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NCS Michigan – Chris Buescher Media Availability

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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Firekeepers Casino 400 Media Availability | Michigan International Speedway
Saturday, August 17, 2024

Chris Buescher, driver of the No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang for RFK Racing, returns to Michigan as the defending winner of the Firekeepers Casino 400. Buescher, still looking to clinch a spot in the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series playoffs, spoke about his team’s prospects and the events of the week with media members ahead of on-track action in the Irish Hills.

CHRIS BUESCHER, No. 17 Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang

DID YOUR ATTITUDE TOWARDS YOUR PLAYOFF HOPES CHANGE AT ALL WITH NASCAR’S RULING ON AUSTIN DILLON, CONSIDERING THERE SHOULD NOW BE AT LEAST ONE SPOT MORE IN THE PLAYOFFS BASED ON POINTS? AND THEN ALSO, WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE RULING IN GENERAL?

“Yeah, it’s not going to change anything for myself or our team. We knew at the beginning of the year before we ever got to Daytona that this was the only way to really be comfortable at any point before playoffs was a win. And really, there’s no way to get through the next three weeks and be comfortable without one. So no, this isn’t going to change anything for how we approach these next handful of races. For us, we’re looking at a stretch that has been very good to us. I was just laughing coming in here last time we were at this table was for all the right reasons. So, you know, I was looking forward to that for this go around at Michigan. Came up early to be a part of the Roush open house and having our autograph session there and being around Jack and Brad’s hometown. I got to experience some of Michigan and go check out the Woodward Dream Cruise, which I was pretty excited about the last couple nights. So really, it’s just about us coming up here and trying to do all the normal things and figure out how to repeat what we did last time. It’s obviously the talk of the town, right? But it’s not going to change anything for how we’re approaching these races. It’s not going to approach or change my driving style or how we’re going to look at these things. Ultimately, it’s the same thing we talked about throughout the year. If I was willing to do something different, the ending at Kansas mattered just as much as any of these next three and would have done something crazy there. But that’s not how I grew up in this thing. I want to go to these racetracks and figure out how to go put in victory lane and how to have a good, hard race on the way to the end. We had a blast here with the race last year and are really looking forward to giving that another go.”

SPEAKING OF THE ENDING OF KANSAS, THERE WAS SOME CONTACT THERE. THERE WAS A BIG DIFFERENCE SEEMINGLY BETWEEN THAT KIND OF CONTACT AND RICHMOND. ARE YOU COMFORTABLE AS A DRIVER KNOWING WHAT YOU CAN AND CAN’T DO TO GO FOR A WIN AT THIS POINT?

“Not in my head. I know what I’m here to do, what I’m willing to do, and what I’m comfortable with. Whatever the ruling — there may not be the most clarity there for if you’re trying to put it on paper, but I know. I think that we understand what’s acceptable and what you’re willing to do as a driver. So at the end of that one, we didn’t touch each other until off of four there. So it was one of those where just, you know, good clean racing. Tried to crowd what I could and without straight up trying to block an entire racetrack or crashing and I ended up being on the losing end of it. As much as I’d love to have it back and try something and would, it really wouldn’t change the style of racing that we’re going to do in our camp.”

WITH HOW TIGHT THE BUBBLE IS, HOW MUCH WILL YOU WANT TO KNOW WHERE YOUR COMPETITORS ARE ON THE TRACK ON A GIVEN WEEK?

“I would say similar to the last couple months for us. When we go to the racetrack, we need to control what we can. We need to take these Saturdays and be good in qualifying. Figure out how to have a good race car, get into the race. If we can qualify well, then you can typically grab stage points early. That just comes with running well. It’s not that we’re chasing stage points in stage one, right? It’s a matter of just being good. For us, that’s the same way we’re going to approach these, how do we just have fast race cars and how do we get our Fifth Third Bank Ford Mustang into victory lane. What we have done or paid attention to is we know the cars that are around us in this bubble. We pay attention to if they have a rough day and if we are handed a gift of sorts in how their race plays out, then to make sure that we don’t hurt ourselves somewhere else along the way. Don’t do anything too crazy and put ourselves in a bad spot. I guess it’s not about laying up any, it’s just about doing everything that we know to do and that we can control until somebody else may or may not have issues. We’ve had a couple of issues where cars will race around, blow up, crash out and it’s just that mentality that we don’t need to have a 30th place day now. We need to be really good and if we have a 10th place car don’t wreck going for 8th, but make sure you get 10th.”

ANOTHER YEAR WHERE MIS HAS LOOMING RAIN IN THE FORECAST HERE. YOU WON THE RACE HERE LAST YEAR ON THE MONDAY. HOW AS A DRIVER DO YOU APPROACH A WEEKEND LIKE THIS WITH SO MUCH UNPREDICTABILITY AND WHEN YOU’RE GOING TO RACE?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. I haven’t heard anything about that. It’s been a year. It’s been a year for weather. We’re obviously not putting a roof over this place. We are at the mercy of Mother Nature. Last year we joked about it, this week knowing what it’s looking like. Monday wasn’t so bad last year. I don’t want to be here Monday for us, for our fans. The biggest thing I’ve talked about with everybody about the Monday win last season was simply the fact of how many people had to leave, how empty the entire facility felt, and how that can take away from a lot of the excitement. Whether that was a ton of our partners were here for a big event and had to go back to work. Our Victory Lane photos were a lot thinner than they should have been. So many of our of the Ford family and Ford execs had to go back to work as well. So that photo was a lot thinner than it should have been. I mean everything about it, the stands were a lot thinner. I know a ton of people did hang out with us and really appreciated that. But it’s just, it’s not quite as fun when it’s not a packed house, right? And we all remember just a handful of years ago going to empty racetracks and how very strange that felt. And it’s not what you want, right? So that was the biggest part for me was the win was just as important. It meant just as much to us, but the celebration is not as fun when you don’t have all your buddies there right with you. So ultimately, this weekend, we’ll obviously pay attention to it way too much. We’ll have all kinds of conversations about what-ifs, and most of those will never happen. And we’ll just go on with our normal race weekend. Seems like we have been pretty fortunate, been able to just play these things out as scheduled. Everyone keeps telling me, all the locals around here, just said, wait five minutes and it’ll change. We’ll be ready to go. We’ll just go with the locals theory there.”

WHEN YOU LOOK AT WHERE YOU’RE AT ON THE BUBBLE LINE OR ON THE CUT LINE AS FAR AS THE PLAYOFFS HOW IMPORTANT IS THIS QUALIFYING SESSION GOING TO BE TODAY TO GET SOME EARLY STAGE POINTS AND WHAT’S THE AGENDA FOR YOU GUYS IN PRACTICE IN TERMS OF DIALING IN YOUR RACE CAR AND KIND OF CHECKING ALL THE BOXES BEFORE QUALIFYING?

“Yeah, we obviously had a good notebook to go off from last time here. We’ve been excited to come back to Michigan and show the speed that we’ve had at a lot of these bigger racetracks in the last couple of months. We have not executed the races to the best extent and we don’t have the results to show for it, but we’ve been very fast at these places. Not that long ago in Indy, I was really happy with our performance through practice and maybe a little better in qualifying but got going in the first stage really well and then ended up with our issues on the day. It was a similar day at Pocono, really good there just needed to execute a little bit better overall and with that it’s gonna be important just to clean that up when we come to Michigan here, knowing how we’re going to have green flag pit stops here. We’re going to be chasing dirty air. I know that conversation sucks to have, and we’re all sick of saying it too and hearing it, but it matters when you’re running 200 miles an hour — more than anywhere. So you’re going to have those conversations. For us, it’s not changing because of our situation. We are doing the same things every week, but it’s going to become more and more important for us to execute at the highest level.”

FIVE OF THE LAST SEVEN WINNERS AT DAYTONA ARE DRIVERS THAT HAVE YET TO SECURE A PLAYOFF SPOT AT THIS POINT. WHAT ARE THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES OF BEING IN THAT TYPE OF POSITION GOING INTO NEXT WEEK?

“Well it’s not the last one this year so there’s that and Darlington is obviously very good to us the first go-around as an organization, so you know there’s always one more. It’s always like that right? There’s always that level of unpredictability. Speedway racing, I’ve had an adapting relationship with through the years and really didn’t like it for a long time and ended up on the end of a lot of the big ones with some bad luck along the way and just got to a point where I really did not look forward to heading those tracks. What I’ll say is RFK builds extremely fast Mustangs to go to those tracks. That has certainly made it a lot more enjoyable, but there is a higher luck factor when we go to those. We talk about that quite a bit. You can’t make all your own luck there. There is a matter of being in the right place at the right time simply by circumstance. Mistakes get made. Everyone is a little bit more desperate as it comes down to it. That race definitely has the ability to get a lot more wild, especially as we get into the closing laps. We’ve had these conversations there through the years of how do you run hard, be smart in the stages, try and capture stage points, but ultimately know that with 10, 15 to go, it’s going to get wild. There’s probably going to be a big accident statistically, and it seems like that just keeps getting pushed farther and farther towards the finish, to the point where all the people like us in the past have said, okay, maybe we’ll just wait until we get to that wreck and then we’ll really make that big push. Well, it’s kind of the common mindset. So it just gets later and later at the end of that race. And then it turns into just pure chaos. So it produces very wild, unpredictable finishes with new winners. We’re going to do our best to not let that happen. Myself and Brad have worked really hard to work together and be able to help each other be in the best possible spot at that style of racetrack so that we can try and cover any of the chaos. But ultimately, there’s a level of unknown there. I’m glad it’s not the last one. Let’s put it that way. I’m excited that we get to go to Darlington after that and go to our cutoff race there.”

A WEEK AFTER RICHMOND. LOOKING BACK, HOW DID, FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, THE DIFFERENT TIRE OPTIONS IMPACT WHAT YOU DID OR HOW YOU DID THINGS? AND ARE YOU FINE IF THEY DO SOMETHING IN THE PLAYOFFS?

“I like the reds. I thought the fall-off was very significant. I think that was, I’d be good with running that all the time. I think that would be a lot of fun for our racing. As far as an option when we go to racetracks, I don’t know if I like that part as much, but being on the red tires there, I think that’s a lot of what we’ve been thinking we would like as drivers and as a sport too, it was not something you had to make a decision. You had to be good on fire off, but you had to try and control how hard you pushed it, or you would certainly pay a massive penalty on the backside of it. So I thought that was fun to race. I think Richmond was the right place with track surface the way it is. North Wilkesboro being new asphalt there, we all just stayed on it, right? And that’s not out of the ordinary for new paved racetracks. We go a lot and whatever tire we’re on, we just won’t change them, but it just didn’t give us the best read, whereas Richmond gave us a pretty good idea that a different compound that has some fire-off speed and fell off hard has a lot of potential. For us, through that race, we ended up on a different strategy. After the green flag stop mishap there and had to try and make some headway back, we ended up putting our reds on earlier and trying to get our laps back. Ultimately, we’ve talked about it a little bit afterward and I think if that’s something that stays around, then the teams all kind of converge on a common strategy and it ends up becoming the same old same once everybody gets it figured out. A lot was learned in that race. If we go to the racetrack and we do this several times, then I think you really will just see most of the field on the exact same strategy again. I think it takes away what the big discrepancy between people all over the map, once we have more knowledge.”

THE AUSTIN DILLON DECISION, DID NASCAR MAKE THE RIGHT DECISION, AND WERE YOU SURPRISED AT THE DECISION?

“I’m in a position to where, no matter what I say on this one, you can come across as being biased. And for my sake, for our team’s sake, it’s probably best for me to not go down that road. I got asked about it during the week and the thing I said was, you know what, I know how we’re racing. The way that race played out before anything was talked about, any penalties were assessed, I said no, it’s not going to change what we do. Yes, I see that we’re going to be desperate to come into of these races and it’s going to produce some wild finishes, but it’s not going to change how we’re going to do this. I know what I want to do when I go to the racetrack, I know how I want to race, and ultimately for our team, we know what we’re capable of from a speed standpoint and how we’re going to approach them. So without diving into any of the details of all of that, again, there’s no way for me to have an opinion on it without having a bias. There’s about three of us that there’s no answer that’s the right one in this scenario, right? So we’ll just let it play out the next couple of weeks and then you can ask again. No comment.”

Richard Petty and Kyle Petty Celebrate Presentation of NABC Recycled Ride to Victory Junction

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NABC Recycled Rides® Gifting at Victory Junction Fuels Kids’ Summer Camp Experiences

Allstate, CARSTAR and BASF Join Forces with NASCAR Legend Richard Petty and Kyle Petty to Present NABC Recycled Ride® to the Victory Junction Team

Presentation to Richard Petty, Kyle Petty and Victory Junction Held Thursday, August 15, 2024

PORT CHARLOTTE, FL (August 16, 2024) – Campers at Victory Junction heard the engines roar yesterday, but it was an entirely different kind of vehicle – a 2019 Ford F-150 presented to the camp by the National Auto Body Council Recycled Rides® program to help move play equipment, medical equipment and other supplies at the facility. The event was hosted by BASF, a longtime Petty Enterprises partner, and the vehicle was donated by Allstate and refurbished by collision repair partner CARSTAR of Goldsboro. Racing legend and NASCAR Hall of Fame member Richard Petty and NASCAR celebrity Kyle Petty were on hand to start the engines for the presentation.

Victory Junction was a vision of young Adam Petty, and the Petty family built the camp to honor his legacy. Victory Junction enriches the lives of children with serious illnesses and chronic medical conditions by providing life-changing camp experiences that are exciting, fun and empowering; all in a medically-safe environment at no cost to the camper or their family.

“This donation of a truck for our Victory Junction team and campers allows us to allocate more resources to serving children with medical conditions, giving many kids their first chance to ride a horse, catch a fish, shoot a bullseye at the archery range or make a friend,” said Kyle Petty. “This truck carries dreams.”

NABC®, Allstate and CARSTAR of Goldsboro presented a fully reconditioned 2019 Ford F-150 to Victory Junction. Additional partners in the NABC Recycled Rides® presentation include Alpha Omega Advisement, owner of 13 CARSTAR locations, Cars for Charity, Advanced Remarketing Services, Copart, Certified Auto Glass, BRC Towing, Classic Ford of Smithfield, Blue Ridge Color Company and Lee Ford of Wilson.

“We are so proud to present a vehicle to Victory Junction and support their work to serve children and provide incredible life experiences,” said Gerry Poirier, NABC® board member. “Thank you to BASF for making this event possible, to our partners Allstate and CARSTAR for donating and refurbishing the vehicle and to everyone else who donated their time and talents to this project.”

NABC Recycled Rides® is a unique program in which businesses representing all facets of the collision repair industry team up to repair and donate vehicles to individuals and families in need of reliable transportation. Since the inception of the NABC Recycled Rides® program in 2007, members of the National Auto Body Council® have donated more than 3,300 vehicles valued at some $47 million.

“BASF has had a long partnership with Petty Enterprises and the NASCAR race team, from providing Petty Blue paint for racecars to supporting restoration and modification projects at Petty’s Garage,” said John Shoemaker, Business Development Manager for BASF. “We have been working on this project to donate a vehicle to Victory Junction for more than a year, and we’re so proud to work with all of our partners to make it happen today.”

Allstate, which donated the vehicle, was also proud to join the celebration.

“We’ve been a partner with the National Auto Body Council for many years and have donated more than 200 vehicles to NABC Recycled Rides,” said Mike Bundra, auto claims director for Allstate. “Being able to present a vehicle to Richard Petty, Kyle Petty and Victory Junction to benefit the campers they serve is truly an honor.”

The team at CARSTAR of Goldsboro, which refurbished the vehicle, said this project continues their commitment to giving back.

“At Alpha Omega Advisement, which owns CARSTAR of Goldsboro and 12 other CARSTAR locations, we are focused on giving back to the communities where we do business,” said Wes Schaefer, vice president, Alpha Omega Advisement. “Our team at CARSTAR of Goldsboro was so proud to work on this vehicle knowing it was going to Victory Junction and the campers there.”

About Victory Junction

Victory Junction is a member of SeriousFun Children’s Network. Located in Randleman, North Carolina. Victory Junction enriches the lives of children with serious illnesses and chronic medical conditions by providing life-changing camp experiences that are exciting, fun and empowering, all in a medically-safe environment at no cost to their families. For more information about Victory Junction, please visit: victoryjunction.org.

ABOUT CARSTAR AND ALPHA OMEGA ADVISEMENTS

CARSTAR Alpha Omega has 13 CARSTAR locations throughout the state of North Carolina… located in Smithfield, Greenville, Kinston, Rocky Mount, Wilson, Cary, Sanford, Cleveland and of course Goldsboro. The founder, Jason Zander, owner of Alpha Omega Advisement LLC, has created an organization that has a core value in giving back in any way possible to various charitable groups.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL AUTO BODY COUNCIL®

The National Auto Body Council® is the premier organization of collision industry partners dedicated to strategic networking opportunities that positively change lives in the communities we serve. The collaborative membership of the National Auto Body Council® has gifted more than 3,300 vehicles and provided extrication opportunities for some 5,500 First Responders in communities around the country through NABC Recycled Rides®, NABC First Responder Emergency Extrication (F.R.E.E.™) and the NABC® Community Impact program. That effort equates to a 4:1 ROI in dollar value delivered from NABC® membership dollars. The NABC Changing and Saving Lives Foundation, a 501c3 organization, is committed to the goal of driving change for veterans, military members, first responders and families in need, while harnessing the power of the collective membership of the collision repair industry to positively impact communities where we live and work. As demand for NABC® programs like NABC Recycled Rides® and NABC F.R.E.E.™ grows, so do the needs for resources to manage these important programs. Being able to pursue grants, gifts and donations allows NABC to expand these programs to serve those in need and help communities where we live and work. For more information, visit www.NationalautoBodyCouncil.org.

Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Overview- Michigan

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Official Release
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Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport
NASCAR Xfinity Series Race Overview-
Michigan International Speedway; August 17, 2024

Track; Michigan International Speedway- Oval (2.0-Miles)
Race: Cabo Wabo 250; 125 Laps; 30/30/65; 250.0 Miles
Date/Broadcast: Saturday; August 17, 2024 3:30 PM ET
TV: USA, and the NBC Sports App
Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN) – Check Local Listings for affiliate, and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90
Social Media: Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito AutoSport; Facebook, Instagram, and X

Jeb Burton – No. 27 Rocky
Chevrolet Camaro SS Preview- Michigan International Speedway

News and Notes:

  • Practice; After the completion of NASCAR technical inspection, Jeb Burton would first take to the 2.0-mile Michigan International Speedway (MIS) for a scheduled 15-minute practice session on Friday afternoon. With the field broken into two groups Burton would be a part of Group B. In his first laps on track, Burton would record a best lap of 41.882 at 171.912 mph on Lap-9 of his 12-lap session placing Burton 11th of the 39 cars entered for Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) Cabo Wabo 250.

– Starting Position; Immediately after the conclusion of the 15-minute practice session, NXS teams would be given 10-minutes to make adjustments, change tires and add fuel prior to moving into qualifying for the Saturday’s Cabo Wabo 250. In 2024, Intermediate sized tracks will use a single-lap of qualifying to determine the starting lineup. With 39 cars entered, one car would miss the race. Burton would record a lap of 42.564 at 169.157 mph placing the No. 27 Rocky Chevrolet Camaro SS 18th overall. At the conclusion of qualifying Burton will start the Cabo Wabo 250 outside Row 9 in the 18th position.

– Michigan International Speedway Stats; Saturday’s NXS Cabo Wabo 250 will mark Burton’s fifth NXS start at MIS. In four previous starts, Burton holds an average finish of 17.5 with an 99.0% lap completion rate finishing 509 laps of the possible 514. Burton’s best MIS finish would come in 2019 where he would finish in the 9th position after starting 11th.

Featured Partner

  • Rocky: Founded in 1932, ROCKY manufactures rugged outdoor, military, duty, work and western footwear, apparel and accessories. The company’s products are available in nearly 3,000 retail and catalog outlets. It is a division of Rocky Brands, a publicly traded company on NASDAQ® under the symbol: RCKY. More information can be found at RockyBoots.com.

Parker Retzlaff – No. 31 FUNKAWAY
Chevrolet Camaro SS Preview- Michigan International Speedway

Social Media; Facebook, X, Instagram

  • Practice; Once given the all okay thru NASCAR technical inspection Friday afternoon, Parker Retzlaff would roll out onto MIS for a scheduled 15-minute practice session. With the field broken into two groups Retzlaff would be scheduled apart of Group A. In his first laps on track, Retzlaff would record a fast lap of 41.942 at 171.666 mph on Lap-13 of his 13-lap session placing Retzlaff 15th of the 39 cars entered for Saturday’s NXS Cabo Wabo 250.

– Starting Position; Upon the conclusion of the Group A’s 15-minute practice session, NXS teams would be given 10-minutes to make adjustments, change tires and add fuel prior to moving into qualifying for the Saturday’s Cabo Wabo 250. In 2024, Intermediate sized tracks will use a single-lap of qualifying to determine the starting lineup. With 39 cars entered, one car would miss the race. Retzlaff would run a lap of 42.866 at 167.965 mph placing the No. 31 FUNKAWAY Chevrolet Camaro SS 26th overall. At the conclusion of qualifying Retzlaff will start the Cabo Wabo 250 outside Row 13 in the 26th position.

  • Michigan International Speedway Stats; Saturday’s NXS Cabo Wabo 250 will mark Retzlaff’s second NXS start at MIS. In his debut at MIS last season, Retzlaff would capture a 9th place finish after starting in the 24th spot earning the young Wisconsin driver a 100.0% lap completion rate finishing all 125 laps of the possible 125.

Featured Partner

  • FUNKAWAY; Headquartered in Waukegan, Illinois, FUNKAWAY is a line of odor elimination products that removes the horrible effects of bad smells. Guaranteed to work on clothing, shoes, gear, pet products, car interiors and more, FUNKAWAY allows customers to renew and refresh, rather than throw away. To learn more about FUNKAWAY, visit FUNKAWAY.com and connect on Instagram and Facebook. #FUNKINFAST31

About Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito Autosport

Jordan Anderson Racing Bommarito AutoSport is a NASCAR team, owned by owner/driver Jordan Anderson and Bommarito Automotive Group President, John Bommarito. Established in 2017 the organization is fueled by an incredible, close-knit team of employees, fans, and sponsors with a focus on integrity in the pursuit of excellence. Our goal is to embrace the journey we’re on and to never give up – whether on the track, in the pits, or in life. Every single team partner, and fan of ours, is what keeps our race cars running strong and our team performing at the highest level.

CHEVROLET INDYCAR AT WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY: Team Chevy Qualifying Report

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CHEVROLET IN NTT INDYCAR SERIES
BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500
WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY
MADISON, ILLINOIS
TEAM CHEVY QUALIFYING REPORT
AUGUST 16, 2024

SCOTT MCLAUGHLIN AND TEAM PENSKE CAPTURE BACK-TO-BACK NTT P1 POLE AWARDS WITH CHEVY POWER AT WORLD WIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY

  • Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet, will start on pole in Saturday evening’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 after capturing his fourth NTT P1 Pole Award of the season with Chevrolet power and second in a row at World Wide Technology Raceway.
  • McLaughlin’s pole award Saturday at World Wide Technology Raceway is Chevrolet’s fifth of the 2024 NTT INDYCAR SERIES season and sixth at the 1.25-mile egg-shaped oval.
  • Team Chevy will start tomorrow’s 500-kilometer, 260-lap race with four drivers in the top-10 starting grid, including McLaughlin (first), his Team Penske teammates Josef Newgarden (fourth) and Will Power (fifth), and Juncos Hollinger Racing’s Romain Grosjean (eighth).
  • The Bommarito Automotive Group 500 takes the green flag at World Wide Technology Raceway Sunday near St. Louis live on USA Network at 6 p.m. ET. Additional coverage of the 500 kilometer, 260-lap race will broadcast via Peacock, as well as INDYCAR Radio and SiriusXM Channel 218.

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 QUALIFYING RESULT:
Pos. Driver
1st Scott McLaughlin (179.972 mph)
4th Josef Newgarden (179.434. mph)
5th Will Power (179.262 mph)
8th Romain Grosjean (178.321 mph)

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 FINAL PRACTICE RESULT:
Pos. Driver
1st Pato O’Ward (174.708 mph)
4th Josef Newgarden (173.685 mph)
6th Alexander Rossi (173.327 mph)
7th Conor Daly (173.304 mph)
8th Nolan Siegel (173.266 mph)
10th Will Power (173.188 mph)

TEAM CHEVY TOP-10 FIRST PRACTICE RESULT:
Pos. Driver
3rd Scott McLaughlin (178.830 mph)
4th Will Power (177.785 mph)
6th Romain Grosjean (177.267 mph)
9th Nolan Siegel (176.792 mph)

WHAT THEY’RE SAYING (Quotes):

Santino Ferrucci, No. 14 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

“Actually, thought I put together two solid laps. driving-wise. I felt very comfortable and very in control, and then just see the number on the dash, and it’s slower than what I had felt we were going for. That’s never a good thing. We have an issue that will take some work to figure out but I’m confident we’ll have a good car for the race.”

Sting Ray Robb, No. 41 AJ Foyt Racing Chevrolet:

“We were middle of the road. Balance felt great. Car felt very good and consistent. I have a lot of confidence rolling speed into (turns) one and two. I tried to change some stuff up in my driving for (qualifying) and the car just wasn’t there. Conditions did change a little bit, and way more than I was expecting, so that’s a bit frustrating and I feel like we could’ve done a much better job than that. Hopefully, it’s not the worst of the day, but it seemed pretty bad at the end. We’re going to do what we can. This track is very limited on what kind of passing we can do similar to Iowa it seems like. It seems like a single-lane track right now and the tire (degradation) seems fairly low. Not good in a race for the front.”

Pato O’Ward, No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“I think tomorrow will be a different show just like it is every single year. I’m super happy with where we put our race car in the final practice. I think we’re in decent shape to be in the fight tomorrow.”

Nolan Siegel, No. 6 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“Overall, I think it was a positive day. The car has very good race pace, and I think we’re going to be able to follow close and pass some people tomorrow, which is good. It was a disappointing Qualifying, obviously, but I think we can make up for it and I’m very happy with where we ended in Practice 2. There are a lot of positives to take away, and we’ll make it count tomorrow when it actually matters.”

Alexander Rossi, No. 7 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet:

“Today was the Outback Steakhouse of qualifying and practice. You’re not going to get food poisoning because it’s so horrible, but you don’t really want to go back. I think we were pretty average all the way until Practice 2. It was one of the bigger misses we’ve had in Qualifying in terms of not really understanding what we need to make the car go quick. I think in Practice 2 we made several steps in the right direction. I think as three cars we made steps in the right direction. The caveat to that is it was dark, so the race will end similar to this, but certainly in the beginning it will be more like how the rest of today was. We’ll need to understand very clearly how the ambient conditions for the majority of the race tomorrow are going to affect the car that we’re happy with now.”

Ed Carpenter, No. 20 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“We’re definitely in a better place than we were this race last year. You know, it will be curious to see what it’s like tonight in race trim. The team did a good job bringing us something better than what we had last year. Christian (Rasmussen) did a test here at rookie day and did a really nice job getting us more prepared. I’m definitely much happier and more comfortable than I’ve been here in the past couple the past couple years. Looking forward to practice too, to see what type of race we’re going to put on. I thought it felt pretty decent with the changes that we made. I think with the way people are qualifying, everyone’s trimming a little bit, and it’s really just going to be how you hit the balance.”

Rinus VeeKay, No. 21 Ed Carpenter Racing Chevrolet:

“Felt quite similar between the two, both practice and qualifying. The car felt good. Happy with the balance. There are guys trimming a bit more, some a bit less. It’s kind of a question mark today, but I’m happy. I did what I needed to do in that run. The ECR No. 21 crew gave me a good car that gave me confidence to push those entries, to push flat in (turns) three and four. Chevy gave us some great power, too, so hopefully it hangs in there. But I’m satisfied and hopefully we can race well.”

Romain Grosjean, No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Racing Chevrolet:

“It’s been really good, to be fair. I think we have great speed. David Malukas’ lap was pretty impressive, to be honest. I was kind of happy where I was, but he’s definitely done a hell of a job there. We’ll see where we are at the end. The race will not be easy to pass, so starting up front will be good. I think Conor (Daly) being with the team with his experience on ovals has been very valuable for all of us. For me, I’m still a young guy on ovals, so still trying to learn from those guys, and I think we’ve been working well together. We tested here ten days ago, and it worked. It went well, it worked well. We’ll see today, but happy with our qualifying.”

Conor Daly, No. 78 Juncos Holilnger Racing Chevrolet:

“First qualifying session with the hybrid. It’s kind of cool to learn how to pick out exactly what percentage you need to use and then how much you can get back in one lap. Here, it’s really interesting because you are almost flat in (turns) three and four. I should have been flat in three and four, but I was scaring myself so…It’s just interesting. Good learning experience for us from the practice session. Not going to be quite enough, but hopefully it keeps us around mid-pack and we should be alright.

“A qualifying run with the hybrid is different. You have to try and be super optimal on that. I didn’t get to qualify at Iowa, so I hadn’t really experienced that yet. We made a good step forward from our practice. I mean, is that enough? I don’t know, but the conditions seem to be very, very volatile. So, I was easy flat in three, four earlier, and (during the qualifying) run, I was like man, that’s a bit a bit different. So we’ll go to work on it. I don’t think we’re going to be in a bad spot, so we’ll see. Just got to thank Chevrolet and Ricardo Juncos and Brad Hollinger, everyone that’s allowed me to be here. It’s really cool.”

Josef Newgarden, No. 2 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“Good. Man, my car was great. I was a little bit shy. We made a really big jump from practice. We kind of went on the safer side of a trim step. Probably could have taken more. Just felt like we were a little behind the eight-ball coming out of practice. Super happy with the PPG Chevy. The team did a great job.”

“It’s a different landscape right now. It’s a totally different car, which I think changes things. Iowa was a different track, plus a different car, and you saw a very different product. So, I think it’s hard to say how the season is going to end, but I certainly believe we can figure it out. It’s just a matter of do we have it fully sorted right now or not? I think we’re pretty close. But we’ll see what time says, but it might take us a little bit more time to get where we want to be.”

Scott McLaughlin, No. 3 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“We rolled out of the truck great today. The DEX Imaging Chevy has been great. I’m very proud of the team. We had a procedure and went through it and got it done, and just makes me proud of everyone. But end of the day tomorrow is payday, and we’ll make sure that we were on top of things. But proud of this whole group. And, yeah, we just want them to sleep on us. We’re coming, and I want to make sure I get myself back in this championship. Starting position is huge, and ultimately, getting a pole without going, you know, having an engine penalty as well as a big deal. So that’s what happened last year. And we found out the hard way. You know, being stuck in the middle there is really tough, but we’ll do our best for strategy, find our way forward. And yeah, hopefully we can bring home the win.

Will Power, No. 12 Team Penske Chevrolet:

“Qualifying on these short ovals is bloody tough. You get about a lap and a half to get up to speed and then you need to absolutely nail the lap. It’s intense but that why we love it. The Verizon Chevy has been very solid all day. We’ll get some time this evening to work on race setup in conditions that will be similar to tomorrow. These Team Penske Chevys have speed. Just need to hit on the execution tomorrow.”

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN, No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet – End of Day Press Conference:

THE MODERATOR: Joined by the NTT P1 award winner for the second straight year here at Worldwide Technology Raceway, Scott McLaughlin, driver of the No. 3 Dex Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet. Fourth NTT P1 award of 2024, ninth of his career, back-to-back here at Worldwide Technology Raceway.

Good news is you get to actually start and enjoy pole position tomorrow. Your thoughts on today?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, that’s absolutely a bonus, but the Dex Imaging Chevy was just great from the jump. We had a focus this morning, well, early noon, just to focus on the qualifying car because we knew we only had a short run before qualifying, and we knew how important it is to be at the front here. It went to plan. The car has been great from the jump. We’re in a really good spot, obviously, for tomorrow.

As we know, this is INDYCAR. Anything can happen. But we’ll try to stay on our toes and focus on this last practice session tonight just to get our race balance right, and hopefully we can come with a pretty fast printer wagon for tomorrow.

Q. What was the feel of the car for practice, and now that you have pole, how relieved are you for starting up there with how difficult it seems everyone is thinking it’s going to be tough to pass here tomorrow?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, look, we’ll find that out in race balance here in a little bit, but I think it’ll be pretty reasonable. Car, as I said, straight out of the hauler was awesome. I think we’re in a really good spot, obviously, for tomorrow, to maybe make some points back here, and there’s no doubt in my mind that we can put ourselves back in the hunt with a good result tomorrow. That’s our big focus right now.

But yeah, proud to get the pole, and I actually forgot the last half of your question.

Q. For high line practice later on, do you think that’ll create a big difference for tomorrow?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: We’ll see. I mean, it can’t hurt, that’s for sure. More downforce on the cars this year. I think they’ve made all the necessary steps to help that.

You certainly hope so for the race sake.

But I still think it’s going to be somewhat of a track position race, but I think if we can do this high line practice and then with the extra downforce, who knows what will happen, and I’m sure the restarts are going to be pretty hectic, as well, so that’s always good fun.

Q. Looking at this championship, you’ve got a good amount of ground to make up but also four short ovals where you’ve run particularly well over your career. Do you still feel like you’re part of this championship run at 83 back?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, yeah, for sure. Yeah, 100 percent. There’s no doubt I’ve come from basically the back at the start of this year, and we’ve found ourselves in position in less races. There’s anything that can happen in this sport. It takes one bad race from Palou, and everyone is jumping down his neck.

I think we’re well in reach to get there if we can perform well on the ovals, which I know I feel comfortable on the ovals now. There’s no doubt in my mind we can get there. Yeah, 100 percent confidence.

Q. Do you feel like this is the track that you feel most confident among the three ovals? I know Nashville, Milwaukee, a lot of folks, including you, have never run at. Is this an extra important one given your history and experience here?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, Milwaukee we finished quickest at the test. I felt pretty good there. I feel like from an oval perspective, it’s a very comfortable position. It doesn’t take thankfully too long to learn some ovals, so Nashville — I think a lot of people are going to be learning it, and I feel like I can get on top of it as best as anyone, but you’ve got to have that confidence in yourself, that ability, and hopefully we can put ourselves in position over these next coming races.

This one, we take it bit by bit. I don’t really care. I just drive the car and hopefully we’re quick, and I think we’ll be okay.

Q. It seems like you guys have adapted to the hybrid on the ovals better than anyone else. Is that because you guys have pretty much tested it more than a lot of people? You were a key team for Chevrolet during the off-season.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I didn’t think there was much to adapt to, to be honest. The hybrid is there, yes, but we’re not using it probably nearly as much as the road courses, street courses, and from the looks of it, from what you see on TV and data and all that stuff, everyone has got the same process, the way they go about it.

No, I don’t think we — for sure from a driving perspective, it was nice to feel the weight of the car and stuff and having that opportunity to do that, but I think as a team, it’s very well documented — I think INDYCAR have been great, very fluid with the situation and transparent to all the teams up and down pit lane, and I think it’s why you’ve probably seen it run reasonably smoothly.

Q. But it seems your team has adapted to it better with the weight, the extra weight. The setup seems to be better than everybody else.

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I debate that. Look, on the oval, yeah, maybe. We’ve always been strong at Iowa. But Herta got a pole there, I got a pole there. Here we got pole. We got pole last year.

I always feel like we’ve got fast cars, which is an added bonus at the start, and then you add the weight. It’s just weight. You’ve just got to try and adapt to it, and everyone has got very smart engineers up and down pit road that can adapt to that and understand what we need to do to get to that point.

Sure, it was nice to drive the car a little bit over the off-season, but I think when we got to this point, it’s every man for themselves.

Q. I believe the last four visits on ovals you’ve taken at least one of the poles. What has clicked for you in the last year with regards to qualifying on ovals?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, me and Benny were talking about it, my engineer. Our average must be pretty cool since we’ve started working together. From ’22 onwards, even ’21, I’ve felt strong, but it’s just nice to have the confidence in the race car you’re driving. The team give me a great car, and I’m able to just execute the way I want to.

I think I like oval qualifying because it replicates a little bit — might sound weird, but it does replicate Supercars in some ways and the top-10 shootouts we used to do back there and all that sort of stuff. Getting my tires up to temp and trusting the tires into Turn 1 or whatnot, it’s been a strong suit of mine in the past, and probably a little bit more aggressive in that regard, but yeah, I really enjoy it.

Love ovals. I think it’s the backbone of our series, and I’ve enjoyed having a lot more on the schedule, or at least a couple more this year.

Q. You said you have some sort of procedure you run. Can you go into detail a little bit more?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: I cannot go into detail, but I made a mistake, but I thankfully held on. I thought that was probably going to what what maybe Will or Palou could have got me on, but yeah, it was just something that — it’s part of my process just with the car.

Q. These procedures you’re talking about, and I’m watching drivers, does it feel like you’re doing the AABB up-down-up-down thing like it’s a video game?

SCOTT McLAUGHLIN: Yeah, lucky I play a lot of Call of Duty, so I sort of feel like I’m pretty good with hand movements and looking around. For sure. It’s a lot going on, especially short oval qualifying. But even like in street courses at Toronto and stuff.

But I think if you talk to people up and down pit road we’ve actually enjoyed that. It’s been quite fun, and it’s rewarding when you do a good job or it works out in your favor.

Yeah, I’ve enjoyed it, but there’s a lot more to do than there used to be.

About Chevrolet

Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Foster Keeps Rolling, Wins Pole at World Wide Technology Raceway

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Madison, IL- during the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 in Madison, Illinois (Photo by Travis Hinkle | IMS Photo)

MADISON, Illinois (Friday, Aug. 16, 2024) – Louis Foster’s march toward an INDY NXT by Firestone championship continued in qualifying at World Wide Technology Raceway.

The English driver in Andretti Global stable continued his dominating summer by earning the pole for Saturday’s OUTFRONT Showdown (3:55 p.m. ET, Peacock, INDYCAR Radio Network), and he did in record fashion. Both timed laps were quicker than any of those turned by opponents in the session, and the combination gave Foster a track-record average of 164.109 mph at the 1.25-mile oval. Foster’s second lap was his best: 164.242 mph.

The series’ one- and two-lap qualifying records had stood since 2017 when Juan Piedrahita averaged 161.354 mph and 160.823 mph, respectively. Thirteen of the 18 drivers in this event eclipsed his two-lap average.

Since finishing the first three races of the season in the third, fifth and seventh positions, Foster has been on an incredible roll. He won the second race of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course doubleheader on May 11 and has pushed his season total to five wins and five poles.

The driver of the No. 26 Copart/Novara Technologies entry holds a 77-point lead over his nearest challenger – Jacob Abel of Abel Motorsports – and this pole will add another point to his total. But he said he’s not stopping to count points now. Four races remain.

“I just want to keep winning races, man,” Foster said. “We’ll see what happens. Obviously, make good decisions in the race and finish with the (maximum number of) points, but my main goal is to win.”

This will be the 11th race of the season and the second on an oval track, and Foster won the July 13 race at Iowa Speedway. He led the final six laps of that race, overtaking pole winner and teammate James Roe in the late going. Foster finished second to eventual series champion Christian Rasmussen in this event last year.

Foster will be joined on the front row Saturday by another teammate, fellow English driver Jamie Chadwick. She posted a two-lap qualifying average of 163.505 mph in the No. 28 VEXT entry.

HMD Motorsports drivers Caio Collet and Christian Brooks – both in their first year in the series — will start in the third and fourth positions, respectively.

S. TORRENCE, ALEXANDER & ANDERSON ROLL TO PROVISIONAL NO. 1 SPOTS AT LUCAS OIL NHRA NATIONALS

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BRAINERD, Minn. (Aug. 16, 2024) – Four-time Top Fuel world champion Steve Torrence powered to the provisional No. 1 position on speed at Brainerd International Raceway, taking the top spot over Tony Stewart on Friday at the 42nd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals.

Blake Alexander (Funny Car) and Greg Anderson (Pro Stock) are also the provisional No. 1 qualifiers at the 13th of 20 races during the 2024 NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series season.

Torrence and Stewart both went a blistering 3.688-seconds during the second qualifying session at Brainerd, but Torrence had the faster run, going an impressive 335.32 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Capco Contractors dragster. If that holds, it would be Torrence’s third top spot of the season and the 40th in his career. After winning in Seattle, things are continuing to come around for Torrence, who is currently third in Top Fuel points.

“We’ve been working on trying to make power,” Torrence said. “At the end of the day, power is speed, and the high mile an hour is just an exhibition of power and being able to get it down. These conditions here are different than a lot of places we go, so it’s rather difficult to make power here. I was a little surprised to see .68 being low.

“The track is good, everything is good, but people are struggling to make the power they want. We were wanting to run quicker than .68, and that’s just what it gave us. We were just a little closer to it than everybody else, only a little better than Smoke. Pretty cool to see him come out and do as well as he’s done right here. We got lucky and it’s been a good day.”

Stewart went a career-best 3.688 at 332.18 to sit in the second spot, while points leader and reigning world champ Doug Kalitta is third with a run of 3.703 at 335.40.

Funny Car’s Blake Alexander made a big move to close out qualifying on Friday in Brainerd, jumping to the No. 1 position in his 11,000-horsepower Head Racing Ford Mustang after a strong run of 3.874 at 331.61. It would be Alexander’s first career No. 1 qualifier should it hold. It was a standout performance by Alexander, who has enjoyed some strong moments during the 2024 campaign, including a pair of semifinal finishes over the last four events. Adding his first career No. 1 qualifier would certainly add that list if Alexander can hang on.

“Given the circumstances of the previous race, that was very sweet – but also, I think we’re capable of doing that, and it wasn’t exactly surprising,” Alexander said. “It’s repetitive – that’s the second time we’ve run 3.87, and that’s when you start becoming a problem for these guys out here who are, quite frankly, bigger outfits than us. It feels pretty good to be able to run with them.

“We’re having the best season we’ve ever had, to be honest. We just haven’t won a race yet. I think that gets lost in the nature of this business is you’re only as good as your last run. That will happen tomorrow, and that will happen on Sunday, but right now we’re happy with where we’re at.”

Alexis DeJoria took the second spot after going 3.882 at 332.84 and Bob Tasca III, who won the most recent race in Sonoma, is third thanks to a run 3.884 at 332.59.

In Pro Stock, Duluth native Greg Anderson put together a classic performance at the track where he grew up racing, taking the provisional No. 1 position with a run of 6.641 at 207.08 in his HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro. That puts Anderson in position to pick up his fifth No. 1 qualifier of the year and the third in the past four races. Anderson hasn’t won in Brainerd since 2011, something the five-time world champion would love to change as the Countdown to the Championship approaches. He closed out qualifying with a standout run and will look to continue that on Saturday when Pro Stock will make three qualifying runs.

“I was hoping we could have run a little bit quicker, but the bottom line is that we did all we could do today. We got all the points that they had to give, and we won Friday,” Anderson said. “So, we’ll move into tomorrow as a new day, and we’ll use that as tuning data. There’s definitely a lot of room left in it, we know we can run better which is great news.

“I love racing here at Brainerd. When it’s cloudy and cool like this, the racetrack is great. The bottom line is that the racetrack is better than we went up there prepared for. That’s a good problem. You go home and find some courage, come back tomorrow and be better. That’s what we’ll do. We’ll come back like a lion tomorrow and hopefully run better and take No. 1 home with us.”

Aaron Stanfield, who has won three of the past four races, is currently second with a 6.642 at 206.26 and Matt Hartford is right behind after going 6.643 at 204.66.

Qualifying continues at 12 p.m. CT on Saturday at the Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway.

BRAINERD, Minn. — Friday’s results after the first two of four rounds of qualifying for the 42nd annual Lucas Oil NHRA Nationals at Brainerd International Raceway, 13th of 20 events in the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series. Qualifying will continue Saturday for Sunday’s final eliminations.

Top Fuel — 1. Steve Torrence, 3.688 seconds, 335.32 mph; 2. Tony Stewart, 3.688, 332.18; 3. Doug Kalitta, 3.703, 335.40; 4. Shawn Langdon, 3.705, 330.07; 5. Jasmine Salinas, 3.714, 334.90; 6. Brittany Force, 3.720, 336.07; 7. Billy Torrence, 3.730, 333.08; 8. Justin Ashley, 3.736, 332.75; 9. Antron Brown, 3.768, 330.31; 10. Josh Hart, 3.796, 325.61; 11. Shawn Reed, 3.807, 320.13; 12. Tony Schumacher, 3.808, 323.04; 13. Ida

Zetterstrom, 3.809, 326.87; 14. Clay Millican, 4.341, 186.25.

Funny Car — 1. Blake Alexander, Ford Mustang, 3.874, 331.61; 2. Alexis DeJoria, Toyota GR Supra, 3.882, 332.84; 3. Bob Tasca III, Mustang, 3.884, 332.59; 4. Cruz Pedregon, Dodge Charger, 3.894, 330.07; 5. Paul Lee, Charger, 3.912, 321.12; 6. Austin Prock, Chevy Camaro, 3.916, 330.15; 7. Jack Beckman, Camaro, 3.920, 322.65; 8. J.R. Todd, GR Supra, 3.938, 325.22; 9. Chad Green, Mustang, 3.942, 325.92; 10. Daniel Wilkerson, Mustang, 3.956, 326.00; 11. Bobby Bode, Mustang, 3.975, 298.54; 12. Jack Wyatt, Charger, 4.359, 226.54; 13. Ron Capps, GR Supra, 6.440, 113.20; 14. Matt Hagan, Charger, 6.509, 113.08; 15. Dave Richards, Toyota Camry, 7.500, 90.84; 16. Buddy Hull, Charger, 9.867, 72.68.

Pro Stock — 1. Greg Anderson, Chevy Camaro, 6.641, 207.08; 2. Aaron Stanfield, Camaro, 6.642, 206.26; 3. Matt Hartford, Camaro, 6.643, 204.66; 4. Dallas Glenn, Camaro, 6.644, 205.38; 5. Eric Latino, Camaro, 6.647, 204.88; 6. Erica Enders, Camaro, 6.648, 207.15; 7. Jerry Tucker, Camaro, 6.649, 206.76; 8. Cristian Cuadra, Ford Mustang, 6.650, 206.23; 9. Fernando Cuadra Jr., Camaro, 6.660, 205.76; 10. Troy Coughlin Jr., Camaro, 6.663, 206.29; 11. Jeg Coughlin, Camaro, 6.666, 205.51; 12. David Cuadra, Mustang, 6.668, 206.32; 13. Cory Reed, Camaro, 6.696, 206.20; 14. Derrick Reese,

Mustang, 6.697, 204.82; 15. Mason McGaha, Camaro, 6.705, 204.91; 16. Chris McGaha, Camaro, 6.715,204.98.

Not Qualified: 17. Deric Kramer, 8.619, 108.98.

BIG MAC ATTACK: MCLAUGHLIN WINS NTT INDYCAR SERIES POLE FOR BOMMARITO AUTOMOTIVE GROUP 500

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Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin earns the NTT P1 Award following Friday’s qualifying for the NTT INDYCAR SERIES Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline at World Wide Technology Raceway. Photo credit: World Wide Technology Raceway.
  • Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin lands series-best fourth pole of the season and second in a row at World Wide Technology Raceway
  • Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist qualifies on front row for third time this season but will start 12thdue to starting grid penalty
  • INDY NXT by Firestone championship leader Louis Foster secures series-leading fourth pole for OUTFRONT Showdown.

MADISON, Ill. (August 16, 2024) – Team Penske driver Scott McLaughlin captured his second consecutive pole at World Wide Technology Raceway and series-leading fourth of the season during Friday’s NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500.

McLaughlin posted a two-lap average of 179.972 miles per hour (50.0079 seconds) on the 1.25-mile oval to unseat Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist by .0489 of a second for the top starting position in Saturday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline (5:30 p.m. CT, TV: USA Network, Peacock. Radio: INDYCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM Radio).

McLaughlin extended his dominance this season in oval qualifying with his fourth front-row start in as many races, including two other poles. Previously, he won the NTT P1 Award at the Indianapolis 500 and first race at Iowa Speedway before settling for second at the finale of that doubleheader.

“From ’22 onwards, even ’21, I felt strong (on ovals), but it’s just nice to have the confidence in the race car you are driving,” said McLaughlin, who arrived at INDYCAR in 2021 with no oval experience after winning three Australian V8 Supercars championships. “The team gave me a great car. I’m able to just execute the way I want to. I think I like oval qualifying because it replicates – it may sound weird – Supercars in some way and the Top 10 Shootouts we did back there. You know, getting your tires up to temp and trusting the tires into Turn 1 or what not. It’s been a strong suit of mine in the past and probably a little bit more aggressive in that regard.

“I really enjoy it – love ovals. I think it’s the backbone of our series.”

Meyer Shank Racing took the next two positions with Rosenqvist qualifying second (179.796 mph / 50.0568 secs.) and teammate David Malukas third (179.503 mph / 50.1385 secs.). Rosenqvist earned his third front-row start of the season, which includes a pole at Long Beach, but will start 11th due to a nine-position starting grid penalty. The penalty was for an unapproved engine change penalty at the previous race in Toronto. Malukas matched his season-best qualifying performance, which came at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.

“We had 12 cars after we rolled out so, obviously, I was kind of expecting someone to break through,” Rosenqvist said. “It always seems like me and Scott are fighting for it. I think it is the fourth or fifth time we’ve been fighting for the pole.

“It was a really good run. You could feel it was well executed, good balance, everything was good with the tools and the car feeling.”

McLaughlin’s teammates closed out the top five with Josef Newgarden, a four-time winner at WWT Raceway, qualifying fourth (179.424 mph / 50.1605 secs.) and Will Power, who won at this venue in 2018, taking fifth (179.262 mph / 50.2059 secs).

Click HERE to watch the NTT INDYCAR SERIES qualifying highlights from World Wide Technology Raceway. Click HERE for INDYCAR’s qualifying VNR package for media outlets.

In the INDY NXT by Firestone development series, championship leader Louis Foster of Andretti Global continued his dominant season by claiming his series-high fourth pole during qualifying for Saturday’s OUTFRONT Showdown (3:05 p.m. CT, TV: Peacock. Radio: INDYCAR Radio Network, SiriusXM Radio). Foster, a five-time winner this season, won the pole with an INDY NXT by Firestone track-record, two-lap average of 164.109 miles per hour. Foster will be joined on the front row by his teammate, fellow English driver Jamie Chadwick. She posted a two-lap qualifying average of 163.505 mph.

For more information on the INDYCAR race weekend, please visit www.wwtraceway.com.

McLaughlin Roars to Back-to-Back Poles at World Wide Technology Raceway

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MADISON, Illinois (Friday, Aug. 16, 2024) – Team Penske’s Scott McLaughlin earned his second consecutive NTT P1 Award at World Wide Technology Raceway, and this time he gets the prime race starting position that goes with it.

A year ago, McLaughlin’s terrific qualifying run was tempered by a penalty for an unapproved engine change, knocking him nine places deeper in the starting order for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline. That penalty proved to be significant as the NTT INDYCAR SERIES driver struggled in traffic, and he finished in fifth place.

Those fears won’t be present when McLaughlin takes the green flag in the No. 2 DEX Imaging Team Penske Chevrolet, but that’s not his focus. He seeks the third win of the season following victories at Barber Motorsports Park and Iowa Speedway, and he has a championship to chase.

“At the end of the day, tomorrow’s payday,” McLaughlin said of the 260-lap race that airs live on USA Network, Peacock and the INDYCAR Radio Network. “We’ll make sure we’re on top of things.”

With a two-lap average of 179.972 mph, McLaughlin earned his fourth pole of the season and the ninth of his career, and this one puts him in a strong position to make a dent in the 83-point deficit he faces for the series title. Two drivers ahead of him in the standings, including series leader Alex Palou of Chip Ganassi Racing, will have one of those nine-grid penalties that hampered him in last year’s race.

Palou qualified seventh at 178.363 mph in the No. 10 Samaritan Purse Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, and teammate Scott Dixon, who drives the No. 9 PNC Bank Chip Ganassi Racing Honda, will be moved back nine spots to begin the race. Dixon qualified 10th at 177.905 mph. The six-time series champion won last year’s race by 22.2 seconds.

Meyer Shank Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist, who had the second-best qualifying performance at 179.796 mph, also will incur such a penalty.

Another benefactor of the post-qualifying movement will be David Malukas, who has scored a pair of top-three finishes at this 1.25-mile oval each of the past two years. The third-fastest qualifier at 179.503 mph will start a career-best second in Meyer Shank Racing’s No. 66 AutoNation/Arctic Wolf Honda.

Meyer Shank Racing has a technical alliance with Andretti Global, which had the three fastest cars in the recent eight-car test at this track. Kyle Kirkwood used some of that knowledge gained to earn the best oval qualifying performance of his career — sixth at 178.417 mph — in the No. 27 AutoNation Honda, the best oval effort of his career. Teammate Marcus Ericsson qualified ninth at 178.114 mph in the No. 28 Delaware Life Honda.

Colton Herta was bidding for his second consecutive pole and fourth in the past eight races when his No. 26 Gainbridge Honda spun lazily through Turn 1 on his second lap. The impact was relatively square with the rear, but the Andretti Global with Curb-Agajanian driver was left with the 25th qualifying position. Dale Coyne Racing teammates Jack Harvey (No. 18 Dale Coyne Racing Honda) and Katherine Legge (No. 51 e.l.f. Cosmetics Honda) did not post times.

“It just broke loose,” Herta said of the car. “(It’s) unfortunate. I think that first lap was decent – I don’t think it was going to get us the pole, but I think it could have got us in the top five. Second lap, I don’t if we wore the tires too much or what happened. (The grip) just let go pretty early and that’s all she wrote.”

Saturday’s race is the first of five races to end the season, and with 54 points available it could go a long way to setting the tone for the frenetic stretch run. Palou leads Team Penske’s Will Power by 49 points in pursuit of his third series championship in the past four years. Power, who qualified fifth at 179.262 mph in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet, also is driving toward a third series title.

Dixon, Herta and Arrow McLaren’s Pato O’Ward round out the top five in the standings. They are 53, 57 and 71 points behind Palou, respectively. O’Ward qualified 11th at 177.160 mph in the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet.

Josef Newgarden (No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet) has won this event a record four times, and he will start Saturday’s race from the third position after posting a qualifying average of 179.424 mph. Besides Dixon, Power is the only other active driver to have won this event.

Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline Qualifying Results

MADISON, Ill. (Friday, Aug. 16, 2024) – NTT P1 Award qualifying Friday for the Bommarito Automotive Group 500 presented by Axalta and Valvoline NTT INDYCAR SERIES event on the 1.25-mile World Wide Technology Raceway, with qualifying position, car number in parentheses, driver, engine, and speed:

  1. (3) Scott McLaughlin, Chevy, 179.972 mph
  2. (60) Felix Rosenqvist, Honda, 179.796
  3. (66) David Malukas, Honda, 179.503
  4. (2) Josef Newgarden, Chevy, 179.424
  5. (12) Will Power, Chevy, 179.262
  6. (27) Kyle Kirkwood, Honda, 178.417
  7. (10) Alex Palou, Honda, 178.363
  8. (77) Romain Grosjean, Chevy, 178.321
  9. (28) Marcus Ericsson, Honda, 178.114
  10. (9) Scott Dixon, Honda, 177.905
  11. (5) Pato O’Ward, Chevy, 177.160
  12. (78) Conor Daly, Chevy, 177.126
  13. (11) Marcus Armstrong, Honda, 176.696
  14. (21) Rinus VeeKay, Chevy, 176.661
  15. (7) Alexander Rossi, Chevy, 175.865
  16. (15) Graham Rahal, Honda, 175.782
  17. (30) Pietro Fittipaldi, Honda, 175.656
  18. (14) Santino Ferrucci, Chevy, 175.514
  19. (8) Linus Lundqvist (R), Honda, 175.510
  20. (6) Nolan Siegel (R), Chevy, 174.854
  21. (20) Ed Carpenter, Chevy, 174.752
  22. (4) Kyffin Simpson (R), Honda, 173.900
  23. (45) Christian Lundgaard, Honda, 173.722
  24. (41) Sting Ray Robb, Chevy, 172.782
  25. (26) Colton Herta, Honda, 136.880
  26. (18) Jack Harvey, Honda, No Time
  27. (51) Katherine Legge, Honda, No Time

Top Three Qualifying Run for Both Meyer Shank Racing Cars at WWTR

By
Official Release
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Rosenqvist qualifies on the front row while Malukas qualifies P3

Madison, IL (16 August 2024) – Meyer Shank Racing (MSR) came back from the three week break in top form, with both team cars qualifying in the top three and marking the 12th and 13th times that MSR has qualified in the top six this season.

After scoring a third place finish in his rookie season at World Wide Technology Raceway (WWTR), David Malukas continued that momentum into this weekend’s qualifying run. Malukas manned the No. 66 AutoNation / Arctic Wolf Honda to the top of the charts early on in qualifying on Friday afternoon with a two lap average speed of 179.503 mph – which was over 1 mph quicker than the third fastest driver.

Malukas’ pole run held for more than half the session, until teammate Felix Rosenqvist claimed the top spot, posting an average speed of 179.796 mph. Although Rosenqvist was poised to start at the pointy end of the field he was bumped to second in the final moments of the qualifying session.

The No. 60 AutoNation / SiriusXM Honda also took a 9-place grid penalty for an unapproved engine change which will provisionally drop Rosenqvist to 11th for Saturday’s Bommarito Automotive Group 500. The penalty will also move Malukas to P2 with the young racer starting on the front row on Saturday.

Coverage of Saturday’s 260-lap race at World Wide Technology Raceway will begin at 6:00pm ET on USA and Peacock. Live radio coverage will be broadcast on SiriusXM Ch. 218.

Meyer Shank Racing Team Quotes:

David Malukas: “We definitely did a really good job with the setup. Missed it a little bit, but it’s so hard to judge, with the temperature changing and the track being so green. There’s a little bit more time in it, but coming from practice one, it was pretty good.(On using every inch of the racetrack) It was definitely getting a little bit close! On that exit from Turn 2, I had to lay on the deployment of the hybrid, I was really pushing it, getting close to those walls – and that’s what it takes to get a good lap.”

Felix Rosenqvist: “It was a pretty solid run, no major mistakes. I had a little bit of understeer on the first lap so I tweaked the car a little bit for the second lap. We have a nine-place grid drop so we need to be up there, so I gave it everything I had. It felt like it was a solid run, it’s a solid car, so we’ll hang tight and see where we end up.”

Mike Shank: “We’ve been quick on ovals this year, which has been great. I give a lot of credit to our Andretti technical alliance for the basis for that. There’s a lot more going on back in the garage before qualifying, to get these cars to their optimum – there’s quite a sequence that we got right today, same with the drivers. The deployment of energy now is really interesting, with all the tactics, I’m super proud of where we are. Obviously, tonight’s practice will be different, with the change in temperature, but we have a plan.”

Toyota Racing – NXS Michigan Quotes – Sheldon Creed – 08.16.24

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Official Release
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Toyota Racing – Sheldon Creed
NASCAR Xfinity Series Quotes

BROOKLYN, Mich (August 16, 2024) – Joe Gibbs Racing driver Sheldon Creed was made available to the media on Friday after winning the pole for the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Michigan International Speedway.

SHELDON CREED, No. 18 Friends of Jaclyn Foundation Toyota GR Supra, Joe Gibbs Racing

Can you talk about your pole lap today?

“A different package than we are used to. We ran it in Indy, and we also run it at Atlanta. It is our intermediate car, with our restrictor plate engine package. There was a lot to learn at Indy. I feel like we did a really good job over our three-week break of taking what we learned in Indy to make our car better. I felt really good about practice. The car – it’s not like it takes a bunch of talent to drive it here – taped-up, qualifying run. Hats off to my guys for bringing an extremely fast race car.”

Do you feel like this is a place you can finally get your first Xfinity Series win?

“I do. I got my first ARCA win here in 2018, so it has been some time. I feel like we’ve been really consistent. We’ve been top-five a lot, even if we have had issues lately, we run top-five when they come. I feel really good about where our team is headed, and starting from the pole is going to help. Track position was really important in Indy, so I think it is going to be equally important tomorrow, and just need to be there in the end.”

What do you think this package is going to race like tomorrow?

“There is a lot of unknowns. I’m still wondering what we are going to learn. I would say that it will be something like Indy. I think it will be better. I think you will be able to stay closer and more cars will stay grouped up longer. I do think that there will be some that will probably fall back from handling issues, and I think you will have a pack of – it could be three, it could be 10 – that kind of run away. I don’t know what it will be. We are going to learn as we go, but something in between Indy and Atlanta.”

How are your preparing for the rest of the regular season and going into the Playoffs?

“I wouldn’t say Atlanta. It is just weird with the package we bring here now. I think this package races way better – it will race better here, and Indy than it does in Atlanta. We kind of just line-up and stay single file and save fuel. I think I have really good race tracks coming up – Kansas, Bristol, Darlington, Homestead. There is a lot of good race tracks in the Playoffs. On my list, I’ve just trying to be able to get through these speedway style tracks. I think we surprised ourselves today. Our car is really fast for this weekend, which is really nice for not having this one circled. I feel like our team has been consistent. I think we have nine top-fives, but we need to clean up our races a little bit to get better stage points. Just going to work on dialing that in, and then come Playoff time be right where we want to be.”

How much of a teammate element could come into play tomorrow?

“I don’t know. I feel like – it goes both ways. There are times that you need them, and you can’t trust them, and then there is times that they come and pick you up. I always try to work well – I think at the end of the day, we are all racing for each other. We try to help each other, but I don’t know. We help each other, but I’m not going to put myself out of line and lose 10 spots to help, you know?”

Do you see a lot of on-edge pack racing tomorrow?

“I think you are going to see it. I thought at the beginning of practice, everyone gave themselves a little room, right? And then, come the end of practice, everyone was looking for someone to get behind to see what their car did. I was really happy with how my car was in dirty air. I thought there was some others that were strong as well. I think the 39 (Ryan Sieg) really impressed me. He could stay in my tire tracks and wrap the corner with me, so I thought that was impressive, but I think you are going to see pack racing all day.”

There was an 18-mph pole difference from last year to this year. Can you tell the difference?

“Yes. We are almost half the horsepower than we normally are. I would say mid-corner speed is probably close, but at the end of the straightaway, you definitely feel it.”

What stands to you about the 2018 ARCA win here and what did it mean to you?

“I thought the beginning of my ARCA deal. I came straight from off-road and didn’t know anything about asphalt racing. It kind of went similar to how Xfinity has gone – been really fast, and didn’t win up until this point, when we came here that season. It was similar. We were really fast in practice, qualified, I think, second that day, and just had an extremely fast race car to lead a lot of laps. As the 20 or 21-year-old self that I was, I don’t remember exactly how old I was – that was really cool for me, and I felt like – I had finally won at the ARCA level. At that point, I was like here we go, now it is going to take off for me, which, is just not how it all has worked. I don’t know. It was special for me, and I feel like our season really took off from there.”

Do you enjoy this race track?

“Yeah, I’ve always enjoyed this race track. I’ve been fast here in Trucks. I was okay here the last couple of years in Xfinity, but I’ve always enjoyed this place. It will always be something special for me, coming in here, because I did get my first ARCA win here.”

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.

For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

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