Speedway Digest Staff - Results from #80

GMS PR

Even though Ty Gibbs is scheduled to make just his 15th career NASCAR Xfinity Series start in Saturday’s Alsco Uniforms 302 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he’ll hope to kick off a championship run in the series, albeit a different kind of championship.

While the Xfinity Series playoffs for the driver title begins this weekend at Las Vegas, Gibbs will kick off the final seven-race stretch of the season with the No. 54 team very much in the hunt for the owner title. He’s shared the car this season with Joe Gibbs Racing’s (JGR) Cup Series regulars Kyle Busch, Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., and Christopher Bell, along with Cup Series veteran Ty Dillon, who joined the team for a handful of early season races. The No. 54 team arrives at Las Vegas third in the owner standings, 16 points behind the leading No. 16 car for Kaulig Racing.

Adding to the excitement for Gibbs this weekend is another chance to drive the No. 54 Supra featuring the colors of Interstate Batteries, as JGR’s founding sponsor returns for the second time this year with the next generation of the Gibbs family behind the wheel after he drove it during Throwback Weekend at Darlington back in May. For JGR and Interstate Batteries, this weekend continues the 2021 celebration of their 30th anniversary together.

In addition to the Cup Series history of Interstate Batteries, the soon-to-be 19-year-old Gibbs has joined several other drivers who have made Xfinity Series starts for JGR’s founding partner, including Busch, Hamlin, Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth, Erik Jones, Elliott Sadler, and Daniel Suarez.

While it’s only the 15th Xfinity Series race of the season for Gibbs, the start of his career has been impressive, to say the least. He won in his very first start on the Daytona road course back in February, then backed it up with a runner-up finish in his second start at Phoenix Raceway. Two more victories would come this season for the young driver – at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway in May and last month at Watkins Glen (N.Y) International.

While Gibbs is set to compete in 18 total Xfinity Series races in 2021, he is competing fulltime in the ARCA Menards Series, where he is first in points and has won at Phoenix, Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Toledo (Ohio) Speedway, Charlotte, Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Iowa Speedway in Newton, Winchester (Ind.) Speedway, Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, The Milwaukee Mile, and Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. His 10 ARCA wins are just two short of Tim Steele’s modern-era single-season record of 12 wins in 1997. Gibbs has 18 ARCA victories in all and is tied for 14th on the all-time series wins list with Ken Schrader.

So as Gibbs heads west to Las Vegas for the first time, he’ll not only focus on trying to get his Interstate Batteries Toyota Supra to victory lane for the fourth time, he’ll look to kick off the team’s playoff-within-the-playoffs run in style with JGR’s founding partner riding along.

TSC PR

The first Top5 of the season has arrived for Francesco Sini in Croatia, at the end of a tricky weekend. Sini conquered a solid fifth position in the fourth NASCAR Whelen Euro Series event of the 2021 season. In the EuroNASCAR 2 Division Alina Loibnegger conquered the lead of the Lady Trophy ranking, while Pierluigi Veronesi had a really though weekend but he was able to end very close to the Top10.

After having showed several times during the season a very competitive potential, Francesco Sini has been able to achieve the full performance status of his Camaro in the second race of the weekend, thanks to a full attack race since the start. Tenth on the starting grid, the Pescara native driver took advantage of a - finally - clean race with neither contacts or technical issues, to climb position after position with grit and determination, ending under the checkered flag in sixth position. The already good result was improved after the race, due a penalty given to another driver. The first Top5 of the season for the Italian driver in the very competitive field of EuroNASCAR PRO division arrived at the end of a challenging weekend, where the #12 Camaro prepared by the Solaris Motorsport’s mechanics has improved its lap times session by session.
 
In the EuroNASCAR 2 Division was Alina Loibnegger to take the maximum  advantage from the weekend. The young Austrian driver took two Lady Cup wins in a really challenging racetrack and, thanks to these results, she took also the lead in the female special standings, when only two events missing at the end of the season.   

Really troubled weekend for Pierluigi Veronesi who, after a very difficult qualifying session, was forced for a stop in the Saturday race. The driver of the  #27 Mustang by Double V Racing found a partial revenge  in the Sunday Race 2, ending the race really close to the Top10.

October the 9th and 10th will mark the end of the EuroNASCAR regular season on the historic Zolder Circuit, prologue of the 2021 Finals hosted in Vallelunga at the end of October with double points races.

Solaris Motorsport PR

In Croatia Max Lanza got the best from a very difficult weekend to lengthens his leadership in the Legend Trophy, conquering two podium places for the class standings and a solid overall Top10 overall in Saturday Race 1.

The Grobnik Autodrom definitely does not bring good vibes to Max Lanza: last year here he was forced to quit prematurely his racing season after an huge crash. This time the bad luck has taken the form of cervical contractures, with dizziness and nausea, that badged the Rome native driver all the weekend long. A real pity, because in Croatia Lanza showed a really competitive pace, conquering the overall 8th position on the grid in qualifying.

This result could have been even better: "We were really fast here in Croatia, but nothing turned the right way. In qualifying we suffered for a puncture and, when we realised it, it was too late to have a chance to get the good lap time for a top position on the grid. We could have aimed for the second row. To make things worse, this sickness arrived and badged me in each session." commented Lanza, who didn't give up and grabbed a second and a third place, crucial for the Legend Trophy standings. "In Race 1 we were really competitive and we achieved a really good Top10 spot in challenging conditions. Race 2 has been even more complicated for me, but I didn't want to give up. I've been thinking about the championship and it confirmed  to be the right decision: we leave Grobnik with a strengthened leadership in the Legend Trophy!"  

After four rounds, Lanza leads firmly the Legend Trophy standings and he is just two points far from the overall Top10. Next NASCAR Whelen Euro Series round is scheduled for October 9 and 10 at Zolder Circuit, Belgium. The weekend will close the regular season before entering the 2021 EuroNASCAR Finals, hosted by Vallelunga racetrack, that will bringall the show of the last two double points races.

NWES PR

The Flowdynamics Racing duo of Matt McCarthy and Logan Williams is poised and ready to return to action on its home track, Perris Auto Speedway, in the “13^th Annual Glenn Howard Memorial” this Saturday night.  The race will be the first on the home digs for the team since August 21^st.

Home cooking has done well for both young drivers in 2021 on the famous Riverside County half-mile banked clay oval.  They each recorded season best sixth place finishes on the quarter century old track.  Williams notched his sixth-place finish there on June 16.  One month later on July 24^th, McCarthy did the same.  For McCarthy, it was in the middle of his streak of four straight top 10 finishes.

Coming into Saturday’s race, Riverside, California’s McCarthy, who was the series “Rookie of the Year” in 2017, has climbed up to ninth place in the 2021 championship standings.  He can make another move up the point ladder with a good night on Saturday as he is only nine-points out of eighth.  Teammate Williams, the 2014 series “Rookie of the Year” who calls Yorba Linda, California home, is only two positions and 40-points behind McCarthy going into Saturday’s race.

The last time  they competed at The PAS on August 21^st, Williams came from the back two times to finish ninth in the 30-lap main event.  McCarthy ended up 20^th in the same race after getting upside down on the front straight when other cars tangled in front of him leaving him no place to go.

The last time the team was on the track was at the Petaluma Speedway on September 6^th.  McCarthy grabbed a ninth-place finish in the main event at the Northern California track.  Williams ended up 13^th in the same race.

McCarthy will be on the radio this Friday with Roy Bleckert at 5:45 p.m.  You can listen on your radio on KMET 1490 AM or online at https://www.kmet1490am.com/.

If you wish to see the Flowdynamics Team in action at Perris Auto Speedway this Saturday, the track is located on the Lake Perris Fairgrounds at 18700 Lake Perris Drive in Perris, California (92571). Spectator gates will open at 5:00 p.m. with racing at 7:00.   There will be plenty of tickets available for everyone at the track on Saturday night.  For those who wish, advance tickets are available online at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/pas/7.  The track website is http://www.perrisautospeedway.com/ and the office phone number is (951) 940-0134.

McCarthy and Williams would like to thank the following sponsors for making the 2021 season possible. Flowdynamics Inc., JFK Design Build, Drink-Pac, Preferred Insulation, DRC Chassis, Kistler Racing and Benic Enterprises.    If you or your company would like to join forces with Flowdynamics Racing, phone John McCarthy at (909) 930-5522 or Email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

FlowDynamics PR

The Amsoil USAC/CRA Sprint Cars and The PAS Senior Sprint Cars return to “The Southern California Home of Major League Sprint Car Racing,” Perris Auto Speedway, this Saturday night for the “13^th Annual Glennn Howard Memorial.”  Spectator gates will open at 5:00 p.m. with racing at 7:00.  Be sure to load up all the neighborhood kids and bring them to Saturday’s event.  At intermission, all the drivers will bring their cars to the front straightaway for the on track autograph session.  In addition, they will be passing out free candy to all the kids in attendance.

The race honors Howard, who passed away in 2007.  In his decades on the Southern California racing scene, Howard was a driver, car owner, racing dad, entrepreneur, fabricator and official.  Even though it has been 14-years since he passed away, his fingerprint is still on the sport in Southern California today.  Through his So Cal Performance company which supplied drivers with everything they needed to compete, he virtually knew everyone in the sport.  He was free with his knowledge of car setups, driving and race strategy to anyone who asked.  That made him a mentor to everyone and perhaps more important, he was everyone’s friend.  That is what makes this race very special to all the competitors. 

It was obvious that Howard had a lifelong love affair with the sport, and he wanted it to succeed.  In 1993, with the original CRA having issues, Howard and others founded another group named SCRA that fortunately kept traditional 410 sprint car racing alive in the west.  He was the original President of the new group and was instrumental when the current USAC/CRA was formed a little over a decade later in 2004.

“Glenn was a great man, who did everything he could to help anyone and everyone when it came to sprint car racing,” Perris Auto Speedway promoter Don Kazarian said.  “If anyone ever needed advice whether it was a driver, crew chief, race official or promoter, you could always go to Glenn and get his opinion on what one should do.  That made him respected by everyone to this day.  The sport sorely misses him and all that he offered.”

All 12 running’s of the “Glenn Howard” have taken place on the famous Perris Auto Speedway clay surface.  However, like nearly everything else, the race was canceled due to COVID in 2020.  When last contested in 2019, Austin Williams won the race for the second time. Recently, the Corona, California driver won the last race in the USAC/CRA Series on September 6 at the Petaluma Speedway.  He comes into Saturday night third in the USAC/CRA standings.  Concord, California’s Damion Gardner leads all drivers with four “Glenn Howard” wins.  The only other driver with more than one win in the event is Nic Faas, who currently has put his racing career on pause.

Another driver among the favorites for the win on Saturday is Garden Grove, California’s Brody Roa.  The veteran driver has already won two prestigious races at The PAS this year - the “Salute To Indy” and “California Racer’s Hall of Fame Night” - and comes into Saturday second in the standings, 44-points behind seven-time series champion Gardner.  The longtime rivalry between Roa and Gardner is legendary around the sport, and it reached the boiling point once again after the finale at the “Louie Vermeil Classic” at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico on September 6^th.

“Rivalries have been a part of racing since the beginning,” Kazarian stated.  “They always have been and always will be a part of the sport.  In the case of Damion Gardner and Brody Roa, it is the familiar rivalry in racing when two top drivers meet.  They are both very good drivers.  While the personalities of the two are polar opposites, they are both extremely competitive.  They each have good equipment and a tremendous will to win races and championships.  A few things have happened between them over the years and every so often it boils over.  Situations like this are inevitable when you have the competitive nature of sprint car racing.  They both have a lot of fans that think their guy wears the white hat while the other guy wears a black hat.  Rivalries keep things interesting.”

In addition to the USAC/CRA portion of the show, The PAS Senior Sprint Series will be contesting it’s next to last race of the 2021 season.  El Segundo’s Tyler Hatzikian has a narrow six-point advantage over Ed Schwarz of Santa Fe Springs heading into Saturday’s race.  Anaheim’s Dale Gamer is third and is followed by Greg Badgwell of Tustin and Arizona’s Richard McCormick.

Adult tickets are $30.00.  For seniors 65 and over it is $25.00.  Kids 6-12 get in for just $5.00 and children five and under are free.  There will be plenty of tickets available at the ticket window on Saturday.  We will not sellout.  For fans who wish, advance tickets are available at www.tix.com

The Fairgrounds charges $10.00 for parking. 

Camping at the fairgrounds on the grassy area outside of turn four will begin at noon on Friday.  The cost is $25.00 per night.

Perris Auto Speedway is conveniently located on the Lake Perris Fairgrounds (home of October’s Southern California Fair), approximately one-hour east of Los Angeles and one-hour North of San Diego. To get to the track, take the 215 freeway, on the Ramona Expressway and go three miles east to the fairgrounds. For directions on online, the address to enter is: 18700 Lake Perris Drive and the zip code is 92571.

Advance tickets for all other races on the 2021 schedule are also available at www.tix.com

Fans can stay up to date on track and driver news on The PAS social media efforts at the links below.

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Perris-Auto-Speedway/113876798686480?ref=hl

Twitter: Perris Auto Speedway on Twitter.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/perrisautospeedway/

Website: http://perrisautospeedway.com/

PAS PR

KBM PR

Stephen Kopcik has been the hottest driver at Stafford Motor Speedway of late, notching 3 consecutive SK Modified® feature victories as he duels with Todd Owen for the 2021 track championship.  While Kopcik will be looking to add a fourth consecutive SK Modified® win this Friday, September 24^th, he also has his eyes set squarely on the NAPA Fall Final 150 this Saturday, September 25^th as he will make his Whelen Modified Tour debut behind the wheel of the #2 Gershow Recycling Chevrolet owned by Joseph Bertuccio.

“Joe and I have always been good friends and Chuck Hossfeld couldn’t make the Stafford race, so Joe gave me a call and asked me if I would want to drive the car,” said Kopcik.  “I told him absolutely.  He’s always been great to me and we’ve always had fun working together.  The Bertuccio crew is a great group of guys and I’m excited for the opportunity.  I think we’ll have a fast car and we can have a good run.  I have to give a big thank you to Joe and everyone on the Gershow Motorsports crew for giving me this opportunity.”

Kopcik couldn’t have picked a better track to make his WMT debut at than Stafford.  Kopcik spent the 2014 and 2015 seasons in the SK Light division at Stafford, winning 3 races and the 2015 track championship.  Kopcik won Rookie of the Year honors in 2016 in the SK Modified® division and he entered the 2021 season with 4 career SK Modified® feature wins.  Kopcik has more than doubled his career win total with 5 wins thus far in 2021 and he is currently second in the SK Modified® points standings, 14 points behind Todd Owen.  Kopcik hopes that his home track knowledge will help him find his way to an enjoyable debut performance.

“I don’t want to sound cocky but my goal is to start and run in the top-10 all day,” said Kopcik.  “I know it’s not easy racing on the Tour, but Stafford is my home track and I set these cars up for a living, so I want to run well and I don’t think the top-10 is out of reach for us.  Mike Bologna, the crew chief on the car, is going to give me everything I need to succeed so it’s very possible for us to have a good run.  I think my track knowledge will benefit me more with just knowing the driving style to get around Stafford.  Any driver will tell you Stafford is a unique track.  You look at someone like Justin Bonsignore, he’s a badass on the Tour and he hasn’t won yet at Stafford and then someone like Doug Coby, Stafford is his home track and he’s kind of had the track in his back pocket.  It’ll be interesting for me to see how my experience matches up against those guys.  I feel really confident racing at Stafford and I’ve never driven a NASCAR Spec Engine before, so I’m looking forward to the experience all the way around.”

While Kopcik may be familiar with the Stafford track layout, one area where he will have zero experience to lean on is qualifying through time trials.  Kopcik is used to earning a starting position through qualifying heat races, but he should be able to figure out how to comfortably navigate two laps around the Connecticut half-mile and set himself up with a good starting position for the NAPA Fall Final 150.

“I haven’t qualified through time trials before so that’s going to be a little different,” said Kopcik.  “I’m going to do my homework and try to get a good feel for qualifying in practice.  Time trials is the one thing that I might be a little nervous about but I’ll figure it out and with 150 laps we have plenty of time and a change of tires for the race, which is not something that I’m used to having.  A good qualifying run is going to be huge.  The further towards the front you can start the better.  Chase Dowling is going to be helping me out and we know each other’s driving styles so I’m looking forward to working with him and seeing what we can do.  It should be a good time.”

In addition to making his Whelen Modified Tour debut, Kopcik will be laser focused on continuing his white hot streak in the SK Modified® feature this Friday night.  Kopcik will be looking for his fourth consecutive win while also trying to close down the points gap to Todd Owen, which stands at 14 points or 7 positions on the track, going into the race before the NAPA Championship Night finale on Friday, October 1^st.

“I want to win the next 2 races,” said Kopcik.  “Points come with wins so I’m focused on winning the last 2 races.  The SK Modified® field is really competitive and our focus is on doing the best we can.  I’m very happy with our performance and I’m thankful for the position I’m in and grateful for all the people around me.  I’m always trying to excel and grow and either way we can look back and say we had a good year with nothing to hang our heads about.  If you look at the stats, Todd and I have matched each other all year with the exception of the one night where we got taken out.  He’s done a great job and we’ve done a great job all year long, we just have to continue to do what we do.”

NAPA Fall Final tickets are available now online and are priced at $40.00 for adults, $10.00 for kids 6-14, and free for kids 5 & under.  Reserved seating is priced at $45.00 for all ages and pit passes are $50.00 with a valid 2021 Stafford Competition License and $55.00 without a Stafford license. Tickets for Friday, September 24 Stafford Weekly Racing event are $20.00 for adults, $5.00 for kids 6-14, and free for kids 5 & under.  Reserved seating is priced at $25.00 for all ages and pit passes are $35.00 with a valid 2021 Stafford Competition License and $40.00 without a Stafford license.  If you are unable to attend either event, tune into the live stream on FloRacing, the official streaming partner of Stafford Speedway.

For more information, visit www.staffordspeedway.com, checkout Stafford Speedway on Facebook or Twitter, or contact the track office at 860-684-2783.

Stafford Speedway PR