JR MOTORSPORTS TEAM PREVIEW:
TRACK: Atlanta Motor Speedway
RACE: EchoPark 250 (163 laps / 251.02 miles)
DATE: Saturday, June 6, 2020
Michael Annett
No. 1 Pilot Flying J Chevrolet
• Michael Annett will seek a third top-10 finish of the season on 1.5-mile ovals this weekend at Atlanta. He was seventh at both Las Vegas and Charlotte.
• Annett’s best finish at Atlanta is 10th in 2012, and he was 12th in this race a year ago in his Pilot Flying J Chevrolet.
• Consistency is king for the Iowa native at Atlanta, as he’s completed 99 .2percent of the laps run in his eight starts on the 1.54-mile oval.
• Annett enters this week’s race with momentum, having led nine laps at Charlotte in the most recent event on a 1.5- mile track.
Justin Allgaier
No. 7 BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevrolet
• Justin Allgaier has nine NXS starts at Atlanta with two topfive and five top-10 finishes, including a third-place run last year in this event.
• In two starts on 1.5-mile tracks this season, the Illinois native has led 63 laps and earned a stage win, finishing eighth in Las Vegas and fifth in Charlotte.
• Allgaier has five NXS victories on tracks measuring 1 to 2 miles in length, including two wins at mile-and-a-half facilities. His most recent victory on a 1.5-mile track came at Chicagoland in 2017.
• This Saturday, in addition to racing at Atlanta, Allgaier will celebrate his 34th birthday
Daniel Hemric
No. 8 Poppy Bank Chevrolet
• In two previous NXS starts at Atlanta, Hemric has earned an average finish of 10.0.
• Hemric has also made a combined three starts at the 1.54- mile speedway between the NASCAR Cup Series and the NASCAR Gander Outdoors & RV Truck Series, scoring a best finish of fourth in the latter in 2016.
• In 37 NXS starts on tracks between 1 and 2 miles in length, Hemric has 11 top fives, 22 top 10s and two poles.
• Since the return to NXS action in May, Hemric has recorded three-consecutive top-10 finishes, with a best result of second coming at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 25.
Noah Gragson
No. 9 Axalta EchoPark Chevrolet
• Gragson has one start in the NXS at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He started fourth and finished ninth after leading nine laps in this race last season.
• At tracks that are 1.5-miles in length, Gragson has an average finish of 9.0.
• Through the first seven races of 2020, Gragson is tied for most series victories this season with two wins, four top fives, five top 10s and is currently second in the championship standings.
• The Axalta colors are aboard the No. 9 Camaro with EchoPark also joining the team for this weekend’s race in Atlanta.
Driver Quotes
“We were pretty solid at Charlotte the last time on a 1.5- mile track, and our No. 1 Pilot Flying J team has shown some good speed on those kind of tracks. We’ve really been more consistent, and that is what matters as the season starts to pick up steam again. We’ve had good speed and we’re making the right calls, and that’s half the battle going forward. We’ll take that and build on it to get where we need to be.” – Michael Annett
“I’m really looking forward to getting to Atlanta. Our JR Motorsports Camaros have had a lot of speed this season and this No. 7 team has been stout every week. We’ve led laps and won some stages, now we just need to put it all together and get that victory. I feel like we’ve got a great chance to get it done this weekend with our BRANDT Professional Agriculture Chevy.” – Justin Allgaier
“Atlanta should be a lot of fun on Saturday. It’s such a unique, fast track. With it’s worn out surface, you can really race from the top to the bottom of the track throughout the run. I feel like we will unload with a lot of speed in our JR Motorsports Camaro and hopefully we can build off of that second-place finish at the last mile-and-a-half we raced on in Charlotte and get that one spot better with our Poppy Bank Chevrolet.” – Daniel Hemric
“This Axalta EchoPark Camaro looks real good and the guys have been preparing fast racecars for me all year. We had a shot at the win in Charlotte and with Atlanta mirroring that track, I believe we will be in contention yet again. Coming off a win this week in Bristol has boosted our confidence and hopefully we can come out of here with an extra $100k thanks to Xfinity and the Dash 4 Cash program.” – Noah Gragson
JRM Team Updates:
• JRM at Atlanta: JR Motorsports has collected three wins, 11 top-fives and 23 top-10 finishes, along with two pole awards (2009 and 2014) in 35 NXS starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Jamie McMurray earned the organization its first victory at the track in 2010 and Kevin Harvick claimed back-to back wins in 2014 and 2015. JRM’s average finish of 9.5 at Atlanta is the team’s second-best among all tracks on the NXS circuit.
• JRM’s 1.5-Mile Success: 12 (25 percent) of JRM’s 48 victories in the NXS have come on 1.5-mile tracks. Mark Martin scored the organization’s first victory on a mile-and-a-half on March 1, 2008 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway with Tyler Reddick earning the most recent victory at Homestead-Miami Speedway on Nov. 17, 2018.
• Dash 4 Cash Prowess: JRM drivers have claimed the Dash 4 Cash honors on 12 different occasions. Half of those victories have come since the 2017 season with Justin Allgaier being the most recent recipient for JRM at Dover International Speedway in 2018.
