Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Sonoma Media Availability | Tuesday, June 6, 2023

Aric Almirola, driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang, will be performing double duty at Sonoma Raceway as he competes in both the NASCAR Xfinity and NASCAR Cup Series events. Almirola was this week’s Ford Performance guest and answered questions from the media about his busy weekend schedule.

ARIC ALMIROLA, No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang – HOW MUCH OF A BENEFIT IS IT TO RUN THE NXS RACE AT SONOMA? “I don’t know that it’s super beneficial, to be honest. I just love that road course. Of all the road courses that we run, it’s my favorite. I run the best there, so having the opportunity to to run an Xfinity car there, something that is new for that series, I just thought that it would be a great opportunity and something for me to go and do, and I think it is slightly helpful just to get some more reps at the road courses because with only 20 minutes of practice, you don’t get a lot of laps in the Cup car. So just being able to pick up little things here and there on the racetrack maybe helps a little bit, but the cars are so different nowadays with the brakes, the way the cars drive, the transmission, all those things that a lot of it doesn’t really correlate at all.”

DID BLANEY’S WIN AT CHARLOTTE HELP PROVIDE A GOOD DIRECTION FOR YOU GUYS AS A TEAM? “I think that we have potential in our cars. Blaney at Charlotte showed that. I still think that our cars are really aero sensitive in traffic compared to the other manufacturers. Blaney did a great job of executing for all 600 miles and never really lost his track position, so when you look at that I think that’s a key component of it. I feel like our cars have the capability and the potential to go fast, but one of the things we’re continuing to work on is just making our cars raceable. It seems like we don’t quite have that figured out as well as the other manufacturers as far as being able to race in traffic. I know that all the cars are bad in traffic, but it seems like we tend to be a little bit worse in traffic than our competition, so that’s one of the things we’re continuing to strive to get better at is making our cars better in dirty air. But we certainly know that we have potential to make our race cars go fast. We’ve got to execute and I feel like one last thing to add to that is I feel like as a manufacturer if you talk to all the Ford drivers I feel like our window is pretty small. If we hit it, we hit it. And if you’re slightly off, you’re really off. Where it does seem like the competition has a little bit bigger of a window to be closer to hitting the setup.”

IS THERE ANYTHING YOU NOTICE FROM COTA WITHOUT CAUTIONS AT THE STAGE BREAKS AND HOW IT WILL BE DIFFERENT THIS WEEKEND? “I think at COTA it made the strategy a little bit more straightforward, and now I think it’s gonna be the same at Sonoma when you look at the race and the strategy play for Sonoma. It makes the race relatively straightforward with where you’re gonna pit. There’s a couple lap window here or there on what you’re gonna do for strategy, so it really takes away, in my opinion, from the strategy aspect of it. Last year at Sonoma was a perfect example. We went there and we had a really good car, but we chose to score as many stage points as we could with the position that we were in in points going to Sonoma, and so we finished fifth in stage one and finished second in stage two because we elected to stay out on the racetrack and score stage points. After the stage breaks, we had to come back through the field on newer tires compared to the other guys that pitted a couple laps before the end of the stage, so we constantly battled from poor track position driving through the field and then staying out at the stages to score points, where now there’s not that opportunity so it doesn’t really jumble up or mix the field up as much. It’s more about qualifying well and then just making sure that you pit when you’re supposed to pit.”

ANY TIMETABLE ON WHEN YOU HAVE TO MAKE A DECISION ON NEXT YEAR OR IS TO JUST SLOW AND FLUID? “I think it’s still very fluid. I don’t have any timetable. By this time last year what I thought was going to happen ended up not happening, so I think, for me, it’s just get up every morning and continue to work hard at being the best race car driver I can be and we’ll see where things shake out.”

YOU’VE WON A POLE AT NASHVILLE IN THE PAST WHAT ABOUT THIS SEASON? “I do think we learned some things last year at Nashville, where we missed the setup and where we felt like we were off, so I do look forward to going back there. I really enjoy that racetrack. It’s a track that I liked a lot when I ran trucks and Xfinity races there and then first time there in a Cup car qualified on the pole, ran top five, so it’s a place that I really enjoy running at and I hope that we learn from some of the things we felt like we did wrong last year with this new car that will make us better.”

WHERE DO YOU THINK YOU ARE AS A TEAM ON THE ROAD COURSE AND WHERE ARE YOU AS A DRIVER? “I can grade myself first and say that I am average at-best as a road racer at most road courses. At Sonoma, I’m a B-plus. I would say Sonoma is hands down my best road course and I feel like that’s because it’s not really one of those racetracks that you can attack because the surface and the way that the tires wear out, it’s more of a rhythm racetrack and it’s kind of flowy and you can’t really attack the racetrack or you’ll abuse your tires and really pay a huge penalty after five, six laps on tires. I do better at that. Even short track racing – Richmond, Loudon – those places like that, that you have to take care of your stuff I tend to do much better at the places that you have to be overly aggressive and really attack the racetrack and attack the braking zones are not my best places. So, road course racing, those racetracks you really have to attack the braking zones and do all those things I tend to not be as good at, and I feel like as an organization we have a lot of room for improvement to make our road course stuff better. I think that we have been average at best as an organization with this Next Gen car at most road courses, not all of them, but at most of them we have struggled to make our car get in the braking zones as hard as the competition. We’ve struggled to get the forward drive off of the corners to compete, so I think there’s a lot of things that we can do better, for sure.”

ANY IDEA WHERE CHICAGO WILL FALL ON THAT? WILL YOU HAVE TO BE SUPER AGGRESSIVE THERE? “Yeah, I think Chicago is certainly gonna be a racetrack that you’re gonna have to be very aggressive. The surface is going to be very interesting, where they’ve repaved or where they’ve not repaved. What we’ve learned so far in the simulator is that it’s pretty low grip, what we think, and it’s pretty rough. And there are a lot of tight, blind corners. You’re gonna have to be really aggressive in the braking zones, get in the corners deep but still make the corner, and there’s a huge penalty at Chicago compared to all the other road courses that we go to if you don’t make the corner, so I think you’re not only gonna have to be aggressive, but you’re gonna have to be conscious of how aggressive you are because the penalty for missing the corner at Chicago is gonna be far greater than missing the corner at most road courses. At most road courses if you overshoot the corner, you run off into the grass or the gravel a little bit. At Chicago, you’re gonna crash. You’re gonna hit a wall.”

WHICH SONOMA LAYOUT DO YOU LIKE BEST? “I love the chute. The carousel was cool to do it, for me, once just so I could say I had that experience to run it like they used to run it in the old days when Ricky Rudd and Dale Earnhardt and Rusty Wallace and those guys would duke it out there. For me, I absolutely love the chute and I love that it gives you that opportunity to make some passes getting into turn seven if you get off of turn four well, and the carousel just never really presented that opportunity with the cars the way they are nowadays versus the old days. Our cars are so much more aero sensitive, so going through the carousel was so tough to run behind somebody that you would give up too much of a gap off the carousel to whoever you were racing with that you didn’t really have that opportunity to make a pass into turn seven and out-brake them, where now with the turn four, hopping that curb and going over the other side to the other curb, there’s a lot of opportunity to maintain your position relative to the car in front of you and then have an opportunity to out-brake them getting into turn seven, so I love the short chute.”

IS THE PLAN TWO MORE YEARS FULL-TIME AND THEN SEE WHAT HAPPENS? “The plan is fluid. For me, it’s still about making sure that I’m having fun and enjoying driving the race car and making sure that I can be a husband and a father and all those things, and not sacrifice that. I love what I do. I love my job. I love my career, but at the end of the day chasing a little bit more money and more trophies and those things is not what it’s about for me, so as much as I love my job and all those things, I want to make sure that I’m doing the right thing by my family as well, so those are conversations that I’ll continue to have internally here and I’ll let you guys know when you guys need to know.”

DO YOU THINK ABOUT HOW THINGS HAVE GONE DURING YOUR TIME AT SHR AND HOW CHALLENGING IT’S BEEN THE LAST COUPLE OF YEARS? “No, certainly not what I expected. I expected more years like the first year, to be honest. I showed up here in 2018 and we not only won a race, but I was in contention to win probably five or six races throughout that year and consistently ran in the top 10, top 5, was a team that on any given weekend we showed up to a racetrack felt like we could win and that has certainly not been the case the last couple of years. It’s disappointing, for sure, but a lot of this is part of the sport, too. Our sport is very cyclical. There are some teams that stay on top most of the time, but even the best teams – you can look at Hendrick Motorsports and there was a couple year period there where they struggled. You’ve seen it happen with other race teams. You’ve seen Roush go from being one of the most dominant teams in the garage area to not. Penske is pretty steady Eddy, but even they’ve had years where they’ve been off as well, and, for us, it’s been that way. We had a great year in 2018, not only for me personally but organizationally with winning a lot of races. Then we went into 2019 and we weren’t quite as good as 2018 as an organization; 2020 we were still just OK, but we weren’t as dominant and as good as we had been in the past years, so I feel like, for me, I totally anticipated coming over here and having success and building on that success to having an opportunity to go and be a champion, so, yeah, that hasn’t come to fruition and I’m certainly disappointed about it, but, at the end of the day, that doesn’t define me as a human being. As a race car driver I always want more and want to be a champion, want to win multiple races in a year and I have all of those lofty goals, but sometimes things don’t always go the way you want them to.”

IS THERE A LITTLE BIT OF EMBRACING THE CHALLENGE AND FIGHTING TO GET WHAT YOU WANT? “Absolutely. Life is not easy. Everybody has good days and bad days. Everybody has good years and bad years. There are seasons to life. There are seasons to a career and so, for me, it doesn’t water down the fact that I’m still racing at the highest level of stock car auto racing, something that I dreamed about as a kid. I’m getting to live out my childhood dream driving a NASCAR Cup Series car against 39 of the other best race car drivers in the world that drive stock cars, so I am very appreciative and very grateful of what I get to do. Do I want more wins and championships and all those things? Absolutely. I’m a competitive person, but at the end of the day you sit there and you look at Richard Petty, who is the King of our sport. I’ve gotten the opportunity to spend a lot of time with Richard and he doesn’t ever sit down at Thanksgiving with all 200 of his trophies, ever. He sits down at Thanksgiving with his family and he sits down to share a meal with people he cares about. All the time I’ve ever gotten to spend with him and talk about things outside of racing and talking about life, he’s been a huge impact on me just being able to recognize and realize that you don’t always have to chase the success because it doesn’t really define who you are once you stop driving a race car. What defines who you are is how you treat other people and how you are with the people you love, so, yeah, I think as a competitive person I want to win everything, but the reality is that’s not the case.”

HOW REWARDING IS IT TO SPEND TIME WITH YOUR SON AND HAVE THOSE MOMENTS LIKE WHEN HE WON HIS LITTLE LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP LAST WEEK? “I love it. I absolutely love it. Those are the moments for me at this point in life that I absolutely cherish those moments. I can honestly tell you that I was as happy and as excited that he won his baseball championship with his team as I’ve been winning a Cup race. I mean, literally, and he won a little league game, like a little league championship. In the grand scheme of things it’s not that big of a deal, but what was a big deal was just to see him cherish that moment, to see him enjoy the success of the practice and the hard work and all of the lessons and hitting lessons and all the things. To see him reap the benefit is awesome and I’m so glad that I was there to share that with him and when the game was over to see him come and jump up into my arms and give me a big hug, it was awesome. I loved every minute of it. I grew up playing baseball and team sports. I played basketball and I love playing team sports. I love the fact that Alex is involved in team sports and it’s fun to share moments like that with my kids. It’s the same for Abby. She had the lead role in her theater show this year. She’d been working for the last four years to transition from being just a part of the cast, being in what they call the ensemble, to getting a lead role. So, she had a lead role and she was Simba in Lion King and to watch her perform on stage and watch her take ownership and watch all the practice that she puts in and the training, the singing lessons and all the stuff, and then to see her go and perform on stage and to have the success that she has and to share that with her, as a dad it just makes me so proud. I love it. I absolutely love it.”

HAS ALEX SHOWN ANY INTEREST IN RACING? “Very little and I’m totally good with that.”

IT SEEMS THE KIDS WHO ARE RACING THESE DAYS HAVE A LOT OF PRESSURE ALREADY. “For me, we did a little bit of it. We raced for a year with Alex and I didn’t love it. I showed up at the racetrack and was head down working on his go-kart to figure out how to make it go as fast as it could. I was constantly critiquing him and criticizing him on what he needed to do better. There was what I felt to be an immense amount of pressure on him, for sure, and to go out and perform. You show up at a go-kart track and you’re racing against a lot of other kids that their dads are “normal dads”. They work normal jobs and his dad is a race car driver, so naturally he should be good. I think the amount of pressure that it puts on those kids, and some kids can handle it and some kids can’t, but I see what Keelen is doing. I see what Brexton is doing. I see what Owen Larson is doing and all those kids, and, man, I just remember what it was like when I was eight, nine, 10 years old and I was starting out go-kart racing. I went purely as a hobbyist. We went and had fun and, yeah, we had success and I ran really good and won state championships and national championships, but at the end of the day we rode up and down the road as a family in a dually and a trailer and it was just fun. There was no real pressure. If we didn’t win, I didn’t have to answer to sponsors or social media or any of that stuff that these kids nowadays have to. They have a fan following at 10 years old or younger and they have to come up with excuses on weekends that they run bad. Like for a nine year old I just feel like that’s totally unfair. They’re selling merchandise and doing all those things, which I think is awesome. It gives these kids wonderful opportunities to have such a head start on building a career, and I know that things nowadays are going younger and younger, and so by all means that is arguably the best way to groom them to be professional race car drivers, but I just remember for me at 10 years old I was not thinking about being groomed as a professional race car driver. I was just doing it because I loved it and it was way more fun to go 60 miles an hour in a go-kart than it was to wait at shortstop for a ground ball to come my way. All the while, I still loved baseball and I played baseball all the way to high school.”

ARE YOU AN ASSISTANT BASEBALL COACH? “I am an assistant coach. I refuse to be the head coach, but I totally enjoy helping and teaching the kids the fundamentals of baseball.”

WHERE IS THE TROPHY ALEX WON? “It went in his room on his dresser – front and center.”

WITH ONLY 20 MINUTES OF PRACTICE, HOW TOUGH IS IT TO GET THE DRIVER-CREW CHIEF RELATIONSHIP ESTABLISHED? “It is challenging, no doubt about it. It is challenging because in the old days you’d show up, you’d practice on Friday. You’d talk about it. You’d qualify Friday evening. After qualifying was over you’d come up with a game plan with your crew chief for what you were gonna do to the car for Saturday morning and typically Saturday morning was the opportunity to experiment and try a few things here and there. Then you talked about it after Saturday morning’s practice, and then you would get with your crew chief and your engineers and you’d put in whatever you thought was going to be the best for happy hour, and then you’d run two runs in happy hour, two long runs in happy hour, and when happy hour was over you’d download some more about it and you’d come up with a game plan for the race. So there was a lot of opportunity throughout the course of a weekend to work with your crew chief on the feel that you were looking for in the race car and that is gone. You show up now and kind of what you have is what you’ve got. You can make a few minor adjustments with the heights of the car and the wedge, some sway bar settings, some shocks and air-pressures. That’s it. That’s all you can change, so I think that communication and that relationship is extremely important, but at the end of the day what’s the most important is just having a fast race car. From a driver’s standpoint, you certainly want to have a great relationship with your crew chief, but regardless of the relationship you have with your crew chief, if your crew chief and your engineer and your organization – from the aero department to the vehicle dynamics group to everybody is supplying you with the fastest race car, you’re gonna go fast. That’s really it, so I think that’s ultimately the most important thing is making sure that the organization, the crew chiefs and the engineers are all on the same page and putting the best race car on the racetrack, and then at that point it’s up to the driver and crew chief to fine-tune it.”

Toyota / Save Mart 350
Sonoma Raceway
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Sunday, June 11 at 3:30 p.m. EST on FOX

• Kaulig Racing has made two starts at Sonoma Raceway in 2022.
• The team earned a top-15 finish with Justin Haley in the 2022 Toyota / Save Mart 350.
• So far in the 2023 NCS season, Kaulig Racing has earned four top-10 finishes.

AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Gabriel Glas Camaro ZL1

• AJ Allmendinger has made 11 NCS starts at his home track, Sonoma Raceway, where he has earned two top-10 finishes and led 65 laps with an average finish of 23.5.
• In the 2023 season, Allmendinger has led one lap, earned one top 10 and four top-15 finishes.

“Sonoma is always a special, important weekend for me. It’s near where I grew up and I still get to see a lot of friends and family there. Quite honestly, it’s a racetrack that I don’t have a very good average finish. I’ve felt like I’ve always been fast there, but it hasn’t worked out. Being able to run both races [NXS and NCS] I’m really looking forward to it. Sonoma is a racetrack I’ve always wanted to win at knowing it’s my home racetrack and I would be able to do that in front of a lot of friends and family. Hopefully we can go back there and have some success to keep building on our program.” – AJ Allmendinger on Sonoma Raceway

Justin Haley, No. 31 Cirkul Camaro ZL1

• Justin Haley has made two starts at Sonoma Raceway in the NCS.
• Haley’s best finish at the road course came with Kaulig Racing last year, as he earned a 12th-place finish in the 2022 Toyota / Save Mart 350.
• So far in the 2023 season, Haley has earned three top-10 finishes.
• After completing the 2023 Coca-Cola 600 and Alsco Uniforms 300, Haley now holds the record for the most NASCAR National Series miles completed in a single day by any driver in NASCAR history.

“Sonoma is another road course I really enjoy. We finished 12th there last year and had a great day as a team overall. We’ve had a string of really solid races the last few weeks and have worked really well as a team, so I’m looking forward to going into the off weekend on a high note.” – Justin Haley on Sonoma Raceway

DoorDash 250
Sonoma Raceway
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Saturday, June 10 at 8:00 p.m. EST on FS1

• Kaulig Racing will compete in the inaugural NXS race at Sonoma Raceway, the 2023 DoorDash 250.
• So far in the 2023 NXS season, Kaulig Racing has earned three wins, eight top fives, 21 top-10 finishes, two pole awards and has led 317 laps.

AJ Allmendinger, No. 10 Gabriel Glas Chevrolet Camaro

• AJ Allmendinger will make his second NXS start of the 2023 season at Sonoma Raceway.
• Allmendinger’s last NXS start came at Circuit of the Americans (COTA) earlier this season where he earned Kaulig Racing’s first NXS win of the 2023 season.
• The No. 10 Chevrolet has earned two wins in the 2023 season with its all-star driver lineup.

“Sonoma is always a special, important weekend for me. It’s near where I grew up and I still get to see a lot of friends and family there. Quite honestly, it’s a racetrack that I don’t have a very good average finish. I’ve felt like I’ve always been fast there, but it hasn’t worked out. Being able to run both races [NXS and NCS] I’m really looking forward to it. Sonoma is a racetrack I’ve always wanted to win at knowing it’s my home racetrack and I would be able to do that in front of a lot of friends and family. Hopefully we can go back there and have some success to keep building on our program.” – AJ Allmendinger on Sonoma Raceway

Daniel Hemric, No. 11 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro

• Daniel Hemric has made one start at Sonoma in the NCS where he finished 15th.
• Hemric currently sits 12th in the NXS playoff points with one top five and six top-10 finishes.

“Sonoma has so much to offer. The race track is super slick and tire wear is huge. It makes for a fun day behind the wheel wrestling your car around. Hopefully we get the balance close so we can slip and slide around a little less than everyone else.” – Daniel Hemric on Sonoma Raceway

Chandler Smith, No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro

• Chandler Smith has made one start at Sonoma Raceway in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS) and finished fifth.
• Smith is currently sixth in the NXS points standings with one win, four top fives and six top-10 finishes.

“After last week at Portland, I feel like we’ve found some solid speed on the road courses to take to Sonoma. It won’t be the first time I’ve raced at Sonoma either, so I think that’ll help us on Friday to get a baseline of where we’re at since it’ll be the first time we take the Xfinity car there.” – Chandler Smith on Sonoma Raceway  
 
About Kaulig Racing™

Kaulig Racing™ is a full-time multi-car NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) team, owned by award winning entrepreneur, Matt Kaulig. Established in 2016, Kaulig Racing™ has made the NXS Playoffs consecutively each season since the playoff system started and has won back-to-back regular-season championships. Before becoming a full-time NCS team, Kaulig Racing made multiple starts in the 2021 NCS season and won in its seventh-ever start with AJ Allmendinger’s victory at “The Brickyard” for the Verizon 200 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. The team expanded to a two-car, full-time NCS team in 2022 with Justin Haley piloting the No. 31 Camaro ZL1, and an all-star lineup featured in the No. 16 Camaro ZL1. Haley will continue to drive the No. 31 full-time in 2023, alongside AJ Allmendinger, who will drive the No. 16 Camaro ZL1. The team will continue to field three, full-time NXS entries; the No. 10 Chevrolet driven by an all-star lineup, the No. 11 Chevrolet driven by Daniel Hemric, and the No. 16 Chevrolet driven by Chandler Smith. To learn more about the team, visit kauligracing.com.

Sonoma Event Info:
Track Info: Sonoma Raceway, 12-turn road course
Date: Sunday, June 11
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Sonoma, California
Format: 110 laps, 300 miles, Stages: 25-30-55
TV: FOX
Radio: PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90)

Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 5 p.m. ET, Practice (FS2, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 6 p.m. ET, Qualifying (FS2, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3:30 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, PRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

Pace Laps:

• The NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) heads to its second road course race of the season as Sonoma hosts the final race of the first half of the 2023 season.
• Jack Roush has three wins in Sonoma with two in the Cup Series.

6 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Matt McCall
Partner: King’s Hawaiian

17 Team Info:
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Partner: Fifth Third Bank

• Fifth Third Bank will feature Soapy Joe’s car wash on the decklid as part of the Fueled by Fifth Third Program.
• Soapy Joe’s is a locally owned family business with multiple locations serving San Diego County. Soapy Joe’s prides itself in its commitment to the environment, using advanced water reclamation systems, and earning the International Carwash Associations WaterSavers® designation. Over the past 12 years, Soapy Joe’s has donated more than $2M and 120,000 free washes, benefiting veterans, healthcare workers, schools, hospitals, firefighters, and more. The company’s innovation across technology, loyalty and experiential marketing helps them shine not only as a car wash, but as a brand of choice in San Diego.

Keselowski at Sonoma
Starts: 12
Wins: —
Top-10s: 3
Poles: —

Keselowski makes his 13th Cup start in Sonoma this weekend, where in 12 starts prior he has three top-10s and a 16.1 average finish.
His best-career finish at the 12-turn course came in 2017 when he ran third. Most recently he finished 10th a year ago, and he also finished 10th in the 2011 race, his second-ever at Sonoma.
Keselowski has three top-10 qualifying efforts with a best of ninth in 2021, and an average of 16.9

Buescher at Sonoma
Starts: 6
Wins: —
Top-10s: 1
Poles: —

• Buescher is in line for his seventh Cup start from Sonoma on Sunday, where he’s coming off his best career finish of second last season. He also has six-straight top-10s on road courses dating back to 2022. He finished sixth at the ROVAL last fall, ninth at Watkins Glen, 10th at the Indy Road Course, sixth at Road America, second at Sonoma, and most recently ninth in COTA.
• In Sonoma, Buescher finished 12th in 2018, his best finish outside of the P2 result last season.
• Buescher has three top-10 qualifying efforts – an average of 15.8 overall – with a best effort of third in 2022.
• On road courses overall, Buescher has 27 starts with eight top-10s and three top-five results.

RFK Historically at Sonoma
Cup Wins: 2 (Mark Martin, 1997; Carl Edwards, 2014)

• Looking for the Hat Trick in the ‘Golden State’: In 108 NCS starts at Sonoma, RFK has recorded two wins, 15 top-five finishes, 36 top-10 finishes and has led 281 laps. Former RFK driver Carl Edwards earned the organization’s most recent victory at the road course in 2014.
• Hasta La Vista Baby: RFK has left the California road course victorious on two occasions in the NCS with former drivers Mark Martin and Carl Edwards. Martin earned the victory in 1997 after starting from the pole and leading 69 laps, while Edwards started fourth and led 26 laps in the 2014 running of this event.
• RFK on the Road: As an organization, RFK has made 246 starts on road courses in the Cup Series with five wins, 86 top-10s and 40 finishes inside the top five with a 17.5 average finish.

RFK Sonoma Wins

1997 Martin Cup
1997 Ruttman Truck
2014 Edwards Cup

Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Gateway: Chris Buescher bounced back for a 12th-place finish at Gateway on Sunday, while Brad Keselowski endured mechanical troubles to unfortunately finish 28th.

Points Standings (6: 11th, 17: 13th): Keselowski sits 11th in points entering the weekend, while Buescher is 13th. A 10-point gap separates positions 9-12.

By the Numbers at Sonoma

Race      Win       T5           T10         Pole       Laps       Led        AvSt      AvFn     Miles

108         2              15           36           2              11001    281         18.3        18.1        27722.5
5              1              3              3              0              322         4              12.4        8.6          811.44
113         3              18           39           2              11323    285         17.9        17.7        28533.9

SONOMA RACEWAY NOTES

Saturday, June 10 – NASCAR XFINITY Series, 8 p.m. ET (FS1)

Sunday, June 11 – NASCAR Cup Series, 3:30 p.m. ET (FOX)

The NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series will share the stage to battle on the tricky twists and turns of Sonoma Raceway this weekend. While the Cup Series returns to road course racing for the first time since Circuit of The Americas, the Xfinity Series will make a short trek from Oregon having competed at Portland International Raceway last Saturday.

Kevin Harvick: “It’s definitely my favorite road course. For me, I raced there for the first time in 1995. So, it’ll be fun to go there and run the Cup car one last time. I have a lot of family and friends in that area that will be there that particular weekend. To be able to go out and race in California one last time will, for me, be a lot of fun and an honor. It’ll bring back a lot of good memories of where it all started out there.”

Todd Gilliland: “In general, road courses had been strong for me and the team last year. This one is a little bit different with Rick Ware Racing, but I still feel like I can get the job done on a road course. Confidence is half the battle going into some of these places. Sonoma may not be my best racetrack overall, but I’m still really excited. I have a lot of family coming out there – kind of where I’m from with it being in California. It’s always really exciting to go back there. Road courses are a lot about track position. Nowadays, it’s tougher to pass and pit strategy is super important, so all that stuff comes into play. These are long races and you kind of just have to grind it out. Sonoma is a place that’s really worn out and it’s tough on tires, so you’ll be slipping and sliding around at some point during the race. That’s what makes it fun, but also very challenging.”

Austin Cindric: “I had a top-five at Sonoma last year. It’s a good weekend for us to get things on-track, rolling and get some momentum. Sonoma is one of those ones where there’s guys who have raced there a lot more than I have – especially in the Cup Series. I feel like with that layout as well, the first time I really ran the NASCAR layout at that place it was pretty different. It’s fun nonetheless. I do have some demons at that racetrack I’d like to overcome at some point – back racing Johnny O’Connell in the SCCA stuff. It’d really be cool to get a win there.”

Ryan Preece: “I never got to drive the old racetrack, and I always did in the video games when I was a little kid. So, I get to check that box off my bucket list. From a road course standpoint, I certainly didn’t grow up doing it, but it’s something I enjoy doing because I enjoy the challenge. That’s what I’m looking forward to the most.”

FORD’S ALL-TIME ROAD COURSE WINNER

NASCAR has competed on 16 different road courses during its history and Ford has had 21 drivers win 33 times overall. Dan Gurney leads the way with five, including four straight at Riverside International Raceway from 1963-66 while driving for the Wood Brothers. Mark Martin, on the strength of three straight wins at Watkins Glen International from 1993-95, is second.

FORD’S ALL-TIME ROAD COURSE WINNERS

5 – Dan Gurney

4 – Mark Martin

2 – Fireball Roberts, Marvin Panch, Parnelli Jones, Ricky Rudd, Marcos Ambrose

1 – Chuck Stevenson, Eddie Gray, Richard Petty, A.J. Foyt, Bobby Allison, Bill Elliott, Davey Allison, Geoffrey Bodine, Ernie Irvan, Rusty Wallace, Carl Edwards, Joey Logano, Kevin Harvick, Ryan Blaney.

 
HALL OF FAME TIES

Ford has won eight times at Sonoma and the one thing all of those winners have in common is that their owners are members of the NASCAR Hall of Fame. Robert Yates (Class of 2018) won this event three times (Davey Allison, 1991; Ernie Irvan, 1994; and Ricky Rudd, 2002), while Jack Roush (Class of 2019) has two victories (Mark Martin, 1997 and Carl Edwards, 2014). Bud Moore (Class of 2011) won with Geoffrey Bodine in 1993 while Roger Penske (Class of 2019) won with Rusty Wallace in 1996 and Tony Stewart (Class of 2020) with Kevin Harvick in 2017.

HARVICK GETS FIRST FORD WIN

Kevin Harvick stretched his fuel over the final 40 laps to bring home his first win with Ford and first win at Sonoma when he captured this event six years ago. Harvick bested teammate Clint Bowyer and fellow Ford driver Brad Keselowski in a 1-2-3 showing for the Blue Oval. The win marked the second triumph for Stewart-Haas Racing since moving to Ford prior to the start of the 2017 season. In all, five Fusions wound up in the top-10 with Kurt Busch finishing seventh and Ryan Blaney ninth as Harvick led 24-of-110 laps and cruised to a win of over eight seconds.

RUDD RUCKUS

When Ford took the checkered flag at Sonoma Raceway for the first time it came in controversial fashion. That’s because Davey Allison, the man credited with winning the Banquet Frozen Foods 300 in 1991, was sent spinning by Ricky Rudd as they were approaching the white flag. Even though Rudd ended up crossing the finish line first, he received the black flag from NASCAR for rough driving and awarded Allison with the trophy. The win was Allison’s first and only one on a road course and snapped an eight-race streak that had seen either Rudd or Rusty Wallace end up in Victory Lane at Watkins Glen International or Sonoma Raceway.

MOORE IS BEST

Little did anyone know that when Geoffrey Bodine won the NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway in 1993 it would represent the final win for car owner Bud Moore. Bodine, driving the No. 15 Motorcraft Ford, had just purchased the assets of Alan Kulwicki’s No. 7 team earlier in the week and after taking the checkered flag proceeded to honor the late driver by doing an abbreviated Polish Victory Lap. He was able to do that after surviving a fierce three-car battle on the final lap with Ricky Rudd and Ernie Irvan in which contact between all three cars took place. Moore, a NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee in 2011, won 63 series races during his career by 10 different drivers.

EDWARDS BREAKS DROUGHT

Carl Edwards snapped an 11-race winless streak for Ford when he captured the NASCAR Cup Series race in 2014 for car owner Jack Roush. Edwards held off Jeff Gordon on the final lap to post the first road win of his NCS career. He did it thanks to a two-stop strategy and a timely caution. Edwards had just pitted on lap 70 when NASCAR threw a caution for debris one lap later. While most of the field decided to pit for new tires, Edwards and fellow Ford driver Marcos Ambrose stayed out and gained the necessary track position that put both in position to win. Ambrose took the lead from Clint Bowyer on lap 81 and brought Edwards with him, but another restart with 25 to go saw Ambrose and Edwards sharing the front row. Edwards got the jump and took the lead, which he never surrendered, although a hard-charging Gordon made it interesting on the final lap.

A NASCAR XFINITY SERIES FIRST

This is the first time the NASCAR XFINITY Series will compete at Sonoma Raceway, marking the last of the top three national touring series to run on the popular road course. The NASCAR Cup Series has been racing at Sonoma since 1989 while the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series has five all-time starts. Ford has 11 combined wins (8 Cup and 3 Truck) with Kevin Harvick posting Ford’s last victory at the facility in 2017.

CUSTER GOING FOR TWO STRAIGHT

Cole Custer registered his first win of the 2023 season on Saturday at Portland International Raceway, which continued a hot streak that has seen him finish fifth or better in six of the last seven races. He has an average finish of 3.7 during that time and has moved up from 10th to 4th in the overall point standings. The victory was also Custer’s 11th career NXS triumph, which ties him for ninth on Ford’s all-time series win list with Chase Briscoe. Up next on the list with 12 wins apiece are Austin Cindric and Joey Logano.

FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS AT SONOMA

1991 – Davey Allison

1993 – Geoffrey Bodine

1994 – Ernie Irvan

1996 – Rusty Wallace

1997 – Mark Martin

2002 – Ricky Rudd

2014 – Carl Edwards

2017 – Kevin Harvick

TEAM AND RACE NOTES:

Michael McDowell and the No. 34 team head out west to the Sonoma Raceway with PEAK Performance, a partner of Love’s and Speedco, making their return to the Ford Mustang.

PEAK Performance last raced with McDowell and the Love’s Travel Stops Ford at the Circuit of the Americas (COTA) where they finished 12th. Now, PEAK Performance looks to help carry McDowell to victory lane.

PEAK is a leader in the automotive and heavy-duty products ranging from PEAK Global Antifreeze, Final Charge, PEAK Windshield Wash, and of course BlueDEF Diesel Exhaust Fluid. Fans can find these and other great products at over 600 Love’s Travel Stops locations across the country.

Track activity will begin on Saturday with practice and qualifying at 5:00 p.m. ET. Sunday’s 110-lap race is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

COMPETITION NOTES

McDowell and the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops/PEAK Ford team head back to California looking to best last year’s third-place finish at the 1.9-mile road course. McDowell started fourth and was in contention for the win all day.

CREW CHIEF TRAVIS PETTERSON

“We have this race circled. We feel that we’ll be in contention. Michael has a strong road course background, and already has a top-15 finish this year at the Circuit of the Americas.

“We’re racing with a chip on our shoulder for sure, Michael is one of the best road-course racers in the field and we’re going to prove that this Sunday.”

DRIVER MICHAEL MCDOWELL

“I can’t wait for Sonoma. We want to get back into the top-five and get a good result. Travis and the team are working hard to prepare the car. Sonoma is tough, but I think last year we really hit on it. I really like racing this new car on road courses. I’m really comfortable in it and it has helped us.

“I am treating PEAK as a good luck charm this weekend. They rode with us to a solid 12th-place finish at the Circuit of the Americas and I can’t wait to give them another great result on Sunday.”

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.

KEVIN HARVICK
Sonoma Advance
No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Save Mart 350k (Round 16 of 36)

● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, June 11

● Location: Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway

● Layout: 1.99-mile, 10-turn road course

● Laps/Miles: 110 laps/218.9 miles (352.3 kilometers)

● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 25 laps / Stage 2: 30 laps / Final Stage: 55 laps

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

Notes of Interest

● Kevin Harvick will make his 806th career NASCAR Cup Series start on Sunday when he takes the green flag for the Save Mart 350k at Sonoma (Calif.) Raceway, putting him ninth all-time in Cup Series starts in NASCAR’s 75-year history. The driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing will surpass NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon, who retired with 805 career Cup Series starts. Harvick is on track to finish the year with 826 career starts, which will put him eighth all-time. He’s part of an impressive lineup that includes just 10 drivers: Richard Petty (1,185 starts), Ricky Rudd (906), Terry Labonte (890), Dave Marcis (883), Mark Martin (882), Kyle Petty (829), Bill Elliott (828), Darrell Waltrip (809), Gordon and Harvick (805). At age 47, Harvick was the fifth-youngest driver to make 800 starts, a milestone he achieved April 23 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

● What has Harvick done in his 805 NASCAR Cup Series starts prior to Sonoma?

●  He won the 2014 Cup Series championship.

●  His 60 point-paying wins ranks 10th all-time.

●  His 63 runner-up finishes ranks sixth all-time.

●  His 249 top-five finishes ranks ninth all-time.

●  His 437 top-10 finishes ranks fifth all-time.

●  His 1,278 starts across NASCAR’s top-three series – Cup, Xfinity and Truck – is the most all-time (and 81 more than the next best driver in this category, Joe Nemechek, who has 1,197 starts).

●  His 121 wins across NASCAR’s top-three series ranks third all-time.

● While these kind of statistics make Harvick an eventual first-ballot NASCAR Hall of Famer when he becomes eligible in 2026, the Bakersfield, California-native is set to become a member of the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame this Thursday night in a ceremony at Sonoma. Founded in 2001, the hall’s mission is to preserve the history and heritage of the important role West Coast motorsports figures have played in the sport’s development and continuation, with outstanding individuals and groups within the sport being recognized via annual enshrinement. The Class of 2023 includes Harvick, Kurt Busch (Las Vegas), Matt Crafton (Tulare, California), Brent Kaeding (Campbell, California) and Lyn St. James (Phoenix). Busch is the 2004 NASCAR Cup Series champion and owns 43 victories across NASCAR’s top-three national touring series – Cup, Xfinity and Truck. Crafton is a three-time Truck Series champion (2013, 2014 and 2019). Kaeding is a 13-time Northern Auto Racing Club (NARC) sprint car champion and a race winner in the World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series. James owns two GTO class victories in the 24 Hours at Daytona (1987 and 1990) along with a GTO class win in the 1990 Mobil 1 12 Hours of Sebring, and she was the first woman to earn the Indianapolis 500 Rookie of the Year award (1992).

● The Save Mart 350k Sunday at Sonoma is the second of six road-course races on the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series schedule. Harvick finished 13th in the first road-course race of the year March 26 at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas. After Sonoma, the series’ heads to a street course in downtown Chicago on July 2 before going to the road course within the confines of Indianapolis Motor Speedway on Aug. 13. A more traditional road course greets Cup Series drivers Aug. 20 at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International before the final road-course race of the season Oct. 8 at the Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway Roval.

● Harvick comes into Sonoma with four straight finishes of 11th or better, a run highlighted by a second-place drive May 14 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. He has scored seven top-10s in the 15 races runs this season.

● Harvick is on the cusp of 16,000 laps led in his NASCAR Cup Series career. With his 19 laps led May 29 in the Coca-Cola 600 at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway, Harvick’s career tally is 15,999 laps led across 805 Cup Series starts. He is a single lap away from being one of just 11 drivers who have led 16,000 laps in their career. Harvick has led 11,584 laps since joining SHR in 2014 (72.4 percent).

● Harvick is one of four NASCAR Cup Series drivers competing in the Save Mart 350k who hail from California. Harvick is from Bakersfield, and the native Californians joining him on the grid at Sonoma include Kyle Larson (Elk Grove), Tyler Reddick (Corning) and AJ Allmendinger (Los Gatos).

● Harvick has made a total of 56 NASCAR Cup Series starts on road courses. He has 21 starts at Sonoma, 21 at Watkins Glen, five at the Charlotte Roval, three at COTA, and two apiece at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Indianapolis and the road course at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. He has scored two road-course wins – Watkins Glen in 2006 and Sonoma in 2017 – along with 12 top-fives and 27 top-10s with 199 laps led.

● When Harvick scored his first road-course victory at Watkins Glen in 2006, he had to beat his current team owner to do it. Tony Stewart – the “Stewart” in Stewart-Haas Racing – had won the previous two NASCAR Cup Series races at The Glen and was poised to capture a third straight win as he was leading Harvick with four laps to go in the 90-lap race. But Harvick, who had already led once for 24 laps, passed Stewart on lap 87 as the two drag-raced down the frontstretch and into turn one. Harvick held onto the lead despite Stewart in his rearview mirror, earning a margin of victory of .892 of a second.

● Harvick’s second career road-course win also had a connection to Stewart. When Harvick won at Sonoma in 2017, he gave Stewart-Haas Racing its second straight victory at the 1.99-mile, 10-turn road course. The winner in 2016? None other than Stewart. It ended up being his 49th and final NASCAR Cup Series victory as Stewart retired from NASCAR racing at the conclusion of the season.

● Harvick’s last road-course win was his first in a Ford. When Harvick won at Sonoma in 2017, he became the 83rd different driver to win a NASCAR Cup Series race behind the wheel of a Ford. Harvick has now won 25 Cup Series races with Ford, which makes him one of only 13 drivers to win 20 or more races with the manufacturer. He stands 10th on Ford’s all-time win list and is now only one win away from tying Brad Keselowski, Junior Johnson and Fred Lorenzen for ninth. Harvick has won more races driving a Mustang (15) than any other driver since the iconic muscle car became Ford’s flagship model in 2019.

● Harvick has four road-course wins outside of the NASCAR Cup Series. Two came in the NASCAR Xfinity Series – Montreal’s Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2007 and Watkins Glen in 2007 – and two were in the NASCAR Winston West/K&N Pro Series West – Sonoma in 1998 and Sonoma in 2017. Harvick’s Winston West win at Sonoma in 1998 was three years before his Cup Series debut on Feb. 26, 2001 at North Carolina Speedway in Rockingham.

● Turning left and right. Going up and down through the gears. Hitting the apex of corners and, sometimes, riding the curb with such force that it puts the car on two wheels. It’s all a part of road-course racing, and it demands maximum performance from every part and piece on the racecar. Harvick has an added advantage with Mobil 1. Not only is the world’s leading synthetic motor oil brand the primary sponsor of his No. 4 Ford Mustang at Sonoma, Mobil 1 products are used throughout his racecar and they extend beyond just engine oil. Power steering fluid, transmission fluid, gear oil and driveline lubricants from Mobil 1 give Harvick a technical advantage over his counterparts by reducing friction, heat and rolling resistance. Mobil 1 is a sponsor whose technology makes Harvick’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang faster.

● Featured on Harvick’s No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang this weekend at Sonoma are Mobil 1 Lube Express and Mobil 1 Car Care. These service centers flying the Mobil 1 flag are all independently owned and operated, and dedicated to providing their communities with high quality oil change and repair services, in line with the high quality motor oil they pour.

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Mobil 1 Ford Mustang

Sonoma marks your last NASCAR Cup Series race in your home state of California. Does that resonate with you to where you want to soak up every moment from the race weekend, or do you go in there with a more a business-like mindset of winning and everything else comes in second?

“I think you can do both. I’ve learned this year that you can take advantage of the year and get away with thinking both ways. For me, Sonoma is one of the places that I’ve raced at for so long and really spent a lot of time up there in my West Coast days with the Southwest Tour car and all the different things that I’ve been fortunate to race there. We’ve won a few races there and I think going up there and seeing all of the California fans for the last time is obviously something you’ve got to stop and pay attention to. I’m looking forward to that. I know the track has a lot of exciting things planned that week, along with the West Coast Hall of Fame and everything happening there. It’ll be a big week to take it all in.”

Are you relishing every “last” thing that happens this year?

“Fontana was the first place that I went to and was like, ‘Wow, this racetrack’s going to be gone – nobody’s going to race here again. You’re not ever going to set foot on that racetrack again.’ And for me, that’s one that’s obviously pretty close to home, growing up in California, and growing up at California Speedway on that racetrack. Phoenix was a little bit of the same way, but we get to go back there again, and that being the last race is obviously pretty fitting for me, personally. I’m at a point in my career where I’m just taking it all in.”

You’re getting inducted into the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame. As a kid from Bakersfield, California, who grew up watching and even idolizing other West Coast racers, is it a pinch-me moment to now be a part of that group?

“Well, I grew up a Rick Carelli fan, my dad worked for Carelli, and I grew up racing against Ron Hornaday, and later had him drive our stuff and won championships with him, and he’s in the NASCAR Hall of Fame. And Mike Chase, who’s still in the Cup Series garage building shocks and working on Cup cars, and you see so many people from the West Coast. So yeah, it is a little bit of ‘pinch me’ moment because we’ve been through two generations of racers – the guys I grew up idolizing and now myself. They’re old enough to be grandpas and I’m old enough to almost be a grandpa. It’s been a long period of time, but I think the great thing that it shows is the great amount of West Coast racers who have had success on multiple levels of the sport, and I’m honored to be a part of that group.”

You first competed at Sonoma back in 1995 on the NASCAR Featherlite Southwest Tour. For a then 19-year-old Kevin Harvick, what was it like to compete on the same weekend as the NASCAR Cup Series?

“I didn’t think about it like that at that particular time. We blew up three motors that weekend and we were trying to figure out how we were going to make it to the next race because of the fact that we didn’t really know what we were doing. I mean, we had the wrong oil tank in the car. But looking back, that whole weekend is a great experience for the grassroots racers. They’re a part of the show and everything that comes with the Sonoma weekend. It really allows those people to come into the garage and kind of interact with the highest end of our sport.”

Did racing at Sonoma when the NASCAR Cup Series was in town provide opportunities you might not have had otherwise?

“Sonoma and Phoenix were always the two biggest races of the year for the West Series and for the Southwest Tour. I ran my first race in the Southwest Tour at Sonoma in 1995 and ran it a few more times after that. I ran the West Series race there a few times and a few years back, as well. It’s always been a staple of regional, West Coast racing because of the fact that that’s where the Cup guys raced, and Phoenix was the same way. Just getting to do something at the highest level, at the same time and at the same venue as the Cup guys, was really cool for the grassroots racers. At one point, I was that grassroots racer that wanted to be in that environment for that particular weekend because it was just cool.”

Our last road-course race at COTA looked like a lot of road-course races of late – a lot of beating and banging with a lot of beat-up racecars. Why are we seeing so much of that on road courses?

“I think the car is so durable that everybody knows that they can take a chance with it. They depend on the car to take the brunt of the impact compared to what it would’ve been in the past. I think Sonoma is a little bit different because of the way turn one is. It goes right into the first corner, whereas COTA has a big straightaway that leads to a really sharp corner, and that leads to a lot of ramming each other with the car instead of trying to take care of the car. I think at Sonoma it gets spread out a little bit quicker just with the way the restart zone is and how the corners are laid out.”

Formula One world champion Jenson Button had his first NASCAR Cup Series start at COTA, and he was taken aback by how much contact there was out on the racetrack. He said he had never intentionally driven into anyone, but at COTA, he saw a lot of that and was the victim of some of that. Is that just a welcome-to-NASCAR moment or do his insights carry some weight in that maybe these road-course races could be cleaner?

“I think the road-course races could be a little bit cleaner on the restarts. After that, you definitely have to learn that NASCAR racing is a contact sport, and the way that the cars are allows you to take chances and do things without ending your race. I think there are two sides to that. The restart stuff at COTA is a little bit overboard, the rest of it is just NASCAR racing.”

There’s one spot at Sonoma that looks incredibly tight, at least to the TV viewer, and that’s the exit off turn four and down into “The Chute.” Cars go wide off turn four but then they have to funnel back into line to avoid hitting a wall that seems to jut out at the start of “The Chute.” Is that section of the track as tight as it seems on TV?

“You have to funnel back in just because the wall comes out all the way to the racetrack. It’s always interesting to see how our cars navigate the curb and then slam back down onto the ground when we cross that curb.”

If a guy is hung on the outside of you as that wall comes up, do you treat it like an exit ramp where you give him room to merge back into traffic, or is it more like, ‘Sorry, dude. You should’ve planned better’?

“It depends on where they are. It could be messy if you run them into that barrier, so you have to see how far alongside you they are.”

With the speed that you carry down through “The Chute,” what do you need to do to both maintain control and not scrub off speed as you exit turn seven and head through the esses?

“The trick to the exit of turn seven is just keeping the rear tires driving forward because, as the run goes, the car loses rear grip, and tire wear is obviously something that you have to keep track of. That exit off turn seven is older asphalt that kind of transitions to some newer asphalt as you get through the exit of that corner, so you just have to take care of the rear tires there, and it just gets worse as the day goes.”

What’s OK and what isn’t when you’re racing with someone else as you head into the hairpin in turn 11?

“I think a lot of that just takes care of itself. It’s a pretty straightforward corner as far as braking, and that’s really what it comes down to – just who can get in there the hardest on the brakes and be able to keep the car under control and still make the bottom of the corner.”

No. 4 Mobil 1 Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Kevin Harvick

Hometown: Bakersfield, California

Crew Chief: Rodney Childers

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Car Chief: Robert “Cheddar” Smith

Hometown: Whitewater, Wisconsin

Engineer: Stephen Doran

Hometown: Butler, Pennsylvania

Engineer: Dax Gerringer

Hometown: Gibsonville, North Carolina

Spotter: Tim Fedewa

Hometown: Holt, Michigan

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Daniel Coffey

Hometown: Granite Falls, North Carolina

Rear Tire Changer: Daniel Smith

Hometown: Concord, North Carolina

Tire Carrier: Jeremy Howard

Hometown: Delhart, Texas

Jack Man: Brandon Banks

Hometown: High Point, North Carolina

Fuel Man: Evan Marchal

Hometown: Westfield, Indiana

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Tyler Trosper

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Mechanic: Nick DeFazio

Hometown: Orange, California

Tire Specialist: Jamie Turski

Hometown: Trumbull, Connecticut

Engine Tuner: Robert Brandt

Hometown: Mobile, Alabama

Transporter Co-Driver: Rick Hodges

Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Stephen Mitchell

Hometown: Woodville, Ohio