Event: Food City 500
Date/Time: Sunday, April 15 at 2:00 PM ET
TV Network/Radio: FOX / PRN Radio / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90
AJ ALLMENDINGER, NO. 47 KROGER CLICKLIST CAMARO ZL1
NOVELTY OF BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY: “Bristol Motor Speedway is one of those short tracks that I’ve been racing at for 10 or 11 years now,” Allmendinger said. “When I walk into the place, it still takes my breath away. I always tell people, if they’ve never been to Bristol, or a NASCAR race, that’s the track to go to. It’s a tough race. I like a lot of short tracks, and I look at Martinsville (Speedway) and Bristol the same way. You know you’re in it for 500 laps. It’s a grind. You never really get a breath.”
VHT COMPOUND AT BRISTOL: “What they do with the VHT that’s stuck on the track can help you decide what line you’re going to run,” Allmendinger said. “It can affect a lot of things throughout the race. It’s 500 laps of holding on and knowing that it’s a challenge. But it’s a fun racetrack and it’s one of those racetracks where if you can finish inside the top-10 or especially win the race, you really feel like you’ve accomplished something special.”
CONCRETE CANYON: “This is what NASCAR’s all about,” Allmendinger said. “You go to a lot of unique racetracks. You go to Texas (Motor Speedway) where it’s wide open, going over 200mph and you get into Bristol and it feels like it’s just a concrete canyon. You’re in for a fight. A lot of tempers flare there. You’ve got to be patient, but you’ve got to be aggressive. So, there’s that fine line. It’s a unique challenge. It’s a place that I wouldn’t say it’s my favorite racetrack, but we’ve had good runs there. Every time you show up, you know it’s going to be a challenge.”
CHRIS BUESCHER, NO. 37 BUSH’S BEANS CAMARO ZL1
HOME TRACK FOR BUSH’S BEANS: “Bristol Motor Speedway is a home track for BUSH’S Beans, with their headquarters in Knoxville, Tennessee,” Buescher said. “It’s nice to be able to bring everyone out there and run the copper paint scheme on our No. 37 BUSH’S Beans Camaro ZL1 that resembles the Original BUSH’S Baked Beans can, so that makes it all the more special.”
FAVORITE TRACK: “Bristol is a very fast half-mile,” Buescher said. “It’s my favorite track. I absolutely love that place. You look at the track and it’s so much fun to run the top groove, and you can play with the different compound VHT grooves on the bottom. They’ve hit the mark with where they place the VHT for some of the races, but missed it a little bit on others. If they can get that right, I think it makes it a track that has two very usable grooves. It’ll wear out as we go, but it’s a really awesome racetrack. I feel like it’s a place we can go and have a really solid race and maybe even be able to sneak a win out of it.”
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY FAST FACTS
AJ ALLMENDINGER
Career Starts: 19
Career Wins: 0
Top-5 Finishes: 0
Top-10 Finishes: 1
Laps Led: 54
Average Start: 21.2
Average Finish: 24.3
CHRIS BUESCHER
Career Starts: 5
Career Wins: 0
Top-5 Finishes: 1
Top-10 Finishes: 1
Laps Led: 0
Average Start: 22.6
Average Finish: 23.4
FAST FACTS – AJ ALLMENDINGER
Career Starts: 342
Wins: 1- 8/10/2014 Watkins Glen International
Top-fives: 10
Top-10s: 54
Pole Awards: 4
First Pole: 4/10/2010 ISM Raceway
Last Pole: 8/9/2015 Watkins Glen International
First Start: 3/25/2007 Bristol Motor Speedway
Best Start: 1st – 8/9/2015 Watkins Glen International (most recent)
Best Finish: 1st – 8/10/2014 Watkins Glen International
Driver DOB: 12/16/1981
Hometown: Los Gatos, CA
Crew Chief: Tristan Smith
FAST FACTS – CHRIS BUESCHER
Career Starts: 85
Wins: 1 – 8/1/2016 Pocono Raceway
Top-fives: 3
Top-10s: 7
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
