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Chase Purdy- No. 4 Bama Buggies Silverado Craftsman Trucks Bristol Preview

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Chase Purdy: Driver, No. 4 Bama Buggies Chevrolet
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Overview:
Event: UNOH 200, Race 20 of 23, 200 Laps- 55/55/90; 106.6 Miles
Location: Bristol Motor Speedway (0.533-mile oval)
Date/Broadcast: Sept. 14, 2023, at 9 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90

‘Chase’n Wins:

Chase Purdy and the No. 4 Bama Buggies team head to the Bristol Motor Speedway for Thursday night’s UNOH 200. The 23-year-old driver is looking to close out his debut season with KBM strong to gain momentum towards a championship run in 2024. Last week at Kansas Speedway, Purdy earned his first career pole and finished the opening stage in the second position before a loose wheel early in Stage Two forced him to pit road and when he returned to the track had gone a lap down. The end result would be a disappointing 14th-place finish.

The Mississippi native has gained two positions in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series point standings over the last two races and now ranks 11th, which is the highest that a non-playoff driver can finish. Purdy entered the 2022 season having never earned a top-five result in Truck Series action but has produced two across 19 races in his first season at KBM, including a career-best runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April. He has also produced a career-high eight top-10 finishes this season, after posting just two each in 2021 and 2022.

Purdy is in his third full-time season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series and first with KBM. He finished 16th in the Truck Series final standings in 2022 after competing in 22 of the 23 events. He posted two top-10 finishes and nine laps led, with a season-best finish of seventh coming at Talladega Superspeedway in October.

Across two Truck Series starts at Bristol, Purdy has an average finish of 30.0, but has produced an average running position of 19.05. He finished 12th in the 2017 NASCAR K&N East Series race at the half-mile oval in 2017 and scored a ninth-place finish in the CARS Pro Late Model Tour race there the same year.

Jimmy Villeneuve is atop the pit box for Purdy and the No. 4 Chevrolet team this season. Prior to being promoted to crew chief for the 2023 season, Villeneuve had served as a Truck Chief at KBM since the 2017 season and in that role was a part of 18 wins, a driver’s championship with Christopher Bell in 2017 and the 2019 owner’s championship with the No. 51 team. This will be Villeneuve’s second race calling the shots for a race at Bristol. He earned a 10th-place finish with John Wes Townley in the 2016 event.

Bama Buggies, your one-stop shop for all the biggest names in powersports and utility vehicles, will be the primary sponsor on Purdy’s No. 4 Chevrolet Thursday night and for the majority of the events on the 2023 schedule. They are Central Alabama’s powersports experts, serving as an authorized dealer of Polaris, Slingshot, and Seadoo.
Chase Purdy, Driver Q&A:

Even though you didn’t get the result you wanted, does showing speed last week at Kansas build confidence?

“I think some of the struggles I’ve had this year have been from some of my execution. We showed up for practice and we were fast in practice and the fastest one in qualifying and sat on the pole. Those are the kind of things that we’ve had to improve on, and we did a good job of that at Kansas. We’re hoping to bring that same pace and execution to Bristol.”

Do you enjoy racing at Bristol?

“Yeah, it’s a really neat place to go race. We had a lot of speed this past weekend at Kansas and the weekend before at Milwaukee. We’re hoping to bring that same speed into Bristol, a high-banked short track, more of my wheelhouse. Like I’ve mentioned before, Kansas and Bristol are two of my favorites. I’m really excited to get there and get a little redemption after our weekend in Kansas and have a race where we execute as a team to our capability and reach our full potential. It seems like we are a little bit snake bitten with our luck and the weeks that our Bama Buggies Silverado is really fast we have something go wrong like it did last week with the loose wheel. I’m just excited to get to Bristol.”

What does it take to be fast at Bristol

“Well, if it’s anything like last year, I feel like the driver who qualifies up front and can wrap the bottom the best is going to be the one to beat there. It’s so hard to pass there, so qualifying is very crucial. Track position will be everything this weekend.”

Chase Purdy Career Highlights:

  • Across 71 career Truck Series starts, has produced one pole, 20 laps led, two top-five and 13 top-10 finishes. Posted a career-best runner-up finish at Texas Motor Speedway in April of 2023. Earned first career pole in September of 2023 at Kansas Speedway.
  • Finished 16th in Truck Series championship standings in 2022.
  • Finished fourth in the 2018 ARCA Menard’s Series championship standings after recording 84 laps led, 10 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes.
  • Earned the 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East rookie of the year honors and finished fourth in the championship standings after posting four poles, 200 laps led, five top-five and eight top-10 finishes across 14 starts.
  • Won the prestigious Snowflake 100 Pro Late Model race at 5 Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla., in Dec. of 2018.
  • Chase Purdy’s No. 4 Chevrolet Silverado RST:

KBM-58: The No. 4 Bama Buggies team will unload KBM-58 for Thursday night’s race at Bristol Motor Speedway. This Silverado raced most recently with Purdy at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, where he brought home a 14th-place finish. John Hunter Nemechek raced this truck three times in 2022, with a best result of second coming at Richmond Raceway. In 2021, Nemechek piloted KBM-58 to three wins: Charlotte Motor Speedway, Richmond Raceway and Las Vegas Motor Speedway. KBM-58 has recorded four career wins, three with Nemechek in 2021 and one with owner-driver Kyle Busch at Charlotte in 2019.

Click Here for KBM-58 Performance Profile:

KBM Notes of Interest:

  • KBM drivers have collected four wins, five poles, 628 laps led, 11 top-five and 18 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 12.5 across 34 starts at Bristol. Owner-driver Kyle Busch collected the first three of his organization’s victories at the half-mile oval, winning the Craftsman Truck Series race as a part of his historic Bristol Sweeps in 2010 and 2017 and he also won the 2013 event. Chandler Smith picked up the organization’s most recent win in 2022.
  • KBM holds the Craftsman Truck Series records for most career wins (100) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch picked up his organization’s first-ever win at Nashville Superspeedway in April of 2010 and also picked up its 100th Truck Series victory at Pocono Raceway in July of 2023. In addition to collecting a series-record seven owner’s championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
  • The No. 4 has 18 career victories at KBM and was the number for both of the organization’s driver championships.

Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Racing: Chase Briscoe Bristol Advance

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CHASE BRISCOE
Bristol Advance
No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Round 29 of 36)

● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 16

● Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway

● Layout: .533-mile, concrete oval

● Laps/Miles: 500 laps/266.5 miles

● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 125 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 250 laps

● TV/Radio: USA / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), makes his third start on the high-banked, half-mile concrete oval at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway Saturday night. The 28-year-old has a best finish of 13th earned in his first Bristol start in 2021.

● Last year at Bristol, Briscoe qualified second to start on the front row alongside his SHR teammate Aric Almirola. He entered the race, the third and final event of the opening Round of 16 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs, as a playoff contender but sitting below the top-12 cutline. He overcame the points deficit with finishes of fourth and third in the opening two stages, respectively. And after several other playoff contenders saw their nights end early, the No. 14 team elected to push for a strong finish rather than a win, ultimately advancing to the Round of 12 with a 14th-place result. Briscoe would go on to advance to the Round of 8 and nearly made his way into the Championship 4 after leading laps in the season’s penultimate race at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway.

● In September 2020, Briscoe claimed his first Bristol NASCAR Xfinity Series victory after leading only 11 laps. It was his sixth Xfinity Series start at the Tennessee short track. The Mitchell, Indiana, native also has two NASCAR Truck Series starts there – one on the traditional concrete surface on which he earned a 12th-place finish in 2017, and one on the dirt surface in 2021 that resulted in a fifth-place finish.

● 14 Years Together: Rush Truck Centers returns to the No. 14 Ford Mustang this weekend at Bristol as the company and SHR continue a 14-year partnership, with Rush Truck Centers serving as a primary sponsor for 11 of those years. All of the SHR cars travel from race to race in haulers from Rush Truck Centers, the premier service solutions provider to the commercial vehicle industry. And those haulers are supported by the RushCare Customer Support team of parts and service experts, who also provide concierge-level service for scheduling maintenance, technical support, mobile service dispatch and roadside assistance, help in locating the nearest dealer, and more. Rush Truck Centers is the largest network of commercial vehicle dealerships in North America with 150 locations in the United States and Ontario, Canada, and takes pride in its integrated approach to customer needs – from vehicle sales to aftermarket parts, service and body shop operations, plus financing, insurance, leasing and rental, as well as alternate fuel systems and other vehicle technologies.

● Rush Truck Centers is proud to employ 2,500 talented service technicians throughout the largest network of commercial truck and bus dealerships in North America, operating in 23 states and Ontario, Canada. At Rush Truck Centers, service technicians are the heartbeat of its dealerships, and the company is always looking to add the best and brightest technicians to its team. Service technicians interested in taking the next step in their careers can find additional information and listings of open positions on the Rush Enterprises Technician Careers page.

● Cummins joins Rush Truck Centers for this weekend’s race. Cummins Inc., is a global power technology leader that designs, manufactures, distributes and services a broad portfolio of power solutions. These solutions include advanced diesel, natural gas, hybrid, electric, fuel cell and other technologies. Cummins powers the future through innovations that make people’s lives better. From buses that get kids to school, to the trucks that carry essentials, to construction, mining equipment, trains and ships, and critical backup power for places like data centers and hospitals, Cummins is doing it with the cleanest solutions available. Learn more at Cummins.com.

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

As a driver who has been locked into the playoff field in prior years but now is an observer, do you notice a difference in how you or others race during the playoff races?

“Yes, there is definitely a difference. We always race with intensity – it’s what make NASCAR so great – but when the playoffs start, everything goes to the next level. I think I noticed that being part of the playoff field, but it’s a different kind of intensity when you aren’t in and you’re watching the guys who are go at it. When you’re in the middle of it, you’re probably getting a little more forceful and you justify it but, watching it now, there are guys making moves for track position where you’re like, ‘Wow, it’s a little early for that.’ It’s a lot better to be in the middle of it and racing for your spot in the Championship 4, but it’s still a good challenge to try to beat those guys.”

Bristol is one of the races you have been looking forward to. What are your expectations for the No. 14 team, and how are you going to meet those with that added intensity with this being a cutoff race?

“Bristol is a great chance for us to get back on the right side of things. We’ve been strong on short tracks this year and we know that we had a really good car at Bristol last year. This is one of those times where not being in the playoffs might work to our advantage. Those guys are going to be doing everything they can to make it to the next round at the end of the night, to where we can just focus on staying out of the mess and being there with a shot at a win in the end.”

The No. 14 team has been strong on the short tracks the last two years, but Bristol isn’t a short track that can be compared to others. What makes it so much harder to get dialed in?

“Everything. The banking, the concrete, the tire wear. Pit road is difficult to manage. There are just all these things that, when you add them up, make it such a tough track. The car has to be good, but so does the team and the driver. One thing goes wrong, and it can ruin your race, so it’s really about putting it all together and not taking yourself out early.”

No. 14 Rush Truck Centers/Cummins Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Chase Briscoe

Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana

Crew Chief: Richard Boswell

Hometown: Friendship, Maryland

Car Chief: J.D. Frey

Hometown: Ferndale, California

Engineer: Mike Cook

Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Spotter: Joey Campbell

Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala

Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois

Rear Tire Changer: Dakota Ratcliff
Hometown: Nashville, Tennessee

Tire Carrier: Jon Bernal
Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

Jack Man: Dylan Moser

Hometown: Monroe, North Carolina

Fuel Man: Corey Coppola

Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Stephen Gonzalez
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Interior Mechanic: Trevor Adams
Hometown: Naples, Florida

Tire Specialist: Keith Eads
Hometown: Arlington, Virginia

Engine Tuner: Jon Phillips
Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri

Transporter Co-Driver: Todd Cable
Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Rob Fink

Hometown: Mocksville, North Carolina

Todd Gilliland and the No. 38 Speedy Cash Ford Mustang Team Bristol Motor Speedway Competition Notes

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TEAM AND RACE NOTES:

One of the most popular races of the NASCAR Cup Series season is on deck this Saturday night. The famed night race at the Bristol Motor Speedway will see thousands of fans in attendance at the coliseum-style, high-banked short track. The race is known for its nonstop action and excitement.

Todd Gilliland and the No. 38 Ford Mustang team will race this weekend with partner, Speedy Cash.

You can learn about Speedy Cash at www.speedycash.com

The 500-lap race will air on the USA network at 7:30 p.m.

COMPETITION NOTES:

Gilliland will make his fourth start at the Bristol Motor Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series. On the dirt at Bristol, Gilliland took the Speedy Cash Ford to an eighth-place finish earlier this season.

Last year, Gilliland finished 18th in his first Bristol night race.

CREW CHIEF RYAN BERGENTY:

“I think everyone in the industry loves this race. There is so much electricity in the air when this race starts and the lead into it. I don’t think it’s a crown jewel race, but it’s close.

“For us, on the track, Todd is pretty good at Bristol. He knows it’s a long night and you have to be there at the end for a good finish. I think we can get another top-10.”

DRIVER TODD GILLILAND:

“Bristol is cool, and I’ve always liked racing there. Either dirt or concrete, it doesn’t matter to me. But there is something special about the night race. Just racing on Saturday night on a high-banked short track makes you go back to grassroots racing. It’s fun.

“It’s also a hard race and 500 laps is no joke. It’s a long night and it’s demanding. So, being there at the end, that will give Speedy Cash another top-10 finish because I know we can do it this Saturday.”

About Front Row Motorsports

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series team from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frmand Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

Bass Pro Shops Racing: Martin Truex Jr. Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Advance

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Martin Truex Jr.
Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Advance
No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD for Joe Gibbs Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Bass Pro Shops Night Race (Round 29 of 36)

● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 16

● Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway

● Layout: .533-mile oval

● Laps/Miles: 500 laps/266.5 miles

● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 125 laps / Stage 2: 125 laps / Final Stage: 250 laps

● TV/Radio: USA Network / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Martin Truex Jr., and the No. 19 team for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) set the tone for the season right out of the gate by winning the 150-lap feature in the non-points Clash at the Coliseum on Feb. 5 in Los Angeles. Truex won his heat race, then went on to lead the final 25 laps of the feature en route to a victory that gave him and the team much-needed momentum heading into the 2023 season. While the team was knocking on the door over the first 10 points-paying races, the breakthrough win finally came at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway on May 1, and Truex has added two more points-paying victories and four overall this season – June 11 at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway and July 17 at New Hampshire Motor Speedway in Loudon.

● Playoff Time: Truex started the playoffs with an 18th-place finish at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, then last weekend at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City saw his day end on lap three due to a cut tire. That leaves him 13th in the playoff standings, seven points below the 12th-place cutline with Bristol as the final race of the opening Round of 16.

● 34 and Counting: Truex’s win at New Hampshire was the 34th of his Cup Series career, putting him in a tie with 2004 Cup Series champion Kurt Busch for 25th on the all-time win list in NASCAR’s top series.

● Truex has two top-five finishes, four top-10s and has led a total of 287 laps in 32 career NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol. Truex’s average Bristol finish is 20.8.

● So far this season, Truex has scored three points-paying wins, nine top-five finishes, 15 top-10s and has led an impressive 832 laps through 27 races. To put the laps-led number in perspective, Truex led just 572 during the entire 36-race season in 2022.

Martin Truex Jr., Driver of the No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD

What are your thoughts on racing at Bristol?

“Bristol hasn’t been my favorite place, but we’ve had some good runs there, too. I think we’ve been competitive there over the years. It’s a place that’s tight and things happen fast there, so you have to be on your toes. Always really excited to be a part of how great the crowd is there, and the fans love that place. Bass Pro Shops is the sponsor there again and they do a lot of cool stuff for the fans. Hoping we can have a strong run there for them and get to the next round of the playoffs. We’ll see how it plays out.”

Has the makeup of your team changed over the years, and how do you feel about its playoff savviness?

“I feel like our team is very experienced, playoff-wise. The core group has been together and has the same mindset that we had in 2017. That is always good, and it gives me a lot of confidence when something that happens like last week at Kansas that’s totally out of our control. The guys put their head down and keep working and we’ll do the same this week in Bristol. I still have a huge amount of confidence in my team. They are doing a great job and pushing all of the right buttons, so we just have to keep doing that and see where things fall.”

Is the competition as close as it’s ever been?

“Ever since we went to the NextGen car, everything has been closer, and you can see that in the standings, as well – it’s pretty tight. It is harder to find an advantage, it’s harder to run at the front every week consistently. Everything is tighter, closer together, less room for error, and you really have to be on top of things. The points situation is the same as every other race. This weekend, we just need to qualify the best we can, run up front and hope for good things to happen, but we really just have to control what we can control.”

No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Martin Truex Jr.

Hometown: Mayetta, New Jersey

Crew Chief: James Small

Hometown: Melbourne, Australia

Car Chief: Chris Jones

Hometown: Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia

Engineer: Nick Burton

Hometown: Arvada, California

Engineer: Jeff Curtis

Hometown: Fairfax Station, Virginia

Spotter: Drew Herring

Hometown: Benson, North Carolina

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Ryan Martin

Hometown: Mechanicsburg, Virgina

Mechanic: Todd Carmichael

Hometown: Redding, California

Interior/Tire Specialist: Tommy DiBlasi

Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Engine Tuner: Gregg Huls

Hometown: Beatrice, Nebraska

Transporter Driver: Kyle Bazzell

Hometown: Fairbury, Illinois

Transporter Driver: Eddie DeGroot

Hometown: Baldwinsville, New York

Over-The-Wall Crew Members

Gas Man: Matt Tyrrell

Hometown: Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Jackman: Kellen Mills

Hometown: Mesa, Arizona

Tire Carrier: CJ Bailey

Hometown: Outer Banks, North Carolina

Front Tire Changer: Lee Cunningham

Hometown: Leaf River, Illinois

Rear Tire Changer: Danny Olszowy

Hometown: Lexington, Kentucky

Ford Performance NASCAR – Bristol Night Race Advance

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BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY NOTES

Thursday, September 14 – NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 9 p.m. ET (FS1)
Friday, September 15 – NASCAR XFINITY Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (USA)
Saturday, September 16 – NASCAR Cup Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (USA)

All three major NASCAR Series are in postseason action for the first time this season as the NASCAR Xfinity Series kicks off its seven-race playoff on Friday night at Bristol Motor Speedway. That will be preceded by the start of the Round of 8 for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series on Thursday and followed by the Round of 16 finale for the Cup Series on Saturday night.

CURRENT CUP PLAYOFF STANDINGS

With one race remaining in the Round of 16, here’s a look at where Ford drivers stand.

5th – Brad Keselowski (+33)
6th – Ryan Blaney (+25)
9th – Chris Buescher (+13)
11th – Joey Logano (+12)
12th – Kevin Harvick (+7)
16th – Michael McDowell (-40)

Note: Top 12 advance after Bristol Night Race

Chris Buescher: “I love that racetrack. We’re always really good there, and that makes it exciting. Just pulling up the ramp into Victory Lane was the big moment when it really sunk in. It’s a long race, and there was definitely a lot going on during the race. We knew we were fast but had to run with it there at the end. That first win for RFK as a company was huge. We’ve had a couple since then, and they’ve been no less special, but that first one was a good time which set us on the right track.”

Brad Keselowski: “It was super rewarding – a lot of elation whenever you win. But, when you win a major race, which I think the Bristol Night Race is, and win in the fashion we did with both cars running up-front, it’s really confidence-inspiring.”

Michael McDowell: “I think all these first three races are a wild card, and the only reason I say that is because Darlington has a lot of attrition and action, and then Kansas on a pretty calm and tame racetrack, we’ve seen a lot of tire failures and engine issues. This first round has little nuances I feel like. But Bristol – short track, high banks and everything happens fast. When somebody starts to spin or something is about to happen, it’s easy to get collected up in the fishbowl aspect of it. That’s probably the toughest thing about Bristol. It’s one of those races that we’ve seen guys overcome issues, come and go. Usually the fastest cars are up front. If you bring speed, you can cover a lot of those issues. There are a lot of variables you can’t control there. Just high-speeds and not a lot of room to get out of the way.”

Ryan Blaney: “It’s a tough race, that’s for sure. Not making any mistakes and staying in for 500 laps is tough. It’s a super tough race – kind of like Darlington. Same thing – hard to run all 500 miles of that place and Bristol is in that same category. Things happen really quickly at Bristol and anything you get behind is super fast. That’s something you have to look out for.”

Joey Logano: “I like Bristol. It’s my favorite track. I love going there. It’s a great stadium environment with the fans right there. It’ll be a tough, grueling 500 laps around there. The track changes a lot from what you have in practice to what you have at the end of the race. It’s pretty cool.”

BUESCHER GOING FOR BRISTOL REPEAT

Chris Buescher has been on a hot streak of late having won three of the last six NASCAR Cup Series races, and this weekend he goes into the annual Bristol Night Race looking for a repeat victory. Buescher earned the first win for the rebranded Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing a year ago when he and his team opted for two tires on their final pit stop with 61 laps remaining. That decision got Buescher the lead and enabled him to register his second career Cup triumph. The last driver to win back-to-back Bristol Night Races was Joey Logano in 2015 (See note below).

LOGANO WINS BACK-TO-BACK NIGHT RACES

Joey Logano held off a hard-charging Kevin Harvick over the final 25 laps to win the Bristol Night Race for the second consecutive year in 2015. Logano led four times for 176 laps, including all but four of the final 147 laps and that was because he pitted when the caution came out with 71 laps to go while Penske teammate Brad Keselowski opted to stay out for track position. Even though Keselowski had the lead on the ensuing restart, Logano’s four fresh tires enabled him to get the lead immediately and he held on over the final 64 circuits to post his 11th career victory.

A THREE SERIES SWEEP

One of the most memorable Ford weekends at Bristol came in August of 2014 when Ford swept all three NASCAR series races – Craftsman Truck, Xfinity and Cup. Brad Keselowski captured his first NCTS victory while Ryan Blaney took the Xfinity event. Joey Logano capped the weekend sweep when he passed Matt Kenseth with 45 laps to go and then had to hold off Keselowski to post his third win of the 2014 season. Logano was in control until caution came out with 69 laps to go. While he pitted for four tires, Kenseth and others stayed out which put Logano sixth on the ensuing restart with 63 to go. With fresh tires, however, he was able to move to the front in less than 20 laps and then hold off his Penske teammate down the stretch. It marked the first time Ford swept all three divisions in the same weekend since 2006 when Mark Martin (NCTS) and Kenseth (NXS and NCS) did it, ironically, at Bristol.

CUSTER READY FOR POSTSEASON

Cole Custer enters the 2023 NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs as the fourth seed after winning twice during the regular season (Portland and Chicago). This will mark Custer’s fourth playoff appearance in the series. He finished fifth in 2017 and then posted back-to-back second place finishes in 2018, when he delivered the owner’s championship to Stewart-Haas Racing, and 2019. Friday night will mark Custer’s seventh series start at Bristol Motor Speedway and while he’s still looking for his first win, he does have four top-10 and a pair of top-5 finishes.

THREE FORD DRIVERS STILL ALIVE

Defending series champion Zane Smith of Front Row Motorsports, along with ThorSport drivers Ty Majeski and Ben Rhodes, all advanced to the Round of 8 and will continue their respective championship runs on Thursday night. Majeski will be going for back-to-back victories at Bristol after he led the final 45 laps in winning his debut series start last year. Smith will be making his fourth start and looking to improve one spot from a year ago when he finished second while Rhodes attempts to continue a string of Bristol consistency that has seen him post five top-10 finishes in eight starts.

FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS

AT BRISTOL (DOES NOT INCLUDE DIRT)

1963 – Fireball Roberts and Fred Lorenzen

1964 – Fred Lorenzen (Sweep)

1965 – Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett

1966 – Dick Hutcherson (1)

1968 – David Pearson (Sweep)

1969 – David Pearson (2)

1970 – Donnie Allison (1)

1971 – David Pearson (1)

1988 – Bill Elliott (1)

1990 – Davey Allison (1)

1991 – Alan Kulwicki (2)

1992 – Alan Kulwicki (1)

1993 – Mark Martin (2)

1994 – Rusty Wallace (2)

1996 – Rusty Wallace (2)

1997 – Dale Jarrett (2)

1998 – Mark Martin (2)

1999 – Rusty Wallace (1)

2000 – Rusty Wallace (Sweep)

2001 – Elliott Sadler (1)

2002 – Kurt Busch (1)

2003 – Kurt Busch (Sweep)

2004 – Kurt Busch (1)

2005 – Matt Kenseth (2)

2006 – Matt Kenseth (2)

2007 – Carl Edwards (2)

2008 – Carl Edwards (2)

2014 – Carl Edwards and Joey Logano

2015 – Joey Logano (2)

2018 – Kurt Busch (2)

2020 – Brad Keselowski (1) and Kevin Harvick (2)

2022 – Chris Buescher

FORD’S NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS

AT BRISTOL

1989 – Mark Martin (2)

1994 – Kenny Wallace (2)

1996 – Mark Martin (1)

1997 – Jeff Burton (1)

2006 – Matt Kenseth (2)

2007 – Carl Edwards (1)

2009 – David Ragan (2)

2014 – Ryan Blaney (2)

2015 – Joey Logano (1)

2020 – Chase Briscoe (2)

FORD’S NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT BRISTOL

(DOES NOT INCLUDE DIRT)

1995 – Joe Ruttman

2004 – Carl Edwards

2006 – Mark Martin

2014 – Brad Keselowski

2015 – Ryan Blaney

FOR KURT BUSCH, BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY HAS PROVIDED A WEALTH OF CAREER HIGHLIGHTS

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Kurt Busch won six Cup Series races at Bristol Motor Speedway during his career, including the 2018 Night Race, which has been tagged as an "Instant Classic" by journalists and historians of the sport. Following the win, Busch famously called BMS, "The Holy Grail of Short Tracks."

Recently retired driver will be special guest of Bristol Motor Speedway during Bass Pro Shops Night Race weekend

BRISTOL, Tenn. (Sept. 12, 2023) – Of the six NASCAR Cup Series victories Kurt Busch has earned on Bristol Motor Speedway’s challenging high banks, he will always point to his first win as the one that is most special to him. His 2002 Food City 500 victory was not only his first Bristol win, but also his first NASCAR Cup Series victory.

That ceremonious start on the iconic bullring in Northeast Tennessee led to quite a bit of success for the Las Vegas racer over his 20-plus year career.

When he took part in a wild celebration at the track’s unique elevated Victory Lane following his last BMS victory, the 2018 Night Race, Busch had just won a race that was labeled an “Instant Classic” due to its many lead changes, incredible action and surprise ending. He then famously christened the beloved oval with a new nickname, the “Holy Grail of Short Tracks.”

Busch, 45, announced his retirement from the sport last month — officially on Saturday, Aug. 28 at Daytona International Speedway. The 2004 Cup champ was named one of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers earlier this year.

Busch will be a special guest of Bristol Motor Speedway during the Bass Pro Shops Night Race weekend, Sept. 14-16 (USA Network/PRN Radio, 7:30 p.m. ET).

The track is celebrating Busch’s 20th anniversary of his first Night Race victory, which came in 2003. In addition to visits with guests in skybox suites, media members and Fan Zone stages while he is here, Busch will also be featured in the commemorative souvenir program in a story written by veteran NASCAR reporter Reid Spencer.

The feature does a remarkable job of highlighting the two aforementioned epic Busch performances at Bristol. The story will be available to read in its entirety in the Playbill size program, which will be available free to guests in limited printed copies at the track during the weekend and also in a digital version online, which launched on Friday, Sept. 8. To checkout the feature story, you can access the digital program by clicking this link.

Of the 2018 victory, which so many fans still talk about today with great reverence, Busch found his way to the front in the late goings and as many have seen in the past, that usually spells trouble for all challengers.

“I think if you give somebody with the last name ‘Busch’ the lead at Bristol with 25 to go, you’re going to have a hard time getting it back,” Busch told Spencer with a laugh.

Busch finally passed Clint Bowyer for the lead in that race in the late stages and couldn’t be caught until the checkered flag waved.

“It was one of those days where I felt like I was in the zone,” Busch told Spencer. “The team was doing their job to patch the car up and find the right strategy and put us back in position to win, and things unfolded perfectly in the latter part of that race.

“We knew we were a championship contender, and we got the win that night, and we almost made it into the final four that season.”

As good as the 2018 race was, as Busch notes, nothing can compare to his first time. The victory that afternoon in the 2002 Food City 500 established him as a force to be reckoned with on the NASCAR Cup Series circuit.

“In 2002, beating Jimmy Spencer and winning my first-ever NASCAR race period, that one’s going to be tough to beat,” Busch said. “You always talk about your first one…”

As Busch tells Spencer in the story, all of his Bristol hardware is on display at his home. Each one proving that he was a gladiator who dared take the challenge of Bristol. And he passed with flying colors.

“The wins at Bristol—to have my first one there and then to have the one in 2018, those are the two furthest apart—16 years—at one particular race track,” Busch said. “That’s something I show everybody when they come to the house. I show them the Bristol trophies—2002 and 2018.”

The Bristol race weekend also includes the return of NASCAR Hall of Famer Dale Earnhardt Jr. to Bristol’s high banks in the Food City 300 NASCAR Xfinity Series race on Friday night, Sept. 15 (7:30 p.m., USA Network and PRN Radio). The NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will get the fun started on Thursday night, Sept. 14, with the running of the UNOH 200 presented by Ohio Logistics (9 p.m., FS1 and MRN Radio). The ARCA Menards Series will open Thursday’s racing to make it a doubleheader night with the Bush’s Beans 200 (6 p.m., FS1 and MRN Radio).

Off the track there’s tons to do during your Bristol visit with lots of activities available in the BMS Fan Zone and BMS Fan Midway. Kenny Wallace and John Roberts will host Trackside Live at the Food City Fan Zone Stage on Saturday at 4 p.m. where drivers and other newsmakers will be interviewed. Country music band Midland will perform the pre-race concert Saturday at 5:30 p.m. to get the fans revved up for the traditional driver introductions, where each driver enters to a favorite song or music. There will be post-race entertainment on Thursday and Friday, as DJ Sterl the Pearl will host the world-famous Foam Party after the Thursday night double-header, and country music singer Tim Dugger will perform after Friday night’s Food City 300.

To purchase tickets, visit the Bristol Motor Speedway website or call (866) 415-4158.

About Bristol Motor Speedway
Forged amid the scenic mountains of Northeast Tennessee near the Virginia state line, Bristol Motor Speedway is The Last Great Colosseum, a versatile multi-use venue that hosts major auto races, football games, concerts and many other captivating events. The facility features a 0.533-mile concrete oval race track with 28-degree corner banking and 650-feet straightaways that offers racing in several NASCAR touring series, highlighted by two major Cup Series weekends each year. In 2020, the track also served as host of the prestigious NASCAR All-Star Race, and in 2021 began converting to a temporary dirt track each spring to take the Cup Series back to its racing roots. While at the track, fans are offered a unique viewing experience courtesy of Colossus TV, the world’s largest outdoor center-hung four-sided video screen with a 540,000-watt audio system. The adjacent quarter-mile dragstrip, Bristol Dragway, offers more than 50 events annually, including the marquee NHRA Thunder Valley Nationals. The Thunder Valley Amphitheatre presented by Ballad Health transforms Bristol Dragway into a premier outdoor concert venue for the world’s greatest music performers. Three football games have kicked-off inside the oval, most notably the 2016 Pilot Flying J Battle at Bristol, where border rivals the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech met before an NCAA-record crowd of 156,990. In existence since 1961, Bristol Motor Speedway was purchased in 1996 by Speedway Motorsports. For more information, please visit www.bristolmotorspeedway.com.

CORVETTE RACING AT INDIANAPOLIS: Back at the Brickyard

By
Official Release
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First Indy race for program since 2014 with major GTD PRO title implications

DETROIT (Sept. 12, 2023) – Corvette Racing and Indianapolis Motor Speedway. They are two of the most iconic names in motorsports and finally come together after nearly a decade apart when the team returns this weekend with the rest of the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship.

Sunday’s TireRack.com Battle on the Bricks is the next-to-last IMSA race for the season and a critical event for Corvette Racing’s championship hopes. The No. 3 Mobil 1/SiriusXM Chevrolet Corvette C8.R – in the hands of drivers Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor – enters off a victory in the most recent round at Virginia International Raceway.

It kept the Corvette team, its drivers and Chevrolet very much in the GT Daytona (GTD) PRO title hunt with Indy and Michelin Raceway Road Atlanta’s Petit Le Mans still to go. The gap to the championship-leading Lexus in the Drivers, Manufacturers and Teams standings is 144 points with 770 possible points available in the final two races.

The 2.439-mile, 14-turn road course inside the famed Indianapolis Motor Speedway is the only track on the current IMSA calendar where Corvette Racing hasn’t recorded a victory. That should not be too much of a surprise considering that the team only competed at the Indy Road Course in 2014 – the first season of the Corvette C7.R.

Corvette Racing finished fourth and fifth in the GT Le Mans (GTLM) class that year. Garcia was part of that effort, and both he and Taylor have multiple starts in GT and prototype machinery at Indianapolis, although neither have been on the podium yet. Given the championship scenario, there’s no better time to fix that than Sunday.

Although the team hasn’t tested at Indianapolis, valuable information is available to Corvette Racing from Chevrolet’s NASCAR and IndyCar programs – both of which competed on the Indy Road Course earlier this year. Correlating data on track conditions and features as well as tire performance will be a focal point for the Corvette engineering team in order to arrive with an ideal baseline for the weekend’s two practice sessions ahead of Saturday qualifying.

Chevrolet has a sterling record at the Brickyard in stock car, open-wheel and sports car competition. The manufacturer’s NASCAR Sprint Cup and Xfinity teams have won 23 times in 42 races at Indianapolis dating back to the first Brickyard 400 in 1994. In IndyCar competition, Chevrolet teams have won 12 times at the Indy 500 with nine additional wins on the IMS Road Course.

In IMSA competition, Action Express Racing won the last time the series raced at Indy in a Corvette Daytona Prototype. A Chevrolet Camaro also won at IMS in the Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge in 2012 and 2014.

The TireRack.com Battle of the Bricks is scheduled for 1:10 p.m. ET on Sunday, Sept.17. The race will air live on NBC beginning at 1 p.m. ET and stream live on Peacock inside the United States and IMSA.com outside the U.S. IMSA Radio will air all on-track sessions beginning with Friday’s practice at IMSA.com with the race call also on XM 207 and SiriusXM Online 992.

CORVETTE RACING MEDIA INFORMATION

Corvette Racing media information is updated and available ahead of IMSA’s TireRack.com Battle of the Bricks.

Materials include Corvette Racing event advance and quotes, Corvette Racing stats and figures, Corvette Racing racecar comparisons, Corvette Racing Fast Facts, driver biographies and Corvette Racing photography, among other items.
ANTONIO GARCIA, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “It will be good to go back to a historic place like Indianapolis. We just need to carry on doing what we are doing. I think we’ve shown that we know how to win over the last few races. Keeping the momentum is key. We haven’t tested at Indianapolis, but Corvette Racing is good enough to overcome and deal with that. Let’s keep everything running the same way and putting pressure on everyone. If we do our thing, people will focus on us and that’s what we need. If they are focusing on us, then maybe they will make mistakes and we can capitalize. That’s the strength of a team and reputation like Corvette Racing.

JORDAN TAYLOR, NO. 3 MOBIL 1/SiriusXM CHEVROLET CORVETTE C8.R: “I’ve driven a Camaro at Indianapolis in 2012 so there’s some of that experience there. I’ve good and bad memories from races there, but it’s always a fun place to compete. This is the first time they’ve opened the infield for camping, so that’s pretty cool. I’m sure we’ll draw a good crowd there. It’s a racing town, so to have a sports car race there is a really big deal. There’s been testing there that we didn’t do, but we’ve gotten some good simulation time to get ahead of it. Hopefully we’ll have a decent car there. I’m sure there is some track-dependent things that the engineers have correlated from IndyCar. That’s the good thing about a big GM family and a simulator that is shared between all the platforms so we can share information between all the different series as a manufacturer, especially with track details like curbing changes and things like that.”

2023 WeatherTech SportsCar Championship – GTD PRO (After nine of 11 events)

Driver Standings

  1. Ben Barnicoat/Jack Hawksworth – 3,165
  2. Antonio Garcia/Jordan Taylor – 3,021
  3. Klaus Bachler/Patrick Pilet – 2,915
  4. Daniel Juncadella/Jules Gounon – 2,886
  5. Alex Riberas/Ross Gunn – 2,774

Team Standings

  1. No. 14 Vasser Sullivan – 3,165
  2. No. 3 Corvette Racing – 3,021
  3. No. 9 Pfaff Motorsports – 2,915
  4. No. 79 WeatherTech Racing – 2,886
  5. No. 23 Heart of Racing Team – 2,774

Manufacturer Standings

  1. Lexus – 3,165
  2. Chevrolet – 3,021
  3. Porsche – 2,915
  4. Mercedes-AMG – 2,886
  5. Aston Martin – 2,785

CORVETTE RACING AT INDIANAPOLIS: By the Numbers

  • 1: As in one team, one manufacturer and one model of car for 25 years of racing: Corvette Racing, Chevrolet and the Chevrolet Corvette
  • 5: Combined starts for Corvette Racing’s Antonio Garcia and Jordan Taylor at Indianapolis in IMSA competition. Both placed fourth in their class in the 2014 event
  • 9: Years since Corvette Racing’s only other appearance at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 2014 with the C7.R
  • 14: Manufacturer Championships for Chevrolet and Corvette Racing since 2001
  • 27: Tracks at which Corvette Racing has won races – Baltimore, Charlotte Motor Speedway, COTA, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park/Mosport, Daytona, Detroit, Houston, Laguna Seca, Le Mans, Lime Rock, Long Beach, Miami, Mid-Ohio, Monza, Portimão, Portland, Road America, Road Atlanta, Sebring, Sonoma, St. Petersburg, Texas, Trois Rivieres, Utah, VIR, Washington DC and Watkins Glen
  • 34: Number of drivers for Corvette Racing since 1999. Ben Keating and Nico Varrone joined that list with their participation – and victory – in the 1,000 Miles of Sebring for the World Endurance Championship
  • 47: Combined victories for Chevrolet at Indianapolis in stock car (23), open-wheel (21) and sports car racing (three)
  • 127: Victories worldwide for Corvette Racing – 115 in North America, nine at Le Mans and three in the FIA WEC
  • 281: Event starts by Corvette Racing since 1999
  • 360,480.64: Total number of racing miles completed by Corvette Racing since its inception. To put that in perspective, Corvette Racing is more than halfway to the distance traveled by Apollo 13 – the longest manned spaceflight in history: 622,268 miles. That means Corvette Racing has raced to the moon and more than halfway back!

Corvette Racing at Indianapolis

2014

No. 3 Corvette C7.R: Antonio Garcia/Jan Magnussen – 4th in GTLM

No. 4 Corvette C7.R: Oliver Gavin/Tommy Milner – 5th in GTLM

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

Michael McDowell and the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops/Chevron Delo Ford Mustang Team Bristol Motor Speedway Competition Notes

By
Official Release
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TEAM AND RACE NOTES:

The final race of Round 1 of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs is set for Saturday night at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

The race will eliminate four drivers from the championship hunt as the playoff field will be cut from 16 to 12.

Michael McDowell and the No. 34 team will have Love’s Travel Stops and Chevron Delo racing with them on Saturday. Chevron Delo is the maker of top performing heavy duty engine oils, coolants, antifreezes, transmission fluids, gear oils, greases and hydraulic oils.

Saturday night’s 500-lap race is live on the USA Network at 7:30 p.m. ET.

COMPETITION NOTES:

After their finish at the Kansas Speedway, McDowell and the team are in a must-win situation to advance to the next round of the NASCAR Cup Series Playoffs.

McDowell comes into Bristol on the concrete surface with 23 previous starts.

His best start is ninth and best finish is 10th in 2020. He finished 11th in this race last season.

CREW CHIEF TRAVIS PETERSON:

“It’s just about getting in the position to win this weekend. We’ve qualified great in the playoffs but haven’t had good races. Saturday night is a long race and we just need to be there at the end and in a position to race for the win.”

DRIVER MICHAEL MCDOWELL:

“It’s a win-and-advance situation for us. Our backs are against the wall, but we still have a lot of fight left in us.”

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and CRAFTSMAN Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 CRAFTSMAN Truck Series team from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

GMS Racing NCTS Race Preview: Bristol Motor Speedway

By
Official Release
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Race Information

  • Round: NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race no. 20 of 23 (Playoffs Round of 8)
  • Track Location: Bristol Motor Speedway – Bristol, Tennessee
  • Race Name: UNOH 200 Presented by Ohio Logistics
  • Broadcast: Thursday, September 14th at 8:00 PM ET live on FS1 (TV), MRN (Radio), and Sirius XM NASCAR Channel 90
  • Team Entrants:

No. 23 | Grant Enfinger & Jeff Hensley – Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet
No. 24 | Rajah Caruth & Chad Walter – Wendell Scott Foundation Chevrolet
No. 43 | Daniel Dye & Blake Bainbridge – Champion Container Chevrolet

Grant Enfinger, No. 23 Champion Power Equipment Chevrolet Silverado RST

Bristol Motor Speedway Stats

  • NCTS Starts: 6; Poles: 1 (2020); Best finish: 2nd (2021); Top 5s: 4; Top 10s: 6; Laps led: 57

2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Season Stats

  • Starts: 19; Wins: 3 (Kansas I, WWT Raceway, Milwaukee); Poles: 1 (Milwaukee); Stage wins: 3; Top 5s: 7; Top 10s: 10; Laps led: 232; Current points position: 3rd
  • About Champion Power Equipment: Since 2003, Champion Power Equipment has earned a reputation for designing and producing the market’s finest power equipment. From our original headquarters in Santa Fe Springs, California, Champion has expanded its North American footprint to include facilities in Jackson, Tennessee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Toronto Canada. Today, Champion’s product line has expanded to include portable generators, home standby generators, inverter generators, engines, winches and log splitters. With over 2.5 million generators sold in North America, Champion is a market leader in the power equipment field. Visit ChampionPowerEquipment.com for more information.
  • Chassis History/Info: Enfinger and the No. 23 team will compete with GMS Racing chassis no. 357 at Bristol on Thursday night. This chassis, which was the newest built by GMS Fabrication, only has one race on its rep sheet. The race? Milwaukee, where he used it to dominate just a few weeks ago. Winning the pole, both stages, and the race win making it a clean sweep, this Silverado RST is a beast, toting 95 laps led out front.
  • Bristol Strength: One of the series’ best short track racers, Enfinger has had Bristol circled on his calendar all year long. He says that a win here would be crucial for the entire team, because it gives them the most time to prepare for Phoenix. Out of all current NCTS drivers with multiple starts in “Thunder Valley”, Grant holds the best average finish of 5.2, as well as the best average start of 6.2. Though he hasn’t won before at the track yet, he’s come very close – finishing second in 2021 and fourth in 2017 and 2022.
  • Hensley at Bristol: Jeff Hensley has been coming to Bristol for a long time, calling his first race in 1987. Since 2004, he has made 18 total Truck Series starts at the short track, visiting victory lane once before with Mike Skinner in 2005 on top of his pole with Enfinger in 2020. Hensley’s trucks have led 303 laps and finished in the top-10 10 times, with five of those finishes also being top-five results. Jeff has also called 29 NASCAR Xfinity Series races at BMS, with highlights that include a pole award in 1991 and a runner up finish the following year. His Xfinity Series cars have led 122 laps and finished in the top-10 eight times, including three top-five finishes.
  • GMS Racing at Bristol: As a whole, GMS Racing as an organization has been very successful at Bristol Motor Speedway. With four Truck Series wins (including 2016 with Ben Kennedy, 2018 with Johnny Sauter, 2019 with Brett Moffitt, and 2020 with Sam Mayer), one ARCA win (2020 with Sam Mayer), and two ARCA East Series wins (sweeping 2019 with Sam Mayer), the team has always been one of the top contenders at “The World’s Fastest Half Mile”.
  • FearTheFinger Playoffs Profile: Grant Enfinger enters the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Playoffs “Round of 8” seeded third in the points standings. Hoisting three wins this season at Kansas Speedway, World Wide Technology Raceway, and the Milwaukee Mile, on top of three stage wins, his total playoffs points count is 24, tied for second highest in the series. Due to a tight points battle, he enters the round only two points above the cutline. The good news for him: he’s ran well in the past at all three of the tracks in this round, and looks to earn his second birth in the Championship 4 at Phoenix.
  • From The Drivers Seat: How much pressure, if any, are you putting on yourself in the Round of 8? Which race is going to be the most important to shine in?

“Obviously this Round of 8 is tough, and we have three very different tracks in this round. Our GMS team puts a lot into every race, but we’ve put everything we have into Bristol. It’ll be important to have speed, but it’s just as important to have a truck that you can drive hard every lap. Everything happens so fast at Bristol so you have to be on your game all race long. GMS Racing has had a lot of success at Bristol in the past, and we are hoping to add to that on Thursday.”

  • From The Pit Box (Jeff Hensley): What’s going to be the main focus for you as you approach these next three races from a strategy perspective?

“Well, for us the easiest way to get to Phoenix is to win, obviously. That’s always been our main emphasis. I mean yeah, you can point your way in because there’s four spots and only three races, so you’ll only have the three winners, but we want to win. Bristol this weekend, track position will be everything, so we need to go there and be fast. If we can win Bristol, that’ll be a game changer for us through to Phoenix. If we can do that, then we can be even more aggressive at Talladega and Homestead. You’ve got to be aggressive at all three of these racetracks, because winning is the main goal, but you have to be aware of if you can get stage points and good finishes. I’d rather win Bristol though because that way, you don’t have to worry about anything.”

Rajah Caruth, No. 24 Wendell Scott Foundation Chevrolet Silverado RST

Bristol Motor Speedway Stats

  • Rajah Caruth will compete in his first NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Bristol on Friday night.
  • NCTS Starts: 1; Best start: 14th (2022); Best finish: 34th (2022)
  • ARCA Starts: 2; Best start: 7th (twice); Best finish: 4th (2022); Top 5s: 1; Top 10s: 2

2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Season Stats

  • Starts: 19; Best start: 3rd (Nashville); Best finish: 6th (Darlington); Top 10s: 2; Laps led: 1; Current points position: 17th
  • About the Wendell Scott Foundation: Founded in 2011, The Wendell Scott Foundation, Inc. is a 501 (c) (3) nonprofit organization inspired by Wendell Scott, Sr. and provides services such as job-skill training, STEM education opportunities, mentoring, and other supportive services to at-risk, underserved youth between the ages of 8-18 years in Danville, Virginia and surrounding areas.

The Foundation’s mission of using educational attainment to end racial disparities in education and health is vital in addressing economic inequality and improving future success in African-American communities. For more information, please visit www.wendellscott.org.

  • Chassis History/Info: Caruth and the No. 24 team will race with GMS chassis no. 302 at Bristol. Rajah has driven this truck on three separate occasions this season – Darlington Raceway, Nashville Superspeedway, and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. He’s gotten both of his top-10 finishes racing this chassis, and had a shot to make it three for three at Nashville before mechanical gremlins sat him out early. “302” has only raced at Bristol once before, back in 2018 with Justin Haley, who finished sixth with it. Sheldon Creed has one pole (Texas Motor Speedway in 2020) and one race win (Darlington II in 2021) with this truck.
  • Kansas Recap: Rajah Caruth gelled well at Kansas in both races this season, showing large amounts of speed in May and September. Last week, he had speed all race long, earning points in stage two with an eighth place finish. Staying on the lead lap all night in a race that saw many trucks go at least one lap down, Rajah was in position to earn his third top-10 finish of the season. However, it was not meant to be, as he got spun on a late race caution, sustaining damage that hindered his finish. The No. 24 team was able to repair it as best as they could, and Rajah was able to rally back to cross the line in 12th place.
  • Bristol Experience: Caruth has raced at Bristol three times before, including a Truck Series start from last year, which was cut short following an early crash on lap 40 that resulted in a 34th place finish. He has also competed in two ARCA Menards Series races at BMS, qualifying seventh both times. In 2021, Rajah finished sixth in the ARCA race, and last year, he improved two spots to finish fourth.
  • Walter at Bristol: This historic half mile might just be Chad Walter’s best track on the schedule. Walter has made 11 starts as a Crew Chief in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Bristol, winning twice. His first victory at this track was back in 2006, when he had Kyle Busch as his driver, and he was able to win again with Justin Allgaier in 2010, adding to the total of three top-fives and five top-10 finishes. He has led the team in two Truck Series starts at Bristol, both with GMS Racing drivers, in 2020 where he finished seventh with Tyler Ankrum and 2021 where he finished 12th with Doug Coby.
  • Wendell Scott at Bristol: NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, Wendell Scott, who’s foundation bares his name on Caruth’s No. 24 Chevrolet, raced at Bristol Motor Speedway 20 times during his NASCAR Cup Series career. Scott drove his way to five top-10 results in ten seasons of racing at BMS, finishing as high as fifth place in 1965. Always known as a tough competitor, Scott was his best on the short tracks.
  • Double Duty: For the third time in a row, rookie Rajah Caruth will compete in two races in one weekend. After the CRAFTSMAN Truck Series race comes to a close, Rajah plans to stay around an extra night to drive the No. 44 Chevrolet Camaro entry for Alpha Prime Racing in Friday night’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race. He looks to run a total of 500 grueling laps around Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend, the most consecutive laps in his career.
  • From The Driver’s Seat: Has anyone given you any advice for preparing for a double duty weekend at a physically-demanding track like Bristol?

“Double duty shouldn’t be too much of a challenge this weekend. I prepare just as diligently as I would for any other race weekend, and having had a few doubleheaders under my belt certainly helps. This weekend at Bristol, I feel a really good opportunity is in place for us at a track that both myself and Chad have a great track record at.”

Daniel Dye, No. 43 Champion Container Chevrolet Silverado RST

Kansas Speedway Stats

  • Daniel Dye will make his first NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series start at Bristol on Thursday
  • ARCA Starts: 2; Best start: 3rd (2021); Best finish: 5th (2022); Top 5s: 1; Top 10s: 1
  • CARS Tour Pro Late Model Starts: 1; Best start: 14th (2020); Best finish: 4th (2020); Top 5s: 1; Top 10s: 1

2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Season Stats

  • Starts: 19; Best start: 5th (Milwaukee); Best finish: 11th (Gateway); Laps led: 5; Current points position: 18th
  • About Champion Container Corporation: Founded in 1968, Champion Container has evolved into the premier general line packaging container distributor in the Northeast. From our seven strategically based locations we provide packaging container solutions to our valued domestic and international customers.

We serve a diverse customer base in the chemical, flavors and fragrances, paint, cosmetic, food, agricultural, and pharmaceutical industries. Small, medium, and Fortune 500 companies rely on Champion to deliver quality and service at a competitive price. Our strength, “just in time” shipments, is the value added provided through our own fleet of trucks and significant investment in inventory.

Our knowledgeable sales representatives and customer service associates have the expertise required to provide packaging guidance and solutions for the most unique and demanding projects. Companies rely on us to be their technical source in the ever-changing packaging container landscape. For more information, please visit www.championcontainer.com.

  • Chassis History/Info: Dye and the No. 43 team will compete with GMS Racing chassis no. 343 at Bristol on Thursday. Daniel has only raced this chassis three times this season, and has finished in 19th both times with it at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and Darlington Raceway. Those are the only two races that the chassis has on its build sheet, so it will make its first race in Thunder Valley this weekend.
  • Kansas Recap: For the most part, Daniel and the No. 43 team put together a pretty solid outing last weekend in Kansas. Staying on the lead lap throughout the race, Dye was in position to have a top-15 finish before the final pit stop of the evening, where he was caught speeding and had to serve a pass-through penalty under the green. He was credited with a 23rd place finish due to that setback, but the speed was there.
  • Bristol Experience: Dye has raced three times at Bristol Motor Speedway before, including two ARCA Menards Series races with GMS Racing and one CARS Tour Pro Late Model race when he was only 16 years old. In his lone CARS Tour start here, Dye finished in fourth place at the prestigious 2020 Short Track US Nationals race. In his first ARCA start, he raced inside the top-five for a considerable amount of the race before a flat tire relegated him to a 12th place finish. Last year in ARCA, Daniel finished in fifth place, one spot behind his future teammate, Caruth.
  • Bainbridge at Bristol: No. 43 Crew Chief, Blake Bainbridge, has made two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway, finishing a best of sixth place in 2005 with Jeremy Mayfield at the helm. His most recent race held in Thunder Valley was back in 2020, where he coached Taylor Gray to a seventh place finish in the ARCA Menards Series race. Blake also has called two ARCA Menards Series East races, and in 2019, he finished second here with Ty Gibbs as his driver.
  • News on the Horizon: Following the news that GMS Racing would be coming to a close at the season finale in Phoenix, many fans have questioned where the team’s drivers may end up. Dye has hinted that he has a ride secured for the 2024 season, and also has some other exciting plans to be announced soon regarding this year.
  • From the Driver’s Seat: You’ve had the chance to race at Bristol a few times in the past, so do you like this track? What do you think is going to be the most important goal for you on Thursday night?

“I like Bristol for the most part, for sure. Having two ARCA races under my belt is going to be helpful, I also ran fourth there in a Super Late Model as well a couple years ago, so I’ve got quite a few laps around that joint. Just looking forward to getting there with Champion Container on board. It’s their last race with us for this year, and it’s been a pleasure having them at the racetrack. I think one of the most important things will be track position. You hear that about a lot of places on our schedule, but Bristol is so tiny and fast, so we have to make sure that we can turn well enough to get under guys and pass them, but we also have to qualify good and maintain our track position.”

ABOUT GMS RACING:

GMS Racing competes full-time in the NASCAR Truck Series operating the No. 23, No. 24, and No. 43 Chevrolet Silverado RSTs for drivers Grant Enfinger, Rajah Caruth, and Daniel Dye. Since the team was formed in 2012, GMS Racing has won five titles across multiple series, including the 2016 and 2020 NASCAR Truck Series championship, the 2015 ARCA Racing Series championship, as well as the 2019 & 2020 ARCA East championships. GMS has grown to occupy several buildings located in Statesville, N.C. including operations for GMS Fabrication. The GMS Racing campus also houses operations for LEGACY MOTOR CLUB, a team that competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series.

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STENHOUSE JR. ROLLS INTO BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY WITH NO. 47 SCOTT ® BRAND CAMARO TO BATTLE FOR ROUND OF 12 SPOT IN PLAYOFFS

By
Official Release
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HARRISBURG, N.C. (September 12, 2023) – Another trusted brand from Kimberly-Clark’s portfolio takes over the No. 47 Camaro wheeled by 2023 DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION and NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) Playoffs’ contender Ricky Stenhouse Jr. at Bristol Motor Speedway. Kimberly-Clark is a longstanding partner of JTG Daugherty Racing and is one of the founding partners of the Kroger® Racing program. Now, thanks to Kimberly-Clark’s SCOTT® Brand, JTG Daugherty Racing will “Keep Life Rolling” to survive the night race and rollover the competition for a coveted Round of 12 Playoffs’ spot.

“Going into Bristol, just survive,” said Stenhouse Jr., who won the iconic Daytona 500 with another Kimberly-Clark hero brand (Cottonelle®) and aims to capture SCOTT Brand’s second NCS victory with JTG Daugherty Racing. “I feel like watching the Playoffs there last year, just surviving 500 laps really hits the nail on the head. There were so many parts failures and crashes in that race last year.”

Surviving and not overanalyzing 500 laps will lead to a good night for Stenhouse Jr. and the No. 47 SCOTT Brand Camaro team at “The Last Great Colosseum.”

“For me, Bristol is by far my favorite racetrack, and I’m going to not overthink or overdrive my favorite track,” said Stenhouse Jr. “I’ll make sure I put myself in a good position all night. I’ve never run Bristol in the Playoffs. So, it will be the first time for me to race it in the Playoffs at the Colosseum.”

It’s easy to see why Bristol Motor Speedway is an all-time favorite track for Stenhouse Jr. on the NASCAR circuit. His resume includes almost winning – a pair of runner-up finishes, four top-five and six top-10 finishes. However, the pressure is on, and the intensity level will be at an all-time high at the .533-mile concrete oval. Cooler heads will prevail to advance to the next round and JTG Daugherty Racing’s veteran racer knows it’s crucial to remain calm and laser-focused to avoid mayhem.

“It’s an intense racetrack,” said Stenhouse Jr. “15 second laps. You’re on edge all the time. You’re constantly pushing your car to its limits whether you run the bottom or top of the racetrack. You also have to look super far ahead. I’ve had a crash well in front of me take me out because you just can’t get slowed down in time. Every battle there is super intense and we’re ready for battle with our No. 47 SCOTT Brand Camaro.”

Live coverage of the Bass Pro Shops Night Race on Saturday, September 16 begins at 7:30 PM ET on USA, PRN and SIRIUSXM NASCAR Radio.

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