Spire Motorsports Food City 500 Race Advance

• In 16 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Spire Motorsports has logged one top-15 and three top-20 finishes. Corey LaJoie earned a team-best 15th-place result in the 2022 Bristol Night Race. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet ZL1s in the Cup Series for Justin Haley, Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar, respectively.
• The Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway will be televised live on FS1 Sunday, April 13, beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The ninth of 36 points-paying races on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. FOX’s NASCAR Raceday will take the green flag at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

Justin Haley – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

• Justin Haley will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Last Sunday at Darlington Raceway, Haley fought an ill-handling No. 7 Chevy but battled from a lap down to race his way back onto the lead lap and finish 27th in the final rundown.
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• Haley has recorded five previous Cup Series starts at Bristol where he earned a series/venue best 12th-place result in September 2022. He made three starts on Bristol’s dirt configuration, including a sixth-place finish in April 2023.
• In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, Haley has logged five Bristol starts resulting in two top-10 finishes. He earned a seventh-place effort in April 2019 and a sixth-place finish in September 2021. The 25-year-old owns an average starting position of 7.2 and a 16th-place average finish.
• In CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competition, Haley has logged three starts, finishing a venue-best sixth in August 2018. The Winamac, Ind., native calculated a 10.3 average finish.
• Sunday will mark Haley’s 153rd career NASCAR Cup Series start. Over the course of the last seven seasons, he has notched one win, five top fives, 17 top 10s and led 103 laps. Haley made his first start in NASCAR’s premier division for Spire Motorsports at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on his 20th birthday.
• The veteran racer has collected four NASCAR Xfinity Series checkered flags and three NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins, making him one of just 41 drivers in history to have earned victories across all three of NASCAR’s National Touring Series.
• In total, Haley has made 49 Cup Series starts for Spire Motorsports, with the bulk of races coming during the 2021 season behind the wheel of the team’s No. 77 machine.

Justin Haley Quote
What is your outlook for Bristol?
“Bristol is always a fun track and atmosphere. I enjoy racing there and I hope the No. 7 team and I can rebound this week and have a great run before the bye week.”

Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Rodney Childers

• Crew Chief Rodney Childers has called 36 races at Bristol Motor Speedway. Childers-prepared cars have led 952 laps and earned one pole, two wins, 10 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes.
• On Bristol’s dirt surface, Childers called three races and earned a top 10 in April 2023.
• Childers and driver Kevin Harvick dominated the 2020 Food City 500 at Bristol, qualifying in the fourth position and leading 226 of the event’s 500 laps en route to victory.
• The Mooresville, N.C., native has called 684 NASCAR Cup Series races where he’s earned 34 poles, 40 wins, 178 top-five and 299 top-10 finishes. He also earned 2014 championship honors with Kevin Harvick.
• Childers’ 40 wins at NASCAR’s premier level ties him for second-most amongst all active crew chiefs in the Cup Series garage.

Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

• Michael McDowell has 26 starts at the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway dating back to August 2010.
• In his six most recent attempts, the Cup-Series veteran holds an average finish of 14.5 with only one finish outside the top-15.
• Dating back to the 2020 season, the Glendale, Ariz native has two top-10 finishes paired with three 11th-place results at “The Last Great Colosseum.”
• The former open wheel driver made a seamless transition to the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway holding an average finish of 10.7 including a top-10 in 2022. Not only did McDowell finish 11th in the 2023 Food City Dirt Race, but he recovered from a three-wide spin and managed to keep moving without contact with any competitors or the outside retaining wall.
• In his limited time in the NASCAR Xfinity series, McDowell has five starts at “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile,” including a series-best finish of 10th in 2009.
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• After qualifying a team-best 10th at Darlington Raceway last weekend, the No. 71 team struggled with balance early in the race. Despite finding the pace late, a broken toe link during an overtime restart made the bed for the No. 71 team. They were credited with a 29th-place result.
• McDowell has claimed two Xfinity Fastest Lap awards, clocking the fastest lap in the Daytona 500 and again last month at Phoenix Raceway. Through eight weeks, McDowell stands as the only driver in the NASCAR Cup Series to have secured multiple bonus points through the recently-unveiled program. NASCAR Xfinity Series’ driver Justin Allgaier has also scored two of the awards this season.
• The Arizona native secured Spire Motorsports’ first Busch Light Pole Award last month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His 28.833 second lap marks the fastest lap in the Gen 7 era (2022-present) at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval.

Michael McDowell Quotes
What Makes Bristol so special and unique for the Cup Series?
“It’s amazing, it’s a special feel, you can feel the energy and atmosphere. I always tell fans that if they have never been to a race or if they have never been to Bristol, I tell them to go to Bristol. It is the coolest event you can take in as a fan and as a driver at the same. It is a really special place. Recently, it has been really good to me. I missed the top 10 by one position last year. I finished 11th. I have three-five races like that over the last four of five NextGen years, and it’s been really nice to us. So, it is a place we look at and we have circled to get out there and do some work.”

Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Travis Peterson

• Crew chief Travis Peterson joined Spire Motorsports following the 2024 season after spending 2023-2024 alongside McDowell at Front Row Motorsports.
• Across three Cup Series attempts at Bristol Motor Speedway, the 33 year-old crew chief holds an average start of 9.7 paired with an average finish of 9.3, all with McDowell.
• As a race engineer at RFK Racing, the West Bend, Wis., native helped Chris Buescher to Bristol’s roof-top Victory Lane in 2022. After qualifying 20th, the team dominated the race and led 169 of the 500 laps en route to Buescher’s second career victory.

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

• Carson Hocevar is saddlin’ up to Ride the ‘Dente into his fourth NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway. The 22-year-old driver’s first start at “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile” on Sept. 16, 2023 resulted in a venue-best 11th-place finish.
• Bristol marks the first-of-three consecutive races for Chili’s® Grill & Bar aboard the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1. Hocevar will be fitted in the faux denim jeans and a western, button-down-styled firesuit, first worn by teammate Justin Haley in the Daytona 500, for the upcoming races at Talladega Superspeedway (April 27) and Texas Motor Speedway (May 4).
• Race fans in the Bristol area have a chance to meet Hocevar and see the No. 77 Ride the ‘Dente Chevy Friday, April 10 at 4 p.m. at Chili’s Grill & Bar in Bristol, Va.
• The 2024 Cup Series Rookie of the Year owns four NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at “The Last Great Colosseum.” He led six laps en route to a sixth-place finish in 2021 and collected a fourth-place result in 2023, his most recent CRAFTSMAN Truck Series appearance at Bristol.
• In 10 Cup Series starts on short tracks, Hocevar earned a best finish of eighth at Richmond (Va.) Raceway last August.
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Carson Hocevar Quotes
You’ve waited months to don the ‘Ride the ‘Dente’ cowboy hat. What does it mean to you to have the Chili’s logo on your car this weekend?
“I’m really excited to finally get to drive the Chili’s car. They came up with a great campaign for this year and the firesuit and car design all fit together so well. I’m a big Chili’s fan and it’s always fun to be able to partner with companies that you have a natural connection to. They do a great job promoting the restaurant and menu items, and I’ve enjoyed getting to be part of that this year.”

Describe what makes Bristol such a unique short track.
“I think first off just the look of the track. When you’re walking in, it’s a little intimidating. The track sits down inside the ‘stadium’ surrounded by seats and then you see the banking. Every track we go to, you see hard racing at some point, but at Bristol it starts on Lap 1. You have to be reasonably aggressive from the start and do your best to get track position or keep it. Once you start to drift toward the back and lose a lap, it’s so difficult to get it back. But that’s why there is a lot of satisfaction in getting a win at Bristol. You work hard to get there and that’s why it’s top of the list for a lot of guys to want to win there. I would love for Bristol to be where things turn around for the No. 77 team. The guys work hard and we’ve had really fast cars, so hopefully this is the weekend it pays off and they get the ultimate reward. Then we can celebrate with Triple Dippers and Presidente Margaritas at Chili’s.”

Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Luke Lambert

• Sunday’s race will mark crew chief Luke Lambert’s 24th Cup Series race atop the box at Bristol. The Mount Airy, N.C., native has led drivers to one top-five and six top-10 finishes among 21 races on the traditional concrete surface.
• The 42-year-old has called three NASCAR Xfinity Series events at “Thunder Valley.” He helped Elliott Sadler to victory in March 2012, and Noah Gragson to Victory Lane in the 2022 Regular Season finale at Bristol.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on March 21, 2025, when Kyle Larson took the checkered flag in the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In 2025, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team will also field the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and the No. 77 Chevrolet in the ARCA Menards Series in select events.