MOORESVILLE, N.C. (July 10, 2025) – A diverse motorsports career that began more than 40 years ago and continues to this day earned racing team owner and California native Rick Ware a place in the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame Class of 2025.

Induction took place back in March in conjunction with the NASCAR Cup Series’ visit to Las Vegas Motor Speedway, but this Sunday’s race at Sonoma Raceway marks Ware’s first trip to the Sunshine State since being honored amongst his Class of 2025 counterparts, which included AJ Allmendinger (Los Gatos, California), Chuck Gurney (Oakland, California), Davey Hamilton (Nampa, Idaho), Jeff Jefferson (Naches, Washington), Justin Marks (Menlo Park, California) and Boris Said (Carlsbad, California).

“It’s truly an honor to be a part of the West Coast Stock Car/Motorsports Hall of Fame Class of 2025,” Ware said. “I’m a proud Californian and growing up on the West Coast put me right in the heart of racing and hot-rod culture. For me, there was no better place to be. To make a career out of motorsports and to be recognized for all the time, energy and effort we put into everything we do at RWR, really means a lot.”

Ware has been a motorsports mainstay for nearly five decades. 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 Ware’s home track, Riverside International Raceway. More than a decade later, injuries forced Ware out of the driver’s seat and into fulltime team ownership.

In 1995, Rick Ware Racing (RWR) was formed, and with wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that fields a fulltime entry in the 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 (AFT), FIM World Supercross Championship and zMAX CARS Tour.

Now returning to California for this weekend’s Cup Series race at Sonoma, Cody Ware, son of Rick and driver of RWR’s No. 51 Mighty Firebreaker Ford Mustang Dark Horse, reminisces on that moment when his father was honored for his years of diligence, perseverance and sacrifice.

“To sit at the table and enjoy that moment, seeing decades of my dad’s hard work pay off and come to fruition, was just a really awesome experience,” said the younger Ware. “You take so many lumps when you’re in the racing business, to see my dad earn such an honor was definitely something we’ll never forget as a family. So, it’s always cool to go back out West, kind of where my dad’s whole career began both as a driver and as an owner.”

While Southern California is where the elder Ware spent most of his time, the entire state served as his motorsports playground.

“I’ve been to some of the most iconic venues in North American motorsports, first as a fan with my dad, then as a driver, and then as a team owner,” Rick said. “Riverside, Long Beach, Pomona, Irwindale, Del Mar, Ontario, Laguna Seca, Ascot… I look back and realize just how blessed I’ve been.”

Cody Ware, now 29, has seen his dad build RWR from the ground up.

“I remember the early beginnings of Rick Ware Racing when it was still Ware Racing Enterprises, running out of a race shop in Thomasville, North Carolina,” Cody said. “From just trying to make it to Truck Series and Busch Series, now Xfinity Series, races, and taking a big gamble on making a jump to the Cup Series, where dad risked a lot to make the investment of acquiring a charter. He’s taken a lot of calculated risks that have gotten him to where he is today. It’s been decades of hard work, perseverance, not giving up. He turned a small, family-run race team into a massive enterprise, not just in NASCAR, but competitive and winning races and even championships in multiple disciplines, here in the states and overseas. It’s just really cool to be a part of it all.”

RWR had one of its best seasons last year when its NHRA Top Fuel driver Clay Millican won the prestigious U.S. Nationals and rider Kody Kopp won the AFT 450cc class championship.

Millican’s victory was RWR’s fourth NHRA Top Fuel win since entering NHRA in 2023. Kopp’s title secured RWR’s third championship. RWR rider Shane McElrath won the 2022 FIM World Supercross 250cc class title. RWR’s first championship came in sports cars, specifically the Asian Le Mans Series, where co-drivers Cody Ware and Gustas Grinbergas won the 2019-2020 LMP2 class title.

Thus far in 2025, Millican added another victory when he won the Lucas Oil NHRA Winternationals March 30 at California’s In-N-Out Pomona Dragstrip. AFT rider Briar Bauman, meanwhile, is RWR’s winningest personality, having racked up a series-high four victories in the Mission AFT SuperTwins division, riding his No. 3 Parts Plus/Latus Motors Harley-Davidson XG750R to the championship lead at the midpoint of the season. And on the zMAX CARS Tour, two victories by two different drivers have been secured – Luke Baldwin on April 27 at Orange County Speedway in Rougemont, North Carolina, and Carson Ware, Cody’s younger brother, on May 3 at Ace Speedway in Altamahaw, North Carolina.

“We do this because we love it,” Rick Ware said. “Racing is hard, really hard. So, you’ve got to have a passion for it. The hard times make you appreciate success so much more, and our success comes from our people. We have excellent people at RWR and I’m proud of their skills and their spirit.”

That passion arrives at Sonoma, where Cody Ware will tackle the 1.99-mile, 10-turn road course for the first time since 2022.

“Sonoma has a lot of elevation changes and it presents some pretty good passing opportunities,” said Cody, who has four prior Cup Series starts at Sonoma. “The layout makes for some really aggressive, tight racing. Anytime you put a stock car on a road course with that kind of elevation, it creates some really good racing. I’m looking forward to getting back there. It’s one of the coolest road courses we go to, for sure.”

Ware and his Cup Series counterparts hit the track for the first time on Saturday at 10:30 a.m. PDT/1:30 p.m. EDT for a 25-minute practice before qualifying at 11:40 a.m. PDT/2:40 p.m. EDT. TruTV and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio will provide live coverage of both. Sunday’s 110-lap race goes live at 12:30 p.m. PDT/3:30 p.m. EDT with flag-to-flag coverage delivered by TNT and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio.

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 full-time team ownership. In 1995, Rick Ware Racing was formed, and with his wife Lisa by his side, Ware has since built his eponymous organization into an entity that competes full-time 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, FIM World Supercross Championship (WSX) and zMAX CARS Tour.

Ford Performance Notes and Quotes
NASCAR Cup Series
Sonoma Media Availability
Wednesday, July 9, 2025

Zane Smith, driver of the No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse in the NASCAR Cup Series, has reached the quarterfinal round of the inaugural In-Season Challenge and he will go head-to-head against Ty Gibbs this weekend as Sonoma Raceway plays host this weekend. Smith spoke about the matchup and his season to date as part of Ford’s weekly media call.

ZANE SMITH, No. 38 Front Row Motorsports Ford Mustang Dark Horse – YOU ARE UP AGAINST TY GIBBS THIS WEEKEND FOR A CHANCE TO REACH THE SEMIFINALS. HOW DO YOU VIEW YOUR MATCHUP? “It’s cool to still be alive in this bracket challenge. My last week’s pairing with Chris (Buescher), I knew we were gonna have our work cut out for us just with Chris’ stats, but it’s still racing and things happen and we were able to advance. I know going into this week if we did advance it was going to be either Ty or AJ, who are both great road racers, so you know they’re gonna have speed in Sonoma, and I think as will I. I enjoyed the repave at Sonoma and had a lot of fun there last year, so I’m hoping for another solid day. I hope to advance this week as well, but with that said, I’m focused on beating everyone and hopefully advancing into these playoffs.”

YOU AND CHRIS WERE RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER ON A LATE-RACE RESTART. WAS THAT A FOCUS AT THAT POINT? “I was definitely reminded about it a good bit throughout the race. I know he was having engine issues, so I would obviously pull him by about three to five car lengths on the straightaways, if that, and then through the infield he was still just as fast, if not faster than a lot of guys, so I was always really happy to go on the straightaways. I was happy to advance there and we’re one step closer to a million bucks.”

IS YOUR TEAM GOING TO WATCH WHAT TY GIBBS DOES IN REGARDS TO STRATEGY, OR WILL YOU JUST FOCUS ON WINNING THE RACE? “I’m not too sure, yet. It depends where we’re at on speed, what our day is shaping up to be. At Chicago, I was supposed to short pit and I got blind behind the 12 and nicked the wall in 11 and got a decent amount of damage and somehow I was able to keep going. I was supposed to pit there and probably line up inside the top 10 or closer to the front after that, but, instead, I kept going and I think got eighth in the stage or something like that. Ultimately, it just got crazy toward the end as they often do, so you never want to get damage or have that happen because I fought that for the rest of the race, but we got some stage points there and once it did get crazy I was able to get by a lot of it and still salvage a decent finish, getting a top 15. I think you’re gonna see a lot of that still at Sonoma. I don’t know if you’ll see as crazy of things happen probably, but you never know. I’m just gonna be focused on ourselves and see where we shake out to be. Obviously, we want to leave there with a trophy and hopefully at top five, top 10 day, and have some good speed, which I feel confident in, but, if not, then we’re gonna do what we can to finish in front of the 54 and advance and live another week.”

WHAT WILL YOU SPEND THE MILLION BUCKS ON IF YOU WIN IT ALL? “I don’t know how much I would totally get, but hopefully I’d be able to get a decent chunk and be able to split it across the whole 38 team and they can go and do whatever they want with it. Then, if I’ve got any left over, maybe put some money towards a pool or something.”

WHAT ARE THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SONOMA AND WATKINS GLEN? “I had an awesome time at Watkins Glen last year. The weather we got that whole weekend was awesome and my car was really good, so I hope to have another round of that this year. Comparing Sonoma and Watkins Glen, I would say since Sonoma got repaved they’re pretty similar, it’s just really fast-paced. It seems like a qualifying lap every lap. Sonoma used to be incredibly worn out and you’d have only two or maybe three laps of good on the tires. Now, it seems like you’re just pushing every single lap and it’s very demanding. I would say Watkins Glen, there are some bigger braking zones. Sonoma, it seems a little bit more technical and momentum based, but they’re both awesome road courses and it’s cool to obviously get two different fan bases from each side of the country. That’s super cool, but one week at a time. I’m trying to get a Sonoma trophy and hopefully advance and go compete down at Watkins Glen.”

HOW DO YOU ASSESS WHERE YOU TEAM IS AT RIGHT NOW, AND NASCAR ANNOUNCED THAT BOWMAN GRAY WILL ONCE AGAIN HOST THE CLASH NEXT YEAR. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT THAT? “Our year so far, I feel like it’s been pretty good. We’ve had pretty good speed and made our cars better throughout the whole weekend, which is a lot to be proud of. The first half, my Daytona 500 didn’t go well. I got hardly any points and then obviously not many points at the 600 and then Mexico as well, so without those, I feel pretty confident I would be well inside the top 20 in points. It’s incredibly close right now, but with this back half of the year starting at Atlanta my main goal was to try to stack up some top 10s and be a little bit more consistent and focus in on things where we lacked in the first half. I feel like we’ve done a good job of that so far in this back half of the year. We have a long way to go, but hopefully we can keep that going. Talking about Bowman Gray, I’m excited for that. The Madhouse was pretty electric. I got pretty used up in my heat race and then the LCQ as well, so that sucked for me, but I wasn’t the only one that got used up. Hopefully, this year goes a little bit better for us, but the fan base was definitely cool to experience. It’s a pretty tiny track, but hopefully it can be better for us next year.”

FRONT ROW HAS PERFORMED WELL ON ROAD COURSES OF LATE. HOW HAVE YOU PREPARED FOR THIS WEEKEND? “Going back from the first road course, COTA was a big struggle for us. Last year, I felt like every road course I came around I was like, ‘This is my opportunity to have a really good weekend.’ Then, like I said, COTA didn’t go well for us and then we went to Mexico and didn’t start the weekend great, and then made a lot of changes overnight, got my car a ton better and then it started raining and I was able to pass a lot of cars. My car was pretty good, even in the rain, and then got involved in that wreck on the frontstretch, so I didn’t learn a whole lot, but I feel we did in practice and qualifying, and a little bit of the dry we did get to learn about our car. We made it a lot better going into Chicago and I was hoping and praying that it was gonna align with that and it really did. Starting the weekend at Chicago my car was really good and a lot more to my liking, so that made me excited again for the road courses. We timed that well with two back-to-back, so, with that, Sonoma is a whole different animal than Chicago, a lot smoother and just way different. Typically, your road course package translates to different road courses pretty well once you do figure it out, it seems like, so hopefully that’s the case for us but we will find out shortly.”

HOW NICE WAS IT TO HAVE A CHICAGO RACE WITHOUT THE RAIN? “I had an awesome time. I didn’t get to do all three years, but I got to do it last year and, obviously, this year. It is a lot more fun in the dry. I’m glad it stayed dry for our third and final time, and it was awesome to see a different style of fan base and just a different vibe to the weekend. It’s good to experience and hopefully there’s more of it in NASCAR’s future.”

AS WE GET CLOSER, HOW DO YOU NOT LET THE IN-SEASON CHALLENGE MESS WITH YOUR MIND WHEN YOU’RE OUT THERE RACING IN A TURN TRYING TO GET THAT ONE SPOT? “I think every week you advance that pressure just builds on trying to, ‘Alright, we’re getting pretty close to this million bucks,’ and it becomes a lot more real. Atlanta was like, ‘Alright, who knows? A lot can happen here.’ And then it’s like, ‘Oh, sweet. We advanced.’ Like I said, I was paired up with Chris at Chicago and I feel confident about myself and road courses. That’s what I grew up doing and feel like I can compete for wins, but I knew Chris and his stats were undeniable and he was gonna be really tough to beat, but it’s still racing and we were able to advance there. It’s another challenge this week with Ty Gibbs and the 54 team. You know Ty is gonna be fast down in Sonoma. He has a great car and he’s shown a lot of speed on road courses. If it wasn’t Ty, I think it was AJ Allmendinger. Obviously, AJ isn’t too bad either about lefts and rights, so it’s another challenge. We’ll just try to execute a better weekend than they do and see if we advance, and then I think we’re onto four and then I think I’ll be paired up with either Preece or Reddick at Dover, which are both gonna be pretty strong and we’ll see if we get past that one. I think the pressure will definitely set in after that about winning this first-ever tournament, a million bucks. I don’t care how much money you’ve got, a million bucks is still a million bucks, so that’s cool to be able to compete with that and even make it into this round of eight. Hopefully, we keep it going and stay alive.”

DO YOU TRY TO KEEP IT OUT OF YOUR MIND OR NOT? “I don’t want to speak for Ty, but I feel like we’re both in the boat as of today of ‘we’re going to Sonoma to try to win the race and advance to the playoffs’ We’re real close together in points and with that we’re focused on having a good day, but our weekends are gonna shake out where different things and different kinds of adversity is going to thrown at us. We’re each gonna have our own strategy, so we could run nowhere near each other and never see each other all day, but probably with this bracket challenge and how things work out in this sport, we will be right next to each other all day long. Who knows? All I can hope for is to have a shot at it and hopefully keep this consistency up that we’ve been having. I’m sure I’ll get told once or twice about where he’s running or what’s going on with him and what strategy they’re doing and many other things, but, ultimately, we’re trying to advance to the playoffs.”

WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS ON DOVER. HAVE YOU DONE ANY PREP WORK YET ON THAT TRACK? “Not quite yet. I haven’t looked at Dover, yet. I try to take it one week at a time and put as much attention as I can on one week and not get too far ahead of myself, but with that said, the conversations about Dover are popping up already. A big topic is it’s a different time of year that we’re racing there and the potential is there for it to be really hot. It’s obviously a really demanding place, and I think you could see some track changes, too, with just how hot it potentially is going to be. Typically, that means more rubber is gonna get laid down, which creates more lanes, which is great for us. Any opportunity we can get to search for cleaner air is always a great thing, so I’m actually looking at my 2020 Truck win trophy right in front of me from Dover, and I would love to get a big version of Miles. Dover has always been one of my favorite racetracks and hopefully we can continue my love for Dover, but it’s gonna be a challenge as it is every time no matter how good your car is whenever you show up there. I’m excited to see what that weekend brings, but hopefully it’s a good one and hopefully we’re still alive in the bracket challenge and advance to that final round.”

SOME NEWS CAME OUT ON THE LEGAL CHALLENGES WITH FRONT ROW AND YOU POSSIBLY BEING AN OPEN CAR AS SOON AS DOVER. WHAT IS THE IMPACT ON THAT FROM YOUR PERSPECTIVE, AND WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO DO DURING THIS PERIOD OF UNCERTAINTY? “I obviously saw some of that news. I don’t know when that is going to go into effect. That’s well above my pay grade, but my focus is on just competing to the best of my capability with this whole 38 group, and my role is to bring good energy to my team and keep them fired up. Fortunately, Ryan Bergenty just does that. He’s an incredible leader and has been a lot of fun to work with. We’re all just focused on our jobs and allowing the lawyers to take care of that side. We’re racers, not lawyers. I don’t know anything about that, so I’m not gonna act like I do. We’re excited to go compete and with this charter change we often don’t see 40-plus cars, so I don’t know what it will look like, but I know I’ll still have the same tools every Saturday for practice and qualifying, and the same for the race. My seat is not gonna change, so I’m just trying to continue to stack up some good runs and hopefully get Bob Jenkins a win here shortly.”

YOU HAVE HAD TO GO THROUGH A LOT LAST YEAR AND THIS YEAR. DO YOU HOPE YOU EVER GET TO A TIME WHEN YOU CAN ENJOY A NORMAL NASCAR SEASON? OR HAS THAT HELPED MAKE YOU WORK THROUGH THESE DIFFERENT CHALLENGES? “I appreciate you recognizing that because it’s been a big, major challenge throughout my whole career. Since I was three years old, racing all my life and nothing ever came even close to easy, but, then again, I feel like that’s what has built me into who I am, and I believe I handle adversity well and get through the hard times and believe I get stronger from it. It’s been a unique year to say the least with all these things going on, and then my last year was just an ugly year. There was a lot of unknowns and uncertainty and just kind of a bad taste, but with that you move forward. I’m fortunate to be back at FRM, back in the 38, back with the Ford family and I’m incredibly thankful for that. I’m trying to do better at living in the now and appreciating what I’ve got. Hopefully, I have a long future racing on Sunday, but nothing is ever promised in motorsports, so I hope to stay competing on Sunday, but I’m gonna enjoy what I’m doing one week at a time.”

DO YOU FEEL YOU ARE RUNNING BETTER IN THIS RECENT STRETCH OR DOING THE SAME THINGS YOU WERE DOING EARLY IN THE YEAR AND THEY JUST WEREN’T WORKING OUT? “To be honest, earlier in the season if you watch and see where we ran throughout a lot of the race and then little dumb things would happen where there was a crazy caution or maybe we weren’t quite where we needed to be on pit road a little too late in the race and you get set back and you run out of time. I felt like that happened a lot. I don’t know how many times I’ve finished 11th this year, but I felt that if I was one spot better, it would be talked about a lot differently of a lot more top 10s, but I’m really proud of the speed we’ve been able to bring. The capability we’ve had of making our cars better, which is incredibly important, and I’m just having a lot of fun working with this group. For this back half of the year, like I mentioned, I really wanted to just try and stack up these top 10s and hopefully find myself in contention on one of these late-race restarts in the first few rows and try to execute a win. At Atlanta, we came close to that, leading some of those closing laps, which was good fuel for my whole team and myself. I believe our speed is there to do it, as a team we’ve got to execute the whole day. Sunday races are long and there’s a lot of opportunity to mess up, but with that said, everything just has to go right and we’re getting closer to doing everything right. I think that’s why you’re seeing these more consistent top 15 days and racing inside the top 10, collecting stage points here and there. Those things just go a long way, so hopefully we can keep that going.”

Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Cup Series at Sonoma Raceway… In 82 NASCAR Cup Series starts at Sonoma Raceway, Richard Childress Racing owns two wins. Dale Earnhardt claimed the first win for the organization in 1995, leading the final two laps of the race to secure the victory. Earnhardt also won the pole for that same event, the first for the Welcome, N.C.-based team. Robby Gordon won at Sonoma in 2003, leading 81 of 110 laps and holding off Jeff Gordon for the win. RCR has racked up 15 top-five and 27 top-10 finishes since the NASCAR Cup Series made its debut at the track in 1989. The team has led 158 laps at the California road course and has completed 8,490 of a possible 8,624 laps (98.4 percent).

Richard Childress Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Sonoma Raceway… In four NASCAR Xfinity Series starts at Sonoma Raceway, RCR has earned one top-five and two top-10 finishes. In last year’s Xfinity Series race at Sonoma Raceway, Austin Hill scored a fifth-place finish after leading 21 laps and Jesse Love earned a strong 12th-place finish after starting sixth.

Tickets to the 2025 Carolina Cowboys Home Stand Are Available Now… Driven by the same passion for performance that guides his race team, Richard Childress’ latest endeavor brings Professional Bull Riding to the Carolinas. The Carolina Cowboys represent the Carolinas in the PBR Team Series, an elite league featuring the world’s top bull riders competing in games throughout the country. The team is owned by Richard Childress and Jeff Broin with 2018 Daytona 500 Champion Dillon serving as General Manager. Don’t miss the Carolina Cowboys 2025 “Cowboy Days” Home Stand September 12-14 at First Horizon Coliseum in Greensboro, North Carolina. Tickets are on sale at PBR.com and Ticketmaster.

Catch the Action on Saturday… The NASCAR Xfinity Series Zip Buy Now, Pay Later 250 at Sonoma Raceway will be televised live Saturday, July 12, beginning at 4:30 p.m. ET on The CW. The race will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Friday’s practice and qualifying sessions will be shown for free on The CW App.

Watch Us on TNT Sports… The Save Mart 350 NASCAR Cup Series race at Sonoma Raceway will be televised live on Sunday, July 13, beginning at 3:30 p.m. ET on TNT Sports, the third of five consecutive races this season that will air on TNT Sports. The race will be broadcast live on the Performance Racing Network and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. NASCAR Cup Series practice & qualifying at Sonoma Raceway will be broadcast on truTV and Max. Ride shotgun all season long with live, in-car camera feeds and scanner audio with a paid subscription to Max as part of their NASCAR driver cam experience during the race.

Austin Dillon and the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet at Sonoma Raceway… Austin Dillon has made 10 previous NASCAR Cup Series starts at Sonoma Raceway, earning his best finish of 11th at the 10-turn, 1.99-mile road course in 2022. He has completed 93 percent of the laps run at the track. Dillon is looking for redemption at Sonoma Raceway this year after crashing out of the race on lap 39 and finishing 36th in last year’s race.

Did You Know? In addition to his NASCAR Cup Series starts, Dillon has made three NASCAR K&N Pro Series West starts at Sonoma Raceway, earning a best finish of third in 2019 among two top-10 finishes.

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Let’s Ride… Dillon is wearing two hats this weekend, as the driver of the No. 3 Bass Pro Shops/Winchester Chevrolet officially kicks off his fourth season as general manager of the Carolina Cowboys, an elite professional bull riding team in the PBR Team Series. The Carolina Cowboys face off against the Nashville Stampede on Friday night, July 11 as part of Wildcatter Days in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. The Carolina Cowboys will begin the 2025 season with a talent-packed roster returning the likes of veteran riders Cooper Davis (2016 PBR World Champion), Daylon Swearingen (2022 PBR World Champion) and Derek Kolbaba (nine-time PBR World Finals Qualifier). The contingent also returns three-time PBR World Finals qualifier Adriano Salgado along with surging young gun Ethan Winkler, all the while welcome North Carolina’s own Clay Guiton (Cherryville) for his first season with the Carolina Cowboys.

AUSTIN DILLON QUOTES:

What’s the most challenging part of the Sonoma Raceway layout for you—Turn 11 hairpin, the esses, or something else?

“Turn 11 has always been the most challenging aspect of Sonoma Raceway. You’ve got to have patience and make a really good arch on entry. You know that drivers are going to be attacking that corner, so you don’t know what’s going to happen at times. The best thing to do is to roll the curb as fast as you can and pick up the throttle early to get off the corner. We’ve put a lot of effort into Sonoma Raceway on the simulator.

How do you manage brake wear and overheating with all the heavy braking zones?

“You try not to overlap on two pedals and use the brakes efficiently. Sonoma Raceway is a track where you can overheat your brakes very fast, and there’s not much time to cool them down with the long runs we’ve seen over the last few races. You want to keep as much rear brake in the car as possible, and you can have a good day.”

What is your assessment of the No. 3 team heading into the final stretch of the regular season?

“I think the consistency of our team is getting better. I would love to bring more speed to some of the races. We’ve been very close in qualifying, and qualifying at the Chicago Street Race was a huge improvement. We’ve been on the outside looking in at a lot of these places. I was pumped after our recent race at Atlanta Motor Speedway because we had really struggled at Atlanta in the past, but this year we had a racecar that was capable of possibly winning the race. Now, going back to Atlanta next year, I feel like we have a notes package we can build on and I feel really good about that. We have to develop some better setups that give me confidence as a driver. I’m excited about going back to Richmond Raceway, we’re always decent at the speedways, and Iowa Speedway is coming up, too, and that’s a place I’ve always run well at in the past. Sonoma Raceway will be intense and the key will be being disciplined and doing my job to get the most out of the car.”

How much of racing to you is strategic, and how much is instinct?

“A lot of racing is instinct, especially during restarts because you’re trying to react to what the guy ahead of you is doing, and if you can time it right you can get an advantage. Your reaction to their move, or knowing the guy and what he’s going to do is really important. You’re trying not to give up any information yourself. You’re instincts and the strategy behind it really plays into it. We do a lot of studying on what lines to choose. You make multiple mistakes throughout a race, but you just hope that you make the right choices at the right time to put yourself in position.”

Kyle Busch and the No. 8 zone Chevrolet at Sonoma Raceway… Sunday’s 110-lap race will mark Kyle Busch’s 20th career NASCAR Cup Series start at Sonoma Raceway. Busch has two wins (2008 and 2015), seven top-five and nine top-10 finishes in his previous starts at the track. Additionally, he has an average starting position of 14.1, an average finish of 14.6, and has completed 97.7 percent (2,011 of 2,059) of the laps he’s contested there.

Road Course Prowess… Busch has 58 career road course starts at NASCAR’s highest level, racking up four wins (two at Sonoma and two at Watkins Glen International), 20 top-five finishes and 30 top-10 finishes. He has earned two poles in road course competition (Watkins Glen International in 2011 and 2017) and has led 472 laps in road course competition in the Cup Series.

Success Not Limited to the Cup Series… In addition to his Cup Series successes at Sonoma Raceway, the veteran racer earned a NASCAR Truck Series win at the track in 2022.

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KYLE BUSCH QUOTES:

We’re headed west to Sonoma Raceway this weekend. What are your thoughts?

“I’m looking forward to racing at Sonoma Raceway this weekend. We’ve had some good runs on road courses as of late. We had a fast car in Mexico and another last weekend at the Chicago Street Race. We need to keep our good runs at road courses coming . The guys at RCR have done a great job of putting together good stuff for our road course races, so I’m excited about that.”

Is Sonoma Raceway a track you circle on the schedule as a place you like to go?

“I always enjoy going to Sonoma. It’s a great place to go for a race, but also all the other cool reasons that everyone looks forward to getting out to wine country. I’m looking forward to getting back on the twisty roads and having a good race. We’ve been fast at Sonoma Raceway in the past, and I’ve won there a couple of times. I hope we’ll be able to capitalize on a fast car and put ourselves in a position to win.”

Jesse Love and the No. 2 National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund Chevrolet at Sonoma Raceway… Jesse Love has made one career NASCAR Xfinity Series start at Sonoma Raceway, driving the No. 2 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet last season. The 2024 Sunoco Rookie of the Year qualified in the sixth position and earned stage points, en route to a 12th-place result. Love has also competed in one ARCA Menards Series West event at the California road course (2021).

Back-to-Back Lefts and Rights… As the Xfinity Series heads to back-to-back road courses, Love looks to continue his successful road course outings. In two of the three road course events in the 2025 campaign, the 20-year-old has captured two sixth-place finishes (Circuit of The Americas and Chicago Street Race).

Honoring Fallen Officers… For Saturday’s Xfinity Series race, Whelen Engineering and RCR have teamed up with the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund (NLEOMF) for the fourth consecutive season to honor fallen law enforcement officers. The No. 2 Chevrolet will sport a black and blue design, featuring the NLEOMF logo predominately on the hood and sides. The decklid will carry the names of 345 officers killed in the line-of-duty, all of whom were recently added to the walls of the memorial earlier this year.

Move Over… The NLEOMF special design also highlights the Move Over Law, which requires motorists to slow down and change lanes when approaching an emergency vehicle that is parked on a roadway to give safe clearance to law enforcement officers.

Coming Home… This weekend’s event at Sonoma Raceway marks a California homecoming for Love. The 20-year-old is a native of Menlo Park – a short one-hour drive from the 1.99-mile asphalt facility.

Gaining Ground… With 18 races complete, Love remains in the fourth position in the Xfinity Series driver championship point standings – 16 points behind a two-way tie for second-place.

About the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund… Established in 1984, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund is a nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the fallen, telling the story of American law enforcement, and making it safer for those who serve. The first pillar of this mission, the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial in Washington, D.C., honors the names of more than 24,000 officers who have died in the line of duty to date throughout U.S. history. Additionally, the NLEOMF maintains and publishes comprehensive details on the circumstances surrounding official line-of-duty deaths. The Officer Safety and Wellness pillar uses that data, coupled with best-practice program models, to produce programming directed at solutions to improve survivability and enhance wellness. NLOEMF’s third pillar, the National Law Enforcement Museum (LawEnforcementMuseum.com) is committed to preserving the history of American law enforcement and sharing the experiences of service and sacrifice for generations to come.

About Whelen Engineering… Whelen Engineering is a family-owned company with a pioneering spirit and a passion to protect the lives of those who protect and serve others. The company mission is to provide industry-defining safety solutions around the world, while creating a community of problem-solvers who are inspired to push boundaries and continue our legacy of delivering ground-breaking innovation. As a global leader in the emergency warning industry, Whelen has been trusted to perform since 1952, when George Whelen III invented the first rotating aviation beacon. Whelen now encompasses two state-of-the-art manufacturing facilities in Connecticut and New Hampshire with over 750,000 square feet of engineering and manufacturing space and the largest design staff in the industry. Every part of every Whelen product is proudly designed and manufactured in America. We embrace quality as our foundation, and we celebrate innovative engineering in every product we produce.

Meet Love… On Friday, July 11 at 11:45 a.m. Local Time, Love and his teammate Austin Hill are scheduled to sign autographs at the RCR Merchandise Hauler in the Midway at Sonoma Raceway. On Saturday, July 12 at 10:15 a.m. Local Time, Love is scheduled to join fellow Xfinity Series drivers for a series autograph session in the Turn 10 Midway at Sonoma Raceway. Stop by to meet the home state driver before the green flag waves.

JESSE LOVE QUOTE:

With two back-to-back road course events, is there anything that can be taken from the Chicago Street Race and applied to Sonoma Raceway?

“I don’t think so. Sonoma is super high grip with a bunch of curves where you are climbing and have a ton of passing zones, whereas Chicago is tighter and not a lot of elevation compared to Sonoma. Sonoma is one of my favorite racetracks and my favorite road course in the whole world. It’s right close to home for me, so I love going there. I’ve had a lot of laps around there throughout my career in a multitude of different vehicles and made my first laps there when I was 12 or 13 years old. We had a good run last year but came up short. This year, it is a good opportunity for our No. 2 team.”

Austin Hill and the No. 21 Bennett Transportation & Logistics Chevrolet at Sonoma Raceway… Austin Hill has made two career starts at Sonoma Raceway, earning two top-10 finishes and leading laps in each event. After securing an eighth-place finish in 2023’s NASCAR Xfinity Series inaugural race at the California road course, Hill returned last season to lead 21 laps and finish in the fifth position. The Winston, Georgia native has completed 100 percent of the laps competed (158).

Another Road Course Top-Five… With another strong effort through the streets of Chicago, Hill has now finished inside the top-five in all three Xfinity Series road course events in 2025 – fourth at Circuit of The Americas, third at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, and fourth at the Chicago Street Race. A road course victory is the only style of track that the veteran racer has not won at thus far into his series career.

Eyes Forward… Through 18 races, Hill is currently tied with Sam Mayer for second-place in the Xfinity Series driver championship point standings – 49 points behind leader Justin Allgaier.

First Cup Series Top-10… Last weekend at the Chicago Street Race, Hill earned his first career NASCAR Cup Series top-10 finish, crossing the finish line in the ninth position. During the premier series event, Hill made 55 green flag passes – the most of any driver in the field.

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Meet Hill… On Friday, July 11 at 11:45 a.m. Local Time, Hill and his teammate Jesse Love are scheduled to sign autographs at the RCR Merchandise Hauler in the Midway at Sonoma Raceway. On Saturday, July 12 at 10:15 a.m. Local Time, Hill is scheduled to join fellow Xfinity Series drivers for a series autograph session in the Turn 10 Midway at Sonoma Raceway. Stop by to meet the 13-time Xfinity Series winner and purchase new No. 21 gear.

AUSTIN HILL QUOTE:

With two back-to-back road course events, is there anything that can be taken from the Chicago Street Race and applied to Sonoma Raceway?

“No, I wish I could. Other than the shifting repetitions, there isn’t much that transfers from street racing in Chicago to an actual road course in Sonoma. When you don’t race on road courses often, it can take a little extra time – five or six laps – to get back accumulated to the up shifts, down shifts, and hitting your shifting marks. Because we just did a street course, that adjustment period should be very short if non-existent. That’s the one thing I can take from Chicago. Sonoma is just a totally different animal.”