NASCAR and Rev Racing Announce Drivers Participating in the Advance Auto Parts Drive for Diversity Combine

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (October 6, 2022) – NASCAR announced today that Advance Auto Parts, a leading automotive aftermarket parts provider and the Official Auto Parts Retailer of NASCAR, will serve as the primary sponsor of the Advance Auto Parts Drive for Diversity Combine.

The entitlement sponsor of the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series (NAAPWS) and Advance My Track Challenge, Advance has dedicated its resources to developing NASCAR at the grassroots level. As partner of the Advance Auto Parts Drive for Diversity Combine, the retailer continues to expand its presence in the sport.

“This program has been advancing careers for many years, with so many talented drivers getting the opportunity to showcase their abilities,” said Jason McDonell, Advance’s executive vice president of merchandising, marketing and e-commerce. “Increasing diverse representation within the motorsports community is paramount, and our Advance team is grateful for the opportunity to collaborate with NASCAR to create a pipeline for tomorrow’s racing stars.”

“We’re excited to welcome Advance Auto Parts as our combine partner,” said Brandon Thompson, NASCAR’s vice president of diversity & inclusion. “Their commitment to our industry diversity & inclusion efforts, and specifically their commitment to advancing the next generation of NASCAR drivers will aid us in identifying, attracting and developing young, diverse talent.”

NASCAR and Rev Racing also announced the names of 13 drivers who will be participating in the Advance Auto Parts Drive for Diversity Combine.

These drivers from around the world went through a rigorous selection process and will be evaluated by judges from across the NASCAR industry. Each participant will be assessed in different areas from physical fitness and on-track performance to media and marketing skills.

The NASCAR Drive for Diversity Driver Development Program was created in 2004 to develop and train ethnically diverse and female drivers both on and off the track. NASCAR Cup Series drivers Bubba Wallace, Daniel Suárez and Kyle Larson are alumni of the program, which is operated by Rev Racing in Concord, N.C.

“We are thrilled that we are in a position to return to an in-person evaluation for this year’s Advance Auto Parts Drive for Diversity Combine,” Rev Racing CEO Max Seigel said. “We are energized by the high-level of participating athletes and look forward to building the best driver class for 2023. As an organization, we have never been more positioned for success and future growth.”

Following the cancellation of the 2020 and 2021 combines due to the impact of COVID-19, this year’s candidates were evaluated based on applications, references, historical success and previous on-track performance by a panel comprised of NASCAR executives and professionals. To apply, interested drivers submitted a racing resume and video highlights to NASCAR and Rev Racing.

The 2022 combine features the following drivers:

Trans Am Series’ Most Recent TA2 Winner Connor Mosack Looks To Make it Two in a Row as he’s Joined by Veteran Chris Liesfeld in Season’s Penultimate Race

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. (Oct. 6, 2022) – Fresh off his second career TA2-class victory in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli and his second in a row at Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, Connor Mosack looks to continue his recent streak of top-four finishes as he and fellow TeamSLR driver Chris Liesfeld head to Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton for the penultimate round of the 12-race season.

After his commanding victory from the pole four weekends ago on the iconic Watkins Glen circuit in New York’s Finger Lakes region, the 23-year-old from Charlotte, North Carolina, and second-year, fulltime driver of the No. 28 Open Eyes/Nic Taylor Custom Fit Underwear/M1 Racecars Ford Mustang arrives in the southernmost reaches of the Virginia Commonwealth for the Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour with serious aspirations in the driver championship.

With only Saturday’s 30-lap, 75-minute race and the Nov. 6 season finale at Circuit of the Americas (COTA) in Austin, Texas, left on the schedule, Mosack sits third in the standings, 16 points behind leader and defending TA2 champion Rafa Matos and only four points behind second-place Thomas Merrill. Mosack is the hottest of the championship-contending trio with the Watkins Glen victory giving him an average finish of 2.5 in the last four races, versus 4.5 for Matos and 7.5 for Merrill. Prior to The Glen, Mosack posted finishes of third at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, fourth at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, and second on the downtown streets of Nashville, Tennessee. Overtaking Merrill for second in the championship, which would put Mosack one spot better than his third place finish in last year’s final standings, is certainly attainable. Catching Matos would take a bit of help, but it’s still within the realm of possibility. Meanwhile, Mosack is atop the Peter Gregg Foundation Young Gun Award standings with a 20-point lead over Brent Crews.

Liesfeld, the 47-year-old from just up the road in Richmond, Virginia, is ready for his fourth race of the season and third in a row behind the wheel of the No. 96 Fields Racing/M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro. Liesfeld owns and operates Fields Racing, which has competed in an array of racing disciplines over the years, including Stock Car Championship Series, Spec Miata, SCCA Pro and Trans Am. He’s raced at the 3.27-mile, 17-turn VIR circuit in numerous racing disciplines, and in 2017 scored a GT3-class victory there during an SCCA regional event.

Riding along with TeamSLR this weekend at VIR is ScreenYourMachine.org, an initiative created in 2016 by TeamSLR owner Scott Lagasse Jr., in partnership with the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) to educate individuals about the importance of getting age-appropriate screenings for all types of cancer.

“I was still in my early 30s when I was diagnosed, but I knew something was wrong so I didn’t waste any time and I went and saw my doctor,” said Lagasse, a colon cancer survivor. “They caught it early and that was my saving grace. The treatment worked, but young-onset colorectal cancer is rising. I wasn’t some outlier. In people ages 55 and younger, incidence is rising by two percent every year.”

Connor Mosack, driver No. 28 Open Eyes/Nic Taylor Custom Fit Underwear/M1 Racecars Ford Mustang:

You’re heading to VIR as the most recent race winner on the tour, and you’re within range of finishing in the top-two the TA2 championship with just two races to go. Do you feel like the team is gelling at the right time?

“We’ve been together a while now and were able to get the win at Watkins Glen last year, and again this year, with basically the same core group of guys. But it was kind of nice to get that off our backs, not having won a race yet this year. It’s definitely good momentum and we’ll be confident going to VIR. We’ll have the car to beat, hopefully, and we’re really going to have to perform at these next two races to have a shot at the championship. We have a decent shot at it and we’ll just to have to go out there and have two really good finishes. I think if we win both races, and a few other things fall in our favor, we have a shot at the championship.”

You had a strong car at VIR last year before a cut tire ruined your day. What did you learn about the track last year that you can apply to this weekend?

“I think VIR is probably the toughest place we go to as far as how to get around there quickly and not crash. You have a lot of runoff room, there’s grass everywhere, but there are a lot of really high-speed, high-commitment corners, so if you drop a wheel at the wrong time, or if your balance isn’t where you need it to be, it’s really easy to end up in a bad spot. It’s definitely a place where you have to be really focused for all 30 laps of the race. It’s probably one of the more mentally challenging places we go to. Going up the esses so quickly, you’ve got to put the car exactly where it needs to be, which is why I like the place so much. It’s tough, but also very rewarding. I feel like we were a second-place car last year and really probably should’ve finished second, but we ended up getting into it with another car and cut a tire down and we finished a lap down.”

Being such a technical track with 17 turns of every variety over 3.27 miles, is it possible to put together a perfect lap at VIR?

“It’s probably the hardest road course we go to as far as being able to put it all together on a given lap. There are a lot of corners where it’s difficult to really know if you’re overdriving the corner, or lifting too early to try to set up for an exit, or just rolling speed in the middle. There are a lot of places to make speed any of those three ways, but it’s really difficult to put together a so-called perfect lap on that track.”

Chris Liesfeld, driver No. 96 Fields Racing/M1 Racecars Chevrolet Camaro:

Considering you live just a few hours up the road in Richmond, is it safe to say you’re very familiar with VIR?

“VIR is not too far from where I’m from, so I guess you can say it’s kind of like my home track. I can’t even count how many times I’ve raced there, in different classes – Miatas, stock cars, and TA2 – so that’s the track where I’ve probably got the most laps of any other track in the country. I won a race there back in 2017, in a Trans Am car set up to run as a GT2 car during an SCCA regional weekend. I started from the back of the field – which tends to be my thing these days (laughs) – and was able to work my way up through the field. It’s certainly not an easy track to do that, so that was a very satisfying end to the weekend.”

What’s your outlook for this weekend?

“I’m definitely looking forward to it. It’s a track that I know for sure but, even though I’ve driven it many times, I still feel like I haven’t quite mastered it, yet. There’s still a lot to learn. It’s good to have some fast guys on the team that I can learn from to help me pick up some things, little features of the track, a little trick here or there, trying a different line to find some extra speed in places you may not know were there without someone else’s perspective. There are a couple of places where subtle things can make a big difference and I look for help anywhere I can get it. So, if the young guys are fast, I’m going to act young and talk to them. I don’t have too much of an ego so I’ll talk to anyone if there’s advice to be had.”

What are the keys to getting around VIR quickly?

“I’d say VIR is somewhat of a technical track. There are a couple of corners that you have to set up for and get just right, otherwise it throws off the next series of corners afterward. One particular corner is called Oak Tree (turns 11-12) and, if you can get a good run coming off that corner, it really sets you up with straightaway speed and trying to take advantage of the long straight on the back side of the track. So, coming off that corner is important, and the last corner before the frontstretch (turns 17-17A) is very important. NASCAR Bend (turn three) can sometimes be a little tricky with its decreasing radius. It’s just a lot of subtle transitions in the way the corners go from being slightly cambered to slightly off-cambered. It makes it interesting as you transition through the turns. All tracks have their characteristics that you have to learn and understand, and this one is certainly not short on that.”

About the AGA Institute

The American Gastroenterological Association is the trusted voice of the GI community. Founded in 1897, the AGA has grown to more than 16,000 members from around the globe who are involved in all aspects of the science, practice and advancement of gastroenterology. The AGA Institute administers the practice, research and educational programs of the organization. For more information, please visit www.gastro.org.

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About TeamSLR:

TeamSLR competes fulltime in the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli in a multifaceted effort that includes dedicated entries in the TA2 division, customer programs, driver coaching and car construction. Its history dates back to 1985 and covers a wide spectrum of motorsports, including NASCAR, IMSA, SCCA, ARCA and ASA. TeamSLR is a family-owned organization run by Scott Lagasse Sr., and Scott Lagasse Jr., The father-and-son duo have combined to win more than 100 races and seven championships across a variety of series and styles of racecars, from paved ovals to road courses to dirt tracks. For more information, please visit us online at www.TeamSLR.com, on Facebook, on Twitter, on Instagram and on LinkedIn.

Maurice Hull, Connor Zilisch Confident About Penultimate Trans Am Race of 2022

HIGH POINT, N.C. (Oct. 6, 2022) – There may or may not be such a thing as a home-track advantage in a racing discipline as hotly competitive as the TA2 class of the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli. But the Silver Hare Racing duo of Maurice Hull and Connor Zilisch can certainly lay claim to one as they head to Virginia International Raceway (VIR) in Alton for the penultimate TA2 race of the season.

The picturesque 3.27-mile, 17-turn road course that plays host to Saturday’s Mission Foods VIR SpeedTour sits a little more than an hour northeast of Silver Hare Racing’s headquarters in High Point, North Carolina, and just four miles as the crow flies from the Waukegan Farms property in Semora, North Carolina, the second home of Hull and his wife and team co-owner Laura.

Hull, the three-time TA2-class Masters champion, has logged more laps at VIR than at any other track in his more than 20 years of racing, highlighted by multiple victories in vintage stock cars. Hull has finished in or just outside the top-10 in each of his last five TA2 outings dating back to 2018.

Meanwhile, VIR may not technically be the home track for Zilisch, who hails from Mooresville, North Carolina, but the 16-year-old driving phenom felt right at home from the very first time he turned a wheel at the facility during a Silver Hare Racing test day instigated by NASCAR Cup Series champion Kevin Harvick in the spring of 2021. Just 14 years old at the time, Zilisch showed his penchant for getting up to speed quickly no matter the racing machinery and, by the end of the day, was flirting with the TA2 track record. He returned in the fall, a year ago this weekend, for his first taste of TA2 racing and promptly became the youngest pole winner in series history with a track-record lap of 1:48.905. On raceday, he became the youngest TA2 driver to lead laps before a burned spark plug wire ultimately led to an early end to his inaugural run. But more importantly, he turned the heads of Maurice and Laura Hull, who asked him to drive for the Silver Hare stable in 2022, where he’s shown flashes of brilliance throughout his rookie TA2 season and is chomping at the bit for a shot at his first series victory in Saturday’s 30-lap, 75-minute race.

Zilisch has already visited the top step of the podium at VIR this season. Also a fulltime competitor in the prestigious Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup Series, Zilisch finished second in the opening race of a weekend doubleheader at the track on Sept. 27, then came back the following day and scored his third of four race wins of the season en route to capturing Rookie of the Year honors. All four of Zilisch’s wins came over the final six races, beginning with a weekend sweep July 2-3 at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin – a doubleheader weekend where Zilisch qualified sixth and finished sixth in his Silver Hare Racing Camaro on the iconic 4.048-mile, 14-turn circuit.

The team welcomes back a host of longtime partners for this weekend’s event, including Hanes Asphalt & Paving, based in Lexington, North Carolina, and Carter Bank, based in Martinsville, Virginia, each of which will adorn Hull’s No. 57 Silver Hare Racing Camaro. Davis Roofing, based in Archdale, North Carolina, will be the primary partner on Zilisch’s No. 5 Silver Hare Racing Camaro.

Silver Hare Racing leverages its Trans Am effort to promote its arrive-and-drive program, where aspiring racers and even tenured professionals hone their road-racing skills on some of the most revered tracks in North America. NASCAR Cup Series drivers Daniel Suárez, Christopher Bell, William Byron and Harrison Burton have all wheeled Silver Hare Racing-prepared cars to burnish their road-racing abilities in top-flight equipment.

The team offers six, professionally built and maintained TA2 chassis from Howe Racing for both competition and private testing. Silver Hare Racing has a dedicated, fulltime crew and operates out of a state-of-the-art facility in High Point. At the track, two 53-foot Featherlite transporters serve as the team’s base, each outfitted with a lounge and smart TVs for data and video review, as well as for hospitality.

“With NASCAR having so many more road-course races, it’s our goal for Silver Hare Racing to be the preferred team for drivers to get that road-course experience,” Laura Hull said. “We want to be that important step in the ladder for the young, up-and-coming drivers like Connor, which we’re doing in collaboration with Kevin Harvick Incorporated.

“It started when they brought him to us for testing at VIR a year ago, and now we’re delighted to have him under contract. That’s how we’re trying to position this. We want people to know we have an arrive-and-drive program, where people who want to run this track or another, we provide the opportunity for them to do that and be successful.”

Maurice Hull, owner/driver, No. 57 Hanes Asphalt & Paving/Carter Bank Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro:

“We’re excited to welcome back some sponsors that we’ve partnered with at VIR over the years. Hanes Asphalt & Paving and Carter Bank are longtime partners with our Marketplace Management and our commercial real estate ventures. Davis Roofing will be the primary on Connor’s car this weekend. They’re great partners with superior products and services.

“I’m really looking forward to VIR. It’s fast, it’s technical and it’s beautiful. It’s the closest racetrack to us, so we consider it our home track. We know the people who own and operate it, just good friends, and it’s a great facility just four miles from our Waukegan Farms property. We’re delighted to have the opportunity to race in such a great series at our favorite track. I’m certainly more familiar with it than anywhere else. I’ve driven more laps on it than anywhere else over the last 20 years. VIR really has it all. It has tremendously technical, low-speed corners. It has big, sweeping, increasing-radius corners. It has the fastest uphill esses anywhere. When you enter some of the low-speed corners, it’s coming off a long straightaway, so you’re hauling the mail. You’ve got downhill braking, you’ve got off-camber corners – it’s a beautiful racetrack in a technical sense. It’s also a very demanding track, the kind of racetrack where if you’re not careful, it can really bite you. It’s challenging, but it’s big enough that you don’t feel confined like you do on some tracks with walls. It’s got an open feeling to it. It’s going to be a great weekend at a very cool place.

“We tested Connor at VIR last year and he definitely caught our attention. And then his performance he came back with on race weekend was when he really caught our eye and we really wanted him to come to Silver Hare Racing this year. He just seems to really take to that track. He’s definitely rocket-ship fast there. He has the talent and the speed and the equipment. He’s there, and if we have some luck, I think for sure he’s got that chance to have a really great weekend. He’s got all the tools to make it happen. This track rewards speed and rewards talent, and Connor has both.”

Connor Zilisch, driver, No. 5 Davis Roofing Silver Hare Racing Chevrolet Camaro:

“VIR is one of my favorite tracks. This weekend is circled on the calendar for me. It’s an important weekend. I know how to go fast there and I’ve done it before, so hopefully we can have all of our ducks in a row and be able to go out there and prove that we’ve been getting better and have fast cars. Hopefully, it all goes to plan and we can have a good finish, because that’s one of the things we’ve been missing lately. Just hoping to get that good finish that we’ve been looking for and have Maurice run well and be able to have a good weekend all around.

“My first taste of TA2 was a test with Silver Hare in the spring of 2021. Kevin Harvick had actually put it together for us. He’d been helping me at that point and wanted me to get in one of those cars and just see what it was like and see how I’d do and see if I was ready to start heading in that direction. To Maurice and Laura, I was just a 14-year-old kid that they didn’t know about, so it was probably hard to have the trust in somebody you don’t know, who is that young, to go out there and drive your car. Thankfully, they allowed me to do that and it went really well. That was my first time in anything with more than 120 horsepower. It was something that was completely new to me, but I picked it up well and adapted to it and just learned the most that I could that day. And the next time I got in a TA2 car was the race weekend at VIR in the fall when I qualified on the pole. It didn’t take me too long to get adapted to it and be able to run up front.

“VIR is one of my favorite tracks and I know how to go fast in one of these cars around here. It’s a super-technical track. It seems like it’s forgiving and there’s a lot of runoff room, but if you go off anywhere, it’s downhill and into a wall. It might seem forgiving, just looking at it, but it’s pretty sketchy and that’s what makes it fun – you’re always on the limit, high-speed corners, low-speed corners, a mix of everything. I’m looking forward to getting out there and doing what I did last year. Really hoping we can have another good showing there and get Silver Hare our first win of the year.”

About Silver Hare Racing:

Silver Hare Racing is a fulltime competitor in the TA2 division of the Trans Am Series presented by Pirelli. The multicar team has won the TA2 masters class championship three times (2018, 2019 and 2020) with driver and team co-owner Maurice Hull. Under the leadership of Hull’s wife, co-owner and team manager Laura Hull, Silver Hare Racing provides a variety of services that includes private testing and arrive-and-drive programs. The team offers six, professionally built and maintained TA2 chassis from Howe Racing and operates from a state-of-the-art facility in High Point, North Carolina. For more information, please visit SilverHareRacing.com.