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HOORAHS & WAZZUPS: WHO WENT ALL IN AT LAS VEGAS AND WHO FOLDED THEIR HAND

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[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]There was “Smoke” in victory lane at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway following the conclusion of the Kobalt Tools 400. A five time champion overcame adversity again and helped raise a lot of money for charity. There were early race heart palpitations from the “Junior Nation” and it also seems that NASCAR’s most popular driver has an unusual hobby. With those thoughts in mind, let’s begin with:

HOORAH to Tony “Smoke” Stewart who scorched the competition with some outstanding late race restarts to claim his first ever win at Las Vegas. The event also marked Stewart’s 45th win in 467 NASCAR Sprint Cup starts. HOORAH to Steve Addington, the winning crew chief, who scored his first win with Stewart in only three starts.

A HOORAH, for making chicken salad out of chicken do do, goes to race runner up Jimmie Johnson who did everything he could to win this race. Johnson, once again, found himself dealing with pre race adversity when he crashed his primary car during a Saturday practice session. The team had to roll out a back up car which meant they had to start in the rear of the field instead of their original sixth place starting position. Despite that setback, it was game on for this team. He drove his way to the top ten by lap 59 and then, by lap 99, took the race lead. He’s well on his way to eradicating the points hole that was created by the penalty from the failed tech inspection at Daytona. Following two consecutive top five finishes, Johnson has moved from 44th to 23d in the points standings.

HOORAH to team 48 for prepping that back up car in approximately 28 minutes which allowed their driver to get  some very valuable Saturday practice time.

HOORAH to Roush Fenway Racing’s Greg Biffle. His third consecutive top five finish at Las Vegas has now put him on top the Sprint Cup points standings.

HOORAH to Clint Bowyer, and especially crew chief Brian Pattie, for taking a Las Vegas style gamble. With 39 laps remaining in the race, a caution flag came out and they made the decision not to make a pit stop and rolled the dice on fuel mileage. Some additional caution flags played in their favor late in the race and the result of that gamble was a badly needed sixth place finish. They even picked up a bonus point for leading a lap.

HOORAH to Dale Earnhardt for generating a lot of “Junior Nation” excitement especially in the early stages of this race. Earnhardt’s Chevrolet was strong in the early going and led a total of 70 laps. By the way, Earnhardt led more laps on this afternoon in Las Vegas than he did during the entire 2011 season. But a tight condition developed with the car in the later stages of the race but he was still able to finish tenth. He left Las Vegas fourth in the points standings.

WAZZUP with the fuel misfortunes with the Penske Racing Dodge teams? The teams hit triple snake eyes at Las Vegas that hit them hard, both in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series events. The fuel pick up issues began in the Kobalt Tools 400 when driver A J Allmendinger spent a lengthy amount of time in the garage while his team swapped the car’s entire electronic fuel injection system. The result was a disappointing 37th finish.

Brad Keselowski’s fuel WAZZUP came during a restart following a lap 246 caution flag when his Penske Dodge simply would not respond. His fuel pick up issues resulted in a 32nd place finish.

It turned out to be the second fuel WAZZUP of the Las Vegas weekend for Keselowski. During the Sam’s Town 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race, Keselowski’s Dodge again experienced fuel pick up issues which found him coasting down pit road. By the time the engine re-fired, Keselowski was three laps down. Adding injury to insult to this WAZZUP was the fact that Keselowski received a penalty for entering pit road too fast despite the fact that he was coasting. He ultimately had to settle for a disappointing 23d finish.

WAZZUP with two blown engines from the B K (Burger King) Racing Toyotas? Travis Kvapil was the first to suffer engine failure, on lap 123, and had to settle for a 39th place finish. Team mate Landon Cassill was the next to lose an engine, on lap 240, which led to a 36th place finish. It’s certain that this had nothing to do with Burger King’s policy of flame broiling. (Yeah I know, that was bad.)

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HOORAH to Ricky Stenhouse Jr for winning the Sam’s Town 300 NASCAR Nationwide Series race at Las Vegas. The young driver’s Roush Fenway Racing Ford claimed the lead coming off of pit road, following the final stops of the race, and then led the final 54 laps. Stenhouse finished a strong 4.785 seconds over runner up Mark Martin. The event marked Stenhouse’s first win of the year and his third career win in 76 starts.

HOORAH for runner up Martin’s typical candid comments after the race when he said “that was a serious beat down he put on me during the last run. I mean just a beat down. I kept up with him for awhile and about wrecked four or five times and that was it. I’m not ashamed to say it wasn’t even close.”

Let’s give another HOORAH for making chicken salad out of chicken do do to Elliott Sadler. After leading the first 26 laps of the race, Sadler’s car developed a serious vibration, believed to be related to a portion of the front splitter scraping the ground. The team rolled the dice, with the full support of team owner Richard Childress, and came in for a lengthy stop to make repairs. Childress came over the radio and expressed his confidence in his driver to charge back to the front. Sadler delivered with a third place finish and left Las Vegas leading the series’ standings by 15 points.

WAZZUP with the future of driver Trevor Bayne in the Nationwide Series? Despite a hard charging fourth place finish at Las Vegas, despite leaving Las Vegas fourth in the points standings, plus having the title of Daytona 500 champion on his resume and being one the most popular drivers in the NASCAR garage, the sponsorship money has run out and it looks like the #60 Roush Fenway Ford may be parked until another sponsor is located.

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In some final thoughts, HOORAH to Lowe’s Home Improvement Stores, and the Hendrick Motorsports’ #48 team, for their very generous donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund to support victims of the recent tornadoes that hit in the central and southern areas of the country. Lowe’s Racing For Relief Program pledged to match Jimmie Johnson’s earning, from the Las Vegas race, with a minimum pledge of at least $100,000. Additionally, team owner Rick Hendrick and Johnson pledged an additional $48,000 to the worthy cause. Johnson second place finish netted the Red Cross a donation of $281,776. The donation from Hendrick Motorsports raised that donation to $329,776.

Finally there’s a reluctant WAZZUP to Dale Earnhardt regarding his hobby of collecting badly wadded up race cars. The WAZZUP is reluctant because it’s actually rather funny. It seems that Earnhardt likes to collect these destroyed cars and place them in the woods, like an unusual art display, that borders his Cleveland, North Carolina home. It was revealed that Earnhardt is now the owner of the Chevrolet that Juan Pablo Montoya was driving when he accidentally turned a jet dryer into a massive ball of blame during the Daytona 500. You can find the latest addition to Earnhardt’s art collection adjacent to his replica of a genuine western town, located on his property, that he calls Whiskey River.

FedEx and Autism Speaks team up again for June 3, 2012 NASCAR Sprint Cup Series race at Dover International Speedway

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Jeff Gordon Makes Chase a New Partner in the AARP Drive to End Hunger Effort

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SM Staff
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[media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]While it may be a bit early to talk about Jeff Gordon making the chase for this year’s championship, he has already made Chase a new partner in his AARP Drive to End Hunger initiative.

Chase Card Services, a division of JPMorgan Chase & Co., just announced the renewal of its corporate commitment to assist AARP and Jeff Gordon in the effort to end hunger for seniors across the country.

“Our work with Chase is very important to the AARP Foundation,” Jo Ann Jenkins, President of the AARP Foundation, said. “Nearly 9 million older Americans don’t know where their next meal will come from, so we appreciate the generosity of Chase and the entire NASCAR community.”

Chase will be sponsoring the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet at five races over the course of the season, starting with the upcoming race at Bristol. The company will donate $0.03 for every purchase made with their AARP Visa Card from Chase, as well as donating $1.00 for each new account opened.

This new partnership between Chase, Jeff Gordon and AARP will raise up to $2 million total this year, all for the Drive to End Hunger initiative.

“We’re excited to continue supporting the AARP Foundation through Drive to End Hunger,” Ralph Pinto, Senior Director of Chase Card Services, said. “We are looking forward to having a greater presence through Jeff Gordon and the sponsorship of the No. 24 Drive to End Hunger Chevrolet.”

“Over the course of the five races we are sponsoring, we will have a number of different activities that we are pursuing, all focused on raising awareness of older Americans who are hungry,” Pinto continued. “Some are at track and others will be via email or Jeff Gordon’s landing page, all aimed at gaining the support of the passionate NASCAR fans for this important cause.”

While their partnership together into NASCAR is relatively new, Chase and AARP have been working together for quite some time. In fact, they have partnered in various endeavors for the past twenty years.

“We’ve worked with AARP for a very long time and over the course of the past twenty years or so, we’ve looked for different opportunities to work together,” Pinto said. “About two years ago, AARP made this Drive to End Hunger a huge priority for them.”

“Concurrently, we were looking at our card and trying to revamp the benefits that we were going to be offering on the card,” Pinto continued. “So, we decided that we would look at a couple of various options and one thing that we found was that older Americans were positive about giving to charity.”

In fact, Chase not only received anecdotal feedback from their customers but also formally surveyed them as well. The study, Chase’s first Generational Giving Survey, found that older Americans give to charities more generously than most other Americans.

“We conducted a fairly extensive survey and 63% of Americans age 55 plus have donated $100 or more to charity, which is more than those under that age,” Pinto said. “More than one third of older Americans donated more than $500 to charity.”

“Even from a business perspective, older people will connect and this has basis in fact,” Pinto continued. “So, for us at Chase, this is something we can feel good about.”

After deciding that donating to charity was an important card benefit to Chase customers, the company had to make the next critical decision, that of choosing the charity that would benefit. And of course, the company’s first thought was of their long-standing partnership with AARP.

“The AARP Visa Card and the Drive to End Hunger just made perfect sense,” Pinto said. “We are more than happy to jump on that and partner with AARP on this venture. “

“The Drive to End Hunger is such a great fit for Chase,” Pinto continued. “The partnership is a great way for Chase to give card members something that they’ve asked for—a way to give back, simply and automatically.”

Pinto is the first one to admit that he was a novice to the sport when he first became involved in the Drive to End Hunger partnership. But while he may have been new to NASCAR, attending his first race at the Monster Mile, Pinto and his fellow Chase colleagues have embraced the sport wholeheartedly.

“The race was amazing,” Pinto said. “It was absolutely awesome.”

“I for one was shocked,” Pinto continued. “I went outside our booth and just the noise when they all started up was like a wall of sound. It was the most impressive thing ever.”

Pinto and his Chase colleagues have been impressed not only with NASCAR and their renewed partnership with the Drive to End Hunger program, but also with their driver, four-time champion Jeff Gordon.

“The first event we did was at Chase headquarters in Wilmington, Delaware,” Pinto said. “Jeff Gordon came to the event and they brought in his Drive to End Hunger race car.”

“We packed meals for older Americans and in one hour we packed about 400 meals and sent them off to a local food bank,” Pinto continued. “It was very exciting. Jeff is such a great spokesperson and so believes in the cause.”

“Jeff is just an absolutely wonderful person to work with,” Pinto continued. “He is very dedicated. He didn’t have to be at the food distribution that we were running but he showed up and was there.  He’s not only a great spokesperson for us but an even better spokesperson for AARP.”

While Pinto knows that the new Chase card benefitting Drive to End Hunger will be a huge success, he is also now hoping for one other important success.

“I just hope that Jeff Gordon’s car comes up right in front at the end of the next race!”

Results remain the same but Greg Biffle and team continue to surge

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[media-credit name=”Simon Scoggins” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Already three races into the Sprint Cup Series season Greg Biffle and company have fallen into a comfortable rhythm.

The No. 16 3M / Meguiars Ford Fusion team brought home their third straight third place finish on Sunday in Las Vegas. They only led two laps but Biffle was around when it counted at the end, ready to strike had the front two opened up the door.

“It certainly started off to be a good season for us so far,” Biffle said afterward. “Just plain and simply, Matt Puccia [crew chief] is the reason why we’re running and competing and finishing where we are. This team needed leadership. He was willing to step up and take the task on. Done a fantastic job so far.”

Biffle doesn’t deny that there’s disappointment though. After qualifying ninth and having a car that he felt was faster this weekend than they had last year, it left the team scratching their heads.

“We knew it was going to be a tough battle today,” he said. “We knew some cars had better speed than us, if we just hung tough, kept our track position, worked on it, we might be there at the end. That’s certainly what happened today.

“But it was clear that the 14 [Tony Stewart] and 48 [Jimmie Johnson] were just a little bit better than we were, 17 [Matt Kenseth] car looked like he was a little bit better than we were. So, like we thought it would come out, we had about a top five car and finished third, so we’re super excited about it.

“Then again, we want to win like the 14 car did today. So we’re going to keep out heads down and keep working hard.”

There was no touching Stewart on this day, who Biffle said it was clear had more power than himself and Johnson. Stewart had power that he’d never seen before and he would take off on a restart like Biffle never thought was possible.

At times though, Biffle was able to follow Stewart to the front, enjoying the holes that he was making. Except once he got to Stewart’s bumper that’s when the 16 started to slide and he had to get off the gas or put himself in the fence.

Clean air was king and it was hard to pass if a driver didn’t have that. It left Biffle moving around on the track as he tried to close in on those ahead of him, but to no avail.

The car just didn’t turn he said, and he and the team fought the loose conditions all through practice and then tight conditions on race day. Add in that Biffle thought he wasn’t aggressive enough when it came to making changes and it stopped him from being “up their tail pipe at the end.”

Instead, Biffle will take the finish and continue to praise Puccia and the work he has done to the 16 team. Even though he took the reins midway through the 2011 season, Biffle and company wouldn’t let him make any changes until the offseason.

Only then could he start moving people around, moving people out and directing the team the way he wanted. Now the results of those moves are showing and have Biffle leading the Cup points for the second time in his career as the series heads to Bristol next weekend.

“It has all to do, a hundred percent, with where we’re at right now,” said Biffle. “That’s why we changed and put the crew chief in charge last year. Then we kept handcuffs on him, wouldn’t let him change any people or change out guys as he went two, three, four, five, six weeks into his job. So we waited till the offseason.

“I say ‘we,’ Robbie [Reiser, Roush Fenway general manager] and all the guys waited till the offseason to make the changes. We were waiting to figure out what we were going to do with the 6 car. We were waiting to figure out what we were going to do with the 6 car. We were waiting to see what was going to happen because it would determine whether we got a sponsor for the 6 or not. We were going to have a bunch of people that we could move internally around the company if we downsized.

“So Matt, we free rein, got to pick the guys he wanted on the 16. It’s all been Matt. Matt has done all this himself with some guidance from the company.”

Tony Stewart Smokes The Competition in Las Vegas

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SM Staff
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[media-credit id=22 align=”alignright” width=”200″][/media-credit]Last year, Stewart dominated and came close to winning, but found himself at the bad end of a penalty late in the race. This year, he dominated once again and was able to close the deal, holding Jimmie Johnson off coming to the checkered flag.

“I don’t know if we had the dominate car today, but we were so strong on the restarts,” he says. “I had to go. I knew that when Matt and Greg had better tires than us, I knew we’d be able to hold them off for a little bit. I didn’t know we could hold them off till the end.”

The win marks the first for Stewart at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, now leaving him with only two tracks on NASCAR Sprint Cup Series schedule he hasn’t won at – Darlington and Kentucky. It also marks the first win for Stewart with new crew chief Steve Addington.

“We talked three times before the race,” Stewart says of Addington. “He is very thorough with us, he explains the changes, he wants your input. He’s been very good at getting to know these guys.”

Addington says that for him, it allowed him to take a lot of pressure off of himself.

“He kept telling me to relax and have fun and we’re going to win our races,” he says. “But I take it very personal every time that race goes on the track. I put more on than I thought I would with them winning the championship, for me. Everybody at Stewart-Haas has been great, doing what I asked, asking me what I wanted done. It’s just been about me putting pressure on myself.”

With 34 laps to go, Stewart made a daring three-wide pass on the restart to get by Brad Keselowski and take the lead. Stewart would lose the lead after coming down pit road for a splash of gas, but was able to get the lead back with on a later restart with 17 laps to go. He never looked back, holding on to the lead through the final two restarts.

“That’s what made today special,” he says. “We didn’t have to hold off the challenge once; we had to hold them off multiple times. It makes me feel like I’ve earned my keep.”

Jimmie Johnson came home second after having to start at the back of the field with a back-up car due to a wreck in practice.

“With everything we went through this weekend, we’ll take it,” he says. “But man, I want to win. We had a little more speed, but tony could get away on the restarts and through the gears. We’ll have to see what we’re doing, what I’m doing wrong.”

Greg Biffle would score a third place finish after making his way through the Roush-Fenway scramble on the backstretch after the restart. On the restart, Matt Kenseth spun the tires, which caused Carl Edwards to make a move on the inside of Matt on the apron to make it three wide. The group made it through turn one, before Kenseth made contact with Kasey Kahne, causing him to get into the wall.

“I just got down in there, Carl was on the top digging,” Biffle says. “I was just trying to ease up, giving him room – I didn’t see what happened back there.”

“Matt spun his tires just a little bit on the restart,” Edwards explains. “I went down on the apron, he gave us a lot of room. We just got all bunched up back there.”

“Carl just laid back and got by me three-wide,” Kenseth says. “They got by me through the middle of the corner and then they just got up in front of me and stopped.”

Ryan Newman finished fourth, followed by Edwards. Clint Bowyer finished sixth, followed by Paul Menard, Jamie McMurray and Trevor Bayne. Dale Earnhardt Jr. would round out of top 10 after leading the first 40 laps of the race.

“The racecar was really tight,” Earnhardt Jr. says. “I knew by the end of the race, it was going to be a really, really tight race track and we needed to free the car up. I didn’t give Stevie enough information throughout the day to tell him how tight it was. I didn’t keep up my end and gave up a lot of spots at the end of the race.”

Pole sitter Kasey Kahne finished 19th after struggling with the handling of the car during the second half of the race.

Greg Biffle now leads the points, 10 points over Kevin Harvick. Denny Hamlin sits third in points, followed by Dale Earnhardt Jr. and Matt Kenseth.

Unofficial Race Results
Kobalt Tools 400, Las Vegas Motor Speedway
http://www.speedwaymedia.com/Cup/race.php?race=3
=========================================
Pos. St. No. Driver Make Points
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1 – 14 Tony Stewart Chevrolet 48
2 – 48 Jimmie Johnson Chevrolet 43
3 – 16 Greg Biffle Ford 42
4 – 39 Ryan Newman Chevrolet 40
5 – 99 Carl Edwards Ford 39
6 – 15 Clint Bowyer Toyota 39
7 – 27 Paul Menard Chevrolet 37
8 – 1 Jamie McMurray Chevrolet 36
9 – 21 Trevor Bayne Ford 0
10 – 88 Dale Earnhardt Jr. Chevrolet 35
11 – 29 Kevin Harvick Chevrolet 34
12 – 24 Jeff Gordon Chevrolet 33
13 – 9 Marcos Ambrose Ford 31
14 – 31 Jeff Burton Chevrolet 30
15 – 78 Regan Smith Chevrolet 29
16 – 20 Joey Logano Toyota 28
17 – 56 Martin Truex Jr. Toyota 27
18 – 55 Mark Martin Toyota 26
19 – 5 Kasey Kahne Chevrolet 25
20 – 11 Denny Hamlin Toyota 24
21 – 34 David Ragan Ford 24
22 – 17 Matt Kenseth Ford 23
23 – 18 Kyle Busch Toyota 21
24 – 43 Aric Almirola Ford 20
25 – 42 Juan Montoya Chevrolet 19
26 – 47 Bobby Labonte Toyota 18
27 – 13 Casey Mears Ford 17
28 – 30 David Stremme Toyota 16
29 – 36 Dave Blaney Chevrolet 15
30 – 32 Ken Schrader Ford 14
31 – 10 David Reutimann Chevrolet 13
32 – 2 Brad Keselowski Dodge 13
33 – 38 David Gilliland Ford 11
34 – 33 Brendan Gaughan Chevrolet 10
35 – 51 Kurt Busch Chevrolet 9
36 – 83 Landon Cassill Toyota 8
37 – 22 A.J. Allmendinger Dodge 8
38 – 98 Michael McDowell Ford 6
39 – 93 Travis Kvapil Toyota 5
40 – 26 Josh Wise * Ford 4
41 – 87 Joe Nemechek Toyota 0
42 – 37 Timmy Hill* Ford 2
43 – 249 J.J. Yeley Toyota 1

CHEVY NSCS AT LAS VEGAS — Tony Stewart, Jimmie Johnson Post Race Transcripts

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Bayne Surges to Top-10 Finish at Las Vegas

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Regan Smith comes on strong to finish 15th in Vegas

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Brett Moffitt Heads to Bristol with Former Mentor and New Race Team

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[media-credit name=”Photo Credit: hometracks.nascar.com” align=”alignright” width=”225″][/media-credit]Young up and coming racer Brett Moffitt has had an interesting journey, from his racing start under the tutelage of four-time K&N Pro Series champion Andy Santerre to racing for some of the biggest teams in the sport, including Joe Gibbs Racing and Michael Waltrip Racing.

But as he kicks off his 2012 K&N Pro Series East season in Bristol, Moffitt is back where he belongs, under the familiar wing of Santerre and with a whole new race team Hattori Racing Enterprises. Moffitt will pilot the No. 11 Toyota Camry and will join teammate Sergio Pena in the Shigeaki Hattori stable.

“Ever since I drove for Andy (Santerre) in 2009, Andy and my dad have been in constant communication,” Moffitt said. “Andy’s been a big help to my career over the past three years.”

“So, when this opportunity came up, Andy told Shigeaki Hattori that he knew should drive his second car and luckily that was me.”

While Moffitt may seem a bit devoted to his old mentor, he knows that Santerre not only has the experience behind him but also has the strength of the new HRE race team with him as well.

“Working for Andy Santerre is just really great,” Moffitt said. “He’s been there. He’s driven race cars, he’s won races and he’s won championships.”

“So, he knows what it takes,” Moffitt continued. “Being able to work for him is really great for a driver because he understands everything you say. He’s always looking out for your best interests as a driver.”

Moffitt has had an eventful three years since debuting as a 16 year old with Andy Santerre in the K&N East Series. Since then, he has had seven wins, four pole positions, 20 top-5 and 25 top-10 finishes and has never finished worse than 3rd in the championship standings.

“After I left Andy last time, I went to Joe Gibbs Racing for a year,” Moffitt said. “I ran in the K&N East Series for them. We were really competitive for them and ended up second in the points.”

“After that, I went to Michael Waltrip Racing,” Moffitt continued. “That was a huge step for my career.”

“MWR made me feel important as a driver,” Moffitt said. “I came in every day and worked on the cars and in the shop.”

“They put a big emphasis on my physical training and I’m still associated with them,” Moffitt continued. “I still have a trainer with them so I go there every day and still work out. That’s always a good connection to still maintain.”

With his return to his mentor Andy Santerre, as well as his new assignment with Hattori Racing Enterprises, Moffitt is excited to get his 2012 race season underway. He just recently finished up testing at Bristol, the first race of the season for the K&N Pro Series East.

“The test went really well,” Moffitt said. “From the first time we unloaded, we had to work on them a little bit but by the end of the day, we were pretty comfortable.”

“We have a couple things we are working with back at the shop and hopefully when we come back to the track, we will be ready to have a good race,” Moffitt continued. “The car was real fast and I’m really looking forward to the race.”

Moffitt has been only been guaranteed eight races with HRE Racing. The remainder of the season’s racing will be dependent on sponsorship, as is so often the case.

“This year Hattori approached me as a driver,” Moffitt said. “They weren’t looking for a driver with a lot of money, just one that they could win races and win championships with.”

“Right now, I’m only guaranteed eight races, with the first race at Bristol on March 17th,” Moffitt said.” That’s where the sponsorship comes into play.”

“We’re still out there searching so hopefully we’re able to find something by then,” Moffitt continued. “But we’re just going to take the first eight and try to be the best we can. Hopefully we’ll find a sponsor and be able to finish it out.”

Moffitt is also looking forward to working with his new teammate at Hattori Racing Enterprises. He will be paired with fellow Santerre protégé Sergio Pena.

“Me and Sergio have always gotten along real well,” Moffitt said. “So, it’s going to be a really fun year.  We’re both obviously proven race winners so I think it will be a good year for the team this year.”

In addition to mentor Santerre and teammate Pena, Moffitt is also looking forward to working with Dave McCarty, his new crew chief. McCarty has over 20 years experience in all kinds of racing, from the Nationwide Series to Trucks, ARCA, ASA and the K&N Pro Series East.

“Me and my new crew chief Dave McCarty have spent time getting to know each other,” Moffitt said. “Dave was Darrell Wallace’s crew chief last year at Revolution Racing. Andy felt like he would be a good match up for me so he brought him over.”

Moffitt has been working intensely on establishing that all important chemistry with his new crew chief, as well as their bond on and off the track.

“We’ve just been working together in the shop,” Moffitt said of his new crew chief. “He’s been bossing me around telling me what to do. I say ‘yes sir’ and do it. We have a lot of fun but when it’s time to get things done, we get things done.”

Owner Shigeaki Hattori, as well as HRE General Manager Andy Santerre are equally as excited about having Moffitt with their team as he is to race with them.

“People in an organization are the key to the organization’s success,” Hattori said. “If you hire the right people with knowledge and experience, success will follow.”

“I am excited to have Brett at HRE,” Santerre said. “He is an incredible driving talent and has matured behind the wheel in the last few years. He is more than capable of winning the championship.”

With the confidence of his owner and manager firmly in his corner, Moffitt simply cannot wait to get back to the race track, beginning at Bristol

“I feel like I’ve proven myself as being able to win races and be up front,” Moffitt said. “I’m just looking forward to racing. I love racing and being competitive.”

“That’s what drives me.”

Toyota NSCS Las Vegas Post-Race Notes & Quotes

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