KEVIN HARVICK
Fontana Advance
No. 4 GEARWRENCH® Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Pala Casino 400 (Round 2 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, Feb. 26
● Location: Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California
● Layout: 2-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 200 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 65 laps / Stage 2: 65 laps / Final Stage: 70 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Back on Jan. 12, Kevin Harvick announced that 2023 would be his final year in the NASCAR Cup Series. The driver of the No. 4 GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing will retire after the checkered flag waves at the season finale Nov. 5 at Phoenix Raceway. When that day comes, Harvick will have had a 23-year run in the Cup Series – one of the longest tenures in recent memory. That kind of history makes for some interesting anecdotes, especially when you consider that Harvick has been racing in at least one of NASCAR’s top-three national series for 28 years. As the Bakersfield, California, native returns to his home track this weekend – Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California – here are three nuggets that highlight his NASCAR tenure:

● Harvick raced against former NFL head coach Jerry Glanville. Their first race together was April 21, 1996 at Phoenix Raceway in the NASCAR Truck Series. ● Harvick has raced against three generations of Gillilands, beginning with patriarch Butch Gilliland (they first raced together on April 21, 1996 in the Truck Series at Phoenix), and then Butch’s son David Gilliland (in both Xfinity and Cup Series races from 2004-2018) and finally David’s son Todd Gilliland, who was a Cup Series rookie last year and remains in the series. ● Another noteworthy driver Harvick has competed against is Hershel McGriff, who was recently inducted into the 2023 NASCAR Hall of Fame. McGriff is known for his unsurpassed longevity in the sport. His first race was the 1950 Southern 500 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway when he was a 22-year-old competing in NASCAR’s sophomore season. His final race was the 2018 Port of Tucson Twin 100s where, as a 90-year-old, McGriff drove in the first of two 100-lap NASCAR West Series races at Tucson (Ariz.) Speedway. Harvick and McGriff competed against each other in the NASCAR Winston West Series from 1996 through 1998.

● Harvick will make some history of his own Sunday at Auto Club Speedway. When he takes the green flag for the Pala Casino 400, Harvick will make his 750th consecutive NASCAR Cup Series start, becoming just the third driver in series history to reach the milestone, joining Jeff Gordon (797 consecutive starts) and Ricky Rudd (788 consecutive starts). The last time Harvick was not in a Cup Series race was April 2, 2002 at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway, a span of 7,623 days between race dates.

● Auto Club Speedway serves as a homecoming for Harvick. The 2014 NASCAR Cup Series champion is from Bakersfield, roughly three hours northwest of Fontana. Harvick joins three other Californians competing at Auto Club Speedway – A.J. Allmendinger from Los Gatos, Kyle Larson from Elk Grove, and Tyler Reddick from Corning. In the 26-year history of the track, only four Californians have won a NASCAR Cup Series race at Fontana – Vallejo’s Jeff Gordon, El Cajon’s Jimmie Johnson, Larson and Harvick – but they’ve won 12 of the 32 races held.

● Harvick’s lone NASCAR Cup Series victory at Fontana came on March 27, 2011 when he beat Johnson by .144 of a second. Harvick led only one lap, but it was the only one that mattered. He took the lead from Johnson on the final lap to score his 15th career Cup Series win. Harvick has won 45 races since. His 60 career Cup Series victories puts him in a tie with Kyle Busch for ninth on the series’ all-time win list.

● Harvick and Kurt Busch lead the NASCAR Cup Series in starts at Auto Club Speedway with 28 starts apiece – a streak that spans four decades (1997-2022). Next best in this category is Kurt’s younger brother, Kyle Busch, who has 23 career starts at Fontana.

● Harvick’s NASCAR Cup Series stat line at Fontana includes a win, seven top-five finishes, 14 top-10 finishes and 238 laps led. His average finish across his 28 career starts is 14.9, thanks in large part to completing 98.7 percent of the laps available (6,274 of 6,356 laps).

● Harvick has been competing at Auto Club Speedway ever since 1997 – the track’s debut season. His first start at the 2-mile oval came on Oct. 18, 2017 in The No Fear Challenge NASCAR Truck Series race driving the No. 75 entry for Wayne and Connie Spears of Agua Dulce, California. Harvick started 28th and finished 20th, completing 99 of 100 laps. Harvick has made a total of four Truck Series starts at Fontana, with his best result coming in his most recent Truck Series start there – eighth on Feb. 23, 2007.

● Harvick also competed at Auto Club Speedway with Wayne and Connie Spears in the NASCAR Winston West Series. He made two Winston West starts for the family-owned team at Fontana in 1998, and it was in his first start on May 2 that Harvick piqued the interest of NASCAR team owner Richard Childress. Harvick started second and finished second, leading 32 laps in between. Ken Schrader took the win by 1.314 seconds, but Childress took note of the then 22-year-old Harvick. In Harvick’s Winston West return to Fontana on July 18, he one-upped his performance from two months prior. He started from the pole and ended with the win, taking the checkered flag by 1.15 seconds over Austin Cameron. He led 52 of the race’s 100 laps. Those victories were part of a five-win campaign that led Harvick to the 1998 Winston West championship and, ultimately, a 14-year career with Richard Childress Racing, with the team signing Harvick to race in the Xfinity Series in 2000.

● The NASCAR Xfinity Series represents another successful element of Harvick’s career at Auto Club Speedway. In 20 starts at the track, Harvick has finished among the top-10 17 times. He has 12 top-fives, highlighted by a win in his second-to-last Xfinity Series start at Fontana. Harvick took the checkered flag on March 21, 2015 with an impressive 3.317-second margin over second-place Brendan Gaughan.

● Kevin Harvick competed in the IROC Series for three seasons (2002-2004). The International Race of Champions (IROC) pitted drivers from a variety of racing disciplines against each other in identically-prepared stock cars in an annual four-race series where driver talent ruled. Harvick’s first and only IROC win came in just his second start – April 27, 2002 at Fontana. With a season-long average finish of 4.8 buoyed by that win, Harvick took the IROC title.

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 GEARWRENCH Ford Mustang

You’ve been racing at Fontana since its inaugural season, first competing there in a 1997 Truck Series race and then the next year in the NASCAR Winston West Series. The track was already special because it was relatively close to your hometown of Bakersfield, but it also helped launch your career. Talk about that.

“When I think about Fontana, I go back to just the second race I ran there in 1998 for Wayne and Connie Spears, and being able to race that day with Ken Schrader. That was the first day that Richard Childress kind of noticed what I was doing and the things that were happening on the racetrack, and it really kicked off the first part of our ’98 Winston West championship season. At that particular point, we weren’t supposed to run the whole season, and Wayne had told us, ‘Well, if you guys keep doing good, we’ll talk about it and see if you can continue racing.’ We wound up racing for the win that day, and that was always good for us because Wayne and Connie’s shop was right down the street at their house in Agua Dulce, in the garage right behind their house. At that particular time, I was a mechanic. I started as a mechanic in 1997 and began the year racing in Trucks, but we also raced the Winston West car – first at Mesa Marin and then the last two races of the season – because of the success that we had. And the next year when we ran the full Winston West season, that first race at Fontana was one of the first days that you got recognized. If it weren’t for Wayne and Connie giving me that opportunity, I wouldn’t have ever had that chance.”

When you race at Fontana, is there a heightened desire to win because it is your home track?

“It’s in my home state, and every year you go there, you want to win the race because you’ve got a lot of family and a lot of friends there, along with a lot of race fans who have come there to watch you race. On the Cup side, I’ve only gotten to do that one time. It was against another California native in Jimmie Johnson, and it was a really cool finish. I got to push him all the way down the back straightaway and then pass him coming to the checkered flag. Cup has not been as successful as I’d like it to be in the win column.”

Why is it so difficult to win at your home track?

“When you go to your home track, you want to win all the time. I think I’m a little bit spoiled by the fact that I put that same amount of pressure on myself at California as I do at Phoenix, but we obviously haven’t had the same kind of results. That being said, we do have a Cup win, we do have an Xfinity Series win, I won my one and only IROC race there, and I’ve got a Winston West win there. It’s definitely been a good racetrack for us. So, we’ve dabbled in victory lane, but not as much as I’d like.”

This is supposed to be the final race at Fontana on its 2-mile layout, as it’s scheduled to undergo a massive renovation where it’ll be changed into a short track. If Sunday does end up being the last race on this current configuration, would a win carry even greater significance?

“For me it would. I really believe that the 1998 Winston West Series race and Richard (Childress) seeing me race for the first time there played a huge part in me having the opportunity to drive at Richard Childress Racing. Look, I worked at the Spears shop that is 30 minutes from the racetrack. I grew up two hours from the racetrack. I have a lot of family and friends and people that go to that race, and have gone to that race for a number of years. The unfortunate part about the racetrack going away is in its current state, it’s just so challenging, and from the driver’s standpoint, it’s so unique. It used to just be a snoozer when the asphalt was no good, and all of a sudden just one year the light switch flipped and cars were all over the racetrack – top of the racetrack, bottom of the racetrack – and the racing just became so different. I’m interested to see what comes next. Do we get a new racetrack, or do we just disappear?”

For someone who grew up in Bakersfield and loved racing, how big of a deal was it when Fontana was built?

“When you look at the racetrack’s shape and size, it’s very similar to Michigan – very Penske-ish in how it was built. But for California, I think a lot of people don’t realize how much racing there is in that state. Obviously, it’s been a big hit throughout the years, and when they brought the Cup Series out there, they were probably the biggest moments that the racetrack will ever have from start to finish. But racing in general, in California, is always well-supported. It’s in its sweet spot right now with one date and getting everybody there.”

No. 4 GEARWRENCH Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Kevin Harvick
Hometown: Bakersfield, California

Crew Chief: Rodney Childers
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Car Chief: Robert “Cheddar” Smith
Hometown: Whitewater, Wisconsin

Engineer: Stephen Doran
Hometown: Butler, Pennsylvania

Engineer: Dax Gerringer
Hometown: Gibsonville, North Carolina

Spotter: Tim Fedewa
Hometown: Holt, Michigan

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Daniel Coffey
Hometown: Granite Falls, North Carolina

Rear Tire Changer: Daniel Smith
Hometown: Concord, North Carolina

Tire Carrier: Jeremy Howard
Hometown: Delhart, Texas

Jack Man: Brandon Banks
Hometown: High Point, North Carolina

Fuel Man: Evan Marchal
Hometown: Westfield, Indiana

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Tyler Trosper
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Mechanic: Nick DeFazio
Hometown: Orange, California

Tire Specialist: Jamie Turski
Hometown: Trumbull, Connecticut

Engine Tuner: Robert Brandt
Hometown: Mobile, Alabama

Transporter Co-Driver: Rick Hodges
Hometown: Raleigh, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Stephen Mitchell
Hometown: Woodville, Ohio

Fontana Event Info:
Track Info: Auto Club Speedway, 2.0-mile oval
Date: Sunday, February 26
Time: 3:30 p.m. ET
Event: Pala Casino 400
Series: NASCAR Cup Series (NCS)
Location: Fontana, California
Format: 200 laps, 400 miles, Stages: 65-65-70
TV: FOX
Radio: MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Weekend Schedule:
Saturday: 2:05 p.m. ET, Practice (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Saturday: 2:50 p.m. ET, Qualifying (FS1, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)
Sunday: 3:30 p.m. ET, Race (FOX, MRN, SiriusXM NASCAR Radio)

6 Team Info:
Partner: Castrol Edge
Crew Chief: Matt McCall

17 Team Info:
Partner: Pala Casino
Crew Chief: Scott Graves

Pace Laps:

• NASCAR’s West Coast swing kicks off this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.
• Jack Roush has 15 wins all-time in Fontana including seven in the NASCAR Cup Series (NCS). In all, five different drivers have won at ACS across NASCAR’s three touring series.
• This weekend’s race is scheduled to be the final on the track’s two-mile oval, with a complete redesign expected for future race dates.
• The No. 17 partner, Pala Casino, also serves as the title sponsor of the 400-mile race Sunday, and also serves as the Official Casino of Auto Club Speedway.

Keselowski at Auto Club Speedway
Starts: 13
Wins: 1 (2015)
Top-10s: 6
Poles: —

• Keselowski makes his 14th Cup start at Fontana where he is a former winner in 2015. In the five races following he finished top-10 in each with results of ninth, second, fourth, third and fifth.
• He started ninth a season ago, one of his five top-10 starting spots at Auto Club. Overall he has an average starting position of 12.5.
• In Xfinity competition, Keselowski made 13 starts with six top-10s including a best result of second in 2010. Keselowski also made two truck starts in Fontana with a best finish of 16th in 2006.

Buescher at Auto Club Speedway
Starts: 7
Wins: —
Top-10s: —
Poles: —

• Buescher makes his eighth Cup start in Fontana this weekend where he has an average finish of 25th. His best finish to date is 16th (twice – 2019 & 2020).
• He qualified in the top-15 in three-straight races from 2018-20 with a best effort of 11th three seasons ago. Overall he carries an average starting position of 18th.
• Buescher also has two starts in the Xfinity Series with a best finish of fifth (2015).

RFK Historically in Fontana
Cup Wins: 7 (Mark Martin, 1998; Kurt Busch, 2003; Greg Biffle, 2005; Matt Kenseth, 2006, 2008 & 2009; Carl Edwards, 2007)

• Natural Hat Trick for RFK: In Feb. 2006, RFK accomplished one of the hardest feats in NASCAR, sweeping all three events at Auto Club Speedway. Mark Martin won in the NASCAR Truck Series on Friday, followed by wins from Greg Biffle and Matt Kenseth in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NCS.
• California Love: RFK has won at ACS seven times in the Cup series dating back to 1998, when Martin earned the first victory for the organization at the two-mile oval. Since then, Biffle, Kurt Busch, Carl Edwards and Kenseth have earned victories at ACS for team owner Jack Roush.
• California Dreamin’: RFK won at least one race in one of NASCAR’s three major touring series at ACS for seven consecutive seasons from 2003-2009, tallying a total of 13 victories during that time frame.
• Say Goodbye, Say Goodbye to Hollywood: RFK has left ACS with at least two victories during the same weekend four times, including a sweep of all three events in 2006. In addition, RFK swept both Xfinity races at ACS in 2005, while winning both the NCS and Xfinity races in the spring of that same season.
• Jack Puttin’ it Down for Californ-i-a: RFK’s seven victories in the NCS at ACS are tied for sixth-most in the organization’s history with Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Phoenix Raceway, Homestead-Miami Speedway and New Hampshire Motor Speedway. ACS trails only Charlotte Motor Speedway (eight), Texas Motor Speedway (nine), Dover International Speedway (nine), Bristol Motor Speedway (11) and Michigan International Speedway (13) for the most Cup wins at one track.
• Welcome to Hotel California: RFK has earned six victories, 25 top-five finishes, 41 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 11.8 at ACS in the Xfinity Series. RFK swept the season series at ACS in 2004 and 2005 with drivers Biffle, Martin and Edwards.
• Tale of the Tape: RFK has 129 Cup starts in Fontana with 52 top-10s, 30 top fives and seven wins. An RFK Ford has led 1441 laps at the 2-mile oval completing 29,000+ laps.

RFK Fontana Wins
1998 Martin Cup
2003 Busch Cup
2005-1 Biffle Cup
2006-1 Kenseth Cup
2007-1 Edwards Cup
2008-1 Kenseth Cup
2009-1 Kenseth Cup
2004-1 Biffle NXS
2004-2 Biffle NXS
2005-1 Martin NXS
2005-2 Edwards NXS
2006-1 Biffle NXS
2007-1 Kenseth NXS
2000 Busch Truck
2006 Martin Truck

Last Time Out & Where They Stand
Daytona 500: RFK is coming off a dominant showing in The Great American Race this past Sunday, as Keselowski and Buescher led a combined 74 laps. The race ultimately went to two NASCAR Overtimes as Keselowski was collected in a late multi-car crash, while Buescher maneuvered through to finish fourth in the Fastenal Ford.

Points Standings: All things considered, RFK fared well in terms of post-Daytona 500 points. Buescher enters this weekend P2 in the points standings after scoring stage points in each of the first two stages in Daytona. Keselowski, the stage one winner in Daytona, is 11th despite his bad luck late.

By the Numbers at Auto Club Speedway

Race      Win       T5           T10         Pole       Laps       Led        AvSt      AvFn     Miles
129         7              30           52           2              29441    1441       18.8        15.6        58882
74           6              25           41           3              10883    792         12.5        11.8        21766
27           2              8              15           2              2634       143         11.8        10.8        5268
230         15           63           108         7              42958    2376       14.6        12.9        85916

TEAM AND RACE NOTES:

Todd Gilliland and the No. 38 Long John Silver’s Ford team begin their West Coast swing at the Auto Club Speedway this weekend.

The Auto Club 400 is the start of three consecutive weekends out west that also includes stops at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway and the Phoenix Raceway.

Sunday’s race will be live on FOX at 3:30 p.m. ET. Action begins on Saturday with practice and qualifying at 2:00 p.m. ET on FS1.

COMPETITION NOTES:

Heading into the 400-mile race, Gilliland and the Long John Silver’s team look to gain points positions after their Daytona 500 finish. After a strong showing in his Dual, Gilliland raced most of the Daytona 500 in the top-20 and top-15 before being involved in an accident during the first overtime. The team eventually finished 27th.

Now, Gilliland can concentrate on a track that he’s enjoyed success on last year. Gilliland finished 20th at the Auto Club Speedway in his rookie debut and was fast all day. The team is looking to give Gilliland another fast Ford Mustang.

CREW CHIEF RYAN BERGENTY:

“It’s not the finish we were looking for at Daytona. But we had a lot of good things come out of our week that we can build from. We’re going to be ready to get to Fontana. Todd had a great showing there last year, making his way into the top-20, and I am confident he can do it again, if not better.

“I think we’re still coming together as a team and trying communicate a lot more. The Clash and Daytona were big steps in that direction. We have some new guys, and our pit crew is new this year. From a race execution standpoint, we just need more races to get into a rhythm with our group. There is nothing bad about it, but you always want a few races to build that chemistry.

“Sunday, we want to have a clean race, execute like we know we can, and that will give Todd a great chance of being up there at the end.”

DRIVER TODD GILLILAND:

“We had a good car at Daytona. We hate it that we didn’t finish higher, but we’re keeping our heads high and going into Fontana with a positive attitude.

“I am really looking forward to Auto Club. It is such a fun track to race; I raced well there last year, ending in the top-20. The team’s chemistry has been growing more and more every day. We’re going into this race with high hopes and expectations of a strong performance. This will really tell us where we are at with our downforce package. Front Row Motorsports has been so much better at downforce tracks that we don’t feel any disadvantage. We just need to keep punching above our weight and working hard for the results we know we can get.

“It’s cool to have Long John Silver’s on the car this weekend. I love their fish and shrimp and it is a big partner of our owner, Bob Jenkins. Fans will see the scheme on our car and Michael’s car this season. I think the truck team, too. I’m glad that I can give the scheme its first run of the season.”

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and Craftsman Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 Craftsman Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 Craftsman Truck Series team from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @Team_FRM and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Xfinity Series
Production Alliance 300 Advance | Tuesday, February 21, 2023

California native Cole Custer returns to his home state for this weekend’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Auto Club Speedway, an event he’s won two of the last three times it’s been held. Custer, who is coming off a ninth-place finish last Saturday at Daytona, answered questions from media members earlier this afternoon.

COLE CUSTER, No. 00 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang – WHAT’S IT LIKE GOING BACK TO YOUR HOME STATE? “I always look forward to Fontana. It’s always been a good track to me and we’ve obviously won two races there in the Xfinity car, so it’s always been good to me. It’s always been one of my favorite tracks because it’s fast, it’s worn out, you’re slipping and sliding around. You have a lot of options as a driver, so you’re able to figure out something better than the next guy, and how to get around them. It’s always been a fun track to me and coming back home means a ton, too. Obviously, this year with the Xfinity cars there’s a little bit of a rule change, so we’re taking that in and trying to figure out what we need for this weekend, but we’ve done a lot of digging. We’ve worked really hard on it and we’ll see how everything unfolds.”

HOW DID THE FIRST WEEK GO WORKING WITH RILEY AND THE COMMUNICATION BETWEEN YOU TWO? “It went really good, honestly. This year, working with Riley has been a lot of fun so far. I think we’ve worked really well together and communicated very well. We honestly have a pretty good atmosphere as a team right now, where we work as one group. We communicate a lot. We’re able to really bounce ideas off each other and it’s one of the best environments I’ve seen with that. We’re able to work together a lot, so we just have to keep digging throughout the year. This is really the first race of the year you’re able to really see what everybody’s got for the season. It’s a big racetrack, where aerodynamics and handling and pretty much everything comes into play, so you find out a lot coming into this weekend. We’ve just got to adapt fast and work as a team to make everything better and see what we have when we unload.”

SHR ADDED AN XFINITY TEAM, SO WHAT IS THE MAKEUP OF YOUR TEAM? “Riley’s team is pretty much intact from last year with Richard Boswell as the crew chief, and then my team had a lot of new guys. It was actually really good to go to Daytona. We didn’t have any problems. We had good speed. As a new team with new guys all working together, it’s really nice to have a smooth weekend and have things work out good. Everybody worked together great, so I have JT as my crew chief this year. I really love JT. I’ve worked around him for a long time. He’s been at Stewart-Haas Racing and Haas CNC Racing before that, so I’ve known him since I was a little kid, and he’s just a no ego, super laid back guy, super easy to talk with and I think it’s gonna be really good for us this year to work together and figure out how we can get the speed in the cars.”

DOES THE WEATHER CHANGE HOW YOU APPROACH THE WEEKEND? “The biggest thing about that is you maybe don’t have any time to practice with the rain, so you’ve really got to put emphasis on your notes and look back on where we need to start setup-wise and make sure I’m as ready as I need to be just to make sure I hit lap one as hard as I can. But, it makes it a little bit more nerve wracking because you don’t have that practice time to dial your car in, so with this new rule change it’s gonna be a little bit of an educated guess. It’ll be interesting, for sure.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON A POTENTIAL RECONFIGURATION OF AUTO CLUB SPEEDWAY? “I hate to see it. It’s been a good track for me and I think it honestly has put on some of the best racing that we’ve seen in NASCAR the last five or six years. I hate to see it maybe go, but obviously this week I think we could get a reminder of what difficulties it has with weepers and stuff like that. Hopefully, we don’t have to fight them too bad, but it’s one of the best tracks we go to, so it’s gonna be hard to say goodbye.”

WHAT KIND OF TRACK WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE? “Everybody has a different opinion on that, so it’s hard to say, but, for me, I think they have some good short tracks around there. They have Irwindale and Kern County, so they have some good short track racers over there. When you look at some of the best racing we put on, it’s honestly the track it is right now – it’s worn out, it’s fast, people are able to move around the whole race track and it’s exciting, but it’s really hard to make that kind of racing with a repave. It usually takes about 10 years or so for the pavement to wear out, so it’s hard to say. I think if you can go down the route of trying to get a mile-and-a-half that has some character to it that makes it a lot of fun and you can move around the track and run the wall and make something different happen.”

HOW MUCH PRESSURE DID YOU PUT ON YOURSELF TO START THE SEASON? “There are a lot of expectations this year. We want to go out there and run good and compete for wins every single race. We thought about everything that would go on at Daytona, making sure we had everything checked and everything going right. It was nice to hit the track and have a solid weekend and not have anything go wrong, and have good speed in the car. Obviously, Daytona you have to have a little bit of luck on your side and sometimes you don’t get the finish that you want, but I feel like we had a solid weekend and now we’ve just got to keep that going into Fontana. I think we’ve got a good group that really wants to work together and really wants to just communicate extremely well. If we can do that and make sure we get everything checked and cross all the t’s and dot all the i’s before the weekends, I think we’ll have many shots to win races.”

HOW DO YOU GAUGE THE LEVEL OF COMPETITION ON THE XFINITY LEVEL? “I think the biggest thing is just the competition level. On a bad day in Xfinity, you’re probably gonna run around 10th. In Cup, on a bad day you’re gonna run 25th to 30th. There are fewer guys out there that are competing for wins, but, at the same time, the top five guys are still just as good as guys in the Cup Series, so it’s not easy. It’s never gonna be easy, so we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing everything we can to be prepared for the weekend because all those other guys aren’t just gonna lay over. It’s not easy to win races and we’ve got to make sure that we’re doing everything in our power to put ourselves in that position.”

HOW MUCH HAVE YOU STEPPED IT UP YOURSELF WITH THAT PRESSURE? “It just goes back to the group around you. I think it’s been really nice working with JT because he has the same kind of mindset. This is his first time being a full-time crew chief and I think we’ve worked really well. We’re communicating and just really being honed in on what we need to do this year, which is go and compete for wins every weekend. I’ve never probably asked as many questions to a person in my life, just making sure that we’re prepared and every little detail has been thought of and it’s been a great relationship so far. We just have to hit the ground running in Fontana.”

ARE YOU TAKING ON MORE OF A LEADERSHIP ROLE AS A VETERAN DRIVER? “I think so, a little bit for sure. Now I guess I’m the experienced guy, which is kind of weird because I don’t think I’ve ever been that in my career, but it’s interesting to be in more of that leader role and it’s something I can probably work on and get a little bit better. It’s been fun so far, and at the same time is that part of it is you want to be super involved and you want to make sure everything is right, but you have to let people do what they are meant to do, also. I’m not an engineer. I’m not a crew chief. I can give a little input of what I’m looking for and things that have worked and not worked for me in the past, but, at the end of the day, you’ve got to let the people around you do what their specialty is.”

YOU TALKED ABOUT THE RULE CHANGE. DID YOU TEST AT CHARLOTTE AND WHAT WAS IT LIKE? “Yes. It was a big shock to everybody, I think. We looked at it before the season and it was just a skew change and it really shouldn’t have been that big of a deal it seemed like, but we went to Charlotte and I think just about everybody had the same comment about the cars being harder to drive. They’re a little bit more on edge, so we’ll see if that’s just a Charlotte thing or how the whole year is going to progress. Three might be a lot of changes that we have to make throughout this year to make the cars handle how we want to, so we’re limited on track time and practicing and stuff like that, so we’re gonna have to adapt at the racetrack as much as we can and week to week really dig deep on what we need to do.”

SO WILL WE GO TO SOME TRACKS AND IT WILL BE EASIER TO GO OVER THE EDGE? “It seemed like that at the test. It’s hard to say. We still don’t know if it’s a Charlotte thing or not. It’s really hard to have tests at Charlotte at times. Even though it’s nice and it’s right in our backyard that track changes so much with weather and temperature, so we have to go to Fontana and figure out what’s going on. It seems like it could have that characteristic of being a little bit more on edge and we’ll have to figure out how to manage that.”

FONTANA, Calif. (February 21, 2023) – – 2023 DAYTONA 500 CHAMPION, Ricky Stenhouse Jr., and his NASCAR Cup Series team arrives into the Fontana market this weekend for the Pala Casino 400 at Auto Club Speedway. JTG Daugherty Racing announced recently that your local Ralphs® grocery store has premium branding on No. 47 Ralphs/Tree Top® Camaro entered in the 200-Lap race. All eyes will be on Stenhouse Jr. especially after winning the 65th running of the Daytona 500 at Daytona International Speedway on Sunday.

“We are thrilled to treat our NASCAR fans and shoppers with this special visit by Daytona 500 Champion Ricky Stenhouse Jr. fresh off his victory, and the No. #47 NASCAR Cup show car. As part of his visit, we will have our mobile pharmacy unit on hand offering vaccinations, body mass index and blood pressure/diabetes screenings and more. Like Ricky’s premium Camaro, our pharmacy team is driven to help people live healthier lives,” said Dr. Linh Lee, Ralphs’ director of pharmacy/health & wellness.

Stenhouse Jr. is set to compete with his No. 47 Ralphs/Tree Top Camaro on Sunday, but before that, he is appearing at store location 16225 Sierra Lakes Parkway in Fontana on Friday, February 24th beginning at 3 PM Pacific, where he will sign autographs for an hour and then participate in other store-related activities with consumers. This event is all made possible thanks to Ralphs, Coca-Cola®, Cottonelle® and Marinela®.

“We enjoy being in the community and meeting our fans,” said Stenhouse Jr. “Ralphs and our CPG (consumer packaged goods) partners are behind making it all possible.”

Following his appearance, Stenhouse Jr. returns to the two-mile D-shaped oval where he finished 10th last year.

“Auto Club begins our West Coast swing on the NASCAR Cup Series schedule,” said Stenhouse Jr. “We had some success there last year and finished in the top-10. We’re looking forward to getting back there with our No. 47 Ralphs/Tree Top Camaro.”

On Sunday, February 26th, live coverage of the Pala Casino 400 begins at 3:30 PM on FOX on FOX, MRN Radio and SiriusXM Satellite NASCAR Radio (Ch. 90).

About Ralphs:

Ralphs Grocery Company is dedicated to our purpose: to Feed the Human Spirit™. We are more than 18,000 associates serving customers in 184 supermarkets across Southern California. From the company’s headquarters in Los Angeles County, Ralphs is a recognized leader in community service and giving. The company supports Kroger’s Zero Hunger | Zero Waste initiative aimed at ending hunger in our communities and eliminating waste within our company by the year 2025. Ralphs is a subsidiary of The Kroger Co., (NYSE:KR), one of the world’s largest retailers, based in Cincinnati, Ohio. For more about Ralphs, please visit our website at www.ralphs.com.

TEAM AND RACE NOTES:

Michael McDowell grew up with radio control (RC) cars and developing a love for racing. His passion for RC led to the partnership with Horizon Hobby, a global leader in RC products. McDowell will return to the No. 34 Horizon Hobby Ford this weekend at the Auto Club Speedway. This event is home to the surface product development and marketing team responsible for the first licensed NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series RC bodies in the likeness of the McDowell’s No. 34 Ford Mustang and Smith’s No. 38 Ford F-150.

The California track is a two-mile speedway with a worn and bumpy surface that produces excitement each lap. The 200-lap race has become an unpredictable event the past few years and one where teams say the “real season starts,” as it is not a superspeedway package.

Practice and qualifying will take place this Saturday beginning at 2:00 p.m. ET on FS1.

The Auto Club 400 is scheduled for Sunday at 3:30 p.m. ET on FOX.

COMPETITION NOTES:

McDowell and crew chief Travis Peterson take the No. 34 Horizon Hobby team into the Auto Club Speedway sitting 21st in points after the Daytona 500. Early in the season points are tight throughout the field and the opportunity to gain positions is now. A good finish on Sunday, McDowell can catapult the team into the top-15 or higher.

The team has been using its simulation tools to setup the Horizon Hobby Ford to travel through the bumps on the backstretch and to keep momentum through the sweeping turns.

CREW CHIEF TRAVIS PETERSON:

“The track at Fontana has become a major challenge for everyone because of the track surface. You need to have a car that can sustain speed, but also not knock the teeth out of your driver. So, the shock and spring setup is important, and we’ve been working on that in our simulation. We are heading to the track with what we think is the best setup right off the hauler.

We’ll be working with the 38 team and our other Ford teammates on Saturday during the practice and qualifying sessions, too. You can never have enough information to prepare for Sunday.

DRIVER MICHAEL MCDOWELL:

“I think the good news is that I feel we should be in the top-10 in points or better if we had the result at Daytona the car was capable of. It was fast and that gives our team a lot of confidence that we’re hitting the setups and simulation right when we get to the track.

“Now, we have a lot less time on the track this weekend to work on the car, but hopefully we can do the same and have a great setup when we arrive. We’re always at the Ford simulator and using their tools to work on a pre-race setup. And, back at the shop, we’re measuring and dialing it in. Again, we feel good that we nailed it for Daytona and we think we can do it again at California.

“What’s really cool, I think, is that we talk about the shocks and springs to get speed into our cars. Our partner, Horizon Hobby, for their surface products, they are doing the same. I grew up working on the shocks on my RC and trying to get it faster or jump higher. Setting up our Cup car and an RC from Horizon Hobby absolutely relate to each other and that is really cool. I’m looking forward to seeing everyone from Horizon Hobby this weekend and having a great race.”

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and Craftsman Truck Series. The team is the 2021 Daytona 500 and 2022 Craftsman Truck Series champions. The team was founded in 2004 and is owned by successful entrepreneur, Bob Jenkins. FRM fields the No. 34 and the No. 38 NASCAR Cup Series teams along with the No. 38 Craftsman Truck Series team from its Mooresville, N.C. headquarters. Visit teamfrm.com and follow FRM on social media: Twitter at @Team_FRM, Instagram at @team_frm and Facebook at facebook.com/FrontRowMotorsports.

The Beast Unleashed Ready to Race NASCAR on the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD

Mooresville, N.C. (Feb. 21, 2023) – 23XI Racing announced today that The Beast Unleashed, Monster Brewing’s first malt beverage, will serve as a primary partner with Tyler Reddick and the No. 45 Toyota Camry TRD team for several races during the 2023 NASCAR Cup Series season.

Monster Brewing will unveil the savage new paint scheme at a special event at Monster’s global headquarters in Corona, Calif., this week, before The Beast Unleashed makes its first appearance on track this weekend at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, supporting Reddick in his inaugural season with 23XI Racing.

“I’m really excited to represent The Beast Unleashed on track for the first time ever,” said Reddick. “I’m looking forward to my first year with this team and being a part of a new chapter for 23XI and The Beast Unleashed. I can’t thank our partners like Monster Brewing enough for the support they provide.”

“We are constantly looking for new ways to provide our partners with a unique platform to showcase their brands, and this is a great example of that,” said Steve Lauletta, 23XI team president. “It’s not often you have the opportunity to highlight such an exciting new product and we’re eager to help introduce The Beast Unleashed to NASCAR and all of our fans.”

To “We are psyched to finally unleash The Beast on the world of NASCAR — and we believe Tyler is the man to set it loose,” added Renold Aparicio, VP of Monster Equity Brands at Monster Brewing. “We cannot wait to see them both carve up the track this weekend.”

About The Beast Unleashed
Our original crew has been making drinks for 30+ years now. Our favorite brand, Monster Energy, is about to turn 21. We figured why not celebrate the big day by making an adult beverage? We hit delete on the energy blend, cut out the caffeine and ditched the sugar. We brewed up the smoothest tasting alcohol ever and blended it with our tried and true flavors. Introducing The Beast Unleashed — available in four flavors: Mean Green, White Haze, Peach Perfect and Scary Berries. Get ready to celebrate and don’t be afraid of the big bad beast!

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

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

Event Overview

● Event: Pala Casino 400 (Round 2 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Feb. 26
● Location: Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California
● Layout: 2-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 200 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 65 laps / Stage 2: 65 laps / Final Stage: 70 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● History at Fontana: In 14 cup series starts at Fontana, Aric Almirola has three top-10 finishes and seven laps led, all coming since he joined Stewart-Haas Racing in 2018. He finished sixth in his most recent start. Almirola will race for his fourth consecutive top-10 finish at Fontana this weekend.

● Last weekend at Daytona Almirola won his Duel qualifying race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway for the second time in three years and earned the fourth starting spot in Sunday’s 65th edition of The Great American Race. He led a race-high eight times for a total of 16 laps. It was the most laps he’s led in 23 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Daytona. The No. 10 Smithfield Ford driver was involved in an accident on the final lap and finished 21st.

● Driver Points: Almirola arrives at Fontana 13th in the driver standings with 29 points.

● Drew Blickensderfer returns as crew chief for the No. 10 Smithfield Ford Mustang for the second year in a row and for the fourth season overall with Almirola. Blickensderfer and Almirola were together in 2017 and 2018 at Richard Petty Motorsports. The Illinois native is no stranger to victory lane at Fontana’s 2-mile oval. In 2009, just a week after winning the Daytona 500 with NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth, Blickensderfer won again with Kenseth at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, making him the fifth crew chief to score back-to-back wins to start a season.

● Almirola’s career: In 425 NASCAR Cup Series starts, Almirola has earned three wins, 28 top-five finishes, 91 top-10s, three poles, and has led 990 laps.

● Smithfield Foods rejoins Almirola and the No. 10 Ford team as the anchor sponsor for the 2023 NASCAR season. Fans will see the iconic white, black, and gold scheme adorn Almirola’s Ford Mustang with IHOP on the lower side panel. 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.

● Back for More: Last year, Almirola announced that he would step down from fulltime racing following the 2022 season.Through the course of the year, he discovered a new balance between his passion for racing and dedication to his family. His wife Janice, and kids Alex and Abby, joined him on most race weekends, oftentimes enjoying once-in-a-lifetime experiences together as they traveled the country. His rapport with crew chief Blickensderfer flourished, and the intense pressure he had put on himself was replaced with the joy of simply being present. Not only did Almirola see the sport from a new perspective, so did anchor partner Smithfield Foods, who broached the subject of Almirola returning to fulltime racing in 2023. On Aug. 26 in the media center of Daytona, Almirola, SHR and Smithfield Foods announced his return with a multiyear agreement and Smithfield’s largest allotment of races since joining the team in 2018.

● Beyond the 10 YouTube Series: In 2023, Almirola will continue to share his life beyond the No. 10 Smithfield 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 it 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:

What will it take to have a successful season?

“We have to minimize mistakes and take advantage of opportunities when we have fast racecars. Drew (Blickensderfer, crew chief) and the 10 team know what it takes and they’re one of the most motivated teams in the garage. If the driver can minimize mistakes and the pit crew stays on top of it like they did in Daytona, and we continue to put all of the pieces together, we’ll be in contention for a top-10 every weekend. The goal is to be consistent so when we do have top-10 cars, we make it a top-five day, and when we have a top-five car, we capitalize and go for wins. The field is so competitive with the new car, so you have to be sharper than ever.”

With that said, how do you prepare for the race weekend? Is the simulator the most important tool?

“Yeah, it’s extremely important – arguably the most important tool we have because it’s the only thing we have to allow us to go and test and change setups and change things on the racecar prior to going to that event. In years past, we could go to the racetrack and we could completely overhaul the setup on the racecar after practice. We can’t do that anymore. We show up to the racetrack and we can change minimal things on the racecar before qualifying. And once we qualify, the setup is locked into the car for the race. So we have to rely on that simulator heavily to guide us and lead us in the direction that we’re going to go with the setup of our racecar.”

You ran well at Fontana last year in the Next Gen car’s debut. How much more helpful will those notes be heading back there this weekend?

“I personally do best when I’m prepared. I thrive when I can study and outwork the guys I’m competing against. I can’t just wing it when it comes to performing. Last year, we relied heavily on guessing and hoping the setup was right. This year I get the opportunity to take notes not only from myself but from Ford and Stewart-Haas Racing as a whole. We saw at the Clash that we could turn a bad car in first practice into a heat-winning car that started us on the pole because we have notes and learned from last year. At Daytona, we qualified fourth and won our Duel race and had a fast car, so yeah, notes are really important, and knowing we came from the rear of the field last year to sixth (at Fontana) gives us a big boost of confidence.”

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