Spire Motorsports eero 250 Race Advance

• In four NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at Richmond (Va.) Raceway, Spire Motorsports has earned two top-20 finishes. Rajah Caruth, driver of the team’s No. 71 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado, collected a team-best 17th-place finish at the facility last August. The Mooresville, N.C., organization fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets full time in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The No. 7 entry will see a rotating roster of all-star caliber drivers throughout the remainder of the season, while Rajah Caruth and NASCAR Cup Series veteran Corey LaJoie will pilot the Nos. 71 and 77, respectively.
• The eero 250 will be televised live on FS1 Friday, Aug. 15 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The CRAFTSMAN Truck Series regular-season finale will be broadcast live on the NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90.

Sammy Smith – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• Sammy Smith will drive Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Pilot Travel Centers Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s eero 250 at Richmond Raceway.
• Last weekend at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, Smith qualified third and rebounded following contact with the Armco barrier to finish sixth.
• The Johnston, Iowa, native has made two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Richmond, highlighted by a ninth-place finish last March.
• The 21-year-old has made seven CRAFTSMAN Truck Series appearances for Spire Motorsports, registering one top five and five top 10s while recording a 9.7 average finish.
• The accomplished short track racer has earned wins in some of the country’s most notable pavement late model races including the Winchester 400, Red Bud 400 and Florida Governor’s Cup. He snagged a CARS Pro Late Model Tour victory in 2021 at Jennerstown (Pa.) Speedway and four pavement super late model wins that same season. In August 2022, Smith was victorious in a star-studded combination ARCA CRA Super Series/Southern Super Series race at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. After qualifying second, he took the lead on the race’s initial start and led wire-to-wire en route to the win at the Racetrack Revival.
• The two-time ARCA Menards Series East Champion has racked up eight wins across 15 starts in the regional stock car series. He claimed his second-consecutive East Series title in a dominant 2022 campaign, winning five of the seven races while maintaining an average finish of 1.7.
• Smith doubled-up in 2022, earning the ARCA Menards Series Sioux Chief Showdown crown. Smith emerged victorious four times in the series, did not finish outside of the top five in all 10 events, and maintained a 2.2 average finish.
• In 98 NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, Smith has earned three wins, 18 top fives and 46 top 10s. He secured wins at Phoenix Raceway (March 2023), Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway (Oct. 2024) and Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway (April 2025).
• Pilot Travel Centers LLC (“Pilot”) is committed to showing people they matter at every turn as the leading energy and experience provider people rely on to fuel their journeys. Founded in 1958 and headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee, Pilot is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway and employs approximately 30,000 team members. As the largest network of travel centers, Pilot has nearly 900 locations in 44 states and five Canadian provinces, serving an average of 1.2 million guests per day.
• In addition to travel center services, Pilot and its partners offer trucking fleets a variety of solutions for fuel, credit, factoring, maintenance and rewards. The company operates North America’s third largest fuel tanker fleet and supplies approximately 12 billion gallons of fuel per year.
• Smith will race Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-089 Friday evening. Carson Hocevar drove the truck in its’ prior two appearances, including a victory at Kansas Speedway in May where Hocevar led 75 laps and held off a hard charging Layne Riggs to secure the win. In the chassis’ most recent start at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Hocevar was in contention for his second victory of the year until a restart violation following a late-race caution period relegated him to 13th in the final rundown.

Sammy Smith Quote
Coming off a good finish last week at Watkins Glen, what are your thoughts heading to Richmond?
“I’m looking forward to racing with the No. 7 team again this weekend. Richmond is a place where you have to be aggressive, but smart. We gained some momentum last week at Watkins Glen, rebounding from damage late in the race to finish sixth. We’ll take that and look to put together a great race.”

Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Brian Pattie

• Brian Pattie stands atop of the No. 7 pit box, an entry that has seen an abundance of all-star caliber drivers behind the wheel throughout the 2025 season.
• The Zephyrhills, Fla., native has called two CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at Richmond, highlighted by a fifth-place result with Matt Mills in 2023.
• The 50-year-old was atop the box for Clint Bowyer’s NASCAR Cup Series triumph at the 0.75-mile circuit in 2012. Bowyer started fourth and led 88 laps en route to the duo’s second of three wins that year.
• Through 17 races, the No. 7 team sits fifth in the division’s owner points standings on the strength of two wins, six top-five and eight top-10 finishes.
• The No. 7 crew is seeking their second owner’s playoff appearance in as many seasons and sit eighth on the playoff grid, 22 points above the cutline. They remain eight points ahead of the next competitor.
• In May, the team and driver Carson Hocevar claimed victory in the Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway. Hocevar led 75 of the event’s 134 laps and survived last-lap contact en route to his fifth victory in the series and first aboard a Spire Motorsports- prepared Chevy Silverado.
• The No. 7 team defended its 2024 victory in the Fr8 208 at Atlanta Motor Speedway in February with Kyle Busch behind the wheel. The Las Vegas driver spent all 135 laps in the top 15 while leading a race-high 80 laps and recording a field-leading average running position (3.2) and driver rating (124.6).
• The 24-year industry veteran spent 14 seasons in NASCAR’s premier division. As a crew chief, he’s amassed six wins in Cup Series competition, 11 in the Xfinity Series and seven in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. He stands as one of 11 crew chiefs to win races across all three of NASCAR’s national touring series.

Rajah Caruth – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• Rajah Caruth will handle the driving chores for Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado in Friday the eero 250 at Richmond Raceway.
• Caruth has three prior CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at the 0.75-mile oval and finished 17th in last year’s event. In 2022, Caruth made his second-career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start in the No. 7 Spire Motorsports Silverado with Kevin “Bono” Manion atop the box.
• Events DC will ride on the quarter panel of the No. 71 Silverado this weekend. The organization is the premier host of conventions, sports, entertainment, and cultural events in the nation’s capital. As the official convention and sports authority for Washington, D.C., Events DC creates experiences that engage, excite and entertain visitors from around the world and benefit the local economy and community.
• HENDRICKCARS.COM is the online home for everything Hendrick Automotive Group. Visitors can shop more than 30,000 new or pre-owned vehicles, locate centers for service and collision repair, receive a value to sell or trade their car, chat online with customer service, discover career opportunities, learn more about vehicle protection programs, and explore how the company gives back to the community.
• Caruth has secured his second CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoff appearance after claiming victory at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway in May. He held off a hard-charging Corey Heim and Layne Riggs to earn his second victory in the series. After hitting pit road for the final time in the third position, the No. 71 pit crew nailed the stop, putting their driver out front to start the Final Stage. He led the final 51 laps en route to the win.
• Richmond is the site of the 23-year-old’s NASCAR National Series debut, where he competed in the 2022 NASCAR Xfinity Series event. He started 22nd and finished 24th.
• The Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University graduate scored his career-best finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at a Virginia short track when he finished 12th at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway in October 2023.
• Through 17 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series events in 2025, the Washington, D.C., native has registered one win, three top fives and nine top 10s on the year. He has led 189 laps, tripling his 57 career laps led entering the year.
• In the No. 71 team’s first playoff appearance in 2024, Caruth and Co. advanced to the Round of 8, but mechanical issues stalled their Championship 4 hopes in the season’s penultimate event at Martinsville Speedway.
• With his first career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last season, Caruth became the third African-American driver to win a NASCAR National Touring Series race, joining 2015 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Wendell Scott and current Cup Series star Bubba Wallace.
• The blue and white HENDRICKCARS.COM colors will wrap Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-084. The truck scored a chassis-best fourth-place finish in its most recent of four appearances at Rockingham (N.C.) Speedway in April.

Rajah Caruth Quotes
Richmond is your home track. What is it like returning home and seeing all the people that come out to support you?
“It is great to return to Richmond. That is a really special place for me. Not only is it my home track, it is the place I saw my first NASCAR race and the site of my first national series start. Those are both memories I will cherish forever. So many people come out to support me that it is impossible to find time in the day to interact with every one of them. The volume of people that comes out is crazy. It is always good to get back to my roots.”

Richmond marks the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoff cutoff. What are you doing to prepare for playoff racing next time out at Darlington?
“Things are definitely starting to ramp up. I’m already in the mindset of taking things one race at a time, focusing on one track at a time and not looking too far down the line. Looking at last year, we left some points on the table that could have prevented us from moving on to the Round of 8, and eventually kept us out of the Championship 4. Overall, we are trying to limit the mistakes and be there at the end of the race. That allows you to maximize your points and have the possibility of snagging a win to automatically advance.”

Events DC is riding along on the quarter panel this week. They have supported your racing career every step of the way. What does that partnership mean to you?
“It is super special. To have both HENDRICKCARS.COM and Events DC support me in one weekend is really special. Without both of those companies, I would not be here right now. Events DC has done a Late Model race, an ARCA race and some Xfinity races for me. They sponsored some races with Alpha Prime a couple years back and Dover earlier this season. It is cool to represent ‘The District’ any time you have the chance. Hopefully we can get both HENDRICKCARS.COM and Events DC to Victory Lane on Friday.”

Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Kevin “Bono” Manion

• Veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion has called four CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at Richmond Raceway. Zane Smith’s 11th-place result in 2021 stands as his best CRAFTSMAN Truck Series finish at the venue.
• The Boylston, Mass., native led Dale Earnhardt, Jr., to Richmond’s Victory Lane in 2002. Earnhardt, Jr., dominated the event, qualifying on the pole and leading 190 of 250 laps en route to the win.
• Manion, a 31-year veteran of the sport, founded Spire Motorsports’ CRAFTSMAN Truck Series program alongside industry veteran Mike Greci in 2022. The team claimed its first victory in their second outing with William Byron behind the wheel at Martinsville Speedway.
• The 53-year-old has racked up six Cup Series victories – including the 2010 Daytona 500 – 17 NASCAR Xfinity Series triumphs and 12 CRAFTSMAN Truck series wins. Manion is also one of 11 crew chiefs to have called wins across all three of NASCAR’s national touring series.
• In 2023, Manion became one of few to call a race in all three of NASCAR’s national series in a single season, all of which came under the Spire Motorsports umbrella. He led the part-time effort on the No. 7 Silverado in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, helped in limited starts for Carson Hocevar in the Xfinity Series and took the reigns during the second half of the Cup Series season for Ty Dillon and the No. 77 team.

Corey LaJoie – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• Corey LaJoie will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Gainbridge Chevrolet Silverado in the eero 250 at Richmond Raceway.
• LaJoie owns six CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts, four of which were in a Spire-prepared Silverado. Last time out at Michigan, he survived a trio of NASCAR Overtime sessions to secure a series-best fifth-place result.
• The 33-year-old has tallied 14 starts in NASCAR’s premier series at the 0.75-mile, D-shaped oval, finishing 21st in both April 2021 and April 2023, a venue-best.
• The former Spire Motorsports NASCAR Cup Series driver played a key role in building the team’s Cup Series program. He made 136 starts behind the wheel of the No. 7 Chevrolet, tallying four top fives and eight top 10s, while registering a career-best fourth-place finish three times, most recently in the 2024 season-opening Daytona 500.
• In three Richmond ARCA Menards Series East races, the 2012 series runner-up secured back-to-back third-place finishes in 2011 and 2012. He was eliminated from contention in the 2013 event when he was collected in a late-race multi-car pileup.
• The short-track stalwart has earned his stripes in the Commonwealth of Virginia, collecting the checkered flag and a grandfather clock trophy in NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour competition at Martinsville Speedway in October 2022.
• The father-of-three also picked up victories at Langley Speedway (Hampton, Va.) in 2012 in ARCA Menards Series East competition and South Boston Speedway (Halifax County, Va.) during the 2006 Aaron’s Pro Challenge Series.
• The Concord, N.C., native was the championship runner-up in the ARCA Menards Series East, a 14-race regional stock car championship based primarily on short tracks, in 2012. He recorded five wins, 10 top fives and led 385 laps, falling just 14 points short of the driver’s championship title.
• LaJoie will return to the seat of the No. 77 Silverado later this month at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and race the machine for the remainder of the 2025 season.
• Founded in 2018, Gainbridge® is an insurtech subsidiary of Group 1001 that empowers consumers to take control of their financial future with solutions that are accessible to everyone, no matter their budget or financial knowledge. Its platform provides access to financial products that are simple, intuitive, and backed by smart technology with no complexity or hidden fees. Gainbridge® is headquartered in Zionsville, Ind. For more information, visit www.gainbridge.io or follow and connect with Gainbridge on X and LinkedIn.
• LaJoie will pilot Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-091 on Friday. The truck owns two top-five finishes in two starts, most recently leading 12 laps in a fifth-place showing with LaJoie at Michigan International Speedway in June. In the chassis’ maiden voyage at Kansas Speedway this May, William Byron scored a runner-up finish. Overall, the truck has averaged a finishing position of 3.5.

Corey LaJoie Quote
What are your thoughts heading into your second CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race of the season and first at Richmond?
“Richmond is a challenging race track. It feels like you’re going 30 miles an hour around there. Your inputs have to be precise and tire conservation comes at a premium. Chad (Walter) and I have made some gains in the simulator, so we feel like we are prepared to have a good run Friday night.”

Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Chad Walter

• Chad Walter has called three CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races at Richmond. Driver Tyler Ankrum earned Walter’s venue-best finish at Richmond Raceway, a fifth-place result.
• During his time as a shop engineer at Dale Earnhardt, Inc., Walter was part of Dale Eanhardt, Jr.’s 2000 triumph at Richmond. Earnhardt, Jr., led 31 laps en route to his second Cup Series victory.
• Between NASCAR’s Xfinity Series and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, Walter has racked up six wins, 52 top fives and 131 top 10s.

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 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win came on May 30, 2025, when Rajah Caruth took the checkered flag in the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.

In 2025, Spire Motorsports campaigns the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team also fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and an ARCA Menards Series Chevrolet in select events.