Testing SpeedwayMedia.com

Author: Briar Starr

  • Mahindra Racing sweeps virtual races at virtual New York

    Mahindra Racing sweeps virtual races at virtual New York

    Ahead of the grand finale, the ABB FIA Formula E continued their Race At Home Challenge with Round 7 of 8 taking place at virtual New York. It was the penultimate race, before Sunday’s double-points race at the virtual Berlin.

    In the Challenge Series, Mahindra Racing’s Lucas Mueller qualified on the pole with a time of 1:11.006. In doing so, he beat out competitor Kevin Siggy by 0.076 seconds to get the pole position.

    Unlike last week’s race where many drivers had trouble getting through the first turn, many if not all drivers made it through cleanly without incident. The virtual event was mainly smooth barring a couple of minor incidents (shunts) throughout the pack. Though, Markus Keller and Noah Reuvers were battling hard with each other for 14th and 15th, just three laps into the race. Another battle also heated up between Siggy and Joshua Rogers for podium positions while both of them tried to close in on the race leader, Mueller.

    However, Mueller proved to be the fastest competitor out there as he was back on top and took the checkered flag. The Mahindra driver led all 15 laps and had no incidents. Despite getting the victory, BMW i Andretti driver, Kevin Siggy, will start on pole position for Sunday’s finale.

    “Kevin [Siggy] was really fast,!” Mueller said. “It was a really good race. I was sweating, but I am enjoying it. I do not want to finish second, I want to finish in P1. So, I have my goal tomorrow and will try to win the final race in Berlin.”

    Driver’s Grid

    In qualifying for the driver’s grid, new Audi driver Kelvin van der Linde in place of Daniel Abt was on the original pole position. But, it was the usual rival of Pascal Wehrlein who squeezed by in the Mahindra Racing machine and scored the pole with a time of 1:11.175. Wehrlein won the pole position by 0.274 seconds.

    Kelvin van der Linde fell to second, Nissan e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi was third, BMW i Andretti’s Maximilian Gunther was fourth, as last week’s winner Stoffel Vandoorne was fifth, rounding out the top five starting positions. There were no incidents in qualifying as everyone had a clean lap.

    When the lights dropped at the virtual New York, all 24 cars went down into the first turn. Almost all of them made it through without any major pileup as we have seen in recent races. Unfortunately, Buemi got punted in the first couple of turns and was sent to last place in the running order. Eventually, Buemi was eliminated due to the battle royal format.

    More incidents arose in the occurring laps. Mercedes-Benz driver and Vandoorne’s teammate, Nyck de Vries spun around on Lap 2 which caused him to go in the back. Another unfortunate driver who had an incident early was Lucas di Grassi. Di Grassi spun on Lap 7 and was also eliminated in the race. Meanwhile, in mid-race, there was a lot of shunting going on between drivers Qinghua Ma and Joel Eriksson.

    About the halfway point, a battle ensued between Oliver Rowland and Kelvin van der Linde for the second position. Both would battle until the very last lap of the race. By battling hard with each other, this allowed Wehrlein to pull away with the lead. Finally, Rowland got by van der Linde by forcing the South African driver out of the way.

    As all of that happened, it was smooth sailing for Wehrlein as he once again found himself with another checkered flag, making it a sweep for Mahindra Racing in Saturday’s virtual Race At Home Challenges.

    With Wehrlein picking up the victory, he is now the championship points leader ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne going into Sunday’s double points series finale at the virtual Berlin.

    “It was a good race,” Wehrlein said. “It was actually one of the most difficult races of the series because I made a mistake at the start. I didn’t see the lights go out because of the halo and I tried to switch the camera position, but I couldn’t change it back, so I did the entire race with the wrong camera. I was very happy that I had a small gap I could manage otherwise it might have been a different race result. There’s still everything to play for tomorrow with double points on offer and I’m looking forward to the battle for the championship title.”

    Official Driver Grid Results

    1. Pascal Wehrlein
    2. Oliver Rowland
    3. Kelvin van der Linde
    4. Stoffel Vandoorne
    5. Maximilian Gunther
    6. Felipe Massa
    7. Edoardo Mortara
    8. Antonio Felix da Costa
    9. Robin Frijns
    10. Oliver Turvey
    11. Neel Jani
    12. Mitch Evans
    13. Alexander Sims, OUT, Did Not Finish
    14. Sam Bird, OUT, Did Not Finish
    15. James Calado, OUT, Did Not Finish
    16. Qinghua Ma, OUT, Did Not Finish
    17. Jean-Eric Vergne, OUT, Did Not Finish
    18. Andre Lotterer, OUT, Did Not Finish
    19. Joel Eriksson, OUT, Did Not Finish
    20. Lucas di Grassi, OUT, Did Not Finish
    21. Nyck de Vries, OUT, Did Not Finish
    22. Brendon Hartley, OUT, Did Not Finish
    23. Jerome D’ Ambrosio, OUT, Did Not Finish
    24. Sebastien Buemi, OUT, Did Not Finish

    Official Driver Grid Standings

    1. Pascal Wehrlein, 130 points
    2. Stoffel Vandoorne, 118 points
    3. Maxmilian Gunther, 83 points
    4. Oliver Rowland, 76 points
    5. Robin Frijns, 50 points
    6. Neel Jani, 35 points
    7. Edoardo Mortara, 33 points
    8. Antonio Felix da Costa, 30 points
    9. Nico Mueller, 29 points
    10. James Calado, 25 points
    11. Oliver Turvey, 23 points
    12. Nick Cassidy, 19 points
    13. Kelvin van der Linde, 15 points
    14. Andre Lotterer, 13 points
    15. Felipe Massa, 10 points
    16. Mitch Evans, 10 points
    17. Sebastien Buemi, 9 points
    18. Nyck de Vries, 6 points
    19. Jereome D’ Ambrosio, 2 points
    20. Ma Qing Hua, 2 points
    21. Alexander Sims, 1 points
    22. Jean-Eric Vergne, 0 points
    23. Lucas di Grassi, 0 points
    24. Brendon Hartley, 0 points
    25. Sam Bird, 0 points

    Official Challenge Grid Results

    1. Lucas Mueller
    2. Kevin Siggy
    3. Joshua Rogers
    4. Kush Maini
    5. Petar Brljak
    6. Peyo Peev
    7. Ben Hitz
    8. Marius Golombeck
    9. Jacob Reid
    10. Niek Jacobs
    11. Cem Bolukbasi
    12. Alisdair Irvine
    13. Nuno Pinto, OUT, Did Not Finish
    14. Ozgur Benzes, OUT, Did Not Finish
    15. Markus Keller, OUT, Did Not Finish
    16. Moritz Lohner, OUT, Did Not Finish
    17. Arjan Veltens, OUT, Did Not Finish
    18. Noah Reuvers, OUT, Did Not Finish
    19. Yifei Ye, OUT, Did Not Finish
    20. Scott Sovik, OUT, Did Not Finish
    21. Sophia Florsch, OUT, Did Not Finish
    22. Sergio Jimenez, OUT, Did Not Finish
    23. Charlie Martin, OUT, Did Not Finish
    24. Axel La Flamme, OUT, Did Not Finish

    Official Challenge Grid Standings

    1. Kevin Siggy, 148 points
    2. Lucas Mueller, 99 points
    3. Peyo Peev, 84 points
    4. Petar Brljak, 81 points
    5. Joshua Rogers, 75 points
    6. Jan von der Heyde, 50 points
    7. Nuno Pinto, 23 points
    8. Jacob Reid, 22 points
    9. Ben HItz, 21 points
    10. Kush Maini, 21 points
    11. Niek Jacobs, 17 points
    12. Marius Golombeck, 14 points
    13. Olli Pahkala, 12 points
    14. Cem Bolukbasi, 12 points
    15. Erhan Jajovski, 10 points
    16. Remco Majoor, 6 points
    17. Kuba Brzezinski, 6 points
    18. Jim Parisis, 6 points
    19. Markus Keller, 6 points
    20. Arjan Veltens, 4 points
    21. Alsdair Irvine, 2 points
    22. Noah Reuvers, 1 points
    23. Alex Lynn, 1 points

  • NTT IndyCar Series Preview-Texas

    NTT IndyCar Series Preview-Texas

    After a three month delay due to COVID-19, the NTT IndyCar Series finally gets their turn to get back on track for their 2020 season opener this Saturday night at Texas Motor Speedway in what is expected to be a wild race.

    In last year’s race, defending champion Josef Newgarden led the last 46 laps en route to victory at the 1.5-mile speedway. It was Newgarden’s first victory at Texas in just eight starts. The 2019 race featured three cautions for 22 laps with 13 lead changes.

    While Newgarden was most certainly strong in the late parts of the event, there were other challengers such as Alexander Rossi, Graham Rahal and Scott Dixon, among a few others, who were front runners and traded the lead multiple times with Newgarden.

    As last year’s race was the ninth race on the schedule, this year’s race will certainly be different since it will now be the first race on the schedule. Considering this, there will likely be some anxious and in some cases, cautious, drivers when they dive into Turn 1 for the first time in 2020. However, unlike NASCAR where there is no practice or qualifying, IndyCar drivers will be granted at least one practice and qualifying session which should make things somewhat more manageable for the competition Saturday night. Despite that, we won’t know who will have the fastest car until the first practice session on Saturday. However, I’ll try to give you five drivers to keep an eye on during Saturday night’s Genesys 300.

    1. Simon Pagenaud – Pagenaud has been very close to victory lane at Texas over the last couple of races, ever since he began driving for Team Penske in 2016. Pagenaud has scored two podiums that occurred in two consecutive races in 2017 and 2018. He got his best finish of second in 2018 after leading 26 laps. In the 2019 race, the Penske driver started fifth and finished sixth. Overall, Pagenaud’s average finishing position is 6.1 and he has led a total of 85 laps. After his teammate Newgarden won last year’s race and Pagenaud being close multiple times in the last two years, don’t be surprised to see the No. 22 DXC Technology Chevrolet challenging for the win once again.
    2. Graham Rahal – Rahal’s statistics have definitely improved over the last few races ever since winning his first elusive victory in 2016, nearly four years ago. Since that victory, he has finished fourth, sixth, and placed on the podium in the ’19 race after finishing third. In 12 starts dating back to his first in 2008, Rahal has one win, 36 laps led, three podiums and he has averaged an 11.3 finishing position. He also was able to lead five laps in the ’19 race as well. Only twice has Rahal failed to finish a race. The last time was in 2011 when he had an issue with the fuel pump. Rahal and the No. 15 RLL team are expected to be strong once again Saturday night.
    3. Alexander Rossi – Fan favorite Alexander Rossi and the No. 27 NAPA team missed out on a victory in last year’s race by falling short to Newgarden and finishing second. His first few races weren’t all that great with an 11th place finishing position in 2016 and a 22nd place result after a crash took him out in the 2017 event. But since 2018, Rossi and the Andretti team have stepped up their game by getting back to back podiums. In total, he has a 9.5 average finishing position and a best starting position of third back in ’17. It has been well over a year since Rossi visited victory lane (which occurred at Elkhart Lake) and he’ll be hungry for a win.
    4. Will Power – Continuing on the Team Penske train, Newgarden’s teammate, Will Power has also had his fair share of success at Texas. Since 2008, the Aussie has made 12 starts at the superspeedway and has earned four podiums along with two wins (2011, 2017) and has led 432 laps. Besides having a decent track record, Power also qualified on the pole three consecutive times from 2013-2015. When he scored the ’17 victory, the Penske driver led all but 20 laps to score his second victory at Texas. It’s been a couple of years since Power has had a good race but it’s hard to count him out at a track where Penske has had so much success.
    5. James Hinchcliffe – This weekend will most likely be one of the most important weekends of James Hinchcliffe’s career when he takes the track Saturday night. After losing his ride at Arrow McLaren, Hinchcliffe is back with his old team Andretti Autosport where he will pilot the No. 29 machine. It’ll almost be a “home sweet home” feel for Hinchcliffe who made two starts with Andretti in 2012 and 2013. In those two races, Hinchcliffe finished fourth and ninth, respectively. His only podium of the race was in 2016 after Hinchcliffe came .008 seconds short of a thrilling finish with competitor Graham Rahal.

    Aside from these five drivers who might have a chance at the victory Saturday night, in total, there will be 24 drivers aiming to get the victory. In the field, there will be three rookies who have never raced at Texas Motor Speedway. Those rookies are Oliver Askew, Alex Palou and Rinus VeeKay. Askew and Palou are teammates at Arrow McLaren SP, while VeeKay competes with Ed Carpenter Racing.

    While there will be three rookies who have never made a start at Texas, there have been at least eight winners of the previous Texas races, who have gone on to win the series championship. Those notable names include Sam Hornish, Tony Kanaan, Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti, and Josef Newgarden.

    Texas has hosted 31 IndyCar races with an impressive list of drivers who have visited victory lane. Those winners are Arie Luyendyk (the first to win in ’97), Billy Boat, John Paul. Jr., Scott Goodyear, Mark Dismore, Scott Sharp, Sam Hornish Jr., Jeff Ward, Al Unser. Jr., Gil de Ferran, Tony Kanaan, Helio Castroneves, Thomas Scheckter, Scott Dixon, Ryan Briscoe, Dario Franchitti, Will Power, Justin Wilson, Ed Carpenter, Graham Rahal, and Josef Newgarden.

    Dixon and Kanaan have made 20 starts. There has never been a driver who has consecutively made every start at Texas.

    Out of those winners, at least six have started from the pole including Hornish, de Ferran, Castroneves, Scheckter, Dixon, and Briscoe who all won from the first starting spot. The lowest a winner has ever started from to win was 17th, set by Wilson back in 2012.

    O the active drivers, 14 have all led laps in previous races. Dixon leads the way with 517 followed by Power (432), Kanaan, Hinchcliffe, Carpenter, Pagenaud, Andretti, Newgarden, Sato, Hunter-Reay, Rahal, Kimball, Rossi, and Marcus Ericsson.

    This weekend will also mark a new era for the NTT IndyCar Series. Once the green flag drops Saturday night, race fans will see the all-new Aeroscreen, which is supposed to increase safety to the driver’s cockpit. The screen is made up of a titanium framework and a windscreen, which is a canopy-like version. It is mandatory for all drivers and teams to use this piece in all IndyCar races moving forward.

    Saturday’s event will be a one day show to limit exposure for the teams.

    The first and only practice will take place from Noon-2:30 p.m. local time and will be shown live on NBC Sports Gold. Single-car Qualifying is slated for 4 p.m. local time and can be seen on NBC Sports Gold and NBCSN.

    The Genesys 300 is scheduled to take the green-flag at 7:05 p.m. local time, 8:05 p.m. ET live on NBC with 200 laps scheduled to take place.

  • ARCA adds more races to the 2020 schedule

    ARCA adds more races to the 2020 schedule

    After a few months of waiting, the ARCA Menards Series has added a few more races to their 2020 schedule.

    NASCAR announced today that three more events have been added to the current ARCA schedule. Those races include Pocono Raceway on Friday, June 26 at 6 p.m. ET, Wednesday, July 15 at Charlotte Motor Speedway at 4 p.m. ET, while the third and currently the latest race on the schedule will be held on Friday, July 24 at Kansas Speedway at 10 p.m. ET. All three of the races can be seen on Fox Sports 1.

    Originally, Chicagoland Speedway was supposed to host a race on July 24, but it has now been replaced with Kansas. As for Charlotte Motor Speedway, the ARCA Series will race before the NASCAR Cup Series All-Star race, scheduled for later that night. Also of note, Kansas Speedway normally serves as the season finale for the ARCA Championship and has done so the last couple of seasons. It is yet to be determined whether Kansas will serve as the championship race for ARCA later in October.

    The ARCA Menards Series will return next Saturday night on June 13 at Toledo Speedway with the ARCA East Series, with a green-flag time of 6 p.m. ET. The Toledo race will also serve as an all-day event.

  • Tony Stewart’s All Stars Circuit of Champions to visit Volunteer Speedway

    Tony Stewart’s All Stars Circuit of Champions to visit Volunteer Speedway

    Tony Stewart’s All Stars Circuit of Champions announced today that the series will head to Volunteer Speedway in Bulls Gap, Tennessee for two nights of racing on Saturday, June 27 and Sunday, June 28.

    The two-day doubleheader at Volunteer Speedway will see up to $5,000 in prizes along with drivers also being awarded championship points.

    This will be the first time in at least 10 years that the All Star Circuit of Champions will visit Volunteer Speedway, with Joey Saldana and Jason Meyer scoring wins on the March 19-20 weekend.

    A few of the driver entries have already been announced for this event. These include 2019 Rookie of the Year Cory Eliason, Brock Zearfoss, Sprint Car regular Paul McMahan, two-time champion Greg Wilson, Skylar Gee, Justin Peck, Danny Dietrich, Zeb Wise, Sam Hafertepe Jr. and Josh Baughman.

    In addition to the driver entry list, former NASCAR driver and series owner, Tony Stewart will also partake in the action in hopes of taking the checkered flag. Stewart was the recent race winner when the series visited 34 Raceway in West Burlington, Iowa. The Indiana native picked up $26,000 in addition to his race winning victory.

    Fans who are interested in more information regarding the All Star Circuit of Champions can visit the Volunteer Speedway website.

    Those unable to visit the race weekend can also watch on floracing.com and can watch all season long.

  • Mahindra Racing gets creative with World Environment Day

    Mahindra Racing gets creative with World Environment Day

    With World Environment Day taking place Friday, June 5, the FIA ABB Formula E Mahindra Racing team is getting creative.

    As the penultimate Race At Home Challenge Series hosted by Formula E is scheduled for Saturday, fans who tune into the series’ Twitch channel, will see a unique circumstance by Mahindra Racing.

    For every fan who tunes into the Twitch channel Saturday afternoon, Mahindra is going to plant a tree to count for those viewers. The team is committed in hopes of planting up to 500,000 trees. The reason for this action is, Mahindra hopes that it will create a more positive environment in the world. With every mature tree in its full length, it can provide a year long oxygen supply and also provides 48 pounds of CO2.

    Farhan Ahmed, the Strategic Partnerships Manager for Twitch says it’s a unique concept and they hope to see as many trees planted.

    “Our community notoriously loves gaming, community and charity. Here we see the perfect combination of all. We’re excited to see them embrace this initiative – let’s see how many trees we can plant!”

    CEO and Team Principle of Mahindra Racing, Dilbagh Gill, was very happy to work this concept into the Race At Home Series Challenge.

    “We have made very clear that sustainability is very important to us and is a key principle for Mahindra Racing. We were very pleased ahead of the season to be able to confirm our tree planting initiative and wanted to find a way to bring that to the Race At Home Challenge, and we’re happy to have found that way with Twitch. We head into this weekend second in both the team and driver’s battles and will be gunning for glory on the virtual streets.”

    Fans hoping to tune into the Race At Home Series Challenge can see it here on their Twitch channel.

  • W Series Racing announces 2020 plans, 2021 outlook also announced

    W Series Racing announces 2020 plans, 2021 outlook also announced

    The W Series organization announced Thursday afternoon that due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the league will not provide any races in the 2020 season.

    The season was originally scheduled to take place the last weekend of May at Russia, though that was previously postponed to a later date. Eventually, the season was slated to end October 31 at New Mexico. Despite the original 2020 schedule now not being able to take place, the series said it was not an easy decision to make. However, with the eight planned races not happening, the organization has also provided a 2021 outlook that sees stops in Austin, Texas and Mexico City.

    The Chief Executive Officer of the W Series, Catherine Bond Muir, said that the 2020 season not happening is a disappointment but exciting things are shaping up for next year.

    “After the resounding success of W Series’ debut season in 2019, our decision not to stage on-track races until 2021 is not one that has been taken lightly.

    “However, we are already working on an exciting new W Series race calendar for 2021, and we are delighted to be able to confirm that W Series races will feature on the support cards of a number of Formula 1 Grands Prix next year, including the 2021 United States Grand Prix at Circuit of the Americas and the 2021 Mexican Grand Prix at Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez.

    “W Series is a global movement that exists to support the careers of female racing drivers everywhere, and to foster interest in and enthusiasm for motor racing among girls and women all over the world. The 18 women who had qualified to race in the 2020 W Series represent 12 different countries, and the eight circuits on which they were due to race this year are located in Western Europe, Eastern Europe, North America and Central America. Delivering an international calendar of the kind that W Series requires, so as to take W Series’ diversity and inclusion message to girls and women globally, while prioritising during a global pandemic the health and safety of our drivers, our staff and the many other people who make W Series events such a success, requires resource at a level beyond the scope of a brave new start-up such as W Series.

    “However, now that we have taken the very difficult but ultimately unavoidable decision to end any uncertainty surrounding our 2020 plans, we will focus our energies clearly on 2021, when we will resume our on-track racing programme, bigger and better than ever before.

    “In the meantime, this year, we remain committed to developing our drivers and entertaining our loyal fans all over the world. To that end, we are progressing with our exciting and innovative new W Series Esports League, which will go live on June 11 2020. In addition, our brilliant management team – including 13-time F1 Grand Prix winner David Coulthard and our hugely experienced Racing Director Dave Ryan – will continue to provide our drivers with invaluable career advice and support.”   

  • Interview: Locked Down with Ma Qing Hua

    Interview: Locked Down with Ma Qing Hua

    In a continuation of the column titled “Locked-Down”, Speedway Media caught up with FIA ABB Formula E and NIO 333 Team driver, Ma Qinghua.

    During the interview, Qinghua talks about what he has been doing during the down period of no racing, how sim racing has treated him and if he has been able to discover any new hobbies.

    SM: There has been a long break during this down period of racing. What have you been doing during this off period and how have you kept busy? 

    MQH: “I’m doing some practice to maintain my status and also I’m running my own Go-Kart track business.”

    SM: Sim racing has pretty much taken off ever since the pandemic started. You, yourself, have been participating in the Race At Home Challenge hosted by Formula E. How has that been going for you? Were there any expectations for you going into the challenge? 

    MQH: “The sim racing is pretty fun for me,” Qinghua said. “Our team in Shanghai has been holding live shows during each race in a Go-kart playground with many fans watching the race with us on-site. For my performance in the race, I’ve done not bad and I’m adapting to the driving way of the simulator, but there are still more to be adjusted for sure.”

    SM: On a scale of 1-10, how good of a sim racer do you think you are compared to the rest of the field? Do you feel as though sim racing has helped keep you prepared for when the season returns? 

    MQH: “It’s hard to make a comparison,” he said. “Because it’s much difference between the simulation and the reality. Through the sim racing, the biggest help for me is that, I can keep the familiarity of the tracks so that I will be still ready when the season restarts.”

    SM: You have competed off and on in Formula E since 2015, before getting connected with NIO Racing. What is it about Formula E that you’ve enjoyed so much compared to the other series that you’ve been involved in? 

    MQH: “I was always being interested in Formula E before I was involved in,” Qinghua said. “Because the driving and controlling method of the car and the track location are all very challenging. It’s an awesome feeling that speeding along the street track in the city center.”

    SM: As mentioned, you were a part-time driver before season six. This season, you got connected with the NIO 333 FE Team. Can you talk about how great it has been driving for the team and how you got connected with them? 

    MQH: “NIO 333 was restructured and now is operated by a new team,” he said. “Now the team is in an initial stage, I’m happy to work with a Chinese team as a Chinese driver and we can put efforts into improving gradually together.”

    SM: In the present season, you have had some respectable finishes, including your best finish at Santiago by finishing 16th. You’ve yet to crack the top-10 finishing order and to get on the podium. What do you think needs to be done in order to finally get on the podium? 

    MQH: “Actually our whole team including the software were all developed just before this season, as a result that our system is still in an initial stage,”Qinghua said. “The most important for us is to accumulate track miles. But during the Formula E season, it’s not allowed to do testing with the race car, so there is still a lot of time needed for us.”

    SM: The season has been on hiatus since the pandemic started a few months ago. Has this downtime altered your expectations at all? Would it be disappointing for you, should this season never be restarted? How positive are you that the season will be restarted? 

    MQH: “I think it’s not a situation that we are able to solve for now,” he said. “It’s a natural problem that not depending on any individual willingness. Of course, I hope the season could restart, and I will do as best as I can by then.”

    SM: When the racing season is in full action with no breaks, it appears you are always on the go. Was it difficult for you knowing that you would not be racing for a while, despite always being on the go as a driver? 

    MQH: “As a driver, I will never want to see a season suspended, Qinghua said. “But it just happened, so I have to face it.”

    SM: If the season should possibly get restarted in the next couple of weeks, what do you hope to work on as a driver and what tracks do you have your eye on? 

    MQH: “I will be looking forward to racing on any of the street tracks if the season got restarted.”

    SM: Are you a driver that goes back and watches old races? If so, have you watched any during the break?

    MQH: “Yes, I’m used to watching my previous races to reanalyze the problems I got during the races to avoid for the future.”

    SM: Have you been able to discover any new hobbies that you otherwise might not have been during racing?

    MQH: “Play Mahjong, play eSport games.”

    SM: When you are done quarantining, what is the first thing you’re going to do and what do you hope to accomplish when the current season ends? 

    MQH: “In China, we are currently not in quarantine anymore, so I’m doing everything as normal.”

    Special thanks to Hayley Wang for making the interview happen and special thanks to Ma Qinghua for taking time out of his busy schedule to participate in this interview.

    Fans of Ma Qing Hua can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Additionally, fans can follow NIO 333 on Twitter and YouTube.

  • Interview: Catching Up With Howie DiSavino III

    Interview: Catching Up With Howie DiSavino III

    In this interview, Speedway Media catches up with ARCA driver, Howie DiSavino III.

    DiSavino III is currently 19-years old and from Chesterfield, Virginia, and has made select starts in the ARCA Menards Series. During the interview, DiSavino III talks about the first race he competed in, the driver he’s always idolized, and if he is superstitious about his race day routine.

    SM: What was the very first race you had partaken as a race car driver? Was it everything you expected?

    HD: “The first race that I partaken in was a late model race,” DiSavino III said. “We rented a late model from a local team. I was 14-years old and didn’t know how to drive a stick shift. I learned really quick that was needed. We started 21st and came in 13th place.

    SM: How calm are you during a race? Are you a driver that’s more fired up behind the wheel or take it easy until the halfway point

    HD: “I am more of the driver to be calm and collective until the halfway point.”

    SM: What’s the most exhilarating race you’ve ever been a part of? Any come to mind?

    HD: “The most exhilarating race I have been in was at Elko in my first ARCA start,” he said. “We came 10th and on the lead lap. That was my most cherished race.”

    SM: Which driver did you idolize and wanted to be like growing up as a racer?

    HD: “I have always idolized Dale Jr.”

    SM: You are walking around in the garage area. A fan is trying to reach you for an autograph, but for whatever reason, you can’t see them or maybe the garage area is packed. How does a fan grab your attention for an autograph or photo?

    HD: A simple wave as I look over the crowd is how a fan gets my attention,” DiSavino III said. “I love talking to fans and hearing what their thoughts are.”

    SM: Has there ever been a random or funny moment that has happened to you during a race?

    HD: “The funniest moment I have had was when, I put my water hose next to my leg during a race,” he said. It got pinned against the seat and when I went into the corner, it sprayed all over my leg and I was wondering to myself if I peed on myself… Water was all over me.”

    SM: Who is one racing icon that you have always wanted to meet?

    HD: I would love to meet Dale Jr,” DiSavino III said. “He seems like a great down to earth guy!”

    SM: Are you someone that is superstitious before a race starts?

    HD: “I am not superstitious,” he said. “However, my crew member Mike Garcia gave me a cross and I have it with me every time I race.”

    SM: What is the first thing you do after you come home from a race? Does it take a while for the adrenaline to wear off?

    HD: “After a race, I usually eat a lot and talk about the race with everyone.”

    SM: If you could visit any planet in the solar system. Which planet would you choose?

    HD: “I would want to go to Saturn, because it looks like it has a racetrack around it!”

    SM: You are required to go without one social media app for a year. What app would you choose to go without?

    HD: “I would go without Snapchat.”

    SM: Time travel is available and you can go back in time to pick a race to watch in person. What race do you pick if you had the chance to watch it in person?

    HD: I would want to go to the Daytona race Dale Jr. won in the 2001 Pepsi 400.”

    Fans of Howie can follow him on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. Additionally, fans can check out his website.

    DiSavino III has made three ARCA Menards Series starts since 2019. His current best career finish is in his ARCA debut, which took place at Elko Speedway last summer.

  • NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Atlanta

    NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series Preview-Atlanta

    Last week we saw a thrilling finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway with Chase Elliott fending off Kyle Busch to claim the $100,000 bounty hosted by Marcus Lemonis and Kevin Harvick. The NASCAR Gander RV and Outdoors Truck Series will continue their momentum this week as they head to Atlanta Motor Speedway Saturday afternoon as part of the Truck-Xfinity Series doubleheader planned for the track.

    Like the previous Charlotte races, Kyle Busch has been dominant at Atlanta recently with multiple race wins at the 1.5-mile speedway. This weekend, however, he won’t have to worry about a bounty as that has been claimed. However, competitor and last week’s race winner, Chase Elliott, will be back in the field to give Busch another run for his money.

    As those two names are more than likely the favorites to win the Vet Tix/Camping World 200 at Atlanta Saturday, there are some sleepers in the field to keep an eye on. Despite that, we’ll also give you reasons why Busch and Elliott might dominate the competition once more.

    Here is this week’s preview that details five drivers who might have a solid chance to win on Saturday afternoon.

    1. Grant Enfinger – Enfinger has made four Truck Series starts at Atlanta dating back to 2016, the first time with ThorSport in 2017, three years ago. In all four of those starts, the Alabama native has managed to finish inside the top-10 in all of his starts. In last year’s race, Enfinger scored his best finish to date at Atlanta by finishing third. He piloted the No. 98 Truck to four laps led, finished third in Stage 1 and eighth in Stage 2. While Enfinger was certainly strong last year, he’s also managed to complete 100 percent of the laps in all four races. The ThorSport driver should be a strong contender Saturday.
    2. Austin Hill – Hill has been having a solid season so far in the three races run. The Georgia native collected one top-five and three top-10 finishes in 2020 with a best finish of third at Las Vegas back in February, another 1.5-mile track, similar to Atlanta. Hill had his first outing with the team last year in 2019 and had a great run in the No. 16 Toyota when he finished seventh. He was also able to earn some stage points after placing fifth in Stage 1 and sixth in Stage 2. Hill never got to lead a lap, but it was still another solid run for Hill and the No. 16 team.
    3. Brett Moffitt – Moffitt has three starts at Atlanta dating back to his first start in 2017. However, last year was his first start with the GMS Racing team. Moffitt had a great run with the team when he piloted his No. 24 Truck to a fourth-place finishing position. He averaged seventh mid-race, had 44 green-flag passes and had the two fastest laps throughout the event. Moffitt finished fifth in Stage 2. He is also the 2018 winner of this event.
    4. Johnny Sauter – Surprisingly, Johnny Sauter has not had a win yet out of his nine starts but has been really close multiple times to securing a victory. His first few outings from 2009 to 2011 didn’t go well but in the last three since 2017, Sauter has really picked it up and has been a challenger for the win only to fall short. In the 2019 race, he secured his best finish ever at the track after placing second and leading nine laps. Sauter also placed fourth in both stages in the 2019 race. The year before in 2018, he led 12 laps en route to a third-place finish. Expect Sauter to be a front runner in the No. 13.
    5. Chase Elliott – Elliott is back in the field this week with the GMS Racing team in the No. 24 Chevy. The Georgia native is coming into the race with momentum after the win at Charlotte last week. This weekend will mark the first time in three years that Elliott will make a start at Atlanta in a Truck. The last time he competed in the race was 2017. In that race, Elliott started ninth and came home to a fifth-place finish and finished eighth in Stage 2.

    When the entry list came out, 47 Trucks were once again entered, but seven drivers were sent home. Those sent home were Tim Viens, Norm Benning, Trey Hutchens, David Ragan, Bryant Barnhill, Dawson Cram, and Parker Kligerman.

    Since 2004, Atlanta Motor Speedway has hosted 18 races and has seen many different winners.

    The list of winners includes Bobby Hamilton, Ron Hornaday Jr, Kyle Busch, Todd Bodine, Mike Bliss, Mike Skinner, Ryan Newman, Kevin Harvick, Ty Dillon, Matt Crafton, John Hunter Nemechek, Christopher Bell, and Brett Moffitt.

    Out of those race winners, Kyle Busch has the most victories with five, while Hall of Famer Ron Hornaday has two victories. Everyone else has scored one win each.

    As for qualifying, the lowest a winner has started from was 18th and that happened twice. That was set by Hornaday in 2005 and Nemechek in 2016. The highest a race winner has started from was from the pole, which happened five times, with Bodine being the first to do so in 2006. However, due to the ongoing pandemic and limited team exposure, there continues to be no live qualifying.

    Chevrolet narrowly edges out Toyota in terms of victories at the track. The manufacturer has nine race wins in total while Toyota has eight wins. Dodge only has one win that took place in the first race in 2004. Ford has yet to secure a win.

    The most ever lead changes was seen in 2006, with 21. The fewest lead changes in the Atlanta Truck race was six back in 2015, five years ago.

    The Atlanta Truck race can be an eventful race as it has seen a lot of cautions flown from time to time. The most caution flags that occurred was nine times for 45 laps back in 2007. The least amount of cautions happened two times, with the 2015 race leading the way with three yellows for 13 laps, followed by the 2012 race with three cautions for 16 laps. In last year’s race, there was six cautions for 30 laps.

    As far as stage winners go, Christopher Bell, Noah Gragson, and Kyle Busch have all won stages. Busch has the most stage victories with three, including sweeping last years stages.

    Stages will be broken into 30-30-70 to make up the 130 lap race.

    The race can be seen on Fox Sports 1 at 1 p.m. ET and can be heard on MRN Radio.

  • NASCAR Xfinity Series Power Rankings – Bristol I

    NASCAR Xfinity Series Power Rankings – Bristol I

    The NASCAR Xfinity Series continued their stretch of racing this past week as another Monday night race was completed at the “Fastest Half-Mile,” Bristol Motor Speedway.

    In what was an action-packed race, that saw 12 cautions for 85 laps, Noah Gragson made a late-race maneuver (that moved teammate Justin Allgaier) and was victorious for the second time this season.

    The No. 9 Plan B Sales Chevrolet was a fast car early on after leading a stretch of 46 laps, before averaging a top-five to top-10 run mid-race.

    As Gragson scored the victory, many other Xfinity drivers scored their best finish of the season, and for some, the best finish of their career.

    This week’s Power Rankings sees a shakeup among the drivers.

    With that in mind, here are this week’s Power Rankings following the Cheddar’s 300 at Bristol.

    1. Chase Briscoe – After a miserable Charlotte outing where he finished 20th, the Indiana native looked to rebound this week at Bristol and have a strong run. With no qualifying in place as of now, Briscoe started the No. 98 Ford in the 11th position. He spent the majority of the race running inside the top-10, averaging sixth, never once falling outside the top-10. In the stages, Briscoe finished third in Stage 1 and fifth in Stage 2. He was in contention late with an overtime restart with two to go, restarting outside of eventual race winner Noah Gragson. Ultimately, Briscoe drove the No. 98 Highpoint.com Ford to second place and scored his fourth top-five of the season.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked
    2. Noah Gragson – The Las Vegas native shined under the lights in the early going and was there when it counted. Gragson moved his teammate Allgaier out of the way in the last two laps which led to a furious Allgaier, as Gragson picked up the victory for the second time his season. Despite that late-race move, the No. 9 JR Motorsports driver, was up front early and won the first stage. Gragson then piloted the Chevrolet to a second-place finish in Stage 2. Even though the late-race incident might cause some tension between the two teammates, Gragson is solidly locked in the Playoffs with a second win, should the playoffs still take place.

      Previous Week Ranking- Not Ranked
    3. Brandon Brown – Brown continued his early season momentum after finishing eighth last week at Charlotte, to another season best by finishing seventh at Bristol. The Virginia driver’s last seventh-place finish came at the season opener back in February at Daytona. He was unable to score any stage points in either stage, however, the team continues to ride high on their last few weeks of solid top-10 finishes. Don’t be surprised if Brown can slip into a top-five finish here soon.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fourth
    4. Daniel Hemric – The No. 8 South Point Casino and Hotel driver came home to a quiet sixth-place finish Monday night at Bristol. Hemric started eighth and ran the same position throughout the race. He did fell back to 23rd at one point in the race, due to a pit road speeding penalty. Despite that, Hemric spent 94 percent of the race in the top-15, before rallying to another top-10 finish, the fourth of the year for Hemric in six starts.

      Previous Week Ranking – Third
    5. Harrison Burton – It was a solid night for the Joe Gibbs Racing driver, who was awarded the pole after the random draw. Burton had a strong car early on but fell out of the top-10 in the first stage and did not receive any stage points. Eventually, the No. 20 team rallied back to a fourth-place finish in the second stage. Burton led the first 25 laps of the race and would lead again for two more times with a total of 81 laps led. When the checkered flag flew, the North Carolina driver finished fourth, his fifth top-five of the season.

      Previous Week Ranking – Not Ranked

    Fell Out

    1. Ross Chastain – From first to worst in one week, Chastain never really got a chance to show what he was capable of in the race. He never got to lead a lap and was the reason for the first caution flag of the night. He and Austin Cindric were caught up in a battle before Chastain’s car moved up the racetrack. He would spin out in the process and collected Cindric in the going. While he was able to get back out to the track, the Floridian finished in 28th position, numerous laps down.

      Previous Week Ranking – First
    2. Austin Cindric- The Team Penske driver was caught up in Chastain’s incident on Lap 7 of the race, resulting in his back bumper and deck lid being torn to shreds. An upper A-frame damage was too much for the No. 22 team to fix and he was credited with a 36th place finish.

      Previous Week Ranking – Second
    3. Michael Annett – Annett was among several drivers that were unfortunately caught up in the wreck with no wrongdoing on his part. He barely escaped the sitting car of Ross Chastain. Annett’s car tore the whole back bumper off of Chastain’s car and sustained major damage to the No. 1 Chevy. The night was done early for the JR Motorsports driver, as he would be credited with a last-place finish.

      Previous Week Ranking – Fifth