in Turn 4 while running inside the top 10 as he proceeded to nurse his No. 97 Quad Lock Chevrolet Camaro back to his pit stall with right-side damage. During the caution period, multiple names including Hill, Allgaier, Sammy Smith, Kligerman, Corey Heim, Jeb Burton and Creed pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track.
The start of the following restart period with 59 laps remaining featured Chandler Smith and Gray dueling for the top spot as Smith retained the lead for the following lap. Three laps later, Smith was overtaken by Custer through the backstretch and Smith was left battling Herbst for the runner-up spot.
The caution would then return with 55 laps remaining due to Jeb Burton losing a left front tire and spinning to the bottom of the track. During the caution period, select names including Blaine Perkins, van Gisbergen, Clements and Ryan Ellis pitted while the rest led by Custer remained on the track.
As the race restarted with 48 laps remaining, Custer dueled and held off Gray to lead the field. Amid the late battles within the pack, Custer proceeded to lead with 40 laps remaining. By then, Chandler Smith was up to second ahead of Herbst, Love and Allmendinger while Josh Williams, Truex, Allgaier, Heim and Hill were in the top 10. After Custer led the next nine laps, Allmendinger overtook him with 31 laps remaining.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Chandler Smith, who assumed the lead two laps earlier, was out in front of Allgaier, Custer, Hill and Gray as Love, Ryan Sieg, Williams, Herbst and Jones followed suit in the top 10, with the top-16 competitors separated by a second. By then, Creed made an unscheduled pit stop under green.
With less than 20 laps remaining, Chandler Smith continued to lead ahead of Custer, Allgaier, Taylor Gray and Hill. Behind, Jones, who had tried to slide in front of Chandler Smith for the lead a few laps earlier but was unable to do so, slipped out of the top five on the inside lane, and was in seventh as the top 10 competitors were separated by less than a second. By then, Smith was also able to muscle ahead of Allgaier, who was trying to use the inside lane to slide in front of Smith but was unable to do so.
Then with 19 laps remaining, the caution flew when Allgaier, who was dueling Custer for the runner-up spot, went up the track just past the backstretch and made contact with Custer and Gray. Custer was sent for a spin before he collided with teammate Herbst and Ryan Sieg as Allgaier and Gray were pinned against one another towards the outside wall as Love barely ran into the rear of Gray. The incident was enough for the event to be placed in a red flag period for 15 minutes.
Once the red flag lifted and the field proceeded under a cautious pace, multiple names that included Love, Allmendinger, Brennan Poole, Parker Retzlaff, Clements, Nick Leitz, Blaine Perkins, Ryan Ellis, Garrett Smithley and David Starr pitted while the rest led by Chandler Smith remained on the track. Among those who pitted included Love, who had a rear bumper cover from Herbst’s car stuck atop the No. 2 Chevrolet.
With the race restarting under green with 13 laps remaining, Chandler Smith and Hill dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch before Hill muscled ahead and tried to slide in front of Smith through Turns 3 and 4. Smith, however, pulled a crossover move on Hill through the frontstretch, but Hill would prevail from the outside lane through the first two turns as he would maintain the lead through the backstretch while Smtih was battling Josh Williams and Corey Heim for second place.
Down to the final 10 laps of the event, Hill was leading ahead of Chandler Smith and Williams while the rest of the field behind followed in close pursuit amid two stacked lanes. By then, the top 12 competitors were separated by less than a second while the top 19 were separated by under two seconds.
With five laps remaining, Hill maintained a steady advantage ahead of Chandler Smith, Heim, Kligerman and Lawless Alan as the top-15 competitors were separated by less than two seconds. Allmendinger would then transition to the inside lane and try to gain a drafting run while battling Sammy Smith for sixth place, but he would then make contact with Alan and nearly send him spinning
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Hill, who nearly got sideways off the front nose of Chandler Smith as Smith made a move beneath Hill to duel with him exiting Turns 3 and 4, remained as the leader on the outside lane as Heim, who elected not to draft his Toyota teammate Smith from the inside lane, drafted Hill back out front ahead of Kligerman through the frontstretch.
Then through Turns 1 and 2, Heim attempted to make a move to Hill’s outside, but Hill blocked and fended off Heim as the latter scraped his No. 26 Sam Hunt Racing Toyota Supra towards the outside wall. This allowed Hill to retain the top spot as Kligerman zipped by for second place. With Allmendinger and Chandler Smith following Kligerman and passing Heim, all four were unable to regain their momentum and catch Hill as Hill cycled his No. 21 Bennett Transportation Chevrolet Camaro back to the frontstretch and claimed the checkered flag by three-tenths of a second.
With the victory, Hill notched his ninth Xfinity Series career win in his 105th series start, his seventh on a superspeedway venue and his fourth at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his home track. This season marks the first time Hill swept both Atlanta Xfinity events as he also notched the 96th Xfinity career victory for Richard Childress Racing and the 13th of the season for the Chevrolet nameplate.
Photo by John Knittel for SpeedwayMedia.com.
“Just resilience with this whole Bennett No. 21 team,” Hill said on USA Network. “Our Bennett Chevrolet wasn’t handling great all day. It had plenty of speed. Just the handle on it was tough all day. We had to dig deep for that [win]. [Chandler Smith] got into [Turn] 3 and had me jacked up. He’s doing what he has to do to try to win. [I’m] Very surprised that [Heim] pushed me there and didn’t go with a Toyota and then, I thought that I messed up into [Turns] 1 and 2. I hate it that [Heim] got in the fence. I wasn’t trying to run him in the fence. I was just trying to get him aero-tight or get him aero-loose because that was happening to me a lot today.”
“This is insane like to win with this gold car, Bennett’s 50th anniversary. This is their biggest race of the entire year,” Hill added. “To do this for our sponsor, it means a lot. We’re gonna celebrate this one because [the win] didn’t come easy.”
With Hill winning the race, Parker Kligerman edged AJ Allmendinger by 0.004 seconds to finish in second place for the first time this season while Chandler Smith and Corey Heim rounded out the top five following their last-lap charges for the victory. To add to Hill being surprised about Heim not drafting with Chandler Smith and challenging him for the win, Smith was also left surprised and disappointed with not having the drafting help to challenge for the victory as his home track.
“I expected my Toyota teammate to come with me and that didn’t happen,” Smith said. “It is what it is. I’m kind of speechless, honestly. There’s a lot of different things I could’ve done that I could’ve been more selfish and when I got clear, went to the bottom [lane] and cover that and just control the race, for sure, but I was trying to be a good teammate. It didn’t pay off for me today, as usual.”
Rookie Jesse Love charged back up the field to finish sixth while Sammy Smith, Josh Williams, Brandon Jones and Ryan Truex finished in the top 10.
There were 12 lead changes for nine different leaders. The race featured six cautions for 36 laps. In addition, 23 of 37 starters finished on the lead lap.
Following the 24th event of the 2024 Xfinity Series season, Justin Allgaier continues to lead the regular-season standings by 34 points over Cole Custer, 67 over Chandler Smith and 71 over Austin Hill.
Next on the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York, for the Mission 200 at The Glen. The event is scheduled to occur next Saturday, September 14, and air at 3 p.m. ET on USA Network.
AJ ALLMENDINGER No. 16 Campers Inn RV Chevrolet Camaro
AJ Allmendinger qualified sixth for the Focused Health 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Allmendinger started at the rear of the field after making an adjustment for a power steering issue following qualifying. The first caution came on lap 23; Allmendinger was running 23rd. He reported the balance of his Chevy was good and asked for an adjustment for more rear security. The No. 16 Campers Inn RV Chevy came to pit road for four tires, fuel and adjustments. Allmendinger went on to finish the opening stage in 14th place.
Under the stage break, the No. 16 stayed out and restarted from the first position. Allmendinger maintained position for the duration of the second stage, winning it under yellow. After reporting the rear of the car was stable, Allmendinger came to pit road during the stage break for tires, fuel and an air pressure adjustment.
On lap 88, the No. 16 restarted on the bottom lane. The bottom lane didn’t have momentum on the initial start, and Allmendinger fell back to 10th place. By lap 99, when the caution came out, Allmendinger was running fifth. When the caution waved again on lap 110, Allmendinger reported he was free. On lap 116, the No. 16 restarted in seventh place and took sixth place on the first lap green. On lap 132, Allmendinger took a shot for the lead, but without help on the bottom lane, he fell back to seventh. Allmendinger reported his No. 16 Chevy was sideways. By lap 136, Allmendinger was in 16th place. On lap 146, the caution came out and the red flag was displayed for track clean up. When the race resumed, Allmendinger came to pit road for adjustments and restarted in 12th place on lap 151. Allmendinger battled until the end and went on to finish in third place.
“Our Campers Inn RV Chevy was really fast. I got really free that third stage there. That was unexpected; our car had been really good. When that yellow came out, we were able to put on tires and make some adjustments; Alex Yontz and the guys did a great job there. We got to fifth with two to go and I thought if they stay in line, I was far enough back that I was going to go for the lunge for the win there. Great to get a top-five finish today. At the end of the day, we want to get to victory lane, but I’m proud of the race team. We’re making the cars faster, getting closer to making the playoffs and hopefully we’ll be ready to go when we get there.” – AJ Allmendinger
JOSH WILLIAMS No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet Camaro
Josh Williams qualified 13th for the Focused Health 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Williams coasted just outside the top 10 for the first 12 laps of Stage 1 before a caution came out on lap 13. He restarted from 14th on lap 17 and immediately jumped into the top 10 as the pack went single file. Williams dropped back to 14th after being taken two wide as the stage’s end neared, but he remained at the tail of the lead group of cars. Gaining one more position before the green-white-checkered, Williams ended Stage 1 in 13th.
Williams pitted for fuel, tires and a slight air pressure adjustment during the first stage break, but he was caught speeding on pit road. He rolled off from the rear of the field for Stage 2 on lap 48 and began slowly moving back up through the field. On lap 79, a wreck brought out the caution that ended the second stage. Williams finished it in 19th.
After stopping in the pits for tires and fuel, Williams fired off for the final stage in 14th on lap 87 and entered the top 10 entering turn four. As the pack began shuffling, Williams found himself on the outside line battling to move forward. By the time the yellow flag was waved on lap 99, Williams had moved into 11th. He restarted from seventh with 59 laps to go, fell one spot, and then the caution once again was displayed, this time on lap 110. Williams took the green on lap 116 and hooked up with teammate AJ Allmendinger. As the intensity picked up, Williams dropped outside the top 10, and with 17 laps to go, a massive wreck brought out the yellow flag. Williams avoided it and leapt into fifth for the lap-151 restart. He tired making the bottom line work late but couldn’t find any pushers. Williams survived until the checkered flag, taking eighth place.
“We had a good racecar, and I’m happy with our finish. I think we had a lot more in us, but we just didn’t have any help at the end to get it done.” – Josh Williams
SHANE van GISBERGEN No. 97 Quad Lock Chevrolet Camaro
Shane van Gisbergen qualified 12th for the Focused Health 250 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
Van Gisbergen quickly drove his way into the top 10 by lap two. With a caution on lap 13, the team opted to stay out to maintain track position. As the stage progressed, Van Gisbergen fought to maintain position while battling a tight-handling racecar and worn tires. The No. 97 Quad Lock Chevy Camaro took the green-white-checkered flag in 16th.
The No. 97 Quad Lock team pitted during the first stage break and started the second stage in 17th. Ten laps into the stage, Van Gisbergen drove to 10th and continued racing in the top 10 throughout. On lap 79, a caution came out, and the No. 97 team opted to pit for fresh tires and fuel. Van Gisbergen finished the stage under caution in ninth.
The No. 97 Quad Lock team started the final stage in ninth. Van Gisbergen quickly raced into the top five on lap 90 of the event and raced there for five laps. With 65 laps left, Van Gisbergen made contact with the wall, forcing him to pit quickly under caution for fresh right-side tires only. The No. 97 team opted to pit again under the same caution for repairs, fresh left-side tires and fuel. Van Gisbergen restarted the stage in 32nd with 59 laps remaining in the race. With 40 laps remaining, the No. 97 had a tire issue, forcing Van Gisbergen to pit under green. Van Gisbergen continued to battle a damaged car for the remainder of the race, ultimately taking the checkered flag in 27th.
“That was a tough one, not the way we wanted our day to go. I ran up front most of the race, but got into the wall there towards the end and caused some right side damage. Gutted for my No. 97 Quad Lock team because we had a really good car today, but going to continue to learn and get better. Looking forward to another shot at it tomorrow in the Cup car.” – Shane van Gisbergen
Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time, multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has earned 23 NXS wins, made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started, and won two regular-season championships. In 2021, the team competed in select NCS events, before expanding to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and adding a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. Since its first NCS start in 2021, the team has earned two wins. Kaulig Racing is currently fielding two full-time entries in the NCS and continues to field three full-time NXS entries, with a part-time fourth entry at select events. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.
STEWART-HAAS RACING Focused Health 250 Date: Sept. 7, 2024 Event: Focused Health 250 (Round 24 of 33) Series: NASCAR Xfinity Series Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway (1.54-mile oval) Format: 163 laps, broken into three stages (40 laps/40 laps/83 laps)
Race Winner: Austin Hill of Richard Childress Racing (Chevrolet) Stage 1 Winner: Justin Allgaier of JR Motorsports (Chevrolet) Stage 2 Winner: AJ Allmendinger of Kaulig Racing (Chevrolet)
● Cole Custer (2nd with 832 points, 34 out of first) ● Riley Herbst (7th with 693 points, 173 out of first)
SHR Notes:
● Herbst finished third in Stage 1 to earn eight bonus points and fourth in Stage 2 to earn seven more bonus points. ● Custer finished eighth in Stage 1 to earn three bonus points and third in Stage 2 to earn eight more bonus points. ● Custer led two times for 27 laps increasing his laps led total to 29 at Atlanta.
Race Notes:
● Austin Hill won the Focused Health 250 to score his ninth career NASCAR Xfinity Series victory, his third of the season and his fourth at Atlanta. His margin over second-place Parker Kligerman was .340 of a second. ● There were six caution periods for a total of 36 laps. ● Twenty-three of the 38 drivers in the race finished on the lead lap. ● Justin Allgaier remains the championship leader after Atlanta with a 34-point advantage over second-place Custer.
Sound Bites:
“I thought we were okay. Our car wasn’t dominant, but I thought it was fast enough for a top five at least. It just felt good to get points again with my mistake from last week, but I just got ran over on that caution. Somebody didn’t listen to their spotter and made the most of it.” –Riley Herbst, driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse
“I haven’t heard was Justin (Allgaier) said, but I think he just blew a right-front. Looking at the replay, I just tried to come down to side draft him and we just barely touched. I mean, it didn’t have any smoke or anything and it looked like it blew its right-front, I guess. I’ve never seen that light of contact blow a tire, but it’s just part of the racing. You’re trying to side draft as hard as you can. If you don’t, he’s gonna clear you the next corner, so it’s just tough racing and close racing and just part of it.” –Cole Custer, driver of the No. 00 Autodesk/Haas Automation Ford Mustang Dark Horse
Next Up:
The next event on the NASCAR Xfinity Series schedule is the Mission 200 at the Glen on Saturday, Sept. 14 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International. The race begins at 3 p.m. EDT with live coverage provided by USA and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
HAMPTON, Ga. (September 7, 2024) – Georgia’s own Chandler Smith (fourth) and Corey Heim (fifth) led Toyota with top-five finishes in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday afternoon.
Smith, a Talking Rock, Ga.-native, was strong throughout the day – leading 28 of 163 laps, while Marietta, Ga.-native Heim delivered the best superspeedway finish for Sam Hunt Racing and earned his third top-five finish of the year in just his 11th start of the season.
Toyota Racing Post-Race Recap NASCAR Xfinity Series Atlanta Motor Speedway Race 24 of 33 – 251.02 Miles, 163 Laps
TOYOTA FINISHING POSITIONS 1st, Austin Hill* 2nd, Parker Kligerman* 3rd, AJ Allmendinger* 4th, CHANDLER SMITH 5th, COREY HEIM 10th, RYAN TRUEX 25th, SHELDON CREED 28th, TAYLOR GRAY *non-Toyota driver
TOYOTA QUOTES
CHANDLER SMITH, No. 81 Wheelers Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing
Finishing Position: 4th
Can you talk about that finish?
“It is what it is. We had a really fast Wheelers Toyota GR Supra all day. It was as Xfinity Internet. I feel like I’ve been robbed of three Atlanta wins now unfortunately in my career here. I’m kind of speechless honestly. There are a lot of different things that I could have done. I could have been more selfish when I got cleared and went to the bottom and covered that and controlled the race for sure, but I was trying to be a good teammate and that didn’t pay for me today, as usual.”
COREY HEIM, No. 26 Toyota GR Supra, Sam Hunt Racing
Finishing Position: 5th
Was there anything more that you could have done on that final lap?
“Yeah, I think at the end of the day, I would have done the same thing. I’m a little frustrated about it, but if you are in a spot to win at these superspeedways and someone gets to your right rear, you have to do that, or else you are going to lose the race. I can be mad all I want, but if I was in the same spot, I would have done the same thing. It is frustrating, but I have to give a huge thank you to Sam Hunt Racing – to bring me here. We literally don’t have a logo on the thing, but we have a lot of people in the background that are providing a lot of support – Toyota, Sam Hunt Racing, Synergy – all of those guys get us to the race track, week-in and week-out, if we don’t have a logo on the car. Very thankful right now, and another top-five for Sam Hunt Racing – happy about that, but certainly still frustrated.”
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 29 electrified options.
Ford Performance Notes and Quotes NASCAR Xfinity Series Focused Health 250 | Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday, September 7, 2024
Ford Performance Unofficial Results: 13th – Lawless Alan 16th – Kyle Sieg 19th – Blaine Perkins 26th – Riley Herbst 31st – Cole Custer 32nd – Ryan Sieg 33rd – Morgen Baird 35th – Matt DiBenedetto
LAWLESS ALAN, No. 15 Deal Badger Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “It feels really good to bounce back after Michigan to have a pretty solid run and be fast again. We would have finished top five or six, but the 8, when he was pushing me, just shipped me off into turn three. I was lucky to hang onto it at all, but we did decent in qualifying. It wasn’t what any of us really wanted, but we knew that we should be fast in the race. Sim time from Ford, these Roush Yates motors, AutoParkit, AM Racing, Ford, we were fast. I’m bummed, but considering the last five or six weeks this team has had it’s nice to bring it home.”
WHAT KIND OF CONFIDENCE BUILDER IS THIS FOR YOU IN YOUR SECOND NXS RACE? “It would have been a lot bigger confidence boost if I finished sixth, but it feels good. It helps reassure me that I know it’s there and it makes the trucks a little bit more fun. It makes everything a little bit more fun when your confidence is higher.”
DO YOU HAVE ANY MORE RACES IN THE 15 THIS YEAR? “None planned at the moment, but hopefully, yes.”
COLE CUSTER, No. 00 Autodesk/Haas Automation Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I haven’t heard was Justin said, but I think he just blew a right-front. Looking at the replay, I just tried to come down to side draft him and we just barely touched. I mean, it didn’t have any smoke or anything and it looked like me and it blew its right-front, I guess. I’ve never seen that light of contact blow a tire, but it’s just part of the racing. You’re trying to side draft as hard as you can. If you don’t, he’s gonna clear you the next corner, so it’s just tough racing and close racing and just part of it.”
WHAT COULD YOU HAVE DONE IF THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN? “I thought we definitely could have won. We were up there with the rest of them. It was really weird because everybody was trying to back up to try and get a push from the guy behind you, but nobody was actually pushing because everybody was just trying to back up, so it was interesting racing. I hate these speedways. We go to so many of them in the Xfinity Series now that it’s just a crapshoot if you get wrecked or not. We’re ready to go to Watkins Glen and I think we’ll be good.”
SO YOU WERE TRYING TO SIDE DRAFT EACH OTHER, OR WERE YOU SIDE DRAFTING HIM? “I think it’s both, but I think I was the one that came down a little bit, so, overall, you’re just trying to side draft to try and get the momentum going into the corner.”
RYAN SIEG, No. 39 Sci Aps Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “After being two laps down to come back and get on the lead lap and drive back inside the top 10, and just trying to make some moves and trying to do something with 20 to go. That’s still a pretty decent amount of laps, but you’ve got to get something going because you just kind of get stuck and stagnant riding. I tried to go to the bottom and do all we could do, but we brought a fast Sci Aps Ford. It just sucks to come out of here on the hook because we had a super fast car. We drove from the back to the front a couple times and it was just a tough day.”
ANYTHING YOU COULD HAVE DONE IN THAT WRECK? “No. I checked up and I couldn’t check up enough for them in front of me. That’s about all I could do.”
WHAT WAS THE DEAL WITH THE CAR EARLY ON THAT GOT YOU TWO LAPS DOWN? “Something with the ignition fell off inside the car. They put it back on and it was fine, but a mistake on our part. We’ve got to clean some of that up and rebound and get some points. We could have come out with some points, but now we’re still behind. We’ve got to figure out what happened.”
RILEY HERBST, No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “I thought we were OK. It wasn’t dominant, but I thought it was fast enough for a top five at least. It just felt good to get points again with my mistake from last week, but I just got ran over on a caution. Somebody didn’t listen to their spotter and made the most of it.”
Ford Performance Notes and Quotes NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 Qualifying | Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday, September 7, 2024
FORD DOMINATES ATLANTA CUP QUALIFYING FOR FOURTH STRAIGHT RACE
Ford has had at least seven drivers qualify in the top 10 in each of the last four Atlanta Cup races.
Ford has won the last four NASCAR Cup Series poles at AMS (Logano, Almirola and McDowell twice).
Ford has swept the front row in four straight AMS qualifying sessions (McDowell/Blaney (2024-2), McDowell/Logano (2024-1), Almirola/Blaney (2023-2), Logano/Cindric (2023-1).
Ford swept the top eight spots in the 2023 spring race.
Ford swept the top six spots in the 2023 summer race.
Ford swept the top five spots in today’s qualifying session.
All three Team Penske drivers have qualified in the top 10 in each of the last four races, including a sweep of the top three spots in the 2023 spring race.
Team Penske has had at least one driver start on the front row in each of the last four Atlanta Cup races (Blaney, 2024-2; Logano, 2024-1; Blaney, 2023-2; Logano and Cindric, 2023-1)
Ford Performance Results: 1st – Michael McDowell 2nd – Ryan Blaney 3rd – Todd Gilliland 4th – Josh Berry 5th – Austin Cindric 7th – Joey Logano 10th – Chase Briscoe 12th – Harrison Burton 13th – Noah Gragson 17th – Chris Buescher 19th – Brad Keselowski 21st – Ryan Preece 29th – Justin Haley 31st – Cody Ware
POLE-WINNING PRESS CONFERENCE
MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 3 B’laster Work It Like A Pro Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WHAT DID YOU LEARN TODAY? “I think coming in to this weekend we sat on the pole in the spring race early in the season and felt that pressure to come back here and have another shot at it, so we executed our plan well today. As far as what it gives you as an indication for tomorrow, I don’t think it’s a huge indicator of anything other than we have the same speed we did here last time. The good thing for us was in the race our car raced really well and sometimes you trim them out and you get a lot of speed and you’ll get into the race and it’ll just be a handful, but we led a lot of laps, had a really fast car. I thought we had one of the better driving cars, so I don’t feel like we’re compromising anything going into the race with the speed that we have, and it was the same a couple weeks ago in Daytona. I felt like we had one of the fastest cars there, so it’s just about executing and being there at the end and giving yourself a shot at trying to win the race.”
IF SOMEONE TOLD YOU THAT YOU WOULD BE TIED FOR THE SERIES LEAD IN POLES ENTERING THE PLAYOFFS HOW WOULD YOU RESPOND TO THAT? “I would have told you you’re lying. One of the goals for this year, you always set goals and some are super lofty and some are more of just personal achievements that you want to achieve. One of our goals this year was to get a pole. Last year, we had a lot of speed and I don’t know how many times we qualified third and fourth and second. A bunch of times and even led a lot of the first round qualifying, and then would get beat by a little bit going into the second round, so it was a personal thing going into this offseason of really focusing on qualifying and trying to get a pole. It’s an important part of a career and stats and we’ve been close. So, I think that more than anything is when we went to Daytona and we sat on the front row and saw how close we were, that was like, ‘Alright, we’re right there. We just have to do everything we can.’ And then we came to Atlanta and obviously got our first one and it’s kind of spiraled since then. Obviously, predominantly it’s been superspeedways. I did get the pole at Gateway, but what I’m probably most proud of our overall qualifying effort. I don’t know if it’s still the case because Darlington was so bad, but going into Darlington we had the best qualifying average of any Ford team for the season, not just for superspeedways. I think we’ve made it to the second round 12 or 14 times, so I’m proud of the speed that we’re bringing to the racetrack. On the flip side, it’s a little bit of a gut check too because we haven’t got to Victory Lane and we’ve had a decent amount of speed, but it’s hard. It’s hard winning races in the Cup Series. We’ve put ourselves in position several times and haven’t got it done, so we’ve still got 10 more shots at it and that’s how we’re looking at tomorrow and how we’re looking at Watkins Glen coming up. We have really good racetracks in front of us.”
IS THIS A MASTERCLASS OF HOW TO BUILD A TEAM AND GO FROM BUILDING TO WINNING POLES AND RACES? “It’s incredible. Sometimes I think it’s undervalued what Front Row has done and where they’ve come from in the last three or four years to what we’re doing week in and week out. At the other side of it, it’s a compliment that people aren’t really that shocked when we run well or challenge for wins, so it’s going in a good direction. It’s a tremendous amount of work. It’s a tremendous effort by everybody, but we’re still, I don’t want to say small. Bob doesn’t like it when I say small, but we’re still a medium-size team, so to do what we’re doing – not just here, but week in and week out – is a real testament to what hard work and dedication and being resourceful and being efficient can do because I promise you we’re not spending the most and we don’t have the most people, but we have a great group of men and women who fight really hard and this Next Gen car has given us the platform to do what we’re doing. Without that, it would have been a really tough road, but from that point forward we’ve been in the game and I think we’ve done a good job of trying to stay in the game. It’s getting harder and harder. It always does, like when you have the big powerhouse teams they always figure it out a little bit better as time goes on and you see that with Hendrick and with Gibbs and some of the other teams that are consistently fighting for those wins week in and week out. They’ve separated themselves a little bit, but we’re still in the game and this car has given us that opportunity.”
HOW DO YOU PREPARE FOR THE START OF QUALIFYING? HOW DO YOU FOCUS ON THOSE LAPS? “Two parts. For these weekends that do not have any practice, you do a lot of preparation as silly as it sounds because you’re just going around holding it wide-open and hitting your marks and your shifts, but because you don’t have that warm-up, so to speak, you have to get everything right the first time, so there is a lot of pressure to do that. You study and you execute your plan, and then on race day, more than anything, the preparation that you do during the week of which line you’re going to choose if you do get the pole, which lanes had momentum and what the handling and the balance did and how you have to move around. You do all of that leading up to it and then when you get in you just get laser focused on the task in front of you and you switch gears. The switching gears part is pretty fun because all the way up to the race you’re signing autographs and you’re doing interviews and it’s not that you’re not in the game, but you can’t be. You’re not locked in and then you get in the car and you click the belts and then all of a sudden it’s like a switch, it’s like a mode and you just get laser focused and locked in. It’s a cool feeling. It’s an adrenaline rush. I don’t know if it’s the same for everybody. Some guys will probably hear that and be like, ‘What? This guy is taking his job way too serious,’ but, to me, it’s awesome when you get in that locked in zone and you’re ready to go.”
WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE TO BE UP FRONT TOMORROW AND CONTEND FOR THE WIN? “It’s tough when you’re the pole-sitter because you’re trying to control the race and you’re trying to control the runs, but you’re also the sitting duck that people are building runs on and dragging back and building momentum. The last time here, I kind of let the first part of that race play out, but wanted to stay near the front in those first two rows, but you need to learn what your car is gonna do and balance and all that. We were able to win the first stage here in the spring race, so I felt like our car drove well and we did what we needed to do, so, to me, it’s more about just keeping yourself in position. It’s not do or die. It’s not a lap one, lap two, lap 10 and you’ve got to block every lane and every run that’s coming, but ideally you want to keep control of the race as long as you can. We all know that’s hard for the pole-sitter. It’s a great idea, but it’s hard to do without making big moves all the time and you kind of run out of those big moves eventually, so you try to save them for the end or at least try to take that approach. This is one of those races though where handling will matter. It will matter more so than Talladega and Daytona. We saw that in the first race here. If you’re able to take a run and stay wide-open and stay committed, you could clear a car and get back in line, where Daytona and Talladega it’s hard to actually clear somebody like that. I think there’s an extra emphasis on your car driving well and then when you get down to the end it’s just being in the right spot at the right time with the right push and hope nothing around you goes too far sideways.”
HOW CONFIDENT WERE YOU ON GETTING THE POLE? “Not super confident. I don’t think you ever go into it like, ‘Oh, we’ve got this.’ I knew that we would have a shot at it, but I knew when Blaney went faster than us that first round, even though it was only by a few hundredths, you know that it’s gonna come down to executing everything perfectly, where if you’re talking about a tenth, it’s hard to make up a tenth. But it’s easy to mess up a couple hundredths, so you’re nervous about doing your job well to make sure you give yourself the best chance. I think Daytona a few weeks ago we had everybody covered by more than a tenth and so it was less nerve racking and then this one I felt like it was gonna take everything being done perfect to have a shot at it.”
IS IT STARTING TO SINK IN THAT THE RACES ARE RUNNING DOWN WITH YOUR TIME AT FRONT ROW? “No, not yet. I haven’t let it creep in. I kept telling everyone we’re just focused on winning a race to get in the Playoffs. Now we’re here. The Playoffs are happening and I’ve just redirected that focus on winning a race before the season is over, so I haven’t really allowed myself to get to that place yet. It’s gonna be tough. There’s no doubt about it. This is home for me. It’s been home for me. It wasn’t an easy decision. As weird as it might sound, I feel like I’ve already mourned that decision if that makes sense – when it first happened of ‘do I really want to do this? This is where you’ve been and potentially where you could be and could finish’ and all those things. So, it was a tough decision. It wasn’t like I went into it like, ‘Here we go.’ It wasn’t a fun decision. It’s hard when you’re that close with people and your team and you felt like you’re a part of it, so I feel good about my decision though. I don’t have any regrets, but I know Phoenix is gonna be tough. It will be tough for sure because of what we’ve done and what we’ve built here. It’s a different atmosphere than any other race team that I’ve been to and we’ve accomplished a lot together. Obviously, they’ll continue to go on and accomplish a lot. They have a great program and great drivers coming into it, but I’ll wait until Phoenix to really start thinking about it.”
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO WIN FOUR STRAIGHT SPEEDWAY POLES? “I don’t want this to come off as saying this wrong, but I think it means a whole lot more to the team, just that we’re bringing the fastest car to the racetrack and it’s hard to do. I know some people will sit there and be like, ‘Oh, it’s just a superspeedway,’ but the amount of detail and the amount of hours that go into making a superspeedway car fast, and the fact that we’re doing it better than everyone else right now is a huge testament to what the team is doing and how hard they’re working. These are hard. They’re hard to get. It’s not easy, so to get four in a row is remarkable and so, for me, what’s gratifying is just seeing my guys hard work pay off and seeing how excited they are, and I know that I have the fastest race car to compete with tomorrow in the race. It gives me confidence going in there to do my job and try to win the race. But, I’m really proud. It’s a proud moment. I think it was a huge moment in Daytona when both of our cars were on the front row. We were almost there again today and it’s an accomplishment that is not the end all, be all. It’s not the greatest thing. Winning tomorrow would be better, but it’s still something to be celebrated because of how hard it is to do at the top level of our sport.”
RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Dent Wizard Ford Mustang Dark Horse – WAS THERE ANY PART OF THE TRACK YOU WANTED A BIT MORE? “I don’t know. It’s hard to tell here. We just slowed down a little bit on our second run and I think the 34 picked up a little bit, but, overall, it’s a good day. We have good speed. We’re starting on the front row, so I’m proud of the effort and excited for tomorrow.”
ANYTHING YOU WANT TO CHANGE ON YOUR CAR? “You can do little changes for the race tomorrow, just kind of air-pressures and stuff like that, but I don’t know. I felt pretty decent in qualifying handling-wise, but getting in the pack is a whole different thing. It’s nice that we have the track position and I think the speed is good to hopefully control a lane, and I’m sure we’ll get back in the pack tomorrow at some point and we’ll see how I am in traffic. It’s all good right now. It’s a solid starting spot and I’m looking forward to hopefully being able to control the first part of the race, especially the first stage, and then see how it shakes out from there.”
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Menards Quaker State Mustang Dark Horse – “I think once again the Fords at speedways are really, really strong. I felt like our car handled extremely well in qualifying, which it’s not something you necessarily have to worry about here, but I think it just bodes well for us for the race tomorrow. I’m excited about it and feel like we can have a shot at the win.”
TODD GILLILAND, No. 38 CITGARD Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “Our cars have been really fast at all the superspeedways and it feels like we actually have cars very, very capable of winning every single superspeedway at this point and that doesn’t last forever. It always goes in waves, so, to me, even Daytona felt like a little bit of a missed opportunity with how fast my car was. I felt like even when I was in the back I could go to whatever line I felt like it would really move the line forward and those are hard to come by in these type of races when everyone is so close. I’m excited about it. I think we definitely need to take advantage of it while our cars are this fast.”
THAT FIRST POLE IS SO CLOSE, BUT JUST OUT OF YOUR GRASP. “Overall, qualifying went great. That’s the tough part. You can’t be too disappointed with third. Honestly, I was more disappointed at Daytona because I actually thought that one was really within our grasp. This week, it was kind of unrealistic to pick up more than a tenth to those guys because those guys are picking up more, too. I wasn’t as heartbroken this time. At Daytona, I was heartbroken. Overall, we just have some really, really fast Ford Mustangs coming out of Front Row Motorsports.”
CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Mahindra Compact Tractors Ford Mustang Dark Horse – “We ended up 10th there and I’m not really sure how we slowed down in the second round. I guess we didn’t slow down, everybody else kind of sped up, but I’m not really sure what happened there. We have a good starting spot. We’re starting inside the top 10 and should have a good pit stall selection, but it’s really hard to say what you’ve got just running one lap around here, but so far so good. It’s a good start to the weekend. Starting 10th is a lot better than starting 30th, so we’ll just have to see what we can do with it tomorrow.”
HAMPTON, Ga. (Sept. 7, 2024) – Michael McDowell continued his pole-winning ways at Atlanta Motor Speedway by taking the top qualifying spot in Bennett Transportation and Logistics Qualifying on Saturday afternoon in preparation for the NASCAR Cup Series Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart.
The driver of the No. 34 Front Row Motorsports Ford laid down a lap of 30.926 seconds at 179.267 mph on the 1.54-mile intermediate track that races like a superspeedway. He was second after Round 1 of qualifying.
McDowell earned his first career pole position in his 476th career NASCAR Cup Series race on Feb. 24 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He has since captured the top spot for four consecutive superspeedway races and has started all five of the 2024 season’s superspeedway races from the front row.
Joining McDowell on the front row for Sunday’s Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart (3 p.m. ET, USA, PRN Radio) was Ryan Blaney, who wheeled his No. 12 Team Penske Ford to a lap of 30.999 seconds at 178.844 mph.
“I don’t think you ever go into it (qualifying) like ‘oh, we got this’,” said McDowell when asked about his confidence going into the qualifying session for Race 1 of the Round of 16 Playoffs. “I knew that we’d have a shot at it. But when Blaney went faster than us that first round, even though it was only by a few hundredths (of a second), you know that it’s going to come down to executing everything perfectly.”
The balance of the top 10 were: Todd Gilliland (No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford); Josh Berry (No. 4 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford); Austin Cindric (No. 2 Team Penske Ford); Kyle Larson (No. 5 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet); Joey Logano (No. 22 Team Penske Ford); Austin Dillon (No. 3 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet); William Byron (No. 24 Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet); and Chase Briscoe (No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing Ford).
Tickets for Sunday’s Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart are available online at www.AtlantaMotorSpeedway.com or by calling 877-9-AMS-TIX.
About the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart:
The Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart kicks off the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. 16 drivers begin their quest to hoist the Bill France Cup on Atlanta Motor Speedway’s high banks on Sunday, Sept. 8.
Accompanying the Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart is the Focused Health 250 on Saturday, Sept. 7. With just three races remaining in the NASCAR Xfinity Series regular season, the rising stars of NASCAR will have added pressure to secure their place in the postseason with a trip to victory lane.
More information on the Sept. 6-8 Quaker State 400 Available at Walmart weekend and ticket availability can be found online at AtlantaMotorSpeedway.com.
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Keep track of all of Atlanta Motor Speedway’s events by following on Twitter, Instagram, and become a Facebook fan. Keep up with all the latest news and information with the Atlanta Motor Speedway mobile app.
Toyota Racing – Tyler Reddick NASCAR Cup Series Quotes
HAMPTON, Ga. (September 7, 2024) – 23XI Racing driver Tyler Reddick was made available to the media on Saturday prior to practice for the NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway.
TYLER REDDICK, No. 45 Jordan Brand Toyota Camry XSE, 23XI Racing
With how daunting the first round is, how helpful are those Playoff points are that you earned for winning the regular season championship?
“Well our approach doesn’t change for the Playoffs or for the opening round for the Playoffs, but certainly having those Playoff points helps in case it does get a little bit out of hand with these first three races. There is just a lot of uncertainty. I feel like that this is a track that races like a superspeedway – handling comes into play and people, drivers do have issues in the car and spin and crashes happen. If you look at Watkins Glen, just with what the tire could do there, there is uncertainty there, but when I go through these first three, I feel good about the speed that we had. Granted here in the Spring, we wrecked here on lap two and we didn’t learn from that previous race, but we’ve been solid here and just seeing how fast the Toyotas were in Bristol – even though again, we were in an early wreck – I feel good about that one as well. We should have speed here at the first three, so we will just keep the approach that we’ve been having all summer long – just trying to score as many points as possible and stay in the top-five all day, and if we do that, we also, as a bonus, will have a shot at winning a race at the end of the day.”
How much more prepared are you for your second Playoffs with 23XI Racing?
“I think our biggest thing is more so going into the Playoffs last year is just being more consistent. Last season, coming out of Charlotte, we were like 30 points out of the lead, and we gained a lot of ground and kind of had a really good early Spring into Summer push, we just had a lot of bad races over the course of the summer. I feel like we did we did a good job correcting that for the first and second round of the Playoffs, ultimately in the round of 8, we kind of lost a little speed and had some of our worst races of the year. I think that is the biggest thing – just work on being consistent. We’ve done a good job with that over the summer stretch. I don’t see any reason why that would change for us. I just feel like the more and more we get into this season, the more comfortable we get with how we’ve been running. The confidence is on our side I think.”
How are you feeling?
“Better, thankfully. It took until I think – Thursday was the really first normal day. It took a lot longer than I thought it would to run its course, but thankfully good to go and ready for this one.”
Is it frustrating as a driver with how much uncertainty is there in the first round?
“No, it is in our control. Maybe a wreck that happens in front of you is out of your control, but how you end up in that position is. Obviously, we know that qualifying is not our strength – we know that we will probably be starting back there in the mess a bit, but it is in our hands to get in front of it or get out of there, so it is very much in our control I feel like. We got to do the Watkins Glen tire test, so naturally we feel pretty good about the laps we got to have there. It is probably one of my worst road courses, of the ones we go to. The speed of the Toyotas in Bristol in the Spring helps with that. Our car was really torn up – we were damaged early on in that race, and I still felt like we if our car would have been 100 percent we would have been really strong. I’m feeling good about it.”
How have you seen the growth of 23XI? “It is just little steps, just working on the process that we have, our preparation – fine tuning it every single step of the way. There is not one big thing, right? Just a lot of good people working together on the road and back at Airspeed to help achieve those goals. It has been really cool to just see that continued path – we really haven’t hit a spot where we leveled off and sat there for a while. It seems like we continue to gradually climb and improve and as the year goes on. I’m really excited about that, but it is what we need to contend with some of the top teams and drivers that have been around for a long time. We will keep after it.”
How did being able to run last season with 23XI help you set up the foundation to have the on-track success you have had?
“It definitely played a huge factor in it. I have all the faith in the world that the cars would have been as fast but seeing that we just have great people and smart people at Joe Gibbs Racing as well that play a big role in where our cars are at on the race track too. They would have had the speed and potential, with or without me, but certainly, some of the things that me and Billy (Scott, crew chief) have been able to work on, some of the things we got to work on a year on back at the COTA tire test to just make the road course program better. Those things were really beneficial, certainly, just for the team chemistry side of it. That extra year has really helped us hit our stride this year.”
What did you have to go through with Billy Scott to build that relationship and chemistry?
“We just had to go through races. The more time we’ve had together – we’ve got to experience the highs and the lows – and understand how to navigate them as a team. I think that just experience can be invaluable as a team, the more we know each other the more instinctively we know what’s going to happen next without really having to talk about it or letting it play out. I think that experience for both of us has really helped us a lot. We brought in Nick Payne (spotter), who is kind of new to the sport – was doing Xfinity and Trucks, no full time Cup gig, and starting fresh with him. Just having the consistency across the board with the team really helps.”
How important is it to stay even in the car and not let the emotions get the best of you?
“Very important. If emotions get the best of you, it’s easy to make some poor decisions right? That more times than not just make your day worse. Just have to keep a level head and think what the next restart, the next lap – what the future scenario is. You try to respond more than react, but it is tough when you are strapped in the car, it is hot, not having a good day, it is easy to get frustrated and certain times, it is probably good to let it out, but it is definitely easy to do – and it is something that I’ve had to learn – to figure out how to digest the bad and the good and move on from it, and approach the next scenario with as level head as possible.”
Did you ever imagine growing up racing Kyle Larson that you would be amongst the top drivers in NASCAR?
“I mean Kyle (Larson) – definitely when he left the outlaw kart stuff and started running midgets and sprint cars – it was very automatic. I could tell watching from a far that he was going to go wherever he wanted to go. On my end, I didn’t know if it was going to work out. It kind of looked like the door was coming to a close, and then I got a break – started working with (Ken) Schrader, won a race. I definitely saw Kyle getting here, but I didn’t, at times, think it was going to work out for myself, but thankful it did. It is really cool that two kids that grew up racing at Cycleland Speedway in go karts, all those years ago, are doing that on the Cup side now. “
About Toyota
Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.
Toyota directly employs more than 63,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 47 million cars and trucks at our 12 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 13th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 29 electrified options.
