Kaulig Racing Weekly Preview | Las Vegas Motor Speedway

 Race Details

Las Vegas Motor Speedway
Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Sunday, March 3 at 3:30PM EST
FOX | PRN | SiriusXM
Team Notes

• Kaulig Racing has made eight NCS starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and has earned two top 10s and led 16 laps.
• So far in the 2024 NCS season, the team has earned one top 10 and three top-20 finishes.
• The team led nine laps in the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

DEREK KRAUS

 ”I’m really excited to make my first Cup Series start with Kaulig Racing, the team that I also made my Xfinity Series debut with! I’m thankful to Matt Kaulig and Chris Rice for believing in me, as well as Western States Flooring, a partner that has supported me throughout my career. I can’t wait to get to work with Travis Mack’s group and see what we can do in Las Vegas.” – Derek Kraus on Las Vegas Motor Speedway  

No. 16 Western States Flooring Camaro ZL1

• Derek Kraus will make his NCS debut this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• Kraus has made eight NXS starts with Kaulig Racing, and has earned three top-10 finishes and 21-laps led.

DANIEL HEMRIC

 ”I’ve said for many years that Las Vegas feels like a second home now. It’s really special to have South Point Hotel Casino and Spa back on the Cup car after a five-year hiatus in the series. They have done so much for me in my career since 2017, so returning to the top level of racing with them feels like having family at the racetrack. Las Vegas is a track that has always been a good one for me. I think this No. 31 team is excited for our first, true mile-and-a-half event to show the work that we’ve put in throughout the off-season. I’m looking forward to seeing where we shake out once we unload and hopefully having a solid weekend.” – Daniel Hemric on Las Vegas Motor Speedway  

No. 31 South Point Camaro ZL1

• Daniel Hemric has made three NCS starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning a top 20 and three top-25 finishes.
• Hemric has made 11 NXS starts at Las Vegas, and has earned a runner-up finish, four top five and eight top-10 finishes.
• So far in the 2024 NCS season, Hemric has finished in the top 20 on the lead lap at every race.

Race Details

Las Vegas Motor Speedway
The LiUNA!
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Saturday, March 2 at 5:00PM EST
FS1 | PRN | SiriusXM
Team Notes

• Kaulig Racing has made 30 NXS starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and earned one win with AJ Allmendinger in 2021.
• Kaulig Racing has led 274 laps, earned three pole awards, six top five, 21 top-10 finishes and has an average finish of 10.6.

JOSH WILLIAMS

“Las Vegas is a really fun mile-and-a-half track. It’s super smooth on one end and really rough on the other. The racing really fans out. You can run multiple grooves there and make some good passes. I’ve run well there in years past, and so has Kaulig Racing, so I’m looking forward to getting there this weekend.” – Josh Williams on Las Vegas Motor Speedway  

No. 11 Alloy Employer Services Chevrolet Camaro

• Williams has made 11 NXS starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• His best finish at the track is 13th.

AJ ALLMENDINGER

“Las Vegas has been a really good racetrack for us at Kaulig Racing. We were able to win the race in 2021 and sit on the poles in 2022. Chandler [Smith] was really fast there last year in the No. 16 and sat on the pole. It’s probably one of our better mile-and-a-half tracks and we’ve worked hard over the off season to get more speed at places like this. It’s one of the tracks early in the season that I am looking forward to most to see where we are.” – AJ Allmendinger on Las Vegas Motor Speedway  

No. 16 Action Industries Chevrolet Camaro

• AJ Allmendinger has made four NXS starts at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
• Allmendinger has led 103 laps, earned one win, two pole awards and three top-10 finishes.
• So far in the 2024 NXS season, Allmendinger has led 11 laps and earned one top-10 finish.

SHANE van GISBERGEN

“I’m looking forward to getting to Las Vegas and back behind the wheel of our Focused Health Chevrolet. Atlanta was wild but coming home in third and with a straight car was an awesome feeling. We get about 20 min of practice on Friday in Las Vegas, so it will be good to learn and get a feel for the track before the race on Saturday. I appreciate Focused Health coming on board with us this weekend and hopefully we can get another good finish for them on Saturday afternoon.” – Shane van Gisbergen on Las Vegas Motor Speedway  

No. 97 Focused Health Chevrolet Camaro

• Shane van Gisbergen will make his first-career NXS start at Las Vegas Motor Speedway this weekend.
• With his third-place finish in Atlanta, Van Gisbergen was the highest finishing Sunoco Racing rookie for the second week in a row.
• Van Gisbergen currently sits ninth in the driver standings, just four points back of eighth heading into the weekend.

About Kaulig Racing

Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started and has won back-to-back regular-season championships. Before becoming a full-time NCS team, Kaulig Racing made multiple starts in the 2021 NCS season and won in its seventh-ever start with AJ Allmendinger’s victory at “The Brickyard” for the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team expanded to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 and added a third, part-time entry during the 2023 season. In 2024, the team will once again field two, full-time entries in the NCS and continue to field three, full-time NXS entries. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.

RYAN PREECE
Las Vegas Advance
No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Las Vegas 400 (Round 3 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 3
● Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● After a pair of superspeedway-style races to start the NASCAR Cup Series’ regular season, Ryan Preece is ready for a return to normalcy at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Sunday’s Las Vegas 400 will mark Preece’s ninth career Cup Series start on the 1.5-mile oval. The driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing posted a career-best Las Vegas finish of 15th in March 2021, which came on the heels of his previous best of 19th in September 2020. In his first two outings at the track with Stewart-Haas in 2023, he posted finishes of 23rd in March and 26th in October.

● Preece overcame an incident-filled race during last Sunday’s Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway to bring home a 16th-place finish, exceeding his previous best Atlanta finish of 24th achieved last July. In a display of resilience reminiscent of his performance in the season-opening Daytona 500, Preece confronted early adversity once again. He was collected in a multicar incident on just the second lap, emerging with significant damage to the nose of his racecar. Preece pitted for repairs and returned to the race and soldiered to the finish, avoiding numerous accidents along the way to score the best result for Stewart-Haas.

● In two NASCAR Xfinity Series outings at Las Vegas, Preece has a best finish of sixth in September 2018 while driving for Joe Gibbs Racing. In his lone NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at the track in March 2022, Preece started fifth, finished fourth, and led three laps driving a David Gilliland Racing entry.

● Back with Preece and the No. 41 Ford Mustang at Las Vegas is HaasTooling.com, the cutting tool division of Haas Automation. HaasTooling.com allows CNC machinists to purchase high-quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. Haas Automation, founded in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers, rotaries and indexers, and automation solutions.

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang

Will Las Vegas be the first true test of where teams stack up in relation to one another?

“With the new Mustang Dark Horse body, I think many teams in the Ford camp have been waiting for this weekend. At Daytona and Atlanta, it’s really about pure speed and not necessarily about the downforce or handling side of it. Going into Vegas, I think we’re all really optimistic based on some of the information that we’ve been provided through wind tunnel tests and CFD. We’re all excited about seeing what the Ford Mustang Dark Horse can prove.”

You’ve spent some time in the simulator in preparation for Las Vegas. Has that shown you anything new in relation to how the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse will race at Las Vegas?

“I think the simulator is a great tool that we all use. There are some things that are unknown, but it has shown us the difference in capabilities that this car has versus the old car. The pure speed that it has will provide us with the ability to go out there and compete for wins, top-fives and top-10s. That is something that we’re all optimistic about, and we’re certainly ready to get rolling into the mile-and-a-half tracks this year.”

What does it take to have a good day at Las Vegas?

“Speed. You can’t drive a slow car fast. That’s something that I feel like we’ve all been working toward by communicating with the crew chiefs about what we need out of the car, and the crew chiefs communicating to the aero department on what we need in order to optimize everything to get the car to go faster on mile-and-a-half tracks. This is what the two-and-half months of work during the off-season has been building toward. When we left Phoenix last year and began working toward 2024, we circled all the mile-and-a-half tracks and said, ‘If we’re going to compete this year, we need to be better here.’”

When your car isn’t right, what do you do behind the wheel to get the best finish possible?

“I think it’s really about understanding what you have that day. You’re not going to take a 15th- or 10th-place car and win with it. It’s about understanding the situation, not overstepping those boundaries, and making sure that you get the best day possible out of it.”

What kind of a Las Vegas person are you – the kind who hits the blackjack table and finds a good restaurant each night, or are you the kind who tries to find quiet places while keeping your body clock on East Coast time?

“I think I’m a little bit of both. I’m somebody who likes the quiet, so when I do find a blackjack table or a roulette table, it’s pretty empty for the most part. I do enjoy playing your typical casino games. I’m a racecar driver, so I gamble every day of my life. It’s no different when I go to Vegas and decide to visit a casino to see if I can make some money.”

Most drivers don’t bring their motorcoach to Las Vegas and instead stay in a hotel on The Strip. But that also gets them out of their routine, where things are sometimes forgotten because it’s kind of rare to not live at the track for a weekend. What do you do to stay in your routine, and do you have a funny story about being caught out of your routine?

“I’m wired to stay in my routine. Every day to me is a new day. When I look at my clock and it’s 7 Vegas time, sometimes I think to myself it’s 10 at home, or whatever time it is. Going to the West Coast doesn’t necessarily change my schedule because I’m a structured person, but I live my days one day at a time, just like Vin Diesel lives his life a quarter mile at a time. I enjoy going out there. It’s definitely a busy and happening place. I’d say that, ever since we left Phoenix last year, going to Vegas has been circled on my calendar, on (crew chief) Chad Johnston’s calendar, and on many other Ford teams’ calendars. We’re hoping that this Mustang Dark Horse body fixes a lot of things that we felt like we were fighting las year, and we’re working toward making it happen.”

No. 41 HaasTooling.com Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Ryan Preece

Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Crew Chief: Chad Johnston

Hometown: Cayuga, Indiana

Car Chief: Jeremy West

Hometown: Gardena, California

Engineer: Marc Hendricksen

Hometown: Clinton, New Jersey

Spotter: Tony Raines

Hometown: LaPorte, Indiana

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Devin Lester

Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Rear Tire Changer: Kevin Teaf

Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida

Tire Carrier: Chad Emmons

Hometown: Tyler, Texas

Jack Man: Kapil Fletcher

Hometown: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Fuel Man: Dwayne Moore

Hometown: Griffin, Georgia

Road Crew Members

Front End Mechanic: Joe Zanolini

Hometown: Sybertsville, Pennsylvania

Interior Mechanic: Robert Dalby

Hometown: Anaheim, California

Tire Specialist: Matt Ridgeway

Hometown: Carrollton, Georgia

Engine Tuner: Jimmy Fife

Hometown: Orange County, California

Transporter Co-Driver: David Rodrigues

Hometown: Santa Clarita, California

Transporter Co-Driver: Charlie Schleyer

Hometown: Youngsville, Pennsylvania

Spire Motorsports at Las Vegas Motor Speedway: In 16 NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) races at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (LVMS), Spire Motorsports has logged one top-15 and five top-25 finishes with seven different drivers. Corey LaJoie, driver of Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 USANA Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 earned the organization’s lone top 15 after finishing 15th on March 6, 2022 in the Pennzoil 400. The Mooresville, N.C., team fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NCS with LaJoie, and fellow drivers Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar, respectively.

Flag-to-Flag Coverage: The Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube from Las Vegas Motor Speedway will be televised live on FOX Sunday, March 3, beginning at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. The third of 36 races on the 2024 NCS schedule will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

Corey LaJoie – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube will mark Corey LaJoie’s 13th NCS start at LVMS.
• USANA, a leader in global nutrition, and the Official Supplement Provider for Spire Motorsports will serve as the primary sponsor for LaJoie’s No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube.
• USANA (NYSE:USNA) prides itself on providing consumers the highest-quality nutritional products in the world. From its award-winning supplements to its innovative Celavive skincare and Active Nutrition lines, USANA has proven for more than 30 years why it’s a company you can trust. How about giving us a try? Shop at USANA.com or learn more about USANA’s sustainability efforts here.
• In 12 previous starts at 1.5-mile Las Vegas oval, LaJoie has logged five top-20 finishes, including a series/venue-best 15th-place effort in March 2022. He’s completed 2,881 of 3,221 (89.4 percent) of the laps contested over that stretch and earned a 24.8 average finish. In the NCS most recent visit to LVMS, LaJoie started 28th and finished 19th.
• Last season, the third-generation racer earned two top-20 finishes at LVMS. He came home 20th last March and 19th last October.
• LaJoie heads into this weekend with his best-career start to a NCS season. The 2024 season marks the first year the 32-year-old has recorded back-to-back top-15 finishes. The Concord, N.C., native is currently 12th in the NCS championship point standings following the first two races of the season. LaJoie finished fourth in the Daytona 500 and overcame late-race damage last weekend to finish 13th at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Corey LaJoie Quotes:
Talk about your start to the year.
“I think it’s super-important to start the year out strong, especially to get through the west-coast swing in as good of a points position as possible. Jeff Dickerson’s favorite thing to say is ‘get out ahead of it early.’ We want to try and build ourselves a little bit of a points cushion between our team and the guys who might catch you throughout the course of the year. If you start the year strong, like we have, and we continue that, it’s going to be tough for some of those guys to catch us.”

“I’m always excited to go to Las Vegas. I’ve had some really good runs there the last couple years. That’s going to be a true barometer of where we stack up as a team with downforce and horsepower. I think we have a lot of the tools we need to bring a really good USANA Chevrolet Camaro to the race track this weekend. I’m excited to go out there and see how we stack up at the first true intermediate track of the season.”
Are you relieved to get Daytona and Atlanta out of the way? Those two tracks are variables and now you can focus on the bulk of the season.
“You’re much less in control of your own destiny at those places. You are, but you aren’t. Someone else’s mistake can take you out of the race. No different than Vegas, with the crazy restarts, but I feel like you’re in control of your destiny a little bit more at Vegas than the first two. The angst is the same no matter what racetrack you go to. You want to perform and you want to do the best you can for your partners, team and fans. I don’t know if I’m excited or happy to get those two out of the way, I just know there are 34 more races where we need to try and make a notch in the win column.”
Are you a fan of mile-and-a-half racing?
“Those tracks have become one of the strengths of our team, which is a little surprising because I’m more of a short-track guy at heart. We’ve had some really good runs at Vegas and Charlotte and some other places like that. Ryan Sparks has a pretty good knack for setting a car up at mile-and-a-halves so hopefully we’ll see that this weekend, as well.”

Zane Smith – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Zane Smith will make his first NCS and eighth (sixth NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and one Xfinity Series) career start at LVMS on Sunday. Last year, Smith finished second in the NCTS race after starting seventh.
• Sunday marks his third NCS start for Spire Motorsports and 12th NCS career start.
• Smith ranks first in points (29) amongst the three NCS Sunoco Rookie of the Year candidates.
• Las Vegas Motor Speedway is 289 miles from Smith’s hometown of Huntington Beach, Calif. Smith spent many weekends during his childhood racing at the Bullring at LVMS.
• Smith will carry the No. 71 primary sponsor, Focused Health, for 400 miles this Sunday. The blue and orange paint scheme represents a health insurance agency that assists consumers and employers in navigating the myriad of health insurance options in the government programs space.
• Focused Health is a National Health Insurance agency founded by industry veterans with over 60 years combined industry experience. Primarily focused on the government programs space, Focused Health partners with payors and employers to deliver health insurance solutions for individuals and families. For more information visit AtFocusedHealth.com.
• Smith will return for a part-time schedule in the NCTS, joining forces with McAnally-Hilgemann Racing to run a four-race campaign in the No. 91 Chevrolet Silverado, starting this Friday in the Victoria’s Voice Foundation 200 presented by Westgate.
• Last weekend, Smith finished 35th in the Ambetter Health 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Smith started the race 29th and charged to the front of the field in stage one. He raced his way to fourth by Lap 65. After hitting the wall on Lap 74, Smith came to pit road with a mechanical issue and his race came to an end.

Zane Smith Quotes
Are you excited to get back and race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway?
“I’m very eager to get back to Las Vegas and race there. I classify Las Vegas as my home track so it is always a special weekend. Especially because this will be my first start in the Cup Series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, so it is bittersweet. I always dreamed of racing in the Cup Series at that track.”
How did you feel leaving Atlanta and what are you looking to capitalize on this weekend in Las Vegas?
“I was disappointed with how our race ended on Sunday at Atlanta. My City of Refuge Chevy Camaro was super-fast and unfortunately, I made some contact with the wall. This No. 71 Spire Motorsports team is special and I know we will have another fast Focused Health Chevy Camaro this weekend in Las Vegas. I’m looking forward to getting on the track and seeing what this team can accomplish together.”

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

• Carson Hocevar will make his second career NCS start at LVMS in Sunday’s Pennzoil 400 presented by Jiffy Lube where Premier Security Solutions will be featured as the No. 77 team’s primary sponsor for the second consecutive week. Premier Security will serve as the primary partner aboard Hocevar’s No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 for 10 races in 2024.
• Last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hocevar started 35th and finished 19th in the Ambetter Health 400. The NCS Sunoco Rookie-of-the-Year contender lost a lap early but raced his way inside the top 10 during the event’s third stage. Despite being involved in a Lap-250 incident, the 21-year-old driver soldiered home to top-20 finish.
• From the famous bricks of Saginaw Street in Flint, Mich., to industrial, residential, and commercial sites across North America, Premier Security Solutions has built an unmatched standard of security. Today, Premier has taken steps to advance technology and utilize new tools to combat theft and become an anti-crime organization. Premier’s Global Security Operations Center is a state-of-the-art facility, working around the clock to protect assets, corporations, schools, and families.
• Premier deploys more than 1,000 guards around the country and protects homes, families, executive-level leaders, and major corporations. Premier’s team of retired law enforcement professionals protects more than 50 school buildings and high net-worth families, delivering an unparalleled level of service. Premier prides itself on a standard of service ensuring its customers receive the protection and peace of mind they deserve.
• Premier Security is a long-time supporter of Hocevar’s career. The Flint, Mich.-headquartered organization has been prominently featured alongside Hocevar dating to his time racing short tracks in the pavement late model ranks.
• The Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender has raced at LVMS four times in the NCTS. He’s complied a 16.5 average finish and completed 533 of 536 laps contested (99.4 percent).
• The Portage, Mich., driver logged four NCTS wins in 2023 and finished fourth in the division’s championship point standings.
• Hocevar will greet fans and participate in a question-and-answer session in the LVMS Midway at the NASCAR Fan Zone Stage Sunday at 9:45 a.m. local time.
• Hocevar will be featured on Sirius XM NASCAR Radio Channel 90 Tuesdays at 5:30 p.m. ET following each race to discuss his NCS rookie season.

Carson Hocevar Quotes
You had to overcome a few obstacles while racing in Atlanta, how did you keep your composure and patience to finish with a top 20?
“My team helped and just being reminded that there’s so much race left where anything can happen.”
You’ve had two superspeedway races to begin the year, how do you feel heading into Vegas this week as a different track set up?
“I feel good heading to Vegas, excited to start working on our mile-and-a-half package and I’m excited to see where we stack up with all our off-season work and preparation.”
Do you have any personal goals for the weekend?
“I just want to have a solid, smooth day and be able to continue to work week by week with the 77 team.”

From the Top of the Box

Ryan Sparks – Crew Chief, No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Ryan Sparks serves in a dual role as both Spire Motorsports competition director and crew chief for driver Corey LaJoie and the No. 7 Chevrolet Camaro in the NCS.
• Sparks, a Winston-Salem, N.C., native, has been paired with LaJoie since 2020.
• Combined, Sparks and LaJoie have earned four top-five and seven top-10 finishes, including a pair of top four in the 2024 Daytona 500.

Stephen Doran – Crew Chief, No. 71 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Stephen Doran begins his first full season as a Cup Series crew chief leading Zane Smith and the No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet team during the 2024 season.
• In 2006, Doran got his start in NASCAR at Petty Enterprises.
• Prior to his arrival at Spire Motorsports, Doran worked at Stewart-Haas Racing as an engineer, most recently on the No. 4 car driven by Kevin Harvick.

Luke Lambert – Crew Chief, No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

• Luke Lambert is the crew chief for Spire Motorsports’ No. 77 team with 2024 NCS Rookie of the Year candidate Carson Hocevar
• The 2005 North Carolina State graduate has led the competition efforts for some of the sport’s most notable names including Jeff Burton, Ryan Newman, Elliott Sadler and Chris Buescher.
• In 2014, Lambert led Newman to a berth in the Championship 4, and ultimately a runner-up finish in the NCS championship point standings.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports is a NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race team co-owned by long-time NASCAR industry executives Jeff Dickerson and Thaddeus “T.J.” Puchyr. In 2024, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1s in the NASCAR Cup Series with drivers Corey LaJoie, Zane Smith and Carson Hocevar, respectively. The team will also field the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados full time in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. An all-star driver lineup will rotate throughout the 2024 season in the No. 7 Chevy. Rajah Caruth will drive the No. 71 entry and Chase Purdy rounds out the team’s fleet of Chevrolets in the No. 77.

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 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 Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on May 20, 2023, when Kyle Larson took the checkered flag in the Tyson 250 at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

JOSH BERRY
Las Vegas Advance
No. 4 Mobil 1/Take 5 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Las Vegas 400 (Round 3 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 3
● Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Josh Berry heads west to the Nevada Desert to take on the first true intermediate track on the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series schedule for Sunday’s Las Vegas 400. The 33-year-old Cup Series rookie is no stranger to speed at the 1.5-mile oval, hitting the jackpot and visiting victory lane twice in his six NASCAR Xfinity Series starts there. In September 2021, Berry started 15th, led 38 circuits, and took the checkered flag 4.398 seconds ahead of runner-up Justin Algaier. Berry’s second victory came in October 2021, when he started 12th, led 65 laps and beat now-Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) Cup Series teammate Noah Gragson by 1.125 seconds. Berry added a pole position in his most recent Xfinity Series start at the track last October, leading 11 laps on his way to an 11th-place finish. SHR’s Riley Herbst drove to his first career Xfinity Series victory in that race. In his six Xfinity Series starts at Las Vegas, Berry has earned four top-fives and five top-10s, and has led 116 total laps with an average finish of 5.0.

● This week, the No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse will don the iconic colors of Mobil 1 and Take 5. Mobil 1 has partnered with Take 5 Oil Change®, the quick-lube service that features a unique drive-thru concept that allows customers to never leave the comfort of their car. Mobil 1 is available at Take 5 locations nationwide, and the expanded availability of Mobil 1’s range of products is being highlighted on Berry’s No. 4 Mobil 1/Take 5 Ford Mustang during the Las Vegas 400.

● The Mobil 1 branding on Berry’s No. 4 Ford Mustang goes more than skin deep as the world’s leading synthetic motor oil brand gives Berry an added advantage. Mobil 1 products are used throughout his racecar and they extend beyond just engine oil. Power steering fluid, transmission fluid, gear oil and driveline lubricants from Mobil 1 give Berry a technical advantage over his counterparts by reducing friction, heat and rolling resistance. Mobil 1 is a sponsor whose technology makes Berry’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang faster.

● Last Sunday, Berry showed poise and resiliency during the 400-mile superspeedway-style race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He started 14th and relied on new spotter Eddie D’Hondt to help him navigate the draft and the 1.5-mile oval’s unique configuration to make his way to the front of the field, evading several multicar incidents and fighting back from a two-lap deficit. Berry was closing in on the top-five in the sixth position in the closing laps when he was caught up in another multicar accident and was relegated to a 29th-place finish.

● Berry made 10 Cup Series starts in 2023 as a substitute driver – five for an injured Chase Elliott and three for an injured Alex Bowman at Hendrick Motorsports, then two in place of Gragson at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB. The first of those 10 races came in the March race at Las Vegas, when Berry started 32nd and finished 29th.

● Berry’s crew chief Rodney Childers has been atop the pitbox for 23 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Las Vegas. He directed a pair of wins (March 2015 and 2018) by retired SHR driver Kevin Harvick. He also is credited with three pole positions, five top-five finishes, 10 top-10s and 622 laps led. Two of top-10s came over the past four Las Vegas races.

Josh Berry, Driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1/Take 5 Ford Mustang

Will Las Vegas be the first true test of where teams stack up in relation to one another?

“Las Vegas is the first race we have circled as a company to see where we stack up with all of the work Stewart-Haas has done on the new Ford Mustang Darkhorse. We are excited to get there and see how we shake out.”

You’ve driven the Chevrolet version of the NextGen car and now the new Ford Mustang Dark Horse. Can you tell a difference in the two body styles?

“I think it is still too early to tell the difference. I think once we get to some of the intermediate tracks, I may feel the difference. I was really happy with my No. 4 Ford Mustang Dark Horse at Daytona and again at Atlanta, which is always good. We will see after Las Vegas.”

You’ve won twice in the Xfinity Series at Las Vegas. Are there lessons you learned in those races that you can take and use this weekend when you race in the Cup Series?

“Obviously, I think any time you go somewhere you have had success before, it gives you a level of confidence that is higher than a track you haven’t done well at. Having a race under my belt in the NextGen car will also benefit me and ease the transition there. Ultimately, the cars are a lot different, and the racing is a lot different, so we will have to adapt to that, but it is always nice to go to a place you have won before.”

Since you’ve raced in the NextGen car and the Xfinity car at Las Vegas in the same weekend, can you talk about the difference in the level of competition between the two series?

“The Xfinity car just handles different than the NextGen Cup cars, and the competition is a lot tighter. You have the best of the best racing every weekend and that is something that is an adjustment. These guys are really good at what they do, and we all have a spot at NASCAR’s top series for a reason, so adjusting to that is also something that will take time to get used to.”

No. 4 Mobil 1/Take 5 Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Josh Berry

Hometown: Hendersonville, Tennessee

Crew Chief: Rodney Childers

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Car Chief: Robert “Cheddar” Smith

Hometown: Whitewater, Wisconsin

Engineer: Dax Gerringer

Hometown: Gibsonville, North Carolina

Engineer: Billy Kuebler

Hometown: Saline, Michigan

Spotter: Eddie D’Hondt

Hometown: Levittown, New York

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Daniel Coffey

Hometown: Granite Falls, North Carolina

Rear Tire Changer: Daniel Smith

Hometown: Concord, North Carolina

Tire Carrier: Jeremy Howard

Hometown: Delhart, Texas

Jack Man: Brandon Banks

Hometown: High Point, North Carolina

Fuel Man: Evan Marchal

Hometown: Westfield, Indiana

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Tyler Trosper

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Mechanic: Chris Capaldi

Hometown: Armada, Michigan

Tire Specialist: Zac Lupien

Hometown: Pine Bluff, Arkansas

Engine Tuner: Robert Brandt

Hometown: Mobile, Alabama

Transporter Co-Driver: Jake Zierhoffer

Hometown: Billerica, Massachusetts

Transporter Co-Driver: Stephen Mitchell

Hometown: Woodville, Ohio

LAS VEGAS 1

Friday, March 1 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 9 p.m. ET (FS1)
Saturday, March 2 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 5 p.m. ET (FS1)
Sunday, March 3 — NASCAR Cup Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (FOX)

NASCAR heads west for the next two weeks with Las Vegas Motor Speedway getting things started and all three national series in action. Ford has had a great deal of success at the 1.5-mile facility, which includes the first NASCAR Xfinity Series win for local driver Riley Herbst last season.

FORD UP FRONT

The new Ford Mustang Dark Horse has been a fixture at the front of the pack in the first two NASCAR Cup Series races of the 2024 season. In fact, Ford has the top four drivers in laps led and five of the top six. Todd Gilliland leads all drivers with 74, including a race-high 58 last weekend at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He’s followed by Joey Logano, who topped all drivers with 45 laps led in the Daytona 500, with 72. Austin Cindric (45) and Ryan Blaney (43) round out the top four with Michael McDowell sixth at 33. Overall, Ford has led 281-of-460 laps (61%) with 10 different drivers leading at least once in the first two events.

GILLILAND GOING STRONG

As noted above, Todd Gilliland leads all drivers in laps led after two races with 74. Unfortunately for the Front Row Motorsports driver, he has been involved in on-track incidents in both events and finds himself 32nd in points after finishes of 35th and 26th at Daytona and Atlanta, respectively. Going into this season, Gilliland had led only 11 laps total in his first 72 starts, but he’s been a fixture there to open the 2024 season, leading 16 laps in the Daytona 500 and then a race-high 58 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

VEGAS ONE OF LOGANO’S BEST

Joey Logano has three career victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and those wins have helped make the track one of his best statistically on the circuit. Logano sports a 10.0 average finish in 21 career starts, which is the same average he has in 29 appearances at Richmond Raceway. Besides his three Vegas victories, Logano has 7 top-5 and 12 top-10 finishes since joining the series in 2009.

THE LAST TIME

Ford has been on the pole in each of the first two races this season with Joey Logano and Michael McDowell flip-flopping front row starting spots at Daytona and Atlanta. The last time Ford captured three straight poles in which qualifying was conducted came in 2022 when Ryan Blaney went on a tear and did it at Phoenix, Circuit of the Americas and Richmond. Qualifying was postponed at Atlanta in the middle of that streak due to weather.

JOEY LOGANO: “Some of the big things at Las Vegas are just understanding the bumps down in one and two. What’s OK and what’s too much? Even three and four a little bit there. Restarts have changed drastically than how we used to restart there to what it is now as a driver, and really just the balance of where the car goes on the long run compared to what it used to be is different too. The details of where the car goes on the long run and all those things is quite a bit different.”

CHASE BRISCOE: “I’ve never been so excited to go to a mile-and-a-half in my life just to see where we’re actually gonna stack up. That was the weird thing with this year with just how the schedule lined up. We don’t really know where we stand as far as a company or anything until we get through Vegas. It’s one that I’m really looking forward to just knowing what I think we have going into that race, so it’ll be the first real test to see where we need to go to work.”

AUSTIN CINDRIC: “It’s kind of the first test on all of the work we did over the offseason, whether that’s within us just at Team Penske but also everyone at Ford with all the preparation that’s gone into bringing this new package this year. It’s really the first real competitive test for it.”

JOSH BERRY: “Las Vegas has just been a good track for me and I think just the first intermediate of the year is one we always have circled to try and see how we come out of the gate and perform. Going there and having a little Next Gen experience, having a couple wins in the Xfinity car, I think should be a really good opportunity for us.”

ROUSH RULES

There have been two RFK drivers who have posted consecutive NASCAR Cup Series victories at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Jeff Burton won in 1999 and 2000 while Matt Kenseth did it in his championship season of 2003 and 2004. In fact, RFK has been a force in both the NASCAR Cup and NASCAR XFINITY Series at the 1.5-mile facility. The organization has posted seven NCS wins and six NXS victories for a total of 13 overall, which includes back-to-back weekend sweeps in 1999 and 2000. In addition, RFK has three NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series triumphs.

SWEEP DELIGHT FOR KESELOWSKI

Brad Keselowski completed a weekend sweep in 2014 after taking the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series events on consecutive days. Even though Keselowski led the most laps in the NCS race, he needed a little bit of luck and got it on the final lap when Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was in conservation mode, ran out of gas on the back straightaway. That enabled Keselowski to win going away and post the first of his six victories that season.

MARTIN LEADS FORD CHARGE IN INAUGURAL VEGAS CUP EVENT

Ford took the checkered flag at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the inaugural race at the 1.5-mile facility on March 1, 1998 as Mark Martin led a manufacturer runaway that saw 13 of the top 14 finishers driving a Taurus. The win was the first for Taurus, which became the first full-time four-door entry in NASCAR, after Ford decided to use it in the NASCAR Cup Series starting with the 1998 season. Martin bested Roush teammate Jeff Burton by 1.605 seconds to win the Las Vegas 400 with Rusty Wallace, Johnny Benson and Jeremy Mayfield rounding out the top-five. The only non-Ford to finish in the top-10 was the late Dale Earnhardt, who was eighth.

HERBST RETURNS TO HOME TRACK

It was a storybook ending the last time Riley Herbst raced at Las Vegas Motor Speedway as he captured the first victory of his NASCAR Xfinity Series career in front of his hometown fans. Herbst dominated the latter half of the event as he won Stage 2 and led 96 of the final 97 laps to win by a whopping 14.959 seconds. That sparked a season-ending surge that saw Herbst post one runner-up and a pair of fourth-place finishes to close out the year.

MAJESKI MAGIC

Ty Majeski is off to a solid start in 2024 with ‘start’ being the key word. That’s because the Seymour, Wisconsin native has been on a qualifying roll since the end of last season when he started fifth or better in seven of the final eight races. That includes a poll at Richmond and second-place efforts at Indianapolis Raceway Park and Phoenix. This season has continued that qualifying streak as Majeski sat on the pole at Daytona and was third last week in Atlanta before leading Ford with a second-place finish. That gives Majeski nine top-five starts in the last 10 events, including the last seven in a row. He’ll look to continue that streak this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, where he qualified fourth and finished fifth last year.

FORD’S LAS VEGAS CUP SERIES WINNERS

1998 – Mark Martin

1999 – Jeff Burton

2000 – Jeff Burton

2003 – Matt Kenseth

2004 – Matt Kenseth

2008 – Carl Edwards

2011 – Carl Edwards

2014 – Brad Keselowski

2016 – Brad Keselowski

2018 – Kevin Harvick (1) and Brad Keselowski (2)

2019 – Joey Logano (1)

2020 – Joey Logano (1)

2022 – Joey Logano (2)

FORD’S LAS VEGAS XFINITY SERIES WINNERS

1999 – Mark Martin

2000 – Jeff Burton

2002 – Jeff Burton

2005 – Mark Martin

2009 – Greg Biffle

2012 – Ricky Stenhouse Jr.

2013 – Sam Hornish Jr.

2014 – Brad Keselowski

2017 – Joey Logano

2020 – Chase Briscoe (Sweep)

2023 – Riley Herbst (2)

FORD’S LAS VEGAS TRUCK SERIES WINNERS

1997 – Joe Ruttman

1999 – Greg Biffle

2007 – Travis Kvapil

2016 – Tyler Reddick

2018 – Grant Enfinger (2)