Roush Fenway Weekly Advance | Richmond

NASCAR heads back to Virginia this weekend for a short-track showdown under the lights Saturday night. Richmond is the site of 15 of Jack Roush’s all-time wins, including five in the NASCAR Cup Series.

Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders
Saturday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. ET
NBCSN, MRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

• Ryan Newman, No. 6 Oscar Mayer Bacon Ford Mustang
• Chris Buescher, No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang

Darlington Recap, Richmond Preview

• Newman hovered around the top-15 for a majority of Sunday’s race from Darlington, ultimately driving to a 14th-place finish. It marked his third top-15 in the last four races.
• Buescher was inside the top five late at Darlington and finished ninth for his fifth top-10 of 2021.
• Oscar Mayer returns to Newman’s Ford at Richmond for its final race of 2021, and will run a bacon-inspired theme on his No. 6 Ford.
• Fastenal is back on the No. 17 at Richmond and they will run a red, white and blue feature as part of the 20th anniversary of the events of 9/11.

History in the Commonwealth of Virginia

Overall, Roush Fenway has 356 starts at Richmond Raceway, earning a total of 15 wins, 89 top-five and 150 top-10 finishes. RFR Fords have sat on the pole 14 times and led 4,960 laps across NASCAR’s three major touring series.

To Xfinity and Beyond

Roush Fenway has earned nine victories, 43 top-five finishes, 66 top-10 finishes and an average finish of 11.8 at Richmond in the Xfinity Series. All in all, three different drivers are responsible for the nine victories at the Virginia short track (Edwards, Mark Martin and Jeff Burton).

Nine and Counting

Roush Fenway’s nine victories at Richmond rank fourth among all tracks the organization has competed on in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, trailing Darlington Raceway (15), Charlotte Motor Speedway (12) and North Carolina Speedway – formerly known as Rockingham – (11).

Tale of the Tape

Roush Fenway has started 215 NCS races at Richmond with 73 top-10 and 37 top-five finishes along with seven poles. Former drivers Mark Martin (1990), Jeff Burton (1998), Matt Kenseth (2002), Kurt Busch (2005), and Carl Edwards (2013) are responsible for RFR’s five Cup wins, and a Jack Roush Cup Series Ford has led 2,442 laps at the .75-mile track.

Roush Fenway Richmond Wins

1990-1 Martin Cup

1993-1 Martin NXS

1993-2 Martin NXS

1997-1 Martin NXS

1998-1 Burton NXS

1998-2 Burton Cup

1999-1 Martin NXS

1999 Biffle Truck

2000-2 Burton NXS

2002-2 Kenseth Cup

2005-1 Edwards NXS

2005-2 Busch Cup

2008-2 Edwards NXS

2009-2 Edwards NXS

2013-2 Edwards Cup

KEVIN HARVICK
Richmond Advance
No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview
● Event: Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders (Round 28 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 11
● Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway
● Layout: .75-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 400 laps / 300 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 155 laps / Final Stage: 165 laps
● TV/Radio: NBCSN / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● The Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders NASCAR Cup Series race Saturday night at Richmond (Va.) Raceway marks the second race of the 10-race playoffs. Kevin Harvick, driver of the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing, comes into the race ranked seventh among the 16 playoff drivers, 20 points above the top-12 cutline to advance to the Round of 12. The 16-driver playoff field will be whittled down to 12 after the third playoff race Sept. 18 at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. This is Harvick’s 15th playoff appearance since the inception of the playoffs in 2004, and it’s his 12 consecutive playoff appearance. Harvick has finished among the top-eight in points every year since 2010. He won the championship in 2014.
● In the first playoff race last Sunday at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway, Harvick delivered a gritty fifth-place drive. How gritty? An unscheduled pit stop for a loose wheel on lap 288 of the 367-lap race put him a lap down. He earned his lap back on lap 318 and rallied to fifth with a pass of Joey Logano on lap 352. Then, with two laps remaining around the 1.366-mile oval, Harvick suffered a flat right-rear tire. Despite this, Harvick stayed out and manhandled his Ford Mustang to hold onto fifth place through the checkered flag. It was Harvick’s seventh top-five and 17th top-10 of the season, and his 12th top-five and 17th top-10 in 28 career starts at Darlington. No other driver has more top-fives or top-10s at Darlington than Harvick. His nearest pursuer in this category is Denny Hamlin with 11 top-fives and 15 top-10s.
● The .75-mile Richmond oval serves as a return to short-track racing. The NASCAR Cup Series hasn’t raced on a track less than a mile in length since the series’ first visit to Richmond back on April 18. In that race, Harvick was a regular among the top-five until lap 379 when a cut right-rear tire sent him spinning into the turn-one wall. Work to repair the damage on his No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang resulted in an extended stay on pit road. By the time repairs were completed and Harvick was able to return to the track, he was scored three laps down in 24th.
● Harvick has made 745 career NASCAR Cup Series starts, with 120 of those starts coming on short tracks. And of his 58 Cup Series wins, seven have been at short tracks, with Richmond accounting for three of those victories. Harvick scored his first Richmond win in September 2006, his second in September 2011 and his third in April 2013.
● Harvick joined SHR in 2014 and has since recorded 35 of his 58 career NASCAR Cup Series wins. However, none of them have been at Richmond. But Harvick has remained stout at the .75-mile oval. In his last 14 starts at Richmond as a member of SHR, Harvick has two runner-up finishes, eight top-fives and 10 top-10s. He has only one finish outside of the top-15.
● Harvick has led 15,694 total laps in his NASCAR Cup Series career, with 1,180 of those laps coming at Richmond.
● The Federated Auto Parts 400 Salute to First Responders will mark Harvick’s 41st NASCAR Cup Series start at the Virginia short track. His first start at Richmond came on May 5, 2001. That race was won by SHR co-owner Tony Stewart, who beat then three-time champion Jeff Gordon by .372 of a second. Harvick finished 17th in what was his 10th career Cup Series start. Nine of the 43 drivers in that race have since been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame – Stewart, Gordon, Rusty Wallace, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Mark Martin, Dale Jarrett, Ron Hornaday Jr., Bill Elliott and Terry Labonte.
● Harvick is the winningest NASCAR Xfinity Series driver at Richmond with seven victories. (Kyle Busch is next best with six wins.) Harvick finished among the top-10 in all but six of his 21 career Xfinity Series starts at Richmond.
● The 2021 season marks the 12th year of partnership between Harvick and Hunt Brothers Pizza. The nation’s largest brand of made-to-order pizza in the convenience store industry has sponsored Harvick for years in the NASCAR Xfinity Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series. Hunt Brothers Pizza joined Harvick fulltime in the NASCAR Cup Series in 2019 and has been a mainstay in NASCAR’s premier division ever since. With more than 7,800 locations in 30 states, Hunt Brothers Pizza offers original and thin-crust pizzas available as a grab-and go Hunk, perfect for today’s on-the-go lifestyle or as a customizable whole pizza that is an exceptional value with All Toppings No Extra Charge®. Celebrating 30 years of serving great pizza to convenience store shoppers through its store partners, Hunt Brothers Pizza is headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee, and is family owned and operated. To find a Hunt Brothers Pizza location near you, download the app by visiting app.HuntBrothersPizza.com.
● Said Harvick about his more than decade-long partnership with Hunt Brothers Pizza: “Our fans are pretty loyal to the brands that are on our cars. Many of my pictures come from the standees in the store. People take selfies next to them. There are a number of reasons you have sponsorships – you want that brand recognition, the brand integration. Hunt Brothers Pizza is a very family-oriented company and we’re a very family-oriented group. Those relationships you build through the years with brands that recognize and reflect what you believe in are few and far between. We’ve grown with the Hunt Brothers Pizza brand. They’ve grown with us and been very loyal to us and I think our fans are very loyal to Hunt Brothers Pizza. It’s fun to see that brand recognition and that understanding of loyalty and partnership. You realize how many Hunt Brothers Pizza stores there are as you drive to racetracks.”

Kevin Harvick, Driver of the No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

You’ve had a lot of success at Richmond and you’re a fan of short-track racing in general. What is it about Richmond that makes it a good track for you?

“Through the years we’ve figured out how to get some solid finishes. We had a really good Hunt Brothers Pizza Ford Mustang there earlier this year and wound up blowing a tire and not getting a very good finish. I’m looking forward to going back just because of the fact that we ran so well there at the beginning of the year. Richmond is a little bit like Darlington just in the tire fall-off and the way the cars slow down. The line doesn’t move around very much at Richmond anymore, for whatever reason, so you have to grind away at one particular spot on the racetrack and make your car work as well as possible. It’s definitely a unique short track. It’s got enough speed to where you have to be good under braking and have a good-handling car in order to make it through the long runs that you know you’re going to get throughout the night. Hopefully, we can have a good night. Based upon the first race, we should run well.”

The Richmond race falls on the 20th anniversary of 9/11. Do you remember where you were on Sept. 11, 2001?

“We were flying to Memphis to test the Xfinity car that day and we were in Mike Skinner’s airplane. It was in the middle of the flight when everything happened. We got to the airport, landed, saw everything that happened, and we all got in the van and drove 12 hours home. We never ran that test.”

As you look back on 9/11, what stands out the most?

“We had so many men and women lose their lives that day, a lot of whom were first responders. I think as you look back, you just want to say thanks to all the first responders and everybody who was there to do everything they could do to help those in need. It was a tragic day, so as we go into Richmond, we have to remember and thank all those who were there during a really tough time.”

You and Kurt Busch are the only drivers in Saturday night’s race who competed in the first race after 9/11 at Dover (Del.) International Speedway. What do you remember about that race?

“I just remember the enthusiasm of the crowd. It was massive, and when you have the enthusiasm from a crowd like that, it’s something you never forget. Obviously, any time Dale Jr. won, it was quite the emotion from the crowd. But on that particular day, it was just different. Everything about that particular day was different. After the race, after he won, that was pretty spectacular and something that I’ll never forget, and for all the right reasons, too. And it wasn’t just Dover. The New Hampshire race got postponed to the end of the season and we raced the day after Thanksgiving, and then the banquet was still in New York. We toured Ground Zero and saw the magnitude of it all. There were just a lot of moments from that particular time period.”

No. 4 Hunt Brothers Pizza 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

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

NASCAR CUP SERIES
FEDERATED AUTO PARTS 400
RICHMOND RACEWAY
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
SEPTEMBER 8, 2021

ALEX BOWMAN, NO. 48 ALLY CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript Highlights:

DO YOU THINK YOU HAVE TO DO ANYTHING TO STAY POSITIVE OR KEEP YOUR TEAM POSITIVE?
“I don’t know. Definitely a little bit, after a weekend like last weekend. It wasn’t good by any means. From start to finish we had radio issues, trouble with the engine, I drove it into the fence; and we had another flat tire after that. It was just kind of one of those days. I’m definitely trying to keep the team pumped up, but at the same time I think everybody on the team knows how strong we can be each and every place we go. We just had a bad day. Going forward, to a place like Richmond, where we won in the Spring, I think everybody is pretty positive that we can go there and have success and be strong. This Round of 16, with everybody having issues at Darlington, it’s not as bad as it could have been, the hole that we’re in. I think we’re in an okay spot going forward. Not comfortable by any means, but if we just go do our jobs, we’ll be all right.”

DO YOU BELIEVE THAT WHAT WORKED AT RICHMOND IN THE SPRING WILL WORK IN THE FALL, OR ARE THERE ANY SIGNIFICANT CHANGES THAT WILL DISRUPT THAT TYPE OF THOUGHT?
“I hope so because I haven’t ever had anything work at Richmond before the Spring. So that’s all I’ve got that works. But I hope so. I feel like I drive that place incorrectly to a point and I ask some different things out of the race car that kind of a lot of the normal guys that grew up racing stock cars on short tracks don’t do. So, going there has always been tough for me. I think Greg (Ives, crew chief) finally hit on something that worked really well for me. So, hopefully we can get it to work again. You never know until you get there, and without practice it’s hard to say. But I’m pretty confident that we’ll have another great race car this weekend.”

WITH THREE OUT OF FOUR HENDRICK DRIVERS EITHER NEAR OR BELOW THE CUTOFF LINE AND COMING OUT OF THIS PAST WEEKEND’S RACE, WHAT ARE YOUR TEAM MEETINGS LIKE?
“It definitely wasn’t a great mood after Darlington. But I feel like everybody is focused-forward and working hard to be the best we can be at Richmond. It was one race. It’s one week. The Playoffs, the way it goes, you have two bad weeks in one round, and you are kind of done. So, we know we have to be strong the next two weeks. But at the same time, we’ve been strong all year. I think there is a lot of confidence going forward that we can continue to do that. I think I’m probably the most frustrated of anybody and that’s just because it was like blatantly my fault, right? I drove the car into the outside wall. I’m frustrated with myself that I did that and that I made that mistake, but I’m also frustrated that I hurt the No. 24’s (William Byron) day like it did. But the No. 24 and the No. 9 (Chase Elliott) kind of had things going outside of their own control. And then the No. 5 (Kyle Larson) had a good day. I think we all just know we need to be strong at Richmond.”

WERE YOU SURPRISED WITH WHAT HAPPENED TO THE PLAYOFF DRIVERS AT DARLINGTON?
“I wouldn’t say I’m surprised. Darlington is an easy track to have issues at. So, for as many people to have issues as they did, I’m not all that surprised about it.

THIS SPORT IS SO FICKLE WITH THE POWER RANKINGS, LIKE S0-AND-SO IS FAVORED FOR THE CHAMPIONSHIP AND THE HENDRICK DRIVERS CANNOT BE BEAT. WITH ONE RACE, EVERYTHING HAS SWITCHED. DOES THAT DRIVE YOU CRAZY A LITTLE BIT?
“As far as the media stuff goes, once I realized that I’m always going to get kicked a little bit by the media, I just quit reading it (laughs). Some are not the nicest to me. So, I just quit reading it and don’t pay attention to it. That’s fine. That’s part of my job. I’m sure Kyle (Larson) was the favorite and is still the favorite. Other than that, I don’t know anything about power rankings or anything like that. I just try to drive the race car as fast as I can.”

QUESTION REGARDING STARTING POSITIONS AND STAGE POINTS AT RICHMOND
“It’s still going to be difficult. In the Spring we had a really difficult day. We had a pit road penalty. I think we started at the tail end of the longest line in Stage 3. That late-race caution got us the win, but we had still driven back to third from last, basically. And for as strong as we were in the Spring, I know we’ll be able to pass cars because with a great long-run race car we were able to make a lot of headway there. But yeah, it’s going to be tough. It is definitely a little more intense in the Playoffs. Everybody is going to race a little harder. But Richmond is a place like, if you’re race car is good and you’re good on a long, run, you can give up that short run a little bit and make a lot of headway as the run kind of rolls on. So, I’m just excited to see how we are when we get there and go to work on making the car better and being there at the end.”

THERE ARE POSSIBLE CHANGES TO THE SCHEDULE NEXT YEAR, WHICH INCLUDE A BUSCH CLASH AT THE L.A. COLISEUM OR RACING AT WORLDWIDE TECHNOLOGY RACEWAY. WHAT CHANGES WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE?
“I love going to new race tracks. Obviously, I don’t know any more than what you guys (media) know. I haven’t heard anything officially. But it all sounds cool, right? When I ran the e-NASCAR Series, we ran Bowman Gray Stadium, which sounded like the most ridiculous idea I’d ever heard in my life. But when we got there, it was a lot of fun. So, I would imagine it would be somewhat similar to that at least. It could be pretty neat. If we went to Gateway, that would be neat. And it looks like a really interesting place. I’ve never been there. But anything new is always cool, right? Like any of the new races we’ve had this year have been kind of exciting and cool to be a part of. So, I’m all for new race tracks and new challenges. Shuffling-up the schedule every year I think is really cool.”

THE SAME TIRE IS BEING USED THIS WEEKEND AS WAS USED AT PHOENIX. IS THIS THE LAST CHANCE TO FINE-TUNE THINGS FOR PHOENIX? IF YOU WIN AND DOMINATE, DOES THAT MEAN THAT YOU WOULD BE THE FAVORITE AT PHOENIX BASED ON WHAT YOU DID AT RICHMOND?
“It’s interesting that you say that. Looking back, the NO. 5 (Kyle Larson) was really fast at Phoenix. And they were not very good at Richmond. We were terrible at Phoenix and won Richmond. So, I don’t know how much you can really take from one to the other. I know it’s the same tire and a somewhat similar race track. But at Phoenix you have some tire falloff, but you don’t have what you have at Richmond. Richmond is so much slicker. There is so much less load in the race car. There are so many big differences. Like it’s a quarter-mile shorter, but it feels tiny and extremely slow in comparison to a place like Phoenix. It’s definitely different, but I want to say we can carry it all over because we were good there in the Spring. But ever since 2016 we’ve really struggled at Phoenix. Hopefully we can get our stuff together and be good there at the end of this year.”

ARE THE COMMITMENT LINES MORE CHALLENGING AT RICHMOND?
“Yeah, it’s just where it is. How early it is. There are a lot of factors that go into it. I feel like people don’t realize how little you can really see out of the Cup cars. You can’t really see that box unless you’re squared-up with it. Late pit calls probably play a role in that. But it’s early. It’s hard to see. And that pit road entrance is super slick. The race track is super slick. So, there are a lot of factors. But it is definitely a tough one and an easy one to miss and cause a big penalty for yourself.”

DO YOU LOOK AT POINTS AND STUDY THEM? OR DO YOU JUST GO RACE?
“Yeah, I just go race. You can stare at the points sheet and know exactly how many points you have to beat so-and-so by. But it doesn’t help you any. Then you’re just more stressed out about situations you can’t control. I think the best thing you can do for yourself is to go drive the race car as fast as you can and maximize every Stage and go do the best job you can. I did a really poor job on Sunday night, and I’ve got two weeks to make up for it. I’ve just got to go maximize both races. Last year during the Playoffs I wasn’t looking at points. I wasn’t worried about it. We just went and tried to execute to the best of our ability each and every week. And we had a really good Playoff run. This year we started off really poorly, but I’m confident we can turn that around and at least do what we did last year if not better.”

DID YOU HAVE A RACE-WINNING CAR BEFORE THE DAMAGE AT DARLINGTON?
“I don’t think we were very good before I hit the wall at Darlington because I wasn’t running very hard. I was starting to struggle really early in that run and drove it right into the fence pretty early. So, I feel like we were going to struggle a little bit. I think we’d end up somewhere in the top 10, but now where we wanted to be by any means. I felt down on grip. I think it still would have been a way better day than it was, obviously. I’m still mad at myself that I did that.”

DO YOU FEEL LIKE MISTAKES, RATHER THAN SPEED, COULD BE WHAT KEEPS HENDRICK DRIVERS FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP FOUR?
“I think we’ve had speed every week. It very well could be. But nothing has stopped us from getting there yet. We still have a chance. All four of us are not eliminated yet and still in it. I don’t want to say what’s going to keep us out because we’re not knocked out yet.”

DO YOU THINK THERE WILL BE LESS CHAOS AND AGGRESSION AT RICHMOND OR DO YOU THINK IT WILL CONTINUE?
“It’s hard to say. I feel like you’re going to have a lot of aggression at Richmond because it’s Richmond. It’s a short track. Tempers typically flare there. Stuff happens. And that’s just a part of it. I feel like it’s still going to be exciting. It’s still going to be dramatic. We’ll wait and see. Maybe it’s a smooth and easy day and the No. 48 is out front with no issues, and we get another trophy. I’d be okay with that.”
Team Chevy high-resolution racing photos are available for editorial use.

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 79 countries with more than 3.2 million cars and trucks sold in 2020. Chevrolet models include electric and fuel-efficient vehicles that feature engaging performance, design that makes the heart beat, passive and active safety features and easy-to-use technology, all at a value. More information on Chevrolet models can be found at www.chevrolet.com.

CHASE BRISCOE
Richmond Advance
No. 14 Cummins/Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview
● Event: Federated Auto Parts 400 (Round 28 of 36)
● Time/Date: 7:30 p.m. EDT on Saturday, Sept. 11
● Location: Richmond (Va.) Raceway
● Layout: .75-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 400 laps/300 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 155 laps / Final Stage: 165 laps
● TV/Radio: NBCSN / MRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● The NASCAR Cup Series heads to Richmond (Va.) Raceway for the second event of the 10-race playoff stretch, but Chase Briscoe, driver of No. 14 Cummins/Rush Truck Centers team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR), looks to add to his lead in the Rookie of the Year standings following a 19th-place finish Sunday night at Darlington (S.C.) Raceway. With 27 races complete in the Cup Series season, Briscoe is 23rd in the driver championship and leads the Rookie of the Year battle by 223 points over Anthony Alfredo.
● In Briscoe’s first Cup Series start at the .75-mile oval at Richmond in April, he started 26th and finished 22nd. In five NASCAR Xfinity Series starts there, he has one top-five finish and two top-10s. His best result was a fifth-place finish in September 2019.
● Briscoe made 15 short-track starts in the Xfinity Series, scoring two wins – last September at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway and July 2019 at Iowa Speedway in Newton – among his 10 top-10s.
● Briscoe’s No. 14 Ford Mustang will carry the colors of Cummins and Rush Truck Centers at Richmond, along with a reminder to #ThankATrucker during National Truck Driver Appreciation Week, which runs Sept. 12-18. National Truck Driver Appreciation week takes on a special significance considering the crucial role truck drivers have played during the COVID-19 pandemic. Rush Truck Centers encourages fans to use #ThankATrucker to show their appreciation for the 3.6 million professional men and women who deliver our goods safely, securely, and on time.
● Indiana-based Cummins, from car owner Tony Stewart’s hometown of Columbus, is a corporation of complementary business segments that design, manufacture, distribute and service a broad portfolio of power solutions. It is best known for its diesel truck engines. Since its founding in 1919, Cummins now employs approximately 61,600 people and serves customers in about 190 countries and territories through a network of some 8,000 wholly owned and independent dealer and distributor locations.
● The No. 14 Cummins/Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang and all the SHR cars travel from race to race in haulers from Rush Truck Centers, the premier service solutions provider to the commercial vehicle industry. And those haulers are supported by RushCare, which helps customers find the nearest Rush Truck Centers location, provides service concierge and technical support, schedules mobile service, dispatches roadside assistance and more. Rush Truck Centers is the largest network of commercial vehicle dealerships in the United States with more than 100 locations, and takes pride in its integrated approach to customer needs – from vehicle sales to aftermarket parts, service and body shop operations, plus financing, insurance, leasing and rental, as well as alternate fuel systems and other vehicle technologies.

Chase Briscoe, Driver of the No. 14 Cummins/Rush Truck Centers Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing:

Do you feel more confident heading into Richmond this time around?

“I think so. I’m a different driver. I’ve learned a lot since April and I feel like as a team we’ve come a long way. We saw in the first race that overcoming a starting position in the back is a really tough thing to do at a place like Richmond and I think, after how things went at Darlington, we’re going to be in just about the same position. Hopefully, we’ve got something that we won’t have to adjust on too much and we can get ahead of that early on. I think we’ll for sure see some differences between racing at night versus the day, but I know Johnny (Klausmeier, crew chief) will have a good plan for how we attack that. I’m just focused on using this as a chance to learn that track more for when we go back next year and see if I can finally figure something out.”

No. 14 Cummins/Rush Truck Centers Team Roster

Primary Team Members

Driver: Chase Briscoe
Hometown: Mitchell, Indiana

Crew Chief: John Klausmeier
Hometown: Perry Hall, Maryland

Car Chief: Chad Haney
Hometown: Fairmont, West Virginia

Engineer: Mike Cook
Hometown: Annapolis, Maryland

Engineer: Marc Hendricksen
Hometown: Clinton, New Jersey

Spotter: Joe White
Hometown: Windsor, Virginia

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: Justin Wilson
Hometown: Wise, Virginia

Road Crew Members

Underneath Mechanic: Stephen Gonzalez
Hometown: Mooresville, North Carolina

Front End Mechanic: J.D. Frey
Hometown: Ferndale, California

Interior Mechanic: Trevor Adams
Hometown: Naples, Florida

Tire Specialist: Keith Eads
Hometown: Arlington, Virginia

Engine Tuner: Jon Phillips
Hometown: Jefferson City, Missouri

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

Transporter Co-Driver: Glenn Funderburk
Hometown: Mint Hill, North Carolina

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Media Zoom | Wednesday, September 8, 2021

Michael McDowell, driver of the No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang, is making his first appearance in the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. He goes into this weekend’s race at Richmond Raceway 20 points below the final transfer position for the Round of 12. He spoke about his situation as part of a NASCAR Zoom call earlier today.

MICHAEL MCDOWELL, No. 34 Love’s Travel Stops Ford Mustang — HOW MUCH OF YOUR STRATEGY IS NOW GOING FOR WINS VERSUS WHERE YOU FINISH IN THE OVERALL STANDINGS AND NOT WANTING TO RISK TOO MUCH? “I think that we are just gonna continue to try to be as aggressive as we can. Obviously, Darlington didn’t go how we wanted it, which doesn’t make us back down anymore. It actually, if anything, we have to be more aggressive. We want to finish up as high as we can in the points, but we also feel like we’re in a spot where we want to be aggressive and see if we can’t get through to the next round.”

DO YOU STILL SEE A PATH TO GET TO THE NEXT ROUND BY POINTS? “Yeah, for sure. I think at the beginning of Darlington it didn’t look that promising with us being the first car out, but then beyond that a lot of those cars had issues and the point gap isn’t that big and Richmond and Bristol both can be races where you have a lot of attrition and a lot of issues, so it’s definitely not that far out of reach. At first I thought it was gonna be impossible, but after the race played out I feel like there’s still a chance.”

HAVE YOU HAD A CHANCE TO FIGURE OUT WHAT HAPPENED? “I have had the opportunity to go back and look at data and watch it and kind of replay it all. Yeah, definitely that section was tricky just because you’re going from old asphalt to new asphalt, but that’s not really the cause. The cause was I was being pretty aggressive trying to get around the 43 because he was on old tires and I just gassed it up to try to clear him going into two and just was carrying too much speed and got loose. It’s just a mistake and it’s unfortunate, but there’s nowhere to place blame but myself. I was just trying to get around the 43 as quick as possible and not lose momentum and time. We had a good run going. We had a fast car. We felt like track position was gonna be important, so you don’t want to give anything up. If you can hit the rewind and do it all over, I would do it differently but you don’t get the rewind button so you just have to keep moving on and get ready for this weekend.”

WHY DO YOU THINK SO MANY PLAYOFF DRIVERS HAD TROUBLE AT DARLINGTON? “I don’t think that there’s any real reason other than Darlington is tough and it’s a tough racetrack. You get in the wall a little bit and you’ve got a fender rub and you cut down a tire. Just so much can happen there, and so I think it’s just one of those racetracks that it definitely can cause that type of race, but you just never know because you watch Kyle Larson those last 10 laps and he’s bouncing off the wall and never cut a tire until the end there, so you never know. It’s a tough track. It’s just the way that it all played out, but we’ve seen races like Bristol and races like that kind of be that way too, so having these tough tracks in these first three it is gonna create some opportunity to maybe get some points back.”

DO YOU REMEMBER WHERE YOU WERE ON 9/11? “I was in Chandler, Arizona on my way to work at the Bob Bondurant School. That’s where I worked at the time. I would have to do the math, but I was 17, 18 years old and when I got to work everybody was kind of just sitting around. You could tell something was going on and all kind of sitting around a small TV watching what was happening and about the time I got to work the second plane had crashed into the building, so it was one of those moments that you never forget — just not understanding what was happening and what was going on and seeing it. It was just kind of an overwhelming thing. I think everybody was very somber and overwhelmed with what’s happening and not knowing what the future would hold, and what was going on. And then you hear rumblings of other planes and the Pentagon and all these things happening. You’re trying to figure out what’s happening. It all seems like it’s happening at once, so as a young adult, teenage at the time, the thing that stands out to me was the next few days after and watching TV and watching first responders go into the building day after day after day after day and going through the rubble and pulling people out. There was a sense of unity and bond, I feel like, across every American and as tragic of an event as it was, it was this really incredible time where you felt like everybody was on the same team and everybody was focused on the right things, so it’s something that stands out to me for sure.”

HOW DO YOU APPROACH RICHMOND? “Richmond has definitely been a tough track for us as an organization and as a group, so we’ve been working really hard the last few months on the simulator and trying to come up with a new package there because what we’ve had hasn’t been working and so we’re just relying on our tools and relying on past experiences and trying to come up with a new package. We know it’s a big question mark race for us, but at the same time we went into Darlington with not knowing how we would stack up speed-wise and even though the result doesn’t show it, we actually brought a really fast race car and had a lot of speed, so I feel like we have the potential to do that again at Richmond and I know for sure we can do it Bristol because Bristol has actually been a strong track for us in the past. You don’t know until you unload. Unfortunately, without practice and all that, you don’t get a lot of opportunities to work on it, so you just have to trust your tools and your people and we’re all working hard and hopefully we hit it.”

DOES IT PLAY TO YOUR ADVANTAGE WITH THE 750 PACKAGE THESE NEXT TWO RACES? “No. I mean, the 750 package hasn’t been our strength. In our group, the 550 tracks have been better for us, so it’s not a strength for us, but, like I said, Darlington was a good example of what we could do as far as speed and performance, so I feel like we’re in a good direction and hopefully we’ll be able to have that same kind of speed at Richmond.”

THE SAME TIRE BEING USED AT RICHMOND WILL BE USED AT PHOENIX. HOW MUCH CARRIES OVER WITH THIS PACKAGE? “Not a lot. I mean, Richmond is kind of that old wore out surface. You have tire fall off, a lot of tire fall off, and you go to Phoenix and it’s fast and it’s smooth and you don’t have a ton of fall off, so I think that you’re always learning a few things, but I don’t feel like Richmond is an indicator of what you’ll have at Phoenix or there’s a whole lot to take from it.”

WE’VE SEEN COMMITMENT LINE VIOLATIONS AT RICHMOND. IS THERE ANYTHING IN PARTICULAR THAT MAKES THAT LINE MORE CHALLENGING AT RICHMOND? “No, it’s definitely a challenge I think just because the tires are worn out so much and a lot of green flag stops. I think Darlington and Richmond both are tough tracks as far as green flag stops and green flag cycles and not making mistakes. The pit roads are also curved, so that makes it tricky for us, the drives and the teams, as far as pit road speed and I think that’s why you see so many penalties too because you run different lights at the beginning and the end and that can get tricky as you’re accelerating and slowing down at different spots, so Richmond and Darlington are both tough racetracks to get onto pit road without making a mistake, and I think it’s more than anything the tire wear and you’re slip sliding around. When you’re coming to pit road you’re braking hard, you lock up the tire, it’s very easy to slide over that box for sure.”

HOW LONG DID IT TAKE TO GET OVER SUNDAY NIGHT? “I wish it was that easy. For me, there is always that internal wrestle and battle that you have, especially when it’s 100 percent your fault. I mean, there’s certain circumstances that are out of my control, out of my team’s control, and those are easier to stomach than when you just make a mistake, and then to add onto that we had a fast race car. The guys did a great job of preparing it and spent a lot of time as the playoffs were ramping up. Obviously these first three races we knew how important they would be, so there was a lot of emphasis on these race cars and so you feel like you let everybody down and that’s hard. It’s a hard thing to kind of navigate through, but you’ve got to get ready for next week and you’ve got to move on. I’ve got a great team around me. I think that’s part of what makes Front Row special is we have a really tight group, especially the 34 car. We’re all really tight on the 34 car and obviously everybody is disappointed and it’s a tough thing to do and to walk back to the hauler and see a wrecked race car and all those things, but my guys have been really supportive. We have a good team, so it took me up until about yesterday. As far as watching the end of the race and seeing all the other guys have trouble, it was a mix. The mix was it does create the opportunity for us not to be so far back, but the other side of it was it was one of those races where if you played it cool and didn’t hit anything you were gonna run 15th pretty easy and we would be in a much different spot. Like I said, you can’t hit rewind, but if you would have known that going into it, I would have probably approached things a little bit differently, but if I approached it differently maybe it wouldn’t have worked out that way either. You can’t overthink it. I think I’ve definitely analyzed a lot of things, analyzed a lot of data, looked at what I can do and can’t do. Sometimes that’s good and bad. It’s good because I’m always learning and growing and figuring out how I could be better, but it’s bad because I can’t necessarily shut it off and just be OK with, ‘I got loose. It’s over. That’s done.’ I tend to look at those things pretty in-depth.”

DID YOU WATCH THE END OF THE RACE OR DID YOU DRIVE HOME, AND WHEN THE OTHER GUYS HAD TROUBLE WERE YOU HAPPY? I’M SURE YOU DON’T WISH ILL WILL ON ANYONE, BUT IT WORKED OUT BETTER FOR YOU IN THE END. “I think as I was watching the race I wasn’t really thinking about it too much like that until I got to the end and saw the points and all that. Like I said, it’s a little bit of a mix for me. Being in that so many guys had trouble it keeps us in the fight, but it also is a little bit of a kick because you just know that those were points and probably positions that would have been hard to get otherwise, and so they were kind of free to take if we didn’t make that mistake. But I did watch it and watched the race, but as far as feelings when people fall out, I don’t get excited when people have trouble. But when you get to the end and you see how the points laid out I felt like we still had a chance, and without those guys having trouble we’d be pretty far back.”

WHY DID YOU WATCH? WAS IT SOMETHING TO LEARN OR JUST TO WATCH? “I watched because I’m into it. I want to see who is running well, what they’re doing, what line they were running. It’s hard for me to turn that off even if you have a night like we had when we were out, so you’re paying attention on who is doing what and how the pit cycles are going and all those things. I still can’t stop thinking about, ‘I wonder if we would have pitted early here or pittled later there or what would have happened if this cycled out,’ so I stayed pretty engaged with it all even after a tough day like that.”