JR MOTORSPORTS TEAM PREVIEW:
TRACK: Charlotte Motor Speedway
RACE: Drive for a Cure 200 (55 laps / 125.4 miles)
DATE: Saturday, Sept. 29, 2018
Elliott Sadler
No. 1 OneMain Financial Chevrolet
• Elliott Sadler sits fifth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Playoff standings with two events before the cutoff for the Round of 8. Currently, the Virginia native is 39 points outside of the lead and 16 points above the cutline.
• This season on tracks measuring 2 miles in length or more, Sadler has claimed two runner-up finishes (both Daytona events), seven top-six finishes and 63 laps led.
• In the three road-course events earlier this summer, the veteran driver earned an average finish of 7.7 with a best result of fifth at Road America.
• On Charlotte’s traditional 1.5-mile oval, Sadler has six topfive and 11 top-10 finishes in 23 NXS starts.
Justin Allgaier
No. 7 Vannoy Construction Chevrolet
• Justin Allgaier heads to Charlotte third in the NXS Playoff standings. He’s 21 markers above the cutoff line with two events left in the Round of 12.
• While the Charlotte ROVAL is not a traditional road course, Allgaier has had some success on those types of tracks this season, capturing two wins (Mid-Ohio and Road America) and a third-place finish (Watkins Glen) in three starts.
• The Illinois native has 16 NXS starts at Charlotte’s traditional oval, with three top five and eight top-10s.
• Over the last 10 NXS races, Allgaier has the best average finish (5.9), with three wins and nine top-10 finishes during that span.
Tyler Reddick
No. 9 BurgerFi Chevrolet
• In three previous NXS starts on road courses, Tyler Reddick has a best finish of 11th at Watkins Glen (2018).
• The Corning, Calif. native has two NXS starts on the traditional oval at Charlotte, recording a best finish of 10th in the May 2017 event.
• In 12 career starts at tracks 2 miles or greater in the NXS, Reddick has recorded one win at Daytona International Speedway earlier this year and six top-10 finishes.
• Reddick enters the second race of the NXS Playoffs as the seventh seed. The JR Motorsports driver is 11 points ahead of the eighth and final cutoff position with two events remaining in the Round of 12.
Michael Annett
No. 5 TMC Transportation Chevrolet
• Michael Annett has a pair of 10th-place finishes in 13 NXS starts on the traditional 1.5-mile oval at Charlotte, coming in the fall races of 2012 and 2013.
• In 20 starts on road courses in his NASCAR Xfinity Series career, Annett has a career-best finish of second in 2017 at Road America and two top-10 finishes.
• The black, red and gold colors of TMC Transportation return to the No. 5 this weekend at Charlotte, marking the fifth and final race of the season for the Des Moines, Iowa based company. TMC is the nation’s largest employee owned flatbed trucking company.
Driver Quotes
“Fortunately, we had a solid day at my hometrack last Friday night to kick off the playoffs. There is a lot on the line this weekend and a lot of unknowns with the ROVAL, so the momentum we have heading into this race is going to be key. I’ve tried to prep myself as much as I can, talking to Jimmie Johnson who tested the ROVAL earlier this summer. Hopefully we are able to have good practice sessions on Thursday and Friday, and get a good idea of the handling we’ll need. It would be awesome to drive my OneMain Financial Chevrolet into Victory Lane for the inaugural (NXS) ROVAL race.” – Elliott Sadler
“Like everybody else, we’re going to have to see what the ROVAL is all about this weekend. We’ve had good cars on the road courses this year, so in that sense I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be interesting, to say the least, and it’s going to come down to the driver and team that figure this track out the best. We had a solid weekend at Richmond, and want to continue that trend here in Charlotte.” – Michael Annett
“The ROVAL is so new and unique. None of the Xfinity Series drivers have been on it, so there’s a lot of learning that’s going to happen in a short amount of time. It’s not exactly a road course. We’re still going to have to figure out how to make the car handle through those banked NASCAR corners, so making the most of that practice time is going to be key. And it’s a playoff race, so you have that added pressure. I think the ROVAL is definitely going to be an exciting event, especially for the fans. I just hope that our Vannoy Construction team is on the good side of exciting and not on the bad side of exciting.” – Justin Allgaier
“The ROVAL this weekend is definitely an unknown for all of us in the Xfinity Series. We really don’t have any laps around here yet but we do have a test day on Thursday which will be a totally new experience. All of us in the playoffs know that this race is very important to get through because there’s a lot of things that can go wrong beyond our control. For us, we just need to eliminate any potential mistakes and have a smooth day with our BurgerFi Chevrolet. If we can do that, we will be in a great position come next weekend when the eliminations begin in Dover.” – Tyler Reddick
