Ty Dillon, No. 42 Ferris Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
- Wide Open Spaces: Ty Dillon will attempt to qualify for his first NASCAR All-Star Race by competing in the All-Star Open on Sunday evening. The qualifying race will run immediately prior to the main feature and will include three stages (20 laps, 20 laps, 10 laps). The winner of each stage will earn a spot in the All-Star Race, along with the Fan Vote recipient.
Dillon has competed in four previous All-Star Open events – three at Charlotte Motor Speedway and one at Bristol Motor Speedway. In his two most recent races (2019 and 2020), the 30-year-old captured second and fifth-place results respectively.
- Dillon at Texas Motor Speedway: Dillon has competed in nine NASCAR Cup Series events at Texas Motor Speedway, posting four top-20 results and only finishing worse than 24th-place once. Running a limited schedule in 2021, the North Carolina native did not participate in any NASCAR event at the 1.5-mile oval last season. Dillon has also raced in 10 NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the Fort Worth intermediate, earning one top-five and three top-10 finishes. In five NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events, Dillon collected one win (2013), four top-five results and never finished outside of the seventh position.
- Mow Tyme: Ferris will serve as primary partner on Dillon’s Chevrolet Camaro for Sunday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway. Ferris, a brand of Briggs & Stratton, is a leading commercial and industrial turf care equipment provider. The red and black colors will adorn the No. 42 for a total of three races in the 2022 season: All-Star Open at Texas Motor Speedway on May 22, Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course on July 31, and Michigan International Speedway on August 7.
As an industry leader, Ferris has built a reputation for accomplishing more work with ease, through innovation, uncompromising performance, and quality features. Ferris makes extremely durable equipment with patented full suspension systems and ergonomic controls and backs them up through world-class dealers.
- About Briggs & Stratton: Briggs & Stratton, headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, is focused on providing power to get work done and make people’s lives better. Briggs & Stratton is the world’s largest producer of gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment, and is a leading designer, manufacturer and marketer of commercial lithium-ion batteries, power generation, pressure washer, lawn and garden, turf care and job site products through its Briggs & Stratton®, Simplicity®, Snapper®, Ferris®, Vanguard®, Allmand®, Billy Goat®, Murray®, Branco® and Victa® brands. Briggs & Stratton products are designed, manufactured, marketed, and serviced in over 100 countries on six continents. For additional information, please visit www.basco.com and www.briggsandstratton.com.
- From the Drivers Seat: Prior to Covid, Cup Series teams would have two or three hours of practice in one weekend. Does simulator time now play a factor in getting communication down with your crew chief and engineers?
“Yeah, absolutely. It gives you time to get the verbiage down with each other. Building the real relationship matters so much between driver and crew chief and engineers. It’s not always easy with everyone have their own personality, but you have to know where you fit, when to push, and when not to push. We don’t get that time in the physical, real action very often. The new practice format is such a grind in the moment – 15 minutes and then you turn over to qualifying. I’m studying SMT data, they are studying everything they see on the car, and it’s a super quick grind. When we get those precious moments and hours now in the simulator, they are so valuable and helping our team grow so much. When I can sit there and tell them what the car is doing and why I feel uncomfortable or comfortable with doing this motion, so they understand the background and my driving style, it grows our team. We have to use those sessions as much as we can and while it’s not the exact real thing, it’s the best we can do with what we have and we have to make the most of it.”
Erik Jones, No. 43 FOCUSfactor Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
- Ready for an All-Star Night: Since joining the NASCAR Cup Series full time in 2017, Erik Jones has made five attempts at competing in the All-Star Race. In 2019 and 2020, Jones competed in the All-Star race following wins in the previous season. His best finish came in 2020 with an 11th-place finish. In 2017, 2018 and 2021, Jones raced in the Open event, but came up short of making the big show. His best finish in an Open was second in 2018 when he narrowly missed qualifying for the All-Star event.
- Jones at Texas Motor Speedway: In the Cup Series, Jones has 10-career starts at Texas Motor Speedway with his best finish being fourth on three occasions (April 2018, November 2018, March 2019). He has six top-10 finishes and has led 112 laps.
In addition to the Cup Series, Jones has six starts in the Xfinity Series at Texas with three wins and all six finishes in the top four. He has two poles and has led 368 laps. On April 10, 2015, in just his ninth career start in the Xfinity Series, Jones earned the pole starting position and led 79 of 200 laps on the way to his first-career Xfinity Series victory. In the Truck Series, Jones has three starts with one win and 185 laps led.
- Focused on Winning: FOCUSfactor will serve as the primary partner on Jones’s Chevrolet Camaro for Sunday’s All-Star race at Texas Motor Speedway. - About FOCUSfactor: FOCUSfactor is sold at America’s leading retailers such as Costco, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, The Vitamin Shoppe and Amazon.com. FOCUSfactor, America’s leading brain health supplement, is a nutritional supplement that includes a proprietary blend of brain supporting vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrients. In December 2012, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued US Patent 8,329,227 covering FOCUSfactor’s proprietary formulation “for enhanced mental function”. The issuance of the patent marked one of the few times a patent has been issued for a nationally branded nutritional supplement. FOCUSfactor is clinically tested with results demonstrating improvements in focus, concentration and memory in healthy adults.
- From the Drivers Seat: What are your thoughts on racing at Texas Motor Speedway and your chance for this weekend’s All-Star Race?
“I’m looking forward to the All-Star race. Texas has been a good place to me in general over the last four or five years. I hope to race our way in through the Open and if not, fallback hopefully on the fan vote. The goal obviously is to be in the All-Star race on Sunday night and be racing for that million. Looking forward to getting down there. I always have fun going to Texas and being in that area. I can’t wait to get there and have a chance on Sunday.”
ABOUT PETTY GMS:
Petty GMS competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, operating the No. 42 Chevrolet for Ty Dillon and the No. 43 Chevrolet for Erik Jones. The newly formed team brought together two storied organizations in December 2021. Over the last decade, owner Maury Gallagher built a victorious team, capturing two NASCAR Camping World Truck Series championships, one ARCA Menards Series title, and two ARCA Menards Series East championships, as well as 65 wins and 235 top-five finishes across six series. Richard Petty, a member of the inaugural NASCAR Hall of Fame Class of 2010, serves as Chairman of Petty GMS. Petty, known as “The King,” accumulated 200 wins and was the first of three drivers to win seven championships in the Cup Series. For more information, visit www.pettygms.com.
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