Martin Truex Jr.
Nashville Advance
No. 19 Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD for Joe Gibbs Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Ally 400 (Round 17 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 25
● Location: Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway
● Layout: 1.333-mile, concrete oval
● Laps/Miles: 300 laps/399 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 90 laps / Stage 2: 95 laps / Final Stage: 115 laps
● TV/Radio: NBC / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Truex 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 next 10 points races, the breakthrough points-paying win finally came at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway on May 1, and Truex added a second points-paying victory and third overall this season two weekends ago at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway.

● 33 and Counting: Truex’s win at Sonoma was the 33rd of his Cup Series career, putting him in a tie with NASCAR Hall of Famer Fireball Roberts for 26th on the series’ all-time wins list.

● The Cup Series returns to Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway for the third Cup Series race on the concrete oval. While Truex has not fared well in the Cup Series there since its return in 2021, he first competed at Nashville all the way back in 2003 in what is now called the NASCAR Xfinity Series. In five Xfinity Series starts there from 2003 to 2005, Truex claimed two poles and two top-five finishes.

● With his win at Sonoma two weekends ago, Truex heads to Nashville leading the Cup Series standings with 525 points, 13 ahead of second-place William Byron. The top seven in the Cup Series standings are separated by just 32 points as things start to heat up in the chase for the regular-season championship. The regular-season champion will receive 15 important playoff points when the playoffs start on Labor Day weekend in September. Ten races remain in the regular season.

● Truex is leading the driver standings for the first time since 2018, when he led heading to Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, five races into that season. That was 191 races ago. While this is his first points lead in over five years, Truex has won 17 races and has led 5,069 laps during the aforementioned 191 races.

● Ahead at this Stage: Truex leads the NASCAR Cup Series with 57 stage wins since the beginning of the stage racing era in 2017. He is the only driver with 10 or more stage sweeps, as well. Truex added to his haul of stage wins by taking the opening stage last month at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway.

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

You are heading to Nashville this weekend for the third-ever Cup Series race there. What do you remember about last year and what are you expectations this time around?

“Nashville is really interesting. We had a really strong car last year. Led a bunch and won both Stage 1 and Stage 2 and was in really good shape. The rain delay came, the track cooled off and changed a lot and we went from us and the 11 (Denny Hamlin) as the two cars to beat to all of a sudden five or more guys right there with us. I don’t remember exactly how we got shuffled out of the lead but I know it had something to do with the pit cycle and pit stops. Once you lose the lead, you lose the advantage, and some other guys got faster as it cooled off when it was so much later at night and we just couldn’t get back to the front. I feel like we’ve been bringing some really good cars to the track and would expect us to be strong at Nashville this weekend. Looking forward to getting back there with our Bass Pro Shops Toyota Camry TRD and hope to be able to have a stronger end to the race than we did last year.”

Is there one thing you can point to as to why you are more successful this season?

“I think just better cars, in general. Better cars, better understanding of what we need on the racetracks. Last year was a big learning curve. We were trying to figure out what direction we needed to go in at races with this car and, having 15-minute practices where you opt in on what you show up with, there is really no time to recover if you show up with some bad ideas or things that didn’t work. You have to wait till you go back to that track again. Just all of that learning process and figuring things out has been a big factor for us. I think our cars are better this year, as well. Toyota did some work in the offseason, and everybody at JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) worked hard to try to put the pieces together so I think, overall, we just have a better platform to work with and a better understanding of what we need.”

Do you think having the two wins already this year has helped get the pressure off your back?

“It is definitely easier when you’ve won a race, especially in today’s format with getting locked into the playoffs. You don’t have to worry about that. You can kind of relax, go race and do your thing. I wouldn’t say it hurt anything, by any means, but at the same time, having better racecars and showing up ready to go on these weekends without a lot of guessing is a big deal. The pit crew has been coming around here, lately. We have still had a few hiccups here and there. It’s so important to execute in the race these days with how close the field is and how hard it is to pass at certain tracks. You have to do everything right. You have to all of the little things right. We’ve been able to do that pretty well the last month or so, but really feel good about what we’ve done all year as far as the speed of our cars, and how we’ve able to race. I feel like we’ve had winning cars three or four races this year already. It was nice to get one of them, but we would like to have more, so we will keep working on it.”

How important was the win at the Clash to start the season in terms of momentum and confidence for you and your team?

“I talked about it right after that, that it was a big deal for us just to understand that we were making the right decisions. Short tracks were a struggle for us last year. To go to the Clash and do that, it was like, OK, we’re going down the right road here with the things that we’re thinking that we did last year, the things we’re working on, the direction we’re heading for short tracks. That was a good confidence booster. Confidence is a huge part of this. I said it a lot. It’s not so much for the driver, I don’t think. It’s more for the engineers, the crew chief, the guys who are making the big decisions on the car. So many things they have to decide on before we come to the track about what they’re going to put in the car with the simulation, all the things that they have to do. There are a lot of assumptions and guesswork involved. You have to be confident in yourself that your intuition is part of that. It’s not just computers telling you how to set the car up. Confidence for those guys is a big thing. When you’re going down a direction that’s working for you, you can make small tweaks, it’s easier than being way out in left field and trying to figure it out, changing everything at once. It’s just a work in progress and our Bass Pro Shops guys have been up to the task.”

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

Nashville Superspeedway Competition Notes

TEAM AND RACE NOTES:

After a weekend off, Michael McDowell and the No. 34 team head to the Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway. The Love’s Travel Stops colors return this weekend and will be joined by the Fleetguard brand, a partner of Love’s and Speedco, for the 300-lap race.

Fleetguard, a global leading filtration brand within the Atmus Filtration Technologies portfolio, offers a full suite of filtration products for nearly all makes of vehicles and equipment across the truck, bus, agriculture, construction, mining, marine and power generation vehicle, and equipment markets.

With a focus on advanced design and high-quality performance, Fleetguard heavy-duty filters give customers the ultimate protection for all their equipment. With availability in more than 45,000 independent aftermarket retail outlets globally, including approximately 5,800 locations in North America, Fleetguard products are available where customers need them and are backed by the competitive Fleetguard warranty.

Track activity will begin on Friday with practice at 5:30 p.m. ET. Qualifying will take place on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET. Sunday’s 400-mile race is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. ET on NBC.

COMPETITION NOTES

After placing seventh at the Sonoma Raceway, McDowell and the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops/ Fleetguard team are looking for their third consecutive top-10. The team last did that to start the 2021 season.

Just as important, McDowell and the team are looking to close the gap to the top-16 in the championship driver standings. McDowell sits 19th and the gap between 16th and 19th is only a mere 14 points.

McDowell hopes to improve on his 13th-place finish at the track last year. His best in two starts in at the track.

CREW CHIEF TRAVIS PETTERSON

“We have speed, plain and simple. We have proved that with our performances at these different tracks. But the mile-and-a-half tracks are still our biggest challenge at times. But, we have a lot of confidence right now and hopefully we can continue to capitalize on that.”

DRIVER MICHAEL MCDOWELL

“Nashville was good to us last year. We ran strong, scored some stage points and finished 13th. It is definitely something we can build on. We keep getting better and better each time we return to this track.

“We want to continue to be consistent and get good finishes. It’s a tight battle right now and we can’t afford any mistakes. We just have to execute.”

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.

NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY NOTES

Friday, June 23 – NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 8 p.m. ET (FS1)

Saturday, June 24 – NASCAR XFINITY Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (USA)

Sunday, June 25 – NASCAR Cup Series, 7 p.m. ET (NBC)

The second half of the NASCAR season kicks off Friday night at Nashville Superspeedway after all three national series had last week off from competition. This will mark the third straight year the track has hosted a tripleheader after the NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series conducted races at the facility from 2001-2011.

Harrison Burton: “I like Nashville. It’s a cool city and the fans are always excited. It’s been a fun racetrack for us with lots of lane choices. I remember Briscoe and us raced side-by-side for 30 laps in one stint last year and it was really frustrating back then, but looking back on it that’s normally the sign of a good track where you can race side-by-side and battle each other and have some fun. I feel like those kinds of races, where you can fan out, put on good shows for the Next Gen car and I expect that to be the same this coming week.”

Austin Cindric: “It’s an interesting place. It’s an intermediate that drives like a short track or a short track that drives like an intermediate. It probably depends on how your car is handling, but it’s a pretty involved racetrack with a lot of shifting and different lanes. It should be a night race again this year, so I’m looking forward to that. Obviously, I don’t think there are too many better locations for a NASCAR race to be, so I think it definitely deserves a race on the schedule. I’m looking forward to going back.”

Ryan Preece: “Nashville races similar to a short track, but it’s also a mile-and-a-half so it’s kind of got that little bit of an in-between. I’ve only been there twice and we won those truck races both times, so it’s a place I’ve enjoyed going to.”

Chris Buescher: “Nashville is a night race, which is cool. It’s also a concrete race, which has been good to us this last little bit because Dover and Bristol were pretty strong. Nashville was a pretty decent time for us last year, so I have high hopes heading into it. I’m excited for it and love the fact that they’re doing a night race. That’s really cool.”

NASHVILLE TOP 10

This will mark the third straight year NASCAR has run a Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway and while Ford is still looking for its first victory, there have been five different drivers who have finished in the Top 10. Kevin Harvick (5th/10th) and Joey Logano (10th/9th) have done it twice while Aric Almirola (4th in 2021), Ryan Blaney (3rd in 2022) and Austin Cindric (7th in 2022) round out the list.

BACK-TO-BACK-TO-BACK?

Ford will be going for its third straight win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series after Cole Custer won at Portland International Raceway and Aric Almirola took the checkered flag at Sonoma Raceway. Riley Herbst sat on the pole for this event last year and has career finishes of 10th and third while Ryan Sieg has finished 16th and ninth during that same period. Cole Custer will be making his series debut at Nashville Superspeedway after running the past two years in the NASCAR Cup Series.

FORD WINS NASCAR DEBUT AT NASHVILLE SUPERSPEEDWAY

The first race held at Nashville Superspeedway for one of NASCAR’s top three touring series came on April 14, 2001 when Ford’s Greg Biffle won the Pepsi 300 in what was then known as the NASCAR Busch Grand National Series, now NASCAR XFINITY Series. Ford dominated the race up front as Biffle, Jason Keller and Jeff Green combined to lead 200-of-225 laps. Biffle, who was out front for a race-high 133 circuits, beat Keller to the checkered flag by just over a half-second as Ford finished first and second.

A NASHVILLE THREE-PREECE?

Nobody has enjoyed Nashville Superspeedway more the last two years than Ryan Preece, who owns back-to-back NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victories at the 1.333 mile track. Even though he won’t be in a truck this weekend, Preece will be in the NASCAR Cup Series race as he looks to win at NSS for a third year in a row. Preece, who won the ARCA Menards West Series race at Sonoma Raceway two weeks ago, had brake issues and finished 32nd in his only other Cup start in 2021.

THORSPORT AT NASHVILLE

ThorSport Racing, which has wins this season from Joey Logano (Bristol Dirt) and Ben Rhodes (Charlotte), is still looking for its first win at Nashville Superspeedway. Matt Crafton has the most experience of the group with 15 starts and nine Top-10 finishes at the track. Ty Majeski (8th/4th) has a pair of Top-10 runs to his credit while Rhodes has seventh and 12th-place efforts in his two starts. Hailie Deegan will be making her first start at the track with ThorSport after finishes of 21st and 28th the past two seasons.

FORD NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS AT NASHVILLE

2001 – Greg Biffle

2002 – Scott Riggs (1)

2003 – Scott Riggs (2)

2006 – Carl Edwards (2)

2007 – Carl Edwards (Sweep)

2011 – Carl Edwards (Sweep)

FORD NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT NASHVILLE

2003 – Carl Edwards

2007 – Travis Kvapil

2021 – Ryan Preece

2022 – Ryan Preece

Newly launched The BIG 615 station featured on the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD

Mooresville, N.C. (Jun. 20, 2023) – 23XI Racing announced today that The BIG 615, a newly launched station on TuneIn, the world’s leading live audio service, will serve as the co-primary sponsor alongside current 23XI partner MoneyLion on Tyler Reddick’s No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD for the upcoming NASCAR Cup Series race at Nashville Superspeedway.

TuneIn and Garth Brooks recently announced the launch of the SEVENS Radio Network, exclusively on TuneIn. The stations featured on the network are conceived and directed by Brooks, one of the world’s best-selling music artists. The first station to launch is The BIG 615. As the NASCAR Cup Series returns to the home of country music for the third year, Nashville provides the ideal place for The BIG 615 to be highlighted on the No. 45 car, with 615 being the area code for Music City.

“It’s easy to see why NASCAR is such a fan-driven sport,” said Garth Brooks. “Hell, we just have our logo on the car and I feel like I’m driving the car myself! This is exciting!”

“What a cool opportunity and great place for the 23XI team to partner with Garth Brooks, TuneIn, and MoneyLion,” said Reddick. “Racing back in Nashville has been great for our sport and fans, and I can’t think of a more iconic artist to feature on the No. 45 car. It’s a real honor for me and I hope we can put on a good show for Garth and all the fans.”

MoneyLion, a leader in financial technology powering the next generation of personalized products and content, will also be featured on Reddick’s car in Nashville. Since partnering with 23XI last year, MoneyLion has given race fans access to industry-leading products, guidance and offers that enable them to take control of their money. For this race, MoneyLion rewarded one lucky fan and a guest with the ultimate Nashville race weekend including flights, hotels, VIP Access and more. Additionally, in partnership with TuneIn, many more fans won free subscriptions to TuneIn Premium.

“The connection between NASCAR and country music is a natural one, and we’re thrilled to partner with Garth and TuneIn to help highlight the launch of the BIG 615,” said Steve Lauletta, 23XI team president. “Our team is always looking for ways to be unique while also helping brands reach new audiences, and this partnership is sure to drive awareness of TuneIn and the new channel to the millions of NASCAR fans.”

About TuneIn

TuneIn, the world’s leader in live audio, brings together live sports, news, music, audiobooks, podcasts and radio from around the globe, empowering listeners to hear what matters to them wherever they may be. With more than 75 million monthly active users and distribution across 200 platforms and connected devices, TuneIn is one of the most widely used streaming audio platforms in the world. TuneIn Premium subscribers can hear NASCAR races live, get exclusive access to commercial-free news from top networks like CNN, Fox News Radio, CSPAN and MSNBC, as well as live MLB, NFL, NHL and college sports programming. For more information, please visit us at www.tunein.com or follow us on Facebook, Instagram or Twitter.

About MoneyLion

MoneyLion is a leader in financial technology powering the next generation of personalized products and content, with a top consumer finance mobile app, a premier embedded finance platform for enterprise businesses and a world-class media arm. MoneyLion’s mission is to positively change people’s financial path by rewiring the financial system and empowering them with greater financial literacy and access. In our go-to money app for consumers, we deliver curated content on finance and related topics, through a tailored feed that engages people to learn and share. People take control of their money life with our innovative financial products and marketplace – including our full-fledged suite of features to save and invest – seamlessly bringing together the best offers and content from MoneyLion and our 1,000+ enterprise partner network, together in one experience. MoneyLion’s enterprise technology provides the definitive search engine and marketplace for financial products, enabling any company to add embedded finance to their business, with advanced AI-backed data and tools through our platform and API. Established in 2013, MoneyLion connects millions of people with the financial products and content they need, when and where they need it.

For more information about the company, visit www.moneylion.com.

About 23XI Racing

23XI Racing – pronounced twenty-three eleven – was founded by NBA legend Michael Jordan and three-time Daytona 500 winner Denny Hamlin in 2020. With rising NASCAR star Bubba Wallace selected to drive the No. 23 Toyota Camry TRD, the team made its NASCAR Cup Series debut in the 2021 Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway. Wallace made history on October 4, 2021, when he captured his first career Cup Series win, becoming just the second African American to win in the Cup Series, and earning 23XI its first-ever victory. 23XI expanded to a two-car organization in 2022 with Cup Series Champion Kurt Busch driving the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD. With a win at Kansas Speedway in May of 2022, Busch earned 23XI the team’s first-ever playoff berth. In 2023, 23XI features the lineup of Bubba Wallace in the No. 23 Toyota and Tyler Reddick in the No. 45 Toyota.