Official Release

Officials with Niece Motorsports and CarShield have solidified an agreement that will see CarShield serving as the primary sponsor of Ross Chastain’s No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado in Saturday’s NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series (NGOTS) CarShield 200 presented by CK Power at Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

In this $80K Truck Challenge video, AmericanTrucks’ Justin Dugan presents the ‘Battle of the Baller Trucks’ featuring his own heavily modified 2017 Ford Raptor SuperCrew versus a 2019 Roush F150 SC. The contrasting pickups have brought compelling commentary among the fellow gear heads and coworkers at AmericanTrucks’ headquarters, prompting the production of this comparison video.

Paul Menard and the No. 21 Menards/Richmond Water Heaters team, like all the others on the Monster Energy Cup Series, have been thrown for a loop, so to speak, for this weekend’s race at Sonoma Raceway.

International Speedway Corporation (“ISC”) announced today its Proud Partner status with the Veteran Tickets Foundation (Vet Tix), an organization providing event tickets through its Tickets for Troops program to all branches of currently serving military and veterans, including immediate family of troops killed in action. ISC’s Proud Partner designation spans across its 12 motorsports entertainment facilities throughout the U.S. that host NASCAR events.

On the outside, professional athletes live what most people would consider a very glamorous lifestyle. They travel all across the country – even around the world – to participate in big-time sporting events in some of the most lavish venues the human race has ever constructed. But for the participants of those sporting events, it’s not always as glamorous as it looks. For most who are involved in motorsports, the long days at the track mean there is little time left over for being a tourist. It’s usually just the race track, maybe a stop off at a local restaurant, and the hotel.

Chevrolet drivers Kurt Busch, No. 1 Monster Energy Camaro ZL1, and Jimmie Johnson, No. 48 Ally Camaro ZL1, will be considered favorites to win at Sonoma Raceway. In 14 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series races each on the road course since 2005, Busch and Johnson are at the top of the MENCS chart of active drivers with an average finish of 11.0 (Busch has an average starting position of 9.4 and Johnson 13.6). Johnson won at the track in 2010 in his Chevrolet and Busch won the next year.

Regan Smith, current NASCAR analyst and pit reporter for Fox Sports, is temporarily trading in the microphone for the familiarity of a steering wheel this summer.

Roush Fenway Racing makes the long trek West this weekend as the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series (MENCS) converges on Sonoma Raceway for the first of two road course races this summer. RFR has three wins at the Napa Valley track, including two in the Cup series (1997, 2014).

Toyota and Sonoma… For the 13th consecutive season, Toyota has supported the Cup Series event at Sonoma Raceway: the Toyota/Save Mart 350. Toyota began the entitlement sponsorship of the race in its debut Cup season of 2007, and the partnership has continued to flourish.

William Byron on the carousel at Sonoma: “I haven’t experienced the carousel at Sonoma before. I think it’s going to be different for all of us this weekend. We were talking about that last week in the shop, there’s going to be a lot of differences such as the gearing ratio that we’ll use now. It’s going to create a new challenge for all of us, which I feel like evens the playing field some.”