Speedway Digest Staff - Results from #100

Defending NASCAR Cup Series champion Joey Logano earned his second Busch Light Pole of the season Saturday at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Team Penske sweeping the first three spots on Sunday’s grid.

Logano’s top-billing pole speed of 177.374 mph was followed by teammates Austin Cindric and Ryan Blaney in 2nd and 3rd. Brad Keselowski and Aric Almirola rounded out the top five, with Cup Series points leader Kevin Harvick landing the sixth spot.

“It was probably a lot more exciting than any of us expected with guys spinning out and hitting the walls,” Logan said of Saturday’s qualifying. “Team Penske had a great day today and we’ll try to continue that tomorrow.”

Logano now aims to parlay his 28th career pole into his 32nd career win, which would tie him with Dale Jarrett for 27th on the all-time list.

“For me, it’s always been a dream to win on this race track,” added Logano, who lived in Atlanta Motor Speedway’s track-side condos for five years and cut his teeth on the track’s ¼ mile Thunder Ring.

Logano’s No. 22 will lead the field to the green flag in Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 (3 p.m. ET, FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). Truck Series points leader Zane Smith’s No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford is on the pole for Saturday afternoon’s Fr8 208 and Sammy Smith will start on pole for the Xfinity Series’ RAPTOR Tough 250 Saturday evening.

Tickets and camping options for the weekend remain available at AtlantaMotorSpeedway.com or by calling 877-9-AMS-TIX.

AMS PR

TEAM CHEVY UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:  

POS.   DRIVER

9th      Kyle Larson, No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1

11th    William Byron, No. 24 Liberty University Camaro ZL1

13th    Austin Dillon, No. 3 Andy’s Frozen Custard Camaro ZL1

15th    Alex Bowman, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1

17th    Kyle Busch, No. 8 Lenovo Camaro ZL1

18th    Ross Chastain, No. 1 Advent Health Camaro ZL1

20th    Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1

21st    Josh Berry, No. 9 NAPA Auto Parts Camaro ZL1

22nd   Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Camaro ZL1

25th    Daniel Suarez, No. 99 Tootsies Orchid Lounge Camaro ZL1

26th    Ty Dillon, No. 77 Ferris Commercial Mowers Camaro ZL1

27th    Ricky Stenhouse Jr., No. 47 Kroger / Nature Valley Camaro ZL1

28th    Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Camaro ZL1

30th    AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1

31st    Corey LaJoie, No. 7 Celsius Camaro ZL1

36th    BJ McLeod, No. 78 B’laster Camaro ZL1

TOP-FIVE UNOFFICIAL STARTING LINEUP:  

POS.  DRIVER                                                                

1st      Joey Logano (Ford)

2nd     Austin Cindric (Ford)

3rd      Ryan Blaney (Ford)

4th      Brad Keselowski (Ford)

5th      Aric Almirola (Ford)

·       With no practice session on the schedule for this weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the NASCAR Cup Series hit the track for the first time this weekend for a single-car qualifying session.

·       Kyle Larson and the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Camaro ZL1 team led Chevrolet in qualifying, securing a ninth-place starting position for tomorrow’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

·       FOX will broadcast the NASCAR Cup Series Ambetter Health 400 on Sunday, March 18, at 3 p.m. ET. Live coverage can also be found on the PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. 

GM PR

Your thoughts on the penalties this week and how you thought NASCAR handled things?

“Look, I can’t say the details of the penalty, of what goes on there. But certainly excited for the appeal and everything that comes with that. Just ready for this weekend. We’ve got more to prove and we’ll just keep going. It’s good to get two in a row the last couple of weeks. I feel like we’re on a good role. This is a really good race track for us; won here last year.

I was excited hearing Chad’s (Knaus) comments yesterday and all that was good, so looking forward to the appeal.”

Can you describe what the impact of the 100 points and 10 playoff points are? And also, what have you been doing this week to get acquainted to your interim crew chief?

“Yeah, certainly the points is something that we just adjust to. It’s early in the season. The cars are extremely fast. We obviously had the pace last week to win regardless, so I think that’s going to continue. I think with that pace, we’re just going to use that to our advantage to makeup points.

We didn’t intend on really relaxing after a win anyways this year. So I think going into the next however many weeks that we’ve got until the playoffs, we’re going to push really hard. I think we’re just going to give it everything, every week. We had a good week of preparation; lots of time in the sim, lots of time at the shop. Just excited for all of that to continue. That’s as far as the points go.

And then as far as the interim crew chief – Brian (Campe) is going to be great. I work with him a lot in the shop through our competition meetings and spend a lot of time with him, so excited to have him on top of the pit box. My engineer, Brandon McSwain, we’ve worked together since the JRM days in 2017. He was my engineer at JRM when we won the championship and he’ll be a bigger factor, bigger role, throughout the weekend. I’m excited for that because we know each other really well. We probably exchange texts about 10 times a week on the car, so excited to have him in a bigger role.”

William, you spoke last weekend that after back-to-back wins, you were really confident, really motivated. And then you guys get hit with a really big penalty, but you said a minute ago that you have more to prove. So when you get hit with a penalty like that, does it knock your confidence or knock you for a loop at all? Instead, it seems like you come here with more motivation.

“Absolutely. Look, I really get excited about coming to the race track right now. I was just excited in the off-season with the group I know we have. So yeah if anything, it just shows that we’re not there yet. We have more to prove and we have more to go out there and accomplish. I think that’s a dangerous thing, right? We’re going out there with a goal in mind; a specific goal to win every week. We’re going to keep pushing for that every single week. Really, it starts during the week. A lot of the weekend stuff is a result of what we do and our processes back at the shop and communicating with one another. I think that process started on Monday as soon as we got back from Phoenix (Raceway).. what could we have done better at Phoenix because that’s a really important race track. There were certainly things we could have done better there. I thought the No. 4 car (Kevin Harvick) was the best car. I thought we were second or third-best; kind of right there with the No. 5 (Kyle Larson). So I think there were things last week that we could have done better. We addressed all of that Monday and Tuesday, and Tuesday night turned the page to focus on Atlanta (Motor Speedway). Obviously this track has been good for us in the past, but July wasn’t quite as good. So we looked at a lot of the things that Chase (Elliott) and the No. 9 team were doing really well here in July and tried to apply that to this weekend for us.”

I’m curious on your thoughts about Josh Berry. How he has come in and his approach to jumping into this car; his growth over the last couple of weeks and what he’s brought to Hendrick Motorsports.

“I think Josh (Berry) has been great. It’s a very unique circumstance for him. Last weekend, we had 50 minutes of practice, but he doesn’t have the 10 test sessions that we all had last off-season to get comfortable with this car; learn what it needs and things like that. So he’s at a very big deficit, in terms of experience, with this car. I mean it’s not like anything else that you drive. When I go race a super late model and then go race the Xfinity car – those are in the same ballpark. When you go run the Cup car, you might as well go drive a Trans Am car or go drive a sportscar to adjust.

I think there are so many things he’s having to learn, and I think he’s doing a great job with it all. He’s brought a new perspective to the debriefs. Being such a clean slate, there are some things that he says that you don’t even realize that go on with this car and it’s cool to hear. Excited to have him.”

Here this weekend, obviously this is the third race on this surface. I’m curious how much things change from the first one last year to the second, and what you kind of expect for change-wise this weekend.

“Yeah, I mean it’s really hard to say. It’s really cold this weekend, so I don’t know how that’s going to factor into the way the race plays out. The groove is wide here because it’s drafting and you’re not at the edge of grip throughout the whole corner. There are certain parts of the corner that you can be on edge of grip and have to lift, which I think is what we all like about it. It does have some element of having to drive because you are out of the gas. So I think that’s what’s cool about the new Atlanta (Motor Speedway). But I don’t know if it’s going to be a similar race to the summer race because that’s obviously really hot and slick.

I’m not really sure what we’re going to see, but I’d say it would be maybe closer to the July race just because the track is starting to age. So curious how that will play a factor.”

Before you won your appeal on your penalty last year, you had a 25-point fine and $50,000 fine with the incident with (Denny) Hamlin at Texas Motor Speedway. Denny got the same thing this past week. Do you look at your incident with him – under caution, what happened there and what he did with Ross (Chastain) – as equal penalties?

“I don’t know if they’re equal. I don’t know how to answer that part, but I do think that it’s unfortunate. You’re going to have a game of poker, right? Because now guys aren’t going to be able to say what happened. There are a lot of guys that fake it in interviews and us drivers know that. So it’s unfortunate that those are the guys that get away with it.”

How do they get away with it then if the drivers know about it? You guys have the memories that stay with you, so it’s not like you guys forget. How is this not resolved because now guys can’t say anything?

“Yeah, I mean it will just be handled on the track. I think that’s the way it is. Things are always handled on the race track, but yeah I guess nobody else will know.”

GM PR

Western Midget Racing makes its Mohave Valley Raceway debut on Saturday night with an increased purse, and has solidified a new business partnership for the series.

Saturday’s race will pay $600 to win and $350 for second place thanks to the growing fields supporting Western Midget Racing.

WMR has also partnered with Jeff and Alexander Mead of Mead Performance. Mead Performance will be producing parts for WMR and offering a wide-range of services for WMR teams looking for parts, fabrication, and support.

The 2023 season opened with a 21-car turnout at Adobe Mountain Speedway and will span 8 venues and 19 total races. The best 12 finishes will be used to determine the series championship.

Pit gates open at 3:30pm with fan gates swinging open at 6pm at Mohave Valley. Racing gets underway at 7pm. Tickets are just $12 for adults, $10 for seniors 60 and older and military, $6 for children ages 6-12, and kids five and under are FREE. Pit entry is $45 for car and driver and $35 for all over adults. Pit passes for ages 12 and under are just $20.

For more information on Western Midget Racing, visit them at www.WesternMidgetRacing.com or follow them on Facebook!

2023 WMR Schedule – Subject to Change

2.4 Adobe Mountain Speedway

3.18 Mohave Valley Raceway

3.31 Ocean Speedway

4.1 Antioch Speedway

4.29 Ventura Raceway

5.12 Ocean Speedway

5.13 Petaluma Speedway

6.9 Ocean Speedway

6.10 Petaluma Speedway

6.17 Ventura Raceway *Wagsdash*

7.14 & 15 Ocean Speedway *Howard Kaeding Classic*

7.28 Ocean Speedway

7.29 Antioch Speedway

8.11 Ocean Speedway

8.12 Marysville Raceway

9.2 Bakersfield Speedway

9.30 Mohave Valley Raceway

10.21 Ventura Raceway

WMR PR

BRAD KESELOWSKI, No. 6 Kings Hawaiian Ford Mustang – DO YOU HAVE A CLEAR IDEA OF WHAT YOU CAN DO AND CAN’T DO AS FAR AS INCIDENTS ON THE TRACK?  “You’re talking about the Denny Hamlin penalty?  Clear idea.  I don’t know.  I honestly haven’t even thought about it.  Generally, wrecking somebody on purpose will get you in trouble, but not always.  I don’t know if I have a clear answer, but it’s not something that I really concern myself with.”

YOUR THOUGHTS ON THE MODIFIED PARTS PENALTY FOR HENDRICK THIS WEEK?  “I have not seen the parts that came off of the Hendrick cars.  I’m not educated enough to say, ‘Hey, they did this and shouldn’t have’ or ‘I understand.  They should have.’  I can really only speak to ours.  The penalty we had last year was about a year ago this week.  It was tough.  Immediate emotions are to be frustrated and angry, but I don’t feel that way today.  In fact, when I saw NASCAR a couple weeks ago, we had a car get inspected after Daytona, I made a comment to them and I said, ‘Thank you.  It’s one of the best things to ever happen to us.’  We came out of it better.  It was good for the industry.  From our perspective, it changed our culture inside of the company to where we had better behaviors.  I thought it set a tone for the industry – again, I can’t speak for Hendrick, but with our issues.  I think I made a few comments a month later about the importance of penalties in the garage.  They serve a purpose.  I think it’s really easy and I’ve fallen victim to this as well – to look at NASCAR as the boogieman.  In a lot of ways, they’re trying to help us and trying to help the sport and make sure that it can be healthy.  Whether or not NASCAR is right or Hendrick is right with their penalty, I don’t know to that specific situation, but as a whole, I do understand the inclination and the emotion behind the teams and maybe the fans getting fired up over a penalty, but in the end penalties are there for a reason.  They’re there to make this circus somewhat manageable and sustainable, so as to what ends up happening with Hendrick, I can’t speak to hit again, not knowing enough, but from my perspective and kind of having lived it, I’m probably 180 from where I was a year ago on it and I understand it at a high degree.”

HAVE YOU HAD ISSUES WITH PARTS NOT FITTING LIKE THEY SHOULD?  “Yeah, there’s always a part somewhere that’s not what you want it to be and there’s a portal that NASCAR has to submit those parts to and there’s usually some dialogue and communication around that.  Generally speaking, I feel like NASCAR has been amenable to work through those and has gotten significantly better over the last year.  We have parts here and there that are issues and NASCAR has come up and said, ‘Hey, you can do this or you can’t do it.’  It’s more less about the communication with them.”

WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO TO GET BETTER RESULTS FROM THE SPEED YOU’VE SHOWN?  “We haven’t got the finishes, but we certainly ran really respectably and it’s been a number of different things.  At Daytona, we got caught up in a wreck and I didn’t really feel like there was anything we could do differently there.  Las Vegas, I felt like we had a pretty strong run going and it kind of fell apart with some different things that happened towards the end of the race with restarts and pit road and then Phoenix we had an issue with the car at the end, so it’s been a mixed bag of everything, to be honest.  Probably the only race I feel like we got the finish we deserved was Fontana, but along the way, thank God for stage points.  We’ve been able to score a lot of those that have propped us up in the points and put us in a good position, but I would rather be running well and not getting the finishes we want than running bad and kind of picking off the bottom with some finishes at the end.  That’s the bright side and I’m confident if we just keep running well, we’ll get the finishes we deserve over time.  It just hasn’t happened yet.”

WHAT’S IT GOING TO TAKE WITH DENNY AND ROSS TO STOP THEIR ISSUES?  WHAT DID IT TAKE BETWEEN YOU AND CARL A FEW YEARS AGO?  “I’m not sure I really have an answer as to what it takes.  NASCAR, I can only speak to my own personal experience, but NASCAR came and had the sitdowns and all those things and those were helpful, I think, but as a whole it kind of worked its way out over time.  I think more so because the power dynamic shifted and my team was running well every week and, at that time, Carl’s team started to perform less well and we just didn’t run around each other.  I think that probably had as much effect as anything, but as far as Denny and Ross, I think they have to figure that out and if NASCAR gives them a helping hand here and there, then I don’t see where that’s a bad thing.  I feel like the line is when your issues with each other start affecting others.  That’s a pretty clear line to me.  If that’s, ‘Hey, you guys are wrecking and taking half the field with you’ and things of that nature.  I think that’s generally a pretty good line that NASCAR has held over the years.  I don’t know if that’s the line now or not.  That’s probably better for them to answer, but it just seems like one that has the most precedent.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN GOING THROUGH THE APPEAL PROCESS FOR YOUR PENALTY?  “The appeal process, honestly, I thought it was more fair than I anticipated.  It was a pretty fair process.  I can’t say there was a key learning about the process itself.  The learnings were more introspective and more about us as a company and who we are and what our culture was.  That’s why I made the comment I made just a minute ago.  It was one of the best things to ever happen to us because it forced us to look within and improve ourselves.”

HOW COMFORTABLE ARE YOU WITH HOW THESE MEETINGS ARE GOING WITH THE DRIVERS?  “Drivers always have a lot to say, so it’s never a shocker when a meeting lasts longer than it’s supposed to.  I think it’s productive.  The industry as a whole and different sections are collaborating at a higher level than ever before.  It’s not just the driver group.  I see it with the owners as well and I’m sure there are probably other factions that I’m omitting, but it takes a lot to put on one of these races.  You’ve got drivers.  You’ve got teams.  You’ve got sponsors.  You’ve got the sanctioning body.  You’ve got rights holders.  You’ve got you guys with the media.  We’re facing different times now than in the past just by the nature of time and I think we’re all trying to optimize the industry or the realities of today.  Some are better than what they were in the past.  Some are worse, but in order to do that we need everybody’s brain power and trust and so those sessions are really reflective of how we put together the best ideas and make them actionable.”

HAVE YOU NOTICED HOW MUCH YOUR PERSPECTIVE HAS CHANGED ON SOME OF THESE ISSUES BY ADDING THE OWNER HAT TO THE DRIVER HAT?  “Yeah, naturally I sit in different meetings than I sat in before and I’m enjoying it.  The rewards for being a driver/owner are much higher, but so are the penalties on bad days, but I enjoy having a deeper role in the sport.  I find more meaning in it.  I feel like I have more purpose as a person and that’s something I’m taking satisfaction out of.  At the end of the day, it does give a perspective that can be helpful if used in the right ways, and I’m trying to be cognizant of that and what that will require of me in the right environments, but, as a whole, I think I would certainly agree that I have a different perspective now.”

HAVE YOU HAD ANY FEEDBACK THAT YOU’VE BROUGHT TO NASCAR ABOUT THE LONGER RESTART ZONE?  “I hadn’t really noticed a difference, to be honest.  I’m pretty neutral on it.  I think there was a thought that initially it would help get rid of some of the rock, paper, scissors restarts and give the leader a little better advantage.  I don’t know if that’s really played out over the last few weeks.  Maybe it would with time, but I don’t know if anyone has really seen anything that could prove or disprove that.  I don’t have a real strong opinion right now.”

AFTER THREE WEEKS ON THE WEST COAST DOES IT SEEM YOU GUYS ARE GETTING BETTER ON WHAT YOU NEED AND WANT IN THIS NEW CAR?  “Yeah, 100 percent.  I think our people, our tools and everything that we’re working with has gotten significantly better and we’ve been able to apply those in ways that we weren’t previously able to and that’s showing results on the track.  We’re not where we want to be.  We want to be dominating races.  We want to be having races where we lead the most laps and although we were able to do that at Daytona, we haven’t done that since, but we are solid in the top 10.  Our average running position really shows that and that, again, is massive progress from where we were last year.  Last year, we came to tracks like Phoenix or even a track like here at Atlanta and I felt like we were consistently three to five-tenths off and now it feels like we’re a half-a-tenth to a tenth off of where we need to be to be able to dominate races, which is a really significant improvement, but it’s not our goal.  Our goal is to be where we have race-winning speed week in and week out, so the last bit of that is the hardest part, but at least we can say we’ve taken a little bit away from it.”

EVALUATE THE DOWNFORCE PACKAGE FROM LAST WEEK AND HOW THAT CHANGED FROM THE PRESEASON PACKAGE YOU TESTED?  “I enjoyed the race last week from the perspective of how hard the car was to drive.  I thought that was a massive gain here in the Cup Series.  When I first came in the Cup Series these were some of the hardest cars I ever drove in my life.  In fact, they were the hardest car I’d ever driven in my life.  You would come off the corners and they would wiggle and they would wobble and you would really be out of control and you’d spin the tires and then drive back down into the next corner and you’d about back it into the fence.  And then over time the cars have gotten easier to drive.  I think some of that was gaining experience as a driver, but the reality is that most of it was the cars over time developing into a series where they were easier to drive by the specs that NASCAR allowed us to utilize, so as that has progressed I feel like over the last two or three years specifically, the cars on the short tracks had just turned into cars that were too easy to race, too easy to drive and not becoming of what we would expect a Cup Series driver to have to endure.  So, the step last week was really a big step at getting the Cup level cars to where they’re difficult and challenging to drive and really take advantage of the level of driver we expect to have in the Cup Series to be able to drive these cars.  The car that we raced last week, if I put a local short track vet in it from anywhere in America, he would probably have struggled to drive.  He would probably spin out on corner exit.  He would probably have a handful of problems with it.  The cars that we had with the downforce package before that, I feel like I could take any local short track driver in the country, put them in there and they’d probably get in a good car and run pretty well.  That’s not what we want at this level.  That’s not what I think is indicative of what our fans and our sport has as an interest for what drivers should be at this level.  So, I think in that sense last week was a significant gain that we can hang our hat on.  As to whether we saw the amount of side-by-side racing that we would like to see or the fall off and things that we’d like to see of the cars, I think that’s probably largely debateable, but the other piece to this is not – that the cars need to be hard to drive.  You should not be able to go from a local short track or the Truck Series and get in a Cup car and be immediately successful.  It should challenge you in new and more difficult ways, so last week was a big gain in that fashion and I think it’s important to our sport and our industry.”

Ford Performance PR

Coming off a convincing win in the “CLS/SWLS Best of the West” lightning sprint car main event last Saturday at the Imperial Valley Raceway, 16-year-old Braden Chiaramonte will be making his USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series debut this Saturday night, March 18^th, at Perris Auto Speedway.  In addition to his win last Saturday at Imperial, he placed ninth in his first-ever full-size wingless sprint car race.

As a late replacement in the potent Sexton Gatlin Racing #3, El Cajon, California-based Chiaramonte dazzled the crowd in round #2 of the “Best of the West Series” that was co-sanctioned by the POWRi Southwest Lightning Sprint Cars and the California Lightning Sprint Car Series.  The fast-rising 16-year-old impressed the crowd in qualifying with a lap of 11.819.  That was nearly half of a second faster than the number two qualifier.

The young driver who is known as “Spare Change” started on the outside of the third row in sixth in the first heat race.  He didn’t stay there long. When the green flag waved to start the heat, he immediately went to the outside.  By the time the field exited turn two on the first lap, he was already up to third!  Going into turn one on the third circuit, he blasted into the second-place spot. The only problem at that time was the leader had established more than a half-straightaway lead. Chiaramonte immediately began chipping away at his disadvantage. Coming off turn 2 on the last lap, he had erased the leader’s colossal advantage and dove to the inside going into turn three.  Putting the crowd on its feet, he tried to sneak up the inside on the run to the checkers but ran out of room and had to settle for a crowd-pleasing second-place finish.

When the lightning sprint 25-lap main rolled onto the track, Chiaramonte was on the inside of row three.  The teen sensation began a march to the front on the third circuit.  Running in sixth, he bravely went wide going into turn three.  Much to the delight of the fans, by the time he exited turn four, he had passed two cars and was up to fourth.  One lap later he flew by the previous night’s winner for third.  He went to work again after a lap nine restart and by the time the 11^th go-around was over, he was the race leader.

A couple more yellows slowed the action and allowed the rest of the competition to pull to his rear for restarts.  Each time he pulled away and when the checkered flag ended it, he had a good size cushion between himself and his closest pursuer.

Earlier in the night, Chiaramonte placed second in the B main.  That earned him a ticket to start near the back of the A main in his first-ever full-size wingless sprint car race.  Having to come from the B main, he had to start near the back.  Once again, he performed flawlessly.  He methodically worked his way forward throughout the race.  He stayed away from trouble and when the checkers came down, he had steered his Shaver Engines 360 to a very nice ninth-place finish against a field of seasoned veterans, many of whom were driving 410s.

Never one to turn down a challenge, Chiaramonte takes another step in his racing career this Saturday at Southern California’s Perris Auto Speedway.  He will make his debut in the USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series in the 20^th annual “Sokola Shootout.”  The competition will once again be another step up and the famous Riverside County half-mile oval will be the biggest track he has raced a full-size sprint car on.

Spectator gates at Perris Auto Speedway will open at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday and the first race will be at 7:00.   The track is located on the Lake Perris Fairgrounds at 18700 Lake Perris Drive in the city of Perris (92571).  Advance tickets are available 24 hours a day at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/pas/7.  The track website is www.perrisautospeedway.com and the office phone number is (951) 940-0134.

Chiaramonte would like to thank all his 2023 sponsors.  RTL Traffic Control, AM Ortega, King Racing Products, Tiner-Hirst Enterprises, and Keizer Wheels.

As the full 2023 season is just starting to unfold, Chiaramonte and his team are making plans for a busy year. If you are interested in becoming a marketing partner with one of the most talented and personable young drivers in the sport, please feel free to call or e-mail Daniel Chiaramonte This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or (619) 988 7563.  

 Braden Chiaramonte PR

One week after racing with teammate Tommy Dunkel at the Imperial Valley Raceway, Brody Roa is preparing for one of the longest-running sprint car races in Southern California, the 20^th annual “Sokola Shootout” at Perris Auto Speedway.  The race is this Saturday night, March 18^th, and Roa comes into it as the point leader in the 2023 USAC/CRA Sprint Car Series championship standings.

In his first two times driving an Inland Rigging-owned car, Roa scored the wins in the first two races of the 2023 USAC/CRA schedule at Brad Whitfield’s Cocopah Speedway in January.  He carries a 14-point lead in the championship standings heading into Saturday’s race on the famous Riverside County half-mile clay oval that is located 77 miles east of Los Angeles.  In addition to winning both of the Cocopah mains, he also captured one of his two heat races on the weekend in his new DRC chassis. 

At last year’s “Sokola Shootout” Roa scored a dominating win in his 10-lap heat race.  For the 30-lap main event, he started seventh and finished sixth. 

Last week’s races at Imperial, which were run during the California Mid-Winter Fair, drew a strong field of cars and fine crowds.  The successful event was a rebirth of what used to be an annual tradition that carried on for decades when the original CRA raced during the fair.  For Roa, it was his first race at The PAS.  Dunkel, who lives in Murrieta, appeared on the fairgrounds track and finished seventh there last October. 

The race was an open comp show.  Meaning there were both 360s and 410s competing together.  Dunkel was in his brand new DRC and Roa was driving a Maxim.  Both were powered by Shaver 360s. 

“It was the first time out in the new DRC chassis,” Dunkel said of his car at Imperial.  “Between the new chassis and Brett & Brody Roa helping with setup and driving advice, it helped tremendously. We were able to post some decent times and hold our own out there.  I ended up getting into it with a slower car (during Friday practice) and ended up getting upside down.  The car did not get hurt too bad.  Just some radius rods, a nerf bar, wheel, and tire.  I got banged up a little bit and had some sore ribs.”

The big night at Imperial was Saturday.  In front of an enthusiastic crowd, the sprint cars were competing for the winner’s $5000.00 paycheck.  The first order of business on the night was heat races.  The top five finishers from each heat moved straight into the main event.  As luck would have it, Dunkel and Roa were matched up in the same heat.  Dunkel managed to hold off the sixth-place driver to earn the final transfer spot into the A main.  The driver he held off was Roa.

While Dunkel was locked into the A main, Roa had to go to the B to earn his ticket for a shot at the winner’s loot.  He performed flawlessly in the B and won the race.

For the main, Roa had to start 16^th, on the outside of row #8.  That was directly behind new teammate Dunkel who was coming from 14^th.  Despite the fact that he was competing against some stout 410s, Roa was on a mission.  The 2019 USAC Southwest Sprint Car Series champion was weaving his way through the field.  With 10 laps remaining, the Garden Grove, California veteran was all the way up to fifth and was pressing the drivers in third and fourth.  However, disaster struck when one of the cars ahead of Roa and a lapper got together.  Roa could not avoid the tangle and ended up done for the night with a junked racecar.  He ended up 17^th.

After Roa’s incident, Dunkel was left to fly the Inland Rigging flag by himself.  He had advanced all the way to ninth when trouble set in and he ended up 16^th. 

“I was in the ninth spot with three to go and I had a steering gear failure,” Dunkel lamented.  “Both of our nights ended kind of poorly.  For myself, I was really happy with the weekend.  We tore some stuff up but in the end, I am really happy with the DRC. I had a blast out there racing with those guys.  They are going to have another show there in October and we’ll come back.  We will come out swinging and hopefully, we will have some better results to show.”

Roa returns to action at Perris Auto Speedway on Saturday and will be at Kings Speedway in Hanford next Friday.  He will then journey to Arizona’s Mohave Valley on April 1^st.  That night it will be a two-car effort for Inland Rigging as Dunkel will make his USAC/CRA debut.   

Spectator gates at Perris Auto Speedway will open at 5 PM on Saturday and the first race will be at 7:00.   The track is located on the Lake Perris Fairgrounds at 18700 Lake Perris Drive in the city of Perris (92571).  Advance tickets are available 24 hours a day at https://www.tix.com/ticket-sales/pas/7.  The track website is www.perrisautospeedway.com and the office phone number is (951) 940-0134.

As always, Roa would be more than happy to jump in a race car on his weekends off from the #17R. His entire schedule is printed below.  If anybody wishes to contact him about open dates, they can do so at 714-932-7994 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.    

The team wants to thank the following sponsors for making the 2023 season possible. Inland Rigging, Dunkel Farms, United Asset Sales, Osborne Speed & Machine, Sander Engineering, “Biker” Bruce Fischer, ALR Virtual Services, Burris Racing, Caltrol, Competition Suspension, K-1 Race Gear, Molecule, Rod End Supply, Driven Racing Oil, Baldwin Filters, and NGK Spark Plugs. 

BRP PR

On Atlanta Motor Speedway: “First, I am very excited and thankful to welcome JACOB Companies to the RSS Racing team this weekend at Atlanta. JACOB Companies has invested a lot of money in NASCAR throughout the years and I’m excited to be partnered with a very loyal partner who is committed to my racing career.

“Atlanta has been an OK track for me. We were running in the top-10 last March and were taken out on a restart. That stunk because were fast. We salvaged the day with an OK finish but I definitely want more this week, especially considering how bad we ran last weekend at Phoenix.

“Everyone worked hard at Phoenix, but we missed the setup. Hopefully, Atlanta is kinder to us and we can contend for a top-15 or better on Saturday afternoon.”

On 2023 Season Outlook: “This is a year of opportunity for me. I’ll be competing for two different teams which brings some pressure for me but only because I want to go out there and do my very best in every race run for both Joe Gibbs Racing and RSS Racing.

“I just need to stay focused, communicate with my team and utilize the knowledge that I’ve gained over the past three years to have my best Xfinity Series season yet.”

Race Information:

The Raptor of King of Tough 250 (163 laps | 251.02 miles) is the fifth of 33 NASCAR Xfinity Series races on the 2023 schedule. The 38-car field will take the green flag on Sat., Mar. 18 shortly after 5:00 p.m. with live coverage on FOX Sports 1, the Performance Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90 (Satellite Radio).  

RSS Racing PR

On Atlanta Motor Speedway: “I am very optimistic about going to Atlanta this weekend. Atlanta is still much a speedway-type race and the cooler temperatures will probably make it feel like the spring race in 2022. We’ve showcased good speed with our No. 25 AM Technical Solutions Ford Mustang this season, so I hope we are able to continue that on Saturday afternoon with another top-10 run.”

On 2023 Season Outlook: “There has been so much effort put into the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series season and honestly, I am so excited about it. I cannot thank everyone on the AM Racing team enough for the opportunity and for taking a chance on me to lead them in the inaugural year.

“I believe we will exceed everyone’s expectations and not only will we challenge for race wins, but we will achieve them and contend for the 2023 Xfinity Series championship.” 

Race Information:

The Raptor of King of Tough 250 (163 laps | 251.02 miles) is the fifth of 33 NASCAR Xfinity Series races on the 2023 schedule. The 38-car field will take the green flag on Sat., Mar. 18 shortly after 5:00 p.m. with live coverage on FOX Sports 1, the Performance Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90 (Satellite Radio).  

AM Racing PR