TEAM KROGER CLICKLIST RACING
DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY
SPEEDWEEKS ADVANCE
Event: Daytona 500 Qualifying by Kroger
Date/Time: Sunday, February 11 at 12:15 p.m.
TV Network/Radio: FOX / MRN Radio / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1
TEAM KROGER CLICKLIST RACING: “We’ve got a lot of great partners but to have Kroger on the hood every race, we’re one of the only teams in the garage to have that,” Allmendinger said. “We’re very fortunate to have great people over at Kroger who support the racing program and believe in Chris and me as drivers. It means a lot to have them unite us as one team right now and make an investment to make both of our race cars a lot faster. You want to be cautiously optimistic, but with everything that’s been done in the off-season, I think we’re going to be a lot stronger, and we can thank Kroger ClickList for giving us the opportunity to do so.”
AREAS TO IMPROVE IN 2018: “We got behind on the aero side of it last year and it was hard to catch up,” Allmendinger said. “But that’s what Tad and Jodi (Geschickter) and (competition director) Ernie Cope have really focused on, is to go out there and just give us everything that we need. The Hendrick Motorsports alliance, for sure, is going to be a huge help in the sim-side (simulated) of it with what they’re doing. We’ve been to the wind tunnel a lot this off-season, which is way more than we ever have.”
SECOND YEAR WITH TEAMMATE CHRIS BUESCHER: “In 2017, the second team was added so late and I don’t know if that put us behind, but it was definitely tough to start the season,” Allmendinger said. “I couldn’t have asked for a better teammate with Chris. He’s got so much talent. I’ve learned a lot from him. But more importantly, he was just easy to work with. And we are able to bounce ideas off each other and feed info to our teams to figure out where we needed to get better. Having a full year under our belts, I think that’s something that’s going to allow us to really make both of these teams work together and be one big team as we go out there to compete. You always want to be faster than your teammate, for sure. But where we were running last year was not that good for either of us. So, that’s the great thing about just working with him, that there’s no secrets. We just kept talking and as the season went on, I really built a great relationship with him.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 KLEENEX CAMARO ZL1
KLEENEX ON HOOD OF NO. 37: “We’re thrilled to have Kimberly Clark Corporation return for this season and showcase Kleenex on the hood of our No. 37 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1,” Buescher said. “We ran a lot of great paint schemes with them last year, and I’m looking forward to having several more paint schemes to showcase their new brands this season.”
TEAM KROGER CLICKLIST RACING: “We’re getting a clean start to the new year with Kroger and all of our other primary partners including BUSH’S Beans and Scott Products, hitting the ground running in Daytona,” Buescher said. “We’re really excited about becoming part of the ‘one team, two drivers’ mentality this season with Kroger ClickList. That’s going to build up a lot of momentum for both AJ and I, and I can’t wait to see what we can bring back to the Kroger team at the end of this season.”
NEW CHEVROLET CAMARO ZL1: “I was able to drive the new Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway during the January test,” Buescher said. “Everything that we have in front of us right now says it’s going to be a big improvement. We have some rules changes this year to go with it, so it will be hard for a direct comparison to last year’s body style, but I feel like it’s been good so far. I think there were some really big gains in some areas that we were hunting last season. I think it’s something that’s going to add some competitiveness on track and we’ll have a learning curve that comes with anything new, but I’m really excited to have the Chevrolet Camaro back in NASCAR’s premier series.”
SOPHOMORE YEAR WITH TEAMMATE AJ ALLMENDINGER: “Teammates in racing is always something that’s very important,” Buescher said. “It’s hard to be a single car with no information to lay out in front of you. I hope AJ feels the same way of going to two cars and having information to pass back and forth and verify some things that you change. It gives you a much more solid direction. It’s crucial at this level. You have to have that help.”
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DAYTONA INTERNATIONAL SPEEDWAY FAST FACTS
AJ ALLMENDINGER
Career Starts: 17
Career Wins: 0
Top-5 Finishes: 2
Top-10 Finishes: 4
Laps Led: 19
Average Start: 22.2
Average Finish: 22.1
CHRIS BUESCHER
Career Starts: 4
Career Wins: 0
Top-5 Finishes: 0
Top-10 Finishes: 1
Laps Led: 0
Average Start: 27.0
Average Finish: 31.0
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FAST FACTS – AJ ALLMENDINGER
Career Starts: 335
Wins: 1- 8/10/2014 Watkins Glen International
Top-fives: 10
Top-10s: 52
Pole Awards: 4
First Pole: 4/10/2010 ISM Raceway
Last Pole: 10/9/2015 Watkins Glen International
First Start: 3/22/2015 Auto Club Speedway
Best Start: 9th – 6/25/2017 Sonoma Raceway
Best Finish: 1st – 8/1/2016 Pocono Raceway
Driver DOB: 12/16/1981
Hometown: Los Gatos, CA
Crew Chief: Tristan Smith
FAST FACTS – CHRIS BUESCHER
Career Starts: 78
Wins: 1 – 8/1/2016 Pocono Raceway
Top-fives: 2
Top-10s: 6
Pole Awards: 0
First Start: 3/22/2015 Auto Club Speedway
Best Start: 9th – 6/25/2017 Sonoma Raceway
Best Finish: 1st – 8/1/2016 Pocono Raceway
Driver DOB: 10/29/1992
Hometown: Prosper, TX
Crew Chief: Trent Owens
