LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Race Preview: Kansas Speedway I

Race Information

• Round: NASCAR Cup Series race No. 12 of 36
• Track Location: Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, Kansas
• Race Name: AdventHealth 400
• Broadcast: Sunday, May 7th at 3:00 PM ET live on FS1 (TV), PRN (Radio) Sirius XM NASCAR Ch. 90
• Team Entrants:

No. 42 | Noah Gragson & Luke Lambert – Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet Camaro Zl1
No. 43 | Erik Jones & Dave Elenz – Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Kansas Speedway Stats

• NCS Starts: 2; Best start: 28th; Best finish: 18th (Both races in 2022)
• NXS Starts: 5; Wins: 1 (2022); Poles: 1 (Fall, 2020); Top 5s: 1, Top 10s: 1; Laps led: 42
• NCTS Starts: 2; Wins: 1 (2018); Poles: 1 (2018); Top 5s: 1, Top 10s: 1; Laps led: 128
• ARCA Starts: 1; Best start: 8th; Best finish: 5th; Top 5s: 1, Top 10s: 1

2023 NCS Season Stats

• Starts: 11, Best start: 10th; Best finish: 12th (Atlanta); Laps led: 2; Current points position: 32nd
• About Sunseeker Resorts: Opening in 2023, Florida’s newest luxury resort located in Charlotte Harbor is the first resort property of Sunseeker Resorts, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allegiant Travel Company. Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor occupies over 22 waterfront acres with 785 guest rooms, including 189 Signature Sunsuites™. Set upon the Peace River and Florida Gulf Coast, this premier resort offers 20 original food and beverage concepts; including seven stand-alone restaurants, eleven bars and lounges, two poolside offerings and a 25,000-square-foot multi-dining experience. Additional hotel amenities include a waterfront promenade, two unique rooftop and waterfront pool experiences, 60,000-square-feet of combined convention space, full-service spa and salon, a 7,100-square-foot state-of-the-art fitness center with four group exercise studios with specialty instructor lead classes, three retail and market shops, and an 18-hole championship level golf club exclusive to hotel guests only. The resort is conveniently located within a short drive of Punta Gorda, Fort Myers, Sarasota, St. Petersburg-Clearwater, and Tampa airports. For more information, visit www.sunseekerresorts.com. Follow on Instagram: @sunseekerresorts and like us on Facebook: @sunseekerresorts.
• Dover In The Rear View: It was an early day for Noah Gragson as he sustained damage to his suspension after a single car spin on lap 27. The Sunseeker team took the car back to the garage but couldn’t get the vehicle back on the track before the clock ran out. Gragson finished 34th after the DVP.
• Lapping Laps: Gragson has two starts at Kansas Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series racing for Kaulig Racing. Both starts were in the 2022 season, where he started 28 and finished 16th in each event. He completed all attempted laps but one.
• Blame it on the Rain: Gragson was declared the winner in a rain-shortened event at Kansas Speedway last September. The race was declared official after 93 of 200 laps and was Gragson’s tenth career Xfinity Series win together with crew chief Luke Lambert last season.
• Lambert’s Record at Kansas: Lambert has 18 NASCAR Cup Series visits to Kansas Speedway in his career and has found success at the mile-and-a-half track with several drivers. In total, the veteran Crew Chief has three top-10 finishes (two with Ryan Newman and one with Chris Buescher) and one pole position with Daniel Hemric. Lambert also has two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, both of which were top-five finishes with Elliott Sadler and Noah Gragson, who he won with just last year.
• Hammer Down in Trucks: In two starts at Kansas Speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series racing for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Gragson made it to victory lane once, on May 11, 2018. He started from the pole position, led five times for 128 laps – including the final six – and took the checkered flag by a margin of 1.5 seconds.
• The Legacy at Kansas: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB co-owner Jimmie Johnson is no stranger to victory lane at Kansas Speedway. Johnson has three wins, nine top-five and 19 top-10 finishes across 29 starts, leading 601 laps along the way.
• Quoting Noah Gragson: “Last time we were at Kansas, we won the Xfinity race and also have won in the Truck Series so it’s been a good track for us historically. I’m excited to get back there and run the top right up against the wall. Our team has run well at the mile and a half race tracks this year and so I’m excited to get back there.”

Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Kansas Speedway Stats

• NCS Starts: 13; Best start: 6th; Best finish: 3rd (Spring, 2019); Top 5s: 3; Top 10s: 5; Laps led: 3
• NXS Starts: 2; Best start: 2nd; Best finish: 15th (Twice); Laps led: 3
• NCTS Starts: 1; Poles: 1 (2015); Best finish: 11th (2015); Laps led: 151

2023 NCS Season Stats

• Starts: 11; Best start: 8th; Best finish: 6th (Talladega); Top 10s: 2, Laps led: 17, Current points position: 24th
• About Allegiant: Las Vegas-based Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT) is an integrated travel company with an airline at its heart, focused on connecting customers with the people, places and experiences that matter most. Since 1999, Allegiant Air has linked travelers in small-to-medium cities to world-class vacation destinations with all-nonstop flights and industry-low average fares. Today, Allegiant’s fleet serves communities across the nation, with base airfares less than half the cost of the average domestic roundtrip ticket. For more information, visit us at Allegiant.com.
• Dover In The Rear View: After a rained out qualifying in Dover, Jones started 11th on the grid. Jones moved up and down the scoring pylon throughout the race and was seen running in the top-five in the final stage. Jones finished 16th on the day and moved up one position in points to 24th in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings.
• Kansas Streak: Jones compiled five straight races of top-ten finishes throughout the races that took place at Kansas Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2018 to 2020. Three of those finishes were in the top-five, coupled by a pair of seventh-place finishes.
• Dave Knows Kansas: Dave Elenz has eight starts as a crew chief for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with drivers Kevin Harvick, Regan Smith, William Byron, Tyler Reddick and Noah Gragson. Elenz coached his drivers to two top-five and three top-10 finishes. All of the starts were from the top-10, including a pole by Gragson in 2020.
• That Day-Glo Red Boy: Last week Jones unveiled his No. 43 STP Chevrolet Camaro live on FOX Sports 1’s NASCAR Race Hub. The Petty Blue and Day-Glo red made famous by “The King” himself, is sure to be a fan favorite for the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 21. Click here for the unveil.
• Melanoma Awareness Month: The month of May is Melanoma and Skin Care awareness – a cause very dear to the Jones family, as early cancer detection and care is one of the three pillars of the Erik Jones Foundation (EJF). Cancer detection and care have been a priority for Jones since his father, Dave, succumbed to the disease in 2016. Last October, Jones and his family attended the Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) Gala in New York City, where Jones accepted the 2022 Courage Award on behalf of his late father. For more information visit: https://www.erikjonesracing.com/foundation/
• Quoting Erik Jones: “Kansas will be a good track for us, it’s a place that I like going to and feel like I have gotten better at. It would be great to keep the momentum going from Talladega and Dover to have a good run at Kansas. Hopefully we can get in the top-ten, get some stage points, and get some points for the end of the year.”

ABOUT LEGACY MOTOR CLUB:

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB is a professional auto racing club owned by businessman and entrepreneur Maurice J. Gallagher and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (NCS) Jimmie Johnson. The club competes full-time in the NCS fielding the Nos. 42 and 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for drivers Noah Gragson and Erik Jones, respectively, along with the No. 84 part-time entry for Johnson in 2023. Richard Petty “The King” serves as team ambassador.

In 2021, Gallagher acquired Richard Petty Motorsports and renamed the team to Petty GMS. With the addition of Johnson to the ownership structure in 2023, the organization rebranded to LEGACY MOTOR CLUB (LEGACY M.C.). With a unique title signifying a nod to car clubs of past eras, LEGACY M.C. is an inclusive club for all motorsport enthusiasts to celebrate the past and future legacies of its members, while competing for wins and championships at NASCAR’s elite level.

Based in Statesville, N.C., LEGACY M.C. operates alongside GMS Racing (GMS), which currently fields three full-time entries in the NASCAR Truck Series. Since the formation of GMS in 2012, Gallagher and Mike Beam, team president, have shared incredible success. GMS Racing captured the 2015 ARCA Racing Series championship, the 2016 and 2020 NASCAR Truck Series championships and the 2019 and 2020 ARCA East championships, accumulating over 65 wins across six national racing circuits.

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