Tag: crown jewel

OFFICIAL: CROWN JEWEL RACING POSTPONES SRX INVITATIONAL

CJR Officials announced today that the Thursday Night Thunder SRX Invitational has been postponed until further notice due to “Market Factors.” The Mini Series was set to kick off tonight at Stafford Speedway and run a 4 week long season in the midst of the Summer Olympic break. CJR CEO Cory Mott made the executive decision to postpone the series and hopefully reschedule it for the off-season.

“It is with deep disappointment that we announce the postponement of the Thursday Night Thunder SRX Invitational Series. We had high anticipation and great excitement for this series and the drivers that we invited to race in it. Our expectations, however, have been tempered by market factors that have proven to be to much to overcome.”

Cory Mott, CJR CEO

The CJR ARCA Series will be back in action at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on Sunday night with racing beginning at 8 P.M. EST.

INDIANAPOLIS: Avila Dominates Opening Night of the VRS Truck Series, Wins Three in a Row

VRS Truck Series at Indianapolis Recap
The Crown Jewel Racing League kicked off its inaugural season with the Virtual Racing School (VRS) at Indianapolis Raceway Park. The 200-lap race was action-packed and featured more cautions than there are potholes on an interstate. But in a night filled with fresh faces, one driver looked familiar in victory lane. Johnny Avila captured his third consecutive VRS Truck Series win, reminding everyone that he’s still the man to beat.

During the qualifying session, as the sun set in the West, the new Sheriff in town Johnny Avila and his Deputy Cody Porter took control of the front row. They led for most of the race, covering 179 out of 205 laps. Porter took the lead early on and led 57 of the 58 laps to win Stage 1, with Avila coming in 2nd, and Nishil Condoor taking 3rd in the caution-filled stage. The fans were enjoying the race, but were eager for some green flag racing as 28 of the 58 stage laps were completed under the yellow flag.

On Lap 22, #25 Jim Mott loses control as #88 Connor Wold tries to squeeze by making contact with the #4 of Tyler Krawczyk.

“I tried to dodge Jim Mott and got spun around and luckily I got spun straight and didn’t get any head damage from the incident.”

Connor Wold #88 Black Rifle Coffee Chevrolet

During the stage caution, William Ransone chose not to pit and instead took the lead to lead the field at the start of Stage 2. As the stage commenced, Ransone engaged in a heated battle for the lead with Porter. Unfortunately, their intense competition led to contact in Turn 3, causing Porter’s car to spin out.

Ransone and Porter made contact here on Lap 64 causing Porter to get loose and spin around.
Porter would make his way back into the Top 10 by lap 100.

Stage 2 would get the early cautions out of the way and go green for the 2nd half to finally appease the fans for some green flag racing. Avila would take the Stage 2 win on Lap 120, with #82 Nathan Campbell in 2nd, and Condoor bringing home another 3rd place stage finish.

“Cory must have got the track workers to spray some caution be gone on the track cause this is some GREEN FLAG RACING.”

Cody Leach Season Ticket Holder

The green flag runs would continue into Stage 3 and would have some great green flag racing until Lap 167. Corey Schramm making his first start in the VRS Truck Series, was making his way to the front a little to fast and punted myself into the outside wall. Campbell was also involved in the incident sending all three to pit road to get repairs.

#00 Garth Griswold gets sent around after a bump from #84 Corey Schramm into Turn 1.

“It was an accident and those happen on short tracks. The same thing happened to me with 3 to go when I just clipped the outside corner of Kallhoff and sent him around. Hopefully we all understand these accidents happen on the short tracks.”

Garth Griswold #00 Lane Frost Chevrolet

It would be a caution filled final 20 laps with 3 different cautions. The final caution would come on lap 198 when Henry Kallhoff would get a push from Griswold and send Kallhoff around. The caution would send the race into overtime for a Green-White-Checkered Finish.

Avila would take green flag and run away with the lead on the green flag fighting off Porter, he would come around and take the white flag just before wrecks would start behind him. The race would stay green and Avila would come around to take the checkered flag and secure his third straight win.

The VRS Truck Series will be taking a break next week and will resume on August 5th at Rockingham Speedway. There are five races left in the regular season, and it looks like both Porter and Avila will have secured playoff spots, which will make the lead-up to the playoffs quite interesting. It will also be intriguing to see if Mike Burnett, who has been absent for the last few weeks, will make a comeback for the playoffs and attempt to regain his early season dominance.

For all of your sim-racing needs be sure to go checkout our sponsor Virtual Racing School for your sim-racing setups, coaching, and sim racing equipment. Don’t miss out on the Circuit Cup Series Crown Jewel race at the Brickyard 400. Racing action will begin at 8 P.M. EST and will be streamed by Mr. Christian Delgado and recasted to the Crown Jewel Racing Network.

The VRS® platform is a comprehensive online learning platform specifically built for sim racers. It includes a modern cloud-based app service which automatically uploads your telemetry into cloud storage and performs additional processing of your telemetry to make analysis easier and more powerful. Our tools track useful statistics and trends and have a number of collaboration features such as teams, data packs, and 1:1 coaching. We partner with some of the world’s best sim racers to give you weekly driving and setup tutorials, setups, ghost files, and driving comparisons.

INDIANAPOLIS: WHAT TO WATCH FOR

Circuit Cup Series takes the green flag live from Indianapolis Motor Speedway at 8:15pm EST.
WATCH HERE

HOT DRIVERS

  • Cody Porter-Xpress Esports-Chevy- Cody Porter has taken the Cup Series by storm. With 2 wins in his 4 starts, it seems like we are looking at a future Crown Jewel Champion in the years to come.
  • Vince Mitchell-Uber Motorsports-Ford- The curse may have lifted off of Vince’s season and boy is it the right time! 2 top 10 in the last 2 races and he has moved his way up to 8th in the points standings.
  • Justin Bell-Uber Motorsports-Ford- Justin Bell has taken form late in the season with 2 top 15’s in his last 2 starts. Moving up to 20th and out of the playoff battle, but a win with his recent form could be all the difference he needs to add another Uber Motorsports driver to the playoffs.

NOT DRIVERS

  • Zack Saunders-BBR-Chevy- Yes we know, Zack has had an amazing season so far but currently he has been out of form the last 3 races(outside of the top 5). With expectations so high for him can he turn his form around to make a late push for the regular season championship.
  • Paul Maziere-Independant-Toyota- With his last 2 races being a long cry from recent and outside of the top 20, the multi race winner may not retain his spot in the playoffs due to his extended leave of absence.

DRIVER NEWS

  • Thomas Villano penalty appeal was approved last week after some heated hearings. Even with him retaining his points it seems like he will be on the outside looking in during playoff time.
  • Nic Vasquez’s suspension has been lifting and will be racing tonight at Indy.
  • The silence of Mike Burnett has been felt this week with no statements to the media after his wreck. The 39 cars hauler was spotted entering the speedway in the early hours of the morning.
  • We still have no sign of Zander Short, even after the vague comments from principal owner of FMS Stephen Menke on his whereabouts. The 38 cars hauler has arrived at Indy but has not entered the gates.

PLAYOFF BUBBLE

  • FIRST IN: Natheniel Campbell(15th) Allen Phillips(12th) Caleb Tipton(10th)
  • FIRST OUT: Joe Wright(19th) Ben Lawson(18th) Garth Griswold(17th)

FAN PICK OF THE WEEK

Zach Thomas Johnson-Top Tier-Chevy
Zach has not had a good run as of late but luckily his win at Atlanta has sealed him into the playoffs. Some fans calling into Crown Jewel SiriusXM radio have stated that the driver of the #8 Zone chevy has become complacent this season after the win and believe if he doesn’t get to work, he will end getting eliminated in the first round of cuts. We on the other hand feel like this week is his chance to prove haters wrong. The Top Tier PR team has informed us that his sim time this week has shown great promise for him to secure his second win and get the team back on the right track before the playoffs. Johnson’s odds currently are sitting at +11000 for a win and +3700 for a top 5 and we believe this is good money based on the information received.

PENALTY REPORT UPDATE: VILLANO APPEAL GRANTED-PENALTY DISMISSED

BREAKING NEWS: Crown Jewel Officials announced that penalties issued to the #34 Thomas Villano have been rescinded after a lengthy appeal hearing this afternoon. Villano will be allowed to race next week at the Brickyard 400 in Indianapolis.

The jury made up of Ray Gill, Kristopher Burnham, and Cody Porter voted in a 2-1 favor that the incident involving Villano and Nathaniel Campbell under caution wasn’t intentional or reckless. CJR Official Gordon Fraley was stunned by the decision.

“I’m highly disappointed in the appeals panel ruling, the integrity of the sport is at an all time low.”

Gordon Fraley, Race Control Director

Villano who was a visibly different person in the courtroom had this to say.

“For the sake of everyone, I will try and clean it up in all honesty. I’ll be more rational, and will try not to yell at the members of the league anymore.”

Thomas Villano #34 Independant Driver

Villano was issued the black flag during the Pocono race for a stop and hold penalty and finished the race in 23rd. The Circuit Cup Series will resume next Wednesday night in Indianapolis for the Crown Jewel Race Brickyard 400. Let’s hope the drivers accept the jury’s decision and don’t attempt to take justice into their own hands.

POCONO: WHAT TO WATCH FOR

The Tickle Me Triangle 225 at Pocono Raceway! Green Flags flies at 8:15pm EST. WATCH HERE

HOT DRIVERS

  • Cody Porter-Xpress Esports-Ford: Cody has only raced 3 races this season with his late addition to the number 04 car but with all 3 races being in the top 5, the new kid on the block is shaking things up in the Circuit Cup Series.
  • Caleb “the uberman” Tipton-UberMS-Ford: Goes to show you longevity will lead you to the mountain tops. The Uberman hasnt had a finish outside of the top 20 in his last 10 races.
  • Zack Saunders-BBR-Chevy: Even after a 15th place finish in Chicago, He should be thanking the city of Chicago for its traffic jams that left his teammate Mike Burnetts hauler stranded on the I-90. He moves up to 2nd in the points standings.

NOT DRIVERS

  • Nic Vasquez-FMS- Ford: With all the woes, suspensions, and looming news coming from Factory motorsports press conference this morning. This 3x winning driver has had all the wrong news for a season that was going so right. Seems like he is on his final lifeline from principle owner Stephen Menke.
  • Zander Short-FMS-Ford: We have heard our first rumblings of the well being of the driver for the 38 car. Even though much information was not given to us by Stephen Menke and those at FMS, We do know Stephen is attempting to get Zander to the track for tonights race. With all the new talent in the league will he be able to come out as the same Zander we all know or are the lights to bright now.

DRIVER NEWS

  • Nic Vasquez will be serving his 1 week suspension. Even though he was not at the FMS press conference, reporters and fans have seen him walking around the pit area today.
  • Stewart Harding-Walker was given a week suspension as well but appealed with league officials so we are unsure if he will be on the track tonight at Pocono.
  • Zander shorts number 38 hauler was spotted entering Pocono. However the driver remains in the wind. With rumors of ongoing benders and a possible mandatory stay at a rehab facility, FMS executives have been playing this news close to the chest.
  • Mike Burnett and Cody Porter continue their back and forth that started after the Truck race at Chicagoland, which even spilled over into todays drivers meeting. Sources say both drivers were being held back by team members and the drivers meeting concluded with the last 15 minutes taking place on a zoom call.

FAN PICK OF THE WEEK

Ray Gill-MMC-Toyota:
If you can’t tell by now the fans dont want favorites to win, they want this current playoff situation shaking to its core. Ray Gill winning at Pocono would not only shake the fight for the playoffs but throw it off a 80 story building onto its back. Personally, I feel as if this race is all about strategy and who makes the right calls nearing the end of this race. If Ray Gill sitting currently at +26550 for a win and +9800 for a top 10 wins this it will all be about strategy. We tried to get a comment from his crew chief and we were “we will answer questions after the race.” Seems like they are locked in and dont want anything they have planned getting out for other teams to see. Tonight the points guys will get their points and a whole lot of them, but the winner, that driver will do something out of the box.

OFFICIAL: FMS GRANTS PARDON-VASQUEZ STAYS PUT FOR NOW

During a brief press conference held this morning in the Pocono Raceway Media room, Factory Motorsport Team Owner Stephen Menke delivered a concise statement regarding his driver Nic Vasquez, who is presently serving a suspension. Vasquez will not participate in this week’s Tickle Me Triangle 225 due to his involvement in an incident with race victor Thomas Wolfe during the Chicago Street Course Race.

Speculation within the garage last week suggested that Vasquez’s career might be over, with Menke growing weary of the negative attention drawn by Vasquez and the underwhelming involvement of #38 Zander Short. Known for his concise communication, Menke had the following to say.

“Nic Vasquez’s actions during the Grant Park 150 in Chicago do not represent the values and integrity of our team. We are hopeful Nic will learn and grow from this and become a better driver, teammate, and ambassador moving forward. The driver of the #22 FMS ford will be back next week at the Brickyard. Now if you will excuse me, I have to go find Zander and drag him back here to the track, and hopefully we make it back in time for the race.”

Stephen Menke, Owner Factory Motorsports

The Tickle Me Triangle 225 kicks off tonight at 8 p.m. EST and will be broadcasted live on the Crown Jewel Racing Network.

OFFICIAL: RAINOUT AT CHARLOTTE

Unfortunately, the Crown Jewel race has been rained out. The race officials tried to get it in, but it started to pour during the practice session. Race officials had to make a difficult decision, as they were up against a network scheduling deadline. Crown Jewel CEO Cory Mott ultimately decided to postpone the race until next Tuesday, July 23rd. Anyone who brings their ticket stub from tonight will get free admission.

POCONO: AVILA CONQUERS TRICKY TRIANGLE

The Sportsman Truck Series traveled to Long Pond, Pennsylvania, to tackle 175 miles at the “Tricky Triangle” of Pocono Raceway. In the end, 175 miles wasn’t enough as some late cautions brought an exciting green-white-checkered finish. Johnny Avila emerged victorious and secured his second win in a row.

Pete Morales had the fastest time during the practice session but couldn’t manage a clean lap in qualifying, forcing him to start from the back in 25th place. Cody Porter secured the pole position with a time of 54.339, while Johnny Avila joined him on the front row with a time of 54.357. Both Porter and Avila, racing out of the Outlier Speed Company Shop, had their trucks perfectly tuned for the start of the race.

Porter took the green flag, but Avila captured the first of five lead changes on lap one and maintained the lead throughout the first stage. The first stage ended on lap 13 due to a caution issued for a collision between #66 Bill Martin and #28 Jonathan Leger out of Turn 3. Martin slid and made a frightening contact with the pit road entry wall. Fortunately, Martin was cleared from the Infield Care Center with no injuries.

“I feel like I just got hit by Mike Tyson. Leger and I were just fighting over real estate and that set off the fireworks. Looking forward to getting back in the #66 Eddie Van Halen Truck next week at Indianapolis.”

Bill Martin #66 Chevrolet

Porter regained the lead off pit road and maintained it throughout Stage 2, which ended on lap 29 due to a caution caused by the #55 Cameron Romano colliding with the Turn 3 wall. This corner proved treacherous for many drivers, as several crashed into the wall while trying to accelerate too early. Romano’s truck was taken to the garage, and he finished in 25th place.

Stage 3 went green for just one lap before a major wreck on lap 34 brought out the caution. The crash involved Matthew Owens, Thomas Villano, Henry Kallhoff, Ray Gill, and Michael Deitch, all of whom had to head to pit road for repairs. This incident triggered a wave of pit stops, with several drivers pitting for fuel in hopes of making it to the end if the race continued under green.

Oskar Jensen took the lead from Porter following a green flag restart after a caution on lap 40 caused by Nishil Condoor spinning into the inside wall out of Turn 1. Porter regained control on lap 64, just before Nishil spun again out of Turn 2, leading to the fifth caution of the night and setting the stage for an exciting finish.

CAUTIONS BREED CAUTIONS

Most of the field pitted for tires and fuel, aiming for a natural green-white-checkered finish. However, some drivers who had pitted earlier around the Lap 34 caution stayed out. Tyler Krawczyk led the field on 36-lap-old tires, with Haden Higginbotham, Ryan Taft, and Jonathan Leger behind him on 25-30 lap-old tires. Garth Griswold restarted 5th on 9-lap-old tires, trying to fend off the pack of fresh tires behind him.

Krawczyk got a big jump on the green flag with Higginbotham trailing. They led the pack around the track out of Turn 3 when chaos broke out behind them before they could cross the line for the white flag. Leger took a push from Connor Wold coming out of the turn, causing Leger to go headfirst into the outside wall before going airborne. As everyone took evasive maneuvers, Pete Morales’s Space X Ford commenced takeoff after hitting the pit road wall entrance, ruining what he had hoped to be a successful day after having the fastest car in practice.

Krawczyk once again led the field to green on the first restart of overtime. Higginbotham took the outside, while Avila and Jensen stacked up behind them after navigating through the field and avoiding the chaos out of Turn 3. Avila and Krawczyk went side by side until Avila took the lead coming out of Turn 3 and grabbed the white flag. Krawczyk fell back to 6th before making contact with Zack Saunders, causing him to lose control and spin out coming out of Turn 2. Avila took the checkered flag to remain unbeaten in the Sportsman Series, with his teammate Oskar Jensen finishing second and Nishil Condoor securing third.

Rumors around the garage were that a big change is coming soon to the Sportsman Truck Series and should be announced before next week’s green flag drop at Indianapolis Raceway Park!

Click here to check out the Sportsman Truck Series playoff battles and standings here.

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DRIVER NEWS: VASQUEZ BREAKS SILENCE ON SUSPENSION

Suspended driver Nic Vasquez driver of the Factory Motorsport #22 Ford issued the following statement today regarding his actions during the Chicago Street race that led to him being suspended for this week’s race at Pocono.

“I am extremely disappointed in my actions, and I have let down not only my team but my sponsors and crew guys of the #22 FMS Ford. Moving forward I am trying to change my on-track actions and I will NOT give up on this team that I and so many others have worked so hard for. I have an obligation and a duty to go out there and put the #22 FMS Ford in contention to win races and I have that deep fire and drive to win. The road ahead will not be easy but it’s certainly do-able and something I will work very hard at. I am super grateful to have amazing guys at Factory Motorsports who believe in me and push me to be better. With that being said I am here to win and show that I belong.”

Nic Vasquez

Stephen Menke the owner of Factory Motorsports did not respond to questions directly related to Vasquez’s status as a member of the team. Menke stated that FMS will be holding a press conference tomorrow at 11am EST but did not disclose what the press conference is for.

OFFICIAL: Crown Jewel adds new rule to complete races under green

CROWN JEWEL HQ — After just one race having a yellow-flag finish, Crown Jewel officials have been pressured by drivers and fans alike to add a green-white-checkered format.

This change comes off a Cory Mott Richmond win with a race totaling 11 cautions and 1 race ending yellow included in that total. This change will be effective starting at Charlotte Motor Speedway tomorrow night for the running of the Coca-Cola 300.

Reasons for the rule change from officials seems to be persuaded by a last lap incident that involved drivers Bill Martin and Stewart Harding Walker which ended the Chevy American Revolution 200 last week at Richmond. Both drivers mentioned also were docked 100 points each due to reckless driving and violation of Section 4.2.1 of the CJR Sporting Code.

Nishil Condoor driver of the #42 who dominated most of last week’s race spoke about adding the procedure initially on the broadcast had this to say.

I know in real life in 2004 they (NASCAR) implemented green-white-checkered rule in mid-July – Hopefully Cory implements the green-white-checkered rule in mid-July which is now.

Nishil Condoor, #42 Type R Honda

This rule change will see drivers having 1 attempt at a green-white-checkered (better known in today’s racing as Overtime) finish. If a race sees a caution flag with less than 4 laps to go a green-white-checkered will decided the conclusion of the event. Drivers will see 2 laps once the green flag flies, followed by the white, then checkered on the subsequent laps.

At this point in time the vote to change is unanimously favorable by drivers and fans alike, no disposition has come from either side. We will have to see tomorrow if this rule will come into effect at the conclusion of this race, but for the time being green-white-checkered finishes are here to stay.