Richard Childress Racing’s NASCAR Sprint Cup Series history at Texas Motor Speedway … In 91 starts at Texas Motor Speedway dating back to 1997, RCR has recorded one win (Jeff Burton, April 2007), eight top-five and 30 top-10 finishes with drivers Burton, Clint Bowyer, Dale Earnhardt, Kevin Harvick, Jeff Green, Paul Menard and Ryan Newman. Prior to Texas Motor Speedway’s inaugural season in 1997, Richard Childress, a former driver in NASCAR’s top division, earned a pair of top-10 finishes at the now defunct Texas World Speedway in College Station, Texas. RCR NASCAR Sprint Cup Series teams boast an average starting position of 19.6, an average finishing position of 16.6 and have completed 29,523 of the 30,466 contested laps (96.9 percent) with 140 laps led at the 1.5-mile Fort Worth-based race track.
RCR in the NSCS … In 2,646 Sprint Cup Series starts dating back to 1969, RCR has amassed 46 pole awards,105 wins, 470 top-five finishes and 1,010 top-10 finishes, with an average starting position of 17.8 and an average finishing position of 16th. RCR has earned 15 total championships (six Sprint Cup Series championships with Earnhardt in 1986, ’87, ’90, ’91, ’93 and ’94, six NASCAR XFINITY Series titles, two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series titles and one ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards title and was the first organization to win titles in NASCAR’s three national series.
The Collective RCR …RCR’s three full-time Sprint Cup Series drivers rank seventh (Dillon), 19th (Newman) and 21st (Menard) in the driver championship point standings.
One Text or Call Could Wreck It All … Did you know nine people are killed and over 1,000 more are injured every dayin car accidents that involve a distracted driver? April 6 is Distracted Driving Awareness Day. The Childress Institute for Pediatric Trauma hopes you’ll talk with your teens about safe driving behaviors and be good role models. Get the facts about Distracted Driving Awareness at http://bit.ly/DDAware. One Text or Call Could Wreck It All.
Catch the Action … The Duck Commander 500 will be televised live Saturday, April 9 beginning at 7:30 p.m. ET on FOX and will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.
This Week’s Dow Energy & Water FlexsoLyt™ Chevrolet SS at Texas Motor Speedway … Austin Dillon will pilot chassis No. 528 in the Duck Commander 500 at Texas Motor Speedway. Dillon’s teammate Paul Menard drove this RCR-prepared Chevrolet at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March.
Dillon at Texas Motor Speedway … Dillon has six NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts to his credit at Texas Motor Speedway and earned his best finish of 11th at the track in his most recent appearance in November 2015. He earned his best starting position of 12th in his first Sprint Cup Series start at Texas Motor Speedway in April 2013. In seven XFINITY Series starts, Dillon has not finished worse than seventh at the 1.5-mile track, acquiring his best finish of third in April 2013 and November 2015. In four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at Texas, Dillon has earned two top-five finishes, one pole award and has led 76 laps.
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AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:
What is unique about Texas Motor Speedway?
“Texas Motor Speedway is faster now. It’s fast, it’s rough, and the groove does widen out quite a bit there now. I think it’s starting to move around there a little bit more. It’s just a fun racetrack to go to for me. I love that area of Texas, and everything that it represents, and the speed of the track, mostly.”
This Week’s Rockstar / Menards Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway … Paul Menard will be behind the wheel of chassis No. 531 this weekend in Fort Worth, Texas. This Richard Childress Racing-prepared Chevrolet SS saw action earlier at Atlanta Motor Speedway with Ryan Newman in the driver’s seat.
Menard in Texas … Menard has 19 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series starts at the 1.5-mile track. He’s finished once in the top five and three times in the top 10. His best start of fourth came in both November 2011 and 2013. Menard finished fifth, his career-best at TMS, in April 2011.
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PAUL MENARD QUOTE:
How much can you take from what you learned at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway to apply this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway?
“You can throw Auto Club Speedway in there too. It’ll be most similar to Auto Club and Atlanta than maybe it is Vegas. It’s a low-grip race track and Vegas is a high-grip track, which makes a difference. You can move around at Texas like you can at the other tracks but the inside of Turns 3 and 4 are starting to act more like Atlanta. You really have to hook your splitter on the apron to make the car turn. Qualifying is going to be very fast, we won’t be lifting a whole lot, but then in the race it slows down.”
This Week’s Caterpillar Chevrolet SS at Texas Motor Speedway … Ryan Newman will pilot car No. 532 at the 1.5-mile quad-oval. This is the first time this season the car will be in action for Sprint Cup Series competition.
The Newman Two Step … Newman will make his 519th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start when the series returns to the Fort Worth, Texas venue. He is also looking to capture his second-career victory at TMS when he makes his 26th NASCAR Sprint Cup Series start. His win came in the spring of 2003. The Rocket Man also won the pole for both Sprint Cup Series events in 2005 to complete the sweep. In total, he owns three top-five and five top-10 finishes. The South Bend, Ind., native has an average start of 15.9 and average finish of 18.8.
Featured Caterpillar Dealer … HOLT CAT is the featured Cat dealer for this weekend’s NASCAR Sprint Cup race at Texas Motor Speedway.
HOLT CAT® sells, rents and services Caterpillar® machines, engines, generator sets and trucks in a 118-county Texas territory spanning from the Red River to the Rio Grande. HOLT offers total machine and engine rebuild capabilities, sells used equipment around the world and fabricates its own line of land clearing equipment and HOLT Spray King® water tankers. HOLT is the dealer for Link-Belt Cranes in the Eastern half of Texas as well as the El Paso area. They are the dealer for AGCO/Challenger and Claas farm equipment for the Eastern half of Texas and portions of Arkansas, Missouri and Louisiana. SITECH Tejas, another division of HOLT, is the authorized dealer for Trimble Heavy and Highway construction products and services, as well as AccuGrade grade-control products in the same 118 county territory of Texas. The Holt name has been associated with heavy equipment and Caterpillar for over 100 years. Peter M. Holt, Chief Executive Officer of HOLT CAT, is the great-grandson of Benjamin Holt, who in 1904 developed the first successful track-type tractor which he named the “Caterpillar.” HOLT CAT has come to be synonymous with quality, integrity and commitment to customer service. The HOLT CAT team is committed to providing rock solid stability with superior products and services to heavy equipment and engine users from Brownsville to Texarkana, Texas. For more information, visit holtcat.com.
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RYAN NEWMAN QUOTES:
What is the key to this weekend’s race at Texas Motor Speedway?
“It’s all about keeping the momentum up. It’s really a big circle. Having good corner speed is important so you can have good straightaway speed. It’s a fun track but it’s still difficult to pass because the cars are so fast there. I really don’t know what the tires are going to be like and that’s probably the biggest unknown. I think we have a better understanding now at this point of the downforce package and how we’ve adapted to that, but the tire is the big outlier.”
What is the hardest thing to figure out about Texas?
“It seems to me crossing the bump in the middle of Turns 1 and 2 is probably the most difficult because you carry so much speed and you want to carry so much speed to be down in Turn 3 if you don’t get off of Turn 2 right, you lose the whole back straightaway. There is a lot of speed in there.”
What is your most memorable moment from Texas?
“My second win was at Texas so it was a pretty big deal. It was my first 500 miler and we won by taking two tires when most of the guys had four. It was a pretty special race.”
Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series at Texas Motor Speedway… In 63 Series starts at the 1.5-mile speedway, RCR has captured five victories with driver Kevin Harvick (2001, 2005, 2006, 2007 and 2012). The Welcome, N.C., organization has completed 11,662 laps of the 12,365 (94.3 percent) that they have competed. RCR has accumulated three pole awards, 20 top-five and 37 top-10 finishes, led 896 laps and averages a starting position of 10.8 and finishing position of 11.5.
Auto Club Review … Austin Dillon earned his first victory of the 2016 season. Brendan Gaughan finished seventh, Brandon Jones ninth and Ty Dillon 17th, respectively, in the XFINITY Series 300 at Auto Club Speedway.
The Points … All three RCR XFINITY Series full-time drivers remain in the top 10 of the driver point standings as the Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway for the sixth event of the season. Brandon Jones is currently fourth, Ty Dillon is fifth and Brendan Gaughan is sixth. The No. 2 RCR team is second in the owner point standings. Brandon Jones is currently secondin the XFINITY Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year point standings.
Catch the Action … Coverage of this week’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway will be televised live on Friday, April 8, beginning at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time on FOX Sports 1. It will also be broadcast live on Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM channel 90.
This Week’s Rheem/Smurfit Kappa Chevrolet Camaro at Texas Motor Speedway … Austin Dillon will pilot Chassis No. 167 in the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. This Chevrolet Camaro was last driven by Dillon at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March where he finished fifth. No. 167 also has four additional top-five finishes on its chassis resume.
Lone Star State Stats … In seven previous XFINITY Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Dillon has earned one pole award, five top-five and seven top-10 finishes. The RCR driver holds an average starting position of 3.3 coupled with an average finishing position of 7.9 and 71 laps led.
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No. 2 Team by the Numbers … With five XFINITY Series events complete in 2016, the No. 2 team has one victory, four top-five and five top-10 finishes with six laps led to their credit. Dillon will remain in the driver’s seat of the No. 2 Chevrolet next weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.
AUSTIN DILLON QUOTE:
Are there things you can take away from racing at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway earlier this year and bring it over to Texas Motor Speedway?
“I think you can definitely take things from Las Vegas (Motor Speedway) to Texas (Motor Speedway). The two tracks have a lot of similarities. Turns 3 and 4 at Las Vegas remind me a lot of same things at Texas. Hopefully we can take some of the same set ups we used at Las Vegas and use them at Texas. We were really fast and led a lot of laps and Las Vegas last month, and I think we can do that again this weekend.”
This Week’s Bulwark Chevrolet Camaro at Texas Motor Speedway … Ty Dillon will pilot chassis No. 157 for this weekend’s O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. This Richard Childress Racing-prepared Chevrolet Camaro was last raced at Phoenix International Raceway to a sixth-place finish on March 12. Chassis No. 157 has seven top-10 finishes in nine starts.
Dillon at Texas Motor Speedway … In five NASCAR XFINITY Series starts, Dillon has two top-10 finishes and one top-five finish. Dillon won the 2013 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at Texas Motor Speedway in the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/TRACKER Boats Chevrolet Silverado.
VF Imagewear partners with No. 3 team … For the second consecutive race weekend, VF Imagewear, a leading manufacturer of workwear apparel and a division of VF Corporation, the world’s largest apparel company, will display its Red Kap brand. Red Kap is the official work wear provider for RCR and ECR Engines employees.
Meet Ty Dillon … Dillon is scheduled to sign autographs on behalf of Nexium® 24HR at the Walmart Supercenter #5247 located at 1228 Highway 99 South, Roanoke, Texas on Thursday, April 7 beginning at 12pm Central Time.
TY DILLON QUOTE:
Do you like Texas Motor Speedway?
“Texas Motor Speedway is not only one of my favorite race tracks on the NASCAR circuit, but also one of my favorite areas to visit. I love the fans, Big Hoss TV, Babe’s chicken and, of course, the competitive style of racing. One of the first times I have driven a Sprint Cup car came in 2014 at TMS when I was testing the No. 78 car – I think it was the fastest I’ve ever gone; definitely over 200 miles per hour. I love visiting Texas and everything the track and area have to offer.”
What are some of the challenges this race presents?
“The thing I like about Texas Motor Speedway the most is the challenge it presents with long green-flag stretches. You really need to be able to focus and communicate well with your crew chief to get the car’s balance correct for green-flag stretches that could last over 100 laps. RCR has really focused on its 1.5 mile program this season and I hope I can add to their success they have had so far. I’ve been able to win a race here in the Truck Series and have some success in the XFINITY Series.”
This Week’s Texas Rangers Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway … Brandon Jones will pilot Chassis No. 164 this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. This Richard Childress Racing-prepared Chevrolet Camaro was driven by Jones at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last month where he started fifth and finished sixth.
Texas Details … This weekend’s 200-mile event marks Jones’ first appearance at Texas Motor Speedway in the NASCAR XFINITY Series. However, the 19-year-old driver has two previous starts at the Fort Worth, Texas-based facility in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series where he has one top-10 finish.
Red, White and Baseball … The No. 33 Chevrolet will have a different look this weekend as the XFINITY Series heads to Texas Motor Speedway. The Texas Rangers Major League Baseball team’s logo will adorn the hood of Jones’ car for the O’Reilly Auto Parts 300. In addition to a red, white and blue Rangers paint scheme, Jones will always be dressed in a specially designed firesuit to resemble the Rangers team uniforms.
Take Me Out to the Ballgame … Jones will travel to Arlington, Texas on Wednesday, April 6 to attend the Texas Rangers vs. Seattle Mariners game and throw out the ceremonial first pitch. He will also take part in a “jersey swap” amongst a few of the Rangers players and tour the ballpark.
Rearview Mirror: Auto Club … Jones started 14th at Auto Club Speedway for the fifth XFINITY Series race of the year. The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender was scored 11th by lap 70. Crew chief Mike Hillman Jr., called Jones onto pit road four times during the course of the 150-lap race to fine tune the No. 33 Nexteer Chevrolet. In the closing laps, Jones raced from 12th to the ninth-place finish, all while going into fuel-conservation mode.
BRANDON JONES QUOTES:
Can you apply what you learned at Atlanta Motor Speedway a couple of weeks ago to Texas Motor Speedway this week?
“The tracks are a little different in how you drive at them. They look the same in the air and have similar degrees of banking, but they are still different enough you have to adjust the way you drive. The track surface at Texas (Motor Speedway) isn’t as rough as at Atlanta (Motor Speedway) because the Texas surface is a little newer. It helps that I’ve raced there in the (NASCAR Camping World) Truck Series last year. It gives me a lot more confidence when I’ve raced at a track before even though it was in different series and types of equipment.”
How jarring are the bumps in Turns 1 and 2?
“They’re pretty crazy when you’re cruising through there over 100 mph. Turn 2 is a unique corner, it flattens out and crowns over. You have to be careful not to get too free going through there.”
This Week’s WIX Filters Chevrolet at Texas Motor Speedway … Brendan Gaughan will pilot chassis No. 165 this weekend at Texas Motor Speedway. This Richard Childress Racing-prepared Chevrolet Camaro was previously utilized this season at Atlanta Motor Speedway where Gaughan qualified ninth and finished 13th.
Lone Star State Stats … In eight XFINITY Series starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Gaughan has completed 1,545 laps of the 1,605 (96.3 percent) that he has competed. The Las Vegas native averages a starting position of 15th and a finishing position of 20.4 at the 1.5-mile speedway. Gaughan has been successful at the Fort Worth, Texas, track holding a two-year streak of four consecutive NASCAR Camping World Truck Series victories in 2002 and 2003, the first driver in Camping World Truck Series history to win four consecutive times at the same track.
Texas #WIXtyTwo Step … WIX Filters returns as primary sponsor on the No. 62 Chevrolet Camaro this weekend in the XFINITY Series O’Reilly Auto Parts 300 at Texas Motor Speedway. WIX Filters was onboard the No. 62 at Texas last spring where Gaughan was running in the top-five until a late-race incident led to a 39th-place finish.
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Meet Gaughan … Following practice Thursday night, Gaughan will sign autographs beginning at 7:40 p.m. Local Time during the third annual Revin’ Up Roanoke celebration. The celebration takes place on Oak Street in downtown Roanoke, Texas, which is located 4 miles east of Texas Motor Speedway. For more information, visit roanoketexas.com.
BRENDAN GAUGHAN QUOTE:
Texas Motor Speedway, a track that you were obviously very good at back in your Truck Series days. How would you rank it in your XFINITY Series time?
“Last year this race, we were running third or fourth and were super-fast. A fluke wreck happened, when a guy blew a tire in front of us. It was like Chicken Little, when the sky fell on him. That race bothered me more than any other last year. We are going back there with another great WIX Filters Chevrolet and we plan to be very good.”
