Race Information

• Round: NASCAR Cup Series race No. 24 of 36
• Track Location: Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Indianapolis, Indiana
• Race Name: Verizon 200 at the Brickyard
• Broadcast: Sunday, August 13th at 2:30 PM ET live on NBC (TV), IMS (Radio), and SiriusXM NASCAR Channel 90
• Team Entrants:

No. 42 | Mike Rockenfeller & Luke Lambert – Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1
No. 43 | Erik Jones & Dave Elenz – Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Mike Rockenfeller, No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Stats

• Mike Rockenfeller will make his first-career start at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course across any motorsports discipline.

NCS Career Stats (2022)

• Starts: 2; Best Start: 33rd (Watkins Glen, 2022); Best Finish: 29th (Charlotte ROVAL, 2022)

-About Sunseeker Resort: Opening in 2023, Florida’s newest luxury resort located in Charlotte Harbor is the first resort property of Sunseeker Resorts, a wholly owned subsidiary of Allegiant Travel Company. Sunseeker Resort Charlotte Harbor occupies over 22 waterfront acres with 785 guest rooms, including 189 Signature Sunsuites™. Set upon the Peace River and Florida Gulf Coast, this premier resort offers 20 original food and beverage concepts; including seven stand-alone restaurants, eleven bars and lounges, two poolside offerings and a 25,000-square-foot multi-dining experience. Additional hotel amenities include a waterfront promenade, two unique rooftop and waterfront pool experiences, 60,000-square-feet of combined convention space, full-service spa and salon, a 7,100-square-foot state-of-the-art fitness center with four group exercise studios with specialty instructor lead classes, three retail and market shops, and an 18-hole championship level golf club exclusive to hotel guests only. The resort is conveniently located within a short drive of Punta Gorda, Fort Myers, Sarasota, St. Petersburg-Clearwater, and Tampa airports. For more information, visit www.sunseekerresorts.com. Follow us on Instagram: @sunseekerresorts and like us on Facebook: @sunseekerresorts.

Ring Around the Road Course: Veteran road course specialist, Mike Rockenfeller, was called upon by LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Co-Owner, Jimmie Johnson, to drive the No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet in the next two NASCAR Cup Series events at Indianapolis Motor Speedway and Watkins Glen International. Hailing from Germany, “Rocky”, as he is affectionately known, has a rich history in sports car racing. Boasting a long, storied career that began in 1995, “Rocky” has competed in several forms of international motorsports, from karting all the way to Le Mans prototypes. He has won series titles in DTM (2013), European Le Mans (2008), FIA GT (2005), and German Porsche Carrera Cup (2004).

NASCAR Garage 56: The friendship that “Rocky” made with Jimmie Johnson first developed when the NASCAR Garage 56 program was created for this year’s 24 Hours of Le Mans endurance race. Back in January, Rockenfeller was announced as part of an iconic driver lineup that included Johnson, 2009 Formula One World Champion, Jenson Button, and a Hendrick Motorsports team of veteran crew chiefs Chad Knaus and Greg Ives. Through several test sessions at Sebring International Raceway, a 24-hour test on Daytona International Speedway’s road course layout, Virginia International Raceway as well as the Circuit Of The Americas (COTA), Rockenfeller adapted to the unique iteration of the NextGen car quickly and was prepared to compete in the historic event. The race was held on June 10th through the 11th, and the trio of drivers completed the entire duration without any major hiccups, underlining a massive success for everybody involved in the program.

24 Hours Endurance Race Winner: Two of Rockenfeller’s most crowning achievements came in 2010 when he did the unthinkable by winning overall in both the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 24 Hours of Le Mans in the same year. The incredible feat has only been accomplished four times in the history of the sport, joining the likes of world-class drivers Al Holbert, Derek Bell, and Fernando Alonso. Prior to his overall win at Le Mans, he became a GT2 class winner in 2005, becoming one of only a handful of drivers to win the event in multiple classes. The Swiss has also driven to class victories in both the 24 Hours of Nurburgring (2006) and 24 Hours of Spa (2005), adding to his impressive resume of endurance races.

NASCAR Cup Series Experience: Rockenfeller has made two prior starts in a true stock car before, both of which came last season in the NASCAR Cup Series. Driving for Spire Motorsports, “Rocky” made his series debut at Watkins Glen International, starting the race in 33rd position and finishing in 30th. He made one more start for the team at the Charlotte Motor Speedway ROVAL, where he qualified in 34th and finished in 29th.

Lambert at IMS: Crew Chief Luke Lambert has called the shots in two starts at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course layout. Lambert’s first race on this track configuration came with Chris Buescher in the Cup Series in 2021, where he started in 19th and rallied to a 12th-place race result. Last year, Lambert guided Noah Gragson to a seventh-place qualifying effort and 10th-place finish in the NASCAR Xfinity Series event which included a win in stage one.

Quoting Mike Rockenfeller: “I’m looking forward to this weekend at Indy in a NASCAR Cup car. I have been at the LEGACY M.C. shop all week working with Luke (Lambert) and the team trying to accomplish everything we need to do to get ready for this weekend – it’s been busy. It’s a short week and this came together very fast but we are feeling good about things. I’m excited to drive for Jimmie Johnson and Maury Gallagher and hope we can get a great finish in the No. 42 Sunseeker Resort Chevrolet.”

Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course Stats

-NCS Starts: 2; Best start: 28th; Best finish: 7th (2021); Top 10s: 1

2023 NASCAR Cup Series Season Stats

Starts: 23; Best start: 8th; Best finish: 6th; Top 10s: 5; Laps led: 17; Points position: 28th

About Allegiant: Las Vegas-based Allegiant (NASDAQ: ALGT) is an integrated travel company with an airline at its heart, focused on connecting customers with the people, places and experiences that matter most. Since 1999, Allegiant Air has linked travelers in small-to-medium cities to world-class vacation destinations with all-nonstop flights and industry-low average fares. Today, Allegiant’s fleet serves communities across the nation, with base airfares less than half the cost of the average domestic roundtrip ticket. For more information, visit us at Allegiant.com.

Michigan in the Rearview: After a week filled with events, Erik Jones returned to his home track for the first time since getting married. Jones began the race in 25th and quickly moved into contention, earning a single stage point by finishing stage one in 10th. As rain set in and the race was moved to Monday, Jones picked up right where he left off, starting in third position when the race resumed. In the final stage, Jones was forced to pit as a wreck occurred in front of his No. 43 Chevrolet, leading the team to pit and check for damage. After everything was clear, Jones restarted back in 30th positioned and advanced all the way to 10th as the checkered flag was waved.

Getting in Rhythm: Jones has built momentum in his past seven races, boasting an average 12th place finish since achieving his third top-10 finish of the season at Nashville. He narrowly fell short of a top-10 placement by just one spot in consecutive races at both Atlanta and New Hampshire. At Chicago, however, the team’s strategy of an early pit stop aimed to run long was redirected after the race was shortened due to daylight, impacting the team’s potential for another top-10 result.

Jones at Indy: Jones has taken on the 14-turn, 2.439-mile road course twice in the Cup Series. Despite both qualifying efforts being outside the top-25, Jones has shown his success in Indianapolis earning finishes of seventh in 2021 and most recently, 15th in 2022. In his last attempt at the track, Jones had suffered a late spin just three laps before the checkered, but saved the car and continued to race without triggering a caution. Throughout his Cup career, Jones boasts three top-five and nine top-10 finishes on road courses.

Dave Elenz at Indy: In addition to Crew Chief Dave Elenz’s lone Cup Series attempt with Jones at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course which came last year, he has two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts with JR Motorsports to his credit. Starting from eighth place in 2020, driver Noah Gragson finished on the podium in third place. The following year, Gragson qualified in the seventh position and would end up finishing in fifth, capping off two years of top-five runs.

Late Model Recap: Tonight, Jones will compete in “The Battle at Berlin 250” Super Late Model race at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan. The race, which will feature several NASCAR Cup Series stars, will be broadcasted on FloRacing at 6:30 PM ET. Earlier this year, in his return to Berlin, Jones won the coveted “Money In The Bank 150”, proving to be an emotional win for Erik and his fans.

Meet Erik: On race day, Jones will appear at the United States Air Force activation display in the Fan Zone on the Midway at 11:00 am local time, where he will sign autographs for approximately the first 100 fans in line to meet him.

Quoting Erik Jones: “Indy has been different the last couple of years since it’s now a road course, but still going to the track itself and having the chance to be there is always a lot of fun. Last year, we ended up being in a spin that cost us track position at the end of the day, and we didn’t come home with the finish we wanted. However, we still felt like it was an okay day with a decent car that got up there. Regardless of that outcome, I feel like our road course performance has been improving. In Chicago, I believe we didn’t get the finish we deserved, but our car had a lot more speed than our previous attempts at road courses. So, I am excited to get there and hopefully secure a top-10 finish at a road course.”

ABOUT LEGACY MOTOR CLUB:

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB is a professional auto racing club owned by businessman and entrepreneur Maurice J. Gallagher and seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion (NCS) Jimmie Johnson. The club competes full-time in the NCS fielding the Nos. 42 and 43 Chevrolet Camaro entries, respectively, along with the No. 84 part-time entry for Johnson in 2023. Richard Petty “The King” serves as team ambassador.

In 2021, Gallagher acquired Richard Petty Motorsports and renamed the team to Petty GMS. With the addition of Johnson to the ownership structure in 2023, the organization rebranded to LEGACY MOTOR CLUB (LEGACY M.C.). With a unique title signifying a nod to car clubs of past eras, LEGACY M.C. is an inclusive club for all motorsport enthusiasts to celebrate the past and future legacies of its members, while competing for wins and championships at NASCAR’s elite level.

Based in Statesville, N.C., LEGACY M.C. operates alongside GMS Racing (GMS), which currently fields three full-time entries in the NASCAR Truck Series. Since the formation of GMS in 2012, Gallagher and Mike Beam, team president, have shared incredible success. GMS Racing captured the 2015 ARCA Racing Series championship, the 2016 and 2020 NASCAR Truck Series championships and the 2019 and 2020 ARCA East championships, accumulating over 65 wins across six national racing circuits.

SOCIAL MEDIA:

To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow LEGACY MOTOR CLUB on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Verizon 200 at The Brickyard Advance | Wednesday, August 9, 2023

Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, spoke with members of the media this morning ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series stop at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The Mitchell, Ind. native retraced his roots and discussed his expectations of the road course layout at “The Racing Capital Of The World.”

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 HighPoint.com Ford Mustang – INTERNATIONALLY RENOWNED RACERS FROM OTHER DRIVING DISCIPLINES ARE JOINING THE FIELD THIS WEEKEND. DO YOU HAVE A RELATIONSHIP WITH ANY OF THEM? “I’d say the one I have the most experience with is probably Brodie Kostecki. He’s a guy that, growing up, there was this big, core group of guys that would play this rFactor video game. We’d usually race dirt midgets, late models and stuff all the time – me, Christopher Bell, Logan Seavey… a ton of just dirt guys. But, Brodie Kostecki was always on there as well and was always super fast – like always the guy to beat. We’d always joke because he was so fast, we’d always call him ‘Cheat-Stecki,’ because it was just unbelievable how fast he was all the time. So, I’ve known Brodie for probably 12 or 15 years now. I don’t know him well, but I definitely know him. So, he’s probably the one I’d say that I have the most experience with. I have very little experience with the other guys. [Shane] van Gisbergen: He actually came on rFactor as well and raced one night with us. He probably doesn’t remember it at all. I have a little bit of experience with those guys. Outside of those two, I don’t really have experience with any of them. But, definitely Kostecki. I know Kostecki fairly well, for sure.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ABOUT PARTICIPATING IN THE OVAL TEST WITH THE CUP CAR? “It’s going to be cool, honestly. I think for me, just knowing I’ll be one of the first three guys to run on the oval with this new Next Gen car… it’ll be something that I’m proud of, and it’s cool to be able to do that. It’ll be nice to be able to stay in Indiana for a few more days. I’m looking forward to it. It’s going to be interesting. I do think that this current car seems to race really well on those styles of racetracks. It’ll be interesting. I’m a little nervous about what it’s going to drive like, truthfully, and if they try different packages and things, what’s that going to drive like. But, I’m excited for it. I do think that there’s a chance that this car can race really well there if we ever do go back to the oval. Honestly if we’re testing, I’m sure that’s down the road. Just looking forward to the opportunity. It’ll be cool. Any time there are cars on the racetrack at IMS, it’s a good day. I’m glad that I’m going to be one of the guys driving them.”

HOW DO YOU AVOID THE CHAOS ON THE ROAD COURSE LAYOUT? “It’s hard. I mean, I feel like you’re never safe there, truthfully. You can be in the front row, you can be in the middle or the back row – I think I’ve wrecked in all three of those scenarios. So, you’re never safe there, especially on the restarts. That Turn 1 is just chaos every single time. I do think the new format, or the change of the start/finish line with the restart zone, could potentially (help). I think if we do that, it might help Turn 1 a little bit. But, you’re still going to have chaos because we’re going so fast. That’s probably the biggest delta I feel like, in Turn 1 versus straightaway speed, out of any road course we go to. I guess COTA (Circuit of The Americas) would be close, but COTA is not nearly as narrow as what Indy is. I just feel like you’re always open to chaos there and calamity every time you have restarts there, just with how narrow it is in that section of the racetrack. But yeah, I don’t know if there’s any strategy you could do necessarily to be safe from all that.”

WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR OUT OF THE TIRE TEST? “I don’t really know. I don’t know what it’s necessarily supposed to feel like there. I think, for me, I’m just looking for our team to try to get more understanding of what we need on the bigger tracks. On the short tracks, I feel that we can go compete for Top 10’s and top fives – not easily, but it’s a lot more doable. Where on the big tracks, it’s a struggle to run 20th. So, I think for us out of this test, we’re just trying to figure out what that feeling is, and even though Indy is such a unique racetrack compared to all the others, that’s probably the one thing I’d say that we’re looking for the most. From a feel standpoint, I just want it to drive comfortably. Obviously for Indy, we need to have durable tire. But I do think you need one that kind of wears out, that has a little bit of fall-off – as hard as that’s probably going to be at Indy, having a big fall-off delta. But I definitely think that we need a durable tire. You don’t want another race like we had that one year, when they were blowing tires all the time. I think if we’re going to go back to the oval, it needs to be a really good race – especially the first ones. Hopefully if we do that, we can find a tire at this test and put out a good product.”

WHERE WOULD YOU RANK WATKINS GLEN INTERNATIONAL, IN TERMS OF COMFORT AND CONFIDENCE, IN COMPARISON TO THE OTHER ROAD COURSES ON THE SCHEDULE? “I’d say it’s kind of middle of the road. It’s definitely not the worst one confidence-wise that we go to. I’d say it has Sonoma by a lot. But, it’s definitely not at the top of the list either. I’d say it’s somewhere kind of in the middle. I feel like if it rains, then I feel really good about it. Last year in the rain there, we were able to win Stage 1 and be really good in the wet there. If it was going to be wet, I’d feel really good about it. In the dry, I don’t feel as good there. I’ve always been good there, but never fast enough to really lead or be up-front. I’m always kind of 10th-12th there. I definitely need a little bit more there, but for whatever reason, I just can’t seem to find it. I’d say I’m confident going there. It’s one that I look forward to, especially when we’re getting to three races left to lock into the playoffs. I feel like those are two good opportunities. The road courses have always been statistically good for us. Hopefully, we can have a good run this weekend and a good run next weekend. But, I’d say the confidence level is somewhere in the middle when we go to Watkins Glen.”

IN THE TWO YEARS THAT YOU’VE COMPETED IN THE CUT-OFF RACE AT DAYTONA, WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE IN MINDSET BETWEEN BATTLING FOR A FINAL SPOT AND ALREADY ADVANCING? “I don’t know. I feel like in my rookie year, I didn’t do a very good job in general on the superspeedways. Even now, I still have a lot to learn. I feel like honestly, the mindset: There’s a lot to say in the sense of just trying to get to the end. The year we needed to get a win, my rookie year, you obviously can’t win the race if you’re on the hook or in the garages. You’re just trying to survive to the end, and we ended up getting in a crash. The second race, last year, it was kind of the same mentality, truthfully – just get to the end because we didn’t have to win, but if you could, it was more playoff points. We got to where the rain was coming and I started getting aggressive, and I think I actually crashed leading the race or running second. I think you have to get to the end. I mean, we saw that last year with Austin [Dillon] – there were only 10 or 12 cars on the racetrack. If you can miss the big wreck at the end, because the desperation is going to be so high, you can kind of sneak away with one. Truthfully, I think this year is going to be the most chaotic. For one, because you have so many good cars that are going to be in desperation. You look at the No. 48, the No. 99, the No. 9… there are just a ton of really good cars that are going to have to win probably to get in. So, it’s going to be one of the most exciting cut-off races I think we’ve ever had in the history of the sport. Hopefully, all of us come out of that race safely, because I feel like there’s going to be a lot of really aggressive moves. Guys are going to be on the rev-limiter because of the aggressive nature.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL GETTING THE OPPORTUNITY TO RUN SRX AT ELDORA? “I’m super excited. I’ve never had a race against Tony [Stewart], and everybody here knows that he is my absolute hero. So for me, that was the biggest draw to run SRX. I wanted to be able to say that I raced with Tony at some point in my career. Obviously knowing that the time was dwindling down, because he’s probably never going to come run a NASCAR race. So, the opportunity, truthfully, came very last minute. Last Thursday, I think at like three o’clock, [Don] Hawk called me and was like, ‘Hey, we have an opening. Would you be interested in coming to run SRX? We’re going to try to announce it at seven or eight o’clock, whenever the TV window is tonight.’ So, it was super last-minute. Like I said, I literally found out Thursday afternoon. I’m looking forward to it. High Point, my Cup sponsor, is going to be on it too, which is very cool. It’s at Eldora, which is super special to me in general, and racing against my boss. Hopefully, we can beat him at his own racetrack.”

WHERE DOES YOUR 2018 TRUCK WIN AT ELDORA RANK IN YOUR CAREER? “I’d say honestly, it’s like third or fourth. I’d put the Indy Xfinity race over it, my first Cup win would be there, and honestly the Darlington race would be there. Outside of that, I would put the Eldora Truck win right there with the Cup race just from a personal standpoint. For me, growing up a dirt guy, Eldora was my Daytona. If you got a race at Eldora, it meant something. I feel like all my heroes were always able to win at Eldora and go onto that stage on the front straightaway. For me, Eldora is super special for that reason. It’s a privilege every time I get a race there, and hopefully I can pull into victory lane there again.”

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE YOUR SEASON SO FAR? “It’s definitely been an interesting season, to say the least. I feel like I’ve never had a season where it’s been just a really, really good day or really, really bad day. We either run top five, Top 10, or we run 30th or worse. There’s no in-between. So, that part has just been extremely head-scratching. It’s been hard, even with the loss… when we lost points, at the time we were in the playoffs or right there on the bubble, and now even with those points, we wouldn’t be close I don’t think. So, for us right now, we’re just trying to truthfully build for next year with the new crew chief. I think we’re five weeks in now. We know that this season, especially if we don’t win over these next three weeks, we’re not really racing for anything as far as playoffs and points go. But, we can still make ourselves way better, and we have 13 weeks to make ourselves better for the 2024 season. Really find a foundation is what we need to do as a team. I think that’s our main focus, is trying to get better. As much as we’d like to throw a Hail Mary and try to win one of these next couple races and even the ones the last couple of weeks, truthfully, we haven’t had the speed to do that. I think the first priority is finding the speed we need to be able to throw a Hail Mary, and then trying to build our team to be the best it can be going into 2024.”

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (August 9, 2023) – With a continued increase in performance and commercial success, Front Row Motorsports (FRM) has exercised its option on drivers Michael McDowell and Todd Gilliand for the 2024 NASCAR Cup Series season. Both drivers will compete in all NASCAR Cup Series events.

McDowell, the 2021 Daytona 500 champion, continues to be the leader at FRM. Since joining the team in 2018, McDowell has hit the prime of his NASCAR Cup Series career. He has collected 29 top-10 and seven top-five finishes for the team. This season, McDowell is currently 17th in the championship standings and battling for the team’s second playoff appearance.

McDowell has been instrumental in developing and strengthening partnerships with Love’s Travel Stops, Fr8Auctions.com, Chicago Pneumatic, Horizon Hobby and others to help strengthen the No. 34 Ford Mustang team.

Gilliland has had a breakout sophomore season in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2023. His three top-10 finishes and consistent top-15 results have made him one of the most improved drivers in the series this year. Gilliland has become a fan favorite and a positive influence for the No. 38 partners that include Ruedebusch Development and Construction, Speedy Cash, Boot Barn, gener8tor Skills, Serial 1 E-Bikes and others.

“Both Michael and Todd are like family to me,” said Bob Jenkins, Owner, Front Row Motorsports. “They have been determined to make the team better each season and they just keep fighting to do that. I’m proud of both and now we will be focused on the remainder of 2023 and prepare for 2024 to be even better.”

Zane Smith, No. 38 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series driver and defending series champion, is exploring opportunities in NASCAR’s other national series, including remaining at FRM in 2024.

FRM remains committed and will compete in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series in 2024. Future plans regarding FRM’s 2024 Truck Series program will be announced in the weeks to come.

The FRM NASCAR Cup Series program will continue their season at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course this weekend. The NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series returns to action at the Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park this Friday.

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.