LEGACY MOTOR CLUB: BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY PRE-RACE ADVANCE

RACE: Food City 500 | Race 9 of 36
DATE: April 13, 2025
TRACK: Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tenn. | 0.5-mile Speedway

CLUB MINUTES

CAMPE HONORED: On Monday, April 14 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB’s Technical Director Brian Campe will be inducted into the Huntsville-Madison County Athletic Hall of Fame at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Ala. There are 12 other inductees ranging from the NFL to NASCAR including three iconic basketball stars from Butler High School for the Class of 2025. Click here to read more about Campe’s journey.

IN-CAR CAMERAS AT BRISTOL: This weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway fans can ride on board with both LEGACY MOTOR CLUB drivers. The No. 42 Dollar Tree entry driven by John Hunter Nemechek will have the Toyota-sponsored camera, while teammate Erik Jones will carry a camera sponsored by AdventHealth in the No. 43 entry.

LEGACY MC IN 2025: Following last weekend’s race at Darlington Raceway, LEGACY MC is one of two full-time race teams that do not have a DNF in 2025.

KINGS HAT: At the 2024 Bristol race, The King’s Hat was unveiled. The Kings Hat was a nod to the 60 races that Richard Petty competed at the half-mile coliseum and the signature black hats he wore while racing there. The King’s Hat will once again be on display and will be located in the Fan Zone.

JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK
NO. 42 DOLLAR TREE TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY NOTES AND QUOTES:
NEMECHEK AT BRISTOL: Nemechek has made 10 NASCAR Truck Series starts at Bristol Motor Speedway—nine on concrete and two on dirt. On concrete, he has recorded four top-five and six top-10 finishes, along with a 12th-place and a 29th-place result. On Bristol’s dirt surface, he secured one pole position, a third-place finish, and one DNF. The North Carolina native has also competed in four NASCAR Xfinity Series (NXS) races at the track, earning three top-five finishes. This weekend, he will make his fifth NASCAR Cup Series (NCS) start. In the spring of 2024, he finished sixth, and in the fall 2024 race, he earned the Xfinity Fastest Lap of the Race award.

T-MACK AT BRISTOL: Crew Chief Travis Mack has a total of 14 starts in the NASCAR National Series at Bristol Motor Speedway, nine in NCS and five in NXS. While in the NXS, he has three top-10 finishes and on the NCS side, he has one top-five finish.

JHN 2025 STATS: Year over year, through the first eight races of the season, Nemechek has improved his finishing position from an average of 20th place in 2024 to an average of 17th place in 2025.

QUOTING JOHN HUNTER NEMECHEK:

“Bristol [Motor Speedway] is a place that I really enjoy being able to go and somewhere that has suited my driving style. I think the car matters a lot at Bristol – I’ve had some good cars at Bristol; I still haven’t won a race there, which makes me want it more but I’ve run well there and finished up front – we just need to qualify well.”

QUOTING TRAVIS MACK:

“I think John Hunter’s record at Bristol is really impressive – it’s one of his better tracks. We’re really looking forward to Bristol. I’ve always wanted to run really well at Bristol and win a race there. The whole No. 42 LEGACY MOTOR CLUB team is working hard on this one.”

ERIK JONES
NO. 43 ADVENTHEALTH TOYOTA CAMRY XSE
BRISTOL MOTOR SPEEDWAY NOTES AND QUOTES:
JONES AT BRISTOL: Jones has 16 Cup Series starts, five Xfinity Series starts, and one Truck Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway. He captured two NXS victories at the Tennessee short track, winning in both 2016 and 2017 during the spring events. In the Truck Series, he scored a top-10 finish in 2015. In the Cup Series, Jones has earned six top 10 finishes and four top 5s at Bristol, including a top 10 in the 2021 “Bristol Dirt” race. His best Cup result at the track came in 2017, when he finished second.

BESHORE AT BRISTOL: Crew chief Ben Beshore has experienced success at Bristol Motor Speedway on both concrete and dirt surfaces. In 11 NASCAR National Series races as a crew chief, he has recorded one victory (2022 NCS with Kyle Busch on dirt), four top five finishes, and six top 10 finishes. Additionally, he earned a pole award in the Xfinity Series in 2020 with Harrison Burton as the driver.

QUOTING ERIK JONES:

“I always look forward to Bristol as for me it’s always been a good place. I’ve won some races in Xfinity there and came very close in Cup a few times, so I have some great memories – I enjoy the atmosphere and the crowd. So, I’m excited the spring race is back on the concrete and hopefully we can put on a great show for everyone. In general, we have been trending up (performance-wise) the past few weeks in general, it’s still been tough as sometimes things haven’t gone our way and I hope that Bristol will be a good race for us where we can turn things around before the Easter break and have things fall our way during the day. Excited to be racing at Bristol and hope to put on a good race with the No. 43 AdventHealth Toyota Camry.”

QUOTING BEN BESHORE:

“I think we have shown better speed this year, qualifying has been going better in general, as we have had some good runs. Our speed has been much better than last year. We have top 15 speed in most races, but we have just had some oddball things happen like trying to pit when the cautions have come out at Vegas earlier this year and at Darlington last weekend. At Homestead we had a part failure where we had to start in the back, we just had to overcome some obstacles where we just weren’t able to put together a clean race. But we have done a decent job getting the most we can out of the weekends for the No. 43 Toyota Camry team.”

CLUB APPEARANCES
On Saturday at 1:00 p.m. ET, Nemechek will appear on the Food City Stage located in the Fan Zone to participate in a question-and-answer session with Kaitlin Vincie ahead of Sunday’s Food City 500.

On Sunday, Nemechek will go out to the NASCAR Classic’s merchandise hauler in the Fan Zone and sign autographs for fans starting at 11:00 a.m. While out there, be sure to check out the Nemechek and LEGACY MOTOR CLUB apparel.

HOW TO WATCH
The NASCAR Cup Series returns to “The Last Great Colosseum” for the Food City 500 on Sunday, April 13. Practice and qualifying for the event takes place on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. ET while the green flag drops on Sunday at 3:00 p.m. ET and broadcast on Fox Sports 1, MAX, PRN, and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Channel 90).

ABOUT LEGACY MOTOR CLUB: (LEGACY MC) is a premier auto racing organization co-owned by seven-time NASCAR Cup Series champion and 2024 NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee, Jimmie Johnson and Knighthead Capital Management, LLC. Drawing from a rich tradition of success, LEGACY MC is dedicated to pushing the boundaries of motorsport and setting new standards of excellence. The CLUB competes under the Toyota Gazoo Racing banner in the NASCAR Cup Series with the No. 43 Toyota Camry XSE piloted by Erik Jones and the No. 42 Toyota Camry XSE driven by John Hunter Nemechek. Johnson also races on a limited basis in the No. 84 Toyota Camry XSE. With NASCAR legend and Hall of Famer Richard Petty, “The King”, serving as CLUB Ambassador, LEGACY MC blends timeless racing traditions with a new forward-thinking vision. As an inclusive community for motorsport enthusiasts, LEGACY MC honors both its storied past and the promising future of its members, always striving for victory and championship glory at the pinnacle of NASCAR competition.

Food City 500 Kicks Off Robust Motorsports Campaign for Leader in Innovative Tile Installation Solutions

MOORESVILLE, N.C. (April 8, 2025) – Schluter®-Systems, a leader in innovative tile installation solutions, kicks off its 2025 motorsports initiatives this weekend at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway by serving as the primary partner for NASCAR Cup Series driver Corey LaJoie in Sunday’s Food City 500.

LaJoie is a longtime ambassador of Schluter-Systems, with this season serving as his ninth with the company. LaJoie will drive the No. 01 Schluter-Systems Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Rick Ware Racing (RWR) at Bristol, where he will make his 275th career Cup Series start and his 14th at the .533-mile, high-banked oval.

“Schluter-Systems continues to be an incredible partner,” LaJoie said. “They’ve been with me since 2017 and together we’ve built a really great program. They bring customers and employees to the racetrack each and every week. It’s impressive to see how much the program has grown over the years. It’s a partnership that’s evolved into a friendship. We’re in this journey together and I can’t thank them enough for their support.”

Founded by Werner Schlüter in 1975, Schluter-Systems has become an established authority, setting new standards for tile installation while providing educational opportunities for thousands of tile professionals every year.

“Partnering with Corey LaJoie and Rick Ware Racing is an excellent opportunity for Schluter-Systems to connect our passion for innovation and precision with the dynamic world of motorsports,” said Dee DeGooyer, chief sales officer, Schluter-Systems, North America. “This marks our ninth consecutive year supporting Corey, which speaks to the strength of our relationship and the shared values that have driven it forward. Just as every tile installation depends on a strong foundation and attention to detail, success on the track demands the same level of planning, performance and reliability. We see this partnership as a natural extension of our commitment to quality.”

Schluter-Systems will return to LaJoie’s No. 01 machine for the June 28 Cup Series race at Atlanta Motor Speedway. Prior to that event, Schluter-Systems will partner with RWR driver Cody Ware for the May 18 NASCAR All-Star Race at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway and delve into the NHRA Mission Food Drag Racing Series, where Schluter-Systems will serve as the primary partner for RWR’s Top Fuel dragster driven by Clay Millican in the NHRA New England Nationals May 30-June 1 at New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire.

“We’re thrilled to expand our partnership with Schluter-Systems across all of our motorsports entities,” said Rick Ware, team owner. “Their continued support of Corey LaJoie speaks volumes, and we’re proud to welcome them back to not only our Cup car at Bristol and Atlanta, but also as a key partner for Cody Ware in the All-Star Race and with Clay Millican in NHRA.

“Schluter-Systems is a brand that understands the value of long-term relationships and consistency – both on the jobsite and at the racetrack. Their commitment to supporting talent and engaging with passionate fanbases makes them an ideal partner as we grow our presence across motorsports.”

When not a primary partner, Schluter-Systems will serve as an associate partner across all of RWR’s motorsports endeavors, which includes NASCAR, NHRA and Progressive American Flat Track (AFT), where RWR riders Briar Bauman and Chase Saathoff compete in SuperTwins and 450 Singles, respectively.

“By fielding entries in different series, we’re able to provide a broader reach to our partners,” Ware said. “When we earn success in one discipline, it’s every partners’ success too. This also allows Schluter-Systems to reach a variety of demographics. They can engage more of their customers and VIP guests with more opportunities and different experiences. Schluter-Systems has really taken advantage of this. We host their guests at every NASCAR and NHRA weekend, as well as AFT events. They’re a great partner and motorsports has proven to be a strong platform to grow their business.”

The No. 01 Schluter-Systems Ford Mustang Dark Horse makes its season debut with LaJoie Saturday at 2 p.m. EDT when practice begins for the Food City 500. Qualifying follows at 3 p.m., with Prime Video broadcasting both live. Sunday’s 500-lap race around Bristol’s concrete-clad surface goes green at 3 p.m. with live coverage provided by FS1 and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

About Schluter®-Systems:

Schluter-Systems provides innovative and easy-to-use installation systems to support the durability, integrity and design of tile installations. With more than 8,000 products within its growing portfolio, Schluter-Systems is continuously improving the landscape of the tile industry. Its educational workshops and intuitive approach to product design supports Schluter’s position as an industry leader in quality and service. Schluter-Systems services North America with multiple training, distribution and manufacturing facilities in Plattsburgh, New York; Reno, Nevada; Fort Worth, Texas; Alpharetta, Georgia and Montreal. For more information, please visit www.schluter.com.

About Rick Ware Racing:

Rick Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for more than 40 years. It began at age 6 when the third-generation racer began his driving career and has since spanned four wheels and two wheels on both asphalt and dirt. Competing in the SCCA Trans Am Series and other road-racing divisions led Ware to NASCAR in the early 1980s, where he finished third in his NASCAR debut – the 1983 Warner W. Hodgdon 300 NASCAR Grand American race at Riverside (Calif.) International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries would force Ware out of the driver’s seat and into fulltime team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that competes fulltime in the elite NASCAR Cup Series while simultaneously campaigning successful teams in the Top Fuel class of the NHRA Mission Foods Drag Racing Series, Progressive American Flat Track and FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX).

• In 16 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway, Spire Motorsports has logged one top-15 and three top-20 finishes. Corey LaJoie earned a team-best 15th-place result in the 2022 Bristol Night Race. Spire Motorsports fields the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet ZL1s in the Cup Series for Justin Haley, Michael McDowell and Carson Hocevar, respectively.
• The Food City 500 from Bristol Motor Speedway will be televised live on FS1 Sunday, April 13, beginning at 3 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT). The ninth of 36 points-paying races on the 2025 NASCAR Cup Series schedule will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. FOX’s NASCAR Raceday will take the green flag at 1:30 p.m. EDT.

Justin Haley – Driver, No. 7 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

• Justin Haley will pilot Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 NationsGuard Chevrolet ZL1 in Sunday’s Food City 500 at Bristol Motor Speedway.
• Last Sunday at Darlington Raceway, Haley fought an ill-handling No. 7 Chevy but battled from a lap down to race his way back onto the lead lap and finish 27th in the final rundown.
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• Haley has recorded five previous Cup Series starts at Bristol where he earned a series/venue best 12th-place result in September 2022. He made three starts on Bristol’s dirt configuration, including a sixth-place finish in April 2023.
• In NASCAR Xfinity Series competition, Haley has logged five Bristol starts resulting in two top-10 finishes. He earned a seventh-place effort in April 2019 and a sixth-place finish in September 2021. The 25-year-old owns an average starting position of 7.2 and a 16th-place average finish.
• In CRAFTSMAN Truck Series competition, Haley has logged three starts, finishing a venue-best sixth in August 2018. The Winamac, Ind., native calculated a 10.3 average finish.
• Sunday will mark Haley’s 153rd career NASCAR Cup Series start. Over the course of the last seven seasons, he has notched one win, five top fives, 17 top 10s and led 103 laps. Haley made his first start in NASCAR’s premier division for Spire Motorsports at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway on his 20th birthday.
• The veteran racer has collected four NASCAR Xfinity Series checkered flags and three NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series wins, making him one of just 41 drivers in history to have earned victories across all three of NASCAR’s National Touring Series.
• In total, Haley has made 49 Cup Series starts for Spire Motorsports, with the bulk of races coming during the 2021 season behind the wheel of the team’s No. 77 machine.

Justin Haley Quote
What is your outlook for Bristol?
“Bristol is always a fun track and atmosphere. I enjoy racing there and I hope the No. 7 team and I can rebound this week and have a great run before the bye week.”

Atop the No. 7 Box – Crew Chief Rodney Childers

• Crew Chief Rodney Childers has called 36 races at Bristol Motor Speedway. Childers-prepared cars have led 952 laps and earned one pole, two wins, 10 top-five and 16 top-10 finishes.
• On Bristol’s dirt surface, Childers called three races and earned a top 10 in April 2023.
• Childers and driver Kevin Harvick dominated the 2020 Food City 500 at Bristol, qualifying in the fourth position and leading 226 of the event’s 500 laps en route to victory.
• The Mooresville, N.C., native has called 684 NASCAR Cup Series races where he’s earned 34 poles, 40 wins, 178 top-five and 299 top-10 finishes. He also earned 2014 championship honors with Kevin Harvick.
• Childers’ 40 wins at NASCAR’s premier level ties him for second-most amongst all active crew chiefs in the Cup Series garage.

Michael McDowell – Driver, No. 71 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

• Michael McDowell has 26 starts at the high banks of Bristol Motor Speedway dating back to August 2010.
• In his six most recent attempts, the Cup-Series veteran holds an average finish of 14.5 with only one finish outside the top-15.
• Dating back to the 2020 season, the Glendale, Ariz native has two top-10 finishes paired with three 11th-place results at “The Last Great Colosseum.”
• The former open wheel driver made a seamless transition to the dirt race at Bristol Motor Speedway holding an average finish of 10.7 including a top-10 in 2022. Not only did McDowell finish 11th in the 2023 Food City Dirt Race, but he recovered from a three-wide spin and managed to keep moving without contact with any competitors or the outside retaining wall.
• In his limited time in the NASCAR Xfinity series, McDowell has five starts at “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile,” including a series-best finish of 10th in 2009.
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• After qualifying a team-best 10th at Darlington Raceway last weekend, the No. 71 team struggled with balance early in the race. Despite finding the pace late, a broken toe link during an overtime restart made the bed for the No. 71 team. They were credited with a 29th-place result.
• McDowell has claimed two Xfinity Fastest Lap awards, clocking the fastest lap in the Daytona 500 and again last month at Phoenix Raceway. Through eight weeks, McDowell stands as the only driver in the NASCAR Cup Series to have secured multiple bonus points through the recently-unveiled program. NASCAR Xfinity Series’ driver Justin Allgaier has also scored two of the awards this season.
• The Arizona native secured Spire Motorsports’ first Busch Light Pole Award last month at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. His 28.833 second lap marks the fastest lap in the Gen 7 era (2022-present) at the 1.5-mile Nevada oval.

Michael McDowell Quotes
What Makes Bristol so special and unique for the Cup Series?
“It’s amazing, it’s a special feel, you can feel the energy and atmosphere. I always tell fans that if they have never been to a race or if they have never been to Bristol, I tell them to go to Bristol. It is the coolest event you can take in as a fan and as a driver at the same. It is a really special place. Recently, it has been really good to me. I missed the top 10 by one position last year. I finished 11th. I have three-five races like that over the last four of five NextGen years, and it’s been really nice to us. So, it is a place we look at and we have circled to get out there and do some work.”

Atop the No. 71 Box – Crew Chief Travis Peterson

• Crew chief Travis Peterson joined Spire Motorsports following the 2024 season after spending 2023-2024 alongside McDowell at Front Row Motorsports.
• Across three Cup Series attempts at Bristol Motor Speedway, the 33 year-old crew chief holds an average start of 9.7 paired with an average finish of 9.3, all with McDowell.
• As a race engineer at RFK Racing, the West Bend, Wis., native helped Chris Buescher to Bristol’s roof-top Victory Lane in 2022. After qualifying 20th, the team dominated the race and led 169 of the 500 laps en route to Buescher’s second career victory.

Carson Hocevar – Driver, No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1

• Carson Hocevar is saddlin’ up to Ride the ‘Dente into his fourth NASCAR Cup Series start at Bristol Motor Speedway. The 22-year-old driver’s first start at “The World’s Fastest Half-Mile” on Sept. 16, 2023 resulted in a venue-best 11th-place finish.
• Bristol marks the first-of-three consecutive races for Chili’s® Grill & Bar aboard the No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet ZL1. Hocevar will be fitted in the faux denim jeans and a western, button-down-styled firesuit, first worn by teammate Justin Haley in the Daytona 500, for the upcoming races at Talladega Superspeedway (April 27) and Texas Motor Speedway (May 4).
• Race fans in the Bristol area have a chance to meet Hocevar and see the No. 77 Ride the ‘Dente Chevy Friday, April 10 at 4 p.m. at Chili’s Grill & Bar in Bristol, Va.
• The 2024 Cup Series Rookie of the Year owns four NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series starts at “The Last Great Colosseum.” He led six laps en route to a sixth-place finish in 2021 and collected a fourth-place result in 2023, his most recent CRAFTSMAN Truck Series appearance at Bristol.
• In 10 Cup Series starts on short tracks, Hocevar earned a best finish of eighth at Richmond (Va.) Raceway last August.
• Chili’s is a leader in the casual dining industry and the flagship brand of Dallas-based Brinker International, Inc. (NYSE: EAT). Chili’s is known for its big mouth burgers, Chicken Crispers®, full-on sizzling fajitas and hand-shaken margaritas. Chili’s takes its food seriously – but not themselves – because dining out should feel like a celebration even if there is nothing to celebrate. Chili’s passion is making everyone feel special, and every day, ChiliHeads make it their job to spread #ChilisLove across almost 1,600 restaurants in 27 countries and two territories. Chili’s hosts local Give Back Events to support kids, education and hunger and has raised more than $100 million benefiting St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through generous Guest donations. Find more information about Chili’s at chilis.com, follow on Twitter or Instagram, like them on Facebook or join Chili’s on TikTok.

Carson Hocevar Quotes
You’ve waited months to don the ‘Ride the ‘Dente’ cowboy hat. What does it mean to you to have the Chili’s logo on your car this weekend?
“I’m really excited to finally get to drive the Chili’s car. They came up with a great campaign for this year and the firesuit and car design all fit together so well. I’m a big Chili’s fan and it’s always fun to be able to partner with companies that you have a natural connection to. They do a great job promoting the restaurant and menu items, and I’ve enjoyed getting to be part of that this year.”

Describe what makes Bristol such a unique short track.
“I think first off just the look of the track. When you’re walking in, it’s a little intimidating. The track sits down inside the ‘stadium’ surrounded by seats and then you see the banking. Every track we go to, you see hard racing at some point, but at Bristol it starts on Lap 1. You have to be reasonably aggressive from the start and do your best to get track position or keep it. Once you start to drift toward the back and lose a lap, it’s so difficult to get it back. But that’s why there is a lot of satisfaction in getting a win at Bristol. You work hard to get there and that’s why it’s top of the list for a lot of guys to want to win there. I would love for Bristol to be where things turn around for the No. 77 team. The guys work hard and we’ve had really fast cars, so hopefully this is the weekend it pays off and they get the ultimate reward. Then we can celebrate with Triple Dippers and Presidente Margaritas at Chili’s.”

Atop the No. 77 Box – Crew Chief Luke Lambert

• Sunday’s race will mark crew chief Luke Lambert’s 24th Cup Series race atop the box at Bristol. The Mount Airy, N.C., native has led drivers to one top-five and six top-10 finishes among 21 races on the traditional concrete surface.
• The 42-year-old has called three NASCAR Xfinity Series events at “Thunder Valley.” He helped Elliott Sadler to victory in March 2012, and Noah Gragson to Victory Lane in the 2022 Regular Season finale at Bristol.

About Spire Motorsports …
Spire Motorsports earned its inaugural NASCAR Cup Series victory in its first full season of competition when Justin Haley took the checkered flag in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway on July 7, 2019. Less than three years later, William Byron drove Spire Motorsports’ No. 7 Chevrolet Silverado to its inaugural NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series win on April 7, 2022, at Martinsville (Va.) Speedway. The team’s most recent win came on March 21, 2025, when Kyle Larson took the checkered flag in the Baptist Health 200 at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

In 2025, Spire Motorsports will campaign the Nos. 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolets in the NASCAR Cup Series. The team will also field the Nos. 07, 7, 71 and 77 Chevrolet Silverados in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series and the No. 77 Chevrolet in the ARCA Menards Series in select events.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Bristol Midweek Media Availability
Tuesday, April 8, 2025

Zane Smith, driver of the No. 38 Aaron’s Rent to Own Ford Mustang Dark Horse for Front Row Motorsports, is coming off a 12th-place finish last week at Darlington Raceway. He spoke about the start to his first NASCAR Cup Series season with FRM and what to expect this weekend at Bristol Motor Speedway.

ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU’VE BEEN ABOUT A NINTH TO 12TH PLACE CAR FOR MUCH OF THE YEAR. WHAT IS IT GOING TO TAKE TO TAKE THAT NEXT STEP AND BREAK INTO THE TOP 10? “I feel pretty good about how things have been going. I wish our races could be a little bit smoother. I feel we’ll maybe start the first stage and be really strong and then it’s like an unlucky caution will fall and we get put back and then have to battle our way forward. It would be a lot less work if we could just stay up there, but all in all we’re bringing good speed, making positive adjustments and having fun doing it, so I’m excited for this weekend to hopefully continue it.”

GOING FROM SPIRE TO FRONT ROW, DO YOU FEEL LIKE YOU HAVE ANY NOTEBOOK AT ALL OR ARE YOU STARTING OFF TOTALLY NEW AGAIN? “Yeah, I mean the experience that I got last year with a full year of Cup I feel like you learn so much. That’s definitely the main positive takeaway. Last year, I was in a very unique and weird situation where I was kind of a part of two teams, so it’s been nice to have more of a normal deal I guess you could say for this year. It’s been fun. It’s been a really great group to work with and I feel like we’re getting better every weekend. We’re bringing positive speed and making positive adjustments, so we just need a few things to go our way and I feel like we’ll kick into that next bracket and hopefully compete for a win.”

YOU ARE THREE POINTS OUT OF THE TOP 20. WOULD FINISHING IN THE TOP 20 THIS SEASON BE RELATIVELY SATISFACTORY? “Yeah. I mean, I think how we’re running is a positive. I think there there have been a handful of races where we deserved to be in that top 10, but just a few things maybe didn’t go our way. I believe we should be finishing there and it would be great to make the playoffs, so obviously I want to stay in that top 20. I really want to get a race win and say I’ve won on Sunday, so that’s the main goal this year.”

WHERE DO YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM IS GOING INTO THIS WEEKEND AND TRYING TO IMPROVE YOUR QUALIFYING ORDER? “I think every single weekend track position is literally everything, and I feel it once again showed this weekend. There were cars that finished in the top 10 that lost the track position and really couldn’t get a handle on their car, and then once that caution favored them, they were able to stay up there. It’s crazy with just how close everyone is on Sunday, but executing on Saturdays and making sure you have a good practice knowing what you need in the race, and of course qualifying well to give you that better pit stall selection and putting yourself in contention to hopefully score stage points. Your car just drives so much better up there, so everyone is fighting for it, everyone is on the same page, but it’s easier said than done.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL YOUR TEAM IS GOING INTO WEEK NINE? “To answer that honestly, I thought going into this year it was gonna take a few weekends to get us to start hitting our stride, but I feel we unloaded at Daytona and it’s a little bit of a different weekend, but we had a lot of speed down there as Front Row has shown in the past, and then we started getting into these weekends and I feel we’re unloading really close and even if we are just a little bit off, we have been making positive adjustments, where my car just really wakes up on Sunday. That’s just the main positive takeaway of where I’m just really proud of this whole group. Looking back, there’s one race I would say that kind of stands out – COTA, I guess, on road courses. Road Courses have been a strong suit for me in the past and we just kind of missed it at COTA in general, so that’s something to build off there. I feel our short track stuff has been really strong and we know a direction we need to head to get better, and then Vegas we qualified good in ninth, raced OK, but I felt the adjustments we made going into Homestead, which was obviously our second mile and a half, it really just woke our car up in a direction that I really liked, so hopefully we keep figuring out things here and there to adjust off of that and go into these mile and a halves that are coming up, but I feel pretty strong about everything. We just need to clean up maybe our road course stuff some, but I feel confident in myself in knowing what I want there and hopefully we can find that.”

YOU’VE FINISHED ON THE LEAD LAP OF ALL BUT ONE RACE THIS YEAR. WHAT DO YOU ATTRIBUTE THAT SUCCESS TO? “I think this started late last year after Nashville, and I was kind of officially let go and figuring out what I was gonna do next year, and we were just having conversations. It was like, ‘Hey, let’s take our small wins. Let’s try to stay on the lead lap,’ which Bristol was one of them. Bristol is so hard to stay on the lead lap and if you do in that first stage, Martinsville is one that kind of comes to mind, your whole entire day looks so much different. You get to pit with the leaders and maybe if something happens like Martinsville this year for us. We raced well all race long, got caught up with the 54 in a late-race accident and typically you’d have to start at the tail or you’re buried and then it’s super easy to go a lap down. Well, for us, from staying on the lead lap we were able to restart 19th or something like that. Just little positive takeaways. I really started to just focus in on executing on Saturday. That’s something I paid attention to a lot during the offseason, figuring out how to qualify better just to get that better pit pick. It’s easier on your pit crew and you have track position. Like I said, the cars drive so much better the closer you get to the front, so this past weekend was a perfect example of that. Once we were in the top eight for a majority of the first half of the race, there really weren’t many complaints with my car, just a few things here and there, and then as soon as you get put in 20th everything is wrong with the car. I don’t even know if I gave feedback because I know it’s not accurate. It’s not real, so you just kind of have to figure out how to pick them off one at a time and try to execute things that you can control. Pit road is one of them. Everyone is so good at the small things on Sunday, so focusing on those small things is just some attention I put on during the offseason.”

DO YOU HAVE ANY TRACKS COMING UP ON YOUR CALENDAR THAT MIGHT PROVIDE A CHANCE TO WIN? “Last year, I would say any of the road courses, just because I really enjoy the road courses in this car. I don’t know if I would answer that right now. I want to see us have a good road course race. Our road course stuff at COTA, which was really our only tell so far this year, just wasn’t good for us, so we need to figure out some of that, but I feel confident that we can get there sooner rather than later and hopefully execute a win there. But, really, any of them. We’ve had an assortment of different races this year and I feel we’ve shown speed in all of them. I love mile and a halves. Our short track stuff has been strong and, of course, the speed the Fords always bring on the superspeedways is always a confidence booster, so I feel good about all of them.”

HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT TALLADEGA IN A COUPLE OF WEEKS AND JUST MAKING SURE YOU’RE AROUND AT THE END OF THE RACE? “We’re definitely gonna have our meeting and go over what we can control on the superspeedway side of things with our teammates and Front Row now having three cars and the speed that they bring, and then of course the Penske cars that stand out. Pretty much everybody at RFK is really strong too on a superspeedway, so there should be no reason why we can’t control the race and that’s all we can control. There’s nothing you can do about the big one, so that’s always gonna happen, but trying to survive through that and find yourself in the first couple of rows is really all you can ask for.”

CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE PROCESS OF CHASING THE TRACK AT BRISTOL? THE CONDITIONS SEEM TO CHANGE AND GUYS HAVE TO MOVE AROUND. WHAT IS THAT LIKE? “I think, first off to answer that, is I think being in Group B in practice is always gonna help that, and we’ve been fortunate enough to be in that, so that’s a positive. The PJ1 on the bottom is always gonna have grip once it’s activated, but then you see 25-30 laps into a run that top lane really coming into play and they’re pretty even at that time, so then it becomes a clean air game of whichever lane is kind of open. The track does go through changes a lot. Bristol is very unique with very temperature sensitive. I know this weekend is gonna be cold and I know that race where we had all the rubber build-up, I think it was a different compound that was laid down with resin, but it was a cold race, so you don’t really know what to expect. You know though, for the most part, that the top lane is going to come in at some point and I feel you need to practice that at some point in practice to see what you have up there, and once the PJ1 is activated it’s kind of acts like a slot car. That’s what it feels like. It feels really fast. You get in a rhythm there where you’re just kind of clicking off laps and everything feels the same in my past, but the track goes through changes where the PJ1 might be more activated and we eventually towards the end of the race pick it up and it becomes a lot of rubber laid down down there and it becomes pretty sketchy. I have some attention of how I want my car to feel in that top lane. I was able to learn a few things during the second Bristol last year that I hopefully will be able to apply to this year, that I felt were some major positives, so hopefully we qualify well and just have a solid day.”

YOU WORKED WITH RYAN BERGENTY BRIEFLY BEFORE THIS YEAR. HOW HAS THAT PROCESS GONE WITH YOUR COMMUNICATION TO MAKE THOSE RIGHT ADJUSTMENTS YOU’VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT? “It’s been awesome working with Ryan. I just feel our communication is where it needs to be. We just get on the same page fairly quickly and I pretty instantly know what he wants to know from me and the feedback that I need to give home so he can go down the direction of where he feels the adjustment is going to make the most difference. It might be hard to explain or understand, and I think we do a really good job of we get caught up in this SMT game, where the data may look like one thing, but my comments may look like another, and I feel that he has a really good balance of that. I feel positive about all of that and, like I said, when we’re a little off, I sleep good on Saturday nights knowing that we’re gonna make some positive adjustments and having that confidence, I think, goes a long way.”

IN YOUR OPINION, WHAT MAKES FOR A GOOD SPOTTER? AND AT A TRACK LIKE TALLADEGA WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FOR THERE FROM YOUR SPOTTER? “I think trust is a big thing. This is a new spotter than I’ve had pretty much throughout my whole career in Ryan Blanchard. He’s done a great job this year. He’s probably one of the youngest spotters up there. He’s 22, but he’s raced his whole life, so I feel the information he gives me has been great. Obviously, we’ve only had one superspeedway together at Daytona and I felt we worked really well together, we just got caught up in superspeedway things. I’m excited to get to work with him there, where the spotters really get to shine and hopefully we have some good superspeedways. We know we’ll have the speed to do it.”

IS THERE A MOMENT IN YOUR CAREER WHERE YOU CAN POINT TO YOUR SPOTTER SPECIFICALLY HELPING YOU IN THAT INSTANCE? “For sure. These cars, especially the Cup car, they’re tight spaces and you can only see so far ahead, so when something happens, maybe with a lapper or the leaders, by the time you see it they’re about in your windshield, so trying to give you a heads-up on that stuff is always good to have, but there have been countless times, not only with Ryan but my past spotters where they’ve been able to call that and they allowed me to live to fight another day.”

BRISTOL 1

Friday, April 11 — NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, 7:30 p.m. ET (FS1)
Saturday, April 12 — NASCAR Xfinity Series, 5 p.m. ET (CW)
Sunday, April 13 — NASCAR Cup Series, 3 p.m. ET (FS1)

Bristol Motor Speedway has provided its share of Ford highlights through the years, including Rusty Wallace’s 50th career NASCAR Cup Series victory in 2000 and Elliott Sadler’s first career triumph in 2001 with the Wood Brothers. More are possible this weekend as all three top series will be in action with single races taking place on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

ACTIVE BRISTOL CUP WINNERS

Three current Ford drivers have at least one NASCAR Cup Series victory on the concrete of Bristol Motor Speedway. Brad Keselowski has three wins, including one with Ford in 2020, while Joey Logano owns a pair (2014-15) and Chris Buescher has one (2022). Rusty Wallace and Kurt Busch each had five victories to lead Ford all-time while David Pearson is next with four.

FORD’S BRISTOL TRIFECTA

Two drivers have won at least one race in all three of NASCAR’s top touring series at Bristol Motor Speedway with Ford. Mark Martin was the first to do it as he got Ford’s initial NASCAR Xfinity Series win at the track in 1989, and then followed that up with a Cup Series win in 1993 and Truck triumph in 2006. He did all of those while driving for Jack Roush, who also produced the other name on the list – Carl Edwards. The newest NASCAR Hall of Famer did it in order, winning in the Truck Series in 2004 and then the Xfinity Series in 2006 before completing the trifecta in 2007 at the Cup level. Ryan Blaney can join the duo this weekend if he wins Sunday.

BUESCHER SHOWING CONSISTENCY

Ford’s Chris Buescher is one of seven drivers leading the NASCAR Cup Series with five top-10 finishes in the first eight races. The Texas native is coming off a sixth-place effort last weekend at Darlington Raceway, which helped him maintain his 11th-place spot in the overall point standings. Buescher, who is still looking to lead his first lap in 2025, finished fifth at Phoenix Raceway for his best result of the season.

RYAN BLANEY: “Bristol is tough. It morphs from practice to the race. It’s weird because sometimes you get up to the fence in practice and sometimes you don’t. It just depends on how many marbles get laid down, so you have to really just kind of go back on previous races. I feel like you have to be in the mindset of change there because you go through it all weekend. I don’t think you ever feel fully comfortable at Bristol because it’s changing so often throughout the weekend and the race. All you can do is do the best you can.”

BRAD KESELOWSKI: “The big guessing game is the tires. We went there last spring and the tires didn’t hold up very well. The dynamics of the race shifted fairly drastically and then we came back in the fall and the tires didn’t wear at all. That was another shift in the dynamics of the race, so trying to understand which one of those is going to be the case is probably the biggest question mark.”

CHRIS BUESCHER: “We’ve been really good at Bristol. We’ve had good pace. Scott Graves and our whole group have made great strategy calls to find some track position and be able to make some big gains in that sense. We’ve had race cars that have run the bottom really well when they’ve gotten strung out on the top and been able to pass a lot of cars that way. Ultimately, we’ve had pace. We’ve had maneuverability and that’s led us to being able to make a lot of passes there.”

A THREE SERIES SWEEP

One of the most memorable Ford weekends at Bristol came in August of 2014 when Ford swept all three NASCAR series races – Craftsman Truck, Xfinity and Cup. Brad Keselowski captured his first NCTS victory while Ryan Blaney took the Xfinity event. Joey Logano capped the weekend sweep when he passed Matt Kenseth with 45 laps to go and then had to hold off Keselowski to post his third win of the 2014 season. Logano was in control until caution came out with 69 laps to go. While he pitted for four tires, Kenseth and others stayed out which put Logano sixth on the ensuing restart with 63 to go. With fresh tires, however, he was able to move to the front in less than 20 laps and then hold off his Penske teammate down the stretch. It marked the first time Ford swept all three divisions in the same weekend since 2006 when Mark Martin (NCTS) and Kenseth (NXS and NCS) did it, ironically, at Bristol.

ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN, ONE GIANT LEAP FOR MANKIND

The date was July 20, 1969 and while Neil Armstrong was uttering those groundbreaking words as being the first man to step foot on the moon, David Pearson was busy winning at Bristol on the first race since the track installed high banking. What made the race even more interesting is that Pearson was relieved during the race by none other than Richard Petty, who was driving a Ford that season and dropped out earlier in the event. Even more ironic is that Petty was chasing Pearson for the championship that season, one in which Pearson eventually won for the second straight time.

FORD DOUBLING DOWN

Ford will be going for its second straight series win at Bristol Motor Speedway this weekend after Cole Custer won the final race of the regular season last year. The victory, which was his first at the track, came after he led a race-high 104 laps and resulted in clinching the number one seed in the playoffs. That marked Ford’s 11th all-time series win and Custer became the 10th different person to reach Victory Lane. The only Ford driver to win twice in the series at Bristol is Mark Martin (1989 and 1996).

RIGGS LOOKING TO GO BACK-TO-BACK

Layne Riggs comes into Friday night’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race looking for a second straight triumph at Bristol Motor Speedway after winning last year’s playoff race. That came on the heels of his first career victory one week earlier at the Milwaukee Mile and gave Riggs, who did not make the playoff field, back-to-back postseason wins. Ford has six all-time series victories at Bristol by six different drivers.

FORD’S NASCAR CUP SERIES WINNERS

AT BRISTOL (CONCRETE ONLY)

1963 – Fireball Roberts and Fred Lorenzen

1964 – Fred Lorenzen (Sweep)

1965 – Junior Johnson and Ned Jarrett

1966 – Dick Hutcherson (1)

1968 – David Pearson (Sweep)

1969 – David Pearson (2)

1970 – Donnie Allison (1)

1971 – David Pearson (1)

1988 – Bill Elliott (1)

1990 – Davey Allison (1)

1991 – Alan Kulwicki (2)

1992 – Alan Kulwicki (1)

1993 – Mark Martin (2)

1994 – Rusty Wallace (2)

1996 – Rusty Wallace (2)

1997 – Dale Jarrett (2)

1998 – Mark Martin (2)

1999 – Rusty Wallace (1)

2000 – Rusty Wallace (Sweep)

2001 – Elliott Sadler (1)

2002 – Kurt Busch (1)

2003 – Kurt Busch (Sweep)

2004 – Kurt Busch (1)

2005 – Matt Kenseth (2)

2006 – Matt Kenseth (2)

2007 – Carl Edwards (2)

2008 – Carl Edwards (2)

2014 – Carl Edwards and Joey Logano

2015 – Joey Logano (2)

2018 – Kurt Busch (2)

2020 – Brad Keselowski (1) and Kevin Harvick (2)

2022 – Chris Buescher

FORD’S NASCAR XFINITY SERIES WINNERS

AT BRISTOL

1989 – Mark Martin (2)

1994 – Kenny Wallace (2)

1996 – Mark Martin (1)

1997 – Jeff Burton (1)

2006 – Matt Kenseth (2)

2007 – Carl Edwards (1)

2009 – David Ragan (2)

2014 – Ryan Blaney (2)

2015 – Joey Logano (1)

2020 – Chase Briscoe (2)

2024 – Cole Custer

FORD’S NASCAR CRAFTSMAN TRUCK SERIES WINNERS AT BRISTOL (CONCRETE ONLY)

1995 – Joe Ruttman

2004 – Carl Edwards

2006 – Mark Martin

2014 – Brad Keselowski

2015 – Ryan Blaney

2024 – Layne Riggs