GEICO 500
Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega, Ala.
Chris Buescher | No. 34 CSX ‘Play It Safe’ Ford
“There’s a little more added pressure being that the 34 car won there. I don’t know if that makes it easier or like there’s more on you. The cars have obviously been strong there to be able to get a win. Knowing that we’ll have good equipment and have a chance to win will make it a fun one. At a superspeedway, a lot of things can happen. Both to the bad side and to the good side. So that could be a surprising one.
“There’s always some stress and worry involved with plate racing, but we usually seem to come out of it pretty decent. I’ve always had a pretty good race car when we go to those places. With a good race car, good strategy and good pit calls, we can get our CSX ‘Play It Safe” Ford up front and stay up there.”
JUST THE FACTS: Sunday’s race will be Buescher’s first Sprint Cup start at Talladega Superspeedway … Buescher has one XFINITY Series start at the 2.66-mile oval, a second-place finish last May … CSX returns to the No. 34 Ford with its “Play It Safe” railroad-safety message.
Cole Whitt | No. 35 Speed Stick Ford
“I like Talladega because it’s our chance to shine. As a smaller team, you love the big tracks because the draft is the great equalizer. At the same time, as a driver, I dislike the fact that it takes a lot of things out of our own hands. Anything can happen. A guy can take you three-wide and slip and dump you, or you can make a wrong move and take out yourself and everybody else. You’re playing with inches at 200 miles an hour. It can be easy for anyone to make a mistake. It’s fun because we have an opportunity to race for a win. But I hate getting wrecked out for no reason. But that’s just part of it. We’ll just go for it and try to get the best finish for our Speed Stick Ford that we can.
“I tend to lay back a little more early in the race, sit in that little pocket between the back pack and the big group up front. Typically, if they stay three-wide up front, you can sit four car lengths behind them or even further, and still suck up to them really easily. So, I tend to lay back there, keep my mind fresh, keep my car good, and then try to avoid the wrecks. Then at the end, you can race the last 50 laps hard.”
JUST THE FACTS: Whitt has four Sprint Cup career starts at Talladega Superspeedway … His top Sprint Cup finish at the 2.66-mile oval is 15th (2014) … Speed Stick returns to the No. 35 as primary sponsor … Whitt will sign autographs for Speed Stick at the Talladega Rite-Aid (101 Asbury Street) from 6 to 8 p.m. on Friday.
David Gilliland | No. 38 Farm Rich Ford
“Talladega has been great to us at Front Row Motorsports. It’s always a crapshoot and anything can happen, and that’s why it’s so exciting for the fans. That’s why people love to watch that style of race because you know going in that anything can happen. We will have Farm Rich on our No. 38 for the first time. They’ve brought good luck to Front Row Motorsports in the past, so we’ll look for that again this weekend.
“Donnie (Wingo) came over to our team right before Daytona, so he didn’t have a whole lot of time to do everything he wanted to do with our speedway car. But now he’s had more time to massage on our speedway car, and I know he’s looking forward to Talladega.
“Talladega races like it’s twice as wide as Daytona. When you’re three-wide in Daytona, you’re hanging on. Your intensity level is picked up a bunch. Where at Talladega, you can run three-wide and be comfortable. It lends itself to be a little more racy throughout the entire race. I really enjoy it and look forward to it.”
JUST THE FACTS: Gilliland has 15 Sprint Cup starts at Talladega Superspeedway … He has one pole, and two top-five and four top-10 finishes at the 2.66-mile oval … His best finish at Talladega is second (2013) … Farm Rich makes its 2015 debut as primary sponsor of the No. 38 Ford.
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.
