Atlanta Motor Speedway
Sunday, July 11, 2021
1.5-Mile Oval
3:30 PM ET
Location: Hampton, Georgia
TV: Fox logo
Event: NASCAR Cup Series (21 of 36)
Radio: SiriusXM, PRN

5 KYLE LARSON
Age: 28 (July 31, 1992)
Hometown: Elk Grove, California
Resides: Mooresville, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Cliff Daniels
Standings: 2nd

No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE

ON THE MARCH: In March at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Kyle Larson led 269 of 325 laps but was passed with nine to go and finished second. The driver of the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE won both stages and now holds the best average finish (12.14) at the 1.5-mile track among active drivers.

PETTY, PEARSON AND LARSON: Larson has led the most laps in each of the last four races held on 1.5-mile tracks, tying Richard Petty and David Pearson all-time for most consecutive on 1.5-mile tracks. The Elk Grove, California, native can set the new mark if he leads the most laps on Sunday in Atlanta.

TWO-FER: Entering 2021, Larson had never won in the NASCAR Cup Series on a 1.5-mile track. He snapped that streak of 0-for-71 at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in March and followed that up in May with another victory at the 1.5-mile Charlotte Motor Speedway. Overall this season on 1.5-mile tracks, Larson is the only competitor with multiple stage wins (seven) and he has led 55% (836) of the laps on those intermediate-style tracks.

CLOSING IN: Following the season’s 11th race at Kansas Speedway in May, Larson ranked ninth in the driver standings, 144 markers behind the leader. In nine points-paying events since, Larson has scored eight top-10s including three wins and four second-place finishes. In that span, he has moved up seven spots to second in the standings and now trails by only three points.

NEARLY HALF: Larson has finished first or second in nine of 20 (45%) Cup Series races this season. He won at Nashville Superspeedway, Sonoma Raceway, Charlotte and Las Vegas while posting second-place finishes at Pocono Raceway, Circuit of The Americas, Dover International Speedway, Darlington Raceway and Atlanta. He also won the non-points NASCAR All-Star Race at Texas Motor Speedway in June.

TOP OF THE BOARD: Through 20 of 36 Cup Series races, Larson leads the series in wins (four), second-place finishes (five), stage wins (12), playoff points (32), and laps led (1,441). He is tied for most top-five finishes (11), most top-10s (14) and most pole positions (one).

SUMMER ROAD TRIPPING: Last week, Larson participated in several Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek events. On Monday night at Lincoln Speedway, the 28-year-old driver finished third. On Tuesday at Grandview Speedway and Wednesday at Port Royal Speedway, Larson crossed under the checkered flag first. This week, he will swap disciplines and is scheduled to race a dirt late model at Cherokee Speedway in Gaffney, South Carolina, on Thursday before heading to Maryville, Tennessee, Friday and Saturday for events at Smoky Mountain Speedway.

FOUR LESS: At 13.65 seconds, the No. 5 pit crew owns the quickest average time for four-tire pit stops in 2021. The over-the-wall crew is comprised of gasman Brandon Harder, jackman Brandon Johnson, tire carrier R.J. Barnette and tire changers Donnie Tasser (front) and Calvin Teague (rear).

YOUR CAR NEEDS: This weekend, Larson will drive the No. 5 HendrickCars.com Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. From the convenience of home, customers can select the category, make, model and vehicle packages that are important to them from the nearly 30,000 new, high-quality pre-owned and certified cars, trucks and SUVs available at HendrickCars.com. The website also makes it easy for customers to find one of Hendrick Automotive Group’s 93 dealership locations nationwide.

WE’RE HIRING: Hendrick Automotive Group is hiring more than 300 technicians at its dealerships throughout the country. Positions are open for all skill levels and offer tuition and training reimbursement. Interested people can apply at HendrickCars.com.

9 CHASE ELLIOTT
Age: 25 (Nov. 28, 1995)
Hometown: Dawsonville, Georgia
Resides: Dawsonville, Georgia
Crew Chief: Alan Gustafson
Standings: 6th

No. 9 A SHOC Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE

DOMINATING DAY: Chase Elliott continued his road course dominance on Sunday at Road America, starting 34th and surging to the front to lead 24 laps and capture his second win of the 2021 season. This victory is his seventh of the last 11 road course races. The Georgia native owns the record for the most wins at different road course venues (five) and is just two wins shy of the NASCAR Cup Series all-time record (nine) set by NASCAR Hall of Famer Jeff Gordon.

PEACH STATE PERFORMANCE: Elliott has made 10 total starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway across NASCAR’s top-three levels – six in the Cup Series, two in the Xfinity Series and two in the Camping World Truck Series – and only finished outside the top 10 on three occasions. Earlier this season at the 1.5-mile track, Elliott raced from the rear of the field into the top 10 before a mechanical issue ended the No. 9 team’s day in the final stage at Atlanta.

FIRE UP THE SI-REEN: On Sunday, Elliott could become just the second Georgia-born driver to win a Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway, joining his father, NASCAR Hall of Famer Bill Elliott, who won five times at the track.

ENGINE NO. 9: This weekend, Elliott has the chance to become the third driver to win at AMS with the No. 9 car number. The five victories for the No. 9 have come with two drivers: Elliott’s father, Bill Elliott (three), and Kasey Kahne (two). Kahne collected the most recent Atlanta win for the No. 9 in June 2008.

2021 RUNDOWN: With the series heading into the 21st event of the 2021 season, Elliott has two wins – his most in a season through 20 races. He is tied for second for the most top-five finishes (nine), has 11 top-10s and led a total of 153 laps. Elliott currently sits sixth in the driver point standings, 124 points behind leader Denny Hamlin. He has garnered more wins, runner-up finishes, top-five finishes and top-10s than he collected last year at the 20-race mark.

WELCOME TO THE TEAM, A SHOC: This weekend will mark A SHOC’s first of two Cup Series primary races (Atlanta and Talladega Superspeedway) with Elliott and the No. 9 team. In January, it was announced that A SHOC, the fast-growing, performance energy beverage distributed by Keurig Dr Pepper, would join Hendrick Motorsports as a sponsor of the defending Cup champion.

CHECK OUT THAT CAN: In June, A SHOC announced the release of Elliott’s signature can that commemorates the 2020 NASCAR Cup Series champion. The limited-edition can features Elliott celebrating alongside the No. 9 A SHOC Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE that he will pilot this weekend. These special cans are available nationwide for a short time only.

GEORGIA ON MY MIND: In addition to Elliott hailing from Dawsonville, Georgia, which is just 83 miles north of AMS, No. 9 team partners NAPA AUTO PARTS, Hooters and Kelley Blue Book all have major presences in Atlanta. NAPA will serve as majority sponsor for Elliott and the No. 9 team for 25 Cup Series races this season and Hooters will return at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Road Course event in August. Cox Automotive, the parent company of team partner Kelley Blue Book, will have its first appearance as Elliott’s primary sponsor at Richmond Raceway in September.

CHAMPS GRANDSTAND: Atlanta Motor Speedway is honoring Georgia’s NASCAR Cup Series champions – Elliott, 1988 champion Bill Elliott and two-time Cup title winner Tim Flock – with championship banners that will hang in the concourse of the Champions Grandstand. Elliott’s banner, representing the 2020 championship season, will be revealed for the first time during driver introductions on Sunday.

24 WILLIAM BYRON
Age: 23 (Nov. 29, 1997)
Hometown: Charlotte, North Carolina
Resides: Charlotte, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Rudy Fugle
Standings: 3rd

No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE

BEST YEAR YET: Entering the back half of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season, William Byron is having his best season yet at the highest level of competition in the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE. So far, he has collected one win (Homestead-Miami Speedway), one pole (Road America), eight top-five finishes and 14 top-10s (tied for the most by a driver this season) all while leading 245 laps and collecting three stage wins. His eight top-five finishes are the most the 23-year-old driver has had in a season at the Cup level and his 14 top-10s tie his previous best in a season, as well.

20/20 VISION: After 20 races, Byron has been seen running in the front of the field consistently every week. The Charlotte, North Carolina, native has spent 3,854 laps running in the top 10 – the second-most in the series – and 2,147 laps in the top five – the third-most throughout the field. Byron maintains the second-best average running position in the Cup Series of 8.36 and an average finishing position of 11.05, allowing him to maintain third place in the point standings.

1.5-MILE MOMENTUM: With the Cup Series racing at five 1.5-mile tracks so far this year, Byron has finished inside the top 10 in each event, tied for the most this season with Kyle Busch. So far in 2021, the driver of the No. 24 has a 6.0 average-finishing position on tracks 1.5 miles long – the third-best behind Busch and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Kyle Larson. Even going back as far as the last nine races on 1.5-milers, Byron has secured seven top-10 finishes – tied for the second-most behind Busch and Martin Truex Jr (eight).

THE ATL ARCHIVE: With four previous Cup Series starts at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Byron had his best run at the 1.5-mile track earlier this season, starting ninth and racing to an eighth-place finish. Other than his four Cup Series starts, Byron has two other NASCAR starts at the 1.5-mile track, one in the NASCAR Xfinity Series where he finished seventh, the third-highest result of the Xfinity Series regulars. He also has one start at Atlanta in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, where he was running second before losing an engine, leaving him with a 32nd-place finish.

RUDY RUNS THE ATL: Returning to a track for the first time as a Cup Series crew chief, Rudy Fugle is ready to capitalize off the run the No. 24 team had in March earlier this year. Rolling off the grid in ninth, Byron and Fugle raced their way to a top-10 finish, crossing the finish line in eighth. Fugle also has six NASCAR Camping World Truck Series starts at Atlanta, including two pole awards and two wins. His drivers have collected four top-three finishes in six events, along with five top-10s. Fugle only has one finish worse than seventh coming with Byron in 2016 when the duo was running second before suffering an engine failure, resulting in a 32nd-place finish.

ALL ABOUT AXALTA: Returning to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the second time during the 2021 Cup Series season, Byron will climb behind the wheel of the No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Sunday’s event. However, Byron’s No. 24 will also feature Axalta’s partner Maaco, America’s Body Shop and leader in the automotive pant and collision industry. For a better look at Byron’s No. 24 Axalta Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE for Atlanta, click here.

WATCH MAACO GO: Earlier this week, Maaco announced their social media campaign “Watch Maaco Go” will run through Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. For the contest, fans can share a screenshot on social media with the hashtag #BetterGetMaaco every time they see the Maaco logo featured on the No. 24 Axalta Chevy throughout the week on social media or during on-track coverage on NBCSN. One lucky fan will be selected to win the ultimate race experience, including the TV panel off the No. 24 Chevy from the Atlanta race.

48 Alex Bowman
Age: 28 (April 25, 1993)
Hometown: Tucson, Arizona
Resides: Concord, North Carolina
Crew Chief: Greg Ives
Standings: 11th

No. 48 Ally Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE

ATLANTA STATS: Earlier this season, Alex Bowman finished third at Atlanta Motor Speedway after 325 laps in his sixth start at the facility. The driver’s best finish prior to the spring event at the 1.5-mile venue was 12th, which came from the 2020 event. On tracks measuring 1.5 miles in length, Bowman has finished in the top 10 seven times in the last nine races. The Hendrick Motorsports driver has one start there in the NASCAR Xfinity Series where he qualified 18th in 2013. In 2017, Bowman ran in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event and finished sixth after qualifying fifth.

2021 AT A GLANCE: So far this season, Bowman has three wins, five top-five finishes and 10 top-10s, which is tied for the eighth-most top-10 results in the series with Martin Truex Jr. and Tyler Reddick. The 28-year-old has led 151 laps and is currently ranked seventh in the NASCAR Cup Series playoff standings after 20 events. Bowman’s three wins this season are tied for second with Truex in the Cup Series. All five of Bowman’s Cup victories came on a different track and all three of his wins in 2021 occurred in the last 12 events.

1.5-MILE ROLL: Bowman’s last six outings at 1.5-mile tracks resulted in three top-five finishes, five top-10s and 54 laps led. He has 62 Cup starts at intermediate tracks, which include one win, six top-five finishes and 16 top-10s. Bowman’s first Cup win came in 2019 at the 1.5-mile Chicagoland Speedway after leading 88 laps. He captured three stage wins at 1.5-mile tracks in 2020, the third-most behind Denny Hamlin and Hendrick Motorsports teammate Chase Elliott.

IVES IN ATL: No. 48 crew chief Greg Ives will call the shots at Atlanta Motor Speedway for the eighth time on Sunday afternoon. The Bark River, Michigan, native has three top-five finishes at the track, which include a runner-up result with Dale Earnhardt Jr. in 2016. At the 1.5-mile facility, Ives has two career NASCAR Xfinity Series starts as a crew chief. In 2014, his driver sat on the pole for the 195-lap event and led 36 laps en route to a fifth-place finish. From 2006-2012, Ives was a race engineer for the No. 48 Hendrick Motorsports team. During that time, he was a part of two wins and one pole award at Atlanta Motor Speedway with driver Jimmie Johnson.

PIT ROAD STATS: So far in the 2021 season, the No. 48 pit crew ranks fifth for the fastest four-tire pit stop average in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team has an average four-tire stop time of 13.81. The No. 48 pit crew includes fueler Jacob Conley, tire carrier Allen Stallings, jackman Dustin Lineback, and tire changers Scott Brzozowski (front) and Devin DelRicco (rear).

IN MEMORY: This Sunday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, the four Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE race cars of Hendrick Motorsports will carry a special decal in memory of longtime team member Mark Graves, who passed away over the weekend. Graves was hired in 1984 by legendary engine builder Randy Dorton and built the engine that powered Hendrick Motorsports’ first NASCAR Cup Series race win. He retired from the team’s engine department at the end of the 2014 season.

WIN 10: On Sunday at Road America, Chase Elliott delivered Hendrick Motorsports’ 10th win in 20 NASCAR Cup Series races held thus far in 2021. The all-time record for wins at this point in a Cup Series season is 16 by Carl Kiekhafer Racing in 1956, followed by five different teams that won 10 of the first 20 on six different occasions. Hendrick Motorsports is the only organization to accomplish it twice (2007 and 2021).

ROAD BOOKENDS: Going back nearly a full season, Hendrick Motorsports has won 15 of the last 34 NASCAR Cup Series races – or 44%. The team’s roll began in August 2020 with an Elliott victory at the DAYTONA Road Course. In the prior 133 races, Hendrick Motorsports had 14 points-paying wins.

EIGHT WEEK STREAK: Including the June 13 NASCAR All-Star Race won by Kyle Larson, Hendrick Motorsports has posted a Cup Series victory in eight straight weeks, winning eight of a possible nine races. The team’s only loss in that timeframe came June 27 in the second event of the Pocono Raceway doubleheader.

TO THE POINT: In the last eight points-paying NASCAR Cup Series races, Hendrick Motorsports has won seven times, finished 1-2 four times and placed second five times. With 32 total entries in those eight events (four cars per race), the team has posted 18 top-five results and 22 top-10s. It has won 10 of 17 stages and led 1,242 of 1,578 laps (79%).

STAGE GAUGE: Hendrick Motorsports’ 16 stage wins in 2021 are the most ever by a team through the first 20 races of a season. The NASCAR Cup Series incorporated stage racing in 2017.

TRACKING INTERMEDIATES: Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway will be the sixth of the 2021 NASCAR Cup Series season on a 1.5-mile track. At the intermediate venues this year, Hendrick Motorsports leads all organizations in wins (three), pole positions (one), top-five finishes (10), top-10s (14), laps led (1,037), average finish (9.55) and stage wins (eight). Its 1,037 laps led are the most in history by a team through the first five intermediate races of a season.

ATL CONTROL: With 14 NASCAR Cup Series wins at Atlanta, Hendrick Motorsports is the track’s winningest team. It is tied with Wood Brothers Racing for the most different AMS winners (six) and has gone to victory lane in four of the last 11 races there. Jeff Gordon (five wins), Jimmie Johnson (five), Kasey Kahne, Jerry Nadeau, Ken Schrader and Darrell Waltrip have all won for car owner Rick Hendrick at the Georgia track.

LEADING ATLANTA: Hendrick Motorsports is 80 laps from breaking the Atlanta Motor Speedway track record for laps led by a team, which is held by Wood Brothers Racing (3,407 led). Most recently, Hendrick Motorsports led 271 laps there in the March 21 Cup Series event.

QUOTABLE /

Kyle Larson, driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on leading laps but finishing second at Atlanta in March: “I definitely learned a lot in the moment, but I can learn even more by rewatching the race. You learn from everything – the good races and you definitely learn from the ones you feel got away. The track will certainly be different with the temperatures and the heat, so we’ll need to learn quickly and adapt quickly so we can hopefully battle for stage wins, the race win and the playoff bonus points that goes along with that.”

Cliff Daniels, crew chief of the No. 5 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on Atlanta in July versus March: “The track will be a lot different. In March, the track temperature was not warm and the ambient air temperature was pretty mild. We’re trying to anticipate what the track will do with more sunlight exposure, a hot ambient temperature and a really hot track temperature that will take a lot of grip out of the cars, in general, and change the balance. Hopefully, we anticipate that correctly and also just make sure we manage the race correctly – not going too hard at the beginning of the run to ensure we have enough at the end of a run. I think we have learned a lot since then, so hopefully we can apply that and be really good on Sunday.”

Chase Elliott, driver of the No. 9 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on racing at his home track: “I am super excited for Atlanta this weekend for a lot of different reasons. Number one is obviously it’s my home track and that’s always an important thing for any driver – to want to do well at your hometown track. A place where you have a lot of family and friends that tend to want to go and watch and support. It just means a lot to me to be racing there. And then number two, we are bringing on a new partner this weekend with A SHOC. It’s a race, I think, we have all been really excited for and looking forward to for a while. This partnership has been a lot of fun and it’s always exciting to bring a new partner into the sport, and we just hope we can bring them in the right way and have a good run for them here in Atlanta. It is good to see them on board and I’m looking forward to a fun week down there.”

Elliott on how drivers have to adapt to Atlanta’s unique track: “You know, Cup racing at Atlanta and kind of the way it has evolved, you are saving, but you are also not. It’s really more about having your car driving really good so that you can push hard and not slip tires and that has really become the game, I feel like. It’s not as much riding around and just kind of biding your time and waiting for the last 15-20 laps of a run because you can’t make up those big chunks of time at the end of a run like you maybe could years ago. Nowadays, it’s just hard to do. It’s more about being able to push, having your car just perfect so that you can run as hard as you need to run and slip your tires the least amount as you can. That to me results in the best finish nowadays, in my opinion.”

William Byron, driver of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on returning to Atlanta: “Atlanta is typically a track where you’re always fighting loose with really limited rear grip. You’ll also have some front grip issues, as well, with the way tires wear. It’s really about managing it all throughout the run. You want to be able to wrap that white line and be good down low for as long as possible in a run. Hopefully for us, we have that grip in the car that we need.”

Byron on returning to a track in the Cup Series for the first time with crew chief Rudy Fugle: “I feel really good about going back to a track for the first time with Rudy in the Cup Series. We can really work on those little details this time that we wanted to work on before but opted to get a good baseline the first time around. So far, the things we have worked on in the simulator recently for Atlanta seem really good. I’m excited to get back there and I think we’ll run better than eighth like we did in the spring.”

Rudy Fugle, crew chief of the No. 24 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on returning to Atlanta: “I’m excited to be going back to Atlanta this weekend. I enjoy the challenge that Atlanta brings and how weather sensitive it can be. I think I’m more excited that this will be the first racetrack we’re going back to that I now have experience with the Cup cars. We formed a good baseline in the March race, and while conditions won’t be the same as it was then, I think we’re going to be rolling off the truck a lot closer to where we want to be, setup-wise. Sunday’s race will be more about executing the small details and putting the ‘full package’ together, where last time we we’re just trying to learn as much as we could as a group and find what William wanted most out of the car. I think Sunday will be a good race to show just how far this No. 24 team has come so far this season.”

Alex Bowman, driver of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on the conditions at Atlanta: “Going to Atlanta this weekend, it is going to be a super hot and slick for 400 miles. It’ll be a good time. I think Atlanta is a great racetrack. We had a good run there earlier this year and ended up third. We need a good solid finish this weekend and the No. 48 Ally team has been working hard on our intermediate Chevrolet.”

Greg Ives, crew chief of the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE, on the strategies at Atlanta: “Atlanta has been a good track for our team. We have been able to come out of there with some good runs. The track has some high tire fall off, but you are going to have some teams short pitting and other strategies going on throughout the field.”

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
NASCAR Zoom Media Availability | Wednesday, July 7, 2021

CHASE BRISCOE, No. 14 Ford Performance Racing School Ford Mustang — YOU ARE RUNNING THE TRUCK RACE IN KNOXVILLE AND THE CUP RACE IN ATLANTA. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? “I’m definitely excited to get to Knoxville, the sprint car capital of the world, so excited to go there. I’m really excited to see how Knoxville races in the Truck Series. I think it’s gonna be a really good layout for the trucks and just kind of how the stock cars react on dirt. I think that will be a really good track. I Eldora is almost the perfect track for those, but if the track is prepped right, Knoxville could be something that we haven’t seen in a long time on dirt in the stock car with a big cushion and things like that, so I’m excited to get there. Anytime I can go run on the dirt it’s always a good time and it’s fun to go run with the Roper guys. They’re a small group, a really small team out of Texas and just a really fun group of guys to go race with, so I’m excited to get over there and hopefully give them a really good run and then obviously head back to Atlanta and see how we do. That’s gonna be the first time we went back to a track for a second time this year, so trying to just use that to our advantage and try to capitalize on that.”

DO YOU HAVE TO DO ANYTHING DIFFERENT TO PREPARE SINCE YOUR CREW CHIEF IS OUT FOR ATLANTA? “No, I don’t think so. I don’t think the preparation, at least from my side, doesn’t really change anything. I know from their side it will probably change a little bit just from a communication standpoint, but I’ve been in this situation quite a bit with Boswell last year and Zippy being on the box. It happened in the truck series when we had a tire come off, so I’ve ran without my crew chief quite a bit and it seems like I’ve always had a lot of success when that happens for whatever reason, so I feel like with today’s technology and the things that we have back at the shop with being able to communicate with the racetrack it’s really not as big of a deal as it used to be, especially with no practice. When you had practice, it would definitely make things a bit more challenging, but just showing up and doing the race I don’t think it’s necessarily — it doesn’t hurt your performance, I feel like, like it could if you have practice and all these things.”

SHR POSTED THE PHOTO OF YOU AFTER THE RACE. WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THAT? WERE YOU TOTALLY SPENT? “I was kind of bummed they posted it. It’s obviously not the greatest pic in the world, but I poured water on my head. Honestly, I wasn’t that bad after the race. I felt like I could have kept going. The biggest thing was just the heat. None of my cooling stuff really worked that race for whatever reason. My cool shirt didn’t and my helmet blower didn’t either, so I just turned it off for probably the last 30-40 laps. It was definitely hot inside the car, but from a physical side I didn’t feel like I was giving up anything, so I poured water all over my head. It was obviously a hot day in Wisconsin and it’s gonna be the same this weekend in Atlanta, so just trying to be as well-prepared as I can be from a hydration standpoint, especially with running two races.”

WHAT IS THE BENEFIT OF RUNNING BOTH RACES? “I grew up dirt racing, so, for me, anytime I can go back and run dirt, I want to do it. It’s something I really enjoy doing. It’s a passion of mine, so, for me, I want to be able to go and run the dirt races that NASCAR has and just, I guess, give my support of it because I think it’s something great for the sport. I think it’s something that we need in NASCAR is to have that gap in between the dirt stuff and the NASCAR world, so, for me, that’s something as long as I can always do it, I’m gonna go run every dirt race I can that’s in NASCAR and outside of that I just think you’re a better race car driver whenever you’re racing. Even last weekend, going and running the sprint car on Thursday night and then running Road America I felt like it just made me sharper. Even though the cars are totally different and the discipline is different, you’re always learning as a race car driver, so, for me, just being able to race as much as I can, especially with how we don’t have practice anymore — just getting any seat time is better than sitting at home in my opinion. So, that’s kind of the thought process in going to Knoxville and, like I said, I really enjoy dirt racing, especially in the truck stuff. It’s a lot of fun, so I’ll go over there and see if we can give the Roper guys a good run.”

WHY DOES NASCAR NEED THAT? “To me, at least in the Cup Series for example, the Cup Series guys are considered the best in the U.S. or wherever you want to say, and if they are the best I want to see them challenge every discipline. We have a short track. We have a road course. We have a superspeedway. We have a mile-and-a-half, and we didn’t have a dirt track for the longest time and growing up as a race car driver, you’re typically either a short track racer, a road course guy or a dirt guy. In the past, the dirt guys haven’t been able to go to their discipline and let other people try it. Instead, we’ve been going into other peoples’ discipline, so I just think it’s important to have that dirt race, or at least one, for that reason and then outside of that I think it’s just really good for the sport, especially these last couple years with Larson running as many sprint car races as he has and other guys going and doing that. I feel like you’ve seen more sprint car people that in the past wouldn’t really watch NASCAR, but now they do because they have people to cheer for or root for on the NASCAR side, and the same with NASCAR people that probably would have never watched a sprint car race, now they can watch guys that they watch on Sunday go race sprint cars at the local track or whatever and it gives them a reason to go that they probably wouldn’t have gone if it wasn’t for that. So, I think it’s just a really good crossover for our sport and sprint car racing or dirt track racing in general. The more fans that we can get, the better, I think, for all involved.”

WILL THIS BE YOUR FIRST TIME IN A CUP CAR AT NEW HAMPSHIRE IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS? “Yeah, I’m probably not the best guy to ask. I’ve only been there twice, once in a truck and once in the Xfinity car and it’s definitely, I wouldn’t say my favorite racetrack, but I don’t have a lot of experience there either. I don’t really know what to expect going into that weekend. It’s one that I would obviously love to have some practice at just to get more laps because it’s been over two years since I’ve been able to race there, so I’m sure that will be a little bit of a challenge. I’m excited that it’s a 750 race. It’s one of the low downforce races and I feel like as a company that’s kind of where we’re better right now and as a driver I just enjoy going and running the low downforce, high horsepower stuff more. It reminds me a lot more of the Xfinity car and it’s just easier for me to kind of translate over from the last couple years, so I think New Hampshire is always tough just because from a balance standpoint you’ve got to be free enough to roll through the corner, but you can’t be too loose in at least from what little experience I have there, so it’ll definitely be a challenge going up there and one I’m really looking forward to.”

HOW ARE YOU CHALLENGED AS A DRIVER AT ATLANTA? “I would say Atlanta is probably, to me at least, the hardest place to just go around by yourself. It’s just extremely challenging to do the same thing twice. The grip level is literally different from lap one to lap two, quite drastically truthfully, and it’s just a lot of hard work from a standpoint of the car never wants to do what you’re wanting it to do. It’s not gonna have grip. It almost feels like you’re on ice at all times and it would be like taking an exit ramp in the middle of an ice storm and you’re trying to drive it at 150 miles an hour. It just doesn’t want to stick. It doesn’t want to do anything you want it to do, and it just wants to slide you right off of it and it’s the same at Atlanta. It’s bittersweet that we’re not gonna have that anymore. It’s a great racetrack from a driver’s standpoint because it is so challenging and as a driver when you go to Atlanta you feel like you can make a difference, where some of these places we go you’re kind of stuck at what your car is, where Atlanta you can normally pick off a couple more spots if your car is off just by being able to kind of hang it out and find speed. So, it’s a really challenging place. Obviously, in the heat it’s even tough, just a lot less grip. From a physical side, I would say for all the ovals it’s for sure probably the hardest just because you are constantly working the wheel. It’s back and forth and you’re countersteering almost more than you’re turning left there, so it’s just a lot of work from the steering side of things and also the pedals — how much you’re on the gas, out of the gas, on the brake, it’s unlike any other mile-and-a-half we have and obviously going forward it’s gonna be unlike any other mile-and-a-half we have, but on a totally different spectrum, so it’ll definitely be a bittersweet weekend knowing that we aren’t gonna have that anymore, but I think fans and drivers alike are really gonna appreciate this weekend just knowing that it’ll be the last time we’re gonna be able to slip and slide around at Atlanta like we have in the past.”

HOW OFTEN DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU’RE ABOUT TO CRASH AT ATLANTA OR YOUR BREATH GET TAKEN AWAY? “It really just depends on your car, but I feel like I’ve been there in Xfinity where I’m leading the race by quite a bit you’re still on the verge of crashing it seems like at any point. You’re just always out of control there, especially off of two and into three. It’s just all over the place. It’s really, really challenging and even with the high downforce stuff, it’s unlike anywhere else we go with the high downforce because you are slipping and sliding around and this shows how abrasive that racetrack is and how little of grip it actually has, so it’s very circumstantial to your car, I feel like. If your car is handling really bad, it’s every corner — literally the whole time you’re going around there except for the straightaway it feels like you can crash, but even when you’re really, really good there I feel like a guy who is leading the race, even Larson earlier this year, I’m sure he was still having to work hard even though hie was 15 seconds ahead and that’s the fun thing about going to Atlanta.”

WOULD THE KNOXVILLE NATIONALS BE SOMETHING YOU WOULD LIKE TO DO? “Truthfully, I didn’t grow up really wing racing. I bet I have less than 20 wing starts and I know going to Knoxville I would be out to lunch. Those guys are so good at what they do and, for me, I don’t really have any desire to go run big half-mile stuff. For me, I just enjoy doing the little bullring stuff, the real tight tracks. The half-mile stuff is just a different type of racing for me in the sprint car, so I enjoy the little bullring stuff. I would love to do more of that, but I won’t enter the Nationals. It would be something I would love to do at some point in my career, but, truthfully, with only having 20 starts in a winged sprint car I don’t feel like I would be doing myself any justice going there and trying to run, and even if I found a team I just feel like I wouldn’t be as best prepared as I could be if I showed up and I hadn’t raced a winged sprint car for three years until last week and you just can’t show up to that race without being on top of your game. So, maybe one year, like I said, I would love to run up there, but it definitely won’t be this year.”

CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE PANIC AT THE BRISCOE DECKLID IN THE TRUCK SERIES AND HOW IT CAME ABOUT? “A lot of people probably don’t even know what we’re talking about, but I’ve been on Reddit now for probably two or three years and always been on the NASCAR Reddit and I would be on there and just read stuff forever and just read about the rumors coming out, or what’s going on in the sport, what the fan’s take is and I finally just decided to make an account and just started interacting all the time. I’m on Reddit probably more than any other app, I would say, especially from just a fan side of things, communicating. I’m in the most random things on the NASCAR Reddit just commenting a lot of the time. The moderators over there, this weekend at Knoxville, I guess I should back up a little bit, my Knoxville truck is sponsored by Circle B Diecast and you could spend money to get your name on the truck and I guess the moderators at the NASCAR Reddit wanted to put on there something about being from the NASCAR Reddit page and nascarasm had put something way back when, probably about a year-and-a-half ago or two years ago, like a fake concert poster with all the drivers names and instead of Panic at the Disco, he put Panic at the Briscoe, so the Reddit people thought it was pretty funny and decided they were gonna put it on my truck this week, so it caught me off guard. They told me they were gonna do something on there. I just figured they would say ‘Your friends from NASCAR on Reddit’ or something along those lines and I saw that on there and it’s bigger than everything else, so it’s pretty funny to have them on there and there are a lot of people that are on the sub Reddit that have paid to have their name on the truck, so hopefully I can give all of them a really good run this week in Knoxville. It would be cool to get it in Victory Lane, for sure.”

ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO USING ATLANTA AS A TEST TO SEE IF SHR IS GOING IN A BETTER DIRECTION COMPARED TO WHAT YOU HAD THERE IN THE SPRING? “Yeah, I think it’s definitely a good reference point to be able to now go back to a track for the second time and see if we’ve improved in the areas that we kind of struggled with the first time. I would say we for sure made gains from where we were in the beginning of the year, but until you go back you don’t really know, so for us, at least on the 14 team, I felt like Atlanta was probably our worst race of the year from a balance and just a speed standpoint, so I’m very anxious to kind of see how we stack up this week. We’re gonna have a lot better track position from the starting position standpoint than we’ve really ever had this year, so trying to just capitalize on that. Like you were saying, our cars have definitely gotten better, but we don’t know how much better it’s gonna be at Atlanta. It’s kind of its own unique racetrack in a sense of the 550 package, so hopefully we’ll be good. Like I said, track position I think will go a long way and I feel like as a driver I’ve come a long way since the first Atlanta race, so hopefully we can just continue to build on these last couple of weeks and have a good run and just get out of there and try to improve on that first race and kind of see where we are from there.”

IS A 400-MILE RACE NOTICEABLY DIFFERENT FROM A 500-MILE RACE AND WILL 400 MILES AT ATLANTA BE A GOOD THING? “Yeah, I’m probably not the best one to answer that just because I still don’t have a ton of experience even with the 500 or the 400-mile races, but I know the Atlanta 500-mile race felt super long earlier this year, probably one of the longest ones. Sonoma was the longest feeling race and then Atlanta was after that, so I’m glad that it’s 100 miles less because it definitely was a long day, especially like I was saying, our car earlier this year was just off from a speed and balance standpoint, so that makes it seem even longer whenever you’re in there for that extra 100 miles. It doesn’t really change a ton inside the car. Like your mentality I don’t think changes at all that it’s 100 miles shorter. I don’t think the intensity level is any different, but I guess it just goes by a little bit quicker, but it’s gonna be super hot this weekend, so I guess I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t glad it was 400 instead of 500 this weekend.”

WHAT DID YOU THINK OF ATLANTA REPAVING, INCREASING THE BANKING AND NARROWING THE WIDTH OF THE TRACK? “I would say that it caught me off guard. I didn’t necessarily see that one coming. I figured it was just gonna be a repave, and I wish — like I think a lot of the drivers, we all wish that they would kind of ask us some of our opinions just because we feel like we can kind of give them the best direction to go. I think there’s a fine line of kind of doing what’s best for us and what’s best for the fans. I think at the end of the day we want what’s best for both of us. I don’t think any of us necessarily enjoy going and running wide-open, but we also know that when we’re slipping and sliding around as much as we have in the past at Atlanta, it’s not typically the best racing. So, I think, for us, at least if I had a vote in what was gonna get built or re-done, I would want something kind of like Homestead. I think that’s a really great racetrack for drivers and fans. It seems like all the fans always like when we go there and as a driver it’s a place you have a lot of fun at, so I wish they would have talked to us — not even me, I’m a rookie. I wish they would have talked to the veteran guys and kind of got their opinion. I feel like going forward that could be something that would be beneficial for everybody. They don’t even have to necessarily take our opinion, but at least just listen to it and maybe they can see some things that we say and take it into account and maybe they like some of our ideas and maybe they don’t, but I think it would be beneficial to at least talk to us because we do have a different set of eyes or viewpoint on it than somebody just watching a race. We’re down there and at the end of the day we have to be the ones that can put on a show and the track has to be able to produce a good show and I think some of that goes back to dirt racing. You can have the best dirt track in the world, but if it’s not prepped right from a water standpoint, how you till it, all of those things, the racing is not gonna be good because the track has to be prepared right, and it’s the same, I think, when you go reconfigure a place. I don’t know if any of us know what this place is gonna race like yet, obviously, but it would be nice, I guess, to just kind of get some of the driver’s opinions on it and kind of see what we all thought.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY KIND OF FEEL OF HOW THE NEXT GEN CAR WILL DRIVE ANYWHERE? “No, from what I’ve been told it’s definitely gonna be different from what we have right now, but I think when they went and did tests with it, it’s probably quite a bit different than what it’s gonna be. They came so far in a pretty short amount of time and everything it seems like seems to change every time they go test it they’re trying different things and ways to make it better. I think all of us are very curious to see what it’s gonna drive like, especially in a pack and all these things, so it’s gonna be very interesting at the Daytona 500, that’s for sure. For that to be the first race is gonna be a lot of pressure, so hopefully it’s a good show and I know that they look cool sitting there. I’m anxious to see how they drive and hopefully I can be one of the guys that gets to a test session here soon.”

COLE CUSTER
Atlanta Advance
No. 41 Code 3 Associates Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview
● Event: Atlanta 400 (Round 21 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 11
● Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway
● Layout: 1.54-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 260 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stages 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 80 laps / Final Stage: 100 laps
● TV/Radio: NBCSN / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● For 51 seasons – from 1960 through 2010 – the NASCAR Cup Series raced twice a year at Atlanta Motor Speedway before scaling back to just one annual visit from 2011 through 2020. This weekend, Cole Custer and the No. 41 Code 3 Associates Ford Mustang team for Stewart-Haas Racing (SHR) join their Cup Series counterparts for a second 2021 event at the 1.54-mile oval during Sunday’s Atlanta 400. When the series last visited there in March for the sixth event of the season, Custer started 27th and finished 18th.

● Riding along with Custer and the No. 41 team for the first time this season will be longtime SHR partner Code 3 Associates, which has been a hero to animals for more than 30 years. If disaster strikes, Code 3 will deploy its Animal Rescue Team to help in emergencies like hurricanes, fires and floods. Since April 21, fans have had the opportunity to see their name featured on the No. 41 Code 3 Associates Ford this weekend. The fundraising campaign generated $4,100 in donations and, as a result, the names of 90 donors will appear on the decklid of Custer’s racecar.

● Sunday’s 400-mile race will be Custer’s milestone 60th Cup Series start and his third at Atlanta. In his first Cup Series start there in June 2020, Custer posted a 19th-place finish.

● In his three Atlanta starts in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, Custer’s best was his most recent, when he qualified his No. 00 SHR Ford on the pole and finished second by .191 of a second to Christopher Bell in the February 2019 race. Custer finished 10th in his Atlanta Xfinity Series debut in 2017 before returning in 2018 to qualify fourth but seeing his race end early after a lap-10 accident.

● Custer first appearance at Atlanta came in the February 2016 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race, when he started sixth and finished 17th in the No. 00 entry for JR Motorsports.

● After his 17th-place finish in last weekend’s inaugural Cup Series race at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Custer arrives at Atlanta 28th in the driver standings.

● Code 3 Associates is dedicated to providing professional animal disaster response and resources to communities, as well as providing professional training to individuals and agencies involved in animal related law enforcement and emergency response. The organization’s mission is accomplished through hands-on animal rescue and care operations during disaster events, and through its certified animal welfare training seminars, which include animal cruelty training for investigators.

● As announced during the annual Coca-Cola 600 Memorial Day weekend, Custer and the team encourage fans to join Wow Wow Classic Waffles in support of Feeding America®, the largest hunger relief organization in the United States with a network of 200 food banks and 60,000 food pantries and meal programs. Fans are encouraged to text HUNGER to 50555 to make a $5 donation to Feeding America®, by visiting the Feeding America® donation page on Facebook, or the donation page via the Feeding America® website. Each $1 donated helps provide at least 10 meals secured by Feeding America® on behalf of local member food banks.

Cole Custer, Driver of the No. 41 Code 3 Associates Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Aside from the doubleheader weekend at Pocono, Atlanta is the first track you’re visiting for a second time in 2021. How will you benefit from your experience there in March?

“Well, our race in March definitely was not the result we wanted, but I still called it a solid day in a lot of respects. We made improvements on our Mustang all day but just couldn’t get going on the restarts. It’s a tough track to get your car right. Going back there a second time is going to be great for the series. It’s going to be hotter this weekend than it was in March so we’re going to get more of what we’re used to at Atlanta – a hot, slick track. We’ll just apply everything we learned from March and some past races at Atlanta to figure out how we can improve.”

You had a pretty good track record at Atlanta when you were full-time in the Xfinity Series. What do you like about the track?

“It has definitely been a pretty good track to me in the past. I think all of the worn-out racetracks have been good for me and are so fun to race. Being able to manage tire fall-off, and slipping and sliding around, and being able to do a lot of different things with the car. I’m looking forward to going back again. We’ve continued to learn a lot about the 550 horsepower package since we’ve started, so I think we can definitely capable of going there and having a strong run. Hopefully this is the week we can put it all together and have a strong run, compete for a top-10 and have a good finish. I think we’ve put a lot of work into it. We’ll see what happens this weekend.”

Code 3 Associates will be riding along with you for the first time, and there will be the names of 90 people who donated to the organization on the decklid of your racecar. How special is that for you?

“First of all, I want to say thanks to everyone who participated in the fundraiser. I love animals of all kinds and the work that Code 3 Associates does whenever disasters happen is definitely unique and incredible. They’ve been with Stewart-Haas for quite some time and it’s a privilege to have Code 3 Associates on my racecar this weekend with the names of all those donors. I hope to go out and give them a solid finish at Atlanta this weekend.”

Roush Fenway Weekly Advance | Atlanta

The NASCAR Cup Series schedule heads back to Georgia this weekend as Atlanta Motor Speedway hosts its second race of the 2021 season. Jack Roush has 13 wins all-time at AMS, including six in the Cup Series.

NASCAR Cup Series Race at Atlanta
Sunday, July 11 at 3:30 p.m. ET
NBCSN, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

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

Road America Recap, Atlanta Preview

· Buescher advanced to the final round of Sunday’s qualifying session at Road America and went on to finish 18th in the Fastenal Ford.
· Newman finished 32nd in the Kohler Generators Ford at the 4+ mile course.
· Fastenal returns to Buescher’s machine this weekend in Atlanta.
· Oscar Mayer is on board with Newman and together they will run the brand’s new logo for the first time across the car and additional No. 6 team assets.

Buescher, No. 17 Team Confident Entering Weekend

Buescher and the No. 17 team’s last outing at AMS was a good one, as they finished 7th in March. Just three weeks prior to that at Homestead – a track very similar to Atlanta – Buescher led 57 laps and won the first stage of the race, giving the team a solid notebook entering this weekend’s action.

Consistency is Key

Ryan Newman has been consistent at Atlanta in his last three races, recording finishes of 13th-14th-13th dating back to 2019. He and the No. 6 team most recently came from near the back of the pack this spring and drove to 13th at a track he has nine top-10s at all-time in 29 Cup starts. In fact, his last nine races at Atlanta include finishes of fifth (2013), seventh (2014), 10th (2015), and the three-straight top-15s.

Roush Fenway at Atlanta

Roush Fenway has 267 total starts at AMS in the three major NASCAR touring series, totaling 13 wins, 59 top-fives, 111 top-10s and 9 poles, while leading 3,154 laps and turning over 103,000 miles. The team has 186 starts in NCS action with six wins and 72 top-10s with four poles.

AMS/Roush Fenway History

Roush Fenway competed in its first NASCAR event at AMS on March 20, 1988, finishing 31st after getting

involved in an early crash. Just three years later the organization claimed its first win there in the fall of ‘91 with the No. 6 Ford. Roush Fenway won its first of seven NXS races at the track in the spring of ’97. Roush Fenway’s top outing at AMS came in the fall of 2005, when the organization placed four cars inside the top seven, with three cars finishing in the top five including race winner Carl Edwards. Altogether in the two races at AMS in 2005, Roush Fenway posted six top-five finishes and two wins.

Spring Forward

All but one of Roush Fenway’s Cup wins at AMS came in the fall, with the only spring win coming

in 2005. Three of RFR’s seven NXS wins came in the fall.

Roush Fenway Atlanta Wins
1991-2 Martin Cup
1994-2 Martin Cup
1997-1 Martin NXS
1998-2 Martin NXS
2000-1 Martin NXS
2002-2 Busch Cup
2005-1 Edwards Cup
2005-1 Edwards NXS
2005-2 Edwards Cup
2008-1 Kenseth NXS
2008-2 Edwards Cup
2011 Edwards NXS
2012 Stenhouse NXS

CHASE BRISCOE
Atlanta Advance
No. 14 One Cure Ford Mustang for Stewart-Haas Racing

Event Overview
● Event: Atlanta 400 (Round 21 of 36)
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. ET on Sunday, July 11
● Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway
● Layout: 1.54-mile oval
● Laps/Miles: 260 laps/400 miles
● Stage Lengths: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 80 laps / Final Stage: 100 laps

● TV/Radio: NBCSN / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest

● Chase Briscoe and the No. 14 Stewart-Haas Racing team earned their second top-10 finish of the season last Sunday at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. Both of Briscoe’s top-10s have been earned on road courses with the first coming at Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas.

● Sunday’s race at Atlanta Motor Speedway marks Briscoe’s second Cup Series start at the 1.54-mile oval and the first time he’s revisited a track on the schedule, with the exception of the Pocono Raceway doubleheader. When the NASCAR Cup Series visited Atlanta in March, Briscoe started 24th and finished 23rd in just his sixth Cup Series start. Though the team struggled to find the right balance throughout the race, by the time the checkered flag waved, Briscoe felt like the team had improved enough to run up front in this weekend’s return.

● One Cure returns to the No. 14 Ford Mustang for its first race of the 2021 season at Atlanta. The One Cure project is led by the Flint Animal Cancer Center at Colorado State University with a mission to find a cancer cure through research benefiting man’s best friend. It is founded on the principle that cancer affects all creatures and that treatment breakthroughs come through collaboration between scientists and doctors working with people and animals. This approach is known as comparative oncology and it is the guiding concept of One Cure and the Flint Animal Cancer Center. The center works to improve prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer in pets, and teams with the human medical field to translate research findings that will help people with cancer.The center, located in Colorado State’s James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital, sees more than 1,500 new animal cancer patients every year, with approximately 130 of them enrolled in carefully monitored clinical trials specific to their cancer type. The canine and feline patients are helping pioneer cancer research, moving cutting-edge treatments out of the laboratory and into clinical practice, ultimately providing hope for the next generation of animal and human cancer patients.

● Briscoe has three NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Atlanta with a best finish of ninth in 2020. The native of Mitchell, Indiana, also made a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series start at the track in 2017, starting fourth and finishing 25th.

● Before taking to the track at Atlanta, Briscoe will return to the Truck Series for the third time this year to compete in the No. 04 CircleBDiecast.com Ford F-150 for Roper Racing Friday night at Knoxville (Iowa) Raceway. The former dirt racer has competed in four previous Truck Series races on dirt surfaces, collecting three top-fives and a win at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio in 2017. In the Truck Series’ most recent dirt race at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Briscoe started 33rd and finished fifth.

● Following his second top-10 finish at Road America, Briscoe gained two spots in the driver championship and is now 23rd. He continues to lead the Rookie of the Year standings by 139 points over Anthony Alfredo and has been the highest finishing rookie contender in 16 races to date.

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

For the first time this season, you get to return to a track that you’ve already raced at in the Cup Series. What does that do for your confidence?

“I’m pretty excited. We weren’t exactly our best earlier this year at Atlanta. That was probably one of our worst tracks this year. But it’ll be nice to go and know the feel I need the car to have and to know what to expect when I go into turn one on lap one of the race. Having decent track position to start will also help, so I’m definitely looking forward to having another shot at it. It’s another one of my favorite tracks and I think we’ll be able to have a chance to come out with a good finish.”

Will you go back to Atlanta with a completely new setup, or did you find something that worked in the first race?

“We’ll for sure go back with something different. We tried to figure out what worked last time but we’re going to have something different. Truthfully, I’m a dramatically different racecar driver than I was at that point of the year. I feel a lot more confident and know what I need in the car. For us, we should be better going back this time. You never really know until you get there, but I do think it will be a lot easier. Track position at the start is so key in these Cup Series races. You kind of end up running the speed of the cars you’re around, so starting 11th will hopefully help us.”

You’ve been doing more racing outside the Cup Series – a few Truck Series races, and you have some dirt races on the schedule. Explain how that can help you improve on Sunday.

“Doing more racing, I feel like, has made me sharper when I get in the Cup car. Whether it’s running the Sprint car last week in Wisconsin before Road America, or the truck which I’ll run at Knoxville this week, I just think it’s really been helping me stay on my game. They are absolutely different disciplines, but I feel like there’s a lot of crossover. In Sprint cars, you’re having to work with a lot of tire spin and you have to be able to finesse the car in those situations, which you then deal with on road courses. There are things that I can apply when we go to tracks like Atlanta that are hot and slick when the car is sliding around. You have to be able to control it.”

KYLE BUSCH
Heating Up For The Summer

HUNTERSVILLE, North Carolina (July 7, 2021) – With the summer swing in full effect for the NASCAR Cup Series, Kyle Busch has been heating up in the NASCAR Cup Series as he heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway on Sunday.

Busch, driver of the No. 18 SKITTLES Gummies Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing (JGR), has posted three consecutive top-three finishes as he comes off a strong third-place run in Skittles colors this past weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. In fact, Busch has posted five top-five finishes in his last seven races, including his second win of the season two weekends ago at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway.

Busch and the SKITTLES Gummies team have found the summer stretch more to their liking as the Las Vegas native continues to jell and grow with first-year crew chief Ben Beshore and a mostly new lineup. The pairing of Busch and Beshore took a huge step forward in the first stop this season at Atlanta, when they were able to overcome a speeding penalty to bring home a fifth-place finish there back in March. The team showed a lot of speed on the 1.54.-mile oval, which they used as a springboard to better finishes, including their first win together at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City in May.

Busch returns to the racetrack this weekend where the winning for him began with JGR in 2008. That was his first year with JGR, and he headed to Atlanta for the fourth Cup Series race of the season aiming to bring home the maiden victory for the team’s two new partners – Mars Wrigley and Toyota. After leading a race-high 173 laps, Busch broke through for the first time in NASCAR’s top series for Toyota, which was in its second year of Cup Series competition and its first year with JGR. Busch added an Atlanta Cup Series win in 2013 to go with seven top-five finishes and 10 top-10s at the 1.54-mile oval during his career.

The two-time Cup Series champion will have SKITTLES onboard for the second week in a row, with SKITTLES Gummies on the Cup Series car for the first time this season, but they did add a win together back in May at Circuit of Americas in Austin, Texas in the NASCAR Xfinity Series race. SKITTLES Gummies are available to fans in stores nationwide.

So, as the Cup Series heads back to Atlanta yet again this weekend, Busch and the SKITTLES Gummies team look to take lessons from their 2008 and 2013 race wins and their top-five finish this past March on the lightning-fast oval and bring home a third Cup Series win at the track. It would be extra sweet – the milestone 60th of Busch’s Cup Series career.

KYLE BUSCH, Driver of the No. 18 SKITTLES Gummies Toyota Camry for Joe Gibbs Racing:

You’ve been very strong on 1.5-mile ovals so far this year. What are your expectations this weekend?

“Our expectations are always focused on winning. I feel like we’ve been very good with the 550 (horsepower) package this year. We ran really well at Atlanta earlier this year and may have had a shot to win the race if not for a pit-road speeding penalty. Atlanta was the first weekend of the year I felt like we had a lot of speed, and Ben (Beshore, crew chief) and the team keep getting better each week. Really looking forward to this weekend at Atlanta with our SKITTLES Gummies Camry. It’s going to be hot and slick out there, so a bit different than it was there in the spring. We’ll see how it plays out and hopefully we can get another shot at a win there.”

What are your memories of racing at Atlanta?

“I’ve won a few Truck Series races there. That was fun. I won for the first time in an Xfinity race there a few years ago, so that was very cool. I finished second three or four times, so it had been an Achilles heel for me, I guess. The Cup races there, I’ve either been really good or really bad, it seems. There have been times where I’ve been really good throughout the event. I don’t know what it is, but I just can’t seem to keep the grip in my car for the long haul, as long as you need to throughout a run.”

What are your expectations going to Atlanta?

“Atlanta is one of those places where anything can happen and we’ll definitely have to be on our toes there this weekend with our SKITTLES Gummies Camry. You have to have good grip there, you have to have good (tire) fall-off – you have to be fast to start a run, yet you don’t want to fall off more than anybody else. So you have to take care of your stuff and bide your time a little bit. That lends itself to options by the driver to either push hard early (in the run) or save a little and be there late.”

With the way the racing is on the 1.5-mile and 2-mile ovals, are you doing anything differently with the aero on those types of tracks?

“It’s the same for everybody. You’re trying to shut off the guy behind you. You’re trying to shut his air off. That’s why the blocking is so bad, even at some of these places. The guys out front, they’ll mirror drive wherever the heck you’re going to make sure they shut your air off so you have to get out of the gas and stay out of the gas and lose momentum, and they can get a gap on you so they don’t have to deal with you again. As soon as you sort of lose that lead draft, if you’re not fast enough to catch back up to that guy in front of you, then you just continually seem to lose ground.”

Event Overview:

● Event: Quaker State 400
● Time/Date: 3:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 11
● Location: Atlanta Motor Speedway
● Layout: 1.54-mile oval

● Laps/Miles: 260 laps/400 miles
● Format: Stage 1: 80 laps / Stage 2: 80 laps / Final Stage: 100 laps
● TV/Radio: NBCSN / PRN / SiriusXM NASCAR Radio

Notes of Interest:

● Well Above Average: Busch leads the way in average finish so far this season on 1.5-mile ovals. In the five races completed on 1.5-mile tracks, Busch has an average finish of 4.4, with the next-best driver Kyle Larson at a 5.4 average finish. Just six drivers have an average finish in the single digits on those tracks this season.

● Previous Playoff Points: Busch has accumulated 13 important playoff points he can take with him through each round. Busch also currently sits fifth in the point standings with 14 top-five finishes and 20 top-10s with just seven regular-season races remaining before the playoffs begin.

● Adding to 100: Busch picked up his 101st win in the NASCAR Xfinity Series last weekend at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. He’ll look to add to his win total this weekend as he’ll strap in behind the wheel of the No. 54 EXTRA Gum Supra on Saturday at Atlanta. It will be Busch’s final Xfinity Series race of the season.

● Five for Five?: With Busch entering his fifth and final Xfinity Series race of the season this weekend in Atlanta, Busch is shooting to go a perfect five-for-five in the win column. The 2009 Xfinity Series champion and all-time wins leader has won this year’s races at Circuit of the Americas in Austin Texas, Texas Motor Speedway in Fort Worth (his milestone 100th) and Nashville (Tenn.) Superspeedway before last weekend’s win at Road America.

● Alone in Ninth: With his win two weekends ago at Pocono, Busch sits at 59 career wins in NASCAR’s top series as he moved past Kevin Harvick into sole possession of ninth on the all-time win list. Next up on the win list is Dale Earnhardt, the seven-time Cup Series champion and NASCAR Hall of Famer who won 76 races during his storied career.

● 221 and Counting: Busch will be aiming to add to his record 221 overall wins among NASCAR’s top three series this weekend at Atlanta. In addition to his 59 Cup Series wins and 101 in the Xfinity Series, Busch has 61 wins in the Camping World Truck Series.

Matt DiBenedetto and the No. 21 Mustang will be carrying the colors of the title sponsor of Sunday’s Quaker State 400 at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

DiBenedetto and his Mustang, which also will be representing long-time backer Menards, will be making their final appearance on a racing surface – and a configuration – that has been in use since 1997. After Sunday’s race the track will be repaved, and the banking in the turns will be increased from 24 degrees to 28, making it the steepest of any intermediate track on the Cup Series circuit. The banking on the straightaways will remain at five degrees.

The width of the racing surface will be reduced from 55 feet to 52 feet on the frontstretch, 42 on the backstretch and 40 in the turns.

AMS officials say the changes are intended to make the racing closer and more competitive.

DiBenedetto, like most of his peers, is a fan of the current layout and its worn, abrasive asphalt.

“I’m definitely looking forward to the Quaker State 400,” he said. “It will be memorable since it’s the final race on the old, fun asphalt before the repave.

“We have had good speed at Atlanta, so this is one we are definitely looking forward to.”

DiBenedetto also is hoping to deliver a strong performance for his sponsors, which is a goal every week but a bit different this time with one of his sponsors in a dual role.

“It’s a big weekend with Menards and Quaker State,” he said.

DiBenedetto and the Menards/Quaker State team are coming off their best run in two months, a 10th-place finish after leading 10 laps at Road America. They are hoping to keep the good times rolling in Atlanta, which is hosting a second Cup race for the first time since 2010, when the track lost one of its two long-held race dates.

“We have really good momentum going as a team with [crew chief] Jonathan Hassler, myself and the team working really well together,” he said.

There will be no qualifying or practice before the start of Sunday’s race. DiBenedetto, who finished 11th at AMS in March, will line up 12th, a spot he and the team earned through their strong run at Road America.

The 260-lap Quaker State 400, which will have Stage breaks at Laps 80 and 160, is set to start just after 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time. TV coverage will be carried by NBCSN.

Menards

A family-owned and run company started in 1958, Menards is recognized as the retail home center leader of the Midwest with 236 stores in 15 states. Menards is truly a one-stop shop for all of your home improvement needs featuring a full-service lumberyard and everything you need to plan a renovation or build a home, garage, cabin, shed, deck, fence or post frame building. Menards is known for friendly Customer Service and as the place to “Save Big Money” with low prices every day, and sales too! For more information, please visit Menards.com to learn about our store locations, offerings and services.

Wood Brothers Racing

Wood Brothers Racing was formed in 1950 in Stuart, Va., by Hall of Famer Glen Wood. Wood Brothers Racing is the oldest active team and one of the winningest teams in NASCAR history. Since its founding, the team won 99 races (including at least one race in every decade for the last seven decades) and 120 poles in NASCAR’s top-tier series. Fielding only Ford products for its entire history, the Wood Brothers own the longest association of any motorsports team with a single manufacturer. Glen’s brother, Leonard, is known for inventing the modern pit stop. The team currently runs the Ford Mustang driven by Matt DiBenedetto in the famous No. 21 racer.

Makes Second Donation of Over 1,400 Jars of Peanut Butter to Canine Assistants

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (July 7, 2021) – The Georgia Peanut Commission will return to support Anthony Alfredo and the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports team this weekend at the Atlanta Motor Speedway. The Commission returns after running their colors with Alfredo earlier this year at the same track.

The Georgia Peanut Commission will also make a second donation to Canine Assistants, a non-profit organization, dedicated to educating people and dogs so they may enhance the lives of one another. Canine Assistants will receive 1,440 sixteen-ounce jars of creamy peanut butter with Alfredo helping to make the donation this Friday.

“It’s awesome to have the Georgia Peanut Commission back on the car this weekend,” said Alfredo. “I really enjoyed helping to make their donation to Canine Assistants earlier this year and I’m looking forward to helping make another donation this week. I also want to continue to help promote the Georgia Peanut Commission, as the Georgia farmers do so much to help better our lives.”

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 53% of the United States’ peanuts in 2020 – more than 1.64 million tons
• Georgia farmers harvested 800,000 acres, yielding an average of 4,100 pounds per acre
• Georgia farmers planted peanuts in 76 counties in Georgia
• Georgia has approximately 4,500 peanut farmers
• Georgia peanuts accounted for 25.5% of the state’s row and forage crops income
• Peanuts are Georgia’s Official State Crop

“The Atlanta Motor Speedway, Front Row Motorsports and Anthony Alfredo help us spread the message of the work we do,” said Joe Boddiford, Promotion Committee chairman for the Georgia Peanut Commission. “We are proud to continue our partnership with Anthony and the Front Row Motorsports team this weekend and will be cheering them on the track and supporting our community with our donation to Canine Assistants.”

Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event is scheduled for 3:30 p.m. ET. The race will be televised live on NBCSN.

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 4,500 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.