Pomona, Calif. (March 31, 2023) – Reigning Top Fuel world champion Brittany Force powered to the provisional No. 1 spot on Friday, making the quickest run of the day to kick off the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals at In-N-Out Burger Pomona Dragstrip.
CONCORD, NC - RIS - Wire reports - NASCAR penalized each of Hendrick’s four cars 100 points and 10 playoff points after the Phoenix race weekend because of issues with the louvers on the hoods of the cars before the race. HMS immediately appealed the penalty and an appeals panel ruled Wednesday that the points penalties should be overturned.
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AUSTIN, TX – RIS – In the race that would never end, Tyler Reddick survived three overtimes to finally take the best car all day to victory lane. . NASCAR called a caution for dirt on track but off the racing line, igniting a series of restarts and new battles all again won by Reddick to end the race. Reddick battled all day with William Byron and a host of others to finally cross the finish line first for his initial win of 2023.
Camrie Caruso won her first Pro Stock race
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Ashley, Hight and Caruso Earn Wins In Front Of Sellout Crowd At Final NHRA Arizona Nationals
Chandler, Ariz. (March 26, 2023) – Top Fuel’s Justin Ashley closed out the final NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Motorsports Park with a victory in a front of a sellout crowd, powering to a win over Shawn Langdon in the championship round on Sunday.
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AUSTIN, TX – A.J Allmendinger bumped Sheldon Creed out of the lead with 14 laps to go, then held off William Byron over the next couple of laps before pulling away for the victory, his second in a row at the Texas track. Byron will be starting Sunday's NASCAR Cup series race from the pole position.
Chandler, Ariz. (March 25, 2023) – Alexis DeJoria claimed the victory in the first Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge as part of the NHRA Arizona Nationals, defeating J.R. Todd in the Funny Car final round of the bonus event on Saturday in front of a sold-out crowd at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.
AUSTIN, TX – RIS – Zane Smith outlasted Kyle Busch to win the NASCAR truck series race at COTA on Saturday. It was his second straight win at the 3.41-mile road course. Smith capitalized on a fast truck, solid strategy and good timing to score the victory. He was able to off Kyle Busch, Ty Majeski, Tyler Ankrum and Ross Chastain in the end.
(AUSTIN, TX – MAR 25, 2023 – RIS) William Byron set the fastest lap in Round Two of qualifying for the EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas. In setting the pole clocking, Byron somewhat atoned for his penalty for cutting the course Friday, costing him the pole for Saturday’s Xfinity race.
Chase Elliott in his Camaro
DETROIT, MI – RIS – It’s been rumored for some time, but this week Chevrolet made the announcement that they will longer manufacture the Camaro in 2024. This means the car they both run in the Nascar Cup and Xfinity series will not be eligible to compete.
AJ Allmendinger was fastest in Xfinity at COTA
(AUSTIN, TX – MAR 24, 2023 – RIS) Veteran AJ Allmendinger and rookie contender Sammy Smith will start on the front row for Saturday’s Pit Boss 250 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at the Circuit of the Americas road course. Allmendinger is joined in the top ten by Cup Series regulars Ty Gibbs, starting third and William Byron in ninth place on the grid. “Dinger” was the fastest on the track in every session he ran, with Gibbs heading his group in the split first round of qualifrying.
Kalitta, Alexander and C. Cuadra Take Provisional No. 1 Spots at NHRA Arizona Nationals
(AUSTIN, TX – MAR 24, 2023 – RIS) Tyler Reddick and Kyle Larson were the two fastest drivers in the sole practice session for Sunday’s Echo Park Automotive Grand Prix at the 3.410 mile Circuit of the Americas road course. Reddick’s single quickest lap of 2:12.016 at 92.989 mph was over a half second under Larson’s time, while Larson’s lap beat Ross Chastain’s best by over an eighth of a second.
Ford Performance Notes and Quotes: NASCAR Cup Series
Circuit of The Americas Advance | Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Austin Cindric, driver of the No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang, will be making his 49th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Circuit of The Americas this weekend. Cindric has shifted his road racing experiences to NASCAR, producing NXS wins with Ford at Watkins Glen (2019), Mid-Ohio (2019), Road America (2020), Daytona Road Course (2020), and Indianapolis Road Course (2021).
AUSTIN CINDRIC, No. 2 Discount Tire Ford Mustang – WHAT DO YOU THINK THE STRATEGY WILL BE AND HOW WILL IT CHANGE WITH THE LACK OF STAGE CAUTIONS? “I think it changes a lot in comparison to… I’d say especially what we saw last year with stage racing and how it really impacted the road courses. I’d say COTA probably wasn’t the worst, but as far as like Sonoma, you either took points or you decided to finish well. You had opportunities for people to decide if they had a car that was good enough to win or just take points. Obviously, in my opinion, the purpose of the stage points is to reward the cars that run well, and I think everyone would agree that the winner of the race should be one of the best cars. With that all being said, I’m not saying that the best cars didn’t win races last year, but I think with eliminating the breaks and the ability for us to run green flags pretty organically – probably more traditionally – it really changes the opportunity for strategy depending on cautions and potentially fuel mileage. I think it really changes the strategy of the race and how to go about your speed, but also and most importantly, it gives the chance for the best cars of that race to be rewarded for being the best.”
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HAMPTON, GA – RIS – Joey Logano broke the Chevrolet winning streak by taking his Ford Mustang to victory lane at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday. Logano dominated early and came roaring back in final laps to beat former teammate Brad Keselowski to the finish line.
(HAMPTON, GA – MAR 18, 2023 – RIS) Austin Hill won his third race in 2023’s NASCAR Xfinity Series today, holding off a challenge (and even an accidental hit at the finish line) from Parker Kligerman to celebrate victory at his home track with an extended family in attendance. “Once I got the lead I knew it was checkers or wreckers” said Hill after the race.
HAMPTON, GA – RIS – Christian Eckes won in a dramatic overtime NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday. Eckes recovered from an early penalty and led 35 of the 137 laps in the Fr8 208, posting his first win of the season, his first at the 1.54-mile track and the second of his Craftsman Trucks career. His No. 19 McAnally Hilgemann Racing Chevrolet took the checkered and caution flags together at the end as multiple crashes erupted behind his winning truck.
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HAMPTON, GA - RIS - Joey Logano had a fast lap in the second round of qualifying for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup race at Atlanta Motor Speedway on Saturday. Austin Cindric joins him on the front row. Christopher Bell spun out on his second round qualifying lap. The top ten in the starting lineup will be as follows, with the full starting lineup at the bottom of the page. The first eight were all Fords from a variety of teams with Team Penske having the top three.
Can you give us any more indication of what NASCAR is saying you guys did and what you’re going to try to argue on for the appeal?
Knaus: “Honestly, it’s pretty messy right now as we’re trying to figure out exactly what angle we’re going to take. I know that the whole industry went through a tremendous amount of work in the latter-stages of 2022 to try to get a new.. INAUDIBLE.. package from a cooling standpoint to help fix what maybe another OEM had problems with last year.
(HAMPTON, GA – MAR 17, 2023 – RIS) Persistent rain forced cancellation of qualifying for both the FR8 208 Craftsman Truck Series race and the Raptor, King of Tough 250 Xfinity Series races Friday. Better weather is forecast for the rest of the weekend, with cool temperatures dominating the outlook.
The Truck Series race is slated to start at 2:00 Saturday afternoon, following the 11:35 Cup Series qualifying session Saturday morning. The Xfinity Series race is slated to go green at 5:00 Saturday, with the weekend’s feature, the Ambetter Health 400 set for 3:00 Sunday afternoon.
(CONCORD, NC – MAR 15, 2023 – RIS) NASCAR announced Wednesday that all four Hendrick Motorsports Cup entries have been penalized for the louvers confiscated last week at Phoenix. NASCAR discovered an apparent irregularity with the parts during voluntary inspections before the cars entered the track and then seized them several hour later, according to Hendrick, with no prior notice or discussion.
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AVONDALE, AZ – RIS – William Byron had followed teammate Kyle Larson all day, but in the overtime two laps, nicked Larson and won his second straight NASCAR Cup race-over Larson ion Sunday. Byron dominated stage one to claim a playoff point, but had faded to fourth with 73 laps to go. However, a late race caution due to Harrison Burton‘s spin put the cars on pit road with eight laps to go. Kevin Harvick came in the leader and left in seventh after taking four tires. Byron took two tires and was able to get by Larson, Ryan Blaney and Tyler Reddick to take the lead on the final lap.
Gainesville, Fla. (March 12, 2023) – In a matchup of the last two Funny Car winners at the 54th annual Amalie Motor Oil NHRA Gatornationals, Matt Hagan drove past J.R. Todd in the final round on Sunday to kick off the 2023 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Series season, also giving Tony Stewart a second straight victory at Gainesville Raceway.
Sammy Smigh and crew celebrating
(PHOENIX, AZ – MAR 11, 20223 – RIS) 18-year-old high school senior Sammy Smith dominated the United Rentals 200 at Phoenix Raceway on the way to his first career Xfinity Series victory. Smith led 92 of the 200 laps and held off challenges for the lead from several challengers.
Kyle Larson took his first pole of 2023 at Phoenix
(PHOENIX, AZ – MAR 11, 2023 – RIS) Kyle Larson added to his list of fastest laps in qualifying for the United Rentals Work United 500 today, taking the pole position for the race with a lap of 27.642 seconds at 130.237 mph. Larson’s time beat out Denny Hamlin’s time by 65 thousandths of a second. All the round two top runners were unable to match their first session times, with Larson slowing by 0.318 second. Hamlin’s round two time was much closer to his first timed lap, only 0.073 second slower.
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AVONDALE, AZ – RIS - Cole Custer claimed pole position for Saturday’s Xfinity Series race finishing his lap 0.054 seconds ahead of Justin Allgaier. Kyle Busch will start at the rear of the pack due to an unapproved adjustment. Only incident in qualifying was a meeting with the wall by Parker Klingerman during his run. Daniel Hemric, John Hunter Nemechek, and Sheldon Creed finished the runs in the top five.
GR Supra Takes the Form of New Jr. Roadster For NHRA
PLANO, Texas (March 8, 2023) – Toyota continues to make its mark on the NHRA after more than 20 years competing professionally in the series with the collaboration effort to unveil the new Jr. Roadster. In support of NHRA, Half Scale and Antron Brown to establish this new class, Toyota and TRD, U.S.A. (Toyota Racing Development) engineers developed the GR Supra Jr. Roadster as the first of its kind. The addition to the NHRA Summit Racing Jr. Drag Racing League hopes to encourage families interested in getting their kids involved in drag racing at a young age to look at this as an additional option to the popular Jr. Dragster class.
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LAS VEGAS, NV – RIS – Hendrick Motorsports dominated the Pennzoil 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday, the four teams only left 3o laps for others to be in front. William Byron, who had been running behind then-leading Kyle Larson changed two tires as all the leading teams on the way to an overtime finish. He then passed leader, Martin Truex, Jr., and went on to win.
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LAS VEGAS, NV – RIS – Austin Hill ran down Chandler Smith on the final lap to win the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Smith had dominated most of the race prior to the closing laps, leading 115 laps. Hill and Justin Allgaier gained steadily on Smith over the final 10 laps and eliminated Smith’s 2.5-second lead. Allgaier also passed Smith to finish second. Smith was third, Kyle Busch fourth and Josh Berry fifth.
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LAS VEGAS, NV – RIS – Logano is Fastest in NASCAR Cup Qualifying at LVMS .Joey Logano, who ran 186.053 miles per hour, edged William Byron (185.153) for the first starting spot. Following in the top five were Ryan Blaney, Ty Gibbs and Kyle Busch.
For the No. 22 Team Penske driver, it is his first pole of the season and 27th of his Cup Series career. Logano is the most recent Vegas winner (fall 2022) and has three wins in his last eight starts at the Nevada 1.5-miler.
Team Chevy Press Conf. Transcript - March 4, 2023
jeff andrews, president and general manager, hendrick motorsports; alan gustafson, crew chief, NO. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1; and Josh Berry, fill-in driver for the No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1 - Press Conference Transcript:
JEFF ANDREWS: “First and foremost, thank you for gathering here this morning. I just want to say that on behalf of Mr. Hendrick; he wants to make sure that everyone knows that our concern at this time is the health and wellbeing – first and foremost – of Chase Elliott. I know there are a lot of questions about the injury, the timing and where we’re going with all of that. We will do our best to answer a lot of that for you. We don’t obviously have a lot of details with this being a little bit less than 24 hours old for us now.
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LAS VEGAS, NV – RIS – Kyle Busch won the pole and then dominated the NASCAR Craftman truck race a Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Friday night. He led 85 of the 134 laps even despite a Lap one stop in the pits. His win also marked the first checkered flag for Kyle Busch Motorsports running under the Chevrolet banner, adding to a long history of victorious tradition in his time with Toyota. It was his 63rd victory in the truck series.
(LAS VEGAS, NV – MAR 3, 2023 – RIS) Chandler Smith and Justin Allgaier headed the time sheets after qualifying for NASCAR’s Xfinity Series Alsco Uniforms 300.
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CONCORD, N.C. – Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for Hendrick Motorsports, will not compete in this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway due to a leg injury.
(LAS VEGAS, NV – MAR 3, 2023 – RIS) Kyle Busch won his home track pole in his No. 51 Zaris Transport Chevy, clocking a lap of 30.222 sec/178.678 mph, almost two tenths of a second ahead of the identical laps set by rookie Nick Sanchez and Chase Purdy, who will start second and third in Friday evening’s race. Fastest in practice, Ty Majeski, will start fourth with Hailie Deegan fifth in her best truck series start on paved tracks.
(FONTANA, CA – FEB 26, 2023 – RIS) John Hunter Nemechek avenged his loss by inches last week at Daytona by having the fastest car at Auto Club Speedway’s NASCAR Xfinity Series to win the Production Alliance Group 300 after leading the most laps. Sam Mayer finished second after flipping at Daytona, with Justin Allgaier third, Chandler Smith fourth and Josh Berry fifth.
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FONTANA, CA – RIS – Kyle Busch proved to the doubters that he could win at RCR after so many successful seasons at Joe Gibbs Racing. In Toyotas. On Sunday, he sent California off with the final race at the two-mile California Speedway with a three second win over Chase Elliott. Although he had speed all day, the win came late in the race.
(FONTANA, CA – FEB 25, 2023 – RIS) Wintry weather in the Los Angeles area cancelled Saturday’s qualifying for the NASCAR Xfinity and Cup series races with the lineups set according to points. This will put Austin Hill on pole for the Production Alliance Group 300 Xfinity race and Christopher Bell at the same position for the Pala Casino 400. Cool and cloudy weather with intermittent rain is forecast for several more days in southern California so the schedule may be in flux.
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DAYTONA BEACH, FL – RIS – It was the longest Daytona 500 in history at 530 miles, but Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. avoided the big wreck and won over a fast and Cup Champion Joey Logano to claim the victory. The final laps became a wreck filled mess with two overtimes and a finish under caution. Stenhouse's win in a Chevrolet for JTG Daugherty Racing — a team part owned by former NBA player Brad Daugherty — was the third of his career. His only other victories came in 2017 — at Talladega and the summer race at Daytona in a Roush Fenway Ford. came in his first race reunited with crew chief Mike Kelly, who guided Stenhouse to a pair of Xfinity Series championships earlier in his career.
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DAYTONA BEACH, FL - RIS - Austin Hill won Saturday night’s Xfinity Series opener at Daytona International Speedway as the race ended under caution in overtime. Officials needed a few minutes after the finish to analyze video before declaring Hill the winner. A vicious last-lap crash sent Sam Mayer‘s Chevrolet spinning and flipping onto its roof after contact with Hill. The car slid along the track upside down as sparks flew, then it hit the grass adjacent to the track and flipped onto its wheels. Mayer had moved to the outside to challenge Hill for the lead but lost control of his car as the rest of the field rolled past. The caution flew, meaning the driver in front when officials pushed the caution button would win the race. And that was Hill. He edged John Hunter Nemechek. Following were Allgaier, Parker Retzlaff and Myatt Snider.
