This Week in Motorsports: March 15-21, 2021

· NCS/NXS/NCWTS: Atlanta Motor Speedway – March 20-21

PLANO, Texas (March 17, 2021) – This weekend’s NASCAR racing activities include three races in two days at Atlanta Motor Speedway as the Xfinity and Truck Series compete in their first doubleheader of the season prior to Sunday’s NASCAR Cup Series event.

NASCAR National Series – NCS| NXS

Truex Back in Victory Lane… Martin Truex Jr. drove back to victory lane for the first time this season and first time in his career at Phoenix Raceway on Sunday. Truex has driven to a total of 26 victories behind the wheel of a Camry and captured the 2018 Cup Series championship. Truex will compete in two races this weekend as the two-time Xfinity Series champion makes his first Xfinity Series start since 2010, driving the No. 54 Toyota Supra for Joe Gibbs Racing.

Toyota history maker… Atlanta Motor Speedway is a special place for Kyle Busch and Toyota. Busch drove his Toyota Camry to victory lane in Atlanta on March 9, 2008, scoring Toyota’s first Cup Series win. Since then, the partnership has proven to be extremely successful for both parties with 52 additional Cup Series victories for the Las Vegas native. Busch will run the Cup and Truck Series races this weekend at Atlanta.

Hamlin continues strong early season performance… Denny Hamlin continued his strong start to the 2021 season with a third-place run in Phoenix last Sunday. Hamlin continues to lead the point standings and looks to score his second Atlanta win this weekend (September 2012).

Georgia-natives look for home state wins… Toyota drivers Brandon Jones, Austin Hill and Chandler Smith are all looking for their first victories in their home state of Georgia this weekend. Atlanta-native Jones is looking to best a fourth-place run from 2019, while Winston-native Hill wants to be one spot better after a runner-up finish last season. Talking Rock-native Smith is making his Atlanta Motor Speedway debut.

Hemric continues to sit near the top … Daniel Hemric continues to hold the second-place spot in the NASCAR Xfinity Series point standings after earning a stage victory in Phoenix. Prior to driving a Supra, Hemric finished inside the top-five last season at Atlanta Motor Speedway with a fourth-place result.

Toyota Top-Five Sweep… The Truck Series returns on track for the first time since Toyota swept the top-five positions at Las Vegas Motor Speedway two weeks ago. John Hunter Nemechek scored his first victory for Kyle Busch Motorsports with his boss directly behind him. Hill, Stewart Friesen and Matt Crafton completed the top-five. It was the fourth time in Toyota history that Tundra drivers swept the top-five finishing positions.

About Toyota

Toyota (NYSE:TM) has been a part of the cultural fabric in North America for more than 60 years, and is committed to advancing sustainable, next-generation mobility through our Toyota and Lexus brands plus our 1,800 dealerships.

Toyota has created a tremendous value chain and directly employs more than 47,000 in North America. The company has contributed world-class design, engineering, and assembly of more than 40 million cars and trucks at our 14 manufacturing plants, 15 including our joint venture in Alabama that begins production in 2021.

Through its Start Your Impossible campaign, Toyota highlights the way it partners with community, civic, academic and governmental organizations to address our society’s most pressing mobility challenges. We believe that when people are free to move, anything is possible. For more information about Toyota, visit www.toyotanewsroom.com.

Two-Time Truck Series Winner, Dirt Modified Standout to Make NASCAR Cup Series Debut at Bristol Motor Speedway

CONCORD, N.C. (March 16, 2021) – Spire Motorsports announced today that Stewart Friesen will drive the team’s No. 77 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 1LE in his NASCAR Cup Series debut in the Food City Dirt Race at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Stewart, a two-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series winner, will be supported by long-time partner Halmar International when he takes the green flag for the highly anticipated 250-lap race on the famed high-banked, half-mile oval.

The race will mark the first time NASCAR’s premiere series has raced on dirt dating back to 1970. NASCAR and Bristol Motor Speedway announced in September the legendary Tennessee oval would be covered in dirt to create a one-of-kind racing experience for the drivers, teams and fans.

Friesen, who has over 330 career wins in dirt modified racing, won the last time the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series raced on dirt at Eldora Speedway in 2019. The Ontario, Canada native is currently sixth in the Truck Series Championship point standings following a solid fourth-place finish in the division’s most recent stop at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“It’s a dream come true to compete in the Cup Series,” explained Friesen. “It’s the pinnacle of motorsports in North America. As a race fan myself, it has always been something I’ve dreamed about doing. I’m really excited to work with Kevin Bellicourt as our crew chief. I’ve known him for a few years now since we worked together at GMS Racing. In addition to Kevin, the whole Spire Motorsports group has been very welcoming. There’s some stuff we can take from our dirt experience with the truck at Eldora and apply to the Cup car, to hopefully be very competitive at Bristol. Thanks to Halmar International for coming on board as a partner for this whole deal, and thanks to (Spire Motorsports co-owners) T.J. Puchyr, Jeff Dickerson and the whole group at Spire Motorsports for the opportunity.”

Spire Motorsports jump started its 2021 campaign with a pair of top-10s in the Daytona 500 where Jamie McMurray (No. 77) and Corey LaJoie (No. 7) finished eighth and ninth, respectively. Justin Haley has handled the driving duties for the No. 77 team since the second race of the year but will yield the seat to Friesen for Round 7.

“Stewart Friesen is an outstanding race car driver and his pedigree on dirt speaks for itself,” said Puchyr. “I’ve watched Stewart with great interest over the last several years. He’s won on dirt and on pavement in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, so we feel like he’s the right driver to put in the No. 77 for the Food City Dirt Race. He’s a very talented driver, puts in the work and checks all the boxes. We’re thrilled for him make his NASCAR Cup Series debut in our car and I’m confident he’ll do a good job.”

The Food City Dirt Race from Bristol Motor Speedway will be televised live on FOX Sunday, March 28 beginning at 3:30 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The seventh of 36 races on the 2021 NCS schedule will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports was established in 2018 and is co-owned by longtime NASCAR industry executives Jeff Dickerson and Thaddeus “T.J.” Puchyr. Spire Motorsports earned an upset victory for the ages in its first full season when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona International Speedway on July 7, 2019.

About Halmar International …
Halmar International was founded in 1963 and is one of the largest construction companies in the New York tri-state area, focusing on bridges, roads, airports, etc. Halmar is a name with a proud 50-year legacy of service, integrity, and performance. By placing clients’ needs first and managing its projects as if they were their own, Halmar has built a superlative record of service, exceeding owner expectations time and again, and establishing Halmar as a top name in the New York-area construction market.

NASCAR CUP SERIES
ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY
FOLDS OF HONOR QUICKTRIP 500
TEAM CHEVY PRESS CONF. TRANSCRIPT
MARCH 16, 2021

ERIK JONES, NO. 43 PETTY’S GARAGE CAMARO ZL1 1LE, Teleconference Transcript:

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR START TO THE SEASON AND THE PERFORMANCE OF RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS FIVE RACES IN?
“I guess they’ve kind of been to every track now and it’s been a good start to the season for us. Obviously, we’ve had some ups and downs. But a Top 10 at Vegas was obviously great. A 20th at Phoenix which, I think we were probably a little bit better than that until the last 50 laps and unfortunately, that’s when they pay. But it’s been a good start. I think we’ve done a good job each week just getting better and better. I was really pleased with the improvement from Miami on to Vegas and the improvement we made there going from a 20th place car at Homestead to a Top 10 car at Vegas. We just need to keep that trend going and hopefully the next short track that we go to we can take what we learned at Phoenix and hopefully improve on it.”

WHAT DO YOU THINK OF ALL THE NEW WINNERS WE’VE HAD THIS SEASON? DOES IT GIVE YOU HOPE THAT IF YOU HIT IT RIGHT, YOU GUYS COULD BE THE CINDERELLA STORY ONE WEEK?
“Yeah, I hope so. It’s cool to see the start to this season where we’ve had all these different winners. It’s definitely been unique. I think we’re capable of that. Obviously, with no practice it’s a little bit different. And, like you said, if we happen to hit on it that week, you can be the guy that does it. I hope we can do it one week and hit it really well. I thought Vegas was close for us if we could have gotten some track position. We started pretty far back and it just kind of took us all day to get up there. If we can start farther forward at some of these places, I think we’re going to have a shot to hopefully do it.”

NASCAR IS GOING TO BE USING DOGS TO SNIFF TEAMS FOR COVID-19 AS THEY GO THROUGH THE GARAGE. HAVE YOU HEARD THAT? DO YOU HAVE ANY CONCERNS?
“They just told us like 20 minutes ago. I don’t have any concerns with it. From what it sounds like, they’ve learned quite a bit over the past year about detecting COVID and what the best ways are to do it. And they feel really confident in the dogs. I’m a dog lover, so I don’t have any problem with dogs doing it. If they think they can do a good job, it seems like from what they’ve learned and what they know about it, it’s just as good as a test. So, I feel good about it and it sounds like we’re going to use that instead of the temperature check. I think it’ll be fun.”

WHAT IS YOUR ANALYSIS OF THE CARS FROM WHAT YOU THOUGHT THEY WERE GOING TO BE TO WHAT THEY ACTUALLY ARE THIS YEAR?
“Really, they’re what I thought they would be. I felt pretty confident going in, to be honest with you, about what the equipment is and what they have with the resources we have at RPM. And it’s been similar to what I thought. Really, the cars are really close. We have opportunities, like I was mentioning a second ago, to really hit it right and have an opportunity to run really well week in and week out. There are a lot of good things that the cars do that I’ve felt over the last few weeks. And there’s some stuff that I think we can work on to get better and improve. We’ve just got to race and learn more about those things. Without practice it’s tough to go in and say hey, this is what we’ve got to do better before the race. We just have to get out there and do it and do it and learn from it.”

WHAT ARE YOUR IMPRESSIONS OF ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY AND HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE IT AND WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE KEY FOR YOU AND YOUR TEAM TO HAVE A SUCCESSFUL RUN SUNDAY?
“Atlanta is kind of a unique place. But we’ve always run pretty decent there in the past. It’s just really worn out. You really have to have your car working good on the bottom to be able to really hook the yellow line and make it work down there. I think overall, Atlanta is abrasive, and it’s worn out. It gets a little slicker every year. You just have to really focus on making your car good on the long runs. It’s tough. It’s not easy to get your car driving good there. I feel like the balance is a little bit more finicky with this package now than what it was in the past with the lower downforce package. So, you really have to hit it right and make sure your car is working good. When you have to start getting up and running the top, I feel like that’s kind of a Band-Aid and it’s not really where you want your car to be running. So, if you can get it running good on the bottom and hooking the line well, you’re going to have a pretty good day.”

YOU HAVE HAD FIVE RACES WITH RICHARD PETTY MOTORSPORTS. IT SOUNDS LIKE YOU’VE FOUND YOUR RHYTHM THERE. HOW IS IT GOING AND HAVE YOU HAD ANY DIFFICULTIES?
“Overall, it’s gone pretty good. No real difficulties. It’s been a smooth transition for me. The biggest thing really is just working with (crew chief) Jerry (Baxter) and have him lean more about me and kind of what I want out of the race car and when I’m asking for adjustments, kind of what I want from those adjustments. So, that’s been the biggest thing. But it’s just a matter of getting to the race track every week and going out and doing it you know. Like I said, no practice, you don’t really have that time to learn; so, you have to go out and race each week. But the transition has been really smooth. I’ve been trying to put in the effort and doing what I can on my end to make our cars as good as they can be; and from my point, obviously driving the car and doing the best I can there as well. It’s been a smooth transition though.”

GIVEN YOUR BACKGROUND, HOW DOES ONE PREPARE FOR A STOCK CAR RACE ON A DIRT TRACK?
“I don’t know that you really can too much. It’s still going to be a Cup car on dirt at Bristol, really, at the end of the day. Our cars aren’t dirt cars. They’re not really made to handle dirt. So, you just have to do the best you can. Looking at Eldora, and how those truck races work, it’s about being patient and kind of picking your time to go and the times to make the moves and just being easy with it and try to make the most of it. So, I don’t really have much dirt experience. I haven’t done much of it. I’m going to go run a Micro, hopefully tomorrow. It’s been a little rainy here in North Carolina, so hopefully that clears out and we can go get some laps; you know, just getting something on dirt to get a feel for it. I think really, the dirt guys are going to have a little bit of an advantage just knowing how the lines move around and kind of what lane to be in, but I think that’s all as far as driving it, that’s going to be totally different for everybody.”

WE’VE SEEN FIVE DIFFERENT WINNERS IN FIVE RACES SO FAR THIS SEASON. HAS THAT SURPRISED YOU AND DOES IT CHANGE YOUR STRATEGY IN TRYING TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS THIS YEAR?
“I don’t think it really surprises me too much. I think the guys that have won are all guys that are totally capable of winning on a certain weekend. With no practice, it’s less surprising because it’s a matter of really hitting your car right when you unload and hit the race track. When you have practice, you always kind of see the cream rise. It’s the same guys that know how to get their stuff really good; especially at the tracks that they’re good at. And without practice, you lose that. So, you’re just totally relying on hitting it right. It’s a little bit of the flip of the coin, right? You hope that it lands on the good side and it’s handling good for you. It doesn’t really surprise me, but it doesn’t really change my approach to the Playoffs either. Obviously, it’s going to be a little bit harder to point your way in, the more and more winners we get. But we’ve still got to do the best we can each week and just try to continue clicking points off and moving up and taking advantage of the places that we can go and have a shot to win and hopefully win one.”

WE COULD GET INTO A SCENARIO WHERE WE HAVE 17 OR 18 WINNERS. HAS THAT CROSSED YOUR MIND IN TRYING TO MAKE THE PLAYOFFS?
“I’ve thought about it, for sure. I think everybody has already after all the different winners we’ve had so far. That just makes it more important to make sure you’re getting as many points as you can each week and moving up. If we do get in that situation that you’ve got enough points over the next guy that’s got a win, to hopefully beat him into the Playoffs. So, it just makes points even more of a focus, I guess. It’s funny. This system is supposed to be winning and getting in but, we’re in a situation where we could realistically have more than 16 winners.”

ON RUNNING THE MICRO, WHAT DO YOU GET OUT OF THAT ON A LITTLE TRACK? BRISTOL MIGHT ACTUALLY BE MORE LIKE A MARTINSVILLE RACE AND YOU’RE NOT SLIDING THE CAR AROUND AS MUCH. WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO GET OTHER THAN JUST GETTING THE FEEL OF DIRT UNDERNEATH YOU?
“That’s really it. Just the feeling of dirt and being on dirt and having the car and what it feels like. I haven’t been on dirt in I guess six years was the last time. Just being on a dirt track, not a lot is going to apply over to a totally different car and track and everything. The track is going to be more like a Martinsville or Richmond. It’s going to be really slick, and you’ve really got to manage your grip. For me, it’s just getting some kind of dirt feel and just anything that maybe I can take over with me just to get reacquainted a little bit.”

ON THE POSSIBILITY THAT MAKING THE PLAYOFFS COULD BECOME MORE FOCUSED ON POINTS RACING AND STAGE POINTS. A NOT-SO-GOOD RACE COULD RESULT IN STARTING FURTHER BACK IN THE FIELD FOR THE NEXT RACE. CAN IT BECOME LIKE A SNOWBALL ROLLING DOWN THE HILL AND GROWING LARGER AND LARGER?
‘It can pretty easily right now. If you have a bad race, especially going into a 1.5-mile race and you have to start pretty far back, it makes it pretty tough. It’s hard to get up there and get those positions and it’s definitely hard to earn Stage points when you start that far back, especially in the first Stage. It can snowball pretty quickly. Without qualifying, your week before kind of carries over. That’s not something that, as a driver, you want. If you have a bad week you don’t want to take it with you. You are kind of forced to right now. It’s easy to get in that hole and it’s hard to get out of it but, hopefully we can just stay out of that and avoid it and just stay up towards the front. I think for us, getting some Stage points is going to be pretty important. We haven’t done that yet. So, we need to hopefully figure out early in these races to get up and get some more points. That could be pretty beneficial to us.”

GIVEN WHAT YOU’VE SEEN OUT OF THE TEAM SO FAR, HAS ANYTHING CHANGED FROM YOUR EXPECTATIONS OR AGENDA WITH THIS TEAM COMPARED TO WHAT YOU THOUGHT IT MIGHT BE COMING INTO THIS SEASON?”
“Not really. I think a Top 20 in points is our goal. Obviously making the Playoffs and getting a win, that’s like top pure echelon for us. But I don’t think my expectations are any different. I think it’s just having consistent improvement and just trying to get better and better each week; and doing what we can to make the car faster every time we hit the race track. But I feel confident in it. Some of the gains we’ve made already over the season have been really encouraging and have been really good. Hopefully we can just keep that trend going and keep getting our car better each week.”

About Chevrolet
Founded in 1911 in Detroit, Chevrolet is now one of the world’s largest car brands, available in 75 countries with nearly 4 million cars and trucks sold in 2019. 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 www.chevrolet.com.

Team: No. 6 Kohler Generators Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Scott Graves
Twitter: @Roush6Team, @RoushFenway and @RyanJNewman
Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 – Sunday, March 21 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

ADVANCE NOTES

Newman at Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Newman makes his 29th Cup start at Atlanta on Sunday, where he has an average finish of 17.8 with nine top-10s and two finishes inside the top five.
• His best finishes of fifth came back in 2004 and again in 2013. He’s also finished 10th on four occasions, including most recently in 2015. In the last two outings at the 1.5-mile track, he’s finished 13th and 14th, respectively.
• Newman has an impressive average starting position of 7.4 at Atlanta, by far his best on the circuit, with seven career poles as well as two-straight outside pole starts. In 28 career races at AMS Newman has started on the front row 12 times.
• Newman is a former winner at Atlanta in the Truck Series, winning back in 2008, one of only seven Truck starts in his career.
• Newman also has three starts at AMS in the Xfinity Series, finishing eighth in 2010 and capturing the pole back in 2001.

Scott Graves at Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Graves will call his fifth Cup race at Atlanta this weekend where he has an average finish of 14.5 overall.
• Atlanta is also Graves’ best track in terms of qualifying and starting positions, as his average starting spot is 8.8 in just four prior events. He and Ricky Stenhouse Jr. earned the pole together in 2013, and he followed that by starting fourth with Daniel Suarez in 2018.
• Graves led Newman to a 14th-place run last season at AMS, and a year prior finished 13th.
• Graves also called seven Xfinity Series events at Bristol dating back to 2012, recording one top five with Chris Buescher (2015) and two additional top-10s with Buescher (2014) and Daniel Suarez (2016). Graves is a former winner in the NXS, taking Kyle Busch to victory lane in 2017 after starting on the pole.

QUOTE WORTHY
Newman on racing at Atlanta:
“Atlanta is always a challenging track with the varying lines that you’re able to run, and how we have to manage tire wear. On top of that, it’s a really fast track, so we’ve got to have our ducks in a row come Sunday in the Kohler Generators Ford as we look to bounce back from Phoenix.”

Last Time Out
Newman finished 28th a week ago at Phoenix.

Where They Rank
Ryan Newman is 22nd in the driver standings through five races.

On the Car
Kohler Generators makes its second appearance aboard Newman’s machine this weekend, and first since the Daytona 500. A leader in whole home standby generators, Kohler Generators will be on Newman’s machine for eight primary races in 2021.

About KOHLER Generators
KOHLER Generators is a leading manufacturer of automatic standby generators, which connect to the electrical system of a home or a business and quickly restore power following an outage to provide security and peace of mind for everyday life. KOHLER whole home generators are permanently installed outside a home, similar to a central air conditioning (AC) unit. The generator operates on natural gas or liquid propane (LP) and is wired into a home’s electrical system. When power is lost from unexpected events such as severe weather storms, the standby generator automatically kicks in – generally within seconds – and can power hard-wired systems and appliances including air conditioning, heat, medical equipment, Internet and Wi-Fi, security systems and lighting. KOHLER Generators is part of privately held Kohler Co., headquartered in Kohler, Wisconsin. The company provides complete power systems including portable, residential, industrial, and marine generators; automatic transfer switches; switchgear; monitoring controls; and accessories for emergency, prime power and energy-management applications. Kohler Power Systems has delivered energy solutions for markets worldwide since 1920. Visit KOHLERGenerators.com, facebook.com/KOHLERPower, or Twitter at @KOHLERPower. or more information.

About Kohler Co.
Founded in 1873 and headquartered in Kohler, Wisconsin, Kohler Co. is one of America’s oldest and largest privately held companies comprised of nearly 35,000 associates. Kohler is a global leader in the manufacturing of kitchen and bath products; engines and power systems; premier cabinetry, tile and lighting; and owner/operator of two of the world’s finest five-star hospitality and golf resort destinations in Kohler, Wisconsin, and St. Andrews, Scotland.

Team: No. 17 Fastenal Ford Mustang
Crew Chief: Luke Lambert
Twitter: @17RoushTeam, @RoushFenway and @Chris_Buescher
Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 – Sunday, March 21 at 3 p.m. ET on FOX, PRN, SiriusXM Channel 90

ADVANCE NOTES

Buescher at Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Buescher makes his sixth Cup start at Atlanta on Sunday, where he has an average finish of 21.6. His best finish of ninth came just two starts ago when he collected his first top-10 after starting 30th.
• Buescher also piloted the Fastenal machine in Atlanta back in 2015, driving to a fourth-place fun in the Xfinity Series.
• Most recently, Buescher finished 22nd a year ago at the 1.5-mile track.

Luke Lambert at Atlanta Motor Speedway

• Lambert will be atop the box for his 10th Cup start at Atlanta on Sunday. In nine prior events, he has two top-10s, both in back-to-back seasons with Ryan Newman in 2014 (seventh) and 2015 (10th).
• Lambert and Newman also paired together for some solid qualifying runs in years past, with an average starting position of 12.8, including five top-10 starting spots – two of which were on the outside front row in 2017-18.
• Lambert also called one NXS race with Elliott Sadler in 2012, finishing fourth after starting seventh.

QUOTE WORTHY
Buescher on racing at Atlanta:
“I’m anxious to get back to Atlanta this early in the season after how we unloaded in Homestead. The two tracks are similar in that they provide different options on how to approach them, and are both big on tire wear. We’re hoping our notebook from a few weeks back gives us a solid baseline so that we can get back on track with a good day Sunday.”

Last Time Out
Buescher finished 18th a week ago at Phoenix.

Where They Rank
Through five races, Buescher is 18th in driver points.

On the Car
Fastenal returns to the fold at Roush Fenway for its 11th season in 2021. They spent three years on the No. 99 before jumping to the No. 17 Cup Series entry, and were the primary partner on the No. 60 Xfinity team that captured the owner’s championship in 2011.

About Fastenal
Fastenal [Nasdaq: FAST] is North America’s largest fastener distributor and a ‘one-stop’ source for hundreds of thousands of OEM, MRO and Construction products. With more than 2,600 stores worldwide, the company supports B2B customers with tailored local inventory and dedicated personnel, who visit regularly, quickly respond to emergency needs, and provide efficient inventory management solutions. Fastenal’s service-oriented business network includes the world’s largest industrial vending program, 14 regional distribution centers, 8 custom manufacturing facilities, thousands of delivery vehicles, and industry-leading sourcing, quality and engineering resources.