The Charlotte Observer from Charlotte, North Carolina • B5

THE CHARLOTTE OBSERVER FRIDAY JULY 21, 2023 PAGE 5B also the first driver in 60 years to win his first Cup start a mark even more impressive considering NASCAR is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. The three-time Supercar champion will again race the No. 91 Chevrolet for the Trackhouse Racing Project91 program. Project91 is essentially an innovative effort from THR to bring in some of the biggest names in mo- torsports from around the world to specific Cup Series races, and to have them be competitive to capitalize on the global the racing world has in NASCAR. Formula 1 champion Kimi has raced for Trackhouse twice in this effort both on road courses but neither run yielded a legitimate win- ning chance.

part of what made van Gisber- win in early July so special. Industry officials and drivers have surmised that van quick success in NASCAR can partially be attributed to his time in the vehicle the Supercars championship runs in, which is similar to a Next Gen car. This has inspired at least one other race team to reach into the Repco Supercars championship realm for a one-off road-course effort: Brodie Kostecki will run for Richard Childress Racing at Indy, too. debut in the No. 33 car.

Other drivers from oth- er series moonlighting at Indy include F1 champion Jenson Button and FIA World Endurance Cham- pionship driver Kamui Kobayashi. Marks, the Trachouse Racing owner, admitted in a release that he began thinking about bringing Gisbergen back immedi- ately after Chicago. a performance like that, only natural to want to keep this go- Marks said in a state- ment. showed he is a world-class talent and what he did in Chicago was truly remarkable. Track- house Racing and the fans of NASCAR benefit by bringing him back.

I think I am being overly dramatic when I say the entire motorsports world will be watching the No. 91 Chevrolet at Indianapo- Alex Zietlow: FROM PAGE 1B VAN GISBERGEN CHAPEL HILL The summer before starting medical school in 2005, Manny Patel volun- teered at a displaced per- sons camp in Uganda. The year before, Didier Drogba, a striker hailing from the Ivory Coast, signed with Chelsea FC becoming one of the few players from Africa to reach the Premier League at the time. popularity, along with among the kids in the camp became evident to Patel. He began to listen to the games over the radio with them and slowly fell in love with soccer and the team.

way I look at Chelsea, for me an Patel said. always some- thing to look forward to when I get up in the morning on a Saturday or Sunday, turning on the TV, having a cup of coffee and watching Chelsea Growing up in Mem- phis, Tennessee, Patel was surrounded by a different kind of football culture: American, both college and the NFL. Now, he checks Chelsea Reddit threads first thing in the morning and even co- hosts a podcast called Against the He also traveled from his home in Nashville to Chapel Hill to watch the Blues take on Wrexham AFC a friendly sched- uled on both pre- season American tours. Chelsea and Wrexham, teams from London and Wales, respectively, played each other since 1982. On Wednes- day night, they met in Chapel Hill, bringing fans from around the country and across the world, together for a bit of British soccer (or football, if you dare) on American soil.

co-host, Simon Zuckerwise-Causton, grew up just outside of London. Unlike his partner, been a Chelsea fan his entire life. Upon moving to Nashville 4 years ago, he joined Middle official Chel- sea supporter group, Mu- sic City Blues, which Patel was already involved in. are supporters groups anywhere you go in America, which is quite surreal for an English person to see, but also really, really cool and he said. a lot of very, very passionate TO SPURS POPULARITY IN US Zuckerwise-Causton also attended the game, his first USA tour contest since moving to the States.

He said it has been a lifelong dream to watch Chelsea here, especially because playing Wrexham a team with a large American fan base. popularity in the U.S. is thanks to celebrity duo Ryan Rey- nolds and Rob McEl- henney, who bought the club in 2021 before releas- ing a Hulu documentary series, to in August 2022. Within four weeks of the release, the social media fol- lowing increased by 19.2% and its retail website saw 185,289 visitors. Wrexham went from just missing the National League four leagues below Chelsea in the Premier League play-off in the 2020-21 season to earning promo- tion to EFL League Two in 2022-2023.

The people of Wrexham and the story of the club inspired fans from around the world, especially in the U.S. Those from be- fore and after the docu- release mixed at Kenan Stadium, all bringing a level of excite- ment and pride that can exceed that of teams sev- eral leagues above them. think Americans are passionate about their sports. When they decide to get into a team they really get into them, they do their research, they look at the said Wrexham native Rob Roden. passion- ate support there, which really marries well with the existing fan base be- cause Wrexham fans are known to be Roden traveled to the game from his home in Melbourne, Florida, and calls himself and other displaced Wrexham fans a fitting combination of Wrexham and expats.

He said there was no way he would miss an opportunity to see his hometown in the U.S. guess I kind of feel somewhat of an ambassa- dor for the club, being a Wrexham he added. is my oppor- tunity to help spread the word, do my part to make sure that people have a good image of Wrexham and a good experience of Wrexham and want to keep coming back for Paul McCord is one of the many fans who was drawn in by the docu- mentary series. Since watching it when it came out, gone from a soccer bystander to calling himself a Wrexham In fact, he even visited the town in February with his wife and 9-year-old son. The experience only affirmed their newfound love for the club and in- spired them to take yet another trip to Chapel Hill, following the team from there to San Diego and Philadelphia.

son lined up out- side the locker room there and every Wrexham play- er that walked by signed his autograph, said hello, got a picture with he said. know they took the time that pro athletes tend not to take and they spent time just getting to know us in their own way. The players themselves were as mag- nificent as the people SOLDOUT GAME IN NORTH CAROLINA Even Chelsea fans fell for Wrexham and the inspiring story of a small- town team breaking bar- riers and livening up an entire population. Crissie Hall grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and has been a Blues fan since was she 9. A mem- ber of the Hampton Roads Blues supporter group, she attended the match from Virginia Beach.

She was looking forward to the fan experience, from both ends of the field. course you are always excited to see other Chelsea fans, but you help but love Wrexham and their whole story and how they were just recently she said. All 51,000 tickets for the match at UNC were sold within four days of their release, showing the power of both internation- al fan bases as well as their dedication, pride and passion. While soccer is not the most popular sport in the U.S. that spot goes to American football growing.

If rise and a chock-full Ke- nan Stadium has exempli- fied anything, that the sport has the potential to expand even more. to soccer match- es here, there is a cam- araderie even with fans of the opposing teams be- cause we know our fan base as big as it is for American football or base- Hall said. dy just gets really excited that seeing a live Sarah Effress: saraheffress Fans across US unite in Chapel Hill for British soccer brawl BY SARAH EFFRESS While Chelsea, the Premier League power- house, had the presumed upper hand heading into friendly, the young squad also had a lot to prove. match against Wrexham was Mauricio first match as the manager. And as for the squad he brought over to the U.S.? The average age of his starting 11 was 20.9.

Still, a young Chelsea team that has faced con- siderable turnover this offseason proved to be remarkably coherent on Wednesday. In a 5-0 win over Wrexham in a sold- out crowd at Kenan Stadi- um in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, Ian Maatsen led the effort for the Blues with two goals in the third and 42nd minutes. Conor Gallagher, Christopher Nkunku and Ben Chilwell each added a goal and Chelsea, as expected, dominated possession to the tune of Pochettino said he is happy with the attitude his team showed, but time to improve. He said his players now need and to show they can compete for a spot in the club. is part of the pro- cess in this period to learn in the way that we want to play and, of course, to build the physical condi- tion he said.

am happy with the perform- The Blues had a histor- ically bad season last year, made even worse consid- ering the abundance of young talent on the team. Chelsea struggled to score goals only racking up 38 goals in 38 games and recorded its worst points finish in the Premier League era. And while the Blues lacked offensive rhythm last year, they kicked off Wednesday friend- ly with a bang. Chelsea immediately put the pressure on Wrex- ham with a goal from Maatsen less than three minutes into the match. Assisted by Nicolas Jack- son, Maatsen booted the ball just under a diving Ben Foster in goal.

Maatsen followed up with another goal in the 42nd minute on a left- footed shot. Assisted by Carney Chukwuemeka, he delivered another pow- erful strike, this time to the bottom-right corner. From there, Wrexham fell apart. Chelsea took advantage. In the 80th minute, Conor Gallagher extended lead to 3-0.

Raheem Sterling assisted on the goal, adding to his impressive performance at forward for the Blues. Christopher Nkunku the Frenchman who joined Chelsea for £53 million this summer scored his debut goal in the 90th minute. He was followed by a finishing touch from captain Ben Chilwell, who capped off the game with a left-foot- ed boot in the third min- ute of stoppage time. Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson, despite the final score, chalk the friendly up as a total loss. Yes, the rapid string of three goals to close out the game left a sour taste, but it spoil the unique opportunity for the program to test out different lineups against a top-tier opponent and play in front of a crowd of over 50,000 fans.

thought we worked very hard, and we had to because Chelsea have so many technical Parkinson said. a very good team, I thought we had chances. We just clinical enough in that final third, which normally good at, but that will And even in a lopsided game, there was thorough fanfare on both sides for Kenan first international soccer match. In the hot and humid weather, pre-match parties took place hours before the tilt, with Chel- sea fans dominating the Kenan Ampitheater and Wrexham fans setting up shop at the Bell Tower. At the open practice on Tuesday evening at Wake- Med Soccer Park in Cary, North Carolina, Chelsea and Wrexham had the opportunity to engage with eager fans.

Children and adults alike lined the walls of the stadium, lean- ing over barriers to snap a selfie or snag an auto- graph from their favorite player. Parkinson said that, as he and his have walked about Chapel Hill this week, been by the number of U.S. fans clad in Wrexham merch. The Welsh club, which earned promotion to English fourth tier last season, has risen to fame thanks to the globally- streamed docuseries to important to spread the word that (soc- cer) is a great Parkinson said on Wednesday. can be entertaining and it can be a fantastic The good news for fans of both programs? Wrex- ham and Chelsea will be back in action in a matter of days.

Wrexham will play next on July 22 in Los Angeles against LA Galaxy II in its next stop of the Red Drag- four-game preseason U.S. tour. Chelsea will play next in the Premier League pre-season tourna- ment in Philadelphia on July 22 against Brighton. Chelsea dominates Wrexham in FC Series match BY SHELBY SWANSON Correspondent.