Spire Motorsports Atlanta NASCAR Cup Series Race Advance

• In 26 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway (AMS), Spire Motorsports has logged three top-five, four top-10 and seven top-15 finishes. Carson Hocevar, driver of the team’s No. 77 Spectrum Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, posted a team-best runner-up finish in last February’s Ambetter Health 400 at the 1.5-mile quad-oval. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the Cup Series for Daniel Suarez, Michael McDowell and Hocevar, respectively.
• The NASCAR Cup Series race at AMS will be televised live on FOX, Sunday, Feb. 22 beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The second of 36 points-paying races on the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series calendar will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Daniel Suárez – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Daniel Suárez will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at Atlanta.
• On February 25, 2024, Suárez earned his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory when he took the checkered flag at AMS, by winning the Ambetter Health 400 in one of the closest finishes in series’ history. Suárez prevailed in a dramatic three-wide sprint to the checkered flag, edging out Ryan Blaney and Kyle Busch by a scant 0.003 seconds. The victory was his first since 2022 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway and secured Suárez’s spot in the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.
• The two-time NASCAR Cup Series winner has made 14 starts at Atlanta, earning one victory, four top-five, six top-10 and eight top-20 results. He holds an average starting position of 21.6 and an average finishing position of 17.2 at the 1.54-mile quad-oval. In total, he has led 32 laps at AMS.
• Last Sunday, Suárez started from the rear of the field in the Daytona 500 in a back-up car, after his primary car was damaged in Thursday’s qualifying race. He climbed the leaderboard, earning stage points with fifth- and 10th-place finishes in the race’s first and second stages. Suárez ran a fuel-saving strategy during the final stage and earned a respectable 13th-place finish in his No. 7 Freeway Insurance Chevrolet.
• This weekend, One Inc., will step into an associate sponsor role aboard Suarez’s No. 7 machine. One Inc. is modernizing the insurance industry through a unified and frictionless payment network. Focusing only on the insurance industry, One Inc helps carriers transform their operations by reducing costs, increasing security, and optimizing customer experience. The comprehensive end-to-end digital payments platform provides expanded payment options, multi-channel digital communications, and rapid digital claim payment, even for the most complex insurance use cases. As one of the fastest growing digital payments platforms in the insurance industry, One Inc manages billions of dollars per year in premiums and claims payments. For more information, please visit www.oneinc.com.
• Freeway Insurance was established in 1987 and is one of the largest and fastest-growing personal lines insurance brokers in the United States, offering coverage through a “click, call, or come in” approach that connects customers nationwide. The company continually researches, grows, and diversifies its product offerings to stay responsive to the evolving insurance market. Freeway provides a wide range of options—from basic to premium coverage—in auto, truck, commercial vehicle, homeowners, renters, small business, motorcycle, recreational vehicle, fire, and flood insurance. In 2008, Freeway Insurance became part of Confie, the nation’s leading personal lines insurance distribution company. Customers can access Freeway Insurance through neighborhood offices, online at www.freeway.com, or by calling (800) 300-0227.
• Suárez has made two NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series starts at AMS prior to the track reconfiguration in 2022, earning one top-10 and two top-20 finishes. He recorded his career-best series result at Atlanta with a seventh-place finish in March 2016.
• The Monterrey, Mexico native earned a fourth-place finish in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at AMS in 2015.
• The 34-year-old is a veteran of 324 Cup Series starts and has notched two wins (Sonoma, June 2022 and AMS, Feb. 2024), 25 top fives and 76 top 10s in NASCAR’s premier division. Suarez has led a total of 907 laps and has earned three poles since entering the series full time in 2017.

Daniel Suárez Quotes
How do you view Atlanta? Is it a superspeedway or an intermediate racetrack?
“I don’t think it’s either in my opinion. I think it’s a hybrid track and the reason why I like it so much is because it is very different. It doesn’t race like a 1.5-mile track but it also doesn’t race like a superspeedway, either, because everything happens so quick. The way the track is built, the speed in the corners, the banking is just completely different when you compare it to another 1.5 mile track, for example, Kansas Speedway. So, the way I see it, yes maybe on paper people call Atlanta a superspeedway with that style of racing, but to me it’s a hybrid.”

How mentally taxing is Atlanta compared to other tracks?
“Atlanta is very mentally exhausting. At most 1.5-mile tracks, you usually get some space after five or 10 laps to move around, and at superspeedways, it’s intense but mostly in the first 15 laps. At Atlanta, you never get space—you can’t relax or reset. Even running 25th, it’s still super intense. You have to go full speed and constantly learn and adjust during the race. There’s no time to think about what just happened because everything happens so fast.”

Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Ryan Sparks

• Ryan Sparks has called 203 NASCAR Cup Series races, earning five top-five and 11 top-10 finishes since making his Cup Series debut atop the pit box in 2020.
• The Winston-Salem, N.C., native’s best finish at AMS came in the 2023 Ambetter Health 400, where he led the No. 7 team to a fourth-place result. Sparks has called nine races at Atlanta, producing one top-five and two top-10 finishes. Overall, Sparks has led the charge in 96 races on drafting-style tracks.
• Sparks joined Spire Motorsports in 2021, where he served as both Crew Chief and Competition Director, leading the organization’s competitive and technical efforts. In the 2026 NASCAR Cup Series season, Sparks serves as crew chief for Daniel Suárez.
• Sparks brings more than a decade of experience across all three national series, highlighted by 13 seasons at Richard Childress Racing and contributions to title-winning campaigns in the 2011 CRAFTMAN Truck Series and 2013 O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.

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

• Michael McDowell will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 B’laster Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series race at AMS.
• McDowell owns 20 NASCAR Cup Series starts at AMS, highlighted by one top five, two top 10s and 58 laps led. He started 20th and claimed a venue-best fourth-place finish in fall 2022.
• In last year’s spring race at the Hampton, Ga., quad-oval, McDowell ran into power steering issues early in the race and was forced to retreat to the garage where he lost six laps while the team effected repairs. With the help of a handful of timely cautions and savvy work from the driver’s seat, McDowell raced his way back to the lead lap to earn a respectable 13th-place finish.
• In 2024, McDowell and crew chief Travis Peterson swept qualifying in both races at AMS, leading the field to green at both events.
• Across his last five attempts at AMS, the 41-year-old driver holds an average finish of 13th with only one finish outside of the top 20.
• B’laster will return as the primary partner for this weekend’s 400-mile contest. The No. 71 Chevrolet will feature two of its PB penetrant products as part of the livery. Founded in 1957 with PB B’laster Penetrant, B’laster offers a full line of high-performance penetrants, lubricants, solvents, greases, refrigerants and protectants. B’laster products are trusted in garages and race shops nationwide to break loose, clean up, and protect.
• In last week’s season-opener at Daytona International Speedway, the No. 71 Modo Casino Chevrolet finished fourth in Thursday night’s qualifying race, to earn a 10th-place starting spot for the Daytona 500. McDowell led 10 laps and was second in the running order when the white flag was displayed, but was collected in a last-lap melee and left with a disappointing 22nd-place finish.
• With 35 points-paying races left on the 2026 schedule, McDowell is 17th in the driver standings, after earning additional points in Thursday’s qualifying race and stage points on Sunday.

Michael McDowell Quote
What did you learn during Atlanta last year that you can use for this weekend?
“I am looking forward to going to Atlanta with B’laster on our Spire Motorsports Chevy.
We obviously had some troubles there on the No. 71 last year and rallied back to the lead lap, but 77 had a great run there at the end of the race; Carson was one of the fastest cars. So, we have a good notebook and good momentum coming off Daytona with having cars that had lots of speed and handled well, now going to another drafting semi-speedway track to hopefully redeem ourselves from Daytona.”

Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Travis Peterson

• Travis Peterson, in his fourth season as McDowell’s crew chief, led his driver to both pole positions at AMS in 2024.
• Peterson also served as race engineer on the No. 9 JR Motorsports Chevrolet that Chase Elliott drove to a pole in qualifying at Atlanta in 2014.
• Peterson contributed to several victories during his tenure at RFK Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and JR Motorsports, highlighted by clinching the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series title in 2014 and racking up three Cup Series wins with Dale Earnhardt, Jr., and the No. 88 team in 2015.
• Peterson is a mechanical engineering graduate of the Williams States Lee College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. The West Bend, Wis., native earned his degree in 2012.

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

• Carson Hocevar will race Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Spectrum Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s 400-mile NASCAR Cup Series race at AMS.
• Hocevar came within 2.5 miles of victory in last weekend’s Daytona 500 before chaos enveloped the field with one lap to go. He led the field to the white flag, but contact initiated by another competitor heading into Turn 1 sent him into the outside retaining wall, ultimately spinning in front of the field. He was eventually scored 18th in the final rundown.
• The 23-year-old diver will pull double duty this weekend at AMS, where he’ll pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 Chevy Silverado prior to his traditional NASCAR Cup Series duties aboard the team’s No. 77 Spectrum Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s 266-lap race.
• Last February, Hocevar started 26th at the 1.54-mile quad-oval, but was quick to climb the leaderboard. He picked up stage points in each of the first two segments and positioned himself to contend for his first Cup Series win in NASCAR Overtime. He made a three-wide move for the lead, but a caution for an incident while the leaders were making their way through Turns 3 and 4 brought the race to an end. Hocevar was ultimately scored with a second-place finish.
• Hocevar put on a statistical showcase last February, averaging a top-10 running position (9.59) while spending 90.6 percent (241-of-266 laps) of the race within the top 15, all while registering the most green flag passes and quality passes and calculating a 105.0 driver rating.
• In four Cup Series starts at Atlanta, the Portage, Mich., native has finished no worse than 19th, tallying one top-five and two top-10 results. He finished 10th in the series’ most recent visit to the 1.54-mile venue last September.
• The five-time CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race winner owns three previous starts at AMS, where he earned a venue-best 16th-place finish in 2021, one year prior to the track’s reconfiguration.
• In 14 Cup Series starts on drafting-style tracks, Hocevar has tallied one top-five, four top-10 and 10 top-20 results, highlighted by his runner-up finish at Atlanta Motor Speedway last February.
• Spectrum is a suite of advanced communications services offered by Charter Communications, Inc. (NASDAQ:CHTR), a leading broadband connectivity company available to 58 million homes and small to large businesses across 41 states. Founded in 1993, Charter has evolved from providing cable TV to streaming, and from high-speed Internet to a converged broadband, WiFi and mobile experience. Over the Spectrum Fiber Broadband Network and supported by our 100 percent U.S.-based employees, the Company offers Seamless Connectivity and Entertainment with Spectrum Internet®, Mobile, TV and Voice products. More information can be found at corporate.charter.com.

Carson Hocevar Quotes
What does it take to win at Atlanta?
“You just have to make moves. All offense, no defense.”

What about the new configuration at Atlanta has clicked for you?
“I’ve been envious and watched a bunch of races at the old bumpy Daytona. Every time I get to run Atlanta it just makes me think about bumpy Daytona where you can draft by yourself. You don’t need anybody. You can just make moves and time things. It’s basically all offense. It just works for me. If this move didn’t work, I’ll get back in line and make the next one. And if that didn’t work, I’ll make the next one. Eventually, one of my six moves is going to work and I’ll gain spots. Ultimately, I’m just smiling the whole time because it reminds me of those nostalgic 2000s era races at Daytona. Atlanta provides the opportunity and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, so that’s the best thing we got.”

How do you balance the disappointment of the finish of last weekend’s Daytona 500 with the optimism of Atlanta this weekend?
“Well we ran second in the Duel on Thursday, and were right where we needed to be on Sunday. We were leading coming to the white, but obviously, things just didn’t work out. I’m not too disappointed knowing we were where we needed to be and there isn’t really anything I could have done to prevent the outcome. If anything, I am more confident for Atlanta this weekend.”

Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Luke Lambert

• Crew chief Luke Lambert enters his third season at Spire Motorsports and fourth with Carson Hocevar. The duo has logged one pole award, three top-five and 15 top-10 finishes in 81 races together.
• The 16-year veteran crew chief has called 17 NASCAR Cup Series events at Atlanta, six of which have come since the track’s 2022 reconfiguration, where he’s tallied one top-five and five top-10 finishes. He also played a key role in Jeff Burton’s trio of top fives from 2007-2010 as a race engineer at Richard Childress Racing.
• In three NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series races atop the box at AMS, Lambert, 43, snagged one top-five and two top-10 results, highlighted by a fourth-place finish on the previous configuration with Elliott Sadler in 2012.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports fields full-time entries in the NASCAR Cup Series, NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing.

The team, co-owned by longtime NASCAR industry executive Jeff Dickerson and TWG Motorsports CEO Dan Towriss, 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 May 30, 2025, when Rajah Caruth took the checkered flag in the Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville Superspeedway.

In 2026, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series and the Nos. 7 and 77 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Mooresville, N.C., organization will also field the No. 77 410 sprint car in Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing competition.