- In 19 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Spire Motorsports has logged three top-15 and five top-20 finishes. Carson Hocevar earned a team-best 11th-place result at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile” in April. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet ZL1s in the NCS with Justin Haley, Michael McDowell and Hocevar, respectively.
- The Bass Pro Shops Night Race will be televised live on USA Saturday, Sept. 13 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 29th of 36 points-paying events on the NASCAR Cup Series calendar will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio, Channel 90.
Justin Haley – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1
- Justin Haley will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet ZL1 in Saturday night’s Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway.
- Haley has made five previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol where he earned a career-best 12th-place finish on the .533-mile concrete oval in September 2022. Haley’s previous spring outing at Bristol saw him qualify 10th and finish 13th, setting the stage for a strong run in the 2025 Food City 500. The Winamac, Ind., native showed speed from the drop of the green flag, racing up to second by Lap 45 and holding a top-five position through the first two stages before starting the final 250-lap run in eighth. On the dirt configuration, he tallied three starts, including an impressive sixth-place run in April 2023.
- In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, Haley owns five starts at “The Last Great Colosseum,” including two top-10 finishes. He earned a seventh-place effort in his series debut in April 2019 and backed it up with a sixth-place result in his most recent start in September 2021. Across those appearances, he carries a 7.2 average starting position and a 16.0 average finish.
- Haley logged three Craftsman Truck Series starts at Bristol, earning his lone top-10 finish at the track with a sixth-place run in August 2018. The Winamac, Ind., native holds a 14.7 average starting spot and a 10.3 average finish in CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competition at the Tennessee short track.
- Last Sunday at World Wide Technology Raceway, Haley started at the rear after the team was forced to make suspension repairs prior to the green. He briefly climbed to eighth, but handling issues and pit strategy left him 28th at the finish.
- NationsGuard is an innovator in the Automotive F&I space. Our programs are designed to maximize sales, profit, CSI and customer retention. We deliver consistent, measurable results through disciplined monitoring and continuous improvement. Our process measures every key element of your program – from vehicle inspection efficiency to service advisor performance. We target and eliminate waste and inefficiency wherever we find it. We maintain process improvements, make changes where necessary, and relentlessly pursue perfection.
- Saturday’s race at Bristol will mark Haley’s 172nd career NASCAR Cup Series start. Over the course of the last seven seasons, the 26-year-old has collected one win, six top five, 18 top 10s and led 123 laps. He made his first premier series start with Spire Motorsports at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway in 2019 and has since made 72 Cup Series starts with the team.
Justin Haley Quotes
Back in the spring race at Bristol, you qualified 10th and came home 13th. What positives can you take from that top-15 run, and how can you build on it this weekend?
“Bristol is always a great atmosphere for the drivers and the fans. We had a super strong run in the spring in the No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet and we fully expect to be just as good Saturday night. We won’t have the best metric for qualifying but if we execute well and get good track position we will set ourselves up for a great weekend.”
“What’s the biggest challenge you expect this weekend — tire wear, track position, or avoiding trouble in traffic?”
“I think my biggest challenge is managing tires while navigating traffic. Tire wear might be a concern this weekend. I think it really depends on the weather and how it shows during practice and how the track takes rubber.”
Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Ryan Sparks
- Ryan Sparks serves in a dual role as both Spire Motorsports Competition Director and crew chief for driver Justin Haley, first pairing with Haley at Bristol Motor Speedway in September 2024.
- The Winston-Salem, N.C., native has stood atop the pit box for 194 NASCAR Cup Series races, earning four top-five and 10 top-10 finishes over the course of his career.
- Sparks has called seven previous Cup Series races at Bristol Motor Speedway, where he tallied a 15th-place finish in 2022 with Corey LaJoie, marking his best result at the famed “The Last Great Colosseum.”
Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1
- Michael McDowell will race Spire Motorsports No. 71 Gainbridge Chevrolet ZL1 in Saturday’s NASCAR Cup Series Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.
- McDowell is a veteran of 27 Cup Series starts at Bristol and calls a sixth-place finish (Sept. 2023) a career/series best at the legendary half-mile oval. Over those 27 starts, the 40-year-old Cup Series veteran has notched a pair of top-10 and nine top-20 finishes.
- Over the Cup Series last eight stops at Bristol, dating back to the 2020 season, the Glendale, Ariz native has scored a pair of top 10s in addition to three 11th-place results. Over those eight races, he’s tallied a 15.9 average start, a 14.6 average finish and completed all but 11 of the 4,000 laps contested.
- In three Cup Series starts on Bristol’s dirt configuration between 2021-2023, McDowell finished 12th, ninth and 11th respectively, in the Food City Dirt Race. He recovered from a three-wide spin in 2023, avoided contact with his fellow competitors and the outside retaining wall to come away with a respectable 11th-place result.
- All three Spire Motorsports entries qualified inside the top-15 in April’s Food City 500 where McDowell’s teammates Carson Hocevar and Justin Haley finished 11th and 13th. McDowell came away with a disappointing 30th-place result, five laps short of the scheduled 500-lap distance.
- In five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile,” McDowell has earned one top 10 (August 2009) and three top-20 finishes.
- Over the course of 28 races in 2025, McDowell has tallied two top-five, three top-10 and 16 top-20 finishes. To date, the veteran racer has earned an average starting position of 15.5, a 19.5 average finish, led 86 laps and been running at the finish of all but two of the season’s first 28 points-paying races.
- Last weekend at World Wide Technology Raceway, McDowell started 28th and raced his way to a solid 14th-place finish.
- 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.com or follow and connect with Gainbridge on X and LinkedIn.
- McDowell has claimed three Xfinity Fastest Lap awards this season, clocking the fastest lap in the Daytona 500, Phoenix Raceway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. The team is one of just three in the series to tally three or more bonus points via the program.
- The No. 71 team secured Spire Motorsports’ first Busch Light Pole Award in March at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. McDowell’s 28.833-second lap marks the fastest lap recorded in NASCAR’s seventh-generation Cup Series car (2022-present) at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval. The team also earned Spire Motorsports’ first stage win during the Grant Park 165 on the streets of downtown Chicago.
- McDowell’s team earned a handsome $100,000 payday and a trip to Victory Lane after winning the Mechanix Wear Pit Crew Challenge during May’s NASCAR All-Star Weekend at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway. The crew’s blistering 12.587-second stop topped all entries for both the NASCAR All-Star Open and NASCAR All-Star Race, earning the title of the fastest team on pit road.
Michael McDowell Quote
What makes the Bristol night race so special?
“The Bristol Night Race is all about the intensity. It just pumps it up. Obviously, with it being a cutoff round of the playoffs and it being a night race, it is just an electric environment and such a fun atmosphere. It is always a cool and fun night. I’ve had good success there, a bunch of near top-10 finishes over the last few years. We had a few issues there in the spring, but we know what we needed to work on and know what we had to fix. It was a very evident issue for us, so I feel good about going back there. Justin (Haley) and Carson (Hocevar) had a ton of speed at that first Bristol race, so we have a good notebook. We feel like we will be contenders there.”
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 10.5 paired with an average finish of 14.5, all with McDowell at the controls.
- As a race engineer at RFK Racing, the West Bend, Wis., native played a key role in Chris Buescher’s 2022 Bristol win. 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 returns to Bristol Motor Speedway in the No. 77 Delaware Life Chevrolet ZL1 looking to improve upon his 11th-place finish in the April 13 Food City 500. Despite matching his best finish at the .533-mile concrete track, first earned on Sept. 16, 2023, the finish was a disappointing one for a team that ran in the top five until the final pit stop of the race with 110 laps remaining. A mishap on pit road, after giving up the lead, dropped Hocevar to 20th, but the Portage, Mich., native recovered to finish just outside of the top 10.
- The 22-year-old driver also owns four NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at Bristol. He led six laps in 2021 en route to a sixth-place finish. In his most recent Truck Series race at Bristol, Hocevar started on the front row and crossed the finish line in fourth for Niece Motorsports.
- In 13 Cup Series starts on short tracks, Hocevar earned a best finish of eighth twice – at Richmond (Va.) Raceway in August 2024 and earlier this year at Iowa Speeday.
- Hocevar is fresh off his 11th top-15 finish of the year after a 15th-place result at World Wide Technology Raceway.
- With eight races left on the 2025 Cup Series schedule, Hocevar owns two top-five and seven top-10 finishes.
- Delaware Life is an insurance and annuity company that empowers financial professionals with a wide array of customizable solutions. A subsidiary of Group 1001 Insurance Holdings LLC, Delaware Life focuses on delivering a seamless experience for advisors. The company understands how important it is to find the right fit for every client, every situation and every individual need. Delaware Life is passionate about equipping advisors with annuities that give their customers peace of mind and a successful future, allowing them to plan with confidence for whatever’s next.
Carson Hocevar Quotes
In the most recent race at Bristol, Spire Motorsports showed a lot of strength. The No. 77 team in particular looked on track for a top-five finish before the final pit stop. How do you use that race to prepare for Saturday night?
“It’s tough because Bristol can be so unpredictable. If anything, the spring race shows that we are capable of running up front. We have that information to use to our advantage and try to find something that will be just as good for us under the lights. It adds a lot of confidence. We know we can do it, it’s just putting every piece together, which is what we’ve been working on all year. I think we’ll be good. With it being a cutoff race for the playoff guys it’ll be interesting to see how things play out, but we have our own race to run and know what we need to do over these last eight races.”
Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Luke Lambert
- Sunday’s race will mark Luke Lambert’s 25th 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 22 races on the traditional concrete surface.
- Lambert owns two wins in three NASCAR Xfinity Series races contested at Bristol. His first win came on March 17, 2012 with Elliott Sadler behind the wheel of the No. 2 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. In 2022, Lambert led Noah Gragson to victory in the regular season finale at Bristol on Sept. 16.
- In total, Lambert has called 432 races in NASCAR’s premier series resulting in 29 top-five and 99 top-10 finishes.
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 (Tenn.) 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.
