Spire Motorsports MillerTech Battery 200 Race Advance

• In five NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series appearances at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, Spire Motorsports has earned three top-10 finishes. Austin Hill (2022) and Chase Purdy (2024) both combined for team-best sixth-place results at “The Tricky Triangle.” The Mooresville, N.C., organization fields the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets full time in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The Nos. 07 and 7 entries will see a rotating roster of all-star caliber drivers throughout the season, while Rajah Caruth and Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Andres Perez de Lara will pilot the Nos. 71 and 77, respectively, for the full slate of races.
• Spire Motorsports will honor teammate Tony Witt who tragically lost his life Friday, June 6. Witt served as a suspension mechanic for the team’s NASCAR Cup Series’ operation and had been with the organization since March 2022. He was journeyman competitor who made the move from Wisconsin to North Carolina in the mid 90s to work alongside fellow Wisconsin racer Robbie Reiser on his fledgling NASCAR Xfinity Series team. Since then, he made stops and won races at Darrell Waltrip Racing, Hendrick Motorsports and Richard Childress Racing, among others, prior to his time with Spire. Witt leaves behind two sons, Dalton and Tyler, mother Jo Anne and brothers Todd and Jon. He was preceded in death by his late wife Paula. The team will honor Witt’s memory with a decal on all four of its NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series entries this weekend in Pocono.
• The MillerTech Battery 200 will be televised live on FS1 Friday, June 20 beginning at 5 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The 14th of 25 races on the 2025 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series calendar will be broadcast live on the NASCAR Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Patrick Emerling – Driver, No. 07 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• Patrick Emerling will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 07 GOAT Power Bikes Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.
• Emerling is a full-time competitor on the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, the world’s premier asphalt modified series. He’s racked up eight victories in addition to 49 top-five and 91 top-10 finishes in 164 starts. The 2021 championship runner-up currently sits sixth in the division’s championship point standings with a victory in February’s season opener at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway. In the tour’s most recent event last weekend at Riverhead (N.Y.) Raceway, Emerling registered his third top-five finish of the season after crossing the line in third.
• Friday’s 200-mile event will mark the northeasterner’s fourth CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start and first behind the wheel of a Spire Motorsports Silverado. He earned a series-best 19th-place result last month at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway in the No. 75 Henderson Motorsports Silverado.
• The Orchard Park, N.Y., native has made three starts at “The Tricky Triangle” in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, earning a venue-best 26th-place result in 2023 in his own Emerling-Gase Motorsports Chevy.
• The 32-year-old has competed in 59 NASCAR National Touring Series events, collecting his first-career top 10 in February at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.
• Frequently described as ‘The Harley Davidson of E-Bike Brands,’ GOAT Power Bikes leads the charge for building powerful, affordable, and reliable e-bikes that empower riders to conquer any terrain. GOAT’s base model bikes have a 48MPH top speed with a price point of under $2,800, making them the best bang for your buck for anything in its class.
• The eight-time Whelan Modified Tour winner will be at the controls of Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-073 Friday afternoon. Chase Purdy earned a chassis-best runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway in 2023 when it was the property of Kyle Busch Motorsports.

Patrick Emerling Quote
While you have limited seat time in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, you have prior Xfinity Series experience at Pocono. How do you anticipate the truck’s aero and braking characteristics will differ through Pocono’s three unique corners; particularly in Turn One and Turn Three?
“The truck is going to have more downforce and drag, meaning more on-throttle time and less braking compared to the Xfinity car. They will also race quite different. Every corner at Pocono is unique and you can lose a lot speed and momentum with the smallest mistakes. With my background in modified racing, the truck may potentially suit my driving style more so than the Xfinity car does.”

Atop the No. 07 Box – Crew Chief Allen Hart

• Allen Hart calls the shots for the No. 07 team, an entry that has seen a rotating roster of drivers throughout the 2025 campaign.
• As a race engineer at JR Motorsports, the Midland, Mich., native helped Justin Allgaier to a runner-up finish in the 2017 NASCAR Xfinity Series event at Pocono Raceway. He led 13 laps and fell 0.615 seconds short of the victory to Brad Keselowski.
• Last time out at Michigan International Speedway, the No. 07 team and driver Corey LaJoie managed a top-five result despite a shot at the win late in the going. After restarting on the front row for a trio of NASCAR Overtime attempts, aged Goodyear rubber left the driver vulnerable to his competitors on fresher tires and was forced to settle for a fifth-place finish.
• The 43-year-old earned his first career win in a crew chief role in March’s Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. After a spin midway through the Final Stage, Kyle Larson made an impressive run through the field over the event’s final 40 circuits, chasing down the leaders with two laps remaining to make the winning move.
• Through 13 races, No. 07 team sits ninth in the division’s owner’s championship point standings on the strength of one win, four top-five and five top-10 finishes.

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• Carson Hocevar, driver of the No. 7 Delaware Life Chevrolet Silverado, will make his fourth and final CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start of the season in Friday’s MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono Raceway.
• In his three starts behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Silverado in 2025, the 22-year-old has collected one win and paced the field for 131 laps. A potential top-five run at Texas Motor Speedway turned sour when he lost voltage under green-flag conditions, and a potential hometown victory at Michigan International Speedway went awry when contact with a competitor in the closing laps cut his left-rear tire.
• The five-time CRAFTSMAN Truck Series winner owns three prior starts in the series at “The Tricky Triangle.” He registered a fifth-place result in 2022.
• The 2024 Cup Series Rookie of the Year started 15th and finished 17th in last year’s 160-lap Pocono Cup Series race.
• Last month, Hocevar and the No. 7 team claimed victory in the Heart of Health Care 200 at Kansas Speedway. He led 75 of the event’s 134 laps and survived last-lap contact with a competitor en route to his fifth victory in the series and first aboard a Spire Motorsports-prepared Silverado.
• The Portage, Mich., native is a veteran of 80 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races, earning five wins, 22 top fives and 34 top 10s while leading 731 laps. He made the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoffs in all three full-time seasons, reaching the Championship 4 in 2023.
• 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.
• Hocevar will race Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-089 Friday afternoon, the same truck he parked in Victory Lane at Kansas in its only prior appearance.

Carson Hocevar Quote
How will another double-duty weekend help you at a track as tricky as Pocono?
“Track time is going to be an advantage this weekend. Pocono can be really difficult, you have to be able to get through each corner and they’re all different. The way the car or truck gets through the tunnel turn is going to feel completely different from how it gets through Turn One or Three. Then there’s the long straightaway and the bumps, and all the unique things that can impact a race at Pocono. I think we’ll do well. We’ve been able to find things at each type of track that play in our favor and I feel like we’ll be able to build on all of those things to make the adjustments we need.”

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.
• Pattie will team up with Carson Hocevar for the fourth and final time in 2025 this weekend. The paiting collected a victory together last month at Kansas Speedway.
• Kyle Busch emerged victorious in the first of two CRAFTSMAN Truck Series races for the 50-year-old shot caller in 2023. The win tallied the 100th and final for Kyle Busch Motorsports.
• In Cup Series action, the Zephyrhills, Fla., native called 28 events, collecting seven top 10s, highlighted by a runner-up finish with Juan Pablo Montoya in 2009 and a fourth-place result in 2014 with Clint Bowyer.
• Through 13 races, the No. 7 team sits seventh in the division’s owner’s championship point standings on the strength of two wins, five top-five and six top-10 finishes.
• 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 has 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 be behind the wheel of Spire Motorsports’ No. 71 HENDRICKCARS.COM Chevrolet Silverado in Friday’s MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono Raceway.
• In two prior CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at the 2.5-mile tri-oval, the newly minted 23-year-old earned a venue-best 10th-place finish in last season’s CRC Brakleen 175. He has also made one start in both the Xfinity Series and ARCA Menards Series at “The Tricky Triangle.”
• Last time out at Michigan International Speedway, a flat tire on the 250-mile event’s opening lap forced the Washington, D.C., native to pit road under green-flag conditions, ultimately falling a lap down. Caruth earned the free pass at the conclusion of Stage Two, returning to lead-lap status. Soon after on a Lap-77 restart, contact with a competitor sent the No. 71 Chevrolet into the outside retaining wall, causing significant damage to the right side and rear of the Silverado. The damage was deemed too significant to continue and the ream was credited with a 31st-place finish.
• In last month’s Rackley Roofing 200 at Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway, Caruth held off hard-charging Corey Heim and Layne Riggs to earn his second-career CRAFTSMAN Truck Series victory. After hitting pit road for the final time in the third position, the No. 71 pit crew nailed the stop, putting the driver out front to start the Final Stage. He led the final 51 laps en route to the win.
• Through the first 13 events on the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series calendar, Caruth has earned one win, three top fives and seven top 10s, while pacing the field for 186 circuits – tripling his 57 laps led entering the year.
• 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.
• The 2024 season marked a career year for Caruth, tallying one win, a pair of Cometic Gasket Pole Awards and five top-five finishes, all of which were the first of his young career. The 12 top-10 finishes on the season tripled Caruth’s total of four in 2023, while his average starting position of 10.7 was four positions higher than 2023 and his 11.6 average finish was an impressive seven positions higher.
• 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.
• Caruth and the No. 71 team qualified for the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series playoffs in 2024, the first such appearance for the recent Winston-Salem (N.C.) State University graduate. Despite reaching the Round of 8, mechanical issues stalled his championship bid in the season’s penultimate event at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.
• The blue and white HENDRICKCARS.COM colors will wrap Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-078. The truck was the same Caruth parked in Victory Lane last month at Nashville, the second win for the chassis following Nick Sanchez’s Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway triumph in 2024.

Rajah Caruth Quotes
Coming out of an off week, how do you reset and prepare for the next two weekends at very different race tracks?
“It was nice to have a little bit of time off to reset around the family. Going into Pocono, I’m just excited to get back on track. I’ve improved a lot there since my first ARCA race in 2022. Our trucks are improving and we’re doing a great job working together as a team. The prep doesn’t change and I’m confident the HENDRICKCARS.COM Silverado our team put together will be able to compete up front.”

This year’s race at Pocono has been extended to 70 laps to 80. How does that change your mindset on how you will approach the day?
“It doesn’t change much other than you will have to be a little more mindful about your tires. They are durable, but you will be running a lot of laps on a set. You want to make sure you aren’t cording them or oversaturating the tire. Otherwise, fuel conservation will be a big focus. A lot of these Pocono races comes down to who can save the most fuel, so I will be clutching and coasting under caution and cutting the engine when I have the opportunity.”

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

• Veteran crew chief Kevin “Bono” Manion has called nine CRAFTSMAN Truck Series events at Pocono Raceway, tallying one top five and three top 10s, highlighted by a runner-up finish with Tyler Ankrum in 2019. More recently, he led the charge for the part-time No. 7 entry that secured a venue-best sixth-place result for the team with Austin Hill in 2022.
• The Boylston, Mass., native adds 19 Cup Series races worth of experience at the “Tricky Triangle,” including a third-place result with Martin Truex, Jr., in June 2007, one-week removed from his first NASCAR Cup Series triumph at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway.
• 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 their 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.

Andres Perez de Lara – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Silverado

• Andres Perez de Lara will pilot the No. 77 Telcel Chevrolet Silverado for Spire Motorsports in the MillerTech Battery 200 at Pocono Raceway .
• Last time out at Michigan International Speedway, Perez de Lara picked up his second top 10 of the season as he partook in a spirited drive in the final two attempts at NASCAR Overtime. He ultimately crossed the line in the ninth position.
• The Mexico City native will make his second career start at “The Tricky Triangle” and his first in the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. In the 2023 ARCA Menards Series’ Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150, the 2024 series champion started third and took the lead on Lap 7. He led 16 until he was ultimately was passed by eventual race winner, Jesse Love, on Lap 22.
• Telcel is Mexico’s leading telecommunications company, providing nationwide coverage, cutting-edge mobile connectivity, and high-speed internet services to millions of users. With over 30 years of experience, Telcel continues to innovate in digital communication, offering solutions that keep people connected anytime, anywhere.
• Beyond technology, Telcel is committed to supporting excellence in sports, particularly in motorsports. As a proud and long-time sponsor of Perez de Lara, Telcel fuels the passion for speed, precision and performance, driving success both on and off the track. Telcel will be a season-long partner with Perez de Lara and the No. 77 team.
• The 20-year-old has made 15 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts, 14 of which were behind the wheel of a Spire Motorsports Chevy Silverado. He earned his first-career top 10 in his CRAFTSMAN Truck Series debut last June at World Wide Technology Raceway via a ninth-place result. His career-best seventh-place finish at Martinsville Speedway in March marked his second top 10 in the series.
• The Sunoco Rookie of the Year Contender juggled his duties while also competing full time in the NASCAR Mexico Series. In 2023, he earned the Rookie of the Year award while finishing fourth in the division’s championship point standings and reaching the series’ version of the NASCAR playoffs.
• Perez de Lara will pilot Spire Manufacturing chassis SMT-082 on Friday. Rajah Caruth drove the truck to a pair of top 10s during his 2024 NASCAR CRAFSMAN Truck Series playoff run.

Andres Perez de Lara Quotes
What are your thoughts on heading to Pocono for the first time in the truck?
“I am excited to head up to Pocono for the first time in a truck. This is one of the tracks I was most excited to go to this year and one I circled on my calendar that could be a good fit. The track has a great atmosphere with a lot of history and presents a lot of challenges. I ran ARCA there in 2023 and had a solid day, leading laps and spending most of the day in the top five. Pocono is unlike any track we race at. Each turn is unique and presents its own set of challenges. You have to be good everywhere to make speed. I think we will have what it takes to go out and get a good result.”

Last weekend, you were able to make your Xfinity Series debut in your hometown. How will this experience translate over to the truck series?
“Any time you can get seat time you are learning something. I had to start in the back due to some issues that came up during practice. I passed some cars at the start which gave me a ton of confidence, especially in my first start in the Xfinity car. I was running within the top 15 towards the end of the race until I got turned. That’s just road racing these days. This was definitely a boost in confidence heading into the second half of the season, especially with three road-courses coming up on the schedule.”

Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Chad Walter

• Walter has called two CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race at “The Tricky Triangle”. His best effort coming with Tyler Ankrum in 2020, when the duo collected a work-man like ninth place finish.
• In last year’s event at Pocono Raceway, Walter and Rajah Caruth finished in the 10th position after qualifying third
• Between NASCAR’s Xfinity Series and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, the Albion, N.Y. native 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 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. 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.