Race Information
- Round: NASCAR Cup Series race no. 29 of 36 (Playoffs Round of 16)
- Track Location: Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tennessee
- Race Name: Bass Pro Shops Night Race
- Broadcast: Saturday, September 16th at 7:30 PM ET live on USA Network (TV), PRN (Radio), and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90
- Team Entrants:
No. 42 | Carson Hocevar & Luke Lambert – Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
No. 43 | Erik Jones & Dave Elenz – U.S. Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Carson Hocevar, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Bristol Motor Speedway Stats
-Carson Hocevar will make his first NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol on Saturday night
-NCTS: Starts: 3; Best Start: 8th (2021), Best Finish: 6th (2021); Top 10s: 1; Laps Led: 6
2023 NASCAR Cup Series Season Stats
-Starts: 3; Best Start: 15th (Darlington, Fall); Best Finish: 17th (Darlington, Fall)
2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Season Stats
-Starts: 19; Wins: 3 (Texas, Nashville, Richmond); Best Start: 2nd (North Wilkesboro); Top 5s: 9; Top 10s: 11; Laps led: 255; Current Points Position: 4th
About Sunseeker Resort: 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 us on Instagram: @sunseekerresorts and like us on Facebook: @sunseekerresorts.
Kansas Recap: Carson Hocevar made his third NASCAR Cup Series start in last Sunday’s Hollywood Casino 400 at Kansas Speedway, and was fast right off the bat. The No. 42 Chevy was 18th quick in practice, and despite some contact with the wall in qualifying, he was still able to start from the 21st position. Carson stayed in tow with the leaders sticking around on the lead lap for the most part of the day, climbing to as high as 15th at the end of stage two. On the final pit stop, a costly uncontrolled tire penalty dropped him to the tail end of the lead lap, however he was able to pass a couple of cars to come home in 20th place.
Solid on Sundays: Hocevar has impressed in his two NASCAR Cup Series starts with LEGACY MOTOR CLUB. Last Sunday’s finish makes it two top-20 results in two starts, notably finishing both races on the lead lap. As he continues to learn the ropes in the Cup Series, he joked that these past few weekends have been ‘surreal’, recalling that just a few short years ago, he was a fan of many of the drivers that he now races door-to-door with, collecting their die-cast cars and playing as them in NASCAR video games. No doubt, Hocevar has a great future ahead of him in the sport.
Double Duty: Before he takes the green flag for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race, Hocevar will embark on his primary position competing for the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series title on Thursday night. Hocevar secured his spot in the Round of 8, and hopes to continue his dream season by advancing to the Championship 4 in Phoenix. So far this year, he’s won three times (Texas Motor Speedway, Nashville Superspeedway, and Richmond Raceway), and enters the start of this round positioned fourth in points, currently tied with the driver directly below the cutline. Tune-in to FOX Sports 1 on Thursday, Sept. 14th at 9:00 PM ET to watch the Truck Series drivers go to battle for 200 laps.
Back in Green: Hocevar’s No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet will revert back to the sea foam green version of the paint scheme as he runs under the lights in on Saturday. The white version of the Sunseeker scheme, which was most recently ran at Kansas last weekend, will return for the remainder of the season in the “day” races, starting next week at Texas Motor Speedway.
2024 and Beyond: On Wednesday of last week, the Club announced that John Hunter Nemechek will join to drive the No. 42 entry beginning in 2024 when the team makes its manufacturer change from Chevrolet to Toyota. The Xfinity Series driver has had a break-through year in 2023, posting a series-high six wins (Auto Club Speedway, Martinsville Speedway, Atlanta Motor Speedway, New Hampshire Motor Speedway, Michigan International Speedway, and Kansas Speedway), two poles (sweeping at Darlington Raceway), along with 13 top-fives and 19 top-10 finishes. Following his most recent win at Kansas, Nemechek enters the start of the NXS Playoffs seeded as the championship leader heading into Friday night’s race in Bristol. He’ll assume his new role following the season finale at Phoenix Raceway, but until then, his focus will be purely on competing for the coveted NXS title. Read the exciting news here.
Lambert at Bristol: Luke Lambert has called the shots for 18 points-paying NASCAR Cup Series races at Bristol Motor Speedway, along with one All-Star race. Making his first start in 2011, Lambert’s Cup drivers have finished inside the top-10 six times, with Ryan Newman finishing as high as fifth in 2015. Lambert has been great in the Xfinity Series at Bristol, winning twice in the three races that he has served as crew chief. His first win came in 2012 while working with Elliott Sadler, and in his return to the series last year, he was able to win for a second time in a stretch of four race victories in a row.
Quoting Carson Hocevar: You’ve had two top-20 finishes in two weeks with the Club, so what has been the biggest factor in acclimating yourself with the NextGen car? Do you think the Truck Series race will help you prepare for 500 laps on Saturday?
“The last two weeks has been a lot of fun, being able to now race a Cup car and truck on the same weekend have just helped myself become better and more in the rhythm lately. Super excited to run a lot of laps at Bristol, the truck isn’t too far away from the Cup car in terms of throttle points and the track stays the same, so looking for a good showing on Friday to get me as up to speed as I can for 500 laps on Saturday night with my No. 42 LEGACY M.C. group.”
Erik Jones, No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
Bristol Motor Speedway Stats
-NCS Starts: 10; Poles: 1 (Fall, 2017); Best finish: 2nd (Fall, 2017); Top-5s: 4; Top-10s: 5; Laps Led: 293
-NXS Starts: 6; Poles: 3 (Spring, 2015, Spring, 2016, and Fall, 2016); Wins: 2 (Spring, 2016 and Spring, 2017), Top-5s: 3; Top-10s: 4; Laps Led: 120
-NCTS Starts: 1; Best start: 4th (2015); Best finish: 6th (2015); Top-10s: 1
2023 NASCAR Cup Series Season Stats
Starts: 28; Best start: 8th (COTA); Best finish: 3rd (Kansas II); Top-5’s: 1; Top-10’s: 7; Laps Led: 17; Current points position: 25th
About the United States Air Force: The mission of the United States Air Force is to fly, fight and win – airpower anytime, anywhere. Whether full time, part time, in or out of uniform, everyone who serves plays a critical role in helping us achieve mission success. For 2023, the Air Force Recruiting Service is hiring over 26,000 new Airmen. An emphasis is on recruiting people with no prior military service into one of over 130 enlisted career opportunities. The Air Force recruits to retain, to recruit the brightest candidates possible, and provide them with tough, highly technical training that gives them the right skills to sustain the combat capability of America’s Air Force. For more information, visit AirForce.com.
Kansas in the Rearview: Erik Jones earned his best finish of the season on a two-lap shootout in overtime at Kansas Speedway. Jones started in the 20th position and quickly moved to the front, earning stage points in the second stage. After a caution came out with seven laps to go, Dave Elenz called Jones in to pit and made the gutsy decision to take two tires. After a well-rounded stop from the pit crew, Jones restarted on the front row with just two to go. Jones had a great restart, but the checkered flag was just out of reach, finishing third on the day. This marks his best finish of the season and the first top-five for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB.
Back in Bristol Baby!: Earlier this year, the NASCAR Cup Series took on the dirt-filled Colosseum of Bristol Motor Speedway where Jones started out 18th on the day. Throughout the race, Jones moved up and down the scoring pylon, running as high as 12th and as low as 34th. Despite this, the No. 43 kept its pace, earning a 14th-place finish when the checkered flag waved. Jones’ best finish on the Bristol dirt track came in his first attempt in 2021 where he worked around the competition, starting in 24th and ending with a noteworthy ninth place finish.
First Xfinity Win in Bristol: Jones took the victory by a narrow margin in 2016, winning the spring Xfinity Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. Jones held off Kyle Larson and his mentor, Kyle Busch, for the checkered flag, leading for an impressive 62 laps after holding the pole position at the start of the race. Jones also capped off the day by winning the “Dash for Cash,” pocketing an extra $100,000 bonus.
Second W at the World’s Fastest Half Mile: Erik Jones showed some real speed by winning the spring Xfinity Series race the following year in 2017. After starting fourth, Jones was running a consistent day until receiving a speeding penalty on lap 230. With 70 laps to go, Jones fought the odds and climbed back into contention, beating out Ryan Blaney for the checkered flag. Jones led 27 laps on his way to the victory.
Three of a Kind: Jones holds three pole positions in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Bristol Motor Speedway, and all three of these came consecutively. Jones held the pole in all three of his starts from 2015-2016, including both races during the 2016 season. Jones also won the pole in the 2017 Cup Series race, making it nearly three full years in a row on the pole in Thunder Valley.
Meet Erik: On Saturday, September 16th, Jones will sign autographs for approximately 100 fans at the United States Air Force activation display in the Bristol Motor Speedway Fan Zone at 2:50 pm local time.
Quoting Erik Jones: “Bristol has always been fun for me. I’ve come so close there a couple of times to winning that night race and really would love to close that one out. It is always one of my favorite races. The Bristol night race is one that I tell people all the time, ‘If you haven’t been to a NASCAR race, try and make it out to that one.’ It is one of my favorites of the year and one that I have been really close to winning before, so hoping we can close it out.”
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 entries, 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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