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Jack Wood – No. 51 Sevwins Silverado Craftsman Trucks Texas Preview

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Official Release
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Jack Wood: Driver, No. 51 Sevwins Chevrolet

NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Overview:
Event: SpeedyCash.com 250, Race 5 of 23, 167 Laps – 77/45/45; 250.5 Miles
Location: Texas Motor Speedway (1.5-mile, quad-oval)
Date/Broadcast: April 1, 2023, at 4:30 p.m. ET on FS1, MRN and SiriusXM NASCAR 90

Get to Know Jack:

Jack Wood will make his third start for Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) behind the wheel of the No. 51 Sevwins Chevrolet in Saturday’s SpeedyCash.com 250 at Texas Motor Speedway. Wood is coming of a strong run at Atlanta Motor Speedway, where he made his way to the front of the field before getting spun while leading with just over 20 laps remaining. The California native was able to rally in the closing laps to equal a Truck Series career-best result with a 10th-place finish. In his first start of the year, he qualified third for the season-opening event at Daytona International Speedway but was relegated to a 27th-place finish after unexpected rain shortened the event while the No. 51 team was employing a strategy of riding at the back of the field to miss wrecks before moving forward late in the race.

The Texas race will the third of a 13-race schedule for Wood with KBM in 2023. Sevwins, a mental skills program for students, coaches and teams will serve as the primary sponsor for Saturday’s 167-lap event at the 1.5-mile quad-oval. Sevwins was also the sponsor last year when he finished 16th in his lone Truck Series start at Texas.

Wood will be looking to etch his mark in the KBM historical archives this weekend at Texas as he looks to collect the organization’s 100th NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series victory. KBM-owner driver Kyle Busch collected KBM’s record-extending 99th-career victory with his dominant victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway leaving his organization one shy of the century mark. Overall, 18 different drivers have won at least race behind the wheel of a KBM truck, led by Busch’s 47. Four drivers rank second on the list with seven victories: Byron, Christopher Bell, Erik Jones and John Hunter Nemechek. KBM’s nine Texas wins are the most the organization has at any track they’ve raced at. Owner-driver Kyle Busch has four Texas wins (2010, 2014, 2019 & 2020), while John Hunter Nemechek (2021), Greg Biffle (2019), Christopher Bell (2017), William Byron (2016) and Erik Jones (2015) all have one Texas triumph.

Veteran crew chief Brian Pattie will call the shots for the No. 51 team this year in his first season at KBM after spending the last 14 seasons atop the pit box in the NASCAR Cup Series. It took the veteran signal caller just two races to get his first win at KBM, winning with KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. In the Cup Series, his drivers produced six wins, nine poles, 57 top-five and 131 top-10 finishes across 528 starts. In 2012, he guided Clint Bowyer to three victories and a runner-up finish in the Cup Series championship standings. In 2017, he guided Ricky Stenhouse Jr. to two wins and a berth in the playoffs. The Florida native has also recorded 11 wins in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, and he now has two wins as a crew chief in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Pattie’s lone race atop the pit box in the Truck Series at Texas was a 21st-place finish with Ron Fellows in 1999. In the Cup Series, his driver’s collected four top-10 finishes across 27 starts and in the Xfinity Series posted three top-five and three top-10 finishes across 11 starts.

The No. 51 team currently ranks fifth in the Craftsman Truck Series owner’s point standings after four races.

William Byron will get behind the wheel of the No. 51 HendrickCars.com Silverado for his first of three races this year April 8 at the Truck Race on Dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway. Owner-driver Kyle Busch will return to the No. 51 at Martinsville Speedway April 14.

Jack Wood, Driver Q&A:

You’ve been traveling with the team to the races where you aren’t behind the wheel. What have you been able to learn by doing that?
“It’s been really good for me to go to the track and watch these races from a different angle that I normally don’t get to see. Being able to sit on the pit box with Brian (Pattie, crew chief) and understanding the communication that goes on between him and the engineer, as well as with him and the spotter and what the pit crew does during the race and all the kind of stuff you might not even think about. It’s been a good perspective for me to see. Starting to understand more of the behind the scenes of what happens on a race weekend. When you go as a driver, you are really just focused on driving the truck, but these couple races I’ve been able to learn quite a bit as far as team communication goes.”

Does the strong run you had at Atlanta give you confidence heading into this week’s race at Texas?
“Coming off a strong run at Atlanta, I’m definitely looking forward to Texas. I’ve just been really pleased with the speed that the KBM trucks have had this year, so as a driver that gives you a lot of confidence and makes you really excited for each race. I know that we are going to show up with a fast Sevwins Silverado. Texas is going to be a good one for me, it’s going to be different than anything I’ve raced on so far this year in the KBM equipment, but KBM has been really strong at Texas in past years. It’ll be interesting with us being there without Xfinity and Cup — the track preparation that SMI will be doing I feel like will be a little bit different than what we are used to. I think it’ll be a good day for us, we just need to keep the nose clean and maintain track position. The way that the pit stops are set up, your not going to be able to gain spots on pit road like we have been able to at the last couple of races, so that is going to throw a little curveball in there. It’s also going to be a lit bit longer of a race than what we are used to in the Truck Series as well, so I think you just need to keep your head in the game, maintain your track position and try to give the best feedback that you possibly can to your crew chief throughout the race so that you have what you need when it gets down to the end of the race.”

Jack Wood Career Highlights:

  • Has produced two top-10 finishes across 37 career starts in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Posted a series-best 10th-place finish in August of 2021 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, equaled it at Atlanta Motor Speedway in March of 2023.
  • Has compiled five laps led, one top-five and five top-10 finishes across 11 career ARCA Menards Series events.
  • Has totaled one top-five and four top-10 finishes across nine ARCA Menards East Series races.
  • Has totaled two top-five and seven top-10 finishes across 10 career starts in the ARCA Menards West Series.
  • Compiled one top-five and three top-10 finishes across 24 starts in the SRL Spears Southwest Tour from 2017 to 2021.
  • Jack Wood’s No. 51 Sevwins Chevrolet Silverado RST:

KBM-66: The No. 51 Sevwins team will unload KBM-66 for Saturday’s race at Texas. This is the same chassis that Wood led two laps and scored a 10th-place finish with at Atlanta in his last start. This chassis has been victorious twice, both at Atlanta, winning with Corey Heim last year and with KBM owner-driver Kyle Busch in 2021. Heim raced this truck to a seventh-place finish in last year’s Truck Series event at Texas.

KBM Notes of Interest:

  • KBM drivers have collected nine wins, four poles, 1065 laps led, 20 top-five and 38 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 10.8 across 59 starts in the Lone Star State. KBM’s nine Texas wins are the most the organization has at any track.
  • Owner-driver Kyle Busch’s has four Texas wins for his organization (2010, 2014, 2019 & 2020). John Hunter Nemechek (2021), Greg Biffle (2019), Christopher Bell (2017), William Byron (2016) and Erik Jones (2015) all have one Texas triumph.
  • KBM holds the Craftsman Truck Series records for most career wins (99) and most wins in a single season (14 in 2014). With his victory at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway last year, Corey Heim became the 18th different driver to win a Truck Series event for KBM. In addition to collecting a series-record seven Owner’s Championships, the organization has produced two championship-winning drivers: Erik Jones (2015) and Christopher Bell (2017).
  • With 40 victories, the No. 51 is the winningest number in KBM’s Truck Series fleet.

Lawless Alan – SpeedyCash.com 250 Race Advance

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Official Release
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Lawless Alan – SpeedyCash.com 250 Race Advance
SpeedyCash.com 250 | Texas Motor Speedway (167 Laps / 250 Miles)
Saturday, April 1 | Fort Worth, Texas | 4:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1 | Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius XM Ch. 90

Team: No. 45 PlainsCapital Bank / MG Machinery LLC Chevrolet Silverado
Driver: Lawless Alan (Los Angeles, California) | Crew Chief: Wally Rogers
Follow the Team: Twitter: @NieceMotorsport | Instagram: @NieceMotorsports | Facebook: /NieceMotorsports | Web: www.niecemotorsports.com
Follow Lawless Alan: Twitter: @lawlessalan25 | Instagram: @lawless_alan | Facebook: /LawlessAlanRacing | Web: www.lawlessalanracing.com

COTA Recap: Lawless Alan had a career-run going at COTA, battling in the top-10 for much of the day. Contact on a restart forced Alan below the esses, which resulted in a pass-through penalty, and ultimately took the No. 45 out of contention. Alan earned stage points and ran inside the top-10 for the majority of the race, before ultimately finishing 17th.

Alan on COTA: “Having a background in road racing helps me tremendously at the road courses, especially COTA. We had a great run until the penalty set us back. But, for us to rebound after the adversity to finish in the top-20 is a step in the right direction for our team.”

Alan at Texas Motor Speedway: Alan’s first start at Texas Motor Speedway came last season, where he finished 30th.

Alan on Saturday’s Race at Texas: “Much like Las Vegas, going to Texas for a second time will really help because I know what to expect. A good run in COTA makes me excited to be back behind the wheel this week in Texas.”

On the Truck: The No. 45 Chevrolet Silverado will carry MG Machinery LLC, PlainsCapital Bank, and Niece Equipment in Saturday’s race at Texas Motor Speedway.

MG Machinery offers construction, heavy equipment, and mining equipment. With a wealth of knowledge and experience, MG Machinery is more than a heavy equipment dealer.

PlainsCapital was founded in 1988 by former Hilltop Holdings Vice Chairman and Co-CEO Alan White and a group of investors who raised the capital to acquire Plains National Bank, a Lubbock financial institution with one branch and $198.8 million in assets.

Thirty years later, PlainsCapital Bank is the fourth-largest bank in Texas based on deposit market share. PlainsCapital has a statewide presence with more than 60 locations in markets such as Austin, the Coastal Bend, Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Lubbock, San Antonio, and the Rio Grande Valley.

PlainsCapital has a diverse range of services, including commercial banking, treasury management, private banking, and wealth management, as well as consumer banking.

About Niece Motorsports:
Niece Motorsports is owned by United States Marine Corps Veteran Al Niece. In 2023, Niece Motorsports enters its eighth season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Niece also owns Niece Equipment, which has for over 40 years provided clients with reliable products at competitive prices. Niece Equipment’s reputation is built on service, integrity and dependability. The company provides water and fuel/lube trucks that are engineered with quality and durability in mind for the construction and mining industry. Follow the team on Facebook and Instagram @NieceMotorsports as well as Twitter @NieceMotorsport.

Media Inquiries: media@niecemotorsports.com | www.niecemotorsports.com

About AUTOChargit:
AUTOChargit designs, manufactures and installs EV charging systems for automated and conventional parking applications. AUTOChargit can decrease capital expenditures by up to 75 percent by providing automated coupling and decoupling of EV charging stalls from the power source. For conventional parking applications, a single 40-AMP circuit coupled with a single AUTOChargit System can be multiplexed to four, eight, or 12 stalls. Each charging stall is individually metered for the exact tracking of electricity usage. The AUTOParkit Mobile APP provides a touchless experience for the user.

About AUTOParkit:
-AUTOParkit™ designs, manufactures, and constructs fully automated parking systems for new and existing buildings. AUTOParkit system structural steel and modular design can provide double the capacity of a traditional parking garage, providing up to 17 LEED points and drastically reducing construction time.

-AUTOParkit automated systems are 40 percent less expensive to operate, safer for the user and reduces carbon emissions associated with parking by more than 80 percent. AUTOParkit’s charging pallets provided by AUTOChargit, are a fast and convenient way of charging EVs and Hybrids. AUTOChargit’s patented technology allows for shuffling charged vehicles cutting infrastructure costs by up to 80 percent.

-For more information on AUTOParkit, visit www.autoparkit.com

Carson Hocevar – SpeedyCash.com 250 Race Advance

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Official Release
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Carson Hocevar – SpeedyCash.com 250 Race Advance
SpeedyCash.com 250 | Texas Motor Speedway (167 Laps / 250 Miles)
Saturday, April 1 | Fort Worth, Texas | 4:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1 | Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius XM Ch. 90

Team: No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado
Driver: Carson Hocevar (Portage, Michigan) | Crew Chief: Phil Gould
Follow the Team: Twitter: @NieceMotorsport | Instagram: @NieceMotorsports | Facebook: /NieceMotorsports | Web: www.niecemotorsports.com
Follow Carson Hocevar: Twitter: @CarsonHocevar | Instagram: @CarsonHocevar | Facebook: /carsonhocevarracing | Web: www.CarsonHocevar.com

COTA Recap: After a sixth-place qualifying run on Friday, Carson Hocevar’s Saturday would not go as smooth. The 20-year old driver battled mechanical problems in the latter-half of Stage One, which forced him to the garage with a 34th-place finish.

Hocevar on COTA: “We’ve put COTA behind us, and we’re focused on the tracks ahead that we can be strong at with our Worldwide Express Chevrolet. It’s easy to be discouraged after the high hopes we had in Austin, but at the end of the day, that’s racing.”

Hocevar at Texas Motor Speedway: With two starts at Texas Motor Speedway, Hocevar has an average finish of 7.5; the best among active Truck Series competitors with more than one start.

Hocevar on Saturday’s Race at Texas: “Our intermediate program has been strong over the past two years – that was evident in Las Vegas. Last year, we had a shot at winning Texas, but wound up forth. My confidence is high and I’m pumped to get another shot with this Worldwide Express team.

On the Truck: Hocevar’s No. 42 Worldwide Express Chevrolet Silverado will race with support from the WWEX group of brands, which comprises Worldwide Express, Unishippers and GlobalTranz.

About Niece Motorsports:

Niece Motorsports is owned by United States Marine Corps Veteran Al Niece. In 2023, Niece Motorsports enters its eighth season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Niece also owns Niece Equipment, which has for over 40 years provided clients with reliable products at competitive prices. Niece Equipment’s reputation is built on service, integrity and dependability. The company provides water and fuel/lube trucks that are engineered with quality and durability in mind for the construction and mining industry. Follow the team on Facebook and Instagram @NieceMotorsports as well as Twitter @NieceMotorsport.

Media Inquiries: media@niecemotorsports.com | www.niecemotorsports.com

About Worldwide Express:

The WWEX group of brands, which comprises Worldwide Express, Unishippers and GlobalTranz, offers full-service logistics expertise to more than 115,000 customers across the country. With access to industry-leading small package, truckload, less-than-truckload and managed transportation solutions, its customers benefit from enhanced visibility and value for their supply chains. The company is the second-largest privately held freight brokerage and largest non-retail UPS Authorized Reseller® in the U.S. , with an annual systemwide revenue nearing $5 billion through a network of company-owned, franchise and agent locations. A highly selective carrier portfolio, proprietary technology, unique data assets and business intelligence capabilities provide clients with unmatched options and flexibility to meet their shipping needs. The WWEX Racing initiative was borne of a desire to address the complex but underserved logistic needs of the performance motorsports industry, using the unique combination of capabilities offered by the three brands’ combined 80+ years of insight. To learn more about the WWEX Racing program, visit www.wwexracing.com. For media inquiries, contact racing@wwex.com.

Chad Chastain – SpeedyCash.com 250 Race Advance

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Official Release
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Chad Chastain – SpeedyCash.com 250 Race Advance
SpeedyCash.com 250 | Texas Motor Speedway (167 Laps / 250 Miles)
Saturday, April 1 | Fort Worth, Texas | 4:30 p.m. ET
TV: FS1 | Radio: Motor Racing Network (MRN) and Sirius XM Ch. 90

Team: No. 41 GlobalTranz Chevrolet Silverado
Driver: Chad Chastain (Alva, Florida) | Crew Chief: Mike Hillman Jr.
Follow the Team: Twitter: @NieceMotorsport | Instagram: @NieceMotorsports | Facebook: /NieceMotorsports | Web: www.niecemotorsports.com
Follow Chad Chastain: Twitter: @chadchastain36 | Instagram: @chad36chastain | Facebook: /ChadChastainRacing

The No. 41 Truck Last Week at COTA: At Circuit of the Americas, the No. 41 Silverado picked up another top-five finish with Ross Chastain behind the wheel. A fuel cell issue forced a lengthy pit stop under yellow in the third stage, but ultimately, Chastain made his way through the field to move the No. 41 team to ninth in the Owner’s Championship standings.

Chastain at Texas Motor Speedway: Saturday marks Chad Chastain’s first start at Texas Motor Speedway.

Chastain on First Truck Series Start of 2023 Season: “It’s super exciting to be back with Niece Motorsports this year with GlobalTranz and WWEX Racing. We started shipping Florida watermelons this week, and I get to race on Saturday. So needless to say, this is an exciting week for me.”

On the Truck: Chastain’s No. 41 GlobalTranz Chevrolet Silverado will race with support from the WWEX group of brands, which comprises of Worldwide Express, Unishippers, and GlobalTranz.

About Niece Motorsports:

Niece Motorsports is owned by United States Marine Corps Veteran Al Niece. In 2023, Niece Motorsports enters its eighth season in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Niece also owns Niece Equipment, which has for over 40 years provided clients with reliable products at competitive prices. Niece Equipment’s reputation is built on service, integrity and dependability. The company provides water and fuel/lube trucks that are engineered with quality and durability in mind for the construction and mining industry. Follow the team on Facebook and Instagram @NieceMotorsports as well as Twitter @NieceMotorsport.

Media Inquiries: media@niecemotorsports.com | www.niecemotorsports.com

About Worldwide Express:

The WWEX group of brands, which comprises Worldwide Express, Unishippers and GlobalTranz, offers full-service logistics expertise to more than 115,000 customers across the country. With access to industry-leading small package, truckload, less-than-truckload and managed transportation solutions, its customers benefit from enhanced visibility and value for their supply chains. The company is the second-largest privately held freight brokerage and largest non-retail UPS Authorized Reseller® in the U.S. , with an annual systemwide revenue nearing $5 billion through a network of company-owned, franchise and agent locations. A highly selective carrier portfolio, proprietary technology, unique data assets and business intelligence capabilities provide clients with unmatched options and flexibility to meet their shipping needs. The WWEX Racing initiative was borne of a desire to address the complex but underserved logistic needs of the performance motorsports industry, using the unique combination of capabilities offered by the three brands’ combined 80+ years of insight. To learn more about the WWEX Racing program, visit www.wwexracing.com. For media inquiries, contact racing@wwex.com.

Stewart-Haas Racing: Richmond NXS Advance (Cole Custer | Riley Herbst)

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Official Release
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COLE CUSTER | RILEY HERBST
Richmond NASCAR Xfinity Series Advance
NASCAR Xfinity Series Overview

• Event: Richmond 250 (Round 7 of 33)
• Date: Saturday, April 1
• Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway
• Layout: .75-mile oval
• Time/TV/Radio: 1 p.m. EDT on FS1/MRN/SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Cole Custer Notes of Interest

• The NASCAR Xfinity Series heads to Richmond (Va.) Raceway for Saturday’s Richmond 250 and Cole Custer couldn’t be happier to be racing at a short track. After racing from the back of the field into a top-three position during last Saturday’s race at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, the No. 00 Haas Automation driver looked to be in contention to fight for the win with AJ Allmendinger and Sheldon Creed. Contact with another car derailed those plans, however, as Custer fell off the lead lap and had to settle for a 32nd-place finish. He’s looking to turn his luck around at Richmond and hopes to continue to show speed as he heads to one of his best tracks on the schedule.

• The Richmond 250 will be Custer’s eighth Xfinity Series start at Richmond. Since his first start at the track in 2016, he has never finished outside of the top-15. In his last fulltime season in the Xfinity Series in 2019, Custer led a race-high 122 laps in the April race at Richmond and scored the win in his No. 00 Ford Mustang. He beat runner-up Austin Cindric by 2.639 seconds. He followed up that victory with a third-place finish when the series returned to Richmond in September. Custer and his SHR Ford also started on the pole and led 43 laps en route to a sixth-place finish in the April 2018 race there. In his first Xfinity Series start at the track in April 2016, he scored a sixth-place finish driving the No. 5 JR Motorsports entry.

• In addition to his Xfinity Series starts, Custer has six NASCAR Cup Series starts and two NASCAR K&N Pro Series East starts at Richmond. His best outing was his 14th-place finish in his second Cup Series race there in September 2020. Custer’s first two Richmond starts came in the K&N Pro Series East in 2013 and 2014. The first year, he started and finished third after leading 24 of 100 laps, then qualified second and led a race-high 52 of 100 laps the following year en route to his fourth of four career victories in that series.

Riley Herbst Notes of Interest

• Riley Herbst isn’t slowing down. As the only fulltime Xfinity Series driver to finish in the top-10 every race this season, the No. 98 Monster Energy driver hopes to keep the momentum going during Saturday’s Richmond 250. After weeks of running in the top-three and contending for wins, Herbst is looking forward to his return to his favorite track on the circuit – Richmond Raceway. He has come to excel on the short tracks in the Xfinity Series, as was evident last season. In the four races at the tracks less than a mile in length, Herbst scored three top-fives last season, including a fifth-place finish in April on the .75-mile Richmond oval. He was third in November at the half-mile Martinsville (Va.) Raceway paperclip, and fifth at the half-mile Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway in September. He just missed a fourth short-track top-five last year when he finished sixth in the April race at Martinsville. Saturday’s race at Richmond will mark Herbst’s 16th on a short track. After finishing an impressive sixth in his first career start in June 2018 at Iowa Speedway in Newton, Herbst has gone on to earn 11 more top-10s, including his last six short-track starts dating back to a third-place finish in September 2021 at Bristol.

• Saturday’s Richmond 250 will mark Herbst’s sixth at Richmond. In addition to last April’s fifth-place finish, he earned a fifth-place finish there in April 2021. In his five Richmond starts since debuting at the track in April 2019, Herbst has only finished outside the top-10 once. Strategy calls by crew chief Richard Boswell and Herbst’s savvy driving led to the 24-year-old driver’s top-fives in his last two visits to the track. Both came as a result of late-race calls to take tires and good restarts by Herbst.

• Herbst’s top-10s in each of the first six Xfinity Series races is his best career start to a season, elevating him to second in the points standings, just 15 points behind the championship leader Austin Hill. Dating back to his eighth-place result last October at Homestead-Miami Speedway, he’s posted nine consecutive top-10s. In the midst of that Xfinity Series top-10 streak, Herbst also scored another pair of top-10s outside the series. He co-drove to a third-place finish in November’s Baja 1000 in the family’s Herbst Motorsports trophy truck, and his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the 65th running of the Daytona 500 in February resulted in a 10th-place finish behind the wheel of the No. 15 Rick Ware Racing Ford Mustang.

• Monster Energy will once again adorn the hood of Herbst’s No. 98 Ford Mustang this weekend at Richmond, but he won’t be the only Herbst in a vehicle sporting the iconic green monster claw. Across the country, Monster Energy will also be on the Herbst Motorsports trophy trucks in the San Felipe 250. Just before Herbst takes the green flag in Saturday’s race at Richmond, his younger cousins, Pierce, Thor, and EJ Herbst, and his uncle Tim will take over the reins of the family’s Monster Energy trophy trucks for a 9 a.m. PDT race start in San Felipe, Mexico. NASCAR on FOX featured the Herbst off-road racing legacy in a segment on the March 4 Las Vegas Motor Speedway pre-race show. Watch the full feature HERE, and follow the Herbst family entries in the San Felipe 250 via live tracking on SCORE International Saturday morning prior to the Xfinity Series race.

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 00 Haas Automation Ford Mustang

Time to put COTA behind you and move on to a track where you’ve won in the past. How excited are you to head to Richmond in search of another victory?

“I’m ready for Richmond. It’s a track that I’ve won at before, so I’m hoping we can find a little magic there this weekend. It’s going to be hard, though. Unlike the race I won, this is a day race. The track’s going to be hot and slick. Honestly, it can be a really frustrating racetrack. I feel like you go there and fight the same thing every single time. The difference is just how emphasized your problems are, so hopefully we can get into the corner how we want to and go for the win.”

The SHR short-track program has been strong in the past, but even more so the past few years. What are your goals, both as a driver and a team, in these short-track races?

“I mean we want to go and win every race that we’re in, both myself as a driver and the overall team. Obviously, Riley (Herbst) has had some good runs on short tracks in his career and with SHR. I’m hoping to kind of lean on him with this new package and get us both up there to compete for the win at the end. We want both cars to be as competitive as possible, so we’ll continue to work together as one team.”

Riley Herbst, Driver of the No. 98 Monster Energy Ford Mustang

We’re heading to Richmond Raceway for the first true short-track race of the season. How do you think the new rules and package on the Xfinity Series cars will affect the racing there?

“I don’t think anyone knows how this package will affect the short-track races. It’s going to be different, for sure. We’ve put some simulator time in to try and figure it out, but I don’t think we’ll know until we hit the track on Saturday for practice. I could definitely see it forcing the drivers to come off the corners a little straighter but, again, there are things you just have to figure out by getting behind the wheel of the car. I’m excited to get to Richmond, though. It’s one of my favorite racetracks on the circuit. I feel like if we can do everything right, we’ll be a contender at the end of the race.”

You came out of the gate strong in 2023, now the only driver to finish in the top-10 in every race so far, and you’re contending for wins. How close do you think you are to scoring that first career Xfinity Series win?

“I think we’re close, but we’re always coming into a race competing to win. That’s never not been the plan. I could see us winning one of these next few races, though, and that’s exciting. There’s a new confidence on this team, and it’s honestly just showing how much hard work we’ve put in these past few years. I’m proud of how much I’ve matured as a driver, and I couldn’t have asked for a better team to grow with. I’m hoping to put them and my biggest supporters at Monster Energy in victory lane soon.”

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB Race Preview: Richmond Raceway

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Race Information

  • Round: NASCAR Cup Series race No. 7 of 36
  • Track Location: Richmond Raceway – Richmond, Virginia
  • Race Name: Toyota Owners 400
  • Broadcast: Sunday, April 2nd at 3:30 PM ET live on FS1 (TV), MRN (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 – U.S. Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Noah Gragson, No. 42 Sunseeker Resorts Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Richmond Raceway Stats

  • NCS Starts: 1; Best start: 19th; Best finish: 24th (2022)
  • NXS Starts: 7; Wins: 1 (2021); Best start: 3rd; Top 5s: 3; Top 10s: 5; Laps led: 48

2023 NCS Season Stats

  • Starts: 6, Best start: 10th; Best finish: 12th (Atlanta); Laps led: 1; Current points position: 26th
  • 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.
  • A memorable win: Richmond Raceway holds a special memory in the NASCAR career of Noah Gragson. At 23 years old, Gragson won the Xfinity race at Richmond on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Gragson’s post-race interview was one of reflection and he was able to honor America by stating the day wasn’t about the win, but about honoring those lost. Gragson’s crew chief at the time was Dave Elenz.
  • Above Average: Throughout Gragson’s seven starts at Richmond in the Xfinity Series, he has an average finish of 9.4 coupled with three top-five and five top-10 finishes. Gragson has led 48 laps around the track with one win. He has one start at Richmond in the NASCAR Cup Series but with a 22nd place finish in 2022 completing 397 of 400 laps.

-Lambert at Richmond: Crew chief Luke Lambert has 17 starts with four different drivers at Richmond in the NASCAR Cup Series. He’s coached drivers to two top-five and five top-10 finishes with 36 laps led throughout the years.

-Don’t forget the coffee: As announced prior to the Circuit of the Americas race event, Black Rifle Coffee Company will support Gragson and the No. 42 team for six races this season. They are offering NASCAR fans 25% off a first time purchase or subscription. To redeem the offer, go to Black Rifle Coffee Company and use the code “BRCCMOTOR” at checkout. Follow on Instragram, Facebook, and YouTube, or subscribe to Coffee or Die’s daily newsletter for updates.

  • NG Appearances:

Sunday, April 2nd | Trackside Merchandise Trailer: Noah will sign for fans at his souvenir/merchandise rig located in the Midway at Richmond Raceway from 12 – 12:30p.m. The LEGACY MOTOR CLUB merchandise rig is shared with JR Motorsports.

  • From the Drivers Seat: “I’m looking forward to Richmond this weekend. The No. 42 team has been rallying back the last two weeks with strategy and speed. The pit crew has been awesome. My first race win at Richmond in Xfinity was really special and I was able to drive the NextGen car last fall in a Cup car. We are making some progress as a team and each week things are coming together more and more.”

Erik Jones, No. 43 U.S. Air Force Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

Richmond Raceway Stats

  • NCS Starts: 11; Best start: 5th; Best finish: 6th (Fall, 2017); Top 10s: 1
  • NXS Starts: 4; Poles: 1 (Spring, 2016); Best finish: 2nd (Fall, 2016); Top 5s: 3; Top 10s: 3; Laps led: 19

2023 NCS Season Stats

  • Starts: 6; Best start: 8th; Best finish: 8th (Atlanta); Top 10s: 1, Laps led: 14, Current points position: 21st
  • About The United States Air Force: The mission of the United States Air Force is to fly, fight and win – airpower anytime, anywhere. Whether full time, part time, in or out of uniform, everyone who serves plays a critical role in helping us achieve mission success. For 2023, the Air Force Recruiting Service is hiring over 26,000 new Airmen. An emphasis is on recruiting people with no prior military service into one of over 130 enlisted career opportunities. The Air Force recruits to retain, so we recruit the brightest candidates possible, then provide them with tough, highly technical training that gives them the right skills to sustain the combat capability of America’s Air Force. For more information about Air Force benefits and opportunities, go to www.airforce.com.
  • U.S. Air Force Adds to Partnership Schedule: The three-race partnership between LEGACY MOTOR CLUB and the United States Air Force was announced prior to the start of the 2023 season-opening DAYTONA 500. In its 15th season with the team, The U.S. Air Force uses their partnership with the team to activate at-track for recruiting efforts. Due to excitement with the program and the proximity to headquarters in Washington D.C., the U.S. Air Force will add an additional primary to the schedule, which will hit the track this weekend. Driver Erik Jones will pilot a red, white and blue-themed U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds paint scheme on the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 at Richmond Raceway on Sunday.
  • Qualifying Strength: Erik Jones continues to flex his muscle in qualifying sessions on several occasions this year. For a moment in Group A qualifying last weekend, Jones held the track record at Circuit Of The Americas, topping the charts in round one. Ultimately, Jones would start in the eighth position, besting his 10th place qualifying lap at Phoenix Raceway. Last year at Richmond, Jones put up a lap in his No. 43 Chevrolet that was fast enough to place him in fifth for the initial start. He looks to continue this single lap speed this weekend and turn it into more.
  • From the Driver’s Seat: This weekend, you will have the added support from the U.S. Air Force on your No. 43 Chevrolet. What does it mean to you to drive this special Thunderbirds paint scheme?

“It’s pretty cool to have the U.S. Air Force on the No. 43 – its year three for me as a driver to represent them. Having the Air Force Thunderbirds paint scheme this weekend – its just a really good looking car – its probably my favorite Air Force paint scheme over the last few years. I’m happy to have them onboard and I hope to have a good run for them. We’ve come close a few times to getting them a win in some speedway races, so hopefully we can get it done this at Richmond this weekend.”

ABOUT LEGACY MOTOR CLUB:

LEGACY MOTOR CLUB is a professional motor racing team that competes full-time in the NASCAR Cup Series, owned by Maury Gallagher and Jimmie Johnson. LEGACY MOTOR CLUB operates two full-time entries, the No. 42 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of Noah Gragson and the No. 43 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 of Erik Jones. The team also fields a third part-time entry, the No. 84 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1, for Johnson’s limited racing schedule in 2023.

Based in Statesville, N.C., LEGACY MOTOR CLUB operates alongside GMS Racing, which fields three full-time entries in the NASCAR Truck Series. Since the formation of GMS Racing in 2012, Gallagher, along with one of the NASCAR garage’s most accomplished figures, Team President, Mike Beam, built a victorious organization, capturing the 2016 and 2020 NASCAR Truck Series championships, the 2015 ARCA Racing Series championship, as well as the 2019 & 2020 ARCA East championships, accumulating over 65 wins across six national racing circuits.

Our mission at LEGACY MOTOR CLUB is to create an inclusive environment for auto-racing enthusiasts, celebrate the past and future legacies of our partners and team members, and to compete for race wins and championships at NASCAR’s elite level. 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.

Daniel Dye – Texas Preview

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Official Release
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EVENT PREVIEW: TEXAS
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series
Saturday, April 1 | 4:30 PM ET
FS1 | MRN | SiriusXM
Driver: Daniel Dye
Hometown: Deland, Florida
Birthday: December 4, 2003
Series: NASCAR Truck Series
Vehicle: Chevrolet Silverado RST
Crew Chief: Travis Sharpe
Owner: Maury Gallagher
Primary Sponsors: KIX Country, Solar-Fit

NASCAR Truck Series Stats:
Starts: 4
Points: 17th

Track: Texas Motor Speedway
Date: Saturday, April 1, 2023
Race: 4:30 PM ET
Length: 250 Miles
Coverage: FS1, MRN Radio, SiriusXM, FOX Sports App

Onboard Camera
Daniel Dye will again be featured with an onboard camera on the FOX Sports broadcast at Texas Motor Speedway. Race to Stop Suicide and ShopDanielDye.com is this week’s presenting partner for live coverage on the No. 43 GMS Racing Chevrolet Silverado.

TV Ratings on FS1 & FOX Sports App
700,000 people tuned in to the live broadcast at Circuit of the America’s on March 26. The event was rebroadcast several times, averaging more than 112,000 viewers each.

Texas Motor Speedway Stats

Daniel Dye will be making his first start in any series at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday.

2023 NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series Season Stats

Starts: 4; Best start: 19th; Best finish: 16th (Atlanta); Laps led: 5; Current points position: 17th

About KIX Country 98.7 FM
WAKX (98.7 FM, “KIX Country 98.7”) is a radio station licensed to serve the community of Palm Coast, Florida. The station is owned by Flagler County Broadcasting and the broadcast license is held by Flagler Broadcasting, LLC. WAKX shares radio studios in Bunnell, Florida, with sister stations WBHQ (92.7 FM) and WNZF (1550 AM).

Chassis History/Info
Dye and the No. 43 team will compete with GMS Racing chassis no. 330 in the Lone Star state. The chassis has raced one time previously at Texas Motor Speedway in 2020, where Zane Smith led 26 laps with it before finishing in 19th. The truck has one win to its credit, coming at Dover Motor Speedway in 2020 driven by Smith. Dye last drove this Chevrolet in Atlanta Motor Speedway in March, where he finished in 16th.

Sunoco Rookie Battle
A respectable 18th place finish at COTA was salvaged by Daniel Dye after suffering a catastrophic setback in practice that forced the No. 43 team to replace his engine, transmission, rear gear, and more. Dye would start shotgun on the field in Saturday’s XPEL 225, but worked his way through the field methodically, climbing 18 spots in the process to earn a top-20 finish. Dye is now tied for second in the Sunoco Rookie of the Year standings with Jake Garcia, 33 markers behind Nick Sanchez.

Quarter Midgets to Trucks
This weekend might be the first time that Dye races on the 1.5-mile intermediate track layout on the property, but he has raced at Texas Motor Speedway once before in a different capacity. On June 9th, 2018, Daniel competed in a quarter midget race held in the parking lot of TMS, and even went home with the trophy. Dye continues to show his support for quarter midget racing, often spending his time with his eight-year-old nephew, Jet Risley, who currently races in the same class Dye began his career in.

DD Appearances
Fans attending the Speedy Cash 250 will have an opportunity to meet Daniel Dye on race day:

Located in a tent just outside of the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series garage area, fans can meet all three GMS Racing drivers in an autograph session from 12:30 PM to 1:15 PM local time.

From the Driver’s Seat

Thoughts on competing at Texas Motor Speedway this weekend.

“I’m looking forward to going to Texas with our No. 43 team this weekend, it’s another intermediate track on our schedule but quite a bit different than what we had in Las Vegas and Atlanta. It will be a new challenge for us, but I’m going to learn all day throughout practice, qualifying, and through the first stage of the race. I haven’t been to that track since I raced quarter midgets out in the parking lot a few years ago, so I think it will be a fun experience to come full-circle by racing at the big track.”

TOYOTA LAUNCHES SUPRA SHOWDOWN PROGRAM FOR SELECT NHRA EVENTS

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Official Release
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POMONA, Calif. (March 29, 2023) – Toyota, the official car of the NHRA, is pleased to unveil their new at track program, the Supra Showdown, this weekend at the Winternationals at In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip.

“After a stellar debut season with the Toyota GR Supra Funny Car on track, we look forward to showcasing the Toyota GR Supra in the Supra Showdown at select events this season,” said Paul Doleshal, group manager, motorsports, Toyota Motor North America (TMNA). “We think this is a great way to engage the fans and highlight the Supra’s performance as the fans prepare for the exciting NHRA action on track.”

The Supra Showdown will feature two identical Toyota GR Supras making passes down iconic dragstrips across the country as part of NHRA national events. Toyota will pit its Top Fuel drivers against its Funny Car drivers in each race and keep a season-long tally on round wins to establish a team winner. The finale will take place in Charlotte in the fall, where Toyota will donate to the charities aligned with the winning team and drivers. For the 2023 season, Team Top Fuel drivers will compete for Matco Tools for a Cause (AB Motorsports), Wyakin Foundation (Davis Motorsports), Feeding America (Kalitta Motorsports) and East Texas Treatment Center (Torrence Racing). The Team Toyota Funny Car drivers will compete for A Soldier’s Child Foundation (Ron Capps Motorsports), Feeding America (Kalitta Motorsports) and Austin Pets Alive (DC Motorsports).

The Supra Showdown will provide fan engagement opportunities with the on-track racing action at races in Pomona, Las Vegas, Charlotte, Chicago, Bristol and Sonoma, before the finale at the fall Countdown race at zMax Dragway. When the Toyota GR Supras are not racing on track, they will be featured at the Toyota Racing Experience fan display in the NHRA midway.

Toyota is coming off another stellar season in NHRA action as Ron Capps delivered a Funny Car championship in his first season with the Toyota GR Supra, while all five Toyota’s Top Fuel drivers scored top-10 finishes in the season-long point standings – highlighted by Antron Brown’s runner-up finish. For the 2023 NHRA season, Toyota will continue to support Top Fuel’s Justin Ashley, Brown, Doug Kalitta, Shawn Langdon and Steve Torrence, along with Funny Car’s Capps, Alexis DeJoria and J.R. Todd as Toyota plans to secure its latest drag racing milestone – its 200th NHRA victory – this year.

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 20 electrified options, with more in showrooms later this year.

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.

Kaulig Racing Weekly Advance | Richmond Raceway

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Kaulig Racing Weekly Advance | Richmond Raceway
Toyota Owners 400
Richmond Raceway
NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Sunday, April 2 at 3:30 p.m. EST on FS1

  • Kaulig Racing has made four starts at Richmond Raceway, all in the 2022 NCS season.

Chandler Smith, No. 13 Quick Tie Products Camaro ZL1

  • Chandler Smith will be making his NCS debut Sunday at Richmond Raceway in the Toyota Owners 400.
  • Smith previously attempted to qualify for the Daytona 500.

“I’m extremely excited to make my first Cup start on Sunday at Richmond. It’s honestly a dream come true, and I can’t thank Matt Kaulig and Chris Rice enough for putting their faith in me. Richmond is one of those tracks I picked to race at in Cup this year because I feel like we have a solid shot to make an impact there. I love short track racing. It’s what I grew up around, and I feel like it’s my best type of track.” – Chandler Smith on Richmond Raceway

AJ Allmendinger, No. 16 Action Industries Camaro ZL1

  • AJ Allmendinger has 24 NCS starts at Richmond Raceway, earning three top-10 finishes.
  • Allmendinger’s first NCS start with Kaulig Racing at Richmond Raceway was 2022 Federated Auto Parts 400, where he finished 27th.

“Richmond is a challenging short track. It’s very slick and hard on tires. We are working hard to make our short track program better and this will be a good test to see what we have.” – AJ Allmendinger on Richmond Raceway

Justin Haley, No. 31 LeafFilter Gutter Protection Camaro ZL1

  • Justin Haley has made four starts at Richmond Raceway in the NCS.
  • Haley’s best finish came last year in the 2022 Federated Auto Parts 400, where he finished 21st.

“Richmond is a challenging racetrack. There’s a lot of racing grooves on the track, which makes it fun. It was one of my best tracks in the Xfinity Series, but we have struggled a bit in the Cup Series with our short track program. Hopefully we can take some of the stuff we learned at Phoenix and apply it here.” – Justin Haley on Richmond Raceway  

ToyotaCare 250
Richmond Raceway
NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS)
Saturday, April 1 at 1:00 p.m. EST on FS1

  • Kaulig Racing has made 19 starts at Richmond Raceway in the NXS.
  • The team has earned five top fives, 11 top-10 finishes and led 187 laps at Richmond.

Derek Kraus, No. 10 International Order of T. Roosevelt Chevrolet Camaro

  • Kraus will make his NXS debut with Kaulig Racing at Richmond Raceway for the ToyotaCare 250.

“I am really looking forward to making my Xfinity debut this weekend at Richmond with Kaulig Racing. It’s one of my favorite tracks on the schedule, so I am excited to put all of the things I’ve learned from studying and sim to work. I can’t thank Matt Kaulig and Chris Rice enough for the opportunity to make my first start in the series with them.” – Derek Kraus on Richmond Raceway

Daniel Hemric, No. 11 Cirkul Chevrolet Camaro

  • Daniel Hemric has earned three top fives, five top-10 finishes and has an average finish of 8.5 in his six NXS starts at Richmond Raceway.
  • He has led 102 laps at Richmond Raceway.
  • Hemric will be one of four drivers competing for Dash4Cash

“Richmond is without a doubt one of my favorite race tracks on our schedule! I love all the character this track has, and the opportunity that comes with a worn out surface like Richmond. Being a day race only amplifies these opportunities. Everyone going there is going to be slipping and sliding around all day, and hopefully we can do all of that just a little bit better than everyone else and give ourselves a chance at a race win and a 100k bonus thanks to Xfinity and the Dash4Cash program.” – Daniel Hemric on Richmond Raceway

Chandler Smith, No. 16 Quick Tie Products Chevrolet Camaro

  • Chandler Smith recorded one win and two top-fives in three starts at Richmond Raceway in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series (NCTS).
  • He will make his first NXS start at the short track this weekend in the ToyotaCare 250.

“I’m really excited to get back to short track racing this weekend at Richmond. Finishing 12th on the road course at COTA was a decent result after a hard day’s work, but it’s nice to know we’re heading back to ovals for a bit now. I’ve had a lot of success in the past few years at Richmond, and I hope we can get some momentum rolling again before our off-weekend.” – Chandler Smith on Richmond 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 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.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes – Ryan Blaney Richmond 1 Transcript

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Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Richmond 1 Advance | Wednesday, March 29, 2023

Ryan Blaney, driver of the No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang for Team Penske, won the pole a year ago at Richmond Raceway, site of this weekend’s NASCAR Cup Series action. Blaney has had good results at the short track of late, having started and finished in the top 10 the last three times he’s visited the facility. Blaney was this week’s guest on the weekly Ford NASCAR media call and talked about his hopes on Sunday.

RYAN BLANEY, No. 12 Menards Ford Mustang – YOU HAVE A VIDEO ON YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA CHANNELS ABOUT YOUR FOUNDATION’S WORK WITH THE ALZHEIMER’S ASSOCIATION. CAN YOU SHARE WHAT’S IT LIKE WORK WITH THAT GROUP? “I’m really excited to be working with the Alzheimer’s Association. Obviously, they’ve been amazing to work with the past few years and when we started our foundation in 2018 we wanted to focus toward something that had a personal connection with us and our family, and that was Alzheimer’s. My grandfather had it. Unfortunately, he passed away from it and it’s a pretty rough disease to watch anybody go through, so it’s been an absolute privilege to get to meet a lot of great people who are directly working with the Alzheimer’s Association and companies involved in it that are striving to try to find ways to help fight this disease and work with the Ad Council. I’m really excited for our public service announcement that’s gonna be coming out soon and hopefully it gives a lot of people information of where to go if you have a loved one or you are suffering from Alzheimer’s. Hopefully, everyone finds it very helpful, so it’s just an absolute honor to be with those folks and I look forward to continuing to work with them for a long time.”

HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE WHAT HAPPENED AT THE END WITH ALL OF THOSE RESTARTS AND IS THERE A SOLUTION FOR TURN ONE AT COTA? “Pretty wild. It’s like a roll of the dice if that restart is gonna work out for you or not, especially if you’re not in the first couple rows. I was restarting in like the 10th row or even further back than that. I had one work out for me, to where guys got slowed up and another guy got spun four rows in front of me and I snuck by about nine of them, and the next restart I got spun out just being middle of five and you’re just the unfortunate driver that gets turned around. We’ve seen that with these restart zones at these tracks – Indy and COTA come to mind of long straightaways leading to a very tight corner and everyone is always on the go button and everyone is wanting to make spots and restarts are the easiest place to make spots and at those places you have to be just a bulldog to make anything up. My solutions. We’ve talked about a couple things. I feel like between the drivers, what to do and maybe we have some momentum going forward on a couple thoughts, but my couple of quick thoughts were like, OK, let’s mount the radiators on the front bumpers so no one destroys someone in the rear bumper because you’re gonna bust your radiator. That would be a quick fix. Or, take about 80 percent of the bracing away from the road course and short track cars. You didn’t see that with the old car because you were worried about getting a tire rub yourself and you were a little bit more mindful. Now these cars are such tanks that everyone knows they can take it and they take advantage of it. Those are a couple of my short term cosmetic ideas, but there might be something a little bit easier going forward to try to fix that, but they’re definitely crazy and there were a lot of guys that were upset. And, obviously, sometimes, it happened to me at Indy last year, I think the last restart I got turned around and pushed into one by Daniel Suarez and I was mad at him, and then I watched the replay and it starts like four guys behind him, who just bumper car – shove, shove, shove, shove and gets to me, So, it’s like you can’t even be necessarily mad at the guy right behind you because he probably getting shoved into you by three cars behind him, so it’s like who the heck do you even get mad at and blame? It’s just the wild west right now on that side at a few of those tracks, but, unfortunately, it just didn’t work out for us. It was a long weekend for sure, but we’ll see if we can figure something out going forward.”

HOW DO YOU SEE RICHMOND GOING THIS WEEKEND WITH THE NEW PACKAGE? “I definitely think we’re gonna have a lot to deal with behind the wheel. This aero package at COTA and Phoenix, we kind of got a decent idea about it and I thought it was better at COTA than last year. I thought the trailing guy could be closer. It’s kind of hard on a road course, but you can still feel it. At Phoenix, I didn’t think it was too much of a change, honestly. In traffic, I thought you had your hands full a little bit more by yourself with just the lack of rear downforce, but the traffic side it kind of let me down a little bit. I thought it was gonna be a little bit better. I think it will be better at Richmond than Phoenix because Phoenix is pretty fast and Richmond you’re going a lot slower, tires wear out a lot more, so hopefully that helps it out. Richmond struggled a little bit last year, I thought, so I’m optimistic on going forward to Richmond and then Martinsville, I think, it’s gonna be even better yet. Drivers are gonna have their hands full by themselves trying to keep tires on it with the lack of rear grip, and I’m hopeful that the traffic side is better. I think it’s gonna be.”

BRISTOL DIRT IS NEXT WEEK. WHY HAVE YOU BEEN SO GOOD THERE AND WILL THIS YEAR’S BE ANY DIFFERENT THAN THE FIRST TWO? “I think you’re gonna be able to compare this year’s race to last year’s. The first year we went there, inaugural events are always tough, especially when it’s something that outside the box of how you run it, and I thought we did a good job last year of changing it to a night race. I thought that helped the racetrack a lot more. It wasn’t a dust bowl. I thought you could move around a lot more in the night time. Going back to this year, I think this car took the dirt track pretty well. The tire was a little better than what we had the first year, so hopefully no rain and I hope the track widens out even more. I thought it was a lot better than the first year as well as being wide and having some grip that you could kind of chase up the racetrack, and I hope it becomes even more so that way to where there are even more options. We had a fast car last year, but just kind of kept getting in the bad lane on the restart. I kept having to restart on the bottom and I’d lose two spots and then I’d still restart on the bottom and you’d have to fight your tail off to try to get those spots back, but I’m excited to go there. It puts on a good show and I think everyone really enjoys it. It’s something I look forward to – from last year I look forward to it. The first year I was like, ‘Man, I don’t know about this going back.’ It was kind of a crapshoot, but I thought last year was a big success as far as the raceability, and I think this year will hopefully be even better.”

WITH THE CHOOSE RULE IN EFFECT, HOW MANY CARS WILL IT TAKE FOR SOMEONE TO TAKE THE BOTTOM LINE? “The choose rule at the dirt track, I think, is huge that we were able to do that. It’s an option that we really fought for on not only road courses, but the dirt track as well. I think it’s gonna be even more important at the dirt track than the road courses. I didn’t think the choose rule at COTA was much different. You kind of just took the shortest lane, but Bristol dirt there’s gonna be a lot more strategy involved, I think. Like, if I’m 10th and I could possibly restart seventh, maybe I’d take it. You’d jump a row and you’d see if you could slide into a spot and get a couple spots, but I’d probably have to gain a row. We’ll just see how the track is. You kind of have your ideas, but then you see how the track restarts and if the bottom lane is just really bad trying to get going, and the average is a guy losing two spots or a row, maybe you have to be inclined to need two rows to make this count. If I could gain a row, I’ll probably take it right now, but I might switch up in the race.”

HOW DO YOU MEND FENCES WITH TEAMMATES VERSUS NON-TEAMMATES? “You have to mend those fences. Other drivers, if you get into it on the racetrack, yeah, everyone is different, but you might not put as much of an effort to mend those fences. Maybe if it’s someone you’re not too fond of, you might put minimal effort to mend a fence. You might mend it with a nail instead of a teammate you’re gonna mend that thing with screws and wire and maybe even a little bit of glue, just because you’re trying to work together and at the end of the day everybody is gonna come together, no matter if you’re a teammate, worst enemies, best friends, you do this enough you’re gonna get into it with everybody intentional or not and those things just happen. The teammate side, Joey and I have had a couple run-ins over the years, me and Austin, and you get over that stuff. You talk about it. You get over it and you move on from it. Those things you have to do, I think, fairly quickly. There is still probably something in the back of your head, but, at the same time, you’re a team and if you’ve got two teammates pissed off at each other, that doesn’t help the camaraderie of the whole organization. So, I’m sure those guys got over it, but, like I said, I don’t know their business. It’s important to try to set things straight when you and a teammate have a run-in because you can’t be walking around the race shop, and crew members, you can’t have them being mad at each other too. It’s a weird situation between those guys. It’s like, ‘Oh, my driver is mad at the teammate driver. Should we be mad at each other, too?’ Then it’s a weird dynamic in the shop, so those things have to be dealt with quickly.”

YOU KNOW YOUR TEAMMATE BETTER THAN OTHER GUYS, SO CAN YOU TELL IF THEY’RE GIVING YOU A STORY BETTER THAN TELLING THE TRUTH? “I don’t know. You know your teammates well, and sometimes maybe you’re like, ‘I don’t know if you’re telling me the full truth or you’re bs’ing me or not.’ I don’t know. It’s all kind of personal relationships with the drivers and teammates or friends and things like that. But, yeah, I think you can sometimes get a decent gauge, at least. It depends on how good of a poker face those guys have and whether you can get a really good read or not.”

THOUGHTS ON POTENTIAL SINGLE-FILE RESTARTS AT PLACES LIKE COTA AND INDIANAPOLIS? “That’s something we’ve thought about too and it’s a good observation about it. The Indy thing, yeah, you put yourself essentially in the fourth row and your chances of winning are reduced, but your chances of getting spun are probably reduced as well. So, I don’t know. The single-file restart is something I’ve been hearing around and at some tracks I could see it working. Like you said, COTA, Indy. It hurts you for sure if you’re 20th. I mean, you’re lining up way behind the leader, so that. Do you move the restart zone? Do you give the leader more of an opening window of when to go? At COTA, let’s say, like, not a lot of other racing series have double-file starts that run road courses, but like do you give the leader the choice where he can go anytime between 19 and the restart zone? So you kind of have like a short stint, slow down, turn, and then you have your long straightaway to where it kind of gaps everybody. You’re still doing double-file, but it kind of gaps a little bit to where it’s not everyone nose-to-tail 15 rows deep diving in there. There’s a lot of differing opinions and ideas that are floating around and we’ll see what we come up with, but, personally, from a driver’s standpoint it just gets messy. I can’t think that watching the end of that race was very compelling. I mean, there was a lot of drama going on, but, man, it took us a long time to run the final three laps of that thing, and there’s just a lot of people’s drivers getting turned and stuff like that. Is that the best look for the sport of us jamming it in there five-wide every time and just bumper car’ing each other? No, personally from a competitor standpoint I don’t think that’s a good look for the sport, but I don’t know. We’ll see what we come up with, but there is good and bad to each idea, I guess, so you’ll have that with anything.”

DOES SOMETHING NEED TO BE DONE BEFORE SONOMA OR CHICAGO? “I don’t think you need to do anything for Sonoma. The way the restart zone is there it’s slow and you’re going up the hill right away. You don’t get the four-wide kind of thing there, so I don’t think Sonoma is anything we need to be working on. I think Chicago is gonna be wild no matter what you do, so I think Chicago is something we should look at for the next road course to maybe try to switch things up, but Sonoma, I think, is a track that it doesn’t really happen, so I don’t think you need to address it there.”

WHERE DO YOU FEEL YOUR SHORT TRACK PROGRAM IS TO OTHER TEAMS? “Basing it off of Phoenix, I thought our short track program was pretty decent. We started off the race not great. We could have maybe run seventh to 10th at the start and then by the end I thought we could have run fourth to sixth. I didn’t think we were a winning car at Phoenix. The Hendrick cars were good. The 4 was good there at the end before the last caution, so I think it’s OK. Phoenix is a little bit different. It’s a fast short track, so Richmond will be a good gauge of where you stack up – slow, a bunch of mechanical grip, tire conservation, so I’m optimistic for it, for sure. I thought we had good cars there last year in both races from the whole team, and I’m excited to get there. Hopefully, we learned a little bit from Phoenix that we can apply over to Richmond and keep building on that racetrack. So, I think it’s OK, but you can always improve, and I think we can get a little bit better.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF HAVING NO STAGES LAST WEEK AND SHOULD IT BE IMPLEMENTED AT TRACKS OUTSIDE OF ROAD COURSES? “The no stage thing was different than anything we’ve had the last handful of years. It’s a good thing in some areas. It hurts you in other areas like, for us, in our situation starting pretty much last from messing up on Saturday it hurt us because you don’t get a caution to reset and re-rack and maybe we would have probably obviously pitted before the stage break or just see how many cars pitted and tried to cycle further up in the field, but you didn’t have that at COTA. It changes up your strategy a little bit and makes it tougher for the guys who qualify in the back to get up there, but I think it’s good. The stage breaks jumbled up things a lot last year and, like I said, if you were struggling for speed, maybe you stay out and you get a handful of stage points, but you restart in the back where you were, or if you’re a really fast car you kind of have to bail on stage points most of the day and try to set yourself up for the third stage. It can help you or hurt you depending on what spot you’re in. I personally enjoy it. I feel like it makes a better flow of the race, more of a natural flow. As far as stage breaks at other tracks, I don’t really have an opinion either way. It is what it is and I’ll do whatever, but I think the road courses, I think it’s better for those and just enjoying the flow of the race. But, like I said, it hurt us at COTA, but I still think it’s a better way to do the road courses.”

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