Machavern sets track record at INDY

Machavern sets track record at INDY
Dillon Machavern at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during TransAm Series. Courtesy photo.

Charlotter and recent High Point University graduate, Dillon Machavern finished on the podium at Indianapolis Motor Speedway during TransAm Series presented by Pirelli Round 5 Muscle Car Challenge on Father’s Day. As is tradition at INDY, podium finishers have champagne showers and drink milk.

The field was set based on current championship point standings after Saturday’s qualifying session was rained out. Machavern, who dropped to second in the standings after an early retirement at Belle Isle – Detroit, started on the outside of Row 1 for Sunday’s race. Dillon and current points leader Gar Robinson went out fast and put some distance between themselves and the balance of the 26-car field. A full-course caution bunched up the field; on the Lap 24 restart, Machavern, in the No. 24 Heritage Motorsports Ford Mustang, overtook Robinson through turn one. The two would continue nose-to-tail through lap 34 before Robinson made his move on the back of the Indy course to capturing first position and successfully defending it through the checkered flag.

Machavern would undergo one more battle over the final laps of the race, this time with Robinson’s teammate Shane Lewis, in the No. 72 Pura Vida Tequila/ 74 Ranch Racing Chevrolet Camaro. Over the final stretches of the race, Machavern and Lewis would go side by side multiple times, including the final lap with Machavern just edging Lewis before entering the front straight and taking the checkered for second position. The finishes marked the fourth podium of the year for both Machavern and Lewis. Machavern also set a new track record, posting the fast lap of the race, at 1:31.557 around the 2.439-mile Grand Prix course.

The schedule heats up over the next four weeks with four races across two series: July 1 at Watkins Glen—IMSA Continental Tire SportsCar Series in No.28 RS-1 Porsche Cayman GT4 MR, July 2 at Brainerd International in the TransAm Series TA2 No. 24 Heritage Ford Mustang, July 8 at Canadian Tire Motorsports Park in CTSC, and July 22 at Lime Rock Park in CTSC.

The INDY race will be televised on CBS Sports Network on Sunday, July 15, at noon. All IMSA CTSC races are live streamed at IMSA.com and televised on FS-1.

You can follow Dillon Machavern on Facebook and on his website.