There’s nothing like high speed turns at an iconic road course, and this year, NASCAR drivers will be flying down the Chute once again as Sonoma Raceway and NASCAR announced the return of the popular stretch of race track during the June 10-12 race weekend.
“We heard from many fans and drivers how much they loved it when we raced the Chute,” said Sonoma Raceway EVP and General Manager Jill Gregory. “The Carousel was part of the original course and we reverted back to it for our 50th Anniversary in 2019 and used it again in 2021. But we race to bring excitement and drama to the fans, and an overwhelming majority of them asked us to bring back the Chute.”
Since the Toyota/Save Mart 350 Cup race length will remain at 350 kilometers, the race will be extended from 90 laps to 110 laps, giving fans more opportunities to see the cars battle for position. It also sets Turn 7 up as a high-speed corner where many legendary passes and confrontations have occurred.
“It will be more exciting for the fans just because those are a couple of wild corners with some new hairy passing zones,” said 2021 NASCAR Champion and Toyota/Save Mart 350 race winner Kyle Larson. “Mistakes can be made in those corners when you’re bouncing over curves so the cars will be moving around a lot. It will be exciting. It will be pretty wild because you can go all the way to exit of Turn 4 on the other side of the curve and barely miss the wall.”
The Chute was constructed prior to the 1998 race and used in every Sonoma NASCAR event through 2018. This stretch of the raceway connects Turn 4 as the cars approach the top of the hill to Turn 7 as the cars prepare for the downhill march through the “S” turns. Martin Truex Jr. was the last driver to win on the Chute layout in 2018.
“Drivers and fans have missed the passing opportunities and close racing created by the Chute so we’ll be returning to that configuration for the NASCAR Cup Series and the return of the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series,” said Scott Miller, NASCAR Senior VP of Competition. “NASCAR has seen drama and incredible action at road course races, and we’re looking forward to even more intensity as the Next Gen race car debuts and the Chute returns at Sonoma.”
Stage breaks for the 110-lap Toyota/Save Mart 350 will be at laps 25 and 55. Saturday’s NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event will be 75 laps with stage breaks at laps 20 and 45. The General Tire 200 ARCA Menards Series West race will be run prior to the Truck race on Saturday.
Tickets for the June 10-12 race weekend are available at www.sonomaraceway.com. Ticket packages including weekend and single-day, camping and fun extras such as pit passes and scanners also are on sale now through the raceway’s website or by calling the box office at 1-800-870-RACE.
Despite being relatively new to Berlin’s calendar with the first running taking place in 2017, the Money in the Bank 150 has consistently attracted many of the best short track competitors from around the country while simultaneously bringing in stars from NASCAR’s top divisions like Kyle Busch, Stewart Friesen and others.
The influx of talent has barely impacted the stranglehold local Michigan drivers have had on the event. Battle Creek, Michigan, native Brian Campbell won the Money in the Bank 150 in 2018 and 2019, while current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competitor Carson Hocevar, who is from Portage, Michigan, has been victorious in the last two runnings.
Another talented entry list featuring an even mix of track favorites and short track standouts has been assembled ahead of this year’s Money in the Bank 150 on Wednesday evening, with the winner receiving a paycheck of at least $10,000 at the end of the night.
Below is everything you need to know about the 2022 Money in the Bank at Berlin Raceway.
More than 30 cars have entered Wednesday’s Money in the Bank 150 at Berlin Raceway (Photo: Nic Antaya/ARCA Racing)
What TV channel is the Money in the Bank at Berlin Raceway on in 2022?
All feature racing action from the 2022 Money in the Bank at Berlin Raceway can be viewed live on FloRacing, the new streaming home of all NASCAR Roots properties.
The Money in the Bank at Berlin will not be shown on a television network.
Below is the complete schedule for Money in the Bank coverage on FloRacing.
Some of the drivers expected to compete in Wednesday’s Money in the Bank 150 include William Byron, Erik Jones and Ty Majeski. (Photo: Nic Antaya/ARCA Racing)
Entry list for 2022 Money in the Bank
The current entry list for the Money in the Bank 150 features more than 30 competitors.
Headlining the talented group of competitors is four-time NASCAR Cup Series winner William Byron, who has already enjoyed success behind the wheel of a Super Late Model this year with victories at Hickory Motor Speedway, New Smyrna Speedway and Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
Joining Byron on the entry list is fellow Cup Series competitor Erik Jones as well as 2020 Snowball Derby winner and current NASCAR Camping World Truck Series driver Ty Majeski. Other notable entries include Bubba Pollard, Kyle Busch Motorsports development driver Sammy Smith and Tyler Reddick’s spotter Derek Kneeland.
Below is the complete list of drivers entered for the Money in the Bank 150.
Car No.
Driver
4
Erik Jones
6
Eric White
14
Mike Garvey
14
Kaden Honeycutt
14
Austin Nason
18
Chase Burda
20
Austin Hull
22
Evan Shotko
22
Sammy Smith
24
William Byron
24
Tyler Roahrig
24
Dylan Stovall
26
Bubba Pollard
28
Kevin Cremonesi
28
Scott Thomas
33
Albert Francis
37
Terry Senneker
45
Michael Simko
47
Brian Campbell
49
Luke Morey
53
Cole Butcher
53
Boris Jurkovic
57
Blake Rowe
71
Derek Griffith
77
Andrew Scheid
82
Tom Thomas
88
Trever McCoy
88
Nate Walton
90
Steve Dorer
90
Derek Kneeland
91
Ty Majeski
93
Austin Thom
101
Joe Bush
131
Kyle Crump
Money in the Bank purse payout
The total purse for the Money in the Bank 150 is $64,075.
Only 30 drivers will have an opportunity to race for the $10,000 paycheck that could potentially increase with lap sponsorships. The bottom 10 drivers in the final running order will each be awarded $1,200.
With plenty of money up for grabs, Wednesday’s Super Late Model feature is expected to be a battle as a diverse set of drivers look to visit Victory Lane and add to the Money in the Bank 150’s growing legacy.
Below is the complete purse distribution for the Money in the Bank 150 at Berlin Raceway.
Over the past few years, road-course ringer Scott Heckert has figured out his path in racing. While it wasn’t ideal, he’s accepted the unexpected.
In 2014 and 2015, Heckert was on the list of potential drivers that could break out in NASCAR. Driving in the then-K&N Pro Series East for HScott Motorsports, the Connecticut native won four races, three of which were on road courses.
Although Heckert labels himself a road-course ringer, it’s a tad odd in a way.
“I’ve probably done more oval racing,” Heckert told NASCAR.com ahead of the inaugural Xfinity Series race at Portland. “Growing up, the first few things I did was go-kart racing and it was all road-course racing. I just have a knack for it, and it’s what I feel I’m more akin to.”
After his final two K&N wins in 2015, Heckert’s racing career took a turn. At the time, he believed the strength of the series was dwindling. In 2016, he made three NASCAR starts total, in a partnership with BJ McLeod Motorsports and Rick Ware Racing.
At the same time, Heckert fully switched over to road racing, competing in IMSA. As part of the Pirelli World Challenge GTS Series, he picked up two wins. The following season, he raced overseas in the Blancpain GT Endurance Series in a Mercedes-AMG GT3. He returned to IMSA for the 2018 season with Lone Star Racing.
“Those came up because of the strong performances I had on road courses in a stock car,” Heckert said. “It’s been a little bit back and forth, finding the opportunities that present themselves.”
Also in 2018, Heckert competed in a trio of Xfinity races for BJMM, including his oval debut at Chicagoland. His relationship with BJ McLeod dates to the early 2010s, when McLeod was an instructor at FinishLine Racing School in Florida.
Admittedly, McLeod isn’t the best road-course racer, so when an opportunity arises to put Heckert in one of his cars, he’s all over it.
“It’s nice to have a winning driver get in your car and drive it for what it’s worth,” McLeod said, “and it allows us to see where we’re at as a team and try to get better because we know what he’s telling us is what we need to do to try to be successful.”
Heckert, who has never run more than three Xfinity races in a season, was ready for more. He approached McLeod last year and came up with a five-race schedule that would keep everybody happy.
“We picked these because it fit within my day job schedule. I’ve known BJ for a long time; he was my first foray into full-body stock car racing in a super late model. It’s one of those examples of being good to the people who are good to you.”
During the week, Heckert can be found inside the confines of JR III Racing’s shop in Mooresville, N.C. There, he is one of the team’s engineers for its LMP3 cars in the IMSA Prototype Challenge Series.
While competing in the K&N Pro Series, Heckert attended Miami University in Ohio to earn an engineering degree. He feels as though having additional information can help him on the racing front.
“I like the mechanical side of things and have always felt like it helps me as a driver,” Heckert said. “My driving helps me as an engineer because you can correlate the two and understand when you’re driving what the engineer is going through, and when you’re the engineer you can connect with what the driver is feeling.”
Two years ago, Heckert was an engineer on Hailie Deegan’s ARCA Menards car for David Gilliland Racing. The only issue was, he still wanted to race.
“If you’re a NASCAR engineer, it’s really hard to also take advantage of your racing because you’re gone so many weekends,” Heckert said. “I wear a lot of hats at the (JR III) shop. That keeps me super busy, and luckily the owner over there — Billy Glavin — he’s a racer through and through and worked for Hendrick at one point. He gets it, so he’s very understanding and flexible. If I need to come race Portland or Indy, he’s supportive. It’s been a cool combination.”
Last weekend at Portland, Heckert stayed out of trouble and tied his best career Xfinity finish of 13th. This weekend at Sonoma, he will pilot the No. 78 Live Fast Motorsports entry to make his first Cup start of the season.
“He’s been successful in cars that are somewhat similar (to the Next Gen), not as heavy, but have a lot of the same tools to work with,” McLeod added. “We’re excited to see what his feedback is and how he can help the team with and make the road course program better.”
As for the future, Heckert has hit a nice balance in his lifestyle of having a full-time engineering role while getting to play around in select NASCAR races.
“I like engineering a lot, and I would love to do just as much driving as I can possibly fit in,” he stated. “I try to live at the track and drive as much as I can and have fun with whatever I’m doing. I hope for the driving side, if I can impress the right people and show that I deserve to be here, then a little more driving wouldn’t hurt anything.”
The hillside layout of Sonoma Raceway will have plenty of new mixed with a dash of the familiar when the NASCAR Cup Series returns to wine country this weekend. Foremost among the new is another road-course application for the Next Gen car, which will make just its second appearance at that track type this season.
The seventh-generation racer will get another test of its durability and performance in Sunday’s Toyota/Save Mart 350 (4 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM). Early expectations assert that the style of racing may mimic that from earlier this year at Circuit of The Americas, the 20-turn twist palace in Austin, Texas.
“I would expect it to be just as aggressive. These cars allow us to do that,” said Joe Gibbs Racing’s Kyle Busch. “Everybody knows that all of these cars are the same – they all come from the same place. It’s up to you to make it go, and so you are going to push the car’s limits.”
Those limits will get their pushing on a revised layout that has some recent familiarity. For the last two Sonoma races – 2019 and 2021, with a lost year in between because of the COVID-19 pandemic – the event was contested on the longer 2.52-mile configuration with the sweeping carousel. This year, the Cup Series will revert to the 1.99-mile short course used from 1998-2018, incorporating the chute spanning Turns 4 and 7.
Should the limit-pushing turn into actual pushing on the shorter circuit, the flex of the composite body panels should absorb some of the framming and bamming.
“It can take a beating,” said William Byron, who participated in a Goodyear tire test at the Watkins Glen International road course last month. “I think Watkins Glen is going to be really fast. You’re gonna have a hard time setting guys up, but I think if you get close, you’ll see big dive bombs. But yeah, Sonoma is a perfect track for this car – fall-off in the tires, but also really good brakes and really good transmission.”
Those beefed-up brakes and the transmission – changed with the new car to a five-speed sequential shift from the former H-pattern four-speed – should alter the shift rhythms and braking points that might be more customary to drivers. A handful of Cup Series drivers are double-dipping into the Camping World Truck Series for Saturday’s DoorDash 250 (7:30 p.m. ET) for extra track time – Alex Bowman, Harrison Burton, Austin Dillon, Ross Chastain and Busch among them.
From that list, Bowman and Chastain figured most prominently in the Next Gen road-racing debut at COTA. Chastain bruised his way past both Bowman and AJ Allmendinger to emerge from a three-car dice on the final lap and secure his first Cup Series win. Bowman held on for second, but Allmendinger – who prevailed in last weekend’s Xfinity Series debut at Portland International Raceway – dropped to 33rd at the finish.
Bowman also challenged for the Camping World Trucks win at COTA, showing signs of growth in the road-racing category.
“I think that’s just going to continue to bring confidence to Sonoma,” No. 48 crew chief Greg Ives told SiriusXM NASCAR Radio this week. “Obviously we’re going into more right-hand turns than left-hand turns but ultimately, I think the confidence of the braking zones, confidence of this car and how hard you can drive it is something that really suits Alex’s style. That’s the number one thing I have to do is just put a solid car under him. He gets better throughout the whole race as laps go down, and he’s gonna be running out there trying to better his craft and hopefully we can come out of there with a win.
“But all in all, strategies and sometimes luck when those cautions fall and if you’re on pit road are not in the right spot helps, but if you have a fast car, it definitely makes it easier. And I think Alex puts a lot of emphasis on trying to go there with a lot of confidence and a lot of speed. So, looking forward to getting there for sure.”
DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — There’s lots of anticipation for the increased convergence coming in 2023 between the WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and the FIA World Endurance Championship. But there are already plenty of IMSA-affiliated drivers and other story lines for IMSA fans to follow this weekend when the 24 Hours of Le Mans is staged for the 90th time.
Nineteen full-time IMSA drivers and three teams are taking a break from their “day jobs” to compete at Le Mans, one of the world’s premier endurance races in company with the Rolex 24 At Daytona, Mobil 1 Twelve Hours of Sebring Presented by Advance Auto Parts, and Motul Petit Le Mans at Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta. There are also at least a dozen other names familiar to followers of the WeatherTech Championship through their frequent participation in rounds of IMSA’s Michelin Endurance Cup.
America’s strongest, most consistent and most patriotic hope lies with Corvette Racing, which has split its effort this year between the WeatherTech Championship and WEC, running one car in each series. That’s an indication of how seriously Corvette Racing takes Le Mans, a race in which it has earned the class victory eight times since 2001, the last coming in 2015.
The Jordan Taylor/Antonio Garcia/Nicky Catsburg entry finished second in class in 2021 in the Le Mans debut of the mid-engine Corvette C8.R, and Corvette Racing is using its full-time WEC presence this year to be better prepared for the slight differences in technical regulations, pit stop rules and other procedures between IMSA and WEC competition. The WEC version of the C8.R is also slightly different than the car that competes in the GTD PRO class in IMSA, with marginally more power, bespoke Michelin tires and the removal of ABS anti-lock braking.
Tommy Milner, Nick Tandy and endurance driver Alexander Sims finished second in the WEC 1000 Miles of Sebring in March and rank third in the 2022 WEC GTE point standings. With Le Mans awarding double points, it’s an important race for them in the overall context of the championship.
Sims was fastest in the Le Mans test day on Sunday, lapping the unique 8.47-mile circuit through the French countryside in 3 minutes, 54.001 seconds (130.239 mph) in the No. 64 Corvette. The seven-car GTE field was packed within half a second.
“For sure, having everything and everyone ready from doing the previous two WEC races has given us a head start,” observed Tandy. “We’re coming into Le Mans with the best level of preparation Corvette Racing has ever had, and we’ve definitely started with our best foot forward.”
“We’re racing a much different car in IMSA these days, so working with a different tire and no ABS is definitely an adjustment,” Taylor said after the No. 63 Corvette clocked a lap at 3:54.504. “It was nice that all of us got a good amount of running today.”
Here are some other IMSA-related story lines to follow at Le Mans:
Penske Preview: Team Penske has fielded a Le Mans Prototype 2 (LMP2) in WEC this year in preparation for Porsche Penske Motorsport’s 2023 LMDh program that is expected to compete in both the WeatherTech Championship and WEC. Dane Cameron and Felipe Nasr, both former WeatherTech Championship titlists, are teamed with Emmanuel Collard in the No. 5 ORECA.
Team player: Three-time WeatherTech Championship champion Ricky Taylor was nominated by chassis constructor ORECA as the reserve driver for all of its Le Mans entries. Taylor, who has made seven previous Le Mans starts, will share the No. 37 Cool Racing ORECA with Yifei Ye and Niklas Kruetten.
“Le Mans is a massive event,” Taylor said. “I think if you win the race, no matter which class, it goes right to the top of your resume.”
All-IMSA: United Autosport USA’s No. 23 LMP2 entry features a driver lineup comprised completely of WeatherTech Championship full-timers: Alex Lynn (No. 02 Cadillac Racing DPi), Oliver Jarvis (No. 60 Meyer Shank Racing with Curb-Agajanian Acura DPi), and 16-year-old Josh Pierson (No. 52 PR1 Mathiasen Motorsports LMP2) will split the 24 hours. Filipe Albuquerque (No. 10 Konica Minolta Acura DPi) is one-third of the driving team for United’s No. 22 entry.
LMGTE Pro is IMSA-Packed: Fifteen of the 21 drivers in the category have competed in a WeatherTech Championship race in 2022, including full-timers Garcia, Jordan Taylor and Felipe Fraga. The team fielding Fraga’s Le Mans entry – the No. 74 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO shared with Sam Bird and Shane Van Gisbergen – is also an IMSA full-timer. Riley Motorsports is the entrant of the No. 74 Ligier JS P320 that Gar Robinson drove to the 2021 IMSA Le Mans Prototype 3 (LMP3) title.
The No. 51 AF Corse Ferrari at Le Mans features the same driver lineup of Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado and Daniel Serra that finished second in GTD PRO in the 2022 Rolex 24.
No rest for the winners: Arriving somewhat late for the Le Mans test day Sunday was a small price to pay for three of the four winning drivers in Saturday’s Chevrolet Sports Car Classic, the WeatherTech Championship race at Belle Isle. Sebastien Bourdais (a Le Mans native who will co-drive the No. 10 Vector Sport LMP2) and Renger van der Zande (No. 66 Ferrari 488 GTE EVO LMGTE Am) shared the Daytona Prototype international (DPi) win in Detroit and, along with Ben Barnicoat, the GT Daytona (GTD) class winner (No. 56 Team Project 1 Porsche in LMGTE Am), all departed for Paris immediately after wrapping up their celebrations and media obligations.
Busman’s holiday: While the field for IMSA endurance races often includes full-time WEC drivers, the opposite phenomenon happens at Le Mans. The list of moonlighting IMSA full-timers not already mentioned includes DPi regulars Pipo Derani, Olivier Pla and Richard Westbrook, all driving for the Glickenhaus Hypercar team, plus Tristan Vautier (No. 44 ARC Bratislava LMP2). Steven Thomas is moonlighting from his full-season gig in the Era Motorsport LMP2 to co-drive the No. 45 Algarve Pro Racing LMP2.
Weather Tech Championship GTD PRO pilots Cooper MacNeil (No. 79 WeatherTech Racing) and Matt Campbell (No. 93 Proton Competition), along with GTD driver Jan Heylen (No. 88 Dempsey-Proton Racing), will all run Porsche 911 RSR-19s in the LMGTE Am class.
Other Le Mans drivers who have recently run IMSA races include defending WEC Hypercar champions Mike Conway, Kamui Kobayashi and Jose Maria Lopez [No. 7 Toyota Gazoo Racing]; Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre, Gianmaria Bruni and Frederic Makowiecki in LMGTE Pro [all in Porsches]; and Harry Tincknell, Zacharie Robichon, Mikkel Jensen and Ben Keating in LMGTE Am.
NASCAR officials reinstated Carson Ware on Tuesday, ending his suspension as part of a behavioral penalty issued last October.
Competition officials indicated Ware had “successfully completed the terms and conditions mandated for reinstatement.” The decision restores his NASCAR membership privileges.
Ware, 22, has competed in nine NASCAR Xfinity Series races, including six last season for a trio of teams. He was suspended Oct. 21, 2021 after his arrest earlier that day, when the Rowan County (N.C.) Sheriff’s Office gave him a $1,000 secured bond related to charges of assault on a woman, simple assault and damage to personal property.
NASCAR suspended Ware for violation of the Member Conduct Guidelines as outlined in the NASCAR Rule Book. Ware was also suspended by the SS Green Light Racing No. 17 team that had entered him in four races last year.
Also in the week’s penalty report, officials penalized the No. 13 ThorSport Racing team in the Camping World Truck Series for a single unsecured lug nut, found post-race at World Wide Technology Raceway. Carl Joiner Jr., crew chief for the No. 13 team and driver Johnny Sauter, was fined $2,500.
Break out the old No. 19 gear. Cole Pearn is back on Joe Gibbs Racing’s roster.
The championship-winning crew chief has been added as an engineer to Martin Truex Jr.’s road team for Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway (4 p.m. ET on FS1, PRN and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio). The pairing is a familiar one, as Pearn and Truex spent five full-time seasons together from 2015-19. Their joint tenure was highlighted by the 2017 title after an eight-win year.
James Small, who took over atop the box in 2020, is still listed as Truex’s crew chief. Small and Truex have won five races since then.
A Joe Gibbs Racing spokesperson said Pearn’s return would be a one-week arrangement. Nick Burton, the No. 19 team’s regular engineer, will miss this Sunday’s race to attend a wedding. That prompted Small to ask Pearn to fill in.
This won’t be the first time Pearn and Truex have been reunited since the former retired after the 2019 season. Pearn came back in 2021 as a spotter on the No. 19 team for the Round of 12 elimination race at Charlotte Motor Speedway, which used the Roval layout. Like the Roval, where he finished 19th, Sonoma is also a road course.
Pearn and Truex earned 24 wins in total — three of which came on road courses. They won at Watkins Glen International in 2017 and at Sonoma in 2018 and 2019.
With 15 races down and 11 to go, Truex currently sits fifth in the regular-season standings, 37 points off leader Chase Elliott.
The catch, there have been 11 different winners so far. The playoff field allows only 16. And those with a win already have a provisional berth. That leaves five postseason tickets remaining.
A top NASCAR competition official said Tuesday the sanctioning body would monitor any further developments among Ross Chastain and his rivals, saying officials would step in as needed to prevent the matter from escalating.
The remarks came from Scott Miller, NASCAR’s senior vice president of competition, during an appearance Tuesday morning on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
Chastain had drawn the ire of both Denny Hamlin and Chase Elliott in the first half of last Sunday’s Cup Series race at World Wide Technology Raceway, making contact with both drivers in his No. 1 Trackhouse Chevrolet. Both Hamlin and Elliott made maneuvers in retaliation, with Hamlin repeatedly crowding or blocking Chastain in the laps that followed.
Hamlin’s actions drew a mid-race rebuke from NASCAR race control, which in effect told the Joe Gibbs Racing driver that he’d proven his point with his first brushback move. Tuesday, Miller said competition officials would discuss the matter during their weekend debrief and could call the drivers in for a conference in the officials’ hauler in an attempt to defuse the situation.
“I mean, certainly we don’t like to see things like that, but there’s a certain amount of … we kind of have to let them handle it on their own somewhat,” Miller told SiriusXM. “And what we saw, while we were annoyed by it, there was no real contact. Neither one. I mean, they tried to make life miserable for Ross, we all witnessed that. But at least we didn’t see a blatant take-out or anything like that. And it was obvious from Ross’ post-race comments that he’s made some mistakes out there and wants to make it right, but it’s kind of up to those guys to sort it out and how it moves forward from there.
“We’ll obviously keep a close eye on them as we do in all these situations. Probably will, may have them in the trailer face to face to talk about it as we’ve done before. We have our debrief, actually just after this call of the race weekends. We do that on Tuesday mornings, and we’ll discuss that situation further and decide how we’re going to move forward with it.”
Miller indicated competition officials had not consulted with Chastain, Hamlin or Elliott since the conclusion of the Enjoy Illinois 300.
“We haven’t spoken to any of the parties,” Miller said. “It’s usually better to kind of let things die down and speak to him before we hit the track again, rather than do it at the race track. We’ll do that if absolutely necessary, but in this situation where there was no sort of blatant take-out in retaliation, best to kind of let that calm down a bit, and then have a word with him later.”
In other topics discussed Tuesday:
— Miller addressed the emergency response to a last-lap crash in Saturday’s Camping World Truck Series race at WWT Raceway. The stack-up left 19-year-old Carson Hocevar with unspecified injuries to his lower-right extremity, and he was taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
Hocevar gave a thumbs-up as he was wheeled to the ambulance on a stretcher. He had lowered his window net as a signal to the safety crew that he was alert, but Hocevar could be heard on his team communications calling out for assistance.
“I think that that is their signal to us, that it doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re not going to try to hurry to get to the scene of the accident, but it does let us know that they’re obviously conscious, coherent, and that sort of thing,” said Miller, who added officials in race control review replays and crash footage as safety personnel are dispatched. “So it’s good to know that as they’re responding to an incident. One thing that everybody needs to know is the ambulance doesn’t have to be there for a doctor to be on the scene. There’s doctors in each of our chase vehicles, and we try to dispatch those as quickly as obviously as we can to the scene of the accident. There is traffic out there still, and we don’t want to compound the situation by forcing one of our vehicles up into race traffic that’s slowing down. So there’s just a lot of moving parts right there, and we certainly try to respond as quickly as we can, that’s obvious.
“We look at each situation and try to improve. We always look at where our stuff, where our equipment is located, and we’ll do it again, the debrief today on all of that and see if maybe there’s some place or positioning, or something that we could have done better. That’s one thing we certainly do at NASCAR every time is try to learn from every weekend, whether it’s good or something that we need to improve upon. So we always try to put our best foot forward.”
— Miller also addressed the issues of tire trouble with the Next Gen car, with speculation centering on teams pushing the limits of the air-pressure settings recommended by Goodyear, the series’ tire supplier. Miller said NASCAR officials would collaborate with the teams and with Goodyear, which he said was exploring an updated tire construction for its racing rubber.
“We review what Goodyear is seeing, we review all of the camber settings from all of the cars, because that’s part of our inspection process and kind of look at who was where and try to correlate problems with things — do the tire issues correlate with some of some of the setup parameters that that we’re able to see on our inspection process — and then just get with Goodyear,” Miller said. “Goodyear obviously has an at-track sort of inspection of the tires that failed, and even inspecting tires that didn’t fail by cutting them apart and seeing if there was any inherent damage and the situation maybe about to happen. So we look at all of those things very, very closely.
“I think we continually get the question of, well, should you check the pressures before they go on the cars? Trying to do that with 36 or 38 cars up and down pit road and do that accurately is really not something that is even in the realm of possibility. You can’t have your eyes on the teams at every second, and it only takes one second to hit that valve core and let air out. So that’s an unrealistic expectation that some people sailing in. It just isn’t practical and can’t happen. So it’s really up to Goodyear, us and the teams to figure this deal out. … So it is a little bit in the hands of the teams, no question. We’re not saying it’s all a team problem, but I think on that right now, they can do a lot to control their destiny there.”
This story was originally published on June 2, 2022:
NASCAR returns to Sonoma Raceway for a June 10-12 weekend of racing, with a packed schedule awaiting fans visiting California’s wine country. The three-day festival includes events for the Camping World Truck Series, ARCA Menards Series West and a Cup Series main event — the Toyota/Save Mart 350 — on June 12 (4 p.m. ET, FS1, PRN, SiriusXM).
The weekend marks just the second road-course event of the year for the Cup Series so far, plus a return to a semblance of normalcy for the track after two-plus years of pandemic-related uncertainty. But it also marks a spot worth circling on the schedule as summer travel season approaches.
To preview the race weekend, Sonoma Raceway executive vice president and general manager Jill Gregory sat down with NASCAR.com to discuss what to expect at the popular Bay Area facility.
Jeff Speer | Sonoma Raceway
Q: Just for starters, this appears to be the first event back at Sonoma minus restrictions and COVID protocols and things of that nature. For those coming back, what’s new, and how ready are you guys to host fans back in earnest this year?
A: Well, I would say we’re not only ready, we can’t wait. I think that we all saw this in the past couple of years, that being in the live-event business whether you’re on the track side or on the NASCAR side, we missed that excitement of a full race weekend. And so for us, it will be the first one since 2019. So no events at all in 2020, and then at reduced capacity last year, and then the schedule itself was reduced even when we did have reduced capacity with fans last year. So we really haven’t gotten to take a crack at a full NASCAR weekend, and with all the kind of excitement and the fan experience focus this year, I think us being able to show off Sonoma Raceway to the fans and to the industry, we can’t wait. I mean, there’s a lot to do in the next several days, depending on which day you’re circling, but we can’t wait because it’ll be great to see everybody back here.
Q: When people do come back to Sonoma, they should be able to expect some familiar surroundings, but what’s new as well in terms of fan amenities? What else is kind of blending in with what’s existing?
A: So what we’re really trying to do is keep the things about Sonoma Raceway that everybody loves, which obviously is the setting, where they get to stay nearby and maybe taste some wine. But I think that we’re also kind of shaking the dust off a little bit, not having raced here for a while. There’s some things that needed some attention. So we’re going to bring back a lot of things that fans really loved about being here like the Patriot Jet Team air show, but we’ve got a little bit of a smaller footprint to focus on here. So we want to maximize everything that fans are going to get. We’re not only going to have a pre-race concert that has not been announced yet, but we’re going to have a concert each night. So we’ll have entertainment throughout the property.
We’re going to create different areas, so you know, if you’ve been out here before, you know that we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. So if you’re up on the hill in Turn 3, or you’re on Turn 9, it’s much different than what you see in the paddock. So you know, fans want to roam the whole facility, and they definitely can, but we’re also going to have entertainment and food and drink in each of those neighborhoods, if you will, so that if they don’t want to come down and they’re happy kind of hanging with their friends and having a cold one up on the Turn 9 terrace, that they have everything that they need right there. So I think we’re really trying to create an entire experience and not just have activities limited to the frontstretch or the grandstand. And I think that fans will see that probably as a big point of difference.
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Q: Road-course races tend to have a festival atmosphere, but some of what makes Sonoma a little bit different from other races seems to be how much of a destination event it is. There are a lot of surroundings to take in, but how do you describe it for someone who may not have been and is thinking about going?
A: It’s kind of the best of both worlds. You can have a racing-themed or a NASCAR-themed vacation, blended with what you might do on a normal three-day weekend. And you know, you get the best of both worlds because you can get your NASCAR fix on Saturday or Sunday, but then when you kind of return to your hotel or wherever you’re staying within the local community, you have amazing restaurants, you’ve got wine tasting, you can jump on a bike and ride around town in Sonoma or Napa, so I think that the race isn’t the only thing going on, which I think kind of gives fans a reason to circle it on our calendar, let alone the kind of the beautiful surroundings. What happens on track is always pretty exciting, but you also can kind of check two boxes by having a really nice non-racing experience.
Q: The Camping World Truck Series is back for the first time since 1998. What factored in to having that series make its return to Sonoma?
A: Well, we’ve always had a pretty standard schedule out here at Sonoma Raceway, and it did allow for a little more wine tasting during the Saturday afternoon hours. But we wanted to provide the fans with more content. We have a really robust group of fans camping who are very passionate, and they camp across the street in our campground called 50 Acres or up on the sides of the hills, which is great. So you know, they’re looking for content, and cars on the race track is what they want. So the Truck Series, the DoorDash 250 will be the first time that the Camping World Truck Series returns here since ’98 as you mentioned, but there are a ton of West Coast ties to the Truck Series and names like Hornaday and Harvick. Maybe some people don’t think of that immediately, but I thought when I got out here, wow, how great would it be to have the trucks out here. The racing would be incredible because a lot of those drivers — if not most, or all — probably were toddlers when this race was run here before. They’re gonna have to learn it on iRacing, and so how exciting is that going to be just kind of seeing them navigate this track.
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Q: Another returning feature is that the track is going back to the shorter 1.99-mile course layout with the chute there connecting Turns 4 and 7 as well. What went into that decision, and what also do you expect from that on the racing end?
A: It’s the fans, and we had a lot of feedback from them about running the longer course with the carousel. I think generally speaking, it was good, it was a novelty, it was something different. But overwhelmingly, there were requests for us to bring the chute back, and then we coupled that with some feedback from drivers. You know there will always be a differing opinion of each driver, depending on who you ask, but generally speaking, the drivers were interested in having the chute back also. So I think it’s something that provides more laps around the track, which means more opportunities for action in Turn 11, and action in Turn 4 with the new car going to test the limits up there at the top of the hill.
Q: Sonoma typically has some kickoff events in downtown San Francisco, and this has been a tradition since before your tenure started there. Why is it important to keep that going, and how has the city of San Francisco has really embraced Sonoma as a sports neighbor as well?
A: I think that was one thing that I looked at, having been an attendee at many of those San Francisco-based events in the past. I think that the connection, while Sonoma seems far away when you’re out here, we’re just 30 miles or so from San Francisco. I think being a part of the Bay Area sports community has been important for us. We’ve always been kind of a fixture on this weekend in the city, whether it’s been at Fisherman’s Wharf or at other key iconic locations. So we want to make sure to take advantage of that. and I think it’ll just be a great chance to kind of soak in the Bay Area before we head up to the track and the track surroundings.
Derek Kneeland long ago gave up his dream of being a full-time race car driver.
The native of Windham, Maine, bid adieu to his racing dream at the age of 17 at the end of 2005. It was a selfless decision, one he made to prevent his family from pouring their life savings into his racing career.
“As it goes, the cost of things go up, and we don’t own a family company or come from a lot of money like that,” said Kneeland, who now works as a spotter for multiple race teams at every level of NASCAR competition. “I told my parents, ‘I don’t want to keep spending your money if I can’t come up with the sponsor money.’ They still needed to retire one day. I pulled the plug on racing myself.”
Kneeland, whose father Jeff Kneeland was also a race car driver in the 1970s, may have thought at the time he was done as a race car driver.
It turned out that wasn’t the case.
Fast-forward to 2022, and Kneeland races his own Late Model in his limited free time. He’ll make his first start of the season this Wednesday in the Money in the Bank 150 at Michigan’s Berlin Raceway.
It was a long road back behind the wheel of a race car for Kneeland, who got his big opportunity as a spotter when he worked with Brian Scott during an ARCA event at Pocono Raceway in 2008.
“I went and did it, they liked me, they hired me and just like anything people can pick up a head set and a radio and listen,” Kneeland said. “I’ve gotten a lot of opportunities since. I’ve just tried to make the best of them.”
That opportunity eventually led him to his current career, where he works with teams in the NASCAR Cup Series (Tyler Reddick), NASCAR Xfinity Series (Austin Hill), NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (Corey Heim) and ARCA Menards Series (Daniel Dye).
As his career in motorsports gained momentum, Kneeland eventually made the decision to jump back behind the wheel of a race car during his spare time.
In his limited opportunities to race, Kneeland has focused mainly on Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway. He has qualified for the legendary Oxford 250, one of the biggest Late Model races in the United States, twice.
Last year he raced twice at another legendary short track, North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway, and this season he is broadening his schedule even more.
As Kneeland was looking at schedules trying to decide when and where he would be able to race this year, it was a comment on one of Kneeland’s Facebook posts that put the idea of racing in the Money in the Bank 150 in his head.
“Jeff Striegle, a buddy of mine who is actually the general manager at Berlin, and he’s also the voice of MRN, so I see him every weekend,” Kneeland recalled. “We’re friends on Facebook, and he saw my post and he put, ‘Berlin Raceway, June 8.’”
Derek Kneeland sits in his race car ahead of an event at North Carolina’s Hickory Motor Speedway in 2021. (Photo: Adam Fenwick/NASCAR)
Kneeland didn’t immediately commit to the idea of racing at Berlin. After all, Berlin is a 15-hour drive away from Kneeland’s home in Maine.
A conversation with his cousin and fellow racer, Rusty Poland, is what eventually helped Kneeland decide to tackle the Money in the Bank 150.
“I kind of ignored it at first,” Kneeland continued. “I talked with my cousin, Rusty Poland, who races up here as well and is my crew chief whenever I race. He’s like, ‘Man, that’s a long ways away.’ We went back and forth on it and I was like, ‘You know what, I want to do something completely different. Let’s go ahead and change it up totally.’”
The Money in the Bank 150 is first of three races on Kneeland’s schedule this year. The second will be a $10,000-to-win race at New Hampshire’s Lee USA Speedway that is also scheduled to include Reddick and Corey LaJoie.
His third and final race will be the Snowflake 100 on Dec. 3, the annual precursor to the Snowball Derby at Florida’s Five Flags Speedway.
Poland will be with Kneeland for each race as crew chief. He has also had help from his father Jeff Kneeland and friend Nick Brown, who have made sure his car will be ready for Wednesday’s race.
His car will carry sponsorship from several businesses, including Sumerian Irrigation and Bonang Concrete, that are making his three-race schedule possible.
Kneeland expects there to be fierce competition just to qualify for the Money in the Bank 150. The entry list features several NASCAR stars, including NASCAR Cup Series regulars William Byron and Erik Jones.
Other familiar names on the entry list include NASCAR Camping World Truck Series star Ty Majeski and defending ARCA Menards Series East champion Sammy Smith.
Bubba Pollard, Terry Senneker, Kyle Crump, Boris Jurkovic, Tyler Roahrig, Mike Garvey and Brian Campbell are among the Late Model stars also entered.
“Excitement isn’t the word. I think I’m very much looking forward to it,” Kneeland said about the Money in the Bank 150. “I think my biggest goal is just go in honestly. I’m not one of those guys who gets in their mind and says, ‘I’m going to go win.’
“My biggest thing is make the race and make all the laps and wherever we finish, we finish. Hopefully we’ll earn some respect from those guys.”
