Roush Fenway Keselowski Weekly Advance | All-Star

The Cup schedule heads to Texas Motor Speedway this weekend for the All-Star Race for the second-straight season. Jack Roush has four All-Star Race wins all-time, as Brad Keselowski and the No. 6 team are locked into the main event Sunday night, while Chris Buescher and the No. 17 team will attempt to race their way in Sunday afternoon in The Open.

NASCAR All-Star Open
Sunday, May 22 | 5:30 p.m. ET
FS1, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

· Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang

NASCAR All-Star Race
Sunday, May 22 | 8 p.m. ET
FS1, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

· Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang

All-Star Open Format

• For the All-Star Open, Buescher is one of 16 drivers slated to compete on Sunday. Prior to that, single-lap qualifying will take place Saturday in reverse order of 2022 owner points. The Open race format will break down into three stages – 20 laps, 20 laps, 10 laps. The winner of each stage will advance to the All-Star Race, along with the winner of the Fan Vote.
• For the 125-lap main event, there will be four stages — three 25-lap stages and one 50-lap stage. The winner of stage 1 will start on pole in the final stage as long as they finish 15th or better in stage 2 and stage 3. The winner of stage 2 will start second in the final stage as long as they finish 15th or better in stage 3. The winner of stage 3 will start third in the final stage.
• There will be a special stage break at the conclusion of stage 2 where all teams must pit and perform a four-tire stop. The driver and team with the shortest time on pit road (pit in to pit out) will win the pit-crew award and start fourth in the final stage as long as they finish 15th or better in stage 3.
• Another added feature will be unique to the final stage. If a natural caution does not occur between lap 15 and lap 25, NASCAR officials will throw an “All-Star” competition caution.

All-Star Race Format

• This year’s running of the All-Star Race will feature a new qualifying format for drivers already locked into the All-Star Race. Qualifying will consist of two rounds. The first round will see a single lap in reverse order of the current 2022 owner points. The top-eight qualifiers in the first round will transfer to a head-to-head elimination bracket.
• The eight-car elimination bracket will put a heavy emphasis on pit crews, allowing their talents to shine to better their drivers’ qualifying position. It will feature two cars staged in temporary side-by-side pit stalls near the end of pit road. At the sound of an alert, each pit crew will perform a four-tire stop, and at the drop of the jack, drivers will exit their pit stalls onto the track with no speed limit on pit road. The first car back to the start-finish line will advance to the next round.
• The final pairing will compete for the pole. Drivers eliminated in the Round of 8 will start in positions 5-8 based on their one-lap speeds from the first round of qualifying. Drivers eliminated in the Round of 4 will start in positions 3 and 4 based on their one-lap speeds.

All-Star Victories

RFK has earned four victories in NASCAR’s All-Star Main Event with drivers Mark Martin, Matt Kenseth and Carl Edwards. Martin, who is a two-time All-Star race winner, first went to Victory Lane in 1998 for RFK before taking the checkered flag again in 2005. Kenseth earned the victory in the 2004 running of the event and Edwards visited the winner’s circle in 2011.

Racing in to the Show

Overall RFK has four victories in The Open – the preliminary qualifying races prior to the main event – two by Greg Biffle and one each by Jeff Burton and Trevor Bayne. Burton earned the win in the 2003 running of the Open after starting 18th. Biffle won his qualifying race in 2015 to earn a spot in the event, and the following year he and teammate Trevor Bayne swept the qualifying races to put their name in the hat for a shot at the $1 million payout.

RFK All-Star Wins
1998 Martin
2004 Kenseth
2005 Martin
2011 Edwards

This Week in Motorsports: May 16-22, 2022

· NCS/NXS/NCWTS: Texas Motor Speedway – May 20-22

PLANO, Texas (May 18, 2022) – It is time for the annual All-Star race at Texas Motor Speedway for the NASCAR Cup Series, while the Xfinity Series and Truck Series also take to the track in Fort Worth this weekend.

NASCAR National Series – NCS | NXS| NCWTS

Toyota six-for-six… All six of Toyota’s drivers have already qualified for the main event – the All-Star Race – and will not need to come through the All-Star Open to earn a spot in the field. Kurt Busch, Kyle Busch and Martin Truex Jr. are automatically in the field by being former Cup Series champions, along with Denny Hamlin as a former All-Star Race winner. Christopher Bell and Bubba Wallace earned their spots by driving to victory lane last season.

Busch adds another victory… Kurt Busch added another milestone to his incredible career as he drove a Toyota Camry TRD to victory lane for the first time at Kansas Speedway on Sunday. It was the second win for second-year team, 23XI Racing. He is the third different Toyota driver to win this season (Hamlin, Kyle Busch).

Six Toyotas in the top-10… All six Toyota drivers drove to top-10 finishes at Kansas Speedway, marking the first time six Camrys have finished inside the top-10 since August 2017 at Watkins Glen International. Toyota also placed four Camry TRD’s in the top-five, which is the ninth time in Toyota’s NASCAR history that has occurred. The last time was at Sonoma Raceway in June 2019.

54 team looking for third straight win at Texas… Ty Gibbs is looking for his first Texas Motor Speedway victory, but his team is looking for their third straight Xfinity Series win. The No. 54 team won both races at Texas Motor Speedway last season with Kyle Busch and John Hunter Nemechek behind the wheel. Overall, Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR) has won the last three Xfinity Series races, and five of the last six, at Texas Motor Speedway.

Earnhardt and Sam Hunt Racing coming off big moments… Jeffrey Earnhardt and Sam Hunt Racing are reunited for three of the next four events on the Xfinity Series schedule – with both coming off memorable races. Earnhardt finished a career-best second at Talladega, while Nemechek drove the No. 26 Toyota GR Supra to a fourth-place finish at Darlington.

Toyota continues to hold majority of Truck Playoff berths… Toyota drivers continue to show strength in the Camping World Truck Series with the manufacturer holding down seven of the 10 available Playoff berths as the Truck Series hits the halfway point in the regular season. Toyota drivers currently in Playoff positions are Ben Rhodes, Nemechek, Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski, Stewart Friesen, Christian Eckes and Matt Crafton.

Nemechek strong at Texas… John Hunter Nemechek is excited to head to Texas Motor Speedway as he is riding a streak of five consecutive top-six finishes in the Truck Series. Nemechek won in both the Xfinity and Camping World Truck Series at Texas one season ago, beating former Cup Series champion Chase Elliott by three seconds to score the Truck Series victory.

Stay Connected

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

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

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 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 43 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 the more electrified vehicles on the road than any other automaker, more than a quarter of the company’s 2021 North American sales were electrified.

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.

COLE CUSTER
All-Star Advance
No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: NASCAR All-Star Race (non-points race)
● Time/Date: NASCAR Open at 4:30 p.m. ET, All-Star Race at 8 p.m. ET, on Sunday, May 22
● Location: Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● NASCAR Open Laps/Miles: 50 laps/75 miles
● NASCAR Open Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 20 laps / Stage 2: 20 laps / Stage 3: 10 laps
● All-Star Race Laps/Miles: 125 laps/187.5 miles
● All-Star Race Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 25 laps / Stage 2: 25 laps / Stage 3: 25 laps / Final Stage: 50 laps
● TV/Radio: FS1 / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Cole Custer and his No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) will have four chances to be part of the prestigious NASCAR All-Star Race field for the second year in a row when he first takes to the 1.5-mile oval at Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth during Sunday afternoon’s NASCAR Open. The 24-year-old from Ladera Ranch, California, is one of 16 drivers on the entry list for the non-points, 50-lap Open. He can join the field of 20 drivers already locked into the $1 million-to-win All-Star Race – including SHR teammates Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola and Chase Briscoe – by winning one of the Open’s three stages. He can also automatically advance to the non-points All-Star Race field by winning the NASCAR Fan Vote.

● A year ago, in the first All-Star Race weekend ever held at Texas Motor Speedway, Custer was locked into the main event by virtue of his first career NASCAR Cup Series victory in July 2020 at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. It was his second career All-Star Race, and he qualified fourth and finished 14th. The July 2020 race win at Kentucky also locked Custer into the 2020 All-Star Race, which was held in August at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. He finished 16th in that event.

● Custer has three points-paying Cup Series outings at the 1.5-mile Texas oval. His best finish there was 14th in November 2020 after an accident ended his day prematurely in the July race. He finished 19th there last November.

● Custer was victorious at Texas in the November 2018 NASCAR Xfinity Series race, one of his six outings there in that series. He has three other top-five finishes and an eighth-place result in his most recent Xfinity Series visit to Texas in November 2019.

● In NASCAR Camping World Truck Series competition at Texas, Custer has a best finish of ninth in the November 2016 race, driving the No. 00 JR Motorsports entry.

● Riding along with Custer and his SHR Mustang is team co-owner Gene Haas’ newest holding, Haas Tooling, which was launched as a way for CNC machinists to purchase high-quality cutting tools at great prices. Haas cutting tools are sold exclusively online at HaasTooling.com and shipped directly to end users. HaasTooling.com products became available nationally in July 2020. Haas Automation, founded by Haas in 1983, is America’s leading builder of CNC machine tools. The company manufactures a complete line of vertical and horizontal machining centers, turning centers and rotary tables and indexers. All Haas products are constructed in the company’s 1.1-million-square-foot manufacturing facility in Oxnard, California, and distributed through a worldwide network of Haas Factory Outlets.

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

You’re attempting to make the NASCAR All-Star Race field for the third year in a row. What was your experience like in your first two outings?

“It’s unbelievable to be a part of the All-Star Race and it’s something that you can never take for granted because you never know if you’re going to be in it every single year. So we’re going to go all out to make it for the third year in a row. The chance to go for a million dollars and the possibilities of winning that and how that would change your life is definitely huge. To have that chance is unreal, so we’re not going to hold anything back.”

How do you think having the All-Star Race at Texas compares to when it was a staple at Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway?

“If you want to see some cars going really fast, then Texas is the place to go. I mean, it’s just a big track, a lot of grip, a lot of speed. We’re just going as hard as we can pretty much the whole lap and the whole race. I think from what we’ve seen this year with the NextGen you can expect exciting racing from the first lap through the last. These stages are short and there’s no time to hang around in the back.”

What is it about Texas that makes it that way?

“Texas is just fast, wide open, and you’re trying to get as much speed as possible out of your car. It’s a place where you’re on the gas and on the throttle so much that it means a ton to have that car that can just make more speed than everybody else, and you’re going to see people trying to get there as soon as possible.”

No. 41 HaasTooling.com Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Cole Custer
Hometown: Ladera Ranch, California

Crew Chief: Mike Shiplett
Hometown: Amherst, Ohio

Car Chief: Tony Cardamone
Hometown: Bristol, Virginia

Engineer: Lee Deese
Hometown: Rockingham, North Carolina

Engineer: Scott Bingham
Hometown: Lawrenceville, Georgia

Spotter: Andy Houston
Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Josh Leslie
Hometown: Mount Clemens, Michigan

Rear Tire Changer: Coleman Dollarhide
Hometown: Hickory, North Carolina

Tire Carrier: Chad Emmons
Hometown: Tyler, Texas

Jack Man: Matthew Schlytter
Hometown: Ponte Vedra, Florida

Fuel Man: Dewayne Moore
Hometown: Griffin, Georgia

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Joe Zanolini
Hometown: Sybertsville, Pennsylvania

Shock Specialist: Aaron Kuehn
Hometown: Kensington, Connecticut

Engine Tuner: Jimmy Fife
Hometown: Orange County, California

Tire Specialist: Austin Greco
Hometown: Harrisburg, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: David Rodrigues
Hometown: Santa Clarita, California

Transporter Co-Driver: Charlie Schleyer
Hometown: Youngsville, Pennsylvania

Review as First Phase Team Goes into All-Star Event in Texas

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (May 18, 2022) – This weekend, Todd Gilliland and his No. 38 First Phase Ford team travel to the Texas Motor Speedway for NASCAR’s All-Star race weekend. Gilliland will compete in the All-Star Open in hopes of winning of the race stages or race to advance to Sunday night’s All-Star race. This will be the rookie driver’s first All-Star Open event.

The NASCAR Cup Series season has completed 13 races in its 2022 schedule. Gilliland has a best finish of 15th. He has five top-20 finishes. The team has had fast cars at both Daytona and Talladega, but late race accidents have wiped out top-10 or top-15 finishes. Gilliland is behind Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric in the rookie battle and ahead of his friend Harrison Burton.

Gilliland talks about his season going into the All-Star break.

“It’s been up and down, but I think we knew it was going to be like that going into the season,” said Gilliland. “The competition in the NASCAR Cup Series is just a big step above anything else. It’s going to take a little bit to learn the car, some of the tracks, and how we race in the Cup Series. I know I have to be patient, but it’s tough.

“Going into the summer, I want to see myself work on qualifying and work on getting better during the races. I want to take top-20 runs and finish top-15 and take top-15 runs and get us into the top-10. We are going to work hard on that because I know that we’re capable. We’ve proved it, but now it’s going to be time to take that next step.”

Gilliland and the No. 38 First Phase Ford team will be supported by First Phase this weekend and throughout various races in the summer and fall. The new credit card from CURO Credit, LLC, issued by The Bank of Missouri, provides pathways to financial freedom for people with unestablished or imperfect credit.

ABOUT CURO

CURO Group Holdings Corp. (NYSE: CURO) is a full-spectrum consumer credit provider across the U.S. and Canada. The Company was founded in 1997 by three childhood friends in Kansas to meet the growing consumer need for short-term loans. Today, CURO operates a robust, omni-channel platform providing comprehensive credit solutions to help customers achieve their financial goals. CURO’s decades of experience with alternative data power the underwriting and scoring engine, mitigating risk across the full spectrum of credit products. CURO operates under a number of brands including Speedy Cash®, Rapid Cash®, Cash Money®, LendDirect®, Flexiti®, Avío Credit®, Opt+®, Revolve Finance®, Heights Finance, Southern Finance, Covington Credit, Quick Credit and First Phase. Our diversified product channels allows us to meet the changing needs and preferences of our customers.

ABOUT FIRST PHASE

First Phase is a new credit card issued by The Bank of Missouri that provides pathways to financial freedom for people with unestablished or imperfect credit. It’s a powerful tool that can provide flexibility and help fuel the next chapter of their financial future. First Phase is the doing business assumed name of CURO Credit, LLC, whose ultimate parent company is CURO Group Holdings Corp (NYSE: CURO).

ABOUT FRONT ROW MOTORSPORTS

Front Row Motorsports (FRM) is a winning organization in the NASCAR Cup and Camping World Truck Series and the 2021 Daytona 500 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 NASCAR Camping World 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.