Lexington, N.C. (May 3, 2023) – Kaulig Racing has teamed up with Campers Inn RV as the team’s Official RV Partner in a multi-year agreement.

Campers Inn RV, a family-operated and a values-driven RV dealer, has 37 full-service locations across the country, all of which offer RV sales, service, parts, accessories, and financing.

“We at Campers Inn RV are absolutely thrilled to join forces with Kaulig Racing as their official sponsor,” said Larry Peter, VP of Southern Operations and Finance. “This partnership represents a perfect synergy between two organizations that are committed to providing unparalleled experiences to our customers. We look forward to hitting the road with Kaulig Racing and cheering on their talented drivers to victory!”

As part of the multi-year partnership, Campers Inn RV will serve as the primary partner for select races in both the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) and NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS). The Campers Inn RV Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 will makes its debut on the No. 16 driven by AJ Allmendinger for 2023 All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway.

“Kaulig Racing is always excited to welcome new partners, but this one is especially exciting for us,” said Chris Rice, President of Kaulig Racing. “Matt (Kaulig) and I bring our motorhomes to the track every weekend; they are our home away from home. To work with Campers Inn RV, a family-run RV dealership that is committed to helping their customers find their ‘away,’ just like we have every weekend, means a lot to us.”

About Campers Inn RV

Headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla., Campers Inn RV was established in 1966 and has grown to become the nation’s largest family-operated dealership group with 37 dealership locations throughout all U.S. regions. Since 2014, Campers Inn RV has consistently been selected as one of RVBusiness Magazine’s Top 50 Dealers in North America and was honored as the winner of the 2014 Innovation Award from RVBusiness. In 2010, 2019,2021 and 2022, Campers Inn RV was awarded RVBusiness’s Top 5 Blue Ribbon Dealer. For more information about Campers Inn RV, visit www.campersinn.com or find Campers Inn RV on Facebook.

 
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 that will be announced at a later date, 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.

Race Information

• Round: NASCAR Cup Series race No. 12 of 36
• Track Location: Kansas Speedway – Kansas City, Kansas
• Race Name: AdventHealth 400
• Broadcast: Sunday, May 7th at 3:00 PM ET live on FS1 (TV), PRN (Radio) Sirius XM NASCAR Ch. 90
• Team Entrants:

No. 42 | Noah Gragson & Luke Lambert – Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet Camaro Zl1
No. 43 | Erik Jones & Dave Elenz – Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Kansas Speedway Stats

• NCS Starts: 2; Best start: 28th; Best finish: 18th (Both races in 2022)
• NXS Starts: 5; Wins: 1 (2022); Poles: 1 (Fall, 2020); Top 5s: 1, Top 10s: 1; Laps led: 42
• NCTS Starts: 2; Wins: 1 (2018); Poles: 1 (2018); Top 5s: 1, Top 10s: 1; Laps led: 128
• ARCA Starts: 1; Best start: 8th; Best finish: 5th; Top 5s: 1, Top 10s: 1

2023 NCS Season Stats

• Starts: 11, Best start: 10th; Best finish: 12th (Atlanta); Laps led: 2; Current points position: 32nd
• About Sunseeker Resorts: 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 on Instagram: @sunseekerresorts and like us on Facebook: @sunseekerresorts.
• Dover In The Rear View: It was an early day for Noah Gragson as he sustained damage to his suspension after a single car spin on lap 27. The Sunseeker team took the car back to the garage but couldn’t get the vehicle back on the track before the clock ran out. Gragson finished 34th after the DVP.
• Lapping Laps: Gragson has two starts at Kansas Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series racing for Kaulig Racing. Both starts were in the 2022 season, where he started 28 and finished 16th in each event. He completed all attempted laps but one.
• Blame it on the Rain: Gragson was declared the winner in a rain-shortened event at Kansas Speedway last September. The race was declared official after 93 of 200 laps and was Gragson’s tenth career Xfinity Series win together with crew chief Luke Lambert last season.
• Lambert’s Record at Kansas: Lambert has 18 NASCAR Cup Series visits to Kansas Speedway in his career and has found success at the mile-and-a-half track with several drivers. In total, the veteran Crew Chief has three top-10 finishes (two with Ryan Newman and one with Chris Buescher) and one pole position with Daniel Hemric. Lambert also has two NASCAR Xfinity Series starts, both of which were top-five finishes with Elliott Sadler and Noah Gragson, who he won with just last year.
• Hammer Down in Trucks: In two starts at Kansas Speedway in the NASCAR Truck Series racing for Kyle Busch Motorsports, Gragson made it to victory lane once, on May 11, 2018. He started from the pole position, led five times for 128 laps – including the final six – and took the checkered flag by a margin of 1.5 seconds.
• The Legacy at Kansas: LEGACY MOTOR CLUB co-owner Jimmie Johnson is no stranger to victory lane at Kansas Speedway. Johnson has three wins, nine top-five and 19 top-10 finishes across 29 starts, leading 601 laps along the way.
• Quoting Noah Gragson: “Last time we were at Kansas, we won the Xfinity race and also have won in the Truck Series so it’s been a good track for us historically. I’m excited to get back there and run the top right up against the wall. Our team has run well at the mile and a half race tracks this year and so I’m excited to get back there.”

Erik Jones, No. 43 Allegiant Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Kansas Speedway Stats

• NCS Starts: 13; Best start: 6th; Best finish: 3rd (Spring, 2019); Top 5s: 3; Top 10s: 5; Laps led: 3
• NXS Starts: 2; Best start: 2nd; Best finish: 15th (Twice); Laps led: 3
• NCTS Starts: 1; Poles: 1 (2015); Best finish: 11th (2015); Laps led: 151

2023 NCS Season Stats

• Starts: 11; Best start: 8th; Best finish: 6th (Talladega); Top 10s: 2, Laps led: 17, Current points position: 24th
• 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.
• Dover In The Rear View: After a rained out qualifying in Dover, Jones started 11th on the grid. Jones moved up and down the scoring pylon throughout the race and was seen running in the top-five in the final stage. Jones finished 16th on the day and moved up one position in points to 24th in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings.
• Kansas Streak: Jones compiled five straight races of top-ten finishes throughout the races that took place at Kansas Speedway in the NASCAR Cup Series from 2018 to 2020. Three of those finishes were in the top-five, coupled by a pair of seventh-place finishes.
• Dave Knows Kansas: Dave Elenz has eight starts as a crew chief for JR Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series with drivers Kevin Harvick, Regan Smith, William Byron, Tyler Reddick and Noah Gragson. Elenz coached his drivers to two top-five and three top-10 finishes. All of the starts were from the top-10, including a pole by Gragson in 2020.
• That Day-Glo Red Boy: Last week Jones unveiled his No. 43 STP Chevrolet Camaro live on FOX Sports 1’s NASCAR Race Hub. The Petty Blue and Day-Glo red made famous by “The King” himself, is sure to be a fan favorite for the NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro Speedway on May 21. Click here for the unveil.
• Melanoma Awareness Month: The month of May is Melanoma and Skin Care awareness – a cause very dear to the Jones family, as early cancer detection and care is one of the three pillars of the Erik Jones Foundation (EJF). Cancer detection and care have been a priority for Jones since his father, Dave, succumbed to the disease in 2016. Last October, Jones and his family attended the Melanoma Research Foundation (MRF) Gala in New York City, where Jones accepted the 2022 Courage Award on behalf of his late father. For more information visit: https://www.erikjonesracing.com/foundation/
• Quoting Erik Jones: “Kansas will be a good track for us, it’s a place that I like going to and feel like I have gotten better at. It would be great to keep the momentum going from Talladega and Dover to have a good run at Kansas. Hopefully we can get in the top-ten, get some stage points, and get some points for the end of the year.”

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 ZL1 for drivers Noah Gragson and Erik Jones, 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.

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

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Kansas Midweek Availability | Wednesday, May 3, 2023

Ford holds down the top three spots in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series standings. Ty Majeski is currently leading the points while ThorSport Racing teammate Ben Rhodes is third. Both drivers participated in this week’s Ford media call to talk about Saturday’s scheduled race at Kansas Speedway.

BEN RHODES, No. 99 ThorSport Racing Ford F-150 – WHAT IS YOUR ASSESSMENT OF THE SEASON SO FAR? “There’s a lot of facets to this answer that I’m gonna put together. My assessment is rather negative, and I don’t mean for it to be that way, but a lot of it comes down to me and finishing the races a little bit stronger. The assessment for the team, though, is overwhelmingly positive. I feel like our mile-and-a-half program is leaps and bounds better, and whether I attribute that to Ford or my team itself – I’m with a new crew chief and engineer combo – some of the simulator stuff we’re doing at Ford. I don’t know if there’s one single entity or person I can peg that one, but I will say as a whole, as a group, as a big team effort, we are a lot better in those aspects and that was a place that we single-handedly struggled the most with last year, so I am very proud of that. However, we’ve probably been a third-place truck or so at these mile-and-a-halves and with that you can get into the hornet’s nest of the restart doesn’t happen properly and because of that we’ve had a couple bad finishes. The five top 10s out of seven races, that’s OK. I mean, that’s a more sunny stat than what I was aware of. I guess maybe my outlook is not as positive. The last two years at this point I was leading the points. I wasn’t third. I don’t like being third. My eyes are still firmly fixed on the top spot, but I guess our goals going into Kansas right now is we’re kind of trying to innovate. The third-place speed that we’ve been at these last couple of mile-and-a-half races, while it’s been good and historically that’s what you want is top-five speed, the series has just gotten so competitive and so close that now running third-place you have one bad restart or something happens and doesn’t fall the way you want it to, and before you know it you’re outside of the top five. So, we’re trying to find more speed to tip the table in our direction. We’re working on some things that I have not run in a long time and then some new innovations with the setup itself. We’re gonna see how it fares at Kansas. I’m not gonna say I’m nervous, but I am anxious to get there and see how everything we’ve worked on fares. I don’t want to unload and be like, ‘Man, I hope we don’t have to race this ever again.’ I want to unload and basically say, ‘We’re in the ballpark. Maybe we can do some small adjustments and make it work.’ My concern though is that maybe we’ll unload and we were too aggressive and there’s stuff that we can’t go back on in practice. The new practice sessions that we have now it’s a gamble. You can try to make changes like thinking about the big picture of the setup. You can try a swaybar. You can try different things. You can do springs and what-not, but once you unload that’s what you’re stuck with, so it’s a big risk to try and innovate these days. It’s kind of like what do you do? So, we’re trying to innovate and I think we’re making the right decision, but ask me after Kansas. We’ll find out.”

YOU HAVE ANOTHER FIVE-RACE IN FIVE-WEEK STRETCH. WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM THE FIRST STRETCH LIKE THAT EARLIER IN THE YEAR? “Every year presents a new set of challenges, unfortunately. I wish the challenges would stay the same because once you conquer them, it would be really nice to just implement that strategy and just no uphill for a climber at that point. But that’s not the case. Every year is different. We have our own set of challenges and adversity that faces us every year at the race shop with production or with my individual crew that I’m now with that I haven’t had before, but it feels like we’re in the middle of race season. It’s literally now just May and if feels like it should be July the way that we’ve got so many races crammed so early in the schedule. You really have to be on your game and obviously with us joining Ford Performance this year, we had a lot more work on the front side of the schedule than most teams and we also have a lot more races on the front side of the schedule, so we’re all very aware at the race shop right now that this is as hard as it’s gonna get and once we get past this next five-race stretch, things are gonna slow down and it’s gonna get easier. Production as far as trucks should be getting caught up, but, right now, the last five races there was a big emphasis in making sure we don’t get in any wrecks. I don’t make any mistakes as a driver, not tearing up the right side of the truck for an unnecessary move or trying to get an extra 10 percent out of a truck for fifth-place. That doesn’t work. These are all things that I’ve worked on over the years myself, trying to be disciplined and look at the big picture while you’re racing, and in a situation like this with the schedule it’s more important than ever. Those same lessons from the last five are going to apply for the next five, for sure.”

WHAT IS KANSAS LIKE? “It’s a moving target. Kansas, when I first went there, was 2016. That was my first race and the asphalt was newer. It was like black asphalt. It’s what you would picture asphalt to be. It wasn’t bumpy. There was a lot of grip on the bottom, a very high-speed racetrack, a lot of on-throttle time and it just reminded me, like being there in the truck I was like, ‘Man, if feels like we’re Indy Car racing. This is a really fast pace.’ And now over the years it’s had those harsh midwest winters, which I think age a racetrack way differently than other localities. It’s been very interesting to watch the progression. Over the years now it’s developed bumps. It’s grayed out and you’re moving around a lot. Before it was on the bottom and now it’s up top by the wall and you know everybody is going to go to wall it’s just a matter of when that happens. The bottom will be fast for a few laps, but it’s a cheese grater now on the bottom. It will wear your tires out. We have significant fall off compared to other mile-and-a-half racetracks and to Kansas itself in the past, so it’s a totally different track. It’s been a moving target year over year and I think that’s good. I mean, I like to see racetracks change and be dynamic, especially as they get older the falloff increases and that’s a really fun challenge for drivers.”

NORTH WILKESBORO IS COMING UP. HOW EXCITED ARE YOU TO BE GOING THERE AND DO YOU HAVE ANY MEMORIES FROM WHEN IT WAS STILL OPEN? “That is the extremely disappointing part. I have zero memories of it. I wish I had some experience to fall back on. I don’t actually even have anything set up to run the late model race prior to our truck race, so I feel disadvantaged in a way. I know there are a lot of guys that will be in my field that have run there in late models and have done something at North Wilkesboro, so they have memories. I have nothing. I don’t know how to get to the track. I don’t know what the track looks like apart from pictures and videos, but physically, in-person, I don’t know what that looks like and I don’t know where the bumps are located. I don’t know what the proper line is. That’s all stuff that I’m gonna start learning here within the next week and trying to do simulation and trying to watch footage, but I’ve got no personal experience, which is disappointing – concerning, really.”

ANY CROSSOVER FROM VEGAS TO KANSAS? “Yeah, I think so with the setup in general, but Kansas and Vegas have both been dynamic racetracks. They have both changed a lot over the years and they both change a lot with weather and rubber and temperature, so there are similarities in that regard, but I think mainly the biggest thing is you’re just taking your base package and then you tweak it for each track. Then as you grow and develop and implement new innovations that evolves and it’s a moving dynamic that you’re living with throughout the season. So, we’re gonna take a very similar package to what we had at Vegas but with some innovations and I’m anxious to see how they work. We’ve worked pretty hard on what we think is right, but with the limited practice these days it’s just very hard to do it correctly and then not everything is gonna be perfect off the hauler, so trying to stick with different innovations that you’re bringing to your setup can be tough. You just don’t have enough time these days to really work on it.”

HOW HAS THE RELATIONSHIP BEEN WITH YOU AND YOUR CREW CHIEF, JERIOD PRINCE, THIS YEAR? “The relationship is good. What I really like about Jeriod is that he’s kind of a roundtable guy. He likes to sit down and talk to myself and the engineers. He talks to everybody to get their opinion and advice. Ultimately, he’s crew chiefing and he’s gonna act on what his judgment is, but he’s very open to others and doesn’t operate off of an ego. This sport is full of egos, so he’s fun to work with for that reason and very friendly. It makes it easy for a driver like me, who I’ve known him for a while, but we never really worked together. We never had gone to the track together. We never really operated on a level that would bring communication to what it needs to be, so he’s been fun and it’s been easy to get into a rhythm with him for that reason. I try to be as open as possible to things he wants to do because ultimately some of the stuff that I’ve liked in the past and expect out of a race truck he does different. That’s been the story with everybody I’ve ever worked with. I’ve been with quite a few different crew chiefs now in my time at ThorSport and it seems like every two years I get a new one. I’m in my first year with JRod and hopefully I can keep him for a while. He’s been very good, very fast on the mile-and-a-halves, very smart with trimming trucks out and making different things about a setup fast and maximizing them. I guess the frame of mind right now is, ‘Hey, ‘we’ve had a third-place truck, here’s some fruit that is maybe lower hanging that we think we can hit on, and get some speed.’ We think risk versus reward we can unload with it and it’s going to be OK. We’re fine with taking the risk because we think it’s skewed in our favor, but it’s always an opportunity for it to backfire on us and Kansas will kind of be that telltale. Historically, I’ve run some of these changes and the combination of them didn’t work well for me, so I’m anxious to see how it works. He’s smart and they’ve done a lot of homework to try and make this stuff happen.”

TY MAJESKI, No. 98 Road Ranger Ford F-150 – HOW DOES IT SOUND TO BE THE POINTS LEADER? “It’s been a really good start to the season. We’ve been super consistent. I think we’ve finished second through sixth, so just missing that win so far.”

DID YOU LEARN ANYTHING FROM THAT FIRST FIVE-WEEK STRETCH YOU CAN APPLY FOR THIS ONE? “I think the biggest thing with the first five-week stretch is it required our race teams to build our whole fleet of trucks within that five-week stretch. So, we had an intermediate, a road course, sort of a hybrid intermediate in Atlanta, and a short track truck and a dirt truck, so that first five-week stretch was incredibly hard on the teams. I think from my team’s standpoint it was good to get a couple weeks off, let the guys get home to their families and spend some time a little bit and just sort of reset. Now that most of our trucks are built and are in pretty good shape, we can now start recycling some of these trucks and actually run in them again instead of just trying to build them for the first time this season. This five-week stretch won’t be quite as grueling as the first stretch, but we were able to go to each different type of racetrack so far, build up a notebook and hopefully apply some of those things that we learned in that first five-race stretch into this one. I feel like this is probably the best five tracks that we have on our schedule that we have circled. They’re really good races for us and good tracks for us, so we’re excited to get going for it.”

ARE YOU DOING A CARS OR ASA RACE AT NORTH WILKESBORO? “I am, yes. I’m gonna try to pursue the ASA STARS National Tour for points, so that will be the third race in that series, but regardless of whether I was running that for points, Wilkesboro was a race that I wanted to do just to get some seat time for the truck race. I haven’t been there before. Not too many people have, so to have that opportunity to go there before the truck race, at least know the racetrack and some of its characteristics and how it progresses and transitions from day to night will be valuable come Saturday for the truck race.”

WILL THE LATE MODEL RACE HELP TO UNDERSTAND TIRE FALL OFF OR ARE THEY TWO DIFFERENT TIRES AND IT WON’T MATTER? “It’s definitely completely different tires, but I think you get a general idea of how it’s gonna trend. I think we’re gonna see tire falloff probably something similar to Richmond or maybe even a little bit more, so I can kind of cross reference that with some of the tracks that I’ve been to in a late model and kind of compare them. They are totally different animals, but I’ll have a general idea of how really abrasive the track is when I do run my late model. It’s hard to correlate it. We’ll just have to go off of past experiences and kind of cross reference it to sort of come up with an idea of what we’re gonna have for the truck race on Saturday.”

WHAT DID YOU LEARN FROM LAST YEAR AT KANSAS TO HELP THIS TIME AROUND? “I think we over adjusted a little bit. I think the biggest thing for my team was understanding the differences in the racetrack from the spring to the fall. I feel like what we sort of fought in the fall was not what we fought in the spring. I thought we were pretty good, just a little bit on the free side in the spring, and then we came back in the fall a bit tighter to compensate for that and I just think the way the weather is and the rubber having been laid down throughout the season with multiple races we didn’t find it in the fall last year. That’s why we probably didn’t run quite as good. Every time we go to the racetrack we’re learning. I’ve been working with Joe now for almost a year-and-a-half and we’re going to all these places twice now, so we actually have a notebook to go off of, whereas last year we were building that notebook. So, we’re able to go back and look at the places where we feel like we can get better and I feel like Kansas is a place we’re capable of getting better coming back a second time through having a notebook.”

WHAT HAVE YOU ENJOYED MOST ABOUT WORKING AT THORSPORT? “I’ve said this before. The culture at ThorSport, I feel like, is different than I’ll say some of the corporate NASCAR teams in Charlotte, so to speak. I feel like if you’re working at ThorSport it’s because you want to be here and you’re a racer. I feel like in some instances people are in racing in Charlotte because it’s a job. I feel like up here you’re here because you actually want to be here. You want to go to the racetrack and race and not just do it for a job, so I think that goes a long ways into building the culture here. I feel like I’m a little bit more of an old-school racer and working with the guys, being at the shop, and being a strong part of how the truck goes to the racetrack. Just to have that mentality up here at ThorSport fits me well and we have fun doing it. Obviously, Joe and I hit it off right off the bat, both being from Wisconsin, big late model guys we have a lot in common. We’ve bonded at a really rapid pace and I feel like the results showed it last year.”

IS THERE ADDED PRESSURE BEING THE POINTS LEADER RIGHT NOW? “Being the points leader is nice. It definitely rewards consistency throughout the year. One goal that we had coming into the season was really to get more playoff points. Last year, I think we went into the playoffs with two playoff points. We won two stages throughout the year, so I think the goal for me was to try and knock off a couple wins early and a few stage wins and try to build up that buffer for hopefully when we do make the playoffs. We haven’t been able to do that yet. The points lead is nice, but we really want to focus on winning some of these races and winning some stages just to make our playoff run and our path a little bit easier to Phoenix.”

DO YOU TAKE ANYTHING FROM THE OTHER 1.5-MILE TRACKS TO KANSAS? “We took an experimental setup to Kansas last year in the spring and felt like we hit on something and then we brought it back to Kansas again with some small changes and didn’t like the direction we went. Going to Homestead, we were sort of in a bind and said, ‘OK, if we were to go back to Kansas for a third time, what would we do to the setup?’ And that’s what we took to Homestead and we won with it and it was probably one of the best trucks I’ve ever had, so we’re gonna take that same truck, that same setup back to Kansas from Homestead this spring. That’s just kind of the mentality where we’re at from a package perspective and sort of the racetracks we’re using to correlate. I feel like Vegas is more so like a Charlotte type of racetrack, and I feel like Kansas and Homestead you can get a little bit more aggressive with how smooth they are. We have two different intermediate packages that we play with, so we’re gonna go with something similar to what we had at Homestead last year.”

Martin Truex Jr.
Kansas Advance
No. 19 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota Camry TRD for Joe Gibbs Racing

Event Overview

● Event: AdventHeatlth 400 (Race 12 of 36)

● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 7

● Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City

● Layout: 1.5-mile oval

● Format: 267 laps, 400 miles

● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps

● TV/Radio: FS1 / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● 75 Greatest: On the heels of winning Monday’s rain-delayed race at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway, Truex got a surprise phone call Tuesday from NASCAR CEO Jim France to let him know that he was chosen by NASCAR as one of the 75 Greatest Drivers in NASCAR history. NASCAR will be honoring the 75 greatest drivers later this month at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway during the annual throwback weekend at the track.

● 32 and Counting: With the win at Dover, Truex notched his 32nd career Cup Series victory, putting him 29th on the all-time Cup Series win list.

● 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 had been knocking on the door of its first points-paying win of the season, the breakthrough finally came at Dover. The Reser’s Fine Foods team is hoping to keep the momentum going at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City this weekend.

● Truex has two wins, 10 top-five finishes and 16 top-10s and has led a total of 827 laps in 29 career Cup Series starts at Kansas. Truex’s average Kansas finish is 12.2.

● Strong in the Heartland: Truex’s two Kansas wins came by way of a season sweep of the spring and fall races there in 2017. The feat kicked off a 12-race stretch on the 1.5-mile oval during which he earned six top-fives and finished inside the top-10 all but once.

● Reser’s Fine Foods is the primary sponsor on the No. 19 Toyota this weekend at Kansas, and the 1.5-mile oval also happens to be just down the road from Reser’s largest manufacturing facility in Topeka, Kansas. Truex will be visiting the Topeka manufacturing facility to greet hardworking employees and learn more about how Reser’s makes its fresh refrigerated deli salads and hot side dishes. The visit will help celebrate the importance of manufacturing and the people who make it all possible.

● Family owned and operated, Reser’s has been a proud sponsor of good times at racetracks, picnics, and barbecues since 1950 with a family of brands that includes Reser’s American Classics, Main St. Bistro, and more. Reser’s operates 14 facilities in the U.S., Mexico and Canada and actively supports the communities it serves. Visit resers.com to learn more.

● While he doesn’t like to play favorites, Truex certainly excels at tracks with worn-out surfaces, where driver skill is key to managing the tires and the racecar over the course of a long race. At four such tracks, Kansas, Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, and Homestead-Miami Speedway, Truex has notched six wins, 23 top-five finishes and 45 top-10s, and has led 2,209 laps. After Kansas this weekend, the Cup Series will race at Darlington next week.

● With his victory at Dover on Monday afternoon, Truex heads to Kansas having moved up to fourth in the driver standings, 40 points behind leader Ross Chastain.

Martin Truex Jr., Driver of the No. 19 Reser’s Fine Foods Toyota Camry TRD

You got the call this week that you are on the list of NASCAR’s 75 Greatest Drivers. What does that mean to you?

“It’s amazing. I’ve said it before, but when I got the opportunity to race cars for a living, I never thought I would get to where I’m at. I’ve been really fortunate along the way to have a lot of great teams behind me and win a lot of races and win a Cup championship and two in Xfinity. I feel very lucky to be on the list. It’s a big honor.”

What does it mean to you and the team to get a points win under your belt this early in the season?

“We started with the Clash win. It was really big for us. I know that it’s not a points event and all that, but just for us with last year really struggling on short tracks, I feel like we put a huge effort together this offseason to be prepared for this year, to really put in an effort and talk about the things that we needed to do better from last year. I think our whole team was really motivated to get better and to do whatever we needed to do and really communicated a lot about the things we needed to work on. So, really, the Clash was a big deal to get, and it gave us a lot of confidence. Even though the past couple years had been really strong, until then it was a little up and down, but we still had a lot of confidence and felt like we were going in the right direction. I said I think it was this week that I feel really good about where we’re at and I feel like we’re ready to break loose and get on a run. We have some really good tracks coming up the next several weeks, with Kansas and Darlington the next two weeks in particular. Looking forward to this weekend with our Reser’s Fine Foods Camry and to see if we can get some more.”

What is racing at Kansas like, and what other track is most similar?

“I would say Kansas is a lot like Homestead but with a tri-oval. Similar corners and little bit of progressive banking. The wall has really come into play the last couple of years there since the asphalt has worn out. So, running high is very important there, and also momentum is very important at Kansas. You have a big, wide front straightaway that gives you the option to make big bold moves on the restarts where it can get pretty wild there. Kansas is definitely high on my list of places I like to race and we are hoping for a great weekend there with our Reser’s Fine Foods Camry.”

There’s a lot of variety in the schedule now – you go from short tracks, to dirt, to concrete, to road courses, and this week to a 1.5-mile oval. How do you take on the challenge of the variety of tracks you go to in the Cup Series?

“I feel like the schedule nowadays is all over the place with all the road courses we have, it’s just that every week is so different and you have to do your homework and study and think back to last year and past races just to remind ourselves. We have really short practices now, so you don’t get a lot of time to get dialed in and get comfortable, and not getting in that rhythm and just getting the car dialed in. We don’t have a lot of time and we need to show up and be ready to go. For the most part, I’ve been doing to these tracks for quite a while now and you lean on that past experience a lot.”

No. 19 Reser’s Fine Foods 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

AdventHealth 400
Kansas Speedway
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Sunday, May 7 at 3 p.m. EST on FS1

• Kaulig Racing has made four starts at Kansas Speedway in the NCS, three of which resulted in top-20 finishes in the 2022 season.
• So far in the 2023 season, Kaulig Racing has earned three top-10 finishes and has led one lap.

AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1

• AJ Allmendinger has 18 starts at Kansas Speedway in the NCS with 53 laps led, four top-10 finishes and an average finish of 20.7.
• So far in the 2023 NCS season, Allmendinger has led one lap and earned one top-10 finish.

“Our mile-and-a-half program has been our most competitive this season so I’m looking forward to getting back to Kansas for the first time in a long time for me. Kansas is unique in the sense that turn one and two are completely different than three and four. More often than not, you have to run middle, top there so it’s definitely a race track that you move around a lot on. I think it looks like it will be warm this weekend so it might be hot and slick, cars will slide around a bit. It’s a challenging race track that I think we can hopefully go there and have some speed this weekend. ” – AJ Allmendinger on Kansas Speedway

Justin Haley, No. 31 Celsius Camaro ZL1

• Justin Haley has made four starts at Kansas Speedway in the NCS and has earned one top-20 finish.
• So far in the 2023 season, Haley has earned two top-10 finishes.

“Although Kansas is a track I have not been great at in the past, Kaulig Racing has really been working hard on our mile-and-a-half-track package. I would say as a whole, they have been our best tracks so far this season. Las Vegas was an intermediate track that we had a great run at earlier this year, so I’m looking forward to hopefully getting our best finish as a team at this track.” – Justin Haley on Kansas Speedway  
 

 
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.

This Week in Motorsports: May 1-7, 2023

· NCS/NCTS/ARCA: Kansas Speedway – May 6-7

PLANO, Texas (May 3, 2023) – The NASCAR and ARCA teams are heading to their first of two stops at Kansas Speedway this weekend.

NASCAR National Series – NCS | NCTS

Truex plans to add another victory… Martin Truex Jr. ended a 54-race winless streak with a victory at Dover Motor Speedway on Monday afternoon. With the win, Truex moved inside the top-five in the NASCAR Cup Series point standings as he heads to another great track for the 2017 Cup Series champion. Truex has two wins at Kansas Speedway – a season sweep in his 2017 Cup title season.

Bell continues to pile on strong finishes… Christopher Bell added yet another top-10 finish at Dover on Monday as his sixth-place run was his series-leading eighth top-10 result this season. Bell heads to another track where he has had success – as the Oklahoma-native earned top-five finishes in both races at Kansas Speedway last season. Bell also earned his first NASCAR Xfinity Series win at Kansas Speedway in 2017.

23XI Racing looks for three straight… 23XI Racing swept race wins at Kansas Speedway last season with Kurt Busch and Bubba Wallace. In May, Busch led six Toyotas finishing in the top-10 and led 116 laps (of 267) on his way to victory. Wallace led the final 43 laps in September to score his second career NASCAR Cup Series victory in a race that featured a Toyota podium sweep.

Heim last truck winner… Corey Heim heads to Kansas coming off his first victory of the season – and the first win for the rebranded TRICON Garage team – at Martinsville Speedway. Heim won both stages and led 82 laps (of 124) on his way to the win, which moved him inside the top-five of the Truck Series point standings. Heim finished inside the top-10 at Kansas last fall, and also owns two Kansas victories in the ARCA Menards Series.

Breidinger debuts… Toni Breidinger will run double-duty on Saturday as the California-native will make her Truck Series debut in the No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro for TRICON Garage. Breidinger competed at Kansas Speedway in the ARCA Menards Series twice last season, scoring top-10 finishes in both events.

NASCAR Regional Series – ARCA

Love looks to go back-to-back… After earning his first ARCA victory of the season – and first superspeedway win, Jesse Love looks to go back-to-back for the first time in his ARCA career. With the win, the 18-year-old Toyota development driver moved up to second in the point standings, just 11 points out of the lead.

Mosack plans to be one spot better… Connor Mosack returns to the Joe Gibbs Racing No. 18 Toyota Camry for his second ARCA Menards Series start of the season. Mosack started from the pole and led 25 laps (of 80) in his team debut at Daytona in February. Mosack finished fifth in this race one season ago.

Stay Connected

https://www.toyota.com/racing @ToyotaRacing.com @ToyotaRacing

facebook.com/ToyotaRacing Camera With Flash on Apple iOS 11.3 ToyotaRacingMedia.com

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 65 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands, plus our more than 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota directly employs more than 48,000 people in North America who have contributed to the design, engineering, and assembly of nearly 45 million cars and trucks at our 13 manufacturing plants. By 2025, Toyota’s 14th plant in North Carolina will begin to manufacture automotive batteries for electrified vehicles. With more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, Toyota currently offers 22 electrified options.

Through the Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.ToyotaNewsroom.com.

ARIC ALMIROLA
Kansas Advance
No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Advent Health 400 (Round 12 of 36)

● Time/Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 7

● Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City

● Layout: 1.5-mile oval

● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400 miles

● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps

● TV/Radio: FS1 / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● While the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang team’s short-track package has proven to be competitive this year, all eyes are set on improving at the intermediate tracks that comprise a majority of the NASCAR Cup Series schedule starting this weekend on the 1.5-mile oval at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. Earlier this year at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, Aric Almirola drove into the top-15 but was involved in an accident not of his own doing. A week later at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Almirola drove in and around the top-15 before bringing home a 16th-place finish. This weekend marks the first of two races at Kansas this season.

● The No. 10 Smithfield Ford team’s season has been a rollercoaster ride. It got off to a strong start during the first two outings of the season. Almirola won his heat race and started on the pole for the non-points Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. Then, in the points-paying season opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway, the 39-year-old veteran won his Duel qualifying race and led 16 laps of the Daytona 500 – the most laps he’s led at Daytona in 23 starts. Almirola and his team were mired by bad luck at Fontana, Phoenix Raceway and Richmond (Va.) Raceway in subsequent races, unable to capitalize on newfound top-10 and top-five speed. He then led the field for a combined 28 laps during what were promising days at Atlanta Motor Speedway and Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway, but a late-race accident ended Almirola’s day at Atlanta and he posted a 22nd-place finish at Talladega. His best outing of the early season came three weekends ago at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, where he qualified third, ran up front all race long and earned a sixth-place finish and 42 points in the driver standings. Having experienced both ends of the spectrum of performance thus far, Almirola hopes Kansas will prove to be a turning point for the season and kick off a stretch of top-10s over the summer months, which he’s been known to do on multiple occasions.

● History at Kansas: In 22 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Kansas, Almirola has seven top-10 finishes and has led 69 laps.

● Driver Points: Almirola arrives at Kansas 25th in the driver standings, 189 points out of first.

● Almirola’s career: In 435 career NASCAR Cup Series starts, Almirola has three wins, 28 top-five finishes, 92 top-10s, four poles, and has led 1,018 laps.

● Fans will see the iconic white, black, and gold Smithfield Foods scheme adorn Almirola’s Ford Mustang this weekend. Smithfield has been a sponsor of Almirola’s for the entirety of his fulltime NASCAR Cup Series career – making it one of the longest-lasting partnerships in NASCAR. Smithfield is an American food company with agricultural roots and a global reach. Its 63,000 team members are dedicated to producing “Good food. Responsibly.®” Smithfield is one of the world’s leading vertically integrated protein companies. The company has pioneered sustainability standards for more than two decades, including its industry-leading commitments to become carbon negative in U.S. company-owned operations and reduce GHG emissions 30 percent across its entire U.S. value chain by 2030. Smithfield believes in the power of protein to end food insecurity and has donated hundreds of millions of food servings to local communities.

● Beyond the 10 YouTube Series: In 2023, Almirola is continuing to share his life beyond the No. 10 Ford with season five of his award-winning YouTube series. Fans and media can subscribe on YouTube to see Almirola’s personality on and off the track. Episodes have already featured life as a dad, a husband and an athlete, and the show gives fans a unique perspective on what goes on in the life of a professional NASCAR driver. Fans can also follow Almirola’s social media channels: @Aric_Almirola on Twitter and Instagram, and @AricAlmirola on Facebook.

Aric Almirola, Driver of the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You’ve run in and around the top-15 at intermediate tracks so far this year. What are your expectations this weekend?

“Las Vegas was really the only chance we got to test our 1.5-mile program and we ran around 15th that weekend. I thought we actually had a good car in Fontana to start the year, but we got taken out when everyone stacked up on a restart and our day was done. I think we had a top-10 car in Fontana. Vegas is so much different of a track and is always tough to figure out. I like racing at Kansas, but the results don’t always show it. I think we just need to be patient and not over-adjust and just figure it out throughout the day as a team. We’ve done a great job of that this year, but have been caught up in unfortunate situations when we find the speed. We have worked really hard on improving this program on the simulator that Ford Performance provides us and we hope we can turn it around this weekend.”

Why is it so important to get this package right?

“Well Kansas, Texas, and Miami are all in the playoffs, and in order to be a playoff contender, you have to get this right. All of these tracks are different in their own way and we’ve seen more success at different 1.5-mile tracks throughout the years, but it starts this weekend in Kansas, to find speed and build notes for the future. More importantly, we need to have solid days to move up in the standings. We have to qualify well to put us in a position to earn stage points and put together another clean day like we had at Martinsville.”

What are your thoughts about racing at Kansas?

“I’ve always enjoyed Kansas. I know that I did have a really bad accident there, but in my mind I just view that as a bad accident. It just happened at a place. It just so happened to be at Kansas. It could have happened anywhere. I don’t really put that on Kansas and so, every time I’ve been back since then, it’s never really been a thought that’s crossed my mind. I actually enjoy going to Kansas. I have friends in Kansas City who I enjoy spending time with that makes it even more enjoyable to be there and, on top of that, I love the racetrack. The racetrack is a really fun racetrack to run at for me and I’ve had a lot of success there and had a lot of really good runs there.”

No. 10 Smithfield Ford Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Aric Almirola

Hometown: Tampa, Florida

Crew Chief: Drew Blickensderfer

Hometown: Decatur, Illinois

Car Chief: Jerry Cook

Hometown: Toledo, Ohio

Engineer: Davin Restivo

Hometown: Asheboro, North Carolina

Engineer: James Kimbrough

Hometown: Pensacola, Florida

Spotter: Joel Edmonds

Hometown: Dobson, North Carolina

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Ryan Mulder

Hometown: Sioux Center, Iowa

Rear Tire Changer: Trevor White

Hometown: Arlington, Texas

Tire Carrier: Tyler Bullard

Hometown: King, North Carolina

Jack Man: Sean Cotton

Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Fuel Man: James “Ace” Keener

Hometown: Fortuna, California

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Chris Trickett

Hometown: Grafton, West Virginia

Mechanic: Jacob Cooksey

Hometown: Westbrookville, New York

Engine Tuner: Matt Moeller

Hometown: Monroe, New York

Tire Specialist: Russel Simpson

Hometown: Medford, New York

Transporter Co-Driver: Steven Casper

Hometown: Salisbury, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Matt Murphy

Hometown: Augusta, Georgia

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

Event Overview

● Event: AdventHealth 400 (Round 12 of 36)
● Time / Date: 3 p.m. EDT on Sunday, May 7
● Location: Kansas Speedway in Kansas City
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Laps / Miles: 267 laps / 400.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps
● TV / Radio: FS1 / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● The No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) Ford Mustang will sport Haas Tooling’s new Winner’s Circle logo as part of its red, white and black paint scheme for Sunday’s AdventHealth 400 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City. HaasTooling.com, the online tooling division of the U.S. machine tool builder Haas Automation, Inc., introduces the Haas Tooling Winner’s Circle, a membership program that offers customers free next-day delivery, discounted pricing on all products, and a lower threshold for free shipping. HaasTooling.com already offers industry-leading pricing and fast delivery on an expansive selection of cutting tools, toolholders, and workholding products. Now, Haas Tooling Winner’s Circle members will get the added benefits of free shipping on all orders over $49, free next-day delivery anywhere in the contiguous United States (on most orders), and 5% off every tooling purchase. For even greater savings, the 5% discount may be combined with other promotions, and a single membership may be used by an entire company.

● HaasTooling.com, back again in 2023 on the No. 41 Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) Ford Musting, is the cutting tool division of Haas Automation led by SHR co-owner Gene Haas. HaasTooling.com was launched as a way for CNC machinists to purchase high-quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. HaasTooling.com products became available nationally in July 2020. Haas Automation, founded in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers, rotaries and indexers, and automation solutions.

● Following the “Yellow Brick Road” to Kansas Speedway for this weekend’s AdventHealth 400, Ryan Preece will be making his seventh career NASCAR Cup Series start at the 1.5-mile oval. Preece made his first start at the track in 2019 and his most recent start in 2021 for JTG-Daugherty Racing. He has a best finish of 12th in the October 2019 race there. In the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Preece has two Kansas starts – one in October 2016 and the other in October 2018. In the latter event, he started seventh in and finished 21st in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing entry. Preece has made one career NASCAR Truck Series start at the track, which came last season for David Gilliland Racing. He started seventh and finished third.

● Last weekend’s race at Dover (Del.) Motor Speedway took Preece to his Northeast stomping grounds, where he has a substantial following thanks to his Connecticut roots. He was seventh-fastest in Saturday practice, the lone on-track session before the race as qualifying was canceled due to rain. Preece started 30th for Monday’s rain-delayed race based on NASCAR’s performance metrics formula, and from there he fought hard for a 17th-place finish aided by the team’s stout work making chassis adjustments during each pit stop.

● Preece has been showing improvement and consistency each weekend this season and appears to be coming into his own. He had a career weekend at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway three weekends ago, winning his first Cup Series pole and leading a career-high 135 laps.

● Eleven races into this season, Preece is 28th in the driver standings with 169 points.

● Preece kicked off the 2023 season with a strong showing in the Busch Light Clash at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, leading a race-high 43 laps but ultimately finishing seventh after a fuel pump issue. Through 11 points-paying events, he has a best finish of 12th at Phoenix Raceway in March.

● RaceChoice.com, a proud partner of Preece, has launched a special racing experience giveaway for fans. The winner will receive airfare and a two-night stay during Coke Zero 400 weekend at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway. RaceChoice.com will also give the winners two pit passes for the race, set for Saturday, Aug. 26 at 7 p.m. ET, preceded by a meet-and-greet with Preece, driver of the No. 41 SHR Ford Mustang. Visit https://racechoice.com/2023-daytona-giveaway/ for more information.

Ryan Preece, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

You’re 11 races into the season and this will be your third trip to an intermediate-style track. What are your expectations heading into this weekend’s race at Kansas?

“For us, we’re working on finding that balance, which I think we have. Hopefully – which I believe we will after looking at the weather forecast – we’ll be able to qualify and that will be a really big thing for us. Track position. Track position seems to be the big thing. If you have it, it could be a good day, so that’s what we’re looking forward to. If we can get that track position, I really think we will put ourselves in a good spot come race time.”

What are the biggest challenges when racing at Kansas Speedway?
“Usually, Kansas is a track where you fight loose. The wind can be totally different going into one corner versus the other, so you’ve got to have a good balance between the two. And, once again, track position. That’s going to be the big thing.”

How’s your mindset now that you’re 11 races into the season?
“For me and for this team, right now we’re focused on consistency. We need to consistently practice well, qualify well, and run well during the race. That means I’ve got to be on it, we’ve got to be on it with strategy and on pit road. All of it is coming together and, even though all of the results don’t show it, we’re getting there. This team is working really hard on putting it all together and capitalizing on that. If we’re able to be consistent all the way through, those better results will keep coming.”

No. 41 HaasTooling.com Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Ryan Preece
Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Crew Chief: Chad Johnston

Hometown: Cayuga, Indiana

Car Chief: Tony Cardamone

Hometown: Bristol, Virginia

Engineer: Lee Deese

Hometown: Rockingham, North Carolina

Engineer: Scott Bingham

Hometown: Lawrenceville, Georgia

Spotter: Andy Houston

Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Devin Lester

Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Rear Tire Changer: Kevin Teaf

Hometown: Tallahassee, Florida

Tire Carrier: Chad Emmons

Hometown: Tyler, Texas

Jack Man: Kapil Fletcher

Hometown: Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Fuel Man: Dwayne Moore

Hometown: Griffin, Georgia

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Joe Zanolini

Hometown: Sybertsville, Pennsylvania

Underneath & Interior Mechanic: Clint Leatherwood

Hometown: Rockmart, Georgia

Shock Specialist: Aaron Kuehn

Hometown: Kensington, Connecticut

Tire Specialist: Matt Ridgway

Hometown: Carrollton, Georgia

Engine Tuner: Jimmy Fife

Hometown: Orange County, California

Transporter Co-Driver: David Rodrigues

Hometown: Santa Clarita, California

Transporter Co-Driver: Charlie Schleyer

Hometown: Youngsville, Pennsylvania