Bobby Pierce and MB Motorsports hope the magic they created together on the dirt at Eldora transfers to the asphalt of Martinsville Speedway in Saturday's Kroger 200. After scoring the pole, a heat race victory and a second place finish in the MudSummer Classic, Pierce will be making his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series asphalt debut when he slides behind the wheel of the No. 63 RPM Services, LLC / Pixographs Chevy Silverado.
"Martinsville [Speedway] is my favorite track right behind Bristol [Motor Speedway]. I've always been a fan of the short tracks and Martinsville fits the bill. It's definitely a driver's track and it's so physically challenging for us. You have to hit your marks so perfectly at Martinsville because one small mistake means you get stuck on the outside.
"This is a special race for us because we get to pay tribute to a NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee. Jerry Cook was a six-time Modified champ, and he'll get inducted with the Class of 2016 coming up in January. But this weekend at Martinsville, we're going to have a replica paint scheme like one of his old Modifieds.
NASCAR Xfinity Series Driver Cale Conley driver of the #14 TriStar Motorsports Toyota has ended his 2015 race season prematurely. A lack of sponsorship and team funding is the reason for Cale Conley’s early departure of the 2015 Xfinity Series
"It's an honor to run this paint scheme paying tribute to a Hall of Fame inductee," Gilliland said. "It's hard enough to win one championship in any racing series, but Jerry won six. That's dominant.
"Martinsville has been a great track for us throughout my career, so it will be important to go there and try to lead every lap and win the race with our FedEx team. There are still trophies to get this season and we plan on doing our best to end the year on a high note.”
CAMRY CHASERS: Two Camry drivers have advanced to the ‘Eliminator’ round of this year’s Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series (NSCS) championship playoff. With the points reset for this three-race stint, Carl Edwards and Kyle Busch each have an equal chance to contend for the title. The Eliminator Round consists of races on the half-mile Martinsville Speedway in Virginia, the 1.5-mile oval of Texas Motor Speedway and the one-mile flat track of Phoenix International Raceway -- before another four drivers will be cut from contention prior this year’s final race at Homestead-Miami Speedway where four drivers will vie for the trophy.
Biffle has 25 Sprint Cup Series starts at Martinsville. In those starts he has earned five top-10 finishes, two of which came in 2013 with back-to-back top-10 finishes.
Ryan Ellis and Young’s Motorsports are shifting into the final stretch of the year with a new partner joining the No. 02 Chevrolet for Saturday night’s Fleetio 200 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.
AAG Racing competed at Circuit of The Americas (COTA) earlier this year in USAC competition with Mustang Cup USA, with Chris Clarke piloting the No. 9 entry.
Fleetio announced an expanded multi-year partnership with 23XI Racing, continuing Fleetio’s primary sponsorship of Corey Heim in select NASCAR Cup Series races.
Bettors looking at race markets through FanDuel can consider those factors alongside qualifying position, practice speed, and how consistently a driver has maintained competitive pace over longer runs.
