Richmond Race Preview
Richmond International Raceway, Richmond, Va.
Reed Sorenson | No. 34 Dockside Logistics Ford
“It’s a great opportunity to drive the 34 for Front Row Motorsports. It’s never easy for teams to have to switch between drivers, but I feel like I can jump in the car and do a good job for them this weekend. I know some of the guys on the team from working with them last year on my race team, so that will help having some familiar faces to work with.
“Richmond is a great track that always puts on some really good racing. It combines the feel of a short-track race with the speed of the bigger tracks. You’ve got to take care of your tires and maybe play some pit strategy at the end. But it’s always a fun race.”
JUST THE FACTS: Sorenson has 14 Sprint Cup starts at Richmond International Raceway … He has two top-10 finishes at the 3/4-mile track … The race will be the 29-year-old’s first with Front Row Motorsports, filling in while David Ragan subs for the injured Kyle Busch in the No. 18 car.
Cole Whitt | No. 35 Front Row Motorsports Ford
“Richmond is kind of in between Phoenix and Martinsville in the way you drive it. You don’t brake as hard as you do at Martinsville. And at Phoenix you let the car roll and brake light with only a little bit of heavy braking. So it’s a little closer to Phoenix in that way. We learned some stuff at the end of the year last year that had us run better at the fall Richmond race. That was our trend. Every time we went to a track a second time, we improved. We’ll keep trying to do that here with the 35 team.
“We were pretty decent in the Phoenix race this year. We were definitely better in the race from where we had started the weekend. So, the things we progressed on at Phoenix we will put to use at Richmond. We’re always trying to learn and always trying to get better.”
JUST THE FACTS: Whitt has three Sprint Cup career starts at Richmond International Raceway … His top finish at the 3/4-mile oval is 30th (2014).
David Gilliland | No. 38 The Pete Store Ford
“I think we can have a good race at Richmond. We learned some things at Phoenix that I think we can take with us to Richmond. It’s a fun racetrack. It races a lot like a short track, but it’s also fast. Brakes are an issue there a lot, and we learned some good things at Phoenix with our braking that will help us.
“Richmond puts on a great race. The fans love it. To go there and watch a race as a spectator is a lot of fun. We always look forward to racing in front of that crowd.
“Richmond isn’t quite as tight as some of the other shorter tracks. Martinsville and Bristol are short tracks where you’re always on top of other cars and you can’t get away from people. But at Richmond, it gets a little more spread out and you can at least mentally relax for a second or two.”
JUST THE FACTS: Gilliland has 17 Sprint Cup starts at Richmond International Speedway … His best finish is 18th (2008) … The Pete Store makes its 2015 sponsorship debut on the No. 38 Ford at the 3/4-mile oval … Gilliland is coming off his second top-20 result of the season, earning an 18th-place finish Sunday at Bristol Motor Speedway.
About Front Row Motorsports
Front Row Motorsports is a race-winning organization competing in NASCAR’s premier Sprint Cup Series, fielding the No. 34, the No. 35 and the No. 38 Fords. The team is owned by Bob Jenkins and is headquartered just outside of Charlotte, N.C. FRM was named to INC Magazine’s “INC 5000” list in 2012, recognizing the 5,000 fastest-growing private companies in the U.S. The team’s partnership base is representative of more than $200 billion of the U.S. economy and includes organizations such as Ford Motor Company, Love’s Travel Stops, Colgate-Palmolive, CSX Transportation, Taco Bell and Long John Silver’s. Visit teamfrm.com.
