KEVIN HARVICK
Las Vegas Advance
No. 4 Rheem/Smurfit Kappa Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Las Vegas 400 (Round 3 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 6
● Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400.5 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 80 laps / Final Stage: 107 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● With Kevin Harvick now in his 22nd year of NASCAR Cup Series competition, a familiar name has rejoined the driver of the No. 4 Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR). Rheem, America’s No. 1 water heating brand and major air conditioning and heating manufacturer, is commemorating its 15th year in racing, and as a part of the celebration, Rheem has partnered with Harvick and the No. 4 team for three Cup Series races in 2022, beginning with Sunday’s Las Vegas 400 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. The pairing reunites Rheem with Harvick, a relationship that began in 2007 when Harvick won the Daytona 500 in dramatic fashion, beating NASCAR Hall of Famer Mark Martin for the victory by .02 of a second in a frantic, green-white-checkered finish. It led to Rheem serving as a primary partner for Harvick’s NASCAR Xfinity Series team, Kevin Harvick Inc. (KHI), in 2008. Rheem’s debut with KHI came on May 2, 2008 at Richmond (Va.) Raceway where Harvick finished second in the Lipton Tea 250. Harvick delivered Rheem its first victory as a primary sponsor on Feb. 27, 2010 when he won the Sam’s Town 300 at Las Vegas. Rheem aligned as a primary partner with Harvick in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2011 and stayed with him through the 2013 season before Harvick joined SHR in 2014. Harvick will drive the No. 4 Rheem Ford Mustang again May 8 at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway and Sept. 11 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.

● Harvick’s red-and-black No. 4 Rheem/Smurfit Kappa Ford Mustang will carry a touch of purple this weekend at Las Vegas. A purple heart embossed with the letters “SK” is featured over the car’s doorsill next to Harvick’s name. The decal is in memory of Sue Karli, a founding member of the Rheem Racing program who first began working with Harvick and his wife, DeLana, in 2001 as a representative of Hershey’s, which sponsored Harvick in the NASCAR Xfinity Series. Karli joined Rheem in 2007 and helped launch its hospitality program. She hosted hundreds of Rheem Racing events at NASCAR races before waging a courageous fight with pancreatic cancer. Karli ultimately succumbed to the disease in July 2019. Purple was her favorite color, and it also symbolizes pancreatic cancer awareness. To learn more, please visit the Pancreatic Action Network, or PanCAN at www.pancan.org.

● Since joining SHR in 2014, Harvick has finished among the top-10 in eight of the 12 NASCAR Cup Series races contested at Las Vegas. In that span, Harvick has led 621 laps and won twice – March 2015 and March 2018

● Harvick’s win at Las Vegas in March 2018 was his 100th career victory across NASCAR’s top-three national touring series – Cup, Xfinity and Camping World Truck. He has since scored 19 more Cup wins to bring his tally to 119 total victories – 58 in Cup, 47 in Xfinity and 14 in Truck. Only three other drivers in NASCAR history have surpassed 100 wins across NASCAR’s top-three series: Kyle Busch (222 wins), Richard Petty (200 wins) and David Pearson (106 wins).

● Harvick has a total of 13 top-10s at Las Vegas, the most of any active NASCAR Cup Series driver. Kyle Busch and Brad Keselowski are next best with 12 top-10s apiece.

● Harvick has made 11 starts in the Xfinity Series at Las Vegas. He has two wins, six top-fives and seven top-10s. His first Xfinity Series win came in 2004 when he started 11th and led 14 laps. His second triumph came in 2010 when he started second and led 82 laps.

● Harvick has made three Truck Series starts at Las Vegas, earning two top-10s with a best finish of eighth in 1997.

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Rheem/Smurfit Kappa Ford Mustang

Las Vegas marks a reunion with Rheem, who you ushered into the sport in spectacular fashion by winning their first race – the 2007 Daytona 500. What’s it like to be back with Rheem 15 years later?

“It’s been 15 years since we first started working with Rheem and it’s great to be back with them. The NASCAR fan is their customer, and we’ve worked really hard to understand that relationship to ensure Rheem gets a good return on its investment. This year kind of throws it back to how it all began with Rheem being a primary sponsor on one of my racecars. I’m proud to carry their colors again in 2022.”

This is your 22nd year in the NASCAR Cup Series. How valuable is that kind of experience in this sport?

“Today’s sport is so engineering-minded that the simple, everyday things sometimes get forgotten. It’s very important to do all the little things right, and you have to execute the simple things right, too. Don’t overcomplicate it, because sometimes overcomplicating results in a worse result than just say, ‘OK, today we finished fifth and next week we’re going to try to do two or three things to finish first, not 20 or 30 things and finish 30th.’ Keeping the simplicity of our process in the middle of our engineering-minded process is very important. It used to be trial and error when you tested. Nowadays, it’s try it and, prove it or debunk it, so that it’s either right or wrong. But there are going to be a lot of decisions that we’re going to have to make this year that are just going to be simple-minded, common-sense decisions in order to just get the best out of what you have.”

How helpful is that experience in adapting and developing this NextGen car?

“I think that simplicity also goes with helping guide us down this path that we’re going down with the NextGen car. You have to say, when you’re two steps into the process, ‘This isn’t right, I made a bad decision and we need to go back two steps,’ before you get 20 steps down the road and have to backtrack so far that it takes you weeks upon weeks to figure out how far back you need to go. So, one step forward is good, two steps forward and taking two steps back is OK, and being able to understand that, admit that, talk with the team like that, and taking two steps back is way better than getting half a season down the road and saying, ‘Man, this just isn’t working because we’ve piled everything into something that doesn’t work.’”

It used to be that the West Coast swing was a good barometer to see where teams stacked up against one another. Is that still the case?

“There’s a lot of low-hanging fruit, and the unique thing about this car is that word travels fast as to what the fast guys are doing. The suspension settings only have so many points that they will go to, so if you’re off and the guy next to you is six feet away, it’s not hard to look over and see where his upper A-arms are bolted in, or his lower A-arm, or whatever the case is. So, those gaps should be filled pretty quickly.”

Will your top-10 performance last Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, give you an indication as to how you’ll run this Sunday at Las Vegas?

“I don’t think so. I think there’s just such a wide range of where it could be that you don’t really know. Is it a team thing? There’s still a very big possibility it could be a manufacturer thing, like we could be the manufacturer that’s head-over-heels better than the other manufacturers. Or it could be the other way around, so there are just so many things that nobody knows about that will unfold because these racetracks are drastically different. You’re going to racetracks that really don’t have a lot in common other than you’re racing the same car.”

Can you at least take what you learned at Fontana and apply it to Las Vegas and even the races thereafter?

“Of course, and we’re learning how to work on the car efficiently, at the track and at the shop, and that’s what I like about where we are as a group. Our group is filled with hardcore racers, and this first six weeks of racing is going to be really hardcore.”

Practice and qualifying are back, albeit in a different form from what we knew two years ago. How valuable is that track time as you figure out the NextGen car?

“Fontana was our second race of the year, and that’s a very unique racetrack – from a surface and tire wear standpoint and bumps down the back straightaway. It’s not a racetrack that’s common with anywhere that we’ve tested. And for us, our only track time came in real time during the race. So, that warmup – I don’t even know that you can call it practice – before qualifying is going to be very interesting because, if you’re not close right out of the box, there’s only so much that you can do in order to get it close to being competitive. It’s going to be more important to make laps and know the tire wear and know the cambers and be in a good rhythm with your car from a driving standpoint. You want to maximize the session and say, ‘OK, we need to go a long way on this change, or we need to go just a little bit on this change, based on how our speed is relative to the fastest cars.’ If you’re the fastest car, the slowest car, whatever it is, there’s just a lot that you have to unbox there in a pretty short amount of time. So, I think the important part of the process is going to be when you go from qualifying to the race and the changes that we make to our Rheem Ford Mustang in order to be where we want to be to start the race.”

How important is that time between qualifying and the race to understand what you’ll have for 400 miles?

“I’ve always felt like being able to manage the car and adjust your driving style to whatever the situation is, is as effective as almost anything that they can change with the car. If you can figure out what you need to do from a driving standpoint and be comfortable in getting that last tenth-and-a-half out of the racecar, I think that’s as important as anything they can do to the car in a short amount of time on Saturday.”

You’ve won at Las Vegas twice and have finished among the top-10 five times in your last six races at the track. What do you need to be quick there?

“Las Vegas has a lot of tire fall off, so it’s important to have a good-handling racecar. It’s also a track where you’re constantly moving around trying to find the right grip.”

No. 4 Rheem/Smurfit Kappa 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: Dax Gerringer
Hometown: Gibsonville, North Carolina

Engineer: Stephen Doran
Hometown: Butler, Pennsylvania

Spotter: Tim Fedewa
Hometown: Holt, Michigan

Over-The-Wall Members

Front Tire Changer: Shayne Pipala
Hometown: Frankfort Square, Illinois

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

Tire Carrier: Jeremy Howard
Hometown: Delhart, Texas

Jack Man: Stan Doolittle
Hometown: Ninety Six, South Carolina

Fuel Man: Evan Marchal
Hometown: Westfield, Indiana

Road Crew Members

Mechanic: Richie Bean
Hometown: Bradford, Vermont

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

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Pennzoil 400 Advance | Wednesday, March 2, 2022

Cole Custer, driver of the No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang, is coming off a victory in last Saturday’s NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Auto Club Speedway and an 11th-place finish in the NASCAR Cup Series event the following day. Custer was part of a Ford Performance media conference call earlier today and talked about how his season has started.

COLE CUSTER, No. 41 HaasTooling.com Ford Mustang – HOW IMPORTANT WAS IT TO GET THAT XFINITY WIN LAST WEEK IN CALIFORNIA? “It’s just huge to go back to the Xfinity Series and get a win. All of those guys, Bobby Dotter, I mean, to be in victory lane. I know Bobby has been doing it for a really long time, so it was cool to see him back in victory lane, but also for our sponsor, Production Alliance Group. It was their race, the Production Alliance Group 300, and I think he’s been talking for about six months about winning his own race, so it was really cool to make that happen. And that being a home race race, I mean it was as good as you can get.”

HOW ARE YOU FEELING? WHAT DOES A WIN DO TO BOOST YOUR ENERGY? “Obviously, it adds a little bit of confidence. You still know what you’re doing in some aspect, but at the same time you’ve just got to keep focusing on what’s coming next. Obviously, with this Next Gen car it’s pretty much a new experience every single weekend. We don’t know exactly what to expect, so you’ve kind of got to stay on your game and make sure you’re not getting too cocky, I guess you would say. I think it’s definitely every single type of racetrack you have to make sure you’re on your game and adapting as fast as you can.”

HOW ARE YOU LIKING OR NOT LIKING THE NEW CAR, AND IT LOOKED LIKE A LOT OF DIFFERENT PEOPLE WERE ABLE TO RUN IN THE TOP 10 THAT DON’T NORMALLY RUN THERE. IS THE CAR DOING THAT? “I think from my experience with the car they’ve done a solid job. Obviously, the bigger mile-and-a-half tracks where a lot of aerodynamics come into play it’s gonna be very interesting. You probably don’t have the side force that you want in the car to really have the confidence that you want, but it makes it very interesting as the driver to kind of find that limit and try not to go over because I think we saw a lot of guys do that last weekend. And then I think when you see a lot of people that aren’t usually in the top 10 from in the past, it’s gonna be a crazy year. A lot of teams, there’s the stakes, whether it’s on pit road or mechanical failures or what happens there are things going on, and then also I think it is a little bit more of an even playing field just because nobody has figured out this car completely yet. It’s anybody’s game right now.”

WHAT WOULD YOU SUGGEST A PLAN COULD BE FOR GETTING CARS BACK TO PIT ROAD IF YOU HAVE A FLAT? “Honestly, I don’t know exactly. Obviously, they have tow trucks and stuff right now, but I’m kind of trusting NASCAR on that one. There have been rumors about a rule change, but I haven’t heard anything for sure. We’ll see. I think obviously we’d like to drive the car back if we have a flat, so we’ll see what happens.”

HAVE YOU NOTICED ANYTHING IN THE LAST YEAR WITH GAMBLING OPENING UP AND LAS VEGAS THIS WEEKEND? DO YOU NOTICE IF THERE’S MORE INTEREST IN THE SPORT AS FAR AS MORE PEOPLE GAMBLING ON IT? “I wouldn’t say I call myself a huge gambler. I’ll go to Vegas and play a little bit of Blackjack, but that’s about it. I think you do hear from time to time that it’s definitely been good for the sport on having more interest. I think having people having that driver that they’re pulling for and that they put a little bit of money on at times, I do think it helps things. It’s been interesting, but I wouldn’t say I’m a big gambler, so I can’t tell you for sure.”

CAN YOU GAUGE WHERE SHR IS NOW COMPARED TO A YEAR AGO? “I think right now we’ve done a really solid job. We’ve been competitive at every single race so far. Are we where we want to be? Are we leading a bunch of laps and up front? I think we still have a little bit of room to grow, but the guys have done a great job over the offseason working hard on this car and this is our year to rebound. We’re working as hard as we can to try and get our cars back up front, but it’s been solid so far. I think we have cars that are driving well and we have stuff that we can build on for the rest of the year.”

ANY IDEA ON HOW THE CAR IS GOING TO REACT ON THE SURFACES OF VEGAS AND ATLANTA THE NEXT TWO WEEKS BECAUSE THEY’RE TOTALLY DIFFERENT? “You look at Vegas this weekend and it’s gonna be very interesting with the bumps in one and two. At Fontana, people struggled a lot with that bump in three and four and it’s gonna be interesting to see what teams push it more than others on aggressive setups and stuff like that and what drivers push it more because it’s gonna be edgy through those bumps. I think that’s no doubt and then you look at Phoenix, I think this car is a really good short track car. I think it’ll put on a really good race. I think we’ve got some really interesting tracks coming up for sure.”

THERE SEEMED TO BE A LOT OF DRIVER ENTHUSIASM LAST WEEK AT FONTANA. DO YOU THINK THAT WILL CARRYOVER TO VEGAS? “I think so, for sure. The cars are just on edge. It’s something that I think we haven’t seen in a few years where guys are spinning out in practice and qualifying. It’s really interesting to see what guys are pushing it to the max. In the Cup Series you’ve got to live on that edge. If you holding anything back, you’re not gonna run good, so it’s definitely interesting to see which guys are pushing it more than others.”

ATLANTA IS COMING UP – A SUPER HIGH-BANK 1.5-MILE. WHAT DOES THAT LOOK LIKE? “It’s gonna be interesting. Like I said, these cars are on edge so going to those high speed mile-and-a-halves it’s gonna be interesting to see which guys are pushing it more than others and which crew chiefs and teams are pushing it more than others in the setup. It’s definitely gonna be interesting because it’s a new week. Every single week you don’t know what to expect, so it’s gonna be a very interesting few weeks to see how these cars handle on these mile-and-a-halves.”

DO YOU EXPECT THE RACING TO BE ANY DIFFERENT AT PHOENIX NEXT WEEK THAN WE SAW WITH THE GEN 6 CAR IN NOVEMBER? “Honestly, I think it will be similar. I think it’s a car that should perform pretty well on the short tracks. Phoenix, obviously you have a little bit of aero effects going there, so it’ll be a little more interesting to see how the dirty air works and stuff like that, but, overall, I think it’ll be pretty similar to what it has been in the past. I think one thing that people are a little bit questionable about is the dogleg, how the car is gonna handle through there and if you’re going to be using the apron at all. As we’ve seen at these other tracks they don’t like going over bumps that well.”

HOW MUCH DO YOU THINK YOU’LL BE ABLE TO TAKE NEXT WEEKEND WHEN YOU GO BACK THERE IN THE FALL? “You’ll definitely be able to take some things. Obviously, we’ve had a test there already, so we have an idea of what we’re looking for. Like you said, this car and what we’re thinking about will change a lot by the time November comes around, but you’ll still have that baseline of the first Phoenix race and that’s where the championship happens, so there will still be a lot of emphasis on it.”

COMING OFF A SOLID CUP RUN AT FONTANA, HOW DO YOU AND YOUR TEAM BALANCED THE GOOD FEELING OF THAT WITH ALL YOU STILL HAVE TO LEARN WITH THE NEXT GEN CAR? “You’ve just got to take it one week at a time. You kind of have to live in the moment, I guess. Our team did a great job in Fontana. Our pit crew was awesome and you just have to keep building on that. Obviously, things are gonna change week to week and you have to use your resources and teammates and everything around you to try and understand this car better, but I think we’re off to a good start and we’ve got to just keep building on it.”

HOW MUCH DIFFERENTLY DO YOU EXPECT TO DRIVE VEGAS FROM YEARS PAST AND IS THE EXTRA BANKING CRITICAL FOR SETUP THIS WEEKEND? “You’re gonna change your setup around a little bit, but I think the biggest thing, at least of us, is how you’re going to navigate the bumps in one and two. They’re some of the biggest bumps that we have on the schedule. At Fontana, we saw the problems people had over the bumps in three and four, so it’s gonna be a matter of how far you can push it through those bumps and how your car is handling through that.”

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW BOBBY DOTTER AND WHAT WAS IT LIKE TO SEE HIM IN VICTORY LANE FOR THE FIRST TIME IN HIS CAREER AS AN OWNER? “I’ve seen Bobby around the garage since I was running Xfinity and kind of got to know him a little bit last year. It’s definitely really cool. You won’t see anyone more hard-working and has been around this sport for a long time, so it was really awesome to get those guys in victory lane and seeing all of their faces lit up. They were living it up and are really deserving because they work as hard as anybody.”

CAN YOU GIVE A SENSE OF HOW SIMILAR THE BUMPS ARE FROM FONTANA TO VEGAS? IS A BUMP A BUMP? “It’s definitely a question mark. I think there’s a chance people will be spinning out and really struggling over those bumps. They’re really big. Obviously, we saw a bump at Fontana kind of mess a lot of guys up last weekend, so it’s all about you’re sitting on these shocks and it’s a very harsh ride. Some guys are gonna push it more than others is the biggest thing, so it’s gonna be interesting. I don’t think anybody really knows what to expect, so it’s gonna be a new experience every single weekend.”

HOW IS PIT ROAD DIFFERENT WITH THESE CARS? YOU HAVE BIGGER BRAKING SO CAN YOU DRIVE IN DEEPER AND TO THE CONE? “Like you said, you can definitely get into your pit box harder and get on pit road harder with the bigger brakes on the car, but also the biggest thing is getting used to how fast the guys are. I think they’re a couple seconds faster than they used to be, so it’s definitely impressive. You just have to get used to that and also leaving the pit stall, how much you can push it, how you want to rev the engine up, so just little things here and there.”

WHAT MAKES LAS VEGAS SO DIFFICULT FOR YOU AND DOES THE NEW CAR CHANGE ANYTHING? “It’s one of those places that’s really in the middle. It’s starting to get the pavement wore out, but it’s still really high speed and you’ve also got those big bumps in one and two. It’s a place that is really hard to get a hold of, so it’s gonna be an interesting race like I’ve said before. It’s gonna be a lot of seeing how far guys want to push it. I think you’re going to see similar to Fontana, where everybody is on the edge and I think you’re gonna see that same thing this weekend.”

This Week in Motorsports: February 28-March 6, 2022

· NCS/NXS/NCWTS: Las Vegas Motor Speedway – March 4-6

PLANO, Texas (March 2, 2022) – NASCAR teams continue their West Coast tour with the first stop of the season in Las Vegas.

NASCAR National Series – NCS| NXS| NCWTS

Busch brothers head home … Kurt and Kyle Busch head back to Las Vegas for their first stop of the season at their home track – Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Both brothers are Cup Series winners at the track with Kyle winning first in 2009 and Kurt going to Victory Lane in 2020. Kyle is also scheduled to make his first of five Camping World Truck Series starts this weekend on Friday evening.

Truex starting strong… Martin Truex Jr. continues to run strong in early season races as the 2017 Cup Series champion currently sits third in the overall standings. Truex is a two-time winner in a Camry at Las Vegas Motor Speedway (2017, 2019)

Jones looks for great Vegas runs to continue… Las Vegas has been a great spot for Brandon Jones, and the Joe Gibbs Racing driver looks for that to continue Saturday afternoon. The Georgia-native has five straight finishes at the track of 11th or better, including a third-place finish in this race one year ago.

Ryan Truex competes for both Toyota’s Xfinity teams… After a strong top-15 finish for Sam Hunt Racing at the season opener in Daytona, Ryan Truex will run his first of four scheduled events for Joe Gibbs Racing at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in the No. 18 GR Supra. In Fontana, Trevor Bayne made his first Xfinity Series start since 2016 and drove the car to a stage win and a third-place finish.

Nemechek goes for two… John Hunter Nemechek will get to compete in two races this weekend at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. On Friday, Nemechek looks to defend his race win in the NASCAR Truck Series event, before getting aboard the No. 26 Toyota GR Supra for Sam Hunt Racing on Saturday. It’s the first of several scheduled starts in the car for Nemechek, who last drove the car to a team-best third-place finish at Richmond Raceway last fall.

Eckes looking for another Vegas crown… Christian Eckes earned his first career victory the last time we were in Las Vegas. He led his three ThorSport Racing teammates to the line – making history as the first team in Truck Series history to sweep the top-four finishing positions. Eckes is competing full time this season and started the season with a strong third-place finish in Daytona.

Milestone for Crafton… Three-time Truck Series champion Matt Crafton is set to cross another milestone off the list in Las Vegas as he makes his 500th career start. The California-native has earned 15 race wins, 130 top-five finishes and 300 top-10 results in his Truck Series career.

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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.

Georgia Peanuts Partners with Gilliland at Atlanta and Talladega

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (March 2, 2022) – The Georgia Peanut Commission will return to Front Row Motorsports (FRM) to support NASCAR Cup Series Sunoco Rookie of the Year contender Todd Gilliland at two of NASCAR’s premier tracks in the southeast.

Georgia Peanuts will join Gilliland and the No. 38 Ford Mustang team at the newly repaved Atlanta Motor Speedway on March 20 and again at the Talladega Superspeedway in October. The Atlanta event will mark the 25th anniversary of Georgia Peanuts visiting victory lane in the ARCA Menards Series with driver Harris DeVane. The commission is looking once again to make memories with Gilliland.

“We’re proud to support Todd Gilliland this year in his rookie season,” said Joe Boddiford, Promotion Committee Chairman for the Georgia Peanut Commission. “And we’re excited to do it on the 25th anniversary of our last win at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. We hope that Todd can make more memories for us this season and look forward to his races with us.”

Gilliland will represent Georgia Peanuts, their farmers, and buyers throughout the season. The website, www.gapeanuts.com is the home for all NASCAR fans to learn more about the commission, download educational materials for the classroom, get health and nutrition information, recipe ideas and more.

The Georgia Peanut Commission conducts programs in the areas of promotion, research, and education. Funding is derived from a $2 per ton assessment on all producers. Peanuts are a $2.2 billion industry in Georgia and a vital part of the economy. Facts about the peanut industry in Georgia include:

· Georgia farmers produced 52% of the peanuts grown in the United States in 2021 – more than 1.67 million tons.
· Georgia farmers harvested 750,000 acres, yielding an average of 4,450 pounds per acre.
· Georgia farmers planted peanuts in 76 counties in Georgia.
· Georgia has approximately 4,000 peanut farmers.
· Georgia peanuts accounted for 29% of the state’s row and forage crops income.
· Peanuts are Georgia’s Official State Crop.

Gilliland is honored to race the Georgia Peanuts colors in his rookie campaign.

“It’s really exciting to be able to represent Georgia Peanuts this year,” said Gilliland. “They have a lot of history in stock car racing and racing at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. I just want to continue that tradition and represent all the peanut farmers and the Georgia Peanuts brand to the best of my ability. It’s a great history to be a part of and continue.”

About Georgia Peanut Commission
The Georgia Peanut Commission was established in 1961 under the state’s Commodities Promotion Act. Today, the commission represents Georgia’s 4,000 peanut farmers and conducts programs in the areas of promotion, research and education. To learn more, visit gapeanuts.com or follow @gapeanuts on Facebook and Instagram or @GeorgiaPeanuts on Twitter.

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.

Roush Fenway Keselowski Weekly Advance | Las Vegas I

The NASCAR circuit heads to Las Vegas this weekend for the second of three-straight races on the West Coast. Jack Roush has 16 wins all-time at the 1.5-mile track, including seven in the Cup Series. Brad Keselowski enters the weekend with 12 top-10s and three wins at the track.

NASCAR Cup Series Race at Las Vegas

Sunday, March 6 | 3:30 p.m. ET

FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

· Brad Keselowski, No. 6 Fastenal Ford Mustang

· Chris Buescher, No. 17 Wyndham Rewards Ford Mustang

Early JACKpot

RFK hit the Vegas jackpot right off the bat, winning the inaugural Cup event at Las Vegas in 1998. Mark Martin led 82 laps in the victory that served as a banner day for RFK.

Inaugural Sweep

RFK placed all five of its Cup entries inside the top 10 of that inaugural Las Vegas Cup race in 1998, including three inside the top five, four inside the top six, one in the winners circle and the runner up (6 – 1st, 99 – 2nd, 26 – 4th, 16 – 6th and 97 – 10th).

Continued Success

RFK won the first three Cup races at LVMS from ‘98-’00, with Jeff Burton winning back-to-back events in ’99 and ’00. RFK also took three of the first nine Xfinity Series events at LVMS.

Victory Lane at Vegas

In addition to the first three Cup races at LVMS, RFK again found the winners’ circle in 2003 and 2004 at the 1.5-mile track with Matt Kenseth. Carl Edwards took the checkered flag at the 2008 and 2011 events to give RFK seven Cup wins at Las Vegas with four different drivers.

Back to Back at Vegas

RFK has won back-to-back Cup races at LVMS on two separate occasions in ’99-’00 and ’03-04’ and once in the Xfinity Series in ‘99 and ‘00.

Across the Board at Vegas

All in all, RFK has tallied 16 total NASCAR wins, while turning 38,000+ laps in NASCAR action at LVMS for 58,000+ miles, while leading over 2,600 laps at the track in NASCAR’s top three divisions. At the same time the organization has finished inside the top 10 in 50 percent of its 182 NASCAR starts at LVMS.

Roush Fenway Las Vegas Wins

1998 Martin Cup

1999 Burton Cup

2000 Burton Cup

2003 Kenseth Cup

2004 Kenseth Cup

2008 Edwards Cup

2011 Edwards Cup

1999 Martin NXS

2000 Burton NXS

2002 Burton NXS

2005 Martin NXS

2009 Biffle NXS

2012 Stenhouse NXS

1997 Ruttman NGOTS

1999 Biffle NGOTS

2007 Kvapil NGOTS

CHASE BRISCOE
Las Vegas Advance
No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview

● Event: Las Vegas 400 (Round 3 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EST on Sunday, March 6
● Location: Las Vegas Motor Speedway
● Layout: 1.5-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 267 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 85 laps / Final Stage: 102 laps
● TV/Radio: FOX / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Chase Briscoe, driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), heads to Las Vegas Motor Speedway looking for his second top-five result of the season. Briscoe started off his second full-time NASCAR Cup Series season with a third-place finish in the season-opening Daytona 500.

● Briscoe followed up his Daytona result with a 16th-place effort last Sunday at Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California, where he led 20 laps early in the race before losing track position during a round of pit stops. The No. 14 Mahindra Tractors team stayed out late in the race while the leaders pitted to put Briscoe back in the top spot, but newer tires prevailed on the worn-out, 2-mile oval. He enters this weekend’s race at Las Vegas fifth in the point standings, just 16 points out of first.

● Sunday’s 400-lap race at Las Vegas marks Briscoe’s third Cup Series start at the 1.5-mile track. He finished 21st in his first race there in March 2021 and bettered that result during the return trip in October, when he finished 14th. Crew chief Johnny Klausmeier has three top-10 finishes at Las Vegas, all earned with Briscoe’s SHR teammate Aric Almirola.

● The new NextGen car that is designed to level the playing field, and experience from this year’s first two Cup Series races may be just what Briscoe needs to make another run at Las Vegas victory lane. He swept both NASCAR Xfinity Series races at the venue during the 2020 season and both wins aided in his pursuit of the championship. The first win on Feb. 23 secured Briscoe’s spot in the 12-driver playoff field, and the follow-up win in October locked him into the Round of 8. The No. 98 team went on to win once more at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City to advance to the Championship 4.

● In total, Briscoe has five career Xfinity Series starts at Las Vegas with the two wins among three top-10s. He also made a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series appearance there in September 2017, starting third and leading the first 40 laps before finishing third in a Ford F-150.

● Mahindra Tractors, a brand of Houston-based Mahindra Ag North America, continues its journey out west with the No. 14 Ford Mustang team. Part of Mahindra Group’s Automotive and Farm Sector, Mahindra Ag North America is the No. 1-selling farm tractor company in the world, based on volumes across all company brands. Mahindra farm equipment is engineered to be easy to operate by first-time tractor or side-by-side owners, and heavy duty to tackle the tough jobs of rural living, farming and ranching. Steel-framed Mahindra tractors and side-by-sides are ideal for customers who demand performance, reliability and comfort at a great value. Mahindra dealers are independent, family-owned businesses located throughout the U.S. and Canada.

● The longer the workday – or the race day – the more important comfort becomes. Mahindra Tractors offers many comfort features for its operators, including air suspension seats with extra cushioning. At the racetrack this season, guests of SHR will be able to experience that comfort for themselves as the No. 14 pitbox has been retrofitted with the Mahindra comfort seat.

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

With this new car, is there anything you can take away from Fontana and apply to upcoming tracks?

“I think Auto Club is pretty unique. But with the 1.5-mile tracks coming up, you probably use some of what we’ve learned. Every race is going to be a learning experience, the whole time, and I think anything you can take away from any track is going to be important as we figure out this car and how it changes. I definitely feel like we learned some stuff at Fontana that we’re going to be able to use down the road.”

You got to experience the new practice and qualifying format for this first time last weekend. What did you learn about how to use those 15 minutes of track time?

“I was nice to have practice and qualifying back. With the new car, you can’t really change anything. You can only make very minor adjustments. It is really just to kind of get a shakedown and have a general idea of what your car is going to do when it goes off into the corner on lap one of the race. I think qualifying was something that needed to come back. Doing the metrics deal last year, if you got buried in points, you kind of just sucked for the whole year. It will be crucial for the teams to truly be on their game when they unload. It is hard to do that when we don’t really have any experience with this car. The simulators are going to get more and more use and it will be interesting to see what teams hit it right.”

No. 14 Mahindra Tractors Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Chase Briscoe
Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana

Crew Chief: John Klausmeier
Hometown: Perry Hall, Maryland

Car Chief: J.D. Frey
Hometown: Ferndale, California

Engineer: Mike Cook
Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Engineer: Marc Hendricksen
Hometown: Clinton, New Jersey

Spotter: Joey Campbell
Hometown: Berlin, Connecticut

Over-The-Wall Members

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

Rear Tire Changer: Chris Jackson
Hometown: Rock Hill, South Carolina

Tire Carrier: Jon Bernal
Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

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

Fuel Man: Corey Coppola
Hometown: Bluefield, West Virginia

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Stephen Gonzalez
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Interior Mechanic: Trevor Adams
Hometown: Naples, Florida

Tire Specialist: Keith Eads
Hometown: Arlington, Virginia

Shock Specialist: Brian Holshouser
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina

Engine Tuner: Jon Phillips
Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri

Transporter Co-Driver: Todd Cable
Hometown: Shelby, North Carolina

Transporter Co-Driver: Rob Fink
Hometown: Mocksville, North Carolina